wm,
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES

 
 MEMOIR 
 
 JOSEPH TRAIN, 
 
 F.S.A. SCOT. 
 
 THE ANTIQUARIAN CORRESPONDENT OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 BY JOHN PATTERSON, 
 
 AUTHOE OF " SHADOWS OF THE PAST." 
 
 GLASGOW: THOMAS MURRAY AND SON. 
 EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES. 
 
 MDCCCLVII.
 
 KDINBCOH: T. COMSTABIK, PRINTER TO BIB MAJESTY
 
 TVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN offering to the public this Memoir of JOSEPH 
 TRAIN, the Antiquary of Galloway, the writer has no 
 apology, convinced as he is that such a thing is un- 
 necessary. 
 
 He must acknowledge that the materials were 
 scanty. Many disadvantages were in the way. Had 
 greater time been expended, and more careful research 
 been made, the writer has no doubt but that a more 
 minute Memoir might have been produced ; but while 
 he laments this, he begs to tender his grateful ac- 
 knowledgments to those kind friends who have warm- 
 ly entered into his views. Among these. he is happy 
 thus publicly to mention the names of Mr. R. W. 
 Train, of the Inland Revenue, Greenock, and Mr. 
 William Bennet, of Burntisland, whose assistance has 
 been both valuable and frequent. 
 
 Trusting that this Memoir of Train may be accep- 
 table to his many friends, and those who have read 
 of him in connexion with Sir Walter Scott, the writer 
 dedicates it to the world. 
 
 KIRKTONHOLM, 14<7t April 1857. 
 
 424G75
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Introduction Joseph Train's Early Days His Appren- 
 ticeship to a Weaver Enlists in the Ayrshire Militia, 
 1799 He returns to the loom, 1802 His appoint- 
 ment to the Excise, .1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Publishes poetical reveries Pride has dung the Kintra 
 wrang He removes to Balnaguard near Aberfeldy, 
 1810 Narrow escape from a party of smugglers Is 
 appointed to Largs, 1811 Pursues his researches 
 there with great success Lord Lyle Removes to 
 Newton-Stewart, 1813 Publishes strains of the Moun- 
 tain Muse Elcine de Aggart Becomes .acquainted 
 with Sir Walter Scott Maggie Osburn The weird 
 woman's revenge Her fate, 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Begins to correspond with Sir Walter Scott Sends Sir 
 Walter information respecting Turnberry Castle Also 
 about King's Case Captain James Dennistoun Sends 
 Sir Walter the mazer or drinking-cup used by the lepers 
 there Projected history of Galloway Gaberlunzies 
 come and tell him old stories Domestic happiness, . 32
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Ignorance of the earlier antiquaries concerning Galloway 
 A curious spell found by Train The Btory upon 
 which Guy Mannering was founded Wandering Willie 
 of Redgauntlet Sends some relics to Sir Walter 
 Visits Sir Walter in Edinburgh He from the Sullen 
 Orr Tells Sir Walter of Old Mortality Sir Walter's 
 next letter, 42 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Train's introduction to Chalmers, author of Caledonia- 
 Traces out an old boundary long disputed Story of 
 Ulrick M'Wliirter Sir Walter's next letter Story 
 of Donald-na-Nord Ancestor of Donald the prototype 
 of Waverley Origin of the Doom of Devorgoil, . 68 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Train discovers an ancient granite weapon called a Celt 
 Visits Edinburgh Meets Sir Alexander Boswell 
 The flitting of the Sow Sir Walter's next letter 
 The prototype of Madge Wildfire The NorlingH of 
 Findhorn Train appointed Supervisor, 1820 Falk- 
 land Palace St. Planning, 84 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Is appointed to Queensferry The Riding of the Marches 
 The Palace Nest He removes to Falkirk Sir Wal- 
 ter's next letter Tyranny of the Excise officials Is 
 appointed to Dumfries Becomes acquainted with Mr. 
 M'Diarmid and others Is reduced from the rank of 
 Supervisor, but restored in six months Leaves Dum- 
 fries for Castle-Douglas, 114
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PA.GB 
 
 Train's settlement in Castle-Douglas Sends Sir Walter 
 information respecting the morrice-dancers Sir Wal- 
 ter's next Letter Further information regarding Old 
 Mortality Letter from Sir Walter, in which he intro- 
 duces a friend Sends some relics to Sir Walter, 125 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Further antiquarian gleanings Account of the wassail- 
 bowls Mons Meg Threave Castle Brawny Kim 
 Anecdote of Burns Rorie Gill, 137 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Account of the prototype of Edie Ochiltree Willie Mar- 
 shall, King of the Bandies His levelling propensities 
 Death of Sir Walter Scott 147 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Further account of Train An anecdote His address to 
 a favourite horse His retirement from active service 
 The Carlinwark Loch Its traditions Publishes 
 his long-contemplated History of the Isle of Man 
 Summary of History of the Isle of Man Duke of 
 Athol, Lord of Man Political matters Ecclesiastical 
 history of Man Towns Population Progress of the 
 Arts in the Island Social position of the Manx 
 Smuggling in the Isle of Man Franfois Thurot 
 Smuggling Inland Smuggling Further account of 
 Thurot Death of Thurot Train publishes " The 
 Buchanites," 1846 Death of Train, 1852, . . 152
 
 F.S.A. SCOT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION JOSEPH TRAIN'S EARLY DAYS HIS* 
 
 APPRENTICESHIP TO A WEAVER ENLISTS IN THE 
 
 AYRSHIRE MILITIA, 1799 HE RETURNS TO THE 
 
 LOOM, 1802 HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE EXCISE. 
 
 THE taste for antiquarian research, though interest- 
 ing to all, is not popular, and its votaries have very 
 rarely received the reward of their labours. It is 
 like every liberal and scientific undertaking, it must 
 necessarily be confined to a few who can appreciate 
 its resources and enthusiastically join in the pursuit. 
 It is a science in which all men ought to be inter- 
 ested alike, and that deeply, for it unfolds to us all 
 the strange doings of the past, and what appearance 
 our world had in times gone by, together with the 
 customs of our forefathers, which time has changed 
 so much. 
 
 A
 
 2 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 The poet and the painter have, from an admiring 
 world, received their meed of praise ; their brilliant 
 and glowing thoughts, their fine colouring, their artis- 
 tic grouping, and symmetrical proportions, have sealed 
 to the page or life-breathing canvas our undivided 
 attention ; but the antiquary modestly retires into 
 the background, because his dealings are not with the 
 present but with the past. The painter records the 
 present on his canvas ; the poet, like a fearless pro- 
 phet, speaks of the future with fiery and impassioned 
 'diction ; the antiquary retires to some quiet retreat, 
 and, among his hoarded relics of other years, moralizes 
 on the past. 
 
 But we bring not these three into juxtaposition 
 for the purpose of discarding or elevating, but for 
 establishing an equality between them which we think 
 they deserve. 
 
 The labours of the antiquary have been invaluable 
 to the community, revealing a fund of knowledge 
 highly interesting, and elucidating points of dispute 
 in a manner ingenious yet truthful ; but, for all this, 
 like the poet he has been neglected, and his exertions 
 repaid with ridicule and contumely. Still he com- 
 plains not, but is happy in the thought, that the oar 
 which he quietly puts into the water, renders some 
 assistance in propelling the bark of knowledge on
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 its course ; this thought cheers him on to greater 
 exertions and more minute investigations of that 
 dreamy past which to the eye of the world is dim 
 and uncertain. 
 
 In no country is there a greater field for the inves- 
 tigations of the antiquary than Scotland, rich in his- 
 toric memories and events unparalleled in the annals 
 of the world. Buried deep in the ground, the relics 
 of many a hard-fought fight have, by the antiquary, 
 been revealed to the view, while in the cairns and 
 mounds which abound throughout the country, Druidi- 
 cal remains have been brought to light, illustrative of 
 the days when Scotland was a barbarous land, peopled 
 by wild and savage tribes, who were continually at 
 war with each other, and whose t only delight was in 
 blood and deeds of vengeance. 
 
 The events which occupied but a traditional and 
 uncertain position in history, have been confirmed by 
 antiquarian research, and are so authenticated, that 
 they have become minor eras in the annals of our 
 country. Nor is it only to the historian that the 
 antiquary has confined his labours, the poet and the 
 novelist have clothed his legendary gleanings in match- 
 less verse and glowing imagery, rendering still more 
 beautiful the romantic traditions of Scotland. 
 
 In no one instance has the relationship of the anti-
 
 4 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 quary and the novelist been more exemplified than in 
 the valuable assistance which Joseph Train, the sub- 
 ject of our Memoir, rendered to the man who wielded 
 the potent sceptre of romance, the pride of Scotia, her 
 gifted son, Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 Humble and unpretending as he was, yet still we 
 deem him worthy of a niche in the gallery of history. 
 Every association connected with the life of Scotland's 
 last minstrel is nearly swept away, and only the in- 
 fluence of his transcendent genius remains in the 
 hearts of his countrymen, the fittest memorial of a 
 great man. 
 
 Those who have read the enchanting tales of Scott, 
 and enjoyed his powerful delineations of character 
 with appreciating zest, will be glad to hear of the 
 man to whom the great novelist was indebted for 
 many of the incidents related in these fascinating 
 works of fiction. This man was Joseph Train, the 
 antiquary, who for the period of eighteen years, en- 
 joyed the friendship and esteem of the illustrious 
 Scott. 
 
 In the wild districts of Galloway and Carrick, 
 where few antiquaries had ever ventured, there were 
 many legends of great beauty connected with the iron 
 age of feudalism and the days of the great-hearted 
 Bruce, which were uncelebrated except in rude and
 
 HIS EAELY DAYS. 8 
 
 barbarous verse ; these were rescued from the oblivion 
 to which they were fast hastening, by Joseph Train, 
 and in the hands of the Great Novelist became more 
 beautiful still. 
 
 Joseph Train's ancestors were, we believe, natives 
 of Ayrshire. His father lived for many years in the 
 capacity of land-steward on the estate of Gilminscroft 
 in the parish of Sorn, near to the water of Ayr. It 
 was there Joseph was born, on the 6th of November 
 1779. When he was eight years of age, his father, 
 from some cause for which we are not prepared to 
 account, left Gilminscroft and removed to the Town- 
 head of Ayr, where he followed the occupation of a 
 day-labourer. 
 
 Education at that period was not so easily pro- 
 cured as it is now, and the fact that Joseph received 
 but a limited education, is not to be wondered at. 
 The time which he spent at school must have been 
 short, for we find him early apprenticed to a weaver 
 in Ayr ; and during the period of his apprenticeship 
 manifesting a strong desire to advance in mental 
 improvement. 
 
 In the intervals of labour, and after his toil was 
 finished for the day, he was drinking deep at that 
 fountain of knowledge from which the disadvantages 
 of his position originally debarred him, and planning
 
 t> MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 schemes for the future, by which he might attain an 
 intelligent position among men. But we have no 
 doubt that notwithstanding all the perseverance 
 with which the poor lad was endowed, his pro- 
 gress must have been anything but satisfactory, and 
 many doubts and fears would necessarily intrude 
 to disquiet and discourage him ; how could it be 
 otherwise ? he had no pilot to direct his course, and 
 no sympathizing spirit to cheer him on, and strengthen 
 his resolution. We say this, from the fact that it 
 was the general belief at that time among the pea- 
 santry of Scotland, that education only engendered 
 idle and discontented habits, at variance with their 
 humble walk in life ; a fallacy which we rejoice to 
 say the same class in our day do not entertain. 
 
 But notwithstanding all the hindrances which 
 popular prejudice, fallacies, and dogmatic ideas, threw 
 in the humble student's path ; though he was brand- 
 ed with the epithet of dreamer, and shunned by 
 those of his own class as a dangerous individual, we 
 find him possessed of a great amount of general in- 
 formation unknown to many who were his superiors 
 in rank ; and this, in spite of vulgar prejudice, as 
 Cobbett says, never fails to give a man a certain 
 degree of influence in the world. We are informed, 
 that ere he had reached his twentieth year, he had
 
 HIS APPRENTICESHIP TO A WEAVER. 7 
 
 made considerable progress in the study of antiquity, 
 and begun those researches for which he was after- 
 wards so eminently distinguished. 
 
 Situated as Joseph Train was, we cannot conceive 
 anything more noble than his ambition to advance in 
 the pursuit of knowledge, facing many difficulties, 
 and in the midst of poverty, and, we have no doubt, 
 sometimes privation, standing forth a man deter- 
 mined to conquer, and grasp the glorious prize of 
 honour which is the reward of the thirster after 
 knowledge. A man may, inspired with a courage which 
 is more than human, rash onward against the enemy 
 of his country, and deal death and destruction at 
 every blow, fired by a kind of maniac enthusiasm, 
 which receives from an applauding world the name of 
 heroism. But he who determines to become a self- 
 made man, has more of real heroism than he who 
 wins his honours in the battle-field. 
 
 The high moral courage which animates the mind 
 of the student, is a source of far more real satisfaction 
 to him than the heroism which fires the heart of the 
 soldier. Patient amidst a host of difficulties which 
 are often the lot of the poor, the great-hearted enthu- 
 siasm of a noble mind was the innate characteristic of 
 Joseph Train, sympathizing with his peers in their 
 struggle for wherewithal to maintain life, and adding
 
 8 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 his scanty earnings to the scantier pittance which an 
 aged father was receiving for the nerveless labour 
 of declining years hi all forming but a meagre allow- 
 ance for the wants of the family. 
 
 With so many obstacles in the path, it is no great 
 cause for wonder that there are so few of that class 
 to which Joseph Tram belonged, inclined, irrespective 
 of position, to rise. No wonder that we find the 
 peasant class hi many instances not possessed with 
 the ordinary activity of human beings. Alas ! we 
 find even to this day in our own dear Scotland, suffi- 
 cient evidence of the tyranny of the superior, as he 
 looks with contempt on the man who makes him 
 what he is, who scorns the man who is flesh and 
 blood like himself, and delights in making heavier 
 the chains that bind the peasant to his lot. But we 
 turn from the class, and speak of one who rose by his 
 own exertions superior to that class. 
 
 In 1799, the cogent exigencies of war called forth 
 the dormant energies of the country gentlemen of 
 Ayrshire ; and, accordingly, at the demand of the 
 Crown, a local militia was in the course of being 
 organized. This was done by ballot, a proceeding hi 
 which the inhabitants no way concurred. Many were 
 drawn for the militia who regarded serving in the 
 local corps as little better than being pressed and
 
 ENLISTS IN THE AYRSHIRE MILITIA, 1799. 9 
 
 sent into regular service. Many were the complaints 
 which the honest sons of the soil, who were so un- 
 lucky as to be drawn, sent forth ; but these murmur- 
 ings were of no avail, unless they could, by paying a 
 large sum of money, procure a substitute. Among 
 this unfortunate class was James Stevenson, farmer in 
 the Erroch, in the parish of Carsphairn. James had 
 despondingly sought for a substitute for many days 
 in vain, until he was about to resign himself to his 
 fate, and become a servant of His Majesty, when 
 Joseph Train, either from pity to the honest man, or 
 from a desire to leave an employment which he did 
 not like, took the bounty which the farmer offered, 
 and became a private in the Ayrshire Militia. So 
 James Stevenson returned to his muirland farm in 
 peace, and Joseph donned the regimentals in his 
 stead. 
 
 The stipulated time of service was three years, or 
 during the time of the war. In the regiment Joseph 
 was distinguished for his quiet demeanour and studious 
 habits, which did not escape the observation of the 
 Colonel, Sir David Hunter Blair, who marked his 
 unassuming worth. The intervals of duty were spent 
 at his wonted studies, and when his comrades were 
 whiling away their time, or engaged in drunken brawls, 
 he was in some retired spot reading some page of
 
 10 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 legendary lore, for his taste for the past and all its 
 wonders was then beginning to be formed. 
 
 The impassioned strains of Burns were relished by 
 him with fond delight, and at the radiant blaze of the 
 poet's genius, the simple Train had lighted his humble 
 torch ; not the wish to be a poet (for, alas, there were 
 in his days, as well as ours, many unworthy of the 
 name), but the bursting forth of the flood of fancy 
 which fills the soul, constitutes the poet. It was 
 even so with him, he admired his native land, and in 
 pleasing verse sang of the past. 
 
 While the militia were stationed at Inverness, he 
 was anxious to procure Currie's edition of the works 
 of Burns, which was printed at Liverpool that year 
 (1800). In order to accomplish his object, he re- 
 solved to save every farthing he could possibly scrape 
 together, and with that resolution he became a sub- 
 scriber for the work. 
 
 The volume, when lying at the bookseller's, previous 
 to delivery, was seen by Sir David Hunter Blair, who, 
 on expressing a wish to have it, was astonished when 
 he was informed that it was for one of his men. He 
 was so well pleased with this honest ambition in 
 Train, that he gave directions that the work should 
 be handsomely bound, and sent to him free of charge. 
 
 A love for everything that was Scottish, was the
 
 HE RETURNS TO THE LOOM, 1802. 1 1 
 
 chief characteristic of Joseph Train an enthusiasm 
 in the investigation of the ancient manners and cus- 
 toms of his native land, which continued through 
 life. The romance with which the past is enveloped 
 had no doubt its influence in forming the tastes of the 
 youthful antiquary. Be that as it may, we are fully 
 assured that from his early days, he was more de- 
 voted to crooning over old ballads, than the occupa- 
 tion which he nevertheless sedulously followed. 
 
 At the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, the Ayrshire 
 militia were disbanded, and Joseph returned to his 
 labour at the loom in Ayr, reluctantly, we doubt not, 
 but with the resolution to win an honest livelihood : 
 pursuing a calm course of labour and study, everything 
 went smoothly and noiselessly along until love stepped 
 in and disturbed the calm of his life, by whispering 
 that there was a dear one on the earth every way 
 fitted to make his humble home a paradise. This 
 was Mary Wilson, the daughter of poor but honest 
 parents, who resided near Ayr. After a rather pro- 
 tracted courtship they were united, and Joseph never 
 had reason to regret this union, for after years proved 
 that she was all he could wish, the loving wife, the 
 agreeable companion, and the judicious adviser. 
 
 Early and late he is found at the loom, conscious 
 that he has other wants to provide for besides his
 
 1 2 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 own, yet still inspired by the great-hearted resolution 
 of knowing more and advancing in the study of the 
 past, and in some measure following his darling pur- 
 suits. 
 
 The friend who, during the time he served in the 
 militia, had marked him as a man who was superior 
 to his position, and had been in search of him ever since 
 the militia was disbanded, now found him. He entered 
 the weaving-shop one day, accompanied by Mr. Hamil- 
 ton of Bellisle, a gentleman distinguished for his great 
 public spirit, and his friendly aid to the deserving. On 
 seeing Joseph at the loom, they both expressed their 
 regret at seeing him at such an employment, and in 
 such a place. " What, gentlemen," says Joseph, " you 
 would not have me to be idle?" "You are right," 
 rejoined Sir David, " you are right in showing such a 
 spirit of industry, but for the future we will look to 
 you. The loom must be thrown aside for something 
 more congenial to your tastes and inclinations ; leave 
 it for brainless pates and silly old men ; you must not 
 waste your days at such an occupation. What say 
 you to become a ganger ? I confess it is no very 
 pleasing occupation, but, candidly speaking, it is the 
 only one worthy of your acceptance at present, and I 
 think my interest can procure you that." 
 
 Joseph thankfully accepted the kind offer of Sir
 
 APPOINTMENT TO THE EXCISE. 13 
 
 David, and they departed to put their plans into exe- 
 cution, he to communicate this anticipated change to 
 Mary. A few months after he had the satisfaction 
 of being appointed an excise-officer in the Ayr district, 
 which was at that time under the supervision of a 
 Mr. Gillies, whose memory our antiquary ever cher- 
 ished with fond recollection.
 
 1 4 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PUBLISHES POETICAL REVERIES PRIDE HAS DUNG 
 
 THE EJNTRA WRANG HE REMOVES TO BALNA- 
 
 OUARD NEAR ABERFELDY, 1810 NARROW ESCAPE 
 
 FROM A PARTY OF SMUGGLERS IS APPOINTED TO 
 
 LARGS, 1811 PURSUES HIS RESEARCHES THERE 
 
 WITH GREAT SUCCESS LORD LYLE REMOVES TO 
 
 NEWTON-STEWART, 1813 PUBLISHES STRAINS OF 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN MUSE ELCINE DE AGGART BE- 
 COMES ACQUAINTED WITH SIR WALTER SCOTT 
 
 MAGGIE OSBURN THE WEIRD WOMAN'S REVENGE 
 
 HER FATE. 
 
 BURNS, the mighty minstrel who sung in passionate 
 strains of the beauties of Scotland and his own native 
 Coila, had sunk into an untimely grave, but the in- 
 fluence of his wondrous verse was working its way 
 into the hearts of all throughout the land. His 
 genius had made popular a dialect, which was re- 
 garded as barbarous and fast becoming obsolete, and 
 all who possessed a single spark of poetic fire were 
 singing in the simple and expressive Doric of Cale- 
 donia. 
 
 Many instances can be shown of poets bursting
 
 " POETICAL REVERIES." 15 
 
 into song after drinking deep at the gushing stream 
 of rich thoughts, which some master-mind has poured 
 forth of becoming inspired when they have tasted 
 the distilled inspiration of transcendent genius. This 
 was the case with Joseph Train, who, although he 
 possessed little which may assimilate him to the great 
 bard, yet it is evident that Burns mnst have been his 
 study. 
 
 It is not our wish to place the two men on a re- 
 lative footing, it would not be doing justice to the 
 memory of either ; but we speak of them not in the 
 language of comparison, but of association. Burns was 
 the great high-priest of song, standing forth singing of 
 the present and the future in matchless verse Train 
 modestly chanting the wild legends and traditionary 
 memories of the past like some bird in a solitary muir- 
 land glen, unheard except by some casual wanderer. 
 
 In 1806, his first volume, entitled Poetical Reveries, 
 was published in Glasgow, and Train, in remembrance 
 of kindness of no common nature, dedicated it to 
 Sir David Hunter Blair, the man whose friendship 
 and interest had made him, as far as worldly matters 
 went, what he was. This little volume, though far 
 from being worthy of its author, still shows in bold 
 relief the antiquarian bias of his mind. Though 
 faulty, there are many beauties in it worthy of trea-
 
 1 6 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 suring regarding the past ; and at that time, we may 
 add, they were favourably received by the public. 
 We give the following as a specimen : 
 
 PRIDE HAS DUNG THE KINTRA WRANG. 
 
 To rest a moment ruthless war 
 
 His gory sword has sheathed at last, 
 An' Britain's fame Stan's higher far 
 
 Than e'er it did in ages past. 
 But was it for an empty name 
 
 We tholed the wasting tug sae lang ? 
 'Twill be recorded to our shame 
 
 That pride has dung the kintra wrang. 
 
 Loud peals each other nation's joy 
 
 To see the stranger Peace return, 
 And why alone should Britain sigh ? 
 
 And why alone should Britain mourn ? 
 O'er a' her hills an' valleys green 
 
 Is felt destruction's deadly pang ; 
 An' could she in this plight be seen, 
 
 Had pride na dung the kintra wrang. 
 
 Our fathers quaffed the limpid spring, 
 
 An' slumbered in the mossy cave, 
 The shaft sent from the sounding string 
 
 Supplied the banquet which they gave. 
 Ah ! could our sires look doun an' see 
 
 Hoo braw their young descendants gang, 
 In dolour they would a' agree 
 
 That pride has dung the kintra wrang. 
 
 Against the universe in arms, 
 The Queen of Isles has nobly stood, 
 
 An' noo the sound of war's alarms 
 Is hushed in battle-field and flood.
 
 HE REMOVES TO BALNAGUARD, 1811. 17 
 
 But a' her siller, well-a-day ! 
 
 Is scattered foreign boors amang, 
 Wha will, for a', exult and say, 
 
 That pride has dung this kintra wrang. 
 
 In his situation in the Ayr district he remained 
 four years, and at the end of this time he was re- 
 moved to Balnaguard, near Aberfeldy, to assist in 
 the suppression of the illicit distillation at that time 
 carried on to a great extent in the district of Breadal- 
 bane, openly and in the face of all opposition. 
 
 The situation of revenue officers employed in the 
 suppression of this traffic was, in the highest degree, 
 hazardous, for it was carried on by men, who, de- 
 spising all laws, scrupled not at any crime so that they 
 might attain their unlawful ends. The smuggler was 
 prepared for all emergencies, and either in revenge for 
 some former interference on the part of the officers, or 
 to get out of some present scrape, he thought as little 
 of murder as he did of making whisky. In this 
 district, Train made good use of any spare tune he 
 had (which we may suppose was but little, when we 
 consider the arduous nature of his duties), in collecting 
 many traditions which were floating in the neighbour- 
 hood, and which were afterwards of great use to him 
 in many ways. 
 
 An adventure which he had with the smugglers at 
 B
 
 18 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 this time peculiarly illustrates the dangers to which 
 he was exposed. One day, having no official duty 
 to perform, he set out across the hills to where a 
 Highland Gathering was that day to be held. This 
 was what Joseph of all things wished most to see ; 
 but how often do we find our most commonplace ex- 
 pectations balked ! He did not reach the gathering, 
 for coining suddenly on a deep glen which lay along 
 his track, he espied a gang of smugglers who were 
 busily pursuing their nefarious operations in the dell 
 below. On perceiving the gauger they made directly 
 for where he was. Judging that their intentions 
 towards him would be of no peaceful nature, he took 
 to his heels hi a homeward direction, but he was 
 soon overtaken ; some of them were for administering 
 condign punishment upon the spot, but others, who 
 had previously been hi his power, and had experienced 
 kind treatment at his hands, would not allow him to 
 be injured, so he was marched down to the bottom of 
 the glen where two stills were at work. He was 
 placed between two of the party, who were armed, 
 the one with a Queen Anne, which he took care to 
 load with great formality in his presence ; the other 
 with a rusty claymore, which, they said, had killed 
 several long's men on the haughs of Cromdale. 
 There he was detained until the whole contents of the
 
 IS APPOINTED TO LARGS, 1811. 19 
 
 stills were wrought off. This done, and the spirits 
 and utensils removed, he was set at liberty, so late in 
 the evening, that it was with considerable difficulty 
 he reached Balnaguard. That he was a favourite 
 among the smugglers there is not a doubt, even 
 although he was a vigilant and most efficient officer. 
 So much so, that the jealousy of his equals, and the 
 danger which his superiors thought might arise from 
 his not being of that fire-eating nature (the peculiar 
 characteristic of the efficient revenue-officer), caused 
 him to be removed from Aberfeldy district in the 
 spring of 1811, and appointed to the Largs district. 
 This was an agreeable change to him, the situation 
 being less dangerous, and the locality more congenial 
 to his tastes than even Aberfeldy had been, princi- 
 pally on account of the antiquarian associations with 
 which Largs is abundantly stored. 
 
 In his boyish days he had become well acquainted 
 with the middle portions of the county of Ayr, and 
 his residence at Largs gave him a knowledge of the 
 northern sections of it which he had not previously 
 acquired. For a period of two years he was allowed 
 to remain in that, to him, pleasing locality, employing 
 all his leisure moments, which, when we consider his 
 arduous duties, no doubt were but few, in collecting 
 legends and incidents connected with the sanguinary
 
 I'O MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TEA IX. 
 
 conflict which ended in the defeat of the Norwegian 
 Haco, when he came to vanquish, deeming that he 
 had the power to crush the kingdom of Scotland. 
 
 In one of his letters to a friend, he gives an account 
 of a sporting character who had obtained considerable 
 celebrity in the West ; it is as follows : 
 
 "LARGS, 14th August 1811. 
 
 " Since my appointment to Largs Ride, I have 
 become acquainted with, whom do you think 1 no less 
 a personage than Lord Lyle, whose single match, some 
 twenty years ago on Ayr race-course, with the Duke 
 of Hamilton in person, is yet, I daresay, memorable 
 in the annals of the turf. You know his Lordship 
 kept at that tune a pack of harriers, and the finest 
 stud in Ayrshire, but ah ! what a change has come 
 over him since. His only residence now is a small 
 garret-room above a weaver's shop, at Millport, in 
 the Isle of Cumbrae. I was introduced to him at 
 this unaristocratic and unseemly abode by Brown the 
 tidewaiter at this port, who, you may remember, was 
 formerly in Ayr. His Lordship was seated on a 
 buffet-stool at his dining-tablc, if an old broken- 
 backed chair supporting a herring and a few potatoes 
 might be so called. He rose as we entered the room, 
 and while we remained, spoke freely of the extent to
 
 LORD LYLE. 21 
 
 which smuggling of foreign produce from ships pass- 
 ing up the Clyde to Greenock is at present carried on. 
 He said Mr. A., the parish minister of Cumbrae, was 
 a pusillanimous varlet, having, for several years past, 
 purchased smuggled wine from the sailors of these 
 vessels for his sacramental occasions, and that, on one 
 occasion, his stock was so small, that when the vessel 
 happened to be detained beyond her time, the sacra- 
 ment was postponed until the accustomed supply was 
 obtained from on board. 
 
 " His Lordship laid down a very plausible, and, I 
 think, effectual plan for intercepting the wine when 
 in transit from the shore to the nianse, but I did not 
 find it convenient to attend to the directions offered 
 on this subject." 
 
 Little is known of this unfortunate nobleman, but 
 there is no doubt but that he died in obscurity and 
 misery, the fruits of early extravagance and dissipa- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1813, from Largs he was removed to Newton- 
 Stewart in Galloway, and as his survey extended over 
 the greater part not only of Upper and Lower Gallo- 
 way, but also a considerable part of Carrick, we may 
 conclude he was not idle. " Few parts, even in the 
 North Highlands of Scotland," he remarks in his 
 personal memoranda, " present a greater variety of
 
 -- MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 savage scenery than that of the borders of Galloway 
 and Ayrshire, and, with the exception of the etore- 
 farmers who are generally shrewd and intelligent, the 
 simplicity of the people corresponds with the wildness 
 of the country." 
 
 In this primitive district Train gathered many 
 interesting traditions of bygone days, then only 
 confined to a few who were fast becoming fewer. 
 These, with others, which had been collected in 
 the various places in which he had sojourned, were 
 woven into verse and published, in the early part of 
 1814, by Ballantyne of Edinburgh, with the title of 
 Strains of the Mountain Muse. This little volume 
 was well received by the public, and was destined to 
 give a permanent direction to the researches of the 
 author. Some of the proof-sheets of the work when 
 in course of publication were seen by Sir Walter 
 (then Mr.) Scott, who was fast rising to fame ; he 
 was so pleased with them that he wrote immedi- 
 ately to the author desiring him to place his name 
 on the subscription list for several copies. Train, 
 flattered by the commendation of one so distinguished, 
 lost no time in forwarding the book, when ready, to 
 the gifted minstrel. This led to a correspondence 
 between Train and Sir Walter, which was carried on 
 until the death of the latter.
 
 ELCINE DE AGGART. 23 
 
 Sir Walter wrote to Newton-Stewart on receipt of 
 the book just as he was setting out on his memorable 
 tour to the Hebrides. The ballad of Elcine de 
 Aggart pleased him much, and, in his genial way, 
 suggested an improvement in one of the lines of that 
 poem. The legend is popular in Ayrshire, and is 
 something like the following : 
 
 At the tune when the Invincible Armada fitted out 
 by the Spanish Government against Great Britain was 
 overtaken by a violent hurricane, and, as is well known, 
 was wrecked among the Hebrides, or on the western 
 shores of Scotland, Elcine de Aggart, an aged woman 
 who was honoured in Carrick with the title of witch, 
 sat on a rock near Turnberry Castle with a ball of blue 
 yarn in her hand, and unwound it as some of the 
 Spanish ships came hi sight, and as she unwound, their 
 danger became more imminent, till, at last, they sunk 
 under the mystic spell of the weird sister. This 
 supposed witch Train calls Elcine de Aggart, and 
 such is the name by which she was known ; but some 
 are of opinion that she was none other than the 
 weird woman who was generally known under the 
 more familiar name of Margaret Osburn, the Ayr- 
 shire witch. Though we have no faith in either 
 witches or witchcraft, yet this legend, and such as 
 this, illustrate the superstitions of other years.
 
 -4 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 We give the legend as Train expresses it : 
 
 ELCINE DE AGGART. 
 
 WHY gallops the palfrey with Lady Dimure? 
 Who takes away Turnberry's kine from the shore ? 
 Go tell it in Carrick, and tell it in Kyle, 
 Although the proud Dons are now passing the Moil ; 
 
 On this magic clue, 
 
 That in fairyland grew, 
 Old Elcine tie Aggart has taken in hand 
 To wind up their lives ere they win to onr strand. 
 
 That Heaven may favour this grand armament 
 Against us poor heretic islanders sent, 
 From altars a thousand, though frankincense fly, 
 Though ten thousand chapel-bells peal in the sky ; 
 
 By this mystical clue, 
 
 Made when elf-land was new, 
 Old Elcine de Aggart will all countermand, 
 And wind up their lives ere they come to our strand. 
 
 They bring with them nobles our castles to fill, 
 They bring with them ploughshares our manors to till, 
 They likewise bring fetters our barons to bind, 
 Or any whom they may refractory find; 
 
 P>ut this magical clue 
 
 Of the indigo blue, 
 
 Which few like De Aggart could e'er understand, 
 Will baffle their hopes ere they win to our strand. 
 
 Was ever the sprite of the wind seen to lour 
 So dark o'er the Clyde as in this fatal hour? 
 Rejoice every one may to see the waves now, 
 Each ship passing o'er from the poop to the prow ; 
 
 With this mystical clue, 
 
 Made when eli'-land was new, 
 Who will not give praise in her own native land, 
 To Elcine de Aggart for guarding the strand ?
 
 MAGGIE OSBURN. 25 
 
 Come back on your palfrey, my Lady Dunure, 
 Go bring back old Turnberry's kine to the shore ; 
 And tell it you may over Carrick and Kyle, 
 The last ship has sunk by our good Lady's isle ; 
 
 And with such a clue 
 
 Of the indigo blue 
 
 Old Elcine de Aggart has at her command, 
 A foreign foe never shall come to our strand. 
 
 Train was particularly well versed in the supersti- 
 tions, spells, and mystic lore of Scottish diablerie all 
 the reputed weird women, from the days of Thomas the. 
 Rhymer (who, we suspect, must be included in the same 
 category) to that of Margaret Osburn, were familiar 
 to him. His account of the latter personage, who 
 veritably had an existence, we append, hoping it may 
 not be uninteresting to our readers : 
 
 " Of all the weird women said to have infested 
 Galloway and Ayrshire, none of their vindictive 
 actions are so well remembered as those of Maggie 
 Osburn, who appears to have been the most malicious, 
 revengeful mortal ever having the most distant resem- 
 blance to a human being. 
 
 " Being a natural daughter of the warlock Laird 
 of Fail, her father took great care in instructing her 
 hi all the principles of the black art, for which he 
 himself was so famous. Upon the death of her 
 mother, Maggie took upon herself the management of 
 the public-house hi Ayr, which her mother had for-
 
 -'i MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 merly kept, and continued in this employment for 
 upwards of fifty years. During this time she fre- 
 quently made excursions into Galloway, most of them 
 during the silent watches of the night, when she 
 played her pranks on the simple inhabitants of the 
 district 
 
 " The course she generally took was over the Car- 
 rick hills. The track is still pointed out by the 
 neighbouring peasantry as ' Maggies gate to Gal- 
 loway.' They affirm that owing to the witch having 
 so many attendants of devils and devil's imps, the 
 heat of their feet was so great that it burned the 
 earth in such a manner that no grass will grow on it 
 from that day to this. 
 
 " One evening as Maggie was passing over the 
 Nick of the Balloch, seeing a large funeral approach, 
 and being afraid that she might be discovered by 
 some of the mourners, many of whom had good 
 cause to know her, in consequence of her having 
 played her cantrips upon them, she suddenly changed 
 herself into the form of a large beetle, and went 
 creeping along the side of the road lest she should be 
 trampled upon by some of the crowd. She escaped 
 very narrowly ; one of the men set his foot upon her, 
 but she, being in a hollow, was safe. The man who 
 thus unwittingly placed her in such jeopardy, she
 
 THE WEIRD WOMAN'S REVENGE. 27 
 
 strove with all her art to ruin ; but being a very pious 
 person, she never could get him in her power, until 
 one evening he forgot to say grace before supper, his 
 good angel deserted him, and the witch obtained per- 
 mission to roll a large wreath of snow from the 
 mountain immediately behind the house upon him 
 and his family, ten in number, who thus fell a victim 
 to the fury of the weird woman. 
 
 " This melancholy catastrophe was not sufficient to 
 glut her revenge. One son of the unfortunate man 
 escaped the fate of his parents by being on a visit to 
 a friend in some of the Highland Isles, but she was 
 resolved to sacrifice him likewise to her resentment. 
 
 " As soon as she understood that he had returned 
 in a vessel to the Bay of Ayr, she shut herself up in 
 a garret of her house, in which no other person was 
 allowed to enter. 
 
 " Before confining herself in the garret, she desired 
 her servant-girl to put some water in the mash-tun, 
 and set an ale-cap to sail in it, and then place herself 
 at the foot of the garret stair to await the commands 
 of her mistress. The maid having fulfilled these 
 orders, and having taken her station at the place 
 appointed by Maggie, where she remained a consider- 
 able tune, until she was desired to go down to the 
 brewhouse and see in what part of the tun the cup
 
 28 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 was sailing, and if there were any ripples on the sur- 
 face of the water. 
 
 " The girl did so, and returned, saying the bicker 
 was in the centre of the tun, rocking with the ripples 
 on the water. ' That will do,' said Maggie, ' but in 
 a few minutes you must return to the brewhouse, 
 and bring the particulars as before.' 
 
 " The young woman again, according to the direc- 
 tions of her mistress, weiit to the brewhouse, where 
 she found the water rising in waves over the lip of 
 the tun, and the bicker dashing from one side to the 
 other with the rapidity of lightning. She informed 
 Maggie of this, and that she also heard like the cries 
 of people drowning. ' They will cry long ere I pity 
 them,' replied the witch ; ' but go again ;' the girl 
 went and found the water unagitated, and the bicker 
 nowhere to be seen. Maggie, on being informed of 
 this, came from her garret, and, with a grim smile, 
 said, ' The devil has served me weel for ance.' 
 
 " The representation of the bicker in the tun was 
 the vessel in the bay, in which was the devoted 
 youth. It is said that during the time she was con- 
 fiued in the garret there was a dreadful hurricane, 
 and a vessel was seen tossing to and fro at the mercy 
 of the waves, and latterly dashed to pieces on the 
 Nicholas Rock at the bar of Ayr. All on bounl
 
 ANOTHER ANECDOTE. 29 
 
 perished, and among the number the farmer of Far- 
 den's son." 
 
 Another anecdote of Maggie will be sufficient to 
 show the depravity of her nature. 
 
 " After quarrelling with her servant about some 
 trifling affair, she caused her to brew at night. About 
 the ' witching hour,' a number of cats came jumping 
 into the brewhouse, and immediately began to fight. 
 One of the largest took a spring into the girl's neck 
 with great force, evidently with the intention of 
 tumbling her into a cooler newly filled with boiling 
 worts ; but the girl being in the act of taking the 
 worts out of a boiler with a ladle, scattered the boil- 
 ing liquor among them, and by no means sparing the 
 one who jumped upon her back. After they had all 
 received their portion, they, without much ceremony, 
 made a quick exit, making a most hideous noise. 
 
 " Maggie not rising at her usual time next morn-' 
 ing, the girl became somewhat suspicious that her 
 mistress was one of the cats recently scalded in the 
 brewhouse, and to make herself more certain, went 
 to her mistress's bedroom to inquire the cause of 
 her confinement; but Maggie obstinately refusing to 
 give her any satisfaction, she became determined, 
 and, pulling the blankets off her mistress, plainly per- 
 ceived her back covered with blisters, which she
 
 'W MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 naturally concluded to be the effect of the boiling 
 worts. This circumstance having reached the know- 
 ledge of the magistrates, Maggie was imprisoned and 
 tried for witchery, and, on her own confession, sen- 
 tenced to be burned at a place called the Pricely 
 Knowe, near Ayr. 
 
 " While Maggie was in prison, the devil is said to 
 have visited her, and to have voluntarily offered to 
 assist her in escaping from the hold of her persecu- 
 tors. Her liberation was to be effected by means of 
 two pewter plates that were new and never had been 
 wet, which upon her using as wings at the place of 
 execution, would instantly raise her from the earth, 
 at which time Satan would conceal her in the smoke 
 of her funeral pile, and carry her away to a place of 
 safety. Early on the morning of her execution all the 
 neighbouring clergy assembled round the unfortunate 
 criminal to assist in the last acts of devotion. Maggie 
 appeared very penitent before the divines, and said if 
 they would furnish her with two pewter plates that 
 never had been wet, she would at the place of execu- 
 tion, not only convince the world that her own sen- 
 tence was just, but for the good of religion, would 
 reveal the actions of other witnesses and participators 
 in her awful spells, who were equally deserving to 
 suffer for their crimes. The ministers instantly con-
 
 MAGGIE'S FATE. 31 
 
 sented, and as the procession began to move, a Crown- 
 officer was despatched for the plates, but as he was 
 returning in great haste he unfortunately let one of 
 them fall, in consequence of which it had become 
 wet. The officer thinking there could be little differ- 
 ence between a plate that had never been wet and one 
 that had been a little so, and afterwards well dried, 
 proceeded with the plates the ministers, with per- 
 mission of the magistrates, presented the plates to 
 Maggie, immediately before she was tied to the stake. 
 She received them joyfully, and immediately by some 
 of her arts, affixed them to her shoulders, and in the 
 full hope of her succeeding began to ascend, but the 
 plate which had been wet flapped like a broken wing, 
 and afforded her so little help, that before she could 
 ascend many feet from the earth, one of the guards 
 hooked his halbert in her petticoat and pulled her 
 down again. By this fatal accident Maggie's last 
 hope was frustrated. 
 
 " She was instantly bound to the stake, and as the 
 flames of the fagot were rapidly ascending around 
 her, she reproached the devil, who seemed to stand 
 at her side, 
 
 " ' Oh ye fause loon, instead o' a black goun ye 
 hae gi'en me a red ane ; ha'e I deserved this for serv- 
 ing ye sae lang?'"
 
 >- MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BEGINS TO CORRESPOND WITH SIR WALTER SCOTT 
 
 SENDS SIR WALTER INFORMATION RESPECTING 
 
 TURNBERRY CASTLE ALSO ABOUT KING'S CASE 
 
 CAPTAIN JAMES DENNISTOUN SENDS HIM THE 
 MAZER OR DRTNKING-CUP USED BY THE LEPERS 
 
 THERE PROJECTED HISTORY OF GALLOWAY 
 
 GABERLUNZIES COME AND TELL HIM OLD STORIES 
 DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT, in his second letter to Train, 
 professed his ignorance of Galloway traditions, and 
 knowing that there was no district in Scotland so 
 plentifully stored with them, he requested him to 
 let him hear of any of which he might IMJ possessed. 
 The answer which he received was so satisfactory, 
 that he wrote again, asking, as "an especial" favour, 
 that Train would send him some information con- 
 cerning Turnberry Castle, for a work in which he was 
 at that time engaged. Our antiquary, although he 
 had climbed " Brown Carrick Hill" in his boyhood, 
 and traversed the shores of that district of Ayrshire
 
 TURNBERRY CASTLE, 1814. 33 
 
 often, yet, as the giddiness of youth, though suscep- 
 tible of every impression, cannot be trammelled with the 
 minutiae of distances and places, with so much exact- 
 ness as is required for the recording of facts, he could 
 not depend on recollection, so he accordingly set out 
 from Newton-Stewart to Ayrshire to collect all the 
 information he possibly could on the subject. This 
 was for materials for The Lord of the Isles, in which 
 Sir Walter was at that time engaged. The informa- 
 tion furnished was acknowledged by Sir Walter in his 
 notes to that work, and is as follows : 
 
 " The only tradition now remembered of the landing 
 of Eobert the Bruce in Carrick, relates to the fire seen 
 by him from the Isle of Arran. It is still generally 
 reported, and religiously believed by many, that this 
 fire was the work of supernatural agency, unassisted 
 by any mortal being, and it is said that for several 
 centuries the flame rose yearly at the same hour of the 
 same night in which the king first saw it from the 
 turrets of Brodick Castle. That this superstition is 
 very ancient, may be believed from the fact, that the 
 place where the fire is said to have appeared, has been 
 called Bogles Brae beyond the recollection of man. 
 In support of this curious belief, it is said that the 
 practice of burning heath for the improvement of the 
 land was then unknown, and that a sptuikie (Jack o' 
 c
 
 34 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Lanthorn) could not have been seen across the Firth 
 between the Ayrshire coast and Arran." 
 
 Notwithstanding the great assiduity which Train 
 displayed in assisting the Great Minstrel in eluci- 
 dating legendary facts, intended to be interwoven 
 in immortal verse, he was always at his duty, nor 
 was it generally known that he in any way engaged 
 in literary pursuits ; had it been known, he would 
 have been marked as one likely to forget his duty for 
 other and more frivolous pursuits unconnected with 
 his profession as a revenue-officer, and this would 
 have materially injured him in the estimation of the 
 revenue authorities. 
 
 The question may be asked, why Joseph Train 
 gave all the interesting legends and traditions which 
 he collected to Scott, when, in his own hands, they 
 might have added much to his fame and fortune 'I 
 The answer is the foregoing reason which we have 
 adduced ; he had too great solicitude for his wife and 
 family to embark so largely into the sea of literature ; 
 prudential motives, highly commendable, were the 
 obstacles which deterred him from embarking in an 
 undertaking so precarious, and on forming that reso- 
 lution, he resolved to devote all his leisure time to 
 the furtherance of Sir Walter's views. 
 
 About this time he supplied his patron with much
 
 KING'S CASE, 1814. 35 
 
 valuable information relative to the establishment of 
 King's Case, near Ayr, which had been endowed by 
 Brace for the maintenance of persons afflicted with a 
 scorbutic disease, which was at that time called leprosy. 
 The circumstances which led Bruce to endow this place 
 was his being cured of a cutaneous affection, by drink- 
 ing of a medicinal spring situated about a mile from 
 the place alluded to. In his gratitude, he founded a 
 Dominican monastery, and caused houses to be built 
 in the neighbourhood for the maintenance of eight 
 persons afflicted with diseases similar to his own. 
 This was put in force, and donations were exacted 
 from the neighbouring landholders to maintain this 
 establishment. The ruins of the monastery are now 
 level with the ground, and King's Case exists but in 
 name. 
 
 Train had the good fortune to obtain one of 
 the mazers, or drinking-cups used by the lepers of 
 King's Case, and it formed one of the earliest contri- 
 butions to the museum of Sir Walter, with whom 
 it was an object of great interest. These drinking- 
 cups were presented by Bruce to the establishment, 
 and they became hereditary in the house to which they 
 were first granted. 
 
 The district over which Train travelled was to- 
 tally isolated, from the inaccessible nature of the
 
 36 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 ground, from all intercourse with the more inland 
 shires, and except a few thiggers and gaberlunzies, 
 and in the summer a wandering chapman, by a " far 
 out time," the inhabitants saw little of the great 
 world from which they were excluded, they were 
 necessarily ignorant, and consequently superstitious. 
 One anecdote is related by Train, hi his Memo- 
 randa, to illustrate the ignorance of the people in 
 these wild localities. He says that it was second- 
 hand when he got it, nor does he vouch for the truth 
 thereof. Let us not be blamed for irreverence if we 
 quote it : 
 
 "A bookman, striving to pass the country in a 
 direct line from Benyellarie to Knockuallion, when 
 at the BacJckill of the flush, called at the herd's house, 
 and finding the g\idewife at home, offered her for 
 sale The Sn/erings and Death of Jesus Christ. 
 ' Hech, sirs,' said she, ' is that man dead ? ' ' Dead ! ' 
 exclaimed the man in astonishment at her ignorance, 
 ' I thought every person knew that he was dead lang 
 syne.' ' Hoo could we hear that,' rejoined the ma- 
 tron, 'when we dinna get the newspapers here.' " So 
 much for these days of ignorance. 
 
 But these people, though ignorant in the extreme, 
 were kind and hospitable, and many a long winter 
 night Train spent by their firesides, listening to
 
 CAPTAIN JAMES DENNISTOUN. 37 
 
 their wild and superstitious tales of the past, and 
 storing them up for future use. His enthusiasm in 
 the collecting of old ballads and legends became so 
 well known, that every one who had any old story, 
 related it to the gauger ; and all the gaberlunzies and 
 wandering beggars in that, and the adjoining shire, 
 resorted to Newton-Stewart to recite to him any old 
 tale they might be in possession of. 
 
 Some time after Train's settling at Newton- 
 Stewart, he became intimately acquainted with Cap- 
 tain James Dennistoun, the ingenious author of 
 Legends of Galloway, and editor of the ancient Gallo- 
 vidian ballad of Craignilder. In Captain Dennis- 
 toun he found a congenial spirit, a man of sterling 
 uprightness, whose friendship was a valuable acqui- 
 sition. Their tastes and inclinations were, for the 
 most part, the same, and on this account they formed 
 the resolution of writing conjunctly a History of 
 Galloway. Acting on this resolution, they got cir- 
 culars printed and sent to all the schoolmasters and 
 parish-clerks in the south of Scotland, requesting them 
 to furnish answers to the queries therein printed, con- 
 cerning the existence of camps, Roman forts, and every 
 object which might serve to illustrate the manners and 
 customs of remoter ages. The communications which 
 they received from many sources were full and ex-
 
 ">* MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 plicit, throwing great light upon subjects which, till 
 then, had been enveloped in misty obscurity, so that 
 they were soon in possession of abundance of materials 
 for writing a complete history. But the idea was 
 soon abandoned on account of the labour which it 
 would necessarily have demanded, a labour which 
 neither the one nor the other was in a position to 
 bestow upon it, apart from the more important duties 
 of his occupation. 
 
 To Train's connexion with Sir Walter we may 
 ;ittribute partly his disinclination to engage in such a 
 task, for all the leisure he could possibly have from 
 his arduous profession, was devoted to his interests. 
 Indeed, we have his own words for the support of such 
 an assertion, for, in his personal memoranda, he says, 
 " From the day I became acquainted with Sir Walter, 
 the ambition of authorship was superseded by a desire 
 to serve the great novelist." 
 
 Captain Dennistoun, on the other hand, we pre- 
 sume, did not wish to engage in such an undertaking 
 himself, unassisted by the superior tact of Train, so 
 the affair fell to the ground. About this tune the 
 Synod-book of Galloway, which had been lost for 
 many years, was found by Train, and this afforded 
 him much useful information ; but the clergy, on 
 loarning that it had been found, became clamorous
 
 PROJECTED HISTORY OF GALLOWAY. 39 
 
 for the restoration of the long-lost volume, and even 
 threatened to resort to legal measures unless it was 
 delivered over to their keeping. This Train com- 
 plied with, though not before he had collected there- 
 from as much information as suited his purpose. 
 The greater part of the communications received from 
 the schoolmasters and parish-clerks were very valuable, 
 and were (seeing that there was no other use for them) 
 forwarded to Sir Walter from time to time. One, 
 Train mentions particularly, was from Mr. Broadfoot, 
 teacher at the clachan of Penningham, author of the 
 celebrated song The Hills of Galloway, and several 
 poems on traditionary subjects : it was signed "Clash- 
 botham." This facetious gentleman was the proto- 
 type of the celebrated Jedediah of Gandercleugh, and, 
 like him, drank the " mountain dew" with the excise- 
 man and the landlord, not at the Wallace Inn at Gan- 
 dercleugh, but at the sign of the Shoulder of Mutton 
 in Newton-Stewart. 
 
 Not only do we find Train exerting himself to 
 the utmost in supplying Sir Walter with much valu- 
 able information relative to the traditions of Galloway, 
 but also from time to time gathering many relics of 
 antiquity, and forwarding them to the museum which 
 his illustrious friend was forming. Among the relics 
 of a past age of error and superstition which our
 
 40 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 antiquary succeeded in procuring, were the tlutmbkins 
 under which the high-souled Carstairs " did not flinch," 
 and the more terrific iron crown which encircled the 
 throbbing brow of the great-hearted Wishart. These 
 relics were much prized by Sir Walter on account of 
 their painful association with the fearful past, of a 
 time which has not its parallel in the annals of the 
 world. 
 
 The subject of our memoir, in the pursuit of the 
 antiquarian peculiarities of Galloway, not only grati- 
 fied his own taste, but also contributed to the en- 
 lightening of the world on matters of antiquity, 
 which, till then, had been the cause of much differ- 
 ence of opinion. Many things were brought to light 
 which materially strengthened the theories of some, 
 and dashed to the ground the opinions of others. 
 Yet still for all that, we never find him in one in- 
 stance thrusting himself into notice, but in secret and 
 silence patiently working and saying but little. For 
 a moment we turn from the chronicling of his public 
 services, and find the man in his home. There the 
 stream of life was gliding peacefully along, the bright 
 sun of happiness lit every corner of the dwelling, and 
 the peace of mind, which is not procured by the 
 things of the world, was filling every heart. The 
 Mary Wilson of his wooing days was the Mary Wil-
 
 DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 41 
 
 son of his calm fireside, though the beauty of the 
 girl had merged into the calm sweet expression of the 
 matron. 
 
 Although not in a position of life where every 
 want could be ministered to, or every comfort sup- 
 plied, he was happy in his cottage-home, happy in 
 the bosom of his family, His life was not a life of 
 inactivity and ease, for his profession was one in 
 which the utmost vigilance had to be maintained, and 
 admitted of no neglect ; for had he been found ab- 
 sent from his duty on any one occasion, he would 
 have been dismissed from the service. Even with a 
 knowledge of all the miseries which were peculiar to 
 his position and in those days the occupation of a 
 ganger was none of the safest he possessed a well- 
 regulated mind, above all the petty cabals which 
 agitated the minds of the weaker fry who tried to 
 injure the peaceful man in word and deed. In the 
 calm of his own fireside he cast these cares to the 
 winds, and lived in the widest sense of the word a 
 happy life.
 
 42 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IGNORANCE OF THE EARLIER ANTIQUARIES CONCERN- 
 ING GALLOWAY A CURIOUS SPELL FOUND BY 
 
 TRAIN THE STORY UPON WHICH GUY MANNERING 
 
 WAS FOUNDED WANDERING WILLIE OF RED- 
 GAUNTLET SENDS SOME RELICS TO SIR WALTER 
 
 VISITS SIR WALTER IN EDINBURGH HE FROM 
 
 THE SULLEN ORR TELLS SIR WALTER OF OLD 
 
 MORTALITY SIR WALTER'S NEXT LETTER. 
 
 THE antiquities of Galloway for many years failed 
 to occupy the attention they merited from all writers 
 on this subject. Indeed, we find Sir John Sibbald 
 and many others professing their ignorance, and it is 
 a matter of no great wonder, when we consider the 
 nature of the country, and the inaccessible tracts 
 which lay between it and the more civilized district 
 of Kyle. Anything that was known was furnished 
 by the different parish ministers for the great statis- 
 tical work of Sir John Sinclair, and these communica- 
 tions were for the most part erroneous and flimsy 
 statements, which still stand against them as proofs
 
 CURIOUS SPELL, 1815. 43 
 
 of their negligence and ignorance ; consequently 
 Train had a new field, which rewarded his patient 
 industry in a manner truly creditable to his name 
 and genius. Many names are found among his cor- 
 respondents, showing that genius and talent gratefully 
 acknowledged his assistance ; among these is fre- 
 quently found that of Chalmers, whose name stands 
 at the head of the list of antiquaries. 
 
 Train, ever on the alert, found a curious relic of 
 superstition in his wanderings in the early part of 
 1815. This was an occult mixture of rowan-tree 
 twigs with scraps of red cloth bound up with texts 
 of Scripture in a cow's hide ; it was used for the 
 purpose of guarding cattle from witchcraft. This 
 curious spell occupied for many years a prominent 
 place in Sir Walter's museum, along with another of 
 a similar description which the baronet had received 
 from Mrs. Grant of Laggan. Those who have read 
 the notes to the Waverley Novels, cannot but acknow- 
 ledge that the tribute which that great author pays, 
 from time to time, to Train, is just and generous 
 on the part of Sir Walter, and must have been flat- 
 tering to the humble antiquary. One of the stories 
 which he forwarded to Sir Walter was of an astro- 
 loger who, wandering in the wilds of Galloway, came 
 about midnight to a house where the gudewife was
 
 44 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 about to be confined. The future destiny of the 
 child the astrologer foretold, saying that he would 
 encounter many dangers, and after a residence in a 
 far-off land he would return to claim his inheritance. 
 This is said to have come to pass as the weird man 
 foretold; and the story was so much admired by Sir 
 Walter, that he made it the basis of the novel of Guy 
 Mannering -and the astrologer's wandering, and his 
 becoming a guest at Ellangowan, is formed from that 
 old legendary ballad. Another wild story which is 
 recited by Wandering Willie to Darsie Latimer, in 
 the novel of Redgauntlet, Sir Walter received from 
 Train ; it was originally published by him in 1814, 
 in Strains of the Mountain Muse, a work to which 
 we have previously alluded. The story, as told by 
 Train, is something like the following : A man 
 in the parish of New Abbey, who had the lease of 
 a farm from the Laird of Lagg, called on him one 
 day to pay some arrears of rent which had been due 
 for a considerable time. Grierson took the money, 
 but on account of some urgent business, he did not 
 write the farmer a discharge, but requested him to 
 call next day for the document ; but ere the sun had 
 risen again, the persecutor hail breathed his last 
 
 When the funeral was over, the farmer waited on 
 the young laird, and simply stated the transaction
 
 WANDERING WILLIE of REDOAITNTLET. 45 
 
 with his father. The young gentleman informed the 
 old man, that should he admit of such vouchers he 
 would subject himself to impositions which the whole 
 of his property could not cover ; and though he 
 doubted not but the farmer had spoken the truth, 
 yet if the receipt was not forthcoming, he would 
 resort to legal measures to enforce payment. 
 
 As the poor man was returning home very discon- 
 solate at the thought of being turned out of house 
 and home, for he had no money to pay the sum over 
 again, a person came up with him in a wood through 
 which he had to pass. 
 
 They travelled on in silence for some time ; at last 
 the stranger observed to his companion, that he ap- 
 peared low-spirited, and begged that he perhaps could 
 help him out of the difficulty. The farmer replied 
 that he was indeed low-spirited, and with much cause, 
 and without further preface, told the stranger his 
 story. 
 
 The stranger observed that his case was a singular 
 one, but not altogether so hopeless as he imagined, 
 and added, that if he would accompany him a short 
 distance from the highway, he might assist him in 
 procuring his own. Although it was near midnight 
 and very dark, the farmer, rendered desperate by his 
 misfortune, made no scruple in accompanying the
 
 46 MKMOIR OF 
 
 JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 stranger. His guide then dashed into a tliick wood 
 which was near, and after threading the mazes, whicli 
 were intricate and difficult to walk through, to the 
 astonishment of the farmer they came to the gate of 
 a majestic castle, which was opened by a man who 
 had been for many years porter to the Laird of Lagg, 
 but who had been dead for a considerable time. 
 
 In the hall sat Pate Birnie, the famous fiddler of 
 Kinghorn. This facetious worthy was tuning his 
 tiddle in order to play after supper to a large com- 
 pany who were assembled in an upper apartment of 
 the castle. As the farmer followed his guide, he saw 
 several ladies and gentlemen with whom he had for- 
 merly been acquainted, all of whom had taken an 
 active part in the persecution ; at last he entered a 
 room, where, to his astonishment, he saw the old 
 Laird of Lagg seated at a table, with a large bundle 
 of papers before him, and apparently busied in arrang- 
 ing them. His guide then addressed Lagg, and in- 
 formed him that this was the person he had expressed 
 a wish to see, whereupon Lagg wrote the rent receipt 
 and gave it to the poor man, telling him to go next 
 day and present it to the heir, and inform him that 
 he had received it on the day of payment, but the 
 fact of his having got it had escaped his memory. 
 
 The fanner thanked him, and returned t<> las
 
 WILLIE THE WELSHMAN. 47 
 
 guide, who conducted him back the road they came, 
 bade him good-night, and disappeared. The man 
 went home in a state of mind not easily to be de- 
 scribed, and next morning, reflecting on the transac- 
 tions of the preceding evening, and deeming it all a 
 hallucination, until searching his pockets, he found 
 therein the veritable document fairly written in the 
 old Laird's handwriting. His joy then knew no 
 bounds. He instantly set out for the castle, and on 
 presenting his receipt, was freed from the threatened 
 prosecution. 
 
 On this adventure becoming known, it was gene- 
 rally believed that the farmer had paid a visit to some 
 other regions, for no castle could ever be found con- 
 tiguous to the scene of his nocturnal adventure. This 
 is the substance of Wandering Willie's tale, as related 
 by Train in the work aforementioned. 
 
 The prototype of this erratic individual, so ad- 
 mirably described by Scott, was also furnished by 
 Train from personal knowledge. This man was a 
 wanderer like the Willie of Scott, a Welshman by 
 birth, a native of Caernarvonshire, but Train in- 
 forms us that his chief residence for many years 
 prior to his death was in the south of Scotland, where 
 he was well known for his drollery and his skill on 
 the harp and fiddle. He was not, as one may sup-
 
 48 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 pose, admitted into the halls of the great, as was the 
 custom in earlier times, but he was the presiding 
 genius at merry-makings, and always the chief gut- 
 scraper at every kirn between Gretna Green and the 
 Braes of Glenapp, and, like the noted Hobble Simpson, 
 at bridals he won mony placks. 
 
 At the great fair of Kirkdandie he was the chief 
 personage. There he usually laid aside his harp and 
 took to the fiddle, as better fitted to charm the hearts 
 of the lads and lasses of Carrick. 
 
 At this gathering, once the most celebrated in the 
 West, he became acquainted with John Riddel, the 
 i>est musician Scotland ever saw, the composer of 
 " Cokean Castle," " Carrick Shore," " The Merry 
 Lads of Ayr," and " Ayrshire Lasses," the latter 
 composition being popularly believed to be the pro- 
 duction of the last Earl of Eglinton ; but on the 
 authority of Train and others, we are enabled to cor- 
 rect that mistake. 
 
 We give Train's version of that popular song : 
 
 The bugle sounds the parting call, 
 
 To arms the order passes, 0, 
 And I must bid farewell to all 
 The bonnic Ayrshire lasses, 0. 
 
 Aye sae frank, and aye sae free, 
 Aye sae blithe aud cheery, 0, 
 Cauld is he wha e'er he be, 
 That wadna lo'e them dearly, O.
 
 WANDERING WILLIE. 49 
 
 Remembrance deep upon my mind, 
 
 Despondency impresses, 0, 
 When I, alas ! must leave behind, 
 
 The bonnie Ayrshire lasses, 0. 
 Aye sae frank, &c. 
 
 Although before me now I see, 
 
 The whole of war's distresses, ; 
 They seem not half sae drear to me, 
 
 As leaving Ayrshire lasses, 0. 
 Aye sae frank, &c. 
 
 Train, in 1816, on his way home from a friend's, 
 at the ferry toun of Cree, met Wandering Willie, 
 whom he thus describes : 
 
 " I was returning to Newton-Stewart, when the 
 blind minstrel approached, with a large harp over his 
 shoulder, led by a woman who, I afterwards learned, 
 was his wife, and followed by some children walking, 
 and others in a small wicker cart of singular con- 
 struction, drawn by a little cuddie of the old gipsy 
 kind. As I drew near to them, the female caused 
 him to raise his harp, and he began to play the well 
 known air, ' Kenmure's on an' awa', Willie.' It was 
 a calm evening in the month of April, and the melo- 
 dious sound of the harp soon brought a crowd of 
 peasants from the neighbouring hamlet of Macher- 
 more, and the fields of Kirroughtree, which, with a 
 fiddle, played by one of the younger branches of the 
 D
 
 50 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 minstrel's family, formed a band that called into action 
 the dancing powers not only of the other children, 
 but likewise of several of the spectators. The appear- 
 ance of the minstrel was somewhat singular ; he was 
 seemingly upwards of fifty years of age, of very 
 diminutive stature, the small part of his countenance 
 that appeared above his bushy beard was of a sallow 
 complexion, very much pitted by the small-pox, and 
 nowise improved by his large sightless eyeballs, 
 which seemed to roll instinctively as he moved his 
 hand across the strings of the harp. His habiliments 
 seemed to be just whatever chance had thrown in his 
 way. On his legs he wore a pair of blue rigg-ari-fur 
 stockings, partly drawn over the knees of his small 
 clothes, the original part of which had been evidently 
 worn by a person of more spacious dimensions ; his 
 vest of red plush cloth, with deep pockets hanging 
 over the thighs, was in every way similar to that 
 kept in the wardrobe at Eglinton Castle, stained with 
 the blood of the unfortunate Earl who was shot by 
 Campbell the exciseman. The outside colour of his 
 coat was brown, the inside yellow ; it was the only 
 part of his dress which bore any proportion at all to 
 his person. On his head he wore the cap in old times 
 called a megiskie, with a large Roman letter in front, 
 such as was usually worn by Chattering Charlie, the
 
 THE FATE OF WANDERING WILLIE. 51 
 
 last professional jester of the House of Cassilis. From 
 Creetown, the minstrel and his family proceeded to 
 Skyreburn, where they received quarters that night. 
 Next day the whole retinue moved slowly over the 
 Course of Slakes, and arrived at Laggan Mullan in 
 the evening, just in time to assist the music of a 
 merry-making of friends there, of which the host has 
 still a lively recollection. 
 
 " Next night they were not so successful. After 
 having passed through the Gatehouse of Fleet, at 
 nightfall, they solicited lodgings at the farm-house of 
 Tawney Maws, and several other places, but were 
 refused. Compelled by necessity, the poor houseless 
 wanderers at length lay down in a gravel-pit, fast by 
 the great road to Portpatrick, nearly opposite to the 
 old mill of Twynholm, but ere the morning the brow 
 of the pit fell in, and buried the whole family, seven 
 in number. The cuddie had been left beside the 
 wicker-cart, at a short distance from the pit, and 
 thus escaped the fate of its owners. Being Sabbath, 
 it was not till near the middle of the day that, by 
 the braying of the ass, people were collected to the 
 spot ; and, strange as it may appear, considering the 
 proverbial stupidity of that animal, Mr. Rain assures 
 me, that it was there observed pacing backwards and 
 forwards, in front of the gravel-pit in which its master
 
 52 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 and his family were laid, braying anon, seemingly for 
 the purpose of rousing them from their resting-place. 
 
 " The quantity of gravel that had fallen during the 
 night on these unfortunate people, was almost incredi- 
 bly small, to have been the cause of such a sad 
 catastrophe ; some of them were scarcely covered, 
 but they had all incautiously reclined with their 
 heads close to the bank, by which the falling gravel 
 covered their faces and deprived them of life. By 
 the composure of their features, when taken out of 
 the pit, the whole seemed to have died without a 
 struggle. 
 
 " The remains of this unfortunate family were, at 
 the expense of the Session, buried in the churchyard 
 of Twynholm. The recollection of this tragical event 
 is still kept in the district, by people superstitiously 
 pointing out the Harper's Hole, as a nightly ren- 
 dezvous of many an unearthly group of uncouth figures 
 in human shape." 
 
 Such was the end of Willie, the Welshman, in 
 whose fate Sir Walter deeply sympathized, so much 
 so, that he resolved to perpetuate him in the enchant- 
 ing pages of romance. 
 
 Mr. Train, happening to be at North Castle Street 
 soon after the publication of Kedgauntlet, while con- 
 versing with Sir Walter on some of the incidents
 
 LETTER FROM SIR WALTER SCOTT. O5 
 
 in that work, the Baronet said, " You will no doubt 
 recognise an old acquaintance in the person of the 
 Blind Beggar. Poor fellow ! I must some time or 
 other pay a further tribute to his memory, but you 
 know circumstances will not permit of me doing so 
 at present." 
 
 Train, expecting that Sir Walter would mention 
 Wandering Willie more particularly in the next 
 edition of Redgauntlet, sent to his patron, on the 8th 
 of October 1830, the above account of the unfortunate 
 minstrel, which, from some cause which the antiquary 
 could never discover, did not appear. We have made 
 a digression, for the purpose of establishing the re- 
 lationship between the Minstrel of the North and the 
 subject of our memoir, and of recording the story of 
 Wandering Willie in its proper place. We now 
 return to Sir Walter's correspondence with Train. 
 The following letter is the first at all interesting, 
 though they had previously had much interchange of 
 correspondence : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I was in the country when I 
 ordered your copy of the Lord of the Isles to be sent 
 off. Unfortunately the bookseller had not enough to 
 answer my order, and disappointed you and one or 
 two of my other friends. I was therefore obliged to
 
 "> I MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 wait the second edition, of which I have now the 
 pleasure to send two copies by the coach, begging 
 your acceptance of one, and hoping you may find the 
 other an acceptable gift to some of your friends. Mr. 
 Porter, lately appointed a Commissioner of Excise, is 
 a friend of mine. I would be happy if, through his 
 interest, I could at any time be useful to you, in 
 which case you will have the goodness to point me 
 out the object and opportunity of serving you. I am 
 going to London in about a fortnight, for about six 
 weeks, or thereabouts. 
 
 " I must conclude in some haste. Dear Sir, your 
 obliged servant, WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 " ABBOTSFORD, 12th March 1815." 
 
 This offer of assistance came of his own accord 
 from Sir Walter, nor, in all the course of their 
 correspondence, do we find that Train was actuated 
 by mercenary motives in affording to Sir Walter 
 that assistance which the novelist so highly valued. 
 This offer was made, we have no doubt, from motives 
 of delicacy, Sir Walter judging rightly that our 
 antiquary would not have accepted direct pecuniary 
 remuneration for his services. A short time after 
 receiving the foregoing letter, Train presented to his 
 illustrious friend a Roman battle-axe, found in the
 
 ESSAY ON ILLICIT DISTILLATION, 1815. 55 
 
 moss of Cree, and, at the same time, the head of a 
 spear picked up near Merton Hall, in the parish of 
 Penningham, together with the sporran of Rob Roy, 
 which he had obtained from a descendant of that 
 far-famed freebooter. During Train's sojourn in Aber- 
 feldy, he had marked with particular attention the 
 true cause of so much opposition to the law, and at a 
 subsequent period drew up an essay on the subject, 
 showing the defects and abuses of the Excise statutes, 
 and pointing out how these defects might be remedied, 
 so that when Sir Walter informed him that he was 
 acquainted with Mr. Porter, newly appointed a Com- 
 missioner of the Excise, he stated to him by letter, 
 some of the particulars contained in the essay on 
 Illicit Distillation, hoping thereby to bring it under 
 the notice of that gentleman, but his sudden death 
 prevented Sir Walter from doing so. He, however, 
 in a few months after, gave it to Mr. Earle, then a 
 Commissioner of the Customs, upon which he wrote 
 as follows to Train : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I delayed answering your letter till 
 I should know what my motions were likely to be this 
 summer, as I have been of late a good deal of a 
 wanderer. I find I will be at my farm of Abbotsford 
 from Monday till the 26th, and in town from the 26th
 
 56 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 to 1 2th April, after which I will be again at Abbotsford 
 for a month, and then in town during the summer 
 session of two months. I presume your visit to 
 Edinburgh will be about summer, when you will be 
 sure to meet me, as I am always obliged officially to 
 attend the sittings of the Court, and shall be glad to 
 make your personal acquaintance. 
 
 " Rorie Gill is quite a stranger to me, and I am 
 glad to be made known to him in the modern dress ; 
 you have clothed him with considerable spirit. 
 
 " I will have an opportunity, before I leave town, 
 to put your communication under the eye of Mr. 
 Earle, chairman of the Board, with whom it may be 
 of service to you. I have made Mr. Earle's acquaint- 
 ance lately, and he seems a very agreeable and gen- 
 tlemanlike man. 
 
 " I will be particularly gratified by your writing 
 down at leisure such traditions as you mention having 
 picked up in your late tour ; nothing interests me so 
 much as local anecdotes. I am, dear Sir, your obe- 
 dient servant, WALTER SCOTT. 
 " EDINBUBGU, lih March 1816." 
 
 We are not in possession of information as to 
 where Train had been, as alluded to by Sir Wal- 
 ter in the preceding letter, but it was doubtless an
 
 " HE FROM THE SULLEN OER," 1816. 57 
 
 excursion, in search of ancient ballads or stories, into 
 the more remote districts of Galloway. 
 
 Mr. Earle highly approved of the suggestions con- 
 tained in Train's Essay, as did the Board of Ex- 
 cise and Customs at Edinburgh, and on their re- 
 commendation it was forwarded to the Lords of the 
 Treasury. After much delay, he at last had the 
 satisfaction of seeing his suggestions become the law 
 of the land. In the May following Train set out 
 for Edinburgh : on his arrival in town he was received 
 by Sir Walter in the most friendly manner, and enter- 
 tained in that style of hospitality for which Sir Walter 
 was noted too much so for himself, as after years 
 failed not to show. He endeavoured to make his 
 guest's stay in town as agreeable as possible, and with 
 that view despatched a servant in search of the Ettrick 
 Shepherd, who was then in Edinburgh ; but the search 
 was fruitless. The servant returned with no tidings of 
 Hogg, nor could they ascertain where he was staying. 
 This was a disappointment to Train, who would 
 have relished the company of Hogg with peculiar 
 zest. Sir Walter had also invited to his table that 
 day, the poet whom Hogg satirically describes in the 
 Queeris Wake, 
 
 " Of peasant make and doubtful mein, 
 Affecting airs of proud disdain."
 
 58 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 It would doubtless have been a rich treat to have 
 seen the Gallovidian seated beside the Bard of A l- 
 trieve. The impression made on the mind of our 
 friend, by the picture of the Bungling Bard, was 
 nowise relieved by his dogmatic assertions and high 
 pretensions during the evening. 
 
 A pair of ptarmigans at table, which Sir Walter 
 said he had received that day as a present from the 
 North, was a treat to every one present except he 
 from the " sullen Orr," who affirmed that these birds 
 were as plentiful as pigeons in Galloway. So great 
 was the vanity of Morrison, that even Sir Walter 
 was not allowed to pass uncontradicted. 
 
 Wilkie's picture of Sir Walter and his family, which 
 was at this time newly from the studio of the artist, was 
 that evening introduced. All present pronounced it 
 to be a faithful picture except he from Galloway, who 
 most unhesitatingly declared, that it was neither like Sir 
 Walter nor any of his family ; whereupon Miss Scott 
 remarked with much archness, " Oh, I forgot, Mr. 
 Morrison, you are a painter yourself, and I have often 
 heard it remarked, that there is no friendship in 
 trade, but I never saw it verified before." That even- 
 ing Sir Walter was called away by Mr. Alexander 
 Campbell, the author of Albyn's Anthology. When he 
 returned, he spoke in terms of the highest adnii-
 
 TRAIN AT NORTH CASTLE STREET. 59 
 
 ration of the enthusiastic ardour evinced by Mr. 
 Campbell, who, although advanced in years, travelled 
 the country on foot collecting neglected music. He 
 said he had written several songs to assist the poor 
 man by his name appearing in the list of contributors 
 to the work, but he expressed it as his opinion, that 
 the undertaking would never pay. This truly came to 
 pass ; and poor Campbell gained little but the immor- 
 tal fame of having his name connected with some of 
 the finest lyrics in the language, besides those from 
 the inimitable pen of his illustrious patron. 
 
 The short time spent by Train with Sir Walter 
 and his amiable family, was quite a jubilee to the 
 patient and industrious antiquary, and the enjoyment 
 of this breathing time was heightened by the thought 
 that he had served Sir Walter in such a manner as 
 greatly to merit the kind notice of the Great Magician 
 of the North. But his stay was of short duration ; his 
 anxiety to be home to his duties, precluded him from in- 
 dulging in a protracted sojourn at North Castle Street. 
 
 On the morning of his departure he rose and went 
 into the library, as he had been directed the night 
 previous, by Sir Walter, who judged rightly, that it 
 would be a source of amusement to his antiquarian 
 friend. The library, although not so valuable as it 
 afterwards became, was among the finest which Train
 
 GO MEMOIE OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 had ever seen, and it may be taken for granted, that 
 he enjoyed himself much. 
 
 The pictures there were a full-length portrait of 
 the Novelist himself, a fine view of the Island of 
 Staffa, and an original painting of the celebrated 
 Lord Dundee, the hated Claverhouse. This last 
 picture arrested the attention of the antiquary : the 
 noble-looking and amiable countenance was ill in 
 unison with the reputed character of the man, and in 
 the strange anomaly there was much to engage the 
 attention of the thinker. 
 
 Sir Walter entered the library as Train was ex- 
 amining the picture of the persecutor, and to the 
 antiquary's remark, " that Claverhouse appeared more 
 mild and gentle there, than in the light which Wodrow, 
 Cruickshank, and other ecclesiastical writers had shown 
 him in," replied by saying, " that no man was more 
 traduced by his historians than Claverhouse, who 
 followed the belief that he rode on a goblin galloway, 
 was proof against shot, and in league with the devil." 
 
 His guest remarked, that in good hands he might 
 be made the hero of a national romance as interesting 
 as either Wallace or the Pretender. " He might," 
 replied Sir Walter, " but your western zealots would 
 require to be faithfully pourtrayed to make the pic- 
 ture complete." Train further added, seeing that the
 
 THE HIGHLAND HOST. 61 
 
 Novelist was pleased with the idea, that if the story 
 was delivered as if from the mouth of Old Mortality, 
 in a manner somewhat similar to that of the Lay of 
 the Last Minstrel, it would certainly heighten the 
 effect of the tale. " Old Mortality, man, who was he ?" 
 interrogated Sir Walter, his eye beaming with lively 
 interest. His guest began narrating as much as he 
 knew of that singular personage, and promised, on his 
 return to Galloway, to collect all particulars respect- 
 ing him. At this Sir Walter expressed himself highly 
 delighted, and he spoke so emphatically, that Tram 
 had no doubt that he meant to make use of the in- 
 formation received. 
 
 At breakfast, again adverting to the Covenanters 
 in the West, he spoke of the distress which had been 
 brought on the community, in the year 1678, by the 
 rapacity of the Highland host, and afterwards by the 
 visionary follies instilled by the clergy into the minds 
 of their simple followers. He also alluded to the singu- 
 lar charter granted by Robert II., in the year 1378, 
 relating to the Church of St. John at Ayr, which 
 Train had published some time previous in a periodi- 
 cal work. He said he had never visited the ancient 
 town of Ayr, but should have done so long ere that 
 time, had he not been so well supplied with such 
 valuable information as his guest had transmitted to
 
 62 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 him, respecting the landing of Bruce, and the Leper esta- 
 blishment at Prestwick, afterwards called King's Case. 
 Neither had he visited Galloway; but he said his 
 curiosity had been so excited, that if his health per- 
 mitted, he would make a journey to that district during 
 the following summer. This he was never destined to 
 accomplish. Next summer he reached Dumfries, but 
 was compelled to return to Edinburgh, without visit- 
 ing the wild but not unpleasing district of Galloway. 
 
 Proud of the reception he had received from Sir 
 Walter, Train returned home, resolving to use every 
 means in his power to serve his patron in the col- 
 lecting of traditionary stories, but more particularly 
 such as related to Old Mortality, an account of whom 
 Sir Walter made him promise, on parting, to send as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 Train kept his promise, and in a few weeks sent 
 to Edinburgh an account of that strange individual, 
 as he received it from the son of Old Mortality. 
 
 This singular man was born in the parish of Close- 
 burn, in Dumfries-shire, and was probably a mason. He 
 had at least been educated to the use of the chisel. He 
 wandered through Scotland, renewing the time-worn in- 
 scriptions on the tombstones of the martyrs, and cutting 
 new ones where there were none. It was religious en- 
 thusiasm, not poverty, which induced him thus to wan-
 
 DEATH OF OLD MORTALITY. 63 
 
 der, for he never accepted anything but the hospitality 
 which was willingly rendered him, and when that 
 was not proffered, he had money enough to provide 
 for his humble wants. There are few churchyards in 
 Ayrshire, Galloway, or Dumfries-shire where the mark 
 of his chisel is not to be seen. He died at Bankhill, 
 near Lockerby, on the 14th of January 1801, in the 
 eighty-sixth year of his age. That Sir Walter hail 
 little to work upon, is known from the fact, that 
 what Train could learn about the old enthusiast was 
 from his son, and this was not received from him 
 with the best grace, at that time, but at a future 
 period he supplied Train with many interesting par- 
 ticulars about his father, which were inserted as notes 
 to a future edition of the Waverley Novels ; but 
 possessing so little information as he did at that time, 
 we are astonished, when we think of the genius of 
 the man who, from such scanty materials, could, by 
 the potent wave of his magical wand, create a new 
 world of romance. All the efforts of modern, and, we 
 may with safety say, ancient times too, sink into in- 
 significance, compared with the herculean and masterly 
 literary achievements of the mighty Scott. What pen 
 but his ever delineated, with such truthfulness, the 
 peculiarities of character, or clothed the enchanting 
 page of romance with so much of reality : but we
 
 64 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 turn from contemplating the man ; the blaze of his 
 genius dazzles and confounds us. 
 
 The following letter which Train received, will 
 show that the information which Sir Walter had 
 procured respecting Old Mortality, and other subjects, 
 was valued much. In it we find him endeavouring 
 to conceal, even from Train, the fact of his being the 
 author of Old Mortality, or the two preceding works. 
 At what time he directly made the antiquary one of the 
 select few who knew the secret of their authorship, we 
 are not precisely informed. But this was mere affec- 
 tation on the part of Sir Walter, for he must have 
 been conscious that the antiquary knew well about 
 the matter, seeing that he was the person who sug- 
 gested Old Mortality to him. But this letter appears 
 to have been written either as a feeler, or from the 
 fact that the Great Minstrel had forgotten all about 
 the matter. That the latter is improbable we assent 
 to, and consider the former as the natural conclusion. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I have been very much to blame 
 not to write you sooner. My sincere thanks for your 
 very obliging and curious communications, from which 
 I have derived both instruction and amusement. I 
 was in the country until the beginning of winter, 
 which occasioned my being late in receiving your
 
 LETTER FROM SIR WALTER SCOTT. 65 
 
 communications, which were, however, lying safely at 
 Castle Street. You have been uncommonly success- 
 ful in some most interesting inquiries. You will be 
 surprised to find that Old Mortality has got into 
 print. The novel in which he appears belongs to 
 the same cycle, and appears to be written by the 
 same author, as those of Waverley and Guy Manner- 
 ing, and displays the same knowledge of Scottish 
 manners and scenery, and the same carelessness as to 
 the arrangement of the story, which characterize these 
 curious narratives. Why the author should conceal 
 himself, and, in this case, even change his publisher, 
 as if to insure his remaining concealed, is a curious 
 problem. I get the credit of them, and wish I de- 
 served it : but I daresay the real author will one day 
 appear. As a trifling return for your attention, and 
 presuming that the Tales will interest you, I send a 
 copy for your acceptance by the Portpatrick mail, 
 the Ballantynes having sent me a couple of copies, 
 as they generally do, of anything that they print 
 which they think has merit. The first tale, in my 
 opinion, is rather below par, but the second is exceed- 
 ingly good indeed. I shall be glad if they afford you 
 some amusement. 
 
 " The Pict's kiln seems to be a very curious relique 
 of antiquity. Is it not possible it may have been 
 E
 
 06 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 employed in burning lime 1 We know that these 
 ancient people were traditionally renowned for their 
 skill in architecture. They certainly seem to have 
 been farther advanced in the arts of life than their 
 rival neighbours, the Scots, which may have arisen 
 from their inhabiting the lower and more fertile parts 
 of the country. The Murder Hole is also a curious tra- 
 dition. It confirms me of my opinion that our lawyers 
 misinterpreted the right meaning of the old grants of 
 baronial jurisdiction, which usually bore the right of 
 pit and gallows. Our legal antiquaries hold that the 
 pit means the dungeon of the castle, and that the grant 
 applies to a right of imprisonment and execution by 
 hanging or drowning. There seems no good reason 
 for granting a right of mere imprisonment, which in 
 fact was common to almost all king's vassals, whether 
 possessing the higher powers of capital execution 
 or not. 
 
 "I am prevented from writing farther, by the 
 -ity of serving post. Your obliged servant, 
 " WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 " ABBOTSFORD, 2lst December 1810." 
 
 From this letter we find that the communications 
 must have been valuable, and that they included 
 subjects which were highly interesting, on account
 
 TRAIN 8 HUMILITY. 07 
 
 both of tlieir variety and their antiquarian in- 
 terest. Scott was the skilful workman who polished 
 the gem ; Train the industrious miner, who brought 
 it from its hiding-place among the hills and glens of 
 his lovely land. The genius of the one was fanned 
 and encouraged by the rich subjects paid as homage 
 to that genius by the industrious labour of the other. 
 We speak not of the two men as parallels, but of eacli 
 independently the one, the mighty son of song ; the 
 other, the humble and unpretending antiquary. Scott 
 stood forth pourtraying the manners and customs of 
 a past age, but ere talent and genius could begin 
 their work, Train dashed aside the curtain which time 
 had cast over the aspect of other days. 
 
 Indifferent to the applause of the world ; working 
 for the benefit of others working in secret, yet 
 working not the less ; in sunshine and in sorrow 
 strangely the same, we find the simple son of the 
 hills.
 
 08 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TRAIN'S INTRODUCTION TO CHALMERS, AUTHOR OF 
 
 CALEDONIA TRACES OUT AN OLD BOUNDARY LONG 
 
 DISPUTED STORY OF ULRICK M'WHIRTER SIR 
 
 WALTER'S NEXT LETTER STORY OF DONALD-NA- 
 
 NORD ANCESTOR OF DONALD THE PROTOTYPE OF 
 
 WAVERLEY ORIGIN OF THE DOOM OF DEVORGOIL. 
 
 IN the summer of 1815, Sir Walter, when in Lon- 
 don, became personally acquainted with Chalmers, 
 the author of Caledonia, who was at that time 
 I in-paring the third volume of his great work for 
 the press. It is that part which contains the de- 
 scription of the west of Scotland. 
 
 Sir Walter mentioned Train as the person most 
 likely to forward the views of Chalmers in the 
 getting up of some of the topographical notices of 
 various parts of Galloway and Ayrshire ; and also, 
 at the same time, related some of the interesting com- 
 munications which he had himself received from the 
 exciseman. 
 
 Mr. Chalmers had applied for similar information
 
 CHALMERS. C!) 
 
 from Sir Alexander Boswell some time before, but 
 this information the Laird of Auchinleck was unable 
 to give, so he with pleasure made use of Sir Walter's 
 name in soliciting assistance from Train. 
 
 This was the commencement of a correspondence 
 between these two congenial spirits, which was unin- 
 terrupted until the death of Chalmers. The esteem 
 with which Train regarded this wonderful man 
 was next to the high admiration he entertained for 
 Scott. 
 
 On Chalmers' application to the antiquary of Gal- 
 loway, he was furnished with much interesting infor- 
 mation concerning the Roman post on the " Black 
 Water of Dee," near New Galloway, also a sketch 
 and description of the Roman camp at Rispain, near 
 Whithorn, besides many other particulars with which 
 Mr. Chalmers was not previously acquainted. His 
 ignorance had led him to assert in the first volume of 
 Caledonia, that the " Romans had never penetrated 
 into Wigtonshire, nor into Ayrshire, farther than 
 London hill." Informed of his mistake, in the 
 third volume of his work he says : " Owing to 
 the want or obscurity of remains, it has long been 
 supposed that the Romans, with all their energy and 
 perseverance, never penetrated into Wigtonshire, much 
 less Ayrshire. But time and chance have at length
 
 - MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIX. 
 
 discovered the Roman camp at Rispain, near \Vliit- 
 liorn, aiul adjoining the plantations of Glasserton." 
 Hi' afterwards describes the course of a Roman mad 
 from the town of Ayr, from the information which 
 Train supplied; and in a letter, dated " Office for 
 Trade, Whitehall, 20th June 1818," he compliments 
 Train in the following terms : " You will enjoy 
 the glory of being the first who has traced the 
 Roman footsteps so far westward into Wigtonshire, 
 and the Roman road from Dumfries-shire to Ayr. 
 You have gone far beyond any correspondent of mine 
 in these parts." 
 
 The next antiquarian pursuit which Train en- 
 gaged in, was the tracing of an ancient erection, 
 popularly called the DeiVs Dyke, from Lochryan in 
 Wigtonshire, to the farm of Hightae in the parish of 
 Lochmaben, Dumfries-shire, a distance of eighty miles. 
 This had previously been undertaken by Dr. Clapper- 
 ton, son of the celebrated traveller of that name, but 
 he died prematurely, and no information could be 
 obtained regarding the progress he had made. This 
 necessarily compelled Train to begin at Lochryan, 
 although he was derided by his friends for un- 
 dertaking such a task, as to them it seemed the 
 utmost folly for a man of his limited income to engage 
 in such unprofitable work as tracing the butt of an
 
 TRAIN TRACES OUT AN OLD BOUNDARY. 71 
 
 old dyke, which had outlasted every trace both of the 
 age and object of its erection, and which could not 
 possibly be of any importance to himself or to the 
 world. 
 
 In spite of all these discouragements, which his 
 friends were not chary in throwing in his path, we 
 find the devoted antiquary enthusiastic in his not 
 very promising task, and making considerable pro- 
 gress in his researches. His plan was to procure the 
 charter of the lands through which the old dyke was 
 supposed to pass, in order to examine it, with the view 
 of finding any allusion made to the dyke as an ancient 
 boundary, but the written Lands Rights of Galloway 
 was comparatively of modern date, consequently they 
 afforded but little information. He had commenced 
 his survey of the old dyke a considerable time pre- 
 vious to his acquaintance with Mr. Chalmers, and it 
 was nearly completed, when he first communicated 
 with him. In one of Mr. Chalmers' letters to his 
 brother antiquary, he says " All the antiquarian 
 discoveries in the south of Scotland, sink into insig- 
 nificance when compared with the Deil's Dyke. 
 But I wish you to understand, my good sir, that there 
 are questions which rise out of your communications 
 which justify the observation of Mr. Hume, ' that 
 there are questions in history as difficult of solution
 
 7 "2 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 as any of the sciences,' such as the Deil's Dyke ; con- 
 sidering all its circumstances, it is extremely difficult 
 to assign its age, its object, or its builders. In Ire- 
 laud there is nothing like the Deil's Dyke, the Ca- 
 trael, or other works of that nature in Scotland. 
 The inference is, that the Deil's Dyke was not built 
 by Irish hands ; and I am disposed to think, that it is 
 several centuries older than the arrival of the Irish 
 Cruithiie or Picts in Galloway. 
 
 " The history of Galloway would, of itself, in your 
 hands, supply sufficient materials for the curious pen 
 of history, though it would be subject to the objec- 
 tion which may be formed to all history that it is 
 less amusing than romance, which is so attractive in the 
 hands of our friend, Walter Scott, and for which I 
 am informed you have supplied many materials." 
 
 The incognito which Sir Walter desired to main- 
 tain had hitherto been well kept, when we consider 
 that there were eighteen persons in the secret, 
 though Lord Byron, as is well known, attributed 
 the Novels to Sir Walter, and popular conjecture was 
 not slow in singling him out as their author, yet 
 nothing certain was known to confirm that belief. 
 Public curiosity was at that time very active in 
 search of the Great Unknown, and Train deemed this 
 allusion to Sir Walter, on the part of Mr. Chalmers,
 
 STORY OF REGINALD M'WHIRTER. 73 
 
 but one of the stratagems which were daily practised 
 upon him, to extract the secret, and he consequently 
 left that part of the letter unanswered. After this, 
 his communications to the author of Caledonia were 
 frequent, and often of considerable length, chiefly re- 
 lating to the ancient history of Galloway. These 
 communications were of great value to Mr. Chalmers, 
 and not a few of them occupy a prominent part in 
 the third volume of Caledonia. Although Train as- 
 sisted Mr. Chalmers materially, yet his progress in the 
 service of Sir Walter was nowise impeded, as will be 
 seen from the following tale which Sir Walter received 
 about this time. As it is not very generally known, 
 and on account of its author, we deem it worthy of a 
 niche in his Memoirs : 
 
 " Reginald M'Whirter, who, in the reign of 
 James III., was Laird of the barony of Blair- 
 quhan in Carrick, had twin daughters, one of whom 
 was married to Sir Cosmo Kennedy, a son of Lord 
 John Kennedy, by his wife Eli/a Gordon, daughter 
 of the Earl of Huntly; the other to Sir Ulrick 
 M'Whirter, a cousin of her own, who had as- 
 sisted Ferdinand of Spain in subduing the Moors, 
 from which enterprise he had only newly returned, 
 laden with honours. On the death of Baron Regi- 
 nald, these two gentlemen claimed the estate of Blair-
 
 74 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 quhau, each for himself, on account, as both asserted, 
 of his wife being first born, but as the mother of the 
 ladies, and any person who might have rectified the 
 dispute were dead, a bloody feud would, in all proba- 
 bility, have ensued, had not the relatives on both sides 
 prevailed on the sticklers to submit their claim to the 
 decision of the King, who, although young, was, as is 
 known, a just and upright prince. After much hesi- 
 tation, both at length agreed to do so, and for that 
 purpose they proceeded to Edinbiirgh. How to de- 
 cide a question impartially, where both parties had a 
 claim equally good, his Majesty was, for some time, at 
 a loss to know, as both protested against dividing the 
 property, but agreed to abide by any other decision. 
 At last he resolved that one should walk and the 
 other ride from Edinburgh to Blairquhan, a distance 
 of about ninety miles, and he who would first kindle 
 a fire in that castle should keep possession not only 
 of it, but of the whole estate. 
 
 " To make the chance, however, equal, they were 
 each to draw a straw out of a stack of corn, and he 
 who pulled the longer might ride on horseback, but 
 the other was to walk. 
 
 " To abide by a decision so admirably just both 
 parties bound themselves without murmuring. Ken- 
 nedy drew the longer straw, and was consequently
 
 " THROUGH CARNWATH HE BOUNDED FAST." 75 
 
 considered by many to have gained the estate : but 
 those who knew Sir Ulrick's unbending spirit still 
 entertained a distant hope that his cause was not en- 
 tirely lost. In high spirits Sir Cosmo mounted the 
 fleetest steed in the numerous stud of his family, and, 
 starting at the cross of Edinburgh, with more than 
 the speed of an ancient moss-trooper, he galloped 
 over mountain, moor, and glen. 
 
 " Through Carnwath lie bounded fast, . 
 By Douglas Mill rode he ; 
 But weary, weary was his steed, 
 As he passed Ochiltree. 
 
 " Sir Ulrick started from the same place, and at 
 the same time, on foot, but took a different route, 
 accompanied by Red Quinten of Dunure, a relation of 
 Sir Cosmo, with a few attendants, deputed to see 
 that he performed his journey on foot, agreeable to 
 the decision of the King. 
 
 " Albeit Sir Ulric he is stark, 
 Albeit that he is strong ; 
 From Holyrood to Bennan hill, 
 The road is rough and long. 
 Fast may he hie to Cockleroy, 
 And eke to Lanarkuhaw, 
 But can he make the Craigs o' Kyle 
 Without a rest ava? 
 
 " King James himself had taken such an interest 
 in the singular contest, that he set out from Edin-
 
 76 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 burgh, accompanied by a few attendants, in order to 
 be present, and act as steward of the race, at Blair- 
 quhan. Just as he was about to cross Girvan water, 
 at a small eminence, from that circumstance called 
 King's Hill to this day, an attendant pointed out to 
 him a volume of smoke rising out of a chimney of 
 Blairquhan Castle. Upon which he exclaimed, in 
 great surprise ' If yon is the work of Sir Cosmo he 
 has even outstripped the wind ;' and rode hastily up 
 to the castle, to congratulate him on having taken 
 such speedy possession of his just inheritance, and to 
 proclaim him the rightful Baron of Blairquhan ; but 
 as he entered a postern gate, to his surprise, Sir 
 Ulrick was in attendance to conduct him into the 
 kitchen, and, in his presence, threw so many faggots 
 into the fire, that his Majesty had to retire. 
 
 " At that moment Red Quinten arrived, nearly 
 covered with the soil of the mosses through which he 
 had passed, and hastily exclaimed, ' That fellow, 
 please your Majesty, must have been propelled by the 
 devil, ere he could have performed what he has done.' 
 
 " ' Has he not walked all the way ?' inquired the 
 King. 
 
 " ' Not one foot,' was the answer. 
 
 " Sir Ulrick's dark eye glistened like the diamond 
 of Criffel, when seen at night from the Sol way, an I
 
 SIR ULRICK M'WHIRTER, BARON OF BLAIRQTJHAN. 77 
 
 ungovernable rage was seemingly taking possession of 
 his bosom, but he uttered not a word. 
 
 " ' What f demanded the King, ' is he here that 
 has dared deceive me ?' 
 
 " ' He did not walk, my liege,' rejoined the Knight 
 of Dunure, ' he ran, he leaped, he ran faster than 
 any of my attendants could follow him. Sir Cosmo 
 is far behind ; he has both the Ayr and the Lugar to 
 cross yet.' 
 
 " ' Then you have won the domain ; you are now 
 Baron of Blairquhan, Sir Ulrick M'Whirter,' said the 
 King. Sir Ulrick bowed respectfully and retired. 
 That day he gave a merry-making to his tenantry, 
 which was long remembered. 
 
 " It is said, the darkest hour is just before the 
 dawn. It was so figuratively to Sir Cosmo Kennedy, 
 when his stickle for the estate of Blairquhan proved 
 unsuccessful ; he had no hope whatever of succeeding 
 to that property, but Sir Ulrick dying without issue, 
 it reverted to him, and continued in his family, to- 
 gether with that of Sir John Whiteford, till purchased, 
 in the latter part of the last century, by an uncle 
 of the present proprietor, Sir David Hunter Blair." 
 
 Train received this story from an old lady near 
 Newton-Stewart, and forwarded it to Sir Walter, 
 keeping a copy, which he sent to Sir David Hunter
 
 7 > MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Blair, judging rightly, that it would be interesting to 
 him, as the proprietor of the once singularly dis- 
 puted estate. Of this he apprised Sir Walter, lest in 
 the event of his making any use of the story, the 
 whole secret of his being the author of the Waverley 
 Novels might, through Sir David Hunter Blair, be 
 made known to the world. Train, in all his com- 
 munications with Sir Walter, never admitted a third 
 person into his confidence, and to this prudcua 
 may be ascribed the strict incognito which the 
 Novelist was so long enabled to maintain. And the 
 very fact of Train mentioning that he had sent a 
 copy of the story to his early friend, may have 
 deterred the Novelist from making any use of it ; 
 certain it is, that he never did so, although it pos- 
 sessed incident and beauty superior to many which 
 he clothed in the gorgeous vestments of romance. 
 Train never heard of it until it appeared in Cham- 
 bers' Picture of Scotland, some years afterwards, 
 and he had no doubt that it was communicated by 
 Sir Walter. 
 
 The next letter of Sir Walter bears the date 
 14th January 1817, and, after thanking his anti- 
 quarian correspondent for the story of Sir Ulrick 
 M-Whirter, states " that a friend of his had been 
 newly promoted to the situation of King's Advo-
 
 LORD MEADOWBANK, 1817. 70 
 
 cate, and that he hoped by his influence to ad- 
 vance the interests of his friend in the Excise." 
 This friend to whom Sir Walter alluded was Mr. 
 Macconochie, afterwards elevated to the Scottish 
 Bench, under the title of Lord Meadowbank, and who 
 had the honour, four years afterwards, of dispelling 
 the cloud which had so long concealed the author 
 of Waverley from public view. 
 
 To Lord Meadowbank, Train was indebted for an 
 introduction to the late Dr. Maxwell, the medical 
 attendant and friend of Burns, a gentleman of amiable 
 disposition and agreeable manners. 
 
 That Train desired preferment there is no room 
 to doubt. To deny that of one in his humble posi- 
 tion, is to exclude him from participation in the feel- 
 ings and aspirations which are common to all. One 
 thing is certain, however, that he did not take advan- 
 tage of the intimacy, which had gradually become 
 greater between the Baronet and himself, for prefer- 
 ring any claims upon him. The offer of his interest 
 Sir Walter spontaneously made ; nor did that nerve 
 the antiquary to greater exertions on his illustrious 
 friend's behalf. No ! he was still the same, content 
 with his humble lot ; still the industrious exciseman ; 
 still the zealous antiquary, gratified to see the use 
 which genius made of his labours.
 
 80 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Another interesting relic of antiquity procured by 
 his friend, Dr. Thomson, while practising in Appin, 
 fell into the hands of our antiquary ; this was an old 
 manuscript, containing a long pedigree of the Stewart 
 family of Invernahyle, in which was an interesting 
 account of Donald-na-Nord, the hammerer. On find- 
 ing that it was a singular document, he sent a tran- 
 script of it to Sir Walter, who refers to it in his 
 next letter : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I am much obliged and entertained 
 by your continued and kind communications. That 
 on the subject of the Invernahyle family I am much 
 interested in ; for Alexander Stewart, with whom the 
 pedigree concludes, was my father's most intimate 
 friend, and I was very fond of his society when a 
 boy, and of listening to his old stories. I have still 
 on my memory no small stock of legendary lore de- 
 rived from that source, and always think of his 
 memory with peculiar fondness. Pray secure me as 
 many Galloway traditions as you can, for they are 
 most interesting. Were I as poetical as I have been, 
 I would most certainly weave the Tale of Plunton 
 into verse. I have been a week at Abbotsford, and 
 only found your kind communication on my return. 
 Believe me, Sir, very much your obliged friend, 
 
 " WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 " EDINBURGH, 22d February 1817."
 
 DONALD-NA-NORD. 8 1 
 
 The career of Donald-na-Nord was a singular one. 
 Sir Walter made use of it in " Letters from a Gentle- 
 man in the North of Scotland to his Friend in Lon- 
 don," published in 1822 ; and also in the " Tales of 
 a Grandfather," in which it was condensed into six- 
 teen pages. After the publication of the latter work, 
 Train was favoured with some anecdotes from a 
 descendant of Donald, not contained in Dr. Thom- 
 son's manuscript. We quote the following : 
 
 " Donald-na-Nord was reckoned a 'good swimmer, 
 and so expert at diving, that he frequently caught 
 salmon in Linidh Bhlathain, a pool immediately below 
 the smith's house. One day the smith having some- 
 thing to do, and there being no other person at hand, 
 he called on Donald to assist him, which he did by tak- 
 ing a large forehammer in each hand, and with great 
 ease performed the work of two men. The smith admir- 
 ing his activity and strength, could no longer contain 
 himself. He sent for Mhai-dhuil-anlochan, otherwise 
 Mhai Mhic Allen, Donald's uncle, to reveal to him the 
 secret of the young man's birth, who had up to that 
 time passed for the smith's son ; but before doing so, 
 he made him wield the hammer in his presence, and 
 told him of the singular feats he had performed in 
 the pool ; but at first would not consent to his trying 
 the same again, till Mhai Mhic Allen urged him to do 
 p
 
 82 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 so. The smith then proceeded, armed with a sword, 
 to the margin of the river, and when he thought 
 Donald was remaining too long under water, he 
 came up to the side of the chief, and was brandishing 
 his sword in great fury, when the young man came 
 up with a salmon in each hand. ' What !' says Mhai 
 Mhic Allen, ' Are you going to kill me V I would 
 most certainly have done so,' replied the smith, ' had 
 that young man been drowned, as you urged him into 
 the water against his will.' ' I would rather than a 
 hundred merks of land,' said the chief, ' I had such 
 a son as he.' ' He is your nephew,' said Gothan 
 Muidartsich. The smith then related his whole his- 
 tory, upon hearing which, Mhai Mhic Allen embraced 
 Donald most cordially." 
 
 The sword made by Gothan and given to his foster 
 son, as also the steel cap and coat-of-mail, are still in 
 the possession of the Stewarts of Invernahyle. 
 
 Alexander Stewart, with whom the manuscript 
 pedigree concludes, the man whom Scott loved in his 
 boyhood, was the prototype of Waverley. On his 
 generous treatment of Lieut. -Colonel Allan Whiteford, 
 whom he took prisoner at the battle of Preston, and 
 who afterwards saved the life of his captor, " was 
 founded," says Sir Walter, " the sort of .exchange 
 of gallantry which is represented to have taken
 
 ORIGIN OP DEVEEGOIL. 83 
 
 place betwixt the Baron of Bradwardine and Colonel 
 Talbot." 
 
 The tale of Plunton, to which Sir Walter alludes 
 in the preceding letter, was communicated to Train 
 by his friend, whom we had occasion to speak of 
 in an earlier chapter of our Memoir. It was for- 
 warded to Sir Walter in the handwriting of that 
 gentleman. On it is founded that interesting drama- 
 tic story, the Doom of Devergoil, which appeared as 
 late as 1830. 
 
 We find Train still in Newton-Stewart, passing 
 many a day in the dreary moors, in the exercise of 
 his not very agreeable duty. Through sleepless nights 
 and days of toil still the honest and upright friend, 
 beloved by every one, hated by none.
 
 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TRAIN DISCOVERS AN ANCIENT GRANITE WEAPON 
 
 CALLED A CELT VISITS EDINBURGH MEETS SIR 
 
 \! ! XANDER BOSWELL THE FLITTING OF THE SOW 
 
 SIR WALTER'S NEXT LETTER THE PROTOTYPE 
 OF MADGE WILDFIRE THE NORLINGS OF FIND- 
 HORN TRAIN APPOINTED SUPERVISOR 1820 
 
 FALKLAND PALACE ST. PLANNING. 
 
 THE fame of Train had spread throughout the 
 length and breadth of Galloway. There was not a 
 peasant from the one end to the other but was ready 
 to advance his interests in every shape, in giving the 
 weary gauger the best seat in his dwelling, and exer- 
 cising towards him those rites of hospitality for which 
 that class are so justly celebrated. To this class he 
 was indebted for most of the legends and ancient 
 relics which it was his delight to collect ; and in the 
 mud dwellings of the hardy Gallovidians he spent 
 many a happy night, listening to the stories of elf- 
 land, and of the days of their ancient heroes, the 
 Douglasses, and many hardy lords of serfdom besides.
 
 TRAIN VISITS EDINBURGH AGAIN. 85 
 
 While the wild winds of the night raged in fury 
 without, with what right good-will he partook of 
 their homely fare ! and when the merriment ran 
 high, the laugh of the gauger was the heartiest and 
 the loudest. 
 
 In one of these wanderings he received from a 
 peasant the ancient granite weapon used by the Ro- 
 mans, called a Celt. This very curious relic was 
 found in the moor of Knockbrax, in the parish of 
 Penningham, about eight feet below the surface of 
 the ground. This weapon Train supposed to be made 
 of freestone of the finest quality, but on perforating 
 it with a chisel, he found it to be made of the hardest 
 granite. 
 
 Train's next visit to Edinburgh was in 1817. 
 During his stay he was Sir Walter's guest, at North 
 Castle Street, where the time was spent pleasantly, 
 and with profit to both the Novelist listening with 
 delight to the stories of the simple Train, and he re- 
 joicing that he was enabled to contribute so much to 
 the delight of the mighty Scott. It was a simple, 
 honest feeling moved the soul of the antiquary. 
 The two men stood on equal footing, man with man, 
 host and guest. An honest enthusiasm, more noble 
 than the high-souled ambition of the great, animated 
 the mind of the antiquary. It was an honest enthu-
 
 86 MEMOIR OF JjOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 siasm, for it had its birth among the heather. Not 
 having seen Sir Walter since the publication of Old 
 Mortality, he spoke freely on the subject, as well as 
 of the fate of Supervisor Kennedy, as recorded in 
 Guy Mannering, a story which he had received 
 from the usual source ; but it was his point never 
 to speak of the novels when there was a third person 
 present. 
 
 We cannot refrain from thinking that to have en- 
 joyed the friendship of such a man, and to have 
 been the repository of so great a secret, must have 
 been an honour indeed. There were many at Sir 
 Walter's table during that week who were worthy 
 of notice, possessing the friendship of the man who 
 was the host and the soul of the company, and deem- 
 ing it an honour to associate with one so gifted. 
 Among these was Sir Alexander Boswell of Auchin- 
 Icck, whose memory is revered in Ayrshire, as one 
 possessing the characteristics of true nobility ; a brave, 
 noble-hearted, high-souled man, whose character re- 
 minds us of a chieftain of the olden time a Douglas 
 or a Stuart destined to fall in the prime of life, by 
 the hands of the duellist. Sir Alexander presented 
 to Sir Walter, on that occasion, a thin octavo volume, 
 which he said, was written, printed, and bound by 
 himself, at Auchinleck. Among other pieces, this
 
 " FLITTING OF THE SOW." 87 
 
 book contained the story of the Flitting of the Sow, 
 an Ayrshire legend, which we append. 
 
 " At a convivial meeting in the town of Ayr, 
 the Laird of Cassilis (for that family was not then 
 ennobled) and Crawford of Lochnorris, in Kyle, had a 
 violent dispute as io the strength and bravery of their 
 clans, each being the chieftain of the family of his 
 own name. After much altercation, Kennedy said, 
 that to finish the dispute, he would tether a sow at 
 Cassilis' yett, and defy all the Crawfords of Kyle to 
 flit it. 
 
 " Crawford, at that time blind with age, but retain- 
 ing all the haughty impetuosity of his youth, accepted 
 the challenge, and desired Cassilis to name the day 
 when the sow was to be tethered, and the Crawfords 
 of Kyle would try if they could nit her. 
 
 " The day was appointed ; Crawford's men set out, 
 headed by his three sons, for the old laird was unable to 
 attend, on account of his extreme age, but he charged 
 his clansmen, and particularly his sons, at setting out, to 
 bring Kennedy's sow to Lochnorris, or die in the attempt. 
 He then seated himself in front of the castle to await 
 the issue. The first messenger that arrived brought 
 him word that a most desperate conflict had taken 
 place, in which two of his sons were slain, but that 
 the battle as yet had been won by neither side.
 
 88 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Then said he, there is yet a chance of my brave fellows 
 Hitting the sow. The next messenger brought him 
 word that his remaining son had been killed, but that 
 the sow had been flitted. < Now,' said the old man, 
 ' I will die happily, seeing that my sons have died 
 nobly, and that Kennedy's sow has been brought 
 away.' " 
 
 Sir Alexander was an author of no mean reputa- 
 tion ; many of his songs have become popular, and his 
 knowledge of antiquarian lore was neither superficial 
 nor limited. As a man he was a true friend, as a 
 gentleman he was the soul of honour. It was a sad 
 day for Ayrshire when Sir Alexander was consigned 
 to the burial vault of Auchinleck. 
 
 Few gentlemen were ever more universally beloved 
 than Sir Alexander Boswell, and his death, to the 
 people of Ayrshire, was like a domestic bereavement ; 
 every one sorrowed alike, for he had sat by their 
 hearths, and talked to them in friendly and familiar 
 accents of their own affairs, sympathizing with the 
 distressed, and rejoicing with those who were free 
 from sorrow. 
 
 Many years have passed since he fell by the hand 
 of the duellist, but his worth in the recollection of 
 many is as vivid as ever. 
 
 Experiencing a feeling common to all, Train was
 
 SIB WALTER'S NEXT LETTER, isis. 89 
 
 charmed with the high-souled Baronet, and returned to 
 Newton-Stewart with regret at leaving such company 
 so soon, but with pleasing recollections of the kind- 
 ness of his noble host and his distinguished guests. 
 
 Train had expressed a wish to have a copy of Wal- 
 dron's History of the Isle of Man, a book as interest- 
 ing as it was rare. That it was very rare, may be 
 inferred from the fact that, in 1731, there were only 
 110 copies printed, and not one of these was ever 
 in Scotland. Notwithstanding the scarcity of the 
 book, Sir Walter kindly undertook to procure him a 
 copy of it. That he succeeded, will be seen from his 
 next letter to Train : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Since I saw you here, I had 
 the good luck to procure a copy of Waldron's His- 
 tory of the Isle of Man. I beg your acceptance of 
 the volume, for I have one of my own ; you will find 
 some excellent stories in it. I had a favourable 
 answer from the Lord Advocate, promising to interest 
 himself once more on the score of your promotion. I 
 trust it will come, although it comes slowly in your 
 corps. I shall speak to the Solicitor, as the Advo- 
 cate is gone to London. My dear Mr. Train, believe 
 me always your very obliged humble servant, 
 
 " WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 " EDINBURGH, 27th January 1818."
 
 00 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 From the first part of this letter, we see that 
 merely to gratify a wash of his antiquarian friend, 
 Sir Walter was ready to sacrifice much valuable time 
 in the very arduous task of looking out for a ra*e 
 book, for it is highly probable that much time would 
 be sacrificed, as such a book as Waldron's History 
 was not to be got for nothing. From the latter 
 part, we find that while Sir Walter was attending to 
 the wishes of his friend, he was not neglecting to use 
 the means whereby his other and more important 
 interests might be advanced. The wish to serve 
 Train in a manner which would not only be a proof 
 of the high estimation in which he held him, but 
 which would also be a more substantial means of 
 recognising his very important services, was always 
 present with Sir Walter. But the fact of his being 
 so unsuccessful arose from the number of Englishmen 
 who, possessing influence with the Board of Excise, 
 which had been removed to London, were always ap- 
 pointed to whatever lucrative situations were vacant. 
 
 The perusal of Waldron's History of the Isle of 
 Man, was the suggestive influence which led Train to 
 begin the collecting of materials for a modern history of 
 that interesting island and people ; and he succeeded 
 so well in his gleaning, that he resolved to draw up 
 a detailed history whenever he found leisure to do so,
 
 THE LAST HANGMAN OF DUMFRIES. 91 
 
 for his everyday avocations were more than sufficient 
 to engross his attention, without engaging in an 
 undertaking requiring so much care and labour. 
 
 - Train, in the spring of 1818, forwarded to Sir 
 Walter the ladle of the last resident hangman in 
 Dumfries. This ladle was used by that interesting 
 individual on market-days, for the purpose of taking 
 a ladleful from every sack of meal which came into 
 the market. This was one of the perquisites of the 
 finisher of the law from time immemorial, and 
 although it was considered by all to be an unjust 
 encroachment on the rights of the people,' it was 
 tolerated on account of being " use and wont ;" but 
 about the middle of the last century, as capital 
 punishments became less frequent, and the hangman 
 more an object of disgust than anything else, the 
 objections became more marked, and a universal 
 desire was manifested throughout Scotland, that this 
 arbitrary exaction on the part of one so obnoxious 
 should be done away with altogether. 
 
 In Dumfries, it was tolerated more on account of 
 the age of their hangman, Roger Wilson, than from 
 any other principle. So, on the death of Koger, " all 
 who had a black coat" attended his funeral, but they 
 resolved that, with his death, the practice of taking 
 meal from the fanners' sacks should cease.
 
 i 
 
 '.' '2 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 In course of time another hangman was appointed, 
 and he, no doubt, deeming that everything connected 
 with that honourable office was to remain with it as 
 before, sallied forth on the market-day to claim his 
 perquisite ; but he soon found out his mistake, for, 
 persisting to claim his fee, he was levelled to the 
 ground. 
 
 This created a great disturbance for some time, 
 but ft Ifed the effect of freeing them from the duty, 
 and ultimately jodding them of the hated presence of 
 a hangman altogether. The HRle was allowed to 
 rust for some fifty years, until it was found by Train, 
 and he, deeming it worthy of preservation, sent it to 
 Sir Walter. 
 
 It is well known that Sir Walter had always liv- 
 ing models for the more prominent characters of his 
 novels, and these, materially assisted by a general 
 knowledge of men, were the great means of his signal 
 success. 
 
 About the end of the last century, a singular in- 
 dividual wandered through Ayrshire and Galloway, 
 who, discarding part of the dress of her sex, was 
 habited in a man's coat and plaid. On her head she 
 wore a hat, and in her hand she carried a shepherd's 
 crook, and, strange to say, she was followed by a few 
 sheep in her wanderings.
 
 PROTOTYPE OF MADGE WILDFIRE. 93 
 
 This singular being was the prototype of Madge 
 Wildfire, in the Heart of Mid-Lothian, but was a far 
 more amiable character than the mad woman of the 
 Lothians. She was called Feckless Fanny, or the 
 Wife wi' the Sheep. In person she was above the 
 middle height, her features were sharp and thin, and 
 her eyes had a wild unearthly glare when provoked, 
 but when treated kindly she was gentle and peace- 
 able. Little could be learned from her of her birth, 
 but it was the popular belief that she was the daugh- 
 ter of a squire in England, who, on 'finding that his 
 shepherd had dared to speak to his daughter the 
 gentle whisperings of love, without compunction shot 
 him, and drove his daughter, who reciprocated the 
 passion of the young shepherd, from his house. She 
 taking up " his crook, his hat, and his plaid," and 
 attended by the sheep, which were his hire, became 
 a wanderer throughout the land. 
 
 This singular unfortunate was the original of Sir 
 Walter's Madge Wildfire, and all the information 
 respecting her was furnished him by Train, who, 
 although he had never seen her, yet from the de- 
 scription of others who had, was enabled to describe 
 her minutely. Mournfully pleasing, as far as regards 
 romantic effect, and sadly pathetic as a reality, is the 
 memory of the solitary wanderer, whose presence to
 
 94 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 those of a past age was familiar ; though nearly a 
 century has rolled by since she traversed the mosses 
 and wilds of Galloway, or the more fertile plains of 
 Ayrshire, yet the idea awakens in our hearts a sym- 
 pathy for such loneliness ! 
 
 The Norlings, a party of fishermen who had been 
 settled for many centuries at Findhorn, were the next 
 objects of Train's attention and investigation. They 
 were a race who, although they had been settled at 
 Findhorn for many centuries, as we have said, were 
 entirely apart and characteristic in their manners and 
 customs from the rest of their neighbours. Like the 
 Egyptians of old, they considered the intercourse and 
 fellowship which ought to exist between man and 
 man, as an encroachment upon their prejudiced exclu- 
 siveness, and treated every one who did not belong 
 to their colony as infidels and unclean persons. 
 Through the kindness of an excise friend in Moray- 
 shire, Train became possessed of much valuable infor- 
 mation respecting their manners and customs, and, as 
 usual, forwarded it to the usual quarter. That Sir 
 Walter made no use of the information is evident, 
 but Train says that the next time he saw his illus- 
 trious friend he alluded to it, and related a story in 
 connexion with the fishermen of Findhorn, which he 
 had heard some weeks previous ; it is as follows :
 
 NOKLINGS OF FINDHORN. 95 
 
 James I. when on his way to Inverness to quell his 
 rebellious subjects, stopped at Elgin, and wished to 
 have some of the fish caught by the new settlers at 
 Findhorn, for dinner. Among those served up were 
 two flounders, the one laid on its back and the other 
 on its belly, which made them appear so different, 
 that his Majesty, not deeming them to be the same 
 kind of fish, after partaking of both, declared that 
 the white flounder was a more delicate fish than the 
 dark ; and such was the ignorance of his attendants, 
 that none of them could correct the mistake of their 
 royal master. 
 
 But we turn again to Joseph Train. Years had 
 rolled swiftly and imperceptibly away laborious yet 
 happy years. He had roamed among the wild hills, 
 where every green knoll and deep morass had a thrilling 
 tale of the past to tell of feudalism of days when 
 the struggle for liberty was the great feature in the 
 character of Scotia's sons. He wandered where the 
 spirits of a forgotten race were hovering around his 
 heathery path, and in silence convincing him that he 
 was their benefactor to the memory of other years 
 memories which were gradually descending to obli- 
 vion. 
 
 There was not a cairn or a Druidical ruin, from the 
 one end of the land to the other, that he had not
 
 96 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 seen. There was not a floating fragment of tradi- 
 tionary lore l:ut lie had collected and treasured up, so 
 that they might enjoy the immortal distinction of 
 being, by the gifted Scott, woven into the glorious 
 pages of his fascinating romance, or treasured up, that 
 he might sing of them himself in simple and pathetic 
 accents. His lay was not that of the caged prisoner 
 in its gilded home, but of the modest plumaged songster 
 among the woods, enjoying the sweets of liberty. His 
 was no dreamy enthusiasm nor maudlin sentimen- 
 talism, which is often the substitute of nobler feel- 
 ings it was not the base coin of affectation, nor the 
 love of the hireling's reward, which animated the 
 exertions of the antiquary ; but it was an honest love 
 of nature and the past, ardent in its growth, yet 
 rational in its aspirations. Happy in his friends, 
 and though humble, honoured with the esteem of the 
 great, yet still maintaining his individual independ- 
 ence with uprightness of heart. Happy in his 
 domestic circle, at peace with all the world, and 
 loving all with that love which is the true indication 
 of a noble heart. 
 
 The influence which Sir Walter had often used in 
 his behalf, had been long used in vain. At last, when 
 the hope of preferment was almost forgotten, he 
 received the following letter from Sir Walter :
 
 IS APPOINTED TO CUPAE, 1820. 97 
 
 " DEAR MB. TRAIN, You know I am a thankless 
 and negligent correspondent, but I have not been an 
 idle nor an ineffectual solicitor. I went with your 
 last letter to upbraid my friend the Advocate with the 
 delay of the only promise he ever made me, and he 
 stopped my mouth in the most agreeable manner, by 
 saying that Mr. Parish had acquainted him that my 
 friend, Mr. Train, was named supervisor. I think I 
 may safely wish you joy, and I assure you it was 
 not my fault I have not had that pleasure long ago ; 
 but the matter has been kept sight of constantly, 
 and the delay has not been owing to the Advocate 
 or me. 
 
 " I wish you heartily joy of your appointment, 
 which you must have heard of officially. I assure 
 you it will give me pleasure at any time to give 
 you a further lift. I am, dear Mr. Supervisor Train, 
 yours very truly, WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 " EDINBURGH, 15th December 1820." 
 
 The promotion which he had been led to expect 
 for many a day had come at last, and the drudgery 
 of the officer was exchanged for the not less onerous 
 duties of the supervisor. He was appointed to Cupar- 
 Fife, immediately after his election, and proceeded 
 thither with his family, leaving many friends be- 
 o
 
 98 MEMOIR OP JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 hind him, who missed much the cheerful conversa- 
 tion jpd the witty sallies of the humorous exciseman. 
 The OTys he spent in Newton-Stewart were often in 
 after life looked back to, with pleasing remembrance, 
 as the time in which his wanderings among the wilds 
 of that rugged land were most productive of pleasure 
 and most fertile in legendary riches. 
 
 His farewell to Galloway is pleasing and simple, 
 and very expressive of the feelings of the author : 
 
 Ye mountains of Galloway, shrouded in mist, 
 Wild scenes of repose, where I no more may rest ; 
 Those haunts where the ptarmigan, sullen and lone, 
 Looks down on the world from his grey granite throne. 
 Though cormorant never was heard on thy hills ; 
 Though sloeworms and adders lie coiled by thy rills, 
 The crooks of the Minnock and links of the Cree 
 Will still in remembrance be hallowed by me. 
 
 No more shall I listen at night from thy rocks, 
 
 To the eagle's wild scream or the howl of the fox, 
 
 Nor wind through thy dingles and dells to survey 
 
 The limits of monarchies long pass'd away. 
 
 No longer a guest in thy loneliest glen, 
 
 Shall the wanderer be found 'midst the dwellings of men 
 
 Yet it ever has been, and will still be his pride 
 
 To tell of our sires how they lived, how they died. 
 
 But, alas ! like the child whose exulting breath lays 
 The card-castle low which he hasten'd to raise, 
 The joy that I feel drives the vision away, 
 And chill disappointment returns with the day.
 
 FALKLAND PALACE. 99 
 
 How I long to revisit the sweet banks of Ayr, 
 And scramble for shreds of antiquity there, 
 As oft I have done where old Skermorlie's keep 
 And Carrick's proud city once skirted the deep. 
 
 " 
 
 Thy fortlets and castles with pleasure I've viewed, 
 That have often resisted a foray and feud ; 
 And dreamed, as I roamed every battle-field o'er. 
 Of Scotland's proud heroes, so dreadful of yore. 
 
 " But a truce to complainings, for why should I grieve, 
 The loved scenes of youthful enjoyment to leave, 
 Since the Minstrel, the pride of his country and king. 
 Extends e'en o'er me his kind sheltering wing ; 
 For 'tis mine above all other mortals to find, 
 That his goodness of heart is as great as his mind." 
 
 His settlement at Cupar opened up a new field for 
 the exercise of his antiquarian predilections, and his 
 leisure time was occupied as usual in the pursuit of the 
 relics of antiquity. There his district was interest- 
 ing and extensive, and as soon as the officers under 
 him became aware of his penchant for objects of anti- 
 quity, they, with hearty goodwill, furthered his wishes 
 to the utmost, collecting old stories and accounts of 
 superstitions which were new to him, and therefore 
 highly valuable. Indeed they carried their zeal too 
 far, and in one instance caused Train great uneasi- 
 ness one of them stripping part of the cloth from the 
 State Chair of James IV. in the Palace of Falkland.
 
 100 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 It was true that the palace was in no way protected or 
 caredAr, but that did not palliate the unwarrantable 
 Conduct <>f tin- otHivr in the ryes nf his sujMTinr. 
 
 He was ever anxious to obtain relics of that de- 
 scription, but he would never condescend to obtain 
 them in such a manner, and the officer who was 
 guilty of the offence received a severe rebuke from 
 the antiquary. 
 
 It says but little for those who were in power, 
 that such a place as Falkland should have been 
 so exposed. It is mournful to think that the 
 time-honoured ruins of the past should be so neg- 
 lected. Time-honoured, did we say ? It is honoured 
 by more than time. It was the proud residence of 
 Scotland's kings in the days of their pride, when a 
 monarch of the Stuart line sat upon the throne of 
 his sires, and ruled the Scottish people unfettered or 
 unchained, when the thistle was the emblem of the 
 independence which the Scotchman loved to speak of, 
 and no climbing treacherous parasite clung to its 
 hardy stem. 
 
 There is something in the stately decay of Falkland 
 which we venerate something that we prize and 
 love ; simply because it is a memorial on the waste 
 of time of Scotland's departed royalty and Scot- 
 land's ancient pride. Such was the ruined state of
 
 SAINT PLANNING. 101 
 
 Falkland, that on a visit which Train made some- 
 what later, he saw a cow standing beside the 
 throne ! 
 
 The story of the image of St. Flanning was the 
 antiquary's next contribution to Sir Walter, which 
 we give : 
 
 " St. Flanning was the son of an Irish king, who 
 was consecrated bishop of Killaloe at Rome, by Pope 
 John IV. in 639. Among many other chapels dedi- 
 cated to him, and bearing his name, there are the 
 ruins of one on the south side of the Great Canal, 
 about two miles from Kirkintilloch, in which, from a 
 very remote period, down to the Revolution in 1688, 
 an image of the tutelary saint was kept with the 
 greatest care and devotion, but although the black re- 
 presentative of the pious Bishop of Killaloe, like all 
 other idols of the Catholic religion in Scotland at that 
 period, was hurled from the sanctuary, where it had 
 stood for many ages, yet the wonderful virtues ascribed 
 to it remained, and continued to be as firmly believed 
 as formerly by many persons, even to the present day. 
 
 " When the image disappeared from the public 
 eye at the Reformation, it was taken secretly into 
 the possession of a poor family in the neighbourhood, 
 who, in a short time, by frugal industry, became more 
 wealthy than their neighbours ; but it being at last
 
 102 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 discovered that they were in possession of the image 
 of the Irish saint, the improvement in their circum- 
 stances was wholly ascribed to its tutelary protection. 
 
 " The desire of wealth soon gained so great an 
 ascendency over religious tenets, that the most stern 
 reformers in the barony, claimed as their right to 
 take the image of the saint at certain periods, or on 
 particular occasions, into their possession, till at length 
 the idol became the joint property of all the people 
 in the barony, but out of their bounds nothing could 
 tempt them to allow it to be taken. The peasants 
 of the surrounding country imagined that the people 
 of St. Manning were the happiest individuals in the 
 universe ; they thought they saw their sheep fatter 
 than those of any other district, their wives and 
 children more healthy, and their property increase 
 more rapidly, all which was ascribed to the particular 
 care the Saint had taken of them for preserving his 
 image, after every other of a similar description in 
 the country had been destroyed. 
 
 " These envious neighbours had often attempted to 
 steal away the image, but without success, till at 
 last they hired two ruffians, who were little known 
 in the country, to take it out of the house of an old 
 woman, who had it carefully wrapped up in her 
 intended winding-sheet, after which they spread a
 
 THE EXCISE AUTHORITIES. 103 
 
 rumour, that these fellows, being smugglers, had 
 burned the saint under a whisky-still in Fannyside 
 Moor ; but the people of St. Planning firmly believe 
 that it is still in their neighbourhood, and are strength- 
 ened in their opinion, as they say, by the thriving 
 appearance of the supposed possessors of the vener- 
 able relic." 
 
 Train was not permitted to remain long in Cupar. 
 The general idea with which the Excise authorities 
 are possessed, is, that to allow their officers to re- 
 main too long in one place, is inimical to the in- 
 terests of the revenue. We often see that as soon 
 as an officer becomes intimate with those in the 
 locality in which he sojourns, he is removed. This 
 is not so much adhered to now as it was in the days 
 of Train ; then the very fact of an officer being be- 
 loved by the community, was to them a certain sign 
 of his inefficiency. We do not prefer such a charge 
 against Train, for to do so would be to coincide with 
 the absurd opinions of those potentates who pre- 
 side over the revenue : but we speak of this as the 
 general idea entertained. Had he* been judged by 
 that criterion, he would, indeed, have been found in- 
 efficient anywhere, and pronounced unfit for such a 
 service.
 
 104 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IS APPOINTED TO QUEENSFERRY THE RIDING OF THE 
 
 MARCHES THE PALACE NEST HE REMOVES TO 
 
 FALKIRK SIR WALTER'S NEXT LETTER TYRANNY 
 
 OF THE EXCISE OFFICIALS IS APPOINTED TO DUM- 
 FRIES BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH MR. M'DIAR- 
 
 MID AND OTHERS IS REDUCED FROM THE RANK 
 
 OF SUPERVISOR, BUT RESTORED IN SIX MONTHS 
 LEAVES DUMFRIES FOR CASTLE-DOUGLAS. 
 
 IN June 1822, after a residence of two years in 
 Cupar, Train was removed to Queensferry, a district 
 which had the reputation of being the worst in the 
 whole of the east country. From its central situation, 
 it had already been well gleaned by former anti- 
 quaries, yet even there the indefatigable Train found, 
 as he says himself, " some relics of a time gone bye" 
 with which Sir Walter was not previously acquainted. 
 He used every means by which he might increase his 
 information regarding disputed facts in antiquity, and 
 add fresh treasures to that immense store of anti- 
 quarian riches which he had already accumulated ;
 
 BIDING OP THE MARCHES. 105 
 
 and although his duties in Queensferry were onerous, he 
 always found sufficient time to pursue his reearches. 
 
 His name became a " household word," in what- 
 ever locality he sojourned, and all who possessed a 
 taste for literature or antiquities were ambitious of 
 the acquaintance of the vivacious supervisor. 
 
 Though discriminating in his knowledge of men 
 and character, he enjoyed the friendship of all; nor 
 have we ever heard that he assumed a superiority 
 over those with whom he was acquainted. 
 
 Nor was it on account of his intimacy with Scott, 
 or any accidental circumstance, that he was so much 
 esteemed or so well known, for at that time, and for 
 some years after, his intimacy with the great novelist 
 was a profound secret, so much so, that even his own 
 family were unaware of the fact. 
 
 Shortly after his settlement at Queensferry, he 
 visited Sir Walter in Edinburgh, and amused him 
 with the following account of a ludicrous scene of 
 which he had been a spectator the day previous. We 
 do not remember having seen it mentioned by any 
 other writer. It is called the Eiding of the Marches, 
 and is a quaint and curious custom which the good 
 people of Linlithgow have perpetuated through the 
 centuries, and which is maintained to this day with 
 unfaded enthusiasm.
 
 106 MEMOIR OP JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 " The Riding of the Marches is always a great day 
 in Linlithgow. At an early hour the freemen con- 
 vene in their holiday clothes, their hats decorated 
 with ribbons, like pennons streaming in the wind, 
 and mounted chiefly on the deep-galled gerrans of the 
 royalty, caparisoned with sunk or saddle, as best 
 suits the convenience of the rider. Thus equipped, 
 the banners of the respective corporations are un- 
 folded, and off the cavalcade marches at a funeral 
 pace, preceded by the town piper, blowing his chanter 
 with might and main, till the halls of the palace 
 resounded his martial strain, and flanked by halber- 
 diers in ' scarlet dight,' profusely trimmed with 
 chequered lace of various hues, as worn by the 
 servants of that ancient burgh in the days of its 
 
 " I was carelessly sauntering along the strand of 
 the ebbing Forth, towards the Castle of Blackness, 
 ruminating on the various parts of our national his- 
 tory with which that ancient stronghold is associated, 
 when the sound of the ancient warpipe struck upon 
 my ear, and turning to the eminence whence it pro- 
 ceeded, the whole cavalcade appeared in view. I 
 was struck with astonishment at beholding such a 
 warlike squadron of troopers, with so many pedes- 
 trian attendants, in a time of peace, bearing down
 
 BLACKNESS CASTLE. 107 
 
 upon the old fortress, as the Assyrians, ' gleaming in 
 purple and gold.' 
 
 " Upon taking seemingly a strong military position 
 in front of the garrison, each trooper dismounted, and 
 committed his charger to the care of his esquire, and 
 proceeded, as I thought, to hold a council of war, 
 but soon I perceived they were otherwise engaged. 
 
 " The convener, or some less dignified personage 
 of the Guild Brotherhood, was undergoing the cere- 
 mony of being crowned with oziers, as I supposed, 
 for want of laurel there being none in the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood. Others were busily employed 
 in erecting a marquee for his Majesty, to protect 
 him from the inclemency of the weather, as I thought, 
 in case of the siege being protracted. 
 
 " Since the invention of fire-arms, Blackness must 
 have been considered by military men as an incon- 
 siderable place of defence, having accommodation 
 only for a limited number of troops, either to sally 
 out upon assailants, or to resist, with any chance of 
 success, a regular bombardment. 
 
 " I had no means of ascertaining to what extent 
 the garrison was provided with military stores or 
 provisions, to stand a protracted siege, but when 
 Linlithgow came down, the numerical force to whose 
 valour the fortlet was intrusted, consisted of one frail
 
 108 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 bombardier, with five veteran fuseemen, whose shri- 
 velled frames bespoke great length of servitude, but 
 who seemed determined not to yield their military 
 reputation to the guild-brethren of Linlithgow, whose 
 advance on the castle they eyed seemingly with the 
 greatest solicitude; but as soon as they began to 
 pitch their camp immediately in front of the glacis, 
 all within the castle was seemingly bustle and ac- 
 tivity. The main gate was shut with a sounding 
 clash, followed by rattling of chains and the grating 
 of iron bolts. The meteor flag of England was hoist- 
 ed to the staff-head as if by magic, and the fusee- 
 men appeared upon the ramparts, each at his gun, 
 and seemingly awaiting the word of command to pour 
 death into the camp of the enemy. 
 
 " The Trades viewed these warlike preparations on 
 the part of the enemy, without manifesting any con- 
 cern, being aware that they had neither the means 
 nor the inclination to do any harm. When the cere- 
 mony of the coronation was finished, a herald was 
 despatched to demand admission into the castle, 
 which he intimated, by giving three loud knocks at 
 the great gate with his baton. ' Who comes here V 
 said the old Governor Bombardier, who had taken 
 his station within the portcullis ; ' The Lion King- 
 at-Arms, demanding admittance for his Majesty and
 
 THE FOGIES OF BLACKNESS. 109 
 
 his attendants, into this his Castle of Blackness,' was 
 the reply. After the herald had passed several times 
 between the governor and the king, bearing formal 
 messages, the great gate was thrown open, and the 
 whole cavalcade marched in triumphantly, and par- 
 took freely of the stores provided by the sutler bom- 
 bardier-governor for the occasion. 
 
 " The reason given for this mummery is, that at 
 an early period of Scottish history, the men of Lin- 
 lithgow assisted their monarch in subduing a rebel 
 chief who held the Castle of Blackness. For their 
 valorous achievements, the king granted to them and 
 their successors, ' while wood grew, and water ran,' 
 the superiority of that garrison." 
 
 Train, in the discharge of his duty, often visited 
 a brickwork in the neighbourhood of Blackness, 
 where he became acquainted with the fogies of the 
 Castle, and with great delight listened to their old 
 stories of their experiences in " the tented field." 
 
 At a future period, on relating some of their stories 
 to Sir Walter, he said, " that the adventures of the 
 fogies of Blackness would make an interesting vo- 
 lume." 
 
 It was a peculiar feature in Train's character, that he 
 never neglected to cultivate the acquaintance of those 
 who were likely to afford him any information ; and
 
 110 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 such was his tact in ascertaining what he wanted to 
 know, that he led on his informers so imperceptibly 
 that it was often a matter of astonishment to them- 
 selves how they had been induced to relate so much, 
 and he generally left them without revealing his 
 object, or attaching any importance to what he had 
 received. 
 
 At Blackness, Train became intimate with a Mr. 
 Struther, the proprietor of the Brick Works. This 
 gentleman had, in his possession, a natural curio- 
 sity which attracted the attention of our antiquary. 
 This was a nest which had been found by a drum- 
 mer boy, in the Palace of Linlithgow, in that apart- 
 ment which was called Queen Mary's Chamber. It 
 was in a petrified state, 'and the eggs, six in number, 
 had the appearance of marble. That it had been 
 formed in the place where it was found, was an idea 
 too preposterous to be entertained for a moment ; but 
 the probable and most likely conclusion is, that it had 
 been brought thither at some remote period, and had 
 escaped the fire in the time of Cromwell. This object, 
 trivial as it may appear, was the cause of a protracted 
 lawsuit between the gentleman before-mentioned and 
 the keeper of the Palace, the latter presuming that it 
 ought to be his on account of its being found in the 
 Palace. Mr. Struther was allowed to keep it from
 
 RELICS, ETC. Ill 
 
 want of evidence ; and, at his death, it fell into the 
 hands of Train, who sent it to Sir Walter Scott. 
 Train complains that Sir Walter did not value it as 
 much as he would have done a skene-dhu ; and it is 
 not a matter of wonder to us that he did not, when 
 we consider the direction of the great Minstrel's 
 taste. 
 
 The calm of his life was again destined to be 
 disturbed ; the cessation of the duty on salt had 
 the effect of removing him to Falkirk, in January 
 1823, where, he says, he " began researches with re- 
 doubled ardour." Some time previous to his arrival, 
 a brick manufactory had been established for the 
 manufacture of fire-bricks, for Government purposes. 
 This required such strict attention on his part, that 
 not a day passed without his visiting the work. In 
 the discharge of his professional duty, he became 
 acquainted with Joseph Stainton, Esq., one of the 
 proprietors and the sole conductor of this extensive 
 establishment. This acquaintance soon ripened into 
 an intimacy, which continued until the death of Mr. 
 Stainton, a year after. From this gentleman, Train 
 received many marks of kindness ; and their ac- 
 quaintance, though short, was enhanced by kindred 
 tastes and sympathetic feelings. Immediately before 
 his death our antiquary received from him the stock-
 
 112 JLEMOIE OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 bow of Sir John the Graeme, who fell at the Battle of 
 Falkirk, in 1298. This interesting relic, Mr. Stain- 
 ton intended to have presented to the Society of 
 Antiquaries, but, on his friend's account, he altered 
 his intention. 
 
 Train also received from Mr. Stainton a broad 
 cast-metal plate, with many singular figures on it, 
 seemingly made in 1696. He also received a Roman 
 Tripod, found near Loudon Hill, and an Andrea Fer- 
 rara found on the field of battle, near Falkirk. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival in Falkirk, he visited the 
 Torwood, with the expectation of finding some frag- 
 ment of that far-famed tree, under which the deliverer 
 of Scotland found shelter from his enemies. He was 
 like to be disappointed, for no vestige of the tree was 
 to be seen above ground. He was, however, not to 
 be baulked, for, on obtaining permission to dig, he 
 found as much of the root as served his purpose. 
 Having previously procured a small portion of the 
 yew-tree planted on the spot where the gallant Sir 
 John the Grame, the highly-esteemed friend and 
 companion of Wallace, fell in battle, he got each piece 
 of these celebrated trees made into a drinking-cu]) 
 or quaigh, lined and hooped with silver; but he re- 
 frained from putting an inscription on them, for the 
 same reason which Lord Byron assigned when he
 
 DEINKING CUPS, RELICS, ETC. 113 
 
 presented his celebrated vase to Sir Walter to 
 avoid the appearance of ostentation. 
 
 These drinking-cups, with the plate, the bow, and 
 the sword, were presented to Sir Walter. With all 
 of them he was highly pleased, but he spoke particu- 
 larly of the drinking-cups " These," said he, " shall 
 henceforth be filled and emptied daily at my table, in 
 commemoration of Wallace Wight and Graeme of 
 Dundaff, two of the bravest knights that Scotland 
 ever saw." 
 
 The situation of supervisor was then (more so than 
 it is now), the most arduous in the Revenue Service. 
 It was so even in the days of Burns, who, in a letter 
 to a friend, dated 1794, says "The business of a 
 Supervisor is an incessant drudgery, and is nearly a 
 complete barrier to every species of literary pursuit." 
 This Train found to be truly the case ; and, although 
 it did not, as we well know, preclude the cultivation 
 of the natural bent of his mind, yet it greatly 
 hindered him in the pursuit of his inclinations. 
 This Sir Walter was aware of, and therefore, not- 
 withstanding his many unfortunate applications on 
 the subject of his promotion, continued to evince 
 great anxiety to get the antiquary advanced to the 
 rank of General Surveyor or Collector, in further- 
 ance of which object he applied to Lord Liverpool,
 
 1 1 4 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 then Prime Minister, from whom it appears, by the 
 following letter, he received a favourable answer : 
 
 " DEAR MR. TRAIN, I have received two very 
 kind letters from Lord Liverpool and Mr. Peel, on the 
 subject of your promotion. It seems, the appoint- 
 ment lies with the Board of Excise, not with the 
 Treasury ; but they have recommended you to Mr. 
 Lushington, which one would think would be suffi- 
 cient from their natural high influence. Dear Mr. 
 Train, your obedient servant, WALTER SCOTT. 
 " EDINBURGH, 23d June 1824." 
 
 From the time that the Board of Excise had been 
 removed to London, there existed a monopoly of the 
 most lucrative situations by Englishmen, and no 
 Scotchman, however just his pretensions might appear, 
 had any chance of obtaining preferment. There was a 
 wish entirely to exclude them from the service. Some 
 were reduced to a lower rank, others were discharged 
 from the service without a reason being assigned for 
 such arbitrary measures, and not a few died broken- 
 hearted ; and all this misery had, for its author, an un- 
 principled man, named Pape, who, by one dash of his 
 pen, sent destitution and misery to many a happy home: 
 
 These heartless proceedings were taken for the pur- 
 pose of making room for a gang of English Surveyors,
 
 TYRANNY OF THE EXCISE, 1824-5. 115 
 
 who came down as proud of the ink-horn which hung 
 at their button, as if it had been the insignia of the 
 Order of the Garter. 
 
 They held a temporary rank at first, and were to 
 be promoted as they distinguished themselves, con- 
 sequently 'they were zealous in the discharge of their 
 duty, so much so, that many of the old Supervisors 
 were, at their instigation, reduced from the rank 
 which they were to fill, to a subordinate position. 
 Train among the rest soon felt their officious ser- 
 vices. One of them, named Howard, an illiterate 
 and unprincipled man, with the assistance of a crow- 
 bar, wrenched off the fastening of a distillery utensil 
 in our antiquary's district, and reported to the Board 
 that it was insecure. This Train asserted to be a 
 falsehood. He was, however, removed to Wigtown, 
 although he proved to the satisfaction of the Board 
 that he was in no way negligent of his duty. The 
 reason assigned for his removal was that he had been 
 too plain with the Board, and his want of courtesy 
 to the strangers rendered it necessary that he should 
 feel their displeasure. 
 
 Thus we see that the Revenue Service must have 
 been in a very corrupt state indeed, when the plain 
 and simple truth was not equal to the undermining 
 chicanery of its despotic officials. It would have been
 
 
 116 ' MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 a great stretch of good-nature surely, to have been 
 courteous to men who had come for the purpose of 
 taking the morsel from the lips of the men already 
 discharging their duty honestly and faithfully. 
 
 Mr. Lewars, the Supervisor of Dumfries District, 
 and who had been an intimate friend of the poet Burns, 
 was also selected as an object of the most heartless per- 
 secution ; every annoyance which human malice could 
 invent, or a depraved ingenuity devise, was put into 
 requisition by the English Supervisors to render him 
 unhappy. They at last succeeded : he resigned in 
 disgust. 
 
 Train applied for his situation, and, contrary to his 
 own expectations and the wishes of the Southrons, 
 succeeded in obtaining it. With Mr. Lewars, he 
 was on the most intimate footing ; and when he came 
 to Dumfries, he occupied a house near what was 
 called the Wind Mill now the Observatory and a 
 short distance from where Mr. Lewars resided. At 
 his house there was many an interesting reunion, and 
 among those who were his every-day visitors may be 
 mentioned M'Diarmid, of the Dumfries Courier, a 
 man who occupied a prominent position in the world 
 of letters, and Mr. William Bennet, one whose in- 
 dustry and perseverance had raised him from a hum- 
 ble position to some eminence. John M'Diarmid
 
 M'DIARMID BENNET. 117 
 
 merits more than a passing remark. He was a most 
 remarkable man. During his time the Dumfries 
 Courier attained a position seldom occupied by a pro- 
 vincial newspaper (an eminence which we are glad to 
 say is still in some manner maintained by his son 
 William M'Diarmid, the present editor). One of his 
 works, the Scrap Book, has established his fame as 
 an author. In manners he was eccentric in the ex- 
 tremCj and he possessed an originality of expression 
 peculiarly quaint and graphic. He has by some of his 
 contemporaries been called a minor Walter Scott. 
 
 Nor is William Bennet undeserving of notice. 
 From a very humble position he rose, by force of intel- 
 lect and patient industry, to comparative eminence. 
 He succeeded Sheridan Knowles as editor of the 
 Glasgow Free Press, which he conducted, until his 
 resignation, with great spirit. He is still living, but 
 John M'Diarmid has gone the way of all the earth. 
 
 Mrs. Burns was then alive and residing in Dum- 
 fries, and everything that was worthy of remembrance 
 connected with her husband was stored up by these, 
 his ardent admirers. 
 
 From Mr. Lewars, Train obtained the original 
 manuscript containing an account of the purchase 
 made by Burns of the four carronades which the poet 
 sent to the National Convention.
 
 118 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Train was as happy in Dumfries as was possible 
 under the persecutions to which he was continually 
 .subjected by the Goths of the Excise. He was 
 in the enjoyment of the friendship of a few choice 
 spirits, who could think as he thought and feel 
 as he felt. Although it was his greatest pleasure 
 to talk of antiquity, yet he never sacrificed other 
 people's tastes to his own, nor was it his wont 
 to monopolize the conversation ; he rather chose 
 to stand in the background, and, by a well-timed 
 remark, show his knowledge of the subject under 
 discussion. Poetry was often the subject of their 
 conversation ; and it was his practice to rehearse 
 any old ballad to his friends which he might have 
 procured during his journey of the previous day. 
 His home was the scene of domestic happiness and 
 comfort. In the words of one of his friends, " There 
 could be no finer picture of calm-flowing mutual affec- 
 tion than existed between them and their children, 
 and nothing so pleasing as their unostentatious hos- 
 pitality. Mrs. Train had been exceedingly good-look- 
 ing ; and when I first saw her, with her look of quiet 
 matronly sagacity and affection, she impressed me with 
 an almost filial esteem, which I have never lost." 
 
 Some time after his settlement in Dumfries, the 
 toll owing paragraph appeared in the Paisley Adver-
 
 " SIR WALTEB SCOTT AND THE SCOTCH NOVELS." 119 
 
 tiser, and went the round of the press of not only 
 Great Britain and America, but likewise of the Con- 
 tinent. It ran thus : 
 
 " Sir Walter Scott and the Scotch Novels. 
 
 " The following circumstances, which we relate on 
 good authority, go far to identify Sir Walter Scott 
 with the author of these popular novels and tales, 
 ascribed to his pen. Some years ago a Mr. Joseph 
 Train published a small volume of poems, illustrated 
 by notes, which evinced considerable antiquarian 
 research on the part of the author. Train pre- 
 sented Sir (then Mr.) Walter Scott with a copy of 
 this volume, the annotations of -which pleased him 
 so much that he invited the author to Abbotsford, 
 procured his advancement in the Excise, and made 
 very favourable mention of him in the notes to one 
 of his own poems. On one of Train's visits, the 
 history of the Covenanters formed the principal 
 topic of conversation. Train then related to Sir 
 Walter a circumstance of which he was not pre- 
 viously aware, viz., that an old man perambulated 
 the south of Scotland for many years, cleaning the 
 grave-stones of the martyrs, who, from the nature 
 of his employment, was designated Old Mortality. 
 A few months after this Train was not a little
 
 1 20 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TEAIN. 
 
 astonished to receive from Sir Walter a copy of a 
 work to which his researches had not only furnished 
 the title, but embodied in which he discovered several 
 anecdotes so recently sent by him to the reputed 
 author." 
 
 Our antiquary was startled at such an announce- 
 ment, for it had been his study, ever since Sir Walter 
 enjoined him to keep the nature of their correspon- 
 dence a secret, to do so, and in no one instance did 
 he ever divulge any of their correspondence, except 
 previously to his knowing that his patron wished to 
 remain incognito. He had related the particulars of 
 his first meeting with the Minstrel of the North to 
 one of his friends, Captain Dennistoun, to whom we 
 have previously alluded, and Mr. Dobie of Grange- 
 vale, Beith. 
 
 How this paragraph got into print, or who the 
 author of it was, he could never ascertain, nor did 
 it much matter, for Sir Walter took no notice of it ; 
 but on Tram's manifesting anxiety lest he should be 
 implicated in the matter, the Baronet remarked that 
 he was sorry he had taken so much thought about 
 so trivial a matter, for " he regarded what was said 
 as little as the passing wind." 
 
 During his short stay in Wigtown, Train, ever 
 on the alert for something curious, obtained from
 
 ETTRICK SHEPHERD 1826. 121 
 
 H. Hawthorn, Esq. of Castlewigg, the head of a uris, 
 found in a marl pit upon his estate. This was the 
 finest specimen found for many a year. He had 
 likewise an Andrea Ferrara, said to have belonged to 
 the Laird of Lagg, of persecuting memory, also a 
 flint arrow-head, found at the Tower of Repentance 
 in Dumfries-shire, a Roman denarius, found near the 
 same place, and an antique spoon of Roman metal, 
 found in the camp at Burnswark, all of which he 
 took with him to Abbotsford and presented to Sir 
 Walter. Our readers may deem so minute an ac- 
 count of the relics of antiquity superfluous, yet we 
 assure them that these were of inestimable value in 
 the eyes of the antiquary, who, when anything of that 
 description could be procured, spared neither labour 
 nor money in the attainment of his object. 
 
 His journeys to Abbotsford were performed on 
 horseback. In one of these journeys by Mount 
 Benger, he saw the Ettrick Shepherd, and on his 
 return home again he met him at Lamington Lamb 
 Fair, where a party of strolling players were that 
 night to enact the Brownie of Bodsbeck in a barn, 
 at the prospect of which the Shepherd seemed highly 
 delighted. 
 
 In one of these visits to Sir Walter, he related at 
 table the story of the Fifeshire surgeon's daughter,
 
 \'2'2 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIX. 
 
 which pleased the Baronet so much that he said, 
 " Well, Mr. Train, you never run out of excellent 
 stories ; you should really publish a collection of 
 them. I will assist you to prepare them for the 
 press. You know one good turn deserves another ; 
 you have helped me, it is now my turn to help you. 
 From my influence with the booksellers I will assure 
 you of two or three hundred pounds. You may even 
 publish some of the stories you sent to me ; they are 
 not the worse of having passed through my hands, as 
 I disguise them for reasons you well know." 
 
 Had the antiquary followed the advice of his 
 patron, the publishing of a volume of tales would, 
 no doubt, under his patronage, have been as lu- 
 crative as he could have wished, but the doing so 
 would have brought him more prominently before 
 the public, and consequently lowered him in the 
 estimation of the Excise authorities. This is Train's 
 own reason, and we acknowledge it is a weighty one, 
 when we consider the state of matters which then 
 existed. He was proud to find that his account of 
 the Surgeon's Daughter formed the basis of an 
 interesting tale, though the fact of his supplying Sir 
 Walter with that information was, when known to 
 the potentates of the Revenue, the cause of trouble. 
 He was now regarded as one who had dared to think
 
 AN ENGLISH DETECTIVE. V26 
 
 sometimes of other things than Excise business. An 
 opportunity soon presented itself to the ever-watchful 
 Pape, a man who prided himself on the distress he 
 could bring upon those who were under his sway. At 
 Sark Bridge Toll-bar, near Gretna, there lived a person 
 named Gibson, who applied for an Excise licence to 
 sell spirits, which was refused. It appeared, how- 
 ever, that he had sold privately for the space of a 
 month, without detection a thing not at all to be 
 wondered at, considering that the toll-bar was twenty- 
 six miles distant from Dumfries. However, an eccen- 
 tric individual, named German, commander of a preven- 
 tive boat on the English establishment stationed on the 
 Solway, almost at Gibson's door, took a seat on the 
 mail-coach that passed the smuggler's door about mid- 
 night, and calling for a gill of spirits, easily obtained it, 
 a sea-cloak which he wore disguising him from those 
 who would otherwise have known him. .This affair was 
 represented in the worst possible light; and because 
 Train had allowed a person of a different establishment 
 to come into his district and make a detection which 
 should have been made by himself, or some of his 
 officers, our antiquary was reduced from the rank 
 of supervisor. At the expiration of six months he 
 was, however, on his own petition to the Board, 
 restored to his former rank, and appointed to Castle-
 
 1 24 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Douglas district, vacant by the removal of Mr. Por- 
 teous another instance of the petty tyranny of some 
 of the Commissioners.* 
 
 During his residence in Dumfries we are not aware 
 that he made many important discoveries, nor was 
 he brought in any way into notice during that time. 
 His leisure was spent more in the society of inti- 
 mate acquaintances than it had hitherto been, so 
 that, with the exception of what we have recorded, 
 his researches were neither so interesting nor varied 
 as at a former period of his life.
 
 APPOINTMENT TO CASTLE-DOUGLAS DISTRICT. 125 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TRAIN'S SETTLEMENT IN CASTLE-DOUGLAS SENDS 
 SIR WALTER INFORMATION RESPECTING THE MOR- 
 
 RICE DANCERS SIR WALTER'S NEXT LETTER 
 
 FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING OLD MOR- 
 TALITY LETTER FROM SIR WALTER, IN WHICH 
 
 HE INTRODUCES A FRIEND SENDS SOME RELICS 
 
 TO SIR WALTER. 
 
 TRAIN left Dumfries with regret. He had formed 
 a circle around him men whose talents he appre- 
 ciated, and whose friendship he valued, and the part- 
 ing from them was the source of much sorrow to 
 him. In Castle-Douglas his duties were more ardu- 
 ous, and his responsibility heavier. He had often 
 above forty miles to ride in the discharge of his duty, 
 and for the most part through wild and unfrequented 
 tracts, where one might ride for miles and not see a 
 human habitation, where the road stretches through 
 moors, and deep, gloomy glens, everywhere lonely, 
 solemn, silent. Any person familiar with the upper 
 part of Galloway will recognise the picture.
 
 I 2 it MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Notwithstanding the length of his journeys, the 
 I'liicliness of the road, and the unseasonable hours in 
 which he had to travel, he was only once in dan- 
 ger of being molested, and on that occasion escaped 
 so narrowly, that ever after he thought of it with 
 gratitude. 
 
 A very dreary ride, which he had periodically to 
 take, was from Glenesslin, parish of Dunscore, when 
 the distillery was there, to Castle-Douglas, through 
 the various wild glens and solitary moors which 
 lie in the old route by Spedloch, Brooklands, Kirk- 
 patrick, &c. He was riding along about twelve 
 o'clock at night. In the very loneliest part of the 
 road he overtook two men, whom he had seen pass 
 Glenesslin some hours before he left it, and whom 
 persons there had pointed out as desperadoes, who had 
 been robbing and pocket-picking at a recent Thorn- 
 hill fair, and were now on their way to Castle- 
 Douglas for the purpose of following their vocation 
 at a fair which was to be held there on the fol- 
 lowing day. The night being dark, he was too 
 close upon them to retreat : he resolved to go on, 
 and passing between them, they stood up, one mi 
 each side, and inquired at him if they were near 
 any habitation. " Just close upon several," rejoined 
 Train, " and I am hastening forward to prepare
 
 THE MORRICE-DANCERS 1827. 127 
 
 for my friends who are coming up behind." This 
 caused them to look back, and gave Train an ex- 
 cuse for pushing on, which he did at good speed, 
 and he was quite beyond their reach ere they could 
 discover the deception he felt justified in practising 
 on them. 
 
 Next day he saw them on the scent in Castle- 
 Douglas fair. On their following some persons into 
 a shop, he went in after them, called them both 
 aside, told them who and what they were, with his 
 manner of ascertaining this, and his rencontre with 
 them on the previous night, and said that if they 
 at once agreed to leave 'the town, he would not 
 denounce them ; if otherwise, he would have the 
 authorities upon them instantly. At this they were 
 so surprised and overawed, that they agreed to his 
 proposition, and immediately departed in the direc- 
 tion of Wigtownshire, where he shortly afterwards 
 heard of their career being stopped in consequence of 
 further delinquencies. 
 
 The next communication he sent Sir Walter was in 
 November 1827. It had reference to the morrice- 
 dancers, and the peculiar and fantastic garb which 
 some of them assumed in public processions. The 
 first public exhibition of this dress was before one of 
 our kings, on a platform erected on the Tay, near
 
 128 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Perth, when the river was frozen over, on which 
 occasion his Majesty was so much pleased, that he 
 conferred particular marks of favour on the wearer. 
 The dress is held hereditarily to this day. 
 
 This antique dress consists of stout fawn-coloured 
 silk cloth, with trappings of red and green satin, 
 richly flowered, so fashioned as to cover the legs 
 and arms of the wearer, over which parts of the 
 body are buckled buff or chamois-leather straps, with 
 twenty-one small bells attached to each. The bells 
 in all were about two hundred and fifty, each having 
 a different tone. There is likewise a cap made of 
 the same materials, in the form of a cone, covered 
 with a kind of network of leather thongs, the ends 
 of which hang round the wearer's neck and shoulders, 
 and on the end of which thong is fixed a large nut- 
 shell, intended to rattle as the person walks or moves 
 his head. 
 
 The last wearer of this fantastic habiliment was 
 Lord Lynedoch, who frequently paraded the streets of 
 Perth in it, as recruiting officer, about the commence- 
 ment of the French war, raising the 90th regiment 
 of foot. 
 
 This account brought the old morrice-dancing class 
 of mountebanks under the notice of Sir Walter, who 
 soon afterwards depicted their peculiarities in the
 
 LETTER FROM SIR WALTER SCOTT, 1829. 129 
 
 Fair Maid of Perth. About this time Sir Walter 
 informed Train of his intention to publish a new 
 edition of his novels and romances, from Waverley 
 to Woodstock, with an introduction and notes to 
 each tale. This set Train on the gui vim to assist 
 him, and in a few weeks he forwarded to Abbotsford 
 an account of the Galwegian localities referred to in 
 the fourth volume of the Waverley Novels, as also a 
 description of Skipper Yakins, the supposed prototype 
 of Dirk Hatteraick, and Flora Marshall, the original 
 of Meg Merrilies, with an anecdote of her husband, 
 Willie Marshall, king of the western gypsies; and 
 some further information about Old Mortality, which 
 we give after the following letter, acknowledging the 
 receipt of the information alluded to. 
 
 " DEAR MR. TRAIN, Your valued communica- 
 tion arrived in a happy time, and adds highly to the 
 obligations which your kindness has so often con- 
 ferred on me. I shall not venture to mention the ex- 
 traordinary connexion between the Bonaparte family 
 and that of Old Mortality, till I learn from you how 
 it is made out, whether by continued acknowledg- 
 ment and correspondence between the families of the 
 two brothers, or otherwise. A strain of genius (too 
 highly toned in the old patriarch) seems to have run 
 i
 
 1 30 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 through the family. The minister of Galashiels is a 
 clever man, and so is his brother. 
 
 " If your letter came in good time for me, I have 
 some ground to hope it may not have proved a bad 
 one for yourself. Who should happen to be my 
 guest but Mr. Morton Carr, the young southron, who 
 is surveyor of the Excise. I showed him what was 
 literary, in your favour, and was glad to find him 
 much interested. I had just been waiting an oppor- 
 tunity to speak to him in your behalf, and this came 
 to my hand ' like the boul of a pint-stoup.'' I 
 showed him your poems, and such of your, collections 
 as I thought might assist the impression, and had the 
 pleasure of obtaining his promise that he would 
 interest himself in your promotion. He has no direct 
 patronage, but you are aware his influence must be 
 considerable. I hope also to make some interest with 
 the Honourable Captain Percy, whose brother, Lord 
 Louvaine, is an old friend of mine ; but we have not 
 yet met. 
 
 " Now it will be necessary for me to know which 
 way this species of interest, and particularly Mr. 
 Carr' s, who, I am thinking, is serious in wishing to 
 oblige me by serving you, will be best exerted to 
 your advantage. Mr. Carr seems to say the situation 
 of collector was very doubtful, and difficult, and pre-
 
 OLD MORTALITY'S DESCENDANTS. 131 
 
 carious, by the late regulations. I said that I 
 thought you seemed to wish to be relieved from your 
 present situation. But I promised to learn from 
 yourself how you may be best served. Write me 
 soon, and let me know what you think about this. 
 
 " Mr. Carr and his sisters, two very accomplished 
 and pleasing young women, came to Abbotsford for a 
 day, and stayed a week ; so I suppose they liked us as 
 well as we did them. 
 
 " Any additional matter of tradition will be most 
 truly welcome. What a pity Old Mortality's grave 
 cannot be discovered. I would certainly erect a 
 monument to his memory at my own expense. 
 Always, my dear Mr. Train, your sincerely obliged 
 friend, WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 " ABBOTSFORD, 17th April 1829." 
 
 Train communicated to Sir Walter the particulars 
 about Old Mortality, in the handwriting of his son, 
 Mr. Robert Patterson of Dairy, who was alive at that 
 time, and in his 75th year, but who is now dead. 
 
 The manuscript gave a distinct account of his 
 brother, John Patterson, and Old Mortality's son, 
 sailing in a vessel called the '" Golden Rule" of White- 
 haven, from the water of Cree, in Galloway, for 
 America, in the year 1774 ; of his making a con-
 
 132 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 fortune during the American War, and of 
 his afterwards settling at Baltimore, where he im- 
 proved his fortune by marriage. He had a son 
 named Kobert, after his father, Old Mortality, and a 
 daughter named Elizabeth, after his mother, whose 
 maiden name was Grey. Robert married an Ameri- 
 can lady, who, outliving him, became Marchioness of 
 Wellesley. Elizabeth became the wife of Jerome 
 Bonaparte, and after her separation from him, wedded 
 Monsieur Serurier, the French consul at Baltimore. 
 
 This extraordinary story almost exceeds credibility ; 
 yet, though Sir Walter was convinced of its accuracy, 
 he only deferred publishing it to avoid giving oifence 
 to his intimate friend the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 After this strange revelation, we conclude that the 
 Queen of Westphalia's father was the son of Old 
 Mortality, the religious enthusiast, who wandered 
 throughout the land, in poverty, that he might restore 
 the memorial stones of those who had fallen a sacri- 
 fice to the principles which they professed. Along 
 with this account, furnished by the son of Old Mor- 
 tality, Train sent a sketch of his life, which is inserted 
 in the introduction to the tale. He also sent the 
 mallet and square used by the old man in liis avoca- 
 tion. The next letter from Sir Walter was brought 
 to Train by Mr. Skene of Rubislaw, who had come
 
 ME. SKENE OF RTJBISLAW. 133 
 
 to Galloway to take drawings of the coast : it is as 
 follows : 
 
 " DEAR MR. TRAIN, My friend, Mr. Skene of 
 Rubislaw, is desirous of making some drawings on 
 the Galloway coast, and I know none who can direct 
 him to localities so correctly as yourself. I am much 
 obliged by your many favours, and you will add to 
 them by giving Mr. Skene any information he may 
 
 require. Yours very truly. 
 
 " WALTER SCOTT. f 
 
 " EDINBUBGH, 19th June 1829." 
 
 Train accompanied Mr. Skene to the localities he 
 wished to visit. This gentleman made drawings of 
 Barloco and Raeberry Point. He also took sketches, 
 both inside and outside, of Dirk Hatteraick's cave, at 
 Torrs, near the mouth of the Dee. He informed Train 
 of his intention to recommend .him to the Antiquarian 
 Society of Scotland, at their meeting in November, 
 which he did ; and the supervisor was subsequently 
 admitted an honorary member of that body. When 
 in search of materials for a history of the Isle of 
 Man, which he contemplated writing, he found a 
 manuscript volume, -containing 108 Acts of the Manx 
 Legislature, anterior to the accession of the Atholl 
 family to the supreme power in Man, and which had
 
 134 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 been kept in Castle Rushen from 1422 to 1703. 
 This manuscript contained much interesting infor- 
 mation, nowhere else to be found ; and, deeming 
 rightly that they would be appreciated by Sir Walter, 
 he transcribed much of it, and, along with some 
 traditions of that little kingdom, which had been sent 
 him by Dr. Oswald of Douglas, forwarded them to 
 Abbotsford. He at the same time sent a visor of brass, 
 found in a morass at Torrs, in the parish of Kelton, 
 in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. This antique 
 mask had horns, projecting from the place where the 
 eyeholes should have been, and which were turned 
 back like the horns of a goat. What was its use 
 Train could never ascertain, but, to solve the problem, 
 we have only to remember that the greater part of 
 the nobility in the Middle Ages kept mummers and 
 masqueraders as a part of their establishment. He 
 sent Sir Walter also, at this time, a Roman javelin, 
 which had been found by an old woman at Auchen- 
 gibbert, in the parish of Urr, hi a peat which she was 
 breaking for her fire ; it was very entire, considering 
 how long it must have lain in the moss. 
 
 Some interesting particulars of the flight of the 
 unfortunate Queen Mary, from Langside to Dundren- 
 nan Abbey, were collected _by Train and forwarded 
 to Sir Walter, but he considered them too local to
 
 QUEEN OF SCOTS MISS AGNES STRICKLAND. 135 
 
 appear as notes to the Abbot. They were at a later 
 period sent to Miss Agnes Strickland, who found 
 them serviceable while writing her life of the ill-fated 
 queen. 
 
 An enthusiastic admirer of everything relating to a 
 past age, his researches were always characterized by a 
 zeal and energy which rendered them highly success- 
 ful ; and although he wrought comparatively in silence, 
 his discoveries were not the less valuable. His mind 
 seemed an inexhaustible storehouse, where everything 
 that was covered with the moss of age had a niche. 
 He saw a romantic, softly-subdued beauty in the 
 transactions of the -men of other times, which dwelt 
 with a pleasing and elevating influence around him, 
 and stirred him on to discover and unfold to the world 
 the doings of the past. It is said that he scarcely 
 ever sat down to arrange into narrative the traditions 
 which he gathered, this was done on horseback, on 
 his journey home through the wild moors ; and the 
 little time which he could spare from his very arduous 
 duties was employed in transcribing and despatching 
 them to those for whom they were destined. Indeed, 
 we are informed that all his verses were composed 
 when traversing the green hills of Ayrshire, examin- 
 ing the old castles of the days of Scottish freedom, 
 or when riding through the gloomy moors of Gallo-
 
 136 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 way. The following, entitled, The Ruthless Raid," 
 is of an antiquarian cast. 
 
 " Rise men of Galloway, spread fast the slogan, 
 War-beacons kindle from Criflfel to Logan ; 
 Bridle for battle colt, gerran, and filly, 
 Leave not unmounted laird, vassal, or gillie ; 
 Brave will he be that is first in the fray, 
 To horse and to arms for old Galloway's glory ! 
 
 " Rise men of Galloway, up and be arming, 
 Fierce are the foemen that round you are swarming ; 
 Erin's wild Cruithne again is returning, 
 To plunder and slay whilst your cabins are burning; 
 On with each mettle-jack, plate, glove, and knapapee, 
 Come to the beach, as your fathers did cap-a-pee 1 
 
 " Rise men of Galloway ! see at Loch Ryan 
 Erin's green banners triumphantly flying ; 
 Wild is the strewment of war-galleys stranded, 
 Where the cohorts of wild Gallowglasses are landed. 
 O'er Rhewlands and Manchers the shamrock is spreading, 
 Whilst foes on the graves of our fathers are treading. 
 
 " Rise men of Galloway ! like a flood gushing 
 Drive away those who against us are rushing ; 
 Though they may outnumber us, can we fear danger, 
 Who never could bow to the yoke of a stranger ? 
 When there is strife we'll be first in the foray, 
 All mounted and armed for old Galloway's glory !"
 
 ANTIQUARIAN GLEANINGS, ETC. 137 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 * 
 
 FURTHER ANTIQUARIAN GLEANINGS ACCOUNT OP 
 
 THE WASSAIL BOWLS MONS MEG THREAVE 
 
 CASTLE BRAWNY KIM ANECDOTE OF BURNS 
 
 RORIE GILL. 
 
 THERE is a mine of antiquarian treasure in Gal- 
 loway which seems almost inexhaustible. The events 
 of the darker eras of superstition appear to have left 
 as many memorials in that wild and solitary district 
 as on the fertile plains of Coila. It may be that the 
 associations connected with the past can in the plain 
 be more easily traced than on the mountain, and in 
 process of time become more familiar to the mind ; 
 but in the district of the wild and barren heath 
 the discoveries of the antiquary have been less nume- 
 rous, and the knowledge of the days of feudalism 
 has not burst upon the minds of all at once, but has 
 been so obscure as to require the most persevering 
 industry on the part of the antiquary in his researches,
 
 138 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 to elucidate and render visible the many hidden 
 evidences of the manners and customs of earlier ages. 
 We may now glance at some of those researches 
 which engrossed the attention of Train. ^ Though they 
 were not made use of by Sir Walter, yet they are 
 of sufficient interest to quote from the personal 
 memoranda of the antiquary. 
 
 Formerly every burgh of Scotland had a wassail- 
 bowl, generally of very capacious dimensions, presented 
 by the respective Commissioners of Parliament. That 
 of Kirkcudbright was given to the Incorporated Trades 
 by M'Lellan of Bombie ; and, according to the tradi- 
 tion, was first filled in public at the entertainment 
 given to King James V. by the inhabitants of Kirk- 
 cudbright, in March 1508. It is built like a tub, 
 with wooden staves, about thirty in number, with 
 hoops, and a rim of brass, and was made to hold 
 nine imperial gallons. 
 
 The wassail-bowl of the burgh of New Galloway is 
 of similar dimensions, likewise of wood, hooped with 
 brass, and is said to have been presented to the Town- 
 Council by Hamilton of Bargany, in Ayrshire, about 
 the year 1630. It has, however,' been brought more 
 frequently into use than that of Kirkcudbright, having 
 been filled annually on the birth-day of the reigning 
 sovereign, and also on that of Lord Kenmure not in
 
 MONS MEG THKEAVE CASTLE. 139 
 
 the town-hall or at the market-cross, but, till the 
 close of the last century, under a large tree that 
 stands in the immediate neighbourhood of Kenmure 
 Castle, called, time out of mind, " The Supper Thorn," 
 on account of the domestics of the castle and the 
 neighbourhood assembling round it, at the close of 
 the day, to dance to the sound of the stock and horn, 
 the only musical instruments then used in that pas- 
 toral district, and to partake of their evening meal. 
 
 Another sketch, evincing great research on the 
 part of Train, has much to recommend it to the 
 attention of those interested in the study of anti- 
 quity. It is an account of the origin of Mons Meg, 
 which has engrossed so much attention, and has 
 been the subject of much difference of opinion. The 
 very interesting information which Train collected, 
 fills up a blank in history, and throws some light 
 on the early manufacture of iron in this country. 
 
 That this monster cannon was first used against 
 Threave Castle, the stronghold of the Douglases, the 
 despot lords of Galloway, Train assures us there is 
 not a shadow of a doubt; but that the first ball, 
 which was made of granite from the neighbouring 
 hills, and was as heavy as a Galloway cow, passed 
 through the castle, and carried away the hand of 
 Margaret de Douglas, as she sat at table drinking
 
 140 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 wine, admits of a doubt, though Mr. Harry Inglis 
 treats it as a historical fact in his metrical romance, 
 entitled " The Briar of Threave and the Lily of 
 Barholm." We give a part of the story of Mons 
 Meg in Train's own words : 
 
 " This very singular piece of ordnance is said to 
 have been made of 25 bars of iron, bound together 
 with an equal number of hoops, to represent the 
 exact number of persons who contributed to defray 
 the expense of making the piece. As a recompense 
 for the present of this extraordinary engine of war, 
 and for the loyalty of the M'Lellans, who assisted 
 him in subduing the haughty Douglases, James II., 
 before leaving Galloway, erected the town of Kirk- 
 cudbright into a royal burgh, and granted to Brawny 
 Kim, the smith, the lands of Mollance, in the 
 neighbourhood of Threave Castle. It is still the 
 custom in Galloway to call people by the name of the 
 lands they possess. Hence the smith was called 
 Mollance. But his wife's name being Meg, and she 
 being possessed of a stentorian voice, the cannon, in 
 honour of her, received the name of Mollance Meg. 
 Nor is it singular that in the course of time the 
 name should be corrupted into the present. 
 
 " There is no smithy now at the ' Three Thorns 
 of Carlinwark,' where Brawny Kim and his seven
 
 BRAWNY KIM. 141 
 
 sons had their forge, and where Mollance Meg was 
 constructed, yet when the road to Portpatrick, which 
 passes through that locality, was being made, the 
 workmen cut through a deep bed of cinders and 
 ashes, which was proof enough of there having a 
 forge existed in that place. 
 
 " The only relic of the Douglases which has been 
 preserved, is a black oaken bedstead, well authenti- 
 cated to have been the principal one in the Castle of 
 Threave, and said to have been that of the Black 
 Douglas himself. It is one of the old closet kind of 
 beds, to be seen yet at some remote farm-houses in 
 both Ayrshire and Galloway. It is not entire, but 
 the parts that remain are entirely covered with 
 carved figures of men and beasts, so rudely executed 
 as to bespeak its high antiquity." 
 
 Train became the owner of this precious relic, but 
 had never an opportunity of sending it to him for 
 whom it was destined. 
 
 Tram, on account of his connexion with those who 
 were intimate with Burns, had many opportunities of 
 learning much, which has never been published, of 
 that illustrious man much which is highly valuable 
 in reaching to a right estimate of the poet's charac- 
 ter. The following anecdote is one among many 
 which the antiquary was wont to relate of the Bard
 
 H2 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 of Scotia, and which illustrates in a peculiar way the 
 high-souled peasant's character. 
 
 On the poet's visit to Kirkcudbright, during 
 which he is said to have composed his " Scots wha 
 hae," he and Mr. Syme took Kenraore Castle on 
 their way, and spent a happy night with its hos- 
 pitable proprietor, who next morning took them 
 down the loch in his boat, that they might the 
 better contemplate the scenery on both sides. The 
 party included the Rev. Mr. Gillespie, the parish 
 minister of Kells, and father of the late Rev. Wilh'ani 
 Gillespie, .his successor in the same parish, and pre- 
 eminently the poet of Gleukens. 
 
 When they reached the point where his lordship 
 intended to land and walk home with Mr. Gillespie, 
 taking a shot by the way, he caused the boat to be 
 directed into a shallow sedgy place, where her prow 
 stuck at such a distance from firm ground as to re- 
 quire a considerable leap to get dry ashore. His 
 lordship, in the prime of life and agile, easily sprang 
 ashore, as did also Mr. Syme, and the two thus out 
 immediately turned round, expecting Burns to follow, 
 and highly amused at the thought, which Burns at 
 once detected, of the dilemma in which the worthy 
 old minister would be placed, who was too stiff to 
 leap like the rest, and must either have endangered
 
 ANECDOTE OP BURNS. 143 
 
 his health by wading, or returned neglected in the 
 boat by himself. The manly, generous heart of Burns 
 comprehended the intentions of the two at a glance. 
 His eyes beaming, and his face suffused, he sprung at 
 once over the boat's gunwale, knee-deep in mud, and 
 grasping the old gentleman with outstretched arms, 
 he half-dragged him on to his back, and bore him 
 ashore amid the mingled shame and confusion of the 
 two gentlemen. Mr. Syme was the first to find 
 voice, and exclaimed, as Burns deposited his burden, 
 " Well, a clerical burden on Burns's back is what I 
 never expected to see !" What reply Burns made is 
 not mentioned ; but this, Train affirmed, was the real 
 cause of Burns's silent moodiness towards Mr. Syme 
 after parting from their friends, and the spoiling of 
 Burns's new top-boots by wet was not the effects of 
 a thunder-storm on the moor, as Mr. Syme affirms, 
 but of the spontaneous act of gentlemanliness wnich 
 we have described. 
 
 We have somewhat accidentally stumbled on one 
 of Train's earlier productions, which we value for its 
 antiquarian interest, as recording the deeds of one of 
 the boldest of Galloway caterans, the pest of Gal- 
 loway and Carrick during the earlier part of the tenth 
 century, a minor Robin Hood.
 
 144 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 RORIE GILL. 
 
 " Harvest is come, and the hunter's moon 1 
 Is' rising the highest hills aboon. 
 Loud is the flap of the eagle's wing, 
 As she starts from her rock by the mountain spring : 
 While echo carries o'er glen and brake 
 The howl of the fox by Naberrie's lake. 
 Sluggards are sleeping, but we must ride, 
 For winter comes, and it cries ' Provide !' 
 Buglemen sound the rallying call, 
 For ready to mount are the troopers all, 
 Who, in defiance of danger, still 
 Have followed the fortunes of Rorie Gill. 
 
 " On venison oft do I wish to dine, 
 And wash it down with the rosy wine ; 
 My merry men, too, love wine, and why 
 Should they not drink it as well as I ? 
 Yet break we not the orphan's bread, 
 Nor bring down woe on the widow's head - 
 We pass without harming the child of care, 
 Nor wish we industry's meed to share ; 
 We only take from the lordly thane, 
 What honesty deems ill-gotten gain ; 
 And even the foeman's blood to spill 
 Was ne'er the desire of Rorie Gill. 
 
 " By moonlight amain the shire of Ayr 
 Was sacked to the fortlet of Fairley fair ; 
 And whilst the bells of Kilwinning rung, 
 And the monks their latest vespers sung, 
 We filched the gold of that holy shrine, 
 And drank their health in the sacred wine ; 
 And piously, too, ere we went away, 
 We forced the Abbot for us to pray :
 
 ROEIE GILL. 145 
 
 Then, ere the breeze of the morning blew 
 From roe in her lair the cold clear dew, 
 "We vanished behind ' brown Carrick hill,' 
 And safe in the mountains was Korie Gill. 
 
 " Well was our trip to St. Mary's Isle 
 Paid with the jewels of Devorgoil ; 
 Merrily on from Kenmure we 
 Fast galloped to Castle Kennedy ; 
 The currach we launched, we sailed the pond, 
 We pillaged the Castle, and stript the ground : 
 And this night from Criggleton we must bring 
 The stud of the Gallovidian king 
 This golden spur once glanced on his heel 
 His was this baldric of burnished steel ; 
 And long ere the morning my merry men will 
 1 Bring his best geldings to Korie Gill. 
 
 " It was not the eagle, nor yet the fox, 
 That raised that echo among the rocks : 
 Oh ! it was the searching bloodhound's yell, 
 And tramping of horsemen down the dell, 
 And the shouts of many a forrester brave ; 
 Ha ! now they reach the robber's cave. 
 And ere the guard, with his bugle's sound, 
 Can warn his merry men lurking round, 
 Knockmain's brave lord, who gallantly sped 
 Baldoon's huge addej his country's dread 
 Explores the robber's cave at will, 
 And springs unlocked for on Eorie Gill. 
 
 " While now by the string of his bugle-horn 
 The guard they hang on a lofty thorn, 
 His pitying chieftain's wrath arose, 
 He bursts his bands and springs from his foes ; 
 And again they caught him, and then away 
 They bore him in haste to Kildorchan Bay. 
 
 K
 
 14:6 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 No justice there was called to aid him, 
 If his life should be spared or straightway ta'en : 
 On earth, to make his peace with heaven, 
 One hour he asked, but it was not given ; 
 And long ere his men could rise on the hill, 
 Stiff hanged on a wuddie was Rorie Gill. 
 
 " Thus fell in his prime the bravest knight, 
 That e'er gear-hunting went at night ; 
 Wept-for he was, both far and near, 
 Though the country long he had kept in fear : 
 And down at night from the blasted tree, 
 By his merry men carried away was he ; 
 And where bridle roads on the mountains meet, 
 They laid him without a winding sheet, 
 Save the heathery turf that wrapped his breast ; 
 And they left him with tears to his long, long ret. 
 There oft the wanderer stops to see 
 The big cairn raised to his memory ; 
 And many bosoms with awe yet thrill, 
 To hear of the wild deeds of Rorie Gill." 
 
 Train gathered the materials for this poem in the 
 following manner : One night when among the 
 hills between Minnigaff and Carsphairn, he lost his 
 way, and was obliged to seek the shelter of a shep- 
 herd's cottage. There he found an old man and 
 woman, who, among other legends, told him of the 
 exploits and death of Rorie Gill, the Robin Hood of 
 Galloway. Next morning, as he proceeded on his 
 mountain track, he arranged it into verse, and on 
 his arrival at Dalmellington, his destination, he com- 
 mitted it to paper.
 
 EDIE OCHILTREE. 147 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE PROTOTYPE OP EDIE OCHILTREE 
 
 WILLIE MARSHALL, KING OF THE RANDIES HIS 
 
 LEVELLING PROPENSITIES DEATH OF SIR WALTER 
 
 SCOTT. 
 
 SIR WALTER, during the time his edition of the 
 Waverley Novels was in course of publication, had 
 requested Train to furnish him with the particulars 
 of the life of Andrew Gemmil, from whom the Great 
 Minstrel drew the portrait of the mendicant, Edie 
 Ochiltree ; but the Supervisor was prevented, by the 
 very laborious duties of his profession, from collect- 
 ing the necessary information, until too late for Sir 
 Walter's purpose. He, however, sent what he had 
 obtained to the Baronet, the particulars of which we 
 give, convinced that it will be interesting to our 
 readers. 
 
 Andrew Gemmil, or Edie Ochiltree, as he appears 
 in the pages of the Antiquary, was a native of Old 
 Cumnock, in Ayrshire, where many of his descendants
 
 148 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 yet reside. He was well known throughout the whole 
 of Galloway, and there was not a farm-house in the 
 whole shire but had received a visit from the sturdy 
 beggar. He was twenty years a soldier, twenty a 
 garrison fogie, and twenty a beggar. One of the 
 most intimate friends of Train's early days was 
 Andrew Gemmil, a grandson of Andrew the soldier. 
 This man was a farm-servant till the year 1799, 
 when he was balloted to serve in the Ayrshire militia, 
 where he acted as servant to Dr. Colquhoun till 
 1801, when the regiment was disbanded. He was 
 then taken by the Doctor to pound drugs in Greenock, 
 where, having to examine the sailors enlisted into 
 the navy, he became acquainted with Captain Tat- 
 tam, who then commanded the Press-ship stationed 
 on the Clyde. 
 
 The Swinger gun-brig being ordered to the West 
 Indian station, and not having a surgeon's mate, 
 Captain Tattam got Gemmil appointed to that situa- 
 tion. On the death of the surgeon, which happened 
 a few weeks after sailing, his mate was appointed 
 to succeed him. He came home, took his degree, 
 and returned to the station, when he was appointed 
 chief surgeon of the fleet. He afterwards sailed with 
 Sir Edmund Pelew to the Mediterranean. In a letter 
 addressed to Train, dated his Majesty's ship Cale-
 
 WILLIE MARSHALL, KING OF THE BANDIES. 149 
 
 donia, off Minorca, 13th December 1812, he says, 
 " Upwards of twenty noblemen, or noblemen's sons, 
 sit at the Admiral's table, whenever the weather will 
 permit them to come from the other ships of the 
 fleet. In almost every dispute that arises amongst 
 them I am referred to, and my decision generally 
 gives satisfaction." Thus, without any regular educa- 
 tion, rose the grandson of Andrew Gemmil to the 
 head of the medical department, and to be the inti- 
 mate friend of Lord Exmouth for nearly fifteen years. 
 Train corresponded regularly with him until his 
 death, which happened in London in 1829. 
 
 Another worthy Train mentions, namely, Willie 
 Mai-shall, the King of the Eandies, who encouraged 
 the insubordination of the peasantry of Galloway in 
 their last ebullition of discontent. This happened in 
 1724, and their attack was principally directed 
 against the king's fences. In this they were led 
 by Marshall, who, despising all rule and authority, 
 was a proper person to direct the movements of the 
 rebellious peasantry. The summer fair of Keltonhill 
 was at that tune the most general rendezvous in the 
 south-west of Scotland for the transaction of business. 
 Among others, delegates from all the parishes in the 
 Stewartry of Kirkcudbright met, for the purpose of 
 concerting measures for the levelling of -all the " ring
 
 150 MEMOIR OP JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 fences" in the country. Over these presided the 
 King of the Randies. Before the period mentioned 
 he had been frequently sent to the army, and had 
 served several campaigns in Flanders, but he always 
 deserted in time to reach Keltonhill Fair, which it is 
 said he attended regularly for above a hundred years, 
 without being once absent. 
 
 The levellers found in him an active leader, and 
 under his directions they conducted their operations 
 with such secrecy, that every stone which was laid 
 above another for the formation of a ring fence dur- 
 ing the day, between Thigger Law and Shambelly, 
 was thrown down in the night, without a single per- 
 son concerned therein being discovered either by the 
 landholders or their agents. The levellers became 
 at length more daring. They practised the use of 
 fire-arms on the hills by the light of the moon, 
 formed themselves into companies, and openly resisted 
 every attempt on the part of the proprietors to en- 
 close their land. Many witty sayings are related of 
 Marshall. He was, like the rest of his fraternity, 
 greatly addicted to whisky, which some individual in 
 his hearing denounced as slow poison. " It maun 
 be d d slow, for I ha'e drunk it for a hunner 
 years, and I'm livin' yet." 
 
 It was found necessary to march a regiment of
 
 SCOTT'S DEATH. 151 
 
 dragoons from Edinburgh, to restore tranquillity to 
 the country. Marshall himself was taken prisoner, 
 but escaped by the assistance of his intimate friend 
 Eclie Ochiltree, or Andrew Gemmil, then a private 
 soldier in the regiment of Black Horse. 
 
 These, with many such stories, were sent to Sir 
 Walter by his friend in Castle-Douglas. But the 
 correspondence which had, for the period of eighteen 
 years, been so profitable to Sir Walter, and so flatter- 
 ing to Joseph Train, was drawing to a close. The 
 health of the Baronet, which had been delicate for 
 some years, was now becoming gradually more im- 
 paired, so that change of climate was advised. 
 
 A ship of war was commissioned by his Royal 
 Master to convey the Author of Waverley to another 
 land ; yet even in the hurry and bustle of his de- 
 parture, he remembered the humble antiquary, and 
 took up his pen to call Joseph Train his friend. 
 
 Hopes were entertained that change of climate 
 would restore the illustrious invalid to his wonted 
 vigour ; but, alas ! ere another year had passed, Wal- 
 ter Scott slept in Dryburgh's ruined pile, free from 
 the clouds which had hovered over his later years.
 
 152 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 FURTHER ACCOUNT OF TRAIN AN ANECDOTE HIS 
 
 ADDRESS TO A FAVOURITE HORSE HIS RETIRE- 
 MENT FROM ACTIVE SERVICE THE CARLINWARK 
 
 LOCH ITS TRADITIONS PUBLISHES HIS LONG 
 
 CONTEMPLATED HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN. 
 
 A TER Sir Walter Scott's death, the stimulus which 
 incited Joseph Train to action was not so strong. 
 True, he did continue his favourite researches, but 
 they were not characterized by that lively enthusiastic 
 interest that had distinguished him during his corre- 
 spondence with his illustrious patron. The incentive 
 to this kind of labour was not so strong, seeing that 
 he was gone who had valued so highly his gleanings ; 
 and the thought that but few appreciated or under- 
 stood his labours, was constantly before him. 
 
 But notwithstanding all these discouragements, the 
 genial and urbane demeanour of the antiquary was as 
 marked as ever. He discharged his duties with the 
 same precision, was as frequent in his journeys to the
 
 AN ANECDOTE. 153 
 
 remoter corners of his district as he had been in for- 
 mer years. His intercourse with the inhabitants was 
 not like the casual acquaintanceship of every-day life : 
 it had something in it which had the semblance of 
 friendship. His position a difficult one was free 
 from the odium which generally attended such an 
 office ; and if an offender against the laws which he 
 was appointed to protect was by him brought to jus- 
 tice, the culprit blamed himself, not the Supervisor. 
 
 Mr. Bennet, whom we have previously alluded to in 
 this memoir, relates an anecdote illustrative of what we 
 have been speaking of, which came under his notice 
 dufing his residence in that district. " The gudewife 
 of a farm in a moorland district, on having her mart 
 killed, had candles made of the tallow, as once had 
 been the universal custom, before the Excise laws pro- 
 hibited such a proceeding. One of the officers having 
 got scent of the transaction, intimated it to his supe- 
 rior, Train, who was bound to take cognizance of it. 
 Accordingly he and the officer in due time appeared, 
 and informed the good woman of the charge they had 
 against her. She, an honest and unsophisticated 
 person, at once owned that it was true, but declared 
 she did not know it was a fault, having never before 
 heard of a law to the contrary, which in so remote a 
 district was doubtless the truth. Train, at once
 
 154 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 satisfied of her veracity, showed evident regret at her 
 dilemma, and put many questions to enable her to 
 suggest any excuse ; he was also in no hurry to 
 search, so that had she chosen she might well have 
 secreted most of her challenged store. But she, like 
 a true heroine, stood on her first ground, declaring 
 that she would not burden her conscience to escape ; 
 if what she had done was a fault, faulty she was un- 
 intentionally, and therefore let the consequences ensue, 
 be what they might. In carrying out those conse- 
 quences, Train showed such evident regret and sym- 
 pathy for the poor woman, 'as wholly conciliated her 
 towards him, and made her speak of him with respect 
 and kindness ever after." 
 
 In one of his frequent rides through the moors he 
 composed the following poem, which is entitled, " The 
 Traveller's Address to his favourite Horse" the faith- 
 ful animal who bore the Supervisor for many a year, 
 through storm and darkness, and to whose sagacity 
 he more than once owed his life : 
 
 " Our road is long, and the hills are steep, 
 The burns are large, and the fords are deep ; 
 Belate me not my goodly steed, 
 And the best mo .v corn shall be thy meed ; 
 The lash of a whip thou shalt not feel, 
 Nor the pointed rowel that decks my heel ; 
 For whether in summer, or when the lift 
 Is darkened by the swirling drift,
 
 TRAVELLER'S ADDRESS TO HIS HORSE. 155 
 
 Ecady and willing thou art apace, 
 
 To carry me on to my resting-place. 
 
 The courser neighs as the huntsman's horn 
 
 Awakens the echo of the morn ; 
 
 But the huntsman's horn is not for thee, 
 
 And the charms of the chace are not for me. 
 
 I spur not to make thee snort and prance, 
 
 Like olden knight with his tilting lance, 
 
 On palfrey mounted with high intent, 
 
 In single fight and at tournament, 
 
 His able skill in arms to prove, 
 
 And valour deserving his lady's love. 
 
 I spur not like the yeomen of yore, 
 
 To meet the Nordland on the shore ; 
 
 Nor gallop I on to drive amain, 
 
 The Hot-trod over the Nith again, 
 
 As did the wild Scot each lawless band, 
 
 That came to pillage his fatherland. 
 
 I've reined thee beside the obelisk stone 
 
 Which stands away in the moors alone, 
 
 Where I have sat, and with eager eye 
 
 Gazed on the remains of years gone bye ; 
 
 For though my glass is nearly run, 
 
 I love o'er the doings of old to con, 
 
 When the minstrel sung to vassal and lord, 
 
 Feats done in the land of the fire and sword. 
 
 My trusty gerran, away, away, 
 
 Come, let us get on while yet we may ! 
 
 I wot we cannot have far to wend, 
 
 Till we arrive at our journey's end, 
 
 Where in mortality's common lot, 
 
 Soon Nick and his rider will be forgot." 
 
 Train having served the stated time, was placed on 
 the retired revenue list. He lived in a cottage called 
 Lochvale, situated near the Carlinwark Loch, where
 
 156 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 the evening of his days were spent happily, sur- 
 rounded by the objects of his early love. He now 
 had more leisure to engage in literary pursuits and 
 correspond with an extensive circle of friends ; and, if 
 any dispute connected with antiquarian matters hap- 
 pened to occur, Train was generally the umpire. 
 About this time he rendered some valuable assistance 
 to Miss Agnes Strickland, in collecting materials for 
 her life of Mary Queen of Scots. The following is 
 one of the many letters from that amiable and talent- 
 ed lady to the Supervisor : 
 
 " DEAR MR. TRAIN, When I despatched the 
 copy of my ' Historical Scenes,' I was too busy to 
 add a line or two by the same post, begging you to 
 gratify me by accepting it, as a very trifling acknow- 
 ledgment of your great kindness in endowing me 
 with such precious additions to my historical library 
 as your interesting and erudite History of the Isle of 
 Man and Noel's Life of Mary Stuart. I am de- 
 lighted at your frankly excusing my unceremonious 
 way of sending the volume, and more gratified than 
 I can tell you at your approval of my writings. If 
 I had come into the Dumfries and Galloway districts 
 this autumn, as at one time I purposed, I should 
 have paid my respects to you, whom I esteem as a
 
 LETTER FROM MISS STRICKLAND. 157 
 
 most valuable ally in the quest of that unpopular 
 thing historical truth, and its pleasing adjuncts, 
 statistical and antiquarian information. 
 
 " I mean to give the mediaeval Queens of Scotland 
 in another series ; but my desire to accomplish the 
 great object of my life, a complete personal history of 
 Mary Stuart, has induced me to begin with the 
 modern series, as you see. 
 
 " Can you give me any unedited, unprinted facta 
 for Mary of Lorraine, whose life, with that of Mar- 
 garet Countess of Lennox, will precede that of Mary 
 Stuart ? 
 
 " I want a pretty portrait of the said Mary, the 
 consort of James V., from an authentic source. 
 
 " Pray offer my compliments to Mrs. Train, and 
 believe me to be, dear sir, very sincerely yours. 
 
 " AGNES STRICKLAND. 
 " KEYDON HALL, WANGFORD, SUFFOLK." 
 
 He directed Miss Strickland's attention to the 
 many valuable manuscripts which were kept at Enzle, 
 and which had been deposited at Douay until the 
 breaking out of the French Revolution in 1789. 
 
 These documents had at that time been privately 
 packed in boxes, and secured in a dry well, until the 
 storm had blown past. They were then sent to the
 
 158 MEMOIK OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 Roman Catholic Bishop at Edinburgh, who forwarded 
 them to the place whence they had been originally 
 taken. 
 
 Miss Strickland visited Galloway in her search for 
 information concerning the flight of Queen Mary 
 through Eastern Galloway. She was a guest of the 
 Countess of Selkirk, and procured from Train a 
 sketch of a guitar, said to have been used by the 
 unfortunate Queen, and which had been left by her 
 at Kenmure Castle. 
 
 Train was in hopes that the instrument could 
 have been procured, but all his efforts were unavail- 
 ing. However, by the kindness of Dr. Trotter of 
 Auchencairn, who had seen the guitar when a boy, 
 he was enabled to furnish Miss Strickland with the 
 sketch alluded to. 
 
 We have said that his cottage was situated near 
 the Carlinwark Loch, a locality not without its 
 ancient legends, as being the principal haunt of all 
 the goblins in the district. 
 
 Tradition supposes that there was formerly in the 
 loch a town, that was on some occasion submerged, 
 but not to such a depth as to prevent the tops of 
 the highest buildings from being occasionally seen in 
 the water down to a late period. 
 
 There were also two chapels, whose vestiges have
 
 THE CARLINWARK LOCH ITS TRADITIONS. 159 
 
 likewise disappeared by the power of witchcraft, 
 which gave to the water where these buildings stood 
 the name of Carlinswark or Carlinwark. In the 
 year 1765, when ten feet of water was let from the 
 surface of this loch by a, canal to the river Dee, a 
 dam-dike, composed of oak piles and clay, was dis- 
 covered at the north end, near the town of Castle- 
 Douglas. 
 
 Before this loch was reduced by draining, it con- 
 tained several artificial islets, the resort of waterfowl. 
 The isle at the south end of it, called the Fir Island, 
 appears to have been surrounded by a stone rampart. 
 n this isle the remains of an iron forge are yet to be 
 seen, which induces Mr. Chalmers to think that a 
 barrack for English cavalry had been there during the 
 wars of the Succession, which belief is strengthened 
 by many horse-shoes being found near that place 
 deeply sunk in mud, and of quite a different shape 
 from those that are now used. 
 
 In several parts of this remarkable lake there 
 have been found the canoes of the ancient people, 
 similar to those which have been discovered in Loch- 
 armoss and Loch Doon, consisting of one log or trunk 
 hollowed by fire. 
 
 Although Galloway is studded with Druidical re- 
 mains, there are now none to be seen in the imme-
 
 160 MEMOIR OP JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 diate neighbourhood of the Carlinwark Loch, and the 
 " Three Thorns," celebrated in many a goblin tale, 
 have likewise disappeared, but the tradition connected 
 with them has fortunately been preserved. On a 
 height, near the spot on which the town of Castle- 
 Douglas has since been built, stood the " Three 
 Thorns of Carlinwark." 
 
 Formerly, for a number of nights in regular suc- 
 cession, three spectres of that fierce and malignant 
 species, that took up their abode in human bodies 
 after death, were observed to proceed from Kelton 
 Mrkyard to the " Three Thorns," and around them 
 perform their hellish orgies, an account of which we 
 are unable to give. 
 
 There was a loan somewhere on the road along 
 which the fiends passed on their nightly pilgrimage. 
 One night a fellow of more intrepidity or less pru- 
 dence than his comrades, observed the trio making 
 their usual procession, but with far more than usual 
 speed. One of the spirits was more ugly than the 
 other two, and apparently lame. He was rather behind 
 his companions, but came hobbling after them with 
 all his might, so that the fellow could not help bawl- 
 ing out, with a burst of laughter, " Weel dune, Cripple 
 Stiltie." The goblin instantly sprang over the dike, 
 making at the man with " furious ettle," but he ran
 
 PUBLISHES HISTORY OF THE ISLE OF MAN, 1844-5. 1 G 1 
 
 and placed himself beside an " owsen that had been 
 yoked," which secured him from the wrath of the 
 goblin. 
 
 This is -one of the many traditions connected with 
 the Carlinwark Loch, near to which Lochvale is 
 situated. 
 
 There was a blank in Train's existence when Scot- 
 land lost her greatest son all the many acts of 
 kindness which he had delicately done to the Super- 
 visor came before htm in vivid colours, and while life 
 remained he spoke of his illustrious friend with a 
 mournful pride. 
 
 Yet even in the retirement of his home, sad recol- 
 lections would shoot a thrill through his heart, and 
 cast a shade over his brow, when he looked back to 
 the time when Scott was alive, the potent magician 
 of Scotland when the kindly smile of the minstrel 
 cheered on the antiquary to pursue his unpopular study. 
 
 After his retirement he sedulously prosecuted his 
 researches concerning the Manx, and the result was, 
 that his History of the Isle of Man appeared shortly 
 after. It was published in four parts by a publisher 
 in the island, and was concluded in 1845. 
 
 With the hope that some account of this island 
 may not be uninteresting to our readers, we append 
 a summary of the work. 
 
 L
 
 162 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 On tliis account, this being by far the most impor- 
 tant and laborious of Train's literary compositions, and 
 also because it displays so remarkably his habits of 
 research and persevering industry, it is felt to be but 
 justice to his memory to insert here this attempt 
 briefly to summarize it ; the more particularly, as the 
 subject itself is so interesting, that it cannot fail to 
 be valued on this latter ground alone. The work is 
 in two volumes. It was printed and published by a 
 Manx publisher, and is highly creditable to the typo- 
 graphic skill and bibliopolic enterprise of the island. 
 
 In the now generally fused state of our very com- 
 posite empire, we of the present day stand as on a 
 great plain, stretching, from where its separate origi- 
 nating heights sink down into it, far and wide, both 
 around and before ; and to be carried back among 
 those heights, where the primitive streams and 
 breezes gush and circulate, and where yet appear and 
 disappear the clouds and mists with which our sires 
 enshrouded the heroes, the ghosts, and the spectres 
 of their local legends, to be carried back amid all 
 these again, under the guidance of an historian like 
 Train, is both an exhilarating and instructive treat ; 
 and he has well chosen his subject to this end, for 
 the little island, of which this work will now remain 
 the standard history, was the theatre of contest for
 
 SUMMARY OP HISTORY OF THE ISLE OP MAN. 1G3 
 
 ages, among English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and ' 
 Norwegian kings and chiefs, whereby the train of 
 public occurrences that befell in it, is so mixed up 
 with those correlatively occurring in the various sur- 
 rounding countries, that, in the hands of so well- 
 informed and observant an author as Train, the rela- 
 tion of those occurrences often, if not always, sheds 
 much important elucidative light on the contemporary 
 history of the greater countries in question. This 
 gives the history a scope, a value, and an interest, 
 far exceeding the range of a mere insular and local 
 work ; and it was because of this its widely-ranging 
 interest, and of the abilities of him to do it justice 
 who has now handled it, that the Author of Waverley 
 suggested to him the undertaking, on the occasion, 
 and in the manner, narrated in Train's Introduction, 
 as follows : 
 
 "In a pursuit so publicly abandoned by the 
 indefatigable Lord Hailes, Toland, the learned an- 
 tiquary, Macculloch, and other eminent writers, 
 further inquiry seemed hopeless. But Sir Walter 
 Scott entertained a different opinion. In 1810, he 
 called the attention of his brother Thomas, Receiver- 
 General of the Insular Customs, towards writing a 
 history of the Isle of Man ; but fortuitous circum- 
 stances occurred, which prevented the execution of
 
 164 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN". 
 
 that design. At a subsequent period, Sir Walter 
 strongly directed my views to the same subject, with 
 the most friendly assurance that he would render me 
 any assistance which I might require in prosecuting 
 the undertaking. He at the same time made me a 
 present of an old work* on the subject, and placed his 
 valuable library at my service, in following out the 
 inquiry necessary to the accomplishment of the work. 
 
 " I assented ; but my professional duty as Super- 
 visor over an extensive district, occupied my time so 
 exclusively, that, ere I had it in my power to avail 
 myself of the assistance of my illustrious friend, he 
 was no more. On the occurrence of that mournful 
 event, my gleanings were in a great measure laid 
 aside ; nor was it until I had, at my own solicita- 
 tion, been placed on what is called the ' Retired 
 Revenue List,' that, in order to while away my leisure 
 hours, I assumed the task of arranging the materials 
 which I had previously collected." 
 
 These materials are more ample than could have 
 been imagined ; for, large as the book is, it is yet 
 crammed with facts, all traced to their sources with 
 great research and accuracy, classified, arranged, and 
 illustrated with a clearness, patience and industry, 
 which show that the old, deep-searching, faithful, his- 
 toric spirit, had yet an abode in the breast of Train. 
 * Waldron's " History of the Isle of Man."
 
 SUMMARY OF HISTORY OP THE ISLE OF MAN. 165 
 
 Manx history first dawns under the dynasty of 
 Welsh kings, in Anno Domini 517 ; the Welsh lost 
 its sovereignty, dispossessed by the Northern Vikinge, 
 in 919; these latter were succeeded by the Kings 
 of Norway, in 1066, and who continued down to 
 1265, when the Kings of Scotland and of England 
 alternately invaded and ruled over the little territory, 
 until 1405, when the noble English house of Stanley 
 were made its local sovereigns by the English monarch 
 Henry IV., and continued in possession down to 
 1736, when the noble Scottish house of Athol suc- 
 ceeded to it by intermarital descent, and remained 
 sovereigns of Man until the year 1829, when the 
 sovereignty was purchased by the British Parliament, 
 and permanently vested in the British Crown. The 
 lordships, forts, harbours, franchises, liberties, &c., of 
 the island, had previously been purchased, in 1765, 
 for the purpose of abating, by the extension of 
 general British legislation over it, the smuggling, 
 evasion of creditors elsewhere, and other great evils, 
 for which the island had by this time become noto- 
 rious. 70,000, and an annuity of 2000 per 
 annum, were paid for this purchase, the terms of 
 which were the surrender, by the Duke of Atholl, 
 " of the island, castle, and peel of Man, with all the 
 lordships thereto belonging, together with the royal-
 
 166 MEMOIK OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 ties, regalities, franchises, liberties, and seaports ap- 
 pertaining to the same, and all other hereditaments 
 and premises therein particularly described and men- 
 tioned, as holden under the several grants thereof, or 
 any other title whatsoever reserving only their lands, 
 inland waters, fisheries, mines, mills, minerals, and 
 quarries, according to their present right therein, 
 felon goods, deodands, waifs, estrays, and wrecks at 
 sea, together with the patronage of the bishopric, 
 and of the other ecclesiastical benefices in the island, 
 to which they were entitled." Vol. i. p. 242. 
 
 The property, and other sovereign rights thus re- 
 served, proved afterwards a source of great annoyance 
 both to the Duke and the British Government ; for, 
 " when the sovereignty of the island became vested, 
 by Act of Parliament, in the British king, the inhabi- 
 tants were so much alarmed at the change of affairs, 
 which they considered must necessarily ensue, that 
 the ruin of all classes was prognosticated. Insular 
 property sunk to a very low state of depreciation, 
 and many, who had the means of removal, left the 
 island. Nor was the appearance of Lord John Mur- 
 ray's Freicudan Dhu, or Black Watch, as the 42d 
 regiment was then called, who were sent by the 
 British Government to maintain the peace, much cal- 
 culated to allay the discontent of the people, who
 
 DUKE OF ATHOL, LORD OP MAN. 167 
 
 found their houses and magazines, which had been 
 let for the purposes of smuggling, left empty on their 
 hands, and themselves subjected to other inconveni- 
 ences, necessarily resulting from a resolution so sud- 
 den." Vol. i. p. 244. 
 
 Obstruction, evasion, depreciation, and other in- 
 juries to the Duke's reserved rights, followed ; in 
 consequence of which, he eventually lost all par- 
 tiality towards the island, and the islanders all respect 
 and fealty towards him ; and in this condition, amid 
 much negotiation with the British Government, and 
 investigation and discussion on both sides, matters 
 lingered on until 1829, when, in virtue of an Act 
 passed by Parliament in 1824, " empowering the 
 Lords of the Treasury to purchase all the manorial 
 rights of the Duke of Athol in the Isle of Man," 
 those rights were accordingly purchased for the sum 
 of 416,114, and the island thenceforward became 
 an integral part of the British community aud empire. 
 " The last honorary service of presenting two falcons 
 to the king, was rendered on the 19th July 1821, 
 by the Duke of Athol in person, at the coronation of 
 George IV. His Grace was an active, liberal, and 
 enlightened nobleman : he possessed considerable in- 
 terest at Court, which he uniformly employed in 
 advancing the real interests of the island. After a
 
 168 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 long reign of fifty-six years, he died at Dunkeld, on 
 l!!'th September 1830, in the seventy-sixth year of 
 his age." Vol. i. p. 255. 
 
 " When Sir John Stanley received a grant of the 
 island from Henry IV., the whole revenue did not 
 exc-ecd 400 per annum. In the time of the last 
 Earl of Derby, who was Lord of Man, the customs 
 were farmed to an English merchant at 1000 per 
 annum. The Duke of Athol, however, annually re- 
 ceived a surplus revenue of nearly 6000, as appears 
 in the schedule to the Act 5th Geo. III., cap. 26." 
 Vol. i. p. 244. 
 
 In 1792, a Commission was appointed by Parlia- 
 ment to visit the island, and report on the state of 
 its commerce and finances, and these, after a full 
 investigation, and ascertainment of the contraband 
 practices that then extensively prevailed there, " stated 
 the loss to the king's revenue by illicit trade, to 
 amount to about 350,000 per annum, and the 
 value of seizures made on the coast of Ireland from 
 the island, to be about 10,000 annually." Vol. i. 
 p. 248. 
 
 " Since the British Government acquired the power 
 of enacting laws for the government of the Isle of 
 Man, those enacted laws have hitherto been confined 
 to the customs, or port-dues, and the regulation and
 
 POLITICAL MATTERS. 169 
 
 prohibition of the manufacture of articles which might 
 
 affect the revenue 
 
 " The Manx, ere long aware of the absurdity of 
 the fears which they had entertained at the revest- 
 ment of the island, at length became loyal subjects 
 of Great Britain. In 1796, an Act of Tynwald was 
 passed, whereby persons circulating seditious books, 
 or speaking seditiously, are subjected to a penalty of 
 100, and one year's imprisonment. During the 
 late French war, the island furnished two battalions 
 of fencibles, which served with credit in Ireland dur- 
 ing the rebellion in 1798, besides a corps of volun- 
 teers, and a squadron of yeomanry. At the close of 
 the eighteenth century, too, when subscriptions were 
 set on foot in every part of the empire to assist in 
 carrying on the war against France, the House of 
 Keys [the local Legislature, whose acts are called 
 Acts of Tynwald] manifested their attachment to the 
 British Government by subscribing 175, which was 
 sent to the Treasury with the following neat observar 
 tion : 
 
 " ' HOUSE OF KEYS, March 13, 1798. 
 
 ' MY LORD, The Keys of the Isle of Man, the 
 
 constitutional representatives of the people, warmly 
 
 attached to them and to the Constitution of Great 
 
 Britain, offer this, their mite, in aid of their cause ;
 
 170 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 and they feelingly regret that, in tendering so small 
 a sum, there is so great a disproportion between their 
 wishes and their abilities having no public funds at 
 their disposal'" Vol. i. pp. 250, 251. 
 
 The machinery of the Manx government now con- 
 sists of a governor and captain-general, who repre* 
 sents the British sovereign ; the House of Keys, 
 or local legislature already mentioned, consisting of 
 twenty-four members, elected for life ; and two 
 Supreme Judicial Courts, for the two main divisions 
 of the island, each presided over by a judge, called 
 a Deemster, and under which are the usual petty 
 district courts, with their various officers, as well as 
 coroners, constabulary, &c. 
 
 The island is a bishopric, which is styled of 
 SODOR and MAN, about the origin of which title 
 there has been much dispute ; but Train seems 
 to have given a satisfactory solution of it in the 
 Appendix to his 12th chapter, voL L p. 385, and to 
 it we refer the reader, the passage being too long for 
 extract. The constitution of the Church is similar 
 to that of England, though, from the smallness of its 
 extent and means, admitting of much fewer grada- 
 tions among its clergy. " The Established Church 
 of the island has for a long time past been well 
 supported by qualified ministers, yet, notwithstanding
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OP MAN. 171 
 
 this, an extraordinary number of Dissenters are to be 
 found in the island. Soon after the Reformation 
 the followers of William Penn gained some footing 
 in Man ; but they were ultimately banished, and 
 their property was confiscated. Not deterred by the 
 failure of the Quakers, John Wesley sent one of his 
 preachers to the island in 1775, to teach the inha- 
 bitants the doctrine of ' salvation by faith ;' and in 
 1777, with the same object in view, he visited the 
 island himself. From that time the Methodists have 
 increased to such a surprising degree that they can 
 now number forty-five insular chapels." VoL L 
 p. 368. 
 
 " At the accession of Bishop Ward to the see of 
 Sodor and Man (in 1827), the want of church accom- 
 modation was much felt, and is generally supposed to 
 have been the principal cause of the great increase of 
 Dissenters. To counteract this growing evil, the 
 bishop, by his personal exertions in appealing to the 
 benevolence, piety, and charity of his friends in 
 England, succeeded in raising between 8000 and 
 9000, and in the island nearly 4000. By means of 
 this sum eight new churches have been erected, some 
 have been enlarged, and others, which were in a state 
 of dilapidation, have been substantially repaired." 
 (Vol. i. p. 369.) The tithes have recently been com-
 
 172 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 muted, and from these and other sources a moderate 
 yet respectable living secured to the clergy, so that 
 the Church now, so far as these matters go, is in a 
 greatly improved and more efficient state. Educa- 
 tion, also, is much better attended to and provided 
 for than formerly ; and a college has recently been 
 erected in the island, at Castletown, named King 
 William's College, which is a very noble structure, 
 and promises to be productive of extensive benefits. 
 This college was begun in 1830, and opened for 
 students in 1833. " On the morning of the 14th 
 January 1844 these extensive premises unfortunately 
 became the prey of a destructive conflagration, which 
 broke out in the western wing of the building, and 
 spread with uncontrollable fury, till the interior of 
 the building was destroyed, with the exception of a 
 few apartments in the western wing, occupied by 
 the Vice-Principal of the college. The very valuable 
 library, containing many rare works, part of which 
 was a curious collection of Bibles, from the time of 
 Coverdale, in upwards of fifty different languages, 
 with several manuscripts relating to Manx ecclesias- 
 tical affairs, and also much private property, were all 
 completely destroyed. On the 15th January, at a 
 meeting of the trustees, held at Castletown, it was 
 resolved that instant measures be pursued towards
 
 TOWNS' POPULATION. 173 
 
 the restoration of the college, which was acted on 
 with so much spirit, that, on the 4th June, the 
 rebuilding was so far advanced as to allow of the 
 annual examination of the students being held there, 
 and, on the 1st of August, was again opened for the 
 reception of pupils. The building was insured for 
 2000 j but the damage done to it by this calami- 
 tous fire was estimated at double that sum. The 
 difference was soon, however, made up by subscrip- 
 tions." Vol. ii. pp. 254, 255. 
 
 The chief towns of the island are four, Castle- 
 town, the seat of government ; Peel, the seat of a 
 valuable herring fishery; Ramsay, possessing a fine 
 bay and harbour, protected from the western gales, 
 and from which the most part of the agricultural 
 exports of the island are shipped ; and Douglas, 
 which, in point of situation, extent, and general im- 
 portance, is really the principal town. " From its 
 advantageous situation for inland commerce, and its 
 spacious bay affording every facility for intercourse 
 by sea, one might suppose the town of Douglas to be 
 the most ancient in the island, but such a conjecture, 
 so far as I have been able to find, would not be 
 supported by history," difficulty of access and defen- 
 sibility of position having been more regarded in 
 the founding of towns in old warlike periods than
 
 174 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 the open-breasted, and consequently defenceless, ac- 
 cessibility necessary to peaceful commerce. " At the 
 commencement of the eighteenth century Douglas was 
 only a fishing village, composed of a group of clay- 
 built cottages ; but as the contraband trade increased 
 it tended to enrich the inhabitants. Adventurers who 
 had accumulated wealth by means of this traffic, 
 generally pulled down their paternal habitations and 
 built others on the former sites, every one according 
 to his own fancy, and more suitable to the wealth he 
 had acquired. The number of inhabitants increased 
 so rapidly, that, in the year 1757, it amounted to 
 1814, and, going on progressively, it had reached, in 
 1831, to 6786, and in 1841, by the government 
 census, the population of Douglas was 8647. The 
 house property of Douglas has been valued at 
 356,788." (Vol. it p. 362.) It is to this town, 
 which stands picturesquely in the centre of the island, 
 on the shore looking towards England, that the great 
 influx of summer tourists and sea-bathers resort ; and 
 as the accommodation is excellent, the society good, 
 and the scenery beautiful, there are few places that 
 afford more attractions during a brief sojourn. The 
 numbers thus attracted are consequently great, and 
 of late years not a few strangers have purchased 
 property and built residences in the island, from
 
 PROGRESS OF THE ARTS IN THE ISLAND. 175 
 
 which, and from other concurrent causes, a thorough 
 revolution has taken place there in habits, manners, 
 intelligence, and every kind of industry, agriculture 
 being now scientifically pursued, commerce developed 
 and very active, roads repaired, bridges built, lands 
 enclosed and planted, and everything else either done or 
 doing which indicates the social, moral, physical, and 
 pecuniary improvement of a community. Amongst 
 these the state of the arts and of literature must not 
 be passed over unnoticed. The excellent typography, 
 and clear and well-executed illustrative cuts, which 
 adorn this work, are sufficient proofs of the respect- 
 able attainments of the Manx in these departments." 
 There are many facts mentioned in the course of 
 Train's history to show that the progress has been 
 remarkable. He says : 
 
 " It is only by adverting to the accounts of former 
 writers that we can show the progress recently made 
 in the island. When Wood, the tourist, visited it in 
 1808, he says there was only one person who sold 
 books, and he was by trade a bookbinder. He adds, 
 that he tried in vain to get a sheet of blotting-paper. 
 The case is very different now, at least in regard to 
 Douglas, there being five booksellers and stationers 
 there, with eight printing-offices, from four of which 
 issues a weekly newspaper. There are, besides, three
 
 176 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 monthly periodicals. The insular press is wholly 
 confined to Douglas ; and as newspapers printed in 
 the Isle of Man are unshackled by either a duty on 
 paper or advertisements, and privileged to pass postage 
 free without a duty- stamp through the post-offices of 
 the United Kingdom and most of the British colonies, 
 a great stimulus has been given to periodical printing 
 in Douglas ; and newspapers established there for the 
 purpose of being circulated in the United Kingdom 
 have obtained a high circulation. There are two 
 extensive circulating libraries in Douglas, and one 
 called the Isle of Man Subscription Library. A 
 Mechanics' Library has also been in existence for 
 some years; it is liberally supported, and the work- 
 ing part of the community have derived great benefit 
 from it." Vol/ii. p. 368. 
 
 Such are the substantial benefits derived by this 
 little community from a close union and identification 
 with this great country, whereby all the springs of 
 prosperity, both domestic and foreign, set flowing in 
 the one, immediately rush, with invigorating fresh- 
 ness, through the other. Quite analogous also arc 
 the advantages, now thoroughly enjoyed and appre- 
 ciated, derived by Scotland from the same cause, 
 although Scotland rebelled and rioted, and raved and 
 ranted, against the Union far more than the Manx
 
 SOCIAL POSITION OF THE MANX. 177 
 
 were so mad as to do. And equally analogous and 
 substantial are the benefits now derived from the same 
 source by the sister kingdom of Ireland; its people, 
 in like manner, at length opening their eyes to the 
 beneficent tendency of this course of things, and 
 merging old, barbarous, isolated prejudices in the 
 rational glory of componently forming and increasing 
 one great general homogeneous empire, consolidated 
 and prosperous, from all its people industriously deve- 
 loping their local resources, to swell the common sum 
 of prosperity and happiness, and laughing to scorn the 
 unprincipled declaimer, who strove to set their pas- 
 sions and imagination in opposition to their reason, 
 by assuring them it was more rational, patriotic, 
 and fraught with prosperity and glory, to endeavour 
 to go back from all this to the times of local isola- 
 tion, jealousy, and contest, when no man's life or 
 property was a moment safe, and public governments 
 were rude and sanguinary, and the people under 
 them poor, ignorant, oppressed, and miserable ! 
 
 As illustrative of the state to which society would 
 again be brought were such madness yet to have its 
 way, and also as presenting a very vivid picture of 
 a traffic which once filled the three kingdoms with 
 disturbance, and has afforded many themes for the 
 
 M
 
 I / b MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 politician, historian, poet, and novelist, we give an 
 abridged account of the celebrated smuggling trade, 
 of which the Isle of Man was so long the focus, 
 and of which many old people yet alive, retain ;i 
 clear recollection : 
 
 " Down to near the close of the 17th century, the 
 Manx remained vassals in a manner attached to the 
 soil, employing themselves in fishing during the short 
 season the herrings were on the coast, and for the 
 remainder of the year devoting themselves to com- 
 plete idleness ; whilst the women performed the task 
 of cultivating just as much land as, on the closest 
 calculation, would supply the wants of the family, 
 and pay the lord's rent. They dwelt in mud huts, 
 without doors and windows, and which merely served 
 the single purpose of defending them from the incle- 
 mencies of the weather. 
 
 " About the year 1670, however, a company of 
 adventurers from Liverpool settled at Douglas, for 
 the avowed purpose of carrying on a contraband 
 trade with the surrounding shores ; and to this date 
 may be traced the commencement of a new era in 
 their history. 
 
 " The goods thus landed were, from the con- 
 venient position of the Isle, exported by the barks, 
 buuts, and wherries, of the island, into Scotland,
 
 SMUGGLING IN THE ISLE OF MAN. 179 
 
 England, Wales, and Ireland, to the detriment of the 
 revenue and prejudice of the fair trader. 
 
 " The profits attending this iniquitous trade, soon 
 induced many of the most wealthy of the Manx 
 people to engage in it likewise. The great body of 
 the people, who had no capital to embark in specu- 
 lations, became carriers ; for which hazardous em- 
 ployment they were suitably qualified, being inured 
 to hardships, and trained to a seafaring life. The 
 island became the great storehouse for the French 
 and Dutch to deposit vast quantities of Indian goods, 
 which were carried off by the islanders in wherries 
 built for that purpose. The loss to Great Britain, 
 and the gains to the French, were inexpressibly 
 great. 
 
 " In the surrounding countries, the spirit of indus- 
 try was likewise checked by a passion for smuggling, 
 which was nourished by their vicinity to the Isle of 
 Man." 
 
 Stringent measures were adopted, and laws enacted, 
 by the British Government, to repress and remove 
 this evil ; but, while the sovereignty of the island 
 remained detached from the British Crown, nothing 
 could be effectually done ; and hence the first attempt 
 at purchase of the sovereignty, already related, but 
 which had not the good effects anticipated from it.
 
 180 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 " The protection afforded by the Manx to smug- 
 gling, is thus described by Waldron, who was then 
 residing on the island in the capacity of a commis- 
 sioner from the British Government : ' His Majesty 
 of Great Britain is master of the seas ; yet the Isle of 
 Man has jurisdiction of so much round the island 
 that a master of a ship has no more to do than watch 
 his opportunity of coining within the piles, where he 
 is secure from any danger from the King's officers. 
 I myself had once notice of a stately vessel that was 
 steering her course into this harbour, and would have 
 boarded her before she had got within the piles, but 
 for want of sufficient help to execute my design. 
 Her cargo was indigo, mastic, raisins of the sun, and 
 other rich goods, which I had the mortification to see 
 sold to traders in Douglas, without any duty paid to 
 his Majesty.' 
 
 " In gloomy or tempestuous weather, when the 
 revenue cruisers had sought for shelter under cover 
 of the land, the adventurous smuggler generally set 
 sail with his contraband cargo, alike regardless of the 
 dangers of the sea and the power of the law. Among 
 the many daring individuals engaged in that hazard- 
 ous trade, no name is so well remembered as that of 
 Francois Thurbt, who, about the year 1742, when 
 only fifteen years of age, left Dunkirk with an Irish
 
 FRANCOIS THUROT. 181 
 
 smuggler, who was a relation of his own, named Far- 
 rel, and took up his residence in the Isle of Man> 
 where he entered into the service of a Welsh smug- 
 gler, in whose employment as a sailor he remained 
 sometime, running goods betwixt the Isle of Man and 
 Anglesey. It was here Thurbt acquired a knowledge 
 of the English language, and imbibed that spirit of 
 daring and adventure, as well as that skill in the 
 seafaring life, and in the contraband trade, which 
 subsequently distinguished his character. In 1752, 
 he went to reside at Boulogne, and still continuing 
 in the same line, his daring and experience soon raised 
 him to eminence as a successful smuggler. His ves- 
 sels ran immense quantities of goods between the 
 French, Manx, and English coasts. On the breaking 
 out of the war with England in 1755, he joined the 
 privateers of Dunkirk, and, by his brilliant exploits, 
 speedily rendered his name terrible to the merchants 
 of Britain. Being now well known for his bravery 
 and experience in naval affairs, he was, in 1757, 
 appointed to the command of a frigate by the French 
 Government, and soon afterwards to the command of 
 a small squadron. As is well known, he fell in 
 action off the coast of Man, in the year 1760." 
 
 A rapid series of enactments about this time 
 passed the British Parliament, to suppress, if possible,
 
 182 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 this most audacious and detrimental traffic- ; and 
 these, applied with vigour, had the effect of extin- 
 guishing it for a time. 
 
 " Some merchants of capital, who remained on the 
 island, turned their attention to the cultivation of 
 waste lands, and, consequently, greater quantities of 
 wheat and flax were raised than formerly. Manu- 
 factures improved, and the drunken and dissolute 
 life which naturally attends smuggling seemed to 
 give place to more industrious habits ; but it proved 
 only a temporary suspension of the wayward pro- 
 pensities of these islanders. A military force was 
 maintained in the island, and a large establishment 
 of armed cutters and cruisers were stationed in the 
 Channel, for the protection of the revenue ; but, in 
 the same ratio that this force was diminished, the 
 contraband trade increased, nor was its progress im- 
 peded even by what was caDed ' Pitt's Burning and 
 Staving Act,' passed in 1792. 
 
 " The illicit traffic between the Isle of Man and 
 the opposite shores of Scotland was now carried 
 on to a greater extent than at any former period. 
 Many persons of capital engaged in the precarious 
 enterprise. Companies of these adventurers, chiefly 
 Manxmen, were stationed at Balcary, Clone, Furni- 
 ness, and other convenient places on the shores of
 
 SMUGGLING. 183 
 
 Galloway. Some of the smuggling captains were 
 daring, resolute fellows, of great nautical acquire- 
 ments. The exploits of Yawkins, a Dutchman, who 
 commanded a smuggling lugger, called the ' Black 
 Prince,' are yet related by both the Manx and Gal- 
 lovidian peasantry, and the poetasters of the day 
 employed their pens in his praise. 
 
 " On one occasion, as Yawkins was landing his 
 cargo at the Manxman's Lake, near Kirkcudbright, two- 
 revenue cutters, the ' Pigmy' and the ' Dwarf,' hove in 
 sight, on different tacks, the one bearing round from the 
 Isles of Fleet, and the other between the point of Rae- 
 berry and the Muckle Ross. The dauntless free-trader 
 instantly weighed anchor, and bore down between the 
 cutters, so close that he tossed his hat on one deck and 
 his wig on the other, hoisted a cask on his maintop to 
 show his occupation, and bore away under an extra- 
 ordinary pressure of canvas, without receiving injury. 
 On another occasion, when Yawkins cast anchor at 
 the Manxman's Lake, an inexperienced tide-waiter, 
 supposing the ' Black Prince' to be a timber ship then 
 expected to arrive, went on board alone, but he saw 
 his mistake when too late, for he was not permitted to 
 land till the vessel arrived at Amsterdam, Avhere he was 
 set at liberty, to find his way back to his station at 
 Auchencairn in the way most convenient to himself.
 
 184 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 " A large establishment of revenue cruisers in the 
 English Channel, and along the southern shores of 
 Scotland, was required for the protection of the reve- 
 nue. Many skirmishes took place between the King's 
 men and the contraband traders ; but the briskest 
 fight now remembered was that of Sir James Bristo, 
 near the Isle of Whithorn, when striving to capture 
 ;i smuggling lugger, that sank, with all hands on 
 hoard, fighting till she was swallowed by the waves. 
 Captain Cook, also, was long the terror of every 
 smuggler who dared to navigate the Irish Channel. 
 These commanders ably acquitted themselves in the 
 active discharge of their duties, and some of them 
 amassed considerable riches ; but none of their names 
 is associated with such a tragical story as that of Sir 
 John Reid, then commanding in the Solway Firth. 
 
 " The practice of depositing cargoes of vessels 
 engaged in the smuggling trade of the Isle of Man, 
 to elude the laws made for the protection of British 
 commerce, rendered it necessary that secret places 
 should be constructed, for securing the goods from 
 the grasp of the revenue-officers. Waldron, whose 
 name I have had occasion frequently to mention in 
 the course of this work, resided on the island fifty 
 years after the commencement of the smuggling trade 
 there. In his. time many of the ample cellars which
 
 INLAND SMUGGLING. 185 
 
 he describes were used for concealing contraband 
 goods. ' The former inhabitants of the island,' he 
 remarks, ' seem to have taken great delight in s\ib- 
 terraneous dwellings ; for there is not an old building 
 in the island which has not, at least, an equal number 
 of rooms below ground as above it.' 
 
 " The Manx smugglers who took up their resi- 
 dence on the coast of Galloway constructed places of 
 a similar description below their houses. The cellars 
 at Balcary remain as a specimen of the ingenuity 
 displayed in the construction of those subterranean 
 apartments. Immense quantities of smuggled goods, 
 however, were occasionally concealed in caves, and 
 among rocks on the shore, so as often to allude the 
 most diligent search of the revenue-officers, unless 
 pointed out by very direct information. 
 
 " The carriers from the coast to the interior were 
 called lingtowmen, from the coil of ropes, or lingtows, 
 Avhich they generally wore like a soldier's shoulder- 
 belt, when not employed in slinging or carrying their 
 goods. The fixed price for canying a box of tea, or 
 a bale of tobacco, from the coast of Galloway to 
 Edinburgh, was fifteen shillings ; and a man with 
 two horses could carry four packages. Two hundred 
 horses have been frequently laden in a night at 
 Balcary, and at the Abbey-burn-foot of Dundrennan.
 
 186 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 " Annan Water-foot was another noted landing- 
 place. Many a large cargo of contraband articles 
 was discharged there during the time our celebrated 
 poet Burns was excise-officer at Dumfries." 
 
 But Government at length took more wise and 
 comprehensive measures for extirpating this annoy- 
 ing traffic, by a system of legislation in reference to 
 the island, which threw it and this country more open 
 to each other ; and thus did the renowned smug- 
 gling trade of the Isle of Man dwindle by degrees, 
 until now it is only a thing of past history. " The 
 harbours of the Isle of Man," says Train, " will 
 henceforth be harbours of refuge, open to every tem- 
 pest-tossed vessel, free of entrance-tolls, which may be 
 hailed as matter for general congratulation, not only 
 by the Manx people but by the shipping proprietors 
 of the United Kingdom." 
 
 We could gladly have now entered upon the re- 
 markable antiquities of the island, military, eccle- 
 siastical, civil, social, and traditionary, departments 
 in which Train especially shines ; but these, and many 
 other valuable parts besides, our limits constrain us to 
 pass over, in consequence of which we conclude witli 
 the following very interesting account of the death 
 und funeral of Thurbt, the celebrated French piratical 
 adventurer already mentioned, and concerning whom
 
 FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THUftbT. 187 
 
 Train's industry has brought many new particulars 
 for the first time to light : 
 
 " ' Thurbt, the French pirate adventurer, whose 
 name had become the terror of Great Britain by his 
 enterprising achievements in the north seas, was 
 raised by the Court of Versailles to the rank of a 
 commodore. In October 1759 he left the harbour 
 of Dunkirk with a squadron of five ships and seven- 
 teen hundred men, to make occasional descents on the 
 Irish coast, for the purpose of distracting the atten- 
 tion of the government, and, by dividing the troops, 
 facilitate the proposed invasion of that kingdom.' 
 
 " He lost two of his vessels at sea, and a number 
 of his men at Carrickfergus, where he came off vic- 
 torious. The success, however, which he had ex- 
 perienced on shore, was not destined to be of long 
 continuance. 
 
 " ' Captain Elliot, who commanded three frigates 
 at Kinsale, hearing of Thurbt's exploit in the north, 
 set sail in quest of him, and, on rounding the Mull 
 of Galloway, on the 28th February, descried his 
 fleet at anchor near the offing at the entrance of the 
 Bay of Luce. He attempted to embay them, which 
 Thurbt observing, weighed anchor with all despatch, 
 and stood out to sea in the direction of the 
 Isle of Man. Elliot gave chase, and a warm action
 
 188 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 ensued, which was maintained with great spirit on 
 both sides, for an hour and a half. The French 
 commander at length struck his colours, and the 
 whole squadron was conveyed into Ramsay Bay by 
 the captors.' 
 
 " Train quotes further from a writer in the Scot* 
 Magazine for February 1760 : ' On receipt of the 
 news of Thurbt being brought into Ramsay Bay 
 on Thursday last, I went there to see the ships. 
 On getting on board the ' Bellisle,' I was struck 
 with astonishment ; turn which way I would no- 
 thing but scattered limbs and dead and dying men 
 met my view. The decks and sides of the ships 
 could only be compared to a slaughter-house, there 
 being nearly two hundred men killed on board the 
 ' Bellisle,' beside what the other two ships lost. The 
 French must have plundered all before them at Car- 
 rickfergus, for I saw one of them stript who had 
 eight womens' shifts on him. They had plenty 
 of children's clothes, shoes, caps, ruffles, buttons, 
 thimbles, and pins, with a store of grey yarn. The 
 English seamen looked upon the French as a parcel 
 of poltroons, by their behaviour.' 
 
 " Thurbt is described in the Scots' Magazine a 
 being about thirty years of age, of a low size, well 
 made, having lively black eyes, and a fresh com-
 
 DEATH OF THUROT. 189 
 
 plexion, and as being of a frank, humane, and affable 
 disposition. The naval engagement in which this 
 adventurer lost his life has often been described by 
 historians. They all agree in stating that he was 
 killed early in the action, and that he was thrown 
 overboard ; but none of them seem to be aware that 
 his corpse was thrown ashore on the lands of Moch- 
 rum, in Galloway, and that he was interred in a small 
 cemetery hard by the margin of the sea. I have con- 
 versed with several persons who, from the heights 
 of Galloway, witnessed the action between Elliot and 
 Thurbt, some of whom conveyed the remains of the 
 unfortunate commodore to his last resting-place. 
 
 " The following particulars were communicated to 
 me by the Rev. James Black, minister of the parish 
 of Penningham in Wigtownshire, who witnessed the 
 engagement, and who followed Thurbt's funeral to 
 the churchyard : 
 
 " < The French ships, as already mentioned, were 
 at anchor near the offing at the entrance of the Bay 
 of Luce, when Elliot's squadron bore round the Mull, 
 and attempted to embay them. But the French 
 commander instantly weighed anchor, and stood out 
 to sea, in the direction of the Isle of Man. Ere he 
 had sailed a league from the Scotch coast, however, 
 he was overtaken by the English squadron, when a
 
 100 M K.MOIU OP JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 brisk fire commenced, which soon obscured both 
 fleets in a dense cloud of smoke. 
 
 " 'Every consecutive tide, for two or three days 
 after the action, cast a number of dead bodies ashore 
 on the coast of Galloway. Among the last thus 
 thrown up by the influx of the sea, was that of the 
 French commander, whose remains were easily dis- 
 tinguished from the others, by the silk-velvet carpet 
 in which they were sewed up. Some historians say 
 he was thrown overboard by mistake ; but, from the 
 circumstance of his having thus been sewed up in his 
 cabin carpet, I think that unlikely. It appeared 
 that he had been attired in his full dress of Commo- 
 dore when the engagement commenced, as his re- 
 mains were clothed with all the insignia of his rank 
 as a naval officer. He was identified most particu- 
 larly by marks on his linen, and by a silver tobacco- 
 box, with his name in full engraved on the lid. 
 
 " ' The remains of this gallant young seaman were 
 removed from the beach to the house of a person in 
 the vicinity, who, acting under the direction of Sir 
 William Maxwell of Monreath, the lord of the manor, 
 invited every respectable person in that quarter to 
 the funeral Sir William himself acted as chief 
 mourner, and laid the head of that distinguished 
 individual in the grave.'
 
 PUBLISHES " THE BUCHANITES," 1846. 191 
 
 " The carpet in which the corpse was sewed, was 
 for a long time kept at Monreith House, and my 
 informant supposes it to be there still. The tobacco- 
 box was presented by Sir William Maxwell to the 
 victorious Elliot, in whose family it is yet an heir- 
 loom. Thurbt's watch, which fell into the hands 
 of one of Sir William's domestics, is now in the pos- 
 session of a person in Castle-Douglas. 
 
 " How these circumstances, so honourable to Sir 
 William Maxwell, and so interesting to historians, as 
 filling up a blank in the history of that period, did 
 not find their way into any of the public journals of 
 the day, and thence get placed on record, is a ques- 
 tion which I am now unable to solve." Vol. II., pp. 
 326-327. 
 
 In 1846 Train published another work, entitled, 
 " The Buchanites, from first to last" This work 
 gives a very interesting account of that peculiar sect, 
 evincing great research on the part of the author. 
 
 In 1848 he published a poem in the Scottish Jour- 
 nal, entitled " The Wild Scot of Galloway ;" and in 
 a letter to a friend, dated Lochvale, July 23d, he 
 says, " Fifty years have elapsed between the publica- 
 tion of the Wild Scot of Galloway and the Ducking 
 of the Dominie, my first attempt at authorship. 
 That little poem was descriptive of a fracas which
 
 ll'l* MEMOLR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 occurred in Kyle, when a local schoolmaster, in 1798, 
 was enrolling the names of the young men liable to 
 be balloted to serve in the Ayrshire militia. 
 
 " Great opposition was offered to the Dominie by 
 the females of the district, and more especially by the 
 miller's wife and her daughters, who proceeded so 
 far as to duck the schoolmaster and his official papers 
 in the mill-dam, and thereafter pelt him'Xvith stones 
 as he strove to escape. This was the humorous 
 groundwork of my poem, which was calculated more 
 to excite mirth than provoke ridicule." 
 
 The later years of Train's life were spent quietly 
 and happily, enjoying the occasional company of some 
 early friend, and relating his adventures among the 
 wild hills, which were as interesting as they were 
 numerous. 
 
 But unfortunately there was no Boswellian friend 
 to note and record them for the benefit of posterity. 
 
 Lochvale cottage was the resort of all savans of the 
 West of Scotland, when nothing would delight the 
 old man more than to go over his relics, and relate 
 every circumstance connected with them, and what 
 labour and anxiety he had endured in the search for 
 them. 
 
 But his hour had come ; the 7th of December 
 1852, numbered Joseph Train with the dead. At
 
 DEATH OK TKAIJT, 1852. 193 
 
 peace with all men, and in the hope of future hap- 
 piness, the antiquary fell asleep. We cannot close 
 our memoir of Joseph Train without a few remarks 
 on his character. 
 
 We find him beginning life as a weaver, poor and 
 uneducated, yet possessed with an innate desire of 
 bettering his condition. Yet still with a mind un- 
 ruffled, he pressed onward amid the many stumbling- 
 blocks which are cast in the way of the poor. He 
 was beset with enemies, who failed not on every 
 opportunity to probe every little wound and augment 
 every trivial distress to more than its original weight. 
 
 There were many who thought to crush the poor 
 lad, because he possessed not what the world calls 
 nobility ; but he was not to be crushed. 
 
 We find him in a higher position after the lapse 
 of years the friend of the greatest man of the age 
 yet still the humble and unpretending man. 
 
 In Joseph Train's character we can trace great 
 prudence. He was aware that he was endowed with 
 a genius as great as his tastes, and, like the celebrated 
 Delta, he resolved to make literary pursuits his 
 amusement, not his business. An inconsiderate and 
 imprudent man, encouraged as Train was, would 
 have thrown aside everything for the pursuit of 
 literature ; but our antiquary knew his weight. 
 
 N
 
 1U4 MEMOIR OF JOSEPH TRAIN. 
 
 We have traced him from his earliest days not as 
 a great man, but as a worthy man, enduring many 
 privations, yet still with unruffled mind defying it to 
 deprive him of happiness. 
 
 To those who knew him, and to those who respect 
 humble worth, we dedicate this memorial of the Gal- 
 loway antiquary. 
 
 : T. COHTABUt. P1STBR TO IlgR JJAJFSTT
 
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