Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

HADDINGTON.
727
dun that Stirling, Roxburgh, Lanark, Perth, Forfar,
Montrose, and Aberdeen, were all burnt at the same
time as Haddington, we ean hardly believe — though
several historians concur in telling us so — that Had-
dington, on this occasion, owed its conflagration to
accident. The town, though formally demanded, in
1293, by Edward I., of John Baliol, does not seem
to have suffered much from the wars of the succes-
sion. In 1355-6, Edward III., in revenge of the
seizure of Berwick by the Scottish troops during
his absence in France, making a devastating incur-
sion over the whole country south of Edinburgh,
Haddington fell a prey to his fury, and was a third
time reduced to ashes. This disaster happening about
the beginning of February, it was many years after-
wards remembered by the name of ' the burnt Candle-
mas.' In April 1548, the year after the fatal battle
of Pinkie, the English, under Lord Grey, took pos-
session of Haddington, fortified it, and left in it a
garrison of 2,000 foot and 500 horse, under Sir John
^yilford. The Scots were, at the time, so much
dispirited, that this garrison ravaged the country to
the very gates of Edinburgh. But Andrew de Mont-
alembert, Sieur D'Esse, the French general, having
landed at Leith on the 16th of June, at the head of
6,000 foreign troops, composed of French, Germans,
and Italians, in concert with a force of 5,000 Scots
troops, under Arran, drove the English within the for-
tifications, and laid siege to the town. Wilford, the
governor, made a gallant defence, and even so out-
manoeuvred the Frenchman's activity, as, in spite of
him, to receive into the town from Berwick a rein-
forcement of men and a supply of provisions. While
D'Esse maintained the siege, and environed the Cis-
tertian nunnery at the village of Abbey with his
camp, the meeting of the Estates of parliament in
that edifice, which we noticed in our ecclesiastical
sketch of the parish, took place on 17th July. As
the siege of Haddington continued, and both attack
and defence grew increasingly spirited, the vicinity
became the principal theatre of war between the
two nations. Sir Thomas Palmer, at the head of
] ,500 horse, made an attempt to throw supplies into
the town ; but was repulsed, with the loss of 400
prisoners. Admiral Lord Clinton, brother of Somer-
set the protector of England, was now directed to
draw the attention of the Scots from the siege
by menacing their coasts ; while Talbot, Earl of
Shrewsbury, was sent to reinforce and conquer at
the head of 22,000 men. The admiral, though
repulsed at different points where he attempted
a landing, achieved his main object of distract-
ing the attention-of the besiegers of Haddington;
while the Earl of Shrewsbury raised the siege, sup-
plied the garrison with every necessary and an addi-
tional force of 400 horse, and then marched to Mus-
selburgh to look into mtrenchments which D'Esse
had suddenly thrown up for his army. But he in
vain attempted to draw the wary Frenchman from
his camp; and becoming tired of his sentinelry,
marched off with his troops, burned Dunbar and
other places in his route, and departed into England.
D'Esse now resolved to attempt Haddington by a
coup tie main. The enterprise was conducted with
so much secrecy and adroitness, that the English
advanced guards were slain, and the bas court before
the east gate was gained, before the garrison was
alarmed. The assailants were employed in breaking
open this gate, when a soldier — who a few days
before had deserted from D'Esse's camp — fired upon
them a piece of artillery which killed many of them
and threw the rest into confusion; while a party
sallied out through a private postern, and made such
a furious onset with spears and swords that few of
the assailants who had entered the bas court escaped
slaughter. D'Esse, in June 1549, was succeeded
in the command of the foreign auxiliaries, and in
the prosecution of measures for the capture of Had-
dington, by the Chevalier De Thermes, who brought
over with him from France a reinforcement of 1,000
foot, 100 cuirassiers, and 200 horse. His first act
was to build a fort at the sea-port of Aberlady,
to straiten the garrison by cutting off from them
all supplies by sea. "Wilford, reduced to extremity
from want of provisions, and informed that a sup-
ply had arrived at Dunbar, marched out at the
head of a strong detachment, in order, if possi-
ble, to cut his way to the supply and convey it to
Haddington ; but he was attacked by a large body
of the French troops, overpowered by numbers, and,
after an obstinate resistance, during which most of
his detachment were hewn down, was taken prisoner.
The English now found the tenure of Haddington
impracticable, on account at once of the distant and
inland situation of the town, of the determination of
the French commander at all hazards and at any cost
to take it, and of the appearance among the garrison
of that fell and insidious and inconquerable foe, the
plague; and they resolved to contend no longer for
its possession. The Earl of Rutland determined,
however, that neither soldiers nor military stores
should fall into the hands of the Scots or their auxi-
liaries; and, marching into Scotland at the head of
6,000 men, he entered Haddington in the night, and,
on the 1st of October, 1549, safely conducted all the
soldiers and artillery to Berwick. Of the fortifica-
tions of Haddington not a vestige now remains, ex-
cept a few portions of the old town- wall.*
In 1598, Haddington was a fourth time consumed
by fire. The calamity is said to have been occa-
sioned by the imprudence of a maid-servant, in plac-
ing a screen covered with clothes too near the fire
of a room during night. In commemoration of the
event, and as a means of preventing its recurrence,
the magistrates made a law, that a crier should go
along the streets of the town every evening during
the winter months, and, after tolling a bell, recite
some admonitory rhymes. This unusual ceremony
got the name of " Coal an' can'le;" and either is, or
very recently was, still observed. The rhymes re-
cited are sufficiently rude; but, in connexion with
the fact of Haddington having so often and severely
suffered from fire, they are not without interest, and
we accordingly quote them below, f
* A French officer who was present, has left us a minute
account of the operations of this siego, and the following de-
scription of the fort; " Le plant du fort d'Editnlon est tout
quarre, et assis an milieu d'une plaine raze et basse, ii'ayant
montagne ne colliue qui lui puisse commander. II est clns u'un
large fosse a foods de curr, et d'une lionne et forte courtine de
gazons de groste terre, reparee de sparieux rempars, et appro-
priee de bons et 6eurs parapets ; aux quatre coins de la cpn'lle
sont assis quatre fors boulevards," &c. It appears from what
follows in the same author, that the fort u-as surrounded by a
deep ditclt, behind the rampart of the first wall, lined with a
strong curtain, and case-matted. The French general ad-
vanced his lines so near the fort, tiiat his men were often
knocked down by pieces of lead fixed to strings which the be-
Bieged held in their hands.
f " A' guid men's servants where'er ye be,
Keep coal an' can'le for charitie!
Baith in your kitchen an' your ha'.
Keep weel your fires whate'er hefa' !
In bakehouse, brewhouse, barn, and byre,
I warn ye a' keep weel your tire .'
For often times a little spark
Brings mony hands to mickle work !
Ye nourrices that hae bairns to keep,
See that ye fa 1 nae o'er sound asleep,
For losing o' your guid reiiouu.
An 1 banishing o' this barrous toun !
Tis for your sakes that I do cry :
Talc' warning by your neighbours bye !"
It is not long since a somewhat similar expedient was re.
sorted to by the magisterial authorities of Canton. Instead,
however, of chaunting a poetical warning after the fall of night,
these magnates of the Celestial empire caused a square board
tu be attached to the upper part of a pule, so that a man or boy