and they were to give less to another And then they might step a little lower for it was as lawful to restrict his Salary to one or two as to 300 Merks The circumstances of this Act are very remarkable It was made altogether without his knowledge they neither directly nor indirectly acquainting him they designed any such thing And is it not very strange that one party should destroy a Contract and make a new one without the knowledge and consent of the other This is down right contrary to the very Nature of all Contracts for they imply a mutual consent of Parties On the 19 of October 8 dayes after it was made the Provest sent for Mr. Kirkwood to his Chamber and intimated the Act. He somewhat surprized with the thing reply'd 'T is a Question if I 'll submit to your Act If you will not reply'd the other you must flit and remove That 's another Question said Mr. Kirkwood In short for it were tedious to relate here all that past you have it at large in the other Account and it is sufficient to shew here that before that day eight dayes another Master was brought from Edinburgh who by Act of Council was settled and Mr. Kirkwood deprived of his Office and ordained to remove from it at Martimas then next He that day took Instruments in face of Council that he was willing to serve according to agreement as his Instruments bear of the date 26 of October 89. Now suppose which must not be granted the Town had power either to lessen his Salary or to put him away without a fault for hitherto they did not so much as pretend the least shadow of any misdemeanour And certainly if they had known any they would not have fall'd to lay it to his charge that ought to be done legally and justly according to the Laws and Practick of this Nation No Master can remove his Tenant Cortar or Servant after this manner 14 dayes is a very summary warning to turn a Man with a numerous Family of young Children out of doors in the cold of Winter Nor can Martimas be his Term as is proved in the larger Information After so much hard Usage Cruelty and Injustice he thinks it more than time to seek out for a Remedy looking on the Town Council as both Judge and Party And therefore he makes his Application to the Lords of Council and Session by giving in to them one Bill to suspend the Towns Act of Deprivation another to Advocate the cause of removing from his house and a third to suspend an Act whereby they most unjustly fin'd him in 200 merks This last about the Fine is a business that highly concerns Mr. Kirkwood not so much as to his Purse as his good Name For they thereby stigmatize him with one of the Blackest Crimes a Man can be guilty of calling him openly at the Bar and in their Informations to the Lords A Reviler of the Gods of his People By Gods meaning the 27 Members of the Town Council so that the Deacons of the Websters Sutors and Taylors in Lithgow are Gods forsooth They alledging for Mr. Kirkwood positively denies it he said The Town Council may think shame of their Actings These are the words in their Act of Amerciament for which he is called A Reviler of the Gods But too much of this here There 's a large and a full account given of this business in a Paper by it self which well deserves to be intitul'd The History of the twenty seven Gods of Lithgow wherein you shall see such ridiculous and droll stuff such wild and extravagant Acts such cruel and illegal Pranks that tho you made search into the whole Records of all the Burghs in this Kingdom from their first erection to this day you shall not meet with any thing that can parallel this Here you 'l see one Baily causing drag another to Prison for words that had past betwixt themselves at Court and he breaking Prison is hal'd to it again by his own Officer to the great amazment and laughter of hundreds of People Here you may read how one Baily calls other two in face of Council the one sitting Preses at that time Perjured Villains and Knaves Here you 'l see some Burgesses even of the best rank in the Burgh staged for not taking off their Cape when they past by the Provest in the street tho standing at a tolerable distance others for taking it off and making too low a leg In a word Innocent harmless dumb Beasts do not escape their fury for Baily Turnbul now my Lord Provest shut up in closs Prison within the Tolbooth a poor mans horse a night and a good part of two days for tasting a little of the grass in the Church-yard himself being Jaylor not daring commit the key 's to an Officer positively refusing to let the poor man give his own horse a peck of draff that he had bought for his supper Not is the relation of these and many such passages impertinent digressions but most conducing to the Subject there in debate With pardon for this 't is sufficient here you know that this business for which Mr. Kirkwood was fined in 200 merks is altogether extrinsick to the Plea in hand and could not give any rise nor occasion to it For he was deprived of his office yea another Schoolmaster was brought from Edinburgh before this had any being So that to alledge or infer any thing from it as the Cause or Occasion of the other is of all things in nature the most monstrous 'T is to make the Effect precede the Cause as if one should aver the son to be in the world many years before the Father was born To return therefore again to our Point besides the three Bills he gave in also a Petition humbly begging their Lordships would be pleased to discuss the Cause upon the Bill which was granted and recommended to my Lord Aberuchal the Ordinary at that time to hear both Parties and in case of difficulty to make report to the whole Lords After that the Cause was several times debated at the Bar and Report made to their Lordships they found that the Town could not remove Mr Kirkwood either from his Charge of School master or from his House At that time upon that ground and After that manner as the Interloquitor at more length bears of the date 12 December 89. They did indeed sustain the Fine upon a mistake and recall'd it in their next The day following the Town gave in a Petition reclaiming against the Sentence and desiring a new Hearing upon other Grounds The Lords being most willing to do them all the Justice Law could allow granted their Request The Point they had to prove was That Mr. Kirkwood had dimitted his Charge and Simpliciter refused to serve any longer The Town at first thought his refusing to serve upon Diminution of his Salary was a sufficient Dimission And therefore they desire a new
Hearing to make good that Point by other Arguments Mr. Stuart Brother to Coliness adduced only these two following First said he Mr. Kirkwood took his leave of his Scholars and exhorted them to be obedient and submissive to their new Master Ergo he dimitted It was answered That after the Key of the School was taken violently out of his Pocket by the Town Officers as Instruments then taken 11 Nov. 89. bear he made indeed a Discourse to his Scholars for half an hour most seriously recommending to them their Duty to GOD and Man particularly exhorting them to be obedient and submissive to all supreme Powers whom GOD in His Providence set over them to all subordinate Rulers Magistrates Parents and whatever Masters they might have after him The Lords found this made for and not against him being a very great Symtom of a peaceable spirit The 2d argument was in these express words Mr. Kirkwood went into the School and welcomed the new Master by taking him by the hand and wishing him all Joy and Happiness in his Charge This said Mr. Stuart is an unanswerable Argument and a most certain homologation of his dimission And to speak the truth it made Mr. Kirkwoods Advocates look one to another but being a matter of Fact it was fittest to be answered by himself and therefore he said to the Judge My Lord if it can be instructed that I have set my foot within the School since that man whom they call their School-master entred it yea or that I spoke to him all my life within or without the School about that or any other Affair I shall lose the Cause I wonder my Lord continued he how Men who pretend so great strictness in matters of Religion can contrive meer Falshoods and Lies to carry on an unjust Cause James Stuart said my Lord speaks as he is informed I am sorry my Lord reply'd Mr. Kirkwood such Informers should be our Reformers This Hearing being reported to the Lords they again confirm their former Interloquitor in Mr Kirkwoods favours unless the Town could produce under his hand a Dimission or he durst not depone he did it not in face of Council The first they could not do and he was clear to do the other Upon this fell out a very deep design or to give it a more proper name a Hellish Plot against Mr. Kirkwood not his person but which is worse his good name For the Provest did contrive a way to make him eternally Infamous by proving him Perjured if he should depone he did not dimit But thanks to the Almighty he escap't and the Contrivers are fallen into the Pit they digg'd for another It were too tedious to relate this Story here and we have no will to make a 2d digression 'T is done to the life in the larger Information so convincingly that no man can deny the force of the Arguments For they are equal to Demonstrations and by their Consequence most of the Town Council according to the Provests Principles are Perjured or yet in the sense Baily Bear in face of Council call'd Baily Higgins and Baily Smith Perjured Knaves and tho Law does not reach them as guilty of this horrid iniquity yet they will be found to have made a most deliberate malicious and Judicial Lie which is certainly in the next degree to Perjury The Town having lost this Plea makes another Act on the 25 of December 89 ordaining Mr. Kirkwood to remove at Candlemas then next 'T is still an illegal and summary Warning there not being 40 days to the Term To say nothing of the unlawfulness and unseasonableness of forcing any Person to flit in the middle of Winter with a numerous Family of young Children it being to be supposed there are not then houses to be set It might also be added that this Act was made as Laws then stood on a day set a part for another work The Lords of Session not then daring sit according to Law Mr. Kirkwood did also suspend this Act which being debated several times at the Bar before the Lord Philiphaugh at last after a full hearing on the 28 of Jan. 90 his Lordship told both Parties he would report on the last of that moneth and therefore desired them to prepare their Informations Mr. Kirkwood accordingly dispersed his amongst the Lords but the Town in stead of theirs gave in a Petition desiring a new hearing before report The Lords granted their desire but in the mean time discharged any execution to be used against the suspender as the deliverance of their Bill bears This Hearing was to be on the 4th of Feb and could not be sooner that being Tuesday and yet on the 3d of that moneth contrary to the express Sentence and Order of the Lords contrary to the very Import and design of their own Petition contrary to the Rules of honesty and and human Society and contrary to the nature of their Station and Office they clandestinly and treacherously eject Mistress Kirkwood with her Children and Servants he being in Edinburgh attending the Plea The particulars of this Action being very remarkable are fully related in the larger Information On the said fourth day the Cause is debated neither Party knowing what was done at Lithgow on the 3d. A few minutes after the Debate Mr. Kirkwood receives a Letter from his Wife giving some little account of this business Immediately he acquaints his Advocates whereat they being exceedingly astonish't bid him shew the Letter to my Lord Philiphaugh He no less amaz'd promised to call both Parties to the Bar without fail the next day tho he had told them he was to Report before any further hearing nor was it his Lordships turn to come out that day to the Bar but this being an extraordinary Emergency he said he thought it his Duty to enquire after the Reasons of so illegal and unjust an Action Accordingly both Parties meeting at the Bar Mr. Kirkwoods Advocates viz. Sir Patrick Hume Commissar Dalrymple and Mr. William Monipenny immediately fall on that head and severely challenge the Towns Act saying it was the height of injustice an exceeding great contempt of Authority and an unparallelable instance of a Treacherous and Deceitful Dealing with the Lords The Town said they gave in a Petition desiring another hearing and yet were resolved as the Event proves in the mean time to Act as if they had gain'd the Cause Mr. Stuart answered he knew nothing of it and for ought he could think it was a meer Calumny For there was nothing to instruct the verity of the action but Mistress Krkwoods Letter I 'le hazard the Cause repli'd her Husband on the truth of my Wifes Letter The Master of Sair now My Lord Secretary then the Kings Advocate and employed by the Town stood amazed to hear of the wild and extravagant actings of his Clients At length he said They have hugely prejudged their own Cause and so went from the Bar. This was all that was done at that
day thereof lookt more like an Ethiopian than an European when an Officer took her by the shoulders What said she shall I go out like a Gypsie Let me get some clean cloaths with me But she was not heard You must be content said the Fellow with the fare your Mistress gets Mr. Kirkwood thinking to save himself by laying Hands on the Horns of the Altar for a Man 's own house is his Sanctuary clasp't his armes closely about a stoup or post but the rude fellows tugg'd so lustily that had he not quickly let go his grip they certainly had carried away the trunck of his Body leaving the armes in a very odd figure Mistress Kirkwood having for shame of her busk run below a stair with her six Children when she saw her Husband hal'd away by the Officers her shame evanisht and a panick fear seiz'd on her thinking they were going to But she was mistaken They were not so cruel as she fancied They only hurried him away to Prison and shut him up in a close Room with one George Stevenson a countrey Webster as if he had been a Malefactor This fear made such deep impression upon her spirit that always thereafter when she saw these Officers thô at never so great a distance she could not forbear trembling and shaking albeit her Husband used all the Rhetorick he was Master of to discover the folly of that Passion So that at last he was forced to send her in to Edinburgh and stay himself at Lithgow till he disposed of his Goods It might have been expected especially from Persons of their Perswasion that some regard should have been had to her on the account of her Brother Captain Van-Beest in Colonel Ramsey's Regiment who had behaved so well at Killichranky was sore wounded taken in the place and lay long in the Blair of Athole But we need not make use of any such consideration to exaggerate this Crime The bare and naked relation of this fact is such that thô you should search into the Records of all the Burghs of this Kingdom since their first erection you shall not find any thing comparable to this Business Here 's the height of Injustice Here 's unparallelable Contempt of Authority The supreme Judges of the Land are baffled and their Authority trampled under foot Nor is this done by a single Person or a few in some remote corner of the Nation but by a Society a Town Council and to use their own words by an Assembly of Gods met at their own elbow Nor did they act this rashly or ignorantly but most deliberately and advisedly and questionless most wittingly and over the belly of their own Consciences How is it possible it can be otherwise being done immediately after the Intimation of the Sentence of the Lords in spite and opposition to their Sentence What as if they had said The Lords thought we had minted to do this but we will let them see it s not a Mint but a Real Act. We value not their Sentence a pin tho it be sent out to us This and worse too is the genuine and true Consequence of their actings But would you know why they did things so furiously and rudely It was to force Mr. Kirkwood to a Dimission as you shall better know from what they did on Munday thereafter For this is not all there is worse coming and yet worse on the back of that If ever that Scots Proverb Once wood and ay the worse was verified you will find it in this affair At night Mistress Kirkwood earnestly besought the Magistrates to give her out of her own house some of the meat that was a preparing for Dinner no doubt over boil'd for they were in so wood a haste that they minded not to put out the fire and some Cloathes for her Husband and her self to ly on in Prison and her Children that were dispersed with the servants into three several Families it not being very easy to get Cloathes suitable to young Infants But they flatly refused to give her one crumb of Bread or so much as one threed of cloaths unless her Husband would subscribe a Paper For which end they sent their Treasurer express to Prison Mr. Kirkwood answered he would subscribe any Paper they pleased providing it were not prejudicial to his Cause depending before the Lords Upon which they flately refused to give out any thing From Prison he wrote to his Advocates desiring them to give in a Bill to the Lords which accordingly was done on the Tuesday He wrote also to the Master of Stair the Kings Advocate humbly representing to his Lordship he behooved now to turn sail and defend according to his place the Lieges from the Oppression and Injustice of Illegal and Cruel Men. About nine a clock on Munday the Provest sent three Officers to Prison to tell him to provide a house against ten to put his goods in My Goods said he to the Officers are in my own house I mind not to remove them This Answer being carried to the Provest by these Officers he sent them back to tell him he must go out of Prison to see his goods ejected Out I will not go replyed he to the Officers till I know who put me in for some said it was by the Provests Order only others the Councils and for what Cause or Crime I 'm imprisoned And if I be liberate when I go out Away again go they to the Provest and return with orders to drag him out if he will not come willingly and with all telling him that the Provest refused to answer any of these Questions Upon all which four Heads he by chance having a Notar by him took Instruments Thus he was dragg'd out of his own house to Prison and out of it again to his own house This looks liker a Romance than a Law plea and would be no ill Subject for a Comedie if it could end well In short for a larger Account of this passage is to be had elsewhere thâ—â—our Officers with other four men of which one was the Deacon of the Wrights a Member of the Council fell to work and pull'd down in a moments time above 40 well illuminate Maps or Carts a great number of Pictures Taliduces Chronological Tables and many fine Cuts or Delineations of the Holy Scriptures Antiquity c. wherewith he had two large Rooms compleatly hung All which with 1800 Grammars printed at London in loose sheets they threw out not into the Closs a place somewhat secure and cleanly but into the open dirty street After this they pull down as hastily the Hangings of the Chambers and Beds and break into pieces fine Dutch Presses casting out in many small parcels the Laces Linnens and what else was in them Mistress Kirkwood most earnestly begg'd these men to let her put the Laces and Linnens and other small things into Coffers We must obey orders said they go to the Magistrates and seek leave we are discharged to
give you a minute Upon this she sent twice to them but got no return At last she went her self to Baily Higgins and in a most humble manner with tears intreated him not to suffer these men to destroy all her Goods Go to the Provest said he for he does all I cannot go to him reply'd the poor stranger for he is a furious man And with much a do got she these words uttered so great a weight was on her Spirit The Baily moved with some compassion at that time went to the Provest who returned this Answer That he would not grant one minute unless her Husband would subscribe a Dimission which if he would do he should not only get days but weeks to transport himself I know said she my Husband will subscribe no such Paper You need not then reply'd the Baily expect one minute of time 'T is needless here to relate with how sad a heart this poor afflicted Woman return'd back to see her Goods all destroy'd And to add to her sorrow she went and came by a Lough side that she might shun the gazing multitude where she was forced to wash her Feet and Legs too in the cold of Winter Now if this be not Arbitrary Government in its vigour or that which Lawyers call Concussion and common People Club-Law in its rigour let the World judge On design and of purpose so to spoil and destroy mens Goods that you may force them to give you all your will The former Magistrates use to boast they built the best House in Scotland for their School master and the present may be ashamed they have spoiled it of the best furniture For Mr. Kirkwood may say without vanity or speaking beyond the Truth he had the best furnisht house of any of his Employ in Scotland the Effects or Goods in it being above nine Thousand Merks What loss or dammage he has sustained by this ejection and wâ—â—t reall want or embezilment of his goods there is cannot be easily demonstrated But of this with the Expence of this Plea a fuller account is given else where After all the goods were thrown out of doors excepting some chimneys and a few other things which they possess to this day and what were in his Closet or Study which that day was left entire for another Riot as you shall hear he very innocently slipt from the Officers up to the Palace about 20 paces from his house which is a Sanctuary into which they dare not set their foot where having rested 2 or 3 hours in the Earl of Lithgow's house he afterward came steping into Edinburgh by the help of the Moon through dub and mire not keeping the ordinary rode for fear of the Provest's hounds that were become almost mad they had lost the Sent of their Prey Of this Passage you have a fuller account in the larger Information After he had come to Edinburgh and inform'd his Advocates of all that had happen'd him in Lithgow they advised him to seek back his Bill that was given in to the Lords For said they the Crime the Town is guilty of is of a much higher nature than the Lords of Session can punish and doth properly belong to the Lords of their Majesties secret Council Accordingly he went to Sir Alexander Gibsons Chamber and got back his Bill His next work was to go to the Master of Stair then the Kings Advocate whom he casually rancountred coming out of the Countess of Kincardins Lodging We are well met said My Lord I received your Letter I know your whole Affair They are a distracted People you have to do with I would advise you to leave them You will not want a Place Will you accept of fifty Pounds Sterling and pass from this Riot of Imprisonment and be payed up to this day of all the Profits that belong to you as School master And besides they will pass the fine Alas My Lord repli'd Mr. Kirkwood I find you know not the whole Business That they did on Saturday of which I wrote from prison to your Lordship Is nothing in compare of what they did on Munday I 'm ruin'd My Lord I 'm utterly ruin'd They have destroy'd all my goods thrown them out in parcels into the filthy mire Fifty Pounds Many fifties will not repair my loss His Lordship gave no return but lifting up his hands and eyes to the Heavens said They are gone mad Certainly they are mad And with that run down stairs This was on Wedensday 12 of February 90. The day after Mr. Kirkwood went into the Session house and as he is entring within the Bar he meets Mr. Stuart who with a smile took him by the hand very heartily saying I wish Mr Kirkwood this business 'twixt the Town and you were taken away Will you agree with them You are the only man replyed Mr Kirkwood that has stopt our Agreement You know very well Sir when my Lord Advocate at his first compearance at the Bar for the Town advised my Lord Philiphaugh to call both Parties to his chamber and there to take away Differences in a Friendly manner that I then answered I was most willing to refer my self absolutely to his Lordship tho the Towns Advocate You replyed Things were come so great a length that they could not be taken away but by a Sentence of the Lords And now after you have ruined me you would have me to agree Have not I just ground to retort your own Argument and now tell you maters are come to such a height that they cannot be taken away but with a severe Sentence not only of the Lords of Session but also of their Majesties Secret Council 'T is best things be taken away peaceably said Mr. Stuart Will you yet refer your self to his Lordship And with this he again takes Mr. Kirkwood by the hand and leads him to the Advocate who was sitting on a bench in the outer house My Lord Advocate saith Mr Stuart Mr. Kirkwood is willing to refer himself in this affair 'twixt the Town and him to your Lordship It shall be sore against my will repli'd my Lord if I undertake such a task Will you refer your self to my Lord said Mr Stuart again to Mr Kirkwood Such deference I bear his Lordship replied the other and so discreet and generous a Person I judge him to be that I think I need not fear to do it In short an Appointment is there made against eight a clock the next morning or if that fail'd at two in the afternoon in the Advocates Chamber But the Provest Baily Higgins and Jerom Hunter Treasurer who were then in Edinburgh refusing to subscribe an absolute Submission that Appointment came to nought only Mr. Kirkwood to signify his willingness did deliver his Submission in most absolute terms but unsubscribed to his Lordship in presence of his eldest Son telling he was ready to subscribe that Paper if the Town would do the like Mr. Stuart after the hours of appointment were