Part 27

That the custom still continued is brought out by the knowledge that in 1701 it was found necessary to revive and enforce the statute against the practice.

The culminating feature of the rites of bereavement, the funeral ceremony, was in these old days (particularly between the years 1700 and 1800) an occasion altogether outstanding in social importance. It was an occasion, however, very often marred by the profuse liberality and use of stimulants, lavish hospitality in the house of mourning being too frequently followed by ludicrous and extraordinary results as the body was being conveyed to its last resting-place. "A funeral party," for example, "had wended their way for miles through deep snow over Eskdale Moor, bound for Moffat Churchyard. On arriving at the burial-ground it was actually discovered that they had dropped the coffin by the way, the back having fallen from the cart on which it was being conveyed."(74)

Ten o'clock in the morning saw the commencement of the funeral ceremonies, this being so generally understood that no special hour was mentioned in "the bidding to the buriall." The setting-out for the churchyard, however, or the "liftin'," as it was termed, did not, as a rule, take place for several hours later, and in many instances not until well on in the afternoon. This delay, as well as giving ample time to partake of refreshment, was really meant to enable all the guests to gather together, many of them travelling long distances, which were not made shorter by bad roads or inclement weather. A precaution sometimes taken before the company moved off was to send someone to the top of the nearest height to signal when the horizon was clear and no more guests in sight.

The place of entertainment was usually the barn. Planks laid along the tops of wooden trestles formed a large table, on which were piled up a superabundance of food and drink, while a constant feature of the entertainment was an imposing array of tobacco pipes already filled by the women who had sat beside, or watched, the dead body. It was not considered seemly for the women of the house to mingle with the male guests. The usual custom in Galloway and Nithsdale was for the women folk to sit together in a room apart.

As the company gathered they formed themselves into relays--for the number of guests as a rule exceeded the accommodation of even the largest barn--and entered the place set aside for refreshment. This took the form of what were known as "services," and these in their usual order were, after each guest had been proffered a pipe of tobacco:--

(a) Bread and cheese, with ale and porter.

(b) A glass of whisky, with again bread and cheese.

(c) A glass of rum and biscuits.

(d) A glass of brandy and currant bun.

(e) Wine and shortbread (or burial bread).

It was not, be it mentioned in passing, a very unusual thing for some of the company to enter the barn again, and undertake the "services" a second time.

The natural consequence of all this is obvious, but to a certain extent the situation could be saved by the use of a private receptacle called the "droddy bottle," into which the liquor could be poured to be taken home, or at least carried outside. Before partaking of each individual "service" it was solemnised by the minister offering up an appropriate prayer, a clerical task which must have been trying in the extreme.

As instancing the prodigality of preparation in the way of food, notice may be taken of a funeral in the parish of Mochrum, where two bushels (160 lbs.) of shortbread were provided, and it is quite unnecessary to suggest that the supply of spirits would be in proportion.

The following account of funeral expenses, drawn from a Wigtownshire farmer's book of expenses in 1794, may here be included, as it affords an excellent illustration of how the expenses of an ordinary funeral were swelled by the amounts paid for alcoholic liquor:--

Mrs G.--One gallon brandy £0 18 0 15 gills gin 0 7 6 Six bottles of wine 0 17 0 One gallon rum 0 16 0 To the coffin 1 5 0 To the mort-cloath and grave digging 0 2 0 To bread 0 5 9 J. C. for biding and walking and other attendance 0 4 0 J. S. for whiskie and ale at sitting up 0 3 1

Of the expenses of funerals in a higher rank of life those incurred on the deaths of Grierson of Lag and his third son, John Grierson, afford full and interesting information. Mr John Grierson, third son of the Laird of Lag, died early in 1730, and to one Jean Scott the purveying of the meat and drink considered requisite for the friends attending the funeral was entrusted. The bill came to about £160 Scots. When the Laird himself died, on the last day of the year 1733, there was a repetition of the feasting and drinking at the house of the deceased, at the kirkyard, and at an adjoining house, which had evidently been requisitioned for the accommodation of several of the gentlemen, among whom were Lord Stormonth, Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, Maxwell of Carriel, and others who had come from a distance to assist. The account begins two days before the death of the Laird, and ends on January 14. In round figures the cost of the meat and drink consumed at the Laird's funeral came to £240 Scots.

The following are the detailed accounts:--(75)

ACCOTT. OF THE FFUNERALS OF MR JOHN GRIERSONE.

1730. To Jean Scott.

Feb. 23rd. 2 bottels clarit to these as set up all night wt ye corps £0 3 0

do. 1 bottel of brandy for do. 0 1 6

Feb. 24th. 1 bottel of clarit when the sear-cloath was put on 0 1 6

do. 1 bottel clarit when the grave-cloaths was put on 0 1 6

do. At the in-coffining where the ladys was, 1 bottel clarit, 2 bottels white wine, and 1 bottel Cannary 0 6 2

do. In the beg room wt the Gentelmen before the corps was transported--2 bottels white wine 0 3 0

do. When the company returned--10 bottels clarit 0 15 0

do. 2 bottels brandy for Gentelmen's Servts. 0 3 0

do. 2 bottels clarit to Sir Robert's Servts. 0 3 0