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THE burgh records of Culross
do not, from the end of the seventeenth century downwards, present much
interesting matter to the general reader—though there is no lack of this for
a native of the parish, or one well acquainted with the localities. The
feuing out of the town moor, the litigations in connection with it with the
Black Colonel and others, and the disputes with the Laird of Blairhall in
regard to the New Mills, form the subject of a large portion of the entries,
and are a curious enough study for a resident in the place, but would
certainly be “ caviare to the general." Following out the rule I have
hitherto adopted, I shall restrict myself for the most part to such
quotations as are of general interest and tend to explain or throw a light
on ancient Scottish manners and customs.
In the times under
consideration, the Established Church was regarded as an integral and
essential part of the constitution, as much to be reverenced and cared for
by the civil power as the throne itself or the Parliament. The idea of a
State Church being an injustice, or that it was not the necessary duty of a
magistracy to give it countenance and support both on Sundays and week-days,
would have been something absolutely incomprehensible to our forefathers.
Here do we find the magistrates of Culross taking care that the physical
wants of their spiritual coadjutors shall be properly supplied:—
“26 August 1698.
“The same day the magistratts
and toune councill being convened, and being declared and represented to the
toune councill thatt Mr George Mair is, upon Wednesday next, to be placed in
the church of Culross, minister of the Gospel conjunct with Brae, [The
territorial designation of the Rev. Mr Fraser of Brea, appointed, at the
Revolution, minister of the first charge of Culross.] and for that effect
the presbitrie is to be here present; and the magistrats and toune councill,
taking to ther consideration, and found it necessare that ane dinner be
provyditt against thatt day, therfor be pluralitie of voices hes ordered the
dinner be mead readie in John Measone’s hous.”
Of this date—29th May 1699—we
find an order regarding “ quartering,”—an institution still maintained, and
doubtless very vexatious, but free from the terrorism that had been its
general concomitant in the days of Charles and James. In subsequent times
the quartering of soldiers was regarded by certain towns —at least by
certain traders within them—as rather conducive than otherwise to their
interests. It is recorded of a provost of Linlithgow in bygone days, who
exercised the profession of a brewer, that as a reward for his exertions in
forwarding the cause of the political party in power, he received a
guarantee that the town would never want a company of soldiers to drink his
liquor and fill his pockets. It must be said that the presence of such
guests was frequently most unfavourable to the morals of the places in which
they were stationed.
In the order in May 1701 for
riding the burgh marches the magistrates direct, in addition, “ proclamation
to be mead for a horse-race that day for a saidle at 10s. sterling, and
everie horse that is to ryd to be noe more of valew but £50 Scotts.”1 This
must have been the price of the more ordinary sort of horses two hundred
years ago.
A censor of public morals is
appointed:—
“23 December 1701.
“The quhilk day, anent the
choyes of a baillie for censuring of immoralities, according to the Shirreff
of Perth appointment by his letter sent to the minister, he being im-powered
by authoritie for that effect, they have chosen Baillie Gray; and he has
chosen for his councill the other two baillies, the Den of Gild, the
theasorer, William Adam, younger, and William DrysdealL”
Notwithstanding the
“boycotting” agreed to be exercised by the burgesses of Culross against the
proprietor and inhabitants of Valleyfield, in retaliation of the rival burgh
of barony set up by the latter, the townsfolk seem not only to have procured
their coals from that quarter, but likewise to have availed themselves of
clandestine and surreptitious modes of obtaining a supply of the commodity.
Of this we have already had evidence. Several minutes of council in 1702
record
"A bargone which was cowmoned
betwixt Colonel John Erskine of Camden, William Robertson of Gladnay, taxmen
of the coall works of Valyfield, and the magistrates of this burgh, anent
the satelling and establishing of the pryce of the kartt and missure of
great coall which comes from the coall hill of Valyfield to the burgh, and
for furnishing of the same, and that at the pryce of seven shillings Scots1
the kart, as the pryce of former payments mead betwixt this toune and the
awners of these works—upon this condition, that the burgesses and other
inhabitants of this burgh be restricted, bound, and obleidged that they
recept nor buy any stolline coalls from the coall bearers or coal hewares in
Valyfield, in recepting of burdens at any tyme aither night or day.”
The proviso is added—
“And in the mayne tyme, if
the seven shilling cannot be adheared to nor condeshended upon, with power
to the magistrates to add or condeshend upon a babie8 or eight penyes8 more
the load.”
Mr Robertson stands out for “
seven shilling and a baby the kairt; ” and notwithstanding the bailies used
“all ther indevoures” to obtain the old rate of 7s., we are informed that
they “yett could not prevail with him. The town council now adheares to the
od baby, since they can do no better.” On these terms the bargain, as
originally proposed, is concluded. Seven shillings and eightpence Scots, or
7½d. sterling, seems certainly a moderate price for a cart of coals, taking
even the then and present values of money into consideration. It could not
be procured now at the pit-head under 4s. for the most n ferior description
of coal.
Races seem to be becoming an
annual institution at Culross. Here is the magisterial order:—
“29 June 1702.
“The same day the magistrates
and toun councill, being convened, hes now appointed ane horse-race to be
riddine in the common mure of the burgh upon Wednesday, the third Wednesday
of July next, in the fomoon; and a futt-race in the eftemooon within the
toun, from CastelhiU march to James Archibald’s door, and from thence bak to
the troune: the horse-race for a saidle, and the futt-race for a paire shoes
and pair stockings.”
As regards the limits within
which the foot-race is to be run, “Castelhill march” is the western boundary
of the burgh, at the point where the Dean Bum joins the sea; the “ troune,”
or tron, is on the Sand Haven, in front of the town - house; but where “
John Archibald’s door ” was, I have no means of determining. Down to a
comparatively recent period, there used to be a horse-race along the road in
front of St Mungo’s, from the foot of the Newgate to the western extremity
of Low Valleyfield.
In the following entry we see
the first commencement of the movement for the union of the kingdoms, which
was finally consummated in 1707. Queen Anne had now ascended the throne,
William III. having died in the preceding month of March:—
“The quhilk day the
magistrates and toun councill being convened in order to the tounes affairs,
and being produced and red in councill ane missive letter direct from the
Provost of Edinburgh to this place, requyring us to send one commissioner
sufficiently instructed, in order to the union betwixt the two kingdoms, in
manner as is contained in the said letter, as the samyne, of the deatt at
Edinburgh the 29 of September 1702 years, bears: In obedience therto the
magistrate and toun councill hes nominatt and appoynted, and hereby
nominatts, John Adam, present baillie, to repair to Edinburgh against Fryday
next, the 16 day of this instant, and to have his commission and his
expenses to be allowed to him.”
In October 1704 the yearly
election of magistrates and council takes place. At the end of the list of
merchant councillors appears, “ Andrew Mid-dletoun removed, and Colonel Jo.
Erskine in his place.” This is the first appearance on the municipal stage
of Colonel John Erskine of Camock, the celebrated Black Colonel, who figures
so prominently in the civil and ecclesiastical history of Culross of this
period. Though on the whole a good worthy man, his litigious and quarrelsome
disposition kept him in hot water almost all his life with the burgh
authorities. I shall have occasion to discuss his character more
particularly in dealing with the kirk-session records. In 1700 he had
purchased at a judicial sale the estates of the Earl of Kincardine, and had
thus become the largest landed proprietor in the neighbourhood. The lands
attached to Culross Abbey, however, with the mansion itself, he was obliged
to resign, in consequence of a decreet-arbitral, to Lady Mary Bruce or
Cochrane, daughter of Alexander, second Earl of Kincardine, and wife • of
William Cochrane, Esq. of Ochiltree. Lady Mary seems to have been infeft in
these on a prior title which held good against Lord Kincardine’s creditors.
Colonel Erskine was obliged to content himself with the mansion in the Sand
Haven of Culross, which formerly had not only been the property but the
actual residence of the Kincardine family previous to their removal, after
the Restoration, to Culross Abbey. Lady Mary Cochrane, after her brother
Alexander’s death in 1705 without issue, continued, with her husband and
family, to occupy the Abbey, and transmitted it to her descendants the Earls
of Dundonald. Colonel Erskine inhabited, at least occasionally, throughout
his life the mansion in the Sand Haven which had formerly belonged to the
Earls of Kincardine. It would be more correct to say one of the mansions, as
there are two in the same place, adjoining each other, though quite
distinct. In the other lived, as is commonly believed, his kinsman, Colonel
John Erskine, known as “ Fair Colonel John Erskine,” or the “White Colonel.”
It has been generally asserted, more especially by Sir Henry Moncreiff
Wellwood in his Life of Dr Erskine of the Greyfriara Church, grandson of the
Black Colonel, that the White Colonel was the latter’s nephew; but this is
certainly a mistake. The son of Colonel William Erskine of Torrie, the Black
Colonel’s brother, was unquestionably a man of fair complexion, and a
colonel in the army; but his Christian name was William, and he was only bom
in 1691.
Now there is repeated mention
in the burgh records, at a period long anterior to the attainment of such a
rank by Colonel William Erskine the second of Torrie, of a “ Fair Colonel
John Erskine,” a burgess and inhabitant of Culross, and who is, moreover,
spoken of as the son of Sir John, and brother of Sir Charles Erskine of
Alva. How he came to settle in Culross we know not, but there he is in the
early years of the last century; and a daughter of his, as after mentioned,
married Dr Alexander Webster, minister of Culross. In the year 1722 we find
the two men, under the very designations of the Black and the White
Colonels, assisting as elders at the celebration of the Culross Communion.
The age of Colonel William Erskine would have almost precluded him at this
time from such an office; and moreover, as Laird of Torrie, his church was
in the adjoining parish of Torrybum. The epithets had evidently been adopted
to distinguish the two Colonel John Erskines, and were applied and received
as proper and respectful titles. Tradition has persistently asserted that
the two Colonels lived beside each other in the two adjoining houses within
the same court in the Sand Haven, which thenceforward received the
appellation of “the Colonels’ Close.”
The Black Colonel and his
brother, the first Colonel William Erskine of Torrie, were the
great-grandsons of John, seventh Earl of Mar, son of the Regent; and Sir
John Erskine of Alva stood to the Earl and his father in the same degree of
propinquity. His son, therefore, the Fair Colonel John Erskine, or the White
Colonel, bore to the Black Colonel, John Erskine of Camock, the relationship
of second cousin once removed, and to the second Colonel William Erskine of
Torrie that of third cousin.
Under the date of 22d October
1705, an Act of council orders the town fleshers to keep to their own market
at the cross, and not to bring their meat to the “land market,” or market
for the country fleshers, at the tolbooth. Here we see clearly the origin of
the term “lawn,” or “land market,” as denoting the market for the “ land ”
or country people, as distinguished from the burgesses or townsfolk.
In course of the year 1708
another deadlock occurs, in consequence of the magistrates neglecting or
refusing to comply with an Act of the British Parliament requiring all
persons holding civic office to take the oath of abjuration. Some feeling of
jealousy of being governed by a Parliament sitting in London, with the
unpopularity of the recent Union, producing a common bond of sentiment on
this subject between Presbyterians and Jacobites, had doubtless brought
about this result. Its effect was to disqualify all the magistrates, and
thereby leave the town without government and the power of collecting its
revenues. The Scottish Parliament was not now at hand to make application
to; but a petition was presented to the Convention of Royal Burghs sitting
at Edinburgh; and in consequence of a deliverance obtained from it, a
deputation, consisting of commissioners from the burghs of Stirling,
Linlithgow, Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, and Queensferry, visited Culross in
the month of August, and took the votes of the burgesses in the appointment
of three temporary managers “ to uplift the common good and cess of the said
burgh.” On Michaelmas following, the community was convened, and a formal
election of magistrates made in the ordinary way.
Under the following date some
interesting glimpses of burgh life in ancient times are presented :—
“7 February 1709.
“The whilk day, upon a
petition given in be John Thomson, officer, representing that there is ten
marks payed yearlie be the kirk for ringing the second bell to the kirk, and
altho’ that James Peack [Peacock], also officer, is at no panes theranent,
or in ringing of the tolbuth bell at 5 o’clock in the morning and 8 o’clock
at night, and hes the heall dues of the Yule wages payed for the drum
without division, and the half of other dues arrysing by the dead bell or
other wayes: Therfor craving that they may appoint the ten marks to be paid
to him without division; which desyre they find reasonable, and therfor have
granted the same, and to commence from Martimes last.
"The whilk day the baillies
and toun councill, considering that her Majestie’s birthday was upon the
sixt instant, which falling out to be the Lord's Day, there could be no
solemnity don therupon: Therfor they appoynt a proclamation to be sent throw
the toun by the drum, appointing the heall inhabitants to put out and mak
luminations in the most patent windows of their houses looking to the hei
streets, against six o’clok this night, under the pane of fyve pounds Soots,
to be payed be ilk person failling therin; and ordaynes the church bells and
tolbuth bell to ring at 5 o’clock at night, and to continue till 8; and
appoints the heall members of town councill to attend the magistrate in the
Sands Haven about Bix o’clok at night, that they may wack through the toun
and sie no abuses to be don, under the pane of 40/.”
The foregoing order is the
result of an afterthought. No idea had apparently been previously
entertained of celebrating the Queen’s birthday; and the idea having
suddenly occurred that such an omission might be construed into want of
respect towards “the powers that be,” the principle of “better late than
never” was acted on, and an order issued for a public demonstration. It is
the first order in the burgh minute-books for a general house-Ulumination.
The practice became very common throughout the country in after-times, and
was really far more effective than the custom at the present day of
illuminating the exterior of special buildings by a dazzling display of
blazing devices, whilst the remainder of the street-front presents a dark
wall of utter gloom. Those who neglected to obey the magisterial order were
threatened, as we see, with the imposition of a fine; but the dread of the
mischief of the rabble, who at such times were wont to inflict summary
punishment by demolishing the offending windows, would act quite as
effectually as a security for obedience.
The order of the day
concludes thus: “As also they appoynt four pounds Scotts to be payed to
Alexr. Bimay, wright, for erecting the stang for the scollers in August last
in the Sand Haven.”
This seems to have been some
erection in connection with the ceremonies at the reception of the burgh
commissioners when they visited Culross for the election of temporary
managers during the magisterial vacancy. The word “ stang ” means a pole,
and this may either have been a Maypole for the amusement of the youngsters,
or some triumphal banner around which they were grouped. To “ ride the stang”
was a species of Lynch law not unfre-quently resorted to in the days of our
forefathers, and even still not wholly in desuetude when the populace wish
to vent their indignation against a brutal husband, or similar object of
detestation. He was placed astride on a pole, borne shoulder-high amid jeers
and execrations, and not unfre-quently deposited at last in a pool of water.
We are next brought in
contact with Louis XIV., —his persecutions of his Protestant subjects, and
aggressions on the neighbouring States of Germany. Perhaps the inhabitants
of Alsace and Lorraine are here referred to:—
“12 September 1700.
“The same day ther being a
representation mead from the quarter session of the justices of peace of
Fearthshire in August last, of a letter direct to them from the councill
chamber at St James’, deated the 29 day of June last, anent receaving and
subsisting of some German Protestants that had fled to this kingdom for
refuge from the great exactions of the French on the frontiers, and being
otherwayes distressed upon the accompt of ther religion: and Baillie
Wil-soune being present at that quarter session, he represented ther that he
doubted not but that the toun of Culross would receive and entertayne in a
direct number in proportion to the toun of Pearth, and conforme to the share
in the burrow* tax roll; which the heall councill consent to.”
And here is another ordinance
against “ late wakes,” of same date:—
“The quhilk day the
magistrates and toun councill doth not onlie ratifie and approve the former
Acts of councill discharging all persones whatsomever to goe to and frequent
laitt waks, under the panes and penalties therin contayned, excepting sutch
persons as is particularlie inveited by the friends of the defunct, and
others concerned; butt alsoe, efter the loudable custome of other burghs,
particularlie the niboring burgh of Dunfermling, the magistrates and town
councill of this burgh doe striklie prohibit and discharge all persones
whatsomever who are burgesses and inhabitants of this burgh, to enter into
the hous or housses where the corps of any deceissed person is laying, or
unto thois convened ther in any truble, of furnishing of them bread, drink,
or tabaco, except they be friends.and relations to the defunct, and
particularlie inveitted therto, each person contravening to be unlawed in
the soume of twentie shilling Scots unforgiven ; and ordaynes thir presents
to be intimatt by oppen proclamation and tuck of drum.”
The following is directed
against those guilty of blabbing or revealing council secrets. Evidently it
was wished to make the corporation a close 'one. What would these old-world
folks have said of the modem practice of admitting reporters to the council
meetings?
“The qlk day it being
represented that many times what is agitat and said in councill is
frequently divulged by the councellours, which being a manifest breach of
the oath of secrecie, and oft times tends to the prejudice of some other
persones: Therefore it is statute and ordained, and hereby acts, statutes,
and ordains, that for the first fault they shall be fyned as the magistrates
and councill does think fitt, and for the second fault to be turned off and
deposed from the councill for that year.”
“27 October 1709.
“The qlk day Mr Alexr. Bruce
and Mr Thomas Bruce, sones to the Earle of Kincardine, Patrik Angus, factor
to Sir Peter Halket of Pitferrane, and James Hind, servitor to the said
Earle of Kincardine, all admitted burgesses—the first three burgesses and
gild brethren, and James Hind burges and freeman.”
Sir Alexander Bruce of
Broomhall, on the death of Alexander, Earl of Kincardine, in 1705, had
succeeded, as already mentioned, in establishing his right to the title as
nearest male heir. He had three sons, Robert, Alexander, and Thomas, who all
succeeded him in order as Earls of Kincardine.
The town officers are to have
new coats :—
“24 April 1710.
“The same day the magistrates
and toune councill ordain the theasorer to provide and buy a suit of
cloathes to each of the touns officers, of the said touns livery, as easy as
possible, and to cause have them ready against Whitsunday next, in respect
the coats they have at present are very bare, being three years old or
thereby.”
“22 June 1710.
“As also the councill
recommended to the theasorer to provide a piece of strong plaiding cloath,
and cause dy the same in the touns livery, to be a coat to the toune piper,
like the former.”
“23 Avgst 1710.
“The said day Laurence
Johnstoune, gardner in Castle-liill, compeared, and represented that he was
maryed to ane bulges and gild brother’s daughter, and craved to be admitt
burges, and have such benefite as is due therby; which being considered by
the councill, and that each bailly hath power to admitt one burges each year
gratis, Baillie Moutray declared that he was content the said Laurence
should be received as his burges. And therefore the magistrates and councill
admitted and received him burges gratis of the said burgh, who gave him
burges oath as use is, and thereupon took instruments.”
The above entry is locally
interesting, as the first notice of a family which afterwards rose to great
wealth and distinction, and is now one of the principal county families in
this district. Laurence Johnston, here designated as a gardener at
Castle-hill, or what is now known as Dunimarle, after being admitted as a
burgess of Culross, removed thither, where he entered on the business of a
malt-man. He was so successful, that about the year 1730 we find him the
proprietor of the estate of Middle Grange, which still remains in his
family. His son James, who is designated as a merchant in Culross, must have
early shown some ability, as we find an objection taken to his being
admitted as a town councillor, on the ground of his being under age. He
became subsequently the owner of Sands, in the parish of Tulliallan—from
which his descendants now take their territorial designation—had a large
family, and died at an advanced age. Hia elder sons died prematurely, and
one of the younger sons, Laurence, who entered the army, succeeded him in
his estates, and married Miss Wellwood of Garvock, whose paternal
grandmother was a sister of Sir Robert Preston of Valleyfield. The present
proprietor of Sands, Laurence Johnston, Esq., is the grandson of Captain
Laurence Johnston just mentioned, and great-great-grandson of the Laurence
Johnston referred to in the council entry above quoted. Through his
ancestress, Mrs Wellwood of Garvock, who was the granddaughter of William
Cochrane of Ochiltree and Lady Mary Bruce, he is lineally descended from
Alexander, second Earl of Kincardine, who, again, was the grandson of the
celebrated Sir George Bruce of Camock. It may be noted that the three
principal heritors in the parish of Culross—John J. Dalgleish, Esq. of West
Grange, Laurence Johnston, Esq. of Sands, and Robert Clark Preston, Esq. of
Valleyfield—are all descended from a common ancestress, Mrs Wellwood of
Garvock, and through her from Lady Mary Cochrane and her father, Earl
Alexander. A fourth heritor, the Hon. Robert Preston Brace, brother of the
Earl of Elgin and proprietor of the Culross Abbey and Blairhall estates, is
lineally descended from Sir Alexander Bruce of Broomhall, grandson of the
great Sir George Bruce, in whose descendants, therefore, the huge estates
which he had amassed by his commercial abilities and industry are for the
most part still vested, though after several revolutions. In further
reference to the Sands estate, it may not be uninteresting to remark that
the adjoining property of Tulliallan, at present belonging to Lady W. G.
Osborne Elphinston, will ultimately vest in the noble house of Lansdowne,
whose founder, the celebrated Sir William Petty, took, like the Johnston
family, his rise from modest beginnings, his father having been a small
tradesman in the town of Romsey in Hampshire.
Here is an order fixing a
councillor’s daily allowance for maintenance when absent on business
connected with the burgh. Twentypence sterling per day seems a moderate
enough allowance even for those times, but the finances of Culross were not
flourishing:—
“8 Octr. 1711.
“The same day the councill,
considering the circumstances and condition of the burgh, hereby enact and
appoynt that whoever hereafter shall be imployed to goe to Edinburgh or
elsewhere about the town business and affairs, they shall only have for
their expenses twenty shillings Scots per diem, allowed to them, with their
horse-hyre, and their extraordinar charges also to be allowed attour the
said twenty shilling, conforme to former Acts of councill.”
In the two following entries
the first gives some idea of the price of butcher-meat in 1710, and the
second shows a prosecution for an alleged act of purchase within the burgh
so as to diminish the supply of the market:—
“Dect. Robert Dalgleiah,
elder, flesher, against Mr Harry Bruoe, of Connie, for twelve pound, as the
price of a carcase of beef, received about two years ago; twenty shillings,
the pryce of a quarter of ane leg of beef, upwards of two years; and ten
shilling, the pryce of a leg mutton, about two months ago; —extending in
heall to thirteen pound ten shilling Scottis.”
From the above we learn that
the price of the whole carcass of an ox, after two years’ credit given,
amounted then only to £12 Scots, or £1 sterling; whilst that of a
quarter-leg of beef was j£l Scots or twentypence sterling, and a leg of
mutton, at cash price, was only 10s. Scots, or lOd. sterling. The contrast
between the last charge alone and what obtains at the present day is
sufficiently startling.
“3 Octr. 1710.
“The fiscall against Alexr.
Henry, mealman, for alleadged buying a bag of meal at the Petty Common or St
Mungo’s, comeing to the town above ane fortnight agoe. The said Alexander
positively denied any such buying of meall by the way; neither had he any
meal in his house for sale, save the meal which he bought from the gimells
[Granaries.] of Craig-flower. The baillie delays to proceed farder in the
matter until farder inquirie be made in the matter and represented.”
On 14th June 1711 a curious
prosecution is instituted before the bailies, of a number of Culross
housewives (twenty-nine in all) as “bleachers of cloath with lyme.” It was
probably taken in the public interest, from the well-grounded belief that
the use of such a substance damaged the fabric and was a fraud on
purchasers. Bleaching-powders and chlorides were unknown in those days, but
lime served to some extent the same purpose. The procedure seems to have
been a little inquisitorial, as the accused parties were personally and
directly interrogated. Most, however, refused to appear or answer, and were
each fined £5 Scots, on the alternate grounds of contumacy or being held
confessed. The others were absolved, and it is very questionable whether any
penalty was ever enforced.
The marches are ridden with
great Sclat this year:—
“14 May 1713.
“Which day the councill being
mett annent the toun’s aflairs, there was an flag for an standart produced,
which was given by way of complement, together with an large peace of plate
money as the head of the standart, by Lady Mary Cochrane, which flag
contains the armes of the Earle of Kincardine deceased. This complement, by
unanimous voice of councill, ordained to be recorded, together with an stand
of colours also gifted by Lady Mary, and two plumash feather given by Sir
George Preston.
"The said day the magistrates
and councill appoints the said standart and also the toun’s colours both to
be caryed at ryding the martches Whitsunmunday next—the standart to be
carryed by the treasurer, and the colours by William Paton, wright, both
carryed by plurality of votes. It is hereby condeshended in councill that
the trades cary the standart Whitsunmunday Jayviicm*1
and fourteen years, and soe the merchants and trades year about in all time
coming.”
A great man has announced his
intention of honouring Culross with a visit. The Marquis of Atholl, who
figures prominently as a Scottish statesman in the period subsequent to the
Revolution, had been raised to the dukedom in 1703. Sir Walter Scott
introduces him in the 4 Bride of Lammermoor ’ as the Marquis of A-, a
nobleman of Jacobite tendencies. He had a connection with Culross as Lord
Lieutenant of Perthshire:—
“10 July 1713.
“Which, day the magistrates
and councill, considering that his Grace the Duke of Atholl is to-morrow to
come and pay his respects to the burgh, they think it fit, and doe recommend
it to the magistrates and councill, to attend his Grace, and invite him to
the councill-house, and there to give his Grace and attendants the
compliments of the burgh; and recommend it to the saids magistrates to order
the inhabitants to be ready with their best armes and abuliements, and also
recommend to the magistrates to cause and order the bells to be rung.”
The town piper has turned out
a black sheep, and is deprived of office :—
“4 Decr. 1713.
“The said day the magistrates
and councill, considering the misbehaviour of Donald Mackenzie, their town
piper, and that he is already found, by sentence of the magistrates of
yesterday’s date, that he has been found guilty of breaking the Sabbath-day,
and of haunting vagabounds* company: Therefore they unanimously deprive him
of his office as town piper, and declare him incapable of enjoying any
office within burgh in time coming; and likeways they banish him out of the
burgh and territory thereof, and discharge him ever to be present in the
same in tyme coming, under the pain of being imprisoned in the eimhouse1
during the magistrates and councill their pleasure, and being scourged out
of the town.”
The country appears to be in
a disturbed state, possibly in anticipation of Queen Anne’s death and a
change in the government. The magistrates issue an order for a town guard:—
“17 Deer. 1713.
“The said day the magistrates
and councill, taking to their serious consideration that the countrie is in
present turned loose with vagabounds and others, and that there are houses
frequently broken: Therefore they, for the security of the haill inhabitants
within the burgh, statutes and ordains a guard to be keepit within the town
during the council's pleasure, which guaird is to consist of twelve able
men, who are to goe through the whole town peaceably several times in the
night time, and if the guaird hear or see any persons within the town after
ten o’clock at night making disturbance, the guaird is empowered to bring
such persons to the guaird, and to detain them till the next day, that the
magistrates take accompt of their misdemanners: and the magistrates and
councill ordain each family in the toun and liberties therof to furnish an
able man by their turns to the said guaird; and ordaine the head of each
family who refuses or delays to bear their burdens, to be poynded by the
captain of the guaird and such of his company as he pleases to take along
with him, and that discreetly without any abuse; and they allow the guaird
the benefit of the councill-house; and the fine upon the refusers or
delayers to be six shilling Scots for each failly; and remits the makeing of
the cast and nameing the captain to Baillie Coustoun; and ordains this Act
to be intimate by touck of drum.”
On 15th February 1715, Bailie
Coustoun, who had formerly been unsuccessfully opposed by Charles Cochrane,
is again nominated by the council com-’ missioner for Culross at the general
meeting of the district burghs, which was to take place in the town next
day, “ for choiceing a burges to represent the said district in the ensuing
Parliament of Great Britain, to be holden at Westminster the seventeen day
of March next.” Queen Anne was now dead, and the Elector of Hanover had
been, amid wonderful tranquillity, proclaimed king as George I. The Jacobite
cause received a stunning blow by the downfall of the Tories in the end of
Queen Anne’s reign; but it was soon again to raise its head.
The excitement of the
parliamentary election had led to a little extra expenditure on the part of
the council, who nevertheless display a commendable economy in the matter of
their officers’ coats:—
“31 March 1715.
“The council ordaine the
persons concerned in furnishing the provision for the dinner at the election
of the member of Parliament to give in their accompts against the next
council day.
"The said day there being a
petition given in by the officers craveing new coats, the council resolve to
give them new coats; and Bobert Sands having represented to the council that
he has a piece of whyte cloath fit for that purpose, he is content to give
the same for that end, and to allow what he ows to the town in the first
end, and is content to refer the price to the council, who are satisfied
therewith.”
A singular entry appears
under
“5 Judy 1715.
"The clerk represents to the
council that he gave his receit to his Majesties collector for a book sent
to the burgh by the Speaker in the House of Commons, which book is intituled
a report from the Committee of Secrecy, with a letter from the said Speaker
to the eldest magistrate; which book and letter the clerk hath accordingly
delivered to the council.”
This is a mysterious affair
altogether. Have we here a trace of Sir Robert Walpole’s hand in Scottish
politics ? It is said that a favourite maxim of this astute minister of
George I. was, that every man had his price. And do we here see his
influence in initiating a system of bribery and corruption, extending even
to the remote burgh of Culross? |
