CLAVERHOUSE IN DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY. 111 
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only once in June. On that occasion the “ instructions ’’ were 
given to the Commissioners of Justiciary, who were about to 
perambulate the country in June, and the Sheriff of Wigtown 
was instructed to attend them. Consequently he was in Dum- 
fries on the 26th June with his troop guarding the judges. 
He was soon in the saddle scouring the Borders in search of the 
Rye House plotters, but soon again appearing in Council, 4 
times in July, 6 in August, 4 in September, 1 in October, 11 in 
November, and 4 in December—in all 34 times since appointed. 
He was also placed on the Committee of Public Affairs on 4th 
October. From that time on we may say he was up to the 
elbows in the blood of his countrymen, attending the Council 53 
times in 1684 and 40 times in 1685. On Tuesday, 10th June, he 
married the Hon. Jean Cochrane. 
Claverhouse was present when the Council authorised a 
letter advising Charles that it was better to disable his enemies 
than to flatter them (15th July, 1684). On 5th September he 
watched Carstares, afterwards Principal, tortured in the thumb 
screws for an hour. Next day he was present when “ instruc- 
tions’’ regarding conventicles were given, and justices were 
empowered to use fire and sword. Meantime a gallant affair had 
occurred in Nithsdale. On 2d July General Dalyell was ordered 
to convey from the jail in Dumfries Alexander Gordon in 
Kinstuir, William Grierson of Lochurr, James Welsh of Little 
Cluden, and other prisoners who had been sentenced at the 
circuit court in June, and who, with all the idle and vicious 
wastrels of Edinburgh, were to be handed over to Robert 
Malloch and shipped to the Plantations. Claverhouse’s troop 
got the string as far as the defile of Enterkin, where a successful 
ambuscade was laid, so that the prisoners were released on 29th 
July. Claverhouse, during his honeymoon in June, was absent 
from meetings of the Council, but he attended ten times in 
July, and was present on 29th and 31st July, and also on Ist 
August, 1684. He was soon in the saddle again. He rode by 
Douglas, Mauchline, and Thornhill. In Closeburn, on the 7th 
or 8th, he caught four men, whom he haled to Dumfries, where 
he was on 9th August. Three days later he was in Edinburgh 
with his prisoners. 
On 6th September, Queensberry, Drumlanrig, and Claver- 
house were commissioned to hold justiciary courts in Dumfries, 
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