formed in Dumfries, chiefly owing to the efforts of Dr. Duncan; and, as we have already seen, it was he who started the Dumfries Courier in the preceding year, and who originated the Dumfries Standard in 1843. His intellect was many-sided: a poet and a political economist, a novelist and a naturalist, an antiquarian and a philosopher; yet making all his diversified pursuits subordinate or tributary to his mission as a minister of the gospel. Dr. Duncan died in 1846.*

From 1775 till the close of that century, there was no surgeon in Scotland of higher repute than Dr. Benjamin Bell. His grandfather was proprietor of Blackett House, which estate had belonged to the family for many generations; and his father was a merchant in Dumfries. Benjamin was born there in 1749, educated by Dr. George Chapman, rector of the Academy, and apprenticed to Mr. Hill, at that time the principal surgeon and apothecary of the Burgh. After completing his studies in Edinburgh, he commenced practising in that city, and rapidly rose to the top of his profession. As a skilful operator, a consulting surgeon, as well as a writer on surgery and cognate subjects, he was equally distinguished. He died in 1806.

Another celebrated medical gentleman, Sir Andrew Halliday, spent his closing years in Dumfries. Born at Copewood, parish of Dryfesdale, in 1782, of poor parentage, though tracing his descent from "Tom Halliday," Wallace's "sister's son so dear," he earned his first penny fee by herding cattle; and before he had seen forty summers, he had acquired wealth, fame, and knightly honours. He was emphatically the friend of the insane; and to him we are in a great degree indebted for the

* Dr. Duncan was twice married. By his first wife, Agnes Craig, daughter of his predecessor in Ruthwell, he had two sons and a daughter. The elder son, the Rev. George John C. Duncan, D.D., clerk to the English Presbyterian Church, married Miss Belle Clark, a native of Dumfries, authoress of a most ingenious volume entitled "Pre-Adamite Man;" the younger son, the Rev. William Wallace Duncan of the Free Church, Peebles, who died in 1864, was married to Mary Lundie, daughter of the Rev. Robert Lundie of Kelso, a deeply interesting and highly popular life of whom, by her mother, the second wife of Dr. Duncan, was published soon after her death, in 1840. Barbara Anne, the only daughter of Dr. Duncan, is married to the Rev. James Dodds of the Free Church, Dunbar, a gentleman of great literary acquirements, author of "A Centenary of Church History," "The Eminent Men of Dumfriesshire," "A Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Rosie," and other works.

ameliorative treatment of these unfortunates that is now in vogue. Sir Andrew Halliday's most useful life was brought to a close at Huntingdon Lodge, Dumfries, in 1840.

Among the band of heroic explorers that Great Britain has produced, Sir John Richardson, born at Dumfries in 1787, holds a conspicuous place. His father was Provost Gabriel Richardson, whose integrity is commemorated in Burns's well-known epigram. As surgeon and naturalist of Sir John Franklin's overland Polar expedition, the young adventurer entered first upon his "field of fame." This enterprise was followed by one of greater range, and still more rife with danger-the survey of a mysterious line of coast that lay between the Coppermine and Mackenzie rivers. His triumphant success was rewarded with a shower of golden honours; but though past the meridian of life, he could not settle down to enjoy them when he learned that Franklin, his fellow voyager, had been lost sight of in the far north-western regions, prisoned in the pitiless ice—it might be dead. Under Government auspices, Sir John proceeded on his chivalrous mission, with the view of saving his friend, or clearing up the mystery in which his fate was shrouded. Unnumbered risks were gallantly encountered; but the search, though protracted over nearly eighteen months, proved of no avail. Sir John retired in 1855 from active service, to devote the leisure he had honourably won to the pursuits of science, and the amenities of social life. From his rural retreat at Lancrigg, the veteran explorer found his familiar way occasionally to Dumfries, to see his sister, Mrs. Wallace, Castledykes, and other relatives. He died on the 5th of June, 1865. Of Sir James Anderson, another distinguished voyager belonging to Dumfries, also knighted for his services, we shall speak in a subsequent chapter.

Though, as has been shown in the course of this work, the Dumfriesians were a bold, soldierly race when war was indigenous to the soil, the town has sent forth few great military captains in these "piping times of peace;" the only modern native who has acquired high renown in the tented field being Colonel William Montague M'Murdo, born in 1819, the favourite officer of his father-in-law, Sir Charles Napier, the hero of Scinde.

Dumfries can boast of some names that are well known in

the world of art; Mr. William Thorburn, the great miniature painter, born in 1818, and Mr. William D. Kennedy, who excelled both in figures and in landscape, being the chief. Thorburn's precocious talent for drawing was noticed and fostered by Mr. John Craik, writing master in the Academy; and at his instance he went to London, where he achieved his present high position. Mr. Kennedy was the son of a worthy man, Mr. Craik's predecessor. After industriously prosecuting his profession as a painter in the British metropolis, he travelled as a student of the Royal Academy in Italy, and there acquired a relish for classical landscape, and deepened his love of brilliant colouring, for which he had always been distinguished. He died in 1865, at the early age of fifty-two. Mr. David Dunbar, who belonged to a respectable Dumfries family, achieved considerable distinction as a sculptor, his chief works being “The Sleeping Child," for which charming production he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Carrara; several busts from the life, and studies from the antique; and a statue of Sir Pulteney Malcolm, erected in the town of Langholm. By instituting a series of fine art exhibitions, two of which were held in his native town, Mr. Dunbar did much to foster the æsthetic faculty amongst his countrymen. He died at Dumfries in 1866. In a walk of his own, illustrative of Scottish rural life, Mr. John Currie, sculptor, has displayed no small amount of genius. Born in the neighbouring parish of Lochrutton, he came to Dumfries, and while employed as a journeyman mason, he at leisure hours indulged his bent for figure-making, which, as manifested in his group of "Dominie Sampson and Meg Merrilees," gained for him great local reputation. He has since produced "Old Mortality and his Pony" (generally deemed Mr. Currie's masterpiece), "The Covenanter," "The Cameronian"all of the same rustic school, the material used being the red sandstone of the district; also a figure of Dr. Henry Duncan, which ornaments the façade of the Dumfries Savings Bank; a marble group representing "Burns Crowned by the Muse;" besides numerous busts and objects of monumental statuary.

CHAPTER LX.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS, FROM 1833 TILL 1867- -PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE BURGH.

WE now proceed, in the briefest possible terms, to notice the leading events in the history of the Burgh, from the date of the Reform Act till our own day. It was thought at one time that Toryism would be extinguished by the operation of that measure; but this was far from being the case. The Town Council elected by the ten-pounders contained a fair proportion of Conservatives, who, under the leadership of Mr. John Fraser, grew in strength till they were able for a while to "turn the tables" upon the Liberal party. The last save one of the Dumfries provosts under the old system, he was a member of the first Council under the new; and in 1840 he was once more chosen to fill the civic chair.* Several Conservative provosts have since held rule in the Burgh; but the Liberals more generally possess a majority in the Council than their political opponents.

Mr. Ewart's able and influential agent, Mr. William M'Gowan, writer, was long recognized as the leader of the Liberals. He was elevated to the provostship in 1855, and died in office on the 17th of November, 1856. He was preceded and also succeeded by Mr. Miles Leighton (now the oldest merchant in Dumfries) who was a Reformer when to be so was the reverse of popular. He has been three times chosen as the chief magistrate of the Burgh-a triple distinction conferred on no

* "Mr. Fraser," says the Dumfries Standard, in noticing his death, which took place in 1856, "must have possessed no common ability, when, from being a perfect stranger, he could in ten years raise himself to the position of principal magistrate of Dumfries."

other burgess since the abolition of the old close system. The Conservatives of the Council were strong enough in 1860 to carry the election of one of their number, Mr. James Gordon, writer, as provost; and so acceptable did he prove, that he was re-elected in 1863.

After the passing of the Reform Bill, the most exciting occurrence in the town was a contest for the representation of the Five Burghs, at the general election in February, 1835. The same gentlemen who had encountered each other two years before, again entered the arena. General Sharpe was proposed by Mr. Philip Forsyth of Nithside, and seconded by Mr. John M'Diarmid; and Mr. Hannay was nominated by Mr. Robert Scott, manufacturer, and seconded by Mr. Miles Leighton, merchant. The gallant Laird of Hoddam was re-elected; but his majority, which was 112 on the first occasion, was reduced to 52.*

An important case, arising out of a difference of opinion. regarding the extent of the Nith, was brought before Lord Moncrieff and a jury, at Dumfries, on the 30th of April, 1836. Mr. R. A. Oswald, and other owners of shore-lands far down the estuary, erected stake nets upon them; which Mr. James M'Whir, owner of the Nith fishings, held to be within the boundary of the river, and therefore illegal. Mr. Maitland, for the defenders, maintained that the nets were in the Solway, and therefore could not be in the Nith; but Dean of Faculty Hope convinced the jury that the charter of 1395, and sundry statistics which he quoted, gave a range to the river beyond the sand banks where the nets were planted. A verdict was therefore returned in favour of Mr. M'Whir, and the engines were removed forthwith. The salmon fishings of the Nith, once very productive, are now of comparatively little value, yielding not more, perhaps, than £400 a year.†

A familiar landmark, that long like a gigantic bird flapped its wings on Corbelly Hill, seemed in 1834 about to drop away,

The following was the state of the poll:-" Sharpe: Dumfries, 220; Annan, 135; Kirkcudbright, 19; Sanquhar, 26; Lochmaben, 22; total, 422. Hannay: Dumfries, 270; Annan, 9; Kirkcudbright, 72; Sanquhar, 8; Lochmaben, 11; total, 370,

+ Lecture on Pisciculture, delivered in Dumfries by Dr. Copland.