252 French Prisoners. 



out on foot at six in the morning, and arrived towards evening 

 at Moffat, feeling tired after their thirty-two mile march. 

 From Moffat they went in conveyances to Dumfries. Some 

 of the officers who were in debt to Mr James Chambers, of 

 Peebles, conducted a correspondence with him for some 

 months. In one of the epistles it was said that the aspect 

 of the town pleased them very much. " The inhabitants, I 

 think, are frightened with Frenchmen, and run after us to 

 see if we are like other people ; the town is pretty enough 

 and the inhabitants, though curious, seem very gentle." This 

 is a pretty compliment to the Queen of the South. 



On their arrival they first made acquaintance with their 

 agent, Mr Francis Shortt, Town Clerk of the Burgh, who is 

 described by a local historian as " a dignified figure of the 

 1 8th century type, and a walking encyclopaedia of local 

 events." He was a brother of Dr Thomas vShortt, Physician 

 to the British Forces, who attended the post-mortem exami- 

 nation at St. Helena on the remains of the Emperor Napoleon. 

 Mr Shortt received the officers very kindly, and expressed his 

 desire to serve them at any time. The prices asked for 

 lodgings by the townsfolks rather astonished them, being no 

 less than fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five shillings a 

 week ; but in the end they obtained better lodgings than in 

 Peebles, and at much the same price, in such streets as New 

 Flesh Market Street and the Long Vennel. Some took up 

 their residence in inns. 



Naturally enough they tried to break the monotony of 

 their life by forming friendships. One of them wrote that he 

 had not yet found an acquaintance with whom to spend his 

 long and tedious winter evenings, " but I must have patience ; 

 I cannot get friends in a fortnight." They soon, however, 

 learned to find their way about town. During the day thev 

 strolled along the banks of the Nith in groups of twos and 

 threes, and their gesticulations excited a good deal of notice. 

 They found their way to the theatre, which was opened in 

 1792, the year after Burns came to Dumfries. The illustrious 

 poet spent his closing days in Dumfries, and he wrote several 

 prologues for actresses belonging to the Dumfries stage. One 

 of the officers thus speaks of his visit to the theatre : — " I 



