472 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



son should be rather inclined to derive it from the Danish " kaak," 

 which appears to have little affinity to it. The Juggs consisted of an 

 iron collar, firmly fixed to the trunk of one of the largest trees about 

 the castle or residence of the baron, usually an Oak or an Ash. It was 

 placed about seven feet from the ground ; and the breadth of the collar 

 was about three inches. This collar was divided into two parts at the 

 centre, which last was secured by a strong staple, firmly driven into 

 the tree, with a hasp accommodated for a padlock. Culprits, or others 

 falling under the laird's displeasure, were elevated to this perilous situa- 

 tion, with a small wooden stool under their feet. Their necks were 

 then secured in the collar, and the key delivered to the laird. If they 

 conducted themselves with becoming penitence, and cautiously kept the 

 stool in its place, they were usually released within a couple of days or 

 so, half dead with cold and hunger. But if by their own violence, 

 or the malice of some enemy in the dark, the stool was kicked away, 

 they were sure to suffer strangulation by hanging, within a short 

 period . 



When such an accident occurred, little notice was taken, as it was 

 alwa^'s easy to refer it to the cause first-mentioned. This was a sum- 

 mary mode of punishment, far superior to the stocks in England. It 

 usually produced the most marvellous improvement on the choleric and 

 refractory, and brought even the most obstinate and wayward within 

 the pale of feudal discipline. It certainly could be applied, si fas esset, 

 with singularly good eff"ect, to more classes of offenders than one, in the 

 present day. 



Such were the Juggs, as I remember to have seen them, on the 

 venerable tree commemorated in the text. It was probably five hundred 

 years old at the time it fell, an event which took place in the year 

 1771, when it strewed the ground far and wide with its massy frag- 

 ments. The name still borne by an eminence, about half a mile distant 

 from the tree, namely " The Gallows Hill," sufficiently attests, that 

 they could hang in these times in the ordinary way also, as often as 

 occasion called for that extreme punishment. 



Note III. Page 813, 



I regret to observe, that this elegant tree seems to have |become 

 rather rare in Scotland, although it is still to be found about old places, 

 but always of considerable age. There are some fine ones at Glammis 

 Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore. The finest and most mag- 

 nificent tree that I know of this sort, is at Touch House in Stirling- 

 shire, belonging to the family of Seton, which is supposed to be at the 



