Ayrsh Re - Forgotten Books

A YR S H R E

Its H istory and H istoric Fam ilies

WILLIA M ROBERTSON

VOLU M E I

K ILMA RNOCK

DU NLOP DR E NNA N,

“ STA NDA RD OF F ICE

A va

ST E PH EN Pornocx

190 8

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I

INTRODU CTION

EARLY AYRSHIRE

IN TH E DAYS OF THE MONASTERIES

THE NORSE V IK ING S AND THE BATTLE OFLAR G S

SIR WILLIA M WALLACE

ROBERT THE B RU CE

CENTU RIES ON THE ANV IL

THE A YRSHIRE VENDETTA

THE AYRSHIRE VENDETTA

THE F I RST REFOR M ATION

F RO M F IRST REFOR M ATION To RESTORATION

F RO M RESTORATION To HIG HLAND HOSTF RO M HIG HLAND HOST To REVOLU TION

SOCIA I MARCH OF THE SHIRE—THREEHU NDRED YEA RS A G O

SOCIAL MARCH OF THE SHIRE—A CENTU RYB ACK

X V . SOC IAL MARCH OF THE SHIRE—THECO M ING OF THE LOCO M OTIVE ENG INE

X V I . THE SECESSION IN THE COU NTY

INTRODU CT ION

A work that purports to be hi storical may well be left tos peak for i tself. That the story of the county of A yr is worthtelling there is no occasion to demonstrate i t is becau se i t isworth telling—and well worth telling—that this book has beenwri t ten .

The au thor an ticipa tes , wi th the confidence that som e

experi ence has given h im , that the History of Ayrshire will beread by many leal sons and daughters of the ancien t shire.

not only wi thin the bounds. bu t in other parts of the Un i tedK ingdom . and beyond the seas . H is hOpe is that i t may havesom e effect in stimu lating their pride of birth . and in the m en

and wom en who have made Ayrshire what she is—a worthym other of her chi ldren .

The story is one of ups and downs , of figh tings for freedomand fai th. of local and feudal jarrings and turmoils. of steadypersevering throu gh i t all on the pathway of progress. Muchbroken and chequ ered . i t is nevertheless a consisten t whole.

The second volum e is given to the history of the leadingfam ilies of the shire . In i ts preparation the au thor has receivedm uch valuable assistance from m embers of those hi storic hou sesand he takes this opportuni ty of gratefu lly acknowledging theirkindness. H e has avoided endless genealogies. hi s object havingbeen to show the part the fam i lies them selves played in the

making of the coun ty. in Scot tish national li fe . in the work of

t he Uni ted Kingdom . A nd in thi s part of the book the readerw ill find a mu lti tude of inciden ts and episodes that cast many ani nstructiv e light upon the general procession of e ! en ts.

The History is de dicated to the County herself, wi th all the

loyalty that is due to her , by one of her many sons.

H IST O R Y O F A YR S H IR E

CH A PT E R I

E A R LY AY R S H I R E

There was a time—there must of necessity have beena time—when Ayrshire , in common with the rest ofScotland , was a No Man

’s Land . For untold ages thecreative forces of Nature . fire and flood ,

ice and the

convulsive heavings of Mother Earth , had been preparinga habitation for the use of man . Giant icebergs hadSlowly crept down from the north. and , when they haddone their share of the work , had as Slowly receded to therealms of the Arctic . Earthquakes and volcanoes hadwrought in Titanic compact . and when their age-longgroaning and travailing together had subsided andgiven place to the calm that comes from rest , andhad ceased from their labour , the waters , widespreadingand devastating

,had concentrated themselves into lochs

and rivers and the solitudes of the marshy lands . The

streams had pat iently furrowed out their own channelsthat they might reach the sea , the source and fountainof their being . Cold and bleak and bare the hills stoodin their places . giant remains of the heaving and the

convulsions that had given them birth . Rank andrugged , the forests had spread themselves abroad overthe country , the homes and haunts of a fauna that wereafter the old-world type . With the slow lapsing of thecenturies , with the betterment begotten of less tryingweather conditions

, with the aid of the suns and the

4 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

showers , the mists and the frosts, the land graduallyformed itself into a fitt ing habitation for man . Andwhen the fulness of his time had come

,man appeared

on the scene .

When Ayrshire was first peopled none can say . Thereis room for surmising that the original inhabitants ,j udged by the scant relics of their presence that the soilhas grudgingly yielded, were a small race of people bu t

there is absolutely nothing to Show whence they cameand whither they went , or to lead to the conclusion thatthey ever attained to any considerable degree ofCivilisation . There may be a certain latent satisfactionexperienced by the man whose home is by the waters ofthe Nile , or who dwells where once the Euphratesflowed an orderly and well-regulated flood through theplains of Mesopotamia, when he reflects that manycenturies ago the people who dwelt in the walled cities,and whose armies marched far and near to conquest , toannexation, to sovereignty, were a great and a mightyrace . But such a contemplative reflection must needs beclouded when he contrasts the high estate of the formerdays with the comparatively low estate of the present .So far as Scotland is concerned there need be no lookingback with regret . The march of civil isation , of wealth ,of progress has been steadily onward and forward.

The years may have known reaction and retrogression ,but not the centuries . It is inevitable that in a countrysuch as Scotland that has had consistently andsystematically to win its way towards the future bystruggle

,by war of tribe with tribe , of people with

people,of race with race, there should have been

occasions when the baneful past was temporarily,able

to reassert itself ; but if one could from some highvantage ground look backwards and see the evolvingcenturies

,each playing its appointed part, there can be

little doubt,if any at all , that he would recognise the

systematic and well-ordered character of the forwardmovement . Even as it is, through Celtic rivalries , andRoman invasion

,and reassertion of the Celtic supremacy,

EARLY AYRSH IRE

and the embittered struggling that preceded the

consolidation of the kingdom under one common head ,

and the long wars with E ngland, and the striving forrights of unfettered faith and free conscience , down tothe present time , it is possible to recognise the steadi nessand the inevitableness of the development. We havetherefore nothing whatever to regret in leaving the pastbehind us. For in no material respect whatever werethe former days better than these.

There does not seem to be any reasonable occasionfor doubting that at the Opening of the Chri stian eraAyrshire was inhabited by a Celtic race. There ismystery indeed ,

and room for considerable diversi ty ofopinion as to whether the inhabitants were Picts, orCaledonians, or Bri tons , and as to when the Scots firstappeared upon the scene. There is no such consi stencyin the nomenclature of the tribes of the period as towarran t any hard and fast conclusion on the matter.Strictly speaking, Ayrshire was not within the definitelyPictish area, which extended southward no further thanthe Firth of Clyde, but it was near enough to the

borderland to have been leavened by the Pictishinfluence, and to have received many settlers frombeyond the frontier.But , however that may have been , it is probably

suflicient for any practical purpose to know that theDam nii , who were in occupation of the county when theRomans first visited North Bri tain in the second century,were a purely Celtic people. The place names of theshire afford indi sputable evidence that they were. Evenat that early period the Celt was strongly wrought uponby the natural features of the country. The riversappealed powerfully to him , so too did the hills and thedales and the forests. He did not call his earlysettlements, save in very exceptional instances , after themen who founded them , or even after the chiefs of thetribes who were the pioneers of these far off years , butafter their natural environment. He came to the riverthat has given its own nam e to the county, and , findi ng


its stream pellucid and Clear , he called it the Ayr .

He journeyed or coasted northwards to where he foundanother river mingling its waters with those of the Clydeestuary its banks were green , and he designated it theIr-vin . A little southward from Ayr he looked uponthe peat-stained stream that carries to the sea thetribute of the Clouds that break upon the hills and themuirlands above Dalmellington and he named it theDun .

”southward still he tIXavelled , and. following

the rocky course of another river,he bade It bear for

all time to come the name G err-avon ,

” or the roughriver .So also with many of the parishes . Thus Dundonald

owes its derivation to Dun ,

”a hill , and Donald .

the name of a man Craigie to Craig , a rock ;Mauchline to Magh

,a plain , and lyn , a pool ;

Dalgain ,the original name of the parish of Sorn to

Dal .” a plain , and

“ Gain,sandy ; Cumnock to

Cum , a hollow,and Knock , a hill Auchinleck to

A ch -an-leac,” the field of the flat stone Ochiltree to

U chil-tre,

” the high tower , or dwelling place ;Dalmellington to Dal-mulin . the mill-meadow , withthe Saxon ton added at a later date Barr to Bar ,a summit , or a height ; Ballantrae to Bail-an-trae ,the hou se on the shore and Ardrossan to Ard ,

” high ,

and Rossau,a little promontory . And ,

if we carrythe inquiry further afield we find Celtic derivationseverywhere . One example of a group , taken from“The Statistical Account of Scotland must

sufii ce ze

Most of the names of places in this parish (Sorn)are Gaelic . Some of them I shall here mention , withthe explanation which I have received from a friendin the Highlands : ‘ Glen-shamrock ,

’ Clover-vale ;‘ Dal-charnach ,

’

the field of cairns ; Daldorch ,

” oakfield ; Dal-diling ,

’ a field liable to be overflowed ;‘ Car-leith

,

’ a winding torrent ;‘

A uch in -cloich ,

’ stonefield ;

‘

B arbaich ,

’ comely grove ; B lairkip,

’

the fieldof archers A uchm annoch ,

’ hill field .

”

EARLY AYRSHIRE

There comes a time in Ayrshire history when theannal s are largely those of the Church so far as theseearly Caledonians are concerned , they are mainly thoseof the battlefield. For the Celts were ever a warlikerace. Ptolemy (A .D . 1 20) tells how insubordinate theywere , and how they troubled the peace of the southland ,and how it became necessary for the Emperor Severusto come to Britain and attempt their subjugation. Theycould not brook the very proximity of the power ofRome, and when Severu s did come , and his legions withhim, the task to which he set himself was wholly beyondhis power. According to Ptolemy they were little betterthan squalid savages , without cities , ignorant ofagri cul ture , possessing their wives in common , andtattooing their bodies wi th pictures of all kinds , ofwhich crude ornamentation they were so vain that

,on

the authori ty of Herodian , they wore no clothing.

”

Tacitus , on the other hand , writing about half a centuryearlier, descri bes the Caledonians as a noble race ofbarbarians , who fought in chariots as well as on foot ,with long swords and short shields , and whose fair redhair and large limbs argued , in his Opinion , a Teutonicori gin . Between the two truth will probably lie. Theywere essentially men of battle , they were organised intri bes and as a common people for purposes of defence

,

they had a regular system of government , they paidgreat regard to their dead , and , according to their lights,they were an essential ly religious people.

As yet they were strangers to the leavening influencesof Christianity . No early m issionaries of the Cross hadyet visited these shores. The reign of the Druids , in thespiritual sense , was in full swing. It was they

,we have

it on the authori ty of Csesar , who attended to divineworship , who performed public and private sacrifices ,and who expounded matters of faith . They were theinstructors of youth , they dispensed justice , they fixedrewards and punishments. Unfortunately , they did notcommi t their lore to writing ; but , beyond all things ,they are desirous to inspire a belief that men’s souls do


not perish, but transmigrate after death from oneindiv idual to another, and they hold that thereby peopleare most strongly urged to bravery , as the fear of deathis thus destroyed .

” Besides , they discussed the natureof thi ngs and the power and might of the immortal godsthey were adepts in the magic arts, and were versed inthe mysterious powers of animals and plants . The oakwas sacred to them ; so was the mistletoe that grewupon the oak . Sun worshippers

,performing their

mystical rites in the seclusion and shadow of the groves,

offering up human sacrifice to the God of Day,holding

the keys of the eternal world in one hand,and the

terrors of their religion in its direct application on earthin the other , the Druids wielded an enormous influence .

That Druidism flourished in Ayrshire in its day cannotwell be cal led in question , but absolutely dependableremains of the Druids there are none .

In the account of Tarbolton parish furnished ( 1842)to the New Statistical Account of Scotland

,

” by theRev. David Ritchie, A .M . , the rev. gentleman notesthat Bol , or Bel , was the name of the god of the Druids ,and he finds it in the second syllable of the name of theparish

,and describes certain superstitious rites which

were annually performed on the“ tor

,

” or hill,which

forms the opening syllable of the word . On theevening preceding the Tarbolton June fair he says

,

“ a piece of fuel is demanded at each house , and isinvariably given

,even by the poorest inhabitant . The

fuel so collected is carried to a particular part of the hill ,where there is an altar , or circular fireplace of turf,about three feet in height , and is placed upon the altar .

A huge bonfire is kindled, and many of the inhabitants ,men and women , old and young , assemble on the hilland remain for hours , apparently chiefly occupied withobserving a feat performed by the youths, who are tobe seen leaping with indefatigable zeal upon the altar orturfwall inclosing the ashes of former fires and supportingthe present one . It appears ,

”he adds ,

“ from sacredScripture that the worship of Baal consisted in part of

EARLY AYRSHIRE 9

leaping upon his altar Whether T arbolton was reallythe site of a Druid al tar, whether it is the town or hillwhere Baal was worshipped,” is perhaps a matter forinteresting conjecture. but the incident of the name .

even when backed by the immemori al custom followedby the youths of leaping upon the altar as the pri estsdid of old in their contest with Elijah , can hardly beaccepted as irrefragable proof that in Scotland’s earlvCeltic days Tarbolton was a seat and centre of Druidism .

A century back every standing stone was lookedupon as a Dru idi cal remain. but neither is the evidenceregarding these sufficiently tangible to warrant theirunimpeachable association with the priesthood thatobtained general ly throughout Scotland before it wasforced to give place to the fitter faith of Christianity.

It is suflicient for historical purposes to know that theDru ids had their day here , as elsewhere , and that theywere the interpreters to our Celtic progenitors of a religionthat , with all its superstitions , and its mysterious andcruel rites , had nevertheless about it an ethical moralvalue that helped to make the fathers live virtuously .

bravely, and patriotically , that enabled them to givetheir lives for home and country, and that bade themlook forward to the rewards of the world to come .

Upon this Celticism , slowly and rudely developingupon its own lines , came the high civilisation of Rome .

It is worth bearing prominently in mind that the Romanoccupation was in real ity an occupation and not in thefull and expansive sense in which we use the wordtod ay, an immigration. They may have come withthe u ltimate intention of staying, and of colonising thecountry , but they did neither. It was not until thefirst century was nearing its close that they obtainedanything like a permanent or an abiding footing inScotland ; and such scant remains of their presence as

Ayrshire can Show to-day seem to indi cate that , so faras the county was concerned , they came as soldiers .lived as soldi ers , and departed as soldiers. The Celtsremai ned the people . Theirs was the social life of the

I O HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

district , theirs was the language that continued to bespoken , theirs were the customs that were handed onunimpaired to their descendants who were to t e-establishtheir sway when the crying necessities of Rome itselfhad recalled the hardy leg

‘

ions to the banks of theTiber . No doubt they profited greatly in many respectsas the result of the Roman sojourn . The Romans cou ldnot do otherwise than impress themselves upon the lifeof the countryside . They were rulers , with a uniquelycomplete code of laws and a well-ordered system ofgovernment . They were builders and road makers ofhigh repute. They were educated and cultured beyondanything that the Celts had to show . If they ruledwith an high hand, they nevertheless ruled on consistentprinciples ; and if they dealt in drastic fashi on withthe warring hordes by whom they were surrounded

,

they inspired none the less a respect— the respect thatis never denied to force— that must needs have had i tsown influence in shaping the destinies of the people forwhose government they held themselves responsible .

But , as we have said, there is no reason to believethat they impressed themselves in any great degreeu pon the shire of Ayr. With one or two exceptionsevery remain of their presence within the bounds savoursof the camp . According to the Statistical Account

,the

foundation walls of Roman villas were unearthed lastcentury on the shore of Largs ; and close by Newfield ,

in the parish of Dundonald, a Roman bath was broughtto light in a place flooded with water except duringa very dry season ;

” A Roman watergate was unearthedin the Sandgate of Ayr early last century

,and some

forty years later another watergate , probably part ofthe same general , original system , was brought to thelight of day in Newmarket Street when an old housewas being demolished to make room for a new one .

The latter, which the writer remembers seeing when a

boy,and into which , stooping, he was able to walk , was

about four feet in height by about two and a half inbreadth

,arched

, and exceedingly well built. It is

EARLY AYRSHIRE 1 1

conceivable that , instead of being a Roman watergate ,i t might have been an underground passage leadingfrom the castle of Ayr, that stood in the thirteenthcentury overlooking the river, to the open countrybeyond the burgh port , but the style of the building wasnot after the Scottish method, the walls were smoothand wholly free from proj ections, and the completeness ,the neatness , and the excellence of the work appearedrather to indicate that it was a relic of the days whenthe Romans were in camp or in residence in the littlesettlement beside the waters of the clear-flowing river.At Parkmoor , in Tarbolton parish , there were theremains of a camp

,and in Galston parish the minister,

the Rev . Robert Stirling , writing in the summer of 1837 ,

was able to fu rnish the following interesting account ofan encampment in the vicinity of Lou doun Hill

It is evidently a Roman camp , chosen and fortifiedwith all the military science for which that celebratedpeople were distinguished . Its ramparts, thbugh muchreduced by time and the depredations of thehusbandman

,may be distinctly traced throughout its

whole extent,and the Praetorian and Decaman gates

are in a state of tolerable preservation . The originalcamp to which these remarks apply is 180 yards longand 1 14 broad ; but there is another enclosure upon al ower level towards the south

,which seems to have been

added upon a subsequent occasion , to accommodate alarger force

,or perhaps originally designed for the

quarters of the allies . The addition lengthens out theparallelogram to 258 yards . It does not appear thatthere have been any gates at the extremities of thePrincipia

,and indeed it is not to be expected from the

nature of the ground, which on the right and left slopesdownwards for twenty or thirty yards with the declivityof a rampart . Upon one of those Slopes there was foundin the year 183 1 a silver coin in good preservation ,having this inscription Caesar A vgu stus , di vi F .

Pater Patriae The facts and observations taken inc onnection with the existence of a Roman military

2

1 2 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

way,which may still be traced on the opposite bank of

the Irvine, furnish incontestable evidence that the

parish of Galston has received at least one visit from the

masters of the world. In connection withthese Roman remains may be mentioned anothermilitary station on the Gal ston bank of the Avenabout two miles further to the south . It is nearlysurrounded by the river, and fortified , where it is notso , by a rampart and ditch. It may not improbablybe conj ectured to have contained a detachment of thearmy stationed on Allanton Bog (the scene of thelarger encampment) .At various other points of the shire individual relics

have been unearthed—a bronze tripod and a pitcher ofearthenware in Dalrymple , bronz e vessels in Loudoun ,and similar remains in Maybole—sufli cient , with the

traces of building and of fortification , to demonstratethe presence of the Romans during the period of theiroccupation of Scotland . When the Rev. Al exanderCuthill , one of the parish ministers of Ayr , was writinghis contribution to the New Statistical Account in 1837 ,

he was able to say that there are manifest indicationsthat the whole of the lower part along the sea coast

,

from river to river, had been the scene of some greatstruggle in which the Romans and the natives of theisland were combatants, and that probably in morethan one confli ct. Throughout ' the whole of this spaceRoman and British places of sepulchre are found , withRoman armour, swords, lances , daggers, and pieces ofmail , and braz en camp vessels , intermixed with Britishurns of rude baked clay, hatchet and arrow heads , andother implements of warfare used by the Caledonians .

According to Spottiswoode, in the year 360 Maximus ,a Roman Prefect , excited the Picts to enter into al liancewith him against the Scots , and the Romans and Pictsencountered the Scots at the Water of Doon in Carrick.

Whether the Scots had arrived in Ayrshire at thatperiod in sufficient numbers to have been able to facea Roman-Pictish combination in the open field may

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signal triumph over the Picts and slew the brother oftheir King and they matched themselves not unequal lyagainst the Cruithne , or Picts . of Ireland , defeatingthem

, according to the Ulster Annals , at Mauchline .

Their misfortunes included defeat in the sixth centuryat the hands of the celebrated King Arthur ; in theeighth century E adbert the Northumbrian , marchingthrough Nithsdal e

,took possession of Cunningham and

of Kyle ; five years afterwards, in 755 , the Picts andSaxons combined, captured and sacked A lcluyd . Aftersuch fashion rolled the stormy tide of their life . Highlyendowed with the gift of never knowing when they werebeaten , they pursued their warlike way, King succeedingKing

,until 843 ,

when the Picts and Scots became onepeople under Kenneth II .So far as history goes , Ayrshire , while by no means

escaping the ravages of the conflict , does not seem tohave been cal led upon to bear the brunt of thecampaigning. But it was not invariably so . In 836Alpin , the King of Cantyre , cast envious eyes upon thebroad plains of Ayrshire , and longed to call them hisown . The story is not by any means fully told

,as to its

details , but it is quite sufficiently authenticated that hecrossed the firth with a powerfu l army , landed somewherein the vicinity of Ayr, and struck the road leading intoGalloway. Along this highway he marched

,spreadi ng

consternation all around. H is coming had beenunexpected, the A lcluydensians were not ready toreceive him , and he succeeded in reaching the countryhard by Dalmellington , a locality of great naturaladvantages for war, before the warriors of the homelandhad gathered in sufficient mimbers to give him battle .

Who it was that led the A lcluydensian host none nowcan tell ; some Chieftain of high degree with militaryskill sufficient to avail himself of the opportunitiesafforded by the local ity for purposes of defence as well asof attack ; his name , nevertheless , if not h is memory,has perished. Many a less important conflict has beensung ; this one was fought , so far as the Chronicler of

EARLY AYRSHIRE 1 5

mighty deeds is concerned, in silence . It was a fiercecombat that took place . A lpin led his men in personand went into the battle with them , and after a sustainedand fateful struggle , the Scots broke and fled

,leaving

their gallant leader dead upon the field. And to thisday , in Dalmellington parish , remains Laight Alpin ,the traditional scene of the Scots King’s last fight.One would like , if at all possible, to treat the memory

of Coilus, or Coil , or Coll , with considerable respect , iffor no other reason than that it is said to have beenfrom him that the Kyle district of Ayrshire received itsname. There were so many chiefs and Kings in thesefar-off days that there is nothing at al l improbable aboutthe personality of this worthy. Buchanan accepts himwithout any questioning as King of the Britons ; so ,too , does Bellenden and if we are to dismiss him intothe place of the shades merely because there has beena conflict of opinion as to his personality, then it is tobe feared we shal l also have to regard as mythical a

great deal of h itherto accepted ancient history. Thestory of the conflict in which he lost his life is veryshortly told by Hector Boece Kyle is nam it fraeCoyll , Kyng of the Britons , quhilk was slain in the samereg ion . Neither is Buchanan’s account of the battleerring on the side of length ' The Scots and Pictssu rprised the camp of the Britons in the night, and putalmost the whole of them to the sword. Coilus, K ing ofthe Britons , was among the slain in this engagement ,and the district in which the battle was fought wasafterwards distinguished by his name.” There has beena dispute among the early h istorians as to the exactplace where the battle was fought. According to oneset of authorities , the scene of the conflict was in Carrick ,near the Doon according to others , the openingengagement was fought by the Doon , but Coil and hisarmy retreated northwards and were overtaken and

slain at a moor—thenceforward known as Coyls-held .

What lends some importance to this latter explanationis an examination that was made into the reputed grave


of the British King in 1837 . The account of it , fromthe pen of the minister of the parish of Tarbolton , is sointeresting that we reproduce it at length

To the south of Coilsfield House , and immediatelywest of the farm offices , is a Circular mound enclosed bya hedge

,and planted with oak and other trees . On the

centre and highest part of the mound are two largestones

,masses of basalt , which , according to tradition ,

mark the spot where the mortal remains of King Coilwere deposited. The names borne by places in thevicinity are in keeping with this tradition . The beautifulmansion abjoining,

one of the seats of the Earl ofEglinton

, is named Coilsfield— i .e the field of Coil . Kyle ,

the name of the central district of Ayrshire , is supposedto be the same word

,Coil

,spelt in accordance with the

vulgar pronunciation of the name . A little brook thatempties itself into the Fail

,is called The Bloody Burn ,

’

and so testifies of the name by which its waters had , onsome memorable occasion

,been polluted ; and a flat ,

alluvial piece of ground al ong the Fail , opposite themouth of the Bloody Burn , is still called The Deadmen

’

s

Holm ,

’ probably from its having been the burial placeof the soldiers . The two large stones wereremoved . The centre of the mound was found to beoccupied by boulder stones

,some of them of considerable

siz e . When the excavators had reached the depth ofabout four feet , they came on a flagstone of a Circularform about three feet in diameter. Under the Circularstone was , first , a quantity of dry , yellow coloured sandyclay , then a small flagstone laid horizontally coveringthe mouth of an urn filled with white coloured burntbones. In removing the dry d ay by which this urn wassurrounded , under flat stones, several small heaps ofbones were observed , not contained in urns , but careful lysurrounded by the yellow coloured clay mentionedabove . The urns in shape resemble flower pots theyare composed of clay and have been hardened by fire .

The principal urn is fl inches in height , 7% inches indiameter. and fiths of an inch in thickness . I t has none

EARLY AYRSH IRE

of those markings supposed to have been made by thethumb nai l , so often to be observed on sepulchral urns ,and it has nothing of ornament except an edging orprojecting part about hal f an inch from the top. Nocoins. or armour , or implements of any description couldbe found. Other urns were found less indurated, and sofrail as to fall to pieces when touched .

”

A place of buri al , beyond any doubt , but whether ofKing Coilus or of some other hero warri or who hadfallen in some forgotten combat , it wou ld be rash tooabsolutely to attempt to declare. Many such mounds

,

many of these primitive burying places , have first andlast been uncovered in Ayrshire . It is to be feared thatthe contents of not a few of them , returned to thesunlight in days when as yet archaeology had not asserteditself, and when quarries were made out of ancientcastles and walls of ruined monasteries , were r udelyscattered to the winds of heaven , and that the literalploughshare of ruin was driven across the graves wherethe dust of the warriors was resting. It is seldom wellto disturb the dead the antiquarian is conscious of acertain measure of iconoclasm when he explores theirtombs—what then shall be said for the thoughtlessnessof those who destroyed the cairns , or unearthed thefuneral urns merely as the curiosities of a day , andthought no more of them But for all the iconoclasm ,

a sufficient number of remains have been carefullydisinterred to tell that even at a very early part of theCeltic period Ayrshire was inhabited throughout itslength and breadth , and that , in these centuries ofwarring and of struggle for the good land , many a manmust needs have gone down in the hand to hand fray.

In the cairn made famous by Burns at Allowaywhere hunters found the murdered bairn , there wereurns found

,and bones ; the cairn itself was desecrated

and despoiled early last century, and the probability isthat it would long ere this have been forgotten had notTam o’ Shanter ridden by it that awesome night of thewitches ’ dance in Al loway

’

s auld haunted kirk . A


few years prior to 1837 , at a place called The Moat inOchiltree parish , an urn was found with calcinedbones .

” The parish of West Kilbride has yieldedseveral tumuli , with urns in them containing calcinedhuman bones and ashes . The urns were of coarse redclay, of very rude manufacture , well proportionednevertheless and modelled in the vase form . Stevenstonparish has been unusually rich in these unknown graves ,with their grey and black pottery. Kilbirnie had aninteresting tumulus , circular in form , six feet in height ,and an hundred feet in di ameter, that was explored in1836 , containing

“ nothing but bones very muchdecayed ,

” and many of which , on being handled andexposed to the air , crumbled into dust . In 1826 theweavers of A yr , during a period of depression in trade ,

were employed in “ levelling the sandy knowes ofWallacetown , and they turned up a good many urnsand ancient similar relics . ” Stair and Stewarton havein their time also contributed their quota

,and other

parishes have done likewise . The story that all thesetumuli , all these mounds , have to tell is a very interestingone . They are in their own way the records of a periodwhen Ayrshire was on the anvil . They are the proofthat the fathers treated their dead with the highestrespect , that they valued worth then as much as we donow. And in all probability there were laid to restbeneath the cairns many a man whose name was onevery lip , whose deeds were sung by the bards , and of

whom the people had many things to say when , probablywith axe in hand and with his face to the foe , he wenthome to his reward .

So far as Ayrshire is concerned there is no reasonwhy we should deal in any detail whatever with the

period of the Scots or Scoti , who came by way ofArgyllshire from Ireland. The first Prince of the BritishScots mentioned in the annal s of authentic history wasFergus , son of E rc , who crossed over in 495 or 498. Nodoubt before his day wandering bands of Scots hadreached Ayrshire frcm the Opposite coast of Argyll ;

EARLY AYRSHIRE 19

but with his arrival from Ireland on the western seaboardthe movement of which he was the head assumed adefinite footing. He is said to have been converted toChristianity ere yet he left his native country , by St .Patrick and some colour is given to this story by thefact that his great grandson , Conal , was the paramounthead of the British Scots, when St . Columba migratedto the Hebrides , and that it was he who gave thatfamous missionary Iona for a home and for a sanctuary .

As the years went on the Scots extended their power .They crossed the English border and fought with theNorthumbrians they struggled bravely with the morepowerful monarchy of the Picts and with the Britons ofCambria ; for a time they appear to have been in

subj ection to the Northumbrians in the ninth centurythey acquired a predominance in Northern Britainand Kenneth Macalpine , the lineal descendant of Fergus ,in 843 claimed the Pictish Kingdom as the true heir inthe female line

, and was acknowledged King of the Picts ,as well as of the Scots , that same year. With the unionthus consummated the two races coalesced ; under asuccession of Sovereigns

,unity and comparative

tranquil ity were secured under Constantine (904the royal residence was fixed at Scone , the position and

the rights of the Christian Church were placed on arecognised legal basis , and an unsuccessful campaignwas waged in England . Later still , Lothian andStrathclyde were added to the Scottish dominions , andthen the acquisition of Merse and Teviotdale advancedthe Kingdom on the eastern border to the Tweed. WhenMalcolm 11 . died in 1 033 ,

he was succeeded by Duncan .

Then came Macbeth , a usurper indeed , but a strong , avigorous , and a prudent ruler , who gave large gifts tothe poor, and made a pilgrimage to Rome ; and afterhim Malcolm Canmore .

In all the trials , as in all the developments , that werethe accompaniments of that period, Ayrshire shared.

When the A lcluydensian Kingdom went to war with itsneighbours , the shire went with it . The result of warrings


from without and of dissentions within,a large body of

the A lcluydensians migrated to Wales , aided the Welshin a successful campaign against the Saxons , andobtained a tract of country as a reward . Towards theend of the ninth century the Norse Vikings began tofind their way round to the estuary of the Clyde , and nodoubt they made many a descent on Ayrshire . Its castlesand other strengths not seldom afforded the peopleshelter from these freebooters of the north seas . HardyNorsemen , equally at home by land and by sea , it wastheir business in life to fight , to kill, to plunder. Thevery sight of their war galleys off the coast was sufficientto strike terror into the countryside ; for they wereremorseless Slayers of men and spoilers of substance andof cattle . Amid it all the nation went steadi ly forward.

It was gradually , and as by fire,amalgamating into

one hardy race— Scot , and Pict , and Briton , withnot infrequent Saxon incomers from the south , andScandinavians , who , having entered into possession oflands and heritages

,discarded the life of the rover and

settled in occupation upon shore . The constituents wereunimpeachable . There was hardness throughout . Thetimes were trying and testing almost beyond conception ,

but it is thus that nations are made . On earthPeace has never been the motto of the Empire builders .

A lbanach ! A lbanach was the slogan of the Scots ,and they cried it to ul timate victory .

The chroniclers were so busy telling their tales ofbattles and of bloodshed that they had little time orinclination to supply any reliable data by which togauge the advance of the people in material prosperity .

We know that the chiefs met in council on the moath ills ,

at Girvan,at Dalmellington , and elsewhere , and

dispensed justice . When the Romans invaded the

country agriculture was practically unknown . Caesardistinctly avers that the people subsisted on the spoilsof the chase

,and that there was no such thing as tillage .

It is improbable that the Romans permitted such astate of matters to endure , but it is not until after the


Celtic—a great deal of the life of : the inhabitants ofAyrshire was necessarily spent in the fens and thus itcame about , in all probability, that the crannog builderbegan his work of raising his dwellings in the waters andout of the waters . At what particul ar period he wasfirst in evidence it is impossible to say. That he was aCelt does not admit of doubt , and it appears to be aninevitable inference , from the fact that there is goodreason for concluding that there were crannogs inIreland long before there were any in Scotland

,that it

was the Scots who brought the lake dwelling craft withthem . The crannog period is generally assigned to thesixth and on to the tenth centuries and the discoveryof the remains of those interesting dwellings at Lochlea ,

in Tarbolton parish , at Lochspou ts , in the parish ofMaybole

,and at Kilbirnie loch has opened up a wide

field for speculation . There was a science , and nomean science either, in building a crannog . It was noeasy task

,with the rude tools and implements that the

fathers had at their disposal . They had to sink theirfoundations deep and solid in the ooze and mud at thebottom of the lochs ; they had to knit together theuprights that were bolted to the foundations and theyhad to erect their structures with careful regard to the

life of the tribe or community that were to make theirhomes in them , and to the di sintegrating influences thatwere always at work for their destruction . There arefew directions in which the native Celtic ingenuityshines out more conspicuously than in this .It is important to notice that the treasures revealed

in the careful searches that have been made in thecrannog middens indi cate that the builders wereskilled in the use equally of stone

,of bone

,of horn , of

wood , and of iron . At Lochlea the discoveries includedstone hamm er-stones ; an anvil , j ust such aninstrument ,

” says Dr . Munro in his Ancient Scott ishLake Dwellings ,

”as a shoemaker of the present day

would gladly pick up for hammering leatherwhetstones a polished celt , bearing evidence of having

EARLY AYRSHIRE 23

been well used a flint horse Shoe-shaped scrapera large knifeflake of whitish flint and spindle whorls.Besides these were found querns , the rude handmillsused for the grinding of the here and the barley , and

sling-stones . The bone instruments included two

Chisels,or spatulas, and various small implements used

for purposes difficult to determine , one of them at leastartificial ly sharpened , others smoothed along the edgesas if for cutting. Deers ’ horns had similarly been turnedto practical account . Among the debris were twohammers or clubs formed from the lower portions of theantlers of stags by cutting or sawing ofl their branches ,portions sharpened at the point like daggers , what weresupposed to be spear heads

,a hook

,a bodkin

,and Clubs .

Among a large assortment of wooden implements werebowls

,plates , ladles, a mal let , a hoe , clubs , and pins ,

together with objects which to all appearance had beenused for culinary or for agricultural purposes . The metalobjects embraced a gauge , a chisel , two knives , a smallpunch

, a large nail , an awl , two Spear heads, five daggers ,a large ring , a saw , an iron Shears , a three-prongedinstrument

,a pickaxe

,and vari ous bronze articles ,

including a bri dle-bit . In addition to these were obj ectsof leather, beads , a small ri ng, pottery said to have beenof Samian ware , a crucible , portions of armlets made oflignite or j et , lumps of what were taken to be blue andred pigments , large quantities of the horny coveri ngsof insects like beetles , and a Shell . The fauna embracedthe bones of the 0x , the pig, the sheep, the red deer, theroe deer

,the horse , and the reindeer ; and the flora ,

brushwood , elm , birch , bark , and hazel nuts ,“ one gnawed

by a squirrel !” The discoveries of Lochspou ts were ,general ly , after the same Character, and included beads ,broken Samian ware , a double-spiral ornament of bronzewire , a jet ri ng , a rock crystal , an amber bead, and aj et pendant in the form of a rectangular cross inscri bedin a circle

,and to all appearance a relic of an early

Christian type . Everything was crude , but there weremany evidences of considerable ingenuity .


From that apparently somewhat prosaic list onecan almost after a fashion reconstitute the life of theAyrshire lake dweller. The period in whose evolutionhe Shared was stormy , it was an age of wars and ofconstant rumours of wars. the veritable era when ri ghtwas might , and when only the strong could hope to winthrough . Then , as for many a day afterwards , the chiefof the clan , the head of the great family or sept , enjoyeda paramountcy which none within the closely racialcircle might dispute . To him the clan looked forprotection , and it was imperative that he should find itfor them . Out in the open , where he has his huntinggrounds , in the forest wilds that he claims for his

‘own,is

the wherewithal for the home and for the sustenance oflife . There is wood for building , there is a lake adaptedfor the crannog that is to be his stay and shelter in thedays of storm and of trouble , the red deer and the roeare afield in the glades , there is rude pasture land for hisbeeves and grazing for his sheep , and there is meadowland that may after its own fashion be amenable tocul tivation . To the lake he takes his handi craftsmen ,and they begin to build . The stone axes are plied uponthe trees , and the giants of the woodland fal l . It involvesenormous labour of hatchet and of fire to strip thetrunks of their branches , to cu t the wood for thefoundation to the needed lengths

,and to sharpen the

ends of the piles so that they shall go down the moreeasily into the soil . The platform is laid

,the uprights

follow , an outer circle and an inner, and the interveningspace is fill ed up with stones , with wood , with clay ,until it becomes a composite mass hardened andsolidified , and ready for the platform on which thecrannog proper is to stand . It is no unsightly or meandwelling that arises above the lake, but an house fit forthe habitation of the whole family, a home with its owncomforts , strong for defence , hard of access without theconsent of its garrison . This is the heart of the triballife . In the centre is the hearthstone, with its open fireburning upon it . Here , on crude spit, the meat is

EARLY AYRSHIRE 25

roasted . Here the fire stones are heated to boil thewater in the wooden goblets. Here , seated on theground

,the crannog women and girls Slowly turn the

upper stone of the quern on the lower , and grind thegrain to make their cakes , and the meal for their porridge .

Between the lake dwelling and the shore there stretchesa gangway, removable in the event of hostile attack .

Under the Shelter of the fort the dug-out canoe rocks onthe waters . The men pursue the chase in the woodland ,

with bows and arrows, with long-shafted Spears tippedwith stone . They fashion to themselves weapons foruse in battle , and wherewith they may repel assaultupon their strong citadel .And as al l the world over , the women decorate

themselves with ornam ents , with beads , with armlets ,with j et adornments . They tyre their hair with Shininggear of metal , they comb their locks wi th combsconstructed at infinite labour , crude to look at butsufficient for their purpose. They enrich their store withSamian wares, they use pigments of red and of blue fortheir personal adornment , they enhance their charmsby many means so that these Shall seem the greater inthe eyes of their lords and their suitors. I t is a primitivecommunity this , and yet it can well be believed thatwhen the stranger, following the winding paths thatrun through the forest , comes upon the crannog in theevening , outstanding against the sky , with its life , andits evidence of industry, and its sense of strength—a

home,a fort , a centre of influence , a tri umph of skill

he pauses to admire the completeness of its proportionsand recognises how adm irably adapted it is for thestormy life of the countryside , and what a sense ofsecuri ty it must afford to those who are privileged toenjoy its Shelter.It is probable that some of these crannogs endured

for centu ries . They are known to have been in use

elsewhere in Scotland well within the authent icatedhistorical period, and the t reasures revealed by thecareful examination of the middens and among the


ooze at the bottom of the water indicate that,while the

builders were not unfamiliar with the tools of theessentially stone age , they were not destitute Of ironimplements as well . If their range of knowledge wasnarrow compared with ours, it was at least sufficientlywide for their day and generation and they were veryfar from being the rude barbarians whom we shouldnaturally expect to find emerging from the mistyexhalations of the fens.When Macbeth “ died with harness on his back ,

Malcolm Canmore , in 1 058, ascended the throne ofScotland. For centuries England had been a Saxoncountry, but in 1 066 William , Duke of Normandy ,came. to do battle with the Saxons

,slew their King

,and

became master of England. Two years later the Saxonroyal family sought refuge in Scotland , they werereceived in generous welcome by Malcolm in his towerof the forest of Dunfermline , and the Scottish Kingwedded the Princess Margaret . Many Saxon noblessimilarly crossed over the border into Scotland ; andalthough the years that followed were characterised byfierce fighting with England, the prevail ing tendencieswere towards the broadening of civilisation, the passingof just and generous laws , and the Spreading in alldirections of the Christian faith as urged and interpretedby the Church of Rome . One of Malcolm ’s sons, KingDavid, was the sore saint to the Crown .

” On the

ruins of many Culdee establishments he placedsettlements of Augustinians

,Benedictines , and

Cistercians. He promoted the administration of justice ,encouraged agriculture , developed trade and commerce ,and consolidated Scotland from a loose cluster ofprovinces into a united and a homogeneous country.

He put down crime , violence , and robbery with a firmhand, and , with a V iew to the maintenance of order andthe well-being of civic life

,he granted charters to many

of the more populous places under which they becameroyal burghs, endowed with full local dispensation ofjust ice and with extensive trading rights and privileges .

EARLY AYRSHIRE 27

And as the result of hi s example, and of the religiousfervour that sprang from it , the Scottish nobles gavethemselves in large numbers to the endowment of theChurch

,and to the promotion of the movement that

ended in the founding of the monasteries .

When Chri stianity first made its appearance inAyrshire

,and by whom it was originally introduced,

none can tell . It was duri ng the period of the Romanoccupation in the year 360 that St . Ninian was born ofnoble parentage on the shores of the Solway Firth . Ofs tudious and ascetic habits, he was moved by the Spiritto make a pilgrimage to Rome. On his way home hevisited St . Martin at Tours , and later, when he foundedthe Candida Casa , or church of Whithorn, he namedi t after Martin , the news of whose death had justa t that time reached him . It is evident that St .Ninian was a Christian ere yet he left Scotland forRome , and the inference is clear that the tenets ofthe Man of Galilee had by the middle of the fourthcentury obtained a footing in this part of the country.

A s a result of the persecution under the RomanEmperors many Christians were scattered abroad .

There was doubtless too a leaven of Christianityamong some of the soldiers who took part in theoccupation of Scotland , and it is therefore probablethat the introduction of the faith dates back to a veryearly period . It is easy to understand with whatsuspicion , with what aversion, it was viewed by theDruids . Theirs was largely a religion of morality, ofsymbols, of works . It was an ancient faith , their sunworship. They had a firm grip on temporal as well ason spiritual power, and it cannot be imagined that theywillingly yielded up their supremacy to the simple creedof salvation by faith through the Christ that was broughtto Scotland by the outed wanderers for the Cross.In almost every nation the changing Of faiths has

been marked by persecution and by martyrdom,and

the early Pictish and Scots Christians had doubtless toe ndure tribulation and suffering like their neighbours.

3


But , as elsewhere , they endured, and in the end wonthrough . Ninian was specifically the apostle of G alloway ,T

and the bounds of Galloway reached to the Doon . Inhis cell at Whithorn be trained his missionaries and sentthem forth to proclaim the new evangel . They wanderedfar and near among the tri bes , heathen , rude, uncul tured,prone to the sacrifices of the Druids

,and seeking the

light by many a glass darkly . It may have been thatas time went on converts were secured even from the

established priestly order ; but be that as it may, theChristian religion had come to stay. The Scots whohad come over from Ireland brought its tenets with them—a fact vouched for by the many place names of thecounty that can be traced to the Irish saints and holymen who had already become famous for the pioneeringwork they had accomplished in the good cause .

By degrees Druidism was overcome . Under whatcircumstances it Closed its history can only be

conjectured, but all earlier and later experience pointsstrongly to the probability that it fought Christianityin the open as long as it was able to do it , that when itcould no longer pervail by might it essayed to do so insecret in the deeper depths of the oaken groves and bythe lonely rocking stones , and that gradually it gaveplace as the minds of men were broadened and purifiedby the progress of the suns and by the educat ivemissionary zeal of the wandering evangelists and of thesaints who settled in their cells at almost every pointof the Shire . With the migration of Columba to Iona in

563 , and the splendid missionary efforts a century laterof St . Cuthbert and St . Oswald, Christianity was exalteda living faith common to the whole country , and installeditself an organisation destined to be the paramountinfluence in moulding the character of Scotland for alltime to come .


Lady Acre on the lands of Crosshill,in Kilwinning ; a

Lady-yard in Tarbolton ; a Lady-land in Kilbirnie .

Ayr had its Lady-landis . The Lady Glen in Daillyparish took its name from a chapel dedi cated to theVirgin that stood ot the foot of the glen. Kirkoswal dpari sh has its Ladybank estate. Prestwick has itsLadyton , while not far off the coast is the Lady Isle .

Maybole has its Lady Corse (or Cross) , Lady Well andLadyland, all connected with the Auld College . AtChapel -House, in Dunlop, there stood a chapel to theVirgin , and the steps that crossed the burn adjacentwere the Lady Steps. In the regality of CrossraguelAbbey in Kirkoswald there was a Lady-R owis-Meadow,

and there is a stream in the same parish calledLadyburn .

Beside the Stinchar, in Colmonell parish , is a placecalled Hallow Chapel , where once stood a chapeldedi cated to All Saints . Chapel Donan , near Girvan ,was dedicated to St. Donan of G igg. Chapel is a farmabout two miles from Cumnock

,named after a Chapel

that was dedicated to A ll Saints. At Chapel House, inDunlop Parish, were to be seen till about 1830 the ruinsof a pre-Reformation place of worship dedicated to theVirgin. The Cross is memorial ised in Crosshill , a villageand a quoad sacra parish in Carrick ; in Cro sshill ,Easter and Wester ; in Kilwinning parish, where wehave also Crossholm and Corsehill Muir, a rising groundon which witches used to be burned ; in Corsecraig inStevenston parish ; in Portincross, West Kilbride ; inCorse

,Ballantrae parish ; in G rossby, both in

Cunningham and in Kyle ; in Crosshouse, a village inthe parish of Kilmaurs, and Corshouse in Carrick ; inLady Corse, near Maybole, and in St. Mark

’s Cross,referred to in the Charters of Ayr as on the lands ofB rackinhi rst between the baronies of Dal rym ple andAlloway.

”Crossragu el Abbey has been connected

etymologically with Crux Regalis, or Cross of KingOswald, but a difficulty in the way of accepting thisinterpretation lies in the fact that in charters Crossraguel

IN THE DAYS OF THE MONASTERIES 31

is spelt more than forty-one ways, and that the CruxRegalis form does not appear in any of the AbbeyCharters till 1 547-48, when we find it in a discharge byAbbot Quintin—himself no mean authori ty, by the way—to the Earl of Cassillis. Corsehill burn separates theparishes of Dunlop and Stewarton .

In Coylton parish is Knock Mirren,the hill of St.

Mirren . Sorn has its St . Cuthbert’s holm . The parishof Dailly was formerly known as Dalmakeran , or

Dalm aelkeran , signifying respectively the Field of St .Kieran , and the Field of the Servant of St . Kieran . Asthe pre-Reformation Church was dedicated to St .Michael , it would seem as if in course of time theArchangel had supplanted the saint, but a relic of theearlier dedication survives in the name of Kilkerranthe Church of St . Kieran—an estate in the pari sh .

Kirkmichael parish was named after a Kirk dedicated toSt. Michael the A rchangel . About two miles south-westof the village of Barr, on a rising ground above theSt inchar, are the ru ins of Kirkdominie , the Church of ourLord . St . Connel is remembered in Connel Burn andConnel Park , New Cum nock, and he was patron of thechurch of Cum nock . Troon has its St. Meddan ’

s. Andthe very names of Monkton and of Prestwick are

reminiscent of the Church .

It is not to be imagined that all these names , and themany more that might be' added , were attached to theChurches, or the lands, or the landscape , during theearlier period of Christianity . The Culdee Church ,

which was superseded by that of Rome , appears to havebeen a somewhat loose organisation. Its early history,which begins after the period of the Columbanmissionaries, is shrouded in a good deal of obscurity,and at its best it never appears as an institution to havecovered the country . On the one hand, it is said to havebeen pure on the other

,at least somewhat lax . But

Scotland owed much to its individual Culdee ecclesiastics,as it owed much to the monasteries by whi ch they weresucceeded

,and the network of chapels and shrines and


of priests of various degrees that everywhere radiatedfrom them . Not only were the early ecclesiastics inAyrshire

,as well as elsewhere , the spiritual guides of the

people,they were also their instructors in many secular

things , arts and agriculture and worldly knowledge .

They were centres of light and leading . The priestswandered afield within the radius of their own districts ,evangelising as they went . But they never were , theseCuldees , the national Church in the sense to which KingDavid I . elevated the Church of Rome

,and there does

not appear to be any real foundation for the long acceptedbelief that their policy was after the Presbyterian order ,or that they kept their doctrines pure and undefiled tothe last

,or that they were only suppressed by force and

fraud. What they did was to prepare the country forthe founding of the Roman establishment , which was acomplete system in Scotland from the beginning ; andhaving done their work they were ready for supercession ,

and disappeared within a century of King David’sfoundation of the hierarchy of Rome .

How thoroughly organised the Church of Rome wasfrom the beginning may be seen from a glance at theAyrshire monasteries . Of these the chief was the splendidabbey of Kilwinning, founded for Tyronensian monksin 1 140 by Hugh de Morville , a Baron of Norman descent ,who came into Scotland during the reign of David I .

,

became Constable of Scotland, and acquired a grant ofextensive lands in Cunningham . In their day the deMorvil les were the chief of all the families in NorthAyrshire . The Loudoun family were their vassal s , so

also were the Cunninghames, long a mighty power in

North Ayrshire and the Rosses , one of whom , Steven ,obtained from Richard de Morville the lands that hecalled after himself, Stevenston . Smitten with thefervour that radiated from the throne , and perhaps ingratitude for the valuable gifts that he had receivedfrom the Crown— it may even have been as a contingentto the acceptance of these gifts— the Constable ofScotland built and endowed the abbey whose remains ,


s tanding to-day amid their somewhat prosaicsurroundings , enkindle regrets for the vandal ism thatsuffered thi s ancient fane to be destroyed in all itsbeauty and all its hal lowed , clustering associations ,and for the decadence in Church architecture of thecenturies on which our lot to live has fal len. Hugh deMorv ille endowed in no niggardly fashion , he conceivedin no mean or narrow spiri t . On the banks of theG arnock the monastery grew under the patient hands ofthe builders , strong and beautiful ; and as one looksto-day upon all that is left of it , he can imagine ri ghteasily how it must have gladdened the eye of the travellercoming across the sands and the waving knowes fromthe south ,

with the western sun upon its towers andits architectural graces . This was a house buil t toGod , not for the years , but for the centuries ; andit m ight have been intact and serviceable as evereven now, had it not fallen upon days that were evilfor i ts destruction .

St . Winnan , to whom the abbey was dedicated ,

was , as has been said , an Irishman ; he was of theeighth century

,and his festival was held on the z l st of

January. Tradi tion ascribes to him the power overdisease and over the elements. In the parish ofHolywood a fountain sprang up at his intercession , andremained in high repute till the beginning of the sixteenthcentury. In Kilwinning there is a well called after him ,

whose waters also had healing virtues . And he could banthe waters as well as bless them ; for , when one of hisangling friends fished the G arnock without anyencouragement in the shape of a decent rise , hepronounced so practical a malediction that the riverforthwith left its bed and followed another courseadvers e to nature . To this holy man de Morvillefounded the abbey solid and great , all of freestonecu t the

'

church fair and stately after the model of thatof Glasgow , with a fair steeple of seven score foot ofheight , set standing where I myself Timothy Pont)d id see it . Its revenues were much enhanced by grants


from other members of the de Morville family , and bysuccessive monarchs and noblemen

,for the health of

their souls .” It owned nearly the whole of the land inKilwinning parish , as well as rich properties in Dalry

,

Beith , and Kilm arnock . To it belonged the patronageand the teinds of the following parishes

,subj ect to the

burden of stipends for the regular clergy, viz .

Kilwinning, Irvine , Kilmam ock , Loudoun , Dalry,Ardrossan , Kilbirnie . West Kilbride , Beith , Dunlop,Dreghorn ,

tevenston . and Stewarton al l in

Cunningham ; Dumbarton and Kilmaronock , inDumbartonshire ; South and North Knapdale , inArgyle Kilmory and Kilbride

,in the island of Arran .

Its monks , originally brought from Kelso , were cal ledTyronenses, from Tyron in the diocese of Chartres ,where their Order was first settled under St . Bernard.

Its fountains , blessed of the patron saint , continuedefficacious for healing, and one of them is said to haverun blood on the approach of war

,and to have specifical ly

done so for eight days and nights in the year 1 148.

The discovery of a pipe leading from the abbey to thefountain , in 1826, has been interpreted as offeringoccasion for deducing whence the blood

, or its equivalent ,came it ran down , not from the fountain to the abbey ,but from the abbey to the fountain . Through it ,

therefore , according to the Statist ical Account , blood ,or some liquid resembling it

,had been caused to flow into

the fountain,and thus the credulity of the people was

imposed upon by the appearance of a miracle , whichserved to enhance the fame of the monastery and thepower of its pri esthood . One of its abbots swore fealtyto Edward of England in 1 296 another , more patrioticthan he , fell with his Sovereign on the fatal day ofFlodden .

It is evident that an enormous influence must havebeen wielded by the abbot of Kilwinning . In his officialcapacity he was almost the sole landowner of the parish ,he had rich heritages in Dalry

,in Beith , and in

Kilmarnock . A lord of the soil and of the people who


dwelt upon it , he dispensed all the ecclesiasticalpatronage of North Ayrshire , the spiri tual as well asthe worldly estate of the inhabitants being subj ect tohim . The keys of heaven in one hand, earthly powerand dominion were in the other. He ruled the monastery.

and the monks did his bidding near and far—in Arran .

in Dumbarton , in A rgyll. No mean potentate indeedAnd he had need to be endowed with the wisdom thatspri ngeth from the earth , from contact with men of eachand every degree , as well as with the knowledge thatcomes fromabove .

The abbey of Crossraguel stands by the wayside onthe Girvan road between Maybole on the north and thevillage of Kirkoswald on the south . Never in itsbrightest and best days was it a fane of the consequenceof Kilwinning ; nevertheless , in the day when it stoodin its placid comeliness in this rural part of Carrick , itmust have presented a restful and attractive appearanceto the passing traveller. The original grant for itsfoundat ion was given by one Duncan , Earl of Carrick ,to whom the whole of the division of the Shire had beenapportioned by William the Lion . The Earl ’s intentionwas to found a monastery for Cluniac monks , an Orderfounded at Cluny

,in Burgundy, in the year 940. The

Cluny fathers were a reformed Order of Benedictines ,and they so grew and mul tiplied that by the twelfthcentury they had nearly two thousand monasteriesaffiliated with the parent establishment. Among thepeculiari ties of the monks were two solemn masses everyday , a suspension of

‘

labour on al l private sacred daysexcept outside the hours of divine service , constantsilence in the daytime , manual labour accompanied by asteady repetition of the Psalms , discipline of the strictestnature , and the learning of the Psalter by heart .According to a satiri st : When you want to Sleep ,

they wake you when you wish to eat,they make you

fast . The night is spent in praying in the church , theday in labour. No repose is taken , save in the refectory .

And what is to be found there ! Rotten eggs , beans


with their pods on , liquor fit for oxen. For the wine isso poor that one might drink it for a month withoutintoxication . Without a doubt , these Benedictineswere ascetics .In their interest , then, the Earl of Carri ck founded

Crossraguel , granting to Paisley Abbey, whence themonks were to come

,some of his lands, with the

patronage of the churches of Dailly, Straiton , and St .Oswald of Turnberry. The monks of Paisley attemptedto evade the conditions of the gift . They enrichedthemselves with the erection of no more than a cell atCrossraguel . This was not pleasing to the Earl , whom ade complaint to the Paisley Abbey, with the resultthat the Bishop of Glasgow

,who was called in to

arbitrate , ordered forthwith the erection of a monasterywhich should be free from the Paisley jurisdiction , andpresided over by an abbot who should be chosen by them onks . Duncan’s gifts were supplemented by his sonNigel

,and al though the Paisley Abbey attempted again

to get Crossraguel under the control of its ecclesiastics ,it failed . When Bruce , the father of the great KingRobert

,came to Turnberry, he extended his powerful

protection to the monks, and supplemented their landedpossessions with others , and King Robert in his turnremembered it substantially in V iew of divine charity,and for the salvation of his soul and the souls of h isancestors and successors

,and erected the lands into a

free barony,with complete tenure of land and full

juri sdiction over the inhabitants . The monks judged inlitigious suits

,they exacted toll

,they enforced the bonds

of mutual warranty,and in certain cases they were

endowed with the right of capital punishment . Thesepowers were

, as a rule , the pertinents of the Crown , andit is a mark of the high esteem in which King Robertheld the abbot and monks of what was , in the Carricksense

,h is own monastery, that he so fully endowed

them . In return they clung manfully to him , and didnot even desert him when he and his cause al ike werebanned by the Pope of Rome .


It appears to be open to reasonable doubt what theexact nature of the monastic establishment at Mauchline ,which goes under the name of the Mauchline monastery

,

was . According to Chalmers , the author of the

Caledonia ,” it was a cell of the monastery of Melrose

,

it is included by Spottiswoode among the thirteenmonasteries of the Cistercian monks that were in Scotlandat the time of the Reformation , Dr. Walcot places it inthe list of Priori es attached to Melrose , and Dugdaleasserts that it was a monastery founded by David I .

The Chartulary of Melrose never uses the wordmonasterium in referri ng to it it speaks of itsterrae ,

” or lands,and its ecclesia or Church , and

a deed that was formulated from Mauchline is notspecified as having been issued apud monasteriumde Mauchline , as similar documents are that emanatedfrom duly recognised monasteries , but simply apudMauchl ine . On the other hand allusion is made to oneRichard Biger , Monk of Mauchline ,

” and it is argu edthat , i f there was one monk , there were al so in all

probabil ity,other monks as well . However that may

have been , it is undeniable that there was at Mauchlineat a very early period

,a religious establishment of

considerable extent , that it had valuable lands attachedto it and some Church patronage

,and that it was a

foundation of Cistercian monks,an order of Benedictines

formed to carry out the principles of St . Benedict , theirori gi nal founder , on very strict lines . It has beensurmised that the founder of the Mauchline establishmentwas one of the Stewards . No doubt the Stewards, astime went on

, did add to its endowments. Walter , theSon of Alan

,granted to the monks of Melrose the lands

of Mauchline,and pasture in his forest on the upper

reaches of the river Ayr , and extending to the boundariesof Clydesdal e he gave them also a carracu te of land toimprove in the places most convenient, and al so a fishingat the mouth of the river Ayr . Their successive charterswere confirmed by William the Lion , by Alexander II . ,and by Alexander III . The antiquity of the

IN TH E DAYS OF TH E MONASTERIES 39

establishment, and its connection with the Stewards ,are therefore absolutely guaranteed.

Comparatively few are the sidelights thrown uponthe early story of this institution . Its headquarterswere in what is still the village of Mauchline , and theymay have been of considerable extent. The towerremains under the name of Mauchline Castle , a preciousrelic of early Scottish ecclesiastical archi tecture , but sofar as the church and the other outbuildings are

concerned, these have long since disappeared. Mauchlinewas then surrounded by forest it was , in fact , part ofthe great forest of Kyle , and the Cistercians had pasturein it for their flocks and herds. Long stretches of theriver Ayr were within their demes ne , with many a fertileholm, and they had every opportunity for carrying onthe art of agricu lture and for instructing the people inthe methods best known to them of bringi ng the soilunder cul tivation . They had ample jurisdiction overtheir estates of Mauchl ine , Kylesmure, and Barmure

,

and these were formed into a regality, the courts beingheld at Mauchline. On the Greenock water, in what isnow the parish of Muirkirk , they had a chapel ; onSt . Cuthbert’s holm, in the parish of Sorn , they hadanother. They had the liberties of buying and sellingand taking toll within their own jurisdiction , and thereare good prima facie grounds for believing that they didwell by the district of which they were at once thespiritual and the territorial head. Unfortunately suchliterature as they possessed disappeared with theReformation , but the glimpses that we can get of themduring their long sojourn in Kyle-Stewart leave, as wehave said , the impression that in their day and generationthey were an influence for good within their own sphere.The monastery of Fail , in the parish of Tarbolton ,

a settlement of Red, or Trinity friars , called alsoMathurines from the house of this order in Pari s whichwas dedi cated to St. Mathuri ne, was founded in 1 252 .

By whom cannot now be said. The monks enjoyed thehonourable designation of fratres de redemptione


captivorum , because it was part of their duty to redeemChristian captives from slavery. But

,unfortunately

for their reputation , their claim to distinction arisesmainly from the reference made to them in the sarcasticlines preserved by Ramsay in The Evergreen ,

” andquoted by Sir Walter Scott in The Abbot

The Friars of Fai l drank berry-brown ale ,

The best that e ’

er was tasted ,The monks of Melrose made gude kai lOn Fridays , when they fasted .

Another version of the stanza rather amplifiescharge of generous living against the fathers ofTarbolton monastery

The Friars of Fai lG at never owre hard eggs , or owre thin ale .

F or they m ade their eggs thin w i ’ bu t terA nd their kai l thick w i ’ breadA nd the Friars of Fai l they m ade gude kai lOn Fridays when they fasted ,A nd they never wan ted gear enough ,So long as their neighbours’

lasted .

Like their neighbours in Ayrshi re of the earlyecclesiastical order , these friars appear to have beenwell endowed with lands. Their minister

,as he was

cal led , was provincial of the Trinity order in Scotland ,and is said, in virtue of that offi ce , to have had a seat inParliament . It seems as if they had been infefted incertain lands , and in the patronage of the Church ofTarbolton in the fourteenth century by John de Graham

,

Lord of Tarbolton , but that these had been taken fromthem again because they had been obtained byundue influence . These lands included Coilsfield,

Dernehunche , and A uldtounebrune and in orderto obtain them the fri ars had , through Brother John ,

”

their chief,presented Graham with a White Horse .

This was but an incident in their career, however , forthey had a long and apparently a flourishing existence ,they had their home in what must have been a veryhandsome m onastery on the banks of Lochfail , they


enjoyed lands and rights , pri vileges and patronage , oftheir own , they were important as landlords as well asspiritually , and they formed a considerable centre ofinfluence in a part of the country that was sparselypopulated.

It was in Ayr, as far back as the thirteenth century aroyal burgh and a town of great importance , that theDominicans or Black Friars first established themselvesin Scotland. Before their day the royal burgh had itsChurch of St . John ’s , a fane of note with its four mainal tars in the aisles , its eight chaplains to minister atthem , its organ , its choristers , and its band—the sameChurch In which the Scottish Parliament met in 1 3 1 5 todeclare the succession to the Scottish Crown in Bruceand his heirs for ever . The monastery of the BlackFriars stood on the banks of the river in close proximityto that of the Grey Friars , which , however. was not

founded till 1 472 , and which, like its older neighbour ,was destroyed at the Reformation . The Dominicanshad revenues from the mills and from the town . Theywere frequently the recipients of royal gifts , they acquiredgreat weal th from the bequests of the burgh and fromindividuals , they had cruives for the fishing of salmon .

theirs were the lands of Dankei th in the parish ofSymington

,the Wal laces of Craigie were good to them

,

and the lands and orchards immediately contiguous totheir monastery were one of the sights of the town . Itis evident that for many a year this foundation must

,in

its own way , have been highly serviceable to,and

equally appreciated by, the community . Founded in1 230,

in the reign of Al exander II . ,the monastery grew

in influence as it went . The town was evidently a ful lparticipator in the religi ous life of the peri od so muchso that , after more than two hundred and thirty years

’

experience of the Preaching Friars , it itselr endowed asim ilar establishment of Franciscans , or Grey Friars .Necessarily the influence wielded by the Black Fri ars ,as well as later by the Grey , must have been largelylocal ; and when it is remembered that St . John

’s


Church had at least eight chaplains besides a rector, andthat the foundation on the banks of the river is not likelyto have had fewer than a score of monks

,it will be seen

how close the connection was between the royal burghand the spiritual ; fathers . The popul ation cannot wellat the period have exceeded three thousand

,yet here

,

within the regality, there were at least thirty chaplainsor friars—a number materially added to in the fifteenthcentury—or about one to every hundred of the people .

Even at this early peri od, and with the Reformationthree hundred and thirty years off

,it is possible to see

that the m ulplication of ecclesiastics was not without itsdangers , and that these were bound in their very natureto become chronic whenever the Church began to getou t of touch , or into disfavour, with the people . Justas the great lords were j eal ous of the °monks of Kilwinningand of Crossragu el , and aspired to become possessors oftheir lands and heritages

, so the burghers cas t longingeyes upon the estate of the monks within their bounds ,and longed to add it to their own. But for the time

being. and for long , all went well .The convent of Dalm ul in

,founded by Walter, the

second Lord High Steward of Scotland in 1 229, andoccupying a site on the north bank of the river Ayr inSt . Qu ivox , had a brief, and so far as its story hasbeen handed down to us, an uneventful career. It wasinstituted for monks and nuns of the order of Simpringham—an Engli sh foundation somewhat similar to thatof St . Augustine—and was dedicated to the Holy Virgin .

It was staffed from Lincolnshi re , where the Order had i tsseat, and the monks and nuns found the Ayrshire climatesomewhat too trying for them—somuch so that , after afew years

,they returned to England , and the convent ,

which was then granted by the founder to the abbots ofPaisley, speedily fell into a ruinous condition. Duringits brief continuance, however, i t was endowed withmany lands

,fishings, mills, and other properties .

The Carmelite convent in Irvine was a creation ofthe fourteenth century, and therefore it hardly comes

IN TH E DAYS OF TH E MONASTERIES 4

into the category of the religious houses that may besaid to have owed their rise to the passing over Scotlandof the religious wave set flowing by David I . ,

the sairsanct for the Crown . But these did not by any meansembrace all the ecclesiastical edifices of Ayrshire in thetwelfth and thirteenth centuries . Ayr, as we have seen ,

had its Church of St. John , itself no unimportant orinconsiderable establishment the Church of Dundonal d,which was affiliated with Dalmulin convent

,was founded

in 1 229; Gal ston church was in 1 252 granted to theFri ars of Fail Monkton Church , dedicated to St .Cuthbert , was in 1 1 63 , along with the church ofPrestwick , gifted to the Monastery of Paisley ; theChapel of R iccarton was affiliated with Dalmulin ,

and in 1 238handed over to the monastery of Pai sley ;St. Qu ivox , or as it was then cal led Sanchar , was arectory in 1 2 1 2 ; Syrnington is believed to date backto the thirteenth century, and belonged to the conventof Fail Tarbolton was for a Short period an appanagealso of Fail , but succeeded in maintaining itself a freerectory. In Carrick , Ballantrae church was granted toCrossraguel in the thirteenth century Colmonell churchwas gifted to the Bishop of Glasgow in the twelfthcentury ; Dailly church belonged to the monks ofPaisley before it was transferred to Crossraguel Girvanchurch was at least as old as the early Crossragu el periodKirkmichael church was granted to the prior and canonsof Whithorn by John de G em ilstoun , in the thirteenthcentury , if not before it Kirkoswald church was in theoriginal grant of Duncan , Earl of Carrick , to Crossraguel ;the church of Maybole goes back to 1 193 ; and thechurch of Straiton was there in the days of Duncan

,the

first Earl of Carrick . It was the same with many of thechurches in Cunningham . They were there before deMorville founded the stately fane of Kilwinning on thegreen banks of the G arnock .

It will be seen that as early as the fourteenth centurythe ecclesiastical life of Ayrshire was very highlyorganised. In proportion to its population the country


hadmany more ecclesiastics than it has to-day. Allowingby no means generously for the abbeys and convents ,and churches , their number cannot have been muchless than three hundred

,and probably exceeded that

figure considerably. The monastic order was at least asembracing as that of the subsequent Presbyterial . The

Church of Rome had a far greater hold than even thePresbyteri an Church had on the lives and lands of thepeople and, without entering into any di squisition onmatters of faith

,it is not difficult to understand that

there m ust have been prevailing secular reasons, such aswould commend themselves to every interest not of theChurch , for the Reformation. Its subsequent weaknesshad many of its germs in its original strength .

46 H ISTORY OF A YR SH IR E

William the Lion was succeeded by his son

A lexander IL , who came to the throne at the age

of sixteen , and who di ed when he was fifty-one and

after him by Alexander III . ,who began to re ign ,

a chi ldof eight , in 1 249, and who

,fourteen years later , when

he was bu t yet a young m an of three and twenty ,

led the Scottish army that crushed the Norsemen onthe shore of Largs.At that period the wes tern islands were largely

tributary to the Norsem en . In their war galleys , theterror of the wes tern seas of Europe ,

they had sailedround the stormy Cape Wrath , pillaging and conqueringas they sailed and by that might whi ch was th en theequivalent of right , they had annexed the Hebrides tothe Crown of King Acho. The presence of the Viki ngsso near the mainland was a constant danger to Scotland.

They leagued themselves with England, and wi th the

great feudal lords of Galloway , of Argyll , and of Moray ,when these were at war with the central power . Theyoung Scottish King was alive to the peril , and , beingfrom the first a man of action , he mustered a powerfulfleet and drove out all the Norse chiefs of the Isles whorefused to acknowledge themselves the vassals ofScotland. These carried their complaints to Acho , theKing of Norway—Acho the Tamer of the RavensAcho in whose veins ran the blood of the Immortal sand he mustered a great fleet in Bergen to be readyagainst the summer of 1 263 to punish the Scots .The Norwegian story of the great invasion that

culminated in the battle of Largs,has been sung for us

by Sturla in the Raven’s Ode. The tale thus told is richin its poetic beauty

,graphic in its descriptive touches,

and reminiscent of the best of the old Norse literature .

It is valuable , too , as giving the Viking side of the storyof the expedition, whose defeat freed Scotland for everfrom these pirates of the nor’land seas. Before , therefore ,dealing with it more prosaically , let us look at the greatarmament and its fate from the point of view of theenemy.

THE NORSE VIKINGS 47

It was in the summer of 1 262 that word was broughtto the Court of Norway of the disasters that had befallenthe Hebridean Kings . or chiefs ; how that the fierceEarl of Ross, with K iarnach , the son of Mac-camel , hadravaged the islands, given men , women , and childrento the sword , wrecking homes and despoil ing churcheshow the Scots had impaled the hapless infants on the .

points of their long spears , and Shaken them down totheir very hands ; how torture , and fire, and murderhad everywhere marked their going and how the lealsubjects of the Scandinavian monarch had been robbedand spoiled. The Norsemen met in Council . Theywere not the men to accept hum il iation from Scots orfrom any men born of women

, and they resolved uponvengeance and all that winter through the hardyNorsemen were busy with the building of galleys ,wi th the preparing of their munitions , with the musteringand training of m en , with arming and getting ready forthe fray . And when May day came there lay in the

bright sun at Bergen a goodl ier fleet than had everbefore sailed the northern seas.How the heart of the singer thrilled as he looked upon

the clustering vessels Goodly among and beyond themall was the noble galley in which King Acho himselfsailed seven and twenty benches it had for the rowers ,bright with the shields of the warriors , the sun glintingupon their polished steel terrible with the fierce headsof the golden dragons . A nd far and near the eye rangedover the staunch little craft , manned by as hardy a raceof sailors as ever faced the open sea , the poops clusteredthick with the warriors ready and glad to give accountof themselves. Complete was the armament . Theomens al so were favourable . Was it not told how thelast Alexander of Scotland had thought to descend inhis m ight upon the Orkneys , and how he had beenwarned back from his mission of conquest by a vision ofthe three saints—St . Olaf in his royal robes, stern ofaspect ; St . Magnus majestic of mien , St . Columbauncouth and uncomely ! H e had refused to obey the


vision , and fell death had smitten him and carried himhence . Undeterred by the fate of his father, anotherAlexander had arisen to Carry on the crusade , ill-omened ,ill-starred , and was it to be imagined that such as hecould prevailSo with sails al l set and the long sweeps keeping

,rythm ic time , the Protector of Thrones bore west fromthe streams of G otelfa,

his wooden coursers breaking tothe roaring waters , while the canvas of the keels that rodethe surf reflected the beams of the unsullied sun aroundthe umpire of wars . It was midsummer, in the brightmonth of July , when the Norsemen reached the Orkneys .

From the islands the course was set for Caithness , wheretribute was exacted, and the tribes were panic-strickenat the mighty power of the great son of the Immortal s .

Thence the fleet steered for the Sound of Skye , and thelord of Kintyre and Isla swore fealty

,and gave generously

to the fleet of h is wealth of cattle . The Chiefs of theHebrides bowed their heads in subjection to the cleaverof the battered helm . Expeditions were sent forwardto the Mull of Kintyre and as far as the Island of Bute ,and destruction followed hard in their path . Theyglutted the swift

,sable-Clad birds of prey , the foes of

Acho dropped,and the surfeited raven from the fields

of slaughter winged his flight for the Hebrides . Thedwellings ofm en flamed

,fire glowed red in their granaries ,

and south from the floating pines marched the warriorhost .

The Norse King came into the Firth of Clyde , andnegotiations were opened with the m onarch of Scotland .

He would not relinquish his sovereignty over Bute ,

Arran , and the Cumbraes ; and the while the fleetwaited in the hope of wiser counsels obtaining , theScandinavians drew their light boats across the narrowneck of land that separates Loch Long from LochLomond , embarked on Loch Lomond , and wasted thehouses on the islands and the mansions upon the shoresof the winding bays . By this time the summer was spentand the autumn equinox was drawing on apace . The

TH E NORSE VIKINGS 49

winds , begotten of the powers of magic , began to raveand the billows to roar

,ten of the warships succumbed

to the furious elements in Loch Long,and the main body

of the fleet,lying beneath the shelter of the Cumbraes ,

began to drift towards the shore of Largs . Six anchorshad been cast out to windward from the King’s owngalley

,yet still she dragged across the raging waters

,

bu t a seventh anchor,the great sheet anchor itself

, was

dropped into the main ; it caught , and held , and thedrifting was stayed. But five other galleys were lessfortunate . These found resting place on the rocks ofthe Ayrshire coast and the black night descended upona scene of wreck and of battle . For when the galleysstranded , the Scots came down to the water

’s edge,and

rained upon the beleaguered sea kings their Spears anddarts, and pressed them sore . The gale moderating ,

Acho sent reinforcements to the help of his warriors .The Scots withdrew from the hard fought field wherethe breastplates rang

,and all night long the Norsemen

remained on shore beside their vessels .The day succeeding , the main battle was j oined.

Within sight of the stretchi ng coast line lay the greatgalley of the Norse sea king . Acho himself would fainhave joined in the fray

,but h is warrior counsellors ,

girt in their armour and their hearts warm for thecombat , otherwise advised , and he remained on boardhis ship , unwilling, and anxious of heart . TheScandinavian host numbered from eight to nine hundredsteel Clad warriors . The Scots attacked in force , theirknights

,five hundred strong , riding on horses protected

by breastplates and many of them sheathed in temperedarmour

,wrought in the cunning workshops of Spain ;

behind them the bowm en , well accoutred , the arrows onthe strings of their bending yews

,and other bands poising

their quivering spears. They came as a whirlwind todrive all before them

,and so impetuous was their rush

that the Norsemen gave way , and many of them ,

concluding that the day was already lost , jumped intotheir boats and made for the fleet . Their comrades bade


them return,but few of them obeyed, and it was a sadly

lessened force that remained to carry on the combat ;but these formed themselves into an impenetrablephal anx and wrought m ightily in their val our. Amongthe fiercest of the Scottish Knights was Fergu s, clad incostly mail

,with helmet of gold and set with precious

stones,who rode upon the Norsemen and encountered

their bravest leaders , and who , after the courtly fashionof the age

,Challenged the best of them to single combat

but stout Andrew Nicolsen smote him so trenchant ablow that the keen blade cu t cleanly through Chainprotection and armour and leg

,nor stayed in its descent

until it had reached the saddle of his horse whereuponFergus reeled and fell dead

,and the Norsemen stripped

h im of his knightly belt . The cuirasses rang, the

Scandinavian heroes prostrated the illustrious warriorsof the land

,the birds of prey were gluttonously filled

with lifeless limbs . And so the battle raged till the sun

had westered and was standing , before the down going ,over the black crests of the mountains of Arran . TheChampions of Norway’

s lord saluted the stout harnessedbarons with the rough music of battle . The train ofthe supporter of thrones, courageous and clad in steel ,marched to the din of clashing swords . At the conflictof corselets on the blood red hill

,the damask blade

hewed the mail of hostile tribes, ere the Scots , nimbleas the hound, would leave the field to the followersof our all-conquering King . And thus , accordingto Sturla , the sun went down on victory for the

V ikings.

The following morning the Norsemen went ashore fortheir dead and to gather in the spoil of the field , and thenthey sailed for the westward . Longer they could notwait , for the storms of the growing autumn were comingon , the clouds were dark , and the seas were white withfoam . So they bore away

,past Arran , past the Mull of

Kintyre , round into the waters flecked of the Hebrides .

A s they went they restored their Hebridean Kingletsand taught the usurpers a lesson , and sailing north , they

TH E NORSE VIKINGS 5 1

landed on the Scottish mai nland and took tribute of gearand of cattle . So they came to Kirkwall—ancientKirkwall

,with its cathedral to St . Magnus—and there

they halted,for the ocean was boisterous that rolled

between them and far-off Bergen , the nights were darkand cold

,and winter was hasting down from its home in

the further north . There they resolved to remain tillthe Spring. Acho sickened and dwined . He was welladvanced in years

,and the anxieties of the campaign ,

the hard life on board ship,and the loss of so many

warriors—albeit their Spirits were in the happy abodesof Valhalla—were tell ing upon him . AS the daysShortened his health declined , and the time came onwhen he should die . How could the great sea kingprepare himself better for the abodes of the Blessed thanin having read to him the chronicles of his fathers , themighty deeds of the heroic stock whence he had sprungThese were recited in h is dying ears , the stirring tales ofold renown

,until at last

,duly prepared , fit and meet to

,oin the noble army of the Vikings in the life beyond , hepassed away . Sad of heart

,his chiefs bore all that was

mortal of him to the cathedral of St . Magnus , wherethey laid him down in front of the high altar , and allthe long winter through they kept watch and solemn

ward by his bier. By and by the Spring came , with itslonger suns and its brighter skies and its bluer seas , andwhen the winds were fair and favouring, the Norsem en

carried their dead monarch on board that great galleyof h is that had been the joy of all the beholders , and hesailed on his last voyage . It was a sad homecoming tothe loved land of the Norsemen . They crossed thedeep , and out from Bergen came Prince Magnus and aretinue of other Vikings

,and received the body of the

King. H is last voyage was done ; and the breakersof tempered metals stood crowdi ng round the grave ofthe ruler of the nation while in their swimming eyesappeared no look of joy .

So far the Raven ’

s Ode , a poetic attempt to gild astory of defeat

,a saga for Norse hearts and for Norse

52 H ISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

patriotism , a tal e of Viking valour and of Viking worth.

We need not grudge to Sturla his song when , as theresult of the battle of Largs , Scotland was free forever from the Norsemen. Let us rather go back and

in more prosaic words tell again how the battle ofLargs was won .

Sooner or later, as Alexander plain ly saw ,the fight

had to be fought . Scotland could not afford to have theNorse power entrenched even in the Hebrides . Shehad enough to do holdi ng some of the great Highlandclans in check and so long as the sea pirates of thenor’land were by to assist them in their quarrels wi ththe Crown

,the hopes of peace and of a united Kingdom

must needs be clouded and uncertain . When,therefore ,

Alexander drove out the petty Kinglets or tri butarychiefs who owned subjection to Acho from their seats ofpower and of influence in the western isles , he must havereckoned with the retaliatory expedition that sailed inall the bravery of its many galleys from the port ofBergen .

The Scottish monarch , however, did not committhe mistake of underrating the courage or the powerof the enemy . No wise man who knew the Scandinaviansas he did could possibly have done so . And he hadrecourse to strategy as well as to ample preparationfor war. He deliberately played a waiting game . Hepermitted the expedition to sail the seas unchallengedand to raid the islands and the western Highlands . Hedid not even attempt seri ously to thwart them whenthey rounded the Mull of Can tyre and their fleet rockedon the waters of the estuary of the Clyde . A s theycame along with oar and sail through the autumn seasthey dropped anchor off the mouth of the river Ayr inorder to assault the royal burgh town . The burghershad been on the outlook for them . From the highsquare tower of the Church of St . John’

s their watchmenhad descried their white canvas as they crossed overfrom Can tyre , and forthwith the inhabitants who werenot in a posit ion to take to the Open coun trv the


numbers of the Scots , and reduced to the shamefulnecessity of flying with the greatest precipitation to hisships .” The Norwegians , he adds , left sixteen thousandmen on the field of battle , and the Scots five . Howcomplete the rout was may be gathered from thoseverses from the old ballad of H ardyknu te ,

” whichtells the story of the battle

In thraw is of death , wi th wallowi t ch iekA ll pant ing on the plain ,

T he fain ting corps of warriors lay ,

Neir to aryis again .

Neir to return to nat ive landNae m air w i

’ bli thesom e sounds ,To boist the glories of the day ,

A nd schew their shin ing wounds.

On Norway’

s coast the w idow i t dam e

May wash the rocks wi th tearsMay long look ower the sch iples seis

B efoir her mate appears.

G eise , lady, ceise , to hope in vain ,

Thy lord lyis in the clay ;T he valyan t Scots nae reivers tholeTo carry li fe away .

The chief scene of the fight is said to have been aplain to the south of the town

,immediately below the

mansion of H aylee , but the memorials of the conflictare not confined to this spot . In Dalry parish , adjacentto that of Largs

,there is a Camphill farm on a stream

known as the R ou tdon burn , there are B u rleygate andK ill ingcraig,

and still further south there is Keppingburn ,

where Sir Robert Boyd,one of the ancestors of the Earls

of Kilmarnock,is said to have intercepted a body of

fleeing Norsemen . There are the remains of a tumulusknown as A cho

’

s Tomb , the authenticity of which doesnot

,however

,seem to be very satisfactorily assured .

At one time there stood a cross at a place known as theB room lands ,

” which was supposed to have marked

THE NORSE VIKINGS 55

the spot where the battle waxed hottest . Thus-

it'

isreferred'to in H ardyknu te

There on the lea , qubai r stands a cross

Set up for monum en t

Thou sands fell fierce that summ er day ,

Filled kene waris black in ten t .

That summer day , as we have pointed out , wasOctober 3 ; obviously more than the orthography ofthe writer of the ballad was at fau lt ; otherwise thesummer season of the thirteenth century in Scotlandwas much more prolonged , in name if not in reality ,than it is now.

Without concerning ourselves unduly as to details,

i f is enough to know that the hard fought fight of Largsended in a notable Scottish victory , and ended for everthe Norse influence in Scotland. It confirmed Al exanderIII . in his sovereignty, as no Scottish sovereign had beenbefore his day

,cleared the seas of the pirates whose sails

had long been a terror on the Scottish coasts , and Openedup for the Kingdom the prospects of a brighter day .

Unfortunately the hopes thus engendered were notdestined to be soon realised ; for in 1 285 , whil e as yetAlexander was in the full measure of his usefulness

,his

horse stumbled and fell with its rider over a cliff and,

as has been said , that one false step of a horse on thebrow of the black rock of K inghom , changed the courseof a nation’

s history.

A lexander was succeeded by h is daughter Margaret ,an eight years old child , known to history as the Maidof Norway . The little girl was in Norway when herfather died . Edward I . of England was quick torecognise the Opportunity thus afforded for the union ofthe two Kingdoms through the marriage of his son withthe Scottish princess . But it was not to be . The Maidof Norway sickened and died while on her way hometo be wedded and as a result Scotland was plunged intothat unhappy contest for the Crown which began withthe selection of Baliol , that produced untold warrings


and contendings ,that brought Sir Will iam Wallace

upon the scene , and that culm inated in the crowningtrium ph of Bannockbum and of Robert the Bruce .

Man y were the dark days that were to ensue. Scotlandwas to go down into the long and trying valley ofdecision, and there , through much fiery tri al andperseverance , win for her children the glorious privilegeof independence .

CHAPTE R l\'

SIR W’

ILLIAM WALLACE

The competition for the Scottish Crown that followedthe untimely death of the Maid of Norway is a matter ofnational rather than of local history. There were in alltwelve competitors . Robert Bruce claimed as a

grandson , and John Bal iol as a great-grandson , ofWil liam the Lion ’s brother David . Earl of Huntingdon .

Bruce was the son of David’s second daughter. Baliolthe grandson of his eldest daughter. Bruce . therefore .

was nearer to the royal stock . Baliol more in the directline . The question was submitted to Edward I . ofEngland , and he decided in favour of Bal iol then heproceeded to humiliate Baliol with a view to theestablishment of his own overlordship in Scotland.

Baliol submitted a while . then refused . with the resultthat Edward marched upon Scotland at the head of apowerful army . defeated the Scots at Dunbar , reducedScotland to subjection , brought Baliol to his feet . senthim a pri soner to the Tower of London , and placedgarrisons in every considerable town and castle in thecountry. And thus it seemed as if he had achieved the

great purpose and ambition of his life . At last . hemight have been forgiven for concluding . Scotland wash is. Wales he had al ready subdued and nothing now

remained but to consolidate and establish his hold inGreat Britain from John 0

’ Groat ’s to Land ’s End. and


reign the first King of a United Kingdom . But,

fortunately for Scotland— fortunately also for theultimate and permanent union of the Kingdom withEngland—Edward was to fail of h is mission . Not yetwas the union to be achieved. Before that beneficentend was to be attained, there were to be centuriesof turmoil and warring , of devastation and of gallantm en by the thousand going down in the conflict .Scots and Englishmen alike were to be tried in the fire ,and were to emerge from the furnace

,heated more than

seven times,purified and hard knit together in an

indissoluble bond.

It was when Scotland lay prostrate at the feet ofthe conqueror that Sir Will iam Wallace appeared uponthe scene. Wallace was of Ayrshire descent . The namele Waleys signifies the Welshman .

” This does notmean , however, that he was of Welsh extraction .

Strathclyde was part of ancient Cumbrae ,or Wales

, as

distinguished from Scotland proper,and Wallace ’s

forbears had long been settled in the Scottish westlandbefore the national misfortunes called the hero of hi srace and of his country to the forefront of the battle .

His father, Malcolm Wallace , was the younger son ofAdam Wallace , of R iccarton , and he held the lands ofA u chinbothie in Ayrshi re as well as of Elderslie in the

county of Renfrew. H is wife, Margaret Crawfu rd ,the

mother of the hero , was of the best Ayrshire stock adaughter of Sir Hugh Craufurd, of Loudoun and Corsbie ,scion of an Anglo-Danish family, who , driven intoScotland at the Conquest , became owners , duringEdgar’s reign , of considerable territory. Wyntoun thusdescribes his lineage

H e was cumm yn off gen ti llm en ,

In simpill state set he was thenH is fadre w es a m anly Knych t ,

H is m odyre wes a lady brych t .

The year of Wallace’s birth is uncertain ; it was

probably, however, about 1 270. Blind Harry avers

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE 59

that he was forty-five at the period of his execution in1 305 , but this is inconsistent with what we know of hisHistory otherwise .

It cannot be denied that great uncertainty surroundsthe story of Wallace’s career. Blind Harry ’s narrativewas not written until about two hundred years after hisdeath and while he may have derived his informationlargely from the fair Latin of Master Blair, Chaplainand companion to Wallace , it is qui te evident that hewas primarily a Scot writing and reciting for Scots , andthat his tale abounds with inaccuracies . He describeshimself as a bural man — that is, a humble andu nlearned person . He obtained support by repeatinghis poems in the halls of the Opu lent , and it is not difficultto conceive that he was minded to make the most ofthe traditions that had clustered about his hero ’s career,and which , like many other tradi tions, no doubt gatheredas they grew. Before Blind Harry’s day, however,John of F ordun had ( 1 37 1 -

90) composed his

Scotichronicum ,

” in which ample details are giveno f the patriot ; and these had been substantiallysupplemented by Andrew ofWyntoun , whose

“Cronykil

was Completed in 1426. Other details are found in theworks of Hemingford and Trivet , two contemporaryEnglish historians , in the State papers of the time , inpublic repositories not only in London , but in Paris,Brussels , Lille , and Ghent . and in the Scala Chronicao f Sir Thomas Gray of H eton ,

who wrote in the middleof the fourteenth century, and whose father had foughtin their campaigns in Scotland, under both Edward I .and Edward II . The authentic materials cannot becalled voluminous ; nevertheless , taken in conjunctionw ith the story as told by Blind Harry, far more thanenough remains to demonstrate that Wallace was a mano f remarkable capacity, of extraordi nary courage , ofpatriotism absolutely unsull ied, and every way worthyof the high position which he has held these long centuriesin the affection of the Scottish people . He never bowedthe knee , he never bent his neck to the yoke. When


others made friends of the mammon of expediency. he

remained stem and unbendi ng . While Opportunismwas the order of the day among the Scottish nobility ,

and the end was regarded as amply justifying the means-subserviency to-day and broken troth to-morrow

he never subordinated the line of duty to the necessitiesof the passing hour.What concerns u s is to deal with Wallace , not so

much in his relation to Scotland at large , as in h is relationto Ayrshire specifically. Like Robert the Bru ce , likeRobert Burns also , he is a national possession quite asmuch as an Ayrshire heritage ; and while warrantmight be ample for the tracing of his footprints as t hefootprints of one who has shed unequalled lustre on thecounty of his origin , the scheme and scope of our workcompel us rather to confine ourselves in the main to hisgoings and doings wi thin our own area. These are

necessarily taken largely from the pages of Blind Harry ,

and in some respects are subject to the necessaryreservation that must attach itself to the traditionsincorporated in the poem of the Homer of Wallacewight .Wallace was born at Elderslie . With a view to his

education he was first placed under the care of the priestof Dunipace , who imbued him with sentiments ofpatriotic ardour . From Dunipace he went to school atDundee , and it was while he was residing there that hefirst came into hostile touch with the English . The

English constable of the town,Selby

,had a son , who ,

meeting Wallace one day attired in green and wearing adagger , demanded that he should give the dagger up .

This he refused to do,and in the scu ffle that ensued he

smote young Selby mortally. The deed begat a necessityfor instant flight. Sheltered from his pursuers by thewife of a crofter at Longforgan

,near Dundee , he was

thence transferred to Kilspindie,in north-west

Haddi ngtonshire,and taken in charge by his mother

and uncle . Thence they removed to Dunipace , andfrom that to Ayrshire

,where Wallace was under the


before their eyes . Forgetting the weakness of themeasure in appreciation of the motive

,let us as far as

possible leave Hamilton to interpret for us some of theincidents with which the career of Wallace was identifiedin Ayrshire. Thus , then , to begi n with , is How Wal lacefish

’

d in Irvine WaterDreading no harm nor danger from hi s foes ,

Wallace a fishi ng for diversion goes ,To try what sport and pastim e he m ight getNone w i th him bu t a boy to bear his net .

Lu cky he was ,fished m ost su ccessfu lly,

Ti ll the Lord Percy and h is Cou rt rode by ;Which d id confu se and m u ch perplex his m indBecau se he had forgot his sword behi nd .

F ive of that trooping train in garm en ts green ,

Moun ted on horseback , hav ing Wallace seen ,

To him advanced , and blu stering langu age gave ,

Then damn’

d and swore ,! ounds, Scot , thy fish we ’

ll have .

Wi th m odest grace good Wallace d id reply,I

’

ll share the half wi th you m ost cheerfu lly.

One of them answered , That wou ld be too sm all ,

Then lighted down and from the boy took all ,

Whi ch in hi s knapsack speedily h e pu ts,The m ickle sorrow be in ’

s greedy gu tsThen Wallace said , I

’

m sure in m odesty,Y ou

’

ll leave u s som e i f gen tlem en you be .

A n aged Kn ight that lives in yonder hou se ,

Let him have som e—pray be so generou s.

”

The clown he boast ing , said not one word m ore ,

B u t this, T he river has enough in store,

We serv e a lord shall dine on them ere long.Then Wallace fret ting

, sai d T hou’

rt in the wrong.

Whom thou s thou here Fai th , thou deserv ’

st a blowPoor prating Scot , how darest thou talk so

Then at him ru ns, and ou t his sword does draw,

B u t Wallace pou lt -staff kept the rogu e in awe.

That tru sty tree, as the poor scoundrel found ,Laid him and sword both qu ickly on the grou nd.Wallace the sword caught fast in to h is hand ,Whi ch did the sau cy fellow soon comm and .

Then a back stroke so clev erly he gav e ,

H i s neck in two m ost clean ly there he clav e.

T he other fou r , alighting from their horse ,Do h im at tack wi th all their strength and force

Y et thou gh they him su rrou nd on ev ery sideWi th hardy blows he paid them back and side .


Upon the head so fierce he struck at one ,

The shearing sword cu t through hi s collar boneAnother, on the arm , that stood near byH e struck, ti ll hand and sword on the field di d li e.

Three slew he there , two fled wi th all their mi ghtUn to their horse in a confounded fright .Lost all their fish , no longer du rs’

t remain ,

A nd three fat E nglish bu cks upon the plain .

The survivors received scant sympathy from Percy ,who thought that

,if one Scot could thus deal with five

Englishmen , the misfortune in their particular case wasnot worth avenging. When Sir Reginald heard thenews, however, he was in a sad plight . He foresawwhither it might lead ; but Wallace at once relievedhim of his apprehension by announcing that he wouldforthwith leave and push his fortunes wherever he could .

From R iccarton he went to the house of A uchincru ive ,a mansion romantically situated on a rocky eminenceoverlooking the river Ayr

,and about three miles distant

from the county town . The old house has long sincegone another has taken its place but the scene uponwhich the patriot looked may still be realised—a sceneof a rocky ri ver bed

,of the Ayr winding its way by little

passes in the broken rocks , or the flood driving its brownwaters impetuously over them , the high banks on eitherside of the stream , the adjacent country rich in foliage ,deeply wooded , and all forming a picture pleasant to theeye and much reminiscent . The owner , A leyn Wallace ,was also , like the Sheriff of Ayr, Sir Regi nald Craufurd ,one of Edward ’s homagers - that is, he had signedthe roll of homage—and he was afraid to shelter Wallacewi thin the walls of his dwell ing. But the Laglane woodwas hard by

,its recesses and i ts Shelters , and there was

a cave in the Cliffs overhanging the river, and in thiswood, and sometimes in this cave , the patri ot remainedsecluded , the while he gathered about him a small bandof devoted followers—men like himself, who scorned theSouthron ’s ascendancy and were for a free Scotland .

To the wood and the river Burns repaired in his dayand explored every foot that he thought might have


conduced to the sanctuary of his hero , and his heartglowed with a wish to be able to make a song on him insome measure equal to h is merit .”

From the wood Wallace issued forth at intervals ,and performed prodigies of valour. Attended by hisgroom , he repaired to Ayr , then swarming with Englishsoldiery. Here he encountered a huge English fellow

Who greatly bragged of hi s prodigiou s strength ,Which cost h im dear , as you shall hear at length.

A greater bu rden , said thi s prince of sots,

H e’

d bear , than any three good stu rdy ScotsA nd wi th a staff , like a stage-dancer’

s pole ,

F or one poor groat he wou ld perm i t and tholeThe strongest m an to beat him on the backSo im pruden tly did the carle crack .

Whi ch story , when i t cam e to Wallace’

ear ,

To sm i le and laugh he scarce cou ld well forbear .

H e told the fellow that he wou ld be wi lling ,F or one Scot ’s blow to give an E nglish shi lling.

The greedy wretch d id freely condescend ,Which qu ickly brought him to h is fatal end

F or Wallace hi t him su ch a dreadfu l thum pUpon hi s back close to his great fat rum p ,That to the v iew of all were presen t thereH e clav e his rig

-bane , and he ne’

er spake mair.

The death of their countryman brought the Englishsoldiery about Wallace . With the pole he so smote onethat forthwi th brains and bones did flee ,

” and withanother blow disposed of a second ; then drawing hissword he cut a lan e through the Southrons till he reachedhis horse . Before he mounted he had perforce to ridhimself of two troublesome antagonists .

H is anger kindled , to such height i t grew ,

Wi th one good stroke the forem ost there he slew,

A blow he got upon the other knave ,

Till hi s good sword down throu gh h is body drave.

Having thus slain five Englishmen , he rode away to therecesses of the Langlane wood ; soon , however, torevisit the town and give fresh evidence of hisextraordinary prowess . But this time it had been betterfor him that he had not come at all . Sir Reginald


Craufurd , the Sheri ff of Ayr, had sent his servant to themarket place to buy some fish . He was retur ning withhis burden when Percy’s steward demanded that heshould hand over the fish to him and when he demurred,the steward began to bully him . Wallace was standingby , and he interposed . In reply the steward struckWallace with his hunting staff. The familiar resultensued Wallace drew his dagger and killed him on thespot . Immediately he was surrounded by the towng uard

,fourscore at least , well-harnessed Englishmen .

”

He fairly excelled himself in the art of slaughter .Drawing his sword

H e cleverly un to h is feet d id get

A nd stick’

d the forem ost fellow that he met ,

Upon the knee another h it he so

That m om en t made the bone asunder go ,

Nor can I say the third had bet ter luck ,Who got his neck in two m ost clean ly cu t .Thu s Wallace rag

’

d and ram ped lion -like ,

A nd m ade the carles strangely fidge and fyke.

No wonder , for they got m ost grievou s wounds,So desp

’

rately he clawed their Sou thron crownsA nd thou gh the gate wi th sword and spears they keep ,H e hew

’

d them down like heartless , silly sheep.

But in spite of all his valou r,the hero was at last

overcome and carried off to prison , where he was forcedto subsist on a diet of herrings and water, and therefuse of everything was good.

” The resul t was that hepined away, Closed his eyes , and fainted . Thinking himdead, the English threw him over the castle wall , wherehe was found by his old nurse , and conveyed to herhouse . Here, much to her surprise , he came to , and inprocess of time recovered and left Ayr secretly. On hisway thence he was beset by three Englishmen the neckof the first he cu t in two , the second went down to astroke on his crown

,and the third collapsed to a blow

on the ri bs . Having thus disposed of his assailants, herode on to R iccarton ,

where he received a cordial welcomefrom Sir Reginald Craufurd and his sons, and from SirRobert Boyd, that worthy was, and wight .

”


In all this there is a great deal that is apocryphal .It may well be believed that Wallace was , single-handed ,more than a match for any man of his time

,but it does

not follow that he should have hewed the Southronsdown like silly sheep in this desperately wholesalefashion . In Laglane wood, and no doubt judi ciouslyvisiting his friends in Ayrshire who were true to thenational cause , the patriot gathered together a numberof followers , and became powerful enough to repulseparties of English troops that issued from the castle ofAyr. The Chief supplies of the garrison were obtainedfrom Carlisle , and Wallace , learning that a convoy wason its way thence with stores

,he assembled his m en on

Mauchline Muir, and marched to Loudoun Hill—a

locality that had been visited by the Romans in the

day, and that was destined to become one of thelandmarks in Scotland’s later struggles for civil andreligious liberty—where he intercepted the convoy ,routed the victuallers , and seized their supplies . Theresul t was not only a material gain to the Scots ; itbrought al so numerous supporters to the national causeand to its leader.From Ayrshire Wallace passed into Lanarkshire .

Before doing so , however, he paid another visit to Ayrin disguise , and , according to the Minstrel , againdi stinguished himself in the accustomed fashion . In thegate of the town he encountered an English fencer, orbuckler player, who Chal lenged him to combat . Wallaceaccepted the invitation

,and at the first blow clave his

antagonist from the crown of his head to the shoulder.A tumult ensued. Eight score of Southrons fell uponthe hero and the fifteen men by whom he was

accompanied . Through the helmet of the foremost hescattered al l his pow ; a second he struck upon thebreast so that the good sword went clean through himand many a feckful chiel that day was slain .

” In theend the Scots cleared a bloody path to their horses , andhied them away to the sanctuary of the Laglane wood .

Thence penetrating into Lanarkshire,Wallace took

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE

refuge in the forest of Clydesdal e and it was while hewas in hiding here that there occurred that conflict inLanark town that has been described as his first greatstroke on behal f of his country . This affai r is set forthby Wyn toun , and garnished by Blind Harry. Hardbeset on the street by the English , Wallace and his men ,by the aid of a gentlewoman who adm itted them to herdemesne , succeeded in escaping to the Cartland Crags .

For her kindness the gentlewoman was slain by theEnglish , and in revenge Wallace and his men returnedto Lanark

,slew H esilrig,

the English Sheriff, and hisson , and so stimulated the patriotism of the Lanarkburghers that they slaughtered the Southron troopsand terminated the Edwardian rule in the town . Fromthe Clydesdal e forest Wallace and his men marched toDumbarton and entered into possession of the castle ,and then assailed Roseneath castle , which alsocapitulated to his valour. On his way thence to Stirlinghe captured the peel of Gargunnock , then spent a fewdays in hunting in the forest of Kincardine, marchedupon Scone and broke up the Court of the EnglishJusticiary

,and reduced Kinclaven castle and set it on fire .

At this time Robert the Bruce , the Earl of Carrick ,was a homager of the English monarch , and , acting forEdward , he made an attack on the territories of SirWill iam Douglas , who had , with true Douglas ardour ,espoused the national cause , and , scattering his followers ,threw his wife and children into prison . Edward wasloath to believe that the Scots ’ insurrection had attainedto serious dimensions

,and he thought it sufficient to

despatch the Bishop of Durham to the scene of revoltwith a force comprising no more than an hundred andtwenty cavalry. The bishop

,a powerful adherent of

the church militant , proceeded to Glasgow , and securedpossession of its episcopal palace . Wallace heard thenews when he was besieging the new castle of Ayr , and ,

at once raising the Siege , he marched upon Glasgow atthe head of two columns . Reaching the city by a forcednight march , he placed one column under the command

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

of his uncle , the laird of Auchinleck , the other under thatof a valiant lieutenant

,Sir Robert Boyd . A violent

conflict followed at a spot long after known as the hell0

’ the brae ,” the Scots achieving a decided victory.

Escaping, the Bishop of Durham hasted south to tellEdward of the formidable dimensions of the insurrection ,and Edward issued instructions to Percy

,the Governor

of A yr , charging him to suppress all national gatherings ,and to arrest those who took part in them . He instructedBruce also to raise a thousand men in Kyle

,Cunningham ,

and Carrick , and to be instant in quelling the revolt .And. resolved to leave nothing to chance , he commandedSir Robert Clifford to lead an army into Scotlandcomprising three thousand foot soldiers and threehundred cavalry. On his way through AnnandaleClifford was subjected to a fierce night attack, whichcompelled him to set on fire a portion of his tents so thathe might discover the movements of his aggressors .

Striking his camp,he marched hastily to Ayr.

It is evident that by this time the patriotic movementwas on the fair way to attaining almost nationaldimensions . It had the support of such men as Wishart ,the Bishop of Glasgow

,Sir William Douglas, and Sir

Richard de Lundin ; and the Earl of Carrick , havingbroken faith with Edward

,had allied his fortunes with

those of the insurgents . But it is equally clear thatthere was serious dissension in the Scottish camp . It isimpossible to believe that Bruce was running thedesperate risks involved with any desire to restoreBaliol to the throne the probability rather is that thegreat lord of Carrick and of Annandale was fighting forhis own hand . This may have been the cause of theweakening of the Scottish councils at this cri tical periodin the nation ’s struggle for freedom . Whatever it was ,it ended in a temporary collapse . The Scots wereencamped at Irvine

,and there the English sought them .

In place of cementing their differences , the Scots leaderstook to quarrelling among themselves , and Sir Richardde Lundin was so disgusted that

,declaring he could no


fact that when the ground was being dug in the end ofthe eighteenth century for the foundations of the church ,the workmen found great quantities of human bones . Itis well known , and it can be incontestably demonstratedwithout going beyond the bounds of Ayr , that the sandprevents the bones of those who have been committed toits tender keeping , from going to decay , and it is at leastworthy of record that this collection of all that remainedof some of those who had hom e their part in the life ofthe town long ago, was found at the very spot associatedwith the burning of the barns

,and the slaughter of the

English soldiery. While , therefore , there must beconsiderable reservation in matters of detail, we acceptthe fact of the conflagration with its fatal consequencesto the Southrons

,and leave it to the blind Minstrel,

through the medium of his translator into comparativelymodern verse , to tell the story.

There was a Court of Justiciary appointed to be heldat Ayr at midsummer

,and to it were summoned the

Ayrshire barons who had identified themselves with thenational cause . The intention of the English was tostrike a decisive blow at the friends of Wallace withinthe county. The Court of Justiciary was to be no Courtin the ordinary meaning of the word, but a place ofexecution . The leaders of the movement , andparticularly Wallace, were to be summarily deal t with ,and thus the insurrection in the westland nipped in thebud . When Wallace, on his way to Ayr with Sir

Reginal d Craufurd, the Sheriff of the town , reachedKingcase, at Prestwick , he asked his uncle where wasthe English charter of the peace , or safe conduct . AtCrosbie , said Sir Reginald , and bade Wal lace go and getit . Wallace

,fortunately for himself, acted on the

instruction,and the Sheriff and his friends , relying upon

the spirit of the safe conduct , even if they had not theprecious document itself in their hands, rode on to thecounty town . Dreading no wrong, they repaired to thebarns , whither they had been summoned and withthis dreadful result

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE 7 1

Sir R annald first , that ancien t Kn ight com es in ,

A nd then the bloody m urder does begin .

A running cord they slipped o’

er h is headThen to the bau lk they hau led him up dead .

Sir B ryce the B lair after S ir R annald passedThe cru el dogs to death him hastened fast ,No sooner en ters than he’

s in the snare ,

A nd on the bloody bau lk was fastened there.

A gallan t kn ight , S ir Nei l Mon tgomery,Was hanged next , which pi ty ’

twas to see .

Great numbers m ore of landed m en abou tWen t in , bu t none alive at al l cam e ou t .

The \Vallaces and Crau furds , stou t like steel ,

Great cruelty from barbarous Sou thron feel .The K ennedys of Carrick slew they also ,

A nd the kind Cam pbells that were never false ,

Nor did rebel against the righteou s crown ,

F or which the Sou thron hanged and hew’

d them downThe Barclays , Boyds, and Stewards of good k in ,

No Scot escaped that tim e that en tered in .

Such , according to the Minstrel , was the Southron hourand power of darkness . The revenge was in keeping.

Wallace was intercepted by a woman as he was hasteningtowards Ayr, who told him the sorry story. Riding tothe Laglane Wood, he gathered his men about him , andthey marched to the scene of the massacre . The Englishsoldi ery, having satiated their lust for blood upon theirfoes , had followed it up by wine and wassail , and werenot in a condi tion to realise the need for maintainingwatch and ward ; besides , they were four thousandstrong, and what need was there for sentry P Wallaceplaced his men quietly around the barns , and thenapplied the torch .

Wi th that the fiery flam es ascend aloft ,

To sleeping folk such wak ’

n ing was not soft .

The sight wi thou t was terrible to see ,

Then gu ess what cru el pain wi thin might beWhich to the bloody monsters there befel ,Next to the torm en ts , I m ay say , of hell .The bu ild ings great were all burned down that n ight ,None there escaped , squ ire , lord , or knight ,When grea t , hu ge roof- trees fell down them among ,0 su ch a sad and m elancholy song


Som e naked burned to ashes all away ,

Som e never rose , bu t sm o ther’

d where they lay .

O thers at tem pt ing to get to the air ,

Wi th fire and sword were burn t and choked there .

Their nau seou s sm ell none presen t cou ld abide .

A ju st reward ,for m u rder wi ll no t hide .

Som e sought the door, endeavou ring ou t to getB u t Sco tsm en them so w isely d id beset ,

Ou t of the burn ing flam es who ever go t

Imm ediately was cu t down on the spotOr driv en back wi th fu ry in the fire ,

Such wages got these hangm en for their hire .

Thus the barns of Ayr burned weel . But the events ofthat night of terror did not end there for the prior ofAyr , Drum law , and his seven brethren , armed themselvesand went round to the various houses in which Englishsoldiery were lodged , and either slew them on the spot ordrove them into the Friars ’ well .

Thu s slain and drowned were all that lodged there ,

M en call i t since , T he Friar ’

s Blessing of A yr.

After the capitulation of Irvine in 1 297 , in whichWallace bore no part , the patriot proceeded northward .

He recovered the castle of Forfar from the English ,

reduced that of Brechin , and besieged the stronghold ofDunottar in Kincardine . In Aberdeen he had asuccessful encounter with the English ,

and then marchedto Dundee ; and he was engaged in storming its castlewhen word was brought to him that the Earl of Surrey ,at the head of a powerfu l army

, was advancing towardsStirling. Raising the siege of the castle of Dundee

,he

hastened to meet him , and encamped his troops at theAbbey Craig . The battle of Stirling Bridge followed .

The Scots remained quiescent until about five thousandof the enemy had crossed the narrow bridge

,then by a

swift movement closed the narrow way . From thatmoment victory was assured. The Scots fell fiercelyupon those who had reached the hither side of theForth , and when they had dealt with these in drasticfashion , they crossed the river by a ford and completedthe rout . Then fell in succession into their hands the


cas tles of Dundee , Dunbar, and Roxburgh , and the townof Berwick. Wallace was everywhere recognised as thenational champion . He overran Northumberland andCumberland, as far as Newcastle and Carlisle . Theseoperations occupied his energies till the close of 1 297 .

By the middle of February the following year hewithdrew again across the Border, and Surrey was

agai n at Roxburgh . It was about this time that Wallaceassumed the title of Governor of Scotland for King John .

By midsummer Edward had advanced into Scotlandby way of Berwick , and in July , at the decisive battle ofFalkirk , the hopes of the Scots were crushed by defeat .

There appears to be considerable doubt as to whatBruce was about all this time . H is name is not mentionedin the Falkirk Roll as am ong those who fought forEdward , but both Wyntoun and F ordoun affirm hispresence , and refer to his prowess on the field . It iscommonly reported, says Fordoun ,

that Robert ofBruce , who was afterwards King of Scotland , but thenfought on the side of the King of England, was themeans of bringing about this victory , for, while the Scotsstood invincible in their ranks

,and could not be broken

by either force or stratagem , this Robert the Brucewent with one line under Anthony of Bek , by a longroad round a hill , and attacked the Scots in the rear ;and thus those who had stood invincible and impenetrablein front were craftily overcome in the rear. There aredifferent versions , at the instance of the Englishhistorians , of an incident that is said to have occurredat Edward’s headquarters after the battle . Accordingto one story, as Bruce was seated at dinner, Edwardlooked at his blood-stained hands and remarked , Seehow that Scot eats his own blood !” According to

another , Bruce took the opportunity of remindi ngEdward of his promise to make him King, and receivedthe haughty rejoinder, Do you think I have no more todo than to conquer Kingdoms for you But

,in spite

of these very definite assertions and stories , and of thefact , which cannot be gainsaid , that the Earl of Carrick

’s


policy was, at that period, of a vacillating character,it is not even certai n that Bruce was at Falkirk . If hewas, his subsequent action is inexplicable , for when heleft the English camp and retired to his castle in Carrick ,he was followed by Wallace , with whom he joined in anattack upon the castle of A yr . Edward repai red thi therto find the castle a ruin , and after a brief stay, whichlasted for five days, according to one authority, and forfifteen , according to another, he marched the main bodyof his troops into England, satisfied that he hadpractical ly asserted his supremacy over Scotland.

We need not trace the course of the national history,or the wanderings and deeds of the Scottish patriot , fromthe period of the rout of Falkirk to the death of Wal laceat West Sm ithfield by the hands of the Englishexecutioner. Comparatively little of the story , either ofthe land or of the man

,was evolved in Ayrshire. We

get glimpses, nevertheless , of the county’s Share in the

evolution, and of the most devious way that was stillbeing taken in his own interest by Robert the Bruce .

Edward came north again , and many were the soreexperiences that eventuated. The castles of Ayr

,

Turnberry, and Lochryan were held by English tr00ps.

In October,1 301 , the Constable of Ayr was Sir Montesin

de Noillun . Sir Montesin’

s office was by no means aSinecure. He had to endure an assault at the hands offour hundred armed Scots , and these, having deliveredtheir attack , had passed on into Carrick to besiegeTurnberry, and had apparently maintained theirinvestment until the succeeding February

,when they

were compelled to retreat by the advance of a relievingforce of Southrons . The English experienced somedifli culty in forwarding supplies to their garrisons , butboth Ayr and Turnberry had wheat, malt , great andsmall fish , and red wine sent to them . Prior to April

,

1 302 , Bruce is named as having come with some of hisCarrick tenants to the King’s peace

,and he so ingratiated

himself with the English King that Edward grantedto the tenants of his liege Robert de Brus

,Earl of


Carrick , those lands in Cumberland lately escheated forrebellion . The year following , when Edward wasprosecuting the siege of the castle of Stirling , he obviouslyregarded Bruce as one of his tried and trusted friends .He had summoned him to repair to Roxburgh with athousand men . He had accepted, on the precept of SirAymer de Valence , a supply of grain in advance of hiswages .” And in December of that year he is described

as Sheriff of Lanark .

” “ The Cloak is well made ,Edward said to him , and counselled him also to makethe hood,

” meaning that having begun well for theEnglish cause he should go forward in its prosecution .

And he supplied an engine of war for the siege of Stirlingcastle. How amply Bruce atoned for his vacillation weshall see in the following Chapter. Up till now he hadbeen in a strait betwixt two , and had tried , with thefamiliar resul t , to serve two masters . He had yet to godeep down into the Valley of Humiliation before hecould climb the heights on the further side .

In the summer of 1 305 Sir William Wallace fell intot he hands of the English . In connection with this eventthe name of Sir John de Menteith has been covered withinfamy. Sir John was at the time Governor of the castleo f Dumbarton . The immediate facts of the treacheryare involved in some mystery , but there is reason tobelieve that Menteith was acting in conjunction with oneRawe Rae (Ralf Ray) , in whose house in GlasgowWal lace was taken . For his share in the transactionthis man received a reward of forty marks , and Menteithwas rewarded with a sum equal to [1 5 1 . At tempts havebeen made to whitewash the character of Menteith

,and

to purge it from the indelible stain that attaches to it,

but his acceptance of the blood money speaks for itself.

At the same time it must be borne in mind that Scotland,

at the date of Wallace’s apprehension, lay prostrate atthe feet of England , that many of the best of her sons ,and who afterwards were to earn undying renown as

soldiers in the war of independence , were in the Englishservice , and that the Governor of Dumbarton castle may

6

76 HISTORY OF AYRSHIR E

have thought that his act would eventual ly conduce tothe peace of the country. B u t whatever may have beenhis motives , Scotland never forgot the act itself, andnever forgave it .Wal lace was pu t upon his trial in the great hall of

Westminster. Charged as a traitor to the King , hereplied that he had never sworn feal ty to the King of

England , and that therefore he cou ld not be a traitor toh im . The sentence that followed was a foregoneconclusion . It was adjudged, according to the recordof the period

That the foresaid Will iam ,for his manifest sedition .

plotting the King’s death , perpetrating annulment ofhis Crown and dignity, and bearing banner against hisliege lord , should be led from the Pal ace ofWestminsterto the Tower of London , and from the Tower to Allegate .

and so through the middle of the City to Elmes , and bethere hanged and afterwards drawn ,

for the robberies ,and homicides, and felonies which he had committed inthe realm of England and country of Scotland Andbecause he was an outlaw and had not been restored tothe King’s peace

,that he shou ld be beheaded ; and

thereafter,for the vast injury he did to God and Holy

Church in burning Churches , vessels , and biers , whereinthe bodies of the saints and relics of them were placed ,

the heart , liver, and lungs , and all the inner parts of thesaid William , whereout of such perverse imaginationspreceded, shou ld be cast into a fire and burned andalso , because he had done the foresaid sedi tion ,

depredations, fire-raisings and homicides , and felonies ,not only to the said King , but to the whole people ofEngland and Scotland, the body of the said Williamshould be cut and divided into four quarters , and thehead set on the Bridge of London

,in sight of those

passing both by land and water ; and one quartersuspended on the gibbet at Newcastle-ou -Tyne

,another

quarter at Berwick, a third quarter at Stirling , and afourth quarter at St . Johnstoun , for the dread and

chastisement of all that pass by and behold them .

CHAPTE R V

ROBERT THE BRUCE

Among the many historic ruins of Ayrshire—the

castles and peels of early days—none is of greater histori cinterest than that of Turnberry

,once the home of Robert

the Bru ce. Seated on its rock overlooking the sea, in theCarrick parish of Kirkoswald, scarcely more than enoughof it remains to tell what a powerful keep it must havebeen in the days of its beauty and its excellency. Thecastles of a later period

,the peels of the fourteenth

and the fifteenth centuries , were of the order representedto-day by Cassillis, by Baltersan ,

and by all that is leftof Greenan . The long wars with England that followedon the triumphs of the great lord of Carri ck soimpoveri shed the country that the nobles had not thewherewithal to reproduce the strongholds , like Dundonaldand Dunure , and like Turnberry , that had been erectedwhen as yet Scotland was a country relatively ofconsiderable wealth. They had to think of how todefend themselves, not only against the possible attacksof the common foe, but in those disastrous conflictswhich they waged with one another, and which werelargely the resul t of the disordered state of societybegotten by the national perils from without and theconsequent weakening of the authority of the Crown ;and so they built themselves the peels, or keeps , the loftytowers that were least susceptible to attack and mosteasily defended . That Turnberry, in the heyday of its

ROBERT TH E BRU CE 79

might and its prosperity , was a castle of great strength ,and generous in its proportions , is beyond any doubt.The part it played in the troublous times when Bruce wasits lord, so demonstrates , and all that is left of it verifiesthe conclusion .

The Bruces were originally a Norman fami ly . Amongthe barons and knights who followed the standard ofWilliam , Duke of Normandy , in his conquest of Englandin 1 066 , Robert de Brus appears to have been adistinguished character ; so much so that he wasrewarded with the gift of no fewer than forty-threemanors in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshi re , andfifty

-one in the North Riding . H is son ,Robert, resided

at the Court of Henry I . of England when David ,

afterwards King of Scots , was also in residence ; and ,

as the resul t of the intimacy that Sprang up betweenthe two young men , King David made him a grant ofthe lands of Annandale , in Dumfriesshi re . Then camea third Robert , and a fourth , and after him a William ,

who in turn gave place to the fifth Robert, who marriedIsobel , second daughter of David , Earl of Huntingdon ,the younger brother of William the Lion . It was thisunion that brought the royal blood into the family ofthe lord of Annandale , and that constituted the SixthRobert Bruce one of the competitors with Bal iol for theScottish Crown , which was afterwards won by his

illustrious grandson . Robert , the seventh of the name ,succeeded to his power and to his Claims and with himbegins the Close association of the Bruce family withCarrick .

The connection was most romantically begun. Thelady of Turnberry of the period—probably the year was1 273

—was Marjorie , the only child of Niel , the secondEarl of Carrick , upon whose death , in 1 256, she had ,

while yet a young girl , succeeded to the Earldom . Aboutten years later she married Adam de Kilconquhar ,who , in her right , and after the Scottish custom , becameEarl of Carrick . This Earl joined in the crusade againstthe Saracens of 1 268, and died at Acon in Palestine , in


1 270,without issue . Possibly in memory of her lord, she

greatly augmented the endowment granted to CrossraguelAbbey by her grandfather, Duncan , the first Earl . Butshe was not a widow content to accept the slings andtaunts of cruel fate without striving after some of thecompensations of this life. And one day , when engagedin hunting with her attendant squires and ladies , She

encountered the lord of Annandale as he was pursuinghis way through Carrick . Bruce was at the timetwenty-eight years of age. He is said to haveaccompanied Louis , King of France , on his last expedi tionto the East against the Infidels ; and he certainlyfollowed the banners of Edward in 1 269 into Palestine ,and was ever afterwards highly regarded by that Prince .

The young Countess,struck by the noble mien Of the

lord of Annandal e,sent a messenger after him to invite

him to Turnberry but knowing who she was , and thatshe was a ward of the King

,and that the Sovereign would

resent any interference with her in the most remotedegree , he politely declined . The Countess was not thusto be baffl ed, however, and ,

with some show of force ,she had him brought to Turnberry

,where she so

pleasantly entertained him that , casting responsibilitytowards the Crown to the Winds , he married her after acourtship that lasted no more than a few days . TheKing was angry, and seized her castle and estates , butthe lady offered substantial atonement for her feudaldelinquency by the payment of a fine , and the unionthus hurriedly entered upon was matrimonially followedby the happiest resul ts . Bruce succeeded , in right ofhi s wife , to the Earldom of Carrick , and, as the yearspassed on , no fewer than twelve children , five sons andseven daughters, were born to the lord and lady ofTurnberry . Of these

,the eldest son

,but not the first

born Chi ld, was the eighth Robert of the Annandalefamily the second son ,

Edward,afterwards made Earl

of Carrick and Lord of Galloway by his brother, fell inthe battle of Dundalk

,in Ireland

,in 1 318; the third

and fourth , Thomas and Alexander, were taken prisoners

ROBERT THE BRUCE 81

in Galloway in 1 307 , and were put to death at Carlisleby order of Edward I . and the fifth , Nigel , or Niel ,was captured at Kildrummy Castle in 1 306 , and executedsimilarly on the command of the English monarch.

Of the seven daughters one. Mary , was seized at Tai n bythe Earl of Ross

,delivered over to the English , and

confined by the order of the King in a cage in the Castleof Roxburgh ; and a second , Christian , was a prisonerin England from 1 306 till 1 314, when she was exchangedfor some English

'

prisoners ; and her husband, SirChristopher Seton , was put to death at Dumfries bythe command of Edward I . In the face of such a recordas that , it is no wonder if Robert the Bruce hated theEnglish monarch and the English tyranny.

As yet,however, at the time with which we are

dealing , the future King of Scotland was but a boy.

The Turnberry domestic Circle was unbroken , and itrequires no great stretch of imagination to picture thehappy family of boys and girls playing on the greenfields to landward of the keep , and upon the yellow sandsthat stretch to either Side of the Cliffs from which thefortress strength looked out to the rock of Ailsa , to theMull of Kintyre

,to the long Chain of the Arran hills , and

to the sea boundless on the western horizon . It is ,perhaps

,somewhat of a moot point where Robert the

Bruce was born . There is no record of the place of hisbirth . The day we know— the 1 1 th of July—and theyear we know—1 274

—but the historian has not thoughtit worth his while to say whether the event took placeat Turnberry

,or at Lochmaben Castle , the ancestral

home of the lord of Annandale . There can be noabsolute certainty on the point

,but there is, at least , a

prima facie case for concluding that the birth took placeat Turnberry . In becoming Earl of Carrick , Bruceassumed a higher title than he had enjoyed before hismarriage , and , in that sense , Turnberry may be said tohave become his headquarters . The character of themother too must be taken into account . It is evidentthat she must have been a woman of strong and forceful


will . It was she who courted the Annandale lord ; at allevents , she openly took the initiative . She carried himhome with her ; it was not , as is customary, he who tookhis young wife to his ancestral halls . It is beyond anydoubt that the English , at a later period, regardedTurnberry so much of a Bruce strength as to thi nk itworthy of being occupied by a strong garrison . And therecords of Crossraguel Abbey demonstrate that theCountess had a strong affection for her native districtof Carrick . Beyond these considerations , it must beremembered that E dward. of England was at the timepromoting his claims to the overlordship of Scotland ,wi th the eventual intent of adding it to his Englishdomains , that Lochmaben Castle was of easier accessto his forces than the somewhat remote castle on theCarrick seaboard , and that the Bruces must have feltgreater security in Turnberry than they could possiblyhave done in Annandale . If therefore it cannot beassumed positively that Robert the Bruce was born atTurnberry, the inferences point directly towards thatconclusion ; and the fact cannot be ignored that whenBruce embarked on his final struggle for the Kingsh ipof Scotland

, his first resounding and effective blow was

struck hard by the gateway of Turnberry . Does not thisdemonstrate that his old home lay very near to hisheart , and that he had every good cause for believ ingthat the friends of his youth could be depended upon tostand by him in the great work to which he had puthis handWith the earlier years of the life of Robert the

Bruce— and here we mu st put all the other Robertsbehind us

,and centre on the one great Robert who

wrested the sovereignty of Scotland from the Englishmonarch on the field of Bannockburn—we need notdeal , neither with his opening attempts towards thereali sation of his ambitions . He had a hard task toperform . In his youth , there is reason to believe , heresided for some time at the English Court . He was theowner of large estates in England

,and naturally enough

ROBERT THE BRUCE 83

he was loath to give them up . Considerations of policyled him

,as far as he possibly cou ld , to maintain himself

on friendly terms with Edward. In 1 296 , as Earl ofCarri ck , he swore fealty to Edward at Berwick , and thefollowing year he renewed his oath of homage at Carlisle .

Abandoning the cause of England shortly afterwards ,he sided with Wallace , and led his Carrick vassals to hissupport

,but , on the capitu lation of Irvine , he hastened

to make his peace with the English monarch . The yearof the Scottish defeat at Falkirk , 1 298, and after thatfateful fight had been fought , he again rose againstEdward

,had his lands wasted by the English , and , in

revenge,sacked and set fire to the castle of A yr, then

occupied by an English garrison . From then till 1 306he bided his time , in public an adh erent of Edward, inprivate buttress ing his position by a secret al liance withLamberton , Bishop of St . Andrews, one of the mostpatri otic of the Scottish clergy . On the 1 0th February ,1 306 , he encountered the Red Comyn , a nephew ofBaliol , and a ri val Claimant for the Crown , in the conventof the Minori te friars at Dumfries . A quarrel ensued ,

and Bruce,in a paroxysm of fury

,stabbed Comyn wi th

his dagger. Rushing out to his attendants , I must beoff , he cried , for I doubt I have Slain the Red Comyn .

”

Doubt exclaimed Kirkpatrick of Closeburn , Imak ’ siccar and , rushing into the convent , hedespatched Comyn where he lay

,weltering in his blood,

before the high altar. The di e was cast . Two monthslater Bruce was crowned King of Scotland at Scone .

But his time to reign had not yet come . An Englisharmy drove him into the fastnesses of Athole the Lordof Lorn , the Comyn

’s uncle,chased him into the West

Highlands and he was fain to escape with a few devotedfollowers to the small island of R athlin ,

on the northcoast of Ireland , where he spent the Winter . H is estateswere confiscated , he was excommunicated by the Pope

’sLegate at Carlisle , and finally he was supposed to bedead . Truly h is fortunes seemed at that period to havecome to the vanishing point . But in Bruce

’s case , as


in many others, when the night was darkest it was eventhen drawing on to the dawni ng of the day .

Early in the spring of 1 307, Sir James Douglas , whohad accompanied the banished King in his wanderings ,obtained leave to cross over from R athlin with SirRobert Boyd and a small body of followers to the islandof Arran , in order to make an attempt upon the castleof Brodick , then held for the English by Sir JohnHastings. It is hardly possible to conceive a morehopeless expedition than that of those hardy adventurers.They left R athl in in an open boat

, and ,reaching Arran

in safety , they went into hidi ng near the castle , in thehope of being able to take it by surprise . In this theywere fortunately successful . Watching their Opportunitythey fell upon the garrison , unsuspicious of danger, inthe open , and then rushed the castle , obtaining therebyshelter and abundant store, not only of provisions, butalso of arms . Here , later on , they were joined by theKing himself

,with a fleet of thirty-three galleys and

three hundred men . None knew better than Robertthe Bruce how vain it must be to attempt the recoveryof his Crown and his country with SO scant a following,bu t he had all the confidence that high personal courageand enthusiasm can afford, and he had sufficient faith inhis vassals in Carrick and in Annandale , and in his

fellow-countrymen generally,that they would not

be slow to follow if only they were boldly led . Acrossthe Firth of Clyde lay the flat lands of Ayrshire . Therewas his home , there were his hopes , and , desperateas the enterprise was that lay before him , he resolved toundertake it . Bruce was wary, however, and wise , aswell as bold and resolute

,and he despatched a messenger

to Ayrshire to ascertain what prospect there was of hisappeal being responded to . The messenger crossed , andtravelled the countryside . He found that the Englishwere everywhere in force . that the land was quiet andsubdued, if not content , and that there was but scantoccasion for believing that the venture cou ld in anydegree be successful . The King had instructed him ,


be going hard with his men but he was ignorant of thestrength of the attacking Scots

,and he remained

'

in

safety where he was. According to Barbour,the English

slain that night numbered two hundred only oneSouthron remained alive when the conflict was over,and he was fortunate enough to escape to the castle .

Bruce wai ted in the vicini ty for three days to rest hisfollowers , and in the hope that the country would flockto his standard then , finding that there was no worthyresponse even from his own vassals, and that the Englishcommander had no mind to come forth from the securityof his battlements and have it out in the open , hewithdrew into the mountainous parts of Carrick .

The tidings of what had befal len at Turnberry werenot long in spreading. The castle of Ayr was held by apowerful body of English soldiers ; scattered over thewhole south and west of Scotland were other Englishgarrisons ; there were many of the ,

Scottish nobilitywho would willingly have handed Bruce over to KingEdward, had it been in their power to do it there wasno evidence of any inclination on the part of the commonpeople to risk their lives and their liberties in whatmust have seemed to them an altogether hopelessenterprise and the King and his followers accordinglysecreted themselves in the hills above Dailly and awaitedthe evolution of events . Bruce di spatched his brotherEdward into Gal loway, in order that he might be guardedagainst surprise from that quarter and it may well bebelieved that from this high vantage ground he castmany an anxious gaze upon the plains that lay beneathh is ken . For well the King knew that he would not longbe left alone .

The story of Bruce’s wanderings and adventures ,largely dependent on the authority of Barbour, equallythe father of Scottish poetry and Scottish history , readslike a romance . There is no good reason , however, whyit should be treated as if it were fable . Barbour issupposed to have been born about 1 31 6 ; he was

contemporary with the men who had taken part in the

ROBERT TH E BRUCE 87

Scottish War of Independence ; hi s poem of The Brusis distinguished by great Simplicity and clearness ofstyle he has depicted in rough but faithful outline themen and manners of a truly heroic age he was highlyesteemed of the Scottish Court and none knew betterthan he that to have drawn wildly upon his imaginationwou ld have subjected him to the opprobrium of thosefor whom he wrote . There is no good reason , therefore ,why his narrative should be regarded as fabulous.Possibly

,if such a thing were indeed possible , he may

have overdone the indi vidual prowess of the King , butthat is an assumption there is really no sufficient reasonfor making. With Barbour then as our guide, let us

follow the Bruce in his wanderings through Ayrshireand the adj acent Shires , and tell the doughty deeds bywhich he raised an apparently hopeless cause to thecrowning glory of national independence.

Aymer de Valence was in command in the Lothians,

and forthwith he despatched Sir Ingram Bell with astrong body of men to bring King Robert into subjection .

Sir Ingram thought it wiser, in view of the fact thatBruce was encamped in the wilds, and in ignorance ofthe strength of his followers , to attempt his downfallby treachery . He accordingly despatched three men , afather and two sons , to take h im at unawares . Thesewere familiar with the district , and , knowing that itwas Bruce ’s custom to retire on occasion into a thicketfor purposes of meditation , they arranged the time oftheir coming for such a period as might best enable themto catch him unprotected. And so they found him .

Bruce had a strong intuition of danger. He knew thetreachery that everywhere abounded, and when he sawthem advancing , he ordered them to remain where theywere . The conspirators observed that he was al one

,

save for a page boy , and the father urged his right , asa distant relative of the King , to be at his Side in thehour of danger. As they continued their approach

,

Bruce took the bow from his page that the lad had beencarrying, fitted an arrow upon the string, and ,

taking


aim at the father, transfixed him in the brain .

Undeterred by the fall of their father,the two sons

pressed on , but two to one were odds that Bruce littleesteemed at any time , and , al though he was armed withnothing more than a short sword

,he despatched them

both . The deed got him considerable renown throughoutthe immediate district , and was a warning to the Englishthat they must take his capture more seriously it gaveheart also to Bruce

’s own followers , and it augured wellfrom the Opening for the ul timate success that must beachieved.

For the time being , however, i t brought no gain ofmen to the King on the contrary , so desperate did hiscause appear to be that some of his followers desertedhim . In the hope of broadening the interest in the

struggle . Sir James Douglas , whose fidelity nothingcould Shake , whose courage nothing cou ld daunt , paida visit to his OWII native countryside of Galloway , and ,

while Bruce was thus weakened, a party of Gallovidiansessayed his capture in considerable force . Hearing thatthey were in quest of him

,he retired into a morass , and

maintained a constant watch lest he should be taken atunawares . There was only the one narrow way by whichaccess could be had to the moss , and that across a smal lstream , commanded on the inner side by a fairly highbank . Attended by two of his followers

,Bruce was

scanning the surrounding country , when his quick eardetected the questioning of a bloodhound. The bayingcame steadily nearer

,and the King knew that danger

was at hand. He despatched his two followers with anurgent call for his m en ,

and took up his position on the

morass Side of the burn . There , when they approachedthe Gallovidians found him standing alone , armed at allpoints

,and with his long sword naked in his hand.

There were few men of his time who could fight as Brucefought . Courageous to a high degree , skilled in the useof sword and battle axe alike

,calm and confident , he

realised the possibilities of the strong righ t arm . Tothe Gallovidians it seemed as if Providence had placed

ROBERT TH E BRU CE 89

their enemy at their mercy, and they rushed forward tohis capture . The firs t man to essay the crossing of thestream went down dead into the waters , and othersfollowing shared in rapid succession the same fate .

One man ,mounted , put his horse at the brook , but he

fared no better than the rest . With quick succeedingblows , Bruce smote both man and horse . The horse ,sorely wounded , tumbled where he stood. Consciousthat its body might serve the enemy

’s purpose inenabling them to gain the bank on which he stood, theKing pricked it with the point of his Sword . Stung withpain , it sprang to its feet , gave one or two convulsivejumps , and fell a second time , but in a position lessperilous for the defending monarch. By this time thelittle burn was dyed with blood , and the Gallovidi ansdrew back. But they were still many to one , they werenot lacking in courage , the Bruce also was well worthovercoming and again they pressed forward. Only toslaughter, for as they reached the fatal spot at whichthe long swing of the sharp sword blade could find them

,

down they went one by one with the inevitableness o f

fate . It was a great and a grim slaughter.Bruce’s two followers had lost no time in bringing

up the men encamped in the morass. On their approachthe Gallovidi ans drew back , then fled . According toBarbour, no fewer than fourteen men lay dead together.The King himself was uninjured. No sooner was one

peril surmounted , however, than another overtook him .

Three or four hundred men joined his standard, but thenobles stood aside , fearful lest any manifestation of theirsympathies should involve them in the commondestruction, and the Engli sh forces had begun to moveseriously to the arresting of what threatened to prove

,

if it were not speedily checked , a serious revolution .

With about four hundred followers , Bruce crossed thecountry to the strengths of the Cumnock hills

,only to

learn that Aymer de Valence , with eight hundredsoldiers at his back , was marching upon his track . Withde Valence was John of Lorne and a strong party of


Highlanders . John of Lorne had a sleuthhound thathad once belonged to the King

, an animal of highsagacity , and he assured the English General that ifonly it were once put upon his track

,nothing could

prevent it following up the trail . Bruce withdrewfurther into the hills , for he could not meet the enemy inthe open , and the English pursued him on the one side ofthe uplands, the Highlanders on the other. The latterstruck his track, and the hound led them on . Brucedivided his men into three small forces . Two of thesehe instructed how to escape , after fixing a rendezvousfor their later meeting ; the thi rd he led forward inperson . The dog proved equal to his reputation . H e

undeviatingly took the right way. A second time theKing broke up his m en into three parties , but again itwas of no avail , and the nearer the hound approachedhim , the more eager was it to press on . More than oncethe flying monarch, oppressed by the weight of hi sarm our , was on the point of collapsing among theheather , but his men urged him on , and he persevered.

In due time, faint but still fleeing,he reached the

m ountainous country that surrounds Loch Doon andh ere he and his foster-brother took their way alone, theremainder of the party breaking up and each manseeking safety for himself. Coming to‘ one of the lanesthat carry the brown tributes of the mosses to the lochs,he jumped into the water and pursued his way alongthe bed of the stream for a distance sufficient to throwthe pursuers, Highlanders and sleuthhound alike, off thescent . Following the example of Bruce

,the men of

Lorne broke up into groups and sought their prey in al l

d irections ; and as Bruce and his foster-brother wereenjoying a sorely-needed rest , they were discovered byfive of the Highlanders . To an ordinary man the oddswou ld have been great to Bruce they were but smalland with his foster-brother by his Side he awaited theirapproach . They were nothing loath . Three of theirnumber assailed the King

,the other two his foster

brother. At the first blow Bruce killed one of the men


of Lorne , and the other two momentarily drawing back’

,

he sprang to the assistance of his comrade , and cutdown one of his assailants . Rounding again to his ownimmediate opponents, he despatched them in quicksuccession ; and his foster-brother having Similarlydisposed of his antagonist , the j aded warriors rested fora brief space and then resumed their flight

,finding

sanctuary in the stretching forest of Buchan . Whenthe remainder of the men of Lorne chanced upon thebloody scene of the combat , great was their amaz e tofind the five dead bodies upon the moss ; and theyceased from further pursuit .Holding on his way in the direction of Newton

Stewart , the King was Speedily face to face with a newdanger . This time it was in the guise of three men whojoined themselves to him and his foster-brother as theywere pursuing their j ourney. Bruce , who had only toogood reason for being suspicious of strangers , askedthem whi ther they were going. One of them answeredthat they were search of the King that they m ight j oinhis standard . If that were so ,

rejoined Bruce . then theycou ld go with him . Som ething in Bruce

’s demeanoursufficed to suggest to the men in whose presence theywere , and their suspicion was strengthened when theywere ordered to march in front . At nightfall the fivewayfarers entered an humble house on the roadside ,

and had supper together,and then they all laid

themselves upon the floor to rest . The King had warnedhis foster-brother to be wary , and had instructed himto remain awake during the first half of the night butthe young man was so fatigued that he went sound tosleep . Fortunately Bru ce himself remained awake ,and watchful , and i t was not long before he espied thethree conspirators , as they proved to be , whisperingtogether and getting their daggers ready. At once hesprang to his feet

,waking his foster-brother as he did so.

The men were upon him at once . A s his companionwas rising he received a fatal wound , but the King as

usual was equal to the occasion ; and , after a Short ,


sharp contest he Slew them all . The death of hisfoster-brother saddened him much . the more so that hehad to leave him in such company. where he had fallen .

Resuming his eventfu l j ourney,he reached Newton

Stewart in safety , and at once . j oining Douglas and hismen , led an attack in person upon a body of Englishsoldiery , whom he routed , and not a few of whom he slewwith his own hand .

Returning in a few days to Ayrshire , he went intohiding again in the wilds of Carrick . and it was not longere he had to repel another assault upon hi s person .

Thi s time he was abroad without h is armour, hunt ing.

and accompanied by his two powerful dogs . Threemen approached him , bending their bows as theyadvanced . The King cou ld not a fford to despise thedanger attendant on well-directed arrows and halting ,

he taunted the men with their cowardice , and Challengedthem to come forward like men and fight it out . Thisthey did . Bruce smote the foremost to the groundalmost before he had time to raise guard to defendhimself. One of the dogs seized another and held h imunt il a blow from the King’

s sword descended withdeadly precision on his head . The third made haste toescape

,but the dogs pul led him down , and Bruce did

the rest . Then , winding his horn , he called his followersabout h im , and hunted no more that day.

The tidings of these deeds of prowess rang throughAyrshire . The men of Kyle and of Carrick , and later ofCunningham

, began to gather in . The English Sovereignwas highly incensed at the growth of the rebellion , andSir Philip de Mowbray was despatched to Ayrshire witha thousand men to quell the rising . Bruce heard of thecoming expedition , and sent Sir J ames Douglas to meetthe English by the way. This he did most effectivelyNot far from Kilmarnock , at a place known as the

Nether Ford,where the road lay between two deep

morasses impassible by cavalry , he placed himself inambush . While the English were passing through thedefile and across the ford . Douglas attacked them with


might induce the English to attack from that quarter.De Valence came marching upon the scene , accompaniedby a brilliant staff, the troops gay in the full panoply ofwar, their flags flying

,their drums beating , and their

t rumpets sounding shrill defiance . AS compared withthe Scots , they were infinitely the stronger army, butB ruce knew his own business, he had reckoned onhaving to cope with the better organised

,the stronger ,

and the fully equipped force of the enemy,and

,in

Choosing his ground and in preparing it,he had

neutral ised to a large extent the advantages of themilitary superiority that he had to encounter .The battle was fought on the 1 oth of May. According

to Barbour , Bruce addressed his army on the eve of thestruggle . He pointed out that the intention of the foewas to reduce them to slavery, or else to slay them . Itwas therefore their duty to meet them hardily . The

Southrons much outnumbered them,but the ground

on which they must advance was of such a Characterthat in the actual fighting it must be man for man

,and

therefore the result must be to those who most heroicallyshould display their prowess. The King’s words createdhigh enthusiasm , and they were responded to byanswering shouts of determination to stand for Scotlandand the good cause . Then go we forth

,

” returnedBruce , where He that made of nothing al l things leadu s, and save us, and help us to our right De Val encesimilarly exhorted his men to be steadfast and to quitthemselves val iantly. The preliminary Speeches havetoo obviously the stamp of careful authorship to beaccepted in their literal accuracy , though i t is by nom eans unlikely that the opposing commanders did indeedendeavour to fire their men with enthusiasm for thecombat .

The battle was Opened by de Val ence , who advancedh is bowmen . These shot their Shafts in clouds uponthe Scots ; bu t they were Wholly ineffective againstmen lying in trenches, and accordingly the Englishcavalry were advanced to clear the trenches . This was


exactly what Bruce had cal culated upon . A s thehorsem en reached the edge of the ditch ,

the Scotsbrought their long pikes into play . Where they couldnot reach the men , they could at least reach the horses ,and they plunged their pikes into their bowels

,and so

maddened them with pain and with terror that theybroke , galloped wildly back from the edge of the ditch,and threw into inextricable confusion the ranks of themain body advancing to the support of the routedhorsemen . Bruce was quick to seize the occasion . Byword and deed al ike he encouraged his men . Rushingforward , they hurled their spears into the breakingforces of the foe , and so at once neutral ised the advantageof numbers pertaining to the English and so pressedforward their assau lt that the Southrons broke and fled ,

leaving the ground strewn with the dying and the dead .

It was a short,sharp battle

,rudely fought ; but war

is war, and men must fight as they can . And within afew hours of the Opening of the battle , the Scots weredriving the English legions in disastrous flight acrossthe plain .

From the field of Loudoun Hill , Aymer de Valenceretreated to Ayr . Three days later , Bruce encounteredSir Ralph de Morthemer and defeated him , and he al sosought shelter in the strength of the sanctuary of Ayrin that ancient castle of the three towers that is supposedto have occupied the highest point of the sandhi llsoverlooking the ri ver, which was more than four centuriesafterwards selected by the Commander of the forces ofthe English Commonweal th for the chief bastion of thefort which be constructed to hold the southwest ofScotland in Check . Bruce followed and laid siege to thecastle , but he lacked either the men or the munitions ofwarfare to carry it by assault , and , on the approach of apowerful relieving force , he raised the Siege and retiredonce again to the shelters of the southern Highlands .

In June of the same year, King Edward died atBurgh-ou -Sands on h is way to the invasion of Scotland.

The passing of Scottorum Malleus .” the Hammer of


the Scots,was a great gain to Scotland and the cause of

Robert the Bruce . It depri ved England of a capable ,resolute , dominating head, and substituted for thegreatest of the P18ntagenets a weak and a pleasure-lovingmonarch.

Bruce was not the man to neglect his opportunity .

It was on May roth that he had fought and won atLoudounhill . On June 1 st he was at Bothwell , orderi ngsix hundred men to reinforce the garrison at Ayr ; 011

the 1 1 th he had taken up his own headquarters at Ayrfrom July 1 6th to 19th he was at Dalmell ington , and bythe 24th he had scoured the hill country as far as theG lenkens . Returning to Ayr in the end of the month ,he issued a despatch requiri ng wines and victuals to besent from Dumfri es for nine knights whom he wasleaving in charge of the town . Edward II . began bytaking the field in person and marching into Scotlandwith the intention of crushing the rebellion

,but he was

not composed of the same stern stuff as his father, andwhen , in the middle of August , he had advanced upNithsdale , and had got into Ayrshire as far as Cumnock ,he gave orders for the army to retreat . Why , it is notdifficu lt to surmise . Campaigning in a dangerouscountry was much less to his liking than were thedissipations of his own capital . He appointed SirIngram de U m fraville warden of Carrick . In Galloway ,Edward Bruce , a soldier only less distinguished forphysical prowess , for energy , and for the capacity toavail himself of every occasion of harassing and worryingthe Common enemy than his brother , wrought valiantly.

He tamed the pride of the Macdougalls, and, havingdriven out the English

,his royal brother was free to

deal with the other branch of the same family, theMacdougalls of Lorne . Thus the work went on , theEnglish King occasionally Showing signs of awaking toactivi ty, and as regu larly foregoing his resolutions whenthe time came for gi ving effect to them ,

and the Brucemaking occasional raids into England , harrying thenorthern counties

,and returning to Scotland with great


stout sons of Galloway , warriors of the east and of them idland -there were patriot bands from al l the Ayrshiretowns , and from the stretching countryside , and thatthey played their part as manfully and as hardily astheir fellows . But Bannockburn was a nation ’s battle ,and as such it was all glorious .

England perforce ceased from troubling . Bruceconferred upon his gallant brother Edward the Earldomof Carrick

,and in 1 31 5 that ill-starred expedition for

the conquest of Ireland,that ended so disastrously at

Dundalk,in the death , on October 5th , 1 3 18, of Edward ,

by that tim e the crowned King of Ireland , was promoted.

But before the expedition sailed , as it did from Ayr inMay, Six thousand strong, King Robert assembled aParliament at Ayr

,on Sunday

,April 25 . In her time

Ayr has witnessed many stirring events , but it may bequestioned whether among them all she ever took partin a more brilliant or exciting series of scenes than thoseof the few weeks with which we are now dealing . Thewar with England was at an end

,peace had in a measure

—for the era was still stormy and in measure uncertain—asserted itself, and the long interr upted trade andcommerce had once more begu n to be m anifest . Ayrcould remember well the long occupation of the Englishsoldiery. It was but yesterday , so to speak , that theEnglish standard had been flying from the battlementsof the castle . Bruce had assaulted it in vain . The

townsfolk had heard with unabated interest of the deedsof the monarch among the uplands of the county. Theyhad rejoiced in his growing strength , in the accession of

power to his cau se, but they had been compelled torejoice inwardly and to walk warily the M ile the Englishflag had flown over them . Now the evil day was at anend . the town was gay with the gathered hosts of theScottish nobility

,the streets were resonant with the

tread of the'

force that was to accompany Edward Bruceto Ireland

,in the river lay the fleet that was to . bear

them westward,and King Robert himself was there .

From then till now,it is a far cry , bu t words are not

ROBERT THE BRUCE 99

needed to emphasise the fact that it was a great timefor A yr.

In these days the Church of St. John ’s stood in allits beauty amid the sandhills by the seashore , and

within its walls the Scotti sh Parliament assembled.

The Chief business was urgent enough. As years went ,the King was still a comparatively young man—he wasbut forty-one—but the strenuous manner of his life. hismat chings

,his wanderi ngs , his nights spent in the Open ,

and his manifest anxieties had enfeebled his constitution ,and rendered his tenure of life uncertain . At that timehe had only one Child , the Princess Marjorie ; and itwas to arrange for the succession to the Crown , incertain events

,that the Scottish Parliament had m et .

It was resolved that shou ld the King di e withoutheirs male, the succession should devolve upon his

brother Edward , the Earl of Carri ck , and his heirs malewhom failing, upon the Princess Marj orie . In the eventof the heir to the Crown succeeding under age , the Earlof Moray was to be guardian of the throne and of theKingdom ; and, should all the possible or prospect iveheirs di e , Moray was to adm inister the affairs of therealm until the prelates and magnates should declarewho it was that should succeed . In circumstances suchas these , it was of enormous importance who it was thatshould wed the Princess Marjorie

, and the Choice thatfell upon Walter, High Steward of Scotland , was onethat was destined to have incalculable results upon thehi story of Scotland , and of Great Britain , for many aday to come . Unfortunately. the Princess did not longsurv ive her wedding. On March 2 , 1 31 6 , in givingbirth to her only child , afterwards Robert II . of Scotland ,

she died .

In one of the forays on the Border country. theactivity and resourcefulness of a young Ayrshire knight .Sir William de Keith of Gal ston

,saved what at one time

threatened to prove a desperate Situation . The Scotshad captured Berwick from an English garrison . and.

after the manner of the time , the soldiers had proceeded


to loot the town . Their dispersion did not escape thenotice of the governor of the castle

,who ordered an

immediate sortie . Sir William de Keith at once rodethrough the town , and recalled the men to their standards ,with the result that the English were driven back

,and

were finally , though not until they had sustained a siegeof sixteen weeks

,compelled to surrender through famine .

Sir Will iam lived to acquire considerable renown in thesewars. He accompanied Douglas to Spain in 1 330,

whenthat gallant knight was on his way to Jerusalem withthe heart of the Bruce

,commanded at Berwick when

that town was taken by the English in 1 333 , was

ambassador to England in 1 335 , and was killed at thesiege of Stirling the following year .It was on June 7 ,

1 329, that King Robert died atCardross . His last injunction to his old comrade , SirJames Douglas

,is well remembered I wish as soon

as I be dead that my heart be taken out of my body andembalmed , and that you convey it to the holy sepulchrewhere our Lord lay

,and present it there

,seeing my body

cannot go thither . And, wherever you come , let it beknown that you carry with you the heart of King Robertof Scotland

,at his own instance and desire , to be

presented at the holy sepulchre.

” How Sir James setforth to keep the vow that he had vowed

,how Bruce ’s

body was laid to rest in Dunfermline,how Douglas fell

in Spain in battle with the Moors,and how the heart of

King Robert was brought back to Scotland and buriedin Melrose Abbey— these things pertain to the patheticincidents of these trying days of battle and of highemprise .

That the Bruce continued through life to have awarm side for Carrick is evident from the substantialrecognition he offered to Crossraguel Abbey and its

Benedictines. At Berwick, June 4,1 324, he granted

to the abbot and monks,by Charter , his whole lands of

Dungrelach ,to be held in pure and perpetual alms-gift

for the weal of his soul , and of the souls of all his ancestorsand successors .” At Cambuskenneth ,

July 20,1 327 ,


each of whom was to have eight bolls of meal and eightmerks a year, or, if there were but one , he was to havethe whole and the tax continues to be paid down tillnow, although leprosy has long since ceased to troublethe people of Scotland. Within comparatively recenttimes , a scrofulously affected woman received a dolefrom the Bruce bequest.If one were deliberately to set himself to dissect the

character, the motives , the actions , of the greatest of allthe Children of Carrick

,it would not be at all difficult to

find incidents in his career that , taken by themselvesalone , would appear to cast a dark shadow upon hi sfame . Whe’n Bruce was of the age of twenty-two , in1 296 , he did fealty to Edward I . at Berwick ; thefollowing year he renewed his feal ty , then took the fieldwith the insurgent Scots at Irvine

,capitulated, renewed

h is fealty , raided the lands of Douglas , gave his infantdaughter to Edward a hostage for hi loyalty, and wasreceived to the King’s peace in 1 299he was one of thethree guardians of Scotland in name of Bal iol , and thesame month attacked Edward’s garrison in LochmabenCastle in 1 302 he came with his tenants into theKing’s peace and attended Edward’s Parliament ; in

1 303 he received advances of pay from Edward and wasappointed his Sheriff of Lanark in 1 304 he was

Constable , for the English monarch , of the castle of A y r,received Edward’s thanks for good service, attended theKing’s Parliament in St . Andrews received Edward

’

s

thanks for forwarding engines for the siege of Stirling ,and , while he was doing homage for his English estates ,j oined in a league

,wi th the Bishop of St . Andrews ,

against the English ascendancy ; and in 1 305 he waswith Edward at Westminster

,attended his Parliament ,

and was probably, according to Sir Herbert Maxwell , a

witness of the trial and execution of Wallace. Takenby itself, that is not a nice or a consistent record . Butone must bear in mind the Changing conditions in

Scotland at the time,the frequent apparently hopeless

lot of the Scottish cause, the certainty that consistent

ROBERT TH E BRUCE 1 03

antagonism to England would not only have inevitablyresu lted in the forfeiture of all his lands both in Englandand Scotland, but would almost to a certainty havebrought himself to the scaffold ; and the likelihood ,agai n amounting almost to a certai nty , that we are notin possession of all the circumstances that attendedupon the Bruce ’s career. The times were storm y andunsettled

,and men ’

s minds change rapidly in periods ofcrisis and of revolution ; they adapt themselves tocircumstances which for the moment appear to beoverpowering and overwhelming, and they are not in a

position, as we are who can look at the whole dramafrom its opening to its Close , to know what the end is tobe . Beyond all , the towering and obliterating factremai ns that when Robert the Bruce did sternly and

seriously put his hand to the plough , when he electedto cast everything to the winds for Scotland,

he neverlooked back. He had done with vacillation , withindecision . By his courage , his patriotism his

unswerving fidelity to duty , his sufferi ngs, his

contendings , and his t riumphs, he amply atoned for theapparent weakness of his earlier years , and earned forhimself easy place as beyond any doubt the greatest ofall the Kings that ever sat upon the throne of Scotland.

Before passing from the essentially Bruce peri od inAyrshire history, mention must be made of the partplayed by Sir Christopher Seton , a knight who had highand honourable rank in the distinguished ancestry of theEglinton family. Sir Christopher was married to asister of Bruce . H e was , therefore, directly andimmediately linked with his fortunes , a partaker in hisambitions and hopes , and a Sharer in his councils . Withthe strength and vigour of his Norman lineage , hescorned the dangers appertaining to the desperatestruggle, into which he threw himself with the ardourof kinship and the gallantry of his race. He was withBruce when his small band of followers were routed atthe battle of Methven . Three times that day was theKing unhorsed. So nearly , according to Barbour, had


Sir Philip de Mowbray taken him prisoner , that hecried , I have the new made King. Sir Philip wasreckoning without his host , for , hardly had he givenvoice to his vaunting

,than Sir Christopher felled him

to the ground . He was with Br uce in the Minoriteconvent at Dumfries

,when the King

,in the heat of

controversy and of passion,slew the Red Comyn and

he was there also , at Scone , when Bruce was crownedKing of Scotland . These were all unforgivable sins inthe sight of Edward . He might conceivably havepardoned Seton for his share in the fight of Methven ,

had that stood alone , and had it been subsequentlyatoned for by submission and loyalty

,but the English

monarch had no forgiveness to extend to those who wereby when the Red Comyn was slain . That was an outragedoubly dyed, accursed in the Slaughter, and accursed inthe holy place where Comyn was stretched lifeless uponthe ground , and Edward had doomed all those whoshared in the abounding guilt to certain death. When ,

therefore , Bruce was compell ed to flee the country andto take refuge in the Isle of R athlin , off the coast ofIreland

,Sir Christopher sought shelter in the castle of

Loch Doon .

The castle of Loch Doon is one of a group of ancientkeeps , or fortalices , round which a great deal of thehistory of the shire is entwined . In its day it was astronghold for troublous times . Its ruins testify to itsstrength ,

it was surrounded by the waters of the inlandloch , it was in the heart of a mountainou s countrydifficul t of access and scant of supplies for an invadingforce

,and there was no artillery

,even of the by no

means despicable kind that existed at the period , thatcould be effectively brought to bear against it . Its

danger to Sir Christopher lay in other directions thanthose pertaining to the Siege in the changing conditionsand fortunes of the times , in the danger that pertainedto every m an of rank and circumstance who championedthe national cause

,in the desire of all

,save those

irretrievably committed to the cau se of Bruce , to stand

O6 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

been done at a considerably later period ; for, at thetime when Seton was executed, the King

’s prospectswere of the most hopeless description. He was a fugitive

,

in hiding , with but few followers , condemned to inaction ,hardly even befriended of his own kith and kin

,a King

without a crown , a desperate adventurer in anenterprise the success of which nothing but the eye offaith cou ld ever have descried .

Ayrshire ’s connection with the Bruce family did notcease with the monarch himself. From Turnberry bythe sea, on the Carrick coast , however, the interestpasses to the Castle of Dundonald, the cradle of theStuart dynasty . If Carrick gave Scotland the Bruces ,Kyle gave the nation her Stuarts . This also was aNorman family. It was Walter

,the first Lord High

Steward , who built Dundonald, and he lived much inthe castle , founding , among other religious institutions,the churches of Monkton and Prestwick . Dying in themiddle of the twelfth century , he was succeeded by hisson Alan , a favourite at the Court of William the Lion ,and he

,in 1 204, by another Walter, in 1 230 Justiciary

of Scotland. Alexander, the fourth Steward, was afamous fighter in the Crusades, and later commandedthe Scottish forces at the Battle of Largs . James, thefifth Steward, was one of the Regents of Scotland at theOpening of the times made troublous and fateful by SirWilliam Wallace, and after him came James , whofought through the greater part of the campaign withBruce

,and was one of the principal leaders of the Scots

at Bannockburn . This was he who wedded MarjoryBruce

,and the only Child of their union , Robert Bruce

Stewart, was the first of the Stewart, or Stuart, Kings .

H is mother , unfortunately, died in the act of giving h imbirth

,and at the age of twelve he lost his father. Like

many another son of his race , he had a life that was notwithout its sorrows and its troubles. When but seventeenhe was in the heat of the Battle of Halidon Hill afterthat he was a disinherited wanderer on h is possessionsin Bute when Edward III . and the traitorous Baliol

ROBERT TH E BRUCE 1 07

overran Scotland ; emerging from his seclusion , hecaptured Dunoon Castle , surprised the garrison ofDumbarton

, and regained the West of Scotland ; wasappointed Regent when only nineteen years of age ;was the chief instrument in expelling the English fromthe whole of Scotland ; procured the return of DavidII . from France ; was again Regent during David

’scaptivity in England ; and was imprisoned for severalyears by that ungrateful monarch , a base reward forthe conspicuous service that he had done him . In 1 371 ,

on David’s death without issue,he ascended the throne

at the age of fifty-five.

The first wife of Robert I I . was Elizabeth Mure ofR owallan . Her birthplace is still pointed out , theremains of what in its day was doubtless an abode ofstrength

, as well as a seat of happiness , standing , closeby the present R owallan Castle , a little off the highwaybetween Kilmaurs and Fenwick . The two were cousins ,but many times removed, and for long years it was amoot point in controversy whether their relationshipdid not invalidate the marriage , but early last centurythere was discovered , in the archives of the Vatican , ad ispensation from Pope Clement VI . granting the

pontifical sanction thought to be necessary to thewedding . Elizabeth Mure was a woman of great personalbeauty. She was an Ayrshire lass of the purest type

,

and, wedded to an Ayrshire lord, the children of theunion were unmistakably the bairns of the county.

Unfortunately, the Lady Elizabeth di ed before herhusband cam e to the throne. David II . was childless ,and so it may have been that she looked forward to royalestate , if not for her liege lord and herself, at least fortheir children . But unless this fair daughter of R owallanwas gifted with supernatural foresight beyond the others ,it is not to be imagined that she was able to look downthe vista that was to be unrolled in such pain andturmoil , in such stress and struggle , in romance minglingwith folly and with the baser passions

,and descry even

darkly the vicissitudes that were to be attendant upon8


her offspring and their descendants . For them the linewas often to run through the valley of the shadow

,and

across the dark mountains . B ut , nevertheless , thoughattenuated, it was to be a straight and an unbroken line .

and it runs still in the person of the monarch who sitsupon the throne of the greatest empire that this worldhas ever seen . Ayrshire may well claim to be a royalcounty . Carrick for the Bruce , Kyle for the Steward,Cunningham for the mother of the Stuart monarchssurely a threefold cord of fame of which the county maywell be proudRobert I I . lived much in Dundonald Castle

,and some

two or three years before his death , after the greatnational victory of Otterburn , he resigned the throneto his son , and retired to h is quiet home on the hillof Dundonald , where , having attained to the ripe age

of fourscore and four years , he died on the 1 3th of May ,1 390. During his years of retiral he seems

,from the

Exchequer R olls , to have lived well , and to have had a

brave funeral . The people called him Blear E ’

e,

because—a fact largely due to his birth—his eyes werered and watery , but he had shown himself a man ofvalour

,he had loved sport in the days of his strength

,

and he had been a good King , concerned for the wellbeingof the turbulent country that he had been called torule . After him came Robert III . H e also identifiedhim self with Dundonald, and his descendants after him ,

though in lessening degree , down till the days of James V.

In 1 773 there came upon a visit to Dundonald . Dr.Samuel Johnson , the great lexicographer and Boswellwi th him

, and the latter tells how Johnson , as he notedthe comparatively scant proportions of the ancient keep

,

“was very jocular at the homely accommodation ofKing Bob

,

’ and roared and laughed till the ru insechoed . B ut happiness, even Kingly happiness , isnot an affair of Courts and gilded palaces

,and it is

probable that the years that Robert II . Spent in his

seclusion in Kyle Steward were not the least enj oyableand solacing of his life .


succeeding Christmas Eve , the victor was surprised byRandolph

, and by a younger brother of Sir JamesDouglas, and was driven into England ; and the new

Lord of Carrick, who had no great difficulty in

demonstrating that his fealty had been wrung from himas the result of a combination of untoward circumstancesthat he could not control , obtained pardon . He does notseem to have enjoyed his honours long, however. InJuly, 1 333, the Scots encountered the English at HalidonHill , an eminence in Northumberland overlooking theTweed

, and were again defeated, upwards of ten thousandof them—according to some authorities, fourteenthousand—being left on the field and among the slainwas the Earl of Carrick .

Thirteen years after the Battle of Hal idon Hill , aperson styling himself Alexander Bruce

, and claiming tobe the Earl of Carrick , appeared in Scotland . H is storywas that he had fallen into the hands of the Englishand been carried away captive by them , that he haddiscreetly mai ntained his anonymity in their hands ,and that ultimately, under the guise of a citizen ofAberdeen , he had succeeded in procuring his ransom .

Then, as now, apparently, a Clever adventurer had nogreat diffi culty in obtai ning credence for a plausiblestory. This pretender obtained access to Court, andwas examined as to the truth of his narration , but ,finding his efforts resultless , he made his way intoCarrick, and appeared upon the scene of what he Claimedto be his paternal inheri tance . He was forthwithapprehended and put upon his trial as an impostor, andhe Closed his career upon the scaffold at Ayr. But formany years afterwards th ere were not wanting thosewho believed him to have been the genuine Lord ofCarrick , and a victim to the wiles of those who weredirectly interested in compassing his death.

As the result of the disastrous issues at Dupplin andat Hal idon Hill , Scotland for a time was , for most

practical purposes , largely at the mercy of England,and overrun by troops of marauders , but, with that

CENTURIES ON THE ANVIL 1 1

extraordinary power of recuperation that stood theScots in such good stead in many an hour of need

,they

rallied to the young King, who had already shown of

what stuff he was made , fighting as a volunteer underthe Earl ofMoray in some of his excursions into England;and, in 1 341 , David unfurled the royal standard and

called his loyal subjects to arms . The Ayrshire gentryresponded to hi s call , Eglinton and Boyd, Craigie and

Fu llarton among them , and in 1 346 he entered Englandat the head of an army of men . Marchingsouthward as far as Durham , the Scots laid waste thecountry with fire and sword . At Neville’s Cross theyencountered an English army

,and were decimated and

demoral ised by the English archers . King David wasbut a poor substitute for his father in such an hour ofneed . He was u rged to disperse the archers with cavalry,but in vain , and in less than three hours the Scottisharmy was a rout of fugi tives . The King was takenprisoner, and, mounted on a tall , black horse , so thathe might be the better seen of the citizens of London ,he was conducted a captive to the Tower, where heremained for eleven years . Then , that he might obtainhis release , he made a treaty with Edward, by whichas he had no children of his own , he constituted him hisheir . Among the other captives were Thomas Boyd,believed to be of the Kilmarnock family ; AndrewCampbell of Loudoun , and Roland Wallace of Kyle ;and Gilbert de Carrick , who is believed to have been oneof the early progenitors of the Kennedys

,was mortally

wounded.

Following the Battle of Durham , Baliol , backed bya body of English

, and by a strong force of Gallowaymen , made another inroad upon Scotland, and on hisway south , according to Fordun , he ravaged Ayrshireand Nithsdal e in the most ferocious manner. Still , nonethe less , the Scots held fast by their independence.

They repudi ated the treaty that their King in captivityhad signed ; and Edward, recognising that he couldhope to make nothing of a country which he cou ld

1 1 2 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

overrun bu t which he could not hope to conqu er, andwhich was a constan t drain U pon his exchequer , gaveDavid his liberty. He died childless in 1 37 1 , and was

succeeded on the throne by Robert , the son of \ValterStewart and Marj ory Bruce .

The previous connec tions of the Stewarts wi thA yrshire had been long and close . They had greatpossessions wi thin the county

,they had been associated

with its public life , they had been pious in the foundingand the endowm ent of i ts m onasteries , and the squarebuilt halls of Dundonald Castle knew them well .Robert 11 . never at best was a strong man , and hewas a weak monarch . H is eldest son

,whom his

predecessor on the throne had created Earl ofCarrick , enjoyed also the title of Lord Kyle . Underthe new monarch , the tension with England was

less severe . Edward III . had given up all pretensionsto the Scottish Crown

,though there is no reason to

believe that the English Government had ever relin

qu ished the traditional hope of annexing the northernto the southern Kingdom . In 1 382

-

3 , Robert 11 .

gave a license to the servants of the Earl of Carrickto carry barley from England into Scotland , and cornwas allowed to be sent to various parts of Scotland ;and in 1 396 leave was granted to the Earls of Carrickand of Fyfe to buy and carry into Scotland wine andbarley. But while these proofs of intercommunicationwere forthcoming

, and while King Robert would gladlyhave reigned in peace

,he was unable to restrain the

turbulence of his barons . These , particularly the greatScottish lords on the Borders

,organised a series of

predatory raids upon England,and the English Border

lords , nothing loath , reciprocated in like manner . TheScots were incited to action by the assistance , in men ,

in armour, and in money, of France and among thosewho shared in the French bounty were the Earl of Carrick ,to whom five thousand five hundred livres were given ,and William Cunninghame of Kilmaurs , whose sharewas five hundred livres .


Sir H u gh Moun tgom erie was he called ,Who ,

wi th a speare m ost bright ,Well-moun ted on a gallan t steedR an fiercely throu gh the fight .

A nd past the E nglish archers all ,Wi thou t or dread or feare ,

A nd through E rle Percy’ s body thenH e thru st hi s hatefu l speare .

Wi th such a vehem en t force and mightH e did hi s body gore ,

The staff ran through the other sideA large cloth-yard , and more.

5 0 thu s d id both these nobles dye ,

Whose courage none cou ld stai ne

A n E nglish archer then perceivedThe noble E rle was slain .

H e had a bow ben t in h is handMade of a tru sty tree

A n arrow of a cloth-yard longUp to the head drew he

Against Sir Hugh Moun tgom erie

So right the shaft he set ,

The grey-goose wing that was thereon ,

In hi s heart ’s bloode was w et .

We have said that the English loss included Ho tspu r,and the balladist is graphically specific in detailing inwhat manner he fell

,and in what tragic fashion his

death was avenged upon Sir Hugh Montgomerie by theEnglish bowman , but there is good reason to believethat neither the one nor the other was slain upon thefield, but that Montgom erie made capture of Percywho is called Sir Henry Percy in the History of theEglinton Family—and brought him with him to Scotlandwhere he turned him to such good account that he wasable , by the ransom that was paid for his release , tobuild the castle of Polnoon ,

the Chief residence ofthe Montgomeries in the barony of Eaglesham inRenfrewshire. With Hotspur also he brought thefamous pennon that had cost so much

,and it remains

with the Montgomeries to this day .

CENTURIES ON THE ANVIL 1 1 5

The story is told of A rchibald William , the thirteenthEarl of Eglinton , that , in connection with the greatTournament of 1839, the then noble head of the Percyfamily had made overtures to him for the restoration ofthe pennon . There ’s as good lea land at Eglinton .

was his answer, as ever there was at Otterburn letPercy come a nd take it if he can .

”

For such a peace-loving monarch , these warrings ofthe barons were too much . Without the Earl of Douglas .who was his son-in-law, and upon whom he largelydepended for the enforcement of the royal will , hefound he could not hope to keep his refractory subj ectsin check , and, resigning the Crown to his son , RobertIII . , he retired to his palace of Dundonald , where hespent the remai nder of his life amid a more placidenvironm ent than any he could hope for so long as heremained at the head of affairs . He di ed , April 19,

1 390.

By a Charter of 1404, Robert III . established the

principal ity ( f Scotland as an appanage for his eldestson , and annexed to it the barony of Cunningham ,

the

barony of Kyle Stewart , the lands of Kyle Regis . thesmaller Cumbrae, and the whole lands of the earldom ofCarrick ; and it is in virtue of this charter that thePrince of Wales enjoys to this day the title of Earl ofCarrick . There are no events of outstanding interest ,so far as Ayrshire is concerned , connected with thisperiod

,if we except the slaughter of one Neilson of

Dalrymple , and others , by Sir Thomas Boyd ofKilmarnock . Details of this event there are none ; itis interesting, however, as the first recorded incident inthe Ayrshire feuds that were destined ere long to ragein all their virulence , to prove so di sastrous to thecounty

,and to continue , almost without intermission,

by the space of full two hundred years .

Throughout the reign of James I . ( 1406 theablest of the Stuart Sovereigns , Ayrshire enjoyedcomparative quiet . The county was alike Clear fromthe reprisals made by the King upon the fierce nobleswho had held the nation in thral l and from the intrigues


by which it was sought to undermine the royal power ,and seems

,on the whole , to have done what it was

possible for the westland lords to do , to promote thereforms that J ames instituted for the behoof of thepeople as a whole . There were family feuds that wenton apace , with disastrous consequences to life andestate . but these were confined to a few powerful families ,the heads of which

,if they had not had their hands full

at home , would in all probability have exercised theirtoo assertive energies in the larger troubles of theKingdom .

When James I . was murdered in the monastery ofthe Dominicans at Perth

,his son

,James II . ( 1 437 - 1460)

was a Child of six , and another Regency followed , with allits inevitable consequences of unbridled ambition,

distraction , weakness , and dispeace . It was fortunatefor the Queen mother

,for the young King himself, and

for the nation,that a wise counsellor and Chancellor

was found in James Kennedy,youngest son of the lord

of Dunure . Kennedy was consecrated Bishop of Dunkeldin 1438, and he had no sooner entered upon Spiritualoffice than he set himself to reform the evils that eventhen had begun to assail the Church and to bring herinto conflict with the people . He went to Florence andobtained the necessary powers from Pope Eugenius IV .

and , returning to Scotland as B ishop of St . Andrews , hewrought so zealously in the work of reformation , that itwas recorded to his honour that no man then livingdid remember to have seen the Church in such an estate .

Honest , clear-sighted , and resolute , he proved a wiseadviser to the boy King in the attempts that heendeavoured to make to bring the turbulent nobilityunder subjection . Not only did he control the King’seducation

,but, on the death of the Queen Dowager, the

whole power of the State was placed in his hands, andhe ruled with great wisdom and discretion . H e wasst ill a power in the land when J ames IL , not yet thirtyyears of age , was killed by the bursting of a cannon atthe siege of the castle of Roxburgh ; and when James


of himself from its hazards,threw himself in the way of

the caval cade , and attempted with well-dissembledviolence to lead the King back to the pal ace , but ablow from the hunting-staff of Sir Alexander Boyd putan end to his interference .

For a time the power of the Boyds waxed greater andgreater. At a meeting of Parliament in the Autumn ofthe same year , Lord Boyd was solemnly pardoned bythe King for his abduction

,and appointed Governor of

H is Majesty and his brothers , and of the royal castles .H e was created by another charter Governor of theK ingdom of Scotland until the King Should come of age .

He married his son ,Thomas , to Mary, the eldest sister

of the King, the Isle of Arran was given her as a dowry ,and her husband was raised to the dignity of Earl ofArran . In 1 467 , Lord Boyd himself was constitutedGreat Chamberlain of Scotland for life . He renewed theleague with his friends for mutual protection and support .Large estates in Ayrshire and elsewhere were given tothe Earl of Arran and his Countess. Arran was placedat the head of the Commission that visited the Courts ofEurope for the purpose of finding a wife for the King ,and that concluded a treaty with the King of Denmark ,

under which the latter covenanted to give his daughter ,Margaret , in marriage to the young King of Scotland .

In 1 469he returned to Denmark with a royal retinue tobring home the Queen elect . This was the culminatingpoint in his greatness and in the fortunes of the Boyds .

When,in the Summer of that year

,the ship arrived in

Leith roads with the bride,the Countess of Arran

hastened on board to convey evil tidings to her husband.

In his absence his enemies , and the enemies of his house .had been at work

,and had undermined hi s influence with

the Sovereign . There was even a serious danger thatArran

,instead of being accorded a public welcome , as

the envoy of his royal brother-in -law , might be placedunder arrest ; and Arran , realising his danger, lost notime in securing his own personal safety , and fled withhis wife to Denmark .

CENTU RIES ON THE ANVIL 1 19

This was the beginning of the end, and the fall of thehouse of Boyd was as swift as its rise had been , and farmore inev itable . Lord Boyd mustered his vassals andmarched to Edinburgh in the hope of overawingParliament and reasserting h is power ; but he was now

advanced in years ; his friends, marking how the royalwind was blowing, refused to respond to his call hissmall army became disheartened when they saw theroyal standard unfurled to the breeze and the veteranjusticiar, deserted of all save his immediate followers ,fled to England. Sir Alexander , his brother, was takento the Castle Hill of Edinburgh , November 22 , 1 469, and

was beheaded . The Countess of Arran deserted herhusband in his exile and returned to Scotland, and he ,a wanderer and forsaken , died at Antwerp , where—a

poor solatium—a magnificent monument was erected tohis memory by Charles the Bold . The family estateswere forfeited ; the lordship of Bute and castle ofRothesay, the lordshi p of Cowal and castle of Dunoon ,the earldom of Carrick , the lands and castle ofDundonald, the barony of Renfrew, the lordship andcastle of Kilmarnock, and other goodly heritages invarious parts of the country .

Even in the chequered and kaleidoscopic history ofScotland in her most stormy and uncertain times, therehave been few examples of so speedy a rise and so rapida fall as that of the Boyds of Kilmarnock . In comparisonwith their neighbours , they were certainly no worse thanmost of them . They did not conspicuously abuse theirpowers or oppress the country . As compared with someother nobles of the period, Lord Boyd acted withconsiderable moderation. They were ambitious, however;and by that sin fell the angels. ” They grasped atinfluence , at rank , at estates , at emoluments, and everyaccession to their dignity and to their weal th was atsomebody’s expense , and created bitterness in quartersnot likely to be unmindful of it . The Earl of Arran isrepresented by contemporary writers as both bounteousand courteous . He is described in a letter written to


Sir J ohn Paston , Knight , by his brother, as one of thelightest , delyverst (nimblest) , best-spoken , fairest archers ;devoutest

,most perfect , and truest to his lady of all the

knights that ever I was acquainted with ; so wou ldGod my lady liked me as well as I his person , and mostknightly conditions , with whom I pray you to beacquainted as to you seemeth best . It seems probablethat the Countess of Arran was in the plot against herhusband. She fled with him to Denmark indeed butonly to return to Scotland again ; and , later , hav ingprocured a divorce from her husband

,she was married

to J ames Lord Hamilton , to whom ,it is said

, she hadbeen pledged previously . The lady may have beeninnocent

,but the whole environment is suggestive . In

any event , the fall of the Boyds was complete . Theirbrief day was brill iant while it lasted

,but

,when their

day waned to night , there was no coming morrow ofglory behind it .James IV . closed his reIgn In the thirty-fifth year of

his age . The rebel barons , A lbany and Angus at theirhead

,had raised the standard of rebellion . Securing

the person of Prince James , the heir-apparent , theybrought him into the field at the baffl e of Sauchiebu rn ,

which was fought within a mile or two of the decisivescene of Bannockburn . The battle went sore againstthe King , he sought safety in flight

,and , his horse

fall ing , he was carried into a mill , where he was stabbedto the heart with a dagger by one of his pursuers . Inthis affair , Hugh , third Lord Montgomerie , who wasafterwards created Earl of Eglinton

,and Lord Kilmaurs

,

upon whom was conferred the title of Earl of Glencairn,

fought in the victorious army . John Ross of Mountgreenan , the King

’s Lord Advocate, was on the losing

side,and , after the accession of James IV. , he was

deprived of his honours and estates , the latter beinggiven to Patrick Hume of F astcastle. During the reignof James IV. ( 1488 Ayrshire was largely outwiththe range of its excitements, and enjoyed a p eriod ofcomparative tranquillity.


the laird of Ochiltree . The Earl of Eglinton,who had

espoused the cause of the young Prince at Sau ch iebu rn ,

and had been materially enriched and advanced by himafter he had ascended the throne , does not seem to havebeen at Flodden . On the death of the King

,however

,

he was appointed one of the tutors of the royal child,

then an infant of eighteen months .

Again the unavoidable Regency produced its inevitableresults. A powerful faction

,wrought upon by the

internal jealousies of the Kingdom , not less than byEnglish influence and by English gold , espoused thecause of the hereditary enemy ; among them the Earlof Glencairn and Mure of Caldwell . Glencairn threwhimself into the work of anarchy , and turned his feudaljealousies against the Montgomeries into various overtacts of violence

,which the Montgom eries did not fail to

reciprocate . The Master of Kilmaurs , afterwards fourthEarl of Glencairn

, was in receipt of a regular pensionfrom Henry VIII . , and he was one of the chiefs of anexpedition

,commanded by the Earl of Angus

,that

scaled the walls of Edinburgh , one November night in1 524,

and put an end to the government of the SecretCouncil , and gave Angus control of the young King ,whose majority was declared when he was of the age offourteen . Of this Secret Council Glencairn was a member,and he was a leader in the army , raised by Lennox and

Chancellor Beaton,that afterwards encountered , and

that was defeated by , the royal troops. Gilbert , thesecond Earl of Cassillis , had distingui shed himself inopposition to the triumphant Douglases , and his landsin consequence were forfeited and given to the Earl ofArran

,who does not

,however, seem ever to have taken

possession of them . By large gi fts , and the sacrificeof

'

the Abbey of Beaton made his peacewith his enemies , and counted himself happy in beingpermitted to retire from Court and the lands of theinsurgent lords were forfeited. But the Douglas triumphwas not of long duration . In 1 528, the young King , whoby this time was sixteen years of age , escaped from

CENTURIES ON THE ANVIL 1 23

Falkland to Stirling in the guise of a yeoman , and

among those who hastened to congratulate him onhaving regained his liberty were the Earl of Eglintonand Lord Montgomerie .

From that period until the death of James V ., in

1 542 , Ayrshire had enough ado with her own affairs , thebroils of the barons , their raidings , and their bloodfeuds . Within the limited area of the shi re they reflected,in many respects , the life of the period in Scotland.

Things , nevertheless, were working on to somethingbetter. The Reformers were beginning to assert themselves and to Claim freedom from spiritual thraldom ,

and events were slowly maturing that were destined inthe end to prove an incalculable blessing to the longdistracted country .

With the death of James V ., in 1 542 , there followed

still another Regency, with all its familiar baneful anddisr uptive consequences . It was the rout of SolwayMoss , the defeat of ten thousand Scots by a mere handfulof E nglish, that broke the heart of the King. A s he layon what proved to be his deathbed in the palace ofFal kland , suffering from a low fever , word was broughtto him that the Queen had borne to him a daughter.It will end as it began ,

” he said ;“ it came with a

woman , and it will go with a woman —alluding toMarjorie , the daughter of Robert the Bruce , with whomthe Crown of Scotland had come into the Stuart line , andforeseeing the troubles that were likely to eventuate inthe person of the infant Princess , the unfortunate MaryQueen of Scots . In the rout of Solway Moss , the Earlso f Cassillis and Glencairn had been taken prisoner.Most of the other Ayrshire leaders had abided fromthe army on that occasion

,the Earl and the Master of

Eglinton , Neil Montgomerie of Lainshaw , Charles Mowato f Busby , John Craufurd, brother of the Laird ofKilbirnie , and Charles Campbell of Skerrington amongthem .

Both Cassillis and Glencairn had espoused thereformed cause . Gilbert , the third Earl of Cassillis, had

9


been in early life a pupil of the famous George Buchanan ,who held him in high esteem , and with whom for someyears he travelled on the Continent of Europe ; and,during his imprisonment in England , he had beencommitted to the care of A rchbishop Cranmer , who issaid to have been the means of converting him to

Protestantism . He obtained his release under a bond toadvance the cause of the King of England in Scotland ,

and to join with others in obtaining possession of theperson of the young Queen . G lencairn

’

s whole life ,according to Chalmers , in the Caledonia

,

” consistedof acts of treason which probably means no morethan that he had associated himself with the Englishparty in Scotland, whose Protestant sympathies were sopronounced that they were ready to play any part intheir promotion , even to the extent of sacrificing theindependence of the nation , in order to achieve theirpurpose . With them ,

too , were Lord Boyd and LordOchiltree , the former of whom eventually proved himselfa tried friend to the Queen , to whom he faithfullyadhered until the total suppression of her interest . The

head of the essentially national party , who would havenone of the wiles of the English Sovereign , was CardinalBeaton , a Roman Catholic Prelate of great power andability, and of corresponding ambition and he prevailedso successfully with the Scots nobles as a body

,that

Cassillis seems to have fallen in with a project , m ootedby the friends of England

,for his assassination

a project which Henry VIII .

“did not mislike .

Ultimately, the Cardinal did fall a victim to assassination ,

but before that the ardour of Cassillis in that directionhad abated , and he was in no way concerned in themurder of Beaton in the Cas tle of St . Andrews in 1 646.

The fact seems to be that the Earl , after the manner ofthe time , felt himself, as many another Scottish noblehad to do over a long succession of years , compelled toadapt hi s line of conduct in public affairs to suit his owninterests

,and not to endanger these in such a fashion as

to imperil his estates.


written in November,

1 543 the following monthbrought a minute of a letter from Suffolk to Henry’spensioners in Scotland , with an account of the sums ofm oney that had been distributed to them

, 200 merksto Glencairn , 200 merks to Cassill is , and £1 00 sterlingto Hugh Campbell , the Sheriff of Ayr .It was evident by this time that the English party in

Scotland was becoming steadily weaker, and it was notlong until the only two nobles left to i t were the Earl ofLennox and the Earl of Glencairn

,the latter one of the

ablest and most powerful men of his time in Scotland ,

whose son , the Master of Kilmaurs, had capacitysufficient to execute the schemes matured in the mind ofhis father . Henry endeavoured to knit them to hiscause by granting a handsome pension to Glencairn andhis son . For practical purposes they had renouncedal legiance to their own proper Sovereign ,

but theycompromised with their own consciences by undertakingto see that the Word of God was truly taught in theirterritories , esteeming the Bible the only foundationfrom which al l truth and honour proceed . Glencairntook up arms against the Regent , and boldly confrontedthe forces of the Crown with five hundred spearmen ona wide common outside Glasgow . Glencairn was

defeated by superior numbers,after a fierce conflict in

which his spearmen were severely decimated and hissecond son slain , the rest of the party being eitherd ispersed or made prisoners . The Earl himself foundsafety in flight , and the cause of Henry in Scotland wasrendered desperate . In June , 1 544, the principal Scotsnobility Signed an agreement to support the authority ofthe Queen mother as Regent of Scotland , and to thisbond Cassillis adhibited his name .

The Earl of Lennox attempted to retrieve the Englishcause by an invasion of the west coast from h is ships .

H is object was to seize Dumbarton . In this he failed,

but he invaded Kintyre , and, landi ng his men on theAyrshire seaboard, plundered the coas ts of Kyle and

Carrick . No doubt Lennox expected to effect a junction

CENTURIES ON TH E ANVIL 1 27

with Glencairn , but the lord of Kilmaurs had had enoughof it for the time being , and ,

when Lennox went southand reported the failure of his enterprise , the EnglishChancellor inveighed against the old fox and his cub ,

whose services he had so lately purchased , and whoseexcuses for their failure to respond were regarded asfal sehoods . In the November of 1 544, a Scottish forceof seven thousand men marched south to the Bordersand laid siege to Coldingham , then held by the English .

The assumption that the internecine troubles were atan end , and that Scotland was once more united, wasdi ssipated by the discovery that the Douglases and theirfriends were still in secret correspondence with England ,and in the demoralisation that ensued the Scots werechased from the field by an English force no more thantwo thousand strong . In this disgraceful rout , Angus ,with whom were Glencairn

, Cassillis, and Sir HughCampbell

,the Sheriff of Ayr

,opposed no resistance

whatever to the enemy . In danger from both sides ,as men must be who are playing a double game , theymade friends with the mammon of unrighteousness— inthis case with the more powerfu l Scots lords , the whilethey di d not break with their English allegiance—andsucceeded in obtaining absolution from a charge of

treason that was hanging over their heads a remissionfor all treasons committed by them , in return for thegood service done , or to be done , to the realm .

”

In 1 545 , Cassillis was again advising the Englishmonarch regardi ng the invasion of Scotland , and openlyadvising the Scots nobles to come to term s with Henry,assuring them that the King wou ld forget what hadpassed , and that he would forbear to avenge the inju rieshe had received. Cardinal Beaton ’s influence , however,prevailed

,and Cassillis , recognising that he cou ld not

hope to succeed so long as that wily and as tute man hadthe ear of the nobles , conceived the idea of removinghim from the scene altogether. He addressed a letter toSir Ralph Sadl er , the English Ambassador , in which hemade an offer for the killing of the Cardinal , if only


His Maj esty would have it done , and promise , when itwas done , a reward. To this plot Glencairn was privy.

The King’s reply was very politic If he were in theEarl of Cassillis’s place , and were as able to do HisMaj esty’s good service there

,as he knoweth him to be ,

and thinketh in him a right good will in him to do it ,he would surely do what he could for the execution of it ,believing verily to do thereby , not only an acceptableservice to the King’s Maj esty, but also a special benefitto the realm of Scotland

,and would trust verily the

King’s Majesty would consider his service in the same .

”

It was in this same communication that Henry didnot mislike the he was too strategic to commithimself

,and in his reply he managed to leave the whole

responsibility with Cassillis and his friends . But they ,while willing enough to slaughter the Cardinal

,had no

mind to commit themselves to such a desperate venturewithout the direct countenance of Henry , and withoutsome definite assurance of the reward ; and so far as

any of the Ayrshire nobles were concerned, the schemewent no further.In such fashion

,with plot and counter plot

,with

intrigue and counter intrigue ,runs the story of the

times . It is hard to define , it is impossible to explain,

the workings of the policy of Cassillis, Glencairn , andtheir friends . In 1 557 we find Cassillis resisting themaking of a Scots invasion of England

, and declaring ,on the other hand, to Lord Westmoreland , one of theEnglish Commissioners , that he would never be French ,and that the Scots “ would die , every mother

’s son ofus, rather than be subject to England . The yearfollowing he was one of the Scots

’ Commissioners toFrance—he who had been so powerful a supporter ofthe English marriage—to arrange for the marriage ofQueen Mary with the Dauphin . This was the last publicact of his life . While on his way home , he was one of theCommissioners who met with a mysterious death atDieppe , where , it is supposed , they were poisonedbecause they refused to sanction the Dauphin wearing


of those who had leagued themselves together to takethe young Prince James from their power . And later,when James VI . had fallen under the influence of theEarl of Lennox and Captain James Stewart of Ochiltree ,

for some time Earl of Arran,he had joined wi th Glencairn

and other nobles to take him , by force if necessary , fromtheir hands . The which they did by means of theRaid of Ruthven .

But by this time the fight was one for the faith , and ,

in the matter of her religion,Scotland had exchanged

the old order for the new the new , nevertheless , thatwas destined in its later developments to bring a freshand terrible series of trials upon the long di stractednation .

CHAPTE R I I


It could serve no good purpose to examine into themorale of the series of blood feuds that were characterist icof the Ayrshire of the Sixteenth century. They hadbegun earlier , and they extended into the Openingyears of the seventeenth century , but it was the sixteenthcentury— the period of the firs t Reformation— that wasessential ly the era of the vendetta . It was one of theproducts of the times , due to the disturbed condition ofthe country

,the lack of control at the instance of the

Crown , and the power wielded by the great nobles . TheReformation

,though not on the religious side , had a

share in accentuating it , if not in its origin for first theprospective

,and then the actual overthrow of the Church

of Rome in Scotland , with the consequent transferenceof rich lands and heritages to the nobility , begat a seriesof interested jealousies that , as the times went , couldonly have resulted in those appeals to force that were somuch more effective at headquarters than anythingmerely after the manner of moral suasion could havebeen . The blood feud cannot possibly be defended on

the social or moral code of the twentieth century , but i twas the custom of the country it was a recognition ofthe fact that

,whether might was right or not , i t was the

only thing that could practically avail . The Crownwas not strong enough to put the rival feudalistsdown , and so it stood aside in large measure , and let therival s fight it out .


In 1 488, King James IV. ,with a view to the

establishment of peace and good government wi thinhis realm

,appointed representatives in the various

districts of Ayrshire to keep the peace for him . - Therewere the Lord Kennedy for Carrick , the Schereff ofAre for Are

,the Laird of Cragy for Kile , the Lord of

Montgummerry for Cunynghame .

” These had powerto search and seek out offenders , to execute them afterlegal trial

,and to compel “other Lords within their

bounds to rise and assist them whenever they thought itnecessary to call upon them . Up to 1 448-

9 the office ofKing’

s Bailie for Cunningham had been vested in theEarl of Glencairn

,the head of the great house of the

Cunninghames,and the rival of the Earl of Eglinton for

ascendancy and power of dominion in North Ayrshire ,and it was the transference of the chief magistracy toEglinton that had given life to the long and bloody feudthat forthwith set in .

Before proceeding to tell the somewhat tragic storyof this famous vendetta , it is interesting to note , fromthe j udicial records of the period

,that the Montgomeries

themselves,whose chief was the Bailie , were not exempt

from the attention of the Court of J usticiary . In 1 505the Master of Mon tgom erie was summoned to the Courtof Justiciary at Dumfries for the wounding of WilliamCunninghame of Craigens . H e failed to appear

,and

the case was continued,with what ultimate result the

records do not show . In 1 508 the Earl of Eglintonobtained a remission for the spuilzie of twelve horses ,besides boots , spurs , swords , and other goods , from theservants of the Lady of Home , for lifting four andtwenty of her cows furth of Galloway , and for woundingone of her servants . And in 1 5 1 1 ,

at the Justiciary ofAyr

,the Earl and nine others were conjunctly fined in

eight hundred and twenty-Six pounds Six shillings andeightpence Scots money— the Scots value of money atthe t ime was but a twelfth of the sterling value— forfelony and oppression done to a burgess of Irvine , forthe theft from his house of pots

,pans, plates, and pewter


upon Lord Montgomerie,and a hot conflict ensued . Lord

Montgomerie was wounded , and lives were lost on bothsides . Two years later the differences between the twofamilies were adjudicated upon by arbiters mutuallychosen , and these decided in favour of the Earl ofEglinton . For the time being that settled the questionof the Bailieship, but i t did not the more because of

that find approval wi th the Earl of Glencairn and theCunninghames. They

.

could not forget that the chieflocal position and honour had been theirs , and that theyhad been taken from them .

But just then the magnates of Cunningham had

other matters to think of, as had all Scotland besides .

Troubles were brewing with England, and were workingonwards to Flodden . It was Characteristi c of the

Scottish nobility of the period that they recognised thatthe nation had the first call upon the loyalty and theservices of her sons and so for the time they let theirfeudal antipathies go to rest , and representatives of

both families were present on September 9, 1 5 1 3 ,

when James IV . fought his last battle , when the Scotslost , according to different estimates , from 5000 to

men , and ,when night fell upon the still unbroken

ring of the Scottish centre,the dead monarch in the

thickest of the slain . The rout of Flodden threwScotland into a condition of di straction , two greatopposing factions arose , and Glencairn took Sides againstthe Regent , the Duke of Albany , who landed fromFrance , where he had resided , at Ayr. In 1 5 16 Glencairnwas engaged in the conspiracy to depose A lbany , and

the following year the Master of Glencairn was an activeparticipator in the work of anarchy. For twelve yearsafter the accession of James V . there is a blank in theofficial Justiciary records , but among the remissionsand respites still extant is one that appears to indicatethat the Cunninghames had not forgotten their grudgeagainst their rivals of Eglinton . It runs as follows

April 24, 1 5 1 7 .

—Remission to Sir WilliamCunnynghame , Knight , Master of G lencam e, son and

TH E AYRSHIR E VENDETTA 1 35

heir-apparent of Cuthbert , Earl of G lencam e, and

twenty-seven others , for the cruel slaughter of Mr.Matthew Montgomery , Archibald Caldwell , and JohnSmyth , committed on forethought felony ; and for thehurting of John (Master of) Montgomery, son andheir-apparent of Hugh , Earl of E glintoune ,

” etc .

In the distracted state of Scotland , no penalconsequences of any kind followed this encounter . TheDuke of Albany exerted himself in 1 523 to promoteam ity between the lords of Cunningham , but, al thoughhe succeeded outwardly. and they agreed to lay asidetheir quarrels , it soon became evident that the trucewas to be honoured in the breach rather than in theobservance . The Earl of Eglinton was evidently blessedwith a long memory. He remembered the outrage doneupon his son and heir and his followers , nor did he cryquits for that untoward event until he had taken the lifeof Edward Cunninghame of A u chenharvie . When andwhere the laird of A uchenharv ie was slain does notappear from the records , but the deed must have beenone of considerable heinousness for when , in 1 526 ,

theEarl of Eglinton , with Hugh Campbell of Loudoun ,William Wallace , tutor of Craigie , and many more wereabsolved from the consequences of treasonably arrayingthemselves in battle against Albany, and for all crimethat may follow thereupon , and for all other treasons

,

slaughters , etc . In any time byegone ,

” special exceptionwas noted for the Slaughter of the deceased EdwardCunynghame of A uchenharvy .

” The exception,however

,

may have been due in some degree to the fact thateleven days before , the Earl and his son , JamesMontgom erie, and Archibald Crawfurd of Haining hadbeen fined £1 00 each for not answering to the summonsto account for the laird’s death at their hands . Shortlyafterwards some of Lord E glinton

’

s dependents slewArchibald Cunninghame of Waterstoun , no doubt alsoin pursuance of the vendetta .

By the slaughter of Archibald Cunninghame ofWaterstoun , the Montgomeries had filled up the cup of


their offending. The Earl of Glencairn could no longerignore the fact that his rival s were asserting themselvesin a fashion that call ed for stem reprisal , and it can

hardly be doubted that he was urged to revenge by theheads of the houses that looked to the lord of Kilmaursas their chief. They call ed their dependents about them

,

mustered in force , and, led by the Master of Glencairn ,

and assisted by their friends from Renfrewshire,raided

the lands of the Montgomeries, destroying not only thehouses , but the very corn in the fields , and final lyconsummated their vengeance by giving Eglinton Castleitself to the flames . Fortunately for the family whosehome was in the great tower on the banks of the Lugton ,they had taken refuge in Ardrossan Castle .

So,briefly , the story of thi s raid is told in the

chronicles of the period, but the event itself is of toogreat consequence to be passed over as if it were nothingmore than a mere incident in the feud. The NorthAyrshire that wi tnessed it must indeed have been anunsettled place

,when the one great family of the division

cou ld thus carry al l the terrors of war into the domainof the other. Kerelaw had been burned by theMontgomeries , Craigens had been waylai d and wounded ,

A u chenharv ie had been slain , Waterstoun had similarlyfal len a victim to the men of Eglinton and , behind andbeyond these was the occasion of the trouble , the takingaway from Glencairn of the Bailieship . These were allstones of stumbling, they were al l rocks of offence . Forthe Cunninghames the highways of the bailiary hadbecome dangerous

,none could tell what a day might

bring forth,and nothing remained but to do by the

Mon tgom eries, though on an infinitely larger scale , whatthe Montgom eries had done by them . The raid , no

doubt, was planned in secret . No time was given to the

Montgomeries to be ready against it ; and when theMaster of Glencairn led his men out from the shelter ofKilmaurs Castle

,nothing remained for them but to

pillage,and burn

,and slay. They hasted on their

errand . There was harvest in the fields; it was destroyed .


the Commendatorship of the Abbey of Kilwinning , insome measure a partial counterpoise for the loss of theBailieship of the division . There m ay have beenindividual matters of faith , or of policy , at stakewhether or not , the general state of the times was inimicalto the spirit of amity between clans with a record offeudal hatred so long and so engrained as that of therival lords of Nor t h Ayrshire . The embers weresmouldering all the time , and it only required a touch ofthe torch to rekindle the conflagration in all its fury .

And the touch of the torch was not lacking .

It was the Spring of 1 586 , and Hugh , the fourthEarl of Eglinton , then in the early prime of life , set

forth to ride to Stirling , where the Court was Sitting atthe time . On his way, and wi thin easy ride of the castleon the banks of the Lugton , was the house of Lainshaw ,

close by the ancient town of Stewarton . The baron whodwelt there , a scion of the house of Eglinton , was weddedto Margaret Cunninghame

,a daughter of the rival

faction , and who , according to the story that has beenhanded down, had , nothwithstanding her all iance

,

retained intact and unimpaired her family hatred forthe Montgomeries. The story of what befel , and itsconsequences , is thus told in a manuscript history ofthe Eglinton family

“The principal perpetrators of this fou l deed

were John Cunninghame , brother of the Earl ofG lencairn , David Cunninghame of R obertland , AlexanderCunninghame of Corsehill , Alexander Cunninghame ofA iket , and John Cunninghame of Clonbei th . The goodEarl

,apprehending no danger from any quarter, set out

on the 1 5th April , 1 586, from his own house of Eglinton ,towards Stirling , where the Court then remained, in a

quiet and peaceable manner, having none in his retinuebu t his own domestics , and called at the Lainshaw ,

where he stayed so long as to dine . How the wickedcrew

,his murderers , got notice of his being there I cannot

positively say . It is reported, but I cannot aver it for at ruth ,

that the Lady Langshaw, Margaret Cunninghame,

TH E AYRSHIRE VENDETTA 1 39

who was a daughter of the house of A iket (others say itwas a servant who was a Cunninghame) , went up to thebattlemen t of the house , and hung over a white tablenapkin as a Signal to the Cunninghames, most of whomlived in Sight of the house of La ngshaw which was thesign agreed Shou ld be given when the Earl of Eglintonwas there. Upon that the Cunninghames assembled tothe num ber of thirty-four persons , or thereby ,

in awarlike manner , as if they had been to attack or todefend themselves from an enemy , and concealedthemselves in a low ground near the bridge of Annick ,where they knew the Earl was to pass , secure , as heapprehended , from every danger , when , al as ! al l of asudden the whole bloody gang set upon the Earl and hissmall company , some of whom they hewed to pieces,and John Cunninghame of Clonbei th came up with apistol , and shot the Earl dead on the place . The horrorof the fact struck everybody with amazement ano

consternation , and all the country ran to arms eitheron the one side of the quarrel or the other , so that forsome t ime there was a scene of bloodshed and of murderin the West that had never been known before . TheEarl of Glencairn disowned all knowledge of, or havingany accession , directly or indi rectly , in this foul murderand indeed left his friends to the law , whi ch confirmedeverybody of his innocence of the wicked fact . In themeantime the friends of the family of Eglinton flockedto the Master of Eglinton , h is brother, to assist him inrevenging his brother’s death ,

from all quarters ; an d ,

in the heat of their resentment , killed every Cunninghamewithout distinction they cou ld come by, or even so muchas met with on the highways , or living peaceably in theirown houses . Sir Robert Montgomery of Skelmorliekilled

,in the town of Paisley , John Maxwell of Stainly ,

because he was a friend and al ly of the Cu nninghames ,

and he is said to have shot dead the Commendator ofKilwinning, Alexander Cunninghame of Montgreenan ,

the Earl of G lencai rn ’

s brother , at hi s own gate , thoughhe was so nearly allied to him that his wi fe was Sir

40 ,

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

Robert ’s cousin-german , a daughter of the family of

Blair.That the Commendatorwas thus slain appears to be um

doubted , but there would seem to be a doubt as the personby whom the deed was done , and the time when it wasdone for

,while the date of the assassination is placed in

the year 1 582-

3 , the Commendator was still alive 1 587-8.

In revenge Patrick Maxwell of Newark killed boththis Sir Robert Montgomery of Skelmorlie and WilliamMontgomery

,his eldest son , in one day. It would make

a little volume to mention all the bloodshed and murdersthat were committed upon this doleful occasion , in theshire of Renfrew and bailiewick of Cunningham . A iket

,

one of the principal persons concerned , was shot nearhis own house ; R obertland and Corsehill escaped .

R obertland got beyond seas to Denmark and got hispeace made by means of Queen Anne of Denmark

,when

she was married to King James VI . Clonbeith ,who had

actual ly imbued his hands in the Earl’s blood , and shothim with his own hands , was by a select company of thefriends of the family of Eglinton , wi th the Master attheir head, hotly pursued , He got to Hamilton , and

(they) getting notice of the house to which it wassuspected he had fled, it was beset and environed , andJohn Pollok of that ilk—a bold

,daring man

,who was

son i n-law of the house of Langshaw at the time— in afury of passion and revenge found him out within achimney. How soon he was brought down

,they cu t

him in pieces on the very spot . The resentment went sohigh against everyone that was suspected to have anythe least accession to this horrid bloody fact

,that the

Lady Langshaw,that was a Cunninghame of the house

of A iket , was forced, for the security of her person andthe safety of her° life , to abscond. It was given out thatshe was gone over to Ireland , but She was concealed inthe house of one Robert Barr at Pearce Bank

,a tenant

and feuar of her husband’

s for many years . But beforeher death she was overlooked, and returned to her ownhouse, which was connived at but never durst present


of Glencairn but a number of his friends and followerswho had actually taken part in the tragedy had beengranted a remission for their offending , for on thefollowing February 1 2 complaint was made by DameHelen Kennedy , the Countess of Eglinton Hugh

,Earl

of Eglinton , the only son of the slaughtered Earl theMaster of Eglinton , and the kith and kin of the family,in which they sought reduction of the pardon so far as anumber of those who had received it were concerned .

Their complaint ran as follows That where the saiddeceased Earl being most shamefu lly and cruelly slainby John Cunyngham e of Ross , brother to James Earl ofGlencairn , Alexander Cunyngham e called of Polquhene ,

h is servant , Alexander Cunyngham e of A ikatt , WilliamCunyngham e , his brother, Patrik Cunynghame inBordland,

John and David Maxwell,brothers to Patrik

Maxwell of Newark , and John R yburne , upon set

purpose , provision , and forethought felony , the saidcomplainers pursued them for the same slaughter

,

criminally, before the Justice and his Deputes ; andthey

,taking the crime upon them

,absented themselves

from trial and were therefore denounced and registeredat the horn whereat most contemptuously theyremained divers years thereafter , till now of late , as thesaid complainers are informed, that the said personshave purchased a Remission or Respite for the saidslaughter, whereby they intend to take away the saidcomplainers ’ lawful pursuit

, so that , instead of justice,which they ever looked for , conform to H is Majesty

’

s

solemn vow and promise made to that effect , they arenow moved to lament to hi s Highness the want of justice ,through the said Respite or Remission ,

”etc . They

further state that there has been no satisfaction madeto the said complainers for the said slaughter,

” and thattherefore the respite should be held, ipso facto null .The Master of Eglinton appeared for the complainers ,and the Earl of Glencairn and Wil liam Cunninghame ofCaprington for the defenders , and the King and Councilremitted the matter to be decided before the Justice

TH E AYRSHIRE VENDETTA 143

or his Deputes in accordance with law . So far, however ,as can be ascertained, the respite was in no way rescindedand , with the lapse of time and the establishment ofgood government , the feud ended.

From their relative importance and the long periodof tim e over which they extended, the feud of Eglintonand Glencairn

, and that in which the Kennedys ofCarrick , torn by internecine strife, made war with oneanother, have naturally bu lked most largely in the storyof the vendetta in Ayrshire but they were not by anymeans the only blood feuds that made exciting the shirelife of the period . As early as 1439, there was serioustrouble between the Boyds , the progenitors of the Earlsof Kilmarnock , and the Stewarts of Darnley. Accordingto the History of the Stewarts

,

” because of auld feudwhich was betwixt them , Sir Alan Stewart wastreacherously set upon at Polmaise Thorn , betweenFalkirk and Linlithgow , by Sir Thomas Boyd , and Slam .

In revenge,Sir Alexander Stewart collected his vassal s ,

and, Sir Thomas Boyd being in nowise averse to fightingit out in plain battle .

” a desperate encounter betweenthe rivals took place at Craignaught Hill , in Neilstonparish , in Renfrewshire . The conflict was fought out tothe bitter end. The combatants engaged one anotherso relentlessly that , when tired out with fighting , theycalled a halt and rested preparatory to beginning again .

This they di d more than once . In the end, Sir RobertBoyd was cruelly slai n , and many brave men on bothsides

,and at the close of the day victory rested with

the Stewarts . On May 31 , 1 445 , the Boyds avengedthe death of their chief by slaying Sir James Stewart ofA rdgowan .

There are two different versions of a curious incidentthat occurred in connection with a di spute in which amember of the Kennedy family figured in a remarkablefashion . According to P itcaim ’

s MS . History of theKennedys , the story dates back as far as the fourthyear of the reign of Robert III . , which was about theyear of God The Kennedy involved in it was a


younger brother of the Dunure family. From his

custom of carrying a dagger , he bore the name ofA lschunder Dagour, or Alexander of the Dagger. Hehad incurred the wrath of Douglas , the lord of Wigtown ,by an overt act of feudalism against him at G lenapp,

and by engaging in a conflict the same day at the waterof Doon against Lindsay, lai rd of Craigie and Douglashad caused proclamation to be made that whoevershould bring him his head should receive by way ofreward the forty merk land in Stewarton parish ,

Cunningham . Alexander , a man of bold and desperatecharacter

,and not wanting apparently in a grim sense

of humour and in resource , resolved on wi nning theproffered estate for himself. Accordingly he summonedto his aid a hundred of the family dependents , and onYule day morning he arrived at Wigtown when theEarl was at Mass . The first indication the Earl had ofthe untimeous disturbance of his devotions was thetrampling of the horses outside the chapel . Immediatelyafter

,Alexander of the Dagger entered

,and, pulling out

a deed from his pocket,which had previously been

prepared for the occasion , addressed him thus Mylord ,

ye have hicht this forty mark land to anyone thatwou ld bring you my heid , and I know there is none someet as myself. And therefore (I ) will desire yourlordship to keep (fai th with) me , as ye had to any other.

”

The Earl had no alternative to subscribing the deed,and Kennedy , folding it up and putting it away carefully,remounted his horse and was speedily on his wayhomewards . As in the case of many of these old-worldstories there is some di fficulty in fitting in this one withdefinite persons and dates

,and it may be left therefore

to speak for itself.The other version of the story

,which appears in

The History of Galloway (quoting from Codcroft’

s

House of Douglas and Angus .” p . assigns the date

somewhat Openly to the period embraced in the life ofArchibald Douglas , fifth Earl of Douglas , who died atR estalrig, June 26, 1 439. Lord Kennedy had offended


Colville of Ochiltree , Knight , at his lands of Hardanehole This act had apparently taken place not longbefore indeed

,the Oppression , the occupation of Sir

William Colville ’s lands , and the convocation of theDouglases and their followers for their raid upon theirold enemy in Kyle , were doubtless part of the sametransaction . The offending , in other words , was neithermore nor less than an incident in the blood feud .

Probably no more suggestive series of sidelightscould be thrown upon the feudal broils and the sociallawlessness of the gentry than those presented in theproceedings of the Justiciary of Ayr , 1 508. The presidingJudge was Andrew, Lord Gray . On an occasion such as

this the town must have presented an animatedappearance . The country nobility had their townhouses in it

,and when , for business or for pleasure , they

repai red thither, they had ,perforce of the di sturbed

condition of society and the rivalries of the fam ilieswithin the jurisdiction of which Ayr was the centre , tobring a sufficient number of retainers with them forsafe conduct

,for the preservation of their dignity , and

for the rightful assertion of their position . They couldnot depend upon justice apart from force . The HighCourt of Justiciary might pronounce sentences ofoutlawry upon Kennedys and Boyds

,upon Cunningham es

and Montgom eries, upon Crau furds and Kerrs , uponCampbells and Mures , and put them to the horn at theMercat Cross, but , if they general ly found it necessaryfor a while to fly the district and take refuge in England ,

or in France , or upon the Scottish Borders , they knewthat their banishment was only an affair of a few yearsat the most , and that when the feeling begotten of theiroffending died down

,or was obliterated by some fresh

act of violence,they could depend on receiving a

remission for their offending , and on being permitted toreturn to Ayrshire to take up the vendetta where theyhad left it off. In some measure the law was recognised ,

but the extent of i ts recognition was but limited ,and

justice was still largely an affair of the strong arm .


The Ayr of the period was bu t a small place . astowns go nowadays , and the burghers cannot have doneotherwise than take a keen interest in the proceedingsof the Court. They were in some measure themselvespartisans . On occasion they could turn out with theirsteel caps on their heads and do battle for their friendsand when the diet fell to be called, as it was at this Courtpresided over by Andrew , Lord Gray , against Boyds ,Mures , Cunninghames , Wal laces , Shaws , Crau furds,

Montgomeries. H arniltons, and Kerrs , it is easy tounderstand how the ancient and royal burgh must havebeen moved to its deepest depths. First of al l , PatrickMure , brother to the Laird of R owallan . Neil Smith of

G ardrum , and twenty-five others, were charged withand convicted of convocating the lieges and coming tothe Kirk of Stewarton , in company with John Mure ofR owallan , in connection with a dispute over the office ofparish clerk of the church

,against Robert Cunninghame

of Cunninghamhead , and his servants , the same year.There was not much difficu lty over this case . The Lairdof R owal lan and Andrew Am ot of Lochrig becamesureties to satisfy the parties as the Lords of Justiciaryshould declare their pleasure . Then James Mure , anotherbrother of the Laird, was brought up on a charge ofoppressing John Mowatt . junior, the young Lai rd ofBusby, in Stewarton . in company with his brother.Again the Laird became surety. Following the Murescame Robert Cunninghame of Cunninghamehead , onthree separate charges . The first had to do with thedisturbance over the Stewarton parish kirk clerkship ;the second was for oppression done to Eliz abeth Rosse ,Lady Cunninghame , in occupying and manuring herthird part of the lands of Cunninghamehead, in the year1 503 , and so breaking the King’s Protection upon herand the third was for oppression done to the Abbot andMonastery of Kilwinning, and to Hew, Earl of Eglinton ,their tenant , in the spu ilzie of the teind-sheaves inthe parish of Pearceton , and so again outraging the royalprotection . What befel the Laird of Cunninghamehead


is not recorded , bu t in all probability he offered sufli cientsecurity, and Lord Gray accepted it . Thomas Wallacewas the next panel at the bar. He was evidently afollower of the gentleman who had preceded him , andhe had been there when the fray occurred between himand Mure of R owallan . The Laird of Cunningham ehead

becam e his surety; and , when that had been satisfactorilyarranged , the Court adjourned for the day.

November 5th was chiefly occupied in redding up afew of the troubles of the Craufurds of Kerse and theirfriends . First came John Shaw of Haly, William Shaw ,

dwelling with him , and eight others who had behavedthemselves somewhat . unm annerly towards MargaretMontgomery

,Lady Creechdow . They had gone to her

place about the feast of Midsummer,had cas t her

goods forth from her house,spoiled her of sundry of her

effects , and beaten her servants . Worse than that , theyhad ejected her and cast her forth of her house andplace of G arlauche,

” thrown down and destroyed astack of hay and a stack of bere , containing seventythreaves (a threave generally consisted of twenty-foursheaves) , and destroyed the grain . Not content withthat

,they had shut up sixty-five soumes of grass

(a soum e of grass was as much as one cow or five sheepcould pasture) , without penning them in a pin

-fold.

And,to complete their offending , they had cast a stone

out of the window at Lady Creechdow, breaking herhead and felling her. This was obviously a raid on thelady’s property. The offenders were perm itted tocompound in the usual way

,David Craufurd of Kerse

becoming securi ty to satisfy Lady Creechdow . JohnShaw of Kerse followed

,producing a remission for having

slain John Boyd with a stone . For this also Kersebecame surety. The Court , however, had straightwayfurther dealing with the same offender. He had goneto the house of Duncan Fergusson

,the young Laird of

K ilkerran , at Burnfoot, and had forcibly broken intothe house he had forcibly kept the lands of Bum footwaste by the space of a year he had gone to the place


Cregforguse , and for lifting four horses , eight cows ,and four oxen from John Thomson , furth of his lands ofKnockrninshech .

This concluded the assizes. The most notablefeature in the proceedings is the leniency of the Court inits dealings with what were in some instances highlyserious offences . Five merks Were sufficient to mark thelaw ’s relation to such a deed as casting a young maninto the fire . For the interruption of the proceedings ofthe Court of the Bailiary of Carrick , a more substantialreckoning was exacted . Otherwise the compensationwas wholly in proportion to the damage done or the losssustained, and the amount of it was a matter forsubsequent arrangement. Even manslaughter was notregarded very seriously .

To follow the Ayrshire feuds in al l their wanderings ,and in their relation to the different families engaged inthem , would necessarily involve a great deal of repetitionand of recapitulation . The criminal records of the periodare necessarily brief. They deal with a multiplicity of

cases , and with men whose names are legion . While inthe main the quarrels of the various families ran incertain grooves

,they were subject none the less to

divergence into side channels,and to deflection by

secondary and minor issues . Of many of the deeds donethere is no record save that of the indictments or

di ttays of the High Court of Justiciary , and we areleft to draw such inferences as may suggest themselvesof the occasions whence they sprang. What is of essentialconsequence is that we Should present a true picture of

the times and of the family feuds of the sixteenthcentury. This can be done without attempting to traceall these side issues to their sources , and what we purposetherefore is to pursue still further the course we have beenfollowing

, and deal with the outstanding events of theperiod and the series of excitements and tragedies thatresulted from them

,leaving the minor incidents in the

realm of the antiquarian , to whom they more properlybelong.

THE AYRSHIRE VENDETTA 1

Between the Kennedys of Carri ck and the greatfeudal lords of Kyle , the Crau furds of Kerse , who werethe warders of the Kyle marches where these Slopeddownwards to the waters of Doon, and the Campbells ofLoudoun , hereditary Sheriffs of A yr , whose baronialtower was on the upper streams of Irvine , there waslong and bitter feud. The fact that they resided indifferent divisions of the same county can hardly haveaccounted for the genesis of the turmoil , but there isreason to believe that , once the family rivalries hadsprung up , they were at least materially accentuated bythe residence of the rivals themselves in different anddistinct areas of the shire . The national troubles thatfollowed Flodden placed men in antagonism to oneanother. Under the Regency of the Duke of Albany ,there were two great Scottish factions . The Earl ofCassillis was among the patriot Scots , and Opposed to theEnglish faction . The Campbells were on the other side .

Probably the antipathies were of an older date than thatat all events

,by 1 526 they had reached a very critical

point . In that year the Earl of Cassil lis was slain atPrestwick by a strong party of the adherents andfollowers of Loudoun . It does not appear that theSheri ff of Ayr was himself upon the scene of slaughter,but that it was a carefu lly prepared and premeditatedact is obvious from the fact that the Loudoun partycomprised no fewer than 1 400 men . The Earl had beenat Court

,which was then sitting at Stirling , and was on

his way home to Carrick,attended only by a smal l body

of his men . According to the story , the Countess ofLoudoun

,a Wallace of the Wal laces , had a hand in

arranging for the Earl ’s removal from the scene . Sheconsulted with the Crau furds of Lefnorri s, and Kerse ,and Drongan , and with William Campbell of Cessnockand these called in their men from the broad plains ofKyle

,and rode away to the Prestwick sandhil ls, where

they concealed themselves , and where they waited thecoming of the chief of the Kennedys. He came in duetime , riding on towards Ayr, but he was destined never


again to reach his own countryside . As he passed , the

Kyle men ambushed mm ,and

,falling upon him in

overwhelming numbers , cut him down and left him lyingdead among the knowes. The event created intenseexcitement throughout all the district . The Earl hadbeen a man highly esteemed . He had been one of fourScotch peers to whom was entrusted the safe keeping ofthe young King , James V . ,

during the temporaryabsence of the Regent , the Duke of Albany, in France .

Like his neighbours , he had taken part in the familywarrings of the shire , and had been put upon his trialfor “ art and part of the cruel slaughter of MartinKennedy of Lochland . For this offence he had beenacquitted, and he had compounded with the King forthe unlaws done by his followers . It is evident thathe enjoyed the fu llest confidence of the whole Kennedyclan , and it is not hard therefore to understand thatwhen the news of his slaughter travelled southwards ofthe Doon

,it created a powerful sense of indignation and

evoked a stern cal l for vengeance .

The State interposed with a summons against theSheriff of Ayr and his friends . The summary account ofthe proceedi ngs in the Criminal records is interesting invarious respects . It runs thus

October 6 (Sabbath ) , 1 527—Hugh Campbell of

Lowdoune , Sheriff of Air. James,Earl of Arran was

am erciated a hundred pounds for not entering the Sheriffof Air to underly the law for the cruel slaughter of

Gilbert , Earl of Cassillis . Campbell was denouncedRebel

,and all his moveables ordained to be escheated.

Geo . Craufurd of Lefnorris , and William his brother ;John Campbell of Cesnock ; Bartholomew Craufurd ofKerse David and Duncan his brothers John Craufurdof Drongane John and William his sons , wi th a greatnumber of others , found caution to underly the law forthis crime on the third day of the next Justiciare at Air.Dame Isabella Wallace , Lady Lowdoune, also accusedfor the same crime , was proved to be Sick by Sir WilliamBankhede her curate , and two witnesses . Many other

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

fairly safe assumption that they made their peace byfindi ng security to satisfy the friends of the deceased .

There was, however, according to tradition, anotherand a sterner revenge than this . Authentic history issilent on the point, but the incident is so much in keepingwith the spirit of the times in Ayrshire , and with the

policy propounded in the sacred invocation, Avengemy cause, 0 God, and with the bearing of the bannerof revenge , that it cannot be dismissed as wholly illusory .

I t may be hoped, however , for the sake of those who arealleged to have taken part in it , that their vengeancedid not exact the price handed down in the tradition .

According to this story, it was Kennedy of Bargany whochampioned the cause of the slaughtered Earl and of thec lan untimely deprived of their head. He had waitedpatiently on the action of the law of the land

,and had

waited in vain . Justice had tinkered with thes ituation , probably because it was not in a position todo anything else . The lords of Kyle were not only strongof themselves and in their followers they had powerfulfriends at Court and in the country furth of Ayrshireand as the months wore by , it became evident to Barganythat if vengeance was to be exacted , it must be at theinstance of the Kennedys themselves . And that wastheir way. So when the harvest had been gathered inand the November days were shortening, Bargany calledh is friends together and they resolved to strike ; tom arch across Kyle to the upper streams of Irvine , towhere I .0udoun Castle was seated among its woods andbraes, and to exact vengeance on the spot , and in thevery heart and centre of the enemy’s country. TheKennedys had many men for such an enterprise

,for

their land s were wide . Carrick was theirs from the hillsbeyond Straiton to the sea, from Cassillis house on Doons ide to A rdstinchar tower On the waters of Stinchar

,and

away down by G lenapp into Galloway. These men theygathered together, and they came in glad response , and,before the lords of Kyle were aware of their intent

,they

were on the march 101 Loudoun . It was a long march.

THE AYRSHIRE VENDETTA 1 55

Some five and twenty miles had to be traversed , but themen were hardy and the horses they rode wereaccustomed to the rough roads , the hill tracks, and theopen country, and they arrived at Loudoun Castle ereyet Kyle had roused to i ts danger. The Sheriff of Ayrhad taken him self off. He was in hiding somewhere toescape the myrm idons of the law. The Countess hadbeen warned of what was in store

,probably by some

roughrider who had hasted at the mandate of Kerse toapprise her of the impending danger , and leavingLoudoun , she had repaired to the strong tower ofA chruglen , on the Loudoun side of the valley of Irvine

,

and within easy distance of Loudoun Castle . A chruglen

was a powerfu lly built peel,constructed for just such an

emergency as that which was to befall. With anythinglike a garrison . it could have been held against theKennedys , but men at arms it had few , or none and allthe opposition it could offer was that of closed gates anddoors , and the rude strength of its buttressed masonry .

The Kennedys rode to Loudoun and found it empty ,and then they held their way for A chruglen . TheCountess

,her son and the heir to the Earldom

,and her

daughters were within . Bargany summoned the ladyto surrender. With the heart of a Wallace and thecourage of the Campbell race with whose. fortunes shehad linked her own , she refused , and Bargany wentforward with his vengeance . He evoked the aid of fire ,

that most terrible of all destroyers . Piling brushwoodaround the doors, it was not long till the smoke wascurling round the battlements and rising above theminto the November air . The flam es followed , theycaught the woodwork , they established their hold, andthe work of the vendetta progressed .

There is a ballad that tells in somewhat quaint , butstill sufli ciently graphic detail , what followed. Poetrydoes not in this case soften the realism , but it obviatesthe necessity for forlowing the story in prose and , asthe ballad is the main authority for the story , we leavei t to pass on the tragedy . With the authenticity of the


ballad we need not particularly concern ourselves . It

is said by the author of the account of Galston in theStatistical Account of Ayrshi re to have comedown from time immemorial , and that the wanderingminstrels changed the names in their songs to suit themas far as poss ible to similar events in the histories of thedifferent families which they visited . The bal lad, itmay be said

, has been local ised elsewhere , but itsynchronises with the Ayrshire tradition . We take upthe story at the point where the besieger bids the ladysave herself by coming down

Com e down , com e down , m y Lady Loudou n ,

Com e down then un to m e .

I’

ll wrap thee on a feather bed ,

Thy warran t I shall be .

0 I wou ld give the black , she says ,A nd so wou ld I the brown ,

If that Thomas ,m y only son .

Cou ld charg e to m e a gun .

Ou t then spake the Lady Margaret ,A s she stood on the stair,

The fire was at her goud garters,The lowe was at her hair.

I wou ld giv e the black , she says ,A nd so wou ld I the brown ,

F or a drink of yon water ,That runs by Galston town .

Ou t then spake fai r Anni e ,

She was bai th j im p and sm a’

,

0 row m e in a pair 0’

sheetsA nd tow m e down the wa

’

.

0 hold thy tongue ,thou fair Annie.

A nd let thy talkin ’

be ,

F or thou m u st stay in this fair castle

A nd bear thy death wi th m e .

0 m other , spoke the Lord Thomas,

A s he sat on the nurse’

s knee ,

0 m other , give up this fair castle ,

Or the reek wi ll worrie m e .


Is the sow fli tted cried the carle.

G ie me m y answer short and plain ,

Is the sow fl i t ted yamm erin’ wean l

The sow (deil tak '

her)’

s owre the water ,A nd at their backs the Crau furds bat ter,The Carrick cow ts are cowed an

’ bi t ted .

”

My thumb for Jock The sow’s fl i t ted 1

There is another version of the story. According tothis , three of the Crau furds of Lochnorris were presentat the battle , one of whom returned loudly bemoaningthe loss of his two brothers . His widowed mothersuddenly cut short his lamentation by exclaiming, Isthe sow flitted Aye is she ,

” replied the youthand five score of the Kennedys are drowned in Doon .

We need not doubt the reality of the encounter—for thesixteenth century was fertile in such encounters inAyrshire , and many were the rocks of offence and theoccasions of stumbling between the Kennedys and thelords of Kyle—and as for the interchange of words thatculminated in answer to the question Is the sowfiitted it is evident that it has come down to us aspart of the countryside tal k, or gossip , of the period .

It sounds callous to-day , almost beyond that which hasbeen wri tten, but its very cal lousness is proof of thedepth and bitterness of the rivalries of these feudaliststo the death.

CHAPTE R VI I I


(CONTINU E D)

The story of the great Carrick feud—of the internecinestruggle in which Kennedy made war upon Kennedyhas often been told . The romancer has made free withit . He has woven it into connected form , and given lifeto it by a selection of its sal ient points and byaccentuating those Special phases of it that have lentthemselves most readily to his purpose . Between thehistory and the romance of this memorable blood feud,however, there are many gu lfs fixed, and what wepurpose now is to discard utterly the romantic side ofthe story , which has necessarily owed a great deal tothe imaginative and the constructive powers of theromancist , and to tell the tal e in its historical sequence ,without any deviation from the record . Previous to theoutbreak of the quarrel , the Kennedy clan stood solid.

There was no break in its ranks . From the water ofDoon down into Galloway the territory was for nearlyevery practical and immediate purpose ruled by theEarl of Cassill is . The keeps and peels with whose ruinsCarrick is studded, were held for the most part by menwho were thirled to the great lord whose home, on thesouthern bank of the Doon

,looked across the ri ver to

the Dal rymple forest and to the stretching lands of Kyle ,or else by men who were , by common interest , byintermarriage , by sympathy, affiliated with Cassillis.


The little towns and the villages were loyal to the chief,and , from north to south of the terri tory , and from theborder hills of the Stewartry to the shores washed bythe western sea, no man, as the familiar rhyme has it,could dare to ride or hide except he courted Kennedy.

Kennedy had his castles on the high rocks of the sea

coast . They stood in their strength on the banks of theG irvan , and of the Stinchar, and of the lesser streams .The Straiton uplands knew them Knockdolian lookeddown on them they dominated the plains . The fightingmen of Carrick rode together on mutual errand bent .They raided Kyle in spite of Kerse and his friends .They repulsed the inroads of the Kyle raiders . TheEarl of Cassillis ruled as a king within his own borders ,and he was so omnipotent within the bailiary that hewas able to regard even the interference of the Statewith the consciousness that , as things went in thecountry, he was fit to hold his own .

Like many another great quarrel , that which splitthe Kennedy camp in twain sprang from a comparat ivelysmall beginning . There was a certain “ Black BessieKennedy

,

” whose third husband,William Kennedy of

B rounston . had infefted her in the B rounston lands .These had previously been infefted in the Earl of Cassillis .

In the dispute that followed , Black Bessie made over herrights to Kennedy of Bargany , who gave her in lieu ofthem the six-pound land of Newark . The lady went toreside at Bargany

,but , on the solicitation of Sir Thomas

Kennedy of Cul z ean ,uncle

,and tutor or guardian— to

the young Earl of Cassillis, she left Bargany House . thelai rd of which was in consequence highly incensedagainst Cul z ean . The latter used his influence to getJohn Mure of A uchendrane appointed Baili e of Carrick ,and then , when the Earl retu rned home from a visit tothe Continent, to have him dismissed from the office.

Thus Sir Thomas of Culz ean incurred the anger both ofBargany and A uchendrane . High words passed betweenCul z ean and A uchendrane. The former threatenedMure that he would be the last Laird of A uchendrane


When,however

,he communicated his intention to his

uncle , Sir Thomas Kennedy pointed out that the oldlaird and the young lady had been honourablehouseholders al l their days , and that they would be

greatly lam ented by all men and the young laird hadnow married his wife —a Queen’s maiden , and a sisterof Lord Ochiltree out of the King’s house , and hisdeath would be thought much of by the King and

Queen and al so the deed would be thought very cru elto put so many innocent soul s to death .

” He counselledrather that they should waylay and slay the young lairdand his brother while they were hunting in the fieldsfor their pastime

,concluding that , because of their

death , the old man shall die for sorrow.

” To this planthe Earl agreed . Tidings of the premeditated deed ,however , reached the ears of Bargany, who taxedCu lz ean with it . The latter explained that he had only

given the advice in order to deflect the Earl from his

purpose but the explanation failed to commend itsel fto the young laird and his brother, who still regardedtheir lives as endangered, and who nurtured a feeling ofhatred against those who , they had reason to believe ,were bent upon their assassination .

We need not accept too implicitly the details of thisunholy scheme . It may not have been inconsistentwith the spirit of the times, but , as we have seen , therewas ample occasion for quarrel already

, without saddlingCassillis and Culz ean wi th so bloodthirsty an intent .Still further complications arose through the raising ofan action at the instance of the Earl against youngBargany—the old laird having in the meantime died

(November 7 , 1 596)—upon the assignation which hehad got from Black Bessie of the lands of Newark .

”

Bargany appears , in his ignorance of the law, to havepermitted the action to go undefended , and the resultof the Earl ’s legal victory was that he kept the decreethe had obtained hanging over B argany

’

s head. Smartingunder the incubus , and with al l the impetuosity ofsomewhat ill-guided youth , Bargany had a meeting

THE AYRSHIRE VENDETTA 163

wi th the lai rds of A uchendrane and B unduff, and withthe Master of Cassillis , the Earl

’s brother , who was al soat sharp variance with his uncle , and an attempt to takethe life of Sir Thomas Kennedy followed soon after .Here in matters of detail we are on the sure ground

of the records of the Court of Justiciary. On February1 5 , 1 597 , Matthew Dundu ff of that ilk , who had becomesurety for the appearance of those charged withwaylaying Cul z ean with intent to murder him , appearedat the bar, and was amerciated in 900 merks for thenon-appearance of the other conspirators . Theseincluded John Mure of A uchendrane, John Mure , sonto Quintin Mure

,in Carcloy , and three others of less

degree . Mure himself had become security for theappearance of Alexander Kennedy , son to H ow K ennedyof Craigneil , David Mure , servant to the laird of Bargany ,

and John B unduff or Stewart , natural son to MatthewB u nduff. Neither did any of these answer to thesummons , and all were adjudged to be denounced oursovereign lord ’s rebels and put to his highness ’ horn ,

”

and all their moveable goods and gear to be escheat ,or forfeited

,to the Crown . T he offence , according to

the indictment , took place on January 3 , under silenceand cloud of night . The conspirators , armed withhagbuts and pistols, had repaired to the town of Maybole .

They had stalled their horses at the guidwi fe ofKnockdai

’

s yett,then secreted themselves in the yard

of Thomas Nasmyth , adjacent to Sir Thomas Kennedy’

sMaybole house , regarding that as the fittest place forthe accomplishment of their cruel , ungodly , and

barbarous purpose . And they,perceiving the said

Sir Thomas Kennedy, with Dam e Elizabeth M‘

G ill , hisSpouse, Thomas Kennedy, their eldest son , Margaretand Helen Kennedy, their daughters , coming through theyard betwixt the two hedges

,kept themselves conceal ed

until the said Thomas Kennedy was within six ells tothem where they lay who suddenly beset the said SirThomas , his Spouse , and bairns , ere he could be awareof them , he dreading no harm nor injury of any person ,


and specially of the persons above written , they stayingwith him in apparent favour and friendship , at theleast without any profession of feud or upgiving ofkindness and then shot and discharged eight shots ofhagbuts and pistols at the said Sir Thomas . Theseall missed fire . Sir Thomas and his friends made hasteto escape . The conspirators pursued them for somedistance , but by the provision of God and the darknessof the night , they escaped out of their hands . Accordingto the indictment against the Laird of B unduff. AlexanderKennedy, son of Craigneil , had foregathered with SirThomas , and had learned from him his intentions , andhaving ascertained when he was to repair to Maybole ,he had bidden him goodnight

,and had taken off his

hat according to his wonted familiarity with him as

before .

”

Matthew B unduff was kept a while in ward in theCastle of Edinburgh , but was released on finding securityto pay a thousand merks for his share in the outrage ,and the fine that had been imposed on him for theabsence of his fellow conspirators for whom he had beenaccepted as surety . As has been said , the rest weredeclared outlaws . They no doubt either removed fromthe district until the scandal begotten of the offencehad died down

,or found Shelter in the houses of their

friends . Culz ean , according to the author of theHistorie , gat the house of A uchendrane and

destroyed the house in the plenishing, and wrecked al l

the yarding ; and also they made many sets to havegotten himself , but G od preserved him from theirtyranny .

” The destruction of A uchendrane’

s goodsand gear doubtless added to Mure’s rancour. Thingswere made still worse by the Earl of Cassillis raising anaction against Bargany for byegone teinds , and obtaininga decreet for forty thousand merks against him .

Bargany,however

,managed to gain a suspension , and ,

through the intervention of the King , a compromise ,under which Bargany was to pay a certain sum in fullof all claims against him ,

was arranged . Then the Earl


day for her when she allied herself in marri age with theson and heir of A uchendrane. John Mure, younger,was a man of strong passions and base tastes and noteven his becoming the son-in -law of Sir ThomasKennedy inspired him with any regard for the Knightof Cul z ean . Apart from that , the antipathies of theCarrick rivals had reached a very high point . Therewere hatred and distrust everywhere , and , in the socialconditions of the time and of the district , it would havebeen little short of a miracle had the amnesty evolvedin general amity and in a complete forgetting andforgiving of the past . The bridegroom received withthe bride a dowry of four thousand merks , for threethousand of which Bargany became debtor, and Cul z eangave Bargany a discharge for the whole sum of thetwelve thousand merks obtained by him contrary tothe Laird of Bargany for the debt owing to Black Bessieof Denhame. Bygones were to be bygones, Auchendrane was relieved from his outlawry , B unduff and

Cu lz ean were brought into the compact of friendship ,and the Master of Cassillis was placated and ceasedfrom his antipathies.So at least it was all intended. The hope was

engendered that Carrick might at last enj oy peace . Butin this case , as in many others , the best laid schemeswere destined to miscarriage , and Carrick was doomedto lengthened warrings, to dispeace , and to bloodshed .

Hardly had peace been patched up before the troublebroke out afresh . Bargany held the teinds of the tenpound land of G irvanm ains from the Earl of Cassillis .

They were evidently not forthcoming , for the Earlapplied for and obtained a decreet against them and

resolved to attach the crop to himself so as to real isethe unpaid money. Word of hi s intent reached Bargany ,and he and G irvanmains gathered their friends togetherand took possession of the stackyard where the cornstood

, so that , when the Earl arrived , he was unable toput his decreet in force . Determined not to be outdone ,he proceeded to put into immediate execution a decreet

THE AYRSHIRE VENDETTA 1 67

o f a somewhat sim ilar character that he had againstthe lands of Dungarth , and he sent his servants to reapthe corn . Bargany again interfered in force, and, takingpossession of the grain that had been cut , he removedi t to A rdstinchar , averring that , al though Cassill is hada decreet against the land, it did not include the crop .

T his happened on a Saturday , and on the followingMonday Cassill is marched in force upon the field to reapthe corn that sti ll was standing. Once again Barganyappeared in Opposition to him , and the two parties m et

,

Bargany not less than nine hundred strong,and the

Earl even more num erously attended. Here were all thematerial s for a decisive confli ct . Of the opposing parties

,

however , that of Bargany was the better armed , and theEarl was therefore ready to give ear to the mediation ofLord Cathcart , who was wedded to a near relative of theEarl , and of his son , the Master of Cathcart , who wase spoused to B argany

’

s sister. The issue of thenegotiations was that Bargany had the corn

,and that

he agreed to find securi ty for the duty on the land tothe Earl .Naturally the Earl resented this constant in terference

o f the bold Bargany.

” It constituted an intrusion onhis prerogative as chief of the clan , and threatened hisascendancy in Carrick ; and accordingly he took suchlegal means as lay to his hand for bringing Bargany toa due sense of his positi on . This the Lai rd hotly resented

,

and,according to the Historie , conceived the idea of

t aking the Earl ’s life , as he was riding from Ayrshireinto Galloway. The arrangement was that as he was

passing south in the vicini ty of A rdstinchar Castle ,the

young Laird of B lai rquhan , and G irvanm ains,should

fal l upon him and slay him but lucki ly for the Earl hewas accompanied by Sir Thomas Kennedy of Cul z ean ,

and when the conspirators discovered this they stayedtheir hand. If the H istoric is to be believed, Culz eanhimself was in the plot against the Earl , and hadarranged to stay behind so that he might not bec ompromised in the slaughter . H is presence was


resented by Mure of A uchendrane , whose accustomedhand was in the plot , and he proceeded to Castle-Kennedyto reason with him for his breach of faith . Cassill is

granted an interview on an island , and the Earl , findingthat Mure was there , gave orders that the boat shouldnot take him away, his intention being to keep him aprisoner. Then he taxed A uchendrane with complicityin the plot . Mure indignantly denied the charge

, and

offered to make his denial good against the man who hadso wrongfully accu sed him . When Cassill is was calledaway to dinner, A uchendrane

’

s servant signalled to himthat he was in danger ; and , taking the hint , he andthe guidman of Ardmillan ,

” by whom he was

accompanied, hastened to the boat and , rowing acrossto the mainland , rode off to Ballantrae, where Barganywas in waiting , and where he communicated to him

‘

what had transpired . Bargany , much irate , despatchedthe guidman of Ardmillan and the young Laird of

Carleton to demand the Earl’s authority for theassertions he had made . The Earl denied that he hadever said any such thing, and accused A uchendrane ofhaving invented the story . A uchendrane was mightilywroth at this and threatened to publish the Earl atthe market cross of every town , if he denied what he hadsaid to him . To complicate matters still worse , the Earlput in force a decreet against Blairquhan and deprivedhim of Kelly Castle and Killenhow and this so excitedBlairquhan to fury that he sent his son to be in constantattendance on Bargany and to stir up strife betweenhim and the Earl .The Bargany factionaries concluded, not without

reason , that the Earl’s informant of the scheme for his

slaughter was Sir Thomas Kennedy of Culz ean , and theyresolved to have hi s life . Ascertaining that he was goingto ride into Galloway , they lay in wait for him at theback of Ardmillan Hill

, and he would in all probabilityhave fallen a victim to their fury had it not been for theworking of one of those cross purposes which render thefollowing of the feud so intricate , and which show the

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

The month of December drew on - the December of1 601 . All these old families of Carrick had their t ownhouses , some of them in Maybole , some in Ayr as well,and when the winter evenings were long and the sparselypeopled country was lonely , they were in the habit ofrallying to the common centre . A little town in thosedays had its season , and it was then a scene of life andof gaiety. So it was with Ayr . It was the countytown . Thither repaired the lords and the barons andthe lairds of Kyle ; there were Montgomeries andCunn inghames who came into it from North Ayrshire ;and from the long plains of Carrick the Kennedys andtheir friends rode up to it across the Doon . Many weret he troubles witnessed of the ancient High Street

,many

the broils that cal led for the armed intervention of theburghers , and many the men who went down in thetuilzies that were fought out on the causeway. It sohappened that the family of which the Laird of Barganywas the head had business in town that winter . Theyall knew that it was not safe for the Laird to be abroad,that the Earl was on the outlook for him , that deathmight overtake him hard by any good ambush

,and it

h ad therefore been agreed that he should not come upto Ayr to meet with his friends . But Bargany was bold

,

and Bargany was impetuous , and he elected to take therisks . Accordingly he call ed about a dozen horsemenaround him and rode to A yr . The Earl heard of it

,as

he well might, for Bargany had ridden past his houseand within a mile of it and he communicated with hisfriends in the royal burgh and set Spies on the Lairdwhose business it was to let him know when he shoulds et out for G irvanside agai n .

Bargany knew his danger, and he consorted with them en of Ayr. The burghers were after the fighting order

,

and their sympathies were with Bargany and againstCassillis ; and so , when the Laird asked them to see

him through , eighty good m en and true rallied to hiscause and were there in marching or in riding orderwhen the time had come to leave. John Mure of

TH E A YR SH IR E VENDETTA 1 71

A uchendrane was there too, and the young Laird ofCarleton , and other par tisans of the Bargany cause.

It was a short , dark day, the 1 l th of December, and thesnow was falling thick

,when the expedi tion emerged

from the burgh port and left the town behind them .

They made for the bridge of Doon , now the old bridge,then the one and only bri dge , and paused a little beforebeginning the ascent of Carri ck . Mure fell a reasoningwith the Laird , and counselled him to return to Ayr.He had not enough men

,he told him

,to do his turn .

But the Laird paid no heed to the advice . He told themen of Ayr to wi tness that he meant no harm againsthis lord, that he had no other wish than to ride quietlyhome, and be appeal ed to them to say whether theywould see him through . They sai d they would—theywould see him through to the death if need be . Andwhen these interchanges were past they faced thes10pe of Carrick Hill , the while the snow drave down onthem so heavily that no man could see a lance’s lengthahead of him . The way was rough. the landscape waswhite

, the trees and the hedges were heavy with snowa more inhospitable day for the ride into Carrick couldnot well be conceived. Steadily, none the less , theyplodded on , till they came to the Lady Corse , about amile to the north of Maybole . There runs a burn herethe Brockloch burn .

The Earl and his men—two hundred of them , and

twenty of the two hundred musketeers—had reachedthe B rockloch burn before Bargany and the men ofAyr got there

, and they were in readiness to receivethem . The details of the encounter are not veryilluminating, but they amply suffice to tell how Barganycame by his end. With A uchendrane , Cloncaird , ando ther three followers he had sustained a charge of thirtyof the Earl ’s horsem en

.A uchendrane had been wounded

in the thigh , and his horse had been brought to theground, James B annatyne

’

s horse was slain , Bargany’

s

page , Edward Irving, had been killed by a lance stroke ,and John M ‘

A lexander had received the contents of a


musket in the leg. Bargany only was pressing on,

determined, if he could, to reach the Earl . The horsemenattendant on Cassillis beset him

E special ly Hew Kennedy of G arryhorn , and

Patrick R ippethe, and Quintin Craufurd of Sillyhole,younger . G arryhom brake a lance on the Laird, and theother two struck at him with swords , and so forced himto retire . And then a fellow cal led John Dick

,who had

been far obliged to him before, at whose hands heexpected no harm , hacked a lance at him and struck himthrough the throat for Bargany feared not him ,

and sotook no tent to him , but to them that were striking at

him . The lance brake in him and stuck , three-quartersof it

,in his throat the which stayed his breath . Then

Quintin Craufurd, coming up to him ,struck his sword

in his face , for he had no force to hold out against thestroke

,he being breathless by the first stroke ; bu t

his horse , being a very good geldi ng, bore him to his ownmen

,near whom he fell dead for lack of breath .

”

It was not quite so , however, for Bargany did not

die on the scene of conflict . H is followers retreatedleaving him where he had fallen , evidently under theimpression that he was dead, and the Earl and his mengathered round him . According to the story, the Earlwould fain have had the work completed offhand, buthis friends advised him agai nst it. They pointed outthat in all likelihood he was bound to succumb ; and

even if he did not, they urged that it wou ld be betterthat the Earl , as Justiciary for the district, shou ldobtain power to have him tried at hi s own bar and

legally destined to the scaffold . This reasoning prevailed,and Bargany was carried by hi s friends back to Ayr

,

where he lived long enough to exercise his influence toget A uchendrane , who had been taken prisoner by theEarl , set at liberty. But his hour was at hand. DoctorLow was he that handled his wounds who had no skill ,but laid to plasters to the wounds, not considering thedanger of the blood that had fallen down to his heart .And that

,adds the H istoric,

” was the cause of his


With Bargany dead, the Earl of Cassillis reassertedhis supremacy. He pursued a num ber of those who hadbeen associated wi th his ri val , and had them put to thehorn

, wi th the resul t that they were glad to come toterms with him . For he was not only the head of theKennedy family , and the supreme feudal power inCarrick , but the Justiciary for the district as well and

in that capacity he was endowed with legal power toapprehend them at any time and have the pains andpenal ties of the law put in force against them . But thefeud did not end for all that . Thomas Kennedy ofDrumurchie , the Laird’s brother, and Wal ter Mure,the Laird of Cloncaird , wi th a few friends, remainedbanded together, and they were strong enough to betroublesome. Then the Earl offended Sir ThomasKennedy of Cul z ean . The eldest son of the latter haddi ed in France, and there was a vacancy in theProvostship of the College Kirk of Maybole inconsequence . Cu lz ean expected that the prefermentwould go to his next son , but the Earl gave it to a notarycalled Gilbert Ross. The coldness that resul ted impelledCulz ean to try and make his peace with the Barganyfactionaries , but , al though A uchendrane endeavoured tobring about a reconcili ation , his attempt was abortive ,and Mure warned Sir Thomas that, if he came wi thintheir danger,

” he would most certainly be tane .

”

Cul z ean’

s position was therefore highly critical . He wasat variance with the chief, the Bargany factionari es hadsworn to be avenged upon him , and A uchendrane was

not to be trusted, as the sequel was shortly to prove .

Cul z ean was minded to ride to Edinburgh on business .Before setting out he sent a message to tell Mure tomeet him the following day in the outskirts of the townof Ayr that they might talk over matters connected withhis journey to the Scottish Metropolis . The messenger ,Culz ean

’

s servant, Lancelot Kennedy, was unable todeliver the message himself, but he got the schoolmasterof Maybole to write a letter to Mure conveying the

t idings, and the letter was carried to A uchendrane by


William Dalrymple , a poor scholar, of Ayr . Nextday, May 1 1 , 1602 , Culz ean and his servant set forth on

their j ourney. He rode leisurely al ong the coast till hecame to Greenan Castle , a peel that stood, and the ruinsof whose tower still stand, on a precipitous cliff aboutthree miles south-west of Ayr, and there he spent thenight with Kennedy of Baltersan ,

then in occupation ofthe keep . H is movements had been observed by theBargany men , and , gathered together in A uchendrane ,they made their arrangements for the following day .

Cul z ean , in order to keep tryst with Mure , had to ridethrough the outskirts of the royal burgh. A chapel stoodabout a mile south of the town—the chapel of St .

Leonard’s- and it was surrounded by trees , and stoodamong sandhills which afforded excellent hiding groundfor the conspirators . Thos e consisted of Bargany

’

s

brother, Thomas Kennedy , Walter Mure of Cloncaird ,

Thomas M‘

A lexander, and Thomas Wallace , wi thWilliam Irving , a Borderer, and a lad , Gilbert Ramsay.

They were in a position to see Culz ean leave Greenan.

A ll unsuspecting , and accompan ied only by his servant ,he rode along till he entered amid the sandhills and thewooded environs of St. Leonard’s and then theybrake at him and slew him most cruelly with shotsand strokes .” They al so robbed him of a thousandmerks in gold, of a ring with several di amonds, and ofhis gold buttons. Culz ean

’

s servant appears to haveescaped. When the deed had been done and the assassinshad made off, he returned to the place where his masterlay in his gore , and, placing his body on the back of hishorse , returned to Maybole . Five days later the body ofthe murdered Kni ght was buried in the fam ily vault inthe College Kirkyard amid every ev idence of deepsorrow and of respect . The murderers were at once putto the horn and denounced as rebels , but as they hadsought safety in flight, or in seclusion , none of themwere brought to justice.

There is every reason for believ ing that the Earl ofCassillis from the v ery firs t associated John Mure of

1 76 HISTORY or AYRSHIRE

A u chendrane with the deed. Mure had been wiseenough to remain at home in his tower on the banks ofthe Doon when the others, the younger men , had goneforth intent on vengeance , but there was strong primafacie evidence that he had connived at bringing Cu lz eanwithin the toils . The Earl bent his energies thereforeon bringing Mure to justice. It mattered very li ttle tohim whether it was done by the ordinary process of thelaw, or by the rough and ready methods of the bloodfeud . He put his brother , the Master of Cassillis, uponhis track in the hope that he m ight be able to kill himoffhand, and granted an obligation , pecul iar of its kind ,covenanting to reward him and his accomplices as soonas they had fulfilled his , and their purpose . Thisagreement ran thus

We,Johne , Earle of Cassillis, Lord Kennedy , etc .

,

Binds and Obliges u s , that howsoon our brother, HewKennedy of B rounstoun , with his complices , takes theLaird of A uchendrane’

s life , that we shall make good andthankful payment to him and to them of the sum oftwelve hundred merks

,yearly

,together with com e to

six horses , aye and until we receive them in householdwith oursel ; beginning the first payment immediatelyafter their committing of the same deed . Moreover ,howsoon we receive them in household , we shall pay itto the two serving gentlemen the fees

,year ly, as our

household servants . And hereto we oblige us upon ourhonour. Subscribed with our hand at Maybole , the 3rdday of September , 1 602 .

JOH NE ERLE or:CA SSILLIS .

A u chendrane recognised his danger, and faced itboldly. There was but the one link that connected himwith the tragedy of the St . Leonard’s plantation , andthat was the lad Will iam Dal rymple , the poor scholar ofAyr , who had carried the letter to his house informinghim of Cu lz ean ’

s intention to ride to Edinburgh . WithDal rymple in his hands he had nothing to fear. Heaccordingly had him brought to A uchendrane and kept


Ayrshi re . Mure lost no time in getting home again . Heknew that the Earl of Cassillis would take vengeanceafter his own fashion as soon as occasion should Offer ;and immediately on his arrival in Carrick he changedhis residence from Doonside to Newark House on thenorthern slope of Carrick Hill , a fitter place for defenceand more easily held against such a force as that whichCassillis could bring to bear against it . The wisdom ofthis course was apparent even before he could have thetransference of residence completed, for while he wasriding between the two houses , he narrowly escapedfall ing into the hands of the Master of Cassillis who ,with a party of followers , was lying in ambush for him .

These were seen by his wi fe as she was riding on ahead ,and she had warning conveyed to him and that just intime to enable Mure to get safely within the strength ofNewark as the Kennedys came clattering at his heels .

So long as Dalrymple remained in Ayrshire and

within possible reach of the Earl of Cassillis, there wasdanger, and A uchendrane therefore determined to getrid of him by sending him out of the country al together .In these days it was a far cry even to Arran , and therewas safety in its depths and immunity from danger inits solitudes . Thither Dalrym ple was sent under thecare of Montgomerie of Skelmorlie . It is inconceivablethat A uchendrane should have explained why forwhile Skelmorlie was a noted feudal ist and come of arace that was ever ready to go a long way in thepromotion of the feud, he was al so an honourable manand would not have lent himself to the covering up ofcrime , even feudal crime , in this unworthy fashion .

Dalrym ple found Arran lonely , and it was not longbefore he reappeared in Ayrshire . A uchendrane ,

however, was on the alert , and a second time he seizedhim . There were wars in Flanders , and there was a

body of Scottish Horse under the Duke of Buccleuch .

The dragoons were liable to death in many forms , in thefield, in the assau lt , in the camp , in hospital . Whatmore likely than that Dal rymple , if only he were sent off

TH E A YRSHIRE VENDETTA 1 79

to Flanders as a soldier , should never return ! To

Flanders therefore he must go . So he was sent acrosscountry to the east coast and shipped off to the seat ofwar. For the tim e being A uchendrane breathed freely.

Feeling in Carrick was beginning to subside besides ,Mure himself was a man well advanced in years, and hewas able to look forward to closing life without beingcal led to account by Cassill is for the one unforgivabledeed done in the body. Two or three years passed .

Many a soldier went to his account , but not Dal rym ple .

He had suffered many things , privation , hunger, Sickness ,wounds, but the life was yet whole within him , and oneday he was sent back to Scotland and—to the horror ofJohn Mure—took up his residence in Ayr . Danger wasimminent . The position was desperate , and somethingdesperate must be done if all these years of suspenseand of dread were not to have been lived in vain .

A uchendrane had a son, James . Jam es , it will beremembered, had been wedded to Helen Kennedy ofCul z ean . He seems to have been a des perado of arougher and readier type than his father. The latterhad Shrunk from the one and only effective means ofputting Dalrymple out of the way . To have killed thepoor scholar offhand would have been at vari ance withthe feudal code—the code of honour by which thevendetta was regu lated. James had no such qualms ofconscience—no such ni ceties in di scrim ination . Andnow that Dal rymple was on the scene again , and mightany day fall into the hands of Cassill is , A uchendranehimself began to see things in another and a darkerlight , and the plot upon whi ch he now entered inconjunction with his son had for its ultimate intent thedisappearance for ever of Dalrym ple from the scene.

They contrived that he should be housed wi th JamesBannatyne, a follower and a dependent of the Mure s .in the farm of Chapeldonan , near Girvan , and thatBannatyne Should bring him to keep tryst wi th them onthe seashore by night and the fact that , as they rodesouthward in the mirk to fulfil the appointment , they


carried spades with them , is proof that theyl weredeliberately bent on murder . The Tragedy of the Sandsis thus narrated by Sir Thomas Hamilton

,the Lord

Advocate , in a letter to a Scottish nobleman , butobviously intended for the eye of the King, the ScottishSolomon

James Bannatyne did bring Dal rymple about teno

’

clock in the night to the sands of Girvan,where John

Mure , elder of A uchendrane ,and James Mure , younger

of A uchendrane , were attending their coming. Atmeeting, Auld A uchendrane began to declare to his manBannatyne that he had been in perpetual fear sinceCulz ean

’

s slaughter, to be di scovered guilty thereof ;that , for eschewing the danger , he had sent furth of thecountry this Dalrymple , who brought to him the letterof advertisement of Culz ean ’

s di et , and, when as he hadmatters at that point as , by his pai ns , young Cul z eanand Thomas Kennedy were made to allow of theconditions which he had set down for reconciliation ofthe quarrel , this man was unhappily returned , by whomhis whole device would be disappointed and his dangerrenewed . That he saw no remedy but to rid Dal rymplefurth of this life , Since he could not otherwise be keptout of the way . Whereunto Bannatyne making answerthat it was a cruel purpose to murder the poor innocentyouth , especially seeing they might send him to Irelandto be safely kept there till the agreeance was perfectedbetween Cul z ean and Drumurchie ; Auld A u chendraneseemed to incline somewhat to this expedi ent and inthe uncertainty of his resolution , turning towards thepart where his son stood , on purpose , as appeared, tohave consulted with him , young A uchendrane perceivedthem no sooner near, but , thereby assuring himself oftheir assistance

,in execution of that which his father

and he had formerly concluded,he did violently invade

Dalrymple , rushed him to the ground , and never lefthim , till helped by his father, with his hands and kneeshe had strangled him . And then thinking to have buriedhim in the sands , whereby no mark should remain which

182 HISTORY OF AYR SHIRE

Among those who repaired to the church to see the

corpse was a lady of the Culz ean family. She took withher a little girl , Mari e Mure , the daughter of the younger ,and the grand-daughter of the older Mure . This childwandered into the church , and, as she stood looking atal l that was mortal of the murdered man . blood Sprangforth from the corpse . Such was the tal e . In those daysthe belief still obtained that this was Heaven ’s way ofpointing the finger of eternal Justice at the murderer .It had begun to give way, but it had still so muchcredence attached to it that even the Senators of theCollege of Justice were prepared to listen to reasoningfounded on the superstition ; and as a matter of factthis very instance was cited as an undeniable proof ofProvidential agency in the detection of the crime ofmurder . With the spreading of the story, men began toassociate A uchendrane and his son with the crime , andthe feeling grew strong that they must be cal led toaccount for it .The Earl of Cassillis , who had quietly and watchfully

bided his time,once more set the law in motion . Mure ,

on the other hand , dri ven to desperation and fearful ofwhat a day might bring forth , thought only of how to

protect himself. It was for that he lived, it was to thatend he devoted all his energies . TO begin with , he hadBannatyne sent to Ireland but

,as it was with

Dal rymple in Arran , so it was with the Carrick farmer inIreland. He returned to Ayrshire at the instance of theEarl of Abercorn . A uchendrane resolved at once totake his life

, and he employed an assassin to slay himand , to make assurance of safety doubly sure , he actuallycovenanted with another cutthroat to do by him whathe was to do by Bannatyne . In the hope of divertingattention from the tragedy on the Girvan shore , heplanned an attack , after the orthodox feudal method ,

upon Hugh Kennedy of G arriehorne , and , accompaniedby a retainer, he waylaid him on the highway and madea determined attack upon him but this timehe had todeal

,not wi th a defenceless , but wi th an armed and bold

TH E AYRSH IRE VENDETTA 183

and ready man . G arri ehom e accepted the combat,beat his Opponents off, and wounded A uchendraneseverely. The law m eanwhi le was moving steadily, ifslowly, and at length it magnified itself in theapprehension of the Mures , father and son, and had themconveyed to Edinburgh and impri soned in the Heart ofMidlothian—the Tolbooth . As before , however, directincrim inatory evidence was lacking. Bannatyne , afraidof the Mures on the one hand , and of the probableconsequences of giving himself up to justice , on theother, was in concealment . The Mures roundly deniedthe accusation that the Lord Advocate brought againstthem . The authorities were in a quandary, and theywould in all probabili ty have felt themselves compelledto drop the case had it not been that King James , whotook a great personal interest in it , and who was satisfiedin his own mind that the Mures were guilty, refused forthe time being to sanction their liberation. Sternermethods of ascertaining the t ruth were accordinglytaken .

The Privy Council had not yet di spensed wi th thetorture as an adjunct to the ascertaini ng of the truth,and it was res olved to apply the boot to the youngerMure. But even the agony wrung from him by thedri ving home of the wedge that shattered the anklebones failed to do more than elicit protests of innocencefrom James Mure. He did ,

” in the words of the LordAdvocate, endure the extremity of that insufferabletorture with such constancy, that , whereas it was hopedthat the veri ty Of the accusation and extremity of painshould have forced him to a true confession , the eventproved so far contrary, as he, resolving with silence, andsufferance of a short pai n , to redeem his liberty and toadd the hope of many years to his life.” AS the resul tof his protestations, A uchendrane was set at liberty,but James Mure himself was still kept in prison.

While the Earl of Cassillis had bided hi s time in thematter of A uchendrane, he had been instant in thereassertion of his feudal supremacy. As an instance of


how strenuously he had pursued hi s purpose, hiS

' dealingwith Thomas Dal rymple, the brother of the Laird Of

Stair, may be cited. Dal rymple was a cousin of Bargany,

and a nephew of the old Laird of Bargany who died1 597. H e was thus a second cousin of the Earl ofCassillis, and he was on the Bargany Side of the feud .

He was ane pretty little manne, and werry kynd.

He was kindly handitt , quha was ane manne that hadnever offendi t manne , but he was one of those who hadplotted to waylay and slay the Earl on hisway home fromCraigneil , so that , if he never injured any one , it was notfor want of trying. Ridi ng al ong by night close by thethe bridge at Girvan, he was captured by the Earl ,taken to Craigneil Castle , granted an assiz e, and hangedforthwith at the yett .” But all availed nothing solong as Mure remained at liberty, and in this respect ,as in others , the Earl was to have satisfaction . By theinfluence of the Earl of Abercorn

,Bannatyne was

brought back from Ireland and confronted with Cassillis .

The latter was not satisfied with the manner in whichthe farmer of Chapeldonan had been placed at his mercy ,and he refused to hold him in bondage . While, however,he Offered him hi s liberty , he told him that after ten dayshe would bestow all hi s own travai ls

,and the assistance

of all the friends he had in the world, to apprehend him ,

wherever he might be had , either quick or dead . Inthese circumstances he counselled him to repair to thePrivy Council and make confession . To this courseBannatyne was further impelled by the knowledge thatA uchendrane was moving heaven and earth to have himSlain . He accordingly made confession , and , the waybeing now clear for the trial of the Mures , A uchendranewas rearrested and carried off to Edinburgh .

On July 17 , 1 61 1 , the Mures , father and son , wereplaced at the bar Of the High Court , and with them JamesBannatyne . The older Mure was charged with beingart and part of the treasonable murder of the deceasedSir Thomas Kennedy of Cul z ean , Knight , Tutor ofCassillis ,

”etc . , and all three with the murder of William


and convict , of art and part of the said treasonablem urder of the said deceased William Dal rymple,committed by the said persons in manner contai ned inthe dittay.

In face of such a verdict as that ,'there could be but

the one sentence—the sentence of death . Accordingly,the Mures

,Older and younger, and Bannatyne , were

condemned to be taken to the Market Cross of theburgh of Edi nburgh , and there , upon a scaffold, theirheads to be struck from their bodies , and all their lands ,heritages, tacks , steadi ngs , rooms , possessions , teinds ,corns

,cattle , inside plenishing, goods, gear, titles,

profits , commodities , and rights whatsoever, di rectly orindirectly pertaining to them ,

or any of them , at thesai d treasonable murders , or sinsyne, or to the wh ichany of them had right , claim , or action , to be forfeit ,escheat , and inbrought to our sovereign lord

’s use , as

culpable, and convict of the said treasonable crimes .”“ Which , added the officer of Court , the deemster,is pronounced for doom .

” Bannatyne received theKing’s pardon , and was forthwith liberated.

For the Mures there could be no hope. Their sinshad found them out, and they must di e. It is probablynever a very satisfying study that of men under sentenceOf death , and least of all when

,as not infrequently

happens , they are held up to the world as monumentsOf saving grace. None can limit Heaven’s power toforgive or to change the heart

,but it is one thing to

recognise that , and another to acclaim the murderer asaint , even in extrem is . It is interesting. none the less ,to note the spiritual exercise of the Mures

,as that is

told in the words of the Lord Advocate. Neithercould wise men ,

” he says , neglect to admire how loaththe Devil is to quit his possession of a Sinner’s soul ,having so contended to maintai n Auld A uchendrane inhis denial and impenitence, that , after his conv iction ,there was no appearance that he Should either confessor publicly repent the crimes for which he wasc ondemned, until , after a notable conflict between his


son and the Devil , who still persuaded him that therewas no hope of mercy to a sinner who had wilfu lly andoft perjured himself with horrible execrations , somegodly bishops and ministers by long conferences and

comfortable assurances given to him of the readiness ofGod’s free grace and mercy to all sinners who , withunfeigned repentance , are displeased for their sins , andcan dispose their souls to hope for pardon and beg it atH is hands—he was moved to make plain and particulardeclaration of the unhappy murder of Dalrymplecommitted by hi s father and himself, accordi ng to

Bannatyne’

s confession and their conviction . Whereby,findi ng his conscience wonderfq di sburdened , and hissoul fu lly replenished wi th God ’s sure hOpe of abundantmercy, did cheerfully dispose himself to death as theonly way to a blessed and ever permanent life and ,

using his best persuasions to his father that , as theywere conjoined in blood and likewise conjoined in theequal guiltiness of so heinous a sin , so he would consentthat they might j oin in repentance and true conversion ,he did so much prevail with him that , being assisted bythe godly travails of the bishops and min isters , thefather was brought to so free and sensible contrition as,

in the last hours of their life , and at the time of theirdeath

,their godly resolution to make haste to receive

the eternal j oys , which they expected assuredly atGod’s merciful hands , gave as great comfort to thebeholders of their execution as their wicked lives had beenoffensive to those who knew the actions thereof.”

In due time the Mures were executed , and with theirdeath the blood feud in Carrick may be sai d to havecome to a close. By thi s time the State had been ableto assert its authori ty over every part of the Kingdom

,

and the contending factions in the West had been forcedto recognise that they could no longer hope to outragethe law of the land with i mpunity. The Earl of Cassillishad, however, amply asserted his own position . He hadyielded nothing of his kingship of Carrick . One by onehis opponents had either been driven from the scene

,or

I 3


had been compelled to acknowledge his supremacy ;

and, al l things considered , it cannot be said that heacted with greater sternness or vindi ctiveness than thecircumstances had warranted .

The Mures , whose heads fell to the gleam ing knife ofthe Old Scottish Maiden ,

” were not the last of theirrace . The family was represented in the eighteenthcentury by a poor and a distressed man . Overburdenedby debt , he found himself compelled to yield to themandate of the Court , and to submit to arrest at thehands of a bailiff. A s he was being taken away from h isancestral home on the banks of the Doon

,from the

tower which in its time had witnessed so manyremarkable and stirring scenes , the eye of the bailiff fellupon the dule tree , a majestic plane that stood in frontof the tower , and he Offered to forego the debt if onlyMu re would give him the tree . What exclaimed thelast of the Mures , proud though in his poverty,

“ Sellthe dule tree of A u chendrane ! I would sooner die inthe worst du ngeon of your prison . To prisonaccordingly he went . It is long since a devastatingwinter storm destroyed the dul e tree and as the yearswent on the grey Old tower was removed to make wayfor the abode of peace , and of philanthropy , that wasthe home of Sir Peter Coats , one of the founders of thegreat thread industry of Paisley , for a number of yearsbefore his death .

We have dealt in considerable detail with thesegreat feuds in Ayrshire and it is not necessary

,

therefore , that we should do more than glance at thesmal ler feuds in which the leading families of the Shirewere involved, and at the quarrels of the families of lessterritorial consequence . Many of the latter are soobscure , both as to their causes and their consequences

,

that it is now wholly impossible to discover whence theySprang or how they terminated . That they wereruthlessly waged, however, is undeniable , and even asummary of the events that have been handed down tous, in the judicial and family records of the period, is


apparently in the Open field. While thus in hiding in

the bogside beside Irvine ,” he was di scovered by the son

Of the slaughtered Laird of Lainshaw , who convened hisfriends and accomplices wi th the intention of slayinghim but R owallan , heari ng of their purpose , gatheredhis adherents and placed himself by the Side of LordBoyd, affirming his readiness to adventure his life andeverything he had in defence of his safety. In thecircumstances the attempt was abandoned. This feudwent on at intervals till 1 560 or 1 561 , when it waspatched up on rather curious condi tions . Lord Boydwas to appear at the cross, mercat , or kirk of Irvine ,as Montgomeri e of Lainshaw might thi nk proper, andthere solicit forgi veness for him self and his fri ends forthe deed that he had done , and to pay at the same timeeighteen hundred and forty merks . And three of Boyd’sfri ends , who had apparently been with him at theskirmish in the Irvine streets , Charles Mowat of B usbie,Robert Boyd of Clerkland, and Will iam Blair of H endrescroft , gave bond at the same time to Lord Boyd , thatthey should depart the country and remain in Franceduri ng the pleasure of Sir Neil Montgomerie. TheMontgomeri es , on the other hand, gave securi ties thatthey would regard the quarrel at an end on thesecondi tions being fulfilled. These were the Ear l ofEglinton , as chief and principal of the father

’s side ,the Earl of Argyle, as chief and principal by the mother

’sand guiddam side, and the Earl of Cassillis, as chief andprincipal of the gu iddam by the father’s side .

” InSeptember , 1 570,

John Muir of Cal dwell was slain byAlexander Cunninghame , younger, of A iket , with aparty of fri ends and servants—no doubt an incident inthe feud that had for so ma ny years been runningbetween the Glencairn family on the one hand, and theB oyds and Muirs on the other. Shortly afterwards a

quarrel eventuated between the Boyds and the Muirsthemselves . Sir Robert Colville of Ochiltree , maternal

grandfather to Lord Boyd, had been beset by the Muirsand slain . In revenge, Lord Boyd, the Master of Boyd,

THE AYRSHIRE VENDET TA 191

James Boyd of Keppis, Alexander Boyd, Bailie ofKilmarnock , and other fri ends, to the number of sixteenin all , armed as for battle, with jacks, Spears, secrets ,steel bonnets, swords , long culveri ns, daggs , and

pistolettes,” beset John Mu ir in the Well near the Kirk

of Prestwick , on his way home , ridi ng alone from Ayr.With such a force Muir had no chance , and he was slainon the Spot . Mu ir of R owal lan , the head of the family ,pursued Lord Boyd for satisfaction. The Regent Mar ,anxious if at all possible to bri ng these troubles to aclose and to restore the westland to peace , interfered ,

and , under his influence , the parties agreed to come to asettlement . Lord Boyd consented to pay to Janet ,the wife of the deceased John Muir, as compensationfor the slaughter of her husband, two hundred andthirty-three pounds, Six and eightpence by instalments—the Master of R owallan acting on behalf of the widowand her children . The feud, however, still continued.

In 1 594, Muir of R owallan had committed violence ,injury, and intolerable oppression upon WilliamHunter in his attempt to uplift certain teinds to whichhe seems to have been justly entitled. The King ,knowing the natural feeling of hostil ity to the Muirsthat existed in Lord Boyd

,instructed the latter to

protect Hunter, and expressed hi s surprise that suchinterference on his part Should have been necessary inrespect of the power and authority possessed by LordBoyd within the bounds . Lest the royal and officialmandate should not have the desired effect, the Queensupplemented it with a private note of her own . Thiscommunication ran as follows

Truist consing, we greit you weill . Understandingthat the Laird of R owallan ,

baith violentlie and unjustlie

perseweth the King’s servand,

William H untar, and

stayeth him fra uplifting his teinds , quhairunto he hessic interest by his wyffe, we requeist you therfor that yewold countenance , assist , and protect the said WilliamB untar, and by your powerfull favour warrand himfra other in jurys, quhairin ye sal do to us very agreeable


pleasour as ye sal haife the pru ifes thairof quhensoeverye sal su its for the same at our hands . Our ri ght tru istconsigne , we comm itt you to God. At H alyrud hous ,

the 9of Januar, 1 594.

ANNA , R .

What befell as the result of the kingly order and thequeenly request cannot now be told. The interestingpoint of the matter, so far as Ayrshire is concerned ,

is

the proof that the incident offers that the enmity betweenthe two famil ies had not been assuaged by the formalagreement come to twenty-two years previous . Indeed,

these agreements seldom or never seem to have servedthe purpose of ensuri ng fri endship between the rivalfeudal ists . They answered the end for the time being ,but the animosities were too deeply engrained to bedissipated by parchment fri endships, and there was nolack of occasion for their recrudescence . Neither didthey cease , in their extreme manifestation , until theCrown was powerful enough to lay its heavy hand onthe rivals and compel their submission .

The Justiciary records abound in instances of trialsfor feudal offences . In 1 530,

John Cunninghame ofCaprington ,

Alexander Cunninghame of Luglane, AdamStewart of Shawtown

,and Adam Cunninghame of

Clavanis, were denounced rebels for non-appearance tounderlie the law for the cruel slaughter of John Tod,and with them David Boswell of Auchinleck for thesame offence . In 1 537, Gilbert , Earl of Cassillis, FergusM

‘

Dowall of F reuche, John Kennedy, younger , ofDrumellan , Alexander Kennedy of Glentig, JamesKennedy of Knockdon ,

and twenty-three others , had tofind security for coming upon John Dunbar of Blantyreand his four servants in A yr , armed in warlike manner ,cruelly invading them for their slaughter, woundingthree of the servants , and mutilating two of them inthe hand and in the thigh . John Cunninghame ofCaprington , David Boswell of Auchinleck , and GeorgeDouglas of Pennyland , had to answer for attackingJohn Samson in A yr and mutilating him in the thumb


themselves , and that John Reid happened to get a strokethat killed him . On these grounds the accused besoughtthe Judge , for God

’s sake , for remede.” Because hewas a poor man he applied for a law yer to speak for him ,

as ye wi ll have thank , reward, and merit of God and

of your own souls therefor.” The King interestedhimself in this case , and the venue was changed fromAyrshire to Edinburgh , so that the accused might havea fair tri al and free from malice . In the end , Reid wasfound gu ilty and beheaded.

In 1 550, two sons Of Hugh Craufurd, senior , twosons of William Craufurd of Barquhorn , and other twomen , were declared rebels for not appearing to answerto a charge of having cruelly Slain William Mathy andFindlay Syrn , and forcibly abducted Lady Leifnorrisand detained her in captivity. There were other chargesof a feudal character against them as well . Amongmany cases of a somewhat analogous character , we findthat John Lockhart of Bar had pursued Lord Stewartof Ochiltree for his Slaughter that John Cunninghameof Glengarnock

,his two brothers , and thirty-two others ,

had broken into the house of Humphrey Galbraith forhis slaughter ; that Robert Grahame of Knockdolian

had slai n Gilbert M ‘

Ilwrick that Alexander Dunlop ofDunlop had been art and part in the cruel slaughter ofhis own son that the Kennedys of Bargany had brokeninto the house of Penkill and invaded Adam Boyd , hiswife , chi ldren , and servants , wounding his wife wi thstones ; and that Bernard Fergu sson of Kilkerran , hisbrothers , Thomas and David , and fifty-one others , hadcome within the Tolbooth of Ayr, where the Sheriff

’sdeputes were sitting , and invaded John Craufurd ofCam larg with drawn swords and staves . To this listmany more instances of a like character might be added,but enough has been said to demonstrate what Ayrshirewas during the period that the blood feud ran . Thereare numerous instances also of raids and forayscommitted by the partisans Of the different familiesupon the lands of their neighbours , the lifting of horses,


cattle , and sheep, and occasionally the appropriation ofhousehold goods and plenishing . It is only in rareinstances that actual punishment was enforced . Thepri nciple of compensation for lawless acts , even whenthey were of a very serious character indeed , wasperfectly understood ; and the heads of the fam iliescould always be depended upon to stand by theiradherents in the time of need . Outlawry was but littleregarded . Many a prominent man was put to the horn ,

in some instances for successive offences , but the worstoffenders appear to have been sheltered by their friends ,or to have accepted voluntary banishment with thecalm assurance that ere long the scandal or the offencewould be forgotten . Life in Ayrshire was certainly notwithout its excitements in the sixteenth centu ry indeed ,as compared with that period, it has to be confessedthat we live in times that , for a regular series ofsensations , are downright tame and humdrum .

CHAPTE R IX

THE FIRST REFORMATION

Many circumstances had combined to prepareAyrshire Specially for the Reformation . It is affirmed,and not without some ostensible reason , that there hadbeen an immigration of Lollards from the Continent ofEurope

,and that some of these had found their home

in the westland ; and it is said that the forefathers ofJohn Howie of Lochgoin , the historian of the ScotsWorthies ,

” were among those who had left their ownland for conscience sake and that they had sought theseclusion of the muirlands of the Fenwick di strict . Ifthese things be so

,it is not diffi cult to understand that.

even as early as the fifteenth century, the Reformmovement that in the end swept the Church Of Romeout of Scotland altogether, had a prepared peopleawaiting its arrival in force upon the A yrshire scene .

There can be no doubt , however, that the Church ofRome herself was largely responsible—indeed, m ainlyresponsible—for her own overthrow . She had longsince ceased as a whole to be the hard-working, unselfishChurch that She was in the days of her youth . She hadbeen graspn of lands

,of heritages , of influence . She

had annexed many of the fairest estates that Scotlandhad. In Ayrshire she lorded it over each of the threedivisions of the county . The parishes were all under hercontrol and influence in secular things as well as sacred.

She took tithe of the fruits of the field, of the mineralsthat were brought U p from underneath the soil , of theproduce of the mill and of the brewery . She had


Reid of Barskimm ing, John Campbell of Newmills ,Andrew Shaw of Polkenet , Helen Chalmers , wife of

Robert Mure of Polkelly ,and Isabel Chalmers , wife of

William Dalrymple of Stai r—sisters, and daughters ofG adgirth

—and all of them were Of the di stricts of Kyleand Cunningham. Adam Reid made a bold and spiriteddefence

, and carried the war into the enemy’s camp ;

and the King,wi th a wisdom and a consideration that

would have stood some of his successors in good stead,advised them to be content with the faith of the MotherChurch , and di smissed them with an admonition . Of

this incident an early , and a nameless, minstrel , in anaddress to B arskimm ing House , romantical ly situated onthe banks of A yr, sang

Hence to my view, wi th fam e he nobly stands,The owner once of all these lov ely lands,Who in hi s Sovereign ’

s presence check’

d

A prela te monk wi th beads bedeck ’

d ,

A nd showed thy darkness , fou l , fell Supersti tion ,

Brav ing the terrors of the Inqu isi tionA nd poured clear Gospel tru ths so from his tongue

That on i t princely you ths enraptured hung.Hence saw , through pri esthood ’s fl im sy, half-screen ’

d lightThe gloriou s sun of heav en ,

refu lgen t , bright .

The next open manifestation of hostility to the

Church of Rome occurred in 1 533 , when Andrew Stewart ,Laird of Ochiltree

, was accused before Bishop Dunbarof Glasgow of casting down an image in the Kirk of Ayr.St . John ’s was rich in altars and in priests . It was a

fane of great consequence at the period a church , too ,of fame from the days when the Scots Parliament hadmet within its walls after Bannockburn to reassert theKingship of Scotland in Bruce and his heirs for ever .Stuart had manifestly been of powerful reformingsympathies , and of somewhat il l-regulated z eal . In theheight of his indignation he had cast down the image tothe ground. The Church could not permit an outragesuch as this to go unchecked. Stuart was cited to

answer for his misdeed at Glasgow, and being sharplydealt with

,he recanted and promised submission for the

THE FIRST REFORMATION

future . Riding home to Ochiltree , and crossing one ofthe intervening rivers in flood

,his horse stumbled and

fell . AS he was being swept along in the current hecaught hold of a large stone , to which he clung , the whilehe bade his friends on the bank take warning by thej udgment that had overtaken him for his sacrifice ofprinciple , and recanted his recantation . After that hewas swept away and drowned.

By 1 545 the nation was in what can hardly beregarded as anything else than a chronic condi tion ofturmoil and intrigue . There was a French party and an

English part y . Cardinal Beaton , an ecclesiastic of greatdetermination and force of character, was the leader ofthe former

,and perhaps the m ore strictly patriotic of

the two parties . The Earl of Cassillis was on the sideof Henry VIII .

, and he was so strongly partisan in theEnglish cause that he not only favoured an invas ion ofScotland from the south , but was willing to undertakethe killing of the Cardinal . The Earl of Glencairn wason the same side . Their efforts , however , were in vain ,and the Cardinal triumphed. Under the protection ofthese two Earls, George Wishart undertook a tour inthe West , visiting Ayr am ong other places, and he issaid to have made many converts to the Protestan tcause by the force of hi s eloquence . On the death ofHenry VIII . , and of Cardinal Beaton, the rival factionscoalesced, and both of the Earls were appointed membersof the Secret Council . In 1 554 Mary of Guise assumedthe Regency of Scotland. She made special fri ends withLord Boyd of Kilmarnock , whom she urged to defendher det est dochter, promising to protect him agai nstall those who should assail him because of h is loyalty.

Cassillis was sent to Paris as one of the Commissionersto arrange the terms of the settlement , and to be presentat the marriage of Mary to the Dauphin of France .

Meanwhile the Reform movement was making rapidheadway in Scotland. Elizabeth was on the throne ofEngland , and, with her powerful influence to back them,

the Scottish Lords of the Congregation , and Glencairn


among them , were fearlessly lending their support to the

growing cause . But this did not suit Mary of Guise ,and , induced by the Roman Catholic clergy, she

summoned a number of the Reformed preachers toanswer for their conduct . When they made theirappearance at Holyrood, they did not come alone .

They were supported by a powerful body Of gentlemenfrom the West . The Queen Regent apparently did no t

like the look of things , and she desired a postponementof the interview for fifteen days . But the Barons hadnot undertaken their journey to Edinburgh to be thustreated , and they surrounded the palace and insistedon being ushered into the royal presence . The QueenRegent could do naught else than see them . When theystood in her presence , Chalmers of G adgirth took speechin hand, and he Spoke boldly . We know, Madam ,

”

he said, that this is the device of the Bishops who nowstand beside you . We avow to God we Shall make a dayof it. They oppress u s and our poor tenants to feedthemselves : they trouble our ministers and seek to

undo them and us all . We wi ll not suffer it any longer .”

When he had so spoken , the Barons , who had beenstanding by uncovered

,put on their steel caps . The

Queen Regent was intimidated, as She well might be,and made haste to protest that She meant no harmagai nst the ministers . Two years later, in 1 559, Maryof Gu ise , who had until then acted with considerablediscretion , a second time cal led the Reformed preachersinto her presence , and a second time the Baronsaccompanied them . After the manner of the Reformersthen

,and in later times

,they demanded to be convinced

of the fal sity of their position from the Bible . This theRegent did not essay to do . Then they reminded herOf her former promise of toleration . Promises, she

replied, ought not to be urged upon princes unless theycan conveniently fulfil them .

” Such a reply could onlyprovoke the Barons to indignation , and they did nothesitate to reply plainly.

“ If,madam

,they said,

you are resolved to keep no faith with your subj ects ,


glazed windows , etc . , in the years 1 545 , 1 547 , a ndThe same year John Will ock, a converted friar of Ayr ,wa denounced a rebel for usurping the authority of theChurch , and for taking upon himself the service thereof,and also for convocation and gathering of the li eges ofthe burgh of Ayr, he being not admitted or approved bythe Ordinary of that place and , without his license ,haranguing and preaching to the said li eges, andpersuading and seducing them to his own seditiousdoctrines and heresies , thereby usurping the K ing

’

s andOueen

’

s authority , and stirring up the lieges to commitsedi tion and tumults , contrary to the Proclamations.In 1 55 1 Alexander Dimbar of Cumnock was denounced arebel for intercommuning with Norman Leslie, one ofthe murderers of Cardinal Beaton , and furnishing himwith meat

,drink and lodging, in the months of December

and January previous. And there are other cases of aSimilar character.John Willock, the converted friar of Ayr , and a

native of the county, was a m an of considerable gi ftsand experience. He was born early in the century. On

completing his education he entered one of the religioushouses of A yr. According to Spottiswood , he was aFranciscan , according to Bishop Lesley, a Dominican .

Early embracing the Reformed fai th , he relinqui shed hismonastic habit and went to live in England. In 1 539he was a preacher in St. Catherine’s , in London, and wasimprisoned in The Fleet , as Foxe says of him in hisBook of Martyrs ,

” for preaching'

against Confession ,holy water, against praying to saints and for soulsdeparted

,against Purgatory , and holding that priests

might have wives . After his liberation he becamechaplain to the Duke of Suffolk , the father of Lady JaneGrey later he escaped to the Continent and practisedas a physician in Embden in Friesland. His patronessthere, A nn , Duchess of Friesland, selected him to

proceed on a m ission to Scotland respecting the tradebetween the two countries ; and during two successivev isits, in 1 555 and 1 556 on this errand, he took occasion

THE FIRST REFORMATION 203

to preach to and encourage the brethren,who

,

according to Knox , did show them that they had an

earnest thirst for godliness .

”R eturning a third time in

1 558 he undertook the office of the ministry. In 1 550he officiated in E dinburgh in the room of John Knox,and continued his ministrations throughout the year ;for which he received the thanks of the Town Council .After the Reformation he was several times Moderatoro f the General Assembly , and he was appointedSuperintendent of the West, residing chiefly in Glasgow .

H e is supposed to have died about 1 574.

It is evident that Willock was a man of good and

varied parts , and therefore that he was a worthyantagonist to Quintin Kennedy, the Father Abbot ofCrossraguel . Of this famous ecclesiastic somethingmust be said. Born about 1 520, he mu st at the timehave been in the full vigour Of his manhood, and by no

means the veteran ecclesiastic that he is generallysupposed to have been . He was the fourth son ofGilbert , second Earl ofCassillis , and of Isobel , daughter ofArchibald, E arl of Argyle . From his youth he wasdestined for the Church , and had enjoyed al l the

advantages of an academic training. From St. AndrewsUniversity he went to Pari s , where he completed histheological trai ning. On h is return to Scotland hewas successively vicar of Girvan , and of Penpont . andin 1 540 he was promoted to the abbacy of Crossraguel .He was a man of high personal character, well instructedin the canon law, a close student of the Fathers ,

” andpossessed of the courage of the race whence he hadS prung. With the growth of Reformation doctrines ando f the Reformation cau se at his own door, it behovedthe Abbot to be at work , and accordingly , in 1558. heissued Ane Compendius Tractive , conforme to theScriptu ris of alm ightie G od , reason , and au thori tie ,

d eclaring the nerrest and onlie way , to establische the

c onscience of any Christian man , in all matteris (quhilks

ar in debate) concernyng faith and religi m m ThisTractive he dedicated to his dearest and best beloved

l 4


nephew Gilbert , Master of Cassillis . Two years later theAbbot wrote An Oration in favour of all those of theCongregation , exhorting them to espy how wonderfullythey are abused by their deceitful Preachers .

” This.

was published ( 181 2 ) by Sir Alexander Boswell from the

manuscript in the library of Auchinleck . Kennedy diedz 2ud August , 1 564, aged about forty four .

It is by the Compendiu s Tractive ,and his dispu tations

with John Willock and John Knox , that the Abbot isbest remembered . The following summary of the

contents of the Tractive, given by Keith ,

is reprinted in“ The Miscellany of the Wodrow Society It is .

di vided into eighteen chapters. The author begins byshowing that God has both a Witness and a Judge in al l

controversies about matters of religion . The Witness ,

or Testimony is,he says

,the Holy Scripture (and for

this he cites St . John , chapter the Judge is theKirk

,or Christian congregat ion . But because the whole

Kirk cannot meet together in one place , in order todecide qu estions ; and though they could, yet all themembers have not a capacity to decide thereof thereforethe principal member is appointed to be the Overseer,Judge , and Guide , even as the head in the human bodygoverns and directs all the o ther members of the body .

He maintains that ecclesiastical Councils have alwaysconsisted of the most devout and best learned men , whohave always concurred uniformly in all material pointsconcern ing Faith— 1 things necessary to be known inorder to salvation—but acknowledges that in points ofReligion—that is

, as he explains it , in Ceremonies , CivilOrdinances and Laws— they may have appointed somethings at some certai n times , which the circumstances ofpeople have required to be altered afterwards ; which ,

he says , is no more than what God himself has beenpleased to do , by the Ceremonies of His own appointment .

And he affi rms that , though the lives of the principalmembers of the Christian congregation Shou ld be

suffered to be not so exemplary as might he wished, yet ,even in that case, God will take care to direct the

'


Pari sh Kirk openly , he being at his preaching. of thewhich the principles of the brother were marvellouslymiscontendit .

” It appears from this that the disputationwas broken off through the Abbot’s fear of breaking thepeace, and there is little doubt that this was so . Thecorrespondence relative to the di sputation betweenhim and Willock is characteristic of the period. Willockwould acknowledge no other authority than HolyScriptu re , which he claimed the right to interpret forhimself the Abbot , on the other hand , stoutly refusedto give up his auxiliaries , Irenazus, Ori gen , Cyprian ,Chrysostom , Augustine , and other venerable fathers anddoctors . In the end Willock gave way in the matterand the disputation was fixed ; but, as the Abbot hassaid, it did not take place because of the large assemblyby whom the Reformer was accompanied. It is

interesting, none the less , to know who the countygentlemen were whom Willock named as those who wereSpecially to support him . These were z—Alexander

,

Earl of Glencairn ; Robert , Lord Boyd Andrew ,Lord

Ochiltree ; Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudoun , Sheriff ofAyr ; John Wallace of Craigie, George Campbell ofCessnock, John Lockhart of B ar. Hugh Wallace of

Carnell , David Craufurd of Kerse, John Muir of R owallan ,

John Fullarton of Dreghorn, Robert Campbell ofK in z eancleuch , John Cathcart of Carleton , AndrewSchaw of Sornbeg, and George Corry of Kelwood . It isobviou s that the cause of the Reformation had obtaineda

!

very strong hold on the shire. It is manifest al so thataffinity for the Reformed cause did not make itssupporters among the gentry any the less enamoured ofthe blood feud. for, as we have seen in a previou s chapter,more than one of the gentlemen named were prominentleaders in the vendetta.

It wou ld have been interesting to have known underwhat circ umstances the actual work of the Reformationwas carried through in Ayrshire . There must have beena day of the Church

’s passing. For months before theecclesiastics had seen it coming, and in many cases they

THE FIRST REFORMATION 207

made ready against it by the removal of their books andvaluables and the disposal of such heritages as it was intheir power to convert into money. No doubt theyhoped against hOpe. Was it for this that the monas teri eshad b een built and that many succeeding generationsof monks and friars had lived Must it come to this,that they Should leave the sacred fanes, the hallowedal tars, the goodly lands , the places of many associations !And must they go ou t , hardly knowing in most caseswhither they were going With the resistlessness of aFate events rolled on . There were disobedient crowdsin the streets ,

there were mobs that shouted at the gatesof the monasteri es , there were strenuous men urging the

maple to ri se and shake off the yoke . In s ome instancesthe ecclesiastics girded up their loins and fled by nightin others they may have waited till the enemy was atthe gates . The people of Ayr arose and pulled down themonasteries that had stood these many years on the

banks of the ri ver. Robert Campbell of K in z eancleuch ,

who had been foremost in Ayrshire in the promulgationof the Reformed fai th, was instant in pu lling downthe rookeries so that the crows would fly away.

” Therewere some, like Lockhar t of Bar, who paid scant regardto the fri ars and the Church houses Campbell , on theother hand, as we learn from a quaint ballad publishedin Edi nburgh in 1505 , and entitled A Memorial of theLife and Death of two worthye Chri stians, RobertCampbell of K inz eancleuch , and his wife ElizabethCampbe

‘was more considerate . although he played a

prominent part In the work of destructionJ 4

B u t whether i t was night or dayGu id Robert was not m ist away.

When they pu ld doune the F riers of A yr,

Spier at the F riers gif he was the ir.

The Laird of Carnell , yet in Kyle ,

Quba was not sleepand al thi s whileA nd R obert wer made m essengersSen t from the rest to warn the F ri ers,

Ou t of these places to deludge ,

Howbei t the Carls began to grudge

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

E i ther wi th good wi ll or wi th i ll ,The keys they gav e thi r two un till

After their gudes they had ou t tane ,

So greater harm the F riers had nane .

The Reformation formally and by A ct of Parliamentconstituted in 1 560,

the Estates passed an A ct “ fordemolishing such cloisters and abbey churches as werenot yet pulled down .

” In Ayrshire , and in the westernLowlands generally, the work of demolition was

entrusted to the Earl of Glencairn. who went about hiswork all too literal ly . The stately and splendid fabricof Kilwinning he destroyed—e u act of vandalism to besorrowed over to this hour. Crossrag uel was Spared ayear or two

,doubtless in deference to the influence of the

Earl of Cassillis, but it too had so be im roofed andrendered unfit for purposes of worship and the smal lermonasteries everywhere in Kyle and CunninghamShared the same fate . It is idle to bewail their overthrow,

and yet one cannot refrain from regretting that , in theirrage against the Church of Rome , the Reformers werenot less thorough in their dealing with the stone andlime . But they were resolved to break completely withthe past . They had done with the ornate in faith ,

andthey had no mind that there should be a Restoration .

Rome was associated in their minds with the Splendidreligi ous houses that had given home and centre ofinfluence to the monks and friars . They were the

outward and visible symbol of Roman Catholicism , andtherefore they had to go .

With the Reformation the Church lands becamesecularised . They went back in many cases to thefamilies whose predecessors had originally donatedthem . The Earl of Eglinton obtained finally the variouspossessions of Kilwinning Abbey

,under several grants

of the King , and Acts of Parliament . When Q u intinKennedy, the last Abbot of Crossraguel died ,

GeorgeBuchanan obtained from the Qu een a grant of a pensionof 500 yearly for life from its revenues, but the Earl ofCassillis seized possession

,and it required all the


drastic deal ing that befel the ministers of the old faithgenerally . He was still preaching in Kirkoswald.

Whether this was the result of some toleration extendedby the Reformers to the man himself because of hishigh character

, his earnestness , and his unquestioned

piety , or whether it was because he enjoyed the specialprotection of the Earl of Cassil lis , who was a power inCarrick that even the leaders of the Congregation couldnot afford to ignore , it wou ld be idle to enqu ire . The

fact itself,however , is worth noting a.. a proof that the

Reform ers were not so intolerant in every instance as

they are represented to have been . Even the greatprotagonist of the Protestant cause recognised Kennedy’sposit ion . He did not take steps to expel him forthwithfrom the pulpit of Kirkoswald ; on the contrary , hewould have gone to hear him preach , if only the ex-Abbothad permitted him , though only, it must be confessed,with a view to engaging in a controversy on the val idityand efficacy of the Mass

, a sacramental rite that lay verynear to Father Quintin’s heart . But when Knoxintimated his intention to be present in Kirkoswaldchurch , Kennedy at once declined the encounter on theground that i t could only provoke to angry disputationand public tumult . Knox

,however

, was not to bedenied . If Kennedy would not take up his challenge ,he wou ld at least preach the Word himself andaccordingly be repaired to Kirkoswald on the Sundayand preached from the ex-Abbot’s pulpit . Kennedywas none the less desirous to meet Knox in debate , andhe accordingly wrote a letter to him offering to meet himin any house in Maybole that he pleased, so long as thesupporters of each did not exceed twenty. Publicdisputat ion he would not have , as he would nowise bethe instrum ent of discord. Knox at first demu rred tothe condition . If ye fear tumult

, as ye pretend ,he

wrote ,“ that is more to be feared where many of ev il

mind have a few quiet and peaceable men in theirdanger, than where a just mul titude may gainstandviolence , if it be offered. But I wonder ,

” he went on to

THE FIRST REFORMATION 2 1 1

say ,with what conscience ye can require private

conference of those articles that ye have publiclyproponed. Ye have infected the ears of the simple !Ye have wounded the hearts of the godly , and ye havespoken blasphemy in open audience ! Let your ownconscience now be judge if we are bound to answer youin the audience of 20 or Knox’s suggestion wasthat the m eeting should take place in St . John’s Kirkin Ayr . In the course of his letter he had declared thathis coming into these parts was not to seek disputation ,but Simply to propone unto the people Jesus Christcrucified.

” Upon this Kennedy fastened in his answer .Praise be to God

,he said, that was no newings in

this country,or ye were born . He gave Knox a qu id

pro quo,for the denunciation that the Reformer had

meted ou t to him .

“ Where ye say ye stand in theprotection of the Almighty. so do all good Christian m en

as ye , but apparently ye put as little in God’s hands as

ye may,that goes accompanied in every place where

soever ye go with Sic multitude , whether it be fordevotion , or protection , or rather tumul tuation , Godknows , for I know not .

” This was very plain speakingto the leader of the Reformation , but he does not seemto have resented it in any way whatever . Kennedyremained firm in his resolve not to meet the ReformerOpenly , lest tumult and lawbreaking Should eventuate ,and after some further correspondence the disputationwas fixed to take place in the house of Andrew Gray

,

the last Provost of the Collegiate Church ,in the Back

Vennel of Maybole .

It would serve no good purpose to deal with thereasoning at any length . It was , as has been said , theMass that was the specific subject of dispute . Whatwas the Mass Knox demanded. I define the Mass

,

”

said Kennedy , as concerning the substance and effect ,to be the sacrifice and oblation of the Lord’s body and

blood, given and offered by Him ,in the latter supper ;

and take the Scriptures to my warrant , according tomy article as it is written and

,for the first confirmation


of the same , ground me upon the sacrifice and oblationof Melchisedec .

” Your lordship’s ground ,”

was

Knox ’s answer , is the figure of Christ , in that, that hedid Offer unto God bread and wine , and therefore thatit behoved Jesus Christ to offer in His latter supper Hisbody and blood, under the forms of bread and wine . I

answer to your ground yet again , that Melchisedecoffered neither bread nor wine unto God, and thereforeit , that ye would thereupon conclude , hath no assuranceof your ground.

” After this fashion the contendingsrolled backward and forward for three days , but withouteither party being convinced otherwise than

’

as he hadpreviously been minded. At the close both Knox and

Kennedy were willing to resume later on in Edinburgh ,bu t the adj ourned disputation never came off. Knoxclaimed the victory ; so al so did those whom he ca llsthe flatterers and collateral s of Kennedy .

The people of Maybole were for the most part onthe side of the Reformer

,but it is evident that the Old

faith had not by any means lost its bold upon Carrick .

On May 1 5th , 1 563 , H ow Kennedy of B lairquhan ,

Malcolm,Commendator of Wh ithorn , David Kennedy,

Sir Thomas Montgom ery, and Sir William Taylor werecharged before the High Court wi th making aconvocation of our Sovereign lady’s lieges to the numberof two hundred persons armed with j acks , spears , guns ,and other weapons invasive ,

” and coming on the 8th ,1 oth , and 1 1 th days of the preceding April to the ParishKirk of Kirkoswald and College of Maybole respectively ,and irreverently and indecently observing thesacraments of the body and blood of our Lord JesusCbrist , otherwise and after another manner than thepublic and general order of this realm .

” The Prior ofWhithorn Sir Thomas Montgomery, and Sir WilliamTaylor—the Sir in these two cases being in allprobability the usual courtesy title that had been givento dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church—weresentenced to be put in ward wi thin the Castle ofDumbarton , and Hew and Dav id Kennedy within


Crau furdland , John Fullartcn of Dreghorn , the Laird of

R owallan , H ugh Cunninghame of Waterston , JamesChalmers of G adgirth ,

John Dunbar of Michrume

(Mochrum Gavin Dunbar of Baldtone . More thanone of the se had been early and active promoters of theReformation

,and others represented families that had

materially profi ted in their estate through the

distribution of the Church lands .

It was inevitable that when the Kirk took up thebu rden of religion in Scotland it should be lacking inmen to carry on the work of the ministry ; and the

nobles took care that it should be “ founded upon thethe rock of poverty .

” They were loath to give up any of

the proceeds of the lands that they had succeeded inannexing . It was for these that not a few of them had

cast their influence into the scale of the Reform ation .

John Knox had dreamed of the Church lands being so

nationalised that they should provide for the Church ,

for education,and for the poor

,but such an enl ightened

policy as that did not suit those who had been concernedsolely for their own aggrandisement. Money in thosedays went vastly further than it does now ; still , thehundred m erks—amounting at that period to no morethan 5 1 1 5 1 5d sterling—was a miserably small stipend—and it was all that could be given in 1 561 to an ordinarym inister— even when it was supplemented by the Kirklands , or glebes , which m ay have been worth on an

average abou t twenty-eight shill ings sterling more .

The ministers duly qualified were utterly inadequate inpoint of numbers to meet the necessit ies of the situation ,and so Readers were appointed from among the morequal ified laymen , whose duty it was to exhort as well asto read the Scriptures

,and these were paid with the

wretched pittance of about g1 13s 4d each . H ow

miserably the Church in Ayrshire was staffed may begathered from the following statement of its Oflicialism

in r574, by which time the stipends had been considerablyincreased . It must be borne in m ind that in every caseit is Scots money that is referred to

,the value of which

TH E FIRST REFORMATION 2 1 5

was but one twelfth that of money sterling. The lettersk . stand for Kirk lands

Largs , Kilbride , ArdrossanAlexander Callendare , m in ister £ 1 33 6 8 and k .l .

(vacan t ) , reader at Largs I 6 0 0 and k .l .

John Maxwell , reader at Kilbride 20 o 0

George Boyd , reader at ArdrossanK ilwinning , Dunlop , Bei thWilliam Kirkpatrick, m in ister 100 o O and k .l .

David My lne , reader at Ki lwinning 20 0 oHanis Ham ilton , reader at Dunlop

( the whole V icarage) 78 o 0

Thomas Boyd , reader at Bei th 20 o o and k .l .

S tev enston , Dalry , KilbirnieArchibald Crau fu rd , m in ister 100 O 0

Alexander Mi tchell , reader at Stevenston

Andrew Blair , reader at DalryArchi bald Ham il ton , reader at Ki l

birn ie 26 1 3 4

Lou dou n , K i lm arnock , R iccartonRobert Wilki e , minister I 33 6 8

Jam es Hall , reader at Loudoun 1 6 O 0 and k .l .

(vacan t ) , reader at Kilmarnock 20 O 0

(vacan t ) , reader at R iccarton 1 6 O O and k .l.

Ki lmaurs, Dreghom , StewartonGav in Nasmyth, m in ister roo marks.

Alexander H enrysoun , reader at Kil

mau rs

(vacan t ) , reader at Dreghom

William Mon tgomery, elder , reader atStewarton 37 r 15 and

CumnockJohn Rynde , m inister 60 O u

Auchinleck , Ochi l treeJohn Inglis, m in ister (wi th the Kirk

land of Irv ine ) 1 20 O O and k .l.

John Gemm i ll , reader at Auchinleck 1 3 16 4 and

John M ‘

Clanochane , reader at Ochi ltree 10 O oI rvine , Peirstoun

John Young, m inister 140 0 0

Thomas Andrew, reader at Irv ine,and v icar thereof 20 O 0

David Whyte ,reader at Peirstonn 20 0 0 and k . l .


Mau chline , GalstonPeter Prim rose , m inister 1 20 o o and k . l.

(vacan t ) , reader at Mauchline . The whole V icarage .

Rankine Davidson , reader at Galston 33 8 10}Dalm ellington , Dalrym ple , CoyltonJam es Dav idson ,

m in ister 60 O 0

Dav id Cathcart , reader at B alm el

lingtou 32 o 0

George P eane ,reader at Dalrym ple 20 m arks and k . l .

John Cam pbell , reader at Coylton 20 m arks and k .l .

A yr , AllowayJam es Dalrym ple , m in ister (paying

hi s own reader at Alloway) 149 6 8

Thom as Greig , reader at A yr 1 3 6 8

Jam es Ram say, reader at Alloway 16 o O and k .l .

Dundonald , Crosbie , Craigie , Sym ingtonGeorge Cam pbell , m ini ster 100 o O and k . l .

Robert Bum e , reader at Dundonaldand Crosbie 24 o o and k .l.

David Wilson ,reader at Craigie 16 o O and k .l .

John Miller, reader at Sym ington 20 o o and k .l .

Tarbolton ,B arnwe1l S t . Qu ivox , Prestwi ck, Monkton

John Nisbet , m i nister r33 6 8 and k .l .

Dav id Curl! , reader at Tarbolton 20 O 0

Robert G aw , reader at B arnweil 1 3 bolls m eal and k .l .

H ew K ennedy, reader at S t . Qu ivox 16 o o and k .l .

John Wylie , reader at Monkton and

Prestwick 20 o O and k . l .

Strai ton , Maybole , Kirkbryde , K irkmichaelJohn M ‘

Corne ,m ini ster 1 33 7 9} and k . l .

John Anderson , reader at Strai ton 19 1 3 4

Michael Ham ilton , reader at Mayboleand Kirkbryde 27 6 81}(vacan t ) reader at Kirkm ichael 16 1 3 4 and k . l.

Colm onell , InnertigJam es Greg , m ini sterAllan Cathcart , reader at Colmonell

Alexander K ennedy , reader at

Innertig 26 1 3 4 and k .l .

Dai lly , Girvan ,Kirkoswald

John Cuningham e , min ister 93 6 8 and k .l .

Thom as Falconer , reader at Dai lly . 20 o o and k .l .

Jam es Young , reader at Girvan 23 6 8

John M ‘

Cav ell , reader at K irkoswald 20 o O and k .l .

The county of Ayr had thus no more than Sixteenministe rs, and these must needs have had many a trying

CHAPTE R X

F ROM THE FIRST REFORMATION TO TH E

RE STORATION

The closing years of the Sixteenth , and the Openingyears of the seven teenth century introduce us to twomen

,the one a son of the house of Ochiltree , who was

d estined to play a prom inent part in the affairs of thenation and to exercise a mal ignant influence on JamesV I . th e other , John Welsh ,

the minister of A yr. B otho f them ,

strangely enough , were closely connec ted withJohn Knox. The Reformer, when we ll advanced in

years , had wedded a daughter of Lord Stewart ofO chiltree , one of the moving Spirits in the Ayrshirem arch towards Protestantism , and Captain JamesS tewart of the R oyal Guards was therefore h is brotherin-law. Welsh ’s wife was a daughter of John Knox .

T he King like the other three unhappy Stuarts whowere to follow after , and in the last of whom that royalrace was to close its destiny as occupants of the throneof Great Britain , had but scant regard for Presbytery.

The system was too democratic for him ,and the men

who directed it were too independent and ou tspoken .

With them , as Andrew Melville told King James to hisface

,there were two Kings and two Kingdoms in

Scotland . There was King James , the head of theCommonwealth , and there was Christ Jesus , the King ofthe Church

,whose subject James the Sixth was, and of

whose K ingdom he was not a King , nor a lord , nor ahead, but a member. That was a doctrine which them onarch , aspiring to be the head of the Church as well

FIRST REFORMATION TO RESTORATION 219

as of the State , could not brook . It was his to reign byDivine right , and he was not going to be thwarted inhis resolve .

James Stewart was the second son of Lord Ochiltree .

He had,like many another Scotsman of the period, gone

to the Continent of Europe , and had served ,a soldi er

of fortune, in the wars of France and Sweden . He had

visited Russia, and had learned the ways of the

Muscovite, and had thrown aside the early training thathe had received in Kyle . He was dari ng to excess ,ambitious , subtle , and profligate ; and , in conjunctionwith another Stewart , a Franco-Scot who was createdEarl of Lennox, he acquired an enormous influence overthe mind of the monarchial pedant who was to unite inhis own person the thrones of Scotland and England.

On the last day of 1 580 , while the Council was in sessionunder the presidency of the King , and the Earl ofMorton in his place, he craved an audi ence and,admission being granted, he fell on his knees and accusedthe Regent Morton of having been art and part in themurder of Darnley, the King

’s father. Morton disdainfully repelled the charge , but it did not save him . Fivem onths afterwards he was brought to trial before a juryof his peers , and the following day his head fell to thegleaming axe of the Maiden . After that , for a whilethe favourites had things all their own way. CaptainJames Stewart was made Earl of Arran, and betweenhim and the Earl of Lennox, they not only corruptedthe morals of the Sovereign , .bu t instilled in him thoseautocratic notions which di sturbed and tormented thenation so long as he sat upon the throne

,and which he

passed on to his son , who so exaggerated and accentuatedthem , that England rose up in judgment againsthim and sent him to the scaffold at Whitehall . TheRaid of Ruthven took James out of their hands, expelledLennox from the country, and laid the Earl of Arran upin Stirling Castle , but it did not take long for the monarchto recover his freedom, and Arran returned to Court

,

haughtier and more powerful than ever. He enrichedl 5


himself beyond measure with the forfeited estates ofmen who had fallen into di sgrace . He was Governorof Edinburgh Castle , of Blackness , of Stirling , of

Dumbar ton , the fou r strongest and most importantfortresses of Scotland . He was High Chancellor too ,and Lieutenant-General of the whole kingdom . Therewas nothing , in short , in wealth and in honours to whichhe did not attain . With five thousand men in his trainhe rode south to meet with the English envoy to arrangeterms of amity with the sister country , and when hereturned to Edinburgh he was welcomed with the

booming of cannon .

The Earl of Arran fell when he appeared to be in thezenith of his power. The King found a new favourite inthe Mas ter of Gray , who forthwith came to terms withthe banished lords , Angus , Mar, Glamis , and others .

Lord John Maxwell , a powerful Border noble , joined theplot , and when,with an army of eight thousand men ,

they advanced upon Sti rling , Arran fled . H e was

stripped of his titles and his possessions, and driven tolead an obscure and a wandering existence , mostly inthe North of Scotland. In in the hope of beingreappointed to the office of High Chancellor, vacantthrough the death of Lord T hirlstane , he went sou thand had an interview with the King , which greatlyencouraged him and , until the way shou ld be clearer ,he resolved to visit his friends in Kyle . What befell isthus told by Archbishop Spottiswood

Taking his j ourney by Symington , nigh untoDouglas

,he was advised by his friends in those parts to

look to himself,and not ride so openly , because of

Torthorwald ,that lived not far off, whose uncle (the

Regent Morton) , he had followed , as he Spake , to the

death . H is reply (as he was a man proud and disdainful ) ,that he would not leave his way for him ,

nor for all thehouse of Douglas

,

’ being overheard by a fellow and

reported to Torthorwald, did so inflame him , the old

ulcer remaining uncured—as he avouched to have hislife at all haz ards . So , getting intelligence that he had


Minister of the G ospel at Air ( 1 706) fixes the date at1 500, but as he was born in 1 370, and had alreadyoccupied two charges . the probability is that thesixteenth century was drawing to a close before hisinduction to the ministry of St. John ’s , the ancientchurch of the town standing amid the bent landsadj acent to the coast .These were the days when feudalism and the feudal

nobility were making their last stand against the rightof the Crown to rule and to govern in every part of theKingdom . The Reformation had not effected muchchange in the manners or morals of the people . Theyhad discarded Romanism . They had pulled down therookeries in order to prevent the return of the crows ,bu t otherwise they had in a large measure held on asbefore . With the spiritual side of the movement ofReform there had co-existed the temporal , the politicalside as well . Many of the nobles had become Protestantsbecause they wanted to annex the rich Church lands ;and many of the people because they were heart sickof the Church of Rome . The religious stream ranstrongly , but its channels were narrow and contracted.

There was no general observance of the Sunday. Thefolks went from the kirk to the archery butts , and inAyr the old minister accompanied them . The countryaround was turbu lent and unsettled

,and the streets of

the royal burgh were the scene of many a brawl .How a community of this sort ever came to cal l

John Welsh is a mystery , for, both in Selkirk and inKirkcudbright , where he had previously been settled,he had been di stinguished by his zeal for religion as apra ctical thing, and not merely as a faith suited to thepolitical needs of the people or as opposed to the faithwhich , with great travail , it had supplanted. It wouldseem as it Welsh

’

s coming was resented by no inconsiderable section of the inhabitants , for when he arri ved inAyr he could hardly find anybody to take him in . Therewas, however, a prominent merchant , John Stewart , forsome time the Provost, who Opened his doors to the

FIRST REFORMATION TO RESTORA TION 223

young minister , gave him cordial welcome, and stoodstaunch as a friend to him through all the troubles andvicissitudes that wai ted on his career. There is somethingto be gai ned even in the worst of experiences ; and

probably Welsh had learned a good deal of humannature among his Border associates , and had ceased tofear the possible infliction of physical violence atanyrate , he did not hesitate to rush into the heart ofthe frays and fightings on the causeway, u narmed , butwi th a headpiece to protect him from wounds , and

separate the combatants ; and after he had done so ,he wou ld have a table spread on the street , and would

get the recent fighters to sit down with him and partakeof food in company. Apart altogether from thus workingon the time-honoured idea that one ought not to quarrelwith a man wi th whom he has broken bread , the steelbonnetted minister had probably enough knowledge ofhuman nature to understand that the way to the heartsof some folks lies through their stomachs.Welsh did not labour in vain . The brawlers and the

fighters could understand a man for whom swords andbattleaxes had no terrors , and by degrees peace came tobe restored, and Welsh to be looked up to as the head ofthe community. It grieved him to see his old colleague ,Mr. Porterfield , hurrv out of the kirk and rush off to gethis bow and qu iver of arrows , in order that he mightrepair to the archery butts and he circumvented hi min another fashion . Around him he drew the mostreligious men of the town , and on the Sabbath afternoonsthey met for prayer and spiritual communion with oneanother, and then he invited Porterfield to take hisrightful place at their head . This the old man could notwell refuse to do he came , and thenceforward he wasconspicuous at the Wappenschaw by his absence. Here ,also , in the method of his acting, there was wisdom , andthe result was accordingly.

Welsh was thus more than a mere enthusiast . H e

was a man of sou nd wisdom and discretion , and he soconducted himself that the burgh authorities made him


their counsellor and friend , whenever they neededspecial advice in critical matters . In illustrati on ofthis , one day two trav elli ng pack men came to one ofthe ports and asked admission . They had come from a

town where the Pest , or the Plague , was running itscourse and the watchman bade them hal t where theywere until he had consulted with the magistrates . These,in turn , sent for the minister and placed the matter beforehim . A while he was silent , and in prayer ; and thenhe counselled the authorities to deny them admission ,for , said he , the Plague was in their packs . Rebuffed atA yr , they went off to the unwalled town of Cumnock,and sold their wares , with the lamentable resul t that thepestilence broke out and raged so disastrou sly that theliving could hardly bury the dead. A s for his mannerof preaching it was , according to the History ,

”

spiritual and searching his utterance tender andmoving. H e did not much insist on scholastic purposes ,he made no show of his learning. I heard one of hishearers (who was afterwards minister at Moor-Kirk inKyle) , say that no man could hardly hear him andforbear weeping. Sometimes before he went to sermon,he would send for his elders and tell them he was afraidto go to the pulpit

,because he found himself sore deserted

and thereafter desired one or more of them to pray, andthen he would venture to pu lpit . But , it was observed ,

this humbling exercise used afterwards to be fol lowedby a flame of extraordinary assistance .

”

It was all but inevi table that a man of this type shouldcome into confl ict with any power that endeavoured toabrogate the Spiritual rights of the Church ; and so .

when King James ’ purpose of destroying the Church ofScotland

,by establishing Bishops

, was rife , it fell to behis duty to edi fy the Church by his sufferings, as formerlyhe had done by his doctrine . The King

,acting on the

adxice of a foolish and a short-sighted band of counsellors ,forbade the holding of a General Assembly, and the greatbulk of the ministers of Scotland

,tacitly ad mitt ing his

headship , at once conformed to his edict . But, as usual ,


should I think it a strange thing , he writes , to beremoved from this place to that where the songs ofMoses and the Lamb are sung j oyfu lly , where we shallnot be compelled to sit by the rivers of Babylon and tohang up our harps on the willow trees , but shall takethem up and sing the new Hallelujah What is thereunder the old vault of the Heavens

,and in this old worn

earth , which is under the bondage of corruption , groaningand travailing in pain , and shooting out the head ,looking , waiting , and longing for the redemption of thesons of God I look to get entry into the New Jerusalemat one of these twelve gates whereupon are written thenames of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel .

Jesus Christ is the -door and the porter ;who then shall hold me out ! ” Having thus , and atgreat length , given vent to his hopes and his aspirations ,he declares the occasion of his imprisonment . Welsh ’sclaim for the spiritual independence of the Church isabsolute . She is a most free kingdom , yea as free asany kingdom under heaven , not only to convocate , hold ,

and keep her meetings and conventions , and assemblies ,but 3180 to judge of all her affairs in her meetings andconventions amongst her members and subjects .

”She

is free in her government from any other ,jurisdiction ,

except Christ ’s .

” And again,all things which belong

to Christ ’s crown,sceptre and kingdom, are not subject ,

nor cannot be , to any other authority bu t to his ownaltogether. There is no compromising here .

Having thus laid down in language wholly numistakable the nature of the cause for which he was readyto suffer, he looked ahead and foresaw the troubloustimes that were to come upon Scotland . Wishart hadforeseen them ominously darkening the horizon , andKnox had put his hand to a similar foreboding . Totheir prophesies Welsh added his own testimony Thatthe Kingdom of Scotland should be blood ; that theKingdom shal l be drawn in blood. A burnished and aglittering sword is al ready drawn out of the scabbardthat shall not return until i t be made drunk with the

FIRST REFORMATION TO R ESTORATION 227

blood of the man in this land first the heavy intesti nesword, and then the sword of the s tranger. O dolefulScot land well were he that were removed from thee .that his eyes might not see , nor his ears ear, all the evilsthat are to come upon thee . Neither the strongman by hisstrength , nor the rich man by his riches , nor the noblemanby his blood, shal l be delivered from the judgments.There is a great sacrifice to be made in Boz rah , in thee ,

0 Scotland , of the blood of all sorts in the land Ephraimshall consume Manasseh , and Manasseh Ephraim,

brother against brother, and every man in the judgmentof the Lord shall be armed to thrust his sword into theside of his neighbour , and all for the contempt of theglorious Gospel . I know not whether I shallhave occasion to write again . And therefore by thisletter, as m y latter will and testament, I give testimony,warning

, and knowledge of these things to all menaccording to the Lord’s direction to the Prophet Son

of man,I have made thee a watchman .

’ Therefore Igive warning to al l men hereby, that no man

’s blood berequired at my hand .

” In th ose days the Kirk Sessiondealt much more exténsively with the morals of thepeople than they do now the elders were magistratesas well as elders , and they meted out fines andpunishments upon the offenders . As might be expected,discipline did not suffer in the hands of John Welsh .

He dealt wi th violators of the Sabbath and finedthem , as well as compelling them to make publicconfession in the church . For brek of Sabbaths ,

”the

Session ordained that a man and woman should be

incarcerated in the thieves’ hole . Children wereforbidden to run about the streets on the first day of theweek . The sons of Lockhart of Bar, and John Maxwellwere cited to appear for desecrating the day by playingvarious games , and were let off on a promise thereafterto keep the Sabbath holy to the Lord. Scandalmongers,and scolds , and flyters had a sorry time of it as well .T here was a blasphemer who took a piece of flesh and

cast it from him with the remark that it was the flesh of


Christ , and another , a woman , who cursed both her bodyand soul , and these had sim ilarly to do penance for theiriniquity. Welsh put down the singing and the selling oflewd and suggestive songs . He prevented travellerswho had come to town on the Saturday leaving it againbefore Monday . And there was one very vicious womanwho had committed the unparalleled audacity ofslandering her own guidm an , who was ordained tostand in her linen sheets at the Cross four market days ,as al so to stand at the kirk door certain days upon theSabbath and within the kirk in the place of publicrepentance ; this form to continue aye and until thereappear certain signs of her repentance .

” Verily the wayof the social transgressors of the period was hard ; butwhether this strict dealing was conspicuously effectivemay perhaps be doubted . No doubt then , as now , therewas a class who had little or nothing to lose in the way ofcharacter ; and upon these the terrors of the law hadprobably comparatively li ttle effect . It is, however,clear that Welsh tried to grapple with evil in every formand among al l classes , and that he spared no pains todemonstrate in face of the publichis resolve to make theway of the transgressors hard to themselves .When he was a prisoner in Edinburgh , his wife Spent

a large part of her time with him . B u t once , at least , anatural longing seized her to see her little children inAyr . Welsh was unwilling to let her go , but he yieldedto her solicitations , and gave his consent . When theday came round for her to depart to the west country,he strictly charged her not to take the ordinary way toher own house when she reached A yr, nor to cross thebridge into the town , but to pass the river by the fordabove the bridge ;

“ for,said he

,before you come

thither,you shal l find the Plague broken out in Ayr .

”

“ Which, accordingly ,

” adds the chronicler, came topass. The Plague was at that time ,

” he continues ,very terrible . And Welsh being necessarily absentfrom his people , it was to him the more greivous butwhen the pe0p1e of A yr came to him to bemoan

230 H ISTORY OF AYRSH IRE

But Welsh was in no way dismayed . Back he hastenedto the powder house for another charge , and in a fewminutes he reappeared bareheaded and carrying thepowder in his hat . Theartillerym an took it and rammedit home , and then the ball was similarly placed in thecannon. Welsh bade the cannonier take accurate aim ,

assuring him that Heaven would help him . TheBurgundi an did so, the gun was discharged, and, to thegreat j oy and sati: faction of the townsfolk , the shotlanded fair on the cannon of the enemy and di s mantledit . This 30 discouraged the King that he offered theinhabitants honourable terms cf su rrender, to whichthey acceeded. They were to enjoy the liberty of theirreligion, their civil privileges were to be continued infull , and their walls were not to be demolished. TheKing, on the other hand , was to have free entry to thetown, and to remain in it on friendly terms with h isloyal subjects . The siege was accordingly suspended ,and Louis X III . with his retinue marched into St . JeanD

’

A ngely , and was received by t he population as theirsovereign , to whom it was their duty to render obedi encein all matters of State .

While the monarch was thus resident in the town ,Welsh went on preaching as usual . This was contraryto the custom that apparently obtained, that no m inisteror priest should preach under such circumstances, withoutfirst having secured the royal permission . It was not

long before the m onarch heard what the Protestantminister was abou t , and he despatched one of hiscourtiers , the Duke D

’

E spernon , to summon h im intohi s presence at once . The Duke , accompanied by aguard of soldiers . entered the church when Welsh was inin the middle of his sermon . Seeing him come , theminister paused in his discourse , and bade the

worshi ppers make room for him , so that he might heal .

“

the Word of the Lord and so taken aback was the royalmessenger with the manner of his reception . that hetook the seat that was offered him and listenedattentively to what the minister was saying. ,

A t the

FIRST REFORMATION TO RESTORATION 23 1

close the Duke delivered his orders to Welsh , and toldhim that he must go with him into the presence of theKing

,and to this Welsh willingly consented . The King

reproached the Duke with not having executed his

orders at once,and received for answer the assurance

that there was no man in France who spake like thisman ; but, he added, he had brought him with him .

and the King could deal with him as he chose . On

Welsh being called forward , the King asked him how itwas that without his permission and contrary to thelaws of France , he had dared to preach where he was,almost within the very precincts of the Court itself.“ Sire

,answered Welsh with characteristic courage ,

if you did right you would come and hear me preach ,and make al l France hear me likewise . For

'

I preachnot as those men whom you are accustomed to hearpreach . First , I preach that you must be saved by thedeath and meri ts of Jesus Christ, and not your own,Next , I preach that, as you are King of France , you areunder the authority and command of no man on earth .

These men whom you hear , subject you t o the Pepe ofRome , which I wil l never do .

” The King was mightilypleased with the reply . Well ; well ,

” he said , you

shall be my minister , and forthwith be dismissed himwith instructions that he was to be let alone and notmolested in the exercise of his ministry . Shortlyafterwards the King left the city in peace.

But the troubles of St . Jean D’

A ngely were not at anend , for not long afterwards the war broke out anew,

and the royal army appeared once more outside thewal ls . This time Welsh recognised the futility ofresistance , and, when the pe0p1e went to him for advice ,he told them frankly that their cup was full , and thatthey should no more escape . So it came about. TheKing took the city, but, as soon as it fell into his hands ,he commanded the Captain of his Guard to seek outWelsh and to preserve him from al l danger and

,later

on , he sent horses and waggons to transport him andhis fam ilv to Rochelle , where he sojou rned for a time.


By the time that Welsh had been sixteen years inFrance , he had attained to the age of fifty . But he wasa much older man than hi s years . The cares of theministry had pressed heavily upon him . He had beensubjected to the rigours of imprisonment

,to the suspense

begotten of a dangerous position . He had long been an

exile from his own country . He had been a hard worker,and had given no small share of his nights to hisdevotions . He had fought , and toiled, and laboured.

With prayer his knees had become hard and stiff, theflesh rigid and the j oints unyielding , and he was , inaddition , beset by a trouble that was said to be of aleprous character. To his wife and friends it wasabundantly evident that his days were numbered ,

andthat they could not be many at the best ; but theythought also that if only they could get him back again '

to Scotland , where he could breathe his native air andwander among the scenes of his earlier days , he mightstill be granted some measure of recovery. Appealswere made to King James to sanction his return, but invain . In the hope of moving him by personal solicitation ,Mrs . Welsh succeeded in obtaining an interview withhim and it was when she stood a suppliant , but stillan independent suppliant , as became the daughter ofJohn Knox , at the throne , that there occurred one ofthose incidents , one of those conversational interchanges ,that are worthy of being held in memory as proofs ofthe true spirit of the Scottish Reformation movement .Who was her husband asked the monarch . JohnWelsh was the reply. And who was her father ! ”

John Knox . Knox and Welsh ,” the King retorted

pettishly, and with scant regard to the poor woman ’

s

feelings , the devil never made such a pair.” “True,

your Maj esty,” Mrs . Welsh made reply, his leave was

never speer’

t .

” King James tried to barter his concessionon terms that would ensure that Welsh should yield tothe royal claims to spiritual jurisdiction . If only hewould submit himself to the rule of the Bishops , hemight go back to Scotland . Your Majesty ,

”Mrs.

234 HISTOR Y or AYRSHIRE

Peden , and in a measure with John Knox , as one of theseers of the days in which he lived. It is not needfulthat we should implicitly accept the early and the

popular estimate of Welsh’

s prophetic character. Thedays were troublous in whi ch he lived. There was a

Stuart on the throne deeply convinced of his own di vineinspiration and determined to have hi s way, and he wassurrounded by counsellors highly jealous of the strengthand of the claims of Presbyterianism , who were keenlyalive to the monarch ’s weakness and to the use thatcould be made of it , and Welsh

’s wisdom enabled himto read the signs of the times . He was of those whoknow how to stand strai ght in the presence of a greatman . Though but a few years in Ayr , his memory ischerished even now. Perhaps the most eloquent tributeever paid to his worth was that of David Dickson , theminister of Irvine , many years afterwards

,when he

was being congratu lated on the fruits of his own ministry.

The vintage of Irvine , he answered, was not equalto the gleanings of Ayr in the days of John Welsh .

”

One who has been stri ctly indoctrinated in th eProtestant faith , and who has accepted and assimilatedthe traditions of the Covenanters, is not unlikely tooverestimate the Spiritual results of the first Reformation . The comparatively early Presbyt erian divineswere not in all cases by any means the models of faithand of works that many assume them to have been .

T he great majority of them were , no doubt, men of

principle and of good lives but a change of faith doesn ot necessarily imply a renewal of the inner man , theKirk had to make the best of the materials that lay toh er hand, and it is not very surprising, therefore , if therecords of the period demonstrate that there were menin the ministry of the country parishes here and therewhose conduct , whose mode of living, whose walk andc onversation , would have disgraced any Church , or anyfaith under the sun .

The Covenanting forces went down before Montrose—the great Montrose and the clrivalrous, as he was


regarded on the one hand ; the renegade Covenanter,the Stuart intriguer, the leader of a barbarous host , andthe enemy of all that was best in Scotland , as he wass tigmatised by the Presbyt erians, on the other—and theKirk had to find a reason for it . He had defeated thehastily gathered levies of the Covenant at Tippermu ir,

in Perthshire ; he had possessed himself of the city ofAberdeen , and permitted his troops to kill , rob, and

plunder in the granite city at their pleasure ; he hadlaid waste a considerable portion of Argyllshire he hadbeaten General Bailie at Kilsyth ; and he had so

prevailed—though his trium ph was but short—as tofeel himself warranted in assuring Charles I . that he wasin the right way to make the Kingdom agai n submit tohis power . Why were these things so the Kirk askeditself and , after the manner and custom of the times,the ministers of the faithful and ri gid order attri butedthe evils of the day to the sins and backslidings of thenation , and not least to the defections of the ministryof the Church itself. A Commission of the GeneralAssembly in 1 645 drew up a list of the aboundingshortcomings . These included worldl iness on the partof many of the ministers, lightness of carriage ofthemselves and their fam ilies, ambiguousness, Slander,and silence in the public cause . Worse than thesewas their t ipling and bearing companie in untymous

drinking in taverns and aill -houses , or anywhere else ,whereby the m inisterie is made vyle and contemptible .

”

The Presbytery of Ayr was sorely exercised thereanent , and also because of the disaffected personswithin their bounds—men who had either gone back ontheir first love, or who , not knowing how things mightturn out in the State, and determined to be on thewinning side, whatever might happen , were makingfri ends to themselves of the Mammon of unri ghteousness .These included men like John and H ew Kennedy, sonsto the Laird of B lairquhan , G arrihorne, Ardmillan ,younger, Kilkerran , elder, and his son , the Laird ofDrongan , the Laird of Caprington , the Laird of Craigie ,

1 6


and the Laird of G irvanmains . The most of themresponded to the call of the Presbytery, and madeexplanation of their conduct . One of the most notableof the offenders was Sir John Mure of A u chendrane .

He was charged with convocation with the rebels atKilmarnock and at Bothwell , with having keptcomm ittee with them at Ayr , with having entertainedsome of them at his house and ridden with them to viewthe country, with having convened with them at LoudounHill , and with having gone with them to Philiphaugh .

These charges he adm itted , but he denied having issuedan edict , at Straiton Kirk on the Sabbath day, to meetthe rebel Commissioners at Maybole ; having swornhorrible oaths , also at Straiton , that we have beenaltogether too long misled with a number of damneddevils ; declared that there was not a more religiousnobleman in all the Kingdom than my Lord Marquis ofMontrose and cursed the Solemn League and the

subscribers to it, and sworn that all the judgments thathad come upon this land were occasioned by . the

Covenant . How far Mure was free from the charges herepudiated is open to doubt it is beyond question thathe was one of the most powerful supporters that Montrosehad in Ayrshire . The North Ayrshire malignantsincluded the Lai rd of Knock , in the parish of Largs ;Cun inghame of Lainshaw , Cuningham e of Craigens. and

Lord Boyd of Kilmarnock , a steady and consistentroyalist . The Presbyteries dealt with the recalci trants ,according to the measure of their offending , by censures ,greater or smaller. Lord Boyd had to make his publicrepentance in the Kirk at Kilmarnock ; a mild coursesanctioned in his case

,on consideration that he was

about to remove furth of Ayrshire immediately .

But the scandals in the ministry of the Church itselfwere worse than the political malignancy, and theypresent a somewhat lamentable picture of the times .

There were , at least, four ministers in the Ayr Presbyterywho had fallen away from any preper sense of duty, theministers of Straiton , Auchinleck , Muirkirk, and


Monktonhall , and remarked, There is our p retendedLieutenant and, at a parish committee , he declaredof the same Officer that “ it was more fitting -he was

made a drummer than any other officer. TheLieutenant resented it . He declared that the minister’sconduct towards him was hard for flesh and bloodto comport with . Hamilton ’s morals were none ofthe best . His servant girl was proclaimed to bemarried to an Iri shman named M ‘

Cracken . He persuadedher to break her engagement , and the same day thathad witnessed the proclamation of the one set of bannsw itnessed also the proclamation of the banns betweenhimself and the servant girl . So great was the scandalcaused , that the following Sunday some of the respectableparishioners—the much-abused Lieutenant among them—prevented him from preaching in Prestwick Kirk .

The ministers in the neighbourhood, to whom he appliedto marry him ,

refused to do it , and he had perforce togo to Cambuslang, where the minister, himself undercensure

,performed the ceremony. The time of the

marriage,not less than the circumstance of it, was an

Offence . The battle of Kilsyth had been fought and lost,the people of God were lying out in the open fields inthe defence of the Gospel , yet this unworthy ministerof the Word had asked a Mr. Scott to come and marryhim

,that they might be merry and jovial two or three

days together.” Mr. Hamilton ’s delinquencies did notend here . He was in the habi t of using phrases in thepulpit that were the occasion of merriment—such as,

Wee! kens the mouse that the cat is out of the house ,”

I am the carle cat , howbeit I be singed,” Half binkes

are Sliddery,

” If you have brewn wee! , you will drinkthe better

,and Many Speak of Robin Hood

,but few

Speak in (La ,within reach of) his bow .

” He eschewedany study whatever . For six and twenty years his“ sermons consisted of readings from the ScriptureCommentari es . He had not even a Bible in the pulpittill the Presbytery insisted on his getting one . Underpressure he seems to have written a sermon

, and every


Sunday he took it with him and placed it in the Bible .Sometimes he turned a dozen pages Of the manuscriptat one time

,somet imes fewer, while the pe0p1e amused

themselves by laying wagers how many pages he wouldturn ; and sometimes he broke away and deliveredhimself Of curses and imprecations upon the pe0p1e ofthe parish . In addition to all that he was a veritablerriggard in the providing of wine for the Communion .

He had a grant sufficient to buy wine enough for twopari shes the Siz e of Monkton and Prestwick , instead ofone, but he bought so little that he had to make up thedeficiency with water. When the Presbytery consideredall these things, they took the only course Open to them.

and passed sentence of deposition. There have beencases within comparatively recent times of grossdereliction of duty on the part of the Church Courtsbut it must be remembered that lapsing on the part Ofthe m inisters from the strictest good conduct , such aswould not be tolerated to day in any Church , was notlooked upon with the same stern eye in the earlier daysof Presbyterianism as it is now . Even bearing thi s inmind, however, cases like those ofM

‘

Quom and Hami ltonare proofs Of the comparatively low state both of religionand moral ity in the first hal f of the seventeenth century,and of the easygoing discipline that was exercised bythe Church Courts. An effect ive Church order, anymore than a good ministry, is not the product of onegeneration , but of many years of stem experience.

When George Dunbar,the m ini ster of Ayr, for

protesting against the rule of the Bishops, was denouncedas a rebel and sentenced, in 1 624, to be banished toIreland, hi s successor, William Armand, was Of the

Episcopal order in the Church , and resolutely Opposedto all things which he considered Puritanical He alsoswore occasionally, and indu lged at times too freely inthe cup that inebriated. He Observed Sai nts’ days , hetook the collection on the Communion Sundays whenthe people were seated in the chu rch, instead of at thedoors in the usual fashion , and, worst of all , he kneeled


when he himself partook of the Communion . Thesefallings away from use and wont were most displeasingto the pe0p1e , so much SO that they rose in protest oneSacrament Sabbath day , and left the church , and Mr .Annand alone in it . He was a man of outstandingability , none the less , and he defended the Litu rgy Of

Archbishop Laud,in 1 637 , before the Synod of Glasgow ,

“as well in my poor judgm ent ,

” says Baillie , as anyman in the Isle of Britain could have done . Aftersupper the same night , he must needs go and see theBishop , and , as he went , hundreds of enraged womenattacked him with neaves , staves ,

and peats.” Theybeat him sore , tore his clothes , and so treated him that ,but for the noise they made , causing the pe0p1e in thehouses to set out many candles on their window sills ,he might have lost his life . The next day he rode away ,but

,as he was getting on to his horse , the horse fell

above him in a very foul myre ,” no doubt to the delight

of the women who were present to affront him more ,and who reasoned no good to him from the unluckyom en . When the National Covenant was signed in theGreyfriars Church , Edinburgh , in February, 1 638, itwas brought the following month to Ayr to be signed.

Mr . Armand was not present , but Mr. Burn Of Kirkoswald took his place , preached from the text , Nowtherefore let us make a

‘ covenant with our God, andadministered the Covenant . This put Mr. Annand ingreat dump ,

”so much so that he could stand it no

longer,and

,giving up his parish , departed for Edi nburgh .

This , however, did not end his troubles. Hismiscarriages formed the basis of a libel against him ,

and although he retracted his Episcopal notions andsigned the Covenant , he had sinned too grievously to beforgiven , and the General Assembly unanimouslydeposed him from his holy office .

The events that brought the Roundhead soldiers toA yr are matters of national rather than of local history.

Charles I . ,then a young man of four and twenty , had

succeeded to the Crown , vacant by the death Of hi s


preached before the Synod a sermon in defence of theServi ce Book . Petitions agai nst the obnoxious liturgypoured into the Pri vy Council from all parts Of the

country . The King refused al l concession . He insistedon the book being used , and forbade the petitioners tomeet .The Presbyterians did the only thing upen to them

as independent men . They met , barons and squires ,counties and towns , high authorities and minorjuri sdi ctions , and , on the opening day of March ,

1 638,the National Covenant was Signed in Greyfriars Churchand churchyard in Edinburgh . James

,Earl of Loudoun,

was there , a born leader of men , and the most eloquentman of his time , and he Spoke with great courage andpower in recommending the bond . The Earl ofEglinton , the famous G reysteel , subscribed the Covenant ,so did the Earl Of Cassillis , and many of the lesser baronsof Ayrshire . The temper of the nation was roused .

“ We know no other bonds between a King and hissubjects ,

” declared Lord Loudoun , than those'

Of

religion and the laws , and if these are broken , men’s

lives are not dear to them . Threatened we Shal l not besuch fears are past with us . Such was the spirit of thetimes. The King met it in his usual way. He could notmistake it , he was forced to recognise it , and to feel itand he temporised. The Presbyterians demanded a freeParliament and a free General Assembly. H e sanctionedthe granting of the Assembly

,but he also instructed his

Commissioner, the Marquis of Hamilton , to preventinroad upon the position of the Bishops , and to di ssolvethe Assembly rather than sanction such a thing. The

Commissioner dismissed the Assembly, but it sat on all

the same,restored Presbyterianism , and condemned

Prelacy'

. The result was an appeal to arms . Ayrshireresponded heartily to the call of Presbytery. When theEarl of Eglinton , who had carried the Spurs at Charles ’scoronation in Edinburgh , and the sword of State at theriding of the Scots Parliament in 1633 , came away ,

”

says Baillie,it was with the whole countryside at his


back . The same determ ination prevailed over all Kyleand Carrick , and when the Presbyterian army encampedon Dunse Law ,

it included a very powerful west countrycontingent . The minister of Kilwinning, Robert Baillie ,had declared a year previously that all resistance tothe supreme magi strate in any case is Simply unlawfulbut events had been too much for him , and he was inarms with half-a-dozen good fellows at his back ,

whom he had supplied w ith musket and pike at his ownOxpense. Baillie is one of the last men whom one couldassociate with the sterner side of the camp ; nevertheless , he rode with a pair of pistols at his saddle-bowand gi rt with a sword . F or I was as a man , hewrites , who had taken my leave of the world , and wasresolved to di e in that service without return .

” TheKing recognised that he could not cope with the hostilearmy , and he came to terms with them . But while theyburned their camp and broke up their army, the Scotskept their best officers on half-pay . The resul t provedthe wisdom of their forethought .Within a year the Scots were again in the field, and

marching into England to meet the King, who was

advancing against them . Terms might again have beenarranged, but the discovery of a letter from the Presbyteriaus to the King of France , asking the aid of thatmonarch . stiffened Charles’s resolution . One of thesignatories to the letter was the Earl of Loudoun , andhe came perilously near losing his life over it . He hadgone up to London under safe conduct , with the otherScottish Commissioners

,in 1 640 and the King , having

learned that he had signed the letter, had him thrown

into the Tower , and determined to execute him withouteven the semblance of a tri al . Through the influence ofthe Marquis of Hamilton

,however

,Loudoun was

liberated. Wodrow tells how it was accomplished .

Hamilton went into the presence Of the King and askedhim to recall the warrant . The King was very angry ,he had done it , he said , after ful l consideration of theconsequences , and he would be obeyed The Marquis

,

”


proceedsWodrow , insisted that it would breed ill-bloodin Scotland that it was against all law and equity tocu t off pri vately a nobleman that was come up on thepublic faith , and that without hearing of him that thiswould infall ibly make the breach with Scotlandirretrievable ; and insisted upon other topics

,but in

vain. The King continued resolute,and the Marquis

took his leave of h im , with tell ing him he wouldimmediately take his horses and go to Scotland thathe would not stay in London to be a witness Of them isery His Majesty was bringing upon himself ; and

that he was of opinion that to-morrow,before thi s time,

the city Of London , upon hearing of this unaccountablestep , would rise , and , for what he knew,

tear him topieces —or some expression to that purpose—and so

he retired .

” After he was gone downstairs , a messagefrom the King came to him

,ordering him to return .

The threatening from the City Of London stuck withthe King , and when the Marquis came back , the Kingsaid Well , Hamilton , I have yielded to you for thisonce take you the warrant and do as you please withit Wodrow gives the story at the instance of a Mr .Fraz er ,

” and adds that Fra z er had assured him , on theauthority of the Duke of Hamilton (about thatthe warrant itself, and a narrative of the whole . underthe Marquis’S hand, were among his papers at Hamilton .

When the ri val armies met at Newburn , in

Northumberland , the attack on the royalist forces wasled by the Earls of Loudoun and Eglinton

,and it was

delivered with such impetuosity that the English , whohad probably not much heart for the enterprise , fledpanic-stricken to York . The Scots took possession ofall Northumberland and Durham , and remained in

Newcastle for about a year. Charles had again to cometo terms

,and it was getting harder for him to do , on

account of the increasingly strained character of hisrelations with his English subjects. The Irish Rebellionof 1 641 , with its horrors Of massacre and outrage , didnot make it any the easier for him , nor did the difficulty,


Parliamentary and Presbyterian forces before themand were in hot pursuit but the Earl and his own menkept their ground though not without sustainingconsiderable loss in their encoun ter with Prince Rupert’shorse . The Earl and his son were both wounded , andfour of their lieutenants were slain , as well as many ofthe private soldi ers . The battle ended in the totaldefeat of the royalists . When Cromwell , who had led afierce charge upon the royal cavalry, was compelled toleave the field, owing to a wound in his neck , his bri gadewas led by Major-General Crawford of Skeldon . Afterthe battle the Scots advanced upon Newcastle , whichthey stormed and took .

Even at this peri od in the struggle of the rival forcesin the nation

,Charles might have prevailed . Notwith

standing all that had come and gone , when the unhappymonarch . in the guise of a groom , made his escape fromOxford and from the encircling dangers , and presentedhimself, nine days later , in the camp of the Scots , theyreceived him with all the respect due to his position .

He remained with them for eight months , and then ,under promise that there should be no harm , prejudice,injury

,or violence done to the royal person by the

Parliament of England,Charles was sent south once

more,and for the last time . He was incapable of

refraining from intrigue,and while he was negotiating

with the leaders of the Parliament , he was al so in touchwith his friends in the country ; with Montrose in thenorth

,and with a powerful body of royalists di stributed

over almost every part of the Kingdom . The ScottishEstates were in favour of sending an army into Englandin order to secure the safety of the person of the monarch .

The Kirk was against it . The Duke of Hamiltonsucceeded in raising an army of men , and marchedacross the Border . He had the support of LordMontgomerie

,the eldest son of the Earl of Egl inton , of

Lord Cochrane,and of Kilkerran but G reysteel himself.

antagonistic to the movement for despatching an armyinto England , was one of those who joined with Argyll

FIRST R E FORMATION To RESTORA TION 247

in rai sing a force , chiefly in the west country, to expelfrom Edinbu rgh the Convention that had sanctionedthe expedi tion under Hamilton . The adventure endedin disaster , and on the 3oth of January, 1 649, the headof King Charles I . rolled on the scaffold at Whitehall .Scotland had been divided sharply enough for its

national securi ty before the death of Charles I . For thetime being, when the news of the tragedy of Whitehallran like wildfire over the country, the people were as abody fairly well uni ted in their indignation upon theSlayers of the King but , unfortunately agai n , thereligious and sectari an di fferences that rent the Statewere of such an accentuated character as to make itimpossible for them to agree about anything . Thecountry rang with di sputations , and excited itself overantagonisms which , viewed from the vantage ground ofmore than two hundred years , appear to be ofcomparatively insignificant accoun t . The Kirk was , sofar as its mainstay was concerned , u ltra-Presbyterian ;it had obtained a grip on the nation , and it was not to beShaken off. It had erected a standard of orthodoxy , andit was resolved that everybody should live up to it atpain of its displeasu re . Not only were those who hadtaken part in the luckless Engagement placed undera ban , but even so staunch a Covenanter as the Earl OfEglinton , one of the leaders of the party who had turnedthe Estates out of Edinbu rgh, becau se they favouredthe engagement , was forbidden to hold office or to servethe country because of his personal loyal ty to Charles I . ,

and was subjected to a purgation such as preventedhim from Opposing the advance of Cromwell . It is idleto dwell upon what might have been—and probably inthe condition in which Scotland was at the time , whathappened was the best for all concerned—but it isconceivable that more conciliatory cours es and lessbigotry might so have strengthened the Scots army thatthe drove of Dunbar ” would never have taken place .

Sufli ce it , however , to look the facts in the face , and

pass on .

248 HISTORY OF AYRSH IRE

Those who had not attained to the Church’s standardwere Mal ignants . That was their general designation .

The Mal ignants again were divided into classes . Therewere compliers , forcers , urgers , seducers , promoters , andthe like . The Presbytery of Ayr, in December, 1 648,

formulated a series of heads ” under which thesefaithless ones were to be dealt with according to theirdemerits . The simple complier, who confessed his

compliance , was to be called by name in the Kirk , andrebuked on the Fas t day . Those who took forciblemeasures to compel others to send out their men indefence Of the King’s cause

,were to be suspended from

the Covenant . Those who had poinded others toraise funds for the cause , were to be excluded from theCovenant till they had restored the poind and gi venSigns of repentance . Those who had actively supportedLord Montgomerie ,

at that time on the opposite sidefrom his father

,and who had given out orders for the

troopers to quarter,were to confess their sins and to be

sharply rebuked ; and , if they were elders , they wereto be suspended from office . The prime contriversOf bands were to be cited before the Presbytery. Insuch fashion

,under fifteen heads , the Malignants ,

major and minor,were to be dealt with .

But that was nothing to the treatment of the Engagersat the hands of the Scottish Parliament , where the Kirkwas in the ascendant . The mildest punishment inflictedupon them was to be declared incapacitated from publicservice for a year ; from that it rose to incapacity forfive years , then ten years , then for ever .” ThisParliamentary and Presbyterial deal ing combined,brought the nobles and the gentry to their bearings .The eloquent Earl of Loudoun , the Lord Chancellof,bowed his head to the Kirk ; so also did Lord Cochraneof Dundonald, Lieut . -Colonel H ew Montgom erie ofCoilsfield ,

the Laird of Dundu ff, David Campbell , yr. ,

of Skeldon,the Laird of Knock , Craufurd of Baidland ,

and others . It mattered not that they were in a positionto affirm that the Engagement was in no sense a breach


as that of his father had been before him . Cromwellsaw how thi ngs were tending. He recognised that theComm onwealth and the Monarchy could not bothoccupy the field, that either the one or the other mustgo down and , true to his genius for action , he lost notime in marching upon Scotland at the head of an arm yof sixteen thousand foot and horse . Charles

, as a letterfrom him to Sir John Cochrane proves, was by no meansblind to the weakness of his own position , or to thedangers attendant upon a conflict with Cromwell buthe had made his choice

,and he could not do otherwise

than go forward .

Ayrshire had a Committee of War that comprised,

among others , the Lord Chancellor Loudoun, the Earlsof Eglinton and Cassillis , and Lord Cathcart . As wehave said, however, the exclusion of the Mal ignants andEngagers from public service materially weakened boththe strength and the calibre of the Scottish army.

Ayrshire had its contingent , none the less, in the field.

The levy cost the town of Ayr (September 18, 1 650)5800 merks ; troops were raised partly by voluntarylevy

,and partly by a system of conscription ; and

horses were taken wherever they could be found,the

owners being paid according to their value . Fortunefavoured Cromwell . There is no doubt that he was ina perilous condi tion through Sickness , and the lack ofprovisions , among his m en

, and that his retreat uponDunbar partook somewhat of the character of a strategicmovement towards the rear . On the afternoon ofMonday, September 2 ,

1 650, the Protector Observedthat the Scots were drawing nearer with the intentiono f giv ing him battle on the following day , and he resolvedto take his chance in the dark . Before dawn the Scotswere aroused by the booming of the English cannon andthe flashing of their musketry all along the line , followedclose by the fierce charge of the Ironsides . The battlewas over . The Scotch caval ry were driven in upon thefoot soldiers, panic was succeeded by rout, and it isestimated that , while Cromwell lost hardly more than a


score of men , the Scottish slain numbered about threethousand , besides ten thousand prisoners , with all theirart illery

,great and small— thirty guns .

The Scots were not long in‘

recovering from thedisaster of Dunbar . They collected another arm y

,

crowned Charles II . at Scene , with holy solemnities , andswore to live and die with their King ,

“ against all

manner of folk whatever, accordi ng to the NationalCovenant and the Solemn League and Covenant .” TheEarl of Glencairn , the most pronounced of all the Ayrshirenobility in the royalist cause , proceeded to the Highlandswi th Middleton and rallied to Charles a force of clansmen .

Still the bickering and the quarrelling went on regardingMal ignancy and the wisdom of permitting any but themost approven of the Covenanting band to take thefield and Charles , afrai d lest he should be handed overto the Parliamentary forces , with whose religi ous viewsthe Covenanters were in much fuller sympathy thanwi th his own , escaped from Perth , where the Court thenwas , and rode northwards to join the more dependablebody led by Glencai rn and Middleton . Colonel RobertMontgom erie was sent after him with a body of horse ,and persuaded him to return . The E arl of Eglintone xerted himself to rai se a regim ent in the west country ,but was surprised by a party of Cromwell’s horse, and putin prison , first in Hull and then in Berwick ; and thes ame year his son , General -Major Montgomerie

, was

taken prisoner after a resolute defence of Powick Bridge,

i n whi ch he was severely wounded, and sent to E dinburghCastle , where he lay till 1 658, when he escaped, thussecuring his liberty two years before his father, who wasnot granted his freedom till the Restoration . AS before

,

d isaster befell the Scots. Unable to make h eadwayagainst Cromwell in Scotland, they marched intoEngland, strong . Here Cromwell overtook themat Worcester , September 2 ,

1 65 1 , and, after a desperatee ngagement, from which only about a thousand hors e

got away and fled, closed the invasion by the practicalannihilation of the little army. Thi s was the Protector’s

l 7


crowning mercy , and , indeed as he said, it was a

stiff business .

” Returning to Scotland , the forces of theCommonwealth took possession of the country , and ,

before the close of the year,a strong Roundhead garrison ,

quartered in A yr , held the Shire , and the south-west ofScotland general ly , in check .

Under the military rule of General Monck it did nottake Scotland long to settle down . The Scots had hadenough of fighting , they had grown wearied with theincessant conflict that had been waged between the

Kirk and the Crown , and they felt the need of a stronghand upon the national rein . They were not long indiscoveri ng that , ecclesiastically , they were their ownmasters , that they could hold their Calvinism strictlyor more leniently as they felt inclined

,without any fear

of civil consequences . Peace and order everywhereprevailed, and the Scots appreciated the luxury of beingable to go and to come across the Open country in perfectsafety.

In the Highlands it took things longer to settle .

The Earl of Glencairn was the sort of man to whom a

royal enterprise , be it ever so daring or desperate ,

appeal ed. With a mixed company Of clansmen ,representing Glengarry, Lochiel , M

‘

G regor , Mar, andother chiefs of pronounced Stuart affinities , he rangedthe Highlands awhile , by Lochearn and Loch R annoclr,Cromar and Badenoch , in Inverness-Shire andSutherlandshire but their adventure was never reallydangerous to the peace Of the nation at large ; and ,

ultimately,after a few minor skirmishes , whi ch only

demonstrated their weakness in face of the organisedand di sciplined soldiers of the Commonweal th , they wereglad to capitulate . The Government , however, did notforget those who had been hostile to them . LordCochrane and Lord Boyd were subjected to heavy finesthe Earl of Loudoun , the Earl Of Glencairn

,Lord

Mauchline , Lord Montgom erie,and Lord Bargany were

omitted from the Act of Grace ; but Cromwell showedconsideration for their ladi es , allowing the Countess Of


in the fort , if not indeed the Colonel-Commanding , wasColonel A lured , described by Carlyle as a swift devoutman , somewhat given to Anabaptist notions .

”

It could not have been otherwise than a grievancewith the people of Ayr that Cromwell shou ld have bu ilthis stately fortress in such a fashion as to enclose theOld parish church of the town—the Church of St. John’s.It dated back to the end of the twelfth century

,it had

witnessed the gathering of the Scottish barons underRobert the Bruce

, after Bannockburn ,it had many

hallowed associations of the first Reformation and ofJohn Welsh , and around its walls slep t the dust ofm any generations of the burgesses . The Roundh eadscared for none of those things when mili tary considerations were at stake . Their cause was more sacred intheir eyes than either kirk or ki rkyard but when theysecularised St. John’s and converted it into an armoury,they gave the town a thousand merks English towardsthe erection of another parish church ; and , selectinga site on the the friars ’ lands on the banks of the river ,the Council bu ilt the church which remains to this day.

Apart from th is example of vandalism , which cannothave been else than grievous to the commun ity, thereis no reason to believe that A yr suffered , either in itsmaterial or its moral wellbeing

,from the ten years

’

soj ourn of the Ironsides . The general m oral s of thetroops were excellent. There were, almost as a matterof course, exceptions to the rule . A s with every other

great movement, so with that whi ch brought about theCommonweal th, men were attracted to it in the interestsof liberty. It ofiered them freedom from the rule ofan absolute monarchy. It established them in the

exercise of rights , and of privileges , which had previouslybeen denied to them . It did not confine itself, in theappeals that it made to the nation , to religi on, or topurity, or to the higher morali ty ; it accepted, on thecontrary, all who honestly and honou rably ral lied to itsstandard, and therefore it was inevitable that the ranksof its soldiery Should em brace m en of alm ost every kind.


The rule,however, cannot be proved by the exception ,

and while it has to be recognised that all the Roundheadswere not of the religious sort , or stern and uprightaccording to the recognised order

,the fact

,none the

less,remains indi sputable that the Cromwellian forces

attained to , and maintained, a very high degree of moralexcellence

, and that they were a good and not an evilinfluence in the communities which they dominatedduring the Republican decade . The session records ofAyr demonstrate that there were troopers who brokethe Sabbath

,and who ignored the claims of morality.

But they did not escape the penal consequences of theiractions. There was at least one English soldier who wasscourged along the streets for a breach of the seventhcommandment . On the other hand , there were Roundheads who identified themselves with the Presbyteri anorder— not by any means a

.

Sign of grace , but an

indi cation of greater catholicity than might have beenlooked for in these staunch adherents of Independency.

The session had their test for such . The Covenant wastheir touchstone and , once they were satisfied that theEnglishmen had an intell igen t appreciation of it , theywere ready to open the Presbyt erian doors and bid thementer in . It is a tradition of old repute that many ofthe inhabitants were taught by the Roundheads howto lay out their gardens more tastefully than they hadbeen in the habit of doing ; and it is beyond doubtthat , when the Restoration of Charles II . came aboutin 1 660, and the troops marched away, some of thesoldiers elected to remain behind and to take up theirresidence among the people of Ayr . The Cromwellianswere like their neighbours—there were good and bad

am ong them , but the records and the indications all

point to the fact that the good much predominatedover the bad .

And certainly both town and county had experiencedmuch greater peace and happiness during the Roundheadoccupation than they were destined to enjoy again formany years to come .

CHAPTE R X I

FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE HIGHLANDHOST

On the Restoration of Charles IL , Scotland was

almost immediately plunged into a fresh sea Of troubles .During the Commonwealth period the strong arm ofthe Protector had maintained peace , and a certainbal ance of the religious sects . The law had been wellObserved , and strict justice had been dispensed in everypart of the United Kingdom ; but no sooner had theKing returned to the throne than troubles , and plots ,and excitements began anew, and Scotland was fatedto endure much , both in the way of Oppression and ofpersecution , during the eight and twenty years thatwere opening. Powerful efforts had been put forth tobind Charles to the Covenants ,

and to some extentthese had succeeded, but there is little reason to doubtthat the King never seriously intended to abide by hispromises , and, whether he did or not , he was at oncerelieved by the new Parliament from any condi tions orlimitations beyond what al ready existed at common law.

Soon after the Restoration , the Earl of Cassillis , anobleman of pronounced Presbyterian sympathies . andDalrymple of Stair, proceeded to London , and were

graciously received at Court and Stair,who received

the honour of knighthood,was reappointed one of the

Judges of the Court of Session—a position to which hehad been originally raised by Cromwell , on the advice


diocese of Glasgow , which embraced Ayrshire , appliedfor institution under the Bishops , and in October of1662 , Middleton

’s Commission , Sitting in Glasgow,

passed an Act that all ministers must either submit tothe Bishops or remove themselves out of their chu rches ,manses , and parishes within a month . Upwards of threehundred ministers were outed at once. Of fifty-sevenin the Presbyteries of Ayr and Irvine , thirty gave uptheir charges , and the number was subsequentlyincreased , over Scotland , to about four hundred ,

including a few in Ayrshire who had retained theirposition at the opening of the struggle . In many respectstheir compulsory disruption may be regarded as thebeginning of the acute and determined stand made byPresbytery against the Episcopal and monarchialencroachments . It involved great hardships to manyof the outed Presbyt ers , but it did not in any way

weaken either their own resolution or their hold upontheir congregations and the country generally . Theburghs of Ayr and Irvine refused allegiance to the royalmandate . The curate who was appointed to Ayr bythe Archbishop of G lasgow,

Alexander Burnet , had tosubmit to a process of boycotting. When he called ameeting of the session hardly any of the elders attendedit , and the minutes have frequent entries like thisApud Air ; presentibus, Master George Whyte ,minister, and the Clerk .

”

One of the most outstanding and outspok en of theAyrshire ministers was William Guthrie of Fenwick , a

man of Singular piety and devotion to the cause of hispeople , and so much esteemed generally that , accordingto the Scots Worthies, he enjoyed the friendship of theChancellor, Glencairn ,

and of the Earl of Eglinton .

Glencairn himself requested the Archbishop of Glasgowto leave him alone . That Shall not be done , was theBishop’s rejoinder

,it cannot be he is a ringleader and

keeper up of s chism in my diocese . In due time Guthriewas suspended , but , according to Wodrow , it wasdifficult to find any curate who would undertake the

RESTORATION TO THE HIGHLAND HOST 259

unpopu lar duty of reading the edict of suspension fromhis pu lpit . The curate of Cadder at last consented . Onthe Sunday, when the formal sentence of deposit ionwas to be passed, Guthrie met with his attachedcongregation between four and five in the morning.

preached two sermons, with a short interval betweenthem , and dismissed them before nine o ’clock . Whenthe curate went to the pulpit his congregation consistedof the twelve soldi ers who formed

.

his escort,and a few

children,who created some disturbance till they were

chased away by the soldiers .

” Guthrie remained inFenwick till 1 665 , in which year he di ed in the forty-fifthyear of his age .

The insistence of the Government was met bythe resistance of the people . Conventicles and

unwarrantable meetings were declared illegal , butwere nevertheless held. John Welsh, the outed minist erof Irongray in Dumfriesshire , grandson of John Welsh ofAyr ; Alexander Peden , the Prophet and otherfamous field preachers, disregarded the laws that soughtto prevent their preaching. In the Summer of 1 666,Welsh held a conventicle at Galston , where he bapti seda number of children , and Peden did likewise at Ralston,in Kilmarnock parish, and aggravated his offending by“ riding up and down the country with swords and

pistols , in grey clothes .” The independence of the Town

Councils was interfered with , fines and exactions wereimposed upon suspect Presbyterians, the nobility and

gentry were enjoined to have the law ri gidly put inforce and the result was that a number Of the countrype0p1e in Galloway and in Ayrshire , with con tingentsfrom other western Shires , rose in rebellion . The leaderof the movement was Colonel James Wallace of A uchans,a scion of a family that had

,in the person of Sir Will iam

Wallace , mightily distinguished itself in fighting for

the liberties of Scotland . Marching with his followershither and thither in the hOpe of raising the countryside,he cam e by way of Mauchline to Ayr. He had reckonedon securing the aid of Major-General Montgomerie. a


son of the Ear l of Eglinton , and of the laird of G adgirth ,

but was disappointed to find that they were both atEglinton waiting upon General Dalziel . The insurgentsrendezvoused by the Doon , in the hope of securi ngassistance from Ayr , but in this also they weredoomed to disheartenment . From Ayr they went toOchiltree, from Ochiltree to Cumnock, from Cumnockto Muirkirk , at which they arrived as wet as if they hadbeen dragged through a river

,

”and where they spent the

night in the church without any food. On their waythrough Lanarkshire they were joined by about fortym en from Cunningham . They had various discussionsas to whether they Should pursue their enterpri se further,seeing that there was SO little encouragement wherethey had most expected it . Colonel Wallace recognisedthe dangers of the undertaking

,but he had put his

hand to the plough and he was not going back . AtLanark the Covenants were sworn and a manifestodrawn up . Ultimately the army,

” less than a thousandstrong, encountered General Dalziel at Rullion Green ,on the slopes of the Pentland Hills , and sustained acrushing defeat , some fifty of the countrym en beingkilled, and many of them taken prisoners . ColonelWallace escaped in the darkness of the night , and

managed to flee to Holland,where he spent the

remainder of his days .

The Government behaved with considerable rigourtowards the insurgents . December 4, 1 666, they issueda proclamation declaring them rebels

,and ordering

that none Should harbour,or assist, reset , supply, or

correspond with them under pain Of treason . Thepersons named in the proclamation included ColonelWallace , Robert Chalmers, brother to G adgirth , PatrickMacnaught

,Cumnock

,and his son John the laird of

Kersland ,the laird of B edland ,

John Welsh , and others .One of the first batch of offenders who were put upontheir trial was John ROSS

,Mauchline . Ross’s head

was ordered to be exposed at Kilmarnock , and hi s

right arm was affixed upon one of the gates at Lanark .


had seen at Lanark , he was sentenced to death ; andhis request for one night ’s time to prepare for eternitywas denied him . Rigid enquiries were made into theconduct of such as there was reason to believe had beensympathetic with the rising

,

” or who were affected inthat direction . In their absence a batch of Presbyt erians ,including Will iam Muir of Caldwell , Robert Ker ofK ersland ,

younger ; John Cuningham e of B edland ;Robert Chalmers

,brother to G adgirth and Alexander

Peden , were sentenced to be“ executed to death and

demeaned as traitors as soon as they could be found ,but their sentence was commuted later

,on condition

that,within a certain Specified time

,they should give

bonds for keeping the peace and obeying the law .

While the so-called rebels were thus being punished,steps were taken to ensure the peace and quiet of thecountryside . By a proclamation dated March , 1667 ,

all persons within the shire were ordered to bring inthe arms and ammunition that they had in theirpossession and deliver up the same to the Sheriff or hisdepute under heavy penal ties , the half of which were togo to the informer. Along with this was anotherproclamation prohibiting al l persons who absentedthemselves from ordinances

,and did not go to their own

parish church,to keep horses of greater value than a

hundred merks and in the event of their failure to doso the authorities were empowered to seize the horseswithout either payment or satisfaction , and to givethem to the informer. The following October , Commissioners—the Master of Cochrane , Sir John Cochrane ,Lord Stair

, Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie , Mr . JohnCunninghame

,advocate ; Mr . James Cunninghame,

Sheriff-depute of Ayr Mr . Hugh Montgomerie, Sheriffdepute of Renfrew ; and ex-Provost Cunninghame ofAyr

,for the Shires of A yr and Renfrew—were appointed

to receive bonds from those suspected of disaffection ,

declaring that they would keep the peace and would not

rise in arms against the King , and compelling them to

gi ve security for their good conduct . Complaints were

RESTORATION TO TH E HIGH LAND HOST 263

forwarded to the Privy Council concerning vari ous actsOf oppression done by the military authorities , but thesatisfaction given to the complainers was not of thekind to encourage them to find faul t with theirOppressors . In the Summer of 1 668a company of footsoldiers was ordered to be stationed at Dalmellington ,and another at Cumnock , to keep the districts in orderand in the Autumn Sixty troopers were sent into Kyleto search for and to apprehend any rebels rising in arms.The laird of Cunninghamhead and the laird of R owallanwere taken to Sti rling Castle and confined in differentrooms , close pri soners . This rigour was continued thefollowing year. Newm ilns, Mauchline, and Kilmarnockhad each to endure the attentions of the military.

But still the conventicles went on, and a freshexpedient had to be adopted for coping with them .

Commissioners were appointed to collect fines fornonconforrni ty . The Commi ssioner for Kyle and

Carri ck was a poor advocate named Fife , Cunninghamwas given to a brother of the Earl of Dumfries

,and a

nephew of Lord Cochrane had Renfrewshire assignedto him . These , however, do not seem to have donemuch In the way of gathering In money, and their reignwas brief. The Offending m inisters had a hard tim e of it.For preaching and baptising irregularly, a group ofthese , including William Fullarton St. Qu ivox ; JohnSpel di n , Dreghom ; A lexander Blai r , Gal ston ; AndrewDalrymple, Auchinleck John Hutchi son, Maybole ;Jam es Vei tch , Mauchline Hugh Campbell , Riccarton ;John G emble, Sym ington ; and John Wallac e

, Largs,were cited by Maj or Cockburn , an ofi cer of the Guards,to appear at Ayr . Cockbum seems to have exceededhis instructions , and to have behaved wi th needlessseveri ty. In some cases he even went the length of

tu rning the rrrinisters’ fami li es out of doors, at four and

twen ty hours’

notice , to their great detriment and loss.

The Court before which the mi nisters appeared,comprised of county noblemen and gentlem en , wereinclined to treat them leniently , but the Archbishop


demurred to this , and through the influence of LordCochrane the ministers were ci ted to appear before theCouncil at Edinburgh the following week . This theyaccordingly did . They frankly acknowledged preachingsince they had been set aside , denied having been atconvent icles , and admitted that they had permittedoutsiders to be present at family worship with themand, having been cautioned , they were ordered to

appear later before the Council . When the time hadcome for their reappearing, they deputed Mr . Fu llarton ,

the outed minister of St . Qu ivox , to Speak for them .

This he did with considerable boldness,craving

indulgence for themselves to preach,and compassion

for the poor affl icted people of the country. Again theministers were dismissed with a caution

,which is said

to have so angered Lord Cochrane that he declared thatthe ministers should turn all upside down before hemeddled with them a gain .

” The same day ,however

,

another declaration against conventicles was issued,

throwing the responsibility of suppressing them uponthe heritors under a penalty of fifty pounds sterling .

At Midsummer of 1 669 the first A ct of Indulgencewas passed. It gave powers to such outed ministers aswere able to Show that they had lived peaceful andorderly lives

,to return to their parishes , and to preach

and dispense ordinances in them , permitting them alsoto hold meetings of Kirk Session , and to keep Presbyteriesand Synods ; and it went so far as to grant them anal lowance of four hundred merks for their maintenance,ou t of the vacant churches , until they Should be foundin parishes for themselves . The Episcopal party werenot satisfied with the A ct it went too far in the directionof conciliation for them, and in some of the districtsthey took steps to prevent it being put in force .

Nevertheless,under it

,places were found for a number

of the outed men , including Ralph Rogers , formerly ofGlasgow

,at Kilwinning ; George Hutchison

,of

Edinburgh, at Irvine ; Robert Miller in his old parish

of Ochiltree William Maitland, of Whithorn, at Beith


petitioned Lord Lauderdale for their freedom in thesewords That whereas, being detained more thanthese four years prisoners, to our heavy prejudice inour persons, families, and affairs ; and seeing we are ,through the grace of God, still resolved to continue inall faithful duty and loyal ty to our dread Sovereign ,and due respect to the peace and welfare of the Kingdommay it therefore please your grace

,in consideration of

the premises,to order our releasement whereby your

grace shall not more evidence Mis Maj esty’s goodness,

and your own affection to His Maj esty’s service,than

oblige, to all thankful acknowledgment , your grace’s

most humble suppliants and servants .” Their liberationfollowed.

There was nothing of which the State disapprovedmore than the conventicles . These they regarded as

the heart and centre of sedition . The indulged ministerswere narrowly watched , and closely examined, lest theyshould take part in these field preachings

, and thenature and extent of their pulpit work was strictlyscrutinised . In April , 1 670 , a fresh Commission wasappointed to deal with disorders in the west country

,

with instructions for deal ing wi th offenders. Certaindisloyal and seditious persons,

” the Act constitutingCommission declared, especially in the Shires of A yr ,Lanark

,Renfrew, and others, have of late contravened

the said Acts, by desert ing their own parish kirks,keeping conventicles , disorderly marrying, baptisingtheir children , making attempts upon , and offeringcertain injuries un to loyal and peaceable ministers ,deal ing with and menacing them to leave their churches,and committing of several other disorders , to the highcontem pt of our authority and the great scandal ofreligion .

” These offenders and mal contents were to bedeal t with as the Commission Should see fit , by fines , orimprisonment, or by the poinding of their goods andt hat the Commissioners might be able to put the law inforce , powers were given to them to employ the militaryin their service . When the Committee c ame to A yr, the

-p .

RESTORATION TO THE HIGHLAND HOST 267

first business they had to do was of a somewhat farcicalcharacter . Mr. Jeffray , the curate of Maybole , camebefore them and alleged that some of h is parishionershad attempted to murder him

,that they had fired a

pistol shot at his breast , and that he owed his life to thebullet having found lodgrnent in a book he was carryingin his breast coat pocket . It appeared , however, thatthe curate , while he had duly fired a pistol into thebook , had forgotten to do the same by his coat , and hiscomplaint was laughed out of court . Later in the yearthe Maybole parishioners accused Mr . Jeffray of profaneswearing, striking, fighting, and plain drunkenness, andthe Archbishop

,satisfied that these things were so

,

forbade him to exercise the office of the ministry.

There is no record,so far as we have seen , of the

proceedings of this Commission . Some idea of thestringency of the regulat ions for the conduct of theindulged ministers may be had from the fact that whenthe father of the minister of Ardrossan fell sick , his son

had to obtain special permission before he could go andsee him in his house a mile distant, and then only oncondi tion that he should enter no other house eithergoing or coming. Other ministers had Similarly toObtain permits before they could leave home on theirown private business . In February of 1 671 , we find

Cunninghame of B edland still a prisoner in DumbartonCastle . H is health was suffering from his longincarceration , and,

on his giving security for ten thousandmerks, he was permitted to ride out every day onc ondition that he returned to h is prison at night . I tfared worse with his joint prisoner

,the laird of Kersland .

He made application to go and live with his wife andfamily in some place where he could superintend theeducation of the children at school and college

,wi th

the result that he was transferred to the tolbooth atAberdeen

,whence

,after a short time

,he was sent to

Stirling Castle .

There is no room for doubting that the Governmentw ere anxious to conciliate the Presbyt erians . They

18


could not drive them from their Presbyterianism , butthey might by degrees bring them into line with the

prelatic order ; and ,subject to the compliance of the

ministers with their requirements,they gave them a

large measure of liberty to dispense ordinances withinthe areas assigned to them . They tolerated nothing,however

,in the nature of independence, and seldom

left them long alone or without inquiry into theirmethods . In 1673 ,

the Earl of Eglinton and the Earl ofCassillis were ordered to enquire into the holding ofconventicles in the county. One of the results of thisinquiry was that a number of the ministers were citedto appear before the Council in Edinburgh . One ofthese was Mr. Blair of Galston . Blair was outspoken.

“ I can receive no instructions from you,

” he told theCouncil

,

“ for regu lating the exercise of my ministry,for if I should receive instructions from you I should beyour ambassador .

” Some of the other mini stersattempted to soothe the displeasure caused by thesebold words

,but without effect . They were all dismissed

but Blair,who was ordered to be imprisoned in the

Tolbooth of Edinburgh . This was in July, and he

remained in close confinement till December, by whichtime his health had completely broken down . Then hewas liberated under a bail bond of five hundred merks ,to return to the Tolbooth in a month . In January hisfreedom was extended by another fortnight , and bythat time says Wodrow , this excellent person died,in much joy and full assurance of faith .

”

In June,

1 673 ,Alexander Peden

,Peden the

Prophet,

” was captured in the house of Hugh Fergussonof Knockdow ,

in Galloway, on a charge of having takenpart in the Pentland rising. Peden was one of the mostpopular

,and one of the boldest of the Covenanting

field preachers . He was accredited by the peasantrywith gi fts of prophecy . When he was taken captive ,Fergusson

,his host , was taken al so , for harbouring him ,

and Major Cockburn,who appears to have been one

of the most zealous servants the State had, received


house,Colmonell . The Earls of Dumfries and

Dundonald ,Lords Cochrane and Ross

,and Sir Thomas

Wal lace,were appointed to inquire into the “disorders .

”

and to put them down ,but their efforts to do so were , so

far as the main object aimed at was concerned ,resultless .

This year Ker of Kersland , after having been eight yearsin prison

,obtained his liberty . He had been confined

in various prisons,latterly in the Tolbooth of Glasgow .

A great fire broke out in the city, and the people , to savethe lives of the prisoners

,gave them their liberty.

K ersland j oined the persecuted party, with whom heassociated for about two years

,attending conventicles

and otherwise identifying himself with the cause, andthen he escaped to H olland ,

where he remained till hisdeath in 1 680.

So the conflict went on through 1 676 and 1 677 ,every

effort of the State to stop the field meetings being metby counter agitation on the part of the Presbyterians

,

and things at length came to such a pass that theGovernment resolved ou

'

a supreme mili tary effort tobring the holding-of the conventicles to a close . Therehad been a noted gathering in the parish of Maybole

,

and a group of ministers had dispensed the communion .

The congregation had been drawn from all parts of thethe shire adj acent

,and the ministrations of John Welsh

and his friends had been singularly successful . Theprelatic party magnified this and other gatherings intoformidable movements of sedition

,they were unquestion

ably breaches of the law of the land, and in the Councilthere was a strong party, including the Earl of Glencairn ,who thought that the time had gone by for the pursuanceof moderate measures . Instructions were issued of themost peremptory character toa Commission , representedin Ayrshire by Lord Glencairn ,

to bring the districts intofuller subjection

,to have lists prepared of the conventicle

keepers,to poind their goods

,to apprehend or to imprison

them,and to administer a bond binding the signatories ,

u nder heavy penal ties, never again to go to house orfield preachings .

RESTORA TION TO THE HIGHLAND HOST 271

These steps were preliminary to the introduction intothe west country

,and Special ly into Ayrshire , of the

Highland Host perhaps the worst infliction , althoughfortunately it did not last long , from which Ayrshireever suffered. Before this desperate step was taken,the county was warned of what might ensue , in acommunication addressed by the Council to the Earlsof Glencairn and Dundonal d and Lord Ross . Thisletter is of Special interest as showing the state of theshire from the point of V iew of the Council and theirfriends . There having been frequent intimations sentin here

,it ran ,

of extraordinary insolencies committednot only against the present orthodox clergy, by usurpingtheir pulpits

,threatening and abusing their persons ,

and setting up of conventicle houses , and keeping ofscandal ous and seditious conventicles in the fields , thegreat seminaries of rebell ion but likewise of the greatprejudi ce that is likely to arise to H is Majesty’s authorityand government , and to the peace of the Kingdom ingeneral ; we did therefore think it necessary, in afrequent meeting of Council this day

,to requ ire you r

lordships to send par ticular expresses with sure bearers,to call together the commissioners of the excise and

milit ia,and justices of the peace Specified in the list

here enclosed ; and when they meet at Irvine , the 2ndday of November next , that you seriously representto them how highly, in H is Majesty

’s name , we resentthe foresaid outrages and affronts done to the governmentin the Shires of Ayr and Renfrew , which have beenfrequently represented to be the most considerableseminaries of rebellion in this Kingdom , though nonehath more eminently tasted of H is Majesty’s clemency,nor hath His Majesty indulged any shire SO much as

these , we are fully resolved to 'repress byforce , and H is Majesty

’s authority, all such rebellious

and factious courses , without respect to the disadvantageof the heritors , whom His Majesty will look upon as

involved in such a degree of guilt as may allow the

greatest of severity as may be used against that country.

”


The three noblemen named met with the heritorsand the other representatives of civil authority in thecounty at Irvine

,and placed the Council

’s instructionsbefore them plainly. The gentlemen declared theirloyal ty, but came unanimously to three resolves

( 1 ) That they found it not within the compass oftheir power to suppress conventicles ; (2 ) that it istheir humble opinion from former experience that atoleration of Presbyterians is the only proper expedientto settle and preserve the peace and cause the foresaidmeetings to cease (3) that it is their humble motionthat the extent thereof be no less than H is Majesty hadgraciously vouchsafed to h is Kingdoms of England andIreland . The Council received these resolves withindignation

,and set about , by commission dated

December that year , raising the Highlanders .The publication of the instructions to the commanders

of the Highl and Host created alarm all over Ayrshire.

These were of a character that might well fill anycountryside with dismay . The Host were to deprive thepeople of all classes of their arms and ammunition ; incase of refusal

,they were to quarter the Highlanders

upon them,and inflict such punishment as they should

see fit they were to summon the heritors and compelthem to give bond and security for themselves and theirtenants not to attend convent icles

,and

,in the event of

refusal,were to proceed against them by “

fining,confining, imprisoning , banishing, or other arbitrarypunishment they were to deal with the tenants andheads of families after the same fashion ; they hadpowers to quarter the forces upon anybody , unlessSpecial ly exempted, they should see fit ; and if anypersisted in holding conventicles

,they were to be

indicted criminal ly as rebels and traitors . The country,in other words

,was handed over to them to reduce to

subjection ; and it must be remembered that theHighland Host was almost wholly composed of menwho were not only of a different faith from the AyrshirePresbyterians

,but who can hardly be said to have been

CHAPTE R X I I

FROM THE HIGHLAND HOST TO THEREVOLUTION .

It was in the Opening weeks of 1 678that the HighlandHost marched into Ayrshire and Renfrewshire . By theend of February they had all been ordered off again

,

except five hundred men,who remained behind t ill

April . Their stay , these five hundred excepted,did

not last most than six weeks,bu t . i t is well within the

mark to say that these were the worst Six weeks thatever Ayrshire had . The object of the Council

, as has

been said,was to crush the conventicles in other words

,

to destroy the right of public meeting . Round thedefence of that right

,the greater part of the eight and

twenty years of the persecution revolved in the westland .

It was clear to the Government that,so long as the

Covenanters could assemble together and listen to thestimulating and strengthening exhortations of the fieldpreachers

,they could not hope to crush the Reformation

movement , and year after year every possible effort wasput forth to prevent the great assemblages of the peopleand their consorting together in support of theirprinciples and their right to maintain them . Everyattempt of the Council up to this date had provedfutile ; now it was to be seen whether invasion by ahalf-civilised ,

an undisciplined, and a savage horde of

Highlanders would not suffice to break the CovenantingSpirit .

HIGHLAND HOST TO THE REVOLUTION 275

The Highland Host numbered in all about 8000 men ,

comprising about 1 000 regular foot soldi ers , Angusmilitia and Perthshire men about 2200 ,

the bal ancemade up of the clansmen of Athole and Breadalbaneand other chiefs , with a few troops of horse . In additionto four field guns , they brought with them spades ,shovels , and mattocks , as if they were bent on reducingfortifications shackles and thumbscrews for theterrorising and punishment of the pe0p1e and daggersso constructed that they could be fixed

,as bayonets were

later , to the mouths of the muskets . Ayrshire wasregarded as the chief seat and centre of the offending ;and though i t is impossible to say exactly how manymen were quartered upon it

,it may be seen

,from Specific

instances of their numbers in di fferent places,and from

the great cost of the enterprise to the shire,that they

must have numbered thousands .

It was an important part of the business of theleaders of the Highland Host to administer what wasknown as the Bond . Wise in their day and generation ,

they spread its meshes wide enough to catch all sorts ofpeople . Upon the landowners

,upon the heritors

,upon

persons in authority, they always kept an eye it wasfor these to hold the people under them in subjection ,

and to see that they did not break the law and,if they

failed in their duty,then the work of recovering fines

and exactions from them was comparatively easy .

Here is an example of the Bond,which shows what a

far -reaching and ingathering measure it wasI undersubscribing

,do faithfully bind and

oblige me that I , my wife , bairns , and servantsrespectively , shall in no ways be present at any con

venticles and disorderly meetings in times coming,but

Shall live orderly in obedience to the law,under the

penalties contained in the Acts of Parliament thereanent ;as al so I bind and oblige me that my whole tenants andcottars respectively, their wives , bairns , and servants ,Shall likewise refrain and abstain from the said con

venticles, and other illegal meetings not authorised by


the law,and that they shall live orderly in obedi ence to

the law ; and , further, that I nor they shal l not reset ,supply

,or commune with forfeited persons

,inter

communed ministers , or vagrant preachers ,but Shall do

ou r utmost endeavour to apprehend their persons andin any case my said tenants

,cottars

,and their foresaids,

shall contravene , I shall take and apprehend any personor persons guilty thereof, and present them to the judgeordinary,

that they may be fined or imprisoned therefore,

as is provided in the Acts of Parliament madethereanent , otherwise I shall remove them and theirfamilies from off my ground and if I shall fai l herein

,

I shal l be liable to such penalties as the said delinquentshave incurred by the law.

”

In the event of landowners refusing to take theBond , they were liable in two years valued rent of theirheritages , if they or their tenants or man servantscontravened the Spirit of the ordinance ; while thosewho consented to Sign the obligation were to be tenderlydealt with as to their byegones . That nobody in localauthority should have any excuse for non-compliance

,

the Committee of Privy Council appointed for Ayrshiresummoned the heritors

,life renters

,and landlords , to

meet with them in the Tolbooth of Ayr,for the Kyle

d istrict , and elsewhere for Carrick and Cunningham ,

and ordained publication of their injunction to be madeat the Market Cross of Ayr , and in the various parishesupon a Sabbath day after divine service . Notwi th

standing the danger of refusal , very few of the heritors ,great or small , took the Bond. The Earl of Dumfriesdid i t , and the Laird of A u chm annoch ,

and the TownCouncil of Ayr . The Lord Cathcart

, Sir John Cochrane ,the laird of Cessnock

,and the laird of Kilbirnie were

among those who were Specifically dealt with , but invain . Peremptory refusal was also made by the Earlsof Cassillis and Loudoun , and the Lords Montgomery,Cathcart, and Bargany , and the burgh of Irvine . TheTown Council of A yr , having accepted, received a bondof relief.


they broke in upon , and rifled and killed their cattle,far beyond what they made use of for their provision.

In some places they tortured people by scorching theirbodies at vast fires , and o therwise , till they forced themto discover where their money and goods were hid toavoid their thievish hands .

” They drove away horses ,they threatened to burn houses

,they levied blackmail

wherever they could get it , they insisted upon beingprovided with brandy and tobacco . To crown all ,

adds Wodrow , it is well known these vile miscreants ,Openly, in cities and town s , offered to commit rapes ,and it is fit to draw a veil over their excesses of unnaturaland horrid wickednesses up and down the country .

”

In a word ,

” writes a contemporary recorder,“ when

considered in its full extent, and in all its heinous

circumstances,it (the invasion) is a complicat ion of the

most atrocious crimes that almost ever have beenconceived or perpetrated .

Many instances have been recorded Of individualOppression . At Cunninghamhead ,

the house of SirWilliam Cunninghame

,Highlanders lived at heck and

manger for a month ; what meal there was in thegranary that they could not eat

,they destroyed they

used fire to open lockfast places ; and the Colonel ofthe troop threatened a farmer upon whom he hadquartered himself that

,if he did not hand over his

money,he would hang him in h is own barn . They

robbed various merchants in Kilmarnock of large sumsof money

,Nine Highlanders foisted themselves for six

weeks upon one of these,William Dickie . When they

went off they robbed his house , from which they carriedsacks full of household stuff and goods , and a hose fullof money . When Dickie ventured to remonstrate , theybroke two of his ribs and threatened to cu t off his head ,

and they so frightened his wife , by putting the point ofa little di rk into her side , that she ,

being with child ,

died very soon after of the terror . It was believed thatthey intended to plunder the town before leaving it ,and strong and successful representations were made


to the officers to prevent the barbarity. Mr . Wedderburn ,the minister

, was one of those who remonstrated ,and

when he was interceding to spare the place , one of theHighlanders so pushed him on the breast with the buttend of his musket , that he contracted a sickness fromwhich he died . The loss to Kilmarnock was estimatedat more than £2800 sterling ,

an enormous sum in thesedays for a town like Kilmarnock to have to pay undersuch untoward circumstances .

What the Highland Host cost Ayrshire can never betold in money

,but even in the matter of money the loss

to the county was enormous . When the Highlandershad come and gone

,the noblemen and gentlemen drew

up an account of the losses sustained by quartering,

robbing,and spoiling of the soldiers and Highland

Host . ” The tale is not quite complete . It omits theparish of Dalrymple and the burgh of Irvine . There isno reason to believe that Dalrymple escaped any morethan its Sister parishes

,and i t is absolutely certain that

Irvine , which had refused to take the Bond ,was not

forgotten by the invaders . Stated in Scots money ,the

sum total reaches the form idable figure of 65 .

In sterling money—a pound Scots represented onlyone-twelfth of a pound sterling— the amount isadding Irvine and Dalrymple , probably about £1 2,500

This does not appear to be such a very large sum ofmoney, but it must be borne in mind that the populationof the county at the period cannot have much exceeded—if it exceeded it at all—fifty thousand persons , old andyoung, or less than twelve thousand families . Theequival ent sum tod ay would not be less thanand the point does not need to be argued that if Ayrshirehad in one year to contribute such a sum involuntarily ,

in addi tion to the ordinary taxation otherwise exactedfrom the people

,it would be a very grievous burden

indeed . Those who were responsible for the drawingup of the account were careful not to overstate theircase , and there were some who placed the total loss atdouble the figure named . When the Highlanders


marched off they were loaded with Spoil . They carriedaway many horses , goods out of the merchants ’ Shops .webs of linen and woollen cloth

,bedclothes

,carpets

,

wearing clothes,pots

,pans

,gridirons

,shoes

,and some

silver plate . Some two thousand of them were held upat the bridge of Glasgow by the students and citizens

,

and compelled to disgorge their plunder,but the greater

part of them succeeded in carrying their spoil clearaway and in reaching the Highlands with it . The minortroubles inflicted upon the inhabitants were manifold.

In Ayr and other towns the burgesses who refused toSign the Bond had their burgess tickets cancelled anddestroyed

,and were thus debarred from all the privileges

of citizenship and from participating in trade andcommerce . A general policy of disarmament wascarried rigorously out . Garrisons were placed inB lairquhan , in Cessnock ,

in B arskimm ing,and in other

private houses,in order to hold the districts in subjection

,

and every means was taken to teach the leaders of thepeople the costliness of their independence .

But so far as breaking the Spirit of the people wasconcerned

,the invasion accomplished nothing . It found

them strong for their rights , it left them where i t foundthem . It was but an incident in a long and wearystruggle

,in which patience and quiet determination

were eventually to win . And the struggle had still tenyears to run .

There was,as has been said ,

practical unanimity inthe attitude assumed by the nobility and gentry of theShire towards the Highland Host . This does not imply,however

,that the whole of the upper classes

,or even

the majority of them ,were in sympathy

,generally

,with

the reformed,or Covenanting

,cause . By far the larger

number of them were anxious for peace . They were notmuch concerned with church formulas or Observances.They were not concerned either for the differencesbetween ministers who were indulged

,and mini sters

who were not indulged,or even between the Presby

terians and Episcopalians . What they saw in regard to


had obeyed the royal warrant to demolish the meetinghouses in Carrick and otherwise fulfilled the mandatesof the Council

,and how

,nothwithstanding, fifteen

hundred men had been quartered upon Carrick , themost part on his estates . He admitted refusing tosubscribe the Bond ,

declaring that it was contrary tolaw and could not be put in force . H e had never attendedor seen any conventicles in Carrick , and,

yet,he com

plained,he had been actually denounced a rebel at the

Market Cross of A yr ,and a warrant issued for appre

hending his person . His conscience assured him ,the

Earl added,that he had never violated any of His

Majesty’s laws or commands .The Council issued a Special defence of their action

in relat ion to the Earl of Cassillis. He had neglected tod issipate conventicles , he had permitted meeting housesto be built

,and had thus contemned the royal proclam

ation . Therefore, it was craved by the Council , of theKing

,that he should be “ sent down prisoner

,to be

’

tried and judged according to law . As for thed emolition of the meeting houses , that , it was alleged ,

had been done by the people themselves . In the end theEarl succeeded in warding off any further proceedings

,

but he suffered so severely , none the less , in his finances ,through the staunchness of his adherence to the Reformation cause , that he was compelled to part with hisestates in Wigtownshire and with some of his Ayrshirelands as well .Lord B argany

’

s trouble was of a more direct andthreatening character . It did not come to a head until1 680

,by which time the skirmish of Drumclog had been

won by the Covenanters,and the battle of Bothwell

Bridge had been lost . It was,prima faci e, an attempt

to identify him in sympathy,di rectly and forcibly

expressed,with the Covenanters in their rebellion and

appeal to arms it was also,as Bargany had reason to

believe , a plot, personally conceived,to ' deprive him of

his lands,SO that these might come into the possession

of the plotters . Under strong suspicion of complicity


with the reformed cause , he was apprehended and senta prisoner to the Bass . He asserted his innocenceboldly and forcibly , and loudly demanded to be broughtto trial . Charges were formulated against him that hehad cursed the nobility because they would not identi fythemselves with the rising

,that he had asserted h is

regret that Lord Lauderdale had not been assassinated ,

t hat he had been in correspondence with John Welsh ,

“ that factious trumpet of sedition and treason ,that

h e had persuaded various persons to j oin the rebelarmy

,that he had kept certain notour rebels in his

house,that he had disclaimed against the sacred order

and function of Episcopacy, that he had sworn that henever would be at rest till the curates ,

“ who were all

but knaves and rogues,

” were rooted out,and that ,

when he heard of the murder of Archbishop Sharp,he

had said it was happy , for he was a great enemy tothe cause of God and H is people , the Kirk of Christ , oro ther like words .

” Bargany was brought before theCourt more than once

,but no attempt was made to

prove the charges against him,and ul timately he was

l iberated ,to appear when called upon

, under heavycaution . A s soon as he obtained his freedom

,he set

himself to discover who it was that had been responsiblefor the charges that had been made against him . H e

had reason to believe that Sir Charles Maitland and SirJohn Dal rymple had suborned Cunninghame ofMontgreenan and others to bear witness against him ,

u pon a promise that they would receive a share of hisconfiscated estates ; but , when he demanded a publici nvestigation ,

the Duke of York interposed his authorityto prevent it . That Bargany

’

s sympathy was with theCovenanting cause there could be no question

,for at

the Revolution he demonstrated it in the most practicalway

,by raising a regiment of 600 foot , for the public

service .

With the departure of the Highland Host fromAyrshire

,the contest between the Government and the

Covenanters went on as before . The conventicles were

284 HISTORY OF A YRSHIRE

resumed,a strong force of soldiery was sent to garrison

Ayr, a reward of five hundred pounds sterling was

offered to any person who should apprehend JohnWelsh

,the Earl of Glencairn was appointed a Special

Commissioner for the county ,and for Dumbartonshire

as well,to put the law in force against the nonconformists

,

and the local judicatory was strengthened by appointingthe Earl of Dumfries , the Earl of Eglinton , and the Earlof Cassillis, Sheriffs for Kyle , Cunningham and Carrickrespectively

,with Mr. James Cunninghame , Mr . John

Montgomerie of Beith , and Blai r of B lairston as theirrespective deputes . Considerable excitement was causedby the murder of two soldiers at Newm ilns by five

horsemen and about as many men on foot . The soldi ershad been sent to quarter upon a countryman at

Loudounhill . A bout two O’clock of an April morning

they were awaked by a loud knocking at the door of thebarn where they were sleeping , and one of them ,

thinkingthat it proceeded from a comrade who had gone intoNewmilns

,rose to Open the door. He was Speedily

undeceived.

“ Come out, you damned rogues , saidone of the party, and forthwith he was shot throughthe body and fell dead without Speaking a word . The

other soldier got up , and was proceeding to the assistanceof his comrade

,when he received a shot in the thigh ,

from which he died a few days later . The deed wasnever brought home to anybody , and it seems to haveexcited pretty general execration . The noblemen ,gentlemen

,and heritors of the Shire

,knowing how

seriously it would be regarded by the authorit ies, madehaste to wash their hands of i t , and to express theirhorror and detestation of the murder, and they deputedthe Earl of Loudoun , Lord Cochrane , and Sir JohnCochrane

,to make their position clear and to assure the

Cou ncil that they wou ld not be wanting , in theircapacities and stations

,in anything that became good

Christians and loyal subjects.On Saturday , May 3 , of the same year, the Archbishopof St. Andrews , James Sharp, was assassinated on the


wise man mad . The justification of the deed by theCovenanters is itself a striking proof of the mentalcondition to which the persecution had reduced them.

Sharp’s death in May was followed the same monthby the Declaration of Rutherglen

,which was

,in effect

,

an act of Open rebellion,by the battle of Drumclog on

June 1,in which Claverhouse and his dragoons were

defeated by a strong body of Covenanters on theLanarkshire march with Ayrshire , not far from LoudounHill , by serious di sturbances in the city of Glasgow,

occasioned by the presence of the Covenanting army,

and by the complete rout of that body,eleven days

after the victory of Drumclog,at Bothwell Bridge .

These are events of general history , and we need notrefer to them further than to say that Ayrshire wasstrongly represented in both of these conflicts

,and that

many individuals connected wi th the shire were doomedto suffer

,either for having taken part in the engagements ,

or for their open sympathy with those who had foughtin them for the

‘

reformed cause . The “ rebels , whosenames appear in a proclamation issued Shortly afterBothwell

,include Captain Paton of Meadowhead ,

Whiteford of B lairquhan ,younger

,John Welsh

,Richard

Cameron,Cunninghame of Montgreenan , John Cunning

hame,sometime of B edland , two sons of the Lord

Cathcart , and Blai r, Fenwick .

One of the immediate resul ts of the rebellion wasthe scouring of the west country by soldi ers in search ofrebels . Claverhouse was Specially active in this work .

During his residence in Ayr,where he and his dragoons

appear for a while to have taken charge of the town , hedismissed the Town Council

,and appointed a Coun cil

which he thought would better answer the Royal istpurpose . but which was not so profoundly loyal as tow in anything like wholesal e appreciation . Claverhousehad been elected a burgess . H is brotherhood with theFreemen , however , does not appear to have been of aSpecial ly affectionate character ; and the country as a

whole felt the weight of a severe military regime . The

HIGHLAND HOST To TH E REVOLUTION 287

soldi ers quartered free wherever they felt inclinedThey were frequently in Kilmarnock

,Dalmellington

suffered much from the cost of their visitations , and theremote par ish of Barr did not escape . Great numbersof people were cited to appear at a Circuit Court held inAyr

, as well , and were compelled to subscribe a bondin which they promised never to take up arms againstthe King on doing so they were granted an indemnityfor past misdemeanours . There were many indicationsindeed of a readiness on the part of the Government toforget the past

,if only they could have the future

assured . The cost of keeping the countryside in orderwas a severe strain upon an impoverished treasury , thework was greater than the soldiery could accomplish ,and the sturdy ,

patient resistance of the Presbyteriansboded ill for the u ltimate success of the persecution .

But with this readiness to conciliate there was al so thedetermination of the authorities to support the episcopalregime and to have an end put to the conventicles ;and in neither respect was any real progress madetowards a better understanding . So the struggle wentrelentlessly forward .

Fresh fuel was added to the flame by the Declarationof Sanquhar

,June 22 ,

1 680. On that day a party ofhorsemen

,i ncluding Richard Cameron , Michael , his

brother, Thomas Douglas , and Donal d Cargill , rode upthe High Street of the old Nithsdale burgh , gatheredround the Cross

,and emitted a declaration in which

they disowned Charles II . as a tyrant who had forfeitedhis right to the Crown

,and declared war against him .

They protested also against the Duke of York , thatprofessed Papist

,

” succeeding to the monarchy , and,having affixed their declaration to the Cross, rodeOff again . There could be but the one responseto such a challenge . A royal proclamation was atonce issued denouncing the Camerons and theirfriends as traitors , and calling upon every loyal subjectto lend his aid to have them apprehended , and partiesof horsemen were sent to scour the country in the hope


of discovering where they were . It was no very difficultmatter to find them . Many individual Covenanterswere able to obtain Shelter and to remain safe in theAyrshire uplands , am ong the muirs and mosses ,

and inisolated caves and hidden recesses by the rivers Ayr andLugar but a band of upwards of a score of horsemenand about forty foot , could not go long undiscovered. Itwas in A yrsmoss that they were found, a lonely, bleakstretch of muirland intersected by deep morasses a

dreary moorland solitude,

” A . B . Todd calls it in hisHomes and Battlefields of the Covenanters,

” withoutbush or brake

,nothing but thousands of acres of black,

heathery moor, and bleak benty hills, with here and

there a few hidden holms lying in the loopy windings ofthe lonely river —at a Spot about four miles distantfrom Muirkirk

,by Bruce of E arlshall in command of a

troop of dragoons . The resul t of the conflict was a

foregone conclusion . The soldiers outnumbered the

peasants considerably , and were in every respect betterarmed and disciplined for the contest . H ackston ofR athillet , in command of the Covenanters , elected tofight on a green knoll

,surrounded on three Sides by the

moss , and he drew up his m en ,the horsemen on the

wings and the foot in the centre . The fight was gallantlycontested by the fugitives

,who are said to have Slain

twenty-six of the enemy on the field and wounded a

considerable number more . Nine of the Covenanterswere killed

,Richard Cameron and his brother Michael,

Captain John Fowler,John Gemmell , John Hamilton ,

Robert Dick,Thomas Watson , Robert Paterson, and

James Gray ; and two others di ed of their wounds.H ackston and two others were taken prisoners. TheLaird of R athillet was one of the men upon whom theGovernment were most anxious to lay their hands .He had been with Burley that day the A rchbishop Of

St . Andrews had come by his death on the Magus Muir ,and had taken part in the Slaughter . In the skirmishhe had been severely wounded . He was carried onhorseback to Edinburgh ,

suffering great physical pain


moveables, be possessed by their wives , children ,or

friends , to their behoof , and to send in lists of any gu ilt}of such contrivances ,

” and generall y to settle the peaceof the shire .

The Laird of Ardmillan . who had a powernrl

coadjutor in Maj or Whi te , quite justified the confidencethe Government had reposed in him . For not hearingthe curates

,John Boyd

,schoolmaster in Cowend ,

form erly an indweller in the Shire of A yr , had his housespoiled three times

,was compelled to pay £40 Scots to

Ardmillan,was sent a prisoner for three months to

Edinburgh, was fined again in £100 Scots , and was

reduced to great straits . The laird went throughalmost every parish

, fining and imprisoning nonconform ists

,and taking them bound , under heavy penalties ,

to attend church regularly . In Dalmellington parish ,

where Maj or White held one of his Courts , which may betaken as a sample of the rest , the following personswere dealt with as stated because they had repaired toStraiton and heard one sermon there z—Roger Dunn , inColm ston

, was fined an hundred merks ; John Edgar ,in Dalharro, fifty merks ; Robert Dunn , in Lassinhill ,an hundred merks Peter M ‘Whirter, in Waterside , anhundred merks

,and some time after £1 00 Scots for his

wife not keeping the church David M ‘

G ill , in Drumgrange , fifty merks John Wright

,in Barclayston ,

fiftymerks James Dunn

,in B luewhat , an hundred merks

Ronal d Robb,twenty-five merks and four days

imprisonment ; and because John Cunningham , inKierhill , failed to appear, his house was plundered andhis family obliged to disperse . The Earl of Dumfriesdid similar work for Auchinleck and Cumnock . A ll

whose children had been baptised by any other m an

than the incumbent were fined £50 Scots , and theircattle were driven off and their effects poinded untilthey paid it . A man called Andrew Paton , inAuchinleck

, had to pay £50 Scots because he had kepthis child unbaptised for six weeks, though afterwardshe had carried it to the curate . Henry Stopton ,


Auchinleck , was fined £60 Scots because he refused totell who baptised his child

,and other parishioners were

deal t with in a similarly drastic fashion . One of theresults of this Species of persecution was that a goodmany of the people hypocritically attended the ministryof the curates in order to escape the consequences ofnonconformity. It was evident

,according to Bishop

Burnet,that they did not mean to worship God, but

only to stay some time within the church walls . Hencean irnpiou s and atheistical leaven began to corruptmany Of the younger soil , which made great progress inthat kingdom which before was the freest of it of anynation in Christendom .

” It can hardly have been a

matter for surprise that this Should have been so .

The sufferers included Patrick Warner , who was

afterwards, and for more than twenty years after theRevolution

,minister of Irvine , a man of conspicuous

zeal in his work , and entirely sympathetic .with thereformed faith . Mr. Warner had been for three years inthe East

,one of the chaplains of the East India Company ,

but his heart was wi th his friends at home , and heretu rned to Scotland

,and allied himself both with

Welsh and other field preachers and al so with theindulged minist ers . After the defeat of the Covenantersat Bothwell Bridge he went to Holland, from which hereturned in 1 681 ,

and was married to a daughter ofWill ia m Guthrie , one of the burning and shining lightsof the Covenanting cause . While he was living quietlyin Edinburgh h is house was broken into , his books andmanuscripts were taken away ,

his money and his clotheswere stolen

,and he was carried off a prisoner . Under

exam ination he conducted himself very discreetly ;none the less he was required to give h is bond to preachnc more unless he conformed , or remai n in perpetualpris on

,or leave the kingdom under a penalty of five

thousand merks that he would not return . The lastal ternative was clogged with the condition that duringthe ten days he was to be permitted to prepare for hisbanishment he would not preach, and as he would not


consent to this he was returned to prison . A fortnightlater a well -timed j est secured his liberation . Whatshall we do with him

,Hugh said the Chancellor to

the Clerk . My lord.

” sai d the Clerk,if you would

take my advice , instead Of taking him obliged not to

preach , I would take his engagement to preach thricea day while he stays in the kingdom , and so you willburst him ,

and be quit Of his din .

”The matter was

laughed over , and Mr. Warner was liberated withoutcondition , after having endured more than three months

’

incarceration in the Tolbooth . A merchant in Carrick ,

Thomas Gray ,who had nothing laid to his charge

except nonconformity, was conveyed on horseback to

Edinburgh , and ,after eleven days’ imprisonment , put

on board a ship at Leith that was bound for Holland,and there compelled to fight in the wars in the LowCountries .

The struggle went on from one stage to another.To follow it in all its windings might be interesting as astudy in the possibilities of how to reduce a countrysideto subject ion

, t n the one hand , and in the power of theScottish people to resist a policy that they regarded as

Oppressive,and as a direct interference with their rights,

on the other . But,historically

,there is no necessity

for retraversing the already familiar paths. Enoughif we indicate the general trend of events

,and supply a

few ou t of many available illustrations of the determ ination of the State to enforce its authority

,and of the

people of Ayrshire to set it at naught .One of the most effective of the servants of the

Government in Ayrshire was Ma jor Andrew White . H e

was endowed with powers of a very embracing character .

He was instru cted to pursue and to punish all personsgu ilty

,or suspect to be guilty , of attending conventicles ,

of having their children baptised by the wanderingministers

,of non-attendance upon the curates, and , in

cases where they had crossed the march into the adjacentparishes of Renfrew

,to follow and take them there .

There was a surgeon in Kilmarnock , Jasper Tough , who


of any they knew had been at Bothwell,or A yrsmoss, or

any other rising,or such as had reset and conversed with

them . Great numbers were given up . The personsdelated

,whether of the risings or the converse , though

themselves had never been in arms , were charged beforethe Circuit to purge themselves from suspicion by takingthe Test . All who compeared, and took it not , wereimprisoned

,and such as did not appear by sound of

trumpet and tuck Of drum,were denounced at the Cross

at Ayr . Most part of such as were imprisoned gavebond and caution to appear at Edinburgh against sucha day

,and enter themselves . \Vhen they cam e there ,

they were either imprisoned or gave bond to appear atanother day

,and several s had a third bond to

give before the expiration of the second , and beforethe expiration of that they were allowed to provethemselves alibi ’

(elsewhere) at the time of the rising,and to purge themselves from reset and converse bytaking the Test. And such who did not so were eitherimprisoned or denounced rebels at the head burgh Of

the shire,and their names printed in a fugitive roll , so

that al l who conversed with them ,or harboured them ,

might be as guilty as they .

Those who were charged with being in arms with therebels at Bothwell included Matthew Campbell Of

Watershaugh , Robert Lockhart of Bankhead , JamesBrown

,son to James Brown

,portioner in Newmilns ;

John Paterson,portioner in Dandillan ; Adam Reid,

portioner in Mauchline ; John Wilson ,portioner in

Lindsayhill John Crawford of Forshaw , Adam Brownof . Duncanz iemu ir , John Halbert , Colonel Burns , andJames M ‘

Neilly of A uchnairn . Lockhart and Brownalone appeared . They confessed having been at therising

,craved mercy

,and Offered to take the Test .

They were sentenced to death ,but there is no record of

effect being given to the sentence,and it may be

presumed that remissions were granted to them . Therest were denounced as traitors , and sentenced to beexecuted when apprehended . William Boswell , a young

HIGHLAND H OST To TH E REVOLUTION 295

gentleman of Auchinleck ,who had out of curiosity

stopped his horse to see a company of men being drawnup in order to m arch to Bothwell , was obliged to takethe Test , and to pay a thousand pounds in order topreserve his lands from forfeiture . For nonconformity

,

James Dunn,of B enquhat , was seriously harassed in

his family . Of his four sons , one , wi th a son-in-law ,

was ki lled by the soldiers , two were severely hunted,and the fourth , Quintin , fourteen years of age , was takento Ayr

,and consigned to the Tolbooth , withou t anything

being laid to his charge , nor was be liberated until hisfather had paid down £240 Scots . Later, Quintinagain got into trouble , was transported beyond seas,and sold as a slave.The Town Council and parish records of Ayr afford

abundant evidences of the troubles that during thoseyears affiicted the royal burgh. Provost WilliamCunningham was complai ned agai nst in consequence ofhis sym pathy for the rebels . Shortly before the battleOf Bothwell Bridge he had, according to the officialin formation , suffered a party of these rebels to enterthe burgh , and take down the heads of several rebelsaffixed to the public places there, as al so to publishtheir trai trous declaration at the Mercat Cross

, and wasSO far from Opposing these insolencies and attempts

,

and vindicating His Maj esty’ s authority, that, on thecontrary he did most undutifully and rebell iou slycountenance the said rebels , and al lowed them the towndrummer and officers to their publishing the said traitrou sdeclaration ; and not only so, but gave warrant forformal billets, or orders for quartering these rebelsthrough the town , under his own hand

, after that theClerk of the Burgh had refused most dutifully so to dount il he was commanded and had the said warrant .”

For these and other offences the Provost was fined in

£200, absent members were denounced as rebels,and

sentence upon others was delayed. The Council wasdeclared al so to have voided i ts right of free election

,

was discharged from Sitting, and a new Council


nom inated in its place . Vaxley Robson ,who is supposed

to have been one Of the Cromwellian soldiers whoremained behind at the Restoration , was made ProvostRobert Hunter and Will iam Brisbane , Baili es RobertDal rymple , Dean of Guild ; Adam Hunter, Treasurer ;and Hew Muir, Andrew Crawford

,Ralph Holland

,

Robert Leslie , Robert Fultoun , David Smith, JohnKennedy, A lexander Anderson , James Campbell , JohnCaldwell (merchant) , Thomas Douglas (carpenter) , andJames Chalmers (merchant ) , Councillors ; and thesewere instructed to take the Test and to carry on the workof the town . This usurpation of the rights of themunicipal ity created great di ssatisfaction . By way ofprotest

,the two teachers of the Grammar School resigned

ofli ce, and Bailie Robert Hunter and other members ofCouncil left it in order to weaken its authority . Themajority declined to take the Test . A s for Hunter

,his

freedom was forfeited, and his burgess ticket laceratedand riven at the Market Cross after tuck of drum .

He was heavily fined also , and ordered to be impri soneduntil the fine was paid .

The years that followed were what came to beknown as the Killing Time .

” For the most part itwas that period when the persecutors , as if realisingthat they had but a short time left , dotted the Ayrshireuplands and the town and vi llage graveyards withmartyrs’ graves . One may learn something of theintensity of the bitterness that filled the breasts of theCovenanting party, as he reads the inscriptions on thesecrude monuments—monuments that were no doubterected years after the Revolution of 1 688, when the

persecution was a memory,and when it was safe to

speak out what the pe0p1e felt regarding those whohad been responsible for al l their suffering . In Ayr

,a ‘

man named Andrew M‘

G ill , from Bal lantrae, was

hanged for his adherence to the Covenants . JohnF ergushill and George Woodburn were shot at Midland,in Fenwick parish a Similar fate befel Peter Gemm ell ,a young man of twenty-one years ; and James White,


not Since been heard of. The parson of K ilmarnock ,

Master Robert Bell had a sorry time of it . On hisway home from R iccarton he was taken prisoner by an

armed mob,who escorted him home to the manse .

There they ate everything they could get . Conveyinghim to the Cross , they set him on the topmost step ,

and kindled a fire of faggots at his feet . Into theflames they thrust the Prayer Book

,the leaders addressed

the crowd in defence of their action,and followed up

their oratory by tearing off the parson ’s cloak .

Throughout it all,Mr . Bell seems to have behaved with

considerable spirit , declaring that he was ready to di efor his principles In the end he was permitted to gohome , but he real ised that h is time had come to depart ,and so he bowed to circumstances .

I t is little wonder that the curates were thusrabbled .

” Eight and twenty years Of conflict and ofpersecution had tried the countryside sorely

,and the

wonder is that , when the power was returned to theirhands

,the people did not use it more demonstratively

than they did. But this abnegation was characteristico f them . They had won through by endurance , not byfight

,by capacity to thole rather than by active

resistance to the State and when the Revolution gavethem the upper hand, their triumphing was neither loudnor revengeful . None the less, it was many a long daybefore Ayrshire forgot the killing times indeed , thereis some reason to believe that, even in the matter offeeling, the county in some quarters has not forgotteni t yet .The records of the town of A yr afford proof of how

Ayrshire remembered the past, both in the rising of

1 7 1 5 and in that of 1 745 . The people were determinedto have none of the Stuarts

,identified as they had been

wi th the long years of the persecution . In bothrebellions the authorities stood valiantly by the existingorder ; they raised ,

armed,and disciplined effective

forces of volunteers they watched the ports by nightthat no evil Should befal ; and, when the ri sings had

HIGHLAND HOST To THE REVOLUTION 299

passed, they were foremost to express their loyal ty tothe Crown , and their gratitude to Heaven that the armOf the oppressor had been broken .

NOTE —The Share that Ayrshire men took in the

Union of the Parliaments is deal t with in Volume II . ,in the records of the leading County Families .

CHAPTE R X I I I

THE SOCIAL MARCH OF THE SHIRETHREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

With the close of the feudal period, the incomingof the second Reformation

,and the union of the

Parliaments , Ayrshire left behind it the era of stress ,of turmoil

,of the major troubles. Henceforward the

story is of progress in the ways of peaceful development,

of energies diverted from frays and from fights for thefaith to commercialism

,to industrialism ,

to landreform

,to the betterment of agricultural conditions , to

the elevation of the people social ly and morally .

But before leaving the earlier period ,it will not be

uninteresting to look at the ordinary conditions ofsocial life

,so far as these have been perm itted to unfold

themselves for our instruction . The times, as we haveseen , were stormy and unsettled in the shire—in mattersof Church as well as of State , and in the relation in whichthe great families stood to one another. When men ’

s

m inds are taken up with questions involving a change offaith, and when men themselves are ranged in hostilecamps under condi tions that render the highway andthe causeway alike dangerou s when life is little thoughtOf and crime goes unpunished ; and when everywherethere is a striving and a travailing towards Specific endsthat cannot be attained by peaceful means , there isneither much time nor much inclination for the softer


Ladyland , Kilbirnie , gave birth to Hew Barclay, aminor poet as well as a Popish plotter .” Haz lehead

,

Beith , was the home of Alexander Montgomerie ,the

poet , the au thor of The Cherri e and the Slae,

”The

Flyt ing between Montgomerie and Polwart , and TheMiude’s Melodie . His fame rests solely on TheCherrie and the Slae

,which leapt at once into

popularity. Its earlier portion is a love piece,its later

a moral poem , the whole characterised by freshness,descriptive power , and great mastery Of the intricaciesof rhyme . Another poet

,of the minor order

,was

Marc Alexander Boyd Of Pinkill , who combined withpoesy, learning , gambling , and soldiering ; and the

same century was responsible for ! achary Boyd,al so of

Pinkill, the author of “ The Last Battel of the Soul

,

”

Rector of Glasgow University,and the translator of the

Scriptu res into metre. The times, however, were outof j oint for men who were affected towards literature ,and , leaving the Reformers out Of account, it must berecognised that they were few and far between . It is

grateful , nevertheless, to meet them ,lonely as they

are, in the ways that were almost wholly given up tov iolence and strife .

Early in the seventeenth century, Timothy Pont , aborn topographer, the son of the Provost of Tri nityCollege , Edinburgh, and himself minister of the parishof Dunnet , Caithness-shire , made a careful survey of thedistri ct of Cunningham ,

and , although the notes thathe left behind him are brief, they have nevertheless avalue of their own that is wholly exceptional in enablingu s to catch glimpses of the life led by the gentry, and bythe people , of North Ayrshire . Then

,as now—indeed

,

in all probability, much more then than now— the riversswarmed with fish . The brooks and burns flowing nighto the Renfrewshire march abounded with diverssorts of fishes,

” the trouts being the best , and theirenvirons were so rich in waterfowl , in partridges, and inhares , that they afforded excellent Sport for the fal coner .Cunningham had even then a high reputation for butter,

THE SOCIAL MARCH OF THE SHIRE 303

particularly the parishes of Dunlop and Stewarton so

mu ch so that the division in effect served a great partof the kingdom

,one acre of ground here yielding more

butter than three acres of ground in any of the nextadjacent counties . Down by the coast the districtwas marvellously well beautified with goodly dwellingsand edifices of noble and gentlemen

, and the dwell ingsof the yeomanry were very thick powdered over the faceof the country

, all for the most part well andcommodiously planted and garnished. So thickly wasthe district about Stewarton and along the banks of theIrvine populated for the Space of three or four milesthat well travelled men in divers parts of Europe

(affirm) that they have seen walled cities not so wellor near planted with houses so near each other as theyare here , wherethrough it is so populous that , at theringing of a bell in the night a few hours , there have beenseen convene 3ooo able men ,

well-horsed and armed.

”

There was but one Presbytery in the division ,and it

met at Irvine weekly to exercise jurisdiction and thecivil jurisdiction was that of a bailiary ,

the Bailie beingthe Earl of Eglinton . Irvine had three fairs yearly,one in August

, another in September, and a third inOc tober every Saturday Kilmarnock had a greatmarket Beith had a weekly market , in addition to afair in August‘ ; and there were yearly fairs in Loudoun ,Kilmaurs , Dunlop , Stewarton , Kilwinning , Kilbirnie ,Dalry , West Kilbride , and Largs .The houses of the gentry were not by any means

without their Special beauties and attractions. BlairCastle was well-beau tified with gardens, orchards , and

partiers on the banks of G arnock . B roadstane was

a pretty dwelling with a pretty prospect to the

beholder. Crau fu rdland was a fair building , wellplanted. Eglinton was a fair and strong , ancient house ,

seated and watered by the river Lugton ,well planted

and beau tified with gardens , orchards , and parks .Fairlie Castle al so was rich in its orchards and gardens ,and Hazlehead was well wooded and commodiously


beau tified . The speciality Of Kelburne Castle was itsvery beautiful orchards and gardens , in one of whichthere was a spacious room adorned with a crystallinefountain cut all out of the living rock .

” There was afair park at the house of Kilmaurs

,Kilmarnock Castle

was almost environed wi th gardens , orchards, and apark

,and there were many other houses that answered

to the same description . Ardrossan had a goodlyparochial church ; Dunlop Kirk was pleasantly seatedat the confluence of three small brooks the church ofKilwinning was fair and stately

,

“ after the model ofthat Of Glasgow

,with a fair steeple of seven score foot

of height,yet standing when I myself did see it and

Kilmarnock had a pretty chu rch,from which the

village,castle

, and lordship takes its name . There is ,in short

,abundant evidence that , notwi thstanding the

long feuds through which North Ayrshire,in common

with the rest of the country had just com e, the di trictwas by no means lacking in the comforts and in theluxuries of existence

,that the people as a whole were

in circumstances of comparative comfort , that thecountry gen tlemen were alive to al l the advantages thatforestry could give them

,and that they had beau tified

and enriched their dwelling-houses by the carefulcultivation of all the fr uits that the climate could bri ngto maturity . Then ,

as now ,weal th was tu ned to

account in every way that cou ld add to the pleasure ofcountry life . There was Sport for the huntsman , forthe falconer

,for the fisher . The trouts and the

salmonds were abundant . It is questionable whetherthe royal fish was appreciated as it is in these days of i tscomparative scarci ty

,for at a very mu ch later period

than that with which we are dealing—as late,indeed, as

the middle of the eighteenth century—the poorhouseauthorities in the town of A yr could afford to feed theirpaupers on salmond twice a week . Between thecivil authorities on the one hand ,

and the Kirk on theother

,after the Reformation had placed Presbytery on

a recognised footing—a position ,none the less , com


were laden with peaches,apricots

,cherries , and other

fruit . Ardm illan extorted the curate ’s admiration ,

which may possibly have been due to the fact that thelaird was well affected towards Prelacy, and was one ofthose who were conspicuous in haling the nonconformiststo prison and to judgment . It looks like a palace ,

”

he writes,built round courtways surrounded with a

deep broad ditch,and strengthened with a movable

bridge at the entry able to secure the owner from the

sudden commotions and assaults of the wild pe0p1e ofthis corner

,which on these occasions are set upon

robbery and depredations and to enable him the betterto endure a siege he is well provided of well in his courtand a handm ill in the house for grinding meal or malt ,with which two lusty fellows set a-work will gri nd afirlott in the space of an hour . It is well surroundedwith good cornfields and meadow

,with large parks for

pasturage and excellent good gardens and orchards thatyield plenty of apples and pears

,and one more

particularly that for its precocity is called the earlypear of Ardmillan

,and of a very pleasant taste .

The chief house on the water of Doon was Cassillis ,the principal mansion of the Kennedys . One of thepeculiarities of Cassillis was that it had a fine stonestair

,turning about a hollow casement

,in which are

many opens,from the bottom to the top

,that by putting

a lamp into it gives light to the whole turn of stairs .

In the river there were cruives for the taking of salmon ,there were ponds for other fish

,the gardens were large

and fenced about with exceedingly high stone walls ,and the fruits grown were similar to those of Ardmillan .

A u chendrane had i ts orchards and gardens,its parks

and cornfields so also had Blairston (Low A uchendrane)and Bridgend , close by the exceeding wide bridgeof Doon , the only bridge in these days on all the river .

B lairquhan Castle was great ,“ the fine building and

huge bulk a plain demonstration of the sometimegreatness of the family ; well provided with wood

,

covered, with planting of barren timber,and


surrounded with large orchards . Cloncaird had thefamiliar gardens and orchards so al so had Kirkmichael .as desirable a dwelling as in all the country ,

” wherefirst in Carrick apricots and peaches were planted .

The leading feature of Kilkerran was its woods , soextensive that they looked like a forest

,and then came

Drummochrin ,a small interest

,but a most lovely

thing,being every way commodious and convenient for

living easily that it is,as it were

,an abridgement of this

country,having all the accommodations that are

dispersed through it all compressed within its Short andsmal l bounds . It hath gardens

,orchards

,wood

,water

all the fishes that swim in rivers ; all sorts of cattle ,sheep

,cows

,swine

,and goat all sorts of fowl wild and

tame ; all manner of stone for building , freestone andlimestone ; coal , moor, moss , meadow ,

and marle ;a wank-mill and a corn mill and all manner of artisansand tradesmen within its bounds and yet the revenuenot above £1 00 per annum .

” “ The best house of allthat country was Dalquharran ,

with its great woods ,and i ts mighty oaks . The old castle of Bargany was toPent

“ an argument of the sometime greatness of thefamily, being a huge , great , lofty tower in the centreof a quadrangular court that had on each of threecorners fine well built towers of freestone four storeyshigh .

” The new house was mighty commodiousand had every modern contrivance and accommodation;pretty gardens besides

,and orchards . Lower down the

river were Killochan,the mansion house of the Cathcarts

of Carletoun , and Trochrig,a residence of the Boyds ;

and so on to Girvan,with its strange tower of Bal loch

tool , a monument of the builder’s folly,being raised

five storey high , without staircase , and no more but oneroom to each storey with neither garden

,nor orchard

,

nor planting , but standing in the midst of its richcornfields.

There were many big houses on the Stinchar worthyto rank with those of Doon and Girvan . These thenarrator dismisses summarily

,with the exception of


Knockdolian ,the seat of the M

‘

Kubbens,about

which is shewn what art and industry can do to rendera place

,to which Nature has not been very favourable ,

very pleasant,by planting of gardens

,orchards , walks,

and rows of trees,that surprise the beholder with things

so far beyond expectation in a country so wild and

mountainous . The only town in Carrick with a cer

porate municipality of its own was Maybole . At aperiod earlier than that of Mr . Abercrombie , the HighStreet had many pretty buildings belonging to theseveral gentry of the country, who were wont to resorthere in winter and divert themselves in ccnverse togetherat their own houses but

,

” adds the curate , many ofthese houses of the gentry being decayed and ruined, ithas lost much of its ancient beauty .

” On the Green theyouths in former days had played at football

,but that

game had apparently for the time-being gone out offashion

, and had given way to“

gowff and byasse bowls .

”

The residents were prone to gardens and pretty orchards .The picture thus briefly outlined is very far indeed

from being an unattractive one . We know that Carrick ,at the period when Abercrombie was in Maybole , andthe Presbyterian minister was “ outed

,

”was seething

with trouble . But , as a rule , that did not much disturbthe gentry

,if we except the chief of them all

,the Earl

of Cassillis , and the Lord Bargany . T he bailiary,from the Doon to the St inchar, and from Straiton tothe sea

,was dotted with castles and pleasant dwellings ,

scenes and centres of sociality,and sport

,and of discourse

upon the upheavals in Church and State . The gentryhad begun to sigh for greater winter glories andattractions than those of Maybole

,or even of Ayr.

Fashion was calling them to Edinburgh,then humming

with higher national life but in Spring and until theshortening of the Autumn days Ayrshire everywherehad a resident landlordism ; and if the county as awhole was waiting the advent of the agriculturalreclaimer, and was rude , and without order , i t wasnone the less Home to the pe0p1e of every degree .


feudal servitude Of the miner approximated to absoluteslavery in many instances . Severe physical punishmentawai ted him in the event of his running away and

, as

we have seen, a man might even go to the scaffold if he

persisted in neglecting the obligations of service underwhich he had either voluntarily or involuntarily come.

There was a great gu lf fixed between the well-to-do andthe poor . It was for the former to command and thelatter to obey. And yet , as in the provisions of thefirst Poor Law A ct

,there was even then a recognition of

the duty that the rich owed to the poor,even if it was

only the duty of maintaining them against starvationand controlling their actions and their goings .Still , as human nature will have it , the pe0p1e adapted

themselves wonderful ly to their environment , and, nodoubt , rich and poor alike enjoyed themselves aftertheir own fashion and lived happily enough . For uswho have followed after, it appears to be almost animpossibil ity that life could have had the charms thatare inseparable from a comparatively well-orderedcondition of society , but , as has been said ,

men nevermiss what they never had

,and therefore it is not by any

means a baseless assumption that , in those days whenthere was division in the Kirk and in the State , whenthe blood feud was raging , and when the raiders wereabroad harrying and rieving, the folks were happyenough

,according to their lights . They stood in the

lot in which Heaven had placed them,and they had

learned therewithal to be content .

CHAPTE R X IV

THE SOCIAL MARCH OF THE SHIREA CENTURY BACK

If there is considerable difficulty in obtaining abird’s-eye view of the social conditions of the Ayrshireof two or three hundred years ago , there is nonewhatever in seeing , through the eyes of the contemporaryobservers , how the fathers lived in the end of theseventeenth and the Opening years of the eighteenthcenturies. For not only have we that invaluablerecord

,The Statistical Account of Scotland ,

” in whichevery parish is treated by its parish minister—save ina few exceptional cases where the kirk was vacant andthe chronicle was given to some well known citizen towrite—but also the official reports of such shrewd and

painstaking observers as Colonel Fullarton of Fullarton ,

and Mr. Will iam Aiton , who , though in his“ General

View of the Agriculture of the County of Ayr hedescribes himself as writer

,Strathaven

,was a

native of and had a close and intim ate personalknowledge of the shire . In deal ing with sociallife

,a great deal naturally depends on the point

of view of the observer. Colonel Fullarton was a

man of al together exceptional capacity. He had

some of the prejudices of his class , and more than alatent fear of the subversive principles which

,springing

from the French Revolution,threatened to overturn the


established order, but he was none the less keenly aliveto the weaknesses that engrafted themselves on thesocial economy of the period

,and there is every evidence

in h is report to the Board of Agriculture ( 1793) of anearnest desire to be scrupulously just and fair .Colonel Fullarton deserves to take high place among

the sons of Ayrshire . Born in 1 754, he had all theadvantages of training and education that the timesafforded . From the beginning he was ardent in theacquisition of knowledge . H is tutor

,during his

Continental tour, was Patrick Brydone , a man of eminent

literary attainments . Burns associated the two in theverse

B rydone’

s brav e Ward I well cou ld SDv

Beneath old Scotia ’

s sm i ling eyeWho called on Fam e , low standing bye ,

To hand hi m on ,

Where many a patriot nam ed on hi gh ,A nd hero shone.

In 1 775 , when but one-and-twenty years of age , hewas principal Secretary to the British Embassy at theCourt of France . Five years later he organised anexpedition to fight against the Spaniards in Mexico

,

but troubles ensued in Africa and in India,and the

expedition was despatched to take part in an attack onthe Cape of Good Hope . That also miscarried ,

theGovernment concludi ng that it would be improper touse the force in the enterprise

,and ' Colonel Fullarton

proceeded to India , where he covered himself withlaurels . Returning home , he was chosen to representthe county in Parliament , but his career in the Legislaturewas interru pted by his being again sent to India , wherehe commanded the Southern Army on the CoromandelCoast

,and where , in 1 783 and 1 784,

he fought with anenergy and a brilliancy of execution

,and a success

,that

stamped him a soldi er of high capacity. Again,on his

homecoming,he was sent to Parliament as member

for the county . When the French War broke out in1 793 ,

he raised the 23rd Light Dragoons, Fullarton’

s


followed,with the result that by the time Colonel

Fullarton was reporting on the agricultural conditions,the county was well abreast of the rest of Scotland .

The relations between landlords and their tenants were ,as a rule

,harmonious . But not always .

“ In thevicin ity of some towns , where the notions of manufacturers predominate , the farmers ,

” according toColonel Fullarton ,

“ have been SO far perverted as toform Associations binding themselves under severepenalties never to Offer any mark of civility to anyperson in the character Of a gentleman . Theconsequences are that they become boorish and brutalto every individual of the human species

, and savageto the brute creation . These outrageous manners are

considerably increased by the harshness and austeritywhich characterise different sectaries who abound in thecounty.

” The gallant Colonel looked with an equallysevere eye on the movement for political reform . Theplough and the spade ,

” he says , have never threatenedany peril for the country .

” Not so with those alliedto the manufacturing interests . And “ when personsof this description

,j oined by others of distempered

minds,insult society with permanent sittings , bulletins,

secret committees,sections

, municipalities , conventions ,and tocsins

,to which the guillotine in due season would

have been added , it is time for the sounder part of thecommunity to form a phalanx round the throne in defenceof the constitution .

” The improvements in commercialconditions had not been accompanied by a correspondingimprovement in manners . On the contrary , thecordial manners of the former generation are wearingfast away ,

and in their place is substituting a regardless,bru tal , and democratic harshness of demeanour .

”

Smuggling was prevalent,with a consequent pernicious

custom of drinking Spirits,while the ill-regulated

distilleries were destru ctive to the health and dispositionsof the people . The system of education had largelybroken down . Then , as earlier and Since , the poorestpersons would frequently starve themselves to give

TH E SOCIAL MARCH OF TH E SHIRE 3 1 5

education to their children , but the lack Of adequatemeans for the remuneration of the schoolmasters hadresulted in no small measure in the appointment of aclass of men who were unworthy of their position , thoughno doubt quite as good as could have been expected inconsideration of the wretched pittance on which manyof them had to exist—a pittance no greater than that ofthe labourer , and much less than that of the relativelywell paid cotton or carpet weaver . It was frequentlyremarked ,

Colonel Fullarton tells us, that the dominieswere neglectful of the manners of the rising generation ,rather encouraging them in rough and boorish

incivilities than in those acts of reciprocal kindness andurbanity which afford the best and most pleasingcharacteristic of any people.

The gallant Colonel was no less fai thful in dealingw ith the men of his own class . Many of the coun tyfamilies were of ancient standing , but the majority ofthem had been compel led to sell their property ,

embarrassed by the reigning Spiri t of conviviality andSpeculation , disproportioned to their income . Indeed ,

he continues , consideri ng the expense and inattentionto affai rs connected with the Situation of a countrygentleman , and natural tendency of counting uponimaginary rentals long before they became real ones

,

including too the prevailing course of entertaining,

drinking, hunting, electioneeri ng, Show,equipage , and

the concomitant attacks upon the purse, and m isappli

cation of the time , it appears surpri sing that any propertyunentailed should remain above two generations in thesame succession . To men Of this class the starting ofthe Ayrshire Bank , Douglas, Heron , and Co .

,was a

godsend . They mortgaged their lands for ready money.

They executed improvements without regard to anyearly return from them . They acted as if a gold m inehad been Opened in the county town . And when thecrash came , when the Bank broke in a disaster thatShook the whole west country and involved the largem ajority of the shareholders in ru in , and they were

2 I

3 16 H ISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

compelled to meet the advances that had been made tothem , they had no alternative to selling their estates .

It is surely an ill wind that blows good to nobody. Thefailure of Douglas , Heron , and Co . was ill , almost beyondconception , and yet it was not without its attendantcompensations . It had enabled the impoverishedlandlords to improve their estates

,and the improvements

remained and in compell ing them to sell out,it brought

into Ayrshire a new class of landowners , some of whomhad amassed money abroad , some of whom had madeit in commerce at home

,who were able to live up to the

responsibilities upon which they had entered . Underthe disaster itself Ayrshire had staggered

,but it was not

long in recovering,and in resuming the march of

improvement from which straight course it has neveragain deviated .

As we have seen,the Ayrshire of the middle of the

eighteenth century was in many ways a wretched and abackward place . By the end of the century an enormouschange had come over its general appearance . In 1 793there was issued a work entitled Observations madein a Jou rney through the Western Counties of Scotlandin the Autum n of 1 792 ,

by Robert Heron . Heron hadcome up from the south through Carri ck , and had

reached Ayr ; and ,after he had recalled the ri se and

fall of the Ayrshire Bank ,he proceeded to summarise

what had been accomplished for the county mainlythrough its instrumental ity . Clumps of wood werescattered over the knolls

,belts were stretched along the

edges of the lawns,the water was taught here to stagnate

in to pools , and there to wind wi th an artificiallymeandering course . The strata of limestone werequarried and burnt the beds of coals were Opened upskilfu l farm ers were invited hither from Berwickshireand from England . Kyle and Cunningham were Openedup by roads in every di rection , and the middle and thenorthern districts of Ayrshire soon came to exhibitnothing but one continued series of towns , villages ,ornamented farmhouses , v illas , and palaces, di vided by


the social conditions . With these alone we need concernourselves . Taking the farmers as a class , their leadingfeatures seemed to Mr . Aiton to be industry

,enterprise

,

liberality of sentiment,generosity

,sobriety

,loyal ty to

their Sovereign , obedience to the laws , and a due senseof religion .

” Many of them,however , were much hurt

in their principles by trafficking with low deal ers inhorses

,cattle , calves , and coun try produce , who are

generally knavish and deceitful to the utmost of theircapacity . Indeed

,many such farmers did not scruple

to use deceit and cunning in order to come at money.

“ And the cant words,or proverbs, which they use ,

Show that they consider it as no way improper to takeundue advantage in their bargains—such as All is ourown we can make He meant to cheat me , and I havecheated him The biter is bitten ‘ Let diamondcut diamond There’s no friendship in trade Everyman for himself. ’ To take advantage of the laird , orhis factor , or other superiors ,

” he adds,“ is highl y

gratifying,not only to those who may have the address

to do so,but to all their neighbours . They call that

cheating the gentry,’ which they reckon exceedingly

clever .

” Added to that,among the lower class farmers,

not only were their houses mean and dirty, but theythemselves were seldom so clean in the skin as wasnecessary for their heal th and comfort .” They performedmore or less regular ablutions upon their hands andfaces

,but the other parts of their bodies were often

covered with scal es of dust,which greatly obstruct

perspiration and bring on diseases which proceed fromsuch obstructions .”

Mr. Aiton lived at a time when theological strife waskeen . The pulpits , as he says , rang wi th declamationsagainst Arians

,Socinians

,Arminians

,Pelagians,

Unitarians,the Whore of Babylon

,and the Man of Sin .

It was the high day of the “ inexplicable quibble.

”

With these things he had no sympathy whatever ;neither with Dissent in any shape or form . TheM

‘

Millanites, or Cameronians , he says , pretend that i t


is unlawful to pay taxes to any but a Covenanted King,but when those that are charged on them become due ,they satisfy their consciences and their preachers bypaying them ,

not from choice but as a burden imposedcontrary to their wish .

” The Burghers and AntiBurghers were generally too much disposed to pryinto and expose the conduct of their own members , andthey employed a num ber of Officious earls, as !elders , tosearch after scandal among the people . They stillkept up the ridiculous farce of public repentance forbreaches of the seventh commandment .” The Reliefhe looked upon as a Church that had rejected all

standards of principle , without creeds or standards ,wi thout drilling or discipline

,except the stool of

repentance for acts of incontinency. Oratory in thepreacher , and a disposition in the members to contributeto the support of the Gospel are the leading qual ificationsrequired . Seat rents cover a multitude of Sins , and

is the sine qua non of membership. One expects eldershipthere

,which he had long sought for in vai n in the parish

church,and another wants baptism to his child , which

he could get nowhere else . Some have quarrelled withtheir minister about pecuniary matters , some pretend tosuperior sanctity, others wish to bri ng more customersto their Shop . Some follow the multitude , others theirsweetheart

,and many cannot tell how they are gathered

together .” This,in its turn , had a sort of reciprocatory

effect on some of the parish church ministers , whocourted popularity

, and were even fierce in their zeal .

But,adds Mr. Aiton , these evil resu lts were weari ng away ;

and even the Relief Church,for which apparently he had

the least regard of all ,“with all their latitude of principle ,

and sails set to every wind,had difficulty in keeping up

three congregations in the county. The Buchanites ofIrvine

,who followed one of the most remarkable religious

impostors of any age—the Woman clothed with the sunand with the moon under her feet, and who made at

least two separate attempts to ascend to heaven—hecharacterises as the top swarm of Relief.”


F or an Ofi cial reporter on the agriculture of thecounty, Mr. Aiton allows him self certainly no inconsiderable latitude. Neither need we take him too seriously Inhis attacks upon the Dissenters of the beginning of thenineteenth century and the less so that there isabundance of proof, even in the records Of the parishministers themselves , that Ayrshire was by no ,

means so

given up to religious dispu tation and eccentricity as herepresents it to have been . Here , however, is a pictureof the ordinary Sunday serv ice , whi ch is probably not

very far out of the true perspective The peopleseldom take their seats in the church in proper tim e andin a composed and becoming manner. When the

weather perm its they stand in groups round the church ,

retailing the news of the day,or conversing on their

ordinary business,till the minister is about to enter

the pulpit , when they rush into the church in atumultuous and irregular manner, and sometimes a

large portion of the congregation enter the church afterthe service is begun . The doors are allowed to remainOpen, and dogs

,cats

,hens, chickens , etc enter and

disturb the worship . It is not uncomm on for the dogsto fight several battles among themselves in the church ,

in the tim e Of divine service , and there are instances ofthe owners of these dogs coming to blows in the churchin support of favouri te tykes. The people are frequently,during the service

,and even during the more solemn

parts of it , gaz ing round them at the audience , or makingSigns or gestures to their friends . If any person entersor retires during the service

,every eye in the church is

fixed on them , and nothing from the pulpit is attendedto for a time . AS the Psalm at the close of service drawsnear a period, and during the most solemn act ofpronouncing the blessing, the congregation are employedin putting up their Bibles and hymn books , collectingtheir staves, hats , etc and the females in tucking uptheir coats and preparing for the road . NO attention ispaid to that most solemn part of the service . The

people are throng while the minister is pronouncing


worked with greater diligence,activity

,and conscien

t iousness than those in the county of Ayr .

”

Ayrshire had in the early years of the nineteenthcentury not less than two hundred fairs or races . Thesewere attended by about 1 000 persons each

,at a cost in

money to the county of not less,in Mr A iton ’

s opinion ,than Nor was the loss of the money the only,or even the greatest drawback . They were scenes of

riot and debauchery . The whisky was new,and

adulterated with v itriol or other poisonous matter,and

it was highly injurious to health and to morals alike .

The familiarities between the lads and lasses were of themost familiar and coarsest descri ption . The fairs andraces were attended by a great number of the mostdeplorable of the human race

,

” some of whom soldnauseous and unwholesome sweets, which had oftenbecome loathsome “when handled by creatures labouringunder the worst of diseases

,and abominably nasty .

”

Others were low jockeys with hack horses,whose

exhibition of racing was calcu lated to shock the feelingsof humanity .

“ Three or four.

meagre,j aded, starved

animals are mounted upon by as many unfeelingblackguards

,in a state of intoxicat ion

,galloped on a

rough,hard road for several miles

,and cruelly cu t and

blooded with whip and Spur for the amusement or Sportof the rabble .

” It was fortunate for a town or villagewhen the fair was held late in the week

,for the drinking

and intoxication went on till the Saturday night , theonly gainers being the change-house keepers

,and those

who kept dram shops,the generality of whom are

nuisances in society,deadweights on morality , capable

of doing any mean and improper thing to entice , forprofit to themselves

,the unwary to sacrifice their health

and their moral s .

” It was generally the Justice ofPeace Clerk who granted the certificates of character tothe applicants for licenses

,and

,when he got his fees

paid,he cared very little for the character of those who

paid them . On one occasion,Mr. Aiton tells , shortly

before the date of his report,when these characters


were being sold at one and Sixpence each, an ale wife ,who grudged the price , roared out that she could not seethe propriety of her and others buying charactersfrom a m an who never had a good one of his own .

There was no check at that period on the system ofindiscriminate begging that prevailed all over thecounty . The mendicants went remorselessly from doorto door. The streets and the country roads were infestedwith vagrants

,and often with tinkers and gipsies , who

added theft to their begging whenever occasion offered .

In the town and villages there were houses that were therecognised howffs of the Bohemians . To these theyreturned at night to consume the spoils of the day ineating

,drinking

,swearing

, and high carousal j ollybeggars of the most variegated description

,of different

nations,religions

,ages

,and occupations

,and until far

on in the night the noise of their revelry,not infrequently

of their quarrelling and fighting , was a nuisance to thewhole neighbourhood . A ridiculous custom prevailedof carrying cripples about from house to house . All thecripple required for a transit outfit was a hand barrowthe good natured country people did the rest . Thevagrant was set down at the door of some farmhouse,and after he had been liberally supplied with food, andwith a handful of meal for his wallet , two of the menabout the place lifted him and carried him to the adj acentfarm , where the same proceedings were gone through .

It mattered nothing how busy the farmer and his servantswere . Even when they were employed in the harvestfield,

and a cripple was deposited at the house,two of the

workers were taken from the field and converted for thetime-being into animals of burden for a mendicant whoseonly claim on them was the claim of common humanity

,

and who , in many instances , was nothing better than a

rank impostor , whom the application of a dog whipwould have induced to scurry off on his own legs .

In these days,as now

,the immoderate drinking of

ardent spiri ts , and the consequent drunkenness and

demoral isation , constituted a serious problem . The


dri nking of Spiri tuous liquors, says Mr. Aiton ,

continues to be the leading vice of the pe0p1e ofScotland. It has ru ined many families and involvedimmense numbers in misery .

” The county aboundedin low inns . There were no fewer than 649 licensedalehouses, and 650 with licenses to sell Spirits—no doubt,in the vast preponderance of cases , the two went together

-besides some hundreds more that dealt in liquorwithout any regular license whatever . These houseshad

,of course , an enormous share in fostering the

abounding poverty,and in taxing the resources of the

Church and of that portion of the people upon whomfell the duty of caring for the poor . With the stent,

”

or tax,imposed under the A ct of 1 740 , the virtuous

feeling of decent pride,which prevented many from

applying for public aid ,gradually diminished, and they

came to claim a share in the stent as a matter of right .The only poorhouse in Ayrshire was a small one in thecounty town , and practically nothing was done by thecommunity to prevent the downfall of the large classwho were only too prone to lapse into pauperism ,

vagrancy,and crime . Mr . Aiton urged the starting of

bridewells in Ayr,Irvine

,and Kilmarnock for

reformatory purposes, in the case of vagrants and personswho had committed petty offences . We need hardlyfeel any surprise that his suggestion was not acted uponfor

,nigh a century after the day when he was engaged

writing his report,the vagrant still remains a serious

problem for the authorities.The records of the parish of A yr contain a list ofthe inmates of the poorhouse in 1 756,

with a detailednarrative of their belongings . We subjoin half a doz enof the entries

,which are curious in their way

James Blair,aged 74—he has brought to prhouse a

feather bed and bolster, 3 pr . of blankets

,a chest

,

2 chairs, 4 shirts, an old coat , the clothes he has

on,a chimney and tongs

, 3 stockings . He has sometitle to the rents of houses in the Sandgate , which hedeclares himself willing to make over to the prhou se.


he was as a rule, recording under a deep sense ofresponsrbili ty . No country can boast a better or morereliable account of an y period in its development thancan Scotland ; and Ayrshire

’s share of it is not lessreliable than that of other counties .We need not deal in any detail with the matter of

wages . Their amount is a matter of the needs of thepe0p1e and the purchasing power of money

,and it can

well be understood that a remuneration of ten or twelveshillings a week at one period may ,

in al l the circumstances , have really been greater than twenty-five orthirty shill ings a week a century later, when the relativeproportions fell to be gauged on entirely different lines .An illustration

,taken from the report of Dr . Dalrymple

and Dr. M ‘

G ill on the parish of Ayr, wi ll. suffice to

demonstrate the truth of this . In 1 791 ,a labourer

with a wife and five children was able to earn 75 a

week, and sometimes a little more . On an average hepurchased three pecks of meal and a large quantity ofpotatoes , hal f a cart of coal s at tenpence or a shilling,and soap to the value of twopence . H is generalpurchases , regarded by the year, included three stone ofwool at 75 6d the stone, and ten pounds of lint at tenpencea pound . Thus , while the wages were small , theysufficed. Necessarily, none the less, when work was

scarce and there were compulsorily idle days , thelabourer and his wife and family were easily reduced toabsolute penury

,and suffered great hardships . Beef

and mutton at fourpence a pound were beyond hisreach . It was only on Special occasions that he couldafford to give Sixpence or eightpence for a pound ofbutter

,or fourpence to Sixpence for a pound of cheese .

At the same time,the stipend of the minister of the

first charge,including the value of the glebe , was about

£1 30 per annum ,and that of the minister of the second

charge £1 05 ,while the entire living of the minister of

Newton did not exceed £80 a year . Such incomes asthese would tod ay be looked upon as beggarly pittances ,but for the period they were no doubt regarded by the

TH E SOCIAL MARCH OF TH E SHIRE 327

general community as ample . It is questionablewhether

,taking the whole body of the parochial teachers

of the period,and including all their emoluments from

every source, their incomes averaged £20 a year. Inmany instances they fell considerably below that figureindeed

,it was part of a complaint publicly made by the

teachers of Scotland as a body that the majority of themwere existing on less than the wages of the ordinarytradesman

,and that about a third of them were paid

worse than the common labourer. How many of themlived at all is a mystery , and it is no matter for surpriseto learn that in some of the districts the dominies were ,either moral ly or intellectually, of a very low order.AS compared with to-day, the value of lands and

heritages was very small . In 1809, the total value oflands and heritages in the county was Tenyears before it was The increase during theten years was very large, and it affords a striking evidenceof the prosperity of the shire during the decade . Tod aythe valuation returns for the Shire, and the towns of A yrand Kilmarnock, are upwards of Thisincludes the val uation of the railways , which have beenthe great factor in the increase . Leaving these out ofaccount , the total may be set down at a mill ion and ahalf sterling ; in round figures , more than five timesthat of a century back. The return of the beginning oflast century is val uable here as bearing on the relativeweal th of the two periods , and it goes a certai n lengthin explai ning how it was that money went so muchfurther then than it does now

,and in showing that the

incomes of the professional men and the wages of theartisans and labourers were in proportion to theirrequirements . These , however, were much simpler andless complicated than they are to day.

To return to the social conditions as seen from thepoint of view of the parish ministers . A yr spent about

£300 a year on the poor . The town had a reputationfor generosity ; so much so, that there was a regularimmigration to it pf elderly and needy pe0p1e from the


surroundi ng districts , who had only to spend threeyears within the burghal bounds before becom ingeligible as Sharers on its charity . The pe0p1e wereregarded as humane and kind

,and as general ly

contented with their circumstances, but they sufferedin some instances from the demoral i sing custom of

smuggling . Newton had only 50 to Spend on its poor,and was much troubled with the influx of beggars fromIreland. There were too many public houses

,and the

health of the inhabitants was much injured,according

to Dr . Peebles , by the too frequent use of spiri tuousliquors . In Monkton and Prestwick nobody was

allowed to beg. The same rule was strictly observedin Dundonald . The great weddings were fast goinginto disrepute , but the country funerals were still badlyregulated. Until within a short period of the min ister’ snarrative a pipe and tobacco were prov ided for everyone of the company, but the custom had been laidaside . It was still customary , however , for the gueststo meet three or four hours before it was time to lift ,

!

with occasional results that were far from being toedification . The minister of Symington testified thathis pe0p1e were in general sober and industri ous

,

attentive to their callings , and regular in their attendanceat church . But the girls of the middle , and even of thelower ranks

,had obv iously a craz e for dress . They had

given up the blue cloaks , and the plaids , and the plaincaps of twenty years ago , and they despised even thes carlet mantle , once the emblem of distinction ; and

now,says the minister, the silkworms of the East must

be pillaged to deck the heads and shou lders of our

milkmaids .” The servant men , also , were forgettingthe pas t . They had given up the Kilmarnock bonnets ,

and were actually wearing hats ! The young fellowsno more wore the clothes spun by their mothers

,but

English broadcloths , fashionable cotton stripes, andfine linen and every stripling, as soon as he arrivesat puberty

,must have a watch in his pocket

,whereas ,

only forty years ago , there were but three in the pari s


prejudice against inoculation for smallpox , with the

result that the disease made frequent ravages . Thepeople were in general sober

,industrious

,and chari table

,

but , adds the minister,“i t is to be regretted that

instead of the wholesome beverage of ale,they are now

compelled , by the high duties on that article , to betakethemselves to the use of whisky

,which is equally

destructive to the heal th and to the morals of thepeople .

”

The wri ter of the account of Mauchl ine was the Rev.

William Auld, who , at the period of his review of theparish , was drawing on to the close of his long andinteresting life . For nigh fifty years he had been theminister, and he could look back to the former times forpurposes of comparison . He had seen many changes.When first he was settled in Mauchline there were onlytwo or three families in the parish who made use of teadaily he lived to see it used by one-half of the peopleevery day

,and by them all occasionally. At the

earlier period “ good twopenny strong al e and homespirits were in vogue

,but now even pe0p1e in the middli ng

and lower stations of life deal much in foreign Spirits,rum -punch

,and wine . In former times the gentlemen

of the county entered into a resolution to encourage theconsumption of their own grain

,and

,for that purpose

,

to drink no foreign Spirits but,in consequence of the

prevalence of smuggling, and the heavy taxes laid onhome-made liquors, this patriotic resolution was eitherforgotten or abandoned . As to dress ,

” adds the rev .

gentleman,about fifty years ago there were few

females who wore scarlet or silks,but now nothing is

m ore common than silk caps and silk cloaks , and womeni n a middling station are as fine as ladies of quality wereformerly . The like change may be observed in the dressof the male sex ,

though perhaps not in the same degree .

”

Judging him by his contri bution to the StatisticalAccount

,

” the minister of Muirkirk , the Rev. JohnSheppard

,who wrote of his parish in 1 793 ,

was a manwith a keen sense of the beauties of his upland home,


a shrewd humour, and an excellent appreciation ofcharacter . The stray mountain ash growing in thewilderness

,seldom seen except by the inhabitants of

the air and the stocks that pasture around , or theirsolitary keeper as he moves al ong to call his wanderershome appeal ed to him . He had scant sympathywith the poachers with their nets , who dragged theriver and robbed the angler of his sport the angler,who seldom fails to pour forth blessings liberal ly uponthem as he returns home with his basket much lighterthan usual .” He missed the song birds of the hedgerowsand the woodland ,

and yet he found his solace and hiscompensation when he heard the eerie cry of the whaupannouncing that the severi ty of the winter was pastand that the time for the singing of birds had comeand he tells with glee of the Mu irkirkian who went southto England and was taken to hear the song of thenightingal e . It’s a

’ verry guid was his comment,

but I wadna gie the wheeple o a whaup for a’

the

nightingales that ever sang . Mu irkirk beggars werenot permitted to wander into other parishes , and theyseldom if ever begged in their own . For all that

,the

district was rife with mendicants , because the police ofthe large towns were in the habit of banishing theirundesirables , and so punishing the adjacent country forthe burghal iniqui ties . To the vagaband banishment,or

, as it was cal led,enlargement ,

”had no terrors .

There was , Says the minister , a soldier who , convicted ofmalpractices, was sentenced to be banished from Scotlandfor life . Bless your honour

,

” sai d the culprit,put

your sentence soon in execution . Among growingpersons , the greater number of deaths was due to

consumption of children , the greater number died ofthe natural smallpox .

” The natives were powerfullyattached to the place of their birth

,and even when they

removed to lands more fruitful and better cultivated,

they wearied sair for the Muirkirk . In winter theywere great curling enthusiasts . They played, oned escription of men against another , one trade against

3 3


another, the whole parish against another pari sh ,

earnestly contending for the palm,which is generally

all the prize,except perhaps the vi ctors claim from

the vanquished the dinner and bowl of toddy,which

,

to do them justice , both generally take together withgreat cordiality .

” The amusement itself,adds the

minister,

“ is healtfu l,it is innocent

,it does no bodily

harm—let them enjoy it ; There is another custom,

he adds , less noted indeed,but seemingly of equal

antiquity, commonly known in the language of thecountry by the name of rocking ; that is, whenneighbours visit one another in pairs , or three or four incompany , during the moonlight of winter or Spring ,

and Spend the evening alternately in one another’shouses . The custom seems to have arisen when spinningon the rock , or distaff , was in use

,which therefore was

carried along with the visitant to a neighbour’s house .

The custom still prevails,though the rock is laid aside

and when one neighbour says to another,in the language

of former days, I am coming over with my rock,

’

he

means no more than to tell him that he means to Spendan evening with him .

”

The inhabitants of Sorn had abundance of fuel,and

they wore woollen clothes,and to these the minister

attributed the general exemption from consumption .

They still cheri shed the belief that the smallpox wasone of the fruits of Predestination

,and looked upon

inoculation as an irnpious interference with the divinedecrees and a vain attempt to stay the irreversibleworkings of a mysterious Providence . In 1 796,

Sixch ildren , from one to twelve years of age , and some ofthem beautiful and promising in an uncommondegree died from the scourge

,while in three families

in t ch inoculation had taken place,the children

recovered . The inhabitants were reluctant to tell theprecise number of their horses or black cattle —ncdoubt for reasons connected with taxation . Therewere still some of the old diminutive breed of theformer remaining , and the cattle were

“ partly of the


Mr . Steel , a prominent Ayrshire land irnprover, and one

of the most advanced and enlightened men that thecounty had in these days , was first settled in Stair—hesucceeded to the property of G adgirth in 1 748

—thetenants and labourers were poor , ill-clothed ,

and worsefed the farmhouses were small , ill-furnished ,

and meanin their appearance. In 1 793 ,

the date of his account,notwithstandi ng the advanced rents they had to pay,the tenants were in much better Circumstances

,and

their taste for cleanliness , dress , and every decentaccommodation had increased in proportion to theirwealth. The inhabitants were sober, honest , andindustrious, and had remained attached to the EstablishedChurch . Waggons and carts had been introduced ,

andhad taken the place of the sacks or creels carried on

horses’ backs, in which all the grain , manure, coals , andother articles had been transported when Mr. Steel firstwent to live in the parish . These beneficial resul ts , itShou ld be added

,were largely due to the rev . gentleman

himself .The Maybole of these days was singularly free from

Dissenters. Ou t of 2500 persons of the age of eightyears and upwards , only three , two women and oneman

,were Seceders and even these, adds the minister,

came but lately into the parish . In Kirkmichaelparish ,

the dominie received the starvation pittance of

£5 1 23 6d . The farmers employed both cotmen andyoung lads, who lived in the house . They thrashed int he morning, and winnowed at night , and thus obtainedall the advantage of daylight for outdoor labour. Whilethe pe0p1e were respectable , intelligent, and anxious toeducate their children, it is interesting to find that themi nister was inclined to think that religiously they weredeteriorating. This , we suspect , has been the complaintof the conservatively orthodox of every generation .

This is what he has to say on the subject AS to theirreligious character, there is certainly less apparentseriousness

,and less respect to the external ordinances

of religion than were to be seen in former times . It

THE SOCIAL MARCH OF TH E SHIRE 335

is to be regretted that a proper respect to religionshould ever be diminished it gives ground to suspectthat there is not a real regard to it . If this increasesand becomes general , the consequences will be dreadful .

”

Whisky was not looked upon as a genteel drink inKirkmichael , the general beverage among the farm ersbeing good porter, which they find to afford nourishment

,as well as cheerfulness , when moderately used.

”

The language was a mixture of Scotch and English , and

it was Spoken , at least in the ears of the minister , withoutany particular accent . For forty years prior to 1 794,

there had been neither putrid fever ” nor flux inKirkoswald . For the first hal f of the forty years , afever had prevailed every six or seven years , accompaniedwith considerable inflammation, but by the applicationof the accustomed remedies of bleeding, and taking

great quantities of weak diluted dri nk , it was not verymortal , notwithstanding its infectious character.Duri ng the second twenty years

,the fevers had been

of the Slow, nervousk ind,” but they were neither very

preval ent nor very mortal . This change for the better,the mini ster thought , m ight have been largely due tothe introduction of tea and sugar, which had come to beused in the fam ily of almost every farmer. The pe0p1ewere respectable and religi ous , and refined in dress andmanners . This refinement , the minister was ingenuousenough to recognise , may have been due to the smugglingthat prevailed. The smugglers had to go abroad to gettheir wares ; and persons of this description , beingobliged to enter much into society in their own country,thereby acquired a turn for entertainment and hospitalityat home .

” Withal , they had preserved their sobrietyof demeanour and decency of Christian character, and

they were a marked improvement on their forefathersin the beginning of the previous century who, accordingto the Session Records , violated the Sabbath by fishingand openly Selling the fish in the Maybole market , whileothers winnowed their corn , washed and dried theirclothes , got drunk, and even fought in the churchyard


when divine service was going on . The parish,however ,

was cursed by the streams of beggars,mostly Irish

,who

passed al ong the coach road from Ayr to Portpatrick ,

and who were importune and violent in their cravings .

The salary of the schoolmaster of Straiton was thesame as that of his comrade in Kirkoswald , £5 1 25 6d ,

and it is not surprising to read that there was verylittle choice of men when the frequent vacancy occurred ,

or that the teachers only made the vill age school astepping-stone to a higher and more lucrative position .

The parish suffered in population from the conjoiningof small farms so as to make large ones . It had beenthe home of a considerable number of smugglers

,but the

extension of the excise laws had reduced their profitsand increased their risks

,and they had taken to less

dubious ways of earning their living . The decay ofsmuggling had

,however

,reduced some families , that

were wont to live plentifully,to great poverty , and had

even compelled them to turn to the parish for support .There were , however, few if any beggars . Theinhabitants of Dailly were comprised in 368 families ,with an average of nearly four and a half persons to eachfamily A s marriage is not discouraged ,

” says theparish minister

,either by a deficiency of the necessaries

of life,or by an excess of its luxuries

,the number of

those who continue unmarried after the usual age ofentering into that connection is comparatively verysmall .” Almost all the pe0p1e were of Scottish origin,only a few being from Ireland . Many of the womenin the lower ranks employed themselves in workingup the inferior wool of the country into a coarse andflimsy cloath ,

which was carried to the fairs of Ayr andMaybole

,and bought up for exportation at the rate of

eightpence to tenpence per yard .

” With the proceedsthey bought finer wool

,which they m ade into clothes

for themselves and their families . The improvementin the style of living during the twenty or thirty yearsprior to 1 794 had been so great as to amount almostto a revolution . At the beginning of the period the


from the situation of the parish and the modes of lifewere, as a rule, prolific . The average number of olivebranches was about six ,

and in exceptional instancesthey ran up to fourteen . The pe0p1e enjoyed thecomforts of society “ in a superior degree to others insimilar conditions of life , and were heal thy, easy,contented , and generally cheerfu l . Epidemicaldisorders, save those usual to children, were unknown ,

and“ deaths , except from particular accidents , were

confined to infancy and old age .

” Inoculation was

little practised . In the rural districts of the parishthe folks , as a rule , had suflicient ground to enable themto keep a cow or two , and three or four Sheep . A calfsold at from thirty to fifty shillings , and paid two-thirdsof the rent ; so that , with home-grown bread andpotatoes in plenty , the folks were able to live comfortablyand to give their children a decent set-off in the world.

The school was endowed, and the master luxuriated inan income of abou t £40 a year . About the beginning ofJune the coast was visited by numbers of sailfish , whichremained for about three or four weeks . These werefrom twenty to thirty feet in length .

“ The pe0p1e ofthe village kill them with harpoons for the oil , which ismade of the liver. The liver of a good fish will yieldfrom forty to fifty gal lons of oil , which they sell totanners , etc and use part of it themselves to burn inplace of candles . The law was unrepresented in the

parish , either by Justice of the Peace , or constable , orSheriff’s oflicer , and there was no surgeon . The lack of

a medical man is not to be wondered at , however,because

,according to the minister ,

“ it is doubtfulwhether half-a-dozen such parishes would give breadto one .

” Final ly, the minister is married,and has a

son and a daughter — Surely a poor turnout for a parishthat averaged its families by the half-dozen It is not

as would be expected .

”

The account of Irvine is dated 1 793 . There werefew, if any, manufactures . A s a rule

,the young men

were sailors, or went out to the West Indies or America


as storekeepers and planters many also going to India ,and occasionally returning with large fortunes . Therewere three master Shipbuilders , a tanwork ,

a ropework ,

and a bleachfield ,a great many grocers ’ and small

huckster shops , four or five hardware shops , weavers ofsilk gauze

,muslins

,etc besides the members of the

Incorporated Trades,which included no fewer than Six'

barbers . There was one whisky still , which consumedabout 950 bolls of mal t yearly , and one smal l brewery .

Most of the retailers and many private families brewedtheir own beer . A spinning jenny had been introducedthe previous year, and employed about eighty hands ,whose wages ran from a shilling to nine shillings a week .

The people were exceptional ly industrious , sober , andcheerful , and it was a rare thing for anybody to beabroad on the streets after midnight . They werehappy in one another’s society , and entertained Cheerfully and well

,their entertainements being , as a rule ,

substantial rather than showy . Poverty was none theless rife .

In the account of Stevenston there is an interestingentry relating to the price of coal , which ,

though it hasno bearing on the social condi tion of the people , may bereproduced. The price of coal here to the shipmastersis

,

” says the minister, 6s per ton . The British duty is

about 1 3 2d per chal dron the duty by the Irish Parliament 8d a ton additional duty or tax laid on by theLord Mayor of Dublin

,for paving the streets

,I S 2d .

The price in the Dublin market is fluctuating,never

below 1 63 per ton ; seldom above 203 ; sometimes itrises to 305 and last winter

,when the ships were kept

in their ports for more than two months by westerlywinds , it rose to 36s per ton .

” The makers of salt wereconsiderably handicapped by the smuggling in of Irishsalt . Ireland was able to manufacture sal t cheaply ,and though the parish minister was ready to grant tothe sister isle every indulgence that her Situationrequired, he thought it rather unreasonable that theadvantages She enjoyed should be such as to enable her


to hurt the manufacturers and the revenue of GreatBritain. Of the inhabitants , three or four were verynear ninety years of age . Two had recently diedbeyond that age, and one sometime previous considerablybeyond 1 00—a Highlander who had been at the battleof Killiecrankie . The poor were suflicientlynumerous .” The parish had much improved in itstrade and in the social uplifting of the pe0p1e withinthe preceding thirty years

,but neither the minds nor

the morals of the inhabitants . Sailors and minerswere inclined to dissipation . Liquor was too cheap,and there were too many inns and houses for sellingSpirits—34 in the parish—with melancholy consequencesto health , industry, and moral s . It soon rendersthem weak and crazy, turbulent and riotous, idle andworthless. It opens a door to pilfering and all otherevils connected with idleness .One of the shrewdest of all the ministerial observers

of the latter end of the eighteenth century was the Rev .

Thomas Pollock of Kilwinning . Thanks to the climate,longevity in that ancient town and parish was by nomeans rare, and the people , as a rule , were in theenjoyment of good heal th but a notable exception hadto be taken so far as smal lpox was concerned . Theinhabitants were opposed to inoculation , and in 1 791 ,

when some eighty children were affected with thedisease , more than one-hal f of them died

“from ignoranceand the most superstitious prejudices . The parents ,regardless or insensible of consequences

,instead of

inoculating their children,crowd into those houses in

which the disease is of the most malignant nature, andat a time when it is most infectious . The very worstkind of this dangerous and loathsome disease is in thismanner communicated and Spread, and thousands ofvaluable lives are lost to the community.

‘ This irnpiouspresumption

,

” adds the rev. gentleman ,these illiberal

and groundless prejudices, are not peculiar to this parish ;

in every other country parish of Scotland the bulk of thepe0p1e think and act pretty much in the same way .

”


climate was exceptionally pure and sanitary . Exceptsmallpox and measles , he had never known an epidem ic .

I never saw an ague , he says , and scarcely ever aninfectious fever a putrid fever never a purple fevercarried off several people about twenty years ago , fromimproper management , by immediately bleedi ng , whichwas found to be very fatal by those of the Faculty whofirst tried it . Some years ago , nine children died of adisease called the closing , or croup . Scrophula, orwhite swelling

,is frequent from poor living

,sedentary

living, and bad air in weavers

’ Shops where they neverhave a fire . West Kilbride , like other parishes , sufferedseverely from the smal lpox . The inhabitants

,as a

whole,were a quiet

,sober

,decent people . Living

chiefly among themselves,they were strangers , and so

far , perhaps , happy strangers , to the more free andlicentious manners of the world around them .

” Thegreat occas ion of the year was the Midsummer fair.That

,however

,was falling off, and was not to be

compared with earlier years,when it was a congress

between the Highlands and Lowlands,and occasioned

a vast concourse of the pe0p1e for some days . TheSpectacle of boats from all quarters

,the crowds of

pe0p1e,the sound of music ashore

,dancing and hilarity,

day and night,on the green ; and ,

further up , a newstreet or town

,formed of the stands of merchants

,and

filled with a press of people,formed altogether an

amusing Spectacle .

” There was no smuggling worthmentioning ,

“ unless the pitiful and occasional helpgiven to the poor seamen

,in their little adventures

,can

be called such .

” The principal business of West Kilbridewas the raising of flax

,which the women wove into

coarse linen during the winter . Among them they madeabout seven thousand yards of the fabric

,and sold it to

the Glasgow and Paisley deal ers at from a Shilling tofifteenpence a yard . The manufacture of Silk and cottonemployed the greater number of the men ; the otherindustries were fishing

,and the making of kelp from the

seaweed on the shore . One of the chief grievances of


which the minister had to complain was that his manseabutted on the churchyard. The people wereindustrious

,sober, and decent , regular in their

attendance at church , attentive to the sermon , respectful ,affable, and discreet . They were al so happy, contented,comfortable

,honest

, and peaceable . In earlier yearsthe parish had been conspicuous in the number of itssons who served in the Navy, but the attractions oftrade had begun to beguile them from the sea a factwhi ch caused the minister to observe that there issome reason to dread that the ingenuous , frank, and

manly character of the tar may, in time , give place tothe petulance and effeminacy ,

the turbulent , factious,and fanatical spirit which experience has proved to bebut too generally attached to pe0p1e who follow themore domestic occupations . Like many of hisneighbours

,the minister of Fenwick had to report an

incursion of the smallpox . In 1 792 the trouble wentthrough the whole parish ,

and the number of personsaffected with it was great, but it was half a year beforeone died, and only three di ed in all . So strong was thesuperstition against any interference with the naturalcourse of the trouble , that some of the pe0p1e deemed ita Sin to give their children anythi ng by way of preparation . The great maj ority of the popu lation were ofthe class cal led Burgher-Seceders

,who

,says the minister

,

left the Establishment at the settlement of the presentincumbent there were also Anti-Burghers and

Reformed Presbyterians . In their circumstances the

pe0p1e were on the whole easy, and had good reason tobe contented and there was not a beggar in the parish .

They were much more extravagant in dress than theywere ten years earlier . There were four ale and whiskyhouses , besides the stage at King

’s Well , and“ the

quantities of whisky made use of were amazing .

” It isinteresting to note that in the account of the parish

,

the farm of Lochgoin ,the home of the Howi es , the best

known of whom was the author of the Scots Worthies,

”

i s called Serdgoin .


In Kilmaurs, inoculation for smal lpox had not

become general , owing, according to the minister,

to the prevalence of a religious persuasion that theDivine Government , without any care on the part ofman , will accomplish whatever is best for him . Sodeeply are the tenets of this kind impressed

,that all

attempts to Show the necessity of using those means bywhich the Providence of God Operates, both in temporaland spiritual concerns , are

‘ houted and despised.

Much ,

” he adds ,“ have the teachers of religi on to

answer for, who establish faith upon the ruins ofpractice . There was plenty of work for everybodywho cared to put his hand to

,and a good market for all

sorts of produce at Kilmarnock. In earlier yearsKilmaurs had been famed for its cutlery, and there werestill to be seen in the parish breakfas t knives

,superior,

it is said, to anything of the kind that has yet beenmade in Shefli eld or Birmingham .

” With better timeshad come better dress and manners . Long may suchsources of comfort continue ,

” says the minister,

“ forthough the human mind is apt to be intoxicated byprosperity

, and the conduct to be thereby tincturedwi th levity

,yet in Circumstances of thi s kind the heart is

more easily trained to virtue, and the good less liable tohypocrisy . Some

,he continues,

“have complained

in the Statistical Account of their parishes that theseworks of art

,which bring so many people of different

sex,age

, and tempers together, are unfriendly to theinterest of moral ity. But an attentive observer mustbe convinced that the vices which are the most hurtfulto society

,do not prevail so much where an open and

unrestrained intercourse takes place, as where secrecyand the tampam mollz

’

a fandz'

are frequently enjoyed.

Besides,that virtue which proceeds from the absence of

temptation,is merely negative

,and, though it may

prevent punishment,is not surely the object of reward .

That propensity to human nature which is found in thehuman constitution

,Should operate in favour of virtue

as well as vice ; and therefore , as in every socie’

ty


they were disloyal to their King . Otherwise , theyflourished

,because they were diligent , and , being

self-respectful , they were not, as a rule, frequenters oftaverns . The minister deals in a very interesting fashionwith his predecessors, and al though his stories of thei rexcellencies hardly come within the natural Scope ofthese Chapters

,room must be found for two anecdotes

concerning a Mr. R ouat , whose gifts and popularitywere altogether exceptional . The church ofl‘icer complained one day to the servant at the manse that Mr.Ronat was too much among the gentles .” But therewas Scripture warrant for that , replied the girl . Whatwas it asked the beadle . Lo we turn to theGentiles . The good man was convi nced and relieved,and was thereafter quite pleased with the gentles . Whenthe Sacrament was abou t to be di spensed by a ministerwho came after Mr. R ouat , Miss Dunlop, afterwardsLady Wallace, ,

came to church rather early, and

expressed to an old servant her satisfaction at seeingthe house so decently filled .

“ Madam,

” said the oldman

,this is nothing to what I have seen in the church

in Mr. R ouat ’s time . I have heard the balks crackingat six o ’clock in the morning. The balks crackingWhat do you mean

,James asked Miss Dunlop.

Yes, madam , was James’s reply, I have seen thefolks in hi s time Sitting on the balks o ’ the kirk

,like

bykes o ’ bees .” The rev. narrator found nothing tocomplain of in the fact that there were no large publicworks in the parish , and he gave reasons , substantial inthemselves so far as they go . Works that depend so

m uch on the labour of the young, and that must

necessarily crowd so many of them together,must be

hurtful to their health , and holding out an early and as trong temptation to indigent and negligent parents topart with their children at a time when they Should beattending to that education which is necessary to formtheir minds and secure their usefulness, they must be,eventually at least, hurtful to their manners ; not tom ention that by collecting so many people of all


descriptions into one place , they may materially affect,if not exhaust

,the funds of the poor .” And , discounting

the giving of indiscriminate charity,he adds the trite

remark Charity thinketh no evil , but charity mustthink the truth and

,while it does , it must as infal libly

lead us to discountenance begging, as it will lead us tobe merci fu l and full of compassion to the poor.”

The great obstacle to agricultural improvement inLargs parish was a species of traffic in horses that waspeculiar to the district . Farmers , mechanics , and evenservants who could afford to buy a horse were engagedin it . Some of them had as many as a dozen horsesworth from £1 5 to £20 each ,

and these they hired outto the farmers for twenty or thirty miles round . Theywere usually let out from a guinea to forty shillingseach

,according to their value , from the I st of February

to the 24th of March , but most commonly to the roth

of April , when they were all returned . During thatperiod there were so many horses available that thefarmers were able to compress their ploughing andharrowing into two or three weeks . After that theywere either let out for ordinary hi re , or turned adrift inthe higher parts of the parish . The inhabitants werein general sober

,industrious, and economical , and were

gi ven to provide for the future . The great event of theyear was the fair, which opened on a Monday and lastedt ill the Thursday . For forty or fifty miles round thepe0p1e gathered in for business or for pleasure,

and

sometimes as many as a hundred boats were to be seenriding in the bay . There was such a vast multitude,according to the minister

,that they could not al l be

provided with beds . Thi s did not inconvenience theHighlanders very much

,for they Spent the night dancing

to the bagpipes and carousing on the green . So manywere the dances that the fun went on without ceasingal l through the fair . There were few scenes, in theopinion of the reverend gentleman , more worthy ofattention to the philosopher, who wished to contemplatehuman nature in its simplest and most undignified forms ,

2 3


or to the benevolent man,who rejoiced to see that a

great part of human happiness belonged to the virtuouspoor.The most interesting feature of the life of Kilbirnie

parish was the parish minister himself , Mr. MalcolmBrown . Above ninety years of age, he could not writethe account himself, and it was done for him by hisassistant . His judgment and memory were sound and

good, he could walk straight and steady ,ride a mile

once or twrce a week, preach occasional ly , and marryand baptise all that offered . His wife was a strong

,

active , lively, and sensible woman ,

” and both enjoyedthe respect and esteem of everybody who knew them .

In Beith , as well as in some of the neighbouring parishes ,the subdivision of property was greater perhaps thanin any other part of Scotland . The parish had anhundred and five heritors , besides smaller proprietorsin the village . The climate was not , in the V iew of theminister

,favourable to longevity. There was a great

deal of sickness. The diseases most common werefevers and consumptions , the croup and the smallpox .

In 1 760 the linen trade was value for aboutby the end of the century it had declined considerably,

but linen was still a considerable acticle of merchandise .

and the farmers raised great quantities of flax . Silkgauze was also largely manufactured. This parish hadbeen much troubled by vagrancy, and the inhabitantshad bound themselves together neither to lodge vagrantsnor to give them alms . In the parish school theeducation embraced Latin

,Greek

,French , English ,

writing,arithmetic, book-keeping, and mathematics ,

and the schoolmaster’s salary was £1 1 a year , subjectto the deduction of £3 ,

to be divided equally among theteachers of three small schools in the country , who are

chosen by the people in the neighbourhood , and areentitled to this encouragement upon their keepingschool for four months of the year . ” The ministermentions as worthy of note the finding of variousspecimens of figured stones (fossils) in the parish,


these, with the Magi strates and other members of

Council , meet in the sam e place the Friday following,

and make the leets for Pr'

ovost , Bailies, Dean of Guild,and Treasurer ; and upon the first Monday afterMichaelmas Day, these twenty-three m embers , withthree deacons (termed extraordinary deacons) fromthree different incorporations

,meet as above

,and elect

the Provost,Bailies

,Dean of Guild, an d Treasurer

,

and as many members from the old Council as, withthe office-bearers and new Councill ors ,

make seventeen,

which form the Magistrates and Council for the ensuingyear . The Magistrates may be t e-elected many yearswithout intermission

,the Provost excepted, who must

be changed at least every two years; and the Magistrates,etc remain a year in the Council after going out of office.

After the election of the Magistrates andCouncil

,

” continues the Rev . Dr. M ‘

G ill,from whom we

are quoting,

“ each of the nine incorporated trades ,viz the smiths, tailors , weavers ,

dyers,squaremen ,

Shoemakers,Skinners

,coopers

, and fleshers, elect adeacon who

,with the late deacon of each incorporation ,

meet on the Saturday following and elect a convener,who must be one of that number. These form what isdenominated the convener’s board, of which he ispresident

,but he is neither a magistrate nor member

of Council from office but he,or any deacon , may be

elected a Councillor,except the deacons of the fleshers

and Coopers,who can neither be chosen Councillors nor

vote for the Magistrates .”

The entire municipal system was , as wi ll be seen ,official in the highest degree . The Provost andMagistrates walked every Sunday to church in statebehind the halberdiers. It is a misfortune that, whilethey were supremely concerned for the spiritual ities

,

they were not more concerned for the burghal temporalities. The lands of Al loway had been let to tenantsduring the first hal f of the eighteenth century at ,

theyearly rent of I S 3d an acre , which they were notable to pay, and often became bankrupts and beggars.

!

THE SOCIAL MARCH OF THE SHIRE 35 1

In 1755 the town sold the lands for £7200,the new

proprietors continuing to pay the old rent as feu duty .

These lands , which comprised the full hal f of the countrypari sh of Ayr

,included Roz elle, Doonholm ,

Greenfield ,

Mountcharles , B elleisle, etc . The lands of Borrowfieldhad gone long before , when money was extremely scarce ,and at a nominal feu duty. Had these unreformedcivic fathers but stuck fast by the burghal property,what a wealth it would have represented to-day ' The

Racecourse was a common for feeding milk cows, andfree to every burgess .” The whole land rent of theparish amounted to about £3700. There had beenearlier great herring fisheries off Ayr, but for eight andtwenty years prior to 1 791 no herring had appeared .

There was plenty of salmon and white fish . The salmon,

a few years earlier, had sold at about three-hal fpence apound in summer and autumn

,but the pri ce had gone

up to twopence halfpenny and sometimes more ; and

white fish had risen in value from a penny to threehal fpence . For the Doon fishings the Earl of Cassillispaid a rent of £90 a year , and there was a cruive sixmiles up the river for which he paid £1 3 more . Thefishings of the Ayr river belonged to the Society ofWriters , and were rented at £85 , with £1 extra to thetown for each coble used , and £2 in all to the ministerof Monkton . The vessels belonging to the port werethirty-three in number, of which eighteen ,

with an

aggregate tonnage of 1894 tons , were engaged in theforeign trade .

Ayrshire has come a long way since the end of theeighteenth century

,but on the whole there seems no

reason to doubt that the forefathers of the period werefairly prosperous and happy. If they did not possessall the advantages we enj oy , they had a much morerestful and easy existence and their enjoym ent of lifewas obviously just as great as that of their descendantscan possibly be .

CHAPTE R XV

THE SOCIAL MARCH OF THE SHIRE

THE COMING OF THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE

We have seen ,in tracing the social march of the

shire , that the great awaking in commerce , in finance,in agriculture , in the arts and sciences , began in thelatter part of the eighteenth century. Until then itwas the old-world life that was being lived. There wasa great deal of orthodoxy

,there was much predestination .

The people were content to take things very much asthey found them . That which had already been wasthat which Should agai n be. What was good enoughfor the fathers was good enough for their children .

The gentry in a large measure lived lives of ease , of tooprofuse hospitality

,of reckless extravagance . They

mortgaged their lands in such a fashion that it was onlya question of time when they should have to part withthem and when

,in 1 772 ,

the Ayrshi re Bank collapsed,there was a widespread transference of possession , andmany families that had for many generations beenresident on the soil of the county passed away from itnever to return . The farm s were wretched holdings ,undrai ned

,uncul tivated

,hardly fit in bad seasons to

maintain the half-starved cattle in life , and the peasantry ,

Scotland’s pride,

” were seldom far removed fromabsolute want. The towns were Sleepy Hollows ; inthe villages there was slumbering and sleeping. I f the


the extent to which religion coe be abased by rote ,

by Pharisaism , by stagnation , by the resolve to mak eit the one thing that was not to go forward

,by the

attempt to stereotype it , and to keep the peoplesubject to it with the aid of the awful terrors of

the Law ; he realised that even the Kirk stood inneed of puri fication , and of the lopping off of manyof the excrescences that were making the expressionof the national faith a scoffing and a bywordand he lampooned and satirised the practices and

the tendencies and the manifestations of decadencethat had attached themselves to a religion that hadbegun to settle upon its lees . He had tasted the j oys,he had experienced the sorrows , of the convivialitythat was characteristi c of the age into which he wasborn , and of the frec intercourse between the sexes thatcould not well have worked out in any other way than itso frequently did ; and his experiences bade him Singlove songs for the people

,the like of which had never

been sung before, and convivial songs that reflected the

riotous bacchanalianism of the period— love songssometimes shaded by sorrow,

bacchanalianism sometimes tempered and rebuked by its aftermath of remorse .

There was little in Nature , animate or inanimate , thathe did not love

, and to wh ich he was not in a measureakin . Burns became , what he has remained ever since ,part of the life of the pe0p1e

,first around him , and then

in swi ft eddying circles,until

,as has been said , the

world was his dominion and his home the heart of man .

”

He taught the peasan t h is dignity , he put the Spirit ofindependence into the poor man ,

he glorified patriotism ,

he purified the songs of Scotland by giving her srmething

higher, richer, better, than anything to which She hadbeen accustomed . And in any attempt at gauging theinfluences that began to permeate the life of Ayrshire ,together with the li fe of the nation as a whole , when theeighteenth century was nearing its close , this chief ofall the sons of the shire cannot be assigned anything elsethan a foremost place. How much he symbolised and


incorporated in himself , countless biographers and

panegyri sts have told,and many more will arise to tell

it over again .

The pace once set, the march of progress went on .

The Opening years of the nineteenth century marked a

period of great political energy and zeal , and of demandfor broader and more comprehensive liberties . France,driven in to revolution by the follies of the throne andthe overweening pretensions of the nobility , had risenupon the tyrants

, had swept them from power , hadquenched the monarchical and the governing hi erarchyin blood and in terrorism , and had for the time-beingplaced the pe0p1e in their room . It is of the nature ofthe Spirit of liberty that it should fly all abroad , and in

due time it made its influence felt in this land of settledgovernm ent . With a hundred years intervening, it isnot di fficult to understand why it should have been thatthe rul ing classes , in the county as well as beyond itsborders , were concerned against eventualities , why theyShould have organised the yeomanry into cavalry corps ,armed and di sciplined and ready for the rising thatappeared to be looming up against the horizon of thefuture, or why the towns should have hasted to protectthemselves by the enrolment and drill ing of volunteers ,against a proletariat that vaunted the rights of manand that demanded a Share in the government of thecountry. Probably the situation was never really soal arming as it seemed to be

,but

,whether or not

,there

can be no doubt that the preparations that were madeto hold the reformers in check had their effect upon themore fiery spirits of the democratic crusade . Thehardness of the times , the scarcity of money , the scarcitytoo of food, combined to make the situation occasionallyboth exciting and dangerous . When work was slack ,

and wages had gone down to a wretched pittance thathardly sufficed to keep body and soul together , and foodwas dear , and hOpe seemed dead , and wives andchildren were crying for food to eat , the mob weregiven to take the law into their own hands .


Ayr , in 181 5 ,was the scene of what was known as

a meal mob . Meal , the staple food of the great mass ofthe inhabitants

,was selling at three shillings a peck ,

and the children were starv ing. The tenant of theNether Mill took occasion to raise prices and turned a

deaf ear to every appeal that was made to him to lowerhis price , and between starvation on the one hand and

indignation at the unfeeling conduct of the miller on theother

,the popular passions were excited ,

and the mobdetermined to take by force what they could not buyfor money . With great deliberation they resolved tosack the mill . They Openly proclaimed their intentionon the public thoroughfares

,and fixed an evening for

the assault . The Magistrates did what they could tomeet the situation . They issued warnings against thedanger and the consequences of mob law they swore inmany special constables to defend the mi ll , and theymustered their own little band of civil guards for thesame purpose. But all their show of force , and al l

their warnings , were of no avail . When the hourappointed came round

,the mob

,angry

,determined,

and regardl ess of warnings,clustered in thousands in

front of the mill . The campaign was opened with a

shower of stones,these were followed by a general

assaul t that swept away the opposing strength of lawand order, and all the evening women and children werebusy carrying away the miller’s “ corner ” in meal totheir homes . A few punishments

,not very serious ,

followed . Such was the manner of the times . Thepe0p1e found their mandate not only in their ownsufferings, but in the Scriptural pronouncement , Hethat withholdeth corn , the pe0p1e Shall curse him , andthey thought it no wrong to accompany their execrationswith deeds of violence .

Withal , the march of progress,though not

unretarded and not unchequered , was forward . TheRadical movement

,which came to a head in 1819

-20,

greatly excited the country . Throughout Ayrshire theworking classes as a body responded to the call of the

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

Up to that period,too

,the Corporations had been

unreformed. Tho Town Councils were partly selfelected

,and partly composed of the representatives of

the Incorporated Trades , who kept the regulation oftrade and industry in their own hands , and they haddegenerated into private cliques and congeries of citizens ,who took good care of themselves , and conducted thebusiness of the community as seemed best to them .

No man could start in business for himself, except bythe grace of the trade corporations . No outsider hadany chance of becoming one of the conscript fathers .The whole thing was a ring safeguarded at every pointin the interest of those lucky enough to be within thecharmed circle . AS the result of further agitation ,

however, the monopoly was broken down , the Councilswere thrown Open

,by means of popular election , to the

general body of the electorate,the Trades were relegated

to their proper place, and the pe0p1e felt for the first

time what it meant to rule themselves . The franchisewas restricted ,

no doubt, and many years had to elapse

ere the working Classes were to be raised to the dignityof electors and of fu lly endowed citizens , but theconcessions served their time

,and they sufficed to

create a sense of content and of restfulness that musthave been exceedingly welcome to those who had bornethe burden and heat of the agitation

,and who , like

many other reformers,having attained their ends,

were content to tarry awhile before making a new

departure . It was not for long,however

,that the land

had rest . The working classes were disappointed anddissatisfied with the results of the Reform A ct of 1832 ,

and in 1838 the Chartist movement was in ful l swi ng .

Again, over all the shire,the Ayrshire reformers

responded to the call . The points of the People’sCharte r were Six in number—m anhood suffrage , equalelectoral districts

,vote by ballot , annual Parliaments ,

abolition of property qualification for Members of theHouse of Commons

,and payment of Members of Parlia

ment for their services . The agi tation was carried to


over a period of ten years , but the nation failed torespond to it

,and

,although it was prosecuted with

tremendous energy and with great ability , it graduallydied out .

If the present generation of dwellers in the ancientroyal burgh of Ayr were thrown back into the prerailway days

,they would no doubt think that it was a

remarkably slow and self-centred place into which theyhad come . In these later days

,cosmopolitanism is

more or less evident in every community. The railwayshave made it easy for people to travel far and near,comfortably and cheaply . Not only are they in thehabit of bringing great numbers of strangers to thetown

,the large majority of them to pay tribute at the

birthplace of Robert Burns , and to visit the sceneswhich he has made famous they have also induced amigration of the general public of the United Kingdom

,

such as was unknown before the country was opened upto railway enterprise. There is some reason indeed forasserting

,wi th considerable confidence

,that the pure

Ayrshire stock exists only in a very small , and adiminishing quantity. Ireland has contributed largely tothe leavening of the people

,our own Scottish Highlands

have given us ri chly of their sons and daughters,the

English contingent is by no means inconsiderable,and

the Continent of Europe,notably Germany

,Italy

,and

Russian Poland,with contingents from Scandinavia and

France , has of late years brought in men and women ofstrange races

,whose fusion with the native race must

,

as time goes on,further change its character. It is

inevitable that something should have been lost throughthis immigration ; it is equally certain that more hasbeen gained—greater breadth , wider catholicity

,an

added lightness and brightness of demeanour,an

increased receptiveness to outward influences,a breaking

down of the barriers behind which the Ayrshire folks ofa century ago had ensconced themselves

,to the satisfying

conviction that there were no folks like their own folks .Whether they take as high a view of the responsibilities

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

of life,whether they are as true to their conscientious

convictions, and whether they are as independent in the

enunciation of their views , and as ready to suffer forthem as their forefathers were , are matters that neednot be discussed . The world has changed, and Ayrshirehas changed with it.While the life of the county town , in the early years

of last century, was what the present generation wouldregard as humdrum and slow

,it had , nevertheless .

certain features that were by no means without theirSpecial attractiveness . For one thing

,Ayr was a

rallying point for many of the county families,who have

long since deserted it,and whose presence induced not

a few persons of the higher ranks to take up theirresidence within the bounds of the regality . LordCockburn gives us an interesting glimpse into thisselect society . He was at Ayr on Circuit in 1844. Bythat time the process of the greater centralisation hadset in . It had become easy to reach London ; it wasbut the consideration of a forenoon to repair to Edinburgh . In his earlier career as a lawyer , while yet hewas pushing his way forward as an advocate , Cockbum

had been in the habit of visiting Ayr periodically, andhe was able to contrast the latter period with the former.Ayr was then , he says —during the earlier periodfilled with the families of gentlemen ,

from the county,from India , and from public Service , and was a gay ,card playing , dancing , scandal loving place . Thereseemed to be a dinner

,or a tea

,and card party , every

day at several houses of Kennedys , and Boswells , andCrawfords , and Dalrymples ; lots of old colonels andworthy old ladies ; and to get up a ball, nothing waswanted but for somebody to suggest it

,and they wou ld

be footing it away in a few hours . The taste for scandalprobably remains , but all the rest is gone . There aremore people in the town now

, and they live in betterhouses . There was no Wellington Square , and scarcelya suburban villa in my day. B u t the sort of gentry whoformed its soul exists no longer. The yellow gentlemen


few forms with which Time has deal t so gently . B u t

the place knows her no more . Miss Shaw,

th e

beautiful Miss Shaw,

” as She has been called, is one o fthe figures in the picture of the A yr Fish Cross , 181 4 .

It cannot be said that,as there delineated

,her features

bear out the characterisation of Lord Cockburn, bu tthese were not the days of photographs

,and if one were

to judge of this celebrated beauty from the interestingengraving of the period mentioned

,the most he wou ld

be warranted in concludi ng is that the young lady inquestion was a bright and comely damsel , plump andhappy This picture has , however , i ts own story to tellof the days with which we are dealing. These were thetimes when the most of the marketing was done in theOpen street

,and when

,to all appearance

,it was not

beneath the dignity of the leading gentlemen of thetown to take their part in the marketing . The pictureincludes Provost Hunter , the Rev . Dr . Auld, and Dr .Philip Whiteside

,who all appear to have foregathered

at the Fish Cross to buy the fish brought in by themorning boats

,and dispensed by the somewhat

amazonian dames whose husbands and sons had toiledthe night through to fill the woven willows .

When Ayr had its season,

” and when many of thecounty families were content to have their winterquarters in the town

,it was inevitable that a good deal

of money must have been in Circul ation among themerchants

,and Spent on amusements . The theatre

was a small building . Crowded to the door,it could not

well have accommodated more than about five hundredpersons ; and yet the manager could afford to offerPaganini

,the famous violinist

, £1 00 for one night’s

entertainment . We say“ offer advisedly, for, as a

matter of fact,Paganini never received more than one

half of the covenanted sum . It was his custom to insiston payment before playing . The manager of thetheatre , by means of a cock-and-bull story

,to the effect

that the gentry were determined that he should stayover a second night , and that many of them intended to


pay for both nights at the one time , persuaded him to goupon the stage on receipt of £50 and

,when he had

seen Paganini well under weigh ,he pocketed what

remained of the money and made off with it . TheFrenchman was exceedingly and most justly angry overthe trick had been played upon him but neitherPaganini ’s wrath ,

nor the character of the swindle ,appears to have troubled the manager very much for

,

after the Frenchman had left the district , he reappearedupon the scene smiling, and quite satisfied that he hadmade a very good thing out of the unholy transaction .

Neither does his conduct seem to have smelled veryoffensively in the nostrils of his patrons . Possibly thefacts that Paganini was a Frenchman , and that he hadthe reputation of being a miser

,covered the sin . In

these latter days , he woul d be a somewhat rashimpressario who would bargai n to give the most tal entedmusician al ive £1 00 in a town like Ayr for playing to anaudience of four or five hundred persons . In the formertimes , the county folks were prepared to pay for havinga society of their own , it was essential that they shouldhave their excitements in the way of entertainm ents ,and they did not grudge putting their hands into theirpockets to pay for them . The R eans , Edmund and

Charles , were in Ayr on more than one occasion . Theelder Kean had played in the town as a strolling actor,and

,because of what the critics of the lower order had

regarded as his mannerisms,they had hissed him off the

stage . The great tragedian did not forget it, and it

was with difficul ty he could be persuaded to come at

all when he did come , the little theatre was crammedto the door, the audi ence was bri l liant , and thee nthusiasm tremendous . Macready was a prirne

favourite , so was Mrs. Siddons , so also John Templeton,

the famous tenor . And G . V . Brooke gained the

initiatory part of his experience as manager of thetheatre . The Ayr of the opening years of the twentiethcentury is a much larger and weal thier place than itwas in the pre-railway period, and there is no lack of


county gentry and of retired persons , either within or

contiguous to its borders,but it is no longer a place wi th

a winter season of its own ; town ,and the tow n

houses of the gentry are elsewhere , and most of thosecomposing the class who u sed to seek its winter shelter ,

and its winter gaieties , now seek them elsewhere—and

far elsewhere .

Whatever may be said for the new order and fashionof events generally

,it can hardly be doubted that i t

has in a large measure broken up that friendly feelingthat , in other days ,

used to exist between the provincialtowns and the county families . Some of the chi effamilies of Ayrshire are

,for the most part , resident, and

they have their reward in the friendshi p and in the

respect of the pe0p1e as a whole. Some of the leadingcounty gentlemen are also leaders in the condu ct of th ebusiness of the Shire ,

and the respect is theirs which isnever denied to those who do their duty by their dayand generation . But absenteeism ,

nevertheless , prevailswidely

,and is responsible for much of the broadening

of the social gu lf . It was one thing to be attached to alaird who dwelt among his own pe0p1e , as his fathershad done through long succeeding generations ; it isanother to be attached to the laird who is hardly evenknown by sight to his own tenantry, and who for allpractical everyday purposes is a stranger in the land ofhis sires . The departure of the winter season in townslike A yr was inevitable , and there can be neither surprisenor complaining because of i t ; but that is one thi ng ,

and the systematic absenteeism another , and the lattermust needs be accompanied by deleterious resu lts .

It wou ld be difficul t to overestimate the importance ,

even from the social and moral point of view, of theintroduction of railways upon the scene of Scottish life .

Commercially, industrially, they have created arevolut ion . This fact is so self-evident that there is noneed to do more than recognise it ; but the influencesthat have impressed themselves upon the conditions ofsociety may not seem at first Sight so apparent .


revenue to 1 7s 4d . It was estimated t h e.

maintenance, locomotive power , management, a n

incidents would cost 1 z s 5d ,which would l e a v e

as nett profit 45 1 1 d. The prospectus prop o s e d

a capital of in Shares of £50 each , an d i t

was estimated that the line proj ected between Glasg owand Ayr was capable of execution at an expens e o f

per mile. The line,it was confidently an t i c i

pated, would not only increase the normal traffic, b u tbe the parent of new sources of income , notably fromminerals and from agricultural sources, and even w h a tis now known as the passenger coast traffic—dim lyperhaps , but still foreseen by the astute and far-see ingcapitalists who were the fathers of the new scheme . T h e

public responded readi ly to the cal l for money ,th e

Shares were tak en up , the necessary powers were obtain edfrom Parliament for the comparatively moderate sum of

— the Edi nburgh and Glasgow line costto get it through Parliament, and the Brighton lin e

£1 50,ooo -work on the undertaking was begun abou t

the middle of May, 1838,and finished in August , 1840 .

It was a great day in Ayr , and all along the route, th atwitnessed the first train run and when the long row

of glittering and gaily bedecked carriages arrived, withwhat an enthusiastic recorder describes as their“ inmates , there went up such a loud and long continuedpeal of welcome from the joyous multitude as he hadseldom ever heard.

” It did not take long to demonstrate the success of the undertaking. At their secondhal f-yearly meeting, held early in 1841 ,

the di rectorswere in a position to report that they had carriedpersons

,not one of whom had sustained the sl ightest

personal injury that there were 19engines on the line,and one yet to be delivered that the supply of goodswaggons was not at all equal to the demand and thatthe prospects for the future were in the highest degreesatisfactory.

The thronging mul titudes m ight well Cheer the

passage of the first railway locomotive . It was the


pioneer of a new and a great era. It represented swiftertransit for passengers . It brought Glasgow within twohours’ reach of Ayr , in place of being nigh upon a day

’sj ourney by coach . It meant a development of thecommercial , industrial , agricultural , andmineral resourcesof the countryside

,to a degree that not even the most

enthusiastic railway promoter could have anticipated.

It was the harbinger of new life , of fresh activities , ofadded possibili ties beyond the dreams of the fathers .

It was the forerunner of many ventures that werepredestinated to make the up till then Sleepy Hollows ,self-centred and self-satisfied , hum with energies , to addto the populations of the centres , increase the wages andenhance the comforts of the working classes , send upthe valuations of lands and heritages , add to theaccommodations and the pleasures of the pe0p1e , andintroduce the more cosmopolitan order inseparable fromthe wider contact of man with man . Up till that day,to travel forty miles had been an experience and atime-wasting luxury henceforth it was to be as nothing,and town

, and tower, and cottage were to be linked upas they never had been before . Something, no doubt ,was lost— something must always be lost when a greatgain is to be achieved—but the vintage of the prerailway days was hardly to equal the gleanings of therailway era .

From the time the railways began , it was inevitablethat the country people Should seek their markets andtheir pleasures in the towns . The village fair , thevillage race ,

” had for many a long day been aninstitution . It was a combination of business and ofpleasure . There were some fifty of these fairs inAyrshire . They were resorted to by the whole districtfor buying and sell ing. The travelling merchants werethere to purchase

,to dispose of their wares , to barter ,

and much honest and legitimate tradi ng was done .

But the merchants an d the customers for genuinemerchandi se were comparatively few in number. Itwas not business but pleasure that prevailed. The


parish took holiday, and it is Significant that it wasgenerally recognised that the later the fai r was held inthe week , the less disastrous it was to the morals of thepeople. From all quarters gathered in motley crowdsof vagrants , of vendors of dirty sweet stuffs , of publicentertainers. The ale houses, badly conducted for themost part , and far too many of them either for necessityor morality

,were crowded from morning till night , and

from night till morning,and enormous quantities of

raw , fiery , adulterated liquor found a ready sale . Thefair that Opened on Tuesday might ostensibly closed onWednesday night

,but the weaklings , the drouths , the

hangers-ou , carried their carouse forward till the closeof the week , and until the Sunday came round with itscompulsory cessation from frolic and debauchery . The

races were a blot upon Sport , in many cases uponhumanity as well . There were competitions confined tolame horses

, and the poor creatu res were driven bywhip and Spur over the general ly rugged and unevencourse , while the crowds yelled in thoughtless merrimentover their sufferings . Displays such as these could notdo otherwise than blunt the better feelings of theonlookers ; what was death ,

or worse , to the horses,was amusement to them . The feeing fairs in thetowns

,to whi ch the farm servants resorted in great

numbers , were only less objectionable . They representedthe half-yearly Chance that came theway of many of therustics for the enjoym ent of a holiday, and so they madethe most of them with drinking , and

'

horseplay , oftenwith worse

,and it was not until the spring or autumn

nights were darkening that they bethought themselvesof going home .

The railways changed all that. The village fairsbecame unnecessary when the farmers and the merchantscould meet in the market towns whenever they chose .

The rural j oys of the village green faded away in thelight of the attractions offered by the centres of

popu lation. The people were no longer content withthe little world of the parish there were other fields

HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE

reason to think that there has been a decadence of fixedprinciple, and that a good deal of the so-called liberalismin matters of belief is due to a carelessness concerningall the issues that are involved. In these respects thetide may roll back in due time there is no sufficientreason why it should not

, unl ess we are to assum e thatnever again will the pace be slower, and the Changesless rapid than they have been Since the day that therailway locomotive ran its first missionary race . Bu t

recognising that everything has not been gain , and thatprogress must in some degree be paid for by loss , itremains, none the less , indisputable that the march hasbeen triumphantly onwards . Ayrshire is not the sameplace that it was Sixty or seventy years ago . Almostall along the line it has made steady way . Its townsare larger

,more populous

,throbbing with a stronger

li fe ; i ts pe0p1e are more prosperous, healthier, bettereducated

,broader minded its outlook upon the world

at large is less contracted it has more of the man toman the world o ’er ” feeling that its poet prayed for inundying song. It no more drowses away the livelongday in its villages , as aforetime it was wont to do and ,

as things appear to promise now,it has a greater future

still before it . For its energies are still gathering wayas they go , and it is seeking no discharge in the warfareof progress .

CHAPTE R XV I

THE SECESSION IN THE COUNTY

Between the emergence of the Church of Scotlandfrom its . long struggle with Episcopacy victorious , andthe foundation of the Secession Church in 1 733 ,

nearlyhalf a century elapsed . The Church , if she had beenlargely purified by the fires of persecution and of trial ,had al so been scorched in them . A s was the case afterthe first Reform ation

,when She had to avail herself of

the materials that lay to her hand . and minister to thepeople with the aid of readers and of Presbyterianisedpriests , man y of whom were naturally enough of a verypliable character , and without any special fitness forteaching the doctrines of the reformed faith

,she had to

fill the pulpits with the best men upon whom she couldlay her hands . Some of these , in Ayrshire as well asbeyond it

,were sorry substitutes for the stronger ,

sterner , and more rigid men who had gone down in thestruggle , and others were of what was known as theModerate order , ministers of good personal character,sound on the moral side of their work

,but lacking in

that Spiritual enthusiasm and fervour that had carriedthe Church through the Covenan ting period . Theircomparatively easy-going methods found

,on the whole

,

general enough favour . They suited the great body ofthe pe0p1e , who were contentEto enjoy rest

‘l

'

from thestri fe of tongues and of factions that had

’

so longprevailed . They did not Spare their congregations of


lengthy discourse and lecture,they were ecclesiastical ly

and theologically orthodox,and they guarded zealous ly

the manners and morals of their parishioners . The tru estock of the Covenant , however . hungered after greaterSpirituality

,and

,as time went on

,small groups of the

evangelicals formed themselves into Praying Societies ,which met more or less regu larly in the towns andvillages

,and maintained the religious enthusiasm which

otherwise threatened to grow cold and to give way to acode of orthodoxy and of morality .

The members of these Praying Societies were zealotsof the best sort . It was nothing to them , after a weekof hard and unrelieved labour

,to wal k eight or ten miles

on the Sabbath morning to the seat of the nearestm eeting place

,if only they could find the friends and the

faith that they desired . They were sure of hospital itywherever they went

,as their successors continued to be

when they went up to the Communions within reach ,

until within a comparatively recent period . In somelittle hall , in some upper room ,

or in some retired countrynook

,when the days were long and the sun shone ,

‘ theyheld spiritual converse with one another . And whenthe day was done and the services were at an end , thepedestrians faced the return journey to their own homeswithout a thought of the long Scotch miles they had tonegotiate

,content to arrive at their destination when

the stars were Shining on the midnight , or the moon litup the sleeping country . To these people— and theywere not few in Ayrshire—the advent of the Secessionwas a godsend . They were the voices crying in thewilderness to herald its approach ; and when , in 1 733 ,

the R ev . Ebenezer Erskine,of Stirling , and his three

brethren,because they had taken strong and unrelenting

ground of hostility to the obnoxiou s law of Patronage,were declared by the General A ssembly no longerministers of the Chu rch

,

” and formed themselves intothe first Associate Presbytery

,they were ready to

welcome the Secession and to form their Praying Societiesinto congregations .


Secession minister of its own . This was David Smyton ,

called to Kilmaurs . Smyton’

s task was no easy one .

Four Sabbaths in the year he had to preach at Fenwick,four at A yrsmoss , six at Dalry, two at Kilwinning, theremainder in Kilmaurs and in Stewarton , which wereunited in the one charge . There were members of h iscongregation scattered over the whole county, fromBeith to Colmonell

,from Ardrossan to Loudoun . He

had to visit and to baptise over a wide area, and to givethe members of his flock a word in season wherever hefound them . He had need to be a strong , resolute ,earnest man , and so he was . No considerations ofweather or of distance were ever sufficient to daunt him .

When Prince Charles Edward made his descent uponGreat Britain

,the leader of a forlorn hope and in the

interest of a beaten cause , Smyton and his Session passeda resolution declaring their readiness to take up arms forthe Crown and for the Protestant faith and ,

althoughthey refused to take the oath of allegiance , the

Government bad faith enough in them to put arms intheir hands and to send an officer to drill the little corpswh ich they organised .

Smyton’

s strong will carried him through manydifficulties ; unfortunately, it also led him to take upan unyieldi ng position in a matter that , even for thesedays , hardly seems to have been worth taking up atestimony concerning. In the dispensation of theSacrament

, be conceived that it was essential that thebread must first be lifted before being blessed , and thati t Should be enjoined on all the ministers of the Churchto follow the practice . The Presbytery of Glasgowcould not be persuaded that the matter was essential ,one way or the other

,and they decided for toleration

and the exercise of forbearance . But this catholicneutrality

,this Laodiceanism ,

did not suit the reverendfather of the Ayrshire Seceders

,he remained obdurate ,

formal ly renounced the authority of the Church , andwas suspended . When he returned to Kilmaurs , anouted man ,

he strangely enough forgot to lift the

TH E SECESSION IN THE COUNTY 375

bread before asking a blessing on it . Smyton had twofollowers in the ministry, and they endeavoured to getup a cause —the cause of the Lifters agai nst theAnti-Lifters—but the pe0p1e could not be persuadedthat the point was of any cardinal importance , themovement died down , and the di ssenters returned totheir ecclesiastical al legiance . Sm yton di ed in 1 789 inthe forty-ninth year of hi s ministry .

I t was by somewhat slow degrees that the scatteredgroups of Seceders were formed into congregations andobtained ministers of their own . After Kilmaurs

,

Colmonell was the first,in 1 760, to be completely

equipped . Auchinleck and Kilwinning followed in1 763 , Ayr in 1 772 , Newmilns in 1 773 , Kilmarnock in1 775 , and other settlements followed steadily until theSecession Chu rch was fairly represented in almost everypart of the shire . Several of its ministers were m en ofconsiderable mark. Robert Smith of Auchinl eck was

the author of a treatise on Original Sin JohnClarkson of A yr. described as the Whitefield of theSecession , was an eloquent man and mighty in theScriptures ; Robert Jafiray of Kilmarnock publishedReasons of Secession from the National Church ;James Moir of Tarbolton, a champion of orthodoxy,found scope for his z eal for the truth in “A Distinct andImpartial Account of the Process for Socinian Heresyagainst Dr. M

‘

G ill of Ayr ,” and in a treatise On the

Scripture Doctrine of Redemption .

”

Probably the best known man in the Church ’sministry in the West was James Robertson

,of

Kilmarnock. To extensive and varied attainments headded eloquence, power, and original ity . In hisillustrat ions he was homely. He told his people

,for

example, that they could no more expect to win Heavenby their good works than they could hope to get acrossto Arran on a feather. Not that he undervalued goodworks . Everythi ng was bonnie in its ain place ;water, for instance, is good for mony a purpose, although

y e’re a’ ’

ware we canna theek kirks wi ’ t.” Robertson

370 HISTORY OF AYR SHIRE

conducted a highly successful m ission in the Orkneys ,

and had the pleasure of Seeing the fru its of i t in the

formation of churches . He went south as far as Londonand , entering a Jewish synagogue, began an argumentwith the officiating pri est , reading from the HebrewBible . He also deal t with the errors of Dr. M ‘

G ill .

Cumnock was likewise fortunate in its m inister, JohnHall , the first of the Seceders to obtain the degree ofDoctor of Divinity . For twenty years before h is

settlement in 1 777 ,the Seceders had been on such

excellent terms with the parish minister that they werein no hurry to have a minister of their own . A changein the pulpit of the Parish Church resulted in a corresponding Change in the relations of the Seceders to theEstablishment , and in Mr . Hall they obtai ned a pastorwho became a considerable power in the district . Hewas bu t one and twenty years of age when he wasordained. People flocked in crowds to hear him onSacramental occasions men , probably women as well ,walked to wait upon his ministry in his own kirk , fromMuirkirk and Dalmellington . He refused a call toLondon

,but on receiving , for the second time, an

invitation to Edinburgh ,he was instructed to proceed

thither by the Church,and so closed nine conspicuous

years of usefulness in his first charge,not only to the

great regret of h is people , but to their indignation as

well . For,so displeased were they with the action of

the ruling authorities . that they threatened to secedefrom the denomination because they had loosed the

pastoral tie that had been so fruitful for good. Two

years later, however, the Cumnock congregation obtaineda second excellent man in the person of David Wilson ,

al so a man of power in the pulpit and of great popularity.

one of whose special gifts was that he had committedmost of Ralph Erskine’s Gospel Sonnets to memory ,

and knew how to use them effectively , even to the extentof being able to intone them at the Communion tableaddresses in a way that appealed straight to the feelings ,and to the hearts , of his hearers .


K ilmarnock (Clerk’s Lane) . Though few in num b e r ,

they were blessed wi th one or two minister s o f

ou tstanding qualifications. One of these was Ge o rg ePaxton ,

D .D. , of Kilmaurs , whose learning and pu lp i tgifts were recognised by the Church in his appointm en tto the Professorship of Theology ; who combined w i thhis scholarship and h is assiduity a fine strain of poe t rythat found expression in a volume entitled Village an do ther Poems ; who published extensively works o f a

more erudite and theological character and who, af ter

his translation to Edinburgh,preached for many years

to a crowded congregation . The minister of Stewarton,

T homas M ‘

Cu lloch ,was also a Doctor of Divinity, t oo

conspicuous in his qualifications to be left in the O ld

bonnetmaking town ,and he ended his days as Principal

of Dalhousie College , Halifax. K ilmarnock enjoyed fora time the ministrations of John Ritchie

, D.D. , a fam ousparticipant in the Voluntary Controversy

,a man of

exceptional physical strength ,which he util ised in

taking almost incredible j ourneys on foot,and in

swimm ing in the waters of the bay of A yr—his nativetown— and in the delivery of lengthy harangues on hisfavourite topic

,extending occasionally from three to

five hours , and so eloquent throughout that,it is said

,

the people never wearied of them . And Newmilns hadalso a D D . in the person of John Bruce , who reachedthe fifty

-Sixth year of his ministry , and who was

accredited with many of the lovable qualities that areassociated with St . John the Divine.The Burghers had their Presbytery of Kilmarnock as

w ell , and it consisted of eight congregations, Kilmarnock

(Fulton’s Lan e) , Cumnock , Tarbolton , Dalry , Fenwick,

Galston,Saltcoats (Countess Street) , and Mauchl ine.

In 1 798they added Maybole and Wallacetown Church inAyr

,the latter receiving their m inister under somewhat

unique circumstances . William Sehaw , who was settledat Lochwinnoch ,

had been appointed by the Presbyteryt o moderate in a cal l , and , after having preached thesermon

, he invi ted nominations . Up rose one of the

TH E SECESSION IN THE COUNTY 370

members and said they could not do better thannom inate himself , and this having been done and

approved of by the meeting, he was duly chosen. The

author of a number of theological works, which showhim to have been a man of culture as well as of greatearnestness ,

he received the D D. degree . The Irvinepe0p1e were tried by one and twenty years of waitingbefore they could get a minister of their own , and thenthey began in a barn used for the purpose of makingmalt—their manger cradle as Robertson of Irvinelater called it in his own poet fashion . The first ministerof the Saltcoats congregation , James Boreland,

Openedhis ministry in a quarry on a cold November day , caughtcold , and died in six months, and his successor, HenryFraser, fell heir to a large fortune

, lost his faith , andwas deposed within nine months . H e afterwardsbecame a doctor, wrote several medical books , and

Showed his versatility by contributing to the EdinburghEncyclopaedia the article on G rammar .

”H is successor

in Sal tcoats onlv remained four years , and then left forAmerica.

For seventyr three years,from the time of the great

division ,the Secession was rent in twain ,

but long beforethis independent protesting came to an end, negotiationswere on foot for reunion. These proceeded slowly, asnegotiations of the sort are prone to do in Scotland .

The Chu rches have discovered by experience that nothingis to be gained by haste . The ecclesiasti cal m ind worksslowly when there is principle at stake

,even after the

events that crystal lised the princ iple originally in toform and action have become historical . The BurgessOath never was worth disunion ; bu t that is a twentiethcentury conclusion, and i t was scoute d in its day . The

progress o f the years was needed to break down thebarrier , but it was broken down at length , though not

altogether . There were Anti ! Burghers who were rigi dlyconcerned for the Covenants and their continuedobligation not the Covenants in the whole and exactlette r of the Seventeenth century

,but a strong faith in

25


their general binding character . Scotland ,they held ,

had been covenanted to God , and she could not get qui tof it without a breach of faith . Every effort was madeto convince and to conciliate the minori ty , and in theend only seven ministers in the Synod of the Churchrefused to enter the union . Of these, four were in theAnti-Burgher Presbytery of Kilmarnock ,

PeterM

‘

Derment of Au chinleck, Robert Smith of Kilwinning,George Stevenson D.D. ,

of A yr , and John Blair ofColmonell . With them were Dr . Paxton , form erly ofKilmaurs , and Dr . M

‘

Crie ,the historian . These became

the Associate Synod, which in time came to be theOri ginal Secession Church . As the result of the

amalgamation, the United Secession Church prospered.

Within twenty years it added seven congregationswithin its bounds to the Presbytery , Girvan , Muirkirk ,Kilwinning, West Kilbride , Catrine, Patna,

and Troon .

The Church was further strength ened ,four years after

the union, by

'

a further amalgamation ,this time with

the Relief.The Relief began in 1 782 with the deposition of the

R ev . Thomas Gillespie, the parish minister of Carnock,near Dunfermline

,because he refused to take part in the

ordination of a presentee, who , under the law ofPatronage, was being forced by the Presbytery upon an

unwilling people . Gillespie was joined later by ministersof the Church of Scotland

,the Secession Church

,and

Independents, all of whom wanted relief from patronage

or other ecclesiastical ills . For their day and generationthe ministers and members of the Church were veryadvanced . They discarded the Covenants as a bond of

communion , and threw open the Communion Table tomembers of all the evangelical denominations . Latterlythey were closely allied with the Secession , and in theend

,in 1847 , they joined with them in forming the

United Presbyterian Church . In Ayrshire they hadonly four congregations

,Irvine , Saltcoats , Kilmarnock

(K inglg

Street ) , and Ayr (Cathcart Street) . The Irvinechurch was sorely tried with the Buchanite heresy.


circulation,and seek other means of expressing h is

sentiments. less liable to be misunderstood .

”The

audience in the church were kept waiting an hou r ,while the Presbytery interviewed the young minister ;then the ordination proceeded in the usual way . Bu t

this was only the beginning of the matter , not the end

of it . The tract complained of was rep ublished , and i twas followed by other two treat ises Not Qu ite a

Christian ,

!

and The Atonement .” Mr Mori son was

preaching strange doctrine ,many of his people were

perplexed . the aid of the Presbytery was invoked and a

series of charges formu lated . The great Atonem entcontroversy had begun .

There were eight counts m the libel against Mr.

Morison . He was charged with teaching ( I ) that Christmade atonement for the sins of the individual as H emade atonement for the sins of the whole world , and

that the realising of that statement to be true is savingfaith and gives assurance of salvation ; (2) that all menare able of themselves to believe the G ospel untosalvation ; (3) that no person should be directed to prayfor grace to help him to believe and that no person ’sprayers could be of any avail until he believed tosalvation ; (4) that-repentance ,

in Scripture,meant only

a change of mind and not godly sorrow for sin (5)that justification is not pardon ,

but that it is impliedin

'

pardon ; (6) that election comes , in the order of

nature , after atonement—a doctrine tending to get ridof the doctrine of election altogether ; ( 7) that therewere un scriptural and unwarrantable expressions inMr . Morison ’s publications calculated to degrade theatonem ent—for example , that it i s a t alismanicSomething and (8) that Mr. Morison was not preparedto say that all men by nature are deserving of deathnatural , spiritual , and eternal-l—on account of Adam’sfirst sin . He was also charged with having reissued hisfirst publication after he ‘

had promised to withdraw it .The meeting of Presbytery lasted, with a short interval ,from eleven i n the morning till eleven at n ight , Mn

TH E SECESSION IN TH E COUNTY 383

Mori son Speaking for several hours. It ended in the

Presbytery admonishing him and suspending him fromthe m inistry of the Church , aye , and until he retracthis errors and express his sorrow to the Pres bytery forpropagating such errors .” This course was taken in

opposition to a proposal that t he Presbytery shouldadjourn till the following day . so as to give furthertime for friendly conference . The vote was 20 to 5 .

The case went to the Synod on appeal , and the judgmentof the Presbytery was homologated . A comm ittee wasappointed to deal with Mr. Mori son , and a friendly threehours ’

conference followed , bu t he maintained his

position , protesting agai nst the finding of the Synod, andwas expelled from the denom ination . Of his six elders in

Kilmarnock , four were on his side and two opposed tohi m. None of the ministers of the Presbytery followedhim into secession . The wi thdrawal was very qu ietlyaccomplished . In the county at large Mr . Mori son hada considerable and a growing following, and the resu lt

was the formation of the Evangelical Union Church ,

which , in Ayrshire as well as elsewhere . as time wen t on ,

met with marked success . Mr. Mori s on was honouredwith the degree of D D. and as the years passed and the

veteran Doctor celebrated his jubilee. the congratulationswhich he received for his valuable work, chiefly ‘

in

connection with his Commentaries , included gen erous

tributes from the United Presbyterian Church and its

distinguished Principal , Dr. Cairns.

The history of the Secession in A yrshire we need notfurther pursue . From the format ion of the UnitedPresbyterian Church down to the end of the nineteenthcentury ,

and from the un ion of the Chu rch with theFree Church in the ties of United Free Presbyterian ism—a trio of words that represents a great deal to the

m ind of the Scot familiar wi th all that Pres byterianismhas endured that it m ight be free, and the many pathsit has trodden that it m ight arrive at union- the march

has been onward and forward . It has represented a

great triumphing over difi culties. It has been main

384 H ISTORY or AYRSHIRE

tained through many a dark day and over many a roughroad. And it is a march ,

too ,that is still going on .

There is a movement even now for a wider and moreexpansive fusion of the national Presbyterianism , and

the knowledge of the story of the past . from the daysof the first Secession downwards, only requires to belended with a little healthy faith in order to convincethe observer that that which hath already been is thatwhich shall again be , and that some day ,

perhaps notvery far distant , Scotland will be largely reunited inthe one historic and national ! ion . The history thatrepeats itself points to no less a consummation .

In matters ecclesiastical it is never safe to dogmatise ,however. The Church history of Scotland has manyand varied lessons for those who care to read it and totry to interpret its inner meaning. It cannot possiblybe questioned that of late years the . current has , in itsmain channel , been flowing steadily towards Presbyterianreunion . Theologians are much less concerned thanthey were in the olden days for the binding obligationof the many deep mysteries that pertain to Calvinism .

They are recognising that the essentials of the faith are

one thing and the non-essentials another,and many

matters that were regarded as fundamental in their dayare now treated as affairs on which men may reasonablydiffer without any sacrifice of Church fellowship. Theyare seeing, as they cannot but see, that the people ofScotland are not , as a whole, concerning themselves , astheir fathers used to do , with questions of denom inationalism that they are looking more to the practiceand to the fruits of religion than to the severely doctrinalprinciples that are underlying it, and that they are

standing aloof from the Church altogether in far largernumbers than in the days gone by ; and that, if theyare to hold their own , they will have to adapt themselvesto the broadening public vision

,and to the toleration

that is one of the products of expanding education ,catholic knowledge, and growing cosmopolitanism.

And that being so, there may even be wider unions

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