A zealous and respectable antiquary and cultivator of historical
literature, Joseph Train is likewise worthy of a niche in the temple of
Scottish minstrelsy. His ancestors were for several generations
land-stewards on the estate of Gilmilnscroft, in the parish of Sorn, and
county of Ayr, where he was born on the 6th November 1779. When he was
eight years old, his parents removed to Ayr, where, after a short
attendance at school, he was apprenticed to a mechanical occupation. His
leisure hours were sedulously devoted to reading and mental improvement.
In 1799, he was balloted for the Ayrshire Militia; in which he served
for three years till the regiment was disbanded on the peace of Amiens.
When he was stationed at Inverness, he had commissioned through a
bookseller a copy of Currie's edition of the "Works of Burns," then sold
at three half-guineas, and this circumstance becoming incidentally known
to the Colonel of the regiment, Sir David Hunter Blair, he caused the
copy to be elegantly bound and delivered free of expense. Much pleased
with his intelligence and attainments, Sir David, on the disembodiment
of the regiment, actively sought his preferment; he procured him an
agency at Ayr for the important manufacturing house of Finlay and Co.,
Glasgow, and in 1808, secured him an appointment in the Excise. In 1810,
Train was sometime placed on service as a supernumerary in Perthshire;
he was in the year following settled as an excise officer at Largs,
from which place in 1813 he was transferred to Newton Stewart. The
latter location, from the numerous objects of interest which were
presented in the surrounding district, was highly suitable for his
inclinations and pursuits. Recovering many curious legends, he embodied
some of them in metrical tales, which, along with a few lyrical pieces,
he published in 1814, in a thin octavo volume,[114] under the title of
"Strains of the Mountain Muse." While the sheets were passing through
the press, some of them were accidentally seen by Sir Walter Scott, who,
warmly approving of the author's tastes, procured his address, and
communicated his desire to become a subscriber for the volume.
Gratified by the attention of Sir Walter, Mr Train transmitted for his
consideration several curious Galloway traditions, which he had
recovered. These Sir Walter politely acknowledged, and begged the favour
of his endeavouring to procure for him some account of the present
condition of Turnberry Castle, for his poem the "Lord of the Isles,"
which he was then engaged in composing. Mr Train amply fulfilled the
request by visiting the ruined structure situated on the coast of
Ayrshire; and he thereafter transmitted to his illustrious correspondent
those particulars regarding it, and of the landing of Robert Bruce, and
the Hospital founded by that monarch, at King's Case, near Prestwick,
which are given by Sir Walter in the notes to the fifth canto of the
poem. During a succession of years he regularly transmitted legendary
tales and scraps to Sir Walter, which were turned to excellent account
by the great novelist. The fruits of his communications appear in the
"Chronicles of the Canongate," "Guy Mannering," "Old Mortality," "The
Heart of Mid Lothian," "The Fair Maid of Perth," "Peveril of the Peak,"
"Quintin Durward," "The Surgeon's Daughter," and "Redgauntlet." He
likewise supplied those materials on which Sir Walter founded his dramas
of the "Doom of Devorgoil," and "Macduff's Cross."
When Sir Walter was engaged, a few years previous to his death, in
preparing the Abbotsford or first uniform edition of his works, Mr Train
communicated for his use many additional particulars regarding a number
of the characters in the Waverley Novels, of which he had originally
introduced the prototypes to the distinguished author. His most
interesting narrative was an account of the family of Robert Paterson,
the original "Old Mortality," which is so remarkable in its nature, that
we owe no apology for introducing it. Mr Train received his information
from Robert, a son of "Old Mortality," then in his seventy-fifth year,
and residing at Dalry, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. According to
the testimony of this individual, his brother John sailed for America in
1774, where he made a fortune during the American War. He afterwards
settled at Baltimore, where he married, and lived in prosperous
circumstances. He had a son named Robert, after "Old Mortality," his
father, and a daughter named Elizabeth; Robert espoused an American
lady, who, surviving him, was married to the Marquis of Wellesley, and
Elizabeth became the first wife of Prince Jerome Bonaparte.[115]
On his first connexion with the Excise, Mr Train turned his attention to
the most efficient means of checking illicit distillation in the
Highlands; and an essay which he prepared, suggesting improved
legislation on the subject, was in 1815 laid before the Board of Excise
and Customs, and transmitted with their approval to the Lords of the
Treasury. His suggestions afterwards became the subject of statutory
enactment. At this period, he began a correspondence with Mr George
Chalmers, author of the "Caledonia," supplying him with much valuable
information for the third volume of that great work. He had shortly
before traced the course of an ancient wall known as the "Deil's Dyke,"
for a distance of eighty miles from the margin of Lochryan, in
Wigtonshire, to Hightae, in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, and an account of
this remarkable structure, together with a narrative of his discovery of
Roman remains in Wigtonshire, greatly interested his indefatigable
correspondent. In 1820, through the kindly offices of Sir Walter, he was
appointed Supervisor. In this position he was employed to officiate at
Cupar-Fife and at Kirkintilloch. He was stationed in succession at South
Queensferry, Falkirk, Wigton, Dumfries, and Castle-Douglas. From these
various districts he procured curious gleanings for Sir Walter, and
objects of antiquity for the armory at Abbotsford.
Mr Train contributed to the periodicals both in prose and verse. Many of
his compositions were published in the _Dumfries Magazine_, _Bennett's
Glasgow Magazine_, and the _Ayr Courier_ and _Dumfries Courier_
newspapers. An interesting tale from his pen, entitled "Mysie and the
Minister," appeared in the thirtieth number of _Chambers' Edinburgh
Journal_; he contributed the legend of "Sir Ulrick Macwhirter" to Mr
Robert Chambers' "Picture of Scotland," and made several gleanings in
Galloway for the "Popular Rhymes of Scotland," published by the same
gentleman. He had long contemplated the publication of a description of
Galloway, and he ultimately afforded valuable assistance to the Rev.
William Mackenzie in preparing his history of that district. Mr Train
likewise rendered useful aid to several clergymen in Galloway, in
drawing up the statistical accounts of their parishes,--a service which
was suitably acknowledged by the writers.
Having obtained from Sir Walter Scott a copy of Waldron's "Description
of the Isle of Man," a very scarce and curious work, Mr Train conceived
the idea of writing a history of that island. In the course of his
researches, he accidentally discovered a M.S. volume containing one
hundred and eight acts of the Manx Legislature, prior to the accession
of the Atholl family to that kingdom. Of this acquisition he transmitted
a transcript to Sir Walter, along with several Manx traditions, as an
appropriate acknowledgment for the donation he had received. In 1845 he
published his "History of the Isle of Man," in two large octavo volumes.
His last work was a curious and interesting history of a religious sect,
well known in the south of Scotland by the name of "The Buchanites."
After a period of twenty-eight years' service in the Excise, Mr Train
had his name placed on the retired list. He continued to reside at
Castle-Douglas, in a cottage pleasantly situated on the banks of
Carlingwark Lake. To the close of his career, he experienced pleasure in
literary composition. He died at Lochvale, Castle-Douglas, on the 7th
December 1852. His widow, with one son and one daughter, survive. A few
months after his death, a pension of fifty pounds on the Civil List was
conferred by the Queen on his widow and daughter, "in consequence of his
personal services to literature, and the valuable aid derived by the
late Sir Walter Scott from his antiquarian and literary researches
prosecuted under Sir Walter's direction."
[114] Mr Train published, in 1806, a small volume, entitled "Poetical
Reveries."
[115] Sir Walter Scott was convinced of the accuracy of the statement,
regarding the extraordinary connexion between the Wellesley and
Bonaparte families, and deferred publishing it only to avoid giving
offence to his intimate friend, the Duke of Wellington.