In those days it was not, as now, a wide and free
thoroughfare for man and beast. At the accustomed fairs, toll is, to
this time, demanded on all cattle changing owners at the several
outlets, where formerly stood four gates; to wit, Wall-gate, Hall-gate,
Mill-gate, and Standish-gate. Each gate where the toll-bars now stand
was once, in good sooth, a heavy barrier of stout beams, thickly studded
with iron. Through the night they were generally bolted and guarded by a
company of the mayor's halberdiers. An irregular wall encompassed the
town, save on the eastern side, where the river Douglas seemed, in the
eyes of the burghers, to constitute a sufficient defence, a low abbatis
only screening its banks. The walls were covered, or rather uncovered,
by a broad ditch: a bridge of rough-hewn planks, at three of the
entrances before named, allowed a free communication with the suburbs,
except during seasons of hostility, which unhappily were not rare in
those days of rapine and rebellion. Before the Mill-gate a wider and
more substantial structure, mounted on huge wooden props, facilitated a
passage over the river. This edifice could be raised in cases of siege,
effectually separating the inhabitants from their enemies.
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