20 Transactions. 



Another object of interest on these occasions was the passing 

 of the Portpatrick mail coach, which used to leave the town at 

 ten o'clock in the evening. It halted at the Post Office, at the 

 top of Buccleuch Street, to take np the letter bags ; and then, 

 with sound of liorn and flash of lamps, if the season was late, 

 and trampling of hurrying steeds, it swept down the street, and 

 disappeared in the darkness of the night, a passing vision of 

 wonder and delight to the youthful imagination. 



A notable character in the burgh at this time was the " town 

 crier," John Crosbie, who, I have been told, undertook the office 

 more for the love of it than from any necessity. He was always 

 neatly and comfortably dressed, and had a dignified and important 

 air, which consorted well with his vocation. Being on friendly 

 terms with an old lady, a relative of mine who resided in 

 Buccleuch Street, he was in the habit of drawing up in front of 

 her house, and after pealing his bell to invite attention, he would 

 deliver the tidings he had to communicate in a loud and 

 sententious manner, and concluding abruptly, would wheel about 

 and proceed on his round. I have heard him aniiounce the sale 

 of salmon at the " fish ci'oss " at sixpence the pound, a price 

 unknown at the present day. 



Another frequenter of the streets, but of a very different type, 

 was a poor half-witted man named " Jamie Pagan." He would 

 be seen at times wandering aimlessly along, clad in garments 

 which might have been borrowed from a "potato bogle," with a 

 battered misshapen hat stuck on one side of his head. The 

 children would sometime shout after him, but he was a harmless 

 creature, and did not seem to mind them. 



Among the various shopkeepers whom I remember, and who 

 as being public characters and worthy citizens I may name 

 without offence, were Thomas Milligan, a tinsmith, usually known 

 by the significant cognomen of " Tin Tam ;" his shop was near 

 the " New Kirk ;" John Anderson, the bookseller, in High 

 Street, whose shop was tlie well-known resort of the literati of 

 the town ; Robert Watt, an ironmonger, who was located 

 opposite the Midsteeple, and Andrew Montgomery, a popular 

 baker, who was on the other side of the same Steeple. 

 On the Plainstones were William Howat, a draper ; John 

 Sinclair, a bookseller ; and Peter Mundell, a tobacconist, 

 who afterwai'ds became laird of Bogrie, and attained to 

 civic honours. Messrs Grregan & Creighton conducted an 



