Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 241 



for veriflcatioun thairof , haifing uset and producet the Depositiones of cer- 

 tane famous "Witnesses, quhilk was oppinlie red in Judgement. 



Yerdict. The Assyse, all in ane voce, be the mouth of Hew Bell in Blithe, 

 chanceller, ffand, pronouncet, and declairet the said James Wicht to be fEylet 

 culpable, and convict of the crewel and unmerciefuU Slauchter of the said 

 umqle Johnne Cranstoun. And siclyk, for the maist pairts, Declairit the 

 said Alexander Frenche to be ffylet, &c. 



Sentence. To be tane to the Castell hiU of Edinburgh, and thair, thair 

 heidis to be strukin frome thair bodeis ; and all thair moveable guidis to be 

 escheit and inbrocht to his Maiesteis use as convict, &c."* 



A very thriving Deodar and Arauearia were growing in front 

 of the manse. Erom the elevated height behind the church, 

 there is a view of the Dowie Den Moss Loch or " Pickie Moss," 

 where the black-headed gulls or Pickmaws breed ; but to get 

 close to it, a detour had to be made by Legerwood farm-steading. 

 The old village, as appears by the number of ash-trees in a field 

 at the roadside, had stood near the present dwelling. There was 

 a sprinkling of mugwort by the roadside on approaching it. We 

 turned up here sharply to the right, between two fine thorn 

 hedges ; passed the sedge-bordered pond for the supply of the 

 thrashing mill, which is derived from the loch ; then skirted a 

 small planting, where the road curved to go straight up over a 

 hill to Lauder, and having ascended it a short way, the loch, 

 which is full of sedge, and lies in a hidden retired situation, little 

 liable to disturbance, could be seen. The gulls were skimming, 

 backwards and forwards, in wild excitement over the surface of 

 the waters, and then swept away deviously across the country. 

 The young being now reared, the numbers of the birds were 

 lessening by desertions. There is said to be another pond, which 

 they still frequent, at Eedpath, below Earlstoun. The gulls have 



* Has not this incident given origin to the reported " fatal fight between 

 the lairds of Boon and Corsbie," which " is occasionally spoken of yet in the 

 district ?" According to Mr Smail's narration : " The grave of Boon is well- 

 known, and is marked by a large gravestone, of a sort, which is locally called 

 at the present day ' the Corse Stane.' " The account of this in the *' Statist. 

 Account of Berwickshire," p. 353, may possibly be more correct. '' On the 

 farm of Boon, in the barony of Corsbie, there is a stone which is called the 

 ' Dodds Corse Stane.' It is a shaft of sandstone sunk into a square block of 

 the same material, and is said to have been the place where a market was at 

 one time held for the vicinity." In 1576-7, 26th Feb., there was a dispute 

 brought before the Privy Council at Holyrood, about the teind sheaves of 

 Corsbie Mains, for 1676, Ijetween George Cranstoun of Corsbie and Cuthbert 

 Cranstoun of Thirlstane Mains and Johnne Cranstoun of Moreistoune his son, 

 which was settled by agreement. 



