P R E F A C E

In the following page s the endeavour has been to fasten the

o f f f picture, as the photographers say, the old amiliar aces that — have come and gone to most o f us alas that it should be so

o f . like the shadows yesterday Much, very much, is the echo o f the loving voices hushed fo r ever in the silent land ; but so far as it was possible the facts have been carefully verified by

the Burgh and other M S . Records, so as to make themno

f o f mere ancy sketches, but a mirror, however dim, the past .

G . G .

N S R TH E R Isl (muar A T U , / y,

CO N T E N T S .

f Matthew Forster Conolly or, A Busy Li e,

w o f Joseph Bo man or, The H orrors an Arctic Winter,

i of d John Ramsay or, The Eccentric M ser Cellar yke,

r of The Sto y the Anstruther Sailor, Andrew Waid, h f o . The Fis er Poet St Monans,

David Barclay, the Gravedigger,

of —A The Rich Beggar Crail True Story, f e Colin Fowler ; or, Li e in Pittenwe m a Hundred Years

Ago,

S ir Harry Erskine,

of Robert Wilson or, Anecdotes the Anstruther Pulpit, M . P . Captain Stewart, or, How the Seat was Lost and

Won by the Porteous Mob, — Electioneering in the Old Time The Union,

H e u hes f Sir Walter W . g ; or, Beginning at the Foot o

a the L dder,

John Scott,

o f The Adventure School Seventy Years Ago,

The Pressgang,

o f o f f The Seizure the Danish Fleet, and the Fishers Fi e,

o f S co tstarvit The First Contest or, Scott ,

Firthfield u T ale of 1 80 The Tragedy A Tr e Years Ago,

' lur' d e ghour's

FOLK LURE OF THE EAST OF FIFE.

flDattb ew jforster Co n o lly

A B U S Y I F E L .

E W faces look so kindly through the mist as that of the old Town Clerk o f f u Anstruther. His ather, a b stling son o f r the Emerald Isle, was the oversee at Pittenweem Salt Pans till the lucky accident that made himlandlord o f the f o f Gol Inn at Crail . He was a man i infinite humour, as you see by his s gn board

Come allye good people and give me a lift r Fo r this positively is my ve y last shift.

Our Clerk inherited th e quiet laugh as well as the literary o f — f f h s o i . . tastes his mother another the amily, cousin, M ” J o f Fowler, being the author of the Spirit the Isles . She was r r allied to the oldest names in C ail, where he was bo n in the B 2

f o f 1 th e event ul summer 789 . There the Bailies anticipated Compulsory Clauses o f the Scottish Education Act so lon g ago 1 2 8 as 7 , when it was ruled that all boys shall attend the ” “ ” o f Grammar School at the age six, but Wee Mat, as he was f fi o f called, was only our when he got his rst lesson at the knee M cmin the clever but eccentric James a , who loved Latin so well that he began the lesson at six in the morning in his shirt

o f d sleeves, and whom his pupil use to tell this piquant story w as of The old Rector being dead, it thought a master stroke Municipal wisdom to remit the appointment to the Professors f r ’ . o i at St Andrews . They accordingly met trial n Bailie Glass s f o f 2 0 th 1 parlour on the a ternoon the January, 779 , when two so excelled that the‘ Committee could not see on which to bestow f the palm . At last Pro essor Hunter solved the riddle . He o who could teach well ught to eat well, and, Bailie, you will ” - f decide to morrow at break ast . The idea so delighted Principal Hill that it was given effect M acmin to, with the result that consumed three times as much

v buttered toast as his nervous ri al, and so got the situation, f fo r f which he held, with all his rolics, the next orty years, or to If th e f 1 8 1 . h day o his death, in 9 ever an adept, as t ey said he was, with his Euclid and Horace, he was by no means an

b - - f elegant penman, so that his pupil was y and bye trans erred to r Kilrenny School, where the art was said to be taught to pe fec tion by Dominie O rph at . But let us stop fo r a little to glance at the school so famous in his day. An old tenement so ruinous that Weaver Black was once and again warned to make it wind and w f f was atertight, or or eit his bond, rented by the Session as o f 1 6 1 a school and schoolhouse till the spring 7 , when the ’ f r o 8 65. 8d heritors bought the smith s barnyard £ . , and signed a contract with the village mason, Andrew Ramsay, to build a 6 f 1 —h e two storey house, 3 eet by 9 % over the walls to loft and — in i tile the same short, to prov de all the material save th e f o . u , £49 stones at the q arry at the cost Not the ground floor, th e but only the ben end to right was the schoolroom, and, do you wonder that when the herds came in from the muirs it was 3 so crowded that the weaklings had to squat all day long on the earthen floor. Yet so it continued till the existing school was 1 1 O ne r o f built in 8 5. memo y that old classroom was especially d f of f ear to him . The inn at Crail was the usual how the ussy i o f Inne r ellie L umsda ne . little laird g , James H e it was that inspired the remonstrance signed by seventy heads o f families ” a . O gainst the minister, Mr Beat, pening the back yett so as to allow his horse and cows to graze in the burial yard . There r r h was no vest y, so the heritors discussed the pape in the churc ,

o n 2 2 nd o f 1 . the May, 773 “ I myself saw both the mare and the kine in the kirkyard, I if ass said the laird . But am to blame the strays into the ” f c ? r r . hurch reto ted the fie y presbyter But, let his oibles be as o f they may, his Lady, Christian Anstruther, was one those sweet natures who make all hearts rejoice . Happening to see the little scholar munching his crust at the side o f the wall o ne cold day, she prevailed on the Laird to invite him to d h e f . inner, which continued to enjoy ever a ter at the table “ ” Yes, he would say, with a flush on his pale cheek, no picture ever so impressed itself on my fancy as the majestic o f t figure that good lady walking amongst the flowers, not wi h f o f u her macaws only, but with the redbreasts lying out the b shes f h ” at a call to pick the crumbs rom her and . In that modest f schoolroomhe became, in act, such a proficient with his pen that—as the sequel to the consultation in the little parlour with fi the Episcopal minister, rst at Crail and then at St . Andrews, o f f f h e . o t Rev Mr Robb, the author a now orgotten volume — verse his father resolved to devote him to the desk . Accord

n l fif th e ffi o f i g y, in his teenth year, he entered o ce Notary f em. o o f a m P , Grah , at ittenwe To the eye the student character there never was so wide a contrast as between the two . Look at the story of the old Clerk . John Graham had served as a f purser in the Navy till, quarrelling with the Commodore, he le t the sea to begin again at Kirkcaldy . His inordinate love o f speculation led him to build a v illa in such an out - of- the - way ’ ” comer that it was long known as Graham s Folly. On being i emveem f appointed Town Clerk at P tt , he was as in atuated as ’ “ w f f fo r 1 0 0 0 u h u , £ . ever, and so p rloined is i e s ort ne a check I 4

to never saw it, he solemnly said, with his hand on his heart, f w his injured amily. How could I , hen I shut my eyes as my ” fi th e a ngers undid l tchet, he laughed to a gossip, in the hearing f o f o . his apprentice The embarrassments such a one, need we f say, only ended with his li e . — h ” e . He couldna dee was haunted, said the nurse How else could it be with his penniless wife and children standing by his bedside ? ’ A specimen o f the young clerk s penmanship was only needed to secure a situation in Edinburgh, so as to enable him to attend the law classes , when the incident occurred which shaped his f . o f destiny The Town Clerk Anstruther (George Willis, a ter H ’ o f . M . s wards Collector Customs at Hull), had been so imprudent as to entangle himself with the conspiracy to oppose f w . a Sir John, the Superior It ailed, and thus , as the one y out of a ffi the dilemm , he resigned his o ce, when, through the influence o f o f v another the old con ivialists at the inn , Methven Erskine, b - - o f y and bye tenth Earl Kellie, the Council with one voice, at o n 2 th o f 1 8 1 1 the special meeting the 5 October, , appointed our

fli e w v o c . young student to the Some time, ho e er, had to elapse “ ” f fi w be ore he was quali ed, but within the eek he was, so he entered on his duties, and at the same time as a notary in a if . th f dingy little cell in Castle Street He, ever, began at e oot o f the o f had the ladder, but by end the year he arranged a deli nesse o f cate dispute with so much fi that the King the Coast, his Colonel Anstruther, was all enthusiasm in praise . With — in f such a patron, his position was made short, a ter a was while, he was so well consulted that his name as a house hold word between Largo and Crail . He also raised himself very much in public esteem by his filial ’ conduct to his father. I never knew peace till I sat at Mathie s ” fire d a , the patriarch woul tell , with tear in his eye ; but the f o f r world never knew the most beauti ul part the sto y. Here it — o af if b e r f is S on ter, not on the very day bu ied his ather with ’

o f . military honours in the shadow St John s Church, at Pitten

h . weem, he promised to pay the creditors to the last s illing He was under no bond or obligation to do so, but he would make f h w the sacri ice that t e gray hairs might be ithout reproach, only 5

f r o f fi he asked o time . It was a chorus grati ed thanks all round h r as he signed the promise, but w at was his chag in to be called h upon to pay, and t is within the week, the debt that tripled all f the rest . Sixty years a ter he told us that he believed it was th f fo r e bitterest moment in his li e, the one possible way to meet the demand was to sell the sunny garden on which he had set “ - A his heart to build a house, but, he added good Providence o fi fo r h did not dis wn the sacri ce, business so prospered t at I

b - - was, y and bye, able to erect Chesterhill, though I never pass Adelaide Lodge (the site in question) but my old liking returns ” to me . Already his intense but quiet enthusiasm was ushering in

w - a ne and brighter to morrow fo r the coast . Take the ferry of between Anstruther and Leith . Towards the end the century, old Pilot Lanceman began a trade from week to week with his ” inn ance . p , the Willing Mind The passengers sat exposed in ste msh eet 1 8 the s, amongst these one summer day in 7 5being f f t o f l the beauti ul Jane Ogilvie, a terwards Coun ess Air ie, who w s - - f w l a six and orty hours on the voyage . A o ty little sloop had o f th e inn an ce taken the place p , when the meeting, concerted l by the C erk, agreed to build a packet second to none in the ” h 1 8 1 Forth . T is was in 4, and next year the Maggie Lauder, o f 0 a tidy smack 4 tons, was afloat, at the price, in those ransom f 0 0 o . u days, £9 The so ter flew in his apron , and the tailor in his shirt sleeves to the pier ; even the sedate old bookseller his ’ waited as eager as a schoolboy till apprentice, the clerk s fi s h brother, but as unlike him as the comet to a xed tar, set t e town in a roar by the squib on the Cross fo r offers to cut away B illo wne ss the , that Mr. Cockburn might see the little goddess . fo r It did not belie the prospectus , just ten years to a day the ” “ ” Maggie got her big consort, the Rob the Ranter, and this 0 is not all the dividend was not seldom 3 per cent . till of h e the second jubilee, at the coming t steamer to the quay 1 8 2 in 4 . He was also the hero o f the hour in the ringing enthusiasm that

1 82 6 o f bright spring day in , when the grand old Earl Kellie, as f o f n e w Master Mason, laid the oundation stone the quay at fo r i Crail, he it was who was the inspir ng genius, notably by the 6 appeal that moved the Convention o f Burghs at Dundee to vote the sum o f £20 0 in aid o f the scheme . It was the same th e o f 1 20 0 eloquent pen that did so much to obtain grant £ , or

- f o f fo r two thirds o f the cost, rom the Board Fisheries the 1 82 8 w f of extension o f the pier at Cellardyke, in , but the el are th e hardy sons o f the sea was ever dear to his heart . Witness f o f 1 82 6 the touching account o the loss the boat Victory, in , which so melted the Laird o f Kilrenny that he enclosed on

fo r 1 0 o f f the spot a check £ , the nucleus the und that did so much to alleviate the distress of the widows and orphans by a o f the calamity. In no vain boast he is also the conserv tor

St . Monance Church . fo r The lame old gentleman , once and again taken the Clerk V — o f V o rks especially by his eager look when the Master Mason (Thomas Clark) tore away the screen between the choir and the — steeple was no other than Sir Walter Scott, that the news papers told was to make it the scene o f another o f his matchless tales . was They go on to say that it he who rescued the old pile, if l though, you be ieve others, it was Sir Ralph Anstruther, who, f in act, was so complimented by his neighbour, Thomas Bruce o f G ran emuir re - o f g , at the opening the church on the last o f 1 82 8 Sabbath June, , when the minister (dear old Robert r f 1 2 2 d Swan) preached that memorable se mon rom the Psalm, “ I — I S t verse was glad when they said to me, Let us go into ’ f h e o h e . t the House t Lord But reverse is the truth . The “ ” battle was fought and won before the Wizard knew o f the f contest, in which Sir Ralph had persuaded the heritors that hal the sum needed to renovate the monastery would build another — o u church Neat, warm, and commodious a site convenient to us all . These are his words when the Clerk drew up the memorial which roused th e feuars as one man to the decisi ve step that secured the preservation o f this magnific ent relic o f his f Scottish art . Nevertheless, he had own de eats, notably in f 1 82 the spring o 9 . The eminent engineer who built the Bell a w Rock Lighthouse, Robert Stevenson, prep red a plan ith no Th e w little care to improve Anstruther Harbour. idea as to o f f extend the ancient bulwark a couple hundred eet, where the 7 water is so deep that the flo rry boat could leave the stairs in all T h w s states of the tide . e new or west pier a to be lengthened f as — a hundred eet so to make the Harbour blow high, blow — ruflled of the low as un as a lake, to cost, with the riddance “ ” fl w 2 1 1 . 6d . e th e and gatt, £ 9 7 9s How the sparks in smithy, “ r w th e hammer rattled in the coope age, ith delight . It will ” r l make the Harbour, look ye, the best in the Firth, c ied Wi lie “ o f I wi l Bens, the skipper the packet t l be again all that it ’ — was in my grandfathers day Baltic brigs and French wine ” th . B ships three tier at e quay, said Sir James Black ut what was the quiet voice o f the Clerk in the stormy scene between h o f d the Bailies on the 7t July that shelved the un ertaking, though it was the argument on this occasion that led the late

ll of . S . C e S . Thomas L and , the second his hundred apprentices,

o f . as to hold that he is the originator the Union Harbour But, h he was once heard to say, he was never so mortified as wit — regard to what is after all th e copestone o f his success the f ffi in o f f w s e stablishment o a banking o ce the East Fi e . It a 1 80 not the first attempt . In 7 , Comptroller Russel opened a “ ” ’ o f money shop, as it was called, at the top Calvert s Wynd . n of fi o f the He, however, k ew so little nance, or, rather, world, th e that he discounted his remittance as it came to hand, on ”

s s . principle Fir t come, fir t served “ ’ ” ’ —h e u It s an ass s gallop , he, la ghed the old Jew, and the u the the surmise was so tr e that . within year poor agent was f f h f fo r t e of . escaping, as his li e, rom angs the law We do not o f th re quire to tell that the fisheries, as well as the agriculture e o f f z th East Fi e, developed ama ingly with the century, but all e while the neare st bank was at St . Andrews . B y- and-bye it was not unusual to see messengers posting hour o f a after hour over the hill, yet none the Scottish B nks would 1 82 8 interfere till , when the announcement appeared in the

Edinburgh pape rs that M . F . Conolly was to open a branch of th e Union on an early day at Anstruther. The St . Andrews of on plot, however, led to its withdrawal, hence the vexation e ff so sensitive to the a ront ; but eventually, as we all know, he and o f r got the sleeve, something more than the sleeve, the p o ” r i l w 1 2 w ve b a silk go n, in the National, opened in 83 . It as 8 talked of at the time as being a kind o f tribute to the fidelity and fli l f w s successes of his o cia li e . And so it a but to see how well a it was deserved you must, in some measure, realise the politic l r an d m co ruption, never so systematic sha eless as in the coast b urghs . Bailies, Councillors, and Clerks are just so much ” a head, wrote Sir Harry Erskine ; but in the most trying cir cumstan ces f — , not only with the Council, but his our burghs two — and two in a Parliamentary contest and Conservative and s Epi copalian as he was, it was never even whispered that he f f gave a avour to one at the expense o another. His conduct was especially extolled in what is known as the Gordon elections, from the Edinburgh adventurer who so unblushingly tried to h buy and sell t e seat to the Indian nabob, Colonel Baillie, in the o n d f first and sed contest with Sir Wm . Rae again in the ever o f 1 82 6 b in the summer , when the Lord Advocate was ousted y f Wh ittinghame or, more notable than all, when his riend, R . b aflled a o f B . Marsham, was by the s me opponent on the eve h f rm . t e the Re o Bill Thus, like the sunny rill in meadows, his 1 8 f days glided on till 57, when he retired to devote himsel to his

o f f . o f library, the darling idea his li e But he was not one those fo r bookworms who give no return, it was at this time that h e compiled the charming papers which he read in aid o f his ’ Dorcas and other charities . H e also tried his prentice hand n r o f 1 8 o a se ies historic tales, but in 59 he published his inter esting memoir illustrative o f the life and times o f the genial old

Jacobite, Bishop Low . Two years later he gave to the world f f f “ o . f the li e his old companion, Pro essor Tennant Fi eshire ” r o f f Biog aphy, so invaluable as a book re erence, was issued in w 1 86 fi eekly numbers in 4, and completed as a rst and second ” v f 1 o 86 . olume, as we may say, his Memorials, in 9 But, busy as he had been, he was as one on whom the night falls before his task is ended, or as another who, gathering the bricks and — timber, is unable to build the house his heart was so set upon ” m o f , a S a co panion book The History and Topogr phy the hire, o n a scale o f which you have so far the idea in the Gazetteer o f f l 1 8 , u 57 b , . b Fi e p b ished in y the Austrian exile M Bar ieri , who e f nded his chequered li e as a druggist in Inverkeithing. His thoughts were also at one time busy about a volume o f 9

u h reminiscences that, without question, wo ld ave been the most

o f if f o f anec interesting all, only rom the incomparable store f w dotes gathered in his busy li e . Here let us cull a fe as you f f would the wild flowers at your eet . Speaking o the caustic o f the humour canny Scot, he used to tell how the old stone h w mason at Pittenweem , Jo n Adamson, better kno n as the “ ” fo r Apostle John, his book on the Apocalypse, was employed o f h in the reconstruction the Trinity Churc at St . Andrews . Mr. f n l o K i ca e h . Meldrum p , who knew the man, approac ed the spot “ ” f John , he said, re erring to its situation, do you not think ” be o f ? there will a want light about the pulpit Ou, aye, sir, “ ’ i h ’ st 0 . was the ready answer, that s j w ar the want licht will be O r , again, how the West Anster cobbler, Willie Darsie , was o f c th e invited, on the eve the criti al election , to grand banquet ” was in the Place, by Lady Anstruther, who, as Jessie Fall, the “ ” fi o f o f toast at the rst tables the land as The Rose Dunbar. was Willie, being as slippery as an eel in politics, signalled out

o f v th d f r special avour. He had e en e istin c tion o f being her ’ h o f Ladys ip s partner in one the reels . ”

. s a h Now, my dear Mr Dar ie, s id her Ladys ip, bending her majestic head as she graciously smiled you can tell that you ” have danced with Lady Anstruther. ” ff h e w t as . Oh, aye, sni ed cobbler, I never nice h W at can be better in its way, as to the edge that opposition

f n gives to clerical zeal, than the incident that a ter oon at the

o f o f - building, towards the end the century, the Anti Burgher o f o f Chapel, to the east the harbour St . Monance . The architect was at work on the keystone o f one o f the four Gothic windows of towards the sea, when the minister the parish, Mr. Gillies, stepped on the scene . “ o W What are you d ing, illiam he said . ” “ ’ w e e Hech , replied the mason , ith a twinkle in his y , I m ” sh ir in a . making a p g stane, sir When did maternal pride ever swell so high as on that ’ o f memorable Sabbath at Kingsbarns during the Rebellion 4 5.

The clansmen, with their white cockades, had marched to the C m East Neuk, and now, lay ore in hand, they stood in a ring

u V ilan u , . t round the ch rch just as the minister r bicund Wm , 1 0

f - w h had said Fi thly, in that long dra n sermon about t e per f o . the severance the saints Hearing noise, the beadle undid the latch , but it was to hobble back on the moment . ” — — 0 h e f Sto sto st p, sir, cried, trembling like an aspen lea , “ ’ ’ ’ ’ ” H ie landmen s the wild here, an we re a killed, sir.

A smothered cry flew along the pews . The minister himself f f became so agitated that the leaves o his M S . ell like a shower f at his eet .

O ne f- , however, retained all her sel possession . It was Lucky f f f f Duncan, the ale wi e, with her rosy ace, in the ront lo t . ” “ ’ r Proceed, sir, I say proceed, she c ied my Willie s there — ’ a ’ there ll be nae sk ith tae man or beast, goods, or gear, I se ’ ” tell ye he ll protect the toon . it ' ha e ned o f And so pp , save in the case the musket taken “ ” f a o f th e rom its sling above the br ce the weaver, with jingling epitaph . He liked to tell what the lamp o f knowledge had done to drive away the old world superstition that so far lingered in his own day. His apprenticeship was in the old jointure house o f o f K ilb rachmo nt the Hamiltons , but the one next door was o f long the pride Pittenweem, the threshold being crossed by no h less a personage than King C arles, in the last Royal progress f f o . o f through the East Fi e At this time, however, the head was r’ the turnpike a cobble s stall, being so occupied by the f curious little dwar , Alexander Oliphant, but better known as ” Sandy Fairy, because, under the impression that he was bewitched in the cradle, the wise women had actually passed fire o f h him through the and a hank yarn to break t e spell .

By the time he knew Pittenweem, the coal and salt works fe w o f 0 é r were abandoned, but not a the 3 5 employ s still linge e d th e about the town . Amongst others was decrepit little collier, s Willie Oliphant, the same who put the Loan in commotion a he

- ran home pell mell in the gray mist . “ ’ o n thin wi f Is y g wrang my Jock and the nicht shi t, worry, r r ?’ wor y, wor y shrieked Ruth Smith ” l u No, gasped the little co lier, but as I was ga n ower f ’ ’ h the To t Hill a corbie craw flew yont the road, so I se ame ” ’ f fi . tae the reside, tae be awa rae skaith this day An honest burgess o f Crail was on his way to hoe his potatoes

1 2

f l ki no t w o B a cas e . heeding , but it was other ise with Sir Robert f ” Puir allow, dicht yer een, said the Baronet, slipping a coin “ ’ ’ r an fi into his hand a stout heart tae a stey b ae, ye ll be rst ’ ” among them a yet . w The words ere electric . It was the impulse, he told to his dying day, that sent him to Ceylon, where he succeeded so well as a timber merchant as to return th e richest self- made man in r the pa ish . f Let us conclude with another anecdote o Sir Robert . No th e e one, by way, was ever more popular, as he so w ll deserved ” f s r r to be with his ain olk, than thi g and old count y gentle ” n e man . He so liked to improve his workpeople t hat o and

e . n all had a p rquisite With his grieve, A drew Gay, it was o f e unique . He had the charge the two big m al girnels or

fo r far , stores receiving the rent, so paid in oatmeal, which

w new f r e as everyone knows, hen rom the mill, grows in the gi n l, fi but Sir Robert was satis ed with what was put in, and allowed r h wa , y, u the outcome to the g ieve, who in t is was enabled to b y the picturesque old tenement in Pittenweem so famous fo r the r h robbe y which led to t e Porteous Mob, and to build the Cottage

Row at the head o f the garden . r a o f r As its last Treasurer, the octogena i n cou se knew all the ’ o f f o f h e secrets the once amous order t Beggars Benison, insti tuted n th e o f as a co vivial club at Anstruther, in middle the last ‘ r o f h M N au hton centu y, by the then Collector Customs, Jo n g . O d d r v The r er is not dissolve , but, being the last su ivor, he, to

th e 0 - his honour be it told, gave balance £7 as an educa tio nal one o f o ffi ce - s legacy to the town . He was also the bearer o f Mus ma ik ff o f the celebrated o n Society, the o spring the f f the o f i o . humour, or genius you like, Wm Tennant, author ” n h of A ster Fair, more t an one canta which, we may here

o f f n ra h r observe as a kind oot ote to his Biog p y, was w itten to beguile the melancholy hours when the unfortunate poet lay in ’ - r o th e n . the debtor s p ison , t day ante room at West A struther Hall And so the days and years rolled on but visit him at — f any hour he was the same busy and cheer ul as ever, yes, with if f th e h . t e great ocean in sight Yet, you could li t curtain, how o ften must the tear have glistened in that soft blue eye Look 1 3 how the sunshine and th e shadow chased each other on the l h f wal . He took up ouse, and there his ather died, in the tall o f D reel the o f r gable by the edge the , built in days %ueen Ma y, th fi P raesis by Alexander Black, e rst or Provost o f East

o f . 1 8 1 8 Anstruther, but in the winter he removed to Sir Harry ’ Erskine s house on the other side o f the burn to take home his

fi o f f- rst love, Catherine Murray, a daughter the Chie Magistrate of v f his nati e town, who ran away rom the village school at r f Kingsba ns to begin li e as a cabin boy. Two years later he ” h earth stane o f het the his pleasant seaside home, Chesterhill .

f — o f It was a happy night, but grie came anon the darling four f summers, whose head ell like a golden shower on his bosom, h t e . perished like a blossom in north wind His little hero, in f o f was the rolic a moment, seized with white swelling, so that hi h off. s w the leg had to be cut We have said ero, and as he ? f not There was no chloro orm in those days, but he stood the e cr operation , he only in his elev nth year, without a single y. ? ” How could you bear it said the surgeon , unable to conceal his wonder. “ w I ill not distress mother, and she so ill in the next room. en —it That brave career ended t years later was a sad, sad i o o f parting, but not w th him h the joy that dying moment % — ” The Lord the Lord Jesus is with me .

- in - cen nari ri f His mother law lived to be a te a , but his wi e died h in her 4 st year. h e Forty years alone in t wilderness, wept an old pastor at th e o f f grave his love, but no one ever heard our venerable riend repine . “ — it —it w N he would say, it is well must be well is the ays f ” o Heaven .

So it was to the end . He was troubled with sleeplessness, but here is his solace “ r I learn a hymn through the day that I repeat, and so I neve ” weary. Evening never closed more softly in the landscape than with

. mm him His last su er was as usual, with his flowers and his l l o f illin shill books at the vil a, or rather vil age, G g , which he had f r built with so much taste at the foot o f Kellie Law. Only ou 1 4 d f his o ays be ore his death he was at his study table, but w rk was 8 . o n a th 1 1 th r 1 . done He died early Tuesd y, e Decembe , 77 His burial place is on the site o f the apse or choir of the ancient

o f . i church St Nicholas, at Anstruther, consecrated by B shop B emhame 1 2 o f f r rs i e , in 43 , in the grave his gi ted brothe , E k n , ” of f who i at the author the avourite lyric, Mary Macneil, d ed

th o f 1 8 h . Edinburgh on the 7 January, 43 , in his 47t year S osepb JB owman

T H E H O RRO RS O F A N A RCT I C

T E W I N R .

U R veteran is the tenth of the fourteen

o f a children the worthy old cord ge spinner, B w — the fr James o man early iend, on their o f E o f i native sands lie, the d stinguished f navigator, Captain Horsburgh . As so o ten r l happens , where there is a sto y to tel , his w s a mother a a remark ble woman . Having fo r fi o f occasion, instance, in the rst their f wedded li e, to be in Leith, the spinner, fo r being mistaken a seaman, was seized o f by the Press Gang . It was the heat the war, and so where is f ? fi redress to be sought and ound Thus, red with despair, she fought with the gang till one o f the ruflians struck her with his f n cutlass . Flying rom the encou ter she ran, bathed as she was h in blood, to the Admiral, who was so moved by her eroism as o f to release the captive on the spot . The opening year the c entury saw the little household settled at the shore o f Pitten w ff eem . At this time only a couple o f crazy ski s were employed at fi a the shing, but the spinner had never any re son to repent

. O n n his coming the co trary, he planted his wheel with so much success in a cosy bit o f the Waggon Road that it continued 1 6

in f the . till other year like a heritage the amily H e re, as he t o f grew up, our voyager took, like his bro hers, by a kind — f instinct, to the sea how could it be else, listening rom child hood to the wonderful yarns which the old whalers liked so well r r to spin at the G ana y end . But a backward glance isneeded to o f f — realise the traditions sea li e at the time . Here it is In 1 7 57 the Bailies at Anstruther granted a waste comer at the

Forth, known to this day as the Greenland Close, as a boiler ” “ fo r th e house the two whale ships, Hawk and the Rising ” h f Sun , whic sailed this spring rom the harbour. The bounty

0 5. at this time was 4 a ton, but the venture succeeded so ill that the it came to an end by one being crushed in the ice, and the th other being put into e %uebec timber trade . It was the b e h of fo r f ginning, owever, a new era on the coast, rom this time her fishers embarked from year to year in the Dundee and other in n o f . u o whale ships Yo see it the autum seventy years ag , when the testy old laird o f Aird ria ordered his carriage in r f v fi ha ness, while men and women le t the har est eld to raise the ” a- fire a- fire cry A ship , a ship , though it was only the tug, e h f the first st amboat to enter the Fort with an errand, this a ter

- noon at Anster Pier, with the sixty nine men between Crail and o f St Monance employed in the whale ships Aberdeen . ’ Give me eighteenpen ce a head and I ll land you and your f ” chests in Fi e, said the captain . “ ” s ectio neer th - Agreed, cried the old p ; hence e well remem bered exploit . o f a But not so long ago, the arrival the Greenl nd ships in the f Tay was the estive night on the coast aye, and how the h voyagers , travelling ome over the hill, made the wayside ring with dance and song .

o f 1 8 6 So it was that breezy morning in the March 3 , when our hero and his eight companions set out on their twenty mile “ ” o f walk to join the Thomas, Dundee, this season in command o f o f their clever young townsman, Captain Davidson, the son

fin the old Bailie so long lamented at the shore. She was a e 6 old ship, 3 5 tons, that had braved many a storm, notably in 0 w 1 83 , when as many as nineteen Scottish whalers were recked h f “ . t e . in the Polar Seas They sailed on ollowing day I ken , 1 2

’ c w w wi h so I ken he ll never ome back, wept the ido t the only n

— - c - —b ut the joyous, blue eyed youth heering on the topsail yard

who h o f - who heeds, t inks a weeping mother to day, as the gallant h h er n t r s ship, wit ensig flu te ing so gaily in the breeze, sweep down the river ? Once and again in the Atlantic there was a ” r was a cry, All hands sho ten sail, but, on the whole, it ‘ ’ B aflin s f pleasant run to Bay . Here peril a ter peril was ex rienced fi fo r pe , especially the terri c storm when the vessel was an hour the plaything o f the breakers boiling amongst the chain r sk and o f icebergs towe ing to the y. But the gale subsided,

- - and fo r a . The by bye, it was lovely weather so high latitude ’ ” cheering cry also came again and again from the crow s nest o f e that sent the whale boats in chase, and the spirits the men ros ,

0 o f r o . as about 20 tons o f oil and 3 cwt . bone lay tie ed in the h ld

fo e was . But the Destroyer, like a stealthy , only biding his time On the l o th o f September it was only too evident that the fi m the winter was at hand . Meanwhile the whisper at rst beca e f f fi talk in the orecastle, as day a ter day con rmed the suspicion that Captain Davidson was resolved to be the last to bear up f f h f . m rom the ice But the crisis came with the ear ul te pest, w en t he ship was twice all but dashed to pieces amongst the bergs f in when, a ter a hasty consultation, it was resolved to go as f one man to the cabin and ask the captain to steer o r the south . They anticipated his answer by putting the ship in charge of the s it Pittenweem veteran, James Hor burgh, but within the hour i the fell breath calm, w th the Bay ice making nearly an inch in

v the minute . Eight essels , as they could see by the marks on

find the o - s icebergs, had tried to a passage by n rth east coa t, but “ ” 2 rd f viz . the on the 3 only our were in sight, , Advice, the ” ” ” f . Grenville Bay, the Nor olk, and the Dee That night f fo r the the vessels had to be astened, greater security, to “ ” o f scones, as the sailors called the blocks ice . It was now o nly too obvious to the unfortunate seamen that they were in o f . wedged , without a single hope escape r That the provisions may hold out, men, we must go on sho t of the ca allowance, said the mate, Alex. Latto, in the name p f her tain ; and so, without a murmur, they submitted to a urt

- r o f b h e m . Afte r eduction 3 lb. bread a week eing t ir ess C 1 8

ano th er cou o f as a fiv e i s ncil war, one s id, the capta n res r fo r h e r he 1 st o f olved to bea up t No th, but on t October the r a - t - s weather became ve y tempestuous, with e st nor h ea t

w d ice . r e inds an snow, strong and a boiling sea A despe at e ndeavo ur was now made to winter as far as possible to th e so u h 8 five thward. But t e breeze died away, and on the th the vessels were fast locked in ice - one and all within sight of the ° ’ o —i h f s O n ther n latitude 73 at the mout o B aflin Bay. the t o th it was found that the biting blast from the north - east had f - - a- f e dri ted them two and hal miles to leeward, at this tim the ice being so strong that th e men could pass between the sh r it s ips, though eve y now and then was rent into chasm f w r s through which the surge rose and ell like so many ate spout . T he insign ificance o f man in this appalling war o f the elements ” T h w i is seen in the case o f the D ee . e other ships ere ly ng b ut 2 o th little disturbed, when she was so beset, on the , that her

‘ “ ” ca t ten p ain, as a last expedient, jammed the casks, and had strong beams put in opposite the crush at the mizzen mast . It

was fi f- an hardly done, when a rst and second shock within hal o u h e h ur were so tremendo s t at, with her timbers crashing lik all reeds, the crew flew to the ice with their bags and they could lif ff th e . r of t The su e ings the night are not to be told, as seamen la o n a e y the ice, gazing on their reeling and gro ning vessel, whil ro an d s fi o f d und round were the va t elds ice, stu ded with bergs w rising to the clouds and threatenin g destruction to allin their ay. Miserable as their situation was th ey dared not put a foo t o n d e fo r z n re ck two days, during which the squee e was eve mo i 2 rd the r e v olent but, happily, on the 3 , sto m so abated that th y n went o board with their provisions . h Yet, now and t en, the scene which met the eye was as lovely

as was - it sublime . Here is what an eye witness says m 2 n —I ff f Nove ber d . have just come o the deck a ter enjoying a is walk contemplating the moonlit scenery . The evening — most beautiful not a cloud or speck is to be seen in the serene f sky. Let a person conceive himself standing in the centre o an immen se plain let him look around him as far as the eye can e r e fi ls and p net at , and he sees it lled with innumerable hil hil oc o f w mar d r re uche w th l ks ice, hiter than ble, an eve ywhe to d i ” t h r e g andeur that tells o f the finger o f Omnipo tence .

20 sible to prolong without food or anything to warm our frozen o f — limbs . None us can help each other each must support his ” wn fi n o . r misery Early in spring the shi g vessels ar ived, and a f . f party hastened to their hut They ound it a tomb . Three o the men were enclosed in the coffins which had been framed for f — them the other our lay dead two in their beds, and two on a o f piece sail spread on the floor. These last had perished in

' consequence o f mere inability to make the eflo rt necessary for

’ f f suflered li ting and dressing the ood, and they had convulsions f so dread ul that their knees and chin had come into contact, c and their bodies resembled a rounded blo k . And so day succeeded day on board the “ Thomas”till the 1 2 th o f December, when the sky became strangely overcast till all was as black as the grave, and, anon , nothing was heard b o wlin o f o f save the g the wind and the grinding the icebergs, f f ’ till, hark that ear ul crash , and the wild cry We re lost, w ’ e re lost. And so it seemed, as the massive timbers, with the ponderous iron bolts, flew into splinters in the tremendous wrench that sent the ship actually high and dry on the top o f the ice . ” fo r b - - Leap your lives, shouted the mate but, y and bye the panic so far subsided that they were able to remove the chests f o f and stores . Here they had the help o the seamen the other ships, but at a critical moment they had again to fly . Yet the o f f fo r i courage our mariner did not orsake him, , spring ng to the o f cabin, he snatched away the lamp as a souvenir the brave old w f . o haler Who shall tell the miseries the night, all exposed to the rage o f the tempest and the incessant showers o f sleet an d o f ? fo rthe snow, on the naked waste ice They huddled together

o f r f e sake wa mth, but the strongest ainted with cold, andtwobecam

f f . alarmingly ill . One, like himsel rom the old shore, Wm Watt, passed away so gently that to the eye it was only a softer sleep o f A mcro ach de but the young villager , Alexander Ednie, was lirio us if air— e s , and talked as there were voices in the the voic o f f id dear riends who had died long ago . Their bodies were la o f T h e below the ice, and, in the solemn words the old ballad ” iceberg is the monument that lies upon their grave . f l &c . r o e The provisions, , were ca ried, in the teeth innumerab i th per ls, to the other ships, amongst which the crew were at — same time distributed our mariner and eleven companions ” rf o f going on board the old No olk, Berwick, where they were received with every kindness by Captain Harrison . Owing, however, to necessity, which knows no law, the allowance was 2 lb o f reduced to . bread a week . About this time the steward,

- in - his own brother law, Thomas Smith, had the amazing luck to f f kill as many as eleven oxes, a small beauti ul white animal with d woolly hair, like a little shock dog, and with flesh , when dresse , somewhat resembling kid . ” I never tasted so blessed a morsel, cried the surgeon , and you may conceive its relish from the fact that the tail fin s o f the f f whales on board o the ship were thank ully eaten by most, in

o f . the hunger the hour And now, as there was so much reason f c rv f r . to ear, s u y appeared in its most malignant o m Day by day our voyager could see the sallow or deadly hue growing on ” k f s ch ec o . the his messmate The crickets, as they were h l d f f and called, that so o ten made the orecastle ring with song f if jest, began to complain that they elt as sore and weary as “ ” they had been thrashed with a stick, and their trouble was only too evident by the asthma and other symptoms o f sore f disease . Not the least pain ul o f these was with regard to the gums, which became so black and ulcerated as to conceal the c f O ld teeth, whi h ell out, seemingly without decay. wounds f arm also broke out a resh, but, more curious than all, the broken o f r th e f o f o f the , old ha pooner, and ractured leg one the sailors, h ad h f r f o . t to be reset, t ough knit or healed years Un or unately, the wreck was at so great a distance from the remaining ships fi that it could not be used as rewood, but what can be more

' afle ctin o f o f g than the narrative one the survivors, who tells “ O n 1 8th the , to add to our distress, the ice again gave way,

o f and threatened to crush every one the miserable vessels . The ’ ’ Advice and Grenville Bay were in greatest danger, and the ” o f crews were at times expectant only death . The allowance o f 2 th pork was reduced on the 4 to six ounces a day . Some were fi I now so bad with scurvy as to be con ned to bed . The st r 1 8 was o f f Janua y, 3 7 , a day sorrow ul remembrance, it being customary fo r the sailors o f whaling v se sels to be at that period — in th e enjoyment o f all the pleasures o f home in the bosom o f 2 2

f . 2 n d rd th s v their amilies On the , 3 , and 4 cur y was making fe rf f s fo r the a ul strides, resh provi ions, the only cure complaint, ’ of h e . t being out the surgeon s reach On the 5 , the men in som o f the ships applied to the captains fo r an increased allowance f o . e provisions This th y declined to grant, expressing at the same time the hope that they knew their duty better than to ris ffi e against their o cers . To their honour be it said, the crews d o f c a isclaimed all thoughts mutiny, when the ptains rewarded f their orbearance by giving a little extra flour to their mess . ’ 6th of On the , a brilliant sky gave hopes the sun s speedy re f appearance, and a large sheet o water on the starboard brought of m anticipations release to the ships, but a sad da p was thrown next day on these prospects by the greater number of the crews e b ing unable to leave their beds, which were in a deplorable f f state rom the intense cold, and also rom vermin . Though the f ships, another goes on to say, were at this time three or our f degrees arther south, the cold was more intense . Every liquid

f w c was rozen , and, while the sno was being melted to ook the victuals, the icicles were hanging on the water cask at the dis f f f tance o six eet rom the fire . The beds were covered with f solid ice, the pillows rozen in every part but where the head lay,

' o f stifl the very hairs which were in some cases with cold, and vermin o f a singularly rapacious kind swarming amongst the — — blankets c reatures that ate like fire into the flesh and the men s o f all the while bowed down with mortal sickne s, and incapable f f de ending themselves . So scarce was uel that it could f only be used fo r the melting o f ice and cooking o victuals . Can we wonder that ere the 1 2 th o f February so many had sunk ? O n i th of s under their miseries the 3 , a stretch sea was ob erved

far o ff not , and the observations now showed the ships to be moving to the south . Yet, with deliverance almost in view, f this was the saddest and most trying time o all . Disease and s — f n death so raged in the ships that a little proce sion aye, as o te — as six times in the one day might be seen staggering with their melancholy burden to the nearest hole in the ice . With —a f n some it was a release blessed release rom excruciating pai . h fo r w f G od O , a parting word ith my wi e and children but deliver me from this agony cried one . 2 3

uir h s sof second My mither, my p mit er, were the la t word a , c onvulsed with the cramp . f s t the With others it was truly a thie in the night. Thu , wi h ” c in co t the rowd the Norfolk, Joseph had to share the little in ‘ i VV e d ed he f M K enz e . t o . recastle with his townsman, Alex g at h d i . back, he a occasion to r se “ ” ? ad Alec . , will you let me up But he only spoke to the de by his side .

' in fact l st o f a n So many, , had died by the March, that Capt i f all Harrison told the officer to serve o ut ull rations to one and , b ut the strengt h o f the men was failing so fast that it was only o f if er prudent to close three the topsails, so as to be ready, , p

r o f th e . adventure, the ship eve got clear ice or o r tful For a week ten days, h wever, this was mo e than doub , and again and again there was the crash and the c ry at mid n ight “ ” The ship is stove . o f fo and But the wings mercy were spread r their deliverance, ” the first o f the icebound ships (the Advice ) bore away to sea 1 1 h on the t . ” The Norfolk was at this time about a couple of leagues to i d 1 6 f an w ndwar , but her turn came on the th, a ter imprisonment o f five t sa mon hs and eleven days , and with joy, need we y, f r a o r e . thrilling eve y he rt, all possible sail was spread hom N othing very memorable occurred till the anchor was let go at

Stromness, where, on being taken to the hospital, everything l ' f a fu was done to a leviate the sufierings o f the crew. The e r l h t ordeal through which our voyager passed is seen in this, t a the weight o f the rosy youth o f nineteen had been actually t e du e d f l fiv was c rom e even to e stones . Embarking as soon as he fo r h convalescent, the Fort , on board the steam packet ” flo rr r his Velocity, he landed in the y boat at Anster, whe e appearance was so like one that had made a swim fo r life in some terrible fever that good old David Tod hurried away fo ra gig to drive him to Pittenweem. He made the journey, however, on f in oot, but on reachingthe Kirk Latch the habitants, young andold, s u neverwassuch ascene had eemingly come o t tomeethim . There w o f t on th e coast . He as the one survivor the brave lit le band, 24 and do w you onder that Rachel is weeping, and will not be com f orted, and there is the sister, aye, and the other yet dearer to the brave young heart lying so cold and still to -day fathom deep

o f o f in the Polar Seas . The cry sorrow was also in the homes

' Cellardyke fo r her three ill- fated sons who sailed with the

viz . , William Davidson, and the cousins John and

William Muir. f Fi ty years later that day a lady was walking near Pittenweem. o f A veteran crossed the road . The snows three score and ten w firm o f th e ere about his temples, but his step was as as that stripling at his side.

What a hale old man, said the lady. ” “ m , o ; o Yes replied her c mpanion it is Joseph Bow an, wh ’ f t f B affi n s c was rozen in wi h grand ather in Bay, and who, sin e th e cook died at Berwick, and uncle at Dundee, is the one sur ” r f f f vivo o the ear ul voyage . 3 ob n “Ra msay

T H E E CC E N T RIC M I S E R O F

C E LLA R D Y K E .

was a memorable afternoon that o f 1 1 82 6 7 u , , Friday, the th Febr ary in the if East Green . Seldom ever, indeed, f since the days o good King Alexander, of when the heroine Anstruther, Lady the Margaret, roused vassals to sweep the

Dutch from the herring sea, had the old rendezvous witnessed so much excite ment as you might have seen amongst

the housewives at the Tabernacle. ’ ” h 0 T ere never was the like it, cried Jean Lindsay a ’ ’ 0 n wa bundle bank otes, as big as a Psalm Book, and the crap , as Clerk Conolly says, like a siller mine . “ ” % ’ ? Hech wha wad ha e thocht it said Nelly Bruce, with a “ ’ f long sigh , the puir man that was aye sae glad o a dinner a ter ” b aims the was saired . “ ’ ’ ’ thanki wi e e fo r Aye, and t me the tear in his Sandy s auld ” ’ f breeks, whined the weaver s wi e, at her elbow . f o f o ld Thus it was, within an hour or two a ter the death the e , R u mason John amsay, whos story has so m ch to point a moral fi l and adorn a tale. He rst saw the light in the busy little ane, l demolished fo r his big mansion by the Laird o f R ennyhil . Th e 26

household was steeped to the lips in poverty, so that you do not “ ” wonder that all the book lear he ever got was a winter h u wit the old Shetland hunchback, Magnus Sento , in the little f barn, with its curious loophole windows and thatch roo , a leased as the Parish School . He was little more th n in his teens when he lost both his parents by the purple f w f ’ ever that s ept the village but his ather s sister, Anna, ‘

took a kindly interest in the poor orphan , as she was able to do, having that summer taken up house in Cellardyke as the wife o f

fi ff. the young sher, John Moncrie This event, he used to

o f f tell, was the one jubilee day his li e . It was a merk or

o f - clandestine marriage by one the non jurors in Edinburgh, so

v m a pre alent by the way, at this ti e, as to be little else th n the o f o rule the coast . Yes, and how the colour used to come and g on his sallow cheek over the exploit that bright July morning in 1 6 7 4, when the young sea gallants gathered with their sweet at f w s hearts the tryst, till no e er than seven and twenty couple , w fi ith Jock Easson, the blind ddler, seated like a king on the thaft ’ main , were on board Michael Doig s new boat, the “ f ” Thri ty Lass, launched yesterday at Anstruther. Loose the ” tow, cries the skipper . Hie tae the strikes up Jock. ” a f Hoor y, rings to right and le t, and so, clutching the oars to o f o ff r escape the tempest old shoes, they are to Leith . A g aver wh o sin will not be so sternly rebuked by the minister, but o f thinks it in the dance on the sands, or on the green knowe at

G allile h the , or, more glorious t an all, in the big room at the o f th e Can on ate f th e back g , a ter nuptial knot, by dear old Peter fi Wilson, where Jock only lays down that witching ddle, because ’ “ ’ o f r . the skippe s message, time and tide will nae man bide

While staying at Cellardyke, old Geordie Simpson gave him

o f o f such an insight into the use the mallet, that he was one the

handiest masons on the coast . He was likewise so industrious

that, while others were idling on a rainy day in the smithy, he

would mend the clay floor o f any old wife in the parish . But S ir if . masons had seldom, ever, been so busy The new laird, b h l o f B amsmuir William Erskine, had egun to enclose t e ands to and Denino . The example was not lost, so that the dykes, if this day so familiar in the landscape, were running up, as at

2 8

o f dropped out the old Bible . These proved to be nothing else o f a t than the triplicate, in his own hand, his last will and test men , according to which the savings that had cost him so much if ’ were to be shared or scattered, you like, amongst the Trades ’ ’ an d Weavers Society o f Kilrenny and Wood s Hospital at Largo .

— - Small legacies were likewise left to his cousins the wo mout u — old c tler and his sister on Tyneside Molly at Cellardyke, and ’ ' M o nc riefl his cousin s son, Saunders , who was named as his e Executor. But the details were never so exact as with r gard f f to his uneral . The clause is as ollows Iam to be buried as near as may be to my mother on the o f f sunny side Kilrenny Kirk, under a big stone, ten eet deep, to — keep my body from the inhuman monsters the Resurrectio n ” h h d f ffi men . By a singular oversig t he a orgotten to a x the i o f date, but the valid ty the will was put beyond question by the of fi opinion the rst counsel in Edinburgh, so that his dying wishes ff f were given e ect to as a sacred trust . The wind all to the ’ ’

B . d r o x 85 . 5 d Weave s was £79 9 , and to the Trades £79 3 . 5 . In

' co nflict the last his lips were seen to move, the watchers bent to i ’ — ’ ” . fo r e l sten It s it s the widow and the orphan , he whisper d . ’ ? fi B rab o ner s Vain dream The rst or Box, instituted on Candle

1 6 o f 1 8 6 mas Day, 43 , was dissolved in the summer 3 , or within ’ f o f f 2 0 0 ten years, while the Trades Box, a ter an existence ully o f 1 8 8 years , was broken up in the winter 4 , or in little more than twenty years after his death . “ ” u h It was the nlucky legacy that did it, the s rewd old “ ’ w for 0 eaver, Andrew Macgill, used to say, some us couldna, ill wi’ ” wouldna t . , rest we killed the goose the golden egg E ire 5mmo f t e fi n stmt er 5 ailnr h h ,

fi n firemm ain.

CHAPTER I .

VVA ID m ni n ND REW , to whose u fice ce

o f Anstruther owes her Academy, is one a race o f sailors settled here since the o f r days %ueen Ma y. Like others, the

name has disappeared from the coast,

but it was not so two centuries ago . Thus, if only as an illustration o f Scottish Life

o f . in the days Charles I I , take the o f i narrative Andrew S mpson, the Town th 1 6 2 Clerk, 9 April, 7 The Bailies and ’ Council being c o n ven it anent the Act o f His Majesty s Privy Council fo r the levie o f five hundere d s eamen furth this Kingdom o f o wn Scotland, and anent their proportion being eight, and fe w considering that or none will volunteer, they, as authorised f —V Villiam by the sadis Act, nominate the ollowing, viz Fleming, W' John Brown , Andrew Waid, James Young, James aid, ‘ L aw M N eil Archibald Hodge, Andrew Waid, Robert , William , and William Gardiner, they ordained, and by these presents

o f ordain any eight the same to be apprehended, and seized upon with expedition, seeing they are to be ready betwixt and ” 1 s f o f the t o May . How well the duties the press gang were f w ffi pre ormed by the To n O cer, old John Christie, and his young

c 2 rd 1 6 2 . olleague John Scott, is seen at the next sitting, 3 April, 7 “ n The which day, the Bailies and Council nominate and appoi t ” George and Henry Smith to go to B umtisland with th e seamen ’ fo that were put out o f this broch r His Majesty s service . 3 0

the o f s Fortunately banishment the poor sailor was soon over, fo r find o f Waids b by winter we the oldest the three , at least, y If his own fireside . you believe tradition, he was so lucky as of to return to the East Green with a bag gold, obtained as a ’

. Ans ruth e rs volunteer on board Bailie Wm t gun brig, the ” o f Porcupine, in the expedition the sixteen or seventeen Scottish o n o f o f 1 666 Privateers the coast Holland, in the summer . His

f oll viz 1 6 u , . , 69 son as appears rom the last p in Anstr ther in , is of o f m one the three householders the na e . His grandson, the f h o f he at er our hero, is amongst the Councillors who gave t

o f f f o f . Chahn ers right hand ellowship to the grand ather D r , when the worthy litster ente red on his first and only term o f f ffi 1 . o ce in 73 9 It was about this time that, owing to a pain ul f cough , he was advised by his riend, Bailie Johnstone, the laird o f Pitkerrie , to lease the shore dues and vicarage teind, the rent “ o f 1 2 the last by the way being sterling, but unluckily the o f fi cannon the flying squadron, as the shers said, ruined the ‘ drave, and being unable to pay the debt he on his deathbed gave

f - his up his house to the town, reserving only the li e rent to 1 widow. This was in 747, and the episode is also curious as v o f showing the exceptional alue money at the time, seeing that

20 0 . the sum is only Scottish Merks Meanwhile, the little orphan was mastering the alphabet in the burgh school in those days n earth em f a ricketty old bar , with the floor and low thatch roo b ad usually in such repair, that the sparrows could be seen o f hopping in and out, but taught till the day his death by John f o f o f . Martin, the one genius amongst the dominies the East Fi e m r’ d In his eleventh year, his othe s cousin, Old Soutar Rei , at

o o f for the c rner the East Green, had a longing eye to him an apprentice. ’ ’ If e ye ll sit doon aside me, I se gie ye the trade, as soon as y

’ ‘ ” can vamp a pair 0 sea boots The offer was backed by his mother’ s tears but where was f the Anster boy, with any spirit, that was not a sea bird rom b his cradle . How could it be else, with the ten or eleven rigs ” f ”f o the port, such as the Clio, and the Majestic, urling their f o c &c . snowy topsails, with the wines Fran e, . , at the pier f l in lo Or again, when the same gallant cra t ay wintering the ng i trench dug in the sands, till their j bbooms all but touched the ’ s r w o of — kippe s windo on the ther side the street and then, what c ould fascinate the young ear like the wonderful yarns spun by im the r . Fa e sailo s at the Brae For instance, by Willie y, when ” h of e told how the brig, Lovely Peggie Anster, had been boarded in the Carribean Sea, by the pirates, who had compelled H also n o f skipper , and his men to walk the plank, at the point — aim w th e cutlass all save the cabin boy, Tom N , ith his sweet f o f young ace, reserved by the leader to do the duties the little f nigger butchered in a drunken rolic . But it was in the of for t mysterious ways Heaven, watching his oppor unity, Tom f dropped a bottle into the sea, which, being picked up by one o fri s o f i the the gate , was the means swing ng the whole gang at ’ l th e h yardarm, whi e he was taken on board Commodore s s ip, till f o f to rise, step by step, he ell waving the flag victory

in that glorious action on the Spanish main . There was like

wise Old James Robertson telling about Sandy Cook, the mate ” h o f the Pittenweem Pink, who, as he swore, saw t e Mermaid

combing her hair, and singing in the storm, on a scaur at the T arvit Fair Isle or little Alex. , who knew so well the story o f rofli ate the Elie p g , Bob Clark, now living Jew rich in Bristo l by ’ finding the Buccaneers hoard at the foot o f the tree on the fo r desert island, where he had been landed the mutiny on “ ” f board the Jessie o Leith . Our young adventurer made his fi o f rst voyage to Riga, but in the course the summer he was a h rticled with Skipper Thomas W ite, in the new barque trading

b etween London and Honduras . He had little more than ful fi his lled indenture, when his singular presence o f mind saved th e ship frc m being wrecked in a fearful gale on the coast o f Cornwall in recognition o f which the same owners gave him a m o f o wn com and his , thus inducing him to settle at Greenwich , t of till, by the hin an old schoolmate, he removed to Philadelphia, o f on the other side the Atlantic . There was no ocean postage h is in those days, so that even mother and his two sisters were f years without a letter, while his name was all but orgotten on the old pier till that eventful forenoon it was on every lip in the “ ff m” Anster Co ee Roo , as the old stationer, Saunders Young, i e to a b k h0 l k d c ll his little oo s p. 3 2

CHAPTER I I .

’ ” ? ru Is t guid or ill news cried the little mason, nning fo r V once in his life to the foot of the V ynd as the officer tugged at f th e Tolbooth bell . The curiosity in act was so widespread that f every neighbour was at his or her doorstep, rom Factor Wight D reel man at the to Smith Peattie at the Brae, the last being seized at the moment with the apole ctic fit o f which he died of — in th the patriarch Anster his 99 year. But let the acting

Town Clerk, Nathaniel Murray, tell the story

d 1 - M r z u . s July, 777 Andrew Waid, shipma ter at Phila f ff delphia, ormerly at London, having made o er by letter to make payment of an heritable bond granted by his father in the 1 fo r 2 0 0 s year 747 merk , principal sum on a subject in

f - if Anstruther, li e rented by his mother, the Council will accept f 6 2 f f o 1 5. o s £ in ull principal, intere t, and expenses ; the

ff o f Council present, one only dissenting, agree to make o er the 1 debt to Mr Waid on his paying £ 7 .

' h e ofler T was accepted, though the ink was hardly dry when the cloud so long gathering broke on the other side fi f o f the Atlantic . The Colonists had risen to ght or die o r independence . f o f A Fi e man, Major John Pitcairn, the son the minister o f fi fi f Dysart, red the rst shot, and ell gallantly leading th e an d attack at Bunkers Hill, in the same spirit our hero

ut f f r o f resolved to p his li e and ortune at the se vice the King . oo “ f He sailed at this time in his own tidy sch ner, the Thri ty ” Lass . Landing one night, till the tide rose on the bar, the fif vessel was seized in his absence by the teen young Colonists, led by the little clerk who began in this adventure his dashing naval career . He continued, however, to live at Philadelphia till the decisive movement by Washington that ruined the last o f h hope the Loyalists, w en he embarked with the little o f his fi f fo r . ortune he could save, England His rst errand was to the H e f old home in the East Green . ound the town wild with excitement, how else could it be, with Paul Jones and his ” o f squadron just blown out the Firth, not by the equinoctial, 3 3

- o f the no, but by the all prevailing prayers, as they told him, i godly Mr. Sh rra, kneeling on Kirkcaldy sands . It was the one ’ b ut of topic, you may be sure, in his six weeks stay ; no part the story would be listened to with so much interest as the anecdote related by the Admiral’ s mother to her dying day ’ ivi ithers and Hoo my ain lass, , shouldered a long stick, marched like sodgers to the brae to be ready as Captain Aytoun if had and the men primed the guns to pepper the villains, they ” daured to land at Anster pier. ’ Perhaps this was the darkest period in the Lieutenant s career. ” f s When my ather saw him on Plymouth Beach, Mis h e m Douglas used to say, was talking to his towns an, Captain, fi f e f m . ne a terwards Ad iral, Philip Paton His Scottish ace spok

mo umful . more than his words, and these were enough There f r h is nothing o me but to take a berth in some coaster, go wit her to the bottom in the first gale, or die on the parish like many ’ a better man . f of This friend was Robert Douglas, a son o the old Laird one o f o f Pinkerton , at this time sailing master in the ships f f the Channel Squadron . His li e is not untruth ully portrayed on the antique tomb sto me of his ancestor in Crail Churchyard

' f o t D ou las in he m O d ugh y g k d oa . A nd b e well d id r v so p o e , H e live alwa in oo fame d ys g d . ’ ” d i wi all men s l ve An d ed th o .

f . all me Years a ter, the Lieutenant wrote Mr Douglas was to ” if fo r that a brother could be. The Tribute was, ever, deserved, it was to him that he owed the appeal to the Government which of t in the in obtained, by way indemni y, the commission Navy, i a S a which he served w th distinction , especi lly in the North e ,

f- d till he retired on hal pay. In the meantime, he had espouse

- o f the gentle and lady like Miss Gordon Dundee, and thither f n he retired to spend in peace, as he o dly dreamed, the remnant of f b ut his days . He was away rom the battle and the breeze, — — h trials heavy trials were in store, one by one his children wit r their mother sickened and died . It was while sitting by h e — — death -bed according to Miss Douglas that he read the pamphlet of the old commodore who resolved to dedicate his D 3 4 fortun e to th e endowment of a Naval Orphanage at Ports m h h u he ood ou . H o t t e was so p ssessed with e tho ght that, as st h r r a r the he to by e g ave, his silver h i waving in wind, vowed “ ” h D ec . G o . t and do likewise So it is that, by his trust deed, 4 , 1 80 0 h h e ir in , the old ouse with t e Dutch gable and outsid sta , wh c h r d to k i h e was bo n, is to be consecrate , so spea , as the ” l a are Waid Nava Orph n Academy, in which boys to find a ho e or m between seven and fifteen . They are to be clad in sail st e e e red f r six b ed at yl , blu jack t and kerchie to ise at , and ine r w n and . ho ; to be taught to ead, write, cypher But see hi r T r be fiv seyes kindle as fancy fills in the pictu e. he e is to a e oare er i f r an d e e the d cutt boat, w th lug, o e, main sail, to xercis ’ b o r o f h e ys, and so to tack like a sea mew to windwa d t Rowin S ta e i the tillerrnan ff an d n s, w th cry to the little , Lu my lad, ” h re the e H f r w e . e o eather t c els, lobst r pots did not get that “ wh en r and a o and bad it is all wo k no pl y, Jack is b th a dull a ” b o -so the h b e ea t y, and deed goes on to say that there s all at l s h hi 1 8 h o f on e t e . s the t jubilee in year, viz , birthday, on June. B ut the secret nearest to his heart is seen in th e order that every ’ h r i e e r er o . r t b oy s to hav a Bibl and P ay Bo k As sailo s sons, ei kin su e b e the sea r for if li g is ppos d to , but not necessa ily so, , e r r t o r e e t r na r e he ma th i st eng h v n hei incli tion is othe wis , t y y take to a handicraft precisely as if still under the ro of o f an

in u e f h r. n i e D r. r B ell drew he d lg nt at e U l k And ew at St . An s, did f his oor r he tr he not orget p elations, to whom, on t con ary, left ann ities to the amou of 20 1 5 b ut the r ee re u nt £ 3 5 , T ust s we ” to ro e 1 0 0 fr f r h p ce d as soon as £ a year was ee o t e Asylum. H e was hr re and 1 80 2 h for t ee sco ten when, in , e took

his s co f the S t . re w ur e z h orrie e nd wi e And s n s , Eli abet N , but his sands we re so nearly run that h e died while on the h m h r journey to London in t e sum erof 1 80 4. His fondly c e ished ’ w r Th e hi h rs dream as never ealised . one member of s fat e fam eft e was ri w marr the ily who l issu his sister, Ch stian, ho ied Cel ar e e r T rvi an ar l dyk sailor, P te Torbet or a t. By extraordin y over i ht the e a ev i f f n he s g , Li uten nt was n er n e t or seiz ed i t house, and so it came as r ta to t r e T arvit a he i ge his neice, Ca he in ,

the ife of the ie a r t 1 8 . w old p b ke , James Bly h, who sold it in 43 It was not so i h th f fu s ar w t e estate in Dundee . By aith l tew dship

3 6

CHAPTER I I I .

Parent and child fo r six generations lie at th e feet of th e o f hero sailor, Sir James Black, at the gable the church . o f th e T omen The last name, his sister, y, died so long

a o 1 82 8 . 0 g as 5, in her 7th year N stone guides you to the spot, yet few names are so enwreathed with sweet forget -me - nots as o f fo r that the old sailor. Glance at his monument, so we may it— f o f ts fir t call situated so ull in view the Railway, it pp the s li of t question on the p the stranger, Wha handsome building ? ” is this Nor does it lessen his interest to be told that here, ri f to ght and le t, are the scenes so witchingly sung in Anster ” ’ Fair. In the Lieutenant s day it was edged on this side by h t e . Goose Dub The spade has been busy, but how the o ld m f r ’ emories linger. All is tumult this a te noon in the Bailie s kitchen . ” laured r B aub ’ Eh, Tam g tae the een, sh ieks y Ness An ” his new Sabbath breeks, echoes her Mistress, as she summons

. nd the Bailie in the same excited key It is an angry scene, a there in the middle stands the culprit dripping with mire—his r g eat eyes swimming in tears, but otherwise as unmoved as a stone . ’ What s the meaning o f this asks the Bailie . The culprit f will not or can not speak. The hand is li ted, Oh, dinna, dinna ” ir— s . the bonny lamb It is the next door neighbour, Jenny h r r . B own, c ying like a c ild The errand is soon told ; her blind son, fi f Pitkerrie n Sandy Paton the ddler, was on his way rom Maide , “ ” o f E xiseman when just on the brink the Goose Dub, the shouted “ fo r — Take a long step, Fiddler, the gutter, the result being h that poor Sandy plunged to the waist in the mire, where e flo un dered ruffi an groped and , the tipsy dancing with delight, r f as he da ed the bystanders to inter ere, till the little hero, run

f . i ning in rom the other side, led him kindly home The boy s f o f — o f the ather the man yes , and so at the age eight was

Thomas Chalmers . f tr Th o . e Thus much the site, let us y to sketch the building 3 7

1 0 f a west or principal elevation, 5 eet in length, within an eleg nt c - on ast iron rail, is a well poised block with wing like gables e h o f 60 f f e it er side an embattled tower, eet in height, built in re stone so wrought as to give that play o f light and shadow you f like so well to see on the old Cathedral wall, the roo being in o f f r green slate with crest red or crimson tile . Uni o mity is the f T h s o . e oul the design, but it is otherwise with the details t t of sou h gable or wing, wi h its double row windows as an illus ’ tration e in point, is the Headmaster s house, containing thre f h c u u , w k & . p blic and o r or five bedrooms ith itc en, “ h th e e e t W at a pretty home, with ros and the jasmin o ” e f . ntwine about the lintel, said the air enthusiast, novel in hand The windows o f the School are so many groups of centre an d

s . r ide lights While the ent ance door is in the Tower, “ ” fan f the , to borrow rom the old mason, being the niche — ’ fo r a spirited piece o f sculpture the admiral s ship sailing ’ ' r of m M altz through the Pilla s Hercules, with Bacon s otto, ' ' ' ' — perbranszbun t et augebzter sa en tza o n th e right o f the corridor i - r s the English and by its side the Drawing Class room . B anching th e f n d to le t, the passage leads you to the Latin a Music rooms, f f 2 2 d o m . the imensions the our being one and the sa e, viz , )4 by 1 f h w 9 5 eet so t at ith every regard to health, each may a a f fiv f ccommod te orty to e and orty pupils . On the opposite

o f s - side the pa sage is the Committee room, Lavatories, f n 8 f e &c. , and in ro t is the hall, 5 }4 by e t, so airy and cheerful that you seldom so well realise the idea o f a globe f f r o . m t light The u niture, as in the Classrooms, is on the os d th approve style, but the most interesting object is surely e r o f h port ait in oil the Lieutenant, attired in naval undress, wit h e f fa of f t rich lace rills so miliar in the days his personal riend, of w s Admiral Duncan , the hero Camperdown . The Academy a o 6th 1 886 pened on Monday, the September, . (t h e jf isb e r lpo e t o f st.

flD o n an s

M ONGST the gifted sons o f the sea there are few so entitled to loving remembrance o f m as the subject our notice . Tho as Mather was born at the little sea port of

St . Monans in the year 1 794. His father was one o f the hundred miners employed about this time in the coal pits at Pitten of few if weem . He was a man , any, f aspirations away rom his sooty jacket, h e but our hero had reason to speak, with t o f o f tear in his eye, his mother, Jean Allan , as one the excellent f o the earth . “ ’ ’ h I ha e this consolation, lassie, I ken ye ll be gude tae t e ” h m f h r ff h . o t e o t e ai s, was the dying whisper poor collie , cut in f f prime o li e by the Black Fever. fu fi f And bravely she l lled her trust, toiling early and late, rom l r l skie L athal an fo r a . B a ca to , to provide her three o ph n boys

m if f- h e to Tho as was, ever, a sel taught man was hardly able o f th e syllable his one text book, the proverbs Solomon, under f e droughty old Dominie Davidson, when he was e d as a herd

f - f laddie by the tenant o Easter Kellie . He had a child like aith S in a pecial Providence, and here is how he proved it i f o f e I was cower ng at the oot a bush, intent on a old volum ’ ’ m r u f th e o f the Spectator, when the aste s son, j st home rom f C u , h , b ollege, spoke to me abo t books and rom t at day y his kind

I u my . ness, never was witho t one in bosom 3 9

is a er ote as t o th Here noth anecd e wide range of his reading. T he o t i r e i who s had n y ung a lo , Rob rt L ndsay, hared his taste, o e ” the . H e day picked up Iliad read it with a twofold delight, the w e of the it e thinking hil joy would give his friend, at thistim

o n o a to ri . h D uo a v y ge the Ad atic T us exultingly, the little “ f f. Decimo was taken rom the shel What a glorious book, ’ ’ ” T am a s - , it m i t took my breath awa it s Homer % cried the i a r. w i enthus stic tailo Hoots, Rob, I read that when I as a b t ’ ’ ” oo e e k l n h rding Andr w Peat s ye at the fit 0 Kellie Law. as w r Young he was, his soul as al eady on fire with the v oices ’ t w r w hat only hispered in the poet s ea . There as also the day and night dream about the witching sea and so you find the of ruddy stripling, that April day, as one the apprentices on ” of board the stately old Greenland ship, the Eastridge, t he Dunbar. It sheds a pleasant light on his winning ways hat a r o f h S am e lone could ule the bully t e ship, Blackamoor , whos t e r t e fa h r sh the erribl w a h is seen in th ct t at, when th a ed by r e plucky little dyker, Sandy Pratt, he in his age actually batter d

- t . the companion into splinters, wi h his ram like head His i e e o e serv c ov r in the Arctic Seas, he returned t his native villag to learn navigation with the veteran so long a prisoner o f war f o f the in Frah ce . He in this way sailed fo r a time as chie mate ” r o f tidy little b ig, the Pilot, Elie and again, in a like capacity ” in the o f of Gem, Inverkeithing, being so chosen by lot out as fine a crew as ever pulled at brace and sheet . It was at this period that he chanced to be with his vessel at Venice . He was hailed by an English tourist . One question led to another, till s Th he felt his oul thrilled by the magic o f his voice and eye . e ” h we , w stranger pressed my hand, when parted he told it er enthusiasm to his dying day. It was Lord Byron yes, I nev ” b - - saw a king but once, and it was he . Thomas y and bye bade f fi arewell to the deck, to marry his rst love, Maggie Thomson, and take to net and line at St . Monans . He had his own share of f fi f the toils and privations o sher li e . Listen to his song

’ ’ There s little pleasure i the ho o se ’ e e s no u t b ut sul and loo m Th r gh k g . ' en wae s me fo r the fis e man Th h r , m% a o ws his o atie too c . Th t r b . & da f In his y it was no rare occurrence to return in debt, a ter 40 toiling fo r the season on the stormy coasts of Wick or Peterhead b ut here is how h e tried to whistle it away

’ V ow Ma ie w a ails e e e in suc a tune gg h t y , y r h , ’ ’ A oo starvin weanies fo r cleadin and s oon b t h , ’ ’ Tis nae fai l winter an tent me ui wife r y . , g d , ’ ' ' ' We e assu e 0 o ur clead in aswe are 0 o lif r r ur e . No one was ever so ready to give the tear o f sympathy to the

e f . fo r ver recurring mis ortunes around him With what pathos, of — f fi instance, does he tell the dream no ancy or ction but a f —in o f 1 8 8 f act the catastrophe at the end April, 4 , when one o the a iz ed o f fi y wls cap , and three out ve hands san k into a f watery grave . He is re erring to the widow with three helpless o rphans

' The e enin ou a te the o men h e taul g y p r d . d . ' M a e o u ale f ame to s ive and o u ea t s lui rin caul d y r h r h r , y r h r b d d , H e eame at his co ffi n sto o wantin a lid dr d th d g . ' ’ l ix he ea A n grievin eft yo u to m with t d d .

ri f r Or take such a ly c as this, written one a te noon as he was redding his line after a weary and fruitless errand at sea

' e e s nae lo ve li e ea l lo ve Th r k r y . ' l i an sae e l S ae ast ng l a . It wins u o n th e o ut ful ea p y h h rt , ’ A n sets its m stic seal y . u o f th e C u f He was the la reate Temperance a se in Fi e, ru especially at those bright meetings in Anst ther, with such — — choice spirits as James Clark the Poet Gardener o f E lie the e f s t loquent sawyer, whose gi ts pas ed like a heri age to his son , t o f the late Rev. John Adamson, the Au hor Scripture Meta ” f &c . phors, , and his own patriotic riend, Robert Lindsay. He w f f f likewise rote some beauti ul hymns be ore, as well as a ter, his f o f ordination as one o the elders the Parish Church . Indeed t ff o f his here are those who think them the happiest e orts muse . For years his sweet and modest lays were as familiar as those f o f Theta in the newspapers, but he ondly cherished the h0 pe f i and o one day giv ng a volume to the world, this he at last a o f f f ccomplished by the help his riends, Lady Anstruther, a ter f f h o t e . . . &c wards Mrs . Crosby Ard ert Abbey, Rev D L Fogg, . “ ” of 1 68 i It is a neat Duo Decimo pages, w th the title o f ” I ’ ’ 1 Musings by Sea and Shore . f it s no bread it 1 be kitchen ” ta ’ h e e me a my days, Andrew, proudly told the Bookseller. 4 1

of But, alas the dream The sheets were little more than out the o f h hands the printer, when he was seized with jaundice, w ich

f 2 th r 1 8 1 . proved atal on Thursday, the 5 Septembe , 5 H e lies b uried hard by the pulpit window o f the ancient church at St . Monans ; but like another gifted son o f the muse o f West ’ A . nstruther, no stone marks the minstrel s grave D v e a i JB arc lav. t h e

(B rav e b igge r.

HE old Beadle o f East Anster was precisely such a character as the Dean liked to

. o f delineate Like others his class, he o f l pl was a man severa em oyments, or, as f Pro essor Tennant sings, He mendit soo i soles and chimlas p t, and blew mouse ” wub s f ff it a o o . rae the Never indeed, p p l , was a gravedigger so immorta ised, seeing that one of the happiest effusions o f th e ’ scholar and the poet is David s epitaph, f of in no ewer than seven languages, including, course, Hebrew he r and Greek. But well might strew with flowe s that lowly ’ th e r grave . Whe re else, but sitting at cobble s kne e, as at th e f o f a a r eet G m liel, did he learn those old world sto ies, o r as his “ th e r w mother said, to busk ock spun so itchingly in Anste r ” Fair. And this is not all ; the luckless poet having become

o f - e mixed up with the bankruptcy his brother, the Jew lik ’ th e r creditors put him into debtors oom at West Anster. David f r f so on ound an er and to his prison, where he ound him sitting f l b ut in tears . The truth was, more than one riend had ca led,

h f o f old . th e only as t e com orters The Beadle, however, was ’ ” “ ’ er true physician, Mak a sang, Willie, he whisp ed, mak a ” o ne f h sang, man . It was a golden hint, it was the way out o is and the the melancholy, outcome is inimitable poem, that ” fam and f the f u u l l . bro ght e ort ne to eck ess cripp e Till then , of in the eye the world, David was confessedly without an equal

44 e x i f o f tinguishing his cruiz e to go to bed, they, a ter no end m r was fo r o f s yste ious hints, put what meant a roll gold piece hi into s hands . “ Now you will help us to lift the young widow buried two d ” ays ago, whispered one .

The old man started . i ’ — k ” K , x l u , u , u rsty ra me the pinin b ock q ick q ick q ic , he ’ ‘ ' ’ ’ cried to his daughter there ll never be a lzw n sow%ta en oot ’ ” o — e v illians Anster Kirkyard in my time y , and seizing the d f eadly weapon , the wags had just time to fly rom his vengeance .

C HAPTER I I .

’ ’ ’ 0 o n b od There ne er was a sough , ye see, y y ever ta en oot ’ ” 0 f oor kirkyard, the old sexton would say, his gnarled ace i d a kindling with pr de as he an the gossips t lked in the porch . It of was indeed exciting times . The body a venerable minister if did not, the rumour is true, rest a night in the grave yonder at o f f the gable the village church . The scattered tur told its own

t . ale Then there was the incident at the toll, situated at this t ime opposite the Clydesdale Bank. ” '

rufi . Unlock the gate, shouted a g voice ’ r . Hech, sirs, but you re in a hur y, said Mrs Dick, putting her h and at the same time on the c urious projection at the back o f h f — ” t e . . a cr cart It was a human oot A word y, hissed a tall

man . , clicking a pistol at her ear ’ ?” Hallo , what s in the wind cried a mellow voice, at the head ’ o f the Cow s Close but at the instant a low whistle came from the bridge, when the driver applied his whip, and the cart dis t 110 ns appeared a a ga p, just as Bailie Rodger and his companio e hastened on the scene . That same winter a low rumbling nois induced a neighbour at the edge o f \Vest Anster Churchyard to 4 5

fr . r peep om her closet window It was ve y dark, but she could see fi ures—o ne —at o f fr three g being a woman the grave a iend. fo r She gasped breath . The bo dy lay on the grass till it was

w o f d o pushed into a sack, and thro n like the carcase a g into a w boat lying in the D re el. And then the ork o f the ruffi an s was was so well and boldly done . A cart suddenly drawn up, in the o f dead night, at the path into the little sequestered burying — — place the site o f some forgotten chapel hence the name at

Boarhills . Two cottages stood hard by . “ ’ ’ ’ There s something wrang, Lizzie, I se rise an see, said one of f the cottars to his wi e, but he could neither get out nor give — th e th e rackit f . alarm door was , astened on the outside . It t was the same wi h his neighbour, and so undisturbed the o f robbers had taken the bodies his cousin and her child . But in no case was the story so full o f pathos as when it told ’ o f of the Bookseller s boy at the sailing the packet. A closely ffl l mu ed ady had come with a long box . Whatever it might contain, it was her one care . But her interest was more than “ shared by the boy. To us he appeared to be in a mesmeric ” w f f r trance, so close and ist ul was his look, said our in o mant . f l The master umed, the tear glistened in his haze eye ; but so it continued till warned by Skipper Matthew . ’ ’ ” Wi r that car y on the sky we ll no sail the night, mem, when w K in h the lady hired Bailie West ood to cart the box to g om. — — But the mystery does not end here e xplain it as you may by the end o f the week th e East o f Fife was thrilled by the discovery ’ o f un that the box held the remains the boy s mother, torn by h hallowed ands from the grave . But the gossips had more than one tale to tell, how by strange and unnatural connivance the f corpse had never been buried at all, so that the uneral had been f nothing else than a grim arce . And that this was true was seen not many years ago at Crail, where a late sexton, on opening l a lair, dug up not a ske eton, but only shavings and stones . Not the least affecting o f the stories at the porch was that o f the

m o f 1 82 2 . the student . It occurred in the su mer He spent o f holidays in Anster, where he was the soul a hundred jinks f n o f the by land and sea . As he le t the tow on the top Maggie ” fi of Lauder, the rst coach between Edinburgh and the East 46

Fif rr . f t th e, his me y laugh was in every ear In ac , e first announcement that his bright young life was at an end Was th e ’ h f r r ffi f if he h earse at his athe s doo , with the co n astened, as ad

e o ff f e . The e e w s b e n cut by some deadly ev r s cret, how ver, a i H e e h not to be bur ed. it was who was the victim wh n t e h th watchers fired on t e students in e old Churchyard. But to

r o he e . An e h retu n t t B adle old lady, who had long liv d in t e i e . H s b t own, was int rred at Carnbee chagrin was not to e f f c oncealed at the loss o his ee . “ ” “ ’ e i ff i the r Look y , he said, mak ng his sta r ng on stai , it s ‘ ’ a r e— fa s t g un against Sc iptur whaur the tree , here it should he w of th ir C urious about what ould say in the case e student, S d if was r far fo r e r J ames aske it ight to send the body so int ment . ” the r — Hoots, was eady answer, dust to dust ye ken whaur ’ ” . f lie wi t f can olk or rise sae weel as heir ain olk.

CHAPTER I I I .

H e had no end of anecdotes to tell about those fo r whom he ffi r e had done the last sad o ce . Perhaps the most rema kabl was r 1 2 w s in relation to A chibald Smylie, who, in 77 , a chosen School m h e of r th e f e of he aster in t room John Ma tin, ath r t painter

Mrs. r of h of m the ra f of . also t e minister M oni ail, g nd ather I ving The was w n young teacher tall and handsome, and, alking dow the e h e th e r th e aisl , as always did, just as minister was eading ve s a a r ver was no r e cl d in his snowy c mb ic and sil buckles, it wonde r that soft blue eye s were fixed on him more than the h w a h Psalm book. At first e as an lmost nightly visitor at t e ” e of r e he w hous T easure r Jam s Johnstone, or My Lord, as as c f r k fo r w r o o fli . e e alled, in vi tue his ce It xcit d little emar , it as ’ t o the s r i he e of tai at hr ugh Trea ure s cousin, n t villag Cars rs, th w E r o r r he as introduced to the Sch oo l. e long, h weve , a tend e 47

’ intimacy sprang up between him and the Treasurersdaughter o e the of h a joy us little brunett on sunny side twenty. But w en did the course of true love ever yet run smo oth ? O n the ve ry ni th the t i t e ma -ma er i s rae ght at chat y l t l ntua k , M s Mac , ’ w s re h ist r w fe th e i r er hi pe d to t e min e s i that Ed nbu gh carri , h ma th e fo r i e r T o s Keay, had brought silks the br d , the rumou ran that th e cargo of gin in which the Treasurer had so large a e z he e i r r stake had be n sei ed by t Excis brig. Prec sely as ats a e i e f f fr r fr h sa d to leav a sinking ship, riend a ter iend tu ned om is w ma d . t e as ft er oor Amongst h se the School ster, who soon a e o Th transferred his affection to th household f Bailie Robb. e m fo r oo r e i e for e e e e stroke was too uch p , s nsit v Isabella, the l av s w r e i ofh er that Autumn flickering on herearly grave . On the ev n ng ’ l i i r f r da e ar . une al y her d ceiver was, as usua , in the Ba l e s p lou The house was ringing with one o f his happiest sallies wh en a k h T he n l nock was eard at the door. you g ady rose from his

si a e he . he r u r de to nsw r t call S et rned, howeve , to tell with e e a one was b e some impati nc th t no to seen . “ h ’ r u , l u g h e cfied T s it s on y M n o Mu ray and is nonsens , An d s th l the Bailie. o ejest and the augh became as merry as e d t e ver, till a secon , and ye loud r, knock, when the mistress

ha e ed la h . erra h st n to undo the tc It was again an idle nd, to t e indignation of one and all ; but a third time that strange call st rt e e car the s l , lm er p g his f e a d very when Schoo a t s ran to e t, ” i ev or e i w t . z vo ng D il Angel will not trifl w h me Sei ed, as she r s t i a an e r M w afterwa e rs. ll d old, w th str g p esentim nt, Robb, as e h r a r all l to a as e u h , d h u u e h , bu g his d g te di t ey co d diss d im t, seizin

h h e ran r. at, laughing down the stai He was heard to undo the

and r i cr . ran o hi w s door utte a w ld y They t s help . He a in the r l h leaning po ch, pa e as deat , and the sweat like rain on H was e hi r . e ea r s b u bl p , u , e i g far he ow na to s k b t ecov r n so , a and all a and rr f b de one hasty good night hu ied home . I old oh ir th e i for da r J n Na n, min ster, sent next y, eve knew, he never

iv s b e i as f r- r d ulged his ecret but, th s it may, the eve st icken eni e eve ft b ed l a r e th p t nt n r le his til c r i d to e churchyard . ” was e e h, , th w tae br w u if Hec sirs it aesom end a a yo ng l e, “ the Beadle woul say his er and si rsp d tae see h d mith ste oste im, ’ but it was only tae greet at his grave yonder at the feet 0 the 48

fo r th e bonnie lassie whilk deed his sake . He was spared, like

O r - 0 gravedigger in H amlet, to pen and e pen many a narrow bed, so that his spade could hardly turn a bone b ut he had some o f anecdote to tell the poor sleeper. So it was that one day a friend found him musing by the brink o f a new- made grave with ’ ” f h ’ and a skull at his eet . T at s Peggy Wilson s pow, he said, then went on to relate h o w the maiden was the beauty o f the h a was coast in her day . W ere was the gall nt young tar that w the not proud to be her partner, or hat was penny wedding

o f llardk e . s in the Tolbooth Ce y , or in the big barn at St Monan , that was not brightened with her light step and sunny face ; but on none of her admirers did the glance o f her soft blue eyes fall f o with so much avour as on Willie Robertson , the young her who had saved Skipper Ballantine’ s brig when adrift amongst r the breakers on Yarmouth sands . Willie loved her in retu n, f but brave as he was he was as bash ul as a girl, and the burning secret o f his soul lay unwhispered till that night he so provid en tially saved her from the B alcaskie bull running mad in the it muirs, when was arranged that they should become one f r . as soon as he retu ned rom the Levant Alas, it was never to be . t of th e w Months rolled on wi hout any tidings ship, hich the old sailors said must have gone down with all hands in that terrific

f was . gale in the Bay o Biscay . Peggy never seen in tears ; o n r the contra y, she was as bright and joyous as ever but all the while her great sorrow was gnawing like a canker- worm in h er t n bosom, till at leng h her strength gave way, and she lay dow , f ” sh e . as told her mother, sae thank ul to dee Meanwhile, it ” a h so h ppened t at another Anster brig, the Livina, was voyaging, up the Mediterranean . In these days, the Ionian pirates were ’ the terror o f the sea but being in th e convoy o f one o f the King s w f m ships, Skipper Robertson as tacking at no great distance ro

- f r . the Island, when the out look rom the mast head desc ied an object in the water, which proved to be a man swimming towards m th fla ed . o e al the brig At that m ent topsail pp in the c m, and fo r providentially the swimmer it was so, as an armed boat was ‘ seen in hot pursuit. The incident was also observed by the fi an d h a t frigate, and rst one boat, t en no her was piped away to h r f h r th e rescue, seeing whic , the pi ates, a ter disc arging thei 49 m . e f uskets, backed to the shore It was a wond r ul escape , o f o f the f but judge the joy the skipper, when ugitive caught hold ” of f f , d, u o na the rope an climbing p the ore chains the Livi , proved to be no other than his own cousin, the long lost Willie

Robertson . His story was soon told. The brig had been r captured by the pi ates, rwho sent the crew to the slave market, he alone being kept to repair the sails and tackling o f r their boats . The b ig was chartered to London, but Willie was so anxious to see his betroth ed that he left his cousin at G raves for end to go on board a sloop under weigh Dundee. On few him arriving in the Tay, a hours later saw hastening to the all East Green . It was drawing to midnight, and was dark save k . th e was in the little window he new so well Yes, lamp burning, the friends were waiting and watching for the last sigh o f that ” h . gentle bosom . My poor Peggie, sobbed her mot er A quick ” step was heard approaching the door. Willie, cried the dying — girl a light brighter and sweeter than the sunshine beamed in f . t her eye She li ted her head, but an ins ant later it was only a r of co pse that was lying in the arms her lover. Willie perished i — next w nter, but his grave is not beside his Peggie like many o f n Th a gallant sailor, he lies in the depths the Atla tic . e o f 1 8 2 old Beadle died in the November 3 . C he 1t b JB eggar of Crail

A E S Y TRU TO R .

o f r a storm wind and rain, one Janua y 1 8 0 day in 3 , a cart containing a miserable woman huddled in rags amongst the r r ’ st aw, passed the w ight s shop in the “ ’ her at o f et e . h N g Crail It s Slouc er, we ’ t a thocht dead thir y year syne, cried

Nannie D ick to the gossips, and, thus

recognised, the poor wretch was lifted ’ into a neighbour s house . It soon tran spired that she had been conveyed in of f this way, by the order the authorities, rom Linlithgow, but though a bed was at once got ready she angrily refused to lie down . u fo r Na, na, a puckle straw in the corner is g id enow me, h and, stretc ing her limbs, she closed her weary pilgrimage . Such was the end of one o f the most eccentric mendicants of her n n 1 0 0 0 day, Nelly Ross, who is k ow to have accumulated over £ h — as a common beggar. Here is the aut enticated story Nelly, few or Sloucher as she was called, was born only a doors west f f f an rils f o w . o o here she died She came a race g g , and rom childhood was true to the instinct that sent such wanderers forth with the first primrose to roam like wild bees till snell

November saw them back again to the town, Crail in particular

' being the h owfl of some o f the most notorious beggars on this f r side o the Border. In this way she grew up an adept in eve y v not her e if ou ice, the least being gr ed, or inordinate craze y

52

” “ r - h e My e rand here to day, continued, is to bring you some money . Perhaps, I ought to have come sooner. f if She started to her eet as bitten to the bone . — ” l r . Me, sir money, sir, she c ied Mean ye tae ruin and rack ’ ’ ’ ” auchteen ende . a body . I ha e spent p , and that s e en wastrie f Not long a ter this she, early one morning, escaped to her old h f haunts . She was next eard o in connection with an extra ordinary adventure . Sleeping one summer night in a ditch , a

me 1 1 the collie dog instinctively dragged her pock, or wallet, to o f f f top the bank. The armer striking the bundle with his eet of no t far heard the clink gold, and true enough, he had to seek amongst the rags to find a large number of guineas . The dis covery was advertised far and near but fo r obvious reasons

Nelly did not claim the hoard, which some years later was applied to build a bridge over a dangerous water. In the course of her vagabond life she had two illegitimate children . n of One was bor in the Lothians, when, finding the care an f f in ant to inter ere with her plans, she placed it at daybreak l where she knew the minister, ike the Good Samaritan, would n o t f su turn the little innocent rom his door. The stratagem c ceeded for but her cunning did not end here, , returning when the child was able to walk, she waited and watched to steal it f far fu rom the Manse, though she was so grate l as to call him f ffi of f . Sandy Kirk, a ter the sacred o ce his bene actor It is , how far f fo r ever, so to her credit that she ound a home the boy, his who, without the world ever suspecting that she was mother, of of was bound apprentice to one the best tailors his day, the d late Thomas Henderson, at Ovenstone . It was believe in Crail that she was the woman so foully murdered at the foot o f O chills the , till she was seen by Skipper Chiene leading a blind s o f ballad singer in the street Newcastle . A year or two later she was recognised by one of the domestics at a castle gate in o f Cheshire, with a child in her arms, as the widow the Grenadier, who had been killed during the campaign with the Duke o f of f York ; but she turned her tale to win the ear the sea olk, amongst whom she was heard of as the wife of the boatswain h b o f who was eaten, with the ot er castaways, y the cannibals 53

% fi New ealand . The Crail weaver, who chanced to be shing at o f Wick with Thomas Murray Cellardyke, had a long talk with her in Caithness while the companion of the old tar who got off of both his legs shot in the battle the Nile, and she was also seen in Portsmouth amongst the camp followers of the Scottish r fu o f egiment ordered to India. But her mouth was so ll u f w ins lt and abuse that e cared to recognise her a second time . She had no correspondence— not even with the minister— about o f her deposits, so that, as the years flew by, the oracle the kirk fi porch, Saunders Brunton , was con dent that it was true, as told ’ by the two women in Meg Gillespie s, who vowed they knew ’ n ril d keside her wallet, that she had come to a ga g s end at a y in the Lothians . It was not so, but ” H abi e ver thin r r evi t is y g fo good o l, f —a and thus with Nelly, who continued a vagabond li e stranger to every comfort with all this wealth— till overtaken by her fatal v of illness, she di ulged the name her native parish, when the authorities at Linlithgow, as you see, sent her to die at Crail . She bequeathed (as the late Rev . Wm . Merson , who succeeded Mr. f fo r o f th e Bell, so o ten told the sake moral) no less a sum than 0 0 of £7 to her second son, but Sandy, whom she accused wasting

00 off . £3 , was cut as a prodigal with a shilling ’ C o l i n jf o wle t

LIFE IN PITTE N WE E M A H U N DRE D YEAR S

E W were so well and kindly known to their neighbours in Pittenweem in the middle ’ of last century as Colin Fowler 0 the

Close . He had more than one string to m his bow, but his name was never so uch ” fo r the household word as his browst, which he made and sold in his o wn little o f vennel or close, at the end the

High Street . The old baker, Francis u Do glas, gives you a glimpse into the far business at this time . He has got so on his journey as Anster of 1 80 in the spring 7 , where he writes The man at whose

- house I put up told me that when he settled here, thirty nine

- w years ago, there were twenty seven brewers in the to n now ” of there are only three . Pittenweem could boast nearly as h many, but notwit standing all the competition to East and West , ’ the excellence o f his liquor made Colin Fowlers tavern the ' ” “ ” “ w f favourite h o fl o r gentle and semple . His snug little of parlour, in particular, was the chosen rendezvous Sir Robert l ki of B a cas e . Here it was that the Baronet set the table in a roar over the anecdote with the herd laddie, Jock Wishart, at was the foot of Kellie Law. Sir Robert an absolute stranger to the SS

fo r i —so o n herd, save his proverb al inquisitiveness , chancing in e o f r of ri his excu sions to see him at the end the g, he put so many is h f f h is h r &c. th queries as to name, at er, his g and ather, , that e f x f boy, airly losing patience, e claimed with delight ul innocence ’ ’ ’ ” s ierin Eh , man, ye re a p de il, juist like Sir Robert. Our

l - - landlord was a zea ous Whig, and so an out and out supporter

of . f King George He it was who advised his riend, the old laird o f P itkerrie , to set out on the expedition thus related by Clerk f al o 1 2 1 6 . Cunningham, in the ann s Anstruther March th, 74 —Bailie Andrew Johnstone reported that upon the twentieth day of February last he waited upon His Royal Highness the u o f r r D ke Cumberland, at Pe th, and was g aciously received, and ’ ” s B u had the honour to kiss His Royal Highne s s hand . t o v though he was not the man t disguise his principles, he ne er th ele ss conducted his house in such a way that one o f his most familiar guests was no other than the impulsive and enthusiastic f t fi o f . Jacobi e, Alexander, th Earl Kellie His Lordship, as all was the world knew, had a bee buzzing in his bonnet, but it “ ” f o f . possible to bridle his olly, as the minister Carnbee, old Mr D algleish, would say, and none knew the secret so well as the f to Pittenweem brewer, though his entreaties ailed in the end f ’ save the Earl from the mad plunge into the rebellion o 45. N oth ing else indeed was to be expected from the day and night o f o f h er appeals his Countess, who inherited all the spirit

f . f . ather, the amous D r Pitcairn Hence the proverb once in ’ zie. to every mouth on the coast, There s nane sae sib ( so near) ’ ’ ’ ” wilfu f 0 . the de il as a wi e, as Colin Fowler said Lady Janet e So it was that the Earl and his butler, Charlie Robertson, rod out from the courtyard of Kellie Castle on the escapade which as eventually cost him so dear, viz . , to proclaim the Pretender w o f King James the VI I . ith a bumper claret and three rounds o o f his pistol at Pittenweem Cross . It was on this occasion als that his Lordship accosted Rob Allison ploughing with his oxen ’ f o f s in the big park. Hello, ellow, did you see any his Majesty ” ’ ’ forces going this way ? No me only a wheen rebels thiev in ’ ’ ” r evin . an e , like the villains they are D raw your sword, ’ ” off d Charles Robertson, and strike the traitor s hea , shouted ’ ” h e . r t Earl Na, na, my Lord no sae ash, replied the pawky 56

’ s r fo r of ll e vitor ; ye ken, it wadna dae the Earl Ke ie s sword ” we bearer to be a headsman . There was no blood shed, need h f f say, t at orenoon . It was in the same event ul September month that the brewer and his friends had their famous exploit f at the battle o Prestonpans . It was the very topic that Friday i ht r f fi l n g that he, wea y with the pitch ork on the harvest e d, was f m seated at the ingleside, along with three or our towns en, l including Skipper A exander Donaldson, when Collector ‘ M N aughton burst into the room with the exciting news that Sir John Cope had landed at D unbar—had marched with horse f fi — and oot to ght the rebels nay, at that very hour was posted

of for - in order battle to morrow at Prestonpans, only twenty miles over the water . Do not say a battle, but a great and f ” ” o r . glorious victory King George Hooray, cried the th e f loyal skipper, making stoups almost leap rom the table fi h fi' f o f st. c a with the tremendous rap his Yes , like be ore a ” “ - c . north aster, cheeped the droughty little clerk What dae ye “ ’ say tae gang and see th e stour said the landlord it s a b o n ny ’ ’ ’ ’ nicht, and ye ll gi es yer boat, an tak the helm, skipper. “ Agreed, but time and tide, ye ken, will nae man bide, sae let ’ us rise an rin was the eager reply, and so, only taking time fill of to a basket with bannocks and cheese, also a prime supply

’ ‘ f f fe w o . the brewer s ale, a party our hastened to the pier A minutes later saw them on board the tidy little pleasure boat ” c o f Canti Katie, with her shoulder mutton sail rigged to the ’ ’ breeze . Gude nicht, but tak ye tent o the dirks and scythes, ” f wi h o o and the olk t t the breeks, cried Bailie Melville, at the edge

o f th e f o f . the sea, in those days at very oot the Water Wynd ” a f Oh, y, laughed the riends in chorus, as with flowing sheet h they danced over the starlit waters o f t e Forth . By and by the twinkling lights on the lee bow proved to be ’ ictui es ue the camp fires of Sir John Cope s army . It was a p q f ’ sight, not to be orgotten, the clerk said, till one s dying day, f as they blazed like so many gems on the brow o night . As they approached Prestonpans two large square - rigged vessels were th e seen lying at anchor in the bay, but discovery was hardly made when an armed tender belonging to one o f the vessels “ ff ’ hailed the boat, Lu , or I ll sink you, cried a harsh voice, 57

ffi but, the o cer in command, having been on duty at Anstruther, recognized the brewer, whom he advised to go on board his ship, where they would find the deck already crowded with people from Fife and elsewhere waiting at a safe distance forthe event . f Laughing at their ear, our excursionists continued their voyage l ti l the keel o f the Cantic Katie grated on the sand, when, of n under the guidance Skipper Donaldson, who k ew all the s ounding, as he said, they took up their position on a stairhead, so f as to be in full view o f the battle . Here cog a ter cog was ff of disco mfiture o f qua ed to the health the King and the rebels, rogues, and rascals the wide world over till, hark,that weird s t ound, like rushing water, and then hat tremendous yell, startling ’ ” e ? very ear with terror and dismay . Lord save us, what s that cried the Pittenweem wright, upsetting the stoup in his excite o f ment but they had not long to wait . It was the slogan the al Highlanders, as they swept like a resistless torrent on the Roy

t . roops, who, an instant later broke, and fled in all directions ’ h o f T ey re gasped the skipper, as a detachment G ’ f ardiner s Dragoons thundered down the street, ollowed by the

Redcoats, flying without muskets , or even hats or shoes . B ut look at the ' ocean o’ incarnate fiends smacking and ’ wi’ if a hacking scythes, as men s heads were only thistle t ps, c w o f ried the bre er, pointing to the onward sweep the clansmen .

In truth , it was no time to ask or answer questions, and so with f f f f out li ting the ale stoup, the riends hurried as ast as their eet c ould carry them with the crowd to the beach . There was not f a . f moment to loose In act, the tide was ebbing so ast, that fi the keel was already xed in the sands . wi’ ’ ’ Heaven be my puir Peggie, I ll never see her mair, moaned the skipper ; but with the decision and presence o f mind so w o ff and like the man, the bre er stripped his trousers, with o ne o f push his broad back, the boat was floating like a duck on the Forth . ” Hech, sirs, but this is het wark, he said, as tumbling over w the gun ale he wiped his honest brow.

But what aboot yer breeks, Colin said the wright with a m , eaning look at his nether man . ” 0 ffi St p on yer peril , shouted a tall o cer with a white feather 58

- in his cap, a blood stained sword in one hand, and a cocked in f f pistol the other. But the Fi e riends had already seized the f oars, and the answer was long a household saying in Fi e, May ’ w his there never be mair skaith, as Colin Fo ler said when he tint ” auld breeks at Prestonpans . The brewer is also to be remembered as o ne o f the public f o f da if bene actors his y, only in what he did by precept and l o f th e example to suppress smuggling, so long the scanda o f f coast . The Magistrates in the several East Fi e burghs 1 entered into a pledge, in 744, to do all in their power to put f ffi was down the ne arious tra c, but in Pittenweem it boasted — — ” that no contraband liquor gin or brandy had been vented, for w if sold, months in the to n, largely, not altogether, by his influence . He saw that by the very nature o f his employment th e smuggler, like the poacher, was on the highway to ruin . It fo r r turned, instance, the indust ious young shoemaker, as well w th e as his cousin the wheel right , into idle renegades, and sent ’ w o f ff and wido s son , once the pride the parish , to the sca old f of thus we have another proverb, once so o ten in the mouth “ ‘ ’ the old world, It s a puir trade though there was nae mair ’ ’ ” sin in t, as Colin Fowler said to the smuggler. f f w s But his long and peace ul li e had a tragic end . It a his cus

L amme rmo o rs tom to make an annual visit to the to buy wool, in f company with his riend Gudeman Martin . So it was that he came t o be thrown from his saddle at no great distance from B l n u d in e o f a ern e w o f . L ms a , the Ber ickshire seat Mr. and Mrs

Inn er ellie— o f f o f g the lady being the sister his riend, Sir Robert

B alcaskie— t was and hither he was conveyed, but his recovery f fo r fi . hopeless rom the rst He lingered weeks, but his last hours if — o wn were soothed, ever, by an angel that angel being his f daughter. Indeed, so touchingly beauti ul was her devotion that the lady clung to her as to her own child . She was in this way staying at In n ergellie when she met th e handsome soldier

f 6 h . n o o t . Captain Rankine, the 4 You know his story It is — idle tale Sir William Erskine himself told it to Lady Inner

ellie— h o w o f g , silent on the war path as the shadows the night, the Indians had stolen past the sentries and surprised th e

k 1 5 b amz E rskine.

NE lovely forenoon in the summer o f 1 7 53

f - a beauti ul yacht, with snow white sails ff and ensign fluttering at the ga , tacked in ffi o f the o ng Anster. The tide was out, but she had unmistakably an errand to

the pier. hand That chield can the tiller, said the old sh o remaster as the vessel spun

round on the other tack. “ ’ What can sic a braw bird be seckin ” at oo r nest ? asked Bailie Johnstone . Ten or twelve kegs o’ smuggled gin what hangs ane makes ’ ”

h i k rrie . anit er Laird o P t e , muttered the tipsy cadger “ ” ‘ us d M N au hton It must be a message to , crie Collector g , w manaeuv re s elling with pride . The yacht continued to , to the f c delight o f the towns olk, till at a criti al moment the boom was f seen to snap, and be ore those on board could let go the anchor f ' . i she dri ted o n the Gatt It was an exciting moment. The st fl f f n w harr was sending the waves in spindri t over the ree , and o , with sails flapping in the breeze, the yacht began to toss so wildly that she was soon likely to go to pieces . But when does the crowd in a Scottish seaport stand with folded hands in the hour o f danger ? Even the b arro wmen employed at th e con struction o f the new or west pier sprang at the first call to launch f of th e a boat to the rescue, evidently to the unconcealed relie

- passengers, viz . , a military looking gentleman, and three elderly companions . ” Will you conduct me to the house o f Bailie James Peat ? said the tall offi cer. They were accordingly led to the t ene 1 62 Cl hane ment in the High Street, erected in 3 by John ep , 6 1

f w s -k as of G oodsir a ter ard so well nown the birthplace John , but l t . . . h rebuilt the o her year by Mr T A Dalzel . Endless were t e spe culations that night in the ancient burgh as to the strangers

r r . ffi w and thei er and It is true, that the o cer as saluted in the V V n d Tolbooth y by Sergeant Kemp, as My old Colonel, Sir ” rr Ha y Erskine, but this only added to the mystery about his visit. Next day, however, the secret was so well blown as to be

of . S ir the one topic the coast It was indeed no other than Harry, r f who, the sto y went on to tell, was to retire rom the Ayr Burghs, th e o f 1 which he had represented since general election 747 , fi for o f f to ght his old enemy, General Anstruther, the East Fi e

o u . gro up . Bailie J hnstone laughed o tright He, he, he, like blind ’ fi fee An ers Easson, Pittenweem and Crail ill ddle as ye , but the st ” h of An and Kilrenny. He, he, he. In truth at t is time one the in struthers was bound by every tie to the General . By his fluence he had got the furious brewers to consent to the two tax for penny to build the west pier, which this same session he fi of of h had obtained the rst the two Acts Parliament, paying t e expenses to the last shilling out of his o wn pocket till the town 60 owed him no less a sum than £3 . But Sir Harry was no com f mon adversary, in act he was irresistible, how else could he be . I hi Loo k at his canvass in West Anster. n s house to house call h e of on the t members Council, he knocked at old ” ’ 5 f ? s Rob Lyall s door. I my riend the Councillor in he a ked, ’ th e . with a gracious smile, as Rob s spouse hirpled to threshold ’ ’ n d r fe her h e s far . t He s no awa, sir Rin, Jenny, a get you mucking the him i ca d d u b u g , Oh, o not ist r in s ch an interest n avo tion ” for r it will be such a pleasure me to call again, inte posed the h l w b ; gi g h Baronet , wit a o ow and vin her at t e same time a

l u h er u . parting kiss, so as to s ip a g inea into mo th ’ ” Eh, Peggie, an what did you say, asked her cousin . ‘ c tae What did I say ? Just telt him, Kiss my do hter , Sir ’ m o r . Harry, kiss y d chte tae Here is no less a personage than the philosopher Hume on

f hi f D r. Cle hane . the prospects o s riend. It is an epistle to p “ rr am I must tell you goo d news of our friend S ir Ha y. I informed that his talent fo r eloquence will not rust fromwan t of 62

f fo r r a and employment . He bids air anothe se t in the House, , ’ a of is ra A nstruthers what is the charming p rt the story, it Gene l ma a seat which he is to obtain . He has de an att ck on the ’ ’ t of General s boroughs, and by the assis ance his uncle s interest ? and purse is likely to prevail . Is this not delicious revenge of a It brings to my mind the story the Itali n who, reading that f d ’ passage o Scripture, Vengeance is mine, saith the Lor , burst ’ A for l. f , b u orth, y to e s re it is too sweet any morta I own I f envy Sir Harry. I never can hope to hate anybody so per ectly

as he does that renowned commander, and no victory, triumph, a vengeance, success, can be more complete. Are not you ple sed wn l too ? Pray anatomise your o mind, and te l me how many grains o f your satisfaction is owing to malice an d how many ” ounces to friendship.

PART I I .

The encounter between the Baronet and Luckie Stewart, the ’ r u old barber s wife at the brae, is thus elated by David H me in . rr a second epistle to the Doctor. Sir Ha y lives among his f —an boroughs, but not so assiduous in his civilities as ormerly instance o f ingratitude which one would not expect in a man of l a such nice honour. was l tely told that one day last winter he ’ f went to pay a visit to a deacon s wi e, who happened in that very fi be sh . r instant to gutting He came up to her with open a ms, ‘ , w , d u and said He hoped madam was ell an that the yo ng ladies, ’ her daughters, were in good health . ’ O h r . , come not near me, Sir Henry, c ied she I am in a ’ sad pickle, as nasty as a beast. ’ ‘ all r are r r Not at , madam, eplied he, you in a ve y ag eeable ’ n egligee . ’ ‘ b e to r Well, said she, I shall never able unde stand your ’ fine English . 63

’ ‘ Imean a , u , u , madam ret rned he that yo are dressed in l ’ very genteel deshab i e . ’ ra At this time Kilrenny or Cellardyke, the Gene l s stronghold, ’ was the returning burgh . But Sir Harry s courage was equal to had f h . t e occasion In East Anstruther he a riend, as you saw, a f in B ilie Peat, the cripple huckster, but be ore his opponents were aware he had a strong party in the Council . It had been th e muflled so, indeed, ever since that rainy night horseman ’ with the searching look alighted at James Black, the tobacconist s, a a o f D un nikier door. It was the Hon . J mes Osw ld, , whose fa r coming was so r expected that the two bake s , Willie Hodge an r f five d Rob Peattie, with Saddle Bald and our or other

\V n d . Councillors, were seen sneaking in by the y The con s irators m v p were swo to silence, and nothing was di ulged, though it was by and by an open secret how Tacksman Mac dougal had paid the last penny of the protested bill -how

Charlie Mitchell had got as many guineas below the water stoup. as to buy the fine grey mare in place of the wretched nag killed a of o f mongst the rocks at the running the cargo gin, and how ’ the mysterious friend h ad restored Rob s credit as well as his ’ for oven, and obtained an appointment Willie s blockhead son was w o f in the Custom House yacht . There like ise the dream ’ f f l f fi Bailie Reid s wi e, and its wonder u ul lment . But let us give r o f the sto y, as a sidelight on the politics the day, as told in the ’ r w o f Statione s shop. Bailie John Reid was skipper and o ner ” the Triad, a crazy little brig, which, unless every old sailor ffi was a lying prophet, was sure to be his co n . The vessel, fi r fo r however, was the rst that sp ing to have her topsails bent f the Baltic . She was even to sail on the ollowing day, but during the night the Bailie’ s wife had her fearful dream about the f o f r oundering the brig with all hands, which she inte preted as of nothing else than the warning Heaven . The Bailie made the house ring with his mocking laugh till the cabin boy came to tell n how, in the moonlight, he had see a blind rat led by others a long the deck, and then to leave the ship by the cable to

the . ff pier The old sailor could sco , but not at an omen like this, and so he agreed to stop at home on being asked to do so in ’ f r r who r the orenoon by Sir Har y s uncle, General Sinclai , , acco d 64

ing to some, planned the story . Thus it was that, under the of fit o f m the l pretext being seized with another lu bago, vesse f o F i . was put in charge the mate, Alexander a rney She sailed w of ith the tide, but neither vessel nor crew was ever heard , though Bailie Reid was spared to sail the seas fo r many a day ” r r in his grand new b ig the F iendship, so named in honour o f rr f fi ur h Sir Ha y, also represented to the li e in the majestic g e ead . w gu , , The battle was be n at Kilrenny here as resolved, the 2 r u u , d Co ncil met to appoint a delegate on T esday the 3 April, f 1 7 54 . Bailie Waddell and our others would not desert the

, u u u General b t all they co ld do was to lodge an navailing protest, o r f General Sinclair was elected, without an amendement, in the interest of his nephew . The East Anster Council met on the wh . o f following day Bailie Reid, had devoted himsel night and r u fo r arr was fi day to int ig e Sir H y, the rst to enter the Tolbooth . h f he far f He was more than al tipsy, and even so orgot himself ffi a Cle hane as u w , , u to ch ck the to n o cer Willi m p nder the chin, w f though, ith all his swagger, he hung }his head like a thie f f o . be ore the blue eye Archie Brown, the slater The vote was for a f as decisive Sir Harry as at Cellardyke, J mes Oswald o D unn ikier being elected over Sir John Anstruther by eleven to r f seven, and so, as his colours flew to ight and le t, his old enemy f fi . a quietly retired rom the eld The delegates lready named, fr f along with the iends rom West Anster, Pittenweem, and

Crail, met only to shake hands and congratulate Sir Harry

M P . f r o f o f . over his victory as . the East Fi e Burghs

II PART I.

“ ’ W I m fortifying. here is the enemy that will besiege and ” take my citadel ? laughed Sir Harry to the visitors led by his

- - f a brother in law, Alexander Wedderburn, a terw rds Lord Chan cellor Loughborough 6S

h It is at least a c arming outlook, said the Marquis, turning with unconcealed delight to the foreground— the stately old m at church by the strea , the ancient houses to the east, and — their feet the green sea fretting on the golden sands on this

o f - w -r side the pier, so busy to day ith the square igged vessels th e f loosing their snowy topsails to breeze ; to the le t, the green o f B illown ess knolls the , and away in the distance the scene ” of that kindled the eye Marmion,

P esto n B a an d N o t B e wic L aw r y r h r k , A n d bro ad be tween themro lled T he a ant Firth the e e mi t see g ll , y gh W o se islan s o n its o so mfloat h d b , L i e eme a s c e in k r ld has d gold .

r’ wa Sir Har y s Fort, as it came in this y to be called, is the

b ig white house to this hour so conspicuous on the Esplanade . It swept away the tumble - down gables and filthy tan - pits that had so long disgraced the shore, but more than one landlord to

be bribed to sell his interest in the row, notably the little shoe “ of f a maker, Willie Darsie, the descendant the amous H llie ” f 2 o 1 . Johne, who died so long ago as the Candlemas 59 Nor

was any expense spared to embellish the house, hence the “ ” fin d o f fi , not so many years ago, the magni cent sea piece ” - The Fishing Luggers at Eventide, by the younger Van de

. o f velde The strings his purse had likewise to be untied, as you

see, to save the burghs from the vengeance o f the General l o th 1 Anstruther, December, 7 54, which day the magistrates “ ” and council being convened, Bailie Johnstone goes on to say that the clerk had written to General Anstruther asking him to e wait till Whitsunday, but he (the General) repli d that his fo r money must be paid instantly, and that purpose had given h up their bonds in order to raise diligence . The crisis, o w

, , u ues ever had been so well anticipated that the min te contin , “ There and then Bailie Johnstone and his son offered to

pay over the Council table the debts due by the town, and

accordingly laid down the money, on which interest was to be

o f f - - - f a . allowed at the rate our and hal per cent The debt, in five f r’ d 2 . cluding the and a hal yea s interest, was £3 46 1 5 9 . ’ a I , u C l e t was Sir Harry s mbition as he told his neighbo r, o on l “ f of of Scott, the ather the Duchess Portland, to live and die F 66

M P f ” f . . or the Anstruther burghs, and thus to entrench himsel ff in every possible way in their interest and a ection, he planted a Brussels carpet - weaver and his sons as the nucleus o f a factory

m o f . in the Cove Wynd . Here is a gli pse it “ - 6 Mr. 2 6 h 1 . Anstruther, t June, 7 5 Johnstone, senior, having o f m made a present to the town a rich carpet, ade at Sir Harry ’ f fo r r Erskine s actory in Pittenweem, an o nament to the magis ’ f f trates lo t in Anstruther Kirk, the Council accept thereo , and return him their hearty thanks fo r this testimony of his regard ” to the community . Sir Harry is the author o f the fin e song The Garb o f Old

connoisseur. Gaul . He also excelled as a Here is an anecdote th e in point . He was walking one day along old Cattle Market,

' t e h is . . the School Green at Anstruther, when steps were arrested h by the children, big and little, dancing wit glee at the lyke gate . It was a picture in chalk .

Who is the artist inquired Sir Harry . it —’ I dinna ken, but Davie Martin did it s the minister, s ueeked c f q wee Archie, and there, in truth , sket hed to the li e was dear old John Nairn, lying over the cushion, droning away ’ r f - f till every skipper in the sailo s lo t, and even vinegar aced

th e f . Katie Ward on pulpit stair, was ast asleep Rude as it

o f r was , he could see the touch genius in eve y stroke, and, look fo r ing the boy, he stepped into the school just in time to save m h h i f o f f t e . rom the clutches his ather, dominie ’ ’ - -w t He s naething but an idle ne er do eel, Sir Harry, tha

f murders every ixer But you know the sequel -how the truant was sent to Rome to return to paint and engrave the portraits . which have made th e name o f David Martin a household word f in Scottish art . But, a ter all, Sir Harry is best remembered in f one o f a hundred instances like this . It occurred in the May o 1 76 5 Gang hame and tell Tam Horsburgh frae me tae tak’ the ” s cradle string and let Elsie tae the sea, aid the imperious old

o f f o f o f Countess Kelly, wrath ul at being disappointed a supply fish fo r the grand dinner at the Castle . Stung by the message , o ff r h his the skipper put that dark mo ning, thoug blind mother h groped to the door to old him by the jacket .

‘ IR o b e rt W i l so n

H E P P AN ECDO TE S O FTH E AN STRU T R UL IT.

o f o f N E the last, as well as one the best, types o f the old Scott ish Minister was

' W o f A n the Rev . Robert ilson East s ru h r o f t t e . He was the son a Dunino f h armer, and his destiny was the ploug ; but one night his mother dreamed a h dream, whic , being interpreted by the f spaewi e at the D en, led to his wagging

his pow in the pulpit. And so it came about— though he was on the other side o f he o f his f thirty when, at t death John Nairn , who with ather — filled the pulpit fo r well nigh eighty years h e was ordained to f o f 1 6 . O h e o f the parish in the spring 77 all things, was a man e o f f p ace, but by a strange turn in the thread ate, he was all his “ ” time in het water in the law courts . At his coming he had o f to soothe the titular, the Laird Kilrenny, so as to get a stipend f 0 o 0 8 . £7 to £ His next contest was with regard to the Manse, for u which, not being inhabited years, was little else than a r in . f o f The glass and even the ramework was out the windows, f th e scarcely a gray slate was le t entire on the ridge, while floor was so rotten, that one day, by an incautious step, the Architect f or re eree sat on the beam like a saddle . the f 1 0 As abric, built by James Melville in 59 , was and is n f owned by the tow , he spoke to the Chie Magistrate , Bailie

Chalmers, about its repair. True to his promise, the Bailie o u Plend rl h reported the conversati n to his colleag es . Clerk e eat advised th e Council to disown the claim . 69

’ ’ f He s sae blate, he ll no ash ye, said old James Hogg “ ’ ’ ” ’ 0 k B ll r i H e a a d e . s I m no sae sure that, rejoined S ipper ’ ’ ’ ” Ite ll n o rowl out Ite ll ri like John s dog, g , g p. And so it proved, fo r r n by his appeal to the Presbyte y, the tow was ordered to o repair the old Manse or build a new ne . Estimates were wh the fo r accordingly made, en economy turned beam , in the 1 2 0 1 0 and one case, the expense was £ , and in the other £ 9 , so f the interesting old relic was saved rom destruction . This was 1 8 was o f e in 79 ; but it only the beginning his troubles, se ing that he had no fewer than ten such memorials in th e course o f ' - fis ed h his ministry to the close t Council, thoug , as he lamented — to David Todd sae meek and mild That he had spent mair ’ ’ ” oot 0 his ain pouch than wud ha e rebuilt it . o wn o f 1 82 In his way, however, he obtained in the summer 8 the existing grant o f £40 a year from the Exchequer in lieu o f — an adequate manse and glebe a fact only known some seven — ’ or eight years later to the unspeakable wrath o f th e Bulls o B h ” as an, as he called the dissenters in the Council . He was no less successful in resisting the Bailies in the 1 8 1 memorable attempt in 9 to seize the seat rents . There is not a question the Church belongs to us as a part ” o f u h the Common Good, cried Co ncillor Willis, a son , by t e o f o f way, the minister Leslie, holding the charter with one

' th e r hand, and making table ing with the other. But the minister quietly pointed to the fact that the househ olders had

1 20 fo r . entered into a pledge, about 7 , to pay their seats , as

- o f f . a kind ree will contribution, to enable the Session to f i I P th e . t itmill h uphold abr c was ruled, by Lord y, t at it fif should so continue . Hence it was that, teen years later, or in 1 8 f 3 4, the und was provided to remodel the church , on the plan o f r i that bo n Architect, John S me, at the time assistant minister th e fi r in Pittenweem , the result being nest inte ior in the East o f h e fo r Fife . Dr. Chalmers tells that prayed grace to listen to ’ h M r. Wilson s sermon, and per aps he was not alone . He had in a marked degree the sing- song delivery once so familiar in h e f r t Scottish pulpit, but, nevertheless, he was respected a and o f a of near as one the most Evangelical pre chers his day. His fo r style was unique ; example, in discoursing one Sabbath on 70 t he his two men who went up to the temple to pray, he told . “ h — s r earers As to thi Pha isee, my brethren, he was naething — ” but a puppy an impudent puppy. It was the custom for such old women as were not over quick in h r h ea ing to sit on the pulpit stair. It appened one Sabbath t B alsillie in o f fa hat Jean , who, her day, kept a kind In nt S chool, in which she taught Tam Chalmers and Willie Tennant ” the ABC and hoo tae cast the loop, was rather late in bustling t o her seat, so much so that she had to whisper rather audibly ’ t o r her neighbour Whau s the place, Kate Looking over “ ’ t he fi pulpit he electri ed the church, What are ye makin ony ’ — o rashin ? - f x at, Jean It s the Twenty Fi th Psalm twa e es and a ” vow, woman . 1 8 1 The Rev. James Brown, ordained to Kilrenny in 9 , was in

f - far great esteem fo r his pulpit gi ts . It was a bye word and near in o f the time his predecessor, Joseph Duncan , As toom as Kil ” r the of h enny kirk, but such was charm his silver voice t at h r f in 1 82 6 t e stairs to the galle y had to be li ted outside , so as to e xtend the sittings to all but a thousand . This was being done — when the two ministers met in the Lady VV alk so called from its being the route of the Abbot and his monks in the procession w ffi f r — r ith the e gy o St . Ma y between Balme ino and the bap

r o f . t ist y St . Ayle . The greetings over Mr Wilson continued ’ raun d h if o urlum Mr. Brown, they say ye r a g preac er, but, sir, y ’ ' ’ ” n eed soo zn . reeks as lang as mine it ll p , man About sixty years a . go Anster had the reputation o f being the most drunken town ’ -o u the coast. How else could it be with the Beggars Benison and other convivial clubs patronised by the first in the land . “ f f th e o f % to Mr. Wilson was too aith ul a watchman on walls ion b e silent . r — Bailie, the se mon was preached at you the minister never f ” O f aff . ance taen his een the la t, said the roguish draper course the company was the echo, till the tipsy carter, Sabbath

r an night as it was, rose in a towe ing passion to demand h d. e xplanation . Mr. Wilson, owever, was not to be overawe ’ eems if fit flin d aff if Hoots, hoots, J , the shae disna g , but ’ ’ are t t here s a corn on yer tae p , man .

‘ f r f The Bailie did not stop o urther counsel . But he was never 7 1

r a e in so much pe plexity as about the vicar ge teind . These wer once of such value that James Melville thanked God that he n had so provided the means to endow a minister in the tow . And this was so far true that the Bailies continued to hold it W s ’ a f . 0 0 in tack rom Mr il on s predecessors at 4 merks a ye r, but having long entailed yearly loss o f some £ 1 5 on the ‘a e Common Good, it was resolved at his settlement to discontinu u the arrangement . Th s it was that he or his agent collected of of of the teind, and unaware the exemption the boats

Cellardyke, he, on one occasion, insisted on the usual payment, f iz . o . r v , a shilling in the pound the sale Se ved with the notice hi of an action at law, he seized his hat and staff and ran to s ” f f i . a f his h u C u b , ait l adv ser st yo r rat the noo, David re erring to ’ shoemaker s apron ; and so he entreated his elder to get the skippers to compromise the case—his parting being long a bye wo rd. ’ — ’ Let it be Peggie Millars best there s naething heals a sair ” i m . l ke a dra , David h i The worthy old minister, as you see by is tombstone, d ed 1 2 h 1 8 t r . on the Janua y, 3 9 C w aptain S te art, (IN D

H O W TH E S EAT WAS LO ST AN D WO N B Y TH E PO EO U S MO B RT .

’ AE S me ; puir Andrew we kent sae weel ” b r ’ angi like a dog, sobbed the Bailie s w f i e, but she is by no means alone in her sympathy there in the surging crowd o f w men , omen , and children round the tall

horseman who, as you see by the panting s h teed, has spared neit er whip nor spur

on the journey . Such was the excitement in the streets o f Anster over th e news that the smuggler was executed accord 1 6 ing to his sentence that bitter April day in the year 73 . You

w . o f do not onder that it is so Ever since the day that , in spite ’ f his mother s tears , he had le t the snug little bakehouse in Path f o n head to begin li e as a smuggler, he has been as a captain f w h . r t e coast His ve y losses, when le t ithout a shilling, only h im f o f fo r th e endear as the mis ortunes a patriot, to realise situation you must keep in mind that in the eyes o f Scotland this day th e duty or tax is just so much tribute money wrung by English jealousy and greed . Nowhere was this feeling so f o f fo r intense as amongst the good olk Anstruther example, in ’ ’ P eattie s Barber Bruce s shop or Rob smithy, where they met to read and discuss the papers so mysteriously posted in London, containing the debates in Parliament over the Bill to ruin the ’ o f u fo r P . f city Edinb rgh the orteous Mob It s passed a ter all, th e o f th e 1 0 1 0 but only by casting vote chairman, 3 to 3 , by 7 3

a the G hissed the old Major, as he broke the se l to read in ’ w B ut clerk s parlour ho the Bill was reported in Committee . who shall tell the anger huming in every cheek when it trans pired that the one Scottish member who had supported the r o wn r Gove nment was their representative, Gene al Philip f r o f r o f . a Anst uther, Airdrie So you get a glimpse it in the f h ane cdote . Soon a ter his vote the General was rewarded wit

v mo hi o f af the G o e rs . r p Minorca Being at Airdrie, and aid, s o f he o f teel as he was, the popular resentment, , instead crossing o f f r at Petty.cur, not to speak Anster and Crail, hired the Earls er y

fi . shers , Rob Pearson and Tam Ogilvie, to take him to Dunbar n w f r U kno n , as he conceived himsel to be in his big milita y “ c h e th e f loak, accosted the men in way are, I suppose you ” rascals are all great smugglers . ” a h we Oh, y, c uckled Rob, but I dinna think ever smuggled ” “ ” f v r a General a ore . Time heals e e y trouble, says the proverb, but it did not soften the public hatred to the General hence the \ o f 1 1 savage joy to East and Vest at the Election 74 , over the announcement that he was to be opposed by the dashing young f f o o . soldier, John Stewart, the second son the Earl Moray bean ideal o f The Captain, as he was called, was the a popular candidate . fi u of He has the g re an Adonis , sighed the little Blue f o f d stocking, and long be ore the days Sam Slick, was verse o f f — in all the magic so t sawder that is, he could squeeze a lemon with the Bailie sip tea with the daughters quote a

o f - passage Scripture, or sing a love song, just as it suited his th company . He was equally at home in the kitchen and in e

- h o f drawing room . And where is the daug ter Eve that could ’ e ? r sist his bewitching Listen to the tea party in Lucky Lyall s , ’ a ist w — h e i th e Oh , y, he s j a je el g en Kirsty brawest plaid in ” illi . e the parish, said Fat Annie And promised tae pit my W in ’ 0 th e un the Custom House, and Rob on the quarter deck g ” ’ b f . rig, hiccoughed the Bailie s wi e “ ’ ’ tak r — Only think, an Earl s son tae the bai n on his knee unlike ’ ” s f f e ome olk, no tae orget a luck penny, I se t ll ye, cried the ” m “ ’ s . d little other Yes, he s a gentleman, a rale gentleman, ai the hostess , and every cup clattered in the chorus . 74

msar see In Pittenweem and Crail the Captain came, like C , to and . If the a of Third art conquer the secret must be told, L ird p had w secured the one, and Bailie Melville the other, but it as far A nsters O f ur f w l . other ise in the and Ki renny co se, rom the fi w h rst, the sweet voices were ith him even the wives, in t e ” e mo f f nthusias the hour, were seen to li t the kail pat on the h f r earth, or hurry rom tea d inking in the closet, the vice of the a e e g , d to join in the cheer ringing to east and w st, as he prance along the causeway. Still not a single Bailie or Councillor th e o f — w Electors the time was kno n to be in his interest.

PART I I .

u ” The game is p I shall retire, he told the clerk that night they were so significantly bowed to the door by old Bailie Aitkenh e d ff l flew th e a , and a rumour to this e ect actua ly in burghs . ? But, meanwhile, you ask where was the old General th e In spring he was still at his post in the Mediterranean, but as soon as the clouds began to gather he was recalled by f —a of w m his riend, Sir Robert Walpole t last aware the over hel ing influence in Scotland o f the Duke of Argyll . Posting to the e o f f f of ast Fi e, the General, be ore he slept in the big parlour irdri o f A u . a, had an interview with his lie tenants A smile satis faction lit up his haughty features at the report . “ ’ f ” We re as sa e as in Gibraltar, he cried, and, according to “ f Bailie Nairn, there never was such drinking and easting as o ver the Jubilee . Such was the situation that Saturday night when the horse ’ — man rode to Bailie Waddels door there in the curious turret

that confronts you till this day in the west end of Cellardyke.

The Bailie and his household are singing the evening Psalm, b ut the stranger kicks the door in a way that brings every i neighbour to his w ndow.

76

o f f to I , John Cooper, magistrate the burgh , propose mysel

be delegate . “ - vo fo r i . I vote with and ye, echoes the Treasurer, but th s f h sco mfu o f h e time his voice is airly drowned in t e l laugh t rest,

fo r h v who all declared the General, so t at the vote stands twel e

to two in his favour. fo r Bailie Waddel is jubilant, and so, with another cheer

i f - n th e Airdr e, he and his riend retire to the ante room to e joy s - f h moking punch bowl, as the Clerk so tly w ispers to the leading c th e onspirator Your commission , one commission with the ’ ” ffi - town s seal, will be ready at my o ce to night .

PART I I I .

x f All is noise and e citement, as we have said, this lovely ore in h noon West Anstruther. It is a oliday all round, as you see by the th rong clustering like bees about the cross at th e Burial o f Yett, or more numerous still, perhaps , on the parapet the old f f stone bridge there to the left o the ord . You soon get the w reason hy. “ ’ ffl f c I ll spoil their ru es, the alse turncoats , s reams the ’

f of . heckler s crazy wi e, with the magazine rotten eggs in her lap ” if r ff ts Oh, I could but get at thei ha e , echoes little Peggie w Darsie, bet een her teeth . ” fo r % l Stewart ever Hooray cries the mob, but hark that an d lusty shout on the other side o f the burn . It comes nearer l fo r nearer ti l the air quivers with the cheer, Anster ever “ ’ ” D ke rs It s the y , hisses the crooked mason with a savage h fo r if reco n oat , and truly the tables are turned , as by some p e d fif fi ce rt signal, ty shers , picked men as you see by their s springing step, hold to the bridge precisely as three chaise , f — o f s fi . a with a party hor emen , de le towards the ord A cry yell ’ o — u r fish e rs f b atfi e d rage rings along the ca seway, but eve y hat u fo r is in the air to the answering sho t, Anster ever 77

“ r e But listen to that sh ill tongue at the parapet, Oh, y ill ” ’ fa i r f ured v llain . It is the heckle s wi e ; but at the moment a laughing son of the sea gave such a dexterous turn to her elbow f that the egg aimed at the oremost rider flies tilt, with all its f o f ragrance, into the eye little Peggy. ” fi t You lthy harlo , shrieks the vixen, flying like a wild cat at o f f the hair the crazy one, and be ore an explanation can be o f f thought hal the gossips in West Anstruther, siding with this a o f fi nd or that combat nt, are in the thick the ght, biting a ’ ” r sc atching, till the cry, There s the minister, sends even Peggy i with the speed o f the w nd to her own fireside . In the meantime the fishers have gathered in a ring at the f Tolbooth door. Here is the secret . Like his ather, the General h f as always been liked by the fisher olk, but never so much as

- fo r to day, , as they will tell you , he never rested night or day

r th e f h - this sp ing to save coast rom the ated press gang. But f f o f the cavalcade is now sa e at the oot the stair. The General is the first to fling himself from his horse and grasp the hand o f h o f B al his tall and ands ome cousin, Sir Philip caskie . The greeting is no less cordial to stately old Bailie Aitkenh ead but — you cannot catch a syllable fo rthe deafening uproar the yelling and hooting, the cheers and counter cheers, especially when the two Bailies, Saunders Robb and Peter Thomson, with their six f associates, steal rom the chaise to the Tolbooth . And now we are face to face with the most extraordinary episode in this t th e fi firm famous elec ion . Having cause to suspect delity or of ness these adherents, the wily old General had taken the precaution first to invite and then to detain the eight by a thousand tricks as fast prisoners at Airdrie House . They were eted r o wn f like p inces ; the dinner, prepared by his cook, was r o n se ved silver dishes, the finest vintage in his cellars was at a f th eir c ll, and night a ter night the magnificent stateroom was r r w f tu ned into a theatre or conce t hall, with stars all the ay rom for London their special entertainment but at the same time, o f r e so strict was the watch the armed pat ol, that they wer never once allowed to leave the %precincts o f the house or to see a f s e i . o ri nd, no matter how pressing the message m ght be And c am for th it continued ever since the pro l ation e new Parliament, 7 8 that is seventeen or eighteen days before the nomination meet h f ing on Wednesday, to w ich they were driven rom and back

f —in f h again to Airdrie without seeing wi e or child act, thoug ’ r Councillor Watson s mother died in the inte val, he could not, o f th e f to the scandal neighbours, attend her uneral . But the wiles were no less unscrupulous on the side of the enemy . The

fo r. cunning old Edinburgh merchant, John Wilson, has been t f weeks wi h a ull purse on the coast, trying to persuade one and of if o f f all, in the name the Lord Provost, that the East Fi e ” f to r d h group is so in atuated as retu n the renegade sol ier, as e calls the General, steps will be taken by the Convention, in rf which the city is all powe ul, to put on such taxes or restrictions f I o . n as will be sure to ruin the trade the burghs this way, f f along with his art ul bribes, he contrives to seduce no ewer than n ine o f the nineteen Councillors to the interest of the nominee

h f o f - o f the Duke . Hence t e contest has all the ever a neck to o f neck gallop on the racecourse . But this much by way pre th e lude . Let us now return to the ongoings in Tolbooth . Each party who is in full strength takes its o wn side in the dingy little room. The first shot in the conflict is fired by Councillor

Lyall, who protests against Sir Philip being in the Council, inasmuch as he is neither a trader nor a householder in the f burgh . The Baronet springs to his eet “ I appeal to the Chair, sir ; is it not notorious that by the vote o f this man I have year after year represented the burgh — f h in the Convention nay, he himsel was the first to tell t at I ’ had saved West Anster from rui n by buying the town s victual at the last roup .

But the half tipsy little Councillor is not to be put down . He f w t o f is again on his eet to t i the eight, one by one, being o l detain ed like so many jail birds at Airdrie . The peaceable d E dmonsto n e Bailies , as well as Treasurer , terrible as he is in w fi his smithy, say nothing, but it is other ise with his nger d o f pointe at young Saunders Bisset the Milton, who, making f his hand all like a sledgehammer on the table, tells his accuser ’ (I fi It s a lie, a lie, and but to dirty my ngers I would ”

fo r . twist your neck, sur, saying sae d The gran debate, however, as at Cellardyke, is about the 79

h h C u l l b g bribery oath, w ic o ncil or Lyal and his party hold is indin h o n one and all, but which Sir Philip, the leader on the ot er side, ’ f of co ntemptuously re uses to take, and so, in spite the Clerk s for protest, the vote is put, with the result that nine declare for Jo hn Wilson, and ten Sir Philip, who is thus returned by a single vote as delegate for the burgh . ” “ d as Tush, man , sai the old General, one is good as ten

f , and, G of ten it makes ,me as ast in the seat by in spite the fi ” thousand guineas it has cost Argyll to ght me .

PART IV.

And now we are face to face with the crowning act in th e f d 2 8th of 1 drama this breezy orenoon, Fri ay, the May, 74 1 . The crowd is as big and clamorous as ever at the ricketty little

Tolbooth . h Hec , wha ever saw sic birling in Wast Anster exclaimed f f u old Eppie Robb, the ale wi e, as chaise a ter chaise rattles p

the causeway. “ ” V ch ettled V ilkie ’ Yes, Nell , but I heard oor minister tellin wi’ my ain lugs that the een o’ the hale nation is on oor little ” broch this day. “ , o . o f Third art Clear the way y u hags It is David Scott p , S cotstarv it but best known as , the delegate for Crail and — , his terrible huntsman . You know the story the shriek at o f midnight, and the mangled corpse the rich old pedlar, found next day without a shilling in the east wood of Inner llie ge . u o f fi The ins lt is answered with a yell de ance, but at

the instant it is drowned by a ringing cheer, as the young

f o candidate, Captain Stewart, in the uni orm f an officer o f

a o n - the Guards, se ted a coal black steed, so gloriously h osed f ’ as to dazzle every eye, flew up the ord. S co tstarvit s man fo r rose in his stirrup Stewart ever, H u but the girth f ’ slipping, the luckless varlet dived head oremost into the Tanner s 80

o o f th e en midden, to the unc nstrained mirth bystanders, none j oying the laugh so much as th e gay cavalie r who had led to the i e at th e m n catastrophe. But this was not the only ep sod ome t. h e in n A sedate old weaver, as seemed to be, his Su day coat, h r cro ssed t e bu n at the back steps, and was edging his way up a a the lane, when he was seized by a strong h nd and dr gged ears e rr amongst the ruins, rebuilt some v lat r by Sir Ha y so f e i C0 0 er fo r Erskine . It was sudden that be or Ba lie p , it is h e o f of the , could utter a w rd, he lay at the eet swaggering old r n f dragoon at Airdrie and two companions, as d u k as himsel . h ? What are ye seeking here, ye vile ypocrite But your glass ” run is f is , by Heaven it , cried the soldier, taking a pistol rom h is breast .

O dinna, dinna, cried the Bailie, trembling like an aspe n “ ’ l’ ll I ll rin hame,

, l l u e Hold et no vio ence be done even in a righteous ca s , an d as he spoke the venerable head of dear old Andrew Burn f of appeared at one o the back windows the Manse . if h With a ringing laugh, as it had been nothing more t an a rough jest, the sergeant made a low obeisance to the minister, and with a parting kick at the Bailie reeled with his comrades f to the street . Without taking time to rub the dirt rom his coat h the Bailie astened to the Tolbooth . ” are S cotstarvit f You with us at last, cried , with a smile o triumph . all l , u r As the de egates are here let no one enter at yo r pe il, ffi i l Cu g w , o o cried C erk nnin ham to the old to n o cer Dav d F gg , n d who, at the signal, slammed to the door, a brandished his hal bert in a way that proved that he at least realised the momen of tous issue . But what the scene in the dingy little Tolbooth ? The clerk is pale with excitement as he rises at the head of the h t l t e bu . o f f al as ab e to begin siness The oath e ty to the king, r ll well as against bribe y in every shape, is taken by one and a , w n of B alcaskie o he Sir Philip , lo king so majestic in his advo ’ ca fo r th e ur h te s wig, lays down his commission as delegate b g . f T h An extraordinary scene ollows . e snivelling little Edinburgh m ch a h h e and S ir er ant ple ds t at , not Philip, holds the lega

- c o mss n . t and ter ro es are i h m i io Pro est coun p t t tabled, t ll t e 8 1

c ffi o f S ir lerk, as returning o cer, to the unconcealed indignation

Philip and his party, agrees to accept both, when the vote is

fo r and given , need we say, by the one the General, by the fo r o ld f other his antagonist, the Captain . The chie , Sir John ,

v fo r gi es his commission East Anstruther, and without challenge votes fo r the General but the commission o f the General him

f for i f- whis sel K lrenny is resisted, though only in a hal audible wh f f o o . per, by Bailie Cooper, seems a raid his own voice % “ That man was only voted fo r by himself and another as ” w miserable as he, hisses the General, white ith rage, but never th ele ss f the clerk, with the same provoking coolness as be ore, ac holds it to be as authentic as his own . The vote is given o rdin l S co tstarvit fo r fo r c g y, when , as delegate Crail, declares fo r o f the Captain , who, as delegate Pittenweem, as a matter fo r f course votes himsel , and now, as the delegates resume the

fi ffi fo r v . seats, all eyes are xed on the returning o cer the erdict ” “ f his The ungrate ul old villain, mutters Sir John between i f if teeth, as he sits w th his ace buried in his hands precisely as f f o . weighing a point li e and death Rising at length, he lamented again and again that one so wise and learned in the law as Sir Philip had failed to see that it was the duty of one all o f and to take the bribery oath at the election a delegate, and that so brave and true a soldier as th e General had dis if c obeyed orders in this particular. Here, as over ome by his f h is f f f eelings , voice began to alter, till, a ter a pain ul pause, he called Heaven to witness that he had no choice but to do accord “ o f Pitairthie ing to his conscience, and To be laird and Craig ” ' h f h aflectin loon , sneered the wrat ul Sir Jo n , but, g not to hear

the insult, he went on in the same low and deliberate tone to h e o f put aside t commissions as null and void, to sustain those f Bailie Cooper and his Edinburgh riend, and thus to rule that by the majority o f good and legal votes Captain John Stewart w f o f f B as the representative to Parliament o the East Fi e urghs . f Vowing vengeance, the General and his cousins at once le t the h f . o Tolboot It was no idle threat, and one the hottest debates in the first session o f the House was over the petitions from West Anster an d Cellardyke against Clerk Cunningham as G 8 2

ffi of returning o cer at the election . But the authority Sir Robert

Walpole was now at an end, and the appeal was lost . The Captain’ s victory was proclaimed on land and sea by a ll w s great bonfire at the B i o ne s. He won all hearts by the c t o f ourtesy with which he attended to the in erest the Burghs, ’ f ' but in the summer o f 1 74 5he quitted St . Stephen s o r a com th ’ pany in the s4 Foot, better known perhaps as Lord Loudon s f r H ighlanders . He was present and shared so a in the disasters of Sir John Cope and his army by being taken prisoner at the o f for battle Prestonpans . The cloud, however, soon rolled by, in less than a year he was appointed Lieutenant- Colonel of ’ D rumlan ri s o f Lord g Regiment in the service the States . Thus

re - fo r 1 he did not seek election the new Parliament in 747 ,

h r o ld e u w en the Bu ghs returned to their love, Gen ral Anstr ther.

f o f - i - Re erring to his promotion , one his companions n arms says, General Stewart is as able as he is brave but be this f o f m t as it may, he was all but orgotten in the scene his emo

n able i trigue, when he died, exactly as old as the century, in the of 1 8 Lammas 7 9 .

84

” th Laird, this being e wily politician , Lord William Anstruther, fo r of f whom, as a kind amily heritage it was told, the burghs

f . m were in ranchise In truth , no man was so la pooned in his h is day but it is enough to say, in vindication , that he had the f courage to assail the policy that hurled James VI I . rom the In f throne . a thousand ways , also, he shielded the coast rom the o f n o fiercer vengeance the Government, which had ally t f han his own ather, Sir Philip .

Seventeen years had come and gone, during which his service to the State was so far recognised in his appointment as one o f

o f the Lords Justiciary, but he was as zealous as ever in the old a o f c use, hence, though the Laird Kilrenny and his Jacobite friends c ould not sleep in their efforts to fan the smouldering fire ou h y see in the remonstrance to flame, yet his influence was suc as f u to oil every intrig e and not only so, but the electors, the Bailies and Councillors, were to a man at the great banquet ” given by him in honour o f th e Union in the Place . The first election under the Treaty was in the Tolbooth o f 2 6th 1 0 8 w East Anster, as the head burgh, on the May, 7 , hen,

o f fiv e by the unanimous vote the delegates, Sir John was elected 1 1 to the seat . He was so chosen once and again till 7 5, when fo r f he made way his cousin , Colonel, a terwards General, Philip o f Airdri Anstruther, a. ” ir W l r (LIII u S a te . 1he ghs

B E G IN N IN G AT TH E FO O ADD T O F TH E L E R .

PART I .

I R WA L T E R W AT S O N H E U G H S sprung from an old seafaring family in the Pittenweem , where he first saw light m o f 1 80 2 in the Autu n , in the curious ’ little tenement at the foot o f Calman s V V nd few f y , a doors to the west o the o f r o f h is birthplace that o nament age, o f John Douglas, Bishop Salisbury. His f f ather, who ought under Nelson at f Copenhagen , was at this time in the ore N top of one o f the frigates cruising in the orth Sea. His pay f d being small, it ell to his brave partner, Lizzie An erson, to help ’ b aimie s so far as she could to win the bread . ’ ’ ’ wi h 0 , , u the Lord Oh, aye, it s a stey brae Maggie b t the elp ’ ” e to we ll g t ower it, she said in her own cheery way the neigh u —o r th e fi if — bour. And so the str ggle sacri ce, you like went on till an appeal to the flint- faced but soft - hearted politician restored old Thomas to his own fireside as one o f the crew o f the Preventive boat stationed under Lieutenant Hodge at f Anstruther. Thus it was that the amily came to live in the “ ” f at o . little but and ben . this end Cellardyke Here, sailing

i In n r li h s little smack in the river, or birdnesting in e gel e

ods fine - IV o , our hero grew into a , chubby, dark haired boy at 86

’ m Moncri ff s b - - Do inie e school, and y and bye as an apprentice with George S hairp in the islet cooperage yonder at the Craig . B ut These were happy years, his old comrades tell . what, “ f - they ask, is li e on the coast to day to what it was in the joyous long ago ”? Ah the merry peals ringing through the well - screened window o f the big room as the young gallants — it r — fill came from east and west is the old, old sto y to the

f r f — - needles o the air sisters rosy, light hearted Jeanie Hodge ,

Peggy Watson , and the others who have met to share and lighten the task with the herring net . Nor is one incident at ’ ” w s dro onin fi kittlin s f . a this period to be orgotten It the rst , fi u , that is, to drink his rst pay as a jo rneyman according to

f - f was d custom, with his ellow cra tsmen , when he tempte by the “ fi ” winking one to drain o ff a rst and second glass . The con f f sequence was that he was thrown into a raging ever. A aith ful voice was lifted in counsel . — ’ fi o , o ; Oh , m ther do n t speak leave me alone it s the rst and ” last time, cried the penitent . c c h He was true to his word, and so es aped the shoal on whi so many o f the best and bravest o f his companions made f d h e w shipwreck in the voyage o f li e . He soon realise that as f fo r fe w o f not to climb to ortune by the adze, within a months f f l fin d th e the event re erred to, he ai ed to employment owing to disappearance o f the herring from th e Forth . “ ’ r o w I ll get something to do, be it with the pen, the wheelba r , ” ’ M . P . fo r , o or the spade said the carrier s s n who beocame Dundee, and precisely in the same spirit our her went a winter was fi sh to the lines . It with skipper Robert Cunningham in the ” o f fif ing boat Friends, one the teen so employed that seaso n w at Cellardyke . He was always illing, we have heard his boat r mates say, in those t ying expeditions in which the big chain o r t o was slipped at tw or three in the bleak December mo ning , “ ”

fi . reach the shing bank Kellie ower the glack, that is w ith ” f S idlaw f one o the Peaks over the amous Peas Valley, an d

f , o o f thence, a ter setting hook and line t beat back in the teeth the rising gale, with one and all perhaps as wet with sweat as d f th e h with the spin ri t at the pump or In suc a. if “ situation the chorus ever was true, Here we have toil an d 87

B ut . e little to reward it . this is not all Hark, that cry abov — the noise o f the wind and the waves % You listen it is only “ ” - f . % once and so aint A sea bird on the wing, you say but, no

- o f fi it is the death wail the poor sher, as when his own brother Andrew sank into a watery grave at the loss o f the boat ”

o f f 1 82 6 . Victory Cellardyke, in the gale o f was In the interval, the Preventive boat, with his ather, o f removed to Crail, when , continuing as one the household, he was associated in a joint venture fo r the cure o f cod and millmaster D reel ling with the late Thomas Hill . The at the

fi i r- 1 82 6 tted up a c rcula saw in , but the experiment had been o f B alcarras already tried by the Hon . Robert Lindsay , a “ ” o f o f . brother, by the way, the authoress Auld Robin Gray

fo r - It was a notable improvement, it superseded the old world f B ut plan o making or splitting the staves out o f billet wood . far t f his public spirit does not end here, in so that wi h the air of e fo r chance an outl t the barrels, he supplied the staves on

0 credit . N one can now realise the enthusiasm thus excited f amongst the tradesmen o the coast . “ If fo r I only had the chance , I know I could do well both ” r f . O o the laird and mysel , said our hero to the agent The pp tunit y came, and there was his trussing hammer ringing merrily at the foot o f the castle yard before the song o f the lark. But you know what the poet says

’ T he e lai mice an m n c st sc emes 0 d e et . b d h ,

f of fi f For, by a second ailure the shing, the barrels were le t f like so much lumber in the lo t . Need we say how gladly, f o n at such a crisis, he accepted a situation with an old riend “ ”

a . bo rd the Leith whaler William and Ann He had no liking, fo r o f 1 82 however, the Arctic Sea, and so in the spring 9 he was “ f o f o f in the orecastle the gallant little brig Ocean, Dundee, “ on the voyage to Cronstadt . Learning in this way to hand f ” ree and steer, he crossed the line in a ship bound to the East

Indies . f to I sling my hammock in the orecastle, but I am resolved ” f spread my cot in the cabin , he wrote to his ather . And right ° f fi fo r few well did he ul l the pledge, within a years he was not 88

o w o f of the nly the captain, but the o ner that witch the wave, ” r fine n b ig Hero . This vessel was originally built to put dow

- w piracy in the Indian seas . Her Dutch like bows above ater f might deceive you, but her beauti ul lines, her broad topsails, and he o f spars tapering to t clouds, made her exactly one those o cean nymphs of which the poet sings

S he wal s the wate li e a t in o f life k r k h g .

A nd see ms to dare the eleme nts to strife .

Her exploits in the O pium trade are one o f the most ex citing c hapters in the romance o f the sea

PART I I .

“ ’ ” f ? of It s a stirring li e, and who would not like it said one of —one his Lieutenants . In truth, there was no end adventure

- f - day scudding under close ree ed topsails, another close hauled

f - s with royals ull to the breeze, so as to weather the war junk “ ” - r o f lying like watch dogs in eve y creek the Flowery land . ffi But the peril was not always in the o ng. “ ” ? i n Was it piracy or murder he asked the p lot, pointi g as h e spoke to the bodies o f the two men hanging in chains on the left bank of the M einham. 0 — ’ N , they were caught last week smuggling opium it s ” n o w a death penalty in Siam, said the pilot with a meaning m . d g , u , u k rin But all ndis aye he contin ed his errand to Bangko , f — l where he was in great avour as we l he might, by his magni fi ent f — l c gi ts with the Royal househo d, especially the Crown ” r who of P ince, spent many an hour in the cabin the Hero . fi Satis ed that no one would be so reckless, in the teeth o f such m exa ple, the King had recalled his guard, the consequence being that the cargo was landed without any obstacle. It leaked o ut o f , however, when the rage the tyrant knew no bounds . ’ ” dat — a Let me catch houie I ll hang, h ng de debil, he yelled. B ut o f , with the cunning his race, he issued orders to invite the 89

f w . O Captain to a grand banquet in the Palace course, it as ff f only to be a step to the sca old, but one o the attendants was so grateful fo r some old kindness that h e risked his head to n warn the inte ded victim . “ u ’ How can you laugh, Captain He ghs ; I couldn t ? claimed the old Commodore . “ ’ You may be sure I ll not return to Bangkok, so only think how the tiger will stamp and growl over the failure o f his little plot, and he made the cabin ring and ring again . But the h f o f trut is that he rejoiced, to use his own words, to be ree the accursed traffi c ; and so within a week he had put his

fine of fi o f new bark in command the rst mate, one the thirteen children, by the way, at Kingsbarns Manse who o f f inherited all the heroism his ather, the late Dr. Wright, in the o ft- told anecdote o f the rescue o f the poor castaways on fi o f 1 82 Cambo Sands, in the terri c snowstorm 3 . At his o wn earnest wish he gave the Hero to the young Cellardyke

- h sailor, David Fowler, whose tombstone you see to day at t e Th e f u . gable o Elie Ch rch next step, and the turning one in f h his ortunes, was to c arter a big transport to sail with Indian

- f o f timber and live stock to the in ant colony South Australia .

- o f His arrival is a red letter day in the annals Adelaide . But fo r l let us stop a moment to reca l the scene . Standing at the h - th fi istoric gum tree where Governor Light met e rst settlers, in of 1 8 6 the autumn 3 , there, at this hour, is the charming watering o f o f place Glen Elg, and hark, the boom the signal gun as the o cean steamer, with the mails, drops her anchor in the busy

of . f of h arbour the Port And yonder is the city itsel , the queen f r th e south, her spires and palaces rising like some scene in ai y land amongst the lovely groves and gardens on either side o f the f ’ . ar sunny river But it was otherwise at the Captain s coming.

fi - o f The rst white man he met was at the gum tree, the son the fo r o f English baronet, exiled the honour the house . “ ’ ” I ll rather die than live in such a wilderness, hissed the fix fi prodigal, as he ed his bloodshot eye, rst on the weary swamps w between him and the ocean, and then at the uplands, ith no o f f th e little f sign li e save black men, with their spears, skulking rom h e tree to tree . Already, however, could see that resolute spirits 90

w an d fo r f had were at ork, himsel he soon no reason to regret the speculation , seeing that he obtained a splendid market both for n ship and cargo . The transaction was closed in the mor in g, and at night he had leased the biggest warehouse in King W o f illiam Street as a kind cosmopolitan store . He had only been a few months in the colony when a holiday excursion led him to Yorks Peninsula . “ ” There never was such a sheep and cattle run , he said to f h himsel , but there was a serious, or rat er an insuperable barrier

h . . t e in the way, viz , springs to water flocks and herds He and his black servant, Jacko, went on the search . Every creek, r was eve y valley explored, but all to no purpose, and he was u off f cr abo t to gallop when a joy ul y met his ear Massa, ” w i w t e n att e at i . massa, , It was Jacko, danci g with delight over d his discovery, and there and then he hastened to Adelai e to

if o f f . sec ure an estate as large, not larger than the county Fi e “ h I congratulate you, sir, said the Agent . But, nevert eless, f he used to say that this was the most trying period in his ortunes . f fi u The store in King William Street, so hope ul at rst, bro ght him o f ffi to the brink ruin in the end . Su ce it to say that one greater f r d . o han he was betrayed by a Ju as Let us, however, the sake o H is o f f . the lesson, give another the anecdotes he liked to tell

f - u best riend, as he thought, was the oily tong ed broker, so con

‘ o r s mo f 60 0 stantly vowing his esteem . Being pressed f a u £ he ‘ h iso fli w stepped into ce . The broker flew ith outstretched hands ” him ou to receive My dear Heughs, so delighted to see y . The

i . . Capta n told his errand It was electric The smile, the beaming f look vanished in a moment . Will you call again in the a ter ” w . as noon, sir, he replied with chilling politeness The Captain h h e w stung to the eart, hurried to the door ith the flush on his f f o f cheek. In act, his ace was so much the index the conflict o f so natural to the sensitive bosom, that one the visitors at the f o f . s store, a rough and ready armer, took hold his arm It was o f kind, so sympathetic, that an explanation at once ollowed . ’ — h Tush, man , is that all, here s the money your hand, that is t e h b i bond between us and, wit out another word, he and his g w w frieze coat vanished do n the street . But e n o w come to the crowning romance .

9 2 i fir d f th e . e ever, right man in the right place It the sleeping giant, so to speak, within him, and the wilderness only marked by the foot o f the savage became as busy as a bee -hive with this and t f o f th e hat great urnace, the blaze which was like a meteor in r heavens to guide the ocean fleet to the bay, eve ywhere alive with boats and barges laden to the gunwale with the riches of e arth and sea . But we cannot do better than quote the chapter written some “ 1 860 o f years ago on the spot In , the real value the Wal ’ laro o Mines, on York s peninsula, was made known . Copper had been discovered on the lands years before by Sir Walter h e o wn e r . s e . W Heughs , who was a large p there He persevered in his endeavours, with splendid success, to develop the mineral o f discovery he had made . Great quantities ore were raised f h ” rom the original mine . There was a rus , the writer goes on “ . h m s ecu to tell, to the Peninsula Ot er ines were explored p lation began companies were set agoing '; shares rose to a great price, and as suddenly went down again townships were o n f of pr claimed by the Gover ment and, to crown the olly the hour, land rings were added to the gambling in shares . In 1 1 f 86 Moonta was discovered . It was ar richer than the Wal laro o o f Mine, but the right to this grand property was a matter u dispute and litigation, tho gh it eventually remained in the o f h hands Sir Walter, and those with whom he s ared the f h princely ortune . T ese mines have been working more than w f o . twenty years , but neither sho s sign any exhaustion f Neither mine ever cost the proprietors a arthing. There were t far o f big debts on the estate, and hus so there was a chance loss, but no capital was ever paid up . From the Wallaroo o f mines tons ore have been raised, containing o f u tons copper, and the dividends paid amo nt to but n it is rather a long time since this mi e returned a dividend, but th e large smelting works owned by the same proprietors at ‘W allaroo Bay and near Newcastle , in New South Wales, and worth have been built out o f the profits an d con tributed to the dividends . The Moonta has yielded

o f n o f tons ore, representi g tons copper, and paid d in ividends, that is , the two mines have put 9 3 scarcely less than a million and a half into the pocket o f Sir ” Walter and his company . o f fi f A d One his rst riends in delai e was the English barrister, fo r f John Henry Richman . Esteem the ather soon grew into a f fo r o f w so ter passion one his lovely daughters , hom he thus introduced as his bride to his parents at Pittenweem “ f f My li e is now shared with one air as the day, and who ” excels fo r grace and beauty. “ ’ ” ’ h f e It s as I aye say, exclaimed his mot er, olk ill sail lik ’ warld oor Watty tae the end 0 the tae get their ain . ’ 1 8 Some twenty years later, or in 73 , Lady Heughs sister,

O - live, was married to the well known Conservative statesman ,

Sir James Ferguson . “ f I have, as you say, a ortune and a home like a prince, ” d b ut o f file An rew, I was happier as one the rank and , said the w Indian nabob, ith a weary look to his old comrade at Dominie ’ o Martin s sch ol .

. on But it was not so with Sir Walter On the c trary, his bee like spirit to seek and find the honey o f life was never so con spicuo usas when he was known to be the richest man in Australia . o f 1 o f fi He revisited Scotland in the Spring 866. One his rst his errands was to Cellardyke, where he grasped old comrades d if m by the han , as he had only ade a voyage across the Atlantic. of Indeed, the scenes his youth were as vivid on his mind as the photographs o f yesterday . “ ” c w Yes, he laughed to his ompanions, I recollect hen it ‘ O r hat — f - was just as John p says orty two houses, and not a o f h e w o f fisherman in one them , on t est side the Tolbooth,

- o f f thirty nine on the south side the street, and orty on the — — north with the braehead in the c ount between the To lb o o th ’ fifte en— and the Harbour Wynd, and including Bishop Kennedy s — f ’ ” o f r o . B ut castle s a to the east it as the Golden Strand , he “ e went on to say, there was room and to spare, seeing that a com ion fo r 1 8 1 f 6 2 w mo dat was only needed amilies, or 9 souls, hile ” - a 2 80 f f the population to d y, you tell me, is 3 , or all but our old . fo r o f He looked about with a kindling eye, the hand improve ment had been so busy that the town was all but rebuilt with more than one new street where he had gleaned or chased th e 94

butterfly, in . the happy long ago . And then the streets were so

- clean and well paved, in such contrast with the curious intimation, f which he had not orgotten, by old Drummer Wilson “ Notice, that the inhabitants with outside stairs must keep dun ste d h o f their midden or g a wit in line the same . That where there is no outside stair, the midden must be in the garden, or f f ” li ted within our and twenty hours . fo r But his pleasure was never so unconcealed as at the pier, fif fi fif fif o f ty years had made the shing fleet not teen, but ty the

finest and largest boats on the Scottish coast .

- f He was conversing with his early class ellow, Alexander w fi tea w Rodger, who o ned the rst clipper to China, hen the shovels and barrows arrived to begin to the new harbour. f f o f Like his riend, he ully shared in the enthusiasm the hour over a scheme that was to provide an inner and outer basin o f w f t elve acres, with seven eet at low water, though, at the m m h o f o ent, he was something more t an a spectator the busy scene . The truth is, that in the Indian Seas, as well as in o f da the Australian bush, he had cherished the dream one y m o f i proving the build and rig the North Sea fleet, and to this end he hastened to advise with the luckless genius, h th e C ristopher Pottinger. Thus, within week, the mallet was o f ringing on one the tidiest little vessels ever built at Anstruther, f f sixty eet in length , eighteen in breadth, and seven and a hal in

fine depth, round as a baling dish, but with lines as as a racing m yacht, and rigged as a ketch, that is , with mainsail and izzen, f o f oe to supersede the lug, and so that most atal all man uvres , f the dipping o the sail in a breeze . The launch was on the 66 l a h 1 8 . t July, ’ fi f o f f As the shing cra t the uture, let us call her the Pioneer, f o f f he said . But though amed as the witch Fi e by her speed l f under canvas, his anticipations were so litt e realised that a ter f being sold and resold, she was eventually wrecked in the ruit trade . ’ ” f o f Our Watty maun aye ha e a job, his ather would say hi m as a boy, but this was never so true as when he was verging on f three score and ten . His experiments to economise uel in ’ the smelting of ore were the nine days wonder at Pitte n weem ,

96

of 1 880 th e fi th e the autumn , rst time, let us note, that outside circle o f politics such a dignity was ever conferred on a native f o f th e East o Fife . He never had any ambition to rule in h w Churc or State . As he was hen he handled the adze or th e h e f oar, so he was to the end . Nor did ever orget, like so many, f the scenes or the friends o his youth . The Psalmist tells us “ o f if that the days our years are three score and ten, and by o f f reason strength they be our score years, yet is there labour ” and sorrow. And so it is, but loving hands were with him ; and so the years glided on till the closing scene when his spi rit passed away as softly as the shadow on the dial in his beautiful ’ f r f 1 88 o o . villa Chertsey, in the New Yea s Eve 7 3 o b n S c o t t .

HE villagers o f Colinsburgh will not soon f h his orget t is worthy old neighbour, with f f w mild and thought ul ace, and its cro n o f like setting silver hair. He had no o f f reason to be ashamed his orebears , n d m who so bravely upheld, in calm a stor , o f the banner the Covenant . Their mantle fell on the shoulders o f his grand f f h e ather, who armed till his dying day t

lands o f Newburn . h o f 0 . N one needs to be told t at the minister the parish, the Rev m h u James S it , resigned the living, like his Largo neighbo r, to organise the Independent Church at B alch rystie . Being a w sweet and persuasive preacher, the people so went ith him that the picturesque old sanctuary was all but deserted . Thus it was that Colonel H alket sent one day fo r the leading parishioners to c f L awhill announ e that his wi e, Lady , had, as patron, at his ’ (the Colonel s) request, given a call to one whose ministry must edify one and all . h e Mr. Scott was t only one that broke the silence . ’ ’ ”

0 . I m no sae sure that, sir ” 2 x ivm What e claimed the Colonel, so g g way to his rage as h e f r to strike t a mer with his whip . “ ’ I m not so sure that he will restore peace, continued Mr. f f Scott, calmly wiping the blood rom his ace . d The Colonel retire , but within the year he waited on the farmer. “ ’ f —I o u John Scott, I hope you ll orgive me was wrong and y f i . r o r . were right Mr. Richa dson is not the man the par sh H 9 8

His father leased th e beautiful farm o f B albuthie on the estate o f 1 Kilconquhar in 789 . He lived and died with the reputation o f o f f f being one the best armers o his day. Nor was he less noted in religious circles fo r his wonderful outpouring in prayer. 1 of Joining the Seceders he, with the help, in 79 5, two or three

f th e o f . riends, set about erection the chapel at Barnyards In this work he was not a little assisted by the success o f the bright young students who, at this time, were to be seen teaching an — adventure school in every village like Professor Balmer at o f Kilconquhar ; Dr. Alex. Fletcher, the author Family ” of Devotions, at Lawhead ; and D r. John Brown, Broughton

Street, at Elie . But here we are tempted to give an anecdote o f the last o f o f o f the distinguished trio . At the invitation the pillars the — f f B l i o f church the armer o a buth e and Mr. John Russel Rires — the young licentiate preached his maiden sermon at Barn fir of yards . Need we say that the discourse was the st topic f the two as they met in the little group at the door o the chapel . “ ’ 0 f Weel, neebour, what dae ye think oor young riend the day ? ” “ ’ ’ lS t — but Hoots, John, it s J like hissel bonny, unco bonny,

' n aetfzzng If such critics could not see a single scintillation o f the rising s B alsillie tar, who shall laugh at Jean , the venerable spinster, “ ” carritch ers zle. that, as she said, taucht Tam Chalmers his , catechism . f Some time a ter his ordination to Kilmany, he preached one r r forenoon in his own Anster. Overtaking his early p ecepto ess f o f the f at the oot Cows Close, on her way rom church ’ ” 0 ? Weel, Jean, what did ye think me the day ff ’ The old dame sni ed up her nose Tam, ye ll never h ’ be naet ing but a rattleskull a yer days .

. f According to Mr Scott, it was at this time that his ather was induced to become one of the partners in the Kilconquhar T annery. “ If ’ ’ ’ l ” it s weel wrought, it s as good as a siller mine, I se tel ye, s o f S and ri s aid the goodman y gg ; and he was right, but here w e ought to explain that every well - to-do shoemaker in Fife

1 00

h r fi o f ledger, w at was his su prise to see that the pro t his London 0 0 agent was all but £3 , or double his own . The hint was n o t

fo r s lost, there and then he resolved to be his own alesman , and

f f o f o f thus, a ter an event ul passage nine days with one the

Berwick smacks, he arrived in the Metropolis . It chanced that

o f - d t r on e f his ellow lo gers was a mili a y Scotsman, the son o f the o f m a town clerk Pittenwee , Lieutenant Charles Grah m . f f They were ere long ast riends, so much so that, taking counsel v fo r f together, they resol ed to advertise a wi e . But the issue not b f f ; was to e le t to chance or ortune on the contrary, the f u air ones were to be weighed and measured by a given r le . ? Was arithmetic ever, we ask, so utilised Here is the standard

1 1 1 c Good sense, 7 ; good temper, 7 ; money, 7 ; good on stitu 1 f 1 2 f 1 0 fi 1 0 tion, 7 cheer ulness, good ace, ; good gure, . And so you have the hundred points that, in the eyes o f the two f f . I bachelors, gave a model wi e their Eden was without an f f o . Eve, it was not the ault the English ladies ” “ w , , , l me Oh aye he would say all were be o the mark with ,

- v though one was as high as ninety fi e .

His friend was not so ill to please . The Lieutenant was walking in the park, when he was accosted by a pretty girl .

From that hour he could neither eat nor sleep . His one topi c was f o f about the witching smile and grace ul step the stranger . “ ” “ I asked him to be calm, continued Mr. Scott, and c alc u

w f - late with me . I tried, but could not allo more than orty seven .

He saw with other eyes, but the last time we met, he confessed ” , h far . with a sig , how he was mistaken Within a year or two the infirmitie s o f age so weighed upon the shoulders of his father that he was invited to take care o f

f m. o the ar He was so n to be his own master by the death, in

1 8 o f o f - fiv 3 3 , his venerable parent, at the age eighty e, when he set about an experiment which had occupied his thoughts ever w l . as u since the old days at Brom ey It to cultivate t rnip seed, f- t and well and patiently did he enter on his sel elected ask . f was A ter all, he never so happy, especially when the chil dren came trooping day after day from the village to assist in fi . p bu the eld Once and again he renewed the attem t, t it did d th e f not succee , owing to act that two seasons were needed to IO I

f o . mature the seed, and not one, as in the South England It

c h hastened the risis which has been growing, as we ave already f f had hinted, ever since the un ortunate hour his ather been r f f rm involved in the Tanne y and, with a heavy heart, he le t the a — h f so to live with his sisters but it was not to give imsel up , as you O h d d . n h e a often see, to i le lamentations the contrary, no sooner mf h b e to leisure t an devoted hi sel , night and day, his valuable “ ” of little book on the Evidences Christianity, published in f 1 8 4 o , 5 , and so cordially rec mmended by his riend Lord Lind f o f wf h a . say, a terwards Earl Cra ord and B lcarres Dr Fletc er, and other London divines . His Lordship says “ I should think that the little volume (which contains a great f ” deal within a small compass) will be very use ul . His own prayer was to find some antidote fo r the poison of o f u the age, as he believed secularism to be, in the hives labo r and now, with the same quiet enthusiasm with which he com i o f th e t . piled , he set about the circulation book His plan was unique . He hired two or three experienced canvassers . f — ” Never under eed a horse never underpay a man , the fi kindly old philosopher would say, and xing the remuneration o f w f at a couple pounds a eek, with so much in the way o an honorarium, he noted a street or town in which they were to h leave a volume at every likely house, and t en, say at the lapse f f o two days, to call again , so as to li t either the book or an order. In this way the sale was enormous in Edinburgh, f Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, etc . Nor, rom another and higher standpoint, was the work in vain . An eloquent revivalist visited the co ast “ ” w — d Sow in all aters sow in all waters, he crie . Thirty d ’ years ago a little book was laid on my gran mother s table . th e f— it f It was thrown on shel was orgotten, till, in the search fo r h f o f f f somet ing to read, a ter an attack ever, I took it rom ‘ - . o f h its hiding place I laughed ; the Evidences C ristianity . ’ m was o f Yes, so ighty within me the spirit Paine and Voltaire o f h but it was the influence this book, through grace, t at saved ” me . ’ “ It was Mr. Scott s treatise . His interesting leaflet, God is ” d Love, was istributed in thousands amongst the soldiers and IO % sa ilors engaged in the Crimean war ; and another of his little ” f ff . o r e usions, Five Errors in Theology, etc , was spoken ve y l f G ilfillan o h . approvingly by the ate George , Dundee, and ot ers w 1 86 His youngest brother, And re , died in 3 , leaving him an of 0 n o f annuity £4 , in lovi g remembrance what he owed to him in other years . But, nevertheless, he was as energetic as ever th e f in seed trade . So wonder ully, likewise, did he retain his n strength, that he was to be seen travelli g, with a step almost as elastic as in youth, the long six miles to Anstruther, so as to f ne w meet his riends in the Market . Here a comer one day ff o f tried to open an account , with the o er a large discount ” “ No, no, he was curtly told by a leading agriculturist, like f my father be ore me I take no turnip seed except from Mr. ”

S . cott, and we never lose a crop

A nd f so the years rolled on till the end came, as so tly as the h 2 th 1 8 shadows over the western ills, on the 4 May, 77 , in his

c 85th year. He is buried with kindred dust in the old hurch of u h is oh me yard Newburn, tr e to last wish , Lay me, , lay , by ” mo h th e side of my t er.

1 0 4

t o n — recite . Fancy the sce e the dominie, his grey eyes spark b i i ling with ecstacy, doing duty as prompter, and g blubber ng N the r the o f n ellie, in st iped short gown , in part Lady Ra dolph The groaning oak ’ n S till hears and answers to M atilda s mo a . O r little Isa Boyter sqeaking in reply Forgive the rashness ’ ” o f W h your Anna s love or illie Morris, as sublime as a ero, n with a red head and a jacket with one sleeve could be , spouti g ’ My Name is Norval ; on the Grampian Hills ; or tousy T am o f Murray, in all the grandeur Lord Randolph

S ummo n a un ed o se b rea o f d a h dr h r y b k y, ” T o wait ur leasu e a he a a o p r t t c stle g te .

W h r hat was Actor T o ns, admired as he was in his day, to Jock o f Salter, with his black eye and bloody nose, in the part Glen a r f - u lvon, with Davie Meilin as No val, a ter that terrible stand p fight with the said Davie at th e back o f the barns ? D ost tho u no t kno w G lenalvo n bo rn to c o mmand T e n t o usan s aves li e t ee h d l k h . A nd th f B auldie then e blinking herd rom Cock my Lane, Ned , f f w to with the right ul impediment, and yet who liked so ell soliloquise ‘ H e e stan s the o ak r d ,

T he m -m - n c o f he w -wo o o o mo ar h t o d . A n d so it went on till in no long time the pupils caught the

o f h - r enthusiasm the master, as you could ear by the pat patte o f f — e ing little eet on the causeway, here the ruddy urchin, ther ll the little sister at his heels, munching as they run the we b h aked barley scones, so as to be in at those t rilling death

- — scenes the murder and suicide that wind up the tragedy. To o f firesides o f the no little regret the the coast, the dominie, f r a ter a while, became so unwell that he had to retu n to his f f d . o rien s in Dundee This was about the time Waterloo, when t h e Braehead School was opened by James Nicol, who, as a herd b o o f an o dd y on the braes Kenly water, and with no help save o f o f v olume astronomy, knew more about the scenery the f an . . h eavens than y Pro essor in St Andrews Meanwhile, not a w f f o f N if fe chubby little aces were sitting at the eet a athaniel, ff e . . ver, in his day This was honest Saunders Moncrie He was 1 0 5

’ ’ f fo r weakly rom his birth . He ll never fend hissel on land ’ ” h e s fi fo r or sea ; t naething but tae keep a schule, said his

f - mother, Nannie Miles so he began his li e long duties in the

z f f him cra y old lo t on the other side o the burn . He believed f a sel born poet, hence those charming headlines

Ae d ay as Iwas in the schule

B e in nin to ex ain a u e &c. g g pl r l , f But, with all his oibles, there never was a more kind or pains taking master. o f f o f Here is the key that unlocks the secret his li e . One

m f o f the ost gi ted sons Cellardyke, Robert Lothian, sailing ‘ in afllicted master in the Royal Navy, was, his later years, with r of h pe iodic attacks insanity, when he had to be watc ed by night

' n M on criefl a d by day. On these melancholy occasions Dominie o f was , all others, the most constant . a Saunders, I can never rep y you with gold or silver, but ’ 1 ll i e o f da g you what, with the blessing Heaven, may some y i ” f br ng you both, exclaimed his grate ul charge, with the big tear all in his eye, as he there and then initiated him into the m o f ysteries navigation . Thus it was that the young sailors came farand near to begin “ the lesson with the unfailing entry in the log as to the latitude M i ff’ s d n d i f h n o ncr e . a long tude o t e ho eysuckle in Mr. gar en He taught in his day more master mariners than any other on and o f the Scottish coast, he had reason to boast that not one his r scholars ever failed in his examination before the Ma ine Board . he (t p ressgang.

P A R T I .

O W h HERE , per aps, on the Scottish c oast was th e seafaring community so cruelly harassed by the pressgang as in the o f f East F i e . How else could it b e with one or other o f the North Sea ffi fleet always in the o ng, ready to sweep k li e a hawk on its prey. But there was no sign o f danger that April forenoon when the little brown sail is seen scudding

to the shore . ’ ’ f skulkin There s oor olk noo, but wha can that be at the ” craig ? exclaimed the young mother wi th the infant in her “ ” h arms . Poor thing % w ispered Cooper Pratt ; and never h d fo r was sympathy so muc neede , at the instant an armed

. h r cutter darted towards the boat A victim is seized . It is e ” husband . Let him at least get a parting word, pleaded “ ” H o uld Alec Roger. your tongue, you lubber, shouted the ruffian fi f in charge, as the unhappy sher was seized like a elon “ ’ . r by the gang. A wild cry rose on the beach I ll never, neve ” o f see him again, shrieked the po r wi e ; and it was even so . far He was not spared to return , being, as as it was ever known , fi killed in the rst action with the enemy. This was John

' M o ncriefi f o f , the ather the old dominie ; but more touching f of still is the ate his cousin, Willie Ramsay. ’ It was on the night o f his mothers funeral that a kind- hearted

- aunt brought the light haired stripling with her to Cellardyke . ” “ ’ fit f f That s an ill , she said, hal to hersel , as Cripple Davie m wa brushed past at the burn , but it was a worse o en when he s

1 0 8

” “ was an Yes, Sir James went on to say, he a true sailor, d ’ . far f lies in a sailor s grave My duties took me rom Scotland, b ut f fi I did not orget his dying wish . The rst day I was in ’ th e old home my mother and I set out in Thomas Key s c h e h o f w haise to put t packet into the ands his s eetheart, Annie

l r v i Wi son . Alas %the daisies had long been growing on her g a e n n Duni o kirkyard . “ ” It ’ was a lowness o spirits that did it, puir thing, said the sexton “ but I believe it was a broken heart within the year h ” t at her Willie was seized by the pressgang . They were likewise as pitiless as the wolf in their midnight a fi - ttack on the sher home, and many a peace loving neigh f o f f bour has been torn rom the bosom his amily, with as little regard fo r the sobs o f his wife and the cries o f his chil o dren as a captive in the wilds o f Africa . There were als the secret spies or agents who chalked the door o f an intended m f was victi , or gave in ormation as to when and where he likely to be seized , and once with a clue, no bloodhound

fo r c was ever so cruel in the pursuit . Take, instan e, poor th e o f Tammas Watson , watched and hunted till whin bushes Kingsmuir were as familiar to himas the rocks on which he h ad f m h h waded ro child ood, though even t ere he was not out o f d fi anger, chased as he was by the ery young Comptroller on

fox L o ch t horseback, till he took like the to the coal wastes at y a f or when he was tracked as thie by the Anstruther beagles, u r who tried, tho gh vainly, to bribe or threaten eve y herd boy on the hillside . Three times he approached so near the old w home as to see his mother sitting at the windo , but there was h o f n likewise the red napkin , t at sign danger, as whe the beacon f is blazing on the bar, so that he had as o ten to fly to the muirs till on the ninth day his feet began to swell with fatigue and F h am cold . But a thought at last occurred to him ool t at I f to be lying in the rain , when I could get rest and com ort in ’ ” h cousin Anna s barn . T is cousin, by the way, being the f f “ ” f o . mother o Pro essor Tennant, the author Anster Fair As soon as the shadows fell he accordingly bent h is steps towards the Cunz ieb urn . Twelve was striking in the old steeple while he descended 1 0 9

h f o f th e . w r e the street It as pitch da k, but knew every oot

h o w way . Yes, his heart beat with joy ; all his trials are at an ’ end, there is a light in his cousin s window. He listened ; all is still as the grave . “ ” f f th e Sa e at last, he muttered to himsel , and turned to

T he w . d . t oor ga e , ho ever, swung open at his back Is it by friend or fo e ?

P A R T I I .

in f . A lantern flashed his ace Hulloa, cried a hoarse fo n was voice, and be re he could realise the situatio , so sudden f was . f the attack, he elled to the ground His heart ailed him .

f f th e of wh o A ter all he had run blind old into path the gang, h f T h now, wit brutal merriment, secured him hand and oot . e ‘ o f scuflle h e r w noise the induced a neighbour to pull up windo . ” “ h i w ? “ o n t n . Is y g rang she asked It was his cousin . Keep ” ka l ruffian your breath to cool your Scotch il, aughed the , as o f f the patrol turned the corner the street . More ortunate than

m of . any a gallant son St Peter, he was spared to see the peace,

‘ wh h e d , , o en retired with the plucky Dun ee lass Mary Buik wh , a f had h like true wi e, s ared his perils in the battle and the ' “ ” d breeze, to conduct the little public yon er at the bulwark, h is f o f th e till he was laid with athers hard by the gable kirk, the spot being marked with the curious epitaph

W at t o u we wa e in wealt o r so a in fame h h gh d h , r , ' ’ E a t s i est statio n e n s i H e e he lie r h h gh d mj r s.

a h o f - f But the sea has no sadder t le than t at his school ellow . c fi m In this ase, the young sher, Tho as Watson, was on th e f ”f homeward run , ull ship, rom Greenland . All had gone well , B alco mie l f f and Castle lay ike a rigate in ull sail on the lee, c rn o f o n d h when , to the onste ation every young sailor boar , t e IIO

un - f g brig Clio was seen weathering the May. Their ears were f fi fo r h only too well ul lled, within the hour he and three ot ers f o f f s Th e were lying in irons at the oot the orema t . whaler in the meantime was steering up the Firth with royals and top “ ’ gallants spread to the breeze . Rin and tell Maggie there s ’ o f Tam s ship noo, cried Willie Doig, hastening, in the joy his o f honest old heart, to be the bearer the happy tidings to the “ f f ” intended bride . But mis ortune flies ast, and that night many a cheek was wet on the coast . Salt, salt was likewise the f tear shed by the poor sailors, to be thus wrenched in one atal f — hour rom all that is dear to the human bosom yes, without one word to those they loved . Thomas was sent to join the glorious

‘ ' TIzezzs fi . old , being re tted at Sheerness One night he was sit o u ting a carronade lost in his own melancholy reflections, when ” - n f a well k own voice roused him rom his reverie . Bob Pratt, he cried, seizing as he spoke his young townsman by both fo r hands, he it was, having that very day been kidnapped a f h . O second time by the gang course t ere was much to tell, but with feelings and sympathies exactly the same what wonder “ if fir \V h the one impulsive young heart set the other on e . at ” “ ” s dae ye say tae rin, Bob, whi pered Tom . Agreed, was the ready answer and so the first dark night the two friends

- - slipped, with their clothes bag in their teeth, by the hause hole

- into the water, rushing like a mill stream, at the bows o f the ship . It was a desperate plunge ; but what will the free not dare and do fo r liberty ? T h e f — a lights burned aint and low on the shore mile, at least, h to the right ; but the swimmers bravely eld on till, almost midway, Robert heard a strange cry . He turned . It was his fi . x comrade His eye was ed on the one bright star in the black, “ dark canopy . Oh, my God, have and with that prayer on his lips the young sailor sank into a watery grave . The sur v ivo r was impressed fo r the first time while doing duty as a H o e o f smacksman on board the old p Berwick. The halyards f f had been little more than coiled a ter sailing rom Leith . With w ’ ” . lee this ind, captain , you will soon have St Abb s on the , said of Lord Wemyss, who was one the passengers to London but f h almost as he spoke, an armed boat rom t e Guardship ordered

th e w f m upon cre s as they came in ro sea, till, as in the heroic o f o f days old , the wives Cellardyke, headed by Nelly Rhynd, of rushed upon the scene, and, with the piles ammunition, of stones and bullets, ready at their hand, so pelted the dogs war that they never dared to return . (the 5ei3 ut e of the E antsh

le t » jf e eat the jfishers of jfife.

HA is he ? What is he daeing here ex

claimed Luckie Millar in a breath, as she ” r o f d hu ried to the door the public, hee less that the S c ripture - quoting pedlar was alone with the siller caup and its contents — those seventeen bright guineas which for there and then vanished ever. Her

curiosity, as she could see, was shared — at every doorstep as the stranger a

- officer— tall, severe looking stepped so o f briskly along the crown the causeway that his companion, ‘ uflin the paunchy little comptroller at Anstruther, was p g like a fish ard porpoise at his elbow. His course is straight to the y ,

h , u wi which, as it so appens is alive this lovely J ne night th the “ f . d V ilant exercise o the Volunteers A wor with your men, ; ” A a shut the gate . y, y, yer honour, said the drill master. It f fo r was the Admiral o the station, and his errand, he was a man o f f w s o f r e words, was soon told Fi hermen Cella dyke, like of f the other Volunteers the coast, you will be ready o r active

- - f . service in eight and orty hours It is a secret expedition, so no ” fe w a questions . And with a det ils as to how they were to go on u ea b board the Flying Sq adron, alr dy anchored in Leith Roads, e dismissed the men fo r the night . Than this imperious order are r o f fir sid little else, you su e, was by and bye talked at the e es o f l i i the coast . To te l the truth, it was w th as much cur osity as 1 1 4

t was f wa of alarm , so li tle there to ear in the y an action at sea since that glorious October forenoon— “ Twas in Trafalgar ” Bay the fleet it did lay . Such was the call to the fishers o f Fife enrolled as Naval Volunteers to serve in the expedition sent under Gambier to f 1 0 o 8 . seize the Danish fleet, in the Lammas 7 “ ’ f fi It s the oulest blot in the history o f the nation . You rst ” f en f steal rom, and th stab a riend in the dark, hissed the black nebs in the famous or infamous Sabbath - day conference at

- h . f Kilrenny . But here is the ot er side S el preservation is fir o f o f the st law nations, as individuals . The Dane is the ” if o f h f sworn, secret , ally t is Napoleon , the scourge o the world , his the sitting member, Sir John , went on to say, in great speech f o f on the Tolbooth stair, amidst the dea ening hurrahs old and

h o f c young ; but, wit out one thought politi s, resolved only to

c fi do their duty to their King and ountry, the shermen embarked in the fleet . ffi We are kindly received by the o cers , let us try to deserve ” M ful it, writes ichael Doig ; and how well the resolution was fille d you see in the fac t that not many days go by till they are

- thanked from the quarter deck . “ f m G Com The best oretop en in the ship, by said old modo re h Keats, as he saw those wit so little to say on the deck f w o f ever oremost at brace or sheet, here the indecision an instant might have wrecked the squadron on the thousand and o f d one perils the channel , till then never attempte , as , any

- Baltic sailor will tell you, by a square rigged ship . They were ” likewise the first to be piped away to man th e boats employed — to land Sir Arthur b y and by one o f the heroes o f all time as — the Duke o f Wellington and the troops in the brilliant O pera tions which cut o ff th e last hope o f rescue fo r th e citizens of h f r fi Copen agen , exposed during those ou days to that terri c

m o f th e - o f stor shot and shell, with death cry women and

n o f children , perishi g in hundreds amidst the ashes the once f o f happy home, hushed in the dea ening thunder the battle . “ f f m Yes, it was a ear ul sight, and I see it yet in my drea s, f f David Rodger said, long years a ter, on the Sabbath be ore he and his gallant son were drowned in the Forth .

1 1 6

o e his strokes s brav ly in cutting away the shrouds, that with the n x a f e t heavy lurch the masts, with all their t ckle, ell with a tremendous crash by the deck . Ensign and pennon are fluttering far down amongst the spray ; but it saved the vessel an d those on board from the hurricane which strewed o f the coast that night with the relics many a gallant sailor. Happily no accident occurred either to one or other in the expedition and one November morning— when the grey mist — was still lying thick on land and sea the finest corvette in the service lay- to in the offing of Cellardyke to restore the last of f the Volunteers to their wives and amilies . (the f irst (Eontest

F S C O T T A R V IT S C O T T O S .

o f 1 the gloaming Thursday, 3 th April, 1 2 2 flin t 7 , the y old messenger at Anster, l Wi lie Bruce, might have been seen stepping from stone to stone over th e Caddies Burn on his way to the stately th o f house on is side the Tolbooth . ” ls Bailie Peacock at home ? he said in his curt way to the domestic who undid

the latch . “ ’ ’ 1 st wi th e Aye, but he s j gaen ben minister. ’ ’ II . But I m on an errand that no wait, sae rin fi The terri ed girl flew upstairs . Almost in a breath, the h f o f eavy oot her master was heard hurrying to the door. “ ’ ’ h Preserves a , what s wrang he cried, but a glance at t e paper was only needed to put him in a calmer key . ’ ’ ’ Hoots, I might ha e kent it s the election, but I se no hinder ” d ye, Willie . Rax me the pen and ink, lass, he sai , turning to his the domestic who had followed at heels . The messenger had hardly left the house when the Bailie f d o f o flicer himsel steppe to the door the town , Saunders Menti to play, to tell him to summon the Council, as he would have

- f answer on oath to a meeting to morrow orenoon . The Bailie loo ked as anxious and troubled as the skipper at sea in a if h e . Fo r gale . Nor, in the secret, do you wonder did so 1 1 8 months no stone had been left unturned to unseat General A st fo r n ruther so as to win it the clever young advocate, David

o f S co starvit f Scott t , but who, like his athers, lived in the old m f th u o f T hird art on o e . anor ho se p , the skirts parish The two A nsters f fo r were as stead ast as the Bass Rock the General, in of o f B alcaskie the hands his cousins, Sir John and the Master , but where was the urchin in Pittenweem and Crail that was not fl fo r S cotstarvit ? ying the ribbons Thus, as the returning burgh fo r an d the time, Kilrenny sat with the scales in her hand, f sh e fo r surely no air one was ever so wooed as the casting vote . had Once and again he, as well as the other Bailies, been waited of ff for upon under cloud night with mysterious o ers his vote, but where was the member o f Council that was not so tempted ? T he mason and his son had been busy all winter through at the “ ” u d big hoose . The tailor had act ally ma e the coat the Laird had ff so liked to wear. Skipper Pourie been o ered the best th e fo ra ke e l t ree in woods to his boat, and where was the gossip “ ’ h h d S co tstarvit s d in the back raw t at a not seen Lady mai , h ’ ? basket in and, with cordials to weaver Paterson s dying child So long ago as Michaelmas the Bailie himself had pledged one f h d f r . a an d and all o the General Yet his wi e, who her likings “ ’ likin s o wn f — Ye a dis g , whispered his ears ken, Jamie, there s t raitor in every camp . His uneasiness, however, passed away, x f it like the morning cloud, ne t orenoon in the Tolbooth , when w s a agreed with one voice to appoint the sedate carpenter, Bailie th e Robert Waddel, to preside and vote as delegate at the B ut f e lection that day week . it was only the calm be ore the storm . “ — ’ ’ ” Wh a what is t ? Is t fire or the Fren ch ees? gasped o ld

Eppie Armstrong, running like her neighbours to the street, as Saunders M entiplay tugged with might and main at the bell . n I dinna ken cried one, but look at Bailie Peacock rinni g

without his wig. Such was the excitement outside and inside the Tolbooth o f

Cellardyke the following Monday. c f The Bailie could not onceal his agitation, but a play ul o h e k smile curled the lip f t Clerk, whose sonorous voice bro e the silence .

1 20 ”

. u delegate Thus, he continued, yo r duty on Friday began fi zle. and ended by xing the time, day and hour, so that Scots ” tarvit f f is precisely like the thie who steals a orged bank note . ” W Hurrah, shouted Bailie aid, unable to conceal the delight so evident ly shared round the table . o f f It was resolved, at the suggestion the clerk, to sa eguard f o f fi the vote by choosing the Colonel himsel , when, by way nale, the Bailie was authorised to call on the skippers so as to get them and their crews to act as special constables at the vote of the delegates .

CHAPTER I I .

Never before or since h as the Tolbooth o f Cellardyke wit m f n ess d . e so much enthusias , as on that event ul Friday Bailie his u Peacock stood with colleag e, James Waid, rod in hand, on f of . o the top the stair Not one the seven crews were at sea, so

f - - f fi a that there are no ewer than two and orty stalwart shers, e ch armed with a big stick—though it is no idle whisper that the f a cutlasses, removed overnight rom the Anster mag zine, are lying ready fo r service in the anteroom .

f . It is a holiday, as you see, rom east to west Master and man f o f D reel fo r are here rom either side the , with such notables, h e wh o instance, as t old souter in the East Green , in the contest, f th e f or rather the eud between Sir Philip and towns olk, gained a Whig vote fo r the Convention ; and the controversy- loving r f o f th e wh o w ight at the oot Loan , lay night and day in d ambush in Kelly avenue, to waylay and iscuss the decrees with

w s o f Bishop Falconer, whom he had kno n so well as mini ter o f Carnbee . Yonder at the head the brae, posted like an advanced guard, is Weaver Gillis and twenty or thirty f n h neighbours all the way rom Crail, fla ked by anot er division, led by one if not two o f the Bailies o f Pittenweem in the interest i o f S co tstarv t . I

It cr is a noisy and motley crowd , but all eyes turned to the y, ” Bailie Waddel , Bailie Waddel , and there in truth he is,

d o . stepping, in his own se ate way, towards the T lbooth The question is on a hundred lips Hoo has he gotten here ? ’ f h t e . But no one is any wiser, till his ather hobbles on scene ’ f f ” I ha e it rae himsel , he said to the little knot at old ’ Cle han o n s v f s p t door wonder in e ery ace, as the patriarch goe In ne r ellie on to tell that the Bailie had been decoyed to g , to i m b ut adv se as the essage said, about the vacant pulpit he had far w f just got as as the big elms , hen he was seized rom behind f r and pushed into a chaise . At the end o the jou ney he m f was led into an upper room . Being left to hi sel he tried the f fo r door. He was a ast prisoner . The table was spread as an t a f expected guest, but, overpowered with a hous nd ears, he could

B - - b man neither eat nor drink . y and y a tall entered by a secret m f door. The stranger wore a ask, and spoke in a eigned voice ; but the Bailie was satisfied that he was no other than S cotstarv it f t H is visitor told him to ear nothing, his abduc ion was but designed to save the Fife Burghs from a renegade like the was fi o f o f h Colonel . It only the rst many interviews, in one w ich c o untt f he was told how well he might serve the y , and himsel , if o r i he were to vote f S c o tstarv t . A little book lay on the — ’ mantlepiece it was E sop s fables and while reading it the idea w flashed on his mind to circumvent cunning ith cunning, and f f h and raud with raud . This was on T ursday, , acting his ne w h e part, gave up the two documents, the writ and the commission, when towards midnight he was again seated in the chaise and driven to Here the voice o f the old man was drowned by the sh out on ” the brae S co tstarv it fo r e ver.

The gay young cavalier was escorted by several horsemen , h two f . but only , with himsel , alighted at the Tolboot The h o f i groom had little more t an hold the br dle, when the street ” fo r v f e nd f c r . rang rom to end with a dea ening y, Anster e er It his m was opponent, the Colonel, acco panied by his cousins — o f the stately Sir John, and the handsome young Master

l ski h f w v B a ca e . Hats and andkerchie s a ed in the air, every

n echo resounded with the ovatio . 1 2 2

The enthusiasm was at its height when a little man, in a black

u . velvet coat, slipped p the stair It was Bailie James Melville,

o f S co ts rvit . the delegate Pittenweem . ta flew to his side A minute or two later the loosely-jointed planks in the floor of the Tolbooth creaked under the manly tread of Sir John and the Master.

Bailie Waddel and Clerk Cunningham were at the table .

- The latter gave a glance at the hour glass . ffi ” O cer, shut the door ; let no one enter, at your peril, he c fi d e .

Saunders obeyed . n fo r r I dema d to know who is the delegate this, the retu ning ” h d burgh ? e aske . “ ” I , said Bailie Waddel . I h f c t e c . so, produ e writ and ommission ’ ” S co tstarvit s They are not in my keeping, but in , returned firm the Bailie, in a voice .

S co tstarvit bit his lip . The Master rose and waved his hand w in at the indow . Willie Bruce, with a paper his breast, advanced to the stair ; but one and all resumed their seats, as S co tstarvit f , pulling the documents rom his pocket, threw them, with a contemptuous sneer, on the table . r The several mandates or commissions being read in tu n, the fiv e delegates took and signed the oaths of allegiance and “ ”

of . de assurance . And now comes the tug war Bailie Wad l r and Sir John vote fo the Colonel . But an extraordinary scene f ollows . ” Bailie Melville, said the clerk, pen in hand . ” I will not vote, was the sullen answer. S co st rvit f t a sprang to his eet . ”

m . I will not vote here, he repeated in the sa e dogged tone ” S co tstarvit You will repent, sir, said , pale with rage ; but h the Bailie was as little moved as a stone . A t ird vote was h fo r th e S co tarv it ere given Colonel by the Master, but ts voted fo r f w o f himsel ; hen he and Bailie Melville r se rom the table . “ ” “ ” ou ? Clerk, said he, will y go with us th e o f n r No this, and this only, is place electio and mo e,

I protest against a second clerk being here this day.

(the jfirthfielo E ragebv

A T RU E TA LE O F 1 80 Y E A RS A G O

v UD E preser e us, that sic a thing should happen in a Christian land faur less in ’ the canny parish o Kilrenny, cried Smith Ramsay’ s wife running with a hugger in one hand and a creepy stool in the other to join the knot o f eager and excited neighbours at th e Kirk Stile that eventful Sabbath in the April o f

1 7 1 4 .

’ f- Tell s aboot it, Simon, cried hal a dozen voices in a breath . ” ishart ’ Yes, Mr. Cooper, do, wheedled Peggy W , the ladies

In n i maid at e rgell e . And the importunities might not have been lost on the good — o f C o ckm lan e in o f man y h t haste as his ace proved him to be, fo r o ff he had already taken his blue bonnet, wiped his bald fore

v h — head, and gi en a preliminary coug had not the beadle,

a r . S unders Tait, hi pled on the scene ’ ’ ’ ’ e e waitin Haste , sir, haste the minister s , sir, in his ” n h ic tcap. u f Let us also leave the noise and h bbub at the stile, and ollow to the manse there, nestling with its back wall, narrow gable , f f o . n and grey roo , at the side the churchyard Dominie Wilso , d f the Session Clerk is already seate , with his olio book, inkhorn , ” w h t e . and quill ne ly nebbed, spread on table A minute o r w G f two later the sedate eaver, William ilchrist, the gi ted crofter 1 2 5

' airful Vvade h William F , and paunchy James , with the ot er er% elders in Cellardyke, are in the room, when the minist ” unfolds “ the cruel and unnatural murder that had led to the sitting. The Rev . Alexander Anderson, who at this time was h o f in the t ird year his ministry at Kilrenny, was a thin little e man, with high cheekbones and grey, r stless eyes , very nervous an - fo r d excitable, as he may well be to day, he goes on to tell Pitbladd o how, on this Sabbath morning, a ploughman, Willie , h ad far o f having an errand to the Leys, gone so out his way as Pitc o rthie of to peep into the old coal pit at , so many relics t which, by the way, came to light in the recen oil workings in f f the parish . The miners had le t many years be ore, and it was not without much toil and innumerable scratches that he at last of waded, as it were, through the sea whins, but his curiosity was so far rewarded that he could see a large bundle floating on

rf o f th e c the su ace water. Drawing it out with a sti k, what was fin d o f his horror to that it was the body a child, evidently strangled by the garter still round its neck by the same ruthless o f hand that had tied a stone to the corpse the little innocent, her fo r o f hoping to hide his or crime ever at the bottom the pit . ? ” What took Willie to the pit, dae ye say, Simon asked the

minister. hin aet . N g particular, I opine ’ f ” f But ye re wrang, neebour aur wrang, broke in the cro ter. His wife has jest teld me hersel’ she dreamed three times

aboot it, and got Willie tae promise on the Book tae gang and ” “ ’ see . Yes, sir, he continued, in his own sonorous bass, it s ’ the finger seen and manifest 0 God ; that nane will gainsay

c except Deists, Atheists, Papists, Prelatists, S hismatics ’ Lord help s murmured the little weaver. But the oration u i f was abr ptly stopped by the minister r sing to his eet . There

was a flush on his brow. The whisper went that he had never forgiven his elde r since the day he was told by the drunken fish wife t hatth ere were those in the parish who got more edificatio n F i f f m l . f . a r u h rom the godly Mr than romhis own ser ons But, be t is

as it may, he quietly observed that, like themselves, he had his h duties to attend to in the sanctuary, but t at he would advise w h between services it Bailie Peacock, so that not a stone might 1 2 6

f be le t unturned to bring the murderer to justice, and so the o f f r meeting ended but, course, the oul c ime was the one topic in o f f the parish, or rather in the East Fi e, that day, and the next, a d th n the next, but let those that are curious about e ’ E liez ar search adjourn with us into Wilson s public, there in the o f High Street Anstruther. Let them also take a second glance u at the rough entry and the dark parlour, with that mysterio s fo r opening behind the door, here it was that the seizure took place o f the smuggled gin belonging to the ill -fated Pathhead A f f baker, ndrew Wilson , so that you are ace to ace with the opening scene in perpaps the most stirring episode in Scottish r — sto y the Porteous Mob . But in the meantime our business is w f ith the occupants o the parlour . ’ ” freen ds? h Hoo ha e ye come on asked t e landlord . o f No ava, but rax in a stoup gin , growled Tammas ffi ’ ’ ’ Wallace , the town o cer. It s my thocht the De il hissel has contrived the black deed sae cleverly that it’ll never be found oot ’ ” on this side the crack 0 Doom . ’ ” “ wi ff . I di er ye there , Tammas, edged in old tailor Paton ’ Ye ken the earth ill no hide, and the ocean no wash oot, the ’ ’ ’ fut rin ts . seein ne eb ur p o bluid I ve jest been oor auld , David ’ ’ B - r ruce, ninety sax at his last bi thday, and he was tellin me a air aboot the murder, when the p Aberdeen skipper, Saunders ’ Ferguson, was sae cruelly slaughtered in the black hoor o nicht, e fo r at oor ain pier. The patriarch mind d it weel , he was in ’ office when the Lords o the Privy Council pat the toon tae sae ’ ’ muckle trouble and vexation at the complaint 0 the Bailies o f ’ . 2 1 0 Aberdeen Wha in Anster can orget the nicht, the st August, ’ 1 690 ? The black deed was committed by ane o the sodgers ’ in Colonel Cunningham s regiment ; but it was weel kent tae ’ ’ ha e been contrived by Tam Alexander, wha hanged himsel in ’ c rui k h his ain garret and sae lies yirded at the c o t e loan .

Aye, Tammas But here the conversation was suddenly interrupted by an r excited voice in the ent y . ’ ffi Come awa , o cers , come awa

1 2 8 sight o f Tammas and his companions she stood as if petrified sh e f till, uttering a wild shriek, flew with the S peed o the

. o f f u wind Within a couple urlongs, however, s ch was her f , u excitement she stumbled and ell into the old q arry, where she was seized, in the attempt to scramble to the bank, by the o f M enti la ffi f iron hand Saunders p y, the town o cer o Cellardyke. h b , t e She was at once escorted to the Tol ooth but Sandy, in t fi meantime, was sent hrough the elds to tell the minister and of o f the bailies the events the night . Hence it was that long before the arrival of th e unhappy prisoner the market place was “ ” all a buz with an eager and clamorous throng. At this period fin e n o w c the p illar stone or cross, linched to the side o f the H all of o f , o a nd sto d on a tier steps in the middle the street, o f these, being the key the situation, were seized by the gossips o f fi r Kilrenny, the rst to hur y on the scene . ’ ” P , u Yonder s Bailie eacock at last said L ckie Bisset, as the “ ’ w n Magistrate stepped from his door ay. A d there s Clerk ’ ” h wi ffl . Cunning am, his braw ru es “ ’ ’ ’ w ’ My certie, that s no the coat he cam tae Anster i six ’ ’ ” years sin ; but a lawyer s a root that thrives in ony soil, sneered the little tailor. ’ ’ ersel s That s spoken like y , Tammas, but look at the mini ter. ’ ” He ll be a weary man the nicht, said Cripple Meg, and so the w ’ gibes ent on, till all eyes turned to the cry Here s the ” limmer noo . t So numerous was the crowd, that it was wi h no little diffi M en ti la o f r culty that Sandy p y, by means his halbe t, succeeded fo r dl in clearing a passage the captive and her guard . Some j e apprentices began to hoot and even to pelt her with rotten eggs, of — but a knot veterans Willie Boyter, Aleck Doig, Sandy f o f — Murray, and the other athers Cellardyke true to the f fi f instincts o the kindly sher heart, at once inter ered . “ ’ 0 e u , the Lord is surely sair enough Avast, y l bbers the hand ’ f ’ tae thole without you, or I ll and here a wave o Aleck s

- - fist ff sledge hammer like e ectually silenced the outcry. h e o f Poor Isabel was in trut the pictur despair. D ripping f h with mire by the all, her garments clung about her as s e f i h of reeled rom side to side, w th the big and Tammas on 1 2 9

fi her shoulder, down the rough causeway ; her ngers twitching fit f as one in a convulsive , as she vainly tried to bury her ace u sh e with the rags on her bosom . Yet, cr shed with shame, f’ saw and heard not, and so was led into the Thie s Hole the black recess to the right of the stone wall that divide d the great arch or ground floor o f the Tolbooth .

But as every cloud has a silver lining, so is it with our story. Thomas Morris and his daughter had long been at variance with their neighbour, Bessie Melville . They, and of they only, were ever suspected the outrage on her cow, as well m fire h o f as the atte pt to her barn , but no sooner did she ear ’ Isabel s distress than she hastened with every needful comfort h e fo r . r to the prison But sympathy did not end here, when th e rusty iron door again swung on its hinges , with the curt “ ” ’ fo r r order The Bailies are waiting you , she, with a siste s a child devotion, led her, as she wept like , by the outside stair to the Tolbooth . — The Bailies were already seated James Peacock, with his

\V addel gold spectacles and black velvet coat old Thomas , never

- seen but with that great sea cravat ; and John Robertson, best “ ” ’ f f known , however, as Johnnie A thing, rom his wonder ul shop, where, according to the proverb, he could supply everything from a needle to an anchor. The minister and his elders were also seated at the table, or on a bench within the bar. But, unquestionably, the most remarkable individual in the room if f was the clerk, with his handsome haughty ace, who had been seemingly engaged in a hot debate with the minister. “ m I cannot and will not advise a co mittal on such evidence,

h . e said, with a curl on his lip “ ? ” Will ye hear me speak, yer Honours said Isabel, with a convulsive sob . 1 3 0

PART I I I .

f The prisoner rose to speak, when her eye, alling on that ghastly o o f she bject, the body the murdered child, lying on the table, f o f uttered a wild shriek, and would have allen on the floor the f T olbooth but fo r the timely help o Bessie Melville . So extreme was her agony that, blustering old sailor as he was , Bailie Waddel wiped the tear from his eye but the first to speak was

h e t minister, who explained to the Magistrates how, in con “ f f of sequence o the secret in ormation Lucky Black, the witch ” w f Pitkerrie M enti la i e, at , he had told Sandy p y to take the panel

d . into custo y He then turned to the unhappy woman , and, with h is fi nger pointing to the dead child, he besought her, as she ad d f valued everlasting peace, not to to her sin, but to con ess t h e truth an d ask forgiveness at the footstool o f Heaven . f Wiping the sweat as it rose like beads on her orehead, Isabel c ould only gasp ’ — fo r fo r . I se dae it but, oh pray me, sir pray me f t e Being allowed a little time to collect hersel , she made h f f a ffi — a ollowing con ession , as it appe rs in the o cial scroll grim b it o f old world writing that is or was amongst the thousand and o ne ff curiosities in Anstruther Museum . It is to the e ect that — sh e gave birth to the child one day in March she did not

o f . remember the date, but it was on the morning St Monance f Fair. Her ather was at the plough, but all the neighbours, h ad young and old, had taken their way to the coast . She , in u partic lar, seen Bessie Melville going down the loan with ’ o f Cai lie young Luckie Brown p M ill, and Jeames Fortune s Inn er ellie mother in g , on the double errand to buy linseed, and sell their linen . She called the angels to witness that the child

f . died, without any violence, soon a ter its birth But in her distraction, not knowing what to do, she concealed the body b fo r f eneath the big bed, where it lay a ortnight, to her constant r o f f terror, owing to the outc y her ather and the neighbours about f t he . o smell So it was that, being told on Sabbath night one f Pitco rthie o her sheep being dead amongst the whins at , the i he t dea occurred to her, in a dream, to take t body and sink i in

3 2

— ’ it . I ken naething aboot it s a lee, sir f ? ” Then, why did you run rom the parish ’ ’ I didna run at a , sir, I only gaed tae see my brither, Jock, ” r h at N ewbu g . h o f the He was sternly dealt wit , according to the rules

Church, both by the Session and the Presbytery, but here is the sequel

2 h O V E MB E R 1 1 . 9t N , 7 4 The minister reports that James Small has appeared before h f t e Presbytery, but he is so ignorant and insensible that, a ter e f the Lesser Excommunication, the Session are enjoin d to ree ” f h e him rom t stool . if Nevertheless, you are to believe tradition , he did not go fo r of 1 0 unpunished, he is the suicide who, in the Autumn 73 , f was re used Christian burial at Kilconquhar, by the old minister, \ \ Valter Vilson .

W a rsn av . 81 D . C . T H O M S O N D U N D E E CO U R IE R F F I , O CE , D U N D E E .