A’ LoRBURNE. 97 
If the position assigned to the motto as being under the arms 
is taken in the sense of being lower down the street, which may 
well enough be allowed, Dr Burnside’s description so completely 
applies in every respect to the Knockhill stone as to leave no room 
for doubt that it is identical with that which in the year 1791 was 
to be seen on the front cf the Prison of Dumfries. How it comes 
to be at Knockhill is easily understood. The array of carved 
fragments on the wall of the summer-house witness the hand of 
the collector, who, it may be presumed, secured the stone when 
the old prison was demolished in the year 1808. 
In regard to the period to which the stone is assignable, Dr 
Anderson, to whom I submitted a photograph, expresses the 
opinion that the style of the letter generally seems to indicate the 
period 1580 to 1600. The circumstances point to a period more 
remote. 
The meaning of this connection of the town’s motto with the 
arms described, and of the motto itself, are matters of conjecture. 
Dr Burnside infers that these were the ancient arms of the town, 
St. Michael, which he says had been in use for a great many years, 
being, it was supposed, adopted subsequently. This, however, is 
unlikely, as St. Michael, the tutelary saint of the place, has always, 
so far as known, been borne on the municipal seal and other 
insignia. No. 1154 Laing’s Seals, an imperfect impression found 
among some old papers in the Town Clerk’s office, is thus 
described :—‘ St. Michael, armed with sword and shield, standing 
upon the vanquished dragon; at the sides a crescent and a star; 
inscribed, S’ Communitatis Burgi De Dumfries.” No date is stated 
or suggested. For two hundred years at least St. Michael has 
been represented not with sword and shield, but a crosier, some- 
times in the right hand, sometimes in the left, and the designs vary 
also in respect to the use of the dragon and the serpent. 
A part of the stone is wanting, and it seems unlikely that it 
would originally be lopsided as it is now. The motto probably 
occupied the centre, with a shield on the right balancing the 
existing one on the left, and possibly the former bore St. Michael, 
the town’s arms, while the latter, which corresponds with the 
arms of the Browns of Carsluith; Gilbert Brown, Abbot of New- 
abbey, and others, might represent an official or some one having 
a special connection with the burgh. In any case this would seem 
