The Antiquary | Page 3

to beg.
And after having remarked, that
To lie in kilns and barns at e'en, When banes are crazed and blude is
thin,
Is doubtless great distress; the bard reckons up, with true poetical spirit,
the free enjoyment of the beauties of nature, which might
counterbalance the hardship and uncertainty of the life, even of a
mendicant. In one of his prose letters, to which I have lost the reference,
he details this idea yet more seriously, and dwells upon it, as not ill
adapted to his habits and powers.
As the life of a Scottish mendicant of the eighteenth century seems to
have been contemplated without much horror by Robert Burns, the

author can hardly have erred in giving to Edie Ochiltree something of
poetical character and personal dignity, above the more abject of his
miserable calling. The class had, intact, some privileges. A lodging,
such as it was, was readily granted to them in some of the out-houses,
and the usual awmous (alms) of a handful of meal (called a _gowpen_)
was scarce denied by the poorest cottager. The mendicant disposed
these, according to their different quality, in various bags around his
person, and thus carried about with him the principal part of his
sustenance, which he literally received for the asking. At the houses of
the gentry, his cheer was mended by scraps of broken meat, and
perhaps a Scottish "twalpenny," or English penny, which was expended
in snuff or whiskey. In fact, these indolent peripatetics suffered much
less real hardship and want of food, than the poor peasants from whom
they received alms.
If, in addition to his personal qualifications, the mendicant chanced to
be a King's Bedesman, or Blue-Gown, he belonged, in virtue thereof, to
the aristocracy of his order, and was esteemed a parson of great
importance.
These Bedesmen are an order of paupers to whom the Kings of
Scotland were in the custom of distributing a certain alms, in
conformity with the ordinances of the Catholic Church, and who where
expected in return to pray for the royal welfare and that of the state.
This order is still kept up. Their number is equal to the number of years
which his Majesty has lived; and one Blue-Gown additional is put on
the roll for every returning royal birth-day. On the same auspicious era,
each Bedesman receives a new cloak, or gown of coarse cloth, the
colour light blue, with a pewter badge, which confers on them the
general privilege of asking alms through all Scotland,--all laws against
sorning, masterful beggary, and every other species of mendicity, being
suspended in favour of this privileged class. With his cloak, each
receives a leathern purse, containing as many shillings Scots (videlicet,
pennies sterling) as the sovereign is years old; the zeal of their
intercession for the king's long life receiving, it is to be supposed, a
great stimulus from their own present and increasing interest in the
object of their prayers. On the same occasion one of the Royal
Chaplains preaches a sermon to the Bedesmen, who (as one of the
reverend gentlemen expressed himself) are the most impatient and

inattentive audience in the world. Something of this may arise from a
feeling on the part of the Bedesmen, that they are paid for their own
devotions, not for listening to those of others. Or, more probably, it
arises from impatience, natural, though indecorous in men bearing so
venerable a character, to arrive at the conclusion of the ceremonial of
the royal birth-day, which, so far as they are concerned, ends in a lusty
breakfast of bread and ale; the whole moral and religious exhibition
terminating in the advice of Johnson's "Hermit hoar" to his proselyte,
Come, my lad, and drink some beer.
Of the charity bestowed on these aged Bedesmen in money and
clothing, there are many records in the Treasurer's accompts. The
following extract, kindly supplied by Mr. Macdonald of the Register
House, may interest those whose taste is akin to that of Jonathan
Oldbuck of Monkbarns.

BLEW GOWNIS.
In the Account of Sir Robert Melvill of Murdocarney,
Treasurer-Depute of King James IV., there are the following
Payments:--
"Junij 1590.
"Item, to Mr. Peter Young, Elimosinar, twentie four gownis of blew
clayth, to be gevin to xxiiij auld men, according to the yeiris of his
hienes age, extending to viii xx viii elnis clayth; price of the elne xxiiij
_s. _ Inde, ij _c_j _li. _xij _s. _
"Item, for sextene elnis bukrum to the saidis gownis, price of the elne x
_s. _ Inde,viij _li. _
"Item, twentie four pursis, and in ilk purse twentie four schelling Inde,
xxciij _li. _ xvj _s. _
"Item, the price of ilk purse iiij _d. _ Inde, viij _s. _
"Item, for making of the saidis gownis