that they might have found the weight of their
tails in a tow to dry their tow-soles; that they might know what hanging was,
they having been active for themselves and the main instigators to all the
mischiefs, cruelties, and bloodshed of that time, wherein the streets of
Edinburgh and other places of the land did run with the innocent precious dear
blood of the Lord's people.« - Life and Death of three famous Worthies (Semple,
etc.), by Patrick Walker, Edin. 1727, pp. 72, 73.
 
63 In taking leave of the poor maniac, the Author may here observe that the
first conception of the character, though afterwards greatly altered, was taken
from that of a person calling herself, and called by others, Feckless Fannie
(weak or feeble Fannie), who always travelled with a small flock of sheep. The
following account, furnished by the persevering kindness of Mr. Train, contains,
probably, all that can now be known of her history, though many, among whom is
the Author, may remember having heard of Feckless Fannie in the days of their
youth.
»My leisure hours,« says Mr. Train, »for some time past have been mostly spent
in searching for particulars relating to the maniac called Feckless Fannie, who
travelled over all Scotland and England, between the years 1767 and 1775, and
whose history is altogether so like a romance, that I have been at all possible
pains to collect every particular that can be found relative to her in Galloway,
or in Ayrshire.
When Feckless Fannie appeared in Ayrshire, for the first time, in the summer of
1769, she attracted much notice, from being attended by twelve or thirteen
sheep, who seemed all endued with faculties so much superior to the ordinary
race of animals of the same species, as to excite universal astonishment. She
had for each a different name, to which it answered when called by its mistress,
and would likewise obey in the most surprising manner any command she thought
proper to give. When travelling, she always walked in front of her flock, and
they followed her closely behind. When she lay down at night in the fields, for
she would never enter into a house, they always disputed who should lie next to
her, by which means she was kept warm, while she lay in the midst of them; when
she attempted to rise from the ground, an old ram, whose name was Charlie,
always claimed the sole right of assisting her; pushing any that stood in his
way aside, until he arrived right