ANNAN IN LAst Four DECADES oF 18TH CENTURY. 165 
hereby empower and authorise the Provost and Bailies to contract 
with the above designed George Bell on such terms as to them 
may seem meet for making such trials. And also empower and 
authorise the said Magistrates to draw upon the Treasurer from 
time to time for such sums of money as may be necessary for 
making the said trials, providing always the said sums drawn for 
do not exceed the sum of £80 sterling.’’ 
While the majority of the burgesses were engaged solely in 
legitimate trade, a not inconsiderable minority devoted their 
energies to smuggling. A large contraband trade was carried on 
with the Isle of Man, and Powfoot—well-known at the present 
time as a summer resort—was one of the places where goods 
were landed. Some of the Annan smugglers, or “ free traders,’’ 
as they preferred to be called, were respectable-looking men, 
who could quote Scripture like the revered elders of the Kirk, 
and “never broke the Sabbath but for gain.’? Depend upon it, 
old Tom Trumbull, the hypocritical Annan smuggler in “ Red- 
gauntlet,’’ is no mere fancy sketch! During the last few years of 
his life Burns had frequently occasion to visit the town in the 
discharge of his duties as an officer of the Inland Revenue. No 
doubt the Trumbulls of the place found him sharp enough; but 
according to local tradition he always displayed leniency in his 
dealings with the less hardened offenders. The poet’s tenderness 
of heart is well illustrated in “The Smuggler’s Ruse,’’ an in- 
teresting tale of the Solway by Mr Walter Hawkins, which 
appeared in the “ Annandale Observer ’’ a year or two ago. 
When the town became fairly prosperous the burgesses 
boldly resolved to build a new church, the accommodation 
afforded by the old place of worship near the bridge having long 
been out-grown. A minute of Council relative to the building of 
our present parish church may have for you a certain interest :— 
lst June, 1789. 
“Tn a meeting of the Magistrates and Council held this day 
within the Council House, the Provost represented that, in conse- 
quence of the Act of Council of the second of October last, he 
and the other Magistrates had attended different meetings of the 
Presbytery and Heritors in order to fix upon a situation for build- 
ing a new church, upon receiving plans and estimates from 
tradesmen, and finally settling with the Heritors what proportion 
of the new church should be sett off to the Burgh—when, after 
