Dumfries Treasurers' Accounts. 2'.»3 



as " Hoddom's stane house " and " Turnpike House," and 

 situated on the north side of the present " Commercial 

 Hotel." With sugar, spices, and fruit the visitors were 

 reg-aled, and though there is no mention of it, we may be sure 

 that the occasion was duly celebrated with liquor. Indeed, 

 no opportunity for a drink was allowed to pass without its 

 potion. Whether it was Hallowe'en, election day, or " bane- 

 fyre nicht," it was celebrated with wine, if not a good dinner, 

 at the tavern kept by Agnes Richardson. Few transactions 

 were settled without the seal of a glass. Whether it was the 

 purchase of a town bull at Tinwald or the payment of interest 

 to George Sharpe for his loan to the burgh, the parties could 

 not part without ale or wine. Even the workmen at the Brig 

 received daily drink money, almost as part of their wages. 



In an age that was signally superstitious, it is not sur- 

 prising to find references to witchcraft. In 1635 an unfor- 

 tunate woman named Margaret Fergusone was executed for 

 these practices at a cost to the town of /^i i. In 1639 another 

 wretched woman was in ward under a like suspicion. Her 

 sustenance cost the town ;^,'i 12s. Her fate is not recorded. 

 But if she escaped the executioner, others were not so for- 

 tunate. Cuthbert Gibson was executed in 1635, though his 

 crime is not known, nor the manner of his end. In 1637 

 some entries would imply that the Laird of Drumlanrig was 

 present in state to witness some wretch ascend the scaffold. 

 Doubtless the same fate overtook the murderers caught at 

 Arbigland with arms in their hands by Bailie Kirkpatrick, the 

 Treasurer himself. In J 639 John Forsyth was burnt to death 

 for an unnatural offence, in accordance with Biblical injunc- 

 tion (Leviticus xx., 14-15).* The Council went to some 

 expense in performance of this grisly task. Eight fathom of 

 rope was required to bind the victims; /^2o was spent on tar. 



* A similar case is recorded in IGOo by Pitcairn, ii.. 491. The 

 offender was there ordered " to be bound to ane staik and wirreit 

 (strangled) thairat and thairefter witli the said nieir to be brunt 

 in asches " on the Ca tlc-'iill of Edinburgh. His goods were 

 escheated to the Crown. Strangling was a refinement usually 

 practised but rarely ordained. It was a privilege purchasable by 

 the offender, anJ ;t perquisite of the executioner. 



