36 Maria Riddell, the Friend of Burns. 



on April 21st, 1794, he inherited his properly, but it was 

 advertised for sale almost immediately. ^^ On February 9th, 

 1795, Mrs. Maria Riddell writes to William Smellie from 

 Tinwald House, which may have been taken on lease and 

 which she describes as "a crazy, rambling, worm-eaten, 

 cobweb-hunting chateau of the Duke of Queensberry, which, 

 God be thanked, I abandon and evacuate with all my house- 

 hold next May." The letter mentions that she had passed 

 part of the preceding year in London, and she informs 

 Smellie that she there " picked up acquaintance with 

 Boswell^^ the biographer ; and a stranger biped, yourself 

 always excepted, I know nowhere." Walter Riddell was in 

 London, and she herself was much occupied in the education 

 of her two daughters. ^'^ An incident occurred about this 

 time which excited no little stir in Dumfries. The Strathspey 

 Fencibles were quartered in the town in 1795, and in June 

 of that year the local author-ties made application to the 

 officer in command of the regiment for a party to assist in 

 apprehending some Irish tinkers who had taken up their 

 abode at the Stoop. They as " Vagrants and Idle persons " 

 had been fixed upon as suitable subjects for the exercise of 

 the Comprehending Act, impressing men into the Navy. 

 They resisted capture, however, and greeted the party with 

 a volley of musketry from the house. ^^ Three of the soldiers 

 were seriously wounded (one eventually died of his wounds), 

 but the tinkers were taken. Their trial aroused great in- 

 terest, and it was through Maria Riddell's friendship with' 

 Henry Erskine^^ that he was induced to defend the ringleader, 

 John O'Neil, setting up as his defence that he was justified 

 in resisting any attempt to enter his house. Notwithstanding 



55 Friars' Carse was sold by the trustees to George Johnston, 

 Merchant in India, April 25th, and May 5th, 1795. 



56 James Boswell (h. 1740, d. 1795, son of Alexander Boswell, 

 Lord Auchinleck), the biographer of Samuel Johnson. 



57 Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Correspondence of 

 William Smellie, vol. ii. (1811), by Robert Kerr, p. 389. 



58 Dumfries Weeldy Journal, 16th June, 1795. 



59 Erskine, Hon. Henry : h. 1746, Lord Advocate (brother of the 

 Hon. Thomas Erskine (see Note 94), d. 1817. 



