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368 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.own plaid, which lay near, and threw it over the butcher, thus misleadingthe instinct of his canine adversary. The dog darted with fury upon theplaid and terribly lacerated his master's thigh. In the meantime JamesMacpherson had been carried out by Peter BroAvn and was soon joinedby Donald IMacpherson who was quickly covered by some friendlyspectators Avith a bonnet and greatcoat. The ^Magistrates ordered websfrom the shops to be drawn across the Gallowgate, but Donaldcut them with his sword, and James, the late prisoner, got offon horse back. Some time after he Avas brought into fatal companionshipwith gipsies, by tlie same power which laid the old Grecian hero tochange his club for a distaff. The Highlander fell in love with a gipsygirl, and with one companion, James Gordon, who eventually paid tliepenalty with him, he entered for a time into the roving company of tlie gipsyband. The Banffshire gentlemen, whom ^Macpherson had plundered ofold, heard with delight that the most dreaded of their enemies hadcome almost unprotected into their boundaries. According to theevidence on the trial he seems to have joined the Gipsies on a riotingrather than on a plundering excursion in Keith market, when he fell intothe hands of his watchful foes, the chief of whom was Duff of Braco. Hewas immediately tlirown into prison and brought to trial Avith threepersons, Peter Brown, Donald Brown, and James Gordon, his companions,indited by the Procurator Fiscal as "Egyptians or Gipsies, and vagabonds;and sorners, and robbers, and known habit and repute guilty of theft,masterful bangstree, riot, and oppression." When brought into Court atBanff the Laird of Grant attempted to rescue them from the claims of thelaAV by asserting liis right to try them as being dwellers Avithin theregality of Grant, over whicli he had the poAver of pit and galloAvs. TheSheriff, Nicholas Dunbar of Castlefield, hoAvever overruled the claim, andsustaining himself as judge ordered a jury to try the prisoners on thenext day. This Avas accordmgly done, Avhen they Avere found guilty andcondemned, more apparently from a bad name, than from any immediatecrimes of Avhich they had been guilty. The Sheriff passing over the twoBroAvns, the captain of the gipsy band and his brother, sentencedMacpherson and Gordcm to death, causing them to be taken from the Courtto the Tolbooth of Banff, from Avhich eight days afterwards they Avere to beconveyed to the galloAvs hill of Banff', andlianged by the neck to the deathon gibbets erected there. This hurried sentence shows the inffuenceAvhich the fear of Macpherson, or private enmity exercised over the mindsof Dunbar, the Sheriff', and the jury, and hints at the influence exercisedby Braco Duff upon Sheriff, Jury, and IMagistrates, especially as theBroAvns, his companions, were not sentenced ; in fact they lay in jail fora year, and afterwards made their escape from prison. Macpherson wasan admirable performer on the violin, and the ardent love for music Avasa fit ingredient in the character of one avIio could so idly risk his life inthe pursuit of romantic love. His musical talent Avas evinced long beforehis capture in the comjjosition of a pibroch that goes by liis name ; andlie is said also to have composed the Avords and music, Avhicli, in his lastmoments, he gave to the world under the name of " Macpherson's FareweU"—