Agnews of Lochnaw

460 LAYING A GHOST. [ l ^>97-
hear the laugh against himself redoubled as the ghost maliciously
exclaimed, " Ha ! ha ! I hae gotten the minister to tell a lee !"
The farmer's family were now worse off than ever. The
spinner's threads were broken short off; peat clots fell into the
porridge, and various unsavoury materials were thrown into the
kail-pot ; when, after many years of trouble, a young man, named
Marshall, was ordained to the parish of Kirkcolm. He volunteered
to try a bout with the Galdenoch ghost, and a large company
assembled to assist ; the minister hung up his hat, gave out a
psalm, and led off the tune of Bangor. The ghost sang too ;
the company endeavoured to drown his voice, but failed ; the
fiend sang long and loud, and all had ceased but the minister,
whose voice rose to a louder and louder pitch as he kept up
the strains alone until the " witching hour." He called upon the
wearied congregation to join him once more ! a burst of psalmody
was the response ; and Bangor, loud if not melodious, resounded
through the castle-walls. Again all ceased, exhausted, but
Marshall, who in stentorian tones undauntedly held on. Faint
gleams of light streaked the eastern horizon, when an unearthly
voice, husky and weak, whined, " Boar awa, Marshall, I can
roar nae mair!" Marshall still continued, determined to make
assurance doubly sure ; but again that hollow voice sobbed forth,
"I roar nae mair;" and true enough, the ghost kept his word,
and was never heard again.
On this story Mr. Marshall has risen to fame ; few of his pre-
decessors are remembered, but his name survives inseparably
connected in Gallovidian lore with the ghost of Galdenoch. He
was one of those who could make himself heard of in the world ;
for we have been assured, that when he preached on the Green
at the Stewarton of Kirkcolm, he could, on a calm day, be heard
distinctly across Lochryan at the Cairn.
The social status of the parish ministers of Galloway had
then much declined since the days of Livingstone and Adair ;
and their conduct — as shown by the church-records of this period
— contrasts badly with that of their predecessors, during the
sterner period of the persecutions.