Eight of those taken at Pentland were condemned to death at Ayr. The hangman of the town, unwilling to assist in putting men to death who had taken up arms in the cause of freedom, disappeared, and was not to be found. William Sutherland, a Highlander, and the hangman in Irvine, was by force brought to Ayr, but in no way could he be persuaded to act as executioner. When fair means failed, foul were tried. They threatened him with the boots, and when he affirmed they would not prevail with him, the soldiers told him they would pour a cruse of melted lead upon his hands. The lead was brought, but when he remained firm it was again set on the fire, while he was further examined. At last, by orders of Lord Kellie, he was put in the stocks. After he had been there some time, Lieutenant-General Drummond ordered him to be bound to a stake, and four soldiers to load their matchlocks and light their matches. A cap was drawn over his head, and he began to prepare for death by opening his breast to receive their shots. At the sight of his firmness, and readiness to die rather than yield, he was remanded back to prison, where he lay for many weeks. His "declaration," written by him after he was set free, is in Wodrow, and has been often printed in a separate form. Wodrow styles it "rude, and in a very homely dress," but those who love a story full of interest, told in nervous Saxon, will think it one of the best written papers in the volume, and marvel how the simple Highlander learned to express himself so well. Failing with Sutherland, the provost fell upon the expedient of offering life and a free pardon to any one of the eight who would hang the other seven. He prevailed with Cornelius Anderson, afterwards employed in the same manner, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, at Irvine. Little is now known of the seven, save what is told upon the stone itself, and what Patrick Walker says of their reply to Anderson, when he expressed his willingness to accept the offer of the provost: "The foresaid Cornelius said, If the rest would forgive him, he would do it. They answered, If he did it they should wish him repentance and forgiveness." The first edition of the "Cloud of Witnesses," page 290, after the epitaph on the monument over the mortal remains of the seven, contains the following: "Upon a stone lying beside the Gallows of Air, upon the Body of Andrew M'gill, who was apprehended by the information of Andrew Tom, who suffered there November 1684. Near this abhorred Tree a Sufferer lyes, Who chus'd to fall, that falling Truth might rise Save giving of a Life, the LORD did need. This monument has disappeared, and every effort on the part of a zealous inquirer, the Rev. T. H. Lang of Ayr, has failed to discover what has come over it. This is much to be regretted, as the inscription, for vigour and beauty, is not surpassed by any in the "Cloud of Witnesses." Wodrow mentions M'Gill's apprehension and execution, and details at length the sufferings his father endured, evidently on the martyr's account. There is a difference of a month in the date given by Wodrow and in that in the "Cloud of Witnesses," but the monument itself, were it discovered, might clear up this discrepancy When we had copied the inscription, we took a look round the churchyard. It is filled with tombstones in character similar to those in Irvine. We came upon one less prosaic than its many fellows, over the grave of Robert Cairns, a sailor. Its lines, though not very polished, are yet the language of faith and hope: Though Boras blasts and raging waves has tost me too and fro Yet at the last by God's decree I harbour here below Where at an anchor I do rest With many of our Fleet Our Admiral Christ to meet. On the wall of the church, at a part evidently devoted to the ministers of Ayr, is a monument-become some |