KiIRKCUDBRIGHT IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 13k 
burgesses of the said burgh quha wir rentallaris of the same 
befoir, and als thair landis callit the Borelands wir set in lang 
takis to the said personis, albeit divers and sundrie of thame to 
quhome the samen wes gevin were depaupirit [became paupers} 
and becum unworthie to keip skat and stent [to bear the public 
burdens, and enjoy the privileges of burgess-ship] with the 
remanent ny*bouris of the said burgh, and that divers young men 
and others burgesses of the said burgh, quha were abill to sus- 
tene the chairges of the toun, wir be dispositioun of the saidis 
landis in manner foirsaid debaureit perpetuallie fra the saidis. 
landis, and culd ressave na commodtie thairof, quhairthrow thay 
wir [compelled] pairtlie to leif the said toun, to the greit dis- 
commiditie thairof, in suffering sik men as were nocht abill to 
underly and fulfill the charges to bruik the proffeit of the 
common landis, and sik men as wir abill thairfoir to want the 
said proffeit, and thairby to depart the said burgh, qlk feuing 
of the saidis landis thay culd not retreit nor annul, sa that 
samekill [so much] thairof as wes gevin to thame that wir nocht 
worthie thairof mycht be of new disponit to thame that wes abill 
and meit thairfoir; bot behovit to mak sum uthir remeid thair- 
anent, and sa willing to recompens thame quha wantit with sum 
uthir landis nocht feuit nor set in lang takis, and knawing that 
na landis perteining the said burgh wir instantilie sa meit to be 
disponit to thame as the common landis of the said burgh callit 
the Mylnflat, qlk first behovit to be declarit common, and in the 
tounis hands, and that because it wes afoir set in tak to sum 
burgesses of the said burgh for certane yeiris, qlk will be sone 
expyrit, and cannot but [without] thair consentis be declarit 
common nor gevin in feu to na uthirs during the tak thairof: 
Thairfoir, for eschewing of the inconvenientis foirsaidis, thay 
altogidder in ane voce, without ony discrepance, hes declarit, 
and be this present act instantlie declaris that the saidis landis 
of Mylnflat and the pertinentis as presentlie, notwithstanding the 
saidis takis thairof, commoun and in the tounis handis, and lesum 
to the toun to dispone the samen to quhatsumevir burgess within 
the said burgh thay pleis, but ony observatioun of the takis 
thairof set to ony of thame of befoir.”’ 
_ The following account of the riding of the marches, of date 
4th May, 1597, gives a more detailed account of the burgh’s 
landed possessions, viz.:—“ The qlk day Williame Fullartoun, 
