to my old age; but he's gone, and he'll never come back--

disappointment is my portion in this world, and I have no hope;
while I can do, I will seek no help, but threescore and fifteen can

do little, and a small ail is a great evil to an aged woman, who has
but the distaff for her breadwinner."

I did all that I could to bid her be of good cheer, but the comfort
of a hopeful spirit was dead within her; and she told me, that by

many tokens she was assured her bairn was already slain.--"Thrice,"
said she, "I have seen his wraith--the first time he was in the

pride of his young manhood, the next he was pale and wan, with a
bloody and gashy wound in his side, and the third time there was a

smoke, and, when it cleared away, I saw him in a grave, with neither
winding-sheet nor coffin."

The tale of this pious and resigned spirit dwelt in mine ear, and,
when I went home, Mrs Balwhidder thought that I had met with an

o'ercome, and was very uneasy; so she got the tea soon ready to make
me better; but scarcely had we tasted the first cup when a loud

lamentation was heard in the kitchen. This was from that tawpy the
wife of Thomas Wilson, with her three weans. They had been seeking

their meat among the farmer houses, and, in coming home, forgathered
on the road with the Glasgow carrier, who told them that news had

come, in the London Gazette, of a battle, in which the regiment that
Thomas had listed in was engaged, and had suffered loss both in rank

and file; none doubting that their head was in the number of the
slain, the whole family grat aloud, and came to the manse, bewailing

him as no more; and it afterwards turned out to be the case, making
it plain to me that there is a farseeing discernment in the spirit,

that reaches beyond the scope of our incarnate senses.
But the weight of the war did not end with these afflictions; for,

instead of the sorrow that the listing caused, and the anxiety
after, and the grief of the bloodytidings, operating as wholesome

admonition to our young men, the natural perversity of the human
heart was more and more manifested. A wonderful interest was raised

among us all to hear of what was going on in the world; insomuch,
that I myself was no longer contented with the relation of the news

of the month in the Scots Magazine, but joined with my father-in-
law, Mr Kibbock, to get a newspaper twice a-week from Edinburgh. As

for Lady Macadam, who being naturally an impatient woman, she had
one sent to her three times a-week from London, so that we had

something fresh five times every week; and the old papers were lent
out to the families who had friends in the wars. This was done on

my suggestion, hoping it would make all content with their peaceable
lot; but dominion for a time had been given to the power of

contrariness, and it had quite an opposite effect. It begot a
curiosity, egging on to enterprise; and, greatly to my sorrow, three

of the brawest lads in the parish, or in any parish, all in one day
took on with a party of the Scots Greys that were then lying in Ayr;

and nothing would satisfy the callans at Mr Lorimore's school, but,
instead of their innocent plays with girs, and shinties, and

sicklike, they must go ranking like soldiers, and fight sham-fights
in bodies. In short, things grew to a perfect hostility, for a

swarm of weans came out from the schools of Irville on a Saturday
afternoon, and, forgathering with ours, they had a battle with

stones on the toll-road, such as was dreadful to hear of; for many a
one got a mark that day he will take to the grave with him.

It was not, however, by accidents of the field only, that we were
afflicted; those of the flood, too, were sent likewise against us.

In the month of October, when the corn was yet in the holms, and on
the cold land by the river side, the water of Irville swelled to a

great spait, from bank to brae, sweeping all before it, and roaring,
in its might, like an agent of divinedispleasure, sent forth to

punish the inhabitants of the earth. The loss of the victual was a
thing reparable, and those that suffered did not greatly complain;

for, in other respects, their harvest had been plenteous: but the
river, in its fury, not content with overflowing the lands, burst

through the sandy hills with a raging force, and a riving asunder of
the solid ground, as when the fountains of the great deep were

broken up. All in the parish was a-foot, and on the hills, some
weeping and wringing their hands, not knowing what would happen,

when they beheld the landmarks of the waters deserted, and the river
breaking away through the country, like the war-horse set loose in

his pasture, and glorying in his might. By this change in the way
and channel of the river, all the mills in our parish were left more

than half a mile from dam or lade; and the farmers through the whole
winter, till the new mills were built, had to travel through a heavy

road with their victual, which was a great grievance, and added not
a little to the afflictions of this unhappy year, which to me were

not without a particularity, by the death of a full cousin of Mrs
Balwhidder, my first wife; she was grievously burnt by looting over

a candle. Her mutch, which was of the high structure then in vogue,
took fire, and being fastened with corking-pins to a great toupee,

it could not be got off until she had sustained a deadlyinjury, of
which, after lingering long, she was kindly eased by her removal

from trouble. This sore accident was to me a matter of deep concern
and cogitation; but as it happened in Tarbolton, and no in our

parish, I have only alluded to it to show, that when my people were
chastised by the hand of Providence, their pastor was not spared,

but had a drop from the same vial.
CHAPTER XIX YEAR 1778

This year was as the shadow of the bygane: there was less actual
suffering, but what we came through cast a gloom among us, and we

did not get up our spirits till the spring was far advanced; the
corn was in the ear, and the sun far towards midsummer height,

before there was any regular show of gladness in the parish.
It was clear to me that the wars were not to be soon over; for I

noticed, in the course of this year, that there was a greater
christening of lad bairns than had ever been in any year during my

incumbency; and grave and wise persons, observant of the signs of
the times, said, that it had been long held as a sure

prognostication of war, when the births of male children outnumbered
that of females.

Our chief misfortune in this year was a revival of that wicked
mother of many mischiefs, the smuggling trade, which concerned me

greatly; but it was not allowed to it to make any thing like a
permanent stay among us, though in some of the neighbouring

parishes, its ravages, both in morals and property, were very
distressing, and many a mailing was sold to pay for the triumphs of

the cutters and gaugers; for the government was by this time grown
more eager, and the war caused the king's ships to be out and about,

which increased the trouble of the smugglers, whose wits in their
turn were thereby much sharpened.

After Mrs Malcolm, by the settlement of Captain Macadam, had given
up her dealing, two maiden women, that were sisters, Betty and Janet

Pawkie, came in among us from Ayr, where they had friends in league
with some of the laigh land folk, that carried on the contraband

with the Isle of Man, which was the very eye of the smuggling. They
took up the tea-selling, which Mrs Malcolm had dropped, and did

business on a larger scale, having a general huxtry, with
parliament-cakes, and candles, and pincushions, as well as other

groceries, in their window. Whether they had any contraband
dealings, or were only back-bitten, I cannot take it upon me to say;

but it was jealoused in the parish that the meal in the sacks, that
came to their door at night, and was sent to the Glasgow market in

the morning, was not made of corn. They were, however, decent
women, both sedate and orderly; the eldest, Betty Pawkie, was of a

manly stature, and had a long beard, which made her have a coarse
look; but she was, nevertheless, a worthy, well-doing creature, and