She laid her hands across each other on her breast, turned in the balls of her half–closed eyes so that nothing was seen but the white, and, with her face raised upwards, and a slow rocking motion, she sung the following hymn, to a strain the most solemn that ever was heard. A scrap of this ancient melody is still preserved, and here subjoined, for without its effect the words are nothing.
This air, having a great resemblance to the tone and manner in which the old Cameronians said, or rather sung their prayers, and just no more music in it, as the singer will perceive, than what renders the recitation more slow and solemn, Nanny’s hymn affected the family group in no ordinary degree; it made the hairs of their head creep, and thrilled their simple hearts, easily impressed by divine things, while their looks strongly expressed their feelings. None of them would read or recite any thing farther, but entreated Nanny to say it over again, affirming, with one voice that “it was an extrodnar thing.”
“Ah! dear, dear bairns! I dinna ken about it,” said she; “he was a good cannie lad that made it, but he mixed wi’ the scoffers, and turned to hae his doubts and his failings like mony ane, (Lord forgie us a’ for our share in them;) he seems even to have doubted o’ the Omnipresence when he penned that, which was far far wrang. I’ll rather say ye ane on that subject that he had made when in a better way o’ thinking. It is said that the Englishes sing it in their chapels.”
She then attempted one in a bolder and more regular strain, but wanting the simplicity of the former, it failed in having the same effect. As it, however, closed the transactions of that momentous night at Riskinhope, we shall with it close this long chapter.
END OF VOLUME FIRST.
Edinburgh:
Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.
This curious protest is still extant, and shows the true spirit of the old Covenanters or Cameronians, as they have since been called, better than any work remaining. It is called in the title page, “An informatory Vindication of a poor, wasted, misrepresented Remnant of the suffering Anti–popish, Anti–prelatic, Anti–erastian, Anti–sectarian, true Presbyterian Church of Christ in Scotland.” It is dated at Leadhills in 1687, and is the conjoint work of Mr James Renwick, and Mr Alexander Shiels, author of The Hind let loose. The following is an extract from it, p. 107:—
“And in like manner we do hereby disclaim all unwarrantable practices committed by any few persons reputed to be of us, whereby the Lord hath been offended, his cause wronged, and we all made to endure the scourge of tongues; for which things we have desired to make conscience of mourning before the Lord, both in public and private. As the unwarrantable manner of killing that curate at the Corsephairn, though he was a man of death both by the laws of God and man, and the fact not materially murder; it being gone about contrary to our declaration, common or competent consent, (the conclusion and deed being known only to three or four persons) in a rash and not a Christian manner, and also other offences being committed at the time; which miscarriages have proven a mean to stop and retard lawful, laudable, and warrantable proceeding, both as to matter and manner.”
These other offences committed at the time, unquestionably refer to the slaughter of the Highland soldiers; about which, there was great stir and numerous conjectures in the country; although, owing to the revolution that immediately followed, the perpetrators were never taken, nor the cause tried in a court of justice, nor indeed was the incident ever generally known.
[1]One of the women baptized in the Linn of Riskinhope by Renwick that year, has several children yet alive, not very aged people.
[2]There is one page of music in the book; the html version of this file has links to a midi file ([Listen]); the musical notation ([PDF]); and and a MusicXML file ([XML]), which can be viewed in most browsers, text editors, and music notation applications.
The book has no chapter VII and two chapters XII.
A duplicate heading before chapter one (“THE BROWNIE OF BODSBECK”) has been removed.
The following are inconsistently used in the text:
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected as follows:
Some possible errors have been left unchanged:
The transcribed text of the song is as follows: