Burns AND MOFFAT. 165 
fact of the vintners being the principal inn is given in the licensing 
list for 1803, where John Wrght, vintner, is granted a license. 
From another source I learn that Wright was tenant of the King’s 
Arms. 
The present proprietor’s titles for the Spur Inn (now known 
as Proudfoot House) only date from 1818. In that year the 
proprietor, Alex. Craig, disposed of the property to James Carr, 
Harrington, Cumberland. Alex. Craig is described in the dis- 
position granted to James Carr as innkeeper, and his name 
appears on the licensing list from the year 1784 till after 1795, 
and in the list he is described variously as merchant or innkeeper. 
As Mr Craig would be proprietor of the Spur Inn for a number 
of years before he sold it, this, I think, disposes of any claim the 
Spur Inn may have to the epigram. The titles to the property 
prior to 1818 would in all probability be recalled by the superior, 
and the existing titles granted. Nearly all the old titles in Moffat 
were recalled by the superior and new titles granted in the early 
decades of the 1800’s. According to the titles of the Black Bull, 
which date from the year 1779, Elizabeth Duncan and John 
Spence Duncan were the proprietors, and in 1786 one Archibald 
Murray acquired a part interest, and it remained in their hands 
till 1821. Neither the name of Duncan or Archibald Murray 
appears on the licensing list (the names of a John and Robert 
Murray do). It is therefore evident that the Black Bull was not 
occupied by any of its proprietors, but was in the hands of a 
tenant, whose name will appear on the licensing list already 
given for the year 1795, but whose identity is at present unknown. 
But at that time the Black Bull had no claim to being one of the 
principal inns of Moffat, as it was the recognised headquarters 
for the carriers’ carts, of which over 80 passed through Moffat 
every week going to and from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries, 
and Carlisle, and this characteristic it retained till the entry of 
the “iron horse ’’ destroyed the carriers’ trade. With regard to 
Rae’s Inn, the Raes were a well-known Moffat family, the last of 
whom emigrated to Australia in the year 1848. Rae Street, a 
narrow street on the west side of the High Street, next the Buc- 
cleuch Hotel, derives its name from them. The Buccleuch 
Hotel (it was not known by that name till after 1860) was their 
property and in their occupation till they left the place, when 
q they sold it to Mrs Cranstoun, at that time tenant of the Annan- 
