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diff --git a/43966-0.txt b/43966-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07d5649 --- /dev/null +++ b/43966-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10096 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43966 *** + +Witchcraft and Superstitious Record + + + + + Witchcraft and Superstitious Record + IN THE + South-Western District of Scotland + + + Witchcraft Witch Trials + Fairy Lore Brownie Lore + Wraiths Warnings + Death Customs Funeral Ceremony + Ghost Lore Haunted Houses + + + BY J. MAXWELL WOOD, M.B. + + _Author of "Smuggling in the Solway and + Around the Galloway Sea-board"_ + + _Editor of "The Gallovidian," 1900-1911_ + + + _Illustrated from Special Drawings by John + Copland, Esq., Dundrenna_ + + + DUMFRIES: J. MAXWELL & SON + 1911 + + + + + "For she's gathered witch dew in the Kells kirkyard, + In the mirk how of the moon, + And fed hersel' wi' th' wild witch milk + With a red-hot burning spoon." + --_M'Lehan._ + + + + +[Illustration] + +_To_ Alison Jean Maxwell Wood + +_A "witch" of my most intimate acquaintance_ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Throughout Dumfriesshire and Galloway remnants of old-world customs still +linger, suggesting a remoter time, when superstitious practice and belief +held all-important sway in the daily round and task of the people. + +In gathering together the available material bearing upon such matters, +more particularly in the direction of witchcraft, fairy-lore, death +warnings, funeral ceremony and ghost story, the author trusts that by +recording the results of his gleanings much as they have been received, +and without at all attempting to subject them to higher analysis or +criticism, a truer aspect and reflection of the influence of superstition +upon the social life of those older days, may be all the more adequately +presented. + + 112 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH, + August 9th, 1911. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + _Page._ + + CHAPTER I. + + Traditional Witchcraft Described 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + Witch Narrative 21 + + CHAPTER III. + + Witchcraft Trials and Persecution 66 + + CHAPTER IV. + + Fairies and Brownies 142 + + CHAPTER V. + + Wraiths and Warnings 198 + + CHAPTER VI. + + Death Customs and Funeral Ceremony 216 + + CHAPTER VII. + + Ghost Lore and Haunted Houses 244 + + APPENDIX. + + (_a_) Surprising Story of the Devil of Glenluce 302 + + (_b_) A True Relation of an Apparition which Infested + the house of Andrew Mackie, Ringcroft of Stocking, + Parish of Rerwick, etc. 321 + + (_c_) The Laird o' Coul's Ghost 344 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + _Page._ + + The Witches' Ride 4 + + "And Perish'd Mony a Bonny Boat" 12 + + The Carlin's Cairn 35 + + A Witch-Brew and Incantation 38 + + "A Running Stream they dare na cross" 69 + + A Witch Trial 85 + + The Burning of the Nine Women on the Sands of Dumfries, + April 13th, 1659 114 + + Penance 125 + + "In Fairy Glade" 152 + + "Riddling in the Reek" 167 + + An Eerie Companion 206 + + "Deid Lichts" 211 + + Funeral Hospitality 222 + + A Galloway Funeral of Other Days 238 + + The Headless Piper of Patiesthorn 266 + + The Ghost of Buckland Glen 271 + + "To Tryst with Lag" 280 + + Ringcroft of Stocking 324 + + + TAIL-PIECES. + + _Page._ + + A Threefold Charm 'gainst Evil 20 + + Witch Stool and Brooms 65 + + Witch Cauldron, Ducking Stool, and Stake 141 + + To Kep Skaith 197 + + A Midnight Revel 215 + + Haunted 243 + + + + +WITCHCRAFT AND SUPERSTITIOUS RECORD IN THE SOUTH-WESTERN DISTRICT OF +SCOTLAND. + + + + +_CHAPTER I._ + +TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT DESCRIBED. + + "When out the hellish legion sallied." + --_Tam o' Shanter._ + + +In the far-off days, when Superstition, in close association with the +"evil sister" of Ignorance, walked abroad in the land, the south-western +district of Scotland shared very largely in the beliefs and terrors +embraced under the general descriptive term of witchcraft. Active +interference in the routine of daily life on the part of the Prince of +Darkness and his agencies was fully believed in. The midnight ride, the +power of conversion into animal semblance and form, mystic rite and +incantation, spells and cantrips, as well as the presence on earth of the +Devil himself, who generally appeared in some alluring form--all had a +firmly-established place in the superstitious and impressionable minds of +the people who dwelt in the land of those darker days. + +In approaching the whole matter for descriptive purposes, the traditional, +or as it may perhaps be fittingly termed, the "ideal" form of witchcraft, +falls naturally first to be considered, and here the existence of a secret +society or unholy order of witches and warlocks meeting together at +certain appointed times, figures as an outstanding feature, qualification +to belong to which, confessed rare powers of affinity with the powers of +evil and darkness. The more these witches and warlocks were feared in +their ordinary guise as human mortals by the country-side or district to +which they belonged, the higher the rank accorded to them in secret +conclave, and the special notoriety of having been branded or "scored," at +the hands of an angry populace, with the sign of the cross on the +forehead, carried with it special recognition of itself. Reputed +gatherings or witch-festivals were celebrated periodically, the most +important and outstanding taking place at Hallowmass, and such eerie +places of meeting as the lonely ruins of Sweetheart Abbey and Caerlaverock +Castle, were the appropriate scenes of their midnight rites and revels; +but most of all in this south-western district was it to the rising slope +of Locharbriggs Hill, not many miles from Dumfries, that the "hellish +legion" repaired. + +There is a remnant extant of an old song called the "Witches' Gathering," +that with quaint and mystic indication tells of the preliminary signals +and signs, announcing that a midnight re-union or "Hallowmass rade" as it +was aptly termed, had been arranged and appointed:-- + + "When the gray howlet has three times hoo'd, + When the grimy cat has three times mewed, + When the tod has yowled three times i' the wode, + At the red moon cowering ahin the cl'ud; + When the stars ha'e cruppen' deep i' the drift, + Lest cantrips had pyked them out o' the lift, + Up horsies a' but mair adowe, + Ryde, ryde for Locher-briggs-knowe!" + +On such a night the very elements themselves seemed in sympathy. The wind +rose, gust following gust, in angry and ever-increasing intensity, till it +hurled itself in angry blasts that levelled hay-rick and grain-stack, and +tore the thatched roof from homestead and cot, where the frightened +dwellers huddled and crept together in terror. Over and with higher note +than the blast itself, high-pitched eldritch laughter, fleeting and +mocking, skirled and shrieked through the air. Then a lull, with a +stillness more terrifying than even the wild force of the angry blast, +only to be almost immediately broken with a crash of ear-splitting +thunder, and the flash and the glare of forked and jagged flame, lighting +up the unhallowed pathway of the "witches' ride." + +[Illustration: "THE WITCHES' RIDE." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +The journey itself, or rather the mode of progression in passing to the +"witch gathering," was itself steeped in "diabolerie" of varying degree. +The simple broomstick served the more ordinary witch for a steed. Another +vehicle was the chariot of "rag-wort" or ragweed, "harnessed to the wind;" +for sisters of higher rank, broomsticks specially shod with the bones of +murdered men, became high mettled and most spirited steeds; but the +possession of a bridle, the leather of which was made from the skin of an +unbaptised infant, and the iron bits forged at the "smithy" of the Evil +One himself, gave to its possessor the power of most potent spell. Only +let a witch shake this instrument of Satan over any living thing, man or +beast, and at once it was transformed into an active witch steed in the +form generally of a gray horse, with the full knowledge and resentment +that a spell had been wrought, to compass this ignoble use. This was +familiarly known and described as being "ridden post by a witch." + +No better picture was ever drawn of the wild witch diabolerie and abandon +than in "Tam o' Shanter," but it may be claimed for Galloway that in the +possession of the powerful poem of "Maggie o' the Moss," Ayrshire is +followed very closely, as the following quotation bearing upon this +particular point brings out:-- + + "But Maggie had that nicht to gang + Through regions dreary, dark, and lang, + To hold her orgies. + + * * * * * + + Then cross his haunches striding o'er, + She gave him the command to soar: + At first poor Simon, sweir to yield, + Held hard and fast the frosty field; + His body now earth's surface spurn'd, + He seem'd like gravitation turned; + His heels went bickering in the air, + He held till he could haud nae mair, + Till first wi' ae han', syne the tither, + He lost his haud o't a' thegither; + And mounted up in gallant style, + Right perpendicular for a mile. + + * * * * * + + For brawly ken'd she how to ride, + And stick richt close to Simon's hide; + For aft had Maggie on a cat + Across the German Ocean sat; + And wi' aul' Nick and a' his kennel, + Had often crossed the British Channel, + And mony a nicht wi' them had gone + To Brussels, Paris, or Toulon; + And mony a stormy Hallowe'en + Had Maggie danced on Calais Green!" + +Like a swarm of bees in full flight they passed, all astride of something, +be it rag-wort, broomstick, kail-runt, hare, cat, or domestic fowl, or +even as indicated riding post on a human steed. + +Assembled at the Dumfriesshire or Galloway "Brocken," tribute to Satan, +who presided in person, had to be paid for the privilege of exercising +their unholy licence over their several districts and neighbourhoods. This +took the form of unchristened "Kain Bairns," the witches' own by +preference, but failing this, the stolen offspring of women of their own +particular neighbourhood. + +The rite of baptismal entry, which all novitiates had to undergo, was also +a regular part of the weird proceedings of this witches' Sabbath. + +A magic circle was drawn round the top of the meeting mound, across which +none but the initiated and those about to be initiated, dare pass. In the +centre of this circle a fire emitting a thick, dense, sulphurous smoke +sprang up, round which the assembled company of witches and warlocks +danced with joined hands and wild abandon. Into the charmed circle the +converts, naked and terror-stricken, were brought and dragged to the fire, +which now sent forth even thicker clouds as if in a measure to screen the +secrecy of the rites even from those participating, and scream after +scream arose as their naked bodies were stamped with the hellish +sign-manual of the order. A powerful soothing ointment was, however, +immediately poured on the raw wounds, giving instant relief and almost +effacement to the ordinary eye, the well-concealed cicatrix becoming the +"witch-mark." The grim nature of the ordeal now gave place to proceedings +more in keeping with a festival, and dancing of the "better the worse" +order and general hilarity and high revelry followed, the Prince of +Darkness joining in the dance, giving expert exhibitions with favoured +partners. + +Next in importance to Satan himself at these "Walpurgis" night festivals +at Locharbriggs tryst, was the celebrated witch "Gyre Carline," who +possessed a wand of great creative and destructive power. It is told how +in the days when Lochar Moss was an open arm of the Solway Firth, an extra +large tide swept up and washed away several of the witch steeds from the +Locharbrigg hill. This so enraged the "Gyre Carline" that over the unruly +waters she waved her magic wand, and what was "once a moss and then a sea" +became "again a moss and aye will be." At other meetings of less +consequence the more important carlines of different districts met +together, when schemes of persecution and revenge were evolved, and where +philtres and charms were brewed and concocted for distribution amongst +their inferior sisters whose office it was to give them effect. A +concoction of virulent power was in the form of a bannock or cake, better +known as the "witch cake," whose uncannie preparation and potency has +been so quaintly described in verse by Allan Cunningham:-- + +THE WITCH CAKE. + + "I saw yestreen, I saw yestreen, + Little wis ye what I saw yestreen, + The black cat pyked out the gray ane's een + At the hip o' the hemlock knowe yestreen. + + Wi' her tail i' her teeth, she whomel'd roun', + Wi' her tail i' her teeth, she whomel'd roun', + Till a braw star drapt frae the lift aboon, + An' she keppit it e'er it wan to the grun. + + She hynt them a' in her mou' an' chowed, + She hynt them a' in her mou' an' chowed, + She drabbled them owre wi' a black tade's blude, + An' baked a bannock an' ca'd it gude! + + She haurned it weel wi' ae blink o' the moon, + She haurned it weel wi' ae blink o' the moon, + An withre-shines thrice she whorled it roun', + There's some sall skirl ere ye be done. + + Some lass maun gae wi' a kilted sark, + Some priest maun preach in a thackless kirk, + Thread maun be spun for a dead man's sark, + A' maun be done e'er the sang o' the lark. + + Tell me what ye saw yestreen, + Tell me what ye saw yestreen, + There's yin may gaur thee sich an' green, + For telling what ye saw yestreen." + +At such minor meetings also, effigies were moulded in clay of those who +had offended, which pierced with pins conveyed serious bodily injuries and +disorder in their victims corresponding to the pin punctures. Two of +these carlines dispensing the "black art" in the respective parishes of +Caerlaverock and Newabbey were in the habit of meeting with each other for +such purpose, but the holy men of Sweetheart Abbey overcame their wicked +designs by earnest prayers, so much so that their meetings on the solid +earth were rendered futile, and thus thwarted, their intercourse had to +take place on the water. + +Of this the following tale from "Cromek," as reputed to be told by an +eye-witness, is descriptive:-- + +"I gaed out ae fine summer night to haud my halve at the Pow fit. It was +twal' o'clock an' a' was lowne; the moon had just gotten up--ye mought a +gathered preens. I heard something firsle like silk--I glowered roun' an' +lake! what saw I but a bonnie boat, wi' a nob o' gowd, and sails like +new-coined siller. It was only but a wee bittie frae me. I mought amaist +touch't it. 'Gude speed ye gif ye gang for guid,' quoth I, 'for I dreed +our auld carline was casting some o' her pranks.' Another cunning boat +cam' off frae Caerla'rick to meet it. Thae twa bade a stricken hour +thegither sidie for sidie. 'Haith,' quoth I, 'the deil's grit wi' some!' +sae I crap down amang some lang cowes till Luckie cam' back. The boat +played bowte again the bank, an out lowpes Kimmer, wi' a pyked naig's head +i' her han'. 'Lord be about us!' quo' I, for she cam' straught for me. She +howked up a green turf, covered her bane, an' gaed her wa's. When I +thought her hame, up I got and pou'd up the bane and haed it. I was fleyed +to gae back for twa or three nights, lest the deil's minnie should wyte me +for her uncannie boat and lair me 'mang the sludge, or maybe do waur. I +gaed back howsever, and on that night o' the moon wha comes to me but +Kimmer. 'Rabbin,' quo' she, 'fand ye are auld bane amang the cowes?' +''Deed no, it may be gowd for me,' quo' I. 'Weel, weel,' quo' she, 'I'll +byde and help ye hame wi' your fish.' God's be me help, nought grippit I +but tades and paddocks! 'Satan, thy nieve's here,' quo' I. 'Ken ye' (quo' +I) 'o' yon new cheese our wyfe took but frae the chessel yestreen? I'm +gaun to send't t' ye i' the morning, ye're a gude neebor to me: an' +hear'st thou me? There's a bit auld bane whomeled aneath thae cowes; I +kent nae it was thine.' Kimmer drew't out. 'Ay, ay, it's my auld bane; +weel speed ye.' I' the very first pow I got sic a louthe o' fish that I +carried 'till me back cracked again."(1) + +A celebrated witch connected with Wigtownshire was Maggie Osborne. + +[Illustration: "AND PERISH'D MONY A BONNY BOAT."--Tam o' Shanter. Sketch +by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +"On the wild moorland between the marches of Carrick and the valley of the +Luce tracks are pointed out, on which the heather will not grow, as +'Maggie's gate to Gallowa''; the sod having been so deeply burned by her +tread, or that of her weird companion. Among the misdemeanours imputed to +her, in aggravation of the charge for which she was cruelly condemned, was +that of having impiously partaken of the communion at the Moor Kirk of +Luce. She accepted the bread at the minister's hands, but a sharp-eyed +office-bearer (long after) swore that he had detected her spitting out the +wafer at the church-door, which he clearly saw swallowed by the devil, who +had waited for her outside in the shape of a toad. Again it was asserted +that when passing from Barr to Glenluce by the 'Nick o' the Balloch' she +encountered a funeral procession, and to pass unseen she changed herself +into a beetle; but before she could creep out of the way, a shepherd in +the party unwittingly set his foot upon her, and would have crushed her +outright had not a rut partly protected her. Much frightened and hurt she +vowed vengeance; but the moor-man being a pious man, for long her arts +were of no avail against him. One night however, detained late by a storm, +he sat down hurriedly to supper, having forgotten to say grace. Her +incantations then had power. A wreath of snow was collected and hurled +from the hill above on the devoted cabin, and the shepherd, his wife, and +family of ten were smothered in the avalanche."(2) + +In Glenluce a story is handed down which brings out that it was not +necessarily the dweller in the humble cot on whom the mantle of witchcraft +fell, but that the high-bred dames of the "Hall" did also at times dabble +in the practice. + +"A labouring man's wife, a sensible, decent woman, having been detained +late from home, was returning about the witching hour; and at a spot known +as the 'Clay Slap' she met face to face a troop of females, as to whose +leader, being cloven-footed, she could not be mistaken. Her consternation +was the greater, as one by one she recognised them all, and among them the +ladies of the manor. They stopped her, and in her terror she appealed to +one of them by name. Enraged at being known, the party declared that she +must die. She pleaded for mercy, and they agreed to spare her life on her +taking an awful oath that she would never reveal the names of any as long +as they lived. + +"Fear prevented her from breaking her pledge, but as one by one the dames +paid the debt of nature, she would mysteriously exclaim 'There's anither +of the gang gone!' She outlived them all, and then divulged the secret, +adding that on that dreadful night, after getting to her bed, she lay +entranced in an agony as if she had been roasting between two fires."(3) + +The name of Michael Scott of Balwearie (Fife), scholar and alchemist, who +lived in the thirteenth century, is traditionally associated with the +Abbey of Glenluce. Regarded by the peasantry as a warlock, he was supposed +to be here buried with his magic books, and there is a story extant to the +effect that a man in the district who daringly disinterred his skeleton, +found it in a sitting position confronting him, and that the sight drove +him stark mad. + +Whilst in the neighbourhood of Glenluce, "Michael the Warlock" is credited +with having exercised strong discipline over the witches of the district. +One task he assigned them to keep them from more doubtful work, was to +spin ropes from sea-sand, and it is yet said that some of the rope +fragments may be seen to this day near Ringdoo Point, near the mouth of +the Luce, when laid bare by wind and tide. Another equally profitless and +endless task set for the same purpose of keeping them from unsanctioned, +mischievous deeds, was the threshing of barley chaff. + +There is a quaint reference in MacTaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_ to +the "Library of Michael Scott." He says, "One of these (vaults) at the +Auld Abbey of Glenluce contains the famous library of Michael Scott, the +Warlock. Here are thousands of old witch songs and incantations, books of +the 'Black Art,' and 'Necromancy,' 'Philosophy of the Devil,' 'Satan's +Almanacks,' 'The Fire Spangs of Faustus,' 'The Soothsayers' Creed,' 'The +Witch Chronicle,' and the 'Black Clud's Wyme laid open,' with many more +valuable volumes." + +It may be noted in passing that the Abbey of Holm-Cultram, in Cumberland, +has also been associated as the burial-place of the Wizard Michael; but it +is with Melrose Abbey, as depicted by Sir Walter Scott in the "Lay of the +Last Minstrel," that the most cherished associations linger, even if only +in the romance of poetry:-- + + "With beating heart to the task he went; + His sinewy frame o'er the grave-stone bent; + With bar of iron heaved amain, + Till the toil-drops fell from his brows like rain; + It was by dint of passing strength, + That he moved the massy stone at length." + + * * * * * + + "Before their eyes the Wizard lay, + As if he had not been dead a day." + +The religious house of Tongland may be said to have some slight connection +here, for in Dunbar's poem of "The Dream of the Abbot of Tungland" (the +"frenziet" Friar) there is reference to a witch--"Janet the widow, on ane +besome rydand." + +"Bess o' Borgue" and "Glencairn Kate" were two notorious south-country +witches. They are included in the descriptive witch-poem of "Maggie o' the +Moss," already referred to. + +About the middle of the eighteenth century there was a famous witch that +lived at Hannayston, in the Kells, who was credited with wonderful powers, +and many stories of her exploits are still current. Some say her name was +Nicholas Grier, others that it was Girzie M'Clegg, but it matters little +which now. Some of Lucky's favourite pastimes were, drowning anyone she +had a spite at by sinking a caup in the yill-boat in her kitchen; sucking +cows in the shape of a hare; frightening people at night by appearing to +them like a little naked boy; walking in the resemblance of a cat on its +hind legs; conversing with travellers on the road; and sending young +people into declines.(4) + +The old Church of Dalry has a legend of witch-festival surrounding it, +which gives it a distinction something akin to the better-known tradition +of Alloway Kirk. The following version is taken from _Harper's Rambles_:-- + +"Adam Forester, proprietor of Knocksheen, had been detained one evening +until near midnight in the public-house at Dalry. On the way home he had +to pass the church, and being perhaps like the famous Tam o' Shanter, +through indulging in inspiring bold John Barleycorn, ready to defy all +dangers in the shape of goblin and spirit, he very soon had his mettle +tested. On reaching the church the windows 'seemed in a bleeze,' and from +within loud bursts of mirth and revelry reached the ears of the astonished +laird. Nothing daunted however, he dismounted, and securing his horse to a +tree near the church-yard wall, he peered in at the window, and to his +astonishment, amongst those engaged in the 'dance o' witches' were several +old women of his acquaintance, amongst whom was the landlady of the +public-house where he had spent the greater part of the evening, and which +he had just left. Horrified with such desecration of the sacred edifice, +and unable longer to restrain his displeasure, Forester shouted, 'Ho! ho! +Lucky, ye'll no deny this the morn!' knocking at the same instant against +the window frame with his whip. In a moment the lights were extinguished, +and the witches with loud yells rushed out of the church after him; but +the laird, having gained his horse, went off at a furious gallop for the +ford on the Ken, his pursuers following hard upon him, their frantic and +hideous shouts striking terror to his heart. As they could not cross the +running stream, they flew to the Brig o' Ken, six miles distant, where +they crossed and overtook Adam on Waterside Hill, tearing all the hair +out of the horse's tail, and Lucky getting her black hand on the horse's +hip. She left its impression there for life. The laird, finding he could +proceed no further, dismounted and was only saved from being torn to +pieces by describing a circle in God's name round himself and horse. This +charm proved effectual. The fury of the mysterious band was arrested, and +at daybreak he rode home to his residence." + +The story is still current in the Glenkens, and what is supposed to be the +circle drawn by the laird is pointed out on Waterside Hill. + +In concluding the account of "traditional witchcraft," there yet falls to +be mentioned one outstanding form in which beautiful and seductive female +shapes were assumed to tempt through the flesh, the destruction of soul +and body. There is no better reference to this than in the local +traditional tale of the "Laird of Logan" of Allan Cunningham, where the +struggle between the powers of darkness and those of good contend, not +without a certain dignity of purpose, for the mastery. The following is +the dramatic denouement:-- + +"He took a sword from the wall, and described a circle, in the centre of +which he stood himself. Over the line drawn with an instrument on which +the name of God is written, nought unholy can pass. 'Master, stand beside +me, and bear ye the sword.' He next filled a cup with water, and said, +'Emblem of purity, and resembling God, for He is pure, as nought unholy +can pass over thee whilst thou runnest in thy native fountain, neither can +ought unholy abide thy touch, thus consecrated--as thou art the emblem of +God, go and do His good work. Amen.' So saying he turned suddenly round +and dashed the cupful of water in the face and bosom of the young +lady--fell on his knees and bowed his head in prayer. She uttered scream +upon scream; her complexion changed; her long locks twined and writhed +like serpents; the flesh seemed to shrivel on her body; and the light +shone in her eyes which the Master trembled to look upon. She tried to +pass the circle towards him but could not. A burning flame seemed to +encompass and consume her; and as she dissolved away he heard a voice +saying, 'But for that subtle priest, thou hadst supped with me in hell.'" + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CHAPTER II._ + +WITCH NARRATIVE. + + "The best kye in the byre gaed yell; + Some died, some couldna raise themsel'; + In short, ilk' beast the farmer had + Died--sicken'd--rotted--or gaed mad!" + --_Maggie o' the Moss._ + + +The witchcraft however, which had a special abiding-place in rural +districts, was most usually associated with the presence in their midst of +someone to whom it was supposed the devil had bequeathed the doubtful +possession of the "evil eye," a possession which at all times was deemed a +certain means of bringing about supernatural ill. Other suspected workers +of subtle cantrips whom the finger of suspicion was ready to point to were +old creatures, not uncommonly poor and eccentric, perhaps even deformed or +with some peculiarity, but generally genuinely blameless, or in some +instances foolishly seeking notoriety in the pretended possession of +witch-power. + +The spells and cantrips alleged to be cast by these agencies were usually +such as brought harmful effect upon human being or farm stock, such +supposed incidence of supernatural interference being accepted without +question. A natural consequence followed in misdirected measures of +protection and retaliation. The whole atmosphere of domestic life became +charged with suspicious attitude towards one another, and when illness +overtook either human being or four-footed beast, or some such minor +happening as a heated stack, or a cow failing to yield milk, took place, +the presence of the "Black Art" was proclaimed in their midst, and too +often was accidental circumstance followed by unjust cruelty and +persecution, sanctioned and practised, as we shall see later, by the +powers of the State and Church. + +Many stories of such form of witchcraft have been handed down and still +form a not inconsiderable part of the floating tradition pertaining to the +south-western district of Dumfries and Galloway. + +The following traditions, not hitherto recorded, are from western +Galloway, and may be regarded as consequent to the influence of the "evil +eye":-- + +"There was an old woman who went about Kirkmaiden begging, or what old +people call 'thigging,' and one day in the course of her wanderings she +came to a place called 'The Clash' and asked for butter, which she seemed +to particularly want. As luck would have it, the farm folks had only newly +put the milk into the churn, and had no butter in the house until it was +churned. In passing, it may be noticed that the churn was always put out +of sight when this old woman appeared, in case she might 'witch' it. As +they had no butter they offered her both meal and a piece of meat, but +butter she would have, so she went away, muttering 'that maybe she would +fen' without it,' and more talk to the same purpose. The farmer met her on +the way from the house and heard her mutterings. On arriving at his house +he asked what they had done to the old woman to put her in such a temper, +and was told the circumstances. He had two young horses in a field beside +the house, and going out of the house into the field he found one of them +rolling on the ground seemingly in great pain. Of course he jumped to the +conclusion that this was some of the witch's cantrips, and after trying to +get it to rise, bethought himself of going after her and bringing her back +to get her to lift the spell. Following the old woman, who was very lame, +he soon overtook her and tried to coax her to return to see if she could +tell him what was wrong. She demurred at first, but he pressed her, and +at last she said, that seeing he was so anxious she would go back. When +they arrived the animal was still suffering great pain, and she proceeded +to walk round it some few times always muttering to herself, and at last +cried, 'Whish! get up,' striking the horse; 'there's naething wrang wi' +ye.' The horse at once got up and commenced feeding, apparently nothing +the matter with it."(5) + +"At the Dribblings, on what is now the farm of Low Curghie (Kirkmaiden), +lived a cottar who was the owner of two cows. One morning on going to the +byre one of the cows was on the ground and unable to rise. The people did +not know what to do, but as luck would have it, the same old woman that +cured the horse at The Clash happened to come in, and was informed of the +trouble, and was asked if she could do anything, and was promised a piece +of butter for her trouble. She went and looked at the cow, and said +someone with an 'ill e'e had overlooked it,' _i.e._, witched it, and +proceeded to walk round it two or three times, talking to herself, and +then gave it a tap with her stick and told the animal to get up, she was +all right now. The cow immediately got to her feet and commenced +feeding."(6) + +"At a farm-house in the vicinity of Logan an old woman, a reputed witch, +was in the habit of receiving the greater part of her sustenance from the +farmer and his wife. The farmer began to get tired of this sorning, and +one day took his courage in both hands and turned the witch at the gate. +The old woman of course was sorely displeased, and told him that he would +soon have plenty of 'beef,' and in the course of a day or two many of his +cattle had taken the muir-ill. Next time the old woman wanted to go to the +house she was not hindered. She got her usual supply, and thereafter not +another beast took the disease."(7) + +It is related of the same old woman that once she wanted some favour off +the factor on Logan, and one day as he rode past her dwelling she hailed +him. Not caring to be troubled with her he made the excuse that his horse +would not stand as it was young and very restive; but she said she would +soon make it stand, and by some spell so terrified the animal that it +stood trembling while the sweat was running over its hooves. + +"The farm of the Grennan, in the Rhinns, had been taken or was reported to +have been taken over the sitting tenant's head; and the new tenants, when +they took possession, were regarded with general disfavour. The farm +good-wife was a bustling, energetic woman, with some pretensions as to +good looks, and was always extremely busy. One day an old-fashioned +diminutive woman knocked at the door and asked for a wee pickle meal. The +good-wife answered in an off-hand manner that she had no meal for her, and +told her to 'tak' the gait.' The old woman looked at her steadily for a +short time, and then said, 'My good woman, you are strong and healthy just +now, but strong and weel as ye are, that can sune be altered, and big as +ye are in yer way, the hearse is no' bigget that will tak' ye to the +kirkyaird, and a dung-cairt will ha'e to ser' ye.' In less than a year the +gude-wife died, and the hearse broke down at the road-end leading to the +farm, and could come no further, and as a matter of fact a farm-cart had +to be employed to carry the corpse to the churchyard."(8) + +The influence of the "evil eye" has been somewhat crudely recorded in +verse under the heading of "Galloway Traditions: The Blink o' an Ill E'e," +in the _Galloway Register_ for 1832, an almost forgotten periodical +published at Stranraer. It is here set forth, as it minutely expresses and +brings out, though in homely fashion, how belief in witchcraft and its +powers was intimately bound up with the every-day conditions of the life +of the times:-- + + "He thrave for a while, + And a prettier bairn was'na seen in a mile; + Lang ere Beltane, however, he was sairly backgane + And shilped to naething but mere skin and bane. + The mither grieved sair--thought her Sandy wad die-- + Folk a' said he had got a blink o' an ill e'e, + And the health o' the baby wad bravely in time turn + If he had the blessing o' auld Luckie Lymeburn. + Now the mither min'd weel, that on ae Friday morn + Auld Luckie gaed past, but nae word did she say, + And the bairn had soon after begun to decay. + Ane an' a' then agreed that the child wadna mend, or + Do one mair guid till auld Luckie they'd send for; + Luckie Lymeburn is sent for, and soon there appears + A haggart wee grannnum sair bent down in years, + Whase e'en, wild demeanour, every appearance was sic, + That you'd easily hae guess'd that she dealt wi' Auld Nick. + Auld Luckie had lang kept the country in dread-- + Nae bairn was unweil, nor beast suddenly dead, + Nae time had the horses stood up in the plough, + Nor when drying the malt had the kiln tain alow, + Nae roof o' a byre fa'en down in the night, + Nor storm at the fishing, the boatmen affright, + But 'twas aye Luckie Lymeburn that bare a' the blame o't, + While Luckie took pride and rejoiced at the name o't. + Thro' dread that her glamour might harm o' their gear, + O' ought in the house they aye ga'e her a share, + And ilk dame through the land was in terror o' Luckie, + From the point of Kirkcolm to her ain Carrick-mickie. + Ere Sandy is mentioned the mither takes care + To sooth the auld dame and to speak her right fair; + Anon, then, she tells how her boy's lang been ill, + And a' the folk say she's a hantle o' skill-- + Begs she'll look at the bairn and see what's the matter, + And when neist at the mill she winna forget her. + Auld Granny saw well thro' the mither's contrivance, + So she looks on the bairn and wishes him thrivance-- + Says he'll soon come about and be healthy and gay, + If dipt at the Co'[1] the first Sunday o' May. + The boy's health came round, as auld Luckie had said, + But ere Sandy came round Luckie Lymeburn was dead. + The laws against witches were now very stric', + And Luckie's accused that she dealt wi' Auld Nick-- + That lately a storm she had raised on the coast, + In which many braw fishing boats had been lost; + Last winter that she and her conjuring ban' + Had smoor'd a' the sheep on the fells o' Dunman + But chief, that in concert wi' Luckie Agnew, + She had sunk, off the Mull, a fine ship with her crew. + The ship had been bound for Hibernia's main, + And smoothly was gliding o'er the watery plain + With the wind in her rear, when a furious blast, + While off the Mull head, sudden rose from the west, + And lays to the breeze the gallant ship's side, + And round and round whirls her in th' eddy o' th' tide. + Meantime the old hags, on the hill, are in view, + And boiling their caldron, or winding their clue, + New charms still they try, but they try them in vain: + The seamen still strove, nor their purpose could gain, + The waves are still threat'ning the ship to o'erwhelm; + The crew, one by one, have relinquished the helm. + Long, long the crew labour'd the vessel to stay, + Nor rudder nor sail would the vessel obey, + When forth steps a tar, a regardless old sinner, + And swore he'd her steer though the devil were in her; + When instant the weird-woman's spells take effect, + She sinks 'mang the rocks, and soon's floating a wreck-- + For these, and some deeds of a similar kind + Were Luckies Agnew and Lymeburn arraigned. + Their trial comes on--full confession they make-- + In the auld burgh o' Wigton they're burnt at the stake." + +The metamorphosis to brute-form on the part of the witch or warlock is one +of the most persistent traditions concerning witchcraft. In the south-west +country the favourite animal-form selected was that of the hare, very +probably on account of its fleetness of foot. Of this the following are +examples:-- + +"A young man from Kirkmaiden found work at a distance, and as means of +travel were not so convenient as now, it was a number of years before he +found opportunity to visit his native parish. At the end of some years he +returned, however, about New-Year time, and taking down a gun that was in +his mother's house, remarked that he would go out to the Inshanks Moor and +see if he could get a hare for the dinner on New-Year's Day. His mother +told him to be careful he was not caught poaching. He had not been long in +the moor when a hare got up, at which he shot repeatedly, but apparently +without effect. At last he came to the conclusion that the hare was one of +the numerous Kirkmaiden witches, and thought he would try the effect of +silver. The hare had observed him, and at once inquired if he would shoot +his own mother? Much startled, he desisted and went home, took to his bed, +and did not rise for five years, though he could take his food well +enough, and apparently was in good enough health. He had no power to rise +until his mother died, when his strength being most wonderfully restored, +he left his bed, dressed himself and attended the funeral."(9) + +Another reputed witch lived near the Church of Kirkmaiden, and it is told +by a woman of the neighbourhood how her grandmother lived beside her, and +having occasion to go to the well in the gloaming one evening something +gave a sound, not unlike the noise one makes when clapping mud with a +spade, and immediately a hare hopped past her on the road, and went over +the dyke into the garden. When she went round the end of the house her +neighbour was climbing over the dyke, and the old woman firmly believed it +was the witch she saw the moment before in the form of a hare, which had +returned to human shape just before she saw her again. + +In connection with the phenomenon of transformation to brute-form an +interesting point must be accentuated, and that is that an animal +bewitched or about to be sacrificed by witchcraft was believed by some +subtle power to gain and absorb to itself some considerable part of the +spirit or entity of the witch or warlock working the spell, which not +uncommonly led to detection of the spell-worker. An example of this may +also be quoted:-- + +"A farmer of Galloway, coming to a new farm with a fine and healthy stock, +saw them die away one by one at stall and at stake. His last one was lying +sprawling almost in death, when a fellow-farmer got him to consider his +stock as bewitched and attempt its relief accordingly. He placed a pile +of dried wood round his cow, setting it on fire. The flame began to catch +hold of the victim, and its outer parts to consume, when a man, reputed to +be a warlock, came flying over the fields, yelling horribly and loudly, +conjuring the farmer to slake the fire. 'Kep skaith wha brings't,' +exclaimed the farmer, heaping on more fuel. He tore his clothes in +distraction, for his body was beginning to fry with the burning of his +spirit. The farmer, unwilling to drive even the devil to despair, made him +swear peace to all that was or should be his, and then unloosed his +imprisoned spirit by quenching the fire."(10) + +The counterpart of magical migration through the air has also its +examples, for within the memory of people still living there was an old +woman lived at Logan Mill, who whenever she had a mind to travel, got +astride of the nearest dyke, and was at once conveyed to wherever she +wished. At least it was said so. + +Another reputed witch who dwelt in the neighbourhood of Port Logan was +much troubled with shortness of breath, and was easily tired. When she +found herself in this condition of exhaustion away from her home she was +credited with entering the nearest field where horses and cattle were +grazing, and mounting one, to "ride post" straight for home. + +The following elegy, which has been preserved in the collection of poems +known as the _Nithsdale Minstrel_, fully illustrates the dread in which +the Kirkmaiden witches were held, and more particularly the relief +experienced when death removed the baneful influence of "Meg Elson," a +witch of much repute:-- + +MEG ELSON'S ELEGY. + + "Kirkmaiden dames may crously craw + And cock their nose fu' canty, + For Maggy Elson's now awa', + That lately bragged sae vaunty + That she could kill each cow an' ca', + An' make their milk fu' scanty-- + Since Death's gi'en Maggy's neck a thraw, + They'll a' hae butter plenty, + In lumps each day. + + Ye fishermen, a' roun' the shore, + Huzza wi' might and mettle, + Nae mair ye'll furnish frae your store + A cod for Maggy's kettle-- + Nae mair ye'll fear the clouds that lour, + Nor storms that roun' you rattle, + Lest, conjured up by cantrip power, + They coup you wi' a brattle + I' the sea some day. + + Ye ewes that bleat the knowes out o'er, + Ye kye that roam the valley, + Nae dread of Maggy's magic glower + Need henceforth mair assail ye: + Nae horse nor mare, by Circean power, + Shall now turn up its belly, + For Death has lock'd Meg's prison door, + And gi'en the keys to Kelly + To keep this day." + +Passing to the Machars of Galloway, a curious witch-story comes from +Whithorn corresponding to and somewhat similar in trend to the first acts +in the dramatic happenings of "Tam o' Shanter," and the story already told +of Dalry Kirk:-- + +"Long ago there lived in Whithorn a tailor who was an elder of the Church, +and who used to 'whip the cat,' that is, go to the country to ply his +trade. Being once engaged at a farm-house, the farmer told him to bring +his wife with him and spend an afternoon at the farm. The invitation was +accepted, and on returning at night, the attention of the knight of the +needle and his better-half was attracted to an old kiln, situated at the +low end of the 'Rotten Row,' from which rays of light were emanating. This +surprised the worthy couple, all the more as the old kiln had for long +been in a state of disuse. Their curiosity being thus awakened, they +approached to look through the chinks of the door, when to their +astonishment they beheld a sight somewhat similar to that seen by 'Tam o' +Shanter' at 'Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirk.' Among the _dramatis personæ_ +who should they recognise but the minister's wife, whom they both knew +well. She, along with a bevy of withered hags, was engaged in cantrips, +being distinguished by a peculiar kind of garter which she wore. Next +Sabbath the tailor elder demanded a meeting of the Kirk-Session; but the +minister declared that the story was a monstrosity, as his wife had not +been out of bed that night. Not being easily repressed, however, the +tailor requested that the minister's wife should be brought then and there +before the Session. When she appeared it was found that she had on the +identical garters she had worn on the night when she was seen by the +triumphant tailor. This startling and overwhelming corroboration of the +truth of the 'fama' quite nonplussed the minister, and as the story has +it, before the next Sunday he and his lady were 'owre the Borders an' +awa'.'"(11) + +A Dalry story may now be quoted which is specially concerned with the +actual evil workings of his Satanic Majesty himself:-- + +"The Rev. Mr Boyd, who was appointed minister of Dalry in 1690, after his +return from Holland, whither he had fled during the persecution, and who +died in 1741 in his 83rd year, had a daughter to whom the devil took a +fancy. He once came to the manse in the form of a bumble-bee, but was +driven away by a chance pious exclamation. Another time he arrived in the +form of a handsome young gentleman, fascinated the damsel, induced her to +play cards with him on a Sunday, and bore her off on a black horse. +Fortunately the minister saw the occurrence, and also a cloven hoof +hanging at the stirrup, and shouted to his daughter to come back for +Christ's sake, and the devil let her drop to the ground nothing the +worse."(12) + +In connection with the parish of Kells it may be noted that a member of +the old baronial family of Shaws of Craigenbay and Craigend, Sir Chesney +Shaw, is reputed to have been strangled by a witch in the guise of a black +cat. The deed took place in the Tower of Craigend. + +[Illustration: THE CARLIN'S CAIRN. (By J. Copland.)] + +A prominent land-mark in this Dalry and Carsphairn district is the +"Carlin's Cairn," which, from its name, might be taken to have some +special link with the witchcraft of the district. It has however, a more +patriotic origin, which is set forth in Barbour's _Unique Traditions_:-- + +"This cairn is perched on the summit of the Kells Rhynns, and may be +discerned at 15 miles distance to the south. Some say it was thrown +together to commemorate the burning of a witch, others, that it was +erected on the spot where an old female Covenanter was murdered by +Grierson of Lag, and this last tradition stands somewhat countenanced by +the well-known facts that Grierson was laird of Garryhorn and other lands +in the neighbourhood of this ancient cairn, and that his party pursued and +slaughtered some staunch Presbyterians in the environs of Loch Doon. Yet +the foundation of the cairn can boast of a much older date than the +persecutions under Charles the Second, for it was collected by the +venerable old woman who at once was the protectress and hostess of King +Robert the Bruce, ... and from the circumstances of the cairn being +collected under the auspices of a woman, that cairn immediately bore, and +for 500 years hath continued to bear the name of 'Carlin's Cairn.'" + +Other place-names associated with witchcraft are the "Witch Rocks of +Portpatrick," where tradition tells that on these characteristic-looking +pinnacles, the witches in their midnight flight rested for a little while, +ere winging their further flight to Ireland. + +In the neighbouring parish of Stoneykirk there occurs Barnamon +(_Barr-nam-ban_) and Cairnmon (_Cairn-nam-ban_) which, being interpreted, +may read--"the gap, or round hill, of the witches." + +The following well-recounted witch narrative was communicated to the +Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society to illustrate a point of +superstitious custom. It has here a wider mission in accentuating +bewitchment in angry retaliation, evil incantation overpowered by holy +influence, and the breaking of witch-power by "_scoring_ above the +breath.":-- + +"In the olden time, when Galloway was stocked with the black breed of +cattle, there was a carle who had a score of cows, not one of which had a +white hair on it; they were the pride of the owner, and the admiration of +all who saw them. One day while they were being driven out, the carle's +dog worried the cat of an old woman who lived in a hut hard by, and though +he had always treated her with great kindness, and expressed sorrow for +what his dog had done, she cursed him and all his belongings. Afterwards, +when the cows began to calve, instead of giving fine rich milk, as +formerly, they only gave a thin watery ooze on which the calves dwined +away to skin and bone. During this unfortunate state of affairs a pilgrim +on his journey, probably to the shrine of St. Ninian, sought lodgings +for the night. The wife of the carle, though rather unwilling to take in a +stranger during the absence of her husband, who was on a journey, +eventually granted his request. On her making excuse for the poverty of +the milk she offered, when he tasted it he said the cows were bewitched, +and for her kindness he would tell her what would break the spell, which +was to put some 'cowsherne' into the mouths of the calves before they were +allowed to suck. As the carle approached his house, when returning from +his journey, he noticed a bright light in the hut of the old hag which had +cursed him. Curiosity induced him to look in, when he saw a pot on the +fire, into which she was stirring something and muttering incantations all +the while till it boiled, when, instead of milk as she doubtless expected, +nothing came up but 'cowsherne.' He told his wife what he had seen, and +she told him what the pilgrim had told her to do, and which she had done, +which left no doubt that it was the ungrateful old witch who had bewitched +their cows. Next day, when she was expecting her usual dole, the carle's +wife caught hold of her before she had time to cast any cantrip, and +scored her above the breath until she drew blood, with a crooked nail from +a worn horse-shoe, which left her powerless to cast any further spells. +The cows now gave as rich a yield of milk as formerly, and the custom then +began, of putting 'cowsherne' into the mouths of newly born calves, was +continued long after witchcraft had ceased to be a power in the land."(13) + +[Illustration: A WITCH-BREW AND INCANTATION. Sketch by J. Copland, +Dundrennan. + + "Toil and trouble, + Fire burn; and caldron bubble."--MACBETH.] + +The following four examples of "witch narrative" are gathered from the +southern district of Kirkcudbrightshire:-- + +"Many years ago there lived near Whinnieliggate, on a somewhat lonely part +of the road which leads from Kirkcudbright to Dumfries, an old woman with +the reputation of being a witch. She was feared to such an extent that her +neighbours kept her meal-chest full, and furnished her with food, clothes, +and all she required. An old residenter in Kelton Hill or Rhonehouse, now +passed away, remembered her well, and has left a very minute description +of her appearance. He told how she was of small spare build, wizened of +figure and face, squinted outward with one eye, the eyes themselves being +small, but of peculiar whitish green colour, her nose hooked and drooping +over very ugly teeth. She swathed her straggling grey locks in a black +napkin or handkerchief, wore grey drugget, and a saffron-tinted shawl with +spots of black and green darned into the semblance of frogs, toads, +spiders, and jackdaws, with a coiled adder or snake roughly sewn round the +border. Her shoes or bauchles were home-made from the untanned hides of +black Galloway calves, skins not difficult for her to get. The cottage in +which she lived was as quaint as herself, both inside and out. A huge bed +of orpine (stone crop) grew over one of its thatched sides, the thatch +being half straw and half broom; at each end grew luxuriantly long +wavering broom bushes, and a barberry[2] shrub, densely covered with fruit +in its season. A row of hair ropes draped the lintel of the small windows +at the front of the cottage, from which was suspended the whitened skulls +of hares, and ravens, rooks or corbies. The interior was also garnished +with dried kail-stocks, leg and arm bones, no doubt picked up in the +churchyard, all arranged in the form of a star, and over her bed-head hung +a roughly drawn circle of the signs of the zodiac. She was often to be +seen wandering about the fields in moonlight nights with a gnarled old +blackthorn stick with a ram's horn head, and was altogether generally +regarded as uncanny. The old man who thus describes her person and +surroundings told of two occasions in which he suffered at her hands. He +was at one time engaged with a farmer in the parish of Kelton, and one day +he and a son of the farmer set out for the town of Kirkcudbright with two +heavily laden carts of hay, the farmer in a jocular way calling after them +as they left, 'Noo Johnie, yer cairts are a' fair and square the noo, and +let's see ye reach Kirkcudbright without scathe, for ye maun mind ye hae +tae pass auld Jean on the wey. Dinna ye stop aboot her door or say ocht +tae her, tae offend her. Gude kens hoo she may tak' it.' Johnie was of a +very sceptical nature about such characters as Jean, and replied, 'Man, +Maister M'C----, dae ye ken a wudna care the crack o' a coo's thumb gin a' +the wutches ooten the ill bit war on the road,' and so they set out. When +passing the cottage, sure enough, the old woman appeared at the door, and, +as was her wont, had to ask several questions as to where cam' they frae? +and whar wur they gaun? who owned the hay and the horses? and so on. The +lad, who was a bit of a 'limb,' recklessly asked her what the deil +business it was of hers, and John said, 'Aye, deed faith aye, boy! that's +just true. Come away.' And so they lumbered away down through the woods by +the Brocklock Burn, when suddenly a hare banged across the road, right +under the foremost horse's nose, crossed and recrossed several times, till +both the horses became so restless and unmanageable that they backed and +backed against the old hedge on the roadside, and in a few minutes both +carts went over the brow into the wood, dragging the horses with them. +The harness fortunately snapped in pieces, saving them from being +strangled. Johnie and the boy were compelled to walk into the town for +help, where they told the story of Jean's malevolence. Johnie's second +adventure took place some years afterwards. On passing with a cart of +potatoes to be shipped from Kirkcudbright to Liverpool by the old _Fin +M'Coul_ Johnie refused to give Jean two or three potatoes for seed, with +the result that his horse backed his cart right into the then almost +unprotected harbour, and they were with great difficulty rescued."(14) + +"The parish of Twynholm in days gone by had its witch. 'Old Meg' (as the +reputed witch was called by the neighbours) had for some years got her +supply of butter from one of the farms quite close to the village of +Twynholm, and the goodwife, to safeguard her very fine dairy of cows, +always gave old Meg a small print, or pat, extra for luck. All went well +until one day a merchant came to the farm seeking a large quantity of +butter for the season, and offering such a good price that a bargain was +at once struck. The farmer's wife was obliged to tell her small customers, +Meg among the number, that she 'would not be able tae gie them ony mair +butter as she had a freen in the trade who would need all she could +spare, and more if she had it.' Meg was the only one to murmur at the +information, and did so in no unmistakable terms. 'Aye, woman,' said she, +'y'er getting far ower prood and big tae ser' a puir bodie. Folk sood na' +seek tae haud their heeds ower high ower puir folk. There's aye a doonfa' +tae sic pridefu' weys.' 'Weel, Margaret,' said the farmer's wife, 'ye're +no a richt-thinkin', weel-mindet buddy or ye wudna turn on me the wey yer +daen efter a' my kindness tae ye; sae I wad juist be as weel pleased if +ye'd pass my door and try somebody else tae gie ye mair than I hae ony +guid wull tae gie ye.' Meg left in great anger, and before a week was +ended three of the farmer's cows died, and one broke its leg."(15) + +"Away back in the days when the steampacket and railway were almost +unknown along the south or Solway shore of Scotland large numbers of +sailing craft plied between ports and creeks along the Scottish, Irish, +and English coasts, every little port at all safe for landing being the +busy scene of arrival and departure, and the discharge of cargo with +almost every tide. A small group of houses usually marked these little +havens, generally made up of an inn, a few fishermen's cottages, huts, and +sail-lofts. On the Rerwick, or Monkland shore as it was then called, four +or five of these little hamlets stood, some on the actual shore, others a +short way inland. The incident which follows was founded upon the visit of +three young sailors, who had for a day or two been living pretty freely, +in a clachan about two miles from where their craft, a handy topsail +schooner, lay at Burnfoot. On the rough moor road-side which led down from +the clachan to the coast there lived in a small shieling a middle-aged +woman, recognised by most of her neighbours and by seafaring men coming to +these parts as an unscrupulous and rather vindictive old woman, supposed +to be a witch. + +The three sailors had to pass this cottage on their way down to join their +ship, and before setting out decided to go right past her home rather than +take a round-about way to avoid her, which was at first suggested. As they +came to her door she was standing watching and evidently waiting for them. +'Ye'r a fine lot you to gang away wi' a schooner,' she called to them as +they came up. 'Ye had a fine time o't up by at Rab's Howff, yet nane o' ye +thocht it worth yer while tae look in an see me in the bye-gaun; but 'am +naebody, an' canna wheedle aboot ye like Jean o' the Howff, an' wile yer +twa-three bawbees frae ooten yer pooches, an' sen' ye awa' as empty as ma +meal poke.' The youngest of the three, being elated and reckless with +drink, commenced to mock and taunt the old woman, his companions foolishly +joining him also in jeering at her, until soon she was almost beside +herself with rage. Shaking her fist at them as they passed on she pursued +them with threat and invective that brought a chill of terror to their +young hearts, and made them glad to find themselves at last beyond the +range of her bitter tongue. The tragic sequel, coincident or otherwise, +now falls to be related. Two nights later they set sail to cross to the +Cumberland side of the Solway. The weather was threatening when they left, +and a stiff breeze quickly developed into half a gale of wind. The +schooner, which was very light, was observed to be making very bad weather +of it, and to be drifting back towards the coast they had left. The +gathering darkness of the night soon shut them out of sight, but early +next morning the vessel lay a broken wreck on the rocky shore, and several +weeks afterwards the bodies of her crew were washed ashore."(16) + +"In a somewhat sparsely populated district in the parish of Balmaghie +there lived, with a crippled husband, a wrinkled-visaged old woman who was +reckoned by all who lived near her as an uncanny character. She dwelt in a +small thatched cottage well away from the public road, and had attached +to her cottage a small croft or patch, half of which was used as a garden, +the remainder as a gang for pigs and poultry. Not far from where she lived +abounded long strips of meadow land, liable to be in wet seasons submerged +by the backwaters of the Dee. About a mile from the cottage was a farm +where a number of cows were kept, the farmer usually disposing of the +butter made up every week to small shopkeepers, and in the villages near +by. He was always very chary about passing the old woman's cottage with +his basket of butter and eggs, feeling sure of a bad market should she +chance to get a glimpse at the contents of the basket. Moreover, he would +gladly have dispensed with the peace-offering he was obliged to make in +the form of a pound of butter or a dozen or so of eggs, which was +considered a sure safeguard. To avoid her he had taken a new route, +crossing a ford higher up the water and going over a hill to another +village, where he would have little chance of coming in contact with her. +One day however, he found that his plan was discovered, and that to +persist in it would be to court disaster. Crossing the moor he observed +the old woman busily gathering birns[3] and small whin roots. She was +undoubtedly watching and waiting for him, and was the first to speak. +'Aye, aye, man; ye maun reckon me gey blin' no' tae see ye stavering oot +o' the gate among moss holes tae get ooten my wey. Ye hae wat yer cloots +monie a mornin' tae keep awa' frae my hoose, and for nae ither guid reason +than tae save twa or three eggs or a morsel o' butter that ony weel-minded +neebor wud at ony time gie an auld donnert cripple tae feed and shelter. +Losh, man, but ye hae a puir, mean speerit. Yer auld faither wudna hae din +ony sic thing, an' mony a soup o' tea a hae geen 'im when he used to ca' +in on his hame-gaun frae the toon gey weel the waur o' a dram.' Annoyed at +being challenged the farmer was not quite in a mood to laugh the matter +off, and accordingly he, with some degree of temper, told the old woman to +go to a place where neither birns nor whin roots were needed for kindling +purposes. About a mile further over the moor he met a neighbour's boy +hurrying along, making for his farm to ask him to come over to help his +master to pull a cow out of a hole in the peat-moss. He at once went, +asking the lad to carry one of his baskets to enable them to get along +faster. They left the two baskets at the end of a haystack near the muir +farm, and crossed over to the moss where they could see the farmer and his +wife doing their utmost to keep the cow's head above the mire. Additional +strength of arm however, soon brought the cow out of her dangerous +position, and they retired for a little to the farm-house for a dram. +'Dod,' said the owner of the baskets, 'I houp nae hairm has come the +butter an' eggs. I left them ower-by at the end o' the hey-stack yonner.' +'O, they'll be a' richt,' said the farmer's wife; 'but Johnie 'll gang +ower and bring them, sae sit still 'til he fetches them.' Johnie went as +told, and came back with the tidings that 'the auld soo had eaten nearly +all the butter an' broken maist o' the eggs, had pit her feet thro' the +bottom o' the butter-skep, and made a deil o' a haun o' everything.' 'Aye, +aye,' quoth the farmer; 'juist what I micht hae expeckit efter the look I +got frae that auld deevel in woman's shape doonbye.' His neighbour was +silent and seemed strangely put out, and when at last he found speech it +was to say, 'Man Sanny, she's du'n baith o' us! Dae ye ken I refused her a +pig juist last week, an' that accoonts for "crummie" in the +moss-hole.'"(17) + +A story which illustrates how witch-power was not always an influence for +evil is recounted in the folk-lore of Tynron:-- + +"An old farmer who died some years ago in Tynron related his experience +with a witch in Closeburn when he was a boy. He was carting freestone from +a neighbouring quarry, when his horse came to a standstill at the witch's +door. Two other carters passed him, and only jeered both at the witch and +the boy, when the former, to whom he had always been civil, came forward, +and with a slight push adjusted the ponderous stone, which had slipped and +was stopping the wheel. 'Now, go,' she said; 'thou wilt find them at the +gate below Gilchristland.' At that very spot he found the perplexed +carters standing, both horses trembling and sweating, so that he easily +went past them and got to his goal first."(18) + +No reference to witchcraft in the south-west of Scotland would be complete +without some reference to the witches of Crawick Mill, near Sanquhar. The +following allusion is drawn from a recently published work on the +folk-lore of Upper Nithsdale, and in it will be observed how the witch +phenomenon of change into the form of a hare, and being shot at in that +form, again repeats itself:-- + +"The village of Crawick Mill, near Sanquhar, was a noted place for +witches, and appears to have been a sort of headquarters for the +sisterhood. Their doings and ongoings have been talked of far and near, +and many a tale is told of revels at the 'Witches' Stairs'--a huge rock +among the picturesque linns of Crawick, where, in company of other +kindred spirits gathered from all parts of the country, they planned +their deeds of evil, and cast their cantrips to the hurt of those who had +come under their displeasure. In many different ways were these inflicted. +Sometimes the farmer's best cow would lose its milk; a mare would miss +foal; or the churn would be spellbound, and the dairymaid might churn and +churn, and churn again, but no butter would come. No class of people was +safe. The malignant power of the witches reached all classes of society; +and even the minister's churn on one occasion would yield no butter. +Everything had been tried without effect. The manse of Sanquhar at that +time was situated close to the river on the site now occupied by the +farm-house of Blackaddie, and the good man told the servant girl to carry +the churn to the other side of the Nith, thinking that the crossing of a +running stream would break the spell. But it was to no purpose; neither +was the rowan tree branch that was fixed in the byre, nor the horse-shoe +nailed behind the door. The power of the witch was too strong for the +minister; but his wife was more successful. She made up a nice roll of +butter, part of a former churning, and, with a pitcher of milk, sent it as +a present to the beldam at Crawick Mill, who was thought to have wrought +the mischief. The gift was thankfully received, and the churn did well +ever after. + +"Robert Stitt, honest man, was the miller at Crawick Mill, and well +respected by everybody. One day, however, he refused one of the Crawick +witches a peck of meal; she was enraged at the refusal, and told him 'he +would rue that ere mony days passed.' About a week afterwards, on a dark +night, Crawick was rolling in full flood. The miller went to put down the +sluice, missed his footing, fell into the water, and was carried off by +the torrent and drowned. A young man going a journey started early in the +morning, and, shortly after he set out, met one of the witches, when some +words passed between them. She said to him, 'Ye're gaun briskly awa', my +lad, but ye'll come ridin' hame the nicht.' The poor fellow got his leg +broken that day, and was brought home in a cart as the witch predicted. An +old woman named Nannie is said to have been the last of the uncanny crew +that dwelt on the banks of the Crawick. She appears to have been a person +superior in intelligence and forethought to her neighbours. She knew that +she was considered a witch, and she rather encouraged the idea; it kept +her neighbours in awe, and also helped her to get a living--many a present +she got from the ignorant and superstitious to secure themselves from her +spells."(19) + +"One of the most famous witches of tradition belonging to Corrie +(Dumfriesshire) was the witch-wife of the Wyliehole, whose strange +exploits and infernal doings were the subject of many a winter evening's +conversation around the farmer's hearth. + +"She was represented as having been terribly implacable in her +resentments, and those who fell under her displeasure were certain to feel +all the severity of her revenge. She pursued them incessantly with strange +accidents and misfortunes, sometimes with nocturnal visits in the form of +fierce wild cats and weasels, and not only disturbed their repose but kept +them in constant terror of their lives. She seems also to have been +somewhat peculiar in her movements, as she was seen, on one occasion, on +the top of Burnswark crags switching lint by moonlight."(20) + +It may now be well to dwell for a little on the popular measures resorted +to, to counteract witch influence and render it futile. + +Relief and protection were sought in various ways. Charm and popular +antidote had an abiding place in the domestic usage of the day, and faith, +if wedded to empirical methods, was at all events all-prevailing. The +mountain ash or rowan tree was believed to have a strong counter influence +against unholy rite, and a very usual custom was to plait a branch and +fasten it above the byre door to ensure the protection of their cows. +Young women wore strings of rowan berries as beads on a string of the same +colour, implicitly believing + + "Rowan tree and red threid, + Put the witches to their speed"-- + +and Robert Heron, in his _Journey through the Western Counties of +Scotland_ (1792), further illustrates this point of superstitious +observance by reference to an acquaintance:--"An anti-burgher clergyman in +these parts, who actually procured from a person who pretended to skill in +these charms, two small pieces of wood, curiously wrought, to be kept in +his father's cow-house as a security for the health of his cows. It is +common (he adds) to bend into a cow's tail a small piece of mountain +ash-wood as a charm against witchcraft." + +Inside the cottage the rowan bunch was suspended from the top of the +corner-cupboard or box-bed. Salt was supposed to possess a strong power of +evil resistance in various ways, not least in the operation of "churning," +a handful being added to the cream before even commencing. To this day old +horse-shoes are nailed over stable and byre doors "for luck," a vague +application of what in the older days was specific belief in their potency +as a charm against witch-mischief. + +Stones with holes through them naturally perforated by the action of the +water, popularly called "elf-cups," were also considered to possess +protective power and were commonly nailed over the stable door. + +It was further quite usual, when passing the hut of any old woman whom +people eyed askance, to put the thumb upon the palm of the hand and close +the fingers over it--a relic of the sign of the cross--to avert the evil +eye. + +A clear stone, called an "adder-bead" (supposed to be made in some +mysterious way by the co-operation of thirteen adders), a robin's breast, +and a fox's tongue, were other favoured charms. The witches and warlocks +themselves were supposed to wear a protective, jacket-like garment, which +had, at a certain mystic time of a March moon, been woven from the skins +of water-snakes. These were popularly known as "warlock feckets." Silver +alone could pierce such garments and seems to have possessed properties +entirely opposed to the invincibility of these disciples of Satan. Nothing +could turn or stop a silver bullet which not only destroyed the illusion +and restored the guise which had been assumed, to the original witch-form, +but even inflicted bodily pain and wound. + +"An old woman, still alive, tells how her father was going to Drummore on +one occasion by the road past Terally (Kirkmaiden), and saw a man a short +distance in front of him carrying a gun. A hare jumped over the dyke on to +the road in front of the man with the gun, who at once shot at it, but +apparently missed. He fired four more shots at it, but the hare only +jumped on the road as if making sport of them. Before he fired the next +shot however, he slipped a threepenny piece into the gun, and that had +effect. The hare limped into a whin bush near by, and when the two men +went to look for it they found a reputed witch lying with a broken leg." + +An oft-practised rite in connection with the supposed bewitchment of a +cow, and its failure to yield milk, was as follows:-- + +"A young maiden milked whatever dregs of milk the cow had left, which was +of a sanguineous nature and poisonous quality. This was poured warm from +the cow into a brass pan, and, every inlet to the house being closed, was +placed over a gentle fire until it began to heat. Pins were dropped in and +closely stirred with a wand of rowan; when boiling, rusty nails were +thrown in and more fuel added."(21) + +The witch or warlock who had wrought the mischief were in some subtle way +affected, and suffered pain so long as the distillation of the charm was +continued; and the further point is brought out that the potency of the +charm could even drag the perpetrators of the evil to the scene of their +witch-work. + +There is a hitherto unrecorded story bearing on this point:-- + +"Andrew M'Murray, farmer in Mountsallie, in the Rhinns of Galloway at one +time, one morning found one of his cows very ill. In the middle of the +uneasiness about the condition of the cow a tailor 'whup-the-cat' arrived +at the farm-house to do some sewing, and among the others, went out to +look at the cow. He at once said the cow was witched, and told them of a +way to find out the person who had done so. They got the cow to her feet, +and took whatever milk she had from her, and put it in a pot with a number +of pins in it, and set it on the fire to boil, with a green turf on the +top of the lid. When the pot began to boil dry, a near neighbour, who was +a reputed witch, arrived, apparently in a state of great pain, and +excitedly asked to see the cow. Immediately the cow saw her it jumped to +its feet, broke its binding, ran out of the byre, and did not stop till it +was at the top of Tordoo, a round hill in the neighbourhood."(22) + +The Dalry district, as already seen, is comparatively rich in uncannie +reminiscence, one of which also accentuates this particular point:-- + +"The cow of a Dalry crofter became nearly yell quite unexpectedly. A +neighbour said she would soon find out the reason. She boiled a quantity +of needles and pins in some milk drippings from the cow, when an old woman +who was reputed to be a witch knocked at the window and begged her to give +over boiling as she was pricked all over, and if they did so the cow would +soon be all right, which accordingly happened."(23) + +Two "cantrip incantations" concerned with love-making, strung together in +rhyme, have been handed down:-- + + "In the pingle or the pan, + Or the haurpan o' man, + Boil the heart's-bluid o' the tade, + Wi' the tallow o' the gled; + Hawcket kail an' hen-dirt, + Chow'd cheese an chicken-wort, + Yallow puddocks champit sma', + Spiders ten, and gellocks twa, + Sclaters twa, frae foggy dykes, + Bumbees twunty, frae their bykes, + Asks frae stinking lochens blue, + Ay, will make a better stue; + Bachelors maun hae a charm, + Hearts they hae fu' o' harm." + +The second, while of much the same character, has evidently more special +reference to the weaker sex:-- + + "Yirbs for the blinking queen, + Seeth now, when it is e'en, + Boortree branches, yellow gowans, + Berry rasps and berry rowans; + Deil's milk frae thrissles saft, + Clover blades frae aff the craft; + Binwud leaves and blinmen's baws, + Heather bells and wither'd haws; + Something sweet, something sour, + Time about wi' mild and door; + Hinnie-suckles, bluidy-fingers, + Napple roots and nettle stingers, + Bags o' bees and gall in bladders, + Gowks' spittles, pizion adders: + May dew and fumarts' tears, + Nool shearings, nowt's neers, + Mix, mix, six and six, + And the auld maid's cantrip fix."(24) + +In Allan Ramsay's pastoral play of the _Gentle Shepherd_ a vivid +word-painting occurs of the popular estimation of the witch methods and +witch beliefs of the times. + +The passage occurs where "Bauldy," love-stricken and despairing, goes to +seek the aid of "Mause," an old woman supposed to be a witch:-- + + "'Tis sair to thole; I'll try some witchcraft art. + + * * * * * + + Here Mausey lives, a witch that for sma' price + Can cast her cantraips, and gie me advice, + She can o'ercast the night and cloud the moon, + And mak the deils obedient to her crune; + At midnight hours, o'er the kirkyard she raves, + And howks unchristen'd weans out of their graves; + Boils up their livers in a warlock's pow, + Rins withershins about the hemlock low; + And seven times does her prayers backwards pray, + Till Plotcock comes with lumps of Lapland clay, + Mixt with the venom of black taids and snakes; + Of this unsonsy pictures aft she makes + Of ony ane she hates, and gars expire, + With slow and racking pains afore a fire, + Stuck fu' of pins; the devilish pictures melt; + The pain by fowk they represent is felt." + +An old form of incantation extracted from a witch confession in 1662[4] +refers to the form of witchcraft just alluded to in the _Gentle +Shepherd_--the modelling in clay of the object of resentment and the +piercing and maiming of such effigies to compass corresponding bodily +harm. In this instance, wasting illness was intended to be induced by +subjecting the diminutive clay figure to roasting over a fire:-- + + "In the Divellis nam, we powr in this water amang this mowld (meall) + For long duyning[5] and ill heall; + We putt it into the fyre, + That it may be brunt both stick and stowre, + It salbe[6] brunt with owr will + As any sticle[7] upon a kill.[8]" + +A further forceful illustration of this particular form of spell-casting +may be quoted from the confession of a reputed witch, "Janet Breadheid," +who was brought before the Sheriff-Principal of Elgin and Forres in 1662. + +It is here referred to as the family against whom the evil was directed +was that of "Hay of Park," an evident off-shoot of a main stem of the +Hays--the Hays of Errol (Perthshire)--a family represented in the +south-west of Scotland by the Hays of Park, who inherited part of the +lands of the Abbey of Glenluce immediately after the Reformation. The old +family seat, now tenanted by farm servants, is generally described as the +"Old House of Park." + +The following is the quotation:--"My husband brought hom the clay in his +plaid (newk). It ves maid in my hows; and the Divell himself with ws. We +brak the clay werie small, lyk meil, (and) sifted it with a siew, and +powred in vater amongst it, with wordis that the Divell leardned vs (in +the Di.) Vellis nam. I brought hom the water, in a pig, out of the +Rud-wall. We were all upon owr (kneyes) and our hair about owr eyes, and +owr handis liftet up to the Divell, and owr eyes stedfast looking (upon +him) praying and saying wordis which he learned ws, thryse ower, for +destroyeing of this Lairdis (meall) children, and to mak his hows airles. +It was werie sore wrought, lyk rye-bowt. It was about the bignes of a +feadge or pow. It was just maid lyk the bairn; it vanted no mark of any +maill child, such as heid, face, eyes, nose, mowth lippes, etc., and the +handis of it folded downe by its sydis. It ves putt to the fyre, first +till it scrunked, and then a cleir fyre about it, till it ves hard. And +then we took out of the fyre, in the Divell's nam; and we laid a clowt +about it and did lay (it) on a knag, and sometimes under a chist. Each day +we would water, and then rost and bek it; and turn it at the fyre, each +other day, whill that bairne died; and then layed it up, and steired it +not untill the nixt bairne wes borne; And then, within half an year efter +that bairne was born, (we) took it out again out of the cradle and clowt, +and would dip it now and than among water, and beck (it) and rost it at +the fyre, each other day once, as ve did against the other that was dead, +untill that bairn (died) also."(25) + +The following is an example of a "Devil's Grace":-- + + "We eat this meat in the Divellis nam, + With sorrow, and sych,[9] and meikle shame, + We sall destroy hows and hald; + Both sheip and noat in till the fald. + Little good sall come to the fore + Of all the rest of the little store." + +The following extract from a rare and fascinating work, _The Book of +Galloway_ (1745), possesses two points of much interest. It includes the +prophetic utterings of a witch called Meg Macmuldroch at the "cannie +moment" when Sir William Douglas of Gelston, whose name is so intimately +associated with the creation and development of the town of +Castle-Douglas, was born:-- + +"And anon as she came to the burden of her prophecy, pointing her +quivering fingers to the sky, and repeating the following words with much +emphasis:--'I looked at the starnies and they were in the right airt. It +was full tide, and bein' lown and in the deid howe o' nicht, in Sandy +Black's fey, I heard the sough o' the sea and the o'erswak o' the waves as +they broke their bellies on the sawns o' Wigtown. There was a scaum i' the +lift; the young mune was in the auld mune's arms, that was bad and +guid--bad for the father, guid for the son; and as sure as the de'ils in +the King's croft o' Stocking,[10] here's my benison and malison, mak' o't +what ye wull. + + 'Grief and scaith, the faither to his death; + Thrift and thrive to the bairn alive.'" + +The second point contained is the practical application and mention of +several witchcraft and old-world expressions, some of which have just been +referred to in dealing with the counteraction of witch-force:-- + +"'Greater pity,' said the minister abruptly, 'that the penalties against +witchcraft are now done away with' ... She has already cast her glamour +of the evil eye on this man. His very horse has been hag-ridden overnight, +and in the mornin', sair forfochten wi' nocturnal sweats, and the +"adder-stane" winna bring remeid. His cow was weel fed, for ye ken 'the +cow gives her milk by the mou', but the crone has milked the tether,' and +his twa stirks are stannin' slaverin' at baith mouth and een, and its +neither side-ill, quarter-ill, tail-ill, muir-ill, or water-ill, and its +no the rinnin' doun, the black spauld, or the warbles, but a clear case of +elf-shot, though a piece of rowan has been tied to their tails.... John +went first to Shennaton on the water o' Bladnoch, bad land at the best, +for it girns a' summer and greets a' winter. There he couldna leeve, so +his 'fire was slockened,' and here he's half deid, an' a' through the +witches."(26) + +In concluding this chapter further notice may be taken of the quite common +practice in those days, of the fears of the country-side being traded upon +by cunning old women supposed to possess, or pretending to possess, +witch-power. In wholesome dread of the malign influence of the "uncannie +e'en" these old women were propitiated by lavish presents of produce and +provender, and so skillfully did many of them play their parts that they +lived comfortably and bien at the expense of their neighbours, who were +only too glad to send new milk, cheese, meal, and even to cast their peats +and help with the rents to make "the e'en look kindly" and avert possible +disaster, all of which is graphically alluded to and set forth in Allan +Cunningham's "Pawky Auld Kimmer":-- + + "There's a pawky auld Kimmer wons low i' the glen; + Nane kens how auld Kimmer maun fecht and maun fen; + Kimmer gets maut, and Kimmer gets meal, + And cantie lives Kimmer, richt couthie an' hale; + Kimmer gets bread, and Kimmer gets cheese, + An' Kimmer's uncannie e'en keep her at ease. + 'I rede ye speak lowne, lest Kimmer should hear ye; + Come sain ye, come cross ye, an' Gude be near ye!'" + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CHAPTER III._ + +WITCHCRAFT TRIALS AND PERSECUTION. + + "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." + --_Exodus xxii., 18._ + + +Little is heard of witchcraft in Scotland before the latter half of the +16th century, but in the year 1563, in the reign of Mary, Queen of +Scotland, a strenuous Act directed against the practice of witchcraft +became law, and was most rigorously enforced. As this has been described +as the law under which all the subsequent witch trials took place its +significant phraseology may in part be quoted:-- + +"The Estates enact that nae person take upon hand to use ony matter of +witchcrafts, sorcery or necromancy, nor give themselves furth to have ony +sic craft or knowledge thereof; also that nae person seek ony help, +response, or consultation at ony sic users or abusers of witchcraft under +the pain of death." + +Curiously enough the passing of this and similar Acts was attended by +results as unexpected as they were unforeseen. Belief in witchcraft became +the passion of public credulity. Accusations, generally false and often +even ludicrous in their solemn foolishness, were trumped up, and action +followed, that hurried countless helpless human beings to the stake to die +a cruel and shameful death. It was a time of terror, an epoch of +superstitious sacrifice, extending and gathering force as the reign of +Mary merged into the Regency, only finding pause at the removal of James +VI. of Scotland to London, there to preside over the united destinies of +these islands. As is well known, this monarch evinced a more than personal +interest in matters pertaining to the "unseen world," and that, gathering +up his ideas and conclusions, he embodied them in a singular treatise +entitled _Daemonologie_.[11] Less creditable to his memory it is told +that not only did he favour executions for this alleged crime, but +actually took pleasure in witnessing the sacrifice of the condemned. + +With the death of James a phase of quiescence in witch quest and sacrifice +is entered upon, a lull which lasted for some fifteen years. It was again, +however, to be broken, this time by the unfortunate intervention and +misdirected zeal of the Church itself. The General Assembly, stimulated by +a desire for Puritanical perfection, awakened the slumbering crudity of +belief, that direct Satanic Power stalked abroad in the land in the form +of witchcraft. Condemnatory Acts were passed in the years 1640-43-44-45 +and 49. Again the stake and tar faggot blazed. The Levitical law was +accepted as a too literal injunction, and from this time forward it is the +clergy who particularly figure as the pursuers of witches, keen and +relentless to a degree; and yet with it all, however misguided the efforts +of these Churchmen, however cruel their methods, it is only just to their +memories to believe in their purity of motive, and to give them all credit +for pious and earnest desire to combat and stamp out what to them was in +very truth a great evil. + +Different methods were adopted to establish proof and justify the cases +for the accusers, but the one test specially relied upon was to find the +actual presence of what has already been described as the "witch mark"[12] +upon the person of the suspected. When this was found, or supposed to be +found, it was the deliberate practice to pass through it a sharp +needle-like instrument, and if no pain was felt or blood drawn, then guilt +was held to be firmly established. + +[Illustration: "A RUNNING STREAM THEY DARE NA CROSS!" J. Copland.] + +So frequent were the accusations that the "pricking of witches" became a +recognised calling: one individual, John Kincaid by name, having such a +reputation for skill in this unhallowed work that he seems to have been +employed in the principal witch trials of this period, such an entry as-- + + "Item, mair to Jon Kinked for brodding of her VI. lib. Scotts" + +being of quite common occurrence in the notes of expenses still on +record. + +It is to this second or later period of persecution that the record of +witch charge and punishment in the south-west of Scotland really belongs, +and from 1656 the records of the civil and ecclesiastical courts teem with +accounts of searching enquiry and trial. It must further be remembered +that over and above the regularly constituted enquiries of State and +Church a great number of Commissions were granted by the Privy Council to +gentlemen in every county, and almost in every parish, to try persons +accused of witchcraft, many of whom suffered the extreme penalty,[13] and +of which no particulars can now be gleaned. + +It is now our purpose to set forth as completely as possible such relative +matter and extracts from existing documents as will describe the +proceedings as they actually took place in the distinctive localities of +the Dumfries and Galloway district, but it may perhaps be here fittingly +noted, not without a certain sense of gratification, that this +south-western district, though far from blameless, compares more than +favourably with other districts in Scotland, both in fairness of judgment +and rigour of punishment. + + +PROCEEDINGS IN GALLOWAY. + +_Presbytery of Kirkcudbright, April, 1662._--A person, named James Welsh, +confessed himself guilty of the crime of witchcraft before the Presbytery +of Kirkcudbright; but the justices refused to put him upon his trial, +because he was a minor when he acknowledged his guilt, and had retracted +his extra-judicial confession; but on the 17th of April, 1662, they +ordered him to be scourged and put in the correction house, having so +grossly "prevaricated and delated so many honest persons." + +_Kirkcudbright, 1671._--At an Assize held in the burgh of Dumfries in 1671 +eight or more females were charged with witchcraft; five of them were +eventually sent for trial to Kirkcudbright. + +_Dalry Kirk-Session, 1696._--Elspeth M'Ewen, an old woman living alone at +a place called Bogha, near the farm of Cubbox, in Balmaclellan, was +suspected by the country-side of various acts of "witching." In +particular, she was believed to have at her command a wooden pin that was +movable and that could be withdrawn from the base of the rafters resting +on the walls of the cottage, which particular part of the building was in +these old days called the "kipple foot." + +With this pin Elspeth was supposed to have the supernatural power of +drawing an exhaustive milk supply from her neighbour's cows merely by +placing it in contact with the udder, and this it was reported she +practised freely. Other cantrips laid to her door included capricious +interference with the laying power of her neighbour's hens, causing them +sometimes to fail altogether, at others to produce in amazing +plenteousness. + +At last complaint was made to the Session, and the beadle, by name +M'Lambroch, was sent away with the minister's mare to bring her before the +Session. On the journey there is a tradition that the mare in a panic of +fright sweated great drops of blood at the rising hill near the Manse, +since known as the "Bluidy Brae." + +After being examined she was sent to Kirkcudbright, where she lay in +prison for about two years. + +_Dalry Kirk-Session, October 15th, 1697._--The following entry evidently +refers to the expense of her maintenance in prison: "Given for alimenting +Elspet M'Koun, alledged of witchcraft in prison, £01.01.00." + +_Kirkcudbright, 1698._--In Kirkcudbright prison Elspeth M'Ewen was so +inhumanely treated that she frequently implored her tormentors to +terminate a life which had become a grievous burden to her. + +In March, 1698, a Commission was appointed by the Privy Council for her +trial, along with another woman, Mary Millar, also accused of witchcraft, +"to meet and conveen at Kirkcudbright." The following is an extract from +the said Commission:-- + +_Extract from "Commission for Judging of Elspeth M'Cowen and Mary Millar, +alleadged Guilty of Witchcraft, 1698."_ + +"The Lords of his Majesties privie Councill, being informed that Elspeth +M'Cowen and Mary Millar, both within the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, +presently prisoners within the tolboth of Kirkcudbright, are alleaged +guilty of the horid cryme of witchcraft, and hes committed severall +malifices; and considering it will be a great deall of charges and +expenses to bring the saids Elspeth M'Cowen and Mary Millar to this place, +in order to a tryall before the Lords commissioners of justiciary: +Besides, that severall inconveniences may aryse by there transportation. +And the saids Lords lykewayes considering that this horid cryme cannot be +tryed and judged by any persons in the countrie without a warrant and +commission from their Lordships for that effect; And the saids Lords being +desyreous to have the said matter brought to a tryall, that the persones +guilty may receive condigne punishment, and others may be deterred from +committing so horid a cryme in time coming; They do hereby give full +power, warrant and commission, to Sir John Maxwell of Pollock,--Maxwell of +Dalswintoune, Hugh M'Guffock of Rusco, Adam Newall of Barskeoche, Dunbar +of Machrymore, Thomas Alexander, Stewart Depute of Kirkcudbright, Robert +M'Clellend of Barmagachan, and Mr Alexander Fergussone of Isle, Advocate; +And declare any three of the foresaids persones to be a sufficient quorum, +the said Stewart Depute of Kirkcudbright being one of the three, To take +tryall off, and to judge and do justice upon the saids Elspeth M'Cowen and +Mary Millar, for the cryme of witchcraft. And in order thereto, To meitt +and conveen at Kirkcudbright, the second ffryday of Apryle next to come, +and there to accept for this present commission, and upon there acceptance +to administrate the oath of fidelity to the person whom the Lord Justice +Clerk or James Montgomery of Langshare, Clerk to the Justice Court, shall +depute and substitute to be clerk to the present Commissione, With power +to the saids Commissioners or their said quorum, to choyse their own Clerk +for whom they shall be answerable, In caise that the saids Lords Justice +Clerk and James Montgomery, shall refuse to nominate a Clerk in this +matter, they being first requyred so to doe, With power lykewayes to the +saids persones hereby commissionat or their said quorum, To create, make, +and constitute Serjants, Dempsters, and other Members of the said court, +And to Issue out and cause raise precepts or lybells of indictment at the +instance of Samuell Cairnmount, writer in Kirkcudbright, as procurator +fiscall for his Majesties interest in the said matter, against the saids +Elspeth M'Cowen and Mary Millar, accused of Witchcraft, ffor sumonding and +citeing them upon ffyfteen dayes, by delyvering to them a full copie of +the lybell or indictment, with the names and designationes of the Assyzers +and witnesses subjoined; And for citeing there assyzers and witnesses in +the ordinary and under the usual paynes and certificationes, To compear +before the saids Commissioners hereby commissionat, ... With power to the +saids Commissioners or their said quorums, To decern and Adjudge them to +be burned, or otherwise to be execute to death within such space and after +such a manner as they shall think fit, and appoints the saids +commissioners, there said quorum or Clerk, to transmit the haill process +which shall be ledd before them against the said Elspeth M'Cowen and Mary +Millar, and severall steps thereof and verdict of the inquest to be given +thereupon to the saids Lords of his Majesties privie Councill, betwixt and +the ffyfteenth day of June nixt to come."(27) + +On the 26th of July the committee of Privy Council reported that they had +examined the proceedings of the commissioners in the case of Elspeth +M'Ewen (the report signed by the Lord Advocate), who had been pronounced +guilty upon her own confession and the evidence of witnesses "of a compact +and correspondence with the devil, and of charms and of accession to +malefices." It was ordered that the sentence of death against Elspeth +should be executed under care of the Steward of Kirkcudbright and his +deputies. + +Found guilty by her own confession, a certain means to end a miserable +life, Elspeth M'Ewen suffered the extreme penalty of being burned at the +stake, the execution taking place in what is now known as Silver Craigs +Park, on the 24th day of August, 1698. + +The following extracts connected with the trial and execution are taken +from some old Kirkcudbright records, which were brought to light by the +late Mr James Nicholson:-- + +"Ane accompt of my (George Welsh) depursements as Thessr.[14] from +Michaelmas, 1697, to Michaelmas, 1698, as follows-- + + Item for Item to Barbara Roddin for ane pound and ane half + of candle yt night the Assyse sat on Elspet M'Keown 000 09 00 + + 22 July, 1698. Item to the men that took William Kirk, by + Ba. Campble's order 000 04 00 + + Item given to him yt day 000 03 00 + + Item for Satterday, Sunday and Monday yrafter 000 09 00 + + Item given to William Kirk of earnest by Ba. Campble's + orders in money and in aill with him 00j 0j 00 + + Item to William Kirk for six days at three shills per + day 000 18 00 + + 4 Aut., 1698. Item to William Kirk for twenty days tyme + yt he was in prison at ffour shills per day, is 004 00 00 + + 20 Aut., 1698. Item given to the Proveist to give William + Kirk to buy drink, and by his orders to buy ane leg + mutton 000 ij 00 + + Item. Sspent by the Proveist wt Howell and Ba. Dunbar, the + day of Elspet M'Keown's execution, ane gill brandie 000 04 06 + + Item be the Proveist's order, to William Kirk to buy meal + wt. 000 10 00 + + Item payed in James M'Colm's yt the Proveist drank with + Ba. Dunbar and oyrs the day of Elspet M'Keoun's + execution 000 06 00 + + Item to Wm. Kirk to buy meill wt. 000 07 06 + + Item to Wm. Kirk to buy meill wt. 000 07 06 + + Item payed to Barbara Roddin for candles to Elspet + M'Keoun's guard 000 17 00 + + Item to Mart. M'Keand for ffour Ells and three quarters + Red, to William Kirk, at twenty shill Scots per Ell, is 004 15 00 + + Item to Helin Martin for plaiding to be hose to him 000 08 00 + + Item to thrid whyt and collured 000 03 00 + + Item for ane Bonnet to him 000 09 00 + + Item for harne to be pockets, and for shoen 000 17 00 + + Item for three ells harne to be ane shirt, and for making + yrof. 001 00 00 + + Item for ane long gravate to him 000 12 00 + + 24th Aut., 1698. Item given to the Proveist to give him + the day of execution 002 16 00 + + Item for peits to burn Elspet wt. 00j 04 00 + + Item for twa pecks of colls 000 16 00 + + Item for towes, small and great 000 04 00 + + Item for ane tarr barle to Andrew Aitken 00j 04 00 + + Item to Hugh Anderson for carrying of the peits and colls 000 06 00 + + Item to William Kirk qn she was burning, ane pint of aill 000 02 00 + + Item payed to Robert Creighton, conform to precept, viz., + eight shill Scots for beating the drumm at Elspet + M'Queen's funerall, and to James Carsson, his wife + threeteen shillings drunken by Elspet's executioner, at + seall times 00j 0j 00 + +It would thus appear that the executioner (William Kirk) had to be kept in +jail in order that he should be forthcoming at the execution. He seems to +have been an old, infirm man, without relations or friends, and on 8th +July, 1699, he addressed the following petition to the Provost and +Magistrates:-- + +"To the Right Honorable my Lord Provest, Baylies, and Cownsell of the +Royal Burgh of Kirkcut.--Humbly sheweth, That yor Honors patchioner is in +great straits in this dear time and lik to sterv for hwnger, and whan I go +to the cowntrie and foks many of them has it not and others of them that +hes it say they are overburdened with poor folk that they are not able to +stand before them, and they will bid me go hom to the town to maintain me +and cast stanes at me. May it therefore please your honors to look upon my +indigent condition and help me for the Lord sake, and yor honors pettioner +shall ever pray." + +In answer to the above "earnest cry and prayer" there appears the +following entry in the "Thessr's" account:-- + +"8th Jully, 1699. + +"The sd day the magistrates and Counsell ordains the Thessr. to give the +petitioner the next week six shill Scots forby his weekly allowance." + +Another document, which throws a curious side-light on Elspeth M'Ewen's +trial, is the sentence against one Janet Corbie, who advised Elspeth to +plead not guilty. It is as follows:-- + +"Kirkcudbright, -- day of July, 1698. + +"The same day, it being most palpably and cleirly evident and made appear +to ye magistrates and Consell yt. Janet Corbie, dauter of Wm. Corbie, +hath been and as yet continues in a most scandlous carrige, abusing of her +neybors by scandlous expressions, whereffor there hath been fformer ffines +put upon her, and that she is a persoun yt leeves by pyckering and +stealing as is most justly suspect yrof, and yt she hath been endevouring +to harden Elspeth M'Keoun, wha is in ye laigh sellar as ane wich, in +endevouring to dissuad her to confess and that people sinned ther sowl wha +said she was a wich, and ffor her constant practis in abuse of ye Lord's +Day emploing herselff yrin ofthymes in stealing her neybors guids such as +unyuns and bowcaill and taking them to ye countrie and makin sale yr of, +and sevll oyr thing yt upon just grownds could be mayd appere so yt to +long she hath been suffered to resyde in this place; yrfor, and yt ye +place may be troubled with such a miscrent, and scandlous person nae +langer in tym coming, ye magistrates and consell out of a due sens of yr +dutie and of ye justice of her sentens, ordains the said Janet Corbie to +remain in prison while Munday morning neist att ten o'clock and then to be +taken ffurth of the tolboth by ye officers and wt tuck of drum to be +transported over the ferry bote, to be exported in all tyme coming from ye +sosiety or convercacioune of all guid Christians and indwellers in ye +place, and never to return yrto, prohibiting and discharging all +inhabitants, qur parents, relaciouns, or any oyrs wtin ye toun's bouns, to +harbor, reset, convers, commune with, or entertane the said Janet or +receve her to their society or company at any place or tyme in all tyme +coming, and yt under ye pain of fforty pounds Scots muney to be peyd by +ilk transgressor, toties quoties to ye toun's Thessr. atower whatever oyer +punishment the magistrets and consell sall think fit further to impose, +and ordains thir presents to be publish at ye Mercat Cross yt non may +pretend ignorans in tyme coming, and the magistrats ordane to see the +sentence put in execution." + +_Extracts from Minute Book of the Kirk-Session of Kirkcudbright._(28) + +"Janet M'Robert in Milnburn is delated to the Session for Witchcraft, the +signs and instances qrof (whereof) are afterwards recorded. The Session +therefor recommends to the Magistrates to apprehend and incarcerate her +till tryall be had of that matter." + +"Feb. 6, 1701. + +"As to Janet M'Robert in Milnburn, it is delated by Elizabeth Lauchlon, +lawfull daughter to John Lauchlon yr., (there) that the sd. (said) +Elizabeth went to Janet's house, when she was not within, and looking in +at the door saw a wheel going about and spinning without the help of any +person seen by her, and she went in and essayed to lay hold of the said +wheel, but was beat back to the door and her head was hurt, though she saw +nobody. And yt. (that) after she was in the said Janet's House (being at +school with her) the Devil appeared to her in the likeness of a man, and +did bid her deliver herself over to him, from the crown of her head to the +sole of her foot, which she refused to do, saying she would rather give +herself to God Almighty. After the Devil went away the sd. (said) Janet, +who was present with her, laid bonds on her not to tell. And yr after he +came a second time to her, being in Janet's house alone, in the likeness +of a gentleman, and desired her to go with him, and yr after disappeared, +seeming not to go out at the door. + +"Robert Crichton's wife farther delates, that when she was winnowing corn +in Bailie Dunbar's barn, the said Janet came in to her and helped her, +tho' not desired, till she had done, and desired of her some chaff for her +cow. She gave her a small quantity in her apron, with which she seemed not +to be satisfied, so upon the morrow thereafter, the said Robert Crichton's +wife's breast swelled to a great height, which continued for about the +space of five weeks, so that the young child who was then sucking decayed +and vanished away to a shadow, and immediately yr after their cow took +such a distemper that her milk had neither the colour nor taste that it +used to have, so yt no use could be made of it, all which happened about +three years ago. + +"It is further delated by Howell, that being one day in John Robertson's +in the Milnburn, he desired to buy two hens. They said they had none, but +perhaps Janet M'Robert would do it, and accordingly he asked Janet, who +answered she had none to sell to him. He replied, 'you have them to eat my +goodmother's bear when it is sown; but (said he), my rough lad (meaning +his dog) will perhaps bring them to me.' She answered, 'your rough lad +will bring none of my hens this two days;' and before that he went to the +town, the dog went mad to the beholding of many. + +"Further, it is delated, that a friend of the said Janet's living in +Rerwick, whose wife was lying on childbed, did send his daughter to Janet +to borrow some money which she refused to give at the first, yet upon a +second consideration she gave her two fourteens, but still assured the +Lass that she would lose them. 'What,' (says the Lass) 'am I a child yet?' +and for the mare security she took a purse out of her pocket in which +there were no holes, and took out some turmour (turmerick) which she had +in it, and did put in the two fourteens and threw the neck of her purse +(as she used perhaps to do) assuring herself that she should not lose them +now, and went home, and when she came there, she opened the purse to take +out the two fourteens, and she had nothing. + +[Illustration: "A WITCH TRIAL." J. Copland.] + +"Further, it is delated by John M'Gympser's wife, Agnes Kirk, that the +said Janet came one day there, and desired a hare's bouk (carcase) which +she refused, and since that time their dog hath neither been able to run +or take ane hare." + +"Feb. 12th, 1701. + +"As to Janet M'Robert, John Bodden in Milnburn delates, that at the laik +wake of his child three years ago, Patrick Linton's son heard a great +noise about Janet's house, so yt he was afraid to go out at the door, and +John Bodden himself going to the door heard it also, at which he was +greatly affrighted. Upon the morrow yr after, the said Janet went into +John's house, and they told her what they heard the night before about her +house. Janet answered, 'It is nothing but my clocken hen'; but John +declared that 'all the hens within twenty miles would not have made such a +noise.' + +"The sd. John further delates that, upon the Wednesday after Janet was +incarcerated, he did see about cock-crow a candle going through the said +Janet's house, but saw nothing holding it." + +The Finding-- + +"April 10th, 1701. + +"As to Janet M'Robert, an extract of the delations against her being sent +to Edinburgh, and a commission written for to pursue her legally it was +denyed in regard they judged the delations not to be sufficient +presumptions of guilt, so as to found a process of that nature. +Notwithstanding thereof the said Janet consented to an act of banishment, +and went hence to Ireland." + +_Extracts from Session Book of Twynholm._(29) + +"18th April, 1703. + +"Jean M'Murrie in Irelandton, suspect of witchcraft, being aprehended and +incarcerated in the tolbooth of Kirkcudbright upon a warrant from the +civil magistrate, the minr. (minister) is desired to cause cite to the +next Session any whom he can find to have any presumptions of witchcraft +agt the said Jean." + +"25th April, 1703. + +"The minister reports that he (as he was desired) has caused cite some +persons anent Jean M'Murrie's suspected witchcraft, such as-- + +"1st. Florence Sprot, who being called and compearing, declares that by +the report of the country Jean M'Murrie has been under the name of a witch +for many years. + +"2d. John M'Gown in Culcray, in Tongland, declares, that he having a +daughter of Jean M'Murrie's with him, the said Jean came one day to his +house before her daughter went from him, and the sd Jean having conceived +some anger because her daughter came to him without the said Jean's +consent, she staying a little in his house, went away to a neighbour's +house, and stayed there all night, and the said John going to her +to-morrow, when she saw the said John she inquired how it came to pass +that he took her daughter without her consent; and he desiring her back +again to his house, but she by no entreatie wd (would) go to his house, +and left the said John in a rage, and within about four days his wife took +a dreadful stitch thro' her, as if she had been stricken with a whinger or +knife, and his wife desiring earnestly that Jean M'Murrie would come and +see her, but the sd Jean would never come to see her (altho' bidden by +Janet Dallan in Irlandton), and so the said John's wife continued in great +pain until she died. + +"3d. Issobel M'Gown in Netherton, who, being called and compearing, +declares that Jean M'Murrie has been under the name of a witch for many +years by the report of the country. + +"4th. Christian Bisset in Glencroft, declares that Jean M'Murrie has been +under the name of a witch since she came to the parish, which is more than +ten years." + +"2nd May, 1703. + +"Janet M'Haffie in the Mark of Twynhame, declares that, in harvest 1700, +Jean M'Murrie came one night to the said Mark after they had been at the +Mill, and the said Janet M'Haffie going to milk the kye, disowned the said +Jean (not knowing that it was she), neither did any other about the Mark +own the said Jean that night, and Jean going away without any alms that +night, upon the morrow their milk was made useless, having a loathsome +smell, likewise the said Janet M'Haffie fell sick, and was like a daft +body for about eight days, at the end whereof both the sd. Janet and their +milk grew better." + +"2nd May, 1703. + +"Margaret Kingan in Inglishtown, declares along with Quintin Furmount, +kirk-officer, that John Neilson in Waltrees said to them, that this last +ware Jean M'Murrie was selling about a peck of corn to the said John, and +the said John would not give the said Jean what she would have for the +said corn, and so the said Jean went away from him in anger, and the said +John's horse did sweat until he died." + +"2nd May, 1703. + +"Robert Gelly and Sarah M'Nacht, in Chappell in Tongland, heaving been +hearing sermon in Twynhame this day, were desired by the minister to wait +upon the Session, which was to meet after sermon, which accordingly they +did, and the said Sarah declares before the Session that upon a day about +Midsummer last, Jean M'Murrie came into the Chappel and sought a piece +bread to a lass that she had with her, and Sarah M'Nacht said she had no +bread ready. Jean M'Murrie said, she (viz. the lass that was with her) +would it may be take some of these pottage (Sarah having some pottage +among her hands) but, however, Sarah gave her none, and Jean M'Murrie +going away muttering, said, either 'you may have more loss,' or 'you shall +have more loss,' and within about six hours or thereby thereafter, Robert +Gelly lost a horse, and that the said Jean came never to Robert Gelly's +house since that time, and the said Robert declares that he has still the +thoughts that his horse was killed with divelrie." + +"2nd May, 1703. + +"Robert Bryce, Robert M'Burnie, and William Brown, ruling elders, declared +that Thomas Craig in Barwhinnock said to them that upon a day more than +two years ago Jean M'Murrie came to his house and sought his horse, and +began to discourse to the sd Thomas and his wife about flesh. Thomas said +they had no flesh. She went away in a rage and said, 'God send them more +against the next time she should come there,' and within a week the said +Thomas lost a quey by drowning." + +The finding:-- + +"9th May, 1703. + +"Robert Bryce attended the Presbytery. The minister reports that Jean +M'Murray, having sought an Act of Banishment to transport herself out of +the Stewartrie of Kirkcudbright within or at the end of ten days, and +never to be found within the same again under the pain of death, is let +out of Prison." + +Members of the Kirk-Session of Twynholm at this time:--William Clark, +Minister; James Robison, Thomas Robison, John Herries, Ninian M'Nae, +Robert Bryce, James Milrae, William Milrae, William Brown, Thomas Sproat, +James M'Kenna, Alexander Halliday, Robert M'Burnie. + +_Parish of Urr._--The following is an extract from the Presbytery records +of Dumfries, dated 22nd April, 1656:--(30) + +"John M'Quhan in Urr, compeared, confessing that he went to Dundrennan, to +a witch-wife, for medicine for his sick wife, and that he got a salve for +her, and that the wife said to him, 'If the salve went in his wife would +live, if not she would die.' Janet Thomson in Urr, compearing, confessed +that she went to the said witch, and got a salve to her mother, and that +the witch bade her take her mother, and lay her furth twenty-four hours; +and said that her mother got her sickness between the mill and her ain +house, and bade her tak her to the place where she took it, and wash her +with (elder) leaves. She also confessed that the deceased Thomas M'Minn +and his friends sent her at another time to the same witch, whose name is +Janet Miller. They were both rebuked (by the Presbytery), and referred to +their own Session to be rebuked from the pillar in sackcloth, and the +witch Janet Miller was further detained, the parish minister to announce +from the pulpit that all who could were required to give evidence 'of sic +devilish practices.'" + +_Kirkpatrick-Durham Kirk-Session._--At Bridge of Urr, Isobel M'Minn called +Jean Wallace a witch. Jean told the Session. Both women were summoned to +appear. The Session decided there was no witchcraft in the matter. + +"The Session, having shown them the evil of such strife and scolding, and +having exhorted them to live in peace and be reconciled to each other, +made them promise each to other that no such strife should be between them +any more."(31) + +_Parish of Carsphairn._--An arbitrary incident of witch detection took +place during the ministry of John Semple, a man who, if somewhat +eccentric, was graced with extraordinary piety and natural ability. + +Of him it is recorded that "Upon a certain time when a neighbouring +minister was distributing tokens before the Sacrament, and was reaching a +token to a certain woman, Mr Semple (standing by) said 'Hold your hand, +she hath gotten too many tokens already: she is a witch,' which, though +none suspected her then, she herself confessed to be true, and was +deservedly put to death for the same."(32) + +John Semple died at Carsphairn about the year 1667. + +_Extract from Minnigaff Kirk-Session Records._--"There being a flagrant +report yt. some persons in this parish in and about the house of Barcly +(Bargaly) have practised that piece of devilrie, commonly called 'turning +the riddle,' as also it being reported yt. ye principal person is one +Malley Redmond, an Irish woman, for present nurse in the house of Barcly +to ye young lady Tonderghie, as also yt. Alex. Kelly, Gilbert Kelly his +son, and Marion Murray, formerly servant in Barcly, now in Holme, were +witnesses yrto, the Session appoints ye said Malley and ye said witnesses +to be cited to ye nixt meeting." + +Malley, after some delay, at length appeared, but positively denied having +"practised that piece of devilry turning the riddle," but acknowledged +that she had seen it done in her father's house in Ireland by two girls on +the occasion of something having been stolen, "to fear ye guilty person +yt. it might restore yt. was stolen." Malley was exhorted to be ingenuous, +but she persisted in asserting her innocence. The Session, therefore, +resolved to proceed to proof. The proceedings occupy a number of pages, +and are too long for insertion; but the particulars are comprehended in +the deposition of Marrion Murray:-- + +"Marrion Murray, aged 18 years, having been sworn, purged of malice and +partial counsel, deponeth yt. she (not having seen any other person doing +it before her), together with ye nurse held the riddle between ym. having +a pair of little schissors fastened into ye rim of the riddle, whereof ye +nurse Malley Redmond held one point and she the other, and that ye nurse +mumbled some words mentioning Peter and Paul, and that when the nurse said +these words the riddle stirred less or more, and after ye nurse had said +ye words she bad ye deponent say them too, and that she accordingly said +the same things back again to the nurse, and that the deponent had said to +ye nurse Malley before ever she meddled with it that if she knew yr. was +anything evil in doing of it she would not meddle with it, and ye nurse +replied yr. was no evil in it, and further that to sift the meddling with +it she offered to take ye child from ye lady's arms, but ye young lady put +her to it, bidding her go do it. As also yt. further ye said Marion +depones yt. ye same day, a little after, ye young lady bad her go to ye +barn and yr do it over again with ye nurse, which she positively refused, +whereupon ye young lady did it herself with all the circumstances she and +the nurse had done it in the chambers before; moreover, that some days +after, the chamber door being close upon the young lady and her nurse +Malley, ye deponent, looking through a hole in ye door, saw ye nurse and +ye lady standing and ye riddle betwixt ym. as before, but heard nothing. +And further, yt. ye lady and her nurse bad her deny these things, but did +not bid her swear to it." + +For her participation in the affair the young lady Tonderghie, Mrs Janet +Blair, was cited before the Session, and having expressed her penitence +for being ensnared into such sinful practices, she and Marion Murray +subscribed a declaration to be read before the congregation, "abhorring +and renouncing all spelles and charmes usual to wizards; and having been +rebooked and exhorted to greater watchfulness for the future, they were +dismissed." + +The originator of the affair, Malley Redmond, after making her appearance +to be "rebooked" before the congregation, was banished the parish. But the +execution of the sentence was, through influence, delayed "till Tonderghie +younger, his child, should be weaned."(33) + +_Parish of New Luce._--The only point of interest in connection with the +parish of New Luce is that the chief witness against Maggie Osborne, who +was burned as a witch at Ayr, was an elder in the Moor Kirk of Luce, to +which reference has already been made. + +_Parish of Whithorn._--An old woman named Elspeth M'Keand lived on the +farm of Palmallet, near Whithorn. On one occasion she was arraigned before +the magistrates of Whithorn for some supposed uncannie doings, but the +authorities, not endorsing the general belief, set her at liberty. So +disappointed and enraged were the community at her liberation that they +caught her and inserted a host of new brass pins in her body, and +afterwards dragged her down to the shore at Dinnans, holding her below +water until life was nearly extinct. The old woman never fairly recovered +from this cruel treatment, and when she died her remains were objected to +as not being fit to rest in the Kirkyaird.(34) + +_Parish of Kirkmaiden._--In the parish of Kirkmaiden we find a zealous +prosecutor of witches in the person of the Rev. Mr Marshall, who was +ordained in 1697. He was assisted in his efforts by a woman brought from +the town of Wigtown, who was credited with possessing an expert faculty of +at once being able to distinguish and pick out witches and warlocks from +amongst ordinary mortals, however similar to them in outward appearance. + +All the adults in the parish were summoned to attend at the Parish Church +on a given date and passed through the church from one door to the other. +The minister placed himself in the precentor's box, with writing materials +at his hand, the witch-finder being seated beside him. When witch or +warlock passed, the woman tramped on the minister's toes and the name was +at once recorded. A long list was thus made out, and the Kirk-Session +afterwards inquired into the charges brought against the various +individuals, which proceedings were afterwards inserted in the Session +records. + +The stigma thus cast upon many families in the district was only removed +by influence being brought to bear to destroy by burning the accusing +pages of the Session records. + +Tradition asserts that retribution at the hands of the Kirkmaiden witches +overtook the reverend gentleman, for, taking his accustomed walk from the +manse to the church, a hare running out of the churchyard crossed his +path, and from that time forward he was never again able to open his mouth +in the pulpit of Kirkmaiden Church. He was shortly afterwards translated +to Kirkcolm, and though he often visited Kirkmaiden he could never occupy +the pulpit, even on the day of Sacramental observance.(35) + + * * * * * + +So late as 1805 a trial took place at Kirkcudbright connected with +witchcraft which aroused considerable excitement in the district, creating +keen interest as well in legal circles. + +This was the trial of "Jean Maxwell," who was accused of "pretending to +exercise witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, and conjuration, and +undertaking to tell fortunes." + +The point which is of note, and calls for accentuation is, that Jean +Maxwell was arraigned, not for being a witch, but for the imposition of +pretending to possess witch power. This has been commented upon by +Professor John Ferguson of Glasgow in his paper, "Bibliographical Notes on +the Witchcraft Literature of Scotland" (_Publications of the Edinburgh +Bibliographical Society_, vol. iii., 74 (1899), in which he says: "It will +be noticed that Jean is indicted for PRETENDING to exercise witchcraft, +etc. In fact, the indictment is made under the Act of George II., cap. 5, +which repeals the statutes against witchcraft.... It is an interesting +case, as having occurred under the repealing Act." + +The following is the indictment:-- + +"Jean Maxwell, present prisoner in the Tolbooth of Kirkcudbright, you are +indicted at the instance of Robert Gordon, writer in Kirkcudbright, +Procurator-Fiscal of the Steward Court of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright +for his Majesty's interest; that albeit by the Act of Parliament passed in +the ninth year of the Reign of King George the Second, Cap. 5th, intituled +'An Act to repeal the Statute made in the first year of the Reign of James +the First, intituled, "An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft, and dealing +with Evil and Witched Spirits;" except so much thereof as repeals an Act +of the fifth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, against Conjurations, +Inchantments, and Witchcraft.' And to repeal an Act passed in the +Parliament of Scotland in the Ninth Parliament of Queen Mary, intituled +'Anentis Witchcraft; and for punishing such persons as pretend to exercise +or use any kind of Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, or Conjuration.' It +is enacted 'That if any person shall from and after the twenty-fourth day +of June next, pretend to exercise or use any kind of Witchcraft, Sorcery, +Inchantment, or Conjuration, or undertake to tell Fortunes or pretend from +his or her skill or knowledge in ocult or crafty science, to discover +where or in what manner any goods or chattels supposed to have been lost, +may be found; every person so offending being therefore lawfully convicted +on Indictment of Information, in that part of Great Britain called +England; or on Indictment or Libel, in that part of Great Britain called +Scotland, shall for every such offence suffer imprisonment for the space +of one whole year without Bail or Mainprize; and once in every quarter of +the said year, in some Market Town of the proper County, upon the Market +Day there, stand openly on the Pillory for the space of one hour; and also +shall (if the Court by which such Judgment shall be given think fit) be +obliged to give surety for his or her good behaviour, in such sum, and for +such time as the said Court shall judge proper, according to the +circumstances of the offence; and in such case shall be further imprisoned +until such sureties be given.' + +"Notwithstanding of the said Act of Parliament, you, the said Jean +Maxwell, are Guilty, Actor, Art and Part of pretending to exercise +Witchcraft, Sorcery, Inchantment, and Conjuration; and of undertaking to +tell fortunes, &c., &c. (in the manner particularly mentioned in the +Deposition of Jean Davidson, hereto annexed). In so far as you the said +Jean Maxwell, did, upon Thursday the twenty-seventh, Friday the +twenty-eighth, and Saturday the twenty-ninth days of December last, in the +year one thousand eight hundred and four, and upon Tuesday the first and +Tuesday the eighth days of January last, in the year one thousand eight +hundred and five, or upon some one or other of the days or nights of these +months, or of the month of November immediately preceding, or of the month +of February immediately following, at Little Cocklick, in the Parish of +Urr, and Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, pretend to Tell Fortunes by Tea Cups +and the grounds of Tea; and did tell to Jean Davidson, Servant to Francis +Scott, farmer in Little Cocklick aforesaid, that she would soon bear a +Bastard to a certain young man, Hugh Rafferton; which you said you could +prevent by certain means. And you, the said Jean Maxwell, caused the said +Jean Davidson to rub or anoint her forehead and other parts of her head +with a liquid contained in bottle produced by you, which so much +intoxicated and disordered the said Jean Davidson that she would have done +anything that you the said Jean Maxwell had asked her to do; and you the +said Jean Maxwell, availing yourself of the situation that she the said +Jean Davidson was in, declared to her that the Devil would speedily appear +and tear her in pieces, unless she obeyed you, the said Jean Maxwell, in +every particular. And you, the said Jean Maxwell, caused the said Jean +Davidson take oaths of Secrecy for the purpose of concealing your wicked +and felonious purposes. That on the said twenty-seventh day of December +last you, the said Jean Maxwell, caused the said Jean Davidson produce a +Guinea Note, which you pretended to hold up in a small bit of paper, +putting round it some lint, and stitching in it nine pins, after which you +gave it to the said Jean Davidson and ordered her to cast it into the +fire, which she did accordingly. And you, the said Jean Maxwell, then +ordered the said Jean Davidson to bring one of her shifts and three +shillings with it, which you sewed up in the tail of the shift, and said +that the shift was to be consumed in the fire, as an Offering to the +Devil, who was to appear at the time of the burning of the shift, in the +shape of either a Bull or a Swine; and at the same time you, the said Jean +Maxwell, gave to the said Jean Davidson a powder sewed up in a piece of +fine linen and stuck through with nine pins, which you injoined her to +wear at her breast till the day of her death, and tell no mortal of it. +That on the said twenty-eighth day of December last you, the said Jean +Maxwell, told the said Jean Davidson that the Devil had rejected two +sixpences of the money formerly sent him in the tail of the shift; that he +insisted in lieu of the sixpences to have two shillings with heads on +them; and that he was up and stirring, and must be satisfied; and the said +Jean Davidson, having furnished the shillings, you, the said Jean Maxwell, +after stamping on the ground twice or thrice with your foot, pretended to +hand them to Satan as if he had stood behind you. That on the said +twenty-ninth day of December last you, the said Jean Maxwell, declared to +the said Jean Davidson that the Devil was still up, and that he must have +a man's shirt of plain linen, and in it a shoulder of mutton; and the said +Jean Davidson, terrified by your threats, gave you a check shirt of the +said Francis Scott's, her master, together with a Shoulder of Mutton, also +his property, tied up in the shirt; and you the said Jean Maxwell, tied up +these articles in your own Budget; and then, telling the said Jean +Davidson that all this was insufficient to lay the Devil, you asked her +for half-a-crown more; and the said Jean Davidson in confusion and fright +gave you a Dollar, which you said would do as well, and that at any rate +it must not be taken back being once offered; and then you the said Jean +Maxwell, went to the back of the byre at Little Cocklick aforesaid, and +returned and told the said Jean Davidson that you had laid the Devil so +that he could not come nearer her than the back of the byre, but cautioned +her strongly not to travel that way nor farther after it was dark. That on +the said first day of January last, you the said Jean Maxwell returned to +Little Cocklick aforesaid, and told the said Jean Davidson, that Hugh +Rafferton was to be with her on the Thursday ensuing, very lovingly and +ready to marry her, or do whatever she should ask of him: and moreover, +you the said Jean Maxwell declared that, if the said Jean Davidson used +Hugh Rafferton harshly, and refused to marry him, Hugh Rafferton would +lose his reason and go stark mad at the end of eight weeks; that in the +meantime however you must have another Guinea Note for the Devil, with a +faced shilling in it; and the money was furnished by the said Jean +Davidson; when you the said Jean Maxwell clipped or pretended to cut the +note, in small pieces with scissors, pretending that in this manner it was +to be presented to the Devil alongst with the faced shilling. That soon +after this, you the said Jean Maxwell, told the said Jean Davidson that +the first note was not accepted, and that you must have an Old and very +Tattered Note and three Shillings more, which having been furnished by the +said Jean Davidson, you the said Jean Maxwell bound up the Note with paper +and lint, and having stuck it with nine pins gave it to the said Jean +Davidson who threw it into the fire; and you the said Jean Maxwell, after +stamping on the ground, handed the three Shillings behind you so that +Satan might receive them as you pretended he had received the former +presents; that these things being done, you the said Jean Maxwell left the +said Jean Davidson at her father's house at Killymingan, in the Parish of +Kirkgunzeon, on the said first day of January last, declaring that Hugh +Rafferton should wait on her in deep humility on the Thursday ensuing; and +that all the money offered to Satan should be returned into the said Jean +Davidson's Chest on the subsequent Friday morning by sun-rising; and that +all should be, and really was, perfectly right. That on the said eighth +day of January last you the said Jean Maxwell again waited on the said +Jean Davidson, at the house of the said Francis Scott, in Little Cocklick +aforesaid, and told that all was gone wrong, that the Devil had proved too +strong for you, the said Jean Maxwell, and had rent a check apron given +you by the said Jean Davidson formerly for a burnt offering; and you the +said Jean Maxwell pretended to show the distinct marks of Satan's claws, +and the mark of his Thumb on your arm, adding, that he could not be laid +without the aid of John M'George, commonly called the 'Devil-Raiser' of +Urr; and for that end, you the said Jean Maxwell demanded Two Notes more, +and three pieces of flesh meat, one of them to be pork, which you +professed to roll up at great peril in the check apron; and you the said +Jean Maxwell also insisted to have the said Jean Davidson's duffle cloak, +but the said Jean Davidson, having by this time got into the use of her +reason, got the better of the terror of the oaths of secresy imposed upon +her by the said Jean Maxwell, managed so as to detain you until a +Constable was sent for, who took you into Custody and carried you before +the Reverend Dr James Muirhead of Logan, one of his Majesty's Justices of +the Peace for the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in whose presence you +emitted a Declaration, upon the ninth day of January last, in the year one +thousand eight hundred and five, which Declaration is subscribed by your +mark, and by the said Dr James Muirhead, because you declared that you +could not write; and the said declaration being to be used in evidence +against you the said Jean Maxwell, will in due time be lodged with the +Steward Clerk, that you may have an opportunity of seeing the same. + +"At least times and place aforesaid, WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY, INCHANTMENT, and +CONJURATION, were pretended to be exercised and used, and fortunes were +undertaken to be told, all in manner particularly before mentioned; and +you the said Jean Maxwell, are Guilty Actor, Art and Part of the said +crimes; All which, or part thereof, being found proven by the Verdict of +an Assize before the Steward-Depute of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and +his Substitutes, in a Court to be holden by them or either of them within +the Court-House of Kirkcudbright, upon the twenty-first day of June, in +the present year one thousand eight hundred and five; you the said Jean +Maxwell, Ought to be imprisoned in the Tolbooth of Kirkcudbright by the +space of one whole year without Bail or Mainprize; and once in every +quarter of the said year, to stand Openly in the Jugs or Pillory, at the +Market Cross of the Burgh of Kirkcudbright, by the space of one hour; and +to be farther imprisoned in the said Tolbooth, for your good behaviour, in +such sum and for such time as the said court shall judge proper, agreeably +to the provisions and enactments of the said Act of Parliament, to deter +others from committing the like crimes in time coming." + +The Procurator-Fiscal concluded his Proof, and the Steward-Depute remitted +the Cause to the Verdict of the Assize. + +The persons that passed upon the Assize of the said Jean Maxwell, returned +their Verdict to the Court; and the tenor thereof is as follows:-- + +"At Kirkcudbright, the 21st day of June, 1805, the Assize being enclosed, +did make choice of Alexander Melville of Barwhar to be their Chancellor, +and William Mure, Factor for the Earl of Selkirk, to be their Clerk; and +having considered the Indictment raised at the instance of Robert Gordon, +Writer in Kirkcudbright, Procurator-Fiscal of Court for His Majesty's +interest, against Jean Maxwell, present Prisoner in the Tolbooth of +Kirkcudbright, the Pannel, with the Interlocutor of the Steward-Depute of +the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright thereon, and the whole Proof adduced, they +Unanimously Find the said Jean Maxwell Guilty of the Crimes charged +against her in the said Indictment. In Testimony, whereof, &c. + + (Signed) ALEXR. MELVILLE, Chancellor. + ( " ) WILL. MURE, Clerk." + +(Court adjourned for a week.) + +"Kirkcudbright, 28th June, 1805. + +"The Steward-Depute having considered the Verdict of the Assize, bearing +date the twenty-first day of June current, and returned into Court that +day against Jean Maxwell, the Pannel, whereby she is found guilty of +pretending to exercise WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY, INCHANTMENT, and CONJURATION, +and of undertaking to tell fortunes, contrary to the Enactments and +Provisions of the Act of Parliament passed in the 5th year of the Reign of +King George the Second, Chapter fifth, in the manner charged against her +in the Indictment, at instance of the Procurator-Fiscal of Court; the +Steward Depute, in respect of the said Verdict, Decerns and Adjudges the +said Jean Maxwell to be carried back from the Bar to the Tolbooth of +Kirkcudbright, and to be Imprisoned therein for the space of One Whole +Year, without Bail or Mainprize; and Once in every Quarter of the said +year to stand openly upon a Market day in the Jugs or Pillory, at the +Market Cross of the Burgh of Kirkcudbright, for the space of One Hour, +&c.--(Signed) ALEXR. GORDON." + +It only remains to be added that this sentence was rigorously carried out. + +A small, and now scarce volume, containing a full account of the trial, +was published at Kirkcudbright the same year, of which the following is a +copy of the title-page:-- + + REMARKABLE TRIAL + OF + JEAN MAXWELL + THE + Galloway Sorceress: + + Which took place at KIRKCUDBRIGHT + on the twenty-eighth day of June last, + 1805: + + For Pretending to Exercise + WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY, INCHANTMENT, + CONJURATION, etc. + + "And that distilled by Magic slights + Shall raise such artificial sprights, + As by the strength of their illusion + Shall draw him on to his confusion." + --_Macbeth._ + + KIRKCUDBRIGHT: + Printed by Alexander Gordon. + 1805. + + +PROCEEDINGS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. + +Concerning Dumfriesshire there falls to be recorded numerous instances of +accusation and trial, which includes the ever-to-be-regretted consummation +of fanaticism in this district--the burning of nine unhappy women on the +Sands of Dumfries in the year 1659. + +_Burgh of Dumfries._ + +_Extract from the Dumfries Burgh Treasurer's Books, May 27th, +1657._--Detailed items of expenditure incurred at the burning of two women +convicted of witchcraft: "For 38 load of peitts to burn the two women, £3 +12s (Scots). Mair, given to William Edgar for ane tar barrell, 12s; for +ane herring barrell, 14s. Given to John Shotrick, for carrying the twa +barrells to the pledge (house), 6s. Mair, given to the four officers that +day that the whiches was burnt, at the provest and bayillis command, 24s. +Given to Thomas Anderson for the two stoups and the two steaves (to which +the women were tied), 30s."(36) + +_Resolution of Kirk-Session of Dumfries, 1658._--The Kirk-Session of +Dumfries, after solemn deliberation on the subject, required the minister +to announce from the pulpit that all persons having evidence to give +against such as were under suspicion of "the heinous and abominable sin of +witchcraft," should be ready to furnish the same to the Session without +delay; and at their next meeting the elders wisely qualified the order, by +resolving that anyone who charged another with being guilty of "sic +devilisch practises," without due reason, should be visited with the +severest discipline of the Kirk.(37) + +_Official Information regarding the burning of the nine women on the Sands +of Dumfries, 13th April, 1659._ + +These women were first strangled and then burned. The following +particulars were gleaned from the books of the High Court of Justiciary +kept at the Register House, Edinburgh:-- + +_1659._--The Court was opened at Dumfries on the 2nd of April, in the +above year, by the "Commissioners in Criminal Cases to the people in +Scotland," Judge Mosley and Judge Lawrence; and that ten women, each +charged with divers acts of witchcraft, were brought before them for +trial. The proceedings appear to have lasted until the 5th. One of the +accused, Helen Tait, had a rather narrow escape--the jury finding by a +plurality of voices that the "dittay" in her case was "not cleirly +proven." Nevertheless, before being dismissed from the bar, she was +required to find security to the extent of £50 sterling for her good +behaviour, and that she would banish herself from the parish. The nine +other unfortunates were all convicted, as is shown by the subjoined +minute, giving the finding of the jury and the deliverance of the judge, +as pronounced by the official dempster, "F. Goyyen":--(38) + +"_Drumfreis, the 5th of Apryle, 1659._--The Commissioners adjudges Agnes +Comenes, Janet M'Gowane, Jean Tomson, Margt. Clerk, Janet M'Kendrig, Agnes +Clerk, Janet Corsane, Helen Moorhead, and Janet Callon, as found guilty of +the severall articles of witchcraft mentioned in the dittayes, to be tane +upon Wednesday come eight days to the ordinar place of execution for the +burghe of Drumfreis, and ther, betuing 2 and 4 hours of the afternoon, to +be strangled at staikes till they be dead, and therefter ther bodyes to be +burned to ashes, and all ther moveable goods to be esheite. Further, it is +ordained that Helen Moorhead's moveables be intromitted with by the +Shereff of Nithsdaile, to seize upon and herrie the samin for the King's +use."(39) + +[Illustration: THE BURNING OF THE NINE WOMEN ON THE SANDS OF DUMFRIES, +APRIL 13TH, 1659. (Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.)] + +_Resolution of the Dumfries Presbytery regarding the attendance of +clergymen before the carrying out of the sentence, and at the actual +"burning" of the women, on the Sands_:-- + +"5th April, 1659. + +"The Presbytery have appoynted Mr Hugh Henrison, Mr Wm. M'Gore, Mr George +Campbell, Mr John Brown, Mr Jo. Welsh, Mr George Johnston, Mr Wm. Hay, and +Mr Gabriel Semple, to attend the nine witches, and that they tak thair own +convenient opportunity to confer with them; also that they be assisting to +the brethren of Dumfries and Galloway the day of the Execution."(40) + +_Dumfries, 14th November, 1664._--An edict from the Town Council: "The +Counsall being informed that Janet Burnes, commonly reputed a witche, and +quho hath bein banished out of severall burghis, and put out of this burgh +in the month of August last, for cheating the people upon pretence of +knowledge of all things done by them in tym past, or that may fall out in +tym cuming, with certification to be scurgit if ever she was sein within +the burgh theireafter; and being well informed that she was sein within +the town on Saturday, they have ordaint that intimation be made by touk of +drum, that non of the inhabitants resset or give meit or drink unto the +said Janet Burnes."(41) + +_Court of Justiciary, Tolbooth of Dumfries, May 18th, 1671._--Warrant for +the execution of two alleged witches: "Magistrates of Drumfreis, Forasmuch +as in ane Court of Justiciarie, holden be us within the Tolbuthe of +Drumfreis, upon the fyftein day of May instant, Janet Muldritche, and +Elspeth Thomsone, now found guiltie be ane assyze of the severall articles +of witchcraft specified in the verdict given against them thereanent, were +decerned and adjudged be us, The Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, to be +tane upon Thursday next, the eighteen day of May instant, betwixt two and +four houres in the afternoune, to (the) ordinare place of executione, for +the toune of Drumfreis, and there to be worried at ane stake till they be +dead; and theirafter their bodies to be burnt to ashes, and all their +moveable goods and geir to be escheit. You shall thairfoir cause put the +said sentence to due executione, whereanent their presents shall be your +warrand. Given at Drumfreis the sixteen day of May, 1671."(42) + +_Court of Justiciary, Dumfries, 1709._--Last trial for witchcraft in +Scotland: The accused was named Elspeth Rule; the indictment against her +being that she was by habit and repute a witch, and had used threatening +expressions towards persons at enmity with her, who, in consequence of +such menace, suffered from the death of friends or the loss of cattle, +while one of them became mad. + +The jury by a majority of votes found the charges proven; and the judge +condemned the prisoner to be burned upon the cheek with a hot iron and +banished for life. It is told how, when this brutal act of branding the +cheek was being carried out, smoke was seen issuing from the poor woman's +mouth.(43) + + _Dumfries and Major Weir, the notorious Edinburgh warlock--a slight + connecting link with Dumfries._ + + In his more youthful days Major Weir led an active military life, + serving as an officer in the Puritan Army during the Civil War (1641). + In the Registers of the Estates under March 3rd, 1647, reference is + made to a supplication by Major Thomas Weir, asking "that the + Parliament wald ordain John Acheson, Keeper of the Magazine, to + re-deliver to the supplicant the band given by him to the said John + upon the receipt of are thousand weight of poulder, two thousand + weight of match, and an thousand weight of ball, sent with the + supplicant to Dumfries for furnishing that part of the country." + +_Presbytery of Dumfries (Southern District), March, 1692._--Marion Dickson +in Blackshaw, Isobel Dickson in Locherwood, Agnes Dickson (daughter of +Isobel), and Marion Herbertson in Mouswaldbank, had for a long time been +"suspected of the abominable and horrid crime of witchcraft," and were +believed to have "committed many grievous malefices upon several persons +their neighbours and others." It was declared to be damnifying "to all +good men and women living in the country thereabouts, who cannot assure +themselves of safety of their lives by such frequent malefices as they +commit." + +Under these circumstances, James Fraid, John Martin, William Nicolson, and +Thomas Jaffrey in Blackshaw, John Dickson in Slop of Locherwoods, John +Dickson in Locherwoods, and John Dickson in Overton of Locherwoods, took +it upon them to apprehend the women, and carried them to be imprisoned at +Dumfries by the sheriff, which, however, the sheriff did not consent to +till after the six men had granted a bond engaging to prosecute. Fortified +with a certificate from the Presbytery of Dumfries, who were "fully +convinced of the guilt (of the women), and of the many malefices committed +by them," the men applied to the Privy Council for a commission to try the +delinquents. + +The Lords ordered the women to be transported to Edinburgh for trial.(44) + +_Kirk-Session of Caerlaverock._--Charge of alleged divination brought at +their instance, before the Dumfries Presbytery, 22nd March, 1697: +"Compeared John Fergusson in Woodbarns, who acknowledged his scandalous +carriage in charming and turning the key at Bankend conform to the +accusation, but says he knew not there was any evil in it. The Presbytery +appoint him to stand on the pillar in the church of Caerlaverock, and be +sharply rebuked for his scandalous _practice_ and recommends him to the +magistrates to be secured till he give bail to answer and satisfy conform +to this act." + +The actual circumstance connected with this charge of alleged divination +are briefly as follows:--About the middle of January, 1697, two men +returning from Dumfries entered the tavern of William Nairns at Bankend of +Caerlaverock. These were John Fergusson of Woodbarns, Cummertrees, and +William Richardson, Cummertreestown. On leaving the inn Richardson +discovered that a sack of provisions had been taken from the saddle of his +horse which had been tied to a ring at the door. Entering the house, he +made known his loss, declaiming loudly against the thief. In the utmost +sympathy with his friend's loss, Fergusson declared he could soon find out +who the thief was, and called out that two Bibles should be brought to him +at once, to which the landlord stoutly demurred; but Fergusson threatened +that unless he got his own way he "would make bloody work among them," and +two Bibles were accordingly brought to the said John Fergusson, "who +brought a key out of his pocket and put the one end of it within one Bible +and the bowl end out, clasping the Bible upon it, and two holding the bowl +of the key upon their fingers. The said John then read three verses of the +50th Psalm out of the second Bible, beginning always at the 18th verse, +always naming a person before he began to read, till they came to William +M'Kinnell in the same town; and when they named him, and were reading the +said Scripture, the key and the Bible turned about and fell on the table. +This was done three times, as attested by James Tait, mason, who is +quartered in Townhead; James Fergusson, servitor to George Maxwell of +Isle; George Fergusson in Bankend; and William Nairns, in whose house it +was done."(45) + +_Extracts from Irongray Kirk-Session Records._ + +"September 24th, 1691. + +"David Muirhead of Drumpark and his wife, being called before the Session +and examined anent ane strife betwixt them and Janet Sinklar, submitted +themselves to the will of the Session. Janet Sinklar also submitted to the +will of the Session for saying that she doubted Drumpark's wife of murder +and witchcraft, and is appointed to receive publick rebuke before the +congregation." + +"August 30, 1691. + +"William Anderson in Hall of Forest, being called before the Session for +bringing his child to a smith to be charmed with ane forge hammer, +confessed his sin and received a rebuke before the Session." + +"November 13, 1692. + +"John Charters in Barncleugh, being called before the Session as witness +nominat by James Wright to prove witchcraft against Janet Kirk, denied +that he knew anything of witchcraft in her. Margaret Smyth, wife of John +Jonston, being called before the Session, declared in her hearing that +Janet Kirk, being brought in to Elizabeth Jonston, being grievously +tormented with sickness like to distraction, pronounced these words, that +'if God had taken the health from her let Him given it again, and if the +devil had taken it from her to give it her again.' On which she was +rebuked." + +"April 16th, 1693. + +"Jean Stot (Ingleston) confessed before the Session that she blessed God +if Jean Grier's prayings had any pith that they lighted on a kow and not +on a person, and did say that Jean Kirkpatrick did gather root grown +briers on a Saboth day, and nominat Agnes Patton for a witness." + +The Session found "wrath and malice among the inhabitants of Ingleston," +and the minister was sent as peacemaker. "Jean Stot obeyed the minister +and forgave Jean Grier, and also required forgiveness of her, which she +refused till further advisement."(46) + +_Parish of Irongray._--Traditional account of the sacrifice of a reputed +witch by enclosing her in a tar-barrel, setting it alight, and rolling it +into the Water of Cluden:-- + +"In the reign of James VI. of Scotland, or under the early Government of +his son Charles, tradition tells of a woman that was burnt as a witch in +the Parish of Irongray, about seven miles west from Dumfries. In a little +mud-walled cottage, in the lower end of the Bishop's Forest, and nigh the +banks of the Water of Cluden, resided a poor widow woman, who earned her +bread by spinning with a _pole_, and by weaving stockings from a clue of +yarn depending from her bead-strings. She lived alone, and was frequently +seen on a summer's eve, sitting upon a jagged rock, which overhung the +Routing burn, or gathering sticks, late in a November evening, among the +rowan-tree roots, nigh the dells which signalise the sides of that +romantic stream. She had also, sometimes, lying in her window a +black-letter Bible, whose boards are covered with the skin of a _fumart_, +and which had two very grotesque clasps of brass to close it with when she +chose. Her lips were sometimes seen to be moving when she went to church, +and she was observed to predict shower or sunshine at certain periods, +which predictions often came to be realised.... + +"The Bishop of Galloway was repeatedly urged to punish this witch; and +lest it should be reported to the king that he refused to punish witches, +he at last caused her to be brought before him, nigh to the spot. She was +rudely forced from her dwelling, and several neighbours of middle or of +old age were cited to declare all the wicked things she had done. + +"She was sentenced to be drowned in the Routing burn, but the crowd +insisted that she should be shut up in a tar-barrel and hurled into the +Cluden. Almost against the Bishop's consent, this latter death was +consummated. The wretched woman was enclosed in a barrel, fire was set to +it, and it was rolled, in a blaze, into the waters of Cluden. + +"Such, says the tradition of no very doubtful date, was the savage end of +one who was reputed a witch. The spot where, 'tis said, the prelate sat, +is yet called Bishop's Butt. The well from which she drew the water for +her domestic use, and where the young rustic belles washed their faces, +still retains the name of the Witch's Well; and a pool in the Cluden, nigh +to the well, often bears the name of the Witch's Pool. Even some rocks +nigh to the Routing Bridge are still pointed out, where she was wont to +sit; and a hollow into which, say some, she used to throw an elfin clue. +That wood yet feathering the hill side west from Drumpark, always bears +the name of the Bishop's Forest; and the sylvan ravine, furrowed by a +brawling brook, has been, by some now in their graves, named the Warlock's +Glen."(47) + +_Parish of Closeburn._--Janet Fraser, called before the Presbytery of +Dumfries, 1691. Her remarkable revelations:-- + +"The person is a young woman, unmarried, of the age of about twenty years, +whose name is Jonet Fraser, or, as we in the south used to pronounce it, +Frissel, who then lived, and yet lives, with her father, Thomas Frissell, +a weaver to his trade, a man of unblamed conversation, in the sheriffdome +of Dumfries, in the countrey thereof called Nithisdale, and parochin of +Closeburn, six miles, or thereby, from the town of Dumfriece. + +[Illustration: "PENANCE." (Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.)] + +"She is, and hath been for a long time, a person in the judgment of all +that know her a serious Christian; and was for a good time before this +befell her, more then ordinary exercised in private condition with God, as +the relation after-specified gives the reader a little touch. + +"She can read print, but cannot write herself; but whatever she saw in +vision, was at times able to give ane exact account of it, after all was +over; and accordingly did give the relation following to some creditable +gentlemen, and some country people, her acquaintance:-- + +"The time of my exercise was eight years, and all this time was troubled +with the appearance of a thing like a _bee_, and other times like a black +man, and that also at severall times, and in severall places. + +"Then at the end of the eight year, I being at prayer, the black man did +appear as at other times, he being upon the one side of me, and there +appearing upon the other side a bonny hand and a rod in it, and the rod +was budding; and I said, 'Is that Thy hand and Thy rod, O Lord?' And I was +content to embrace the one, and flee the other. Then, upon that night +eight nights, I was coming home near hand unto my dwelling, I grew very +drowsie, and fell asleep, and there was a voice said to me, 'Awake, why +sleepest thou?' And there was lightning round about me; and I looking up +to the top of a bush that was at my hand, there was the shape of a dove +that went alongst with me in company to the house. + +"Then, about three quarters of a year thereafter, the rod appeared again +to be a double rod, or a rod that was springing and forthcoming, and after +that time I was never troubled with the black man any more." + +Her first revelation was on the 4th of June, 1684, but it is very +difficult to make out what her visions portended:--"On the 5th day of +November, 1684, I being at prayer, there appeared unto me, in a bodily +shape, three persons (as to my sight all in white), and they goe round +about me the way the sun goeth; their coming was still after one manner, +when I was at my duty, only I discern he that spoke first at one time, +spoke first at all times, and so continued to speak by course, with +Scripture notes, naming books, chapter, and verse--sometimes all the +verse, sometimes a part." + +She was greatly concerned about the _suffering remnant_, and had many +mysterious responses as to that. This intercourse with spirits continued +for some years, and is very circumstantially detailed in the MS., at the +conclusion of which is this additional miracle:-- + +"Besides what the reader has had formerly, he has likewise this following +account of a passage that befell this holy woman, the 1st May, 1687, which +was Sunday. This Jonet Frazer, and a young lass, a sister daughter of +hers, about 17 or 18 years of age, having gone out into the fields, and +both of them lying down on the grass near the water of Nith, which is but +a bow-draught from her father's house, and both of them reading their +Bibles, and lying about the distance of four yards the one from the other, +this Jonet Frazer is taken with a great drouth, and goes to the water of +Nith to take a drink, leaving her Bible open at the place where she was +reading, which was the 34th chap. of Esaiah, from verse 5 to 11, +inclusive, which begins--'For my sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold +it shall come down on the people of Idumea, and upon the people of my +curse, to judgment,' etc. And when she had returned immediately as shoon +as she could take a drink of water, she sees her Bible is coloured with +bloud, as she thought, though afterwards, upon inspection and tryall it +was not bloud, but red as bloud, and such as no person by the colour could +discern from bloud; upon which she asks the other lass, 'If any thing had +been near her Bible?' And she answered, 'Nothing that she saw.' She asks, +'How could it then be that her Bible was covered over with bloud?' Which +both of them going near, found to be the very same place where Jonet was +reading, viz., from verse 5 to 11, and some farther of the 34th chap., so +as the print was not at all legible. The other lass would have her wipe +off the blood, but she could not, but carried it as it was to her father, +and a brother of hers, a godly young man, who is dead since, and some +others, and did show it to them, who were curious to taste it, and it had +a welsh taste, as if it had been some metear; the hens and birds would not +pick it up. + +"The very next Lord's day, 8th May, this Jonet being in her father's barn +about ane hour alone, some little time before sunset, she came to the door +of the barn to read, and while she was reading, about the 49th verse of +Jeremiah, the like bloud did cover all that place which she was reading, +viz., from the 46th verse to the 54th, as I remember, so thick as it +marred all the print and made it unintelligible, nor did she ever perceive +it fall down upon the book, or observe it till it did cover and spread +over all that place; and it is to be remarked, she was standing within the +door, the thatch of the barn being over her head and over the book that +she was reading on, and that the bloud covered the print in the very time +wherein she was reading, it spread over that part of it. + +"The very next Sabbath thereafter, 15th of May, while she is again in that +same barn, reading the 14th chap. of Revelations, the like bloud fell on +the book, and covered all the chapter from the 9th verse to the end of the +chapter, in the very act of the reading it, and which, she said, that she +perceived it not, but about half ane inches distance from the book before +it fell down upon it. + +"The relater heirof is Maister Henry Maxwell, of Dalswinton, who dwells +within two miles of the place where she dwells; saw the Bible, and the +bloud upon all the three places of that Bible, which is still extant. + +"It is not bloud, for it is as tough as glew, and will not be scrapped off +by a knife as bloud will; but it is so like bloud as none can discern any +difference by the colour." + +After this course of vision and bloody showers, Mrs Frazer, it would +appear, fell under the suspicion of dealing with evil, in the place of +good, spirits. For in the year 1691 she was called before the Presbytery +and confessed: "That she pretended to prophecying and seeing of visions, +and that she had sinned greatly in being deluded by Satin, causing her +prophecie and see things future. Her book was appointed to be examined by +two of the Presbytery; and on her second appearance she acknowledged that +she was possessed by some evil spirit, and humbly besought the prayer of +the ministers and of all others; upon which the further examination of +herself and the witnesses was delayed. Nothing more is heard of her."(48) + +_Records of Penpont Presbytery, 1706._ + +From January to March in the year 1706 the Presbytery of Penpont was +occupied with the case of the Rev. Peter Rae, minister of Kirkbride. Mr +Rae was slandered by a woman who alleged that he called her a "witch," and +when sick said to her, "They say you have my health, so give it again if +you have it," and also called her to come near hand him, and when she came +he presently bled her on the "forrit" (forehead). + +It was proved that Mr Rae did call her a witch, and did in his illness +endeavour to draw blood from her brow, for which he was rebuked. + +In 1737 Mr Rae was translated from Kirkbride (an extinct parish in +Nithsdale now embraced in the parishes of Durisdeer and Sanquhar) and +became minister of Kirkconnel. He was also clerk to the Presbytery of +Penpont, before whom in earlier years he appeared. He is perhaps better +known as the author of _The History of the Late Rebellion_[15] (1715). A +man of outstanding ability, his memory is honoured by a mural tablet +placed in the south wall of Kirkconnel church. + +_Glencairn Kirk-Session Records._ + +"Apryl nynth, 1694."--Case of Margret M'Kinch (not "_M'Onrick_," as given +by Monteith,[16] p. 44). In the evidence it is stated that: + +"Robert Muir in Dunregon came in to James Rodgerson's hous, drew his knyf +and offered to blood her abov ye b----" [paper torn--breath (?)]. + +"On Apryl nynth, 1694, Margt. M'Kinch gave in an wrytten list of ye names +who had sclandered her by calling her an witch, earnestly desiring ye +Session to put the same to ---- [proof(?)] that she myght be free from ye +scandal." + +[Gap in the records, 1694-1700.] + +10th September, 1704.--"Appoints yt it be publickly intimate upon Sabbath +first that no Heritor, tennent, or Householder whatsomever within this +paroch resett our harbour Jaunet Harestanes, sometime in Keir paroch, with +certification." + +24th September, 1704.--"Appointment obeyed in makeing intimation anent +Jaunet Harestanes, reputed to be under the _mala-fama_ of witchcraft." + +14th November, 1707.--Case of Alexander Deuart (not "_Douart_" as given by +Monteith, p. 44):-- + +Alex. Deuart, gardener, at Maxwelton, is charged with having "brought back +some stolen goods by charm or enchantment or some other pretended ocult +quality in herbs, along with some mutterings and gestures, as makes him so +commonly reputed a charmer that he is sought unto by persons from divers +corners of the country to the great scandal of religion. The said Alex. +being interrogated primo--Did you bring back those things which was stolen +from Maxwelton--aiz., six pair sheets, ten ------ [undecipherable], three +aprons, at one time; a large silver tumbler at another time; and a book at +a third time? + +_A._ Yes; I was the causer, but had no hand in it myself. + +_Q._ Did you not take money for the bringing of them back? + +_A._ I told them I could do such things if it was not injurious to any, +and told that he took money for the bringing of them back. + +_Q._ How did you bring them back? + +_A._ I cannot tell that, for I promised not to tell where I received my +art. + +_Q._ Did you make use of herbs as it is reported of you in order to the +bringing of them back? + +_A._ I did make use of herbs in part, but not for the bringing of them +back. + +_Q._ How did you make use of the herbs that you might know where they +were? + +_A._ I laid them under my head and dreamed of them. + +_Q._ What are the herbs which had that effect upon your sleep? + +_A._ I will not tell that to any living if they should saw me asunder. + +_Q._ How came the cloaths back? + +_A._ I must cause some brother of trade who dwells near hand them to tell +them who have them that they must be brought back and they should not be +wronged. + +_Q._ Why did you not tell of the people who took away these cloaths, +seeing thieves ought to be discovered for the good of the country? + +_A._ It doth not belong to me to put out any man, otherwise I should be in +eternity this day eight days. + +_Q._ Did any person bring the things back, or how came they back? + +_A._ I brought them not back, but the people who took them away brought +them back. + +_Q._ But how could the silver tumbler be brought back and put in a +fast-locked room? + +_A._ The person who took it flung it in at the window upon one of the +shelves. + +(_Notandum_--Now it was told him that all the windows were fast-snecked, +as the servants who went in to take up the tumbler declared.) + +_Q._ Did you not say when the tumbler was got, 'I must have the hair that +was in and about it, for it is the hair of a horse which belonged to a man +who is shortly to be hanged for stealing?' + +_A._ Yes. + +_Q._ Did you not say to Sir Walter Laurie, 'lock me ever so close in a +room and I will cause all the cloaths that were taken away hang down upon +the spouts of the tower upon the morrow morning?' + +_A._ Yes. + +_Q._ Did you not say before me, the Minister, 'lock the cloaths again in +as fast a room as you can, and I'll cause them, for a little money, go all +back in the place where they were?' + +_A._ Yes. + +_Q._ Why did you not bring back the silver spoon that was lost? + +_A._ It was in Edinburgh, and the name was scraped out, and I could not +bring it back until I went to Edinburgh. + +_Q._ Why did you not bring back the mattock and other things? + +_A._ It had been on fire. + +_Q._ Why did you not bring back all the aprons, for there is one of them +awanting yet? + +_A._ I could not bring it back because it was burnt, and when a thing is +hid beneath the ground or the like I can't get wott of that. + +_Q._ Did you not mutter some words when you used these charms? + +_A._ Yes. + +_Q._ What are they? + +_A._ 'Cloaths, cloaths, cloaths, and other things lost.' + +_Q._ Whether did you use such charms afore Hallow-een as throwing nuts in +the fire, sowing seeds up and down the house, and herbs to every corner, +going backwards from the fire to the door, round the close backwards, up +the stairs backward, and to your bed backward? + +_A._ Yes. + +_Q._ Being told by a Minister that from what he had heard there was either +devolrie in it, or he was the thief himself. To which he replied, 'I shall +make it out to be no devolrie; or if it be devolrie, it is unknown to +me.' + +_Q._ Did you not bring back a book of Mrs Violet's? + +_A._ Yes. + +_Q._ Did you not say you could cause any woman in London come down to you +if but told her name? + +_A._ I could do it, and I can. + +_Q._ Did you not say in the presence of Sir Walter Laurie, Bailie Corbet +in Dumfries, James Gordoun, Wryter, Yr., and me, that you could cause any +of us dance naked? + +_A._ I did, if you would take what I give you; and also added that he +could cause any woman follow him if she would take what he would give her. + +_Q._ Alexander, where learned you that art? + +_A._ I learned it from the gardener at Arnistoun, now dead, but was at my +brothering. + +_Q._ But are there any alyve that was at your brothering? + +_A._ No. + +After all which, the Moderator said unto him: 'Saunders, did you not say +to me when I was poseing you privately about these things, and telling you +that from all I had heard from you that I was convinced that you were +either a thief or a devol?' and you replied, 'Pursue me, sir, before +either Session or Presbytery, and I shall show that I am neither.' And +now, Saunders, after all these interrogatories are considered, I rather +think you did take these things yourself, and therefore you can get no +testificat (certificate) until your business be further cognosed upon." + +13th July, 21st Sept., and 26th Oct., 1712.--Complaint from Jean Howatson +in Nies that Margaret Nivison in Crichen had called her "a witch and a +resetter of witches." + +Both rebuked for their "scandelous and offensive expressions," and +"Injoyned to abstain from any such offensive carriage in time comeing, +certifying withall that if they be found quarrolling with one another +unjustly this process shall be revived again upon them." + +_Indirect references affecting Durisdeer and Torthorwald._ + +_Parish of Durisdeer._--In 1591 a member of the family of Douglas of +Drumlanrig, "Barbara Naipar, spous to Archibald Douglas," was accused of +witchcraft and condemned to be burned on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh. +Examination of the indictment shows that the charge was really implication +in the crime by countenancing and seeking help from "users and abusers of +witchcraft," which, as we have seen, carried with it the extreme penalty. + +The following is the extract from Pitcairn's _Criminal Trials_:-- + +"May 8, 1591.--Barbara Naipar, spous to Archibald Douglas, burges of +Edinburgh (brother to the Laird of Carschogill), Dilaitit of sindrie +poyntis of witchcraft, contenit in Dittay gewin in against hir be Mr David +M'gill of Cranstoun--Rydell, advocat to our soverane lord. + +"The Assyse, be the mouth of Robert Cuningham, chancillor, ffand, +pronunceit, and declarit the said Barbara Naipar to be fylit, culpabill +and convict of the seiking of consultation from Annie Sampsoune, ane wich, +for the help of Dame Jeane Lyonne, Lady Angus, to keip hir from vomiting +quhen sche was in breeding of barne. Item, for the consulting with the +said Annie Sampsoune, for causing of the said Dame Jeane Lyonne, Lady +Angus, to love hir, and to gif hir the geir awin hir agayne, and geiving +of ane ring for this purpois to the said Anny, quhill sche had send her +ane courchie (kerchief) of linning and swa for contravening of the Act of +Parliament, in consulting with hir and seiking of hir help, being ane +wich, &c." + +"Dome was pronunceit against Barbara Naipar, the sister-in-law of the +Laird of Coshogle."[17] + +_Torthorwald, 1596._--As Saul consulted the Witch of Endor, so in later +days was the powers of witchcraft invoked by the most exalted to find out +what fate or fortune the future held for them. + +Of the wife of Captain James Stewart, Earl of Arran, it is told "that she +got a response from the witches that she would be the greatest woman in +Scotland, and that her husband should have the highest head in that +kingdom. Both which fell out; for she died, being all swelled out in an +extraordinary manner; and he, riding to the south, was pursued by the Lord +Torthoral (called Douglas[18]), whose whole family the said Captain James +intended to have extirpated, and was killed, and his head carried on the +point of a spear and placed upon the battlements of Torthorwald +Castle."(49) + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CHAPTER IV._ + +FAIRIES AND BROWNIES. + + "There's als much virtue, sense, and pith, + In Annan or the Water of Nith, + Which quietly slips by Dumfries, + Als any water in all Greece; + For there, and several other places, + About mill-dams, and green brae faces, + Both eldrich elfs and brownies stayed, + And green-gowned fairies daunced and played." + --_Effigies Clericorum._ + + +No part of the folk-lore of a district finds more favour than that +particular vestige which tells of the doings of "fairies and brownies," +the mere expression "fairy" at once calling up and suggesting green-clad +dainty figures, dwelling amid picturesque sylvan surroundings; although +probably the memory of the "brownie," and the stories of his helpful +midnight task, strike the more human note. + +It is the "fairy," however, outshining the humbler toiling "brownie," not +only in gallant bearing and romantic surroundings, but in the further +possession of greater supernatural power, that is the more fascinating +survival of superstitious tradition. + +Popularly imagined, they were diminutive in form, elegant in appearance, +and richly attired. They dwelt in a land of their own, in woodland dells +where + + "Underneath the sylvan shade + The fairies' spacious bower was made," + +or in beautiful palaces underneath the green conical mounds, so numerous, +particularly in Galloway and the south-west of Scotland. Their lives and +affairs were ruled by the utmost ceremony and grandeur. A King or Queen +presided over their destinies. Their pageants and tournaments were the +very reflection of Courtly gallantry. Processions were a frequent form of +display; and clothed in exquisite green raiment, and mounted on bravely +caparisoned milk-white steeds of the finest mettle, they passed with +haughty mien and lordly air, that impressed to the utmost the minds of the +mortals who might chance to meet them in all their pomp and bravery. The +banquet-board and feast also were daily in evidence, and through their +princely halls, to the most exquisite music, the stately dance went round. + +The attitude of the fairies towards mankind was, generally speaking, +kindly and helpful, so much so that by the country people they were often +termed the "good neighbours" and the "wee fouk"; but underneath all their +display of nobility, an elfin craftiness and capriciousness of disposition +existed, malignant to a degree. They did not, for example, ride unarmed, +but had bows and arrows of peculiar power and potency slung at their sides +ready to assail the too curious human being or menacing beast. The bows +themselves were fashioned from the ribs of men buried "where three Lairds' +lands meet," and the arrows, which hung in quivers made from adders' +sloughs, were "tipped with deadly plagues." When mortals offended, it was +on their cattle the fairies usually wreaked their vengeance by shooting +them with their magic bows and arrows. Such elf-shot cattle exhibited all +the symptoms of malignant cramp. Animals quite as innocent, but who, +blunderingly unconscious, threatened to trample their diminutive bodies +under foot as they passed along, were as summarily treated--at least that +was a common explanation to account for puzzling forms of cattle-ill; for +the wound of the true elf arrow was so small that evidence of penetration +was almost impossible of vision, unless by the eye of those favoured and +deeply skilled in fairy-craft practice. A less vague and more material +description of the fairy arrows was, that "these fatal shafts were formed +of the bog reed, pointed with white field flint, and dipped in the dew of +hemlock." To this day the triangular flints of the Stone Age are +associated with the fairy superstition, being popularly known as "elf +bolts," and the occasional turning up of these flints on cultivated land, +finds a superstitious explanation in the belief that a shower of these +arrows discharged into a field was quite sufficient to blast and wither +the expected crop. + +The special characteristic of the evil element in the disposition of the +fairies was however, a persistent practice of kidnapping unchristened +infants, substituting for them baby imps of their own, which in old-world +phraseology were known as "changelings." Such changelings could only be +detected and expelled by certain charms and mystic practice, which also +permitted the real babe to be restored. The explanation of such kidnapping +was that every seventh year "Kain," in the form of a living sacrifice from +the ranks of the fairies, was demanded by Satan, their master, as the +price of the supernatural privileges they enjoyed, but as a mortal infant +was as readily accepted, the fairies naturally acted in accordance, much +preferring to lay a human babe at the feet of the Evil One. + +Very naturally the thought of such disastrous possibilities to the +domestic life and joy of the people created means and measures to render +this particular design of the fairies impotent and inefficient. The +cutting of a cross on the head of the cradle, or even over the doorway of +the cottage itself, was supposed to "kep skaith" by means of its sacred +significance; and immediately before the birth of a child it was a common +practice to surround the expectant mother with everything about the +household made of steel, such as scissors, wool-clippers, knives, needles, +and so forth, which it was firmly believed kept the evil disposition of +the fairy spirits at bay, and prevented any unhallowed tampering with the +child. It was also customary for the friends of the house when the child +was born, to form a guarding circle round it during the darkness of the +night, while one of their number was specially employed in waving about +the open leaves of a Bible. The risk of abduction immediately ceased after +the child was christened. It may here be mentioned that at all times the +sound of a church bell immediately broke the fairy power and spell. + +The abduction of human beings was not altogether confined to babes, and it +will be remembered that James Hogg's fine ballad of "Kilmeny" is founded +on a young maiden being carried off to Fairyland, who in the course of +time is allowed to return to the world again when, as so beautifully +expressed in the ballad, + + "Late, late in the gloamin' + Kilmeny cam' hame." + +Young married women were more especially liable to be carried off, for the +utilitarian purpose of nursing the fairy children, and young men were also +occasionally supposed to be stolen away. + +It may be noted that it was not considered good for mortals to meet with +fairies face to face, however much by accident. Death might even follow +such a meeting, although apparently quite natural in form. + +Touching upon the very core of unreality of fairy semblance it would seem +to have been a general belief, that seen through eyes of those gifted with +supernatural power such as in olden days the "seers" were believed to +possess, the whole fairy fabric crumbled to its true appearance. Golden +treasure became ordinary stone, fairy palace changed to gloomy cavern, and +the beautiful beings themselves became ugly and repulsive goblins. + +Before passing to gather up the remnants of this fairy-lore in Galloway +and Dumfriesshire, it may be of interest to refer to the theory which has +been advanced to account for the firm belief by our forefathers in the +existence of "fairies and brownies," which briefly is, that fairies and +brownies were none other than straggling and isolated survivors of the +race of the ancient Pictish Kingdom of Scotland, for like the fairy and +brownie of popular imagination, the Picts dwelt in underground abodes, +being what is termed "mound-dwellers." They were a small people, untiring +in their labours, and possessing great strength, or as it has been aptly +expressed, "they were 'unca wee' bodies, but terribly strong." As well as +being small in stature, they were hairy in body and fleet of foot. They +were clever builders, as their underground dwellings excavated at the +hands of antiquarians throughout Scotland yet affirm. Indeed there is a +tradition that the 12th century Cathedral of Glasgow was largely built by +industrious and skilful Picts, brought from Galloway for that purpose. + +A strong point in the theory certainly is, that the localities known as +the prehistoric abiding places of the Picts are almost invariably +associated with fairy-lore and tradition, which has floated down to us on +the misty tides of time. At all events it may be in part at least +accepted, in so far as it is founded on a basis of fact, and if it does +not quite explain the splendour and high-born attributes of Fairyland, it +at least goes far to account for the unvarying popular description of +"Brownie"--his untiring energy, his shy disposition, and his not very +attractive appearance, all of which William Nicholson has painted with +strokes of genius in his matchless poem, "The Brownie of Blednoch."[19] + + +FAIRIES IN GALLOWAY. + +The great distinctive headland of the Mull of Galloway is traditionally +described as the scene of the last stand made by the Picts, as they were +driven backwards and seawards to destruction by the overwhelming force of +the Scots. + + "There rose a King in Scotland, + A fell man to his foes, + He smote the Picts in battle, + He hunted them like roes, + Over miles of red mountain + He hunted as they fled + And strewed the dwarfish bodies + Of the dying and the dead." + +Not far from this classic spot, a favourite haunt of the fairies is +located. South of Portankill there is a small fortification called the +Dunnan. On this spot there came once upon a time to a man sitting there, +on a fine summer evening, an old-fashioned looking, diminutive woman +dressed in green, carrying a tiny ailing child on her back, and holding a +little wooden water stoup in her hand. She earnestly asked this man to go +to the far-famed and quite near "Well of the Co'" and bring her some of +the healing water for the decrepit little morsel she carried, as she was +tired and done. Churlishly enough the man refused, and roughly told her +she could go her own errands. The little woman bore his abuse patiently +enough, then, naming him, solemnly warned him "never again to sit down on +her hoose-riggin' or he might look to it"--and then somehow she seemed to +disappear. The man began to regret his ungracious conduct, all the more +that it was generally believed that beneath the "Dunnan" lived the +fairies, and if that was so, then at that very moment he was actually on +their "hoose-riggin'." Much disturbed in mind, he made for home; but +tradition affirms that from that day forward everything went wrong--cattle +died and crops failed, and eventually, going one night to the Dunnan to +watch a vessel that was likely to come ashore and so help his own evil +plight, he was stricken with illness at the hands of the fairies--so the +country-side said--and died. + +There is yet another rather dramatic relic of fairy-lore concerning +Kirkmaiden, which tells of an attempt by the fairies to seize upon the +newly-born child of a herd and his wife, who were in the service of Sir +Godfrey M'Culloch, and who lived in a little cottage at Auchneight, which +was frustrated by a timely call for Divine aid. On the afternoon of the +day of his son's birth the herd received an urgent message to proceed at +once to his master's castle of Cardoness, in the Stewartry of +Kirkcudbright. There were many little domestic matters to attend to before +the poor man could leave his wife and child to set out on his long +journey, and the night was already well advanced before he left his home. +It was not without anxiety and misgiving he took his way north along the +western shore of Luce Bay, "down the path towards the Loup and the Co' of +the Grennan," a place with a very uncanny reputation, for it was the night +of the last day of October--of all times of the year the most dreaded by +mortals--the night + + "When Fairies ... dance, + Or ower the lays, with splendid blaze, + On sprightly coursers prance." + +[Illustration: "IN FAIRY GLADE." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +It was very dark, and his progress was slow. When he reached the "Loup" he +was rather startled to see a faint glimmering light seawards. To his +consternation this came steadily towards him, and gradually took the +form of a coach lighted with blue lamps, drawn by six horses, and coming +smartly on. It passed, and he could see it was crowded with elfish figures +and surrounded by a galloping body-guard. His terror was not abated when +he was made aware that a little blue torch, a sure forerunner of death, +was burning on the side of the track they had passed along. Meanwhile his +young wife and child were all alone in the cottage. About midnight the +mother, to whom the night seemed unending, was startled by hearing the +trample of horses, the jingle of bridles, the lumber of wheels, and a +buzzing sound of voices. Clasping the child close in her arms, +terror-stricken she waited. The door of the cottage flew open. The whole +kitchen was lit up with a strange unnatural light, and she saw her bed +surrounded by a throng of little excited green-clad people, who kept up a +constant chattering. Then one more richly clad and taller than the others +imperiously waved his hand for silence, and addressing the almost crazed +woman, said-- + +"This is Hallow-eve. We have come for your child, and him we must have." + +"Oh, God forbid!" shrieked the poor woman in her agony, and almost +instantly there was darkness and silence as of the grave. + +When the poor woman came to her senses, for she had fainted, she made bold +to leave her bed, and lighting her cruisie lamp, she was overjoyed to find +that her child was sleeping sweetly and soundly. Everything in the cottage +was evidently undisturbed. + +As some slight corroboration of this legend, it is told how the tenant of +Barncorkerie, going to his door about midnight that same Hallow-eve, was +startled to see a group of tiny horsemen riding in hot haste through the +meadows a bowshot from his door. + +The story of the Barncorkerie Fairy, in this same immediate neighbourhood, +illustrates how the good offices of the fairy aided an old helpless woman +in her day of necessity at the expense of an undutiful son. + +On the road shorewards to Portencockerie Bay (Kirkmaiden) there is a +bypath by way of what is known as the Bishop's Castle. One day there came +by this road an old woman, weary of foot and sad of heart. Sitting down +she wept quietly to herself, bemoaning her poverty and the unkindness of +her son, and more particularly of his new-made wife, who scorned her and +refused to give her even the bare necessities of life. With her eyes fixed +on the ground, she almost unconsciously let her attention turn to a round +whorl-like stone, with a hole through it, lying at her feet. Not attaching +much importance to it she, almost absent-mindedly, picked it up, and as +she did so she thought she heard some one whispering to her, but turning +round and seeing no one she became a little frightened, and putting the +curious little stone in her pocket, she rose to make her way home, which, +by the way, bore the curious name of "Keekafar." + +That same night, at the gloaming, as she was lighting her cruisie lamp, +the cottage door seemed to open of its own accord, and, looking down, she +saw a diminutive little woman clad in green, who, with a pleasant smile, +asked how she prospered? + +The old woman was a proud old woman, so she answered that she was getting +along very comfortably. + +But the little old woman laughed a kindly laugh and said, "Not much +comfort an' a toom meal-barrel in the hoose." + +The Fairy, for it was a fairy, chatted away to her for a little, and +gradually won from her the whole story of her troubles; then, as she rose +to go, she said, "If ye've still got that queer little stone ye fand +to-day wi' the hole in it, just tie a little bit grey wurset thread +through it, and lay it on the meal-ark. It'll maybes be a help." + +Next night, about the same time (as it afterwards appeared), the old +woman's son Godfrey, who lived with his wife on his own little croft at +Portencockerie, was startled to find when he came home a little tiny woman +perched on a high stool at his fireside. + +"What want ye here?" he cried; and his wife, joining him, began to scold +also. "Tak' yer gait, we want nae beggars here," she shouted. + +The Fairy looked at them steadily with her little grey piercing eyes, then +stepping from the stool on to the long wooden kitchen settle she turned to +the frightened man and woman, and in a tiny penetrating voice that made +them even more frightened, said--"The poor folk! much they get at your +hands! But thy old mother shall never want; she shall live at your cost. +Her meal-ark will be always full, and yours shall supply it!" + +And so it came about. Godfrey and his wife, under the influence of fear, +tried hard to make amends, but the old woman received their advances with +the utmost indifference. + +The Compass Stone, on the hill above Port Logan towards the south, was +also a favourite place for the fairies holding their gatherings, and there +is a small field at Logan known as the Fairy Park. It is said that a +large company of fairies were observed by two individuals, who at the time +were not near each other, crossing the fields near Kenmure, in the parish +of Stoneykirk. One of the individuals said they seemed to be all talking +together, and there was a continual buzz of conversation as of a large +assemblage of people gathered together. + +A hill between Ringuinea and the Float is associated with the fairies. Two +young women went from Ringuinea one summer morning to bring the cows home +to be milked, when they met what seemed to be a very beautiful child, whom +they unsuccessfully made every endeavour to catch hold of. Skilfully, +however, and with evident little exertion, the little figure eluded their +grasp, with the result that their futile chase led to their being +hopelessly behind time for the milking. + +Another story tells that the farmer of Ringuinea was going down the Black +Brae, when he met a very small person handsomely dressed in green. +Thinking it was a strange child, he enquired where he was going so early +in the morning. The supposed child answered that there was an ox down +below that had annoyed him and his people for a long time by always +standing on the top of their dwelling-place, but that he would trouble +them no more. The farmer proceeded down the brae, and found one of his +best bullocks lying dead. He went for assistance, and proceeding to skin +the bullock, and knowing what to look for, they found an elf-shot right +through the heart. + +Kirkmaiden seems to have been a much-favoured district of the "wee fouk." +The Nick of the Balloch, on the road from Barncorkerie to Castle Clanyard, +Curghie Glen, and the Grennan were notoriously fairy-occupied; and between +Kirkbride and Killumpha their imaginary tracks left on the stones and +rocks used to be pointed out and traced. There is a curious lingering +tradition in the Rhinns that the fairies of Kirkmaiden always wore red +caps instead of green. + +Before passing from this district of the Rhinns, reference may be made to +what was firmly believed to be the kidnapping by fairies of a little boy +of two years of age. The child wandered out unperceived by its mother. On +being missed, an anxious search was made during the whole day by almost +every person in the neighbourhood, but no trace of the child could be +found. Late in the evening, however, from the top of the heugh, beside +Slock-an-a-gowre, he was discovered, by the merest accident, asleep on a +green plot on the cliff far below, fully two miles from his home. How he +got there to this day is a mystery. To assume that any person carried or +left him there seems highly improbable, and to suppose the child to have +of itself crossed dykes, drains, glens, and cornfields seems even more +improbable. It was therefore attributed to the fairies, all the more that +the little boy lisped that he had followed other little boys wearing green +clothes.[20] + +Away midst the solitary grandeur of the high lands of Galloway, where the +Merrick lordly towers, and where the bleat of the sheep and the cry of the +whaup, the tumble and plash of burn and stream, are the only sounds that +greet the shepherd's ear as he pursues his long and lonely beat, a +beautiful fairy legend lingers, though human and homely enough in its +trend:-- + +"A shepherd's family had just taken possession of a newly-erected onstead, +in a very secluded spot among 'the hills o' Gallowa',' when the goodwife +was, one day, surprised by the entrance of a little woman, who hurriedly +asked for the loan of a 'pickle saut.' This, of course, was readily +granted; but the goodwife was so flurried by the appearance of 'a neibor' +in such a lonely place, and at such a very great distance from all known +habitations, that she did not observe when the little woman withdrew or +which way she went. Next day, however, the same little woman re-entered +the cottage, and duly paid the borrowed 'saut.' This time the goodwife was +more alert, and as she turned to replace 'the saut in the sautkit' she +observed 'wi' the tail o' her e'e' that the little woman moved off towards +the door, and then made a sudden 'bolt out.' Following quickly, the +goodwife saw her unceremonious visitor run down a small declivity towards +a tree which stood at 'the house en'.' She passed behind the tree, but did +not emerge on the other side, and the goodwife, seeing no place of +concealment, assumed she was a fairy. + +In a few days her little 'neibor' again returned, and continued from time +to time to make similar visits--borrowing and lending small articles, +evidently with a view to produce an intimacy; and it was uniformly +remarked that, on retiring, she proceeded straight to the tree, and then +suddenly 'gaed out o' sight.' + +One day, while the goodwife was at the door, emptying some dirty water +into the jaw-hole (sink or cesspool), her now familiar acquaintance came +to her and said: + +'Goodwife, ye're really a very obliging bodie! Wad ye be sae good as turn +the lade o' your jaw-hole anither way, as a' your foul water rins directly +in at my door? It stands in the howe there, on the aff-side o' that tree, +at the corner o' your house en'.' + +The mystery was now fully cleared up--the little woman was indeed a fairy; +and the door of her invisible habitation being situated 'on the aff-side +o' the tree at the house en',' it could easily be conceived how she must +there necessarily 'gae out o' sight' as she entered her sight-eluding +portal."(50) + +Probably the most characteristic fairy story extant in the whole +south-western district of Scotland is that which centres round the green +mound on which the ruined Castle of Myrton, a stronghold of the M'Cullochs +in bygone days, stands. Within the policies of Monreith House, in the +parish of Mochrum, on the beautifully-wooded shore of the White Loch of +Myrton, this mound of Myrton is peculiarly interesting in the links its +story joins of prehistoric days, fairy tradition, and seventeenth century +family history. + +The following account is drawn from _The Hereditary Sheriffs of +Galloway_:-- + +"Sir Godfrey M'Culloch, having squandered his patrimony and sold his +estates in Mochrum to the Maxwells of Monreith, took up house at +Cardoness. Here a neighbour, William Gordon, having poinded some cattle +straying on his lands, Sir Godfrey joined a party illegally convened to +release them. A fray was the result, in which M'Culloch, in the words of +his indictment, 'did shot at the said Gordon with a gun charged, and by +the shot broke his thigh-bone and leg, so that he immediately fell to the +ground, and within a few hours thereafter died of the same shot wound.' +Sir Godfrey fled the country, and some years after ventured on a Sunday to +attend a Church in Edinburgh. A Galloway man was among the congregation, +who, recognising him, jumped up and cried: 'Pit to the door; there's a +murderer in the kirk!' This was done, M'Culloch arrested, tried, +condemned, and his head 'stricken fra his body' the 5th of March, 1697." + +So say the _Criminal Records_. There is a very different local version of +the story:-- + +Long before the fatal encounter, and before he had entered on the evil +courses which led to his ruin, Sir Godfrey, young and curly, sat at a +window in the Tower of Myrtoun watching the operations of a gang of +workmen forming a new sewer from his house to the White Loch below it. +Suddenly he was startled by the apparition close beside him of a very +little old man whose hair and beard were snowy white, whose strangely-cut +costume was green, and who seemed in a state of furious wrath. Sir Godfrey +received him, notwithstanding, with the greatest urbanity, and begged to +be told in what way he could serve him. + +The answer was a startling one: "M'Culloch," said the visitor, "I am the +King of the Brownies![21] My palace has been for ages in the mound on +which your Tower stands, and you are driving your common sewer right +through my chalmer of dais." + +Sir Godfrey, confounded, threw up the window and ordered the workmen to +stop at once, professing his perfect readiness to make the drain in any +such direction as might least incommode his Majesty, if he would +graciously indicate the same. His courtesy was accepted, and Sir Godfrey +received a promise in return from the now mollified potentate that he, the +said King, would stand by and help him in the time of his greatest need. + +It was long after this that the Knight of Myrtoun disposed of his enemy in +the summary way we have already mentioned, and for which he was condemned +to die. The procession had started for the place of execution; a crowd +was collected to see the awful sight, when the spectators were surprised +by seeing a very little man with white hair and beard, dressed, too, in an +antique suit of green, and mounted on a white horse. He issued from the +castle rock, crossed the loch without a moment's hesitation, and rode +straight up to the cart on which Sir Godfrey, accompanied by the +executioner and a minister, was standing. They plainly saw Sir Godfrey get +on the horse behind the little man, who was no other than the King of the +Brownies (and thus fulfilled his promise by arriving in his hour of need): +the two recrossed the loch, and, mounting the castle rock, they +disappeared. When the astonished crowd again turned their eyes to the cart +a figure was still there, and wondrous like Sir Godfrey; it was, +therefore, generally believed that he had met a felon's doom, and most +people thought no more about it. A few only knew better, but these cared +little to speak about the matter. At rare intervals, however, one of the +initiated would impart the story to a friend, and tell how a head had +rolled upon the ground, leaving a bleeding trunk upon the scaffold; then +adding in a confidential whisper, "It was no' him ava; it was just a kin' +o' glamour."(51) + +The presence of fairies was not unknown in the Whithorn district, and a +realistic account of the last appearance of the fairies there has been +preserved in _Droll Recollections of Whithorn_, by James F. Cannon:-- + +"A farmer's wife on the Glasserton estate was engaged in washing at a +stream near her house, when a trig little creature of her own sex, and +perfectly human in shape and general semblance, suddenly arrested her +attention. The mistress stared with amazement at the mite of a body that +stood by her side, and the astonishment of the former was not lessened +when, with an appealing look on her tiny features, the elf solicited the +favour of 'a wee sowp o' milk for an unweel wean.' They then entered +freely into conversation, and walked together to the byre, where the Fairy +was duly supplied with what she had asked for. She was very profuse with +her thanks, and foretold that her donor would never be without a pinch of +snuff (of all things) while she should require it. It was not a very +hazardous prediction, nor did it give promise of great remuneration for +the obligation conferred; but there was a note of gratitude in it which +was thoroughly appreciated by her to whom it was spoken. I believe, +however, there was an additional hint dropped that the milk pails of the +elf's patroness would always be well filled, and her husband's field +crops abundant."(52) + +A poetical version of the above tradition has been elaborated by Mr +Cannon, and appears in the _Bards of Galloway_, under the title of "The +Langhill Fairy."[22] + +"Riddling in the reek" was the common country-side expression for a +rough-and-ready method of treating a fairy changeling so that it might be +restored to its proper human constitution. A realistic account of such an +ordeal is preserved in _Galloway Gossip_ (Wigtownshire). It sets forth how +a child, whose parents lived in Sorbie village, behaved in such a fretful, +passionate, and vixenish way that the parents were at last forced to the +unwelcome conclusion that it was not their child at all, but a changeling. +Much distressed they sought the advice of a wise woman living at +Kirkinner, who plainly enough substantiated the suspicion. Beseeching her +help, the sybil pointed out the great risk they all ran with interference +with things uncanny, but on their consenting to place themselves entirely +in her hands and implicitly obey her in every detail, she promised to +make the attempt to restore their child on the following Aul' Hallowe'en +Nicht. + +[Illustration: "RIDDLING IN THE REEK." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +"When Aul' Hallowe'en came, everything was ready and set in order, and +just a few minutes before nine, in came Lucky M'Robert, and without saying +a word steekit the door ahint her. + +She then set two stools beside the fire, which, as usual at that time and +for long after, was made on a slightly raised place in the middle of the +floor, paved with water-stones. She motioned Peggy and Jamie to sit down +on them, and lighting the candle, with the ether-stane on it, put it on +the kerl, or long candlestick, and set it between them, and then took the +rowan-wood and biggit it on the fire. + +The wean looked terrified, and ran under the bed, but she pulled it out +and tied his legs and arms together with some red clouts she had in her +pouch, and threw't into the riddle, and lifting it up went towards the +fire, the wean twining and kicking and swearing most viciously. + +Mally had previously breeked her petticoats, and as soon as a thick reek +rose from the burning rowan-tree, she held the wean amang the thickest +o't, and riddled it in the riddle till ye wud hae thocht it wud hae been +chokit. + +The wean cursed and yelled, and spat at her, and called her a' that was +bad, but she took nae notice; then it begged and fleech't with the father +and mother to save't, for it was chokin', and went on pitiful, and then it +begood and cursed them, and abused them terribly. + +Then there came knockings to the door, and cries and noisings all over the +house; but she riddled away, and nobody ever heeded them, till at last the +wean gave a great scraich, and rase out of the riddle, and gaed whirling +up amang the reek like a corkscrew, and out at the lumhead, out of sight. + +Everything was then quiet for a minute or two, and at last a gentle +knocking came to the door, and Mally asked who was there, and a voice +cried-- + +'Let me in, I'm wee Tammie M'K----.'"(53) + +The district of Dalry seems to have been particularly favoured by the +beings of supernatural power. Witchcraft abounded, and now we shall see +that Fairyland was represented. + +The place, above all, of fairy association was the Holm Glen, with which +is associated a legend of the abduction of a youth, and an abortive +attempt to win freedom after serving seven years. Round this vestige of +fairy-lore Dr Robert Trotter has woven a well-told mantle of narrative, +from which an extract is well worth quoting:-- + +"I rose early upon the morning of Hallowe'en, and having dressed myself, I +went out to the harvest field, just as the minute hand of my watch pointed +to half-past five. I began busily to arrange and set up the stooks, which +a storm of wind and rain the preceding evening had blown down. I had not +been long occupied in this manner when I heard the tramping of horses' +feet, the giggling and laughing of the riders, and the jingling of their +bridle bits. I instantly turned round to see what this troop of early +travellers could be; but my eye rested not then on the broad holm of +Dalarran and the grey turrets of Kenmure Castle, of which there was a +goodly prospect from the place where I stood--but it fell upon the tall +form of a young man standing close by my side, dressed in a riding-cloak +of the lightest Lincoln green ever worn by a Nottingham Archer. By his +side hung a hunting-horn of the purest silver, whilst his spurs and the +diamond chased scabbard of his sword glanced clear and bright in the rays +of the rising sun. + +'I wish thee good speed, John Gordon,' said he in a well-known voice. 'I +am thy old friend William Hoatson, who, thou mayest remember, was found +drowned about seven years since in the Water of Taarfe, near Red Lyon. But +I am not dead, as is generally believed, but was carried away by the +fairies of Holm Glen, and a body resembling mine placed in the river ford. +And I have been permitted to appear unto thee at this time, knowing that +thou art a fearless man, and one that seeketh after the Kingdom of Heaven; +and I request thee, in the name of Heaven, that this night thou wilt win +me back to my family and to the world!' + +I expressed the happiness which I felt in meeting so unexpectedly with one +whom I had so long considered to be dead. I shook him heartily by the +hand, and offered him my friendship and assistance. + +'Oh, John!' said he, 'this night will I be offered up a sacrifice in hell, +and thou alone can save me from destruction.' + +He spoke this so mournfully that the tears trickled down my cheek, and I +sobbed aloud. + +'Wilt thou promise,' continued he, 'to come this night at twelve o'clock, +unarmed and alone, and stand by this ancient thorn-bush, where thou wilt +see forty-one horsemen riding past, everyone dressed as I am at present? +Pull me down from the chestnut-brown steed upon which I ride, for I will +be the last man of that gay troop. They will turn me into a variety of +frightful shapes in thy arms, and lastly into the appearance of a red-hot +coulter; but thou must hold me fast in the name of Heaven, for if thou +let me slip from thy hands they will take thee soul and body, and I also +will be lost for ever!'"(54) + +The conclusion of the story is not very happy, for John's courage entirely +failed him. Through fear he refused his aid, but ever afterwards was +haunted and crossed by the evil influence of the night-riding of the +fairies of Holm Glen. + +Other places in Kirkcudbrightshire which have the lingering touch of fairy +romance hovering around them are Hazelfield, Auchencairn, the Nick of +Lochenkit, "where the fairies have been seen dancing in thousands by the +pale light o' the new moon on her third nicht," and on the "rugged height +of Bengairn." + +The last Galloway fairy reminiscence we shall quote before passing into +Dumfriesshire illustrates the malignant side of their nature, and tells of +the drowning of the Morrisons in Edingham Loch, near the present town of +Dalbeattie:-- + +"A' the hale o' braid Gallowa' has heard the story of the drownin' o' hale +ane-an'-twenty o' the Morrisons o' Orr, in the Loch of Edingham, nae +farder gane than Yule was a seven year. Ye mind that year the frost held +on frae Hallowe'en till Februar, and at Yule the ice was mair than thretty +inches in thickness, and wad hae carried a' the fouk in sax parishes +roun' wi' perfect safety. On that day mony a weel-fared, sturdy chiel had +been busy plying the channelstane, wi' a' their skill an' might, frae +early morn, and it was not till the last blinks of the sun had lang +disappeared off Brownie Fells that the contest was putten aff till the +following day, and ilka ane turned his face homewards. But they hadna +ha'en their feet three minutes on the side when the moon glowered o'er the +tappin o' Lotus, and showed the ice they had so lately left, clad wi' unco +players frae side to side; and muckle mirth, din, and deray was there, +bumpers o' the red wine were flowin' roun', and there tripped maidens, +jimp and tall as yon rowan-trees by the burnie side and fairer than the +snow on Logan braes. Swiftly the weary players returned to the margin of +the loch, but nane durst venture on the ice for a considerable time. But +there were three neibor lairds, in the three Mailins of Culloch, Cocklick, +and Drumlane. A' the three were surnamed Morrison, and ilka ane had seven +strapping sons, wha never feared skaith frae man nor deil, and sae they a' +quickly joined the thrang. Bit strange to tell, the very moment the last +o' the ane-an'-twenty was aboon deep water, the ice rent from en' to en' +wi' a crack a thousan' times louder than thunner, and dancers, players, +and Morrisons a' disappeared in the twinkling of an eye, and the ice +again resumed its former solidity, without crack or flaw. And mony a time +sinsyne has the midnight wanderer observed the loch covered o'er with +light-footed dancers, blithely footing it on the limpid wave, and among +them the three-times-seven youths, gaily clad in elfin weeds of sylvan +green, and mounted on gallant steeds of the milk-white foam. Their spears +are of the green bulrashes with targets of the braidest flutterbaus; they +ha'e braid swords o' the segg, and cockades of the water-lily; but they ay +tak' the gate lang or the first peep o' day, and the place they left +retains no the sma'est prent o' their airie feet, nor nane can tell the +gate they fled."(55) + +On the sharp descent of the Dalbeattie Road towards Dumfries there yet +lingers the tradition of fairy song and music being heard 'mid the leafy +surroundings of the Long Wood. + + +FAIRIES IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. + +To Allan Cunningham we are indebted for several examples of fairy-lore +gathered together in his own particular district of Nithsdale. + +The three following illustrate the expression of gratitude on the part of +the fairies when a good turn was served, or a request complied with:-- + +"Two lads were opening with the plow a fairy-haunted field, and one of +them had described a circle around a fairy-thorn, which was not to be +plowed. They were surprised when, on ending the furrow, a green table was +placed there, heaped with the choicest cheese, bread, and wine. He who +marked out the thorn sat down without hesitation, eating and drinking +heartily, saying, 'Fair fa' the hands whilk gie.' His fellow-servant +lashed his steeds, refusing to partake. The courteous plowman 'thrave,' +said my informer, 'like a breckan, and was a proverb for wisdom and an +oracle of local rural knowledge ever after!' + +A woman of Auchencreath, in Nithsdale, was one day sifting meal warm from +the mill; a little, cleanly arrayed, beautiful woman came to her, holding +out a basin of antique workmanship, requesting her courteously to fill it +with her new meal. Her demand was cheerfully complied with. In a week the +comely little dame returned with the borrowed meal. She breathed over it, +setting it down basin and all, saying aloud, 'Be never toom.' The guidwife +lived to a goodly age, without ever seeing the bottom of her blessed +basin. + +A woman, who lived in the ancient Burgh of Lochmaben, was returning late +one evening to her home from a gossiping. A little, lovely boy, dressed +in green, came to her, saying, 'Coupe yere dish-water farther frae yere +doorstep; it pits out our fire!' This request was complied with, and +plenty abode in the good woman's house all her days."(56) + +The advent of summer was an occasion of special rejoicing on the part of +the fairies, and was celebrated by a triumphal march or ride known as the +"Fairy Rade," which was accompanied by much, and brave, display. + +The ceremony usually took place on the eve of Roodmas (May 3rd), and the +following account is supposed to have been narrated by an old Nithsdale +woman to Allan Cunningham:-- + +"I' the nicht afore Roodsmass,[23] I had trysted wi' a neebor lass, a +Scots mile frae hame, to tak anent buying braws i' the Fair. We hadnae +sutten lang aneath the haw-buss till we heard the loud laugh o' fowk +riding, wi' the jingling o' bridles an' the clanking o' hoofs. We banged +up, thinking they wad ryde owre us--we kent nae but it was drunken fowk +riding to the Fair i' the fore-nicht. We glowr'd roun' and roun', an' sune +saw it was the Fairie Fowks' Rade. We cowered down till they passed by. A +leam o' light was dancing owre them, mair bonnie than moon-shine; they +were a' wee, wee fowk, wi' green scarfs on, but ane that rade foremost, +and that ane was a guid deal langer than the lave, wi' bonnie lang hair +bun' about wi' a strap, whilk glented lyke stars. They rade on braw wee +whyte naigs, wi' unco lang swoaping tails an' manes hung wi' whustles that +the win' played on. This, an' their tongues whan they sang, was like the +soun' of a far-awa' Psalm. Marion and me was in a brade lea fiel' whare +they cam' by us; a high hedge o' haw-trees keepit them frae gaun through +Johnnie Corrie's corn, but they lap a' owre't like sparrows an' gallop'd +into a green knowe beyont it. We gaed i' the morning to look at the +tredded corn, but the fient a hoof-mark was there, nor a blade +broken."(57) + +The accompanying almost idealistic fairy-tale accentuates the idea of the +instinct of natural affection with which the fairies were always credited, +and their preference for a human mother to nurse their offspring:-- + +"A fine young woman of Nithsdale was sitting singing and rocking her +child, when a pretty lady came into her cottage, covered with a fairy +mantle. She carried a beautiful child in her arms, swaddled in green +silk. + +'Nurse my child,' said the Fairy. + +The young woman, conscious to whom the child belonged, took it kindly in +her arms and laid it to her breast. + +The lady instantly disappeared, saying, 'Nurse kin', an' ne'er want!' + +The young mother nurtured the two babes, and was astonished whenever she +awoke at finding the richest suits of apparel for both children, with meat +of most delicious flavour. This food tasted, says tradition, like loaf +mixed with wine and honey. It possessed more miraculous properties than +the wilderness manna, preserving its relish even over the seventh day. + +On the approach of summer the Fairy lady came to see her child. It bounded +with joy when it beheld her. She was much delighted with its freshness and +activity, and taking it in her arms, she bade the nurse follow. Passing +through some scroggy woods, skirting the side of a beautiful green hill, +they walked midway up. On its sunward slope a door opened, disclosing a +beauteous porch, which they entered, and the turf closed behind them. The +Fairy dropped three drops of a precious dew on the nurse's left eye-lid, +and they entered a land of most pleasant and abundant promise. It was +watered with fine looping rivulets, and yellow with corn; the fairest +trees enclosed its fields, laden with fruit, which dropped honey. + +The nurse was rewarded with finest webs of cloth and food of ever-during +substance. Boxes of salves, for restoring mortal health and curing mortal +wounds and infirmities, were bestowed on her, with a promise of never +needing. + +The Fairy dropped a green dew over her right eye, and bade her look. She +beheld many of her lost friends and acquaintances doing menial drudgery, +reaping the corn and gathering the fruits. + +'This,' said she, 'is the punishment of evil deeds!' + +The Fairy passed her hand over her eye, and restored its mortal faculties. +She was conducted to the porch, but had the address to secure the heavenly +salve. + +She lived, and enjoyed the gift of discerning the earth-visiting spirits, +till she was the mother of many children; but happening to meet the Fairy +lady who gave her the child, she attempted to shake hands with her. + +'What e'e d'ye see me wi'?' whispered she. + +'Wi' them baith,' said the dame. + +She breathed on her eyes, and even the power of the box failed to restore +their gifts again!"(58) + +The element of romantic imagery is also manifest in the following +tradition:-- + +"A young man of Nithsdale, being on a love intrigue, was enchanted with +wild and delightful music and the sound of mingled voices, more charming +than aught that mortal breath could utter. With a romantic daring peculiar +to a Scottish lover he followed the sound, and discovered the fairy +banquet. A green table, with feet of gold, was placed across a small +rivulet, and richly furnished with pure bread and wines of sweetest +flavour. Their minstrelsy was raised from small reeds and stalks of corn. +He was invited to partake in the dance, and presented with a cup of wine. +He was allowed to depart, and was ever after endowed with the second +sight."(59) + +A vivid example of the method of restoring a "changeling" to its own +natural and innocent form has already been described in connection with +Sorbie village, in Wigtownshire. The following, quite as realistic, +describes a similar uncanny ceremony in Dumfriesshire:-- + +"A beautiful child, of Caerlaverock, in Nithsdale, on the second day of +its birth, and before its baptism, was changed, none knew how, for an +antiquated elf of hideous aspect. It kept the family awake with its +nightly yells; biting the mother's breasts; and would neither be cradled +or nursed. The mother, obliged to be from home, left it in charge of the +servant girl. + +The poor lass was sitting bemoaning herself. 'Wer't nae for thy girning +face I would knock the big, winnow the corn, and grun the meal!' + +'Lowse the cradle band,' quoth the elf, 'and tent the neighbours, an' I'll +work yer wark.' + +Up started the elf, the wind arose, the corn was chafed, the outlyers were +foddered, the hand-mill moved around, as by instinct, and the knocking +mell did its work with amazing rapidity. + +The lass and her elfin servant rested and diverted themselves, till, on +the mistress's approach, it was restored to the cradle, and began to yell +anew. The girl took the first opportunity of slyly telling her mistress +the adventure. + +'What'll we do wi' the wee diel?' said she. + +'I'll work it a pirn,' replied the lass. + +At the middle hour of night, the chimney-top was covered up, and every +inlet barred and closed. The embers were blown up until glowing hot, and +the maid, undressing the elf, tossed it on the fire. It uttered the +wildest and most piercing yells, and, in a moment, the fairies were heard +moaning at every wonted avenue, and rattling at the window boards, at the +chimney head, and at the door. + +'In the name o' God, bring back the bairn!' cried the lass. + +The window flew up; the earthly child was laid unharmed on the mother's +lap, while its grisly substitute flew up the chimney with a loud +laugh."[24](60) + +A further narrative, bringing out the idea of gratitude for a favour, and +resentment at insult, has been gleaned from the parish of Closeburn:-- + +"Two men were ploughing down, in Closeburn parish, when they both felt a +strong smell of burning cake. One of them said in an off-hand kind o' +way-- + +'Yer cake's burnin'.' + +'Make us a spurtle tae burn it wi', then,' said a voice apparently close +at hand. + +The man, good-naturedly, did as directed, and laid the article down on the +ground. On returning to the spot he found the spurtle taken away, and +bread and cheese left in its place. He partook of both, and likewise gave +some to his horses, but his companion would neither taste himself nor +allow his horses to taste. An affront of this kind could not be +overlooked, and he had not gone many steps until he dropped down dead in +the furrow."(61) + +A noted fairy tryste in this Nithsdale district was the Ward-Law Hill, +Dalswinton. It came to pass, however, that the green ring where the +fairies had danced and gambolled became in the times of the Persecution a +place of worship. On this account no longer could the fairy revelry and +dance continue, and it was firmly believed in the district that sounds of +lamentation and regret, proceeding from no earthly voices, were heard in +the neighbourhood of this favourite fairy-haunt for many years afterwards. + +The gardens of Drumlanrig Palace (Thornhill) were also a reputed +gathering-place of the fairies, who were often seen dancing in the +gloaming in the glade opposite to Jock o' the Horn.[25] + +There is a "Fairy Knowe" at Sanquhar, described by Simpson[26] as "a +beautiful little green knoll which overlooks what is called the Waird, ... +formerly covered with the waving broom, with green spaces here and there, +the dancing-places of the sportive fairies." + +The braes of Polveoch, at the west end of the Bank Wood, between +Kirkconnel and Sanquhar, was also a favourite trysting-place of the +fairies. "Here the good little folks assembled on May Day to celebrate the +advent of summer; contingents came in from Kello Water, Glen Aylmer, and +Glen Wharry, and when all had gathered together they rode merrily over the +knowes towards the Bale Hill, in whose sunward slope a beauteous doorway +was said to open for them, which they entered two at a time, the green +turf closing over the last pair to get in."(62) + +In Annandale the great fairy strength and palace lay in the heart of +Burnswark Hill. The reputation of these Annandale fairies seems to have +been rather disposed towards evil than good. Young men as well as young +women were carried off, the former to act as very slaves and beasts of +burden. The following is the account of the abduction of a young woman +belonging to Corrie:-- + +"One fair Corrie damsel, who was supposed to have died, appeared to her +brother, and informed him that she was not dead, but kept in bondage among +the fairies, who, when they carried her off, had left in the bed an image +of her, which had been buried in her stead. She entreated him to repair +alone to the barn on the following night, set open the doors, and watch +there till the hour of midnight, when he would see three forms pass before +him, of which she would be the last. She told him he was then to seize +fast hold of her, to repeat certain words which she instructed him to use, +and that he might thus effect her rescue. Unfortunately, the brother's +courage failed him when the hour of trial came, so that the captive sister +was never released from elfin thraldom and restored to her family."(63) + +It may be noted in passing that all the place-names in this district +ending in "sheen" refer to fairy occupation of the land. _Sidh_ +(pronounced shee) is a fairy, with the diminutive _sidhean_ (sheen), which +more especially carries the meaning of Fairy Hill. Examples of these may +be cited in Auchensheen, Colvend; Brishie, Minnigaff; Knocknishy, +Whithorn; and Shawn, Stoneykirk. + + +THE BROWNIE. + +The "Brownie,"[27] as already indicated, was a domestic spirit of a +familiar and useful kind. Grotesque in figure, small in stature, but very +strong, his presence and help were cheerfully accepted in the +farm-steading or household he elected to serve. His self-imposed and often +heavy task was always performed in the dark hours of the night. No work +came amiss to Brownie--reaping, threshing, sheep-shearing, and gathering, +churning, and even meaner kitchen drudgery--and all in the most +disinterested fashion, a bowl of cream, or as Nicholson phrases it, "a +cogfu' o' brose" being all that he would accept at their hands. The offer, +indeed, of other than this simple food, or the leaving out for him of +clothing, was fatal, and compelled Brownie, in obedience to some condition +of his existence not understood, to forsake the abode of the gift-givers +and depart, generally reluctantly, to seek other quarters. + +However arduous the efforts of the night it would seem that he was always +finished in sufficient good time to drink his cream at leasure and blow up +the smouldering embers of the fire to bask his full length in its warmth, +for at heart Brownie was, when not actually working, much disposed to take +his ease. At first cock-crow, however, he disappeared. + +Endowed with a life of many years, he seems to have been attached in some +instances to the same family for generations, but his service was only +given to good and worthy people, although isolated instances of help to +the unfortunate poor were common enough experiences. + +He would also seem to have had the moral welfare of young folks at heart, +and would seat himself at the kitchen fireside and listen to their +chatter. He was singularly alive to unworthy intentions, particularly in +connection with love affairs, which he took means of opposing in his own +way. + +The prosperity of the family with whom he had attached himself was +affected by their disposition and actions towards him, of which the +following is an example:-- + +"A place called Liethin Hall, in Dumfriesshire, was the hereditary +dwelling of a noted brownie. He had lived there, as he once communicated +in confidence to an old woman, for three hundred years. He appeared only +once to every new master, and indeed seldom shewed more than his hand to +anyone. On the decease of a beloved master he was heard to make moan, and +would not partake of his wonted delicacy for many days. The heir of the +land arrived from foreign parts and took possession of his father's +inheritance. The faithful Brownie shewed himself, and profered homage. The +spruce Laird was offended to see such a famine-faced, wrinkled domestic, +and ordered him meat and drink, with a new suit of clean livery. The +brownie departed, repeating loud and frequently these ruin-boding lines-- + + 'Ca, cuttie, ca! + A' the luck o' Liethin Ha' + Gangs wi' me to Bodsbeck Ha.' + +Liethin Ha' was, in a few years, in ruins, and 'bonnie Bodsbeck' +flourished under the luck-bringing patronage of the brownie."(64) + +In the olden days there was a brownie attached to the family of Maxwell of +Dalswinton said to be so energetic as to easily perform the work of ten +men, and threshing with such vigour as to keep the servants awake at +nights with the dirling of its elfin flail. + +He seems to have been passionately devoted to the service of the Laird's +daughter, a strikingly comely dame. A lover naturally appeared, and their +meetings were made all the easier through Brownie's help, and eventually +he saw his beloved lady married to a husband he heartily approved of. + +"In course of time the hour of need came nigh, and a servant was sent away +to bring the 'canny wife.' The night was dark as a December night could +be, and the wind was heavy among the groves of oak. The brownie, enraged +at the loitering serving-man, wrapped himself in his lady's fur cloak; and +though the Nith was foaming high flood, his steed, impelled by +supernatural spur and whip, passed it like an arrow. Mounting the dame +behind him, he took the deep water back again to the amazement of the +worthy woman, who beheld the red waves tumbling around her, yet the +steed's foot-locks were dry. + +'Ride nae by the auld pool,' quo' she, 'lest we should meet wi' Brownie.' + +He replied--'Fear nae, dame, ye've met a' the brownies ye will meet.' + +Placing her down at the hall gate, he hastened to the stable, where the +servant lad was just pulling on his boots; he unbuckled the bridle from +his steed, and gave him a most afflicting drubbing." + +There is a sequel to this story which does not end happily: "It was the +time of the Reformation; and a priest, more zealous than wise, exhorted +the Laird to have this Imp of Heathenism baptised, to which he in an evil +hour consented, and the worthy reforming saint concealed himself in the +barn to surprise the brownie at his work. He appeared like a little, +wrinkled, ancient man, and began his nightly moil. The priest leapt from +his ambush, and dashed the baptismal water in his face, solemnly repeating +the set form of Christian rite. The poor brownie set up a frightful and +agonising yell, and instantly vanished never to return."(65) + +Allan Cunningham further tells of a brownie of a humorous turn of mind who +held sway about Newabbey:--"The Abbey lands in the parish of Newabbey, +were the residence of a very sportive one. He loved to be, betimes, +somewhat mischievous. Two lasses, having made a fine bowlful of buttered +brose, had taken it into the byre to sup while it was yet dark. In the +haste of concealment they had brought but one spoon; so they placed the +bowl between them, and took a spoonful by turns. + +'I hae got but three sups,' cried the one, 'an' it's a' done!' + +'It's a' done, indeed,' cried the other. + +'Ha, ha!' laughed a third voice, 'Brownie has gotten the maist o't.'"(66) + +As indicating the great skill in gathering the sheep together, the +following tradition lingers in Galloway of a brownie who had spent the +night long at this task. In the morning not only had he the sheep +together, but amongst them was half a dozen hares. "Deil tak' thae wee +grey beasties," he muttered, when this was pointed out to him, "they cost +me mair fash than a' the lave o' them." + +In Scottish literature the brownie has a distinctive place, his unique and +wonder-creating personality being used with rare effect. It is, however, +the particular part of Scotland we are dealing with--the south-west--that +has produced the most typical examples, in prose as well as in poetry, for +Dumfriesshire claims that fine Covenanting story, "The Brownie of +Bodsbeck," while Galloway has yielded that inimitable poetical gem, "The +Brownie of Blednoch," the quotation of which in full may fittingly close +the chapter:-- + +THE BROWNIE OF BLEDNOCH. + + There cam a strange wight to our town-en' + And the fient a body did him ken'; + He tirled na lang, but he glided ben + Wi' a dreary, dreary hum. + + His face did glare like the glow o' the west, + When the drumlie cloud has it half o'ercast; + Or the struggling moon when she's sair distrest-- + O sirs! 'twas Aiken-drum. + + I trow the bauldest stood aback, + Wi' a gape and a glower till their lugs did crack, + As the shapeless phantom mum'ling spak-- + "Hae ye wark for Aiken-drum?" + + O had ye seen the bairns' fright, + As they stared at this wild and unyirthly wight, + As he stauket in 'tween the dark and the light, + And graned out, "Aiken-drum!" + + "Sauf us!" quoth Jock, "d'ye see sic een;" + Cries Kate, "There's a hole where a nose should hae been; + And the mouth's like a gash which a horn had ri'en; + Wow! keep's frae Aiken-drum!" + + The black dog, growling, cowered his tail, + The lassie swarfed, loot fa' the pail, + Rob's lingle brack as he men't the flail, + At the sight o' Aiken-drum. + + His matted head on his breast did rest, + A lang blue beard wan'ered down like a vest; + But the glare o' his e'e nae Bard hath exprest, + Nor the skimes o' Aiken-drum. + + Roun' his hairy form there was naething seen + But a philibeg o' the rashes green, + And his knotted knees played ay knoit between; + What a sight was Aiken-drum! + + On his wauchie arms three claws did meet, + As they trailed on the grun' by his taeless feet; + E'en the auld guidman himsel' did sweat, + To look at Aiken-drum. + + But he drew a score, himsel' did sain, + The auld wife tried, but her tongue was gane; + While the young ane closer clasped her wean, + And turned frae Aiken-drum. + + But the canny auld wife cam' till her breath, + And she deemed the Bible might ward aff scaith, + Be it benshee, bogle, ghaist, or wraith-- + But it fear'dna Aiken-drum. + + "His presence protect us!" quoth the auld guidman; + "What wad ye, whare won ye--by sea or by lan'? + I conjure ye speak--by the Beuk in my haun!" + What a grane gae Aiken-drum. + + "I lived in a lan' whar we saw nae sky, + I dwalt in a spot whare a burn rins na by; + But I'se dwall now wi' you, if ye like to try-- + Hae ye wark for Aiken-drum? + + "I'll shiel' a' your sheep i' the mornin' sune, + I'll berry your crap by the light o' the moon, + And baa the bairns wi' an unken'd tune, + If ye'll keep puir Aiken-drum. + + "I'll loup the linn when ye canna wade, + I'll kirn the kirn, and I'll turn the bread; + And the wildest fillie that ever ran rede + I'se tame't," quoth Aiken-drum! + + "To wear the tod frae the flock on the fell-- + To gather the dew frae the heather-bell-- + And to look at my face in your clear crystal well, + Might gie pleasure to Aiken-drum. + + "I'se seek nae guids, gear, bond, nor mark; + I use nae beddin', shoon, nor sark; + But a cogfu' o' brose 'tween the light and dark, + Is the wage o' Aiken-drum." + + Quoth the wylie auld wife, "The thing speaks weel; + Our workers are scant--we hae routh o' meal; + Gif he'll do as he says--be he man, be he de'il, + Wow! we'll try this Aiken-drum." + + But the wenches skirled "He's no' be here! + His eldritch look gars us swarf wi' fear, + And the fient a ane will the house come near, + If they think but o' Aiken-drum. + + "For a foul and a stalwart ghaist is he, + Despair sits brooding aboon his e'e bree, + And unchancie to light o' a maiden's e'e, + Is the grim glower o' Aiken-drum." + + "Puir slipmalabors! ye hae little wit; + Is'tna Hallowmas now, and the crap out yet?" + Sae she silenced them a' wi' a stamp o' her fit; + "Sit yer wa's down, Aiken-drum." + + Roun' a' that side what wark was dune, + By the streamer's gleam, or the glance o' the moon; + A word or a wish--and the Brownie cam' sune, + Sae helpfu' was Aiken-drum. + + But he slade ay awa' or the sun was up, + He ne'er could look straught on Macmillan's cup;[28] + They watched--but nane saw him his brose ever sup, + Nor a spune sought Aiken-drum. + + On Blednoch banks, and on crystal Cree, + For mony a day a toiled wight was he; + While the bairns played harmless roun' his knee, + Sae social was Aiken-drum. + + But a new-made wife, fu' o' rippish freaks, + Fond o' a things feat for the first five weeks, + Laid a mouldy pair o' her ain man's breeks; + By the brose o' Aiken-drum. + + Let the learned decide, when they convene, + What spell was him and the breeks between; + For frae that day forth he was nae mair seen, + And sair missed was Aiken-drum. + + He was heard by a herd gaun by the _Thrieve_, + Crying "Lang, lang now may I greet and grieve; + For alas! I hae gotten baith fee and leave, + O, luckless Aiken-drum." + + Awa'! ye wrangling sceptic tribe, + Wi' your _pros_ and your _cons_ wad ye decide + 'Gain the 'sponsible voice o' a hale country-side + On the facts 'bout Aiken-drum? + + Though the "Brownie o' Blednoch" lang be gane, + The mark o' his feet's left on mony a stane; + And mony a wife and mony a wean + Tell the feats o' Aiken-drum. + + E'en now, light loons that jibe and sneer + At spiritual guests and a' sic gear, + At the Glashnoch Mill hae swat wi' fear, + And looked roun' for Aiken-drum. + + And guidly fo'ks hae gotten a fright, + When the moon was set, and the stars gied nae light, + At the roaring linn in the howe o' the night, + Wi' sughs like Aiken-drum. + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CHAPTER V._ + +WRAITHS AND WARNINGS. + + "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, + Than are dreamt of in our philosophy." + --_Hamlet._ + + +In the bygone days of a more primitive and simple life, widespread belief +existed in the outward and physical manifestation of the call of Death, +which took the form of what were commonly known as "wraiths" and +"warnings." + +The "wraith" was the natural-looking semblance of one about to die, or +just immediately dead, appearing life-like, usually at some distance from +the body, but so realistic as to be unvaryingly mistaken for the actual +person. A further point is, that such appearances gave rise to no fear or +apprehension unless seen at some considerable distance from their usual +surroundings. + +The "warning," on the other hand, refers to noises and sounds heard within +the immediate precincts of the sick-chamber, but without any physical +explanation or evidence of the cause, although the nature of the sound or +other phenomenon might be simple enough in character. Such unusual +occurrences happening under usual circumstances carried with them the +superstitious significance of the near presence of death. + +In dealing, firstly, with the wraith, it may at once be noted that a great +many accounts of such appearances are still existent in the south-west of +Scotland. + +The following is a hitherto unrecorded instance which happened in the +early twenties of last century in the neighbourhood of Dalbeattie:-- + +"In the late autumn of the year 182--, an old man, a cottar on a farm in +the parish of Buittle, was raising a basketful of potatoes in his 'yaird,' +on the rise of the hill slope that lifts itself into rugged prominence as +it stretches towards Palnackie past Kirkennan Woods. His son William was +away at Glencaple Quay (a distance of twelve miles as the crow flies) with +a Water of Urr sloop unloading timber, and was not expected home before +the end of the week. The old man had just finished his task when he very +distinctly saw the figure of his son passing from the roadway and turn +round the end of the house as if to go inside. Somewhat surprised, the old +man lifted his basket and walked down the garden path into the kitchen, +where his daughter Margaret was preparing the mid-day meal. + +'What brings Wullie hame 'ee noo, and whaur's he gaun?' was the double +query he put to his daughter. + +'Guidsake, faither! what are ye talkin' aboot? There's nae Wullie here,' +answered Margaret, startled out of her usual composure. + +'But I saw him come roon' the house-en', and he had a queer drawn look +aboot his face that fairly fleyed me! I houp there's naething happened +him!' + +The old man, almost absently, looked at the brass-faced clock ticking in +the corner between the fireplace and the white-scoured dresser, and saw +that it was ten minutes to twelve. In the evening twilight a messenger +rode up to the little homestead and broke the sad news of the death by +drowning of 'Wullie,' a few minutes before twelve that day, when the tide +was at its full, and almost at the very time that his father had seen his +semblance, with drawn face, pass the house-en'. He had fallen between the +side of the sloop and the quay wall, to almost immediately disappear, +very probably having received serious injury as he fell." + +Another typical example may be cited from the Glencairn district, the +folk-lore of which has been so exhaustively collected by Mr John Corrie:-- + +"One afternoon a well-known lady, Mrs G----, was setting out to call upon +a neighbour who lived about half-a-mile distant across the moor, when she +saw her friend, evidently bent upon the same errand, coming towards +herself. Retracing her steps, she entered the house again to wait her +friend's arrival. Her expected visitor not appearing, Mrs G---- went to +the door to see what detained her, but although she looked in every +direction there was no one to be seen. As the afternoon was now well +advanced, Mrs G---- decided to defer her visit until the following day. +Walking across on the morrow, she remarked in the course of conversation: + +'I saw you on the way to see me yesterday! What made you turn half-road?' + +'Me coming to see you!' exclaimed her friend, 'I can assure you I wasna +that, for I was scarce frae my ain fireside the hale day.' + +A week later Mrs G----'s friend and neighbour died, and her corpse was +carried to the churchyard, over the very track her wraith had appeared on +the afternoon of her intended call."(67) + +At Dunreggan, Moniaive, as curious an instance happened some fifty years +ago, when the father of a schoolboy, sitting at the fireside with his +wife, saw the semblance of his son enter the cottage and pass "doon the +hoose." Not greatly surprised, but still wondering, he called his wife's +attention to the early return of the boy from school. Very sceptical, and +assuring him that he must be mistaken, the good woman went herself into +the room, to find nothing there, although she looked behind the door and +elsewhere to make sure that no boyish prank was being played. Despite her +assurances the husband was not convinced, and remained in a very uneasy +state of mind, when soon afterwards his worst fears were realised, and the +body of the boy was brought home, to pass through the kitchen to be laid +upon the bed--"doon the hoose." + +MacTaggart, in his _Gallovidian Encyclopedia_, gives several examples, of +which the following instance which happened to a very intimate friend, of +whose intelligence and probity he had the highest regard, may be given:-- + +"Last vacans" (quoth he), "I gaed awa' to my uncle's, or rather my +grandfather's, to stap a week or twa, and play mysel' amang the +Moorhills, neive trouts, and learn twa or three tunes on the flute. Weel, +I hadna been there ony time aworth till I saw as queer a thing as ought +ever I saw, or may see. A'm out at the house-en' ae morning, about aught +o'clock, and a bonny harrest morning it was: Weel, ye see, a'm making a +bit grinwan to mysel' to tak' down wi' me to a deep pool that was i' the +burn fu' o' trouts, and this I was gaun to do after breakfast time, for as +yet I hadna gat my sowens. Weel, ye see, I'm tying on my grin wi' a bit o' +wax'd thread, whan by the house-en' comes my auld grandfather wi' his +clicked staff, that he ay had wi' him, in ae han', and in the tither his +auld loofie o' a mitten, which he hadna as yet drawn on. He cam' close by +me, and gaed a kinn o' a luik at what I was doing, then wised himsel' awa' +alang the hip o' o'e hill, to look how the nowt did, and twa young foals, +as was his usual wont. Weel, awa' he gaed; I was sae thrang when he gaed +by that I never spake to him, neither did he to me, and I began to think +about this when I was mair at leisure, and gaed a glent the road he tuik, +just to see like how the auld body was coming on, for he was on the +borders o' four score, yet a fearie fell auld carle, and as kine a body as +ever I saw; sae I gaed a glent, as I was saying, alang by the scarrow o'e +hill, and did see him winglan awa' by the back side o' the auld saugh +Lochan. And in course o' time, maybe no' ten minutes after, I stepped my +waes in to see gin I could get a cap or twa o' sowens and get off to the +trouts; whan wha think ye's just sitting on the sattle-stane at the +ingle-cheek taking a blaw o' the pipe--but auld granfaither. + +'Lord, preserve me,' said I, and said na mair; I glowr'd about me awsomly. + +'What's wrang wi' the boy?' (quoth my auntie). + +'Come out' (quo' I) 'and I'll tell ye,' which she did. + +We gaed up the hill a bit, to be sure, as she said, o' the thing I had +seen; we saw nought ava, and came back again in an unco way. That vera +night granfaither grew ill, which was on a Saturday teen, and he was dead, +puir body, or sax o'clock on Monday morning." + +From the Farm of Killumpha, in Kirkmaiden, comes another kindred +episode:-- + +"The farmer's wife, Mrs Anderson, had gone to Ayrshire on a visit to her +father. One night during her absence John M'Gurl, the cotman, was gaun +through the close after dark to take a look at the horses and see that +everything was right; for the outhouses were a good way from the +dwelling-house, maybe three hundred yards. When he was crossing ower from +the byres to go to the stable he saw a white-clad woman coming towards +him, which he thought was very like the figure of Mrs Anderson, and he +wondered if she had come back unexpectedly. She came quite close to him, +and he saw plainly it was her, and stopped to speak to her, but she +suddenly disappeared. Next night news came that Mrs Anderson was dead, and +had died suddenly."(68) + +At Balgreggan House, in the same district, a young woman in the service of +the house was much startled to meet, as she passed along a passage with a +lighted lamp in her hand, the semblance of a gentleman of the house, +attired in military dress, and whom she knew perfectly well was far from +his home at the time. The local confirmation of the uncanny nature of the +appearance bears that about the same time the gentleman had actually died +abroad. + +The last example to be quoted has a personal interest, being an incident +in the family history of the writer:-- + +One clear moonlight Sunday night, also in the early twenties of the last +century, a young girl, who afterwards became my paternal grandmother, was +returning home from a neighbouring farm in the near district of +Dalbeattie. She was walking along, with never a thought in her head of +anything approaching the supernatural, when to her dismay and +consternation she was noiselessly joined by a figure in white, who passed +through, be it noticed, and did not leap or jump over, a rough larch fence +running along the roadside. The figure accompanied her along a short +straight part of the road, then left her as noiselessly as it had +approached. Taking to her heels, and with only the spur that terror can +give, she reached her own door, to tumble into the farm kitchen and +collapse on the floor. + +[Illustration: "AN EERIE COMPANION." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +The sequel of the episode is, that three days later, a coasting schooner, +in which her brother was a sailor, was caught in a strong gale of wind +whilst on the passage from Liverpool to the Water of Urr, and was never +more heard tell of. My grandfather, or rather the lad who was to be my +grandfather, scoured the Solway shore from point to point on horseback for +several days, but all that the sea gave up was a small wooden chisel +technically known as a "fid," used for splicing large ropes, and which +bore the initials of the young girl's brother, and which is now in the +writer's possession.[29] + +The "warning," at all events what is accepted as such, has many forms and +varieties. Some of the more commonly accepted forms are the switch-like +strokes, usually three in number, across the window of the sick-chamber, +or even other windows in the house; the falling of pictures without +apparent cause; the baying of dogs in the watches of the night; the +footfall and apparent sound of footsteps in the house, heard overhead or +coming along passages, or ascending or descending stairs, and so realistic +that the door is expectantly opened, only to find nothing there; the +stopping of clocks at the time of the passing of the spirit; and the noise +as of approaching wheels and crunching gravel at the doors of country +houses when death hovers near. + +Many examples and accounts of such things taking place are extant and +seriously believed in; indeed, there is not a parish in the whole district +we are treating of but on enquiry gives ample proof of the generality of +belief in such portents. + +Belief in the switch-like strokes across the window is in this district, +perhaps, the commonest of all. + +Of the footfall type an example may be quoted from Moniaive. It is told +how an old lady, in her younger days in the service of a medical man in +Moniaive, for a time heard persistent strange footfalls in an upper room +of the house. The doctor afterwards was seized with sudden illness, lay +down on a sofa and died over the very spot where the strange noises had +been heard. + +Only the other day an account of the mysterious stopping of a clock +associated with death appeared in the local newspapers, which may in part +be given:-- + +"Mrs Stoba, who lived alone in a cottage at Greenmill, Caerlaverock, died +suddenly during the night of Thursday last, from heart failure. Her blind +not being drawn up on Friday morning, some neighbours forced the door +about half-past ten, and found that she had passed away. It is a singular +coincidence that an eight-day clock which had been her property, and is +now in the house of her son, the burgh officer of Dumfries, stopped at +five minutes before midnight on Thursday, although it was wound up, and +there was no apparent reason for the stoppage."(69) + +A special form of warning is the "Licht before Death." In the parish of +Tynron it is recounted how this mysterious light illumined up, on one +occasion, the whole interior of a byre where a woman was engaged milking +cows, and how afterwards she learned that her mother had died the same +evening. + +Mr John Corrie (Moniaive) gives a good example of this form from the +parish of Glencairn:-- + +"An old Glencairn lady, on looking out of the door one dark night, saw a +strange light shining in the vicinity of a house where an acquaintance +lived. Entering the house she commented on what she had seen, and +expressed the hope that 'it wasna the deid licht.' Her fears were +ridiculed, but next morning it transpired that a member of the family over +whose dwelling the light was seen had committed suicide." + +There is another illustration from Glencairn, and perhaps a more valuable +one, on account of the precision of its details:-- + +"Peggy D----, when going to lock her door one night, saw a light go past, +carried, as she supposed, by a neighbour. There was nothing unusual in +this, but there was a high stone dyke with a flight of steps in it close +to the foot of the garden, and she was surprised to see the light and +supposed light-bearer pass right through the obstructing fence as if +nothing of the kind had been there, and although the ground below the +house was very uneven, the light itself was never lost sight of for a +moment. Peggy, rooted to the spot, watched the light go down through the +fields, then along the public road until the churchyard was reached. +When turning in that direction it passed through the locked gate with the +same apparent ease that the other obstacles had been surmounted, and, +entering the graveyard, became lost to sight among the tombstones. A week +later Peggy D----'s daughter was carried a corpse to the same +churchyard."(70) + +[Illustration: "DEID LICHTS." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +Other old and significant terms associated with the premonition of death +are the "dead-watch," or "dede-chack," really the peculiar clicking noise +made by wood-worms; and the "dede-drap," which was the rather eerie sound +made by the intermittent falling of a drop of water from the eaves; and +"dead-bell," a tingling in the ears, believed to announce a friend's +death. + +Other expressions of a similar nature are the "dede-spall," which is the +semi-molten part of the grease of a candle (so called from its resemblance +to wood-shaving) when it falls over the edge in semi-circular form, and +which, if pronounced, and turning with an appearance of persistence toward +some person in particular, was supposed to indicate the approaching hand +of death. + +Another curious term is the "dede-nip," whose origin is a little more +puzzling. It is described as a blue mark which appears on the body of a +person about to die and without the physical explanation of a blow. It is +also associated with the "blew-spot" of witchcraft already described.[30] + +The following selected verses from "The Death of Dear-meal Johnny," by the +Bard of Corrie (Dumfriesshire), are quoted on account of their reference +to several of these old-world superstitious terms:-- + + "Oft his wraith had been seen gliding + 'Mang the meal sacks i' the spence, + Till the house, folks scarce could bide in, + Terrified maist out o' sense. + + 'Neath his head the death-watch tinkled, + Constant as the lapse of time; + Frae his bed the dead licht twinkled, + Wi' its blue and sulphurous flame. + + 'Neath the bed auld Bawty[31] scrapit, + A' day, thrang as thrang could be; + Made a hole, sae grave-like shapit, + Folk glowered quaking in to see. + + On the dreary kirkyaird road, aye + By night he raised sic eldritch howls; + Weel he kenned his maister's body + Soon must mix amang the mools. + + Frae the wattles dead-draps spatter'd; + At the can'les dead-speals hang; + Pyets rave the thack, and chatter'd; + In folk's lugs the dead-bell rang." + +The last class of warnings to be noticed are special appearances and +portents occurring before death in well-known local families. + +In the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn the tradition was, that when a +death was about to take place in the family a swan invariably made its +appearance on the loch that surrounded the castle. "The last omen of this +nature on record saddened the nuptials of Sir Thomas, the first baronet, +when marrying for the third time. On the wedding-day his son, Roger, went +out of the castle, and, happening to turn his eyes towards the loch, +descried the fatal bird. Returning, overwhelmed with melancholy, his +father rallied him on his desponding appearance, alleging a stepmother to +be the cause of his sadness, when the young man only answered 'Perhaps ere +long you may also be sorrowful,' expiring suddenly that very night."(71) + +The death of a member of the family of Craigdarroch is believed to be +heralded by a sudden and simultaneous peal of household bells. + +In Western Galloway there lingers a tradition concerning the old church of +Kirkmaiden (in Fernes), the ancient burying-place of the M'Cullochs of +Myrton, whose lands, in 1682, passed to the Maxwells of Monreith. When the +parish ceased to exist as a separate parish and was joined to that of +Glasserton, the pulpit and bell were removed to be taken across Luce Bay, +there to be placed in the new church of the same name of Kirkmaiden. +Although the day was fine and the wind fair, a storm sprang up, and down +went boat and bell to the bottom, for, as true believers knew, the bell +had been consecrated, and on no account could it ring 'neath the rafters +of a Presbyterian building. Yet, ring it did not cease to do, for on the +approaching death of any of the representatives of the old family of +Myrton a solemn knell comes up from the watery depths to record the +passing of the soul to the vast unknown. + + "An' certes, there are nane, I trow, + That by Kirkmaiden bide, + Will, when they hear the wraith-bell jow, + Gae oot at Lammastide." + +[Illustration: A MIDNIGHT REVEL.] + + + + +_CHAPTER VI._ + +DEATH CUSTOMS AND FUNERAL CEREMONY. + + "Or ever the silver cord be loosed." + --_Ecclesiastes xii. 6._ + + +When that sure hand called Death knocked at the cottar's or laird's door, +or stalked with unhalting step into moorland farm or upland home to beckon +away some weary inmate, the actual decease, or passing, was of itself +associated with significant observance. + +The nearest relative bent down to the dying face to receive the last +breath. The door was kept ajar,[32] although not too wide, that the spirit +might be untrammelled in its flight.[33] + +The spirit fled the poor dead eyes were closed, also by the nearest +relative, and generally kept so by means of copper coins placed upon them. + +The looking-glass in the death-chamber was covered with a white cloth. The +clock was stopped, or at least the striking-weight removed. The daily +routine of work was discontinued, such days of enforced idleness being +known as the "dead days." On the farm, for example, no matter the season, +the appropriate labour of ploughing, seed sowing, or even harvest, at once +ceased. The household companions of dog and cat were rigidly excluded from +the stricken house; indeed, it was not uncommon for the cat to be +imprisoned beneath an inverted tub, for it was believed that if either of +these animals should jump or cross over the dead body, the welfare of the +spirit of the deceased would certainly be affected. + +The body was then washed, and dressed in its last garments, the hands of +females being crossed over the breast, those of the other sex being +extended by the sides. Last of all a plate of salt was placed upon the +breast, either from the higher idea of future life being signified by the +salt, which is the emblem of perpetuity, or from a more practical notion, +however unlikely, that by this means the body would be prevented from +swelling. + +Of the curious custom of "sin-eating"--that is, the placing of a piece of +bread upon the salt by a recognised individual known as the sin-eater, +who, for money reward, at the same time partook of it, thereby, as it was +believed, absorbing to himself all the sins of the deceased--there is +little to be gleaned in this district. The term "dishaloof" still exists, +however, as a vestige of the custom in lowland Scotland.(72) + +There falls to be mentioned here a quaint superstition associated with +"bee folklore," as described by the late Patrick Dudgeon, Esq. of Cargen, +Kirkcudbrightshire, who specially studied this matter. The custom was, +when a death took place, to at once go to the bee-hives, or skeps, and +whisper the tidings of the sad event to the bees. This was followed by +"putting the bees in mourning"--that is, attaching black ribbons to each +of the skeps.[34] + +Mr Dudgeon, in a paper on the subject,(73) observes that "the custom was +very general some time ago, and several of my correspondents mention +instances of old people having seen it observed. It is not altogether +extinct yet." + +The last toilet completed, it was the usual custom for friends and +neighbours to manifest their sympathy by watching, or "waulking," the +dead. Through the long hours of night, by the glimmering candle-light at +the silent bedside, this was really a service that called for some +resolution, as tales of dead bodies coming back to life were fully +believed in these superstitious days. Occasionally special candles were +used for "the watching," known as Yule candles. These were the remains of +specially large candles burned at Yule, and extinguished at the close of +the day, what was left of the candle being carefully preserved and locked +away, to be burned at the owners' own "waulking." + +Visiting the house of the dead for the sake of seeing the corpse was a +regular practice, and, it may be added, that to touch the corpse was +considered a sure safeguard against all eerie dreams of death and ghostly +trappings, as well as a counter-influence to illness and disease. + +With the encoffining, or "kistin'" of the dead, a further, stage was +reached. The ceremony was apparently religious, and one of deep solemnity, +the minister, or one of his elders or deacons, attending to see the +remains of the deceased placed in the coffin, to offer up prayer, and +generally to console and sympathise with the bereaved. In reality, the +official presence of the minister, elder or deacon, was directly due to an +Act of Parliament,[35] actually framed and passed, incongruous as it may +appear, for the "improvement of Linen manufacture within the Kingdom." +The clerical representative was present in the house of mourning, to be +fully satisfied that "the corpse was shrouded in home made linen, and that +not exceeding in value twenty shillings per ell." + +This curious Act had as curious a sequel, for, prompted by an evident +spirit of fair dealing, the Linen Act was rescinded in the first +Parliament of Queen Anne in favour of a "Woollen Act," insisting upon the +exclusive use of "wool" as a material for shrouds, under exactly the same +pains and penalties as the previous Act laid down to compel the use of +linen. In course of time such rigid intrusive conditions, despite the law, +came to be disregarded, and people shrouded their dead as they thought +best, and in material of their own choice. It was, however, usual for the +undertaker to safeguard those concerned in any such infringement by +charging half the statutory fine in his account, taking credit to himself +for the other half as being the informer against himself. This was usually +entered as the first item of his undertaking expenses, being expressed in +his bill against the relatives as: "To paying the penalty under the Act +for burying in Scots Linen." + +The custom of relatives and intimate friends being at the encoffining or +"kistin'" is to some extent associated with the "lykewake," or +"latewake," of Roman Catholic usage. Although now quite unknown among +adherents of the Scottish Presbyterian Church, such wakes were at one time +common enough, even after the Reformation. They were, however, attended by +such unseemly behaviour that in 1645 the General Assembly passed an edict +to suppress them. + +[Illustration: FUNERAL HOSPITALITY. Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +That the custom still continued is brought out by the knowledge that in +1701 it was found necessary to revive and enforce the statute against the +practice. + +The culminating feature of the rites of bereavement, the funeral ceremony, +was in these old days (particularly between the years 1700 and 1800) an +occasion altogether outstanding in social importance. It was an occasion, +however, very often marred by the profuse liberality and use of +stimulants, lavish hospitality in the house of mourning being too +frequently followed by ludicrous and extraordinary results as the body was +being conveyed to its last resting-place. "A funeral party," for example, +"had wended their way for miles through deep snow over Eskdale Moor, bound +for Moffat Churchyard. On arriving at the burial-ground it was actually +discovered that they had dropped the coffin by the way, the back having +fallen from the cart on which it was being conveyed."(74) + +Ten o'clock in the morning saw the commencement of the funeral ceremonies, +this being so generally understood that no special hour was mentioned in +"the bidding to the buriall." The setting-out for the churchyard, however, +or the "liftin'," as it was termed, did not, as a rule, take place for +several hours later, and in many instances not until well on in the +afternoon. This delay, as well as giving ample time to partake of +refreshment, was really meant to enable all the guests to gather together, +many of them travelling long distances, which were not made shorter by bad +roads or inclement weather. A precaution sometimes taken before the +company moved off was to send someone to the top of the nearest height to +signal when the horizon was clear and no more guests in sight. + +The place of entertainment was usually the barn. Planks laid along the +tops of wooden trestles formed a large table, on which were piled up a +superabundance of food and drink, while a constant feature of the +entertainment was an imposing array of tobacco pipes already filled by the +women who had sat beside, or watched, the dead body. It was not considered +seemly for the women of the house to mingle with the male guests. The +usual custom in Galloway and Nithsdale was for the women folk to sit +together in a room apart. + +As the company gathered they formed themselves into relays--for the number +of guests as a rule exceeded the accommodation of even the largest +barn--and entered the place set aside for refreshment. This took the form +of what were known as "services," and these in their usual order were, +after each guest had been proffered a pipe of tobacco:-- + + (a) Bread and cheese, with ale and porter. + + (b) A glass of whisky, with again bread and cheese. + + (c) A glass of rum and biscuits. + + (d) A glass of brandy and currant bun. + + (e) Wine and shortbread (or burial bread). + +It was not, be it mentioned in passing, a very unusual thing for some of +the company to enter the barn again, and undertake the "services" a second +time. + +The natural consequence of all this is obvious, but to a certain extent +the situation could be saved by the use of a private receptacle called the +"droddy bottle," into which the liquor could be poured to be taken home, +or at least carried outside. Before partaking of each individual "service" +it was solemnised by the minister offering up an appropriate prayer, a +clerical task which must have been trying in the extreme. + +As instancing the prodigality of preparation in the way of food, notice +may be taken of a funeral in the parish of Mochrum, where two bushels (160 +lbs.) of shortbread were provided, and it is quite unnecessary to suggest +that the supply of spirits would be in proportion. + +The following account of funeral expenses, drawn from a Wigtownshire +farmer's book of expenses in 1794, may here be included, as it affords an +excellent illustration of how the expenses of an ordinary funeral were +swelled by the amounts paid for alcoholic liquor:-- + + Mrs G.--One gallon brandy £0 18 0 + 15 gills gin 0 7 6 + Six bottles of wine 0 17 0 + One gallon rum 0 16 0 + To the coffin 1 5 0 + To the mort-cloath and grave digging 0 2 0 + To bread 0 5 9 + J. C. for biding and walking and other attendance 0 4 0 + J. S. for whiskie and ale at sitting up 0 3 1 + +Of the expenses of funerals in a higher rank of life those incurred on the +deaths of Grierson of Lag and his third son, John Grierson, afford full +and interesting information. Mr John Grierson, third son of the Laird of +Lag, died early in 1730, and to one Jean Scott the purveying of the meat +and drink considered requisite for the friends attending the funeral was +entrusted. The bill came to about £160 Scots.[36] When the Laird himself +died, on the last day of the year 1733, there was a repetition of the +feasting and drinking at the house of the deceased, at the kirkyard, and +at an adjoining house, which had evidently been requisitioned for the +accommodation of several of the gentlemen, among whom were Lord Stormonth, +Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, Maxwell of Carriel, and others who had come from a +distance to assist. The account begins two days before the death of the +Laird, and ends on January 14. In round figures the cost of the meat and +drink consumed at the Laird's funeral came to £240 Scots. + +The following are the detailed accounts:--(75) + +ACCOTT. OF THE FFUNERALS OF MR JOHN GRIERSONE. + + 1730. _To Jean Scott._ + + Feb. 23rd. 2 bottels clarit to these as set up all night wt + ye corps £0 3 0 + + do. 1 bottel of brandy for do. 0 1 6 + + Feb. 24th. 1 bottel of clarit when the sear-cloath[37] was + put on 0 1 6 + + do. 1 bottel clarit when the grave-cloaths was put on 0 1 6 + + do. At the in-coffining where the ladys was, 1 bottel + clarit, 2 bottels white wine, and 1 bottel + Cannary 0 6 2 + + do. In the beg room wt the Gentelmen before the corps + was transported--2 bottels white wine 0 3 0 + + do. When the company returned--10 bottels clarit 0 15 0 + + do. 2 bottels brandy for Gentelmen's Servts. 0 3 0 + + do. 2 bottels clarit to Sir Robert's Servts. 0 3 0 + + Feb. 26th. 1 bottel clarit to Sir Robert's Servts. 0 1 6 + + March 2nd. 1 bottel clarit to Sir Robert's Servts. 0 1 6 + + March 4th. 1 bottel clarit to Sir Robert's Servts. 0 1 6 + + March 5th. In the two rooms when at meat 22 bottels clarit 1 13 0 + + do. ffor the Servts. and Gentelmen's Servts., 4 + bottels of brandy 0 6 0 + + do. at night when the Gentelmen returned--25 + bottels of clarit 1 17 6 + + do. 2 bottels brandy to Rockhall wt bottels 0 3 0 + + March 6th. 2 bottels clarit at dinr wt Sr Walter Laurie and + Cariel 0 3 0 + + do. Ale from the 23rd of ffebr., till this day 1 19 6 + + do. To 1 baccon ham 0 9 0 + + do. To a rosting piece of beef 0 6 6 + + do. To a rost pigg 0 2 6 + + do. To 2 rost gease 0 3 0 + + do. To 1 rost turkey 0 4 0 + + do. To a calf's head stwed wt wine and oysstars 0 3 6 + + do. To 2 dish of neats' tongues 0 8 0 + + do. To 2 dish of capons and fowls 0 6 0 + + do. To a passtie 0 7 0 + + March 6th. To a dozn. of tearts 0 6 0 + + do. To 2 dozn. of mincht pys 0 8 0 + + do. To 1 quarter of rost mutton 0 3 6 + + do. To rost veal 0 3 6 + + do. To 1 barrel of oysters, 6 limmons, and other + pickels 0 4 0 + + do. To eating for Tennents and Servants 1 0 0 + + +The following is a note of some of the items of expenditure at the funeral +of the notorious Sir Robert Grierson of Lag himself:-- + + 1733. + + Decr. 29th. 2 bottles small clarit £0 3 0 + + do. 2 flint glasses 0 1 4 + + Decr. 30th. 4 bottles small clarit 0 6 0 + + 1734. + + Janr. 1st. 12 bottles strong clarit 1 4 0 + + do. 3 bottles ffrantinak 1 6 0 + + do. 3 bottles shirry 0 5 6 + + do. 1 bottle more brandy 0 1 6 + + Janr. 7th. 18 double flint glasses + + do. 1 £ double refined shugar + + Janr. 8th. 4 dozn. strong clarit to the lodgeing 4 16 0 + + do. 6 bottles ffrantinak do. 0 12 0 + + do. 6 bottles shirry do. 0 11 0 + + do. 6 more double flint glasses to ye lodgeing + + do. 12 bottles strong clarit sent out to the burying + place 1 4 0 + + do. 12 bottles more strong clarit at night to the + lodgeing 1 4 0 + + Janr. 9th. 4 wine glasses returned from Dunscore + + Janr. 12th. 2 bottles strong clarit to the lodgeing 0 4 0 + + do. 10 bottles strong clarit wt Carriel & more + Gentelmen 1 8 0 + + Janr. 14th. 2 bottles clarit wt Carriel 0 4 8 + + 8 dozn. empty bottles returned + + The Wines amounts to 14 5 5 + + The Entertainments to 6 10 0 + + 1734. ACCOMPT. OF HORSSES. + + Janr. 9th. 2 horses of Lord Stormonds, 2 nights' hay, oats, + & beans £0 5 0 + + do. 2 horses 2 nights, hay, oats, & beans, Sr Thomas + Kirkpatrk 0 5 0 + + do. the smith for Sr Thomas' horsses 0 2 0 + + Pyd. to Charles Herisse, smith, for iron work to + the Hearse 0 5 6 + + Mr Gilbert's horsses 1 4 6 + +Grim legend clings around the account of Lag's last illness and his +funeral. "During the latter part of his life Sir Robert had taken up his +abode in his town-lodging in Dumfries. It was an ancient pile of building +of singular construction, facing the principal part of the High Street of +the town, known as the 'Plainstones.' This old house was called the +'Turnpike,' from the spiral staircase, a characteristic of it, as of many +of the old Edinburgh houses; it was situated at the head of what was +called the Turnpike Close, and little more than two hundred yards from the +Nith. The best known of the many legends regarding Lag is this: that when +he came near his end, and was sorely tormented with gout, he had relays of +servants posted so as to hand up from one to another a succession of +buckets of cold water from the Nith, that he might cool his burning +limbs--but the moment his feet were inserted into the water it began to +fizz and boil. + +In this old Turnpike house[38] Sir Robert died on the 31st December, 1733. +It is related that on this occasion a 'corbie' (raven) of preternatural +blackness and malignity of aspect, perched himself on the coffin, and +would not be driven off, but accompanied the funeral cortège to the grave +in the churchyard of Dunscore. + +Moreover, when the funeral procession started, and had got some little way +on the Galloway side of the Nith, it was found that the horses, with all +their struggles, and dripping with perspiration, from some mysterious +cause could move the hearse no further. Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, of +Closeburn, the old friend and comrade of Lag (and his relative), who was +believed to be deep in some branches of the Black Art, was one of the +mourners. This gentleman, the stoutest of Non-jurors, on this occasion +swore a great oath that he would drive the hearse of Lag 'though ---- were +in it!' and ordered a team of beautiful Spanish horses of his own to be +harnessed in place of the others. Sir Thomas mounted and took the reins, +when the horses instantly dashed off at a furious gallop that he could in +no wise restrain, and abated nought of their headlong pace till they +reached the churchyard of Dunscore, where they suddenly pulled up--and +died."(76) + +When the funeral cortège did start, as already indicated, curious though +quite consequent sequels were far from uncommon. Solemnity and deep +drinking only too frequently ended in unaffected hilarity or even +dissension. + +MacTaggart, in his _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_, has caught and well +recorded the boisterous spirit of this grim funeral festivity, as the +following graphic description amply shows:-- + +"At last the Laird o' the Bowertree Buss gaed his last pawt, was +straughted, dressed, coffined and a'; and I was bidden to his burial the +Tuesday after. There I gaed, and there were met a wheen fine boys. Tam o' +Todholes, and Wull o' the Slack war there; Neil Wulson, the fisher, and +Wull Rain, the gunner, too. The first service that came roun' was strong +farintosh, famous peat reek. There was nae grief amang us. The Laird had +plenty, had neither wife nor a wean, sae wha cud greet? We drew close to +ither, and began the cracks ding-dang, while every minute roun' came +anither reamin' service. I faun' the bees i' my head bizzin' strong i' a +wee time. The inside o' the burial house was like the inside o' a +Kelton-hill tent; a banter came frae the tae side of the room, and was +sent back wi' a jibe frae the ither. Lifting at last began to be talked +about, and at last lift we did. 'Whaever wished for a pouchfu' o' drink +might tak' it.' This was the order; sae mony a douce black coat hang side +wi' a heavy bottle. On we gaed wi' the Laird, his weight we faun' na. Wull +Weer we left ahin drunk on the spot. Rob Fisher took a sheer as we came +down the green brae, and landed himself in a rossen o' breers. +Whaup-nebbed Samuel fell aff the drift too. I saw him as we came across +Howmcraig; the drink was gaen frae him like couters. Whan we came to the +Taffdyke that rins cross Barrend there we laid the Laird down till we took +a rest awee. The inside o' pouches war than turned out, bottle after +bottle was touted owre; we rowed about, and some warsled. At last a game +at the quoits was proposed; we played, but how we played I kenna. Whan we +got tae the kirkyard the sun was jist plumpin' down; we pat the coffin +twice in the grave wrang, and as often had to draw't out again. We got it +to fit at last, and in wi' the moulds on't. The grave-digger we made a +beast o'." + +A notable exception to the practice of the period was the funeral of +William Burnes, father of the National Bard, who was borne from Lochlea to +Alloway Kirkyard, a distance of twelve miles, not a drop of anything +excepting a draught of water from a roadside stream being tasted. + +The funeral festivities, however, did not end with the lowering of the +dead into the grave. There yet remained the final entertainment at the +house of the bereaved. If within reasonable distance at all the funeral +party returned from the churchyard to partake of the entertainment known +as the "draigie,"[39] or "dredgy." Again the drinking was long and deep, +with results that can only too readily be imagined. + +But it must not be assumed that such scenes and proceedings passed without +protest on the part of the Church and those who had the welfare of decency +and morality at heart. The Presbytery of Penpont, for example, in 1736 +issued the following warning to their own district:-- + +"Yet further how unaccountable and scandalous are the large gatherings and +unbecoming behaviour at burials and 'lake-wacks,' also in some places how +many are grossly unmannerly in coming to burials without invitation. How +extravagant are many in their preparations for such occasions, and in +giving much drink, and driving it too frequently, before and after the +corpse is enterred, and keeping the company too long together; how many +scandalouslie drink until they be drunk on such occasions; this practice +cannot but be hurtfull, therefore ought to be discouraged and reformed, +and people that are not ashamed to be so vilely unmannerly as to thrust +themselves into such meetings without being called ought to be affronted." + +Despite protest and counsel, however, the custom of supplying refreshment +to mourners in the form of "services" lingered until well into the +nineteenth century. + +Much good was, however, done in the south-west district of Scotland by the +firm position taken up by Dr Henry Duncan of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, a +personality whose memory is still held in the highest esteem and respect. +The method adopted was characteristic of the man, and is described by +himself in the Statistical Account of his Parish:-- + +"The present incumbent fell on a simple expedient by which this practice +has been completely abolished. Having engaged the co-operation of some of +the leading men in the parish, he drew up a subscription paper, binding +the subscribers, among other less important regulations, to give only +_one_ service when they had the melancholy duty of presiding at a funeral +themselves, and to partake of only one service when they attended the +funeral of a neighbour. This paper was readily subscribed by almost every +head of a family in the parish, and whatever was injurious in the practice +was abolished at once, ... and, speaking generally, may be said to have +effectually rooted out the former practice throughout the whole +surrounding district" (March, 1834). + +After the funeral, certain old rites and customs were carried out. On the +death of a tenant the mart, or herezeld (heriot, or best aucht) was seized +by the landowner to substantiate his title. The bed and straw on which the +deceased had lain were burned in the open field. Concerning this practice +Joseph Train in a note to _Strains of the Mountain Muse_, describes how, +"as soon as the corpse is taken from the bed on which the person died, all +the straw or heather of which it was composed is taken out and burned in a +place where no beast can get near it, and they pretend to find next +morning in the ashes the print of the foot of that person in the family +who shall die first." + +A short reference may here be made to the custom of burial without +coffins. + +The spirit of economy went far indeed in these older days, for burial, +particularly of the poor, took place either without a coffin at all, or +they were carried to the grave in one of common and general use, from +which they were removed and buried when the grave-side was reached. + +A doubtful advance upon this method was the introduction of the +"slip-coffin," which permitted of a bolt being drawn when lowered to the +bottom of the grave. A hinged bottom was in this way relieved, which left +the poor dead body in the closest of contact with mother earth. The +motive, of course, was economy, and its use practically restricted to +paupers. On the authority of Edgar, author of _Old Church Life in +Scotland_ (1886), it is gratifying to note that none of these uncoffined +interments had taken place in the South of Scotland for at least 150 +years. + +In this connection a story somewhat against the "cloth" may be given:-- + +"A worthy Galloway minister, feeling that the newly-passed Poor Law Act +with its assessments was burdensome to his flock, seriously proposed to +the Parochial Board of his district that to narrow down the rates a +'slip-coffin' should be made for the poor, out of which the body could +be slipped into its narrow home. The proposal met with scant +consideration, and during the rest of his lifetime the well-meaning man +was known as 'Slip.'"(77) + +[Illustration: A GALLOWAY FUNERAL OF OTHER DAYS. Sketch by J. Copland, +Dundrennan.] + +Before the days of hearses the coffin was borne to the grave on two long +poles or hand-spokes. Over the simple bare coffin the "mort-cloth" was +spread, for the use of which the "Kirk-Session" made a charge, the money +received being devoted to the relief of the poor of the parish. As +superstitious custom refused the rites of Christian burial to those who +died by their own hand, so was also the use of the "mort-cloth" withheld. + +Until comparatively recent days the bodies of suicides were buried at the +meeting of four cross roads, or at all events at some lonely, unfrequented +spot, the remains having not unusually the additional indignity of being +impaled by a stake practised upon them. It is of interest to note that the +name of the "Stake Moss," Sanquhar, may be traced to this callous +practice. + +A superstition of the churchyard itself that still lingers and is worthy +of notice, is that the north side is less hallowed than the other portions +of "God's Acre." The origin of this comes from the Scriptural description +of the last judgment (Matthew xxv.), which tells how "He shall set the +sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left." + +A recent local writer has thus embodied the idea and its probable +derivation:-- + +"This superstition (he says) is said to have originated in the New +Testament story of the Day of Judgment, when the Lord on entering His +house (the entrance of the old churches being at the west end, or on the +south near the west) would separate the sheep from the goats--the former +to His right hand, the south; and the latter to his left, the north. Our +forefathers would not see their dear ones among the goats, 'for evil,' +said they, 'is there.' This credulous imagining is not exemplified in the +kirkyard alone. Many of our old pre-Reformation churches exhibit evidence +of the superstition in the entire absence of windows in their north walls; +and in general it would appear that in mediæval times there was a common +belief in the evil influence of the north, and that thence came all kinds +of ill. + +"In Sanquhar Kirkyard it is evident that the superstition prevailed until +comparatively modern times, for there are no headstones on the north side +of the kirk earlier than the beginning of the last century, all the older +monuments being to the south of the kirk, and at its east and west +ends."(78) + +To the simple earnest dweller in the country there comes at times the +thought that brings with it a comfort all its own, that after "life's +fitful fever" they will be quietly laid to rest underneath the green turf, +within the shadow of the kirk itself. Of this the origin of Carsphairn +parish, in the uplands of Galloway, gives telling proof; for in the year +1645 complaint was made to the Scottish Parliament that in the parishes of +Dairy and Kells numbers of people had to be buried in the fields, because +the houses in which they lived and died were twelve miles from a +churchyard. The issue of this was, that the district of Carsphairn was +erected into a separate parish, and the indignity of such burials came to +an end. + +Before closing a chapter devoted to "death custom" and "funeral ceremony," +the use of the "dead bell" must certainly be referred to. + +In these old days when methods of conveying news and information were +restricted, it was the routine practice when a death occurred for the +"beadle" (sexton) to go, bell in hand, around the district, pausing at +intervals to ring the "passing bell"[40] more particularly in front of the +houses of friends of the deceased, announcing at the same time not only +the death but also the day of burial. The usual form of his intimation +which, with uncovered head, he delivered was:-- + +"Brethren and sisters,--I hereby let ye to wit that our brother (or +sister), named (name, address, and occupation), departed this life at +----of the clock, according to the pleasure Almighty God, and you are all +invited to attend the funeral on ----." + +Particular reference to this custom in the town of Dumfries is given in +the Itinerary of John Ray, naturalist, who visited the town in August, +1662:-- + +"Here (he says) ... we observed the manner of their burials, which is +this: when anyone dies the sexton or bellman goeth about the streets, with +a small bell in his hand, which he tinkleth all along as he goeth, and now +and then he makes a stance, and proclaims who is dead, and invites the +people to come to the funeral." + +On the day of the funeral it was again customary for the "beadle" to ring +the bell, walking in front of the funeral procession ringing it as he +went. This is also noticed by Ray, who notes that "The people and +ministers ... accompany the corpse to the grave ... with the bell before +them." This usage has passed to a form, common enough to this day, +particularly in the country, of tolling the church bell as the funeral +cortège approaches the churchyard. + +In the scarce _Book of Galloway_ it is recorded how "the beadle had rung +the 'passing bell[41] on the bellknowe of Penninghame,' and it was heard +again when the mourners approached the graveyard." + +The ringing of the "dead bell" had its origin in the superstitious idea +that by this means evil spirits were held at bay. + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CHAPTER VII._ + +GHOST LORE AND HAUNTED HOUSES. + + "There are many ghost stories which we do not feel at liberty to + challenge."--_Sir Walter Scott._ + + +Passing now to gather up the details of superstitious vestige as they +present themselves in the form of ghost traditions and memories of +ghost-haunted houses, we find in the district of Dumfries and Galloway +much of interest to set forth. + +Traversing from Western Galloway to Eastern Dumfriesshire, gleaning as we +go, the legend connected with Dunskey Castle, which yet in ruined solitude +stands sentinel over the rock-bound shore and restless sea at Portpatrick, +first calls for mention. + +The story goes back to the occupation of the Castle in the fourteenth +century by Walter de Curry, a turbulent sea rover, who, becoming much +incensed at the outspoken and fearless utterances of an Irish piper whom +he had taken prisoner and compelled to his service as minstrel and +jester, condemned the unfortunate man to a lingering death from starvation +in the Castle dungeons. + +Tradition asserts, however, that the piper found his way into a secret +subterranean passage leading from the Castle to a cave on the sea-shore, +from which, however, he was unable to find egress, and where he perished +miserably. + +Along this passage the troubled ghost of the piper was long reputed to +march, backwards and forwards, playing the weirdest of pipe music, and so +indicating, as was firmly believed, to the awe-stricken listeners above, +the line of direction of the secret underground passage.[42] + +Perhaps the best-known Galloway ghost story is that of the Ghost of +Galdenoch Tower, in the parish of Leswalt. The Tower was at one time the +property of the Agnews of Galdenoch, but falling on evil days their name +disappeared from the roll of proprietors, when it was used as a +farm-house. For this, however, it was given up, for no other reason than +that it was firmly believed to be haunted. The tradition as told by Sir +Andrew Agnew is as follows:-- + +"A scion of the house had fought in one of the battles for the Covenant, +and after a defeat had craved food and shelter at a house near the scene +of the disaster. He was admitted by the owner, a rough blustering fellow +of Royalist leanings, who allowed him to share in the family supper; and +after a long crack over the incidents of the day, let him make up a bed by +the ingle-side fire. The young soldier rose early, and was in the act of +leaving when his host barred his access to the door, grumbling that he +doubted whether he had been on the right side the day before. Convinced +that he meant to detain him, the youth produced his pistol and shot his +entertainer dead; then rushing to the stables, saddled up, and made his +way to the west. + +Arrived safely at the Galdenoch, the fatted calf was killed, and having +fought all his battles over again round the family board, he went to bed. +But hardly had the lights been extinguished in the tower than strange +sounds announced a new arrival, which proved to be the ghost of the slain +malignant, who not only disturbed the repose of his slayer, but made life +unendurable to all within. + +Nightly his pranks continued, and even after a change of owners the +annoyance was continued to the new tenant and his family. One cold +winter's night they sat round the kitchen fire playing a well-known game. +A burning stick passed merrily from hand to hand: + + 'About wi' that! about wi' that! + Keep alive the priest-cat!' + +The spark was extinguished, and the forfeit was about to be declared, when +one of the party, looking at the hearth, which was now one brilliant mass +of transparent red, observed, 'It wadna be hannie to steal a coal the +noo;' but hardly were the words out of his mouth when a glowing peat +disappeared as if by magic, leaving as clear a vacuum in the fire as when +a brick is displaced from a solid archway. 'That beats a',' was re-echoed +through the wondering group; and but a few moments elapsed before there +was a cry of 'Fire' and the farm-steading was in flames. In the thatch of +the barn that identical 'cube of fire' was inserted, and no one doubted +that it had been done by the ghost. The range of buildings was preserved +with difficulty by the united exertions of the party. + +The tenant's mother sat one morning at her spinning-wheel; an invisible +power bore her along, and plunged her in the Mill-Isle burn, a voice +mumbling the while, 'I'll dip thee, I'll draw thee,' till the old dame +became unconscious. Great was the surprise of the family at dinner-time +when grandmamma was missed. Every corner of the buildings was searched. +The goodman and his wife became alarmed, while the lads and lassies ran +madly about interrogating one another with 'Where's granny?' At last a +well-known voice was heard--'I've washed granny in the burn, and laid her +on the dyke to dry!' Away the whole party ran; and sure enough the poor +old woman lay naked on the dyke, half dead with cold and fright. + +Several of the neighbouring clergymen tried to lay this ghost, but all in +vain. If they sang, the ghost drowned the united efforts of the company. +Eventually, however, it was laid by the Rev. Mr Marshall of Kirkcolm, +already referred to as a zealous prosecutor of witches, by the almost +unclerical method of roaring and shouting it down."(79) + +On the confines of Stoneykirk parish, in the Moor of the Genoch, there is +a plantation locally known as "Lodnagappal Plantin',"[43] concerning which +report tells of an apparition in the form of a headless woman who almost +invariably carried a light for the dire purpose of luring the unwary to +death in the treacherous moss-holes so numerous in the neighbourhood. + +Fuller details are available of yet another "white woman" and her +unwelcome methods. Early last century, when the mail packet crossed from +Portpatrick to Ireland, a carrier, who lived at High Ardwell, regularly +journeyed backwards and forwards to Portpatrick to bring supplies for +the district. On his way home he was more than once alarmed and troubled +by a woman in white, who stopped his horse and even caused his cart to +break down. Once, indeed, the horse was so affected that it became quite +incapable of moving the load, compelling the carrier in great distress to +unyoke, and, mounting the horse, to make for home. His fears were not much +lessened by finding that the white lady was seated behind him. + +The appearances of the ghost became more frequent as time went on, and +eventually the white woman manifested a desire to embrace the carrier, +indicating that if he yielded even only to listen once to her whispered +devotion he might be freed altogether from future interference. The +carrier, after a good deal of doubt and hesitation, at last yielded, but, +wishing to have some substantial barrier between himself and his ghostly +lover, stipulated that she should come to the little back-window of his +cottage on a particular night. The appointed time came, but the carrier, +still very doubtful, had planned accordingly. Cautiously and partially was +the window opened. The white figure was there. Bending down to what +appeared to be the man's face--but what was really the skull of a horse +held towards her--there was a swift savage thrust of the ghostly face +and half of the protruding horse's skull was severed. Thwarted in this +unexpected way, the evil spirit slunk away, muttering "Hard, hard, are the +banes and gristle of your face!" At least that is what the tradition +tells. + +Another tale concerns Auchabrick House, in Kirkmaiden, not far from Port +Logan. The usually accepted story is pretty much as follows: The troth of +a young lady of the house was plighted to a young gentleman whose fortune +was not quite equal to his rank in life. It was the days of privateering, +and to amass some means the young fellow joined an enterprise of this +kind, and was fortunate enough to find himself aboard a superior and +successful vessel. + +Whilst abroad he sent home to the lady of his heart a silk dress and a +considerable sum of money. These, however, fell into the hands of an +unscrupulous brother, who appropriated them to his own use. Perplexed at +not receiving news from home and acknowledgment, the lover wrote again and +again, but the letters were always intercepted by the brother. + +Disaster came, and the wanderer never reached home to learn the true state +of matters, but his ghost came to haunt the place. Fasten the doors as +securely as they might, it always obtained an entry, and the scratch of a +ghostly pen was heard writing and rewriting the stolen letters. Different +plans were tried to relieve this eerie state of affairs. On one occasion a +Bible was placed behind the door through which the ghost seemed to pass, +but this was followed by terrifying and distracting noises, while the +house itself was shaken as if by storm and gale. + +It was also believed that the semblance of the ship on which the wanderer +pursued his calling as a privateer was at times seen to sail along a field +above the house. + +A variation of the main story is that it was a brother of one of the +former ladies of Auchabrick whose shade haunted the place. He had fallen +from his horse and been fatally injured, his ghost taking the form of a +young man, booted and spurred, riding a grey horse. + +At Cardrain, in the same locality, there is another tradition of an +apparition on horseback which time and again rode up to the house, made +fast the horse to a rope hanging from the thatch, then wandered all +through the place. + +In the neighbourhood of Tirally the shade of a departed medical man was +believed to frequent and wander along the sea-shore. There is an authentic +account of the house he occupied being of necessity given up by the tenant +who succeeded him after his death, on account of the strange persistent +and disturbing noises heard in it. + +Passing from the Rhinns of Galloway to the Machars, through the district +of Glenluce, the surprising story of the Devil of Glenluce should +naturally find a place. It will, however, be included in the Appendix, in +all its quaintness, as it occurs in _Satan's Invisible World_, published +in 1685. + +In the history of the town of Wigtown no character stands out in stronger +relief than Provost Coltran, proprietor of Drummorall. In 1683, along with +David Graham, brother of Claverhouse, and Sir Godfrey M'Culloch, he was +appointed to administer the test to the people of Galloway, and was Chief +Magistrate at the drowning of the Martyrs on Wigtown Sands (May 11th, +1685). His private character does not seem to have been beyond reproach, +and it was commonly said that in his life time he had sold himself to the +Devil. + +The story still lingers that at his death the windows of his house looked +as if they were in a blaze of fire, clearly indicating to the popular mind +that the Devil was getting his own, and for long afterwards his ghost, a +terrifying figure snorting fire from his nostrils, walked the earth. Even +the house where he lived and died was for many years avoided after +night-fall. + +Not far from the village of Bladnoch, on the farm of Kirkwaugh, is a spot +known as the Packman's Grave, round which a grim story lingers:-- + +"Tradition has it that an enterprising packman lived in or near Wigtown +long ago. He had a consignment of cloth on board a vessel which put into a +local port. The ship was plague-stricken, and the people in the district, +fearing that the infection might spread by means of the packman and his +cloth, seized both the merchant and his wares, and taking them to +Kirkwaugh dug a deep grave, in which they were deposited--the packman +alive. Even until lately people imagined they saw lights and heard knocks +at the spot, which gets the name of the Packman's Grave to this day."(80) + +Near Sorbie is the farm of Claunch, concerning which there is an old-world +memory of a spectral carriage and pair of horses. The origin of the +tradition is unknown, but the following is an authentic account of its +appearance furnished by a correspondent:-- + +"I can, however, recall the strange experience of one who avowed that it +had come within his ken. He was a blacksmith by trade, and had been doing +some work at the farm. It was a fine moonlight evening when he gathered +his tools together and started on his walk to Whithorn, where he lived. It +chanced that the farmer by whom he had been employed during the day +accompanied him as far as the entrance to the farmyard. As they were +crossing the courtyard, what certainly seemed a spectral carriage and pair +of horses galloped past them, and in another moment disappeared as if it +never had been. + +'What in the name of wonder was that?' ejaculated the smith; to which the +farmer replied-- + +'It's mair than I can tell--but it's no' the first glint o't I hae gotten, +although I haena seen't aften. But dinna ye come owre what ye hae +seen--nae guid'll come o' talkin' aboot it.'"(81) + +The old parish manse of Whithorn, which adjoined the churchyard near to +its main entrance, and which was demolished a good many years ago, had +rather an uncanny reputation, but nothing very definite can be gleaned to +explain this. It certainly was, however, avoided after darkness fell. A +little short lane off the public road, between the north end of Whithorn +and the Bishopton Crofts, is associated with an appearance denoting foul +play towards a very young child. But the most important ghostly +reminiscence that can be gathered in this locality refers to the ghost at +Craigdhu, in the parish of Glasserton, on the shore-road from Whithorn to +Port-William. The following account was communicated by a native of the +district:-- + +"Many rumours used to be afloat in my younger days of people being +terrified by some unearthly shape or other which was believed to show +itself at Craigdhu. Such stories were, however, rather conflicting, some +declaring that it was a spectre of human form and proportions, while +others held that it was more like a huge quadruped of an unknown species; +but I confine my notes to personal testimonies of three individuals whom I +knew. The first of these was a hard-working farm servant, who insisted +that he had seen the something--whatever it was--not once or twice, but +repeatedly. The second testifier was a wood-sawyer, who had occasion to +spend a night in the house belonging to the farm. His first consciousness +of the ghost's presence was when he was ascending the stair to the +sleeping apartment, which a companion and himself were to occupy. This was +manifested by the distinct sound of a lady's silk dress passing him and +his bed-fellow on their way to the garret which was to be their dormitory. +But that, though eerie enough, was nothing to what was to follow. As soon +as they had extinguished their candle and crept into bed _something_ leapt +on the bed and dealt the unfortunate couple some well directed blows with +what seemed like a heavy blunt instrument. The third witness was an +ex-magistrate of Whithorn, who told that he was almost run to earth by +the goblin. He was just able to evade it by reaching the farm-house door +as he was actually being overtaken. Throwing himself against the door, he +was admitted by the farmer himself without a moment's delay. The latter at +once conjectured the cause of his breathlessness and terror--'Aye! come +in, my frien', come in. I ken gey weel what has happened; but ye're safe +here, an' as welcome as I can mak' ye, to bide till daylicht.'"(82) + +The roofless ruin of the little pre-Reformation Church of Kirkmaiden (in +Fernes) in Glasserton parish, so beautifully situated on the very verge of +Luce Bay, has among other associations a tradition of supernatural +intervention and tragedy. + +Many tides have ebbed and flowed since the night of a merry gathering in +the old house of Moure, the original home of the Maxwells of Monreith. As +the evening wore on, some harmless rallying and boasting took place +concerning bravery and indifference towards darkness and things uncanny. +Among the guests was a young man in the hey-day of youth and recklessness, +who rashly wagered that he would that very night, and without delay, ride +to the Maiden Kirk and bring away the church bible as a proof that he had +been there. Amidst much careless talk and banter he galloped off. The +night wore on, but the young man did not return. As it was but a short +ride from Moure to the Kirk the greatest anxiety prevailed. Next day, in a +bleak spot, his dead body was found, as also his horse lying stiff beside +him. Of robbery and violence there was no evidence, but the entrails of +both man and beast had been carefully drawn from their bodies, and were +found twisted and entwined round some old thorn bushes close beside them. +It was afterwards found that he had reached the church and was on his way +back. + +Some ten miles northward, along this eastern shore of Luce Bay, are the +ruined Barracks of Auchenmalg, built in the days of the free-trade as a +means of suppressing the traffic. A whisper of the old building being +haunted exists, but further than that the idea is associated with some +deed of violence in the smuggling days nothing very definite can be +gleaned. + +Passing from Wigtownshire, by way of Kirkcowan, towards +Kirkcudbrightshire, it may be noted that Dr Trotter has preserved a ghost +story concerning Craighlaw House, originally a fifteenth century square +keep, now the oldest part of a mansion-house of three distinct periods. +The story conveys that the ghost appeared on one occasion by the side of +the large arched kitchen fire-place, during the absence of the cook at +the well. Much alarmed at the sight on her return she screamed and +collapsed. Her master, sceptical of anything supernatural, fervently +expressed the wish that he himself might meet the cause of the alarm, +which he actually did, and shot at it with no effect, much to his own +alarm. Dr Trotter adds that "since the ghost was laid everything has been +quiet."(83) + +In Kirkcudbrightshire, still passing eastwards, the legends and eerie +associations that cluster around Machermore Castle first meet us, and call +for narration. + +The following details are taken from an article entitled "The White Lady +of Machermore," contributed to the _Galloway Gazette_ some years ago by +James G. Kinna, author of the _History of the Parish of Minnigaff_:-- + +"Pleasantly situated on the east bank of the Cree, about a mile from the +town, Machermore Castle is a prominent feature in the landscape as the +traveller approaches Newton-Stewart by rail from the south. For wellnigh +three hundred years the grey old Castle of Machermore bravely weathered +the storms, and it would have continued to do so unscathed had not modern +times necessitated structural changes. The Castle now presents a happy +instance of the blending of the old and new styles of architecture--an +adaptation of the past to present requirements. + +It is a curious circumstance that although certain spots near Machermore +Castle have always been associated with the name of the White Lady no one +has ever actually seen the mysterious being. And yet there are few of the +older residenters in the parish of Minnigaff who have not heard their +grandfathers speak of her as a reality. + +Machermore Castle is believed to have been built about the latter end of +the sixteenth century. Tradition says that it was at first intended to +build the Castle on the higher ground, a little to the north-east of the +present site, but that during the night the foundation stones were always +removed, so that what was built during the day was carried off by unseen +hands and deposited in another place. As it was no use to strive against +the supernatural, the Castle was eventually built where the materials were +always found in the morning. + +In the Castle itself was a room reputed to be haunted. In this instance +the particular apartment was in the north-west angle, and was always known +as Duncan's room. Projecting from the top corner of the outer wall in the +same part of the Castle was the finely-carved figurehead of a man. A close +inspection revealed the fact that the neck was encircled by an +exquisitely-chiselled lace ruffle of the Tudor period. This piece of +sculpture was always known as Duncan's head. On the floor of Duncan's room +there was the mark of a bloody hand, distinctly showing the impress of the +fingers, thumb, and palm. It was said that removing that part of the +flooring had been tried so as to eradicate all trace of the bygone +tragedy, but the mark of the bloody hand appeared in the new wood as fresh +as before. From the history of Machermore at least this legend is +ineffaceable, and the annals of the parish of Minnigaff are incomplete +which do not contain a reference to this remarkable phenomenon. + +It is a good many years since the incident I am about to relate took +place, but the circumstances are as fresh in my memory as if it had +happened but yesternight; nor am I ever likely to forget my first and only +visit from the White Lady. On that occasion I happened to be the sole +occupant of Duncan's room, but as usage had worn off all prejudice against +the occupation of that particular bedroom amongst the members of the +household, little or no importance was attached to the general belief that +the room was haunted. + +It was a midsummer night, and I had been asleep, but had awakened, and +lay wondering what time it was, just as a clock on one of the landings +struck twelve. As the last stroke died away I distinctly heard a footstep +coming upstairs. All being perfectly quiet in the Castle at that hour, I +could hear the slightest sound. Nearer and nearer to the door of my room +came the midnight visitant, until it seemed to enter; but although the +room was flooded with moonlight I saw no one come in, yet I was perfectly +conscious that some mysterious presence was near me. I was not in the +least frightened at the time. Although wide awake I could see nothing. A +peculiar sound resembling the opening and shutting of a stiff drawer now +came from the corner of the room where was the impress of the bloody hand. +I then sat up in bed and called out, "Who's there? what do you want?" but +got no answer. After this I must confess to feeling uncomfortable, a state +which changed to something like positive fear as a rustling sound +resembling that made by a silk dress passed out of the room. All this time +the door remained closed. Nothing, therefore, possessing a material body +could either have entered or left the room without its entrance or exit +being noticed, but although I looked in the direction from which the +moving sound proceeded nothing could be seen. It was with a sense of +relief that I listened with bated breath and palpitating heart to the +retreating footsteps as they slowly descended the stairs and gradually +died away in the distance, and then all was silent again, ... and here the +mystery rests." + +There is a tradition that somewhere about Machermore Castle there is +buried under a flat stone a kettle full of gold: + + "Between the Castle and the River Cree + Lies enough o' gold to set a' Scotland free." + +The spell of the White Lady for good or evil is exercised no longer in the +ancestral home of the Dunbars of Machermore. + +Between Kirkdale House and Cassencarry, on the beautiful sea-girt road +leading from Creetown to Gatehouse, there stood many years ago a little +cottage in a sequestered situation among the woods, where a young girl was +murdered by her sweetheart under the saddest of circumstances. + +In and around the cottage immediately afterwards unaccountable noises were +heard, and the ghost of the unfortunate girl seen, which curiously enough, +as the tradition tells, at once ceased when the young man was brought to +justice. + +There is also a further tradition about a gypsy killing a woman near +Kirkdale Bridge. At twelve o'clock at night, it is said, the ghost of a +woman with half of her head cut off, and all clad in white, appears at +Kirkdale Bridge, and slowly wends its way along the road and disappears by +the wooded pathway leading to Kirkdale Bank.(84) This apparition is firmly +believed in by folks in that locality. + +The district of Dalry has furnished us with tales of witch and fairy lore. +Of ghost tradition there are also authentic details, of which the most +important concerns the old mansion-house of Glenlee. The following details +are extracts from a paper on the subject contributed to the _Gallovidian_ +(Winter, 1900):-- + +"In the north of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the beautiful district of the +Glenkens, on the banks of the Ken, nearly opposite to the village of Dalry +but on the other side of the river, stands the fine mansion-house of +Glenlee Park, at one time the residence of Lord Glenlee, one of the Judges +of the Court of Session. Silent and solitary, and untenanted for years now +except by a caretaker, this eligible residence has the reputation of being +haunted by a lady who walks about dressed in grey silk. + +A lady, who is still alive, tells how the grey lady appeared to her one +evening as she was sitting in front of her dressing-glass waiting on her +maid to come and do up her hair. While looking into the mirror she became +aware of someone or something behind her, and then saw a lady enter by the +door of her room, pass across the floor, and disappear through a door +which communicated with a dressing-room. As the house was full of company +at the time she wondered whether some of the strangers had mistaken the +way to her room; but she waited in vain for her return, and just as she +was thinking of going to explore the mystery it occurred to her that there +had been no sound of doors opening or of footfalls on the floor, nor was +there any sound in the direction in which the lady had disappeared, and +finally it struck her that the lady was not dressed like anyone in the +house. + +On another occasion the same lady was sitting up with her husband, who was +seriously ill, and during the night a kind of rap was heard on the door, +or about the door, which roused her to go and see what it was. Upon +opening the door a face stared at her, but spoke not, and passed silently +along the dimly-lighted corridor out of sight. + +A guest at Glenlee, before going off to some entertainment one evening ran +up to his bedroom for something or other, and to his surprise there was a +lady standing at his dressing-table putting some finishing touches to her +toilette. He at once withdrew, thinking that some of the ladies in the +hurry of the moment had gone into the wrong bedroom. When he came down +again they were all upon the point of departure, and called to him to come +along--but before getting into the carriage he said, + +'You have forgotten one of the ladies.' + +'Oh, no!' they said, 'everyone is here, and but for your lingering we +should have been off.' + +One evening at dark the butler was hastening down the avenue on some +errand to the lodge-keeper's, when suddenly a lady hurried past him, and +he heard nothing but a faint rustle as of her dress, or the faint +flickering of the remaining autumn leaves in the breeze overhead. As it +was at a time when all the ladies were supposed to be indoors curiosity +piqued him to follow her and watch her movements. She hurried on without +once looking round, and finally disappeared through a disused cellar door +which he knew to be locked and rusted from want of use. Not till then did +it strike the butler that there was anything uncanny about the lady that +had hurried past him in the gloom of the evening. + +No satisfactory explanation of these unpleasant experiences has ever been +established. + +Mr Blacklock, in his notes on _Twenty Years' Holidaying in the Glenkens_, +makes mention of the Glenlee ghost, and adds that Lady Ashburton was +said to have poisoned her husband, who was afflicted with _morbus +pediculus_. 'Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap'--and there +is a further tradition that Lady Ashburton's butler poisoned her in turn, +in order to possess himself of some valuables which he coveted. + +[Illustration: THE HEADLESS PIPER OF PATIESTHORN. Sketch by J. Copland, +Dundrennan.] + +The disturbances are chiefly connected with the old part of the house, the +bedroom and dressing-room previously mentioned, which seem to be the chief +haunts of this yet unlaid ghost." + +In the village of Dalry itself there stood a row of houses called +Bogle-Hole, on the site now occupied by the school. In one of these houses +a man was said to have poisoned his wife, and the ghost of the murdered +woman has, according to credible authority, appeared even within recent +years. + +The following singular story is connected with the lonely district of the +Moor of Corsock: + +"Many years ago a drover, while making his way north and crossing that +wild and thinly populated district which lies between the head of the +parish of Parton and the Moor of Corsock had the following uncanny +experience: He had left the Parton district late in the afternoon with the +intention of reaching a farm-house some miles north of the village of +Corsock. By the time he reached the path over Corsock Hill, however, it +had become dark, and occasional flashes of lightning foretold that a storm +was at hand. With loud peals of thunder, vivid flashes of lightning, and a +downpour of rain the storm at last broke. The only shelter near at hand +was some thorn bushes by the roadside, under which the drover crept and +stayed for fully an hour, while the storm raged and the darkness +increased. When the storm had somewhat abated the drover set out once +more, hurrying as fast as the darkness would allow him. He had reached a +very desolate part of the moor when his collie gave a low whine and crept +close to his master's heels. The drover stood up for a moment to try and +find a reason for the dog's behaviour, when down in the glen between the +hills he heard what at first appeared the sound of bagpipes, which +increased quickly to a shrill piercing wailing that struck terror to his +heart, the collie creeping closer and closer to his heel whining in a way +that showed he was as much frightened as his master. + +Standing irresolute, a blaze of blue light flashed right in front of him, +in the centre of which appeared the figure of a piper, his pipes standing +like horns against the background of blue light. The figure moved +backwards and forwards playing the wildest of music all the time. It next +seemed to come nearer and nearer, and the drover, now transfixed to earth +with terror, saw that the piper was headless, and his body so thin that +surrounding hills and country could be seen right throught it. A blinding +flash of fire, followed by an ear-splitting clap of thunder, brought +matters to a close for the time being, and the drover fell prostrate among +the heather. When he recovered his senses the strange light had gone, and +with it the headless piper. The storm had cleared off, and in due time he +reached the farm, where he was put up for the night. When he told his +story no one spoke for a moment or two, then the farmer's aged father +broke silence: 'Aye, aye, lad, ye hae seen the ghost o' the piper wha was +murdered on his wey frae Patiesthorn.[44] I hae had the same fearsome +experience myself, tho' its mair than saxty years syne.'"(85) + +In the Dundrennan district of Kirkcudbright a persisted belief lingers +concerning a headless lady haunting the Buckland Glen. The following +narrative which has been handed down lends an increased interest to the +tradition:-- + +Long ago a Monkland farmer, accompanied by one of his farm-lads, was on +his return from Kirkcudbright at a very late hour. The farmer was riding a +small Highland pony, the boy being on foot. It was about midnight when +they got to that part of Buckland Glen where a small bridge crosses the +Buckland Burn. They had just crossed the bridge when the pony suddenly +stood up and swerved, almost throwing the farmer out of the saddle. + +"What's wrang wi' ye the nicht, Maggie--what's tae fricht ye, my lass?" + +"Eh, Maister, did ye see that?" whispered the lad. "See--yonner it's +again!" + +The old man looked, and muttering to himself whispered, "Aye, it's there, +laddie! It's a' true what hes been mony a time telt! That's the ghost o' +the headless leddy wha was murdered in the glen in the aul' wicked times. +We'll no gang by, but gang doon the lane and slip hame by Gilroanie." + +Turning the quivering pony they wended their way along the woods which +thickly fringe the Buckland Burn, as it leads to the shore at the +Manxman's Lake, and reached home without further difficulty than keeping +in hand the frightened pony. The curious fact was a week later discovered +that two disreputable characters had lain in wait, for the purpose of +robbery or perhaps worse, at a lonely turn on the Bombie road about a +quarter of a mile from Buckland Brig. They had learned that the farmer had +been to Kirkcudbright to draw a sum of money, and, had the sudden +appearance of the Buckland ghost not turned their path, another tragedy +might have been that night enacted in the Buckland Glen. + +[Illustration: THE GHOST OF BUCKLAND GLEN. Sketch by J. Copland, +Dundrennan.] + +Concerning the parish of Rerwick the account of "A true relation of an +apparition, expressions, and actings of a spirit which infested the house +of Andrew Mackie, in Ringcroft of Stocking, in the parish of Rerwick, in +the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in Scotland, 1695, by Mr Alexander Telfair, +Minister of that parish, and attested by many other persons who were also +eye and ear witnesses," will be found in its original form in the +Appendix. + +One of the most interesting weird stories connected with Galloway, centres +round a mansion-house in the neighbourhood of Castle-Douglas. + +A lady renting it for a few years tells how she was twice or thrice +disturbed in the night by hearing a horse trotting round to the front +door, and on getting up to look out of the window always found there was +nothing to be seen, and nothing to be done but to return shivering to +bed. Several years after, returning to the neighbourhood, she met the +owner of the house, who asked her to go and see the improvements he had +recently effected. On being shown over the house she was told that the +room she had slept in had had the partition taken down between it and the +dressing-room next it to make a large room, and strangely enough, when +taking down the wall, a horse's skull was discovered built into the wall. + +The only connecting link to the above curious circumstance is that a +former proprietor paid a hurried visit to the town of Dumfries at the time +of the terrible epidemic of cholera (1832), the journey being naturally +accomplished in these days on horseback. Unfortunately, he contracted the +disease and died shortly after his return. + +Until some years ago a huge boulder lay at the roadside on the way from +Dalbeattie to Colvend, not far from the cottage known as the "Wood +Forester's." The story was, that this was the scene of foul play long ago, +the victim being a woman, whose ghost afterwards haunted the neighbourhood +in the black hours of the night. + +Bearing upon this, an exceedingly graphic account has been furnished the +writer of such an apparition having been seen by the captain of a local +coasting vessel[45] late one night as he was walking from Kippford to +Dalbeattie. It made its appearance near Aikieslak, which is the next house +to the "Wood Forester's," and not very far away. The figure walked in +front, stopped when he stopped, and finally disappeared, to his intense +relief, in the wood to the left. + +The parish of Kirkbean is particularly rich in ghostly record, no fewer +than six haunted, or once haunted localities having been noted.(86) +Traversing the parish from Southwick towards Newabbey, the first eerie +place of note is a field above Torrorie known as the "Murder Fall." The +ghost in this instance was that of a man who came to an untimely end by +hanging. + +Between Mainsriddel and Prestonmill there is a sequestered part of the +road known as "Derry's How," once reputed to be haunted by an evil spirit +in the form of a black four-footed beast. The third uncanny place was a +farm-house in this same immediate neighbourhood. The ghostly manifestation +was here that of sound--well-defined sounds of footsteps passing along a +passage to the foot of a staircase, pausing, then seeming to return along +the passage again. The sound persisted for many years, and was recognised +and described by different individuals always as footsteps, which of +themselves were so natural as to give rise to no alarm. + +Between Prestonmill and Kirkbean--midway between the two villages--there +is a small plantation, with, on the other side of the road, a larger wood. +The road itself at this particular part forms a hollow. This natural +arrangement of wood and road, known locally as the "Howlet's Close," was +the reputed domain of a "lady in white," but so little can be gleaned +concerning her appearance that even the origin of the tradition seems to +be quite forgotten. + +The "Three Cross Roads" near Arbigland is the next spot of ghost-lore +association, round which there lingers a rather romantic tale. A young +lady, a member of the well-known family of Craik (of Arbigland) had fixed +her affections upon a young groom in her father's employment, a lad of +good physique and manners, but, of course, apart in social status. The +course of true love, however, did not run true, the romantic attachment +having a most tragic ending. One day a single report of fire-arms was +heard, and soon afterwards the lifeless body of the young man, whose name +was Dunn, was discovered. The law took the view of suicide having been +committed, but it was generally believed in the district that a brother of +the young lady, incensed at her devotion to one he thought so far beneath +her, had himself taken the young man's life. This deed of violence took +place at the "Three Cross Roads," and this was the place where the +victim's ghost was afterwards reported to have been seen. + +Another part of the road on the confines of the parish, and near to where +it enters that of Newabbey, is associated with the midnight wanderings of +yet another "lady in white," but concerning this "poor ghost" also, +tradition withholds her story. + +There comes down through the long flight of centuries, a curious old story +of supernatural sequence to the tragic death of John Comyn at the high +altar of the Minorite Friary in Dumfries (February 10th, 1306), when the +impetuous dagger-thrust of the Bruce, followed by the death dealing +strokes of Kirkpatrick and Lindsay, completed the all-significant tale of +murder and sacrilege. + +The terrors of the day had passed, and night had fallen. With simple and +earnest pomp the death-watch over the slain was being held by the troubled +and anxious Friars. Wearily the hours dragged on. It was the dead of +night, and many of them slumbered--all indeed, save one aged Friar, who, +as the chronicler[46] tells, "with terror and astonishment heard a ghostly +voice mournfully call out, 'How long, O Lord, shall vengeance be +deferred?' and in reply an answering wail, 'Endure with patience until the +anniversary of this day shall return for the fifty-second time,'" rising +to the chancel roof with terrible clearness. The aged monk bowed his head, +praying earnestly that evil might be averted, but it was otherwise to fall +out. + +Fifty-two years have passed away, and the hand of hospitality is being +extended in the fortress of Caerlaverock Castle. In the great hall the +flickering firelight fitfully lights up the faces of two men who have been +served with a parting cup of wine, for the hour draws late. The host is +Roger Kirkpatrick, the guest James Lindsay, and they are the sons of +Kirkpatrick and Lindsay, whose daggers despatched the Red Comyn. Goodwill +and friendship evidently prevail as they rise to part for the night, but +the rift is in the lute, and an ugly savage look comes to the face of +Lindsay as he is left alone in his room in the west tower. + +An hour later a stealthy figure creeps up the eastern turret stair. There +is a single well-directed thrust, and deep sleep becomes the deeper sleep +of death, so sure has been the stroke that sends Roger Kirkpatrick, son of +"Mak' Siccar," to his doom. + +A bridled and a saddled steed stands beyond the confines of the castle +walls, and Lindsay, leaping to his seat, terror at his heart, rides into +the darkness of the night. Daybreak comes, the alarm is given, and almost +red-handed the murderer is taken, not three miles from the castle gates, +from which he had deemed himself many leagues away. + +Hurried to Dumfries, doom is pronounced, and the common place of execution +claims him for its own. The ghostly call of the night, "How long?" echoing +through the monastery walls, is fulfilled. + +With the history of the South-western district of Scotland the life story +of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, or "Aul' Lag," as he is to this day called, +is intimately associated. In a previous chapter we have dealt with the +superstitious happenings at his death and funeral. Mention must now be +made of a legend which concerns the passing of his soul, and which is not +yet forgotten in Dumfries and Galloway. + +The year of grace, 1733, was wearing fast towards Yule, when one stormy +night a small vessel found herself overtaken, at the mouth of the Solway, +by a gale of wind that was almost too much for her. Close-hauled and +fighting for every foot of sea-way she was slowly forcing her way +up-channel against the angry north-west blast when a strange adventure +befel her. In a lull following a savage squall the moon broke through the +black flying cloud, lighting up the storm-tossed sea and revealing to +those aboard another struggling sail far astern. Curiously the seamen +gazed, but searching glance gave place to wonder, and wonder to fear, when +they saw what had at first seemed a craft like themselves, come rushing +onwards in the very teeth of the wind, and with as much ease as if running +"free" before it. The moon dipped, and again darkness descended on the +face of the waters, but not for long. Once again the moonlight pierced the +curtain of flying cloud. Then was seen what surely was the strangest craft +that ever sailed the tossing Solway sea--a great State-coach, drawn by six +jet-black horses, with out-riders, coachmen, and a great retinue of +torch-bearers, footmen, and followers, furiously driving onwards over the +foam-crested waves. As the phantom carriage plunged nearer, the skipper, +regaining some little of his courage, ran forwards, hailing in sailor +fashion--"Where bound? and where from?"--and the answer came back, clear +and distinct across the raging waters--"To tryst with Lag! Dumfries! +from--Hell!" + +[Illustration: "TO TRYST WITH LAG." Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.] + +A similar legend exists in connection with the death of William, Duke of +Queensberry, appointed High Commissioner to James VII., 1685, and whose +attitude towards the Covenanters is still remembered against him. + +"Concerning the death of the Duke of Drumlanrig, _alias_ Queensberry, we +have the following relation: That a young man perfectly well acquainted +with the Duke (probably one of those he had formerly banished), being now +a sailor and in foreign countries, while the ship was upon the coast of +Naples and Sicily, near one of the burning mountains, one day they espied +a coach and six, all in black, going towards the mount with great +velocity; when it came past them they were so near that they could +perceive the dimensions and features of one that sat in it. + +The young man said to the rest--'If I could believe my own eyes, or if I +ever saw one like another, I would say that it is the Duke.' + +In an instant they heard an audible voice echo from the mount--'Open to +the Duke of Drumlanrig!' upon which the coach, now near the mount, +vanished. + +The young man took pen and paper, and upon his return found it exactly +answer the day and hour the Duke died."(87) + +Of Drumlanrig Castle itself, the writer of _Drumlanrig and the Douglases_ +notes, that "like all old baronial residences, this castle was believed to +be haunted by the ghosts of the dead. The most alarming legend was +connected with what was known as the 'Bloody Passage,' where a foul murder +had been committed, and the very spot was marked out by the stains of +blood, which no housemaid's scrubbing could obliterate. It is the passage +on the south side of the castle running above the drawing-room, from which +a number of bed-chambers enter. Here, at midnight, the perturbed spirit of +a lady, in her night clothes, parades, bewailing her sad fate, but by whom +she had suffered tradition tells not. There is also a haunted room on the +east side of the castle, on the fourth storey from the ground, where in +former times fearful noises used to be heard." + +Passing from Thornhill to Moniaive by way of Penpont and Tynron a +conspicuous land-mark is the truncated peak of Tynron Doon, the abrupt +ending of the hill range dividing the valley of the Scaur from that of the +Shinnel. Round Tynron Doon there linger memories of a spectre in the form +of a headless horseman restlessly riding a black horse. The local +tradition is, that the ghost was that of a young gentleman of the family +of M'Milligan of Dalgarnock, who had gone to offer his addresses to the +daughter of the Laird of Tynron Castle. His presence was objected to, +however, by one of the young lady's brothers. Hot words followed, and in +high wrath the suitor rode off; but mistaking his way he galloped over the +steepest part of the hill and broke his neck, and so, with curses and +words of evil on his very lips, his spirit was not allowed to pass +untroubled to the realms beyond. + +In the adjoining parish of Glencairn the following ghost vestiges have +been gleaned:--"At Auchenstroan and Marwhirn a white woman is seen; at +Pentoot and Gaps Mill 'pens' a crying child (supposed to have been +murdered) is heard. The Nut Wood at Maxwellton was long supposed to +harbour an emissary of the Evil One, and woe betide the traveller who +failed to gain the running waters of Cairn or Shinnel. Jarbruck and +Kirkland bridges were also of evil repute."(88) + +In the district of Sanquhar there are numerous stories of supernatural +appearance and ghostly visit. + +Connected with Sanquhar Castle, or Crichton Peel as it is otherwise +termed, now a ruined remnant, there are two distinctive ghost legends. + +The first is concerned with the fate--in the far-off old unhappy days--of +a servitor of Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, who "suffered" +innocently at the hands of the sixth Lord Crichton. In this instance the +ghost was not seen, but manifested its presence by strange chain-clanking +noises within the castle walls. + +The other is yet another "Lady in White," whose rare appearance foretold +grief or misfortune to the Crichton family. The legend runs that it was +the ghost of a young maiden who had been wronged and murdered by one of +the Lords of Sanquhar. + +Littlemark, a small farm on the Eliock estate, three miles from Sanquhar, +was the scene, some two hundred years ago, of the murder of a pedlar, who +came into the district with a large and valuable quantity of goods carried +on a pack-horse. + +The ghost which was supposed to haunt the neighbourhood was curiously +enough not that of the pedlar himself, but took the form of the bundle or +"pack" itself, moving slowly above and along the ground. + +Stories which tell of the visitations and appearances of the ghost of +Abraham Crichton, erstwhile Provost of Sanquhar, are to this day well +remembered in the district. A merchant in Sanquhar, he seems in life to +have been a shrewd and active citizen, with the reputation of being very +wealthy. In 1734 he became Provost, succeeding his brother in that office, +and also inheriting the possession of Carco. But evil days came, and in +1741 he was declared a bankrupt. The deed which seems chiefly to have +marked him out for unrest in the next world was the share he took in the +abolition of the services in the old parish church of Kirkbride and of its +existence as a separate parish. An actual attempt, at his instigation, to +"ding doon the Whigs' sanctuary," to use his own expression, was +frustrated by Divine intervention--it was said--in the form of a violent +storm. The workmen were obliged to desist, and shortly afterwards Abraham +met his death by a fall from his horse near Dalpeddar. With this as an +introduction, let Dr Simpson continue the story as it is set down in the +_History of Sanquhar_:--"Though declared a bankrupt before his death, the +good people of Sanquhar were convinced that he must have somewhere +secreted his money, and acted a fradulent part. On this account it was +supposed that he could not rest in his grave, and hence the belief of his +frequent appearances in the sombre churchyard, to the affrightment of all +and sundry who passed near the burying-ground in the evening dusk. The +veritable apparition of this worthy was firmly credited by the populace, +who were kept in a state of perpetual alarm. Many a maid, with her +milk-pail on her head, dashed the whole to the ground when the ghost +showed himself at a kirkyard wall, and ran home screaming with affright, +and finally fell on the floor in a faint. The exploits of the resuscitated +Provost was endless. He assailed all who dared to pass near his +resting-place, young and old, men and women. The consternation became +universal, the attention of the whole district was directed to the +subject, which, indeed, became a topic of discussion throughout the +south-west of Scotland. Its merits were discussed also in the Edinburgh +forum, and attracted the attention of the learned North Briton, Thomas +Rudiman.[47] + +At length the matter came to a crisis, and it was found necessary to do +something to allay the popular excitement. In those days it was believed +that certain sacred charms were effectual in allaying a ghost, and that +the charm, whatever it might be, was chiefly to be employed by a minister +of the gospel. The next thing, then, was to find a person of this order +who had the sanctity and fortitude necessary to accomplish the feat. The +individual fixed on was a venerable minister of the name of Hunter, in the +parish of Penpont. During the night he went to the churchyard, and on the +following day gave out that he had laid Abraham's ghost, and that in +future no person need have the least alarm in passing the churchyard, as +he never again would trouble anyone. Mr Hunter's statement was implicitly +believed, and nothing supernatural has since been seen within the ancient +burying-ground of Sanquhar. To add to the seeming mystery which Mr Hunter +wished to keep up, when questioned on what he had said or done to the +spirit he replied, 'No person shall ever know that.' In order, however, to +prevent all such annoyances for the time coming, and to retain Abraham +more effectually within the bounds of his narrow cell, it was deemed +prudent to keep down the flat gravestone with a strong band of iron or +stout chain. This precaution, it was supposed, would keep the popular mind +more at ease." + +To Poldean, in Wamphray, situated at the north-west corner of the parish, +on the Annan, about five miles from Moffat, there is a curious old-world +ghost reference in _Law's Memorials_, edited by Kirkpatrick Sharp. In the +narrative, which is here given, Poldean is described as "Powdine in +Annandale":-- + +"Also in the south-west border of Scotland, in Annandale, there is a house +called Powdine belonging to a gentleman called Johnston; that house hath +been haunted these fifty or sixty years. At my coming to Worcester, 1651, +I spoke with the gentleman (being myself quartered within two miles of the +house). He told me many extraordinary relations consisting in his own +knowledge; and I carried him to my master, to whom he made the same +relations--noises and apparitions, drums and trumpets heard before the +last war; yea, he said, some English soldiers quartered in his house were +soundly beaten by that irresistible inhabitant.... He tells me that the +spirit now speaks, and appears frequently in the shape of a naked arm." + +Three and a half miles north-east of Lochmaben, on the banks of the Annan, +stands the turreted ruin of Spedlins Tower, the old home of the Jardines +of Applegarth. + +Grim, gaunt, and lonely, one of the best accredited ghost legends in the +south-west of Scotland lingers round its walls. The story has been told +many times, and the version here selected is that of Francis Grose, the +antiquary, who described the Tower in his _Antiquities of Scotland_ +(1789-91):-- + +"Spedlins Tower is chiefly famous for being haunted by a bogle or ghost. +As the relation will enliven the dullness of antiquarian disquisition, I +will here relate it as it was told me by an honest woman who resides on +the spot, and who, I will be sworn from her manner, believed every +syllable of it. In the time of the late Sir John Jardine's grandfather, a +person named Porteous, living in the parish of Applegarth, was taken up on +suspicion of setting fire to a mill, and confined in the lord's prison, +the pit or dungeon, at this castle. The lord being suddenly called to +Edinburgh on some pressing and unexpected business, in his hurry forgot to +leave the key of the pit, which he always held in his own custody. Before +he discovered his mistake and could send back the key--which he did the +moment he found it out--the man was starved to death, having first, +through the extremity of hunger, gnawed off one of his hands. Ever after +that time the castle was terribly haunted till a Chaplain of the family +exorcised and confined the bogle to the pit, whence it could never come +out, so long as a large Bible, which he had used on that business, +remained in the castle. It is said that the Chaplain did not long survive +this operation. The ghost, however, kept quietly within the bounds of his +prison till a long time after, when the Bible, which was used by the whole +family, required a new binding, for which purpose it was sent to +Edinburgh. The ghost, taking advantage of its absence, was extremely +boisterous in the pit, seeming as if it would break through the iron door, +and making a noise like that of a large bird fluttering its wings. The +Bible being returned, and the pit filled up, everything has since remained +perfectly quiet. But the good woman declared, that should it again be +taken off the premises no consideration whatever would induce her to +remain there a single night." + +Jardine Hall, the new home of the Jardines, to which the family had +removed, is situated on the opposite side of the river Annan, its windows +overlooking the old walls of Spedlins Tower. It also was by no means free +from a share of the haunting of the dead miller, for during the time the +Bible had gone to Edinburgh to be re-bound, the ghost, getting out of the +dungeon, crossed the river and presented itself at the new house, making a +great disturbance, and actually hauling the baronet and his lady out of +bed. Some accounts indeed, say that so terrifying was its behaviour that +the unhappy owner of Jardine Hall refused to wait until the Bible was +repaired, but recalled it hastily before it reached the Capital, in order +that its holy presence might quell the restless spirit and keep it +confined to its dungeon. + +The Bible which plays so prominent a part in the story is an old +black-letter edition, printed by Robert Baker, A.D. 1634. It is covered +with old calf-skin, and inclosed in a massive brass-bound box made out of +one of the old beams of Spedlins Tower itself, which, needless to say, is +most carefully preserved. + +The spirited ballad of "The Prisoner of Spedlins," by Robert Chambers, may +here not inappropriately be included:-- + + To Edinburgh, to Edinburgh, + The Jardine he maun ride; + He locks the gates behind him, + For lang he means to bide, + + And he, nor any of his train, + While minding thus to flit, + Thinks of the weary prisoner + Deep in the castle pit. + + They were not gane a day, a day, + A day but barely four, + When neighbours spake of dismal cries + Were heard from Spedlins Tower. + + They mingled wi' the sighs of trees + And the thud-thud o' the linn; + But nae ane thocht 'twas a deein' man + That made that eldrich din. + + At last they mind the gipsy loon + In dungeon lay unfed; + But ere the castle key was got + The gipsy loon was dead. + + They found the wretch stretch'd out at length + Upon the cold, cold stone, + With starting eyes and hollow cheek, + And arms peeled to the bone. + + * * * * * + + Now Spedlins is an eerie house, + For oft at mirk midnight + The wail of Porteous' starving cry + Fills a' that house wi' fright: + + "O let me out, O let me out, + Sharp hunger cuts me sore; + If ye suffer me to perish so, + I'll haunt you evermore." + + O sad, sad was the Jardine then, + His heart was sorely smit; + Till he could wish himself had been + Left in that deadly pit. + + But "Cheer up," cried his lady fair, + "'Tis purpose makes the sin; + And where the heart has had no part + God holds his creature clean." + + Then Jardine sought a holy man + To lay that vexing sprite; + And for a week that holy man + Was praying day and night. + + And all that time in Spedlins House + Was held a solemn fast, + Till the cries waxed low, and the boglebo + In the deep red sea was cast. + + * * * * * + + There lies a Bible in Spedlins Ha', + And while it there shall lie + Nae Jardine can tormented be + With Porteous' starving cry. + + But Applegarth's an altered man, + He is no longer gay; + The thought of Porteous clings to him + Until his dying day. + +The mansion-house of Knockhill, in the parish of Hoddom, was the scene of +a tragedy in the earlier part of last century, which had the sequence of +ghost visitation. It is referred to in the "Irvings of Hoddom," an +interesting contribution to the family history of the district. Shortly +the story is as follows:--A young man named Bell who had been +surreptitiously visiting his sweetheart, one of the maids in the house, +was heard by the butler, who shot him as he was escaping through a +basement window. The butler was tried and acquitted, but Knockhill was +afterwards haunted by the ghost of the victim so much that servants would +not remain. At last the proprietor, then a Mr Scott, asked the Rev. W. +Wallace Duncan, then helper to Mr Yorstoun, parish minister, to sleep in +the house, with the result, it is told, that from then the ghost +disappeared from Knockhill.(89) + +In this same parish of Hoddom, the student of Carlyle will remember that +"old John Orr," the only schoolmaster that Carlyle's father ever had, +"laid a ghost." It was in "some house or room at Orchard, in the parish of +Hoddom. He entered the haunted place, was closeted in it for some time, +speaking and praying. The ghost was really and truly laid, for no one +heard more of it."(90) + +Bonshaw Tower, on the Kirtle (parish of Annan), the original home of the +Irvings, also contributes to the ghost-lore of the district. + +Tradition tells that a daughter of the house was thrown from the +battlements of the Tower by her own relatives, whom she had deeply +incensed by her determination to marry a "Maxwell," with which family the +Irvings held long and bitter feud. It is, or rather was, the ghost of this +young lady who haunted the Tower of Bonshaw, but she has not been visible +within living memory. + +Blackett Tower, also on the Kirtle (parish of Kirkpatrick-Fleming), was a +border fortress well known in the records of border raid and foray. It was +for long the home of the family of Bell. + +The ruined tower has a ghost legend which claims it as the abode of a +spectre known as "Old Red-Cap, or Bloody Bell." A poetical descriptive +reference to the tower and its phantom occurs in the poem of "Fair Helen." +The passage is of undoubted vigour and masterly touch, and is here given, +the author, William Scott Irving, at the same time offering the opinion +"that the legends and anecdotes of 'Bloody Bell' would fill a large quarto +volume": + + Of Blackett's Towers strange tales are told: + The legendary lore of old, + That dread belief, whose mystic spell + Could people Gothic vault or cell + With being of terrific form, + And superstition bound the charm. + 'Tis said, that here, at the night's high noon, + When broad and red the eastern moon + Beams through the chinks of its vast saloon, + A ghastly phantom takes its stand + On the wall that frowns o'er wear and strand, + A bloody dagger in its hand, + And ever and aye on the hollow gale + Is heard its honorie and wail + Dying along the distant vale. + The 'nighted peasant starts aghast + To hear its shriekings on the blast; + Turns him to brave the wintry wind, + Nor dares he lingering look behind, + But hurries across the moaning flood, + And deems its waters swollen with blood-- + Such are the tales at Lyke-wake drear, + When the unholy hour of night draws near, + When the ban-dog howls, and the lights burn blue, + And the phantom fleets before the view; + When "Red-Cap" wakes his eldrich cry, + And the winds of the wold come moaning by.(91) + +The Old Hall of Ecclefechan (Kirkconnel Hall) is also supposed to be +haunted. Little is known about it, but the opinion has been expressed +that "the mysterious apparition of the 'Ha' Ghost' seems to have haunted +the place from the distant past, and its mysterious and noisy +demonstrations have from time to time disturbed the residents. It is said +to make its appearance before and at the time of the death of any member +of the family."(92) + +In the parish of Eskdalemuir there is a farm-house called Todshawhill. It +is on the Black Esk, about three miles in a south-westerly direction from +the Parish Church. With the name of this farm there is associated the +memory of something uncanny, known far and wide as the "Bogle of +Todshawhill." It seems rather to have been a "brownie" than a "ghost," but +some account of it is here given as described by Dr Brown and embodied in +an antiquarian account of the parish. According to Dr Brown, one of the +bogle's biographers, this creature made a stay of a week, less or more, at +Todshawhill farmhouse, disappearing for the most part during the day, only +to reappear towards evening. Its freaks and eccentricities very naturally +attracted a number of people to the neighbourhood, and among the number, +Thomas Bell from Westside, the neighbouring farmer, who, in order to +assure himself that it had flesh and blood like other folks, took it up +in his arms and fully satisfied himself that it had its ample share of +both. In appearance it resembled an old woman above the middle, with very +short legs and thighs, and it affected a style of walk at once so comical +and undignified that the Rev. Dr aforesaid was compelled to pronounce it +"waddling." The first intimation or indication of its presence in these +parts was given, I understand, at the head of Todshawhill Bog, where some +young callants who were engaged in fastening up the horses of the farm +heard a cry at some little distance off--"Tint, Tint, Tint"--to which one +of the lads, William Nichol by name, at once replied, "You shall not tine +and me here," and then the lads made off, helter-skelter, with the +misshapen little creature at their heels. In his terror one of the lads +fell head foremost into a hole or moss hag, and the creature, "waddling" +past him to get at the rest, came into violent contact with a cow, which, +naturally resenting such unceremonious treatment, pushed at it with its +horns, whereupon the creature replied, "God help me, what means the cow?" +This expression soothed, if it did not wholly allay, the fears of all +concerned, for they at once concluded that if the creature had been a +spirit it would not have mentioned the name of Deity in the way it +did.(93) + +The last account to be quoted of supernatural visitation in the +south-western district of Scotland is a particularly striking one, and is +taken from an interesting contribution to a recent number of _Chambers's +Journal_ dealing with apparitions:-- + +"In the Lowlands of Scotland stood an old manor house, where the owner's +wife was on her death-bed. The ancient furniture still remained in the +room, so the invalid lay in a four-post bed, with curtains all round it, +wherein many generations of the family had been born and died. The +curtains were drawn at its foot and on the side nearest the wall, but they +were open on the other to a blazing fire, before which sat an attendant +nurse. A tall screen on her left hand shielded her from the draught from a +door, whose top was visible above it; and as the nurse sat there she +became conscious that the door was opening and that a hand seemed to rest +for a moment on the top of the screen. Presently, as she watched, +half-paralysed with fear, a figure appeared from behind the screen--the +figure of a young woman clothed in a sacque of rich brocade, over a pink +silk petticoat, and wearing a head-dress of the time of Queen Anne. This +figure advanced with a gentle undulating movement to the bed and bent down +over it. Then the nurse jumped up and stretched out her hand to the +bell-pull; and, lo! when she looked again the figure had vanished, and her +patient lay there dead, with an expression of rapturous content on her +sunken face.(94) + +Later, when the last sad rites had been accomplished, this nurse wandered +into the picture gallery in company with the housekeeper, and pausing +before a certain portrait, exclaimed that there was the original of the +unknown lady. + +'Ah,' came the answer, 'that lady lived here when Queen Anne was on the +throne. They say she had a sad life with her lord, and died young. Ever +since she is believed, when the mistress of the manor dies, to appear +beside the bed, and--and'---- + +'You need not tell me more,' said the nurse, 'for I also have seen +her.'"(94) + +No account of superstitious belief in Galloway would be complete without +reference to three remarkable tracts, giving quaint and circumstantial +accounts of alleged supernatural visitations from the spirit-world beyond. +In their order of publication these are--(_a_) "The Surprising Story of +the Devil of Glenluce"; (_b_) "A True Account of an Apparition which +infested the house of Andrew Mackie, in Ringcroft, Parish of Rerwick, and +Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in 1695, ... Mr Alexander Telfair"; and (_c_) +"The Laird o' Coul's Ghost." + +The "Devil of Glenluce" first appeared in an old work on _Hydrostaticks_ +by George Sinclair, Professor of Philosophy and afterwards of Mathematics +in the University of Glasgow. This work was published in 1672. It was +again printed in his more important work, _Satan's Invisible World_, in +1685. The theme is concerned with the persecution of one Gilbert Campbell, +a weaver, and his family, in the village of Glenluce, by an evil and +tormenting spirit. As a chapbook this curious work had a very wide +circulation. + +The "True Account of the Rerwick Apparition" when first published called +for two editions within the first year, and with many alterations it was +also published in London under the title of "New Confutation of Sadducism, +being a narrative of a Spirit which infested the house of Andrew Mackie of +Ringcroft, Galloway, in 1695." Only the site of Ringcroft of Stoking, +marked by some old fir trees, remains, near the village of Auchencairn. + +"The Laird o' Coul's Ghost" seems to have originally appeared as a +chapbook, and is thought to have been first published in 1750. It is +supposed to be--and the purpose is quaintly carried out--an account of +four conferences which the Rev. William Ogilvie (Minister of Innerwick, +East Lothian, 1715-1729), held with the restless spirit of Thomas Maxwell, +Laird of Cuil, a small estate in the parish of Buittle, in Galloway, and +who in his lifetime had done a dishonourable action which tormented him +beyond the grave. + +As these tracts have a direct bearing on the general consideration of +superstitious record in the South-west of Scotland, and as they are not +particularly easy of access, it has been deemed advisable to reprint them, +and include them as an appendix to this volume. + +[Illustration] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +"Surprising Story of the Devil of Glenluce," reprinted from _Satan's +Invisible World_, written by George Sinclair, and printed in Edinburgh in +the year 1685. + +This is that famous and notable Story of the Devil of Glenluce, which I +published in my _Hydrostaticks_, _anno_ 1672, and which since hath been +transcribed word by word by a learned pen, and published in the late book +intitutled _Saducismus Triumphaius_, whom nothing but the truth thereof, +and usefulness for refuting Atheism could have perswaded to transcribe. +The subject matter then of this story is a true and short account of the +troubles wherewith the family of one Gilbert Campbel, by profession a +Weaver in the old Parish of Glenluce in Galloway, was exercised. I have +adventured to publish it _de novo_ in this book, first because it was but +hudled up among purposes of another nature. But now I have reduced it to +its own proper place. Next, because this story is more full, being +enlarged with new additions, which were not in the former, and ends not so +abruptly, as the other did. + +It happened (says my informer, Gilbert Campbel's son, who was then a +student of philosophy in the Colledge of Glasgow) that after one Alexander +Agnew, a bold and sturdy beggar, who afterwards was hanged at Drumfries +for blasphemy, had threatened hurt to the familie because he had not +gotten such an almes as he required, the said Gilbert Campbel was +often-times hindered in the exercise of his calling, and yet could not +know by what means this was done. This Agnew, among many blasphemous +expressions had this one, when he was interrogate by the judges whether or +not he thought there was a God, he answered, he knew no God but salt, +meal, and water. When the stirs began first there was a whistling heard +both within and without the house. And Jennet Campbel, going one day to +the well to bring home some water, was conveyed with a shril whistling +about her ears, which made her say, "I would fain hear thee speake as well +as whistle." Hereupon it said, after a threatening manner, "I'le cast thee +Jennet into the well." The voice was most exactlie like the damsel's +voice, and did resemble it to the life. The gentlewoman that heard this +and was a witness thought the voice was very near to her own ears, and +said the whistling was such as children use to make with their smal +slender glass whistles. + +About the middle of November the Foul-Fiend came on with new and +extraordinary assaults, by throwing of stones in at the doors and windows +and down the chimney-head, which were of great quantity and thrown with +force, yet by God's providence there was not one person in the family that +was hurt. This did necessitate Gilbert Campbel to reveale that to the +Minister of the Parish and to some other neighbours and friends which +hitherto he had suffered secretly. Notwithstanding of this, his trouble +was enlarged; for not long after he found often-times his warp and threeds +cut as with a pair of sizzers, and not only so, but their apparel were cut +after the same manner, even while they were wearing them--their coats, +bonnets, hose, shoes--but could not discern how or by what mean. Only it +pleased God to preserve their persons, that the least harm was not done. +Yet in the night time they had not liberty to sleep, something coming and +pulling their bedcloaths and linnings off them and leaving their bodies +naked. Next their chests and trunks were opened and all things in them +strawed here and there. Likewise the parts of their working-instruments +which had escaped were carried away and hid in holes and bores of the +house, where hardly they could be found again. Nay, what ever piece of +cloath or household-stuff was in any part of the house it was carried away +and so cut and abused that the goodman was necessitate in all haste and +speed to remove and transport the rest to a neighbour's house, and he +himself compelled to quite the exercise of his calling, whereby he only +maintained his family. Yet he resolved to remain in his house for a +season; during which time some persons about, not very judicious, +counselled him to send his children out of the family here and there to +try whom the trouble did most follow, assuring him that this trouble was +not against the whole family, but against some one person or other in it, +whom he too willingly obeyed. Yet, for the space of four or five dayes +there were no remarkable assaults as before. The Minister hearing thereof +shewed him the evil of such a course, and assured him that if he repented +not and called back his children he might not expect that his trouble +would end in a right way. The children that were nigh by being brought +home, no trouble followed, till one of his sons called Thomas that was +farest off came home. Then did the Devil begin afresh, for upon the Lord's +Day following, in the afternoon, the house was set on fire; but by the +help of some neighbors going home from sermon, the fire was put out and +the house saved, not much loss being done. And Munday after being spent in +private prayer and fasting, the house was again set on fire upon the +Tuesday about nine o'clock in the morning, yet by the speedy help of +neighbors it was saved, little skaith being done. + +The Weaver being thus vexed and wearied both day and night, went to the +Minister of the Parish, an honest and Godly man, desiring him to let his +son Thomas abide with him for a time, who condescended, but withal assured +him that he would find himself deceived; and so it came to pass, for +notwithstanding that the lad was without the family yet were they that +remained in it sore troubled both in the day time and night season, so +that they were forced to wake till midnight and sometimes all the night +over, during which time the persons within the family suffered many +losses, as the cutting of their cloaths, the throwing of piets, the +pulling down of turff and feal from the roof and walls of the house, and +the stealing of their cloaths, and the pricking of their flesh and skin +with pins. + +Some Ministers about, having conveened at the place for a solemn +humiliation, perswaded Gilbert Campbel to call back his son Thomas, +notwithstanding of whatsoever hazard might follow. The boy returning home +affirmed that he heard a voice speak to him, forbidding him to enter +within the house or in any other place where his father's calling was +exercised. Yet he entered, but was sore abused, till he was forced to +return to the Minister's house again. + +Upon Munday, the 12 of February, the rest of the family began to hear a +voice speak to them, but could not well know from whence it came. Yet from +evening till midnight too much vain discourse was kept up with Satan, and +many idle and impertinent questions proposed, without that due fear of God +that should have been upon their spirits under so rare and extraordinary a +trial. They came that length in familiar discourse with the Foul-Thief +that they were no more afrayed to keep up the clash with him than to speak +to one another. In this they pleased him well, for he desired no better +than to have sacrifices offered to him. The Minister, hearing of this, +went to the house upon the Tuesday, being accompanied with some gentlemen, +one James Bailie of Carphin, Alexander Bailie of Dunraged, Mr Robert Hay, +and a gentlewoman called Mistris Douglas, whom the Minister's wife did +accompanie. + +At their first in-coming the Devil says, "_Quum literarum_, is good +Latine." These are the first words of the Latine rudiments which +schollars are taught when they go to the grammar school. He crys again, "A +dog." + +The Minister, thinking that he had spoken it to him, said, "He took it not +ill to be reviled by Satan, since his Master had troden that path before +him." + +Answered Satan, "It was not you, sir, I spoke it to; I meant by the dog +there," for there was a dog standing behind backs. + +This passing, they all went to prayer, which being ended, they heard a +voice speaking out of the ground from under a bed in the proper countrey +dialect, which he did counterfeit exactly, saying, "Would you know the +witches of Glenluce? I will tell you them"--and so related four or five +persons' names that went under a bad report. + +The Weaver informed the company that one of them was dead long ago. + +The Devil answered and said, "It is true, she is dead long ago, but her +spirit is living with us in the world." + +The Minister replied, saying (though it was not convenient to speak to +such an excommunicat and intercommuned person), "The Lord rebuke thee, +Satan, and put thee to silence; we are not to receive information from +thee whatsoever fame any person goes under; thou are seeking to seduce +this family, for Satan's kingdom is not divided against itself." + +After which all went to prayer again, which being ended (for during the +time of prayer no noise or trouble was made, except once that a loud +fearful youel was heard at a distance) the Devil with many threatnings +boasted and terrified the lad Tom, who had come back that day with the +Minister, that if he did not depart out of the house he would set all on +fire. + +The Minister answered and said, "The Lord will preserve the house and the +lad too, seeing he is one of the family and hath God's warrant to tarry in +it." + +The Fiend answered, "He shall not get liberty to tarry; he was once put +out already, and shal not abide here, though I should pursue him to the +end of the world." + +The Minister replied, "The Lord will stop thy malice against him." + +And then they all went to prayer again, which being ended, the Devil said, +"Give me a spade and a shovel, and depart from the house for seven days, +and I will make a grave and ly down in it, and shall trouble you no more." + +The goodman answered, "Not so much as a straw shal be given thee through +God's assistance, even though that would do it." The Minister also added, +"God shal remove thee in due time." + +The Spirit answered, "I will not remove for you; I have my commission from +Christ to tarry and vex this family." + +The Minister answered, "A permission thou hast indeed, but God will stop +it in due time." + +The Devil replied, "I have, sir, a commission which perhaps will last +longer than your own." + +The Minister died in the year 1655, in December. The Devil had told them +that he had given his commission to Tom to keep. + +The company enquired at the lad, who said there was a something put into +his pocket, but it did not tarry. + +After this the Minister and the gentlemen arose and went to the place +whence the voice seemed to come, to try if they could see or find any +thing. After diligent search, nothing being found, the gentlemen began to +say, "We think this voice speaks out of the children," for some of them +were in their beds. + +The Foul-Spirit answered, "You lie; God shall judge you for your lying, +and I and my father will come and fetch you to hell with warlock thieves:" +and so the Devil discharged the gentlemen to speak any thing, saying, "Let +him speak that hath a commission (meaning the Minister), for he is the +servant of God." + +The gentlemen, returning back with the Minister, sat down near the place +whence the voice seemed to come, and he opening his mouth spake to them +after this manner: "The Lord will rebuke this spirit in his own time and +cast it out." + +The Devil answering, said, "It is written in the _9th of Mark_, The +Disciples could not cast him out." + +The Minister replyed, "What the Disciples could not do, yet the Lord, +having hightned the parents' faith, for His own glory did cast him out and +so shall He thee." + +The Devil replyed, "It is written in the _4th of Luke_, 'And He departed +and left him for a season.'" + +The Minister said, "The Lord in the dayes of His humiliation not only got +the victory over Satan in that assault in the wilderness, but when he came +again his success was no better, for it is written (_John 14_), 'Behold +the Prince of this World cometh and hath nothing in me,' and being now in +glory He will fulfil His promise, and (_Rom. 16_) 'God shal bruise Satan +under your feet shortly.'" + +The Devil answered, "It is written (_Matth. 25_) 'There were ten virgins, +five wise & five foolish; and the bridegroom came, the foolish virgins had +no oyl in their lamps, and went unto the wise to seek oyl, and the wise +said, Go and buy for your selves; and while they went the bridegroom came +and entered in, and the door was shut, and the foolish virgins were sent +to hell's fire.'" + +The Minister answered, "The Lord knows the sincerity of His servants, and +though there be sin and folly in us here, yet there is a fountain opened +to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. When He hath washen us +and pardoned our sins for His name's sake He will cast the unclean spirit +out of the land." + +The Devil answered and said, "Sir, you should have cited for that place of +Scripture the 13 chap. of _Zech._," and so he began at the first verse and +repeated several verses, and concluded with these words, "'In that day I +will cause the prophet and the unclean spirit pass out of the land'; but +afterwards it is written, 'I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall +be scattered.'" + +The Minister answered and said, "Well are we that our blessed Shepherd was +smitten, and thereby hath bruised thy head, and albeit in the hour of His +sufferings His Disciples forsook Him (_Matth. 26_). Yet now having +ascended on high He sits in glory, and is preserving, gathering in, and +turning His hand upon His little ones, and will save His poor ones in this +family from thy malice." + +The Minister returning back a little and standing upon the floor, the +Devil said, "I knew not these Scriptures till my father taught me them." + +Then the Minister conjured him to tell whence he was. + +The Foul-Fiend replyed that he was an evil spirit come from the bottomless +pit of hell to vex this house, and that Satan was his father; and +presently there appeared a naked hand and an arm, from the elbow down, +beating upon the floor till the house did shake again, and also he uttered +a most fearful and loud cry, saying, "Come up, Father, come up; I will +send my father among you; see, there he is behind your backs." + +The Minister said, "I saw indeed an hand and an arm when the stroak was +given, and heard." + +The Devil said to him, "Say you that? It was not my hand, it was my +father's: my hand is more black in the loof." + +"O," said Gilbert Campbel, "that I might see thee as well as I hear thee!" + +"Would you see me?" says the Foul-Thief; "put out the candle and I shal +come butt the house among you like fire balls. I shall let you see me +indeed." + +Alexander Bailie of Dunraged says to the Minister, "Let us go ben and see +if there be any hand to be seen." + +The Devil answered, "No, let him come ben alone; he is a good honest man, +his single word may be believed." + +About this time the Devil abused Mr Robert Hay, a very honest gentleman, +very ill, with his tongue, calling him witch and warlock. A little after, +the Devil cryes (it seems out of purpose and in a purpose), "A witch, a +witch, ther's a witch sitting upon the ruist, take her away:" he meant a +hen sitting upon the balk of the house. + +These things being past, all went to prayer, during which time he was +silent. Prayer being ended, the Devil answered and said, "If the goodman's +son's prayers at the Colledge of Glasgow did not prevail with God: my +father and I had wrought a mischief here ere now." + +To which Alexander Bailie of Dunraged replied, "Well, well, I see you +confess there is a God, and that prayer prevails with Him, and therefore +we must pray to God, and commit the event to Him." + +To whom the Devil replied, "Yea, sir, you speak of prayer with your +broad-lipped hat (for the gentleman had lately gotten a hat in the fashion +with broad lipps). I'le bring a pair of shears from my father, which shall +clip the lipps off it a little." Whereupon he presently imagined that he +heard and felt a pair of shears going round about his hat, which caused +him lift it to see if the Foul-Thief had medled with it. + +During this time several things, but of less moment, passed, as that he +would have Tom a merchant, Rob a smith, John a minister, and Hue a lawier, +all which in some measure came to pass. As to Jennet, the goodman's +daughter, he cryes to her, "Jennet Campbel, Jennet Campbel, wilt thou cast +me thy belt?" + +Quoth she, "what a widdy would thou do with my belt?" + +"I would fain (says he) fasten my loose bones closs together with it." + +A younger daughter sitting busking her puppies, as young girls use to do, +being threatned by the Fiend that he would ding out her harns, that is, +brain her, answered without being concerned, "No, if God be to the fore," +and so fell to her work again. + +The goodwife of the house having brought out some bread was breaking it, +to give everyone of the company a piece. + +Cryes he, "Grissel Wyllie, Grissel Wyllie, give me a piece of that hard +bread (for so they call their oat cakes). I have gotten nothing this day +but a bit from Marrit"--that is, as they speak in that countrey, +Margaret. + +The Minister said, "Beware of that, for it is a sacrificing to the Devil." + +The girle was called for, and asked if she gave him any hard bread. "No," +says she, "but when I was eating my due piece this morning something came +and clicked it out of my hand." + +The evening being now far spent, it was thought fit that every one should +withdraw to his own home. Then did the Devil cry out fearfully, "Let not +the Minister goe home, I shall burn the house if he go," and many other +ways did he threaten. + +After the Minister had gone foorth Gilbert Campbel was very instant with +him to tarry, whereupon he returned, all the rest going home. When he came +into the house the Devil gave a great gaff of laughter: "You have now, +sir, done my bidding." + +"Not thine," answered the other, "but in obedience to God have I returned +to bear this man companie, whom thou doest afflict." Then did the Minister +call upon God, and when prayer was ended he discharged the Weaver and all +the persons of the familie to speak a word to the Devil, and when it spake +that they should only kneel down and speak to God. + +The Devil then roared mightily and cryed out, "What! will ye not speake to +me? I shall strike the bairns and do all manner of mischief." + +But after that time no answer was made to it, and so for a long time no +speech was heard. Several times hath he beat the children in their beds, +and the claps of his loof upon their buttocks would have been heard, but +without any trouble to them. While the Minister and gentlemen were +standing at the door readie to go home the Minister's wife and the +goodwife were within. + +Then cryed Satan, "Grissel, put out the candle." + +Sayes she to the Minister's wife, "Shall I do it?" + +"No," says the other, "For then you shal obey the Devil." + +Upon this he cryes again with a louder shout, "Put out the candle." The +candle still burns. The third time he cries, "Put out the candle," and no +obedience being given to him he did so often reiterate these words and +magnify his voice that it was astonishment to hear him, which made them +stop their ears, they thinking the sound was just at their ears. At last +the candle was put out. "Now," says he, "I'le trouble you no more this +night." + +I must insert here what I heard from one of the Ministers of that +Presbytrie, who with the rest were appointed to meet at the Weaver's house +for prayer and other exercises of that kind. When the day came, five only +met. But before they went in they stood a while in the croft, which layes +round about the house, consulting what to do. They resolved upon two +things--First, there should be no words of conjuration used, as commanding +him in the name of God to tell whence he was or to depart from the +familie, for which they thought they had no call from God. Secondly, that +when the Devil spake none should answer him, but hold on in their +worshipping of God and the duties they were called to. When all of them +had prayed by turns and three of them had spoken a word or two from the +Scripture, they prayed again, and then ended without any disturbance. When +that brother who informed me had gone out, one Hue Nisbet, one of the +company, came running after him, desiring him to come back, for he had +begun to whistle. "No," sayes the other, "I tarried as long as God called +me, but go in again I will not." + +After this the said Gilbert suffered much loss, and had many sad nights, +not two nights in one week free, and thus it continued till April; from +April till July he had some respite and ease, but after he was molested +with new assaults, and even their victuals were so abused that the family +was in hazard of starving, and that which they eat gave them not their +ordinary satisfaction they were wont to find. + +In this sore and sad affliction Gilbert Campbel resolved to make his +addresses to the Synod of Presbyters for advice and counsel what to do, +which was appointed to conveen in October, 1655--namely, whether to +forsake the house or not? The Synod, by their committy appointed to meet +at Glenluce in February, 1656, thought fit that a solemn humiliation +should be kept through all the bounds of the Synod; and, among other +causes, to request God in behalf of that afflicted family, which, being +done carefully, the event was that his troubles grew less till April, and +from April to August he was altogether free. About which time the Devil +began with new assaults, and taking the ready meat that was in the house +did sometimes hide it in holes by the door-posts, and at other times did +hide it under the beds, and sometimes among the bedcloaths, and under the +linnings, and at last did carry it quite away, till nothing was left +there, save bread and water. This minds me of a small passage, as a proof +of what is said. The goodwife one morning making pottage for the +children's breakfasts had the tree-plate, wherein the meal lay, snatched +from her quickly. + +"Well," says she, "let me have the plate again." Whereupon it came flying +at her without any skaith done. 'Tis like if she had sought the meale too +she might have got it; such is his civility when he is entreated. A small +homage will please him ere he want all. After this he exercised his malice +and cruelty against all persons in the family in wearying them in the +night time by stirring and moving thorow the house, so that they had no +rest for noise, which continued all the moneth of August after this +manner. After which time the Devil grew yet worse by roaring, and +terrifying them by casting of stones, by striking them with staves on +their beds in the night time. And upon the 18 of September, about +midnight, he cryed out with a loud voice, "I shall burn the house." And +about three or four nights after he set one of the beds on fire, which was +soon put out without any prejudice, except the bed itself. + +Thus I have written a short and true account of all the material passages +which occurred. To write every particular, especially of lesser moment, +would fill a large volum. The goodman lived several years after this in +the same house; and it seems that by some conjuration or other the Devil +suffered himself to be put away, and gave the Weaver a peaceable +habitation. This Weaver has been a very odd man that endured so long these +marvellous disturbances. + + +"A True Relation of an Apparition, Expressions and Actings, of a Spirit +which infested the house of Andrew Mackie, in Ringcroft of Stocking, in +the Parish of Rerwick, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in Scotland." +Printed in Edinburgh by George Mosman, and sold at his shop in the +Parliament Close, 1696. + +Whereas many are desirous to know the truth of the matter, as to the Evil +Spirit and its actings, that troubled the family of Andrew Mackie, in +Ringcroft of Stocking, &c., and are liable to be mis-informed, as I do +find by the reports that come to my own ears of that matter; therefore +that satisfaction may be given, and such mistakes cured or prevented, I, +the Minister of the said parish (who was present several times, and was +witness to many of its actings, and have heard an account of the whole of +its methods and actings from the persons present, towards whom, and before +whom it did act), have given the ensuing and short account of the whole +matter, which I can attest to be the very truth as to that affair; and +before I come to the relation itself, I premise these things with respect +to what might have been the occasion and rise of that spirit's appearing +and acting. + +1. The said Andrew Mackie being a mason to his employment, 'tis given out, +that when he took the mason word, he devoted his first child to the Devil; +but I am certainly informed he never took the same, and knows not what +that word is. He is outwardly moral; there is nothing known to his life +and conversation, but honest, civil, and harmless, beyond many of his +neighbours; doth delight in the company of the best; and when he was under +the trouble of that evil spirit, did pray to the great satisfaction of +many. As for his wife and children, none have imputed any thing to them as +the rise of it, nor is there any ground, for aught I know, for any to do +so. + +2. Whereas it is given out that a woman, _sub mala fama_, did leave some +clothes in that house in the custody of the said Andrew Mackie, and died +before they were given up to her, and he and his wife should have kept +some of them back from her friends. I did seriously pose both him and his +wife upon the matter; they declared they knew not what things were left, +being bound up in a sack, but did deliver entirely to her friends all they +received from the woman, which I am apt to believe. + +[Illustration: "RINGCROFT OF STOCKING," NOW NO LONGER IN EXISTENCE. +(Sketch by J. Copland, Dundrennan.)] + +3. Whereas one, ---- Macknaught, who sometime before possessed the house, +did not thrive in his own person or goods. It seems he had sent his son to +a witch-wife who lived then at the Routing Bridge, in the parish of +Irongray, to enquire what might be the cause of the decay of his person +and goods. The youth, meeting with some foreign soldiers, went abroad to +Flanders, and did not return with an answer. Some years after there was +one John Redick in this parish who, having had occasion to go abroad, met +with the said young Macknaught in Flanders, and they knowing other, +Macknaught enquired after his father and other friends; and finding the +said John Redick was to go home, desired him to go to his father, or +whoever dwelt in the Ringcroft, and desire them to raise the door +threshold, and search till they found a tooth, and burn it, for none who +dwelt in that house would thrive till that was done. The said John Redick +coming home, and finding the old man Macknaught dead and his wife out of +that place, did never mention the matter nor further mind it till this +trouble was in Andrew Mackie's family, then he spoke of it and told the +matter to myself. Betwixt Macknaught's death and Andrew Mackie's +possession of this house there was one Thomas Telfair who possessed it +some years. What way he heard the report of what the witch-wife had said +to Macknaught's son I cannot tell; but he searched the door threshold and +found something like a tooth, did compare it with the tooth of a man, +horse, nolt, and sheep (as he said to me), but could not say which it did +resemble, only it did resemble a tooth. He did cast it into the fire, +where it burnt like a candle or so much tallow; yet he never knew any +trouble about that house by night or by day, before or after, during his +possession. These things premised being suspected to have been the +occasion of the troubles, and there being no more known as to them than +what is now declared, I do think the matter still unknown what may have +given a rise thereto, but leaving this I subjoin the matter as follows: + +In the month of February, 1695, the said Andrew Mackie had some young +beasts, which in the night-time were still loosed and their bindings +broken, he taking it to be the unrulyness of the beasts, did make stronger +and stronger bindings, of withes and other things, but still all were +broken. At last he suspected it to be some other thing, whereupon he +removed them out of that place; and the first night thereafter one of them +was bound with a hair-tedder to the back of the house, so strait that the +feet of the beast only touched the ground, but could move no way else, yet +it sustained no hurt. Another night, when the family were all sleeping, +there was the full of a back creel of peats set together in the midst of +the house floor, and fire put in them; the smoke wakened the family, +otherwise the house had been burnt; yet nothing all the time was either +seen or heard. + +Upon the 7th of March there were stones thrown in the house in all the +places of it; but it could not be discovered from whence they came, what, +or who threw them. After this manner it continued till the Sabbath, now +and then throwing both in the night and day, but was busiest throwing in +the night-time. + +Upon Saturday, the family being all without, the children coming in saw +something which they thought to be a body sitting by the fireside, with a +blanket (or cloth) about it, whereat they were afraid. The youngest, being +a boy about nine or ten years of age, did chide the rest saying, "Why are +you feared, let us saine (or bless) ourselves, and then there is no ground +to fear it." He perceived the blanket to be his, and saining (or blessing) +himself, ran and pulled the blanket from it saying, "Be what it will, it +hath nothing to do with my blanket;" and then they found it to be a +fourfooted stool set upon the end, and the blanket cast over it. + +Upon the Sabbath, being the 11th of March, the crook and pot-cleps were +taken away, and were awanting four days, and were found at last on a loft, +where they had been sought several times before.--This is attested by +Charles Macklellan of Colline, and John Cairns in Hardhills. It was +observed that the stones which hit any person had not half their natural +weight; and the throwing was more frequent on the Sabbath than at other +times, and especially in time of prayer, above all other times, it was +busiest then, throwing most at the person praying. The said Andrew Mackie +told the matter to me upon Sabbath after sermon. + +Upon the Tuesday thereafter I went to the house, did stay a considerable +time with them and prayed twice, and there was no trouble. Then I came out +with a resolution to leave the house, and as I was standing speaking to +some men at the barn end I saw two little stones drop down on the croft at +a little distance from me, and then immediately some crying out of the +house that it was become as ill as ever within; whereupon I went into the +house again, and as I was at prayer it threw several stones at me, but +they did no hurt, being very small; and after there was no more trouble +till the eighteenth day of March, and then it began as before, and threw +more frequently greater stones, whose strokes were sorer where they hit, +and thus it continued to the 21st. Then I went to the house, and stayed a +great part of the night, but was greatly troubled; stones and several +other things were thrown at me, I was struck several times on the sides +and shoulders very sharply with a great staff, so that those who were +present heard the noise of the strokes. That night it tore off the +bedside, and rapped upon the chests and boards as one calling for +access.--This is attested by Charles Macklellan of Colline, William +Mackminn, and John Tait in Torr. That night as I was once at prayer, +leaning on a bedside, I felt something pressing on my arm; I, casting my +eyes thither, perceived a little white hand and arm from the elbow down, +but presently it evanished. It is to be observed that, notwithstanding of +all that was felt and heard, from the first to the last of this matter, +there was never anything seen, except that hand I saw; and a friend of the +said Andrew Mackie's said he saw as it were a young boy about the age of +fourteen years, with gray clothes, and a bonnet on his head, but presently +disappeared, as also what the three children saw sitting at the fireside. + +Upon the 22d the trouble still increased, both against the family and +against the neighbours who came to visit them, by throwing stones and +beating them with staves; so that some were forced to leave the house +before their inclination.--This is attested by Charles Macklellan in +Colline, and Andrew Tait in Torr. Some it would have met as they came to +the house, and stoned with stones about the yards, and in like manner +stoned as they went from the house, of whom Thomas Telfair in Stocking was +one. It made a little wound on the said Andrew Mackie's brow; did thrust +several times at his shoulder, he not regarding; at last it gripped him so +by the hair, that he thought something like nails of fingers scratched his +skin. It dragged severals up and down the house by the cloathes.--This is +attested by Andrew Tait. It gripped one Keige, miller in Auchencairn, so +by his side that he entreated his neighbours to help, and cried it would +rive the side from him. That night it lifted the cloathes off the children +as they were sleeping in bed, and beat them on the hips as if it had been +with one's hand, so that all that were in the house heard it. The door bar +and other things would go through the house as if a person had been +carrying them in their hand, yet nothing seen doing it.--This is attested +by John Telfair in Auchinleck, and others. It rattled on the chests and +bedsides with a staff, and made a great noise; and thus it continued by +throwing stones, striking with staves and rattling in the house, till the +2d of April. At night it cryed "Whist, whist," at every sentence in the +close of prayer; and it whistled so distinctly that the dog barked and ran +to the door, as if one had been calling to hound him. + +Aprile 3d, it whistled several times and cryed "Whist, whist."--This is +attested by Andrew Tait. + +Upon the 4th of April Charles Macklellan of Colline, landlord, with the +said Andrew Mackie, went to a certain number of ministers met at Buittle, +and gave them an account of the matter, whereupon these ministers made +public prayers for the family, and two of their number, viz., Mr Andrew +Ewart, minister of Kells, and Mr John Murdo, minister of Crossmichael, +came to the house and spent that night in fasting and praying, but it was +very cruel against them, especially by throwing great stones, some of them +about half a stone weight. It wounded Mr Andrew Ewart twice in the head, +to the effusion of his blood, it pulled off his wig in time of prayer, and +when he was holding out his napkin betwixt his hands it cast a stone in +the napkin and therewith threw it from him. It gave Mr John Murdo several +sore strokes, yet the wounds and bruises received did soon cure. There +were none in the house that night escaped from its fury and cruelty. That +night it threw a fiery peat amongst the people, but it did no hurt, it +only disturbed them in time of prayer. And also in the dawning as they +rose from prayer the stones poured down on all who were in the house to +their hurt.--This is attested by Mr Andrew Ewart, Mr John Murdo, Charles +Macklellan, and John Tait. + +Upon the 5th of April it set some thatch straw on fire which was in the +barn yard; at night, the house being very throng with neighbours, the +stones were still thrown down among them. As the said Andrew Mackie and +his wife went out to bring in some peats to the fire, when she came to the +door she found a broad stone to shake under her foot, which she never knew +to be loose before; she resolved with herself to see what was beneath it +in the morning thereafter. + +Upon the 6th of April, when the house was quiet, she went to the stone and +there found seven small bones, with blood and some flesh, all closed in a +piece of old suddled paper; the blood was fresh and bright. The sight +whereof troubled her, and being afraid laid all down again and ran to +Colline's house, being a quarter of a mile distant; but in that time it +was worse than ever before, by throwing stones and fire balls in and about +the house, but the fire as it lighted did evanish. In that time it threw +a hot stone into the bed betwixt the children, which burnt through the +bed-cloathes; and after it was taken out by the man's eldest son, and had +layen on the floor more than an hour and a half, the said Charles +Macklellan of Colline could not hold it in his hand for heat.--This is +attested by Charles Macklellan. It thrust a staff through the wall of the +house above the children in the bed, shook it over them and groaned. When +Colline came to the house he went to prayer before he offered to lift the +bones; all the time he was at prayer it was most cruel, but as soon as he +took up the bones the trouble ceased.--This is attested by Charles +Macklellan. He sent them presently to me, upon sight whereof I went +immediately to the house. While I was at prayer it threw great stones +which hit me, but did no hurt, then there was no more trouble that night. + +The 7th of April being Sabbath, it began again and threw stones, and +wounded William Macminn, a blacksmith, on the head; it cast a plough-sock +at him and also a trough stone upwards of three stone weight, which did +fall upon his back, yet he was not hurt thereby.--Attested by William +Macminn. It set the house twice on fire, yet there was no hurt done, in +respect some neighbours were in the house who helped to quench it. At +night in the twilight as John Mackie, the said Andrew Mackie's eldest +son, was coming home, near to the house, there was an extraordinary light +fell about him and went before him to the house with a swift motion; that +night it continued after its wonted manner. + +April 8th, in the morning as Andrew Mackie went down the close he found a +letter both written and sealed with blood. It was directed on the back +thus, "3 years thou shall have to repent a nett it well," and within was +written, "Wo be to thee Scotland Repent and tak warning for the doors of +haven ar all Redy bart against thee, I am sent for a warning to thee to +flee to God yet troublt shall this man be for twenty days, repent repent +repent Scotland or else thou shall." In the middle of the day the persons +alive who lived in that house since it was built, being about twenty-eight +years, were conveined by appointment of the civil magistrate before +Colline, myself, and others, and did all touch the bones, in respect there +was some suspicion of secret murder committed in the place, but nothing +was found to discover the same. + +Upon the 9th of April the letter and bones were sent to the ministers, who +were all occasionally met at Kirkcudbright; they appointed five of their +number, viz., Mr John Murdo, Mr James Monteith, Mr John Macmillan, Mr +Samuel Spalding, and Mr William Falconer, with me, to go to the house and +spend so much time as we were able in fasting and prayer. + +Upon the 10th of April we went to the house, and no sooner did I begin to +open my mouth but it threw stones at me and all within the house, but +still worst at him who was at duty. It came often with such force upon the +house that it made all the house to shake, it broke a hole through the +timber and thatch of the house and powred in great stones, one whereof, +more than a quarter weight, fell upon Mr Monteith's back, yet he was not +hurt. It threw another with great force at him when he was praying, bigger +than a man's fist, which hit him on the breast, yet he was neither hurt +nor moved thereby. It was thought fit that one of our number with another +person should go by turns and stand under the hole in the outside, so +there was no more trouble from that place; but the barn being joined to +the end of the house, it brake down the barn door and mid wall and threw +stones up the house, but did no great hurt. It gripped and handled the +legs of some as with a man's hand, it hoised up the feet of others while +standing on the ground, thus it did to William Lennox of Millhouse, +myself, and others. In this manner it continued till ten o'clock at +night, but after that there was no more trouble while we were about the +house.--This is attested by Messrs James Monteith, John Murdo, Samuel +Spalding, Wm. Falconer, William Lennox, and John Tait. + +The 11th, 12th, and 13th it was worse than ever it was before, for not one +that came into the house did escape heavy strokes. There was one Andrew +Tait in Torr, as he was coming to stay with the family all night, by the +way his dog catched a thulmart, when he came in he cast it by in the +house; thereafter there were other three young men who came in also, and +when they were all at prayer the Evil Spirit beat them with the dead +thulmart and threw it before them. The three who knew it not to be in the +house were greatly affrighted, especially one Samuel Thomson, a chapman, +whom it also gripped by the side and back, and thrust as if it had been an +hand beneath his clothes and into his pockets, he was so affrighted that +he took sickness immediately.--This is attested by Andrew Tait. + +The 14th being the Sabbath, it set some straw on fire that was in the barn +yard, and threw stones till ten o'clock at night; it threw an dike spade +at the said Andrew Mackie, with the mouth toward him, but he received no +hurt; while an meal-sive was tossed up and down the house, the said +Andrew Mackie takes hold of it, and as it were with difficulty gets the +grip keeped, at last all within the rim is torn out. Thereafter it threw a +handful of the sive rolled together at Thomas Robertson in Airds, who was +witness to this, yet in all its actings there was never any thing seen, +but what I mentioned before. + +Upon the 15th of April, William Anderson, a drover, and James Paterson, +his son-in-law, came to the house with Colline in the evening. Colline +going home a while within night, the said Andrew Mackie sent his sons to +convey him; as they returned they were cruelly stoned, and the stones +rolled amongst their legs, like to break them. Shortly after they came in, +it wounded William Anderson on the head, to the great effusion of his +blood. In time of prayer it whistled, groaned, and cryed "Whist, +whist."--This is attested by John Cairns. + +The 16th it continued whisting, groaning, whistling, and throwing stones +in time of prayer; it cryed "Bo, bo," and kick, cuck, and shook men back +and forward, and hoised them up as if to lift them off their knees.--This +is attested by Andrew Tait. + +The whole family went from the house, and left five honest neighbours to +wait on the same all night; but there was no hurt done to them, nor the +family where they were, nor to those neighbours who stayed in the said +Andrew Mackie's house, only the cattle were cast over other to the hazard +of killing them, as they were bound to the stakes, and some of them were +loosed.--This is attested by John Cairns. + +Upon the 18th they returned to their house again, and there was no hurt to +them or their cattle that night, except in a little house, where there +were some sheep, it coupled them together in pairs by the neck with straw +ropes, made of an bottle of straw, which it took off an loft in the stable +and carried to the sheep house, which is three or four pair of butts +(arrow shots) distant, and it made more ropes than it needed for binding +the sheep, which it left beside the straw in the sheep-house.--This is +attested by Andrew Tait. + +Upon the 19th it fired the straw in the barn, but Andrew Mackie put it +out, (being there threshing) without doing any harm. It shot staves +through the wall at him, but did no hurt. + +The 20th, it continued throwing stones, whistling, and whisting, with all +its former words. When it hit any person, and said, "Take you that till +you get more," that person was sure immediately of another; but when it +said, "Take you that," the person got no more for a while.--This is +attested by John Tait. + +The 21st, 22nd, and 23rd it continued casting stones, beating with staves, +and throwing peat mud in the faces of all in the house, especially in time +of prayer, with all its former tricks. + +The 24th being a day of humiliation appointed to be kept in the parish for +that cause, all that day from morning till night it continued in a most +fearful manner without intermission, throwing stones with such cruelty and +force that all in the house feared lest they should be killed. + +The 25th it threw stones all night, but did no great hurt. + +The 26th it threw stones in the evening and knocked several times on a +chest, as one to have access; and began to speak and call those that were +sitting in the house witches and rooks, and said it would take them to +hell. The people then in the house said among themselves, if it had any to +speak to it now, it would speak. In the meantime Andrew Mackie was +sleeping. They wakened him, and then he, hearing it say "Thou shalt be +troubled till Tuesday," asked, "Who gave thee a commission?" + +To whom it answered, "God gave me a commission, and I am sent to warn the +land to repent, for a judgment is to come if the land do not quickly +repent," and commanded him to reveal it upon his peril; and if the land +did not repent it said it would go to its father and get a commission to +return with a hundred worse than itself, and would trouble every +particular family in the land. + +Andrew Mackie said to those that were with him, "If I should tell this I +would not be believed." + +Then it said, "Fetch betters; fetch the Minister of the parish and two +honest men upon Tuesday's night, and I shall declare before them what I +have to say." Then it said, "Praise me and I will whistle to you; worship +me and I will trouble you no more." + +Then Andrew Mackie said, "The Lord who delivered the three children out of +the fiery furnace, deliver me and mine this night from the temptations of +Satan." + +Then it replied, "You might as well have said, Shadrach, Meshach, +Abednego." In the meantime, while Andrew Mackie was speaking, there was +one James Telfair in Buittle who was adding a word, to whom it said, "You +are basely bred, meddling in other men's discourse, wherein you are not +concerned." It likewise said, "Remove your goods, for I will burn the +house." + +He answered, "The Lord stop Satan's fury and hinder him of his designs." + +Then it said, "I will do it, or you shall guide well."--All this is +attested by John Tait in Torr and several others who cannot subscribe. + +Upon the 27th it set fire to the house seven times. + +The 28th, being the Sabbath, from sun-rising till sun-setting it still set +the house on fire--as it was quenched in one part, instantly it was fired +in another--and in the evening, when it could not get its designs +fulfilled in burning the house, it pulled down the end of the house, all +the stonework thereof, so that they could not abide in it any longer, but +went and kindled their fire in the stable. + +Upon the Sabbath night it pulled one of the children out of the bed, +gripping him, as he thought, by the craig and shoulders; and took up a +block of a tree as great as a plough-head, and held above the children, +saying, "If I had a commission I would brain them." Thus it expressed +itself, in the hearing of all who were in the house.--Attested by William +Macminn and John Crosby. + +The 29th, being Monday, it continued setting fire to the house. The said +Andrew Mackie finding the house so frequently set on fire, and being weary +quenching it, he went and put out all the fire that was about the house, +and poured water upon the hearth; yet after it fired the house several +times, when there was no fire within a quarter of a mile of the +house.--This is attested by Charles Macklellan and John Cairnes. In the +midst of the day, as Andrew Mackie was threshing in the barn, it whispered +in the wall and then cried, "Andrew, Andrew," but he gave no answer to it. +Then with an austere angry voice as it were, it said, "Speak;" yet he gave +no answer. Then it said, "Be not troubled; you shall have no more trouble, +except some casting of stones upon Tuesday to fulfill the promise," and +said, "Take away your straw." I went to the house about 11 o'clock; it +fired the house once after I went there. I stayed all night till betwixt +three and four on Tuesday's morning, during which time there was no +trouble about the house, except two little stones dropped down at the +fireside as we were sitting down at our first entry. A little after I went +away it began to throw stones as formerly.--This is attested by Charles +Macklellan and John Tait. + +Upon Tuesday's night, being the 30th of April, Charles Macklellan of +Colline, with several neighbours, were in the barn. As he was at prayer he +observed a black thing in the corner of the barn, and it did encrease as +if it would fill the whole house. He could not discern it to have any form +but as if it had been a black cloud; it was affrightning to them all, and +then it threw bear-chaff and other mud upon their faces; and after did +gripp severals that were in the house by the middle of the body, by the +arms and other parts of their bodies, so strait that some said for five +days thereafter that they thought they felt these gripps. After an hour or +two of the night was thus past there was no more trouble.--This is +attested by Charles Macklellan, Thomas Macminn, Andrew Paline, John +Cairnes, and John Tait. + +Upon Wednesday's night, being the 1st of May, it fired a little +sheep-house; the sheep were got out safe, but the sheep-house was wholly +burnt. Since there has not been any trouble about the house by night nor +by day. + +Now all things aforesaid, being of undoubted verity, therefore I conclude +with that of the Apostle, _1 Peter v., 8-9_, "Be sober, be vigilant; +because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, +seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith." + +This relation is attested, as to what they particularly saw, heard, and +felt, by Andrew Ewart, minister of Kells; James Monteith, minister of +Borgue; John Murdo, minister of Crossmichael; Samuel Spalding, minister of +Parton; William Falconer, minister of Kelton; Charles Macklellan of +Colline, William Lennox of Millhouse, Andrew Tait in Torr, John Tait in +Torr, John Cairns in Hardhills, William Macminn, John Crosby, Thomas +Macminn, Andrew Paline, &c. + + +"The Laird o' Coul's Ghost: an Eighteenth Century Chapbook. An Account of +Mr Maxwell, Laird of Coul, his Appearance after Death to Mr Ogilvie, a +Minister of the present Establishment at Innerwick." (Abridged.) + +Upon the third day of February, 1722, at seven o'clock at night, after I +had parted with Thurston [his name Cant], and was coming up the Burial +Road, one came riding up after me: upon hearing the noise of his horse's +feet, I took it to be Thurston, but upon looking back, and seeing the +horse of a greyish colour, I called "Who is there?" The answer was, "The +Laird of Coul [his name Maxwell], be not afraid." Then looking to him by +the help of the dark light which the moon afforded, I took him to be +Collector Castellow designing to put a trick upon me, and immediately I +struck at him with all my force with my cane, thinking I should leave upon +him a mark, to make him remember his presumption; but being sensible, I +aimed as well as ever I did in my life, yet my cane finding no resistance, +but flying out of my hand the distance of about 60 feet, and observing it +by its white head, I dismounted and took it up, and had some difficulty +in mounting again, what by the ramping of my horse and what by reason of a +certain kind of trembling throughout my whole joints, something likewise +of anger had its share in the confusion; for, as I thought, he laughed +when my staff flew away. Coming up with him again, who halted all the time +I sought my staff, I asked once more "Who he was?" He answered, "The Laird +of Coul." I enquired, "If he was the Laird of Coul, what brought him +hither?" and "What was his business with me?" + +_Coul_--The reason of my waiting on you is that I know you are disposed to +do for me a thing which none of your brethren in Nithsdale will so much as +attempt, though it serve to ever so good purposes. I told him I would +never refuse to do a thing to serve a good purpose, if I thought I was +obliged to do it as my duty. He answered, since I had undertaken what he +found few in Nithsdale would, for he had tried some upon that subject, who +were more obliged to him than ever I was, or to any person living: I drew +my horse, and halted in surprise, asking what I had undertaken? + +_Ogilvie_--Pray, Coul, who informed you that I talked at that rate? + +_Coul_--You must know that we are acquainted with many things that the +living know nothing about. These things you did say, and much more to that +purpose; and all that I want is that you fulfil your promise and deliver +my commissions to my loving wife. + +_Ogilvie_--'Tis a pity, Coul, that you who know so many things, should not +know the difference between an absolute and a conditional promise. + +But did I ever say that if you would come to Innerwick and employ me that +I would go all the way to Dumfries upon that errand? That is what never so +much as once entered into my thought. + +_Coul_--What was in your thought I do not pretend to know, but I can +depend upon my information that these were your words; but I see you are +in some disorder; I will wait on you again, when you have more presence of +mind. + +By the time we were got to James Dickson's inclosure below the churchyard, +and while I was collecting in my mind whether ever I had spoken these +words he alleged, he broke from me through the churchyard with greater +violence than ever any man on horseback is capable of, and with such a +singing and buzzing noise as put me in greater disorder than I was all the +time I was with him. I came to my house, and my wife observed something +more than ordinary paleness in my countenance, and would allege that +something ailed me. I called for a dram and told her I was a little +uneasy. After I found myself a little eased and refreshed, I retired to my +closet to meditate on this the most astonishing adventure of my whole +life. + +THE SECOND CONFERENCE. + +Upon the 5th of March, 1722. Being at Blarehead baptising the shepherd's +child, I came off at sunsetting, or a very little after. Near Will. +White's march the Laird of Coul came up with me on horseback as formerly, +and, after his first salutation, bid me not be afraid, for he would do me +no harm. I told him I was not in the least afraid, in the name of God and +of Christ my Saviour, that he would do the least harm to me; for I knew +that He in whom I trusted was stronger than all them put together, and if +any of them should attempt even to do the horse I rode upon harm, as you +have done to Dr Menzies' man,[48] if it be true that is said, and +generally believed about Dumfries, I have free access to complain to my +Lord and Master, to the lash of whose resentment you are as much liable +now as before. + +_Coul_--You need not multiply words upon that head, for you are as safe +with me and safer, if safer can be, than when I was alive. + +I said--Well then, Coul, let me have a peaceable and easy conversation +with you for the time we ride together, and give me some information about +the affairs of the other world, for no man inclines to lose his time in +conversing with the dead without having a prospect of hearing and learning +something that may be useful. + +_Coul_--Well, sir, I will satisfy you as far as I think it proper and +convenient. Let me know what information you want from me. + +_Ogilvie_--Well, then, what sort of body is it that you appear in, and +what sort of a horse is it that you ride on that appears so full of +mettle? + +_Coul_--You may depend upon it 'tis not the same body that I was witness +to your marriage in, nor in which I died, for that is in the grave +rotting; but it is such a body as answers me in a moment, for I can fly as +fast as my soul can do without it, so that I can go to Dumfries and return +again before you ride twice the length of your horse: nay, if I incline +to go to London, or to Jerusalem, or to the moon, if you please, I can +perform all these journeys equally soon, for it costs me nothing but a +thought or wish; for this body you see is as fleet as your thought, for in +the same moment of time that you carry your thoughts to Rome I can go +there in person. And for my horse, he is much like myself, for 'tis Andrew +Johnstoun, who was seven years my tenant, and he died 48 hours before me. + +_Ogilvie_--So it seems when Andrew Johnstoun inclines to ride you must +serve him for a horse, as he now does you? + +THE THIRD CONFERENCE. + +Upon the 9th of April, 1722, as I was returning from Old Hamstocks, Coul +struck up with me upon the back, at the foot of the ruinous inclosure +before we come to Dodds. I told him his last conversation had proven so +acceptable to me that I was well pleased to see him again, and that there +was a vast number of things which I wanted to inform myself further of, if +he would be so good as to satisfy me. + +_Coul_--Last time we met I refused you nothing that you asked, and now I +expect you will refuse me nothing that I ask. + +_Ogilvie_--Nothing, sir, that is in my power, or that I can with safety to +my reputation and character. What then are your demands upon me? + +_Coul_--All I desire is that, as you promised that Sabbath day, you will +go to my wife, who now possesses all my effects, and tell her the +following particulars, and desire her in my name to rectify these matters. +First, that I was justly owing to Provost Crosby £500 Scots, and three +years' interest; but upon hearing of his death, my good-brother (the laird +of Chapel) and I did forge a discharge narrating the date of the bond, the +sum, and other particulars, with this onerous clause that at that time it +was fallen by and could not be found, with an obligation on the Provost's +part to deliver up the bond as soon as he could hit upon it, and this +discharge was dated three months before the Provost's death; and when his +only son and successor, Andrew Crosby, wrote to me concerning this bond, I +came to him and showed him that discharge, which silenced him, so that I +got my bond without more ado. And when I heard of Robert Kennedy's death, +with the same help of Chapel, I got a bill upon him for £190 sterling, +which I got full and compleat payment of, and Chapel got the half. When I +was in Dumfries the day Thomas Greer died, to whom I was owing an account +of £36 sterling, Chapel, my good-brother, at that time was at London, and +not being able of myself, being but a bad writer, to get a discharge of +the account, which I wanted exceedingly, I met accidentally with Robert +Boyd, a poor writer lad in Dumfries. I took him to Mrs Carrick's, gave him +a bottle of wine and told him that I had paid Thomas Greer's account, but +wanted a discharge, and if he would help me to it I would reward him. He +flew away from me in great passion, saying he would rather be hanged, but +if I had a mind for these things I had best wait till Chapel came home. +This gave me great trouble, fearing that what he and I had formerly done +was no secret. I followed Boyd to the street, made an apology that I was +jesting, commended him for his honesty, and took him solemnly engaged that +he should not repeat what had passed. I sent for my cousin Barnhourie, +your good-brother, who with no difficulty, for one guinea and a half +undertook and performed all that I wanted, and for one guinea more made me +up a discharge for £200 Scots, which I was owing to your father-in-law and +his friend Mr Morehead, which discharge I gave in to John Ewart when he +required the money, and he, at my desire, produced it to you, which you +sustained. A great many of the like instances were told, of which I cannot +remember the persons' names and sums. But, added he, what vexes me more +than all these is the injustice I did to Homer Maxwell, tenant to Lord +Nithsdale, for whom I was factor. I had borrowed 2000 merks from him, 500 +of which he borrowed from another hand, and I gave him my bond. For +reasons I contrived, I obliged him to secrecy. He died within the year. He +had nine children, and his wife had died a month before himself. I came to +seal up his papers for my lord's security. His eldest daughter entreated +me to look through them all, and to give her an account what was their +stock and what was their debt. I very willingly undertook it, and in going +through his papers I put my own bond in my pocket. His circumstances +proved bad, and the nine children are now starving. These things I desire +you to represent to my wife; take her brother with you, and let them be +immediately rectified, for she has sufficient fund to do it upon, and, if +that were done, I think I would be easy and happy. Therefore I hope you +will make no delay. + +_Ogilvie_--After a short pause I answered--'Tis a good errand, Coul, that +you are sending me to do justice to the oppressed and injured; but +notwithstanding that I see myself among the rest that come in for £200 +Scots, yet I beg a little time to consider on the matter. + +THE FOURTH CONFERENCE. + +Upon the 10th of April, 1722, coming from Old Camus, upon the post road I +met with Coul, as formerly, upon the head of the path called the _Pease_. +He asked me if I had considered the matter he had recommended? I told him +I had, and was in the same opinion that I was of when we parted: that I +could not possibly undertake his commission unless he would give it in +writing under his hand. I wanted nothing but reason to determine me, not +only in that, but all other affairs of my life. I added that the list of +his grievances was so long that I could not possibly remember them without +being in writing. + +I know, said he, that this is a mere evasion; but tell me if your +neighbour, the laird of Thurston, will do it? I would gladly wait upon +him. + +_Ogilvie_--I am sure, said I, he will not, and if he inclined so I would +do what I could to hinder him, for I think he has as little concern in +these matters as I. But tell me, Coul, is it not as easy for you to write +your story as it is to tell it, or to ride on--what-is-it-you-call-him? +for I have forgotten your horse's name. + +_Coul_--No, sir, 'tis not, and perhaps I may convince you of it +afterwards. + +_Ogilvie_--I would be glad to hear a reason that is solid for your not +speaking to your wife yourself. But, however, any rational creature may +see what a fool I would make of myself if I should go to Dumfries and tell +your wife that you had appeared to me and told me of so many forgeries and +villainies which you had committed, and that she behoved to make +reparation. The event might, perhaps, be that she would scold me; for as +'tis very probable, she will be loth to part with any money she possesses, +and therefore tell me I was mad, or possibly might pursue me for calumny. +How could I vindicate myself? how should I prove that ever you had spoken +with me? Mr Paton and the rest of my brethren would tell me that it was a +devil who had appeared to me, and why should I repeat these things as +truth, which he that was a liar from the beginning had told me? Chapel and +Barnhourie would be upon my top and pursue me before the Commissary, and +everybody will look upon me as brainsick or mad. Therefore, I entreat you, +do not insist upon sending me an April errand. The reasonableness of my +demand I leave to your consideration, as you did your former to mine, for +I think what I ask is very just. But dropping these matters till our next +interview, give me leave to enter upon some more diverting subject; and I +do not know, Coul, but through the information given to me, you may do as +much service to mankind as the redress of all the wrongs you have +mentioned would amount to, &c. + + + + +Authorities Consulted and Quoted. + + + No. Page + + 1. Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, appendix + p. 228 11 + + 2. Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, vol. II., p. 13 14 + + 3. Do. do. p. 459 15 + + 4. _Gallovidian_, vol. IV., p. 40 17 + + 5. Andrew Donaldson, Esq., Ardwell, Stranraer, letter from 24 + + 6. Do. do. 24 + + 7. Do. do. 25 + + 8. Do. do. 26 + + 9. Do. do. 29 + + 10. Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, appendix + p. 230 31 + + 11. Wigtown: Historical and Descriptive Sketches, by Fraser, + p. 359 34 + + 12. East Galloway Sketches (Dalry), p. 349 35 + + 13. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Superstitious Custom in Galloway," by J. M'Kie + (March, 1895) 40 + + 14. John Copland, Esq., The Studio, Dundrennan, letter from 43 + + 15. Do. do. 44 + + 16. Do. do. 46 + + 17. Do. do. 49 + + 18. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Folk-Lore in Tynron," by James Shaw (November, 1887) 50 + + 19. Folk-Lore of Uppermost Nithsdale, by Wilson, p. 17 52 + + 20. The Bard and Belted Knight, by Johnstone, p. 21 53 + + 21. Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, appendix + p. 233 56 + + 22. Andrew Donaldson, Esq., Ardwell, Stranraer, letter from 57 + + 23. East Galloway Sketches (Dalry), p. 350 58 + + 24. Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia (2nd ed.), p. 114 59 + + 25. Law's Memorials, edited by Kirkpatrick Sharpe 62 + + 26. The Book of Galloway (privately printed) 64 + + 27. History of Galloway, by Mackenzie, vol. II., appendix p. 37 77 + + 28. Do. do. p. 40 82 + + 29. Do. do. p. 42 87 + + 30. History of Dumfries, by M'Dowall (2nd ed.,) p. 375 91 + + 31. The Book of Kirkpatrick-Durham, by Stark, p. 94 93 + + 32. The Scots Worthies (Howie), by John Semple 93 + + 33. History of the Parish of Minnigaff, by Jas. G. Kinna, p. 119 96 + + 34. Wigtown: Historical and Descriptive Sketches, by Fraser, + p. 360 97 + + 35. Kirkmaiden, Guide to, by Andrew Donaldson, p. 40 98 + + 36. History of Dumfries, by M'Dowall (2nd ed.), p. 377 111 + + 37. Do. do. p. 375 112 + + 38. Do. do. p. 376 113 + + 39. Do. do. p. 376 113 + + 40. Do. do. p. 376 115 + + 41. History of Dumfries, by M'Dowall (2nd ed.), p. 375 116 + + 42. Do. do. p. 377 116 + + 43. Do. do. p. 379 117 + + 44. Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. III., p. 66 118 + + 45. History of Dumfries, by M'Dowall (2nd ed.), pp. 378 and 379 120 + + 46. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Kirk-session Records of Irongray Parish, 1691-1700" + (February, 1906) 122 + + 47. Unique Traditions of the West and South of Scotland, by + Barbour--"The Witch's Well" 124 + + 48. History of Witchcraft in Scotland, by C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe, + p. 160 131 + + 49. Law's Memorials, edited by Kirkpatrick Sharpe 141 + + 50. The Testimony of Tradition, by M'Ritchie, p. 115 161 + + 51. Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, by Agnew, vol. II., pp. 168 + and 169 164 + + 52. Droll Recollections of Whithorn, by Jas. F. Cannon, p. 105 166 + + 53. Galloway Gossip, by "Saxon"--"Riddled in the Reek"--p. 289 169 + + 54. _Dumfries and Galloway Magazine_, 1822--"Glenkens + Anecdotes"--p. 456 172 + + 55. The Castle-Douglas Miscellany, 1827 174 + + 56. Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, appendix + p. 241 176 + + 57. Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, appendix + p. 239 177 + + 58. Do. do. p. 242 179 + + 59. Do. do. p. 238 180 + + 60. Do. do. p. 246 182 + + 61. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Folk-Lore of Glencairn," by John Corrie (February, + 1891) 183 + + 62. Folk-Lore of Uppermost Nithsdale, by Wilson, p. 75 184 + + 63. Bard and Belted Knight, by Johnstone, p. 19 185 + + 64. Cromek's Remains of Galloway and Nithsdale Song, appendix + p. 265 188 + + 65. Do. do. p. 266 190 + + 66. Do. do. p. 268 191 + + 67. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Folk-Lore of Glencairn," by John Corrie (February, + 1891) 202 + + 68. Galloway Gossip, by "Saxon," p. 175 205 + + 69. _Dumfries Standard_ 209 + + 70. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Folk-Lore of Glencairn," by John Corrie (December, + 1890) 212 + + 71. Drumlanrig and the Douglases, by Ramage, p. 185 214 + + 72. Celtic Lecture, Glasgow University, by Dr Henderson 218 + + 73. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Bee Folk-Lore," by P. Dudgeon (May, 1892) 218 + + 74. Life and Times of the Rev. John Wightman, D.D., p. 120 224 + + 75. The Laird of Lag, by Lieut.-Col. Fergusson, appendices II. + and III., p. 251 227 + + 76. Do. do. p. 144 232 + + 77. Old Church Life in Scotland, by Edgar (2nd series), p. 249 239 + + 78. Memorials of Sanquhar Kirkyard, by Tom Wilson (_Courier + and Herald_, Dumfries) 240 + + 79. Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, by Agnew, vol. II., p. 164 248 + + 80. Wigtown: Historical and Descriptive Sketches, by Fraser, + p. 208 253 + + 81. Jas. F. Cannon, Esq., Edinburgh, letter from 254 + + 82. Do. do. 256 + + 83. Galloway Gossip, by "Saxon," p. 337 258 + + 84. The Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway, by M'Cormick, p. 123 263 + + 85. John Copland, Esq., The Studio, Dundrennan, letter from 269 + + 86. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Kirkbean Folk-Lore," by Sam. Arnott, Esq. (November, + 1894) 274 + + 87. Appendix to the earlier (1774, 1781, 1816) editions of + Howie's Scots Worthies 282 + + 88. John Corrie, Esq., Burnbank, Moniaive, letter from 283 + + 89. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions of + (March 14th, 1902) 293 + + 90. Reminiscences of Thomas Carlyle, by Froude (Longmans, Green + & Co., 1881) 294 + + 91. Poets of Dumfriesshire, by Miller (1910), p. 220 295 + + 92. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions of + (November 18th, 1898) 296 + + 93. Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, Transactions + of--"Antiquities of Eskdalemuir," by Rev. John C. Dick + (November 18th, 1896) 297 + + 94. Concerning Certain Apparitions, by Frances M'Laughlin + (_Chambers' Journal_, January 1909) 299 + + + + +GLOSSARY. + + The student of Scots dialect will not always find the quoted + vernacular running through the text quite pure, many words having been + unconsciously modified by a too free use of phonetic spelling. + + +A + +ADDER-STANE, the adder-bead charm. + +ADOWE, stir. + +AIRLESS, heirless. + +AIRT, direction. + +ANON, immediately, thereupon. + +ASK, newt. + +AVA, at all. + +AWSOMLY, in fear. + + +B + +BACKGANE, not thriving, wasting. + +BAGS, entrails. + +BAYILLIS, bailies. + +BEES BIZIN', noises in the head caused by alcohol. + +BELDAM, an old woman. + +BELTANE, the festival of May first. + +BEK, bake. + +BENISON, prognostication for good. + +BENSHEE, a banshee or fairy, really an Irish fairy. + +BERRY, thresh. + +BESOME, broom. + +"BEST AUCHT," the most valuable possession, usually a horse or ox, claimed +by the superior on the death of a farm tenant. + +BICKERING, moving noisily. + +BIEN, prosperous. + +BIGGIT, built. + +BINWUD, ivy. + +BLACK-SPAULD (SPAUL), a pleuritic disease of cattle. + +BLEW SPOT, a significant witch-mark also another term for "dede-nip." + +BLINMENS' BAWS, common puff-ball (devil's snuff-box). + +BLINKING, attractive, comely. + +BLUIDY-FINGERS, foxglove. + +BOGLE-BO, hobgoblin. + +BOOR-TREE, elder-tree. + +BOWCAIL, cabbage. + +BOWTE, to strike against. + +BRATTLE, a clattering sound. + +BRECKAN, bracken. + +BREERS, briars + +"BROCKEN," the important mediæval place of witch festival in Germany (see +_Faust_). + +BROSE, pease-meal mixed with boiling water. + +BUMBEE, humble-bee. + +BUTTER-SKEP, butter-basket. + +BYKE, a wasp's or bee's nest. + + +C + +"CA CUTTIE CA," called upon to eat freely, even greedily. + +"CANNIE MOMENT," significant time. + +CANTIE, canty, contentedly. + +CANTRIP, charm or spell. + +CAP, caup, a wooden bowl. + +CARLE, a man. + +CERTES, certainly. + +CHAMPIT, bruised. + +CHANNEL-STANE, curling-stone. + +CHESSEL, the tub for pressing cheese. + +CHICKEN-WORT, chicken-weed. + +CHIST (KIST), a wooden box. + +CHOWED, chewed. + +CLOWT, cloth. + +COG, a wooden domestic vessel. + +COGFU', the full of such a vessel. + +COMPEARED, appeared. + +COUPE, to empty or capsize. + +COUTERS, thick mucous secretion. + +COUTHIE, in rude comfort. + +COWER, to bend down. + +COWES, bushes, more particularly of the broom. + +COWSHERNE, cow-dung. + +CRAFT, croft or field. + +CRONE, hag, old woman. + +CROUSELY, proudly. + +"CRUMMIE," a term for cows with usually crooked horns. + +CRUNE, a murmuring sound, sometimes threatening. + +CRUPPEN, contracted. + + +D + + DEAD-BELI } + } + DEDE-CHACK } + } + DEDE-DRAP } + } + DEID-LICHT } See text, pages 210 to 213. + } + DEDE-NIP } + } + DEDE-SPALL } + } + DEDE-SPEAL } + } + DEAD-WATCH } + +DEIL'S MILK, milky sap. + +DEMPSTER, judge. + +DEERAY, disorder. + +DIVINATION, conjuration. + +DOME, doom. + +DONNERT, stupid. + +DOOR (DOUR) here used (page 59) in the sense of sour or astringent. + +DRABBLED, slobbered. + +DRUBBING, thrashing. + +DRUGGET, coarse woollen cloth. + +DRUMLIE, thick. + +DWINED, pined away or wasted. + + +E + +EEN, eyes. + +"EFFIGIES CLERICORUM," a mock poem on the clergie when they met to consult +about taking the Test in the year 1681 (printed A.D. MDCXVII.). + +ELFIN, fairy. + +ESHEITE, forfeited. + + +F + +FALD, fold. + +FARINTOSH, whisky. + +FASH, trouble. + +FEARIE, used here (page 203) in the sense of fearless. + +FEAT, tidy. + +FEATS, clever doings. + +FECKET, under-jacket. + +FEN, to strive hard for the means of livelihood. + +FEY, a small field or croft. + +FIENT, no one at all. + +FIRSLE, to rustle. + +FLEYED, frightened. + +FLUTTERBAWS, puff-balls (see blinmens' baws). + +FOGGY, mossy. + +FORFOCHTEN, exhausted. + +FOWK, people. + +FRENZIET, eccentric, mad. + +FUMART, pole-cat. + + +G + +GALL, bile. + +GARS, makes or compels. + +GAUR, to compel. + +GELLOCKS, earwigs. + +GIRN, girning, whining, or fretting. + +GLAMOUR, bewitchment. + +GLED, kite. + +GLENTED, sparkled, gleamed. + +GLOWER, to gaze intently. + +GOWAN, mountain daisy. + +GOWK'S SPITTLES, plant froth (discharged by an insect, Cicada). + +GREETS, cries or weeps. + +GRINWAN, a noose of horse-hair attached to a stick or rod. + +GRUN, ground, referring to the grinding of grain. + +GYRE-CARLINE, a mother-witch. + + +H + +HAED, possessed. + +"HAGGERT WEE GRANUM," a rather ragged small old woman. + +HAG-RIDDEN, bewitched (_lit._, ridden by a witch). + +HALD, hall. + +HALE, well, in good health. + +HALLOW-EVE, the night before All-Hallow. + +HALVE, a hand-fishing net on a wooden frame. + +HANNIE, suitable, a fitting time. + +HANTLE, much. + +HAURNED, roasted. + +HAURPAN, brain-pan or skull. + +HAWCKET, probably finely chopped. + +HAWS, fruit of the hawthorn. + +HEREZELD, the best beast on the land, given to the landlord on the death +of a farm tenant. + +HERIOT, the fine exacted by the superior on the death of a tenant. + +HERRIE, confiscate. + +HEUGH, a small height or eminence. + +HIP O', shoulder or edge of. + +HINNIE-SUCKLES, honeysuckle. + +HOOSE-RIGGIN', roof. + +HOOVES, abdomen, (_lit._, swollen by gaseous distension). + +HOWE, depth. + +HOUK, to dig up. + +HOWLET, an owl. + +HOWS, house. + +HYNT, caught up. + + +I + +ILK, the same name. + +ILL E'E, evil eye. + + +J + +JIMP, neat and slender. + +JOW, ringing of a bell. + + +K + +KAIN, rent or exchange in kind. + +"KELLY," Satan, Old Nick. + +KEP SKAITH, avert evil. + +KEPPIT, caught. + +KILTED, tucked up. + +KIMMER, witch-wife or "gossip." + +KNAG, keg, or wooden vessel. + +"KNOCK THE BIG," to hull the barley. + +KOW, a goblin. + +KYE, cows or oxen. + + +L + +LAIR, quagmire, to entice into a quagmire. + +LAMMASTIDE, August, beginning of. + +LAVE, remainder. + +LIFT, vault of the heavens. + +LINGLE, leather-thong. + +LOCHEN, small loch or tarn. + +LOOFIE, fingerless glove. + +LOUPES, jumps. + +LOURING, lowering of clouds. + +LOUTHE, abundance. + +LOWNE, silent, still. + +LOWSE, loosen. + +LUGS, ears. + + +M + +MALEFICES, offences. + +MALISON, prognostication for evil. + +MART, a fattened ox (killed at Martinmas for winter use). + +MAUN, must. + +MAUT, meal. + +MEAL-ARK, meal chest. + +MEALL, male. + +MEIKLE, much. + +MEIL, meal. + +METTLE, with spirit. + +"MILKED THE TETHER," extracted the milk by witchcraft through the halter. + +MINNIE, mother. + +MOOLS, earth or soil. + +MORT-CLOTH, funeral pall. + +MOU', mouth. + +MUIR-ILL, a disease specially affecting black cattle. + + +N + +NAIG, riding-horse or nag. + +NAPPLE-ROOTS, heath peas. + +NEERS, kidneys. + +NEIST, nearest or next. + +NETTLE-STINGERS, nettle leaves. + +NIEVE, hand or fist. + +NOB, nose, also boat's prow. + +NOOL-SHEARINGS, horn parings. + +NOWT, oxen (a corrupt form is noat). + + +O + +O'ERSWAK, sound of breakers. + +ONSTEAD, home or farm-steading. + + +P + +PADDOCK, a frog. + +PAWKY, shrewd and crafty. + +PAWT, movement of foot, kick. + +PHILIBEG, a pouch worn in front of a kilt. + +PICKLE, small quantity. + +PIG, an earthenware vessel. + +PINGLE, a small pan. + +PIRN, a reel. + +PIZION, poison. + +PLOTCOCK, the Devil. + +POULDER, gun-powder. + +POYNTIS, points. + +POW, head or skull. + +PREENS, pins. + +PUDDOCKS (YELLOW), here (page 58) probably the toad-stool fungus. + +PYCKERING, pilfering. + +PYET, magpie. + +PYKED, picked. + + +Q + +QUARTER-ILL, a disease of cattle affecting one limb or quarter only. + +QUEEN (QUEAN), girl, damsel. + + +R + +RASPS, raspberries. + +"RAVE THE THACK," tear the thatch. + +REAMIN, full to overflowing. + +REDE, wild. + +REDE, counsel. + +REID, red. + +REMEID, remedy. + +RIDDLE, sieve. + +RIDDLE-TURNING, divination by means of a riddle balanced on the points of +scissors. + +RINNEN DOON (DARN), a disease of cattle with diarrhoea present. + +RIPPISH, cleanly. + +RESSET, receive. + +ROSSEN, clump of thorns. + +ROUTH, abundance. + +ROWANS, mountain-ash berries. + +RUE, regret. + +RYDAND, riding. + +RYE-BOWT (RYBAT), hewn stone. + + +S + +SAIN, to make the sign of the cross. + +SALL, shall. + +SAMIN, same. + +SARK, shirt or chemise. + +SAUGH, willow. + +SAWNS, sands. + +SCAITH, injury. + +SCAUM, thin mist. + +SCARROW (SCARRIE), stony incline. + +SCLATER, wood-louse. + +SCRUNKED, dried (_lit._, shrunk). + +SEGG, yellow iris plant. + +SHEIP, sheep. + +SHEARINGS, clippings or parings. + +SHIELING, a shepherd's hut. + +SHILPED (SHILPIT), puny and shrunken. + +"SICH AND GREIN," sigh and regret. + +SIDE-ILL, a disease of cattle named from the situation of the disease. + +SIEW, sieve. + +SINDRIE, sundry. + +SKAITH, injury. + +SKELLET, dead-bell. + +SKIMES, side-glances. + +SKIRL, a shrill cry. + +SLADE, glided. + +SLAVERIN', saliva running down. + +SLOCKENED, quenched, _i.e._, put out. + +SLUDGE, miry-mud. + +SMOORED, smothered. + +SORNING, exacting free board and lodging. + +SOUGH, moaning as of wind. + +SOWENS, a dish made by steeping, fermenting, and then boiling the husks or +siftings of oats in water. + +SPANGS, leaps or bounds. + +SPATTER'D, dropped. + +SPENCE, country parlour. + +SPURTLE, porridge-stick. + +STANCE, stand. + +STARNIES, stars. + +STAVERING, sauntering. + +STICK AND STOWRE, completely. + +STRAUGHTED, straightened in preparation for burial. + +STRICKEN HOUR, a full hour. + +STUE, stew or concoction. + +SUGHS, moaning of the wind. + +SWARFED, swooned. + +SWEIR, reluctant. + +SWITCHING, threshing with a thin stick or switch. + +SYNE, afterwards. + + +T + +TADE, toad. + +TAIL-ILL, a disease of animals affecting the tail. + +"TAK' THE GAIT," peremptory dismissal. + +TAIN ALOWE, caught fire. + +TAPPIN, the crest of a hill. + +TATE, spot (_lit._, a small lock of hair). + +THACKLESS, roofless. + +THIGGING, begging. + +THRAW, a twist. + +THREID, thread. + +THRISSLES, thistles. + +TIRLED, rattled at the door. + +TOD, a fox. + +TOOM, empty. + +TOUK OF DRUM, sound of drum. + +TREDDED, trodden. + +TRYSTED, made an appointment with. + + +U + +UNCA, unusually. + +UNCHANCY, ill-omened. + +UNSONSY, ill-proportioned. + +UNYIRTHLY, unearthly. + + +V + +VAUNTY, inclined to be boastful. + +VACANS, holidays. + + +W + +WALPURGIS NIGHT, Eve of First of May, a night of witch revelry (see witch +Sabbath). + +WAUCHIE, clammy. + +WARBLES, a parasitic worm disease of cattle. + +WATER-ILL, a disease of the kidneys in cattle. + +WATTLES, wooden roof supports on which the thatch is placed. + +WHOMEL'D, turned round and round (_lit._, upset). + +WHORLED, wheeled or spun. + +WIGHT, man or fellow. + +WIND A CLEW, a witchcraft rite in which a reel of coloured thread is +wound. + +WINGLAN, walking feebly. + +WIRREIT, strangled. + +WIS, know. + +WITCH'S SABBATH, the gathering together of all the witches of Scotland on +the evening between the first Friday and Saturday of April. + +WITHRE-SHINES, contrarily (_lit._, against the sun's course). + +WONS, dwells. + +WYLIE, wily. + +WYME, belly. + +WYTE, blame. + + +Y + +YAIRD, yard or garden. + +YELL, barren, dry. + +YESTREEN, last night. + +YILL-BOAT, ale-barrel or brewing tub. + +YIRBS, herbs. + +YOWLED, howled. + +YULE, Christmas, also Hogmanay (December 31st). + +[Illustration] + + + + +INDEX. + + + A + + Abbey of Glenluce, 15, 61 + + Abbey of Holm-Cultram, 16 + + Abraham Crichton, Ghost of, 285 + + Abraham Crichton, Laying of ghost of, 287 + + Act against Witchcraft (1563), 66 + + Act for burying in Scots linen (1686), 220 + + Adder Beads, 55 + + Agnew, Sir Andrew, 245 + + Agnews of Galdenoch, 245 + + Aikieslak (Dalbeattie), 274 + + Aikendrum, 191 + + Alloway Kirk, 17 + + Annan River, 290 + + Auchabrick House (ghost legend), 250 + + Auchencairn, 300 + + Auchenmalg Barracks, 257 + + Auchensheen (Colvend), 185 + + Auchenstroan (Glencairn), 283 + + + B + + Ballad--Prisoner of Spedlins, 291 + + Balmaghie, 46 + + Bard of Corrie, 213 + + "Bards of Galloway," 166 + + Barnamon (Stoneykirk), 37 + + Barncorkerie, 154 + + Barr, 13 + + Beadle (Sexton), 241 + + Bee Folklore, 218 + + Bell of St. Ninian (Clog Rinny), 243 + + Bellknowe of Penninghame, 243 + + Bengairn, 172 + + Bess o' Borgue, 17 + + Birns, 47 + + Bishop's Castle (Kirkmaiden), 154 + + Bishopton Crofts (Whithorn), 254 + + Blackaddie (Sanquhar), 51 + + Black Art, 10, 16 + + "Black Clud's Wyme," 16 + + Black Esk, 296 + + Blackett Tower (legend of spectre), 294 + + Bladnoch, 64 + + Blew Spot, 213 + + Blink o' an ill e'e, 26 + + "Bloody Bell," 295 + + "Bloody Passage" (Drumlanrig), 282 + + "Bluidy Brae," 73 + + Bodsbeck Ha', 188 + + Bogha (Balmaclellan), 72 + + Bogle-Hole (Dalry), 267 + + Bonshaw Tower, 294 + + "Book of Galloway," 62 + + Bower, Walter, Abbot of Inchcolm, 277 + + Boyd, Rev. Mr (Dalry, 1690), 34 + + Breath-blasting, 182 + + Brig o' Ken, 18 + + Brishie (Minnigaff), 185 + + "Brocken" of Dumfries and Galloway, 7 + + Brocklock Burn, 42 + + Brownie, The, 186 + + Brownie o' Blednoch, 149, 191 + + Brownie of Newabbey, 190 + + Buckland Burn, 270 + + Buckland Glen, Ghost of, 269 + + Buittle, 301 + + Burial without Coffins, 237 + + Burnfoot, 45 + + Burnes, William (father of Poet), funeral of, 234 + + + C + + Caerlaverock Castle, 2, 10, 277 + + Cairn, 283 + + Cairnmon (Stoneykirk), 37 + + Cantrip Incantations, 58 + + Cardoness Castle, 151 + + Cardrain, Ghost of, 251 + + Carlin's Cairn, 35 + + Carrick, 13 + + Carsphairn Parish (origin of), 55 + + Castle-Douglas, 63 + + Cassencarry, 262 + + Changelings, 182 + + Charles the Second, 36 + + Charms against Witchcraft, 54 + + Churchyard Superstitions, 239 + + Cere-cloth, 227 + + Clash, The (Kirkmaiden), 23 + + Claunch (Sorbie), 253 + + Clay Slap (Glenluce), 14 + + "Clog Rinny" (Bell of St. Ninian), 243 + + Closeburn, 49 + + Cocklick, 173 + + Coltran, Provost (Wigtown), Ghost of, 252 + + Comyn, John (murder of and ghostly legend), 276 + + Corbie, Janet, Sentence of, 80 + + Corrie (Dumfriesshire), 53 + + Craigdhu (Glasserton), 254 + + Craighlaw House (ghost legend), 257 + + Craik of Arbigland (family tragedy), 275 + + Crichton Family, 284 + + Crawick Mill, Witches of, 50 + + "Cromek's Remains," 10, 182 + + Cubbox (Balmaclellan), 72 + + Culloch, 173 + + Cumberland, 46 + + Cunningham, Allan, 9 + + + D + + Dalry, 34, 35, 57, 263 + + Dalry Kirk, 17 + + "Daemonologie," 67 + + Dead-bell, 212 + + Dead-bell (skellat), 241 + + Dead-days, 217 + + Dead-watch, 212 + + "Dear Meal Johnny," 213 + + Death Customs and Funeral Ceremony, 216 + + Dede-chack, 212 + + Dede-drap, 212 + + Dede-nip, 212 + + Dede-spall, 212 + + Dee, The, 47 + + Deid-lichts, 213 + + Derry's Howe (Kirkbean), 274 + + Devil's Grace, 62 + + Devil of Glenluce, 252 + + "Devil-Raiser of Urr," 106 + + Dinnans (Whithorn), 97 + + Douglas, Sir Wm., of Gelston, 62 + + Dream of the Abbot of Tungland, 16 + + Dribblings (Kirkmaiden), 24 + + "Droll Recollections of Whithorn" (Cannon), 165 + + Drumlane, 173 + + Drumlanrig Castle, 282 + + Drummore, 55 + + Drumrash, 269 + + Duncan, Henry, of Ruthwell, 235 + + Dunbars of Mochrum, 262 + + Dundrennan, 269 + + Dunnan Fort, 149 + + Dunreggan (Moniaive), 202 + + Dunskey Castle, 244 + + + E + + Edinburgh Bibliographical Society publications (note on Jean Maxwell), 99 + + "Effigies Clericorum," 142 + + Elf-cups, 55 + + Eliock, 284 + + Elspeth M'Ewen-- + Suspected of Witchcraft, 72 + Examined, 73 + Prison Expenses, 73 + Commission appointed for new trial, 74 + Execution at Silver Craigs, Kirkcudbright, 77 + Note of expenses of trial and execution, 78 + Executioner's petition, 80 + + Encoffining, or "kistin'," 219 + + Eskdalemuir Parish, 296 + + Eskdale Moor (funeral adventures), 223 + + + F + + Fairies and Brownies, 143 + + Fairies-- + Attitude towards mankind, 143 + Capriciousness of, 144 + Elf-shot wounds, 144 + Explanation of fairy and brownie belief, 148, 149 + "Fairy Rade," 176 + Fairy Park (Logan), 157 + Feasting and dancing, 143 + "Good neighbours," 144 + Kidnapping by, 145 + Pageants, 143 + Practices to counteract fairy influence, 146 + Unreality of fairy fabric, 147 + "Wee fouk," 144 + + Fairy-lore in Galloway and Dumfriesshire (from West to East)-- + Dunnan Fort, 149 + Kirkmaiden, 151 + Barncorkerie, 154 + Compass Stone (Port Logan), 156 + Ringuinea, 157 + Nick of the Balloch, 158 + Curghie Glen, 158 + Grennan, 158 + Kirkbride, 158 + Killumpha, 158 + Slock-an-a-gowre, 158 + Sorbie, 166 + Kirkinner, 166 + Longhill, 166 + Dalry District, 169 + Hazelfield (Auchencairn), 172 + Nick of Lochenkit, 172 + Dalbeattie, 172 + Edingham Loch, 172 + Long Wood (Lochanhead), 174 + Dumfriesshire-- + Caerlaverock, 180 + Auchencreath, 175 + Dalswinton, 183 + Closeburn, 182 + Drumlanrig, 183 + Sanquhar, 184 + Kirkconnel, 184 + Polveoch, 184 + Kello Water, 184 + Glen Aylmer, 184 + Glen Wharry, 184 + Bale Hill, 186 + Annandale, 184 + Lochmaben, 175 + Burnswark, 184 + Corrie, 185 + + Fin M'Coul, 43 + + "Fire Spangs of Faustus," 16 + + Funeral festivities ("Gallovidian Encyclopædia"), 232 + + Funeral refreshment (Draigie), 234 + + Funeral rites and customs, 236 + + Funeral "services," 225 + + + G + + Galdenoch Tower, 245 + + "Galloway Gossip," 166 + + Galloway Mansion near Castle-Douglas, Ghostly story of, 273 + + "Galloway Register," 26 + + "Galloway Traditions," 26 + + Galloway, Western, Traditions of, 22 + + Gap's Mill, Glencairn, 283 + + Garryhorn, 36 + + Gatehouse, 262 + + General Assembly (Condemnatory Acts), 68 + + "Gentle Shepherd" (extract from), 59 + + Ghost-lore and Haunted Houses, 244 + + Ghost Legends of the South-west of Scotland (arranged in their order, + from West to East)-- + Dunskey Castle, 244 + Galdenoch Tower, 245 + "Lodnagappal Plantin'," 248 + High Ardwell, 248 + Auchabrick House, 250 + Cardrain House, 251 + Tirally, 251 + Glenluce, 252 + Provost Coltran (Drummorall), 252 + Packman's Grave (Bladnoch), 253 + Claunch, Sorbie, 254 + Whithorn, 254 + Craigdhu, Glasserton, 255 + Church of Kirkmaiden, 256 + Auchenmalg Barracks, 257 + Craighlaw House, 257 + Machermore Castle, 258 + Creetown, 262 + Kirkdale Bridge, 263 + Glenlee, Dalry, 263 + Bogle-Hole, Dalry, 267 + Moor of Corsock, 267 + Buckland Glen, 269 + Ringcroft of Stocking, 272 + Mansion House near Castle-Douglas, 273 + Wood Forester's, Dalbeattie, 274 + Laird o' Coul's Ghost, 300, 344 + Kirkbean-- + Murder Fall, 274 + Derry's How, 274 + Farm-house, 274 + Howlet's Close, 275 + Three Cross Roads, 275 + Near Newabbey, 276 + Minorite Friary, Dumfries (1306) and Caerlaverock Castle, (1358), 276 + Solway legend of the passing of "Aul' Lag," 278 + Coach legend of passing of William Duke of Queensberry (Drumlanrig), + 281 + Drumlanrig Castle, 282 + Tynron Doon, 282 + Glencairn-- + Auchenstroan, 283 + Marwhirn, 283 + Pentoot, 283 + Gaps Mill, 283 + Nut Wood, 283 + Jarbruck Bridge, 283 + Kirkland Bridge, 283 + Sanquhar Castle, 283 + Littlemark, Sanquhar, 284 + Abraham Crichton's Ghost, 285 + Poldean, Wamphray, 287 + Spedlins Tower, 288 + Jardine Hall, 290 + Knockhill, 293 + Orchard, Hoddom, 294 + Bonshaw Tower, 294 + Blackett Tower, 294 + Kirkconnel Hall, 295 + Todshawhill, 296 + Lowland Manor House, 298 + + Gilchristland, 50 + + Gilroanie, 270 + + "Girzie M'Clegg," 17 + + Glasserton, 165, 215 + + Glencairn, 283 + + "Glencairn Kate," 17 + + Glencaple Quay, 199 + + Glenkens, 19 + + Glenkens, twenty years' holidaying in (Blacklock), 265 + + Glenlee House (ghost narrative), 263 + + Glenluce, 13, 14 + + Greenmill (Caerlaverock), 209 + + Grennan, The, 25 + + Grierson, John, of Lag (funeral expenses of), 227 + + Grierson of Lag, Sir Robert (funeral expenses of), 229 + + Grierson of Lag, Sir Robert (funeral legend), 230 + + Grierson of Lag (Solway legend of his "passing"), 278 + + Grose's "Antiquities of Scotland," 289 + + "Gyre Carline," 8 + + + H + + Hallowmass, 2 + + Hallowmass Rade, 3 + + Hannayston, Witch of, 17 + + Harper's "Rambles in Galloway," 17 + + Hay of Park, 60 + + Heron, Robert (Journey through Western Scotland), 54 + + High Ardwall (white woman apparition), 248 + + Holm Glen (Dalry), 275 + + Howlet's Close (Kirkbean), 275 + + "Hydrostatics," Sinclair's, 300 + + + I + + "Il Penseroso" (extract from), 186 + + Inshanks Moor, 29 + + Irvings of Hoddom, 293 + + + J + + James VI. of Scotland, 67 + + Jarbruck, 283 + + Jardine's of Applegarth, 289 + + Jardine Hall, 290 + + "Jean o' the Howff" (Rerwick), 45 + + "Jock o' the Horn," 182 + + + K + + Kain Bairns, 7 + + "Keekafar" (Kirkmaiden), 155 + + Kells, 35 + + Kells Rhynns, 36 + + Keltonhill, 40 + + Kenmure (Stoneykirk), 157 + + Kenmure Castle (Dalry), 269 + + Killymingan (Kirkgunzeon), 105 + + Killumpha Farm (Kirkmaiden), 204 + + Kilmeny (Jas. Hogg), 146 + + Kincaid, John (Witch-pricker), 70 + + King's Croft of Stocking, 63 + + Kirkdale Bridge, Ghost of, 263 + + Kirkdale House, 262 + + Kirkmaiden, 22, 29, 151 + + Kirkmaiden Church, 30 + + Kirkmaiden, Legend of, 256 + + Kirkmaiden Witches, 29, 32, 98 + + Kirk-session (Borgue) examination for alleged fairycraft, 159 + + Kirkpatricks of Closeburn, 214, 227, 231, 284 + + Kirkpatrick, Roger, 277 + + Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Charles, 288 + + Kirkwaugh (Bladnoch), pedlar's ghost at, 253 + + Kippford, 274 + + Kirkennan Woods (Dalbeattie), 199 + + Kirkland Bridge (Glencairn), 283 + + Knockhill Mansion (tragedy at), 293 + + Knocknishy (Whithorn), 185 + + Knocksheen (Dalry), 17 + + + L + + Lady Ashburton, 267 + + Laird o' Coul's Ghost, 344 + + Langhill Fairy, The, 166 + + Lapps or Finns, 149 + + Latewake, 223 + + Law's Memorials, 287 + + "Lay of the last Minstrel" (extract from), 16 + + Liethin Hall, 187 + + Leswalt, 245 + + Levitical Law, 68 + + Library of Michael Scott (list of works), 16 + + Lichts before death, 209 + + Lindsay, James (Caerlaverock tragedy), 277 + + Little Cocklick (Urr), 101 + + Littlemark Farm, Sanquhar, Ghostly appearance at, 284 + + Locharbriggs Hill, 3 + + Lochar Moss, 8 + + Loch Doon, 36 + + "Lodnagappal Plantin," Apparitions at, 248 + + Logan, 24, 25 + + Logan Mill, 31 + + Lord Crichton (6th), 284 + + Lord Glenlee, 263 + + Lords of Sanquhar, 284 + + Lord Stormonth, 227 + + Lotus Hill (Kirkgunzeon), 173 + + Loup o' the Grennan, 151 + + Low Curghie (Kirkmaiden), 24 + + Luce, 13, 15 + + Luce Bay, 215 + + Lykewake, 223 + + + M + + Machars of Galloway, 33 + + Machermore Castle, Legend of, 258 + + Maggie's gate to Gallowa', 13 + + Mainsriddel, 274 + + "Maggie o' the Moss," 6, 17, 21 + + "Mak' Siccar" (tragedy, Dumfries), 278 + + Manor House in Lowlands (story of apparition), 298 + + Manxman's Lake, 270 + + March Moon, 55 + + Marshall, Rev. Mr (Kirkmaiden), 97, 248 + + Marwhirn, 283 + + Millar, Mary (alleged witch), 74 + + Mary Queen of Scotland (Act against witchcraft), 66 + + Master of Logan (Allan Cunningham), 19 + + Maxwell of Carriel (Carzield), 227 + + Maxwell of Dalswinton, 188 + + Maxwells of Monreith (successors to M'Cullochs), 214 + + Maxwell, Thomas (Laird of Coul), 301 + + Maxwell, Jean, trial of (for pretended witchcraft), 98 + + Maxwell, Jean (copy of title page of publication of trial), 110 + + Meg Elson (Kirkmaiden witch), 32 + + Meg Elson's Elegy, 32 + + Meg Macmuldroch (Galloway witch), 62 + + Melrose Abbey, 16 + + Michael Scott of Balwearie, 15 + + Mochrum Parish (extravagant funeral expenditure), 226 + + Moffat Churchyard, 213 + + Monkland Shore, 44 + + Monreith House, 161 + + Moor of Corsock (ghost of headless piper), 267 + + Moor of the Genoch, 248 + + Moor Kirk of Luce, 13 + + Mort-cloth (use of), 239 + + Mountsallie (Rhinns), Witchcraft at, 57 + + Muirhead, Dr James, 107 + + Mull of Galloway, 149 + + Murder Fall (Kirkbean), 274 + + Myrton Mound (fairy legend), 161 + + M'Cullochs of Myrton, 214 + + M'Culloch, Sir Godfrey, 151 + + M'Millan Cup, 195 + + M'Milligan of Dalgarnock, 283 + + + N + + "Necromancy," 16 + + Newabbey, Witchcraft at, 10 + + Newabbey (ghost of lady in white), 276 + + Nicholas Grier (witch of Hannayston), 17 + + Nick o' the Balloch, 13 + + "Nithsdale Minstrel" (poetical collection), 34 + + Nith, 51, 189 + + Nut Wood, Maxwelton (Moniaive), 283 + + Nicholson, Wm., poet (fairycraft examination, recollection by his + mother), 159 + + + O + + "Old Church life in Scotland" (Edgar), 237 + + Old Hall at Ecclefechan, Ghost at, 295 + + Old House of Park, 61 + + Old John Orr (Carlyle reminiscence), 293 + + Old Meg of Twynholm (reputed witch), 43 + + Old Red Cap (ghost of Blackett Tower), 294 + + Old Turnpike House, Dumfries, 231 + + Orchard, Hoddom (laying of ghost), 294 + + Osborne, "Maggie" (Wigtownshire witch), 11 + + + P + + Packman's Grave (Bladnoch), 258 + + Palmallet (Whithorn), 96 + + Palnackie, 199 + + "Passing Bell" (custom of ringing), 241 + + Passing Bell (reference in "Book of Galloway"), 243 + + Patiesthorn, Legend of, 269 + + "Pawky Auld Kimmer," 65 + + Pentoot (Glencairn), 283 + + "Philosophy of the Devil," 16 + + Picts, 148, 149 + + Poldean, Wamphray (ghost reference), 287 + + Portankill (fairy haunt), 149 + + Porteous, ghost of, at Spedlins Tower, 289 + + Portencockerie Bay (fairy haunt), 156 + + Port Logan, 31, 156 + + Portpatrick, Legend of, 245 + + Port-William, 254 + + Presbytery of Penpont (warning regarding burial festivity abuse), 234 + + Prestonmill, 274 + + "Pricking" of Witches, 70 + + "Prince of Darkness" (and witch revelry), 8 + + Privy Council Commissions (to try cases of witchcraft), 71 + + + R + + Rab's Howff (Rerwick), 45 + + Ray's Itinerary (Dumfries), 242 + + Red Comyn, 277 + + Rerwick, 44 + + Rerwick Apparition, 272, 321 + + Rhinns, 25 + + Rhonehouse, 40 + + "Riddling in the Reek," 166 + + "Ridden post by a witch," 5 + + Ringdoo Point, 15 + + Ringcroft of Stocking, 272 + + Ringcroft of Stocking, site of, 300 + + Robert the Bruce, 36 + + "Robin Goodfellow," 186 + + Roodmas, 176 + + Rotten Row (Whithorn), 33 + + + S + + Sanquhar, 50 + + Sanquhar Castle (ghostly legends), 283 + + Sanquhar, History of (Simpson), 184, 285 + + Sanquhar Kirkyard, 240 + + "Satan's Almanac," 16 + + "Satan's Invisible World," 300 + + Scots Money, 227 + + Shaws of Craigenbay and Craigend, 35 + + Shawn (Stoneykirk), 185 + + Shennaton (Bladnoch), 64 + + Shinnel Water, 283 + + Shirmers, 269 + + Sin-eating, 218 + + Sir Chesney Shaw, 35 + + Sir Walter Scott, 16, 244 + + Slip Coffins, 237 + + Solway Firth, 8 + + "Soothsayers' Creed," 16 + + Spell-casting, 60 + + Spedlins Tower, Ghost of, 288 + + Spedlins Tower Bible, 291 + + St. Ninian, 39 + + Stake Moss, Sanquhar, 239 + + State and Church (action against witchcraft), 22 + + Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, 151 + + Stoneykirk, 36, 248 + + Suicides, Burial of, 239 + + Surprising Story of the Devil of Glenluce, 299, 302 + + Sweetheart Abbey, 2, 10 + + + T + + Tam o' Shanter, 6, 17 + + Telfair, Alexander (Minister of Rerwick), 272 + + Three Cross Roads (Kirkbean), 275 + + Tirally (Kirkmaiden), 56 + + Tirally, Ghost at, 251 + + Todshawhill, Bogle of, 296 + + Tolbooth of Kirkcudbright, 108 + + Tongland, 16 + + Tower of Craigend, 35 + + Traditional Witchcraft described, 1 + + Train, Joseph (account of funeral superstitions), 236 + + True account of an apparition in Ringcroft, parish of Rerwick, 299, 321 + + Tynron, 49 + + Tynron Doon, Spectre of, 282 + + + U + + "Unique Traditions of the West and South of Scotland" (Barbour), 35 + + Upper Nithsdale, 50 + + + W + + "Warlock Feckets," 55 + + "Walpurgis" (witch festivals), 8 + + Warnings, accounts of from-- + Caerlaverock, 209 + Closeburn, 214 + Corrie, 2 + Craigdarroch, 214 + Dumfries, 213 + Glencairn, 210 + Kirkmaiden (in Fernes), 214 + Moniaive, 208 + Tynron, 209 + + Waterside Hill (Dalry), 19 + + Water of Urr, 207 + + "Waulking" the dead, 219 + + Walter de Curry, 244 + + Well of the Co' (Kirkmaiden), 150 + + White Loch of Myrton, 161 + + Whithorn, Old Manse, 254 + + Whinnieliggate, 40 + + Whithorn (similar legend to Tam o' Shanter), 33 + + White Lady of Machermore, 258 + + "Witch Cake," 9 + + "Witch Chronicle, The," 16 + + Witches Gathering, 3 + + Witch Marks, 8, 70 + + Witch Narrative, 21 + + Witch Narrative (Southern Kirkcudbrightshire), 40 + + Witches Sabbath, 7 + + Witches' Stairs (Crawick), 50 + + Witches' Rocks (Portpatrick), 36 + + William, Duke of Queensberry (legend of ghostly coach), 281 + + Witchcraft, proceedings against, in Galloway-- + Kirkcudbright (Presbytery, 1662), 72 + Kirkcudbright, 1671, 72 + Dalry (Kirk-session, 1696), 72 + Dalry (Kirk-session, 1697), 73 + Kirkcudbright, 1698, 74 + Kirkcudbright, 1698, 80 + Kirkcudbright, 1701, 82, 86, 87 + Twynholm, 1703, 87 + Urr (parish of) 1656, 91 + Kirkpatrick-Durham (parish of), 92 + Carsphairn (parish of), 93 + Minnigaff (parish of), 93 + New Luce (parish of), 96 + Whithorn (parish of), 96 + Kirkmaiden (parish of), 97 + Kirkcudbright, 1805, 97 + Maxwell, Jean, trial of (pretended witchcraft), 98 + + Dumfriesshire (proceedings in)-- + Burgh of Dumfries, 1657, 111 + Kirk-Session of Dumfries, 1658, 111 + Dumfries (official information regarding the judicial burning of + nine women), 112 + Dumfries (attendance of clergy at the burning), 115 + Dumfries (resolution against Janet Burnes, alleged witch), 115 + Dumfries (warrant of execution against two alleged witches), 116 + Dumfries (last trial for witchcraft in Scotland, Elspeth Rule), 117 + Dumfries (Presbytery of--Southern district), 118 + Caerlaverock, Kirk-session records, 118 + Irongray, Kirk-session records, 120 + Irongray Parish (traditional account of witch punishment), 122 + Closeburn Parish, 124 + Penpont Presbytery, 131 + Glencairn Kirk-session records, 132 + Glencairn, Case of Alexander Deuart, 133 + Durisdeer, 138 + Torthorwald, 140 + + Wood Foresters', Dalbeattie (scene of murder and ghost appearance), 273 + + Warnings, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212 + + Wraiths-- + Seen at Balgreggan House, 205 + " Buittle, 199 + " Dalbeattie, 205 + " Glencairn, 201 + " Kirkmaiden, 204 + " Moniaive, 202 + + Wraiths (account of from "Gallovidian Encyclopædia"), 202 + + Wylliehole, Witch of, 53 + + + Y + + Yule, 278 + + Yule Candles, 219 + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The Well of the Co', Kirkmaiden, once much celebrated for the healing +and medicinal properties of its waters. + +[2] These berries make excellent preserves. + +[3] Heather after being burned. + +[4] "Confessions of Isobell Goudie." + +[5] Dwining. + +[6] Shall be. + +[7] Stubble. + +[8] Kiln. + +[9] Sighing. + +[10] A famous haunt of witches in the parish of Rerwick. + +[11] Extract from King James's _Daemonologie concerning Sorcery and +Witchcraft_ (1597):-- + +"The persons that give themselves to witchcraft are of two sorts, rich and +of better accompt, poore and of baser degree. These two degrees answere to +the passions in them, which the divell uses as means to entice them to his +service: for such of them as are in great miserie and povertie, he allures +to follow him, by promising unto them great riches and worldly commoditie. +Such as though rich, yet burne in a desperate desire of revenge, he +allures them by promises to get their turne satisfied to their heart's +contentment." + +[12] "The witch mark is sometimes like a blewspot, or a little tate, or +reid spots, like flea-biting; sometimes also the flesh is sunk in, and +hallow, and this is put in secret places, as among the hair of the head, +or eyebrows, within the lips, under the armpits, _et sic de ceteris_." Mr +Robert, minister at Aberfoill, in his _Secret Commonwealth_, describes the +witch's mark--"A spot that I have seen as a small mole, horny, and +brown-coloured; through which mark, when a large brass pin was thrust +(both in buttock, nose, and rooff of the mouth) till it bowed and became +crooked, the witches, both men and women nather felt a pain nor did bleed, +nor knew the precise time when this was being done to them (their eyes +only being covered)."--_Law's "Memorials," ed. by C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe._ + +[13] The extreme penalty took two forms. The condemned were either in the +first place strangled or, to use an old expression, "wirreit" and then +burned; or, worse still, they were straightway burned quick (alive). + +[14] Thessr = Treasurer. + +[15] Printed in Dumfries by his brother, Robert Rae, 1718. + +[16] _The Parish of Glencairn_, Rev. John Monteith. + +[17] Coshogle mansion-house or keep, belonging to the Douglases, was +situated on the hill overhanging the Enterkine burn, above the farm-house +of the same name. A marriage stone, built into a cottage wall, is all that +remains of the structure. + +[18] Sir James Douglas of Parkhead, styled Lord Torthorwald as having +married the heiress of that barony, was afterwards run through the body on +the High Street of Edinburgh by a nephew of Captain James Stewart, and +died without uttering one word. On clearing away the rubbish, which till +lately covered the pavement of the Chapel at Holyrood House, his tombstone +was found, with this mutilated inscription:--"Heir lyes ane nobil and +potent Lord James Douglas--and Cairlell and Torthorall wha mariet Daime +Elizabeth Cairlell, air and heretrix yr. of, wha was slaine in Edinburgh +ye 14 day of July, in ye yeir God 1608."--_Law's Memories._ + +[19] Another theory associates the fairies with the dwarfish Lapps or +Finns who, driven out of their own country, settled in the outlying +districts of Scotland. + +[20] The mother of William Nicholson the poet, a native of Borgue, where +her family had long been settled, and a woman of great intelligence, often +told that in her day there lived a man belonging to Borgue parish whose +mother and grandmother had been examined before the Kirk-Session regarding +his having been carried away by the fairies. + +[21] "Brownie" here synonymus with "Fairy." + +[22] Langhill (now Longhill), adjacent to the Rispain Roman Camp, about a +mile from Whithorn on the Glasserton Road. + +[23] Roodmass: The festival of the finding of the Holy Cross (May 3rd). + +[24] "When the mother's vigilance hinders the fairies from carrying her +child away, or changing it, the touch of fairy hands and their unearthly +breath make it wither away in every limb and lineament like a blighted ear +of corn, saving the countenance, which unchangeably retains the sacred +stamp of divinity. The way to cure a breath-blasted child is worthy of +notice. The child is undressed and laid out in unbleached linen new from +the loom. Water is brought from a blessed well, in the utmost silence, +before sunrise, in a pitcher never before wet; in which the child is +washed, and its clothes dipped by the fingers of a maiden. Its limbs, on +the third morning's experiment, plump up, and all its former vigour +returns."--_Allan Cunningham, in "Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and +Galloway Song."_ + +[25] The leaden figure of a man connected with a cascade, once a prominent +feature of the gardens. + +[26] Simpson's _History of Sanquhar_. + +[27] The "Brownie" of Scotland corresponds with the "Robin Goodfellow" of +England. + + "Tells how the drudging goblin sweat + To earn his cream bowl duly set, + When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, + His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn + That ten day labourers could not end; + Then lies him down the lubber fiend, + And, stretched out all the chimney's length, + Basks at the fire his hairy strength, + And crop-full out of door he flings + Ere the first cock his matin rings." + --_Il Penseroso_ + +[28] A communion cup, belonging to M'Millan, the well-known ousted +minister of Balmaghie, and founder of a variety of the species +_Covenanter_. This cup was treasured by a zealous disciple in the parish +of Kirkcowan, and long used as a test by which to ascertain the orthodoxy +of suspected persons. If, on taking the precious relic into his hand, the +person trembled, or gave other symptoms of agitation, he was denounced as +having bowed the knee to Baal, and sacrificed at the altar of idolatry; +and it required, through his future life, no common exertion in the good +cause, to efface the stigma thus fixed upon him.--_Note to original +edition._ + +[29] Several striking examples of wraith appearance may be found in +Wilson's _Folk-lore of Uppermost Nithsdale_ (1904). + +[30] A wonderfully graphic account of a manifestation of "deid lichts" to +a Dumfries lady occurs in the _Dumfries and Galloway Monthly Magazine_, +1822, p. 169. + +[31] The dog. + +[32] + + "Open lock, end strife, + Come death and pass life." + --"Meg Merrilees" in _Guy Mannering_. + +[33] There seems to have been some variation in this usage. On the +Borders, for example, the door was usually left wide open. (See +Preparatory Note to "Young Bengie," _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_.) + +[34] Bearing upon this last statement of Mr Dudgeon's, the writer has been +told of a comparatively recent instance in the parish of Anwoth. + +[35] "In the second session of the first Parliament of James VII., held at +Edinburgh, 1686, an Act was passed called the 'Act for Burying in Scots +Linen,' in which it was ordained, for the encouragement of the linen +manufactures within the kingdom, that no person whatsoever, of high or low +degree, should be buried in any shirt, sheet, or anything else, except in +plain linen or cloth, of Hards made and spun within the kingdom, and +without lace or point. There was specially prohibited the use of Holland, +or other linen cloth made in other kingdoms: and of silk, woollen, gold, +or silver, or any other stuff than what was made of Hards spun and wrought +within the kingdom, under the penalty of 300 pounds Scots for a nobleman, +and 200 pounds for every other person for each offence. One-half of this +penalty was to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of the +parish of where the body should be interred. And, for the better discovery +of contraveners, it was ordained that every minister within the kingdom +should keep an account and register of all persons buried in his parish. A +certificate upon oath, in writing, duly attested by two "famous" persons, +was to be delivered by one of the relatives to the minister within eight +days, declaring that the deceased person had been shrouded in the manner +prescribed; which certificate was to be recorded without charge. The +penalty was to be sued for by the minister before any judge competent; and +if he should prove negligent in pursuing the contraveners within six +months after the interment, he himself was liable for the said +fine."--_Life and Times of Rev. John Wightman, D.D., of Kirkmahoe._ + +[36] Scots money, equal to one-twelfth value of our present currency, +abandoned after 1760. + +[37] Cere-cloth--a cloth smeared with wax, put upon the body after a +modified embalming, only used, on account of its expense, by the rich. + +[38] "An old antiquarian friend, long since dead, told me that Sir Robert +had grown so corpulent in his latter days that his body could not be +decently carried down the winding stair for burial; and that accordingly a +portion of the wall between the two windows looking on to the Plainstones +had to be temporarily removed, and that through the wide vacancy thus +created the coffin was lowered down. My informant, who was old enough to +remember all about the taking down of the lodging in 1826, added that the +appearance of the wall between the windows justified the +tradition."--Letter from Wm. M'Dowall, Esq., author of the _History of +Dumfries_, to Lieut.-Col. Alexander Fergusson, author of the _Laird of +Lag_. + +[39] A corrupt form of the Latin "dirige," from a Catholic chant for the +dead. + +[40] A commonly used term for the dead bell is "skellat." + +[41] The bell here referred to was the old bell of St. Ninian, the "Clog +Rinny" or bell of Saint Ninian, made of malleable iron coated with bronze, +and which only measured 6-1/2 inches in height. It is mentioned in the +accounts of James IV.: "March 17, 1506, in Penyghame to ane man that bure +Saint Ninian's bell IX._s._" It was in existence at old Penninghame in +1684 when Symson wrote, one hundred and seventy years after. It is +described and illustrated in Wilsons' _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_ +(1857). + +[42] Curiously enough, a few years ago, workmen engaged in the Portpatrick +water and drainage scheme stumbled upon a large cavernous space at the +very place where the reputed sounds of the ghostly pipe music were heard. + +[43] Lodnagappal (Celtic): The swamp of the horses. + +[44] Patiesthorn, situated at the north end of Parton Mill, overlooking +Drumrash and Skirmers and the Ken below Kenmure Castle. There is no house +now--only Patiesthorn Wood. + +[45] Captain John Garmory of the _Bardsea_, lost afterwards with all hands +on the passage from Liverpool to the Water of Urr. + +[46] Walter Bower, or Bowmaker, Abbot of Inchcolm. + +[47] The account of these wonderful happenings was published in the form +of a chapbook, and obtained a large circulation. + +[48] The first appearance that Coul made was to Dr Menzies' servant at a +time he was watering his master's horse. At some subsequent appearance, +while the lad was upon the same business, whether Coul had done him any +real harm, or that the lad had fallen from his horse through fear and +contusion, is uncertain, but so it was that the lad was found dead on the +road. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in +the South-Western District of Scotland, by J. Maxwell Wood + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43966 *** |