Newes from Scotland is titled as the damnable life and death of Doctor Fian, and it makes him the clerk to all those in the Devil's service, which is the phrase Mysterious Britain quotes. Wikipedia says he was charged with bewitching townspeople and, with Agnes Sampson and others, with raising storms against the king's fleet.
According to the records Wikipedia summarises, he was brought before the king on 24 December 1590. After first renouncing the Devil he escaped his cell the following night. When he was recaptured he was tortured, and the methods listed are the removal of fingernails, iron pins and crushing boots. He was strangled and burned on Castlehill on 27 January 1591. The English ambassador Robert Bowes recorded that Fian recanted his confession at his death, saying he had confessed only through fear of torture.
Saltpans is the old name for the salt working area of Prestonpans. The pin is set on the town.
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