Stirling gave a welcome to Charles II., when he visited it in the
course of his unhappy pilgrimage in Scotland, in 1650–1, for the
recovery of the kingdoms lost by his father. There are many things in
the council records to denote, that the magistracy, at that trying
period, and even during the dominancy of the commonwealth, retained a
strong feeling of loyalty for the descendant of their ancient kings.
Stirling was one of the Scottish burghs which Cromwell disfranchised,
for not consenting to the union he desired to effect betwixt Scotland
and England. A somewhat amusing anecdote is handed down by tradition,
in reference to Charles the Second’s residence at Stirling. It seems
that he thought proper to pay a personal visit to the Reverend Mr
Guthrie, the puritan minister of the town; nothing at that period
being practicable without the good will and influence of the clergy.
When Charles entered the manse, Mrs Guthrie bustled about, with the
officious kindness of a housewife, to get a chair for the king. ‘Never
mind, gudewife,’ said the cynic; ‘the king’s a young man, and can tak a
chair for himsel.’ We can scarcely suppose that Charles would be much
offended at this singular piece of rudeness, which must have been too
characteristic to fail in tickling a mind like his. Yet it might make
him less anxious to save Guthrie from the death to which he was doomed,
for his distinguished disloyalty, after the Restoration.
Stirling appears to have lent a good deal of money to this sovereign,
during his misfortunes, besides performing other acts of service in
behalf of himself and his friends. It is a pleasure to add, that he
retained a grateful sense of the kindness of the citizens of Stirling,
and, on arriving at his period of power, extended and confirmed their
former privileges.
The town was honoured in 1681, by the visit of James, Duke of York
and Albany, (afterwards James II.,) who then resided in Scotland,
in a sort of honourable banishment, to escape the hostility of the
Monmouth and Shaftesbury party, who were endeavouring to procure his
exclusion from the throne. The magistrates and council, under date,
October 21, 1680, ‘recommendis to the dean-of-guild and conveiner,
to speik to thair respective incorporations, anent the provyding of
partizans agane his Royal Highnes reception, and to report thair
opinions to the magistrats, Saturday nixt.’ On the 4th of February
1681, the magistrates and council, in full convention, received and
admitted to the honours and privileges of their burgh, ‘James, Duke
of York and Albanie;’ besides a great number of his attendants, among
whom is conspicuous, ‘Collonel John Churchill, attending on his Royall
Highness.’ This person, at the time in question, was page to the Duke;
but, in after times, reached the pinnacle of greatness and fame as
Duke of Marlborough. It would appear that the magistracy presented the
freedom of the town to his Royal Highness, in an expensive gold box, as
the following entry occurs in the register, under date, March 14, 1681:
‘Ordains the thesaurer to pay William Law, goldsmith, thrie hundreth
eightin pundis, fiftein shilling, for the gold-box he furnished to his
Royall Highnes burges ticket.’ [This Law must have been the father of
the celebrated projector of the Mississippi Scheme.]
As a farther testimony of the loyalty of the town at this period,
the following entry may be quoted: ‘The seavint day of October 1681,
admittis and receaves Captain John Graham of Claverhouse, Sir Andro
Bruce of Earlshall, Mr David Grahame, brother to Claverhouse, James
Montgomerie, ane of the corporalls of Claverhouse troupe, Alexander
Scott, writer in Edinburgh, William Dickison, son to ________ Dickison,
proveist of Forfar, David Buchanan, servant to Claverhouse, John
Cuming and Adam Galloway, Claverhouse trumpetters, burgesses and guild
brethren of the said brugh gratis; and they present made faith, as use
is. And also admittis and receaves David Neve, Robert Kerr, William
Sluthers, and John Purveis, servitors to Claverhouse, John Simpson and
Alexander Watson, servitors to Earleshall, John Wallace and Alexander
Luggat, servitors to William Grahame, cornet of Claverhouse troupe,
and John Watson, servitor to Robert Murray, ane of the said troupe,
neighbours and burgesses of the said brugh, and that gratis; and ilk
ane made faith, as use is.’
No other royal personage visited Stirling till Prince Charles Stuart,
grandson to the ill-starred prince who was received with so much
gratulation as above, forced his entrance into the town, with his army
of Highlanders, on the 8th of January 1746. The town was, on that
occasion, held out with considerable spirit, for two days; but was
forced at last to capitulate. The letter which Charles sent to summon
the magistrates to surrender, is yet extant in the town-clerk’s office.
NOTE 3. p. 9.—ACCOUNT OF THE STIRLING JUG.
By an act of the Scottish Parliament, in 1437, various burghs in the
Lowlands were appointed to keep the various standard measures for
liquid and dry goods, from which all others throughout the country
were to be taken. To Edinburgh was appointed the honour of keeping the
standard Ell—to Perth the Reel—to Lanark the Pound—to Linlithgow the
Firlot—and to Stirling the Pint. This was a judicious arrangement,
both as it was calculated to prevent any attempt at an extensive or
general scheme of fraud, and as the commodities, to which the different
standards referred, were supplied in the greatest abundance by the
districts and towns, to whose care they were committed; Edinburgh being
then the principal market for cloth, Perth for yarn, Lanark for wool,
Linlithgow for grain, and Stirling for distilled and fermented liquors.
The Pint Measure, popularly called the Stirling Jug, is still kept with
great care in the town where it was first deposited four hundred years
ago. It is made of brass, in the shape of a hollow cone truncated; and
it weighs 14 lb. 10 oz. 1 dr. 18 grs. Scottish Troy. The mean diameter
of the mouth is 4.17 inches English—of the bottom 5.25 inches,—and the
mean depth 6 inches. On the front, near the mouth, in relief, there
is a shield bearing a lion _rampant_, the Scottish national arms; and
near the bottom is another shield, bearing an ape _passant gardant_,
with the letter S. below, supposed to be the armorial bearing of the
foreign artist who probably was employed to fabricate the vessel. The
handle is fixed with two brass nails; and the whole has an appearance
of rudeness, quite proper to the early age when it was first instituted
by the Scottish Estates, as the standard of liquid measure for this
ancient bacchanalian kingdom.
It will be interesting to all votaries of antiquity to know, that this
vessel, which may in some measure be esteemed a national palladium,
was rescued, about eighty years ago, from the fate of being utterly
lost, to which all circumstances for some time seemed to destine
it. The person whom we have to thank for this good service, was the
Reverend Alexander Bryce, minister of Kirknewton, near Edinburgh, a
man of scientific and literary accomplishment much superior to what
was displayed by the generality of the clergy of his day. Mr Bryce
(who had taught the mathematical class in the College of Edinburgh,
during the winter of 1745–6, instead of the eminent Maclaurin, who was
then on his death-bed,) happened to visit Stirling in the year 1750;
when, recollecting that the standard Pint Jug was appointed to remain
in that town, he requested permission from the magistrates to see it.
The magistrates conducted him to their council-house, where a _pewter_
pint jug was taken down from the roof, whence it was suspended, and
presented to him. After a careful examination, he was convinced that
this could not be the legal standard. He communicated his opinion to
the magistrates; but they were equally ignorant of the loss which the
town had sustained, and indisposed to take any trouble for the purpose
of retrieving it. It excited very different feelings in the acute and
enquiring mind of Dr Bryce; and, resolved, if possible, to recover the
valuable antique, he immediately instituted a search; which, though
conducted with much patient industry for about a twelvemonth, proved,
to his great regret, unavailing. In 1752, it occurred to him, that the
standard jug might have been borrowed by some of the coppersmiths or
braziers, for the purpose of making legal measures for the citizens,
and, by some chance, not returned. Having been informed that a person
of this description, named Urquhart, had joined the insurgent forces
in 1745—that, on his not returning, his furniture and shop utensils
had been brought to sale—and that various articles, which had not been
sold, were thrown into a garret as useless, a gleam of hope darted
into his mind, and he eagerly went to make the proper investigation.
Accordingly, in that obscure garret, groaning underneath a mass of
lumber, he discovered the precious object of his research.
Thus was discovered the only standard, by special statute, of all
liquid and dry measure in Scotland, after it had been offered for sale
at perhaps the cheap and easy price of one penny, rejected as unworthy
of that little sum, and subsequently thrown by as altogether useless;
and many years after it had been considered, by its constitutional
guardians, as irretrievably lost.
Mr Bryce, being permitted to take the valuable utensil with him to
Edinburgh, there subjected it to a variety of experiments, from which
he deduced the following facts:—
The weight of the contents of the Stirling Jug, in ‘clear water,’ is
equal to 26,180 grains, English Troy.
There are 103⁴⁰⁴⁄₁₀₀₀ cubic inches in the standard Scottish pint.
It being ascertained, from an act of Parliament, 1618, that the wheat
and pease firlot was statuted to contain 21¼ pints, and the bear
and oat firlot 31 pints of the Stirling jug; and it being likewise
ascertained that there are 103.404 cubic inches in the standard
Scottish pint; Mr Bryce found that there are 2197³³⁵⁄₁₀₀₀ cubic inches
in the wheat and pease firlot, and 3205⁵²⁴⁄₁₀₀₀ cubic inches in the
bear and oat firlot; and so on in the smaller measures.
The excess of a boll of bear (_barley_) above a boll of wheat was found
to be precisely 5 pecks bear measure, and 1 mutchkin, without the
difference of a single gill; or a boll of bear is more than a boll of
wheat by 7 pecks 1½ lippy, wheat measure, wanting 1 gill.
For ascertaining these and many similar facts, and for his ‘good
services’ in recovering the Stirling Jug, Mr Bryce was presented with
the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, January 1754. The canons which
he thus instituted for public measures, continued in use till the late
general change of weights and measures throughout the United Kingdom.
NOTE 4. p. 10.
It also comprises the lands of Raploch belonging to Cowan’s Hospital,
and Southfield belonging to Spittal’s Hospital, neither of which
are burgal, and the village of Cambuskenneth, and farms of Hood and
East and West side of Abbey, which belonged to the abbot. It is very
doubtful whether it includes the constabulary of the castle, or crown
lands, viz. the greater part of the site of the Castle, the Gowlan
Hills, Butt Park, King’s Park, and the Royal Gardens; all which are
without burgh. It is likewise very doubtful whether it includes the
Ladies’ Hill, the Crandy Hill, and the Haining, lands which were gifted
by the Crown to the Mar family, and which are likewise undoubtedly
without the burgal territory.
NOTE 5. p. 12.
Mary is stated by tradition to have established a regular garrison
corps for the protection of Stirling Castle; the dress of which,
according to the same uncertain authority, was the Lorrain uniform.
Certes, till the year 1802, the Castle was garrisoned by a corps of
about a hundred men, who were commanded by a lieutenant and ensign,
and wore a dress decidedly different from all other British uniforms.
The men had a small French-looking cocked hat, a long red coat, with
green facings, red breeches, and long black leggens. The officers wore
clothes of superior material, but of the same hue and fashion; the
drummer alone having a short coat of a different colour—namely, of
green. At a former period, the breeches were blue, and the belts black;
latterly, the breeches were as stated, and the belts white. The arms
were latterly a musket and bayonet, with a sword; but, at a remoter
time, they are said to have carried Lochaber axes, like the town-guard
of Edinburgh. The only objection to the popular theory of their having
been instituted by Mary of Lorrain, and dressed to her taste, is, that
in each of the other three fortresses, appointed by the act of Union to
be kept up in Scotland, there was a corps of the same description. The
whole were broken up in 1802, when the government found it necessary to
substitute veteran battalions in the Scottish fortresses. It is to be
regretted that so conspicuous a memorial of the old times of Scotland’s
independence should have been permitted to perish, even for so good a
cause as that of protecting the country against French invasion.
⁂ Perhaps it is worthy of being remarked, that the dress of the
governor of Stirling Castle, which is now turned up with blue, was
formerly faced, like that of the garrison corps, with green.
NOTE 6. p. 15.—THE BALLANGEIGH ADVENTURES.
‘JAMES V. was a monarch whose good and benevolent intentions often
rendered his romantic freaks venial, if not respectable, since, from
his anxious attentions to the lower and most oppressed class of his
subjects, he was, as we are told, popularly termed the _King of
the Commons_. For the purpose of seeing that justice was regularly
administered, and frequently from the less justifiable motive of
gallantry, he used to traverse the vicinage of his several palaces
in various disguises. The two excellent comic songs, entitled, ‘The
Gaberlunzie Man,’ and ‘We’ll gang nae mair a-roving,’ are said to have
been founded upon the success of his amorous adventures when travelling
in the disguise of a beggar.’—_Scotsman’s Library._
‘Once upon a time, when he was feasting in Stirling, the king sent for
some venison from the neighbouring hills. The deer were killed and
put on horses’ backs, to be transported to Stirling. Unluckily they
had to pass the castle-gates of Arnpryor, belonging to a chief of the
Buchanans, who had a considerable number of guests with him. It was
late, and the company rather short of victuals, though they had more
than enough of liquor. The chief, seeing so much fat venison passing
his very door, seized on it; and to the expostulations of the keepers,
who told him it belonged to King James, he answered insolently, that if
James was king in Scotland, he, Buchanan, was king in Kippen, being the
name of the district in which the castle of Arnpryor lay. On hearing
what had happened, the king got on horseback, and rode instantly
from Stirling to Buchanan’s house, where he found a fierce-looking
Highlander, with an axe on his shoulder, standing centinel at the door.
This grim warden refused the king admittance, saying that the Laird of
Arnpryor was at dinner, and would not be disturbed. ‘Yet go up to the
company, my good friend,’ said the king, ‘and tell him that the Gudeman
of Ballangeigh is come to feast with the king of Kippen.’ The porter
went grumbling into the house, and told his master that there was a
fellow with a red beard, who called himself the Gudeman of Ballangeigh,
at the gate, who said he was come to dine with the king of Kippen. As
soon as Buchanan heard these words, he knew that the king was there in
person, and hastened down to kneel at James’ feet, and ask forgiveness
for his insolent behaviour. But the king, who only meant to give him a
fright, forgave him freely, and, going into the castle, feasted on his
own venison, which Buchanan had intercepted. Buchanan of Arnpryor was
ever after called the king of Kippen.’—_Tales of a Grandfather._
It is melancholy to add to this story, that the last king of Kippen was
hanged at Carlisle, in 1746, for fighting in behalf of the ill-fated
descendant of the Gudeman of Ballangeigh, Prince Charles Stuart.
‘Another adventure, which had nearly cost James his life, is said to
have taken place at the village of Cramond, near Edinburgh, where he
had rendered his addresses acceptable to a pretty girl of the lower
rank. Four or five persons, whether relations or lovers of his mistress
is uncertain, beset the monarch, as he returned from his rendezvous.
Naturally gallant, and an admirable master of his weapon, the king
took post on the high and narrow bridge over the Almond river, and
defended himself bravely with his sword. A peasant, who was threshing
in a neighbouring barn, came out upon the noise, and, whether moved
by compassion or by natural gallantry, took the weaker side, and laid
about with his flail so effectually as to disperse the assailants, well
threshed, even according to the letter. He then conducted the king
into his barn, where his guest requested a basin and towel, to remove
the stains of the broil. This being procured with difficulty, James
employed himself in learning what was the summit of his deliverer’s
earthly wishes, and found that they were bounded by the desire of
possessing, in property, the farm of Braehead, upon which he laboured
as a bondsman. The lands chanced to belong to the Crown; and James
directed him to come to the Palace of Holyrood, and enquire for the
Gudeman of Ballangeigh. The poor man came as appointed, and, as the
king had given orders for his admission, he was soon brought into the
royal presence. James, still dressed in his travelling attire, received
him as the Gudeman of Ballangeigh, conducted him from one apartment to
another, by way of shewing him the palace, and then asked if he would
like to see the king. John Howison—for such was his name—said that
nothing would give him so much pleasure, if he were only sure that
he might be brought into the king’s hall without giving offence. The
Gudeman of Ballangeigh, of course, undertook that the king would not be
angry. ‘But,’ said John, ‘how am I to know his grace from the nobles
who will be all about him?’ ‘Easily,’ replied his companion, ‘all the
others will be bareheaded—the king alone will wear his bonnet.’
‘So speaking, King James introduced the countryman into a great hall,
which was filled by the nobility and officers of the crown. John was
a little frightened, and drew close to his attendant, but was still
unable to distinguish the King. ‘I told you that you should know him by
his wearing of his hat,’ said his conductor. ‘Then,’ said John, after
he had again looked round the room; ‘it must be either you or me, for
all but us are bareheaded.’
‘The king laughed at John’s fancy; and, that the good yeoman might
have occasion for mirth also, he made him a present of the farm of
Braehead, which he had wished so much to possess, on condition that
John Howison, and his successors, should be ready to present an ewer
and basin, for the king to wash his hands, when his Majesty should come
to Holyrood Palace, or should pass the bridge of Cramond. Accordingly,
in the year 1822, when George Fourth came to Scotland, the descendant
of John Howison, who still possesses the estate which was given to his
ancestor, appeared at a solemn festival, and offered his Majesty water
from a silver ewer, that he might perform the service by which he held
his lands.’ _Tales of a Grandfather—Notes to Lady of the Lake._
Another of James’ frolics is thus related, by Mr Campbell, from the
statistical account. ‘Being benighted when out a-hunting, and separated
from his attendants, he happened to enter a cottage in the midst of a
moor, at the foot of the Ochil Hills, near Alloa, where, unknown, he
was kindly received. In order to regale their unexpected guest, the
goodman desired the goodwife to fetch the hen that roosted nearest
the cock, which is always the plumpest, for the stranger’s supper.
The king, highly pleased with his night’s lodgings and hospitable
entertainment, told mine host, at parting, that he should be glad to
return his civility, and requested that, the first time he came to
Stirling, he would call at the castle, and enquire for the Gudeman
of Ballangeigh. Donaldson, the landlord, did not fail to call on the
Gudeman of Ballangeigh, when his astonishment, at finding that the king
had been his guest, afforded no small amusement to the merry monarch
and his courtiers. To carry on the pleasantry, he was henceforth
designated by James with the title of the King of the Moors, which name
and designation have descended from father to son ever since, and they
have continued in possession of the identical spot, the property of the
Earl of Mar, till very lately, when this nobleman, with reluctance,
turned out the descendant and representative of the King of the Moors,
on account of his Majesty’s invincible indolence, and great dislike to
reform or innovation of any kind; although, from the spirited example
of his neighbour tenants on the same estate, he was convinced that
similar exertion would promote his advantage.’
To give something like historical authority to these stories, which
are in a great measure mere matter of tradition, I may mention, that
a clergyman, writing a letter to James the Sixth, in 1597, within
fifty-five years after the death of their hero, says, ‘Wald your
Majesty hazard to imitat King James the Fifth, of famous memorie, and
travell as a privat and unsuspected man, alone, through the country, ye
wald get more information of your Majesties subjects affection towards
you, and that in half a-year, nor hitherto ye have done in all your
life long.’ _Calderwood’s Church History, M.S., Advocates’ Library,
vol. 5, p. 158._
NOTE 7. p. 19.
These letters, in the Saxon character, and arranged in a peculiar way,
form a common ornament on the corners of the gothic pillars, and on
other parts, of our principal old churches throughout the country. They
seem to have escaped the pious fury of the Reformers, by virtue of
their unintelligibility.
NOTE 8. p. 21.
In Herbertshire House, the seat of William Morehead, Esquire, is an old
painting, representing the Gardens and King’s Park in their original
state. A lady is seen walking in the gardens; and a deer is poking its
head over the wall which divided them from the park.
NOTE 9. p. 23.
This wall is of greater antiquity than that around the King’s Park at
Edinburgh, which was built by James V. It appears to have existed so
early as 1505; and, in all probability, it was built many years earlier
than even that remote date. It is thus alluded to in a charter granted
by James IV. to the magistrates of Stirling in 1505:
‘Quia, pro singulari favore quo gerimus erga dilectos nostros burgenses
et communitatem burgi nostri de Striveling, et in recompensatione pro
terris suis communibus de _Gallohillis_, dicto nostro burgo per ipsos
nobis concess., et nunc wallo per nos. castro et peke [_q. d. park_]
de Striveling inclusis; dedimus et concessimus hereditarie dictis
burgensibus et communitati, totas et integras acras nostras terrarum
quae olim fuerunt de le _auld park_ prope Striveling, jacen. INTER
MURUM LAPIDEUM nove peke nostre antedict. ex parte occidentali, et
terras nuncupatas _Bennies Croft_,[B] ac croftam leprosorum, ex parte
orientali, et terras nuncupatas le _Southfield_ pertinen. abbati et
conventui monasterii nostri de Dumfermling ex parte australi, et terras
nuncupatas le _Rudecroft_ ex parte boreali; una cum jure patronatûs et
donatione capillanie altaris Sancti Michaelis,[C] per quondam Magistrum
Thomam Carmichaell vicarium de Striveling, intra ecclesiam parochialem
fundat. ad nostram dispositionem et donationem quotiens vacaverit nunc
spectan.’
[B] _Bennies Croft_ is now the well known field of _Allan Park_.
[C] The parish Church of Stirling, prior to the Reformation in 1559,
was attached to the Monastery of Dominicans or Black Friars, near the
foot of Friar’s Wynd. This Monastery, again, was dependent upon the
Monastery of Benedictines or Black Monks at Dunfermline. Hence the
circumstance of the lands of Southfield having belonged to the Abbot
and Convent of Dunfermline; and hence, too, the circumstance of the
first minister of Stirling’s glebe having been originally situated in
Southfield, and of Southfield being still in the parish of Stirling,
and not in the parish of St. Ninians.
NOTE 10. p. 35.