the burning of witches. One of my ancient kinswomen, Elspeth Naesmyth,
who lived at Hamilton, was denounced as a witch. The chief evidence
brought against her was that she kept four black cats, and read her
Bible with two pairs of spectacles! a practice which shows that she
possessed the spirit of an experimental philosopher.

In doing this she adopted a mode of supplementing the power of
spectacles in restoring the receding power of the eyes. She was in all
respects scientifically correct. She increased the magnifying power of
the glasses; a practice which is preferable to using single glasses of
the same power, and which I myself often follow. Notwithstanding this
improved method of reading her Bible, and her four black cats, she was
condemned to be burned alive! She was about the last victim in
Scotland to the disgraceful superstition of witchcraft.

The Naesmyths of Netherton having lost their ancestral property, had to
begin the world again. They had to begin at the beginning.
But they had plenty of pluck and energy. I go back to my
great-great-grandfather, Michael Naesmyth, who was born in 1652.
He occupied a house in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh, which was afterwards
rebuilt, in 1696. His business was that of a builder and architect.
His chief employment was in designing and erecting new mansions,
principally for the landed gentry and nobility. Their old castellated
houses or towers were found too dark and dreary for modern uses.
The drawbridges were taken down, and the moats were filled up.
Sometimes they built the new mansions as an addition to the old.
But oftener they left the old castles to go to ruin; or, what was
worse, they made use of the stone and other materials of the old
romantic buildings for the construction of their new residences.