Agnews of Lochnaw

88 VARIOUS DUTIES OF A SHERIFF. [ 1 45 71
High and low alike offended : —
" Ye wantoun ladyis, and burgis wyvis,
That now for sydest taillis styvis ;
Flappand the filth amang your feit,
Raising the dust into the streit." 1
This Parliament did all that men could do, but the ladies
would not submit to have their " waist clothing" interfered with
by the Sheriff ; — despite senators and satirists, they carried when
it so pleased them
" Sic fartingaills on flaggs 2 as fat as whals, -
Facit like fules with hats that little avails ;" 3
and still, alas ! as in the days of good Dunbar,
" The dust upskaillis mony a fillok." 3
An Act prescribing that the sheriff shall " hut " have the best
ox and unridclen horse that comes to every fair, confirms a pri-
vilege which must have been open to the greatest possible abuse,
and afforded a means for constant extortion. How such a duty
was to be levied with any degree of fairness, it is impossible to
conceive. Another Act suggests the dictation of teetotal dele-
gates, " that na man cum to courtes hut in soher ivise ;" upon
reading further however it appears that it was not hot toddy
but cold steel that was dreaded. " The sheriff is to allow no man
to come to his courts with more than his usual retinue, and
when they puts up their horses at the inn, they are to lay aside
their arms and armour, and use na weapons for that time hot
his knife." It is to be presumed, though it is not so expressed,
that the knife was to be used solely for attack upon his bread
and cheese, and not upon his neighbour !
Many of these old laws suggest a train of interesting reflec-
tions. As, for instance, 4 " The sheriff shall gather the country folk
three times in the year between St. Mark's day and Lammas,/or
that is the time of the Quhelpes, to hunt the woolfes, and any
who refuse to accompany the sheriff, the baillie, or the baron,
shall pay unforgiven a wether ; and gif any woolfe happens to
come in the country that wit he gotten of the country shall be
1 The Monarchic— Lyndsay. 2 Flanks. 3 Dunbar. 4 Act of 1457.