2''^ S. YIII. Sept. 3. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



193 



of " N. & Q.," better versed in the history of the 

 period, could find something that would confirm 

 or disprove Mrs. Elliott's account. A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



MAJOB DUNCANSON AND THE MASSACEE OF 

 GLENCOE. 



(2"^ S. viii. 109.) 



Not having seen Blackwood's Magazine for the 

 present month, I cannot say what view is taken 

 by the writer of the article contained therein re- 

 lative to the conduct of Major Robert Duncan- 

 son. I am unable to establish Duncanson's identity, 

 as I cannot trace his military career, but it is cer- 

 tain that a Robert Duncanson succeeded George 

 Wade as colonel of the 33rd regiment, February 

 12th, 1705. He was, I think, wounded May 8th, 

 same year, at the siege of Valencia de Alcantara, 

 and probably died in 1717, as he was succeeded 

 on March 12th of that year by Lieut.-Col. Henry 

 Hawley, who was promoted to the colonelcy of 

 the 33rd Regiment from the 4th Dragoons. The 

 latter officer died March 24th, 1759, being then 

 Colonel of the Royal Dragoons. 



The massacre of Glencoe occurred on February 

 13th, 1692, and I believe that the regiments, of 

 which some members committed the massacre, 

 were commanded by Colonel John Hill and Archi- 

 bald, tenth Earl, and subsequently first Duke, of 

 Argyll. Duncanson was Major of the Earl of 

 Argyll's regiment, which was embodied in April, 

 1689, and was disbanded in 1697, after the Treaty 

 of Ryswick, owing to a vote of the House of Com- 

 mons "that all the forces raised since the year 

 1680 should be disbanded," and that the standing 

 army should be reduced to 10,000 men. 



At the time of the massacre there was, I regret 

 to say, a Colonel John Hill in our army, who issued 

 an order dated February 12th, 1692, from Fort 

 William in Scotland, to Lieut.-Col. James Hamil-- 

 toune to " march straight to Glencoe with four 

 hundred men of my regiment, and four hundred 

 men of my Lord Argyle's regiment under the 

 command of Major Duncanson, and there put in 

 due execution the orders you have received from 

 the Commander-in-Chief." 



A Colonel John Hill was appointed to the co- 

 lonelcy of the 11th Regiment, May 8th, 1705, on 

 which day Duncanson was wounded at Valencia 

 de Alcantara. This Colonel Hill was a brigadier 

 at the unfortunate battle of Almanza, April 27th, 

 1707, where he led the 11th Regiment, and was 

 taken prisoner along with fourteen other officers 

 of that corps. He commanded the same regiment 

 at the siege of Mons, and was wounded, Septem- 

 ber 26th, 1709, during the siege, which ended 

 October 21st, same year, by the surrender of the 

 French garrison to the British army. He was 

 succeeded in the colonelcy of the 11th Regiment, 



July 30th, 1715, by Colonel Edward Montague; 

 and Colonel Hill probably died at that period, as 

 I cannot trace his removal to the colonelcy of any 

 other regiment. 



I refer your readers to Professor Aytoun's Lays 

 of the Scottish Cavaliers, edition of 1840, pp. 118 to 

 132. inclusive, and to Brown's History of the 

 Highlanders and Highland Clans^ for an account 

 of the cold-blooded piece of state policy known 

 and abhorred as the " Massacre of Glencoe." 



G. L. S. 



ORIGIN OF THE JUDGES BLACK CAP, 



(2"'^ S. viii. 130.) 



Zedler mentions, under Miilze, that certain 

 priests of N. Africa used to put on a cap before 

 officiating, in order to stop their ears against every 

 sound that might interfere with their duties. In 

 like manner it might be supposed that the judge, 

 when about to pronounce on a criminal the ex- 

 treme sentence of the law, puts on the cap as an 

 intimation that he can now give ear to no one, 

 and that Justice must for the occasion be deaf, as 

 formerly represented blind. 



With us, however, while the judge wears a cap 

 when he condemns a prisoner to death, the pri- 

 soner also wears a cap when he is executed. Both 

 these practices are of ancient origin. 



The practice of covering the criminal's head 

 when he suffered death was Roman ; e. g, " qui 

 parentem necassit, caput obnubito, coleoque insu- 

 tus in profluentem mergitor." (XH. Tables.^ So 

 in Cicero pro Rob., " caput obnubito, arbori infelici 

 suspendito." Hence the nightcap of our modern 

 hangings, though the hanging itself is diflferent. 

 The ancient Germans employed for a similar pur- 

 pose a black clothj swarte doc, or schwartze Tuch. 

 (Grimm, Deutsche Reehts Alter thilmer, p. 684.) 



The practice of our judges, in putting on a 

 black cap when they condemn a criminal to death, 

 will be found, on consideration, to have a deep 

 and sad significance. Covering the head was in 

 ancient days a sign of mourning. " Haman hasted 

 to his house, mourning and having his head co- 

 vered." (Esth. vi. 12.) In like manner Demo- 

 sthenes, when insulted by the populace, went home 

 with his head covered. " And David . . . wept 

 as he went up, and had his head covered ; . . . . 

 and all the people that was with him covered 

 every man his head and they went up, weeping 

 as they went up." (2 Sam. xv. 30.) Darius, 

 too, covered his head on learning the death of his 

 queen. But, amongst ourselves, we find traces 

 of a similar mode of expressing grief, at funerals. 

 The mourners had the hood " drawn forward over 

 the head.'' (Fosbroke, Encyc. of Antiq. p. 951.) 

 Indeed the hood drawn forward thus over the 

 head, is still part of the mourning habiliment of 

 females, when they follow the corpse. And with 



