WHAT can this work be? Sure, you will say, it must be an allegory; or
(as the writer calls it) a religious PARABLE, showing the dreadful
danger of self-righteousness? I cannot tell. Attend to the sequel:
which is a thing so extraordinary, so unprecedented, and so far out of
the common course of human events that, if there were not hundreds of
living witnesses to attest the truth of it, I would not bid any
rational being believe it.
In the first place, take the following extract from an authentic
letter, published in Blackwood's Magazine for August, 1823.
"On the top of a wild height called Cowan's-Croft, where the lands of
three proprietors meet all at one point, there has been for long and
many years the grave of a suicide marked out by a stone standing at the
head and another at the feet. Often have I stood musing over it myself,
when a shepherd on one of the farms, of which it formed the extreme
boundary, and thinking what could induce a young man, who had scarcely
reached the prime of life, to brave his Maker, and rush into His
presence by an act of his own erring hand, and one so unnatural and
preposterous. But it never once occurred to me, as an object of
curiosity, to dig up the mouldering bones of the Culprit, which I
considered as the most revolting of all objects. The thing was,
however, done last month, and a discovery made of one of the greatest
natural phenomena that I have heard of in this country.
"The little traditionary history that remains of this unfortunate youth
is altogether a singular one. He was not a native of the place, nor
would he ever tell from what place he came; but he was remarkable for a
deep, thoughtful, and sullen disposition. There was nothing against his
character that anybody knew of here, and he had been a considerable
time in the place. The last service he was in was with a Mr. Anderson,
of Eltrive (Ault-Righ, the King's Burn), who died about 100 years ago,
and who had hired him during the summer to herd a stock of young cattle
in Eltrive Hope. It happened one day in the month of September that
James Anderson, his master's son, went with this young man to the Hope
to divert himself. The herd had his dinner along with him, and about
one o'clock, when the boy proposed going home, the former pressed him
very hard to stay and take share of his dinner; but the boy refused for
fear his parents might be alarmed about him, and said he would go home:
on which the herd said to him, 'Then, if ye winna stay with me, James,
ye may depend on't I'll cut my throat afore ye come back again.'
"I have heard it likewise reported, but only by one person, that there
had been some things stolen out of his master's house a good while
before, and that the boy had discovered a silver knife and fork that
was a part of the stolen property, in the herd's possession that day,
and that it was this discovery that drove him to despair.
"The boy did not return to the Hope that afternoon; and, before
evening, a man coming in at the pass called The Hart Loup, with a drove
of lambs, on the way for Edinburgh, perceived something like a man
standing in a strange frightful position at the side of one of
Eldinhope hay-ricks. The driver's attention was riveted on this strange
uncouth figure, and, as the drove-road passed at no great distance from
the spot, he first called, but, receiving no answer, he went up to the
spot, and behold it was the above-mentioned young man, who had hung
himself in the hay rope that was tying down the rick.
"This was accounted a great wonder; and everyone said, if the Devil had
not assisted him, it was impossible the thing could have been done;
for, in general, these ropes are so brittle, being made of green hay,
that they will scarcely bear to be bound over the rick. And, the more
to horrify the good people of this neighbourhood, the driver said, when
he first came in view, he could almost give his oath that he saw two
people busily engaged at the hay-rick going round it and round it, and
he thought they were dressing it.
"If this asseveration approximated at all to truth, it makes this
evident at least, that the unfortunate young man had hanged himself
after the man with the lambs came in view. He was, however, quite dead
when he cut him down. He had fastened two of the old hay-ropes at the
bottom of the rick on one side (indeed, they are all fastened so when
first laid on) so that he had nothing to do but to loosen two of the
ends on the other side. These he had tied in a knot round his neck, and
then slackening his knees, and letting himself down gradually, till the
hay-rope bore all his weight, he had contrived to put an end to his
existence in that way. Now the fact is, that, if you try all the ropes
that are thrown over all the out-field hay-ricks in Scotland, there is
not one among a thousand of them will hang a colley dog; so that the
manner of this wretch's death was rather a singular circumstance.
"Early next morning, Mr. Anderson's servants went reluctantly away,
and, taking an old blanket with them for a winding sheet, they rolled
up the body of the deceased, first in his own plaid, letting the
hay-rope still remain about his neck, and then, rolling the old blanket
over all, they bore the loathed remains away to the distance of three
miles or so, on spokes, to the top of Cowan's-Croft, at the very point
where the Duke of Buccleuch's land, the Laird of Drummelzier's, and
Lord Napier's meet, and there they buried him, with all that he had on
and about him, silver knife and fork and altogether. Thus far went
tradition, and no one ever disputed one jot of the disgusting oral tale.
"A nephew of that Mr. Anderson's who was with the hapless youth that
day he died says that, as far as he can gather from the relations of
friends that he remembers, and of that same uncle in particular, it is
one hundred and five years next month (that is September, 1823) since
that event happened; and I think it likely that this gentleman's
information is correct. But sundry other people, much older than he,
whom I have consulted, pretend that it is six or seven years more. They
say they have heard that Mr. James Anderson was then a boy ten years of
age; that he lived to an old age, upwards of fourscore, and it is two
and forty years since he died. Whichever way it may be, it was about
that period some way: of that there is no doubt.
"It so happened that two young men, William Shiel and W. Sword, were
out on an adjoining height this summer, casting peats, and it came into
their heads to open this grave in the wilderness, and see if there were
any of the bones of the suicide of former ages and centuries remaining.
They did so, but opened only one half of the grave, beginning at the
head and about the middle at the same time. It was not long till they
came upon the old blanket--I think, they said not much more than a foot
from the surface. They tore that open, and there was the hay-rope lying
stretched down alongst his breast, so fresh that they saw at first
sight that it was made of risp, a sort of long sword-grass that grows
about marshes and the sides of lakes. One of the young men seized the
rope and pulled by it, but the old enchantment of the Devil
remained--it would not break; and so he pulled and pulled at it, till
behold the body came up into a sitting posture, with a broad blue
bonnet on its head, and its plaid around it, all as fresh as that day
it was laid in! I never heard of a preservation so wonderful, if it be
true as was related to me, for still I have not had the curiosity to go
and view the body myself. The features were all so plain that an
acquaintance might easily have known him. One of the lads gripped the
face of the corpse with his finger and thumb, and the cheeks felt quite
soft and fleshy, but the dimples remained and did not spring out again.
He had fine yellow hair, about nine inches long; but not a hair of it
could they pull out till they cut part of it off with a knife. They
also cut off some portions of his clothes, which were all quite fresh,
and distributed them among their acquaintances, sending a portion to
me, among the rest, to keep as natural curiosities. Several gentlemen
have in a manner forced me to give them fragments of these enchanted
garments: I have, however, retained a small portion for you, which I
send along with this, being a piece of his plaid, and another of his
waistcoat breast, which you will see are still as fresh as that day
they were laid in the grave.
"His broad blue bonnet was sent to Edinburgh several weeks ago, to the
great regret of some gentlemen connected with the land, who wished to
have it for a keep-sake. For my part, fond as I am of blue bonnets, and
broad ones in particular, I declare I durst not have worn that one.
There was nothing of the silver knife and fork discovered, that I heard
of, nor was it very likely it should; but it would appear he had been
very near run out of cash, which I daresay had been the cause of his
utter despair; for, on searching his pockets, nothing was found but
three old Scotch halfpennies. These young men meeting with another
shepherd afterwards, his curiosity was so much excited that they went
and digged up the curious remains a second time, which was a pity, as
it is likely that by these exposures to the air, and the impossibility
of burying it up again as closely as it was before, the flesh will now
fall to dust."
The letter from which the above is an extract, is signed JAMES HOGG,
and dated from Altrive Lake, August 1st, 1823. It bears the stamp of
authenticity in every line; yet so often had I been hoaxed by the
ingenious fancies displayed in that Magazine, that when this relation
met my eye I did not believe it; but, from the moment that I perused
it, I half formed the resolution of investigating these wonderful
remains personally, if any such existed; for, in the immediate vicinity
of the scene, as I supposed, I knew of more attractive metal than the
dilapidated remains of mouldering suicides.
Accordingly, having some business in Edinburgh in September last, and
being obliged to wait a few days for the arrival of a friend from
London, I took that opportunity to pay a visit to my townsman and
fellow collegian, Mr. L--t of C--d, advocate. I mentioned to him Hogg's
letter, asking him if the statement was founded at all on truth. His
answer was: "I suppose so. For my part I never doubted the thing,
having been told that there has been a deal of talking about it up in
the Forest for some time past. But God knows! Hogg has imposed as
ingenious lies on the public ere now."
I said, if it was within reach, I should like exceedingly to visit both
the Shepherd and the Scotch mummy he had described. Mr. L--t assented
on the first proposal, saying he had no objections to take a ride that
length with me, and make the fellow produce his credentials. That we
would have a delightful jaunt through a romantic and now classical
country, and some good sport into the bargain, provided he could
procure a horse for me, from his father-in-law, next day. He sent up to
a Mr. L--w to inquire, who returned for answer that there was an
excellent pony at my service, and that he himself would accompany us,
being obliged to attend a great sheep-fair at Thirlestane; and that he
was certain the Shepherd would be there likewise.
Mr. L--t said that was the very man we wanted to make our party
complete; and at an early hour next morning we started for the ewe-fair
of Thirlestane, taking Blackwood's Magazine for August along with us.
We rode through the ancient royal burgh of Selkirk, halted and corned
our horses at a romantic village, nigh to some deep linns on the
Ettrick, and reached the market ground at Thirlestane-green a little
before mid-day. We soon found Hogg, standing near the foot of the
market, as he called it, beside a great drove of paulies, a species of
stock that I never heard of before. They were small sheep, striped on
the backs with red chalk. Mr. L--t introduced me to him as a great
wool-stapler, come to raise the price of that article; but he eyed me
with distrust, and, turning his back on us, answered: "I hae sell'd
mine."
I followed, and, shewing him the above-quoted letter, said I was
exceedingly curious to have a look of these singular remains he had so
ingeniously described; but he only answered me with the remark that "It
was a queer fancy for a wool-stapler to tak."
His two friends then requested him to accompany us to the spot, and to
take some of his shepherds with us to assist in raising the body; but
he spurned at the idea, saying: "Od bless ye, lad! I hae ither matters
to mind. I hae a' thae paulies to sell, an', a' yon Highland stotts
down on the green, every ane; an' then I hae ten scores o' yowes to buy
after, an', If I canna first sell my ain stock, I canna buy nae ither
body's. I hae mair ado than I can manage the day, foreby ganging to
houk up hunder-year-auld-banes."
Finding that we could make nothing of him, we left him with his
paulies, Highland stotts, grey jacket, and broad blue bonnet, to go in
search of some other guide. L--w soon found one, for he seemed
acquainted with every person in the fair. We got a fine old shepherd,
named W--m B--e, a great original, and a very obliging and civil man,
who asked no conditions but that we should not speak of it, because he
did not wish it to come to his master's ears that he had been engaged
in sic a profane thing. We promised strict secrecy; and accompanied by
another farmer, Mr. S--t, and old B--e, we proceeded to the grave,
which B--e described as about a mile and a half distant from the market
ground.
We went into the shepherd's cot to get a drink of milk, when I read to
our guide Mr. Hogg's description, asking him if he thought it correct.
He said there was hardly a bit o't correct, for the grave was not on
the hill of Cowan's-Croft nor yet on the point where three lairds'
lands met, but on the top of a hill called the Faw-Law, where there was
no land that was not the Duke of Buccleuch's within a quarter of a
mile. He added that it was a wonder how the poet could be mistaken
there, who once herded the very ground where the grave is, and saw both
hills from his own window. Mr. L--w testified great surprise at such a
singular blunder, as also how the body came not to be buried at the
meeting of three or four lairds' lands, which had always been customary
in the south of Scotland. Our guide said he had always heard it
reported that the Eltrive men, with Mr. David Anderson at their head,
had risen before day on the Monday morning, it having been on the
Sabbath day that the man put down himself; and that they set out with
the intention of burying him on Cowan's-Croft, where the three marches
met at a point. But, it having been an invariable rule to bury such
lost sinners before the rising of the sun, these five men were
overtaken by day-light, as they passed the house of Berry-Knowe; and,
by the time they reached the top of the Faw-Law, the sun was beginning
to skair the east. On this they laid down the body, and digged a deep
grave with all expedition; but, when they had done, it was too short,
and, the body being stiff, it would not go down; on which Mr. David
Anderson, looking to the east and perceiving that the sun would be up
on them in a few minutes, set his foot on the suicide's brow, and
tramped down his head into the grave with his iron-heeled shoe, until
the nose and skull crashed again, and at the same time uttered a
terrible curse on the wretch who had disgraced the family and given
them all this trouble. This anecdote, our guide said, he had heard when
a boy, from the mouth of Robert Laidlaw, one of the five men who buried
the body.
We soon reached the spot, and I confess I felt a singular sensation
when I saw the grey stone standing at the head, and another at the
feet, and the one half of the grave manifestly new-digged, and closed
up again as had been described. I could still scarcely deem the thing
to be a reality, for the ground did not appear to be wet, but a kind of
dry rotten moss. On looking around, we found some fragments of clothes,
some teeth, and part of a pocket-book, which had not been returned into
the grave when the body had been last raised, for it had been twice
raised before this, but only from the loins upward.
To work we fell with two spades, and soon cleared away the whole of the
covering. The part of the grave that had been opened before was filled
with mossy mortar, which impeded us exceedingly, and entirely prevented
a proper investigation of the fore parts of the body. I will describe
everything as I saw it before our respectable witnesses, whose names I
shall publish at large if permitted. A number of the bones came up
separately; for, with the constant flow of liquid stuff into the deep
grave, we could not see to preserve them in their places. At length
great loads of coarse clothes, blanketing, plaiding, etc. appeared; we
tried to lift these regularly up, and, on doing so, part of a skeleton
came up, but no flesh, save a little that was hanging in dark flitters
about the spine, but which had no consistence; it was merely the
appearance of flesh without the substance. The head was wanting, and, I
being very anxious to possess the skull, the search was renewed among
the mortar and rags. We first found a part of the scalp, with the long
hair firm on it; which, on being cleaned, is neither black nor fair,
but a darkish dusk, the most common of any other colour. Soon
afterwards we found the skull, but it was not complete. A spade had
damaged it, and one of the temple quarters was wanting. I am no
phrenologist, not knowing one organ from another, but I thought the
skull of that wretched man no study. If it was particular for anything,
it was for a smooth, almost perfect rotundity, with only a little
protuberance above the vent of the ear.
When we came to that part of the grave that had never been opened
before, the appearance of everything was quite different. There the
remains lay under a close vault of moss, and within a vacant space; and
I suppose, by the digging in the former part of the grave, the part had
been deepened, and drawn the moisture away from this part, for here all
was perfect. The breeches still suited the thigh, the stocking the leg,
and the garters were wrapt as neatly and as firm below the knee as if
they had been newly tied. The shoes were all open in the seams, the
hemp having decayed, but the soles, upper leathers and wooden heels,
which were made of birch, were all as fresh as any of those we wore.
There was one thing I could not help remarking, that in the inside of
one of the shoes there was a layer of cow's dung, about one-eighth of
an inch thick, and in the hollow of the sole fully one-fourth of an
inch. It was firm, green, and fresh; and proved that he had been
working in a byre. His clothes were all of a singular ancient cut, and
no less singular in their texture. Their durability certainly would
have been prodigious; for in thickness, coarseness, and strength, I
never saw any cloth in the smallest degree to equal them. His coat was
a frock coat, of a yellowish drab colour, with wide sleeves. It is
tweeled, milled, and thicker than a carpet. I cut off two of the skirts
and brought them with me. His vest was of striped serge, such as I have
often seen worn by country people. It was lined and backed with white
stuff. The breeches were a sort of striped plaiding, which I never saw
worn, but which our guide assured us was very common in the country
once, though, from the old clothes which he had seen remaining of it,
he judged that it could not be less than 200 years since it was in
fashion. His garters were of worsted, and striped with black or blue;
his stockings grey, and wanting the feet. I brought samples of all
along with me. I have likewise now got possession of the bonnet, which
puzzles me most of all. It is not conformable with the rest of the
dress. It is neither a broad bonnet nor a Border bonnet; for there is
an open behind, for tying, which no genuine Border bonnet I am told
ever had. It seems to have been a Highland bonnet, worn in a flat way,
like a scone on the crown, such as is sometimes still seen in the West
of Scotland. All the limbs, from the loins to the toes, seemed perfect
and entire, but they could not bear handling. Before we got them
returned again into the grave they were shaken to pieces, except the
thighs, which continued to retain a kind of flabby form.
All his clothes that were sewed with linen yam were lying in separate
portions, the thread having rotten; but such as were sewed with worsted
remained perfectly firm and sound. Among such a confusion, we had hard
work to find out all his pockets, and our guide supposed that, after
all, we did not find above the half of them. In his vest pocket was a
long clasp-knife, very sharp; the haft was thin, and the scales shone
as if there had been silver inside. Mr. Sc--t took it with him, and
presented it to his neighbour, Mr. R--n, of W--n L--e, who still has it
in his possession. We found a comb, a gimblet, a vial, a small neat
square board, a pair of plated knee-buckles, and several samples of
cloth of different kinds, rolled neatly up within one another. At
length, while we were busy on the search, Mr. L--t picked up a leathern
case, which seemed to have been wrapped round and round by some ribbon,
or cord, that had been rotten from it, for the swaddling marks still
remained. Both L--w and B--e called out that "it was the tobacco
spleuchan, and a well-filled ane too"; but, on opening it out, we
found, to our great astonishment, that it contained a printed pamphlet.
We were all curious to see what sort of a pamphlet such a person would
read; what it could contain that he seemed to have had such a care
about. For the slough in which it was rolled was fine chamois leather;
what colour it had been could not be known. But the pamphlet was
wrapped so close together, and so damp, rotten, and yellow that it
seemed one solid piece. We all concluded from some words that we could
make out that it was a religious tract, but that it would be impossible
to make anything of it. Mr. L--w remarked marked that it was a great
pity if a few sentences could not be made out, for that it was a
question what might be contained in that little book; and then he
requested Mr. L--t to give it to me, as he had so many things of
literature and law to attend to that he would never think more of it.
He replied that either of us were heartily welcome to it, for that he
had thought of returning it into the grave, if he could have made out
but a line or two, to have seen what was its tendency.
"Grave, man!" exclaimed L--w, who speaks excellent strong broad Scotch.
"My truly, but ye grave weel! I wad esteem the contents o' that
spleuchan as the most precious treasure. I'll tell you what it is, sir:
I hae often wondered how it was that this man's corpse has been
miraculously preserved frae decay, a hunder times langer than any other
body's, or than ever a tanner's. But now I could wager a guinea it has
been for the preservation o' that little book. And Lord kens what may
be in't! It will maybe reveal some mystery that mankind disna ken
naething about yet."
"If there be any mysteries in it," returned the other, "it is not for
your handling, my dear friend, who are too much taken up about
mysteries already." And with these words he presented the mysterious
pamphlet to me. With very little trouble, save that of a thorough
drying, I unrolled it all with ease, and found the very tract which I
have here ventured to lay before the public, part of it in small bad
print, and the remainder in manuscript. The title page is written and
is as follows:
THE PRIVATE MEMOIRS
AND CONFESSIONS
OF A JUSTIFIED SINNER: