John Galt - a lucky find!

A great edition of John Galt’s best-known works – Annals of the Parish and the Ayrshire Legatees in one volume, published by Mercat Classics (TheMercat Press) in 1994.  According to the information on the inside page this is “a facsimile of the edition published by Macmillan & Co in 1895”.  In the modern edition, there is a new introduction by Ian Campbell.  This was a fortunate find in a charity shop recently at a cost of £3.49.  

This edition, like that of 1895 contains wonderful illustrations by Charles E Brock.  Both the Annals of the Parish and The Ayrshire Legatees were originally published separately in book form in 1821 after having been serialised in Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine.

Illustration by C E Brock

A very lucky find!

Rachel Pringle's view of Greenock's Cathcart Street

In the Ayrshire Legatees, published monthly originally in Blackwoods Magazine between June 1820 and February 1821and in book form in June 1821, John Galt describes the Pringle family’s journey from Irvine to London to receive a legacy left by a relative.  In Chapter 1, Letter II - Miss Rachel Pringle writes to her friend Miss Isabella Tod describing Greenock. 

“The chambermaid of the inn where we lodge pointed out to me, on the opposite side of the street, a magnificent edifice erected for balls; but the subscribers have resolved not to allow any dancing till it is determined by the Court of Session to whom the seats and chairs belong, as they were brought from another house where the assemblies were formerly held.” 

Tontine Hotel, Cathcart Street, Greenock

The “inn where we lodge” was likely to have been Greenock’s Tontine Hotel on Cathcart Street.  Coaches to Ayr and Glasgow arrived and departed daily from the Tontine or the White Hart Inn in Cathcart Square, as this extract from Hutchison's Greenock Directory of 1820 shows. 

Built in 1801, the Tontine Hotel contained a large hall, twelve sitting rooms and thirty bedrooms.  It was a popular stopping place for visitors to the town, and many local clubs and organisations held their meetings there.  It was ideally situated in Cathcart Street, which was then the commercial centre of Greenock.

The "magnificent edifice erected for balls" probably refers to the Exchange Buildings (opened 1814) also the home of the Coffee Room. In 1821 a new Coffee Room was opened in Cathcart Square.  There was a disagreement between some of the subscribers about the cost etc, and a court case followed - thus Rachel Pringle's reference to the Court of Session.  

Thereafter there were two Coffee Rooms in Greenock!

Tontine Hotel, Cathcart Street.  Photo - Greenock Burns Club

The original Tontine Hotel was demolished and replaced by a new Post Office in 1899.  That Post Office  building still stands and is now the James Watt Pub (Wetherspoons).  A new Tontine Hotel was opened in 1892 in Union Street, Greenock.  Read more about the history of the Tontine Hotel here.

Jams, jellies and marmlet

With the current controversy about marmalade it is interesting to note that John Galt wrote about "marmlet", the old Scottish word for marmalade in the Ayrshire Legatees which was published in 1821.  His wonderful character, Mrs Pringle, wife of the Rev Dr Zachariah Pringle of Garnock, packed some to take with her on a trip to London.  It was then considered a delicacy.  In Chapter 3, Letter 6,  Mrs Pringle writes from London to her friend Miss Mally Glencairn back in Garnock.  She tells her friend about the supplies she packed before leaving Garnock which she thought would be necessary in London including some muslin because she had heard that London shops –

“get all their fine muslins from Glasgow and Paisley; and in the same bocks [box] with them I packit a small crock of our ain excellent poudered butter, with a delap cheese, for I was told that such commodities are not to be had genuine in London. I likewise had in it a pot of marmlet [marmalade], which Miss Jenny Macbride gave me at Glasgow, assuring me that it was not only dentice [a delicacy], but a curiosity among the English."

18th century recipe for marmalade

Mrs Pringle tends to spell words as she would say them.  However, Mrs Pringle’s careful packing of necessities and delicacies suffered from the journey, as she goes on to describe –

"Howsomever, in the nailing of the bocks, which I did carefully with my oun hands, one of the nails gaed in a-jee, and broke the pot of marmlet, which by the jolting of the ship, ruined the muslin, rottened the peper round the goun, which the shivers cut into more than twenty great holes.  Over and above all, the crock with the butter was, no one can tell how, crackit, and the pickle lecking out and mixing with the seerip of the marmlet, spoilt the cheese.  In short, at the object I beheld when the bocks was opened, I could have ta’en to the greeting; but I behaved with more composity on the occasion than the doctor thought it was in the power of nature to do.”

Galt also refers to the popularity of jams and other preserves in the Annals of the Parish (Chapter 28, Year 1787) when the Rev Michah Balwhidder notes –

“I should not, in my notations, forget to mark a new luxury that got in among the commonality at this time.  By the opening of new roads, and the traffic thereon with carts and carriers, and by our young men that were sailors going to the Clyde and sailing to Jamaica and the West Indies, heaps of sugar and coffee-beans were brought home, while many, among the kail-stocks and cabbages in their yards had planted groset [gooseberry] and berry bushes; which two things happening together, the fashion to make jam and jelly, which hitherto had been only known in the kitchens and confectionaries of the gentry, came to be introduced into the clachan.”

Greenock Harbour

Certainly at that time, Greenock was one of the biggest importer of sugar from the West Indies.  John Galt's father had been the master of a ship trading with Jamaica, so Galt would have been very much aware of the effect such imports had on everyday life.  Along with the regular imports, of course there were other "unregulated" goods, which the Rev Balwhidder goes on to mention -

“All this, however, was not without a plausible pretext; for it was found that jelly was an excellent medicine for a sore throat, and jam a remedy as good as London candy for a cough, or a cold, or a shortness of breath.  I could not, however, say that this gave me so much concern as the smuggling trade, only it occasioned a great fasherie to Mrs Balwhidder; for, in the berry time, there was no end to the borrowing of her brass-pan to make jelly and jam, till Mrs Toddy of the Cross-Keys bought one, which in its turn, came into request, and saved ours.”

One of John Galt's great strengths as a writer is the way he uses ordinary people and households to illustrate the changes that were going on in local society and the wider world.  Marmlet - what a great word!

Rev Dr Zachariah Pringle and Rumble John

John Galt’s novel, The Ayrshire Legatees (1821) tells the story of the Rev Dr Zachariah Pringle and his family as they visit London to receive a legacy left to them by a relative.  Dr Pringle is minister in the fictional village of Garnock in Ayrshire.  Galt describes Pringle and his preaching style at the beginning of the book -

“The doctor had been for many years the incumbent of Garnock, which is pleasantly situated between Irvine and Kilwinning, and, on account of the benevolence of his disposition, was much beloved by his parishioners.  Some of the pawkie among them used indeed to say, in answer to the godly of Kilmarnock, and other admirers of the late great John Russel of that formerly orthodox town, by whom Dr Pringle’s powers as a preacher were held in no particular estimation, - “He kens our poopit’s frail, and spar’st to save outlay to the heritors”. 

[Pawkie means wily or shrewd in Scots.  In Scotland the church “heritors” were local landowners responsible for the upkeep of the church building.]

So, who was this “late, great John Russel” of Kilmarnock mentioned by Galt?  Fans of the work of Scottish poet Robert Burns might recognise the name from his a few of his works.  He appears as “Black Russell” in The Holy Fair – 

But now the Lord’s ain trumpet touts,

Till a’ the hills are rairin,

And echoes back return the shouts;

Black Russell is na sparin;

His piercing words, like highlan’ swords,

Divide the joints an’ marrow;

His talk o’ Hell, whare devils dwell,

Our vera ‘sauls does harrow’

Wi’ fright that day! 

John Russel was minister of the chapel of ease in Kilmarnock which later became the High Kirk in Kilmarnock.  Russel had been ordained in 1774 and was a strong Calvinist, described as being -

 “of the sternest type, with a visage dark and morose and a tremendous voice; both combining to heighten the effect of his messages of wrath.”

Burns describes Russel's voice in The Twa Herds or The Holy Tulyie [noisy brawl]

“What herd like Russell tell’d his tale?

His voice was heard through muir and dale,

He kenn’d the Lord’s sheep, ilka tail,

O’er a’ the height;

And saw gin they were sick or hale,

At the first sight."

Robert Burns

Russell also gets a mention in Burns’ The Ordination which refers to a controversial essay by Dr William McGill (1732-1807) who was minister at Kilwinning and Ayr and admired by Robert Burns. He appears as Rumble John in another work - The Kirk of Scotland’s Alarm -

Rumble John! Rumble John, mount the steps with a groan,

Cry the book is with heresy cramm’d;

Then out wi’ your ladle, deal brimstone like aidle,

And roar ev’ry note of the damn’d.

Rumble John! And roar ev’ry note of the damn’d.

[Aidle in Scots means dirty water or liquid manure.]

Sabbath-breakers suffered particular from Russel's wrath – 

“on Sunday afternoons, armed with a formidable cudgel, he began his wonted rounds in pursuit of Sabbath-breaking strollers, his appearance in the street was the signal for an instant breaking-up and a disappearing within-doors of gossiping groups.”  

Again Robert Burns mentions Russel  in Epistle to John Goldie, Kilmarnock – John Goldie (1717-1811) was an Ayrshire man and friend of Burns.  Known as “the philosopher”.  He was the author of the controversial The Gospel Recovered From Its Captive State (1786).  Here Burns refers to Russel as “Black Jock”. 

“O Goudie, terror o’ the Whigs,

Dread o’blackcoats and rev’rend wigs!

Sour Bigotry, on her last legs,

Girns an’ looks back,

Wishing the ten Egyptian plagues

Wad seize you quick.

 

Poor gapin, glowrin Superstition!

Wae’s me, she’s in a sad condition;

Fie! Bring Black Jock, her state physician,

To see her water;

Alas, there’s ground o’ great suspicion

She’ll ne’er get better.

What a formidable character Rev John Russel must have been!

On their return from London, Dr Pringle and his family were warmly received by the congregation.  John Galt describes the minister’s reception at church that first Sunday – 

"The moment the  doctor made his appearance, his greeting and salutation was quite delightful; it was that of a father returned to his children, and a king to his people.”

What a lovely description by John Galt of a well-liked man’s return.

John Galt's Southannan

Southannan (Galt writes as Southennan) in Ayrshire is a place that seems to have sparked the imagination of John Galt ever since he was a young boy.  Each year in his childhood the Galt family travelled by coach from Irvine to Greenock to visit relatives.  In his Autobiography, published in 1833 John Galt writes –

“I have continued to this day to cherish my early dreams about Southennan, undisturbed by any matter of fact; pausing occasionally in the journeys of my juvenility between Irvine and Greenock, to ponder of strange things amidst the solitude of the ruins.”

He goes on to describe the area – “The situation is lone and picturesque, at the foot of a green mountain, on a little plain spreading to the sea, with a garden extending southwards, which in my imagination is still in blossom as if I saw it in the spring of the year.  I could draw the landscape still, though years and days and sadder thinks have happened to me since I was there.”

Southannan (Southennan) Ayrshire map.

While the name Southannan can still be seen in maps of Ayrshire, the area has changed considerably since John Galt’s day.  Little remains of what must have been the romantic ruins seen by Galt in the early 19^th century.  An idea of what could be seen can be found in “The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland” (1897) by MacGibbon & Ross.  Southannan Castle is described – 

“It has been an extensive structure having had a high enclosing wall, with a courtyard and an arched entrance porch to the west, defended with shot-holes.  There has been a considerable range of dwelling-house accommodation, two stories in height, along the north side, and smaller buildings on the east side, leaving a large courtyard in the centre, now forming the garden of the adjoining farmhouse.”

 In his Autobiography Galt writes -

“The origin of Southennan, is, to myself at least, interesting.  At a short distance on the south side of the village of Fairlie in Ayrshire, stands the ruins of the ancient house of Southennan.  I know nothing whatever of its history, but was told in my boyhood a vague tradition, which had something mysterious about it, and which still lingers in my recollection; namely, that the house belonged to a branch of the ancient noble family of Semple ; that the last inhabitants had been Roman Catholics, who went away into Spain at the period of the Reformation, and that they were never more heard of.”

MacGibbon & Ross write -   “The castle was much enlarged by Robert, fourth Lord Sempill, ambassador to the Court of Spain in 1596.” As Galt says, Southannan did belong to the Semple family, they had been granted the lands in 1504 by James IV.  

The Semples built a chapel dedicated to St Annan (Ennan, or Innan – patron saint of Irvine).  However Southannan fell into disrepair and as the report goes on to explain – “The old mansion was dismantled towards the end of last century, and the materials used in the erection of farm-buildings and dykes.  What remains are chiefly the outer walls to the north of the courtyard and some more ancient looking remnants at the east.” 

Galt also mentions Southannan in his 1821 novel The Ayrshire Legatees in the description of a journey by coach which the Pringle family take from Irvine to Greenock.  In a letter to her friend, Miss Rachel Pringle describes the journey from Kilbride on the road with views of the island of Cumbrae and writes:- “On the other side of the road, we saw the cloistered ruins of the religious house of Southennan, a nunnery in those days of romantic adventure, when to live was to enjoy a poetical element.”

In 1830 Galt published his novel Southennan - the story of a young man of that name and place who visits Edinburgh to witness the arrival of Mary Queen of Scots from France.  In that novel Southennan is described – 

“It was a quadrangular building, with an embattled gateway in the wall, which connected the two wings.  The orchard and garden lay along the south side of the green hills of Fairlie, at the bottom of which it stood, and on which a computable number of the beech and sycamore shook their heads few and far between.  About a score of the meagre and naked ash marked out where an avenue might have been.  On the northern side of the mansion a little sparkling brook ran, whispering from its rimples peace and felicity to the genius of the place.”

Passing these old ruins as a very young child obviously had a profound effect on John Galt.  With his fertile imagination it is easy to see how they led him to speculate and write about them many years later.

Delap-cheese or Dunlop cheese?

In both The Annals of the Parish (1821) and The Ayrshire Legatees (1820), John Galt mentions Delap-cheese.  While of course the works are fiction, there was a particular type of cheese that originated in Ayrshire and would have been popular when Galt was a boy in Irvine.  It is called Dunlop cheese. 

Dunlop cheese takes its name from the Dunlop, a village in Ayrshire where it was supposedly first made.  The story goes that a woman named Barbara Gilmour, a farmer’s wife, was the first to introduce the cheese in Ayrshire.  It is said that Barbara went to Ireland to avoid the troubles around the time of the Covenanters and it was there that she saw the process which she thought improved the taste and texture of cheese.  On returning home around 1688, she applied it in her own dairy, and the cheese became very popular and was produced throughout Ayrshire and other parts of Scotland.

In The Ayrshire Legatees, Mrs Pringle in a letter from London to her friend Miss Mally Glencairn describing her preparations for her journey to London writes –

“and in the same bocks with them I packit a small crock of our ain excellent poudered butter, with a Delap cheese, for I was told that such commodities are not to be had genuine in London.” 

John Galt has his own version of the origins of the cheese.  In Annals of the Parish The Rev Micah Balwhidder describes his future wife - 

“Soon after this, the time was drawing near for my second marriage.  I had placed my affections, with due consideration, on Miss Lizy Kibbock, the well brought-up daughter of Mr Joseph Kibbock of the Gorbyholm, who was the first that made a speculation in the farming way in Ayrshire, and whose cheese were of such an excellent quality, that they have, under the name of Delap-cheese, spread far and wide of the civilized world.”

Dunlop cheese was well known throughout Scotland and thought especially good for roasting and spread on oat cakes.