Note C — TALES OF THE EAST NEUK OF FIFE.

The inn or house here referred to is now demolished. It was a back house which stood behind Mr Thomas Foggo's shop, through which there was a passage or entry to it; and from its concealed and backlying situation, it would seem to have been a very likely place for smugglers to resort to with their contraband goods. And here it may be remarked, that less than 100 years ago, smuggling was very prevalent in the east of Fife; almost every merchant and trader in the east coast burghs, and farmers from St Andrews all along the southeast coast, were less or more concerned in the importation of brandy, gin, teas, silks, and tobacco, &c. The penalties at one time were only the forfeiture of the goods seized, and if one vessel's cargo escaped out of two or three, it was a profitable trade. The measures of Government were then thought to be so stringent and despotic, that men of principle, of probity, and integrity in all other respects, manifested great obliquity of vision in viewing the traffic in smuggled goods, and felt no compunctious visitings in embarking in that trade. In the better class of houses in the district, hiding holes and places of concealment were always to be found, and some of these places are only now being discovered. It is not many years since, that an honest man in Pittenweem, while employed in his cellar, fell down into a large concealment capable of holding a great many ankers of spirits and boxes of tea, of which he previously knew nothing.