76 IN CARLYLE'S COUNTRY. 



members of his family to give the house a coat 

 " o' pent." " Ye can jist pent the bog wi' yer ash- 

 baket feet, for ye '11 pit nane o' yer glaur on ma 

 door." But the painters have had their revenge at 

 last, and their " glaur " now covers the old man's 

 tombstone. 



One day I visited a little overgrown cemetery 

 about a mile below the village, toward Kirtlebridge, 

 and saw many of the graves of the old stock of Car- 

 lyles, among them some of Carlyle's uncles. This 

 name occurs very often in those old cemeteries ; they 

 were evidently a prolific and hardy race. The name 

 Thomas is a favorite one among them, insomuch that 

 I saw the graves and headstones of eight Thomas 

 Carlyles in the two grave-yards. The oldest Car- 

 lyle tomb I saw was that of one John Carlyle, who 

 died in 1692. The inscription upon his stone is as 

 follows : 



"Heir Lyes John Carlyle of Penerssaughs, who 

 departed this life ye 17 of May 1692, and of age 72, 

 and His Spouse Jannet Davidson, who departed this 

 life Febr. ye 7, 1708, and of age 73. Erected by 

 John, his son." 



The old sexton, whom I frequently saw in the 

 church-yard, lives in the Carlyle house. He knew 

 the family well, and had some amusing and charac- 

 teristic anecdotes to relate of Carlyle's father, the 

 redoubtable James, mainly illustrative of his blunt- 

 ness and plainness of speech. The sexton pointed 

 out, with evident pride, the few noted graves the 



