| | | | | | | | <4 Vols. Quarto. By Robert Pitcairn,> | | | | Few of our Scottish readers require to be told that this important | work has been in course of publication for some years, having | appeared at intervals in Parts. It is now completed, in four | substantial quarto volumes. We think that the happy termination of | a great literary labour is as apt an occasion for congratulation as | the finishing of a bridge or the opening of a railroad: ~~ they are | all national works. In this belief we take leave to congratulate Mr. | Pitcairn on the happy completion of what few literary men of these | degenerate days would have had the courage to undertake; and | fewer still the patience, perseverance, and magnanimity to bring to | a successful conclusion, in the face of stupendous difficulties, and | with the drawback of foreseeing that this was of the nature of those | labours which must prove their own reward. Let us be thankful to | Providence which has created boys who will sacrifice every | pleasure and advantage to go to sea for us; men who will lavish | their fortunes in perfecting mechanical discoveries of which the | public must reap all the profit; and writers who give up a lifetime | of leisure and thought to works which enrich the general stores of | knowledge, but can never repay their authors. Mr. Pitcairn is, we | fear, among the last of the literary legal race who will | disinterestedly spend years in knocking about the dust and digging | among the rubbish of the mines of antiquity, to collect the precious | materials requisite to the erection of a monument which many will | admire, though few will find it expedient to contribute to the | expense of erection. This, however, is all as it should be; or if there | occur occasional individual hardship, the general good more than | compensates it. So, trusting that Mr. Pitcairn may not be very | much a pecuniary loser by the public gain, we proceed to profit by | his toils. | His laborious and comprehensive work, is valuable in many ways. | To the lawyer, but especially to the Scotch practitioner, it is | professionally useful. It will minister largely to those pursuits and | speculations in which the historical antiquary delights; while to the | statesman, the philosopher, and the moralist, who dive deeply, or | look far abroad through the realms of human thought and action, | these true pictures of the manners, habits of mind, and conduct, of | a rude and turbulent society in a state of change and progression, | furnish the most valuable information. The materials of authentic | history, in rude periods of society, are generally difficult to come | by; and if we are to find them anywhere unmixed, it must be in the | records of Courts of Law. The poets, at all periods, colour and | exaggerate, flatter or satirize; early chroniclers and travelers distort | facts from party bias, or neglect important traits and details from | slothfulness or ignorance; but the records of Courts of Law, | imperfect as they may be, reflect with fidelity contemporary | manners; and legal declarations and examinations, and the | evidence evolved on trials, generally give a truer, because a closer | view of the state of a rude society than any other description of | testimony. The value of such documents must not be estimated by | contemporary records. These | | exhibit, for example, the state of crime in Scotland; but the elder | records are its history, that period not being reached when the good | and the bad, or the reckless and the circumspect, are forced into | separation, and form distinct classes. A nobleman tried for murder | or treason, in our times, would be an un just representative of his | order, as these are not its modern vices; but one convicted of a | raid and a murder in the times with which Mr. | Pitcairn deals, would be a tolerably fair specimen of his turbulent | brotherhood, when such crimes were generally prevalent, and wore | the grace of fashion, and were perpetrated in the impunity of | general suffrage. But it is time we gave some account of Mr. | Pitcairn's work. | The Criminal Trials in Scotland form | three splendid quarto volumes, in fact as was mentioned four; as | the first volume from its size is necessarily bound up in two. They | embrace the most important epochs of Scottish history, the reigns | of James IV., V., Queen Mary, and James VI., the period which | witnessed the final and fiercest struggles between the various | factions of the nobility and the monarchy, and of the Reformation | and union of the crowns. This memorable period in Scottish annals | extends from 1488 to 1624. The work, Mr. Pitcairn mentions, was | suggested by Sir Walter Scott, who, among the many projects of | his teeming brain, contemplated the publication of a selection of | the more remarkable of our ancient criminal trials. The task | devolved to Mr. Pitcairn, who has zealously, and even with | enthusiasm, followed the course indicated by his illustrious | adviser. And it is fortunately so. The more profitable, brilliant, and | congenial literary engagements of Sir Walter Scott would have | made it impossible for him to bestow the days, and nights, and | months, and years, of patient, unwearied, unrewarded toil and | research which Mr. Pitcairn has dedicated to this labour; nor could | he have patiently combated the many fatiguing or repulsive | obstacles which Mr. Pitcairn has met and conquered by | indomitable perseverance, and rendered subservient to his original | and fixed purpose of giving a body of authentic | information. The most obvious and the greatest merit of his | finished work is, we acknowledge, that which is recognized by the | most cursory reader, ~~ namely that the book is curious and | interesting, as it elucidates the rude state of manners and arts, only | between two and three centuries back, in a country that now justly | claims to be among the most civilized in the world. But is | possesses other intrinsic merits which must not be overlooked; for | accuracy and scrupulous fidelity, though, humble virtues in a | modern author or editor, are becoming rare, and will accordingly | soon again bear high price. We need not expatiate upon the wild | and disjointed state of civil society in Scotland, at the time when | James IV. came to the throne, and shewed an inclination to | commence those regular regal inroads upon | | which were so energetically carried forward by his sullen and | vindictive successor. The very names of the common offences of | those days are now a mystery, though none are tried in which some | name of note in Scottish genealogy does not appear either among | the criminals, or as their patrons and sureties. Slaughter, murder, | oppression, common theft, ravishing or abduction, we might still | understand, ~~ and violently deforcing king's messengers is still | heard of in Ireland and the Highlands; but what will the English | reader make of stouthrief, intercommuning with the rebels, | brigandice, bringing in the thieves of Leven, umbsetting the | hiegaitt, hereschip, invasion, hamesucken, taking blackmail, | besetting the | | Abott of Melrose, or slaughtering him of Culross, selling sheep to | Englishmen, girnalling of victual, and taking captive with, at one | time, Protestant, heresy, a few years afterwards harbouring Jesuits, | or hearing mass, the merits of the subjects of James IV. becoming | the crimes of those of James VI. Treason | was the leading crime tried in the first years of James IV.; and that | for state-party purposes. Though other offences common to the age | flourished in full vigour, the offenders either remained | undisturbed, came in the king's will and got off with a fine, or, as | was the more common way, found protection from their feudal | superiors, and the heads of their families; or probably were tried in | their local jurisdictions. The crimes of burning, plundering, and | murder, which the clients were incited to commit by their patron | for his advantage, or in consequence of his feud, | or revengeful hereditary quarrel, were pardoned or | overlooked by his influence with the mightier chief for whom he | performed similar services upon a larger scale. There were, | however, offences that were not so easily forgiven, ~~ those | committed by men who had no powerful patron, or such crimes as | affected the exclusive interests of the higher orders and the church. | The sons of the smaller lairds made a younger brother's profession | of stealing cattle, horses, and sheep; and if the theft was not atoned | by private reprisal, their fathers and their brothers became their | sureties to satisfy parties: ~~ and there was no more about it. | | In the year of the reign of the Fourth James, the laird of Quithope | seems to have been surely for half the thieves of Ettrick Forest, | aided by the regular mercenary banditti, known as the thieves of | Levyn, who seem to have been like Swiss soldiers ready to act for | any side where there was pay and booty. No doubt the Laird of | Quithope had his own venture and share of the "Michalemas-moon" | produce. He was a Turnbull; and reprisal with slaughter | was made on him by the Scotts; John of Deloraine bringing in the | Thieves of Liddisdale, Eskdale, and Ewisdale to his assistance. | Scott of Quitchester, Scott of Howpaslot, and Scott of Buccleuch | seem to have been the general sureties for the freebooters of the | clan Scott. For one set of cattle, horse, and sheep-stealers, Andrew | Ker of Fernihirst was the general voucher, with Mark Ker of | Dolphinstoune. These robberies were often attended with murder | of the people who gallantly defended their cattle; but this made | apparently little difference in the gradations of crime. Where blood | was every day wantonly shed, in brawls and | onslaughts, life was viewed as of small value; at least vassal | life. A band of robbers, protected by the Kers were named Oliver. | After plundering right and left for some years, they failed of | borrowis at last, and received the reward of | their crimes. | At a Justice-Aire in Jedworth, in the 15th of James IV., we find | noticed nearly forty cases of cattle and horse stealing in the ancient | wholesale way with the common accompaniments of burning, | slaughter, plundering churches, hereschip of mansions, bringing in | English thieves, and the Armstrangis, | violent occupation of lands, etcetera, etcetera, | ~~ a catalogue that would do | honour to a Kilkenny assize, in the most violent times of the | Whitefeet. It was very rare that | anyone was hung for offences of | this nature, or for the murders attending them. The hanging of | Johnny Armstrong by James V., was therefore as appalling, from | the rarity of the punishment, as from the brave and gallant Lord | John being one of the gentle-blooded | among the numerous | The law had its points of honour then, as it still has. | A revengeful murderer easily escaped; but a thief, who used the | garb of a social mummer or guisard to conceal his designs, | | and thus committed a breach of faith and hospitality, put himself | without the pale. We are also led to think that somewhat more | severity was displayed to his Majesty's northern subjects, than to | the gallant borderers. The criminal law might be rapacious, but it | was not yet sanguinary. Among other | "punctis of the dittay" to be | "inquirit" at the Justice-Aires, in the | latter years of James IV., were, | ~~ public meetings never being relished by crowned heads, | ~~ These are but a sample. The roll of | offences was fast swelling, and legislation had already laid its | meddling fingers upon trade. Specific prices were set upon every | article of traffic; and it was a crime to sell butes | or shone or for | berkaris to sell leather, save at the prices specified. The | quantity of barley that maltmen were to use for their ale was | specified; and it was then, as it still is, a misdemeanour to take | certain goods to any sea-pots save those licensed by royal | authority. At Wigtoun, in 1313, we find the sherrif, Patrick Agnew, | tried for oppression and hereschip, in making his neighbours build | him dykes (fences) with their own peats, | and, for successive years, extorting the labouring of his land, | besides plundering them yearly of a swine. The Laird of Lochinvar | became the sheriff's surety; and he himself became that of a | gentleman of his name, probably a relation, guilty of similar | oppression of the neighbouring small proprietors of Ardwell and | Lepalt. The marvel is, how the Sheriff was accused at all; but he | had been guilty of state crimes, and had openly opposed the law, in | that unpardonable offence ~~ making convocations of the lieges | with "jakkies and splentis." | Of the trials which took place during the minority of James V., no | record is preserved. The first years were marked by the increase of | crimes which had thriven under the lenient discipline of the law, as | it was administered in the previous reign. They were now to | receive a decided check. In May 1330, Cockburn, Laird of | Henderland, and Adam Scott of Tushielaw, called | the King of the Border Thieves, were | beheaded, ~~ the first for bringing in English banditti to plunder | the lands of Glenquhome ~~ the latter for drawing blackmail, even | while he lay in prison in Edinburgh Castle. The vigour with which | the young King proceeded against the Border thieves is justly | attributed to mixed motives. He struck at the higher nobility | through the sides of their dependents and followers among the | barons and lairds; and in ostensibly forwarding the interests of | public justice, never forgot the dearer gratification of his private | revenge. | As a specimen of the sort of entertainment with which Mr. | Pitcairn's volumes are replete, we shall here insert the last | adventure of Johnnie Armstrong, the Laird of Kilnockie ~~ a name | dear to traditionary fame far beyond Scotland. | | | | The mere enumeration of a few of the leading cases tried during | this reign throws a strong light upon the state of Scottish society. | The parties were either all of the class of lairds, or of the lesser | barons, or Highland chiefs. We find Sir Patrick Hephurne | "denounced rebel," for not | appearing at an assize to answer for | felony and oppression done to the Laird of Congeltoun. Rolland | Lindsay and Alan Lockert of Lee, convicted of art and part in the | cruel slaughter of Ralph Weir, and beheaded. Death was still an | unusual measure of severity. When it was inflicted, beheading was | the mode of punishment for gentlemen. The lower orders were | hanged; and females were either drowned, or | woriet (strangled) and then burnt at | "ane stake." A priest | implicated in the murder of Ralph Weir, was replegiated by the | Archbishop of Glasgow, to underly the | law. In many instances cited, and no doubt it held in every one, | ecclesiastics were rescued from the ordinary modes of criminal | law, by their spiritual superiors, and given up to the jurisdiction | of the spiritual courts. Even yet clergymen have scarcely subdued | their jealousy of the common tribunals in their peculiar cases. | Churchmen were often implicated, "art and part," | in the murders | which were constantly occurring. In the murder of Cunninghame, | laird of Craigunis, and his servant, several persons of rank were | implicated. Lord Sempill, and his son and heir apparent were the | principal parties; and Sir John Sempill, vicar of Erskin, was | accused of art and part, and given up to his Church Courts. Priests | then, and till the Reformation, bore the title, Sir. Very common | cases were those of deadly feud, as that | between the Lord Forbes and the Earl of Huntlis. | | In those cases all the gentry dependent upon both the noble houses | were regularly involved; and thus the feud spread, became | personal, and was transmitted from one generation to another, | gathering more deadly rancour. Thus the murder of Craiganis gave | new impulse to the feud between the Sempills and the | Cunninghams, and several obscure persons were beheaded for the | crime while the principals got off in the usual manner. But the feud | was soon resumed between the leading persons; and we find the | master of Glencairn, his brothers, kinsman, and allies giving surety | to answer at the next Justice-Aire for | umbsetting the hiegitt, with intent to murder Lord Sempill, | between his castle of Sempill and his place of Lovell; and both the | Sempills and the Cunninghams bound over to keep the peace under | large penalties, a consequence of another affray a few days | afterwards. Stouthrieff of the clan Gregor | is first noticed in this reign, who in 1533 were put to the horn, and | denounced rebels, for taking a prey from their lowland neighbour, | the Earl of Menteith. | Sir Patrick Hepburne of Waughtone, knight, appears to have been a | stirring man in his own neighbourhood. At one time we find him, | and his brothers, aided by three priests, waylaying Wauchope of | Niddry-Marshall, and shortly after charged with invasion and | hamesucken. | The number of slaughters and murders among the nobility and | gentry during a few years in this reign, gives a sure indication of | the disorderly state of society. In a very short space of time, we | find enumerated, the slaughter of the Earl of Cassilis by Campbell | of Louden, of Lord Fleming, in which Scot of Branxholm was | implicated, and the wounding of the Countess of Crawford. | Among the lairds slain at the same period, | either in feuds, or in consequence of them, are Kennedy, Laird of | Lochland, Weir of Stonebyres, by the Rector of Colbintoune, | Cunningham of Auchinhervy, by the Earl of Eglintoune, and his | partisans; the Laird of Cessfurde, the Laird of Castlecary, the Laird | of Duffus, the Laird of Meldrum, the young Laird of Conhaithe, | the Laird of Comestone, the Laird of Scottistoun, the Laird of | Westhall, and many others. Thus in one affray, we find three | persons bearing the title lairds or landed | proprietors, killed by Campbell of Auchinhowye and his partisans. | State crimes were very frequently prosecuted in this reign, the | vindictive hatred which the King bore the house of Douglas never | slumbering. Intercommuning with rebels was a constant offence; | but to be a partisan of, or to assist the Earl of Angus or his uncle, | was beyond all forgiveness. Among other instances, Lady Traquair | was compelled to give ample surety | This is a merciful case. That | of Janet Lady Glammis remains the foulest blot of this reign, and | one of the most disgraceful instances of a tyrant's revenge, pursued | under colour of justice, that stains the annals of Scottish history. In | the judicial murder of the Master of Forbes, whose real offence | was having married the sister of the Earl of Angus, the King was | perhaps the tool of the Earl Huntlie, the feudal rival of Forbes; but | the prosecution of Lady Glammis was his own relentless and | diabolical deed. This singular prosecution discovered an inveteracy | of purpose, and vindictiveness of disposition, almost unparalleled | even among those who are early corrupted by courts, and by the | possession of irresponsible power over the lives and happiness of | their fellow creatures. The account which | | Mr. Pitcairn has given of this dark transaction does equal honour to | the acuteness of his intellect, and the humanity of his heart. At the | risk of making a long quotation, though it is an exceedingly | interesting one, we adopt his narration of this remarkable case. | | | | Mr. Pitcairn takes this interesting account of this unfortunate and | high-minded lady, from the history of Scotland, by David Scott, | Inner Temple. | All the papers illustrative of this case, which Mr. Pitcairn has | collected are exceedingly curious and interesting. The speech of | Lady Janet at the bar is a noble effusion of the natural eloquence of | high-minded innocence. It is, to our thinking, remarkable for the | graces of style; and even at the present day may be regarded as a | model of pure and vigorous language, | | | | These representations were fruitless: The judges were forced to | condemn the victim. Scott continues: ~~ | | The first trials for heresy, and for using heretical books, occur | towards the close of this reign. Though the records of trials for | heresy are stated by Mr. Pitcairn to be scanty and defective, he has | from them, and from the Register of the Privy Seal, collected many | interesting notices of this nature. He has also drawn largely upon | manuscripts preserved in the Advocates' Library. For these first | dawnings of the Reformation | | The King, who shewed no greater mercy to heretics than to | Douglasses, came himself from Linlithgow to attend an | auto da fe upon the Castle Hill of | Edinburgh, which appears to have been the first. Two Dominican | friars, named Keller and Beveridge, were burnt, with Sir Duncan | Simson, a priest of Stirling, Thomas Forett, a canon of St. Colms, | in the Forth, and vicar of Dollar; and Robert Forrester, a gentleman | of Stirling. An extract is given from a letter preserved in the British | Museum, written by the Duke of Richmond, then at Berwick, in | which he tells Lord Cromwell, the Minister of Henry VIII., of the | bigotry of the King of Scotland. | The letter is | dated about three weeks after the grand sacrifice at which the King | had presided. says the Governor, | From | a M.S. of Calderwood we have a Narrative of the proceedings | against David Straiton and Norman Gourley. The account of the | sufferers mentioned above, and especially of the Vicar of Dollar, is | deeply interesting. To the trials of this reign, Mr. Pitcairn has given | a copious appendix, full of rare and curious matter. It is indeed an | abbreviated history of the country, presented in its crimes, and in | the respites and remissions of offences, and the daily | disbursements of the Royal Household; and throws a broad light | upon the manners and habitudes of the age. | Abiding from Raids, when summoned by | the King's proclamation to join the army, was a common offence | both in this and in the commencement of the succeeding reigns. In | the 1st of Mary Queen of Scots, we find numerous instances of | persons taken to account for abiding from the Raid of Glasgow, the | Raid of Gladis-muir, the Raid of Coldinghame, the Taid of | Ancrum, Ancrum-moss and Coldinghame, the Raid of Dumfries, | etcetera etcetera. The Lairds, | during the minority of Mary, continued to | murder each other with the same vivacity as in the days of her | father and grandfather. We find in a few months Stirling of Kier, | Sinclair of Achinfranch, and the Rector of Killbride, all | slaughtered by persons considered gentlemen. A crime | characteristic of the age was drawing knives in | "a fenced court," to | answer for which, fifteen citizens of Edinburgh find surety. | Margaret Hume, princess of North Berwick, is about the same time | made over to the church to underly the | law for waylaying and invasion of Oliphant of Kelly, and his | slaughter; and a charge of hamesucken and oppression done to the | Princess by the Laird of Kelly, is alleged on the other side, with | slaughter of servants, etcetera etcetera | Frays and | slaughters among the lower orders are seldom noticed. Fire-raising | is sometimes mentioned; and this appears to have been a frequent | mode of revenge shewn by the poor to the rich, the perpetrators | being sometimes females. We also hear of houghing cattle; but | wild and disorderly as were the public morals, instances of crime | committed within the sanctuary of the domestic hearth are | extremely rare. One case of parricide, and another of the murder of | a wife, are all that appear on record for many years. Such cases | might, however, be tried before the Barons' courts. Selling French | wines at prices higher than those fixed by the Queen's | Proclamation was a new crime, and also selling | "victual and flesh in England." | Forging, falsifying, and erasing title-deeds | | and important papers, now that the Schoolmaster had got abroad, | began to be first heard of, or first detected. The punishment was | striking off the offending hand. The punishments are sometimes | whimsical and capricious in uncommon cases, but sanguinary | punishment belongs to a more refined and cowardly age. For | stealing the Queen's own sheep from her park, a man was only | banished Scotland. A strange ceremonial was used, upon one | occasion for a hamesucken, and the | wounding of Douglas of Kilspindy, provost of Edinburgh. The | dome of the criminal Nicholas Rhynd, tailor, | is quite picturesque. It is a modified punishment we are told. He | was to appear at the market-cross betwixt eleven and twelve, all | the council, with the provost and bailies, being then present; then | with bare-head, bare-feet in his lynning claiths (his shirt, we | presume) he is in the maist reverend and hummybel manner to fall | down upon his knees and ask forgiveness of God, the Queen's | Grace, and the provost, bailies, and council, and community of the | burgh, for his offence, and confess and declare his repentance. He | is also to forfeit his freedom as a burgess, and to be banished the | burgh. This is a merciful sentence. Three centuries, Nicholas | Rhynd had assuredly been hung under Lord Ellenborough's act. | From punishment of heretics by James V. we come, in the | twentieth and subsequent years of Queen Mary, and during the | minority of James VI., to the punishment of rioters to restore | Popery, and of persons for intercommoning with Jesuits, hearing | mass, and baptizing and marrying after the Popish fashion. It was | under the sway of her wise son that the crime of witchcraft attained | supremacy in Scotland; though instances occur during the previous | reign. The first case recorded is that of Bessie Boswell of | Dunfermline, who was banished. | says Mr. Pitcairn, Such sentences | soon become diabolical enough; and it is humiliating to find, that | this cowardly and abject superstition, which at this time overran | Europe, spread in Scotland with the spread of Protestantism and | the knowledge of religious truth. To these witch trials, which are | given in this work with a fullness which may instruct the | philosopher and the student of history, and which must delight the | antiquary, we shall afterwards advert. The trials which arose from | the murder of Rizzio, but especially the cases and documents | connected with the murder of Darnley, are given here with a | fullness which clears up those mysterious transactions as far as | they can now be elucidated. To the Gowrie conspiracy ~~ that | much controverted and obscure point of Scottish history ~~ Mr. | Pitcairn has devoted time, pains, research and space in his work, | which only a Scottish lawyer can tolerate, and a Scottish historical | antiquary appreciate. The world will, we think, henceforth be | inclined to cry "Hold enough" | of the Gowrie conspiracy. The | boldness of those among the Edinburgh clergy who, undaunted | followers of Knox, held the Court at defiance, and denied the truth | of the alleged conspiracy; and the sycophancy and time-serving | spirit of others of the clergy, is the most remarkable new feature in | this intricate piece of state-craft. The pulpit, in the service of the | Court everywhere, resounded with denunciations of the | conspirators. Mr. Patrick Galloway, one of the ministers of the | royal household, made out so good a case at the Cross of | Edinburgh, where he preached before the King, the Court, and the | people, that he was appointed to perform the same part publicly in | Glasgow, whither his Majesty went to strengthen his cause. No | Attorney-General could be a better pleader, or more abusive and | | personal than this reverend pulpit-orator. His text was aptly chosen | from the thirtieth Psalm, and the deliverances of David. The | preacher was aware that the public entertained great doubts of this | conspiracy, which the banishment of the Edinburgh ministers, who | stood by Gowrie and the Kirk, might silence, but did not remove. | They had heard "poisoned untruths," | and were now called upon to | take heed that they might eschew false information. We must give | a short specimen of the fulsome servility and style of vituperation | and artifice of courtly churchmen in the first year of the | seventeenth century: ~~ | The massacre of the Colquhouns on the "Field of the Lenox," as it | is often named, and the raid of Glenfruine, gave rise to many | criminal trials, and also furnished pretexts for the cruel | proscription of the Clan Gregor. In this work there is a complete | exposition of the cold-blooded policy and perfidy of the Earl of | Argyle towards this devoted race. The state of moral feeling must | have been at a low ebb in high places, when this nobleman, the | King's Lieutenant, and long the Justice General of Scotland, could | merit such a notice as is here extracted by Mr. Pitcairn, from the | MS. Diary of Robert Birrell, preserved in the Advocates' Library. | | | | The declaration of Macgregor, presented on his trial, in evidence to | the Justice Depute, is a remarkable document, and one which | deeply implicates the character of Argyll. Its striking conclusion | may still be a lesson to State Secretaries for Ireland. | The trial and execution of the Lady Warriston, for the murder of | her husband, Kincaid of Warriston, made a great sensation in | Edinburgh, the scene of this tragedy lying so near the town, and the | parties being persons of rank. The murderess, a young and | beautiful woman, who had bribed a man-servant and her nurse to | aid in her atrocious crime, was tried without loss of time. In respect | of her birth she was, at an unusual hour, decapitated by the | Maiden, instead of undergoing the ordinary | punishment of females ~~ drowning, or strangling, and burning. | She was of the family of Livingstone of Dunipace, and related to | many great Scotch houses. This is the first cast that we remember, | in which atrocious criminals were canonized on the scaffold, and | triumphant conversions made at the foot of the gallows. | Mutilation, dismemberment, and | particularly slitting of noses, appear to be modes of crime in vogue | towards the latter part of this reign. Sorcery, witchcraft, poisoning, | and incantation, are, however, the crimes which offer the compiler | the most singular details. In this volume Mr. Pitcairn inserts the | remarkable case of the Mures of Auchindrane, which has been | dramatized by Sir Walter Scott, by the name if the | Ayrshire Tragedy. The remarkable | circumstances, and minute chain of evidence by which the | consecutive murders committed by the Mures were brought home | to them, must have made a strong impression, at the time, when | even yet, after the lapse of centuries, the train of small events by | which the singularly complicated and involved crimes were traced, | confirm the national superstition that murder will not hide. If ever | this may be affirmed, it is in the case of the Auchindranes. An old | narration of their case, which Mr. Pitcairn has preserved, contains | some choice morsels of the grossest flattery of Royalty we have | ever had the felicity to peruse. It was in this reign that the Gipsies | first came under the long arm of the law. The whole tribe, which | had become frightfully numerous, had been banished the kingdom | by several Acts of Parliament, and they were now hung for | disobedience of this severe rule. The Egyptians thenceforth fared | little better than the unhappy clan Gregor, the | "notorious Johnnie Fals," and that unhappy | sort of people it was become a crime to "harbour and | reset." The trials of Lord Maxwell, and those | originating in the rebellion of the Earl of Orkney, afford great | scope to Mr. Pitcairn's researches, who has ferreted out, with | unwearied industry, every fact which throws the remotest light | upon such obscure points of history. The trial of Ogliby, a Jesuit, | tortured into confession and then hanged, gave his Majesty an | opportunity of displaying his polemic talents and theological | learning, by propounding a string of ensnaring questions to which | the man was so little of what a Jesuit is imagined, as to make the | honest and direct answers which expedited his fate. A novel | species of crime was now first heard of in Scotland, which James, | having originally borrowed the idea | | from England, afterwards planted in that kingdom. This was | uttering | The first victim of this | newfangled offence was John Fleming of Cockburnspath, who had | rashly said, and, when asked what | moved him to such he replied scornfully, | By the uttering of the which | he had committed the most heinous and unpardonable | treason. The assize, "all in one voice," found | this man guilty of treason, and he | was sentenced to be hanged at the cross of Edinburgh, and to have | his moveables escheated to the crown. Another horrible case, of a | somewhat similar nature, in | the words of our author, | It was but one of a series of The character | of this most despicable of the Stuart princes has only been saved by the | contempt and ridicule of posterity from merited loathing and | execration. says Mr. Pitcairn, | Mr. Pitcairn refers | to many cases of this kind in his Collection of Criminal Trials, and | then comes to that of Mr. Thomas Ross, of which he has taken an | account from a MS. of Sir James Balfour, in the Advocates' | Library: ~~ | The Pasquill is a piece of sheer nonsense | and bravado; but we must give a few sentences of his Majesty's | directions to the Privy Council thereanent. | | | This miserable man, who was of a good family, and had been | minister of Cargill, had his right hand stricken off, and was then | beheaded, quartered, and had his body stuck upon the ports of the | town. | Not contented with exercising this tyranny at home, a | Pole, who had been ill-treated in Scotland, | and who vented his spleen in some foolish rhymes, became the | object of the vengeance of his patriotic and sapient Majesty, who, | pinched as he always was for money, yet spent 600 pounds ~~ an | immense sum then ~~ to procure the arrest and execution of the | daring insulter of our ancient kingdom and its Sovereign lord. The | king attempted to indemnify himself for the pecuniary outlay by | extorting A letter | from Lord Binning to the king, respecting | Ross, is another precious morsel of fulsome obsequiousness. But | we must close Mr. Pitcairn's volumes for the present. Having given | a very imperfect account of their purpose and contents, we are | strongly tempted to return to them. The work is too expensive and | voluminous to be generally diffused, yet to readers, and especially | to Scottish readers, it offers many attractions, and a mine of rich | and precious materials, which we are well disposed to work a little | deeper for their benefit and amusement.