246 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



In the poem entitled ' The Angler's llamble,' etc., I have alluded 

 to Thrieve Castle in connexion with this river. The ruin in 

 question invites regard from its having been one of the strong- 

 holds of the Earls of Douglas, and the last which, after the Act 

 of Forfeiture had been passed against them in 1455 by the Scots 

 Parliament, held out for that ambitious and designing family. 

 It stands on what was formerly an island surrounded by the Dee, 

 about three miles from the town of Castle-Douglas ; and in its 

 present state, impresses the beholder with more than ordinary 

 feelings of desolateness and neglect. It was for the purpose of 

 reducing this fortress that the celebrated piece of ordnance, 

 Mons Meg, was constructed, at a spot called Buchan's Croft, in 

 the vicinity of the ' Three Thorns of Carlinwark,' where James 

 n. took up his position with a numerous army, and directed the 

 siege. A shrewd old blacksmith of the name of M'Kim, observ- 

 ing the insufficiency of the king's artillery to effect a breach, 

 took upon himself to manufacture a gun of the requisite power, 

 and, with the assistance of his stalwart sons, materials being 

 furnished him, produced the monster engine in question. Mons 

 Meg, a corruption of Mollance Meg, the name of the black- 

 smith's wife, was with some difficulty, owing to its immense 

 weight, 6J tons, brought into position. At its first discharge, 

 the foundations of the castle were said to have been violently 

 shaken,, and the garrison thrown into a state of great alarm. At 

 the second, the granite ball, described to be of the weight of a 

 Carsphairn cow, passed through the walls, and carried away 

 the right hand of the Countess, the fair maid of Galloway, as she 

 was in the act, at the head of the banqueting -hall, of raising the 

 wine-cup to her lips. With Mons Meg and the ponderous 

 missile which pla}K;d such a singular part in the annals of war, 

 every one who has visited Edinburgh Castle is well acquainted. 



