Munting for do............... 0 2 8 To a Shirt for him.............. 0 5 6 To a pair of Cotten Stockings... 0 2 0 To Bread at the Founral......... 0 2 6 To Chise at ditto............... 0 3 0 To 1 pint Rume.................. 0 4 6 To I pint Whiskie............... 0 4 0 To a man going to Annam......... 0 2 0 To the grave diger.............. 0 1 0 To Linnen for a sheet to him.... 0 2 8 L.2 1 10 Taken off him when dead,.........1 7 6 L.0 14 4
“The above account is authenticated by the son of the deceased.
“My friend was prevented by indisposition from even going to Bankhill to attend the funeral of his father, which I regret very much, as he is not aware in what churchyard he was interred.
“For the purpose of erecting a small monument to his memory, I have made every possible enquiry, wherever I thought there was the least chance of finding out where Old Mortality was laid; but I have done so in vain, as his death is not registered in the session-book of any of the neighbouring parishes. I am sorry to think, that in all probability, this singular person, who spent so many years of his lengthened existence in striving with his chisel and mallet to perpetuate the memory of many less deserving than himself, must remain even without a single stone to mark out the resting place of his mortal remains.
“Old Mortality had three sons, Robert, Walter, and John; the former, as has been already mentioned, lives in the village of Balmaclellan, in comfortable circumstances, and is much respected by his neighbours. Walter died several years ago, leaving behind him a family now respectably situated in this point. John went to America in the year 1776, and, after various turns of fortune, settled at Baltimore.”
Old Nol himself is said to have loved an innocent jest. (See Captain Hodgson’s Memoirs.) Old Mortality somewhat resembled the Protector in this turn to festivity. Like Master Silence, he had been merry twice and once in his time; but even his jests were of a melancholy and sepulchral nature, and sometimes attended with inconvenience to himself, as will appear from the following anecdote:—
The old
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