No. 11. THE TRANSACTIONS JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY Natural Hislory & Anfiquarian Sociely. FOUNDED NOVEMBER, 1862. SESSION 1894-95 PRINTED AT THE COURIER AND HERALD OFFICES, DUMFRIES. 1 896. ®l*^*^**5**8»»5*»t*»J***^5**********^5^*^^ No. 11. THE TRANSACTIONS JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY Natural Hislory & Antiquarian Society. \^ ^ - "•' FOUNDED NOVEMBER, 1862. V/> ^,^^' SESSION 1894-9 5 PRINTED AT THECOT'KIKR AND HERALD OFFICES, DUMFRIES. 1896. O O XJ IT C I H.- Sir JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. THOMAS M'KIE, F.S.A., Advocate. WILLIAM JARDINE MAXWELL, M.A., Advocate. .TAMES GIBSON HAMILTON STARKE, M.A., Advocate. PHILIP SULLEY, F.R. His. Soc. EDWARD .T. CHINNOCK, LL.D.. M.A., LL.B. S!ivea»uvev. JOHN A. MOODIE, Solicitor. Sxbvaviatf. JAMES LENNOX, F.S.A. (Lurator of Sevbatriutn. GEORGE F. SCOTT.ELLIOT, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., assisted by the Misses HANNAY. Curator of ^u»eunt. PETER GRAY. (Qt^ec '^exnbev9. Rev. WILLIAM ANDSON. JAMES BARBOUR, Architect. JAMES DAVIDSON, F.I.C. JAMES C. R. MACDONALD, M.A„ W.S. ROBERT MURRAY. JOHN NEILSON, M.A. GEORGE H. ROBB, M.A. JAMES MAXWELL ROSS, M.A., M.B. JAMES S. THOMSON. JAMES WATT, COnSTTEnSTTS- Pagt'. Secretary's Reixirt ... .. 1 . • 2 Treasurer's RejKirt . .. ... The Home of Annie Laurie. Rev. Sir E. Laurie . 3 Botanical Notes for 1894. J. M'Andrew 10 Kirkbean Folklore. S. Arnott . 11 Dumfrie.s Sixty Years ago. R. H. Taylor IS Antiquities of Dunscore. Rev. R. Simpson . 27 Colvend during Fifty Years. Rev. J. Fraser ... 38 Birrens and Birreiiswark. J. Maodonald ... .. ... 55 All that is known of Ei)ictetus. F. J. Chinnock <)7 Conversazione in January . ... ... 72 Emotional E.xpression. Sir J. Crichton-Browne 76 Standing Stones of the Stewartry (Illustrated). F. R. Coles 7S Meteorology of Dumfries, 1S04. Rev. W. Andson M A Famous Old Battlefield. A. D. Murray S!) New-Galloway Fresh Water Algfe. J. M'Andrew... 97 Superstitious Custom in Galloway J. M'Kie ... 98 Twenty Years' Residence in Tynron. J. Shaw 90 Troqueer in the Olden Time. J. G. H. Starke 107 Incidents in Nithsdale during the Jacobite Rising of 1745. J. W. Whitelaw 117 Mr Scott-Elliot's Welcome Home. Addresses by Sir J. Crichton-Browne and Mr Scott-Elliot . 138 The Forest Ruwenzori. G. F. Scott-Elliot 143 Food Plants -The Cereals. P. Gray 14(i Old Annan. G. Neilson 152 Field Meetings— Birrens Addresses by Mr J. Barbour and Dr MacDonald 182 List of Members 187 — PROCEEDINGS AND TRANSACTIONS nv Tlii'', DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY NATURAL HISTORY & ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. SESSION 1894-95. I8th October, 1894. ANNUAL MEETING. Mr William J. Maxwell, M.P., in the Chair. New Members. —Colonel Edward Blackett of Arbigland and Mr William Barber of Terreran. Mr Frederick R. Coles, of Edinburgh, was elected an honorary member. Donations. — Cooke & Berkeley's Fungi, presented by Mr William Thomson, Kirkcudbright ; Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1894 ; Report of the British Association, 1893 ; Catalogue of Grierson's Museum, presented by Mr J. R. Wilson; Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 1894; Report of Marlborough College Natural History Society, 1893 ; Proceed- ings of Science Association of Natural Staten Island, 1893 ; Transactions of Canadian Institute, 1894; Report of Kirkcaldy Naturalists' Society ; Cystopteris Montana in Stirlingshire and Records from the Scilly Isles, by A. Somerville. Secretary's Report. The Secretary (Dr E. J. Chinnock) read the Annual Report : There are 182 members of the Society, of wliom 19 are honorary and 8 life members. Ten new members were elected during the year. The Society sustained a loss by the removal from the town of two active members, Mr Robert M'Glashan and the Rev. Robert Macintosh. This was somewhat counterbalanced by the accession to our working membership of Mr Peter Grav, 'I Transactions. who for many years has been an honorary member and a frequent contributor to our Transactions. Eight evening meetings and two field meetings have been held. At the former 25 papers were read, some of which were of permanent value, and all of which were interesting. The communications of Messrs M'Andrew, Johnstone, Coles, Murray, Shaw, Dudgeon, and Fingland were especially valuable. In the absence of Mr Scott- Elliot in Africa, the herbarium has been carefully protected and enlarged by Miss Hannay. Mr Andson has continued his meteorological observations with unremitting diligence. Unfor- tunately the bad weather prevented us from having more than two summer excursions, one to Leadhills and the other to Threave Castle. Treasurer's Report. Tlie Treasurer (Mr J. A. Moodie) read his Annual Report, from tlie 1st October, 1893, to the .30th September, 1894 :— CHARGE. Balance in Savings Bank at close of last AccountIt £4 ,, Treasurer's hands ,, ,, Subscriptions from 123 Members at 5s each ... ... ... ... ... £30 1 1 Subscriptions from 12 Members at 2s 6cl 1 U) Entrance Fees from 8 New Members Two Subscriptions paid in advance for next year Arrears paid —two Subscriptions ... Copies of Transactions sold Interest on Bank Account ... — — 1 Transartionti. Broiigh t forward £ 1 1 1 Paid Expenses of calling Meetings, as follows : Postcards £3 16 G^ Paid for addressing same ... 1 2 ,, R. Johnstone for print- ing same ... ... 19 4 .3 17 lUi Paid Expenses of publishing Trans- actions for last year, as follows : Paid Account to Wood & Son, Photo. Lithographers, Edin- burgh £0 11 y^ Paid Postage of Transactions to Country Members ... 9 Paid Dumfriti Herald for printing Transactions ... 21 14 Miscellaneous... }5alauce in Savings Bank Deduct Balance due to Treasurer (Sgd.) J. A. MOODIE, Hon. Treamrcr. DuMFKiEs, 4ih December, 1894' —I have examined the foregoing Account and the Cash Book of the Society, compared them with tlie Vouchers, and lind the Balances stated to be correct. (Sgd.) JOHN NEILSON. 4: Transactions. even in this part of Scotland, not from any peculiarity of struc- ture, not from any part that it has played in history ; but from its association with the name of Annie Laurie ; .and that lady owes her fame, such as it is, not to any accident of birth or to anything remarkable in her character or career, but simply to the song composed by the man she threw over. The air was, as you know, composed by a lady who is still living, Lady John Scott of Spottiswoode, widow of a brother of the late Duke of Buc- cleuch. Tiie song, however, is old. Annie, or more correctly, Anna Laurie was born at Barjarg in December, 1682. She was the youngest of four daughters of Sir Robert Laurie and Jean Riddell, daughter of Riddell of Minto. In due course she became engaged to Douglas of Fingland, who composed the song in her honour. For what reason history does not tell ; whether the engagement went off on the settlements, or was ofi' by mutual consent, or was a simple case of jilting, I know not ; but in spite of the lyric, in .spite of " her promise true," in spite of the per- sonality of her lover. Miss Anna threw him over, and married Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch. Douglas, however, seems " to have survived the disappointment ; he did not lay him doun and dee," but married one Betty Clark of Glenboig. His poetic phrenzy, however, must have died out, for there is no second lyric handed down descriptive of the swan-like neck and dark possibly she could not compete in beauty blue e'e of Betty Clark ; with her rival, possibly the braes of Glenboig were not as bonnie as those of ^laxwelton. The song, I have said, was old. I had a curious confirmation of this a few years ago. A lady and gentleman, ]\[r and Mrs Bennoch, of London (he was a native of Durisdeer), spent a day at Maxwelton. In the course of con- versation ]Mrs Bennoch,—then a lady of perhaps 70, told me the following anecdote : " AVhen I was a girl I was staying in Yorkshire, and being asked to sing I .sang the song of Annie Laurie. An old lady, a Miss Douglas, aged 90, was iu the—room; she complimented me upon my singing, and then said ' But those are nae the words my grandfather wrote.' She then gave a slightly different version of the first verse, saying that her father liad often repeated them to her, as taught him by his fatlier, the Douglas who wrote the song." This is strong con- firmatory evidence of the genuineness and authenticity of the son" in question. So far as we know, then, there was nothing remarkable about Miss Anna Laurie; her first lover immortalised Transaclions. 5 her by a song, and a laly of great musical gifts in our own day has immortalised the song by the air to which she set it. But what is there to say about Annie's Home ? It existed in her time, it exists, now ; what has the old house to say about itself? The Maxwelton estate was bought in 1611 by Stephen Laurie, a merchant in this town, having previously for some 200 years belonged to the Earls of Glencairn. In Van Gent's map of Scotland, bearing date 1G54, the house is depicted as a castle, and called " Glenkairn Castel," with a farm near it called " Maxweltown." When the old name was changed I do not know his son, connection ; possibly Stephen Laurie or having no with the family of Lord Glencairn, took the name of Laurie of Maxwelton, that being the name of the farm on which the castle stood, and that name gradually dispossessed the old one. The site of Glencairn Castle was well chosen, whether for beauty or for defence.