he "good-man."
This epithet, so applied, must sound strange to a southern ear; but, as
the phrase bears various interpretations, according to the places where
it is used, so, in the Scottish dialect, the _good-man of such a place_
signifies the tenant, or life-renter, in opposition to the laird, or
proprietor. Hence, the devil is termed the good-man, or tenant, of the
infernal regions. In the book of the Universal Kirk, 13th May, 1594,
mention is made of "the horrible superstitioune usit in Garioch, and
dyvers parts of the countrie, in not labouring a parcel of ground
dedicated to the devil, under the title of the _Guid-man's Croft_." Lord
Hailes conjectured this to have been the _tenenos_ adjoining to some
ancient Pagan temple. The unavowed, but obvious, purpose of this
practice, was to avert the destructive rage of Satan from the
neighbouring possessions. It required various fulminations of the
General Assembly of the Kirk to abolish a practice bordering so nearly
upon the doctrine of the Magi.]

As this Gallovidian gentleman was taking the air on horseback, near his
own house, he was suddenly accosted by a little old man, arrayed in
green, and mounted upon a white palfrey. After mutual salutation, the
old man gave Sir Godfrey to understand, that he resided under his
habitation, and that he had great reason to complain of the direction of
a drain, or common sewer, which emptied itself directly into his chamber
of dais, [A] Sir Godfrey Macculloch was a good deal startled at this
extraordinary complaint; but, guessing the nature of the being he had
to deal with, he assured the old man, with great courtesy, that the
direction of the drain should be altered; and caused it be done
accordingly. Many years afterwards, Sir Godfrey had the misfortune to
kill, in a fray, a gentleman of the neighbourhood. He was apprehended,
tried, and condemned.[B] The scaffold, upon which his head was to be
struck off, was erected on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh; but hardly had
he reached the fatal spot, when the old man, upon his white palfrey,
pressed through the crowd, with the rapidity of lightning. Sir Godfrey,
at his command, sprung on behind him; the "good neighbour" spurred his
horse down the steep bank, and neither he nor the criminal were ever
again seen.

[Footnote A: The best chamber was thus currently denominated in
Scotland, from the French _dais_, signifying that part of the ancient
halls which was elevated above the rest, and