92 Tue CAsTLE OF Dumrriés. 
the ejection of John, son of Laghlan, and John Mounville through 
the time aforesaid. Of 16 pence of annual rent due from a 
certain holding of William Malkynson in the aforesaid burgh, 
remaining in the king’s hand through the ejection of Gilbert de la 
Haye, and 8 pence of rent due from the holding of Gilbert le 
Smith in the same burgh, remaining in the King’s hand through 
the ejection of the same Gilbert, there are no replies, because 
the two holdings lay waste at the time of this account. From 
one holding in the same burgh remaining in the king’s hand 
through the ejection of Earl Patrick (who was also ejected from 
the lands of Glencairn) there is no reply, because the said holding 
was waste during the time of this account. The sum of the 
whole received £10 1s Od, which they paid up on their account, 
and are satisfied.’’ 
The same bailiffs, William Malkynson and John Smerles, 
collectors, of the new customs, of Dumfries, accounted for 7 
shillings and 11 pence received, which they paid at Berwick on 
the 12th day of September in the 10th year without acquittance, 
and are satisfied. 
Famine was rife in the country. The English garrisons of 
Berwick and Jedburgh, driven from want of food to become bands 
of robbers, plundered friends and foes alike, and the men-at- 
arms, the foot soldiers, said seized the dead horses, leaving 
nothing for their sustenance. William de Dacre, writing to John 
bishop of Winchester, the Chancellor, “Tells the news of the 
march where he is, viz., that the vale of Annan is so utterly wasted 
and burned that from Lochmaben to Carlisle, on the Scottish 
side, there is neither man nor beast left.’’ 
CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
We have endeavoured to recover something of the form and 
character of the Castle of Dumfries, and its relation to the 
distressful war so long carried on between the realms of England 
and Scotland. 
The natural advantages of the situation, the formidable 
nature of the fortifications which we have seen, were cast about 
it by King Edward, and the vestiges which remain attest it to 
have been, according to the requirements of the time, a strong- 
hold of no mean order ; and it with Lochmaben and Caerlaverock 
commanded one of the gates of Scotland, and it served as a centre 
