The Entertainments to 6 10 0 1734. ACCOMPT. OF HORSSES. Janr. 9th. 2 horses of Lord Stormonds, 2 nights' hay, oats, & beans £0 5 0 do. 2 horses 2 nights, hay, oats, & beans, Sr Thomas Kirkpatrk 0 5 0 do. the smith for Sr Thomas' horsses 0 2 0 Pyd. to Charles Herisse, smith, for iron work to the Hearse 0 5 6 Mr Gilbert's horsses 1 4 6 Grim legend clings around the account of Lag's last illness and his funeral. "During the latter part of his life Sir Robert had taken up his abode in his town-lodging in Dumfries. It was an ancient pile of building of singular construction, facing the principal part of the High Street of the town, known as the 'Plainstones.' This old house was called the 'Turnpike,' from the spiral staircase, a characteristic of it, as of many of the old Edinburgh houses; it was situated at the head of what was called the Turnpike Close, and little more than two hundred yards from the Nith. The best known of the many legends regarding Lag is this: that when he came near his end, and was sorely tormented with gout, he had relays of servants posted so as to hand up from one to another a succession of buckets of cold water from the Nith, that he might cool his burning limbs--but the moment his feet were inserted into the water it began to fizz and boil. In this old Turnpike house[38] Sir Robert died on the 31st December, 1733. It is related that on this occasion a 'corbie' (raven) of preternatural blackness and malignity of aspect, perched himself on the coffin, and would not be driven off, but accompanied the funeral cortège to the grave in the churchyard of Dunscore. Moreover, when the funeral procession started, and had got some little way on the Galloway side of the Nith, it was found that the horses, with all their struggles, and dripping with perspiration, from some mysterious cause could move the hearse no further. Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, of Closeburn, the old friend and comrade of Lag (and his relative), who was believed to be deep in some branches of the Black Art, was one of the mourners. This gentleman, the stoutest of Non-jurors, on this occasion swore a great oath that he would drive the hearse of Lag 'though ---- were in it!' and ordered a team of beautiful Spanish horses of his own to be harnessed in place of the others. Sir Thomas mounted and took the reins, when the horses instantly dashed off at a furious gallop that he could in no wise restrain, and abated nought of their headlong pace till they reached the churchyard of Dunscore, where they suddenly pulled up--and died."(76)