Grampian Club > Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland > Volume 1

396 AYRSHIRE,
PAEISH or MAUCHLTNE.
On the green at Town-head a tombstone commemorates five
martyrs for the Covenant, viz., Peter Gillies, John Bryce, Thomas
Young, William Fiddison, and John Bruning, who, without trial,
were hanged by the Commissioners of James VII. The tombstone
bore these lines : —
" Bloody Dumbarton, Douglas and Dundee,
Moved by the Devil and the Laird of Lee,
Dragged these five men to death with gun and sword.
Not suffering them to pray nor read God's word;
Owning the work of God was all their crime,
The eighty-five was a saint-killing time."
A more imposing monument in honour of the five sufferers was
by public subscription reared in 1830.
A tombstoue denotes the grave of the Eev. William Auld,
minister of the parish, who died on the 12th December, 1791, in
his eighty-third year, and fiftieth of his ministry. Mr. Auld, who
was a conscientious clergyman, is mentioned in the poetry of
Burns.
PAEISH OF MAYBOLE.
The collegiate church, now in ruins, is used as a burying-place
of the noble family of Cassilis, represented by the Marquis of
Ailsa.
The following inscriptions are from tombstones in the old church-
yard : —
" How vain are all things here below !
How false, and yet how fair !
Each pleasure has its poison too,
And everv SM'eet a snare."