260 French Prisoners. 



and consideration for the honest inhabitants of Dumfries that 

 I quit the charming banks of the Nith to return to the capital 

 of France — my beloved country from which I have been 

 absent seven years. 



John Degam de Montaignac. 



Did the captives forget the place of their captivity? Let 

 the following love story tell. Within the walls of St. 

 Michael's Church is a venerable tombstone dedicated to the 

 memory of Bailie Fingass, who died in 1686, and of his wife, 

 who followed him to the grave in 1719. The name of a 

 descendant appea»s also on the stone, viz. : Miss Anne Grieve, 

 daughter of James Grieve, merchant in Dumfries, who died on 

 the nth December, 1815, at the early age of 19. On her 

 tombstone the following inscription was carved : — 



EPITAPHE. 



" Ta main bienfaisante et cherie 

 D'un exile vint essuyer les pleurs 

 Tu me vins lieu de parens, de patrie, 

 Et le meme tombeau lorsque tu m'es ravie 

 Renferme nos deux coeurs." 

 (Thy beneficent and beloved hand came and wiped away 

 an exile's tears. Thou wert to me in room of 

 parents and country ; and the same tomb, when 

 thou art taken from me, will contain our two 

 hearts.) 



The young lady whose premature decease is mourned in 

 these lines was engaged to one of the French officers, and he 

 it was who, in the paroxysm of his grief, penned these affect- 

 ing lines. He is said to have been of good position, although 

 his identity is unknown, and he felt all the more deeply his 

 loss that he was a stranger in a strange land. In the annals 

 of the churchyard it is recorded that after the lapse of about 

 46 years — that is, in 1859 or so — a gentleman of dignified 

 bearing and seemingly about 70 years of age, entered St. 

 Michael's Churchyard, and in broken English asked to be 

 shown the spot where Mademoiselle Grieve lay interred. On 

 being taken to the tombstone, he exhibited great emotion, 



