CHAPTEK XIX. 



THE MILL AND THE MILLER THIRLAGE FETCHING HOME 



THE MILLSTONE MULTURES THE MILLER'S TYRANNY 



SEARCH FOR A MILLWRIGHT THE OLD SYSTEM 



FALLING OBSOLETE. 



AMONG the *' parts, pertinents, and privileges " granted 

 under a baronial charter in the feudal times, perhaps one 

 of the oldest adjuncts of a barony, was the mill. One 

 mill at least, and not unfrequently several, were erected 

 in each barony or lairdship, all the lands of the barony 

 or lairdship being astricted or " thirled " thereto, form- 

 ing the mill " sucken. " The tenants were bound to 

 have their com ground at the mill to which they 

 were thirled, which, in some cases, was not the 

 nearest mill to their farms. Indeed, instances were 

 known of a man having to pass not one, but two mills 

 before he .reached the one at which it was permissible for 

 him to have his com ground. But he had no choice in 

 the matter. Each person in the sucken had to pay mill 

 multures, and to perform certain services, such as assist- 

 ing to bring home a new millstone when required, or 

 aiding in the more frequent operation of clearing out 

 the mill lead. 



The process of fetching home the millstone must, in 

 certain cases, have been a peculiarly formidable one. 

 Indeed, a local " byeword," which had a sort of linger- 

 ing currency, though without any very pointed appli- 

 cation, within quite recent times, would seem to have 

 had its origin in, and be enused as a vivid illustration 

 of, that idea. " As gweed to ye tak a rnillstane oot o' 



