HABITS AND LIFE. 225 



by making additional purchases of property in the parish. 



"Mr. Gillespie remained through life a bachelor. Hi8 

 establishment at Spy law was of the simplest description. It 

 is said that he invariably sat at the same table with his serv- 

 ants, indulging in familiar conversation, and entering with 

 much spirit into their amusements. Newspapers were not 

 so widely circulated at that period as they are now, and on 

 the return of any of his domestics from the city, which one 

 of them daily visited, he listened with great attention to the 

 4 news, and enjoyed with much zest the narration of any 

 jocular incident that had occurred. Mr. Gillespie had a 

 penchant for animals, and their wants were carefully attended 

 to. His poultry, equally with his horses, could have testified 

 to the judicious attention which he bestowed upon them. A 

 story is told of the familiarity between the laird and his 

 riding horse, which was well-fed and full of spirit. 



" The animal frequently indulged in a little restive curvet- 

 ting with its master, especially when the latter was about to 

 get into the saddle. 4 Come, come,' he would say, on such 

 occasions, addressing the animal in his usual quiet way, 

 *hae dune, noo, for ye'll no like if I come across your lugs 

 (ears) wi' the stick.' ' 



" Even in his old age Mr. Gillespie regularly superintended 

 the operations in the mill, which was situated in the rear of 

 his house. On these occasions he was wrapped in an old 

 blanket ingrained with snuff. Though he kept a carriage he 

 very seldom used it, until shortly before his death, when 

 increasing infirmities caused him occasionally to take a drive. 

 It was of this carriage, plain and neat in its design, with 

 nothing on its panel but the initials < J. G.' that the witty 

 Henry Erskine proposed the couplet 



1 Who would have thought it 

 That noses had bought it ?' 



as an appropriate motto. In those days snuff was much more 

 extensively used than at present, and Mr. Gillespie was in 

 the habit of gratuitously filling the ' mulls' of many of the 

 Edinburgh characters of the last century. Colinton appears 

 to have been a great snuff-making centre. About thirty 

 years ago there were five snuff mills in operation in the 

 parish, the produce of which was sold in Edinburgh. Even 

 now a considerable quantity of snuff is made in the district, 

 chiefly by grinders to the trade. 



Murray, alluding to the popularity of the custom in 

 15 



