Biggar and the House of Fleming

BIGGAR BURN. 89
ance was most singular. She had a wild and excited expres-
sion of countenance. She was commonly dressed in a dark
cotton gown, or in a blue flannel petticoat and jupe, or short-
gown, and wore on her head a plain mutch or " toy," as it
was here called, while on one shoulder hung a plaid ; and in
her left hand she invariably held an old tobacco pipe and a
tattered Bible, which she frequently kissed or held to her
breast. She was fastened by the leg with a strong iron chain,
to prevent her from making her escape, and committing in-
jury on the persons and property of the inhabitants. Her
language was rambling and incoherent, and largely interlarded
with snatches of songs, texts of Scripture, and the names of
persons with whom she had been acquainted. At times it
was uttered in a low and subdued tone, and all of a sudden it
was jDOured forth with a vehemence and excitement that made
all the neighbourhood re-echo. She was somewhat outrageous.
She would heave the parritch cog, the frying-pan, and other
utensils in which she received her food, over the top of the
adjacent houses, and assail persons who came near her with
sticks and stones. When she broke her chain, or contrived
to slip it off her leg, she commonly ran to the Relief Manse,
erected on the site of her father's cottage ; and there broke
the windows, or pulled up the bushes or plants in the
garden. She was thus a great terror to the juvenile popula-
tion ; and when the cry arose, " Jenny's loose," every boy
and girl made speedily to a place of protection.
Her father, surnamed the " Whistling Laird," was a singu-
lar sort of a man. In his early days he had spent some time
in North America, and had there acquired a habit of making
various articles of domestic use. In the side of a brae, near
the place at which his daughter's hut stood, he erected a
curious and primitive-looking building of stones, turf, and
wood, and covered it with a roof composed partly of paper
and pitch, and hence it was commonly known by the name of
the " Castle o' Clouts." He made the whole of his own
clothes, including his shoes and leathern cap ; and he pro-
duced some rare pieces of joiner's work, in the shape of carts,
wheelbarrows, &c. His first wife, Isabella Vallance, died
early ; and, during the war in Spain, he married a woman
commonly called "Jock's Jenny," who had been previously