Transactions. 243 



his examination of the records preserved in that building. These 

 documents include the Council Minutes from 1678 to the present 

 year, and a number of important "dispositions." The lecturer 

 expressed his surprise that the older Council records,, from -wliich 

 much curious information could be gleaned, had never been tran- 

 scribed and published. Reterring to the state of the burgh two 

 hundred 3'ears ago, he said : The poverty of Annan in the closing 

 years of the seventeenth century seems to have been great. One 

 privilege, that of collecting customs, was enjoyed by the town, 

 having been granted by Charles II. to recompense the burghers for 

 their losses during the civil wars which raged in the time of his 

 father. A ferry boat on the river was " pairte of the common 

 good," but the rent yielded by it seldom amounted to 40 pounds 

 Scots per annum. The appearance of the town shewed its insig- 

 nificance. The houses were small and of rude construction, while 

 the church was a plain building without a steeple. The sanitary 

 condition of the burgh was unsatisfactory, though the magistrates 

 now and again issued orders for the cleansing of the street, and 

 fined persons found guilty of indulging in practices detrimental to 

 the public health. The inhabitants being " sudden and fierce in 

 quarrel," fights and aggravated assaults were common. In 1686 

 the schoolmaster was fined ten pounds Scots for fighting, and in 

 1700 the town clerk was condemned to pay fifty pounds Scots " for 

 a blood and ryott committed by him upon Robert Johnstone, son 

 to the deceased David Johnstone, sometime bailie." Women not 

 infrequently figured in assault cases, " ryving of hair " being one of 

 the favourite amusements of the gentler sex. The good old sport 

 of tossing in a blanket was not unknown in Annan, as is shown by 

 an entry, dated 1694, recoi'ding the infliction of a fine upon two 

 men " for raising of an blanket and throwing of David Johnstone 

 and Adam Johnstone to the ground." If quarrelsome, the people 

 were comparatively honest. At times a goose was stolen from the 

 common, or peas and beans were taken from a neighbour's garden, 

 but few serious cases of theft occurred. Offences against property 

 were puni.shed with more than the usual severity. In 1701 a 

 servant maid, convicted of complicity in a theft of barley from her 

 master's barn, " was ordained to be put in the stocks on Monday 

 morning, and to continue there during the magistrates' and 

 Council's pleasure." The court, considering it probable that the 

 girl's master would prove tender-hearted and refuse to give her up 

 on the awful Monday morning, wisely appended to the sentence 



