YEAR 1795
THE present Ann. Dom. was ushered in with an event that I had never
dreaded to see in my day, in our once sober and religious country parish.
The number of lads that had gone over to Ayr to be soldiers from among
the spinners and weavers of Cayenneville had been so great, that the
government got note of it, and sent a recruiting party to be quartered in
the town; for the term clachan was beginning by this time to wear out of
fashion: indeed, the place itself was outgrowing the fitness of that
title. Never shall I forget the dunt that the first tap of the drum gied
to my heart, as I was sitting on Hansel Monday by myself at the parlour
fireside, Mrs. Balwhidder being throng with the lassies looking out a
washing, and my daughter at Ayr, spending a few days with her old
comrades of the boarding school. I thought it was the enemy; and then
anon the sound of the fife came shrill to the ear, for the night was lown
and peaceful. My wife and all the lassies came flying in upon me, crying
all in the name of heaven, what could it be? by which I was obligated to
put on my big-coat, and, with my hat and staff, go out to enquire. The
whole town was aloof, the aged at the doors in clusters, and the bairns
following the tattoo, as it was called, and at every doubling beat of the
drum, shouting as if they had been in the face of their foemen.
Mr. Archibald Dozendale, one of my elders, was saying to several persons
around him, just as I came up, “Hech, sirs! but the battle draws near our
gates,” upon which there was a heavy sigh from all that heard him; and
then they told me of the sergeant’s business; and we had a serious
communing together anent the same. But while we were thus standing
discoursing on the causey, Mrs. Balwhidder and the servant lassies could
thole no longer, but in a troop came in quest of me, to hear what was
doing. In short, it was a night both of sorrow and anxiety. Mr.
Dozendale walked back to the manse with us, and we had a sober tumbler of
toddy together; marvelling exceedingly where these fearful portents and
changes would stop, both of us being of opinion that the end of the world
was drawing nearer and nearer.
Whether it was, however, that the lads belonging to the place did not
like to show themselves with the enlistment cockades among their
acquaintance, or that there was any other reason, I cannot take it upon
me to say; but certain it is, the recruiting party came no speed, and, in
consequence, were removed about the end of March.
Another thing happened in this year, too remarkable for me to neglect to
put on record, as it strangely and strikingly marked the rapid
revolutions that were going on. In the month of August at the time of
the fair, a gang of playactors came, and hired Thomas Thacklan’s barn for
their enactments. They were the first of that clanjamfrey who had ever
been in the parish; and there was a wonderful excitement caused by the
rumours concerning them. Their first performance was _Douglas Tragedy_
and the _Gentle Shepherd_: and the general opinion was, that the lad who
played Norval in the play, and Patie in the farce, was an English lord’s
son, who had run away from his parents rather than marry an old cracket
lady with a great portion. But, whatever truth there might be in this
notion, certain it is, the whole pack was in a state of perfect beggary;
and yet, for all that, they not only in their parts, as I was told,
laughed most heartily, but made others do the same; for I was constrained
to let my daughter go to see them, with some of her acquaintance; and she
gave me such an account of what they did, that I thought I would have
liked to have gotten a keek at them myself. At the same time, I must own
this was a sinful curiosity, and I stifled it to the best of my ability.
Among other plays that they did, was one called _Macbeth and the
Witches_, which the Miss Cayennes had seen performed in London, when they
were there in the winter time with their father, for three months, seeing
the world, after coming from the boarding-school. But it was no more
like the true play of Shakespeare the poet, according to their account,
than a duddy betheral, set up to fright the sparrows from the peas, is
like a living gentleman. The hungry players, instead of behaving like
guests at the royal banquet, were voracious on the needful feast of
bread, and the strong ale, that served for wine in decanters. But the
greatest sport of all was about a kail-pot, that acted the part of a
caldron, and which should have sunk with thunder and lightning into the
earth; however, it did quite as well, for it made its exit, as Miss
Virginia said, by walking quietly off, being pulled by a string fastened
to one of its feet. No scene of the play was so much applauded as this
one; and the actor who did the part of King Macbeth made a most polite
bow of thankfulness to the audience, for the approbation with which they
had received the performance of the pot.
We had likewise, shortly after the “Omnes exeunt” of the players, an
exhibition of a different sort in the same barn. This was by two English
quakers, and a quaker lady, tanners of Kendal, who had been at Ayr on
some leather business, where they preached, but made no proselytes. The
travellers were all three in a whisky, drawn by one of the best-ordered
horses, as the hostler at the Cross-Keys told me, ever seen. They came
to the Inn to their dinner, and meaning to stay all night, sent round, to
let it be known that they would hold a meeting in Friend Thacklan’s barn;
but Thomas denied they were either kith or kin to him: this, however, was
their way of speaking.
In the evening, owing to the notice, a great congregation was assembled
in the barn, and I myself, along with Mr. Archibald Dozendale, went there
likewise, to keep the people in awe; for we feared the strangers might be
jeered and insulted. The three were seated aloft on a high stage,
prepared on purpose, with two mares and scaffold-deals, borrowed from Mr.
Trowel the mason. They sat long, and silent; but at last the spirit
moved the woman, and she rose, and delivered a very sensible exposition
of Christianity. I was really surprised to hear such sound doctrine; and
Mr. Dozendale said, justly, that it was more to the purpose than some
that my younger brethren from Edinburgh endeavoured to teach. So, that
those who went to laugh at the sincere simplicity of the pious quakers,
were rebuked by a very edifying discourse on the moral duties of a
Christian’s life.
Upon the whole, however, this, to the best of my recollection, was
another unsatisfactory year. In this we were, doubtless, brought more
into the world; but we had a greater variety of temptation set before us,
and there was still jealousy and estrangement in the dispositions of the
gentry, and the lower orders, particularly the manufacturers. I cannot
say, indeed, that there was any increase of corruption among the rural
portion of my people; for their vocation calling them to work apart, in
the purity of the free air of heaven, they were kept uncontaminated by
that seditious infection which fevered the minds of the sedentary
weavers, and working like flatulence in the stomachs of the
cotton-spinners, sent up into their heads a vain and diseased fume of
infidel philosophy.