196 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith.
prisoners, who were praying intently, when Sir
Adolphus Oughton stepped forward, and, displaying
pardons, exclaimed, c( Recover arms.?
?? Soldiers,? he added, ?? in consequence of the
distinguished valour of the Royal Highlanders, to
which two of these unfortunates belong, his Majesty
has been graciously pleased to forgive them all.?
So solemn and affecting was the scene that the
prisoners were incapable of speech. Reverently
lifting their bonnets, they endeavoured to express
engaged in commercial speculations by which he
realised a considerable sum of money, and adopting
the cause of the revolted colonists in America, was
appointed first lieutenant of the Ayred, on board
of which, to use his own words, ?he had the
honour to hoist with his own hands the flag of
freedom, the first time it was displayed in the
Delaware.? After much fighting in many waters,
he obtained from the French Government command
of the Dztras, a 42-gun ship, which he named
ST. NINIAN?S CHURCH.
their gratitude, but their voices failed them, and,
overcome by weakness and the revulsion of feeling,
the soldier of the 7 1st sank prostrate on the ground.
More than forty of their comrades who were shot,
or had died of mortal wounds, were interred in the
old churchyard of St. Mary?s at Leith, and a huge
grassy mound long marked the place of their last
repose.
The next source of consternation in Leith was
the appearance of the noted Paul Jones, with his
squadron, in the Firth in the September of the
same year.
This adventurer, whose real name was John Paul,
son of a gardener in Kirkcudbright, became a seaman.
about 1760, and as master and supercargo
lk Ban Honime Rich~d, and leaving St. Croix
with a squadron of seven sail (four of which deserted
him on the way), he appeared off Leith with
three, including the Pallas and the Vengeance. It
was on the 16th of September that they were seen
working up the Firth by long tacks, against astormy
westerly breeze, but fully expecting, as he states,
?to raise a contribution of ~zoo,ooo sterling on
Leith, where there was no battery of cannon to
oppose our landing.?
Terror and confusion reigned supreme in Leith,
yet, true to their old instincts, the people made
some attempt to defend themselves. Three ancient
pieces of cannon, which had long been in
what was called the Naval Yard, drawn by sailors