ders to keep me close, without allowing me to stir from my lodgings upon any pretence whatsoever : but when another regiment came to relieve that which was before upon duty, I bribed him who had been my keeper, at his going off, that he should tell the first who came in his place, that his orders were to"walk with me to any part of the town I pleased." This was accordingly done, and thenceforward I used to take my sentry along with me, and visit my old fellow prisoners, the Gillicrankymen, and sometimes stay with them all night; at other times, my friends would do the same at my lodgings; among whom the lord William Douglas often did me that honour: nay, sometimes, in company of some gentlemen, I would leave the sentry drinking with the footmen in an alehouse, at the back of the town wall, while we rambled nine or ten miles in the country, to visit some acquaintance or other; still taking care to return before two in the afternoon, wh ch was the hou of parade, to save the sentry from danger.

Thus I spent above two months, till the day the government had filled the castle and the Tolbooth again, as I have mentioned already. As soon as I was told of my lord Kilsyth's imprisonment, I knew the danger I was in, and had just time to run with the sentry to a cellar, where I found twelve officers got together for shelter likewise from the storm, a little before me. We staid there close till night, and then dispatched my sentry, with captain Mair's footman, to the lady Lockhart's (who was married to the captain) four miles out of town, to let her know, that her husband would be at home that night, with twelve other cavaliers (for so in those days we affect

ed

ed to style ourselves) to avoid being imprisoned in the Tolbooth.

When the message was delivered, the lady ordered three or four of her servants, to take the sentry up four pair of stairs, and to ply him well with drink. Accordingly they kept him drunk for twelve days and nights together, so that he neither saw me, nor I him, in all that time. Two days after we came to lady Lockhart's, I determined, against her and her friends advice, to return privately to Edinburgh, to discourse with the laird of Pettencrife, my bail: resolving at all adventures, that so generous a person should not be a sufferer on my account. I accordingly repaired, in the night, to the same alehouse, at the back of the town wall, and thence sent the footman, who attended me, to bring the laird thither. He presently came, with two other gentlemen in his company; and after drinking together for half an hour, he bid me "go whither I pleased, and God's blessing along with me," whereupon, thrusting me out at the door in a friendly manner, he added, that he would pay the hundred pounds, he was bound in, to the council, next morning, if demanded of him; which they accordingly did, and the money was paid.

I then returned to the company at my lady Lockhart's, and thence wrote to the two dukes before mentioned for their advice, what course to take? Their answer was, "That, in regard to my poor

family, I should make my escape to my own coun"try, and there set potatoes, till I saw be ter times.' At the end of twelve days, captain Mair and his eleven friends got over seas to St. Germains; when I likewise took my leave of them and the lady, to make

CC 4

make the best of my way for Ireland. But I bethought me of the poor sentry (to whom the twelve days we staid there seemed no longer than two or three, so well was he plied with drink) and calling for him, asked whether he would choose to share with me and my fortunes, or go back to the regiment, perhaps to be shot for neglect of his duty? He readily answered, that he would go with me whither ever I went; and not long after we came into Ireland, I had the good luck to get him made a sergeant of grenadiers, in the regiment formerly commanded by my lord Dunbarton, by a captain who was then gone thither for recruits; in which regiment he died a lieutenant some years after.

The lady, at parting, made me a present of a good horse, with ten dollars, to bear my charges on the way; and moreover hired a tenant's horse to carry the sentry to the borders. I durst not be seen to pass through Galloway, and therefore went by Carlisle to Whitehaven. Here I found an acquaintance, who was minister of the town, of the name of Marr; a gentleman of great worth and learning. Before the Revolution, he had been minister of a parish in Scotland, near the borders: but about the time of that event, the rabble, as he told me the story, came to his house, in the night, to rob and murder him; having treated others of his brethren, the episcopal clergy, before in that inhuman manner. He was a single man, and had but one man servant, whose business was to dress his meat, and make his bed; and while the villains were breaking into the house, he had just time to put on his breeches, stockings, and shoes, and no more; for by that time they were got in; when he thought it better to leap out

at

at the window, but half clothed as he was, than to expose his life to the fury of such, whose very mercies might be cruel. Thus he saved his life, and made his escape to the English side, with only four dollars in his pocket; leaving his goods, house, and parish, as plunder, to those saints; who, doubtless, looked on such as he was, as no other than a usurper of what, of right, pertained to them; pursuant to the maxim, "That dominion is founded in grace."

And here I beg leave to relate the treatment which another episcopal clergyman received from that tribe, about the same time: his name was Kirkwood, whom I likewise knew, before the Revolution, minister of a parish in Galloway, in Scotland, and afterward rector in the county of Fermanagh, in Ireland. Among other good qualities, this gentleman was a very facetious person; and by his presence of mind, in making use of this talent, he had the good fortune to save both his life and goods, from the fury of those godly men, who then thought all things their own. When they broke into the house, he was in bed; and sitting up in his shirt, desired leave to speak a few words before he died; which (I cannot tell how it happened) they granted, and he spoke to this effect; "That he had always prayed to God, he "might die in his bed; adding that he had in his "house as good ale and brandy as was in all Scot"land; and therefore hoped the worthy gentlemen "would do him the honour to drink with him, be"fore they did any thing rashly."

This facetious speech, which they little expected from him in the article of so much danger as then threatened him, had the luck to divert them from their bloody purpose, and to make them comply

with his request; so that after drinking plentifully, they said he was a hearty cheel; and left him in quiet possession of his house and goods. But he durst not trust his talent to another trial, lest the next company might not be influenced as this first had been; and therefore, as soon as it was day, made off, with his family and effects, in the best manner he could; and rested not until he was safe in Ireland.

I could not forbear relating these stories, from the gentlemen's own mouths, as I might do others of the same kind, upon my own knowledge; although they are contradictory to what the preachers of the new established kirk have so confidently given out. They would fain have the world believe, that they showed great indulgence to the episcopal clergy, at the Revolution, and for several years after. But they must grant me and others leave not to believe them: nor ought they to be angry, if I give the reader a farther idea of them, and of the spirit that reigned in synods, conventions, or general assemblies, of their kirk.

During my confinement in the Tolbooth, a general assembly was called; to which my lord Lothian, as I was informed afterward, was sent commissioner from king William. His lordship's instructions were, to signify to them the king's desire, that as many of the episcopal clergy as would take the oath of allegiance to him might keep possession of their several parishes. To this the members answered in a disdainful manner, "What! shall we suffer any scabbed "sheep among us? Na, na, nat ane;" and thereupon sent two of their brethren to king William, who was then in Flanders, to move him for more

favours