TRANSACTIONS. 241 
the exertions of the stout burgesses of Annan had proved of the 
utmost value in the struggle for the maintenance of the rights of 
the little kingdom of Scotland. Not only was the burgh renowned 
in history ; it was rich in association with some of the most illus- 
trious of modern Scotchmen. The greatest lyrical poet the British 
Isles have produced, one of the most intrepid of African explorers, 
a pulpit orator of unique power and spiritual elevation, and the 
deepest and most earnest thinker of our time had all been more or 
less clusely connected with it. As the town in which Irving was 
born, and in which Carlyle received his education, Annan would 
never cease to be regarded with interest. 
Having made a brief reference to the churchyard, and quoted 
several of the more curious epitaphs, Mr Miller proceeded : Annan 
Castle, the site of which has so long been occupied by the church- 
yard, was erected at least a hundred years before the War of 
Independence for the protection of the town, which, as references 
in various ancient documents show, was even at that early period 
a place of some importance. In the year 1300 the Castle was 
repaired by Robert the Bruce, whose ancestors had obtained the 
whole of Annandale in fief. A stone from the building, with 
Bruce’s name and the date 1300 inscribed on it, was seen by 
Pennant “in the wall of a gentleman’s garden,” when he visited 
the town in 1769. It is now at Bideford, in Devon, from which, 
let us hope, it will one day be brought back to Annan. The Castle 
is associated with not a few stirring events in Scottish history. Of 
these perhaps the most memorable is the defeat of Edward Baliol 
by Lord Archibald Douglas in 1332. Shortly after his coronation 
at Scone Baliol gained possession of the fortress, and commanded 
the barons of Scotland to repair to it and do him homage. His 
movements, however, were carefully watched by Douglas, who, at 
the head of one thousand horsemen, rode hastily from Moffat, and 
falling upon the town and castle at midnight, routed the forces of 
the usurper with much slaughter. Baliol lost his brother Henry 
and the most distinguished of his English followers in the action, 
and only saved his own life by fleeing precipitately to Carlisle. 
During the long wars with England the Castle was frequently 
captured and laid in ruins. As the chief stronghold of the town 
which was the key to the West of Scotland, it could not be 
abandoned to destruction ; and after demolition by the foe it was 
always speedily rebuilt. Eventually the pious but poverty- 
stricken burgesses obtained permission from James VI. either to 
