Macpherson’s Rant

I first came across this story whilst searching for traditional gipsy fiddler stories. My first attempt is a rather literal telling that combines several historical accounts, which all seem to differ in various ways. I try to retain the essence of the story whilst tying up loose ends or rather clunky bits that appear in some accounts.

An initial attempt at a telling…

James, or Jamie, Macpherson was the bastard son of a Scottish laird, born to a gypsy mother but brought up in his father’s household. He was strong, a forceful character, and a gifted musician: many was the night when the young James Macpherson would dazzle the ceilidh with his violin playing.

All things must come to an end, however, and when his father died, the estate went the way of a more, shall we say, legitimate claim, and Jamie took to the hills, to the gypsy life that was in his blood.

These were hard times for gypsies, though, the Scottish travellers, the Scottish Romanies, the “Egyptians”: harried, untolerated, persecuted, even, much as they are to this day. They were also seen as lawbreakers, sorners, people who would camp without permission in empty farmers’ barns and outhouses that dotted the wild landscape. But Jamie’s band were honourable, or so it is said, and if you spent the evening with Jamie and his men, you could guarantee he’d keep everyone entertained with his fiddle playing.

Tradition has it that Jamie and his band of followers were the Scottish equivalent of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, but I don’t know about that: you’d have to ask his clansmen. But it does seem as if he had good nature, and that it contributed to his downfall.

I’m not sure how he was arrested the first time….

Perhaps it was following the night when he stopped his men raiding a house — and they would only raid the houses and farms of wealthy men, sharing their spoils with the those in need of them — when the master of the house was burying his wife and child — it would be wrong to exploit such a time of grief; one of the gang took issue with giving up on such easy pickings and informed the local Sherriff as to Jamies’ whereabouts…

Or maybe it was the tale I heard tell that one night he heard a frightened scream coming from the farmhouse near where he was camping; that he and his men raced to the cottage, that they found Lord Braco there, molesting the daughter of the house: surely, he set about Braco, and sent him and his men on their way with their tails between their legs; some say that Jamie Macpherson then wooed and fell in love with that fair maiden, others that as a result of that night, Braco raised a warrant for Jamie’s arrest, for sorning, and for being an “Egyptian”, which is to say, a gypsy.

Whether Macpherson actually waylaid the messenger and stole the warrant, or whether the summons was delivered to the Sheriff, Jamie just seemed to grow and grow in confidence. At one point, he announced he would take a procession into Aberdeen, led by his piper ahead of him. This was no doubt a flagrant act of protest, of sticking two fingers up at the magisterial authorities; but it seems they authorities were better prepared than Jamie had expected, because he was captured, and imprisoned.

But his merry men — if you could ever imagine a band of huge, great, sword wielding, hairy Scottish gypsy warriors being described as “merry men” — came to his rescue: one retrieved his sword, another outwitted the jailer and freed Jamie Macpherson. In the course of the escape, a local butcher, who also topped up his wages by acting as the local hangman, tried to apprehend Jamie, leaping stunt man style from an upstairs window and landing on top of him. Seeing his trusty dog nearby, the butcher called to the dog — “get him, kill him” — but with lightning quick presence of mind, Jamie’s accomplice threw his plaid — you know, his tartan shawl — over the butcher, and so confused the dog that the dog then started mauling his covered master.

And so it was, Jamie returned to the hills, making occasional raids, staying, or sorning, wherever the road took him. Until he was captured again.

This time, there was to be no escape, even though you might argue that no escape was necessary. Because even though Braco, recalling his previous warrant for arrest, would have Jamie judged by the Laird of that place, a kinsman of Jamie, and sentenced to death by a landowner’s right, others would argue that the jurisdiction lay elsewhere. Indeed, after lobbying by Jamie’s cousin — remember, Jamie was the son of a laird jhimself, even if an illegitimate one — a reprieve from that sentence was granted by the Sheriff… But… somehow… Braco managed to hear of it.

And even though the time for the execution had been set… well, Braco couldn’t risk it. The messenger with the reprieve would surely been on his way by now, he might arrive at any time… and so, Braco had the hands of the clock of that place moved forwards, hastening the allotted time of execution.

Macpherson was led out to the gallows.

He asked for one last request — that he be allowed to play a tune on his trusty fiddle — and the wish was granted.

Taking his trusty fiddle in hand, he played a tune of his own composition, a tune known variously today as Macpherson’s Rant, or Macpherson’s Lament.

He looked around at the assembled audience, haunted looks as they realised this hero’s days were surely at an end, and perhaps thankful that they were not up on the gallows with with him. “Who will take my fiddle? Who will play for me at my wake?” Silence. No-one dared risked being seen as an accomplice of Jamie Macpherson. And with that he gave a cry of anger, snapping the violin in two and towing it into the crowd. The noose was placed around his neck… But then, perhaps even as the messenger, with his reprieve, approached, Jamie Macpherson threw himself off the step to his death: no man would be able to say they had hung Jamie Macpherson.

The violin, well, the violin, and Jamie’s huge sword, I believe they can still be seen, to this day, in a small museum in Banff, in North-East Scotland. And in that town of Banff, from where Jamie was hung, well, the lairdship was stripped of its manorial right of managing trial and punishment. And in the town of Macduff, just over the estuary, I have heard said the facing wall of the clock tower there is blanked off; for the people of Macduff have not given the people of Banff, the time of day ever since that fateful day of November 16th, 1700, when Jamie Macpherson played his final lament.

Contrast the above with this rather more situated telling…

Katherine Briggs also provides a summary of the tale in Part B of her Dictionary of British folk-tales in the English language, as the tale Death of Singing Jamie in the section on “Historical Traditions”.

According to Scottish traveller Duncan Williamson, Macpherson’s mother (Mary) was a traveller girl who managed to attend the coming of age party of the young laird of the manor (on the drive to which which they were camping), through the magic of her grandmother, a transformation, and the loss of shoe that was later found to fit her. Williamson claims the story is known to Scottish travellers not as Cinderella, but as Macpherson.

Macpherson’s Rant, Francis Child, “The British Poets”, 1866

In The British Poets, Francis Child, 1866, p263-268.

This ballad, worthy of a hangman’s pen, was first printed in Herd’s Scottish Songs, i. 161. It is found, mutilated and altered, with the title of Macpherson’s Lament, in the Thistle of Scotland, p. 52.

The story of Macpherson is given as follows by a writer in the New Monthly Magazine, voL i. p. 142, cited by Chambers, Scottish Songs, i. 84.

“James Macpherson was bom of a beautiful gipsy, who, at a great wedding, attracted the notice of a half-intoxicated Highland gentleman. He acknowledged the child, and had him reared in his house, until he lost his life in bravely pursuing a hostile clan, to recover a spreach of cattle taken from Badenoch. The gipsy woman, hearing of this disaster, in her rambles the following summer, came and took away her boy; but she often returned with him, to wait upon his relations and clansmen, who never failed to clothe him well, besides giving money to his mother. He grew up to beauty, strength, and stature, rarely equalled. His sword is still preserved at Duff House, a residence of the Earl of Fife, and few men of our day could carry, far less wield it, as a weapon of war; and if it must be owned that his prowess was debased by the exploits of a free-booter, it is certain, no act of cruelty, no robbery of the widow, the fatherless, or distressed, and no murder, were ever perpetrated under his command. He often gave the spoils of the rich to relieve the poor; and all his tribe were restrained from many atrocities of rapine by the awe of his mighty arm. Indeed, it is said that a dispute with an aspiring and savage man of his tribe, who wished to rob a gentleman’s house while his wife and two children lay on the bier for interment, was the cause of his being betrayed to the vengeance of the law. The magistrates of Aberdeen were exasperated at Macpherson’s escape, and bribed a girl in that city to allure and deliver him into their hands. There is a platform before the jail, at the top of a stair, and a door below. When Macpherson’s capture was made known to his comrades by the frantic girl, who had been so credulous as to believe the magistrates only wanted to hear the wonderful performer on the violin, his cousin, Donald Macpherson, a gentleman of Herculean powers, did not disdain to come from Badenoch, and to join a gipsy, Peter Brown, in liberating the prisoner. On a market-day they brought several assistants; and swift horses were stationed at a convenient distance. Donald Macpherson and Peter Brown forced the jail; and while Peter Brown went to help the heavily-fettered James Macpherson in moving away, Donald Macpherson guarded the jail-door with a drawn sword. Many persons assembled at the market had experienced James Macpherson’s humanity, or had shared his bounty; and they crowded round the jail as in mere curiosity, but, in fact, to obstruct the civil authorities in their attempts to prevent a rescue. A butcher, however, was resolved to detain Macpherson, expecting a large recompense from the magistrates; he sprung up the stairs, and leaped from the platform upon Donald Macpherson, whom he dashed to the ground by the force and weight of his body. Donald Macpherson soon recovered, to make a desperate resistance; and the combatants tore off each other’s clothes. The butcher got a glimpse of his dog upon the platform, and called him to his aid; but Macpherson, with admirable presence of mind, snatched up his own plaid, which lay near, and threw it over the butcher, thus misleading the instinct of his canine adversary. The dog darted with fury upon the plaid, and terribly lacerated his master’s thigh. In the mean time, James Macpherson had been carried out by Peter Brown, and was soon joined by Donald Macpherson, who was quickly covered by some friendly spectator with a hat and great coat The magistrates ordered webs from the shops to be drawn across the Gallowgate; but Donald Macpherson cut them asunder with his sword, and James, the late prisoner, got off on horseback. He was, some time after, betrayed by a man of his own tribe; and was the last person executed at Banff, preyions to the abolition of hereditable jurisdiction. He was an admirable performer on the violin; and his talent for composition is still evidenced by Macpherson’s Rant, and Macpherson’s Pitroch. He performed these tunes at the foot of the fatal tree; and then asked if he had any friend in the crowd to whom a last gifl of his instrument would be acceptable. No man had hardihood to claim friendship with a delinquent, in whose crimes the acknowledgment might implicate an avowed acquaintance. As no friend came forward, Macpherson said, the companion of so many gloomy hours should perish with him; and, breaking the violin over his knees, he threw away the fragments. Donald Macpherson picked up the neck of the violin, which to this day is preserved, as a valuable memento, by the family of Cluny, chieftain of the Macphersons.”

Burns’s magnificent death-song, McPherson’s Farewell, is too well known to require more than an allusion.

I’ve spent my time in rioting,
Debauch’d my health and strength;
I’ve pillag’d, plundered, murdered,
But now, alas! at length,
I’m brought to punishment direct.
Pale death draws near to me;
This end I never did project,
To hang upon a tree.

To hang upon a tree! a tree!
That curs’d unhappy death!
Like to a wolf to worried be,
And choaked in the breath.
My very heart would surely break,
When this I think upon,
Did not my courage singular
Bid pensive thoughts begone.

No man on earth that draweth breath,
More courage had than I;
I dar’d my foes unto their face,
And would not from them fly.
This grandeur stout, I did keep out,
Like Hector, manfullie:
Then wonder one like me, so stout,
Should hang upon a tree!

Th’ Egyptian band I did command,
With courage more by far,
Than ever did a general
His soldiers in the war.
Being feared by all, both great and small,
I liv’d most joyfullie:
A curse upon this fate of mine,
To hang upon a tree!

As for my life, I do not care,
If justice would take place.
And bring my fellow plunderers
Unto this same disgrace.
For Peter Brown, that notour loon,
Escap’d and was made free;
O I curse upon this fate of mine.
To hang upon a tree!

Both law and justice buried are,
And fraud and guile succeed;
The guilty pass unpunished,
If money intercede.
The Laird of Grant, that Highland saint,
His mighty majestie.
He pleads the cause of Peter Brown,
And lets Macpherson die.

The destiny of my life, contriv’d
By those whom I oblig’d,
Rewarded me much ill for good,
And left me no refuge. For Braco Duff, in rage enough,
He first laid hands on me;
And if that death would not preyent,
Avenged would I be.

As for my life, it is but short,
When I shall be no more;
To part with life I am content,
As any heretofore.
Therefore, good people all, take heed.
This warning take by me.
According to the lives you lead,
Rewarded yon shall be.

James Macpherson in Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands, 1878

This story first appeared in The Celtic Magazine, October, 1876, Vol 1 Iss 12, p366-370 under the byline of TORQUIL. The magazine was edited by Alexander Mackenzie from 1875 until October, 1886. Mackenzie republished the story in his 1878 collection of tales, Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands, p25-31, wherein he declared that “[t]hese TALES AND LEGENDS were very favourably received by a wide circle of readers, and by the Press generally, as they appeared from month to month in the Celtic Magazine”. The preface also makes it clear that the author TARQUIN “objects to have his name made public”.

This telling includes a betrayal by a girl that Macpherson was fond of, as well as a variant of a song supposedly composed by Machprson himself (Macpherson’s Rant).

James Macpherson, the Famous Musician & Freebooter

HISTORICAL TALES AND LEGENDS OF THE HIGHLANDS.

COMPILED BY

ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

1878

JAMES MACPHERSON, THE FAMOUS MUSICIAN & FREEBOOTER.

The story of James Macpherson is one which has induced much curiosity and inquiry, and, short as the time is since he was done to death, shows how soon facts may become garbled and altered in complexion. Sir Walter Scott, for instance, makes Inverness the closing scene of the proceedings. That he was wrong is clearly shown by the records of the Sheriff Court of Banff.

James Macpherson was the illegitimate son of Macpherson of Invereshie, by a beautiful gipsy girl who attracted his notice at a wedding.

He acknowledged the child, and reared him in his own house until he lost his life in pursuing a hostile clan to recover a spreach of cattle taken from Badenoch.

Macpherson, who had grown in beauty, strength, and stature rarely equalled, then took his place in the clan, with the chief’s blood flowing in his veins, as a young Highland freebooter, who, in descending from the mountains with his followers, believed he was only asserting the independence of his tribe, and when they harried the Lowlands was only taking a lawful prey. Such acts were not, in the opinion of the “pretty men” of those times, to be confounded with pitiful thieving and stealing, but considered as deeds of spirit and boldness calculated to make a man famous in his country side and among his fellows.

Macpherson excelled in love as in war, and was the best fiddle player and the best swordsman of his name. Tradition asserts that, if it must [Pg 26] be owned that his prowess was debased by the exploits of a freebooter, no act of cruelty, no robbery of the widow, the fatherless, or the distressed, and no murder were ever perpetrated under his command or by his knowledge.

His sword and shield are still preserved at Duff House, a residence of the Earl of Fife. The sword is one which none but a man of uncommon strength could wield. It is two-handed, six feet in length, and the blade nearly as broad as a common scythe. The shield is of wood, covered with bull’s hide, and studded with brass nails, and is both hacked and perforated in many places, telling a tale of many a hard fought fight. Tradition also asserts that he often gave the spoils of the rich to relieve the poor, and that his followers were restrained from many atrocities of rapine by the awe of his mighty arm.

Indeed, it is said that a dispute with a foiled and savage member of his tribe, who wished to rob a gentleman’s house while his wife and two children lay on the bier for interment, was the cause of his first being betrayed within the power of the law. From this toil he escaped, to the vexation of the magistrates of Aberdeen, who bribed a girl of that city, of whom Macpherson was very fond, to allure and deliver him again into their hands, under pretence of hearing his wonderful performances on the violin.

No sooner did the frantic girl understand the true state of the case than she made known, through a tribe of gipsies, the chief of whom was Peter Brown, a notorious vagrant, the capture of Macpherson to his comrades, when his cousin, Donald Macpherson, a gentleman of herculean powers, came from Badenoch in order to join the gipsy, Brown, in liberating the prisoner. On a market day they brought several assistants, and swift horses were stationed at convenient distances. There was a platform before the jail covering the door below. Donald Macpherson and Peter Brown forced the jail, and while Peter Brown went to help the heavily fettered prisoner, James Macpherson, in moving away, Donald Macpherson guarded the jail door with a drawn sword. Many persons assembled at the market had experienced James Macpherson’s humanity or shared his bounty in the past, and they crowded round the jail as if in mere curiosity, but, in fact, to obstruct the civil authorities in their attempt to prevent a rescue. A butcher, however, was resolved to detain Macpherson, expecting a large recompense from the magistrates. He sprung up the stairs, and leaped from the platform upon Donald Macpherson, whom he dashed to the ground by the force and weight of his body. Donald soon resolved to make a desperate resistance, and the combatants in their struggle tore off each other’s clothes. The butcher got a glimpse of his dog upon the platform, and called him to his aid, but Macpherson with admirable presence of mind snatched up his own plaid, which lay near, and threw it over the butcher, thus misleading the instinct of his canine adversary. The dog darted with fury upon the plaid and terribly lacerated his master’s thigh. In the meantime, James Macpherson had been carried out by Peter Brown, and was soon joined by Donald Macpherson, who was quickly covered by some friendly spectators with a bonnet and greatcoat. The magistrates ordered webs from the shops to be drawn across the Gallowgate, but Donald cut them with his sword, and James, the late prisoner, got off on horseback.

Some time after he was brought into fatal companionship with gipsies, by the same power which led the old Grecian hero to change his club for a distaff. The Highlander fell in love with a gipsy girl, and with one companion, James Gordon, who eventually paid the penalty with him, he entered for a time into the roving company of the gipsy band. The Banffshire gentlemen, whom Macpherson had plundered of old, heard with delight that the most dreaded of their enemies had come almost unprotected into their boundaries.

According to the evidence on the trial, he seems to have joined the gipsies on a rioting rather than on a plundering excursion in Keith market, when he fell into the hands of his watchful foes, the chief of whom was Duff of Braco. He was immediately thrown into prison, and brought to trial with three persons, Peter Brown, Donald Brown, and James Gordon, his companions, indited by the Procurator-Fiscal as “Egyptians or gipsies, and vagabonds; and sorners, and robbers, and known habit and repute guilty of theft, masterful bangstree, riot, and oppression.”

When brought into Court at Banff the Laird of Grant attempted to rescue them from the claims of the law, by asserting his right to try them as being dwellers within the regality of Grant, over which he had the power of pit and gallows.

The Sheriff, Nicholas Dunbar of Castlefield, however, over-ruled the claim, and sustaining himself as judge, ordered a jury to try the prisoners on the next day. This was accordingly done, when they were found guilty and condemned, more apparently from a bad name, than from any immediate crimes of which they had been guilty.

The Sheriff passing over the two Browns, the captain of the gipsy band and his brother, sentenced Macpherson and Gordon to death, causing them to be taken from the Court to the Tolbooth of Banff, from which eight days afterwards they were to be conveyed to the gallows hill of Banff, and hanged by the neck to the death on gibbets erected there. This hurried sentence shows the influence which the fear of Macpherson, or private enmity, exercised [Pg 29]over the minds of Dunbar, the Sheriff, and the jury, and hints at the influence exercised by Braco Duff upon Sheriff, jury, and magistrates, especially as the Browns, his companions, were not sentenced; in fact, they lay in jail for a year, and afterwards made their escape from prison.

Macpherson was an admirable performer on the violin, and the ardent love for music was a fit ingredient in the character of one who could so idly risk his life in the pursuit of romantic love. His musical talent was evinced long before his capture in the composition of a pibroch that goes by his name; and he is said also to have composed the words and music, which, in his last moments, he gave to the world under the name of “Macpherson’s Farewell”—

My father was a gentleman
Of fame and lineage high,
Oh! mother, would you ne’er had born
A wretch so doomed to die!
But dantonly and wantonly
And rantonly I’ll gae,
I’ll play a tune and dance it roun’
Below the gallows tree.

The Laird o’ Grant with power aboon
The royal majesty,
He pled fu’ well for Peter Brown
But let Macpherson die.
But dantonly, &c.

But Braco Duff, in rage enough,
He first laid hands on me;
If death did not arrest my course,
Avenged I should be.
But dantonly, &c.

I’ve led a life o’ meikle strife,
Sweet peace ne’er smiled on me,
It grieves me sair that I maun gae
An’ na avenged be.
But dantonly, &c.

The verses of the song above given represent him as a musician, and as determined to display, which he certainly did, a mood of recklessness such as the boldest felon seldom evinces when below the fatal tree. Burns on his tour through the Highlands, it is very probable learned both the air and the tradition connected with it, and it may be that while composing, what Lockhart calls a grand lyric, he had Macpherson’s words in his mind. Burns has written—

Sae rantonly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
He played a spring and danced it round
Below the gallows tree.

I’ve lived a life of sturt and strife
I die by treacherie,
It burns my heart I must depart
And not avenged be.

Now farewell light thou sunshine bright,
And all beneath the sky,
May coward shame disdain his name
The wretch that dares not die.

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
He played a spring and danced it round
Below the gallows tree.

On the eighth day after his trial he was brought with his companion, Gordon, to the foot of the fatal tree, several hours before the time specified in the sentence for his execution.

It is said that his death was hurried on by the Magistrates, and that they also caused the messenger intrusted with a reprieve to be stopped by the way, in consequence of which acts of injustice it is alleged the town of Banff was deprived of the power of trying and executing malefactors.

When the freebooter came to the foot of the gallows tree in presence of the spectators who had come to witness his untimely end, he played with the utmost pathos the fine tune, “Macpherson’s Farewell,” which he had previously composed.

When he had finished he asked if he had any friend in the crowd to whom a last gift of his violin would be acceptable on condition of his playing the same tune over his body at his lyke wake. No one had the hardihood to claim friendship with one in whose crimes the acknowledgment might imply a participation, and the freebooter saying that the instrument had been his solace in many a gloomy hour, and that it should now perish with him, broke it over his knee, and, scattering the fragments among the crowd, immediately flung himself off the ladder.

Thus died James Macpherson, who, if he was a freebooter, possessed the heart of an errant knight. Donald Macpherson, his relative and friend, picked up the neck of the violin which is still preserved in the family of Cluny, Chief of the Macphersons. One thing is certain amid all the traditions which have come down regarding this bold and singular robber; his strength and stature far exceeded those of common men; and this was proved, when his grave was opened some years ago, by the examination of his bones.

Domestic Annals of Scotland

The Domestic Annals of Scotland: from the Revolution to the Rebellion of 1745 was a three volume work by Robert Chambers and published between 1858 and 1861 by William and Robert Chambers. The history of James Macpherson is related in Robert Chambers’ *Domestic annals of Scotland, from the Revelotion to the Rebellion of 1745, 1840, p233-237.

As told in the Domestic Annals of Scotland

Includes image of sword Image of canongate tolbooth, frontispiece

…

Nov. 16, 1700

A band of persons, usually called Egyptians or gipsies, used to go about the province of Moray in armed fashion, helping themselves freely to the property of the settled population, and ordinainly sleeping in kilns near the farmhouses. There seems to have been thirty of them in all, men and women; but it was seldom that more than eight or ten made their appearance in any one place. It was quite a familiar sight, at a fair or market in Banff, Elgin, Forres, or any other town of the district, to see nearly a dozen sturdy Egyptians march in with a piper playing at their head, their matchlocks slung behind them, and their broad-swords or dirks by their sides, to mingle in the crowd, inspect the cattle shewn for sale, and watch for bargains passing among individuals, in order to learn who was in the way of receiving money. They would be viewed with no small suspicion and dislike by the assembled rustics and farmers; but the law was unable to put them entirely down.

James Macpherson, who was understood to be the natural son of a gentleman of the district by a gipsy mother, was a conspicuous or leading man in the band; he was a person of goodly figure and great strength and daring, always carrying about with him — how acquired we cannot tell — an example of the two-handed swords of a former age, besides other weapons. He had a talent for music, and was a good player on the violin. It has been stated that some traits of a generous nature occasionally shone out in him; but, on the whole, he was merely a Highland cateran, breaking houses and henroosts, stealing horses and cattle, and living recklessly on the proceeds, like the tribe with which he associated.

[Illustration of Macpherson’s Sword.]

Duff, Laird of Braco, founder of the honours and wealth of the Earls of Fife, took a lead at this time in the public affairs of his district. He formed the resolution of trying to give a check to the lawless proceedings of the Egyptians, by bringing their leaders to justice. It required some courasre to face such determined ruffians with arms in their hands, and he had a further difficulty in the territorial i7oo, prejudices of the Laird of Grant, who regarded some of the robbers as his tenants, and felt bound, accordingly, to protect them from any jurisdiction besides his own. [Alexander Duff was descended from a race of gentry in Morayshire — the Duffs of Muldavit — and it seems to have been by saving, prudence, and good management that he was enabled to increase his share of the ftimily possessions, and so far advance the prospects of his house, that it was ennobled in the nest generation, and now ranks among tho eight or ten families of highest wealth in Scotland. There is a characteristic story about Braco surveying one day an extensive tract of country containing several tolerable lairdships, when, seeing the houses in various directions all giving out signs of being inhabited by their respective families, he said: 'A' that reek sail come out o' ae lum yet!' and he made good his word by ultimately buying up the whole of that district.] This remark bears particularly upon two named Peter and Donald Brown, who had lived for half a year at a place closely adjacent to Castle-Grant, and the former of whom was regarded as captain of the band.

Finding Macpherson, the Browns, and others at the ‘Summer’s Eve Fair in Keith, the stout-hearted Braco made up his mind to attack them. To pursue a narrative which appears to be authentic: ‘As soon as he observed them in the fair, he desired his brother-in-law, Lesmurdie, to bring him a dozen stout men, which he did. They attacked the villains, who, as they had several of their accomplices with them, made a desperate resistance. One of them made a pass at Braco with his hanger, intending to run him through the heart; but it slanted along the outside of the ribs, and one of his men immediately stabbed the fellow dead. They then carried Macpherson and [Peter] Brown to a house in Keith, and set three or four stout men to guard them, not expecting any more opposition, as all the rest of the gang were fled. Braco and Lesmurdie were sitting in au upper room, concerting the commitment of their prisoners, when the Laird of Grant and thirty men came calling for them, swearing no DuflPin Scotland should keep them from him. Braco, hearing the noise of the Grants, came down stairs, and said, with seeming unconcern and humour: “That he designed to have sent them to prison; but he saw they were too strong a party for him to contend with, and so he must leave them;” but, without losing a moment, he took a turn through the market, found other two justices of peace, kept a court, and assembled sixty stout fellows, with whom he retook the two criminals, and sent them to prison.’ [The above narration appeared in the *Dumfries Journal* (newspaper).]

James Macpherson, the two Browns, and James Gordon, were brought before the sheriff of Banffshire at Banff, on the 7th of November 1700, charged with ‘being habit and repute Egyptians and vagabonds, and keeping the markets in their ordinary manner of thieving and purse-cutting’ … . being guilty also of ‘masterful bangstrie and oppression.’ A procurator appeared on the part of the young Laird of Grant, demanding surrender of the two Browns, to be tried in the court of his regality, within whose bounds they had lived, and offering a culreach or pledge for them; [The system of culreach or repledgiation was one of great antiquity in Scotland, but last heard of in the Highlands. So lately as 1698, George Earl of Cromarty obtained a charter, giving him this among other powers: If any of the indwellers and tenants of his lands should happen 'to be arrested or attached before any judge or judges, spiritual or temporal, in any time coming, to repledge and call them back to the privilege and liberty of the said court of bailiery and regality of Tarbat.'] but the demand was overruled, on the ground that the Browns had never been truly domiciliated there. Witnesses were adduced, who detailed many felonies of the prisoners. They had stolen sheep, oxen, and horses; they had broken into houses, and taken away goods; they had robbed men of their purses, and tyrannously oppressed many poor people. It was shewn that the band was in the habit of speaking a peculiar language. They often spent whole nights in dancing and debauchery, Peter Brown or Macpherson giving animation to the scene by the strains of the violin. An inhabitant of Keith related how Macpherson came to his house one day, seeking for him, when, not finding him, he stabbed the bed, to make sure he was not there, and, on going away, set the ale-barrel aflowing. The jury gave a verdict against all the four prisoners; but sentence was for the meantime passed upon only Macpherson and Gordon, adjudging them to be hanged next market-day. [Documents of the process in Spalding Club Miscellany, iii, 175.]

Macpherson spent the last hours of his life in composing a tune expressive of the reckless courage with which he regarded his fate. He marched to the place of execution, a mile from the town, playing this air on his violin. He even danced to it under the fatal tree. Then he asked if any one in the crowd would accept his fiddle, and keep it as a memorial of Macpherson; and finding no one disposed to do so, he broke the instrument over his knee, and threw himself indignantly from the ladder. Such was the life and death of a man of whom one is tempted to think that, with such qualities as he possessed, he might, in a happier age, have risen to some better distinction than that which unfortunately he has attained.

Burns’s fine ode on Macpherson will be remembered:

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dantonly gaed he,
He played a spring and danced it round,
Beneath the gallows tree.

There was, however, an earlier celebration of the robber’s hardihood on a broadside, a copy of which will be found in Herd’s Collection of Scottish Songs (1776). See also a curious volume, entitled Scottish Ballads and Songs (Edinburgh, T. G. Stevenson, 1859).

A long two-handed sword is shewn in Duff House, the seat of the Earl of Fife, as that of Macpherson. It is a formidable weapon, 4 feet 3 inches long, and having a wavy-edged blade. It is obvioiisly a mediaeval weapon, yet, of course, may have been used in a later age.

March 4, 1701. — There was a petition to the Privy Council from Peter and Donald Brown, prisoners in the Tolbooth of Banff, representing that they had been condemned solely as ‘repute vagabond Egyptians,’ to bo hanged on the 2d April. They claimed a longer day, ‘either for their relief or due preparation;’ and the Lords granted reprieve till the second Wednesday of June.

Genealogical Memoirs of the Duffs

One of the earliest accounts of the Macpherson tale comes, rather interestingly, from the perspective of Macpherson’s nemesis, the family Duff. Although it was wasnlt until November, 1869 that Genealogical Memoirs of the Duffs was first published, by Lauchlan D. Gordon Duff, the preface dates it much earlier:

The author of this manuscript was William Baird, Esq. of Auchmeddan, in the parish of Aberdour, in the district of Buchan and County of Aberdeen. … As appears from several of his incidental remarks in the course of this manuscript, he should seem to have written it during the period from the year 1763 to the year 1773, when he sent it as a present to William Duff, of Muirtown, grandson of Provost William Duff of Inverness, with the view, there can be no doubt, of having it preserved as a genealogical memorial of the family of Duff.

Genealogical Memoirs of the Duffs

p50-51 Alexander Duff of Braco was born in the end of 1650 or beginning of 1651.

After his Education at School & Colledge was over, he attended a Writer to the Signet’s Chamber at Edinr. some years, and came into employment himself as an Agent, but retired to the country in 1675.

He married early to Margaret Gordon, Daughter of Sir James Gordon of Lesmore, who outlived him many years; he sat long in the Scotch Parliament as one of the Representatives of the County of Banff, and was alwise for what he thought the interest of his Country.

p52- He was certainly a good Countryman in all national concerns, and a very useful member of Society in the North of Scotland, by the care he took to have all the Highland Robers and Thieves who pestered the low Country at that time, apprehended and brought to Justice on which Occasion he frequently exposed his own life to very great danger, but at the same time gave good proof of his courage and conduct.

One instance, which made a great deal of noise at the time, gave occasion to a Ballad which is still sung in the Country, I mean the seizing of Mcpherson and Peter Brown in Summerive’s fair at Keith, Septr. 1700.

They were two notorious breakers of the Peace in all sort of villiany. Braco had made several attempts to catch them, but as they were protected by the Laird of Grant, Laird Lewis, who did not look with a very favourable eye on him, he was still disappointed.

As soon as he spied them in the market, he desired his Brother-in-law, Lesmurdy, to bring him a dozen of stout able men, which he did; they all attackt the villains, who having several of their accomplices with them, made a desperate Resistence. One of them made a pass at Braco intending to run him thro the heart, but the durk slented alongst the outside of his Ribs without cutting the Skin, and one of Braco’s men stab’d the Fellow dead. They carried Mcpherson & Brown to a house in Keith where Braco & Lesmurdy left them with a Guard, not expecting any more opposition.

But when they were in an upper room with two or three of their acquaintances concerting the committment of their Prisoners; the Laird of Grant, with Thirty armed men, came to the door calling for them, and swearing that no Duff in Scotland should keep them from him. Braco, hearing the noise of the Grants, came down Stairs and said, with seeming unconcern and in good humour, that he intended to have sent them to Prison. But he saw they were protected by too strong a Party for him to contend with, and, therefore, must give them up; but without losing a moment he took a turn thro’ the market, found other two Justices of Peace, held a Court, and assembled sixty able bold men, who retook the Criminals. They were sent to Prison, carried to Edinr. and tried; they were both condemned to be hanged, Mcpherson’s sentence was executed, but by Grant’s interest Brown’s was changed into Banishment.

ANECDOTES OF J. MACPHERSON, THE ANCIENT FREEBOOTER AND MUSICIAN, 1821

An article in The New Monthly Magazine of January, 1821, a hundred and twenty or so years after the episode described, provides an account that includes much of the detail described in other, later tellings, although it is not clear what the article source of the information was.

ANECDOTES OF J. MACPHERSON, THE ANCIENT FREEBOOTER AND MUSICIAN, 1821

https://archive.org/details/sim_new-monthly-magazine_1821_1/page/142/mode/2up?q=macpherson The New Monthly Magazine 1821: Vol 1, No. 1 Publication date 1821 p142-143

ANECDOTES OF J. MACPHERSON, THE ANCIENT FREEBOOTER AND MUSICIAN.

Mr. Editor,— You are, no doubt, acquainted with many traits of character peculiar to the Gael; and it is believed the following account of a gipsy freebooter will shew, how much the ferocity and meanness of his maternal tribe were corrected by occasionally associating with the generous mountaineers who countenanced him, for the sake of his father. James Macpherson, the subject of our memoir, was born of a beautiful gipsy, who at a great wedding attracted the notice of a half-intoxicated highland gentleman. He acknowledged the child, and had him reared in his house, until he lost his life in bravely pursuing a hostile clan, to recover a spraith of cattle taken from Badenoch. The gipsy woman, hearing of this disaster, in her rambles the following summer, came and took away her boy; but she often returned with him, to wait upon his relations and clansmen, who never failed to clothe him well, besides giving money to his mother. He grew up in strength, stature, and. beauty, seldom equalled. His sword is still preserved at Duft-house, a residence of the Earl of Fife, and few men in our day could carry, far less wield it as a weapon of war; and if it must be owned his prowess was debased by the exploits of a freebooter, it is certain no act of cruelty, no robbery of the widow, the fatherless, or distressed, and no murder, was ever perpetrated under his command. He often gave the spoils of the mch to relieve the poor; and ail his tribe were restrained from many atrocities of rapine by their awe of his mighty arm. Indeed, it is said that a dispute with an aspiring and savage man of his tribe, who wished to rob a gentleman’s house while his wife and two children lay on the bier for interment, was the cause of his being betrayed to the vengeance of the law. The magistrates of Aberdeen were exasperated at Macpherson’s escape, when they bribed a girl in that city to allure and deliver him into their hands. There is a platform before the jail, at the top of a stair, and a door below. When Macpherson’s capture was made known to his comrades by the frantic girl, who had been so credulous as to believe the magistrates only wanted to hear the wonderful performer on the violin, his cousin, Donald Macpherson, a gentleman of Herculean powers, did not disdain to come from Badenoch, and to join a gipsy, Peter Brown, in liberating the prisoner. On a market-day they brought several assistants; and swift horses were stationed at a convenient distance. Donald Macpherson and Peter Brown forced the jail, and while Peter Brown went to help the heavily-fettered James Macpherson in moving away, Donald Macpherson guarded the jail-door with a drawn sword. Many persons, assembled at the market, had experienced James Macpherson’s humanity, or had shared his bounty; and they crowded round the jail as in mere curiosity, but, in fact, to obstruct the civil authorities from preventing a rescue. A butcher, however, was resolved, if possible, to detain Macpherson, expecting a large recompense from the magistrates: he sprang up the stairs, and leaped from the platform upon Donald Macpherson, whom he dashed to the ground by the force and weight of his body. Donald Macpherson soon recovered, to make a desperate resistance; and the combatants tore off each other’s clothes. The butcher got a glimpse of his dog upon the platform, and called him to his aid; but Macpherson, with admirable presence of mind, snatched up his own plaid, which lay near, and threw it over the butcher, thus misleading the instinct of his canine adversary. The dog darted with fury upon the plaid, and terribly lacerated his master’s thigh. In the mean time, James Macpherson had been carried out by Peter Brown, and was soon joined by Donald Macpherson, who was quickly covered by some friendly spectator with a hat and great coat. The magistrates ordered webs from the shops to be drawn across the Gallowgate; but Donald Macpherson cut them asunder with his sword, and James, the late prisoner, got off on horseback. He was some time after betrayed by a man of his own tribe; and was the last person executed at Banff, previous to the abolition of heritable jurisdiction. He was an admirable performer on the violin; and his talent for composition is still in evidence in “Macpherson’s Rant,”, “ Macpherson’s Pibroch,” and “Macpherson’s Farewell.” He performed those tunes at the foot of the fatal tree; and then asked if he had any friend in the crowd to whom a last gift of his instrument would be acceptable. No man had hardihood to claim friendship with a delinquent, in whose crimes the acknowledgment might implicate an avowed acquaintance. As no friend came forward, Macpherson said, the companion of many gloomy hours should perish with him; and, breaking the violin over his knee, he threw away the fragments. Donald Macpherson picked up the neck of the violin, which to this day is preserved, as a valuable memento, by the family of Cluny, chieftain of the Macphersons. B. G.

Gypsy Lore Society

Not strictly relating to the Macpherson tale, a note in Series 5 of the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society from 1891 appears at pp. 126-7:

A Gypsy Parallel.

The leader of a band of “Egyptians,” who was hanged at the cross of Banff (Scotland) in the year 1700, is chiefly remembered by the circumstance that he played on his well-loved violin a celebrated “rant” at the foot of the gallows, immediately before his exécution. The incident bas been immortalised by Burns, and it bas been referred to by various writers. [See In Gypsy Tents, p107; also Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. iii., " Proceedings against the Egyptians at Banff: 1700." ]

With this may be compared a “ Fac-simile of a woodcut in Michault’s Doctrinal du Temps Présent, small folio, Goth., Bruges, about 1490,” whîch Lacroix introduces in his Manners, etc., during the Mîddle Ages. [English translation: London, 1876, p. 425.] It is there styled “ Hanging to Music,” and is thus explained — “A minstrel condemned to the gallows obtained permission that one of his companions shonld accompany hîm to his execution, and play his favourite instrument on the ladder of the gallows.” In this case, as appears from the woodcut, the “favourite instrument” is the bagpipe. But both the bagpipe and the fiddle have been much aasociated with Gypsies.

Probably nothing is now known of this minstrel of 1490, but there ia a close resemblance between the two incidents. If the execution of 1490 took place at Banffe, or, indeed, in any other part of Europe, there would have been notbing extraordinary if the hanged “ minstrel “ had been a Gypsy, like him of the year 1700. At any rate, the coincidence is worth pointing out.

David MacRitchie.

The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, 1846

A historical basis to the tale of Jamie Macpherson can be found in volume III of The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, as published by The Spalding Club, an antiquarian society founded in Aberdeen, in 1846.

The preface summarises the account at pp. xiv-xv:

Spalding Club, preface on “The Process Against the Egyptians”

v. process against the Egyptians.

This fragment of the record of the trial of a gang of gipsies at Banff, in the year 1700, is printed from the original in the possession of the Club. A place has been assigned to it in this volume on account of the interest which has long attached to one of the unhappy wanderers whose doom it commemorates.

James Macpherson, though born of a gipsy mother, is said to have been the illegitimate son of a Highland gentleman. Tradition bears that he was distinguished by great strength and beauty of person, joined to skill in music and the use of arms. The following pages show that he made pretensions also to a knowledge of the healing art. [Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen, vol. i. p166]. These qualities and accomplishments, together with a reckless generosity of disposition, far from rare among the followers of a lawless life, appear to have acquired for him no small measure of regard among the common people of the rude district which was the haunt of his tribe. The popular sympathy was still farther increased both by the apparent severity of a sentence of death inflicted on one against whom no charge of bloodshed could be brought, and by the courage with which the outlaw submitted to his fate. As he walked to the place of execution he is said to have played the wild and beautiful air which bears his name, and when, at the foot of the gallows, no one would accept the proffered gift of his violin, he dashed the instrument to pieces. “ Macpherson’s Rant, or the Last Words of James Macpherson, murderer, to its own proper tune,” is believed to have been printed on a broadside, in the year 1701; and the verses have been praised for “ the rude strength, the savage fierceness, the vindictive spirit, and the fearless scorn,” [Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern, p. xxvi., note.] by which they are characterized. The lines of Burns entitled “ Macpherson’s Lament” will be in the memory of every reader; but it is perhaps less generally known that the Irish have a “Macpherson’s Tune” played, according to tradition, “by its composer, John Macpherson, on the bagpipe, as he was carried to the gallows.” [W. H. Ainsworth's Rookwood, p. 63, Lond., 1836.] It might be interesting to enquire how far popular fame may not have confounded the Banffshire gipsey with the highwayman of Leinster.

The proceedings themselves are described at pp. 175-194:

Spalding Club, “Process: Procurator Phiscall Against the Egyptians”

PROCESS: PROCURATOR PHISCALL AGAINST THE EGYPTIANS.

Banff, 7th November, 1700. Castlefield, deput, present.

John Geills, procuratour phiscall of this shyre, with James Fraser, wrytter in Elgine, produces the indytement with the executiones, with ane supplement for charging of witnesses, and executione against them and assysers to this day and place.

Patrick Broune, Donald Broune, James McPhersone, and James Gordone, being present, with John Cuthbert of Braikanhills, their procurator.

The which day, after reading of the indytement, compiered John Donaldsone, wreitor in Banff, and David Blair, servitor to the laird of Grant, and produced ane procuratorie from Alexander Grant, younger of that Ilk, to them to compeir befor the said shereff, and repledge the persones of Patrick and Donald Brounes from this court to the regality of Grant; produced also ane letter of bailliarie, granted by Ludovick Grant of that Ilk to the said Alexander, his sone, constituting him baillie of regalitie of the said regalitie of Grant, dated the tenth of October last bypast; as also produced the said Ludovick Grant his charter of erectione of his lands and estate in ane free regality, with power of replegiatione, dated the day of with the said Ludovick his saisine therupon, daited the 29th June, 1696, duelie registrat conforme to law, together with ane ratificatione of Parliament of the said right and jurisdictione of regalitie, in favores of the said Ludovick Grant, dated the 12th day of October, 1696; and, as before, craived the saids Patrick aud Donald Brounes may be repledged to the said regalitie, and offered cautione of culriach for that effect. Whereunto it wes ansred by the said James Fraser, with the concurrence of the phiscall, that he takes instrument against Grant upon his productione of the letter of bailliarie, and the rest of the pieces produced, as plainlie conniving and intertaining the pannels, who are notorious Gipsies; and the Act of Parliament libelled is opponed, where it sayes, that the sherriffs and other judges who does countenance and owne them, or in whose bounds they shall publicklie and avowadlie resort and remain, be called before his Highness Secret Councile, and severely censured and dismissed for their negligence of executione of the act; and furder, that the escheat of these, their countenancers, such as now the Laird of Grant, shall fall; and further, there can be no regaird had to the pretended charter produced, or other pieces, in respect that the same, at the time of passing therof, was opposed by the Sheriff of Murray, as prejudiciall to his hereditable shirrefship, as appears by ane protestatione publictlie taken by him theragainst. And not only so, but in prosecutione of the forsaid protestatione, and upon the other acts salvo he intended reductione of the forsaid pretended erectione of Grant’s regality before the Lords of Sessione, which, after a full and vigorous debait, by the most eminent lawiers in the natione, and after great labor and paines theranent made by the saids Lords of Sessione, finding the same to be a great incroachment upon the Shirreff of Murray’s privilege, they remitted the said actione to be discussed by the Parliament, where the samen now lyes in dependence. And therfor it is admired with what confidence Grant or his procurators should take upon them to make use of the forsaid charter in this replegiatione, seeing the Shirreff of Murray’s reductione is depending befor the parliament as said is, being that its certain while a right is depending befor the Parliament, the same can be of no effect till discussed. Replyed by Grant’s procurators, he oppones his charter and rights produced, and abydes be the samen; and the Sherreff of Murray cannot be admitted, not so much as compiere in this actione, untill first he produce a right in his persone to take of the charter of erectione, and no vestige of any title or right in the Sherreff of Murray’s persone now produced; but the Laird of Grant, upon his charter of erectione and ratificatione thereof in Parliament, with the letter of bailliarie in favores of his sone, produced his good right and ground to repledge the saids Patrick and Donald Broune’s, they living within his regalitie, and it is to the end and purpose that he may doe justice upon them according to his right and the known lawes and practique of the kingdome in such cases that he desires to repledge, and offers culriach for that effect; but, 2nd, the charter of erectione and Act of Parliament are still intire and unrepelled, and reduced by either sessione or Parliament, which, notwithstanding of any protestationes against the same, untill it be reduced or rescinded; and, 3rd , the Shereff of Murray can pretend no hinderance of the reple- giatione upon the account of his right as Shereff of Murray, because its offered to be proven by the witnesses cited by the phiscall against the said Peter and Donald Broune’s, that their residence this half-year bygone hes been in or neer to Castle Grant, which by the charter itself is evident it lies within the shyre of Inverness; 4th , the Act of Parliam ent cited for Shereff of Murray, and the nature of replegiatione, are both grossly mistaken, for Grant does not intend by repledging the pannalls to protect or connive with them in the crymes libelled, but onlie to repledge them by virtue of his soveraigne right of regalitie, and put them to condigne punishment in case the phiscall shall verifie and prove the libell; 5th , it is against comone sence and reason to pretend that ane protestatione against ane right once obtained, or raising any pretended reductione thereof, can hinder the making use of the same as to the concessions therupon granted, then a reductione of a bond doth hinder personall diligence in a civile cace, which is so rediculous as deserves verie little of the character of prudence to alledge.

Duplyed by Fraser, that the first pairt of the reply anent the Shirreff of Murray not producing a right to his sherriffship, is so trifling that it deserves no answer, being that its verie weell knowne that the Shirreff of Murray and his predecessors has these many generationes bypast exercised the offie’e of heriditable sherriffs within the shyre of Murray, and its hoped cannot, nor needs not, here be questioned. As to the other four articles of the reply, the same amounts onlie to their repledging of the two Brounes conform to their forsaid pieces produced, but nowayes takes of the first answer thereto, and, therefor, the prosecutors shall not make furder duplie, but only oppones the former answer. And furder adds, that first its preceisly denyed that ever Peeter or Donald Broun, the pannalls, hade any tack of land or other habitation under the Laird of Grant at any time; but only for a whyll they resorted frequently a house and peice land, possest by one Donald Broun, elder, in the Laird of Grant’s land within the heretable sherriffship of Moray, to cloak ther knavry; but, secondly, its very weell known, that since Whitsunday last, the forsaids two Brouns hade never so much as a forty dayes’ residence in any place whatsumever, except sometyms in ther ordinary manner, wher they took possession by violence, in opposing the leidges, and keeped their kilns and barns greatly against their wills and inclinations.

The Sherriff Deput, having considered the indytment, defences, answers, and replyes, finds the libell relevant, as declairing them to be holdin, known, and reput to be Egyptians, soroners, and vagabonds.

Grant’s procurator protests that the bond of culriach for Patrick and Donald Brounes may be received, and that the indytement against them and any process theron shall have no force nor awaill in time coming against the saids pannalls craived to be repledged; whereupon Grant’s procurator craives act and instrument. The pannalls cannot pass to the knowledge of ane inquest, nor are they liable to make any answer to the indytement, as the samen is libelled and pursued at the instance of the Procurator Fiscall, without concurse of the pairties, whereto the Shiriff in the cryme of theft is not competent, unless the pannalls were taken with fangs, which is neither libelled on, nor pretended in this cace, but only can be pursued befor the Justice Generall, but noways upon ane indytement before the Shereff, and the reason therof appears to be verie clear, because the Fiscall they industriously omit the pairties names, intending thereby to use them as witnesses, when they are in effect both judge and pairtie; 2nd, in so far as the pannalls are indyted for robborie, the Shereff is not judge competent as to that poynt, the samen being one of the four pleas of the Croune. Whereunto it was answred, that the Shereff is a most competent judge in the cryme of theft, even altho the pairties doe not concurr, as appears plainlie by the dayly practise of this natione, seeing that the public must be vindicated, and the Fiscall cannot lose his right for their negligence; but, furder, the designe of the concurrence of the pairties is onlie as the pannalls procurator himself confess, that they be not witnesses, which we pass from; as to the 2 nd , that he is not judge in robborie; it is true, robberie in a strict sence is one of the pleas of the Croune; but here, where we insist against them as being guiltie of masterfull bangstrie, it is not taken in the sence nor meaning of that law, which makes it a plea of the Croune. To which it is reply ed for the pannalls, that the defence stands good, notwithstanding of the answer, for it is not fitt to goe over the bellie of the comone law; and the practise that hath been hitherto observed, and opinione of those who have learnedlie treat on that subject, as is evident in the twelfth title of the jurisdictione of Shirriffs in criminalls, where it is expressly declaired, that, unless the thieff be taken with the fang, he cannot pursue be way of indytement without concurse of the privat pairtie; and as the Fiscall got informatione of the crimes, and of the particular names of the persones on whom the same was acted, so if he had not dolose omitted them, he might have inserted them in his libell, or otherwayes pursued them, by way of summonds, which made the Shirreff ane competent judge; 2nd , the former answers is opponed, and robborie in the uerie plaine sence, and without any stretch of the word, is a plea of the Croune.

It is answered as to the libell denying the haill circumstances, articles, and qualificationes thereof, as to McPhersone and Gordone, two of the pannalls: The libell is nowayes relevant, as the samen is founded upon verie manie of the Acts of Parliament libelled, which have no coherence, nor contingence, with the pretended cryuies, and many of them are old and obsolute laws, and are now fallen in desuetude; and the Act of Parliament Ja. 6th, par. 6, cap. 75, does onlie relate to rebells and those that are at the King’s home; and the Act par. 7, cap. 112, relates only to thift comitted by clanns of thieves, whereby persones damnified by them are impowered to apprehend, slay, or arrest their bodies or goods of the persones offending against them, or anie other of the same clan, ay and while their skaith be redressed; and Par. ij., cap. 82, is exactlie alike with the first Act, which concernes onlie slayers of horse, &c. Par. 8, cap. 5, is anent fishing upon the rivers of Tweed and Annan, and the Act Parliament 12, Ja. ii., cap. 53, is onlie anent reaving and robborie, of which the Shirreff is not judge competent; and Par. 1st, Ja. i., par. 5, is ane old law, and, albeit contravened, does not inferr the conclusione of the indytement libelled. And as to the Act anent the Egyptians, Par. 20, Ja. 6, cap. 13, doth not att all reach the pannalls, because these comonlie called Egyptians, against whom the forsaid Act mainlie levells, are onlie interpret to be idle beggars, blakeing their faces, fortune-tellers, cheating of the people by waine superstitiones, by professing knowledge of charming, tellers of wirds, which is clearlie explained to be the inseperable attributes of those called Egyptians, particularlie Par. 6, Ja. 6, cap. 74, and is farther cleared upon M’Kenzie’s observationes upon the Act lybelled upon against the pannalls; and the indytement does nowayes subsume in the terms of those qualifications before they can be reput or knoune to be Egyptians; 2nd, the libel is irelevant in so far as the samen is generall in many of the particulars libelled, not condescending upon particular moneths, but hath ane congestione and heap of years, which the pursuer ought to be more speciall in, that the pannalls may not be precluded from their laufull defens; and ther are so many blanks, both of names and designationes of persones alleaged injured, and places where they dwell, that the pursuer ought to have condescended, for the pannalls have very good ground to alledge that ther is no such persones living in rerum natura, both which are so inconsistent with the nature of a criminall indytement, whereby poor innocents may loose their lives, as that it is both unchristian and unnaturall to put them to ane inquest by vertue thereof. To which it is answered: That in so farr as its alledged that the Acts of Parliament cited in the indytement does nowayes meett any of the crymes libelled, the samen are all of them opponed, and its foolish- ness to alledge that they are in desuetude, unless the clear law, takeing of the same were produced, being that the saids lawes are a brason wall against which all attacks are in waine, and as ane Hercules pillor beyond which none can goe, untill the samen be taken of, as said is; but its very well knoune that ther is nothing in desuetude in punishing of thieves and knaves, which the law has always taken care of to prosecut to the outmost. As to the objectione against the Act of Parliament 13, Ja. 6, par. 20, intituled Act anent the Egiptians, the same is so clear, that they being holden and repute to be Egiptians, and our lawiors opinion thereon, particularlie McKenzie in his observationes on the same, sayes that our law allowes such as calls themselves Egiptians should be punished by virtue of the said Act, it is waine to plead further thereupon; for, after all, the procurator for the pannalls must not think, by making of names or words, to change things, seeing that at last it will be found that there can be no waile had to cover them from justice: therfor craives that the forsaids two Brounes, with M’Pherson and Gordone, may pass the tryall of ane inquest. It is answered as to the Brounes, craived by the Procurator-Phiscall to be tryed with the other two pannails by the Laird of Grant’s procurators, that they shall not pass under the knowledge of ane inquest in this proces, and appealls to the SherrifTs interlocutor on the dispute anent the replegiatione, and to the protestatione made, craving the said replegiatione may be admitted; and the Acts of Parliament formerly cited are opponed in the defence, which are nowayes taken of by the reply, for the law expresslie determines and defines what is understood by Egiptians, and the pursuers’ procurators have made no answer as to the generalitie of the libell.

The Shirreff Deput having considered the indytement against the pannalls as Egiptians and wagabonds, and Grant’s offer to repledge for the two Brownes, as pretending they are his tennants or servants, sustains himself judge, notwithstanding of the offer to repledge in respect of the answer thereto, as being knowne habit and reput wagabonds, soroners, and Egiptians, and repells all the rest of the defenses and replyes, in respect of the answer and duplyes (except that of robborie, which he does not sustain himself judge in), and finds the libell relevant as to the rest of the articles, of being knowne habit and reput to be Egiptians and wagabonds, and keeping the mercats in their ordinarie manner of theiving and purse-cutting, or guilty of the rest of the crimes of thift, masterfull bangstrie, and oppressione, to inferr the paines libelled, and admitts the same to the knowledge of ane assyse.
NICOLAS DUNBAR, Dept.

Banff, 8 Nov., 1700. Castlefield, deput, present; pairties present.

Compiered Grant’s procurators forsaid, and protested against the above interlocuitor, and craived the benefit of the 29 Act of King James 6, ij. par., intituled ane Act of Annexatione anent the privilege given to the Lords of Regalitie anent replegiatione; whereunto it was answred by the Fiscall, that the nature of the replegiatione itself is mistaken, being that the pannalls are conveened as notorious Egiptians and wagabonds, so that to offer or protest against the forsaid interloquitor, being that the same is so full upon the forsaid head of wagabondrie, is clearlie against the indytement; and it is very weell knoune, that before this time Grant was very weell content to renunce all other jurisdictione, and become willingly enacted in the Shirreff Court books of Banff, to present Peter Broune one of the pannalls, whom he now offers to repledge; and therefor the forsaid protestatione is most groundless. Answered by the Laird of Grant’s procurators, that the narration above written cannot be admitted against replegiation, in respect that, altho beall had been offered to present the pannall befor the Sherriff of Banff to underly the law, yet always denying the samen, the Laird of Grant, as lord of the regality of Grant, for maintaining his Majesties concession, as a privilege of his regality, by his charter of erectione, doth onlie craive Patrick and Donald Brouns to be repledged for maintaining the privilege of the said regalitie, and for judging of the saids pannalls by the bond of culriach, conforme to order of law, against which the Fiscall protested, and opponed the former answer, and that the forsaid interloquitor might stand in full force, and the forsaid protestatione rejected.

Assisers Names.

William Grant of Creichie
Allexr. Grant of Rudrie
Allexr. Sutherland of Kilminnity
Allexr. Grant of Boginduy
John Innes, elder, of Edingeith
John Hamilton in Cranno
Charles Gordon of Glengerrack
William Steuart in Drum
Walter Grant of Arindillie
James Milne, at Milne of Towie
John Gordone of Davidstone
James Duff of Crombie
James Gordone, elder, of Ardmellie
George Gordone of Muirack
John Gordone of Drumwhindle.

The above Assise being received and sworne, ther wes no objectione made against them, upon which they were admitted.

The Fiscall craves that the indytement may be put to a probatione: and, further, craives the pannalls may be heard on the first article of the indytement, to witt, if they can rehearse the Lord’s Prayer, the Belieff, and Ten Commands.

To which it is ansred by John Cuthbert, that it cannot be allowed, because it does not inferr a capitall conclusione.

The Shirreff ordains the pannalls (for the satisfactione of the Assisers) to rehearse the Lord’s Prayer.

The Fiscall insists that the indytement may be put to a probatione, and for proving thereof, adduces the witnesses afternamed, who, being sworne and purged, were receaved, and no objectione against them, they deponed in manner following, viz.:—

Compeired John Cruikshank, in Auchmades, aged 30, married man, who, being solemnly sworne purged of partiall councile, interrogat, de- poned that he heard all the pannalls to be holden repute and knoune to be Egiptians, except James Gordone, who wes not with them till of late; that he married Peter Broune’s sister about two years ago, since which tyme he has frequented their company, and past under that notione; and that he hes seen them ordinarly in armes, and two, three togither, and sometymes more, in mercats; and that he heard them speak a language, which he understood not, and which wes not the Irish tongue; and deponed that they are of pessimae famae for stealling and recepting of stolne goods, and that Peter Broune wes called the captain of that band. Deponed that he heard they went out of this shyre to severall places, but knows not their busines, and that he hes seen 7 or 8 men at one tyme going out of Peter Broune’s house in Mulben, foreby women, and depones he knowes nothing of their marriage with their pretended wifes. Deponed that, as to the breaking of the Masters of Towiebeg’s house, he heard first that it wes the Highlanders, and therafter heard that it wes the pannalls; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
J. CRUIKSHANK.

The said witness being farther interrogat whether or not they keeped this shyre after they were sumoned to ane Justiciary Court in December last, deponed that he heard Peter Broune and M’Pherson to be sumoned, and the nixt tyme he saw McPhersone was at Cromdall.
J. CRUIKSHANK.

The Assisers craving Mr. John Scot, minister at Diple, to be examined upon what wes contained in the libell, and that ther were payment offered him for what skaith he sustained in manner libelled, deponed that at St. Ruffus’ Fair, wes a year, ther wes 40 punds stolne from him; and he going in pursuit of the taker therof, at Couper Milne’s tent, he wes inter rupted by Peter Broun, who took him by the breast, while the woman who tooke the money threw herself on her face in the floor, and (as he heard) delivered to the woman that keeped the tent ane black purse, such as his wes, and which may be yet proven. But immediately therafter, Peter Broune knowing the money was conveyed of, came civilie and craived pardon, and offered the woman should be dackered, and made a sham kind of dackeririg after the money wes gone, and that this day James Grant of Elcheis offered repayment of the 40 libs, if she should not appeare against Peter Broune at this tyme; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God.
J. SCOTT.

Compeared Peter Baird, servitor to young Durne, aged 24 or thereby, unmarried, purged, ut supra interrogat, depones that he heard the pan- nalls to be knoune and reput Egiptians, and of which Peter Broune to be the captain, and that he has seen 7 or 8 men of them togither, but he did not see James Gordon with the rest till of late; that he married Peter Broune’s sister about two years ago. Deponed that Peter Broune has gotten money frequently from Isobell Gall, who wes not married with him as he believed, and that he got money sometyms for playing on the wiol, and knew no other way of his liveing; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God. And that once he knew him to be in Grant’s regiment, and that he does not know that he got money from any other of the crew except Gall.
PATRICK BAIRD.

Compiered John Shand, in Maislie, aged 40 or therby, married, purged ut supra and interrogat, deponed with John Cruikshank in omnibus, with this additione, that at St. Ruffus’ Fair wes nyne years, ther came three women and took possessione of his kill, and he being at work he sent word to his wife to put them off; but they would not, and told that Peter Broune was coming to take up quarters with them; and that he came and stayed ther with his company for a moneth, and took nothing but peats from him; and that ther wes sixteen of them in number; and that Peter Broune went sometymes to Elchies, and played on the wiol; and deponed that they coft milk and cheese with their owne money, and no more than ane leg of mutton, which his wife saw them buy; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God; and knowes not that M’Pherson wes ther, but that he wes one night in the house at that tyme, and drunk with the rest, and danced all night; and depones that the door wes made open, but knowes not what way; and depones that they were sometymes in Jocksleyes in kills ther, but knowes not how many of them were ther, nor how long they stayed.
JOHN SCHAND.

Compiered Lachlan M’Pherson in Delmanny, aged 24 or therby, married, purged, ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he heard them to be reput and knoune Egiptians, and that he wes present when the chist wes sealled, but the sealls was not rufled, but he heard that they had taken out the back of the chist, and putt it in again; and that they had a language peculiar to themselves that he did not understand; and that he heard Peter Broune to be called the captain of the rest; and that he heard Isobell Gall would have been sent off and come home weell loaden with money; and that he hes seen sometymes six and sometymes more in; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
LACH. McPHERSON.

Compiered Peter Reid, tacksman of the excise, aged 36, unmarried, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that upon the ij of September, 1698, he happened to be at Kieth, and saw about the number of twenty-seavine men, in armes, with a piper; and as he heard Peter Broune was on the head of them, and M’Pherson in the rier, it being on the Saturday after St. Ruffus’ Fair; and now depones he knew Peter Broune wes on their head, and that James Robertsone told him that they were these called the Egiptians; he being then a stranger, knew nothing but what wes told him, but now nowes them to be habit and reput such; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
PAT. REID.

Compiered Robert Cuming, of [ ], aged 50, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he hes heard the pannalls knowne and reput to be Egiptians, and that he heard the women that followed them speaking a language that wes not Irish, and did not understand it; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
R. COMYING.

Compiered John Fraser, in Cuperhill, aged 30, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he hes heard them to be knoune and reput Egiptians, and that he hes seen seven or eight of them in armes, and that he hes seen them in Hillockhead; and one day they being in Kieth, and as they went home to Hillockhead, ther came a boy to him and told him that his cott was broken; so he went up to see, and fand it wes so; and after telling of his sheep, he missed one; so the next morning a woman neer by told him that the Egiptians had taken his sheep; and he went and daikered their house, and could not find it, but saw some holes therin that did not look weell; and after direct inquirie, he went to the corne yeard, and ther found some of the Egiptians with bloodie pocks; his spainiall dog being with him, found the intralls of the wedder, near to that place, in the muir. At last Alexr. Phyn of Achanasie, under whom they resided at that tyme, came to the said John Fraser, and comuned with him anent payment of his wedder, and did accordinglie pay him for the same, or at least promised, and further, told him that he had granted the favor of that house to Patrick Broune, and declaired unless he were paid they should not reside any longer in that place; but declairs that he did not see any of the pannalls ther; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God.
J. FRASER.

Compiered Archbald Grant, in Maynes, of Achluncart, aged 30 years, unmarried, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he heard the pannails to be knoune and reput Egiptians; and that they have a language peculiar to themselves; and that he hes seen four, and five, and more, in armes, in mercats; and that some Brounes and others came and took possessione of some pairt of Achluncart; and that he dispossessed them; and that he heard a rumor of Patrick Broune having Orton’s cloak; and that ther wes a man in Achluncart that had a bile, whom McPhersone took in hand to cure, and took away two mairs from the man, and pretendid ther wes a pactione betwixt the man and him, and keeped one of the mairs, and the deponent took the other from him; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God. ARCH. GRANT. Compeared George Ogilvie, in Kieth, aged 36, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he knowes them to be reput as Egiptians, and that he hes seen them in mercats, and has seen boyes in mercats that were called their servants; and that he hes seen six and seven of the Egip- tians togither; and that he heard there were six, seven, and eight men in armes, keping the mercat, and that they had a particular language, which wes not Irish, and which he could not understand; and that they are of malaefamae; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God.
G. OGILVIE.

Compiered William Robertsone, in Kieth, aged 50, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that they are holden and reput as Egiptians; and that he hes seen them in bands; and that he hes heard the women that followed the pannalls speak a particular language, which he knowes not; and that he seed about twelve men, with a piper, come in to Kieth, at St. Ruffus’ Fair was two year, whereof the pannalls were a pairt; and that they are of malaefamae; and that McPhersone came in to his house, and spilt his ale, and stobbed the bed, seeking the deponent; and that he wes forced to flie to Kinminnitie, who is one of the assisers, who knowes the truth, for refuge; for whom Kinminnitie purchased a protectione from my Lord Seafield, and a warrant to apprehend McPhersone; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
WM. ROBEYSON

Compeired Patrick Grant, in Sutercroft, in Kieth, aged 64 or therby, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he heard the pannalls allwayes called Egyptians: and that he hes seen ordinarly five and six men together in armes, whereof Peter Broune and McPhersone were a pairt; and that the women that followed the pannalls and they conversed in a particular language, which he knew not; and that at St. Ruffus’ Fair last, the pannalls were in his house, but knowes not if they were telling money ther; and that they were in Jocksleyes; and that he hes seen little boyes with them, that were thought to be their purse-cutters; and that the pannalls are said to be of malae famae; and that he heard that Edintore gott his money againe; and that, contrair to his desire, James McPhersone took possessione of his chamber, and wes forced to put others out of their room for them; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God.
PA. BAIRD. [GRANT.]

Compiered Peter Duncan, in Pitlurg, married man, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he bought a white plaid, and payed therfor, and two of James McPhersone’s men came to his house and broke up his pantry door, and took out the plaide; and James McPhersone came ther- after and saw that his house wes broken, and alledged the deponent had his goods, and threatned to carry him to the toune of Elgine, and to putt him in the pitt ther: and a while therafter he came and took the deponent, and carried him a good piece from his house, and then let him goe; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God; and depones he cannot wreat.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

Compeared Allexr. Young, in Whiteley, aged 40, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that he knowes the pannalls to be called Egiptians, and that they had a language peculiar to themselves, and that they were still in armes, but knew not James Gordone to be one of their number till he was married about two or three years ago, and that with Peter Broun’s sister; and that he was informed that James McPhersone and Jonathan Grant stole his oxen, with some others, which he could prove if he were putt to it; and that James Robertsone, in the Maynes of Allanbuy, did search after the oxen, and that James McPhersone threatned them for alledging that he wes one of the steallers, and came to his house with Peter Broune and severall others of their number, till they forced James Robertsone to give them ten dollars, which the deponent declairs James Robertsone was craiving from him as being injured upon bis account; and that Peter Broune and James McPhersone offered to tascall the oxen for two score of dollars; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
ALLEX. YOUNG.

Compeired Allexander Phyne of Auchanasie, aged 40, married, purged as before. Interrogat, deponed that the pannals are habit and repute Egiptians, and that some took possessione of his land in Jocksleys, of which the pannalls were none, and that the women who uses to follow the pannalls hes a particular language peculiar to themselves, and that James Robertsone told him that he wes forced to give them ten dollars, and saw himself many of them about the house, and that they are of malae famae, and that he payed John Fraser of Cuperhill the price of ane wedder stolne from him by that crew; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God; and that it wes at Peter Broune’s desire that he gave them that house in Auchanasie, and in respect the deponent hes not his sight to wreatt, he hes given power to signe this for him.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

Compeared Thomas Milne in Jocksleyes, aged 30, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed that the Egiptians (among whom were the pannals) took possessioune of his house, and stole his peats and kaill, and that sometymes they wer twentie in number, and stayed three or four dayes ther at one tyme, and forced his neighbours to give them some fire weshells, and that he did see them about James Robertsone’s house drink- ing, and that he heard James Robertsone gave them money, but yet ac- knowledges that James Gordon wes not with the rest when they took po- sessione of his house, and that they are repute as Egiptians, and that they have a particular language among themselves onlie, and that he hes seen two or three little boyes with them sometymes: and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God, and depones he cannot wreat.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

Compiered John Sellar in Jocksleyes, aged 20 or thereby, married, purged as before, interrogat, deponed that the pannals took ane kill at their oune hand, and that they feared their women, and that ther would have been sometimes sixteen, sometymes seventeen, and whiles more, and that they are all reput as Egiptians, and Peter Broune called their cap- tain, and that he saw some little boyes with them, and that they had a particular language among themselves, and that they stole their peats, and that they were armed, and that they took their kaill, and missed sheep after they were gone, but knowes not if they did steal them; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God.
JO. SELLER.

Compiered George Knight in Jocksleyes, aged 32, married, purged ut supra, interrogat, deponed cum precedenti, viz. Sellar, in omnibus; and this is truth, as he shall answer to God, and depones he cannot wreat.
NICOLAS DUNBAR, Dept.

Compeared Thomas Hosack in Jocksleys, aged 50, married, purged ut supra, deponed, that the Egiptians took possessione of their kill in Jocksleyes, they being whiles of men and women about twenty-four in number, and that Peter Broune and James McPhersone came sometymes ther, and also Donald Broune, and that they had a language peculiar to them- selves, and that he heard they threatened James Robertsone, and that they took their fire weshell at their oune hand, and that they stole their peats and kaill, and knew no visible way of their living, and that they stayed sometymes a fourtnight, and that they are holden and oune them- selves as Egiptians, and Peter Broune is called their captain: and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God, and depones he cannot wreat.
NICOLAS DUNBAR, Dept.

Compeared Peter Brouster in Auchanasie, aged 50, married, purged as before, interrogat, deponed that McPhersone, Gordon, and Donald Broune haunted togither, and with others called Egiptians, and that some Brounes took possessione of their honses, and that there wes sometymes eight and nine of them togither: and this is truth, as he shall answer to God, and deponed he cannot wreat. NICOLAS DUNBAR.

Compeared Thomas Umphray, smith in Davidstone, aged 34, married, purged as before, interrogat, deponed that he knowes the pannalls to be repute Egiptians, and that he heard they had a particular language among themselves, and that when they were about him they stole his peats, and kaill sometymes, and that some of them were in armes, and that Peter Broune wes called the captain, and that he saw some litle boyes with them; and this is the truth, as he shall answer to God; and depones he cannot wreat.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

The Fiscall renunces any farder probatione. The Sheriff having considered the depositiones of the above witnesses adduced for proving .of the indytement; remitts the same to the cognitione of the above Assyse, and ordaines them to be inclosed in ane roome by themselves, and to consider the probatione, and therupon to return their verdict.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

Banff, November 9, 1700. Castlejield, deput, and pairties present.

The Assyse having inclosed themselves in ane roume, and having considered the probatione, did this day returne their werdict, signed by James Gordone of Ardmellie, their chosen chancellor, and Allexander Grant of Boginduy, their clerk, which being considered by the said Sherreff Deput, he deferred the sentence as to the two Brounes at this tyme; but he gave sentence against James McPhersone and James Gordone, two of the pannalls, in manner underwritten, viz:—

Forsaemeikle, as you James McPhersone and James Gordon, pannals, are found guilty by ane verdict of ane assyse, to be knoun, holden, and repute to be Egiptians and wagabonds, and oppressors of his Majesties frie lieges in ane bangstrie manner, and going up and doune the country armed, and keeping mercats in ane hostile manner, and that you are thieves, and recepters of thieves, and that you are of pessimae famae, Therefor, the Shirreff-Deput of Banff, and I in his name, adjudges and decernes you the saids James McPhersone and James Gordon to be taken to the Cross of Banff, from the tolbooth thereof, where you now lye, and ther, upon ane gibbet to be erected, to be hanged by the neck to the death by the hand of the common executioner, upon Friday nixt, being the sixteenth day of November instant, being a publick weeklie mercat day, betwixt the houres of two and three in the afternoon, and in the meantyme declairs their heall moveable goods and gear to be escheat, and inbrought to the Fiscall for his majesties interest, and recommends this sentence to be seen put in execution by the magistrates of Banff.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

And further the Shirreff deput ordains the three young rogues now in prison that, this day, their ears be cropt, publictlie scourged through the toune of Banff, and burnt upon the cheek by the executioner, and banished the shyre for ever under the paine of death.
NICOLAS DUNBAR.

Banff, 21 February, 1701. Castlefield, deput, present.

The Shirreff having considered the verdict of the Assyse given in as to Peter and Donald Broun’s present prisoners and pannalis within the tollboth of Banff, gives his sentance against them in mainer underwritten, viz.:—

Forasmuch as you, Peter and Donald Brouns, pannalls, are found guiltie by ane verdict of ane Assyse to be knowen, holden, and repute to be Egiptians and vagabonds, and oppressors of his Majestie’s free lieges in ane bangstrie mainer, and going up and doun the countrey armed, and keeping mercats, in ane hostile manner, and that you are theives and receptors of theives, and that you are of pessimae famae, therefore the Shirriff Depute of Banff, and I, in his name, deceirnes and adjudges you, the saids Peter and Donald Brouns, to be taken to the Gallow Hill of Banff, from the tollbooth therof, where yee now lye, and there upon ane gibbet to be hanged by the neck to the death by the hand of the comon executioner, upon the second day of Aprile nixt to come, betwixt the hours of two and three in the afternoon; and ordaines their haill moveable goods and geir to be escheate and inbrought to the Procurator Fiscall for his Majestie’s use; and recomends this sentance to be seen put in execution by the Magistrates of Banff.
NICOLAS DUNBAR, Dept.

History of Banff and familiar account of its inhabitants and belongings

The proceedings against the Egyptians from the Banff Assizes in November, 1700, are quoted in James Imlach’s History of Banff and familiar account of its inhabitants and belongings, 1868, pp. 25-29:

Highland Raider

HIGHLAND RAIDER.

In the beginning of the last century, it was well known our Highlands were infested by a set of lawless freebooters, who neither feared God nor man, and who mostly subsisted by plundering theur neighbours, and making raids in the low countries, from which they carried off herds of cattle, &c., and lived with their associates at free quarters. We cannot have a better description of such characters than we find in Sir Walter Scott’s “ Rob Roy,” whom tradition represents as having occasionally associated with and patronised the renowned Macpherson of the county of Banff, whose fate has been the subject of song, and proved cause for depriving the Burgh of Banff of “the power of Pot and Gallows.” As we have it chronicled, the marauder’s pardon was but a short distance from the town when he was swung from the gallows-tree on the top of our Gallowhill!

It is said James Macpherson was from an illegitimate branch of the family of Invereshie, in Inverness-shire. His mother was a gipsy. He was reared at his father’s house, until the death of the latter, when he was taken under his mother’s charge, and acquired the habits and pursuits of the race to which he belonged. He was remarkable not only for strength and beauty of person, but for the degree of talent which he displayed for certain mental accomplishments, for the cultivation of which his mode of life might seem to have afforded little opportunity. Few of his poetical productions are now in existence, except his Lament, but he seems to have been celebrated, during his lifetime, for his skill on the violin. It is said, too, that his conduct often afforded evidence of his being imbued with those feelings of generosity and pity which the fine arts are supposed to generate; and it does not appear that any cruel or atrocious act was ever laid to his charge.

After several escapes from justice, to which he had made himself obnoxious by his lawless habits, he was eventually apprehended by the Laird of Braco, the Lord Braco of Kilbryde, and some of his followers, at a Keith market, Braco himself being the first to seize upon him. So desperate, however, is said to have been his resistance, aided by one of the name of Roy, that it was only by blankets being thrown over his head from the windows above that his numerous assailants could obtain any advantage over him. He was thus compelled to fly, and reached the gable of a church; here, parrying the attack of his enemies, he fell over a gravestone, when he was secured, and lodged in the jail of Banff. The sword and target of the Rob Roy of the North, as he was called, are still in the possession of Lord Fife (Braco’s descendant), at Duff House, and is such a formidable weapon as only a powerful man could wield.

Macpherson was brought to trial, along with his associates, before the Sheriff of Banff, on the 7th Nov. 1700. In an interlocutor, the Sheriff sustains himself judge, and “ finds the libel relevant of the whole accused being knoune habit and repute to be Egiptians and wagabonds, and keeping ye mercats in yr ordinaire manner of thieving and purse-cutting, or guiltie of the rest of the crimes of theft;, and masterfull bangs-tree and oppression, to infer the punishment libelled, and admits the same to the knowledge of ane assyze.” After the jury were impannelled, “the Sheriff” (so it is in the record) “ ordains the pannels, for tiie satisfaction of the assizers, to rehearse the Lord’s Prayer,” &c., but it is not stated how far the prisoners either did or could afford this “ satisfaction.”

Twenty-one witnesses were then examined, fourteen of whom were able to sign their depositions. Most of them deponed that the panels were by habit and repute Egyptians, and that they went about armed in bands, some adding that they spoke a language which the deponents did not understand, and “ which was not Irish.” But otherwise few well defined or very serious charges appear in evidence against the accused individually. It is unnecessary here to narrate the individual evidence of the witnesses examined, although it presents a curious picture of the manners of the time and district.

The evidence, however, being gone into at great length, the Jury, of which James Gordon of Ardmellie was Chancellor, gave in a verdict finding the panels to be “ fylled, culpable, and convick” of the crimes lybelled; whereupon the Sheriff pronounced the following sentence: —

“For sae meikle as you, Jas. McPherson and James Gordon, pannels, are found guilty, by ane verdict of ane assyse, to be knoune, holden and repute, to be Egyptians and vagabonds, and oppressors of his Matie’s firee lieges, in ane bangstrie manner, and going up and doune the country armed, and keeping the mercats in an hostile manner, and that you are thieves, and receptors of thieves, and that you are of pessima fama. Therefore, the Sheriff-Depute of Banff, and I, in his name, adjudges and decernes you, the sds James McPherson and James Gordon, to be taken from the cross of Banff, from the tolbooth yrof, where you now lye, and yr upon ane gibbet to be erected, to be hanged by the neck to the death, by the hand of the common executioner, upon Friday next, being the 16 Nover. instant, being a public weeklie mercat-day, betwixt the hours of two and three in the afternoon; and, in the meantime, declares their haill movale goods and gear to be escheat and in-brought to the fiscall, for his Matie’s interest, and recommends this sentence to be seen put in executione by the Maigistrats of Banff.
(Signed) “ Nicolas Dunbar.

“And, further, the Sheriff-Depute ordains ye three young rogues, now in prison, that this day yr ears be cropt, publiclie scourged throu the toune of Banff, and burnt upon the cheek by the executioner, and banished this shyre for ever, under paine of death. (Signed) “ Nicolas Dunbar.”

It appears that McPherson alone of the party was executed, and performed at the foot of the gallows, on the Gallowhill of Banff, the “ Rant “ and pibroch of his own composition, and then made offer of his violin to any one who would receive it as a remembrance of him. The gift being declined, he broke the violin, and threw the fragments into the grave prepared for his body.

At the time the Waverley Novels were issuing from the press, and delighting the reading world, I was applied to by a friend of Sir Walter Scott’s to collect any memorials bearing on the trial and untimely fate of poor McPherson. In consequence, I had the whole of this trial, with the examination of the witnesses, copied from the town’s records, and was successful in collecting many traditions regarding McPherson’s wild life, and, in some cases, generous conduct to the poor in the upper part of Banffshire, with not a few poems and letters commemorative of his exploits and associations with the Rob Roy of Sir Walter. All these I had put in shape for transmission to Edinburgh, when a Banff denizen, rather a litterateur, who had given me some assistance in making this collection, begged for a look of the particulars. Not dreading any perversion of the favour, I indulged him; and in the following week I had the mortification of seeing it announced in one of the public prints that the great Unknown was about to favour the world with another novel, the subject being the Rob Roy of the North — McPherson!

Meantime, while the records were in transitu. Sir W.’s eye had caught the announcement, and, when they made their appearance, they were discarded with contempt, and returned from whence they came. I afterwards handed the whole to the late Earl of Fife, as an accompaniment to the freebooter’s sword, which is still to be seen in the armoury at Duff House.

Thus our locality lost the chance of being handed down to posterity as the scene of adventure, and the character and manners of our people brought out in amusing guise by the magic pen of the incomparable bard, as I have no doubt he would have paid a visit to this quarter, knowing he would have found a pleasant associate at the time in his friend the late Earl of Fife.

At this time, I had McPherson’s remains disinterred at the foot of the gallow’s-tree where he suffered, and a medical friend present said that the bones were those of a strong and powerful man. So ends the story of the ill-fated freebooter.

The last hanging affair in this quarter handed down to us arose out of a burglary enacted in the town about the year 1780, in the banking office of Mr James Imlach, in the large house built by the Trades opposite the Town-house. During the night, the burglar had found his way into the office by forcing open the outside shutter, and cutting out a large pane of glass sufficient to admit his person. Not finding the bank-safe in the outer apartment, he contented himself by breaking into the desks, and finding a pocket-book full of bank-notes, he decamped. A “ hue and cry “ arose in the morning on the discovery of the robbery, but small trace was found of the delinquent — sufficient, however, to induce a valiant Captain of Volunteers to offer his services in the cause, and off he started, well mounted, with a brace of pistols in his belt. Pursuing his journey towards Keith, where the scent lay, and ascertidning from a cottager in the outskirts of the town that a person answering the description of the reynard in fault, our gallant sportsman renewed the chase, and sighting, as he supposed, the object of his pursuit as he was nearing the cover of the woods of Knockando, and at same time noticing the game wheel about, and aware of pursuit, he plunged into the wood. The Captain coming up, leapt from his horse, throwing the bridle over a tree, and gave chase. Being quite fresh, he was soon within shot of the enemy, and let him understand if he did not surrender he would shoot him. Confronted, the fellow denied the charge of robbing the bank in Banff, but the Captain, noticing a protuberance in his vestment, as if from a concealed book, at once tore it open, and seized the morocco pocket-book, exclaiming “Oh, there it is; this is what I want! You are my prisoner!” pulling out his pistol, and giving the order for quick march to the spot where he had left his charger. The culprit in this order was marched to Keith, afterwards tried at Aberdeen, found guilty, and there suffered the last penalty of the law, the power of hanging having departed from our Royal Burgh since the too hasty finish of poor McPherson.

Annals of Banff, 1891

An annotated historical account of Jamie Macpherson’s life and trial is provided in William Cramond’s The annals of Banff, published in 1891, pp99-113:

Annales of Banff: Macpherson the Freebooter

MACPHERSON THE FREEBOOTER.

[The following notes on the fate of Macpherson may seem more elaborate than the case demands, but one object in view in compiling them was to illustrate to how large an extent, even in events of comparatively recent occurrence, opinions generally held are, at least as regards details, the result of facts distorted, of imaginative details introduced for effect and for less excusable reasons, and of statements made contrary alike to probability and possibility. Another example will be given in connection with Archbishop Sharp (see "The Churchyard" ), and anyone caring to pursue the subject further will find appropriate themes in "The Landings of Charles II. at Speymouth," &c.]

“James Macpherson was an illegitimate branch of the family of Invereshie, in Inverness-shire. His mother was a gipsy. He was reared at his father’s house until the death of the latter, when he was taken under his mother’s charge, and acquired the habits and pursuits of the race to which she belonged. He was remarkable not only for strength and beauty of person, but for the degree of talent which he displayed for certain mental accomplishments, for the cultivation of which his mode of life might seem to have afforded little opportunity. He seems to have been celebrated, during his lifetime, for his skill on the violin. It is said, too, that his conduct often afforded evidence of his being imbued with those feelings of generosity and pity which the fine arts are supposed to generate; and it does not appear that any cruel or atrocious act was ever laid to his charge. After several escapes from justice, to which he had made himsdf obnoxious by his lawless habits, he was eventually apprehended by the Laird of Braco and some of his followers at a Keith market” [Mr. Alexander Smith, M.A., writer of the above, adds in a note: " Very little tradition of Macpherson remains in this the scene of his death. Several of the above particulars I owe to a notice in the New Monthly Magazine, VoL I., and to a note in the Ettrick Shepherd's Edition of Burns." The extracts of the evidence which he gives are evidently taken from the original record of the trial.] (New Stat Acct of Banff, 1836.)

“As soon as Braco spied them [Macpherson and Brown] in the market, he desired his brother-in-law, Lesmurdy, to bring him a dozen of stout, able men, which he did; they all attackt the villains, who, having several of their accomplices with them, made a desperate resistance. One of them made a pass at Braco, intending to run him through the heart, but the durk slented alongst the outside of his ribs, without cutting the skin, and one of Brace’s men stabbed the fellow dead. They carried Macpherson and Brown to a house in Keith, where Braco and Lesmurdy left them with a guard, not expecting any more opposition. But when they were in an upper room with two or three of their acquaintances concerting the committment of their prisoners, the Laird of Grant, with thirty armed men, came to the door calling for them, and swearing that no Duff in Scotland should keep them from him. Braco, hearing the noise of the Grants, came down stairs and said, with seeming unconcern and in good humour, that he intended to have sent them to prison. But he saw they were protected by too strong a party for him to contend with, and therefore must give them up; but without losing a moment he took a turn through the market, found other two Justices of the Peace, held a court, and assembled sixty able, bold men, who retook the criminals. They were sent to prison, carried to Edinburgh, and tried.” [It is certain they were not carried to Edinburgh. ] (Baird’s “ Genealogical Memoirs of the Duffs,” written c. 1773.)

In his defence, Macpherson, says the Stat. Account, seeking to reach the gable of the church, and parrying the attack of his enemies all the way, fell over a grave-stone, when he was secured and lodged in the jail of Banff. He and his three associates, James Gordon and Peter and Donald Brown, were brought to trial before the Sheriff of Banff on 7th Nov., 1700. A jury was empanelled, and twenty-one witnesses were examined. The jury having found them guilty,[The official finding of the jury, with the signature of their Chanoellor— James Gordon of Ardmellie— is now (1890) in a box of papers in the Adv. Libr., Aberdeen, that belonged to Dr. John Stuart. The record of the trial is printed in the " Miscellany of the Spalding Club." Vol III., " from the original in the possession of the Club." It is now lost from the Sheriff Court records of the County of Banff, and it has been repeatedly asserted with much plausibility, but without certain proof, to have been sold with other papers by the representatives of Mr. Patrick Rose, Sheriff-Clerk, to an official of the Spalding Club. Mr. Imlach (Hist. of Banff) states that he had the whole of the trial, with the examination of the witnesses, copied from the town's records.] the Sheriff [Nicholas Dunbar of Castlefield, near Cullen, Sheriff-Depute of Banff, inflicted not a few death sentences in his time, as official loose papers among the Burgh Recotds of Cullen testify. In the year previous to Macpherson's trial he sentenced a man to be hanged on the Clune hill, Deskford, for stealing a cow; and the present writer, on examining the Gallow-hill there, found the stone supports of the gallows tree and the skull and other bones of a man a few inches below the ground in the immediate neighbourhood.] pronounced the following sentence: —

“Forsameikle as you, James McPhersone and James Gordon, pannals are found guilty, by ane verdict of ane assyse, to be knoun, holden, and repute, to be Egiptians and vagabonds, and oppressors of his Majesties free lieges, in ane bangstrie manner, and going up and doune the country armed, and keeping mercats in ane hostile manner, and that you are thieves, and recepters of thieves, and that you are of pessima famae: Therefor the Shirreff-deput of Banff, and I, in his name, adjudges, and decemes you, the saids James McPhersone and James Gordon ["It appears that McPherson alone of the four was executed." (New Stat. Acct) All recent writers repeat this statement, but the Town's Records contain the following entry; "Payed to the executioner for tows att execntione of McPherson and Gordon £1." ] to be taken to the Cross of Banff, from the tolbuith therof, where you now lye, and ther* upon ane gibbet to be erected, to be hanged by the neck to the death, by the hand of the common executioner, upon Friday nixt, being the sixteenth day of November instant, being a publick weeklie mercat day, betwixt the houres of two and three in the afternoon, [The story goes (see N. Stat Acct.) that McPherson performed at the foot of the gallows the " Rant " of his own composition, and then made offer of his violin to any one who would receive it as a remembrance of him. The gift being declined, he broke the violin and threw the fragments into the grave prepared for his body. A fine specimen of a two-handed sword, now in the possession of the Duke of Fife, has appeared at several Exhibitions of recent years as the veritable sword of Macpherson, but it is to be regretted that so little evidence thereof has ever been forthcoming. So far as known to the writer, it is only in comparatively recent years that the statement has begun to be made. By Macpherson's time more serviceable weapons were come into ordinary use than two-handed swords. The sword [The sword is figured in Chamber's " Domestic Annals of Scotland," III., 234, where the note is added: " It is 4 feet 3 inches long and having a wavy edged blade. It is obviously a mediaeval weapon; yet of course may have been used in a later age." ] is a formidable and rather unwieldy weapon, above 5 ft in length, the blade being 3 ft 3 3/4in. long. To many the " Rant " possesses an attraction as great as the sword. [One very old man informs me [the writer of the New Stat. Acct.] of being told by his grandfather, who was one of the guards at McPherson's execution, that the verses commonly circulated as spoken by McPherson on that occasion were really those uttered by him. A few of them that were repeated by my informant corresponded most (if I rightly recollect) with the first set given by the Ettrick Shepherd." No one looking dispassionately at these verses will assert they were written by Macpherson. They were written, to all appearance, a few years after the event, when the details were somewhat forgotten, by some schoolmaster or some one who had imbibed a little learning. The general character of the composition, besides particular expressions, prove this. " Pale death " (pallida mors) was not in Macpherson's line; courage " singular " (this is the charming old adjective brought down from most ancient times to the present day, and introduced still in Duburgessrgen tickets, few can explain how); while the references to Hector, &c., all tend to the same conclusion. ] ] and, in the meantyme, declairs their heall moveable goods and gear to be escheat, and inbrought to the Fiscall, for his majesties interest, and recommends this sentence to be seen put in executione by the magistrats of Banff.

“Nicolas Dunbar.”

\* There can be little doubt that it was at the Cross of Banff, as the sentence declares, and not on die Gallowhill, as modem writers assert, that Macpherson was hanged.

"It appears that McPherson . . . performed at the foot of the Gallows, on the Gallowhill of Banff, the 'Rant' and pibroch of his own composition. ... At the time the Waverley Novels were issuing from the press I had McPherson's remains disinterred at the foot of the gallows-tree where he suffered, and a medical friend present said that the bones were those of a strong and powerful man." (Imlach's " History of Banff, 1868.")

"The execution took place on the Galtowhill." (New Stat Acct)

He was executed on the " Gallows-hill of Banff" ("Life and Works of Burns," by R. Chambers, II., 213.)

"Macpherson was led from the jail of Banff to the place of execution, passing up the Strait Path and Boyndie Street to the Gallowhill" (" Banff and Neighbourhood." 1879.)

These recent assertions cannot counterbalance the official sentence, especially if we consider how improbable it is that the authorities would run the risk of taking so daring a prisoner, and one whom it had cost them so much trouble and expense to secure, and guard, all the way to the Gallowhill, when they could have him executed so conveniently almost at their tolbooth door. Besides, for county offences the Cross, in presence of the public market, to which special reference is made in the sentence — then, of course, held there and not in the modern "Market Place" — was the regular place of punishment. In reference to the statement by Mr. Imlach as to McPherson's remains, it is amusing to find that some poor man or woman's skull had to do duty in the Museum and elsewhere for that of the noted Freebooter for so long, and it must be remembered that it would be no difficult matter to find human remains on the Gallowhill of Banff. In 1637 Frauds Brown, " ane boy of ane evill lyiff," was hanged for theft. In 1695 Margaret McKean was hanged. In 1697 one Taylor and one Prott were hanged, and in 1699 a man of the name of Doull.

MACPHERSON’S RANT.

[The edition of Burns by Hogg and Motherwell gives " the earliest set of words we have seen under the title of Macpherson's Rant. They are taken from a Broadside probably printed in the same year that Macpherson suffered; and they may also, for ought that is known to the contrary, be the composiion of that individual himself." ]

Macpherson’s Rant

I Spent my time in rioting,
Debauch’d my health and strength;
I pillaged, plunder’d, mordered,
But now alas! at length,
I’m brought to punishment condign,
Pale death draws near to me,
The end I never did expect,
To hang upon a tree.

To hang upon a tree! a tree!
That curs’d unhappy death!
Like to a wolf to worried be.
And chocked in the breath.
It makes my very heart to break,
When this I think upon,
Did not my courage singular,
Bid pensive thoughts begone.

No man on earth that draweth breath,
More courage had than I,
I dar’d my foes unto the face,
Knew not what ‘twas to fly.
A grandeur stout I did keep out,
Like Hector, manfullie;
Then wonder all that such a spark
Should hang upon a tree.

The Egyptian band I did command.
With greater sway by far,
Than ever did a general
His soldiers in the war.
Being fear’d by all, and spar’d by all,
I liv’d most joyfullie:
But ay pox take this fate of mine,
Must hang upon a tree.

No grief at all I will take up,
If justice will take place,
And bring my fellow plunderers
Into this same disgrace.
For Peter Brown, that nottonr lown,
Escap’d, and was made free;
But ay pox take that fate of mine,
Must hang upon a tree.

All laws and justice buried are,
Force, fraud and guile succeed.
The guilty pass unpunished,
If money interceed.
The Laird of Grant, that Highland Saint,
That mightie Majesty,
Did plead the cause of Peter Brown,
And let Macpherson dye.

The Destinies of my death oontriv’d
Men whom I did oblige.
Rewarded me much ill for good,
And left me no refuge;
For Braco Duff, in rage enuff,
At length laid hands on me,
The which if death do not prevent,
Revenged I shall be.

As for pale death I do not care,
More courage ne’er had none;
But yet Hell’s torments I do fear
When once my life is gone:
Therefore, good people, all take heed,
This warning take by me,
According to the life you lead
Rewarded ye shall be.

As for my death I’ll not lament,
Such things I do abhorre,
To part with life I’m well content
As any heretofore.
Therefore my counsell to yon all
Is to repent and turn,
Lest afterwards it may befall
You in hell’s fire to burn.

For neither death nor devil’s power
This rage of mine shall break,
For in the place to which I go
Some office I expect.
I’ll muster all the powers of hell,
I’LL cross the Stygian lake,
Upon the heads of those my foes
Sad vengeance I shall take.

Then be content and not relent,
My sily soul until
The time may come wherein thou may’st
Perform thy latter will.
In hopes whereof I poured forth
This with a dying breath;
As joyfully as man could do
Who hath in sight his death.

Then wantonly and rantingly
I am resolved to die,
And with undaunted courage I
Shall mount the fatal tree.

[In "Scottish Ballads and Songs," Edinburgh, T. G. Stevnson (1859), is a version which corresponds very closely to the foregoing. It is said to be " taken from a broadside in the Library of the Editor,—supposed to be unique— and which was printed evidently about the commencement of the last century." The Editor quotes from the *Dumfries Journal* an accoont of the capture of Macpherson, which is evidently taken from Baird. The extraa has also the following concluding passage: " Macpberson was hanged but Brown was pardoned as to his life, and only banished, by Grant's interest. Macpherson was the last person executed at Banff: he walked from the prison to the place of execution, about a mile, playing on the fiddle all the way " Macpherson's Rant," a tune composed by himself for the occasion . . . . The sword, which is of immimsf size, and target taken from Macpherson, when apprehended at Keith, have remained in the family of Fife ever since. On diggmg a foundation for an alarm-post some years ago on the Gallowhill, Macpherson's bones were found. These were much above the ordinary size, and furnish evidence of his great strength, as well as his sword, which is six feet long, including handle 18 inches, and the breadth of the blade is 2 1/2 inches." Chambers's " Domestic Annals," III., 933, has also an account of Macpherson.]

To the above version the editors append the following:—

“Of the above ballad and of the traditionary set preserved in Herd, our friend Mr. Buchan seems to be aware, for in a valuable communication to us [Mr. Buchan also sent a trancsript of the trial which was published therewith. It was twelve years later till the careful transcript was publisbed by the Spalding Club.] he says: ‘The two recited copies I have beside me are difierent from either: the one I shall now give as illustrative of Burns’ song is from the recitation of a very old person, and said to be the real composition of the unfortunate Macpberson himself when in jail, waiting the severe sentence of the law, and owes its preservation to the following cause:— A young woman of respectable parents, with whom he had lived during his unsettled life, had formed for him an inseparable attachment, so that in his dungeon she was known to love him. She learned her lover’s “ Farewell,” which she called “ the remains of her Jamie,” while in prison, and after having witnessed his final exit on an inglorious gallows, she returned to her wandering life, which she led ever after, and sung, wherever she went, the following song, as composed by Macpherson:—

‘I’ve spent my time in rioting,
Debauch’d my health and strength,
I squander’d fast as pillage came,
And fell to shame at length.
But dantonly and wantonly
And rantonly I’ll gae,
I’ll play a tune, and dance it roun’,
Below the gallow-tree.

‘To hang upon the gallows-tree
Accurs’d, disgraceful death!
Like a vile dog hung up to be,
And stifled in my breath.
But dantonly, &c.

‘My father was a gentleman,
Of fame and lineage high;
Oh! mother, would you ne’er had born
A wretch so doom’d to die.
But dantonly. &c.

‘The Laird o’ Grant, with power aboon
The royal majesty,
He pled fu’ well for Peter Brown,
But let Macpherson die.
But dantonly, &c.

‘But Braco Duff, in rage enough,
He first laid hands on me;
If death did not arrest my course,
Aveng’d I should be.
But dantonly, &c.

‘But vengeance I did never wreak
When power was in my hand,
And gen my firiends no vengeance seek,
Obey my last command.
But dantonly, &c.

‘Forgive the man whose rage could seek
Macpherson’s worthless life,
When I am gone, be it ne’er said
My legacy was strife.
Yet dantonly, &c.

‘And ye that blame with cruel scorn
The wand’ring gipsy’s ways;
Oh! think if homeless, houseless born,
Ye could spend better days.
But dantonly, &c.

‘If all the wealth on land and sea
Within my power was laid,
I’d give it all this hour to be
On the soldier’s dying bed.
Yet dantonly, &c.

‘I’ve led a life o’ meikle strife,
Sweet peace ne’er smiled on me;
It grieves me sair that I maun gae
An’ nae avenged be.
But dantonly and wantonly
And rantonly I’ll gae,
I’ll play a tune, and dance it roun’,
Below the gallows-tree.’

‘The last four tines of another recited copy seem to be at variance with the above, for in them he is said to have had a wife and bairns; but, if we take to account the unsettled ways of the gipsy tribe to which Macpherson belonged, and that they were allowed the same indulgence as the patriarchs of old — polygamy or a plurality of wives and concubines— the preceding will be, as a painter would say, quite in keeping.

‘Farewell my comrades, ane an’ a,
Farewell my wife and bairns;
Some small repentance in my heart,
The fiddle’s in my arms.
Sae wantonly, &c.

‘The fiddle, which was then in his arms, and had been his solace in many a gloomy hour, was offered to several of the bystanders, but none having courage to accept of the preferred boon, he dashed it to pieces, that it might perish with himself, and so went singing into eternity. His body afterwards found a resting-place beneath the gallows-tree on which he paid the forfeit of his life.’”

An old version of the song is given in Herd’s Collection, 1776, and has been reproduced, with several alterations, however, in Whitelaw’s Book of Scottish Song (Blackie & Son, Glasgow, 1845). The extent to which it differs from the version given above will be seen from the following:—

I’ve spent my time in rioting,
Debauched my health and strength;
I’ve pillaged, plundered, murdered,
But now, alas, at length,
I’m brought to punishment direct;
Pale death draws near to me;
This end I never did project.
To hang upon a tree.

As for my life, I do not care,
If justice would take place,
And bring my fellow-plunderers
Unto this same disgrace.
For PETER BROWN, that notour loon,
Escap’d, and was made free;
O! curse upon this fate of mine
To hang upon a tree!

The last verse of Herd’s version follows the verses commending “ The dest’ny of my life, contriv’d” and is as follows:—

As for my life it is but short,
When I shall be no more,
To part with life I am content
As any heretofore.
Therefore, good people all, take heed,
This warning take by me,
According to the lives you lead
Rewarded you shall be.

The following is Burns’ well-known song:—

MACPERSON’S’ FAREWELL. — Tune, “McPherson’s Rant.” [Gow has published a variation of this fine tune as his own composition, which be calls "The Princsss Augusta." (Note in the handwriting of Burns in an interleaved copy of Johnston's Musical Museum, belonging to Robert Riddell, Esq. of Glenriddell.)]

Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong,
The wretch’s destinie!
Macpherson’s time will not be long
On yonder gallows-tree.

Chorus.

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he;
He play’d a spring, and danc’d it round,
Below the gallows-tree.

Oh, what is death but parting breath? —
On manie a bloody plain
I’ve dar’d his face, and in this place
I scorn him yet again!
Sae rantingly, &c.

Untie these bands from off my hands,
And bring to me my sword;
And there’s no a man in all Scotland,
But I’ll brave him at a word.
Sae rantingly, &c.

I’ve lived a life of sturt and strife;
I die by treacherie:
It burns my heart I most depart
And not avenged be.
Sae rantingly, &c.

Now farewell light, thou sunshine bright,
And all beneath the sky!
May coward shame disdain his name
The weetch that dare [The word is "dare" in the original MS., not " dares," as in all the printed copies.] not die!
Sae rantingly, sae wantonly
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
He play’d a spring, and danc’d it round,
Below the gallows-tree.

In the Fortnightly Review (1889) Mr. Edmund Gosse, in an article on Edward Fitzgerald, the writer of some pleasant verses, and well known in literary circle, quotes a letter of Fitzgerald of date 1844: “ One day we had Alfred Tennyson here; an unforgettable day. He stayed with us till late; forgot his stick: we dismissed him with ‘Macpherson’s Farewell.’ Macpherson (see Burns) was a Highland robber; he played that tune, of his own composition, on his way to the gallows; asked ‘If in all that crowd the Macpherson had any clansman?’ holding up the fiddle that he might bequeath it to someone. ‘Any kinsman, any soul that wished him well?’ Nothing answered, nothing durst answer. He crushed the fiddle under his foot and sprang off. The tune is rough as hemp, but strong as a lion. I never hear it without something of emotion — poor Macpherson; though the artist hates to play it. Alfred’s dark face grew darker, and I saw his lip quivering.”

In the Ettrick Shepherd’s edition of Burns’ Works (1834) it is stated that ‘it ia very probable that Burns learnt both the air and the tradition connected with it in his tour through the Highlands, or it may be, that while composing what Lockhart has fitly described as a ‘grand lyric’ he had the version of the old words which are given by David Herd, in his very interesting collection of Scottish ballads and songs. Burns first published this song in the second volume of Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum, which appeared in March, 1788 [six months after his Highland tour], accompanied with this note: ‘Macpherson, a daring robber in the beginning of this century, was condemned to be hanged at the Assizes at Inverness. He is said, when under sentence of death, to have composed this tune, which he called his own Lament or Farewell.’ Sir Walter Scott has said that ‘this noted freebooter was executed at Inverness,’ and Cromek has echoed the same error. It is curious to see how, in an historical event of comparative recency, so much error should prevail… . The fact is, that Macpherson was executed at Banff, early on Friday moming, November 16th, in the year 1700, several hours before the time specified in the sentence for his execution. It us said that his execution was hurried on by the Magistrates, and that they also caused the messenger intrusted with a reprieve for the notorious criminal to be stopped by the way, in consequence of which acts of injustice, it is alleged, the town of Banff was deprived of the power of trying and executing malefactors.”

The Ettrick Shepherd’s note exemplifies fiirther “ how curious it is to see so much error should prevail.” There is no evidence whatever (i) that the execution was hastened, (2) that a reprieve was obtained— a most unlikely thing in the circumstances, or (3) that the burgh of Banff was then deprived of the power of trying and executing malefactors. It is even said that the execution was hastened as the bearer of the reprieve was seen from the Gallow Hill on the Bridge of Banff; but (i) the execution did not take place on the Gallow Hill, and (2) the Bridge of Banff was not built for many years subsequent to the execution of Macpherson.

No article in the creed of a bygone generation was more unchallengeable than that the postman, on approaching Banff, seeing from Gavenie Brae the crowd assembled for the execution of McPherson, and knowing full well of the reprieve he carried in his bag, sounded his horn so lustily that he burst his horn, but the Magistrates, in their villany, had put forward the town’s clock, and before the reprieve arrived poor McPherson’s days were numbered!

On several occasions subsequent to Macpherson’s time we find the Town Council appointing a public executioner for the burgh. Even in 1730 (see T.C. Minutes) William Cruickshank, the burgh executioner, went to Aberdeen, by order of the Banff Town Council, to execute a criminal there.

“Macpherson’s Lament,” says Sir Walter Scott, “ was a well-known song many years before the Ayrshire Bard wrote those additional verses which constitute its principal merit. This noted freebooter was executed at Inverness about the beginning of the last century. When he came to the fatal tree he played the tune, to which he has bequeathed his name, upon a favourite violin, and, holding up the instrument, offered it to any one of his clan who would undertake to play the tune over his body at his lyke-wake; as none answered, he dashed it to pieces on the executioner’s head, and flung himself from the ladder.” (Whitelaw’s Scottish Song.)

William Stenhouse, in a note to Macpherson’s “Farewell,” after reciting the story of Macpherson playing the violin at his execution, says: “ This story appears to be partly probable and partly false. That this depraved and incorrigible robber might compose the tune even while lying under the awful sentence of death may possibly be true; but that he played it while standing on the ladder with the halter about his neck I do not believe, because every criminal before he is conducted to the place of execution has his arms closely pinioned, in which situation it is physically impossible for him to play on a violin or any such instrument” (Illustrations of the Lyric Poetry of Scotland, by Wm. Stenhouse. Blackwood & Sons. 1853.)

Hogg and Motherwell’s edition of Burns, II., 189 (1834), contains the following: —

“It will be seen how unjustly Macpherson was used in comparison with the Browns. He was executed eight days after his sentence, and they lay upwards of a year in prison, and afterwards made their escape from jail. Macpherson was not one of the gang with whom he was apprehended and tried. He was merely found in their company in pursuit of a gipsy wench of whom he was very fond.

“This tedious though interesting notice of Macpherson — interesting because it illustrates the manners and the state of the country at the time he lived in — we shall now conclude by giving the account we have of him in the New Monthly Magasine by a person signing himself ‘B. G.’: — ‘James Macpherson was born of a beautiful gipsy, who at a great wedding attracted the notice of a half-intoxicated Highland gentleman. He acknowledged the child, and had him reared in his house, until he lost his life in bravely pursuing a hostile clan to recover a spreach of cattle taken from Badenoch. The gipsy woman, hearing of this disaster, in her rambles the following summer, came and took away her boy; but she often returned with him to wait upon his relations and clansmen, who never failed to clothe him well, besides giving money to his mother. He grew up to beauty, strength, and stature rarely equalled. His sword is still preserved at Duff House, a residence of the Earl of Fife, and few men of our day could carry, far less wield it as a weapon of war; and if it must be owned that his prowess was debased by the exploits of a freebooter, it is certain no act of cruelty, no robbery of the widow, the fatherless, or distressed, and no murder, were ever perpetrated under his command. He often gave the spoils of the rich to relieve the poor; and all his tribe were restrained from many atrocities of rapine by the awe of his mighty arm. Indeed it is said that a dispute with an aspiring and savage man of his tribe who wished to rob a gentleman’s house while his wife and two children lay on the bier for interment was the cause of his being betrayed to the vengeance of the law. The Magistrates of Aberdeen were exasperated at Macpherson’s escape, and bribed a girl in that city to allure and deliver him into their hands. There is a platform before the jail, at the top of a stair, and a door below. When Macpherson’s capture was made known to his comrades by the frantic girl, who had been so credulous as to believe that the Magistrates only wanted to hear the wonderful performer on the violin, his cousin, Donald Macpherson, a gentleman of Herculean powers, did not disdain to come from Badenoch, and to join a gipsy, Peter Brown, in liberating the prisoner. On a market day they brought several assistants; and swift horses were stationed at a convenient distance. Donald Macpherson and Peter Brown forced the jail; and while Peter Brown went to help the heavily-fettered James Macpherson in moving away, Donald Macpherson guarded the jail door with a drawn sword. Many persons assembled at the market had experienced James Macpherson’s humanity, or had shared his bounty; and they crowded round the jail as in mere curiosity, but, in fact, to obstruct the civil authorities in their attempts to prevent a rescue. A butcher, however, was resolved to detain Macpherson, expecting a large recompense from the Magistrates; he sprung up the stairs, and leaped from the platform upon Donald Macpherson, whom he dashed to the ground by the force and weight of his body. Donald Macpherson soon recovered, to make a desperate resistance; and the combatants tore off each other’s clothes. The butcher got a glimpse of his dog upon the platform, and called him to his aid; but Macpherson, with admirable presence of mind, snatched up hb own plaid, which lay near, and threw it over the butcher, thus misleading the instinct of his canine adversary. The dog darted with fury upon the plaid and terribly kicerated his master’s thigh. In the meantime, James Macpherson had been carried out by Peter Brown, and was soon joined by Donald Macpherson, who was quickly covered up by some friendly spectator with a hat and greatcoat. The Magistrates ordered webs from the shops to be drawn across the Gallowgate; but Donald Macpherson cut them asunder with his sword, and James, the late prisoner, got off on horseback. He was, some time after, betrayed by a man of his own tribe; and was the last person executed at Banff, previous to the abolition of heritable jurisdiction. He was an admirable performer on the violin, and his talent for composition is still evidenced by Macpherson’s Rant and Macpherson’s Pibroch. He performed these tunes at the foot of the fatal tree; and then asked if he had any firiend in the crowd to whom a last gift of his instrument would be acceptable. No man had hardihood to claim friendship with a delinquent, in whose crimes the acknowledgment might implicate an avowed acquaintance. As no friend came forward, Macpherson said the companion of so many gloomy hours should perish with him; and, breaking his violin over his knee, he threw away the fragments. Donald Macpherson picked up the neck of the violin, which to this day is preserved, as a valuable memento, by the family of Cluny, chieftain of the Macphersons.’”

The above fanciful picture was probably never intended by the writer to be a narrative of fact but it has nevertheless been often accepted as such. That the two-handed sword referred to was Macpherson’s has been stated to be improbable, but still more improbable is it that the violin neck was his.

In expiscating the truth regarding Macpherson it is necessary to remember that the Irish have a “Macpherson’s Tune,” played, according to tradition, “by its composer, John Macpherson, on the bagpipe, as he was carried to the gallows.” [W. H. Ainsworth's "Rookwood" (1836). ] Dr. John Stuart remarks: “It might be interesting to inquire how far popular fame may not have confounded the Banffshire gipsey with the highwayman of Leinster.” [Mr. Janes Imlach (History of Banff) states that when the Waverley Novels were issuing from the press he was applied to by a friend of Sir Walter Scott's to collect any memorials bearing on the trial and untimely fate of poor McPherson. " In consequence I had the whole of this trial, with the examination of the witnesses, copied from the town's records, and was successful in collecting many traditions regarding McPherson's wild life, and, in some cases, generous conduct to the poor in the upper part of Banffshire, with not a few poems and letters commemorative of his exploits." These documents were afterwards handed over to Lord Fife, Sir Walter having declined them, observes Mr. Imlach, owing to an injudicious announcement thereanent. Whether they are now in the library of Duff House, or of what value they are, is unknown.]

The Town Council minute book has the following entries In reference to the case of Macpherson: —

1700, September 10. — “The said day Provest Leslie produced the mittimus for the incarrcerating of the persons of Patrick and Donald Brounes, James Macphersone, and James Gordone, gipsies; and the Magistrats for preventing ther escape attour the fulfilling the termes of the mittimus have ordered ane nightlie gaurd to be keept to consist of n3me men and ane commander to gauird the prisone hous nightlie and ane sentrie to be keept at the prisone door and ane other foragainst the windowes and the gaurd to goe throw the toune at their entrie and search all suspect houses, &c.

October 23. — “ The Counsell appoynts gaurds the tyme of the tiyall of the prisoners in the tolbooth Thursday next.” The Laird of Grant put in a claim to repledge the two Browns as being his vassals, and subject to his jurisdiction, and it appears their trial was completed subsequent to that of Macpherson and Gordon, and that on 2 1st February, 1701, sentence of death was passed upon them, to be carried out on the Gallow Hill on 2nd April. The items in the Burgh Accounts, such as “To the officers anent the ^Egyptians;£’2i,” &c, seem to correspond at least with the fact that they did not escape, and it is almost certain, from the manner in which the town’s records were then kept, that had the Browns escaped from prison, as allied, reference thereto would have appeared. But no such reference is found. That they did obtain a temporary reprieve is certain from the following: —

1701, March 4. — “ There was a petition to the Privy Council from Peter and Donald Brown, prisoners in the Tolbooth of Banff, representing that they had been condemned solely as ‘repute vagabond Egjrptians,’ to be hanged on the 2nd April. They claimed a longer day, ‘either for their relief or due preparation ‘; and the Lords granted reprieve till the second Wednesday of June.” (Dom. Annals, III., 237.)

A loose paper, in the handwriting of the Town Clerk, among the Town’s records, without date, except that on a part of the paper not referring to the following entry is the date 26 Feb., 1701, gives some confirmation to the above: –

“Petition to be sent to the Lords of H.M. Privy Council of the ‘losses susteined be this brugh in watching and warding of the Egiptianis within our tolbooth which to us hes bein no small trouble, paines and expenses.’ Application to be made ‘before the executione of these Egeptians to be execut the 2 Appryll nixt or any reprivall to be gott for them.’ It is added if they had not been strictly guarded the same might have happened as at Inverness, where ‘such kynd of wicked villans’ broke the prison and escaped.”

“Michaelmas, 1700 — Michaelmas, 1701. Paid for candle furnished to the guards, judges, and assysors at the Brown’s tryall and during their imprisonement £14 1s. 8d.” (Burgh Accounts.)

1701, March 22. — “ Letter to be sent to Lord Viscount Seafield and to the Lords, of Privy Council for ‘reimbursement of the expenses and looses sustained to the burgh in gaurding the Egiptians.” (Town Council Minutes.)

In sending the same or a similar petition to the Earl of Marchmont, Lord High Chancellor, and the other Lords of H.M. Privy Council, the Town Council appended an attestation by the Earl of Findlater and other Commissioners of Supply, bearing that they had been at £603 4s. of expenses in keeping an extraordinary watch on several Egyptians committed to their tolbooth by a mittimus from the Viscount of Seafield, Sheriff Principal of the Shire: “ This was a publict service tending to the great advantage and security of his Majesties leidges, for those profligate vagabounds did some all the countrey round both south and north, whereas now some of the chiefe heads of that pestiferous crew being lay’d aside their followers may come to disperse, but your petitioners are altogether unable to hold up under the forsaid expense, for our Toun’s common good is nothing, and if wee be not releived therof the present magistrats must demitt, nor will ther be found any to succeed them for fear of execution for debts.” They plead that relief was granted in the case of Perth.

One of the “proposalls offered and demandit off Sir Alexander Ogilvie off Forglen, comissioner for the Brugh of Banff, to represent them in Parliament,” was “ that the 600 pounds anent the Browns which lyes in Sir Alexander’s hands be peit,” and through the influence of Forglen and the Earl of Seafield “ the toun’s outlays anent the Egyptians” appears to have been paid in 1705.