with the great scottish prisons at perth, valleyfield, and edinburgh i have dealt elsewhere, and it is with very particular pleasure that i shall now treat of the experiences of prisoners in the parole towns of scotland, for the reason that, almost without exception, our involuntary visitors seem to have been treated with a kindness and forbearance not generally characteristic of the reception they had south of the tweed, although of course there were exceptions.
as we shall see, sir walter scott took kindly notice of the foreigners quartered in his neighbourhood, but that he never lost sight of the fact that they were foreigners and warriors is evident from the following letter to lady abercorn, dated may 3, 1812:
‘i am very apprehensive of the consequences of a scarcity at this moment, especially from the multitude of french prisoners who are scattered through the small towns in this country; as i think, very improvidently. as the peace of this county is intrusted to me, i thought it necessary to state to the justice clerk that the arms of the local militia were kept without any guard in a warehouse in kelso; that there was nothing to prevent the prisoners there, at selkirk, and at jedburgh, from joining any one night, and making themselves masters of this dép?t: that the sheriffs of roxburgh and selkirk, in order to put down such a commotion, could only command about three troops of yeomanry to be collected from a great distance, and these were to attack about 500 disciplined men, who, in the event supposed, would be fully provided with arms and ammunition, and might, if any alarm should occasion the small number of troops now at berwick to be withdrawn, make themselves masters of that sea-port, the fortifications of which, although ruinous, would serve to defend them until cannon was brought against them.’
the scottish towns where prisoners of war on parole were quartered, of which i have been able to get information, are 317cupar, kelso, selkirk, peebles, sanquhar, dumfries, melrose, jedburgh, hawick, and lauder.
by the kind permission of mrs. keddie (‘sarah tytler’) i am able to give very interesting extracts from her book, three generations: the story of a middle-class scottish family, referring to the residence of the prisoners at cupar, and the friendly intercourse between them and mrs. keddie’s grandfather, mr. henry gibb, of balass, cupar.
‘certainly the foreign officers were made curiously welcome in the country town, which their presence seemed to enliven rather than to offend. the strangers’ courageous endurance, their perennial cheerfulness, their ingenious devices to occupy their time and improve the situation, aroused much friendly interest and amusement. the position must have been rendered more bearable to the sufferers, and perhaps more respectable in the eyes of the spectators, from the fact, for which i am not able to account, that, undoubtedly, the prisoners had among themselves, individually and collectively, considerable funds.
‘the residents treated the jetsam and flotsam of war with more than forbearance, with genuine liberality and kindness, receiving them into their houses on cordial terms. soon there was not a festivity in the town at which the french prisoners were not permitted—nay, heartily pressed to attend. how the complacent guests viewed those rejoicings in which the natives, as they frequently did, commemorated british victories over the enemy is not on record.
‘but there was no thought of war and its fierce passions among the youth of the company in the simple dinners, suppers, and carpet-dances in private houses. there were congratulations on the abundance of pleasant partners, and the assurance that no girl need now sit out a dance or lack an escort if her home was within a certain limited distance beyond which the prisoners were not at liberty to stray.
‘i have heard my mother and a cousin of hers dwell on the courtesy and agreeableness of the outlanders—what good dancers, what excellent company, as the country girls’ escorts.... as was almost inevitable, the natural result of such intimacy followed, whether or not it was acceptable to the open-hearted entertainers. love and marriage ensued between the youngsters, the vanquished and the victors. a colonel, who was one of the band, married a daughter of the episcopal clergyman in the town, and i am aware of at least two more weddings which eventually took place between the strangers 318and the inhabitants. (these occurred at the end of the prisoners’ stay.)’
balass, where the gibbs lived, was within parole limits. one day gibb asked the whole lot of the prisoners to breakfast, and forgot to tell mrs. gibb that he had done so.
‘happily she was a woman endowed with tranquillity of temper, while the ample resources of an old bountiful farmhouse were speedily brought to bear on the situation, dispensed as they were by the fair and capable henchwomen who relieved the mistress of the house of the more arduous of her duties. there was no disappointment in store for the patient, ingenious gentlemen who were wont to edify and divert their nominal enemy by making small excursions into the fields to snare larks for their private breakfast-tables.
‘another generous invitation of my grandfather’s ran a narrow risk of having a tragic end. not all his sense of the obligation of a host nor his compassion for the misfortunes of a gallant foe could at times restrain race antagonism, and his intense mortification at any occurrence which would savour of national discomfiture. once, in entertaining some of these foreign officers, among whom was a ma?tre d’armes, harry gibb was foolish enough to propose a bout of fencing with the expert. it goes without saying that within the first few minutes the yeoman’s sword was dexterously knocked out of his hand.... every other consideration went down before the deadly insult. in less time than it takes to tell the story the play became grim earnest. my grandfather turned his fists on the other combatant, taken unawares and not prepared for the attack, sprang like a wild-cat at his throat, and, if the bystanders had not interposed and separated the pair, murder might have been committed under his own roof by the kindest-hearted man in the countryside.’
this increasing intimacy between the prisoners and the inhabitants displeased the government, and the crisis came when, in return for the kindness shown them, the prisoners determined to erect a theatre:
‘the french prisoners were suffered to play only once in their theatre, and then the rout came for them. amidst loud and sincere lamentation from all concerned, the officers were summarily removed in a body, and deposited in a town at some distance ... from their former guardians. as a final gage d’amitié ... the owners of the theatre left it a a gift to the town.’
319later—in the ‘thirties—this theatre was annexed to the grammar school to make extra class-rooms, for it was an age when scotland was opposed to theatres.
kelso[14]
for some of the following notes, i am indebted to the late mr. macbeth forbes, who helped me notably elsewhere, and who kindly gave me permission to use them.
some of the prisoners on parole at kelso were sailors, but the majority were soldiers from spain, portugal, and the west indies, and about twenty sicilians. the inhabitants gave them a warm welcome, hospitably entertained them, and in return the prisoners, many of whom were men of means, gave balls at the inns—the only establishments in these pre-parish hall days where accommodation for large parties could be had—at which they appeared gaily attired with wondrous frills to their shirts, and white stockings.
‘the time of their stay’, says mr. forbes, ‘was the gayest that kelso had ever seen since fatal flodden.’
here as elsewhere there were artists among them who painted miniatures and landscapes and gave lessons, plaiters of straw and manufacturers of curious beautiful articles in coloured straw, wood-carvers, botanists, and fishermen. these last, it is said, first introduced the sport of catching fish through holes in the ice in mid-winter. billiards, also, are said to have been introduced into scotland by the prisoners. they mostly did their own cooking, and it is noted that they spoiled some of the landladies’ tables by chopping up frogs for fricassees. they bought up the old kelso ‘theatre’, the occasional scene of action for wandering thespians, which was in a close off the horse-market, rebuilt and decorated it, some of the latter work still being visible in the ceiling of the ironmongery store of to-day. one difficulty was the very scanty dressing accommodation, so the actors often dressed at home, and their passage therefrom to the theatre in all sorts of garbs was a grand opportunity for the gibes of the youth of kelso. kelso was 320nothing if not ‘proper’, so that when upon one occasion the postmistress, a married woman, was seen accompanying a fantastically arrayed prisoner-actor to the theatre from his lodging, mrs. grundy had much to say for some time. on special occasions, such as when the french play was patronized by a local grandee like the duchess of roxburgh, the streets were carpeted with red cloth.
brément, a privateer officer, advertised: ‘mr. brément, professor of belles-lettres and french prisoner of war, respectfully informs the ladies and gentlemen of kelso that he teaches the french and latin languages. apply for terms at mrs. matheson’s, near the market place.’ he is said to have done well.
many of the privateersmen spoke english, as might be expected from their constant intercourse with men and places in the channel.
one prisoner here was suspected of being concerned with the manufacture of forged bank-notes, so rife at this time in scotland, as he ordered of archibald rutherford, stationer, paper of a particular character of which he left a pattern.
escapes were not very frequent. on july 25, 1811, surgeon-major violland, of the hebe corvette, escaped. so did ensign parnagan, of the hautpol privateer, on august 5, and on 23rd of the same month lieutenant rossignol got away. on november 11 one bouchart escaped, and in june 1812 lieutenant anglade was missing, and a year later several got off, assisted, it was said, by an american, who was arrested.
in november 1811 the removal of all ‘midshipmen’ to valleyfield, which was ordered at all scottish parole towns, took place from kelso.
lieutenant journeil, of the 27th regiment, committed suicide in september 1812 by swallowing sulphuric acid. he is said to have become insane from home-sickness. he was buried at the knowes, just outside the churchyard, it being unconsecrated ground.
a captain levasseur married an aunt of sir george harrison, m.p., a former provost of edinburgh, and the levasseurs still keep up correspondence with scotland.
on may 24, 1814, the prisoners began to leave, and by the 321middle of june all had gone. the kelso mail said that ‘their deportment had been uniformly conciliatory and respectable’.
in fullarton’s imperial gazetteer of scotland we read that:
‘from november 1810 to june 1814, kelso was the abode of a body, never more than 230 in number, of foreign prisoners of war, who, to a very noticeable degree, inoculated the place with their fashionable follies, and even, in some instances tainted it with their laxity of morals.’
another account says:
‘their stay here seems to have been quiet and happy, although one man committed suicide. they carried on the usual manufactures in wood and bone and basket work; gave performances in the local theatre, which was decorated by them; were variously employed by local people, one man devoting his time to the tracking and snaring of a rare bird which arrived during severe weather.’
rutherford’s southern counties register and directory for 1866 says:
‘the older inhabitants of kelso remember the french prisoners of war quartered here as possessed of many amiable qualities, of which “great mannerliness” and buoyancy of spirits, in many instances under the depressing effects of great poverty, were the most conspicuous of their peculiarities; the most singular to the natives of kelso was their habit of gathering for use different kinds of wild weeds by the road side, and hedge-roots, and killing small birds to eat—the latter a practise considered not much removed from cannibalism. that they were frivolous we will admit, as many of them wore ear-rings, and one, a pole, had a ring to his nose; while all were boyishly fond of amusement, and were merry, good-natured creatures.’
one memorable outbreak of these spirits is recorded in the kelso mail of january 30, 1812:
‘in consequence of certain riotous proceedings which took place in this town near the east end of the horn market on christmas last, by which the peace of the neighbourhood was very much disturbed, an investigation of the circumstances took place before our respectable magistrate, bailie smith. from this it appeared that several of the french prisoners of war here on parole had been dining together on christmas day, and that a part of them were engaged in the riotous proceedings.’
these ‘riotous proceedings’ are said to have amounted to 322little more than a more or less irregular arm-in-arm procession down the street to the accompaniment of lively choruses. however, the agent reported it to the transport office, who ordered each prisoner to pay ￡1 1s. fine, to be deducted from their allowance. the account winds up:
‘it is only an act of justice, however, to add that in so far as we have heard, the conduct of the french prisoners here on parole has been regular and inoffensive.’
on the anniversary of st. andrew in 1810, the kelso lodge of freemasons was favoured with a visit from several french officers, prisoners of war, at present resident in the town. the right worshipful in addressing them, expressed the wishes of himself and the brethren to do everything in their power to promote the comfort and happiness of the exiles. after which he proposed the health of the brethren who were strangers in a foreign land, which was drunk with enthusiastic applause.
there is frequent mention of their appearance at masonic meetings, when the ‘harmony was greatly increased by the polite manners and the vocal power of our french brethren’.
there are a great many of their signatures on the parchment to which all strangers had to subscribe their names by order of the grand lodge.[15]
the only war-prisoner relics in the museum are some swords.
i have to thank sir george douglas for the following interesting letters from french prisoners in kelso.
the first is in odd latin, the second in fair english, the third in french. the two latter i am glad to give as additional testimonies to the kindly treatment of the enforced exiles amongst us.
the first is as follows:
‘kelso: die duodecima mensis augusti anni 1811.
‘honorifice praefecte:
‘monitum te facio, hoc mane, die duodecima mensis augusti, hora decima et semi, per vicum transeuntem vestimenta mea omnino malefacta fuisse cum aqua tam foetida ac mulier quae jactavit illam.
‘noxia mulier quae vestimenta mea, conceptis verbis, abluere 323noluit, culpam insulsitate cumulando, uxor est domino wm. stuart lanio [butcher?]
‘ut persuasum mihi est hanc civitatem optimis legibus nimis constitutam esse ut ille eventus impunitus feratur, de illo certiorem te facio, magnifice praefecte, ut similis casus iterum non renovetur erga captivos gallos, quorum tu es curator, et, occurente occasione, defensor.
‘quandoquidem aequitas tua non mihi soli sed cunctis plane nota est, spe magna nitor te jus dicturam expostulationi meae, cogendo praedictam mulierem et quamprimum laventur vestimenta mea. in ista expectatione gratam habeas salutationem illius qui mancipio et nexo, honoratissime praefecte, tuus est.
‘matrien.
‘honorato, honoratissimo domino smith,
‘captivorum gallorum praefecto. kelso.’
the gist of the above being that mrs. stuart threw dirty water over m. matrien as he passed along the street in kelso, and he demands her punishment and the cleansing of his clothes.
the second letter runs:
‘paris, on the 6th day of may, 1817.
‘dear sir,
‘i have since i left kelso wrote many letters to my scots friends, but i have been unfortunate enough to receive no answer. the wandering life i have led during four years is, without doubt, the cause of that silence, for my friends have been so good to me that i cannot imagine they have entirely forgotten me. in all my letters my heart has endeavoured to prove how thankful i was, but my gratitude is of that kind that one may feel but cannot express. pray, my good sir, if you remember yet your prisonner, be so kind as to let him have a few lignes from you and all news about all his old good friends.
‘the difficulty which i have to express myself in your tongue, and the countryman of yours who is to take my letter, compel me to end sooner than i wish, but if expressions want to my mouth, be assure in revange that my heart shall always be full of all those feelings which you deserve so rightly.
‘farewell, i wish you all kind of happiness.
‘your friend for ever,
‘le chevalier lebas de ste. croix.
‘my direction: à monsieur le chevalier lebas de ste. croix, capitaine à la légion de l’isère, caserne de la courtille à paris. p.s.—all my thanks and good wishes first to your family, to 324the family waldie, davis, doctor douglas, rutherford, and my good landlady mistress elliot.
‘to mister john smith esq.,
‘bridge street,
‘kelso, scotland.’
(in kelso, towards the end of 1912, i had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of mr. provost smith, grandson of the gentleman to whom the foregoing two letters were addressed, and mr. smith was kind enough to present me with a tiny ring of bone, on which is minutely worked the legend: ‘i love to see you’, done by a french officer on parole in kelso in 1811.)
the third letter is as follows:
‘je, soussigné officier de la légion d’honneur, lieutenant colonel au 8e régiment de dragons, sensible aux bons traitements que les prisonniers fran?ais sur parole en cette ville re?oivent journellement de la part de mr. smith, law agent, invite en mon nom et en celui de mes compagnons d’infortune ceux de nos compatriotes entre les mains desquels le hasard de la guerre pourroit faire tomber mesdemoiselles st. saure (?) d’avoir pour elles tous les égards et attentions qu’elles méritent, et de nous aider par tous les bons offices qu’ils pourront rendre à ces dames à acquitter une partie de la reconnaissance que nous devons à leur famille.
‘kelso. 7 avril, 1811.
‘dudouit.’
selkirk
in 1811, ninety-three french prisoners arrived at selkirk, many of them army surgeons. their mile limits from the central point were, on the hawick road, to knowes; over the bridge, as far as the philiphaugh entries; and towards bridgehead, the ‘prisoners’ bush’. an old man named douglas, says mr. craig-brown (from whose book on selkirk, i take this information, and to whom i am indebted for much hospitality and his many pains in acting as my mentor in selkirk), remembered them coming to his father’s tavern at heathenlie for their morning rum, and astonishing the people with what they ate. ‘they made tea out of dried whun blooms and skinned the verra paddas. the doctor anes was verra clever, and some of them had plenty o’ siller.’
on october 13, 1811, the prisoners constructed a balloon, 325and sent it up amidst such excitement as selkirk rarely felt. indeed, the yeomanry then out for their training could not be mustered until they had seen the balloon.
a serious question came up in 1814 concerning the public burden which the illegitimate children of these gentlemen were causing, and complaints were sent to the transport office, whose reply was that the fathers of the children were liable to the civil law, and that unless they should provide for their maintenance, they should go to prison.
two of the prisoners quarrelled about a girl and fought a bloodless duel at linglee for half an hour, when the authorities appeared upon the scene and arrested the principals, who were sent to jail for a month.
mr. j. john vernon wrote:
‘in an article upon the old selkirk subscription library, reference is made to the use of the library by the officers who were confined in selkirk and district during the napoleonic wars.
‘historical reference is furnished incidentally in the pages of the day book—the register of volumes borrowed and returned. there is no mention of such a privilege being conferred by the members or committee, but, as a matter of fact, all the french officers who were prisoners in selkirk during the napoleonic wars were allowed to take books from the library as freely and as often as they chose. beginning with april 5th, 1811, and up to may 4th, 1814, there were no less than 132 closely written foolscap pages devoted exclusively to their book-borrowing transactions. they were omnivorous readers, with a penchant for history and biography, but devouring all sorts of literature from the poetical to the statistical. probably because the librarian could not trust himself to spell them, the officers themselves entered their names, as well as the names of books. sometimes, when they made an entry for a comrade they made blunders in spelling the other man’s name: that of forsonney, for instance, being given in four or five different ways. as the total number of prisoners was 94, it can be concluded from the list appended that only two or three did not join the library.
‘besides the french prisoners, the students attending professor lawson’s lectures seem to have had the privilege of reading, but for them all about two pages suffice. it is said that, moved by a desire to bring these benighted foreigners to belief in the true faith, doctor lawson added french to the more ancient languages he was already proficient in, but the 326aliens were nearly all men of education who knew their voltaire, with the result that the professor made poor progress with his well meant efforts at proselytism, if he did not even receive a shock to his own convictions.’
there were several masonic brethren among the foreign prisoners at selkirk, and it is noteworthy that on march 9, 1812, it was proposed by the brethren of this lodge that on account of the favour done by some of the french brethren, they should be enrolled as honorary members of the lodge, and this was unanimously agreed to.
it should be noted that the french brethren were a numerous body, twenty-three of their names being added to the roll of st. john’s; and we find that, as at melrose, they formed themselves into a separate lodge and initiated their fellow countrymen in their own tongue.
in what was known as lang’s barn, now subdivided into cottages, the french prisoners extemporized a theatre, and no doubt some of their decorative work lies hidden beneath the whitewash. the barn was the property of the grandfather of the late andrew lang.
the experiences of sous-lieutenant doisy de villargennes, of the 26th french line regiment, i shall now relate with particular pleasure, not only on account of their unusual interest, but because they reflect the brightest side of captivity in britain. doisy was wounded after fuentes d’o?oro in may 1811, and taken prisoner. he was moved to hospital at celorico, where he formed a friendship with captain pattison, of the 73rd. thence he was sent to fort belem at lisbon, which happened to be garrisoned by the 26th british regiment, a coincidence which at once procured for him the friendship of its officers, who caused him to be lodged in their quarters, and to be treated rather as an honoured guest than as a prisoner, but with one bad result—that the extraordinary good living aggravated his healing wound, and he was obliged to return to hospital. these were days of heavy drinking, and lisbon lay in the land of good and abundant wine; hosts and guest had alike fared meagrely and hardly for a long time, so that it is not difficult to account for the effect of the abrupt change upon poor doisy. however, he pulled round, and embarked for 327portsmouth, not on the ordinary prisoner transport, but as guest of pattison on a war-ship. doisy, with sixty other officers, were landed at gosport, and, contrary to the usual rule, allowed to be on parole in the town previous to their dispatch to their cautionnement.
at the gosport prison—forton—whither he went to look up comrades, doisy was overjoyed to meet with his own foster-brother, whom he had persuaded to join his regiment, and whom he had given up as lost at fuentes d’o?oro, and he received permission to spend some time with him in the prison. i give with very great pleasure doisy’s remarks upon captivity in england in general, and in its proper place under the heading of forton prison (see pp. 217–18) will be found his description of that place, which is equally pleasant reading.
‘i feel it my duty here, in the interests of truth and justice, to combat an erroneous belief concerning the hard treatment of prisoners of war in england.... no doubt, upon the hulks they led a very painful existence; execrable feeding, little opportunity for exercise, and a discipline extremely severe, even perhaps cruel. such was their fate. but we must remember that only refractory prisoners were sent to the hulks.’
(here we must endorse a note of the editor of doisy’s book, to the effect that this is inaccurate, inasmuch as there were 19,000 prisoners upon the hulks, and they could not all have been ‘refractory’.)
‘these would upset the discipline of prisons like gosport. also we must remember that the inmates of the hulks were chiefly the crews of privateers, and that privateering was not considered fair warfare by england.’ (strange to say, the editor passes over this statement without comment.) ‘at forton there reigned the most perfect order, under a discipline severe but humane. we heard no sobbings of despair, we saw no unhappiness in the eyes of the inmates, but, on the contrary, on all sides resounded shouts of laughter, and the chorus of patriotic songs.’
in after years, when germain lamy, the foster-brother, was living a free man in france, doisy says that in conversation lamy never alluded to the period of his captivity in england without praising warmly the integrity and the liberality of all the englishmen with whom as a prisoner-trader he had business 328relations. ‘such testimonies,’ says doisy, ‘and others of like character, cannot but weaken the feelings of hatred and antagonism roused by war between the two nations.’
in a few days doisy was marched off to odiham, but, on account of the crowded state of the english parole towns, it was decided to send the newcomers to scotland, and so, on october 1, 1811, they landed at leith, 190 in number, and marched to selkirk, via edinburgh and the dép?t at penicuik.
there was some difficulty at first in finding lodgings in the small scottish town for so large a number of strangers, but when it was rumoured that they were largely gentlemen of means and likely to spend their money freely, accommodation was quickly forthcoming.
living in scotland doisy found to be very much cheaper than in england, and the weekly pay of half a guinea, regularly received through coutts, he found sufficient, if not ample. his lodging cost but half a crown a week, and as the prisoners messed in groups, and, moreover, had no local hindrance to the excellent fishing in ettrick and tweed, board was probably proportionately moderate. as the french prisoners in selkirk spent upon an average ￡150 a week in the little town, and were there for two years and a half, no less a sum than ￡19,500 was poured into the local pocket.
the exiles started a french café in which was a billiard table brought from edinburgh, to which none but frenchmen were admitted; gathered together an orchestra of twenty-two and gave saturday concerts, which were extensively patronized by the inhabitants and the surrounding gentry; and with their own hands built a theatre accommodating 200 people.
‘les costumes,’ said doisy, ‘surtout ceux des r?les féminins, nous nécessitaient de grands efforts d’habilité. aucun de nous n’avait auparavant exercé le métier de charpentier, tapissier, de tailleur, ou . . . fait son apprentissage chez une couturière. l’intelligence, toutefois, stimulée par la volonté, peut engendrer de petits miracles.’
they soon had a répertoire of popular tragedies and comedies, and gave a performance every wednesday.
on each of the four main roads leading out of the town there was at the distance of a mile a notice-board on which was 329inscribed: ‘limite des prisonniers de guerre.’ as evidence of the goodwill generally borne towards the foreigners by the country folk, when a waggish prisoner moved one of these boards a mile further on, no information was lodged about it, and although a reward of one guinea was paid to anybody arresting a prisoner beyond limits, or out of his lodgings at forbidden hours, it was very rarely claimed. some of the prisoners indeed were accustomed daily to go fishing some miles down the rivers.
the french prisoners did not visit the selkirk townsfolk, for the ‘classy’ of the latter had come to the resolution not to associate with them at all; but the priggish exclusiveness or narrow prejudice, or whatever it might have been, was amply atoned for by the excellent friendships formed in the surrounding neighbourhoods. there was mr. anderson, a gentleman farmer, who invited the frenchmen to fish and regaled them in typical old-time scots fashion afterwards; there was a rich retired lawyer, whose chief sorrow was that he could not keep sober during his entertainment of them: there was mr. thorburn, another gentleman farmer, who introduced them to grilled sheep’s head, salmagundi, and a cheese of his own making, of which he was particularly proud.
but above all there was the ‘shirra’, then mr. walter scott, who took a fancy to a bright and lively young frenchman, tarnier by name, and often invited him and two or three friends to abbotsford—doisy calls it ‘melrose abbey’. this was in february 1812. mrs. scott, whom, doisy says, scott had married in berlin—was only seen some minutes before dinner, never at the repast itself. she spoke french perfectly, says doisy. scott, he says, was a very different man as host in his own house from what they judged him to be from his appearance in the streets of selkirk. ‘un homme enjoué, à la physionomie ordinaire et peu significative, à l’attitude même un peu gauche, à la démarche vulgaire et aux allures à l’avenant, causées probablement par sa boiterie.’ but at abbotsford his guests found him, on the contrary, a gentleman full of cordiality and gaiety, receiving his friends with amiability and delicacy. the rooms at abbotsford, says doisy, were spacious and well lighted, and the table not sumptuous, but refined.
330doisy tells us that what seemed to be the all-absorbing subject of conversation at the abbotsford dinner-table was bonaparte. no matter into what other channel the talk drifted, their host would hark back to bonaparte, and never wearied of the anecdotes and details about him which the guests were able to give. little did his informants think that, ten years later, much that they told him would appear, as doisy says, in a distorted form rarely favourable to the great man, in scott’s life of bonaparte. he quotes instances, and is at no pains to hide his resentment at what he considers a not very dignified or proper proceeding on the part of sir walter.
only on one prominent occasion was the friendly feeling between the prisoners and the selkirk people disturbed.
on august 15, 1813, the frenchmen, in number ninety, united to celebrate the emperor’s birthday at their café, the windows of which opened on to the public garden. they feasted, made speeches, drank numberless toasts, and sang numberless patriotic songs. as it was found that they had a superabundance of food, it was decided to distribute it among the crowd assembled in the public garden, but with the condition that every one who accepted it should doff his hat and cry ‘vive l’empereur napoléon!’ but although a couple of frenchmen stood outside, each with a viand in one hand and a glass of liquor in the other, not a scotsman would comply with the condition, and all went away. one man, a sort of factotum of the frenchmen, who made a considerable deal of money out of them in one way and another, and who was known as ‘bang bay’, from his habit, when perplexed with much questioning and ordering, of replying ‘by and by’, did accept the food and drink, and utter the required cry, and his example was followed by a few others, but the original refusers still held aloof and gathered together in the garden, evidently in no peaceable mood.
presently, as the feast proceeded and the celebrants were listening to a song composed for the occasion, a stone was thrown through the window, and hit captain gruffaud of the artillery. he rushed out and demanded who had thrown it. seeing a young man grinning, gruffaud accused him, and as the 331youth admitted it, gruffaud let him have the stone full in the face. a disturbance being at once imminent, the french officers broke up chairs, &c., to arm themselves against an attack, and the crowd, seeing this, dispersed. soon after, the agent, robert henderson, hurried up to say that the crowd had armed themselves and were re-assembling, and that as the frenchmen were in the wrong, inasmuch as they had exceeded their time-limit, nine o’clock, by an hour, he counselled them to go home quietly. so the matter ended, and doisy remarks that no evil resulted, and that scots and french became better comrades than ever.
another event might have resulted in a disturbance. at the news of a victory by wellington in spain, the selkirk people set their bells ringing, and probably rejoiced with some ostentation. a short time after, says doisy, came the news of a great french victory in russia (?). the next day, sunday, some french officers attended a quakers’ meeting in their house, and managed to hide themselves. at midnight a dozen of their comrades were admitted through the window, bringing with them a coil of rope which they made fast to that of the meeting-house bell, and rang vigorously, awakening the town and bringing an amazed crowd to the place, and in the confusion the actors of the comedy escaped. then came the peace of 1814, and the frenchmen were informed that on april 20 a vessel would be at berwick to take them to france. the well-to-do among them proposed to travel by carriage to berwick, but it was later decided that all funds should be united and that they should go on foot, and to defray expenses ￡60 was collected. before leaving, it was suggested that a considerable increase might be made to their exchequer if they put up to auction the structure of the theatre, as well as the properties and dresses, which had cost ￡120. tarnier was chosen auctioneer, and the bidding was started at ￡50, but in spite of his eloquence the highest bid was ￡40. so they decided to have some fun at the last. all the articles were carried to the field which the prisoners had hired for playing football, and a last effort was made to sell them. but the highest bid was only ￡2 more than before. rather than sell at such a ridiculous price, the frenchmen, armed with sticks and 332stones, formed a circle round the objects for sale, and set fire to them, a glorious bonfire being the result.
the day of departure came. most of the frenchmen had passed the previous night in the public garden, singing, and drinking toasts, so that all were up betimes, and prepared for their tramp. their delight and astonishment may be imagined when they beheld a defile of all sorts of vehicles, and even of saddle-horses, into the square, and learned that these had been provided by the people of selkirk to convey them to kelso, half way to berwick.
says doisy: ‘nous nous séparames donc de nos amis de selkirk sans garder d’une part et d’autre aucun des sentiments de rancune pouvant exister auparavant’.
mr. craig-brown relates the following anecdote:
‘many years after the war, in the southern states of america, two young selkirk lads were astonished to see themselves looked at with evident earnestness by two foreigners within earshot of them. at last one of the latter, a distinguished-looking elderly gentleman, came up and said: “pardon, i think from your speech you come from scotland?”
‘“we do.”
‘“perhaps from the south of scotland?”
‘“yes, from selkirk.”
‘“from selkirk! ah! i was certain: general! it is true. they are from selkirk.” upon which his companion came up, who, looking at one of the lads for a while, exclaimed:
‘“i am sure you are the son of ze, ze, leetle fat man who kills ze sheep!”
‘“faith! ye’re recht!” said the astonished scot. “my father was tudhope, the flesher!”
‘upon which the more effusive of the officers fairly took him round the neck, and gave him a hearty embrace. making themselves known as two of the old french prisoners, they insisted on the lads remaining in their company, loaded them with kindness, and never tired of asking them questions about their place of exile, and all its people, particularly the sweethearts they and their comrades had left behind them.’
peebles
although peebles was not established as a parole town until 1803, a great many french prisoners, not on parole, were here in 1798–9, most of them belonging to the thirty-six-gun frigates coquille and résolue, belonging to the brest squadron of the 333expedition to ireland, which was beaten by sir john warren. they were probably confined in the town jail.
the first parole prisoners were dutch, belgians, and danes, ‘all of whom took to learning cotton hand-loom weaving, and spent their leisure time in fishing’, says mr. w. chambers. in 1810 about one hundred french, poles, and italians came: ‘gentlemanly in manner, they made for themselves friends in the town and neighbourhood, those among them who were surgeons occasionally assisting at a medical consultation. they set up a theatre in what is now the public reading-room, and acted molière and corneille. in 1811 all the “midshipmen” (gardes-marines) among them were suddenly called to the cross, and marched away to valleyfield, possibly an act of reprisal for bonaparte’s action against english midshipmen.’[16]
shortly after their removal, all the other prisoners were sent away from peebles, chiefly to sanquhar. this removal is said to have been brought about by the terror of a lady of rank in the neighbourhood at so many enemies being near neidpath castle, where were deposited the arms of the peeblesshire militia.
mr. sanderson, of the chambers institute at peebles, my indefatigable conductor about and around the pleasant old border town, told me that there is still in peebles a family named bonong, said to be descended from a french prisoner; that a miss wallink who went to canada some years ago as mrs. cranston, was descended from a polish prisoner; that there was recently a mr. lenoir at the tontine hotel (traditionally the ‘hotle’ which was meg dodd’s bugbear in st. ronan’s well), and that a drawing master named chastelaine came of french prisoner parentage.
334in the museum of the chambers institute are four excellent specimens of french prisoner-made ship models, and on the plaster walls of a house are a couple of poorly executed oil frescoes said to have been painted by prisoners.
i have the kind permission of messrs. chambers to quote the following very complete descriptions of french prisoner life at peebles from the memoirs of william and robert chambers by mr. william chambers.
‘1803. not more than 20 or 30 of these foreign exiles arrived at this early period. they were mostly dutch and walloons, with afterwards a few danes. these men did not repine. they nearly all betook themselves to learn some handicraft to eke out their scanty allowance. at leisure hours they might be seen fishing in long leather boots as if glad to procure a few trout and eels. two or three years later came a détenu of a different class. he was seemingly the captain of a ship from the french west indies, who brought with him his wife and a negro servant-boy named jack. black jack, as we called him, was sent to the school, where he played with the other boys on the town green, and at length spoke and read like a native. he was a good-natured creature, and became a general favourite. jack was the first pure negro whom the boys at that time had ever seen.
‘none of these classes of prisoner broke his parole, nor ever gave any trouble to the authorities. they had not, indeed, any appearance of being prisoners, for they were practically free to live and ramble about within reasonable bounds where they liked.
‘in 1810 there was a large accession to this original body of prisoners on parole. as many as one hundred and eleven were already on their way to the town, and might be expected shortly. there was speedily a vast sensation in the place. the local militia had been disbanded. lodgings of all sorts were vacant. the new arrivals would on all hands be heartily welcomed. on tuesday, the expected french prisoners in an unceremonious way began to drop in. as one of several boys, i went out to meet them coming from edinburgh. they came walking in twos and threes, a few of them lame. their appearance was startling, for they were in military garb in which they had been captured in spain. some were in light blue hussar dress, braided, with marks of sabre wounds. others were in dark blue uniform. several wore large cocked hats, but the greater number had undress caps. all had a gentlemanly air, notwithstanding their generally dishevelled attire, their soiled boots, and their visible marks of fatigue.
335‘before night they had all arrived, and, through the activity of the agent appointed by the transport board, they had been provided with lodgings suitable to their slender allowance. this large batch of prisoners on parole were, of course, all in the rank of naval or military officers. some had been pretty high in the service and seen a good deal of fighting. several were doctors, or, as they called themselves, officiers de santé. among the whole there were, i think, about half a dozen midshipmen. a strange thing was their varied nationality. though spoken of as french, there was in the party a mixture of italians, swiss, and poles; but this we found out only after some intercourse. whatever their origin, they were warm adherents of napoleon, whose glory at this time was at its height. lively in manner, their minds were full of the recent struggle in the peninsula.
‘through the consideration of an enterprising grocer, the prisoners were provided with a billiard table at which they spent much of their time. so far well. but how did these unfortunate exiles contrive to live? how did they manage to feed and clothe themselves, and pay for lodgings? the allowance from government was on a moderate scale. i doubt if it was more than one shilling per head per diem. in various instances two persons lived in a single room, but even that cost half-a-crown per week. the truth is they must have been half starved, but for the fortunate circumstance of a number of them having brought money—foreign gold-pieces, concealed about their persons, which stores were supplemented by remittances from france; and in a friendly way, at least as regards the daily mess, or table d’h?te, the richer helped the poorer, which was a good trait in their character. the messing together was the great resource, and took place in a house hired for the purpose, in which the cookery was conducted under the auspices of m. lavoche, one of the prisoners who was skilled in cuisine. my brother and i had some dealings with lavoche. we cultivated rabbits in a hutch built by ourselves in the backyard, and sold them for the frenchmen’s mess; the money we got for them, usually eighteenpence a pair, being employed in the purchase of books.
‘billiards were indispensable, but something more was wanted. without a theatre, life was felt to be unendurable. but how was a theatre to be secured? there was nothing of the kind in the place. the more eager of the visitors managed to get out of the difficulty. there was an old and disused ball-room. it was rather of confined dimensions, and low in the roof, with a gallery at one end, over the entrance, for the musicians.... walter scott’s mother, when a girl, (i was 336told,) had crossed minchmoor, a dangerously high hill, in a chaise, from the adjacent country, to dance for a night in that little old ball-room. now set aside as unfashionable, the room was at anybody’s service, and came quite handily for the frenchmen. they fitted it up with a stage at the inner end, and cross benches to accommodate 120 persons, independently of perhaps 20 more in the musicians’ gallery. the thing was neatly got up with scenery painted by m. walther and m. ragulski, the latter a young pole. no licence was required for the theatre, for it was altogether a private undertaking. money was not taken at the door, and no tickets were sold. admission was gained by complimentary billets distributed chiefly among persons with whom the actors had established an intimacy.
‘among these favoured individuals was my father, who, carrying on a mercantile concern, occupied a prominent position. he felt a degree of compassion for these foreigners, constrained to live in exile, and, besides welcoming them to his house, gave them credit in articles of drapery of which they stood in need; and through which circumstance they soon assumed an improved appearance in costume. introduced to the family circle, their society was agreeable, and in a sense instructive. though with imperfect speech, a sort of half-english, half-french, they related interesting circumstances in their careers.
‘how performances in french should have had any general attraction may seem to require explanation. there had grown up in the town among young persons especially, a knowledge of familiar french phrases; so that what was said, accompanied by appropriate gestures, was pretty well guessed at. but, as greatly contributing to remove difficulties, a worthy man, of an obliging turn and genial humour, volunteered to act as interpreter. moving in humble circumstances as hand-loom weaver, he had let lodgings to a french captain and his wife, and from being for years in domestic intercourse with them, he became well acquainted with their language. william hunter, for such was his name, besides being of ready wit, partook of a lively musical genius. i have heard him sing malbrook s’en va t’en guerre with amazing correctness and vivacity. his services at the theatre were therefore of value to the natives in attendance. seated conspicuously at the centre of what we may call the pit, eyes were turned on him inquiringly when anything particularly funny was said requiring explanation, and for general use he whisperingly communicated the required interpretation. so, put up to the joke, the natives heartily joined in the laugh, though rather tardily.... as for the french plays, which were performed with perfect propriety, 337they were to us not only amusing but educational. the remembrance of these dramatic efforts of the french prisoners of war has been through life a continual treat. it is curious for me to look back on the performances of the pieces of molière in circumstances so remarkable.
‘my mother, even while lending her dresses and caps to enable performers to represent female characters, never liked the extraordinary intimacy which had been formed between the french officers and my father. against his giving them credit she constantly remonstrated in vain. it was a tempting but perilous trade. for a time, by the resources just mentioned, they paid wonderfully well. with such solid inducements, my father confidingly gave extensive credit to these strangers—men who, by their positions, were not amenable to the civil law, and whose obligations, accordingly, were altogether debts of honour. the consequence was that which might have been anticipated. an order suddenly arrived from the government commanding the whole of the prisoners to quit peebles, and march chiefly to sanquhar in dumfriesshire: the cause of the movement being the prospective arrival of a militia regiment.
‘the intelligence came one sunday night. what a gloom prevailed at several firesides that evening!
‘on their departure the french prisoners made many fervid promises that, should they ever return to their own country, they would have pleasure in discharging their debt. they all got home in the peace of 1814, but not one of them ever paid a farthing, and william chambers was one of the many whose affairs were brought to a crisis therefrom.’
it will be seen later that this was not the uniform experience of british creditors with french debtors.
