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 “Venomous” Bites from
“Non-Venomous” Snakes
Second Edition

Scott A. Weinstein
Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, Australia

David A. Warrell
Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine and Honorary Fellow of St
Cross College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Daniel E. Keyler
Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Elsevier
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Dedication

This contribution is respectfully dedicated to the fond memory of

Professor Sherman A. Minton, Madge R. Minton, and Professor Alan
W. Bernheimer. All were innate naturalists, humble, talented scientists,
brilliant teachers and mentors, and, most importantly, generous,
treasured friends.

Sherman A. and Madge R. Minton, 1985. An outstanding

herpetologist of historical importance, Sherman (1919e99) was a
pioneer in twentieth-century research of venomous snakes and snake
venoms. He had a special interest in the medical importance of non-
front-fanged snakes and pioneered the modern investigation of their
venoms. A highly respected faculty member in the Department of
Microbiology and Immunology at the Indiana University School of
Medicine, he was a compassionate physician and accomplished
microbiologist/parasitologist. Madge (1920e2004) was a keen
herpetologist, pilot, ethnologist, and lapidary-gemologist. She served
in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program during World
War II, while Sherman was a naval medical officer on the USS Brooks
deployed on the Coral Sea. Their shared intense passion for
herpetology and toxinology formed one of the deep links of their
greater than 50-year loving partnership. Their professional
collaborations produced two popular books and multiple scientific
contributions and also contributed significantly to the conservation of
the herpetological fauna of Indiana. Sherman published over 150
papers, including a major comprehensive monograph on the
herpetology of Pakistan, and co-authored and edited several books on
vi Dedication

snakebite as well as regional herpetology guides. To date, his book,

Amphibians and Reptiles of Indiana, is the most comprehensive study
of the herpetology of that state. His engaging autobiography was
published posthumously (for detailed information on Sherman A.
Minton’s life and career, see Bechtel, 1999; Stewart, 2000; Karns,
2001; Weinstein, 2003, and Minton, 2001; photo copyright to
Brian Marian and Scott A. Weinstein).

Sherman A. Minton and Scott A. Weinstein (1984) discussing the

extraction of venom samples from a pair of midget faded
rattlesnakes, Crotalus oreganus concolor
(photo copyright to Brian Marian).

Group photo at the First World Congress of Herpetology,

Canterbury, UK (1989), after the symposium on venomous snakes.
Pictured from left: Herbert Rosenberg, David A. Warrell, Sherman A.
Minton, Dietrich Mebs, Julian White, Elazar Kochva, and David L.
Hardy, Sr. (photo copyright to David A. Warrell).
 Dedication vii

Alan W. Bernheimer (date unknown). One of the great

microbiologists of the twentieth century, Alan (1914e2006) was one
of the pioneers of modern bacterial toxinology. Strongly interested in
hemolytic toxins, his research had no boundaries and encompassed
the study of toxins from numerous micro-organisms as well as
cnidarians (jellyfish, anemones), hymenopterans (especially ants), and
snake venoms. He was the recipient of a National Institutes of
Health career award and a two-time recipient of the Eli Lilly Award,
given to outstanding microbiologists for their noteworthy
accomplishments. He contributed over 130 scientific papers and
edited several books (see Linder [2006] for further information about
Alan W. Bernheimer’s life and career; photo copyright to Alan W.
Bernheimer, Jr.).
viii Dedication

Alan W. Bernheimer (1967). Alan was appointed Professor of

Microbiology at New York University School of Medicine in 1941 and
remained Professor Emeritus until his passing in 2006. In addition to
his insightful approach to research, he was a talented, patient teacher
and was popular among the medical and graduate students who
attended his information-packed microbiology lectures. He was also
an erudite lepidopterist (with a particular interest in South American
butterflies) and a talented creative/experimental (“reflectographs”)
photographer. His wife, Harriet (1919e2009), was an accomplished
microbiologist who specialized in the characterization of the
biological roles of the capsular antigens of Streptococcus pneumoniae
(photo copyright to Alan W. Bernheimer, Jr.).

Memoriam
During the last 2 decades, the World has very sadly lost several
distinguished herpetologists and toxinologists who contributed
essential works about non-front-fanged snakes, their glands, dentition,
venoms, and evolutionary biology. Their legacies will continue to
impact the fields to which they made enduring contributions.

Prof. Kenneth V. Kardong (image copyright to the late Kenneth V. Kardong, and thanks to
Prof. Stephen P. Mackessy).
 Dedication ix

Kenneth V. Kardong (1943e2018)dA brilliant functional

morphologist, herpetologist, and vertebrate anatomist, Ken’s ethical
and dedicated approach to research was matched by his warmth,
genuineness, and generosity. Ken’s singular contributions to the
functional significance of low-pressure and high-pressure venom
glands comprise only a portion of his studies into the biology of non-
front-fanged snakes. His passing is not only a profound loss to science
but also that of a warm, close friend (for detailed information about
Ken’s life, career, and reflections of friends and colleagues, see
Young et al., 2019).

Prof. Elazar Kochva (image copyright to Prof. David A. Warrell).

Elazar Kochva (1926e2018)dAn insightful and thorough

investigator of venomous snakes and the functional morphology of the
venom apparatus, Elazar Kochva methodically characterized key
aspects of venom delivery and its evolution among diverse ophidian
lineages. His carefully documented research is an indicator of his
depth of comprehension especially about the evolution, venom
apparatus, and venoms of unusual forms such as the burrowing asps
(Atractaspis spp.). Elazar Kochva was an important and influential
member of the Israeli scientific community (for further details
about Elazar Kochva’s life and accomplishments,
see Weinstein and Warrell, 2019).
x Dedication

Dr. William (Bill) Roy Branch (image copyright to Johan Marais).

William (Bill) R. Branch (1946e2018)dFrom the beginning of his

scientific training, Bill Branch seemed to be destined to be a force in
African herpetology, a destiny that he clearly was committed to
realize. His interest in African herpetofauna defined his career and
resulted in his switch from a post-doctoral cell biologist studying
hepatocellular carcinoma to a renowned herpetologist who
reinvigorated African herpetological research. He had a talent for
detecting the hidden features of secretive African fossorial snakes and
had a particular interest in non-front-fanged snakes, as well as
unusual species such as the burrowing asps or mole vipers, Atractaspis
spp., and the quill-snouted snakes, Xenocalamus spp. Bill was a warm
and generous colleague (for further information about Bill’s life and
his important contributions, see Bauer and Rödel, 2019, Rogers, 2018,
and Weinstein and Warrell, 2019).
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 Dedication xi

Dr. Donald Broadley (image copyright to Johan Marais).

Donald G. Broadley (1932e2016)dOne of the most historically

important herpetologists who specialized in African species, Donald
Broadley epitomized detailed, meticulous research and analysis of
African herpetofauna. His skillful observations and care in reporting
his voluminous data stand as an example of the significant difference
one individual can make with such careful and methodical research. In
heart-felt narratives, close colleagues and friends have vividly
described Donald Broadley’s warmth and amiable collaborative spirit
(for additional information about Donald Broadley’s life, career, and
his personal impact on the lives of friends/colleagues, see Branch,
1991, Branch and Bates, 2018).
xii Dedication

Prof. Garth Underwood (image copyright to Prof. Judith Gobin and the Department of Life
Sciences, St. Augustine Campus, The University of the West Indies).

Garth Underwood (1919e2002)dA prescient squamate reptile

systematics biologist and erudite herpetologist with a comprehensive
perspective, Garth Underwood was also a keen evolutionary biologist
and highly respected academician. He had an early interest in the
evolution of snake cephalic glands and contributed some of the most
commonly cited (to this day) investigations of these organs. After his
passing, contributed memorials by colleagues and friends highlighted
his talent as a teacher and his previously unknown role in British
military intelligence operations in WW II (for further information
about Garth Underwood’s life and career,
see Thorpe, 2003 and Branch, 2003).
About the authors

SCOTT A. WEINSTEIN, BA, MSc, PhD, MBBS, MD, DIP, ABFM,

FAAFP

Scott Weinstein was consumed from earliest childhood by an interest in reptiles and
amphibians. A member of the New York Herpetological Society by age 11, he was
one of a lucky cadre of young members who were gently mentored by the
well-known curator of the Staten Island Zoo, the late Carl Kauffeld. His studies
of “rear-fanged colubrids” started in Junior High School where he started to compare
the sparse information in the available herpetology literature with collected living
specimens. These interests rapidly focused on the biology of venomous snakes
and herpetological toxinology. This led to his studies in herpetology with Prof.
Edmund D. Brodie, Jr. at Adelphi University (Garden City, NY), where he earned
his BA in biological sciences and comparative religion. Shortly thereafter, he
became the late Prof. Sherman A. Minton’s last student at the Indiana University
School of Medicine, where he earned an MSc in Medical Microbiology and Immu-
nology. His PhD in Medical Microbiology and Immunology was earned with the late
Prof. Alan W. Bernheimer at the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
of New York University School of Medicine (New York, NY), his MBBS was earned
at Flinders University School of Medicine, Adelaide, Australia, and the Board of
Regents of the University of the State of New York conferred his MD. He completed
family medicine residency at South Nassau Communities Hospital, Oceanside, NY
and served as chief resident. He also completed two postdoctoral research

xix
xx About the authors

fellowships: one at NYU Medical Center and the other at the US Army Medical
Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD). His
research has included purification and characterization of novel snake venom neuro-
toxins; elucidation of components and the biomedical properties of venoms and
other secretions from non-front-fanged colubroids; venom resistance in ophiopha-
gous non-venomous snakes; and field studies of reptiles and amphibians. He recently
served as a clinical toxinologist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide,
South Australia, where he was a consultant in the management of envenomations and
practices traditional family medicine in his native New York City and intermittently
in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. In addition to his lifelong interests in toxinology
and herpetology, Dr. Weinstein has a strong interest in the medical management
of special-needs populations (e.g., those with disabilities), infectious diseases
(especially academic and clinical venereology), and substance dependency medicine.
He still participates in field herpetology whenever possible and has always remained
active in the captive propagation of a wide variety of living specimens. As is common
with many herpetologists and toxinologists, he also has traveled extensively. He has
contributed more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in toxinology, herpetology,
and medicine, as well as six books.

DAVID A. WARRELL, MA, DM, DSc, FRCP, FRCPE, HONFZS,

FMEDSCI

David Alan Warrell is Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine and Honorary

Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford, UK. After training at Oxford,
St Thomas’ Hospital, and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, he
lived, worked, researched, and traveled in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa,
 About the authors xxi

Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru,
the Caribbean, and in other tropical countries, founding the Oxford University-based
Tropical Medicine Research Programme, whose units are in Thailand (since 1979)
and elsewhere to study malaria and other major tropical diseases. He became the Di-
rector of the Oxford Tropical Network in 1986 and later, head of The Nuffield
Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford. He has been the Delegate
for Medicine and Music at the Oxford University Press and was senior editor of
the Oxford Textbook of Medicine (fifth edition, 2010) as well as the Oxford Handbook
of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine (first edition, 2008). He has published more
than 500 research papers, articles, reviews, and textbook chapters on malaria, rabies,
relapsing fevers, meningococcal meningitis, cryptococcal meningitis, HIV, other
tropical and infectious diseases, comparative respiratory physiology, respiratory dis-
eases, herpetology, venomous animals, envenoming, and plant and chemical
poisoning. He is a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on snakebite,
rabies, and malaria, the British Army, the UK Medical Research Council, the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, the Earth Watch International (conservation), the
Zoological Society of London, the Royal Geographical Society, and the ToxBase
UK. He also served as the past president of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine
and Hygiene and the International Federation for Tropical Medicine. His principal
research interest remains the pathophysiology and treatment of envenoming. In
2019, he was awarded the prestigious Sir Patrick Manson Medal by the Royal Society
of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

DANIEL E. KEYLER, BS, BS Pharmacy, PharmD, FAACT

Dan has had an interest in venomous snakes since his early years of growing up along
the Tippecanoe River in Indiana. This enthusiasm was further intensified during his
high school years when he cared for the snake collection of the eminent herpetologist,
xxii About the authors

Professor Sherman A. Minton, Jr., MD, while he was living in Pakistan with his family.
He maintained a relationship with Prof. Minton via envenomation consultations until
his passing in 1999. Dan’s interest continued to expand into the realm of toxicology,
and he has completed university courses in Environmental Toxicology, Industrial
Toxicology, Veterinary Toxicology, Clinical Toxicology, General Toxicology,
Advanced Toxicology, and Research Toxicology. He holds a BS degree from Purdue
University in Science and a BS in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from
the University of Minnesota. Continued involvement with the discipline of toxicology
followed as Dan was on the Medical Faculty, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and
Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center and the Co-
Director of Toxicology Research with the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation
1985e2011. He served as President of the North American Society of Toxinology
2016e18 and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and
Professor, Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology, University of
Minnesota, College of Pharmacy (where he developed the first course in Clinical
Toxinology), and was recipient of the distinguished Melendy Lecture award in 2010.
Dan has consulted on hundreds of snakebite cases and has objectively contributed to
the fields of toxicology and toxinology by having authored/coauthored over 100 scien-
tific publications and 45 book chapters involving immunotherapeutics (antibody and
vaccine development), immunotoxicology, toxicology, animal toxins, and venomous
snakebites. He has been a coauthor and editor for two books, the first edition of this
book, Venomous Bites from Non-Venomous Snakes: A Critical Analysis of Risk Man-
agement of Colubrid Snake Bites, and Venomous Snakebite in the Western United
States. He served as Chair of the Envenomation Section with the American Academy
of Clinical Toxicology 2002e07 and is a member of the Medical Advisory Committee
for the Online Antivenom Index. He is a reviewer for multiple medical and scientific
journals, consultant to multiple zoos, and a member of the International Society on
Toxinology, the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology, the North American So-
ciety of Toxinology, the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, and the
Chicago, Indiana, and Minnesota Herpetological Societies. Additionally, he serves
as a Consulting Senior Clinical Toxicologist to SafetyCall International.
Prof. Keyler has had a lifelong passion for Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus)
and has had multiple research grants to study this species in the Upper Mississippi
River Valley. Dan is a founding member of a committee involved in the development
of a national Conservation Action Plan regarding C. horridus and has an ongoing
interest in the natural history, conservation, biology, and venom of C. horridus.
Prof. Keyler continues his enjoyment of fieldwork with venomous snake species in
temperate and tropical geographic regions of the world.
Foreword

Prof. Dietrich Mebs

Institute of Legal Medicine,
Goethe University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

When Erika Schirner, the secretary of Prof. Robert Mertens, called me: “The Pro-
fessor was bitten by a Thelotornis kirtlandii” (Kirtland’s twig or vine snake), I was
scared. I knew D.G. Broadley’s paper (1957) on fatal bites of Dispholidus (boomslang)
and Thelotornis, and Mertens, one of the leading herpetologists and former Director of
the famous Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, also must have been aware of it. I
rushed to the Museum, where I was greeted by Mertens: “Don’t worry, it’s not serious.
I have been bitten by that snake several months ago and no envenoming symptoms had
occurred.” And smiling he added: “I suppose you are just interested in writing a case
report.”
Mertens kept an exquisite collection of amphibians and reptiles in his magnifi-
cent vivarium at home and, as usual, in the early morning of August 5, 1975, he
was feeding his herps. When he offered a small lizard to a Thelotornis kirtlandii
of 120 cm body length, the snake missed the lizard and bit the thumb of Mertens’
right hand. He removed the snake immediately and put it back in the terrarium.
Two rows of slightly bleeding teeth and fang marks were seen on his thumb.
It was a wasted effort to convince Mertens to come with me to the University
Hospital for a check-up. Before I left, I urgently asked him to call me whenever
he observes any symptoms.
At about 4 p.m., Mertens called me from his home: “Blood is still oozing from
the teeth marks.” I immediately went to his home, met a still relaxed Mertens, and
drove with him to the University Hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive
care unit. First laboratory tests revealed afibrinogenemia and massive fibrinolysis.
Dispholidus typus-antivenom was at hand provided by the Frankfurt Zoo but was
not administered after a call to SAIMR (South-African Institute of Medical
Research) confirming that the antivenom shows no cross-reactivity with Thelotornis
venom.
The following day, Mertens’ condition deteriorated, he lost consciousness and
after 18 days of unsuccessful attempts to stop bleeding and to reverse organ failure,
he died. He was 80 years old.
This sad episode provides an impressive example of the largely underestimated
toxic and even lethal potency that venoms from non-front-fanged and so-called
“non-venomous” snakes (which in fact many are venomous) may possess. Their
experimental lethal potency and, in some cases, clinical effects may compete with
venoms from front-fanged, “real” venomous snakes such as from Russell’s (Daboia
russelii) and saw-scaled vipers (Echis carinatus). Except for D. typus and
T. kirtlandii. which attracted the interest of toxinologists, because their bite causes
xxiii
xxiv Foreword

life-threatening symptoms, other members of the large Colubridae snake family

were considered to be of minor importance, and most of their effects were classified
as “mild.” However, by applying modern biochemical techniques, studies on these
venoms or gland extracts led to surprising discoveries, such as the identification
of “three-finger” neurotoxins in the Duvernoy’s gland secretion of the mangrove
snake Boiga dendrophila. These toxins are closely related to those present in venoms
of cobras (Naja spp.) and kraits (Bungarus spp.).
The first edition of this book, published in 2011 was an important step forward to
draw attention to the “non-venomous snakes,” not just through summarizing current
knowledge, but also by critically evaluating case reports, definitions (the meaning of
“toxic effects”), etc. The new updated edition covering recent developments and
providing new data and information in that field is highly welcome and will serve
as an important reference book for anyone, toxinologists, clinicians, and
naturalists as well. Chapeau to the authors, Scott Weinstein, David Warrell and
Daniel Keyler, for completing that mission!

Prof. Dietrich Mebs, PhD

Franfurt am Main
February 2020
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Preface to the second edition

Fear of and fascination with venomous snakes has influenced human perceptions of
religion, spirituality, supernaturalism, and medicine. One of the most common
hazards spanning the dynasties of ancient Egypt was injury by snakes or scorpions.
The Brooklyn Papyrus, written during the 30th dynasty (380e343 BCE), constitutes
what may be considered one of the earliest known treatises dedicated to the treat-
ment of snakebites. Treatments consisted of emetics, incantations, and spells, with
a focus on relieving the victim of spiritual and physical “poison.” Unlike the
relatively brief comments regarding the treatment of snakebites in the earlier Smith
Surgical Papyrus of the 18th dynasty (circa 1550 BCE), the Brooklyn Papyrus
included a section on the identification of medically important venomous snakes
intended as a guide to direct treatment. Likewise, in his treatise De venenatis animal-
ibus eorumque remediis (On venomous animals and their remedies), the physician-
zoologist Philumenus of Alexandria (circa 180 CE) included discussion about a
variety of venomous snakes and the corresponding symptoms and treatment of their
bites; this translated work would later play an important role in Arabic medical lore
on snakebite (Walker-Meikle, 2014). In contrast with many of the contemporary
beliefs, some traditions did not automatically associate contact with a snake as
causing inevitable non-propitious events or physically/spiritually damaging effects.
In Indian antiquity (circa 100e300 CE), Ayurvedic and Tantric disciplines distin-
guished between snakebites that resulted in envenoming (savisa) and those that
_
did not (nirvisa); they also recognized the progressive nature of serious envenoming
_
and assigned greater difficulty to treating the effects of snakebites that reached
deeper tissues after passage from the skin to the blood (Slouber, 2016).
During the early Renaissance, the enigmatic alchemist/botanist/astrologer/medical
practitioner, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim1
(1493e1541; popularly known by his mercifully contracted Roman appellation,
Paracelsus) contemplated the use of venoms during his search for the Azoth, the
spiritual medicine of humankind. The common thread between the earliest clinical
perceptions of envenomation and latter views during the Middle Ages was the pre-
vailing belief that snakebites poisoned both the spiritual and physical being. The
toxic effects of viper bites were believed to be due to “enraged spirits.”
The first systematic investigation of snake venoms was performed by the
seventeenth-century Italian physician Francisco Redi (1626e1698). Redi’s experiments
revealed the toxic nature of snake venoms, established a relationship among dose,

1
Paracelsus is often credited with being the founder of toxicology; although he embraced nonscientific
theories, and his greatest interest was probably astrology, he advanced the first systematic study of
poisons. His famous quotation “Alle Ding’ sind Gift, und nichts ohn’ Gift; allein die Dosis macht,
daß ein Ding kein Giftist” (“All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose
permits something not to be poisonous”) revealed his understanding of the thin border between
the beneficial effects of therapeutics and their potential toxicity.
xxv
xxvi Preface to the second edition

body weight, and toxicity, and demonstrated the enhanced lethal effect of venom
introduced near a blood vessel. Interest in the pathophysiology and improved manage-
ment of snakebites focused attention on the further characterization of venoms, but it
was not until 1938 that Karl Slotta (1895e1987) and Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat
(1910e1999) succeeded in isolating a toxin, crotoxin, from the venom of the medically
important tropical rattlesnake or cascabel (Crotalus durissus terrificus).
Improvements in protein biochemical separation and characterization methods
rapidly advanced the knowledge of venoms and often provided a pharmacological
basis for the clinical effects observed in victims of medically significant snakebites.
An understandably disproportionate emphasis on biomedically relevant venom
properties narrowed the focus of venom research, for the most part excluding snakes
with oral secretions of unknown or little-known medical importance. The very limited
funding afforded to snake venom research further restricted the scope of investigation.
Snakes that possess enlarged posterior maxillary teeth (“rear fangs”) and rarely cause
human mortality or morbidity were largely ignored. However, although this limited
interest in the “mild venom” or “toxic saliva” of “rear-fanged” snakes resulted in
sparse research of their oral secretions, these snakes did make their importance
known. In the late 19th to early 20th centuries, several inquisitive herpetologists
and physicians began to question whether some snakes perceived as “harmless,”
such as hognose snakes (Heterodon spp.) and South American racers (Philodryas
spp.), were “mildly venomous.” South African investigators began to report
life-threatening cases of boomslang (Dispholidus typus) envenomation, and South
American researchers conducted studies of Philodryas venom, noting that the
reported effects of their bites sometimes resembled that of pit vipers. At the time,
these poorly known species were viewed only as arboreal species included in the
amorphous, taxonomically incorrect family, the Colubridae. This family, consisting
of 65e70% of the worlds’ living snake species, was a convenient “dumping ground”
for many snakes of allied as well as unrelated taxonomic affinities. Thus, the super-
family of snakes, Colubroidea, and, as previously defined, the artificial family
beneath, Colubridae, comprised the majority of the world’s snake species and the
composite as well as diverse species are a significant contributor to snakebites in
humans, in terms of absolute numbers.
The emerging descriptions of D. typus envenomation were disconcerting indeed,
as these detailed a terrible hemorrhagic disease with suffering extending over days.
In 1957 and 1975, the deaths of two prominent herpetologists after bites by D. typus
and Kirtland’s twig, bird, tree, or African vine snake (Thelotornis kirtlandii)
gradually increased interest and concomitant research attention on these snakes.
This also expanded the awareness of highly toxic species among those “colubrids”
termed “rear-fanged,” “opisthoglyphous,” or “aglyphous” that were perceived as
“mildly venomous.” Some authorities have resisted recognition of any significant
potential hazard of most snakes that lack canaliculated front fangs (e.g., hollow
fangs with an internal lumen, or canal, for delivery of venom under high pressure).
The Duvernoy’s venom glands that produce venoms in “rear-fanged” snakes are
without significant muscle attachment and thus function as low-pressure systems.
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affairs here,[108] have of late, with great insolence, flocked together in
open and field-conventicles, these rendezvouses of rebellion, and
have dared to oppose our forces. Though we neither need nor do
fear such insolent attempts, yet from a just care of our authority and
kindness to our subjects there, We have thought fit to order some
more forces to be levied; and for that effect we have commanded the
lords of our treasury for raising and maintaining these troops at our
charges.”
107. A convention differed from a parliament in this—it was summoned for one
specific purpose, and could not interfere with any thing else—in general, only
to grant money. Nor does it appear that although they could authorize the
levying a subsidy from the subject, that they had any right to look after its
management by the crown; the delegates to a convention, also, were
generally nominated by persons in power.

108. Referring to the popish plot which about this time agitated the English nation
and parliament.

Agreeably to this communication, a proclamation was issued,

convoking a convention, the bare-faced irony of which would be
ludicrous, did not its wickedness of purpose excite other and rather
more unpleasant sensations. In it he repeated his fulsome, because
false, protestations of the great kindness he bore to his ancient
kingdom; “and considering that all kings and states did carefully
secure themselves and their people by providing against all such
foreign invasions and intestine commotions as might make them a
prey to their enemies; and that it was not a fit time that Scotland
alone should remain without defence, especially when these
execrable field-conventicles, so justly termed rendezvouses of
rebellion, did still grow in numbers and insolence, against which all
our present forces would not in reason be thought a suitable security.
Therefore he called a convention of the estates of that kingdom, to
meet at Edinburgh upon the 26th of June, to provide for the safety of
the kingdom, by enabling him to raise more forces.”
During the absence of almost all the nobles and influential men
who had gone with them to London, and from whom any formidable
opposition could have arisen, Lauderdale’s friends hurried on the
elections, so that when the convention met, he was possessed of an
obedient and overwhelming majority. Eager to evince their loyalty,
the chosen band declaring themselves the echoes of the public
voice, “and considering the many frequent and renewed professions
to serve his majesty with their lives and fortunes, in the maintenance
of his honour and greatness; and that now there was an opportunity
offered to them, to make good their professions of their zeal, duty,
and affection;” “and to let the world see the unanimous affection of
his ancient kingdom for the maintenance of his majesty’s royal
greatness, authority, and government in church and state, as
established by the laws of the kingdom, they did humbly beseech
that his majesty would be graciously pleased to accept the
unanimous, ready, and cheerful offer, and humble tender, of a new
supply of eighteen hundred thousand pounds, Scots, to be raised
and paid in five years, according to the present valuations.”[109] The
act was very unpalatable to the country generally, as they viewed not
only the army as the ready instrument of tyranny, but as a reward to
the servile party who supported Lauderdale, and to the prelatists
who alone would obtain for their poor relations and friends
commissions in the army, and share among themselves the
donations of the convention.
109. The monthly assessments of six thousand pounds introduced by Cromwell,
were retained, and are still observed as the rate at which the land-tax is
imposed. Laing, vol. iv. p. 93. The sum, therefore, here voted, was in our
money £30,000 per ann. for five years, and might be in real about five times
the nominal value. The number of militia to be drawn at this time, was one-
fourth part of the whole, 5000 foot and 500 horse—the pay, six shillings,
Scots, ilk day for the foot; eighteen shillings, Scots, for each horseman.
With the Presbyterians, its tendency was disastrous. Payment of
cess became a new and bitter source of contention among the
already too much divided sufferers. As the object for which the
money was to be raised, was expressly stated to be for the
suppression of conventicles; or, as the most strenuous opponents of
the measure justly interpreted it, for preventing the preaching of the
gospel, they at once, and without circumlocution, declared it unlawful
to submit in any manner to the exaction. The impositions of tyrants,
enacted for promoting their wicked designs against religion and
liberty, said they, are iniquitous; therefore it is improper to pay them,
especially when these designs are particularly specified and openly
avouched in the acts which require them. No act can be binding if
imposed upon a people by persons calling themselves their
representatives, when they are not truly so, but placed in their
situations by those who have broken all their engagements, betrayed
their country, its religion, liberty, property, and all private interests,
have enslaved the nation, and, by means of these taxations, will be
enabled to perpetuate that slavery. Should it be replied, ‘that Christ
paid custom, lest he should offend, and taught us to render to Cesar
the things that are Cesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s;’ it
is sufficient to observe, that he never taught to give any thing to
Cesar in prejudice to that which is God’s; nor would it be much less
than blasphemy to say, that Christ would have paid, or permitted his
followers to pay, a tax professedly imposed for levying a war against
himself, banishing his gospel out of the land, and supporting the
scribes and pharisees and their underlings in their wicked attempts
against his disciples.
Others were of opinion that, as the money would be forcibly taken
from them, it was more adviseable to submit at once, rather than by
resistance to give their oppressors a legal pretence for not only
seizing to the amount of the tax, but perhaps double, in the name of
expenses; and as the deed was neither spontaneous, nor willingly
performed, the constrained action would come under the head of
suffering rather than of crime.
A third party chose a middle course, and paid it with a declaratory
explanation or protest. Among these was Quintin Dick, portioner in
Dalmellington, described by Wodrow as an eminent Christian, and
prudent, wise, and knowing, far above most of his education and
station, who thus expresses himself:—“In this hour of darkness,
being much perplexed how to carry without scandal and offence, I
betook myself to God for protection and direction, that I might be
kept from any measure of denying Christ or staving off my trouble
upon any grounds but such as might be clearly warranted by the
word of God. After much liberty in pouring out my heart to God, I was
brought to weigh, that, as my paying of it might be by some
interpreted a scandal and a sinful acquiescence in the magistrate’s
sinful command; so, on the other hand, my refusing to pay it would
be the greater scandal, being found to clash against a known
command of God, of giving to all their due, tribute to whom tribute is
due; custom to whom custom is due; and knowing that Jesus Christ
for that very same end, to evite offence, did both pay tribute himself
and commanded his followers to do it, I could see no way to refuse
payment of that cess, unless I had clashed with that command of
paying tribute unto Cesar. So, to evite the scandal of compliance on
the one hand, and disobedience to the magistrate in matters of
custom on the other, I came to the determination to give in my cess
to the collector of the shire of Ayr where I lived, with a protestation
against the magistrate’s sinful qualification of his commands, and a
full adherence unto these meetings of God’s people, called
conventicles, which in the act he declared his design to bear down. I
had no sooner done this, but I was trysted with many sharp censures
from many hands, among which this was one, that my protestation
was only to evite sufferings, and could be of no weight, being
‘protestatio contraria facto.’ But being truly persuaded that it is the
magistrate’s right to impose and exact cess and custom, I could
have no clearness to state my sufferings in opposition unto so
express a command of God. And as to the magistrate’s sinful
qualification—having so openly declared and protested against it—I
conceive the censure of this to evite suffering is altogether
groundless; seeing the enemy has (subscribed with my hand before
witnesses) a resolute adherence to that which they say this tends to
overthrow; and if he mind to persecute upon the ground of owning
conventicles, he has a fair and full occasion against me under my
hand.”
A few defended the refusal of payment upon the ground that the
convention having been a packed assemblage, consisting of persons
entirely under the influence of the crown—the chief and most
powerful Peers being necessarily absent, and the commissioners of
the shires and burghs returned through the sinful means of
corruption and bribery, by promises held out and favours bestowed,
by the managers and persons in power, for the purpose of
compassing their own base ends—they could not be considered as
the real representatives of the people, nor legally entitled to impose
burdens upon the lieges; and therefore the people were not
righteously obligated to pay.
Combined with the disputes relative to paying cess, were revived
with redoubled vigour the discussions anent hearing the indulged;
and “it was truly grievous to us,” laments one who was himself a
silent observer of what passed, “to see a young generation, endued
with great zeal towards God and his interests, so far led aside in the
improvement of it, as very little to know, or seldom to be taught,
meekness and patience under affliction for Christ’s sake, or charity
and mutual forbearance in love! And to such a length did these heats
come, that some did not stick to term the famous Mr John Welsh,
because he would not run so high upon public, yea personal,
acknowledgments of those steps of defection, an Achan in the
camp.”
Publications and preaching against each other succeeded, and the
minds of the wanderers began to be imbittered against the indulged,
who they thought were sitting at ease in Zion, while they were
combating upon the high places of the field. Another meeting of
ministers was therefore held at Glasgow in the end of harvest, when
fresh efforts were made by the aged veterans of the kirk to heal the
wounds under which their common mother lay bleeding; the more
distressing as inflicted by some of the most devoted of her sons. A
new and practical cause of dissension arose from the circumstances
of the times and the situation in which the preachers and people
were placed, which struck at the root of Presbytery itself, and that
was the conduct of the younger brethren. As the duties of
presbyteries and synods had been interrupted, the most popular
preachers and their followers acted entirely upon their own
responsibility, invaded the parishes of the indulged, preached as
they listed, without being subject to any inspection or control, and
had thus widened the unhappy rent, and given great advantage to
the common enemy. The meeting disapproved of the practice of
promiscuous preaching, any where or every where, as opportunities
presented, because, when they intruded on the parishes of the
indulged, they destroyed both the usefulness of their brethren,
whose charges they disturbed, and their own, by depriving both of
the restricted liberty they enjoyed, and which it was their duty to
improve.
Instead, they recommended that the whole of the “outted”
ministers, and those who had been regularly licensed by them,
should associate themselves together in classes, and that every
fixed preacher should belong to some class to which he should be
subject and responsible; and those who were unsettled, and so
could not ordinarily attend their own class or pseudo-presbytery,
should attend such other as providence did direct. They at the same
time disapproved of the last meeting at Edinburgh, being considered
as an authoritative meeting, and pronounced it to have been only “a
committee for consideration, and to report overtures to the general
meeting of correspondents, who they were to call upon occasion.”
Nevertheless, they were still of opinion, that the first foundation of
unity must be order, and that there is no other way of producing a
humble contrite temper, warming the already too much estranged
affections, and preventing the like or worse for the future, than that
the brethren who were moderate and like-minded, and who, they
blessed God, were yet the very far greater and better number,
should meet together and consult upon fit means for so desirable an
end. The west country ministers mentioned, likewise, that they were
in consultation with their brethren in the east, who had been treating
with them, and who were also breathing after unity and peace.
What broke up these friendly communings, does not distinctly
appear; but a very untoward circumstance took place in the parish of
Monkland, near Glasgow, which certainly did not tend to promote
their object. On Sabbath, September 1st, the Rev. Mr Selkirk,
afterwards minister of the gospel at Crichton, had been requested by
the ministers of Glasgow to supply that parish, then vacant; but when
he attempted it, he was violently opposed and kept out of the church
by force, merely because he was favourable to the indulged, on
purpose that one of the young preachers under the patronage of Mr
Robert Hamilton, might have access to the pulpit to inveigh against
them.
Were it not upon record, and recorded too by authority of the
oppressors themselves, it would hardly be credited that many of the
best and most inoffensive men in the country were banished and
sold as slaves to the plantations, for no crime but simply because
they would not regularly attend their parish churches to hear men
preach, whom they believed incapable of instructing them in those
duties which they saw themselves daily outraging; and choosing
rather to assemble in the fields to wait upon the ministry of others
whom they preferred, by whose discourses they were enlightened
and edified, taught to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world, and directed in those paths which lead to glory and
immortality in the next. Yet nearly one hundred persons, upon such
accusations, writers! farmers, merchants, men and women, were
delivered over, in the month of June this year, to Edward Johnstoun,
master of the Saint Michael of Scarborough, now lying at Leith, for
behoof of Ralph Williamson of London, who had given security to the
council to transport them to the Indies, where they were to continue
in servitude for life, and there to dispose of them to the best
advantage. Among these was the noted Alexander Peden, who had
laboured with great success in the north of Ireland. Having lain a
long time in Edinburgh jail, he petitioned the council to be permitted
to return to his old station, especially as he had been served with no
indictment, nor was he charged with holding either house or field-
conventicles in Scotland for twelve years. The council evinced their
character by their tender mercies. They answered his petition by
banishing him to the plantations for life, and ordained him “to lie in
prison till he be transported.” He was said to have been an
instrument of much good to his fellow-passengers, and cheered their
spirits with the hopes of deliverance when they reached London.[110]
110. “Mr Peden was a man of prayer, of natural sagacity, of spiritual discernment,
and a great observer of the ways of Providence. He could foresee what
would be the result of certain measures, and what calamities foolish and
wicked men would bring upon themselves and others; and when such things
came to pass as he had foretold, his too credulous friends ascribed it to the
gift of prophecy. At the same time, I am not so wedded to my opinion on this
subject, as not to admit that men who lived in such intimate daily communion
with God as Mr Peden did, may have had presentiments of things with
regard to themselves and the church, of which Christians of a lesser growth
can form no conception.”—M’Gavin’s note to the Scots Worthies, p. 516.
 They were detained at sea five days longer than had been
calculated upon; and when they arrived, Mr Williamson who should
have received them was absent. Johnstoun, who had the charge of
their maintenance when there, not knowing how he was to be
reimbursed, and not being able to find any body to take them off his
hands, nor seeing any prospect of the agent, set them ashore, and
left them to shift for themselves. The English, who sympathized
much with them when they learned the cause of their sufferings,
afforded them every assistance; and the greater part of them
returned safely home after an absence of nine months—several of
them to suffer new hardships from their relentless persecutors.
Neither rank nor age were any protection against the cruelty of
these men, who, careless about the mischief they inflicted, imposed
upon the young oaths which they could not be supposed to
understand, and ordered them to subscribe bonds they could never
fulfil. The son of Lord Semple, at this time a student in Glasgow
College, had a young man for his private tutor, of uncommon abilities
and excellent character, to whom he was much attached. Him the
council summoned to appear before them; but he, aware of the
consequences, did not comply, and his pupil withdrew with him. They
were both served with a charge of law-burrows. The young lord’s
mother, however, who was a papist, interfered on his behalf, and
represented that her son, through the neglect of those to whom he
was recommended, or the corruption of the place, had been seduced
and poisoned with bad principles; she therefore craved that they
would recommend such persons as would watch over his loyalty and
estate during his minority, and they appointed the Bishop of Argyle to
provide a governor to that lord. Mr Wylie went abroad and remained
at some of the foreign universities with several other pupils.
Alexander Anderson, a youth not sixteen years of age, was treated
more harshly, because he would make no compliances. He was sent
to the plantations. Yet he left a testimony behind him, which
deserves to be remembered, dated Canongate tolbooth, December
10th, this year. In it he remarked—“That he is the youngest prisoner
in Scotland; and that the Lord had opened his eyes and revealed his
Son in his heart since he came under the cross; that though he had
much difficulty to part with his friends and relatives, yet he had now
found, that fellowship with Christ did much more than balance the
want of the company of dearest relations; that though he was so very
young as that he could not be admitted a witness among men, yet he
hopes Christ hath taken him to be a witness to his cause. He
adheres to the work of reformation from popery and prelacy to the
National and Solemn League and Covenants; and witnesses against
the pulling down of the government of Christ’s house, and setting up
lordly prelacy, and joining with them; and adduces a good many
places of Scripture which he conceives strike against this practice.
He makes an apology that he who is but a child should leave any
thing of this nature behind him; but says he was constrained to it, to
testify that God perfects strength out of the mouth of babes. He
regrets the indulgence as what upon both sides had been matter of
stumbling and offence among good people; and declares his fears
that a black, dreadful day is coming upon Scotland: that it is good to
seek the Lord and draw near to him. He leaves his commendation to
the cross of Christ, and blesses the Lord for carrying him through
temptations, and enabling him, one of the lambs of his flock, to stand
before great men and judges; and closes with good wishes to all the
friends of Christ.”
The Justiciary Court was this year engaged in equally cruel,
though, could we divest them of their horrors, we should say more
ludicrous transactions. “Eight or ten witches,” Lord Fountainhall tells
us, “were panelled, all of them, except one or two, poor miserable-
like women. Some of them were brought out of Sir Robert Hepburn
of Keith’s lands; others out of Ormiston, Crichton, and Pencaitland
parishes. The first of them were delated by those two who were
burnt in Salt-Preston in May 1678, and they divulged and named the
rest, as also put forth seven in the Lonehead of Leswade; and, if
they had been permitted, were ready to fyle by their delation sundry
gentlewomen and others of fashion; but the justices discharged
them, thinking it either the product of malice or melancholy, or the
devil’s deception, in representing such persons as present at their
field-meetings who were not there. Yet this was cried out on as a
prelimiting them from discovering those enemies of mankind.
However, they were permitted to name Mr Gideon Penman, who had
been minister at Crichton, but deprived for sundry acts of immoralitie.
Two or three of the witches constantly affirmed that he was present
at their meetings with the devil; and that when the devil called for
him, he asked, where is Mr Gideon, my chaplain? and that,
ordinarily, Mr Gideon was in the rear of all their dances, and beat up
those that were slow. He denied all, and was liberate upon
caution”—certainly the only way of disposing of this case in
consistency with common sense.
Yet were these poor unfortunates allowed to proceed with their
confessions, which were regularly registered against them. “They
declared the first thing the devil caused them do, was to renounce
their baptism; and by laying their hand on the top of their head, and
the other on the sole of their foot, to renounce all betwixt the two to
his service. But one being with child at the time, in her resignation,
excepted the child, at which the devil was very angry. That he
frequently kissed them, but his body was cold, and his breath was
like a damp air. That he cruelly beat them when they had done the
evil he had enjoined them—for he was a most wicked and barbarous
master. That sometimes he adventured to give them the communion,
or holy sacrament; the bread like wafers—the drink, sometimes
blood, and at other times black moss-water; and preached most
blasphemously. That sometimes he transformed them into bees,
ravens, and crows; and they flew to such and such remote places.
Their confessions,” his lordship gravely adds, “made many
intelligent, sober persons stumble much, what faith was to be
adhibite to them.” How any intelligent person could hesitate a
moment upon the subject, is strange; and it is humiliating and
lamentable to add, that by grave, intelligent judges “nine of these
women, upon their own confession (and so seemed very rational and
penitent) were sentenced to be strangled and then burnt,” instead of
being sent to some safe place of confinement to be dealt gently with;
and five of them were accordingly immolated between Leith and
Edinburgh, and other four burnt at Painston-moor, within their own
parish where they had lived.
A case came before the privy council, not long after, which it is
difficult to reconcile with the above, the proceedings were so
diametrically opposite. Cathrine Liddel brought a complaint against
Rutherford, baron-bailie, to Morrison of Prestongrange and David
Cowan in Tranent, for having seized her, an innocent woman,
defamed her as a witch, and detained her under restraint as a
prisoner, also that Cowan had pricked her with long pins, in sundry
places of her body, and bled and tortured her most cruelly. The bailie
pled that she had been denounced by other witches, laboured under
a mala fama, and therefore had been apprehended; and that she
and her son-in-law had consented to her being “searched” for the
vindication of her innocency. With regard to the pricker, he had
learned his trade from Kincaid, a famed pricker; he never exercised
his calling without the authority of a magistrate; his trade was not
condemned by any law, and all divines and lawyers, who have
written on witchcraft, acknowledge that there are such marks, and
therefore there may be an art for discerning them. But the Chancellor
remembered that he had formerly imprisoned the famous Kincaid in
Kinross, as a notorious cheat. The lords of the privy council therefore
first declared the woman innocent, and restored her to her good
name and fame, and ordered it to be publicly intimated the next
Sunday in her parish church; then reproved Rutherford for his
rashness, and forbade him in future to proceed in such a manner,
declaring that the use of torture by pricking or otherwise was illegal;
and, as a mark of their displeasure, ordered the pricker to prison.
Considerable changes had taken place among the higher
authorities in Scotland this year. Since the appointment of Sir
George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh to be king’s advocate, Sir George
Mackenzie of Tarbet was appointed justice-general; Sir Thomas
Wallace of Craigie, lord justice-clerk; the Bishop of Galloway was
added to the committee for public affairs; Richard Maitland of Gogar,
Sir George Gordon of Haddo, and Drummond of Lundin, admitted
councillors; and the Marquis of Montrose made captain of the horse
guards.
 BOOK XIII.

JANUARY TO JUNE, A.D. 1679.

Public teachers and students required to take the oath of supremacy—A boy
imprisoned for refusing—Husbands punished for their wives’ contumacy—
Landlords for their tenants—Overtures of the council—Country put under
military law—Reprisals—Outrages of the commissioners of shires—Death of
Sharpe—Escape of Veitch—Murder of Inchdarnie.

Early in the beginning of the next year, (January 2, 1679,) the

council instructed the Archbishop of St Andrews and the Bishops of
Edinburgh and Aberdeen, to call before them the principals,
professors, and other office-bearers of their respective Universities,
and also all the masters of the public schools within their boundaries,
and require them to subscribe the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy, and the declaration owning the government of the
church by archbishops and bishops, and its establishment; which Mr
Alexander Dickson, professor of the Hebrew language in the College
of Edinburgh, Mr Heriot, teacher in the High School, Mr George
Sinclair, Leith, Mr Allan, his assistant, Mr Alexander Strang,
schoolmaster, Canongate, and Mr John Govan, his assistant, with Mr
James Scot, junior,—refusing to do, were all removed from their
respective charges, as examples to others; and it appears to have
had a salutary effect, as we do not read of any “pedagogues” after
this being prosecuted for contumacy. But it was again repeated and
urged by proclamation, that the due execution of their acts,
forbidding pedagogues, chaplains, and schoolmasters, to officiate
without license from their respective ordinaries, should be observed,
and that no youth should be suffered to enter into the second
classes in colleges, or received as apprentices, until they obliged
themselves to keep the church. The reiterated repetition of these
injunctions strongly implies the repugnance which must have existed
among the people to the form of religion then endeavoured to be
forced upon them, while it exhibits in the most glaring light that
combination of clerical and magisterial despotism, which is a
necessary consequence of a state establishment of any peculiar
denomination, against the light and wishes of a numerous and
instructed part of the community. So anxious, too, were these
Scottish political puritans to preserve the youth from any infection,
that they even carried their zeal the length of imprisoning a boy
about fourteen years of age for being at a conventicle, and subjected
him to several weeks’ confinement, till some of their own number,
ashamed of such proceedings, set the child at liberty.
Children may be restrained, but women being more difficult to
manage, it was thought proper to punish their husbands, instances
of which occurred in the cases of Sir William Fleming of Ferm,
commissary of Glasgow, and of William Anderson, the late lord
provost, who were both before the council the same day, and fined
for the delinquencies of their wives, although they themselves seem
to have been regular church-goers. Dame Margaret Stewart, the
spouse of Sir William, and Mrs Macdougal, the spouse of the
provost, were charged with having been present at a conventicle
kept by Mr John Welsh, at Langside, in the parish of Cathcart,
seated upon high chairs on either side of the said Mr John, and with
having kept company with him at other times; in addition to which the
Lady Fleming had allowed other ministers to preach, pray, or
expound Scripture in the house of Ferm, aggravated by her
entertaining the preachers before or after these exercises. The lady
did not deny that she had heard Mr Welsh preach, and also
confessed that she had been guilty of showing hospitality to the
same faithful minister of Christ; for which the council fined Sir
William, her husband, in the sum of four thousand merks, ordaining
him to pay the money or find security before he left Edinburgh. In
order, however, that a husband should not suffer for his wife’s fault,
whose conduct they yet allowed it was not in his power sometimes to
control, they declared that if she survived him, then his heirs should
retain as much as he payed of fine, together with interest from the
time of payment, out of the first end of her jointure; and if she should
die first, her executors were to be liable, which they alleged would be
a check on the zeal of the ladies, if they paid no regard to the
interest of their husbands. Lord Fountainhall, who records this
decision, asks, with all due legal gravity, “But what if they have no
executors? or if it be the husband or her own children?”
Not only were husbands thus prosecuted for their ladies’
misdemeanours, but landlords were made accountable for the
conduct of their tenants. A most oppressive instance occurred in the
case of one George Turnbull, a baxter or baker in Edinburgh, himself
a regular conformist. The council being informed that conventicles
were held in the chamber of Isobel Crawford, which she rented in the
flat of a house belonging to him, he was summoned before them and
interrogated upon oath, as to the rent of the whole flat? He stated it
at one hundred pounds per annum; and three conventicles being
either proved or not denied to have met there, he was fined three
hundred pounds, Scots, or twenty-five pounds sterling, for what he
was neither accessary to, nor had any knowledge of.
Tyranny is never stationary when introduced into a country, until it
either level all resistance, and degrade a nation into one quiescent
mass of torpid subjection, or rouse the people to a pitch of
determined enthusiastic irresistless exertion, which drives their
oppressors from the land. At this period, the evident design of the
Scottish rulers was to accomplish the former limb of the alternative,
though it eventually led to the last. “The overtures” sent by the
“committee for public affairs,” to be proposed to his sacred majesty
by the Duke of Lauderdale, to heal the schism and disorders of the
church, plainly evidence this. Their grand object was to root out all
conventicles; and now that the forces were raised, whereby these
seditious disorders might, as they imagined, be easily and effectually
suppressed, they represented to the king the necessity of his
empowering the council to nominate sheriff-deputes, bailie-deputes
of regalities, and stewart-deputes, to enforce their acts against
withdrawers from public ordinances, keepers of conventicles, and
those guilty of conversing with intercommuned persons or vagrant
preachers, whenever the resident deputes had been remiss in their
duty; and that his majesty’s forces might be ordered upon all
occasions, when required, to concur with these officers, or whoever
might be appointed by them for the more speedy and effectual
execution of their sentences and decrees. His majesty gave his
hearty approval to the proposal, and the whole south and west of
Scotland was placed under military law, as far at least as assembling
to attend upon the ordinances of religion was concerned. All officers
and soldiers of the standing army or militia were commanded forcibly
to dissipate the persons found by them at conventicles, and
previously indemnified for any slaughter or mutilation they might
commit in so doing. They were to seize the preachers and as many
of the hearers as they could; the former to be carried to prison, the
latter to be detained till they found sufficient caution to answer for
their crimes according to law; and they were empowered to carry off
the upper garments of such as they could not secure, in order to be
used in evidence against them when afterwards apprehended. All
arms, and the horses of all who were armed, were ordered to be
seized, and the meanest sentinel was warranted to break open
doors and other lockfast places in searching after suspected or
intercommuned persons.[111]
111. The soldiers were thus distributed:—Three companies of foot in Canongate
and Leith; one at Calder, and one at Stirling; one at Culross and
Clackmannan; one at Cupar and Falkland; four at Glasgow; two in the shire
of Ayr; and one in each of the shires of Renfrew, Lanark, and Galloway; and
one in the town of Kelso. The eighteenth company to be at the major-
general’s disposal. One squadron of his majesty’s horse-guards to be at
Edinburgh, another in Stirling, the third in Fife, and the fourth in
Borrowstounness. One troop at Glasgow, one in Merse and Teviotdale, and
one in Galloway. The dragoons were to be distributed in companies of
twenty-five each, Galloway, Ayr, Calder, Culross, and Lanark, or otherwise
arranged as the general shall see necessary; but they were to be kept in
constant exercise patrolling the various districts, that they might be ready
and prepared at the shortest notice to execute the orders given for dispersing
any rendezvouses of rebellion.
 To stimulate their satellites in the work of proscription and blood,
who were already allowed to share in the plunder of those they
seized, murdered, or robbed, and to urge their activity against the
more eminent, and therefore more hated of those men, of whom the
earth was not worthy—they were now offered additional rewards for
their destruction. The price set upon the head of that “notour traitor,
Mr John Welsh,” dead or alive, was nine thousand merks; for his
accomplices, Mr Semple and Mr Arnot, three thousand; for any field-
preacher declared fugitive, two thousand; and for any other “vagrant”
or itinerant preacher, five hundred merks. The reasons assigned for
such high rewards, were worthy the hypocrites by whom they were
expressed—although we cannot help being astonished at the
unblushing impudence which could publish falsehoods, so widely
known to be such, without even the shadow of verisimilitude, to
shield them from contempt—these were, to prevent the people from
being seduced from public ordinances, or debauched to atheism and
popery, by being exposed to hear Jesuits or any other irregular
persons who dared take upon them the sacred office of the ministry.
About the beginning of March, the military apostles entered upon
their labours; and among their first exploits was the seizure of
twenty-three countrymen in Evandale, chiefly shepherds, whom they
straitly examined upon oath, whether they had seen any men in
arms going through the country during the last month. In the latter
end of the same month, having been informed of a large meeting
assembled to hear sermon at Cambeshead, in the parish of
Lesmahago, near Lanark, a party went on purpose to disperse them;
but on learning their numbers, and that many of them were well
armed, they did not think it adviseable to attack them; but retiring to
a little distance, they rifled some women who were going to the
meeting of their plaids and Bibles, and took several men prisoners.
When intelligence of this was brought to the meeting, a number of
the men in arms were sent to demand the release of the prisoners
and the restoration of the plunder. The officer in command refused to
do either, and a scuffle ensued, in which the captain was wounded
and a few of the soldiers taken prisoners, who were shortly after set
at liberty without harm. As soon as an account of this trifling affair
reached Glasgow, Lord Ross marched with a considerable party
towards Lanark, and harassed the surrounding country for some
weeks; and the council upon being apprised of it, ordered the
commissioners for assessment in the shire to meet and provide hay,
straw, and corn for the forces, who were immediately to be
despatched thither to crush the rebels.
In Galloway, Gordon of Earlston and thirteen other gentlemen,
who had been summoned for worshipping God or hearing his word
preached in private houses or in the fields, or of speaking or lodging
some others who had been guilty of the like enormities, were
denounced and outlawed as if they had been malefactors of the
deepest die. In Fife, three were fined; one in a thousand pounds
Scots; another in one hundred; and the third in five hundred merks.
Pursuing their favourite measures, the prelatic myrmidons had
successfully fanned, by their domineering insolence, the discontent
they had widely kindled in the west, from which there appeared no
means of escape, but by some desperate effort to which every day’s
report of fresh aggression was rapidly driving the people. A few of
the many irritating incidents which occurred have been preserved,
but the amount of the suffering can only be guessed. The slightest
attempts at what has been improperly denominated retaliation have
been carefully registered. Of these I shall give two specimens, which
were then paraded as instances of their “hellish principles,” and
which, though they were not the actions of religious men, have been
treated as the effects of fanaticism. The first was a trick played upon
Major Johnston, one of the captains of the train-band of Edinburgh, a
violent persecutor, but by whom was never discovered. “One night,”
says Kirkton, “a boy came and told Johnston there was a conventicle
in a certain close; for he was famously known for an active agent of
satan to suppress preachings in the city and apprehend ministers,
though sometimes he took money to overlook them. He (ever ready
for such mischief) presently took a party of the town-guard, came
and entered the house, where he found some men met about
business, who seeing them enter so rudely with their weapons, did
challenge him why he came so briskly. Finding no conventicle there,
he and they began to jostle, (who were the aggressors I cannot tell,)
but he with his men were the first provokers. Some of the gentlemen
shot, as is said, a tobacco-stapple, or piece of broken money, at one
of his followers, a soldier from the Castle, who fell, and died within
ten days after. Another gripped the major himself, and cast him down
on the floor; and they were so incensed that they offered to kill him.
But he crying out wofully to spare his life, said—‘For Christ’s sake,
send me not to hell,’ and swore he would never trouble any of these
meetings again. Whether he was required to say this, or said it in his
fear, I cannot tell; whereupon they spared his life, and let him and his
party go not without some blae strokes they had got. The gentlemen
then withdrew to their own quarters.
“The landlady of the house expecting trouble, left it also, which
was shortly broken up, rifled, and made a prey of by order. The
wretched man, the major, being enraged, forgetting the terror he was
in, and all the vows he had sworn to grow better, did first stir up the
council to seize the house, break open the door, and plunder all. On
the morrow or third day, a narrow and formidable search was made
throughout the town for strangers, and to find out the persons who
had offered such an affront to their major, so useful a servant, not
only to the town of Edinburgh, but to the prelates and their interest.
Linlithgow’s men, with the town constables, were appointed to
search. However, none of the persons present were found.”
I add as one instance of the manner in which these affairs were
represented by the leaders of the persecution, the edition they gave
of the affair to Lauderdale, in the despatches they sent to court.
“Eighteen or twenty men, prompted by the bloody principles of their
traitorous books, did send for the major to the house of one Mrs
Crawford, a known and irregular fanatic, and, at his entry discharged
several shots at him; after which, with drawn swords, they beat,
bruised, and threatened to kill him, if he would not swear never to
dissipate conventicles, which he having refused, according to his
duty, they mortally wounded him and some that were with him.”
Immediately the hue and cry was raised, offering a reward of one
thousand merks to any person who should discover and apprehend
any of the assassinates. Several persons were mentioned, chiefly
men already intercommuned themselves, or the sons or relatives of
such as were, but none were ever taken or tried for the affray. The
same day, the council ordered the magistrates to cause their
constables take up a list of the names of all the inhabitants between
sixteen and sixty, and deliver it to the council; and likewise a list of all
the strangers who lodged in town, to be delivered each night at ten
o’clock to the major-general or commanding officer in his absence,
under a penalty of one hundred merks for each name omitted. And,
besides, the magistrates were required to turn out of the burgh and
suburbs the wives and families of all “outted” ministers and vagrant
preachers, under a penalty of one hundred pounds, sterling, for each
family who should be found residing there after the 20th day of the
month. This capriciously cruel order, at once useless and tormenting,
does not appear to have been very rigorously enforced by the
magistrates, for “few ministers,” one of themselves informs us, “went
off the town, but retired to more private houses, and hid themselves
for a season, only it caused them disperse among different friends’
houses, and keep themselves under hiding for a season.”
The other incident was the murder of two soldiers at Loudonhill,
under very suspicious circumstances, also by persons who were
never discovered. Three privates of Captain Maitland’s company had
been quartered upon a petty farmer who had not paid the cess, and
continued there nearly ten days, behaving rather more civilly than
many of their fellows. The man himself being sick, his wife or the
maid-servant desired them to leave, otherwise they might repent it.
They replied, they could not do so without orders. On a Saturday,
one of them went to Newmills, where he remained over night. But
about two o’clock on the Sabbath morning, five horsemen and as
many foot came and knocked loudly at the door of the barn, where
the remaining two soldiers were lying. Supposing it to be their
comrade, one of them rose in his shirt and opened the door, when he
was saluted with—“Come out you damned rogues,” and instantly
shot through the body, he fell dead upon the spot; the other alarmed
got up, and was attempting to shut the door, when he also received a
shot which wounded him on the thigh. The assassin who was on
horseback dismounting, seized the soldier by the throat, and they
struggled together till another of the rogues came up and knocked
him down. While he lay stupified by the blow, the murderers went off,
taking with them all the arms and clothes they could find. The