had to this time, from time immemorial, hung on an ash-tree, was one
stormy night cast down by the breaking of the branch, which was the
cause of the heritors agreeing to build the steeple. The clock was
a mortification to the parish from the Lady Breadland, when she died
some years after.



CHAPTER VII YEAR 1766



It was in this Ann. Dom. that the great calamity happened, the which
took place on a Sabbath evening in the month of February. Mrs
Balwhidder had just infused or masket the tea, and we were set round
the fireside, to spend the night in an orderly and religious manner,
along with Mr and Mrs Petticrew, who were on a friendly visitation
to the manse, the mistress being full cousin to Mrs Balwhidder.--
Sitting, as I was saying, at our tea, one of the servant lasses came
into the room with a sort of a panic laugh, and said, "What are ye
all doing there when the Breadland's in a low?"--"The Breadland in a
low!" cried I.--"Oh, ay!" cried she; "bleezing at the windows and
the rigging, and out at the lum, like a killogie." Upon the which,
we all went to the door, and there, to be sure, we did see that the
Breadland was burning, the flames crackling high out o'er the trees,
and the sparks flying like a comet's tail in the firmament.

Seeing this sight, I said to Mr Petticrew, that, in the strength of
the Lord, I would go and see what could be done, for it was as plain
as the sun in the heavens that the ancient place of the Breadlands