Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/450

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. i. JUNE 4, 1910.

Item. To ane Selkirk Carrier with ' * letters to the Town and Sheriff Clerks of Selkirk, the Town Clerk of Jedburgh, the Sheriff Clerk of Roxburgh, and to the Clerks of Melrose and Hawick .. .. 5 16

Item. To the Post of Perth with letters to Auchtermuchty, Perth, Crieff, Dunkeld, and Auchterarder 310

Item. To the Post of Aberdeen with the letters to Dundee, Aber- brothock, Montrose, Banff, Kin- cardine, and Aberdeen, the haill Burghs of Baillare, Barony, and Regality within the said Shires. . 814

Item. To George Hutton, Post, with the letters to the Sheriff Clerks of Fife and Kinross, and Steward Clerks of Falkland, and to the Clerks of the haill Burghs of Royalty, Regality, and Barony within the said Shires. . . . 11 12

Item. With the letters to Queens- ferry and Culross. . . . . . 110

Item. To Donald Bain, Post of Inver- ness, with the letters to Elgin, Nairn, Forres, Ross, and Inver- ness, and Burghs within the said shires 8 14

Item. To ane Country Post with the

letters to Forf ar and Brechin. . 200

Item. To the Post of Glasgow with the letters to Glasgow, Ruther- glen, Renfrew, Paisley, and Bute 12

Item. To the Post of Haddington with the letters to Haddington and Duns 1 16

Item. To the Post of Stirling with the letters to Stirling, Linlithgow, Clackmannan, Alloa, Dunblane, and Doune 2 18

Item. To Magnus Halliday in the Parish of Yell in Zetland, with the letters to Sutherland and the Burgh of Dornoch, and to Caith- ness and Orkney 14 10

73 9

To the posts as above, besides the letters carried gratis to Dum- barton, Ayr, Maybole, Argyll, Hamilton, Dalkeith, Dunbar, Musselburgh, Seaton, Tranent, and Prestonpans. .

Item. For writing 150 letters to all the Sheriffs, and Steward Clerks, Clerks of Burghs Royal, Baillaire, and Regality 18

Item. To ane man who hired the express posts, employed the country posts, and procured the dispatch of the gratis letters, for his pains and expenses. . 800

99 9

In 1901, when the late King Edward was proclaimed, there were 37 Burghs, including

6 head burghs of counties, where the officiat- ing persons were the magistrates. There were 32 Burghs in which the Sheriff made the proclamation.

At the proclamation in Edinburgh of George I., the Lord Provost on the 5th of August, 1714, stated that on the previous evening about midnight, " by ane express/ 2 the notice of the death of Queen Anne had been received. The different authorities, ' ' concerting the way and manner after which the ceremony was to be performed," pro- ceeded to the " Toun-hous or Burrow roum," where the proclamation was signed by the Duke of Montrose, " with a great many ot the nobility, Gentry, Town Counsell, and others of the best affected citizens of Edin- burgh to the number of one hundred and twenty- two. n The next procedure was to read the proclamation ; but at this juncture a little rift in the lute was apparent. The Depute Sheriff of Midlothian wished to be on the Cross, and in conjunction with the Lord Provost ; but the latter refused the proposal "as being prejudicial to the interest of the good toun, and ane encroach- ment on their right and priviledge." He had no objection to the Cross being used by the Sheriff after he was finished ; and the matter was referred to the Duke of Montrose, who agreed to the method. Thereafter, '' the City Train bands having made a lane from the Tounhouse to the Cross and Theatre erected below it for that purpose, the Lyon Deputy, ushered by six Trumpetts, The Heraulds and Pursevants, by tuo and tuo, mounted the Cross ; then followed my Lord Provost, the other Magistrates, and Toun Councill in their Robes, sixteen of the ordinary officers of the City in their Livery Coats, with the sword and mace borne by the proper officers, all bare headed, goeing before them, my Lord Provost with the sword and mace parted from the Toun Councill, and went up to the Cross, while they proceeded to the Theatre, and there receaved the Duke of Mont- rose, attended by a great number of nobility and gentry."

The proclamation was made in due form, followed by the discharge of cannon from the Castle, answered by

" a discharge from the great artillery and small arms at the Abbay of Holyrood house, where the regular troops were encamped, all attended with repeated loud huzzas and acclamations of joy from the Cross, the Theatre, and the streets which on that occasion were crowded with innumberable spectators."

The Lord Provost being finished, the Sheriff duly had his innings, and all ad- journed to the Toun House, where health- drinking was the order of the day.

In 1901 there were questions raised in some of the Burghs as to privileges being