26 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OE 
presented him with the piece of ordnance now called ‘ Mons Meg/ The 
first discharge of this great gun is said to have consisted of a peck of powder 
and a granite ball nearly as heavy as a Galloway cow. This ball is believed, 
in its course through the Castle of Threave, to have carried away the hand 
of Margaret de Douglas, commonly called the Eair Maid of Galloway, as she 
sat at table with her lord, and was in the act of raising the wine-cup to her 
lips. Old people still maintain that the vengeance of God was thereby 
evidently manifested, in destroying the hand which had been given in 
wedlock to two brothers, and that even while the lawful spouse of the first 
was alive. As a recompense for the present of the gun, and for the loyalty 
of the M'Lellans, the king, before leaving Galloway, raised the town 
of Kirkcudbright into a Royal Burgh, and granted to Bravmy Kim, the 
smith, the lands of Mollance in the neighbourhood of Threave Castle. 
Hence the smith w r as called Mollance, and his wife's name being Meg, the 
cannon, in honour of her, received the appellative of f Mollance Meg/ There 
is no smithy now at the f Three Thoms of the Carlingwark / but a few years 
ago, when making the great military road to Portpatrick, which passes that 
way, the workmen had to cut through a deep bed of cinders and ashes, which 
plainly showed that there had been an extensive forge on that spot at some 
former period/' * * * In addition to this, (adds the correspondent of 
Sir Walter,) Symson, in his work written nearly a hundred and sixty years 
ago, says : “ The common report also goes in that country, that in the Isle 
of Threaves, the great iron gun in the Castle of Edinburgh, commonly called 
Mount Meg, was wrought and made." 
To the above tradition the sober-minded archaeologist will probably object 
that it is of somewhat too melodramatic a character. u Brawny Kim," and 
the Tutor of Bomby, King James and the rebel Douglas might have 
passed; but the shot of retribution,—as heavy as a cow, and impelled by 
a peck of powder,—passing through the walls of the Castle, straight into 
the banqueting-room of the Eair Maid of Galloway, dashing the wine-cup 
from her perjured lips, and carrying off her hand; that very hand which 
had been given in wedlock to two brothers, and given moreover while 
the lawful spouse of the first was alive: all this smacks too much of the 
minnesinger's budget to be readily accepted as true history. The transition 
too from Mollance to Mons is sufficiently violent, besides having no voucher 
in contemporary records. But worse than this is, the Lady of Mollance, 
Brawny Kim's wife Meg, being called in to stand parcell-godmother to the 
great gun, when we know that in all the ancient records in which it is 
mentioned, the name Meg never appears : the piece is simply called Mons, 
and the first writer who applies to it the name of Meg is Drummond of 
Hawthorn den. 
The first appearance of Mons for which we have a contemporary voucher, 
is on the expedition of James IY. to besiege Dumbarton, when she was 
brought forth from Edinburgh Castle and carried to take part in the attack. 
In the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland of that period, 
under date 10 July, 1489, we have: 
“ Item, given to the gunners to drink-silver when they cartit Monss, by 
the king's command, xviij shillings." 1 
In 1497 the great gun was again withdrawn from the Castle of Edinburgh 
1 Tytler’s Hist, of Scotland, Vol. III., Note U. Third Edition. 
