head,? and without the aid of which he could perform
nothing, was cast in also, and it was remarked
by the spectators that it gave extraordinary twistings
and dthings, and was as long in burning as
the major himself. The place where he perished
was at Greenside, on the sloping bank, whereon,
in 1846, was erected the new church, so called.
If this man was not mad, he certainly was a
singular paradox in human nature, and one of a
TRINITY CHURCH AND HOSPITAL, AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. (From Curdon of Rothiemas Map.)
57, Halkerston?s Wynd ; 58, Leith Wynd ; 6. St. Ringan?s Suburbs, or the Beggar Row ; 27, the North Craigs, or h?eil?s Craigs ; 24, the
Correction House ; p, the Colh qe Kirk ; i, Trinity Hospital j i, Leith Wynd Port ; s. St. Paul?s Work.
ing to the Tolbooth from Greenside, she would not
believe that her brother had been burned till toldthat
it had perished too ; ? whereupon, notwithstanding
her age, she nimbly, and in a furious rage, fell upon
her knees, uttering words horrible to be remembered.?
She assured her hearers that her mother
had been a witch, and that when the mark of a
horse-shoe-a mark which she herself displayedcame
on the forehead of the old woman, she could
kind somewhat uncommon-outwardly he exhibited tell of events then happening at any distance, and
the highest strain of moral sentiment for years, and to her ravings in the Tolbooth must some of the
duringall that time had been secretly addicted to
every degrading propensity ; till evenhially, unable
to endure longer the sense of secret guilt and
hypocrisy, With the terrors of sickness and age
upon him, and death seeming nezr, he made a
confession which some at first believed, and on
that confession alone was sentenced to die.
If Weir was not mad, the ideas and confessions
of his sister show that she undoubtedly was. She
evidently believed that her brothefs stick was
one possessed of no ordinav power. Professor
Sinclair tells us, that on one of the ministers returndarkest
traditions of the West Bow be assigned.
She confessed that she was a sorceress, and
among other incredible things, said that many years
before a fiery chariot, unseen by others, came to
her brother?s house in open day j a stranger invited
them to enter, and they proceeded to Dalkeith.
While on the road another stranger came, and
whispered something in the ear of her brother, who
became visibly affected ; and this intelligence was
tidings of the defeat of the Scottisl army, that very
day, at Worcester. She stated, tow, that a dweller
in Dalkeith had a familiar spirit, who span for her
