DUMFRIES. 



199 



Dumfries, in a few hours to ashes. About this period, the Max- 

 ~~ wells, having increased in power, erected a magnificent 

 Hbtury. cas ti e a t Dumfries, out of the ruins, and almost occupy- 

 ing the site of the friary. ' 



\\ hear little more of Dumfries till the year 1563, 

 at which date Queen Mary and her privy council were 

 there, ratifying a convention of peace with England. 

 Two years after this, her disaffected subjects, having as- 

 sembled a force in the neighbourhood, under the Earls 

 of Argyle, Murray, and Rothes, Mary advanced upon 

 the town with an army of 18,000 men. At her ap- 

 proach, these obnoxious nobles fled into England ; and 

 Maxwell of Terregles, who, on her former visit, had 

 entertained the queen at his house with much hospita- 

 lity, having now incurred the royal displeasure, was glad 

 to make his peace by surrendering his castle of Dum- 

 fries into the linnds of his sovereign. The government 

 of this fortress, however, was not withdrawn from 

 the family ; for in 1567, we find it vested in the same 

 Maxwell, who, the year before, had by marriage acqui- 

 red the title of Lord Herries, and was then devoted to 

 the interests of the queen. It was probably in conse- 

 quence of the decided attachment shewn by so power- 

 ful a nobleman to the caue of his mistress, that the po- 

 pulace of Dumfries tore from the market-cross the he- 

 rald who attempted to proclaim tlie Lord Murray re- 

 gent. 



In 1570, the castle was taken and sacked by the 

 English under tho Earl of Sussex and Lord Scrope, who 

 at the same time did not fail to ravage the town also. 



In 1617, after having been many years resident in 

 England, James VI. being sei/ed, as he told his privy 

 council, " with a longing to see the place of his breed- 

 ing, a salmon-like instinct," set out on a tour through 

 the northern division of his empire, and in his return 

 passed through Dumfries, a place which he had not 

 seen for 29 years before. Here he experienced a recep- 

 tion at once dutiful and affectionate ; and it is believed 

 that, on this occasion, as a reward for their loyalty, anil 

 an encouragement to martial exercises, he presented to 

 the incorporated trades of the burgh a small silver tube 

 in the form of a gun-barrel, as an honorary prize, to be 

 awarded from time to time to the best marksman 

 amongst their members." 



There does not appear to be any thing in the annals 

 of the town worthy of record from this date till 1 706, 

 in which year the inhabitants manifested their keen par- 

 ticipation in the jealousy excited among their country- 

 men, by the incorporation of the kingdom with Eng- 

 land. On the 20th Nov. a tumultuous meeting assem- 

 bled at the cross, and there indignantly committed to 

 the flames the articles of Union, with the names of 

 the commissioners. When the rebellion broke out, 

 however, in 1 7 1 .5, the Dumfriesians retrieved their cha- 

 racter, and evinced the most ardent zeal in the cause of 

 the reigning family. Hearing that the insurgents in- 

 tended to march upon the town, tljey constructed a ram- 

 part ! from the margin of the river, near the moat above 



the town, to St Michael's church-yard, and from thence DiimrVic*. 

 to the river again below the town, which was thus com- V -""Y"*~' > 

 pletely insulated, being embraced betwixt the extreme IIlitor - v ' 

 points by the natural curve of the Nith. These prepa- 

 rations for resistance proved effectual. The enemy, see- 

 ing the determined loyalty of the inhabitants, did not 

 venture forward to the assault, but judged it most pru- 

 dent to alter the direction of their march. In the re- 

 bellion of 1745, however, the town was found in a de- 

 fenceless state, and was entered without resistance by 

 the insurgent army under Charles, who remained from 

 Saturday evening till Monday morning, and laid the ci- 

 tizens under contribution. 



Dumfries has one vote out of five for a member of Political 

 Parliament. The other burghs grouped with it are State. 

 Annan, Lochmaben, Sanquhar, and Kirkcudbright. Its 

 municipal government is vested in a town council, aid- 

 ed, in terms of an act of Parliament passed in 1811, 

 by 12 commissioners of police. The council consists 

 of a provost, three bailies, a dean of guild, a treasurer, 

 12 merchant councillors, and seven deacons of incor- 

 porations, in all 25 members. These choose their suc- 

 cessors in office, except the deacons, who arc annually 

 elected by their respective trades. As nearly as can be 

 ascertained, there are 30 hammermen, 77 squaremen, 

 60 weavers, 40 tailors, 1 32 shoemakers, 8 skinners, and 

 1 7 fleshers, in all 46+ freemen. 



The council dumber being an inelegant and incom- 

 modious apartment, the magistrates, on solemn occa- 

 sions, assemble in the county court-house, in which 

 they have a share. Here, too, the circuit Court of Jus- 

 ticiary for Dumfries-shire and Kirkcudbright, the -she- 

 riff's court, and the quarter sessions, are held, as well 

 as all county-meetings. The place, however, though 

 new, is ill suited to these purposes, and a large build- 

 ing on the opposite side of the street, originally a place 

 of worship, is about to be prepared for the more con- 

 venient accommodation of these courts, after the plan 

 of an eminent architect. 



Behind this court house, in a low damp yard, sur- c ou my jaii, 

 rounded by a high wall, stands the new county jail. 

 The debtors have the liberty of exercising themselves 

 in this inclosure, the situation of which has certainly 

 not been selected by a medical man. The building is, 

 withal, inconvenient, and much too small for the ac- 

 commodation of the prisoners ; but the removal of the 

 courts, according to the projected improvement, will 

 enable the county to provide more effectually for their 

 health and comfort. Till 1 807, the jail was in the cen- 

 tre of the town. The trades' hall, a chaste and hand- 

 some structure, was built in 1 804. Besides the apart- 

 ment peculiarly appropriated to the incorporations, 

 there is one allotted to the meetings of friendly socie- 

 ties for the aid of sick members, or widows and orphans. 

 The trades, as a body, possess a fund of this nature, 

 and each incorporation separately has one of its own ; 

 but besides these, there are many private institutions 

 of the .'.ame kind in the town. 



1 Cattle Street in the modem town, passes through what formerly constituted the grounds attached to this edifice, and the place ia 

 Mil! currently named the Castle Gardent. 



'' This royal girt the trades preserve with pious care, and on the day appointed for the contest, (a day which recurs very five -or 

 six years, or oftcner if the parties concerned be so inclined,) the silver gun is conveyed in grand procession to a field, where, after ha- 

 ving been shot for, it is suspended by a ribband to the hat of the victor, who enters the ton with it triumphantly displayed, and re- 

 mains its nominal possessor till the next festival of the kind. On these occasions, there is a motley mustering of the tradesmen, who 

 re all obliged, under a penalty, to answer to their names, and to appear armed with muskets. See Mr Mayne'a poem, entitled the 

 Siller Gim. 



3 A little mount at the east side of the town, near the junction of the roads leading from Annan and Lochmaben, slill known hy 

 the name of the old rkaptl, was the site of a chapel reared by Bruce for the repose of the soul of his brother-in-law, whom Kdward I. 

 had caused to be hanged on that spot. The rampart pawed near thi* building, the walls of which were pulled down to assist in i; 

 conntn 



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