[Sidenote: 1651.]
The bitter feeling of the ruling powers towards the English sectarian
army was shewn in the way they treated any erring enthusiast who, in
the spirit of dissent, sent information to Cromwell. One Archibald
Hamilton, who acted in this manner, was ‘condemned to be hanged on a
gallows in chains, so long as one bone could hang at another of him.’
We now find the son of an old acquaintance in their hands for this high
offence. His father was that John Mean, a merchant of Edinburgh, who
had been in trouble as a resister of Episcopal fashions in the reign of
King James, and whom we have just seen in the capacity of post-master
in Edinburgh.[145] His mother was believed to be the identical female
who cast the stool at the bishop’s head in St Giles’s Church, on the
first reading of the Service-book in 1637. The delinquent confessed his
guilt, and was condemned by a council of war sitting at Stirling; but
as he was going to be hanged, the king pardoned him, ‘in respect his
father, old John Mean, in Edinburgh, put him out to General Leslie as
a knave and one corrupted by the English, and entreated him to cause
apprehend him.’--_Bal._
The son of a pair so peculiarly noted, being pardoned by Charles
II. for treason in favour of Cromwell, is a curious conjunction of
circumstances.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: JUNE 22.]
Some idea of the enormous sacrifices made by Scotland to resist the
English sectarian army, may be formed from a tolerably exact account,
which has been preserved, of what was done in that cause by the county
of Fife alone, between the 1st of June 1650 and the present date, being
somewhat less than thirteen months.
[Sidenote: 1651.]
In June 1650, when Cromwell was about to invade Scotland, Fife[146]
sent forth 1800 foot and 290 horse, the former ‘with four pounds of
outreik money for every man, with a four-tailed coat, stockings and
shoes,’ the latter at 300 merks each; being in all 151,800 merks. In
the ensuing month, a second levy, precisely the same as the first, was
made by the county. In September, 700 men were raised for the artillery
force, with a third levy of 290 horse and 350 dragoons. In January,
two regiments, amounting in whole to 2400 men, were raised in the
county by the Earls of Kelly and Crawford, and to this force the county
gave twenty-four pounds per man for arms and bounty. So much for the
personal force contributed, being in all 7920 men out of a population
which, so lately as 1801, was under 100,000. Then the county made large
contributions of meal and other provisions, besides money, and also
horses, for the use of the army; 5000 bolls of meal at one time, 3000
at another, 100 stone of cheese, tents, dishes, and axes, oats for the
horses, quarters for ten horse regiments, and so forth. The sum of the
whole was reckoned up to 2,395,857 merks, which we assume to have been
equal to £137,309.--_Bal._
It is difficult to understand how a province of a country so poor
as Scotland then was[147] could spare so much means towards even so
cherished an object as the resistance of the English sectaries.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: SEP. 1.]
During the occupation of the southern parts of Scotland by the English
army, Dundee had become the retreat of many of the principal people of
the country, and a storehouse of much valuable property. On the Sunday
before the battle of Worcester, it was assaulted by General Monk, who
played upon it with battering-pieces all night, and in the morning
entered and subjected it to massacre and pillage. Upwards of a thousand
men and sevenscore women and children, are said to have been killed.
‘It is reported by credible men that the English army had gotten above
twa hundred thousand pound sterling, partly of ready gold, silver, and
silver wark, jewels, rings, merchandise and merchant wares, and other
precious things, belonging to the city of Edinburgh, beside all that
belonged to the town, and other people of the country, wha had sent in
their guids for safety to that town.’--_Nic._
* * * * *
This year was one of even greater dearth than the preceding, bear
being £20 Scots per boll--equal to £1, 13s. 4d.--in many parts of the
country. The best sack wine was 4s. sterling, and French wine 1s.
6d. per pint. The best ale 4d. a pint.[148] ‘Yet God’s providence
was such toward the nation, that even when our awn corns failed us,
the English nation did bring in abundantly wheat, bear, peas, and
such like, and brought down the dearth of our mercats, by [beyond]
expectation.’--_Nic._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: NOV. 13.]
[Sidenote: 1651.]
James Somerville, younger of Drum and Cambusnethan, author of the
Memorie of the Somervilles, was this day married to Martha Bannatyne
of Corehouse, at Lesmahago kirk, he being nineteen, and she eighteen.
The bridegroom’s own account of the affair: ‘A matchlier pair was
not seen within the walls of that kirk this last century, nor a
greater wedding--considering the great consternation the country
had been in for some few months preceding--for nobility and gentry;
there being one marquis, three earls, two lords, sixteen barons, and
eight ministers present at this solemnity, but _not one musician_.
They liked better the bleating of the calves of Dan and Bethel--the
ministers’ long-winded and sometimes nonsensical graces, little to the
purpose--than all musical instruments of the sanctuary, at so solemn
an occasion, which, if it be lawful at all to have them, certainly
it ought and should be upon a wedding-day, for divertisement to the
guests, that innocent recreation of music and dancing being much more
warrantable and a far better exercise than drinking and smoking of
tobacco, wherein these holy brethren of the Presbyterian [persuasion]
for the most part employed themselves, without any formal health or
remembrance of their friends; a nod with their head, or a sigh, with
the turning up of the white of the eye, served for that ceremony.’
[Sidenote: 1651.]
It is pleasant to find that little more than two months after Worcester
fight, it was possible to bring such a large and brilliant company to
a wedding in Scotland. Even when the public at large is the stricken
deer, there will be individual ‘harts ungalled’ who will ‘go play.’
Somerville’s description of his first visit to his bride’s house and
of herself, is interesting. It was just after the rout of Dunbar, when
the young Laird of Corehouse, who had been at that battle, spent a few
days at Cambusnethan, and insisted on young Somerville accompanying
him to the banks of the Clyde. ‘They set forth, weel furnished with
hawks and dogs, which gave them much sport, the fields and ways between
Cambusnethan and Corehouse being fitted for hawking and hunting. At
night they came to the Corehouse, where they were courteously received
by the lady, and modestly by the young ladies.... Martha, the youngest,
was not seen till supper, and then came into the room in a plain
country dress. The truth is, she needed nothing else, being always an
ornament to her clothes when at the best.... At her age of fifteen
complete, she attained to her full height, which was so far above the
stature of most women, that she was accounted among the tallest of
our nation, but so as that diminished nothing of her handsomeness,
every part answering thereto, as a slender waist, large shoulders, big
breast, henches full and round.... Her visage was long, her nose high,
her brow brent and smooth as alabaster, her chin and cheeks somewhat
full, with a little red, especially in hot weather. There was nothing
bore so little proportion to her body as her hand and foot, both being
extremely little, but weel-shapen, white and full of flesh. Her skin
was smooth and clear, but what was covered not so white as I have seen
several of her complexion that was purely sanguinean; her hair, being
of a bright flaxen, which darkened as she grew in age, added much to
her beauty; wherein there was no blemish, her mien being answerable to
that, and her person gave occasion to those that saw her at church or
any other public meeting, to assert she graced the place and company
where she was. It has often been observed that, when this gentlewoman
walked upon the street--which was but upon occasion, being better
employed at home--the eyes not only of the men, but also of her own
sex, was upon her, so far as their sight could serve them, admiring her
parts and handsomeness.’--_Mem. Som._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: NOV.]
The western clergy sought in their meetings to learn the cause of the
heavy wrath which the Almighty was pouring out upon the land. ‘After
long attendance, their resolutions ended in confusion, distraction,
and division among themselves, prognosticating much more desolation on
the land. Whilk did manifestly appear among all estates and ranks of
people; for religion and justice being the twa pillars of the land,
were houghed [tripped] and near drawn down.... There were no courts
of justice, sic as the Secret Council, Session, and Exchequer sitting
for the time. All our records and registers carried aff the kingdom
to the Tower of London; the Lords of Council, Session, and Exchequer,
with their clerks and members of court not daring [to] kythe[149]
in their strength for the use of the lieges, but, for fear of the
English armies, were forced to abandon themselves; for the whilk cause
the people of the land were forced to suit justice frae the English
governors and commanders. As for Edinburgh, there was no magistrate
there, nor no common council since the fecht at Dunbar; and therefore
all petitions and complaints went to the captain of Edinburgh Castle
and governor of Leith, wha in effect (to speak truly) proceeded
more equitably and conscientiously in justice nor our awn Scottish
magistrates.’--_Nic._
[Sidenote: 1651.]
We hear about this time of a paper given in by ‘a godly Scot’ to the
Commission of the Kirk, alleging that the causes of the evils of
the country lay, among other things, in the undertaking of solemn
engagements unwarranted by the word of God, in a fleshly zeal in
carrying on of these obligations by cruel oppressions for the
constraint of the unwilling, and the idolising of individuals and
receiving doctrine from them implicitly.[150]
At this very time, a lively controversy was going on between Sir
Alexander Irvine of Drum, in Aberdeenshire, and the presbytery of
Aberdeen, as to the title which the latter body assumed of controlling
his spiritual interests. A quarrel had taken place between the parties
regarding the settlement of an incumbent in Sir Alexander’s parish,
and he had appealed from the power of the local court to the English
commander, Colonel Overton--a proceeding which must have been deeply
grievous to the presbytery. A sentence of excommunication having been
consequently pronounced against the knight, he uttered a protest
against it in animated terms. It proceeded, he said, ‘from men more
full of fiery zeal to advance their own interests than the gospel of
Jesus Christ.’ They had urged him by threats to subscribe the Solemn
League and Covenant, ‘as gif it had been a matter of salvation for me
to swear to establish by arms Presbyterian government in England.’
And not only would they have had him to forswear himself, but ‘they
did urge with the like threatenings my wife and three young maids, my
dochters, who, for their age and sex, are not capable of such politic
theology.’ To make good their charge against him of being a papist--a
‘pretext to satisfy their restless ambition and execute their rage upon
all who will not implicitly obey them’--they ‘enforced my servants to
reveal upon oath what they saw, heard, or knew done in my house--beyond
which no Turkish inquisition could pass.’ Sir Alexander, therefore,
now appeared by procurator, declaring, ‘I separate myself from the
discipline of presbytery, particularly that of Aberdeen, as a human
invention that is destructive to the civil peace of Christians;’
further appealing them before Colonel Overton, or any other judge who
shall be appointed by the English commissioners, ‘to hear yourselves
censured and condignly punished for your open contempt of their
authority, for your false slanders raised against me, and for your
cruel proceedings and erring sentence of excommunication.’[151]
[Sidenote: 1651.]
Whitelocke, in January 1652, quotes letters which speak of the ‘great
pride and insolency of the presbyteries in Scotland,’ with particular
reference to the Laird of Drum’s case. It is stated that the laird
wrote a letter of thanks to Lieutenant-general Monk, ‘for relieving
those who were oppressed in their consciences by the presbyteries.’ The
Cromwellian army was on principle favourable to toleration, and adverse
to all sorts of church-discipline. Monk was therefore ready to issue
an order, ‘that no oaths should be imposed by any of the kirk-officers
upon any person without order from the state of England, nor any
covenant, and, if they do, that he will deal with them as enemies....
The provost and bailiffs of Aberdeen were to proclaim this.’
[Sidenote: 1651.]
From a petition presented to the king after the Restoration by his son,
the bitterness of Sir Alexander’s experiences throughout the troubles
appears to have been much the same in character as that of which an
example has been given in the case of Farquharson of Inverey. ‘His
lands were the first of Scotland that were spoiled.’ He was ‘twice
fined in £4000 sterling, his house of Drum four times garrisoned and
at length totally plundered, and his wife and children turned out of
doors.’[152] For five years his revenues were detained from him by ‘one
Forbes’--doubtless the same minion to whom the government had committed
the fining of old Inverey.[153] Another Aberdeenshire laird, Sir
Gilbert Menzies of Pitfoddels, being really a Catholic, had come even
worse off. Throughout the whole period of the troubles, not only were
his lands taxed like those of his neighbours for the support of the
Covenanting armies, but he suffered endless finings, quarterings, and
repeated banishments, on account of his inability in personal sentiment
to go along with the popular movement. It appears from a petition he
presented after the Restoration, that fully £12,000 sterling had been
extorted from his estate, leaving it greatly reduced in extent and
‘like to ruin;’ as a matter of course, he and his family had undergone
the greatest poverty abroad, and in one of the flights made by his
family from Scotland, his wife and one of his sons had perished in a
storm at sea.[154] We obtain from these historiettes, which are but
examples of a large class, some notion of the grounds of the charges
brought by cavalier writers against the men who, in all sincerity,
believed they were establishing the reign of Christ upon the earth.
Trusting to force for the attainment of the ideal which they had
placed before them, they stirred up a spirit which made their object
only the more unattainable.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: DEC.]
One good consequence of the English military rule now established in
Scotland was the introduction of some improved police regulations into
Edinburgh. Householders were compelled to hang out lanterns, from six
to nine at night, at their doors and windows; by which arrangement,
‘the winter night was almost as light as the day.’ The expense was
reckoned to be about forty-five pounds a night. Rigorous measures
were also taken for the cleaning of the streets and lanes, and for
preventing foul water being thrown forth from windows.
It would appear that these regulations were steadily kept up during
the English occupation. In April 1657, there was a petition from the
magistrates of Edinburgh to the commissioners of justiciary craving
remission of certain fines, amounting in all to £50 sterling, which had
been imposed on the magistrates ‘for not cleansing the streets.’ They
alleged that they had ‘employed scavengers’ with a view to giving the
commissioners satisfaction.--_B. A._
* * * * *
Nicoll, writing towards the close of 1651, gives a second and most
unflattering picture of the moral conditions of Scotland. ‘Under
heaven,’ he says, ‘there was not greater falset, oppression, division,
hatred, pride, malice, and envy, nor was at this time, and diverse
and sundry years before (ever since the subscribing the Covenant);
every man seeking himself and his awn ends, even under a cloak of
piety, whilk did cover much knavery.’ He adds: ‘Much of the ministry,
also, could not purge themselves of their vices of pride, avarice, and
cruelty; where they maligned, they were divided in their judgments and
opinions, and made their pulpits to speak ane against another. Great
care they had of their augmentations, and _Reek Pennies_,[155] never
before heard of but within thir few years. Pride and cruelty, ane
against another, much abounded; little charity or mercy to restore the
weak, was to be found among them.... This I observe not out of malice
to the ministry, but to record the truth, for all offended, from the
prince to the beggar.’
[Sidenote: 1651.]
It is instructive to observe that no sooner had the ecclesiastical
system recently paramount received a blow, than dissent, so long
repressed, began to make itself heard. Nicoll notes that ‘much
hypocrisy and falset formerly hid did now break out amang our Scots,
wha, leaving their former principles of religion, became papists and
atheists.’ Many sought favour with the English by supporting their
rule, advising that liberty of conscience which was regarded with such
abhorrence by the Scottish church, and calling for a restraint to be
put upon the power of presbyteries as ‘anti-Christian and tyrannical.’
‘Others vilipend the Covenant, holding it lawful for all men to break
it, as being ane human institution;’ at the same time denouncing many
of the clergy as not worthy to teach, declaring the Sabbath to be
unnecessary, and propounding that children should not be baptised ‘till
they could give confession of their faith.’
About April 1652, we begin to find dissent taking recognisable forms.
There were now Antinomians, Antitrinitarians, Familists,[156] and
Seekers, as well as Brownists, Independents, and Erastians. Where there
had formerly been no avowed Anabaptists, there were now many, ‘sae that
thrice in the week--namely, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday--there
were some dippit at Bonnington Mill, betwixt Leith and Edinburgh, both
men and women of good rank. Some days there would be sundry hundred
persons attending that action, and fifteen persons baptised in one day
by the Anabaptists.’ Among the converts was ‘the Lady Craigie Wallace,
a lady in the west country.’--_Nic._ In autumn, at Cupar, Mr Brown,
preacher to Fairfax’s regiment, re-baptised several of the soldiers
‘in the Eden, near to Airdrie’s lodging, by dipping them over head and
ears, many of the inhabitants looking on.’--_Lam._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1652.