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diff --git a/1310-0.txt b/1310-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74a02ff --- /dev/null +++ b/1310-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6306 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Annals of the Parish, by John Galt, +Illustrated by Henry W. Kerr + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Annals of the Parish + + +Author: John Galt + + + +Release Date: May 13, 2015 [eBook #1310] +[This file was first posted in April 18, 1998] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNALS OF THE PARISH*** + + +Transcribed from the 1910 T. N. Foulis edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: The Loupin’-on Stane] + + + + + + ANNALS OF + THE PARISH + + + OR THE CHRONICLE OF DAL- + MAILING DURING THE MINISTRY + OF THE REV. MICAH BALWHID- + DER. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF + AND ARRANGED AND EDITED BY + JOHN GALT + ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY + HENRY W. KERR, R.S.A. + + [Picture: Decorative graphic] + + T.N.FOULIS + London & Edinburgh + 1 9 1 0 + + * * * * * + + _September_ 1910 + + * * * * * + + _Printed by Turnbull & Spears_, _Edinburgh_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +IN the same year, and on the same day of the same month, that his Sacred +Majesty King George, the third of the name, came to his crown and +kingdom, I was placed and settled as the minister of Dalmailing. {1} +When about a week thereafter this was known in the parish, it was thought +a wonderful thing, and everybody spoke of me and the new king as united +in our trusts and temporalities, marvelling how the same should come to +pass, and thinking the hand of Providence was in it, and that surely we +were preordained to fade and flourish in fellowship together; which has +really been the case: for in the same season that his Most Excellent +Majesty, as he was very properly styled in the proclamations for the +general fasts and thanksgivings, was set by as a precious vessel which +had received a crack or a flaw, and could only be serviceable in the way +of an ornament, I was obliged, by reason of age and the growing +infirmities of my recollection, to consent to the earnest entreaties of +the Session, and to accept of Mr. Amos to be my helper. I was long +reluctant to do so; but the great respect that my people had for me, and +the love that I bore towards them, over and above the sign that was given +to me in the removal of the royal candle-stick from its place, worked +upon my heart and understanding, and I could not stand out. So, on the +last Sabbath of the year 1810, I preached my last sermon, and it was a +moving discourse. There were few dry eyes in the kirk that day; for I +had been with the aged from the beginning—the young considered me as +their natural pastor—and my bidding them all farewell was, as when of old +among the heathen, an idol was taken away by the hands of the enemy. + +At the close of the worship, and before the blessing, I addressed them in +a fatherly manner; and, although the kirk was fuller than ever I saw it +before, the fall of a pin might have been heard—at the conclusion there +was a sobbing and much sorrow. I said, + +“My dear friends, I have now finished my work among you for ever. I have +often spoken to you from this place the words of truth and holiness; and, +had it been in poor frail human nature to practise the advice and +counselling that I have given in this pulpit to you, there would not need +to be any cause for sorrow on this occasion—the close and latter end of +my ministry. But, nevertheless, I have no reason to complain; and it +will be my duty to testify, in that place where I hope we are all one day +to meet again, that I found you a docile and a tractable flock, far more +than at first I could have expected. There are among you still a few, +but with grey heads and feeble hands now, that can remember the great +opposition that was made to my placing, and the stout part they +themselves took in the burly, because I was appointed by the patron; but +they have lived to see the error of their way, and to know that preaching +is the smallest portion of the duties of a faithful minister. I may not, +my dear friends, have applied my talent in the pulpit so effectually as +perhaps I might have done, considering the gifts that it pleased God to +give me in that way, and the education that I had in the Orthodox +University of Glasgow, as it was in the time of my youth; nor can I say +that, in the works of peace-making and charity, I have done all that I +should have done. But I have done my best, studying no interest but the +good that was to rise according to the faith in Christ Jesus. + +“To my young friends I would, as a parting word, say, look to the lives +and conversation of your parents—they were plain, honest, and devout +Christians, fearing God and honouring the King. They believed the Bible +was the word of God; and, when they practised its precepts, they found, +by the good that came from them, that it was truly so. They bore in mind +the tribulation and persecution of their forefathers for righteousness’ +sake, and were thankful for the quiet and protection of the government in +their day and generation. Their land was tilled with industry, and they +ate the bread of carefulness with a contented spirit, and, verily, they +had the reward of well-doing even in this world; for they beheld on all +sides the blessing of God upon the nation, and the tree growing, and the +plough going where the banner of the oppressor was planted of old, and +the war-horse trampled in the blood of martyrs. Reflect on this, my +young friends, and know, that the best part of a Christian’s duty in this +world of much evil, is to thole and suffer with resignation, as lang as +it is possible for human nature to do. I do not counsel passive +obedience: that is a doctrine that the Church of Scotland can never +abide; but the divine right of resistance, which, in the days of her +trouble, she so bravely asserted against popish and prelatic usurpations, +was never resorted to till the attempt was made to remove the ark of the +tabernacle from her. I therefore counsel you, my young friends, not to +lend your ears to those that trumpet forth their hypothetical politics; +but to believe that the laws of the land are administered with a good +intent, till in your own homes and dwellings ye feel the presence of the +oppressor—then, and not till then, are ye free to gird your loins for +battle—and woe to him, and woe to the land where that is come to, if the +sword be sheathed till the wrong be redressed. + +“As for you, my old companions, many changes have we seen in our day; but +the change that we ourselves are soon to undergo will be the greatest of +all. We have seen our bairns grow to manhood—we have seen the beauty of +youth pass away—we have felt our backs become unable for the burthen, and +our right hand forget its cunning.—Our eyes have become dim, and our +heads grey—we are now tottering with short and feckless steps towards the +grave; and some, that should have been here this day, are bed-rid, lying, +as it were, at the gates of death, like Lazarus at the threshold of the +rich man’s door, full of ails and sores, and having no enjoyment but in +the hope that is in hereafter. What can I say to you but farewell! Our +work is done—we are weary and worn out, and in need of rest—may the rest +of the blessed be our portion!—and in the sleep that all must sleep, +beneath the cold blanket of the kirkyard grass, and on that clay pillow +where we must shortly lay our heads, may we have pleasant dreams, till we +are awakened to partake of the everlasting banquet of the saints in +glory!” + +When I had finished, there was for some time a great solemnity throughout +the kirk; and, before giving the blessing, I sat down to compose myself, +for my heart was big, and my spirit oppressed with sadness. + +As I left the pulpit, all the elders stood on the steps to hand me down, +and the tear was in every eye, and they helped me into the session-house; +but I could not speak to them, nor them to me. Then Mr. Dalziel, who was +always a composed and sedate man, said a few words of prayer, and I was +comforted therewith, and rose to go home to the manse; but in the +churchyard all the congregation was assembled, young and old, and they +made a lane for me to the back-yett that opened into the +manse-garden—Some of them put out their hands and touched me as I passed, +followed by the elders, and some of them wept. It was as if I was +passing away, and to be no more—verily, it was the reward of my +ministry—a faithful account of which, year by year, I now sit down, in +the evening of my days, to make up, to the end that I may bear witness to +the work of a beneficent Providence, even in the narrow sphere of my +parish, and the concerns of that flock of which it was His most gracious +pleasure to make me the unworthy shepherd. + + + + +CHAPTER I +YEAR 1760 + + +THE Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and sixty, was remarkable for +three things in the parish of Dalmailing.—First and foremost, there was +my placing; then the coming of Mrs. Malcolm with her five children to +settle among us; and next, my marriage upon my own cousin, Miss Betty +Lanshaw, by which the account of this year naturally divides itself into +three heads or portions. + +First, of the placing.—It was a great affair; for I was put in by the +patron, and the people knew nothing whatsoever of me, and their hearts +were stirred into strife on the occasion, and they did all that lay +within the compass of their power to keep me out, insomuch, that there +was obliged to be a guard of soldiers to protect the presbytery; and it +was a thing that made my heart grieve when I heard the drum beating and +the fife playing as we were going to the kirk. The people were really +mad and vicious, and flung dirt upon us as we passed, and reviled us all, +and held out the finger of scorn at me; but I endured it with a resigned +spirit, compassionating their wilfulness and blindness. Poor old Mr. +Kilfuddy of the Braehill got such a clash of glar on the side of his +face, that his eye was almost extinguished. + +When we got to the kirk door, it was found to be nailed up, so as by no +possibility to be opened. The sergeant of the soldiers wanted to break +it, but I was afraid that the heritors would grudge and complain of the +expense of a new door, and I supplicated him to let it be as it was: we +were, therefore, obligated to go in by a window, and the crowd followed +us in the most unreverent manner, making the Lord’s house like an inn on +a fair day, with their grievous yellyhooing. During the time of the +psalm and the sermon, they behaved themselves better, but when the +induction came on, their clamour was dreadful; and Thomas Thorl, the +weaver, a pious zealot in that time, he got up and protested, and said, +“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into +the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a +robber.” And I thought I would have a hard and sore time of it with such +an outstrapolous people. Mr. Given, that was then the minister of +Lugton, was a jocose man, and would have his joke even at a solemnity. +When the laying of the hands upon me was adoing, he could not get near +enough to put on his, but he stretched out his staff and touched my head, +and said, to the great diversion of the rest, “This will do well enough, +timber to timber;” but it was an unfriendly saying of Mr. Given, +considering the time and the place, and the temper of my people. + + [Picture: The Souter] + +After the ceremony, we then got out at the window, and it was a heavy day +to me; but we went to the manse, and there we had an excellent dinner, +which Mrs. Watts of the new inns of Irville {9} prepared at my request, +and sent her chaise-driver to serve, for he was likewise her waiter, she +having then but one chaise, and that no often called for. + +But, although my people received me in this unruly manner, I was resolved +to cultivate civility among them, and therefore, the very next morning I +began a round of visitations; but, oh! it was a steep brae that I had to +climb, and it needed a stout heart. For I found the doors in some places +barred against me; in others, the bairns, when they saw me coming, ran +crying to their mothers, “Here’s the feckless Mess-John!” and then, when +I went into the houses, their parents wouldna ask me to sit down, but +with a scornful way, said, “Honest man, what’s your pleasure here?” +Nevertheless, I walked about from door to door like a dejected beggar, +till I got the almous deed of a civil reception—and who would have +thought it?—from no less a person than the same Thomas Thorl that was so +bitter against me in the kirk on the foregoing day. + +Thomas was standing at the door with his green duffle apron, and his red +Kilmarnock nightcap—I mind him as well as if it was but yesterday—and he +had seen me going from house to house, and in what manner I was rejected, +and his bowels were moved, and he said to me in a kind manner, “Come in, +sir, and ease yoursel’: this will never do, the clergy are God’s gorbies, +and for their Master’s sake it behoves us to respect them. There was no +ane in the whole parish mair against you than mysel’; but this early +visitation is a symptom of grace that I couldna have expectit from a bird +out the nest of patronage.” I thanked Thomas, and went in with him, and +we had some solid conversation together, and I told him that it was not +so much the pastor’s duty to feed the flock, as to herd them well; and +that, although there might be some abler with the head than me, there +wasna a he within the bounds of Scotland more willing to watch the fold +by night and by day. And Thomas said he had not heard a mair sound +observe for some time, and that, if I held to that doctrine in the +poopit, it wouldna be lang till I would work a change.—“I was mindit,” +quoth he, “never to set my foot within the kirk door while you were +there; but to testify, and no to condemn without a trial, I’ll be there +next Lord’s day, and egg my neighbours to be likewise, so ye’ll no have +to preach just to the bare walls and the laird’s family.” + +I have now to speak of the coming of Mrs. Malcolm.—She was the widow of a +Clyde shipmaster, that was lost at sea with his vessel. She was a genty +body, calm and methodical. From morning to night she sat at her wheel, +spinning the finest lint, which suited well with her pale hands. She +never changed her widow’s weeds, and she was aye as if she had just been +ta’en out of a bandbox. The tear was aften in her e’e when the bairns +were at the school; but when they came home, her spirit was lighted up +with gladness, although, poor woman, she had many a time very little to +give them. They were, however, wonderful well-bred things, and took with +thankfulness whatever she set before them; for they knew that their +father, the breadwinner, was away, and that she had to work sore for +their bit and drap. I dare say, the only vexation that ever she had from +any of them, on their own account, was when Charlie, the eldest laddie, +had won fourpence at pitch-and-toss at the school, which he brought home +with a proud heart to his mother. I happened to be daunrin’ by at the +time, and just looked in at the door to say gude-night: it was a sad +sight. There was she sitting with the silent tear on her cheek, and +Charlie greeting as if he had done a great fault, and the other four +looking on with sorrowful faces. Never, I am sure, did Charlie Malcolm +gamble after that night. + +I often wondered what brought Mrs. Malcolm to our clachan, instead of +going to a populous town, where she might have taken up a huxtry-shop, as +she was but of a silly constitution, the which would have been better for +her than spinning from morning to far in the night, as if she was in +verity drawing the thread of life. But it was, no doubt, from an honest +pride to hide her poverty; for when her daughter Effie was ill with the +measles—the poor lassie was very ill—nobody thought she could come +through, and when she did get the turn, she was for many a day a heavy +handful;—our session being rich, and nobody on it but cripple Tammy +Daidles, that was at that time known through all the country side for +begging on a horse, I thought it my duty to call upon Mrs. Malcolm in a +sympathising way, and offer her some assistance, but she refused it. + +“No, sir,” said she, “I canna take help from the poor’s-box, although +it’s very true that I am in great need; for it might hereafter be cast up +to my bairns, whom it may please God to restore to better circumstances +when I am no to see’t; but I would fain borrow five pounds, and if, sir, +you will write to Mr. Maitland, that is now the Lord Provost of Glasgow, +and tell him that Marion Shaw would be obliged to him for the lend of +that soom, I think he will not fail to send it.” + +I wrote the letter that night to Provost Maitland, and, by the retour of +the post, I got an answer, with twenty pounds for Mrs. Malcolm, saying, +“That it was with sorrow he heard so small a trifle could be +serviceable.” When I took the letter and the money, which was in a +bank-bill, she said, “This is just like himsel’.” She then told me that +Mr. Maitland had been a gentleman’s son of the east country, but driven +out of his father’s house, when a laddie, by his stepmother; and that he +had served as a servant lad with her father, who was the Laird of +Yillcogie, but ran through his estate, and left her, his only daughter, +in little better than beggary with her auntie, the mother of Captain +Malcolm, her husband that was. Provost Maitland in his servitude had +ta’en a notion of her; and when he recovered his patrimony, and had +become a great Glasgow merchant, on hearing how she was left by her +father, he offered to marry her, but she had promised herself to her +cousin the captain, whose widow she was. He then married a rich lady, +and in time grew, as he was, Lord Provost of the city; but his letter +with the twenty pounds to me, showed that he had not forgotten his first +love. It was a short, but a well-written letter, in a fair hand of +write, containing much of the true gentleman; and Mrs. Malcolm said, “Who +knows but out of the regard he once had for their mother, he may do +something for my five helpless orphans.” + +Thirdly, Upon the subject of taking my cousin, Miss Betty Lanshaw, for my +first wife, I have little to say.—It was more out of a compassionate +habitual affection, than the passion of love. We were brought up by our +grandmother in the same house, and it was a thing spoken of from the +beginning, that Betty and me were to be married. So, when she heard that +the Laird of Breadland had given me the presentation of Dalmailing, she +began to prepare for the wedding; and as soon as the placing was well +over, and the manse in order, I gaed to Ayr, where she was, and we were +quietly married, and came home in a chaise, bringing with us her little +brother Andrew, that died in the East Indies, and he lived and was +brought up by us. + +Now, this is all, I think, that happened in that year worthy of being +mentioned, except that at the sacrament, when old Mr. Kilfuddy was +preaching in the tent, it came on such a thunder-plump, that there was +not a single soul stayed in the kirkyard to hear him; for the which he +was greatly mortified, and never after came to our preachings. + + + + +CHAPTER II +YEAR 1761 + + +IT was in this year that the great smuggling trade corrupted all the west +coast, especially the laigh lands about the Troon and the Loans. The tea +was going like the chaff, the brandy like well-water, and the wastrie of +all things was terrible. There was nothing minded but the riding of +cadgers by day, and excisemen by night—and battles between the smugglers +and the king’s men, both by sea and land. There was a continual +drunkenness and debauchery; and our session, that was but on the lip of +this whirlpool of iniquity, had an awful time o’t. I did all that was in +the power of nature to keep my people from the contagion: I preached +sixteen times from the text, “Render to Cæsar the things that are +Cæsar’s.” I visited, and I exhorted; I warned, and I prophesied; I told +them that, although the money came in like sclate stones, it would go +like the snow off the dyke. But for all I could do, the evil got in +among us, and we had no less than three contested bastard bairns upon our +hands at one time, which was a thing never heard of in a parish of the +shire of Ayr since the Reformation. Two of the bairns, after no small +sifting and searching, we got fathered at last; but the third, that was +by Meg Glaiks, and given to one Rab Rickerton, was utterly refused, +though the fact was not denied; but he was a termagant fellow, and +snappit his fingers at the elders. The next day he listed in the Scotch +Greys, who were then quartered at Ayr, and we never heard more of him, +but thought he had been slain in battle, till one of the parish, about +three years since, went up to London to lift a legacy from a cousin that +died among the Hindoos. When he was walking about, seeing the +curiosities, and among others Chelsea Hospital, he happened to speak to +some of the invalids, who found out from his tongue that he was a +Scotchman; and speaking to the invalids, one of them, a very old man, +with a grey head and a leg of timber, inquired what part of Scotland he +was come from; and when he mentioned my parish, the invalid gave a great +shout, and said he was from the same place himself; and who should this +old man be, but the very identical Rab Rickerton, that was art and part +in Meg Glaiks’ disowned bairn. Then they had a long converse together, +and he had come through many hardships, but had turned out a good +soldier; and so, in his old days, was an indoor pensioner, and very +comfortable; and he said that he had, to be sure, spent his youth in the +devil’s service, and his manhood in the king’s, but his old age was given +to that of his Maker, which I was blithe and thankful to hear; and he +enquired about many a one in the parish, the blooming and the green of +his time, but they were all dead and buried; and he had a contrite and +penitent spirit, and read his Bible every day, delighting most in the +Book of Joshua, the Chronicles, and the Kings. + +Before this year, the drinking of tea was little known in the parish, +saving among a few of the heritors’ houses on a Sabbath evening; but now +it became very rife: yet the commoner sort did not like to let it be +known that they were taking to the new luxury, especially the elderly +women, who, for that reason, had their ploys in out-houses and by-places, +just as the witches lang syne had their sinful possets and +galravitchings; and they made their tea for common in the pint-stoup, and +drank it out of caps and luggies, for there were but few among them that +had cups and saucers. Well do I remember one night in harvest, in this +very year, as I was taking my twilight dauner aneath the hedge along the +back side of Thomas Thorl’s yard, meditating on the goodness of +Providence, and looking at the sheaves of victual on the field, that I +heard his wife, and two three other carlins, with their Bohea in the +inside of the hedge, and no doubt but it had a lacing of the conek, {17} +for they were all cracking like pen-guns. But I gave them a sign, by a +loud host, that Providence sees all, and it skailed the bike; for I heard +them, like guilty creatures, whispering, and gathering up their +truck-pots and trenchers, and cowering away home. + +It was in this year that Patrick Dilworth (he had been schoolmaster of +the parish from the time, as his wife said, of Anna Regina, and before +the Rexes came to the crown), was disabled by a paralytic, and the +heritors, grudging the cost of another schoolmaster as long as he lived, +would not allow the session to get his place supplied, which was a wrong +thing, I must say, of them; for the children of the parishioners were +obliged, therefore, to go to the neighbouring towns for their schooling, +and the custom was to take a piece of bread and cheese in their pockets +for dinner, and to return in the evening always voracious for more, the +long walk helping the natural crave of their young appetites. In this +way Mrs. Malcolm’s two eldest laddies, Charlie and Robert, were wont to +go to Irville, and it was soon seen that they kept themselves aloof from +the other callans in the clachan, and had a genteeler turn than the +grulshy bairns of the cottars. Her bit lassies, Kate and Effie, were +better off; for some years before, Nanse Banks had taken up a teaching in +a garret-room of a house, at the corner where John Bayne has biggit the +sclate-house for his grocery-shop. Nanse learnt them reading and working +stockings, and how to sew the semplar, for twal-pennies a-week. She was +a patient creature, well cut out for her calling, with blear een, a pale +face, and a long neck, but meek and contented withal, tholing the dule of +this world with a Christian submission of the spirit; and her garret-room +was a cordial of cleanliness, for she made the scholars set the house in +order, time and time about, every morning; and it was a common remark for +many a day, that the lassies, who had been at Nanse Banks’s school, were +always well spoken of, both for their civility, and the trigness of their +houses when they were afterwards married. In short, I do not know, that +in all the long epoch of my ministry, any individual body did more to +improve the ways of the parishioners, in their domestic concerns, than +did that worthy and innocent creature, Nanse Banks, the schoolmistress; +and she was a great loss when she was removed, as it is to be hoped, to a +better world; but anent this I shall have to speak more at large +hereafter. + +It was in this year that my patron, the Laird of Breadland, departed this +life, and I preached his funeral sermon; but he was non-beloved in the +parish; for my people never forgave him for putting me upon them, +although they began to be more on a familiar footing with myself. This +was partly owing to my first wife, Betty Lanshaw, who was an active +throughgoing woman, and wonderfu’ useful to many of the cottars’ wives at +their lying-in; and when a death happened among them, her helping hand, +and any thing we had at the manse, was never wanting; and I went about +myself to the bedsides of the frail, leaving no stone unturned to win the +affections of my people, which, by the blessing of the Lord, in process +of time, was brought to a bearing. + +But a thing happened in this year, which deserves to be recorded, as +manifesting what effect the smuggling was beginning to take in the morals +of the country side. One Mr. Macskipnish, of Highland parentage, who had +been a valet-de-chambre with a major in the campaigns, and taken a +prisoner with him by the French, he having come home in a cartel, took up +a dancing-school at Irville, the which art he had learnt in the +genteelest fashion, in the mode of Paris, at the French court. Such a +thing as a dancing-school had never, in the memory of man, been known in +our country side; and there was such a sound about the steps and +cottillions of Mr. Macskipnish, that every lad and lass, that could spare +time and siller, went to him, to the great neglect of their work. The +very bairns on the loan, instead of their wonted play, gaed linking and +louping in the steps of Mr. Macskipnish, who was, to be sure, a great +curiosity, with long spindle legs, his breast shot out like a duck’s, and +his head powdered and frizzled up like a tappit-hen. He was, indeed, the +proudest peacock that could be seen, and he had a ring on his finger, and +when he came to drink his tea at the Breadland, he brought no hat on his +head, but a droll cockit thing under his arm, which, he said, was after +the manner of the courtiers at the petty suppers of one Madam Pompadour, +who was at that time the concubine of the French king. + +I do not recollect any other remarkable thing that happened in this year. +The harvest was very abundant, and the meal so cheap, that it caused a +great defect in my stipend; so that I was obligated to postpone the +purchase of a mahogany scrutoire for my study, as I had intended. But I +had not the heart to complain of this: on the contrary, I rejoiced +thereat; for what made me want my scrutoire till another year, had +carried blitheness into the hearth of the cottar, and made the widow’s +heart sing with joy; and I would have been an unnatural creature, had I +not joined in the universal gladness, because plenty did abound. + + + + +CHAPTER III +YEAR 1762 + + +THE third year of my ministry was long held in remembrance for several +very memorable things. William Byres of the Loanhead had a cow that +calved two calves at one calving; Mrs. Byres, the same year, had twins, +male and female; and there was such a crop on his fields, testifying that +the Lord never sends a mouth into the world without providing meat for +it. But what was thought a very daunting sign of something, happened on +the Sacrament Sabbath at the conclusion of the action sermon, when I had +made a very suitable discourse. The day was tempestuous, and the wind +blew with such a pith and birr, that I thought it would have twirled the +trees in the kirkyard out by the roots, and, blowing in this manner, it +tirled the thack from the rigging of the manse stable; and the same blast +that did that, took down the lead that was on the kirk-roof, which hurled +off, as I was saying, at the conclusion of the action sermon, with such a +dreadful sound, as the like was never heard, and all the congregation +thought that it betokened a mutation to me. However, nothing particular +happened to me; but the smallpox came in among the weans of the parish, +and the smashing that it made of the poor bits o’ bairns was indeed +woeful. + +One Sabbath, when the pestilence was raging, I preached a sermon about +Rachel weeping for her children, which Thomas Thorl, who was surely a +great judge of good preaching, said, “was a monument of divinity whilk +searched the heart of many a parent that day;” a thing I was well pleased +to hear, for Thomas, as I have related at length, was the most zealous +champion against my getting the parish; but, from this time, I set him +down in my mind for the next vacancy among the elders. Worthy man! it +was not permitted him to arrive at that honour. In the fall of that year +he took an income in his legs, and couldna go about, and was laid up for +the remainder of his days, a perfect Lazarus, by the fire-side. But he +was well supported in his affliction. In due season, when it pleased Him +that alone can give and take, to pluck him from this life, as the fruit +ripened and ready for the gathering, his death, to all that knew him, was +a gentle dispensation, for truly he had been in sore trouble. + +It was in this year that Charlie Malcolm, Mrs. Malcolm’s eldest son, was +sent to be a cabin-boy in the Tobacco trader, a three-masted ship, that +sailed between Port-Glasgow and Virginia in America. She was commanded +by Captain Dickie, an Irville man; for at that time the Clyde was +supplied with the best sailors from our coast, the coal-trade with +Ireland being a better trade for bringing up good mariners than the long +voyages in the open sea; which was the reason, as I often heard said, why +the Clyde shipping got so many of their men from our country side. The +going to sea of Charlie Malcolm was, on divers accounts, a very +remarkable thing to us all; for he was the first that ever went from our +parish, in the memory of man, to be a sailor, and everybody was concerned +at it, and some thought it was a great venture of his mother to let him, +his father having been lost at sea. But what could the forlorn widow do? +She had five weans, and little to give them; and, as she herself said, he +was aye in the hand of his Maker, go where he might; and the will of God +would be done, in spite of all earthly wiles and devices to the contrary. + + [Picture: Preparing for the Kirk] + +On the Monday morning, when Charlie was to go away to meet the Irville +carrier on the road, we were all up, and I walked by myself from the +manse into the clachan to bid him farewell, and I met him just coming +from his mother’s door, as blithe as a bee, in his sailor’s dress, with a +stick, and a bundle tied in a Barcelona silk handkerchief hanging o’er +his shoulder, and his two little brothers were with him, and his sisters, +Kate and Effie, looking out from the door all begreeten; but his mother +was in the house, praying to the Lord to protect her orphan, as she +afterwards told me. All the weans of the clachan were gathered at the +kirkyard yett to see him pass, and they gave him three great shouts as he +was going by; and everybody was at their doors, and said something +encouraging to him; but there was a great laugh when auld Mizy Spaewell +came hirpling with her bauchle in her hand, and flung it after him for +good-luck. Mizy had a wonderful faith in freats, and was just an oracle +of sagacity at expounding dreams, and bodes of every sort and +description—besides, she was reckoned one of the best howdies in her day; +but by this time she was grown frail and feckless, and she died the same +year on Hallowe’en, which made everybody wonder that it should have so +fallen out for her to die on Hallowe’en. + +Shortly after the departure of Charlie Malcolm, the Lady of Breadland, +with her three daughters, removed to Edinburgh, where the young laird, +that had been my pupil, was learning to be an advocate, and the +Breadland-house was set to Major Gilchrist, a nabob from India; but he +was a narrow ailing man, and his maiden-sister, Miss Girzie, was the +scrimpetest creature that could be; so that, in their hands, all the +pretty policy of the Breadlands, that had cost a power of money to the +old laird that was my patron, fell into decay and disorder; and the bonny +yew-trees that were cut into the shape of peacocks, soon grew out of all +shape, and are now doleful monuments of the major’s tack, and that of +Lady Skimmilk, as Miss Girzie Gilchrist, his sister, was nick-named by +every ane that kent her. + +But it was not so much on account of the neglect of the Breadland, that +the incoming of Major Gilchrist was to be deplored. The old men that had +a light labour in keeping the policy in order, were thrown out of bread, +and could do little; and the poor women that whiles got a bit and a drap +from the kitchen of the family, soon felt the change, so that by little +and little we were obligated to give help from the session; insomuch +that, before the end of the year, I was necessitated to preach a +discourse on almsgiving, specially for the benefit of our own poor, a +thing never before known in the parish. + +But one good thing came from the Gilchrists to Mrs. Malcolm. Miss +Girzie, whom they called Lady Skimmilk, had been in a very penurious way +as a seamstress, in the Gorbals of Glasgow, while her brother was making +the fortune in India, and she was a clever needle-woman—none better, as +it was said; and she, having some things to make, took Kate Malcolm to +help her in the coarse work; and Kate, being a nimble and birky thing, +was so useful to the lady, and the complaining man the major, that they +invited her to stay with them at the Breadland for the winter, where, +although she was holden to her seam from morning to night, her food +lightened the hand of her mother, who, for the first time since her +coming into the parish, found the penny for the day’s darg more than was +needed for the meal-basin; and the tea-drinking was beginning to spread +more openly, insomuch that, by the advice of the first Mrs. Balwhidder, +Mrs. Malcolm took in tea to sell, and in this way was enabled to eke +something to the small profits of her wheel. Thus the tide that had been +so long ebbing to her, began to turn; and here I am bound in truth to +say, that although I never could abide the smuggling, both on its own +account, and the evils that grew therefrom to the country side, I lost +some of my dislike to the tea after Mrs. Malcolm began to traffic in it, +and we then had it for our breakfast in the morning at the manse, as well +as in the afternoon. But what I thought most of it for was, that it did +no harm to the head of the drinkers, which was not always the case with +the possets that were in fashion before. There is no meeting now in the +summer evenings, as I remember often happened in my younger days, with +decent ladies coming home with red faces, tosy and cosh, from a +posset-masking; so, both for its temperance and on account of Mrs. +Malcolm’s sale, I refrained from the November in this year to preach +against tea; but I never lifted the weight of my displeasure from off the +smuggling trade, until it was utterly put down by the strong hand of +government. + +There was no other thing of note in this year, saving only that I planted +in the garden the big pear-tree, which had the two great branches that we +call the Adam and Eve. I got the plant, then a sapling, from Mr. Graft, +that was Lord Eaglesham’s head-gardener; and he said it was, as indeed +all the parish now knows well, a most juicy sweet pear, such as was not +known in Scotland till my lord brought down the father plant from the +king’s garden in London, in the forty-five when he went up to testify his +loyalty to the House of Hanover. + + + + +CHAPTER IV +YEAR 1763 + + +THE An. Dom. 1763, was, in many a respect, a memorable year, both in +public and in private. The King granted peace to the French, and Charlie +Malcolm, that went to sea in the Tobacco trader, came home to see his +mother. The ship, after being at America, had gone down to Jamaica, an +island in the West Indies, with a cargo of live lumber, as Charlie told +me himself, and had come home with more than a hundred and fifty hoggits +of sugar, and sixty-three puncheons full of rum; for she was, by all +accounts, a stately galley, and almost two hundred tons in the burthen, +being the largest vessel then sailing from the creditable town of +Port-Glasgow. Charlie was not expected; and his coming was a great thing +to us all, so I will mention the whole particulars. + +One evening, towards the gloaming, as I was taking my walk of meditation, +I saw a brisk sailor laddie coming towards me. He had a pretty green +parrot sitting on a bundle, tied in a Barcelona silk handkerchief, which +he carried with a stick over his shoulder, and in this bundle was a +wonderful big nut, such as no one in our parish had ever seen. It was +called a cocker-nut. This blithe callant was Charlie Malcolm, who had +come all the way that day his leeful lane, on his own legs from Greenock, +where the Tobacco trader was then ’livering her cargo. I told him how +his mother, and his brothers, and his sisters were all in good health, +and went to convoy him home; and as we were going along, he told me many +curious things, and he gave me six beautiful yellow limes, that he had +brought in his pouch all the way across the seas, for me to make a bowl +of punch with, and I thought more of them than if they had been golden +guineas, it was so mindful of the laddie. + +When we got to the door of his mother’s house, she was sitting at the +fireside, with her three other bairns at their bread and milk, Kate being +then with Lady Skimmilk, at the Breadland, sewing. It was between the +day and dark, when the shuttle stands still till the lamp is lighted. +But such a shout of joy and thankfulness as rose from that hearth, when +Charlie went in! The very parrot, ye would have thought, was a +participator, for the beast gied a skraik that made my whole head dirl; +and the neighbours came flying and flocking to see what was the matter, +for it was the first parrot ever seen within the bounds of the parish, +and some thought it was but a foreign hawk, with a yellow head and green +feathers. + +In the midst of all this, Effie Malcolm had run off to the Breadland for +her sister Kate, and the two lassies came flying breathless, with Miss +Girzie Gilchrist, the Lady Skimmilk, pursuing them like desperation, or a +griffin, down the avenue; for Kate, in her hurry, had flung down her +seam, a new printed gown, that she was helping to make, and it had fallen +into a boyne of milk that was ready for the creaming, by which issued a +double misfortune to Miss Girzie, the gown being not only ruined, but +licking up the cream. For this, poor Kate was not allowed ever to set +her face in the Breadland again. + +When Charlie Malcolm had stayed about a week with his mother, he returned +to his berth in the Tobacco trader, and shortly after his brother Robert +was likewise sent to serve his time to the sea, with an owner that was +master of his own bark, in the coal trade at Irville. Kate, who was +really a surprising lassie for her years, was taken off her mother’s +hands by the old Lady Macadam, that lived in her jointure house, which is +now the Cross Keys Inn. Her ladyship was a woman of high breeding, her +husband having been a great general, and knighted by the king for his +exploits; but she was lame, and could not move about in her dining-room +without help; so hearing from the first Mrs. Balwhidder how Kate had done +such an unatonable deed to Miss Girzie Gilchrist, she sent for Kate, and, +finding her sharp and apt, she took her to live with her as a companion. +This was a vast advantage, for the lady was versed in all manner of +accomplishments, and could read and speak French with more ease than any +professor at that time in the College of Glasgow; and she had learnt to +sew flowers on satin, either in a nunnery abroad, or in a boarding-school +in England, and took pleasure in teaching Kate all she knew, and how to +behave herself like a lady. + +In the summer of this year, old Mr. Patrick Dilworth, that had so long +been doited with the paralytics, died, and it was a great relief to my +people, for the heritors could no longer refuse to get a proper +schoolmaster; so we took on trial Mr. Lorimore, who has ever since the +year after, with so much credit to himself, and usefulness to the parish, +been schoolmaster, session clerk, and precentor—a man of great mildness +and extraordinary particularity. He was then a very young man, and some +objection was made, on account of his youth, to his being session-clerk, +especially as the smuggling immorality still gave us much trouble in the +making up of irregular marriages; but his discretion was greater than +could have been hoped for from his years; and, after a twelvemonth’s +probation in the capacity of schoolmaster, he was installed in all the +offices that had belonged to his predecessor, old Mr. Patrick Dilworth +that was. + +But the most memorable thing that befell among my people this year, was +the burning of the lint-mill on the Lugton water, which happened, of all +the days of the year, on the very selfsame day that Miss Girzie +Gilchrist, better known as Lady Skimmilk, hired the chaise from Mrs. +Watts of the New Inns of Irville, to go with her brother, the major, to +consult the faculty in Edinburgh concerning his complaints. For, as the +chaise was coming by the mill, William Huckle, the miller that was, came +flying out of the mill like a demented man, crying fire!—and it was the +driver that brought the melancholy tidings to the clachan—and melancholy +they were; for the mill was utterly destroyed, and in it not a little of +all that year’s crop of lint in our parish. The first Mrs. Balwhidder +lost upwards of twelve stone, which we had raised on the glebe with no +small pains, watering it in the drouth, as it was intended for sarking to +ourselves, and sheets and napery. A great loss indeed it was, and the +vexation thereof had a visible effect on Mrs. Balwhidder’s health, which +from the spring had been in a dwining way. But for it, I think she might +have wrestled through the winter: however, it was ordered otherwise, and +she was removed from mine to Abraham’s bosom on Christmas-day, and buried +on Hogmanay, for it was thought uncanny to have a dead corpse in the +house on the new-year’s day. She was a worthy woman, studying with all +her capacity to win the hearts of my people towards me—in the which good +work she prospered greatly; so that, when she died, there was not a +single soul in the parish that was not contented with both my walk and +conversation. Nothing could be more peaceable than the way we lived +together. Her brother Andrew, a fine lad, I had sent to the college at +Glasgow, at my own cost; and when he came out to the burial, he stayed +with me a month, for the manse after her decease was very dull, and it +was during this visit that he gave me an inkling of his wish to go out to +India as a cadet, but the transactions anent that fall within the scope +of another year—as well as what relates to her headstone, and the epitaph +in metre, which I indicated myself thereon; John Truel the mason carving +the same, as may be seen in the kirkyard, where it wants a little +reparation and setting upright, having settled the wrong way when the +second Mrs. Balwhidder was laid by her side.—But I must not here enter +upon an anticipation. + + + + +CHAPTER V +YEAR 1764 + + +THIS year well deserved the name of the monumental year in our parish; +for the young laird of the Breadland, that had been my pupil, being +learning to be an advocate among the faculty in Edinburgh, with his lady +mother, who had removed thither with the young ladies her daughters, for +the benefit of education, sent out to be put up in the kirk, under the +loft over the family vault, an elegant marble headstone, with an epitaph +engraven thereon, in fair Latin, setting forth many excellent qualities +which the old laird, my patron that was, the inditer thereof said he +possessed. I say the inditer, because it couldna have been the young +laird himself, although he got the credit o’t on the stone, for he was +nae daub in my aught at the Latin or any other language. However, he +might improve himself at Edinburgh, where a’ manner of genteel things +were then to be got at an easy rate, and doubtless the young laird got a +probationer at the College to write the epitaph; but I have often +wondered sin’ syne, how he came to make it in Latin, for assuredly his +dead parent, if he could have seen it, could not have read a single word +o’t, notwithstanding it was so vaunty about his virtues, and other civil +and hospitable qualifications. + +The coming of the laird’s monumental stone had a great effect on me, then +in a state of deep despondency for the loss of the first Mrs. Balwhidder; +and I thought I could not do a better thing, just by way of diversion in +my heavy sorrow, than to get a well-shapen headstone made for her—which, +as I have hinted at in the record of the last year, was done and set up. +But a headstone without an epitaph, is no better than a body without the +breath of life in’t; and so it behoved me to make a poesy for the +monument, the which I conned and pondered upon for many days. I thought +as Mrs. Balwhidder, worthy woman as she was, did not understand the Latin +tongue, it would not do to put on what I had to say in that language, as +the laird had done—nor indeed would it have been easy, as I found upon +the experimenting, to tell what I had to tell in Latin, which is +naturally a crabbed language, and very difficult to write properly. I +therefore, after mentioning her age and the dates of her birth and +departure, composed in sedate poetry the following epitaph, which may yet +be seen on the tombstone. + + EPITAPH + + A lovely Christian, spouse, and friend, + Pleasant in life, and at her end.— + A pale consumption dealt the blow + That laid her here, with dust below. + Sore was the cough that shook her frame; + That cough her patience did proclaim— + And as she drew her latest breath, + She said, “The Lord is sweet in death.” + O pious reader! standing by, + Learn like this gentle one to die. + The grass doth grow and fade away, + And time runs out by night and day; + The King of Terrors has command + To strike us with his dart in hand. + Go where we will by flood or field, + He will pursue and make us yield. + But though to him we must resign + The vesture of our part divine, + There is a jewel in our trust, + That will not perish in the dust, + A pearl of price, a precious gem, + Ordained for Jesus’ diadem; + Therefore, be holy while you can, + And think upon the doom of man. + Repent in time and sin no more, + That when the strife of life is o’er, + On wings of love your soul may rise, + To dwell with angels in the skies, + Where psalms are sung eternally, + And martyrs ne’er again shall die; + But with the saints still bask in bliss, + And drink the cup of blessedness. + +This was greatly thought of at the time, and Mr. Lorimore, who had a +nerve for poesy himself in his younger years, was of opinion that it was +so much to the purpose, and suitable withal, that he made his scholars +write it out for their examination copies, at the reading whereof before +the heritors, when the examination of the school came round, the tear +came into my eye, and every one present sympathized with me in my great +affliction for the loss of the first Mrs. Balwhidder. + +Andrew Langshaw, as I have recorded, having come from the Glasgow College +to the burial of his sister, my wife that was, stayed with me a month to +keep me company; and staying with me, he was a great cordial, for the +weather was wet and sleety, and the nights were stormy, so that I could +go little out, and few of the elders came in, they being at that time old +men in a feckless condition, not at all qualified to warsle with the +blasts of winter. But when Andrew left me to go back to his classes, I +was eerie and lonesome; and but for the getting of the monument ready, +which was a blessed entertainment to me in those dreary nights, with +consulting anent the shape of it with John Truel, and meditating on the +verse for the epitaph, I might have gone altogether demented. However, +it pleased Him, who is the surety of the sinner, to help me through the +Slough of Despond, and to set my feet on firm land, establishing my way +thereon. + +But the work of the monument, and the epitaph, could not endure for a +constancy, and after it was done, I was again in great danger of sinking +into the hypochonderies a second time. However, I was enabled to fight +with my affliction, and by-and-by, as the spring began to open her green +lattice, and to set out her flower-pots to the sunshine, and the time of +the singing of birds was come, I became more composed, and like myself, +so I often walked in the fields, and held communion with nature, and +wondered at the mysteries thereof. + +On one of these occasions, as I was sauntering along the edge of +Eaglesham-wood, looking at the industrious bee going from flower to +flower, and the idle butterfly, that layeth up no store, but perisheth +ere it is winter, I felt as it were a spirit from on high descending upon +me, a throb at my heart, and a thrill in my brain, and I was transported +out of myself, and seized with the notion of writing a book—but what it +should be about, I could not settle to my satisfaction. Sometimes I +thought of an orthodox poem, like _Paradise Lost_, by John Milton, +wherein I proposed to treat more at large of Original Sin, and the great +mystery of Redemption; at others, I fancied that a connect treatise on +the efficacy of Free Grace would be more taking; but although I made +divers beginnings in both subjects, some new thought ever came into my +head, and the whole summer passed away and nothing was done. I therefore +postponed my design of writing a book till the winter, when I would have +the benefit of the long nights. Before that, however, I had other things +of more importance to think about. My servant lasses, having no eye of a +mistress over them, wastered every thing at such a rate, and made such a +galravitching in the house, that, long before the end of the year, the +year’s stipend was all spent, and I did not know what to do. At lang and +length I mustered courage to send for Mr. Auld, who was then living, and +an elder. He was a douce and discreet man, fair and well-doing in the +world, and had a better handful of strong common sense than many even of +the heritors. So I told him how I was situated, and conferred with him; +and he advised me, for my own sake, to look out for another wife as soon +as decency would allow, which he thought might very properly be after the +turn of the year, by which time the first Mrs. Balwhidder would be dead +more than twelve months; and when I mentioned my design to write a book, +he said, (and he was a man of good discretion), that the doing of the +book was a thing that would keep, but masterful servants were a growing +evil; so, upon his counselling, I resolved not to meddle with the book +till I was married again, but employ the interim, between then and the +turn of the year, in looking out for a prudent woman to be my second +wife, strictly intending, as I did perform, not to mint a word about my +choice, if I made one, till the whole twelve months and a day, from the +date of the first Mrs. Balwhidder’s interment, had run out. + + [Picture: Sabbath Morning] + +In this the hand of Providence was very visible, and lucky for me it was +that I had sent for Mr. Auld when I did send, as the very week following, +a sound began to spread in the parish, that one of my lassies had got +herself with bairn, which was an awful thing to think had happened in the +house of her master, and that master a minister of the gospel. Some +there were, for backbiting appertaineth to all conditions, that jealoused +and wondered if I had not a finger in the pie; which, when Mr. Auld +heard, he bestirred himself in such a manful and godly way in my defence, +as silenced the clash, telling that I was utterly incapable of any such +thing, being a man of a guileless heart, and a spiritual simplicity, that +would be ornamental in a child. We then had the latheron summoned before +the session, and was not long of making her confess that the father was +Nichol Snipe, Lord Glencairn’s gamekeeper; and both her and Nichol were +obligated to stand in the kirk: but Nichol was a graceless reprobate, for +he came with two coats, one buttoned behind him, and another buttoned +before him, and two wigs of my lord’s, lent him by the valet-de-chamer; +the one over his face, and the other in the right way; and he stood with +his face to the church-wall. When I saw him from the poopit, I said to +him—“Nichol, you must turn your face towards me!” At the which, he +turned round to be sure, but there he presented the same show as his +back. I was confounded, and did not know what to say, but cried out with +a voice of anger—“Nichol, Nichol! if ye had been a’ back, ye wouldna hae +been there this day;” which had such an effect on the whole congregation, +that the poor fellow suffered afterwards more derision, than if I had +rebuked him in the manner prescribed by the session. + +This affair, with the previous advice of Mr. Auld, was, however, a +warning to me, that no pastor of his parish should be long without a +helpmate. Accordingly, as soon as the year was out, I set myself +earnestly about the search for one; but as the particulars fall properly +within the scope and chronicle of the next year, I must reserve them for +it; and I do not recollect that any thing more particular befell in this, +excepting that William Mutchkins, the father of Mr. Mutchkins, the great +spirit-dealer in Glasgow, set up a change-house in the clachan, which was +the first in the parish, and which, if I could have helped, would have +been the last; for it was opening a howf to all manner of wickedness, and +was an immediate get and offspring of the smuggling trade, against which +I had so set my countenance. But William Mutchkins himself was a +respectable man, and no house could be better ordered than his change. +At a stated hour he made family worship, for he brought up his children +in the fear of God and the Christian religion; and although the house was +full, he would go in to the customers, and ask them if they would want +anything for half an hour, for that he was going to make exercise with +his family; and many a wayfaring traveller has joined in the prayer. +There is no such thing, I fear, nowadays, of publicans entertaining +travellers in this manner. + + + + +CHAPTER VI +YEAR 1765 + + +AS there was little in the last year that concerned the parish, but only +myself, so in this the like fortune continued; and saving a rise in the +price of barley, occasioned, as was thought, by the establishment of a +house for brewing whisky in a neighbouring parish, it could not be said +that my people were exposed to the mutations and influences of the stars, +which ruled in the seasons of Ann. Dom. 1765. In the winter there was a +dearth of fuel, such as has not been since; for when the spring loosened +the bonds of the ice, three new coal-heughs were shanked in the Douray +moor, and ever since there has been a great plenty of that necessary +article. Truly, it is very wonderful to see how things come round. When +the talk was about the shanking of their heughs, and a paper to get folk +to take shares in them, was carried through the circumjacent parishes, it +was thought a gowk’s errand; but no sooner was the coal reached, but up +sprung such a traffic, that it was a godsend to the parish, and the +opening of a trade and commerce, that has, to use an old byword, brought +gold in gowpins amang us. From that time my stipend has been on the +regular increase, and therefore I think that the incoming of the heritors +must have been in like manner augmented. + +Soon after this, the time was drawing near for my second marriage. I had +placed my affections, with due consideration, on Miss Lizy Kibbock, the +well brought-up daughter of Mr. Joseph Kibbock of the Gorbyholm, who was +the first that made a speculation in the farming way in Ayrshire, and +whose cheese were of such an excellent quality, that they have, under the +name of Delap-cheese, spread far and wide over the civilized world. Miss +Lizy and me were married on the 29th day of April, with some +inconvenience to both sides, on account of the dread that we had of being +married in May; for it is said— + + “Of the marriages in May, + The bairns die of a decay.” + +However, married we were, and we hired the Irville chaise, and with Miss +Jenny her sister, and Becky Cairns her niece, who sat on a portmanty at +our feet, we went on a pleasure jaunt to Glasgow, where we bought a +miracle of useful things for the manse, that neither the first Mrs. +Balwhidder nor me ever thought of; but the second Mrs. Balwhidder that +was, had a geni for management, and it was extraordinary what she could +go through. Well may I speak of her with commendations; for she was the +bee that made my honey, although at first things did not go so clear with +us. For she found the manse rookit and herrit, and there was such a +supply of plenishing of all sort wanted, that I thought myself ruined and +undone by her care and industry. There was such a buying of wool to make +blankets, with a booming of the meikle wheel to spin the same, and such +birring of the little wheel for sheets and napery, that the manse was for +many a day like an organ kist. Then we had milk cows, and the calves to +bring up, and a kirning of butter, and a making of cheese; in short, I +was almost by myself with the jangle and din, which prevented me from +writing a book as I had proposed, and I for a time thought of the +peaceful and kindly nature of the first Mrs. Balwhidder with a sigh; but +the outcoming was soon manifest. The second Mrs. Balwhidder sent her +butter on the market-days to Irville, and her cheese from time to time to +Glasgow, to Mrs. Firlot, that kept the huxtry in the Saltmarket; and they +were both so well made, that our dairy was just a coining of money, +insomuch that, after the first year, we had the whole tot of my stipend +to put untouched into the bank. + +But I must say, that although we were thus making siller like sclate +stones, I was not satisfied in my own mind that I had got the manse +merely to be a factory of butter and cheese, and to breed up veal calves +for the slaughter; so I spoke to the second Mrs. Balwhidder, and pointed +out to her what I thought the error of our way; but she had been so +ingrained with the profitable management of cows and grumphies in her +father’s house, that she could not desist, at the which I was greatly +grieved. By-and-by, however, I began to discern that there was something +as good in her example, as the giving of alms to the poor folk; for all +the wives of the parish were stirred up by it into a wonderful thrift, +and nothing was heard of in every house, but of quiltings and wabs to +weave; insomuch that, before many years came round, there was not a +better stocked parish, with blankets and napery, than mine was, within +the bounds of Scotland. + +It was about the Michaelmas of this year that Mrs. Malcolm opened her +shop, which she did chiefly on the advice of Mrs. Balwhidder, who said it +was far better to allow a little profit on the different haberdasheries +that might be wanted, than to send to the neighbouring towns an end’s +errand on purpose for them, none of the lasses that were so sent ever +thinking of making less than a day’s play on every such occasion. In a +word, it is not to be told how the second Mrs. Balwhidder, my wife, +showed the value of flying time, even to the concerns of this world, and +was the mean of giving a life and energy to the housewifery of the +parish, that has made many a one beek his shins in comfort, that would +otherwise have had but a cold coal to blow at. Indeed, Mr. Kibbock, her +father, was a man beyond the common, and had an insight of things, by +which he was enabled to draw profit and advantage, where others could +only see risk and detriment. He planted mounts of fir-trees on the bleak +and barren tops of the hills of his farm, the which everybody, and I +among the rest, considered as a thrashing of the water and raising of +bells. But as his rack ran his trees grew, and the plantations supplied +him with stabs to make _stake and rice_ between his fields, which soon +gave them a trig and orderly appearance, such as had never before been +seen in the west country; and his example has, in this matter, been so +followed, that I have heard travellers say, who have been in foreign +countries, that the shire of Ayr, for its bonny round green plantings on +the tops of the hills, is above comparison either with Italy or +Switzerland, where the hills are, as it were, in a state of nature. + +Upon the whole, this was a busy year in the parish, and the seeds of many +great improvements were laid. The king’s road, the which then ran +through the Vennel, was mended; but it was not till some years after, as +I shall record by-and-by, that the trust-road, as it was called, was +made, the which had the effect of turning the town inside out. + +Before I conclude, it is proper to mention that the kirk-bell, which had +to this time, from time immemorial, hung on an ash-tree, was one stormy +night cast down by the breaking of the branch, which was the cause of the +heritors agreeing to build the steeple. The clock was a mortification to +the parish from the Lady Breadland, when she died some years after. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +YEAR 1766 + + +IT was in this Ann. Dom. that the great calamity happened, the which took +place on a Sabbath evening in the month of February. Mrs. Balwhidder had +just infused or masket the tea, and we were set round the fireside, to +spend the night in an orderly and religious manner, along with Mr. and +Mrs. Petticrew, who were on a friendly visitation to the manse, the +mistress being full cousin to Mrs. Balwhidder.—Sitting, as I was saying, +at our tea, one of the servant lasses came into the room with a sort of a +panic laugh, and said, “What are ye all doing there when the Breadland’s +in a low?”—“The Breadland in a low!” cried I.—“Oh, ay!” cried she; +“bleezing at the windows and the rigging, and out at the lum, like a +killogie.” Upon the which, we all went to the door, and there, to be +sure, we did see that the Breadland was burning, the flames crackling +high out o’er the trees, and the sparks flying like a comet’s tail in the +firmament. + +Seeing this sight, I said to Mr. Petticrew, that, in the strength of the +Lord, I would go and see what could be done, for it was as plain as the +sun in the heavens that the ancient place of the Breadlands would be +destroyed; whereupon he accorded to go with me, and we walked at a lively +course to the spot, and the people from all quarters were pouring in, and +it was an awsome scene. But the burning of the house, and the droves of +the multitude, were nothing to what we saw when we got forenent the +place. There was the rafters crackling, the flames raging, the servants +running, some with bedding, some with looking-glasses, and others with +chamber utensils as little likely to be fuel to the fire, but all +testifications to the confusion and alarm. Then there was a shout, +“Whar’s Miss Girzie? whar’s the Major?” The Major, poor man, soon cast +up, lying upon a feather-bed, ill with his complaints, in the garden; but +Lady Skimmilk was nowhere to be found. At last, a figure was seen in the +upper flat, pursued by the flames, and that was Miss Girzie. Oh! it was +a terrible sight to look at her in that jeopardy at the window, with her +gold watch in the one hand and the silver teapot in the other, skreighing +like desperation for a ladder and help. But, before a ladder or help +could be found, the floor sunk down, and the roof fell in, and poor Miss +Girzie, with her idols, perished in the burning. It was a dreadful +business! I think, to this hour, how I saw her at the window, how the +fire came in behind her, and claught her like a fiery Belzebub, and bore +her into perdition before our eyes. The next morning the atomy of the +body was found among the rubbish, with a piece of metal in what had been +each of its hands, no doubt the gold watch and the silver teapot. Such +was the end of Miss Girzie; and the Breadland, which the young laird, my +pupil that was, by growing a resident at Edinburgh, never rebuilt. It +was burnt to the very ground; nothing was spared but what the servants in +the first flaught gathered up in a hurry and ran with; but no one could +tell how the Major, who was then, as it was thought by the faculty, past +the power of nature to recover, got out of the house, and was laid on the +feather-bed in the garden. However, he never got the better of that +night, and before Whitsunday he was dead too, and buried beside his +sister’s bones at the south side of the kirkyard dyke, where his cousin’s +son, that was his heir, erected the handsome monument, with the three +urns and weeping cherubims, bearing witness to the great valour of the +Major among the Hindoos, as well as other commendable virtues, for which, +as the epitaph says, he was universally esteemed and beloved, by all who +knew him, in his public and private capacity. + +But although the burning of the Breadland-House was justly called the +great calamity, on account of what happened to Miss Girzie with her gold +watch and silver teapot; yet, as Providence never fails to bring good out +of evil, it turned out a catastrophe that proved advantageous to the +parish; for the laird, instead of thinking to build it up, was advised to +let the policy out as a farm, and the tack was taken by Mr. Coulter, than +whom there had been no such man in the agriculturing line among us +before, not even excepting Mr. Kibbock of the Gorbyholm, my father-in-law +that was. Of the stabling, Mr. Coulter made a comfortable +dwelling-house; and having rugget out the evergreens and other +unprofitable plants, saving the twa ancient yew-trees which the +near-begaun Major and his sister had left to go to ruin about the +mansion-house, he turned all to production, and it was wonderful what an +increase he made the land bring forth. He was from far beyond Edinburgh, +and had got his insight among the Lothian farmers, so that he knew what +crop should follow another, and nothing could surpass the regularity of +his rigs and furrows.—Well do I remember the admiration that I had, when, +in a fine sunny morning of the first spring after he took the Breadland, +I saw his braird on what had been the cows’ grass, as even and pretty as +if it had been worked and stripped in the loom with a shuttle. Truly, +when I look back at the example he set, and when I think on the method +and dexterity of his management, I must say, that his coming to the +parish was a great godsend, and tended to do far more for the benefit of +my people, than if the young laird had rebuilded the Breadland-House in a +fashionable style, as was at one time spoken of. + +But the year of the great calamity was memorable for another thing:—in +the December foregoing, the wind blew, as I have recorded in the +chronicle of the last year, and broke down the bough of the tree whereon +the kirk-bell had hung from the time, as was supposed, of the +persecution, before the bringing over of King William. Mr. Kibbock, my +father-in-law then that was, being a man of a discerning spirit, when he +heard of the unfortunate fall of the bell, advised me to get the heritors +to big a steeple; but which, when I thought of the expense, I was afraid +to do. He, however, having a great skill in the heart of man, gave me no +rest on the subject; but told me, that if I allowed the time to go by +till the heritors were used to come to the kirk without a bell, I would +get no steeple at all. I often wondered what made Mr. Kibbock so fond of +a steeple, which is a thing that I never could see a good reason for, +saving that it is an ecclesiastical adjunct, like the gown and bands. +However, he set me on to get a steeple proposed, and after no little +argol-bargling with the heritors, it was agreed to. This was chiefly +owing to the instrumentality of Lady Moneyplack, who, in that winter, was +much subjected to the rheumatics, she having, one cold and raw Sunday +morning, there being no bell to announce the time, come half an hour too +soon to the kirk, made her bestir herself to get an interest awakened +among the heritors in behalf of a steeple. + +But when the steeple was built, a new contention arose. It was thought +that the bell, which had been used in the ash-tree, would not do in a +stone and lime fabric; so, after great agitation among the heritors, it +was resolved to sell the old bell to a foundery in Glasgow, and buy a new +bell suitable to the steeple, which was a very comely fabric. The buying +of the new bell led to other considerations, and the old Lady Breadland, +being at the time in a decaying condition, and making her will, she left +a mortification to the parish, as I have intimated, to get a clock; so +that, by the time the steeple was finished, and the bell put up, the Lady +Breadland’s legacy came to be implemented, according to the ordination of +the testatrix. + +Of the casualities that happened in this year, I should not forget to put +down, as a thing for remembrance, that an aged woman, one Nanse Birrel, a +distillator of herbs, and well skilled in the healing of sores, who had a +great repute among the quarriers and colliers—she having gone to the +physic well in the sandy hills to draw water, was found, with her feet +uppermost in the well, by some of the bairns of Mr. Lorimore’s school; +and there was a great debate whether Nanse had fallen in by accident head +foremost, or, in a temptation, thrown herself in that position, with her +feet sticking up to the evil one; for Nanse was a curious discontented +blear-eyed woman, and it was only with great ado that I could get the +people keepit from calling her a witchwife. + +I should likewise place on record, that the first ass that had ever been +seen in this part of the country, came in the course of this year with a +gang of tinklers, that made horn-spoons and mended bellows. Where they +came from never was well made out; but being a blackaviced crew, they +were generally thought to be Egyptians. They tarried about a week among +us, living in tents, with their little ones squattling among the litter; +and one of the older men of them set and tempered to me two razors, that +were as good as nothing, but which he made better than when they were +new. + + [Picture: The Old Ploughman] + +Shortly after, but I am not quite sure whether it was in the end of this +year, or the beginning of the next, although I have a notion that it was +in this, there came over from Ireland a troop of wild Irish, seeking for +work as they said; but they made free quarters, for they herrit the +roosts of the clachan, and cutted the throat of a sow of ours, the +carcass of which they no doubt intended to steal; but something came over +them, and it was found lying at the back side of the manse, to the great +vexation of Mrs. Balwhidder; for she had set her mind on a clecking of +pigs, and only waited for the China boar, that had been brought down from +London by Lord Eaglesham, to mend the breed of pork—a profitable +commodity, that her father, Mr. Kibbock, cultivated for the Glasgow +market. The destruction of our sow, under such circumstances, was +therefore held to be a great crime and cruelty, and it had the effect to +raise up such a spirit in the clachan, that the Irish were obligated to +decamp; and they set out for Glasgow, where one of them was afterwards +hanged for a fact, but the truth concerning how he did it, I either never +heard, or it has passed from my mind, like many other things I should +have carefully treasured. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +YEAR 1767 + + +ALL things in our parish were now beginning to shoot up into a great +prosperity. The spirit of farming began to get the upper hand of the +spirit of smuggling, and the coal-heughs that had been opened in the +Douray, now brought a pour of money among us. In the manse, the thrift +and frugality of the second Mrs. Balwhidder throve exceedingly, so that +we could save the whole stipend for the bank. + +The king’s highway, as I have related in the foregoing, ran through the +Vennel, which was a narrow and a crooked street, with many big stones +here and there, and every now and then, both in the spring and the fall, +a gathering of middens for the fields; insomuch that the coal-carts from +the Douray moor were often reested in the middle of the causey, and on +more than one occasion some of them laired altogether in the middens, and +others of them broke down. Great complaint was made by the carters anent +these difficulties, and there was, for many a day, a talk and sound of an +alteration and amendment; but nothing was fulfilled in the matter till +the month of March in this year, when the Lord Eaglesham was coming from +London to see the new lands that he had bought in our parish. His +lordship was a man of a genteel spirit, and very fond of his horses, +which were the most beautiful creatures of their kind that had been seen +in all the country side. Coming, as I was noting, to see his new lands, +he was obliged to pass through the clachan one day, when all the middens +were gathered out, reeking and sappy, in the middle of the causey. Just +as his lordship was driving in with his prancing steeds, like a Jehu, at +one end of the vennel, a long string of loaded coal-carts came in at the +other, and there was hardly room for my lord to pass them. What was to +be done? His lordship could not turn back, and the coal-carts were in no +less perplexity. Every body was out of doors to see and to help; when, +in trying to get his lordship’s carriage over the top of a midden, the +horses gave a sudden loup, and couped the coach, and threw my lord, head +foremost, into the very scent-bottle of the whole commodity, which made +him go perfect mad, and he swore like a trooper that he would get an act +of parliament to put down the nuisance—the which now ripened in the +course of this year into the undertaking of the trust-road. + +His lordship, being in a woeful plight, left the carriage and came to the +manse, till his servant went to the castle for a change for him; but he +could not wait nor abide himself: so he got the lend of my best suit of +clothes, and was wonderful jocose both with Mrs. Balwhidder and me, for +he was a portly man, and I but a thin body, and it was really a droll +curiosity to see his lordship clad in my garments. + +Out of this accident grew a sort of a neighbourliness between that Lord +Eaglesham and me; so that when Andrew Lanshaw, the brother that was of +the first Mrs. Balwhidder, came to think of going to India, I wrote to my +lord for his behoof, and his lordship got him sent out as a cadet, and +was extraordinary discreet to Andrew when he went up to London to take +his passage, speaking to him of me as if I had been a very saint, which +the Searcher of Hearts knows I am far from thinking myself. + +But to return to the making of the trust-road, which, as I have said, +turned the town inside out. It was agreed among the heritors, that it +should run along the back side of the south houses; and that there should +be steadings fued off on each side, according to a plan that was laid +down; and this being gone into, the town gradually, in the course of +years, grew up into that orderlyness which makes it now a pattern to the +country side—all which was mainly owing to the accident that befell the +Lord Eaglesham, which is a clear proof how improvements come about, as it +were, by the immediate instigation of Providence, which should make the +heart of man humble, and change his eyes of pride and haughtiness into a +lowly demeanour. + +But although this making of the trust-road was surely a great thing for +the parish, and of an advantage to my people, we met, in this year, with +a loss not to be compensated—that was the death of Nanse Banks, the +schoolmistress. She had been long in a weak and frail state; but being a +methodical creature, still kept on the school, laying the foundation for +many a worthy wife and mother. However, about the decline of the year +her complaints increased, and she sent for me to consult about her giving +up the school; and I went to see her on Saturday afternoon, when the bit +lassies, her scholars, had put the house in order, and gone home till the +Monday. + +She was sitting in the window-nook, reading THE WORD to herself, when I +entered; but she closed the book, and put her spectacles in for a mark +when she saw me; and, as it was expected I would come, her easy-chair, +with a clean cover, had been set out for me by the scholars, by which I +discerned that there was something more than common to happen, and so it +appeared when I had taken my seat. + +“Sir,” said she, “I hae sent for you on a thing troubles me sairly. I +have warsled with poortith in this shed, which it has pleased the Lord to +allow me to possess; but my strength is worn out, and I fear I maun yield +in the strife;” and she wiped her eye with her apron. I told her, +however, to be of good cheer; and then she said, “That she could no +longer thole the din of the school, and that she was weary, and ready to +lay herself down to die whenever the Lord was pleased to permit.” “But,” +continued she, “what can I do without the school; and, alas! I can +neither work nor want; and I am wae to go on the session, for I am come +of a decent family.” I comforted her, and told her, that I thought she +had done so much good in the parish, that the session was deep in her +debt, and that what they might give her was but a just payment for her +service. “I would rather, however, sir,” said she, “try first what some +of my auld scholars will do, and it was for that I wanted to speak with +you. If some of them would but just, from time to time, look in upon me, +that I may not die alane; and the little pick and drap that I require +would not be hard upon them—I am more sure that in this way their +gratitude would be no discredit, than I am of having any claim on the +session.” + +As I had always a great respect for an honest pride, I assured her that I +would do what she wanted; and accordingly, the very morning after, being +Sabbath, I preached a sermon on the helplessness of them that have no +help of man, meaning aged single women, living in garret-rooms, whose +forlorn state, in the gloaming of life, I made manifest to the hearts and +understandings of the congregation, in such a manner that many shed +tears, and went away sorrowful. + +Having thus roused the feelings of my people, I went round the houses on +the Monday morning, and mentioned what I had to say more particularly +about poor old Nanse Banks, the schoolmistress, and truly I was rejoiced +at the condition of the hearts of my people. There was a universal +sympathy among them; and it was soon ordered that, what with one and +another, her decay should be provided for. But it was not ordained that +she should be long heavy on their good-will. On the Monday the school +was given up, and there was nothing but wailing among the bit lassies, +the scholars, for getting the vacance, as the poor things said, because +the mistress was going to lie down to dee. And, indeed, so it came to +pass; for she took to her bed the same afternoon, and, in the course of +the week, dwindled away, and slipped out of this howling wilderness into +the kingdom of heaven, on the Sabbath following, as quietly as a blessed +saint could do. And here I should mention, that the Lady Macadam, when I +told her of Nanse Banks’s case, enquired if she was a snuffer, and, being +answered by me that she was, her ladyship sent her a pretty French enamel +box full of macabaw, a fine snuff that she had in a bottle; and, among +the macabaw, was found a guinea, at the bottom of the box, after Nanse +Banks had departed this life, which was a kind thing of Lady Macadam to +do. + +About the close of this year there was a great sough of old prophecies, +foretelling mutations and adversities, chiefly on account of the canal +that was spoken of to join the rivers of the Clyde and the Forth, it +being thought an impossible thing to be done; and the Adam and Eve +pear-tree, in our garden, budded out in an awful manner, and had divers +flourishes on it at Yule, which was thought an ominous thing, especially +as the second Mrs. Balwhidder was at the downlying with my eldest son +Gilbert, that is, the merchant in Glasgow; but nothing came o’t, and the +howdie said she had an easy time when the child came into the world, +which was on the very last day of the year, to the great satisfaction of +me, and of my people, who were wonderful lifted up because their minister +had a man-child born unto him. + + + + +CHAPTER IX +YEAR 1768 + + +IT’S a surprising thing how time flieth away, carrying off our youth and +strength, and leaving us nothing but wrinkles and the ails of old age. +Gilbert, my son, that is now a corpulent man, and a Glasgow merchant, +when I take up my pen to record the memorables of this Ann. Dom., seems +to me yet but a suckling in swaddling clothes, mewing and peevish in the +arms of his mother, that has been long laid in the cold kirkyard, beside +her predecessor, in Abraham’s bosom. It is not, however, my design to +speak much anent my own affairs, which would be a very improper and +uncomely thing, but only of what happened in the parish, this book being +for a witness and testimony of my ministry. Therefore, setting out of +view both me and mine, I will now resuscitate the concerns of Mrs. +Malcolm and her children; for, as I think, never was there such a visible +preordination seen in the lives of any persons, as was seen in that of +this worthy decent woman, and her well-doing off-spring. Her morning was +raw, and a sore blight fell upon her fortunes; but the sun looked out on +her midday, and her evening closed loun and warm; and the stars of the +firmament, that are the eyes of heaven, beamed as it were with gladness, +when she lay down to sleep the sleep of rest. + +Her son Charles was by this time grown up into a stout buirdly lad, and +it was expected that, before the return of the Tobacco trader, he would +have been out of his time, and a man afore the mast, which was a great +step of preferment, as I heard say by persons skilled in seafaring +concerns. But this was not ordered to happen; for, when the Tobacco +trader was lying in the harbour of Virginia in the North Americas, a +pressgang, that was in need of men for a man-of-war, came on board, and +pressed poor Charles, and sailed away with him on a cruise, nobody, for +many a day, could tell where, till I thought of the Lord Eaglesham’s +kindness. His lordship having something to say with the king’s +government, I wrote to him, telling him who I was, and how jocose he had +been when buttoned in my clothes, that he might recollect me, thanking +him, at the same time, for his condescension and patronage to Andrew +Lanshaw, in his way to the East Indies. I then slipped in, at the end of +the letter, a bit nota-bene concerning the case of Charles Malcolm, +begging his lordship, on account of the poor lad’s widow mother, to +enquire at the government if they could tell us any thing about Charles. +In the due course of time, I got a most civil reply from his lordship, +stating all about the name of the man-of-war, and where she was; and at +the conclusion his lordship said, that I was lucky in having the brother +of a Lord of the Admiralty on this occasion for my agent, as otherwise, +from the vagueness of my statement, the information might not have been +procured; which remark of his lordship was long a great riddle to me; for +I could not think what he meant about an agent, till, in the course of +the year, we heard that his own brother was concerned in the admiralty; +so that all his lordship meant was only to crack a joke with me, and that +he was ever ready and free to do, as shall be related in the sequel, for +he was an excellent man. + +There being a vacancy for a schoolmistress, it was proposed to Mrs. +Malcolm, that, under her superintendence, her daughter Kate, that had +been learning great artifices in needle-work so long with Lady Macadam, +should take up the school, and the session undertook to make good to Kate +the sum of five pounds sterling per annum, over and above what the +scholars were to pay. But Mrs. Malcolm said she had not strength herself +to warsle with so many unruly brats, and that Kate, though a fine lassie, +was a tempestuous spirit, and might lame some of the bairns in her +passion; and that selfsame night, Lady Macadam wrote me a very +complaining letter, for trying to wile away her companion; but her +ladyship was a canary-headed woman, and given to flights and tantrums, +having in her youth been a great toast among the quality. It would, +however, have saved her from a sore heart, had she never thought of +keeping Kate Malcolm. For this year her only son, who was learning the +art of war at an academy in France, came to pay her, his lady mother, a +visit. He was a brisk and light-hearted stripling, and Kate Malcolm was +budding into a very rose of beauty; so between them a hankering began, +which, for a season, was productive of great heaviness of heart to the +poor old cripple lady; indeed, she assured me herself, that all her +rheumatics were nothing to the heart-ache which she suffered in the +progress of this business. But that will be more treated of hereafter; +suffice it to say for the present, that we have thus recorded how the +plan for making Kate Malcolm our schoolmistress came to nought. It +pleased, however, Him, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, to +send at this time among us a Miss Sabrina Hooky, the daughter of old Mr. +Hooky, who had been schoolmaster in a neighbouring parish. She had gone, +after his death, to live with an auntie in Glasgow, that kept a shop in +the Gallowgate. It was thought that the old woman would have left her +heir to all her gatherings, and so she said she would, but alas! our life +is but within our lip. Before her testament was made, she was carried +suddenly off by an apoplectick, an awful monument of the uncertainty of +time and the nearness of eternity, in her own shop, as she was in the +very act of weighing out an ounce of snuff to a professor of the College, +as Miss Sabrina herself told me. Being thus destitute, it happened that +Miss Sabrina heard of the vacancy in our parish, as it were, just by the +cry of a passing bird, for she could not tell how; although I judge +myself that William Keckle the elder had a hand in it, as he was at the +time in Glasgow; and she wrote me a wonderful well-penned letter +bespeaking the situation, which letter came to hand on the morn following +Lady Macadam’s stramash to me about Kate Malcolm, and I laid it before +the session the same day; so that, by the time her auntie’s concern was +taken off her hands, she had a home and a howf among us to come in, to +the which she lived upwards of thirty years in credit and respect, +although some thought she had not the art of her predecessor, and was +more uppish in her carriage than befitted the decorum of her vocation. +Hers, however, was but a harmless vanity; and, poor woman, she needed all +manner of graces to set her out; for she was made up of odds and ends, +and had but one good eye, the other being blind, and just like a blue +bead. At first she plainly set her cap for Mr. Lorimore, but after +oggling and goggling at him every Sunday in the kirk for a whole +half-year and more, Miss Sabrina desisted in despair. + +But the most remarkable thing about her coming into the parish, was the +change that took place in Christian names among us. Old Mr. Hooky, her +father, had, from the time he read his Virgil, maintained a sort of +intromission with the nine muses, by which he was led to baptize her +Sabrina, after a name mentioned by John Milton in one of his works. Miss +Sabrina began by calling our Jennies Jessies, and our Nannies Nancies; +alas! I have lived to see even these likewise grow old-fashioned. She +had also a taste in the mantua-making line, which she had learnt in +Glasgow; and I could date from the very Sabbath of her first appearance +in the kirk, a change growing in the garb of the younger lassies, who +from that day began to lay aside the silken plaidie over the head, the +which had been the pride and bravery of their grandmothers; and instead +of the snood, that was so snod and simple, they hided their heads in +round-eared bees-cap mutches, made of gauze and catgut, and other curious +contrivances of French millendery; all which brought a deal of custom to +Miss Sabrina, over and above the incomings and Candlemas offerings of +school; insomuch that she saved money, and in the course of three years +had ten pounds to put in the bank. + +At the time, these alterations and revolutions in the parish were thought +a great advantage; but now when I look back upon them, as a traveller on +the hill over the road he has passed, I have my doubts. For with wealth +come wants, like a troop of clamorous beggars at the heels of a generous +man; and it’s hard to tell wherein the benefit of improvement in a +country parish consists, especially to those who live by the sweat of +their brow. But it is not for me to make reflections; my task and duty +is to note the changes of time and habitudes. + + + + +CHAPTER X +YEAR 1769 + + +I HAVE my doubts whether it was in the beginning of this year, or in the +end of the last, that a very extraordinary thing came to light in the +parish; but, howsoever that may be, there is nothing more certain than +the fact, which it is my duty to record. I have mentioned already how it +was that the toll, or trust-road, was set a-going, on account of the Lord +Eaglesham’s tumbling on the midden in the Vennel. Well, it happened to +one of the labouring men, in breaking the stones to make metal for the +new road, that he broke a stone that was both large and remarkable, and +in the heart of it, which was boss, there was found a living creature, +that jumped out the moment it saw the light of heaven, to the great +terrification of the man, who could think it was nothing but an evil +spirit that had been imprisoned therein for a time. The man came to me +like a demented creature, and the whole clachan gathered out, young and +old, and I went at their head to see what the miracle could be, for the +man said it was a fiery dragon, spewing smoke and flames. But when we +came to the spot, it was just a yird toad, and the laddie weans nevelled +it to death with stones, before I could persuade them to give over. +Since then, I have read of such things coming to light in the _Scots +Magazine_, a very valuable book. + + [Picture: The Elder’s Wife] + +Soon after the affair of “the wee deil in the stane,” as it was called, a +sough reached us that the Americas were seized with the rebellious spirit +of the ten tribes, and were snapping their fingers in the face of the +king’s government. The news came on a Saturday night, for we had no +newspapers in those days, and was brought by Robin Modiwort, that fetched +the letters from the Irville post. Thomas Fullarton (he has been dead +many a day) kept the grocery shop at Irville, and he had been in at +Glasgow, as was his yearly custom, to settle his accounts, and to buy a +hogshead of tobacco, with sugar and other spiceries; and being in +Glasgow, Thomas was told by the merchant of a great rise in tobacco, that +had happened by reason of the contumacity of the plantations, and it was +thought that blood would be spilt before things were ended, for that the +King and Parliament were in a great passion with them. But as Charles +Malcolm, in the king’s ship, was the only one belonging to the parish +that was likely to be art and part in the business, we were in a manner +little troubled at the time with this first gasp of the monster of war, +who, for our sins, was ordained to swallow up and devour so many of our +fellow-subjects, before he was bound again in the chains of mercy and +peace. + +I had, in the meantime, written a letter to the Lord Eaglesham, to get +Charles Malcolm out of the clutches of the pressgang in the man-of-war; +and about a month after, his lordship sent me an answer, wherein was +enclosed a letter from the captain of the ship, saying, that Charles +Malcolm was so good a man that he was reluctant to part with him, and +that Charles himself was well contented to remain aboard. Anent which, +his lordship said to me, that he had written back to the captain to make +a midshipman of Charles, and that he would take him under his own +protection, which was great joy on two accounts to us all, especially to +his mother; first, to hear that Charles was a good man, although in years +still but a youth; and, secondly, that my lord had, of his own free-will, +taken him under the wing of his patronage. + +But the sweet of this world is never to be enjoyed without some of the +sour. The coal bark between Irville and Belfast, in which Robert +Malcolm, the second son of his mother, was serving his time to be a +sailor, got a charter, as it was called, to go with to Norway for deals, +which grieved Mrs. Malcolm to the very heart; for there was then no short +cut by the canal, as now is, between the rivers of the Forth and Clyde, +but every ship was obligated to go far away round by the Orkneys, which, +although a voyage in the summer not overly dangerous, there being long +days and short nights then, yet in the winter it was far otherwise, many +vessels being frozen up in the Baltic till the spring; and there was a +story told at the time, of an Irville bark coming home in the dead of the +year, that lost her way altogether, and was supposed to have sailed north +into utter darkness, for she was never more heard of: and many an awful +thing was said of what the auld mariners about the shore thought +concerning the crew of that misfortunate vessel. However, Mrs. Malcolm +was a woman of great faith, and having placed her reliance on Him who is +the orphan’s stay and widow’s trust, she resigned her bairn into his +hands, with a religious submission to his pleasure, though the mother’s +tear of weak human nature was on her cheek and in her e’e. And her faith +was well rewarded, for the vessel brought him safe home, and he had seen +such a world of things, that it was just to read a story-book to hear him +tell of Elsineur and Gottenburg, and other fine and great places that we +had never heard of till that time; and he brought me a bottle of Riga +balsam, which for healing cuts was just miraculous, besides a clear +bottle of Rososolus for his mother, a spirit which for cordiality could +not be told; for though since that time we have had many a sort of +Dantzic cordial, I have never tasted any to compare with Robin Malcolm’s +Rososolus. The Lady Macadam, who had a knowledge of such things, +declared it was the best of the best sort; for Mrs. Malcolm sent her +ladyship some of it in a doctor’s bottle, as well as to Mrs. Balwhidder, +who was then at the downlying with our daughter Janet—a woman now in the +married state, that makes a most excellent wife, having been brought up +with great pains, and well educated, as I shall have to record by-and-by. + +About the Christmas of this year, Lady Macadam’s son having been +perfected in the art of war at a school in France, had, with the help of +his mother’s friends, and his father’s fame, got a stand of colours in +the Royal Scots regiment; he came to show himself in his regimentals to +his lady mother, like a dutiful son, as he certainly was. It happened +that he was in the kirk in his scarlets and gold, on the same Sunday that +Robert Malcolm came home from the long voyage to Norway for deals; and I +thought when I saw the soldier and the sailor from the pulpit, that it +was an omen of war, among our harmless country folks, like swords and +cannon amidst ploughs and sickles, coming upon us; and I became laden in +spirit, and had a most weighty prayer upon the occasion, which was long +after remembered, many thinking, when the American war broke out, that I +had been gifted with a glimmering of prophecy on that day. + +It was during this visit to his lady mother, that young Laird Macadam +settled the correspondence with Kate Malcolm, which, in the process of +time, caused us all so much trouble; for it was a clandestine concern: +but the time is not yet ripe for me to speak of it more at large. I +should, however, mention, before concluding this annal, that Mrs. Malcolm +herself was this winter brought to death’s door by a terrible host that +came on her in the kirk, by taking a kittling in her throat. It was a +terrification to hear her sometimes; but she got the better of it in the +spring, and was more herself thereafter than she had been for years +before; and her daughter Effie or Euphemia, as she was called by Miss +Sabrina, the schoolmistress, was growing up to be a gleg and clever +quean; she was, indeed, such a spirit in her way, that the folks called +her Spunkie; while her son William, that was the youngest of the five, +was making a wonderful proficiency with Mr. Lorimore. He was indeed a +douce, well-doing laddie, of a composed nature; insomuch that the master +said he was surely chosen for the ministry. In short, the more I think +on what befell this family, and of the great meekness and Christian worth +of the parent, I verily believe there never could have been in any parish +such a manifestation of the truth, that they who put their trust in the +Lord, are sure of having a friend that will never forsake them. + + + + +CHAPTER XI +YEAR 1770 + + +THIS blessed Ann. Dom. was one of the Sabbaths of my ministry. When I +look back upon it, all is quiet and good order: the darkest cloud of the +smuggling had passed over, at least from my people, and the rumours of +rebellion in America were but like the distant sound of the bars of Ayr. +We sat, as it were, in a lown and pleasant place, beholding our +prosperity, like the apple-tree adorned with her garlands of flourishes, +in the first fair mornings of the spring, when the birds were returning +thanks to their Maker for the coming again of the seed-time, and the busy +bee goeth forth from her cell, to gather honey from the flowers of the +field, and the broom of the hill, and the blue-bells and gowans, which +Nature, with a gracious and a gentle hand, scatters in the valley, as she +walketh forth in her beauty, to testify to the goodness of the Father of +all mercies. + +Both at the spring and the harvest sacraments, the weather was as that +which is in Paradise; there was a glad composure in all hearts, and the +minds of men were softened towards each other. The number of +communicants was greater than had been known for many years, and the +tables were filled by the pious from many a neighbouring parish: those of +my hearers who had opposed my placing, declared openly, for a testimony +of satisfaction and holy thankfulness, that the tent, so surrounded as it +was on both occasions, was a sight they never had expected to see. I +was, to be sure, assisted by some of the best divines then in the land, +but I had not been a sluggard myself in the vineyard. + +Often, when I think on this year, so fruitful in pleasant intimacies, has +the thought come into my mind, that as the Lord blesses the earth from +time to time with a harvest of more than the usual increase, so, in like +manner, he is sometimes for a season pleased to pour into the breasts of +mankind a larger portion of good-will and charity, disposing them to love +one another, to be kindly to all creatures, and filled with the delight +of thankfulness to himself, which is the greatest of blessings. + +It was in this year that the Earl of Eaglesham ordered the fair to be +established in the village; and it was a day of wonderful festivity to +all the bairns, and lads and lassies, for miles round. I think, indeed, +that there has never been such a fair as the first since; for although we +have more mountebanks and merry-andrews now, and richer cargoes of +groceries and packman’s stands, yet there has been a falling off in the +light-hearted daffing, while the hobleshows in the change-houses have +been awfully augmented. It was on this occasion that Punch’s opera was +first seen in our country side, and surely never was there such a funny +curiosity; for although Mr. Punch himself was but a timber idol, he was +as droll as a true living thing, and napped with his head so comical; but +oh! he was a sorrowful contumacious captain, and it was just a sport to +see how he rampaged, and triumphed, and sang. For months after, the +laddie weans did nothing but squeak and sing like Punch. In short, a +blithe spirit was among us throughout this year, and the briefness of the +chronicle bears witness to the innocency of the time. + + + + +CHAPTER XII +YEAR 1771 + + +IT was in this year that my troubles with Lady Macadam’s affair began. +She was a woman, as I have by hint here and there intimated, of a +prelatic disposition, seeking all things her own way, and not overly +scrupulous about the means, which I take to be the true humour of +prelacy. She was come of a high episcopal race in the east country, +where sound doctrine had been long but little heard, and she considered +the comely humility of a presbyter as the wickedness of hypocrisy; so +that, saving in the way of neighbourly visitation, there was no sincere +communion between us. Nevertheless, with all her vagaries, she had the +element of a kindly spirit, that would sometimes kythe in actions of +charity, that showed symptoms of a true Christian grace, had it been +properly cultivated; but her morals had been greatly neglected in her +youth, and she would waste her precious time in the long winter nights, +playing at the cards with her visitors; in the which thriftless and +sinful pastime, she was at great pains to instruct Kate Malcolm, which I +was grieved to understand. What, however, I most misliked in her +ladyship, was a lightness and juvenility of behaviour altogether +unbecoming her years; for she was far past three-score, having been long +married without children. Her son, the soldier officer, came so late, +that it was thought she would have been taken up as an evidence in the +Douglas cause. She was, to be sure, crippled with the rheumatics, and no +doubt the time hung heavy on her hands; but the best friends of +recreation and sport must allow, that an old woman, sitting whole hours +jingling with that paralytic chattel a spinnet, was not a natural object! +What, then, could be said for her singing Italian songs, and getting all +the newest from Vauxhall in London, a boxful at a time, with new +novel-books, and trinkum-trankum flowers and feathers, and sweetmeats, +sent to her by a lady of the blood royal of Paris? As for the music, she +was at great pains to instruct Kate, which, with the other things she +taught, were sufficient, as my lady said herself, to qualify poor Kate +for a duchess or a governess, in either of which capacities, her ladyship +assured Mrs. Malcolm, she would do honour to her instructor, meaning her +own self; but I must come to the point anent the affair. + +One evening, early in the month of January, as I was sitting by myself in +my closet studying the _Scots Magazine_, which I well remember the new +number had come but that very night, Mrs. Balwhidder being at the time +busy with the lasses in the kitchen, and superintending, as her custom +was, for she was a clever woman, a great wool-spinning we then had, both +little wheel and meikle wheel, for stockings and blankets—sitting, as I +was saying, in the study, with the fire well gathered up, for a night’s +reflection, a prodigious knocking came to the door, by which the book was +almost startled out of my hand, and all the wheels in the house were +silenced at once. This was her ladyship’s flunkey, to beg me to go to +her, whom he described as in a state of desperation. Christianity +required that I should obey the summons; so, with what haste I could, +thinking that perhaps, as she had been low-spirited for some time about +the young laird’s going to the Indies, she might have got a cast of +grace, and been wakened in despair to the state of darkness in which she +had so long lived, I made as few steps of the road between the manse and +her house as it was in my ability to do. + +On reaching the door, I found a great light in the house—candles burning +up stairs and down stairs, and a sough of something extraordinar going +on. I went into the dining-room, where her ladyship was wont to sit; but +she was not there—only Kate Malcolm all alone, busily picking bits of +paper from the carpet. When she looked up, I saw that her eyes were red +with weeping, and I was alarmed, and said, “Katy, my dear, I hope there +is no danger?” Upon which the poor lassie rose, and, flinging herself in +a chair, covered her face with her hands, and wept bitterly. + +“What is the old fool doing with the wench?” cried a sharp angry voice +from the drawing-room—“why does not he come to me?” It was the voice of +Lady Macadam herself, and she meant me. So I went to her; but, oh! she +was in a far different state from what I had hoped. The pride of this +world had got the upper hand of her, and was playing dreadful antics with +understanding. There was she, painted like a Jezebel, with gum-flowers +on her head, as was her custom every afternoon, sitting on a settee, for +she was lame, and in her hand she held a letter. “Sir,” said she, as I +came into the room, “I want you to go instantly to that young fellow, +your clerk, (meaning Mr. Lorimore, the schoolmaster, who was likewise +session-clerk and precentor,) and tell him I will give him a couple of +hundred pounds to marry Miss Malcolm without delay, and undertake to +procure him a living from some of my friends.” + +“Softly, my lady, you must first tell me the meaning of all this haste of +kindness,” said I, in my calm methodical manner. At the which she began +to cry and sob, like a petted bairn, and to bewail her ruin, and the +dishonour of her family. I was surprised, and beginning to be +confounded; at length out it came. The flunkey had that night brought +two London letters from the Irville post, and Kate Malcolm being out of +the way when he came home, he took them both in to her ladyship on the +silver server, as was his custom; and her ladyship, not jealousing that +Kate could have a correspondence with London, thought both the letters +were for herself, for they were franked; so, as it happened, she opened +the one that was for Kate, and this, too, from the young laird, her own +son. She could not believe her eyes when she saw the first words in his +hand of write; and she read, and she better read, till she read all the +letter, by which she came to know that Kate and her darling were trysted, +and that this was not the first love-letter which had passed between +them. She, therefore, tore it in pieces, and sent for me, and screamed +for Kate; in short, went, as it were, off at the head, and was neither to +bind nor to hold on account of this intrigue, as she, in her wrath, +stigmatised the innocent gallanting of poor Kate and the young laird. + +I listened in patience to all she had to say anent the discovery, and +offered her the very best advice; but she derided my judgment; and +because I would not speak outright to Mr. Lorimore, and get him to marry +Kate off hand, she bade me good-night with an air, and sent for him +herself. He, however, was on the brink of marriage with his present +worthy helpmate, and declined her ladyship’s proposals, which angered her +still more. But although there was surely a great lack of discretion in +all this, and her ladyship was entirely overcome with her passion, she +would not part with Kate, nor allow her to quit the house with me, but +made her sup with her as usual that night, calling her sometimes a +perfidious baggage, and at other times, forgetting her delirium, speaking +to her as kindly as ever. At night, Kate as usual helped her ladyship +into her bed, (this she told me with tears in her eyes next morning;) and +when Lady Macadam, as was her wont, bent to kiss her for good-night, she +suddenly recollected “the intrigue,” and gave Kate such a slap on the +side of the head, as quite dislocated for a time the intellects of the +poor young lassie. Next morning, Kate was solemnly advised never to +write again to the laird, while the lady wrote him a letter, which, she +said, would be as good as a birch to the breech of the boy. Nothing, +therefore, for some time, indeed, throughout the year, came of the +matter; but her ladyship, when Mrs. Balwhidder soon after called on her, +said that I was a nose-of-wax, and that she never would speak to me +again, which surely was not a polite thing to say to Mrs. Balwhidder, my +second wife. + +This stramash was the first time I had interposed in the family concerns +of my people; for it was against my nature to make or meddle with private +actions saving only such as in course of nature came before the session; +but I was not satisfied with the principles of Lady Macadam, and I began +to be weary about Kate Malcolm’s situation with her ladyship, whose ways +of thinking I saw were not to be depended on, especially in those things +wherein her pride and vanity were concerned. But the time ran on—the +butterflies and the blossoms were succeeded by the leaves and the fruit, +and nothing of a particular nature farther molested the general +tranquillity of this year; about the end of which, there came on a sudden +frost, after a tack of wet weather. The roads were just a sheet of ice, +like a frozen river; insomuch that the coal-carts could not work; and one +of our cows, (Mrs. Balwhidder said, after the accident, it was our best; +but it was not so much thought of before,) fell in coming from the glebe +to the byre, and broke its two hinder legs, which obligated us to kill +it, in order to put the beast out of pain. As this happened after we had +salted our mart, it occasioned us to have a double crop of puddings, and +such a show of hams in the kitchen, as was a marvel to our visitors to +see. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +YEAR 1772 + + +ON New-Year’s night, this year, a thing happened, which, in its own +nature, was a trifle; but it turned out as a mustard-seed that grows into +a great tree. One of the elders, who has long been dead and gone, came +to the manse about a fact that was found out in the clachan, and after we +had discoursed on it some time, he rose to take his departure. I went +with him to the door with the candle in my hand—it was a clear frosty +night, with a sharp wind; and the moment I opened the door, the blast +blew out the candle, so that I heedlessly, with the candlestick in my +hand, walked with him to the yett without my hat, by which I took a sore +cold in my head, that brought on a dreadful toothache; insomuch, that I +was obligated to go into Irville to get the tooth drawn, and this caused +my face to swell to such a fright, that, on the Sabbath-day, I could not +preach to my people. There was, however, at that time, a young man, one +Mr. Heckletext, tutor in Sir Hugh Montgomerie’s family, and who had +shortly before been licensed. Finding that I would not be able to preach +myself, I sent to him, and begged he would officiate for me, which he +very pleasantly consented to do, being, like all the young clergy, +thirsting to show his light to the world. ’Twixt the fore and +afternoon’s worship, he took his check of dinner at the manse, and I +could not but say that he seemed both discreet and sincere. Judge, +however, what was brewing, when the same night Mr. Lorimore came and told +me, that Mr. Heckletext was the suspected person anent the fact that had +been instrumental, in the hand of a chastising Providence, to afflict me +with the toothache, in order, as it afterwards came to pass, to bring the +hidden hypocrisy of the ungodly preacher to light. It seems that the +donsie lassie who was in fault, had gone to the kirk in the afternoon, +and seeing who was in the pulpit, where she expected to see me, was +seized with the hysterics, and taken with her crying on the spot, the +which being untimely, proved the death of both mother and bairn, before +the thing was properly laid to the father’s charge. + + [Picture: The Precentor] + +This caused a great uproar in the parish. I was sorely blamed to let +such a man as Mr. Heckletext go up into my pulpit, although I was as +ignorant of his offences as the innocent child that perished; and, in an +unguarded hour, to pacify some of the elders, who were just distracted +about the disgrace, I consented to have him called before the session. +He obeyed the call, and in a manner that I will never forget; for he was +a sorrow of sin and audacity, and demanded to know why, and for what +reason, he was summoned. I told him the whole affair in my calm and +moderate way; but it was oil cast upon a burning coal. He flamed up in a +terrible passion; threepit at the elders that they had no proof whatever +of his having had any trafficking in the business, which was the case; +for it was only a notion, the poor deceased lassie never having made a +disclosure: called them libellous conspirators against his character, +which was his only fortune, and concluded by threatening to punish them, +though he exempted me from the injury which their slanderous insinuations +had done to his prospects in life. We were all terrified, and allowed +him to go away without uttering a word; and sure enough he did bring a +plea in the courts of Edinburgh against Mr. Lorimore and the elders for +damages, laid at a great sum. + +What might have been the consequence, no one can tell; but soon after he +married Sir Hugh’s house-keeper, and went with her into Edinburgh, where +he took up a school; and, before the trial came on, that is to say, +within three months of the day that I myself married them, Mrs. +Heckletext was delivered of a thriving lad bairn, which would have been a +witness for the elders, had the worst come to the worst. This was, +indeed, we all thought, a joyous deliverance to the parish, and it was a +lesson to me never to allow any preacher to mount my pulpit, unless I +knew something of his moral character. + +In other respects, this year passed very peaceably in the parish: there +was a visible increase of worldly circumstances, and the hedges which had +been planted along the toll-road, began to put forth their branches, and +to give new notions of orderlyness and beauty to the farmers. Mrs. +Malcolm heard from time to time from her son Charles, on board the +man-of-war the _Avenger_, where he was midshipman; and he had found a +friend in the captain, that was just a father to him. Her second son, +Robert, being out of his time at Irville, went to the Clyde to look for a +berth, and was hired to go to Jamaica, in a ship called the _Trooper_. +He was a lad of greater sobriety of nature than Charles; douce, honest, +and faithful; and when he came home, though he brought no limes to me to +make punch, like his brother, he brought a Muscovy duck to Lady Macadam, +who had, as I have related, in a manner educated his sister Kate. That +duck was the first of the kind we had ever seen, and many thought it was +of the goose species, only with short bowly legs. It was, however, a +tractable and homely beast; and after some confabulation, as my lady +herself told Mrs. Balwhidder, it was received into fellowship by her +other ducks and poultry. It is not, however, so much on account of the +rarity of the creature, that I have introduced it here, as for the +purpose of relating a wonderful operation that was performed on it by +Miss Sabrina, the schoolmistress. + +There happened to be a sack of beans in our stable, and Lady Macadam’s +hens and fowls, which were not overly fed at home through the inattention +of her servants, being great stravaigers for their meat, in passing the +door went in to pick, and the Muscovy, seeing a hole in the bean-sack, +dabbled out a crapful before she was disturbed. The beans swelled on the +poor bird’s stomach, and her crap bellied out like the kyte of a Glasgow +magistrate, until it was just a sight to be seen with its head back on +its shoulders. The bairns of the clachan followed it up and down, +crying, the lady’s muckle jock’s aye growing bigger, till every heart was +wae for the creature. Some thought it was afflicted with a tympathy, and +others, that it was the natural way for such-like ducks to cleck their +young. In short, we were all concerned; and my lady, having a great +opinion of Miss Sabrina’s skill, had a consultation with her on the case, +at which Miss Sabrina advised, that what she called the Cæsarean +operation should be tried, which she herself performed accordingly, by +opening the creature’s crap, and taking out as many beans as filled a +mutchkin stoup, after which she sewed it up, and the Muscovy went its way +to the water-side, and began to swim, and was as jocund as ever; +insomuch, that in three days after it was quite cured of all the +consequences of its surfeit. + +I had at one time a notion to send an account of this to the _Scots +Magazine_, but something always came in the way to prevent me; so that it +has been reserved for a place in this chronicle, being, after Mr. +Heckletext’s affair, the most memorable thing in our history of this +year. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +YEAR 1773 + + +IN this Ann. Dom. there was something like a plea getting to a head, +between the session and some of the heritors, about a new school-house; +the thatch having been torn from the rigging of the old one by a blast of +wind, on the first Monday of February, by which a great snow storm got +admission, and the school was rendered utterly uninhabitable. The +smaller sort of lairds were very willing to come into the plan with an +extra contribution, because they respected the master, and their bairns +were at the school; but the gentlemen, who had tutors in their own +houses, were not so manageable; and some of them even went so far as to +say, that the kirk, being only wanted on Sunday, would do very well for a +school all the rest of the week, which was a very profane way of +speaking; and I was resolved to set myself against any such thing, and to +labour, according to the power and efficacy of my station, to get a new +school built. + +Many a meeting the session had on the subject; and the heritors debated, +and discussed, and revised their proceedings, and still no money for the +needful work was forthcoming. Whereupon it happened one morning, as I +was rummaging in my scrutoire, that I laid my hand on the Lord +Eaglesham’s letter anent Charles Malcolm; and it was put into my head at +that moment, that if I was to write to his lordship, who was the greatest +heritor, and owned now the major part of the parish, that by his help and +influence I might be an instrument to the building of a comfortable new +school. Accordingly, I sat down and wrote my lord all about the +accident, and the state of the school-house, and the divisions and +seditions among the heritors, and sent the letter to him at London by the +post the same day, without saying a word to any living soul on the +subject. + +This in me was an advised thought; for, by the return of post, his +lordship with his own hand, in a most kind manner, authorized me to say +that he would build a new school at his own cost, and bade me go over and +consult about it with his steward at the castle, to whom he had written +by the same post the necessary instructions. Nothing could exceed the +gladness which the news gave to the whole parish, and none said more in +behalf of his lordship’s bounty and liberality than the heritors; +especially those gentry who grudged the undertaking, when it was thought +that it would have to come out of their own pock-nook. + +In the course of the summer, just as the roof was closing in of the +school-house, my lord came to the castle with a great company, and was +not there a day till he sent for me to come over, on the next Sunday, to +dine with him; but I sent him word that I could not do so, for it would +be a transgression of the Sabbath, which made him send his own gentleman, +to make his apology for having taken so great a liberty with me, and to +beg me to come on the Monday, which I accordingly did, and nothing could +be better than the discretion with which I was used. There was a vast +company of English ladies and gentlemen, and his lordship, in a most +jocose manner, told them all how he had fallen on the midden, and how I +had clad him in my clothes, and there was a wonder of laughing and +diversion; but the most particular thing in the company, was a large, +round-faced man, with a wig, that was a dignitary in some great +Episcopalian church in London, who was extraordinary condescending +towards me, drinking wine with me at the table, and saying weighty +sentences, in a fine style of language, about the becoming grace of +simplicity and innocence of heart, in the clergy of all denominations of +Christians, which I was pleased to hear; for really he had a proud red +countenance, and I could not have thought he was so mortified to humility +within, had I not heard with what sincerity he delivered himself, and +seen how much reverence and attention was paid to him by all present, +particularly by my lord’s chaplain, who was a pious and pleasant young +divine, though educated at Oxford for the Episcopalian persuasion. + +One day, soon after, as I was sitting in my closet conning a sermon for +the next Sunday, I was surprised by a visit from the dean, as the +dignitary was called. He had come, he said, to wait on me as rector of +the parish—for so, it seems, they call a pastor in England—and to say, +that, if it was agreeable, he would take a family dinner with us before +he left the castle. I could make no objection to this kindness; but said +I hoped my lord would come with him, and that we would do our best to +entertain them with all suitable hospitality. About an hour or so after +he had returned to the castle, one of the flunkeys brought a letter from +his lordship, to say, that not only he would come with the dean, but that +they would bring his other guests with them; and that, as they could only +drink London wine, the butler would send me a hamper in the morning, +assured, as he was pleased to say, that Mrs. Balwhidder would otherwise +provide good cheer. + +This notification, however, was a great trouble to my wife, who was only +used to manufacture the produce of our glebe and yard to a profitable +purpose, and not used to the treatment of deans and lords, and other +persons of quality. However, she was determined to stretch a point on +this occasion; and we had, as all present declared, a charming dinner; +for fortunately one of the sows had a litter of pigs a few days before, +and in addition to a goose, that is but a boss bird, we had a roasted pig +with an apple in its mouth, which was just a curiosity to see; and my +lord called it a tithe pig; but I told him it was one of Mrs. +Balwhidder’s own clecking, which saying of mine made no little sport when +expounded to the dean. + +But, och how! this was the last happy summer that we had for many a year +in the parish; and an omen of the dule that ensued, was in a sacrilegious +theft that a daft woman, Jenny Gaffaw, and her idiot daughter, did in the +kirk, by tearing off and stealing the green serge lining of my lord’s +pew, to make, as they said, a hap for their shoulders in the cold +weather—saving, however, the sin, we paid no attention at the time to the +mischief and tribulation that so unheard-of a trespass boded to us all. +It took place about Yule, when the weather was cold and frosty, and poor +Jenny was not very able to go about seeking her meat as usual. The deed, +however, was mainly done by her daughter, who, when brought before me, +said, “her poor mother’s back had mair need of claes than the +kirk-boards;” which was so true a thing, that I could not punish her, but +wrote anent it to my lord, who not only overlooked the offence, but sent +orders to the servants at the castle to be kind to the poor woman, and +the natural, her daughter. + + + + +CHAPTER XV +YEAR 1774 + + +WHEN I look back on this year, and compare what happened therein with the +things that had gone before, I am grieved to the heart, and pressed down +with an afflicted spirit. We had, as may be read, trials and +tribulations in the days that were past; and in the rank and boisterous +times of the smuggling there was much sin and blemish among us, but +nothing so dark and awful as what fell out in the course of this unhappy +year. The evil omen of daft Jenny Gaffaw and her daughter’s sacrilege, +had soon a bloody verification. + +About the beginning of the month of March in this year, the war in +America was kindling so fast that the government was obligated to send +soldiers over the sea, in the hope to quell the rebellious temper of the +plantations; and a party of a regiment that was quartered at Ayr was +ordered to march to Greenock, to be there shipped off. The men were wild +and wicked profligates, without the fear of the Lord before their eyes; +and some of them had drawn up with light women in Ayr, who followed them +on their march. This the soldiers did not like, not wishing to be +troubled with such gear in America; so the women, when they got the +length of Kilmarnock, were ordered to retreat and go home, which they all +did but one Jean Glaikit, who persisted in her intent to follow her joe, +Patrick O’Neil, a Catholic Irish corporal. The man did, as he said, all +in his capacity to persuade her to return, but she was a contumacious +limmer, and would not listen to reason; so that, in passing along our +toll-road, from less to more, the miserable wretches fell out, and +fought, and the soldier put an end to her with a hasty knock on the head +with his firelock, and marched on after his comrades. + +The body of the woman was, about half an hour after, found by the +scholars of Mr. Lorimore’s school, who had got the play to see the +marching, and to hear the drums of the soldiers. Dreadful was the shout +and the cry throughout the parish at this foul work. Some of the farmer +lads followed the soldiers on horseback, and others ran to Sir Hugh, who +was a justice of the peace, for his advice.—Such a day as that was! + +However, the murderer was taken, and, with his arms tied behind him with +a cord, he was brought back to the parish, where he confessed before Sir +Hugh the deed, and how it happened. He was then put in a cart, and, +being well guarded by six of the lads, was taken to Ayr jail. + +It was not long after this that the murderer was brought to trial, and, +being found guilty on his own confession, he was sentenced to be +executed, and his body to be hung in chains near the spot where the deed +was done. I thought that all in the parish would have run to desperation +with horror when the news of this came, and I wrote immediately to the +Lord Eaglesham to get this done away by the merciful power of the +government, which he did, to our great solace and relief. + +In the autumn, the young Laird Macadam, being ordered with his regiment +for the Americas, got leave from the king to come and see his lady +mother, before his departure. But it was not to see her only, as will +presently appear. + +Knowing how much her ladyship was averse to the notion he had of Kate +Malcolm, he did not write of his coming, lest she would send Kate out of +the way, but came in upon them at a late hour, as they were wasting their +precious time, as was the nightly wont of my lady, with a pack of cards; +and so far was she from being pleased to see him, that no sooner did she +behold his face, but, like a tap of tow, she kindled upon both him and +Kate, and ordered them out of her sight and house. The young folk had +discretion: Kate went home to her mother, and the laird came to the +manse, and begged us to take him in. He then told me what had happened; +and that, having bought a captain’s commission, he was resolved to marry +Kate, and hoped I would perform the ceremony, if her mother would +consent. “As for mine,” said he, “she will never agree; but, when the +thing is done, her pardon will not be difficult to get; for, with all her +whims and caprice, she is generous and affectionate.” In short, he so +wiled and beguiled me, that I consented to marry them, if Mrs. Malcolm +was agreeable. “I will not disobey my mother,” said he, “by asking her +consent, which I know she will refuse; and, therefore, the sooner it is +done the better.” So we then stepped over to Mrs. Malcolm’s house, where +we found that saintly woman, with Kate and Effie, and Willie, sitting +peacefully at their fireside, preparing to read their Bibles for the +night. When we went in, and when I saw Kate, that was so ladylike there, +with the decent humility of her parent’s dwelling, I could not but think +she was destined for a better station; and when I looked at the captain, +a handsome youth, I thought surely their marriage is made in heaven; and +so I said to Mrs. Malcolm, who after a time consented, and likewise +agreed that her daughter should go with the captain to America; for her +faith and trust in the goodness of Providence was great and boundless, +striving, as it were, to be even with its tender mercies. Accordingly, +the captain’s man was sent to bid the chaise wait that had taken him to +the lady’s, and the marriage was sanctified by me before we left Mrs. +Malcolm’s. No doubt, they ought to have been proclaimed three several +Sabbaths; but I satisfied the session, at our first meeting, on account +of the necessity of the case. The young couple went in the chaise +travelling to Glasgow, authorising me to break the matter to Lady +Macadam, which was a sore task; but I was spared from the performance. +For her ladyship had come to herself, and thinking on her own rashness in +sending away Kate and the captain in the way she had done, she was like +one by herself. All the servants were scattered out and abroad in quest +of the lovers; and some of them, seeing the chaise drive from Mrs. +Malcolm’s door with them in it, and me coming out, jealoused what had +been done, and told their mistress outright of the marriage, which was to +her like a clap of thunder; insomuch that she flung herself back in her +settee, and was beating and drumming with her heels on the floor, like a +madwoman in Bedlam, when I entered the room. For some time she took no +notice of me, but continued her din; but, by-and-by, she began to turn +her eyes in fiery glances upon me, till I was terrified lest she would +fly at me with her claws in her fury. At last she stopped all at once, +and in a calm voice, said, “But it cannot now be helped, where are the +vagabonds?”—“They are gone,” replied I.—“Gone?” cried she, “gone +where?”—“To America, I suppose,” was my answer; upon which she again +threw herself back in the settee, and began again to drum and beat with +her feet as before. But not to dwell on small particularities, let it +suffice to say, that she sent her coachman on one of her coach horses, +which, being old and stiff, did not overtake the fugitives till they were +in their bed at Kilmarnock, where they stopped that night; but when they +came back to the lady’s in the morning, she was as cagey and meikle taken +up with them, as if they had gotten her full consent and privilege to +marry from the first. Thus was the first of Mrs. Malcolm’s children well +and creditably settled. I have only now to conclude with observing, that +my son Gilbert was seized with the smallpox about the beginning of +December, and was blinded by them for seventeen days; for the inoculation +was not in practice yet among us, saving only in the genteel families +that went into Edinburgh for the education of their children, where it +was performed by the faculty there. + + [Picture: Kate] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI +YEAR 1775 + + +THE regular course of nature is calm and orderly, and tempests and +troubles are but lapses from the accustomed sobriety with which +Providence works out the destined end of all things. From Yule till +Pace-Monday there had been a gradual subsidence of our personal and +parochial tribulations, and the spring, though late, set in bright and +beautiful, and was accompanied with the spirit of contentment; so that, +excepting the great concern that we all began to take in the American +rebellion, especially on account of Charles Malcolm that was in the +man-of-war, and of Captain Macadam that had married Kate, we had +throughout the better half of the year but little molestation of any +sort. I should, however, note the upshot of the marriage. + +By some cause that I do not recollect, if I ever had it properly told, +the regiment wherein the captain had bought his commission was not sent +to the plantations, but only over to Ireland, by which the captain and +his lady were allowed to prolong their stay in the parish with his +mother; and he, coming of age while he was among us, in making a +settlement on his wife, bought the house at the Braehead, which was then +just built by Thomas Shivers the mason, and he gave that house, with a +judicious income, to Mrs. Malcolm, telling her that it was not becoming, +he having it in his power to do the contrary, that she should any longer +be dependent on her own industry. For this the young man got a name like +a sweet odour in all the country side; but that whimsical and prelatic +lady his mother, just went out of all bounds, and played such pranks for +an old woman, as cannot be told. To her daughter-in-law, however, she +was wonderful kind; and, in fitting her out for going with the captain to +Dublin, it was extraordinary to hear what a paraphernalia she provided +her with. But who could have thought that in this kindness a sore trial +was brewing for me! + +It happened that Miss Betty Wudrife, the daughter of an heritor, had been +on a visit to some of her friends in Edinburgh; and being in at +Edinburgh, she came out with a fine mantle, decked and adorned with many +a ribbon-knot, such as had never been seen in the parish. The Lady +Macadam, hearing of this grand mantle, sent to beg Miss Betty to lend it +to her, to make a copy for young Mrs. Macadam. But Miss Betty was so +vogie with her gay mantle, that she sent back word, it would be making it +o’er common; which so nettled the old courtly lady, that she vowed +revenge, and said the mantle would not be long seen on Miss Betty. +Nobody knew the meaning of her words; but she sent privately for Miss +Sabrina, the schoolmistress, who was aye proud of being invited to my +lady’s, where she went on the Sabbath night to drink tea, and read +Thomson’s _Seasons_ and Hervey’s _Meditations_ for her ladyship’s +recreation. Between the two, a secret plot was laid against Miss Betty +and her Edinburgh mantle; and Miss Sabrina, in a very treacherous manner, +for the which I afterwards chided her severely, went to Miss Betty, and +got a sight of the mantle, and how it was made, and all about it, until +she was in a capacity to make another like it; by which my lady and her, +from old silk and satin negligées which her ladyship had worn at the +French court, made up two mantles of the selfsame fashion as Miss +Betty’s, and, if possible, more sumptuously garnished, but in a flagrant +fool way. On the Sunday morning after, her ladyship sent for Jenny +Gaffaw, and her daft daughter Meg, and showed them the mantles, and said +she would give then half-a-crown if they would go with them to the kirk, +and take their place in the bench beside the elders, and, after worship, +walk home before Miss Betty Wudrife. The two poor natural things were +just transported with the sight of such bravery, and needed no other +bribe; so, over their bits of ragged duds, they put on the pageantry, and +walked away to the kirk like peacocks, and took their place on the bench, +to the great diversion of the whole congregation. + +I had no suspicion of this, and had prepared an affecting discourse about +the horrors of war, in which I touched, with a tender hand, on the +troubles that threatened families and kindred in America; but all the +time I was preaching, doing my best, and expatiating till the tears came +into my eyes, I could not divine what was the cause of the inattention of +my people. But the two vain haverels were on the bench under me, and I +could not see them; where they sat, spreading their feathers and picking +their wings, stroking down and setting right their finery; with such an +air as no living soul could see and withstand; while every eye in the +kirk was now on them, and now at Miss Betty Wudrife, who was in a worse +situation than if she had been on the stool of repentance. + +Greatly grieved with the little heed that was paid to my discourse, I +left the pulpit with a heavy heart; but when I came out into the +kirkyard, and saw the two antics linking like ladies, and aye keeping in +the way before Miss Betty, and looking back and around in their pride and +admiration, with high heads and a wonderful pomp, I was really overcome, +and could not keep my gravity, but laughed loud out among the graves, and +in the face of all my people; who, seeing how I was vanquished in that +unguarded moment by my enemy, made a universal and most unreverent breach +of all decorum, at which Miss Betty, who had been the cause of all, ran +into the first open door, and almost fainted away with mortification. + +This affair was regarded by the elders as a sinful trespass on the +orderlyness that was needful in the Lord’s house; and they called on me +at the manse that night, and said it would be a guilty connivance if I +did not rebuke and admonish Lady Macadam of the evil of her way; for they +had questioned daft Jenny, and had got at the bottom of the whole plot +and mischief. But I, who knew her ladyship’s light way, would fain have +had the elders to overlook it, rather than expose myself to her tantrums; +but they considered the thing as a great scandal, so I was obligated to +conform to their wishes. I might, however, have as well stayed at home, +for her ladyship was in one of her jocose humours when I went to speak to +her on the subject; and it was so far from my power to make a proper +impression on her of the enormity that had been committed, that she made +me laugh, in spite of my reason, at the fantastical drollery of her +malicious prank on Miss Betty Wudrife. + +It, however, did not end here; for the session, knowing that it was +profitless to speak to the daft mother and daughter, who had been the +instruments, gave orders to Willy Howking, the betheral, not to let them +again so far into the kirk; and Willy, having scarcely more sense than +them both, thought proper to keep them out next Sunday altogether. The +twa said nothing at the time, but the adversary was busy with them; for, +on the Wednesday following, there being a meeting of the synod at Ayr, to +my utter amazement the mother and daughter made their appearance there in +all their finery, and raised a complaint against me and the session, for +debarring them from church privileges. No stage play could have produced +such an effect. I was perfectly dumfoundered; and every member of the +synod might have been tied with a straw, they were so overcome with this +new device of that endless woman, when bent on provocation—the Lady +Macadam; in whom the saying was verified, that old folk are twice bairns; +for in such plays, pranks, and projects, she was as playrife as a very +lassie at her sampler; and this is but a swatch to what lengths she would +go. The complaint was dismissed, by which the session and me were +assoilzied; but I’ll never forget till the day of my death what I +suffered on that occasion, to be so put to the wall by two born idiots. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII +YEAR 1776 + + +IT belongs to the chroniclers of the realm to describe the damage and +detriment which fell on the power and prosperity of the kingdom, by +reason of the rebellion, that was fired into open war, against the name +and authority of the king in the plantations of America; for my task is +to describe what happened within the narrow bound of the pasturage of the +Lord’s flock, of which, in his bounty and mercy, he made me the humble, +willing, but alas! the weak and ineffectual shepherd. + +About the month of February, a recruiting party came to our neighbour +town of Irville, to beat up for men to be soldiers against the rebels; +and thus the battle was brought, as it were, to our gates; for the very +first man that took on with them was one Thomas Wilson, a cottar in our +clachan, who, up to that time, had been a decent and creditable +character. He was at first a farmer lad, but had forgathered with a +doited tawpy, whom he married, and had offspring three or four. For some +time it was noticed that he had a down and thoughtful look, that his +cleeding was growing bare, and that his wife kept an untrig house, which, +it was feared by many, was the cause of Thomas going o’er often to the +change-house; he was, in short, during the greater part of the winter, +evidently a man foregone in the pleasures of this world, which made all +that knew him compassionate his situation. + +No doubt, it was his household ills that burdened him past bearing, and +made him go into Irville, when he heard of the recruiting, and take on to +be a soldier. Such a wally-wallying as the news of this caused at every +door; for the red-coats—from the persecuting days, when the black-cuffs +rampaged through the country—soldiers that fought for hire were held in +dread and as a horror among us, and terrible were the stories that were +told of their cruelty and sinfulness; indeed, there had not been wanting +in our time a sample of what they were, as witness the murder of Jean +Glaikit by Patrick O’Neil, the Irish corporal, anent which I have treated +at large in the memorables of the year 1774. + +A meeting of the session was forthwith held; for here was Thomas Wilson’s +wife and all his weans, an awful cess, thrown upon the parish; and it was +settled outright among us, that Mr. Docken, who was then an elder, but is +since dead, a worthy man, with a soft tongue and a pleasing manner, +should go to Irville, and get Thomas, if possible, released from the +recruiters. But it was all in vain; the sergeant would not listen to +him, for Thomas was a strapping lad; nor would the poor infatuated man +himself agree to go back, but cursed like a cadger, and swore that, if he +stayed any longer among his plagues, he would commit some rash act; so we +were saddled with his family, which was the first taste and preeing of +what war is when it comes into our hearths, and among the breadwinners. + +The evil, however, did not stop here. Thomas, when he was dressed out in +the king’s clothes, came over to see his bairns, and take a farewell of +his friends, and he looked so gallant, that the very next market-day +another lad of the parish listed with him; but he was a ramplor, roving +sort of a creature, and, upon the whole, it was thought he did well for +the parish when he went to serve the king. + +The listing was a catching distemper. Before the summer was over, the +other three of the farming lads went off with the drum, and there was a +wailing in the parish, which made me preach a touching discourse. I +likened the parish to a widow woman with a small family, sitting in her +cottage by the fireside, herself spinning with an eident wheel, ettling +her best to get them a bit and a brat, and the poor weans all canty about +the hearthstane—the little ones at their playocks, and the elder at their +tasks—the callans working with hooks and lines to catch them a meal of +fish in the morning—and the lassies working stockings to sell at the next +Marymas fair.—And then I likened war to a calamity coming among them—the +callans drowned at their fishing—the lassies led to a misdoing—and the +feckless wee bairns laid on the bed of sickness, and their poor forlorn +mother sitting by herself at the embers of a cauldrife fire; her tow +done, and no a bodle to buy more; drooping a silent and salt tear for her +babies, and thinking of days that war gone, and, like Rachel weeping for +her children, she would not be comforted. With this I concluded, for my +own heart filled full with the thought, and there was a deep sob in the +Church; verily it was Rachel weeping for her children. + +In the latter end of the year, the man-of-war, with Charles Malcolm in +her, came to the tail of the Bank at Greenock, to press men as it was +thought, and Charles got leave from his captain to come and see his +mother; and he brought with him Mr. Howard, another midshipman, the son +of a great parliament man in London, which, as we have tasted the sorrow, +gave us some insight into the pomp of war, Charles was now grown up into +a fine young man, rattling, light-hearted, and just a cordial of +gladness, and his companion was every bit like him. They were dressed in +their fine gold-laced garbs and nobody knew Charles when he came to the +clachan, but all wondered, for they were on horseback, and rode to the +house where his mother lived when he went away, but which was then +occupied by Miss Sabrina and her school. Miss Sabrina had never seen +Charles, but she had heard of him; and when he enquired for his mother, +she guessed who he was, and showed him the way to the new house that the +captain had bought for her. + +Miss Sabrina, who was a little overly perjink at times, behaved herself +on this occasion with a true spirit, and gave her lassies the play +immediately; so that the news of Charles’s return was spread by them like +wildfire, and there was a wonderful joy in the whole town. When Charles +had seen his mother, and his sister Effie, with that douce and +well-mannered lad William, his brother—for of their meeting I cannot +speak, not being present—he then came with his friend to see me at the +manse, and was most jocose with me, and, in a way of great pleasance, got +Mrs. Balwhidder to ask his friend to sleep at the manse. In short, we +had just a ploy the whole two days they stayed with us, and I got leave +from Lord Eaglesham’s steward to let them shoot on my lord’s land; and I +believe every laddie wean in the parish attended them to the field. As +for old Lady Macadam, Charles being, as she said, a near relation, and +she having likewise some knowledge of his comrade’s family, she was just +in her element with them, though they were but youths; for she a woman +naturally of a fantastical, and, as I have narrated, given to comical +devices, and pranks to a degree. She made for them a ball, to which she +invited all the bonniest lassies, far and near, in the parish, and was +out of the body with mirth, and had a fiddler from Irville; and it was +thought by those that were there, that had she not been crippled with the +rheumatics, she would have danced herself. But I was concerned to hear +both Charles and his friend, like hungry hawks, rejoicing at the prospect +of the war, hoping thereby, as soon as their midship term was out, to be +made lieutenants; saving this, there was no allay in the happiness they +brought with them to the parish, and it was a delight to see how auld and +young of all degrees made of Charles; for we were proud of him, and none +more than myself, though he began to take liberties with me, calling me +old governor; it was, however, in a warm-hearted manner, only I did not +like it when any of the elders heard. As for his mother, she deported +herself like a saint on the occasion. There was a temperance in the +pleasure of her heart, and in her thankfulness, that is past the compass +of words to describe. Even Lady Macadam, who never could think a serious +thought all her days, said, in her wild way that the gods had bestowed +more care in the making of Mrs. Malcolm’s temper, than on the bodies and +souls of all the saints in the calendar. On the Sunday the strangers +attended divine worship, and I preached a sermon purposely for them, and +enlarged at great length and fulness on how David overcame Goliath; and +they both told me that they had never heard such a good discourse; but I +do not think they were great judges of preachings. How, indeed, could +Mr. Howard know anything of sound doctrine, being educated, as he told +me, at Eton school, a prelatic establishment! Nevertheless, he was a +fine lad; and though a little given to frolic and diversion, he had a +principle of integrity, that afterwards kythed into much virtue; for, +during this visit, he took a notion of Effie Malcolm, and the lassie of +him, then a sprightly and blooming creature, fair to look upon, and +blithe to see; and he kept up a correspondence with her till the war was +over, when being a captain of a frigate, he came down among us, and they +were married by me, as shall be related in its proper place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +YEAR 1777 + + +THIS may well be called the year of the heavy heart, for we had sad +tidings of the lads that went away as soldiers to America. First, there +was a boding in the minds of all their friends that they were never to +see them more; and their sadness, like a mist spreading from the waters +and covering the fields, darkened the spirit of the neighbours. +Secondly, a sound was bruited about that the king’s forces would have a +hot and a sore struggle before the rebels were put down, if they were +ever put down. Then came the cruel truth of all that the poor lads’ +friends had feared. But it is fit and proper that I should relate at +length, under their several heads, the sorrows and afflictions as they +came to pass. + +One evening, as I was taking my walk alone, meditating my discourse for +the next Sabbath—it was shortly after Candlemas—it was a fine clear +frosty evening, just as the sun was setting. Taking my walk alone, and +thinking of the dreadfulness of Almighty power, and how that, if it was +not tempered and restrained by infinite goodness, and wisdom, and mercy, +the miserable sinner, man, and all things that live, would be in a woeful +state, I drew near the beild where old Widow Mirkland lived by herself, +who was grand-mother to Jock Hempy, the ramplor lad, that was the second +who took on for a soldier. I did mind of this at the time; but, passing +the house, I heard the croon, as it were, of a laden soul busy with the +Lord, and, not to disturb the holy workings of grace, I paused and +listened. It was old Mizy Mirkland herself, sitting at the gable of the +house, looking at the sun setting in all his glory behind the Arran +hills; but she was not praying—only moaning to herself—an oozing out, as +it might be called, of the spirit from her heart, then grievously +oppressed with sorrow, and heavy bodements of grey hairs and +poverty.—“Yonder it slips awa’,” she was saying, “and my poor bairn, +that’s o’er the seas in America, is maybe looking on its bright face, +thinking of his hame, and aiblins of me, that did my best to breed him up +in the fear of the Lord; but I couldna warsle wi’ what was ordained. Ay, +Jock! as ye look at the sun gaun down, as many a time, when ye were a wee +innocent laddie at my knee here, I hae bade ye look at him as a type of +your Maker, ye will hae a sore heart; for ye hae left me in my need, when +ye should hae been near at hand to help me, for the hard labour and +industry with which I brought you up. But it’s the Lord’s will. Blessed +be the name of the Lord, that makes us to thole the tribulations of this +world, and will reward us, through the mediation of Jesus, hereafter.” +She wept bitterly as she said this, for her heart was tried, but the +blessing of a religious contentment was shed upon her; and I stepped up +to her, and asked about her concerns, for, saving as a parishioner, and a +decent old woman, I knew little of her. Brief was her story; but it was +one of misfortune.—“But I will not complain,” she said, “of the measure +that has been meted unto me. I was left myself an orphan; when I grew +up, and was married to my gude-man, I had known but scant and want. Our +days of felicity were few; and he was ta’en awa’ from me shortly after my +Mary was born. A wailing baby, and a widow’s heart, was a’ he left me. +I nursed her with my salt tears, and bred her in straits; but the favour +of God was with us, and she grew up to womanhood as lovely as the rose, +and as blameless as the lily. In her time she was married to a farming +lad. There never was a brawer pair in the kirk, than on that day when +they gaed there first as man and wife. My heart was proud, and it +pleased the Lord to chastise my pride—to nip my happiness, even in the +bud. The very next day he got his arm crushed. It never got well again; +and he fell into a decay, and died in the winter, leaving my Mary far on +in the road to be a mother. + + [Picture: A morning consultation] + +“When her time drew near, we both happened to be working in the yard. +She was delving to plant potatoes, and I told her it would do her hurt; +but she was eager to provide something, as she said, for what might +happen. Oh! it was an ill-omened word. The same night her trouble came +on, and before the morning she was a cauld corpse, and another wee wee +fatherless baby was greeting at my bosom—it was him that’s noo awa’ in +America. He grew up to be a fine bairn, with a warm heart, but a light +head, and, wanting the rein of a father’s power upon him, was no sa douce +as I could have wished; but he was no man’s foe save his own. I thought, +and hoped, as he grew to years of discretion, he would have sobered, and +been a consolation to my old age; but he’s gone, and he’ll never come +back—disappointment is my portion in this world, and I have no hope; +while I can do, I will seek no help, but threescore and fifteen can do +little, and a small ail is a great evil to an aged woman, who has but the +distaff for her breadwinner.” + +I did all that I could to bid her be of good cheer, but the comfort of a +hopeful spirit was dead within her; and she told me, that by many tokens +she was assured her bairn was already slain.—“Thrice,” said she, “I have +seen his wraith—the first time he was in the pride of his young manhood, +the next he was pale and wan, with a bloody and gashy wound in his side, +and the third time there was a smoke, and, when it cleared away, I saw +him in a grave, with neither winding-sheet nor coffin.” + +The tale of this pious and resigned spirit dwelt in mine ear, and, when I +went home, Mrs. Balwhidder thought that I had met with an o’ercome, and +was very uneasy; so she got the tea soon ready to make me better; but +scarcely had we tasted the first cup when a loud lamentation was heard in +the kitchen. This was from that tawpy the wife of Thomas Wilson, with +her three weans. They had been seeking their meat among the farmer +houses, and, in coming home, forgathered on the road with the Glasgow +carrier, who told them that news had come, in the _London Gazette_, of a +battle, in which the regiment that Thomas had listed in was engaged, and +had suffered loss both in rank and file; none doubting that their head +was in the number of the slain, the whole family grat aloud, and came to +the manse, bewailing him as no more; and it afterwards turned out to be +the case, making it plain to me that there is a farseeing discernment in +the spirit, that reaches beyond the scope of our incarnate senses. + +But the weight of the war did not end with these afflictions; for, +instead of the sorrow that the listing caused, and the anxiety after, and +the grief of the bloody tidings, operating as wholesome admonition to our +young men, the natural perversity of the human heart was more and more +manifested. A wonderful interest was raised among us all to hear of what +was going on in the world; insomuch, that I myself was no longer +contented with the relation of the news of the month in the _Scots +Magazine_, but joined with my father-in-law, Mr. Kibbock, to get a +newspaper twice a-week from Edinburgh. As for Lady Macadam, who being +naturally an impatient woman, she had one sent to her three times a-week +from London, so that we had something fresh five times every week; and +the old papers were lent out to the families who had friends in the wars. +This was done on my suggestion, hoping it would make all content with +their peaceable lot; but dominion for a time had been given to the power +of contrariness, and it had quite an opposite effect. It begot a +curiosity, egging on to enterprise; and, greatly to my sorrow, three of +the brawest lads in the parish, or in any parish, all in one day took on +with a party of the Scots Greys that were then lying in Ayr; and nothing +would satisfy the callans at Mr. Lorimore’s school, but, instead of their +innocent plays with girs, and shinties, and sicklike, they must go +ranking like soldiers, and fight sham-fights in bodies. In short, things +grew to a perfect hostility, for a swarm of weans came out from the +schools of Irville on a Saturday afternoon, and, forgathering with ours, +they had a battle with stones on the toll-road, such as was dreadful to +hear of; for many a one got a mark that day he will take to the grave +with him. + +It was not, however, by accidents of the field only, that we were +afflicted; those of the flood, too, were sent likewise against us. In +the month of October, when the corn was yet in the holms, and on the cold +land by the river side, the water of Irville swelled to a great spait, +from bank to brae, sweeping all before it, and roaring, in its might, +like an agent of divine displeasure, sent forth to punish the inhabitants +of the earth. The loss of the victual was a thing reparable, and those +that suffered did not greatly complain; for, in other respects, their +harvest had been plenteous: but the river, in its fury, not content with +overflowing the lands, burst through the sandy hills with a raging force, +and a riving asunder of the solid ground, as when the fountains of the +great deep were broken up. All in the parish was a-foot, and on the +hills, some weeping and wringing their hands, not knowing what would +happen, when they beheld the landmarks of the waters deserted, and the +river breaking away through the country, like the war-horse set loose in +his pasture, and glorying in his might. By this change in the way and +channel of the river, all the mills in our parish were left more than +half a mile from dam or lade; and the farmers through the whole winter, +till the new mills were built, had to travel through a heavy road with +their victual, which was a great grievance, and added not a little to the +afflictions of this unhappy year, which to me were not without a +particularity, by the death of a full cousin of Mrs. Balwhidder, my first +wife; she was grievously burnt by looting over a candle. Her mutch, +which was of the high structure then in vogue, took fire, and being +fastened with corking-pins to a great toupee, it could not be got off +until she had sustained a deadly injury, of which, after lingering long, +she was kindly eased by her removal from trouble. This sore accident was +to me a matter of deep concern and cogitation; but as it happened in +Tarbolton, and no in our parish, I have only alluded to it to show, that +when my people were chastised by the hand of Providence, their pastor was +not spared, but had a drop from the same vial. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX +YEAR 1778 + + +THIS year was as the shadow of the bygane: there was less actual +suffering, but what we came through cast a gloom among us, and we did not +get up our spirits till the spring was far advanced; the corn was in the +ear, and the sun far towards midsummer height, before there was any +regular show of gladness in the parish. + +It was clear to me that the wars were not to be soon over; for I noticed, +in the course of this year, that there was a greater christening of lad +bairns than had ever been in any year during my incumbency; and grave and +wise persons, observant of the signs of the times, said, that it had been +long held as a sure prognostication of war, when the births of male +children outnumbered that of females. + +Our chief misfortune in this year was a revival of that wicked mother of +many mischiefs, the smuggling trade, which concerned me greatly; but it +was not allowed to it to make any thing like a permanent stay among us, +though in some of the neighbouring parishes, its ravages, both in morals +and property, were very distressing, and many a mailing was sold to pay +for the triumphs of the cutters and gaugers; for the government was by +this time grown more eager, and the war caused the king’s ships to be out +and about, which increased the trouble of the smugglers, whose wits in +their turn were thereby much sharpened. + +After Mrs. Malcolm, by the settlement of Captain Macadam, had given up +her dealing, two maiden women, that were sisters, Betty and Janet Pawkie, +came in among us from Ayr, where they had friends in league with some of +the laigh land folk, that carried on the contraband with the Isle of Man, +which was the very eye of the smuggling. They took up the tea-selling, +which Mrs. Malcolm had dropped, and did business on a larger scale, +having a general huxtry, with parliament-cakes, and candles, and +pincushions, as well as other groceries, in their window. Whether they +had any contraband dealings, or were only back-bitten, I cannot take it +upon me to say; but it was jealoused in the parish that the meal in the +sacks, that came to their door at night, and was sent to the Glasgow +market in the morning, was not made of corn. They were, however, decent +women, both sedate and orderly; the eldest, Betty Pawkie, was of a manly +stature, and had a long beard, which made her have a coarse look; but she +was, nevertheless, a worthy, well-doing creature, and at her death she +left ten pounds to the poor of the parish, as may be seen in the +mortification board that the session put up in the kirk as a +testification and an example. + +Shortly after the revival of the smuggling, an exciseman was put among +us, and the first was Robin Bicker, a very civil lad that had been a +flunkey with Sir Hugh Montgomerie, when he was a residenter in Edinburgh, +before the old Sir Hugh’s death. He was a queer fellow, and had a coothy +way of getting in about folk, the which was very serviceable to him in +his vocation; nor was he overly gleg: but when a job was ill done, and he +was obliged to notice it, he would often break out on the smugglers for +being so stupid, so that for an exciseman he was wonderful well liked, +and did not object to a waught of brandy at a time; when the auld wives +ca’d it well-water. It happened, however, that some unneighbourly person +sent him notice of a clecking of tea chests, or brandy kegs, at which +both Jenny and Betty Pawkie were the howdies. Robin could not but +therefore enter their house; however, before going in, he just cried at +the door to somebody on the road, so as to let the twa industrious +lassies hear he was at hand. They were not slack in closing the +trance-door, and putting stoups and stools behind it, so as to cause +trouble, and give time before any body could get in. They then emptied +their chaff-bed, and filled the tikeing with tea, and Betty went in on +the top, covering herself with the blanket, and graining like a woman in +labour. It was thought that Robin Bicker himself would not have been +overly particular in searching the house, considering there was a woman +seemingly in the death-thraws; but a sorner, an incomer from the east +country, and that hung about the change-house as a divor hostler, that +would rather gang a day’s journey in the dark than turn a spade in +day-light, came to him as he stood at the door, and went in with him to +see the sport. Robin, for some reason, could not bid him go away, and +both Betty and Janet were sure he was in the plot against them; indeed, +it was always thought he was an informer, and no doubt he was something +not canny, for he had a down look. + +It was some time before the doorway was cleared of the stoups and stools, +and Jenny was in great concern, and flustered, as she said, for her poor +sister, who was taken with a heart-colic. “I’m sorry for her,” said +Robin, “but I’ll be as quiet as possible;” and so he searched all the +house, but found nothing; at the which his companion, the divor east +country hostler, swore an oath that could not be misunderstood; so, +without more ado, but as all thought against the grain, Robin went up to +sympathize with Betty in the bed, whose groans were loud and vehement. +“Let me feel your pulse,” said Robin, and he looted down as she put forth +her arm from aneath the clothes, and laying his hand on the bed, cried, +“Hey! what’s this? this is a costly filling.” Upon which Betty jumpet up +quite recovered, and Jenny fell to the wailing and railing, while the +hostler from the east country took the bed of tea on his back, to carry +it to the change-house, till a cart was gotten to take it into the +custom-house at Irville. + +Betty Pawkie being thus suddenly cured, and grudging the loss of +property, took a knife in her hand, and as the divor was crossing the +burn at the stepping-stones that lead to the back of the change-house, +she ran after him and ripped up the tikeing, and sent all the tea +floating away on the burn, which was thought a brave action of Betty, and +the story not a little helped to lighten our melancholy meditations. + +Robin Bicker was soon after this affair removed to another district, and +we got in his place one Mungo Argyle, who was as proud as a provost, +being come of Highland parentage. Black was the hour he came among my +people; for he was needy and greedy, and rode on the top of his +commission. Of all the manifold ills in the train of smuggling, surely +the excisemen are the worst, and the setting of this rabiator over us was +a severe judgment for our sins. But he suffered for’t, and peace be with +him in the grave, where the wicked cease from troubling! + +Willie Malcolm, the youngest son of his mother, had by this time learned +all that Mr. Lorimore, the schoolmaster, could teach; and as it was +evidenced to every body, by his mild manners and saintliness of +demeanour, that he was a chosen vessel, his mother longed to fulfil his +own wish, which was doubtless the natural working of the act of grace +that had been shed upon him; but she had not the wherewithal to send him +to the college of Glasgow, where he was desirous to study, and her just +pride would not allow her to cess his brother-in-law, the Captain +Macadam, whom, I should now mention, was raised in the end of this year, +as we read in the newspapers, to be a major. I thought her in this +somewhat unreasonable, for she would not be persuaded to let me write to +the captain; but when I reflected on the good that Willie Malcolm might +in time do as a preacher, I said nothing more to her, but indited a +letter to the Lord Eaglesham, setting forth the lad’s parts, telling who +he was and all about his mother’s scruples; and, by the retour of the +post from London his lordship sent me an order on his steward, to pay me +twenty pounds towards equipping my protegée, as he called Willie, with a +promise to pay for his education, which was such a great thing for his +lordship to do off-hand on my recommendation, that it won much affection +throughout the country side; and folks began to wonder, rehearsing the +great things, as was said, that I had gotten my lord at different times, +and on divers occasions, to do, which had a vast of influence among my +brethren of the presbytery, and they grew into a state of greater +cordiality with me, looking on me as a man having authority; but I was +none thereat lifted up, for not being gifted with the power of a +kirk-filling eloquence, I was but little sought for at sacraments, and +fasts, and solemn days, which was doubtless well ordained; for I had no +motive to seek fame in foreign pulpits, but was left to walk in the paths +of simplicity within my own parish. To eschew evil myself, and to teach +others to do the same, I thought the main duties of the pastoral office, +and with a sincere heart endeavoured what in me lay to perform them with +meekness, sobriety, and a spirit wakeful to the inroads of sin and Satan. +But oh, the sordiness of human nature!—The kindness of the Lord +Eaglesham’s own disposition was ascribed to my influence, and many a dry +answer I was obliged to give to applicants that would have me trouble his +lordship, as if I had a claim upon him. In the ensuing year, the notion +of my cordiality with him came to a great head, and brought about an +event, that could not have been forethought by me as a thing within the +compass of possibility to bring to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XX +YEAR 1779 + + +I WAS named in this year for the General Assembly, and Mrs. Balwhidder, +by her continual thrift, having made our purse able to stand a shake +against the wind, we resolved to go into Edinburgh in a creditable +manner. Accordingly, in conjunct with Mrs. Dalrymple, the lady of a +major of that name, we hired the Irville chaise, and we put up in +Glasgow, at the Black Boy, where we stayed all night. Next morning, by +seven o’clock, we got into a fly-coach for the capital of Scotland, which +we reached after a heavy journey about the same hour in the evening, and +put up at the public where it stopped till the next day; for really both +me and Mrs. Balwhidder were worn out with the undertaking, and found a +cup of tea a vast refreshment. + +Betimes, in the morning, having taken our breakfast, we got a caddy to +guide us and our wallise to Widow M‘Vicar’s, at the head of the +Covenanters’ Close. She was a relation to my first wife, Betty Lanshaw, +my own full cousin that was, and we had advised her, by course of post, +of our coming, and intendment to lodge with her as uncos and strangers. +But Mrs. M‘Vicar kept a cloth shop, and sold plaidings and flannels, +besides Yorkshire superfines, and was used to the sudden incoming of +strangers, especially visitants, both from the West and the North +Highlands, and was withal a gawsy furthy woman, taking great pleasure in +hospitality, and every sort of kindliness and discretion. She would not +allow of such a thing as our being lodgers in her house, but was so cagey +to see us, and to have it in her power to be civil to a minister, as she +was pleased to say, of such repute, that nothing less would content her +but that we must live upon her, and partake of all the best that could be +gotten for us within the walls of “the gude town.” + +When we found ourselves so comfortable, Mrs. Balwhidder and me waited on +my patron’s family that was, the young ladies, and the laird, who had +been my pupil, but was now an advocate high in the law. They likewise +were kind also. In short, every body in Edinburgh were in a manner +wearisome kind, and we could scarcely find time to see the Castle and the +palace of Holyrood-house, and that more sanctified place, where the +Maccabeus of the Kirk of Scotland, John Knox, was wont to live. + +Upon my introduction to his grace the Commissioner, I was delighted and +surprised to find the Lord Eaglesham at the levee, and his lordship was +so glad on seeing me, that he made me more kenspeckle than I could have +wished to have been in his grace’s presence; for, owing to the same, I +was required to preach before his grace, upon a jocose recommendation of +his lordship; the which gave me great concern, and daunted me so that in +the interim I was almost bereft of all peace and studious composure of +mind. Fain would I have eschewed the honour that was thus thrust upon +me; but both my wife and Mrs. M‘Vicar were just lifted out of themselves +with the thought. + +When the day came, I thought all things in this world were loosened from +their hold, and that the sure and steadfast earth itself was grown coggly +beneath my feet, as I mounted the pulpit. With what sincerity I prayed +for help that day! and never stood man more in need of it; for through +all my prayer the congregation was so watchful and still, doubtless to +note if my doctrine was orthodox, that the beating of my heart might have +been heard to the uttermost corners of the kirk. + +I had chosen as my text, from Second Samuel, xixth chapter and 35th +verse, these words—“Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and +singing women? Wherefore, then, should thy servant be yet a burden to +the king?” And hardly had I with a trembling voice read the words, when +I perceived an awful stir in the congregation; for all applied the words +to the state of the church, and the appointment of his grace the +Commissioner. Having paused after giving out the text, the same fearful +and critical silence again ensued, and every eye was so fixed upon me, +that I was for a time deprived of courage to look about; but heaven was +pleased to compassionate my infirmity, and as I proceeded, I began to +warm as in my own pulpit. I described the gorgeous Babylonian harlot +riding forth in her chariots of gold and silver, with trampling steeds +and a hurricane of followers, drunk with the cup of abominations, all +shouting with revelry, and glorying in her triumph, treading down in +their career those precious pearls, the saints and martyrs, into the mire +beneath their swinish feet. “Before her you may behold Wantonness +playing the tinkling cymbal, Insolence beating the drum, and Pride +blowing the trumpet. Every vice is there with his emblems; and the +seller of pardons, with his crucifix and triple crown, is distributing +his largess of perdition. The voices of men shout to set wide the gates, +to give entrance to the queen of nations, and the gates are set wide, and +they all enter. The avenging gates close on them—they are all shut up in +hell.” + +There was a sough in the kirk as I said these words; for the vision I +described seemed to be passing before me as I spoke, and I felt as if I +had witnessed the everlasting destruction of Antichrist, and the +worshippers of the Beast. But soon recovering myself, I said in a soft +and gentle manner, “Look at yon lovely creature in virgin-raiment, with +the Bible in her hand. See how mildly she walks along, giving alms to +the poor as she passes on towards the door of that lowly dwelling—Let us +follow her in—She takes her seat in the chair at the bedside of the poor +old dying sinner; and as he tosses in the height of penitence and +despair, she reads to him the promise of the Saviour—‘This night thou +shalt be with me in Paradise;’ and he embraces her with transports, and, +falling back on his pillow, calmly closes his eyes in peace. She is the +true religion; and when I see what she can do even in the last moments of +the guilty, well may we exclaim, when we think of the symbols and +pageantry of the departed superstition, Can I hear any more the voice of +singing men and singing women? No; let us cling to the simplicity of the +Truth that is now established in our native land.” + +At the conclusion of this clause of my discourse, the congregation, which +had been all so still and so solemn, never coughing, as was often the +case among my people, gave a great rustle, changing their positions, by +which I was almost overcome; however, I took heart and ventured on, and +pointed out that, with our Bible and an orthodox priesthood, we stood in +no need of the king’s authority, however bound we were, in temporal +things, to respect it; and I showed this at some length, crying out in +the words of my text, “Wherefore, then, should thy servant be yet a +burden to the king?” in the saying of which I happened to turn my eyes +towards his grace the Commissioner, as he sat on the throne, and I +thought his countenance was troubled, which made me add, that he might +not think I meant him any offence, “That the King of the Church was one +before whom the great, and the wise, and the good—all doomed and +sentenced convicts—implore his mercy.” “It is true,” said I, “that in +the days of his tribulation he was wounded for our iniquities, and died +to save us; but, at his death, his greatness was proclaimed by the quick +and the dead. There was sorrow, and there was wonder, and there was +rage, and there was remorse; but there was no shame there—none blushed on +that day at that sight but yon glorious luminary.” The congregation +rose, and looked round, as the sun that I pointed at shone in at the +window. I was disconcerted by their movement, and my spirit was spent, +so that I could say no more. + +When I came down from the pulpit, there was a great pressing in of +acquaintance and ministers, who lauded me exceedingly; but I thought it +could be only in derision, therefore I slipped home to Mrs. M‘Vicar’s as +fast as I could. + +Mrs. M‘Vicar, who was a clever, hearing-all sort of a neighbour, said my +sermon was greatly thought of, and that I had surprised everybody; but I +was fearful there was something of jocularity at the bottom of this, for +she was a flaunty woman, and liked well to give a good-humoured gibe or +jeer. However, his grace the Commissioner was very thankful for the +discourse, and complimented me on what he called my apostolical +earnestness; but he was a courteous man, and I could not trust to him, +especially as my lord Eaglesham had told me in secrecy before—it’s true, +it was in his gallanting way—that, in speaking of the king’s servant as I +had done, I had rather gone beyond the bounds of modern moderation. +Altogether, I found neither pleasure nor profit in what was thought so +great an honour, but longed for the privacy of my own narrow pasture, and +little flock. + +It was in this visit to Edinburgh that Mrs. Balwhidder bought her silver +teapot, and other ornamental articles; but this was not done, as she +assured me, in a vain spirit of bravery, which I could not have abided, +but because it was well known that tea draws better in a silver pot, and +drinks pleasanter in a china cup, than out of any other kind of cup or +teapot. + +By the time I got home to the manse, I had been three whole weeks and +five days absent, which was more than all my absences together, from the +time of my placing; and my people were glowing with satisfaction when +they saw us driving in a Glasgow chaise through the clachan to the manse. + +The rest of the year was merely a quiet succession of small incidents, +none of which are worthy of notation, though they were all severally, no +doubt, of aught somewhere, as they took us both time and place in the +coming to pass, and nothing comes to pass without helping onwards to some +great end; each particular little thing that happens in the world being a +seed sown by the hand of Providence to yield an increase, which increase +is destined, in its turn, to minister to some higher purpose, until at +last the issue affects the whole earth. There is nothing in all the +world that doth not advance the cause of goodness; no, not even the sins +of the wicked, though, through the dim casement of her mortal tabernacle, +the soul of man cannot discern the method thereof. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI +YEAR 1780 + + +THIS was, among ourselves, another year of few events. A sound, it is +true, came among us of a design, on the part of the government in London, +to bring back the old harlotry of papistry; but we spent our time in the +lea of the hedge, and the lown of the hill. Some there were that a panic +seized upon when they heard of Lord George Gordon, that zealous +Protestant, being committed to the Tower; but for my part, I had no +terror upon me, for I saw all things around me going forward improving; +and I said to myself, it is not so when Providence permits scathe and +sorrow to fall upon a nation. Civil troubles, and the casting down of +thrones, is always forewarned by want and poverty striking the people. +What I have, therefore, chiefly to record as the memorables of this year, +are things of small import—the main of which are, that some of the +neighbouring lairds, taking example by Mr. Kibbock, my father-in-law that +was, began in this fall to plant the tops of their hills with mounts of +fir-trees; and Mungo Argyle, the exciseman, just herried the poor +smugglers to death, and made a power of prize-money, which, however, had +not the wonted effect of riches, for it brought him no honour; and he +lived in the parish like a leper, or any other kind of excommunicated +person. + +But I should not forget a most droll thing that took place with Jenny +Gaffaw, and her daughter. They had been missed from the parish for some +days, and folk began to be uneasy about what could have become of the two +silly creatures; till one night, at the dead hour, a strange light was +seen beaming and burning at the window of the bit hole where they lived. +It was first observed by Lady Macadam, who never went to bed at any +Christian hour, but sat up reading her new French novels and play-books +with Miss Sabrina, the schoolmistress. She gave the alarm, thinking that +such a great and continuous light from a lone house, where never candle +had been seen before, could be nothing less than the flame of a burning. +And sending Miss Sabrina and the servants to see what was the matter, +they beheld daft Jenny, and her as daft daughter, with a score of candle +doups, (Heaven only knows where they got them!) placed in the window, and +the twa fools dancing, and linking, and admiring before the door. +“What’s all this about, Jenny,” said Miss Sabrina.—“Awa’ wi’ you, awa’ +wi’ you—ye wicked pope, ye whore of Babylon—is na it for the glory of +God, and the Protestant religion? d’ye think I will be a pope as long as +light can put out darkness?”—And with that the mother and daughter began +again to leap and dance as madly as before. + +It seems that poor Jenny, having heard of the luminations that were +lighted up through the country on the ending of the Popish Bill, had, +with Meg, travelled by themselves into Glasgow, where they had gathered +or begged a stock of candles, and coming back under the cloud of night, +had surprised and alarmed the whole clachan, by lighting up their window +in the manner that I have described. Poor Miss Sabrina, at Jenny’s +uncivil salutation, went back to my lady with her heart full, and would +fain have had the idiots brought to task before the session, for what +they had said to her. But I would not hear tell of such a thing, for +which Miss Sabrina owed me a grudge that was not soon given up. At the +same time, I was grieved to see the testimonies of joyfulness for a holy +victory, brought into such disrepute by the ill-timed demonstrations of +the two irreclaimable naturals, that had not a true conception of the +cause for which they were triumphing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII +YEAR 1781 + + +IF the two last years passed o’er the heads of me and my people without +any manifest dolour, which is a great thing to say for so long a period +in this world, we had our own trials and tribulations in the one of which +I have now to make mention. Mungo Argyle, the exciseman, waxing rich, +grew proud and petulant, and would have ruled the country side with a rod +of iron. Nothing less would serve him than a fine horse to ride on, and +a world of other conveniences and luxuries, as if he had been on an +equality with gentlemen. And he bought a grand gun, which was called a +fowling-piece; and he had two pointer dogs, the like of which had not +been seen in the parish since the planting of the Eaglesham-wood on the +moorland, which was four years before I got the call. Every body said +the man was fey; and truly, when I remarked him so gallant and gay on the +Sabbath at the kirk, and noted his glowing face and gleg een, I thought +at times there was something no canny about him. It was indeed clear to +be seen, that the man was hurried out of himself; but nobody could have +thought that the death he was to dree would have been what it was. + +About the end of summer my Lord Eaglesham came to the castle, bringing +with him an English madam, that was his Miss. Some days after he came +down from London, as he was riding past the manse, his lordship stopped +to enquire for my health, and I went to the door to speak to him. I +thought that he did not meet me with that blithe countenance he was wont, +and in going away, he said with a blush, “I fear I dare not ask you to +come to the castle.” I had heard of his concubine, and I said, “In +saying so, my lord, you show a spark of grace; for it would not become me +to see what I have heard; and I am surprised, my lord, you will not +rather take a lady of your own.” He looked kindly, but confused, saying, +he did not know where to get one; so seeing his shame, and not wishing to +put him out of conceit entirely with himself, I replied, “Na, na, my +lord, there’s nobody will believe that, for there never was a silly Jock, +but there was as silly a Jenny,” at which he laughed heartily, and rode +away. But I know not what was in’t; I was troubled in mind about him, +and thought, as he was riding away, that I would never see him again; and +sure enough it so happened; for the next day, being airing in his coach +with Miss Spangle, the lady he had brought, he happened to see Mungo +Argyle with his dogs and his gun, and my lord being as particular about +his game as the other was about boxes of tea and kegs of brandy, he +jumped out of the carriage, and ran to take the gun. Words passed, and +the exciseman shot my lord. Never shall I forget that day; such riding, +such running, the whole country side afoot; but the same night my lord +breathed his last; and the mad and wild reprobate that did the deed was +taken up and sent off to Edinburgh. This was a woeful riddance of that +oppressor, for my lord was a good landlord and a kind-hearted man; and +albeit, though a little thoughtless, was aye ready to make his power, +when the way was pointed out, minister to good works. The whole parish +mourned for him, and there was not a sorer heart in all its bounds than +my own. Never was such a sight seen as his burial: the whole country +side was there, and all as solemn as if they had been assembled in the +valley of Jehoshaphat in the latter day. The hedges where the funeral +was to pass were clad with weans, like bunches of hips and haws, and the +kirkyard was as if all its own dead were risen. Never, do I think, was +such a multitude gathered together. Some thought there could not be less +than three thousand grown men, besides women and children. + +Scarcely was this great public calamity past, for it could be reckoned no +less, when one Saturday afternoon, as Miss Sabrina, the schoolmistress, +was dining with Lady Macadam, her ladyship was stricken with the +paralytics, and her face so thrown in the course of a few minutes, that +Miss Sabrina came flying to the manse for the help and advice of Mrs. +Balwhidder. A doctor was gotten with all speed by express; but her +ladyship was smitten beyond the reach of medicine. She lived, however, +some time after; but oh! she was such an object, that it was a grief to +see her. She could only mutter when she tried to speak, and was as +helpless as a baby. Though she never liked me, nor could I say there was +many things in her demeanour that pleased me; yet she was a free-handed +woman to the needful, and when she died she was more missed than it was +thought she could have been. + +Shortly after her funeral, which was managed by a gentleman sent from her +friends in Edinburgh, that I wrote to about her condition, the Major, her +son, with his lady, Kate Malcolm, and two pretty bairns, came and stayed +in her house for a time, and they were a great happiness to us all, both +in the way of drinking tea, and sometimes taking a bit of dinner, their +only mother now, the worthy and pious Mrs. Malcolm, being regularly of +the company. + +Before the end of the year, I should mention, that the fortune of Mrs. +Malcolm’s family got another shove upwards, by the promotion of her +second son, Robert Malcolm, who, being grown an expert and careful +mariner, was made captain of a grand ship, whereof Provost Maitland of +Glasgow, that was kind to his mother in her distresses, was the owner. +But that douce lad Willie, her youngest son, who was at the university of +Glasgow under the Lord Eaglesham’s patronage, was like to have suffered a +blight. However, Major Macadam, when I spoke to him anent the young +man’s loss of his patron, said, with a pleasant generosity, he should not +be stickit; and, accordingly, he made up, as far as money could, for the +loss of his lordship; but there was none that made up for the great power +and influence, which, I have no doubt, the Earl would have exerted in his +behalf, when he was ripened for the church. So that, although in time +William came out a sound and heart-searching preacher, he was long +obliged, like many another unfriended saint, to cultivate sand, and wash +Ethiopians in the shape of an east country gentleman’s camstrairy weans; +than which, as he wrote me himself, there cannot be on earth a greater +trial of temper. However, in the end he was rewarded, and is not only +now a placed minister, but a doctor of divinity. + +The death of Lady Macadam was followed by another parochial misfortune; +for, considering the time when it happened, we could count it as nothing +less. Auld Thomas Howkings, the betheral, fell sick, and died in the +course of a week’s illness, about the end of November; and the measles +coming at that time upon the parish, there was such a smashery of the +poor weans as had not been known for an age; insomuch that James Banes, +the lad who was Thomas Howkings’ helper, rose in open rebellion against +the session during his superior’s illness; and we were constrained to +augment his pay, and to promise him the place if Thomas did not recover, +which it was then thought he could not do. On the day this happened, +there were three dead children in the clachan, and a panic and +consternation spread about the burial of them when James Bane’s +insurrection was known, which made both me and the session glad to hush +up the affair, that the heart of the public might have no more than the +sufferings of individuals to hurt it.—Thus ended a year, on many +accounts, heavy to be remembered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII +YEAR 1782 + + +ALTHOUGH I have not been particular in noticing it, from time to time, +there had been an occasional going off, at fairs and on market-days, of +the lads of the parish as soldiers, and when Captain Malcolm got the +command of his ship, no less than four young men sailed with him from the +clachan; so that we were deeper and deeper interested in the proceedings +of the doleful war that was raging in the plantations. By one post we +heard of no less than three brave fellows belonging to us being slain in +one battle, for which there was a loud and general lamentation. + +Shortly after this, I got a letter from Charles Malcolm, a very pretty +letter it indeed was: he had heard of my Lord Eaglesham’s murder, and +grieved for the loss, both because his lordship was a good man, and +because he had been such a friend to him and his family. “But,” said +Charles, “the best way I can show my gratitude for his patronage, is to +prove myself a good officer to my king and country.” Which I thought a +brave sentiment, and was pleased thereat; for somehow Charles, from the +time he brought me the limes to make a bowl of punch, in his pocket from +Jamaica, had built a nest of affection in my heart. But, oh! the wicked +wastry of life in war. In less than a month after, the news came of a +victory over the French fleet, and by the same post I got a letter from +Mr. Howard, that was the midshipman who came to see us with Charles, +telling me that poor Charles had been mortally wounded in the action, and +had afterwards died of his wounds. “He was a hero in the engagement,” +said Mr. Howard, “and he died as a good and a brave man should.”—These +tidings gave me one of the sorest hearts I ever suffered, and it was long +before I could gather fortitude to disclose the tidings to poor Charles’s +mother. But the callants of the school had heard of the victory, and +were going shouting about, and had set the steeple bell a-ringing, by +which Mrs. Malcolm heard the news; and knowing that Charles’s ship was +with the fleet, she came over to the manse in great anxiety to hear the +particulars, somebody telling her that there had been a foreign letter to +me by the postman. + +When I saw her I could not speak, but looked at her in pity, and, the +tear fleeing up into my eyes, she guessed what had happened. After +giving a deep and sore sigh, she enquired, “How did he behave? I hope +well, for he was aye a gallant laddie!”—and then she wept very bitterly. +However, growing calmer, I read to her the letter; and, when I had done, +she begged me to give it to her to keep, saying, “It’s all that I have +now left of my pretty boy; but it’s mair precious to me than the wealth +of the Indies;” and she begged me to return thanks to the Lord for all +the comforts and manifold mercies with which her lot had been blessed, +since the hour she put her trust in him alone; and that was when she was +left a penniless widow, with her five fatherless bairns. + +It was just an edification of the spirit to see the Christian resignation +of this worthy woman. Mrs. Balwhidder was confounded, and said, there +was more sorrow in seeing the deep grief of her fortitude than tongue +could tell. + + [Picture: The Old Herd] + +Having taken a glass of wine with her, I walked out to conduct her to her +own house; but in the way we met with a severe trial. All the weans were +out parading with napkins and kail-blades on sticks, rejoicing and +triumphing in the glad tidings of victory. But when they saw me and Mrs. +Malcolm coming slowly along, they guessed what had happened, and threw +away their banners of joy; and standing all up in a row, with silence and +sadness, along the kirkyard wall as we passed, showed an instinct of +compassion that penetrated to my very soul. The poor mother burst into +fresh affliction, and some of the bairns into an audible weeping; and, +taking one another by the hand, they followed us to her door, like +mourners at a funeral. Never was such a sight seen in any town before. +The neighbours came to look at it as we walked along, and the men turned +aside to hide their faces; while the mothers pressed their babies +fondlier to their bosoms, and watered their innocent faces with their +tears. + +I prepared a suitable sermon, taking as the words of my text, “Howl, ye +ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste.” But when I saw +around me so many of my people clad in complimentary mourning for the +gallant Charles Malcolm, and that even poor daft Jenny Gaffaw, and her +daughter, had on an old black riband; and when I thought of him, the +spirited laddie, coming home from Jamaica with his parrot on his +shoulder, and his limes for me, my heart filled full, and I was obliged +to sit down in the pulpit, and drop a tear. + +After a pause, and the Lord having vouchsafed to compose me, I rose up, +and gave out that anthem of triumph, the 124th psalm, the singing of +which brought the congregation round to themselves; but still I felt that +I could not preach as I had meant to do; therefore I only said a few +words of prayer, and singing another psalm, dismissed the congregation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV +YEAR 1783 + + +THIS was another Sabbath year of my ministry. It has left me nothing to +record but a silent increase of prosperity in the parish. I myself had +now in the bank more than a thousand pounds, and every thing was thriving +around. My two bairns, Gilbert, that is now the merchant in Glasgow, was +grown into a sturdy ramplor laddie, and Janet, that is married upon Dr. +Kittleword, the minister of Swappington, was as fine a lassie for her +years as the eyes of a parent could desire to see. + +Shortly after the news of the peace, an event at which all gave +themselves up to joy, a thing happened among us that at the time caused +much talk; but although very dreadful, was yet not so serious, some how +or other, as such an awsome doing should have been. Poor Jenny Gaffaw +happened to take a heavy cold, and soon thereafter died. Meg went about +from house to house, begging dead-clothes, and got the body straighted in +a wonderful decent manner, with a plate of earth and salt placed upon +it—an admonitory type of mortality and eternal life that has +ill-advisedly gone out of fashion. When I heard of this, I could not but +go to see how a creature that was not thought possessed of a grain of +understanding, could have done so much herself. On entering the door, I +beheld Meg sitting with two or three of the neighbouring kimmers, and the +corpse laid out on a bed. “Come awa’, sir,” said Meg; “this is an +altered house. They’re gane that keepit it bein; but, sir, we maun a’ +come to this—we maun pay the debt o’ nature—death is a grim creditor, and +a doctor but brittle bail when the hour of reckoning’s at han’! What a +pity it is, mother, that you’re now dead, for here’s the minister come to +see you. Oh, sir! but she would have had a proud heart to see you in her +dwelling, for she had a genteel turn, and would not let me, her only +daughter, mess or mell wi’ the lathron lasses of the clachan. Ay, ay, +she brought me up with care, and edicated me for a lady: nae coarse wark +darkened my lily-white hands. But I maun work now; I maun dree the +penalty of man.” + +Having stopped some time, listening to the curious maunnering of Meg, I +rose to come away; but she laid her hand on my arm, saying, “No, sir, ye +maun taste before ye gang! My mother had aye plenty in her life, nor +shall her latter day be needy.” + +Accordingly, Meg, with all the due formality common on such occasions, +produced a bottle of water, and a dram-glass, which she filled and +tasted, then presented to me, at the same time offering me a bit of bread +on a slate. It was a consternation to everybody how the daft creature +had learnt all the ceremonies, which she performed in a manner past the +power of pen to describe, making the solemnity of death, by her strange +mockery, a kind of merriment, that was more painful than sorrow; but some +spirits are gifted with a faculty of observation, that, by the strength +of a little fancy, enables them to make a wonderful and truthlike +semblance of things and events, which they never saw, and poor Meg seemed +to have this gift. + +The same night, the session having provided a coffin, the body was put +in, and removed to Mr. Mutchkin’s brewhouse, where the lads and lassies +kept the late-wake. + +Saving this, the year flowed in a calm, and we floated on in the stream +of time towards the great ocean of eternity, like ducks and geese in the +river’s tide, that are carried down without being sensible of the speed +of the current. Alas! we have not wings like them, to fly back to the +place we set out from. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV +YEAR 1784 + + +I HAVE ever thought that this was a bright year, truly an Ann. Dom., for +in it many of the lads came home that had listed to be soldiers; and Mr. +Howard, that was the midshipman, being now a captain of a man-of-war, +came down from England and married Effie Malcolm, and took her up with +him to London, where she wrote to her mother, that she found his family +people of great note, and more kind to her than she could write. By this +time, also, Major Macadam was made a colonel, and lived with his lady in +Edinburgh, where they were much respected by the genteeler classes, Mrs. +Macadam being considered a great unco among them for all manner of +ladylike ornaments, she having been taught every sort of perfection in +that way by the old lady, who was educated at the court of France, and +was, from her birth, a person of quality. In this year, also, Captain +Malcolm, her brother, married a daughter of a Glasgow merchant, so that +Mrs. Malcolm, in her declining years, had the prospect of a bright +setting; but nothing could change the sober Christianity of her settled +mind; and although she was strongly invited, both by the Macadams and the +Howards, to see their felicity, she ever declined the same, saying—“No! +I have been long out of the world, or rather, I have never been in it; my +ways are not as theirs; and although I ken their hearts would be glad to +be kind to me, I might fash their servants, or their friends might think +me unlike other folk, by which, instead of causing pleasure, +mortification might ensue; so I will remain in my own house, trusting +that, when they can spare the time, they will come and see me.” + +There was a spirit of true wisdom in this resolution, for it required a +forbearance that in weaker minds would have relaxed; but though a person +of a most slender and delicate frame of body, she was a Judith in +fortitude; and in all the fortune that seemed now smiling upon her, she +never was lifted up, but bore always that pale and meek look, which gave +a saintliness to her endeavours in the days of her suffering and poverty. + +But when we enjoy most, we have least to tell. I look back on this year +as on a sunny spot in the valley, amidst the shadows of the clouds of +time; and I have nothing to record, save the remembrance of welcomings +and weddings, and a meeting of bairns and parents, that the wars and the +waters had long raged between. Contentment within the bosom, lent a +livelier grace to the countenance of Nature; and everybody said, that in +this year the hedges were greener than common, the gowans brighter on the +brae, and the heads of the statelier trees adorned with a richer coronal +of leaves and blossoms. All things were animated with the gladness of +thankfulness, and testified to the goodness of their Maker. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI +YEAR 1785 + + +WELL may we say, in the pious words of my old friend and neighbour, the +Reverend Mr. Keekie of Loupinton, that the world is such a +wheel-carriage, that it might very properly be called the WHIRL’D. This +reflection was brought home to me in a very striking manner, while I was +preparing a discourse for my people, to be preached on the anniversary +day of my placing, in which I took a view of what had passed in the +parish during the five-and-twenty years that I had been, by the grace of +God, the pastor thereof. The bairns, that were bairns when I came among +my people, were ripened unto parents, and a new generation was swelling +in the bud around me. But it is what happened that I have to give an +account of. + +This year the Lady Macadam’s jointure-house that was, having been long +without a tenant, a Mr. Cayenne and his family, American loyalists, came +and took it, and settled among us for a time. His wife was a clever +woman, and they had two daughters, Miss Virginia and Miss Carolina; but +he was himself an ettercap, a perfect spunkie of passion, as ever was +known in town or country. His wife had a terrible time o’t with him, and +yet the unhappy man had a great share of common sense, and, saving the +exploits of his unmanageable temper, was an honest and creditable +gentleman. Of his humour we soon had a sample, as I shall relate at +length all about it. + +Shortly after he came to the parish, Mrs. Balwhidder and me waited upon +the family to pay our respects, and Mr. Cayenne, in a free and hearty +manner, insisted on us staying to dinner. His wife, I could see, was not +satisfied with this, not being, as I discerned afterwards, prepared to +give an entertainment to strangers; however, we fell into the misfortune +of staying, and nothing could exceed the happiness of Mr. Cayenne. I +thought him one of the blithest bodies I had ever seen, and had no notion +that he was such a tap of tow as in the sequel he proved himself. + +As there was something extra to prepare, the dinner was a little longer +of being on the table than usual, at which he began to fash, and every +now and then took a turn up and down the room, with his hands behind his +back, giving a short melancholious whistle. At length the dinner was +served, but it was more scanty than he had expected, and this upset his +good-humour altogether. Scarcely had I asked the blessing when he began +to storm at his blackamoor servant, who was, however, used to his way, +and did his work without minding him; but by some neglect there was no +mustard down, which Mr. Cayenne called for in the voice of a tempest, and +one of the servant lassies came in with the pot, trembling. It happened +that, as it had not been used for a day or two before, the lid was +clagged, and, as it were, glued in, so that Mr. Cayenne could not get it +out, which put him quite wud, and he attempted to fling it at Sambo, the +black lad’s head, but it stottit against the wall, and the lid flying +open, the whole mustard flew in his own face, which made him a sight not +to be spoken of. However it calmed him; but really, as I had never seen +such a man before, I could not but consider the accident as a +providential reproof, and trembled to think what greater evil might fall +out in the hands of a man so left to himself in the intemperance of +passion. + +But the worst thing about Mr. Cayenne was his meddling with matters in +which he had no concern; for he had a most irksome nature, and could not +be at rest, so that he was truly a thorn in our side. Among other of his +strange doings, was the part he took in the proceedings of the session, +with which he had as little to do, in a manner, as the man in the moon; +but having no business on his hands, he attended every sederunt, and from +less to more, having no self-government, he began to give his opinion in +our deliberations; and often bred us trouble, by causing strife to arise. + +It happened, as the time of the summer occasion was drawing near, that it +behoved us to make arrangements about the assistance; and upon the +suggestion of the elders, to which I paid always the greatest deference, +I invited Mr. Keekie of Loupinton, who was a sound preacher, and a great +expounder of the kittle parts of the Old Testament, being a man well +versed in the Hebrew and etymologies, for which he was much reverenced by +the old people that delighted to search the Scriptures. I had also +written to Mr. Sprose of Annock, a preacher of another sort, being a +vehement and powerful thresher of the word, making the chaff and vain +babbling of corrupt commentators to fly from his hand. He was not, +however, so well liked, as he wanted that connect method which is needful +to the enforcing of doctrine. But he had never been among us, and it was +thought it would be a godly treat to the parish to let the people hear +him. Besides Mr. Sprose, Mr. Waikle of Gowanry, a quiet hewer out of the +image of holiness in the heart, was likewise invited, all in addition to +our old stoops from the adjacent parishes. + +None of these three preachers were in any estimation with Mr. Cayenne, +who had only heard each of them once; and he, happening to be present in +the session-house at the time, enquired how we had settled. I thought +this not a very orderly question, but I gave him a civil answer, saying, +that, Mr. Keekie of Loupinton would preach on the morning of the +fast-day, Mr. Sprose of Annock in the afternoon, and Mr. Waikle of +Gowanry on the Saturday. Never shall I or the elders, while the breath +of life is in our bodies, forget the reply. Mr. Cayenne struck the table +like a clap of thunder, and cried, “Mr. Keekie of Loupinton, and Mr. +Sprose of Annock, and Mr. Waikle of Gowanry, and all suck trash, may go +to — and be —!” and out of the house he bounced, like a hand-ball +stotting on a stone. + +The elders and me were confounded, and for some time we could not speak, +but looked at each other, doubtful if our ears heard aright. At long and +length I came to myself; and, in the strength of God, took my place at +the table, and said, this was an outrageous impiety not to be borne, +which all the elders agreed to; and we thereupon came to a resolve, which +I dictated myself, wherein we debarred Mr. Cayenne from ever after +entering, unless summoned, the session-house, the which resolve we +directed the session-clerk to send to him direct, and thus we vindicated +the insulted privileges of the church. + +Mr. Cayenne had cooled before he got home, and our paper coming to him in +his appeased blood, he immediately came to the manse, and made a contrite +apology for his hasty temper, which I reported in due time and form, to +the session, and there the matter ended. But here was an example plain +to be seen of the truth of the old proverb, that as one door shuts +another opens; for scarcely were we in quietness by the decease of that +old light-headed woman, the Lady Macadam, till a full equivalent for her +was given in this hot and fiery Mr. Cayenne. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII +YEAR 1786 + + +FROM the day of my settlement, I had resolved, in order to win the +affections of my people, and to promote unison among the heritors, to be +of as little expense to the parish as possible; but by this time the +manse had fallen into a sore state of decay—the doors were wormed on the +hinges—the casements of the windows chattered all the winter, like the +teeth of a person perishing with cold, so that we had no comfort in the +house; by which, at the urgent instigations of Mrs. Balwhidder, I was +obligated to represent our situation to the session. I would rather, +having so much saved money in the bank, paid the needful repairs myself, +than have done this, but she said it would be a rank injustice to our own +family; and her father, Mr. Kibbock, who was very long-headed, with more +than a common man’s portion of understanding, pointed out to me, that, as +my life was but in my lip, it would be a wrong thing towards whomsoever +was ordained to be my successor, to use the heritors to the custom of the +minister paying for the reparations of the manse, as it might happen he +might not be so well able to afford it as me. So in a manner, by their +persuasion, and the constraint of the justice of the case, I made a +report of the infirmities both of doors and windows, as well as of the +rotten state of the floors, which were constantly in want of cobbling. +Over and above all, I told them of the sarking of the roof, which was as +frush as a puddock-stool; insomuch, that in every blast some of the pins +lost their grip, and the slates came hurling off. + +The heritors were accordingly convened, and, after some deliberation, +they proposed that the house should be seen to, and whitewashed and +painted; and I thought this might do, for I saw they were terrified at +the expense of a thorough repair; but when I went home and repeated to +Mrs. Balwhidder what had been said at the meeting, and my thankfulness at +getting the heritors’ consent to do so much, she was excessively angry, +and told me, that all the painting and whitewashing in the world would +avail nothing, for that the house was as a sepulchre full of rottenness; +and she sent for Mr. Kibbock, her father, to confer with him on the way +of getting the matter put to rights. + +Mr. Kibbock came, and hearing of what had passed, pondered for some time, +and then said, “All was very right! the minister (meaning me) has just to +get tradesmen to look at the house, and write out their opinion of what +it needs. There will be plaster to mend; so, before painting, he will +get a plasterer. There will be a slater wanted; he has just to get a +slater’s estimate, and a wright’s, and so forth, and when all is done, he +will lay them before the session and the heritors, who, no doubt, will +direct the reparations to go forward.” + + [Picture: The Roadman] + +This was very pawkie, counselling, of Mr. Kibbock, and I did not see +through it at the time, but did as he recommended, and took all the +different estimates, when they came in, to the session. The elders +commended my prudence exceedingly for so doing, before going to work; and +one of them asked me what the amount of the whole would be, but I had not +cast it up. Some of the heritors thought that a hundred pounds would be +sufficient for the outlay; but judge of our consternation, when, in +counting up all the sums of the different estimates together, we found +them well on towards a thousand pounds. “Better big a new house at once, +than do this!” cried all the elders, by which I then perceived the +draughtiness of Mr. Kibbock’s advice. Accordingly, another meeting of +the heritors was summoned, and after a great deal of controversy, it was +agreed that a new manse should be erected; and, shortly after, we +contracted with Thomas Trowel, the mason to build one for six hundred +pounds, with all the requisite appurtenances, by which a clear gain was +saved to the parish, by the foresight of Mr. Kibbock, to the amount of +nearly four hundred pounds. But the heritors did not mean to have +allowed the sort of repair that his plan comprehended. He was, however, +a far forecasting man; the like of him for natural parts not being in our +country side; and nobody could get the whip-hand of him, either in a +bargain or an improvement, when he once was sensible of the advantage. +He was, indeed, a blessing to the shire, both by his example as a farmer, +and by his sound and discreet advice in the contentions of his +neighbours, being a man, as was a saying among the commonality, “wiser +than the law and the fifteen Lords of Edinburgh.” + +The building of the new manse occasioned a heavy cess on the heritors, +which made them overly ready to pick holes in the coats of me and the +elders; so that, out of my forbearance and delicacy in time past, grew a +lordliness on their part, that was an ill return for the years that I had +endured no little inconveniency for their sake. It was not in my heart +or principles to harm the hair of a dog; but when I discerned the +austerity with which they were disposed to treat their minister, I +bethought me that, for the preservation of what was due to the +establishment and the upholding of the decent administration of religion, +I ought to set my face against the sordid intolerance by which they were +actuated. This notion I weighed well before divulging it to any person; +but when I had assured myself as to the rectitude thereof, I rode over +one day to Mr. Kibbock’s, and broke my mind to him about claiming out of +the teinds an augmentation of my stipend, not because I needed it, but in +case, after me, some bare and hungry gorbie of the Lord should be sent +upon the parish, in no such condition to plea with the heritors as I was. +Mr. Kibbock highly approved of my intent; and by his help, after much +tribulation, I got an augmentation both in glebe and income; and to mark +my reason for what I did, I took upon me to keep and clothe the wives and +orphans of the parish, who lost their breadwinners in the American war. +But for all that, the heritors spoke of me as an avaricious Jew, and made +the hard-won fruits of Mrs. Balwhidder’s great thrift and good management +a matter of reproach against me. Few of them would come to the church, +but stayed away, to the detriment of their own souls hereafter, in order, +as they thought, to punish me; so that, in the course of this year, there +was a visible decay of the sense of religion among the better orders of +the parish, and, as will be seen in the sequel, their evil example +infected the minds of many of the rising generation. + +It was in this year that Mr. Cayenne bought the mailing of the Wheatrigs, +but did not begin to build his house till the following spring; for being +ill to please with a plan, he fell out with the builders, and on one +occasion got into such a passion with Mr. Trowel, the mason, that he +struck him a blow on the face, for which he was obligated to make +atonement. It was thought the matter would have been carried before the +Lords; but, by the mediation of Mr. Kibbock, with my helping hand, a +reconciliation was brought about, Mr. Cayenne indemnifying the mason with +a sum of money to say no more anent it; after which, he employed him to +build his house, a thing that no man could have thought possible, who +reflected on the enmity between them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII +YEAR 1787 + + +THERE had been, as I have frequently observed, a visible improvement +going on in the parish. From the time of the making of the toll-road, +every new house that was built in the clachan was built along that road. +Among other changes hereby caused, the Lady Macadam’s jointure-house that +was, which stood in a pleasant parterre, inclosed within a stone wall and +an iron gate, having a pillar with a pineapple head on each side, came to +be in the middle of the town. While Mr. Cayenne inhabited the same, it +was maintained in good order; but on his flitting to his own new house on +the Wheatrigs, the parterre was soon overrun with weeds, and it began to +wear the look of a waste place. Robert Toddy, who then kept the +change-house, and who had, from the lady’s death, rented the coach-house +for stabling, in this juncture thought of it for an inn; so he set his +own house to Thomas Treddles the weaver, whose son, William, is now the +great Glasgow manufacturer, that has cotton-mills and steam-engines, and +took, “the Place,” as it was called, and had a fine sign, THE CROSS-KEYS, +painted and put up in golden characters, by which it became one of the +most noted inns anywhere to be seen; and the civility of Mrs. Toddy was +commended by all strangers. But although this transmutation from a +change-house to an inn was a vast amendment, in a manner, to the parish, +there was little amendment of manners thereby; for the farmer lads began +to hold dancings and other riotous proceedings there, and to bring, as it +were, the evil practices of towns into the heart of the country. All +sort of licence was allowed as to drink and hours; and the edifying +example of Mr. Mutchkins and his pious family, was no longer held up to +the imitation of the wayfaring man. + +Saving the mutation of “the Place” into an inn, nothing very remarkable +happened in this year. We got into our new manse about the middle of +March; but it was rather damp, being new plastered, and it caused me to +have a severe attack of the rheumatics in the fall of the year. + +I should not, in my notations, forget to mark a new luxury that got in +among the commonality at this time. By the opening of new roads, and the +traffic thereon with carts and carriers, and by our young men that were +sailors going to the Clyde, and sailing to Jamaica and the West Indies, +heaps of sugar and coffee-beans were brought home, while many, among the +kail-stocks and cabbages in their yards, had planted groset and berry +bushes; which two things happening together, the fashion to make jam and +jelly, which hitherto had been only known in the kitchens and +confectionaries of the gentry, came to be introduced into the clachan. +All this, however, was not without a plausible pretext; for it was found +that jelly was an excellent medicine for a sore throat, and jam a remedy +as good as London candy for a cough, or a cold, or a shortness of breath. +I could not, however, say that this gave me so much concern as the +smuggling trade, only it occasioned a great fasherie to Mrs. Balwhidder; +for, in the berry time, there was no end to the borrowing of her +brass-pan to make jelly and jam, till Mrs. Toddy of the Cross-Keys bought +one, which, in its turn, came into request, and saved ours. + +It was in the Martinmas quarter of this year that I got the first payment +of my augmentation. Having no desire to rip up old sores, I shall say no +more anent it, the worst being anticipated in my chronicle of the last +year; but there was a thing happened in the payment that occasioned a +vexation at the time, of a very disagreeable nature. Daft Meg Gaffaw, +who, from the tragical death of her mother, was a privileged subject, +used to come to the manse on the Saturdays for a meal of meat; and so it +fell out that as, by some neglect of mine, no steps had been taken to +regulate the disposal of the victual that constituted the means of the +augmentation, some of the heritors, in an ungracious temper, sent what +they called the tithe-ball (the Lord knows it was not the fiftieth!) to +the manse, where I had no place to put it. This fell out on a Saturday +night, when I was busy with my sermon, thinking not of silver or gold, +but of much better; so that I was greatly molested and disturbed thereby. +Daft Meg, who sat by the kitchen chimley-lug, hearing a’, said nothing +for a time; but when she saw how Mrs. Balwhidder and me were put to, she +cried out with a loud voice, like a soul under the inspiration of +prophecy—“When the widow’s cruse had filled all the vessels in the house, +the Lord stopped the increase. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if your +barns be filled, and your girnell-kists can hold no more, seek till ye +shall find the tume basins of the poor, and therein pour the corn, and +the oil, and the wine of your abundance; so shall ye be blessed of the +Lord.” The which words I took for an admonition, and directing the sacks +to be brought into the dining-room and other chambers of the manse, I +sent off the heritors’ servants, that had done me this prejudice, with an +unexpected thankfulness. But this, as I afterwards was informed, both +them and their masters attributed to the greedy grasp of avarice, with +which they considered me as misled; and having said so, nothing could +exceed their mortification on Monday, when they heard (for they were of +those who had deserted the kirk) that I had given by the precentor notice +to every widow in the parish that was in need, to come to the manse and +she would receive her portion of the partitioning of the augmentation. +Thus, without any offence on my part, saving the strictness of justice, +was a division made between me and the heritors; but the people were with +me; and my own conscience was with me; and though the fronts of the lofts +and the pews of the heritors were but thinly filled, I trusted that a +good time was coming, when the gentry would see the error of their way. +So I bent the head of resignation to the Lord, and, assisted by the +wisdom of Mr. Kibbock, adhered to the course I had adopted; but at the +close of the year my heart was sorrowful for the schism; and my prayer on +Hogmanay was one of great bitterness of soul, that such an evil had come +to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX +YEAR 1788 + + +IT had been often remarked by ingenious men, that the Brawl burn, which +ran through the parish, though a small, was yet a rapid stream, and had a +wonderful capability for damming, and to turn mills. From the time that +the Irville water deserted its channel this brook grew into repute, and +several mills and dams had been erected on its course. In this year a +proposal came from Glasgow to build a cotton-mill on its banks, beneath +the Witch-linn, which being on a corner of the Wheatrig, the property of +Mr. Cayenne, he not only consented thereto, but took a part in the profit +or loss therein; and, being a man of great activity, though we thought +him, for many a day, a serpent-plague sent upon the parish, he proved +thereby one of our greatest benefactors. The cotton-mill was built, and +a spacious fabric it was—nothing like it had been seen before in our day +and generation—and, for the people that were brought to work in it, a new +town was built in the vicinity, which Mr. Cayenne, the same being founded +on his land, called Cayenneville, the name of the plantation in Virginia +that had been taken from him by the rebellious Americans. From that day +Fortune was lavish of her favours upon him; his property swelled, and +grew in the most extraordinary manner, and the whole country side was +stirring with a new life. For, when the mill was set a-going, he got +weavers of muslin established in Cayenneville; and shortly after, but +that did not take place till the year following, he brought women all the +way from the neighbourhood of Manchester, in England, to teach the lassie +bairns in our old clachan tambouring. + +Some of the ancient families, in their turreted houses, were not pleased +with this innovation, especially when they saw the handsome dwellings +that were built for the weavers of the mills, and the unstinted hand that +supplied the wealth required for the carrying on of the business. It +sank their pride into insignificance, and many of them would almost +rather have wanted the rise that took place in the value of their lands, +than have seen this incoming of what they called o’er-sea speculation. +But, saving the building of the cotton-mill, and the beginning of +Cayenneville, nothing more memorable happened in this year, still it was +nevertheless a year of a great activity. The minds of men were excited +to new enterprises; a new genius, as it were, had descended upon the +earth, and there was an erect and outlooking spirit abroad that was not +to be satisfied with the taciturn regularity of ancient affairs. Even +Miss Sabrina Hooky, the schoolmistress, though now waned from her +meridian, was touched with the enlivening rod, and set herself to learn +and to teach tambouring, in such a manner as to supersede by precept and +example that old time-honoured functionary, as she herself called it, the +spinning-wheel, proving, as she did one night to Mr. Kibbock and me, +that, if more money could be made by a woman tambouring than by spinning, +it was better for her to tambour than to spin. + +But, in the midst of all this commercing and manufacturing, I began to +discover signs of decay in the wonted simplicity of our country ways. +Among the cotton-spinners and muslin weavers of Cayenneville were several +unsatisfied and ambitious spirits, who clubbed together, and got a London +newspaper to the Cross-Keys, where they were nightly in the habit of +meeting and debating about the affairs of the French, which were then +gathering towards a head. They were represented to me as lads by common +in capacity, but with unsettled notions of religion. They were, however, +quiet and orderly; and some of them since, at Glasgow, Paisley, and +Manchester, even, I am told, in London, have grown into a topping way. + +It seems they did not like my manner of preaching, and on that account +absented themselves from public worship; which, when I heard, I sent for +some of them, to convince them of their error with regard to the truth of +divers points of doctrine; but they confounded me with their objections, +and used my arguments, which were the old and orthodox proven opinions of +the Divinity Hall, as if they had been the light sayings of a vain man. +So that I was troubled, fearing that some change would ensue to my +people, who had hitherto lived amidst the boughs and branches of the +gospel unmolested by the fowler’s snare, and I set myself to watch +narrowly, and with a vigilant eye, what would come to pass. + +There was a visible increase among us of worldly prosperity in the course +of this year; insomuch that some of the farmers, who were in the custom +of taking their vendibles to the neighbouring towns on the Tuesdays, the +Wednesdays, and Fridays, were led to open a market on the Saturdays in +our own clachan, the which proved a great convenience. But I cannot take +it upon me to say, whether this can be said to have well begun in the +present Ann. Dom., although I know that in the summer of the ensuing year +it was grown into a settled custom; which I well recollect by the +Macadams coming with their bairns to see Mrs. Malcolm, their mother, +suddenly on a Saturday afternoon; on which occasion me and Mrs. +Balwhidder were invited to dine with them, and Mrs. Malcolm bought in the +market for the dinner that day, both mutton and fowls, such as twenty +years before could not have been got for love or money on such a pinch. +Besides, she had two bottles of red and white wine from the Cross-Keys, +luxuries which, saving in the Breadland House in its best days, could not +have been had in the whole parish, but must have been brought from a +borough town; for Eaglesham Castle is not within the bounds of +Dalmailing, and my observe does not apply to the stock and stores of that +honourable mansion, but only to the dwellings of our own heritors, who +were in general straitened in their circumstances, partly with upsetting, +and partly by the eating rust of family pride, which hurt the edge of +many a clever fellow among them, that would have done well in the way of +trade, but sunk into divors for the sake of their genteelity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX +YEAR 1789 + + +THIS I have always reflected upon as one of our blessed years. It was +not remarkable for any extraordinary occurrence; but there was a +hopefulness in the minds of men, and a planning of new undertakings, of +which, whatever may be the upshot, the devising is ever rich in the +cheerful anticipations of good. + +Another new line of road was planned, for a shorter cut to the +cotton-mill, from the main road to Glasgow, and a public-house was opened +in Cayenneville: the latter, however, was not an event that gave me much +satisfaction; but it was a convenience to the inhabitants, and the +carriers that brought the cotton-bags and took away the yarn twice +a-week, needed a place of refreshment. And there was a stage-coach set +up thrice every week from Ayr, that passed through the town, by which it +was possible to travel to Glasgow between breakfast and dinner time, a +thing that could not, when I came to the parish, have been thought within +the compass of man. + +This stage-coach I thought one of the greatest conveniences that had been +established among us; and it enabled Mrs. Balwhidder to send a basket of +her fresh butter into the Glasgow market, by which, in the spring and the +fall of the year, she got a great price; for the Glasgow merchants are +fond of excellent eatables, and the payment was aye ready money—Tam +Whirlit the driver paying for the one basket when he took up the other. + +In this year William Malcolm, the youngest son of the widow, having been +some time a tutor in a family in the east country, came to see his +mother, as indeed he had done every year from the time he went to the +college; but this occasion was made remarkable by his preaching in my +pulpit. His old acquaintance were curious to hear him; and I myself had +a sort of a wish likewise, being desirous to know how far he was +orthodox; so I thought fit, on the suggestion of one of the elders, to +ask him to preach one day for me, which, after some fleeching, he +consented to do. I think, however, there was a true modesty in his +diffidence, although his reason was a weak one, being lest he might not +satisfy his mother, who had as yet never heard him. Accordingly, on the +Sabbath after, he did preach, and the kirk was well packed, and I was not +one of the least attentive of the congregation. His sermon assuredly was +well put together and there was nothing to object to in his doctrine; but +the elderly people thought his language rather too Englified, which I +thought likewise; for I never could abide that the plain auld Kirk of +Scotland, with her sober presbyterian simplicity, should borrow, either +in word or in deed, from the language of the prelatic hierarchy of +England. Nevertheless, the younger part of the congregation were loud in +his praise, saying, there had not been heard before such a style of +language in our side of the country. As for Mrs. Malcolm, his mother, +when I spoke to her anent the same, she said but little, expressing only +her hope that his example would be worthy of his precepts; so that, upon +the whole, it was a satisfaction to us all, that he was likely to prove a +stoop and upholding pillar to the Kirk of Scotland. And his mother had +the satisfaction, before she died, to see him a placed minister, and his +name among the authors of his country; for he published at Edinburgh a +volume of Moral Essays, of which he sent me a pretty bound copy, and they +were greatly creditable to his pen, though lacking somewhat of that birr +and smeddum that is the juice and flavour of books of that sort. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI +YEAR 1790 + + +THE features of this Ann. Dom. partook of the character of its +predecessor. Several new houses were added to the clachan; Cayenneville +was spreading out with weavers’ shops, and growing up fast into a town. +In some respects it got the start of ours; for one day, when I was going +to dine with Mr. Cayenne at Wheatrig House, not a little to my amazement, +did I behold a bookseller’s shop opened there, with sticks of red and +black wax, pouncet-boxes, pens, pocket-books, and new publications, in +the window, such as the like of was only to be seen in cities and borough +towns. And it was lighted at night by a patent lamp, which shed a +wonderful beam, burning oil, and having no smoke. The man sold likewise +perfumery, powder-puffs, trinkets, and Dublin dolls, besides penknives, +Castile soap, and walking-sticks, together with a prodigy of other +luxuries too tedious to mention. + +Upon conversing with the man, for I was enchanted to go into this +phenomenon, for as no less could I regard it, he told me that he had a +correspondence with London, and could get me down any book published +there within the same month in which it came out; and he showed me divers +of the newest come out, of which I did not read even in the _Scots +Magazine_ till more than three months after, although I had till then +always considered that work as most interesting for its early +intelligence. But what I was most surprised to hear, was, that he took +in a daily London newspaper for the spinners and weavers, who paid him a +penny a-week a-piece for the same; they being all greatly taken up with +what, at the time, was going on in France. + +This bookseller in the end, however, proved a whawp in our nest, for he +was in league with some of the English reformers; and when the story took +wind three years after, concerning the plots and treasons of the +corresponding societies and democrats, he was fain to make a moonlight +flitting, leaving his wife for a time to manage his affairs. I could +not, however, think any ill of the man notwithstanding; for he had very +correct notions of right and justice, in a political sense, and when he +came into the parish he was as orderly and well-behaved as any other +body; and conduct is a test that I have always found as good for a man’s +principles as professions. Nor, at the time of which I am speaking, was +there any of that dread or fear of reforming the government that has +since been occasioned by the wild and wasteful hand which the French +employed in their revolution. + +But, among other improvements, I should mention that a Doctor Marigold +came and settled in Cayenneville, a small, round, happy-tempered man, +whose funny stories were far better liked than his drugs. There was a +doubt among some of the weavers if he was a skilful Esculapian; and this +doubt led to their holding out an inducement to another medical man, Dr. +Tanzey, to settle there likewise, by which it grew into a saying, that at +Cayenneville there was a doctor for health as well as sickness; for Dr. +Marigold was one of the best hands in the country at a pleasant +punch-bowl, while Dr. Tanzey had all the requisite knowledge for the +faculty for the bedside. + +It was in this year that the hour-plate and hand on the kirk steeple were +renewed, as indeed, may yet be seen by the date, though it be again +greatly in want of fresh gilding; for it was by my advice that the +figures of the Ann. Dom. were placed one in each corner. In this year, +likewise, the bridge over the Brawl burn was built—a great convenience, +in the winter time, to the parishioners that lived on the north side; for +when there happened to be a spait on the Sunday, it kept them from the +kirk; but I did not find that the bridge mended the matter, till after +the conclusion of the war against the democrats, and the beginning of +that which we are now waging with Boney, their child and champion. It +is, indeed, wonderful to think of the occultation of grace that was +taking place about this time, throughout the whole bound of Christendom; +for I could mark a visible darkness of infidelity spreading in the corner +of the vineyard committed to my keeping, and a falling away of the vines +from their wonted props and confidence in the truths of Revelation. But +I said nothing. I knew that the faith could not be lost, and that it +would be found purer and purer the more it was tried; and this I have +lived to see, many now being zealous members of the church, that were +abundantly lukewarm at the period of which I am now speaking. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII +YEAR 1791 + + +IN the spring of this year, I took my son Gilbert into Glasgow, to place +him in a counting-house. As he had no inclination for any of the learned +professions, and not having been there from the time when I was sent to +the General Assembly, I cannot express my astonishment at the great +improvements, surpassing far all that was done in our part of the +country, which I thought was not to be paralleled. When I came +afterwards to reflect on my simplicity in this, it was clear to me that +we should not judge of the rest of the world by what we see going on +around ourselves, but walk abroad into other parts, and thereby enlarge +our sphere of observation, as well as ripen our judgment of things. + +But although there was no doubt a great and visible increase of the city, +loftier buildings on all sides, and streets that spread their arms far +into the embraces of the country, I thought the looks of the population +were impaired, and that there was a greater proportion of long white +faces in the Trongate, than when I attended the Divinity class. These, I +was told, were the weavers and others concerned in the cotton trade, +which I could well believe, for they were very like in their looks to the +men of Cayenneville; but from living in a crowded town, and not breathing +a wholesome country air between their tasks, they had a stronger cast of +unhealthy melancholy. I was therefore very glad that Providence had +placed in my hand the pastoral staff of a country parish; for it cut me +to the heart to see so many young men, in the rising prime of life, +already in the arms of a pale consumption. “If, therefore,” said I to +Mrs. Balwhidder, when I returned home to the manse, “we live, as it were, +within the narrow circle of ignorance, we are spared from the pain of +knowing many an evil; and, surely, in much knowledge there is sadness of +heart.” + +But the main effect of this was to make me do all in my power to keep my +people contented with their lowly estate; for in that same spirit of +improvement, which was so busy every where, I could discern something +like a shadow, that showed it was not altogether of that pure advantage +which avarice led all so eagerly to believe. Accordingly, I began a +series of sermons on the evil and vanity of riches, and, for the most +part of the year, pointed out in what manner they led the possessor to +indulge in sinful luxuries, and how indulgence begat desire, and desire +betrayed integrity and corrupted the heart; making it evident that the +rich man was liable to forget his unmerited obligations to God, and to +oppress the laborious and the needful when he required their services. + +Little did I imagine, in thus striving to keep aloof the ravenous wolf +Ambition from my guileless flock, that I was giving cause for many to +think me an enemy to the king and government, and a perverter of +Christianity, to suit levelling doctrines. But so it was. Many of the +heritors considered me a blackneb, though I knew it not, but went on in +the course of my duty, thinking only how best to preserve peace on earth +and goodwill towards men. I saw, however, an altered manner in the +deportment of several, with whom I had long lived in friendly terms. It +was not marked enough to make me inquire the cause, but sufficiently +plain to affect my ease of mind. Accordingly, about the end of this +year, I fell into a dull way: my spirit was subdued, and at times I was +aweary of the day, and longed for the night, when I might close my eyes +in peaceful slumbers. I missed my son Gilbert, who had been a companion +to me in the long nights, while his mother was busy with the lasses, and +their ceaseless wheels and cardings, in the kitchen. Often could I have +found it in my heart to have banned that never-ceasing industry, and to +tell Mrs. Balwhidder, that the married state was made for something else +than to make napery and beetle blankets; but it was her happiness to keep +all at work, and she had no pleasure in any other way of life, so I sat +many a night by the fireside with resignation; sometimes in the study, +and sometimes in the parlour, and, as I was doing nothing, Mrs. +Balwhidder said it was needless to light the candle. Our daughter Janet +was in this time at a boarding-school in Ayr, so that I was really a most +solitary married man. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII +YEAR 1792 + + +WHEN the spring in this year began to brighten on the brae, the cloud of +dulness that had darkened and oppressed me all the winter somewhat melted +away, and I could now and then joke again at the never-ending toil and +trouble of that busiest of all bees, the second Mrs. Balwhidder. But +still I was far from being right: a small matter affected me, and I was +overly given to walking by myself, and musing on things that I could tell +nothing about—my thoughts were just the rack of a dream without form, and +driving witlessly as the smoke that mounteth up, and is lost in the airy +heights of the sky. + +Heeding little of what was going on in the clachan, and taking no +interest in the concerns of any body, I would have been contented to die, +but I had no ail about me. An accident, however, fell out, that, by +calling on me for an effort, had the blessed influence of clearing my +vapours almost entirely away. + +One morning as I was walking on the sunny side of the road, where the +footpath was in the next year made to the cotton-mill, I fell in with Mr. +Cayenne, who was seemingly much fashed—a small matter could do that at +any time; and he came up to me with a red face and an angry eye. It was +not my intent to speak to him; for I was grown loth to enter into +conversation with any body, so I bowed and passed on. “What,” cried Mr. +Cayenne, “and will you not speak to me?” I turned round, and said +meekly, “Mr. Cayenne, I have no objections to speak to you; but having +nothing particular to say, it did not seem necessary just now.” + +He looked at me like a gled, and in a minute exclaimed, “Mad, by Jupiter! +as mad as a March hare!” He then entered into conversation with me, and +said, that he had noticed me an altered man, and was just so far on his +way to the manse, to enquire what had befallen me. So, from less to +more, we entered into the marrow of my case; and I told him how I had +observed the estranged countenances of some of the heritors; at which he +swore an oath, that they were a parcel of the damn’dest boobies in the +country, and told me how they had taken it into their heads that I was a +leveller. “But I know you better,” said Mr. Cayenne, “and have stood up +for you as an honest conscientious man, though I don’t much like your +humdrum preaching. However, let that pass; I insist upon your dining +with me to-day, when some of these arrant fools are to be with us, and +the devil’s in’t if I don’t make you friends with them.” I did not think +Mr. Cayenne, however, very well qualified for peacemaker, but, +nevertheless, I consented to go; and having thus got an inkling of the +cause of that cold back-turning which had distressed me so much, I made +such an effort to remove the error that was entertained against me, that +some of the heritors, before we separated, shook me by the hands with the +cordiality of renewed friendship; and, as if to make amends for past +neglect, there was no end to their invitations to dinner which had the +effect of putting me again on my mettle, and removing the thick and muddy +melancholious humour out of my blood. + +But what confirmed my cure was the coming home of my daughter Janet from +the Ayr boarding-school, where she had learnt to play on the spinnet, and +was become a conversible lassie, with a competent knowledge, for a woman +of geography and history; so that when her mother was busy with the +weariful booming wheel, she entertained me sometimes with a tune, and +sometimes with her tongue, which made the winter nights fly cantily by. + +Whether it was owing to the malady of my imagination throughout the +greatest part of this year, or that really nothing particular did happen +to interest me, I cannot say; but it is very remarkable that I have +nothing remarkable to record—further, than I was at the expense myself of +getting the manse rough-case, and the window cheeks painted, with roans +put up, rather than apply to the heritors; for they were always sorely +fashed when called upon for outlay. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV +YEAR 1793 + + +ON the first night of this year I dreamt a very remarkable dream, which, +when I now recall to mind at this distance of time, I cannot but think +that there was a case of prophecy in it. I thought that I stood on the +tower of an old popish kirk, looking out at the window upon the kirkyard, +where I beheld ancient tombs, with effigies and coats-of-arms on the wall +thereof, and a great gate at the one side, and a door that led into a +dark and dismal vault at the other. I thought all the dead that were +lying in the common graves, rose out of their coffins; at the same time, +from the old and grand monuments, with the effigies and coats-of-arms, +came the great men, and the kings of the earth with crowns on their +heads, and globes and sceptres in their hands. + +I stood wondering what was to ensue, when presently I heard the noise of +drums and trumpets, and anon I beheld an army with banners entering in at +the gate; upon which the kings and the great men came also forth in their +power and array, and a dreadful battle was foughten; but the multitude +that had risen from the common graves, stood afar off, and were but +lookers-on. + +The kings and their host were utterly discomfited. They were driven +within the doors of their monuments, their coats-of-arms were broken off, +and their effigies cast down, and the victors triumphed over them with +the flourishes of trumpets and the waving of banners. But while I +looked, the vision was changed, and I then beheld a wide and a dreary +waste, and afar off the steeples of a great city, and a tower in the +midst, like the tower of Babel, and on it I could discern, written in +characters of fire, “Public Opinion.” While I was pondering at the same, +I heard a great shout, and presently the conquerors made their +appearance, coming over the desolate moor. They were going in great +pride and might towards the city; but an awful burning rose, afar as it +were in the darkness, and the flames stood like a tower of fire that +reached unto the heavens. And I saw a dreadful hand and an arm stretched +from out of the cloud, and in its hold was a besom made of the hail and +the storm, and it swept the fugitives like dust; and in their place I saw +the churchyard, as it were, cleared and spread around, the graves closed, +and the ancient tombs, with their coats-of-arms and their effigies of +stone, all as they were in the beginning. I then awoke, and behold it +was a dream. + +This vision perplexed me for many days, and when the news came that the +King of France was beheaded by the hands of his people, I received, as it +were, a token in confirmation of the vision that had been disclosed to me +in my sleep, and I preached a discourse on the same, and against the +French Revolution, that was thought one of the greatest and soundest +sermons that I had ever delivered in my pulpit. + +On the Monday following, Mr. Cayenne, who had been some time before +appointed a justice of the peace, came over from Wheatrig House to the +Cross-Keys, where he sent for me and divers other respectable inhabitants +of the clachan, and told us that he was to have a sad business, for a +warrant was out to bring before him two democratical weaver lads, on a +suspicion of high treason. Scarcely were the words uttered when they +were brought in, and he began to ask them how they dared to think of +dividing, with their liberty and equality of principles, his and every +other man’s property in the country. The men answered him in a calm +manner, and told him they sought no man’s property, but only their own +natural rights; upon which he called them traitors and reformers. They +denied they were traitors, but confessed they were reformers, and said +they knew not how that should be imputed to them as a fault, for that the +greatest men of all times had been reformers,—“Was not,” they said, “our +Lord Jesus Christ a reformer?”—“And what the devil did he make of it?” +cried Mr. Cayenne, bursting with passion; “Was he not crucified?” + +I thought, when I heard these words, that the pillars of the earth sank +beneath me, and that the roof of the house was carried away in a +whirlwind. The drums of my ears crackit, blue starns danced before my +sight, and I was fain to leave the house and hie me home to the manse, +where I sat down in my study, like a stupified creature, awaiting what +would betide. Nothing, however, was found against the weaver lads; but I +never from that day could look on Mr. Cayenne as a Christian, though +surely he was a true government-man. + +Soon after this affair, there was a pleasant re-edification of a +gospel-spirit among the heritors, especially when they heard how I had +handled the regicides in France; and on the following Sunday, I had the +comfortable satisfaction to see many a gentleman in their pews, that had +not been for years within a kirk-door. The democrats, who took a world +of trouble to misrepresent the actions of the gentry, insinuated that all +this was not from any new sense of grace, but in fear of their being +reported as suspected persons to the king’s government. But I could not +think so, and considered their renewal of communion with the church as a +swearing of allegiance to the King of kings, against that host of French +atheists, who had torn the mortcloth from the coffin, and made it a +banner, with which they were gone forth to war against the Lamb. The +whole year was, however, spent in great uneasiness, and the proclamation +of the war was followed by an appalling stop in trade. We heard of +nothing but failures on all hands; and among others that grieved me, was +that of Mr. Maitland of Glasgow, who had befriended Mrs. Malcolm in the +days of her affliction, and gave her son Robert his fine ship. It was a +sore thing to hear of so many breakings, especially of old respected +merchants like him, who had been a Lord Provost, and was far declined +into the afternoon of life. He did not, however, long survive the +mutation of his fortune; but bending his aged head in sorrow, sank down +beneath the stroke, to rise no more. + + [Picture: The Minister’s Daughter] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV +YEAR 1794 + + +THIS year had opened into all the leafiness of midsummer before anything +memorable happened in the parish, further than that the sad division of +my people into government-men and jacobins was perfected. This calamity, +for I never could consider such heartburning among neighbours as any +thing less than a very heavy calamity, was assuredly occasioned by faults +on both sides; but it must be confessed that the gentry did nothing to +win the commonality from the errors of their way. A little more +condescension on their part would not have made things worse, and might +have made them better; but pride interposed, and caused them to think +that any show of affability from them would be construed by the democrats +into a terror of their power; while the democrats were no less to blame; +for hearing how their compeers were thriving in France, and demolishing +every obstacle to their ascendency, they were crouse and really insolent, +evidencing none of that temperance in prosperity that proves the +possessors worthy of their good fortune. + +As for me, my duty in these circumstances was plain and simple. The +Christian religion was attempted to be brought into disrepute; the rising +generation were taught to gibe at its holiest ordinances; and the kirk +was more frequented as a place to while away the time on a rainy Sunday, +than for any insight of the admonitions and revelations in the sacred +book. Knowing this, I perceived that it would be of no effect to handle +much the mysteries of the faith; but as there was at the time a bruit and +a sound about universal benevolence, philanthropy, utility, and all the +other disguises with which an infidel philosophy appropriated to itself +the charity, brotherly love, and welldoing inculcated by our holy +religion, I set myself to task upon these heads, and thought it no +robbery to use a little of the stratagem employed against Christ’s +kingdom, to promote the interests thereof in the hearts and +understandings of those whose ears would have been sealed against me, had +I attempted to expound higher things. Accordingly, on one day it was my +practice to show what the nature of Christian charity was, comparing it +to the light and warmth of the sun, that shines impartially on the just +and the unjust—showing that man, without the sense of it as a duty, was +as the beasts that perish, and that every feeling of his nature was +intimately selfish, but then when actuated by this divine impulse, he +rose out of himself, and became as a god, zealous to abate the sufferings +of all things that live; and, on the next day, I demonstrated that the +new benevolence which had come so much into vogue, was but another +version of this Christian virtue. In like manner, I dealt with brotherly +love, bringing it home to the business and bosoms of my hearers, that the +Christianity of it was neither enlarged nor bettered by being baptized +with the Greek name of philanthropy. With welldoing, however, I went +more roundly to work, I told my people that I thought they had more sense +than to secede from Christianity to become Utilitarians; for that it +would be a confession of ignorance of the faith they deserved, seeing +that it was the main duty inculcated by our religion to do all in morals +and manners to which the newfangled doctrine of utility pretended. + +These discourses, which I continued for sometime, had no great effect on +the men; but being prepared in a familiar household manner, they took the +fancies of the young women, which was to me an assurance that the seed I +had planted would in time shoot forth; for I reasoned with myself, that +if the gudeman of the immediate generation should continue free-thinkers, +their wives will take care that those of the next shall not lack that +spunk of grace; so I was cheered under that obscurity which fell upon +Christianity at this time, with a vista beyond, in which I saw, as it +were, the children unborn, walking on the bright green, and in the +unclouded splendour of the faith. + +But what with the decay of trade, and the temptation of the king’s +bounty, and, over all, the witlessness that was in the spirit of man at +this time, the number that enlisted in the course for the year from the +parish was prodigious. In one week no less than three weavers and two +cotton-spinners went over to Ayr, and took the bounty of the Royal +Artillery. But I could not help remarking to myself, that the people +were grown so used to changes and extraordinary adventures, that the +single enlistment of Thomas Wilson, at the beginning of the American war, +occasioned a far greater grief and work among us, than all the swarms +that went off week after week in the months of November and December of +this year. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI +YEAR 1795 + + +THE present Ann. Dom. was ushered in with an event that I had never +dreaded to see in my day, in our once sober and religious country parish. +The number of lads that had gone over to Ayr to be soldiers from among +the spinners and weavers of Cayenneville had been so great, that the +government got note of it, and sent a recruiting party to be quartered in +the town; for the term clachan was beginning by this time to wear out of +fashion: indeed, the place itself was outgrowing the fitness of that +title. Never shall I forget the dunt that the first tap of the drum gied +to my heart, as I was sitting on Hansel Monday by myself at the parlour +fireside, Mrs. Balwhidder being throng with the lassies looking out a +washing, and my daughter at Ayr, spending a few days with her old +comrades of the boarding school. I thought it was the enemy; and then +anon the sound of the fife came shrill to the ear, for the night was lown +and peaceful. My wife and all the lassies came flying in upon me, crying +all in the name of heaven, what could it be? by which I was obligated to +put on my big-coat, and, with my hat and staff, go out to enquire. The +whole town was aloof, the aged at the doors in clusters, and the bairns +following the tattoo, as it was called, and at every doubling beat of the +drum, shouting as if they had been in the face of their foemen. + +Mr. Archibald Dozendale, one of my elders, was saying to several persons +around him, just as I came up, “Hech, sirs! but the battle draws near our +gates,” upon which there was a heavy sigh from all that heard him; and +then they told me of the sergeant’s business; and we had a serious +communing together anent the same. But while we were thus standing +discoursing on the causey, Mrs. Balwhidder and the servant lassies could +thole no longer, but in a troop came in quest of me, to hear what was +doing. In short, it was a night both of sorrow and anxiety. Mr. +Dozendale walked back to the manse with us, and we had a sober tumbler of +toddy together; marvelling exceedingly where these fearful portents and +changes would stop, both of us being of opinion that the end of the world +was drawing nearer and nearer. + +Whether it was, however, that the lads belonging to the place did not +like to show themselves with the enlistment cockades among their +acquaintance, or that there was any other reason, I cannot take it upon +me to say; but certain it is, the recruiting party came no speed, and, in +consequence, were removed about the end of March. + +Another thing happened in this year, too remarkable for me to neglect to +put on record, as it strangely and strikingly marked the rapid +revolutions that were going on. In the month of August at the time of +the fair, a gang of playactors came, and hired Thomas Thacklan’s barn for +their enactments. They were the first of that clanjamfrey who had ever +been in the parish; and there was a wonderful excitement caused by the +rumours concerning them. Their first performance was _Douglas Tragedy_ +and the _Gentle Shepherd_: and the general opinion was, that the lad who +played Norval in the play, and Patie in the farce, was an English lord’s +son, who had run away from his parents rather than marry an old cracket +lady with a great portion. But, whatever truth there might be in this +notion, certain it is, the whole pack was in a state of perfect beggary; +and yet, for all that, they not only in their parts, as I was told, +laughed most heartily, but made others do the same; for I was constrained +to let my daughter go to see them, with some of her acquaintance; and she +gave me such an account of what they did, that I thought I would have +liked to have gotten a keek at them myself. At the same time, I must own +this was a sinful curiosity, and I stifled it to the best of my ability. +Among other plays that they did, was one called _Macbeth and the +Witches_, which the Miss Cayennes had seen performed in London, when they +were there in the winter time with their father, for three months, seeing +the world, after coming from the boarding-school. But it was no more +like the true play of Shakespeare the poet, according to their account, +than a duddy betheral, set up to fright the sparrows from the peas, is +like a living gentleman. The hungry players, instead of behaving like +guests at the royal banquet, were voracious on the needful feast of +bread, and the strong ale, that served for wine in decanters. But the +greatest sport of all was about a kail-pot, that acted the part of a +caldron, and which should have sunk with thunder and lightning into the +earth; however, it did quite as well, for it made its exit, as Miss +Virginia said, by walking quietly off, being pulled by a string fastened +to one of its feet. No scene of the play was so much applauded as this +one; and the actor who did the part of King Macbeth made a most polite +bow of thankfulness to the audience, for the approbation with which they +had received the performance of the pot. + +We had likewise, shortly after the “Omnes exeunt” of the players, an +exhibition of a different sort in the same barn. This was by two English +quakers, and a quaker lady, tanners of Kendal, who had been at Ayr on +some leather business, where they preached, but made no proselytes. The +travellers were all three in a whisky, drawn by one of the best-ordered +horses, as the hostler at the Cross-Keys told me, ever seen. They came +to the Inn to their dinner, and meaning to stay all night, sent round, to +let it be known that they would hold a meeting in Friend Thacklan’s barn; +but Thomas denied they were either kith or kin to him: this, however, was +their way of speaking. + +In the evening, owing to the notice, a great congregation was assembled +in the barn, and I myself, along with Mr. Archibald Dozendale, went there +likewise, to keep the people in awe; for we feared the strangers might be +jeered and insulted. The three were seated aloft on a high stage, +prepared on purpose, with two mares and scaffold-deals, borrowed from Mr. +Trowel the mason. They sat long, and silent; but at last the spirit +moved the woman, and she rose, and delivered a very sensible exposition +of Christianity. I was really surprised to hear such sound doctrine; and +Mr. Dozendale said, justly, that it was more to the purpose than some +that my younger brethren from Edinburgh endeavoured to teach. So, that +those who went to laugh at the sincere simplicity of the pious quakers, +were rebuked by a very edifying discourse on the moral duties of a +Christian’s life. + +Upon the whole, however, this, to the best of my recollection, was +another unsatisfactory year. In this we were, doubtless, brought more +into the world; but we had a greater variety of temptation set before us, +and there was still jealousy and estrangement in the dispositions of the +gentry, and the lower orders, particularly the manufacturers. I cannot +say, indeed, that there was any increase of corruption among the rural +portion of my people; for their vocation calling them to work apart, in +the purity of the free air of heaven, they were kept uncontaminated by +that seditious infection which fevered the minds of the sedentary +weavers, and working like flatulence in the stomachs of the +cotton-spinners, sent up into their heads a vain and diseased fume of +infidel philosophy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII +YEAR 1796 + + +THE prosperity of fortune is like the blossoms of spring, or the golden +hue of the evening cloud. It delighteth the spirit, and passeth away. + +In the month of February my second wife was gathered to the Lord. She +had been very ill for some time with an income in her side, which no +medicine could remove. I had the best doctors in the country side to +her; but their skill was of no avail, their opinions being that her ail +was caused by an internal abscess, for which physic has provided no cure. +Her death was to me a great sorrow; for she was a most excellent wife, +industrious to a degree, and managed every thing with so brisk a hand, +that nothing went wrong that she put it to. With her I had grown richer +than any other minister in the presbytery; but, above all, she was the +mother of my bairns, which gave her a double claim upon me. + +I laid her by the side of my first love, Betty Lanshaw, my own cousin +that was, and I inscribed her name upon the same headstone; but time had +drained my poetical vein, and I have not yet been able to indite an +epitaph on her merits and virtues, for she had an eminent share of both. +Her greatest fault—the best have their faults—was an over-earnestness to +gather gear; in the doing of which I thought she sometimes sacrificed the +comforts of a pleasant fireside; for she was never in her element but +when she was keeping the servants eident at their work. But, if by this +she subtracted something from the quietude that was most consonant to my +nature, she has left cause, both in bank and bond, for me and her bairns +to bless her great household activity. + +She was not long deposited in her place of rest till I had occasion to +find her loss. All my things were kept by her in a most perjink and +excellent order; but they soon fell into an amazing confusion; for, as +she often said to me, I had a turn for heedlessness; insomuch, that +although my daughter Janet was grown up, and able to keep the house, I +saw that it would be necessary, as soon as decency would allow, for me to +take another wife. I was moved to this chiefly by foreseeing that my +daughter would in time be married, and taken away from me, but more on +account of the servant lasses, who grew out of all bounds, verifying the +proverb, “Well kens the mouse when the cat’s out of the house.” Besides +this, I was now far down in the vale of years, and could not expect to be +long without feeling some of the penalties of old age, although I was +still a hail and sound man. It therefore behoved me to look in time for +a helpmate, to tend me in my approaching infirmities. + +Upon this important concern I reflected, as I may say, in the watches of +the night; and, considering the circumstances of my situation, I saw it +would not do for me to look out for an overly young woman, nor yet would +it do for one of my ways to take an elderly maiden, ladies of that sort +being liable to possess strong-set particularities. I therefore resolved +that my choice should lie among widows of a discreet age; and I had a +glimmer in my mind of speaking to Mrs. Malcolm; but when I reflected on +the saintly steadiness of her character, I was satisfied it would be of +no use to think of her. Accordingly, I bent my brows, and looked towards +Irville, which is an abundant trone for widows and other single women; +and I fixed my purpose on Mrs. Nugent, the relic of a professor in the +university of Glasgow, both because she was a well-bred woman, without +any children to plea about the interest of my own two, and likewise +because she was held in great estimation by all who knew her, as a lady +of a Christian principle. + +It was some time in the summer, however, before I made up my mind to +speak to her on the subject; but one afternoon, in the month of August, I +resolved to do so, and with that intent walked leisurely over to Irville; +and after calling on the Rev. Dr. Dinwiddie, the minister, I stepped in, +as if by chance, to Mrs. Nugent’s. I could see that she was a little +surprised at my visit; however, she treated me with every possible +civility, and her servant lass bringing in the tea-things in a most +orderly manner, as punctually as the clock was striking, she invited me +to sit still, and drink my tea with her; which I did, being none +displeased to get such encouragement. However, I said nothing that time, +but returned to the manse, very well content with what I had observed, +which made me fain to repeat my visit. So, in the course of the week, +taking Janet my daughter with me, we walked over in the forenoon, and +called at Mrs. Nugent’s first, before going to any other house; and Janet +saying, as we came out to go to the minister’s, that she thought Mrs. +Nugent an agreeable woman, I determined to knock the nail on the head +without further delay. + +Accordingly, I invited the minister and his wife to dine with us on the +Thursday following; and before leaving the town, I made Janet, while the +minister and me were handling a subject, as a sort of thing in common +civility, go to Mrs. Nugent, and invite her also. Dr. Dinwiddie was a +gleg man, of a jocose nature; and he, guessing something of what I was +ettling at, was very mirthful with me; but I kept my own counsel till a +meet season. + +On the Thursday, the company as invited came, and nothing extraordinary +was seen; but in cutting up and helping a hen, Dr. Dinwiddie put one wing +on Mrs. Nugent’s plate, and the other wing on my plate, and said, there +have been greater miracles than these two wings flying together, which +was a sharp joke, that caused no little merriment at the expense of Mrs. +Nugent and me. I, however, to show that I was none daunted, laid a leg +also on her plate, and took another on my own, saying, in the words of +the reverend doctor, there have been greater miracles than that these two +legs should lie in the same nest, which was thought a very clever come +off; and, at the same time, I gave Mrs. Nugent a kindly nip on her sonsy +arm, which was breaking the ice in as pleasant a way as could be. In +short, before anything passed between ourselves on the subject, we were +set down for a trysted pair; and this being the case, we were married as +soon as a twelvemonth and a day had passed from the death of the second +Mrs. Balwhidder; and neither of us have had occasion to rue the bargain. +It is, however, but a piece of justice due to my second wife to say, that +this was not a little owing to her good management; for she had left such +a well-plenished house, that her successor said, we had nothing to do but +to contribute to one another’s happiness. + +In this year nothing more memorable happened in the parish, saving that +the cotton-mill dam burst about the time of the Lammas flood, and the +waters went forth like a deluge of destruction, carrying off much +victual, and causing a vast of damage to the mills that are lower down +the stream. It was just a prodigy to see how calmly Mr. Cayenne acted on +that occasion; for, being at other times as crabbed as a wud terrier, +folk were afraid to tell him, till he came out himself in the morning and +saw the devastation; at the sight of which he gave only a shrill whistle, +and began to laugh at the idea of the men fearing to take him the news, +as if he had not fortune and philosophy enough, as he called it, to +withstand much greater misfortunes. + + [Picture: The Weaver] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII +YEAR 1797 + + +WHEN I have seen in my walks the irrational creatures of God, the birds +and the beasts, governed by a kindly instinct in attendance on their +young, often has it come into my head that love and charity, far more +than reason or justice, formed the tie that holds the world, with all its +jarring wants and woes, in social dependence and obligation together; +and, in this year, a strong verification of the soundness of this notion +was exemplified in the conduct of the poor haverel lassie Meg Gaffaw, +whose naturality on the occasion of her mother’s death I have related at +length in this chronicle. + +In the course of the summer, Mr. Henry Melcomb, who was a nephew to Mr. +Cayenne, came down from England to see his uncle. He had just completed +his education at the college of Christ Church, in Oxford, and was the +most perfect young gentleman that had ever been seen in this part of the +country. + +In his appearance he was a very paragon, with a fine manly countenance, +frank-hearted, blithe, and, in many points of character, very like my old +friend the Lord Eaglesham, who was shot. Indeed, in some respects, he +was even above his lordship; for he had a great turn at ready wit, and +could joke and banter in a most agreeable manner. He came very often to +the manse to see me, and took great pleasure in my company, and really +used a freedom that was so droll, I could scarcely keep my composity and +decorum with him. Among others that shared in his attention, was daft +Meg Gaffaw, whom he had forgathered with one day in coming to see me; and +after conversing with her for some time, he handed her, as she told me +herself, over the kirk-stile like a lady of high degree, and came with +her to the manse door linking by the arm. + +From the ill-timed daffin of that hour, poor Meg fell deep in love with +Mr. Melcomb; and it was just a playacting to see the arts and antics she +put in practice to win his attention. In her garb, she had never any +sense of a proper propriety, but went about the country asking for +shapings of silks and satins, with which she patched her duds, calling +them by the divers names of robes and negligées. All hitherto, however, +had been moderation, compared to the daffadile of vanity which she was +now seen, when she had searched, as she said, to the bottom of her +coffer. I cannot take it upon me to describe her; but she kythed in such +a variety of cuffs and ruffles, feathers, old gumflowers, painted paper +knots, ribbons, and furs, and laces, and went about gecking and simpering +with an old fan in her hand, that it was not in the power of nature to +look at her with sobriety. + +Her first appearance in this masquerading was at the kirk on the Sunday +following her adventure with Mr. Melcomb, and it was with a sore +difficulty that I could keep my eyes off her, even in prayer; and when +the kirk skailed, she walked before him, spreading all her grandeur to +catch his eye, in such a manner as had not been seen or heard of since +the prank that Lady Macadam played Miss Betty Wudrife. + +Any other but Mr. Melcomb would have been provoked by the fool’s folly; +but he humoured her wit, and, to the amazement of the whole people, +presented her his hand, and allemanded her along in a manner that should +not have been seen in any street out of a king’s court, and far less on +the Lord’s day. But, alas! this sport did not last long. Mr. Melcomb +had come from England to be ‘married’ to his cousin, Miss Virginia +Cayenne, and poor daft Meg never heard of it till the banns for their +purpose of marriage was read out by Mr. Lorimore on the Sabbath after. +The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when the simple and innocent +natural gave a loud shriek, that terrified the whole congregation, and +ran out of the kirk demented. There was no more finery for poor Meg; but +she went and sat opposite to the windows of Mr. Cayenne’s house, where +Mr. Melcomb was, with clasped hands and beseeching eyes, like a +monumental statue in alabaster, and no entreaty could drive her away. +Mr. Melcomb sent her money, and the bride many a fine thing; but Meg +flung them from her, and clasped her hands again, and still sat. Mr. +Cayenne would have let loose the house-dog on her, but was not permitted. + +In the evening it began to rain, and they thought that and the coming +darkness would drive her away; but when the servants looked out before +barring the doors, there she was in the same posture. I was to perform +the marriage ceremony at seven o’clock in the morning, for the young pair +were to go that night to Edinburgh; and when I went, there was Meg +sitting looking at the windows with her hands clasped. When she saw me +she gave a shrill cry, and took me by the hand, and wised me to go back, +crying out in a heart-breaking voice, “O, Sir! No yet—no yet! He’ll +maybe draw back, and think of a far truer bride.” I was wae for her and +very angry with the servants for laughing at the fond folly of the +ill-less thing. + +When the marriage was over, and the carriage at the door, the bridegroom +handed in the bride. Poor Meg saw this, and jumping up from where she +sat, was at his side like a spirit, as he was stepping in, and, taking +him by the hand, she looked in his face so piteously, that every heart +was sorrowful, for she could say nothing. When he pulled away his hand, +and the door was shut, she stood as if she had been charmed to the spot, +and saw the chaise drive away. All that were about the door then spoke +to her, but she heard us not. At last she gave a deep sigh, and the +water coming into her eye, she said, “The worm—the worm is my bonny +bridegroom, and Jenny with the many-feet my bridal maid. The mill-dam +water’s the wine o’ the wedding, and the clay and the clod shall be my +bedding. A lang night is meet for a bridal, but none shall be langer +than mine.” In saying which words, she fled from among us, with heels +like the wind. The servants pursued; but long before they could stop +her, she was past redemption in the deepest plumb of the cotton-mill dam. + +Few deaths had for many a day happened in the parish, to cause so much +sorrow as that of this poor silly creature. She was a sort of household +familiar among us, and there was much like the inner side of wisdom in +the pattern of her sayings, many of which are still preserved as +proverbs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX +YEAR 1798 + + +THIS was one of the heaviest years in the whole course of my ministry. +The spring was slow of coming, and cold and wet when it did come; the +dibs were full, the roads foul, and the ground that should have been dry +at the seed-time, was as claggy as clay, and clung to the harrow. The +labour of man and beast was thereby augmented; and all nature being in a +state of sluggish indisposition, it was evident to every eye of +experience that there would be a great disappointment to the hopes of the +husbandman. + +Foreseeing this, I gathered the opinion of all the most sagacious of my +parishioners, and consulted with them for a provision against the evil +day, and we spoke to Mr. Cayenne on the subject, for he had a talent by +common in matters of mercantile management. It was amazing, considering +his hot temper, with what patience he heard the grounds of our +apprehension, and how he questioned and sifted the experience of the old +farmers, till he was thoroughly convinced that all similar seed-times +were ever followed by a short crop. He then said, that he would prove +himself a better friend to the parish than he was thought. Accordingly, +as he afterwards told me himself, he wrote off that very night to his +correspondents in America, to buy for his account all the wheat and flour +they could get, and ship it to arrive early in the fall; and he bought up +likewise in countries round the Baltic great store of victual, and +brought in two cargoes to Irville on purpose for the parish, against the +time of need, making for the occasion a garnel of one of the warehouses +of the cotton-mill. + +The event came to pass as had been foretold: the harvest fell short, and +Mr. Cayenne’s cargoes from America and the Baltic came home in due +season, by which he made a terrible power of money, clearing thousands on +thousands by post after post—making more profit, as he said himself, in +the course of one month, he believed, than ever was made by any +individual within the kingdom of Scotland in the course of a year.—He +said, however that he might have made more if he had bought up the corn +at home; but being convinced by us that there would be a scarcity, he +thought it his duty as an honest man to draw from the stores and +granaries of foreign countries, by which he was sure he would serve his +country, and be abundantly rewarded. In short, we all reckoned him +another Joseph when he opened his garnels at the cotton-mill, and, after +distributing a liberal portion to the poor and needy, selling the +remainder at an easy rate to the generality of the people. Some of the +neighbouring parishes, however, were angry that he would not serve them +likewise, and called him a wicked and extortionate forestaller; but he +made it plain to the meanest capacity, that if he did not circumscribe +his dispensation to our own bounds it would be as nothing. So that, +although he brought a wonderful prosperity in by the cotton-mill, and a +plenteous supply of corn in a time of famine, doing more in these things +for the people than all the other heritors had done from the beginning of +time, he was much reviled; even his bounty was little esteemed by my +people, because he took a moderate profit on what he sold to them. +Perhaps, however, these prejudices might be partly owing to their dislike +of his hasty temper, at least I am willing to think so; for it would +grieve me if they were really ungrateful for a benefit that made the +pressure of the time lie but lightly on them. + +The alarm of the Irish rebellion in this year was likewise another source +of affliction to us; for many of the gentry coming over in great straits, +especially ladies and their children, and some of them in the hurry of +their flight having but little ready money, were very ill off. Some four +or five families came to the Cross-Keys in this situation, and the +conduct of Mr. Cayenne to them was most exemplary. He remembered his own +haste with his family from Virginia, when the Americans rebelled; and +immediately on hearing of these Irish refugees, he waited on them with +his wife and daughter, supplied them with money, invited them to his +house, made ploys to keep up their spirits, while the other gentry stood +back till they knew something of the strangers. + +Among these destitute ladies was a Mrs. Desmond and her two daughters, a +woman of most august presence, being indeed more like one ordained to +reign over a kingdom, than for household purposes. The Miss Desmonds +were only entering their teens, but they also had no ordinary stamp upon +them. What made this party the more particular, was on account of Mr. +Desmond, who was supposed to be a united man with the rebels, and it was +known his son was deep in their plots; yet although this was all told to +Mr. Cayenne, by some of the other Irish ladies who were of the loyal +connexion, it made no difference with him, but, on the contrary, he acted +as if he thought the Desmonds the most of all the refugees entitled to +his hospitable civilities. This was a wonderment to our strait-laced +narrow lairds, as there was not a man of such strict government +principles in the whole country side as Mr. Cayenne: but he said he +carried his political principles only to the camp and the council. “To +the hospital and the prison,” said he, “I take those of a man”—which was +almost a Christian doctrine, and from that declaration Mr. Cayenne and me +began again to draw a little more cordially together; although he had +still a very imperfect sense of religion, which I attributed to his being +born in America, where even as yet, I am told, they have but a scanty +sprinkling of grace. + +But before concluding this year, I should tell the upshot of the +visitation of the Irish, although it did not take place until some time +after the peace with France. + +In the putting down of the rebels Mr. Desmond and his son made their +escape to Paris, where they stayed till the treaty was signed, by which, +for several years after the return to Ireland of the grand lady and her +daughters, as Mrs. Desmond was called by our commonalty, we heard nothing +of them. The other refugees repaid Mr. Cayenne his money with +thankfulness, and, on their restoration to their homes, could not +sufficiently express their sense of his kindness. But the silence and +seeming ingratitude of the Desmonds vexed him; and he could not abide to +hear the Irish rebellion mentioned without flying into a passion against +the rebels, which every body knew was owing to the ill return he had +received from that family. However, one afternoon, just about half an +hour before his wonted dinner hour, a grand equipage, with four horses +and outriders, stopped at his door, and who was in it but Mrs. Desmond +and an elderly man, and a young gentleman with an aspect like a lord. It +was her husband and son. They had come from Ireland in all their state +on purpose to repay with interest the money Mr. Cayenne had counted so +long lost, and to express in person the perpetual obligation which he had +conferred upon the Desmond family, in all time coming. The lady then +told him, that she had been so straitened in helping the poor ladies, +that it was not in her power to make repayment till Desmond, as she +called her husband, came home; and not choosing to assign the true +reason, lest it might cause trouble, she rather submitted to be suspected +of ingratitude than to an improper thing. + +Mr. Cayenne was transported with this unexpected return, and a friendship +grew up between the families, which was afterwards cemented into +relationship by the marriage of the young Desmond with Miss Caroline +Cayenne. Some in the parish objected to this match, Mrs. Desmond being a +papist: but as Miss Caroline had received an episcopalian education, I +thought it of no consequence, and married them after their family +chaplain from Ireland, as a young couple both by beauty and fortune well +matched, and deserving of all conjugal felicity. + + + + +CHAPTER XL +YEAR 1799 + + +THERE are but two things to make me remember this year; the first was the +marriage of my daughter Janet with the reverend Dr. Kittlewood of +Swappington, a match in every way commendable; and on the advice of the +third Mrs. Balwhidder, I settled a thousand pounds down, and promised +five hundred more at my death if I died before my spouse, and a thousand +at her death if she survived me; which was the greatest portion ever +minister’s daughter had in our country side. In this year likewise I +advanced fifteen hundred pounds for my son in a concern in Glasgow,—all +was the gathering of that indefatigable engine of industry the second +Mrs. Balwhidder, whose talents her successor said were a wonder, when she +considered the circumstances in which I had been left at her death, and +made out of a narrow stipend. + +The other memorable was the death of Mrs. Malcolm. If ever there was a +saint on this earth, she was surely one. She had been for some time +bedfast, having all her days from the date of her widowhood been a tender +woman; but no change made any alteration on the Christian contentment of +her mind. She bore adversity with an honest pride; she toiled in the day +of penury and affliction with thankfulness for her earnings, although +ever so little. She bent her head to the Lord in resignation when her +first-born fell in battle; nor was she puffed up with vanity when her +daughters were married, as it was said, so far above their degree, though +they showed it was but into their proper sphere by their demeanour after. +She lived to see her second son, the captain, rise into affluence, +married, and with a thriving young family; and she had the very great +satisfaction, on the last day she was able to go to church, to see her +youngest son the clergyman standing in my pulpit, a doctor of divinity, +and the placed minister of a richer parish than mine. Well indeed might +she have said on that day, “Lord, let thy servant depart in peace, for +mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” + +For some time it had been manifest to all who saw her, that her latter +end was drawing nigh; and therefore, as I had kept up a correspondence +with her daughters, Mrs. Macadam and Mrs. Howard, I wrote them a +particular account of her case, which brought them to the clachan. They +both came in their own carriages; for Colonel Macadam was now a general, +and had succeeded to a great property by an English uncle, his mother’s +brother; and Captain Howard, by the death of his father, was also a man, +as it was said, with a lord’s living. Robert Malcolm, her son the +captain, was in the West Indies at the time; but his wife came on the +first summons, as did William the minister. + +They all arrived about four o’clock in the afternoon, and at seven a +message came for me and Mrs. Balwhidder to go over to them, which we did, +and found the strangers seated by the heavenly patient’s bedside. On my +entering, she turned her eyes towards me, and said, “Bear witness, sir, +that I die thankful for an extraordinary portion of temporal mercies. +The heart of my youth was withered like the leaf that is scared with the +lightning; but in my children I have received a great indemnification for +the sorrows of that trial.” She then requested me to pray, saying, “No; +let it be a thanksgiving. My term is out, and I have nothing more to +hope or fear from the good or evil of this world. But I have had much to +make me grateful; therefore, sir, return thanks for the time I have been +spared, for the goodness granted so long unto me, and the gentle hand +with which the way from this world is smoothed for my passing.” + +There was something so sweet and consolatory in the way she said this, +that although it moved all present to tears, they were tears without the +wonted bitterness of grief. Accordingly, I knelt down and did as she had +required, and there was a great stillness while I prayed. At the +conclusion we looked to the bed, but the spirit had, in the mean time, +departed, and there was nothing remaining but the clay tenement. + +It was expected by the parish, considering the vast affluence of the +daughters, that there would have been a grand funeral, and Mrs. Howard +thought it was necessary; but her sister, who had from her youth upward a +superior discernment of propriety, said, “No, as my mother has lived, so +shall be her end.” Accordingly, everybody of any respect in the clachan +was invited to the funeral; but none of the gentry, saving only such as +had been numbered among the acquaintance of the deceased. But Mr. +Cayenne came unbidden, saying to me, that although he did not know Mrs. +Malcolm personally, he had often heard she was an amiable woman, and +therefore he thought it a proper compliment to her family, who were out +of the parish, to show in what respect she was held among us; for he was +a man that would take his own way, and do what he thought was right, +heedless alike of blame or approbation. + +If, however, the funeral was plain, though respectable, the ladies +distributed a liberal sum among the poor families; but before they went +away, a silent token of their mother’s virtue came to light, which was at +once a source of sorrow and pleasure. Mrs. Malcolm was first well +provided by the Macadams, afterwards the Howards settled on her an equal +annuity, by which she spent her latter days in great comfort. Many a +year before, she had repaid Provost Maitland the money he sent her in the +day of her utmost distress; and at this period he was long dead, having +died of a broken heart at the time of his failure. From that time his +widow and her daughters had been in very straitened circumstances; but +unknown to all but herself, and HIM from whom nothing is hid, Mrs. +Malcolm from time to time had sent them, in a blank letter, an occasional +note to the young ladies to buy a gown. After her death, a bank-bill for +a sum of money, her own savings, was found in her scrutoire, with a note +of her own writing pinned to the same, stating, that the amount being +more than she had needed for herself, belonged of right to those who had +so generously provided for her; but as they were not in want of such a +trifle, it would be a token of respect to her memory, if they would give +the bill to Mrs. Maitland and her daughters, which was done with the most +glad alacrity; and, in the doing of it, the private kindness was brought +to light. + + [Picture: The Millwright] + +Thus ended the history of Mrs. Malcolm, as connected with our Parish +Annals. Her house was sold, and is the same now inhabited by the +millwright, Mr. Periffery; and a neat house it still is, for the +possessor is an Englishman, and the English have an uncommon taste for +snod houses and trim gardens; but at the time it was built, there was not +a better in the town, though it’s now but of the second class. Yearly we +hear both from Mrs. Macadam and her sister, with a five-pound note from +each to the poor of the parish, as a token of their remembrance; but they +are far off, and, were any thing ailing me, I suppose the gift will not +be continued. As for Captain Malcolm, he has proved, in many ways, a +friend to such of our young men as have gone to sea. He has now left it +off himself, and settled at London, where he latterly sailed from, and, I +understand, is in a great way as a shipowner. These things I have +thought it fitting to record, and will now resume my historical +narration. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI +YEAR 1800 + + +THE same quietude and regularity that marked the progress of the last +year, continued throughout the whole of this. We sowed and reaped in +tranquillity, though the sough of distant war came heavily from a +distance. The cotton-mill did well for the company, and there was a +sobriety in the minds of the spinners and weavers, which showed that the +crisis of their political distemperature was over;—there was something +more of the old prudence in men’s reflections; and it was plain to see +that the elements of reconciliation were coming together throughout the +world. The conflagration of the French Revolution was indeed not +extinguished, but it was evidently burning out; and their old reverence +for the Grand Monarque was beginning to revive among them, though they +only called him a consul. Upon the king’s fast I preached on this +subject; and when the peace was concluded, I got great credit for my +foresight, but there was no merit in’t. I had only lived longer than the +most of those around me, and had been all my days a close observer of the +signs of the times; so that what was lightly called prophecy and +prediction, were but a probability that experience had taught me to +discern. + +In the affairs of the parish, the most remarkable generality (for we had +no particular catastrophe) was a great death of old people in the spring. +Among others, Miss Sabrina, the school mistress, paid the debt of nature, +but we could now better spare her than we did her predecessor; for at +Cayenneville there was a broken manufacturer’s wife, an excellent +teacher, and a genteel and modernised woman, who took the better order of +children; and Miss Sabrina having been long frail (for she was never +stout), a decent and discreet carlin, Mrs. M‘Caffie, the widow of a +custom-house officer, that was a native of the parish, set up another for +plainer work. Her opposition Miss Sabrina did not mind, but she was +sorely displeased at the interloping of Mrs. Pirn at Cayenneville, and +some said it helped to kill her—of that, however, I am not so certain; +for Dr. Tanzey had told me in the winter, that he thought the sharp winds +in March would blow out her candle, as it was burnt to the snuff; +accordingly, she took her departure from this life, on the twenty-fifth +day of that month, after there had, for some days prior, been a most cold +and piercing east wind. + +Miss Sabrina, who was always an oddity and aping grandeur, it was found, +had made a will, leaving her gatherings to her favourites, with all +regular formality. To one she bequeathed a gown, to another this, and a +third that, and to me a pair of black silk stockings. I was amazed when +I heard this; but judge what I felt, when a pair of old marrowless +stockings, darned in the heel, and not whole enough in the legs to make a +pair of mittens to Mrs. Balwhidder, were delivered to me by her executor, +Mr. Caption, the lawyer. Saving, however, this kind of flummery, Miss +Sabrina was a harmless creature, and could quote poetry in discourse more +glibly than texts of Scripture—her father having spared no pains on her +mind: as for her body, it could not be mended; but that was not her +fault. + +After her death, the session held a consultation, and we agreed to give +the same salary that Miss Sabrina enjoyed to Mrs. M‘Caffie, which angered +Mr. Cayenne, who thought it should have been given to the head mistress; +and it made him give Mrs. Pirn, out of his own pocket, double the sum. +But we considered that the parish funds were for the poor of the parish, +and therefore it was our duty to provide for the instruction of the poor +children. Saving, therefore, those few notations, I have nothing further +to say concerning the topics and progress of this Ann. Dom. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII +YEAR 1801 + + +IT is often to me very curious food for meditation, that as the parish +increased in population, there should have been less cause for matter to +record. Things that in former days would have occasioned great discourse +and cogitation, are forgotten with the day in which they happen; and +there is no longer that searching into personalities which was so much in +vogue during the first epoch of my ministry, which I reckon the period +before the American war; nor has there been any such germinal changes +among us, as those which took place in the second epoch, counting +backward from the building of the cotton-mill that gave rise to the town +of Cayenneville. But still we were not, even at this era, of which this +Ann. Dom. is the beginning, without occasional personality, or an event +that deserved to be called a germinal. + +Some years before, I had noted among the callans at Mr. Lorimore’s school +a long soople laddie, who, like all bairns that grow fast and tall, had +but little smeddum. He could not be called a dolt, for he was observant +and thoughtful, and giving to asking sagacious questions; but there was a +sleepiness about him, especially in the kirk, and he gave, as the master +said, but little application to his lessons, so that folk thought he +would turn out a sort of gaunt-at-the-door, more mindful of meat than +work. He was, however, a good-natured lad; and, when I was taking my +solitary walks of meditation, I sometimes fell in with him sitting alone +on the brae by the water-side, and sometimes lying on the grass, with his +hands under his head, on the sunny green knolls where Mr. Cylinder, the +English engineer belonging to the cotton-work, has built the bonny house +that he calls Diryhill Cottage. This was when Colin Mavis was a laddie +at the school, and when I spoke to him, I was surprised at the discretion +of his answers; so that gradually I began to think and say, that there +was more about Colin than the neighbours knew. Nothing, however, for +many a day, came out to his advantage; so that his mother, who was by +this time a widow woman, did not well know what to do with him, and folk +pitied her heavy handful of such a droud. + +By-and-by, however, it happened that one of the young clerks at the +cotton-mill shattered his right-hand thumb by a gun bursting; and, being +no longer able to write, was sent into the army to be an ensign, which +caused a vacancy in the office; and, through the help of Mr. Cayenne, I +got Colin Mavis into the place, where, to the surprise of everybody, he +proved a wonderful eident and active lad, and, from less to more, has +come at the head of all the clerks, and deep in the confidentials of his +employers. But although this was a great satisfaction to me, and to the +widow woman his mother, it somehow was not so much so to the rest of the +parish, who seemed, as it were, angry that poor Colin had not proved +himself such a dolt as they had expected and foretold. + +Among other ways that Colin had of spending his leisure, was that of +playing music on an instrument, in which it was said he made a wonderful +proficiency; but being long and thin, and of a delicate habit of body, he +was obligated to refrain from this recreation; so he betook himself to +books, and from reading he began to try writing; but, as this was done in +a corner, nobody jealoused what he was about, till one evening in this +year he came to the manse, and asked a word in private with me. I +thought that perhaps he had fallen in with a lass, and was come to +consult me anent matrimony; but when we were by ourselves, in my study, +he took out of his pocket a number of the _Scots Magazine_, and said, +“Sir, you have been long pleased to notice me more than any other body, +and when I got this, I could not refrain from bringing it, to let you +see’t. Ye maun ken, sir, that I have been long in secret given to trying +my hand at rhyme; and, wishing to ascertain what others thought of my +power in that way, I sent by the post twa three verses to the _Scots +Magazine_, and they have not only inserted them, but placed them in the +body of the book, in such a way that I kenna what to think.” So I looked +at the Magazine, and read his verses, which were certainly very well-made +verses for one who had no regular education. But I said to him, as the +Greenock magistrates said to John Wilson, the author of “Clyde,” when +they stipulated with him to give up the art, that poem-making was a +profane and unprofitable trade, and he would do well to turn his talent +to something of more solidity, which he promised to do; but he has since +put out a book, whereby he has angered all those that had foretold he +would be a do-nae-gude. Thus has our parish walked sidy for sidy with +all the national improvements, having an author of its own, and getting a +literary character in the ancient and famous republic of letters. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII +YEAR 1802 + + +“EXPERIENCE teaches fools,” was the first moral apothegm that I wrote in +small text, when learning to write at the school, and I have ever since +thought it was a very sensible reflection. For assuredly, as year after +year has flown away on the swift wings of time, I have found my +experience mellowing, and my discernment improving; by which I have, in +the afternoon of life, been enabled to foresee what kings and nations +would do, by the symptoms manifested within the bounds of the society +around me. Therefore, at the beginning of the spring in this Ann. Dom., +I had misgivings at the heart, a fluttering in my thoughts, and +altogether a strange uneasiness as to the stability of the peace and +harmony that was supposed to be founded upon a steadfast foundation +between us and the French people. What my fears principally took their +rise from, was a sort of compliancy, on the part of those in power and +authority, to cultivate the old relations and parts between them and the +commonalty. It did not appear to me that this proceeded from any known +or decided event, for I read the papers at this period daily; but from +some general dread and fear, that was begotten, like a vapour out of the +fermentation of all sorts of opinions; most people of any sagacity +thinking that the state of things in France being so much of an antic, +poetical, and playactor-like guise, that it would never obtain that +respect, far less that reverence from the world, which is necessary to +the maintenance of all beneficial government. The consequence of this +was a great distrust between man and man, and an aching restlessness +among those who had their bread to bake in the world; persons possessing +the power to provide for their kindred, forcing them, as it were, down +the throats of those who were dependent on them in business, a bitter +morsel. + +But the pith of these remarks chiefly applies to the manufacturing +concerns of the new town of Cayenneville; for in the clachan we lived in +the lea of the dike, and were more taken up with our own natural rural +affairs, and the markets for victual, than the craft of merchandise. The +only man interested in business, who walked in a steady manner at his old +pace, though he sometimes was seen, being of a spunkie temper, grinding +the teeth of vexation, was Mr. Cayenne himself. + +One day, however, he came to me at the manse. “Doctor,” says he, for so +he always called me, “I want your advice. I never choose to trouble +others with my private affairs; but there are times when the word of an +honest man may do good. I need not tell you, that when I declared myself +a Royalist in America, it was at a considerable sacrifice. I have, +however, nothing to complain of against government on that score; but I +think it damn’d hard that those personal connexions, whose interests I +preserved to the detriment of my own, should in my old age make such an +ungrateful return. By the steps I took prior to quitting America, I +saved the property of a great mercantile concern in London. In return +for that, they took a share with me, and for me, in the cotton-mill; and +being here on the spot, as manager, I have both made and saved them +money. I have, no doubt, bettered my own fortune in the mean time. +Would you believe it, doctor, they have written a letter to me, saying +that they wish to provide for a relation, and requiring me to give up to +him a portion of my share in the concern—a pretty sort of providing this, +at another man’s expense! But I’ll be damn’d if I do any such thing! If +they want to provide for their friend, let them do so from themselves, +and not at my cost—What is your opinion?” + +This appeared to me a very weighty concern, and, not being versed in +mercantile dealing, I did not well know what to say; but I reflected for +some time, and then I replied, “As far, Mr. Cayenne, as my observation +has gone in this world, I think that the giffs and the gaffs nearly +balance one another; and when they do not, there is a moral defect on the +failing side. If a man long gives his labour to his employer, and is +paid for that labour, it might be said that both are equal; but I say no. +For it’s in human nature to be prompt to change; and the employer, having +always more in his power than his servant or agent, it seems to me a +clear case, that in the course of a number of years, the master of the +old servant is the obligated of the two; and therefore I say, in the +first place, in your case there is no tie or claim, by which you may, in +a moral sense, be called upon to submit to the dictates of your London +correspondents; but there is a reason, in the nature of the thing and +case, by which you may ask a favour from them—So, the advice I would give +you would be this: write an answer to their letter, and tell them that +you have no objection to the taking in of a new partner, but you think it +would be proper to revise all the copartnery, especially as you have, +considering the manner in which you have advanced the business, been of +opinion, that your share should be considerably enlarged.” + +I thought Mr. Cayenne would have louped out of his skin with mirth at +this notion; and, being a prompt man, he sat down at my scrutoire, and +answered the letter which gave him so much uneasiness. No notice was +taken of it for some time; but in the course of a month he was informed, +that it was not considered expedient at that time to make any change in +the company. I thought the old man was gone by himself when he got this +letter. He came over instantly in his chariot, from the cotton-mill +office to the manse, and swore an oath, by some dreadful name, that I was +a Solomon. However, I only mention this to show how experience had +instructed me, and as a sample of that sinister provisioning of friends +that was going on in the world at this time—all owing, as I do verily +believe, to the uncertain state of governments and national affairs. + +Besides these generalities, I observed another thing working to +effect—mankind read more, and the spirit of reflection and reasoning was +more awake than at any time within my remembrance. Not only was there a +handsome bookseller’s shop in Cayenneville, with a London newspaper +daily, but magazines, and reviews, and other new publications. + +Till this year, when a chaise was wanted we had to send to Irville; but +Mr. Toddy of the Cross-Keys being in at Glasgow, he bought an excellent +one at the second-hand, a portion of the effects of a broken merchant, by +which, from that period, we had one of our own, and it proved a great +convenience; for I, who never but twice in my life before hired that kind +of commodity, had it thrice during the summer, for a bit jaunt with Mrs. +Balwhidder to divers places and curiosities in the county that I had not +seen before, by which our ideas were greatly enlarged; indeed, I have +always had a partiality for travelling, as one of the best means of +opening the faculty of the mind, and giving clear and correct notions of +men and things. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV +YEAR 1803 + + +DURING the tempestuous times that ensued, from the death of the King of +France by the hands of the executioner in 1793, there had been a +political schism among my people that often made me very uneasy. The +folk belonging to the cotton-mill, and the muslin-weavers in +Cayenneville, were afflicted with the itch of jacobinism, but those of +the village were stanch and true to king and country; and some of the +heritors were desirous to make volunteers of the young men of them, in +case of anything like the French anarchy and confusion rising on the side +of the manufacturers. I, however, set myself, at that time, against +this, for I foresaw that the French business was but a fever which would +soon pass off; but no man could tell the consequence of putting arms in +the hands of neighbour against neighbour, though it was but in the way of +policy. + +But when Bonaparte gathered his host fornent the English coast, and the +government at London were in terror of their lives for an invasion, all +in the country saw that there was danger, and I was not backward in +sounding the trumpet to battle. For a time, however, there was a +diffidence among us somewhere. The gentry had a distrust of the +manufacturers, and the farming lads were wud with impatience, that those +who should be their leaders would not come forth. I, knowing this, +prepared a sermon suitable to the occasion, giving out from the pulpit +myself, the Sabbath before preaching it, that it was my intent, on the +next Lord’s day, to deliver a religious and political exhortation on the +present posture of public affairs. This drew a vast congregation of all +ranks. + +I trow that the stoor had no peace in the stuffing of the pulpit in that +day; and the effect was very great and speedy: for next morning the +weavers and cotton-mill folk held a meeting, and they, being skilled in +the ways of committees and associating together, had certain resolutions +prepared, by which a select few was appointed to take an enrolment of all +willing in the parish to serve as volunteers in defence of their king and +country, and to concert with certain gentlemen named therein, about the +formation of a corps, of which, it was an understood thing, the said +gentlemen were to be the officers. The whole of this business was +managed with the height of discretion; and the weavers, and spinners, and +farming lads, vied with one another who should be first on the list. But +that which the most surprised me, was the wonderful sagacity of the +committee in naming the gentlemen that should be the officers. I could +not have made a better choice myself; for they were the best built, the +best bred, and the best natured, in the parish. In short, when I saw the +bravery that was in my people, and the spirit of wisdom by which it was +directed, I said in my heart, the Lord of Hosts is with us, and the +adversary shall not prevail. + + [Picture: The Silhouette] + +The number of valiant men which at that time placed themselves around the +banners of their country was so great, that the government would not +accept of all who offered; so, like as in other parishes, we were +obligated to make a selection, which was likewise done in a most +judicious manner, all men above a certain age being reserved for the +defence of the parish, in the day when the young might be called to +England to fight the enemy. + +When the corps was formed, and the officers named, they made me their +chaplain, and Dr. Marigold their doctor. He was a little man with a big +belly, and was as crouse as a bantam cock; but it was not thought he +could do so well in field exercises, on which account he was made the +doctor, although he had no repute in that capacity in comparison with Dr. +Tanzey, who was not, however, liked, being a stiff-mannered man, with a +sharp temper. + +All things having come to a proper head, the young ladies of the parish +resolved to present the corps with a stand of colours, which they +embroidered themselves, and a day was fixed for the presentation of the +same. Never was such a day seen in Dalmailing. The sun shone brightly +on that scene of bravery and grandeur, and far and near the country folk +came flocking in; and we had the regimental band of music hired from the +soldiers that were in Ayr barracks. The very first sound o’t made the +hair on my old grey head to prickle up, and my blood to rise and glow as +if youth was coming again into my veins. + +Sir Hugh Montgomerie was the commandant; and he came in all the glory of +war, on his best horse, and marched at the head of the men to the +green-head. The doctor and me were the rearguard: not being able, on +account of my age and his fatness, to walk so fast as the quick-step of +the corps. On the field, we took our place in front, near Sir Hugh and +the ladies with the colours; and after some salutations, according to the +fashion of the army, Sir Hugh made a speech to the men, and then Miss +Maria Montgomerie came forward, with her sister Miss Eliza, and the other +ladies, and the banners were unfurled, all glittering with gold, and the +king’s arms in needlework. Miss Maria then made a speech, which she had +got by heart; but she was so agitated that it was said she forgot the +best part of it: however, it was very well considering. When this was +done, I then stepped forward, and laying my hat on the ground, every man +and boy taking off theirs, I said a prayer, which I had conned most +carefully, and which I thought the most suitable I could devise, in +unison with Christian principles, which are averse to the shedding of +blood; and I particularly dwelt upon some of the specialities of our +situation. + +When I had concluded, the volunteers gave three great shouts, and the +multitude answered them to the same tune, and all the instruments of +music sounded, making such a bruit as could not be surpassed for +grandeur—a long, and very circumstantial account of all which, may be +read in the newspapers of that time. + +The volunteers, at the word of command, then showed us the way they were +to fight with the French, in the doing of which a sad disaster happened; +for when they were charging bayonets, they came towards us like a flood, +and all the spectators ran; and I ran, and the doctor ran; but being +laden with his belly, he could not run fast enough, so he lay down, and +being just before me at the time, I tumbled over him, and such a shout of +laughter shook the field as was never heard. + +When the fatigues of the day were at an end, we marched to the +cotton-mill, where, in one of the ware-houses, a vast table was spread, +and a dinner, prepared at Mr. Cayenne’s own expense, sent in from the +Cross-Keys, and the whole corps, with many of the gentry of the +neighbourhood, dined with great jollity, the band of music playing +beautiful airs all the time. At night there was a universal dance, +gentle and semple mingled together. All which made it plain to me, that +the Lord, by this unison of spirit, had decreed our national +preservation; but I kept this in my own breast, lest it might have the +effect to relax the vigilance of the kingdom. And I should note that +Colin Mavis, the poetical lad, of whom I have spoken in another part, +made a song for this occasion that was very mightily thought of, having +in it a nerve of valiant genius, that kindled the very souls of those +that heard it. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV +YEAR 1804 + + +IN conformity with the altered fashions of the age, in this year the +session came to an understanding with me, that we should not inflict the +common church censures for such as made themselves liable thereto; but we +did not formally promulge our resolution as to this, wishing as long as +possible to keep the deterring rod over the heads of the young and +thoughtless. Our motive, on the one hand, was the disregard of the +manufacturers in Cayenneville, who were, without the breach of truth, an +irreligious people; and, on the other, a desire to preserve the ancient +and wholesome admonitory and censorian jurisdiction of the minister and +elders. We therefore laid it down as a rule to ourselves, that, in the +case of transgressions on the part of the inhabitants of the new district +of Cayenneville, we should subject them rigorously to a fine; but that +for the farming-lads, we would put it in their option to pay the fine, or +stand in the kirk. + +We conformed also in another matter to the times, by consenting to +baptize occasionally in private houses. Hitherto it had been a strict +rule with me only to baptize from the pulpit. Other parishes, however, +had long been in the practice of this relaxation of ancient discipline. + +But all this on my part, was not done without compunction of spirit; for +I was of opinion, that the principle of Presbyterian integrity should +have been maintained to the uttermost. Seeing, however, the elders set +on an alteration, I distrusted my own judgment, and yielded myself to the +considerations that weighed with them; for they were true men, and of a +godly honesty, and took the part of the poor in all contentions with the +heritors, often to the hazard and damage of their own temporal welfare. + +I have now to note a curious thing, not on account of its importance, but +to show to what lengths a correspondence had been opened in the parish +with the farthest parts of the earth. Mr. Cayenne got a turtle-fish sent +to him from a Glasgow merchant, and it was living when it came to the +Wheatrig House, and was one of the most remarkable beasts that had ever +been seen in our country side. It weighed as much as a well-fed calf, +and had three kinds of meat in its body, fish, flesh, and fowl, and it +had four water-wings, for they could not be properly called fins; but +what was little short of a miracle about the creature, happened after the +head was cutted off, when, if a finger was offered to it, it would open +its mouth and snap at it, and all this after the carcass was divided for +dressing. + +Mr. Cayenne made a feast on the occasion to many of the neighbouring +gentry, to the which I was invited; and we drank lime-punch as we ate the +turtle, which, as I understand, is the fashion in practice among the +Glasgow West Indy merchants, who are famed as great hands with turtles +and lime-punch. But it is a sort of food that I should not like to fare +long upon. I was not right the next day; and I have heard it said, that +when eaten too often, it has a tendency to harden the heart and make it +crave for greater luxuries. + +But the story of the turtle is nothing to that of the Mass, which, with +all its mummeries and abominations, was brought into Cayenneville by an +Irish priest of the name of Father O’Grady, who was confessor to some of +the poor deluded Irish labourers about the new houses and the +cotton-mill. How he had the impudence to set up that memento of Satan, +the crucifix, within my parish and jurisdiction, was what I never could +get to the bottom of; but the soul was shaken within me, when, on the +Monday after, one of the elders came to the manse, and told me that the +old dragon of Popery, with its seven heads and ten horns, had been +triumphing in Cayenneville on the foregoing Lord’s day! I lost no time +in convening the session to see what was to be done; much, however, to my +surprise, the elders recommended no step to be taken, but only a zealous +endeavour to greater Christian excellence on our part, by which we should +put the beast and his worshippers to shame and flight. I am free to +confess, that, at the time, I did not think this the wisest counsel which +they might have given; for, in the heat of my alarm, I was for attacking +the enemy in his camp. But they prudently observed, that the days of +religious persecution were past, and it was a comfort to see mankind +cherishing any sense of religion at all, after the vehement infidelity +that had been sent abroad by the French Republicans; and to this opinion, +now that I have had years to sift its wisdom, I own myself a convert and +proselyte. + +Fortunately, however, for my peace of mind, there proved to be but five +Roman Catholics in Cayenneville; and Father O’Grady not being able to +make a living there, packed up his Virgin Marys, saints, and painted +Agneses in a portmanteau, and went off in the Ayr fly one morning for +Glasgow, where I hear he has since met with all the encouragement that +might be expected from the ignorant and idolatrous inhabitants of that +great city. + +Scarcely were we well rid of Father O’Grady, when another interloper +entered the parish. He was more dangerous, in the opinion of the +session, than even the Pope of Rome himself; for he came to teach the +flagrant heresy of Universal Redemption, a most consolatory doctrine to +the sinner that is loth to repent, and who loves to troll his iniquity +like a sweet morsel under his tongue. Mr. Martin Siftwell, who was the +last ta’en on elder, and who had received a liberal and judicious +education, and was, moreover, naturally possessed of a quick penetration, +observed, in speaking of this new doctrine, that the grossest papist +sinner might have some qualms of fear after he had bought the Pope’s +pardon, and might thereby be led to a reformation of life; but that the +doctrine of universal redemption was a bribe to commit sin, the wickedest +mortal, according to it, being only liable to a few thousand years, more +or less, of suffering, which, compared with eternity, was but a momentary +pang, like having a tooth drawn for the toothache. Mr. Siftwell is a +shrewd and clear-seeing man in points of theology, and I would trust a +great deal to what he says, as I have not, at my advanced age, such a +mind for the kittle crudities of polemical investigation that I had in my +younger years, especially when I was a student in the Divinity Hall of +Glasgow. + +It will be seen from all I have herein recorded, that, in the course of +this year, there was a general resuscitation of religious sentiments; for +what happened in my parish was but a type and index to the rest of the +world. We had, however, one memorable that must stand by itself; for +although neither death nor bloodshed happened, yet was it cause of the +fear of both. + +A rumour reached us from the Clyde, that a French man-of-war had appeared +in a Highland loch, and that all the Greenock volunteers had embarked in +merchant vessels to bring her in for a prize. Our volunteers were just +jumping and yowling, like chained dogs, to be at her too; but the +colonel, Sir Hugh, would do nothing without orders from his superiors. +Mr. Cayenne, though an aged man above seventy, was as bold as a lion, and +came forth in the old garb of an American huntsman, like, as I was told, +a Robin Hood in the play is; and it was just a sport to see him, feckless +man, trying to march so crousely with his lean, shaking hands. But the +whole affair proved a false alarm, and our men, when they heard it, were +as well pleased that they had been constrained to sleep in their warm +beds at home, instead of lying on coils of cables, like the gallant +Greenock sharp-shooters. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI +YEAR 1805 + + +FOR some time I had meditated a reformation in the parish, and this year +I carried the same into effect. I had often noticed with concern, that, +out of a mistaken notion of paying respect to the dead, my people were +wont to go to great lengths at their burials, and dealt round short-bread +and sugar-biscuit, with wine and other confections, as if there had been +no ha’d in their hands; which straitened many a poor family, making the +dispensation of the Lord a heavier temporal calamity than it should +naturally have been. Accordingly, on consulting with Mrs. Balwhidder, +who has a most judicious judgment, it was thought that my interference +would go a great way to lighten the evil. I therefore advised with those +whose friends were taken from them, not to make that amplitude of +preparation which used to be the fashion, nor to continue handing about +as long as the folk would take, but only at the very most to go no more +than three times round with the service. Objections were made to this, +as if it would be thought mean; but I put on a stern visage, and told +them, that if they did more I would rise up, and rebuke and forbid the +extravagance. So three services became the uttermost modicum at all +burials. This was doing much, but it was not all that I wished to do. + +I considered that the best reformations are those which proceed step by +step, and stop at that point where the consent to what has been +established becomes general; and so I governed myself, and therefore +interfered no farther; but I was determined to set an example. +Accordingly, at the very next dregy, after I partook of one service, I +made a bow to the servitors and they passed on, but all before me had +partaken of the second service; some, however, of those after me did as I +did, so I foresaw that in a quiet canny way I would bring in the fashion +of being satisfied with one service. I therefore, from that time, always +took my place as near as possible to the door, where the chief mourner +sat, and made a point of nodding away the second service, which has now +grown into a custom, to the great advantage of surviving relations. + +But in this reforming business I was not altogether pleased with our +poet; for he took a pawkie view of my endeavours, and indited a ballad on +the subject, in the which he makes a clattering carlin describe what took +place, so as to turn a very solemn matter into a kind of derision. When +he brought his verse and read it to me, I told him that I thought it was +overly natural; for I could not find another term to designate the cause +of the dissatisfaction that I had with it; but Mrs. Balwhidder said that +it might help my plan if it were made public; so upon her advice we got +some of Mr. Lorimore’s best writers to make copies of it for +distribution, which was not without fruit and influence. But a sore +thing happened at the very next burial. As soon as the nodding away of +the second service began, I could see that the gravity of the whole +meeting was discomposed; and some of the irreverent young chiels almost +broke out into even-down laughter, which vexed me exceedingly. Mrs. +Balwhidder, howsoever, comforted me by saying, that custom in time would +make it familiar, and by-and-by the thing would pass as a matter of +course, until one service would be all that folk would offer; and truly +the thing is coming to that, for only two services are now handed round, +and the second is regularly nodded by. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII +YEAR 1806 + + +MR. CAYENNE of Wheatrig having for several years been in a declining way, +partly brought on by the consuming fire of his furious passion, and +partly by the decay of old age, sent for me on the evening of the first +Sabbath of March in this year. I was surprised at the message, and went +to the Wheatrig House directly, where, by the lights in the windows as I +gaed up through the policy to the door, I saw something extraordinary was +going on. Sambo, the blackamoor servant, opened the door, and, without +speaking, shook his head; for it was an affectionate creature, and as +fond of his master as if he had been his own father. By this sign I +guessed that the old gentleman was thought to be drawing near his latter +end; so I walked softly after Sambo up the stair, and was shown into the +chamber where Mr. Cayenne, since he had been confined to the house, +usually sat. His wife had been dead some years before. + +Mr. Cayenne was sitting in his easy chair, with a white cotton nightcap +on his head, and a pillow at his shoulders to keep him straight. But his +head had fallen down on his breast, and he breathed like a panting baby. +His legs were swelled, and his feet rested on a footstool. His face, +which was wont to be the colour of a peony rose, was of a yellow hue, +with a patch of red on each cheek like a wafer; and his nose was shirpit +and sharp, and of an unnatural purple. Death was evidently fighting with +nature for the possession of the body. “Heaven have mercy on his soul!” +said I to myself, as I sat down beside him. + +When I had been seated some time, the power was given him to raise his +head as it were a-jee; and he looked at me with the tail of his eye, +which I saw was glittering and glassy. “Doctor,” for he always called me +doctor, though I am not of that degree, “I am glad to see you,” were his +words, uttered with some difficulty. + +“How do you find yourself, sir?” I replied, in a sympathising manner. + +“Damned bad,” said he, as if I had been the cause of his suffering. I +was daunted to the very heart to hear him in such an unregenerate state; +but after a short pause I addressed myself to him again, saying, that “I +hoped he would soon be more at ease; and he should bear in mind that the +Lord chasteneth whom he loveth.” + +“The devil take such love!” was his awful answer, which was to me as a +blow on the forehead with a mell. However, I was resolved to do my duty +to the miserable sinner, let him say what he would. Accordingly, I +stooped towards him with my hands on my knees, and said in a +compassionate voice, “It’s very true, sir, that you are in great agony; +but the goodness of God is without bound.” + +“Curse me if I think so, doctor!” replied the dying uncircumcised +Philistine. But he added at whiles, his breathlessness being grievous, +and often broken by a sore hiccup, “I am, however, no saint, as you know, +doctor; so I wish you to put in a word for me, doctor; for you know that +in these times, doctor, it is the duty of every good subject to die a +Christian.” + +This was a poor account of the state of his soul; but it was plain I +could make no better o’t, by entering into any religious discourse or +controversy with him, he being then in the last gasp; so I knelt down and +prayed for him with great sincerity, imploring the Lord, as an awakening +sense of grace to the dying man, that it would please him to lift up, +though it were but for the season of a minute, the chastening hand which +was laid so heavily upon his aged servant; at which Mr. Cayenne, as if, +indeed, the hand had been then lifted, cried out, “None of that stuff, +doctor; you know that I cannot call myself his servant.” + + [Picture: The Ruling Elder] + +Was ever a minister in his prayer so broken in upon by a perishing +sinner! However, I had the weight of a duty upon me, and made no reply, +but continued, “Thou hearest, O Lord, how he confesses his unworthiness! +Let not thy compassion, therefore, be withheld, but verify to him the +words that I have spoken in faith, of the boundlessness of thy goodness, +and the infinite multitude of thy tender mercies.” I then calmly, but +sadly, sat down, and presently, as if my prayer had been heard, relief +was granted; for Mr. Cayenne raised his head, and giving me a queer look, +said, “That last clause of your petition, doctor, was well put, and I +think, too, it has been granted, for I am easier”—adding, “I have no +doubt, doctor, given much offence in the world, and oftenest when I meant +to do good; but I have wilfully injured no man; and as God is my judge, +and his goodness, you say, is so great, he may, perhaps, take my soul +into his holy keeping.” In saying which words, Mr. Cayenne dropped his +head upon his breast, his breathing ceased, and he was wafted away out of +this world with as little trouble as a blameless baby. + +This event soon led to a change among us. In the settling of Mr. +Cayenne’s affairs in the Cotton-mill Company, it was found that he had +left such a power of money, that it was needful to the concern, in order +that they might settle with the doers under his testament, to take in +other partners. By this Mr. Speckle came to be a resident in the parish, +he having taken up a portion of Mr. Cayenne’s share. He likewise took a +tack of the house and policy of Wheatrig. But although Mr. Speckle was a +far more conversible man than his predecessor, and had a wonderful +plausibility in business, the affairs of the company did not thrive in +his hands. Some said this was owing to his having owre many irons in the +fire; others, to the circumstances of the times: in my judgment, however, +both helped; but the issue belongs to the events of another year. In the +meanwhile, I should here note, that in the course of this current Ann. +Dom. it pleased Heaven to visit me with a severe trial; the nature of +which I will here record at length—the upshot I will make known +hereafter. + +From the planting of inhabitants in the cotton-mill town of Cayenneville, +or as the country folk, not used to used to such lang-nebbit words, now +call it, Canaille, there had come in upon the parish various sectarians +among the weavers, some of whom were not satisfied with the gospel as I +preached it, and endeavoured to practise it in my walk and conversation; +and they began to speak of building a kirk for themselves, and of getting +a minster that would give them the gospel more to their own ignorant +fancies. I was exceedingly wroth and disturbed when the thing was first +mentioned to me; and I very earnestly, from the pulpit, next Lord’s day, +lectured on the growth of newfangled doctrines; which, however, instead +of having the wonted effect of my discourses, set up the theological +weavers in a bleeze, and the very Monday following they named a +committee, to raise money by subscription to build a meeting-house. This +was the first overt act of insubordination, collectively manifested, in +the parish; and it was conducted with all that crafty dexterity with +which the infidel and jacobin spirit of the French Revolution had +corrupted the honest simplicity of our good old hameward fashions. In +the course of a very short time, the Canaille folk had raised a large +sum, and seduced not a few of my people into their schism, by which they +were enabled to set about building their kirk; the foundations thereof +were not, however, laid till the following year, but their proceedings +gave me a het heart, for they were like an open rebellion to my +authority, and a contemptuous disregard of that religious allegiance +which is due from the flock to the pastor. + +On Christmas-day the wind broke off the main arm of our Adam and Eve +pear-tree; and I grieved for it more as a type and sign of the threatened +partition, than on account of the damage, though the fruit was the +juiciest in all the country side. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII +YEAR 1807 + + +THIS was a year to me of satisfaction in many points; for a greater +number of my younger flock married in it, than had done for any one of +ten years prior. They were chiefly the offspring of the marriages that +took place at the close of the American war; and I was pleased to see the +duplification of well-doing, as I think marrying is, having always +considered the command to increase and multiply, a holy ordinance, which +the circumstances of this world but too often interfere to prevent. + +It was also made manifest to me, that in this year there was a very +general renewal in the hearts of men, of a sense of the utility, even in +earthly affairs, of a religious life: in some, I trust it was more than +prudence, and really a birth of grace. Whether this was owing to the +upshot of the French Revolution, all men being pretty well satisfied in +their minds, that uproar and rebellion make but an ill way of righting +wrongs, or that the swarm of unruly youth the offspring, as I have said, +of the marriages after the American war, had grown sobered from their +follies, and saw things in a better light, I cannot take upon me to say. +But it was very edifying to me, their minister, to see several lads who +had been both wild and free in their principles, marrying with sobriety, +and taking their wives to the kirk with the comely decorum of heads of +families. + +But I was now growing old, and could go seldomer out among my people than +in former days; so that I was less a partaker of their ploys and +banquets, either at birth, bridal, or burial. I heard, however, all that +went on at them, and I made it a rule, after giving the blessing at the +end of the ceremony, to admonish the bride and bridegroom to ca’ canny, +and join trembling with their mirth. It behoved me on one occasion, +however, to break through a rule that age and frailty had imposed upon +me, and to go to the wedding of Tibby Banes, the daughter of the +betheral, because she had once been a servant in the manse, besides the +obligation upon me, from her father’s part both in the kirk and kirkyard. +Mrs. Balwhidder went with me, for she liked to countenance the +pleasantries of my people; and, over and above all, it was a pay-wedding, +in order to set up the bridegroom in a shop. + +There was, to be sure, a great multitude, gentle and semple, of all +denominations, with two fiddles and a bass, and the volunteers’ fife and +drum; and the jollity that went on was a perfect feast of itself, though +the wedding-supper was a prodigy of abundance. The auld carles kecklet +with fainness as they saw the young dancers; and the carlins sat on +forms, as mim as May puddocks, with their shawls pinned apart, to show +their muslin napkins. But, after supper, when they had got a glass of +the punch, their heels showed their mettle, and grannies danced with +their oyes, holding out their hands as if they had been spinning with two +rocks. I told Colin Mavis, the poet, than an _Infare_ was a fine subject +for his muse; and soon after he indited an excellent ballad under that +title, which he projects to publish, with other ditties, by subscription; +and I have no doubt a liberal and discerning public will give him all +manner of encouragement, for that is the food of talent of every kind; +and without cheering, no one can say what an author’s faculty naturally +is. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX +YEAR 1808 + + +THROUGH all the wars that have raged from the time of the King’s +accession to the throne, there has been a gradually coming nearer and +nearer to our gates, which is a very alarming thing to think of. In the +first, at the time he came to the crown, we suffered nothing. Not one +belonging to the parish was engaged in the battles thereof; and the news +of victories, before they reached us, which was generally by word of +mouth, were old tales. In the American war, as I have related at length, +we had an immediate participation; but those that suffered were only a +few individuals, and the evil was done at a distance, and reached us not +until the worst of its effects were spent. And during the first term of +the present just and necessary contest for all that is dear to us as a +people, although, by the offswarming of some of our restless youth, we +had our part and portion in common with the rest of the Christian world; +yet still there was at home a great augmentation of prosperity, and every +thing had thriven in a surprising manner; somewhat, however, to the +detriment of our country simplicity. By the building of the cotton-mill, +and the rising up of the new town of Cayenneville, we had intromitted so +much with concerns of trade, that we were become a part of the great web +of commercial reciprocities, and felt in our corner and extremity, every +touch or stir that was made on any part of the texture. The consequence +of this I have now to relate. + +Various rumours had been floating about the business of the cotton +manufacturers not being so lucrative as it had been; and Bonaparte, as it +is well known, was a perfect limb of Satan against our prosperity, having +recourse to the most wicked means and purposes to bring ruin upon us as a +nation. His cantrips, in this year, began to have a dreadful effect. + +For some time it had been observed in the parish, that Mr. Specle of the +cotton-mill, went very often to Glasgow, and was sometimes off at a few +minutes’ warning to London; and the neighbours began to guess and wonder +at what could be the cause of all this running here, and riding there, as +if the little-gude was at his heels. Sober folk augured ill o’t; and it +was remarked, likewise, that there was a haste and confusion in his mind, +which betokened a foretaste of some change of fortune. At last, in the +fulness of time, the babe was born. + +On a Saturday night, Mr. Speckle came out late from Glasgow; on the +Sabbath he was with all his family at the kirk, looking as a man that had +changed his way of life; and on the Monday, when the spinners went to the +mill, they were told that the company had stopped payment. Never did a +thunder-clap daunt the heart like this news; for the bread in a moment +was snatched from more than a thousand mouths. It was a scene not to be +described, to see the cotton-spinners and the weavers, with their wives +and children, standing in bands along the road, all looking and speaking +as if they had lost a dear friend or parent. For my part, I could not +bear the sight, but hid myself in my closet, and prayed to the Lord to +mitigate a calamity which seemed to me past the capacity of man to +remedy; for what could our parish fund do in the way of helping a whole +town, thus suddenly thrown out of bread? + +In the evening, however, I was strengthened, and convened the elders at +the manse to consult with them on what was best to be done; for it was +well known that the sufferers had made no provision for a sore foot. But +all our gathered judgments could determine nothing; and therefore we +resolved to wait the issue, not doubting but that He who sends the night, +would bring the day in His good and gracious time, which so fell out. +Some of them who had the largest experience of such vicissitudes, +immediately began to pack up their ends and their awls, and to hie them +into Glasgow and Paisley in quest of employ; but those who trusted to the +hopes that Mr. Speckle himself still cherished, lingered long, and were +obligated to submit to sore distress. After a time, however, it was +found that the company was ruined; and the mill being sold for the +benefit of the creditors, it was bought by another Glasgow company, who, +by getting a good bargain, and managing well, have it still, and have +made it again a blessing to the country. At the time of the stoppage, +however, we saw that commercial prosperity, flush as it might be, was but +a perishable commodity, and from thence, both by public discourse and +private exhortation, I have recommended to the workmen to lay up +something for a reverse; and showed that, by doing with their bawbees and +pennies what the great do with their pounds, they might in time get a +pose to help them in the day of need. This advice they have followed, +and made up a Savings Bank, which is a pillow of comfort to many an +industrious head of a family. + +But I should not close this account of the disaster that befell Mr. +Speckle, and the cotton-mill company, without relating a very melancholy +case that was the consequence. Among the overseers there was a Mr. +Dwining, an Englishman from Manchester, where he had seen better days, +having had himself there of his own property, once as large a mill, +according to report, as the Cayenneville mill. He was certainly a man +above the common, and his wife was a lady in every point; but they held +themselves by themselves, and shunned all manner of civility, giving up +their whole attention to their two little boys, who were really like +creatures of a better race than the callans of our clachan. + +On the failure of the company, Mr. Dwining was observed by those who were +present to be particularly distressed: his salary being his all; but he +said little, and went thoughtfully home. Some days after he was seen +walking by himself with a pale face, a heavy eye, and slow step—all +tokens of a sorrowful heart. Soon after, he was missed altogether; +nobody saw him. The door of his house was however open, and his two +pretty boys were as lively as usual, on the green before the door. I +happened to pass when they were there, and I asked them how their father +and mother were. They said they were still in bed, and would not waken, +and the innocent lambs took me by the hand, to make me waken their +parents. I know not what was in it, but I trembled from head to foot, +and I was led in by the babies, as if I had not the power to resist. +Never shall I forget what I saw in that bed. + + * * * * * + +I found a letter on the table; and I came away, locking the door behind +me, and took the lovely prattling orphans home. I could but shake my +head and weep, as I gave them to the care of Mrs. Balwhidder, and she was +terrified but said nothing. I then read the letter. It was to send the +bairns to a gentleman, their uncle, in London. Oh! it is a terrible +tale; but the winding-sheet and the earth is over it. I sent for two of +my elders. I related what I had seen. Two coffins were got, and the +bodies laid in them; and the next day, with one of the fatherless bairns +in each hand, I followed them to the grave, which was dug in that part of +the kirkyard where unchristened babies are laid. We durst not take it +upon us to do more; but few knew the reason, and some thought it was +because the deceased were strangers, and had no regular lair. + +I dressed the two bonny orphans in the best mourning at my own cost, and +kept them in the manse till we could get an answer from their uncle, to +whom I sent their father’s letter. It stung him to the quick, and he +came down all the way from London, and took the children away himself. +Oh! he was a vexed man when the beautiful bairns, on being told he was +their uncle, ran into his arms, and complained that their papa and mamma +had slept so long, that they would never waken. + + + + +CHAPTER L +YEAR 1809 + + +AS I come towards the events of these latter days, I am surprised to find +myself not at all so distinct in my recollection of them as in those of +the first of my ministry; being apt to confound the things of one +occasion with those of another, which Mrs. Balwhidder says is an +admonishment to me to leave off my writing. But, please God, I will +endeavour to fulfil this as I have through life tried, to the best of my +capacity, to do every other duty; and, with the help of Mrs. Balwhidder, +who has a very clear understanding, I think I may get through my task in +a creditable manner, which is all I aspire after; not writing for a vain +world, but only to testify to posterity anent the great changes that have +happened in my day and generation—a period which all the best-informed +writers say, has not had its match in the history of the world since the +beginning of time. + +By the failure of the cotton-mill company, whose affairs were not settled +till the spring of this year, there was great suffering during the +winter; but my people, those that still adhered to the establishment, +bore their share of the dispensation with meekness and patience, nor was +there wanting edifying monuments of resignation even among the +stravaigers. + +On the day that the Canaille Meeting-house was opened, which was in the +summer, I was smitten to the heart to see the empty seats that were in my +kirk; for all the thoughtless, and some that I had a better opinion of, +went to hear the opening discourse. Satan that day had power given to +him to buffet me as he did Job of old; and when I looked around and saw +the empty seats, my corruption rose, and I forgot myself in the +remembering prayer; for when I prayed for all denominations of +Christians, and worshippers, and infidels, I could not speak of the +schismatics with patience, but entreated the Lord to do with the +hobleshow at Cayenneville, as he saw meet in his displeasure, the which, +when I came afterwards to think upon, I grieved at with a sore +contrition. + +In the course of the week following, the elders, in a body, came to me in +the manse, and after much commendation of my godly ministry, they said, +that seeing I was now growing old, they thought they could not testify +their respect for me in a better manner than by agreeing to get me a +helper. But I would not at that time listen to such a proposal, for I +felt no falling off in my powers of preaching; on the contrary, I found +myself growing better at it, as I was enabled to hold forth, in an easy +manner, often a whole half hour longer, than I could do a dozen years +before. Therefore nothing was done in this year anent my resignation; +but during the winter, Mrs. Balwhidder was often grieved, in the bad +weather, that I should preach, and, in short, so worked upon my +affections, that I began to think it was fitting for me to comply with +the advice of my friends. Accordingly, in the course of the winter, the +elders began to cast about for a helper; and during the bleak weather in +the ensuing spring, several young men spared me from the necessity of +preaching. But this relates to the concerns of the next and last year of +my ministry. So I will now proceed to give an account of it, very +thankful that I have been permitted, in unmolested tranquillity, to bring +my history to such a point. + + + + +CHAPTER LI +YEAR 1810 + + +MY tasks are all near a close; and in writing this final record of my +ministry, the very sound of my pen admonishes me that my life is a burden +on the back of flying Time, that he will soon be obliged to lay down in +his great storehouse—the grave. Old age has, indeed, long warned me to +prepare for rest; and the darkened windows of my sight show that the +night is coming on, while deafness, like a door fast barred, has shut out +all the pleasant sounds of this world, and inclosed me, as it were, in a +prison, even from the voices of my friends. + +I have lived longer than the common lot of man, and I have seen, in my +time, many mutations and turnings, and ups and downs, notwithstanding the +great spread that has been in our national prosperity. I have beheld +them that were flourishing like the green bay-trees, made desolate, and +their branches scattered. But, in my own estate, I have had a large and +liberal experience of goodness. + +At the beginning of my ministry I was reviled and rejected; but my honest +endeavours to prove a faithful shepherd were blessed from on high, and +rewarded with the affection of my flock. Perhaps, in the vanity of +doting old age, I thought in this there was a merit due to myself, which +made the Lord to send the chastisement of the Canaille schism among my +people; for I was then wroth without judgment, and by my heat hastened +into an open division the flaw that a more considerate manner might have +healed. But I confess my fault, and submit my cheek to the smiter; and +now I see that the finger of Wisdom was in that probation, and it was far +better that the weavers meddled with the things of God, which they could +not change, than with those of the King, which they could only harm. In +that matter, however, I was like our gracious monarch in the American +war; for though I thereby lost the pastoral allegiance of a portion of my +people, in like manner as he did of his American subjects, yet, after the +separation, I was enabled so to deport myself, that they showed me many +voluntary testimonies of affectionate respect, and which it would be a +vain glory in me to rehearse here. One thing I must record, because it +is as much to their honour as it is to mine. + +When it was known that I was to preach my last sermon, every one of those +who had been my hearers, and who had seceded to the Canaille meeting, +made it a point that day to be in the parish kirk, and to stand in the +crowd, that made a lane of reverence for me to pass from the kirk-door to +the back-yett of the manse. And shortly after, a deputation of all their +brethren, with their minister at their head, came to me one morning, and +presented to me a server of silver, in token, as they were pleased to +say, of their esteem for my blameless life, and the charity that I had +practised towards the poor of all sects in the neighbourhood; which is +set forth in a well-penned inscription, written by a weaver lad that +works for his daily bread. Such a thing would have been a prodigy at the +beginning of my ministry; but the progress of book-learning and education +has been wonderful since, and with it has come a spirit of greater +liberality than the world knew before, bringing men of adverse principles +and doctrines into a more humane communion with each other; showing that +it’s by the mollifying influence of knowledge the time will come to pass, +when the tiger of papistry shall lie down with the lamb of reformation, +and the vultures of prelacy be as harmless as the presbyterian doves; +when the independent, the anabaptist, and every other order and +denomination of Christians, not forgetting even those poor wee wrens of +the Lord, the burghers and anti-burghers, who will pick from the hand of +patronage, and dread no snare. + +On the next Sunday, after my farewell discourse, I took the arm of Mrs. +Balwhidder, and with my cane in my hand, walked to our own pew, where I +sat some time; but, owing to my deafness, not being able to hear, I have +not since gone back to the church. But my people are fond of having +their weans still christened by me, and the young folk, such as are of a +serious turn, come to be married at my hands, believing, as they say, +that there is something good in the blessing of an aged gospel minister. +But even this remnant of my gown I must lay aside; for Mrs. Balwhidder is +now and then obliged to stop me in my prayers, as I sometimes +wander—pronouncing the baptismal blessing upon a bride and bridegroom, +talking as if they were already parents. I am thankful, however, that I +have been spared with a sound mind to write this book to the end; but it +is my last task, and, indeed, really I have no more to say, saving only +to wish a blessing on all people from on high, where I soon hope to be, +and to meet there all the old and long-departed sheep of my flock, +especially the first and second Mrs. Balwhidders. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +{1} Dreghorn, Ayrshire, two miles from Irvine. + +{9} Irvine, Ayrshire. + +{17} Cognac. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNALS OF THE PARISH*** + + +******* This file should be named 1310-0.txt or 1310-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/1/1310 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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