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stories, but when engaged by concern for her father, she stumbled over the graves every night alone, without fear of any kind entering her thoughts, but for soldiers and parties in search of him, which the least noise or motion of a leaf put her in terror for. The minister's house was near the church; the first night she went, his dogs kept such a barking as put her in the utmost fear of a discovery; my Grandmother sent for the minister next day, and upon pretence of a mad dog got him to hang all his dogs; there was also difficulty of getting victuals to carry him without the servants suspecting; the only way it was done, was by stealing it off her plate at dinner, into her lap: many a diverting story she has told about this, and other things of the like nature. Her father liked sheeps head, and while the children were eating their broth, she had conveyed most of one into her lap; when her brother Sandy (the late Lord Marchmont) had done, he lookt up with astonishment and said, Mother, will ye look at Grizzel; while we have been eating our broth, she has ate up all the sheeps head: this occasioned so much mirth among them, that her father at night was greatly entertained by it; and desired Sandy might have a share in the next. I need not multiply stories of this kind, of which I know many. His great comfort and constant enter tainment (for he had no light to read by) was repeating Buchannan's Psalms, which he had by heart from beginning to end; and retained them to his dying day two years before he died, which was in the year 1724, I was witness to his desiring my mother to take up that book, which amongst others always lay upon his table, and bid her try if he had forgot his psalms, by naming any one she would have him repeat; and by casting her eye over it, she would know if he was right, tho' she did not understand it; and he miss't not a word in any place

she named to him; and said they had been the great comfort of his life, by night and day on all occasions. As the gloomy habitation my Grandfather was in, was not to be long endured but from necessity, they were contriving other places of safety for him; amongst others, particularly one under a bed which drew out, in a ground floor, in a room of which my mother kept the key: she and the same man workt in the night, making a hole in the earth, after lifting the boards; which they did by scratching it up with their hands not to make any noise, till she left not a nail upon her fingers; she helping the man to carry the earth in a sheet on his back, out at the window into the garden; he then made a box at his own house, large enough for her father to ly in, with bed and bed clothes, and bored holes in the boards, for air; when all this was finished, for it was long about, she thought herself the most secure happy creature alive.-When it had stood the trial for a month of no water coming into it, which was feared from being so low, and every day examined by my mother, and the holes for air made clear, and kept clean picket, her father ventured home having that to trust to. After being at home a week or two, the bed daily examined as usual, one day, in lifting the boards the bed bounced to the top, the box being full of water; in her life she was never so struck, and had near dropt down, it being at that time their only refuge; her father with great composure, said to his wife and her, he saw they must tempt Providence no longer, and that it was now fit and necessary for him to go off, and leave them; in which he was confirmed by the Carrier, telling for news he had brought from Edindurgh, that the day before Mr Baillie of Jerviswoode had his life taken from him at the cross, and that every body was sorry, tho' they durst not shew it; as all intercourse by letters

was

was dangerous, it was the first notice they had of it; and the more shocking, that it was not expected. They immediately set about preparing for my Grandfather's going away. My Mother workt night and day in making some alterations in his cloaths for disguise they were then obliged to trust John Allan, their Grieve, who fainted away when he was told his master was in the house, and that he was to set out with him on horseback before day, and pretend to the rest of the servants that he had orders to sell some horses at Morpeth fair. Accordingly, my Grandfather getting out at a window to the stables, they set out in the dark; though with good reason, it was a sorrowful parting; yet after he was fairly gone they rejoiced and thought themselves happy, that he was in a way of being safe; tho' they were deprived of him, and little knew what was to be either his fate or their own.

My Grandfather, whose thoughts were much employed, and went on as his horse carried him without thinking of his way, found himself at Tweedside out of his road, and at a place not fordable, and no servant; after pausing and stopping a good while, he found means to get over, and get into the road on t'other side; where after some time he met his servant, who shewed inexpressible joy at meeting him; and told him, as he rid first, he thought he was always following him, till upon a great noise of the galloping of horses, he lookt about and misst him; this was a party sent to his house to take him up, where they searched very narrowly, and possibly hearing horses were gone from the house, suspected the truth and followed; they examined this man, who to his great joy and astonishment misst his master, and was too cunning for them, that they were gone back before my Grandfather came up with him; he immediately quitted the high road, after a warning by so miraculous an

escape in two days sent back the servant, which was the first notice they had at home of his not having fallen into their hands. He got to London through bye ways, passing for a surgeon; he could bleed, and always carried lancets : from that he went to France, and travelled from Bourdeaux to Holland on foot, where he sent for his wife and ten children; he was then forfeited and his estate given to Lord Seaforth. My Grandmother and Mother went to London by sea, to solicit an allowance for her and her ten children, where they long attended; and even though assisted by many good friends from whom they met with much kindness and civility, Lord Russel's family, Lord Wharton's, and others; all she could obtain for herself and them was about £.150, ayear; they then returned to Scotland, to carry over the children; and found my aunt Julian so ill, she could not go with them. My Mother returned from Holland by herself to bring her over, and negociate business, and try if she could pick up any money of some that was owing to her father.

Her sister was still very weak, so had the attendance of a nurse all the voyage, which happened to be very long. She had agreed for the cabin bed, and was well provided in victuals and other necessaries. She found three or four more in the ship with whom the captain had also agreed for the same bed: a Gentleman who was in the cabin, as they all were, said to her, let them be doing (when a dispute arose who should have the 'bed, for she made none,) you will see how it will end, two of the gentlewomen went to bed, the rest lay down as they could best; my mother and her sister upon the floor, with a clog-bag of books she was carrying to her father for their pillow; then in came the captain and first ate up their provisions with a gluttony incredible; then said to

the

the women in the bed, turn out, turn out; and stript before them, and lay down in the bed himself; but he did not long enjoy the effects of his brutality, for a terrible storm came on, so that his attendance and labour was necessary to save the ship: they never saw more of him till they landed at the Brill.

From that, they set out at night on foot for Rotterdam, with a gentleman that was of great use to them, that came over at the same time to take refuge in Holland. It was a cold wet dirty night, my aunt, a girl not well able to walk, soon lost her shoes in the dirt; my mother took her upon her back, and carried her the rest of the way, the gentlemen carrying their small baggage; at Rotterdam they found their eldest brother, and my father, waiting for their arrival to conduct them to Utrecht, where their house was; and no sooner were they all met, than she forgot every thing, and felt nothing but hap piness and contentment. They lived three years and a half in Holland, and in that time she made a second voyage to Scotland about business. Her father went by the borrowed name of Dr Wallace, and did not stir out for fear of being discovered; though who he was, was no secret to the well-wishers to the revolution. Their great desire was to have a good house, as their greatest comfort was at home; and all the people of the same way of thinking, of which there was great numbers, were continually with them: they payd for their house what was very extravagant for their income, near a fourth part: they could not afford keeping any servant, but a little girl to wash the dishes.

All the time they were there, there was not a week my mother did not sit up two nights, to do the business that was necessary: she went to market, went to the mill to have their corn ground, which, it seems, is the way with good managers there, drest the linen,

cleaned the house, made ready dinner, mended the children's stockings and other cloaths, made what she could for them, and in short did every thing. Her sister Christian, who was a year or two younger, diverted her father and mother and the rest, who were fond of music: out of their small income they bought a harpsichord for little money (but is a Rucar*) now in my custody, and most valuable. My aunt played and sung well, and had a great deal of life and humour, but no turn to business; though my mother had the same qualifications, and liked it as well as she did, she was forced to drudge; and many jokes used to pass betwixt the sisters about their different occupations. Every morning before six, my mother lighted her father's fire in his study, then waked him (he was ever a good sleeper, which blessing, among many others, she inherited from him) then got him what he usually took as soon as he got up, warm small beer, with a spoonful of bitters in it, which he continued his whole life, and of which I have the receipt; then she took up the children, and brought them all to his room, where he taught them every thing that was fit for their age; some Latin, others French, Dutch, geography, writing, reading, English, &c. and my grandmother taught them what was necessary on her part.Thus he employed and diverted himself all the time he was there, not being able to afford putting them to school; and my mother, when she had a moment's time, took a lesson with the rest in French and Dutch, and also diverted herself with music. I have now a book of songs, of her writing when there ; many of them interrupted, half writ, some broke off in the middle of a sentence: she had no less a turn for mirth and society than any of the family when she could come at it without neglecting what she thought more necessary. Her eldest

An eminent maker of that name.

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brother Patrick, who was nearest her age, and bred up together, was her most dearly beloved. My father was there, forfeited and exiled, in the same situation with themselves. She had seen him for the first time in the prison with his father, not long before he suffered, and from that time their hearts were engaged. Her brother and my father were soon got in to ride in the Prince of Orange's guards till they were better provided for in the army, which they were before the revolution. They took their turn in standing centry at the Prince's gate, but always contrived to do it together; and the strict friendship and intimacy that then began, continued to the last: though their station was then low, they kept up their spirits; the Prince often dined in public, then all were admitted to see him: when any pretty girl wanted to go in, they set their halberts across the door, and would not let her pass till she gave them a kiss,

which made them think and call them very pert soldiers. I could relate many stories on that subject. My mother could talk for hours, and never tire of it, always saying it was the happiest and most delightful part of her life; her constant attention was to have her brother appear right in his linen and dress: they wore little point cravats and cuffs, which many a night she sat up to have in as good order for him as any in the place, and one of their greatest expences was in dressing him as he ought to be. As their house was always full of the unfortunate banished people like themselves, they seldom went to dinner without three, or four, or five of them to share with them; and many a hundred times I have heard her say, she could never look back upon their manner of living there without thinking it a miracle; they had no want, but plenty of every thing they desired, and much contentment, and always declared it the most pleasing part of her life, tho' they were not without their little

distresses, but to them they were rather jokes than grievances. The professors, and men of learning in the place, came often to see my grandfather: the best entertainment he could give them was a glass of alabast beer, which was a better kind of ale than common: he seħt his son Andrew, the late Lord Kimmerghame, a boy, to draw some for them in the cellar; he brought it up with great diligence, but in the other hand the spiket of the barrel. My grandfather said, Anddrew what is that in your hand, when he saw it he run down with speed, but the beer was all run out before he got there; this occasioned much mirth, though perhaps they did not well know where to get more. It is the custom there to gather money for the poor from house to house, with a bell to warn people to give it. One night, the bell came, and no money was there in the house but an orkey, which is a doit, the smallest of all coin. Every body was so ashamed, no one would go to give it, it was so little, and put it from one to t'other. At last my grandfather said, well then, I'll go with it, we can do no more than give all we have: They were often reduced to this by the delay of the ships coming from Scotland with their small remittances; then they put the little plate they had (all of which was carried with with them) in the Lumber, which is paunding it, till the ships came; and that very plate they brought with them again to Scotland, and left no debt behind them. When the long expected happiness of the Prince going to England took place, her father, and brother, and my father, went with him; they soon heard the melancholy report of the whole fleet being cast away or disperst, and immediately came from Utrecht to Helvoetsluys, to get what information they could; the place was so crowded by people from all quarters, come for the same purpose, that her mother, she, and her sister, were forced to lie in the boat

they

they came in ; and for three days continually, to see come floating in, beds, chests, horses, &c. that had been thrown overboard in their distress.At the end of the third day, the Prince and some other ships came in, but no account of the ship their friends were in; their despair was great, but in a few days was relieved by their coming in safe, but with the loss of all their baggage, which at that time was no small distress to them.

Description of SENEGAL.

SENE

ENEGAL is an Island of Africa, in the river so called, about one mile and a quarter in length, from north to south, and almost half a mile in breadth, from east to west. It is composed of a bed of loose sand, productive of nothing but what is forced by art, and the richest manure; notwithstanding which, it contains 3000 inhabitants, whose principal food is fish and maize; this sort of corn growing in great plenty almost all over the country. It may seem surprising, that a part of the world so very unhealthy as this should be so populous, but the wonder will cease, when we come to understand, that the greatest pride among the men consists in the number of their wives, so that every one takes as many as he is able to maintain, some six, others eight, and others twelve at a time. The river which surrounds it, rises in the interior country, and runs into the Atlantic. Some Geographers are of opinion that it rises out of the great Lake Mabeira, and passes through a course of 1,500 miles, before it discharges itself into the ocean; while others, no less obstinately assert it to be a continuation of the Niger, though neither opinion can be otherwise supported than by conjecture. The river Senegal is doubtless one of the largest rivers of Africa; for, without ascending higher than the Lake Benin, (the

farthest that Europeans have penetrated, at least upon unquestionable authority,) it is 800 leagues to the Island of Senegal, near the mouth of the river. So cruel, so savage and so barbarous are the inhabitants, that few people's curiosity is sufficient to carry them thro' the dangers and fatigues which would necessarily attend such a pursuit.

Within two leagues of the sea, the river in its course takes a sudden turn to the South, and, for the remainder of its passage, is divided from the sea by only a natural ridge of land; sometimes not 100 toises over. By this curve it prolongs its course for 25 leagues farther, from North to South, till at length it discharges itself into the ocean, in 15 degrees, 50 minutes, north latitude. This great river separates the country of the Negroes from the Moors of Sahara, or the Desert, stretching, by a number of windings, to a prodigious length, from east te west. The extreme rapidity of this river is attributed to the space passed through by so large a body of water, confined within so narrow a channel, the mouth of it being no more than half a league over, and that choaked up with sand, called a bar, which renders the passage exceedingly difficult and dangerous. This bar is doubly dangerous, on account not only of the shallowness of the water at all times, but the shifting of the bar, and the change of its situation after floods and heavy rains, by which the channels are lost and new soundings requisite to discover them. Indeed the Senegal would be quite shut up, but for one channel of 200 toises in breadth, and two fathoms depth, which has long kept its situation immoveable, amidst the floods and overflowings of the river.

This bar prevents ships of 5 or 600 tons from entering the river, and mooring under the fort, an inconvenience that obliged the French Company to keep a vessel constantly at anchor in the channel,

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