Field Meetings. 247 



marked on by observant visitors, and that is the absence of 

 hens, as it is said that hens cannot hve there through picking- 

 lead. " Lead-producinj^, hen-poisoninj^- W'anlockhead " is 

 James Shaw's facetious way of referring- lo the pkice ; but the 

 visitors of Saturday can testify to there being- at least one 

 man in the village whose hopes and whose hens were not yet 

 dead, as they observed him feeding- a lively collection of tlic 

 fowls in a carefully enclosed run. The peculiar appearance 

 of Wanlockhead and its chilly position on the roof of the 

 county, have been happily described by Mr Robert Reid in 

 his charming" poem, " Wanlock " — 



Did ye ever hear tell o' a lanely wee toon, 

 Far hid amang hills o' the heather sae broon, 

 AVi' its hooses reel-rail, keekin' oot at ilk turn, 

 Like an ill-ciiisten crap in the hovve o' the burn ; 

 Ane here and ane there, vvi' a fit road atvveen, 

 In the daftest construction that ever was seen? 



O there the cauld winter first comes wi' his snaw. 

 And he likes it sae weel that he's laith tae gae 'wa ; 

 For there's three months o' bluster tae ilk ane o' sun. 

 And the dour nippin' cranreuch's maist aye on the grim' : 

 Ay, whyles the corn's green in the lallans, they say, 

 Or the liinmaist snaw-wreath dwines awa' on the brae. 



Proceeding to Leadhills, the party had lunch at the Hope- 

 toun Arms. Previous to lunch, however, a visit was paid 

 to one of the departments of the Marquis of Linlithg-ow's 

 lead mines, half-an-hour being- available before the works 

 closed for the day. The department visited was that in which 

 the g-alena is crushed and the impurities removed froni it by 

 washing-, and the processes were viewed with much interest 

 by the visitors, several of whom brought away a few grains 

 of the metal as a memento. Dr John Brown, writing in 

 1865, in his well-known essay, " The Enterkin," describes 

 Leadhills as " a dreary, unexpected little town," but goes 

 on to say, " The people are thoughtful and solid, great 

 readers and church-goers. They have a capital library. 

 Like all natives of such forlorn, out-of-the-world places, they 

 cannot understand how anyone can be happy anywhere else ; 

 and when one of them leaves the wild, unlovely place, they 

 accompany hini with wondering pity to the outskirts of their 



