126 BI 0 GRAPH I CA L S KET C HE S.
who had sat in the former Parliament.’ He was again returned for the
same county in 1784, but “vacated his seat in 1789, by accephg the office
of Inspector of Military Roads ; the duties of which he performed for some
years with assiduity, travelling on foot over extensive tracts of rugged ground
in the Highlands, for the purpose of ascertaining the proper courses for the
roads, to the great advantage of the public, by rendering the lines shorter, and
avoiding the expense of several bridges deemed necessary under the former
plans.”
On the declaration of war by the French Convention against Great Britain
and Holland, in 1793, seven regiments of Fencibles were ordered to be raised in
Scotland for the internal defence of the country. One of these, the West Lowland
Fencibles, being under the immediate patronage of the Eglinton and Coilsfield
families, Major Montgomerie was appointed Colonel, Glasgow was fixed
as the head-quarters of this regiment. The Colonel lost no time in beating up
for recruits throughout the west country, and especially in Ayrshire, where he
was eminently successful. At the village of Tarbolton alone, in the immediate
neighbourhood of his paternal seat of Coilsfield, a company of volunteers were
soon congregated ; and the circumstance of their departure for head-quarters is
still remembered as a day of note in the annals of the village.8 In the morning
On this occasion an expedient was resorted to by the candidates, in order to prevent their friends
among the freeholders, who might have troublesome creditors, from being laid hold of at the critical
moment of election. The advertisement, which appeared in the newspapers of the day, ia as
follows :-“In order to prevent vexations diligences being used against individuals in the shire of
Ayr, by attacking the electors of either party, at the eve of the Michaelmas Head Court, or upon
the day of election, in hopes of that critical period to recover payment, Sir Adam Fergusson and
Major Montgomerie, the two candidates, hare agreed that, in the event of any of the friends of
either party being attacked, a real voter present, in the interest of the opposite party, shall retire
out of Court ; which renders it vain for any person to think they shall have a better chance of recovering
payment, by using rash means, at this particular time.”
a Douglas’s Peerage, by Wood.
Among others who “followed to the field” was an eccentric personage of the name of Tait.
He was a tailor, and in stature somewhat beneath the military standard ; but he was a poet, and
zealous in the cause of loyalty, He had sung the deeds of the Montgomeries in many a couplet ;
and, having animated the villagers with his loyal strains, resolsed, like a second Tyrtsus, to
encourage his companions at arms to victory by the fire and vigour of his verses. It is said he
could not write, nevertheless he actually published a small volume of poems. These have long ago
sunk into oblivion. He was a bachelor ; and,
like a true son of genius, occupied an attic of very small dimensions. At the “June fair,” when
the village waa crowded, Saunders, by a tolerated infringement of the excise laws, annually converted
hi8 “ poet’s corner” into a temple for the worship of Bacchus, and became publican in a small way.
He was himself the presiding genius, and his apartment was always well frequented, especially by
the younger portion of the country people, who were amused with his oddities. He sang with
peculiar animation ; and failed not to give due recitative effect to the more lengthy productions of
his muse :-it might he in celebration of a honspiel, in which the curlers of Tarbolton had been
victorious over those of the parish of Stair-of a love-match-or such other local matter calculated
to interest his rustic hearers ; by whom his poems were highly applauded 89 being “unco wee1 put
thegither.” One in particular, on In.
Alexander of Ballochmyle, ww much talked of, probably from the circumstance of the lady having
condeacended to patronise the village laureate, by requesting his attendance at Ballochmyle, where
he recited the piece-was rewarded-and afterwards continued to be a privileged frequenter of the
hall. He was, no
Still I ‘ Sawney Tait the tailor ” is well remembered.
Some of his songs obtained a temporary popularity.
Poor Smmders, unluckily, waa more in repute for his songs than his needle.
