that zealous Protestant, being committed to the Tower; but for my

part, I had no terror upon me, for I saw all things around me going
forward improving; and I said to myself, it is not so when

Providence permits scathe and sorrow to fall upon a nation. Civil
troubles, and the casting down of thrones, is always forewarned by

want and povertystriking the people. What I have, therefore,
chiefly to record as the memorables of this year, are things of

small import--the main of which are, that some of the neighbouring
lairds, taking example by Mr Kibbock, my father-in-law that was,

began in this fall to plant the tops of their hills with mounts of
fir-trees; and Mungo Argyle, the exciseman, just herried the poor

smugglers to death, and made a power of prize-money, which, however,
had not the wonted effect of riches, for it brought him no honour;

and he lived in the parish like a leper, or any other kind of
excommunicated person.

But I should not forget a most droll thing that took place with
Jenny Gaffaw, and her daughter. They had been missed from the

parish for some days, and folk began to be uneasy about what could
have become of the two silly creatures; till one night, at the dead

hour, a strange light was seen beaming and burning at the window of
the bit hole where they lived. It was first observed by Lady

Macadam, who never went to bed at any Christian hour, but sat up
reading her new French novels and play-books with Miss Sabrina, the

schoolmistress. She gave the alarm, thinking that such a great and
continuous light from a lone house, where never candle had been seen

before, could be nothing less than the flame of a burning. And
sending Miss Sabrina and the servants to see what was the matter,

they beheld daft Jenny, and her as daft daughter, with a score of
candle doups, (Heaven only knows where they got them!) placed in the

window, and the twa fools dancing, and linking, and admiring before
the door. "What's all this about, Jenny," said Miss Sabrina.--"Awa'

wi' you, awa' wi' you--ye wicked pope, ye whore of Babylon--is na it
for the glory of God, and the Protestant religion? d'ye think I will

be a pope as long as light can put out darkness?"--And with that the
mother and daughter began again to leap and dance as madly as

before.
It seems that poor Jenny, having heard of the luminations that were

lighted up through the country on the ending of the Popish Bill,
had, with Meg, travelled by themselves into Glasgow, where they had

gathered or begged a stock of candles, and coming back under the
cloud of night, had surprised and alarmed the whole clachan, by

lighting up their window in the manner that I have described. Poor
Miss Sabrina, at Jenny's uncivil salutation, went back to my lady

with her heart full, and would fain have had the idiots brought to
task before the session, for what they had said to her. But I would

not hear tell of such a thing, for which Miss Sabrina owed me a
grudge that was not soon given up. At the same time, I was grieved

to see the testimonies of joyfulness for a holy victory, brought
into such disrepute by the ill-timed demonstrations of the two

irreclaimable naturals, that had not a true conception of the cause
for which they were triumphing.

CHAPTER XXII YEAR 1781
If the two last years passed o'er the heads of me and my people

without any manifest dolour, which is a great thing to say for so
long a period in this world, we had our own trials and tribulations

in the one of which I have now to make mention. Mungo Argyle, the
exciseman, waxing rich, grew proud and petulant, and would have

ruled the country side with a rod of iron. Nothing less would serve
him than a fine horse to ride on, and a world of other conveniences

and luxuries, as if he had been on an equality with gentlemen. And
he bought a grand gun, which was called a fowling-piece; and he had

two pointer dogs, the like of which had not been seen in the parish
since the planting of the Eaglesham-wood on the moorland, which was

four years before I got the call. Every body said the man was fey;
and truly, when I remarked him so gallant and gay on the Sabbath at

the kirk, and noted his glowing face and gleg een, I thought at
times there was something no canny about him. It was indeed clear

to be seen, that the man was hurried out of himself; but nobody
could have thought that the death he was to dree would have been

what it was.
About the end of summer my Lord Eaglesham came to the castle,

bringing with him an English madam, that was his Miss. Some days
after he came down from London, as he was riding past the manse, his

lordship stopped to enquire for my health, and I went to the door to
speak to him. I thought that he did not meet me with that blithe

countenance he was wont, and in going away, he said with a blush, "I
fear I dare not ask you to come to the castle." I had heard of his

concubine, and I said, "In saying so, my lord, you show a spark of
grace; for it would not become me to see what I have heard; and I am

surprised, my lord, you will not rather take a lady of your own."
He looked kindly, but confused, saying, he did not know where to get

one; so seeing his shame, and not wishing to put him out of conceit
entirely with himself, I replied, "Na, na, my lord, there's nobody

will believe that, for there never was a silly Jock, but there was
as silly a Jenny," at which he laughed heartily, and rode away. But

I know not what was in't; I was troubled in mind about him, and
thought, as he was riding away, that I would never see him again;

and sure enough it so happened; for the next day, being airing in
his coach with Miss Spangle, the lady he had brought, he happened to

see Mungo Argyle with his dogs and his gun, and my lord being as
particular about his game as the other was about boxes of tea and

kegs of brandy, he jumped out of the carriage, and ran to take the
gun. Words passed, and the exciseman shot my lord. Never shall I

forget that day; such riding, such running, the whole country side
afoot; but the same night my lord breathed his last; and the mad and

wild reprobate that did the deed was taken up and sent off to
Edinburgh. This was a woeful riddance of that oppressor, for my

lord was a good landlord and a kind-hearted man; and albeit, though
a little thoughtless, was aye ready to make his power, when the way

was pointed out, minister to good works. The whole parish mourned
for him, and there was not a sorer heart in all its bounds than my

own. Never was such a sight seen as his burial: the whole country
side was there, and all as solemn as if they had been assembled in

the valley of Jehoshaphat in the latter day. The hedges where the
funeral was to pass were clad with weans, like bunches of hips and

haws, and the kirkyard was as if all its own dead were risen.
Never, do I think, was such a multitude gathered together. Some

thought there could not be less than three thousand grown men,
besides women and children.

Scarcely was this great public calamity past, for it could be
reckoned no less, when one Saturday afternoon, as Miss Sabrina, the

schoolmistress, was dining with Lady Macadam, her ladyship was
stricken with the paralytics, and her face so thrown in the course

of a few minutes, that Miss Sabrina came flying to the manse for the
help and advice of Mrs Balwhidder. A doctor was gotten with all

speed by express; but her ladyship was smitten beyond the reach of
medicine. She lived, however, some time after; but oh! she was such

an object, that it was a grief to see her. She could only mutter
when she tried to speak, and was as helpless as a baby. Though she

never liked me, nor could I say there was many things in her
demeanour that pleased me; yet she was a free-handed woman to the

needful, and when she died she was more missed than it was thought
she could have been.

Shortly after her funeral, which was managed by a gentleman sent
from her friends in Edinburgh, that I wrote to about her condition,

the Major, her son, with his lady, Kate Malcolm, and two pretty
bairns, came and stayed in her house for a time, and they were a