The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-01 00:00:00

less habits and recklessness of life (as we have before re-
mirked on indolence) are characteristic of the labouring
classes, it may be concluded Curt they have been oppressed,
and are hopeless of ever possessing- more than a mere sub
sistence, and so prepared to become the ready agents of
mischief which they sometimes perpetrate on their own ac-
count, as in the case of forcibly digging up grass lands for
potatoes, under the alternative of starvation, but more fre-
quently without being themselves suff:rerc from the acts of
the individual whom they injure ; arid it has often occurred
(as in the ease of Lord bevoli's property in the County of
Limerick, stated in a recent Number), that persons much
above the rank of small holders, have instigated tie people
to white-boyism, with a view to protect themselves from
ejectment. When comfortable in their circumstances, and
permanently employed, they are peaceable in themselves,
and with difficulty drawn into ..7,,iriiln disturbances."

NEW STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF
SCOTLAND. Rini, XV.
Edinburyh, IDacl.•wo„d and Song.
The present Part of this excellent work, which is
embellished with a coloured Map of Perth and Clack-
mannan Shires, embraces the history—topographical,
statistical, natural, antiquarian, civil and religious—of
the far-famed town and county of Perth, by the Rev.
Messrs. Thomson, Gray, Esdaile, Findlay, Ferguson,
and Millar. Among the mass of interesting selec-
tions from old records scattered over its valuable pages,
we find the annexed account of a Trial and Execution
for Witchcraft in Perth, in the beginning of the 17:h

Century :
Trial and Execution for Witchcraft.—ln the year 1623,
three women were tried and executed for witchcraft. Their
names were, Margaret Hormeeleuch, Isahell Haldane, and
Janet 'Trail. luformation being lodged against. them in the
session, they were summoned before that court, their depo-
sitions were respectively taken, and witnesses were
and examined to establish their guilt. The examination of
the witnesses appears to hove occupied the court for seven
days in the months of May and Juue, and to have been
conducted with great minuteness. Instead of entering into
particulars, it may be sufficient to state the following things,
deponed by witnesses, and confessed by the accused.
" With regard to Margaret Hormselench,—that she
came to Alexander Mason's house, and having seen his
wife, who was very unwell, she commanded that south run-
ning water should be brought from the Tay, the hearer to
be dumb both in going and coining, and to hold the mouth
of the pig to the not th. That she washed her with this
water, and afterwards made a bath of great meal. That
the diseased immediately recovered, arose, and supped
with her. That she cured Marjory Lamb in the Meirton,
(who was sick by the dint of an ill wind,) by weighing her
with south running water, and rubbing her arms with fresh
butter and that she learned these cures from Oliver Itat-
tray's wife in Pittmudyne.—That she had restored milk to
the cow of Robert Christie front Ruthven, (which had
grown geld) by causing a peck of draff to be carried borne
to the cow, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost.—That she had restored milk to the cow of
Andrew Louraine in Mireside, by mumbling some words
over a firlOt of draft, which he bought by her directions ;
that she sent him home with it, and bid him cut the cow's
lug, and mix the blood of it with the draff, which he did,
and the cow gave milk.—That as Patrick Auebinleck
was going at the plough he took a cholick, and she was sect
for to cure hint ; and that she for that effect commanded
him to he washed with south running water, and bathed in
black wool and butter.
" With regard to Isabell Haldane,—that she cured An-
drew Duncan's bairn, by taking water from the burn at
the turret Port, being dumb, and carrying it to Andrew's
house, and upon her knees washed the bairn, in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That afterwards
being accompanied by Alexander Lockheart, she took the
water and the bairn's sark, and cast both into the burn.
That being asked if she had any conversation with the fairy
folk, she answered, that ten years since, when she was lying
in her bed, she was taken forth, (whether it was by God
or by the Devil she knows not,) and was carried to a hill
side, when the hill opened and she entered. That she staid
there three days, to wit, front Thursday till Sunday at
twelve hours ; when a man with a gray beard came to her
and brought her forth again. That she made three se-
veral cakes, every one of theM being made of nine cures of
meal, which had been gotten from nine women that were
married maidens ; that she made a hole in the crown of
every one of them, and put a bairn through every cake
three times, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost ; and that there were women present who put the
same bairns thrice backward through every cake, using the
same words. That she went silent to the well of Ruthven
and returned silent, bringing water from thence to wash
John Crow's bairn ; that when she took the water from the
well, she left a part of the bairn's sark at it, which she took
with her to that effect ; and that when she came home
again, she washed the bairn with the water, and that she
had done in like manner to John Powery's beim.
" With regard to Janet Trail—that Janet Burry brought
her bairn to her, and told her that it started in the night.
'That she told the mother that the bairn had gotten a dint
of evil wind, and site directed her to cause two persons to
go down to south running water, and bring as much of it
a; would wash the bairn ; and that they slaeuld be dumb.
when liringing the water. And that after the bairn was
washed, they should carry back again the water with the
hairn'e sark, and cast them into the place where the water
had been taken up. She farther directed her to bathe
the bairn with black wool and butter. That she got a shot
star at the burn side, and sent it in with black wool, and
that after the cure was used, the child was healed. That
Duncan Tawis and Isabell Haldane came to her at her
house in Black Ruthven, and Duncan told her, that lie
thought his bairn was taken away, it being stiff as an aik
tree, and unable to move. That having heard this, she
promised to come in and see the bairn. That when she
came in, she took the bairn upon her knee before the fire,
and drew the fingers of its hands and every toe of its feet,
Mumbling all the while some words that could not be heard,
and immediately the bairn was cured.
" Being asked where she learned her skill, she deponed
as follows, to wit : When I was lying in child-bed lair, I
was drawn forth from my bed ta a dub near my house door
iu Dunning, and was there puddle(' and troubled. Being
asked by whom this was done, she answered by the fairy
folks, who appeared some of them red, some of them gray,
and riding upon horses. The principal of them that
spake to me, was like a bonny white man, riding upon a
gray horse. He desired me to speak of God, and to do
gocd to poor folks ; and he showed me the means how I
might do thin, which was by washing, bathing, speaking
words, putting sick persons through hasps of yarn, and the
like." The above arc excerpts of depositions, and con-
fessions, taken by the session, as formally engrossed in the
records.

" George Robertson, post, was sent with the depositions
of the witches, to purchase a commission to put them to
an inquest. The clerk was ordained to direct a missive
to Andrew Conqueror, commissioner to Parliament from
the town ; and another to Charles Rollock, baillie, who
were both at the time in Edinburgh ; and another to Mr.
John Guthrie, minister there, that they all three might con-
cur for obtaining the commission.
"The commission having been obtained, directed,to the
civil magistrates, to try Margaret Hormscleuch, Isabell
Haldane, and Janet Troll, accused of witheraft : they were
put to an assize, and being condemned, suffered the ordi-
nary punishment by being strangled at the stake, and after-
wards burned, on Friday, July the Ith, 1623.
" The session thereafter proceeded to. censure the persons
who had sought cures from them, and caused them to make
their public repentance on a Sunday before noon, clothed
in black cloth, and standing under the bell strings (ropei)."
There were, as there still are, perforations in the arched
roof of the Old, now Middle Church, immediately under
the tower, through which the bell ropes were let down for
the convenience of the ringers. And it was a frequent
practice to make delinquents, as a particular mark of dis-
grace, stand under these before the congregation.
The place where such tragic scenes as the one now nar-
rated were perpetrated, is said to have been a hollow in the
North Inch.