|
Erroneous idea that the Priest
of Gretna is a Blacksmith.
This shows how false reports
sometimes
Fly o'er the land like treason;
And how folks choose to cling to them
In spite of sense and reason.
After all, it is not a matter
of much wonderment that the world should be full of false reports, when we
know, that as soon as a man is born he goeth astray and speaketh lies.
Divers false reports touching
various matters foreign to this history have, from time to time, grievously
run over the land, whereby people have too often been misled and deceived;
such, however, we leave to those whom it may concern; but there is one
particular false report about Gretna Green, with which we have much to do in
discoursing of this place ; and for the enlightenment of the shades of
error, we will immediately set about enkindling the torch of truth.
Now, the erroneous idea to
which we refer is this, — that it is almost universally supposed that the
personage who marries at Gretna Green, is by trade a blacksmith.
We have heard of a thousand
anecdotes wherein it is mentioned, how certain parties were united by a
brawny blacksmith; and how the said parties had no sooner jumped over the
broomstick, when the enraged papa, post-haste from England, rushed into the
house — but just one moment too late to save his run-away daughter.
We made this much contested
subject a particular point of investigation when we were on the spot: but in
spite of all our inquiries, and searching, and scrutiny, we could not
discover that a blacksmith had of late years performed the ceremony, nor
indeed, that a blacksmith had ever done it at any period whatever.
One of the most noted priests
here at present is Simon Laing, by trade a weaver, as before remarked, and
no blacksmith at all. His father, David, who married Wakefield, also before
mentioned, earned his bread, according to his own account, entirely by the
practice of marrying (and easily earned it too) during the immensely long
space of eight-and-forty years ; but he never wielded a sledge hammer in his
life, nor was he ever connected with the business ; before his time, full
fifty years ago, the chief priest was a man of the name of Parseley or
Paisley—Joseph Paisley—and he was a tobacconist, but no blacksmith; and
prior to him the principal functionary carried on the occupation of a
fisherman, in the waters of the Solway Firth, as we will presently shew, on
the authority of Pennant.
Thus we have traced the
apostolic succession back through nearly a century ; but beyond this time no
authentic record remains to satisfy our curiosity—indeed, at that period,
the laxity of the laws of England rendered it unnecessary to resort thither:
and the trade was not monopolized into the hands of a few then, even as it
has been since.
That David Laing never was a
blacksmith, despite such a supposition so tenaciously clung to, we were
positively assured by twenty persons in the village who knew him, and
amongst others, by his son Simon, as well as Simon's wife, whom we
especially questioned.
It seemed to be pretty
generally agreed by the majority of those to whom we put the query, that
this veteran had, in his younger days, been a day labourer, ready to do any
rough job to gain a subsistence, sometimes in one way, and sometimes in
another. When he was produced at Lancaster on the trial of the Wakefields as
a witness, and was examined and cross-examined as to his business and
occupation, he perseveringly shewed great reluctance in discovering all that
the counsel desired to wring from him. He fenced the question as long as he
could, and then, when he could not escape making a confession, he tried to
raise the rank of his trade, by attaching to it a name of greater
consideration.
The following extract
exhibits the course of torture inflicted by my Lord Brougham:
David Laino again called and
cross-examined by Mr. Brougham.
Are you a Scotch
clergyman?—No, I am not.
What are you?—are you any
trade at all?—Nothing at all.
Do you mean to say you never
were an ostler? — Me an ostler!
No.—
How long have you been
engaged in this traffic of making this sort of certificates?—Eight-and-forty
years. How old are you?—I am beyond seventy-five. Well, before the last
eight-and-forty years what did you do to get your livelihood?—that is my
question.—Why I was a gentleman—sometimes poor and sometimes rich.
Well, when you were poor,
what did you do to get your bread? —what occupation did you follow?—I
followed many occupations. Let me hear one of them.—I was a merchant. What
do you mean by a merchant—a travelling merchant—a pedlar?—Yes.
What else were you? Were you
anything else?—Never.
Thus, after some little
chaffering and reluctance, David confessed that he had been a pedlar. The
learned lawyer above asks him whether he had not been on ostler? but this
question he receives with indignant surprise, and negatives in a very
decided manner. We do not know what reason Mr. Broug-' ham had for this
intimation, unless it was that he had been informed that the pedlar might
once have rubbed a horse down, by a chance, for the sake of turning a penny,
although it was not his trade. It is extraordinary he was not" asked whether
he had been a blacksmith ;—we say extraordinary, merely oil account of the
popular notion ; but as he was not asked the question, it is a strong
negative argument in favour of what we assert. Had he ever made it his
business, of course the fact would have been mentioned in this
cross-examination ; and if he had ever by a chance lifted a sledge hammer
upon the anvil, as by a chance he may have groomed a horse, it is rational
to suppose that the lawyer would have heard of it, and taxed him
accordingly, even as he did about the ostlership, particularly as the
current report would so naturally have led to it. It is only curious that
the idea itself, without any thing else, did not lead to such a question:
but the fact of its having been omitted, proves how little this priest and
the trade of a blacksmith were coupled together in the imaginations of
persons present.
There is a tradition in
Springfield that a pleasant dialogue, referring to these matters, took place
at the above trial, between Laing and the lawyer; albeit this dialogue
certainly does not appear in the minutes as they were published at the time
: no matter, the good people of this village tell the anecdote.
They say, that whilst he was
giving evidence, certain expressions were elicited from him, which either
then firsfr attached the title of blacksmith to him, or else renewed, raked
from oblivion, and confirmed it to him; supposing he had ever before been so
called, or had ever been connected "with the trade, in some almost forgotten
way, until thus raked up They say, • that the counsel, being aware that lie
went by the name of " the blacksmith," plainly asked him why he was so
designated, since, upon inquiry, it appeared that he neither was a
blacksmith then, at the time of the trial, nor had he ever been so during
the whole course of his life? To this question, they add, he returned a
facetious answer, to wit:—"Because," said he, "I weld two people together
with the quickness and strength with which a blacksmith welds two pieces of
hot iron."
Some people affirm, that
tradition is not always to be implicitly believed, and that history is truer
than fiction—and so forth. This we had always denied up to the -present
time: hut when people declare that the word blacksmith, as applied to the
marrier-general of Gretna Green, only originated through this anecdote at
the trial of the Wakefields in 1827, we decidedly think they* lie—under a
mistake. Our faith in the infallibility of tradition was never shaken till
now: but if tradition asserts that this term is no older than 1827, we think
that tradition is in error ; for certainly it did exist long before that
time. It is possible, however, that David Laing was the first to whom it was
given, since the commencement of his career dates as far back as the year
1779, or forty-eight years before the trial. We have not discovered any
person or any chronicle, or better still, any tradition, that can make the
designation so old as this remote period.
This man died in the year
1827, in a house in Springfield, situated in the street, on the opposite
side from that on which the King's Head stands, and at about a bow-shot
higher up, or towards the triangular Green of Gretna. It is said that he
caught cold at the trial at Lancaster in March of that' year, that he had
been exerting and heating himself by exercise in the first instance, and
then possibly sat in a draught afterwards; an imprudence that is believed to
have given him too severe a chill for a man of seventy-five to get over. He
lived three months after the shock, but was never thoroughly well, and then
he died; but such an apparently slight cause as a chill—a cold —the effects
of sitting in a draught after being warm, has killed many a younger person
than David Laing.
That philosopher said well,
when he exclaimed— "There are no such things as trifles in the world."
Serious ends sometimes arise out of apparently trivial beginnings — a sequel
that proves those beginnings were not so trivial as they were supposed to
have been.
A short time, comparatively,
before his decease, he had occupied a house near his son's present abode,—
that is, on the same side of the street as the King's Head, but lower down,
or in'the direction towards England; and in his younger days, long previous
to that, he had dwelt in a cottage a short distance from Gretna church,
opposite the Hall, and near the divergence of the roads to Dumfries and to
Glasgow. This cottage has since been pulled down.
So much for David Laing.
In chronologically tracing
back the apostolic succession of Gretna priests, we next come to Joseph
Paisley, or old Joe Parseley, as they are pleased to pronounce him in his
own locality.
He had grasped into his own
hands the great share of the business before he died, and left it to Laing,'
who had for some years been his partner. It will be natural to ask then: Was
Paisley a blacksmith, and did the term originate with him ? The answer is
decidedly, No; for a dozen people in Springfield, some of whom were aged and
recollected him, confidently declared that he was by trade a tobacconist,
and not a blacksmith. From all accounts, it appears that, before his era the
lucrative occupation had not been so exclusively monopolized, as it was
afterwards: that the regular line of priests does not go back very decidedly
beyond him, except peradventure to one individual mentioned by Pennant: and
that he was the first person who so carefully thus studied to monopolize
it—or at all events, the first who gained much celebrity by the practice.
Before the present host and
hostess tenanted the King's Head, that hostelrie was for seven years
occupied by a Mr. and Mrs. Sovverby; and they, together with such honourable
local authority as Simon Beatie of Toll-gate fame, the reverend Laings, and
divers others of especial mention, not knowing the origin of the term
blacksmith as applied to these worthies, conceive that possibly it may have
been palmed upon Paisley merely from his personal appearance: he was a tall,
stout, and stalwart man ; compact and firm in build and proportion; brawny
and muscular in the configuration of his limbs ; and therewithal possessing
great strength. Hence, as he looked like a blacksmith, or one of powerful
exterior, some have conjectured that the expression arose in him; yet all,
at the same time, uniformly agree that he never had to do with the trade,
but was a tobacconist.
The house in which he died
stands immediately opposite the King's Head in Springfield. It is related of
him, that as he lay 011 his death-bed, waiting for the grim Angel of Death
to open the Janua Mortis and lead him through to the next world, several
carriages and four hastily drove into the village, making such a noise and
clatter as would have roused the dead in their graves : wherefore he, who
was not actually dead, although very near it, opened his eyes at the sound.
They contained three loving couple from the south, who had gone like fury
over Solway Moss. The place was in infinite commotion, since every one
divined that this arrival would prove a good catch. The old priest lay in a
condition so extreme, that it was considered useless to apply to him to do
the needful; but like loyal subjects who profess love and allegiance to a
dying king, they begun to turn their thoughts towards his successor. He,
however, became wide awake, when he heard the rumbling of those wheels, well
knowing that they were tired with gold rather than with iron. By an effort
he summoned strength to make inquiry touching the new comers ; and feeling
the ruling passion strong within him still, he declared his willingness to
play the blacksmith once more, by welding them together in holy matrimony.
This, it is said, he really did, even as he lay there; and it is further
said that, when the business was achieved, he found himself no' less than
<£300 richer than he was before.
Shortly after this, the said
Angel of Death verily did enter the house and come up to his bed-side. It
cried out to him, " Now, Paisley, come along." •He made no answer, for by
this time he was dead!
Now then, we come to the era
before Paisley.
Not even on the spot could we
discover that the pursuit had been engrossed by any individuals exclusively
to themselves, prior to him : but in default of tradition, Pennant furnishes
us with an historical information—and if we cannot procure from rumour, that
which we desire, we must e'en be content to put up with authentic history.
This great peregrinator, and
learned man, was at Gretna Green in the year 1771 ; and albeit he says,
"here the young couple may be instantly united by a fisherman, a joiner, or
a blacksmith," he subsequently mentions that the chief priest was a
fisherman by occupation. It is true, he tells us of a blacksmith—the only
notice of the sort we have fallen upon—but he speaks of him incidentally,
together with others of other trades, clearly shewing that the business was
then open to all artisans whatsoever, and blacksmiths among the number:—and
where is the village that does not contain such a functionary, who shoes
horses and mends ploughshares for the farmers?
"This place," he continues,
"is distinguished from afar by a small plantation of firs, the Cyprian grove
of the place—a sort of land-mark for fugitive lovers. As I had a great
desire to see the high priest, by stratagem I succeeded. He appeared in the
form of a fisherman; a stout fellow in a blue coat, rolling round his solemn
chops a quid of tobacco of no common size. One of our party was supposed to
come to explore the coast: we questioned him about the price, which, after
eyeing us attentively, he left to our honour. The Church of Scotland does
what it can to prevent these clandestine matches, but in vain; for these
infamous couplers despise the fulminations of the Kirk, as excommunication
is the only penalty it can inflict."
From this passage it is clear
that the principal marrier, or "high priest," as Pennant calls him, was a
fisherman ; to whom he gives greater consideration than to the fortuitously
mentioned joiner and blacksmith : and hence, also from this passage, by his
collectively speaking of them all, it is manifest that the trade was not
subject to so strict a monopoly as now.
It is a curious thing that
the popular idea of a blacksmith-priest should prevail, not only in distant
places where the real truth might not be known, but actually in the very
parish itself, where that idea is unanimously declared to be utterly false
and without foundation.
True it is, however, that
popular errors do often exist in the minds of the inhabitants of a district—
errors touching themselves, or their usages, which they know to be unworthy
of credence: and yet, since they are popular fancies, they are clung to and
perpetuated with as much respect and diligence, as if they were based on the
rock of well-established truth. That such an idea does exist at Gretna as
well as at other places is certain, although no one appears to know whence,
where, how, or when it arose.
We hope that the most
companionable reader, who has sociably journeyed along with us all through
these pages, is satisfied, as we certainly are, of the unreasonableness of
adhering to it: and yet, at the same time, we admit that it is so strong, so
deeply imprinted upon the imaginations of many, and has taken root so firmly
in the affections of the world at large, that we have ofttimes wholly failed
in conversation, when the topic bore upon this matter, to convince our
hearers, whether by argument or assertion, that this long-cherished belief
was an entire fallacy.
If the authority of Pennant,
of its single self, were not enough to assure us that it was erroneous to
fancy that a blacksmith was the chief marrier during the earlier stages of
Gretna's celebrity, we may also-call in the name of the learned Dr. Dibdin,
a passage in whose Northern Tour, fully corroborates the idea, that a
fisherman was then the principal.
"Surely," says he, when
speaking in strong terms against the practices there,—"Surely, the only
available and effectual remedy would be, a statutable declaration against
the legality or validity of such matches; and then the fisherman's
occupation is gone."
There is no mention here
about any other tradesman, saving the fisher ; and by the way in which he is
named, it should seem that he was sole monarch of the parish.
In Chambers' Picture of
Scotland, we have also a very plain assertion, that error has gone abroad
into the world touching these matters ; an assertion which tallies well with
the other meritable authorities to which we have had recourse.
"The trade," it says, "was
founded by a tobacconist, (not a blacksmith as is generally believed) named
Joseph Paisley, who, after leading a long life of profanity and drunkenness,
died so lately as 1814."
This is but an indifferent
epitaph for old Joe, whose mundane celebrity, and the riches of his last
visitors from England, brought him three hundred pounds as he lay on his
death-bed.
The passage continues in
these words:—" The common phrase { Gretna Green' arose from his first
residence at Meggs Hill, on the common or Green, between Graitney (as it is
sometimes spelt), and Springfield; to the last of which villages, of modern
erection, he removed in 1791."
These authors we had not
consulted until after we had quitted the place under consideration, and had
begun to write this work; but we do confidently aver, that they all
corroborate the result of our inquiries, and also corroborate each other.
We were never knocked down,
or told we decidedly lied, when we have assured folks by word of mouth what
we here say by word of pen ; but if angered looks, and looks incredulous,
could have done so, verily we should have been knocked down and told as much
long ago.
People never like to hear a
popular belief questioned or impeached, even though they know it to be
erroneous. There is a something within us so enamoured of romance and
tradition, that we would almost always rather continue in the cloud of
romantic error, than clear if off, or exchange it for dry and matter-of-fact
reality.
That the notion of the
blacksmith is popular even in Springfield, is evident from the emblazonment
on the sign of the "Gretna Wedding " before mentioned, where everybody knows
it to be false. We have already set forth this achievement at full; and we
will here refer to it in amplification of this topic, by reminding' the
reader that the scene is laid in a veritable smithy, where an anvil forms
the altar, where the priest has laid down his sledge-hammer to take up the
book; and where the background, instead of being a painted window, through
which shines a dim religious light, is decorated with certain horse-shoes
fixed up against the wall with large nails.
When debating this anomaly
and contradiction in Springfield, here falsely displayed at the very head
quarters, we particularly demanded an explanation to a fact so
unaccountable; how it was, that a native artist should lay the wedding scene
in a blacksmith's shop, when every Scotchman averred that marriages in
Gretna parish never were celebrated in such places? To this the answer was,
"Oh, why, we know it's wrong, strictly speaking ; but then we know that our
best customers the English, whom we wish to attract and please, have taken
such a notion into their heads; and the fact of its popularity is quite
recommendation enough for us to adopt it as a sign. Never mind strict truth
in this matter; when a party of runaways from the south comes over the Moss
into the village, they immediately, see a sign that coincides with the
favourite idea, and the pleasure derived from this concordance, from seeing
their cherished fancy revealed to them here in bright colours, is a thing
not to be passed by or withstood. The truth, therefore, is nothing ; you
perceive the policy of the sign."
It should seem that even Sir
Walter Scott himself has blindly adopted this delusion, without looking
further into it than the giving of credence to a flying report; and from his
incorrect notice of localities, it further appears manifest, that he could
never have been either at Springfield or Gretna Green.
The passage alluded to is
this :—
"The village of Gretna," he
says, "towards the termination of Solway Firth, has been famous in the
annals of matrimonial adventure, for the clandestine marriages of fugitive
lovers from England, whieh have been solemnized at this celebrated temple of
Hymen. The priest, who died lately, a blacksmith by trade, (being no other
apparently than old David Laing, the pedlar,) has been known to draw one
hundred guineas from one couple for performing the ceremony. Springfield,
another flourishing village, is only a short distance from Gretna. At the
port of Sarkfoot, there is a considerable importation of wood, tar, slates,
and other merchandise."
There is also, over and
above, a notion gone abroad that the said blacksmith makes his visitors jump
over a broomstick, as one part of the ceremony; and right graphic
delineations of such feats of agility do sometimes adorn the books of the
curious; but when we gravely inquired as to the veracity of this part of the
statement—oh! good gracious how they did laugh! |
