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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

OLD CHURCH LIFE IN SCOTLAND.

OLD CHURCH LIFE IN SCOTLAND

LECTURES ON KIRK-SESSION AND PRESBYTERY
RECORDS.

SECOND SERIES.

ANDREW EDGAR, D.D.,

Minister at Mauchline.

' ' Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many genera-
tions."— Deut. xxxii. 7.

" Yone is the court rethoricall :
Yone is the facound well celestiall :

Yone is the court of joyous discipline."

—Palice of Honour. Gavin Douglas.

ALEXANDER GARDNER,
PAISLEY; and 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

1886.

PREFACE.

This volume is a sequel to one that last year was published
under the same title. Both volumes consist of lectures which,
in a shorter form, were given in Mauchline in the spring of
1884, with the view of exhibiting the Church life and Church
rule that prevailed in the parish in days gone by.

Last year's volume comprised half of the lectures embraced
in the course referred to, and the other half of the lectures are
now published in this volume. The first volume was published
at the request of some parishioners ; and the favour with which
it was received by the press and public has emboldened me to
venture on this second publication.

Four of the lectures published in this volume are on subjects
of general interest, but it may be said that the subjects of the
other two lectures are scarcely of that character. I trust, how-
ever, that these two lectures, written principally for the enter-
tainment of parishioners, will nevertheless be found to have a
wider bearing and interest than their parochial title indicates.

The book abounds in quotations from Kirk-Session and
Presbytery records, and most of these quotations are taken
from records that are unpublished. The manuscript records I
have consulted and gleaned from are the Registers of the
Presbyteries of Ayr and Irvine, and the Registers of the Kirk-
Sessions of Mauchline, Galston, Kilmarnock, Fenwick (1645-
1699), and Rothesay (1658-1662). To the custodians of these

vi. Preface.

documents I have publicly to acknowledge my obligations, and
to tender my warmest thanks. And I owe the same courtesies
to the Rev. John Patrick, Monkton, for several extracts of
much interest he kindly sent me from the records of his Kirk-
Session.

It need scarcely be said that it was not the selection but the
interpretation of extracts that cost me most care and considera-
tion in the writing of this book. It is in that part of my work,
too, that error and misjudgment are most likely to be dis-
covered, notwithstanding the pains I have taken to " prove all
things."

On several points I have found it necessary to solicit in-
formation and counsel from friends, and even from strangers.
To many gentlemen I am more or less indebted for help in
this way ; but, of these, I must specially name the Rev. Dr.
Leishman, Linton ; Dr. Joseph Anderson, Edinburgh ; Rev.
Dr. Joass, Golspie ; and the Rev. James Strachan, Barvas.

Many defects and omissions will doubtless be noticed in this
volume. It may, by some people, be thought strange that I
have said little or nothing about the Scotch marriages at
Gretna Green and Portpatrick. These marriages scarcely
came under the scope of my subject, because the " contracting
parties," being English or Irish, were not amenable to the
Courts of the Church of Scotland.

It may possibly appear to some readers that Church life, as
depicted both in this and the previous volume, was very petty
and parochial. It must be remembered, however, that it is
only the parochial aspects of Church life that are presented in
Session records ; and it is with such records that, in these
lectures, I have had mainly to deal. The higher aspects of
Church and clerical life must be sought elsewhere.

A number of archaic words, disowned in dictionaries, are

Preface. vii.

freely used in the course of this volume. It will generally be
found that these words occur in old Acts and other public
documents bearing on Church life in Scotland.

A. E.

The Manse, Mauchline,
June, 1886.

CONTENTS.

Lecture I. — Provision for the Poor in Olden Times.

The Church's notions of duty to the poor, i ; Deacons, 3 ; Sources of pro-
vision for the poor — ist, assessment — 2nd, church collections, 14 ; How
gathered, 14 ; Amount of congregational and individual contributions,
18 ; Bad coppers, 22 ; 3rd, Fines, 24 ; 4th, Dues and fees, 25 ; 5th, Bell-
penny, 27 ; 6th, Mortcloth, 28 ; 7th, Benefactions, 32 ; 8th, Sale of pau-
pers' effects, 34 ; 9th, Interest on stock, 35 ; Rent of land, 35 ; Bills and
pledges, 36 ; Distribution of poors' funds, 38 ; The Parochial Board, 38 ;
Heritors and elders, 38 ; Inspectors of poor, 39 ; Deacons or elders or
kirk-treasurers, 40 ; Meeting for granting allowances to poor, 42 ; Pensions,
appointments, and precepts, 43 ; Principle on which amount of allowance
to the poor fixed, 43 ; Amount of allowance per week to regular poor in
money or meal, 45 ; Orphan children, 47 ; Casual poor and vagrants, 48 ;
Miscellaneous cases of charity, 51 ; Badges for begging, 53 ; Beggars at
church doors, 57; Cost of poor to the country, 58 ; On whom the cost fell,
59 ; Kindliness and care of Kirk-Session, 61.

Lecture IL — Provision for Education in Olden Times.

Three educational periods, 63 ; First period from 1560 to 1633, 64; Reformers'
views of schools, 64 ; What done in parishes by individual ministers, 66 ;
Ecclesiastical visitations, 161 3, 68 ; Report on education, 1627, 70 ;
Church courts had entire management of schools, 71 ; Second period
from 1633 to 1872, 72 ; Educational Acts, 72 ; State of education from
1633 to 1646, 73 ; from 1646 to 1750, 74 ; Mauchline school in old times,
75 ; Schoolhouses, how provided, 76 ; School at the kirk, 79 ; Primitive
character of schoolhouses, 80 ; Schoolmasters, 80 ; Their appointment, 81 ;
Examination by Presbytery, 84 ; Tenure of office, 85 ; License to teach,
86 ; Sources of maintenance, 87 ; Salary, 87 ; Dwelling house, 98 ;
School fees, 99 ; Kirk dues, 105 ; Education of poor children, 108 ;
Bursars, 11 1 ; Examination of schools, 114 ; Comparative state of educa-
tion now and formerly, 116; In regard to school attendance, 116; Sub-
jects taught in schools, 118 ; Advanced instruction, 120 ; Religious educa-
tion, 121 ; Sunday schools, 124 ; Respect in which learning was held, 130.

X. Contents.

Lecture III. — Marriages in Olden Times.

Marriages sometimes regular and sometimes irregular, 134 ; Kirk-Sessions and
Church Courts had to do with both kinds of marriages, 135 ; Proclamation
of banns, 135 ; Proclamation fees, 141 ; Consignations, 143 ; Marriage
festivities, 150; Proclamations sisted or stopped, 157; by parents or
guardians, 157 ; on account of scandal, 160; Ignorance, 163 ; Neglect of
ordinances, 164 ; Pre-contract, 164 ; Marriage already formed and not
dissolved, 165 ; Youth and near relationship, 168 ; Marriage in church,
170; Marriage service, 175; Irregular marriages, 177; Old and High
Church doctrine of marriage, 178 ; Lower and more secular doctrine held
by some Protestant ministers and denominations, 179 ; Curious case at
Kilmarnock, 181 ; Irregular marriages at one time always or almost
always celebrated by a minister, 182 ; Severe Acts anent clandestine
marriages, 185 ; Frequency of irregular marriages last century, 186 ;
Causes of that frequency, 187 ; Sessional procedure — first ascertain
whether parties really married, 189 ; Proofs of marriages-certificate, 189 ;
Different views on subject of legal marriage, 191 ; Acknowledgment and
habit and repute, 193 ; When found unmarried, pronounced scandalous,
and interdicted from living together, 195 ; When found married, censured
for breach of Church order, had marriage confirmed, were fined, 196 ;
What done when husband and wife separated, 202.

Lecture IV. — Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times.

The main points of controversy in regard to baptism, 204 ; Mode of adminis-
tering baptism, 204 ; Lawfulness or unlawfulness of private baptism, 207 ;
Infant baptism, 214 ; Sponsors at baptism, 214 ; Right to baptism, 219 ;
Early baptism, 220 ; Baptism disallowed to the ignorant and scandalous,
221; Baptism of adults, 224; Registration of baptisms and fees, 225;
Baptismal banquets, 228.

Burials, 230 ; Religious ceremonies and sermons at funerals, 230 ; So-called
" Services " at funerals in Scotland, 232 ; Time spent at funerals, 237 ;
Lyk-wakes, 239 ; Coffining, 241 ; Smoking at funerals, 241 ; Coffins for
poor, 243 ; Burial without coffins, 243 ; Biers and common mort-kists,
246 ; Cost of coffins, 249 ; Cists, 250 ; Sanitary and orderly interment,
251 ; Burial in fields, in church-yards, and in churches, 252 ; Civil
respects at funerals, 255 ; Bell-ringing, 256 ; Mortcloths, 258 ; Curious
panic, 1777, about people's being buried alive, 260; Resurrectionists, 263;
Horse-hearses and hand-hearses, 265.

Lecture IV. — Ministers and Ministerial Life at Mauchliiie,
1650-1655.

Scope of preceding lectures, 267 ; What to be learned from sketches of a par-
ochial ministry, 26S ; Progress of Reformation in Mauchline before 1560,
269 ; Robert Campbell of Kingencleugh, 272 ; Ministers of Mauchline ;

Contents. xi.

Robert Hamilton, 274 ; How parishes supplied with ordinances, 274 ;
Superintendents and their appointments, 274 ; Testimonial to Kingen-
cleugh and Mr. Hamilton, 277 ; Peter Primrose, 280 ; Union of parishes,
280 ; Three phases of outward organisation in church during Mr. Prim-
rose's pastorate, 280 ; Book of Policy and Judicial Committees, 281 ;
Spanish Armada, 282 ; Committee of prime conference at General Assem-
blies, 284 ; The Assembly after the king's marriage, 285 ; Settlement of
Episcopacy, 287 ; John Rose, 291 ; George Young, 291 ; Episcopal form
of induction, 292 ; Mr. Young and Baillie, 293 ; Transportation of minis-
ters, 294 ; Mr. Young's business talents, 295 ; The Service Book and
National Covenant, 297 ; The nocent ceremonies, 300 ; The public reso-
lutions, 302 ; Death and character of Mr. Young, 306 ; Steps taken to
find a successor to Mr. Young, 306 ; Thomas Wyllie, 308 ; His condi-
tional acceptance of the cure, 308 ; A conciliatory protestor, 309 ; Duke
Hamilton's engagement to relieve the king, and skirmish at Mauchline
moor, 311; The whigamore's raid, 319; Mr. Wyllie's translation to Kirk-
cudbright, 320 ; Re-establishment of Episcopacy in the Church of Scot-
land, 320; Mr. Wyllie's persecutions, 326; His indulgence, 331 j His
death and character, 333.

Lecture VI. — Ministers and Ministerial Life at Mauchline,
1656-1800.

James Veitch, 335 ; Regent in University of Glasgow, 337 ; Invective against
Professor Baillie, 339 ; Settlement in Mauchline, 340 ; Beginning of per-
secutions in Church, 341 ; The first restraint, 345; The indulgencies, 347;
Banishment to Holland, 351 ; Persecution by his own allies, 351 ; Tole-
ration of 1687, 352 ; Return to Mauchline, 353 ; The Church of Scotland
from 1687 to 1690, 356 ; Mr. Veitch's death and character, 357 ; David
Meldrum, 358 ; Mode of admission, 358 ; Mode of appointing elders in
16S5, 360 ; Scene in church about a doxology, 362 ; Episcopal leanings
in distributing charity, 363 ; Demission and reception into Presbyterian
Church, 364; William Maitland, 366; Mode of appointing ministers,
367 ; Services at ordination, 369 ; Pastoral work, 371 ; Deputations to the
north, 373 ; Leazed by viragos, 375 ; Death and character, 376 ; William
Auld, 377 ; Pastoral work and popularity, 378 ; His preaching, 379 ;
Parochial discipline, 380 ; Literary work, 384 ; Not a prominent member
of church courts, 387 ; Archibald Reid, 3S8 ; His sorrows, 389 ; His gifts
and goodness, 393 ; End of old church life and beginning of modern
church life in Mauchline, 394 ; Mr. Tod and Mr. Fairlie, 394 ; Conclu-
sion, 396.

Appendix.

Burns's Marriage, 399 ; Notes on Old Church Life (First Series), 405.

Index, . . . , . . .411

Old Church Life in Scotland.

LECTURE I.

PROVISION FOR THE POOR IN OLDEN TIMES.

The Church's notions of duty to the Poor — Deacons — Sources of Provision for the
Poor— 1st, Assessment — 2nci, Church Collections — How gathered — Amount
of Congregational and individual Contributions — Bad Coppers — 3rd, Fines —
4th, Dues and Fees — 5th, Bell-penny — 6th, Mortcloth — 7th, Benelactions —
8th, Sale of paupers' effects — 9th, Interest on stock — Rent of land — Bills and
pledges — Straits to which Kirk-Sessions were sometimes reduced — Distribu-
tion of Poor's Funds — The Parochial Board — Heritors and Elders — Inspectors
of Poor — Deacons or Elders or Kirk-Treasurers — Meeting for granting allow-
ances to Poor — Pensions, appointments and precepts — Principle on which
amount of allowance to the poor fixed — Amount of allowance per week to
regular poor in money or meal — Orphan children — Casual poor and vagrants —
Miscellaneous cases of Charity — Badges for Begging — Beggars at Church
doors — Cost of poor to the Country — On whom the cost fell — Kindliness and
care of Kirk-Session.

Next to the exercise of discipline the most important duty
that devolved on Kirk Sessions in olden times was the susten-
tation of the poor. This was a duty that the Church of Scot-
land, from the earliest period of her history, considered to be
specially entrusted to the Christian Church. It was a duty en-
joined on Paul and Barnabas when they received at Jerusalem
the right hand of fellowship from the twelve Apostles and were
sent to Christianize the heathen. It was a duty therefore that
the Scottish Reformers and their successors regarded as part

2 Old Church Life in Scotland.

of Christianity itself, and which they took particular care to
sec fulfilled.* In the First Book of Discipline (1560;, it is
stated that " every several Kirk must provide for the poor
within itself" And the way in which Knox thought that
provision for the poor should be made was by stipends drawn
from the teinds. The whole of the teinds, he maintained, are
the inalienable property of the Church, and ought to be
applied to the support of the ministry and teachers of youth,
the maintenance of the poor, and the repair of church fabrics.
The Church of Scotland, however, never succeeded after the
Reformation in getting possession of the teinds. They were
in the first instance either seized by rapacious potentates or
gifted by the Crown to favourites, who, under the desig-
nation of Titulars, held them on the condition of paying to
the clergy a sufficient stipend. About seventy years later the
teinds were valued, and the owners of lands were allowed to
possess the teinds on their own properties on payment to the
Titular of a sum equivalent to nine years' purchase. The new
possessors of the teinds came under the same obligations to
support the clergy as did the former Titulars. But the teinds
never were made available to the Church for support of the

* The whimsical views of Fletcher of Sakoun, on the causes and remedies of
pauperism, may be quoted here as a political curiosity. Writing in 1698 he says,
" At length I found the original of that multitude of beggars which now oppress
the world to have proceeded from Churchmen, who, upon the first establishment of
the Christian religion, recommended nothing more to masters in order to the salva-
tion of their souls, than the setting such of their slaves at liberty as would embrace
the Christian faith." As a remedy for the evil, he proposed that " ever)- man of a
certain estate should be obliged to take a proportionable number of those vaga-
bonds, and either employ them in hedging and ditching his grounds, or in some
other sort of work," and hold them in slavery as did the ancients. "And for
example and terror three or four hundred of the most notorious of these villains,
which we call jockies, might be presented by the Government to the state of Venice,
to serve in their gallies against the common enemy of Christendom."

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 3

poor. Still, out of teinds or not out of teinds, the Church of
Scotland maintained that the poor must be provided for by the
several Kirks.

In the Reformed Church of Scotland there was at one period
a class of officers, who went by the name of Deacons, and were
specially entrusted with the distribution of charity to the poor.*
Their function originally was somewhat wider than this. In
the first Book of Discipline it was proposed that they should
receive and collect all the teinds, and then at command of the
ministers and elders pay what was appointed for stipend to the
minister, the schoolmaster, and the reader, and also what was
voted for the hospital, if there were such a foundation in the
parish. In the Second Book of Discipline (1578), it was
declared that the office of the deacons is " to receave and to
distribute the haill ecclesiastical gudes unto them to whom
they are appoyntit." The function of Deacon, however, was in
practice if not in theory restricted in the Church of Scotland
to the distribution of alms. At the Westminster Assembly
when the office of deacon was under discussion, it was con-
tended by some of the Erastians that a Diaconate is un-
necessary in the Church, seeing that in England the law of the

* In a small tractate published in 1701 under the title of " Preshyterial Govern-
ment by a Presbyter " (Rev. James Clark of the Tron Church, Glasgow), it is
stated that "as for Deacons they have no authority in courts, but in counts they
have : being concerned in church collections, provisions for the poor, and the like."

The word Deacon is used in a totally different sense in the Presbyterian Church
of Scotland from what it is in the Episcopal Church of England, or was in the
Church of Scotland under Episcopacy. One of the articles in the Bill, or complaint
against the " pretended Bishops" in Scotland in 1638 was, " whereas the office of a
Deacon is set forth in the Book of Discipline, etc., ... to have no medling
with the preaching of the word, etc., . . . yet they have given to certain
persons the name and title of ' preaching Deacons ' and have refused to admit
divers men to the calling of the ministry before they be admitted to that order." —
" Peterkin's Records," p. 96.

4 Old Church Life in Scotland.

land makes provision for the poor. P)Ut the majority of
the Divines maintained that the office of Deacon is of
perpetual standing, on the ground apparently that whatever the
State may do in the way of providing for the poor, the care
of the poor nevertheless devolves on the Church by divine
appointment. One member of the Assembly is reported to
have said that " the provision of civil officers made by the
Civil State for the poor should rather .slip into the office of a
Deacon than the reverse, because the latter bears the badge of
the Lord." And this statement may be said to express the
doctrine held by the ministers of the Church of Scotland both
long before and long after the Westminster Assembly. In
1588 the clergy of Scotland were much exercised by a sermon
that was preached by Dr. Bancroft at St. Paul's Cross, London.
In that sermon the Presbyterians and their tenets were severely
handled. Replies by Scotsmen were of course instantly forth-
coming, and in one of these, which has been published and
preserved, the following passages occur: — "The Church officers
are appointed of God to execute all ecclesiastical matters. .
Will you have the magistrate preach the Word, administer the
sacraments, take the charge of watching over the manners of
the people, and distributing to the poor zvithin his parish. .
These are matters ive account ecclesiastical, and wherein alone
we hold it lawful for Church officers to deal." As recently as
1729, the Presbytery of Ayr delayed giving orders that a
certain new act of the local justices in reference to the poor be
read from pulpits, on the special grounds " that it would
occasion some difference about a point of the power of an
office of divine institution,*' and might bring the " management
of mortifications into other hands than those to which it has
been restricted by the donors."

Although the Church of Scotland continued lon-j after

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 5

the Westminster Assembly to hold that Deacons are a dis-
tinct order of Church officers, it was in many parishes found
impracticable to carry out the theory by the erection of a sep-
arate Eldership and a distinct Diaconate. In a Parish like
Mauchline it was not easy to find a dozen men to undertake
the office of Elder and another dozen the "humbler duties of
Deacon. Although therefore there were in the seventeenth
and the earlier part of the eighteenth century many parishes
with a staff of Elders and another staff of Deacons, there were
probably more parishes in which there were not two such staffs
of officials. About the beginning of last century some Episco-
pal writers alleged that the Diaconate had become extinct in
the Presbyterian Church, and there was scarcely a parish in
Scotland where a Deacon could be found. To this allegation
a Presbyterian polemic, Anderson of Dumbarton, replied in
17 14 that there were "Deacons in every congregation where
they could be had — to my certain knowledge in the lesser as
well as larger towns ; yea, in many country congregations."*
In the " Treatise of Ruling Elders and Deacons," at-
tributed to James Guthrie, the Covenanter and Martyr, and
which, if penned by Guthrie, must have been written about 1650,
it is stated that although the Deacon is an officer distinct from
the Elder, yet " it is a defect and fault in some congregations
that they put no difference betwixt these two, but so confound

* In their round of parochial visitations in 1710 the Presbytery of Irvine found
that in Kilmaurs there was a "competent number of Elders and sotue Deacons,"
but that in Dreghorn there were no Deacons distinct from Elders. The Presby-
tery recommended the Kirk Session in Dreghorn to take steps for the appointment
of Deacons according to the constitution of the Church. In 1695 a curious report
was given in to the Presbytery by the Minister at Beith. " He had Elders distinct
from Deacons, who were all sober and assisting to him, but being of the vulgar
had not authoritie." At the beginning of the present century there were sixteen
Deacons in the West Parish, Edinburgh. (Sime's Hist, of St. Cuthbert's, Edin-
burgh.)

6 Old Chu7'cli Life in Scotland.

and minj^rlc tlicm both together as if they were one, either ap-
pointing none for the office of Deacon but leaving that charge
upon the Elders, or else giving the Deacons the same power
and employment with the Elders." In Mauchline Parish, and
in many other parishes, it was long the custom to ordain men
to the office of Elder and Deacon. Such a form of ordination,
however, seems to have been unnecessary, for as Guthrie re-
marks, "Whatsoever the Deacon may do by virtue of his office
that same may be done by an Elder, as whatsoever is done by
an Elder may be done by a Minister, because the higher and
more eminent officers in the Church include the powers of the
lower."

Between forty and fifty years ago a movement was made to
revive the office of Deacon in the Church of Scotland. It was
alleged that one reason why many excellent men, especially in
large towns, declined to join the Eldership, was the trouble it
entailed in attending to the wants of the poor. It was alleged
also that unless the office of Deacon were revived the care of
the poor would pass from the Church to the State, and would
become a civil instead of a religious duty. The overseers of
the poor might then be men of no religious profession what-
ever. They might receive their appointment, just because they
were stern to the poor and would keep down pauperism.
These strict Ecclesiastical views are now things of the past.
The impracticability of meeting the wants of the poor by
Christian charity alone forced itself on the mind of the legisla-
ture forty years ago, and the result was the Poor Law of 1845.
From the main principles of that law we cannot now recede;
and however defective that law may be, it at least makes bet-
ter provision for the poor than did the system it supplanted.
And the Church may well rejoice that she has been relieved by
the State of an arduous work and a heavy responsibility.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 7

In this lecture the two main questions to be considered, are —
first, what in olden times were the different sources of provision
available for support of the poor in Scotland, and secondly, how
was the money contributed for the poor expended.

From a very early period one source of provision for the poor
in Scotland was assessment. In 1579, an Act of Parliament
was passed ordaining magistrates in towns, and judges in land-
ward parishes, to tax and stent the whole inhabitants
" according to the estimation of their substance," in such weekly
charges as shall be thought expedient for the sustentation of
the poor of the parish. It does not appear, however, that the
practice of levying assessments in terms of this Act ever
became general in old times, for in 1672 another Act of
Parliament was passed, directing that when the contributions
at the church are insufficient to maintain the poor, deserving
paupers should be supplied with badges or tickets entitling
them to ask alms within their parishes. In other words, instead
of being supported by assessment, the poor were to make their
living by licensed beggary.*

The records of the Presbyteries of Ayr and Irvine shew that
for a long time there was a general disinclination in this county
to have recourse to assessments for support of the poor. The
objects aimed at for many a day, both by the Presbyteries and

* There were cases of assessments for the poor both in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. In 1561, a duty of I2d. Scots was imposed on every
ton of wine sold in Edinburgh, to be given to the support of the poor, "failed
merchants, and craftsmen." And in 1564, the Magistrates of Edinburgh were
authorised by the Queen to tax the inhabitants, at their discretion, according to
their ability, for relief of the poor and bearing of the common charges of the kirk.
Authority too was given "if need be, to poind and distrain therefor," (Lee's
Lectures, Vol. IL, p., 393). In September 1687, the church collections at Ratho
were "so inconsiderable that the box was not able to maintain the poor, so an
assessment was proposed according to Act of Parliament," (Fasti). In September
1687, it may be here remarked, the collections in many churches were nothing more
than nominal. See Lecture VI. in this Volume on James Veitch.

8 Old Church Life in Scotland.

the Commissioners of the shire, were to make each parish
supjjort its own i)oor and to relieve each parish of all poor
except its own, but without assessment. In 1725 an act of the
local justices was by order of the Presbytery of Ayr read from
all pulpits within the bounds of the Presbytery, directing Kirk
Sessions to " provide for the poor of the parish by weekly
collections, rents, and interests of mortifications, and begging
with certificates within the parish," and to have a Sabbath-day's
special collection for defraying the cost of " delivering parishes
from poor that are not their own." Five years later, a stent
was proposed as the be.st means of making up the deficiencies
of voluntary contributions for the poor, but in very few parishes
was the proposal adopted. In some cases Heritors and Kirk
Sessions reported to the presbytery that they " maintain their
poor within themselves, and so there is no stent laid on," in
other cases they reported that they had " no occasion to obtain
a stent because of the paucity of their poor." The Kirk
Session of Coylton intimated that they had allowed such poor
" to beg as were able to go," and " provided their bedrids with
collections." Ayr, so far as I have noted, was the only parish
in the presbytery in which at that day a stent was levied. And
a small stent it seems to have been. For, first of all the heritors
and then the different societies of merchants, sailors, writers,
etc., made voluntary contributions, and thereafter the
magistrates assessed " the inhabitants for the remains." Six
years later there were a few more cases of assessment for the
poor in South Ayrshire. In 1736, the heritors of Galston
assessed themselves at a penny sterling for every hundred
pounds Scots of valued rental, and the following year, on find-
ing this assessment insufficient, they ordained their "stentmaster
to stent moneyed men and tradesmen and others, conform to
the Act of the Justices of Peace." In Mauchline, too, there was

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 9

an assessment for the poor in 1736, for in the Session Records
of that year there is a minute, of date 4th January, which states
that " the poor are to be served off the public stent by Robert
Millar, collector, appointed by the heritors for that purpose."

There is abundant evidence that the practice of assessing for
the poor, which was instituted in Ayrshire about or shortly after
1730, was in many parishes, not continued long. In the records
of Kilmarnock Session for 1755, reference is made to the fact
that about 22 years before, there had been a stent levied in that
parish for the maintenance of the poor, and hope is expressed
that the stent may be soon re-imposed. In 1771 a new agitation
arose in the county. The Presbytery of Ayr drew up a memorial
to the Justices of Peace and Commissioners of Supply, setting
forth that the practice of vagrant begging, which for a while
had been happily restrained, had of late years revived and had
come to a very great height : that many disorders, such as lying,
stealing, and drunkenness, had accompanied this increase of
vagrancy ; and that the poor of every parish were wronged by
vagrants intercepting a considerable part of public charity. The
Presbytery accordingly besought the concurrence and assistance
of the Justices in a stricter execution of the laws relating to the
poor, and suggested that while the poor should be confined to
their own parishes, " the rule of three years' residence giving
settlement should be uniformly observed over the county." The
Justices and Commissioners thereupon renewed former acts
anent the poor, " with several amendments and alterations," and
the Presbytery, having passed an Act conform to this Act of the
Justices, enjoined each minister within the bounds to read both
Acts from his pulpit on the first Sabbath of October at the close
of the forenoon service, " and on the afternoon of the same day
to preach on a subject suitable to the occasion."

It might have been expected that from this date the practice

lO Old Church Lije in Scotland.

of assess! n^^ for the poor would h.-ivc become general over all
Ayrshire, and tli.it when once introduced the practice would
never afterwards have been discontinued. It is doubtful if
cither of these things happened. Heritors were loth long ago
to adopt new schemes that involved taxation, and they were
not the least scrupulous on pretexts of inconvenience to aban-
don good practices after they had been adopted. In his sur-
vey of Ayrshire, published in 1811, Mr. Alton says that "ex-
cept in the Parish of Kilmarnock, and sometimes in Newmilns
and a few others, such stents (for the maintenance of the poor)
are unknown in Ayrshire." What happened in Mauchline pro-
bably happened in a number of other parishes ; and I shall
therefore explain, so far as extant records enable me, the course
that events took in this parish.

On the 31st October, 1771, a meeting of the Heritors of
Mauchline was held to consider the state of the poor in the
parish, and the proper way of providing for their maintenance.
At this meeting it was found that a sum of ^^19 los. 2d. in ad-
dition to the Session's funds would sufificeto maintain the poor
of the parish for a year, without begging ; and that it would be
a great saving to the parish if begging were stopped. It was
agreed therefore to raise this sum of £\g los. 2d. by assess-
ment of the heritors according to their valued rent, with re-
lief to the heritors of one half of the rate from their tenants.
It was agreed further that to prevent people "being oppresied
by begging poor from other parishes," the Act anent vagrants .
should be rigidly enforced, and that the constables should re-
ceive 2s. 6d. for each beggar they apprehended within the
parish and took to the prison of Ayr, over and above the al-
lowance granted by the county in their said Act." And, so
zealous were the minister and elders in this work of parochial
reformation, that even before the heritors had passed these

Provision for the Poor in Olden l imes. 1 1

resolutions the Kirk Session were giving vagrants notice to be-
take themselves out of Mauchline as fast as they could. On
the 12th September, 1771, information was lodged with the
Session that " Alexander Adam, a poor man from Sorn, is re-
siding at present (within) and begging up and down this
parish." The Session thereupon ordered " their officer to ad-
vise the said Alexander to return to the Sorn, with certifica-
tion, that if he do not, he will be sent to Ayr Tolbooth."

Year after year the Kirk Session expressed in their minutes
a hope that the heritors would be pleased to continue to levy
the assessment, and one year at least the gratifying fact was
announced that since the stent had been imposed the church
collections had increased and the poor were better provided
for. The heritors also referred year after }'ear to the " happy
effects " that had arisen from the imposition of the stent, and
stated that " all begging within the Parish of Mauchline had
been prevented, and the poor of the parish were decently main-
tained."

How long the stent continued from 1771 to be imposed for
relief of the poor is not made clear in the Records. From what
is said in the account of the parish published, under date 1791,
in Sir John Sinclair's statistical work, it might be inferred that
from 1 77 1 to 1 79 1 the stent had been annually levied and lifted.
The course of taxation, however, did not run smooth in those
days, and long before 1791 Parochial troubles had arisen in
Mauchline out of this assessment. Burns' fiiend, Mr. Gavfn
Hamilton, had for three years been entrusted with the collection
of the stent, and had failed to deliver to the Kirk Session all
the money that should have been laised. He declined also
on the ground presumably that it was to the heritors and not
to the Session he was accountable — to give the Kirk Session
any explanation of the matter, beyond stating that he retained

12 Old Church Life in Scotland.

no money of theirs in his own hands. A long and bitter quarrel
between Mr. Hamilton and the Kirk Session ensued, and the
assessment, as the bone of contention, was dropped. At a
meeting of heritors and heads fjf families held in January 1783,
to consider the destitution that prevailed in the parish, it was
" represented, that a few of the heritors had not paid up their
proportion of poor's stent for a few years preceding the dis-
continuance of the same ;" and it was minuted that "whereas
there are some arrears in Mr. Ilamiltfjn's h: nds, or in the heritors'
hands, during the three years in which he was collector, Mr.
Hamilton is desired and appointed anew to uplift the arrears of
these years, or give a list of those that are deficient." This
interesting minute, it will be seen, not only shews that the im-
position of a stent for the poor had been discontinued in
Mauchline previous to 1783, but explains how Mr. Hamilton
failed to satisfy the Session on the subject of his collections,
and also how it happened that after the suppression of vagrancy
in the parish in 1772, there could in 1785 have been in Nanse
Ronald's such a gathering of jolly beggars- as Burns witnessed
and has immortalised.*

Whether between 1783 and 1791 the stent for the poor was
re-imposed or not in this parish, it is clear that in 1796 and for
some 3'ears previous there had been no assessment levied. In
September 1796, during the unpopular incumbency of ^Ir. Reid,
the Session minuted that "in examining the Treasurer's accounts
they found the whole funds in his hands exhausted. They found
also that the monthly disbursments for the poor amount to
£1 1 6s., that the ordinary collections do not exceed 40s. monthly,

* In August 17S5, within three months of the date of the Beggars' "splore" in
Mauchline, a motion was made in the Presbytery of Irvine "anent the suppression
of vagrant beggars, who are become a great burthen and a nuisance to the country."

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. \ 3

and that the whole stock of the poor, amounting to ^^83 6s. 4d.
including accumulate interest, is lying in the heritors' hands."
The Session expressed a hope therefore, that the heritors would
" at least order payment of what might be necessary, from time
to time, to answer deficiencies, while the stock lasts," and that
when exhausted, " a meeting of the heritors and parish might
be held, in order that they may assess themselves for the future
support of the poor." This minute will suffice to show not only
how variable were heritors in rural parishes in their actings with
Kirk Sessions, but also how hard pressed Kirk Sessions some-
times were to find ways and means to keep the poor alive, and
how anxiously Kirk Sessions busied themselves in this impor-
tant department of their duty.

Occasionally there was a little tiff between heritors and Kirk
Sessions, which in rural parishes must have tended to relieve
the tedium of church life. In 1817, the Kirk Session of
Mauchline recorded in their Register, that notwithstanding
their efforts " to administer with as much economy as possible
the funds levied from the heritors and those collected from the
congregation for the support of the poor," the heritors are not
satisfied, and one gentlemen in particular has thrown out
*• reflections which the Session considers quite unwarranted."
The Session being much aggrieved by these circumstances,
resolved to give up the management of such of the poor's funds
as were provided by the heritors, but to continue their distribu-
tion of the church collections " till the heritors shall establish
their rights to these or any part thereof" The mcmor}' of that
quarrel, however, has long since died away, and the heritors
generously continue in this year of grace 1886 voluntarily to
assess themselves for the poor as they did in 1771, and in the
most friendly manner to associate the Kirk Session with them
in the distribution of the stent. The legal assessment

14 Old C/iinrh Life in Scotland.

authorised by the Act, 1.S45, has not yet been introduced into
Mauchh'nc parish, and the burden of poor's rates is unknown
to its happy householders.

A second source of provision for the poor in olden times
was church collections. Indeed, although called here the
second source of provision, these might well have been
mentioned first. Long before there was any stent for the poor,
there were in most if not in all rural parishes voluntary collec-
tions for the poor, at the church on Sundays, and often on those
week days on which there was preaching at church. In the
very first minute in the extant records of Mauchline Session
there is an entry, "collected the foresaid day (26th December,
1669), and upon Januar second, Januar 9, and Januar 16, 1670,
£(^ 14s. 4d." In Galston Records there are still earlier entries
of church collections. On the first Sunday of April 1592 there
was collected at Galston Church, 3s. ; on the second Sunday,
IIS. 2d.; on the third Sunday, 3s. 8d. ; and on the fourth
Sunday, 8s. 9d. And although the sums just quoted are small,
it was church collections nevertheless, that till within a very
recent date, constituted in most if not in all rural parishes the
main source of provision for the poor.* In 1771 the stent in
Mauchline realised about ;^20, and the church collections about
twice that sum.

It may not be out of place to state here, that the mode of
collecting contributions on Sundays for the poor, has varied from
time to time in the Church of Scotland. In the Westminster
Directory for public worship, it is stated that on Communion

* Kirk Sessions sometimes hinted that the church-iloor collections on Sundays
were not so liberal as they should have been. In 1674 the Kirk Session of
Kilmarnock went the length of putting on record that "they think fitt that the
minister exhort the people to extend their charities." •

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 1 5

Sabbaths " the collection for the poor is so to be ordered that
no part of the public worship be thereby hindered." * This is
a very vague rubric, and it evidently allows great latitude of
procedure. It neither indicates when nor how the collection is
to be made. At one time it was common in Scotland for
communicants to give their contributions to the poor on retiring
from the tables,! and there is nothing in the Westminster
Directory to forbid this practice. In 1648, however, that is
three years after the Westminster Directory had been adopted
by the Church of Scotland, the attention of the General
Assembly was called to the fact that on ordinary Sundays " the
collection for the poor in some kirks in the country is taken in
the time of divine service." This was held to be an " unseemly
disturbance of divine worship," and the General Assembly
accordingly required all ministers and Kirk Sessions to take
some other way and time for receiving collections. Pardovan
states that in his day, (1709) the common practice was either
to collect at the church door when people were entering the
church, or within the church immediately before the blessing
was pronounced. It may be presumed from what is stated in

* In the Scottish Service Book, 1637, (Laud's Liturgy), it was directed that on
Communion Sabbaths, after the sermon, the curate should exhort the people to
remember the poor, and that the deacon or one of the church wardens should then
receive the devotions of the congregation "in a bason provided for that purpose."
When all present had made their offerings, the bason " with the oblations therein "
was to be reverently delivered to the presbyter, who was to " present it before the
Lord and set it upon the holy table." At the close of divine service the collection
was to be divided in presence of the presbyter and church wardens ; one half to
the presbyter "to provide him books of holy divinity," and the other half to be
" employed on some pious or charitable use for the decent furnishing of the church
or the public relief of their poor."

t In the diary of Lamont of Newton for instance it is stated that at the Communion
at Scoonie in 1650, " there was no collection for the poore at the table as was oidinar.
This custom was discharged by the late General Assembly 1649, and therefore instead
of this there was a collection at the church door both forenoone and afternoone."

i6 Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

the Session records of Galston, that previous to 1635 the
collection for the poor in that parish had been made within the
church ; for it was that year intimated from the pulpit that
"the collection for the poor sail be ^^cthcrcd in tytne aiming zX.
the cntric ^^{ the people in the k-irk." From the tenor of a
minute in the records of Kilmarnock Session it may be inferred
that in 1646 the collection for the poor in that town was also
made outside of the church, as the congregation entered. The
minute I refer to states, that " the Session apoyntis the vacand
rowme betwixts Peter Aird's seat and the meikle door ane seat
to be builded for the use of the Elders that collectis the charities,
that they may the more easilie enter and goe furth as yr office
requyres."*

In Mauchline parish, as probably in most parishes, the mode
of lifting the church collection has been changed more than
once or twice. At the present day all collections, whether
ordinary or special, are made in an open plate as people enter
the church, but many of us remember that forty years ago the
collection was every Sunday lifted in ladles, which were carried
through the church after the last Psalm had been sung. It is
also said that in the latter days of the old church, about seventy
or eighty years ago, the plan of collecting by ladles was in use ;
and that, to prevent all suspicions of dishonest dealing with the
poor's funds, the elders who collected in the galleries, which
were very low, handed down their ladles to their brethren
beneath in presence of the congregation. For aught I know
the story may be true, and the reason alleged for such ostenta-
tious procedure may be quite correct also, for ever since Judas
bare the bag and learned to love money the public have been

* As far back as 1573, the General Assembly ordained that " no collections for
the poor be made in time of the ministration of the table of the Lord Jesus, nor yet
in time of sermons, hcreafier, within the kirks, but only at the kirk doore."

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. ly

ready to suspect honest men's integrit}', and honest men have
found it necessary to clear themselves of all possible grounds of
suspicion. It was not within the church, however, but outside
the church, that the collections for the poor were gathered
in Mauchline a hundred years ago. At a meeting of heritors
called in 1783, to consider the state of the churchyard dykes,
it was reported, that " the Session as Trustees for the poor,
think it their duty to insist that there shall be none but one
entry into the churchyard, at which two Elders may attend to
receive the contributions of the congregation every Sabbath
morning." And it was added that " the disadvantage of
h-^ving two or three entries into the church}'ard must be
obvious to every person as occasioning loss to the poor." This
was not very complimentary to the congregation. It was as
much as to say, that while few people would have the hardi-
hood to pass the plate without dropping something into it,
there w^ere many that would be glad to save their pockets by
taking a circuitous route to church by a side stile where no
plate would confront them. But at an earlier period, as well as
at a later, the misers in Mauchline did not get the chance of
passing the plate. The ladle was presented to them individually
in church. On the fly leaf of an old scroll minute-book of the
Kirk Session, there is a note of " the order that the elders are
to collect for the poor, and their names." The note is dated
3rd Sept., 1704, and gives the names of fifteen elders. Of
these, twelve were appointed " for the body of the Kirk," and
one for " Killoch and my Lord's loft." The remaining two
elders were Netherplace and Ballochmyle, but these two, it is
stated, " doe not collect, being two principal heritors in the
Parish." It seems probable that at a period still farther
back, the mode of receiving collections had been by a plate
at the principal entrance to the churcli, for in 1676 the

1 8 Old ChunJi Life in Scotland.

Session ordained that " the tzvo elders who collect on the
Sabbath shall goe throuj^^h the town, and search who are in the
houses the tyme of sermon."*

How much it was customary for people to put into the plate
or ladle on Sundays, a hundred years ago or two hundred
years ago, it is not very easy to ascertain. There are on
record, as might be expected, many instances of very small
and niggardly collections. In 1667 it was reported to the
Presbytery of Lanark that at Lamington there is "a box for
the poor, but nothing in it, and that they used to give nothing
almost on the Sabbath for the poor." It is possible, however,
that an unpopular incumbency, or a secession during the
Episcopal usurpation at that date, may have been the cause of
this unfortunate state of matters. At Mauchline, the collec-
tions in 1687 fell to IS. 6d. Scots per diem, but a few months
later when the old exiled Presbyterian pastor of the Parish was
restored to his people, contributions rose to 20s., 303., and even
50s., on a Sabbath. Opening the Mauchline records quite
accidentally I find that on a day in 1673, during Mr. Veitch's
ministry; and on another day in 1709, during Mr. Maitland's
ministry ; and on another day still in 1746, during Mr. Auld's
ministry, the amount of collection was exactly 39s. 6d.
Scots. In 1776, when sterling money had come into common
use, the average Sunday collection at ]\Iauchline was 12s.

* Complaint was sometimes made of old, both in Kirk-Sessions and in Presby-
teries, that Elders were remiss in attending at the plate. In 1699 a complaint to
that effect was made in the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, and it was "enacted by
the Session that any Elder absent on his proper day from the plate be fined 4s.
Scots. At the visitation of Coyllon in 1714, it was reported to the Presbytery (of
Ayr) that " they do not collect for the poor but at the Church door, when the
people enter, and the Elders do not attend in ihoir course in due time for that
effect."

Provision for the Poor in Olden limes. 19

Sterling, or £'j 4s. od. Scots,* and in 1796 during Mr. Reid's
pastorate, it was much the same.

These statistics do not show how much individual persons
were in the way of giving to the poor on the Sabbaths of
old — whether it was a penny or a half-penny that people
usually dropped into the plate, and whether there were few or
many that passed the plate altogether. But I can furnish
other statistics which will help to show what was the measure
of Christian liberality in Mauchline a hundred years ago. The
number of communicants who partook of the sacrament at
Mauchline in 1788, was 1400, and it is not improbable that in
the church or church-yard there were that day other 1400
worshippers who did not communicate. The total amount
collected for the poor on that bright autumn Sabbath of high
solemnity was ^4 14s. lod., or 11 38 pence. For each com-
municant therefore who sat at the Lord's table that day, and
was exhorted to extend his charity, there was less than a penny
contributed to the poor ; and if there were as many non-
communicating as communicating worshippers at the church
or tent service the average contribution all over must have
been less than a half-penny each ! *

* A minute in the Session Records of Aiichinlcck, states that ia 1753 it was
agreed by the Kirk-Session of that Parish that the Poor's funds should henceforth
" be counted in Enghsh money." It was probably about the same date that the
ecclesiastical nomenclature of the coinage was changed in the neighbouring parishes.

* Burns must have come very near the truth when in the following stanzas of the
Holy Fair he described the usual contributions to the plate, and the larger donation
expected from him as a poet and a man of consequence.

" When by the plate we set our nose,
Weel heaped up wi' Iia f^cncc,
A greedy glowr black bonnet tlirows
And we maun draw our tippcncc."

The collection at Mauchline sacrament in i/SS, was about eight times the amount
of an ordinary Sabbath's collection. The following note of collections at the Kil-

20 Old Chiin/i Lije in Scotland.

Of course it must be kcjjt in mind that monc)' went a great
deal further a hundred years ago than it does now, and
consequently that when good copper was given in charity, a
penny represented far more generosity then than it now docs.
In 1744 the minister of the West Church, Edinburgh, made a
gift of £\o to the poor of his parish. And the gift was
belauded by his Session in their minutes as a most wonderful
instance of liberality. In the sermons of Mr. Dun of Auchinleck
published in 1790 the following passage occurs in a discourse on
Divine Providence. " Providence, oh ye needy ones, has inter-
posed remarkably for you ! There is come to my hand, owing
to the generosity and humanity of the family of Dumfries, as
much money, which I shall distribute to you to-morrow, as will
purchase fuel that may serve you during the more rigid winter
months." In a note prefixed to the sermon, Mr. Dun explains
that this signal interposition of providence for all the poor of
the parish was a gratuity of ;^5 sterling, which he distributed
on the Monday after the sermon was preached. He then
pathetically adds, " the author's heart was gladdened on the
Tuesday, a very cold frosty but fine clear sunny day, to see
columnsof smoke ascending from so many little huts, the houses
of the poor now warmed with that bounty." And that Mr.
Dun's account of the capabilities of a five pound note was not
very much overstrained, will appear from the tenor of a letter

marnock " preachings " in 1716 and 1722 is interesting as shewing the probable
comparative attendance on the different days of solemnity.
1716. On Fast Day,

,, Saturday, Preparation day,

,, Sabbath, -

,, Monday, Thanksgiving Day,

;^iS3 7 4 Scots /141 6 5

In the decade 1750-1760, the usual amount collected at the sacrament in Kilmar-
nock was about £20 sterling. In the West Church, Edinburgh in 1695, there was
collected at the ci)miiuiiii>>n £\ iSo .Scots, or ^^"98 6s. Sii. Sterling.

■Ll\

1722.

/"26 II 0

■ 35

29 5 10

- 62

48 7 7

- 50

37 2 0

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 2 1

received by the Presbytery of Irvine in 1767 from a gentleman
designated " Doctor Hugh Baylie, Esquire." In this letter it
was stated, that Dr. Baylie, Esqr.,had "sent £6 i6s. sterling, as
a charitable donation to be distributed unto two old women in
each of the seventeen parishes of the Presbytery after ist
November next, in the way of bying coals for them and some
oyl for sight to enable them to spin at night for their better
subsistence." Each of thirty-four women received from this
donation the sum of 4s., and this sum of 4s. was expected either
to keep an old woman in coals and oil for a whole winter, or to
go a considerable way in doing so.*

Making due allowance, however, for the facts that money went
further, and that there was less wealth in the country a hundred
years ago than there is now, the contributions to the church

* The history of prices is a large subject which would require for its full treatment
a large space. The following notes will serve to illustrate partially the changes that
have taken place in the value of money. In September 1639, writes Spalding, " ane
Holland schip with store of cheiss (cheese) cam in to Abirdein, 24 pund wecht thairof
sauld for 8 shillinges Scottis, quhairof the people wes weill content." That is, three
pounds of cheese were sold for one penny of sterling money.

A hundred years later, in 1740, an Ayrshire farmer purchased a milk cow for
£2 2s., and another Ayrshire farmer sold a stallion for ;^5 5s., " which were both
so much talked of as extraordinary prices that people came a considerable distance
to see those animals. The ordinary price of draught horses was from £z to ;^3,
and of milk cows from 20 to 30 or 35 shillings. Till after 1770 butter was sold at
from 4d. to 6d. per pound of 24 ounces." Alton's Survey of Ayrshire, p. 112.

In 1797, however, matters were changed. The Presbytery of Irvine on the 2Sth
March of that year, minuted that considering "the high price of provisions they
should for this day and henceforth pay for dinner £\.^^

In 1612 Mr. James Pitcairn, the minister of Northmaving died, and left behind
him an enormous stock of cattle, corn and other goods, of which the following par-
ticulars may be quoted : — (Fasti).

16 hors, pryce of the piece over-head, £(i 13 3 scots, /.£•. ^o 11 lister.

19 meirs, ,, ,, ,,

50 oxen, ,, ,, ,,

56 ky,

782 of zeiris lambis and zeild scheip, -

Ane littel goblet for acqua vitie, pryce thereof, 8

£^

scot

S, i

'.e.£o II

0 10

0 16

0 13

0 I

:f,8

0 13

22 Old Church Lijc in Scotland.

plate last cc.itury revealed anythiiv^f but a common 1 able spirit
of Christian libcralit)'. Tlierc was wide-spread hypocrisy in
ch irch charity, and if there had been as much unreality in pro-
fessions of piety the state of religion would have been rotten
to a degree that words could scarcely exaggerate. Kirk-Sessions
had in those days what was termed a kirk box. Into that box
all the collections, or such part of them as was not presently
c'istributcd, were poured Sabbath after Sabbath, and at the
close of the financial year the box was opened, and its contents
examined and counted. In the rcj )rds of Mauchline Session
the following entry occurs, under date 1748, " found in the box,
of good money £6(b ys. 66. Scots, and of bad copper ^43 19s.
yd." And for many years afterwards, when the Mauchline
Kirk box was opened, a similar fact was revealed. For every
three pennies of good copper there were two of bad. The con-
clusion is forced on our mind that in olden times a large num-
ber of people kept their bad coppers for charitable purposes, so
as to appear to be giving to the poor when they were not giv-
ing, and to be lending to the Lord when they were holding
back, and the left hand doubtless knew on these occasions what
the right hand did.*

Every other year there was at IMauchlinc a sale of bad
coppers when the contents of the Kirk box were examined.
The £4^ 19s. yd. of bad coppers found in the box in 1748 were
disposed of at the rate of 7d. per Dutch pound, and they realised
£y 17s. 6d. In other words every penny of bad copper put
into the plate, a; a contribution for the poor, was worth only

* In 1674 the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock thought " fitt that the minister exhort
the people not to give their doutts (doits) to the poor now, when none will accept
of them as currant." That ju tanl pious exhortation seems to have been disre-
garded by the Kilmarnock pev,ile, for in 1706 the Kirk-Session directed their trea-
surer " to dispose and sell the doyts, an 1 other bad money he got from the last
treasurer, to the best advantage."

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 23

the sixth part of a penny or little more than half a farthing.
In 1753 the pri:e of bad coppers rose to 8d. per pound, whether
because they were more run on for charitable purposes, or for
some other equally laudable reason, is not stated, but it is at
least pleasant to think that the poor derived some profit by
the enhanced value of what was given for their support. In
1774 the market for bad coppers became very drug, possibly
from being overstocked, and it was minuted that " every
member of Session is desired to try the several smiths and
coppersmiths to buy the bad copper." Like nuts at the end of
a fair, they were to be had at a bargain — penny a quarter, two
pence a half pound — cheap, cheap, cheap !*

* As recently as 1785, the Session of Mauchline had on hand several pounds
of bad copper and bad silver.

Among the obsolete coins mentioned in the Mauchline records as having been
found in the kirk box are dollars, rix-dollars, turners, bodies, and doits.

A Leg, or Leggat Dollar, named from Liege, the place of coinage, was equal to
£2 i6s. od., and a Rix-doIIar to £2 i8s. od.

Turners and Bodies might be described as two penny pieces of Scots money.
There were different sets of turners, however. In 1639 Charles' turners were cried
down at the cross of Edinburgh from two pence to one penny, while James' tur-
ners remained at their former value, and " the kaird turnouris simpliciter
dischargeit as false cungzie" (Spalding, Vol. I., p. 235). The following year, 1640,
Charles' turners " wold give nothing, penny nor half penny." In the Mauchline
Kirk Accounts for 1748 it was stated that there were "got for one shilling sterling
of turners us. Scots, and for three shillings sterling of bodies £\ 13s. od. Scots."

On 27th July, 1691, there was entered on the Mauchline Session Register,
" Received this day 3 shillings sterling of doits." The doit was a Dutch coin, and
was of the value of a penny, or (some say) a penny and a third of a penny Scots.
In the printed records of the Burgh of Glasgow for 1660 there is a curious entry to
the effect that the "country is like to be abused be the inbringing of French Doyts."

Groats and bawbees, which are reckoned coins of small value now, bulked largely
at one time, from their being of sterling denomination. In Galston Records (1639)
we find "collected 11 shillings. Gevin thereof to H. P., iwo groats. Rest three
shillings, gevin to the poor." In other words a groat counted for four shillings
Scots, and it was two hundred years ago the common payment for dressing a
corpse, and for digging a grave. In the same record (1675) there is another
curious entry, "gevin fourteen shillings and zballne (bawbee) for a peck of meall to
old Peter, o 14 6." In other words a bawbee was a sixpence Scots. Another odd
entry in Galston Records (1645) is " seven shillings of French lobbis in the Laird of
Cessnock's hands,"

24 Old Church Life in Srotlajid.

TIic fines exacted hy Kirk Sessions from delineiucnts,
togctlier with certain jicnalties imposed by the Civil Courts,
formed in .all parishes a third source of provision for the [)oor.
It is not to be inferred from this that all fines and penalties
went to the poor. In many or perhaps most parishes there
was one bag or box for the church collections, and another bag
or box for the penalties. And each of these bags or boxes had
its own keeper. At Kilmarnock in 1649, one Robert Crawford
was chosen " thesaurer to the consignations and penalties" and
on the same day one Robert Paton was chosen " thesaurer
for keeping of the charities." Among the pious uses for which
in Galston Parish penalties were appropriated may be men-
tioned "peyment of ye east glass windo" of the church
(1638) : " dails to bridge and work at bridge" (1640) : "com-
missioners to the General Assembly, £6 8s. 4d. salary of
Presbytery beadle, and allowance for drink to workmen
(1640):" bottoming the pulpit, mending and making furmes,
providing a heid to the Kirk spade, 5s., washing the baptism
cloth, 4s., (1643). Most of the fines, however, that came into
the hands of Kirk Sessions were destined either in whole or in
part, by special statutes, for the benefit of the poor. And so, on
every other page of old Church Records we meet with
instances of fines' being thus applied. In 1673, ^^ irritable
woman appeared before the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, and
confessed that in her wrath and haste she had said " the devill
ryd to hell on James Thomson and leave the horse behind
him." For giving utterance to this coarse malediction she
was appointed to make public acknowledgment before the
pulpit, and " pey 30s, to the poor."' In many parishes,
Mauchline among others, fines and church collections seem all
to have gone into one box, and to have been applied in the first
instance to certain church purposes, such as payment of the

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 25

session clerk's and the church officer's salary, and thereafter
in alms and charity. And at one time a considerable sum must
in every parish have come in to the poor from fines. The Session
Records of Kilmarnock shew that from 8th September 1754 to
20th October, 1756, the fines received by the Session of that
parish for " absolution from fornication " alone, amounted to
;^ii5 i6s. od. Scots. In Mauchline Parish, fines as I have else-
where shewn were in olden times rigorously inflicted, and in the
days of Mr. Auld particularly, were, out of zeal for the poor,
lifted with a measure of goodwill that bordered on enjoyment.
Besides fines there were certain dues and fees that brought in
a small return for behoof of the poor, and these may be said to
have constituted a fourth source of provision for the indigent.
How far Kirk-Sessions had it in their power to exact such dues
and fees, fix the amount of them, and determine their destina-
tion, need not be discussed. Lawyers say that the exaction
and appropriation of these dues, for payment of precentors,
session clerks, beadles, or for the good of the poor, were
regulated mainly by the immemorial usage of each particular
parish, and that Kirk-Sessions could not " enact the payment
of new fees not sanctioned by such usage." When the Kirk-
Session of Mauchline for instance passed a resolution in 1778,
" that if parties proposing marriage shall choose to be
proclaimed in the church for two several days only, they shall
pay a crown for the poor, and a guinea if the proclamation be
completed in one day," it might have been found that the Kirk-
Session could not exact such extra fees ; but unless these fees
were paid, persons desiring to be proclaimed would have to
content themselves with what the law entitled them to demand,
namely, a proclamation protracted over three several Sundaj's.
People were willing therefore for the sake of convenience to
pay the extra dues. There was fairness in the arrangement.

26 Old Church Life in Scotland.

People asked a favour and they made a payment which went
to a good use. Oriijinally, the dues exacted for ]ki[)tisms,
Proclamations of Banns, Marriages, Testimonials and Citations
went cntircl}' to the session-clerk, and church-officer.* In
1673, for instance, the dues exigible in Mauchline parish
Averc declared to be, in the case of a Proclamation of
Marriage 20s. Scots, of which i6s. went to the clerk and
four shillings to the officer ; in the case of a baptism, 8s.,
of which 6s. went to the clerk and 2s. to the officer. But when
people in the progress of refinement came to say, we wish our
proclamation to be completed on one Sunday or two Sundays,
we wish our marriage to be solemnised in our own houses in-
stead of in church, and we wish our children to be baptised at
home, they were told that besides rendering to the Session
clerk and beadle all the customary dues payable to these offi-
cials, they must make an extra paj-ment, which might be called
a fine, to be given to the poor. Hence there came to be in-
cluded in Poor's funds, fines or voluntary concessions, for pri-
vate or chamber marriages, for private or chamber baptisms,
and for abbreviated proclamations of banns. In 1750 both
private baptisms and private marriages were quite common in
Mauchline Parish, but apparent!}' the shortening of proclama-
tions had not come into use. In 1750 there were 12 private
baptisms, for which a sum of £^ 8s. Scots was realised for the
poor,t and 13 private marriages, for which a sum of iTii 7s. 6d.
Scots was obtained for the poor's benefit. The tax on private

* In some cases to the reader and church-ofticer, but the reader and session-clerk
were generally, if not always, the same person.

t In Kilmarnock the fines, or whatever else they may be called, were for private
marriages, 2s., for private baptisms, 4s., and for "Twice proclaiming on same day
los. 6d., more if it can be got." During the two years between September 1754,
and October 1756, the money received in Kilmarnock for private marriages and
proclaiming twice in one day amounted to ^^'j los. od.

Prevision for the Poor in Olden Times. 27

marriages seems to have been remitted soon afterwards, for
neither in tlie Session's abstract of receipts for 1778 nor in their
abstract for 1779 is there any entry of moneys got from private
marriages. Probably by that date the more modern practice
had been introduced of having a collection at the wedding, and
giving it as a gratuity to the beadle, who should have opened
the church door to the bride but didn't. The tax on private
baptisms, however, was still continued in these years, and there
are entries also for proclamations, which means proclamations
completed on less than three Sundays. In each of these two
years the money drawn for private baptisms was 13s. sterling,
which implies that there were thirteen private baptisms each
year. In 1778 the amount realised for special proclamations
was 8s. and in 1779 it was 22s. 6d. These sums would not go
far at the present day in making provision for the poor, but
when the cost of maintaining the poor was only fifty or sixty
pounds a year they were a welcome and an appreciable help.

Another item that figures prominently in the accounts of
kirk treasurers long ago is the bell-penny, and this also in
many parishes went to the poor, and became a fifth source of
provision for their wants. The bell-penny, it need scarcely
be said, was a due that was paid for the ringing or tolling of
the church bell at funerals. It is stated in books of law that
dues for the ringing of bells at funerals do not belong to
the poor, but should be retained for the maintenance of
the church fabric. Whether legal or not, however, the bell-
penny in Mauchline and in many other places was retained for
the poor. In 1696 the Kirk-Session minuted in a somewhat
pompous style of latinised English that " considering tlie
numerousness and indigency of the poor thc\- did think it
reasonable that whoever desired the tolling of the bell ;;t the
funeral of their relations should pay some small quintity of

28 Old Cliurch Life in Scotland.

mf)iu>y to tlic cluircli treasurer to he disposed of for the poor's
use, hut upon some consideration did delay to make a particular
determination ancnt the quota." T\vr) months afterwards, the
Session concluded in equally (grandiose phraseolof^y that for each
time the bell was tolled on the occasion of a funeral "those most
nearly concerned in the defunct should give for the poor's use at
least 12 pence Scots." Instead of 12 pence Scots 12 shillings
Scots came to be a common allowance for bell-penny in this par-
ish,* but the amount being left to the payer's pleasure it ranged
in 1750 from six shillings to twenty shillings. That year there
were thirteen payments of bell-penny made to the Session of
Mauchline, and the sum of these payments was £6 lOs. od.
Scots. In 1778 and 1779, the receipts from bell-pennies had
fallen to is. 8d. Sterling in the one year and to is. in the other.
The most notable contribution to the poor, in the way of bell-
mone>-, that appears in our parish records, was in the year 1705,
when for ringing the bell to the Lady Gilmilnscroft's funeral
there was handed to the Kirk-Session the handsome sum of
one pound.

A sixth source of revenue for the poor in most parishes, and
a much more valuable one than the bell-penny, was the lend-
ing out of mortcloths for burials. From a very early period
mortcloths were used at funerals b}' all that could afford to pay
for such trappings. But mortcloths were sometimes kept and
given out on hire by trade corporations, funeral societies, and
private persons as well as by Kirk-Sessions, and it was only
when the\- were given out by Kirk-Sessions that the hire paid
for them reverted to the poor.f For instance, in the parish of

• In 1698 the Kirk-Session of Greenock appointed that " none have the privilege
of ringing the kirk-bell at funerals unless they pay 40s. Scots in to the treasurer,
and 2s. Scots besides to the bellman for ringing the said bell."

+ The law on the subiect of mortcloths is thus laid down by Mr. Dunlop, and it

Provision for tJie Poor in Olden Times. 29

St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, the different incorporated trades had,
previous to i/OO, mortcloths of their own. Shortly after that
date, however, all these mortcloths were bought up by the Kirk
Session, except those belonging to the Cordiners in the West-
port, which were surrendered without payment, on condition
that the poor of that guild should in all time coming have from
the Session free use of a velvet mortcloth at interments.

The following minute, of date 1635, occurs in the Session re-
cords of Galston, " The quhilk day, William Farquhar in Buckles-
toune, and William Black, tailzeour in Galstune desyred libertie
of the Sessioune to buy upon their awne chairges and to have
the commoditie and benefite of ane mortclaith for buriall, the
sam)'n to be keipit within the claghan, the quhilk request the
Sessioune thought reasonable ; nevertheles the Sessioune had
rayther have the beneiite thereof to the Kirk, and therefore
has ordainit that the Sessioune sail provyde the samyn betwixt
and the first day of May nixt to cum, or failzeing, the said
W. F. and W. B. sail have the place and libertie thereof, and
no otheris."

In the records of Mauchline Church there is reference
to a mortcloth, belonging to the Kirk Session, in 1672,
which is nearly as far back as our extant records go. Like
other perishable things this mortcloth in the course of time got

is illustrated by what is stated on page 30 to have taken place in Mauchline
parish — " Kirk-Sessions, by immemorial usage, may acquire the exclusive right of let-
ting out mortcloths to hire within the parish, and of charging certain dues therefor,
which are generally appropriated to the use of the poor. Corporations or private
associations may, by similar usage, acquire a joint right to let out mortcloths for
hire, but, except where such a right has been so acquired, no individual nor associa-
tion can let out mortcloths to the prejudice of the Kirk-Session's privilege. Private
individuals may no doubt use mortcloths belonging to themselves, but they cannot
lend them out to others even gratuitously ; nor, it should seem, can a number of
individuals subscribe for the purchase of a mortcloth for their joint use, although
nothing be charged to each individual on the occasion of its being required, as this
wuukl effect an evasion of the privilege of ,he Kirk Session."

30 Ohl Cliiinh Life in Scutlniui.

worn out, and for many )'cars,a[)parcntly diirin;^^ the whole of Mr.
Mailland's ministry (1695-1739), there was no mortcloth owned
l)y the Kirk-Session. ]5ut during that long period of Sessional
impecuniosity there was in the parish a mortcloth, which
belonged to a private individual and was let out for hire. In
1744, a year or two after Mr. Auld's settlement, the Kirk-
Session took into consideration "the necessitous circumstances
of the poor and the small sum available for support of the
poor,'' and resolved that the " old custom in Mr. Veitch's time
of having a mortcloth for the benefit of the poor should be
revived." The Session were alive to the fact, however, that no
good would come to them from having a mortcloth, unless the
use of all other mortcloihs in the parish were prohibited. A
committee of Kirk Session was accordingly appointed to wait
on " Bruntwood and Mr. Arnot, Bailies of the Regalitie of
r»Iauchline, in order to have other mortcloths discharged, and
the privilege of providing a mortcloth for all such as are buried
in the church-yard secured to the Kirk Session." It was
further resolved by the Session to petition the heritors and
others having an interest in the church-yafd, to " disallow and
hinder the digging of graves in the church-}ard to any but
sucli as will use the Session's mortcloth as soon as it shall be
pro\idcd. ' And, either by prohibition or persuasion, either h\-
coercion or constraint of the parish, the Session very quickly
succeeded in securing for themselves the privilege they desired.
About a month after the last quoted resolution was taken, a
committee of their number was appointed " to speak with
William Gibb to bu\' his mortcloth if they can agree upon the
price." And so, first one mortcloth, then another and another
was purchased, till the Session had a large wardrobe of mort-
cloths of all sizes and qualities to suit different requirements and
different fancies.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 3 1

Charges for the use of mortcloths varied in different parishes,
and in the same parish in different periods. In Galston a
mortcloth was in 1643 pi'ovided by the Kirk-Session, and the
scale of charges fixed for the use of that mortcloth was 12s.
Scots, to people within the parish, and 24s. to people out of
the parish. The earliest rates, that I have discovered, in
Mauchlinc were higher. In 1675 it was fixed by the Session
that the payment for use of the mortcloth by people in the
parish should be 30s. Scots, or at least 24s. according to the
discretion of the outgiver. And this was over and above what
had been previously appointed as fee to the officer for " carry-
ing the mortcloth to persons within the town and paroch."
Very likely the Mauchline mortcloth was woven of finer and
more costly material than what sufficed for the Galston folks.
Certain it is that the charge for the use of mortcloths depended
on the class and quality of mortcloth used. In 1775 the Kirk-
Session of ?klauchline minuted, that " having provided a new
mortcloth of Genoa velvet and furniture conformed," they
considered that the lowest rate at which they could lend it to
people in the town or within a mile of the town was 6s., and to
parishioners more than a mile from the town, 7s. But the
chr.rges for the " old mortcloth and the little mortcloth " were
only 2s. and is. respectively. In 1716 the Kirk-Session of St.
Cutiibert's, Edinburgh, had " twelve mortcloths which bring in
money to the poor, and six poor's cloaths, in all eighteen."
These were elaborately classified by a double nomenclature
A I and A 2, B i and B 2, etc. The charge for the use of A i
was " 10 merks, whereof i merk to the keeper : for A 2, ^^"4
Scots, whereof los. to the keeper : for A 3 4s. Sterling, whereof
8s. Scots to the keeper," etc.

The sum of money derived b}- Kirk-Sessions in the course of
a year from the hire of mortcloths was often considerable. At

32 Old Church Life in Scotland.

Mauchlinc it amounted in 1674 to more than ;^22 Scots. A
hundred years later it averaged about £df sterh'ng.*

A seventh source of provision for the poor in olden times
was got from benefactions. The earliest entry of a benefaction
to the poor that I have noticed in the records of Mauchlinc is
one of .^5 i6s. Scots by the Earl of Dumfries in. 1690. This
may seem an odd sum to be given as a donation, and it may
be wondered why his Lordship did not lay down even money,
such as five pounds or ten pounds. The sum, however, that
looks so odd when stated to be £^ i6s. was in reality the
aggregate value of two coins called rix-dollars, and a present
of two such coins was, like a brace of grouse or partridges, quite
a lordly form of gift. Since 1690 many benefactions ranging
from a few pounds Scots to i^200 Sterling have at different
times come to the Kirk-Session of this parish for the benefit of
the poor. And a similar thing may be said of nearly all parishes.f
' So numerous in fact were such benefactions and so necessary did
Kirk-Sessions think it was to make publicintimation of them, that
in almost every church long ago there was a black board hung
up, with a list of all donations received for charitable purposes

* It does not surprise us to hear that Kirk-Sessions kept mortcloths for hire. But
it may surprise many to hear that some Kirk-Sessions gave out their communion
plate on hire. It is shewn in Old Church Life, p. 141, that many parishes had little
or no communion plate for years after the re-establishment of Presbyteiy at the
Revolution. When the communion was celebiated in such parishes, plate had to be
Ijorrowed, and in some cases the loan had to be paid for. The Kirk Session of
Kilmarnock (1754-1756) drew £,t, sterling a year for the loan of their communion
cups, and that was nearly as much as they realised from the loan of their mortcloths.
In 1708 the Kirk-Session of Greenock "appointed that no neighbouring paroch have
the use of them (the communion cups) except they ingage to answer for them and
give 40s. Scots at each occasion, for the use of the poor of the paroch."

t In the Session records of Greenock there are several acknowledgments of mor-
tifications made to the poor by sailors when "in eminent danger." In 1706 for
instance "James Galbreath, skipper in Carsdyke, and Archibald Yuill his mate, being
present, informed the Session that they and company, having been in eminent danger
on February last by-past made a free will offering of nine pounds sterling to be dis-
• posed of for behoof of the poor of this paroch," etc. etc.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 33

within the parish from time immemorial. And it is not unlikely
that ambition to have their names emblazoned on the board
stimulated the charity of not a few people who desired to stand
well with the public. Indeed this object was frankly avowed
by the Kirk-Session of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, in 1727, when
they ordered a board to be suspended in their church. For they
expressed in their minutes a hope "that the said mortifications
being conspicuously inscribed in gold characters may be a motive
to others to follow the example of the mortifiers."* And many
acts of very paltry generosity have been extravagantly praised
for this ostensible purpose. In the Session books of Dairy in
Galloway there is a minute under date 25th November 1828,
which is not inserted in its regular place as a record of Sessional
procedure, but is written upside down on the middle of a page
where it is sure to arrest attention. It states that this day a
row of lime trees was planted on each side of both approaches
to the church ; that the two trees nearest the church-yard gate
were planted by the minister, and the next tree on each side
by the minister's wife, and that the plants cost twopence ster-
ling each, except "the two red twigged" ones planted by
the minister's wife, which were threepence each. It is
then added that " it has been thought proper to enter a

* In 1770 the Kirk-Session of Mauchline resolved to hang up a board in church
"for engraving thereon the names of such as shall make charitable donations for
behoof of the poor in the parish of Mauchline." Next year one of the elders be-
queathed £t, to the poor and got his name stuck up, and one of the heritors, deter-
mined not to be behind hand, made a gift of £'^ to the poor. In Kilmarnock the
board was hung up as early as 1 718, but I have not investigated the immediate
effects it produced in that town.

It can scarcely be doubted that some benefactions in some parishes have been lost
sight of from not being properly recorded. An excellent plan was adopted a few
years ago in the Presbytery of Ayr for preventing such occurrences. A separate
Register is kept, in which are entered notes of all the mortifications held in trust by
Kirk-Sessions, with a statement of how and where they are invested, signed by the
minister of the parish to which they are severally conveyed.

54 Old CJiurcJi Life in Scotland.

statement of this circumstance in the records of the Session,
that all future incumbents and members of Session may
know how inucli they arc obliged to (the minister), for thus en-
deavouring to beautify their, even now, beautiful church-yard,
and that they may be encouraged to go and do Hkewise " !

As virtually constituting an eighth source of provision for the
poor, it may be mentioned that Kirk-Sessions were able occas-
sionally to recoup in part their outlay on particular paupers, by
the sale of these paupers' effects. The Kirk-Session of Kilmar-
nock, for instance, enacted in 1700 that none get relief till they
assign their belongings to the Session. And the rule adopted
in Kilmarnock was generally followed in other parishes. In
1752 the Mauchline Session "unanimously resolved, that from
this time forth, they would admit none to be stated pensioners
on their charity funds but such only as should make assignation
of all their means and effects to the Session their Treasurer, to
be rouped after their death for the use and behoof of the poor."
And the Session Records shew that this resolution was for a
while rigorously carried out. Indeed, before the resolution
was passed, the Kirk-Session had on some occasions, after a
pauper's decease, exposed his effects for sale. In a mutilated
minute, which cannot now be wholly deciphered, and which
bears the date July 1740, it is recorded that the Session having
taken on themselves the burden of supporting Jean INIackie,
who had departed this life about the beginning of June, and
having considered that " none that belonged to her would own
her whilst alive, nor burie her when dead, they thought proper
to petition the Bahe of Regality for a warrant to roup her
household plenishing and body-cloths in order to defray their
charges.'' And it is added in an apparent tone of satisfaction
that the Session's petition was granted, and that " the goods of
the said Jean !Mackie wQxefaithfullie rouped.''

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 35

It may be mentioned here that Kirk-Sessions had generally
on hand some accumulated funds or possessions which they
called stock. The interest of such stock constituted a
ninth source of provision for the poor in a great many
parishes. For instance, it is minuted that in November 1773
the stock in the hands of Mauchline Session amounted to
^^"104 19s. lyod. while at the corresponding date in the
previous year it was only ^^87 5s. Sx'gd. This implied that
the stent, collections, fines, and dues, for the past year, had
more than met the expenditure on the poor ; and shows how
stock might accumulate at times. The occurrence of such items
as x¥ of a penny and ^t o^ s- penny shows too that some pennies
of Scots money, which were equal in value to a twelfth of the
same denomination of Sterling coin, were in 1772 still in cir-
culation. And not only had Kirk-Sessions stock in the shape
of money, but they were sometimes owners of land. In 1755
the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock had as much stock lent out as
yielded ^28 Sterling of interest ;* and they had, besides, what
they termed a farm, which was let at ;;^i6 Sterling a year.
Even the Session of Mauchline had in 1777 a pendicle named
Braefoot, and another known as Hunter's yards, which together
yielded a rental of ;^i 7s. 6d. Sterling. How land should have
come into the hands of Mauchline Kirk-Session will be seen
from the following minute, dated 23rd May, 1776. "The
Session having convened the nearest of kin to Agnes Paterson
the late proprietor (of Braefoot) . . . have got a disposition
signed by the said persons to the said yard of Braefoot, for

* The Session of Galston too owned at times both stock and land. As far back
as 1642 it is recorded that " G. Richmond in Milrig peyit to the Sessione i^S of
anwel rent for the money in his hand and his brether preceding Witsonday, 1642."
In 1752 they held no less than eleven bills for sums ranging from ^104 Sterling to
;!^I5 Scots. In 1700 the lands of Braehead, over which they held a mortgage, were
given up to them under protestation of the right of redemption in terms of mortgage.

36 Old Church Life in Scotland.

which the Session have ^m'vcii ffjinicily to Agnes Patcrson, late
proprietor, and to A^^ncs Cook her mother, the sum of £"6 6s. 46.
and h'kewisc on signing the disposition by the foresaid persons
the Session did agree to give to each of these persons lis. 6d.,
and also to Margaret Paterson for keeping the deceased Agnes
Paterson one half year, 15s., amounting in all to £\o 15s. lod.
Sterling." The land of Bracfoot therefore fell to the lot of the
Kirk-Scssion of Mauchlinc, as the forfeited security given by
the proprietor for repayment of money advanced to her, when
she was in reduced circumstances. And there are several
instances recorded of pensioners in this parish giving up to the
Kirk-Scssion not only an inventory of their household plenish-
ings but other securities. The following minute of Session, dated
1777, shews how business of this kind was conducted : "J. W.
(one of the pensioners) hereby assigns a Bill of £6 Sterling
(whereof i^2 9s. od. are paid) accepted by J. M. In witness
whereof, this bill is delivered in presence of the Session to
James Paton, treasurer, to pursue for payment thereof."

Kirk-Sessions, it may be said, plied the vocations of Parochial
bankers, pawnbrokers, and bill exchangers. When they had
monc\' on hand they were in the habit of lending it out on bills
and bonds. As far back as 1678 we find reference in the
records of this parish to " Bardarroch's ticket for ^^^^ Os. od."
Scots, as constituting part of the Session's property. And in
1 7 19 the Session of Mauchline had a bond for i^ 107 Scots from
John Reid of Ballochmyle, but " because of the said gentleman's
circumstances they were ordered (by the Presbytery) to do
diligence against him for recovery of the sum." Four years
later, at a visitation of the parish, the Presbytery found that the
Session had proceeded against Ballochmyle " as to personal dili-
gence, but had done nothing so as to effect his real estate with
others of his creditors, and so it appears that there is no expecta-

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 37

tion of its recovery." The Presbytery accordingly found the Kirk-
Session guilty of culpable negligence in the management of
what were trust funds, and they not only minuted disapproval
of that negligence but threatened to pursue the Session for
recovery of the sum that was lost. The Kirk-Session of a
parish, however, it need scarcely be said, is a permanent body ;
and in Mauchline it survived the loss of what was lent to
Ballochmyle. Under good management its stock again
accumulated, and in 1748 there was ^5 Sterling of lying money
in the treasurer's box. The Session, remembering the parable
of the wicked and slothful servant, resolved to put their stock
to usury ; but, taking warning from former experience, they
declared it should only be on " sufficient security," and they
recommended their treasurer " to look out a good hand for it." *
A very strange entry in Mauchline records is " a list of
pledges and bills in Mr. Auld's custody" in the year 1745.
There is no account of how these pledges and bills came into
Mr. Auld's hands, but it may be assumed from what is said
elsewhere about the Session's revising their bills, that the
pledges were securities deposited against advances or loans of
money by the Kirk-Session. The " list" referred to comprised
five gold rings, six bills, and " thirty-two pounds, four shillings,
and six pennies of bad money in two baggs." The five rings
are each specifically described so as to be identified when
redeemed by their respective depositors. One is described as

*As was shewn in Old Church Life (Vol. I., p. 20), the slock held by Kirk-
Sessions was sometimes laid out in the erection of church pews which were rouped
or rented for behoof of the poor. In the records of Kilmarnock Session the follow,
ing " inventorie of the pewes in the Kirk built by the Sessioun, and set for the use
of the poor and for maintaining a schollmaster " appears under date 1691.
" Two pewes at the head of the Skollars seat, 6 pounds each, - - £\2
" Two ,, between John Aird of Miltoun his seat and the south door, £^
"Eight „ in the syde loft, called the Elder-s' loft, ■ . . ,1^63."

38 Old Cluinh Life in Scotland.

plain ami posicd, "where love I find my heart I bind," another
is said t(^ be carved and posied, and another to be plain and
stoned.

Such were the principal sources of provision for the poor in
Scotland in olden times. I have now to show how the supply
was distributed.

At the present day there is in every parish a Parochial Board.
This board makes up the roll of the poor, fixes the allowances
for paupers, and imposes assessments for support of the poor.
In parishes where the Poor Law Act, 1845, has been adopted,
and that means nearly every parish in Scotland, the Parochial
Board consists of the owners of lands and heritages of the yearly
value of i^20, the Provost and Bailies of Royal Burghs, several
members of Kirk-Session, and several elected representatives of
the remanent ratepayers. It may be said that ever since the
Reformation there has been in every parish a Parochial Board
for watching over the interests of the poor. The constitution
of that Board, however, has undergone from time to time con-
siderable alterations. For the first thirty years after the Refor-
mation, the care of the poor, so far as that was provided for by
civil law, was in the case of landward parishes entrusted to
Justices appointed by the King's Commissioners.* In 1597 this
jurisdiction was transferred to Kirk-Sessions, and in 1672 it was
committed to the Heritors and Kirk-Session of each parish con-
jointly, and in their hands it continued till the passing of the
Act 1845. A minute of date May, 1673, in the records of the
Kirk-Session of Mauchline, shews how and when the Act 1672
was brought into operation for the first time in Mauchline parish.
This minute states that " the Session appoints Robert Millar,
Alexander Milliken, and John Reid, Elders, to meet with

* Of course in these pristine days of the Reformed Church there was an ecclesias-
tical administration of charities and collections.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 39

Kingencleuch and Ballochmyle (heritors) anent the giving up a
list of the poor in the parish upon Wednesday next." From
1597 to 1672 it was the Kirk-Session alone that determined how
the poor's funds should be distributed, and from 1672 to 1845 it
was the Kirk-Session and heritors jointly.

In every parish at the present day there is a salaried officer
called the Inspector of Poor, who lays before the Parochial
Board a list of applications for relief, with a detailed statement
of the circumstances of each applicant, and conveys to paupers
the allowances appointed them by the Board. It may be said
that formerly the deacons of the church were the Inspectors of
the Poor.* They were not paid for any work they did, but
they watched over the poor in their respective districts, reported
cases of poverty to the Kirk-Session, and carried to the poor
whatever gratuities the Kirk-Session were pleased to grant.
When it happened that in a parish there was no separate body
of church officers distinctively called deacons, the elders acted
as both elders and deacons, that is they both fixed, either with
the minister alone in Session, or with the minister and heritors
together as the case might be, the allowances for the poor,
and personally distributed these allowances. It was com-
mon for Sessions to appoint one of their number to hand
over one part of their charity, and another of their number to
hand over another part of their charity, to particular persons

* In the First Book of Discipline (1560) Cap. X. Sec. 13, it is said " we think it
not necessary that any public stipend shall be appointed, either to the elders or yet
to the deacons, because their travell continues but for a year; and also because that
they are not so occupied with the aftairs of the kirk, but that reasonably they may
attend upon their domesticall businesse. " In the .Second Book of Discipline (157!^)
Cap. IX. Sec. 4, it is said that there was anciently a fourfold division of the patri-
mony of the kirk, of which one part went "to the elders and deacons," etc. : and
" we adde hereunto," etc. : as if to say that stipends were still claimed on behalf of
what, in a sense quite different from the old meaning of the words, were called
elders (Presbyters), and deacons.

40 Old CJiurcJi Lije m Scotland.

named. In the Session records of Kilmarnock for 1647 there is
a minute which states that "the Session ordaines ane distribution
to be made of charities to the poor, and two merks to be given
to ilk ane of them contained in the roll, to be divyded by the
discretion of the elders in their respective quarters." Some-
times a stricter rule was found necessary. In 1650 the Kirk-
Session of Fenwick "finding some inconvenience upon private
disbursements of the collection both to poor strangers and to
the necessitous within the parish, ordained that no part nor
oortion of the said collection be distribut, bot in face of
Session." In like manner it was agreed by the Session of
Mauchline in 1772, "that in order to prevent the dividing of
charitable donations according to partial favour, whatever is
given to any of the members of the Session for the use of the
poor shall be intimated by that member to the Session at the
next meeting, and the advice of the Session taken in dividing
the same."

In parishes where paupers were numerous and the poors'
funds were large, it was probably customary from a very early
period to have in the Kirk-Session a treasurer, to furnish the
Session from time to time with a statement of the moneys
received and disbursed. But the association in 1672 of heritors
with elders in the distribution of poor's funds made the
appointment of such a treasurer after that date all but necess-
ary. The heritors and Session did not meet together more
than once or twice a year, perhaps not so often, and the Kirk-
Session had therefore to account for intromissions over a con-
siderable period. And to the credit of the Church of Scotland
be it said, that down to a very recent date in the present cen-
tury this office of treasurer was discharged in every parish by
one of the elders, generally if not universally without money
and without price, often without thanks, and not seldom with

Provision for the Poor in Oldeti Times. 41

censorious faultfinding, always amid temptation and pecuniary
risk, and sometimes with actual loss of both money and char-
acter. And the treasurer not only kept the accounts of the
poor's funds, but he often was burdened with the distribution
of the poor's aliment. This duty sometimes brought the
treasurer into serious trouble. In 18 17 complaint was made
to the Kirk-Session of Mauchline that their treasurer, being a
huckster, was in " the constant habit of forcing the paupers to
take goods from his shop, instead of paying them in money, as
he was bound to do." The Kirk-Session took occasion, on hear-
ing that complaint, to record as their opinion that it is " very
improper to employ a person as Kirk treasurer who keeps a
huckster's shop," because it gives grounds for allegations that
the poor " are compelled to purchase articles at a dear rate "
from his shop, whether there be truth or not in such stories.

In some old Session Records we meet with the expres-
sion, " keeper of the poor." At Galston, in 1640, one John
Paterson was " ordainit keipar of the poor," and he held that
office for at least several years. In the year 1783 a new point
of departure was unauthorisedly taken in Mauchline Parish.
For some reason or other, the work of distributing the pensions
was rolled over on the church-officer. His professional train-
ing led him to take a different view of church work from what
the elders had been brought up to. He was a stipendiary, and
they were not. To his mind, therefore, wage was the correla-
tive of work. He thought with the temple servitors in the
days of Malachi, that it was preposterous to expect any one to
shut a door for nought, or kindle a fire on the altar for nought.
He accordingly took on himself to charge the paupers a penny
each time he delivered them their pension ; but for this un-
authorised proceeding he was taken to task and censured. At
what date payment to the keeper of the poor, or whatever else

42 Old Church Life in Scotland.

the upliftcr and dislributor of the poor's funds was called, came
to be commonly alhnvcd in country parishes, I am not prepared
to say. When a stent was levied for the poor, the collector, or
overseer, as he was termed, seems to have usually had some fee
for his work, and probably when the clerical labour of the
treasurer was considerable he also would receive some re-
muneration.*

At the present day, allowances to paupers arc fixed and
minuted at the meetings, half-yearly in most parishes, of the
Parochial Board, and allowances determined at one meeting
hold good till the next revisal of the roll. Long ago it was
different. Sometimes, as at Galston in 1641, the Session dis-
tributed on the Sunday whatever they found in the church
plate. More frequently the Session met fortnightly on a week
day, and allotted what they had gathered since their last meet-
ing. As early as 1643, during the incumbency of a famous
Covenanter, Mr. Blair, the practice was introduced at Galston
of having half-yearly meetings in January and June, and a
special meeting after the communion, at which the whole or
the greater parts of the funds on hand were divided.f These
periodical meetings, at long intervals of six or twelve months,
became more common after heritors were, in 1672, associated
with Kirk-Sessions in the management of the poor's money.
But besides cases of permanent poverty from age or infirmity,
there were always cases of sudden calamity or temporary hard-
ship or vagrant misery cropping up, and these had to be dealt

• The Proclamation of 1692 does not appoint a salary for the overseers to be paid
out of the assessment, but it declares that the fees of the officer (or constable) " to
serve under the said overseers for inbringing of the maintenance, and for expelling
stranger vagabonds from the parish, is to be stented on the parish, as the rest of the
maintenance for the poor is stented. "

tThe practice of giving out grants every Sunday was soon afterwards resumed at
Galston.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 43

with in a special way. The way of dealing with these cases
doubtless changed in every parish from time to time. In Kil-
marnock, from about 1720 to 1750, there was a classification
of the different modes of granting relief to the poor under the
three heads, or Ps, of pensions, 'pointments and precepts. The
pensions were the weekly allowances fixed for the regular poor.
The appointments were special grants made and minuted at
meetings of Session. The precepts were orders by the minister
on the treasurer during the period which intervened between
Session days. The precept system in the hands of compassion-
ate and generous ministers was obviously open to abuse, and
in 1755 the Kilmarnock Board thought it necessary to minute
a resolution that " no minister shall grant precepts upon the
treasurer betwixt Session days to supply strangers or vagrants;
but in case of any extraordinary emergency, either of the min-
isters may give out what he thinks absolutely necessary, and it
may be allowed him by vote of the Session at their next meeting,
and so be marked as part of that day's appointment."

The principle on which Parochial Boards at the present day
proceed in granting allowances for the poor, is to consider what
each applicant requires per week, and then to grant the sum,
with option of a ticket to the poorhouse. Long ago, the
principle of allocation was different. Kirk-Sessions just gave
what they had to give. They cut according to their cloth, and
preached according to their stipend. If a Session had little on
hand, so much the worse for the poor, and if a Session was
rich and increased in goods, so much the better for the poor.
There was no uniform mode of distribution over all Scotland
at any one time, nor in any one parish during all periods of
its history. Sometimes, as in Galston in 1641, the whole
collection was given one Sunday to one person, and another
Sunday to another person. More frequently distribution was

44 Old Chnnh Li/c in Scotlatid.

made every Sabbath or every Session day to a number of
pensioners. Tlic main feature of dissimilarity, however, be-
tween distribution t(j the poor in olden times and distribution
in modern times, is that formerly the amount of charity given
varied very much from week to week. When, as at Galston
in 1 64 1, the whole collection was given to a separate pauper
each Sunday, some, fortunate in getting a good day for their
collection, would receive 30s. Scots, while others less fortunate
in their day, would have as little as los. Scots. At Mauchline,
in 1673, the aliment was distributed fortnightly, but not always
in equal sums to the same person. One man, in the middle of
August of that year, received 6s. 8d. Scots, and the same sum
was given him at each of the next two distributions. But in
the beginning of October his allowance was raised to 8s. 8d.,
and it continued at that rate till the 24th November, when it
fell to 8s. The same irregularity appears in later distributions.
But as time wore on, this irregularity contracted itself within
narrower limits, as if the fact were being more and more re-
cognised that the poor need, and ought to get, for their main-
tenance as much one week as another. And it was doubtless
owing to the difficulty that Kirk-Sessions had in maintaining
regular and sufficient grants to the poor out of fluctuating
generosity, that assessments for the poor were introduced.

It is sometimes said that dissent originated assessments
for the poor, that up till the first secession in 1733 there were
no such assessments in Scotland, and that after 1733 they be-
came common. This is not the case. Dissent was not on its
first appearance in Scotland such an enfant terrible as to dis-
turb the whole social system, and necessitate a new mode of
providing for the poor. The State judged it necessary in 1579
to provide by Act of Parliament for the imposition of a stent
to sustain those that had to depend on alms. And in order to

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times, 45

determine what should be expedient and sufficient for this pur-
pose, the Act directed that a hst of the poor in each parish
should be drawn up, and that it should be ascertained from
those on the list what " they may be maid content of their
awin consentis to accept daylie to live unbeggand." In 1692
the reigning sovereigns (William and Mary) required by pro-
clamation of Council the " heritors, ministers, and elders of
every parish " to levy and uplift such a stent as was necessary
to entertain the poor in their parish according to their respec-
tive needs. And assessments for the poor were actually im-
posed in Scotland before dissent arose.* As far back as 1729,
that is four years before the first secession, there was a stent
imposed for the poor in Kilmarnock, and what is more strange,
it appears to have been discontinued the very year in which
the secession occurred. Either in 1729 or in 1730, there had
been a movement made over Ayrshire generally to have assess-
ments levied for the poor, and in 1730 the most of parishes
were, as we have seen, excusing themselves to the Presb}'tery
for negligence in that matter.

The allowance to the poor per week varied both in different
parishes at the same time and in the same parish at different
times. In 1674 the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock " having in-
formation of the low condition that James Stewart's family is
in, think it fitt that he have 12s. (that is 12s. Scots, or is. Ster-

* The statement that it was dissent which necessitated the imposition of assess-
ment for the poor is supported by the high authority of Sir Henry Moncreiff, who
says, "there was scarcely any regular assessment for the poor, which was continued
for any length of time in any parish of Scotland previous to 1755. As long as there
was no secession of Presbyterians from the Established Church, the weekly collec-
tions under the management of the Kirk-Session were in general found sufficient
for the maintenance of the poor. In some years of peculiar hardship or scarcity,
such as 1696-1700 and 1740, voluntary assistance was no doubt given, and in some
instances temporary assessments were resorted to, to enable the Kirk-Session to
meet unusual emergencies." The strain on Kirk - Sessions was greater than
Sir Henry Moncreiff supposed.

46 Old Church Life in Scotlajid.

ling) wecklic till March 1675." In 1699 the whole number of
pcnsioHLM-s on the roll of Kilmarnock Session was 87, and the
total sum allowed them per week, " to some less and to some
more," was £17 19s. od., or about 4d. each on an average.* In
1737 the allowances per week to paupers in Galston ranged
from 4d. to is. Sterling, and the sum given to one aged couple
was IS. 8d. At Kilmarnock a proposal was made in the Ses-
sion in 1755 " that no pensioner have above ninepence or ten-
pence per week, except those nursing children, who are to be
maintained no longer than they are able to beg or shift for
themselves." And it was further proposed that " no pensioner
have anything by appointment except in case of sickness or
death bed." In Mauchline parish in 1748 the highest grant to
any one pauper was 24s. Scots, or 2s. Sterling per month, while
the average allowance was but half that sum, and there was
one pensioner who received a pittance of three halfpence a
wcck.f In 1 77 1, the year in which the stent was imposed to
put a stop to begging, the allowance had increased to nearly
four times what it was twenty-three years previously, and
ranged from is. 6d. to 7s. Sterling per month. In 1839, six
years before the passing of the present poor law the weekly al-
lowance was in some cases as high as 4s. per week, or about
the same as it still is.

Sometimes meal was given to the poor instead of money.

• Fletcher of Saltoun writing in 1698 speaks of the regular poor as being " very
meanly provided for by the church bo.xes." He says also, "the first thing which I
humbly and earnestly propose to that honourable court (the Parliament) is that they
would take into consideration the condition of so many thousands of our people
who are at this day dying for want of food." Terrible statement if true, but Mr.
Fletcher drew a long bow.

tThe number of poor in the West Kirk Parish, Edinburgh, in 1731, was 60, and
their monthly pension ranged from £1 Scots to £4, Scots each per month, (Hist, of
^^ est Kirk, p. 112.) In 1574 the ordinary poor in Edinburgh received 2s. Scots a
week, and in cases of sickness 2s. 6d. and 3s. Scots. — Lee, H. p. 393.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 4^

In 1651 the Kirk-Session of Galston "ordained Thomas Young
and Archibald Thomson to provyde half a peck meil each
week for ane old man named Robert Cameron, quhilk the Ses-
sion ondertakes to pay." At a much more recent date I find
that when meal instead of money was given to paupers in
Mauchline it was at the same rate of a half peck per week to
each person. The Session of Kilmarnock, however, were more
liberal in their supplies, for in 1646 they ordained "the trea-
surer of the charities to give weeklie the pryce of ane peck
meall for the space of ane half year, to lame John Boyd for his
helpe to ane trade."*

The old law of Scotland gave to destitute children under
fourteen years of age a title to parochial relief, but judging
from a minute inserted in the records of Mauchline Parish in
the year 1773 it would seem as if Kirk-Sessions were reluctant
at times to obtemper that law in a generous spirit. The minute
referred to states that A. B.'s " grandchild is now full nine
years old, and that he may shift for himself with the help of
his friends in time coming." What amount of help the boy's
friends could afford to give him is not indicated, but it may
safely be affirmed, that if the boy at nine years of age was suf-
ficiently educated and sufficiently strong to be set to constant
work, he must have been a wonderful specimen of precocious
culture and precocious power. One would have liked to hear
what became of that boy in after life, whether, for instance, he

* Mr. Dun of Auchinleck, in one of his volumes of sermons, published in 1790,
says that Kirk-Sessions "provide for the poor as much oatmeal as mixed with
water keeps them from dying of hunger." That the pension to the poor in Mauch-
line in 1783 was given in meal and not in money may be inferred from the follow-
ing minute of Kirk-Session recorded that year — "The Session order every one of
their pensioners to bring a pock with their name upon it to . . . their officer,
in which they are to receive from him their monthly pension, with certification that
they who refuse to obey this order shall receive no pension."

48 Old CJiurcli Life in Scotland.

m.'ulc a fortune, and Icfl a legacy to the parish in grateful ac-
knowledgment of kindness received in early youth.

Besides regular pensioners, parochial boards at the present
day have an outlay to incur on what are termed casual poor.
Long ago Kirk-Sessions had the same thing to do, and whether
there were more or fewer people on the tramp then than now,
it is certain that they met with much more commiseration than
they now do from the custodians of the poor's funds. Down
to 1690 or thereabouts, the stranger poor figure very promin-
ently in the records of Mauchline Parish. At a later period,
such as 1748, there occur in the notes of the treasurer's dis-
bursements in this parish many such entries, as, "to a poor
man," "to a poor soldier," "to a poor sailor" ; but these are
few and far between, compared with similar entries in the older
records. And there is a wonderful variety in the designations
of these supplicants. One is a poor schoolmaster, another a
robbed merchant, another an Irish gentleman, another one of
the king's bluegowns, another a man reduced by cautioning,
another a woman with many children. Sometimes the casual
is said to be a poor man recommended by the S}'nod or Pres-
bytery, and in one instance* 24s. was given by the Session of
Mauchline to a poor man recommended by Mr. Alexander
Peden. This last-named donation was made in January, 1683,
and it is just possible, therefore, that the Alexander Peden t
who gave the recommendation may have been the famous
Covenanter of that name, who was doubtless well known to

* In 1687 a pauper solicited charity from the Presbytery of Ayr, and the allow-
ance he received was "a day's collection out of every parish within the lx)unds
where there is preaching." That looks liberal enough. But in 16S7 there were
few parishes in which there was a Presbyterian Church.

t More probably it was Alexander Peden of Blocklerdyke, whose name appears
in the list of " rebels and fugitives from our laws "' appended to the Royal Pro-
clamation, 5lh May, 16S4 (vide Wodrow).

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 49

both the minister and elders of Mauchline. A remarkable
feature in the old Sessional entries of donations to casual
paupers was their kindliness of expression. Tender language
is invariably used, and the objects of relief are designated by-
words that spring from compassion and awaken pity. In the
Mauchline records we read of " distressed gentlemen " and
" castaway sailors," and although supplicants are sometimes
described in a way that is more graphic than sympathetic, such
as " Turkey John," " Dumb Hugh," and " A man with polypus
on his nose," there is a want of that unadjectived baldness
which is characteristic of modern officialism. In the records of
Galston Session, a similar sympathy appears united with
similar humour. In 1672 a collection was appointed to be
miade in Galston on behalf of a poor man " trysted ivith a sad
dispensation of fyr." The same year a donation was sent to
" an old godly sick man in Sorn." A less sympathetic entry,
however, appears the year after, in the following terms, " to a
Paslay body called Findlay." Sometimes very sorrowful tales,
both of calamity and persecution, were comprised in entries of
gifts to vagrants.* In 1642 there was collected at Galston,
"for the help of those poor naked people come from Ireland,
50 merks." In 1686 there was given by the Session of Mauch-
line 30s. Scots to " Mr. Samuel Muet, late minister at Kirk-
connell, and now under straits." This Mr. Muet was one of
those faithful ministers who were deprived of their office for
refusing to take the test in 168 1, and were then left to starve
in the cold.t In 1687 the charity of Mauchline Session was

* Sometimes the story of calamity is so sad as to be of suspicious verity. In 1641,
for instance, the Kirk-Session of Galston accepted the story of a supplicant who re-
presented that he "had his house, and father and mother and children, and all he
had, burned up with fyre."

fMuet or JMowat was minister first at Kirkconnell and afterwards at Crawford-
john. He seems to have been an Episcopalian, but one of the small number of

50 Old CIninli lAfe in Scotlana.

extended to another minister in straits, but in this instance the
straits were not occasioned by persecution. The minute relat-
ing to this gift is as follows: — "October 5. Gevin at the Synod
for the use of Mr. Cameron, late minister at Greenock, who,
being under a sad distemper of mind, has by Act of Synod a
dollar every year for his maintenance from every kirk-box, and
there being two years resting, two dollars now paid, £^ 12s."
Two years later the case of this minister is again referred to in
the Synod records, and he and his family are stated to have
been then in starvation. The recommendation was accordingly
renewed that " each minister should send in from his Session
funds something for the relief of Mr. Cameron, to be gevin to
his wife by the Synod clerk." Another instance of poverty in
the family of a clergyman is quietly recorded without com-
ment in the Mauchline kirk treasurer's journal for 1742. Fol-
lowing the note of grants to ordinary paupers, there is an entry
" to Mrs. Simpson, relict to Mr. Simpson, minister of Finnik,
^3 Scots."*

Episcopalians who refused to take the test in i68l. For this he was deprived of
his living at Kirkconnell. lie was settled in Crawfordjohn, however, before the
Revolution ; but when the Revolution came he was, like other Episcopalian ministers,
ousted by the parishioners. He was thus persecuted on both sides. In his old
age he tried to pick up a living by celebrating clandestine marriages, but in that
also he came to grief, for it was a statute offence he committed, and he was there-
fore, in 1702, apprehended and imprisoned in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh. During
one of his periods of persecution, that is, either after his deprivation at Kirkconnell
in 1681, or his ejection from Crawfordjohn in 16S9, he was "'recommended by the
Archbishop of Glasgow to the charity of all good Christians, because of his wife
and family." His being an Episcopalian enables us to understand how he should
have been so generously treated in 16S6 by the Mauchline Kirk-Session, for it was
an Episcopalian, Mr. David Meldrum, who was then otiiciating as minister at
Mauchline. (See Fasti.)

* This is by no means a solitary instance of sessional charity to a minister's widow.
Several cases are mentioned in Scott's Fasti. In addition to those referred to by
Dr. Scott, I find in the records of the Presbyter)- of Irvine that in 1695 " Margaret
Muirhead, widow of the Rev. Mr. Young, Dreghorn, was recommended by the
General Assembly of 1694 to Presbyteries for charitable supply," and that in the

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 5 1

Kindly as Kirk-Sessions were to the poor, they were occas-
ionally guilty of acts that had an appearance of inconsiderate-
ness at least, if not even harshness. In the records of Mauch-
line there is an entry on the 25th June, 1699, " Collected this
day, £Af 7s. 2d.," and then it is added that " the whole of this
collection is appointed to be given to James Leech, with this
proviso, that he shall seek no more charity or supply from the
Session of Mauchline." Perhaps less was meant than is here
said, but the minute literally construed looks very like a con-
tract by which old Leech was required to undertake that when
his £^ 7s. 2d. Scots (7s. 3d. sterling) was exhausted, he would
close his mouth and die in peace. And such provisos as were
attached to the collection for Leech, were not uncommon. In
1675 the Session of Galston agreed to give a woman the muni-
ficent sum of one merk, " providing she trouble not the Session
further." A much fairer stipulation, however, was made the
same year by the same Session, with a man named Wilson.
The Session " advanced " him los. sterling, on condition that
they should " not be troubled with him further until such time
as the rest of the families in the paroch of his condition get as
much."

One of the works of mercy for which a special collection in
church, or a public contribution, was required in olden times,
was medical attendance, especially when a surgical operation
was needed. On a Sabbath in 1652 there was at Galston " anc
publick collectione for the satisfeing of the doctour ingadging

Presbytery of Irvine there was "gevin in to the clerk for supply of Mr. Young's
relict," by Mr. Warner £2 i8s., by Mr. Hunter ^^i 8s., and by other two ministers
19s. 6d. each. In the same records it is stated that in 1732 Mrs. Clerk, a minister's
widow, "in indigent circumstances and phrenetic," was receiving charitable aid
from Kirk-Sessions. A very touching case of poverty and kindly treatment is the
following, which appears in the records of the Session of Kilmarnock for 169S: —
" The Session unanimouslie appointed a load of meal to a poor, honest, indigent
member of the Session, whose name is concealed."

52 Old Church Lijc in Scotland.

to cure Jiuncs Walker of his infectious disease of the French
pox." So frightened were the Galston worthies that Walker's
pox would break out into a pla<^ue amongst them, that they
contributed " to nuich to satisfic the doctour," and the ordinary-
poor got the unex[)ccted benefit of a considerable surplus.* In
1697 the Session of Kilmarnock went about a similar work of
mercy in a way that was more characteristic of Scotsmen.
Having ordained that some course should be taken to defray
the expense of curing Janet Brown's breast, they first of all
enquired what the cost would be. Then having learned from
" Dr. Maitland and the chirurgeons . . . that as the cure
was dangerous so no less than 20 dollars or ^5 sterling would
be required to defray the charges," they appointed elders to
go through the parish and collect to that amount

It may interest farmers at the present day, when so much is
said about bad times and agricultural depression, to hear that
their predecessors groaned under the same sorrows and had
sometimes to fall back on the charity of the church for help.
On the 2nd March 1735, "being the day appointed for the col-
lection upon the account of those who had lost their corns by
the storms of a year agone, the minister exhorted (the people
at Mauchline) to extend their charity," and charity was accord-
ingly extended to ^8 los. od. Scots. And the loss to indivi-
dual farmers by storms was sometimes so great that the charity
of the whole Presbytery was invoked. In 1736 a representa-
tion was made to the Presbytery of A}t that " Matthew Goudie
in Haugh Yett was a great loser by the haill that fell last har-
vest," whereupon " the Presbytery recommended him to the
several sessions in their bounds for charitable supply."*

* At Galston, in 1633, there was " collectit ^14 (Scots) and gevin to Afaggie
Watsonne haveing her leg culit of." The same year there was a donation given at
Galston to " ane unstevfull wyff."

t Willie wo have thus incidentally in Presbytery books the record of a severe hail

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 53

Besides granting relief in money to parishioners and stran-
gers, Kirk-Sessions, Presbyteries and Synods were in the habit
of giving badges or tokens to poor persons within their bounds
to entitle them to the privilege of begging their livelihood. The
law was very severe in its punishment of " Strang beggars and
vagabonds," but when badges or licenses were granted to poor
people by competent authorities these badgers and licentiates
were allowed to beg with impunity. This begging system was
even sanctioned by Act of Parliament. The Act 1672 already
referred to, directed heritors and Kirk-Sessions " to condes-
cend upon such as, through age and infirmity, are not able to
work, and appoint them places wherein to abide, that they may
be supplied by the contributions at the paroch kirk, and gifthe
same be not sufficient to entertain them, that they give them a
badge or ticket to ask alms at the dwelling houses of the in-
habitants of their own paroch only, without the bounds where-
of they are not to beg."* Long before the passing of this Act,
however, the system of licensed begging was in operation in
Scotland. The Act 1579, which authorised the levying of as-
sessments for support of the poor, also authorised that " quhair
collecting of money may not be had" license be given to " sik
and so many of the saidis pure people as they sail think gude,
to ask and gadder the charitable alms of the parochiners at
their awn houses." As far back indeed as 1424 certain " thig-
garis " were by statute " tholit to beg," but were required to
have " ane certane takin on thame, to landwart of the schiref,
and in the burrowis ... of the Alderman or of the
Bailies." Local acts of similar import were passed also by the

storm in 1735, we have in the minutes of Kilmarnock Kirk-Session the record of an
earthquake in 1732. The date is Sabbath, 9th July, and the words of the record
are — " this day a sensible shock of an earthquake was felt here, and (at) several
other places a little before two in the afternoon."

54 Old Church Lije in Scotland.

courts of the Church. In 1642 the Presbytery of Ayr, on an
overture from Mr. George Young of Mauchline, ordained that
in all time coming such of the poor as should be thought by
the Minister and Session of each parish worthy- of a license to
beg within the parish " should be marked with stampes of lead
upon their breasts, for the purpose of discovering them from
strangers and idle vagabonds." There came thus in course of
time to be several orders of licensed beggars. There were first
and foremost in the order of privilege and distinction the king's
bluegowns, who had a badge to pass and repass over the whole
country, and who made good and diligent use of their
privilege, as old Session records testify. In 1673 the Session
of Galston, in their liberality, gave " to tuo blewgowns 4s. 8d.,"
and in 1693 the Session of Mauchline shewed even more
liberality, by giving to one bluegown 8s. Other beggars,
again, had their badges from Church courts, such as
Synods, Presbyteries, and Kirk-Sessions, and the perambula-
tions of these suppliants were confined to the bounds of the
jurisdiction of the court that granted license. It was appointed
by the General Assembly that these Church licenses should also
be limited to a specified time, at the end of which they might
be renewed, if thought expedient. We find, accordingly, that
in 1695 the members of the Presbytery of Ayr were ordered
" to call back what general recommendations for charity they
had gevin, and to beware of the l}-ke in t}-mc coming under
pain of censure." And in authorising their clerk that year to
sign a recommendation for charity in favour of two poor men,
the Presbytery minuted that the license was confined to the

*John Ker, the minister of Lyne (1593-1627), took another way with beggars.
He first 'satechised them and then gave them liberally ! ! — Select Biog. Wodrow
Society Pub. Fasti. In 1644 the Session of Edinburgh ordained that the poor
" be deprived of their weeklie pensione if they cannot answer to the catechise." —
Lee's Lectures, Vol. IL, p. 395.

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 55

bounds of the Presbytery and " restricted to the space of thrie
months."

But while Synods and Presbyteries were fostering, with the
one hand, one kind of beggary, they were at fully as much
pains, with the other hand, to put another kind of beggary
down. Deserving people in units and tens plied the trade
with badges, while undeserving people in hundreds and
thousands plied it without badges. Vagrancy, imposture, de-
bauchery, and blackguardism of all sorts were thus rampant,
and Church Courts were sorely exercised all last century about
these evils and how to get them remedied.* In 1725 the
Presbytery of Ayr ordered a special collection to be made in
all the churches within the bounds, on the 7th November, " to
be applied for suppressing of vagrant beggars, who are to be
carried to Ayr prison by constables." There were occasions,
too, when the vagrancy nuisance went to greater heights than
usual, and then Presbyteries came down upon it with sterner
prohibitions. In 1747 the Presbytery of Ayr minuted that "in
times when victual is dear many of the idle and slothful are
tempted by the unusual value of a small quantity of meal to go
a-begging at a distance from home, where their circumstances
cannot easily be distinguished, and that by this means some
covetous persons have been enabled to revel in drunkenness,

* It is not to be inferred that the begging nuisance did not exist in Scotland till
last centur}'. Far from that. But the Church last century made a specially vigorous
effort to put it down. Fletcher of Saltoun, in words that are often quoted, states
that at the end of the seventeenth century there were constantly about 100,000 vaga-
bonds wandering up and down the country "without any submission either to the
laws of the land or to those of God and nature " — fathers living in incest with daugh-
ters, mothers with sons, and brothers with sisters. " In years of plenty many thou-
sands meet together on the mountains, where they feast and riot for many days, and
at country weddings, markets, burials, and other the like public occasions, they are
to be seen, both men and women, perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and
fighting together." Fletcher's statement, however, is generally considered an ex-
aggeration of facts.

56 Old Church Life in Scotland.

unclcanncss, and profanity, while those from whom they have
extorted supply are often pinched with want." Kirk-Sessions
were accordingly instructed for the fiftieth or hundredth time
to do what an Act of Parliament required them to do, and
grant only such badges as would entitle paupers to beg in their
own parishes.* In practice, these restrictions were often a dead
letter. But they were better than no restrictions, nevertheless,
and that there was need for their being enjoined by Presby-
teries was shown by the conduct of not a few Kirk-Sessions.
The tickets granted by the Kirk-Session of Mauchline were,
to say the least of them, very vague and sometimes ultra-
parochial. In 1672 one woman, apparently a widow, received
"a testimonial of indigence with a recommendation to the
charity of neighbours^' and in 1674 a man was allowed "a testi-
ficat of indigence to goe to other places to seek supplie." In
1676 a sum of 8s. was given for a barrow to carry Daniel Reid,
who evidently was a cripple and was to have the privilege of
being carried in state, like an oriental magnate, from door to
door. And of all public nuisances within living man's memory,
there were few greater than the old custom, not fifty years ex-
tinct, of cripples' being carried about in hand-barrows. Every
householder was obliged, or thought himself obliged, to pass on
the cripple, and when, as often happened in rural districts, the
next house was a mile or two miles distant, the hardship im-
posed by the custom was intolerable. There are annoyances,

* In 1693 the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock ordered sixty " bages " (badges) to be
made for the poor, and to be given to the poor of the place that they may be known
from strangers. They also ordered lists of the poor of the parish to be given to the
liailie, and an elder of ever)' quarter to attend him at the distribution of the " bages."

In 1698 a Committee of the Kirk-Session of Monkton was appointed " to cause
provide badges with the inscription of Muncktoune on the one side and Prestwick
on the other, and that conform to the list given them or to be given them by the
minister." The independent paupers of Monkton Parish, however, refused at that
time, although they consented afterwards, " to take or wear badges."

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 57

however, that at the present day we are subjected to without
remeid, which the impecunious long ago were not free to inflict
at their own sweet will on the generous public. We are accus-
tomed, for instance, to be dunned for subscriptions to all kinds
of charities — from the purchase of footballs for children to the
erection of churches and organs — and nobody thinks of asking
either ecclesiastical or civil authority to go round the parish
with a subscription paper. But in olden times it was different.
In 1776 one of the village carters of Mauchline had the mis-
fortune to lose a horse, and, as generally happens in such cir-
cumstances, he had not the wherewithal to buy another. He
was forced, therefore, either to crave the assistance of his
neighbours in the purchase of a new horse or to do without a
horse. But he dared not crave that assistance without Sessional
permission. He accordingly went to the Kirk-Session with a
petition " for their authority to go through the parish for a col-
elction in order to enable him to purchase another horse." The
carter, who was both poor and lame, got, of course, what he
wished (for Kirk-Sessions, although they stood on their dignity
and rights, were usually kind-hearted) ; but the point to be
noticed is, that without the Session's warrant he thought it
would either be unsafe for him to solicit subscriptions, or very
unlikely he would get many.

In comparatively recent times there used to be enormous
gatherings of beggars at funerals, although the Act of Parlia-
ment passed in 1672 specially ordained that the poor were not
to go begging to " kirks, mercats, or any other places where
there are meetings at marriages, baptisms, or burials." And
while it was customary for beggars to congregate wherever
there was any thing special going on, or any unusual demonstra-
tion was being made, it seems to have been their common
practice to ply their vocation about church-doors. In 1586 the

58 Old ChiircJi Life in Scotland.

Kirk-Scssion of Perth instructed the bellman " to tak tent that
no person who receives weekly alms beg at the kirk-door,"
under pain of losing his pension ; and in 1587 there was an
order issued in Aberdeen that "puir folk sittand at the kirk-
door bcggand almous, pluckand and pulland honest men's
gowns . . . must sit without the stile." There is no trace
in our records of habitual beggary at the door of Mauchline
church, but there is one entry of 3s. given on a Sabbath-day in
1699 "to some objects of charity at the door." In the Galston
records for 1644 and 1645 mention is made more than once of
charities to the poor, and to cripples and blind, at the kirk-
door ; but it was usually, if not always, at the preachings in
connection with the communion that these alms were bestowed.*
We have seen what amount of pension was given at differ-
ent periods to regular paupers individually, and what casual
donations were given to strangers and vagrants. It may be
asked now, how much money over and above what was evoked
or extorted by begging, did the poor annually cost the country
a hundred years ago and two hundred years ago. I am not in
possession of facts to answer that question even approximately.!

* I have noL given in the text a full and formal account of the distribution of the
communion collections in olden times. I may state here that these collections were
not in very old times given wholly to the poor. At Galston, in 1641, there was
collected on the several days of the preaching in connection with the communion,
£26 IIS. Out of this there was paid i8s. 4d. for setting up tables, I2s. to the
beadle for his attendance, 7s. 6d. to the smith for nails and tickets, and 33s. 4d. to
the reader, etc., leaving for division among the poor ^22 13s. Of this ;f^22 13s., only
£iq 143. was actually distributed among the poor, and it was distributed as follows
among eighteen persons : — 2 merks, or 26s. Sd., to each of eight, 20s. to each of
six, and 12s. to each of four. At Kilmarnock, in 1704, the communion collections
amounted to ^190, but all that was allowed to the poor out of that sum wi.s
£'jg 17s. 4d. The surplus often went to stock for the poor.

+ In 1839 a report by the General Assembly was laid before Parliament anent
" the maintenance of the poor of Scotland for the years 1S35, 1S36, and 1837."
From that report it appears that while during the years 1S07-1S16 the average
annual proceeds of the poor's funds for Scotland amounted to ;ifii4, 194, the aver-

Provision for the Poor in Oldeii Times. 59

I will show, however, what the poor cost the Parish of Mauch-
line at different dates, and it may be presumed that the pro-
gressive cost of the poor in this parish would be similar to the
progressive cost in other parishes of correspondingly progressive
populations. In the year 1706 there was an abstract of the
kirk treasurer's accounts entered in the Session book, and it is
the earliest abstract of the kind I have observed in our records
It is a very meagre abstract, but it shews that, from the 12th
June, 1704, to the 13th May, 1706, which was nearly two years
there was raised for the poor by collections and fines, etc., the
sum of ;^I93 los. 2d. Scots, and that during the same period
there was expended on the poor £206 14s. 8d., leaving the
Kirk-Session in debt to their treasurer for £i'i) 4s. 6d. Scots.
It may be said, therefore, that about 1706 the poor cost the
parish yearly £102, 7s. 2d. Scots, or £2, 12s. 5d. sterling. In
1 77 1 the amount raised for the poor was ;^37, but it came
short of the poor's requirements by £\g los. 2d. In 1773 the
actual disbursements for the poor amounted to £62 los. id.,
and in 1883 they amounted to ;^394 is. id.*

Every one knows on whom the burden of supporting the
poor falls at the present day. In most parishes it falls equally

age in the years 1835-1837 was ;^I55,II9. These two sums were made up as
follows : —

Church Collections, 1S07-16, - ^34,069 1835-7,^38,300

Voluntary Contributions, ,, - 10,702 18,976

Sessional Funds, ,, - 19,705 20,604

Assessments, . ,, - 49,718 77,236

In the years 1835-37 the average annual expense of administration was ^7088, of

which ;i^4i20 was incurred in lifting assessments, and ;i^2968 in management of the

poor. The average number of paupers on the permanent roll was 57,969, who cost

each £1 i8s. 6%A. per annum. The average number of casual poor was 20,348,

who cost each 14s. 8d. a year ; and the average number of lunatic poor was 11 12,

on each of whom was annually expended ;i{^io 12s. 4d.

* In Alton's survey, the total cost of the poor of Mauchline in 181 1 is said to have
been ;^ 1 05.

6o Old Church Life in Scot/and.

on the owners and occupiers of all lands and houses and heri-
tages within the parish. In Mauchline it is all, except about
a sixteenth part, borne by the heritors exclusively. But in
old times it was matter of complaint that the land owners did
not contribute their proper proportion for the support of the
poor. Mr. Auld, in his account of the parish published in Sir
John Sinclair's statistical work, says that the burden of main-
taining the poor in Mauchline " falls almost entirely on tenants,
tradesmen, servants, and charitable persons attending church,
while other people, however rich, particularly non-residing
heritors, whatever their income may be, contribute little or
nothing to the charitable funds of the parish. Hence there is,
in general, ample ground for the common observation, that it is
the poor in Scotland who maintain the poor." There is no
ground now for such irritating remarks. On the contrary, the
heritors have themselves to this day borne a burden that they
might have thrown on the general community forty years ago.
As an illustration, however, of the justice of Mr, Auld's state-
ments at the time they were written, I may here refer to what
happened in 1783. The winter of 1782-83 was a time of great
scarcity and hardship.* The fiars' prices don't indicate that
there had been such an extraordinary dearth of meal as was
witnessed in 1799 and 1800 ; but the state of matters was such
that in Mauchline a special meeting of "heritors and heads of
families " was called from the pulpit, to take into consideration
the condition of the poor, and the question of " preserving a

* The following sentence occurs in Lord MoncrieflPs address to the Royal Society
of Edinburgh, on the 4th February, 1S84, as reported in the Scotsman: — "Things
must have been somewhat discouraging for the farmers in 17S2, for a paper is
noticed in the second volume of the Transactions, by Dr. Roebuck of Sheffield, who
was the manager of the Carron Iron Works, recommending farmers not to cut their
corn green in October, although there was ice three quarters of an inch thick at
Borrowstonness, because corn would fill at a temperature of 43 degrees. "

Provision for the Poor in Olden Times. 6i

supply of meal within the parish." Lord Loudoun was repre-
sented at the meeting by his factor, but very few of the other
heritors were present either personally or by proxy. Owing to
the absence of heritors, no engagement could be entered into
in their name, and there is nothing to show what they did at
an adjourned meeting which was appointed to be held at a
subsequent date. But the plebeian heads of families did some-
thing at the meeting. " Several farmers present offered to
present and supply the parish with such meal as they could
spare," and all honour to their memory for that timeous act of
liberality. And to give "charitable people attending the
church " an opportunity of shewing their consideration for the
poor, it was agreed that a voluntary contribution should be
made the Sabbath week thereafter in aid of destitute families.

It may be asked. Were the poor content with the treatment
they received long ago ? Absolutely content we could scarcely
expect them to be. Poverty is a hard lot, and few people can
bear the strain of poverty for many years without murmuring.
But the poor long ago were neither more clamorous nor more
dejected than they are now. A hundred years ago, and two
hundred years ago, their weekly pension was smaller than it is
at the present day. But their habits were simpler and their
wants were fewer ; and what is more to the point, money went
a great deal farther. They saw, moreover, that although it was
little that the Session gave, it was all that the Session had to
give. The funds at the Session's command did not admit of
greater liberality to the poor, and Sessions were unremitting in
their exertions to increase their means of supply. Congrega-
tions were urged to extend their charities, fines for iniquity
were exacted to the uttermost farthing for the purpose of
benefiting the poor, and heritors were importuned by Synods
and Presbyteries to impose assessments that the work of charity

62 Old CJiurcJi Life in Scotland.

might be made perfect. And what Kirk-Sessions did was done
lovingly, which enhanced the value of their little gifts. Al-
though a passing sneer or snarl may sometimes be provoked
therefore, when acts of seeming stinginess on the part of old
Kirk-Sessions are related — acts that perhaps appear stingy
merely because the record of them is ill worded, or the purport
of them ill put — we must still honour the Kirk-Sessions for the
care they took of the poor and the lovingness with which they
ministered their bounties. Not harsh and hard-hearted men
were these old ministers and elders whose doings we have been
criticising, but men of as true kindliness, as burning a zeal for
God, and as ripe Christian understanding as the best among
ourselves. All honour to their names, and may their works
follow them !

Provision Jor Education in Olden Times. 63

LECTURE II.

PROVISION FOR EDUCATION IN OLDEN TIMES.

Three educational periods — First period from 1560 to 1633— Reformers' views of
Schools — What done in parishes by individual ministers— Ecclesiastical
Visitations, 1613 — Report on Education, 1627 — Church Courts had entire
management of Schools — Second period from 1633 to 1872 — Educational
Acts — State of Education from 1633 to 1646 — from 1646 to 1750 — Mauchline
School in old times — Schoolhouses — how provided— School at the Kirk —
Primitive character of schoolhouses — Schoolmasters — their appointment —
examination by Presbytery — tenure of Office— license to teach — Sources of
maintenance — salary — dwelling house — school Fees — other dues — Education
of Poor Children — Bursars — Examination of Schools — Comparative state of
Education now and formerly — In regard to school attendance — subjects taught
in Schools — advanced instruction — religious education — Sunday Schools —
Respect in which learning was held.

The history of primary or common education in Scotland
from the Reformation downwards embraces three periods.
The first of these periods extended from 1560 to 1633; some
might say to 161 7, but no great mistake will be made by our
saying, to 1633. During that first period the State, or at least
the State speaking by the mouth of Parliament, made no
provision for the establishment and maintenance of schools,
and all that was done for schools was done by the Church
through her Synods, Presbyteries and Kirk-Sessions, or the
private beneficence of some of her ministers or members. The
second period in the history of education in Scotland stretched
from 1633 to 1872. During that second period the State came
to the help of the Church ; Parliament made provision for the

^4 Old Clnirdi Life in Scotland.

establishment of schools and the support of schoolmasters, and
associated the Church in more ways than one with the heritors
of parishes in the management of schools. The third
educational period commenced in 1873, when the education act
of the preceding year came into operation. The State then
assumed the direct and entire responsibility of providing
primary education for the people ; and, without giving any
thanks to the Church of Scotland for her past services,
intimated that her assistance in the management and super-
vision of schools was no longer wanted.

I have not much to say in this lecture about Scottish
education during the first of the three above defined periods.
Our own Session records do not go so far back as that period,
neither do any of the unpublished local records that I have
examined, except one volume and a few sheets of the minutes
of Galston Session. It is necessary, however, that I should
indicate what schooling there was in Scotland from the earliest
times subsequent to the Reformation ; and how that schooling
was provided.

In his life of Andrew Melville, Dr. M'Crie states that prior
to the Reformation all the principal towns in Scotland had
grammar schools in which Latin was taught, and they had also
" lecture schools " or reading schools in which children were
instructed in the vernacular language. After the Reformation
was established the means of education were still further
extended. The Reformers were all ardent educationists.
They asserted that Popery owed its existence and continuance
to ignorance, and that for the advancement of the reformed
doctrine nothing was so helpful as general education and
popular enlightenment. In the first book of discipline, 1560,
Knox and his colleagues declared that in every considerable
parish there should be a school, with a schoolmaster fit to teach

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 65

the grammar and the Latin tongue, and that in small parishes
the reader or minister should take care that the youth* be
instructed "in the first rudiments, especially in the Catechisme,
as we have it now translated in the Booke of the Common
Order." In the Second Book of Discipline, agreed on by the
General Assembly in 1578, it is said that under the denomi-
nation of " clergy" there are included clerks of assemblies, and
" schuile-maisters also, quhilk aucht and may be weill sustenit
of the same gudes,"t that is of the teinds, if these " gudes "
could only be secured for their proper destination.

And not only did the Reformers draw up educational
schemes, but they set themselves to promote educational work.
In 1565 they petitioned the Queen to allow the Church to
have the superintendence of schools, so that none might be
permitted to instruct the young except such as were found by
the superintendents or visitors of the Kirk to be sound and able
in doctrine.^ And in 1567, by the first Parliament held after

* A courteous reviewer of Old Church Life (Vol. I.) objects (in the SatitrJay Review)
to my using the word youth-head. It is not English he says. It is a respectable old
word, nevertheless, quite suitable to be used in a semi-antiquarian book. It occurs
oftener than once in the First Book of Discipline. " The youth-head and tender
children, says Knox, shall be nourished and brought up in virtue," etc. — Chap.
VII. Sec. 3. " Youthheid " in a slightly different sense of the term, is also one of
the characters in Gavin Douglas' Allegory of King Hart —
" Fresche Delyte come rynnand wonder fast
And with ane pull gat Youthheid be the slief."

t The word clergy is used here in a very peculiar sense. It does not mean
pastors or ministers, for the pastor is mentioned in one category, and " elders and
deacons and all the clergy''' in a different. See Second Book of Discipline, Chap.
IX., Sec. 4, and Chap. XII., Sec. 12. The term clerici was applied in ancient
times to the lectores, psalmista:, osiiarii, etc., as well as to the "three proper
orders" of clergy. (Smith's Diet, of Christian Antiquities, p. 396-397).

+ Sixty years later (1616) when the Church was under Episcopal government, the
General Assembly being informed that " certaine women taks upon them to bring
up the youth in reading, sewing, and uthers exercises in schools, under pretext and
colour quhereof traffiquing Papists, Jesuiles, and Seminarie Priests has their
appoyntit time of meeting, at the quhilk time they catechise and pervert the youth
in their growing and tender age " — statute and ordainit that it shall not be leisume

66 Old C It link Lijc hi Scotland.

the Queen's alxlicalion, this important crave by the Church
was granted. Indeed, before this Parh'amcntary sanction was
obtained, the Ciiurch, in her zeal f(jr education, had begun to
exercise the power for which she petitioned. The Queen had
intimated that she would concur in ^vhalever Parhament
should say about the supervision of schools, and the Church
seems to have assumed that that was virtually a concession of
the privilege solicited. The Assembly, therefore, in 1565 gave
commission to Mr. John Row to visit the kirks and schools in
Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham, and to remove or suspend
ministers and readers in those parts as he found them offensive
or incapable. This commission shows that in 1565 there had
been schools as well as kirks in Ayrshire, and it is possible that
Mauchline, which w^as a place of ecclesiastical importance long
before the Reformation, may have been one of those favoured
parishes that were then blest with a school.

For the first forty years after the Reformation, (1560-1600),
people in country parishes were a good deal indebted for what
education they had, to their own ministers. In some parishes
where there was a school, the minister was both minister and
schoolmaster, and this union of offices in those impecunious
times was doubtless to many poor pastors a most welcome
source of much needed help. It w^as not always a popular
arrangement, however. In the eyes of some it rather dero-
gated from the dignity and sanctity of ministerial functions.
Others thought it deprived the people of part of their rights
and dues in the way of pastoral attention. In 1572, the minis-
ter of Haddington was appointed schoolmaster also of the
parish at a salary of ;^40 a year, but in 1574 the scholastic

to quhatsoever persone or persones to hold any schools for teaching of the youth,
except, first they have the approbation of the Bischop of the diocie, and be trj-it be
the ministers of the Presbytery quhere they dwell, and have their approbation to
the effect forsaid."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 67

appointment was cancelled, and the Town Council passed a
resolution that "in no time coming should the minister of the
Kirk be admitted schoolmaster of the Burgh."* There was a
converse arrangement, however, which these Town Councillors
seem not to have considered. While the minister was
debarred from appointment to the office of schoolmaster, there
was no prohibition of the schoolmaster's appointment to the
office of minister. And, strange to say, the minister who, in
1574, was removed from the office of schoolmaster, was, in
1585, succeeded in the ministry by the schoolmaster of the
Burgh, who continued to hold both offices till his translation
in 1587. But the experience of that ministerial schoolmaster
did not form an encouraging precedent. At a presbyterial
visitation of the parish it was found that there were only thirty
persons present, and it was reported to the Presbytery that the
" principal part of the towne come not to the Kirk, and the
gentlemen in landwart cam never but to baptism and marriage."
In other parishes, where apparently there was no school, the
minister sometimes followed the example of the royal preacher
who was wise, and taught the people knowledge. In the
Parish of Loudoun, in our own neighbourhood, there was from
1597 to 1637 a minister of exceptional zeal, both in pulpit and
pastoral work. He preached, we are told, with such ardour
and vehemence that sometimes when he enforced his doctrine
by striking one hand on the palm of the other, the blood oozed
from the tips of his fingers. But what is more to his credit, it
is said that one winter he taught forty persons, each above
forty years of age, to read, in order that they might profit by
personal perusal of the Scriptures. There were cases also in

* In 1579 a complaint at the instance of the schoohnaster was made against the
minister of Crail for teaching bairns. The grounds of that complaint are quite
intelligible. There was a question of fees to be considered.

68 Old Church Life in Scotland.

whicli ministers blessed with more than the common minis-
terial share of worldly fortune, built and endowed schools for
the benefit of their parishioners. In 1603 the minister of Cam-
buslang informed the General Assembly that not only had he
" thir divers zcirs bycjane intcrtenit and kc^jit ane skuil at his
kirk and intended sa to doe in tyme cumming during his lyf-
tyme," but that he had endowed with a hundred merks yearly
a school which had been erected in the parish by royal
authority.*

While in many parishes a great deal was thus done by indi-
vidual ministers, both in the way of teaching and in the way of
providing schools for their parishioners, the Church by her
courts was no less laborious in the promotion of education over
the country generally. Visitations of parishes were from time
t ) time made by ecclesiastical appointment, and schools were
rjcommended or ordered to be erected as the visitors thought
desirable or necessary. In the years 161 1 and 1613 a
visitation was made of the northern part of the diocese of
St. Andrews, and the record of that visitation, which
has fortunately been preserved, is often referred to for
illustration of the Church's zeal in the cause of education
at that date.f In the course of this visitation it was

* Long after 1603 ministers continued to endow schools. "Some of the leaders
of the Covenanters," says Principal Lee, "distinguished themselves by their zeal
and activity in providing the means of instruction. Mr. Alexander Henderson,
about the year 1630, endowed a school in the Parish of Leuchars, where he was then
minister, and another in his native Parish of Creich. Both endowments were
liberal, and others were afterwards made by ministers of the National Church on a
scale not much smaller. Thus Mr. Gabriel Semple, minister of Kirkpatrick-Dur-
ham, mortified 2000 merks for maintenance of a schoolmaster in that parish.' —
Lectures, Vol. IL, p. 429.

tM'Crie's Melville, IL, p. 502. Dunlop's Parochial Law, 4S7. Records of
Synod of Fife.

It is shown in Old Church Life in Scotland (Vol. I.) that the hours of worship on
Sundays were very early in olden times. School hours were very early also. In 161 5

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 69

found that schools had been planted in two thirds of all the
parishes visited, and the report of the visitors shews how these
schools were sustained. At Forgan it was " ordained that ilk
pleuch in the paroche sail pay to the skolemaster 13s. 4d. (or
one merk Scots), and ilk bairn of the paroche sail pay 6s. 8d. in
the quarter. Strangers that are of ane uther paroche sail pay
20s. or 30s. as the maister can procure, as it is agreid in uther
congregationis." In several parishes the parishioners raised
yearly a sum of 50 or 60 merks for salary to the teacher, and
to that contribution the minister added 5 or 6 merks more.

Although it was not till 1633 that provision was made by
Parliament for the establishment of parochial schools in Scot-
land, the State was not meanwhile altogether unmindful of
education. In 1607 complaint was made that the knowledge
of Latin was " greatlie diminischit within this realm to the
heav}- prejudice of the common weall of the samyn," and that
the special cause of this decline was the want of a uniform
method of teaching " all the pairtis of grammar." It was there-
fore declared expedient by the King and Estates that instead
of " maisters of scholis baith to burgh and land taking upoun
them eftir thair fantesie to teache suche grammar as pleisis
them — there shall be ane satlit forme of the best and maist

the Kirk-Session of Lasswade instructed their clerk " to ring the bell ilk morning at
seven hours as near as he can, he his judgment, to advertise the bairnes to come to
the school." One of the rules for the schools established at Holyrood house in
1687-1688 was that "all shall be in their respective schools by a quarter before
eight in the morning, and shall there stay until ten and an half: again at a quarter
before two until half an hour after four."

It may be added that meetings of Presbytery were held at very early hours too,
although many of the members must have had ten or fifteen miles to travel on foot
or on horseback to such meetings. In April, 1688, the Presbytery of Ayr minuted
that they had "altered their diet of meeting from nine to ten o'clock in the fore-
noon."

In 161 1 the Synod of Fife appointed their committees to " meitt at sevine and
he full assemblie at ten hours before noon^."

70 Old Church Life in Scotland.

common and approvin grammar, and all pairtis thereof
coUectit, cstablischit and prcntit to be universallie teacheit."
In 1616 a still more important proclamation was issued by the
King's council, directing that in every parish, " w/-^;-^ convenient
means viay be had for entertaining a school, a school shall be
established, and a fit person appointed to teach the same upon
the expense of the parochinaris, according to the quality
and quantity of the parish." The mode of "entertaining the
school," whether by assessment or otherwise, was not specified
in this proclamation. Bishops were only instructed " to deal
and travell " with parishioners, " to condescend and agree upon
some certane solide and sure course hoiv and by what means "
a school might be provided and maintained. In 1626 the King
was informed that the proclamation 1616 had not been put into
execution, and he wrote to the Bishops that this neglect should
be repaired without delay. The following year (1627) an
order of some kind " seems to have been transmitted to the
different Presbyteries calling on the clergy to make a minute
and authentic return of the existing parochial establishments
within their bounds."* Some of these returns have been pre-
served and printed, and they throw light on the educational as
well as ecclesiastical state of the country at that time. A very
common entry is, " no school in this parish, although there is
much need of one." Sometimes special details are added ; such
as in the case of Greenock, " for a schoole there is greit
necessitie, in respect it is far distant from towns, neir adjacent
to the hiclandis and great popilnes of people;" and in the case
of Shapinshay, " na schoole in the paroche nor never was,
becaus the people are puir laboureris of the ground, and

* All the quotations in this paragraph are from ditterent volumes published by
the Maitland Club.

Prevision for Education in Olden Times. 71

thairfoir are content that thair bairns be brought up to labour
with thame." In a mingled strain of pathos and humour it
was said that at Mordington there is " greit necessitie of ane
skule, for not ane of the paroche can reid nor wryt except the
minister." In some parishes again where schools had been
established they were in such a languishing condition as to be
little more than schools in name. In Ednam there was a
school, but it was very poorly provided, and " maist pairt of the
parentis is not able to pay thair school waidges." There were
other parishes however, even small ones, where a more credit-
able state of things existed. At Ormiston, for example, where
there were only 280 communicants, there was a school
" sustained by the good will of the tenants."

During the days of what I have called the first period in the
history of education in Scotland since the Reformation, the
Church courts undertook the entire management of the
parochial schools. Kirk-Sessions as a rule appointed the
teachers, compelled such people as could afford to pay for
education to send their children to school under pain of
censure, and provided education gratis for the poor. Presby-
teries and Synods made trial of the qualifications of school-
masters for their appointments, and sometimes ordered " the
haill schoolmasters within their bounds to kcip the exercise
(that is the weekly meeting of the clergy for conference on the
Scriptures) that yai m}'t be the better frequented with the
heids of religion." As an illustration of the way in which
schoolmasters were elected to their office, the following extract
from the records of the Parish of Newbattle published in the
Appendix to Principal Lee's lectures may be quoted. On the
15th Oct., 1626, it was minuted that "the Session with ane
consent has set thair harts on Mr. WiUiam Trent, sone to
James Trent in Newbattle, to be yair scholemaster, and yrfore

72 Old CJnircJi Life in Scotland.

wills the minister to intimate to this parrjchinc the next Saboth
clay of yair foresaid conclusion and of him on whom they have
casten thair eyis to be yair scholemaster, and to desyre Mr.
William to be i)rcsent in the Session the r.cxt day to rcssave
his calling."

For the sustentation, too, of this schoolmaster, the Session
minuted their "consent that there suld be ane set rent pro-
vidit ... by and attowre his quarter's payment." The
amount of stent to be imposed on each district of the parish
was then specified, and six months later a committee was
appointed to go through some of these districts and "poynd
yaim wha hes not payit their stent."

I pass on now to speak of the provision for education in
Scotland during the second of the three periods that have been
defined. This period extends from 1633 to 1872, and may be
described as the period during which the State came to the
help of the Church, and the Church and State were associated
in educational work. It is this period that I have mainly to
treat of in the present lecture : and a very interesting period it
is, not because the history of it reveals unexpected facts of
grand school buildings, with high-salarie i teachers, existing in
Scotland two hundred years ago, but rather because it shows
that educational work in Scotland was at first of a ver}- humble
character, and was prosecuted by ministers, Kirk-Sessions, and
Presbyteries under much discouragement and with much quiet
persistency.

One prominent feature of this period was the number of
educational enactments. During the times of Episcopacy there
were two Education Acts passed. One of these was in 1633 and
the other in 1662. During the Presbyterian times no fewer
than six Education Acts were passed by Parliament. These
were of dates 1646, 1693, 1696, 1803, 1845, and 1S61. The

Provision for Edjicatioii in Olderi Times. 73

two acts passed in Episcopalian times were much alike in their
provisions, and they differed widely and essentially, as will be
seen, from those that were passed under the reign of Presbytery
in Scotland.

The Act 1633 ratified the Act of Council, 1616, in regard to
the establishment and maintenance of schools where convenient
means for that end could be had. But it contained this addi-
tional clause, that " the Bishops in their several visitations
should have power, zvith consent of tJie heritors, and most part
of the parishioners, ... to set down and stent upon every
plough land or husband land, according to the worth, for main-
tenance of the saidis schools," with reservation to aggrieved
parties of the right of appeal to the Lords of Council.

The Act 1646 was more stringent in its provisions. It
statiited Q.r\d ordained "that there be a school founded and a
schoolmaster appointed in every Parish (not already provided)
by advice of the Presbyteries, and to this purpose that the
heritors in every congregation meet among themselves, and
provide a commodious house for a schoole, and modify a
stipend to the school master, which shall not be under ane
hundred merks nor above twa hundred merks, to be paid yearly
at two terms."

This Act 1646 was, of course, repealed by the Act Rescissory
of 1 66 1, which undid all the legislative work in Scotland sub-
sequentto 1633. The Education Act of 1633 accordingly
was then revived, and, with some slight modifications in 1662,
it continued in force till after the revolution.

The records of the Presbytery of Ayr give us some informa-
tion about the state of education over the southern division of
the county between 1633 and 1646. In 1642 there were paroch-
ial schools in Mauchline, Ochiltree, St. Ouivox, Dalrymple,
and Cumnock, and in 1644 there was a stipend settled for the

74 Old Church Life in Scot hind.

school at Maybolc. On the other hand there was no school
at Muirkirk, nor any at Dundonald, Tarbolton, Barnwcill,
Craigie, nor Riccarton. In Auchinleck there was "no con-
venient place for a school in respect of the great distance of
the parochinars from the kirk, but honest men kciped thair
bairnes at schoole at some (place) besyde themselves."

It might be supposed that after the Act 1646 was passed
there would be a school in every parish. And that is what one
Church historian has said there was. " At the King's return (in
1650) every Paroche, says this historian, had a minister, every
village had a school, every family almost had a Bible, yea in
most of the country all the children of age could read the
Scriptures, and were provided of Bibles either by their parents
or their ministers." This statement is much too strongly
worded. There was undoubtedly an educational movement
in 1646, but it had not in 1650 achieved the results Mr. Kirkton
describes. In 1647 the Synod of Fife had under discussion
"overtures for promoveing of scooles," and in 1649 there was
laid before the Synod a report anent the provision of schools
within the bounds. In this report it was stated that the Pres-
bytery of Dunfermline had already planted their schools,
with one or two exceptions, and that the Presbyteries of St.
Andrews and Kirkcaldy had " done their diligence." The
Presbytery of Cupar, however, had been dilatory and required
to be stirred up by exhortation. If such was the state of
matters in the forward S\'nod of Fife in 1649, we may be certain
that in 1650 there was nothing like a school for every parish in
Scotland, nor was there for a long while after 1696, when a new
Act was passed making the establishment of a school in every
parish imperative on the heritors. In 1706 there was no
school at Girvan. In 171 1 there was neither school nor school-
master in Dailly, and the heritors assigned as a reason " that

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 75

there was no need of a school in the parish, from the circum-
stances of it, the houses being far scattered, and there is no
accommodation about the church for the conveniency of the
children who are to be taught." It is minuted in the records
of the Presbytery of Ayr, that in 1735 " these who have no
school provyded nor a sallary to a schoolmaster according to
law, and have taken instruments against their heritors for not
doing it are the Paroches of Dalgain, Riccarton, Kirkoswald,
Craigie, New Cumnock, Dailly, Bar, Moorkirk, Auchinleck,
Symington, Stair, and Monkton." As recently as 1752 it was
reported to the Presbytery that there was no school nor salary
for schoolmaster in Auchinleck, and in 1758 New Cumnock
was in the same unblessed condition.*

It may be presumed that ever since 1642, and possibly ever
since the Reformation or even from an earlier date, Mauchline
has at no time been without a school and a schoolmaster. In
Chambers' Lives of Eminent Scotsmen it is said that the
famous statesman and jurist, the first Lord Stair, who was born
in 16 1 9, received his education "at the Parish School of
Mauchline and the University of Glasgow." Our parish
records begin in December 1669, and they make reference to
the school as far back as 167 1. And after that date there are

* The unblessed condition of New Cumnock in 1758 was nothing remarkable.
The General Assembly that year thought it necessary to give orders that " Presby-
teries enquire whether or not a parochial school be established in every parish in
their bounds, and, lohere such schools are wanting X^sx'iX they make application to the
Commissioners of Supply for having parochial schools with legal salaries, erected in
every parish, as law directs." It may seem strange that heritors were so reluctant
to implement the instructions of Acts of Parliament anent schools. As a class
heritors were very poor in those days. Fletcher of Saltoun says (169S) " the
condition of the lesser freeholders, or heritors as we call them, is not much better
than that of our tenants, for they have no stocks to improve their lands, and living
not as husbandmen — but as gentlemen they are never able to attain any." Sometimes
when there was no parochial school, there were private schools or itinerant tutors
ill a parish.

76 Old Church Life in Scotland.

both in the parish records and in the Presbytery records
frequent references to the school at Mauchhne. Not a few of
the schoolmasters in Mauchline too seem to have been men of
more than averai^e standing in their profession. One, appointed
in 1699, had testimonials of his "capacity to teach a grammar
school." He was succeeded two years later by one of whom it
is said in the Presbytery records that he " had the Latin
tongue and might be useful to teach a school if he ivere
diligenty Another appointed in 17 19 was declared by the
same reverend court " very well qualified " to teach not only
the grammar but authors, in other words to carry on his pupils
till they could read and appreciate the classic works of
literature. In fact, schoolmasters long ago were usually or
frequently students of divinity, who afterwards became
ministers. They were thus University men and excellent
scholars. The schoolmaster in Mauchline from 1637 to 1642
was John Gemill, subsequently minister at Symington (Ayr-
shire), who lived a faithful Presbyterian through all the time of
the sufferings and died Father of the Church in 1705. And
the Church was anxious to have learned men for schoolmasters*
In 1706 the General Assembly recommended those who had
the power of settling schoolmasters in parishes, to prefer
thereto men that have passed their course at Colleges and
Universities, and taken their degrees, before others that have
not, ceteris paribus.

Speaking of schools' being founded or established naturally
suggests the question how were school-houses or school-rooms
provided in parishes during the period under consideration.
At the present day school boards have the privilege of
ordering school-houses to be built wherever they are
thought needful. And the houses now erected for the in-
struction of youth are grand palatial buildings that at one

Provision for Education in Olden Times. yy

time would have been reckoned good enough for colleges.
These school-houses too are built from rates imposed on all
proprietors and occupiers of heritages, except such occu-
piers as pay a rent of less than £4. a year. Previous
to the passing of the Education Act, 1872. heritors were bound
to provide a school-house, and as a rule they did so in a modest
way, which was deemed sufficient for teaching purposes. This
obligation had rested on heritors ever since 1696, for in the
Act of that year it was expressly statuted that the heritors
in every parish shall " meet and provide a commodious house
for a school." The Act 1646 contained the same provision ;
but in many places that Act was never put in execution ; and
long after 1646, we find Kirk-Sessions, both at Mauchline and
elsewhere, paying rent for school-rooms. In 1677 the Kirk-
Session of Mauchline paid " for Matthew Hunter's chamber,
which was the schole," a rent of £4, and in 1689 there was
"given for school house" by the Session, £6 13s. 4d., which
looks an odd figure when so written, but assumes a rounded
appearance when put in the equivalent form of ten merks.* A
humbler style of apartment seems in 1647 to have sufficed for
the school at Galston, for in that year there was paid by the
Session out of the penalties only 40s. Scots (3s. 4d. Sterling) to
"John Adam for his house to the school." And the Galston
schoolmaster had sometimes to be doing with a less comfort-
able shieling for his school than we may suppose John Adam's
"house" to have been, for in 1671 there was paid "to Margrat
Lambie for maill of her barn, the tym of winter, to keep the
school in, ^i 13s. 4d." Even in such important towns as Ayr,
teachers had at one period to exercise their craft in hired

* Besides renting a class-room the Kirlv-Session of Mauchline had at this date to
incur expenses for school furniture.

78 Old Church Life in Scotland.

houses. In 1627 there was paid at /\> r t(j the " maistcr of
the grammar scule . . for his hous maill, /J'13 6s. 8d. . . .
for the sculc-hous mail), i^20 . . . and for the maill of the
musik sculc, £?>!'

Even after tlieir obh'i^ation to provide school-houses had
become clear and unquestionable, heritors were reluctant to
build. In 17 1 8 it was reported to the Presbytery of Ayr that
at Tarbolton there were a school and a schoolmaster with a
salary, but "no school house." As recently as 1747 it was
reported to the Presbytery of Irvine that "the school-house at
Dunlop continues yet in ruins," and althouijh the Presbytery
gave orders that a sufficient school-house be built, nothing was
done in the matter for several years afterwards. In 1750 it
was again reported to the Presbytery that the school-house in
Dunlop had been destroyed ten or twelve years a^o by accidenta.]
fire, that the heritors had often met and professed their willing-
ness to rebuild the house, but could never come to an agree-
ment about the modus operandi. This subterfuge was too much
for Presbyterial patience, and the minister was instructed to
bring the case at once before the Commissioners of Supply
But, indeed, so difficult in some instances was it to get heritors
to fulfil their statutory duty of building school-houses, that the
unassessed portion of the public had to offer assistance by
voluntary contribution.

In the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock it was represented in
1704, "that the school house is deca}'ed and weak and ready
to fall, and that the heritors and town could not be obliged to
repair it without difficulty and expense." The Session there-
upon thought it " expedient to apply to the Magistrates to
authorise a public voluntar collection, to be gathered from
house to house through the town, and also that the heritors
should be severally spoken to, to see what each of them would

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 79

contribute thereto." The work went on, and the school-house
was repaired at a cost of ^173 4s. 8d. The Session "disbursed,
as their proportion of expenses," £2\ Scots, but when all that
could be got was counted up, there remained a deficit of
£'j^ 1 8s. iod.,and the Session minuted that, " having paid their
proportion, they could do nothing further, till the heritors had
paid their several proportions also." It would appear, how-
ever, that the heritors gave little heed to this remonstrance,
for in 1 7 10 it was pathetically proposed in the Kirk-Session
that "in regard of the difficulty to oblidge the heritors to
repair the school-house, the money advanced for that end be
payed out of the deficient seat rents when recovered."

An expression that one frequently meets with in old Session
and Presbytery Records is " school at the kirk." It occurs in
connection with proposals or resolutions to erect a school in a
parish, and it defines the locality of the proposed school. It
means that the school is not to be built in some outlying
district of the parish, or in some upstart village making pre-
tension to be considered the head centre of the parish, but at
the old constitutional place of convention, where on Sundays
all the parishioners meet for instruction in doctrine, and on
•week days for being heckled on the question book. It was
indeed not an unusual arrangement long ago to have the
school-room in some superfluous or disused part of the church.
For many a day the parish school of Mauchline was held in the
east end or chancel of the old church, and the surrounding
church-yard was the boys' play-ground. Part of the Church of
St. Bride, at Douglas, was also at one time used as the parish
school, and in the ancient Abbey of Jedburgh there was an
aisle appropriated for a similar purpose, which was therefore
called the Latiners' Alley. When the school was not actually
within the church, it was generally, during the 17th and first

8o Old CJinrch Life in Scotland.

part of the iSth ccntiin-, as near the church as it could be
planted. For instance, in 1654 the Kirk-Session of Fen wick
"resolved to build the church-yard dyke, and a school-house at
the north-west corner of it."

There are several entries in the records of the Presbytery of
Ayr which shew how very primiti\'e school buildings were, even
so recently as the middle of last century. Monkton is an old
parish of considerable note, and we should expect that the
school accommodation in Monkton Parish would be a not un-
fair sample of school accommodation in parishes generally. In
1766, however, the Presbytery of Ayr found that at Monkton
"a partition is necessary to separate the school-house from the
schoolmaster's house." Dailly is another parish in Ayrshire
that for wealth and amenity will compare well with its
neighbours. In 1735 it was one of those laggard parishes that
were reported to the Presbytery as having no school. But in
1 741 a school-house was ordered to be erected in Dailh' — a
school-house which we may be sure was intended to be up to
the mark of the times, and here were its dimensions and
furnishing : " thirty foot lenth, and fourteen foot wideness
within the walls, with side walls six foot high, having four
windows of two foot and a half by one foot and a half, of the
form of closs sash windows, with a hewnstone door, also two
seats of fir dais for the schollars, running along both sides of
the house from one gavill to the other, with a dask- also of fir
dale before one of the seats, of the same lenth, and a fire vent
in each gavill."

From the subject of the school-house we shall pass on now
to the subject of the schoolmaster, and the first questions we
have to ask regarding him, are, what was the mode of his
appointment, and what was the tenure of ofifice he held in
olden times.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 8 1

At the present day the appointment of schoohnasters in
public schools is vested in the Parish School Board. For
many years prior to the passing of the present Education
Act, the nomination of schoolmasters to parish schools was
entrusted to the parish minister and such heritors as pos-
sessed, within the parish, lands that had a valued rental
of ^loo Scots.* During the first period in the history of edu-
cation in Scotland — that is, before 1633 — it was usually, if not
invariably, the Kirk-Session that appointed the schoolmaster.
But, what may seem more strange, the Kirk-Session had often
a voice in the appointment of the schoolmaster during the
early part of the second educational period also. It is minuted,
for example, in the records of Mauchline, that on the 15th Oct.,
167 1, the Kirk-Session "did admit Mr. William Reid, the
Clerk of the Session and Schoolmaster in the Parish." In 1673
the minister of Galston was suffering confinement in Edinburgh
for infraction of the evil laws of that time, but, during his
absence, " the elders, having considered that Mr. James Brown
has been schoolmaster, precentor, and clerk to the Session, do
continue him in the same station for the ensuing year, and
ordain him to have his ordinary salarie and casualties as for-
merly." And lest it should be thought that these sessional
appointments were only local customs, I shall now add an
extract from the records of a parish outside of Ayrshire. In
1 66 1, the Session of Rothesay " did unanimously elect the said
Mr. James, and embraced him to be their schoolmaster for a
year, his beginning to be at Lammas next, appointing him for

* It may be necessary to explain that the " vahied rent " of land is very different
from the real rental. The real rental of land is what the land is actually rented at
or considered worth to its possessor. The valued rental is the old valuation that
was set on the land by Commissioners more than two hundred years ago, and which
continues to be the basis on which several Parochial burdens and assessments arc
still apportinned.

82 Old Chunk Life in Scol/aiul.

r^cll as was formerly ciijoj'cd by cither .schoolmasters, according
to the Act made thcrcancnt, together with the marriage and
baptism moneys according to use and wont, and all other
casualties belonging to the said school." And it may interest
sonic people to hear ihaL the principle of non-intru-^^ion was
adopted by the General Assembly of 1638 in respect of school-
masters as well as of ministers. It was agreed by that Reform-
ing Assembly that "anent the presenting either of pastours or
readers and schoolmasters to particular congregations, there be
a respect had tcj the congregation, and that no person be
intruded in any office of the Kirke contrarc to the will of the
congregation to which they are appointed."

The Act of Parliament, 1696, ordained that "a schoolmaster
be appointed in every Parish not already provided, by advice
of the heritors and minister of the Parish." It might have
been thought that from that date Kirk-Sessions would have
ceased to have any vote or voice in the schoolmaster's appoint-
ment. There were many parishes, however, in which the Act
was disregarded down to the middle of last century, and con-
sequently for that reason, if not for some other also, there were
parishes in which Kirk-Sessions still continued to take part in
the schoolmaster's election. In 1 721, it was formally reported
to the Presbytery at Ayr that the schoolmaster in Mauchline
had the salary prescribed by Act of Parliament, but no legal
security for it be)-ond use and wont. It was probably for that
reason, and because part of the schoolmaster's salary was con-
tributed by the Kirk-Session, that when the office of school-
master at Mauchline became vacant in 1698 it was filled up by
the heritors and Session conjointly. The minute of appoint-
ment in the Session Records is as follows : — " Sederunt. ]\Iinis-
ters and Elders. The quhilk day, the Ministers and Elders,
with consent and special advice of the Heritors, admitted

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 83

Mr. Ga\in Houston their Schoolmaster and Session-Clerk,*
and ordained him the usual encouragements of ane hundred
merks to be payed out of the merk lands in the parish, together
with ten pound Scots of the Town's goods, and eight pund
Scots from the Session for his chamber, and whatever further
encouragement the Session is in capacity to give at the year's
end." i\ similar mode of appointment was followed in Galston
from 1700 to at least 1718. In 1701 the heritors and Kirk-
Session of that parish had a joint meeting, at which the " Heri-
tors present and the whole Session did unanimouslie desire the
Minister to invite him (the person proposed for schoolmaster)
hither, and did promise he should have the ordinary salary
settled by law." In 171 8 a minute was entered in the same
Records, ending in these words — " till a schoolmaster be orderly
chosen by Heritors and Session together." And the expres-
sion " orderly chosen " leads me to remark that the school-
masters in the good old da}'s of mutual confidence were some-
times appointed in a slightl)' inorderly manner. In 1697, the
Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock minuted "that there is one Mr.
Irvine, one of the Doctors of the Grammar School in the
Canongate of Edinburgh, fitted and qualified for schoolmaster
in this place. Therefore, it is recommended to Rowallan to
take information of the man, and in that affair do as he
thinks fit."

Seventy years later, how^ever, the appointment of school-
master was gone about more cautiously at Kilmaruick. The
mastership of the Grammar school there became vacant in

* Everyone knows that the parish schoohnaster used to be also the Session
Clerk, but it is perhaps not generally known that the two offices are referred to as
conjoint in an old Act of Parliament. The Education Act of 1646 — at that dale
both Church and State were alike zealous for the covenant and alike ecclesiastical
in their way of thinking — declares a certain stipend "to be due to the Schoolmaster
and Clerk of the Kirk-Session."

84 Old Cluirck Lijc ill Scotland.

1764, and a distinguished scholar was wanted for the post.
The heritors had a secret, and probably a very well-founded,
misgivinfT about their competency to judge of scholastic attain-
ments, and they prudently resolved to act on advice in filling
up the vacancy. 'I'hcy accordingly sent in a memorial to the
Presbytery of Irvine, stating that they were " willing, upon a
comparative trial of the different candidates, to bestow the
appointment on the most sufficient," and craving the Presby-
tery "to appoint a Committee of their number to be present at
a meeting of Heritors, and, in conjunction with such other
judges as the Heritors shall have there present, to judge of the
literature and qualifications of the candidates." The Presby-
tery were doubtless flattered by the high compliment thus paid
them, and so, " finding the desire reasonable, they appointed a
Committee to meet as craved and impartially prefer the most
sufficient of the Candidates." A similar course was followed
at Irvine in 1797.

It is well known that for many a day schoolmasters in Scot-
land had, before entering on a public charge, to pass an
examination by the Presb}'tery of the bounds. The Act 1S03
required every schoolmaster, elected under the provisions of
that Act, to carry to the Presbytery a certificated copy of the
minute of his election, and to be examined by the Presbytery
' in respect of morality and religion, and of such branches of
literature as b}' the majority of heritors and m.inister shall be
deemed most necessary and most important for the parish."
The Presbytery were also required, if satisfied with the attain-
ments of the appointee, to grant a certificate that he had been
found "duly qualified for discharging the duties of the office to
which he had been elected." In olden times, however, Presby-
teries exercised a higher function than this. They gave men a
general license to teach, and granted extracts of such license.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 85

It may be said, therefore, that at one time all parish school-
masters were certificated teachers. In 1697, a man appeared
before the Presbytery of Ayr, and " having given proof of his
ability to teach, and made profession of his principles to be
according to those of this kirk in doctrine and government, and
offered to sign the Confession of Faith when required, he is
licensed to teach a school at New Cumnock, where he is
invited." A more common form of minute was that a man
appointed to a school in a particular parish, and found com-
petent for the office by the Presbytery, was " licensed to teach
in the said Parish, or where he may be employed within the
bounds of this Presbytery." And these Presbyterial examina-
tions were not shams. Incompetent presentees to schools were
mercilessly plucked and sent home to complete their educa-
tion.*

The appointment of a schoolmaster used, in days we
remember, to be ad vitani ant cnlpam. But it was not always
so. In olden times teachers were often appointed for a limited
period or under special contract, and they were sometimes very
unceremoniously dismissed for failure to fulfil their part of the
compact. In 1685, the Kirk-Session of Mauchline minuted
that " George Moor was allowed to teach the school during
pleasure, and to receive the ordinary benefit therefor." A
year afterwards, the Session minuted that " the minister had
discharged George Moor for misbehaviour, and that there was a
vacancy of schoolmaster in the Parish." In 1665, the Kirk-
Session of Fenwick minuted that they had appointed A. B. "to
be schoolmaster for a year," and for some time thereafter they

* About the end of last century this Presbyterial duty was often neglected. In
1796 there were within the bounds of the Presbytery of Irvine, not only private
teachers but parish schoolmasters who had never been examined by the Pres-
bytery.

86 Old Chill I h Life in Scotland.

aiiiuall)' iniiiuLcJ lluit the said A. V>. was " continued school-
master." In i^>75, the Session of Galston minuted that they
h.id chosen a man to be schoolmaster, clerk, and i)recentor, and
that i1k\- had " bari^ained with him till Martinmas next." In
the published records of Dumbarton Burgh, the following
minute will be found under date, I2th March, 1670: "The
Provost, baillies and couuslH having heard and understood
sjrfijiently that William Campbell, present schoolmaster of the
grammar school and presenter of the church, is unqualified and
n )t able to te ich, and that the children have not profited in
L-arning under his instruction ; and that he is not qualified nor
instructed in the airt of music, to the scandall of the public
worship of God, it is therefore ordained that he be warned to
remove from the school and prescntcrship, coiifonne to the con-
tact qiihilk lie had falsified!'

Besides schools with salaried masters there were in Scotland,
from a very earl)- period, many private or adventure schools.
In 1644 it was reported to the Presb\-tery of Ayr that at
Tarbolton there w^as " no schole at ye kirk, for lack of main-
tenance, but two private schools abroad in the Parish." The
teachers of these schools required, like other schoolmasters, to
have ecclesiastical license to teach ; and, whether they held any
appointment or not, they were in some waj-s under the control
of the Kirk-Scssion. Where there was a public school there
was a restriction on private schools. Public schoolmasters did
not like to have the bread taken out of their mouths by Hals
of the W\'nd, and they complained when a parish was over-
s:hoiilcd. In 170 1, the teacher of the English School in Kil-
marnock petitioned the Session to take some course " for
reguhiting inferior women schools within the town and
suburbs. " In 1692, the Kirk-Session of Mauchline passed a
resolution which shews that the educational doctrine they held

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 87

was not free trade but fair trade in teaching — not scholastic
equality but protection and privilege to the established and
endowed parochial schoolmaster at the kirk. The terms of this
resolution were " that there should be no school within ane
mile of Mauchlin, and that all who would keep school within
the Parish should come to the minister and be tried of their
qualifications and fitness for that office, and crave liberty to
teach from the Session."

And the Kirk-Session of Mauchline were not peculiar in
holding this doctrine of protection with regard to schools. In
1697, the Kirk-Session of Greenock, with consent of heritors,
ordained that " no school be kept in the Parish except the
publict school, they considering that private schools were pre-
judicial to it, providing always the said school be in a com-
modious place of the Parish." The following year, the same
Kirk-Session allowed a man " in Longvennel to teach a school,
with this express provision, he instruct none above the New
Testament exclusive, that so the public school may not be
prejudged."

The next question we have to ask regarding schoolmasters,
is, what provision was made in olden times for their main-
tenance.

The Act 1633 empowered bishops, with consent of heritors
and a majority of parishioners, to impose, in all parishes within
their jurisdiction, a stent for the maintenance of a school.
That power, however, was not taken advantage of to any great
extent. But, in 1646 another Act was passed, which ordained
that the heritors of every congregation meet among themselves,
and both provide a commodious house for a school and modify
a stipend to the schoolmaster. This Act was peremptory
enough in its provisions, but it was passed in troublous times
when it was not easy to get acts rigidly enforced, and it was

88 Old Church Life in Scotland.

ncjt rigidly enforced. It was annulled, moreover, by the Act
Rccissory, 1661. 'I'hc I'crmissive Act, 1633, came thus to be
revived, and with a new clause added in 1662,* continued law
till after the Revolution Settlement. Practically, therefore, there
was no legal salary secured for schoolmasters till 1696 ; and
it falls to mc, consequently, to shew separately how salaries
Averc provided for schoolmasters before that date and after that
date.

Previous to 1696, Kirk-Sessions had generally to provide the
s;hoolmaster's salary either in whole or in part. The Session
Records of Mauchline are not very explicit in stating what
was done for education in this parish before that date. But,
laying one statement alongside of another, it is clear that in
1 67 1 the Kirk-Session had, in inconsiderate generosity, guaran-
teed the schoolmaster a salary of ^^"90 Scots, or;i^7 los. Sterling
a year. This was reckoned a big sum in 1671, and the Session
found that it was not easily raised in the parish. When the
salary came to be paid at the year's end there was a deficiency
of funds, and the following entry was made in the minutes of
Session : — " Givin to Mr. William Reid, in part of payment of
his stipend from the sixteen of October, 1671, to the sixteen of
October, 1672 ; Imprimis of voluntar contributione, £62 4s. od. ;
Item, out of the box, £1"/ 9s. od." These two sums amounted
to £'/g 13s. od., and that this was all the encouragement the
Kirk-Session could give Mr. Reid, is shewn by the pitiful
account of parochial poverty which follows : "The quhilk day,
charge and discharge being compared according as they stand
in the book, nothing remains of money at present in the box."
And with no bank at hand, there was no convenient means of
borrowing money. The schoolmaster had therefore to practise

* This clause was inserted as a rider in an Act "anent ministers and masters in
universities."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 89

patience, and content himself with partial payment of his
fee, till the Kirk-Session, by some means or other, got a
few pounds collected. It is said that deliverance comes
to the righteous, and the adage proved true in this
instance. In March, 1673, the unexpected happened, and
the Kirk-Session had the advantage of a considerable wind-
fall. A fickle wooer, after he had been proclaimed with one
spinster, changed his mind and married another; and for failing
to implement his first marriage contract had forfeited, as will be
explained in the lecture on marriages, his consignation money.
This amounted to ^10 Scots, and the Session allowed " Mr.
William Reid the same, as part of his fie for the former year,
beside the three score and nineteen pounds, thirteen shillings,
quhilk he got formerly." There was still ^"5, /s. wanting to
make up the guaranteed salary, and for this remanent sum the
Session had again to go to their box. It was near the end of
April before the box could give much help ; but by that date
there was such an accumulation of coppers, good and bad, that
the Session were able to wipe off all debts of more than half a
year's standing. It was then minuted that " the boxmaster is
ordained to give Mr. William Reid five pound, seven shillings,
quhilk compleits him of 90 lib. Scots." It will thus be seen
that in 1672 the Kirk-Session, in the first instance, raised as
much as they could for the schoolmaster's salary by voluntary
contributions, and then supplied the deficit out of their own
funds.

A forfeited consignation came in very opportunely to the
Kirk-Session in 1673. Two years later, the Kirk-Session had
an equally good turn of luck. A special collection had been
made in the church for the relief of persons taken captive by
the Turks — which, it m.ay be remarked in passing, was a fre-
quent object of collection both in ]\Iauchline church and in all

90 Old Lit inch Life ill S col land.

churches over the country two hundred years ago — ^and for this
benevolent purpose, in i675,sixty pounds Scots were contributed.
It was afterwards fcnind that the \Wi)\-\Qy was not needed for the
ca[)tivcs, and the Session resolved to utilise it "for relief of
the extreme necessity of the poor, and for inaintaininj^f the
school."

It is not to be supposed, however, that previous to 1696 the
salaries of schoolmasters were always made up by voluntary
contributions and drafts from the kirk box. Sometimes they
were raised, either wholly or in part, b}' a stent on the land, and
sometimes by a house tax. From a few detached entries in
our parish records, I am constrained to think that from and
after 1675 a "proportion" of the schoolmaster's salar)- in
Mauchline was contributed by the Kirk-Session, and another
part of it was provided by the heritors. But it was not readily
and cheerfully that the heritors, in those days, paid their pro-
portion. More than once, payment had to be extorted from
them by letters of horning, at the instance of the Kirk-Session.
In some other parishes, the schoolmaster's salary was paid by
stent, either wholly or partly, long before 1675. The school-
master of Cumnock complained to the Presbytery of Ayr in
1643 that his stipend was not regularly and punctually paid,
and the Presbytery gave orders that letters be raised against
the heritors for recovery of all that was due to him. In 1649, the
Kirk-Session of Kingarth, in Buteshire, ordained and "applotted"
for maintenance to the schoolmaster there, " halfc ane merk upon
every merk > eirlie land within the parish, and forty pennies upon
every cottar that brooks land,"* with ^20 out of the penalties,
and his other casualties at marriages and baptisms. In Banff-
shire, at the end of the seventeenth century, the usual salary

* Lee's Lectures, Vol. II., p. 437.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 91

for a schoolmaster was " a haddish of victual out of ilk oxgate,
or a firlot of meal off each plough in the parish." At Galston,
in 1639, there Avas another form of stent levied. A reader was
that year appointed in Galston, and, for " his service in the kirk
and for the gud attending on ana schoole " he was allowed,
inter alia, " three shillings Scots from ilk fire house within the
paroch, both cottar and tennant." This obnoxious house tax
seems to have been soon after discontinued, and in 1646 and
several subsequent years the salary of the schoolmaster was
drawn from the annual rent of stock held by the Session, with
an eke from the penalty box. Prior to 1677, the heritcjrs
became to some extent responsible for the salary, and as at
Mauchline they shewed at times a covenanted disinclination to
contribute their quota. For " outreacheing the schoolmaster's
fie," therefore, the Kirk-Session had that year to send a " decreet
east for raising of letters of horning thereupon."

As at Mauchline so at Kilmarnock, the schoolmaster's salary
was at one time made up jointly by the Kirk-Session, the
heritors and the town. In 1697, which it need not be said was
after the Act 1696 had been passed but was probably before
the Act had been put into execution, the master of the grammar
school at Kilmarnock was allowed a salary of 300 merks to be
made up as follows: "^^126 13s. 4d. Scots by Session; ^^"53
6s. 8d. Scots by the heritors, and ^^20 Scots out of the common
good of the town." And it may be mentioned that besides
finding or helping to find a salary for the master of the
grammar school, the Kilmarnock Kirk-Session, from a very
early period, gave a salary to a second or assistant teacher. In
167 1, they ordained that, in addition to a specified share of
certain casualties, the " Doctor is to have .^20 Scots b}' year as
the Session's part of a cellarie for him, with twentie merks
yeirlie of the Commu.non silver." And, four years later, a

92 Old Chunk Life in Scotlaiut.

characteristic resolution was minuted, to the effect that "the
Doctor is to have 20 merks yeirlie at the Communion, to be
peyed whether there be Communion or not." *

Sucli were the varied ways in wliich, previous to 1696,
salaries were found for schoolmasters. I have now to show
how such salaries were provided, after that date.

The Act 1696 appointed "that the heritors in every Parish
meet, . . . and settle and modify a salary to a schoolmaster,
which shall not be under one hundred merks nor above two
hundred." The Act provided also that "the said salary be
laid on comformably to every heritor's valued rent within the
Parish, allowing each heritor relief from his tenants of the half
of his proportion." It declared further that this salary was to
be given to the schoolmaster, "by and attour the casualties
which formerly belonged to the readers and the clerks of the
Kirk-Session."

In many Parishes, the heritors for many a day resolutely
declined to do what this Act required them. For the first half
of the eighteenth century, returns continued to be entered in
Presbytery books of parishes that had no legal salary provided
for the schoolmaster ; and Presbyterial injunctions were year
after year given to the ministers of these parishes to take effec-
tive measures for compelling the heritors to provide such
salaries. In 1697, all the members of the Presbytery of Ayr
" were required (by the Presbytery) to use diligence to
gett salaries for schoolmasters settled in their Parodies,
conform to a late Act of Parliament, and report"
what success or unsuccess they meet with. A few months

* To shew clearly who was meant by the term Doctor, the following minute of
Kilmarnock Session, 1704, may here be quoted. The Session "voted that the new
schoolmaster should have 200 merks of salar)- yearly, and l6s. Scots of quarter
wages from each scholar, also that there should be allowed to a Doctor J[^^o of
salary, and Sd. of quarter wages fur each scholar."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 93

later, several ministers reported to the Presbytery that they
found " inconveniency " in pressing the heritors to provide
schoolmasters' salaries, and that " they must labour to bring
them up to it by degrees'' And it was by very slow degrees
that some heritors were brought up to a sense of their legal
duty. Kirk-Sessions were thus burdened still with such pro-
portions of schoolmasters' salaries as they had been in the use
and wont of paying. As recently as 1730, the Presbytery of
Irvine, at a visitation of Kilmarnock parish, had to declare their
opinion " that the heritors should free the Session of any part
of the schoolmaster's salary from henceforth." In 17 10, the
schoolmaster of Dreghorn seemed to have his modest salary of
100 merks sufficiently secured, for the heritors had " obliged
themselves by bond," to make payment to him of that sum
yearly. Several of these heritors nevertheless refused to imple-
ment their bonded engagement, on the ground that the school
at the kirk was too distant for the children of their tenants. In
1724, the salary of the schoolmaster at Fenwick was reported to
be only six bolls of oatmeal, and the heritors were, in a very
Christian spirit, recomuiended by the Presbytery to make it up
to the legal minimum. The Presbytery's recommendation
however had no effect, and the schoolmaster of Fenwick had
for nearly twenty years longer to content himself for salary w ith
such a modicum of meal as could furnish his family with a one-
pound bowl-full of porridge daily. In 1729, the heritors of
Dunlop wrote that though they- could not " refuse the Pres-
bytery's diligence to oblige them to make a legal salary to a
schoolmaster, when the season would allow them to meet,
they thought they gave as much salary as should satisfy for a
schoolmaster of such sufficiency as they needed, to teach read-
ing and writing English." In 1727, the schoolmaster of Ar-
drossan's salary was only £40 Scots, and was not even punc-

94 Old Clntick IaJc in Seal land.

tually paid. TIic Prcsbylciy, in their conciliatory way, "re-
commended the punctual payment thereof, and that it be made
u[) to loomcrks."* To this most reasonable recommendation
one noble [)r()prictor replied, that he was "willin;^ that the
schoolmaster be payed punctually, but as to the making of that
salary legal the heritors would not be liable, because it was
agreed to and in use before the Act of Parliament in King
William's time." Strange to sa)', it was reported to the Presby-
of Irvine in 1767 that the schoolmaster of Bcith was not pro-
vided with a legal salary, "although the parish was populous,
and the valuation as large as any in the bounds." A Presby-
terial recommendation, however, seems to have done some good
in this instance, for in 1769 it was announced that the salary of
the schoolmaster at Beith had been raised to ^131 Scot.s. But,
out of that sum £1 were to be deducted, as payment of ^i a
year to each of three teachers of private schools in outlying
parts of the parish ; and it may be remarked that stipulations
of this kind were not unusual about the middle of last centurx-.
In 1769, the schoolmaster of Dunlop was allowed ten merks
extra to his salar\', on a condition of very questionable benefit
to him, namely, that he should pay it to a teacher who should
keep a private school at the upper end of the parish.

The schoolmaster at Mauchline was not so unfortunate as
some of his Ayrshire brethren. In 1698, he received, as we
have seen, 100 mcrks from the mcrk lands, and £\o Scots
from the town's good. His salary was subsequently raised to
i^ioo Scots, and in 1764 it was augmented to ;^I20 Scots ; but

* Witliin tlie bounds of the I'resbylcry of Ayr, as well as of Irvine, some school-
masters had very inadequate salaries during the first half of last century. In 1721
the schoolmaster's salary at Straiton was 80 merks, at Dalmellington ^40 Scots,
and at St. Evox 8 bolls of victual, derived from a mortification. In 1766 the
minister of Monkton reported that in his parish the schoolmaster's salar}' was only
50 merks, "and that he (the minister) could not find a proper man for that sum."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 95

although these successive augmentations look liberal, on the
principle of geometrical progression, we must remember that
£,120 Scots means only ^10 sterling, and this was all the
salary that the schoolmaster of Mauchlinc, so far as I can trace,
received till the beginning of the present century. It is stated
by Mr. ^Vuld in his statistical account of the parish (1790), that
about the time of his settlement in Mauchline there were
" only two or three families in the parish who made use of tea
daily ;"* but, he adds, " now it is done by at least one half of the
parish, and almost the whole of it occasionally. At that
period," he also goes on to say, " good twopenny strong ale and
home spirits were in vogue, but now even people in the midd-
ling and lower stations of life deal much in foreign spirits,
rum-punch, and wine. As to dress, about fifty years ago there
were few females who wore scarlet or silks. But now, nothing
is more common than silk caps and silk cloaks, and women in a
middling position are as fine as ladies of quality were formerly."
Unless the schoolmaster in the early period of Mr. Auld's min-
istry had happened to have something more than his salary of
£\\, 6s. 8d., or even £\o sterling a year to come and go upon,
he must have been one of those unfortunates referred to as
nc\cr having the luxury of tea at their command, and as being
content on occasions of high festivity to allay their thirst with
hunic brewed ale of the twopenny quotation. When he went

'■ In sume farm houses within six miles of Mauchline Church, tea was unknown
fifty years ago. The female members of the family were on Sabbath mornings re-
galed with a decoction of peppermint or agrimony, but on the other mornings of
the week both men and women had to content themselves with porridge and milk,
and a course of home bakeil breatl and milk afterwards. The afternoon tea
indulgetl in by well-to-do people fifty years ago went, as is well known, by the
name of " f mr hours," and this phrase as applied to an afternoon meal or tipjde is
of very old standing. In 1589 complaint was made to the Presbytery of Hadding-
ton by the parishioners of Aberlady, that their minister went to "thecommown
oistlar houses daylie to \{\i Jour Iionres.^' (Fasti).

g6 Old Chunk Life in Scot /and.

abroad, too, it could scarcely have b^cn in scarlet doublet or
silken hose, but in plain hodden gray, the homely produce
of parochial flocks. Pitiable, however, as was the school-
master's position, not in this parish only but over all the
country, in the middle of last century, it seems to have
been a great deal worse at the beginning of the present
century. Oatmeal was then at a famine price, and while
the wages of workmen generally may have risen somewhat
with the dearth of provisions, the schoolmaster's salary had
bounds appointed to it by an Act of Parliament more than a
hundred years old, and these bounds could not be overpassed.
The General Assembly therefore, in 1802, emitted a declaration,
shewing that while parochial schoolmasters, from the honour-
able and useful work they were engaged in, were " well entitled
to public encouragement, yet from the decrease in the value of
money their emoluments had descended below the gains of a
day labourer, that it had consequently been found impossible
to procure qualified persons to fill parochial schools, that the
whole order was sinking to a state of depression hurtful to
their usefulness, and that it was desirable that some means
should be devised to hold forth inducements to men of good
principles and talents to undertake the office of parochial
schoolmasters." * And that the Assembly might not be
chargeable with saying much and doing little, the moderator
and procurator were instructed to correspond with the officers
of state for Scotland on the subject of the declaration, and to
co-operate in the most prudent and effectual way to forward

* In 1761 a lelter was lead in ihe I'resbylery of Irvine, probably in many other
Presbyteries, from the Preses of the Established schoolmasters in Scotland,
"craving that the Presbytery may entreat their Commissioners to the General
Assembly to assist in obtaining a voluntary collection, to enable them to af/ly to
Parliament for an Act whereby their widows may be provided in a yearly annuity,
by a fund iiitciulcii for that purpose."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 97

any plan for the relief of parochial schoolmasters, and give it
all the weight it could derive from the countenance of the
Church. What influence this declaration had on subsequent
legislation it might be presumptuous for a minister of the
Church of Scotland to say; but it is certain that in 1803 an Act
of Parliament was passed, raising the minimum salary of
schoolmasters to 300 merks, or three times what it was before,
and the maximum salary to 400 merks, or twice its previous
amount. The heritors of Mauchline were generous enough to
allow at once the maximum salary to their schoolmaster.
This was £22 4s. 5^d. The Act 1803 empowered the heritors,
in 1829, to commute the 400 merks of salary into the money
value of two chalders of oatmeal at the average price of meal
for the twenty-five years preceding, and this commutation
raised the schoolmaster's salary to ^^"34 4s. 4id. An Act
passed in 1861 ordained that, in Parishes where there is only
one school, the schoolmaster's salary should not be less than
^35 nor more than £^0, and in Parishes where there are two
or more schools, the amount of salaries paid to all the teachers
together should not be less than ^^50 nor more than £,^0.
After the passing of this Act, the salary of the parish school-
master in Mauchline became ^^50, and under the new School
Board the salary of the principal teacher in the old public
school was continued at that amount. Now that this salary has
come to be paid from rates levied on the parishioners generally,
according to the value of the heritages owned or occupied by
them, the question of reducing or raising salaries has come
to be a question of general interest and parish politics. It
is a question, however, that ought to be considered by all
parishioners in a true and broad, and not in a false and narrow,
spirit of economy ; for just in the same way as a farmer finds it
profitable to give a good price for a good horse, rather than

98 Old Church Life in Scotland,

procure an indifferent cob or a sorry nag at a small figure, so is
it better for a parish to have good teaching at the market rate,
than indifferent teaching at half the cost.

Besides a salary, schoolmasters have generally from a very
early period had either a dwelling house or an allowance in
money for house rent. Prior to 1803 they were not entitled by
law to a dwelling house, and from 1803 to 1861 the whole
extent of accommodation they could claim was a room and a
kitchen. The Act 1872 does not compel School Boards to
provide any dwelling house at all for schoolmasters, and there
are consequently some parishes where the schoolmaster has
enough ado to find a local habitation.

In this parish the schoolmaster never enjoyed the luxury of
having a house he could call his own. In 1803 he might have
demanded a " but and a ben," but he didn't. He accepted,
instead, a small pittance as allowance for house rent. And in
so doing he revived an old parochial custom. In the seventeenth
century his predecessors had a similar perquisite paid them by
the Kirk-Session. Its old designation was chamber mail,
sometimes written chamber meall. It is stated in the Session
records that in 1675 there was paid " for the schoolmaster's
chamber £?> os. od." In 1692 the Session passed, what, on the
margin of their minute book, is termed an Act, appointing " ten
merks to be given for the schoolmaster's chamber maill from
Martinmas 1691 to Martinmas 1692, as also they have appointed
his chamber mail to be pa}-ed in all time coming, quhairever it
shall be, so long as he is schoolmaster in this place."* In 1696,
the Session, for profound and mysterious reasons of their own.

* In 1704 the teacher of the Enghsh school in Kihnarnock applied to the Kirk-
Session "for help to pay his house rent. The Session, considering it the town's
concern to encourage him, as well as the Session's, did unanimouslie allow him £t^
Scots, provided the town would advance as nmch."

ProvisioJi for Education in Olden Times. 99

included the old allowance for chamber mail to the schoolmaster
in their salary to him as Session-Clerk. They minuted that
" considering Mr. Patrick Yorston, schoolmaster here, and offici-
ating as Session-Clerk, hath had no particular quota determined
as his salary for being Session-Clerk, did determine that during
his officiating as Session-Clerk he should have yearly iJ"20 Scots,
including that which used to be given to the schoolmaster for
chamber meale." Two years later the Session reverted to their
old practice, and, in "admitting" Mr. Gavin Houston to be
" their schoolmaster and clerk," ordained that among other en-
couragements he should have "eight pounds Scots from the
Session for his chamber." In 1703, the same allowance is entered
in a list of the dues belonging to the schoolmaster, but how long
after 1703 the Session continued to pay the chamber mail I am,
from the loss of the Kirk-Treasurer's books, unable to discover.
The Session probably found when the next vacancy occurred
in the school, that the offices of schoolmaster and Session-Clerk,
although usually and with much advantage held by the same
person, were quite distinct, and that while the Session appointed
and paid their own clerk, they had, after the adoption of the Act
1696, nothing whatever to do with the appointment, admission,
or payment, of the schoolmaster.

Another source of provision for the schoolmaster was school
fees. From the earliest period, wages have in Scotland been
charged for children attending school. These fees, in the
case of public schools under Government inspection, are now
fixed by the parish School Board. The Act 1803 appointed
that they should be fixed by the minister and qualified heritors.
In earlier times the Kirk-Session, or Kirk-Session and heritors,
appointed the fees. The Session Records of this parish shew
that in 1673 ^^e schoolmaster here was authorised by the
Session to charge 20s. Scots for Latin, and 13s. 4d. Scots for

lOO Old Church Life in Scotland.

English. About a huiulicd }cars later, 1764, when the school-
master's salary was raised to iJ^i20 Scots, the fees were also
raised by the Session to 30s. Scots (or 2s. 6d. sterling) per
quarter for Latin, and to i8s. Scots (or is. 6d. sterling) for
English and writing. A third fee was also that year sanctioned,
if not for the first time introduced, of 24s. Scots (or 2s. sterling)
for arithmetic. In 1803, after the passing of the Education
Act of that year, the heritors and minister met and drew up a
revised table of fees, which, in terms of the Act, was signed
by the preses of the meeting, and hung up in the schoolroom.
This table had a scale of four charges : 2s. 6d. for English
per quarter ; 3s. for English and writing per quarter ; 3s. 6d.
for English, writing, arithmetic, and Latin per quarter ;
and 14s. for a course of book-keeping. The high charge
for book-keeping shows that in 1803 ^^^'^ branch of educa-
tion was a new and special subject of tuition, as arithmetic
was in 1764. The charge for English, writing, arithmetic and
Latin, all combined, must strike every one as being partic-
ularly moderate, and will explain how in olden times the chil-
dren of common labourers in Scotland were able to enrich
themselves at the parish school with an education that fitted
them to enter a University.

A notion seems to have gone abroad of late that at one
time there were no fees charged for children attending school.
There was a system, it is said, of free education. Such, however,
is not the case. There may have been some endowed schools
here and there where school fees were not charged, and it is
just within the illimitable bounds of possibility that there may
have been cases where the heritors, or parishioners, stented
themselves so liberally as to supersede the necessity of fees.
I never happened to hear of any such case. Such a scheme
was never cntciUiined by the Scottish Reformers, even when

Provision for Education in Olden Times. loi

they advocated the application of the kirk's patrimony to the
erection and maintenance of schools. It was for the children
of the poor only that free education was designed. In the
short sum of the Book of Discipline, for the instruction of
ministers and readers, it is said "men suld be compellit be the
kirk and magistratis to send their bairnes to the schulis, pure
men's childrein suld be helpit."* And this is the principle on
which the Church has always acted. Whether schoolmasters
had salaries or not, salaries large or salaries small, they charged
fees for teaching the children of such as could afford to pay.
In 1596, the Kirk-Session of Anstruther Wester " thoght meit,
for provyding a teicher to ye youth, that everie man within the
town that has bairnes suld put his bairnes to the school, and for
everie bairne suld give los. in the quarter ; . . . and as for
the children of the purer sort, they shall be put to the school, and
for their intertinement they that the Lord has granted habilite
to shall contribute." We have seen what fees were charged in
Fifeshire in 161 3 ; and at Newbattle in 1617, "the doctor to
the school " was to have " 4s. of ilk quarter fra everie bairne."
It might be supposed that after the passing of the education
Act 1646, which provided for the schoolmaster a salary of not
less than a hundred merks yearly, school fees would cease to be
exacted. The remarks of Mr. Hill Burton on this Act rather
countenance such a supposition. "The great service performed
by this statute was," he says, "that in each parish the maintenance
of the school was made an absolute rent-charge on the land.
The schoolmaster's salary was like the minister's stipend, an
established pecuniary claim. In money denomination it was
small of course, in the pecuniary equivalent of the present day,

* Copious and comprehensive summary of the Laws, etc., of the Church of Scot-
land from 1560 to 1850. Aberdeen, 1853. P. 122.

I02 Old Churcli Life in Scotland.

but in its own it was a provision putting its owner not only
above want, but if he were thrifty, above sordid anxieties."
Notwithstanding what is here said by Mr. Burton about the
competency of the schoolmaster's salary under the Act 1646,
school fees were either generally or universally demanded and
paid during the period in which that Act was in force.* One
of the articles agreed on by the Synod of Fife in 1647, for the
" promoveing of scooles," was that " parents frequently be ex-
horted, in the course of visitation, to send children to schooles,
upon their own charges iff thei be able ; and whar thei are not
able to intertaine them, that the Session provyde for the best
remedie ; and in caise of slackness, that the parents of the one
and the other condition be threatened with processes." The
Kirk-Session of Fenwick the same year (1647) ordained "school-
masters within the parish to give in the names of poor scholars
not able to pay their quarters wages, as also the names of such
as must be helped to buy books."

In 165 1, the Kirk-Session of Monkton resolved to make provi-
sion for the appointment of " ane able young man for training
of ye children in the knowledge of ye Latin and English
tongue ; " and with that view they agreed that an assessment
should be levied, at the rate of 35s. " upon ilk hundred merks of
rental," one half of which should be paid by the proprietor, and
the other half by the tenant. The following year an able young
man was found for the school, and was appointed schoolmaster,
at a salary of 100 merks, in addition to which he was to receive
of "everi ane of his scholars 13s. 4d. quarterli." We have al-
ready seen what a liberal salary for the schoolmaster was pro-

* In many parishes the comfortable salary provided for the schoolmaster by the
Act 1646 was not raised. At Monkton, for instance, a teacher was appointed in
1652 at a salary of lOO merks, according to the Act, but the following year the
silary from assessment was reduced \.o £\o Scots.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 103

vided at Kingarth, in 1649, but we find, nevertheless, that
shortly after his appointment the schoolmaster went to the
Session with a complaint and declaration that he had waited on
the school for a fortnight, " that there came none to him but
five or six bairnies, and that he would not attend longer unless
the Session took some course for causing these that had children
to send them to theschole." This remonstrance by the school-
master simply meant that over and above his salary he must
have fees. In 1654, the Kirk-Session of Dalyell gave to their
schoolmaster a salary of ;^44, besides marriage and baptismal
casualties, and also allowed him to charge 12s. a quarter for
every scholar. Instances of school fees' being charged and
paid at later dates, of which we have fuller extant records,
could be multiplied indefinitely. It is enough to say that what
was minuted by the Kirk-Session of Newbattle in 1626 was the
common practice over Scotland when salaries came to be
provided for schoolmasters, namely, that " set rent " allowed
was " by and attowre " the quarter's payment.*

* In 1636, the Kirk-Session of Galston ordained "that the reader sail have in tym
coming fra (Martinmas?) nixt the half of all penalties, with four shillings of ilk
baptism, and sixteen shillings of ilk proclamation ; and for keiping of ane schoole,
and for gud wayting on, in respect of the small number of bairns, he sail have 20s.
in ye quarter." The Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock in 1676 appointed "the quarter
payments for the schoolmaster to be as they were in Mr. David Airth's tym, which
was 23s. 4d. for Latine, and i6s. 8d. for the Scots." In 1704, the same Kirk-Session
agreed that the schoolmaster should have l6s. of quarter wages from each scholar,
and " the Doctor 8 pence of quarter wages to him for each scholar." In 1689, a
woman appenred before the Presbytery of Ayr, alleging a claim of promise of
marriage against a man to whom she had borne a child, and consenting to pass from
that claim "upon condition that the said John would defray the charges of the
education of the said child." In 1772, "the minister and Kirk-Session (of Monkton),
by and with advice and consent of the heritors of the parish," appointed the school-
master's fees to be, "for teaching to read English is. 6d. per quarter, for wryting
8(1., and for wryting and arithmetic ten pence each per month." And it was
further minuted that "the schoolmaster is expressly prohibited and discharged from
taking scholars for less time than a quarter or month respectively, or discounting
any part of the wages aforesaid tho the scholars should not remain at school for and

I04 01 (J Clninh Life in Scotland.

Besides fees for teaching, schoolmasters long ago had the
privilege of receiving from their pupils sundry gifts and pay-
ments on great occasions. In many of the schools in Galloway
at the present day it is customary for the pupils to present their
teachers with some little token of esteem and respect on
Candlemas. These gifts are sometimes rendered in the form
of a goose or a turkey, and at other times in the form of books
or trinkets. Long ago they were paid down, all the country
over, in hard cash. They were known as the Candlemas offering,
or in other places as the New Year's Day offering. They varied
in magnitude from the smallest to the largest of silver coins
from each pupil, and sometimes they were paid in gold. Pupils
were cheered according to the amount of their donations.
When a half-crown was laid on the table the dominie shouted
vivat, when a whole crown was produced he cried fioreat bis,
and when gold was tendered, he gave vent to his delighted
feelings in a jubilant exclamation of gloriat. High dis-
tinctions too were conferred on the chief givers. The
boy that made the biggest offering was proclaimed king
of the school, and was treated to a semblance of regal state.
Similar honours were paid to the girl that topped the list of
female contributors.* But something worse remains to be told.

during the whole of the said space, with certification to all the inhabitants that, if
they shall refuse to pay the full wages when the same shall fall due and be
demanded, the heritors and Kirk-Session will order prosecution against all such
according to laiu.

Wodrow states, as a thing without precedent and a most reprehensible bid for
popularity, that in 1687 and 16S8 " Popish schools were very carefully set up (by
James II.) at the Abbey of Holy Rood House," . . . "and according to the
methods of the Papists, who spare no charges to gain proselytes, all were to be
taught ^/-a/zV. "

• See Grant's History of the Burgh Schools of Scotland.

In Ayrshire this ofl'ering was in my remembrancee made on New-Vears' day. I
have no recollection of any viavts ox gloriat s, but there was a proclamation of King
and Queen. There was a huge jug of whisky toddy— verj- weak, of course —

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 105

Fasten-een by long use and wont was a night devoted to mirth
and revelry in Scotland as well as elsewhere. The day of which
that boisterous evening was the joyous close was made a holiday
at school. It was not to fields and streams, however, that the
children in quest of amusement betook themselves that day.
There was sport provided for them indoors. The schoolroom
was turned into a cock pit, and every boy that owned a game-
cock brought his bird to the school, to compete for honours in
bloody and deadly combat. The owners of the cocks paid to
the schoolmaster a small sum, in name of entry money, and
those who did not provide a combatant had to pay an extra
sum for admission to the spectacle. It was a gala day in the
schoolmaster's calendar, for not only had he the benefit of
pocketing the entry and admission money, but he had the
privilege of picking up the carcases of the slain and seizing
the persons of the fugitives. In some places, not only in the
North but in the South of Scotland, this barbarous and brutal
practice continued down to the present century. In Mauchline,
it was put a stop to by Daddy Auld in 1782.*

In olden times the schoolmaster usually held other parochial
offices, for which he received some remuneration, and the allow-
ance for which was taken into account in estimating the value
of his appointment. He used to be reader, and conducted the
reader's service in church on Sundays before the minister's ser-
vice commenced. He was usually session-clerk and precentor

provided by the schoolmaster and every boy as he came up to the table with his
offering was treated to a glass of the national beverage, and contrary to some of the
old acts of the Kirk was taught to drink healths.

* " So late as 1790, the minister of Applecross in Ross-shire, in the account of
his parish, states the schoolmaster's income as composed of 200 merks, with is. 6d.
and 2s. 6d. per quarter from each scholar, and the cock fight dues, which are equal
to one quarter's payment for each scholar." Chambers' Book of Days, Vol,
I, p. 238.

lo6 Old Chuirh Life in Scotland.

likewise, and it was common, before the adoption of the Mduca-
ticjn Act of 1696, for Kirk-Sessions to record in one minute the
ap[)()intincnt of a man to the three associated offices of school-
master, clerk, and precentor. Although associated in the person
of one man these offices were nevertheless distinct and separate,
and sometimes there was a special salary attached to each. In
1574, the stipend assigned to the reader in Mauchline was the
"haill vicarage," and in 1788, it was i8s. sterling. In 1696, the
schoolmaster had for his session-clerkship £20 Scots, which
was to include the grant formerly made for chamber mail.* At
Kilmarnock, in 1647, the doctor of the school acted as precentor,
and the Kirk-Session of that town, " considering the services he
hes done and for his singing in the kirk, ordained that he sould
resave twentie mcrkis money, so long as he sail be employed to
sing, and that ycirlie." As a rule, however, readers, session
clerks, and precentors, were not paid by salary, but either wholly
or in part by fees and dues. In 1639, the Kirk-Session of
Galston passed a resolution that the reader in the kirk should
have no wages nor fee for his service, "except that quhilk the
mariages and baptisme presentlie peyis, to witt, sixteine shillings
for the proclamation and mariage, and four shillings for the
baptisme." And the dues which in this instance were said to be
assigned to the reader were in other cases assigned to the session
clerk. At Mauchline, for instance, it was appointed, in 1 671, that
for ever}' testimonial granted to any one leaving the parish the
clerk should have 3s. 4d. Scots ; and in 1673, that for every pro-

* As shewing what a Session-Clerk's work was at one time, and how Session-
Clerks were paid, the following minute of the West Kirk Session Edinburgh, 15S9,
may be quoted : — " Agreit that a Clark is necessarie to be had in ps kirk, to wryt
in ye assemblie, tak up ye psalms, proclaim ye bands of marriage, go in visitation
with ye ministeris and elderis, geve tickets at ye communion, wait upon ye
e.Kaminations, and do uther thingis in yis kirk yat is to be done be ye dark." For
this work he was to have a standing stipend of ;^20 in money, with casualtiej-
Sinie's Hist, of Wes' Kiik.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 107

clamation of marriage the clerk should have i6s. Scots, and for
every registration of baptism or certificate of baptism he should
have 6s. Scots. But, whether appointed to reader or to clerk,
these dues either always or almost always came to the man that
was schoolmaster.

Sometimes a contention arose about some of these fees. It
occasionally happened that a schoolmaster was timber-tuned,
and had either to fill the office of precentor by proxy or leave
it to the occupancy of some other person. In 1681, a man
named Cowper was schoolmaster at Mauchline, and another
named Grey acted as precentor. For " taking up the Psalm,"
Grey received an allowance of i^i6 Scots per annum. But as
it fell to him to read the proclamations, he concluded that if
the proclamation fees exceeded £16 di year he should have the
benefit of the surplus. These fees, however, were not a
perquisite of the precentor's, but part of the casualties that
pertained to the clerk. They were paid, not for reading the
proclamations aloud, but for receiving and recording the order
for proclamation, and for writing the certificate of proclamation
which authorised marriage afterwards. In March 1682, Grey's
claim was submitted to the Session, and it was minuted that
" count being made with John Grey for the time that he
precented since the admission of the present schoolmaster, and
he being paid at the Session's hand, the superplus of the pro-
clamation money, (whether in his hand or in any other), is
concluded to return to the schoolmaster, . . . ar.d he (the
schoolmaster) is ordained in time coming to receive it himself
from those who are to be proclaimed."*

* Questions like this have repeatedly arisen and been submitted to the courts of
law. In one instance, that of " .Marquis of Tweddale and the Kirk-Session of
Dumfermline," the Lords of Session found that "the fees belonged to the
I'recentor." In the report of the case it is slated that " the decision went upon

io8 Old Church Life in Scotland.

It may be asked now, and a very important question it is,
what provision, if any, was made long ago for the education of
poor children ? It is clear that although schools had been
erected in every parish, and able schoolmasters provided for, the
blessings of education might still not have been brought within
the reach of all the parishioners. There have always been in
every parish some people so poor as to be unable to pay school
fees for their children, and it may be asked, were the children
of such people in olden times left untaught? It is well known
that the Education Act of 1872 makes provision for the educa-
tion of the children of poor parents. Parochial Boards are
authorised to grant certificates of poverty to people that cannot
afford to pay school fees, and these certificates entitle the chil-
dren of such people to education at their Parochial Board's
expense. The Act 1803, also, provided " that the schoolmaster
shall be obliged to teach such poor children of the Parish as
shall be recommended by the Heritors and Ministers at any
parochial meeting." But long before Acts of Parliament made
such provisions, Kirk-Sessions were in the habit of getting
education for the poor of their own congregations. As far
back as 1595, the Kirk-Session of Anstruther Wester, in their
zeal for education, ordered that all the youth in the town should
go to the school for instruction. " Sic as are puir shall be
furnished upon the common expenses, . . . and the manner
of their help sail be — they shall haif thrie hours granted to
them everie day throu the toun to seek their meit.'' At a
later date, the same Kirk-Session agreed to pay the fees of all
the poor children in the parish, according to what they learned
at school. The Synod of Fife, in 1641, passed the following

specialties, and that the contrary seems to be the general rule." The general rule
is very pointedly laid down by Lord Kilkerran in his report of .mother case before
the court in 1740. See Dunlop's Parochial Law,

Prevision for Education in Olden Times. 109

ordinance regarding school attendance within their province :
" If the parents be poor, the Kirk-Session shall tak order for
paying the schoolnnaster his due, either out of the poores box
or ellis be a quarterlie collection made for that purpose in the
Congregation afore divine service ; but if the parents be able,
then let them be oblished to send their bairnes when the
Session gives order for it, and not to remove them till the
Session be acquainted therewith." In 1705, the General
Assembly appointed and ordained that " ministers take care to
have schools erected in every Parish, . . . for the teaching
of youth to read English, that the poor be taught upon charity,
and that none be suffered to neglect the teaching of their
children to read."

It will be seen, therefore, that in old times, Kirk-Sessions and
General Assemblies enacted all or nearly all that the boasted
legislation of 1872 did, in regard to making education
compulsory and making it free to the poor. Of course, Kirk-
Sessions had not the machinery, for executing and enforcing
the Acts of the Church, that School Boards now have for
executing and enforcing the Act of Parliament. There is a
stronger executive now than there was formerly. The Church
of Scotland, nevertheless, anticipated by two hundred years
the legislation of 1872, in the two important points I have
just mentioned. In 1677, the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock
appointed,* " that the elders in their respective quarters shall

* In 1698, the Kirk-Session of Greenock considering "that there were many poor
children in the Paroche, either without parents or having parents who were not in
case to keep their children at school, ... it was.overtured that these poor
children be distributed thorow several quarters and proportions of the Paroche, in
order to their being maintained and kept at school." This overture was carried
out. In 17 1 1, the same Kirk-Session minuted that they had paid " to Alex. Watson
for teaching poor scholars two shilling sterling, which compleats all due preceding
Ihed.ilc."'

no Old Church Life in Scotland.

brin:::;- in a list of the bjycs fit for the school, that their parents
ma)' put them to school. Also, the Session appoynts that non
be put to inferior schools who are fitt for the publict school."
The Synod of Glasgow and Ayr passed an Act in 1700,
enjoining " ministers in Kirk-Sessions to take particular notice
of schools and the Christian education of youth, and to suffer
no parents to neglect keeping their children at school, till
they can read the Scriptures distinctly." It was added that the
children of the poor were to be taught gratis.

In Mauchline parish, during Mr. Auld's ministry at least, if
not also during the ministry of his predecessors, great pains
were taken by the Kirk-Session to see that poor children were
properly educated. In 1764, the heritors in revising and raising
the school fees, made the following provisions — "In regard there
may be people in the parish in low circumstances, who have
children to teach but cannot afford to pay the above rates,
appoint the schoolmaster to teach them at the former rates, upon
a certificate from the Kirk-Session, who are hereby appointed
to be judges of such circumstances. And in regard parents who
arc upon the public charit\' or in poor circumstances may also
have children to put to school, appoint the schoolmaster to teach
them gratis, upon the like certificate." From that date there
are frequent instances of poor children's being examined by the
minister or Kirk-Session, and thereafter, when the Session
thought proper, allowed to attend the school for another quarter.
In 1770, it was minuted that it had been "represented to the
Session, by the schoolmaster, that the half of a quarter's wages
was too small an allowance for teaching the children of the
poor," and that the Session agreed " to allow two shillings per
quarter for each poor scholar, on condition that the said poor
scholar shall be presented to the Session and examined by the
minister, both at the beginning and ending of every quarter in

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 1 1 1

which they attend the school."* And, following up this resolu-
tion in a thoroughly business-like manner, the Kirk-Session, in
1775, intimated that the parents of poor children must apply to
the Session, at the commencement of every quarter, for their
children's school wages, if they desire or expect any favour of
that kind. The number of children so assisted by the Kirk-
Session every year was probably not great. On the page
opposite that on which the foregoing resolution in 1775 is en-
tered, there is a minute stating that the Session allowed the
schoolmaster eight shillings and four pence for teaching some
poor children. But although this may seem a small sum, we
must remember that, in those days, there was a much smaller
number of people than there is now soliciting charity. The
provision made by the Kirk- Session for the education of poor
children was probably as much as was needed or wished.

And it was not simply for elementary education to the poor
that Kirk-Sessions long ago taxed themselves. They did
something also for higher education. In 1645, the General
Assembly enacted that every Presbytery consisting of twelve
kirks should provide a bursar every year at the college — that
the bursar should have at least i^ioo Scots a year — that the
provision for the bursar should be " taken forth of the kirk
penalties " — and that the sum required for the bursar should be
raised by a proportional stent of the several kirks in the Presby-
tery, according to the number of their communicants. It cannot

* A small amount of education was supposed to equip a poor boy sufficiently for
the work of life a century ago. The Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock in 1755 minuted
a resolution that education to the poor was "not to exceed five quarters, till they
could read the Bible." The Kirk-Session of Cullen found it necessary in 1723, to
impose a similar restriction. The time allowed for the education of poor children
at Cullen, however, in 1723, was three years, which would indicate either that the
Kirk-Session of that parish was richer than the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, or that
the boys of Cullen took longer to learn to read the Bible than the sharp-witted
urchins of Ayrshire.

112 Old Church Life in Scotland.

but occur lo us that it would liavc been more correct to make
the stent for the bursar proportional to the number of sinners,
instead of communicants, in each several kirk, for if his provision
was to be taken from kirk penalties, there would be nothing
whatever for him in such kirks as were without spot or wrinkle.
But possibly the law of average was supposed to hold good in
the Church, as well as in the realm of nature, and that the pro-
portion between church goers and sinners was a fixed quantity.
Be that as it may, the stent imposed on the kirk of Mauchline
was £^^ Scots per annum, and the payment of that sum to
the Presbytery bursar, as he was termed, recurs over and over,
between 1670 and 1692, in the notes of the Session's disburs-
ments.* . Besides this annual payment to the bursar there
were also occasional gifts to poor scholars. In 1672, there
was given " to a poore schollar at Uchiltrie school, 20s,"
and in 1679 "to a poor boy at the College £\ 6s. 8d."t It is
much to be wished that a similar zeal for higher education
were still to be found. The greatest boon that can be conferred
on all classes of people, poor as well as rich, is the opportunity

* On the fly leaf of an old volume of the records of Kilmarnock Session, which
dates from 1647, there is the following "list of the burse money payable out of the
several parishes within the Presbytery of Irwin " : — Irwin, ;^8 os. od. ; Kilmaurs,
£"] OS. od. ; Dreghorn, ;^5 os. od. ; Kilmarnock, £\o os. od. ; Stewarton,
£•] OS. od. ; Dunlop, £0^ os. od. ; Kilwinning, £Z os. od. ; Finnick, ;^5 os. od. ;
Beith, £,■] OS. od. ; Kilburnie, ^^"5 os. od. ; Dairy, £(> os. od. ; Stinstoun,
£d, OS. od. ; Ardrossan, ^^5 os. od. ; Kilbryd, £(i os. od. ; Largs, £-1 os. od ;
Newmills, £(> os. od. ; Siimma £\QO os. od.

+ The Session of Galston expressed themselves more guardedly in 1671, by
minuting that they gave " to a poor lad who call himself a. poor scollar, Ss." Besides
providing for a presbytery bursar, the Presbytery of Irvine, in 1693 and 1694, had
collections in all the churches within the bounds, "to maintain some students and
scholars who have nothing to maintain themselves with." In the former of these
years, the goodly sum of £^66 2s. od. Scots was collected for that purpose, and in
the latter year, £2.^,^ 5s. 2d. These sums were divided in grants of graded amount
among eight or nine scholars. At Kilmaurs there was in 1710 an endowinent '* for
the maiiilcnancc of four poor scholars."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 113

of advancing their children in the world ; and one of the most
certain as well as most honourable means of doing so is by
superior, or as it is now-a-days called or mis-called, secondary
education. It is a matter both of national interest and of
national honour that there be high education, as well as popular
education, in the country ; and it is greatly to be desired that
bursaries be provided for the help and encouragement of
students at the University. But, these bursaries should never
be given on the score of poverty. The nation will derive no
benefit from helping poor people to get a University education,
if these poor people have no special gifts for learning ; and
bursaries are always marks of degradation when they are
bestowed as charities. Bursaries should in every instance be
given for scholastic merit alone ; and that should be tested by
some form of examination, open alike to rich and poor, for the
one purpose of promoting scholarship and encouraging young
men of talents (and none others) to prosecute learning. One
of the most crying evils in our Scottish Universities, at the
present day, is the fact that lads, with a very slender amount of
attainments and culture, enter without hindrance the classes at
college, in order to get admission into one or other of the
learned professions. These youths never become, and they
never even try to become, such scholars as their professions
should require them to be, and the public accordingly find the
ranks of the professions swelled by men of imperfect education.
How much the General Assembly in its wisdom guarded
against this evilj a hundred and eighty years ago, may be seen
from the following sentence in their Act 1705, which has already
been referred to: — "In no Parish shall the Minister recommend
youth to be taught Latin upon charity in any grammar school,
but after examining the said child or children in presence of
three or four members of the Session, as to their promptitude

1 14 Old Chunk Life in Scot /and.

ami dexterity in rcadinjr and competent skill in writing, as to
their virtuous inclinations, and as to the hopcfullness of their
proficiency ; and that none be received into grammar schools to
be taught Latin upon charity but upon such recommendations :
and also, that each Presbytery appoint a Committee of their
number yearly, to examine \.\\q. poor scholars in the grammar
school, and such within their bounds as go to Colleges with
an eye to bursaries, and suffer none to proceed but such as are
very forward, and good proficients, and of good behaviour ; and
that ministers recommend none to bursaries but such as are so
qualified."

It is well known that, for many years prior to the passing of
the Education Act in 1872, all parochial and most private
schools in the country were annually visited and examined by
committees of presbytery. As far back as 1595, presbyteries
were enjoined by the Assembly to " take order for visitation
and reformation of grammar schooles, in touns within their
bounds ; . . . and to appoint some of their counsell to
attend carcfullie on their schooles and to assist the maister in
discipline." How long this Act was faithfully observed by
presbyteries I will not here say. Such records of presbyteries
as I have seen are very silent on the subject of the visitation of
schools during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Inquiry was made whether there was a school in every parish,
whether there was a schoolmaster, and how he waited on his
duties, and whether there was a legal salary provided for his
maintenance. But the examination of schools by committees
of presbytery was, I think, a custom of no great antiquity, in this
district at least. It was the minister and elders, not a
committee of prcsb}-tcr}-, that long ago were expected to visit
schools. In 1700, the S}'nod of Glasgow and Ayr instructed
" ministers in Kirk-Sessions to take particular notice of schools

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 1 1 5

and the Christian education of youth ;" and many ministers, in
the first half of last century, considered the visitation of the
parish school an important part of their work. It is stated in
biographies of Ebenezer Erskine that, before his secession from
the Church of Scotland, he was a noble example of what a
Christian pastor should be, and that he " regularly visited the
parish school, heard the children repeat the catechism, and
prayed." This is doubtless what many ministers, besides Mr.
Erskine, did. A little before the middle of last century the
Ayrshire Presbyteries seem to have begun to visit i\\e principal
schools within their bounds. In 1726, the Presbytery of Irvine
visited the grammar school of Irvine, and appointed a committee
to visit Kilmarnock school, "at their conveniency." In 1738,
the Presbytery of Ayr not only appointed a large committee to
visit the grammar school of the county town, but appointed the
"classes of Cumnock, Maybole, and Galston," to visit the
grammar schools within their respective bounds, at their first
classical meeting.* It seems to have been subsequent, perhaps
seventy or eighty years subsequent, to the later of these dates
before the parish schools of Ayrshire came to be systematically
and annually visited by Presbyterial committees. And looking
back to these old visitations I cannot but say that, although the
examination may not in every instance have been very skilfully
or very thoroughly conducted, their moral effect on the school
was good, perhaps as good as any inspection unaccompanied by
substantial rewards and penalties could be.

* In 1807, a motion was made in the Presbytery of Ayr, "and agreed to, that the
Presbytery should appoint committees of their number to examine the schools within
the bounds of the Presbytery, and report the number of scholars attending such
schools, the different branches taught in them, and the diligence of the different
teachers." This looks like the first institution of Presbyterial examinations of schools
in South Ayrshire, and I suspect it was so, and that it arose out of the commotion
about Sun Jay schools which will be described farther on.

I lO Old Church Life in Scotland.

And now, liavini; shewn how much was done by the Church
of Scotland, throui;h her General Assemblies, Presbyteries, and
Kirk-Sessions, to further the cause of national education, I have,
in conclusion, to indicate what was the state of education in the
country a hundred or two hundred years ago, compared with
what it is at the present da}.*

First of all, education was not so general then as it is now.
Parishes were not so uniformly provided with schools, nor were
schools so much taken advantage of Notwithstanding the Act
of Parliament 1633, authorising bishops, with consent of heritors
and parishioners, to make provision for the erection and main-
tenance of schools in every parish, and notwithstanding the far
more stringent Act of Parliament 1696, requiring heritors in every
parish to provide school-houses and salaries for schoolmasters,
there were, as we have seen, many parishes, even in Ayrshire,
the land of covenants and song, that continued till about the
middle of last century to have no school at all. And education,
although made as compulsory as Acts of Synods and General
Assemblies could make it, was not taken advantage of as
largely as it might have been. The remarks of Pardovan, on
the singing of Psalms in church, shew that, at the beginning of
last century, there were supposed to be many people in every
parish unable to read, and that the number of such people was
much less than it had been fifty or sixty years previously.

* The Highlands are left out of consideration. About sixty years ago, Principal
Baird, in travelling through these regions, on his educational mission, "found
nearly 100,000 human beings unable either to read or write, and innumerable
districts where the people could not hear sermon above once a year, and had seen
thousands of habitations where a Sabbath bell was never heard." At an earlier
date, matters were, if possible, still worse. When Boyd was appointed Bishop of
Argyll, in 16 13, "he found his see full of ignorance and disorder, and in many
places the name of the Saviour unknown." In 175S, there were, says Principal Lee,
(Lectures, Vol. IL, p. 429) 175 parishes in the Highlands in which parochial schools
had never been erected .

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 1 1 7

And writing was a much less general accomplishment than
reading. Of 222 persons that signed the Solemn League and
Covenant at Dundonald in 1644, there were 179 that did so by-
proxy. In the early Session Records of Galston, there is clear
evidencethat writing was an art which had been learned by vc y
few people in that parish in the days of the Covenant. In
171 1, two masons and three slaters were appointed, as skilled
workmen, to inspect the church of Kilwinning and report to the
Presbytery of Irvine what repairs were needed. The two
masons subscribed their oaths with their own hands, as men
that had contracts to sign should, but the three slaters
" touched the pen, and allowed the Clerk of Presbytery to
subscribe for them, declaring they could not write." * In 1764,
the Kirk-Session of Mauchline had a case before them in
which evidence was led. There were seven witnesses
examined, and they were each asked to sign their
depositions. One of the witnesses was a man, who signed his

* In Old Church Life in Scotland, instances are given of people in Mauchline
Parish doing servile work on the Sabbath, from their not knowing that it was
Sunday. People in other parishes were quite as benighted. In 1652, three men
were delated to the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock " for profaning the Lord's day by
waking their hose." They compeared and confessed, "but thought the Sabbath
had been passed, and the Session finding them sensible of their sinne did rebuke
them only judicially."

Some cases of superstition are quoted also in Old Church Life. The following
may be added, to shew the state of general intelligence or want of intelligence last
century. In 1720, a man in Dreghorn was reported to the Presbytery of Irvine to
have consulted " a person supposed to have a familiar spirit, for a sock which had
been stolen from him." In 1746 a man in Saltcoats was delated to the same Presby-
tery, for " using an unlawful charm, by causing a key to be turned in the Bible for
discovering some stolen leather, and who in consequence thereof had scandalised in
an indirect way John Millar, shoemaker there, as the thief of said leather." The
following entry in the " Brulie minutes" of Mauchline Session will shew that in 17S4,
when Burns was living in the parish, there was as gross superstition here as there
was in Saltcoats in 1746, or in Dreghorn in 1720. The date of the minute is 28th
June, 1784, " Compeared James Vance, and declares that, on the night alleged, he
heard James Dykes desire James Gay to come in and see if the spell woman would
cut the cards, in order to find out who had stole the Lawn."

ii.S Old Cliurcli f.ifc in Scotland.

name in letters that are stiff, crude and almost illef^nblc. Of
the six female witnesses, two wrote their names in fairly good
characters, one scratched her initials, and the other three
confessed they could not handle a pen. Two or three years
ago, there appeared in the newspapers an interesting account
of an old lady connected with this parish, who died at Brechin
in the hundred and second year of her age. This old lady was
in her youth schooled at Kilmaurs, and she used to tell that in
the days of her childhood (1790-1800) "there were only four
families in the neighbourhood who were at the expense of
teaching their daughters to write and count."

Long ago there were, also, fewer subjects taught in ordinary
schools than there are now. Grammar, geography, drawing,
modern languages, and the smattering of uncouth nomenclature
falsely called science, were unheard of at school by our great
grandfathers. Old tables of fees give us a very correct notion
of what used to be taught in schools. In 1673, the Mauchline
table of fees contained only two charges — one for the teaching
of English, and the other for the teaching of Latin. In 1764, a
new table of fees was drawn up at Mauchline. Writing was
mentioned as part of the instruction in English, as it had pro-
bably been long before,* and arithmetic was added as a special
subject with a special fee attached. Down to 1764, therefore,
it may be considered that counting was not reckoned in this
parish a necessary equipment for the work of life. And so, the
high charge, which I have already stated was fixed in 1803, for
the teaching of book-keeping, in Mauchline, shews that at that
date England was only becoming a nation of shop-keepers,
and that the modern system of business was then reckoned as
profound as one of the occult sciences. The other branches of

* As far b.ick as 1691 there was paiil by the Kirk-Session of ^faucliline for the
setting up of a writing table in the school, the sum of lis. 81I.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 119

modern education, such as English grammar, geography, and
French, were probably taught in very few parish schools, before
the present century.

Music is now, I presume, taught in every school. Middle aged
people, however, remember when there were few or no school s
in which children learned singing. Some may imagine, therefore,
that the teaching of singing in schools is a novelty. But it is
not so. It is rather the revival of a very ancient custom.* Not
only were there numerous "sang schools" in Scotland three
hundred years ago, but in 171 3 the General Assembly, " for the
more decent performance of the public praises of God, recom-
mended to Presbyteries to use endeavours to have such school-
masters chosen as are capable to teach the common tunes, and
that Presbyteries take care that children be taught to sing the
said common tunes ; and that the said schoolmasters not only
pray with their scholars, but also sing a part of a psalm with
them, at least once every day."t And it was not in separate
song schools, but in common lecture schools, that in old pre-
reformation times music was taught. In one of Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales there is an account of an old monastic
school, where boys —

" Acquired each, year by year,
Such kind of learning, as was taught them there,
Tliat is to say, to sing, and read, as good
Small children ought to do in their childhood."

* An Act passed in 1579 ordained that song schools should be provided in Burghs,
and we have seen that in 1627 there was such a school in Ayr, separate from the
Grammar School. The master of the music school in Ayr (1627) had, "for teaching
of the music scule and taking up of the psalmes in the Kirk, 10 bolls of victuall and
£iT,. 6s. 8d. " Scots per annum. At Newbattle, in 1626, the Kirk-Session ordained
" everie scholar to pay los. for lairning to reid and write Scottis, and for musicke
to pay 6s. Sd., and for learning of Latine only 13s. 4d. qutirterlic."

t The tunes that the General Assembly in 17 13 wished children to be taught at
school were the covmion Psalm tunes. In 1758, the Presbytery of Irvine received
"a letter from the ProvQst and Magistrates of Irvine, ac([uainting them that as Mr,

I20 Old Church Life, in Scot hind.

And how tlic school was conducted may be inferred from what
one of the " good small " boys said about himself : —

'• I Icani tlic soiif^ l)iit do not know the fjramairc."

It must not be inferred, from any thing I have said, that there
were no classes of advanced pupils in parish schools long ago.
The parish schools were not all elementary schools. On the
contrary, they were often called grammar schools, and were
taught by men of good ripe scholarship. In the records of the
Presbytery of Ayr, there is an account of the examination of the
grammar school of May bole in 1709, which would do no dis-
credit to the schoolmasters of that town at the present day.
There were three classes of humanity, that is of Latin, taught
in the school. Those in the lowest class had been three quarters
of a year at school, which probably means three quarters of a
year at Latin, and had advanced to the chapter, "prepositio quid
est ? " The second class had been at school two years and a
half, had learned the first part of the grammar, had advanced
to the end of " regimen noniinativil'' and had read the whole
authors of the Rudiments and several of the Epistles of Ovid.
The third class had been three and a half years at school, had
learned the third part of the grammar, and had read a large
portion of the works of Ovid, part of Sallust, part of the Ala-
jora CoUoqiiia Erasjni, the Eclogues of Virgil, and the first
book of the Aeneid. In 1729, a committee of the Presbytery
of Irvine examined the school of Irvine. "They found that the

Henderson, teacher of music in Irvine, had made great progress in accomplishing
sevcralls in singing some new Church tunes, ihey desired that he, with his scholars,
(might be allowed to give) a specimen thereof in publick, at the Presbytery's next
meeting, if it was not disagreeable to the Presbytery. The Presbytery desired Mr.
Cunningham to report unto the Magistrates that it would be nowayes disoblidgeing
to them, but that they were well pleased wiih every new improvement of this kind."
The records don't stale whether the proposed entertainment came off or not, nor
what the reverend fathers thought of it.

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 1 2 1

first class translated a part of the Greek Testament into Latine,
and some of the Roman authors into English, answered the
questions put to them, and translated many English sentences
into elegant Latine with great dexterity. They found also a
sett of globs and mapps, for instructing students in the elements
of geography and astronomy, and that the masters teach arith-
metic and navigation to such as desire instruction therein."

As far back as the Reformation, or even farther back than
that date, there was good secondary education given in some of
the grammar schools in Scotland. Nothing in its way is more
delightful than James Melville's account of his school life at
Montrose, about the time of the Reformation. At Montrose,
we were, he says, " weill treaned up bathe in letters, godlines,
and exercise of honest geams." The training in letters
included the reading of such Latin authors, as Virgil, Horace,
and Cicero, " dyvers speitches in Frenche, with the right pro-
nunciation of that toung." As a training in godliness " the cate-
chisme and prayers, par coeur," were taught, with notes of
Scripture. And for games, he says, we " war be our maister
teached to handle the bow for archerie, the glub for goff, the
batons for fencing, also to rin, to leape, to swoum, to warsell."
Equally charming is his account of College life at St. Andrews,
where at first he did " nathing but bursted and grat at his les-
sons, and was of mind to haiff gone haim again." But his
kind regent, seeing the distress he was in, "tuik (him) in his
awin chalmer, causit (him) ly with him selffe, and everie night
teached him in private, till he was acquainted with the mater."

It is unquestionable, however, that long ago the foremost
place in school education was assigned to religious instruction.
An Education Act passed by the Parliament of Scotland in
1567, declares it to be "tinsel baith of thair bodies and saulis,
gif God's word be not ruted," along with secular instruction, in

122 Old C/niirh Life in Scotland.

the minds of the young. In 1695, the schoolmasters of Ayr
compeared before the Presbytery, and the exhortations they
received were "to instruct their scholars in the principles of
religion, and to keep none that walk disorderly, and to convene
and dismiss the school with prayer." * One of the instructions
given by the Presbytery in 1747 to ministers, for the visitation of
schools, was to see that schoolmasters enquire into the behaviour
of children out of school, by means of censors, who should re-
port every Saturday ; another was to see "that the ancient and
good custom of repeating the catechism in church on the Lord's
day, before sermon in the forenoon, and betwixt sermons, (that
is at the reader's or schoolmaster's service), be continued, and
that a portion of holy scripture be read, after repeating the

*The power of extempore prayer in olden times was what might put us to shame
at the i:)resent day. Every head of a house was expected and required to have
family exercise daily, at which he prayed with his wife and children, without any
Euchologion or aids to devotion. In 1652, a man called Hew Caldwell "was often
summondit (before the Session of Kilmarnock) for neglect of family exercise." At
length he compeared and confessed neglect of that duty, "because he judged himself
not able to doe it. The Session did rebuke him, and did exhort hun to doc as he
could, whereunto he did bind himself." In 1710, some of the ministers in the Pres-
bytery ol Irvine reported that they met once a month, as required, with their Elders
for prayer. " Others," it was said, " do not, in regard their elders are bashfull and
in confusion from the presence of the minister, and so not fit to go about that duty,
but, where it is so, they convean among themselves without the minister, and pray
together." In the solemn acknowledgment of public sins and breaches of the
Covenant, drawn up in 1648, the following curious passage occurs : — " Ignorance of
God and of His Son Jesus Christ prevails exceedingly in the land. The greatest
part of masters of families among Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, and Commons,
neglect to seek God in their families . . . and albeit it hath been much pressed,
yet few of our nobles and great ones ever to this day could be persuaded to perform
family duties themselves and in their own persons, which makes so necessary and
useful a duty to be misregarded by others of inferior rank."

Bishop Burnet (an Episcopalian) says that in 1662 the Presbyterian Clergy "had
brought the people to such a degree of knowledge, that cottagers and servants
would have prayed extempore. I have often overheard them at it, and though
there was a large mixture of odd stuff, yet I have been astonished to hear how
copious and ready liiey were in it."

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 123

catechism." * And a living historian of high fame extols the
wisdom of our ancestors, in paying so much attention to the
teaching of creed and conduct. " They understood," he says,
"perfectly well what they meant. They set out with the prin-
ciple, that every child born into the world should be taught his
duty to God and man. The majority of people had to live, as
they always must, by bodily labour, therefore, every boy was
as early as convenient set to work. . . . He was appren-
ticed to some honest industry. . . . Besides this, .
he was taught reading, that he might read his Bible, and learn
to fear God, and be ashamed and afraid to do wrong. . . .
And the ten commandments and a handicraft made a good
and wholesome equipment to commence life with. . .
The original necessities, too, remain unchanged. The ten
commandments are as obligatory as ever, and practical ability,
the being able to do something, . . . must still be the
backbone of the education of every boy who has to earn his
bread by manual labour."

As confirming the statements of Mr. Froude with regard to
the practical tendency of some of the early educationists in this
country, it may be mentioned that in 1641 there was an over-
ture before the Scottish Parliament, that " in each shire there
should be a house of virtue erected." This house of virtue was
to be a technical college for teaching the art of weaving, and
it was proposed that each parish in the country should send to
the house of virtue for seven years one or two children, accord-
ing as the parish was under or over 5000 merks of valuation.

* In 1599, the minister of Forgan reported to the Presbytery of St. Andrews
" that the gentlemen of his parochin desyrit him in their names to seek the Presby-
tery's license to Mr. Samuel Cunningham, their schoolmaster, to catechise the
barnes upon Sundays before the sermonth, unto the quhilk desire the brethren
agrees, and gives license to the said Mr. Samuel." Lee's Lectures, IL, p. 441.

124 Old Clinnlt Life in Scotland.

In 1661, an Act was passed for the formation of companies to
make linen cloth, and it enacted that poor children (va^^abonds
and other idlers) in every parish should be taught to work
wool and knit stockings.

The Sunday School is looked to now-a-days as the chief in-
strument for conveying religious instruction to the young. But
the modern Sunday school cannot compare, as an instrument
of religious instruction, with the means employed in former
times. In one sense, Sunday schools may be called a modern
institution, but in another sense they are not. Long ago, more
than two hundred years ago, it was customary to have a cate-
chetical service in the church in the afternoon. That was just
a Sunday school, with the minister or reader for teacher, the
whole youth of the parish for scholars, the Bible and the Cate-
chism for text books, and the indoctrinated conviction that the
church was holy ground for a principle of self-discipline and order.
In later times, when that old custom had gone out of use, the day
school became the place where the young were grounded in re-
ligious knowledge. And admirable was the religious instruc-
tion then given. In 1794, the General Assembly enjoined " all
parochial schoolmasters, and all teachers of schools within the
Church, to cause the Holy Bible to be read as a regular exercise
in their schools ; and also that the children at school be required
to commit the Shorter Catechism to memory, and by frequent
repetition to fix it deep in their minds." A few years later (1800),
the Assembly enjoined Presbyteries to give in a list of all the
schools within their bounds, specifying what is taught in each
school, and to state whether the schools be held on the Lord's
Day or on other days of the week.* It will be seen, therefore,

* The first Sunday school in Scotland was, it is said, instituted at Brechin by the
Rev. David Blair, Parish Minister, in 1760. In 1782 Sabbath schools were estab-
lished in the Barony Parish of Glasgow. In 17S7 a society was formed in Edin-

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 1 2 5

that in 1800 Sunday Schools had been instituted in some
places, and Presbyteries were required to report anent them.
These Sunday Schools, however, were, as a rule, conducted by
dissenters, and they were looked upon with suspicion by the
Church of Scotland as a device of her enemies. The chief
founder of them was James Haldane, a layman of great
religious zeal, who did not attach himself to any particular
church, but was a sort of prototype of the modern Plymouth
Brother. He considered that the Gospel was not faithfully
preached by a large number of ministers in the Church of
Scotland, and he travelled about from parish to parish, with one
or two associates, listening to the sermon in church in the fore-
noon, and then holding in the afternoon an open-air meeting,
at which he criticised and denounced the discourse of the min-
ister. Much more attention was given by the church in those
days to these proceedings than would now be given. The
General Assembly, in 1799, issued a pastoral letter about them,
declaring that it was much to be lamented "that there should
of late have arisen among us a set of men whose proceedings
threaten no small disorder to the country. They assume the
name of missionaries, as if they had some special commission
from heaven ; they are going through the land as universal
itinerant teachers, and as superintendents of the ministers of
religion ; they are introducing themselves into parishes, without
an}' call, and erecting in several places Sunday Schools, without

burgh for promoting religious knowledge among the poor, and similar societies
were soon afterwards formed in Glasgow. Paisley, Greenock, Perth, and Aberdeen.
Sunday schools were the means by which these societies sought to effect their
object. "Having been originated and organised by sectarians," however, the
Sunday school "system was in these times of high political excitement deemed
favourable to the cause of democracy, and was even stigmatised as a hotbed of
disaffection and sedition." — Report on Sabbath Schools to the General Assembly,
1876.

126 Old Cliuirh Life in Scotland.

any countenance from the Presbytery of the bounds or the
minister of the parish ; the)' are committing in these schools
the reh'^Mous instruction of youth to ignorant persons, altogether
unfit for sucli an important charge ; and they are studying to
alienate the affections of the people from their pastors, and en-
gaging them to join their new sect, as if they alone were pos-
sessed of some secret and novel method of bringing men to
heaven."

One or two members of the Presbytery of Irvine were in
1798 much exercised by the spread of sectarian Sunday schools
in North Ayrshire. For the suppression of this ecclesiastical
annoyance, the following motion was made and seconded in the
presbytery, "That, as it is in the knowledge of this Presbytery
that Sunday evening schools have been set up in different
Parishes within their bounds, patronised and conducted by
seceding clergy and their adherents, without consulting the
established ministers of the Parishes, the Presbytery, appre-
hending that this is an encroachment upon the power and
jurisdiction of the Church of Scotland, and is an evil which
requires a timely check, do overture the General Assembly
to take this matter into their consideration, and adopt such
measures as in their wisdom shall seem meet and proper for
supporting the authority and jurisdiction of the Church, and
enact such regulations as they may judge necessary for direct-
ing the conduct of Presbyteries in these and all similar cases
that may occur." The presbytery, to their credit be it said,
were not ripe for such an overture, and they gave it what is
called the go-bye. The movers of the overture, nevertheless,
reflected the prevalent spirit of the times, as the Assembly's
pastoral letter the year following shewed. When this pastoral
letter came down to the Presbytery of Irvine in 1799,
immediate action was taken thereon. "In obedience to the

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 127

injunction of the General Assembly, the Presbytery resolved
to call before them all teachers of youth within their bounds,
in order to make trial of their sufficiency and qualifications, in
those branches of education which they profess to teach ; and
accordingly ordered the teachers of Sunday schools and private
schools within (certain named parishes) to appear before them
at next meeting, to undergo examination." For a couple of
years, there was a great ado in the presbytery about this busi-
ness. Some of the teachers disregarded the presbytery's
citations, and the presbytery resolved to consult the procurator
of the Church, concerning the course to be taken with these
" refractory " persons. Most of the teachers, however, whether
bond or free, sound or schismatic, obeyed the summons, and
presented themselves before the court or its committees. After
consultation, it was agreed that four questions should be put to
all the cited teachers, whether of private week-day schools or
of Sunday schools, and these questions were " ist, are you will-
ing to subject yourself to the doctrine and discipline of the
Church as by law established ; 2nd, are you willing to
take the oaths to Government, and to have your school
registered in the county books ; * 3rd, do you receive
payment from your scholars or from any other person ;
4th, have you any commission from or connection with
any missionary society, or with any society beyond the
bounds of )-our own parish." Most of the teachers of private
schools answered all these questions satisfactorily. They were
loyal members of the Church of Scotland, making an honest
livelihood, as many others had done ever since the Reformation

* The teachers of all schools, other than parochial, burgh, General Assembly, or
S. P. C. K. schools, were, by the Disarming Act, 19 Geo. II., c. 38, required,
under penalty of six months imprisonment, to register, in a book kept by the
sheriff-clerk, a description of their school, and a certificate that they had taken the
oaths recjuired of persons in public trust.

128 Old Cknych Life i)i Scotland.

or perhaps before it, by tcachinj^. Others were dogmatic dis-
senters, and said that, as "covenanted anti-burghers, they could
not submit to the discipline of this Church," nor take oaths to
Government. \n no case did it appear that any of the teachers
had " commission from or connection with any missionary
society," or in other words were Haldanites. There were at
least six parishes in North Ayrshire in which Sunday schools
were held in 1799, but the action taken by the Presbytery of
Irvine rather lessened the number of these schools. Two Natha-
naels in Kilbride took instant alarm, and wrote to the Pres-
bytery, " that they had come to the full determination of ceasing
from this date to attend the Sunday evening schools, in assisting
to catechise the few children who have, for a very few Sunday
evenings, attended in this place." One good that resulted from
this hubbub was a most elaborate and excellent return of all
the schools, week day and Sunday, within the bounds of the
Presbytery, with a report on the church connection, and
scholastic attainments of all their teachers. The Presbytery's
report on Sunday schools is now, from the altered state of public
opinion within the Church of Scotland on these seminaries of
religious instruction, somewhat noteworthy, and I shall therefore
give it entire : —

" Sunday Schools. — One at Kilmarnock, taught by William
Stevenson, preacher of the gospel. This school is under the
direction of the magistrates and ministers, and a committee of
the inhabitants by whom Mr. Stevenson is paid. One at Irvine,
taught by Mr. Gemmell, J. Neil, H. Allan, T. Harvey, all of the
Relief Church. They have all taken the oaths to Government,
and are qualified to do what they profess, namel}-, to hear
children repeat the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, and read
portions of Scripture. They receive no payment, and have no
connection with any missionary society. One at Beith, taught

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 129

by John Barr of the Relief Church, by whom he is paid. He
teaches and explains the Shorter Catechism, and Brown's
Catechism. He was found unqualified to explain the Catechism.
He is unconnected with any missionary society. One at Largs,
taught by P. and W. Hall, weavers, J. Moodie, J. Malcolm,
J. Lyle, J. Crawford, weavers, W. Jamieson, farmer, and
Archd. Hillj all Burghers. Only Mr. Hall appeared. The rest
refused to attend the Presbytery. Archibald Hill replied to
the summons by a very insolent letter to Mr. Rowan, the min-
ister of the Parish. The Presbytery know not whether these
men be qualified or not. Which scheme the Presbytery ap-
proved of, and ordered the same to be transmitted to the
General Assembly and Sheriff of the county."

Apparently, there was not in the Presbytery of Ayr such a
violent hostility to Sunday schools during the period from 1799
to 1806, as there was in the Presbytery of Irvine. So far as I
have noted, the only reference in the records of Ayr Presbytery
to a Sunday school within the bounds during that period, is to
one at Girvan in 1801. In that school there were seven
teachers, all of whom were so loyal as to take the oaths to
Government. And yet I cannot but think there must have
been several Sunday schools at that time in South Ayrshire.
In Mauchline Parish there was one. It was held on the Sun-
day evenings ; and in winter every scholar brought not only a
Bible and a Catechism to the school, but a candle, which was
lit at the door by the beadle. One of the scholars at that
school in 1794* was the centenarian who died at Brechin
two or three years ago. It is stated in the newspaper account
of her, already referred to, that this Sunday school was held in
the Parish Church, and was taught by the parish minister and

* This is the date given in the newspapers, but I think it likely that the real

date was a year or two later.

130 Old Clatrch Life in Scotland.

his ciders. This is certainly a mistake. The Sunday school
system was in 1794 not unfavourably looked on by some of
the ministers of South Ayrshire. Mr. Dun of Auchinleck, in a
note to one of his sermons printed in 1790, speaks of " the use-
ful Sunday schools," but at the same time declares them far in-
ferior as a means of religious instruction to the old custom of
ministerial catechising. As a rule, however, Sunday schools
at the end of last century were regarded by churchmen as
seminaries of schism and nurseries of dissent. It must have
been in the Burgher Meeting-house that the .Sunday school
at Mauchline was held in 1794, or soon after that date. The
centenarian's relatives in this parish attended the Meeting-
house, and there are documents still in existence which shew
that in 1804 there was a Sunday school in connection with the
Seceders' congregation. And it was natural that dissenters
should institute Sunday schools. The mother Church had
control of the week-day schools. Her ministers could enter
them at pleasure, and, like Ebenezer Erskine, might catechise
the children. Dissenters might feel, therefore, that if the in-
fluence of their ministers was to be brought to bear on the
young, it must be through other schools, the cheapest, readiest,
most effective and most novel of which were Sunday evening
schools.

It only remains to be stated that learning, although much
extolled and honoured and promoted by the clergy and the
Courts of the Reformed Church, was, for two hundred years
after the Reformation, not encouraged nor reverenced as it
should have been by an appreciating public. The clergy had
a sore fight to get schools erected in parishes, even after their
erection had been made imperative by Act of Parliament. The
charitable disbursements to "poor scholars" shew, too, that it was
generally the humbler classes of people that devoted their children

Provision for Education in Olden Times. 1 3 1

to learning.* Man}^ of the students at the Universities had actu-
ally to beg for their bread. Mr. Froude seems to think that this
begging was a good thing. " The thirty thousand students," he
says, " who gathered out of Europe to Paris to listen to Abelard,
did not travel in carriages and they brought no portmanteaus
with them. They carried their wardrobes on their backs, t
They walked from Paris to Padua, from Padua to Salamanca,
and they begged their way along the roads. The laws against
mendicancy in all countries were suspended in favour of scholars
wandering in pursuit of knowledge, and formal licenses were
issued to them to ask alms." It may very well be doubted if
such a custom of asking alms was in any way good for students.
It requires little stretch of imagination to perceive great evils
that must have attended such a loose way of living. Far more
honourable and far more conducive to self-respect it would have
been had students endeavoured to support themselves, either
wholly or in part, by some honest industry, manual or literary.
The privilege of begging which was extended to some students
led others to beg without license. The Act of 1579, for the
repression of sorners and masterful beggars, makes mention of
" vagabond schollers of the Universities of St. Andrews, Glas-
gow and Abirdene, not licensed be the Rector and Deane of
Faculty to ask almes." These people, the Act avers, were a
public nuisance, like the Egyptians, and the minstrels, and the
tale-tellers, and in the interests of public order they were to be
apprehended and sent to prison. And the lowering effect that

* A very interesting entry in the Mauchline records is " 1670, 14th Aug., given
to German scholler 30s."

t It is said of William Leslie, minister at St. Andrews-Lhanbr)-d (1779- 1839)
that he was ' ' a man of singular benevolence and given to hospitality. Before stage
coaches were introduced into Elginshire, and long subsequent to that event, he en-
tertained at the manse young men from the West coast, wending their weary way
to enrol at the Divinity classes of the Aberdeen Colleges, and gave them sustentation
on their homeward 'ourney." — Fasti.

132 Old ChiD'cJi Life in Scotland.

this life of beggary had on the students shewed itself in their
after history. Many of them when they became ministers and
readers acted also as tapsters and tavern keepers. Not only so,
but the General Assembly in 1576, thought it necessary to
direct the commissioners, as those were then termed who were
formerly called superintendents, to exhort such ministers or
readers as tapped ale and kept open tavern to preserve decorum
within their premises.* Less than a hundred years ago the
emoluments of placed schoolmasters — beneficed men — holding
a multitude of public parochial offices — were, as we have seen
declared by the General Assembly* to be scantier than those of
a field labourer, and schools were in danger of being abandoned
for want of proper men to undertake their charge. Matters are
now mended. Learning and education are valued. Students
are not subjected to any degradation. Ministers are not allowed
to exercise any calling inconsistent with or calculated to bring
reproach or discredit on their pastoral office. The profession
of teacher is one that men are pressing into ; it is every day
demanding higher qualifications ; and it is both honoured and
remunerated, as from its usefulness and dignity it ought to be.
The cause of education is therefore greatly advanced in Scotland
beyond what it was either two hundred or one hundred years
ago. But there is an evil doctrine in the air. It is openly

* In 1649, a minister, who bore the honoured name of John Knox, was deposed
by the Presbytery of Kintyre for "keeping change in his house, selHng drink, etc."
In 1603, the minister of Yester was accused among other things of being " a maker
of acquavitae. " He admitted that "his wyfe maks acquavitae for thair av\in use,
bot selHs nane." The Presbytery bade him, under the pain of deposition, "by
acquavitae and mak nane."

The word aquavitae it may be remarked was sometimes applied to other drinks
than whiskey. In HolHnshead's Scottish Chronicle it is said (p. 2S) that the
ancient Scots, when " determined of set purpose to be merry, used a kind of
aquavitae ; void of all spice, and only consisting of such herbs and roots as grew in
their own gardens."

Provision for Education iri Olden Times. 133

proclaimed by many people that the main purpose of education
is to enable youths to read the newspapers and fit themselves
for mercantile appointments. Education should have higher
objects than these in view. It should aim at making boys
become honest, well conditioned, well mannered, intelligent,
and cultured men, with a taste for literature, and a capacity to
enjoy what in literature is best and greatest. In other words,
there should be in every parish provision for secondary as well
as for primary education. By that means, more than by any
other, will the chief avenues to honour, distinction and social
advancement be made free ; and then it will be said that, as the
prize of a field-marshal's baton is in France open for competi-
tion to the private soldier, so in Scotland are the Principalships
of Colleges within reach of the sons of every humble artisan.

134 Old Church Life in Scotland.

LECTURE III.

MARRIAGES IN OLDEN TIMES.

Marriages sometimes regular and sometimes irregular — Kirk -Sessions and Church
Courts had to do with both kinds of marriages — Proclamation of banns — Pro-
clamation fees — Consignations — Marriage festivities —Proclamations sisted or
stopped — by parents or guardians — on account of scandal — ignorance — neglect
of ordinances — pre-contract — marriage already formed and not dissolved —
youth and near relationship — Certificate of proclamation refused after pro-
clamation made — Marriage in church — Marriage service — Irregular marriages
— Old and High Church doctrine of marriage — Lower and more secular
doctrine held by some Protestant ministers and denominations — Curious case
at Kilmarnock — Irregular marriages at one time always or almost always cele-
brated by a minister — Severe Acts anent clandestine marriages — Frequency of
irregular marriages last century — Causes of that frequency — Sessional procedure
— first ascertain whether parties really married — proofs of marriage — certificate
— Different views on subject of legal marriage — Acknowledgment and habit
and repute — When found unmarried, pronounced scandalous, and interdicted
from living together — When found married, censured for breach of Church
order, had marriage confirmed, were fined — \\Tiat done when husband and
wife separated.

Another very important matter that in olden times came
under the jurisdiction of Church Courts, and especially of
Kirk-Sessions, was marriage. And in Scotland there have,
from a very early period, been two kinds of legal marriage,
recognised under the two designations of regular and irregular.
Regular marriages have always been defined as marriages
celebrated according to the regulations of the Church, by
authorised ministers, and with religious solemnities, or, as a
certain class of ecclesiastical writers are given to say, with
sacerdotal benediction. The definition of an irregular marriage
has not been so constant and unquestioned. In the strict sense-

Marriages in Olden Times. 135

of the term, a marriage may be said to have been irregular,
when the regulations of the Church were not fully complied
with ; and, as these regulations varied from time to time, mar-
riages that at one period were held to be regular may at
another period have been pronounced irregular. Some in-
fringements of the Church's rules, however, were reckoned much
graver than others. For the last two hundred years, it has
been considered a much greater violation of order to be married
without proclamation of banns than to be married in a private
house. Some irregularities in marriage were, therefore, less
regarded than others by Kirk-Sessions; and, during the greater
part of last century at least, the reproach of irregularity was
not attached to marriages in which the breach of order was not
very serious.

In this lecture, I shall endeavour to show what was the
Church's procedure, and what were her regulations : first, in
regard to marriages that were counted orderly, and secondly,
in regard to marriages that were counted inorderly.

From the time of the Reformation, and indeed from a date
long prior to the Reformation, regular marriages have always
been preceded by a notice of marriage, publicly read in church.
The technical term for this notice of marriage is banns, a word
derived from bannuin, which in ecclesiastical Latin means pro-
clamation. In the Canon Law, banna, or banns, are defined to
be "proc/ainationes sponsi et sponsae in ecclesiis" — the pro-
clamations of betrothed persons which are made in churches ;
and Calderwood, the Presbyterian historian, speaks in one of
his books o{ " indictio nuptiaruui quain banna vacant" — the
notice of marriage, which people call banns. The common
phrase "proclamation of banns" is thus a redundancy. It is
a phrase, however, that is sanctioned by long and constant
•usage, and it appears in the title of one of the General As-

136 Old Church Life in Scotland.

sembly's Acts of 1880. Sometimes, in old writings, the ex-
pression "bands of marriage " occurs, and in such a connection
as to make tlic reader suppose tliat the terms banns and bands
were used indiscriminately, as if they were only different modes
of spelling the same word.* The two terms are distinct, never-
theless. Bands of marriage meant contracts of marriage, and
banns were the proclamations of these bands. In the Galston
Records (1643), we read of "bands of marriage" being com-
pleted, not in the sense that banns or proclamations of marriage
were read three times, but in the sense that contracts of mar-
riage were ratified and concluded by solemnisation. In one
instance, we read that, the "bands being compleit, ye consigna-
tiones were delyverit back;" and in another, that, " failzeand
in performing ye bands of marriage, their consignation was
givin in to the Session."

In pre-Reformation times, the solemnisation of marriage was
preceded by a formality of espousals or betrothal. After the
Reformation, the same custom continued under the name of
contracts. In 1569, a case was submitted to the General
Assembly, which indicates the successive steps that at that
time were taken in the process of marriage. " Ane promise of
marriage made, before the readers and elders, in ane reformit
kirk, the parties contractit compeirs before the minister and
sessione, and requires their bands to be proclaimit ; quhilk
beand done, .... when the Kirk requires them to pro-
ceid to the solemnisation the woman refuses.'" It will thus be

* In the Book of Common Order (Knox's Liturgy), the following expression
occurs : " After the haiins or contract hath been published." In 1597, the General
Assembly forbade readers " to celehrat the banns of marriage, without special com-
mand of the minister of the kirk.'' This did not mean, as some have supposed,
that readers were not to publish banns, but that they were not to solemnise mar-
riage without special order. See Calderwood, Vol. V., p. 647. It looks as if in
both of these instances bands, and not banns, were meant.

Marriages in Olden Times. 137

seen that, first of all, a promise or band was made in presence
of certain authorised witnesses, a reader and elders ; secondly,
that the parties contracted repaired to the Kirk-Session and
required proclamation of their band ; and, last of all, that the
Church held the parties bound to implement their contract by
solemnisation.* Six years later, a question was put to the
General Assembly, in the following- terms : " Whether the con-
tract of marriage, used to be made before the proclamation of
bantis, should be in words of the present time, or there should
be no contract or promise till the instant time of solemnisa-
tion?" The answer given to this question was : " Parties to be
married sould come before the Assemblie (Kirk-Session), and
give in their names, that thair bands may be proclaimit,. and
no further ceremonies usit." It may therefore be said that
from this date, 1575, espousals ceased to be regarded in the
Church of Scotland as a formal ecclesiastical act. The ingiving
of names for proclamation, with a view to marriage, neverthe-
less, continued to be called and considered a marriage contract.
In 161 1, the Synod of Fife ordained that, " heirafter, all con-
tracts of persons to be joyned in marriage be maid publictlie in
the Sessione, the parties being first tryed upon thair knowledge
of the Lord's Prayer, Belieff, and Ten Commandis." Even at
the Westminster Assembly, in 1644, it was remitted to a com-
mittee to " consider of something concerning contracts or
espousals, to be added to the Directory of Marriage "t — that is,
to consider whether betrothal, as well as solemnisation of mar-
riage, should not be regarded as a religious ceremony, and be

* In 1570, the General Assembly was asked if it was not expedient and necessary
that a uniform order should be observed in all kirks in making promises of marriage,
and the answer was that " a promise of marriage per verba de fiituro sail be made
according to the order of the Reformed Kirk, to the minister, exhorter, or reader."

t Minutes of Westminster Assembly, p. 7.

138 Old CIiuvcIl Life in Scotland.

rcc^ulatcd by ecclesiastical rules. The divines at Westminster
appear to have come to the same conclusion as the General
Assembly did in 1575, namely, that persons craving marriage
shall give in their names to be proclaimed, and that "no further
ceremonies be usit." The idea of espousal or contract, how-
ever, was still associated with the ingiving of names for pro-
clamation, and in the Marriage Register of this parish, the
phrases " contracted and married," and " contracted in order to
marriage," frequently occur at dates subsequent to 1730.

Many different enactments, in regard to both the ingiving
and the outgiving of the names of persons craving marriage,
have from time to time been made by the several Courts of the
Church. In 1579, the Kirk-Session of Perth ordained that no
notice of banns before marriage be received except on the
ordinary day of the Session's meeting, which was Monday.
Five years later, this rule was modified to the extent that " no
contracts of marriage should be received on the Monday in
time of Assembly," that is, while the Kirk-Session was sitting
on business. Parties to be contracted were required, however,
to pass with their parents or two near kinsmen " to the
minister's chamber, or any other place assigned to them by the
minister, and there, before the minister and two elders, give up
their banns." In 1676, the Kirk-Session of Galston ordained
that " when any come to gi\-e up their names in order to pro-
clamation for marriage, they shall acquaint the minister there-
with, beforehand, and bring the elder of their quarter along with
them." It will thus be seen that particular Sessions had rules
of their own anent the ingiving of the names of persons to be
married. But there were Acts of Assembly on the subject also.
In 1699, the General Assembly ordained that, before an}- banns
of marriage were published, there should be given in to the
minister the names, not only of the persons to be married, but

Marriages in Olden Times. 139

of their parents and tutors; and that the minister should ascer-
tain whether or not the parents and Guardians consented to the
marriage. This Act, in the course of a hundred years or less
became a dead letter; and, in 1784, the Kirk-Session of Mauch-
line saw occasion to lay down the following rule for observance
in this parish, that " immediately upon parties giving in their
names to the clerk, he should send a note of their names,
parentage, and place of residence to the minister, who is to
consult the Session before a second proclamation." A few
months later, the General Assembly passed an Act of similar
tenor, discharging session-clerks from making any proclamation
of marriage till they received from the minister, or, in the case
of a vacant parish, from two of the elders, permission to pro-
claim. One principle, it will be observed, pervaded all this
legislation, both of Kirk-Sessions and of General Assemblies
which was, that applications to be proclaimed for marriage
must be lodged with, and be judged by, some specific authority,
before proclamation is made.

In regard to the outgiving of names, the old law and custom
of the Church was that banns of marriage must be published
three several days in the congregation. This is declared in the
First Book of Discipline to be expedient, " for avoiding of
dangers," and is referred to in Knox's Liturgy as an understood
rule. During the first period of Episcopacy (1610-1638), some
relaxations of this law were introduced, and the Presbyterians
were not slow to allege that great scandal had arisen therefrom.
One of the charges brought against the bishops, in 1638, by the
" noblemen, barons, burgesses, ministers and commons, coven-
anters (which were not commissioners to the Assembly),"* was,

* In the Large Declaration by the King, (1639), the indictment or bill from
which these words are taken is thus described : " They, (the Covenanters), caused
to be drawn up a most false, odious and scandalous libell against the Archbishops

140 Old Church Life in Scotland.

that the said prelates had "gevin h'cense to sundry ministers to
solemnize marriafje without asking three scverall Sabbaths be-
fore;* upon which have followed divers inconveniences ; a man
hath been married to a woman, her husband being alive, and
they not divorced ; some have been married to persons with
whom they have committed adultery before, and some have
been married without the consent or knowledge of their
parents." The Assembly of 1638, therefore, which abolished
Episcopacy, and deprived the bishops both of Episcopal func-
tions and ministerial calling, passed a new Act for the more
orderly celebration of marriage. This Act premised that mar-
riage without proclamation of banns had been in use tlicse
years bygone, and had produced many dangerous effects ; and
it accordingly discharged, for the future, all marriages without
regular proclamation, " except the Presbyterie in some neces-
sarie exigents dispense therewith." On the downfall of the
second Episcopacy, in 1690, a similar Act was again passed by
the Presbyterians ; and this Act, although latterly much evaded
continued nominally in force till recent years.

On points of detail in marriage banns, many regulations
have at different times been enacted by the Church. These
need not be particularly recited. But there is one matter I

and Bishops ; which, out of our love to the Christian religion, >ve wish might never
come to the notice of any pagan, and out of our love to the religion reformed, we
wish might never come to the notice of any Papist. But it cannot be concealed,"
p. 20S-209.

* The Book of Discipline (1560) says that in certain cases where no suspicion of
danger can arise the "time maybe shortened at the discretion of the ministry."
What was meant by the ministry? The Episcopalians said it was the Bishop, and
the Covenanters (1638) said it was the Presbytery. Each party from its own point
of view was right. The discretionary power is now by Act of Assembly 1880 vested
in the minister alone.

In 1643, it was reported to the Presbytery of Ayr that one of the strictest of
Covenanters and Puritans, Mr. George Hutcheson of Colmonel, had "caused pro-
claim himself twyse in one day."

Marriages in Oldett Times. I41

must here refer to. There may happen, by a time, to be no
service in a church on a Sunday, and some special provision
must then be made for the pubHcation of banns. At the
present day, banns may in such circumstances be read at the
church door, by the Session clerk, in the presence of witnesses.
And from time immemorial this procedure has been recognised
as legal. It is evident, however, that occasions might arise on
which this practice, from want of publicity, might be open to
abuse, and fail to answer the end for which proclamations of
marriage were enjoined. Especially might this be the case
when, from troubles of one kind or another^ the church was
imperfectly equipped with ministers, and there were many
parishes very irregularly provided with ordinances. For such
occurrents, therefore, there behoved to be some modification of
the general rule. And there often was. For instance, in 1688,
when Episcopal curates held the parish churches and Presby-
terians had to worship in other buildings called meeting-houses,
the Presbytery of Irvine "appoyntit, that the proclamation of
intended mariage of pairties, in vacant Parishes, be once of
thryce on a day when ther is public preaching at the meeting-
house in the vacant Parish, ... or else at the meeting-
house of the next adjacent Parish where there is a minister
fixed." In November 1690, four months after the re-establish-
ment of Presbyterian government in the Church, but before the
Church had found an adequate supply of ministers for all her
parishes, the Presbytery of Ayr enacted that " no proclamations
be at vacant church doors hereafter, but in the next adjacent
Parish where there are settled ministers."

The subject of proclamation fees may seem a very paltry one
to be introduced into a lecture, but our sketch of old Church
customs would be incomplete without a word or two on this
financial subject. The General Assembly, in her enactments,

142 Old Church Lijc in Scotland.

has always, till 1880, contemplated the continuance of procla-
mations over three Sabbaths, as the common rule and practice.
" Necessary exigents " were provided for, but the common rule
was that proclamations were to be extended over three several
Sundays. And some ecclesiastical martinets were more zealous
to uphold that rule than to maintain good works.

There being, except in very peculiar cases, only one mode of
proclamation, namely, once on each of three several Sabbath.s,
there was originally, I presume, in all parishes only one fee for
proclamation. That fee may have been higher in some
parishes than in others. In 1673, the Kirk-Session of
Mauchline "appointed that the clerk shall have 16s. (Scots) for
each proclamation, and the officer 4s." In 1703, the same
charges were continued. We may infer, therefore, that at that
date there were few or no proclamations in Mauchline that
were completed in less than three days. Before 1703, however,
cases of double proclamation in one day had been heard of in
Presbyterian churches. In 1695, it was minuted by the Kirk-
Session of Kilmarnock that " James Cairns and Anna Ferrie
are alloivcd to be proclaimed twice the next Lord's day."
And exceptions that are in any circumstances allowed are very
apt, if found convenient or advantageous, to increase in number.
It is difficult to draw the line, and say when the rule must be
adhered to or the exception allowed. And it is clear that,
-during the last quarter of last century, the practice had become
very common in this parish for people to get themselves cried
out on two Sundays, or even on one Sunday. In 1778, the
Session minuted a resolution, " that if parties proposing
marriage shall choose to be proclaimed in the Church for two
several days only, (they) shall pay a crown for t/te poor, and a
guinea for one day." This means that the dues to the Session
clerk and church-officer were to continue as before — whatever

Marriages in Olden Times. 143

should be the number of Sabbaths over which proclamations
were extended — but that when a proclamation was completed
on fewer than three Sabbaths an extra charge should be made,
either as a fine or as the price of a favour, and that this extra
charge should be devoted to some charitable purpose. It is
very likely that the Session could not in a court of law have
compelled payment of this extra charge, but, unless people
paid it beforehand, they would have had to submit to the
inconvenience of a prolonged proclamation.

Besides paying fees for the publication of their banns, people
had long ago, in giving in their names for marriage, either to
table, or to produce a bond or caution for, a certain sum of
money called the consignation.* There is no mention of this
word in the usual indices to Acts of Assembly, but the word
frequently occurs in old records of Kirk-Sessions, and the con-
text often shews plainly enough what the word meant. The
consignation fee or bond was a pledge of two things — first that
the parties seeking proclamation of banns would proceed in
due course to the solemnisation of marriage, and secondly that
they would marry without scandal. As far back as 1570, the
General Assembly passed an Act which was almost equivalent
to a warrant for the exaction of consignations in pledge of the

* In some cases rings were consigned. In the Book of the Kirk of Canongate,
the following entries are said to occur : " 1630, Robert Neill and Isabel! M'Kinlay
gave up their names to be proclaimed, and consigned ane gold signet ling. . .
John Moole and Elspet Abernethy. . . consigned ane gold ring with ane quhite
stone." Lee's Lectures I. 216. The date of these extracts, 1630, pertains to an
Episcopal period in the Church's historj', and the acts recorded are perhaps explained
by the fact that in most Episcopal Churches rings are regarded as the symbols of
pledges or contracts.

In some districts goods were accepted as consignations. In 1725, the Kirk-
Session of a parish in the Highlands enacted, that "no couple be matrimonially
contracted within the parish, till they give in to the Session clerk £t, Scots, or a
white plaid, or any other like pennieworth, worth £1 Scots, as pledge that they
should not have pennie weddings. " Scottish Church, March, 1866.

144 Old Church Life in ScotlaJid.

fulfilment of promises of marriage. " Persons, after promise of
marriage and proclamation of the bands, desyrand to be free
from the bands, should," it is said in this Act, "be free, sires
est intcgra, and their inconstancie punished!' The modern way
in which this inconstancy is punished is by an award of
damages in the civil court, for breach of promise. An equally
effective, and much less costly way was adopted in old times by
Kirk-Sessions. A certain sum of money was deposited, or a
bond or caution for that amount was given when the proclama-
tion was desired, and if marriage did not follow within due time
the consignation was forfeited for the good of the poor or some
other pious use.* In 1698, the Kirk-Session of Alauchline
passed a resolution " appointing the parties to be proclaimed
to consumat yr. marriage, within six weeks after the proclama-
tion is over, under the pain of losing their consignation money,
unless sickness or some relevant excuse, quhairof the Session
is judge, hinder the same." And consignations were frequently
forfeited from this cause. In 1643, the reader at Galston gave
in to the Kirk-Session of that parish " £^ of penaltie and
consignatione, quhilk Agnes Anderson in Allanton had
consignit, when she gave in her bands of marriage with X. Y,
parochinar in Avondale, and did not performe the said band."
And similar things happened in Mauchline more than once.
In 1673, '^^ session of this parish, "considering that Robert
Miller, who was married tipon December third, was the other
year proclaimed upon another woman and did not marry her,
therefore, they being clear that his consignation money is for-
feited doe forfault the same, and allow j\Ir. William Reid (the
schoolmaster) the same, as part of his fie for the former year."
Another case of forfeiture occurred in 1686. In this case, how-

* The " resiling of parties after proclamation " was commonly called "scorning
the Kirk " — Pardovan.

Marriages in Olden Times. 145

ever, the consignation money had never been deposited.*
Caution had only been given for payment, if required, and the
cautioner was taught a wholesome lesson in caution, which he
was not likely to forget. " The Session considering that
David Patterson had forfaulted his penaltic of ^5, not having
married Bessie Wallace with whom he was proclaimed, there-
fore James Gib, kirk-officer, who was cautioner for the penaltie,
was ordained to pay himself, of his fie for the year, ^,5." There
were cases, again, in which marriages were stopped or delayed
by sickness or some other equally unavoidable hindrance ; but
there being " a relevant excuse " in these instances, the con-
signation money was either returned or allowed to lie in pledge
for a further period. t In 1640, a man named Richmond ap-
peared before the Session of Galston, " being summondit for
compleating of his marriage with Christian Mitchell, and was
excused be reasoun that the woman was sicke, and undertakes
to compleit the band on Sunday (eight) dayes nixt.'' The
same day there compeared before the same session a woman

* The following minutes, taken from the records of the Session of Galston, will
shew the forms of security that were given to Kirk-Sessions in 1627 for the comple-
tion of marriages after proclamation : — " Compeirit William Wod and Jeane Millar,
and gave in their bands of marriage to be solempnizat. For the compleating where-
of, John Gebie became cautioner for the part of the said William Wod, and James
Neisbit in Greinholm became cautioner for the said Jeane Millar." 8th July —
" Compeirs William Muir in Bruntwood, and obleish him to compleit the band of
matrimonie with Euphame Patoun, betwix and Lambes nixt."

A form of caution that would not be tolerated in a modern commune was some-
times exacted from the poor. In 1674, the Session of Kilmarnock ordained " that
all persons poor, yett to be maried, sail before their mariage give sufticient caution
not to be burdensome to the session, or els remove themselves out of the congrega-
tion."

+ It should be stated that proclamation fees as well as consignations were returnetl
when a marriage was stopped. The following minute occurs in our Session Re-
cords, 16S2, January 17: — -"John Car is allowed to have his money rendred for
his first proclamation, because the marriage went not on. Christina Alexander is
allowed to have her consignation rendred, because the going on of ye marriage was
stopped."

146 old Chunk Life in Scotland.

from " Ratchaitounc (Riccartonj, being summondit for yc same
effect," and she pled a similar excuse, alleging that "yc man
lately, with ane fall, brack some ribbes and his collar bone." It
was rather odd, to say the least of it, that so many people in
Galston should happen to fall sick, or get their " ribbes "
broken, immediately after being cried in the kirk, and the
session became suspicious that excuses which were so relevant
might have been invented for the occasion. The elder in the
Ratchartoune district was, therefore, " ordanit to try whether it
(the woman's statement) was the treuth or not."

The consignation money was not only a pledge that the
persons to be proclaimed would complete their marriage within
the time prescribed, but it was a pledge that they would com-
plete the marriage without scandal.* It was laid down as a
rule by the Kirk-Session of Mauchlinc, in 1676, and by many
other Kirk-Sessions at different dates, that all consignations,
deposited by persons craving proclamation of marriage, shall
lie in the clerk's hands for the space of three quarters of a year
after the marriage. And in 168 1, this resolution was specially
renewed and re-minuted. The Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock
were not quite so exacting. They ordained, in 1670, " that no
pawnes, given in at the contracting of persons in order to
marriage, shall be gevin up to the persons who married, before
half a year be expyred." And when scandal arose during the
period covered by the pledge, whether it were half a year or
three quarters of a year, the consignation was peremptorily
forfeited. Sometimes Sessions were importuned by unfor-
tunates to temper justice with mercy. But it was seldom that

* This custom may have been founded on the deliverance of Assembly, 1570,
wliich declares that " p-.oniisc ul marriage sail be made according to the order of
tiie reformed kirk to the minister, exhorter, or reader, taking caution fur abstinence
till the mariaire be solemnized."

Marriages in Olden Times. 147

such importunities availed. In 1681, a man made trial of the
Kirk-Session of Mauchline in this way, alle^^ing that although
by the strict letter of the Session's act his consignation had
been legally forfeited, it was under circumstances in which he
thought his offence might be overlooked. The Session, how-
ever, would take no such lenient view of sin as affected by cir-
cumstances, and ordered the treasurer to retain the money till
he got instructions for its disposal.

I have said that security or caution was sometimes accepted
by Kirk-Sessions, from persons who found it inconvenient to
deposit their consignations in coin. We have seen that in 1686
the kirk-officer was accepted by the Session of Mauchline as
cautioner for a friend v/ho was entering the matrimonial state,
and that the cautioner was made to smart for his kindness. In
1705, the farmer at Lourland was inconsiderate enough to be-
come cautioner for a bridegroom, and that wicked bridegroom
had the effrontery, a few months afterwards, to express his
admiration of good men's simplicity and to congratulate himself
on Lourland's liability. Similar misadventures doubtless
occurred at Kilmarnock, for in 1695 the Kirk-Session of that
town ordained that " no consignations should be trusted, and
that no proclamations should go on without consignation or
caution within the Session." Sometimes, however, Kirk-
Sessions would not accept bonds or letters of caution from
intending brides and bridegrooms, and then it must have been
hard on poor folks that had no rich friends like Lourland to
advance the needful pledge. In 1691, the Kirk-Session of
Mauchline instructed their clerk " to take neither bond nor
cautioner for consignation money, but to require that the
money be laid down, to remain in his hand for the space of
three quarters of ane year." The Session of Galston, the
following year (1692), passed a similar resolution, that " none

148 Old C/iitnh Life in Scotland.

be proclaimed till they lod^^c consignation, and that no
cautioner be received."*

How long this old custom of depositing, or granting bonds
for, consignation money, prior to the publication of banns of
marriage, continued in this parish, I am not prepared to sa)'.
The custom was not abolished, by any formal act or resolution
of Session, but simply fell into abeyance. It is probably not
much more than a hundred years since it died out ; for, on a
page at the end of a small volume of scroll minutes still ex-
tant, there is a writing, under date 23rd November, 177 1, which
has all the appearance of being a genuine matrimonial consig-
nation bond. It is the only one I have ever seen, but I pre-
sume there must be many such in existence.!

There were other forms of scandal, besides the one hinted at
in the foregoing remarks, for which consignations at marriage
were forfeited. The Kirk-Session of Rothesay, in 1658,
ordained that whoever had a piper playing at his wedding
should lose his consignation. The same rule was laid down
at Kilmarnock, in 1648, and at Galston, in 1635. It was
customary, also, for Kirk-Sessions to appoint limits to the
number of people that might be asked to a wedding. And

*The Kirk-Session of Galston passed a similar acl at an earlier date. In 1629,
it was " slatut and ordained, be consent of the haill sessioune, that in all tynie com-
ing there sail be no caution fundin anent proclamatione of marriage, bot onlie con-
sigiiatione of money, to wit ;^5 for ilk partie. "

t Underneath is a verbatim copy of this very curious document. The words
" conly " and " seally " are contractions for conjointly and severally.

Mauchline, 23rd November, 1771.
Gentlemen,

Conly and seally, and nine months after date, pay to Robert Millar,

Kirk Treasurer in Mauchline, the sum of Ten Pounds Scots, in case of ante-nuptial

fornication or non-performance of marriage betwixt you John Stewart, in the Parish

of Sorn, and Jean Black, in this Parish — this for the use of the poor of this Parish.

Accept John Stewart.

Accept Jean Plack.

Marriages in Olden Times. 149

this rule was sometimes enforced by forfeiture of consignation,
either in whole or in part, as penalty for non-observance. The
Session of Fenwick, for instance, passed an act in 1647 " anent
extraordinary conventions at brydals." By this Act, all con-
ventions at brydals in the Parish of Fenwick were restricted to
" forty persons on both sides," under the penalty of confisca-
tion of half the consignation money. Some parishioners com-
plained of this restriction, and one outspoken man had the
hardihood to upbraid the Session for their social tyranny.
That was not the way to get matters mended.

" He that roars for liberty

Faster binds the tyrant's power."

And SO, in this case, the reviler was delated to the Session for
his railing speeches, while the rigid rule of which he com-
plained was enacted anew, under double penalty. The Session,
so runs their minute, finding " that the abuse of extraordinary
conventions at bridals doth daily continue and grow, notwith-
standing that hitherto the one half of consignations has been
confiscat when parties to be married did convein above forty
persons on both sides, therefore, for remedying of abuses that
fall out at such occasions, statutes and enacts that whoever at
their marriage shall convene above forty persons on both sides,
whether in the Parish or brought out of another parish, shall
confiscat their whole consignation, without modification, less
or more, on any pretence whatsoever." Not only, too, were
conventions at weddings restricted by Sessional edicts, but
charges at weddings were restricted also, and under the same
form of penalty. In 1620, the Kirk-Session of Dumbarton
ordained that, " in respect of the charseness of victualls,
bryddell lawingis sail not exceid fyve schilling at dinner, and
at supper three schilling four pennies, utherwayis the parties
married to loss their consignatione." The parishioners of

I50 Old Church Life in Scotland.

Dundonald seem to have been subjected to a similar ordinance
of moderation, for, in 1637, a bridegroom appeared before the
Kirk-Session of that Parish and craved leave to " tak from the
parishioners, who was to accompany him at his marriage feist,
six schillins for their bridal lawin." The circumstances in his
case, he avowed, were peculiar, and they fairly warranted an
extra charge. The marriage was to be out of the parish. And
the Kirk-Session so far acknowledged the force of this plea,
that they came to terms with the bridegroom ; and, instead of
exacting forfeiture f)f his whole consignation for breach of
license, they allowed him to make the charge he named, upon
his agreeing to pay, "out of his consignation money, the soume
of 24s. to the powre."

A cynical bachelor who wrote a history, and had as great a
prejudice against Scottish Presbyterianism as he had against
matrimony, has made a statement about marriages in Scot-
land, which is worthy of quotation, as one of the curiosities of
sarcasm. " In every country, it has been usual," he says, " to
make merry at marriages, partly from a natural feeling, and
partly, perhaps, from a notion that a contract so often produc-
tive of misery might at all events begin with mirth. The
Scottish clergy, however, thought otherwise. At the weddings
of the poor they would allow no rejoicings ; and at the wed-
dings of the rich, it was the custom for one of them to go for
the express purpose of preventing an excess of gaiety." It
would have been more correct if the great historian of civiliza-
tion, for he is the author referred to, had said that civilization
in mirth, like every other form of culture, is the slow pro-
duct of time, and that it was the misordcrs and barbarism of
mirth, or at least these mainly, that the Church of Scotland
two hundred years ago was so zealous in her efforts to repress.
Had mirth been less coarse and boisterous, and been less

Marriages in Olden Times. 151

associated with drunkenness and lasciviousness, the Church
would have been more tolerant than she was in respect of
amusements. Besides, the Church of Scotland was not
peculiar in the action she took regarding festivities at wed-
dings. An English Episcopalian wrote, in 1659, "confess I do,
that between the customary excess of riot and licentious
dissoluteness, frequently attending nuptial solemnities, and
this most dreadful mystery" (of the Lord's Supper, which was
celebrated at marriages), " there seems to be a misbecoming
greeting, and they suit not well together. Yet, why should
the Church in her most solemn and decent establishment" (of
religious offices) "be justled out by accessory abuses? Why
not rather the abuses themselves reformed, so far as they
stand separate from the rules of sobriety and religion ? Such,
I am certain, was the discipline of the ancient fathers. It
was not fit, they said, in one of the canons of a General
Council, that Christians at weddings should use balls and
dancing, but to dine or sup temperately, as becometh Chris-
tians.* What the Church of Scotland in the seventeenth
century aimed at, in her Acts anent weddings, was just the
resuscitation of this old canon of the ancient Church. She
wanted people to give up riots and rackets at weddings, and
" dine or sup temperately, as becometh Christians ; " and with
that view many acts and resolutions, all of a similar tenor, were
passed at different times by different Kirk-Sessions, limiting
the number of people that might be asked to penny bridals,
forbidding piping or dancing either before or after supper, and
discharging " loose speeches, singing of bawdy songs, and
profane minstrelling," during the wedding feast. In 1658, for
instance, the Kirk-Session of Rothesay, " for the better regu-

* Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 297.

152 01 if Cliiiirh IJ/c in Scotland.

l.itini^- of Ihc disorders tluiL falls out at penny bridells, appointed
that there be no more than eight mensc at most, that there be
no p\pin_L( nor promiscuous dancing under the penaltie of the
parlies niarycd losing their consignation money, and that there
be no sitting up to drink after ten o'clock at night under the
penaltie of 40s." And the Church in Ayrshire was quite as
inu'itanic in this matter as was the Church in Bute. In 1658,
the Kirk-Scssion of Kilmarnock found "it most necessarie and
expedient to interdyte all parties to be maryed not to convene
at one mariadge more than fourtie persons at most, and that
they be entertained only for one dyate, so that if they dyne,
public supping is absolutely discharged." The same year, they
also interdicted a certain piper from playing in any " of the
congregations about at mariadges," because it was " instru-
mental of much profanity and lasciviousness." And how
piping should have been associated with two such apparently
unconnected consequences as profanity and lasciviousness will
appear from the following minute, recorded by the same Kirk-
Session on the 29th July, 1658 : "The quhilk day, there being
a number of vaine wantoune lasses summondit for their
lasciviouse and scandalous carriadgc, in promiscuouse dancing
with men, in mutual kissing and giveing ribbens as favours to
the men, upon Whitsunday, in the town of Irvine, in the tyme
of pir aching, . . . the forsaids women, together with the
piper, confessed, and were ordered to confess their sin from the
public place before the congregation." Old pipers, too, either
from overflowing humour or latent profanity, were rather given
to the trick of spoiling solemnities by striking up incongruous
tunes: and the customs of good people in very strict times gave
occasional opportunities, and even presented temptations, for
this unseemly amusement. In 1642, John Kennedy, son to the
goodman of Ardmillan, was delated to the Presbytery of Ayr

Marriages in Olden Times. 153

" for his misbehaviour at a marriage in Cammonell, in causing
a pyper to play upon his pype after dinner, in the tyme of
singing of a Psalm."* And although some may think that
the wedding party on this occasion were righteous over-
much, in singing Psalms when merry, there can be no doubt
that the " minstrelling" and dancing at marriages long ago were
misorders that needed to be restrained. f

It should be stated that restrictions on marriage festivities,
in olden times, were sometimes enjoined on economic, fully as
much as on religious, grounds. The old Scottish character was
very frugal, and extravagance was reckoned much more repre-
hensible than penuriousness. In 1635, which was during one
of the periods of Episcopacy in the Church, the Kirk-Session
of Galston, " considering how that the great multitudes of per-
sons callit to br)'dells dearthis the coitrie, and taks men frae
their labor,'' do therefore statute and ordain " that all marriages
solemnizet in this kirk, in tyme coming, shall not exceed the
number of 24 persons, twelve on everie syd, and that the
brydell lawing sail not exceid the sowme of five shillings (Scots)
in money. And siclyke, in respect that the minstrells and

* The Marriage service in church, and in 1642 all marriages were solemnised in
church, was concluded by the singing of a Psalm. It does not seem, however, to
have been the singing of this church Psalm that was disturbed by the piper, but the
singing of a Psalm at the wedding feast, "after dinner."

tin 1752, there was printed under the title of "Scotland's Glory and her
Shame," a poem which gave an account of the amusements and manners of the
Scottish people. The author was grieved at the moral state of the country, and
especially deplored such rude customs as penny weddings. (See Mason's Glasgow
Public and Private Libraries.) For an account of dancing in 1711, see Spectator,
Essay 67.

Strathbogie is a place that has been long famed for its reels, and it has in recent
years acquired additional celebrity in connection with ecclesiastical procedure. It
is perhaps not generally known, however, that in r627 a minister was censured by
his Presbytery "for making ane pennie brydall within Straithboggie to his dochter
in law." So ill looked on were penny weddings a hundred years later, that the then
minister of Abbey St. Bathans was "suspended for having a penny wedding in
his house, which gave great scandal to the neighbourhood." — Fasti.

154 ^^^^^ Church Life in Scotland.

pipers who is at brydclls is oftymcs the cause of fyghting and
jarrcs ranin;.,^ out amoni^st the people, therefore the Session hes
concUuht that all pypers, fidlers and uther minstrclls be dischar-
t^eit frac brydells in tymc coming. And if the pairteis to be
marcid does in the contrair hereof, and contraveens that act,
they shall lossc their consignations, and if the hostlers bcis
found to break the same they sail pey ;^5."

And these Sessional acts were not dead letters. A few
months after the Galston act, 1635, was passed, a newly
married man appeared before the Session, and " confessit ye
breck of ye actes and statutes of Sessioune concerning brydells,
and was ordainit to pey his penaltie the next day. Likewyse
compeired Thomas Browne, hostler, and grantit himself con-
vict, and prctcndit ignorance, and was likewise decernit to pey
his penaltie, to wit £^, ye nixt Sabbath." And it was not
Kirk-Sessions only that restricted the size of marriage gather-
ings, and the cost of marriage festivities. An Act of Parlia-
ment, in 1 68 1, during the reign of that merry monarch and
anti-covcnantcr Charles the Second, ordained that "at
marriages, besides the married persons, their parents, children,
brothers and sisters, and the families wherein they live, there
shall not be present at any contract of marriage, marriage, or
in-fare, or meet upon occasion thereof, above four friends on
either side, with their ordinary domesticated servants, and that
neither bridegroom nor bride, nor their parents or relatives,
tutors or curators for them and to their use, shall make above
two changes of raiment at that time or upon that occasion." *

* There was perhaps need to restrain the extravagance attending marriages. In
1729, the minister of Traquair, having got into debt, was required by the Presby-
tery to give an account of his losses and the unusual expenses he had been put to.
One item he submitted to the reverend court was, " by courting during my widow-
hood, near eight years, considering the diflFerent persons I was in quest of, and the
distance of place, ^1000 !" — Fasti.

Marriages in Olden Times. 155

What may seem still more strange than any of the foregoing
regulations, Kirk-Sessions were sometimes importuned to pass,
and they actually did pass, protective acts securing to particular
persons the exclusive privilege of purveyance at marriage
banquets within the parish. In 1635, there was presented to
the Session of Galston " ane petitioune and supplicatioune, be
the hostlers and changers of meit and drink within the claghan
of Galstoune, anent the halding and keiping of brydell diners,
burialls and baptismes diners in landwart with uthcr hostlers,
to the hurt and prejudice of them within the said claghan."
The petitioners alleged that " they durst not hazard provi-
sioune, because the said hostlers in landwart rypit the most
pairt of the benefite of the conventiounes foresaid, quhilk wald
be the ruine and decay of the said claghan, and great detriment
to ye poore ones quha gate help and supply in }'er necessitie
at sic lyke meltings." This queer petition seemed to the
Kirk -Session most reasonable; and that considerate and
benevolent court did, therefore, "with ane consent, decerne and
ordainc all baptismes, marriages and buriall diners to remain
and be haldin within the said claghan in tym coming, excep-
tand the personnes pairties goe home to yer awne hous." And
this act, which was ordained to be put in execution at once,
was appointed to stand "during the Sessioune's will and the
good behaviour of the hostlers within the claghan." It is to be
hoped that, under such exceptional legislation, the clachan of
Galston flourished and prospered, and that its hostlers set a
worthy example of Christian behaviour to all their brethren in
the trade. But what of the poor " hostlers in landwart ? "
Were they to go to decay both financially and spirituall}' ?

What restrictions on penny weddings were imposed by the
Kirk-Session of Mauchline, in the puritanic period between
1638 and 1660, I have unfortunately no mc;.ns of ascertaining,

156 Old C/iiin/i Life in Scotland.

for the simple reason that our parish records do not extend
Ijack tcj that period. The Session of Mauchh'ne doubtless did
then as Kirk-Sessions in other covenantinc^ parishes ditl. Ikit,
conu'nt^ down to a later date, we find that whether allowed by
the Kirk-Session or not, there were in Mauchlinc considerable
jollifications over marriages.* The orgies began with the
contract or ingiving of the names. A few of the most convivial
friends of the bride and bridegroom met on such occasions in
one of the village alehouses, and sent for the Session-clerk
The business on hand was soon despatched, bickers of beer
were called for, and toasts and sentiments followed. Under
the inspiring influence of generous liquor, imprisoned spirits
were let loose, wit was wakened and affection kindled, song
succeeded song, and the jollit}' at times went beyond ecclesias-
tical notions of decorum. In 1755, Daddy Auld and the Kirk-
Session were, to use a cant phrase, "exercised " on the subject,
and minuted, that whereas " upon meetings commonly called
giving in names for marriages, there sometimes happens revell-
ing and drunkenness with other abuses, they think it their
duty to testify against the same, and, in order to prevent such
offensive behaviour, ordain that the persons proposing marriage
shall signify t/ieir purpose to the minister, who shall cause
proclaim the same before the congregation, and the precentor
is hereby forbidden proclaim any without a line or order from
the minister, and this is to be intimated from the pulpit."' It
is just possible that this resolution of the Kirk-Session of
Mauchline, in 1755, throws a side light on the General

* It is alleged that in 1723 Mr. Wyllie of Clackmannan said in a sermon: —
"There is a young generation got up worse than their fathers, they have dancing at
their contracts. They'll provoke God to blast their marriage and lessen their affec-
tion for one another. Some idie vagabonds came to the town with fiddles. Put
them out of the town and break their fiddles, and I'll pay them." — Presbyterian
Eloquence Displayed.

Marriages iii Olden Times. 157

Assembly's Act of similar import thirty years later. The
proclamation of banns by Session-Clerks, without previous
sanction from the minister, may have been found an evil, not
merely because names were now and again banned in sport,
but because discreditable scenes of uproarious revelry arose out
of sederunts with clerks in the alehouse.*

Considering what was the object of proclaiming purposes of
marriage, none will be surprised to hear that banns of marriage
have been often sisted or stopped. They have been sisted or
stopped, too, for many different reasons.

In the First Book of Discipline, it is said that marriages should
not be proceeded with till either the parents of the parties de-
siring marriage give their consent, or it be found that there is
no reasonable cause for the parents' withholding consent. The
Westminster Directory says that the consent of parents or
guardians should be obtained to the first marriage of children,
and especially if the children be under age. Pardovan in the
beginning of last century, declared that such consent is necessar}^
" iieeessitate praecepti sed non necessitate inedii,'' whatever that
may mean beyond what could have been expressed in plain
English. There are cases on record, therefore, in which procla-
mations of marriage have been sisted or stopped, or attempted
to be stopped, by parents and guardians, on the ground that
parental or tutorial consent had not been given to the proposed
union. In i6i4,the minister of Kirkintillochwooed and purposed
to nuirry the daughter of one of the city ministers of Glasgow.
The bride's father was dead, and her curators attempted to
prevent the marriage. The case came before the Presbytery

* la 1716, the Kirk-Session of Monkton, "finding that people, in giving in their
names to fie proclaimed in order to marriage, sit frequently too late upon the
Saturday night att drink, and incroatch upon the Lord's day, therefore they ha\c
made an Act discharging any bookings to be upon the Saturday, in all tymc coming. '

158 Old Church Life in Scotland.

of rilasL^ow, but the Presbytery told the curators that they
" hail no place to stay the marriage, and ordained the said
Janet to betak herself to some of the ministers' houses that are
within the town, quhich it sail please her to choose, till the
solemnization of her marriage." In 164S, one John Shaw, de-
scribed as merchant in Straiton, gave in a petition to the Pres-
bytery of Ayr, that " his proclamation of marriage, which wes
stayed in Mayboill, might go on with Katharine Girvan there."
It is stated, however, in the Presbytery records, that "in respect
that John Kennedy, notare in Mayboill, father-in-law to the
said Katharine, gave in reasons why the said proclamation of
marriage ought to be stayed, the Presbyterie delayed the matter
till the next meeting ; and, in the mean time, ordained John
Kennedy his said bill and reasons therein contained to be sub-
scry vcd by his wyf, the mother of the said Katharine, and a
coppie thereof to be deliverd to the said John Schawcomplainer."
These cases shew that parents and curators were not allowed,
without just and sufficient reasons, to hinder the marriage of
their children or wards ; but that, in the words of the First Book
of Discipline, when the ministry find no just cause why the
marriage may not be fulfilled, they may enter in the place of
parents, and allow the marriage to proceed.* In 1704, the
Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock " ordered Archibald Fulton, and
Margaret Wilson's proclamation to be stopped, in regard his
parents were against it.f It is possible and probable, although

* The Westminster Directory says that "Parents ought not to force their
children to marry without their free consent, nor deny their own consent without
just cause."

t In 1744, the Presbytery of Irvine drew up an overture, for transmission to the
General Assembly, with the view of repressing irregular marriages. The first
clause in the overture was a proposal "that any person, x\oi /oris /amiliiU, who
marries irregularly, without advising with his or her parents or using any proper
means to obtain their consent, shall be publicly rebuked for such a plain contemp
of the Fifth Commandment."

Marriages in Olden Times. 159

not declared in their minute, that the Session in this instance
found the opposition to the marriage reasonable, and that this
was the ground on which the proclamation was stopped. In
17 1 2, a session-clerk at Galston, who had the previous year been
found by the Presbytery of Ayr " incompetent to teach a Latin
school," had the good fortune to win for himself an honourable
degree in courtship, by engaging the heart and hand of a
blooming and well-to-do widow. Bent on immediate mat-
rimony, he besought the minister to publish his banns, but
the minister, at the earnest entreaty of the bride's nearest
relatives, declined to order proclamation. Instead of seeking
redress at the hands of the Presbytery, w'hom perhaps from his
ignorance of Latin he feared to approach, the clerk had
recourse to a number of expedients, of which it need only be
said that each successive one was more foolish than the one
before. Having failed by courteous request to induce the
minister to order proclamation, he tried the effect of menace :
and "by a public instrument in the hands of a nottar" required
the minister to proclaim. This requisition being fruitless, he
next went with the same formidable instrument to the beadle
and required that functionary to read the proclamation. The
beadle refused to do what the minister had declined to do, and
the irate clerk had to think of some other device. He betook
himself, therefore, to one John Smith in Killknow, and desired
John to publish the banns, which John did at the beginning of
divine service on two successive Sabbaths. It was now the
minister's turn to take action, and this he did in a way that
must have frightened the schoolmaster. The matter was
brought before the Presbytery. And the sentence of the Pres-
bytery shews that the clerk, notwithstanding the objections of
bride's relatives, might have got himself proclaimed and
married with very little trouble, if he had gone about the busi-

l6o Old Cliiinh Life in Scot/and.

ncss in a sen iiblc manner. J5ut a scandal had been created by
his conduct ; and so, in the first place, Smith, whose behaviour
was pronounced " most offensive and a great profanation of the
Lord's da\-," was sentenced to public rebuke, and in the next
place, the clerk Tcvr.f deprived of his clerkship for his disorderly
proceedings. The proclamation, however, was appointed to be
orderly made three several Sabbaths, by the church officer, on
a warrant from the Presbytery. And so, the wedding came off
at length, and possibly ended as marriages mostly do, happily
enough, notwithstanding its cold and joyless beginning.

Although a delicate subject to speak upon. I cannot pass
over the outstanding, but now much-forgotten fact, that in
very old times proclamation of intended marriage was re-
fused when either of the parties was found to be under scan-
dal. In the First Book of Discipline it is stated that "if any
commit fornication with that woman he requires in marriage,
they do lose this foresaid benefit, as well of the kirk as of the
magistrate, for neither of both ought to be intercessors or
advocats for filthy fornicators." * This statement enables us to
understand the grounds on which the Kirk-Session of Perth, in
1585, ordained " that all persons to be married give their oath
the night before, under pain of 40s. Scots, or make their repen-
tance public on the stool." In the older records of Galston
parish (1633, for example), instances are frequent of men
compearing before the Kirk-Session, and " purging " themselves
of sinful dealings with particular women. In 1671, two persons
having purpose of marriage, and " being slandered by some of
their relations," appeared before the Kirk-Session of Galston,
and offered "to purge themselves by oath.'' In 1677, two

* In 1565, the General Assembly enacted that "such as lye in sin under promise
of marriage, deferring the solemnization, should satisfy publicly, in the place of re-
pentance upon the Lord's day before they be married.''

Marriages in Olden Times. l6l

other persons appeared before the same Session, " and de-
sired to give their oath that they were free of carnal dealing
with others, and declaring solemnly that they were free of each
other." The Session, it is added, "ordained them to be
married, without giving of oaths as formerly was thought fit."*
An equally conspicuous zeal for purity was shewn at Mauch-
line in old times. In 1673, John Ronald's proclamation of
marriage was ordered to be sisted, till he cleared himself of an
alleged scandal.f Even in large towns like Kilmarnock similar
proceedings were adopted. In 1699, two persons who had been
living in sin compeared before the Kirk-Session of that town,
and were subjected in the usual way to censure and penalty.
But it is added, in the minute of their case, that they " suppli-
cated the Session for the benefit of proclamation in order to
marriage, which was granted, provided they would find bail to

* As an illustration of old forms of procedure before marriage, the following
minute in the records of (ialston Session may be here quoted. The date of the
minute is 1644. "Compeirit Johne Gemill in Allantone, and purgeit himself, be
his oath, that he was free of anie carnall deall with Agnes Andersone. And he and
the said Agnes actis themselves to abstein frae all suspect places, and that they sail
not keip house together all nyght until the tyme of the mariage, and that under the
penaltie of ten punds each of thame in case they failzie, and hes given comand to
subscryve this Act for them.

'"Hector Campbell, notar, at comand."

+ In 1595, the Kirk-Session of Perth required a man "to declare his public
repentance before his marriage, because that these years by past he gave himself
out for a fool and profane sporter, walking in a foolish garment and playing tbe
counterleit man, which is slanderous." When women played the counterfeit man at
Perth it fared still worse with them. In 1632, "a servant lass was accused
of indecent wantonness in putting on men's clothes upon her. She answered that
she simply drew upon her a pair of breeks, and cast them immediately, and promised
never to do the like hereafter. She is committed to ward, therein to remain the
space of three hours."

Sessions were equally diligent in their efforts to prevent scandal. In 1621,
" delation was made (to the Xirk-Session of Perth) that Janet Watson holds ane
house by herself, where she may give occasion of slander, therefore I'. Pitcairne,
Elder, is ordained to admonish her in the Session's name either to marry or pass to
service.

I62 Old Church Life in Scotland.

fulfil tiu'ir [Ji-oiniscs in satisfyinf^ the church." A still more
remarkable case occurred at Kilmarnock fifty years before the
one now narrated. A Craigie man, named John Paton, was, in
November 1648, ordered to begin his course of public repen-
tance for the sin of killing his sister. This cour.se of repentance
should, according to an Act of Assembly passed that very year,
have lasted fifty-two Sabbaths, " in case the magistrate did
not his duty in punishing the crime capitally." John, however,
accomplished his work of repentance long within the prescribed
time ; and in February, 1649, he was permitted to receive the
covenant, and then in March following he " was licensed by the
Session to have the bencfite of ye communion, and marriage,
as occasion should serve, lyk the rest of the parochioners." It
is quite clear, therefore, that marriage with religious solemnities
and sacerdotal benediction, although not held to be a sacra-
ment, was in olden times regarded in Scotland as a Christian
privilege, to which none but persons within the church and free
from scandal should have access. And such I am more than
half inclined to think should still be the case. There would be
no hardship in such an ecclesiastical rule, because there is now
provided for those that do not profess to be Christians, or that
disgrace the name of Christianity by unhallowed lives, a form
of civil marriage, which is as binding as the conjunction rati-
fied by the Church.*

* In 1620, the Kirk-.Scssion of Dumbarton, having heard a fama regarding two
persons, "already proclaimed and to be married on Tuesday next,"' challenged ihem
with the scandal and obtained from them a confession of guilt. In respect, however,
of "tlie preparation of the marriage banquet, and that they were so long of
challenging,"' the Kirk -Session appointed the parties to "crave pardon the day of
their marriage,"' and appear in the place of repentance the Sabbath following.

In 1636, the Synod of Fife refused the privilege of marriage to a man and woman,
because the man had broken the seventh commandment with her, during the life-
time of his first wife. As recently as 1779, a similar case was referred by the Kirk-
Session of Kilwinning to the I'resbytery of Irvine for advice, and the Presbyter)-,

Marriages tn Olden Times. I63

During the early days of the Reformed Church in Scotland,
the privilege of Christian marriage was regularly refused to all
that were not " indifferentlie weill instructed in the chief points
of the Christian religion." It was a very common ordinance of
Kirk-Sessions that none be received to complete the band of
matrimony, till they rehearse, to the reader or minister, the
Lord's prayer, the creed, and the ten commandments. And
either a consignation was demanded in pledge of the fulfilment
of this requirement or a fine was exacted in case of failure. In
the Session records of Monifieth for 1564 an entry occurs,
shewing that " Andro Findlay and Elspet Hardie ratified the
contract of marriage: and the said Andro promised to have the
creed before the solemnisation of the marriage, and the
commandments before the ministration of the Lord's Supper,
under the pain of other five merks."* And not only was a
certain amount of Christian knowledge required of all candi-
dates for matrimony, but in some cases Kirk-Sessions insisted
on regular attendance on public ordinances. As recently as
1700, the Kirk-Session of Galston, "considering that there were
some who lived still within the parish, who did not join with
the congregation in public worship, nor submit themselves to

"as the case was new to them, and they found some difficuUy therein, agreed to
refer it to the Synod."

The published records of the Presbytery of Strathbogie shew that in 1644 (a
I'resbyterian period) ministers were faulted for marrying persons under scandal, and
the records of the vSynod of Galloway shew that in 166S (an Episcopal period), the
minister of Buittle was suspended from the exercise of his ministry for two ofilences,
one of which was "drinking with Caigton upon the Lord's day in the time of
divine service, when he himself ought to have been preaching," and the other was,
granting the benefit of marriage to a man lying under gross scandal.

* In 1578, the minister and elders of Perth, " perceiving that those who compear
before the Asembly (i.e., the Kirk .Session) to give up their banns for marriage are
almost ifltogether ignorant, and misknow the causes why they should marry, ordain
all such, first, to compear before the reader for the time, to be instructed in the true
knowledge of the causes ot marriage."

164 Old Cininh Life in Scotlaiid.

discipline, and yet cravctl common privileges of members of
this congregation, such as proclamation in order to marriage,
concluded that none such should have privileges, until they
should engadge to live orderly for the time to come." And it
is added that there compeared before the Session, that same
day, one of the persons referred to as dishaunting ordinances,
and who craved to be proclaimed in order to marriage. The
Sessions resolution was intimated to him ; whereupon, he
" engadged, through God's grace, to live orderly and to wait
upon gospel ordinances more particularly, and was then
alloived to be proclaimed."

In the Westminster Directory, pre-contract is mentioned as
one of the impediments to marriage. At the present day it
is not customary to impede marriages on this ground. Dis-
appointed and injured lovers seek their solace and revenge, for
breach of promise, by actions for damages in the Civil Courts.
But, at one time, contracted parties occasionally refused to set
each other free,* and if either of them got proclaimed to some

* Some people maintained that a promise of marriage was more than a civil con-
tract, that it was a "covenant of God," and could not be dissolved. (See Minutes
of Westminster Assembly, p. 7. ) Luther said that when a man made a promise to
marry a maid two years hence, he must at the end of that time marry her, and it
was not in his power to alter his mind in the interval. The Church of Scotland did
not adopt these views. In 1570, the General Assembly declared that parties
desiring to resile from a contract of marriage should, if nothing had followed on the
contract, be set free! Documents called "discharge of marriage" were often given
in to church courts, and were sustained, if only wrong without previous contract of
marriage, or contract without subsequent wrong, had taken place. A man, in 1570,
went to the General Assembly, and "suted liberty to marrie. " For three or four
years he had craved that privilege from " his awin particular kirk," but had been
refused the privilege, unless he would take for his wife an old servant whom he had
wronged. He produced a discharge from the servant, but the Kirk-Session disre-
garded the document. The General Assembly, however, sustained his appeal,
ordered him to have the liberty he craved, and added in their finding, "yea, and
there is injury done to him already." In 1688, a man, who had a promise of mar-
riage from a certain damsel, \\hose Christian name was Margaret, appeared before
the Presbytery of Irvine, "and did discharge the said Margaret of any such promise,

Marriages in Olden Times. 165

one else the other tried to sist the proclamation. In 1689,
one John Meikle, described as servant to the laird of Galston,
was cited to compear before the Presbytery of Ayr, to declare
why he impeded the marriage of Janet Campbell in the Parish
of Riccarton. John had been previously engaged to Janet, or
rather Janet had been engaged to him, and that was the reason
why he objected to her marrying another man. In a written
paper, however, which he gave in to the Presbytery, he
generously condescended " to pass from any claim of promise,
and said that he would never marry any woman against her
will." The Presbytery, thereupon, found and discerned that
Janet was at liberty "to marry any other free man." In
Mauchline, a still stranger case than this occurred. In 1777, a
woman made application to the Kirk-Session to have her
proclamation stopped, because she had changed her mind, "and
was now engaged to proceed in marriage with another person."
But her first lover claimed her as his by the covenant of God,
and urged the Session to proceed with the proclamation. The
Kirk-Session did not admit the claim. They remembered the
consignation theory, and held that the engagement was not in-
dissoluble, but that parties might resile, under penalties, before
the fatal knot was tied. The proclamation was, therefore,
ordered to be stopped ; and in justification of their conduct, the
Session minuted that " there would be an obvious impropriety
in proceeding further in the proclamation, after being certified
by the woman of her resolution not to marry the petitioner."

There have been cases, again, in which proclamations were
sisted, not on the ground merely of precontract, but on re-
port that one of the parties was already married. And, that
such cases should have occurred is not to be wondered at. One

and allow her to marry whom and when she pleased, which discharge was presented
to the meeting, and returned to the said Margaret."

iCC Old Church Ufc in Scotland.

of the main objects of marriage banns is to prevent bigamous
alliances, and such alhanccs have been consummated, notwith-
standing the fact tliat marriage banns were ];)reviously pub-
lislu'd. That ihc publication of banns, therefore, should have
prevented the execution of some bigamous projects is only what
might have been expected. And when Kirk-Sessions had
sufficient evidence that one of the parties craving marriage was
aH'cady a married person, their course was clear. The procla-
mation had to be stopped. But when there was only a rumour,
or report, that one of the parties seeking proclamation of
marriage was already married, the Kirk-Session sisted procla-
mation, inquired into the matter, heard evidence, and when the
evidence was found conclusive, one way or another, proceeded
with the proclamation or stopped it altogether. And when
evidence was conflicting, and no clear conclusion could be come
to. Sessions just did as they did in cases of doubtful scandal :
they sisted procedure till Providence should shed further light
on the subject. A notable instance of such sisted procedure
occurred at Mauchline, in 1771. A woman, whose name we
shall say was Mary Gray, was proclaimed for the first of the
three requisite times, on the 17th November of that year. A
story then came out that Mary had previously been wedded to
a sailor. The proclamation was at once sisted, and Mary was
summoned to appear before the Session. One meeting of
Session did not suffice to make matters clear. Several meetings
were held, and a great deal of evidence pro and con was ad-
duced and discussed. Some witnesses deponed that Mary had
shewn marriage lines, and that these were subscribed by a
person named Wodrow. Other witnesses deponed that they
saw the sailor himself write marriage lines for Mar\-, which was
about equal to saying that the signature "Wodrow" was either
a forgery or a frolic. With such eastward and westward

Marriages i7i Olden Times. 167

evidence, the Session were in a quandary, and they concluded
that, in order to remove all impediments to her proclamation,
Mary should be required to produce a letter from her alleged
husband, " signifying that he had no claim to her as his wife."
Doubtful policy, it may be said, but we are not here concerned
with questions of policy. We are simply in quest of facts
explanatory of Sessional procedure. And the fact we have
ascertained is that the Session would have accepted the sailor's
disclaimer as the charter of Mary's freedom. But, such a letter
as the Session desiderated was not easily got ; for, the alleged
husband had gone off on a voyage, no one knew where.
Whole four years Mary had thus to remain under "scandal,"
and was interdicted from entering into any matrimonial project.
The roses began to fade on her cheeks, and the lustre to leave
her eyes ; and she saw that, if ever her reproach were to be
taken away, and she were " to be clothed with ane husband,"
there would need to be no more time lost. She, accordingly,
presented herself before the Kirk-Session in August 1775, and
craved to be freed from the scandal of having made an irregular
marriage with a sailor. The Session minuted that, having
taken into consideration " the distance of time when this was
alleged, and the depositions of two witnesses" (who had sworn
that Mary and the sailor had only joked about marriage, and
called themselves husband and wife in jest) she should be
absolved from her scandal, and exhorted to behave more
prudently in time coming. I have not traced the future career
of Ma'-y, but it may be questioned if she ever got another
chance of shewing imprudence. And I make this remark, not
with the view of turning her sorrow into ridicule, but of
denouncing the hardship which the law, or the supposed law,
of the land or of the Church, inflicted on ignorant people, who
(lid not know the import of what they were doing. This just

l68 Old C/iiinh Life in Scotland.

means that the law on marriatje should be very explicit, and
that prescribed formalities of a very definite character, whether
civil or rclii^ious, should be c^one through before marriage can
be legally constituted.*

Of course, it was requisite that people proclaimed, in order to
marriage, should be of age, and should not be within the
forbidden circle of relationship. On the subject of age, the
Church in olden times was extremely liberal. The General
Assembly in 1600, considering, that " there is no statute of
the Kirk, . . . defining the age of persons which are to
be married, ordained that no minister within this realm presume
to join in matrimony any persons in time coming, except the
man be fourteen years of age, and the woman twelve
complete !"t In the matter of forbidden degrees, the Church
was extremely rigorous. In 17 13, the minister of Stair refused
to marry a couple, who had been duly proclaimed, because the

* The following case came before the Presbytery of Irvine in 1737. A man who
was claimed by one woman was proclaimed with another. The claimant alleged
" that in the end of harvest, four years, one night he and she met in a glen, . .
and repeated the words of the marriage oath to one another ; and that, as there were
no witnesses present, the said Robert took heaven and earth to witness, also the
moon and stars, wishing they might never shine upon him, and that he might never
see the face of God in mercy, if he did not observe his marriage engadgment. She
also produced a Bible which then Robert gave her, adding that they did this in
order the better to assert a story, which they had trumped up, that they were
married by a Curate, etc." The man denied the woman's statement ; and the Kirk-
Session, before whom the case came in the first instance, referred the matter to the
Presbytery for advice, "as being somewhat uncommon, and attended with some
difficulty." The Presbytery ordered the Session to deal with the man, and, if no
new light were obtained by such dealing, to put him on oath. This was done ; and
the man, having purged himself of the accusation by his own oath, was allowed to
proceed with his proclamation. Two things were here implied, — first, that in the
opinion of the Presbytery the alleged proceedings in the glen would, if acknow-
ledged, have constituted a marriage ; and secondly, that for want of confirmator}-
evidence, either party could have sworn himself or herself out of a marriage that
was really completed. The former of these implications should have been dis-
allowed by the law, and the other should have been made impossible.

t The same ages are named in the First Book of Discipline.

Marriages in Olden 1 inies. i6g

man was grand-uncle to the bride. The minister's refusal was
reported to the Presbytery, and the Presbytery confirmed it,
with an emphatic declaration that " such a marriage would be
incestuous."* Incestuous or not incestuous, however, the
wonder is that any young lady would have consented to be
proclaimed to her grand-uncle. And this leads me to remark
that proclamations have sometimes been made without the
knowledge of the lady who was chiefly interested. A practical
joke of this sort was perpetrated in Mauchline church in 1778.
The lady, resenting the liberty taken with her name, complained
to the Session ; f and the Session, to mend matters, ordered
their clerk " to publish, next Lord's day, that the proclama-
tion was occasioned by a false report or mistake." They also
minuted a resolution, that, " no proclamation of Banns in order
to marriage shall hereafter be made, without sufficient evidence
of the consent of both parties." And the evidence of mutual
consent that, from time immemorial, has been required in this
parish, is a warrant for proclamation, signed by the ingivers of
names. This procedure enables the Kirk-Session to bring up
for censure all persons under their jurisdiction, who shall be
guilty of deceit in such an important matter, and enables those
banned without consent to take action in the Civil Courts for
damages, t

* In 1731, an irregular marriage was reported to the Presbytery of Ayr. The
banns had been forbidden, because the woman's first husband was grand-uncle to
her new bridegroom. The lovers made off for Carlisle and got married there
irregularly. The Presbytery pronounced the happy pair "guilty of incest," and
discharged them from living together. This Presbyterial interdict was disregarded,
and excommunication followed.

t Our grim forefathers were rather fond of practical jokes of this kind. In 1 760,
a man was summoned before the Kirk-Session of Kirkoswald. and afterwards before
the Presbytery of Ayr, for "giving in the name of Thomas M'Harvey to be prayed
for in the Congregation, as a man in great distress of mind, which was done, not-
withstanding that the said Thomas M'Harvey was in perfect health." For this
act of jocular spleen the Kirkoswald humourist had to stand a Presbyterial rebuke.

X Of course a register of these warrants is kept. And such registers have been in

170 01 (^ Cliunli Life in Scotland.

It may surprise some people to be told that the written law
of the Church of Scotland has always required the solemnisation
of marriaj^c to be publicly conducted in church. In the First
Book of Discipline, it was declared that, " in a reformed kirk,
marriacfe is not to be secretely used, but in open face and public
audience of the kirk ; and the Sunday before noon we think
most expedient." In 1581, the General Assembly "concludit,
be common con.sent of the haill brethren, that in tymes coming'
no marriac;^e be celebrat, nor sacraments mini.strate, in private
houses, but solemnlie, according to good order hitherto obscrvit'
In the Westminster Assembly there was an interesting dis-
cussion about marriage, which is briefly narrated in the published
minutes of that convention. " Many stumble at the point of
marriage," said Mr. Goodwin, the Independent, " because it is
appropriated to the ministry, whereas in the Old Testament it
was appropriated to the rulers of the city." " I should be very
sorry," replied the Earl of Pembroke, who was sitting there as
a commissioner from the English Parliament, " that any child
of mine should be married without a religious solemnit}' by a
minister." "It undoubtedly belongs to the state," said Mr.
Calamy, "to declare what will constitute a legal and valid marri-
age ; but, if we advise a solemnisation of it in public we shall do
God a good service." The outcome of the discussion was that
the Westminster Assembly, while declaring that marriage is not
a sacramentj judged it expedient that marriages should be
solemnised by a lawful minister of the Word, in the place
appointed for public worship, and before a competent number
of credible witnesses. But, unlike John Knox, the Westminster

use in the Church (if Scotland for a very long time. In 1676, the Session of Galston
minuted an appointment that "the tynie of the receiving the consignation, and of
the marriage, be marked severally, in a leaf of the Session book."'

Marriages in Olden Times. 17 1

Divines advised that marriage should not be solemnised on the
Lord's day,* and forbade that it should be solemnised on any
day of public humiliation.! The conclusion of the Westminster
Assembly, on the subject of marriage, was regarded by Baillie
as a great victory for the representatives of the Scottish Church.
" After two days' tough debate, and great appearance of irre-
concileable difference, we have, thanks to God," he says, " gotten
the Independents satisfied, and ane unanimous consent of all
the Assemblie that marriage shall be celebrate only by the
minister, and that in the church, after our fashion." |

The Westminster Directory was adopted by the General
Assembly in 1645, ^"d, in terms of the advice given in that
Directory, marriages in Scotland came to be generally solem-

* As far hack as 1627, the minister of Ayr made public intimation "yat nane
should desire him to marrie thame upone onyie Sabhothe daye hereftir, because of
ye great prophanitie yat followes." Farther back still, in 1584, the Kirk-Session of
Perth minuted, that, " forasmeikle as sundry poor desire to in landward, because
they have not to buy their clothes, nor to make bridals, marriages should be as well
celebrated on Thursday, within our Parish kirk in time of sermon, as on Sunday.''

+ It was an old law in the Church of Scotland that marriages should not be
solemnised on a Fast day. In 15S0, a young couple at Perth were ordered to make
public repentance and pay a fine, " because, in time of our public humiliation and
fasting, they passed up at once to their feasting and solemnising of marriage, con-
trary to all good order." On the occasion of the King's setting sail to Denmark, in
1589, in quest of a wife, the Kirk-Session of Perth, considering it their "bounden
duty to be instant in prayer for the King's Majestie, that God would send him ane
happy voyage through the sea and ane joyful returning to this country' again with
his Queen, . . thought good (28th Oct.) that Sunday next, and all other Sun-
days as shall be thought meet, ane fast shall be kept, and that the same may more
solemnly be done, no marriages to be used in the time."

X Baillie's Letters, Vol. II., p. 243. " Noble Mr. Vines," as Baillie terms that
gentleman, contended that marriage maybe celebrated by candle light as well as by
day light," and " in a chamber as well a? a church." Minutes of Ass., p. 12. It
may be here mentioned that in the ancient Catholic Church the custom was for
bridegroom and bride to place themselves "at the church door, where the Priest
(li<l both join their hands and dispatch the greatest part of the matrimonial office.
There, by the ancient law of this land (England) the husband or his parents were
to endow the woman, his intended wife, with the portion of land pre-contracted
for." — Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 293.

172 Old Clnirch Life in Scotland.

nised in church on the day of the weekly lecture. Lamont of
Newton, writini,^ in 1650, says, "the weekly lecture, which was
appointed by the General Assembly 1649 to be had in every
parish church . . . was put in practice at the church of
Lar^o (June 21) at nine of clokc in the morninj^ . . . These
that had children to be baptized, and these that were to be con-
tracted or married, were desired to attend that diet."' There
seems to have been .some difficulty in bringing the Kilmarnock
folks under such a precise rule. They did not restrict their
marriages to either one particular day of the week, or one par-
ticular hour of the day. The Session, therefore, "consider-
ing how dystractite it is for the minister to be in readiness to
attend everie severall tyme and dyat that parties married will
probablie inclyne to, ordained (in 1658), that all marriages
shall be upon the Thursdays only, except the parties do bring
sufficient grounds and reasons for another dyat ; in which case
it shall be leasome to them to come upon the Twisdayes to be
married, with this express provision, that they pay into the
Kirk Treasurer threttie shilling Scotts for the use of the poor,
before their presenting of themselves to be married."* This
excellent regulation, however, fell in the course of time into
desuetude, and in 1706 the Kilmarnock folks were more trouble-
some than ever to the minister, on the score of marriage. They
often came to him " very unseasonably, desiring to be married
early, somet}-mcs about five or six of the clock in the morning."
The Session did, " therefore, unanimouslie enact that, for the
future, none dwelling within the town shall be married before
ten of the clock in the forenoon, unles.s they pay 20s. Scots to

* In 1684, the Kirk-Session of Ayr ordained that none be married except on
Thursday immediately after sermon, "and that the persons to be maried enter ye
cluirch before sermon, utherwayes not to be maried that day." In 169 1, the same
KirkSession relaxed this rule, and allowed the minister "to marry at any time or
place he finds most convenient.""

Marriages in Olden Times. 173

the poor ; and that those who live in the country, if they come
not to the sermon on Thursday when they are to be married,
shall not be married that day."

In very old times, there used to be in churches a special pew,
where persons about to be married had to sit, the observed of
all observers, during the preliminary sermon. The Kirk-Session
of Aberdeen, in 1577, laid down a rule, that "na personis sail be
mareit in tymes coming, bot upon the stool before the desk,
conforme to the use of Edinburgh and other kirks." In the
Session records of Dunfermline, too, there is a minute of date
1641, anent "a new form to be set before the pulpit, where the
brides and bridegrooms the day that they are married uses to
sit."*

Marriage is now, by Presbyterians, seldom solemnised in
church. Of late years there have been a few instances of mar-
riage in churches by parish and other ministers, but these public
marriages are so rare as always to call forth a special paragraph
of description and comment in the local newspapers. The
common rule in Scotland, for more than a hundred years, has
been to celebrate marriages in private houses. This is done in
the very teeth of the written law of the Church, but it is done
nevertheless from the one end of the land to the other.f There
is a tradition in this parish that the last person married in

• Begg's Pamphlet on Seat Rents, p. 80.

t Lord Fraser says that from 1560 to 181 1, the celebration of a marriage any-
where but in church made the marriage irregular and clandestine. It is a fact,
notwithstanding, that marriages celebrated in private houses by authorised ministers
were not usually, if ever, since 1 700, termed irregular. They were designated
chamber or private marriages, and ministers who celebrated them were neither
fined by the civil courts nor censured by the church courts. But, at a more remote
period, (1587), ministers were held liable to deposition, and were actually deposed,
for marrying persons in private houses. The records of the General Sessions of
Edinburgh shew that, as far back as 1643, private marriages were not uncommon in
Edinburgh, but were restricted to the wealthy classes by a salutary fine of 20 nierks.
— See Lee's Lectures, Vol. IL, p. 395.

174 Old Church Lijc in Scotland.

Mauchlinc chinch fthc ohl church; was one <jf Jiurns's sisters;
and, be that trachtitjn fact or fiction, it is certain that down to
about the time when Burns Hved in Moss^^iel, private marriages,
as marriages in private houses were termed, were considered in
this parish a contravention of Church law and usage, and were
proscribed by a fine. As far back, however, as 1705, private
marriages had become fashionable in Mauchline, and penalties
for them are frequently entered in the journal of the kirk-
treasurer's receipts about that date. The common fine seems
to have been ^i, 9s. od. At a later date, the fine was trans-
muted into a voluntary offering to the poor, and it varied in
amount according to the wealth and liberality of the bridegroom.
Judging from the frequency of the entry, one would say that
I2S. was the customary and expected sum. Among others in
this parish who paid that sum was George Gibson, on the occa-
sion of his marriage to Poosie Nansie in 1745. When the per-
sons married were poor, the Session were content to take 6s. In
other cases, there were grand collections at the wedding, and
sums ranging from £\, 6s. od. to ^3, i6s. 6d. were obtained.
In one or two instances, permission was formally asked for the
privilege of marrying in a private house, and the permission
conceded was formally minuted by the Kirk-Sesion. In the
Session records for 1732, it is stated that "John Brown and
Robert Mure gave esch 2s. sterling to the poor, for being
allowed to marry out of the kirk in a private house."* All these

* The Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, in 1700, "appointed that no person or per-
sons shall be married privily out of the kirk, except those who make a free gift of
their penalty (consignation) to the poor, or at least £1 Scots to be retained thereof."
Similar rules were laid down in many other parishes. The Kirk-Session of Ayr, in
17 • 7. agreed " that such as call the minister to their chamber shall pay £^ Scots
lor the behove of the poor, and those yt come to the minister's house are to pay
^i los. Scots." In 1718, the parishioners of Maybole complained to the Presby-
tery of Ayr that their minister married people privately, "without seeing to the

Marriages in Olden Times. 175

fines, donations, collections, or whatever else they might be
termed, went to the kirk-treasurer for the good of the poor ;
but, in more recent times, there was a common custom in this
district to have, at private marriages, a contribution for the bell-
man. The ground of this custom was that, formerly, the beadle
had an allowance for opening the kirk door on the occasion of
marriages in church. The following entry occurs in the records
of Mauchline Session for the year 1703. " For every marriage,
qrof eyr bride or bridegroom or both are out of ye parish, twelve
shilling Scots belongs to ye kirk officer, for opening the kirk
doors, also his collection through the church by and attour."*
Permission to marry in private houses would thus have entailed
a considerable loss on the kirk officer, had there not been a
collection for his benefit at the marriage, as there was in church
when marriages were solemnised in face of the congregation.

For many a day, ministers in Scotland have conducted
marriage services very much as they have listed. The West-
minster Directory gives instructions on the order of service,
but these instructions are not much heeded. As a rule,
ministers begin with a short prayer for a blessing on the union
to be solemnised, and then they give a brief address on the
institution of marriage and the relative duties of husband and
wife. When this address is ended, the bridegroom and bride
are desired to take each other by the right hand, and are
respectively asked if they receive each other as wedded wife

poor's privilege," but the minister indignantly replied, that as to "marrying people
privately, without getting something to the poor, it is a most unjust and false
calumny."

* In 1709, the beadle at Kilmarnock represented to his Kirk-Session that, "where-
as it had been a custom for all persons that are married in the church to pay some-
thing to him for his waiting on and opening of the doors, there are many now that
pay nothing at all." The session, considering this representation, ordained that
" every couple of married persons pey him, at the least, sixpence for his trouble this
way."

iy6 Old Church lAfe in Scotland.

and wedded husband. On their eitlicr answcrinfj this question
affirmatively or bowing acquiescence, the minister declares
them married persons, and concludes the action with a prayer
for their welfare.

It cannot be denied that the marriac^e service in the Church
of Scotland has greatly degenerated from its first original.
No person ever had more contempt for " petty ceremonies " in
religious worship than had John Knox ; and some Popish and
Anglican ceremonies in marriage, especially those connected
with the ring-giving, he denounced as follies which no sane
man could tolerate.* But, in the solemnisation of matrimony,
he and the fathers of the Church were careful to observe proper
formalities, and make it appear that Christian marriage is
something higher and holier than a mere civil contract. The
fact that a proposed marriage had not, after due proclamation,
been challenged or objected to, by outsiders, was not, in
Knox's opinion, enough to warrant solemnisation. " So many,"
he said," as are coupled otherwise than God's word doth allow,
are not joined together by God, neither is their matrimony
lawful." It was directed, therefore, that before being joined in
marriage, the bridegroom and bride should be required and
charged, as they must answer at the day of judgment, that if
either of themselves know any impediment why they may not
be lawfully married, they should make frank confession of it.
And in like manner, all witnesses present were to be charged

* Calderwood, I., p. 294. Caldervvood himself, in his AUare Damascemun, has
remarks on this subject, which may be here translated and quoted : — " The Church
may be considered in two capacities — as a holy convocation of the faithful, and as a
convention of citizens. If considered in the latter of these capacities, the tradition
of the ring may be allowed, but not (c/zw iiupositiotte super libtuin scurorttm) with
the ceremony of laying it on the Bible. In the Church, as a holy convocation of
the faithful, for the worship of God, no symbolical rites that are not of divine insti-
tution, are to be introduced."

Marriages in Olden Times. lyf

that if they knew of any such impediment, they should pubHcly
declare the same. And so, after the marriage vows were taken
"before God and in the presence of this His congregation,'" the
husband and wife were, as persons married in the Lord,
" commended to God, in this or such like sort. The Lord
sanctify and bless you, The Lord pour the riches of his grace
upon you, that ye may please him, and live together in holy
love to your lives' end."* The revival of such forms might
possibly tend to elevate the common notion of the marriage
relationship, as not only a civil union, but on the part of
Christians a spiritual fellowship involving religious obligations.
The great hindrance, however, to the use of dignified and
impressive ritual in marriage services in Scotland at the
present day, is the custom of having the solemnization in a
private chamber, instead of in the house of God, as of old.
The surroundings in the crowded room are scarcely in har-
mony with a high strain of ecclesiastical formality.

Besides the Christian marriages, called regular, there were
in Scotland in olden times other legal marriages which were
called irregular ; and I have now to show what action was
taken by the Church in reference to these alliances.

When people, asking Christian privileges for themselves or
their children, alleged that they were married, but not accord-
ing to Church rules, the courts of the Church had to consider
and declare whether or not such people were married at all.
If they were found to be not married, they were censured
for their sin and also interdicted from living together : but
if they were found to be -legally married, they were only

* This charge is also enjoined by the Westminster Directory, and if the Scnls
Commissioners had had their own way at Westminster the " sacerdotal benedic-
tion " would have been enjoined too. But, to satisfy some of the English Indepen-
dents, it was agreed that, instead of pronouncing a blessing, the minister should be
directed to pray fur a blessing. — Leishman's Notes on Directory, p. 359.

178 Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

censured for a violation of Church order, and were exhorted to
take such steps as should place them on a surer footing civilly,
and on a more respectable footing ecclesiastically.

As far back as any living man remembers, it has taken very
few formalities to constitute in Scotland a marriage that is
binding in law. A man and a woman have had onl)- to take
up house together, and declare themselves husband and wife.
The law thereupon pronounced them married persons. But
this was not always understood to be the law of the land in
Scotland, and the Church of Scotland did not always recognise
such unions as marriages.

In the year 1579, the General Assembly was asked what
order should be taken with persons that pass to a Popish priest
to be married, without having had their "bands'' proclaimed,
and the answer given to that question was— "such conjunctions
are not marriages.'' In 1595, it was still more explicitly de-
clared by the General Assembly that all marriages " made be
excommunicated priests, or others that has servit in the Kirk
and deposit from their office, or be private persons'^ are null.
The Assembly did also appoint the brethren of Edinburgh to
" travcll with the Commissaries of Edinburgh, that they decyde
according to the saids conclusions.'"* And for many years
after that date, the Church, or a large section of the Church,
shewed a tendency to maintain that no alleged marriages were
valid, unless solemnised by one of her own authorised ministers,

* This was the old practice of the Church, to give her antecedent judgment, as it
was termed, and crave the State's ratification thereof. In the ver)- first General
Assembly held in Scotland, 1560, there was a declaration made in reference to
marriage within certain degrees, and then, "the authority of the estates was
craved to be interposed to that finding, as the law." In 1595, the Assembly
voted that it was "proper to the Courts of the Church to declare, be the word ol
God, quhat marriages are lawful, and quhat are unlawful, so Jarre as conccrnes the
spiritual part thereof J"

Marriages in Olden Times. I79

and in accordance with her own rules or canons. Even so late
as 1665, the courts of the Church, which was then Episcopal
wished to have all alleged marriages that were celebrated by
outed Presbyterians, (the former legal ministers of parishes),
pronounced null. On the ist November of that year, a
representation was made to the Bishop and Synod of Galloway
" that their bounds were much pestered and troubled with
seditious ministers ; . . . that these outed ministers for-
said did marrie and baptize persons in their bounds, without
testimonials; and also, that they c^vixo. per vices from one corner
^f the country unto the other. For remeid whereof, it was
ordained that such clandestine marriages should be looked
upon as iinlawfid, and that such married persons should be
esteemed, and also proceeded against, as fornicators, till they
produce testimonials that they were married by a lawful
minister."

Prior to 1665, however, and even prior to 1579, there were
among the Reformed clergy some who held that religious
solemnization is not necessary to constitute a marriage. Samuel
Rutherford said so at the Westminster Assembly 1644. " Mar-
riage," he declared, " is only the consent of parties ; a vow is
annexed unto it." Luther in his Table Talk has set forth simi-
lar views. "The substance of matrimony," Luther says, "is the
consent of the bride and bridegroom ; and I advise that ministers
interfere not in matrimonial questions, but leave them to lawyers
and magistrates." The old Separatists, who were called Brownists
after the name of their founder, were stout in maintaining that
marriage is in its nature merely civil, and is constituted by
marriageable persons affiancing themselves in presence of
witnesses, either in public or in private houses, and without
asking of any warrant or blessing from either the Church or
the priest. Baillie tells us that, in his day, the English Inde-

l8o Old Church Life in Scotland

l)ciulciits ai)|)l;iu(lc:(l tin's doctrine (jf the l^n'ownists, and sent
the marriage blessin^^ Uora the churcli tf) tlie tmvn -house, mak-
ing its solemnisation the duty of the magistrate. " This," he
adds, " is the constant practice of all in New England. The
prime of the Independent ministers now at London have been
married by the magistrate, and all that can be obtained of any
of them is to be content that a minister, in the name of the
magistrate and as his commissioner, may solemnise that hoi}'
band."*

Pardovan, writing in the beginning of last century, says that
"one may be clandestinely married, either when banns are not
proclaimed or when the marriage is celebrated by one not
ordained and admitted by the Church nor authorised by the
State." In the opinion of Pardovan, therefore, celebration was,
in 1709, reckoned necessary to constitute a valid marriage.
Lord Eraser, in like manner, writes that " the whole records of
the Consistorial and Ecclesiastical Courts of Scotland, and the
writings of all its lawyers down to the middle of last century,
proceed upon the footing that a clandestine or inorderly mar-
riage! was still a marriage celebrated by a minister of religion."
In later times a different doctrine came to be asserted as the
law of Scotland — the doctrine that mutual consent constitutes
marriage, and that the evidence of such consent constitutes
proof of m irriagc. And this new doctrine, it may be remarked
in passing, was propounded in books of law, and even found
its way into popular credence, long before it was judiciall)-

* Dissuasive, p. 115.

t Some writers on law make a dislinction between these two terms irregular and
clandestine. "All marriages which are not celebrated by a clergjman, after pro-
clamation of banns, are irregular, and such of these irregular marriages as are
entered into before a person professing to act as a religious celebrator, without being
a minister of religion, are clandestine, and expose the parties, the celebrator and
the witnesses, to certain penalties." — Lorimer.

Marriages in Olden Times. i8i

declared from the bench. In consequence of this develop-
ment of opinion on the subject of valid and binding marriage,
the procedure of Church Courts in regard to irregular mar-
riages has not only undergone change, but has been at times
both dubious and fluctuating.

In the year 1689, a somewhat remarkable case came before
the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock. It was remarkable in this
respect, that the modern theory of what is now commonly
called a Scotch marriage was distinctly broached by an in-
orderly couple. That theory was not admitted, however, by
the Session, nor yet by the Presbytery of Irvine, as a sound
statement of the law of the land. Two persons, whose names
are given in the Record, appeared before the Session, and pled
"that though they were not publiclie married, nor by any
minister, befoir their living together, yet they had married
themselves, and gevin to one another their solemn oath of
marriage, in the ordinarie form of words conceived de presenti :
and that, therefore, they could not be censured as fornicators,
but only as violators of the good order of the Church." If
these people had happened not to be born till a hundred and
twenty years after the date of their marriage, and had
then come forward to the Kirk-Session with the plea they ad-
vanced in 1689, their contention would not have been disputed.
But their advanced views on the subject of marriage had not,
in 1689, obtained either judicial confirmation or ecclesiastical
sanction. The firmness or stubbornness with which they ad-
hered to their opinion that they had contracted a legal marriage,
made it necessary for the Session to bring the case before the
Presbx'tery of the bounds ; and the Presbytery gave a deliver-
ance which, in more ways than one. is historically interesting.
After premising that the plea was " an evil and dangerous pre-
cedent," the Presbytery declared that they could not look on

i82 Old Church Life in Scotland.

the in<;ivcr.s of the plea "as married persons, by virtue of any
oath or promise betwixt themselves privatelic, however con-
cci\ed /'// verbis dc presenli, thouf,^h they should depone there-
upon, as was offered by them. Yet, considering that they have
been now several years married, and that there is ground to
fear they may prove contumacious, and withal considering the
present unsettled state of the Church, the Presbyterie thinks it
advisable to admitt them to appear publiclie and be rebuked
for their scandalous converse together, before their being
solemnlie married, without naming their sin fornication. And
the minister, in his speaking to them and of their sin, be
cautious in wording his expressions, that no ill preparative be
laid for others, nor the guiltie persons either encouraged or
irritated." The delinquents, however, would not submit even
to this modified indignity, and the Session had " to sist process
against them, till, by the mercy of God, the government of the
Church be settled by law " — or, in other words, till the disci-
plinary power of the Church should be strengthened by civil
sanction.*

But although, in 1689, there were two advanced thinkers
in Kilmarnock, who took law by the forelock and main-
tained that their own consent and private vow could con-
stitute them husband and wife, the common rule in 1689,
and for I don't know how many years afterwards (whether
fifty, eighty, or a hundred), was that persons irregularly married
were yet married by a minister. We read in old Session Records
of "border marriages"; but, so far as I have discovered, these
so-called border marriages were not of the kind that were fre-
quent at Gretna about thirty years ago, when English lovers

*The date of this deliverance was October, 16S9. In July, 16S9, Prelacy was
abolished by Act of Parliament ; but Presbytery was not established till June, 1690.

Marriages in Olden Titnes. 183

fled from their native country and by crossing the Sark ob-
tained the matrimonial privileges of Scotsmen — and got mar-
ried instanter et simpliciter by a mere declaration of consent,
attested and recorded by a blacksmith or a publican over a
tankard of ale.* Scotsmen in quest of an irregular marriage
went in olden times to the Border, or to one of the large cities,
as the only, or the easiest, way of finding a minister not of the
Established Church who would solemnise their marriage with-
out certificate of proclamation or any other testimonial. In
167 1, a man who had been " married irregularly at the Border"
went to the Session of Galston, and craved baptism for his
child. What was meant by the phrase I have quoted is made
to appear in a subsequent part of the minute, where it is stated
that the man went " to the Border, without either proclamation
or testimonial, and was there married by ane hireling.'" And
I may mention that, for the offence of "breaking a Church
order and constitution by their disorderly marriage," this man
and his wife were appointed " to stand before the pulpit and
confess their guilt before the congregation."! In the Records
of the Presbytery of A)t there is a very full narrative of an
irregular Border marriage, which was made by an imprudent
and impatient couple of Ayrshire lovers in 1729. One of the
parties in this case was of the family of Macadam of Craigen-
gillan, which has since acquired world-wide celebrity in con-
nection with an inorderly alliance. On this occasion, Miss

* The cool effrontery of some of these blacksmiths was delightful. In 17S6, one of
them signed a certificate, and probably all his certificates were in the same terms,
that A. B. and C. D. " both comes before me, and declares themselves to be both
single persons, and is now mareyed be the way of thee Church of Scotland'' !

t In Nicol's diary of public transactions, it is said that in 1652, during the time
of Cromwell's occupancy of the country, "great errors did creep into the Church,
and men were not ashamed to take upon them the functions of the ministry without
a lawful calling, and to preach, marry, and baptize."

184 Old Church Life in Scotland.

Macatlain and her swain betook thcnasclvcs as fast as steed
could carry them to the l^ordcr, to be made liappy for
ever. It was not, however, to the blacksmith's alehouse at
Gretna Green that they went, but to the nearest spot towards
the sun, where they could find a willing and subservient par-
son. Witnesses deponed to the Presbytery that they were
" present at Whitehouse, upon the Scots syde of the Border,
upon the 7th day of September last, and there saw William
Logan and Agnes Macadam married by Thomas Lenthwilt, as
he was called : and that they heard the said Mr. Lenthwilt was
a minister and had married others, and that they saw him sign
a paper, which was a testimonial of their marriage, now in
hands of the Clerk of Presbytery."

As a rule, it was not to the Border that people in Ayrshire
and the central districts of Scotland went, in olden times, for
the benefit of irregular marriage. It was to some town where
they could find a parson to tie the knot, and that was usually
Glasgow, Edinburgh, or other city where some poor outed or
deposed minister had his miserable residence. In support of
this statement, many cases could be quoted from Records
covering the period between 1690 and i/SO.f The Records of

* Alleged border marriages were sometimes looked upon with suspicion as mere
pretences. In 1674, two persons were delated to the Session of Fenwick, "for
their inorderlie and scandalous going about their marriage, in going to the border
of England, so that it is questionable whether they be married or not." In the
records of the Parliament, 1639, it is stated that "the supplication from the
Assemblies craving ane civill sanction for prohibition of marriage in England to all
Scottis people, indwellers in Scotland (was) red, voted, and past in articles. "

+ In the records of Kirk-Sessions it is seldom stated that the celebrator of an
irregular marriage, even when his name is given, was a priest or minister. The
reader of such records is consequently apt to imagine that such celebrators of
marriage were usually laymen. I suspect that that conclusion would be generally
wrong, in cases prior to 1760 or 17S0. In the records of Kilmarnock Kirk-Session
there is an account of an irregular marriage in 1742 at Kilmarnock "by one John
Smith," And for the next fifteen years there are many similar cases recorded of

Marriages in Olden Times. 1 85

the Presbytery of Irvine tell of a couple that, in 1692, went
over to Ireland, and were married irregularly in Belfast "by a
conformist." The Records of the Presbytery of Ayr tell of
another couple that, in 1727, made their way to Dumbarton in
quest of a "prelatical minister," and, not finding one on Leven-
side, proceeded to Edinburgh, where their search was more
successful.

There was no want of legislation of a kind on the subject of
irregular marriages. In the triumphant days of the Covenants
(1649), on the restoration of Episcopacy in 1661, and again after
the Revolution, in the reign of William the Third, severe laws
were passed anent such clandestine alliances. The Act 1661
imposed heavy penalties both on the " parties contractors," and
on the celebrators. And, as if this Act had not been stringent
enough, another was passed in 1698, requiring all persons mar-
ried clandestinely, or irregularly, to declare, when bidden, the
names and designations " of the minister or person '' who cele-
brated the marriage, and of the witnesses to the marriage,
under ruinous penalties in case of refusal. The celebrators of
such marriages were declared " liable to be summarily seized
and imprisoned by any ordinary magistrate or justice of the
peace, and to be punishable by the Lords of Privy Council, not
only by perpetual banishment, but by such pecunial or corporal
pains as the said lords shall think fit to inflict." The witnesses
to such marriages were also declared to be each liable " in the
sum of one hundred pounds Scots, to be applied to pious uses ;
or, if insolvent, to such corporal punishment as the said lords

people's being married " by one John Smith." It might thus be supposed that if
this John Smith was not a myth altogether, he must have been a man that could
not add priest or minister to his name. But in 1757 a case came before the Kirk-
Session of Kilmarnock, in which two persons produced a certificate of their having
been married "by one Joint Smith, Minister." Apparently therefore the marriage-
maker down to 1757 was always, or generally, a clerk in holy orders,

1 86 Old CIninli Life in Scotland.

shall determine." And more than one outed or deposed
minister was last century actually imprisoned and banished for
celebrating clandestine marriages. In additifjn to Muet, al-
read)' referred to, there v,as one Clannic bani.'^hed in 1713, and
another, Brown, transported in 175 1.

It might be thought that, with such ample penalties attached
to the celebration of irregular nuptials, this form of social evil
would have been brought to a speedy end in Scotland. But it
was not so. It may be said that, from the beginning to the close
of last century, there was a roaring trade done in the way of
irregular marriage. Kirk-Sessions and Presbyteries, too, were
well enough aware of the fact, and were diligent, in season and
out of season, in rebuking and exhorting ; but, in spite of
Church censures, the scandal continued, and cases occurred
every now and then that sorely perplexed the judgment of
simple ministers. In 1720, the General Assembly instructed
their commission " to advise Presbyteries and particular breth-
ren, with relation to irregular marriages, as they shall be ap-
plied to for that effect." The Commission, as instructed, issued
their advice in a circular letter, which became the directory of
Church Courts for many years afterwards. In 1721, a repre-
sentation was made to the Presbytery of Ayr that many who
contracted irregular marriages "did not know the hazard they
were in, from the civil law, for so doing." The Presbyter}-, there-
upon, resolved that the Commission's act or letter should " be
intimated from the pulpit by the several members, that none
may pretend ignorance for the future ; and that application
should be made to the judge ordinar)-, to inflict the punishment,
conform to law." But no abatement of the scandal followed.
In 1732, the goodly number of five pairs of partners appeared
before the Kirk-Session of Mauchline with testimonials of irre-
gular marriage : and in subsequent \-ears the Kirk-Session on

Marriages in Olden Times. 187

several occasions, at considerable intervals, referred with sorrow
and concern to the continued prevalence of inorderly matri-
mony. In 1744, the Presbytery of Irvine came to the conclu-
sion, on a committee's report, that, "through failure to execute
the Acts against irregular marriages, these marriages had be-
come frequent ;" and they overtured the General Assembly to
enjoin Kirk-Sessions " to see that the proper judges fine, exact
fines, and hand over the fines for pious purposes." But the
Presbytery soon afterwards saw reason to change their mind in
regard to the best way of repressing irregular marriages ; and,
in 1750, they submitted to the Synod a report of a very different
tenor from that on which they pronounced their finding in 1744.
In this report of 1750, the Presbytery stated that "persons of
quality and station will refuse obedience to a severe Act, and
that the fine being 2000 merks in a landed gentleman, 1000
merks in any other gentleman, and 200 merks in a yeoman, it
seems unreasonable to pursue for it without composition. It
would ruin some, and judges would think it cruel." To some
extent, therefore, it may be said that the law defeated its pur-
pose, by the very severity of its penalties. The proper remedy
for the acknowledged evil of clandestine marriages would have
been a change in the law, by a new Act of Parliament de-
claring that no private contracts of marriage, with or without
"the oath of God," should hold good and confer matrimonial
rights, unless publicly ratified in some prescribed manner.

It may be asked, What induced or tempted people to seek
clandestine alliances, when the benefit of regular marriage could
have been got at far less cost and with far less trouble? In
some cases, it was the existence of a legal impediment to re-
gular marriage ; and in other cases, the less said about the
motive or object the better. It happened occasionally that
people, who gave themselves out for single persons, were

1 88 Old Chunli Life in Scotland.

suspected of havin<; left wives or husbands behind thcnn in
some other part (^f the world. When such persons sought
marriage from tlie Church, the i)ubhcation of their banns was
refused ; and the only way for their getting married, or getting
the name of being married, was by one of the irregular courses
sanctioned by lav\\ In 1734, a woman presented a petition to
the Presbytery of Irvine, "to be allowed the liberty of marriage,
in regard her husband had gone off to England ten years ago,
and though he had been summoned at the pier of Leith he had
not returned." The Presbytery replied that, "there being
neither a divorce nor any document of her husband's death,
they could not allow the petitioner to marry."* The lady,
however, would not be balked by the Presbytery, in so im-
portant a matter as the last chance of matrimony ; and she
got herself married irregularly " by a person called David
Strong." An interdict of cohabitation and a threat of excom-
munication w^ere, thereupon, issued by the Presbytery against
the contumacious woman ; but, in the joy of renovated youth
and wedded life, the interdict and threat were alike disre-
garded. Cases also cropped up from time to time in which
proclamation, if asked, might have been sisted or stopped, for
such reasons as pre-contract, parental disapproval, or public
scandal ; and, in these cases, persons wishing to be wed found
it convenient, as well as romantic, to make off to the Border,
or anywhere else that a " Jesuit priest," " Prelatic parson," or
deposed minister could be got.

* A similar judgment was pronounced by the Synod of Fife, in 1655. That year,
"the I'resbitrie of Couper sought advice, quhat they sould do in the cais of thes
wemen quhois hu.sbands hes been amissing since Dunbar or Worster, desyring to l.e
mariet with other men. The Synod thinks that ministers sould not proceid to
marie wemen in that cais, without clear evidence of thair husbands' death, or the
sentence of the civil judge competent in such caisis,"

Marriages in Olden Times. 1 89

When persons were reported, or alleged themselves, to be
irregularly married, they were at once called to account by
their Kirk-Session, and the evidence of their marriage was de-
manded.

The proof of marriage most commonly tendered to Church
Courts was the production of a certificate, signed by the celc-
brator of the marriage and attested by the persons who wit-
nessed the celebration. And, when there was no reason to
doubt the authenticity of this document and the legal right of
the celebrator to act as such, the validity of the marriage was
acknowledged. But these alleged certificates were often
dubious. In 171 5, a couple from Dreghorn appeared before
the Presbytery of Irvine, alleging that they had been married,
in a private irregular way, by Mr. John Graham, a curate.
They produced a certificate of marriage, but the certificate was
considered by the Presbytery to be not genuine. It was not
" of a right syllabification : it was bad write and not good
sense : the place where it was dated, and where the marriage
should have been consummated, was not intelligible ; the
whole of it was written with the same hand, the witnesses sub-
scribing as well as the minister." The Presbytery held, there-
fore, that "no regard was to be had to the testificat ;" and
they appointed the parties to go up for rebuke to the church
of Dreghorn, " and then and there to take upon them the
engagements of husband and wife."

The Kirk-Session of Mauchlinc, under Mr. Auld, were
particularly chary of accepting lines as evidence of marriage.
On one occasion, a man and woman "produced marriage lines,
dated at Ayr, i6th November, 1750, declaring that they were
married according to the form of the Church of England, by
Charles Jones, minister, in presence of witnesses." The finding
of the Session was, "that wo regard should be had to such lines,

190 Old Church Life in Scotland.

unless supported by better evidence than the subscription of
lawless vagrants, who dared not avow what they signed.'' It
was agreed, however, to take the advice of the Presbytery on
the case, and the result was that the testimonials were ulti-
mately sustained. A great desideratum in the Church was an
authoritative declaration of some fixed principles, by which
Kirk-Sessions might be guided in pronouncing judgment on
certificates of marriage. In 1779, the Kirk-Session of Mauch-
line enacted a law for themselves on this subject. Premising
that it was not unusual for people " to impose on the public,
and particularly on Church judicatories, by forging or ante-
dating marriage lines," the Session declared that " no credit
be given to such suspicious lines, written and signed by
persons quite unknown both as to their character and hand-
writing, unless the partie or parties producing said lines shall
instantly undertake proof of their being true and genuine,
against a certain day to be named by the Session. But, in
case of failure in the proof, it is hereby enacted and declared
that the foresaid parties shall be held and censured as forni-
cators ; and this act is appointed to be read from the pulpit,
that none may pretend ignorance."

Certificates were not the only evidence of marriage that
Kirk-Sessions accepted. In the year 1696, the Kirk-Session of
Mauchline, under the guidance of Mr. IMaitland, who was very
lax and good natured in his administration of discipline, were
content to accept a woman's oath as evidence of her marriage.
In 1690, a man from Ardrossan applied to the Presbytery of
Irvine for baptism to a child. He declared that he had been
married in Glasgow, but that he could not give the minister's
name. lie and his wife were then appointed to be rebuked
for having married clandestinely, and were exhorted to live
'•as married persons, for the future." It is possible, however,

Marriages in Olden Tunes. I9I

that the unsettled state of the country at that date made it
expedient for Presbyteries to be less stringent in their disci-
pline, and less exacting in the matter of evidence than they
became a few years later.

Certificates of marriage purported to bear that the marriage
had been celebrated by some authorised functionary. But, it
may be asked, was celebration considered necessary to
constitute marriage ? This is a disputed question. Last
century some writers on law said one thing, and judges on the
bench said another. Erskine represented to his readers that, in
Scotland, marriage was constituted by consent without celebra-
tion ; and Lord Braxfield, as late as 1796, declared the contrary.
Lord Fraser says that the doctrine stated by Erskine never
was judicially pronounced to be the law of Scotland till 181 1.
It need not surprise any one, therefore, when judges and jurists,
learned in the law, did not see eye to eye in regard to the
constitution of marriage, that ministers and elders, Kirk-
Sessions and Presbyteries were very hazy on the subject, and
that their deliverances were not of a uniform tenor.

I imagine that Mr. Auld of Mauchline was of Lord Brax-
field's way of thinking. In 1784, the year in which Burns came to
the parish, two villagers, who either then were, or afterwards
came to be, special friends of the poet, were reported to the
Session to have "gone away from this place, without any
testimonials from us, and now upon their return pretend to be
married persons." It was long before they would submit to
appear before the Session ; but, at length, they did appear and
produce marriage lines signed by Alexander Pirric, a seceding
minister. A discussion arose in the Session in regard to these
lines. It was maintained by a majority of the members that
the lines were trustworthy — that the parties were consequently
lawfully married — and that, after .submitting to rebuke for

t92 Old Church Life in Scotland.

breach of Church order, they should be admitted to their
former ecclesiastical privileges. This became the finding of
the court ; but, "the Moderator, (Mr. Auld), begged leave to
signify that, in his judgment, the marriage lines were not legall ;
for the following reason, — Mr. Pirric is neither ordained a
minister by the Church nor authorised by the State, and
therefore has not a legal title, to marry any person." To some
people the reason of this dissent will appear strange. A
marriage was celebrated with religious ceremony by a seceding
minister. Was that not a form of marriage sanctioned by law,
although punishable as clandestine ? According to Lord
Fraser's doctrine it seems not to have been. The celebrator
was a Presbyterian Dissenter, whereas it^was only ministers of
the Church of Scotland or of the Episcopal Church, or priests
of the Church of Rome that, at that date, were recognised as
having what might be termed valid marrying orders. There
was thus a show of legal authority for the position Mr. Auld
appears to have maintained, namely, that there was no
marriage where there was no celebration, and that there was no
celebration where there was not a legalised celebrator.*

* In 1802, it was reported to the Presbytery of Ayr that two persons, in the
Parish of New Cumnock, "had been married by Thomas Rowat, a minister of the
Reformed Presbytery, at Penpont, without proclamation of banns in their Parish
Church. The Presbytery appointed their Clerk to write said Mr. Rowat concerning
the irregularity of his conduct, and that he will avoid similar transgressions of the
law in time coming." Mr. Rowat replied to this letter, and alleged " that he had
done nothing irregular in this case, that he had transgressed no law, and that he
would continue to marry persons without proclamation of banns in their Parish
Church." The Presbytery, thereupon, reported the whole facts of the case to the
Procurator Fiscal of the County of Dumfries, "that he might take such steps
against said Mr. Rowat as the law requires, in order to prevent him, for the lime
to come, from carrying on such illegal practices within the bounds of this Presby-
tery."

It was not till 1S34 that Dissenting ministers in Scotland were allowed to cele-
brate marriages Ity religious ceremony. Even then, the celebration required to be
preceded by proclamation of banns in the Parish Church, or Churches, of the bride-
groom and bride. Episcopalian ministers have had that privilege since 171 1.

Marriages in Olden Times. 193

While Mr. Auld, in 1784, seems to have held the views on
marriage considered constitutional and orthodox by Lords
Braxfield and Fraser, many ministers, both then and at an
earlier date, accepted and acted on the theological notions of
Samuel Rutherford and the legal opinions of Erskine. We
have seen that, in 1689, the Presbytery of Irvine could
not regard people as " married persons by virtue of any
oath or promise betwixt themselves privatelie, however con-
ceived i)i verbis de pre sent i." The same Presbytery, however,
agreed in 1753, that in determining questions of marriage the
following queries should be put ; first, did the parties ever
acknowledge themselves husband and wife ; secondly, did they
ever live together as husband and wife ; and thirdly, are they
habit and repute married persons. And what did, thenceforth,
in the opinion of that Presbytery, constitute proof of marriage
is shewn by their own recorded deliverances. In 1753, a long
paper was given in to the Presbytery by the Kirk-Session of
Kilwinning, concerning a man and woman, employed respec-
tively as gardener and housekeeper, at Eglinton Castle.
In this paper, the Session stated that these persons were
" habit and repute husband and wife, not only by the
noble family, but to the whole country." And they added,
" it is no less notour, that such facts establish a marriage in
our law." This statement of the law was not disputed in
the Presbytery. In 1761, the Presbytery were exercised
on another matrimonial case. A woman alleged that she
was " married, in a clandestine irregular way, in the fields, by
a person she knew not, and that she had marriage lines, but
the man abstracted them from her chest." The man denied
these statements, and there was no proof of celebration. Put
it was proved by witnesses that the man and woman had lived
together as husband and wife, and that the man had acknow-

tQ4 i^ld Church lAfc in Scotland.

Icdgcd himself married. (3n the ground of this testimony, the
marriage was sustained by the Presbytery. The following
year, (1762), another case, and a queer one, came before the
same court. A man " acknowledged that marriage lines had
passed betwixt him and a certain woman — that he had con-
sented to the said marriage lines — that they both swore to be
true to one another for two years, and, in case they did not
like one another, to be parted then," — and he added that, if the
Moderator would free him, he would acknowledge marriage
with her for two years. " The Presbytery, in regard of the man's
acknowledgment, and that the woman adheres, could not but
find them married." In this case, the lines were not a certificate
but only a private acknowledgment ; and yet, the Presbytery
held that these lines, owned by the man and adhered to by the
woman, bound the parties permanently.

Farcical solemnities were sometimes gone through by rascally
knaves to give a deceitful appearance of marriage. It was
seldom, however, that these farces imposed on Kirk-Sessions
and Presbyteries, and they need not therefore be seriously
discussed. As an instance, the following case may be cited. In
1769, an old soldier, who was craving marriage, was accused of
being already a married man. He admitted to the Presbytery
of Irvine that he had " lived with another woman in the arm)-,
for some time ; . . . but said that he was married to her
no otherwise than by stepping over a sword."*

* Great store was laid by people on vows — " the oath of God " — as distinguished
from ordinary declarations, in constituting marriage. A Stewarton man was, in
1760, claimed by two women for a sorrowful reason, " and that he had come under
strong promises of marriage to each of them." He "denied having come under
any oath, or vow of marriage, to any of them ; only said that he did not doubt but
that, by yea and nay, he made promise of marriage to both of them.'" One of the
women alleged that he said " he wished he might never see liis Maker's face in
mercy if he did not marry her."

Marriages in Olden Times. 1 95

After determining whether a couple alleged to be irregularly
married were really married, Kirk-Sessions had to take further
steps. If it was found that the parties were unmarried, or
could give no proof of their marriage, they were at once
declared scandalous persons and were interdicted from living
together. This was what happened at Mauchline, in 1784, to
the friends of Burns, who pretended to be married persons but
would not prove their marriage before the Session. And there
was nothing unusual in the course which Mr. Auld and his
elders took on that occasion. It was what was often done by
Church courts, perhaps not very often in 1784, but frequently
in (say) 1730. The following are the exact terms of a sen-
tence pronounced by the Presbytery of Irvine in 1697; and
sentences almost identical in their tenor occur in the records of
the same Presbytery for 1744. " Inhibit cohabitation, till they
produce evidence of having been lawfully married, and of
having been free persons at the time of their marriage." In
175 1, also, the same Presbytery, being "at a loss to determine
whether (a certain) marriage should be continued or not law-
fully," resolved to seek advice on the subject ; and " till the
same be obtained, interdict the parties from cohabitation, with
certification of their danger, if they counteract." It may be
asked, if interdicted couples had always the courtesy to submit
to the Session's restraint. Some were too doggedly inde-
pendent to be so respectful to their spiritual rulers. And in
that case what happened ? The Kirk- Session had only the
power of the keys and not of the sword, and could neither,
scourge, fine, nor imprison. But breach of Sessional interdict
brought upon the devoted heads of the disobedient additional
censure, which in its own way was unpleasant enough. And
sometimes Kirk-Sessions invoked the aid of the Magistrate in
dealing with refractory mates. In 1689, two sorners in Kil-

196 Old Clutrcli Life in Scotland.

in.unock refused to discontinue cohabitation at the Session's
order ; " whereupon, the Session, considering that they were
ordinarie beggars in the countrie, had no interest in this place,
but were a burden and scandall to it since their coming hither
of late years, did desire Charles Dalrymple, as bailie and
chamberlain to the Earl of Kilmarnock, that he would take
his own way, as he should judge most convenient, to remove
them out of the town and parish. Upon the market day next
thereafter they were removed furth of the town with touk of
drum, and discharged to remain within the parish by the
Bailie's order."

It is pleasant to mention that Kirk-Sessions and Presby-
teries very often tried to persuade people, who had fallen
into scandal and were living openly together, to make them-
selves respectable by submitting to orderly marriage. In
1690, two fellow-sojourners in Kirkoswald were summoned
before the Presbytery of Ayr, and required to "give an account
quo jure they cohabit." They were found to be no better than
heathens ; and so, in the first instance, they were rebuked, and
appointed to stand three several Sabbaths in their Parish
Church for removal of their scandal. But there was also an
instruction given to the minister " to marry them on ye Mon-
day after'' their first exhibition of public penance at the pillar.
The instant marriage in this case was one of those "necessary
exigents" in which the Presbytery could dispense with Pro-
clamation of Banns.

When people were found by a Kirk-Session to have been
lawfully married, although in an irregular manner, they were
not treated as scandalous persons, and censured for living in
scandal. Their offence was held to be of a milder type. It
was simply a breach of Church order, and it was visited by a
censure modified to the measure of misdeed.

Marriages in Olden Times. 197

A sessional rebuke seems, subsequent to 1720 at least, to
have been all the censure that inorderly marriage was thought
to warrant. A frequent entry in the records of this parish is,
— "parties were sessionally rebuked, according to the advice
anent irregular marriages given by the commission of the
General Assembly." There were cases, however, in which
persons inorderly mated were subjected to harder treatment.
These were usually cases in which the offence of irregular mar-
riage was aggravated by some other misconduct. In 1695,
two persons in Fenwick were summoned before the Presbytery
of Irvine, " for their disorderlie marriage with a curate, when
in the meantime lying in uncleanness together ; and, being called,
compeared and confessed all." In this instance, two offences
were acknowledged. The offenders, therefore, after being re-
buked, "were remitted to the Session of Fenwick for removing
the scandal, and the Presbytery thought it expedient that they
should appear five days for a terror to others." In 1750, two
persons irregularly married refused to submit to the censure
appointed by the Kirk-Session of Kilwinning. They were
accordingly cited to the Presbytery of Irvine, but the man sent
a letter to the Presbytery complaining of his minister's conduct
in the process, "and signifying that the Presbytery need not
trouble him any farther, as he had joined another Christian
society ! " This was an ingenious device, and it has become a
not uncommon one with ill-behaved people, for scuttling out of
scandal. But it did not succeed at Irvine in 1750. The man
and his wife were summoned again to appear before the Pres-
bytery, and in response to that second summons they com-
peared, and made several confessions. They " acknowledged
themselves married persons " — and admitted that they had got
a child baptized by a stranger, who "was not an Episcopal
minister, but a minister of the Church of Christ," whether or-

198 Old CJinrcJi Life in Scotland.

daincd or unordained they could not tell. They were thus
guilty of inordcrly marriage, and of seeking inorderly baptism,
guilty of contempt of Session and threatened schism, and
so, for that multitude of misdeeds, they had to make public
penance.

When persons irregularly married came up to a Kirk-Session
for rebuke, there were generally steps taken to confirm the
marriage, and invest it with something like ecclesiastical
sanction. For instance, in 1 691, an irregular marriage was
proved before the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, by the evidence
of witnesses. Not only was this finding virtually registered by
the Session's minute in the Session book, but the parties were
" appointed to appear before the congregation one Sabbath, in
their seat, and publicly to own one another as husband and wife^
and to engage to the relative duties, and profess their grief for
their offensive and disorderly way of marriage." In 1720, two
persons were by the same Session " found guilty of running
away together to Ireland, in a suspicious and scandalous
manner, without any cause or temptation ; of being married
by a Popish priest, and of forging a certificate." For these
conjoint offences they were "publicly rebuked three several
Sabbaths before the Congregation, and obliged to oivn their
marriage together, and adhere thereto." The word "adhere"
came to be the stereotyped expression used by Kirk-Sessions
in procedure of this kind. In our own Session records it
occurs over and over, especially in 1732 and subsequent years.*
The following is the minute that refers to the marriage out of
which Gavin Hamilton, the friend of Burns, was destined to

* In the Act Rescissory passed by the Scottish Parliament in 1640, the following
clause occurs : — "It is, and shall be, lawful to the Presbyteries of this Kirk . .
. . to give and direct admonitions, private or public, to persones joyned in mar-
riage, for adherence."

Marriages in Olden Times. 199

come into being. The date is 2nd April, 1732 — " Compeared
John Hamilton, Clerk in Mauchline, and Jacobina Young,
daughter to the deceased John Young, Merchant in Lanrick,
and produced certificates of their irregular marriage, owned
their adherence, and were rebuked for their irregularitie."
The minute in regard to Burns's own marriage is more full
and formal, as became a minute that was bound to become
historical. Its^date is 5th August 1788, and its tenor as
follows — " Compeared Robert Burns with Jean Armour his
alleged spouse. They both acknowledged their irregular
marriage, and their sorrow for that irregularity, and desiring
that the Session may take such steps as may seem to them
proper in order to the solemn confirmation of the said marriage.
The Session, taking this affair under their consideration, agree
that they both be rebuked for this alleged irregularity, and that
they be taken solemnly engaged to adhere faithfully to one
another, as husband and wife, all the days of their life. In
regard the Session have a tittle in law to some fine, for behoof
of the poor, they refer to Mr. Burns his own generosity. The
above sentence was accordingly executed, and the Session
absolved the said parties from any scandal on that account.

William Auld, Moderator. Robert Burns.

Jean Armour.

Mr. Burns gave a guinea note for behoof of the poor."

In the minute anent Burns's marriage now quoted, mention
is made of a fine that Kirk-Sessions are legally entitled to, when
an irregular marriage is made.* As far back as 1661, persons
that married " in a clandestine and inorderly way, or by Jesuit

* Some la\v}'ers would say, only when the irregular marriage was also clandestine.
It is questionable if Kirk-Sessions, in asking for fines, attended to this distinction.
But, at any rate, most of the irregular marriages contracted more than a hundred
years ago were clandestine also, in the modern lawyer's sense of the term ,

200 Old Church Life in Scotland.

I'ricsts or any other not authorised by this kirk," were liable to
be imprisoned for three months, and to be made pay severe
penalties besides, according to their rank and supposed wealth.
These fines were " ordained to be applied to pious uses, within
the several parishes where the said persons dwell." This or
some other similar penal statute was in force down to the close
of the period of what may be termed old church life in Scotland.
The overtures of the Presbytery of Irvine in 1744, and the report
of that Presbytery to the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr in 1750,
shew that the penal clauses of the statute were not at these
dates rigidly enforced. The law, however, was not a dead letter.
In our own Session records there are many references to fines
for irregular marriages. Strictly speaking, it was only civil
courts that could inflict these fines, for Kirk-Sessions had not
power to impose fines for any offence. It was only a Procurator-
Fiscal, too, that could sue for such fines. But, with the view of
saving expense and trouble, it became customary for Kirk-
Sessions to leave irregularly mated people to mulct themselves
voluntarily, in such sums as they could be compelled to pay or
were willing to give, and then hand to the Session these dona-
tions for the good of the poor. The Kirk-Session of Mauchline,
in 1788, referred the mulct to "Mr. Burns his own generosity."
And as far back as 1733, this had been a custom in the parish.
On the 1st April of that year, one of the elders presented to the
Session, " a certificate of James Ross, and Euphame Andrew,
their irregular marriage ; " and on the 8th April, " James Ross
and Euphame Andrew compeared, adhered to their marriage,
and were rebuked for the irregularity thereof" It was then
minuted, in a separate sentence, that " James Ross promises to
give to the Treasurer £\, i6s. od. as mulct."'

About the end of last century it came to be a common practice
for persons clandestinely married to surrender themselves to a

Marriages in Olden Times. 201

magistrate for punishment. They were then fined on their own
confession, at the instance nominally of the Procurator Fiscal,
who furnished them with a form of indictment. The magistrate's
decreet was supposed to become, thereafter, evidence of marriage.
These proceedings, however, were. Lord Fraser says, "very much
of the nature of a farce." In all cases where there had been
no irregular religious celebration, the sentence and fine were
illegal, because the irregularity committed was not of the kind
that was punishable. And, except to people that disowned
Church discipline and disdained Church privileges, there was
nothing gained by this compearance before a magistrate.
Members of the Church had to come before the Session after
all. This is brought out by a minute in the records of the
Presbytery of Irvine, of date 1792. That year a reference was
submitted to the Presbytery, stating that a man and a woman
had come before the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, "and produced
a paper, from which it appeared that on the 2nd March last,
upon application to the Justices of Peace, they had been fined
in a guinea to the poor for an irregular marriage, said to have
been made six months prior to that date, and craved of the
Session to be declared married persons, and to be admitted to
privileges."

Although the common procedure of Kirk-Sessions, in regard
to fines for irregular and clandestine marriages, was what has
just been stated, there were occasions when it was judged
expedient to take a more formal course. In 1757, the school-
master of Mauchline astounded the Session by submitting to
them a certificate, bearing that he had been married in 1752,
to a servant girl in Stewarton, " in a clandestine manner, by
one who called himself John M'Onachim." The infatuated
supineness of this schoolmaster, who was also precentor and
Session-clerk, and an older to boot, is well nigh incredible.

202 Old Church Life in Scotland.

He had had ample leisure to repent. Five years passed before
the secret of his marriaj^e came out. At any time durinj^ that
period he mici^ht have repaired his error, by a marriacjc accord-
ing to the forms of the Church, But he took no steps to avert
his disgrace ; and he had thus, with his wife, to appear ig-
nominiously before the court of which he had lately been
accounted an honoured member. And not only so, but after
he and his wife had been by the Session taken " as solemnly
engaged to each other in a marriage relationship, and rebuked
sessionally," they were made to stand before the congregation
on a public fast-day. He was suspended, too, from all his
offices — of schoolmaster, precentor, Session-clerk, and elder —
and he was never reponed, but was left in the outer darkness,
with the door of respectability shut against him for ever. Nor
was the amount of his mulct referred to his own generosity, but
the Session minuted that, " in so far as they are concerned for
the poor, they are resolved to apply to a proper court for the
fine appointed."*

At the present day, scandal is sometimes created by married
persons' separating from each other and living apart. And
the same form of scandal existed in olden times. But in the
olden times the scandal was not allowed to pass unnoticed. f
Kirk-Sessions made inquisition into the matter, and censured
or exhorted as seemed meet. In the records of Galston
Parish, mention is made of a married couple who. in 1676,
" were rebuked, because of their unchristian carriage in
separating from and deserting one another." They were en-
joined to live together ; and were warned that if they refused

* The facts of this case are gathered partly from the Session records, and partly
from a small manuscript volume of admonitions which Mr. Auld left behind him.

tThe Reformed Church of France, in the Synod of Verlueil (1567), ordained
that if either husband or wife separate from the other they should be called before
the Consistory. Quick's Synodicon,

Marriages in Olden Times. 203

they would be brought up for further censure. In 1704, a
report reached the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock, that "John
Stevenson and Margaret Borland his wife, upon some humor
and disagreement betwix themselves, had voluntarily se-
parated from one another." A committee of the Session was,
thereupon, deputed to converse with both the spouses, and
report. The report bore, that " John desired to be confronted
with his wife, that it might be known which of them was in the
wrong." The Session were wary enough to see that this way
of opening up the quarrel for debate would make reconciliation
impossible. The committee was, therefore, instructed to speak
to the parted mates again, and " recommend them to forgett
and forgive old injuries, and cohabit Christianly and kindly."
That was what John, in his mood of mulish humour which
he mistook for high christian virtue, would not condescend to
do. The contention involved a matter of principle — a question
of right or wrong — and conscience would not allow him to
beck and bend in so high a concern. The unpleasant conse-
quences, for him, were some further dealings with the rulers of
the Church, by which he gained nothing and lost much.

It might be added that the Church of Scotland, in her
General Assembly 1571, declared that, "because the con-
junction of marriage pertaineth to the ministry, the causes of
adherence and divorcement ought also to pertain to them, as
naturally annexed thereto." Every minister may be thankful
that he is not called on to " leave the word of God," and ad-
judicate on such causes. And I am happy to sa}- that the
contentions in di\'orce suits form no part of old Church life in
Scotland.

204 Old ChnrcJi Life in Scotland.

LECTURE IV.

BAPTISMS AND BURIALS IN OLDEN TIMES.

The main points of controversy in regard to Baptism — Mode of administering
Baptism — Lawfulness or unlawfulness of private Baptism — Infant Baptism —
Sponsors at Baptism — Right to Baptism — Early Baptism — Baptism disallowed
to the ignorant and scandalous — Baptism of Adults — Registration of Baptisms,
and Fees — Baptismal Banquets.

Burials — Religious ceremonies and sermons at funerals — So-called "Services "at
funerals in Scotland — Time spent at funerals — Smoking at Funerals — Lyk-
wakes — Coffining— Cofiins for Poor — Burial without Coffins — Biers and
common mort-kists — Cost of Coffins — Cists — Sanitary and orderly Interment
— Burial in fields, in Church-yards, and in Churches — Civil respects at
funerals — Bell-ringing — Mortcloths — Curious panic, 1777, about people's
being buried alive — Resurrectionists— Horse-hearses and hand-hearses.

This course of lectures would be incomplete if no account
were given of Baptisms and Burials in Scotland in olden times.

On the subject of Baptism there has been a great deal of
controversy in the Christian Church. Apart from the par-
ticular question, to whom is the ordinance to be admin-
istered, the main points regarding Baptism on which discus-
sion and disagreement have arisen are the following : — first,
the forms and ceremonies to be observed in the ministration
of the ordinance ; secondly, the lawfulness or unlawfulness of
administering the ordinance in private ; thirdly, the lawfulness
or unlawfulness of baptizing infants ; and fourthly, in the case
of infant baptism, the admissibility or inadmissibility of any
but parents, when these are living, to stand as sponsors.

On the first of these four points, the mode of administering
the ordinance, it will not be necessary for me to say much,
because it has not been a subject of much controversy in the
Church of Scotland, especially during the Presbyterian periods
of her histor)-. In the First Book of Discipline, 1560, it was

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 205

laid down by Knox and the other framers of that document,
that " in baptism we acknowledge nothing to be used except
the element of water only ; wherefore, whosoever presumeth to
use oil, salt, wax, spittle, conjuration and crossing,* accuseth
the perfect institution of Christ Jesus of imperfection, for it
was void of all such inventions devised by men." In the
account of Knox's discussion with Dean Wynram and Friar
Arbuckle, in 1547, the following passages occur, which shew
very clearly the different standpoints from which the adminis-
tration of Baptism was regarded by the Scottish Catholics and
the Scottish Protestants at that date. " Why," asked Wynram,
" may not the Church for good causes devise ceremonies to
decore the sacraments and other parts of God's service ? "

* Conjuration. In the first Liturgy of Edward 6th, 1548, the Priest was directed
to look on the children after he had crossed them, and to say, " I command thee,
unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, etc., that thou come out and depart from
these infants, whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath vouchsafed to call to his holy
baptism, etc. Therefore, thou cursed spirit, remember thy sentence, remember thy
judgment, remember the day to be at hand wherein thou shalt burn in fire ever-
lasting, prepared for thee and thy angels. And presume not hereafter to exercise
any tyranny towards these infants," etc. etc.

Crossing. The amount of controversial writing on this subject is marvellous.
I have beside me a book, twice the size of this volume, printed in 1607, and entitled
" a scholasticall discourse against symbolizing with antichrist in ceremonies, espe-
cially in the sign of the crosse." The book is the work of a Dr. Renaud, a very
zealous Puritan, and it contains many curious statements. "If we may adde the
signe of the crosse to Baptisme . . then may we adde roastmeat or sodd meat
to the supper of the Lorde, after the manner of the Americans."
" Antiquitie for the crosse in Baptisme ! bread and cheese pretend as much for a
place in the supper." . . . "It will be found as warrantable to put a paire of
Bulls homes (as the sign of the cross), upon the forehead of the baptized." . . .
" It is as unfitt to make a crosse a memorial of Christ, as for a childe to make much
of the halter or gallowse wherewith his father was hanged.''

The Service-book, 1637, enjoined crossing in Baptism, and as that book was
"put in practeiss in diuerss countreis," i.e., in different districts of the country
(Spalding I. 79), we must conclude that the crossing was introduced in some
churches in Scotland. Spalding writes in a strain of lamentation, 1641, that it is
reported, "the House of Commons has voted against the ceremonies, viz. cross in
bapli^ni, kneeling at the communion, surplice, ring in marriage, and organs."

2o6 Old Chiirck Life in Scotland.

" liccausc," said Knox, "the Church ou^dit to do nothing but in
faith, and ought not to go before, but is bound to follow the voice
of the tiue I'astor." " It is in faith," replied Wynram, "that
the ceremonies are commanded, and they have proper signifi-
cations to help our faith, as the band in baptism signifieth the
roughness of the law, and the oil the softness of God's mercy.
And likewise every other ceremony hath a godly signification.''
"It is not enough," replied Knox, "that man invent a ceremony,
and then give it a signification according to his pleasure, for so
might the ceremonies of the Gentiles and the ceremonies of
Mahomet this day be maintained. But if any thing proceed
from faith, it must have the word of God for assurance ; for
you are not ignorant that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God." " I shall prove plainly," interposed
Arbuckle, " that ceremonies are ordained of God.'' " Such as God
hath ordained," said Knox, "we allow, and with reverence we
use. But the question is, of these which God hath not
ordained, such as in baptism are spittle, salt, candle (except
it be to keep the bairn from cold) hurdes, oil, and the rest of
the Papistical inventions." The principles here laid down by
Knox regarding the mode of administering the sacraments are
clearly indicated, and they are the principles on which the
Church of Scotland has always acted. She has uniformly
endeavoured, except during a brief interlude of Anglican
innovation prior to 1638, to make her sacramental forms
square with the pattern and precepts set before her in
Scripture. Her mode of administering baptism, therefore, is,
in the first place, to explain the nature of the ordinance ; next,
to impose the baptismal or sponsorial duties on the person
who craves the ordinance; thirdly, to pray for a blessing on the
administration ; fourthly, while sprinkling water on the face of
the person to be baptized, to say, — " I baptize thee in the name

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 207

of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ; " and there-
after to conchide the action with prayer and thanksgiving.

The second of the main questions regarding baptism that
have been agitated in the Christian Church, is the lawful-
ness or unlawfulness of private baptism ; and that question was
once one of the hottest of burning questions in Scotland.
There never was an Act of the General Assembly that produced
such a commotion over all Scotland as the Act of the Assembly
at Perth, in the year 16 18, allowing what were termed the five
articles. These articles were framed by the king (James VI.),
and were sent down by him to the General Assembly for the
Church's sanction and approval. The members of Assembly
were canvassed and bribed by the king's agents, in the most
unblushing manner, in order to secure a vote in favour of the
articles. Had the articles, therefore, been ever so unobjection-
able in themselves, the manner in which they were passed, for
passed they were, would have been enough to cause a storm in
the country. And a storm was raised which lasted for twenty
years, and was not laid till all the five articles were, in a
General Assembly, abjured by the Church, and the Perth
Assembly was voted an unfree and illegal Assembly whose
proceedings were null and void. One of the articles of Perth
was — " that baptism might be administered at home, when the
infant could not conveniently be brought to church." This
article was long and loudly denounced as papistical. It was
said to introduce a new and false doctrine of baptism. It
would make men think there was some spiritual efficacy in
the mere ministerial act of sprinkling water on infants, in the
name of the Trinity. It would give ground, therefore, for the
erroneous belief that baptism is essential for salvation. It also
allowed people to enjoy Christian privileges without submitting
to the conditions of Christian duty — to be received as

2o8 Old Church Life in Scotland.

Christians, without, on the part of their sponsors, a confession
of Christian brotherhood — to be admitted into the Church by
a private side wicket, if not over the wall — to be accepted and
declared members of the Church by the minister alone, instead
of by the whole congregation. There was no point, therefore,
on which the genuine Presbyterian party in Scotland, from
1618 down to (I may say) 17 18, were more firm and determined
than on the necessity of baptism being administered in public.
At the Westminster Assembly of 1643, the Scottish Com-
missioners apprehended that some considerable difficulty would
be found in carrying and establishing their traditional views on
public baptism. Private baptisms, or as I should rather say,
baptisms in private houses, were not so much objected to by
Presbyterians in England as they were in Scotland. They
were in fact quite common in England. " In the greatest
Paroch in London," says Baillie, " scarce one child in a year is
brought to the Church for baptism." It was feared by the
Scots, therefore, that the Westminster Assembly would give
its sanction to the administration of baptism in private houses.
But, to their surprise and delight, the necessity of baptism
being administered in public was carried in the Assembly with-
out trouble. The Directory for Public Worship, accordingly,
states that baptism " is not to be administered in private places,
or privately, but in the place of public worship, and in the face
of the congregation, where the people may most conveniently
see and hear ; and not in the places where fonts, in the time of
Popery, were unfitly and superstitiously placed," namely, at the
lower vCnd of the church, near the door, and behind the backs
of the congregation. This regulation became the law of the
Church in 1645, ^"d it was just a "ratification of the views held
in the Church by the Presbyterian party ever since the Reforma-
tion. And in 1690, the administration of baptism in private,

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 209

that is, in any place where, or at any time when, the congregation
is not orderly called together to wait on the preaching of the
Word, was strictly discharged by the General Assembly. And
although in 1720 the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr had occasion
to enjoin the observance of this Act of Assembly (1690),
Wodrow, writing in 17 18, says that "except in these two
cities (of Glasgow and Edinburgh) we know nothing of private
Baptisms through this National Church." All know what is
the custom in the Church now-a-days. In some parishes, there
are ten private baptisms for every one public baptism ; and
these private baptisms are never challenged as irregular,
unlawful, or deserving of censure. But there never was an Act
passed by the General Assembly, except that of 16 18 at Perth,
sanctioning or permitting baptisms in private.* The present
practice has simply grown out of the hardness of people's
hearts, and the softness of their minister's heart, and it would
be interesting to trace the rise and history of the practice in
particular parishes. The imperfect state of Session records,
however, prevents this being done, at least as clearly and fully
as might be wished by matter-of-fact persons.

Ever since the Reformation, ministers or Kirk-Scssions have
kept, with more or less regularity, registers of Baptisms. I
have seen and examined one that bore the date 1 569. These
old registers, however, were not always carefully kept, and in
1616 the General Assembly had occasion to ordain that "every

* In 1662, during the time of the second Episcopacy in the Church of Scotland
(Charles II.) the Presbytery of Aberdeen directed that neither private baptism nor
jjiivate communion should be denied to people when it was earnestly desired. It
may be asked if such a direction was not ultra vires of the Presbytery. Even
when the Act of Assembly, 1618, was in force, the Parliament said-(i62l) that
bnptism was not to be administered at home " except when great need compels. In
which case the Minister sail not refuis to do it, . . . and sail, the nixt Lord's
day efter, . , . declare in the Kirk that the infant wes so baptized."'

210 Old Chunk Lijc in Scotland.

minister have anc perfect and formall register, quherein he sail
have rcgistrat the particular of every baptisme of every infant
within his paroche, and quha wer witness thereto, . . and
that they have the same to be in readiness to be presentit be
every ane at their next Synod Asscmblic, under the painc of
suspension of the minister, not fulfilling the same, from his
ministry." And, to encourage ministers in this duty, it was
added that " quho so observes this Act, the Archbischops and
Bischops shall let them have their quoats of their testaments
gratis." The custody of these registers has now, by Act of
Parliament, been transferred to the Registrar General in Edin-
burgh, and their removal makes it more difficult for ministers
to trace the rise and decline in their respective parishes of
certain, baptismal customs. The journals of Kirk-treasurers
have not been carried off, and these show that in Mauchline
parish private baptisms were very common at the middle of
last century. During the year 1748 there were 28 fines, or
concessions, paid in to the treasurer, for baptisms administered
in private. Twenty of these were of 12s. Scots each, and the
others ranged from 4s. to i6s. each. And although such bap-
tisms were a violation of Church order, I cannot help remark-
ing that Church order was not in this instance clearly founded
on the evangelical principle professed by our forefathers, that
all procedure in Church ritual should be conform to the
precept or example of Scripture. It seems quite certain that
in the days of the Apostles, baptism was not ahva}-s, if ever,
administered in the place of public worship and in the face of
the congregation. The eunuch of Ethiopia, Cornelius the
centurion, St. Paul himself, and the jailor at Philippi were each
baptized privately. As an old writer, from whose pages I
iiave drawn liberally in these lectures, sa}-s, " one would think
that private baptism, backed with such fortifications, might

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 2 1 1

with confidence and assurance enough appear amongst others
of our sacred offices ; . . . for, it can draw its extraction
as high as almost any other part of our divine service."* All
the length, however, that the Church of Scotland has ever
gone, in the way of sanctioning baptisms not administered in
the Church and also in face of the congregation, is to allow
their ministration in private houses, provided the congregation
be orderly called together to wait there on the preaching of
the Word. And congregations, as well as ministers and Kirk-
Sessions, were for many a day very vehement in demanding
the rigid observance of this rule. One of the subjects of
complaint by his parishioners against the minister of May-
bole, in 17 1 8, was his baptizing children privately ; and the
answer, which the minister made to that complaint, shows
what was considered by him to be compliance with the laws of
the Church. " I never willingly," he said, " but in cases of great
necessity, baptized children except at diets of examination and
visitation in the remote parts of the parish, where I had a con-
siderable number of hearers, and I always preached before I
baptized ;] and at such times, I did what I could to convince
the parents that baptism is not absolutely essential to salva-
tion, and that many children unbaptized are saved." This
explanation set the minister right in the eyes of the Presby-
tery. It showed that on the subject of baptism, he was both
sound in doctrine and loyal to the Church.

It is proper to state, however, that there have been people in
the Church of Scotland who have taken a different view of
their minister's conduct in baptizing, or refusing to baptize,

* L'Estrange's Alliance of Divine Offices.

t " The preaching of the Word man preceid the ministratioun of the Sacramenlis."
Ane schorl somme of the Buik (first) of Discipline, etc. See Summary of Laws,
etc., of Church of Scotland, Aberdeen, 1S53, p. 114.

212 Old C/iiinh Life in Scotland.

children privately. Spalding relates, with great horror, that an
honest burgess of Aberdeen, in 1643, "causit bring to the Kirk
ane barne, quhilk his wyf had new borne, to be baptisit, bccaus
it wes waik, about twa cftcrnoon ; and convenit his gossopis and
cummeris, as the custom is. Then the father goes to the
ministcris to cum and baptize his barne, being waik, bot ilk ane
ansuerit efter uther they wold not baptize while cftcr the
lecture wes done. . . At last, the father causis ring the bell,
the soncr to make them cum to thair lecture, bot thay sat still
while the hour cam ; bot, befoir the lecture wes done, the sillie
infant deceissis in the cumeris armes at the pulpeit foot, without
benefit of baptism. The people fell all in murmuring and
amazement at the doing of their ministeris, and the father and
friendis convenit waxt wonderfull sorrowfull ; bot Mr. John
Oswald, who said the lecture, perceaving the barne to be deid,
said, since the barne is deid in the Kirk, causs burie it in the
Kirk." Apart from doctrine, modern feeling would certainly
be on the side of the father and friends, in this instance, and
against the ostentatious anti-papistry of the ministers.*

The Westminster Directory says that not only is baptism
not to be administered in private places or privately, " but it is
not to be administered, in any case, by any private person."
The only persons who are to administer baptism are the
ministers of Christ called to be the stewards of the mysteries
of God. The Church of Scotland has been very strict in up-
holding this rule, but other Churches have been more liberal

* The General Assembly of 1616, which was one of the Assemblies declared in
1638 to have been an illegal Assembly whose acts are to be reputed null and void,
enacted " that baptism shall no wayes be denyit to any infant, quhen ayther parents
of the infant, or ony uther faithfuU Christian in place of the parents, shall requyre
the same to the infant ; and that the same be grantit ony tynie of day, butt (without)
ony respect or delay till the hour of preaching." This old Act had e\"idently been
complied with by the ministers in Aberdeen till 1643.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 213

and tolerant in that particular. The old Christian fathers held
that, although contrary to ecclesiastical order, it was not
contrary to essential Christian principles for la}'men to
baptize ; " and this opinion," says a learned writer, " has been
practically the judgment of the Church in all later times, so
that, while lay baptism is forbidden as a rule, it has been
recognised in cases of necessity."* In 1583, the attention of
the General Assembly was called to the subject of " baptism
ministrat be laik persones, and such as hes no ordinarie
function in the ministrie of the kirk. And the generall kirk,
in ane voyce, concludit the same to be no legall baptisme ; and
that these that in the pretendit manner are baptized shall be
baptized according to God's word." In 171 5, the General
Assembly directed their Commission to take under considera-
tion the irregularities of certain deposed ministers and pre-
tended preachers, of whom John Adamson was one ; and in
1721, the Presbytery of Ayr had a letter from the Commission
of Assembly, in reference to people who had presented their
children for baptism to this Mr. John Adamson, " who was
never a preacher and is excommunicate." In response to this
letter, the Presbytery agreed that ministers should call before
their Sessions such of their parishioners as had been guilty of
that irregularity, and should "lett them know that the

* Smith's Diet, of Christian Antiquities. Luther says, "should an infant, on
coming into the world, be so extremely weak and feeble that there is danger of its
dying ere it can be carried to the Church, the women present should baptize it
themselves, in the usual form."— fable Talk. At the present day, the children of
Catholic parents in this country are sometimes, when weak, baptized by a nurse,
or midwife, or medical practitioner ; and the administrator is occasionally a good
Protestant Presbyterian.

Both in Episcopal {1670) and Presbyterial (1695) periods in the history of the
Church of Scotland, Acts of Parliament have been passed, forbidding any to
baptize children, except ministers of the Gospel authorised by law and the
Established Church of this nation. In 1712, a more tolerant spirit appeared in the
statute book.

214 Old Church Life in Scotland.

administration is null and void, and that the children are not
baptized." And courses similar to this were takxn by
ministers and Kirk-Sessions long before 1721. In 1708, a
man in Kilmarnock was cited to appear before his Kirk-
Session, for having had a child irregularly baptized by Mr.
M'Millan (founder of the Reformed Presbyterian Church), who
had then been deposed from the office of the ministry. After
questioning the man to little purpose, " the Moderator, in name
of the Session, represented to him the sad condition of his
child and so dismissed him."

The third and fourth of the main points in regard to
baptism that have given rise to controversy in the Christian
Church are, the lawfulness of infant baptism, and the ad-
missibility of persons unrelated to the infant to stand as
sponsors. On the former of these points nothing need here be
said, because the lawfulness of infant baptism never was a
subject of much disputation in the Church of Scotland.* In
regard to sponsors, the Westminster Directory states that the
child to be baptized is to be presented by the father, or in case
of his necessary absence, by some Christian friend in his place.
Baillie indicates that this finding by the Westminster Assembly
was by no means a foregone conclusion. " We " (that is, the
Scots and Presbyterians) " have," he says, " carried the parents"
presenting of the child, and not their midwives, as was their
(the Independents') universal custom." In 17 12, the General
Assembly specially enacted that no other sponsor than a
parent is to be received at baptisms, " unless the parents be

* "The Baptism of children," says Luther, "is distinctly enjoined in Mark x.
14, ' the kingdom of God is of little children.' We must not look at this text with
the eyes of a calf, or of a cow vaguely gaping at a new gate, but do with it as at
court we do with the Prince's letters, read it and weight it again and again, with
our most earnest attention." — Table Talk, 351.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 215

dead, or absent, or grossly ignorant, or under scandal, or
contumacious to discipline ; in which cases, some fit person,
(and if it can be, one related to the child) should be sponsor."
And some well informed people maintain that this was the
doctrine of the Scottish Reformers, and that it has been the
law in the Church of Scotland, except during periods of
Episcopal corruption, ever since the Reformation. One of the
canons of the French Discipline shows that, at the time of the
Reformation, there were sundry individuals in the Church who
insisted that they should, "by themselves, present their own
children " at baptism. These people, however, were in France
reckoned peculiar, and were " earnestly entreated not to be
contentious, but to conform to the ancient and accustomed
order." In the first days of the Reformed Church of Scotland,
the infant to be baptized was brought to the Church, " accom-
panied by the father and godfather.'' And these godfathers in
the Church of Scotland were not, as I have sometimes heard it
alleged they were, only witnesses, in the common sense of that
term, to the baptism. The father and godfather conjointly
presented the child, and they came conjointly under certain
responsibilities in respect of the child's upbringing.* Brodie
of Brodie, writing in 1652, says, in his diary, " I resolved to

*■ The latter clause of this sentence will be disputed by some authorities whom I
respect. It is founded on the assumption that the phrase, "you the father and the
surety," in Knox's Liturgy, means you the father and you the godfather. I have
heard it contended that this phrase means, "you the father who art surety," and
that the godfather was in the first days of the Reformation considered only a
witness. This was not the case in the Reformed Church of France : and the
Churches of Scotland and France were much akin in their constitutions. Pastors
in France were enjoined to "exhort all godfathers and godmothers to weigh and
consider their promise made at the celebration of baptism, and parents to choose
such sureties for their children as are " etc. What Knox meant by witnesses at
baptisms may be inferred from what he says in his description of the Liturgy of
England, when he uses the term 7vitnesses instead of sureties, as if he identified
them. See Works of Knox, Vol. IV. p. 25, or Calderwood, Vol. I. p. 293.

2i6 Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

have some eye on that son of J(;hn Cunnint(ham's U)X whonn I
stood ii|) in the baptism, and to brinc,^ him up at school awhile,
that i may see what the Lord's mind is towards him. This is a
necessary duty lying on me, and not indifferent."* And this
statement, it will be observed, was not made by an Episcopa-
lian or Ritualist, but by a zealous Covenanter and Presbyte-
rian ; and it was made when the Presbyterian discipline had,
in its utmost rigour, been established in Scotland for fourteen
) cars.

The word surety is often .used, by theological writers, to de-
scribe the nature of sponsorial duties at baptism. Both in the
Prayer Book of the Church of England and in Knox's Liturgy
the word occurs ; and, in both places, as a synonym for god-
father. The word, however, bears different meanings in these
two liturgies. The Anglican explanation of the term is given
as follows in the Alliance of Divine Offices : — "To take off the
supposed vanity of interrrogatories administered to infants,
who are in no capacity to reply, the Church, their most tender
mother, hath devised this expedient of assigning sureties to un-
dertake, in their behalf, what Christianity requireth from them."
It need scarcely be said that the view of baptism here express-
ed is altogether alien to our mode of thought in Scotland.
" The nature of the sponsion " in our Church is different, says
Dr. Hill, " from that prescribed in the Church of England.
There, the godfathers and godmothers promise, in the name of
the infant, that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and
constantly believe God's holy wo:d, and obediently keep His

•Among the "instructions proponit by his Majestie's Commissioners, in his
Majestie's name, for . . . establishing good order in ihe Kirk, and agreed
unto by the Assemblie," in 1616, was the following :— " That everie minister sail
minister the sacrament of Baptism, whensoever it sail be required, under the paine
of deposition, \.\\& godfather froriising to instruct the infant in the faith.'" — Calder-
wood VII. 230,

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 217

commandments. With us, the parents do not make any pro-
mise for the child, but they promise for themselves, that nothing
shall be wanting, on their part, to engage the child to under-
take, at some future time, that obligation which he cannot then
understand." In Knox's Liturgy, all that is required of " the
father and the surety " is a declaration of the sum of that faith
wherein t/iey believe, and in which they will instruct the child.
The person designated surety at baptisms in Scotland was,
therefore, not the child's vicar or proxy, but only one that was
held answerable for the child's religious education.

In the old baptismal registers of the Church of Scotland, it
was customary to enrol, besides the name of the child and the
names of its parents, the names of two other persons, who were
called witnesses. This form of entry appears in the Records
of Galston, with great regularity, from 1569 till after 1626, and
occasionally from 1637 to 165 1. It seems to be admitted on all
hands that these witnesses were what are elsewhere styled
gossopes or godfathers. And they were required to have qualifi-
cations similar to, or identical with, those required in sponsors.*

* The expression " witnesses or sponsors " may sometimes be met with in print.
See e.g. Stebbings' Notes on the Book of Common Prayer, under Public Baptism
of Infants. In the Book of Common Prayer itself, it will be found that godfathers
are, at the baptism of infants, called sureties, and at the baptism of adults, called wit-
nesses. This difference of designation is owing to their functions in these two offices
being entirely different. At the baptism of infants, godfathers make certain en-
gagements, as sureties, in name and on behalf of the children ; at the baptism of
adults, they only testify, as witnesses, that the persons baptized made these engage-
ments for themselves.

Calderwood states that one of the whims of the Brownists was to disallow wit-
nesses in baptism. Those called witnesses must, therefore (in 1584), have been
considered sponsors, as we have seen they were by Knox in his account of the Eng-
lish Liturgy. Baillie, in his Dissuasive, p. 119, says that the Independents "come
close up to the most rigid Brownists, denying baptism to the most part of Christian
infants . . . and they will have no stipulation made for the infant's education."'

In 1565, the Synod of Paris made a declaration regarding godfathers which ex-
plains the meaning of the word " witnesses " at baptisms. The object of godfathers,
the Synod said, is " to tcstifie the parents' faith, and baptism of tlieir child, and to
lake upon them its education in case of their death, etc.'" — Quick's Synudicon.

2i8 Old Church Life in Scotland.

In 1O15, the Kirk-Scssion of Lasswadc enacted that " nane be
admitted witnesses in children's haptisin, but sick as are in
some gud messur weill instructed in the heads of Christian rc-
h'gion, and in whom is found no notorious offence." It may be
confidently asserted, however, that the obh'gations required of
witnesses in baptism were in many cases not very seriously re-
garded, and that the witness-bearing was looked on more as a
demonstration of friendship than anything else. In 1622, the
Kirk-Session of Aberdeen, " considering the abuse laitlie crop-
pin in within this burgh, in that it is come in custom that
everie base servile man in the town, when he has a bairne to
be baptized, invites twelff or sixteen persons to be his gossopes
and godfathers to his bairne," whereas the old custom was to
invite not more than two, ordained that henceforth only two or
at most four persons shall be allowed to appear in that capa-
city. In 168 1, an Act of Parliament prohibited the attendance
at baptisms of more than four witnesses, in addition to parents
and children, brothers and sisters. But long after godfathers
ceased to be required at baptisms, it continued customary for
friends to escort and accompany parents to the christening of
their children. In 1670, the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock ap-
pointed the minister to " exhort the people, from the pulpit, that
they should not have much confluences at baptisms on the Sab-
bath day ; " and in 1720, the same Kirk-Session ordained that
"only so many women as are necessary attend infants that are
carried to the church to be baptized, and the Session think tliree
sufficient."

In the Session registers of Mauchline there are no cases re-
corded of godfathers accompanying fathers, at the baptism of
children, as was customary in the days of Knox and down to
at least the close of the first period of Episcopacy in the Church
of Scotland (1638), for the plain reason that our registers do not

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 219

go back to these old times ; but there are on record several in-
stances of persons, that had no relationship to the children,
standing as sponsors for them at their christening. In 1751,
there was a child of sorrow presented for baptism before the
Kirk-Session, and,"both parents remaining under scandal, Andro
Aitken, cooper in Mauchline, undertook, as sponsor, for the
Christian education of the child, and solemnly engaged to put
the parents in mind of their duty in this respect, and if they
failed, to perform the duty of a Christian parent himself" That
same year, the privilege of baptism was asked for a child born
seven months and twelve days after the marriage of its parents ;
but because it was born before the consignation bond expired,
and its father for some reason or other had not got himself ab-
solved from scandal, one of its grandfathers was requested to
become sponsor and engage for its Christian upbringing. In
1753, an unmarried woman applied for baptism to her infant.
She was told that she was not a fit person to undertake a
solemn charge, and that she must procure proper sponsors for
the child. Two sponsors were accordingly brought forward.
One of them was the child's grandmother, but the other is not
stated to have been any relation. He seems to have been just
a kindly old man, willing to oblige and help a neighbour —
selected, very likely, as being one of the most honourable of
the mother's acquaintances — and being a shoemaker to trade,
he was next best thing to being a schoolmaster, for if he had
not learning he must at least have had a stock of leather, and
was accordingly well equipped with one of the recognised in-
struments of instruction and reproof

We have now to consider the way in which our fathers in
the Church of Scotland dealt with the important question, —
who are to be allowed, and who are not to be allowed, the
privilege of baptism for themselves or children ? The Confcs-

220 Old Church Life in Scotland.

sion (jf Iviith says, " Not only those who do actually profess
faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one
or both believing parents are to be baptized." The terms of
some old Acts of the General Assembly are, if possible, still
more explicit. In 1602, it was "statute that the sacrament of
baptism be not refused to any infants, if the parents crave the
same, he giving a Christian confession of his faith, upon any
uther particular pretence." To this Act there was an " exten-
tione and additione " made in 16 16, by what has been called
the unfree and illegal Assembly of that year, to the effect, that
" baptisme shall no wayes be denyit to any infant, quhen
ayther parents of the infant, or oiiy utJier faithful Christian
in place of the parents, shall requyre the same to the infant."*
Nearly a hundred years later, namely, in 1712, the General
Assembly again declared that "all children born within the
verge of the visible Church of parents, one or both, professing
the Christian religion, have a right to baptism."

These declarations of baptismal rights were accompanied by
stringent orders on parents to have their children baptized as
early as possible. In 1621, an Act of Parliament was passed,
directing ministers " often to admonische the people that thai
defer not the Baptezing of infantis anye longer than the nixt
Lord's day eftir the chyld be borne." This was during the
first period of Episcopacy, when the State was somewhat
Erastian and Imperialistic, and trenched rather much on
spiritual ground. In the second period of Episcopacy, when
the persecution was inaugurated, a still more high-handed
measure was passed by Parliament. " Such persons," it was
enacted, "who shall hereafter keip their children unbaptized,
for the space of thirty days together, or shall not produce a

* The General Assembly in 1570 declared that the children of excommunicated
persons were to be received by a faithful member of the Kirk to baptism.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 221

certificat, under the hand of the Minister of the paroche,
bearing that the children wer baptized within the said space,
shall incur and be liable to the pains and penalties following."*
And, both during Episcopal times before the Revolution, and
in Presbyterian times after the Revolution, parents were taken
to task by the Church courts for deferring the baptism of their
children, and "contemning the ordinance." In 1688, it was
reported to the Presbytery of Irvine that a man in Newmilns
"had kept two children for a considerable time from Baptism."
An elder was, thereupon, named and appointed to deal with
the man, in order to " make him sensible of his contemning
the ordinance of baptism " : and it was agreed that, " upon his
public acknowledgment of his sin before the Congregation, he
should have his children baptized." The following year, 1689,
a Kilmarnock man appeared before his Kirk-Session, and after
confessing " his dishaunting the public ordinances and with-
holding his child from baptism for a year and a half, was
rebuked by the minister coram.'' In 1692, a parishioner of
Galston was ordered by his Kirk-Session "to appear before
the congregation, to be publicly rebuked, for his contempt of
the ordinance of baptism to his children, and to have them
baptized."

It may be asked, were no people refused the privilege of
presenting their children for baptism in olden times? The
Acts both of Parliament and General Assembly that have

* This Act, which was passed in 1672, was evidently levelled against the Presby-
terians, who would not bring their children for baptism to the Episcopal incumbents.
Four years previous to the passing of this Act, the Synod (Episcopal) of Galloway
ordained all ministers within their bounds to summon to their respective Presby-
teries "all such parents, as either have not, or in time coming shall not, within
forty days after the birth of their children, present them to their own Parish Minis-
ter to be Ijaptized ; and the Presbyteries are to censure such parents, as their fault
shall be found to demerit."

222 Old Church Life in Scotland.

just been quoted seem to imply that every man who professed
himself a Christian could demand the privilege, and that no
minister could refuse it. And this is very like the law of
Christianity, as set down in the New Testament. "Here is
water, said the Eunuch of Ethiopia, what doth hinder me
to be baptized? And Philip the Deacon said, if thou be-
lievest zuith all thine heart thou mayest!' * It was the prac-
tice of the Church, however, to disallow parents that were
either grossly ignorant, or under scandal, to present their
children for baptism. They had either to delay the baptism,
or provide properly qualified sponsors. In 1615, the Kirk-
Session of Lasswade ordained that " no children of ignorant
parents be baptized, except the father first lay ane poynd of
los., and a month shall be granted to learn the Lord's prayer,
belief, and ten commandments, with some competent know-
ledge of the sacraments and catechism, quhilk he performing,
his poynd sail be returned, otherwise forfeited." t The records

* The chief point of doctrine contended for by " the renowned Thomas Erastus,
Doctor of Medicine," was that no person "ought, because of his having committed
a sin or of his Hving an impure life, to be prohibited from the use and participation
of the sacraments with his fellow Christians, provided he wishes to partake with
them." The sacraments are means of grace and improvement, he said, and none
have more need of them than notorious sinners. As for baptism, he adds, John the
Baptist baptised all that came to him, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Publicans, even
although he denounced them as a generation of vipers. "And he did so, that they,
repenting of their former life, might reform, and so flee from the wrath of God that
was to come." — Thesis XI\'.

t Down to the time of the Westminster Assembly, it seems to have been the prac-
tice in Scotland for parents, at the christening of their children, to repeat the creed.
Haillie, in his account of the proceedings at that Assembly, writes : — " The Belief in
Baptisme was never said in England, and they would not undergo that yoke.
When they urged, we could not deny, but the saying by many wes a fruitless and
meer formalitie, and to others a needless weight ; and that the saying of the Com-
mands wes no less necessar. We gott the Assembly to equivalent interrogatories,
much against the mind of the Independents, and we were assured to have the
creed a part of the Catechism." — Vol. II., 258.

These interrogatories are not inserted in the Westminster Directory. The parent

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 223

of Mauchline Parish do not extend so far back as 1615, and
they contain no such primitive regulations anent baptism as
those of Lasswade, which I have now quoted. They shew,
however, that as recently as 1779, a man who had applied for
baptism to his child was subjected to a theological examina-
tion, which proved too hard for him. But he promised to read
up ; and on the strength of that promise, and of another pro-
mise of good behaviour, both of which he subscribed in the
Kirk-Session minute-book — where they still stand as a warn-
ing to all ignorant and ill-behaved persons — he was, by a
stretch of courtesy, allowed the privilege he craved. When a
man under scandal desired baptism for a child, the common
rule was, as it still is, to defer the baptism till the scandal of
the parent be removed. And some things were counted
scandals long ago that have dropped out of the category now.
In 1700, an application for baptism to a child was refused at
Galston, because the father " did not attend diets of catechis-
ing." He promised to attend in future, however, and having
submitted himself to rebuke for his previous non-attendance,
he was allowed to present his child. For aggravated sins of
the flesh, the old discipline of the Church was both very rigor-
ous and very protracted. It sometimes happened, therefore,
that if a child was to be baptized at all, it was necessary to
administer the ordinance before the parents had completed
their " course " of repentance. In such circumstances, Kirk-
Sessions sometimes adopted one procedure and sometimes an-
other. In 1689, application was made to the Presbytery of
Irvine by a man whose offences were many, to have his child

is simply required to give a solemn promise that he will bring up his child in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord.

It was a taunt of Bellarmine's, that the repetition of the Lord's Prayer and creed
at baptism was as much an addition to Scripture precept and example as was the
use of oil and the sign of the cross.'' — Kenaud's Discourse, y. Ii6.

224 ^I'^f^ Cluinii Life in Scot /and.

baptized, because it was " wcaklic and lyklic to die, and he
had stood nync Sabbaths in public.'' In this instance, liberty
was given to the man's Kirk-Session to do as they thought fit.
Another, and a common, mode of procedure was adopted at
Galston in 1694. A woman compeared before the Session of
that parish, after having stood several Lord's days in public,
and craved christening for her child, which was sickly. This
desire, it is minuted, the Session did grant, " upon condition
she gett a faithful sponsor to present the child ; and enjoyned
her to be present, and to undertake for the education of the
child, and withal to go on in the performance of her repen-
tance, till she be orderly absolved."

It sometimes happens that children grow up to manhood
and womanhood unbaptized. When these people desire bap-
tism, they have themselves to undertake vows, as parents
and sponsors do for children. They must, therefore, have
some personal qualification to entitle them to the ordinance.
They must, in the words of the Shorter Catechism, " profess
their faith in Christ and obedience to Him." And in the pre-
sent state of diffused education, ministers, in dealing with such
people previous to baptism, are put to little trouble. The
applicants are, in almost all instances, " indifferently wcill
instructit," or even very well instructed. But in olden
times the baptism of adults was often preceded by
tedious preliminaries. In 1705, a woman twenty-six years
of age presented herself before the Kirk-Session of Kilmar-
nock, and expressed her desire to be baptized. " She was
appointed to converse with some of the elders, in order to re-
ceive further instruction before her baptism." At the next
meeting of Session, the elders reported that " she had given a
tolerable account of her knowledge,"' but it was thought fit, not-
withstanding, that " she should attend the minister with some

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 225

of the elders on Munday next, in order to receive further
instruction, and for prayer." A more notable case of adult
baptism occurred at Kilwinning, in 172 1. In the family of
Eglinton there was a black servant, who desired to be received
into the Church of Christ. The minister thought it necessary
to bring the matter under the notice of the Presbytery, from
a hazy notion, I suppose, that there is some essential dif-
ference between black and white. The Presbytery were of
opinion that the baptism should not be gone about hastily or
hurriedly, but that the minister should, "for some time, take trial
of her conversation, and be at pains to instruct her in the prin-
ciples of religion, and afterwards report." In due course the
minister reported that he had been at the pains enjoined, and
that he thought she " might be admitted to partake of the
ordinance." The Presbytery, however, with punctilious regard
to sessional rights and functions, appointed her to be again
" examined before the Session before she be baptized." *

I have said that, from time immemorial, it has been custo-
mary for Kirk-Sessions to register baptisms. And there were
more reasons than one why such a register should have been
kept in every parish long ago. One, and the main, reason is
that baptism is the public and official declaration of a child's
admission into the Church ; and hence, the record of church
membership would be incomplete without a register of bap-
tisms. At the present day, Kirk-Sessions are strictly enjoined
to keep a register of baptisms, and to submit the same for in-
spection once a year to the Presbytery of the bounds. The entry
of names in the baptismal register is sometimes made by the

* The Reformed Church of France in the Synod at Lyons (1563) declared that
" A Maid brought from among Salvages, and not instructed in the Principles of
the Christian Religion, ought not to be baptized before she can give a rational
account of her faith, and that by a public confessions'^ — Quick's Synodicon.

226 Old Cliiink Life in Scotland.

niinislcr, .ind sometimes by the Session clerk ; and, by whom-
soever made, it is very unusual now, if it even be the custom
anywhere, to make charges for registration, l^ut at one time
fees were charged for the registration of baptisms. In our own
parish, no farther back than the year 1821, on the appointment
of a Session-clerk, it was expressly minuted by the Session,
that the fee for the "registration of baptisms" should be nine
pence, of which sixpence should go the clerk who registered,
and three pence to the officer who provided the element. And
it was quite reasonable that a small fee should be exacted for
registrations. Apart from the fact that it w^as payment to
church officials for work done, the registration of baptisms an-
swered nearly the same civil purposes as are now served by the
registration of births, which is paid for by parochial assessment.
Every person consequently derived a benefit from the registra-
tion of baptisms. By certificated extracts from the baptismal
register, he might establish his title to heritable property, or
prove his qualification to hold certain offices, the appointment
to which required a testimonial of age. It is said by some
people, however, that the fees for baptisms which we read of in
old Session Records were not fees for the registration of bap-
tisms, but fees for the written warrant to obtain baptism. In
Dunlop's Parochial Law there is a legal opinion quoted on the
question of fees for baptisms and marriages, and in that
declaration of opinion it is said, "as to baptisms, what is paid
on that account is for obtaining the Kirk-Session's order for
baptism, and recording that order."* We must accept facts as

* Wodrow, in 171 8, declares that a greater grievance than private baptism, is
the custom of session-clerks to give of their own accord, and very indiscriminately,
written orders for baptism, so that "ministers know nothing of who are to be
admitted, till the names are given up after sermon." In the records of the Presby-
tery of Ayr (1720), the following entry occurs: — "The Synod's Act and recom-
mendation, appointing the Act of Assembly, 1694, against private baptisms to be

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 227

we find them, however, and the following entry in the Galston
Records, of date 1640, shews that charges were in old times
allowed expressly for the registration of baptisms, " The officer
sail have for his service, of everie . . . outintounes baptism
4s. Scottis, and there sail be no more exactit of anie that cumes
to this kirk for all tyme cuming, except they desire the
baptisme registrat, and in that case to satisfie the reader
therefor, quhilk is hereby declared to be uther 4s. Scottis."
But, be that as it may, what we have specially to note
here is that, till within very recent times, there were
fees invariably charged at baptism. In 1673, the Kirk-
Session of this Parish minuted that the clerk should
have for every baptism 6s. Scots, and the officer 2s. The
same fees were re-appointed in 1703 ; and in 1821 the only
alteration made on them was an augmentation of the officer's
fee from twopence to threepence sterling. The Kirk-Session
of Kilmarnock were more economical. They made half a
merk, in 1670, cover all the expense at a baptism, and ap-
pointed 4s. of it to go to the Session-clerk, and 2s. 8d. to the
beadle. Two years later, complaint was made to the Session
that " the Beddall took a groatt for each baptism," instead of
2s. 8d., but the Beddall replied that he took no more than
what people pleased to give. In other words, he took a queue
from royal history, and exacted a " benevolence " from all
that dared not refuse his demands. He was found guilty,
therefore, on that and on other charges, and was made to
confess his sins before the pulpit. But he did not live and
cheat in vain, for in 1780 his large and liberal views of church

intimate, bearing also that session-clerks sliall not record or give up llic names of
children to be baptised, till the parents or sponsors have been (with the elder of
their proportion) at the minister of the parish where they live."

228 Old Church Life in Scotland.

wages were adopted by the Kirk-Session, and " for every
Baptism and Registration thereof 8d. sterh'ng was appointed,
including a groat for the church officer."

It was shewn, in last lecture, that Kirk-Sessions long ago
were at great pains to keep down jollifications at weddings,
and at the ingiving of names for proclamation. Their zeal in
that matter was doubtless whetted by the tendency of people
to go beyond the bounds of rational and sober mirth on these
nuptial and ante-nuptial occasions. There seems to have been
equal necessity for restraining festive proclivities at baptisms.
In 1 581, it was enacted by Parliament "that na banquettis salbe
at onie upsitting eftir baptizing of bairnes in time cuming, under
ye pain of ;^20, to be payit be everie persone doar in the con-
trair." In 162 1, the Parliament proceeded further, and enacted
that " no person use any maner of deserte of wett and dry con-
fectionnes, at banqueting manages, baptismes feasting, or anye
meallis, except ye fruittes growing in Scotland, as also feggis,
raisings, plum dames, almondis, and uther unconfected fruittes,
under ye paine of 1000 merks toties qiioties"* But these laws
did not put down christening feasts. At Kilmarnock, in i/Or,
loud complaints were made in the Kirk-Session that banquets
were held on Sundays in connection with baptisms. t "For

* There arc laudable exceptions to most rules, and in 1566 there was considerable
liberality shown by the Estates at the baptism of King James VI. To meet the
expenses incident on that ceremony the sum of ;^i2,cxx) Scots was voted, "sax
thowsand pundis to be peyed be ye spiritual! estait, four thowsand pundis be ye
baronis and frehaldaris, and twa thowsand pundis be ye burrowis." The occasion
for such a large vote by Parliament is explained in the preamble of the Act in which
the vote was declared — " Forsamekill, as sum of ye grittest princes in Cristendome
hes ernistlie requirit of oure souerane yat be yair ambassadouris yai may be witnesses
and gossepes at ye baptisme of yair maisteris derrest sone, ye native prince of yis
realme : quhais requisitioun being baith ressonabill and honorabill, yair maisteris
hes gladlie condiscendit yairunto."

t In 1695, t^'s Kirk-Session of Greenock gave orders that "persons having their
children baptised on the Sabbath day abstain from keeping banquets and conveer^-
ing people at such occasions on that day, whereby much idle discourse and ain may
be evited."

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 229

preventing all such abuses in time coming, the Session ap-
pointed children to be baptized on the weeklie sermon day,
except in case of necessity." This new rule, however, did not
suit the convenience or taste of the Kilmarnock people.
Either the love of old customs was strongly ingrained in the
hearts of that conservative community, or there was a disin-
clination to be saddled with a week-day sermon ; for, in spite
of sessional exhortation, parents brought their children to
church for baptism on Sundays, as their fathers and their
fathers' fathers from time immemorial had done before. In
1720, the Session were exercised again with the profanation of
the Sabbath by baptismal banquets, and they ordained, under
pain of censure, " that none make or hold feasts at baptizing
their children on the Lord's day." Either piety or poverty
seems to have restrained the good folks of Mauchline from
these Sunday rants, for there is no reference to such orgies in
any part of our extant Session Records. But at christenings
in Mauchline there was some good cheer going, in a quiet
way. In a case of disputed paternity which came before the
Kirk-Session in 1736, the mother was asked "what pre-
sumptions she could give against James Golightly (we shall
call him), as being the father of her child." In reply to that
question, she answered " that the said James had employed his
father, James Golightly, senr., weaver, to stand as sponsor for
the child, and the said weaver's wife to buy and prepare the
food for the christening feast." And surely, it may be argued,
that if there were joy and rejoicing at the christening of such dis-
owned and unwelcome children, there would be greater gladness
of heart and wealth of good cheer at other baptisms, to which
there were no concomitants of either censure or consignation.
I presume also that no one, at this time of day, will deny that
there ought to be sonie friendly greeting of every little stranger

230 Old Church Life in Scotland.

that comes into the world to share our lot, and help us to bear
our burdens.

I now pass on to the subject of burials, and will endeavour
to shew what cognisance of these was taken by the Church
Courts in olden times.

The Church of Scotland has always discountenanced religious
ceremonies at burials. The Book of Common Order, called
Knox's Liturgy, states that at burials " the minister, if he be
present, and required, gocth to the church, if it be not far off,
and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people,
touching death and the resurrection." Both the First Book of
Discipline, 1560, and the Westminster Directory, discourage at
least, if they do not absolutely prohibit, religious ceremonies at
funerals. In the First Book of Discipline, the Reformers said,
" for avoiding all inconveniences, we judge it best that
neither singing nor reading be at the burial," and that
" the dead be conveyed to the place of burial with
some honest company of the kirk, without either singing
or reading, yea, without all kind of ceremony heretofore
used, other than that the dead be committed to the
grave with such gravity and sobriety as those that be present
may seeme to fear the judgment of God, and to hate sin,
which is the cause of death." * The Reformers, in like
manner, discountenanced and argued against the use of ser-
mons at burials, although they were not ignorant that some
people were in favour of such addresses, "to put the living in
mind that they are mortal!." The Westminster Directory for
public worship proceeds on almost the same lines as the First

* The General Assembly, 159S, "ordained that no pictures nor images be car
ried about in burials." At Westminster, in 1645, Mr. Hill said that one thing
which might be hinted at in the Directory is that there is no necessity for the
corpses being carried into Church, — Minutes of West. Assembly, p. 14.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 231

Book of Discipline in reference to burials. It says, " When
any person departeth this life, let the dead body upon the day
of burial be decently attended from the house to the place
appointed for public burial, and there immediately interred,
without any ceremony. And because the custom of kneeling
down and praying by or towards the dead corpse, and other
such usages, in the place where it lies, before it be carried to
burial, are superstitious : and for that praying, reading, and
singing, both in going to and at the grave, have been grossly
abused, are no way beneficial to the dead, and have proved
many ways hurtful to the living : therefore, let all such things
be laid aside." The Westminster Divines maintained that
burial is not, like either marriage or baptism, a part of minis-
terial work.* "There is only one thing," said Mr. Marshall,
" worthy of your consideration in this business, whether the
minister, when he is present, may give a word of exhortation.
To say he should be invited to be there, as a minister, would
press far that it is a ministerial work." The Assembly's con-
clusion was that, while the Christian friends attending the
burial should apply themselves to suitable meditations and
conferences, " the minister, as upon other occasions, so at this
time, if he be present, may put them in remembrance of their
duty." On the subject of funeral sermons, there was a long
discussion at Westminster. " We have, with much difficulty,"
says Baillie (II. 245), "past a proposition for abolishing their
ceremonis at burial," i.e., the ceremonies previously observed

• How important a part of religious ritual Christian burial was accounted by
Charles the First and the Canterburians, as the Episcopal clercy in Scotland were
termed, may be inferred from the tenor of the Royal warrant, 1633, anent apparel
of Churchmen :—" For all inferior clergymen, we will that they preach in their
black gowns, but when they reade dyvine service, christen, biirye, or administer the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, they sail wear their surplices ; and if they be
doctours, thair tippets over thame."

232 Old Church Life in Scotland.

in England, "but uw\ difference about I'uncrall sermons seems
irrcconcilcablc. As it hcs been here and everywhere preached,
it is nothing but ane abuse of preaching, to serve the humours
only of rich people for a reward. Our Church," i.e., the
Scotch Church, "expresslie hes discharged them, on many
good reasons ; it's here a good part of the minister's lively-
hood, therefore they will not quit it. After three dayes debate,
we cannot jfind yet a way of agreeance." So obnoxious to
the Scottish Presbyterians of that period were funeral ser-
mons, that on the occasion of the burial of Pym, in 1643, ^he
Scots Commissioners at Westminster would not listen to the
sermon that was preached. " On Wednesday," says Baillie,
" Mr. Pym was carried from his house to Westminster on the
shoulders, as the fashion is, of the chief men of the Lower
House, all the House going in procession before him, and
before them the Assembly of Divines. Marshall had a most
eloquent and pertinant funerall sermon — which we would not
hear, for funerall sermons we must have away, with the rest." *
In the Session Records of Mauchlinc there is nothing said
about the religious service at funerals in olden times. Strictly
speaking, there was, as we have seen, no religious service

* In ancient times, there was a great deal of oratory, all over Christendom, at the
burial of eminent men, and especially of eminent Churchmen. "The body, being
in solemn pomp brought to the church, was placed in media ecdesia, over which,
before interment, there was usually made in praise of the dead a funeral oration,
and sometimes more than one. For, as I said before of sermons upon other occa-
sions, so at funeral solemnities, orations were performed by many, the first at the
end of his harangue usually raising up another. So St. Basil, in his eloge upon
St. Barlaam, says — " But why do I, by my childish stammering, disparage this
triumphant martyr ? Let me give way for more eloquent tongues to resound his
praise, let me call up the louder trumpets of more famous Doctors to set him forth.
Arise, then, I say." Alliance of Divine Offices, 301.

Funeral orations did not originate in Christianity, although Christian hopes gave
them a new impulse. They were customary in Rome before Christianity was
heard of.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 233

either prescribed or recommended by the Church. It was not
even considered necessary that either a minister or an elder
should be present at a funeral. The Westminster Directory
only says that the minister, when present, may, if he choose,
remind the funeral company of their duty. Mr. Morer, writ-
ing in 1715, expressly says that in Scotland "burials are made
without a minister. He is seldom seen at their most solemn
funerals." In one of his printed letters, James Boswell, the
biographer of Dr. Johnson, gives an account of his wife's
funeral at Aucliinleck, in 1789. The account is not very ex-
plicit, nor does it represent the common Presbyterian customs
in Ayrshire at the time, but it is to some extent instructive,
and may be here quoted in part. With amiable vanity, the
widowed husband begins his narrative by remarking that " her
funeral was remarkably well attended. There were nineteen
carriages followed the hearse, and a large body of horsemen,
and the tenants of all my lands." He then adds, " it is not
customary in Scotland for a husband to attend a wife's funeral,
but I resolved, if I possibly could, to do her the last honours
myself, and I was able to go through it very decently. I
privately read the funeral service over her coffin in presence of
my sons, and was relieved by that ceremony a good deal. On
the Sunday after, Mr. Dun (minister at Auchinleck) delivered
almost verbatim a few sentences, which I sent him as a charac-
ter of her." *

It may be said that ostensibly there was no funeral service
long ago at the burials of people in Scotland, at least of such
people as adhered to the Presbyterian Church. There were
devotions, and sometimes very long devotions, at the house
from which the funeral started, but these devotions were not in

* Boswelllana, p. 151,

234 Old Church Life in Scotland.

connection with tlic interment. They were simply a grace be-
fore, and a thanksgiving after food. In those days, grace was
said not only before regular set meals but over such a slight
and casual refreshment as a glass of wine.* And at funerals, at
least at the funerals of well-to-do people, and especially in the
country, there was always an extravagant luncheon provided.
This luncheon, of beef and bread, or cheese and bread, as the
case might be, with its accompaniment of diverse liquors, was,
as if in insolent mockery of ecclesiastical terms, called the ser-
vice. And it was no make-believe collation, at which people
only put a glass to their lips, and chewed the cud of mournful
reflection on the tiniest morsel of an under-sized biscuit. Stalwart
men ate what would have served for a long day's march ; and, in
many instances, they poured down their throats a huge bicker
of strong ale, a full glass of the richest mountain dew, a glass
of port flavoured and fortified with logwood, and a docJi an dor-
roch of Jamaica rum, or something else equally luscious and
potent.* It behoved that such entertainment should be pre-
ceded with grace, and concluded with thanksgiving ; and it was
by way of sanctifying the feast, not of solemnizing the burial,
that any thing in the shape of a prayer was heard at funerals.

* Morer (17 15) states that in Scotland " ministers crave a blessing on what they
eat or drink at any hour, though only a quaff of wine or a glass of beer." This
custom survived in Ayrshire within the memory of men still living. A practical
joke, which low fellows were prone to indulge in, was to invite a sober serious man,
if an elder so much the better, into a public house, and get him to say grace over
every gill of whisky they called for. The process was continued, gill after gill, as
long as the power of utterance was left to the befooled simpleton, and the story was
told afterwards with glee as a brilliant exploit of profound humour.

t A small refreshment seems to have been occasionally provided by Kirk-Sessions
at the funerals of paupers. In 1676, the Kirk-Session of Galston ordained their
Treasurer "to pay 27s. for a sheet " (no word of a coffin) "to a poor woman that
dyed in (the Parish). As also, he is ordained to pay 2s. 4d. for a pint of ale to thes
who buried her." A Scotch pint of ale was equal to very nearly three English pints,
or very nearly 4^ of the common pint bottles now in use.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 235

And the graces that were said before and after funeral feasts were
long exercises of devotion, which occupied from fifteen to thirty-
minutes each. They were generally performed by laymen, who
had a local reputation for talents in that line, and they were
not infrequently remarkable specimens of earnest and impres-
sive supplication. At times, however, they furnished occasion
for derisive comment. They were, now and again, made the
vehicle of sarcastic reproof and pretty sharp invective. They
were sometimes adorned, too, with sallies of wit and humour,
and spiced with Corinthian feeling. At a funeral in this parish
rather more than fifty years ago, two gifted celebrities from the
regions beyond were present, and to each of these distinguished
visitors a post of honour was in courtesy assigned. One of
them, a miller by trade and a churchman by religious profes-
sion, was asked to say grace in one of the rooms where a ser-
vice was handed round, and the other, who was a farmer and
seceder, was invited to return thanks in the same apartment,
The miller, ^in saying grace, restricted his remarks to the occa-
sion in hand ; but the farmer, in returning thanks, was carried
away by an overmastering spirit of religious, or shall I say
sectarian, fervour, to speak of churches that were faithful and
churches that were not faithful. With all the delicacy of high
art, he referred in sorrowful terms to the spots and wrinkles on
the aged face of her who is the mother of us all — the old Kirk
of Scotland — and then, in glowing colours, he depicted the pure
complexion and the love-lit eyes of the young daughter of
Zion — the Burgher Kirk — that had now pitched her tent and
was spreading her skirts in the land. All this, and a great deal
more that was hard to bear, the miller could easily have borne,
if, as in common debate, he had had the right of reply, but
having already had his say, his mouth was closed. He was not
naturally a vindictive man, who loved to render in double mca-

236 Old CliiircJi fAfe in Scotland.

sure railin;.,^ for railin^r ; but in this instance, he could barely
conceal his mortification, at being outdone or overreached by
his rival, and he was heard muttering in chagrin, as many a
man will doubtless do at the close of a life of neglected oppor-
tunity, " I wish ; oh, I wish I had another chance."*

Some writers say that it is only about fifty years since the
custom of asking a blessing and returning thanks at funeral
luncheons was introduced, and that previously the refreshments
were partaken of ungraced. I cannot but think that the cus-
tom is, in this part of the country at least, of much older
standing, for I never heard any old man speak of a time when
no such custom prevailed in Ayrshire. In the account of the
centenarian, who died at Brechin in 1883, it is stated that in
the days of her youth, " there was always (at funerals in the
country), a religious service in the barn : after which, refresh-
ments were handed round in several courses." In fact, punc-
tiliousness in the matter of saying grace was an ancient and
outstanding feature in the Scottish form of piety. Bishop
Burnet says that, in the days of Charles I. and Cromwell, the
Covenanters said grace both before and after meat, sometimes
for the length of a whole hour.t It is related of John Welsh,

* Competitive prayer was too common an amusement in Scotland lifty years ago,
among grave seniors. At an agricultural society's dinner in an Ayrshire village,
about sixty years since, an elder in the Kirk was asked to say grace. This he did
in the usual discursive way, praying, among other things, for a blessing on the
labours of the husbandman, so that what was sown should in some cases spring up
ten, in some twenty, and in some thirtytold. On the principle of religious equality
a representative of Dissent was chosen to return thanks, and he improved on the
previous grace by praying that what was sown should spring up in some cases thirty,
in some sixty, and in some an hundredfold. To the credit of the company and the
surprise of the thanksgiver, this superabundant zeal in the cause of agriculture was
not well received. Odious comparisons were provoked, and one person expressed
his bucolic notions of propriety in an audible remark — " Greedy bodies thae Dis-
senters : the elder was decent."

t Little more than thirty years ago, an acquaintance of my own, a Divinity
student, paid a visit to an old-fashioned friend, and was asked at dinner to say

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 237

who was minister in Ayr in 1604, that " before dinner he had
family exercise, first sung a psalm, and then discoursed upon
it." And the reference that Burns makes to "half-mile graces"
shews that in his day a long grace uniformly preceded meals,
in all houses where religion was decidedly professed. That
there could have been in Scotland, especially in the covenanting
districts of Scotland, funeral luncheons without grace, seems to
me therefore almost incredible.*

And I have to remark here that, although in olden times
there may have been cases in which ostentatious professions of
piety were insincere, there were in the devotional habits of our
fathers and forefathers a singular serenity and elevation of
mind, which we cannot but admire and honour. Doubtless,
therefore, if we had seen the old-kirk miller and the
burgher farmer in their own homes, where they prayed in
secret, and led simple lives, regardless of men's praise, we
should have seen, beneath their sectarian zeal and their spiri-
tual vanity, a great deal that was loveable and noble, true and
good.

Whatever may have been the way in which people employed
themselves, it is certain that a most extraordinary amount of
time was spent at funerals long ago. In Mauchline Session
Records there is a very curious entry, dated 19th December,
1 77 1, which may here be quoted verbatim, to illustrate the
funeral customs of that period. " The Session," it is minuted,
" considering that the manner in which the burying of the dead

grace. He did so, but to his bitter humiliation. On his closing with amen a brief
petition of two clauses, the lady of the house glared on him for a moment in con-
temptuous amazement, and then turning to her husband, said authoritatively to that
compliant functionary, " Go on yersel, gudeman."

* Captain Burt, who wrote in 1740, says that in the first half of last century,
"when the company assembled, the Tarish minister commenced a religious service,
which continued about forty minutes."

238 Old Church Life in Seal hind.

is conducted consumes a great deal of time unnecessarily, in
regard that the invitation fixes ordinarily ten o'clock in the
forenoon as the time of attendance, notwithstanding the corps
is not lifted until about three or four in the afternoon, being at
the distance of five or six hours from the time appointed for
neighbours to attend. It is, therefore, the unanimous opinion
of the Session that the regulations in respect to burials agreed
upon by the Session of Galston be adopted for this Parish,
which regulations are as follows." (The regulations are not in-
serted in the Mauchline Register, and they are not to be found
in any of the minutes of Galston Session cither.) " The Session
also agree that a coppy of these regulations be extracted for
each elder, in order to his getting the heads of famileys in
every several quarter to declare their approbation, and assent
to the same by their subscription."

What, in the name of wonder it may be asked, could people
be doing for five or six hours at a house where a corpse was
waiting for burial, and where a family was plunged in deep
affliction ? It is difficult to understand how a luncheon, with
grace before and after, could be protracted over such an un-
conscionable length of time. But a funeral was a grand and
general convention, and when people went to a funeral in
Mauchline, in 1771, they just made a day of it, till Daddy Auld
and his Kirk-Session put an end to that misorder.

It need scarcely be added that drunkenness was a not infre-
quent concomitant to funerals long ago.* And Kirk-Sessions

* It is well known that Christian burials were, in very ancient times, accompanied
with demonstrations of joy and triumph. According to the Apostolic statement,
that death is great gain, the burial of a Christian was regarded as something like
the carrying of a saint to his glory. Sometimes branches of palm and olive were
borne aloft by the friends of the deceased, and at other times, if the funeral was at
night, torches and lamps were used as in a bridal procession. The mourners, too,
as they wont along to the grave, chanted hymns of faith and hope — "Dear unto the

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 239

did not wink at the scandal. Drunkenness, whether at bap-
tisms or burials, marriages or markets, was a sin which Kirk-
Sessions took strict cognisance of, and frequently visited with
censure. In 1782, the Kirk-Session of Mauchline took their
beadle and grave-digger to task for being drunk at a funeral,
and, with a benignant air of mercy, let him off with a private
rebuke, on his promise of good behaviour for the future.*

At the present day, we never hear of drunkenness at a fun-
eral— at least never in this district — but we are in the habit of
associating drunken orgies with wakes. These wakes are a
Catholic custom, and they are now-a-days quite unknown
among Scottish Presbyterians. They continued to be held,
however, in this country long after the Reformation. In 1645,
they were specially discharged by the General Assembly
and the fact of their having been discharged that year
implies that they were then of not infrequent occurrence. So
recently, moreover, as 1701, the General Assembly thought it
necessary to revive the Act of 1645 anent lykewakes, and to
appoint the Act to be publicly read in churches before congre-
gations. And what a strong hold the practice of keeping wake
over their dead friends had on people's feelings, is shown by
the Protestant but anti-covenanting historian, Spalding, in his
memoirs of the troubles in Scotland. Among the detestable
innovations introduced into Aberdeen by Andro Cant in 1642,
says Spalding, was the discharge of lykewakes, so that dead

Lord is the death of his saints. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully with thee." How different these songs of joy from the Bacchanalian
jollity at burials a hundred years ago !

* One would think that the allowance to sextons for digging graves, was not so
liberal as either to encourage or enable them to get drunk upon it. In 1676, the
Kirk-Session of Galston allowed their officer a groat for digging the grave of a
pauper ; and in 1736, they fixed the scale of burial fees at 8d. for cottars and small
tenants, and a shilling for heritors and others — "or more than a shilling if they
choose."

240 Old Church Lijc in Scotland.

bodies had to "lie all niqht on board without company." liut
that innovation, he adds with a chuckle, Mr. Cant could not
get established. In Mauchline, as well as in Aberdeen, there
were lykewakes held two hundred years ago.* And the Kirk-
Session did not attennpt to prohibit lykewakes, as the Act of
Assembly directed. Public feeling had apparently been too
strong in the parish for the Kirk-Session's venturing on such
high handed procedure. It was only the abuses of lykewakes
that the guardians of parochial morality interdicted here. In
1672, public intimation was appointed by the Session to be
made "against disorders and scandalous carriage at lykewakes,'
which was very proper, whether lykewakes were in themselves
good or evil. And, following this intimation at a distance of
three years, there is a curious entry in the Session's disburse-
ments, which in the absence of correlative information is of
suggestive significance. Two paupers had died in the parish
and the Kirk-Session allowed for their winding sheets
a sum of i^3 los., and a further sum of 3s. " for to-
bacco and pipes that night they were waked." It might

* Wakes were an institution in Galston also. In 1676, the Kirk Treasurer was
ordained " to pay 2s. 4d. for a half pound of candle, made use of in waking of the
poor woman dyed in the Underwood." In 1695, the Kirk-Session of Greenock,
" taking into consideration the great abuses committed by crowds of people fre-
()uenting light- waks" (^iV in printed extracts), . . "appoint the elders and deacons
in their several quarters to lake narrow inspection, when any person die there, that
none be allowed to go and stay over night where these light-waks {sic) are, but such
as are near friends and so concerned, and whom necessity may oblige to be present,
that these spend the time by edifying discourse." In 1728, a man appeared before
the Kirk-Session of a parish in the Central Highlands, and confessed "that he had
a fiddler in his house at the Leick-wake of a dead person, but said he did not think
it a sin, it being so long a custom in this country." . The Kirk-Session, however,
pronounced it "a heathenish practice," and instructed the minister to "represent
fi\>m the pulpit how indecent . . such an abuse was." They likewise applied
to the Civil Judge to suppress the scandal, and obtained "an Act of Court" prohibit-
ing under severe penalties all fiddling at Leickwakes in time coming. — See Scottish
Church, March, 1SS6.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 24 1

be supposed that the tobacco and pipes here referred to
were meant for the entertainment of the watchers. If so,
great must have been the Hberality of the old Kirk-Session of
Mauchline, in 1675. But such liberaHty on the part of strait-
laced Covenanters is simply incredible, and we must look for
some more feasible construction to put on the words of the
entry. It is certain that, whatever may have been the custom
two hundred years ago, it was quite common one hundred years
ago to distribute pipes and tobacco to the company at funerals.
The centenarian I have so often referred to used to tell that, in
her youth, she had witnessed this custom ; and that " the pipes,
being stuck by the men into the bands of their hats, gave a
very odd appearance to the procession, as it filed along to the
kirk -yard." And it is matter of current tradition that, a hun-
dred years ago, it was customary in this part of the countr}',
when a death took place, for one or two women to be set to
watch the corpse by night. The object of this watch was not
to guard the soulless body from dishonour, at the hands of
vagrant evil spirits ; but to protect it from mutilation by rats
and cats. And an occupation frequently provided for these
female warders, during these weird weary nights, was to prime
the pipes for the funeral. It is not unlikely, therefore, that the
3s. put down in our Session books, in 1675, to the cost of a
wake, was only part of the modest funeral expenses of two
friendless paupers.

The custom, still prevalent in Ayrshire, of having a number
of friends and neighbours convened at coffinings is sometimes
represented as a relic of the old Popish lykewakes. It may be
so, but I rather think not. In 1686, an Act was passed by the
Scottish Parliament, that, with a view to encourage the manu-
facture of linen, no corpse should be dressed for burial in any
shirt or sheet except of plain linen, made and spun within the

242 Old C/iiin/i fJ/c in Scot/and.

kingdom, without lace or point. In 1707, this statute was not
simply recalled or repealed, but it was more nearly reversed.
The use of Scotch linen for winding sheets was prohibited,
and good loyal subjects were ordered to array the corpses of
their friends in plain woollen cloth. Hut, whether in linen or
in woollen cloth, corpses had in old times to be wound in some
specified material, and in no (jthcr. Care had to be taken,
therefore, that this instruction was duly attended to. Another
Act of Parliament was accordingly passed, in 1695, ordaining
that "the nearest elder or deacon of the Paroch, with one
neighbour or two, be called by the persons concerned, and
present to the putting of the dead corps in the coffin, that
they may see the same done : and that the foresaid (order
anent the winding sheet) be observed." The coffining of a
corpse is no more a religious service than is the washing or
dressing of the corpse ; and the presence of a minister or elder
on the occasion, with or without one or two neighbours, is not
a thing that either the law of the Church or the nature of the
operation on hand requires. It seems to me that ceremonial
coffinings, when no practical object is to be served by them,
is an unnecessary stimulation of grief ; and that, although they
include a service of prayer, which at any time and on any
occasion is a thing that is good, they might, without any dis-
advantage or impropriety, be abandoned, especially since there
is now, whenever it is in the minister's power to be present,
devotional exercise in the house of the deceased on the day of
burial. The real cause for an elder's presence at coffinings long
ago was to see that the corpse was sheeted according to law ;
and the elder attended for that purpose, not so much in his
ecclesiastical as in his quasi constabular capacity. He was
called in, simply, as the most convenient public official to act
as inspector or policeman, and report.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 243

In the Session Records of Mauchline there is an entry, of
date 28th December, 1675, which is open to two different con-
structions. It records a resolution or ordinance of the Kirk-
Session, " that none hereafter shall take upon them to buy a
cofine to any poore that shall die heirafter in this Paroch with-
out consent of the Session." I shall not make any hyper-
critical remarks on the structure of this minute, as if it meant
to say (what it actually does say) that if any poor people
should die in the Parish witJiotit consent of the Session, they
should, for such contempt of ecclesiastical authority, be de-
prived of the honours of coffining altogether. I shall assume
that what the Session meant to say was, that no coffin should,
without consent of the Session, be purchased at the Session's
cost, for the interment of any poor person who should die in
the Parish. But what does that mean ? It may mean that no
individual elder was to order a coffin at the Session's expense,
without the Session's consent. Such resolutions had often to
be passed by Kirk-Sessions to restrain the indiscriminate liber-
ality of some of their members. No farther back than 175 5?
the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock ordained that "coffins were
not to be allowed by single elders, but by the whole Session :
and coffins were not to be granted when there were clothes
and other effects belonging to the deceased, that if roupcd
could provide a coffin."

There is another construction, however, that may be put on
the Mauchline resolution of 1675. The Session may have
meant that the poor were to be buried without coffins. And
this construction is to some extent supported by other entries
in the Session Records. These records date from Deer. 1669,
and for the first six years thereafter, ending Deer. 1675, they
contain, so far as I have noticed, only three entriesof payment for
coffins. In Feb. 1674, there was " givin for a coffinc and sheet

244 Old C'/iiiirh Life in Scollmid.

to William Saurc, £df los. ; " and in April, 1675, there was
given for a coffin to a child, i<S.s., and " for a cufinc and sheet to
John Boswall, ^4." On the other hand, there arc entries of
payments for winding sheets without coffins in 1675. On the
22nd June, there was "given for two winding sheets to John
Gordon and his wife, i^3 los ;" also, "for a winding sheet to
George Boyd, £2 2s. 6d.," and " for a sheet to John Allan, £\
15s." In September of the same year, there was also "given
for a sheet to a poor man, ^i 15s." Immediately following the
ordinance of the 28th Deer., that no coffin should be bought at
the Session's expense without the Session's consent, are these
words, "given for a sheet and cofine to James Loudoun his
wife, ;^3 6s." It is just possible, therefore, that the Session
had been grumbling at the cost of the three coffins in Feb-
ruary, 1674, and April, 1675, and had been restricting their
funeral outlay on the poor to the purchase of a winding sheet,
when Mrs. Loudoun's death occurred ; and that in consequence
of the extravagant outlay on her burial, they had then to warn
their treasurer to give no further orders for coffins to the poor,
till he had the Session's authority.

There can be no doubt that in very ancient times it was cus-
tomary in this country to inter the dead uncoffincd. "From
Bede we learn that . . the common people, 'both in the
Saxon and the subsequent Norman and English eras, were
simply wrapped in cloth, and so put into the ground." * But,

* Chambers' Encyclopedia, Article "Coffin."

Il was not always in cloth that corpses were wrapped. In Wilson's Prehistoric
Annals of Scotland, it is related that in a stone coffin found at Dunfermline was "a
singular leathern shroud, which remained in good preservation, although the body
it was intended to protect had long mouldered into dust. The prepared leathern
skin is double, and had been wrapped entirely round the body, like the bandages
of a mummy."

One or two scenes in "Hamlet" show that, in framing that tragedy, the great
dramatist had in his mind's eye burials without coffins. When Hamlet, for in-

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 245

both in towns and in rural parishes in Scotland, the custom
continued among the poor long after the Reformation. Some
writers have gone the length of saying that it continued in the
northern isles down to the middle of the present century. One
of the highest of living authorities on such subjects has said
that " it was the Poor Law Act, which by obliging the inspec-
tor of poor to defray the expense of a wooden coffin and decent
burial for all penniless or friendless unfortunates, finally extin-
guished in Scotland a custom which had survived in one form
or other from the time when the first burials were made in its
soil." Another gentleman writes to me that he was
assured by a late eminent antiquary that in Buchan,
till quite a recent period, only the gentry were buried
in wooden coffins. From enquiries I have made on the
subject generally, and into particular alleged cases, I have
come to the conclusion that the custom did not linger so
long in any part of Scotland as the foregoing quotations indi-
cate. The Parish of Ness, in the Island of Lewis, was specially
mentioned to me as a place where, " till quite recently, no one
was buried in a wooden coffin."' My informant kindly referred
me to his authority, and that latter authority referred me to
his, till ultimately I learned the name of the gentleman who
was said to have been originally responsible for the statement.
From him I ascertained that it is " upwards of a hundred
years since the custom referred to ceased at Ness." From
other parts of the country, I have had information to the same
effect. A clerical friend, near Montrose, writes to me that in
his Parish the custom is spoken of as one that was discontinued

stance, asked the clown "How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?" the
answer was " If he be not rotten before he die (as we have many corses nowadays
that will scarce hold the laying in), he will last you some eight year or nine year — a
tanner will last you nine year."

246 Old Church Life in Scotland.

"over a hundred years since." A minister in Suthcrlandshirc
writes to me, that at Rogart, " in the bec,nnninf( of this century,
local paupers were still occasionally "' interred without coffins ;
and that a minister of the Parish, who died in 1873, spokc of
the matter as "an objectionable practice, of which, as a High-
lander, he was more than half ashamed." This old minister
used to tell also, that " poor men who had neither sons nor
near relatives, whom they could trust to secure them more
decent burial, sometimes prepared their own coffins, with such
suitable pieces of planking as came in their way." Whether
any burials without coffins took place in the south-western and
central districts of Scotland a hundred or a hundred and fifty
years ago, I am not prepared to affirm. All the references to
such interments that I have found in Session records are of
older date.

It may be asked, how were uncoffined corpses conveyed to
the church-yard ? In the year 1 563, the General Assembly or-
dained that " a bier should be made in every countr}^ parish, to
carry the dead corpse of the poor to the burial place, and that
those of the villages or houses next adjacent to the house where
the dead corpse lieth, or a certain number out of every house,
shall convey the dead corpse to the burial place, and bury it six
feet under the earth." * This bier was sometimes called the

* In ancient Christian burials, " the body was placed on a bier, sometimes in a
coffin. There is reason, however, to think that the bier and the coffin, by whatever
word described, were generally one. The coffin was without a lid, and the face of
the corpse was often exposed during the procession." Smith's Dictionary of
Christian Antiquities.

In the play of "Romeo and Juliet," a device is proposed, whereby Juliet may
prevent the consummation of her marriage to Paris. She is bidden quaff the
contents of a phial, which will throw her into a trance,

"And, in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death,
Thou shall continue two-and-forty hours.
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 247

parish coffin ; and, as illustrating the ancient use of the word
coffin in this sense, a modern dictionary gives the following-
quotation from an old church-warden's journal — " for mendynge
of coffin that carrys the corses to church." Entries almost
identical with this may be found in some of our Scottish
records. In 1596, a bier was ordered by the Kirk-Session of
Glasgow "to be made for funeralls ;" and in 1598 another bier
was " ordered to be made, and the old one mended." An or-
dinance more explicitly worded was passed by the Kirk-Session
of Perth in 1602, that "the master of the hospital, with all dili-
gence, cause make ane common mort kist, whereby the dead
corpses of the poor ones may be honestly carried unto the
burial." I have said that there are grounds for concluding
that, in 1675, the poor in Mauchline, who could not provide a
coffin for themselves, were buried without one. That is not a
matter of certainty ; but it is certain that in 1675 burials with-
out coffins were customary in Galston. One of the ministers
of that parish, Mr. Alex. Blair, a zealous Covenanter, and a suf-
ferer for Christ's crown, died about the beginning of 1674, and
bequeathed 200 merks to the Kirk-Session, to be " disponit .
. . for such pious and charitable uses as they sail think
requisit." One pious use to which the Session thought that
part of this mortification might be applied was the purchase of

To rouse thee from thy bed, there thou art dead.

Then (as the manner of our country is),

In thy best robes, uncovered on the bier.

Be borne to burial in thy kindred's grave. "
A Highland minister informs me that at the present day, in his part of the
country, there are both biers and coffins used at burials. The coffin is borne on a
frame which is called a bier. "The bearers dispose themselves in couples, and
march rank and file. The foremost four couples raise the bier and proceed. After
they have gone a few score yards, they are relieved by the next four couples, and
retire to the tail of the procession. Two persons, walking alongside of the bier,
are charged with the duty of ordering a change of hands, and of seeing that the
couples maintain their order and take their turn of carrying."

248 Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

a jiarish ccjffm for the poor, as ai)pcars frtjin the following
miiiulc, dated i/th Nov., 1675, "The Session havinj^ formerly
ordained two common coffins for the poor to be made, and they
now being made, the price of the dails, iron work, and making
thereof, extending in whole to the sum of ;^i i 5s. 2d., which J.
Campbell is ordained to pay out of the two hundred merks left
by Mr. Alexander Blair (late minister), for the public and pious
uses of the parish." *

The biers for conveying the dead to their graves were doubt-
less of different structures. Possibly, some of them may have
been skeleton frames like those in the Hebrides on which
coffins are placed. f In that case, the corpse would be covered
only by a mortcloth. In other cases they were kists or coffins.
The traditionary account in some places is that they were
closed boxes — like modern coffins — that the lid or one of the
sides was hung on hinges, and that the corpse when lifted out
was lowered into the grave by ropes. In Sutherlandshire, it
was "a long basket, made of twisted rushes, the rim being
strengthened to preserve its form, and was called ' sgnlan
ruJiairbJil or the dead hamper. Through three pairs of side
handles or loops short crowbars were passed, for convenience

* In 1641, the Kirk-Session of Galston paid to "William Richmond, wright, for
ane comoune buriall kist, ;^4." Among the "uttcncills of the Church" of St.
Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, in 171 1, was "a beer for burying of poor strangers."
(Leaves from the Bulk of the West Kirke, by George Lorimer, Esq.)

tOn Christmas day, 1875, ^n eccentric squire in Yorkshire died, and left in his
will directions for his burial. These were carried out by his groom, to whom was
bequeathed the whole estate of the deceased, on condition that the groom would
see that the instructions in the will were faithfully executed. " He was buried in
his own garden, in the centre of the graves of his cattle which died during the
rinderpest. He was laid out in full hunting costume, including spurs and whip,
and was carried from the house to the grave on a coffin board, when he was placed
in a stone coffin, which, weighing upwards of a ton, had to be lowered by means of
a crane." Notes on the Survival of Pagan Customs in Christian Burial, by Joseph
Anderson, in Proceedings of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, 1S76.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 249

of carriage ; and it was lowered into the grave by ropes, so
attached to it, that it could be quietly canted over and re-
covered." So far from its being the case that the passing of
the present Poor Law Act was the occasion of the discontinu-
ance of burials without coffins, it suggested to people in some
parishes the advisability of resuscitating the old custom. The
passing of that Act led to the imposition of rates, which were
felt at first as a very onerous tax, and there was a disposition
to minimise the rates by every form of economy. A worthy
minister in Galloway, whose soul was daily vexed by the cry
of the ratepayers' burdens, and who was much exercised by
the question how these burdens might be lightened without in-
jury to the poor and with benefit to the community, thought
in his simplicity that the old custom of burying without
coffins was a scriptural and divine precedent, which might very
well be followed in the case of poor people who had no friends.
He proposed, accordingly, in the Parochial Board, that " a slip
coffin " should be made for the poor, out of which the poor
bodies might be slipped into their narrow bed. The proposal,
however, found no favour or support in the Board, and met
with such an outcry in the parish, as a piece of cruel parsi-
mony, that the well-meaning minister went ever afterwards by
the nick-name of Slip.

We have seen that at Galston the cost of a " common burial
kist," that is, a slip coffin for the poor, was, in 1641, ^4, and in
1675 nearly £6. The cost of such a coffin as was allowed the
poor when they were buried in wooden boxes was much less.
At different dates between 1641 and 1675, when the Parish
kist seems to have been out of repair or not available for some
other reason, the allowance given by the Kirk-Session of Gal-
ston for coffins to paupers was about 30s. each. At Mauchline
the price of coffins varied very greatly at different dates. In

250 Old Church Life in Scotland.

1679 it was £i\ in 1706, 30.S. ; and in 1747 llic Kirk-Scssion
ordained that 40.S. Scots, and no more, should be c^nven f(jr the
largest coffin paid for out of the poor's money.*

It docs not fall within the scope of this lecture to discuss
forms of burial in Scotland in either pre-Christian or pre-
Reformation eras. There is a very ancient form of interment,
however, which has been continued in some of the Northern
districts of Scotland down to nearly the end of last century, if
not even to the first part of this century, and which accordingly
it is proper for me to notice. When people were interred with-
out coffins, it was not always into an open trench or grave that
they were laid, and in which they were covered with common
earth. There was sometimes a chamber prepared for them.
Unhewn slabs were set on their edges against the sides and
ends of the grave ; and when the corpse was placed inside, one
or more flat stones were laid over the top, for a lid, and above
all there was a covering of earth and turf. " Along the nor-
thern and western coast there are," says Dr. Joseph Anderson,
" isolated burials of the bodies of shipwrecked sailors, some-
times in considerable groups, in shallow graves above the
beach, in which the bodies have been laid in cists made of
flat stones, gathered from the neighbouring strand." And
although most of these cists may be supposed to be very
ancient they are not all so. " I have seen," says the same
writer, " on a northern headland the grave of a man, a suicide,
whose grandchildren are yet alive, and I know it to be a cist
of small slabs from the neighbouring beach, with a single
covering stone seven or eight feet long. I own that when first
I saw it I would have taken it for a pre-historic burial, had I
not been made acquainted with its history."

* In 1686, it was ordained by Act of Parliament that no wooden cottin exceed
100 merks Scots.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 251

The making of graves was a matter that, to some extent,
and especially in very old times, came under ecclesiastical
supervision ; and the Church was far more alive, than is
commonly supposed, to the necessity of orderly and sanitary
interment. People were not allowed to employ whom they
chose to dig graves in the burial common, and to dig them
either where or in what manner they pleased ; but there was a
person in every parish appointed to the office of grave digger,
and furnished with regulations for the performance of his
duties. In 1576, the General Assembly "thought meet that in
every Parish there be persons to make sepulchres, and notify
to Readers the names of persons deceased." The Assembly
also, as far back as 1563, enacted that all corpses should be
buried " six feet under the earth." Although the Church, how-
ever, laid down from time to time many good regulations for
burial, and although natural feeling should have taught people
that there is no office, religious or secular, that should be minis-
tered with more reverence and delicacy, more outward seemli-
ness and orderly arrangement, than interments, the fact can-
not be denied that at funerals in Scotland dishonour is often
shewn to the dead and grief inflicted on the living. In 1660,
it was customary in Bute to bring corpses to the church-yard
before their graves were dug, and leave them on the surface of
the ground till the graves were " hocked." To put an end to
this indecency, the Kirk-Session of Rothesay ordained that, "in
time coming, the grave be hocked before the corps comes to
the Kirk-yard, under the pain of 40s., to be paid by him whose
duty the Session shall find it is to look to the dead's buriall."
At the present day, too, graves in many church-yards are
scandalously shallow, and the quantity of human bones cast up
at interments forms a loathsome and painful spectacle.* It is

*The minister o{ Dutiiill, in Elginshire, recently declared on oath, in the Court

252 Old CI lurch Life in Scotland.

impossible, as long as people adhere to the custom of laying all
the members of their family, generation after generation, for
hundreds of years, in the same grave, to devise any regulations
that will both secure depth of interment and prevent the expo-
sure of human bones. Kirk-Sessions have generally done what
they could to minimise these evils. In 1796, for instance, the
Kirk-Session of this parish represented to the heritors that in
appointing a new grave-digger it would be well to "cause him
be particularly careful, whilst he is digging any grave, to collect
the human bones into one place, and, as soon as the corpse is
interred, to replace the bones wholly in the grave, before he
casts in the mould." And with most commendable considera-
tion for the pockets of the parishioners, the Session likewise
represented that the grave-digger should be ordered " to pre-
serve the turf growing on the surface of every grave he digs,
and place the same again on the top, without charging the
concerns for a turf."

In recent years, a great deal has been done to promote
seemly and sanitary interment, by the extension of burial
accommodation, and the dissociation of burial ground from the
shadow of the church. This modern innovation on burial cus-
toms was long ago advocated by the Brownists. One of the
leaders of that sect wrote in 1590, "where learned you to burie
in hallowed churches and church-yards, as though ye had no
fields to burie in. Methinks the church-yards, of all other
places, should be not the convenientest for burial ; it
was a thing never used till Popery began ; and it is
neither comely nor wholesom." But although the Church

of Session, that within the last twelve years he had seen in the churchyard of his
parish "piles of coffins and heaps of human bones, sometimes with flesh on them,
and that he had witnessed dogs bounding over the fence with some of these flesh-
covered bones in their mouths. "'

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 253

of Scotland, during at least all the Presbyterian periods
of her history, openly and scornfully repudiated the
fantasy that churchyards are holy ground, she had, till very
recently, a lingering notion that the environs of a church are
the proper place for the burial of Christians. Baillie instances,
as one of the " crotchets not a few " of the Brownists, in things
concerning worship, that " not so much as a Churchyard must
be kept up for Burial, but all must bury in the fields." And it
must be admitted that, apart from religious sentiment, there
was at one time a strong practical reason for burials being
made in churchyards. It was the simplest means of ensuring
publicity of interment, and it thereby gave society some pro-
tection against deeds of darkness.*

It was a common practice long ago to bury unbaptized
children apart from the faithful members of the Church. That
custom was a relic of Popery, and was a distinct con-
travention of Protestant principles. In 1641, the Synod of
Fife ordained that "all these who superstitiouslie carries the
dead about the Kirk before burial, also these who burie unbap-
tized bairnes apart, be taken notice of and censured." Suicides
and excommunicates were also, like unbaptized bairns, at one
time buried apart, and under cloud of night. In 1582, the
Kirk-Session of Perth refused to allow the corpse of a man

* In 1645, complaint was made to the Scottish ParHament that in the parishes of
Dairy and Kells numbers of people had to be buried in the fields, the houses in
which they lived and died being twelve miles from a churchyard. And it was for
that, among other reasons, that the district of Carsphairn was erected into a separate
parish. In connection with this erection, it may be mentioned that in 163S a sup-
plication was presented to the General Assembly, "in name of the Kirk of Cars-

fairn, which church lyes in a very desolat wilderness It was built by

some gentlemen, to their great expenses, only out of love to the salvation of soules
of a number of barbarous, ignorant people, who heirtofore hes lived without the
knowledge of God, their children unbaptised, their dcid uiiburicf, and cuuld no
way for getting maintenance to a minister, but to betake them to the sympathizing
of zealousness. "

254 Old Church Life in Scotland.

who had drowned himself to be "brou^i,dit through the town in
day hght, neither yet to be buried among the faithful, . . .
but in the little Inch within the water."* The modern spirit of
Christianity is more sympathetic, and adds no reproach to either
sorrow, or mental weakness.

The sentiment that led people to seek interment in the hal-
lowed ground of the church-yard, led others to covet the still
higher privilege of interment within the precincts of the church
itself. And many a saint lies sleeping in the house where,
when living, he used to sing and pra}'. People of rank and dis-
tinction acquired right of burial within particular churches, and
they set great store upon that right. But this form of inter-
ment was on sanitary grounds very objectionable, and the
fathers of the Reformed Church in Scotland did what they
could to put an end to the practice. In 1576, the General
Assembly passed an Act discharging burials within churches,
and appointing contraveners to be suspended from Church
privileges. In 1643, the Assembly again inhibited all persons
" of whatsoever qualitie, to burie any deceased person within
the body of the kirk, where the people meet for hearing of the
word." Custom, sentiment, and fancied right, however, proved
too strong for Church laws.f Long after 1576 and 1643,

* The north side of the churchyard used to be reserved for the burial of the un-
baptised, the excommunicated, and those that committed suicide. Hence, writes
^Vordsworth,

" 'Tis said that some have died for love :
And here and there a churchyard grave is found
In the cold NortKs tinhallozved groumi,
Because the wretched man himself had slain,
His love was such a grievous pain."
tin 1573, an extraordinary scene took place in Mauchline Church, which is thus
recorded in the Book of the Universal Kirk, published by the Maitland Club (the
minute does not occur in the book of the same title edited by Mr. Peterkin): —
■' The ministers, elders, and deacons of the Kirk of Mauchline complained to the
General Assembly upon Mr. John Hamilton, son to umquliill Sir William Hamil-

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 255

burials continued to be nnade within the walls of churches. In
1695, the Kirk-Session of Kilmarnock minuted an agreement
that, the north aisle of the church being now filled with pews,
" they shall, when required, cause lift six pews on each end,
next to the north wall of the isle, so oft as any of the families
of Rowallan, Craufurdland, and Grange, shall have occasion to
bury their dead ; . . . and, after burial, the said pews shall
be set up again in their places, at the expenses of the Session."
In a recent number of the Scottish Church an extract is given
from the Session Records of a Highland parish, showing that
in 1727 "the commons did commonly bury within the church,
so that the floor of the church was oppressed with dead bodies,
and unripe bodies had of late been raised out of their graves
to give place to others for want of room, which frequently
occasions an unwholesome smell in the congregation, and may
have very bade effects on the people while attending divine
worship." And the Session seem to have felt their powerless-
ness in contending with " the commons " in this matter, for
they agreed to petition the Presbytery to " put a stop to such
a bade practice." *

The prohibition of ceremonies at funerals shall not extend,
the Westminster Directory says, to the denial of civil respects

ton of Sanquhar, and others, that upon the 3rd August last by past, being the day
of their communion, and they sitting afternoon in their Session, they acconipanyed
with 200 persons or thereby, brought with them the corps of the said umquhill Sir
WiUiam ; brake the doors of the kirk, being closed ; . . . brought in the said
corps ; overthrew and brake down their table boords, whereupon the blessed sacra-
ment,was ministered the same day ; and in place thereof buried the said corps (not-
withstanding the said Sir William was, at the time of his departure, a parochinar
of another paroch), so that it behoved them to rise from the Session, to depart out
of the church, and give place to their rage and fury." The Assembly, having con-
sidered this complaint, gave orders that all the parties guilty, as above libelled,
should satisfy the kirk of Mauchline.

' Sometimes the commons despised ecclesiastical orders, and, without asking
permission, made graves within the church in a clandestine way.

256 Old Church Life in Scotland.

and deferences. An Act of Parliament, however, passed in
1 68 1, not when grim Presbytery but when gay T^piscopacy was
estabh'shcd in the land, imposed limits on these civil respects.
Noblemen were forbidden to have at their burials more than a
hundred peers and gentlemen, and thirty mourners ; landed
gentry, under the rank of Barons of quality, were restricted to
thirty friends and twelve mourners.* No pencils, banners, nor
other honours were allowed to be borne, except the eight
branches on the' pale, or on the coffin when there was no
pale : and mourning cloaks were forbidden to be used, either
at funerals or at any other time. By an earlier Act of Parlia-
ment, 162 1, "duilweiddis " and " saullies " were limited accord-
ing to the rank of the person buried. But these enact-
ments had exclusive reference to people of rank, whereas
our object is to describe the bearings of Church life and Church
rule upon the common people more particularly. For them no
banners were borne at funerals, and no " saullies " walked in
stately procession. Almost the only form of civil respect
extended to them was the tolling of the church bell. Even
this, at an early period, was unusual. A bell, nevertheless, was
in ver}' old times rung at all funerals. The sexton, or a substi-
tute, walked in front of the funeral company ringing a hand
bell as he went along. In the printed records of the Burgh of
Glasgow there is an entry, shewing that in 1577 "the auld bell,
that ycd throw the towne of auld at the buriall of the deid
(was sold) for the sum of ten punds mone\-." I am happy to
inform the public that the old bell which was carried and
rung at funerals in this Parish long ago has not been sold, but

* There was probably need for some Act of Parliament to restrain expenses at
funerals. On the funeral of a minister, who died in 16S7, there was "debursit"
^160 Scots, and in the inventory of his estate it was recorded ^^debita exccduiit
bona" I Fasti.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 257

is preserved at the Manse with particular care, and whenever
the Heritors or Kirk-Session can find a safe public place for
its reception, it will be surrendered as a parochial antiquity of
some local interest. It is sometimes said that the object of
carrying a bell in front of a funeral procession was to ring-,
at proper intervals, for a halt and a change of hands at
the spokes ; and I was told that the hand bell was so used
in this Parish. I cannot think, however, that that was the
original use of the mort bell. In 1621, the Kirk-Session of
Dumbarton ordained that the " beddell, John Tome, and his
successors, should ring the mort bell before all persones de-
ceased within toune, for sic pryses as the minister and Session
sail set doune."* The ringing of the mort bell was just a
funeral custom, a mark of civil respect, like the tolling of
the church bell at present : or, possibly, it had its origin
in the superstition that the ringing of bells drove away
evil spirits. It must at one time have been by some good
people considered "a human and Popish invention"; for,
in an Act of Aberdeen Council, 1643, the tolling and ring-

* During the early part of last century the church officer of St. Cuthbert's, Edin-
burgh, walked in front of every funeral party, ringing a hand bell. (Hist, of West
Kirk, p. 35). In Inverness, in the 17th century, there were two sets of funeral
bells— "big bells for the rich, small for the poor." In 1708, a dispute about pro-
prietary rights arose between the Town Council and Kirk-Session of Ayr, and
among the articles seized by the Town Council was "the hand bell that goes for the
dead." The words italicised admit of two meanings, and may apply either to a
passi7ig\i€\\ or a burial bell. At Galston, the gravedigger was, in 1762, allowed
"2d a mile going in ringing the small bell, and 2d each burial for ringing the big
bell."

The practice of ringing a hand bell at burials is very ancient. In the Pardoner's
Tale, Chaucer says : —

" These three young roysterers, of whom I tell,
Long ere prime had been rung on any bell

Were sitting in a tavern, there to drink ; \

And as they sat, they heard a hand bell clink
Before a corpse being carried to his grave. '
Q

2$i^ Old Church Life in Scol/aiid.

\\v^ of bells arc included amon^^ the " superstitious rites
used at funerals," which arc to be discharged. Spalding
states that this prohibition was made at the instance of
Andrew Cant " and his fellows," who would have a hand bell
rung through the town to proclaim who had died, but would
have no ringing of bells at burials. There is nothing in our
Session Records to shew what was the practice in this parish,
with regard to the ringing of bells at funerals, during and
previous to the ministry of Mr. Veitch. Apparently it
was not unusual, before 1696, to have the bell — I presume the
church bell — tolled at funerals ; and apparently no charge was
made for that mark of respect, for in 1696 the Session, con-
sidering the number and indigency of poor people in the
parish, minuted that they " thought it reasonable that whoever
desired the tolling of the bell, at the funeral of their relations,
should pay some small quantity of money to the kirk trea-
surer, to be disposed of for the poor's use."* The number of
entries of bell-penny in the treasurer's accounts shows that,
from this date down to very recent times, the tolling of the
bell became a common part of funeral solemnities.

From a very early period, mortcloths were considered

* Two years later, in 1698, the Kirk-Session of Fenwick ordained that "any
persons who desire to have the church bell rung at the burials of their dead shall
pay in to the treasurer 14s. Scots for the poor, and 6s. to the bell-man." Similar
ordinances were passed about the same date by other Kirk-Sessions in AjTshire.
In 1720, the heritors of Galston, "considering that the bell belongs to them of
right, agreed that all who desired to have the bell rung on such occasions should
pay I2s. Scots each at least;" and this resolution the Kirk-Session approved. It
was decided in the civil court, in 1 730, that the money arising from the ringing of
bells and burj'ing within the church does not properly belong to the poor, but
may go for reparation ol the church fabric. There were apparently not ver)' many
people that cared to pay for the tolling of the church bell at their friends" funerals
150 years ago. During the year from October, 1731, to October, 1732, the great
bell in Kilmarnock was tolled for funerals only seven times, and the fees for that
service amounted to ;^2i Scots.

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 259

essential to complete the equipment of a funeral. Indeed, in
some parts of Scotland, if not over Scotland generally (and
not very long ago, either), it was customary to have the mort-
cloth brought to the house where the dead was lying, and kept
over the corpse till the time of lifting.* And it is obvious that
if the dead were either interred uncoffined, or, as directed
in a Proclamation of Council in 1684, in coffins undecorated
with fringes or metal work, the use of a mortcloth was neces-
sary on the score of decency. But now that coffins are all
covered with cloth, or else made of fancy wood, and are more
or less ornamented, mortcloths are no longer required as
trappings. Far more appropriate would it be that, in the last
office we render to our near and dear ones, some little decora-
tions expressive of love and sorrow should be placed above
the coffin; and none can be more appropriate than the common
flowers which nature herself provides.! The bearing of a coffin
shoulder-high is a mark of public honour which none dis-
approves or condemns. The decoration of the coffin with
loving fingers is the last act of affection that friendship can
render ; and this, too, it seems to me, should not be forbidden
but encouraged. There is a sense of relief and a kind of satis-
faction in throwing gifts on those who leave us forever on
earth, and it is right that sorrow should be allowed to find all
the consolations it can, even though such consolations should

'' The Kirk-Session of Glasgow, on i6th Nov., 1598, ordered "a black cloatli
to be bought to be laid on the corpses of the poor.'"

t At the beginning of last century, coffins were in Scotland covered with large
black cloths, on which were spread herbs and flowers ; and in the funeral proces-
sion some walked in front of the coffin, more behind the coffin, and in the rear
there followed a company of women (Morer). Sometimes frankincense was used
for odorous or deodorising purposes. A minister in Perth died in 1719, and the
following bill for his death and burial was presented to his executors :— Funeral
charges, ;i{^23i 6s. Scots; doctor's fees, ^'75 12s.; drugs furnished, and frankincense
for corps and coffin, £12 4s. Fasti.

26o Old Church Life in Scotland.

Iiavc their roots in vanity. But that apart. Mortcloth.s were
in request long ago, and as a rule they were both rich and
handsome coverings. The first wc read of in the Session
Records of this parish must have cost a goodly sum, for in
1672 there was paid ;^io 12s, 4d. as completion of the price of
the mortcloth, which implies that something more had been
previously paid. In Mr. Auld's day a new mortcloth was got,
and it was made of Genoa velvet with furniture conformed, as
a with the view of defeating, by an ingenious device, the object
of the obnoxious proclamation of 1684. That proclamation
discharged the covering of coffins with silk and fringes, and this
mortcloth was a covering made of velvet and fringed.

As everybody knows, there spring up now and again parti-
cular crotchets which take hold of the public mind for a time,
and then fall into oblivion. In the year 1777, there was an
extraordinary commotion over the country about the danger
of people being buried by mistake before they were dead, es-
pecially in cases where the supposed death arose from drown-
ing. The greatest care, it was averred, should be taken in
pronouncing any one dead ; and, lest what seemed death
should only be a trance or a faint, it was recommended that
interments should always be delayed till it was impossible to
doubt that death had really occurred. A communication on
the subject was addressed to the Presbytery of Ayr by the
Board of Police, calling the attention of the Presbytery to an
advertisement, which contained suitable directions for the re-
covery of persons drowned or half drowned, and a list of the
articles requisite for that restorative purpose. It was stated
that these articles could be Jiad (and therein probably lay the
cause and explanation of the whole stir) from Lawrie & Co.,
druggists, at the head of Niddry's Wynd, Edinburgh. The
Presbytery, with bccomiug courtesy, directed their Moderator

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 261

to write to the Board of Police, acknowledging the Board's at-
tention to the public welfare, and intimating the Presbytery's
hearty concurrence with the Board in all measures for the pub-
lic benefit. The Presbytery, likewise, recommended to all
ministers within the bounds " to intimate the propriety, and
even necessity, of not burying the dead too suddenly, in regard
there have been many instances of apparent deaths that have
turned out not to be real." The Kirk-Session of IMauchline,
on receipt of this sage deliverance, gave orders at once for a
set of Lawrie's instruments, for the use of the parish ; and
stated in their minutes, as a very good reason for such extra-
vagance, that the instruments were as applicable for persons
that had been frozen, suffocated, or hanged, as for those that
had been drowned. Whether the instruments were ever put in
use in Mauchline, and if so, with what degree of success, our
Session Records give no indication. It may interest some peo-
ple to know what the instruments were, and what were the
directions issued for the restoration of persons seemingly dead
from drowning or hanging. First of all, there were in one brass
box, a fumigator, a flexible tube, and an ivory pipe ; and this
assortment of articles cost los. Secondly, there were, in an-
other box, a spare flexible tube and a spare ivory pipe, four
wooden pipes for blowing into the nostrils, and two flint glass
vials, filled with spirits of wine to be applied to the wrists ; —
which articles, with the box for holding them, cost 13s.
Thirdly, there was " separately, for blowing into the lungs, a
pair of bellows," which cost 6s. The accompanying instruc-
tions were so numerous and lengthy that it would be tedious to
detail them in full, but the following are among the most note-
worthy. First of all, it was said that, in removing the dead
body of a drowned person to a convenient place for operation,
great care should be taken that the body be neither bruised

262 Old Church Life in Scotland.

nor violently shaken — that, for instance, it be neither rolled
over a barrel nor upon the ground, and that it be neither car-
ried over any one's shoulder, with its head hanging down, nor
be lifted up by the heels that the water may run out of the
stomach. No one will call in question the prudence and im-
portance of these directions, if the state of parochial stupidity
rendered them necessary ; for there can be little doubt that a
half-drowned man, alternately suspended by the heels and
rolled over a barrel, would have little chance of ever again
finding his way back to the water, even for the most innocent
sanitary purposes. To recur to the instructions, however, it
was next stated, that after having been conveyed to the place
appointed for operation, and been well dried with a cloth, the
body should be brought to a proper degree of temperature.
With that view, it was not to be placed too near a large fire ;
but was to be gently warmed by hot bottles, hot bladders, or
hot bricks laid to the soles of the feet, over the joints of the
knees, and under the armpits. " The warmth most promising
of success was that of a bed or blanket properly heated, and
what had been found in many cases very efficacious was the
skin of a sheep fresh killed, or the natural and kindly heat of
a healthy person lying by the side of the body." After " the
subject " had been so treated, stimulating processes were to be
instituted. One attendant was to place his mouth on the
patient's ; with one hand to hold the patient's nostrils to-
gether, then with might and main to blow into the patient's
lungs ; and with the other hand to press and squeeze the
patient's chest, so as to imitate the act of breathing. A
second attendant was, by means of a fumigator or a pair of
bellows, to inject tobacco smoke into the patient's bowels. A
third attendant was all this while to be rubbing the body with
a coarse towel, dipped in brandy, rum, gin, saltwater or vine-

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 263

gar, and applying spirits of hartshorn to the temples and
nostrils. As soon as signs of returning life began to shew
themselves, the patient was to be bled, either from the arm,
the jugular vein, or the temporal artery. His throat was then
to be tickled with a feather to cause vomiting, and his nostrils
were to be pinched with snuff to cause sneezing.

The process of restoration was both elaborate and costly.
Exertions were not to be remitted for two hours at least ; and
the operators, who during that space of time had used the
means above mentioned, were for their pains to receive the
sum of two guineas although success had not followed, and the
sum of four guineas if the person thought dead had been
brought to life. In addition to this payment, the Presbytery
recommended that a half-crown should be given to the messen-
ger who first brought, to the parish doctor or parish minister,
the intelligence of a drowned person being taken out of the
water, and that every publican, who without hesitation received
into his house " an unfortunate object of this sort," should have
his expenses paid and a guinea to boot.

This craze, for it can be called little else than a craze, about
the restoration of persons seemingly dead, does not appear to
have long retained its hold of the public mind. But there are
people still alive who remember the wide-spread consternation
that existed in regard to the pillage of graves for subjects of
dissection. Stories, which made children's hair stand on end,
were current about conveyances rattling along the road in the
middle of the night, with freights of newly buried bodies that
had been lifted from their resting places. The excitement
over this matter was brought to a crisis in 1828, by the
revelations made in Edinburgh at the trial of a lodging-house
keeper named Burke, for the murder of people whom he had
inveigled into his den and sniothered when they were asleep.

264 Old CImrch Life in Scotland.

It was elicited that murders had frcciucntly been committed for
no oilier end than tf) furnish the professors and students of
anatomy with subjects for dissection. There was a panic pro-
duced over the whole country ; and men's days were lenj^^thcned
with sheer fright. People suspected murder and church-yard
pillage where there was no ground for suspicion. Many a
grave-digger and many a student was blamed for unseemly
work in the cemetery. The excitement had to be allayed by
legislation, and one of the first acts of the new reformed Parlia-
ment, in 1832, was a measure to provide, by honest means and
under proper regulations, a supply of dead bodies for dissection
from poor-houses and hospitals. This Act, to a large extent,
restored public confidence ; but, for many years after it was
passed, precautions continued to be taken in rural church-yards
to prevent the spoliation of new made graves. A massive iron
frame was inserted in the grave over the coffin, and it remained
there till corruption was supposed to have so far advanced that
the body beneath was of no value for the doctors. A small
tent or watch-house was also planted in church-yards ; and in
that tent volunteer guards were set in rotation, to watch over
the dead, and see that the w'icked refrained from troubling. In
many church-yards the great iron coffin-shaped frame may still
be seen, lying in some out of the way corner ; but unless a few
specimens be purposely preserved in different parts of the
country, the memorials of a very notable panic may be lost
to the next generation.

There is only one other matter to which I would now, in
conclusion, advert. The present burial customs of the country
contrast very favourably, in many respects, with those that pre-
vailed a hundred years ago. There is neither smoking nor
drinking at funerals now. There is no time unnecessarily
wasted by delays in lifting. The expense of the monstrous

Baptisms and Burials in Olden Times. 265

luncheon before, and of the Bacchanalian dergy^ after, the
funeral, is now avoided without reproach. And, whatever may
be the case in parishes where burials are continued in church-
yards centuries old, human bones in all stages of decay no
longer in this parish stare us in the face, as we lay down friends
and acquaintances in their narrow beds. For our cemetery we
have a spacious sward, with a sweet and sunny aspect, and al-
though the shadow of the church does not rest on its surface,
the glory of the sun and the radiance of the stars descend on it,
the breath if not the smile of the sea comes up to it, and every
morning, as the day breaks, purple mountains thirty miles away
nod to it a friendly greeting. But imperious, ever changing,
fashion has introduced at burials, through the use of hearses,
a new element of expense, which many people can ill
afford.* At the funerals of olden times, strong and loving arms
bore for miles the mortal remains of friends to their place of
interment. And in these lowly burials there was a grand and
dignified simplicity, combined with a praiseworthy spirit of
helpfulness. When the father of Burns died at Lochlea, he was
borne to the kirk -yard of Alloway, a distance of 12 miles, by
the hands of those that knew him, and, notwithstanding the cus-
toms of the age, not a drop, unless of water from a roadside foun-

* "The compotation of the funeral company after interment, from the Latin
word dirige, frequently repeated in the office for the dead." (Scottish Dictionary).
Some old people remember with horror the dergies they witnessed in youth, Now-
adays mourners and friends often return from the grave to the house of the deceased,
where there is a dinner or tea provided, but the repast is always conducted with
decorum, gravity, and strict sobriety.

t Since the above was written the following admirable letter from a peer of high
military renown to the secretary of the Church of England Funeral and Mourning
Reform Association, has gone the round of the newspapers : " I am glad to notice
an improvement in the simplicity and inexpensiveness of our funeral ceremonial,
and hope the improvement now being made to reduce the cost of funerals, and
abolish the use of plumc^,, may Lc entirely successful. ... In my opinion, the
more simple the ceremony the more touching and solemn it becomes."

266 Old Church Life in Scotland.

tain, was drunk by the way. It mi^dit be hopeless to antici-
pate a return tc; this practice. ]5ut mi.^ht there not be a new
form of bier — set on wheels — of such construction, ornamenta-
tion, and mode of traction, as to be suggestive of nothing un-
accordant with solemnity, and by the use of which a great
saving might be effected in the present cost of interments.
F'ailing this, it seems to me that Parochial Boards might (if
empowered by law) do well to provide a hearse for their re-
spective parishes, as Kirk-Sessions long ago provided mort-
cloths, and that these hearses might be let for burials at such
rates as would merely cover the charge for horse-hire. An
arrangement of this kind would greatly reduce the expense of
burials, and would thus be a boon to the poor, and very little
of a tax on ratepayers.

Ministers of Mauchline^ 1^60-16^5. 267

LECTURE V.

MINISTERS AND MINISTERIAL LIFE AT MAUCHLINE,

1560-1655.

Scope of preceding Lectures — What to be learned from sketches of a parochial
ministry — Progress of Reformation in Mauchline before 1560 — Robert Camp-
bell of Kingencleugh — Ministers of Mauchline — Robert Hamilton — How
parishes supplied with ordinances — Superintendents and their appointment —
Testimonial to Ivingencleugh and Mr. Hamilton — Peter Primrose — Union ot
parishes — Three phases of outward organisation in church during Mr. Prim-
rose's pastorate — Book of Policy and Judicial Committees — Spanish Armada-
Committee of prime conference at General Assemblies — The Assembly after
the King's marriage — Settlement of Episcopacy — John Rose — George Young
— Episcopal form of induction — Mr. Young and Baillie — Transportation of
ministers — Mr. Young's business talents — The Service Book and National
Covenant — The nocent ceremonies— The public resolutions — Death and charac-
ter of Mr. Young — Steps taken to find a successor to Mr. Young — Thomas
Wyllie — His conditional acceptance of the cure — A conciliatory protester —
Duke Hamilton's engagement to relieve the King, and skirmish at Mauchline
moor — The whiggamore's raid — Mr. Wyllie's translation to Kirkcudbright —
Re-establishment of Episcopacy in the Church of Scotland — Mr. Wyllie's per-
secutions— His indulgence — His death and character.

The object aimed at in the foregoing lectures, I need scarcely
say, has been to give such an account of old Parochial Church
Life in Scotland as may be gleaned from all available sources,
but especially from the faded and musty records of local Kirk-
Sessions and Presbyteries. In the prosecution of this object
we have seen what kind of buildings people had in olden times
for public worship, what kind of houses ministers had for
manses, and in what kind of desecrated ground the rude fore-
fathers of the hamlet slept their long last sleep. We have seen
also what manner of Church services people had to listen to
and profit by, (and ministers had laboriously to go through),
both on common and on Communion Sabbaths ; what modes
of discipline were exercised in parishes by ministers and Kirk-

268 Old Church Life in Scotland.

Sessions ; what provision was made by the Church for the
poor and the education of the younj^ ; how marria^^cs were
solemnised, or confirmed when not solemnised ; how baptisms
were administered, and how burials were both conducted and
misconducted. One thing more, it seems to me, may yet be
done within the lines laid down, and that is to give a sketch of
the lives of the different ministers who have exercised the pas-
toral office within this parish since the Reformation. Such a
sketch will not only give some information about people whom
we don't know, but will throw some light on the general line
of Church history in Scotland, by shewing what were the sub-
jects of talk and controversy, work and warfare in the Church,
and what was the manner of ecclesiastical life away from the
centres of Church thought and Church management, in differ-
ent successive periods.

In the roll of Mauchline ministers there is no name of great
mark to be found — no name, for instance, like that of John
Knox, or like that of Andrew Melville, or like that of
Alexander Henderson. Few parishes, nevertheless, can boast
of as goodly a succession of moderately distinguished and
characteristic ministers, in whose humble history the general
life of the Church could be better delineated. Nearly all of
them were men that in their day and generation were esteemed
able and faithful pastors, and some of them were known in
the Church far beyond the bounds to which their ministry
was confined.

Before proceeding to speak of these post-reformation minis-
ters, however, it may not be out of place to say a few words
about the progress of the Reformation in the parish. Previous
to the Reformation there was in Mauchline a monastic cell, (the
precise character and constitution of which ecclesiological
authorities are not agreed upon), attached to the Abbey of Mel-

Ministers of Mauchliue, 1560-1655. 269

rose ; and the extent of land held in this district by the monks
of Melrose was enormous. Over these lands, called Kylesmuir
and Barmuir, Hew Campbell of Loudoun was, in I52i,by "the
Reverend fader in God, Robert, Abbot of Melrose, in convent,
with haill and full consent" appointed "bailzie," and the
appointment was extended to " his heirs mail to be gotten of
his body." In the exercise of this authority and privilege,
Campbell engaged, " with friends and allyes, to mainteen and
defend said Rev. fader and convent, in the said lands, against
all whatsoever, ye sovereign alane excepted." It might be sup-
posed, therefore, that with such a holding in the district, main-
tained and defended by the puissance of the laird of Loudoun,
and all his allies, the Catholic Church would have been very
firmly established in Mauchline parish.

But it was not so. For many years, it might be
roughly said a hundred years, before the Reformation, there
were in Kyle not a few influential people estranged
from the Church of Rome. Among others, Adam Reid of
Barskimming, George Campbell of Cessnock, and the lady of
Stair were, in 1494, summoned before a Provincial
Synod at Glasgow, on a charge of heresy. Reid, it is said,
made a bold and spirited defence, and ultimately the whole
party were set free, but with a characteristic admonition, " to
take heed of the new doctrine, and content themselves with
the faith of the Church."* As far back, therefore, as 1494, "a

* I^y giving an .inswer in rhyme to all the questions put to him, Reid contrived
to turn the prosecution into ridicule. "While the Bishop said in mocking —
" ' Reid, believe ye that God is in heaven ? '
" He answered,

" 'Not as I doe the sacraments seven.'

"The King, willing to putt an end to further reasoning, said,
" ' Wilt thou burn thy bill ? '
"To which he answered,
" 'Sir, the Bishop and yee will.'

270 Old Church lAfc in Scotland.

heretic blast had been blawn in the wast," and within two miles
of the old Church of Mauchline. And that blast did not blow
over in a day or two, but it swelled louder and louder, till, in
1560, it ended in a gale and hurricane such as Scotland never
heard bcfc^rc nor has heard since ; for though it neither swept
down woods nor stranded fleets, it stripped churches of their
altars and images, levelled monastic buildings to the ground,
and scattered here and there and everywhere church posses-
sions and church cartularies.

In the year 1544, Mauchline had a visit from George
Wishart, who was then in the zenith of his fame, and was
making a preaching tour over the country. The friends of
Wishart imagined that the church which belonged to the
Abbey of Melrose would be at his service, and that he might
at his pleasure go up to the altar and denounce, as from the
throne of God Himself, the corruptions of the established
religion. That was presuming too far, and was reckoning
without the host. Accordingly, when Wishart arrived at the
church door, he found his admittance prohibited by the sheriff
of the county. So little respect, however, for either civil or
ecclesiastical authority had some of Wishart's friends, especially
Campbell of Kingencleugh (not the good Robert Campbell
who became the bosom friend of Knox, but an older Camp-
bell, who bore the suggestive and iconoclastic name of Hew),
that they would fain have entered the church by force. Wishart
himself showed more discretion, and with a remark that Christ
is as potent in the fields as in the house, he withdrew to the
moor, where the railway station now stands ; and there, for
three long but not weary hours, on a " day pleasant and hote,"

" With these and the like scoftes, the Bishop and his hand were so dashed out of
countenance that the ijreatcst part of the accusation was turned into laughter." —
Caldenvood.

Ministers of Mmichline, i§6o-i6jj. 271

he addressed the people. "In that sermon God wrought so
wonderfulHe with him," says the historian Calderwood, " that
Laurence Rankene, Laird of Schaw, one of the most wicked
men in that country, was converted. The teares ran from his
eyes in suche abundance, that all men woundered." But the
effect of his preaching will be better indicated by a statement
of what happened immediately afterwards. There was a man
in the parish named Campbell of Bargour. This man, along
with Lockhart of Bar, in the Parish of Galston, was in 1550
summoned to stand his trial for " stouthrief and spoliation of
sundry Parish Churches, religious houses and chapels — of their
eucharistic chalices, altars and ornaments of the mass ; and also
for casting down and breaking choral stalls and other stalls
and glazed windows, ... in the years 1545, 1546, 1547,
and 1548." It was in 1544 that Wishart harangued the people
of Mauchline on the moor, and in 1545 that Bargour started
his crusade against idolatry.

In 1556, a greater man than Wishart paid a visit to Mauch-
line. This was John Knox himself, who had taken up the
mantle of Wishart, and was making a tour of the western
shires, as his revered master had done twelve years before. In
this tour Knox was accompanied by Lockhart of Bar and
Campbell of Kingencleugh ; and, among other places, he
preached in Kingencleugh, Cairnhill, and Ochiltree. The seed
of the Reformation, it will thus be seen, had been sown in
Mauchline at an early date, and sown by the hands of the two
great Reformers themselves, Wishart and Knox. And it was
not sown in vain. It was in the month of August, 1 560, that
the reformed doctrine was approved and ratified by Parlia-
ment, and that the celebration of mass was prohibited. In the
month of December following, the General xAsscmbl}' of the
Reformed Church held its first meeting ; and at that meeting a

272 Old Church Life in Scotland.

resolution was passed " to ask at the Estates of Parliament and
Lords of the Secret Council, for eschewing of the wrath and
indignationc of the Eternall God, that sharp punishment be
made upon the persons underwritten, . . . whilk sayes,
and causes masse to be said, and are present thereat." It
might have been expected, from there being at Mauchline a
monastic cell and a church owned by the Abbey of Melrose,
that, among the names so given in to the civil authorities by
the General Assembly, there would have been found the
names of one or more persons in this parish. But no. There
were not a few idolaters in Ayrshire, but none in Mauchline.
The names reported from Ayrshire were the Earls of Eglinton
and Cassills, William Hamilton of Cambus Keith, the Abbot
of Crossraguell, the parochiners of May bole, Gariane (Girvan),
Oswald, and Divley (Dailly), within the whilk kirks masse is
openly said and maintained." *

One of the most ardent Reformers in all Scotland was a
Mauchline man, Robert Campbell of Kingencleuch. He was
a most intimate and a much esteemed friend of John Knox's.
When the great Reformer was dying, Kingencleuch was one of
three that sat by turns at his bed side. And of these three
friends of the innermost circle, Kingencleugh was the nearest
and dearest to Knox. It was to Kingencleugh that Knox
specially entrusted the care of his widow and children ; and in
doing so, he said, " I rely on your becoming to them as a hus-
band and a father in my room." And the virtues of Kingen-
cleugh have not been left unrecorded and unsung. Like the
heroes of primeval times, such as Wallace and Bruce, not to
speak of Hector and Achilles, he has had his deeds embalmed
in rhyme, which, if not loft}', is at least laudator}' :

* Book of Univcrsall Kirk.

Ministers of MaucJdine, ij6o-i6j^. 273

" When that religion was but young,
And durst not plainlie show her face,
For tyrannic in publict place.
Some preachers did till him resort,
Where mutuallie they got comfort.
The trueth on their part was declared.
No temporal benefits he spared.
Sa, privatelie, in his lodgeing
To tell his friends, he na whit dred.
How they had lang been blindlins led.
And had some preaching publiclie,
Where people came maist frequentlie,
Whiles among woods, in banks and braes,
Whiles in the kirk yard, mang their faes. *

* The author of this metrical memorial of Kingencleugh was John Davidson,
minister at Prestonpans. When a Regent at St. Andrews, Davidson wrote a pas-
quil, under the title of "The Dialogue betwixt the Clerk and the Courteour,"
touching the appointment of one minister to four kirks. For doing this he was
summoned before the Regent Morton and the Privy Council, and was told by the
Justice-Clerk that for "a privat man to write against the conclusion of princes was
damnable, and that he was worthie of punishment." Davidson submitted his case
to the General Assembly, but Kingencleugh saw that matters were getting unpleas-
ant, and said to Davidson, "Looke for no answer here, God hath taken away the
hearts from men that they daire not justifie the truthe ; therefore cast you for the
next best." He thereupon retired with Kingencleugh to the west, " where he saw
suche a gude example of pietie and holie exercise, in his familie, that he thought all
his lyf-time before but a profane passing of the time." — Calderwood, HI., 312.
Some of Kingencleugh's private habits are thus described by Davidson : —
" Ane number of the poore nightlie

In Kinyeanclugh gat harbourie.

Whom after supper he gart call

To be examined in the hall

Of Lord's prayer and Beleefe

And ten commands, for to be briefe,

Gif that he found them ignorant

Unto his place they durst not haunt."
No less virtuous than Kingencleugh himself was his better half—
" Of twa best liuers that led life

Gude Robert Campbell and his wife

Sic twa I knowe not where to finde

In all Scotland left them behind,

Of sa great faith and charitie.

With mutual love and amity

That I wat na mair heavenly life

Was never between man and wife."
R

274 Old ChnrcJt Life in Scotland.

The Rcfoim.'ilif)!! having been established in i 5O0, the first
Protestant minister who laboured in Mauchline Parish was
Robert Hamilton. He seems to have entered on his duties
about or before 1 562. At that time it was found impossible by
the Reformers to obtain the services of a separate minister for
every parish, and neighbouring parishes were accordingly in
some cases joined together for a time under the charge of one
pastor. Some parishes had to do without the service of a
minister, and content themselves with a reader, who on Sun-
days read to the congregation passages of Scripture and public
prayers from a printed liturgy, but neither preached nor
administered sacraments. It gives us an idea of what would
now be termed the spiritual destitution of these early post-
reformation times, when we find that two such large and im-
portant parishes as Mauchline and Ochiltree, which are large
in area still and were twice or three times larger in area then,
were joined together under the pastorate of Islx. Robert
Hamilton. And very little of Mr. Hamilton's personal services
these united parishes could for a while have had. Besides
supplying their own kirks as best they could, some of the more
outstanding ministers were deputed by the General Assembly
to visit districts that were unblessed with a settled ministry.
Mr. Hamilton was one of those that had the honour to be
selected for this work. In July, 1562, he and the superinten-
dent of Glasgow were appointed to preach in the unplanted
kirks of Carrick " month about," till next Assembly gave
further orders.

The use of the word superintendent just now leads me to
state that in the first days of the Reformed Church of Scotland,
there were men appointed to large districts with charge and
commandment " to plant and erect kirkes, and to set, order,
and appoint ministers" therein. These persons were called

Ministers of MaiicJdine, 1^60-1655. 275

superintendents. The office they exercised was one of author-
ity and dignity, and they are by some Episcopalian writers
considered to have been bishops under a new name. Dr.
M'Crie tells us, in his life of Knox, that "the title of bishop was
very generally disused in common speech (in England) during
the reign of Edward VI., and that of superintendent substi-
tuted in its place."* It was natural, therefore, when bishops
in England were styled superintendents, that superintendents
in Scotland should have been accounted bishops. It was only
for a temporary purpose, however, that superintendents in Scot-
land were appointed, and their position and duties were some-
what different from those of a bishop. They were not to rule
only, but to preach. " They were to be preachers themselves,
thrice every week at least to preach, and remain in no place
above twenty days in their visitation, till they had passed
through their whole bounds." f Still, their office had a look of
prelation and pre-eminence, and it was to some episcopally in-
clined people an object of ambition. But the Reformers were
very careful that the charge should not be committed to any
un-qualified persons. No one was allowed to hold the office
unless he had been called to it by the churches within the
bounds of the superintendency. There was a Catholic bishop,
Gordon of Galloway, who embraced the reformed doctrines,
and expected, as a matter of course, to be appointed superin-
tendent of his former diocese. He made a claim to that effect
in the General Assembly of June, 1562. But the Assembly
told him, "that they understood not how he had anie nomina-
tion or presentation, either by the Lords of secreit council or
province of Galloway :% and, albeit he had presentation of the

* Vol. II., p. 387-8.

t M'Crie's Life of Knox, Vol. I., p. 2S4. Dunlop's Confessions.

X In the Form and Order of the election of the superintendent of Lothian, gih

2'jCi Old Church Lije in Scotland.

Lords, yitt he had not observed the order keeped in the election
of superintendent, and therefore could not be acknowledged for
a superintendent lawfullie called, for the present." The Assembly,
however, offered "their furtherance, if the Kirks of Galloway
sould sute and the Lords present ; and ordained, that letters be
sent to the kirks of Galloway, to learne whether they craved ane
superintendent or not, and whom they sought." At their next
meeting, December, 1562, "the Assemblie nominated in leets
for the superintendentship, Mr. Alexander Gordon, intituled
Bishop of Galloway, and Mr. Robert Pont, minister of Dunkel-
den, and ordained edicts to be sett furth for the admission,
upon the last Lord's day of Aprile, ... of the person
elected ; the place of admission to be the parish kirk of Dum-
fries." And that the induction of the superintendent, if one
were chosen, should be solemnized with all the shew of ecclesi-
astical authority and order proper for the installation of a man
in so eminent an office, a select committee of distinguished
ministers, outside of the province of Galloway, was appointed
to be present at the act of admission. Of this committee I\Ir.
Hamilton was a member, and his appointment thereon shews
the high and honoured position he, as a country minister, held
among the reformed clergy. The committee, Calderwood
writes, consisted of " the Superintendent of Glasgow, Mr.
Knox, minister of Edinburgh, Mr. Robert Hamilton, minister
of Uchiltrie and Mauchline, and otJier learned men." *

March, 1560, "John Knox being minister," it is stated that the "Lords of Secret
Council had given charge and power to the churches of Lothian to choose Mr. John
Spotswood, superintendent, and that sufficient warning had been made by public
edict to the churches " within the bounds, as also to earls, barons, gentlemen, or
others that might claim to have voice in election. Three questions were put by
Knox to those present : first, Do you know of any crime to debar Mr. Spotswood
from the office ? secondly, Is there any other whom you would put in election with
Mr. Spotswood? and thirdly, Will you have Mr. Spotswood for superintendent?
* Gordon was a worldly man, who haunted the court too much and held secular

Ministers of Mauchline, 1^60-1655. 277

For several years after this date, the name, Robert Hamil-
ton, frequently occurs in the records of the General Assembly ;
but it is difficult to make out in each instance what particular
Robert Hamilton is referred to, for there were then in the
Church several ministers of that name, and one of these
was even more famous, although less estimable, than the minis-
ter of Mauchline and Uchiltrie. There is no doubt that, in
1 567, Mr. Hamilton was one of a committee of seven appointed
by the General Assembly " to decide questions " ; and it is
clear, both from the nature of this appointment and from
the names of those on the committee, that the Church
regarded Mr. Hamilton as one of her best and wisest coun-
sellors. In 1567, Mr. Hamilton was translated to Irvine, but
of his subsequent history nothing seems to be known.

It may be mentioned that, in 1565, a very remarkable testi-
monial was granted by some of the chief Reformers to Camp-
bell of Kingencleugh and a Mr. Robert Hamilton, preacher.
For some reason or other, these two men had deemed it neces-
sary to make their escape from this country, and seek a tem-
porary asylum abroad ; and the chief Reformers of Scotland
gave them a public certificate to serve as an introduction to

offices in the Council and Session. He was, in 1568, ordained by the Assembly to
"answer whether he will await on Court and Council or upon preaching tlie
word and planting kirks." The following year, he was "inhil)ited to cxercc any
function in the kirk ;" and in 1573, he had to undergo humiliating discipline for
scandals into which he had fallen. He is known to readers of this generation by a
sermon on faith, hope, and charity, which he preached in the summer of 157 1, and
which is preserved " in substance " in Calderwood's history. The following passage
occurs in the sermon : — " Brethren, may I not speare at you, in what part of this
poore realme is faith, hope, and charitie sett, and if they be authorised among the
estats? Na, na, Brether, na. Is faith or love among our nobilitie?" The answer
is no, nor yet among the spirituality of the second estate. "Or then, the third
estat : is there faith and love among your burgesses in buying or selling their waires,
or borrowing and lending one with another? Yea, if I would digresse, I doubt not
but faith and love is left in Machline, in the wood of Hardheids, where nianie of
your merchants leave their faith."

278 Old Church Life in Scotland.

the most eminent of the Continental Reformers. Dr. David
Laing, in his notes on this certificate, says that the Robert
Hamilton referred to was he that afterwards became one of
the ministers of St. Andrews, and the Provost of St. Mary's
College. Dr. Laing, however, does not favour his readers with
the grounds on which he makes that statement, and we arc
therefore left to judge of its intrinsic probability or improba-
bility. Hamilton of St. Andrews was not a man that
stood very high in the estimation of the Reformers.
More than one of his relatives renounced the Reformed
Church, and rejoined the Church of Rome. Robert's own
heart was thought to be not altogether right on the subject ot
the Reformation. He did not scruple to accuse Knox of
having had a hand in the " removal " of Darnley. ' He har-
assed Melville by a vexatious litigation, and, " to please the
regent " Morton, he aided in the prosecution of Davidson.*
It may well be asked, how should Kingencleugh, the bosom
friend of Knox, the shielder of Davidson, and a man of singu-
larly devout habits, happen to be associated with such a ques-
tionable colleague, and a person of such worldly disposition.
On the other hand, Robert Hamilton of Mauchline was King-
encleugh's own parish minister — was paid, if we may accept
common tradition, out of Kingencleugh's own bounty f — was a
man, we may presume, after Kingencleugh's own heart — and
was thought worthy by the General Assembly to be placed on
honourable commissions, along with John Knox and John
Craig. It is not unreasonable, therefore, that, till evidence to

* For Dialogue betwixt Clerk and Courteour, see Calderwood, III., p. 301.
t " The half teinds of hale Ochiltree,
He did give ower maist willinglie,
Which his forefathers had possest,
For sacrilege he did detest.
The minister he put therein." — Davidson,

Ministers of Maitckline, 1566-16^5. 279

the contrary be forthcoming, we should claim for Mr. Hamil-
ton of Mauchline the credit of this testimonial.* It would
be tedious to quote much of the document, but the follow-
ing sentences will show the estimation in which the Mr.
Hamilton referred to was held by the leading men of his age : —
" Our tuo derrest brethren, Maister Robert Hamylton, Minister
and Preacher of the evangel of Jesus Christ, and Robert
Campbell of Kinzeancleugh, hath so behaved themselves in
their vocation with us, that justly the very wicked among us
can lay no cryme to their charge. One purely taught salvation
and the other uprightly administered justice, so that the godly
cannot but lament the absence of two such notable instruments,
who were lights in the Church. . . Why are they dejected
from us ? Because that now, to the grief of many, iniquitie
commandis, tyrannie ringis, and the cause of the righteous is
utterlie suppressed among us. . . Causes of treason are laid
to the charge of innocent men, thare substances are spoiled,
and thare lives ar sought, because they have travaled for men-
tenance of virtu and for suppressing of ydolatrie, of which
nomber, these our brethren, according to thare abilitie hath
bene two chief men."

On the translation of Mr. Hamilton to Irvine, the parishes of
Ochiltree and Mauchline were disunited, and a separate minister
was assigned to each. There was not, however, for a good
many years afterwards, anything like a separate minister for

* The certificate is dated 1565, and Robert Hamilton is styled in the certificate
a minister. That designation could apply to Robert Hamilton of Mauchline, but
I am not aware that it could be, in 1565, applied to Robert Hamilton of St.
Andrews. He was inducted into his charge at St. Andrews in 1566, and in 1560
he was named by the General Assembly not as a minister, but as one of many that
were most qualified for ministering and teaching. (Book of Universal Kirk). Unlike
his namesake in Mauchline, he seems never to have been a member of Assembly
till after 1 566. See Fasti.

28o Old Church Life in Scotland.

each separate parish in Scotland.* The parishes of Auchin-
Icck and Cumnock were united with Ochiltree under one pas-
toral charge, and when a vacancy occurred in Galston, in (or
before) 1574, that parish was associated for a while with
Mauchline.t The minister whose services the parish of Mauch-
line was fortunate enough to secure, in 1567, was Mr. Peter
Primrose, and it had the further good fortune to enjoy these
services for the long period of half a century.

During the fifty years of Mr. Primrose's pastorate, the Church
of Scotland went through three different phases of outward orga-
nization. The Reformation was at first (1560) established only
in part.J There was a system of doctrine established, but no
system of government and discipline. As late as 1574, an Act
of Parliament was passed anent the constitution of the policy
of the Kirk ; and in the preamble of this Act it is stated that,
" albeit the libertie of the evangell hes bene inioyit in unitie of
doctrine, zit is thair not to this day ony perfyte policie be lawis
and constitutionis set out, how the Kirk in all degreis salbe
governit in decent and cumly ordour." Mr. Primrose, therefore,
began his ministry when the Church had no established polity,
but was in a provisional state of organisation : — with ministers

* In 1596, the General Assembly minuted that "in many pairts of the coimtrie,
for lake of provisione of sufficient stipends for provisione of pastors, the people lyes
altogether ignorant of their salvation, and dewtie to God and the King, quhair
through the land is overflowit with atheism and all kynde of vjxe, there being above
four hundreth paroche kirks destitute of the ministrie of the word, by and attour
the Kirks of Argyll and the Isles." Book of Universal Kirk.

+ Morton, who was Regent in 1574, had a trick of "placing three or four
churches under the care of one minister, assisted by readers. In this way the differ-
ence between a minister's and a reader's stipend (200-20 merks) was saved by the
parsimonious regent." Cunningham's Church History of Scotland, Vol. I., p. 486,
note. Hence Morton's irritation at the " Clerk and Courteour."

X In August, 1560, Parliament approved the Reformers' Confession of Faith.
But that Parliament, " which first estabhshed the Reformation, had never received
the royal sanction ; and therefore it was (r567) deemed prudent to re-enact its
enactments." Cunningham's Church History of Scotland.

Ministers of Matichline, 1^60-1655. 281

planted here and there,* — superintendents who were sometimes
called bishops and sometimes commissioners, according as the
ecclesiastical and civil powers happened to be in an Episcopal
or a Presbyterial mood, exercising supervision over large
districts or dioceses, — and General Assemblies meeting once
or twice a year, to frame acts and rules, and to pro-
nounce judgment on references and complaints. He saw,
next, a Presbyterian polity established. This was done,
in the first instance, by the Church herself, so far as she could,
by the compilation of a Book of Constitutions, which, having
been " agriet upon in diverse Assemblies before," was, in 1581,
" registrate in the Acts of the Kirk, to remain therein, ad per-
petiiam rei memoriam." This Presbyterian polity was afterwards
confirmed and established by law, in 1 592. A few years later,
however, Presbyterian parity was by degrees undermined, till
in 1610, while Mr. Primrose was still ministering at Mauchline,
Episcopacy was made perfect, stablished, strengthened and
settled in the Church of Scotland.

In the framing of the Presbyterial polity of the Church (1578),
Mr. Primrose either had no hand at all, or took so obscure a
part that it has not found notice in either the records of the
Assembly or the pages of Church history. The guiding spirit
in the deliberations that resulted in the Book of Policy, com-
monly known as the Second Book of Discipline, was Andrew
Melville. This book, I have said, was registered " in the Acts
of the Kirk," in 1581 : and, in the same year, the Assembly
approved a " platting of the kirks, gine in to them in rows,"
(in other words, a scheme of Presbyteries), and " thocht meet
that ane beginning be had of the Presbyteries, instantly, in the

* Commissioners were superintendents, appointed not for life, but for a year or
other limited time. Stevenson's History of the Church and State of Scotland, p.
70.

282 Old Church Life in Scotland.

places named, to be excmplator to the rest that may be cstab-
h'shed hcirafter/' Although, however, the Assembly appointed
committees " to sie this ordour of clderschips (Presbyteries)
c(jnstitutc, betwixt and tlic last day of May nixt to cum," we
find that in 1586, the King and the Assembly were still ex-
changing notes on plats of Presbyteries, and on " matteris to
be intreatit in the Presbyteries." Meanwhile, till such courts
were formed and brought into working order, it was requisite
that certain duties and offices in the Church should be delegated
to select committees. In particular, it was found necessary
"that for triell of anie slander in the life, conversation or doctrine
of bishops or commissioners, the Assemblie sould appoint a
number of brethrcin in cverie province, with power to make
such trial, take probation, lead processe therein, betwixt and
nixt Assemblie, if occasion fall out; remitting the finall sentence
and determination to the said Generall Assemblie." And that
Mr. Primrose was a man of no inconsiderable mark, is shewn
in the fact that he was one of the judicial committee appointed
for the province of Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham.

While the Church and the King were busy with the project
of setting up Presbytery in Scotland, a movement was going
on elsewhere for the subversion of Protestantism in the country,
and the reclamation of the kingdom to the Pope's jurisdiction.
And that movement was really formidable and dangerous.
There was a powerful party of Papists in Scotland, secretly
colleaguing with the King of Spain, who was preparing for the
invasion of Britain an armed fleet, called in the Spanish tongue
an Armada, the like of which for size and strength had never
been seen, and which for its size and strength was proudly and
ostentatiously named the Invincible. In the beginning of 1588,
the news of this threatened invasion reached Scotland, and
the panic produced over the whole land, from north to south

Ministers of Maiichline, 1^60-1655. 283

and from west to east, was indescribable. And it is need-
less for people, living after the event, to say that the panic
was without cause. Had the Spaniards once got possession
of the chief strongholds in Scotland, as it seemed likely
they would, both the national independence and the Protes-
tant religion would have gone. While statesmen, therefore,
were concerned about the civil liberties of the kingdom,
ministers were equally concerned about the Church.
" Terrible," says James Melville, " was the feir ; persing war
the pretchings ; earnest, zealous, and fervent war the prayers ;
sounding war the siches and sobbes ; and abounding war the
tears, at that Fast and General Assemblie keipit at Edinbruche,
when the news war crediblie tauld, sum tymes of thair landing
at Dunbar, surri tymes at St. Andrews, and now and then at
Aberdein and Cromartie." And although the more welcome
news was soon authenticated, that the shores of the country
were strewn far and wide with the wreck of that " monstrous
navy," the danger to religion was not supposed to have been
even then brought to an end. " Notwithstanding of the Lord's
judgment," continues Melville, " the Papists war ever steiring
and menassing, and both Jesuits and Seminary Priests crape
into the country and kithed dangerous effects." And, there-
fore, he says, " the maist wacryff and cearfull of the breithring,
everie ane warning and moving uthers, as the customc of the
Kirk of Scotland was from the beginning, conveined at
Edinbruche, in the moneth of Januar, and gaiff in to the King
and Counsall a petition," that measures be taken to avert the
danger threatened to the profession of the true religion. One
clause of the petition suggested that " sum specialles of the
ministerie, assisted with sum weill affected barrones or uthcr
gentilmen, ... be authorised to pass to every quarter of
this realme ; and ther, be meanes that they find meittcst, try

284 Old Cluirch Life in Scotland.

and cxploir what noblemen, and uthcrs of anic rank or calling,
profess the religion and will join afauldlie in defence thereof,
and wha will nocht." Such a petition would, at the present
day, be reckoned the height of ecclesiastical insanity and
presumption, but three hundred years ago it was differently
regarded. The proposal was deemed reasonable and practical,
and Commissioners were appointed as craved. Mr, Primrose
had the honour to be one of three " special les of the ministerie "
selected, by the Privy Council, to make inquisition of the
Bailiary of Kyle. This nomination shews that Mr. Primrose
was reputed to be a man of penetration and prudence, and that
his patriotism and Protestantism were known and approved in
high places.

One mark of distinction leads to another, and when Mr. Prim-
rose went to the General Assembly, in June 1 590, he was received
as a man of consequence, and was treated to an honour that
was much prized by churchmen. In those days, there was, as
there still is, in the Assembly, a business committee. But the
business committee, then, had more important functions to
discharge than it has now ; and it was then considered a much
greater compliment to be placed on the business committee,
than it is now. That potent committee not only arranged the
order of business, but put Bills into shape ; and it was, besides,
a sort of Privy Council, which gave advice to the Moderator
on all questions of difficulty that either arose or were expected
to arise. The designation it bore was the committee of prime
conference ; and so great was the influence of this committee,
that, in course of time, (not perhaps in 1590, but within
twenty-five years after that date) it came to consider itself
virtually the General Assembly itself, and to expect that its
proposals and conclusions would be sanctioned by the
Assembly, with very little criticism, as a matter of course.

Ministers of Matichline, 1^60-16^5. 285

" These conferences," said Alexander Henderson, speaking in
1638, " took very much upon them indeed." I myself, he added,
was once present at them, at an Assembly in Aberdeen, in
1616. They sat three or four hours daily, and the Assembly
sat but one ; and all that the Assembly was asked or expected
to do was to hear the committee's conclusions, and cry approve,
or very modestly declare objections. In 1590, the business
committee did not presume so far as it did in 1616, but it had
great power and influence, and it was composed of such
distinguished ministers as were reckoned the elite of the house.
The records of that Assembly state, that Mr. Patrick Galloway,
having by plurality of votes been chosen Moderator, " desyrit
certaine of the learnit and grave brethren to be given Assessors
to him, be whose advice he might propone such things as were
meitest to be treitit." Mr. Primrose was one of the " learnit
and grave brethren," of whose good advice the Moderator
besought the benefit ; and among those named with Mr.
Primrose were Andrew Melville and James Melville ; Robert
Rollock, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, whose
writings were declared by Beza an incomparable treasure ;
Robert Bruce, of whom the king said he had no such statesman
and the people said the world never had such a preacher since
the days of the apostles ; and John Davidson, the panegyrist
of the good Robert of Kingencleugh. And the Assembly,
1590, was a famous Assembly. It was the first Assembly held
after the King's return from his matrimonial expedition, when
he brought home Anne of Denmark. His Majesty was in the
best of humours— newly married, and intensely happ)-. The
Church had shown itself very loyal, and veiy serviceable to
him, during his absence. Although he hated Presbyter)-, he
was, therefore, for a month and a day a staunch Presbyterian.
He came down to the Assembly in a state of ecstasy, and " fell

286 Old Chiircli Life in Scotland.

forth praising God that lie was born in such a time as the time
of the h"ght of the Gospel, and that he was King in such a Kirk
as the Kirk of Scotland, the sincerest Kirk in all the world.
As for our neighbour Kirk in England," he said, " it is an evill
said mass in English, wanting nothing but the liftings. I
charge you, my good people, stand to your purity ; and I,
forsooth, so long as I brook my life and crown, shall maintain
the same against all deadly." The applause which greeted the
King at the close of this effusive speech was something for even
a King to remember. " The Assembly so rejoiced, that there
was nothing but loud praising of God and praying for the
King, for a quarter of an hour." And as Mr. Primrose was of
all men in Scotland, not even Andrew Melville excepted, the
most presbyterian of Presbyterians, we may be sure that, high
in the din of that joyous conclamation, his jubilant voice would
be heard loud and clear.*

For the next twenty years we hear nothing more of Mr.
Primrose, either in General Assemblies, Prime Conferences, or
County Committees. We may suppose that all these years
he contented himself with carefully serving at his own kirk ;
preaching to his people on Sundays, and perhaps entertaining
them occasionally with a lecture on the Spanish .Vrmada, or

* The King's voyage to Denmark was in more ways than one memorable. It
created a wonderful sensation over the kingdom and it seems to have had a good
deal to do with laying the foundation of some of the grand Sabbatical customs of
this country. "Tryall being taken at Generall Assemblie " (March 1590), says
James Melville, " it was fund that na steirage at all was in the countrey, of Papists
or thieffis or anie trubelsome inordinate persons. ^Vharof the breithring praisit
God and appointed, eftir the ordour that the Kirk of Edinbruche haid taken upe,
that thair sould be fasting and moderat dyet usit everie Sabathe till the King's
returning. The quhilk custom being found verie meit for the exercise of the
Sabathe was keipit in Edinbruche in the houses of the godlie continuallie thairafter.
Sa that sparing thar gros and sumptuous dinners, they usit nocht bot a dishe of
brothe or sum little recreation till night, and that quhilk wes sparit was bestowit
upon the pure."

Ministers of Mauchline, 1560-16^5. 287

the King's wedding. But in 1610, he came to the front. Not-
withstanding what was said in the Assembly, 1590, James be-
gan soon afterwards to introduce Episcopacy, bit by bit, into the
Church of Scotland. In 1597, he appointed a commission of
fourteen ministers to give him advice in all affairs concerning
the welfare of the Church. " And thais commissionairs," says
James Melville, " being exalted so high as to haiff accesse to
the King quhenhe pleasit.and to sit with his Majesty in councell,
began soone to chaing thair maneres, and luik down on thair
brethren." The prijiciple of Presbyterian parity was, the fol-
lowing year, still further repudiated by the Church, in her con-
senting, at the King's instigation, to have commissioners to sit
in Parliament. These Parliamentary representatives of the
Church were not long afterwards dubbed bishops ; and in 1606,
these so-called bishops were placed on the same footing, in
respect of privileges and revenues, as the previous race of
bishops were before the Act of Annexation. All that remained,
thenceforth, to complete the Episcopal structure in the Church,
was the appointment of bishops as perpetual Moderators in
Diocesan Synods, and as the persons to whom presentations
to parish churches should be directed. In 1610, it was judged
that the Church was ripe and ready for that concluding part
of the King's ecclesiastical polity. The bishops in a joint letter,
requested the King to call a General Assembly ; and, in that
letter, they said " we have all our ministers, even such as were
most refractory, at the point of toleration.* They will suffer
things to proceed, and be quiet, because they cannot longer
strive." The King, as desired, therefore, convened an Assembly ;
and took on himself so far to limit the liberty of the Church,
as to direct Presbyteries to choose, for their representatives to

* M'Cric's Life of Melville, II., 247.

288 Old Church Life in Scotland.

that Assembly, the particular ministers whom he declared fittest
to take part in deliberations of high concern. And, as if that
had not been a sufficient assertion of royal authority, he
sent to the Assembly a letter, in which he avowed that his
purpose, in calling the Assembly, was to restore the primitive
government of the Church. He added, also, that although the
Assembly's consent to that restoration would be asked, it was
not required ; for as King of the realm he had power from
God to do the work of his own royal authority. Grave
fears were, nevertheless, felt by the King and his coun-
sellors, with regard to the issue of this Assembly ; and golden
coins called angels, because they bore on one side a figure of
Michael transfixing the dragon, were freely distributed among
the most venal of the members. The wags of the day, accord-
ingly, nicknamed the Assembly the Angelic Synod ; and
although Episcopalian historians will not allow that these
angels were given for the purchase of either votes or silence,
they admit that coins were distributed, and that those who got
coins got also some appointments and titles of dignity. Mr.
Primrose was a member of the Assembly, but he was not
honoured with a place on the committee of prime conference.
More subservient men were discreetly chosen for that diplo-
matic office. Spotswood, Bishop of Glasgow, was elected
Moderator of Assembly ; and the privy conference was made
up of " the bishops, many statesmen, and noblemen, and some
ministers deemed by the simpler sort to be opposite to bishops,
howbeit they were not suche in deid " (Calderwood). And the
committee of prime conference had, by 1610, reached very near
the zenith of its presumption. It prepared measures, and ex-
pected the Assembly to do nothing more than cry hear, hear !
But there was one man in the Assembly who had not sold his
conscience or his liberty of speech. That man was Mr. Prim-

Ministers of Mauc/dine, ij6o-i6jj. 289

rose. He was too pure to be bribed by canvassers, too true to
be trusted by traitors, and too brave to be cowed by tyrants.
Wliile many ministers, to their shame be it recorded, defiled
their fingers with the King's gold, Mr. Primrose came home to
his parish, with hands as clean as the linen of the saints. And,
while the members of Assembly, generally, were so overawed
or cajoled by the King's minions, that they heard their Church
given over wholly to Episcopal government, and, like the
comforters of Job, spake not a word, Mr. Primrose, and he
alone, had the courage to lift up his voice for the liberties of
the Church. It was rumoured, even, that he meant to stay the
Assembly's proceedings by protestation.* A man requires,
however, to have the craft of a serpent, the obstinacy of an

* For more than a hundred years, it has been held " irregular and inconstitu-
tional " to protest against the judgment of the Supreme Court. All that a man can
do, when the vote of the General Assembly goes against him, is to record his
dissent. It was in 1733 that the question of allowing protestations in the Assembly
was decided. Ebenezer Erskine, like many men before him, imagined that
protestation was a legitimate means of obstruction everywhere, and that it could
stay procedure even in the General Assembly. He, therefore, gave in to the
Assembly a "Protest," and, for so doing, he was required to apologise. He
declined either to express sorrow for his conduct or to withdraw the offensive
document, — and hence the secession. The great year of protestations was the year
1638, and the conflicting views held on the subject, at that date, were well brought
out in a conference, on the 13th June, between the Marquis of Hamilton, on
the one hand, and the Lords of the Covenant, on the other. The Marquis remon-
strated with the Lords on their proposal to protest against the King's forthcoming
declaration, and stated that the protestation" would be of no use or legal efficacy.
Lord Loudoun replied, that a protestation was necessary to prevent a royal pro-
clamation being held as acquiesced in, and that it had the effect of keeping the
subjects free to take further steps for redress ot grievances. So far from a protesta-
tion being presumptuous, he said, it is "the lowest and humblest way, and
neirest prayers," for seeking satisfaction in desires not yet conceded. But how near
prayers protestations sometimes are, the following extract minute will shew. In 1784,
a foolish and infuriated man protested in,the Kirk Session of Kilmarnock, that " after
waiting patiently about twenty minutes, (on a crave), he had done more than any
Christian Session could have required, and a great deal more than was incumbent
on any man to perform, and he, therefore, took his leave of the most ungodly Kirk-
Session that has existed in the eighteenth century, and required them to enter this
on llicir records."

290 Old Church Life in Scotland.

ass, and the impenetrable hide of a crocodile, to hold his own
in a General Assembly where he has little or no backing. The
diplomatic astuteness of the Moderator was too much for Mr.
Primrose. When Mr. Primrose commenced his oration, he was
politely told that the questions he was raising were questions for
the prime conference. That deliverance by the Moderator did
not quench Mr. Primrose. It was not in the prime conference
but in the public Assembly, Mr. Primrose maintained, that
ecclesiastical legislation must end. He proceeded with his
speech, therefore ; and a second time he was brought to bay.
" It is too close on the dinner hour," said the Moderator, " for
the Assembly to listen to lengthened harangues ;" and we may
be sure that the appetised and impatient Assembly cheered
and chuckled and cheered again, at that humorous sally. First,
in one way, therefore, and then in another, Mr. Primrose was
ruled to be out of order ; and he had eventually, to sit down,
amid a good deal of reverend chaffing, as an outwitted simple-
ton. For all that, he showed himself a brave, honest man ;
which is about the noblest work of God. A journalist of the
period records, and his words have been repeated almost
verbatim by several historians, that " Mr. Peter and his
associates were so wrought upon, partly by threats and partly
by flattery, that there was no more din of a protestation."
But, in point of fact, so great a din had Mr. Peter made,
that, immediately after the rising of the Assembly, the King
deemed it necessary to issue a proclamation, enjoining, on
their highest peril, "all preaching ministers and lecturing
readers, not to presume, either publicly in their sermons or in
private conversation, to impugn, deprave, contradict, condemn,
or utter their disallowance or dislike, in any point or article, of
these most grave and wise conclusions of that Assembly."
Mauchline, it will thus be seen, may claim the honour of

Ministers of MaticJdine, i§6o-i6s5- 29 1

having had for her minister the last man, in what is called the
declining age of the Church, who made a firm and faithful
stand in the General Assembly for true spiritual independence
and Presbyterian parity.

Mr. Primrose is said to have demittcd his charge at Mauch-
line, in 16 17, after having " cairfullie servit at the same kirk
thir fiftie zeir." He died in 1621, leaving behind him an
honoured name, the fragrance of which still lingers faintly in
the parish. A few months ago (1885), an old man, over ninety
years of age, speaking to me of the ministers of Mauchline,
said, there was " one Primrose, the best of you all ; but" he
added confidentially, " his wife was a witch."

Mr. Primrose was succeeded at Mauchline by Mr. John Rose,
of whom we know little, beyond the fact that he died in 1634,
at the age of forty-eight. Let it not be supposed, however, that
I mean to say Mr. Rose was an unmeritable man. He was
simply not much of a public man, but he may have been, in
his own parish, a workman that needed not to be ashamed.

After Mr. Rose, there was in Mauchline a succession of
ministers of conspicuous mark. I refer, more particularly, to
the three who held the incumbency during what has been termed
the Plfty Years' Struggle, which was brought to a close by the
Revolution Settlement in 1689. The first of these three ministers,
and not the least notable of the three, was Mr. George Young,
who was admitted to the pastoral charge of the parish in 1635.

The Episcopacy, which was established in the Church of
Scotland in spite of Mr. Primrose and his protestations, was
still the form of Church government in the country when ]\Ir.
Young was settled in Mauchline. Its ritual was in full swing,
and its lordly authority at a height. But its days were near
their close. It is said that Mr. Young's induction took place at
Glasgow. This was because, in Episcopal times, presentees to

292 Old Chut'cli Life m Scot land.

parochial charges received collation, not frrjin the I'rcsbytcry
of the bounds, as is now the custom, but from the bishop of
the diocese. Yea, says Calderwood, " bishops (16 10- 1638; doc
admitt and ordaine, not in the bounds, let be in the congregation,
where the person presented or suting admission is to serve, but
in anie part of the diocic he pleasath, and without assistance of
the ministers of the bounds or Presbyterie where he is to serve."
This was one of the obnoxious innovations that followed in the
wake of Episcopacy, and it was complained of by Presbyterians
as a great grievance and scandal. Even some Episcopalians
disliked it. Lcighton, for instance, who lived in the second
period of Episcopacy (1660-1689), "thought it was a much
decenter thing for bishops to go upon the place where the
minister was to serve, and to ordain after solemn fasting and
prayer, than to huddle it up at their cathedrals, with no solemnity
and scarcely with common decency."*

Mr. Young's residence at Mauchline extended over nine years ;
and they were memorable years, in which great events happened.
It was in 1637, that the troubles about the service book began ;
in 1638, that the National Covenant was drawn up, and sub-
scribed in the Grey Eriars' churchyard, Edinburgh ; in 1638,
and 1639, that the second Reformation was effected twice over;
in 1641, that the Presbyterians and Covenanters obtained all
that for four clamorous years they had been importunately
demanding, and which they might have retained, if they had
only been content with that measure of success ; and in 1643,
that that baleful document, the Solemn League, the occasion
of much woe to the country and of much injury to the National
Covenanters' cause in Scotland, was hurriedly framed and more
hurriedly subscribed.

• Bishop Burnet's Hist, of Times.

Ministers of Mmichline, i^6o-i6^S- 293

Mr. Young was one of the Covenanters of 1638, and one of
the Solemn Leaguers of 1643 \ but he was of the moderate and
tolerant set, which are best represented to the readers of history
by that prince of ecclesiastical journalists and gossipcrs, Robert
Baillie.* There were few of his correspondents with whom
Baillie was on terms of greater intimacy and affection than
George Young. Many of his charming letters, in which he
opens up his inmost heart, are addressed to Mr. Young ; and
many are the references to Mr. Young, in letters addressed
to other people. It would, perhaps, not be averring too much,
to say, that Mr. Young was the most beloved and the most
trusted friend Baillie had. Secrets, which he would reveal to
nobody else, he committed to George. " The principall intent
of my writing to you at this time," he says, in one of his letters,
" is that which I commit to you alone, and desires no other
living to know anything in it.'"t And with all the members of
Mr. Young's family, Baillie was on the most familiar footing of
delightful friendship. " My heartie love to your Elizabeth,"^

* Baillie's moderation and tolerance did not stand the strain of party strife. He
was carried away with the perfervour of the times, and some of his letters from
England exhibit a narrowness and bigotry, which we cannot but lament to find in
the writings of so good a man.

t Letters, Vol. II., p. i6i.

X Mr. Young was twice married. The Elizabeth here referred to was his second
wife, and was married to him in October, 163S. She was the youngest daughter of
Mr. John Bell, minister in the Tron Church, Glasgow, who had the honour of open-
ing the famous General Assembly of 1638. The manner of Mr. Bell's nomination
for this duty is worth mentioning, on account of the question of custom and right
to which it gave rise. " Rothes, with some Commissioners" (from a meeting of
ministers) "went to the (Lord High) Commissioner's grace (Marquis of Hamilton),
shewing the custome of our Church was to begin her Assemblies with solemn fasting;
also, that, in the absence of the former moderator, the eldest minister of the bounds,
or moderator of the place, used to preach and moderate the action, till another be
chosen ; that old Mr. John Bell, for the reverence of his person, let be other con-
siderations, were meet to begin so great an affair. To the fast his grace did presently
agree ; to the other motion he shew, that it was his place to itoiniiiat the preacher
to begin the action ; that he knew none worthier that honour than tlie man they

294 Old Chnrcli Life in Scotland.

he writes ; and then he adds, " I am often thinking of your son
John. If we had peace, I tliink I could get him provided, cither
at London or Cambridge, as he pleased."* Mr. Young himself
had been no mean correspondent either. " These be thanks,"
writes Baillie, "for your last kind letter, and, I pray you, write
more and ofter to me, for your letters are refreshfuil."t And
that Mr. Young was an able preacher, may be confidently
concluded from the fact, that, in 1644, he was translated to one
of the churches in Glasgow. In those days, ministers were
both planted and plucked up by the Church courts, as was
deemed best for the interest of the Church at large. Square
men were let down by the four corners into square holes, and
round men were trundled into round holes. A weak man was
never sent where a strong man was needed, and the claims of
important charges were always declared to outweigh the
claims of charges that were less important. And there were
fierce contests in the Church courts over the translation of
ministers. It was seldom that the minister himself was a
suitor for a change. A call came to him, as the wind comes,
through no invocation of his, and it was laid before the
Presbytery. Parties appeared in prosecution of the call ; and,
very often, the minister's present parishioners and previous
patron appeared, for the purpose of raising objections, or inter-
posing affectionate obstructions. The one thing assumed on
all sides, was, that the minister's own wishes were not to be
consulted ; and that the questions to be weighed were the

named ; that he should think upon it ; so, after an hour, he sent D. Balquanquhall
to Mr. John, desyring him to preach etc." — Baillie's Letters, Vol. I. p. 122. Mr.
Young's son, John, was by his first Avife, and became Professor of Divinity in Glas-
gow, and, strange to say, his appointment by the English party to that chair was to
Baillie a source "of much vexation and trouble." Memoir of the life of Baillie, by
Dr. D. Laing, p. 66.

* Letters, Vol. IL, p. 190.

t Ibid., Vol. IL, p. 160.

Ministers of Mauchline, i^6o-i6^^. 295

claims of competing congregations and the general good of the
Church. From one court to another, such cases of transporta-
tion proceeded, till they came up to the General Assembly for
final settlement. We can understand, therefore, what was
meant by Baillie, when, in April 1644, he wrote to David
Dickson of Glasgow, — " I hear the Synod hath granted yow
Mr. George," — and, when in June following, he wrote to
Robert Ramsay of Glasgow, — " I long to hear the eve7tt of (Mr.
George's) matter, what the Geiierall Asseuiblie hcs done with
his transportation."*

While it is very probable, if not absolutely certain, that Mr.
Young was an able preacher, it nevertheless is clear that the
most outstanding features in his character, were his prudence
and tact, as a man of business. We never hear of his making
long speeches in the General Assembly, but we often find him
entrusted with the management of delicate and difficult affairs.
Baillie made frequent use of Mr. Young's discretion in that

* The Presbytery of Ayr had found that ]Mr. Young "ought not to be transported."
Hence the appeal to the Synod. As iUustrative of old church customs, it may be
mentioned that in the Burgh Records (printed) of Glasgow, it is minuted, that one,
"John Wilson, is electit and choisin to ryd to the Sessioun of Mauchline and
Presbyterie of Air, with twa letters, to be direct from the town to them, anent the
transportation of Mr. George Young to this Burghe." After the transportation took
place, it was further minuted, that the council allowed Mr. Young loo merks for
removing his plenishing. And it was quite right that they should. It was not Mr.
Young but they that solicited the transportation. It seems also to have been a
common practice long ago for congregations to pay the cost of flitting their ministers.
In 1672, the minister of Balmaghie was translated to Galston; and, sometime after
his settlement in Galston, the Session of that parish "ordained John Campbell,
with consent of Cessnock elder and younger, to pay out ;i^i8, Scots, for six horses
going to carry the minister's household stuff, from Dunjop in Galloway to the parish
of Galston, and ^5, 6s. 8d. for certain moveables, bought by the paroch from the
executors of the deceisit Mr. Alexander Blair (former minister), which are to remain
in the manse ; and that, out of the readiest of the 200 merks, left by the said Mr.
Alexander by testament for the publick and pious uses of the paroch, to be disposed
by sight of Cessnock elder and younger." It may be questioned if Mr. Blair's
mortification was either justly or wisely expended. Another part of it, we saw, wag
employed in the purchase of a parish coffin for the poor !

296 Old CJuirck IJfc in Scotland.

way. " You have," he writes from London, " such a punctual!
care of all my affairs, that I need say no more to you of them ;
only help my wife to gett my half year's stipend, due the first
of July, so pleasantlic as you can!" Shortly before he
made this request, Baillie wrote to Mr. Young in a similar strain
on a similar subject. " I wish, at our first being in Edinburgh,
you would deal with my Lord Chancellor, in my name, if (by
his Lordship's means) in any fair, short and quiet way, I might
be refunded in my true expenses I was at in my London
voyadge. . . . I seek no recompense; onlie, if my reall and
true charges may be defrayed to me, I will thank God and my
Lord Chancellor for that favour."* And it was not only in
private matters, but in the public affairs of the Church, that
Mr. Young's business talents were courted and shewn. While
he served in the ministry at Mauchline, he was an active and
much respected member of the Presbytery of Ayr. He drew
up, in 1642, a series of rules for the orderly conduct of business in
that court. The following year, he was appointed, with another
minister, to draw up " a catalogue of the common heads of
religion and controversy thereon, to be handled at the exercise
by the members of Presbytery in order." And that he took an
interest in the problems of social life is shewn by the motion
he made and carried in the Presbytery, that "in all tyme coming,
the poor in every parish should be marked, with stampes of lead
upon thair breasts, who shall be thocht be the minister and
session of every'paroch worthy to be licentiat to beg within thair
bounds, for discerning of them from strangers and ydle (idle)
vagabonds." Not a very wise project this, it may be said, and
a return to such begging licenses would be a grievous retro-
gression in civilisation. But its justification lies in the fact that,

* Haillic's Letters, \'ol. II., 39-40.

Ministers of MaiicJUiiie, i^6o-i6^^. 297

in 1642, it was the means of putting down a greater evil ; and
good statesmanship consists not in vainly trying to pass such
measures as are radically the best conceivable, but in framing
such as, whatever be their imperfections, are meliorative and
practicable.

On more important arenas than the floor of his local
Presbytery, Mr. Young displayed his business capacities. His
diplomatic and secretarial services were in great request in the
rooms of Assembly Committees, and of clerical coteries. In
1637, the Church was thrown into a ferment by the issue of a
Service Book,* (Laud's Liturgy), which all ministers were
required, after a certain specified date, to use in public worship.
A vehement outcry was made against this service book ; not
because a liturgy was in itself objectionable, but because the
new liturgy was thrust on the Church by the King, without her
consent, and because it was alleged to be over high in its
ritual and doctrine. The country, moreover, had been brought
to its limit of endurance by other high-handed measures,
associated with the Episcopal government then established in
the Church. Grievances were accordingly tabulated, and
supplications for their redress sent in to the King. To these
supplications insufficient heed was paid, and the complaincrs
found it necessary, when the ordinary modes of redress failed,
to have recourse to other modes, within the limits of the
constitution of the kingdom. In order to present a firm and

* Although it was not till the issue of the Service Book in 1637 that the ferment
broke out, there was really a fatal blow struck by the King and the prelates, on the
liberty of the Church by the issue, without the Church's consent, of the Book of
Canons in 1636. "This book," says Lord Clarendon, "though it might be fit to
be commended to a regular and orderly people, piously disposed, yet it was too
strong meat for infants in discipline, and too much nourishment to be administered
at once to weak and queasy stomachs, and too much inclined to nauseate what was
most wholesome." — Hist, of Rebellion, I., p. 172. Such a weak apology for the
book sufficiently condemns its obtrusion on the Church.

298 Old Church Life in Scotland.

strong front to the King and his counsellors, it was judged
expedient to unite the whole body of the people together,
under the solemn band of a religious covenant. Their fore-
fathers had, in 15S1, subscribed such a covenant in defence of
the true religion, when its safety was supposed to be
endangered by Popish machinations. In that covenant, all the
erroneous tenets and practices of Popery were individually
named and abjured ; and it was proposed that this covenant
should be subscribed anew, and by an ingenious explication be
made applicable to the Episcopal innovations unlawfully
introduced into the Church. This was obviously stretching the
old Covenant pretty far, and there was great danger that the
framers of the explication would, in their over zeal, be carried
beyond bounds. When the secret came out, therefore, that the
old Covenant of 1581 was being remodelled and extended for
subscription, fears were excited in the minds of the more
moderate of the popular party that some unauthorised
" planks " would be inserted in the platform. Certain very plain
remarks by Mr. Harry Rollock, in the pulpit of the College
Church of Edinburgh, on the 25th February, " made me,"
writes Baillie, " suspect the intention (of our leaders) in this
new Covenant, to make us forszuear bishops and ceremonies."*
This in the opinion of some would have been going too far. It
would have been settling, offhand, a large question, which should
have been submitted to the whole Church, in General Assembly
convened. " I was filled with fear and great perplexitie," con-
tinues Baillie, " lest the bond, which I found was in conceaving,
should containe any such clause ; for this, I thought, would

* This would have compelled many to repudiate their ordination vows, and so
to commit perjury. Easy escape from these vows was provided by the subsequent
Assembly, (1638) which declared "the onthes etc., enacted by the Prelates of
intrants in the ministeric . . . to bo unlawful and no way obligatorie. "

Ministers of Maiickline, i^66-i6j^. 299

inevitably open a gape and make a present division in the
ministry, which was the earnest desire and sure victory of the
bishops." This fear, he adds, I caused to be remonstrated to
the nobles, and they took the remonstrance well. And the
agent whom Baillie employed in this business was Mr. George
Young, to whom, as well as to Baillie, a draft of the Covenant
was sent by the nobles, through Lord Loudoun. The result was,
that a small, but very important, alteration was made on the
scroll of this now famous document, by the substitution of the
word " forbearing " for the word " suspending," in reference to
the practice of such ceremonies in worship, and to the appro-
bation of such changes in the government of the Church as had
been already introduced and in a manner established. This
alteration saved the Covenanting party from intestine divisions,
if not from a split, at the very outset, and affords an illustration
of the oft repeated assertion that the ends of a party may be
better served by moderate measures than by extreme ones.

The friends of Mr. Young were not slow to acknowledge
their obligations to him for his good and sagacious counsels.
Every now and then he was having a pleasant compliment
paid him. In 1641, the King, in coming to terms with the
Covenanters, was anxious that certain bygones should be
declared bygones, and that the trial of the incendiaries and
plotters, as they were termed, should be passed over or allowed
to. fall through. That, however, was a concession which the
Covenanters were not willing to grant ; and, says Baillie,
"sundrie of the Parliament would have had the invie of refusing
the King's demand fall on the Church, but, by an overture of
our good friend Mr. George Young, we got the thorn put in the
right foot."*

* The case is worth mentioninq, to shew how statesmen and churchmen, in those
(lays, tried to outwit each oihcr. l!y the advice of Southesk, the following

3CX) Old CInirch Life in Scotland.

It need scarcely be said that all the Covenanters of 1638,
as well as those of later date, were opposed to whatever
had the appearance of ornate ritual in public worship. The
Assembly of 1638, in their Act condemnatory of the Service
Book "lately obtruded upon the Reformed Kirk within this
realm," declared that, besides " having been devised and
brought in by the pretended Prelats, without direction from
the Kirk, and pressed upon ministers, without warrand from
the Kirk," the book itself contains, (in addition to " the popish
frame and forms in divine worship), many popish errors and
ceremonies;" and is therefore "repugnant to the doctrine,
discipline and order " of the Church of Scotland. Mr. Young,
therefore, as one of the Covenanters of 1638, was opposed to
every thing that could be accounted popish ritual. But, in the
old use-and-wont service of the Church of Scotland, there were
a few forms which some of the more puritanic of the Cove-
nanters vehemently denounced as " nocent ceremonies." In
particular, there were three. There was, first of all, the practice
of ministers kneeling in the pulpit for private devotion, before
the service commenced. There was, secondly, the repetition
of the Lord's prayer in the course of the service. And, thirdly,
there was the custom of concluding the Psalm-singing with a
doxology, ascribing glory to God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. About the beginning of 1642, a
demonstration was made against these harmless and ancient, if

"captious" question was sent to the Commissioners for the Church, — "whether,
in conscience, the tryall of the Incendiaries or plotters might by the Parliament be
dispensed with? for, if so, they did conceive the passing of that tryall was the mean
of the country's peace. We required, before we could give ane answer, our inter-
rogators' declaration, whether they, in conscience, thought that the passing of that
tryall was a sure mean of peace, without which it could not be had ? Upon this,
without farder troubleing of us, the States resolved, as you have in the printed Act,
for taking the tryall, for their oathe's sake, bot remitting the sentence to the King."
Daillie's Letters, Vol. I., p. 394,

Ministers of Mauchline, 1^60-1655. 301

not positively good and seemly, ceremonies. A considerable
party arose in the Church who were determined to have them
discharged and abjured. The headquarters of this party was
in Ayrshire and in the district around Stranraer. The chief
apostle of the party was Mr. John Nevay of Newmilns. Some
of the Gallovidian brigade of the party had, in their zeal for
what they reckoned purity of worship, been guilty in 1642, of
diverse rash acts, which were reported to the General Assembly.
It required both discretion and firmness to deal effectually with
the persons guilty of these disorders, and much credit and
commendation accrued to Mr. Young for the service he
rendered in this troublesome business. He was, that year,
appointed clerk in the Assembly's committee on reports,* and,
in that capacity, he had the skill to bring out the right and
wrong of a case so plainly, as to make the way clear for
the Assembly's judgment. He " handled the matter so, that
the impertinencie of these in Galloway was made palpable to
the whole Synod." But his labours in that unpleasant
affair were not brought all at once to an end. During the
sitting of the Assembly, 1643, there was, at private meetings of
the Church leaders, much debate about the vagaries of Mr.
Nevay and his colleagues. At one of these meetings, held in
the moderator's chamber, Mr. Nevay himself was present ; and
he broke out passionately against all the three ceremonies —
the repetition of the Lord's prayer as much as the others.
After long jangling, the committee had almost for the sake of
peace come to the conclusion, that two of the ceremonies, viz.,
the act of kneeling in the pulpit and the singing of doxologies,
should not be enforced as part of the Church's order. " Mr.

* Mr. Young was a splendid penman. Several specimens of his hamhvriting
appear in the Records of the Presbytery of Ayr, and they stand out clear and bold

and business like, from all the surrounding caligraiihy.

302 Old Churcli Life in Scotland.

Ilaric Guthrie and the brethren in the North" (who had
hitherto been the most vociferous defenders of the old customs)
" were so overawed that they were vcrie quyet ; and, being
sent for, professed, for the necessity of the tyme, to be content
of any thing. Bot, Mr. George Young, Mr. John Bell, and
others of the west, were not so soon satisfied ; bot threatened,
on all hazards, to make much din, if something were not done
for marring the progress of that ill." It will be seen, therefore,
that Mr. Young was a man not only of tact but of determina-
tion ; and that, when he judged it necessary, he could make a
stand, and cause his voice to be heard in the controversies of
the Church with no small effect. It happened, however, that
Nevay had time on his side, as the saying is ; and that, after
the adoption of the Westminster Assembly's Directory of
Public Worship (1645), the three "nocent ceremonies" were, for
many a long year, discontinued in the Presbyterian Church of
Scotland. They are now finding their way back into the
Church, along with a monstrous drawling of amen by the
precentor and choir, and a most unsaintly screaming of mis-
accented hallelujahs.

In 165 1, the Church and nation were split into two factions,
over the public resolutions of that year. These resolutions
were, in brief, that all fenciblc persons might be received into
the army for defence of the kingdom, except such as were
excommunicated, notoriously profane, or professed opposers of
the Covenant and cause of God. It may astonish people at
this time of day to hear, that before the Scottish Parliament
could venture to pass such resolutions the sanction of the
Church had to be solicited and obtained. But, in 1649, it was
held sill/id to admit into the service of the state any that were
tainted with malignancy, that is, had taken part in, or had
favoured, or had not protested against, Duke Hamilton's

Ministers of MmidUine, 1560-1655. 303

engagement to rescue Charles the first from the hands of the
English Parliamentarians. And an Act, called the Act of
Classes, was that year passed by the Scottish Parliament,
debarring the several classes of malignants from military and
other public service, for periods proportioned to the measure of
their iniquity. The kingdom was consequently, for want of
defenders, placed at the mercy of any invaders who thought it
worth their while to enter the country. After the disaster at
Dunbar, Parliament was compelled to enquire whether public
opinion would not sanction the repeal or modification of this
suicidal enactment. The Church was the court of public
opinion in those days, and was, likewise, the conscience keeper
of the State on all questions of moral and religious duty ; and
hence, the Church, through her Commission of Assembly, was
consulted on the point. And although the Commission first,
and the Assembly afterwards, sanctioned the employment in
the army of all fencible persons, under limitations mentioned,
there was a considerable party, both of ministers and laymen,
who denounced that act of policy as something very like a
distrust of God. The Church was divided, therefore, into two
parties, called respectively, Rcsolutioners, and Protesters, Mr.
Young, as might be expected, was strong on the side of the
Rcsolutioners. He had no sympathy with those that repre-
sented the public resolutions as deeds of perfidy and atheism.
Accordingly, when Mr. Blair and Mr. Durham, with the view of
healing divisions in the Church, drew up in 1652, for the signa-
ture of both parties, a paper which required the Rcsolutioners to
make some important concessions to the Protesters, Mr. Young,
who had then been removed to Glasgow, declared himself
"passionately against it." But we are not to suppose, from this
expression of Baillie's, that Mr. Young was a man of conten-
tion and uncompliancy. He was very conspicuously a man of

304 Old CInirch Life in Scotland.

moderation and peace. When the news of his probable
transportation to Glasgow was first broached, in 1644, Baillie
wrote jubilantly to Spang of Campheir, " all Glasgow quarrels
arc to my joy settled, by Mr. George Young's coming to them."
And in another letter, to Mr. Young himself, Baillie wrote, your
transportation is "a matter I have wished among my chief
worldly desires, not only for my own private benefite, which I
know will not be small by it, bot most for the good which I
apprehend will quicklie come, thereby, to that Toune. I wish,
with all your power you sett yourself, to put these things in
frame which too long hes been out of joynt. A cordial
agreeance is much the best of it ; and now, since you are there,
you will strive to make a better understanding mutuallie
betwixt Mr. David, Mr. Robert Ramsay, and the Provost,
Principall, and Mr. William Wilkie." And these grand
anticipations were not falsified by events. Mr. Young was a
man of great influence and authority, and he proved himself a
blessed peacemaker both in the church, and in the city of
Glasgow. The strife, which commenced in 165 1, over the
public resolutions waxed so fierce and obdurate, that it
eventually caused a disruption in the Church. There was no
secession, and no minister either gave up or was evicted from
his living. But Presbyteries and Synods were split in twain,
and each section met and constituted itself the Presbytery or
Synod, of which it was only a part. The mischief and
confusion that arose from this duality were indescribable. In
the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, overture after overture was
made for re-union ; but, what one party declared to be the
utmost concession it could make the other declined to accept.
As a last resource, it was proposed, in 1655, that two repre-
sentatives of each party should be commissioned to meet, and
sec if they could fall on an}- scheme that would re-unite the

Ministers of MmicJdine, 1^60-1655. 30S

Synod. The estimation in which Mr. Young was held, by the
Resolutioners of the west, is shewn by their appointment of him
to be one of their representatives at this important conference.
When we consider, too, that the chosen representatives of the
Protesters at this conference were Mr. Patrick Gillespie and
Mr. James Durham, it must be acknowledged that Mr. Young,
in being pitted against men of such heavy mettle, was
reckoned both an astute negotiator and an able debater.
And although Baillie, who by this time had rather lost his
head in the strife and become a much more violent partisan
than he once was, does not scruple to aver that Mr. Young and
his colleague were worsted by their wary opponents, and that
the terms they agreed on as a basis of re-union were " mean,"
the fact that these terms were accepted and approved by all
the members of the Presbyteries of Ayr and Lanark, by all
the members of the Presbytery of Glasgow except one, and by
all the members of the Presbyteries of Irvine and Dumbarton
except two, is a fairly good proof that the terms were reason-
able and that the settlement was expedient and satisfactory.*
It only remains to be stated that Mr. Young, by his timely

* Baillie writing to Spang in 1655 says, " I was like to have been more troubled
by another designe of a larger union. " Proposals were made for a conference at
Edinburgh of representatives of both parties from all parts of Scotland. After
some haggling a meeting for this purpose was held on the 8th November, 1655.
This conference, says Mr. Beattie, _" included nine members from each of the
parties. The resolutioners were Messrs. Douglas, Baillie, Dickson, Wood, Ker,
Ferguson, Young, Mackell and Smith, the protesters were Warriston, Sir John
Cheesly, Colonel Ker, Messrs. Rutherford, Naysmith, Trail and Gabriel Maxwell.
. . . The conference was continued for about two weeks, being the longest ever
employed for the professed purpose of putting an end to that distressing contro-
versy. . . The style of their proposals was more conciliatory indeed than what
had been formerly employed, but the main obstacles still remained and there was
no actual progress in the attainment of tliat re-union which was so much to be
desired. . . The conference was brought to a close, but the breach still
continued wide as before." Beattie's History of the Church of Scotland, pages
254-257-

3^6 Old Church Life in Scotland.

death, if I may use such a phrase, was spared a j^^reat trial of
afnictioii. lie lived to sec the restoration of monarchy, in the
person of that sweet Prince, Charles II.,* but he died in the
month of March, 1661, just two days before the passing of the
Act Rescissory, which undid all the legislation in Scotland
since 1637, and virtually restored Episcopal government in the
Church. On Sunday, the 20th March, he seemed to be in his
usual health, and he preached with his customary vigour. But
he had caught cold, which fevered him and made him take to
his bed ; and, on the Saturday following, he expired, without
pain, and to the great sorrow of all, except the faction to
which he ever professed opposition. He was in the sixty-first
year of his age when he died, " hale in all his noble parts."
During his last illness, he spake little, but very well and gra-
ciously. " He was one of the best and kindest friends I had,"
says Baillie ; " and his loss was very sad to the Magistrates
and Council of Glasgow, for he was wise and active, kept them
at peace among themselves, prevented and crushed many de-
signs of their enemies, and set them on many things for their
good."

The people of Mauchline were much attached to Mr. Young,
and they did what they could, by remonstrances in the Pres-
bytery, to prevent his transportation to Glasgow. After his
settlement in the western metropolis, they made an effort to
secure, as his successor, Mr. James Nesmyth, who was then
minister at Dalmellington. On the 4th June, 1644, there com-
peared before the Presbytery of Ayr " sundrie gentlemen and
parochinars of Machlin, and presented ane letter from my Lord

* He is one of the most gentle, innocent, well inclyned Princes, so far as yet
appears that lives in the world : a trimme person, and of a manlie carriage ; under-
stands prettie well : speaks not much." — Baillie, 3rd April, 1649. "The King, in
wisdome, moderation, pietie, and grave carriage, giving hudge satisfaction to all."
— Ibid., 31st Jan., 1661. Ab illo Hectare quantum inutatus, i6So.

Ministers of MaiicJdine^ i^6o-i6j^. 307

Chancellor " (Earl of Loudon, patron of the parish), " declaring
the unanimous consent of the said parochinars suiting the
transportation of Mr. James Nesmyth, minister at DalmcUing-
ton, from the said kirk to the kirk and ministerie at Machlin,
together with his Lordship's request to the Presbytery for
granting transportation." Mr. Nesmyth, being present, was
" interrogat concerning the said motion of transportation, and
declared himself most unwilling to transport." Sundry gentle-
men and parishioners from Dalmellington were also present,
and, being " heard to speak for themselves in that particular,"
they expressed their determination to resist the motion to the
utmost of their power, and besought the Presbytery to " inter-
pone their request to the parochinars of Machlin to desist from
the foresaid persuit." The Presbytery deferred judgment till
a subsequent meeting ; and, at that meeting, Mr. Nesmyth
was asked if he had changed his mind about his transportation.
Mr. Nesmyth, thereupon, "declared gravelie that he could
never find a place under heavin wherein he could do God
better service in his ministerie, nor have better peace in his
conscience, nor wher he wer present minister ; " and he desired
the Presbytery " no wyse to declare him transportable." By
plurality of votes, the Presbytery then decerned that Mr,
Nesmyth should not be removed to Mauchline. The
parishioners of Mauchline, of course, appealed to the Synod
against this decision ; for appeals, in such circumstances, were
in those days the almost universal rule. It is needless, how-
ever, to follow the case further, because other suitors for Mr.
Nesmyth's services appeared, in the persons of the parishioners
of Hamilton ; and the Church courts, with sublime indifference
to Mr. Nesmyth's own predilection, ordered his translation to
that parish, where the great Duke, who had acted so conspicu-
ous a part in the King's interest and who was soon to act a

3oH Old Church Life in Scotland.

still more conspicuous part in that interest, had his ducal re-
sidence.

The people of Mauchline had, accordingly, to turn their eyes
somewhere else than to Dalmellington for a minister, and it
was July, 1646, before they succeeded in finding one to their
mind. The person then presented to the parish was Mr.
Thomas Wyllie, minister at Borgue, a man of eminent gifts, a
grand preacher, and a personal friend of the far-famed Samuel
Rutherford. It was to Mr. Wyllie that Rutherford, on being
appointed one of the Commissioners from the Church of Scot-
land to the Westminster Assembly, wrote what is perhaps the
most characteristic of all his letters. " I must entreat you," he
wrote, " for the help of your prayers. I am now called for to
England; and the government of the Lord's House in England
and Ireland is to be handled. My heart beareth me witness,
and the Lord who is greater knoweth, my faith was never
prouder than to be a common rough country barrowman in
Anwoth ; and that I could not look at the honour of being a
mason to lay the foundations for many generations, and to

build the waste places of Zion in another kingdom

I desyre bot to lend am schoot, and to cry, grace, grace upon the
building."

When Mr. Wyllie's presentation to Mauchline was submitted
to the Presbytery of Ayr, " the said Mr. Thomas, being present,
wes required to declare how he wes content with the same."
He replied, that he " indeid accepted thereof, with this protes-
tation, that there suld be a coleague and helper provydit to
join with him in that ministerie, in respect of the populous
congregation." This " protestation " was not a matter that the
Presbytery could dispose of, but it was communicated to the
General Assembly. The Assembly, in August, 1647, found
Mr. Wyllie's desire most reasonable, and recommended the

Ministers of MancJiline, 1^60-16^5. 309

Presbytery of Ayr " to see some settled way concluded for ob-
taining a colleague to him, betwixt this and the ist December
next ;" or, if not, to declare " Mr. Thomas transportable to any
place where God shall give him a calling." In March, 1648,
Mr. VVyllie informed the Presbytery "that my Lord Loudoun
had condescended to a division of the paroch of Mauchline,
and that the parishioners were preparing themselves to have a
perambulation for that effect by the Presbyterie's ordinance."
For more than a year, however, nothing further was done in
the matter. At length, in May, 1649, the Presbytery, " con-
sidering that the said Mr. Thomas may not be able to subsist
under the weight of so great a charge, the number of the
people being above 1900 communicants," ordered a peram-
bulation of the parish ; but, " because of the foulness of the
weather," that perambulation fell through, and another had to
be appointed for another day. It was this motion of Mr.
Wyllie's that led to the disjunction of the district of Sorn or
Dalgain from the parish of Mauchline. But it was not till
1656 that a church was erected at Sorn, and not till 1692 that
Sorn was constituted a separate parish.

Mr. Wyllie and Mr. Young were of opposite parties in the
Church. When the great disruption occurred in 1651, Mr.
Young espoused the cause of the Resolutioners, and Mr.
Wyllie cast in his lot with the Protesters. Neither of them,
however, was an extreme man. To Mr. Young is due a large
share of the credit of having made a reconciliation between the
two parties in the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr; and Mr. Wyllie,
after his removal to Kirkcudbright in 1655, seems to have been
just as anxious to effect a similar reconciliation of parties in
the Synod of Galloway. The editor of Rutherford's Letters
states, in a footnote, that the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright par-
ticularly distinguished itself by its earnest endeavours to

3IO Old Church Life in Scotland.

restore harmony between the Rcsolutioners and Protesters,
and to these endeavours the Presbytery was stirred up chiefly
by Mr. Thomas Wyllie. It is hard to say whether it is more
amusing or more melancholy to see how Rutherford, in his
great zeal for the work of the Lord and the promotion of
Christ's kingdom, turned aside the edge of all such entreaties
for reconciliation. In a letter to the Presbytery of Kirkcud-
bright, in 1659, he wrote, "the desire of your wisdoms for
union, to me, who am below such a public mercy and of so high
concernment to the Church of Scotland, ought to be most
acceptable. The name of peace is savoury, both good and

pleasant I offer to your wisdoms' consideration,

the evident necessity of iinion zvith God, and of a serious and
sound humiliation, and lying in the dust before the Lord for a
broken covenant, declining from our former love, owning of
such as we sometime judged to be malignant enemies and op-
posers of the work of reformation, . . . coldness and in-
differency in purging the house of God. . . . And my last
and humble suit to your wisdoms is, that ye would be pleased
to take in with this union the planting of the New College
with a third master, .... so shall ye be instrumental to
repair our breaches and build his house."* It is to be feared
that, even so late as 1660, there was too much truth in what
Mr. Hutcheson of Edinburgh wrote to Mr. Wyllie — that, "while
the essay towards union had been followed with the blessing
of much less animosity than was wont to be before, in actings
and walkings one with another, little could be got done for

* In another of his letters, 357, written about the same date, Rutherford betrays
the irreconcileable attitude he had assumed to those that differed from him in regard
to the Act of Classes and the Public Resolutions. "I see snares and temptations
in capitulating, composing, ceding, niinching with distinctions of circumstances,
formalities, compliments, and extenuations in the cause of Christ. 'A long spoon,
the broth is heb-hot.'"

Ministers of MaucJdinc^ i^6o-i6^^. 31 1

healing particular ruptures of Parishes and Presbyteries, even
upon seeming equal overtures. It fears me," he adds, " some
are more stiff than needful in such an exigent." And then, as
if he foresaw the persecutions that were coming and recognised
in them a merciful and salutary dispensation, he says, " I ap-
prehend that either our trials or God's appearing, among
others, may press the necessity of union more upon us."

Within less than two years after Mr. Wyllie's settlement in
Mauchline, a great event occurred in the parish. In 1648,
Duke Hamilton persuaded the Scottish Parliament to raise an
army for the relief of King Charles in England. The proposal
was ill received in the country, and it met with much opposi-
tion. " The levies," says Bishop Burnet, " went on dully. The
curses the ministers thundered against all who joined in this
engagement made the soldiers very heartless, being threatened
with no less than damnation." The country, in fact, was ex-
cited to the point of rebellion, and nowhere was the mutinous
spirit so strong as in the west. Sir James Turner was sent,
with three regiments of horse and one regiment of foot, to
silence Glasgow, which was then " a considerable town, and
most refractory to the Parliament." Turner's mode of silencing
cities was short and simple. " I soon learned to know," he
says, " that the quartering of two or three troopers and half-a-
dozen musketeers on a Covenanter was enough, in two or three
nights' time, to make him forsake the Kirk and side with the
Parliament." Having cooled the hot blood of Glasgow with
this mild medicine, he was directed to operate next in a similar
manner on the towns of Renfrewshire. So efficacious did his
billeting doses prove in Paisley, that in a day or two there were
no rebels left in that vivacious town to make experiments upon.
As he lay at Paisley, however, Turner heard of "a pcttic re-
bellion that was to be ushered in by religion, yea by one of the

3i2 Old Church Life in Scotland.

sacrcdcst mysteries of it, even the celebration of our Lord's
Supper." There was to be a communion at Mauchline Church,
and people were to be there from great distances ; and " be-
cause, forsooth, the times were dangerous, it was thought fit
that all the men should come armed." Turner apprised
Hamilton of this design, and received orders not to move from
Paisley till the Earl of Callander and General Middleton came
up with reinforcements. On Saturday, the loth June, being
the day before the sacrament at Mauchline, Callander and
Middleton arrived at Paisley; and on Monday, the 1 2th, by
ten in the forenoon, they were at Stewarton, with an army of
2000 foot and 1600 horse. On Saturday night the disaffected
nobles and gentry of Ayrshire met at Riccarton to consider
what course they should take — whether they should rise in
arms and set fire to the heather or should follow the discreet
example of the Glasgow and Paisley citizens. After a lengthy
discussion, prudential counsels prevailed ; and it was resolved
that, as there were no signs of any general rising over the
country, all thoughts of resistance to the levy should be laid
aside, and word to that effect sent on to Mauchline. The com-
munion was held at Mauchline on the Sunday without disturb-
ance ; and an enormous and a splendid gathering it must have
been. There were seven ministers present to take part in the
service — Mr. Wyllie himself, Mr. Blair of Galston, and i\Ir.
Nevay of Loudoun, Mr. Mowat* of Kilmarnock and Mr.
Guthrie of Fenwick, Mr. Adair of Ayr and Mr. Maxwell of
Dundonald. Each of these ministers was doubtless escorted

* Mr. Mowat was a man that stood particularly high in the estimation of his
acquaintances. "He was a man," says John Li\-ingstone, " of a meek, sweet
disposition, straight and zealous for the truth." " I cannot," says Rutherford,
" speak to a man so sick of love to Christ as Mr. Matthew Mowat," and again, " I
am greatly in love with Mr. Matthew Mowat, for I see him really stampt with the
imasje of God." Rutherford's Letters. Bonar's Edition.

Ministers of Matichline, 1^60-16^5. 3 1 3

by a goodly number of his faithful parishioners ;* and, over
and above these, there were hundreds of men from the
moors of Lanarkshire. " Many yeomen in Clydesdale,"
says Baillie, " upon fear to be levied by force, had fled
from their houses to Loudoun Hill, and there had mett
in a body of some horse and foot. Sundry of the sojours,
who had left the army, joined with them ;" and, on the
Saturday, all these came to Mauchline to communicate,
as was alleged. Either on Sunday or early on Monday
morning, the resolution of the gentry that met at Riccarton
was intimated to the crowds at Mauchline ; but, after sermon
on the Monday, the ministers and communicants proceeded,
nevertheless, to the moor, to discuss by themselves the question
of resistance or dispersion. Callender and his troops were, as
already said, at Stewarton early in the forenoon of that day,
and a consultation was there held about the order of the
march. " I entreated my Lord Callender, bot to no purpose,'
says Turner, " not to divide ; but rather to advance with all his
forces than hazard the overthrow of a few, which might
endanger the whole." Turner's advice was disregarded, and
Middleton was sent forward with six troops of horse to clear
the moor. The accounts of what occurred on Middleton's
arrival at Mauchline are contradictory. Mr. Auld, in his statis-
tical account of the parish, declares that Middleton's troops
were completely routed, and that his military chest was in the
hurry of his flight dropped in the field. This statement has
been copied out of one publication into another, till it may be
said that few facts in history have become better authenticated !

* In the Session Records of Fenwick, for 1648, there are at least two cases
mentioned of women's being delated and publicly rebuked, "for cursing the day
that ever the minister came to this country," and for invoking curses both on the
minister " for having the people to Machlein Muir . . . and on all that went
to Machlein Muir with him."

314 Old Churck Life in Scotland.

But Mr. Auld, excellent man as he was, cannot be reckoned a
good authority on this matter. He says the battle took place
about the yea)' i6^y. We may dismiss his account of the fray,
therefore, without cither comment or ceremony.* Wodrmv
asserts that the gathering on the moor was but an assemblage
of country people, who had no thought of fighting, and were
unprepared for it, when Middleton appeared. " Mr. Thomas
Wyllie," he adds, " under whose hands I have an account of
that action, and some other ministers travelled twix the people
and Middleton, and got the general's promise to permit the
people to dismiss peaceably, which when they were doing, his
men fell upon them, and with some slaughter scattered them
and kept the moor. When he came to Mauchline, the
ministers quarrelled his breach of promise ; and he put it off,
with alleging that some of the people had provoked his men
with harsh speeches." Baillie, writing to his cousin a fortnight
after the date of the skirmish, and giving the version of affairs
that was then current in Glasgow, confirms Wodrow's state-
ment with regard to the efforts of the ministers to avert
slaughter.f " The ministers," he says, " went to Middleton,
and capitulated for the safety of all except the sojours who
had left their colours, whereof were one hundred or two. This
written capitulation the ministers did carry to the people, and
persuaded to their power their disbanding. The most of the
men of Kyle and Cunningham were content to go, but the
sojours and Clydesdale men would needs fight. While they
were more than an hour in this confused uncertainty, and

* Sources of information accessible to all at the present day were not available to
country brethren, when Mr. Auld wrote. Baillie's Letters were first published in
1775 and Turner's Memoirs in 1S29.

+ In some other respects Baillie's narrative does not tally with Wodrow's. The
company on the moor is said by Baillie to have comprised "some twelve hundred
horse and eight hundred foot,"

Ministers oj Mauchline, i^6o-i6^S' 3i5

sundry crying to fight, Middleton makes a few of his horse to
charge, but the people presently fled. His sojours abstained
from killing, only fell a taking horse, arms, and purses. A
troop of the people fleeing to a bridge and missing the way
were forced to stand, whereupon they turned on the sojours
and fought very stoutly." " It was at this juncture," writes
Baillie, " that most of the slaughter took place ; and there were
only about forty slain, of whom nearly as many were troopers
as yeomen." Middleton himself had a personal encounter with
a blacksmith, and not only received some wounds but confessed
that if he had not stabbed the smith, " though not deadly " he
himself would have been killed. And Baillie adds that, " by
the time Callender and the army came up, the people were
dispersed."

There is still another version of the story, given by Sir James
Turner.* He says that after Middleton set off from Stewart-
ton with his troopers, " we advanced with the rest as the foot
could march ; but it was not long before we heard that the
communicants had refused to go to their houses, and having
ressaved a briske charge of Middleton's forlorn hope had
worsted it, and that himself and Colonel Urry, comeing up to
the rescue, were both wounded in the head, which had so
appalled their troops that if they lost no ground they were
glad to keep what they had and look upon the saints. These
unexpected news made Callander leave my regiment at Kil-
marnock and take his horse up with him to Middleton. I
entreated him to march, at least at a great trot, if not at a
gallop ; but he would be more ordcrlie, and therefore marched

* A brief account of the skirmish, corresponding so closely even in words and
phrases with that given by Sir James Turner, as to look like a copied summary of
Turner's narrative, will be found in Bishop Burnet's memoirs of the Dukes of
Ilanullon, published as far liack as 1677,

3i6 Old Church Life in Scotland.

more slowly. Wc met numbers of boys and bedccs, weeping
and crying * all is lost ; ' but, at our appearance, the slashing
communicants left the field, the horse truly untouched because
not fiercely pursued. About sixtie of their foot wore taken,
and five officers."*

It would appear, therefore, that in the actual fray between
Middleton's own troops and the men of Clydesdale, there was
not much of a victory for either side to boa.st of After losing
about an equal number of men (according to Baillie), the com-
batants were content (according to Turner), to stand still and
look at one another. But the arrival of reinforcements gave
heart to Middleton, and suggested retreat to the yeomen. It
may be added that Turner does not exculpate the ministers so
thoroughly as Wodrow and Baillie do. He speaks of them as
having been the persons that occasioned all the mischief But
it is probable that, whatever they may have previously done to
encourage rebellion, they would, as prudent men, on hearing of
the Riccarton resolution, advise the people to make no resist-
ance. Nor can we doubt Mr. Wyllie's own word, that he and
other ministers travelled as peace-makers between the people
and Middleton, and did what they could to prevent bloodshed.
And this account of the ministers' conduct is confirmed by
what Turner himself says about their apprehension and their
dismissal the following day. Had they been much to blame
they would not have been let off so soon. The other sixty-five
prisoners were taken to Ayr, and were tried by court-martial
some days afterwards. This trial, too, was not a farce. The
country fellows were pardoned, but the officers were sentenced
to be hanged or shot. To the credit of the victors, the sentence

* Baillie wrote, subsequently, (August 23rd, 164S), that the motion in the west,
in other words the gathering on Mauchline moor, would have proved a verj' high
and dangerous commotion had Callender delayed but two or three days to see to it.

Ministers of Maiichline, 1560-16^5. 3^7

of the court was not executed on the officers ; "and to that ex-
tension of mercy," says Turner, with laudable pride, " I was
very instrumental."

The ministers, although dismissed by Callander the day after
the brush at Mauchline, were not relieved of all further trouble
about the assemblage on the moor. They were summoned to
Edinburgh, on the charge of having raised a tumult. Three of
them, Messrs. Wyllie, Guthrie, and Mowat, were advised to
keep out of the way, and they took that prudent advice.* The
others appeared in court when called, and protested that,
neither directly nor indirectly, had they persuaded the people
to meet for war, or the discussion of war. For several weeks
these ministers were "put off from day to day, and were at last
dismissed to a new citation." And in connection with their
trial a strange story is told of Sir Archibald Johnstone of
Warriston. He was one of the fiercest denouncers of the levy
for the King's relief, and he was afraid that, as advocate, he
would be pressed to plead against the ministers. In his heart
he approved the ministers' conduct, and was resolved to say so,
if required to speak at the bar ; but " with much ado, he was
moved by his friends to lurk for some time, till the storm went
over." The expedition of Hamilton, as every one knows,
failed ; and in January, 1649, the King, instead of being de-
livered from the hands of his enemies, was brought to the
block. The overthrow of Hamilton's army reversed the posi-
tion of parties in Scotland. The minority, which in 1648 op-
posed the levy, became in the Parliament, or pretended Parlia-
ment, of 1649, the majority. They signalised their tenure of
power, too, by legislation of the most radical character. They

* This rather indicates that, whatever they may have done ultimately to make
peace with Middlelon, they had in some way encouraged and organised a meeting
at Alauchline, for some uthcr nbjcct than tlie holding of a communion.

3if^ Old Cliurch Life in Scotland.

abolished patronage in the Church, excluded all but members
of their own party from command in the army and from office
in the State, and they passed an Act approving the insurrec-
tion at Mauchline moor.* Mr. Wyllie was thus, by Act of
Parliament, transformed from an outlaw and traitor into a
patriot and hero.

There is no reference, that I have observed, in the Records
of the Presbytery of Ayr to the skirmish at Mauchline moor.
The Presbytery was strongly opposed to Hamilton's engage-
ment, and must therefore have sympathised thoroughly with
those that made a stand against Middleton.f Indeed, Mr.
Wyllie was not two months settled in Mauchline till he had
proof of the Presbytery's tendencies and temper. In Septem-
ber, 1646, he "wes desired to intimat a publict day of humilia-
tion, to be keiped in the Kirk of Machlin for the whole
Parochinars, for taking away of the sinne of complying with
the publict enemie, by taking a general protection from them."

* In this Act of Parliament, 1649, it is said that, "the rising in arms at
Mauchline Moor, by the good and well affected people there assembled, and what
was there done by thame and ye said ministers, . . . were not onlie lawfull,
bot a zealous and loyall testimonie to the truth and covenant, and that which
became faithfull ministers of the Gospel and people zealous for the truth to do."
In another Act the following sentence occurs, "ye base, cruel, and unnatural
proceedings against the honest and conscientious people that met at Mauchline
moor, for their own defence ; which was not done without the baseness and
Ircacherie of some." It will thus be seen how Acts of Parliament, in times of
contention, reflect not only the spirit but the historical misrepresentations of
parties. In the famous Act of Classes, 1649, it is said that, malignants of the first
class shall comprise, among others, "all those officers that continued in the
engadgment, who commanded the forces at Mauchline Moor, etc." Claims were
sent into Parliament by individuals, for compensation for injuries received from the
troopers at Mauchline moor. Among others, one Robert Paton, indweller in
Kilmarnock, was allowed the sum of £,\Qao Scots " for making up the losse of
his hand, and charges he hes bene at to the chirurgeous. " State Papers.

1 1648, Deceml)er. " The brethren were exhorted that they have a special care
to [lurge their Sessions of such as have been guilty in that sinful engadgment with
Duke Hamilton, and complying therein with him, and all the brethren ordained to
renew the Covenants at their several congregations." Records of Pres. of Ayr.

Ministers of Maiichline^ ij6o-i6^^. 319

The week after the fray on the moor, Mr. WylHe, with con-
science void of offence, was present at a meeting of Presbytery:
and, so far from hearing his own conduct at his recent com-
munion impugned, he saw the Presbytery, in terms of an
ordinance from the Commission of the Kirk, enter "on a several
tryal of the brethren, anent their cariage and behaviour con-
cerning the unlawful engadgment in warre against England."*
According to Mr. Hill Burton, Mauchline was, in 1648, the
scene of another historical event. This was the starting of the
Whigamores' raid. " The term ivJiigamore was applied to
carriers," says Sir Walter Scott, " from their use of the word
ivhig-whig, get on, get on, in driving their horses." And the
origin of the Whigamores' raid, in 1648, may be best given in
the words of Bishop Burnet : — " After the news came down to
Scotland of Duke Hamilton's defeat, in his expedition to re-
lieve the King, the ministers animated their people to rise and
march to Edinburgh ; and they came up, marching on the head
of their parishes with an unheard-of fury, praying and preach-
ing all the way as they came. . . . This was called the
Whigamores' inroad ; and, ever after that, all that opposed
the Court came in contempt to be called Whigs, and from
Scotland the word was brought into England, where it is now
one of our unhappy terms of distinctions." Mr. Burton says
that it was at Mauchline, and under the auspices of Lord
Eglinton that the Whigamores assembled, and from Mauchline
that they began their march, which has now become historical,
to Edinburgh.! Mr. Burton, in the heading of the chapter

''All the 7.eal shewn by the Presbytery for the cause espoused by Argyll, did not
make them overlook the irregularities and excesses attributed to Argyll's soldiers.
In March 1648, the Presbytery directed "a letter to be sent to the iVIarquiss of
Argyll, to remonstrate to his Lordship the insolencie and lewd carriage of his
Lordship's regiment."

fin his memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, Uurnct says, p. 367, that "the

320 Old Church Life in Scotland.

wherein he describes this gathering, calls it the " Mauchlinc
Testimony." Local patriots may be allowed a little jubi-
lation over the facts that while it was at Mauchlinc that
Callcnder's army, on its way to England, first met with resis-
tance, it was also at Mauchlinc that the host of rustics was
formed, to assume the reins of government in Scotland after
Callcnder's defeat.

In 1655, Mr. Wyllie was translated from Mauchlinc to the
more important charge of Kirkcudbright ; and at Kirkcudbright
he had troubles to encounter, of a much graver character than
what befell him in connection with the fray on Mauchlinc Moor.
In 1660, Charles the second was restored to the throne of his
fathers, and very soon afterwards, Episcopacy was, under cir-
cumstances of considerable diplomacy if not deception, re-estab-
lished in the Church of Scotland. I have nothing to say against
Episcopacy /(jr i-^". It does not appear to me to be " abjured,"
either in Scripture, or in the Westminster form of Church
Government approved by the General Assembly in 1645. I
have no objection against its adoption in any church, if the
church itself, in a regular and constitutional way, accepts it as
her chosen form of government. Its re-establishment, however,
in the Church of Scotland, by Charles II., was a very great
blunder if not also a grievous crime.

And, in making this statement, I am quite free to admit that,
besides his own personal predilection for Episcopacy, as a form
of Church government better adapted than plebeian Presby-
tery for kings and gentlemen, Charles may have had other
reasons for re-instituting the ancient order of bishops in Scot-
western counties were commanded and animated to an insurrection by the Lord
Chancellour (Earl of Loudoun) and the Earl of Eglinton, together with their minis-
ters, who came leading out whole parishes with such arms as could be had, and
when these failed, with staves, and pitchforks, and sythes." And again, "those
lliai were raised were at first commanded by the Earl of Eglinton."

Ministers of ATauchline, i§6o-i6j^. 321

land. One of the objects aimed at in the Solemn League and
Covenant of 1643 (which it may be necessary to say here, was
a very different document from the National Covenant of 1638)
was a covenanted uniformity in religion betwixt the Churches
of Christ in the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland.
This, Charles may have said, is the very object I also have in
view, and the form of Church government which I find does
for the larger kingdom south of the Tweed must do for the
smaller kingdom north of the Tweed. Charles, too, it must be
remembered, had seen a good deal of the spirit and temper of
the Covenanters in Scotland ; and it need astonish no one that
he was not in love with these. He had spent fully a twelve-
month in Scotland, in the years 1650 and 165 1, and he doubt-
less found that a King had not the life of a dog among the fierce
and tyrannous churchmen who lorded over the land in those
days.* He must have seen, too, that even the Parliament was
robbed both of its rightful authority and its liberties, by the
high-flying Presbyters. Before Parliament could venture to
pass an Act that could be construed to have any bearing on
duty or conscience, religion or social ethics, the " antecedent
judgment " of the kirk on the major premise had to be solicited
and obtained. The public resolutions anent the defence of the

*" The Duke of Buckingham . . . advised the King to put himself wholly
in their hands. The King wrought himself into as grave a deportment as he could ;
he heard many prayers and sermons, some of great length. I remember in one fast
day there were six sermons preached without intermission. I was there myself and
not a little weary of so tedious a service. The King was not allowed so much as to
walk abroad on Sundays, and if at any time there had been any gaiety at court,
such as dancing or playing at cards, he was severely reproved for it. This was
managed with so much rigour, and so little discretion, that it contributed not a
little to beget in him an aversion to all sort of strictness in religion." Burnet's
History of his own Times. "The King growing weary of the sad life he led, made
his escape in the night, etc. The Government saw, now, the danger of using him
ill, which might provoke him to desperate courses ; after that, he was used as well
as that kingdom, in so ill a state, was capable of." — JlnU.

322 Old Church Life in Scotland.

country could not be passed without that antecedent judgment.
The trial of the plotters and incendiaries could not be aban-
doned without ecclesiastical permission. All the high-handed
doings of the Covenanters, in the days of their power, from
1637 to 165 1, were well known to Charles — how they warred
against his father, and how they took the bread out o{ the
mouth of every man that fought or argued on his father's side ;*
how they laid under penance whole parishes, like Mauchline,
as well as individual men, for accepting protection "in the times
of confusion," from any of his father's generals ; how they cen-
sured and deposed ministers for favouring what they termed
" the unlawful engagement," which was simply an undertaking
by Parliament to deliver the King from the hands of his English
keepers ; how they confiscated the "comes, goods and geir," of
every man that would not cordially subscribe the Covenant ;t

* Act of Classes 1649. The King himself it may be mentioned was concussed
into signing a long declaration loading his father's and mother's names with re-
proaches, confessing all the former parts of his life to have been a course of enmity
to the work of God, etc. etc. Burnet.

+ A very interesting book is the Minute Book kept by the War Committee of the
Covenanters in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in the years 1640 and 1641, printed
and published by J. Nicholson, Kirkcudbright, 1855. The statements made in
this book are specially valuable, as being the Covenanters' cnun record of their
doings. The following extracts are a sample of what will be found in the book : —
" Ordaines Cardyness to cause clipe and intromit with some schiepe parteining to
Bakbie, ante-covenanter (anti-covenanter), and to be comptable thairfoire to the
publict, and that they remaine upon the ground whair they are until they be gotten
sauld," p. 4. " The Commiltie ordaines the Captaines of the parochess to give in
ane perfect inventar of non-covenanters' comes, goods, and geir within thair
parochess, and that they cause apryse the samen be honest men, and to desyer the
said non-covenanters, to whom the samen apperteines, to cum and find sufficient
suretie that the samen shall be furth-cummand to the publict," p. 80. "Ordaines
the Captaines of the Parochess to send their constables, with twa suflicient witnesses,
to rype throw the Parochess for suspectit gudes," p. 81. "Finds and declares ane
cold covenanter to be suche ane persone quha does not his dewtie in everic thing
committed to his charge, thankfullie and willinglie, without compulsion, for the
furtherance of the publict," p. 129. It sometimes happened, through these con-
fiscations, that the wives of anti-covenanters were " reducit to extreme miserie and
hardship, not having quhairupon to sustein thame ; " in which cases, allowances f

Ministers of Maiidiline, i^6o-i6j§. 323

how they pilloried plain country people for uttering such
" impertinent words " as " that it was ane better world in the
pretendit bischopes' tyme than now, when men are fyned, and
that we will be glad to get thame agane yet." All these
undoubted facts, and perhaps ten thousand more of similar
character, must have been known to Charles, and may reason-
ably enough be presumed to have created in his mind a secret
dislike and abhorrence of that Presbyterianism which was
Priesthood writ large.

But there were other facts than these for Charles to consider.
On being crowned at Scone, on the ist Jan., 165 1, he sub-
scribed the Covenants and bound himself by solemn oath to
prosecute the ends thereof. These engagements formed part
of his title to wear the Crown of Scotland, and they could not
be cancelled at his own will, in respect of any change that
came over his mind. For such revocation, the sanction of the
people of Scotland was necessary, and that sanction was
neither asked nor given — at least in any way that the people
could acknowledge to be just. Hence it was that hundreds of
good and godly men held Charles to be nothing less than per-
jured when he set up Episcopacy.* Hence it was that a sen-
tence of excommunication was formally and solemnly pro-
nounced upon him in the forest of Torwood, and that this
sentence, with its high assumption of spiritual authority, was,
so far from raising shouts of derision, regarded with awe as the
very judgment of God, spoken in truth and justice by one of

"ten laides of aites and ane boll beir, messor of Kirkcudbryt," were granted
" furthe of the rediest of thair husbands' comes and cropes," p. 157. Of course, it
must be remembered that, when these "ordinances " were being passed, there was
civil war in the land.

* Baillie writes (i6th June, 1660), "Can our gracious Prince ever forget his
solemne oath and subscription ? . . . If I were beside him, I would tell him
sadly, and with tears, oaths to the Almightie are not to be broken.^''

3^4 Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

God's servants.* Hence it was, too, that some, who called
themselves " the representatives of the true Presbyterian Kirk
and covenanted nation of Scotland " disowned Charles " as
having any right, title to, or interest in the Crown of Scotland
for government, as forfeited several years since by his perjury,
and breach of covenant both to God and his Kirk, . . and
by his tyranny and breach of the very leges regnandi in matters
civil."t The coronation oath which Charles took in Scotland
may be differently judged, by different people, as wise or un-
wise ; but, whatever was its character in respect of wisdom or
expediency, it was solemnly taken, it was a condition on which
the Crown was placed on his head, and it was a condition that
could not be renounced, except by (and possibly not even then)
the permission of the sovereign people.

Events might have taught Charles, further, that it was
impossible to obtrude Episcopacy on the Church of Scotland
in 1661, without doing violence to the convictions of the
people and provoking them to rebellion. It is a notable fact

* Sentence by Donald Cargill, Sept., 16S0. The sentence begins : — " I, being a
minister of Jesus Christ, and having authority and power from him, do, in his name
and by his spirit, excommunicate and cast out of the true Church, and dchver up to
Satan, Charles II., King ; and that upon the account of these wickednesses, viz.
(inter alia) — 2nd. For his great perjury, in regard that, after he had twice at least
subscribed the covenant, he did presumptuously renounce and disown and command
it to be burned by the hands of the hangman." In the discourse before the excom-
munication, the following words occur : — " It is very remarkable, that where this
sentence is just, it passeth the power of devils to make them (the excommunicated)
have such a life as they had before. For, after that, they are still languid, vexed,
and anxious at heart, as persons falling from the highest and best conditions .
and into the most dreadful of companies." It might be retorted that the sentence
must, on that showing, have been unjust in the case of Charles, for neither languor
nor vexation ever disturbed his gaiety. Wodrow says : — " This unprecedented ex-
communication is plainly disagreeable to the rules of this Church and our known
Presbyterian principles. ... It hath been matter of much reproach and ludi
cry to the enemies of the Church of Scotland ; . . . but everybody knew Mr
Cargill was perfectly alone in this matter."

+ Sanquhar Declaration, 22nd June, 16S0.

Ministers of Mauchline, ij6o-i6^^. 325

that the Westminster Standards do not set up Presbytery on
the ground oijus divinum. They only assert that Presbyterial
government is agreeable to the Word of God. Those that
prefer Episcopacy to Presbytery may therefore accept and own
these standards ; and Presbyterians, who have subscribed these
standards, may without any inconsistency become Episco-
pah'ans to-morrow. But the Church of Scotland, not long
before 1661, had in her General Assemblies gone far beyond
the letter of the Westminster documents.* Both in 1638 and in
1639, she declared, with only one dissentient voice, that not
only should Episcopacy be removed from the Church of Scot-
land, but that it should be abjured. In other words, the
Church had solemnly set her seal to the doctrine that
Episcopacy, besides being contrary to the inclinations of the
Scottish people, was inconsistent with the Word of God. It
might, therefore, have been foreseen by Charles, that it was
impossible to get the Covenanters to accept and own, in 1661,
what they or their fathers had abjured in 1639. It could only
be at the cost of suffering and bloodshed, and by dint of
oppression and persecution, that Episcopal government could
be established in the Scottish Church, and it was a blunder if
not a crime to obtrude it on a people that bore to it such
dislike.

Episcopacy, nevertheless, was set up in Scotland by Charles
II., and under circumstances of duplicity, which made it doubly
offensive to the Church.f We have, now, to trace the consc-

* In the account of grievances drawn up by Mr. Wyllie, in 1662, and designed
to be presented to the king, are the following words: — "That the Government
of the Church should be changed from that P'orm, which the generality, both of
Ministers and People within the kingdom, judge to be of divine institution, . .
unto a new Form, which the generality look upon as merely of human institution,
imposed upon political considerations." Wodrow B. I., ch. iii.

t On the 3rd September, 1660, a letter from Charles, addressed to Mr. Robert
Douglas, to be communicated to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, was openly read in

326 Old Ckurch Life in Scotland.

qucnccs of this rc-imposition of TCpiscopacy, so far as Mr.
Wyllic was concerned.

There was no Church court in all Scotland where
Presbyterian feeling was more stronj^ly expressed in 1661,
than in the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright, to whose bounds
Mr. Wyllie was removed in 1655. When a proclamation
was issued, at the end of 1661, that all meetings in Synods,
Presbyteries and Kirk-Sessions were by the King's command
discharged, until authorised and ordered by the new bishops,
the ministers in the Stcwartry, nothing daunted, continued to
meet in Presbytery as formerly. The eye of the government
was accordingly directed to that part of the kingdom. And of
all the ministers in that ill-reported district the most
conspicuous for zeal and boldness in denouncing prelacy was
Mr. Wyllie. More than any other man in the south, he was
"loaded with" rumour; and in those days when a man was
reported disloyal he was sent for to Edinburgh, questioned about
what he had been doing or saying, and then told that in order
to satisfy the Lords of Council he must subscribe the oath of
allegiance. Mr. Wyllie was accordingly sent for, and not sent
for as suspected ministers usually were, by a letter requesting
attendance at Holyrood, but sent for by a party of soldiers,
who had orders to seize him and convey him to Edinburgh.
For a while, Mr. Wyllie scrupled to entrust himself into the
hands of his pursuers, but played with them at hide and seek ;
and during the course of this game he was much encouraged

that Presbytery. In this letter the King said, "We do resolve to protect and
preserve the government of the Church of Scotland, as it is settled by law, without
violation." But the King held that all the legislation since 1633 was invahd, and
hence, that the ' ' government of the Church " which was settled by law was the
government established prior to the outbreak in 1637. This was made apparent by
the Act Rescissorj', passed in ?ilarch, 1661, and thus the Presbyterians, astute as
they were, found themselves duped by his Majesty.

Ministers of Mauchline^ i^6o-i6^^. 327

by " some very remarkable Providences and answers of
prayer." On learning that no designs against his life were
entertained, he ventured, about the end of September, 1662, to
repair to Edinburgh, and present himself before the Lord High
Commissioner. This exalted personage was, strange to say,
the officer who, in 1648, was sent to disperse the communicants
at Mauchline moor, and was nearly killed there, in his
encounter with the blacksmith. He was now raised to the
rank of an earldom, and bore the title of Earl Middleton. It
was an old 'acquaintance, therefore, that Mr. Wyllie went to
confer with ; but an acquaintance, we may presume, from whom
neither much friendship nor much courtesy could be expected.
When Mr. Wyllie reached Edinburgh the Commissioner had
gone off to the westland shires on a visit, which has since
become renowned for its accompaniments of drunkenness and
debauchery. Every night, Middleton and his suite were sent
reeling to bed, in a state of high delirium, blest and glorious :
and, it is alleged, although we may be excused for doubting
the statement, that their revelry was enlivened with such
profane toasts as that which, ten years later, entailed on Marion
M'Call of Mauchline a public scourging by the hangman. In
the course of this westland tour, Middleton heard further
complaints of Mr. Wyllie. It was said that Mr. Wyllie had
disregarded a recent Act of Parliament, which required that
the 29th day of May, "specially honoured and rendered
auspicious to this kingdom, both by his Majesty's royal birth
and by his Majesty's restoration to the government, should be
for ever set apart as an holy day unto the Lord ; and that, in
all Churches in the Kingdom, it should be employed in public
prayers, preaching, thanksgiving, and praises to God for such
transcendent mercies." It was also said that Mr. Wyllie had
disregarded another recent Act of I'arliamcnt, which required

328 Old Church Life in Scotland.

all ministers, who had entered to the cure of any parish since
the year 1649, to obtain, before the 20th September 1662, a
presentation from the lawful patron of the parish, and collation
from the bishop of the diocese, in order to establish legal right
to their stipends, manses and glebes. For these alleged
offences on the part of Mr. Wyllie, and in respect also " that
his carriage had been seditious, and that he had deserted his
flock, to their great prejudice by want of the ordinances," the
Lords of Council, in the midst of their banquctting, passed an
ordinance, at Glasgow, declaring the parish of Kirkcudbright
vacant, and requiring Mr. Wyllie to transport himself to the
north side of the Tay, on or before the 1st November next.

The Acts just now cited were regarded with great abhorrence
by many of the clergy. There had, ever since the Reformation,
been a strong objection in the Church of Scotland to the ob-
servance of anniversary holy days.* The dedicating of days
was one of the points of Popery expressly abjured in the
National Covenant (1580 and 1638); and, if people, on what
they thought good grounds, could not observe Christmas and
Easter, " they could never," says Wodrow, " consent to do for
their King what they refused to do for their Saviour." To
crave collation from the bishop, again, was to acknowledge the

* Curate Calder refers to this matter, in the following sarcastic terms : — " For all
the abhorrence that Presbyterians have, and do profess, against the observance of
anniversary days, yet they never missed to preach an anniversary sermon on Mr.
Ileriot, who built and endowed the great Hospital in the City of Edinburgh ; the
reason is that for every sermon in Heriot's consideration they get five pounds, a
new hat, and a Bible. If they could have made but the same purchase by preach-
ing on Christmas, it 's more than probable that they would have thought the annual
observation of our Saviour's birth as little superstitious as that of Mr. Heriot's
memory," Great changes have occurred in Presbyterian Churches since Mr.
Calder lived and sneered. In some churches, the anniversary of the minister's in-
duction is celebrated with special services. This is a thousand times worse than
what vain, infatuated, and over-grateful Charles wished the Church of Scotland to
do in honour of him !

Ministers of MaiicJiline.^ i^6o-i6§^. 329

lawfulness of Episcopacy, which had been expressly denied in
the two famous Assemblies of 1638 and 1639. Conscientious
ministers, accordingly, said, We must disregard the Acts anent
the thanksgiving day and the receiving of collation from the
bishops, come what may. But Mr. Wyllie argued the case like
a lawyer, and contended that no man was liable to a penalty
for disregarding these Acts. The Act anent the thanksgiving,
he said, only directed that the 29th of May should be for ever
set apart as a holy day to the Lord, and stated how the day
should be employed for that purpose, without prescribing any
penalty for transgression of its enactments. The Act anent
collation from bishops, again, was professedly an Act of grace.
It was an Act to give to certain ministers a legal title to the
enjoyment of their stipends, manses, and glebes. The Act
Rescissory, 1661, which at one swoop removed from the statute
book all the legislation effected since 1633, placed certain
ministers in a very unhappy position. It declared the Acts
under which they were appointed to their parishes null and
void : and by consequence their appointments became null and
void also. They had been appointed by popular election,
under the Act 1649, and they had been inducted by Presby-
teries, under the Act 1641. They required a new title, there-
fore, to enable them to compel the payment of their stipend ;
and the way in which this title was to be completed was by a
fresh presentation from the lawful patron and collation by the
bishop. "But," said Mr. Wyllie, "if I don't choose to seek that
presentation and that collation, all the injury I shall suffer will
be the loss of my living.* I shall not render myself liable,

* It would appear that if some of the Presbyterian ministers were deinivcd of
their livings about this time, they contrived to prevent their Episcopalian successors
faring much better ; for, in an Act of the Synod of Galloway, dated October, 1664,
We find it stated that "many ministers, whose churches are provided already (with

330 Old Church Life in Scotland.

cither to civil punishment as a malefactor, or to deprivation of
ministerial charge, as being without valid ecclesiastical orders.
Besides its being oppressive, therefore, Mr. Wyllic maintained
that the Glasgow ordinance was legally invalid. The
charge of deserting his flock, which was a charge for the
ecclesiastical rather than for the civil courts to take up, was not
in the circumstances a very grievous accusation. Mr. Wyllie
simply fled, and sought his safety in hiding, when a party of
soldiers was sent to apprehend him, and carry him prisoner to
Edinburgh. He left his flock because he was not allowed to
remain among them.

When Mr. Wyllic found, on his arrival in Edinburgh, that
the Commissioner had gone to the western counties, he re-
turned to Kirkcudbright ; and, on the 21st October, Middleton
also came to Kirkcudbright. Both at Kirkcudbright, and sub-
sequently in Edinburgh, Mr. Wyllie had interviews with the
Commissioner ; and, on all these occasions, Middleton seems
to have treated his old acquaintance kindly. He promised to
do his best to get Mr. Wyllie permission to stay on the south
side of the Forth, and said he would be greatly assisted in this
endeavour if Mr. Wyllie would remove from himself all suspi-
cions of disloyalty, by taking the oath of allegiance. Mr.
Wyllie expressed his willingness to take the oath, with an " ex-
plication ; " but Middleton replied that the oath, if taken, must
be taken as it stands in the Act of Parliament. The bare oath
was, Mr. Wyllie said, more than he could with a clear conscience
subscribe ; and so, about the end of 1662, he had to transport
himself, with his wife and children, to Dundee.

It may be asked, what were the terms of this oath which I\Ir.

competent stipends), cannot know the quantum of their provisions, in respect the
late ministers have taken away with them the decreets of locahty, and will not de-
liver them to the present ministers."

Ministers of Mauchline, i^6o-i6^§. 331

Wyllie refused to take without explication ? They simply
contained an acknowledgment of King Charles, as the " only
supreme governor of this kingdom, over all persons and in all
causes." The Covenanters objected to this declaration, as a
virtual acknowledging of the King to be head of the Church —
a lay Pope in fact, who might change the government of the
Church as he chose, and put what limits he pleased on the
Church's liberty. The explication they demanded was an
admission that the King's sovereignty was only a civil
authority, although it extended to both ecclesiastical and civil
causes. Their contention, and they thought it a point of great
practical importance, was, that " the Lord Jesus, as King and
head of his Church hath therein appointed a government, in
the hand of church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate."*
For ten long and weary years, Mr. Wyllie remained under
restraint more or less irksome. In 1672, his restraint was with-
drawn, and he was indulged t (so runs the Act of deliverance)
to preach and exercise the other parts of his ministerial functions
in the parish of Fenwick. A similar indulgence was extended
to upwards of a hundred other ministers, who had all been outed
from their parishes as Mr. Wyllie was. Some of these were
sent back to the parishes they had left, and others were rele-

* Confession of Faith,

+ In November, 1664, Mr. Wyllie represented to the Lords of Council that, since
coming north of Tay, "it had pleased the Lord to visit the Petitioner his bedfellow
with great sickness and indisposition of body, often to the endangering of her life,
which according to the opinion of her physicians, is judged to proceed from the
climate of the place where she and the Petitioner hath been living." He craved
the Council accordingly, "in consideration of these premises, to take off the restraint
from him and grant him liberty with his wife and family to reside besouth the river
of Forth, in any place of Lothian which is more than fifty miles from the place
where the petitioner had charge as a minister." — Wodrow. This crave "was
granted in October, 1667, and I\Ir. Wyllie's release was secured June 166S, on giving
bond to appear before the Council when called. He obtained charge of the Presby-
terian congregation at Coleraine, Ireland, about 1669, but returned to Scotland and
was indulged at Fenwick in 1672." — Fasti.

332 Old Church Life in Scotland.

gated to parishes with which they had no previous connection.
Certain rules were to be observed by the indulged ministers.
They were to keep within the bounds of the parish to which
they were sent ; they were to preach only in churches and not
in church-yards ; they were not to receive to the communion
any strangers, who did not produce testimonials from their
own parish ministers ; they were not to gather crowds at their
communions ; and they were- to refer to the established courts
of the Church in all matters of discipline. Complaints were
soon heard that these rules were not honourably observed by
some of the indulged preachers. Proclamations were, accor-
dingly, issued by the Privy Council, that ministers who broke
their confinement would, for that misconduct, be answerable at
their peril. Mr. Wyllic, thinking that he and others were
aggrieved by these proclamations, took pen in hand and wrote
out, in 1676, a representation for the Lords of Council. Wod-
row considers this representation, and the accompanying papers
from the pen of the " same reverend and learned person," un-
answerable : but there is room for difference of opinion on that
point. The papers of Mr. Wyllie, however, are able and in-
teresting documents. The chief fault to be found with them
is that their arguments are inconclusive. What they really
prove is not what Mr. Wyllie contended for. They form an
excellent plea for religious toleration, but religious toleration
was not a part of the Covenanters' creed. Every person,
now-a-days, will heartily concur with Mr. Wyllie when he says,
that it is a great hardship for people to be confined to the
ministrations of either one person or one church, and not to be
allowed relief from that restriction when relief can be got. He
shows, in fact, that if the State could be justified in establishing
Episcopacy in the Church of Scotland, in 1661 and 1662, its
wisest policy, after this unwise stLp, would have been to allow

Ministers of Mauchline, 1^60- 1655. 333

Presbyterians to worship in their own way, wherever they
chose, and without let or hindrance. But it was a mere
quibble to affirm, as he did, that the rules prescribed to the in-
dulged ministers were not the terms on which their indulgence
was granted and would be continued ; and to argue, therefore,
that the indulged ministers were justified in disregarding their
" commands," *

Mr. Wyllie's representation, if it ever reached the Lords of
Council, was of little avail for himself; for he died in Edin-
burgh, on the 20th July 1676, in the 35th year of his ministry
and about the 59th year of his age. It is stated in Wodrow's
Analecta that in Edinburgh he was honoured with a great
funeral. And this distinction, vain as it may be reckoned,
shews that he was a man of considerable note — known far
beyond the bounds of the districts in which he lived and
laboured — and both esteemed and respected wherever he was
known. In different parts of Wodrow's writings he is spoken
of in terms of high admiration, as a godly and zealous minister,
and a man of renown for both parts and learning. In one
passage, the historian of the Church's sufferings designates him
" that truly great man."t

* It was a very plenary indulgence that Mr, Wyllie considered himself entitled
to, as the following sentence in his representation shews : — " I beg liberty to add,
that, in my humble opinion, it is contrary to the nature of an Indulgence, properly
so called, to require, by way of condition from the parties indulged, the performance
of such things as cross their principles, judgment and conscience; for the nature and
end of an Indulgence is to ease the party indulged as to these. Neither can it be
expected that an indulged party can yield to any conditions that thwart with their
consciences, principles and judgment, as in the present case these rules do."

tA matter on which Mr. Wylie was specially zealous was the erection of
bridges. And, in those days, bridge building was one of the "pious uses" to
which both Church charities and Church fines were occasionally devoted. During
his ministry at Kirkcudbright, he was the means of getting several bridges erected,
for the special reason, it is said, that " people coming from a distance to his
ministrations lost their lives in crossing the water," At Fenwick, he continued
collecting for bridges. In Mauchline, there were collections for the same gootl

334 Old Church Life in Scothmd.

It is quite clear, from the brief specimens of his h'tcraturc
that have been preserved and published, that Mr. VVyllie had
the pen of a ready writer. His style is characterised by
vigour and terseness, and yet it is copious and free. It is
not easy to give a fair idea of an author's style without a
lengthened extract ; but a single sentence may shew what
capacity and power of expression a writer has, and some good
sentences might be quoted from the eight or ten paragraphs,
which arc about all that Mr. Wyllie has left behind him in
print. Speaking of the rule that discharged the indulged
ministers from going, without leave of the bishop, beyond the
bounds of the parish to which they were confined, Mr. Wyllie
says, " it cannot but be grievous that the keys of our prison
doors are hung at the bishop's belt, and at his only."* The
man that could express himself in words so apt as these was
not a man to be left out of account in disputation. And not
only was Mr. Wyllie a vigorous and hard headed disputant with
the pen, but he was a preacher of rare power and pathos. A
firm little man, he was full of fire and declamation. The testi-
mony of one who heard him was, he seemed as if he " would
have leaped from the pulpit, he was so fervent and affectionate."

object during Mr. Wylie's incumbency, but they were usually appointed by
the Presbytery. In 1647, for instance, " the bridge of Barskimming was recom-
mended to the kirks of the Presby terie. "

* In the letters of Rutherford there is a similar expression, " Christ is captain of
the castle and Lord of the keys." Letter 357.

Ministers of Mauchline, 16^6-1800. 335

LECTURE VI.

MINISTERS AND MINISTERIAL LIFE AT MAUCHLINE,

1656-1800.

James Veitch — Regent in University of Glasgow — Invective against Professor
Baillie — Settlement in Mauchline — Beginning of persecutions in Church — The
first restraint — The Indulgencies — Banishment to Holland — Persecution by his
own allies — Toleration of 1687 — Return to Mauchline — The Church of Scot-
land from 1687 to 1690 — Mr. Veitch's death and character — David Meldrum —
Mode of admission — Mode of appointing Elders in 1685 — Scene in church
about a doxology — Episcopal leanings in distributing charity — Demission and
reception into Presbyterian Church — William Maitland — Mode of appointing
Ministers— Services at ordination — Pastoral work — Deputations to the north —
Leazed by viragos — Death and character — William Auld — Pastoral work and
popularity — His preaching — Parochial discipline — Literary work — Not a pro-
minent member of church courts — Archibald Reid — His sorrows — His gifts
and goodness — End of Old Church Life and beginning of Modern Church Life
in Mauchline — Mr. Tod and Mr. Fairlie — Conclusion.

The ministers of whom an account was given in last lecture
had all died, or left the parish of Mauchline, previous to the
date at which the narrative in our extant Session Records
begins. Mr. Thomas Wyllie left the parish in 1656 ; and the
earliest entry in the Session Register is dated 26th Dec, 1669.
This entry is so notable as to deserve quotation. Its tenor is :
" The qlk day Mr. James Veitch, minister of this paroch, (the
legall restraint, under which he had beine from April, 1662,
being taken off by the Kinges counsall) preached publicly
again."

Mr. Veitch was placed in Mauchline in 1656, immediately
after Mr. Wyllie's translation to Kirkcudbright, and he died at
Mauchline in 1694. His ministry in Mauchline parish, there-
fore, extended over the long period of thirty-eight years. But
it was twice interrupted by persecution. In 1G62, he was
placed under restraint, and he continued in that condition till

33<J Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

the end of 1669. In 1684, he was put under restraint a;:jain,
and on that occasion he remained in exile abroad till October,
1687. Nearly eleven of the thirty-eight years of his ministry
were thus spent by Mr. Vcitch in banishment.

The fact that Mr. Vcitch was settled in Mauchline in 1656
implies that he was both a Presbyterian and a Covenanter; for,
in those days, there were no ministers in the Church of Scot-
land but Presbyterians and Covenanters. There was a division,
however, in the Covenanters' camp. One party supported the
State, in regard to the public resolutions of 165 1, and were
called Resolutioners ; another party protested against that pro-
ceeding, and were called Protesters. So strong, for years, was
the feeling between the members of these two factions, that,
like the old Jew^s and Samaritans, they would have no dealings
with one another. The Synod of Glasgow and Ayr was rent
in twain ; and each section met by itself, and called and consti-
tuted itself the Synod.* It was at the end of 1655 that Mr.
George Young did the Synod a memorable service, by helping
to bring about a re-union of the disjecta membra. In 1656,
therefore, when Mr. Veitch came to Mauchline, the unity of
the Church in the west was but newly patched up, and, there
is reason to fear, was only outwardly preserved by a bond of
peace. Resolutioners and Protesters met together in Presby-
teries and Synods ; but privately they were about as widely

* A nice question arose — who had the power to decide which section of a Pres-
bytery or a Synod was the Presbytery or Synod ? The supreme court of the Church
said the Resolutioners, but strange to say "the spiritual independents," the anti-
Caesareans, the Protesters, said it was Oliver Cromwell ! " Mr. Patrick Gillespie
after advysement with these of his mind, both east and west, it seems is resolved,
without more delay," writes Baillie, "to take from the English our PrincipaH's
place, and to be a stirrer up of them to persecute us all. . . Pie is likelie to sum-
mond us before the Civile Judge for the delyverance of our Presbyterie book to him,
and so to make the English determine which of us are the right Presbyterie, Synod,
and Generall Assemblie, to whom the rights of the Kirk and Stipends, etc., doe
belong. The man is restless." — Vol. III., 211.

Ministers of Mauchline, 16^6-1800. 337

separated in sentiments and politics as ever. Mr. Veitch was
a Protester, and owed his first public appointment to the friend-
ship and favour of the protesting party.

While Mr. Veitch, like Mr. Wyllie, was a zealous Covenanter,
and a great sufferer for Christ's cause and crown, he was also,
like Mr. Wyllie, a man of very considerable parts and learning.
His scholastic attainments in youth were reckoned marvellous.
" He was a learned man," says Wodrow, " and he came to all
his learning in an incredibly short time. He learned his
Hebrew and Greek in five quarters of a year, and learned his
philosophy in about three years ; so that time five years he was
thinking upon learning he was laureating a class in Glasgow."
His scholarship, too, was early recognised, by his appointment
to a regency, in the University of Glasgow. Baillie hints,
however, that Church politics had something to do with that
appointment. " He was put in by them (the English) against
order, and wes made ever for them" (HI., 241). But, while
Baillie asserts that Mr. Veitch's appointment was against
order, and in violation of college rights and privileges, and
that protestation was accordingly made against it by some of
the college dignitaries, he admits that there was no " reflection
on Mr. James his person."

To explain these remarks of Baillie's, it may be here stated
that, for some time prior to 1651, chairs in the University were
filled by appointment of the college, after a competitive trial of
the merits of candidates. In the same letter in which Mr.
Veitch is said to have been put into his regency against order,
Baillie incidentally gives an account of the usual mode of
filling vacancies in colleges. " Mr. John Young," he says,
" having laid down his regent's place in the midst of a termc,
a program wes, according to our order, affixit in all the four
Universities, to invite at a day all who pleased to compear.

S3^ Old Chunk Lije in Scotland.

Two of our own . did appear, very good youths and

schollars both : while we were goeing to prescryvc them their
tryell, ane order from the Engh'sh is delivered to us, by our
Rector, discharging us to admit any to tryall for any place,
without their appointment."* And the men that were ap-
pointed by the English (Cromwell's Commissioners) to regen-
cies and professorships, were in many instances persons of very
inferior scholarship. Writing in Dec, 1656, Baillie says, "it
would be one of Mr. James Sharp's chief cares to get a settled
order for our Universities, that Independent ignari may no
more, by English orders, be planted in them, for the corrupt-
ing of our youth." But Mr. Veitch was not one of these ignari.
On the contrary, he was a man of rare attainments. It was
customary in his day for professors and regents to lecture to
Ihcir students in Latin, and Mr. Veitch was particularly dis-
tinguished for his fluency in the Latin tongue. " His way of
teaching," says Baillie, " as himselfe and others long agoe told
me, to my wonder (for, to this day was I myselfe never able to
attainc it), wes by dyteing, without all books and all papers,
whether of his own or others." f

* In his letter to tlie Judges anent Mr. Patrick Gillespie's entry into the Princi-
jialshi]) of Glasgow College, Baillie says (loth Feb., 1653) : — " I conceave it is one
of the rights and privileges of our Universitie, whereunto I am tyed by oath, to
make choice by a free election, as of all the rest of the masters, so of our Princi-
pall, and when we have made choice to try his qualifications so farr as we finde it
expedient. Bot where neither a voice in election, nor any place to try is left to us,
though I will not oppose, yet I cannot desyre, nor invite any man to accept such a
call as infringes our priviledges."— III., 207.

On the 4th June, 1652, Cromwell's government appointed certain commissioners
to be visitors of the Universities, with instructions to "remove out of them such
person or persons as shall be found scandalous in their lives and conversations, or
that shall oppose the authority of the commonwealth of England exercised in Scot-
land, and place others more fitly qualified in their rooms."

t One of the objections urged by Baillie against the appointment of Patrick
Gillespie to the Principality of Glasgow College was "the little insight he hath
into the Latine." • . "It is his ordinarie custom, which used not to be done by

Ministers of Manc/iline, i6j6-iSoo. 339

During his regency in Glasgow an incident occurred in the
college, which is worth recording as an illustration both of Mr.
Veitch's manner of spirit in his youth, and of the University
life which prevailed in Scotland in the days of the covenants.
In 1653, Baillie, who was then Professor of Divinity in Glas-
gow, published for the use of his students a small book on
Hebrew Grammar. In the preface of that book, he, to use his
own words, " noted the scurvy dictates of some regents, which
all the Universities acknowledged, and were in a fair way to
have helped." This preface, although not published till 1653,
had been written several years before, and its strictures were
not intended to be applied to any of the regents in Glasgow,
at the date of publication. Baillie imagined that this had been
made plain enough in the preface itself; but Mr. Veitch
thought otherwise, and concluded that the strictures were
levelled at him. Without taking any steps to ascertain
whether his surmises were well or ill founded, Mr. Veitch
one day, in the midst of his Latin prelections, launched a
furious tirade against the Professor, calling him a blattering
dominie, and comparing him to a foul-mouthed kail wife vend-
ing vegetables. And as if words, sharper than arrows of the
mighty, and hotter than coals of juniper, were inadequate to
express the intensity of the feelings that perturbed his bosom,
he accompanied some of his derisive and sarcastic scoffs with a
loud ha, ha, ha ! Baillie properly enough termed that foolish
outburst a "pitiful invective," but he nevertheless took it
grievously to heart. It was, he said, "a fowller injury than I
ever heard done to any honest man, for such a cause ; and in
all the contentions, public and private, I have had with the

any Principall before, to pray in English, wlicn he meets with the Theologues at
their private disputes, or with the .Students of Thilooophy ia the common hall.' —
Letters, Vol. III., p. 575.

340 Old Chunk Li/c in Scotland.

ctK'iiiics of the Church I have not received the fifth part of the
ill usage, which Mr. James is pleased to give mc in that invec-
tive."* lie made his soreness at the affront all the more
evident, too, by the apostolic way in which he intimated his
purpose to heap coals of fire on Mr. Vcitch's head. "These
many years bygone," he says, " it hes been my resolved prac-
tice, wherein I purpose, by God's grace, to continue, in all my
pcrsonall injuries to doc good for ill : so I mind not to revenge.
I require no satisfaction, but professe my only mind is, even
through this outrageous injurie, be vertew of Christ's command,
to doe Mr. James a good turn if it lie in my way."

It may well be supposed that, after this unpleasant episode,
no one rejoiced more than Professor Baillie to hear of Mr.
Veitch's translation from the College of Glasgow to the pastor-
ate of Mauchline parish. This translation took place in 1656.

The ministry of Mr. Veitch in Mauchline may be divided
into three periods. There was, first, a period of Presbyterial
government in the Church from 1656 to 1661 ; then a period
of Episcopalian government, from 1661 to 1690; and lastly,
from 1690 to 1694, there was a period of Presbyterial govern-
ment again.

* " It's not enough to make me a pointer of contradictions, to make me so ridi-
culous a lilatterer as I must be laughen at in the schollers' books, with ane Ha, ha,
hae, — not only to declare me . . but to make it good upon me . . that I
am ane more dull and ane more unfitt man for teaching than any of the most dull
and unfitt regents in Scotland of whom I complaine. All this I could have
borne, for it is bot of my weakness which I will not deny to be great. . . For,
indeed, I am farr from those abilities which Mr. James professeth to be in himself.
I am none of these who are conscious of no infirmitie. However, I take it no wayes
well that he dytes me to his schollers to be guiltie of great wickedness, whereof I
think I am free: he proclaimes mea ' vitiligator,' . . a man 'rabiosae loquacitatis,'
yea I am declared to be possessed with a bitter spirit, with bitterness itselff, with a
spirit plainly malignant, which I take to be no other than the Devill : . . I must
be a beast, a horse, and that a furious one," etc., etc. The whole of this extraor-
dinary "invective" in its original and curious Latin will be found in Baillie's
Letters, Vol. IIL, p. 263-4.

Ministers of Mauchline, 16^6-1800. 341

Of Mr. Veitch's ministry during the first of these periods wc
have no account. It may be presumed that Church life
flowed smoothly and pleasantly in the parish ; and that Mr.
Veitch, with his acknowledged talents and attainments, zeal
and piety, proved himself, notwithstanding his irritability, a
faithful workman who needed not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing to his hearers the word of truth.

The second period in Mr. Veitch's ministry is the period that
to Scotsmen is known best as the times of the persecution.
Not that I mean to say that this phrase is strictly accurate.
In the history of the Church of Scotland there have been
several periods of persecution. There was persecution by the
court of high commission under Episcopacy prior to 1637, and
there was persecution by the Covenanters under Presbytery
between 1638 and 1660, but the sorest persecution that Scots-
men ever had to bear was during the Episcopacy which exten-
ded from 1 661 to 1690. And among the many faithful ministers
who had trial of bonds and imprisonment in the evil days of
suffering, between the restoration and the revolution, Mr.
Veitch has an honoured place.

It may be said that the persecutions under Charles the
Second commenced immediately after his restoration to the
government of the kingdom. On the 29th May, 1660, Charles
entered the city of London in triumph, and in the month of
July following Argyll was seized, and orders were sent down
to Edinburgh for the apprehension of Warriston, Chiesley, and
Provost Stuart. In the month of August, several ministers.
Protesters, were cast into prison for presuming to petition the
King for the maintenance of Presbyterial government in the
Church, and for the appointment of Covenanters to all places
of power and trust in the State.* In 1661, worse things hap-

* In this petition, or rather designed petition, the actings of the late usurping

342 Old Church Life in Scotland.

pcncd. The Marquis of Ari^yll and Mr. James Guthrie, minis-
ter at Stirling, were both beheaded on the scaffold ; and I'Lpis-
copal government was cstabHshed in that Church, which had
twice over within the preceding twenty-five years solemnly
abjured Episcopacy. These proceedings stirred up a great
amount of feeling over the country ; and nowhere was the
rash and imperious legislature, which deprived the people
of Scotland of their dearly bought liberties, more loudly
denounced and more bitterly bewailed than in the western
shires. "Up and down the country," says Wodrow, "ministers
warned the people fully and fervently of the evils that were
entering into the kingdom, and of the dangers that were men-
acing the Church." This freedom and boldness, on the part of
ministers, was very distasteful to the King's counsellors ; and a
question arose, What was to be done with such preachers as
would not keep a discreet silence on the vexed subject of
Church government? Were they to be allowed to criticise
and complain, to agitate and rebel as much as they pleased ;
or, were they to be dealt with in some manner by either the
ecclesiastical or civil authorities, for disaffection and insubordi-
nation ? It seems to have been considered dangerous to let
ministers indulge in unrestricted freedom of speech — and abso-
lutely necessary for the maintenance of order in the Church —
to compel ministers to submit to 'the authority of the bishops.
But it might have made Episcopacy even more unsavoury to
the people than it was, if the bishops had been left to deal with
the non-conforming clergy. Bailiie, accordingly, in the last of

powers, that is, the Commonwealth and Cromwell, are declared to be hateful,
"beyond all, in their impious cncroachings upon the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and
the liberties thereof, and in promoting and establishing a vast toleration in things
religious throughout the nations, unto the perverting of the precious truths of the
gospel . . and in opening a wide door to all sort of errors, heresies, schisms,
impiety, and profaneness."— Wodrow's History, A|ipendix No 2. This w.as meant
to propitiate Charles, but it failed.

Mmisters of Mauchliue, 16^6-1800. 343

his published letters, wrote to his cousin, on the 12th May,
1662, that "the guise now is, the Bishops will trouble no man,
but the State will punish seditions ministers." In other words,
to prevent Episcopacy making itself unpopular at the outset,
the State resolved to take in hand the suppression of ecclesias-
tical disorder and agitation. And so, Baillie, in the letter
referred to, says that "the Councell did call for Mr. Robert
Blair some months agoe, but never yet made him appear : we
think they have no particular to lay to his charge, but the
common quarrell of Episcopacy. . . Also, they called Mr.
John Carstairs, that he should not sitt in Glasgow, to preach
after his manner against the tymes. . . Mr. James Nasmith
is, likewise, written for, as is thought that the Deanrie of Ilamil-
tone may vaike for Mr. James Ramsay ; and with him Mr. William
Adair of Air, the two ministers of Kilmarnock, Mr. James Veltch
of Mauchline, and Mr. Alexander Blair of Galstoun."

The reason why these ministers, together with Mr. William
Fullarton of St. Ouivox, happened to be selected for proto-
persecution, under the Episcopal regime, is explained by
Wodrow. When the newly appointed bishops came down from
England, where they had gone to be Episcopally ordained, it
was thought necessary that some of the Presbyterian ministers
in the west, where the aversion to Prelacy was strongest, should
be made either to own submission to the new government in
the Church, or suffer for their non-conformit)-. The enforce-
ment of this alternative fell to the Lord Chancellor, as presi-
dent of the Privy Council ; and the Chancellor acted on the
information and advice of his nephew, Mr. Robert Wallace, the
newly consecrated Bishop of the Isles. Mr. Wallace, previous
to his promotion, had been minister of Barnweil ; and hence
it happened that out of eight ministers selected for prosecution,
six were Mr. Wallace's nearest neighbours. Had the lawyer

344 Old Church Life in Scotland.

that said, Who is my neighbour? lived in Ayrshire in 1662, he
might have been justified in asking the captious question.

On reaching Edinburgh all the ministers, except Mr. Fullar-
ton, were threatened by the Council with punishment for their
alleged disloyal principles, and for language u.sed in their ser-
mons. They denied the charge of disloyalty, and craved a
more particular statement of what was complained of in their
preaching. To this most reasonable request all the answer
they got was a curt intimation that, if they wished to avoid
trouble, they must conform to the government established in the
Church. As sworn Presbyterians they declined to come under
any such engagement ; and they were, therefore, detained in
custody and referred to Parliament. The Parliament, when it
met, found no seditious actions proved against the prison-
ers • but, to make proof of their loyalty. Parliament ordered
them to subscribe the oath of allegiance. This they were wil-
ling to do with an explication, in which they acknowledged that
the King's sovereignty reached to all persons and all causes,
ecclesiastical as well as civil, but asserted that in its nature
this sovereignty was " only civil, and was extrinsic to causes
ecclesiastical." They were told, however, that the oath must
be taken as it stood, without limitations ; and that the paper
they had sent in to the committee of Parliament, containing a
-Statement of their explication, was presumptuous,* The sub-

* Bishop Leighton pressed that an Act explanatory of the oath should be passed,
for the satisfaction of tender consciences. " Sharp took this ill from him, and re-
plied upon him, with great bitterness, . . . that it ill became them who had
imposed their covenant on all people, without any explanation, and had forced all
to take it, now to expect such extraordinary favours. Leighton insisted that it ought
to be done for that very reason, that all people might see a difference between the
mild proceedings of the government now and their (the covenanters') severity ; and
that it ill became the very .same persons who had complained of that rigour, now to
practice it themselves ; thus it may be said the world goes mad by turns." Burnet,
Ilistor)' of His Own Times.

In justice to the government of Charles it should be stated that in refusing to

Ministers of Mauchline, i6j6-i8oo. 345

scribers of the paper — and these comprised all the seven minis-
ters in custody except Mr. Adair — were then sent back to
prison, " three and three of them," says Wodrow, " to one
chamber, to the great prejudice of their health ; and nobody
was permitted to have access to them." Under this confine-
ment Carstares broke down, and had to be liberated. The
other five remained in jail from the end of May till the middle
of September ; and then they were told that they were dis-
charged from all further exercise of their ministry at their for-
mer churches, forbidden residence within either the bounds of
their former presbyteries or in the cities of Glasgow and Edin-
burgh, dispossessed of their manses and glebes, and deprived of
their stipends for even the current year.

This was a sentence of great severity, and for seven long
weary years Mr. Veitch continued under it, before the govern-
ment made any sign of being appeased. And, cruel as it was,
the sentence did not answer the purpose for which it was
intended. It did not cow the clergy in the slightest. They
remained as sullen and as disaffected to the bishops as ever.
In little more than a fortnight after the restraint was laid on
Mr. Veitch and his comrades, a similar restraint was, by Act of

allow the oath of allegiance to be taken with limitations they were no more rigiil
and exacting than the Covenanters themselves were in administering their oath to
the king. John Livingstone, in his autobiography, relates that when Charles and
the Commissioners from the Estates and General Assembly were, in 1650, crossing
over to Scotland from Breda, without having come to terms, " Lilierton (on the
Friday before we cames ashoare) comes from the king, and tells the king was ready
to swear and subscryve the covenant. . . On the Sabbath morning, liefore we
mett for sermon, some told me the king was minded to speak some words when he
sware the covenant, that what he did should not import any infringeing of the lawcs
of the kingdome of England. . . I went to the rest of the Commissioners and
told them, and we all went to the king and told him, we could not receive his oath if
he added one word to the words read, but wonld declare the oath no oath. He
pressed much and long that he behoved to doe it. . . At last he said he would
forbear to speak these words."

346 Old Church Life in Scothiiir/.

Council, laid on all ministers who had not observed the anni-
versary of the King's restoration, and on all ministers,
inducted since 1649, who had not got their appointments
confirmed by the legal patrons and the new bishops.
Hut so far from there being few ministers affected
by this Act of Council — not overawed, I mean, by the
arrest and punishment of Mr. Veitch and his friends
— more than a third part of all the ministers in Scot-
land were ejected from their charges, and such a Sabbath as
the last on which they preached to their people was never
witnessed in this country. It may well be supposed that a
King like Charles, who loved pleasure more than cruelty,
would in the course of time become sickened with such whole-
sale persecution, especially when it served no good end, and
kept his kingdom in constant turmoil.*

* There is no harm in hearing what some Episcopalians have to say about these
persecutions. Curate Calder (in his book, Chap. III.) says : — "After they abdicated
their churches, in 1662, they began everywhere, in their sermons, to cant about the
persecutions of the godly, and to magnify their own sufferings : by this means they
were pampered instead of being persecuted ; some of the godly sisters supplying
them with plentiful gratuities to their families, and money to their purses : they
really lived better than ever they did before by their stipends. They themselves
boasted that they were sure of crowns for their sufferings, and that angels visited
them often in their troubles ; and both were materially true. I know several of
them who got estates this way, and that grew fat and lusty under their persecutions."
What, it may be asked, did Mr. Calder think of those that were beheaded or shot,
of those that were imprisoned or hunted like partridges, and does he even mean to
say that it is no hardship to be made dependent on casual charity ?

There doubtless was a very kindly feeling shown by some people to some of the
persecuted and exiled ministers. In 1673, Mr. Blair of Galston was, by order of
the Lords of Council, "carried to the lolbooth of Edinburgh, there to remain till
further orders," for refusing to celebrate with religious worship the anniversary' of
the King's restoration. In the Session Records of Galston the following minute, in
reference to that matter, occurs under date 12th August of that year. "The which
day, the whole eldership met together in the kirk, being the first time after the
minister's imprisonment ; and it is ordered and resolved by them, that everj- week
sum two of their number shall go in to Edinburgh and see the minister, and in this
order, viz.," etc. There were 18 elders in the parish at the time. Mr. Blair died
a few months afterwards,

Ministers of MaucJiline, 16^56-1800. ^47

A suggestion therefore that some Indulgence should be
extended to such of the outed ministers as had lived peacefully
and orderly since their deprivation was favourably received by
Charles : and on the 7th June, 1669, he authorised the Lords
of Council to grant such an Indulgence, under certain limita-
tions. Forty-two ministers, of whom Mr. Veitch was one,
were selected for this favour ; and, the parish of Mauchline
happening . to be vacant at the time, Mr. Veitch had the
specially good fortune to be sent back to his old congregation.
In 1672 a second Indulgence was granted, and an Act was
passed enjoining the punctual and due observance by all the
indulged ministers of certain rules regarding the exercise of
their ministry.

These Indulgences were viewed in different lights by dif-
ferent members of the Presbyterian party. Some ministers
received the Indulgence with thanks ; others, under a protest
or testimony, which they declared from the pulpit, against
" what was gravaminous therein ;" and others again proclaimed
that acceptance of the Indulgence was nothing short of treason
against the King and Head of the Church. Brown of Wam-
phray took pen in hand, and wrote what he called a history of
the Indulgence. The Indulgence he said established Eras-
tianism. The Council planted and transplanted ministers at
their own pleasure, sending severals from one church to
another : and so, " in accepting the Indulgence there was an
acceptance of the charge of a particular flock without the
previous due call, free election, and consent of the people."
This was the ecclesiastical way in which some of the Covenan-
ters looked at the Indulgence. Others looked on the indulged
ministers as men that were greater favourites at court than
their brethren, and men that in accepting favours from tlicir
persecutors must in sf^iie form or another have made con-

348 Old CInircJi Life in Scotland.

cessions for what they received.* There was much injustice
in these judgments ; but just judgments of either men or
measures can scarcely be expected in times of excitement and
passion. And this fcch'ng against the indulged mini.stcrs,
which shewed itself faintly from the first, grew more and mr^re
strong, till in 1678 the indulged and the non-indulged
ministers, with their respective friends and supporters, came
to be to each other like Resolutioners and Protesters. Mr.
Vcitch, who was extolled as a hero in 1661, was twenty years
later denounced by his quondam associates as a trimmer and
an apostate. It is said that he was subjected to something
worse than denunciation. Wodrow states, on what he calls
good authority (but Wodrow's opinion on that point may be
questioned), that in 1682 or 1683 "there was a design formed
among some of the rigid and high-flying Cameronians, to
assassinate" Mr. Veitch and some other indulged ministers
in Ayrshire. It is alleged that the very night was fixed for
the perpetration of this horrid deed of sin by these fanatics,
and that Mr. Vcitch was saved by the timeous intervention of
Lord Loudon, who received information of the plot.

* " At first," says Bishop Burnet, "the people ran to the indulged ministers
with a transport of joy. But this was soon cooled. It was hoped they would
resume their ministry, with a public testimony against all that had been done
against what they were accustomed to call the work of God. But they preached
only the doctrines of Christianity, and thereby disgusted all that loved to hear their
ministers speak to the times. So, they came to be called the King's curates, as the
established clergy were called in derision the Bishops' curates."

As an indication of the state of popular feeling in some places, even after the
Revolution, against those that had accepted an Indulgence, it may be mentioned
that on the appointment of Mr. Rodger to the parish of Galston, a protestation
against his settlement was made by some of the parishioners, on the following
grounds : 1st. His inadequate gifts ; 2nd. His vindicating the late compliance with
Erastianism in the acceptation of the late Indulgence ; 3rd. Not applying his doc-
trine to the sins of the limes ; and 4th. He hath not, so far as we know, produced
testimony of his taking the Covenant, according to the Directory for Ordination of
Ministers.

Ministers of Mauchline^ i6j6-iSoo. 349

So far from truckling to the Government, by his acceptance
of the indulgence and exposing himself to the charge of time-
serving, Mr. Veitch gave the Government a great deal of
trouble by the way in which he disregarded their limitations
on his freedom. In 1675, reports reached the Privy Council
that he was infringing the rules attached to his indulgence, and
usurping ecclesiastical powers he was not entitled to exercise.
Among other offences laid to his charge, he was said to have,
with other two ministers that like himself were confined to
their own parishes, ordained several persons to the office of the
ministry, and to have encroached on the royal prerogative by
appointing days of fasting to his parishioners. He was also
reported to have baptised and married people from other
parishes ; to have admitted to the communion people from
other parishes although they brought him no testificates ; to
have preached in churchyards, and in other parishes than his
own without warrant or license from his bishop. He was
accordingly served with a summons to appear before the Lords
of Council, but for some reason or other the prosecution was
not followed out. In 168 1, however, reports again reached the
ears of the Lords of Council that he had broken through his
instructions, and that he had even presumed to excommunicate
people for such political acts as accepting the Declaration,
signing the Bond for peace, and deserting the Covenant. In
this instance, he seems to have been either causelessly maligned
or blamed over-much, for he gave his oath of innocence, and
was thereupon dismissed. But in 1684, on being charged a
third time with breach of instructions, he had to admit guilt so
far as to own that he had, contrary to the rules of indulgence,
been " praying and exercising" in private families. And we
may well wonder that Mr. Veitch should have exposed himself
to persecution and shortened his ministry by persisting to hold

350 Old Chiirch Lije in Scotland.

forbicldcn meetings, from wliich very little good could have
been anticipated. But in those days men were possessed with
an idea. They thought they must contend for principles, in
season and more particularly out of season ; and, whether
much good or little would come of private conferences, the
right of holding such conferences they considered a religious
and political privilege which they were entitled and bound to
claim.

Besides breaking his confinement, Mr. Vcitch was, in
1684, charged with refusal or failure to read what was termed
the Proclamation for the Thanksgiving. This thanksgiving
was not the anniversary holy-day which was ordered to be
kept till the end of time, on the 29th May of each year, in
honour of the King's birth and restoration to his throne, and
for declining to keep which Mr. Thomas Wyllie was brought
into trouble in 1662.* There was a new thanksgiving ordered
to be held with solemnity in 1683, in grateful acknowledgment
of the King's deliverance from the Rye- House Plot. The pro-
clamation of this thanksgiving service was ordered to be made
in all churches, on the 2nd September, 1683, and the service
itself to be held on the Sunday following. The proclamation
contained a long narrative of the plot and its discovery, and
gave great offence to the Covenanters by alleging that the dis-
affected party in Scotland, which meant the nonconforming
and indulged Presbyterians, had a principal hand in the con-
.spiracy. The design of the proclamation, therefore, was to
create a prejudice in the public mind against the Covenanters,
and Mr. Veitch accordingly declined to read from the pulpit a
paper that he considered to be a foul slander.

Mr. Veitch, by his own confession, was now found guilty by

* And Mr. Alexander Blair of Galston in 1673.

Ministers of Mauchline, i6j6-i8oo. 3 5 1

the council of what were reckoned unpardonable crimes. His
indulgence was therefore recalled ; and he was ordered to
transport himself out of the kingdom, before the first of
March, or find caution to the extent of 5000 merks that he
would neither exercise his ministry in Scotland nor break
any of the council's ordinances. This was an alternative that
really left Mr. Veitch no choice. Such caution as the council
required was what Mr. Veitch could neither honourably ask
nor reasonably expect to get. He went over to Holland,
therefore, where he remained upwards of three years. It is
pitiful to tell that persecution followed Mr. Veitch to the land
of his exile. And the persecution in this instance did not
come from the bishops or the King, but from the self-styled
" anti-popish, anti-prelatic, and anti-erastian " subscribers of
the Covenant. These zealots thought fit in 1684 to transmit to
Rotterdam a protestation against the conduct of the Scots
Church there, " for admitting to the Lord's table refugees that
had heard indulged ministers." If "hearing" an indulged
minister was to be counted a sin which warranted exclusion from
the privilege of Christian ordinances, it followed that accep-
tance of the indulgence deserved even sorer punishment. It is
sad to think that the land of his exile should have been made
to Mr. Veitch a doubly sorrowful abode by such uncharitable
and unjust reproaches.'^ These grieved him deeply, and moved
him to pen a treatise, which has never been published, in
defence of his conduct. The title of the treatise was " A sober
enquiry into the lawfulness of the Presbyterian ministers,

* Wodrow refers to this circumstance as follows: — " .Mr. James Veitch at tills
time went to Holland, where he continued under some trouble from Robert
Hamilton and his party, but increasing in learning and grace till the toleration, he
returned to his charge at Mauchline. " His disposition seems to have mellowed
with ac;e ; so that, while reproached in his youth with haste and petulance, he was
in his latter days exclaimed against for his moderation.

352 Old Cknt'ck Life in Scotland.

their acceptance of a liberty to preach the Gospel upon the
indulgence, and the people's duty to hear them."

In the spring of 1685, Charles the Second died, and
was succeeded by his brother James, Duke of York. James
was a professed Catholic, and considered the disabilities
under which the Catholics lay a gross injustice to a large
body of men, whom, of his "own certain knowledge and
long experience," he knew to be both good Christians and
dutiful subjects. In Feb. 1687, therefore, he issued a procla-
mation, with " the view of giving his Catholic subjects relief
from unjust laws, which in former reigns had been made to
their prejudice." But, in making concessions to the Catholics,
it was necessary that he should consider the claims of other
nonconformists. He accordingly in the proclamation profes-
sed, "in the first place," his desire to do justice to the Presby-
terians. " We allow and tolerate the moderate Presbyterians,"
he said, " to meet in their private houses, and there to hear all
such ministers as either have accepted or are willing to accept of
our Indulgence ; " but the Presbyterians were on no account to
" presume to build meeting houses, or to use outhouses or
barns " for religious services. The surly Presbyterians did not
give the King much thanks for this measure of toleration, nor
for a second, a little more liberal in its terms, which followed
in the month of March. But, in July of the same year, a third
proclamation was published, in which it was announced that
leave was given by the King to all his loving subjects " to meet
and serve God after their own way and manner, be it in private
houses, chapels, or places purposely hired or built for that use,"
on condition that the places of meeting be officially advertised,
and that the meetings themselves be public and peaceable, and
consistent with all the duties of loyalty. " This libert}-," says
\Vt.)drow, " was fallen in with hx almost all the Presbyterian

Ministers of Maiichtine^ 1 6 56-1 800. 353

ministers in the kingdom, and brought a great and general re-
hef to multitudes who were yet in prisons and under other
hardships for conscience sake. And most part of the Presby-
terian ministers who had retired to other countries, or were
banished, in a Httle time returned to Scotland. . . No Pres-
byterians declined the benefit of this liberty, save Mr. Renwick
and his followers."

That Mr. Veitch was prompt to take advantage of this
toleration and return to his old parish, is evident from what
appears in the Session records. The Proclamation was made
at Edinburgh on the 5th July, 1687, and on the 30th October
thereafter it is minuted in the Session Records that, " the qlk
day, Mr. James Veitch, minister of this parish of Mauchlein
(being returned from Holland, the place of his banishment,
legall restraint being taken off) preached publiclie heir againe."

The position occupied in the parish by Mr. Veitch, between
October 1687 and May 1690, is not clearly indicated in either
the Session or Presbytery records. During these three years,
or part of them, there were in many parishes two ministers and
two congregations. An Episcopal clergyman preached in the
church, lived in the manse, and drew the stipend ; while a
Presbyterian minister preached in a meeting house, lived in
such lodgings as he could find, and was maintained by the
voluntary contributions of his congregation. The Presbyterian
ministers, too, with their complement of ruling elders, sat
together in Presbyteries and exercised all their Presbyterial
functions, in much the same way as Presbyterian Dissenters
do at the present day. It may be said that the Church of
Scotland entered on her present lease of Presbyterial discipline,
not on her re-establishment and re-endowment in 1690, but on
her toleration in 1687. Presbyteries were then formed anew,

354 Old Church Life in Scotland.

antl new volumes of Presbytery records were commenced.
Some of the earliest entries in these records give us a curious
insight into the condition of the Church at that date. The
questions of the time were how to rc-build the Church on the
basis of the toleration, and how to re-plant parishes with Pres-
byterian ministers. The first entry in the new book of the
Presbytery of Ayr is dated 3rd August, 1687, and it states that
one of the brethren " produced and read the overtures, agreed
upon by the meeting at PIdinburgh, for making the liberty
practicable, together with a letter from the said meeting to the
several congregations, and a letter to the ministers that were
out of the kingdom." With all these documents " the brethren
here were well satisfied, and ordained a copy of the letter to be
sent to Mr. Hugh Crawford " (formerly of New Cumnock)
" who was then in Ireland, together with an invitation from his
paroch." An interesting communication was also received
from the parish of Craigie, stating that the people there " de-
clared their adherence to Mr. John Campbell, their own minis-
ter, and promised to give him all encouragement." At the
next meeting of Presbytery, the parishioners of Craigie put
their promise in a more specific form, by offering Mr. Campbell
" 500 merks for his encouragement, for which the brethren de-
sired them to give security, and also to condescend upon a con-
venient place for meeting." In the case of Craigie, the security
and condescendence required were duly furnished, but in other
cases these requisites were not forthcoming, and the parish had
consequently to remain vacant. The minister of Ardrossan
was one of those that were "outed " in 1662, like Mr. Veitch
and Mr. Wyllie ; and in 16S7 he made his way back to his old
parish, in the fond hope that he would be restored to his
ministry there. In 168S, however, the Presbytery of Irvine

Ministers of Mauchline, 16^6-1800. 355

found that they could give " no encouragement to Mr. Bell, in
Ardrossan, as to maintenance or meeting house." *

During the period of Mr. Veitch's exile in Holland Mr. David
Meldrum, a conformist, acted as minister at Mauchline. Whether
he retired from the parish, as a matter of prudence, on the
home-coming of Mr. Veitch, or waited till he was warned away
by the rabble in 1689, or continued till Mr. Veitch was, in
1690, by Act of Parliament, restored to his former incumbency
with all its rights and privileges, I have not discovered, although
it is possible that the date of his demission may be found in
some of the prints relative to these times. It is certain, how-
ever, that whether Mr. Veitch preached in the church, or in a
meeting house, he had the people with him. In the month of
May, 1687, before the Act of Toleration was passed, the collec-
tions in church on Sundays averaged 8s. per dievi ; in July,
August, September, and October, they averaged little more than
2s. daily ; whereas Mr. Veitch's congregation collected, the first
day he preached, 32s., the next day 42s., and the next again
49s. 2d.t In April, 1690, Mr. Veitch's position in the parish,
whatever it may have been previously, was secured. An Act
of Parliament, passed that month, provided that all " Presby-
terian ministers, yet alive, who were thrust from their charges

* In 1688, the Presbytery of Ayr informed the parishioners of New Cumnock
that, before a minister could be settled in the parish, there must be "a convenient
manse and maintenance " provided. The parishioners of Symington, too, were made
aware of this fact, for at a meeting of Presbytery, in July, 1688, "several persons
from that parish appeared, promising to do all they were able both as to a meeting
house, and their minister's house and maintenance."

t On the day that Mr. Veitch first preached in Mauchline after his return from
Holland, the following suggestive minute was entered in the register by Mr.
Meldrum or his clerk : — shewing that the Episcopalians continued to exercise
discipline and uplift penalties for sin, but that they had no congregation.

" October 30, coll : This day Hugh Wyly and Agnes Wilson, in

Mauchline, were rebuked for yr antematrimonial fornication and absolved, and ye
penalty was payed £'^. os. od. "

35^ Old Chunk Life in Scotland.

since the first day of Jamiaiy, i66i, . . should have, forth-
with, free access to their churches, that they may presently
exercise the ministry in these parishes, without any new call
thereto ; . and that the present incumbents in such

churches should, upon intimation thereof, desist from their
ministry in these parishes, and remove themselves from the
manses and glebes thereunto belonging."

The brief period between the Toleration, in July, 1687, and
the re-establishment of Presbyterial government, in June,
1690, was, it will thus be seen, a very peculiar period in the
history of the Church in Scotland. The Established Church
was Episcopal, and the Presbyterian Church was placed on a
voluntary basis. The Presbyterian places of worship were
designated meeting-houses, and in such official documents as
Presbytery Records we find that expression used. In 1687,
the Presbytery of Irvine appointed the ordination of ministers
to be " publick at the meeting house of the Parish whereto the
person is to be ordained, with the usual solemnities." But
what will appear much more strange, Presbyterians had their
banns of marriage proclaimed not (only?) in the Parish Church
but in the meeting house where they worshipped. In 1688,
the Presbytery of Irvine enacted, as was shewn in the Lecture
on Marriage, that " proclamations of intended marriage of
pairties in vacant parishes be once of thryce on a day when
ther is publick preaching at the Meeting House in the vacant
Parish ; ... or else, at the Meeting House of the next
adjacent Parish wher ther is a minister."

With the Toleration, of 1687, the troubles of Mr. Veitch
were brought to a close, and the rest of his days were peaceful.
He died in 1694, in the thirty-eighth year of his twice broken
ministry. Of his last illness and death no account, so far as
known to me, has been preserved. The only reference in the

Ministers of Mauchline, 1656-1800. 357

Session Records to his failing health is the following entry of
collection in 1693 : — "Collected in the minister's hal upon ye
2 1 St of May when he was not abel to goe to the Kirk 12s.
Scots."

Mr. Veitch had none of the attractive oratory for which his
predecessor Mr. Wyllie was famed. " Though very learned, he
inured and accustomed himself," it is said, " to a most coarse-
like and plain way of speaking to the common people in his
preaching to them." He had a familiar way of address-
ing the Deity, too, which modern taste would not approve.
Lecturing on the 131st Psalm, which begins with the words,
" Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor are mine eyes lofty," he
followed up his remarks with a prayer that the Lord would
make to Himself more I3ist-Psalm folk. Had he been present
when the organ was introduced into Mauchline Church, four
years ago, he would probably have withheld his blessing from
us, for he is reported to have once said in a sermon at Rotter-
dam, " I hear they praise God in this country with pipes, but
if they praise him with pipes they may take in the sacrifices
also, for we never read that God was praised with pipes and
musical instruments, but when there were sacrifices." Two
hundred years, however, have passed away since these words
were uttered, and many changes, not all for the worse, have
during the same time passed over men's thoughts — and at the
present day few people will say that if pipes conduce to make
the service of praise in Church more solemn, more impressive,
or more heart stirring, pipes may not with both propriety and
advantage be used in the public worship of a Christian
sanctuary.*

* It may be mentioned both as evidence of the esteem in which Mr. Veitch was
held by his brethren in the Presbytery, and of the interest he took in the public

358 Old Church Life in Scotland.

During the two periods in which Mr. Veitch was under legal
restraint, the parish was committed to the pastoral charge of
an Episcopal incumbent, or conforming minister, who by way
of reproach was usually called by the people, the curate. The
name of the curate at Mauchline, during the first of these
periods was William Dalgarno, and the name of the curate
during the second period was David Meldrum.

Of Mr. Dalgarno and his ministry at Mauchline, I have
nothing to say, because there is no record of either in our ex-
tant Session and Presbytery registers. The ministry of Mr.
Meldrum in Mauchline was not by any means eventful, but
there occurred during his incumbency one or two incidents
worthy of notice as illustrations of the Episcopal regime then
established.

His settlement in the Parish is minuted in the Session
records in the following terms: — "August 31st, 1684. The
which day, Mr. David Meldrum preached upon i Cor., iii. v.
21, having bene admitted minister at Machlin upon Friday
the 29th preceding by Mr. Robert Simpson, minister at
Galston, Mr. John Watson, minister at Auchinleck, and Mr.
William Blair, minister at Sorn." * All these ministers were

affairs of the Church, that after the re-establishment of Presbytery in 1690, he was
every year, as long as he lived, elected a Commissioner to the General Assembly.

* At the present day ministers are ordained and admitted to their charges by
Presbyteries. In olden times, even in Presbyterian periods, the duty was often
assigned to committees. For a case in 1597 see Fasti, Vol. I., p. 324. Some of
the successive steps in the settlement of the Covenanter, Blair, in Galston, are
minuted as follows in the records of the Presb}ter>' of Ayr, " 1643, Feb. 22, Mr.
Alexander Blair expectant preached his popular sermon in relation to his calling to
the ministerie of the Kirk of Galston, was removed, censured, and fully approven
thairin by the brethren. . . . And thairfore it was enacted that Edict suld be
given out unto him to be served and used at the kirk of Galston, the nixt Lord's
day, according to order . . . March 8th, Mr. A. B. returned his edict orderlie
served, and endorsat by Hector Campbell, nottar in Galston." (No objectors ap-
peared). "Whereupon the Presbyterie appointed" (five of their number) "as
commissionars from them to admit and give imposition of hands to the said Mr, A,

Ministers of Mauchline^ i6j6-i8oo. 359

Episcopalians. They were men of a different stamp from the
stern and serious Covenanters they supplanted, and they never
acquired any hold of the congregations to which they minis-
tered.* It was, of course, their misfortune to belong to a party
that was ill looked on, and they may have been misjudged and
hated without a cause. But it is a fact that they were particu-
larly unpopular in their own parishes. During the anarchy
which followed the abdication of James II., at the end of 1688,
when the " rabble " took the work of reformation in hand, they
were every one evicted by their parishioners. Mr. Simpson,
on a cold winter day, was taken out of his manse, treated to an
hour's parley with his head uncovered, then marched across the
water of Irvine, and told to be gone for ever from Galston. Mr.
Watson, of Auchinleck, fared worse. His settlement, in 1684,
had been effected by three troops of dragoons, and his removal
was enforced, in a like military style, by swords and staves.
A band of nearly a hundred men, all armed, invaded his manse,
dragged him out to the church-yard, interdicted him from ever
preaching again in the church, and to complete his humiliation
tore his gown into tatters. f These parochial rebellions arc in

B. to the ministerie and cure of the Kirk of Galston. . . . March 22d. This
day report was maid to the Presbyterie that according to their ordinance Mr. A. B.
was admitted to the ministerie of the Kirk of Galston ; whereupon the brethren gave
him the right hand of fellowship." The Induction of Mr. Wyllie to the parish of
Mauchline in 1646, was in like manner entrusted to a committee, who afterwards
reported to the Presbytery his admission.

* Bishop Burnet says of the curates who were placed in Parish Churches in Scot-
land, during the time of the persecutions, that " they were the worst preachers I
ever heard, they were ignorant to a reproach : and many of them were openly
vicious," etc. etc. The former incumbents however, who were for the most part
Protesters, like Mr. Veitch and Mr. Wyllie, " were a grave sort of people. Their
spirits were eager and their tempers sour, but they had an appearance that created
respect." This is very important testimony from one who was himself a con-
formist.

t Some of the curates were much more roughly and shamefully handled than either
Mr. Simpson or Mr. Watson. The incumbent at Tinwald, after being rabbled,

360 Old CIntrch Life in Scotland.

no way to be commended or applauded, but they show how
intense was the fceh'ng of aversion with which Episcopacy was
regarded in Ayrshire. And it will be seen that, on being in-
ducted into Mauchline, in room of a respected and zealous
Covenanter like Mr. Veitch (who was exalted in the eyes of his
parishioners by the persecutions he endured), and at the hands
of such time-servers as Messrs. Simpson, Watson and Blair
were rightly or wrongly accounted, Mr. Meldrum did not
commence his ministry here under favourable auspices, but
must have had many prejudices to remove by a prudent walk
and conversation.

The first piece of work Mr. Meldrum had to do in Mauchline
was to choose a Kirk-Session. The way in which elders are at
the present day, and have from time immemorial been,
appointed to their office, in the Church of Scotland, is well
known. They are first elected by the existing Kirk-Session
(or if there be no Kirk-Session, by a Committee of Presbytery),
either with or without advice of the congregation ; * their
names are next announced from the pulpit, that members of
the congregation may have opportunity of objecting to the
ordination of the persons named ; and then, if no objections
are offered and found valid, the ordination is appointed to take
place. In the spring of 1684, however, an erastian and tyran-
nical proclamation was published by the King, with advice of

attempted to re-possess his Manse, whereupon, he was assailed by a mob of women,
" who tore his coat and shirt off him, and had done so with his breeches, but that
he pleaded with them from their modesty.'" Fasti.

* In 1842, an Act of Assembly was passed, by which the nomination of persons
for the eldership was " transferred to the people, and the Session were placed in
the somewhat invidious position of being possibly compelled to vindicate the purity
of the eldership by the rejection of parties unanimously approved of by the congre-
gation." (Cook's Styles of Writs etc., p. lo.) Complaints of the working of this
Act, says Dr. Hill, "were very general ; and in one year the returns to an overture
for rescinding the Act were so numerous, as to enable the Assembly 1846, at once
to set the obnoxious Act aside." (Hill's Practice in the Church Courts, p. 5.)

Ministers of Mauckline, 1656-1800. 361

the Privy Council, directing " the ministers of parishes . , .
to give in lists to the bishops, their ordinaries, of such persons
as are fit to serve as elders in their parishes," and declaring that
all such persons shall, on their bishop's approval, become bound
to serve as elders, under severe penalties in case of refusal. Mr.
Meldrum had, therefore, on coming to Mauchline, in August
1684, to give in a list to his ordinary of such persons as he
thought suitable for elders. The minute of his admission con-
tains, accordingly, what without explanation looks very odd, a
" list of the elders the minister afterwards chused." On this list
stand fifteen names ; and it appears from subsequent minutes
that either all or most of the persons named were admitted
elders. From the length of time that elapsed before their
admission, it would seem, too, that in these Episcopal times, of
alleged imperious moderatism, the appointment of elders was
not gone about with indecent haste. The list was drawn up in
August, and the first meeting of Session held by Mr. Meldrum
was on the 22nd February following, when it was recorded that
" ye minister gave ane account of what was receaved for the
poor by the beddal since his entry, till the i8th day of January,
which day the elders began to collect." It will thus be seen
that more than four months passed before Mr. Meldrum got
his elders installed in office, which indicates that bishops did
not, in an off-hand way and without enquiry, approve whatever
lists were submitted for their approbation, but took time to
consider the qualifications of all persons named for the
eldership.

Although Episcopacy means only a form of Church govern-
ment, and might co-exist with any form of doctrine or worship,
it is a fact that, in the Church of Scotland, at least. Episcopacy
has always encouraged a little more ritualism and latitude in
worship than Presbytery has done. About the year 1640, as

362 Old CInircJi, Life iti Scot/and.

was said in last lecture, a very strong spirit of Puritanism, in
respect of worship, began to shew itself among the Presby-
terian ministers in Ayrshire. Mr. George Young of Mauchline
did not go in with that new movement. On the contrary, he
declared himself passionately against it. liut Puritanism was
part of the spirit of these times ; and so, without any express
prohibition by the General Assembly, the repetition of the
Lord's prayer and the singing of doxologies came to be dis-
continued in public worship. On the restoration of Episco-
pacy, in 1662, the use of doxologies was in many parishes
resumed, at the recommendation or order of the Diocesan
Synod. As Mr. Veitch was a strong anti-prelatist, who would
neither bend nor bow to Episcopal authority, it may be pre-
sumed that during his ministry in the parish neither the Lord's
prayer nor any doxology would ever be heard in Mauchline
church. But Mr. Meldrum was one of those that conformed
to the Episcopal government, and he very probably desired to
stand well with his bishop, and also to strengthen the cause of
ecclesiastical order, which was too much broken down in Scot-
land. He resolved to be Episcopally proper, therefore, and he
gave out a doxology to be sung. And the congregation,
generally, either found no fault with this procedure, or did not
venture to express their minds on the subject. Indeed, it
might be asked how could they find fault — for the singing of
doxologies was an old custom in the Presbyterian Church — a
custom defended by many of the stoutest advocates of Presby-
tery— and a custom that had never been forbidden nor disap-
proved by the General Assembly. But there was one man
in the congregation — a sort of parochial oddity — named
Sandy Sim, who cared nothing for either Presbyterial custom
or the eternal reason of things. The doxology was to his un-
tutored mind simply an abomination, and so, when it was given

Ministers of Matichline, 1656-1800. 363

out to be sung, he sprang to his feet as if he had heard the
blast of an organ or had seen a pair of horns protruding through
the floor. Seizing his cap, he clapped it hastily on his head,
and with an air of insulted sanctity proceeded to make his
exit from the church. But, if Sandy expected that this dis-
play of pride and purity would either pass unnoticed or over-
awe the bishop's creatures, he was, for once, mistaken. It is
not quite clear whether he was allowed to leave the church, or
was stopped before he reached the door, and made to sit out
the rest of the service. It is certain, however, that he was
promptly challenged for his irreverent conduct, and was made
to appear before the Session at the close of public worship.
And what the Session did will be best stated in the words of
their own minute: — " March 8 (1685). The said day, Alex-
ander Sim having committed a scandal, by his irreverent
carriage in rising from his seat and offering to go forth, with
his head covered, in time of singing the doxology, was exam-
ined, and, by vote of Session, was enjoined to appear in the
public place of repentance, the first Lord's day the minister
should be at home, he being to go abroad."

The Episcopal leanings of Mr. Meldrum seem to be further
indicated in one or two entries of donations to poor strangers.
In the latter days of Mr. Veitch, we find, in the records of
collections and disbursements, an entry of i^io, given to
" a poor man in the shire of Angus, whose house was
burned by a wicked partie, for entertaining a Presbyterian
minister in his house." That entry may be considered
as shewing how the sympathies of Mr. Veitch tended. But
there is a different turn of sympathy displayed in some of
the entries during Mr. Meldrum's curacy. In 1685, an attempt
was made by the Earl of Argyle "to recover the religious
rip-hts and liberties of the kingdom of Scotland," in other words,

364 Old CliurcJi Life in Scotland.

to remove Episcopacy from the Church and place limitations
on monarchy in the state, according to the will of the people.
The attempt, as all readers of history know, was unsuccessful,
and led to the execution of the Earl, within two months after
his landing in Kintyre. The fact, however, that there had
been a rebellion, or the semblance of one, gave indolent people
a pretext for spreading themselves over the country, and
representing that they had been ruined by Argyle. Some of
these travellers found their way to Mauchline, and were treated
there as sufferers in a good cause. The gratuities given them
from the kirk-box were not large, but they were recorded in
such feeling terms, as to show how the tide of sympathy was
flowing in the Parochial Board of that day. On the loth
March, 1687, 2s. Scots (2d. Sterling) was "givin to a poor man,
herried by Argyle" and, on the 23rd July following, a similar
sum was given to "one Duncan Campbell, robbed by Argj'le
in his rebellion." The arrival of Mr. Veitch, at the end of
October of that year, put a timely stop to this species of
imposture, and beggars beseeching bodies from the Session
had thenceforth to

" Sing another song,
Or choose another tree."

What became of Mr. Meldrum for several years after July
1687, when his ministry at Mauchline practically ended, I
do not know. Dr. Scott states (Fasti) that " he was deprived,
by the Act of Parliament, 25th April, (1690) restoring the
Presbyterian ministers." After this, his position for a while
was miserable. He was starved and boycotted, and had to
seek a livelihood by professing his conversion to the Presby-
terian discipline. On the 24th Februar}', 169 1, it was
" reported (lo the Presbytery of Irvine) that ]\Ir. David
Meldrum, late conformist at Machlin, . . . scriouslie

Ministers of Mauchline, 1656-1800. 365

regrated his conformitie, taking the test, etc., being convinced
of the divine right of Presbytrie, and that Episcopacie was but
ane human invention, and that he desired to be receaved,
withal being to leave this country, that he might have the
Presbytrie's testificat." A committee was appointed to confer
with Mr. Meldrum, and make inquiries regarding " his carriage,
during the tyme of his conformitie and incumbencie." More
than six months were spent by the Presbytery on these in-
vestigations, before their minds were "ripe" for pronouncing
judgment. At length, on the ist September, Mr. Meldrum
personally compeared before the court, " and acknowledged his
sin, in conforming under Prelacy and taking the test."* He
also declared " that he was heartilie grieved and sorrowfull for
this his sin and rashness ; and that, now, he looked on prelacy
as a mere human invention, having no foundation in the Word
of God ; and further, that he owned the Confession of Faith, in
all articles and heads in opposition to Poprie, Socinianism and
Armenianism, and that he wold, throw grace, adhere to the
same Confession of Faith, commonly called the Westminster
Confession, and to the present government of this Church.
Which confession of his, together with some aggravating
circumstances that did attend it (particularly, that he was
dissuaded from that course, at the time of his compliance, by a
letter from his uncle, the Rev. Mr. George Meldrum, here
present), and this his declaration, was judged by the Presbytrie
a sufficient ground to grant unto him this following
recommendation." t The recommendation is too lengthy, and

* In the Test Oath, it was commonly held that, " Presbyterian and Covenanting
principles were abjured." Cunningham's Church History of Scotland, Vol. II., p.
271. Wodrow says that, "at first view, and to every body's uptaking, it over-
turned our Solemn Covenants and for ever excluded the Presbyterian Establish-
ment." Book III., Chap. 5.

t How rigorously, Conformi.4s were dealt with by Presbyteries, at the time of

366 Old Church Life in Scotland.

too empty to be inserted here ; and, altliouj^h it was avowedly
given to enable Mr. Meldrum "to be useful in this Church," it
could not have done him much good. It was not till more
than other six months had passed, that he was received as a
probationer, by going through the form of preaching before
the Presbytery. Most of men would, by that time, have
broken down and been fit for nothing. But Mr. Meldrum
seems to have had a stout heart and a vigorous constitution,
and to have suffered very little by his hardships and humilia-
tions. In November, 1693, he was appointed Chaplain of the
Tolbooth, Edinburgh ; and the following summer he was
promoted to the parish of Tibbermore, where he lived and
laboured, and we may hope enjoyed himself, for more than 57
years ! At the time of his death, which was in December 1741,
he held the honoured and envied position of being the father
of the Church of Scotland.

The successor of Mr. Veitch, in Mauchline, w^as Mr. Maitland,
whose tombstone may be seen in the church-yard. He was or-
dained minister of the parish in 1695, and he died in 1739, after
a long and peaceful ministry of 44 years. The mode of his
appointment to the parish was somewhat peculiar, and may be
here told. The law in regard to the appointment of ministers

the Revolution, may be judged from the following extract from the records of Irvine
Presbytery. The date is 1689. "Mr. William Gemmil, Probationer, made this
day a voluntarie confession of his sad failing in the hour of tentation, by taking the
Band of Regularitie, and declared his sorrow and grief for the same coram ; and
that he had done this sooner, if his health had permitted him to have attended the
Presbyterie ; which confession and declaration the Presbyterie judged sincere and of
a truth, and therefore declared the scandal removed as to themselves, and admitted
him to their fellowship, and appointed (two of their number) to speak to him that,
when he hes occasion to preach publicklie, he doe something, the first tyme, in a
prudent way, befoir the people, for their satisfaction and removing the scandal as to
them." Two years previous to that, namely in 1687, the same Presbyter)' appointed
a committee of their number to meet, " for accepting of the acknowledgements of
the offence given by some of the Eldership of Ir\-ine, by their fainting in the houre
of tentation."

Ministers of Mauchline, i6j6-j8ou. 367

to parishes has, it is well known, undergone many changes.
Down to the year 1649, ministers received their appointments
from patrons, except when the church courts interfered (as they
did very often after the year 1638), and ordered that this man
be planted in this parish and that man in that parish, as was
conceived to be for the greatest good to the greatest number.
During the establishment of Episcopacy in the Church, from
1 66 1 to 1690, patronage was again the source of legal appoint-
ments to parishes ; but the rights of patrons were not a little
encroached on by the assumptions of the King and his council.
From 17 1 2 to 1875, patrons had their third lease of power,
under one set of regulations during one part of that period,
and under another set of regulations during another part.
While there have thus been three separate periods in the his-
tory of the Church of Scotland, during which ministers have
been appointed to parishes by patrons, there have also been
three periods, but of shorter duration, during which the ap-
pointment of ministers has been committed more or less fully
to congregations. The first of these periods extended from
1649 to 1 66 1 ; the second from 1690 to 171 2 ; and the third is
the one that is now current, and has been since the ist Janu-
ary, 1875. The Act of Parliament, 1649, directed Presbyteries
to proceed to the planting of vacant parishes,* " upon the sute

* Sir James Balfour thus comments on the Acts of Parliament and Assembly, in
1649, regarding the appointment of ministers to parishes. "The Parliament
passed a most strange acte this monthe, abolishing the patronage of kirkes which
pertined to laymen since euer Christianity was planted in this Scotland." .
" And this acte, to make it the more spetious, they coloured it with the liberty of
the people to choysse their awen ministers ; zet, the General Assembly, holden at
Edinburghe in the monthes of July and August this same yeire, made a wery sore
mint to have snatched this shadow from the people, notwithstanding their former
pretences, colationed the sole power on the Presbyteries, and out fooled the people
of that right they formerly pretended did only and specially belong to them Jure
divino." The covenanting ministers in 1649 were much divided in opinion on the
question of appointing ministers. "Mr. Calderwood," says Baillie, "was per-

3^8 Old CInirck Life in Scot land.

and callin^^ or with the consent of the congregation " ; and
remitted to the General Assembly to " condescend upon a
certain standing way for being a settled rule," in regard to the
mode of procedure. The General Assembly, accordingly,
framed, in the same year, a Directory for the election of
ministers ; in which it was enacted, that the Kirk-Session
should elect the minister, and then submit their choice to the
approval or disapproval of the congregation. It will thus be
seen that the General Assembly did not give congregations
the full measure of electoral privileges which the Act of
Parliament conceded. The Assembly granted to congrega-
tions only the second, and the much less valuable, alternative
which the Act of Parliament provided — namely consent but
not suit — confirmation but not election — a negative but not a
positive voice in the appointment — just, in fact, such a privi-
lege as Lord Aberdeen's Act gave to congregations under
patronage. The Act of Parliament, 1690, proceeded on the
lines of the General Assembly's Directory of 1649, in giving to
congregations a negative voice in the appointment of their
ministers ; but, instead of vesting the election or nomination
of ministers in the hands of the Kirk-Session, the Act 1690

emptor that, according to the Second Book of Di.scipline, the election should be
gevin to the Presbytery, with power to the mayir part of the people to dissent,
upon reason to be judged of by the Presbyterie. Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Wood
were as peremptor to put the power and voyces of election in the body of the
people, contradistinct from their eldership ; but the most of us was in Mr.
Gillespie's mind, that the direction was the Presbytery's, the election the Session's,
and the consent the people's," III. 94.

Beattie in his History of the Church of Scotland during the Commonwealth,
says, (p. 7-S) "it is remarkable how much the supporters of patronage have been
disposed to overlook and consign to oblivion the anti-patronage act of 1649." •
"Dr. Cook does not mention it in his History of the Church of Scotland." The
Parliament 1649, which sat when there was no King on the throne, is by some
authorities held to have been only a parliament in name. Dr. Cook, in his
jjamphlet on Patronage and Calls (1834), says (p. 8) "By an act oi what assumed
to ce a Parliament^ and which met in 1649, Patronage was abolished," etc.

Ministers of Manchiine, 16^6-1800. 369

assigned that privilege to the elders and Protestant heritors
jointly. The Act, 1874, declares the right of "electing and
appointing ministers . . . to be vested in the congrega-
tions," subject to such regulations, in regard to the mode of
naming ministers by a congregational committee, and of con-
ducting the election, as shall from time to time be framed by
the General Assembly. It will thus be seen that the Act 1874
extends the powers and privileges of congregations far beyond
what these had ever been before. Instead of having only a
negative voice, congregations have now, what they really never
had previously (although it is often said they had), the positive
and sole right of election and appointment. Mr. Veitch was
the only minister appointed to Mauchline under the Act 1649,
and Mr. Maitland the only one under the Act 1690. And
this digression from the proper subject of lecture, to the law on
the appointment of ministers to parishes, will enable us now to
understand the significance of the following entry which ap-
pears in our Session Records, after the death of Mr. Veitch in
1694. "The heritors and elders are to meet, anent the seeking
after a minister, and some are to be appointed for managing it
aright and following it out."

In the records of the Presbytery of Ayr there is an
appointment minuted in reference to the ordination of
Mr. Maitland, which it may not be amiss to mention.
Mr. Maitland was directed to " observe a day of
humiliation the Sabbath preceding his ordination." In
very old times fasting was included in the ceremonies
of ordination in the Church of Scotland. In the West-
minster form of Church government it is directed that
" upon the day appointed for ordination, ... a solemn
fast shall be kept by the Congregation." And this custom was
continued in some parts of the country d(j\vn to the beginning

370 Old Chuych Life in Scotland.

of last century. I'coplc, however, were by that time coming to
think that "the ordination day is more proper for thanksgiving
than fasting ; . . . and that, on account of some things
convenient to be done that day, another before were fitter to
be observed for the Fast."* The Presbytery of Ayr had by
1695 arrived at that conclusion, and had even presumed to act
on it, notwithstanding the written law of the Church. And
Fasts preparatory to ordination were observed in the Presby-
tery till 1737 at least, if not latent

Seeing that the selection of a minister was, in 1694, com-
mitted to such a popular committee as the elders and heritors
must have been — the men of highest standing, highest
character, and best education in the parish — it might have
been supposed that Mr. Veitch's successor would have been a
man of superior gifts and conspicuous merits. The most
popular form of election possible, however, gives little security
that the minister chosen will have gifts the least beyond com-

* Pardovan.

t The ordination service has from time immemorial been followed by a dinner,
with the view of expressing kind wishes to the new minister and thanking the mem-
bers of Presbytery who have come from a distance to take part in the service. To
shew how our fathers in the ministry sometimes fared and fed on such occa-
sions, I may here quote from Dr. .Scott"s P'asti, the dinner bill at an ordination at
Carsphairn in 1737.

To John Paterson in Knockgray for meal Inought by him for

the ordination dinner, ----- ^^5 S o
,, John Hair in Holm for a boll of malt brought by him for
the said ordination dinner, . . - .

,, the said John I lair for a "Weather and a Lamb to be fur-
nished on the said occasion, . . - .
,, Hugh Hutcheson, in Lamloch for a Weather, -
,, George Stevenson for a Lamb, . - - -
,, Mrs. M'Myne, in Damelintoun for Flour and Baking on
said occasion, ------

The money of course was Scots.

9 0

5 0

3 12

I 4

2 14

^26 iS

Ministers of Maiichline, 16^6-1800. 371

mon, and it affords no security at all that he will prove a faith-
ful and diligent pastor. Mr. Maitland was an amiable man,
and there is a good tradition of him in the parish. The fact,
recorded in a previous lecture, that once, when a person under
scandal offered to clear himself by oath, Mr. Maitland was put
into " such a consternation he could not administer the oath
till next Lord's day," says a great deal for both his amiability
and conscientiousness. For a while, too, his ministry was in
all respects satisfactory. At a Presbyterial visitation of the
parish, in 1698 — three years after his settlement — the Session
reported that he was diligent in his pastoral work, and " that
they were well satisfied with him." Later on, however, there
were grumblings heard. At a Presbyterial visitation, in 1723,
the heritors and heads of families reported that " their minister
was often absent from his charge, and they often wanted public
ordinances, and that he does not enter so soon to public wor-
ship on the Lord's day as were desirable, much of the Sabbath
being thereby idly and sinfully misspent. They complained,
also, that he had not visited and catechised the parish, save
once, these three years."* We have seen in a former lecture
that, during his incumbency, the business of the Kirk-Session
was very inefficiently conducted.! Minute-books went amiss-

* Although the common cause of complaint against a minister at Presbyterial
visitations — if complaint was made, which was very seldom — was indolence and in-
attention, there are instances on record where the Presbytery were re(|uested to
advise the minister to take things more easily. At the visitation of Kilmarnock,
by the Presbytery ot Irvine, in 1691, Mr. Rowat, one of the ministers, in commend-
ing the zeal of his colleague Mr. Osburne, "desired that the Presbytrie wold
admonish him to be discreat in his diligence, his health being much endangered by
his great painfullness." He was admonished to that effect, accordingly, " lest, by
too much (painfullness), he laid himself by altogether from his Master's work."

t Minute-books went amissing in the same way in other parishes. In 1727, it
was reported to the Presbytery of Irvine that at Ardrossan there was " No Session
register, (many of their schoolmasters, who were Session-clerks, going off and not
leaving the minutes), and that they had only some few minutes on loose paper."

372 Old Church Life in Scotland.

iii<4, poors money was lent on doubtful security and lost, and
in other ways the want of a firm and careful directorate was
painfully evident. Constitutional indolence must have been at
the bottom of this negligence, although it was alleged that these
shortcomings proceeded, in part at least, from causes that
claim our sympathy. In 1723, he was asked by the Presby-
tery what he had to say to the complaints of his parishioners ;
and he answered that " he had been often under much indis-
position of body, and that he had fallen under some difficulties
in his affairs (that obliged him to be often abroad contrair to
his inclinations), which had hindered him in his work more
than he intended." And there is no doubt that he was a
valetudinarian. It is minuted in the Session records that, in
1698, from the 3rd of January till the 24th of April, there had
been no meeting of Kirk Session, " by reason of the minister's
indisposition, he having been long troubled with ane extra-
ordinarie quartane ague." On the 3rd of August, of the same
year, it is minuted in the Presbytery records that " Mr. Alait-
land is not yet well recovered of his health.'" And the follow-
ing year, he was still infirm of body. But, making all allow-
ances for the state of his health, it must yet be said that he
was provokingly negligent in the discharge of his duties ; and
although censured by the Presbytery and exhorted to be up
and doing, he took censure and admonition good-naturedly,
and continued to idle in his old ways.*

* In the records of the Presbytery of Ayr there is a curious reference to the
numerous niercats in Mauchline, as a source of either expense or extra labour to the
minister, and apparently as furnishing a good plea for an augmentation of stipend.
At a Presbyterial visitation of the parish, in 1719, Mr. Maitland reported that he
had some complaints to make ' ' about his gleib and stipend, and the many public
mercats which are kept in the place, that are gravaminous to him, but that he inclines
first tt) lay the matter before the Right Honourable the Earl of Loudoun, who is
principally concerned in the place."

Ministers of Maiichline, i6j6-i8oo. 373

The times in which Mr. Maitland's lot was cast were much
less troubled than those in which Mr. Young, Mr. Wyllie, and
Mr. Veitch lived. There was some extra-parochial work,
however, of an onerous and unpleasant character, which
ministers had to do. After the re-establishment of Presbytery
in 1690, the General Assembly met, and in its wisdom thought
lit to appoint two Commissions to visit respectively the countries
north and south of the Tay. These Commissions were
authorised and instructed " to purge out all (ministers) who,
upon due trial, shall be found to be insufficient, supinely
negligent, scandalous, or erroneous." They were directed, in
what looks like a spirit of conciliation and generosity, " to be
very cautious of receiving information against the late
Conformists, and to proceed in the matter of censure very
deliberately, so as none may have just cause to complain of
rigidity ; yet so as to omit no means of information ; and not
to proceed to censure, but upon relevant libels and sufficient
probation." These instructions seem to have been read by the
commissioners — whose zeal for Presbytery was of the degree of
fervour that makes men both martyrs and persecutors — very
much in the light in which villagers are apt to interpret the
order against an obnoxious brother, " don't nail his cars to the
pump." The result of the visitations was that sufficient reason
was found, after formal process led, for the deposition of so
many ministers that whole districts north of the Tay were left
without a single clergyman to conduct a service in the parish
church. Who can believe that all these unfortunates were such
rogues or heretics as to deserve the treatment they got ? Be
that as it may, however, so many depositions took place that
there was not in the church a sufficient number of probationers
to fill the vacant cures ; and for nearly twenty years after-
wards the General Assembly had to supply ordinances in

374 '^i^i Church Life in Scotland.

the north by deputations of ministers from the south/ These
prcachint^- tours were not pleasure excursions. Travelling,
north of the Tay, was not so enjoyable in 1700 as it is
now a clays, thanks to railways. The preachers that went on
these expeditions were not too courteously entreated cithcr.f
Although allowed good enough pay, many ministers were very
unwillincf to "o on the northern circuit.! One of those that had

* Cunningham's Church History, Vol. II., p. 296. Besides the districts rendered
spiritually destitute by the extrusion of the old Episcopal clergy, there were other
districts on which the light of the Reformation had never dawned. These were in
the Western Highlands. In 1707, the Society for the Propagation of Christian
Knowledge was formed, and, by the instrumentality of that society, schools were
established in various parts of these benighted regions. In 1725, the King
signified to the General Assembly " his gracious inclination to contribute yearly the
sum of ;^iooo sterling, to encourage itinerant preachers and catechists to go to
these parts." The Royal Bounty is still continued and is applied for the main-
tenance of " ordained ministers, licentiates, student missionaries or catechists," at
something like 60 or 65 stations. The itinerants seem now to be abolished. In
1747, the Presbytery of Irvine overtured the Assembly to direct that the Royal
Bounty " be applied in making new erections in the Highlands and Islands of Scot-
land, rather than in hiring itinerant preachers, who from experience are found to do
very little service."

t On one occasion a preacher of the muscular christian type went to one of these
Episcopalian parishes to supply the vacancy. A gentleman in the parish advised
him not to attempt to preach, lest it should cost him his life. The minister would
not take advice, but gave orders that the bell be rung. After a few tinkles, the bell
stopped ringing ; and the minister, going out to see what had happened, found two
scoundrels pomelling the bell-man. Rushing to the rescue, he laid hold of the
assailants, knocked their heads together, and stood beside them till the bell was
rung out. He then invited the onlookers, who were probably a good deal amused,
and not very ill pleased, to follow him into the church, where he would tell them
something they had never heard before. And the story goes that they went inside,
and were so entertained with the sermon that they crowded round the minister, as
he went off, and invited him to visit them again. — Fasti. Part 6, p. 511.

X In 1696, an Act of Parliament was passed, allowing to preachers and ministers,
for preaching in vacant parishes benorth Forth, 20 merks Scots for each Lord's day
that they preach forenoon and afternoon. This grant was allowed, moreover,
"albeit that sometimes, by reason of the shortness of the day or the people's un-
timeous convening," there were not two separate diets of worship. This Act was
repealed by the Act 171 1, which restored patronages, and, along with patronages,
the rights of patrons to disjiose of vacant stipends for pious uses.

Ministers of Matickline, 16^6-1800. 375

no liking for the business was Mr. Maitland. In 1C98, he was
appointed to go north ; but a convenient sickness gave him a
good excuse for declining the honourable commission. The
following year his appointment was renewed, and he went
north, but did not complete his term. The convenient sickness
overtook him again, and he returned, with testificates that he
had preached in the district assigned him " some Sabbaths, but
falling sicklie he culd not tarry to supply any furdcr." And
his failing to fulfil appointments was so common as to be al-
most habitual. He had generally some excuse, however, which
saved him from censure ; and he was so genial a man that
rigidity could scarcely get angry at his indolence.

The most notable minute in our Session records in reference
to Mr. Maitland is one of date i6th June, 1706, in which it is
stated that two viragoes, a mother and a daughter, " were cited
before the Session, next Fryday, for leazing Mr. Maitland."
The word leasing is often used as a noun, and when so used
means falsehood. We read in the Psalms, " thou shalt destroy
them that speak leasing," which the translators of the revised
version have changed into " thou shalt destroy them that speak
lies." The word leasing does not so often occur as a verb, but
T presume its meaning in the sentence quoted is slandering
or reviling. * And however much people may be inclined to
smile at a complaint of slander, the slandering of a minister
has always been held by the Church as a very heinous offence.
Both in 1642 and in 1694, the General Assembly enacted that
all such slanders should be punished "with the censures of the
Kirk, even to the highest," according as the degree or qualitx-
of the scandal should be found to deserve. i\nd not only

* In the Overtures, 1705, the word " lesed" occurs more than once, in the sense
of injured or wronged, chap. III. sec. 8, clause 5, chap. IV. sec. 6, clause 2. This
word, although similar in sound, has a different derivation from leasing, which
means falsehood.

3/6 Old Clinrch Life in Scotland.

church censures, but civil punishments were inflicted on people
for offences of that kind. In 1679, a carpenter was brouj^ht
before the Town Council of Dumbarton for calling his minister
" ane liar, anc knave, and ane rascal," while the minister was,
in the exercise of his duty, reproving the carpenter for drunken-
ness ; and the truth of the charge " being maid evidentlie
appear," it was ordained that the slanderer's " friedom be cried
doun be tuck of drum, and he put in the stocks." * We can
understand, therefore, how Mr. Maitland felt so sore on the sub-
ject of his being leazed ; and in the commotion made over the
leazing we have a common feature in old ministerial life quietly
and quaintly exhibited. When the slander came to be investi-
gated, the Session thought it so mild a calumny that it might
be sufficiently censured by a private rebuke. Mr. Maitland was
not satisfied with this decision, and intimated his purpose to
complain to the Presbytery. The records of Presbytery con-
tain no allusion to the case ; and it may thus be presumed that
the affront was forgotten and the sore healed.

Some entries in the Session records towards the close of
Mr. Maitland's ministry are very touching. On the 14th May,
1738, it is said "the minister preached o?ily, being indisposed."
The following Sunday he both preached and lectured ; but, on
the 28th May, there was " no sermon, the minister being indis-
posed by a fall from his horse." On the 2nd July he preached

* In the Session Records of Galston, mention is made of a man that, in 1635,
gave signs of repentance in sackcloth for slandering of his minister before the
Presbytery. And this was not all the punishment he underwent ; for, in another
minute, it is stated that " W. Meikle, wha, at the meeting of the brethren afore-
said, wes committed to waird in the tolbuith of Ayr, for his irreverent misbehaviour
to the Presbytery, and objecting to his minister the filthie fact of simony — was
ordered to repair to his paroch kirk, and in sackcloth, bairfuted, and bairlegged. to
put himself in the penitent place all the tyme oi the sermon ; and, before his enter-
ing, to pay ;i^20, to be bestowed in pious uses by the minister and Session of
Galstnn."

Ministers of Mauchline, 16^6-1800. 2)77

once more, but it was in the manse, and, except on that Sunday
in July, the pulpit was either vacant or supplied by neighbour-
ing ministers, till the end of September, and then the record
closes. In labours Mr. Maitland was not abundant, but in
genial indolence he was representative of a worthy class of
gentlemanly ministers, who exercised a kind of influence for
good on a rude community, and who are not so common now
as they once were.

The minister that succeeded Mr. Maitland is one whose name
is a household word wherever the poems of Burns are read.
From the way in which that minister is spoken of in the
writings, and in some of the biographies of the poet, it is not
unlikely that the opinion entertained of him by the public
generally is neither very exalted nor very favourable. William
Auld was, nevertheless, a man of far more than common force
of character, besides being a minister of exemplary faithfulness.
Of all the ministers that ever lived in Mauchline, not even ex-
cepting Mr. Wyllie or Mr. Veitch, I am inclined to say that
Mr. Auld is the one that was most abundant in pastoral
labours, and that left on the parish the clearest and most en-
during mark of himself. -J- He was a younger son of the laird of
Ellanton's, in the parish of Symington, and he not only passed
with credit through the ordinary curriculum of study at the
University of Glasgow, but had a finish given to his education
by a term or two at the University of Leydcn. s He was of a
large boned family, and the conspicuous feature of his intellect
and will, as well as body, was vigour. He was a grave, solemn
man — an ultra Sabbatarian — and a bishop, who not only lorded
over his parish, but ruled with apostolic rigour in his own house.
There was, however, a stately courtesy, with much kindness of
heart, underneath his austere and rigid manners. While a
terror to evil-doers, he was the praise of those that did well

378 Old ClinrcJi Life i)i Scotland.

J lis nephew (the late Dr. Auld of Ayr), who was broiir^rht up
by him in the manse of Mauchh'nc, used to speak of him with
unbounded affection, as a man terribly strict but exceedinj^dy
kind.* He was settled in Mauchline in the year 1742, and died
at Mauchline in Deer. 1791, in the 8ist year of his age, and the
50th of his ministry.! Compliments were not .so frequent in
Mr. Auld's days as they are now, and they were probably not
so overstrained. And never was the heart of a minister
cheered by a more touching, simple and truthlike compliment
than that which was paid to Mr. Auld, in 1788, by the honour-
able Lady Anne Whiteford, after her departure from Balloch-
myle. As a memorial of her husband's family, she left to the
parish a beautiful silver bason, for baptisms, which, in a note to
Mr. Auld, she described as "a small gift from me to the church
of Mauchline, in grateful acknowledgment and lasting remem-
brance of the many happy years I passed in that place, under
your exceljent instruction and ministry." But the surest and
clearest proof of his popularity as a preacher and minister,
is the statistical table of attendances at his communions.
From 1751 to 1756, the number of communicants each year
averaged 600. In 1757 and 1758 the numbers were respectively
450 and 490. In 1763 the number rose to 700, in 1771 to 850,
1773 to 1000, in 1779 to 1 100, in 1780 to 1300, and in 1786 and
1788 (the two years in which Burns figured in the Kirk-Session)
to 1400. t On the death of Mr. Auld the number went down

* My informant is a member of Dr. Auld's family.

t When Burns published his poems, in 17S6, Mr. Auld was an old man, in the
76th year of his age, and was entitled from his gray hairs to a little more respect
than Burns showed him.

I^The "Holy Fair" was written in 17S6. In Old Church Life I have given reasons
for saying that in Mr. Auld's day there must have been occasionally seventeen or
eighteen tables at a sacrament. This is a large number of tables for a communion,
and whatever may have been thought of such a number in 17S6 it was at an earlier
period much marvollcil ;it, and referred Id -is evidence of a minister's extraordinary

Ministers of Mauchline, 1656- 1800. 379

to 700, then in a year or two to 600, and a year or two after-
wards to 500. Now, whatever opinion we may have regarding
the good or evil of these great communion gatherings, the
figures quoted indicate at least the reputation Mr. Auld enjoyed
both within and beyond his parish.

Through the kindness of a relative of Mr. Auld's I have been
favoured with specimens of his sermons and lectures, that I
might see what kind of prelections the people of Mauchline
heard from the pulpit in the days of Burns and Holy Willie.
Mr. Auld's sermons were not written for the press, and they
would not have been fit to appear in print without considerable
corrections. They were not finished compositions, but rather
scrolls or first drafts of sermons, such as a preacher who did not
restrict himself to a manuscript might consider a sufficient
preparation for his Sunday work. They were, however, vigo-
rous and sensible productions, sound in doctrine and direct in
application, and if delivered with animation and improved by
impromptu embellishments, they would, in their day, be counted
good specimens of plain preaching. They were thoroughly
practical discourses. They neither soared into regions of airy
sublimity, nor went down beneath the foundation of things.
Nor were they weary wandering seas of barren foam and decla-
mation. What they were will be fairly illustrated by the
following sentences, taken at random from a manuscript ser-
mon on the text : — " His servants shall serve Him, and they

popularity. It is said of John Row of Carnock that " having been a godly, zealous
man, and his ministry much attended from using the Presbyterian form at com-
munions, he had no less than seventeen. tables on that solemn occasion in 1635."
Fasti. It is said of Mr. Watsone of Burntisland, that the persecutions he was sub-
jected to for his opposition to Episcopacy made him such a favourite with the popu-
lace that at his communion in 1610 there were served " nineteen tables and a half,
quherin, as was supposit thair was at euery table fifty communicants," and in the
three following years there \\e:e respectively, eighteen and a half, nineteen and a
half, and twenty-one and a half tables.

3^0 Old CJiurcJi Life in Scotland.

shall sec His face." Besides being preached at Mauchlinc this
sermon was preached in the tent at Auchinleck in 1770; at
Muirkirk, on the evening of the sacrament, in 1774; and at
Kilmarnock, on the Stairhead, on 13th Nov. 1774. It had been
reckoned a sermon, therefore, that could stand repetition ; and, in
one of the heads of application, Mr. Auld remarks: — "What has
been said will suffice to reprove those who do not serve God on
earth, yet hope to serve him in heaven. This is inconsistent
with common sense and reason, and the more unaccountable in
rational creatures that no man is so foolish and unreasonable
with respect to the affairs of this life. None hope to reap
where they did not sow, none of us will pretend to be fit to
speak in a language which we never learned, and if we hope to
be fit to be employed in any valuable art or calling we know
that we must first serve an apprenticeship and pass through a
proper course of education in order thereunto. Know, then,
that this life is a sort of seed time, or apprenticeship, for
eternity ; and believe that the plenty of the harvest does not
more depend upon the right improvement of the seed time, nor
the dexterity and success of the artist upon his application and
diligence when an apprentice, than does our happiness here-
after upon our good behaviour now, or our fitness for serving
God in heaven upon our care to serve him on earth. Let
none, then, who habitually neglect to serve God on earth, and
have no delight in the places and exercises of his worship here
below, delude themselves with the vain hope of ever entering
into the heavenly sanctuary and of serving God there, for we
have shewn that both the constitution of nature and the con-
stitution of the God of nature forbid this."

But, while Mr. Auld was doubtless a popular and powerful
country preacher, he was a particularly painstaking, energetic,
and strong-minded pastor. Discipline was never so stringently

Ministers of Manchline, i6j6-i8oo. 381

and methodically administered in the parish as it was in the
days of his ministry. No delicacy of feeling, or shyness of
disposition, or, as some people would prefer to say, no moral
cowardice ever restrained him from openly doing what he
thought his ministerial duty. His lot was cast in a rude,
rough age, in which gross licentiousness and shameless perfidy
prevailed, to an extent that many people have no idea of ; but
against all the abounding iniquity of the parish he contended like
a hero, and by his firmness and determination of character he
enforced at least an outward homage to the claims of righteous-
ness and religion. The moment any person was delated in
the Session for a fault, the " inquisition " was set in motion,
like the machinery of a modern court of detection ; and it was
carried on and never dropped (or at least very rarely) till
either guilt was established or cause was seen to believe inno-
cence. And, while no man was sterner in reproving sin wher-
ever it was proved, few men ever forgave more fully after sin
was confessed and censured, or were more resolute in uphold-
ing charitable judgment where guilt was not made evident. In
1773, a fama arose about the Session Clerk, and it had to be in-
vestigated. The case came first before the Session, and then
went up to the Presbytery. It was one of those cases in which
there is no evidence, except the accuser's own word ; and, unfor-
tunately for the accuser, if her accusation was true, her credi-
bility was injured by a false statement on a collateral point. The
Presbytery, therefore, unanimously assoilzied the clerk ; but
there were some people in the parish, nevertheless, who would
not believe him innocent of the charge. Among others, three
of the elders were of that opinion. These three elders, without
intimating any reason, withdrew from meetings of Kirk-Ses-
sion ; and no notice, for a while, was taken of their conduct.
At length, when some months had elapsed, Mr. Auld presented

3S2 Old Church Life in Scotland.

to the Session a requisition that these elders, who " had de-
serted the duties of their station, and purposely absented them-
selves from the monthly and weekly meetings of Session,"
should not be received again by the Session till they con-
descended on such reasons for their desertion and neglect of
duty as should satisfy both the Session and the Presbytery.
The three elders were, accordingly, cited to appear before the
Session, in the first instance. Two of them, in response to
their citation, appeared, and frankly stated that they could not
in conscience remain in the Session so long as a man of such
evil repute as their clerk was retained in office. A formal
answer to this declaration was afterwards given in to the Ses-
sion by Mr. Auld, and the tenor of that answer, which is en-
grossed in the Session records, will give us a good idea of
what a practical, sound-headed, and strong-willed man he was.
" It is true," said Mr. Auld in this paper, " that the clerk some
months ago had the misfortune of a heinous charge brought
against him ; but it is well known that he stood his trial before
the proper court, and was unanimously acquitted, so that he
was then legally, and is according to the rules of the Church
to be held, guiltless. The secrets of his and every man's heart
and life must be referred to the judgment of God. After
justice has taken its course, charity should have free scope.
Then, charity, which thinketh no evil, should lead every Chris-
tian to think the best, and in doubtful cases to err on the
charitable side. It might have been expected that the fore-
said persons would have joined the rest of the elders, in en-
deavouring to preserve peace and harmony in the parish, by
setting an example of charity, and of submission to superiors,
and to the order of the Church. But, instead of this, their
example has had a pernicious influence ; and their late be-
haviour tends to bring upon themselves the imputation of

Ministers of Mmichline, 1656-1800. 383

pride, perfidy, and gross inconsistency — of pride, in thinking
themselves wiser than the whole Presbytery ; of perfidy, in wil-
ful violation of their ordination engagements to submit to the
government of the Church ; and of gross inconsistency in
matters of conscience, particularly in thinking light of the sins
just now mentioned, and in magnifying beyond measure the
imaginary sin of sitting in a Session with a clerk, of a character
supposed by them immoral, though legally assoilzied. Is not
this to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." More need not
be quoted. The language is somewhat after the style of old
Bishop Hugo's of Lincoln — "pipere mordacior" — spicier than
pepper ; but, if allowance be made for it on that score, it is
otherwise an admirable remonstrance with upsetting prejudice,
and a very proper vindication of the rights of a man that had
stood his trial and been acquitted by his judges.

In parish matters, Mr. Auld was a great reformer. He had
his eye on every misorder and abuse, and he was instant, in
season and out of season, in getting things put right. Some
of his faithful contendings have already been mentioned in
former lectures. He had a long fight to get the church and
church-yard protected against desecration, and in appealing to
the heritors to aid him in that work he well described the
sentiment he invoked as an " honourable regard to the house
of God and the burial place of our fathers." We have seen
what zeal he had for the poor ; how he pleaded for assessments
that the poor might be better provided for ; how keen and careful
he was in the exaction of fines, how pliable in the abbreviation
of marriage banns, how ready to baptize or marry in a private
house, how zealous in urging the use of public mortcloths, and
how assiduous in the erection of church seats wherever there
was available space, that by these means a little augmentation
might be made to the poor's funds. We have s.een how he put

384 Old CJinrch Life in Scotland.

clown " the cruel and inhuinnn custom of cock-fifjhting at
r\istcn-c'cn ;" how he strove to repress the social evil of
irregular marriage ; and how vigorously he dealt with every
form of Sabbath profanation. One bad custom in the parish,
long ago, was the intimation on Sundays at the church gate, of
roups and public sales. This was not a work of necessity, Mr.
Auld thought, and in 1755 he prevailed on the Session to
discharge " their officer from proclaiming any roups for the
future, and to speak to the officers in the town not to use that
practice."*

Mr. Auld is said to have been a man of considerable learn-
ing ; but, except that he was fairly well informed in Church
law and Church procedure, we have no evidence that his
acquirements were more than ordinary. Only two publications
are known to have come from his pen. One of these was a
sermon, printed at the request of the Presbytery, on the

* In the records of Kilmarnock Session it is incidentally stated, in the course of
a process before that consistory in 1710, that, a cow having been lost out of a drove
of cattle in the neighbourhood of Ochiltree on a Saturday night, the owner " went
to Ochiltree kirk on Sabbath morning, with a design to cry it." The beast turned
up at Barskimming bridge, and the proclamation had not to be made.

The civil magistrate, a hundred years ago, asserted more authority in the Church
than he now does. Local Justices expected their acts, on such subjects as "the
running, using and selling of French brandy," to be solemnly read from pulpits.
This was Erastianism ; and the Presbytery of Ayr, to vindicate their spiritual
independence, found it necessary, in 1730, to enjoin that "when any acts of the
lustices come to ministers' hands, in the intervals of Presbyter)-, to be intimate,
brethren are not to do it, till the matter is laid before the Presbyter)- at their first
meeting.'"

In 1790, (during Mr. Auld's ministry), an unpleasantness arose at Mauchline
about the reading of "a paper relating to the meeting of freeholders." This
paper was sent to the Kirk-Session, by the Sherifl", with an order that it be read on
a certain specified Sabbath, "at the Kirk of Mauchline, immediately after divine
service in the forenoon." The Session minuted that "such a long paper was
never required before by the Sheriff' of this county " to be read at the kirk, and
they were dubious of the " reasonableness of this innovation." Finding, however,
that " the requisition for reading runs thus, ^ at the Kirk of Machlin,' they allowed
the Precentor, if he pleased, to read or cause read it in the church-yard."

Ministers of Majichline, 16^6-1800. 385

pastoral duty of ministers ; and the other was the statistical
account of the parish, to which I have already referred. The
sermon, if it now exists at all, survives only on the dusty shelf
of the antiquary ; but the statistical account is of easy access,
and is a very readable compilation. It is not remarkable for
any recondite learning, but it is written in a vivacious and
vigorous style, very wonderful for a man nearly four score
years old. The most notable statements in the statistical
account are two, but they are notable for something else than
learning. One of these statements is about the battle at
Mauchline moor, which was fought the day after the sacrament
in 1648. Mr. Auld, in zeal for the parish and the covenants,
declares, in sublime ignorance of fact, that the battle ended in
the total rout of Middleton and his dragoons !

The other remarkable statement in Mr. Auld's statistical
account of the parish, is, if possible, even more striking than
that about the battle on the moor. It is a statement, too, that
has evidently called forth much admiration, for it has been
copied verbatim into a series of successive publications, as if it
were some marvellous utterance of profound wisdom. It is
about the channel of the river Ayr, which, in some places, lies
between steep rocks of red sandstone from forty to fifty feet
high. " How this passage was formed," says Mr. Auld,
" whether by some convulsion of nature, or by the water
gradually forming the channel for itself, cannot now be ascer-
tained." There is a ring of decided finality in this judgment.
It cannot now be ascertained how the passage between the
rocks was formed. Certainly, there i$ no man now living that
saw the process of formation from the beginning. The same
kind of human testimony cannot be got on that subject as can
be got on questions of history. But, it is not on tradition that
geology is based. Geology goes far behind and beyond the

3'S6 Old CJiuych Life in Scotland.

period of authentic human history, and the conclusions she
presents are as ascertainable to-day, and will be thousands of
years hence, as they were thousands of years ago. Geology
adduces facts from many sources — from the observed action of
all natural agencies at the present time, and from all historical
accounts of changes in former ages on the earth's surface — and,
resting on these facts as her basis, she shows in what manner, and
in what probable length of time, certain formations and ex-
cavations could have been accomplished ; and then she asserts
that the way in which visible phenomena can be most simply
accounted for, is the way in which we cannot but believe them
to have been produced. And, when theories, which at first
were tentative, are found on examination to accord with an
increasing mass of observed facts, these theories acquire an in-
creasing degree of probability, till eventually they become as
firmly established as any of the convictions, in matters of
every day experience, that rest on moral evidence. And yet,
while thus criticising Mr. Auld's statement about the bed of
the Ayr, it must be admitted that in that statement, faulty as
it is, there is a certain latitude of thought discernible. To Mr.
Auld's mind, in 1790, it was at least conceivable that the Ayr
had worn out a channel for itself, by the friction of its waters
and of the stones it carried down in its currents. It may be
safely afifirmed that a hundred years ago there were many men
considered well educated and advanced in thought, who were
neither educated nor advanced in thought to that degree.

It is neither by his literary, nor by his parochial labours,
however, that Mr. Auld's name is destined to be transmitted
to future ages. It is by his accidental association with the
poet Burns, and the consequence is that, being presented to
view in the poet's writings as the censor of the poet's irregu-
larities, and as a man at variance with some of the poet's

Ministers of Mauchline, 1656-1800, 387

friends, only certain aspects of his character are brought to
light and others are undisclosed. But notwithstanding what
has been said of him either in malice or in ignorance, he was
both a well meaning and an active energetic man — most faith-
ful and diligent in his ministerial work — thoroughly parochial
in his ways and notions — and not only had he the good of the
parish at heart, but he did a great deal of good in and for the
parish.

Mr. Auld's ministry in Mauchline extended over half a cen-
tury ; and that half century, from 1742 to 1792, is by no means
devoid of interest to the student of Scottish ecclesiastical
history. Mr. Auld, however, was not associated with any
public movement, either of thought or action, outside of his
own parish. ' Some of Burns's biographers have called him a
leader of the Old Light party in the Church. He certainly be-
longed to that party, and he may have been considered an out-
standing member of it in the upper district of Kyle ; but, in no
legitimate sense of the term could he be called a leader either
of that or of any other party. He made no figure in Church
' Courts. The chief thing standing to his name in the Presby-
tery records is a motion " that Commissioners to the General
Assembly be sent by rotine." Indeed, so far from occupying
a high pedestal of honour in the Presbytery, he more than once
was subjected to a mild rebuke in that court. Apparently he
had thought with Pardovan that there is no law in the Church
requiring ministers to preach sermons on week days ; and he
very probably thought that, for all the good they did, such ser-
mons might be left unspoken. But these were not the views of
those who walked blindly by the rule of use and wont. He was,
therefore, in 1744, enjoined by the Presbytery "to have week-
days' sermons, as was usually observed in that place (Mauch-
line), except in seed time and harvest." And, what was very

3«S8 Old ChurcJi, Life in Scotland.

extraordinary in so squarc-tocd a man, he once had the hardi-
hood to deliberately disregard an important instruction he re-
ceived from the Presbytery. In 1767, a misguided brother in
the Presbytery fell under scandal, and some witnesses in the
case had to be examined in Glasgow. Mr. Auld and
Mr. Moody* of Riccarton were appointed Commissioners to
attend the Presbytery of Glasgow at this examination. Neither
of them went to Glasgow, and the Presbytery " called on them
to answer for their conduct. Mr. Moody excused himself upon
the account of his health, he being so much indisposed that he
could not travel. Mr. Auld excused himself because he could
not get a horse" If The Presbytery, "after reasoning," found
Mr. Moody's excuse relevant, but Mr. Auld's not ; and Mr. Auld
was, accordingly, admonished " from the chair, for his neglec-
ting to obey the Presbytery's orders." It is comforting to find
that such a strict martinet as Mr. Auld could be overtaken in
a fault, and that even he had to learn the art of admonition by
receiving reproof

The successor of Mr. Auld was Mr. Archibald Reid. In the
common sense of the phrase, he was not a successful minister.
The congregation did not flourish under his care, and the com-
munion crowds decreased. It was during his ministry, too,

* This was the Mr. Moody known to the readers of Burns, as one of the con-
tentious Calvinists, who fell out with each other on their way home from a
sacramental Monday's service. The Presbytery Records support the poet's insinua-
tions that Mr. Moody was a hasty and an indiscreet man. In 1766, a fama reached
the Presbytery that he had been guilty of perjury in a process in the civil courts.
The Presbytery found that there was "no foundation for the charge of perjury,"
but that Mr. Moody had been " guilty of a want of prudence, generosity and grati-
tude, and that he should be censured for his conduct, and admonished to behave
better for the future. "

t Mr. Auld's excuse was not without precedent. In 16S9, a member of the
Presbytery of Irvine was appointed to do duty in a vacant parish, and did not. He
reported to the Presbytery, at their next meeting, that " Ardrossan sent not ane
horse for him, else he had satisfied them as he had promised."

Ministers of Ma2icJiline, 16^6-1800. 389

that dissent obtained in the parish a local habitation, by the
erection of what was then, and long afterwards, called the
meeting house.* It is only fair to state, however, that Mr.
Reid's want of success was largely due to adverse circum-
stances. He was literally broken down by misfortunes, which
seem to have had no foundation in any fault of his.

His first appointment, not as a minister exercising sacra-
mental offices, but as a preacher or missionary, was, in 1776,
to the chapel of ease now known as the East Church of
Greenock. In 1779, he received a presentation to the Parish
of Fenwick ; but the people of that parish were, for some
reason or other, unwilling to have him as their minister. They
objected in the Presbytery to his appointment, and instituted
in the Church Courts one of those vexatious processes known
as cases of disputed settlement! The case came before the

* Before the meeting house was erected (1794), religious services were conducted
by the seceders in the open air, on the Knowe, at or near the site of the present
U. P. place of worship. One that regularly attended these meetings was James
Humphrey, known to the readers of Burns as the " bletherin " body. During the
sermon, James usually lay flat and at full length on the sward, with his face earth-
wards, as if fast asleep. He was, nevertheless, an attentive hearer, and took in all
that the preacher said : and, what is better, he weighed what he heard, in the
balance of reason and testimony. One day, the preacher, quoting a verse of
Scripture, told his auditors where they would find it. " Na, na," cried James,
lifting up his head, to the astonishment of his neighbours, "ye're wrang for ance, it's
no in Ephesians, it's in Philippians." The congregation stared, as they well might,
and wondered what would happen next ; but the preacher was a self-possessed
good-humoured man, who could take occasion by the hand, and he put his
audience instantly at ease, and raised himself in their estimation, by acknowledging
the correction. " Thank you, my friend," he said, "it's very likely I have made a
slip, and I am glad to think I have such an intelligent auditor listening to my
discourse."

+ The popular dislike of patronage was at this date so vehement that the most
unrighteous means were used by people, professing zeal for the glory of God, to
prevent the presentees of Patrons obtaining settlement in the parishes to which they
were appointed. Malicious and injurious falsehoods regarding presentees were
invented and circulated, and threats were fulminated against all that would sign their
call and concurrence. In 17S7, a Mr. Millar was presented by the Earl of
Eglinton to the parish of Kilmaurs. The people wished to choose their own

yjo Old Church Life in Scotland.

General Assembly in 1780, and was decided in Mr. Reid's
favour ; but, after vindicating his professional character and
legal rights, Mr. Reid was content to resign his appointment *
and wait on some other presentation, which might give him
better promise of ministerial comfort and usefulness. He had
to wait twelve weary years before another chance of prefer-
ment came his way ; and when at length, in 1792, he received
from the Earl of Loudoun a presentation to the Parish of
Mauchlinc, he again met with an unfriendly reception from the
people. The spirit of disaffection, too, which was manifest at
the time of his settlement, was never perfectly laid during his
incumbency. There was not only no kindness shewn him, and
no encouragement given him in his work, but he was subjected
to insults, annoyances, and what he thought wrongs. He con-

minister, and they raised the hue and cry that the presentee was a drunkard and
had killed both his father and brother ! The story happened to admit of easy
refutation, and " severals were undeceived." When the day for what is techni-
cally termed "moderating in the call " arrived, no one " durst appear to subscribe,
for fear of a mob of seceders and vagabonds !" The doctrine of the Moderates,
who formed the majority in the Church Assemblies, was that a call from the
Parishioners was not requisite, and that Presbyteries were bound to admit every
qualified minister who held a legal presentation. Mr. Millar was, therefore, in the
end admitted to Kilmaurs.

* The following interesting minute regarding Mr. Reid was entered in their
records by the Presbytery of Irvine, in March 1781. " The Presbytery took into
their serious consideration the undeserved treatment that Mr. Archibald Reid,
preacher of the gospel at Greenock, had lately met with from a parish in their
bounds, unto which he had been presented. And, entertaining a very high
opinion of his Christian and ministerial qualifications, think it incumbent on them
to give some public testimony of that approbation and regard for him, and they are
of opinion that they cannot do this in any way more proper than by one which may
enal)le him to be more useful than he, as a Christian teacher and minister, at
present is. This Presbytery, therefore, agree unanimously to ordain him as
minister of the gospel ; and appoint Mr. W. to let him know this resolution of the
Presbytery, and, if he shall agree thairto, to desire him to attend their next
meeting " and submit himself to the customary trials. In a subsequent minute it
is stated that Mr. Reid acquitted himself, " in every piece of Tr)'al, to their (the
Presbytery's) great satisfaction ;" and he was accordingly ordained a "minister of
the gospel of Christ, and of the Church of Scotland."

Ministefs of MaucJiline^ i6j6-i8oo. 391

sidered himself ill-used, and probably so he was. And thus,
between one vexation and another, his heart gave way. He
became silent and reserved, was seen —

" Causeless walking in the wintry wind,"

and when he met people on the road passed them by ungreeted,
as if he neither saw nor heeded them. What seemed to be his
only pleasure was a solitary walk to the hill of Skeoch, which he
took almost daily, both for a constitutional exercise and for the
sake of the splendid prospect he never wearied of surveying from
" the long ridge of Kyle." Exceedingly little is either recorded
or remembered of him, although he died in the present century,
within the memory of men still living. In making enquiries
about him I went to an old woman, nearly ninety years of age,
who spent the early part of her life in this parish, expecting to
obtain from her some information, or ancient gossip, about his
preaching or his pastorate. " I remember him well enough,"
said the old woman, " but can't tell you what sort of man or
minister he was. I saw him once on a Sabbath morning pass
through the churchyard in his black silk gown, and I thought
he was the devil." * That was all she had to record of Mr. Reid,
and a humbling moral may be drawn from the fact. Little

* People still living remember when such gowns were denounced by some good
folks in Scotland, as the rags of popery. The wearing of black gowns by
ministers, when either performing divine service or attending Church courts, was
enjoined by Act of Parliament 1609, and subsequent Royal Proclamations founded
thereon. In 1612, it was minuted by the Synod of Fife that " the haill number of
the brethren present were found in their gownes, exceptand some few, quho in the
next Session wes found sic lyk to gif obediens." The wearing of a gown came,
thus, to be thought a compliance with Erastianism— submission to the King's
command— and a badge of Prelacy. At the reforming Assembly of 163S, when
Episcopacy was abjured, Bishop Burnet remarks that " the Marquis (of Hamilton)
judged it was a sad sight to see such an Assembly, for not a gown was among thepi
all, but many had swords and daggers about them."

392 Old CJuircJi Life in Scotland.

docs any one know what other people arc thinking or saying
of him. Little does the blooming bride, fluttering with pride
and joy, as she trips to church on the arm of her happy
husband, surmise what the tattlers of the kirk-yard are
whispering. As little docs the swash and belted trooper,
strutting down the street in all the majesty of athletic form,
divine what nautical observations are being made on his
shapes and paces by untutored urchins that have not been
taught to distinguish the sublime from the ridiculous. And
little does the well-proportioned clergyman, sailing down the
alleys of his church in all the glory of sacerdotal vestments,
conjecture what whimsical thoughts of manhood and millinery
are lighting up the features of some bucolic worshipper. But
the subject has a pathetic as well as humorous aspect ; and it is
humiliating to think that a man, who had spent more than
twenty years in the work of the ministry, should, in the place
where he lived and before the generation that knew him
passed away, have left behind him no remembrance or
tradition except that he was once mistaken for the fiend and
arch-enemy of his race.

Mr. Reid was not known to have had a single relation
either to care for him while living, or to mourn at his death.
He lived and died as lonely and friendless as ever a man
born of woman did. Fortunately for his memory there was
one person that knew him well and loved him much ; and that
person has done himself honour in protecting the name and
credit of his friend. On Mr. Reid's tombstone he has caused
to be inscribed a kindly epitaph, which says that the lone
heart-broken minister who sleeps beneath was "a man beloved
by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance." But in this
epitaph there is something beneath the surface — something
mournful as well as graceful. The silent tombstone is made

Ministers of Maiichline, 1656-1800. 393

to reveal the fact, which time might have covered with obh'vion,
that Mr. Reid was little known and little appreciated — that he
was a stranger to his own people and but a wayfarer in his own
parish — and that although loved by all that knew him, he was
loved and known by few.

It is pleasant to say, however, that Mr. Reid's reputation
rests on something surer than the partial testimony of one
well-affected acquaintance. Mr. Reid has left behind him a
small publication, which enables us to form an estimate of his
mental powers, his literary attainments, and his bent of mind.
Previous to his settlement at Mauchline, he was minister of the
Chapel of Ease at Greenock, and he was employed to write the
account of Greenock for the national work of Sir John Sinclair.
In this publication, brief and meagre as it may be thought
now-a-days, Mr. Reid shows himself to have been a man of no
mean talents. He writes with fluency and grace, like a gentle-
man of culture and scholarship, who might have made for him-
self a name in literature. He had an original and a picturesque
way of describing scenery, and he seems to have been an acute
observer of nature's beauties and curiosities. That he directed
his thoughts to political economy, too, as well as to matters of
science, may be inferred from the remarks he makes, in a foot-
note, on the cultivation of potatoes. " The culture of potatoes,
in the neighbourhood of towns, by sedentary mechanics, con-
tributes greatly to their health," he says. "When potatoes,
which is often the case at Greenock, are sold at sixpence a
peck, and good fresh herrings at seven or eight a penny, what
a blessing to poor families ! " Trite and paltry observations
these, cynics may say ; but the man that made such observa-
tions was evidently one who thought about his neighbour's
welfare, and had he not been soured and sickened by mis-
fortune, he should never have grown into a recluse, but should

394 ^^'^ Church Life in Scotland.

have been a minister of active benevolence and of wide and
generous sympathies.*

Mr. Reid died in 1803, ^^'^^ was succeeded by Mr. John Tod.
Mr. Tod was a very worthy, estimable man ; and the lady
he selected for his wife was the little daughter of Gavin Hamil-
ton, who, on the last Sabbath of July, 1787, importuned her
father for new potatoes to dinner, and, by thus tempting him
to break the Sabbath, brought him again to loggerheads with
his old tormentors in the Kirk Session.

With the death of Mr. Reid and the induction of Mr. Tod
old church life in this parish may be said to have come to an
end. With the commencement of Mr. Tod's ministry the
Session Registers begin to assume a modern and familiar
aspect. Old things passed away and all things became new.
The singing of Paraphrases was introduced into public worship,
and the old practice of the precentor parcelling out the Psalms
in single lines, which he first chanted in monotone and then
sung in tune, was discontinued. Charity too began to step out
of the old grooves and enter on new lines. Collections were

* Some people can't understand how a minister, if he gets his stipend paid him,
can ever be troubled or vexed. The truth is some ministers have been vexed till
their lives became miserable. In 171 1, the minister of Kilmaurs craved from the
Presbytery the privilege of demitting his charge, on account of " discouragment,
persecution and broken down spirit," — Records of Irvine Pres. It is told of one of
the ministers of Cupar that, in 1771, he "died of a broken heart, from meeting
some of his parishioners going to worship in a dissenting meeting-house at Auchter-
muchty." Fasti.

That Mr. Reid was naturally a kind and good man, and was very grateful for any
expression of regard he received, appears from the inscriptions, in his own hand-
writing, on some of his books, which are still in this district. On the fly leaf of a
small Church Bible, which belonged to him, is the following inscription, " On his
leaving them, in June, 1792, to be admitted minister of Mauchline, the beloved and
most respectable congregation of the Chapel of Ease in Greenock, where he had
officiated as a preacher and minister of the gospel, for about the space of fifteen
years, presented this Bible and a gown to Archibald Reid,"

Greenock, 26th Juno. 1792.

Ministers of Mauchline, 16^6-1800. 395

made in church in aid of a Bible Society, and of a Parochial
Female Association, and, by and bye, in aid of missions estab-
lished by the General Assembly. The administration of dis-
cipline underwent an important change. The old delinquent's
desire for a " gentlemanny punishment " was granted to all his
successors in sin — the public exhibition of offenders on what
was scofifingly termed the " cutty stool " was relinquished as a
monopoly to the seceders — and both the "dyvours " garment and
the sack-cloth robe were relegated to the old clothes' press or
turned into washing clouts. The Sunday School was opened
as an adjunct to, not as a substitute for, the religious instruc-
tion of the week-day school. Dissent, too, came to be recog-
nised as a de facto institution, which must at least be tolerated
and allowed ; and was seen to be in reality the safety valve that
secures the Church's peace. And, what is more notable, there
were indications of neighbourly and brotherly feeling rising up
between the members of different religious denominations. In
the description of the parish furnished for, and published in,
the New Statistical Account of Scotland (1837), Mr. Tod states,
as a matter of congratulation if not of wonderment, that " people
of different religious opinions now regard each other as
brethren."

This profession of Christian brotherhood, too, was well
supported by overt acts of inter-denominational friendship.
According to the custom of the times, Mr. Tod regularly
assisted at the communion in several parishes, and on these
occasions the church of Mauchline was vacant. The Dissenters
annually chose to have their communion at Mauchline on one
of these "silent Sundays ;" and year after year, for their better
accommodation, they were on their sacrament Sabbath allowed
the use of the parish church. In the Session-clerk's memo-
randum book there occurs again and again the following

396 Old CI Lurch Life in Scotland.

entry : — no sermon tin's day, the church occupied by the
"Burgers" for their communion. And to this entry it is
generally, if not invariably, added : — " the l^urgcrs gave a
pound for the poor." It was in the last days of Mr. Tod's
ministry that the much to be lamented secession of 1843
occurred. Mr. Tod was then laid aside from active duty, and
in the fierce controversy which led to that secession he had no
part. But he was spared to see the secession, and to see people
who used to " take sweet counsel together, and walk to the
house of God in company," separated and disfriended for ever.*

Time has smoothed down many asperities since 1843, but
we have still to deplore the prevalence of sectarian dissensions
and sectarian rivalries. Alas that Christ should be so divided.
And it is not Acts of Parliament that will remove these strifes
and jealousies, but the outpouring of a better spirit on all
professing Christians.

And now, in concluding this course of lectures, I have only
to say that in the Old Church Life we have been considering
there was a great deal for us all to admire and lay to heart.
Doubtless there were some spots and wrinkles on the face of
that life, and right it is that these should be noted and correctly
designated. Along with burning zeal for God and deep rooted
piety, austere righteousness and rigorous discipline, grand Sab-
batarian solemnity and singular unweariedness in long religious
services, there were sometimes to be seen imperfect culture and
rude manners, narrowness of sympathy and fierceness of party
spirit, intolerance of what was thought to be error, and a want
of that sweetness which is one of the best as well as fairest pro-
ducts of Christian doctrine. But let us not be censorious.
Superficial minds can always discern imperfections. It requires

* The successor of Mr. Tod was Mr. James Fairlie, a man of great learning and
much amiability of character.

Ministers of Maiichline, 16^6-1800. 397

deeper insight and more justness of judgment to recognise
merits and virtues. And, whatever else there may have been
in the Old Church Life of Scotland, there was at least a con-
spicuous display of faith and spirituality, of stedfastness in the
hour of temptation, and of that elevating respect to the recom-
pense of reward which is sometimes sneeringly called other-
worldliness. These virtues made the lives of our fathers in the
Church sublime, and they form a splendid contrast to the
debasing love of lucre and pleasure so prevalent now, in what
Scotland's greatest orator has termed " our degenerate days."
And so, while we cast off every thing that in the old life was
unlovely, let us see that we retain of it all that was pure and
saintly, manly and godly.

APPENDIX

BURNS'S MARRIAGE, P. 199.

Many of the poet's biographers maintain that Burns was legally
married to Jean Armour previous to his censure in Mauchline Church
in 1786. He had given Jean, they allege, a written acknowledgment
of marriage, and that acknowledgment, they assert, constituted mar-
riage.

It is certain that Burns, in the spring of 1786, gave Jean some writ-
ing regarding their marriage; but it seems to me not quite so certain
what was the precise tenor of that writing.

Even supposing, however, that the "unlucky paper," as the poet
terms it, contained a declaration by Burns that Jean was his wife, it is
questionable if the law would on that account have held them married
persons. Lord Eraser says that although some writers on law had,
before 1786, affirmed that sponsalia de presenti constitutes marriage,
their opinion was not supported by any judicial authority. Lord
Braxfield, in 1796, declared from the Bench that consent de presenti
does not constitute marriage " without the priest's blessing or some-
thing equivalent ; " and Sir Islay Campbell said " I deny in principle
that consent makes marriage without ceremony or coitus." Church
Courts, during the greater part of last century, scarcely knew what to
recognise as marriages. Had Burns's alleged marriage by the unlucky
paper come before the Civil Courts in 1786, and the fact of consent
de presenti been clearly established, it is at least doubtful if the mar-
riage would have been afifirraed. There is reason to think that all the
length the Court would have gone would have been to grant an order
to compel solemnisation.

Proceeding on the questionable assumption that Burns and Jean
were legally married before their compearance for public rebuke in
1786, some authors have taken on themselves to rate Mr. Auld

400 Appendix.

severely for the part he took in rebuking Burns, and giving him after-
wards a testimonial that he was an unmarried man.

In a small book, privately printed in 1883, under the title of
" Robert Burns and the Ayrshire Moderates," it is said (p. 23), " the
indignant father (of Jean) destroyed the document, which was the
only evidence of the marriage; ... he also, by fear or otherwise,
influenced his daughter to give up her lover, and, by so doing, to ap-
pear dishonoured before the world. The minister, led by him, is in-
duced to punish the poet in that ignominious manner."

The anonymous author of these sentences shows no animus against
Mr. Auld ; but has, to my personal knowledge, treated documentary
evidence with great candour and fairness, not stretching it to serve an
argumentative purpose where it might have been so stretched. The
author says of Mr. Auld, that he " seems really to have considered it
his duty to administer the public censure to the poet," and that he
"showed some kindness and sympathy by making the situation as
little painful as it could be made." The views expressed by one who
writes in such a strain may be considered as fairly representative of
the views held by many well-informed people, who are uninfluenced
by prejudice in the formation of their opinions.

It is a mistake, however, to suppose that the production of marriage
lines, or a mutual acknowledgment of irregular marriage, by Burns
and Jean, in 1786, would have saved them from the "ignominious"
punishment of public censure. The law of the Church w-as, and still
is, "that all married persons under publike scandall of fornication
committed before their marriage (although the scandall thereof hath
not appeared before the marriage) shall satisfie publikely for that sin
committed before their marriage, their being in the estate of marriage
notwithstanding, and that in the same maimer as they should have
done if they were not married." Act Ass. 1646, Sess. 7.
-[^ How this Act of Assembly was obtempered by Kirk-Sessions, last
century, will be seen from the following extract from the records of
Mauchline. The date is 1706, but the discipline in 1706 was
precisely the same as it was in 1786, "James Wilson and Helene
Leprivick appeared publickly and wer absolved, haveing stood two
dayes, although they should have stood three. The reason that they
were absolved was, because their childe was weak, and to gett the
benefit of baptism to the same, notwithstanding of the Act of the
Generall Assembly which reckons their ante-matrimoniall fornication

Appendix. 401

as culpable as if no marriage followed the same." Had Burns and
Jean proved themselves to be married persons in July 1786, they
would have come under double censure : — censure for immorality in
the first instance, and for breach of Church order in the second.

People, unacquainted with the discipline of the Scottish Church,
may possibly be surprised to hear that offences of the kind described
in the foregoing Act of Assembly are still visited with censure. The
only differences in the disciplinary procedure, now-a-days, from what
it was in the days of Burns, are (first), that the censure is ad-
ministered before the Session and not before the congregation,
(secondly), that only one compearance is required, and (thirdly),
wherever there is room for doubt in regard of guilt, charity lets
judgment pass and "thinketh no evil."

In the pamphlet referred to about Robert Burns and the Ayrshire
Moderates it is said further, that the discipline imposed by Mr. Auld
and his Kirk-Session on Burns, in 1786, was " intended to pronounce
the poet unmarried and Jean free," and that Mr. Auld "made a
serious mistake in performing a ceremony intended to have the effect
of separating a couple really married."

There is a passage in one of Burns's letters which seems to furnish
some pretext for these observations. On the 17th July, 1786, the
poet wrote to a friend, " I have already appeared publicly in church
. . . I do this to get a certificate as a bachelor, which Mr. Auld
has promised me."*

* Burns's remarks about his affair with the Session in 1786 are not free from in-
accuracy. In a letter dated 17th July, of that year, he says, that "Jean and her
friends insisted much that she should stand along with me in the kirk, but the
minister would not allow it, which bred a great deal of trouble I assure you, and I
am blamed as the cause of it, though I am sure I am innocent : but I am very much
pleased, for all that, not to have had her company." Burns and Jean had each to
stand three times before the congregation, and it is certain that on the last of these
occasions, whatever may have been the case on the other two occasions, they stood
together ; not of course in the same seat, but at the same time. The minute of
Session runs thus: 1786, "August 6, Robert Burns, John Smith, Mary Lindsay,
Jean Armour, and Agnes Auld, appeared before the congregation, professing their
repentance, etc. . . . and they having each appeared two several Sabbaths
formerly, were this day rebuked and absolved from their scandals." The rebuke is
extant, written out by Mr. Auld along with other admonitions addressed to other
offenders during his long ministry. I have been favoured with a copy of it fur

402 Appendix.

It cannot be supposed, hoAuvcr, that Mr. Auld promised that if
Burns would condescend to receive censure he would get his marriage
anniilli'd. Mr. Auld was too upright a man to do anything of the sort.
Mr. Auld tniist liare helievcd tJiat J3i/rns was not tnarried. Possibly
he had never heard of the unlucky paper. Possibly, or probably,
although he had heard of the ])apcr he would still have considered
that Burns had not completed his marriage. He might have told
Burns that unless discipline were submitted to, a testimonial could not
be granted him on his leaving the country, as in Church law it could
not ; and as to its being a certificate of bachelorship, that was a
matter of course, for no allegation of his being a married man had ever
been made to the Kirk-Session.

From a Church law point of view, the thing most difficult to explain
in the Kirk-Session's dealing with Burns and Jean Armour, was their
passing over the scandal, or apparent scandal, of March 1788. Burns
and Jean, although regarded as unmarried persons at the time of that
scandal, were never brought to book for it by the Kirk-Session. There
is not a word of reference to it, so far as I have noticed, in any part of
the Session records. But there are two entries anent it in the Brulie
minutes, that is, in the scroll minutes. On the 2nd of December,
1787, certain women, of whom Jean Armour was one, were reported
to the Session as being under scandal ; and, on the 9th December, it
was entered in the scroll minutes that "Jean Armour sent excuse that
she cannot attend until next Sabbath." There is no further reference
to the matter, in either the Brulie minutes or the extended record. It
is well known that soon after this date Jean was by her father, on the

publication by the possessor, the Rev. John W. Ritchie, Langside, great-grand-
nephew of Mr. Auld, and the following is its tenor : —

"July, 30th, 17S6.

"Rt. Burns. "Smith.

"Jean Armour.

"You appear there to be rebuked, and at the same time making profession of
repentance for ye sin of fornication.

The frequency of this sin is just matter of lamentation among Christians, and
affords just ground of deep humiliation to the guilty persons themselves.

We call you to reflect seriously in contrition of heart on all the instances of your
sin and guilt, in their numbers, high aggravation, and unhappy consequences, nnd
say, having done foolishly, we'll do so no more.

Heware of returning again to your sin as some of you have done, like the dog to
ilia vomit, or like the »ow yt is washed to her wallowing in the mire."

Appendix. 403

supposition that she was a doubly dishonoured spinster, turned out of
doors and left to find a home where she could. On the 3rd March,
1788, she gave birth to twins, who died soon afterwards. Their burials
are entered as follows in the Burial Register (1788) of Mauchline,
now in the Register House, Edinburgh : — " Jean Armour's child un-
baptized, buried March 10. . . . Jean Armour's child unbaptized,
March 22."

The next reference to either Burns or Jean Armour in the Session
books is in the Brulie minutes of 30th July, 1788, where their names
appear on the list of " persons under scandal since last sacrament,"
with this note attached, "their recent affair not settled." *

We have seen that, on the 5th August, 1788, Burns and Jean were
taken by the Kirk Session solemnly bound to adhere to one another
as husband and wife all the days of their life. No one will dispute
that, whatever they were before, they were from and after that date
married persons. f

But they claimed to have been previously married in an irregular
way, and they were rebuked for that acknowledged irregularity. It is,
strange to say, not stated in the Session records, when, where, how,
or by whom they were married in this irregular manner. In the
Register of Marriages, now in the Register House, Edinburgh, it is
stated that they "acknowledged they were irregularly married soiv.e
time ago" but the date is not condescended on.

In his Life of Burns, Lockhart says that the poet, " as soon as his
bruised limb was able for a journey, rode to Mossgiel (1788) and
went through the ceremony of a Justice of Peace marriage with Jean,
in the writing chambers of his friend Gavin Hamilton." Allan
Cunningham says that Burns " reached Mauchline towards the close

* A stroke is drawn through their names, as if to show that the scandal they were
under was at length removed, and that they left the parish for Ellisland with a clean
bill.

t It is somewhat remarkable that on both the occasions on which Burns was re-
quired by the Kirk-Session of Mauchline to own a fault, he subscribed the minute.
In 1786, he subscribed a minute acknowledging the paternity of the twins after-
wards born that year ; and, in 17S8, he subscribed the minute of adherence to Jean
as his wife. Such subscriptions were rarely, if ever, except in the case of Burns,
required by the Kirk-Session of Mauchline. Mr. Auld and Holy Willie possibly
thought that when they took in hand to deal with the poet they would need to make
their procedure sure.

404 Appendix.

of April, . . . and that, on his arrival, he took her (Jean) by the
hand, and was re-married according to the simple and effectual form
of the laws of Scotland."*

Whether Mr. Auld would have considered that this alleged marriage
in April was a marriage at all, or was only legalised and completed by
the solemnisation in the Kirk-Session, on the 5th August following,
we need not here discuss. WvX the question arises, if the irregular
marriage alleged did not take place till April 1788, how did it happen
that Burns and Jean were not subjected to public censure for the
scandal of the 3rd March ? I cannot give a confident answer
to that question. Allan Cunningham says that " Daddy .'\uld, and
his friends of the old light, felt every wish to be modernte with one
whose powers of derision had been already proved." That sugges-
tion will not do without some more explanation. If Burns and Jean
were clearly unmarried persons in March 1788, Mr. Auld was bound
to deal with them as scandalous persons ; and, in as much as the
scandal on Burns's part would have been a case of trilapse, the poet
would have been required to appear not only before the congregation
of Mauchline, but before the Presbytery of Ayr.

Fending further information, I am inclined to think that on some
consideration or other Mr. Auld had, prior to July 1 788, been led to
believe that the twins, of March 3rd, had been born in legal wedlock ;
or that a plea to that effect, if advanced by either Burns or Jean, would
present difficulty to , the Session. It is significant that the references
to Jean in the Brulie minutes, 1787, were never transferred to the per-
manent record.

^ The story of the unlucky paper of 1786 may, in the spring of 1788,
have come to Mr. Auld's knowledge ; and it may have been represen-
ted to him that the mutilation of this paper was neither a voluntary
dissolution nor a legal discharge of contract. It may have been fur-
ther represented to Mr. Auld and his elders that, if this paper did not
of itself constitute marriage, it formed a contract which subsequent
" coitus," to use Sir Islay Campbell's expression, converted into mar-
riage. For these or other reasons, well or ill founded, the Kirk-Session
may have seen difficulties in the way of establishing a clear case of
scandal against Burns and Jean in March 1788, and have thought it
expedient to take no action in the matter. I need scarcely add that

* In respect of precise dates, these statements are open to criticism.

Appendix. 405

after the heavy sorrows Jean had passed through, the Kirk-Session
would be well pleased to find themselves able to take a view of her
conduct that did not involve her in further humiliation.

These conjectures regarding the Kirk-Session's procedure are to
some extent confirmed by several remarks in Chambers's Life of the
poet. " It does appear, indeed," says Chambers, " that before the 3rd
March, 1788, Burns had found reaso?i to fear that he might, after all,
be liable . . to trouble on account of Jean Armour, if she, or any
other person, should feel interested in bringing evidence against him for
the establishment of previous nuptials," or, as some might say, contract.
And again Chambers says : — " Had Burns never resumed his acquain-
tance with Jean . . there could have been no claim on their (the
Armours') part towards him, however the legal question might have
been ultimately ruled."

Into these personal matters concerning Burns I would not have en-
tered, had it not been that the conduct of the Kirk-Session, in their
dealings with the poet, has been the subject of considerable animad-
version. For many reasons it would be better to let some of the
frailties of distinguished men be buried in oblivion. It is only in
his " Poet-forms of stronger hours " that Burns is to us a subject of
living and admiring interest, and whatever he may have been in his
weaker moments, he was in his moods of inspiration like Saul among
the people, a man that from the shoulders upwards was higher than all
his fellows.

NOTES OX OLD CHURCH LIFE, FIRST SERIES.

The following extracts from the Records of the Kirk-Session of
Kilmarnock may be of interest to readers as bearing on some of the
points discussed in the previous volume.

Sittings in Churches.
1676. Considering "the great oppression that is in the Church
floore through a multitude of chaires, thrust in without warrand from
the Session, whereby many old deserving women cannot win neir to
heir sermon, nor cannot get roume to have ane chaire set in to sit on,
whereas many young women have them that may better stand nor they,
upon which the Session thinks fit that the tables be not taken doun
untill such tyme as some course be taken thereanent,"

406 Appendix.

" The Session think fit that the Elders in their several quarters take
up ane list of the most fit and most deserving to have chaires in the
Cluirch and to present the said lists to the Session against the next
day to be examined."

The Session " doe unanimouslie conclude that ther be only five
score chaires in the Kirk floore and no moe, and these to have no
arms, and all of on magnitude, and this Act to continue for a year's

tym."

1689. The Session ordered "that none presume to bring into or
keep in this Kirk any armed chairs, or any other size than as follows,
viz,, each chair to be allowed by the Session might be 16 inches in
height, i5}4 inches in breadth, and 12 inches the length of the seat
bands, betwixt joynt and joynt, all inches of rule or measure. '

1695, The chairs in the body of the church were removed, and
" furmes " set instead. Some of these furmes had "breasts." At an
early date there were forms as well as chairs in the church. In 1671
" the Session ordered some of the elders to go throw the town houses,
and sie if they could find any of the Church forms in them and to
cause bring them bak ;" and in November of the same year the
Session ordained that no forms be given out of the church without
their order.

1695. On the erection of a new loft, the Session allowed "Laird
of Rowallan four pewes from the face of the loft backward, with an
entrie to them by himselfe ; the Laird of Craufurdland other four
pewes with an entrie to them ; and the Laird of Grange three pewes
with an entrie to them off the head of the stair. And that the rest of
the loft should be completely furnished with furmes and destinate for
the use of the common people both in town and landward." The
area beneath was at that date all occupied with pews, and the rents of
the pews were ai)plied by the Session to such pious uses as were found
most needful.

Churchyards and Houses on Churchyard Dykes.
Owners of houses on churchyard dykes paid annually to the Kirk-
Session sums ranging from 13s. 4d. to £,2 Scots, "conforme to the
tack. '

Appendix. 407

1650. One of these owners supplicated the Session "for hbertie
to mak ane door to his high house on the churchyaird, he oblcidging
himselff that no ashes nor any thing prejuditial to the churchyaird,
or unbeseeming to honest men's buriall places, should be casten out
at the said door." The crave was granted, with certification that if
the terms were infringed the door would be closed up.

1693. "The kirk yard was laying open as a plain path road," and
the Session considered how it might be fenced, but nothing was con-
cluded. " In the mean time, Charles Dalrymple was appointed to
give warning by the drum that no person defile the same by laying
dunghills thereon."

Behaviour in Church during Service.

1656. "Compeared and confessed his profanation of the Lord's
day in fighting for a seat in the time of divine service."

1677. "Compeared Jean Brown and complained on Sara Reid
for lifting her chaire out of the place that the elders had placed it,
and putting in hers." Sara was found in the right, but both were
sharply reproved for " their abuse of the Sabbath day in contending
about their chaires, when they were come to sermon."

1677, 22nd March. "This day ther came in ane complaint that in
tym of divine service ther used some young lads to gather together in
corners of the kirk, and did fight and play, and used to creep under
the furmes and prick men with pins, and wer a great prejudice to their
hearing that sat nixt to them."

1698. Intimation made that "none move out of their seats, nor
presume to go out of church, until sermon be ended, prayers said,
psalms sung, and blessing pronounced ; otherwise the elders would
take notice of them at the several church-doors, and give up their
names to the Session, and next to the minister, to be read publicly
out of pulpit."

1699. Children playing in the churchyard in time of divine service,
" if found henceforth, they should be apprehended and imprisoned in
the steeple, and afterwards condignly punished by scourging or other-
wise, for profanation of the Lord's day."

Co^iMUNioN Services.
1695. Agreed that the deals that were used for tables at the Com-
munion should be kept allenarly for that use from year to year.

1701. Hours of service on Communion Sabbath, "at 8th of the

40^ Appendix.

clock precisely . . . the kirk doors not being opened until six of
the dork." On Monday, the service commenced at nine precisely.

In Old ("hutch Life (First Series) it is stated that, while common
wheaten bread and port wine are now generally used at Communions,
at one time it was customary to use shortbread and claret. At
Kilmarnock, in 1708, "it was moved (in the Session) if the sacrament
bread shall be changed. Agreed that it be not changed, but that the
same bread be used that was last Communion." .\t the winter Com-
numion in Kilmarnock in 1719, there were used "28 pints claret
wine at 26s. per [jint, and bread ^4 Scots."* Total charge, ^40 8s.
In 1 7 12, the Communion elements cost;^69 i6s. 4d. Scots.

Duties of Elders.

1671. " The Session judged it convenient that the minister from
the pulpit give advertisement to the congregation that the elders are
to visit their severall quarters every Sabbath night after sermon."

1676. An act was renewed that the elders go through their several
quarters every Saturday night at nine o'clock, to see who are drinking.

1706. The Earl of Kilmarnock was ordained an elder, and ap-
parently by a very simple ceremony. " The Moderator proposed
some queries to his Lordship, anent his belief of a Deity, the govern-
ment and discipline of the Church, which he satisfactorily answered,
and therefore was admitted and received to be ane elder."

1723. The following are the questions appointed by the Presby-
tery of Irvine to be put to elders at privy censures : —

" I St. Do ye visit the sick in your division, speak to them, and pray
with them when you are called. 2nd. Do ye inform yourself of the
conversation of your division, particularly whether they have family
worship and attend ordinances. 3rd. Do ye give account of what
scandals fall out, which deserve public censure. 4th. Do ye deal with
their consciences who are guilty of such escapes as do not deserve to
be represented to the Session. 5th. Do ye deal with persons under
scandal to bring them to repentance. 6th. Do ye attend judicatories
as ye can conveniently. 7th. Do ye make conscience to rule your
own family, and endeavour to give them a good example. 8th. Do

* One Scotch pint of wine is equal to 3-581091 English pints, and as an English
pint is equal to i^ of the pints now in common use, 28 Scotch pints are equal to
6X dozen quarts. Sec Lord Hailes' Proposal for Uniformity of Weights and
Measures, p. 30.

Appendix. 409

ye visit your division every half year, and see whether strangers have
brought testimonials."

Public Morals.

The period from 163S to 1651 is by many people regarded as the
period of greatest piety and purity in the history of the Church of
Scotland. There were certainly during that period a great deal of re-
ligious zeal and a great deal of moral austerity in the Church and
country, but there was also more barbarity than is sometimes repre-
sented. In 1647 the following resolution was minuted by the Kirk-
Session of Kilmarnock : —

" Finding the increase of that unnatural sinne of husbands and
wyvis stryking on another, and feiring, that gif it sould be passed over
without censure, that it sould tend to the contempt of discipline and
dissolving of families, therefore, have ordained, for the curbing of the
sinne, whasoever sail be found guiltie of this sinne sail stand in the
public place of repentance and sail pay."

Old Church Life (First Series of Lectures), 1885.
Corrigenda et Notanda.
P. 8, line 16, "chestnut-tree" should be "elm-tree."
P. 29, line 26, also p. 30, line 4, "handles " should be "hands."
P. 30, " There was no clock-face on the east gable of the old church
within any living man's memory." I have learned that a year or two
before the old church was taken down, the old knock was furnished
and set up anew in'its ancient habitation.

P. 44, line 25, "fray in 1684" should be "in 1648."
P. 46, " Mary Morrison's window." The family of Adjutant Morri-
son latterly Uved in the house mentioned, but in the days of Burns
they resided in another part of the village.

P. 47, " Two of his (Burns's) children are buried there." In a mo-
dern inscription on the tombstone the name of only one child is given,
viz., that of Elizabeth Riddell, who was born in Dumfries in 1792.
From the fact that one of the twins of 1786 is said to have been
brought up by the Armours, and to have died before her mother's ex-
pulsion in 1788, I infer that that child is also buried in the Armours'
enclosure. There is no record of her burial, however, in the Register,
The twins of 1788 are registered as having been buried in Mauchline
unbaptized.

B 2

4IO Appendix.

P. 171, "Mr. M'Clatchic (then a probationer, (Vc)." Leave out the
clause in brackets. The M'Clatchie mentioned was j^robably the min-
ister of Mcarns.

P. 229, note. The decision of the Justices (1740), finding the
heritors of West Kirk, P^dinburgh, not liable to assessment for the
poor, was owing to s])ecial circumstances in the case.

P. 287, note. Since that note was published I have been informed
by a most respectable parishioner that she has frequently heard her
father and mother say that the seat which at present stands in the bay
of the south window of the vestry in the tower of Mauchline Church,
is the veritable repentance stool of the old church, on which Burns
should have sat in 1786. I have failed to find any independent con-
firmation of this tradition ; and two " authorities " who remember the
stool, assure me that the form in the vestry with its ornamental legs is
not the old seat of penance, nor has any resemblance to what that
plain piece of joiner work was. Other considerations would have led me
confidently to the same conclusion, and I put this statement on record
to guard against the origin of a myth at some future time.

INDEX.

Acts Civil, read from pulpits, 384
Adherence in Marriage, 198
Allegiance, obnoxious oath of, 344
Allowances for Paupers, variable, 44
Angelic Assembly, the, 288
Anniversary Solemnities, 328
Antecedent judgment of the Kirk, 178-

321
Appointing Ministers, different modes

of, 367
Aquavitae, 132
Argyle's soldiers 1648, misconduct of,

319-
Armada, the Spanish, 282
Assembly General, forms at opening of,

293

Assessments for Poor in Olden Times,
7 ; aversion to, 7 ; evasion of, 8 ;
cases of in eighteenth century, 8 ; not
long continued last century, 9 ; move-
ment in 1771 for, 9 ; after 1771 good
effects of, II ; subsequent discon-
tinuance, 1 1 ; origin of, 44

Auld William, settlement in Mauchline,
377 j popularity, 378 ; specimen of
his preaching, 379 ; character as a
pastor, 3S0 ; his remonstrance with
elders, 382 ; parochial reforms, 383 ;
published writings, 384 ; not a leader
in Church Courts, 387 ; rebuked by
the Presbytery, 388 ; rebuke of Burns.
402.

Badges for begging poor, 7-8, 53-56.

Bands of marriage, 136

Banns of marriage, 135 ; on three
several Sundays, 139 ; rules anent,
139 ; in vacant churches, 141 ; on
less than three Sundays, 142 ; for-
bidden by relatives, 157 ; refused
when parties under scandal, 160 ; or
pre-contracted, 164 ; or when one of
the parties already married, 165 ;
published in sport, 169

Baptism, mode of administration, 204 ;
in private houses, 207, 210; registers
of, 209, 228 ; to be preceded by
preaching, 211; administered by

laymen, 212 ; when irregular, de-
clared null, 213 ; of infants, 214 ;
to whom allowed or disallowed, 219,
221 ; early baptism, 220 ; of adults,
224 ; fees, 226 ; banquets, 228

Bargour, Campbell of, 271

Bawbees, high value of, 23

Beggars, to be imprisoned, 10, 11 ; a
nuisance, 12 ; number and character
of, 55 ; at kirk doors and funerals,
57 ; questioned on creed, 54, 273

Bells at burials, 27, 256, 258

Benefactions for poor, 32 ; by sailors in
danger at sea, 32

Biers at burials, 246 ; in Highlands,
247 ; construction of, 248 ; on wheels,
266

Bills and bonds to Kirk-Sessions, 37

Blair of Galston, mortification for pious
uses, 295

Bletherin bodie, anecdote of the, 3S9

Bluegowns, 54

Board black, hung in Churches, 33

Bodies, their value, 23

Book-keeping in 1803, 118

Bridge building, a pious use, 333

Brownists the, on burial, 252

Buckle on marriages in Scotland, 151

Burial, ceremonies at, 230 ; service at,
231 ; true Christian, 238; without
coffins, 245 ; in fields, 252 ; of ex-
communicates and persons unbaptized,
253 j within Churches, 254

Burke and Hare, panic about, 263.

Burns, his marriage, 199, 401 ; his
father's burial, 265 ; his rebuke from
Daddy Auld, 402 ; children buried in
Mauchline, 409

Bursars, iii.

Campbell of Bargour, 271
Campbell of Kingencleuch, 272
Candlemas, gifts to schoolmaster, 104
Canons, book of, 297
Carsphairn, erected into a parish, 253
Casual poor, 48, 49
Catechising beggars, 54, 273
Ceremonies, the nocent, 300

412

Index.

Chairs in Churches, 405, 406
Chamber-mail, for schoolmasters, 98
Charities and Church lL-aninf;;s, 363
Charles II., {^ood cx|)ectatinns of, 306
Churcii and echication, 161 1, 68
Church, behaviour in, 407 ; sittings in,

405. 406

Church dues, contentions about, 107
Church liberality a hundred years ago.

Church-yards, their dykes and houses,

406, 407

Cists of Hal stones, 250

Civil Acts read from pulpits, 3S4

Civil marriaE^es, 179

Civil respects at funerals, 255

Clandestine marriages, iSo

„ ,, see irregular

Classes, Act of, 303

Clergy, peculiar meaning of term, 65

Clock on old church of Mauchline, 409

Cock fighting in schools, 105

Coffinings, 241 ; elders to attend, 242

Coffins, poor buried without, 243 ; for
poor, 243 ; the parish coffin, 247 ;
providing of parish coffin a pious use,
248 ; slip coffin, 249 ; cost of coffins
for poor, 249

Cohabitation interdicted, 195

Coins, obsolete, found in Kirk-box, 23

Collections for poor, at church, 14 ;
amount of on Sundays, 18 ; instances
of small, 18

Collections for poor at communions, 19,
20; lifted at tables, 15 ; how bestowed,
58

Collections, special, for surgical opera-
tions, 51 ; for farmers in bad years, 52

Collections at marriages, 175

Communion, arrangement at, 407 ; a-
mount of bread and wine at, 408

Communion plate lent on hire, 32

Competitive prayers, 236

Compulsory education, 109

Conjuration at baptism, 205

Consignations, 143, 146 ; cautioners for,
145, 147 ; time they lay, 146 ; speci-
men of bond, 148

Constables for apprehending beggars, 10

Contracts of marriage, 136, 138; consi-
dered covenants of God, 164 ; not
reckoned by the Church indissoluble,
164

Coppers, bad, 22

Corpses lifting, panic about, 263

Counterfeit man, punished for playing
the, 161

Courtship, an expensive, 154

Covenant, National, 298

Covenanters, tyranny of, 322
Creed and conduct, chief parts of educa-
tion, 123
Creed repeated at baptism, 222
Cripples, hand barrows for, 56
Cromwell a lay pope in Scotland, 336
Cross, sign of, at baptism. 205
Curates (1660- 1690), character of, 359

Dalgarno, William, 358

Davidson, John, of Prestonpans, poet,

273

Deacons in Church of Scotland, 3 ;
different from deacons in Church of
England, 3 ; seldom appointed in
Church of Scotland, 5 ; revival of
office fifty years ago, 6 ; unpaid, 39

Dergies, 265

Disarming Act, 127

Discretion "in diligence" recommen-
ded, 371

Disputed settlements, scandalous scenes
at, 389

Disruption of 1651, 304

Dissent, its effect on provision for poor,

44, 45
Distribution of charities to poor, persons

that made, 39, 41 ; rules, anent, 40 ;

how made, 42 ; ancient and modern

principles of, 43
Doctor, an assistant teacher, 91
Doits, their value, 23
Dollars, Leg and Rix, their value, 23
Doxology, trial of, in Mauchline church,

362
Drowned, recovery of persons, 260
Dwelling house for schoolmaster, 98

Earthquake at Kilmarnock, 53
Ecclesiastical state of Scotland, 16S7-90,

353
Education, primary, three periods in

history of, since Reformation, 63 ;

before Reformation, 64 ; Reformers'

views on, 65 ; state of, in 161 1, 68 ;

in 1627, 70 ; Acts anent, 72 ; state of,

in three periods, 1633-1646, 1646-

1650, 1696-1758, 74; in Highlands,

116 ; aim of, 133
Elders, how appointed, 360 ; how in

1684, 361 ; their duties in olden times,

408
Engagement the, of Duke Hamilton,

Episcopacy, Establishment of (1610),
287 ; re-establishment of ( 1661), 320 ;
abjured by General Assembly, 163S,
but not by Westminster standards,
325

Index.

413

Erastus on baptism, 222
Espousals, 136

Examination of schools by committees
of Presbytery, 114

Fairlie, James, 396

Fair not free trade in teaching, 87

Family exercise, 122

Farmers, collections for, 52

Fees, school, 99

Fees for proclamation of marriage, 141

Fees at baptisms, 226

Fees, extra, as fines, given to poor, 25

Festivities at marriages, 148 ; at marri-
age contracts, 156 ; at baptisms, 228

Fines for irregular proclamations of
marriage, 142 ; for irregular marri-
ages, 199 ; a source of provision for
poor, 24

Flitting ministers, payment for, 295

Four hours, an old expression, 95

Frankincense for corpses, 259

Free education, 100

Funeral service, 231 ; sermons, 232

Funerals, time spent at, 237 ; drunken-
ness at, 238 ; smoking at, 241

Gillespie Patrick, Principal of Glasgow
College, his appointment, 338 ; his
little insight into Latin, 338

Godfathers at baptisms, 215

Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, 275 ;
famous sermon, 277

Gossopes, 217

Grace, before a glass of wine, 234

Graces, long, 237

Grammar uniform, 1607, for all schools.

Graves, digging of, 251
Groats, their value, 23.

Haldane James, 125

Hamilton Gavin, and poor's money, 11

Hamilton Robert, settlement at Mauch-

line, 274 ; testimonial in favour of,

277
Hamilton Robert, of St. Andrew's, 27S
Hearses at funerals, 265
Heritors, unwilling to provide schools,

78, 92
Hours early, for school, Church, and

Presbytery, 69, 407

Ignari appointed to offices in the Uni-
versity by Cromwell's Commissioners,

338
Incestuous marriages, 169
Indulgences to Presbyterian ministers,

331. 347. 352 ; breaches of 332, 349 ;
prejudice against acceptors of, 348
Ingiving of names for marriage, 138
Inspectors of poor, 39
Interments, indecencies at, 251
Irregular marriages, 177 ; ancient doc-
trine of Church anent, 179, 181, of
bench, 180 ; popular opinion, 180 ;
penalties for, 185, 199 ; frequency of
last century, 186 ; causes of that fre-
quency, 187 ; opinions of Church
Courts in 1753 on legal marriage,
193 ; irregular followed by regular
marriage, 196 ; censure for irregu-
larity, 196 ; confirmation, 1 98 ; pro-
secution by Fiscal, 201
James Sixth on Presbytery, 286
Judicial committees for trial of slander
in lives of ministers, 282

Keeper of poor, 41
Kindliness of Kirk-Sessions, 49, 61
Kingencleugh, Campbell of, 272
Knox John, at Mauchline, 271

Laud's Liturgy, 297

Learning not appreciated in olden

times, 130
Lecture schools, 64
License to teach, 84
Loans by Kirk- Sessions, 36
Loudoun, laird of. Bailie of Mauchline,

269
Lykewakes or Lykwakes, 239.

Mail, school and schoolmaster's, 77

Maitland William, settlement in Mauch-
line, 366 ; how appointed, 367 ; his
ministry, 370 ; leazed, 375 ; illness
and death, 376

Marriage regular, 134 ; banns and
bands, 135 ; contracts, 136

]Marriage, civil, clandestine, incestuous,
irregular, see under these headings.

Marriage forbidden, to persons under
scandal, 162 ; to persons grossly
ignorant, 163; to persons that neglect
ordinances, 163 ; to persons under
age, 168 ; to persons within certain
degrees of consanguinity, 168, 169

Marriage impeded, by precontract, 164;
by report of previous marriage, 165

Marriage in sport, 166, 194 ; for limited
period, 194

Marriage legal, what constitutes, 16S ;
was celebration necessary, 191

Marriage, oath of God in, 194

Marriage proved, by certificate, 189; by
oath of parlies, 190

414

Index.

Marriage, place of, cluircli, 170; cliam-
l)cr, 171, 173, 174

Marriage, day of, Sunday or lecture day,
170, 172; not on fasl-day, 171

Marriage service, 175

Marriage, celebration of by dissenting
ministers, 191

Marriage, swearing out of, 168

Marriages at early hours, 172

Matrimonial quarrels (in 1647), 409

Matrimonial separations, 202

Mauchline moor, battle at, 312 ; trial
of ministers for conduct at, 317 ; ap-
]iroval of the rebels at, 318

Mauchline parish, a heavy charge, 308

Mauchline school in early times, 75

Meal to poor, 46, 47.

Meeting houses in 1687, 356

Meldruni, David, settlement in Mauch-
line, 358 ; deprived, 364 ; becomes a
Presbyterian, 365 ; minister at Tibbcr-
muir, 366 ; dies father of Church, 366.

Melville, James, at school and college,
121

Middleton, Earl, 327

Ministers, what they did for education,
66, 68 ; acting as schoolmasters, 66

Ministers' families, poverty in, 50

Ministers outed in 1662, 346 ; kindly
treated by friends, 346

Minstrelling, evils of, 152

Money, value of in old times, 20

Moody, W., of Riccarton, 388

Morrison, Mary, her window, 409

Mortcloth, hire of, a source of provision
for poor, 28 ; obligation to use Ses-
sion's, 30; charges for, 31 ; use of,

259
Mortifications, see benefactions
Mowat, Matthew, 312
Muet, Samuel, persecutions and history

of, 49
Music in schools, 119

Nesmyth, or Nasmyth, James, 307
Nocent ceremonies, 300
Non-intrusion of schoolmasters, 82
North, Commissioners to Supply ordi-
nances in, 373

Oath of allegiance, 1661, objectionable

to Covenanters, 331
Oath of purity before marriage, 161
Old church life, end of, 394 ; features

of, 396
Ordination, Episcopal, at Cathedrals,

292
Ordination, Presbyterial, sometimes by

committees, 358

Ordination preceded by a fast, 369
Ordinalif)n dinner, 370
Orphan children provided for, 47
Outgiving of names for marriage, 139
Overseers of poor, 42

Parishes, several after Reformation,
under one minister or readers, 274 ;
insufficiently provided with ministers
(1596), 2S0

Parochial Board, constitution of, at
different dates, 38

Paupers' effects sold, 34

Peden, Alexander, 48

Penny weddings, scandals at, 153

Pensions, precepts, and 'pointments, 43

Persecution, beginning of, under Charles
II., 326, 341

Pew, the marriage, 173

Pews erected from poor's stock, and
rented for good of poor, 37

Pledges given to Kirk-Session, 37

Pluralities, 280

Poor, provision for, reckoned church's
duty, I, 4 ; Kirk-Sessions straitened
in providing for, 13 ; state of in
1698, 46 ; cost of, 58 ; by whom
supported, 59 ; were they content, 61.

Poor, the casual, 48, 49

Poor children provided for, 47 ; educa-
tion of, 108

Poverty from persecution, 49 ; in
ministers' families, 50

Prayer extempore, a common acquire-
ment, 122

Prayers competitive, 236

Presbytery established in 1592, 281

Prevention of scandal, 161

Prices, 21

Prime conference, committees of, 284

Primrose Peter, 280 ; on provincial
committee for trial of scandals, 282 ;
one of the " specialles of the
ministerie," 284 ; one of the
moderator's assessors at Assembly,
285 ; his threatened protestation at
the Angelic Assembly, 2S9 ; death
and character, 291

Propagation of Christian knowledge,
society for, 374

Protestations, 289

Protesters the, 302 ; conference for
reconciliation with resolutioners, 305,
309

Rabbling the curates, 359
Read, number that could not, 200 |)"ears
;igo, 116

Index.

415

Recommendations of people for charity,

48
Records, how lost, 371
Reformation in Scotland, established

1560, and 1567, 2S0
Register of baptisms, 209
Register of securities, 33
Reid Adam, of Barskimming, 269
Reid Archibald, his misfortunes, 389 ;
settlement in Mauchline, 390 ; broken
heart, 391 ; mistaken for the devil,
391 ; attainments and character, 393
Religious instruction, 121-124
Repentance stool, Mauchline, 410
Resolutioners the, 302 ; conferences

with protesters for union, 305-309
Rings consigned at marriage contracts,

143
Rose John, 291

Roups, intimation of from pulpits, 384
Rye-house plot, 350

Sabbath day not known, 117

Sabbatical customs, origin of some, 286

Salaries of schoolmasters, small, 94 ;
commuted, 97 ; not paid, 102

Scandal, prevention of, 161

Schools, at Reformation, 66 ; how in
1611 provided, 69; how in 1616
provided, 70 ; management of (1560-

. 1633), 71

Schools, private and women's, 65, 86
School at the kirk, 79
School-houses, how provided, 76 ;

sometimes leased, 77, state of, from

1740 to 1760, 80
School-houses, repair of, 78
Schoolmasters 1560- 1633, appointment

of, 71 ; provision for, 72
Schoolmasters, after 1633, appointed by

Kirk-Sessions, Si ; by Kirk-Session

and heritors, 82 ; by competition, 84 ;

appointed for limited time, 85 ;

dismissal, 86
Schoolmasters, maintenance of, salary,

87 ; raised by Kirk-Sessions, 88, 93 ;

by land or house tax, 90 ; by Kirk-
Session and heritors, 91 ; fees, 99.
Schoolmasters, poverty of, in 1802, 96
Schoolmasters, ]")arish offices held by,

106
Schoolmasters, examined and licensed

to teach by I'rcsbytcry, 84; their

scliolarshii), 76
Scorning the kirk, 144
Secondary education, 1 1 1 - 1 20
Separation of si)ouses, 202
Service at burials, meaning of, 233 ;

graced or ungraced, 236

Service book, 297

Session Clerks, dues of, 106

Sim, Alexander, 362

Singing in schools, II9

Sittings, church, 405

Slandering of ministers, 375

Slavery, Fletcher's apology for, 2

Smoking at Funerals, 241

Sorn or Dalgain disjoined from Mauch-
line, 309

Sponsors at baptism, 214 ; different en-
gagements in Scotland from what in
England, 216 ; when parents not pre-
sent, 219 ; qualifications required of,
222

Stent, see assessment.

Sterling coinage introduced, 19

Stock for provision of poor, 35 ; invest-
ment of, 37

Students begging, 131

Subscriptions, liberty from Kirk-Session
to solicit, 57

Sunday schools, 122 ; in disfavour, 126 ;
in Ayrshire, 128

Superintendents or quasi bishops, 274

Superstitions in Ayrshire last century,
117

Sureties at baptism, 215

Surgical operations, collections for, 51

Tapsters, ministers acting as, 132

Tea, use of, 95

Teachers of private and Sunday schools

(179S) to be questioned, 127
Technical colleges, 123
Teinds claimed by Church, 2
Testimonial to Mr. Hamilton and King.

encleugh, 277
Thorn in the right foot, 299
Tiff between Session and heritors in

Mauchline, 13
Tod, John, his settlement in Mauchline,

394 ; the new church life, 394
Torvvood, excommunication of Charles

II. at, 323
Transportation of ministers, 294, 306
Treasurer or thesaurer of Kirk-Session,

40 ; should not be a huckster, 41
Tunes, new, at Irvine, 119
Turners, their value, 23

Union, conferences for, between Protes-
ters and Resolutioners, 305, 309

University, appointments in, how made
(1652), 337

Unplanted kirks visited, 274

Vagabonds and vagrants. Sec beggars.
Vagabond scholars, 131

4i6

Index.

Vcitch, Jnmcs, 335 ; his Icarninij, 337 :
his ])itiful invective, 339 ; his iiiinis-
tiy, 340 ; his |)crscciilioiis in 16O2,
343 ; threatened assassination, 348 ;
breaches of confinement, 349 ; exile
in Holland, 351 ; persecution aljroad,
351 ; return, 353 ; death and charac-
ter, 356

Virtue, houses of, 123

Visitation of churchless districts, 274

Voluntaryism in 1687, 354

Wakes, 239

Weddings, festivities at, 14S, 151 ;
gatherings at, 149 ; charges at, 149,
153 ; privilege of purveying for, gran-
ted to special hostlers, 155

Whigamore's raid, 319

Winding sheets, Acts of Parliament
anent, 242

Winding sheets of leather, 244

Winter severe, 17S2-83, 60

Witnesses at baptisms, 217

Wishart, George, at Mauchlinc, 270

Women's schools, 65

Writing a modern part of elementary
education, 117

Wyllic, Thomas, settlement in Mauch-
line, 308 ; at the moor, 311 ; trans-
lated to Kirkcudbright, 320; perse-
cuted, 326 ; indulged, 331 ; death
and character, 333

Young, George, settlement in Mauch-
linc, 291 ; friendship with Baillie,
293 ; tact in business, 295 ; public
services, 299 ; death and character,
306

Youth-head, the, 65

--. t)

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

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