OF BER-WICKSHIRE. 123 



tlie rain to descend upon him at his own fii'o-sido, only warding it off 

 as well as he could with a large ivecM and the girdle; and hence the 

 saying is applied to those who are excessively niggardly and economi- 

 cal in their habits. 



14. " Ye'' re like the lady of Bemerside, ye'll ho sell your hen m a rainy 



day:' 



This is a common saying in the south of Scotland. — Chambers'' s Po- 

 pular Rhymes of Scotland^ p. 162. 



15. " In Edencraiv, cohere the tvitches hide r<'." 



This is a common saying in all the eastern parts of Berwickshire, 

 and is often uttered as an expression of contempt for the place. 

 Auchencraiv, or as it is usually pronounced, Edencraiv, is a small decayed 

 village in the south-west extremity of the parish of Coldingham, con- 

 taining about 200 inhabitants. How the proverb arose, we have no 

 means of ascertaining ; but we well remember of an old friendless 

 woman called Margaret Girvan, dying in an old smoky hut, about 

 twenty-five years ago, on a very ivindy day, and she was said to be the 

 last of the Edencraw witches. It was anciently a poj)ular belief, that 

 when the witches departed this life, there was always a very high 

 wind ; and on the day in question, this belief was confirmed beyond a 

 doubt, the wind blowing down the house formerly possessed by James 

 Bonner, author of a work on Bees. It has been suj^posed that the 

 greater number of the seven or eight unfortunate women, whom Home 

 of Eenton, then Sheriff of Berwickshire, some time previous to the 

 Revolution, caused to be burned for witchcraft at Coldingham, belonged 

 to this village, and perhaps if search was made in the proper quarters, 

 the names of those unhappy victims of a dark and Superstitious age 

 might yet be discovered. That the women of Auchencraw were sus- 

 pected, long after the above mentioned period, of exercising the black 

 art, we have the following instance occurring in the Session-records of 

 Chirnside : — In May 1700, Thomas Cook, servant in Blackburn (in Billy 

 Myre), was indicted before the Kirk-session of Chirnside "for scoring 

 or scratching a woman in Auchencraw, above the breath (?'. c. on the 

 brow), in order to the cure of a disease that he laboured under." Of 

 course he imagined that the woman had inflicted the disease upon him, 

 by her power with the Evil One ; and it was believed, if a witch could 

 be cut upon the brow, carving thereon the sign of the cross, that her 

 compact with the devil was instantly dissolved. 



16. " You are like the dead folk of Arsiltotvn (Earlston), no to lippen to.'''' 



I know nothing of the origin of this singular saying, but we hear it 

 often applied b}' the peasantry, in a jocular way, to those whom they 

 are not altogether sure of trusting. 



