396 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxix. 



ladder a thousand ways and neither they nor the hooks 

 beeing cover'd with cloath as they were ordain'd to be, 

 they made a very dissagreeable noise against the wall. 

 But the fellow continuing to pull till he got all in over I 

 believe furnisht us generally with one suggestion. The place 

 from which the fellow let down the string was four or five 

 paces from the Sally Port on the archt turn towards the 

 west kirk and on the brink of a precipice where the wall 

 seemed to be considerably higher and it beeing the Sally 

 port at which we had agreed to goe up with the con- 

 veniency of a wall on each side we concluded that he had 

 chosen the first place for his own greater ease in leaning 

 over and taking up the Ladder, and that he was prepareing 

 to let it down where we had hopes it wou'd serve. But 

 while we are in suspence about that, we heard a sudden 

 noise on which the fellow threw our Ladder hastily over 

 which made a dismall rattling for a long time, then fir'd 

 his piece amongst us I don't doubt with sufficient resent- 

 ment and after him we had a volley from the Patrole. I 

 was grown so stiff with standing there so long after my 

 former violent exercise that when I was got down I found 

 myself alone and after having call'd on my Brother again 

 and again and on the dearest Names to me in the Company 

 to no purpose, not being able to step over the narrow ditch 

 on the side of the way I made a Compass and sat down 

 with my Gun in my hand on the first Sheaves. I had 

 stumbled on a musquet which somebody had left on the 

 Rock by which I had cut my left hand in two places 

 bruis'd my thigh and tore out and shatter'd my pocket 

 with a pistoll I had there. But my Soul was too much 

 fill'd with grief and indignation to advert to anything of 

 that nature. One Mr. Smith 1 returning in search of some 

 friend to take his fate [sic] knowing my voice came to me 

 and we going together by the way to the Dean met with 

 Holland 2 and he beeing my old acquaintance and neighbour, 

 with abundance of kyndness offer'd me his horse that was 



1 Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith was the cypher name of Lord Stormont ; 

 W. Smith, junior, that of his son James Murray. Their direct associa- 

 tion with the plotters is nowhere stated — is it possible that one or other 

 is referred to here ? 



2 Holland was to have been the messenger conveying intelligence to 

 Mar in the event of success of the plot. 



