Inverness, Scotland:
James McPherson rants, fiddles and hangs on
11/16/1700

(tried before the sheriff of Banffshire Nov 7.)

McPherson & friends were convicted of being "Egyptian rogues and vagabonds, of keeping the markets in their ordinary manner of thieving and purse-cutting, also being guilty of masterful bangstrie and oppression." Part of the evidence against them was that they spoke a strange language and spent their nights in singing, dancing, and debauchery. He is supposed to have spent his last hour composing his rant, which Burns used as the basis of "Farewell, Ye Dungeons Dark and Strong.

          CHO: Sae rantin'ly, sae wantonly
               Sae dauntin'ly gaed he
               He played a tune and danced it roon'
               Below the gallows tree.
  
                    "McPherson's Rant; or the last words of James McPherson, murderer" 
                    is Burns' rewrite of both songs (based on Herd). See Dick's 
                    Songs of R.B., #311, for more explanation.

[Bangstrie is "masterful violence" – acting like a bangster – roughneck, bully, winner, hero, violent]

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