A' LoRBURXE. 97 



If the position assigned to the motto as being under tlie arms 

 is taken in the sense of being lower clown the street, which may 

 well enough be allowed, Dr Burnside's description so completely 

 applies in every respect to the Knockhill stone as to leave no room 

 for doubt that it is identical with that which in the year 1791 was 

 to be seen on the front of the Prison of Dumfries. How it comes 

 to be at Knockhill is easily understood. The array of carved 

 fi-agments on the wall of the summer-house witness the hand of 

 the collector, who, it may be presumed, secured the stone when 

 the old prison was demolished in the year 1808. 



In reg-ard to the period to which the stone is assignable, Dr 

 Anderson, to whom I submitted a photograjA, expresses the 

 opinion that the style of the letter generally seems to indicate the 

 period 1580 to 1600. The circumstances point to a period more 

 remote. 



The meaning of this comiection of the town's motto with the 

 arms described, and of the motto itself, are matters of conjecture. 

 Dr Burnside infers that these were the ancient arms of the town, 

 St. Michael, which he says had been in use for a great many years, 

 being, it was supix)sed, adopted subsequently. This, however, is 

 unlikely, as St. Michael, the tutelary saint of the place, has always, 

 so far as known, been borne on the municipal seal and other 

 insignia. Xo. 1154 Laing's Seals, an imperfect impression found 

 among some old papers in the Towai Clerk's oflSce, is thus 

 described : — '■ St. Michael, armed with sword and shield, standing 

 upon the vanquished dragon ; at the sides a crescent and a star ; 

 inscribed, 5' Communitatis Burgi De Dumfries." Xo date is stated 

 or suggested. For two hundred years at least St. Michael has 

 been represented not with sword and shield, but a crosiei', some- 

 times intherig'ht hand, sometimes in the left, and the designs vary 

 also in respect to the use of the dragon and the serpent. 



A part of the stone is wanting, and it seems unlikely that it 

 would originally be lopsided as it is now. The motto probably 

 occupied the centre, with a shield on the right balancing the 

 existing one on the left, and possibly the former bore St. Michael, 

 the town's arms, while the latter, which corresponds with the 

 arms of the Browns of Carsluith ; Gilbert Brown, Abbot of Xew- 

 abbey, and others, might represent an official or some one having- 

 a special connection with the burgh. In any case this would seem 



