Thirdly, Upon the subject of taking my cousin, Miss Betty Lanshaw,
for my first wife, I have little to say.--It was more out of a
compassionate habitual affection, than the passion of love. We were
brought up by our grandmother in the same house, and it was a thing
spoken of from the beginning, that Betty and me were to be married.
So, when she heard that the Laird of Breadland had given me the
presentation of Dalmailing, she began to prepare for the wedding;
and as soon as the placing was well over, and the manse in order, I
gaed to Ayr, where she was, and we were quietly married, and came
home in a chaise, bringing with us her little brother Andrew, that
died in the East Indies, and he lived and was brought up by us.

Now, this is all, I think, that happened in that year worthy of
being mentioned, except that at the sacrament, when old Mr Kilfuddy
was preaching in the tent, it came on such a thunder-plump, that
there was not a single soul stayed in the kirkyard to hear him; for
the which he was greatly mortified, and never after came to our
preachings.



CHAPTER II YEAR 1761



It was in this year that the great smuggling trade corrupted all the
west coast, especially the laigh lands about the Troon and the
Loans. The tea was going like the chaff, the brandy like well-
water, and the wastrie of all things was terrible. There was
nothing minded but the riding of cadgers by day, and excisemen by