Twa Duries in Durrisdeer,

Ane to tie and ane to ride,

An ill day for the groom

And a waur day for the bride.

Authentic history besides is filled with their exploits which (to

our modern eyes) seem not very commendable: and the family

suffered its full share of those ups and downs to which the great

houses of Scotland have been ever liable. But all these I pass

over, to come to that memorable year 1745, when the foundations of

this tragedy were laid.

At that time there dwelt a family of four persons in the house of

Durrisdeer, near St. Bride's, on the Solway shore; a chief hold of

their race since the Reformation. My old lord, eighth of the name,

was not old in years, but he suffered prematurely from the

disabilities of age; his place was at the chimney side; there he

sat reading, in a lined gown, with few words for any man, and wry

words for none: the model of an old retired housekeeper; and yet

his mind very well nourished with study, and reputed in the country

to be more cunning than he seemed. The master of Ballantrae, James

in baptism, took from his father the love of serious reading; some

of his tact perhaps as well, but that which was only policy in the

father became black dissimulation in the son. The face of his

behaviour was merely popular and wild: he sat late at wine, later

at the cards; had the name in the country of "an unco man for the

lasses;" and was ever in the front of broils. But for all he was

the first to go in, yet it was observed he was invariably the best

to come off; and his partners in mischief were usually alone to pay

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