96 Scottish Burghal Life. 



relief of the strang-er [ 1] : but that they nieiue [/.(?., complain] 

 thameselffis to the saidis Provost and Bailzies, the ordinar judges, 

 ffor decisioun, and put order to qtsumever actioun, quarrel 1, or 

 coutroversie thair faliis out betwix nycbtbor and nychtbor; and 

 dulia deis in the contrair sail pay xl. lib. money of unlaw, tyne 

 thair fredome, and be banishit the toun for evir." 



BAKBAEOUS PUNISHMENTS. 



Banishment from the town was a common form of punish- 

 ment, and it was frequently accompanied by personal chastise- 

 ment of a severe nature. Thus, on 1 7th February, 158S, John 

 M'Come was sentenced to be " scurgit throw the toun and brunt 

 on the schouder, and thairefter banishit the toun for evir," for 

 '• sundrie crymes and innormeteis," which are not particularly 

 specified. At the same sitting of the court four women — Jonet 

 M'Burnie, Kate M'Morrane, May Forsythe, and Jonet M'Lene — 

 for " sundrie abhominabill crymes and evill deidis, qlkis wer 

 notour and sufficientlie proven," were ordered to remove them- 

 selves out of the town " the morne, in the morning, with bag and 

 baggage; and gif they failzie thairin, the saidis judges ordains 

 thanie, and ilk ane of thame, to be apprehendit and taue, and 

 thaireftir the said day to be scurgit and brunt on thair schoul- 

 deris, as was practeisit on Johnne M'Come, but partialitie." In 

 the same month another person was sentenced to be banished 

 from the town '• in respect of diverss his evill doings, leiding ane 

 ill lyfe and conversatioun," In March, IGOO, the Council enacted 

 that breakers of the seventh commandment who were not able to 

 pay the penalties imposed for their trespass were to have their 

 heads " torkit" at the market cross on a market day, and were 

 thereafter to be banished the town. Torking was a species of 

 torture of the nature of pinching or puncturing. 



TRADE IN WINE— INTERCOURSE WITH FRANCE. 



In glancing at the ti'ade of the burgh, one is surprised at the 

 extent to which wine figures in it. This, of course, is due to the 

 fact that Kirkcudbright was a port, and there was a good deal of 

 intercourse with France and other parts of the continent. The 

 frequency of this intercourse is illustrated by an agreement em- 

 bodied in a record of the burgh court of the year 1581. John 

 M'Cuffie, burgess of Kirkcudbright, and Thomas Masonn, burgess 



