Chronicles of Strathearn

by Unknown

MEMORIES OF GASK

By Rev. JAMES MARTIN, Gask

The parish of Gask is a comparatively small one both in population and in territorial extent. The earliest historical record we have of it goes back to the time of the invasion of Britain by the Romans. The road which passes along the ridge of high ground was originally made by the Romans, and was designed to form a line of communication between the camp at Ardoch and the camp at Bertha, near the junction of the Almond with the Tay. On the north side of it, in this parish, there are still to be distinctly seen two small camps or stations, and on the south side of it there is a larger one. The Romans have left traces of their presence here in the works they constructed, which the lapse of eighteen centuries has not entirely obliterated.

Coming down the stream of time, we find that Wallace, that noble and disinterested patriot, sought a hiding-place in time of danger amid its dense woods. During a visit to Perth in 1296, a plot was laid by the English to capture him, but, having received timely warning, he made his escape with his small band of followers to Gascon Ha'. This is generally supposed to have occupied a different site from the ruin near the River Earn which now bears that name, and which is celebrated by Lady Nairne in the song of "Bonnie Gascon Ha'." The Gascon Ha' to which Wallace repaired for safety from his treacherous and relentless enemies is said to have stood a mile and a half to the north-east of that ruin in the midst of the Gask woods. Here they prepared to pass the night, and having obtained two sheep from a neighbouring fold, they kindled a fire and made ready their evening repast. Greatly exhausted with their long and fatiguing march, Wallace proposed that his followers should rest while he would keep watch. During the course of the night he was startled by the "blowing of horns mingled with frightful yells, proceeding apparently from a rising ground in the immediate neighbourhood." Scouts were sent out from time to time, but all failing to return, the patriot was at last left alone. He wandered about till morning, killing two of the English whom he encountered, one of whom was Sir John Butler, and then hastened with all speed to Torwood, near Dunipace, where his uncle was parish priest.

At an early period the lands now comprehended in this parish belonged to the Earl of Strathearn, the great landowner in this district at that time. It is said that he possessed all the lands lying between the Cross of Macduff, near Newburgh, and the west end of Balquhidder in length, and between the Ochils and the Grampians in breadth. It was out of his lands of Nether Gask that he granted liberty to quarry stones for building the Abbey of Inchaffray, along with two acres of ground on which to erect workshops.

The lands of Gask have now been in the possession of the Oliphant family for nearly six hundred years. The name was originally written Olifard, then Olyfaunt, and now Oliphant. Sir William Olyfaunt was the first of that name on whom these lands were bestowed by King Robert the Bruce. Sir William occupied a prominent position in the early history of our country. He was Governor of Stirling Castle, and when summoned in the name of Edward I. to surrender it, made the noble reply, "I have never sworn fealty to Edward, but I have sworn to keep the Castle, and must wait the order of my constituent." And when the Castle was besieged by Edward and his army he defended it for three months, and only capitulated from the scarcity of provisions. He was a member of the Parliament held at Aberbrothock in 1320, and subscribed along with some other Scottish Barons the famous letter to the Pope, which so nobly asserted the independence of Scotland. To that document were affixed the seals of Sir William Olyfaunt and Malise, Earl of Strathearn. He died in 1329, and was buried in the Church of Aberdalgie, where a monument of black marble was erected to his memory. When the present Church of Aberdalgie was built in 1773 the site was changed, and the monument to Sir William Olyfaunt was left in the open churchyard. In 1780, Mr Oliphant of Gask erected a stone covering over it to protect it from injury by the weather.

Sir William was succeeded by his son, Walter Olyfaunt, who married a daughter of King Robert the Bruce, and, "having resigned the lands of Gask into the hands of his brother-in-law, David II., obtained, in 1364, a new charter confirming them to the said Walter and his spouse Elizabeth, our beloved sister, on a peculiar tenure for the reddendum of a chaplet of white roses at the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist at the manor place of Gask." This incident has been happily expressed in a poem by Miss Ethel Blair Oliphant, now Mrs Maxtone Graham, who inherits much of the poetic genius of her great-grand-aunt, Lady Nairne.

THE TRIBUTE OF GASK

Now ken ye the gift Gask has brought to the King?
'Tis an off'ring sae royal, sae perfect, and fair,
Than jewels o' siller more dainty and rare,
A crown for a maid or a monarch to wear.
The courtier's tribute is but a poor thing,
For what can he offer and what can he bring,
Than the crown of White Roses from Gask to the King?

Now ken ye the service Gask does for the King?
All for his sake, in the bloom of the year,
In the gardens of Gask the white blossoms appear—
The Royal White Roses to Scotland sae dear.
Then far o'er Stralhearn let the praise of them ring,
Let them live once again in the song that we sing,
The crown of White Roses from Gask to the King.

Now ken ye what Gask will yet do for the King?
In the days that may come, when the roses are dead,
When the pledge is forgotten, the vows left unsaid;
What then shall lie found for an off'ring instead?
Oh! then at his feet his heart he will fling.
Truth, Honour, Devotion, as tribute will bring
For the crown of White Roses from Gask to the King!

This charter, which has always been highly prized by the Gask family, had a rather singular history during the last century. In 1746 the Duke of Cumberland sent out Sir Joseph York from Perth to search the House of Gask, when he took away a box containing the charter, and it was not till forty years after that it was traced to its hiding-place, restored to its rightful owners, and safely deposited in the Gask charter chest. The Oliphants obtained large estates in different parts of Scotland, and were raised to the Peerage by James II., in 1450, by the title of Lord Oliphant. The fifth Lord, styled in the Gask papers "ane base and unworthy man," squandered away the large estates he inherited not only in Perthshire, but also in Forfarshire, Kincardine, Caithness, and Haddington. One of the younger branches of the Oliphant family purchased from his spendthrift cousin the lands of Gask, which have ever since continued in the same family.

Laurence Oliphant was, in the year 1650, knighted by Charles II., when that monarch was at Scone. He for a capricious reason disinherited his eldest son, Patrick, and gave the lands of Gask to his second son and his heirs. About fifty years thereafter the estate of Gask, from the failure of heirs in the younger branch, came into the possession of James, the eldest son of the disinherited Patrick.

While James Oliphant resided at Williamston, before he succeeded to Gask, he devised and carried out a great practical improvement in that locality. He along with some others applied to the Scotch Parliament in 1690 for an Act to compel all the adjoining proprietors to contribute their share towards the expense of cutting a channel sufficiently deep and broad to carry off the water, which at that time must have frequently flooded the fields, and thus reclaimed much valuable land. About forty years ago a considerable sum was expended in still further deepening and broadening the Pow, and that stream never overflows its banks now unless in very rainy seasons. As the estate of Gask is bounded by the Pow on the north side, it shared in the benefits resulting from that improvement. Mr Oliphant succeeded to Gask in 1705, and would doubtless display the same practical sagacity in carrying out improvements on the estate which then came into his possession. He probably planted some of those noble trees which still surround the mansion-house, and which are undoubtedly of great age.

At the Revolution in 1688, when James II. was driven from the throne of Britain, the Oliphants still retained their steadfast allegiance and devoted loyalty to the exiled monarch, and regarded his successors as usurpers. Cherishing these sentiments, we can well imagine they would hail every enterprise that had for its object the restoration of their hereditary king. An opportunity soon occurred. In 1715, a "Rising" took place to accomplish this end. The laird of Gask, though strongly favouring the movement, yet with great prudence remained at home, and saved his estate from forfeiture. But he sent his two elder sons to join the standard which the Earl of Mar had reared for the restoration of the Chevalier St. George, the only son of James II. They both took part in the battle which was fought at Sheriffmuir, on the 13th November, between the Jacobite forces, led by the Earl of Mar, and the Government forces under the command of the Duke of Argyle. It was an indecisive battle, both sides claiming the victory. The Jacobites, retreating through Strathearn, burned many of the villages, inflicting great hardships on the peaceful inhabitants by rendering them houseless during the rigour of winter. The attempt to restore the Chevalier St. George soon collapsed, but it does not seem to have been followed by the thrilling scenes, the hairbreadth escapes, and the rigorous treatment which marked the close of the subsequent rebellion.

James Oliphant died in 1732, and was succeeded by his eldest son Laurence, who is styled the "Jacobite Laird, par excellence." He had been in hiding for some time after the "Rising" of 1715. He, however, soon returned home, freed from all Suspicion of disloyalty. He married, in 1719, a daughter of the second Lord Nairne, "who was as staunch a Jacobite as himself." At Gask House there is a wooden cup, with a silver rim near the top and another near the bottom. The upper one has the inscription—"Spumantem calicem paternum in regis legitimi hoeredetarii salutem redditumque felicem loete haurimus"; and a free translation of this inscription is on the lower one—"Our grandsires' flowing cup we drink, and sing God save; restore our true-born lawful King. Amen. L.O.G. June 10th, 1740." This discloses the strong Jacobite tendency which he cherished, and the ardent longing which he felt for the happy return of his hereditary King. He had not long to wait till another opportunity occurred of making a second attempt to accomplish the object so dear to him. In 1745, Prince Charles landed in the Western Isles, when the Highland Clans rallied to his standard with many others favourable to his cause. The laird and his son—both Laurence—joined Prince Charles at Perth, and incurred the risk of loss of life and property. Gask was greatly annoyed that he could not induce his tenants to enlist in the cause of the Prince, and he had recourse to a very extreme measure to enforce compliance with his wishes. In connection with this we have a very interesting statement in "The Jacobite Lairds of Gask," being a quotation from Dr. Chambers' History of the Rebellion. Perhaps no one experienced so much difficulty in his levies as the good laird of Gask, though he was at the same time, perhaps, the person of all others the most anxious to provide men for the service of his beloved Prince. This enthusiastic Jacobite was, it seems, so extremely incensed at the resistance he received from some of his tenants that he actually laid an arrestment or inhibition upon their corn-fields, in order to see if their interest would not oblige them to comply with his request. The case was still at issue when Charles, in marching from Perth, observed the corn hanging dead ripe, and eagerly inquired the reason. He was informed that Gask had not only prohibited his tenants from cutting their grain, but would not permit their cattle to be fed upon it, so that these creatures were absolutely starving. Shocked at what he heard, he leaped from the saddle, exclaiming, "This will never do," and began to gather a quantity of the corn. Giving this to his horse, he said to those that were by that he had thus broken Gask's inhibition, and the farmers might now, upon his authority, proceed to put the produce of their fields to its proper use. It was on this occasion that the laird of Gask had the high honour of receiving and entertaining the Prince at his house. The table on which he breakfasted is still in the House of Gask, and in good preservation. It bears the inscription—"Charles, Prince of Wales, breakfasted at this table in the low drawing-room at Gask on the 11th September, 1745." The chair on which he then sat was not allowed to be occupied by any other for many years thereafter. There are still at Gask House several interesting relics of Prince Charles, which are carefully preserved—viz., his bonnet, the Royal brogues, crucifix, and ribbon of the Garter, his spurs, and a lock of his hair, &c. The high honour conferred on the Gask family by this visit from their Prince would tend to inspire them with greater zeal and ardour in advancing his cause. They continued faithful and devoted followers of the Prince in the romantic attempt he made to regain the throne of his ancestors, and they took part in many of the battles that were fought to secure that object. They were both present on the field of Culloden and fought with great bravery on the fatal day that proved so disastrous to the Prince's cause, and which must have all but extinguished the most sanguine hopes of the keenest Jacobite. After the Battle of Culloden the Oliphants endured great hardships for six months while hiding among the hills of Buchan, and had many narrow escapes, until at last they landed in Sweden on the 10th November, 1746.

But while they were involved in many troubles in those trying times, there arose one from an unexpected quarter, which caused them great annoyance. In 1740, Mr Oliphant, as almost sole heritor, intruded the Rev. John M'Leish into the parish, in opposition to the wishes of a large majority of the people. But he lived deeply to regret the step he then took, for, on the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1745, the minister became one of his most bitter enemies. Some of the colours taken at the Battle of Prestonpans "fell to Mr Oliphant, which he sent to his own house at Gask." Mr M'Leish, knowing this, searched for them to deliver them to the Duke of Cumberland, but Emily Dewar, a faithful servant at the house, hid them in the pump, so that the minister could not find them. He told the tenants not to pay their rents to a rebel landlord. When the Duke of Cumberland, at the request of Lady Gask, sent out a guard from Perth to protect that lady in those troublous times, the minister, on hearing this, was highly indignant, and said—"What right had they to protect a rebel lady?" He also said that he would go to Perth next day and speak to the Duke of Cumberland about this. He said and did so many things calculated to annoy and irritate the Gask family, that years after, when hiding on the Continent, Mr Oliphant wrote saying—"That ingrate man's actings have tried my patience more than all that has happened to me." The conduct of the minister to the laird during this trying period was surely most harsh and unkind, even though he entertained different political views. Mr M'Leish would probably regard, as a national calamity, the restoration of the Stuarts, knowing well the arbitrary and unconstitutional way they often acted when in power. He might also fear that there would be great danger to the Protestant cause were a Roman Catholic to occupy the throne of Britain. But while we sympathise with these sentiments, and think that Mr M'Leish was quite entitled to hold them, it was surely ungrateful and unkind to act in the way he often did, not only to Mr Oliphant, but also to his lady. The Oliphants were thoroughly conscientious in holding their principles, and they gave the strongest proof of this in risking their life and the loss of all their worldly substance in maintaining them. At the same time, we are of opinion that theirs was a mistaken loyalty, and it was well that they did not succeed in accomplishing their object. Had they done so, it is probable that the civil and religious history of our country would have been different, and Britain might not have attained to the high position she now occupies among the nations. But, while holding this opinion, we cannot fail to admire the inflexible steadfastness with which they adhered to their principles, and the noble sacrifices they made in support of them. It is supposed that, as Lady Nairne would often hear from her father of the doings of Mr M'Leish, she has a hit at him in one of her songs—

"M'Leish's ae daughter o' Claverse-ha' Lee,"

In his latter days, Mr M'Leish was in a very infirm state, and unable to discharge his ministerial duties. During the two last years of his life there was only public worship in Gask Church once a month. The days on which divine service was held, and the names of the ministers who officiated, are still to be seen in our Session records. During his long illness it is interesting to read of the tender sympathy which Mr Oliphant expressed for him, and the Christian spirit of forgiveness which he manifested towards him. He wrote from the Continent:—"I'm sorry to hear that Mr M'Leish has been so much distressed in his health. It will perhaps be agreeable to him, and let him know that I do heartyly forgive him all the injurys he has done me undeservidly.... I shall mention no other particulars of the way he has treated me, but as I have sincerly forgiven, I pray our commune Father to forgive him, which I hope he will be earnest to obtain." There is no record that Mr M'Leish ever felt or expressed regret at the unkind way in which he had treated his benefactor.

The Oliphants, after making their escape from this country to the Continent in 1746, continued to reside in different places there for seventeen years. And during that long period they sent home to their friends in this country a great many letters giving a detailed account of their movements, and of their meeting with other exiles suffering with them in the same cause and for maintaining the same principles of loyalty. And these papers and letters, preserved in the Gask charter-room, have been turned to excellent account by the present Mr Oliphant in the very interesting volume he compiled entitled The Jacobite Lairds of Gask.

As both father and son took part in the Rebellion, the estate of Gask was forfeited. But it was re-purchased from the Government in 1753 by Mr Oliphant of Condie, who was understood to be acting for the Gask family, at the sum of £17,800. The estate was, however, larger then than it is now, including both Cowgask and Williamston. The two latter were afterwards sold to pay part of the purchase money for Gask. It was at one time proposed to sell the Ross and Newmiln, but Mr Oliphant objected to this, as he considered these two farms the most improvable part of the estate. We are told in The Jacobite Lairds of Gask that few lost more than the Oliphants by the "Rising" of 1745. If we reckon the seven years in which the estate was withheld from them, and the large sum for which it was bought back from Government, these losses would come to about £60,000 of our money.

The Oliphants returned to Gask after an absence of seventeen years, in November, 1763. As Mr M'Leish died on the 24th March of the same year, the laird and the minister never met again.

After all the dangers to which they had been exposed on the field of battle, and all the hardships they had to encounter during the long period they were in hiding on the Continent, they were at last permitted to return in safety to their native land, to spend the evening of their days in their "Ain dear wee Auld House."

The elder Jacobite laird died in 1767, and was gathered to his fathers in the old Kirk of Gask. He was succeeded by his only son, the younger Jacobite laird. He continued to adhere with the most unshaken steadfastness to the cause of the Prince, for whom he had done and suffered so much, and brought up his family in the strictest principles of loyalty to the King over the water. When his family read the newspapers to him after his eyesight became impaired, if the names King or Queen occurred, they must only indicate this by employing the initials K. or Q., otherwise he sharply reproved them.

When Prince Charles died in 1788, leaving an only brother, Cardinal York, many of the Jacobites transferred their allegiance to George III., and most of the Scotch Episcopalian clergy began to pray for the reigning family, which they had not hitherto done. Among these was Mr Cruickshanks, Episcopal minister at Muthill, who occasionally officiated at Gask. When Mr Oliphant heard this, he at once wrote to Mr Cruickshanks that, as he had now disqualified himself for officiating at Gask, his services would be henceforth dispensed with. He sent to him his official robes, and returned some books, the reading of which he had got from Mr Cruickshanks. It is said that George III., hearing of Gask's unswerving constancy, sent, by the member of Parliament for Perthshire, his compliments—not the compliments of the King of England, but of the Elector of Hanover—to Mr Oliphant. He died in 1792, and was succeeded by his eldest son Laurence, the third of that name in succession. It was this laird who pulled down the "Auld House" in 1800, except a part of the front wall, which was allowed to stand, as an interesting ruin, and around which now centre so many tender and hallowed associations. He also built the present large and substantial mansion-house, which occupies a commanding situation a few yards from the "Auld House." With the concurrence of the Presbytery, he removed the Parish Church and manse from the site on which they had stood for several centuries to another about a mile to the north. This must have been in many respects a very desirable change, both for the laird and the minister. There were only a few yards formerly between the mansion-house and the manse, and this proximity must have at times been rather uncomfortable for both. A more eligible site, however, could easily have been got on which to build the new church and manse, but it possesses the great advantage of being central for the whole parish.

About the period at which we have now arrived in our narrative there was emerging into fame a member of the Oliphant family, who was destined to throw as bright a lustre around that name as any who had ever borne it—who is styled "the brightest jewel in the Oliphant crown." I refer to Carolina Oliphant, who was the third daughter of the younger Jacobite laird, and who was named after the King over the water. She was born in the "Auld House"—which she afterwards celebrated in song—in the year 1766. She gave early indication of superior poetic genius and high musical accomplishments. Her great aim was to purify the national songs, and to render them more suitable for the use of the people. And she was led to attempt this from an incident related in her memoirs. "Driving, during the annual fair, through a small hamlet in the neighbourhood, she remarked many persons holding in their hands a small book with a yellow cover. Desirous of ascertaining what a publication so popular might contain, she despatched her footman to purchase a copy. It proved to be a collection of songs and ballads, many of which were ill suited for the hands of youth." But she also composed a large number of original songs of great excellence, two of which are of exquisite beauty and tenderness—"The Land o' the Leal" and "The Auld House." In early life Miss C. Oliphant had an intimate friend and companion in Miss Erskine, daughter of the Episcopal minister at Muthill. Miss Erskine was afterwards married to Campbell Colquhoun of Killermont. Their first child died when scarcely a year old. This led Carolina Oliphant to write "The Land o' the Leal," which she sent with a letter of condolence to Mrs Colquhoun in her sad bereavement. But the strictest secrecy was enjoined as to the writer of it, and for many years thereafter only a very few knew that this beautiful and touching song was written by Carolina Oliphant. At one time it was supposed to have been written by Burns on his death-bed, and the first line then was—"I'm wearin' awa', Jean"; but it never appeared in any collection of his poems. The songs of Lady Nairne have now become so well known and so highly appreciated, that it is scarcely necessary to refer to them at fuller detail here. She was married to Major Nairne in 1806 in an upper room of Gask House. As Major Nairne then held an official appointment in Edinburgh, they took up their abode in that city, in a cottage built for them by the old Chief of Strowan, called Carolina Cottage. She there employed her pen in composing songs for the Scotish Minstrel, while she enjoyed the intellectual society into which she had been introduced, and in which she was so well fitted to shine. One of her songs, "The Attainted Scottish Nobles," had a great influence in restoring them to their former titles. When George IV. visited Edinburgh in 1822, Major Nairne and other attainted Scottish Peers were introduced to the King at Holyrood. And when it came to the knowledge of the King that Mrs Nairne had written that song it made him favourable to the introduction of a measure which passed through both Houses of Parliament, and received the Royal sanction in June, 1824, for the reversal of the attainders. Major Nairne was then restored to his rank in the Peerage as Lord Nairne, and Mrs Nairne became Baroness Nairne, by which she has ever since been known.

Lord Nairne died in 1830, and was succeeded in the title by his only son, William, sixth Lord. Lady Nairne felt deeply her bereavement, but was sustained under it by the comforts and consolations of religion. She henceforth devoted all her efforts to the mental culture and moral and religious training of her only child. She removed to different parts of the country for the benefit of his health. But with all her maternal care he sickened and died at Brussels in 1837. By the death of her son the ties which bound her to the world were in a great measure severed, and her thoughts and affections were raised to that higher and holier state on which those who were nearest and dearest to her had now entered. She returned to Gask in 1845, and spent the last two years of her life within a few yards of the spot where she was born. She had received early religious impressions when on a visit to Murthly Castle, and these were greatly deepened by the successive trials and bereavements wherewith she was visited. She still continued to take a great delight in doing good and in contributing to advance the cause of religion in the world. Having a sum of money at her disposal, she consulted Dr. Chalmers as to the most useful and charitable purposes to which it might be applied. And it was at this time that she contributed £300 to Dr. Chalmers' West Port Mission, on the condition that he should never reveal the name of the donor. She was as careful to conceal her good deeds as she had been to conceal the authorship of the beautiful songs she composed. She gradually became weaker and weaker, but as the "outward man decayed the inward man was renewed day by day." In her song of the "Auld House" she beautifully describes how, at the evening of the day,

"The setting sun, the setting sun,
How glorious it gae'd doon."

So in the evening of the day of her life her sun went gloriously down to rise and shine in a fairer land—"The Land o' the Leal." She was buried in Gask Chapel, which is erected on the site of the old Parish Church, and to the building of which she contributed. A few years ago a granite cross of beautiful design and workmanship was erected to her memory by Mr Oliphant in the grounds of Gask. It bears the appropriate inscription:—

CARMINA MORTE CARENT
CAROLINA OLIPHANT
BARONESS NAIRNE
BORN AT GASK, 1766
DIED AT GASK, 1845

If superior poetical genius, great moral worth, and high Christian character deserve to be held in remembrance, there are few more entitled to this honour than Lady Nairne. Nor could a more appropriate spot have been chosen by Mr Oliphant on which to rear this tribute of affectionate regard to the memory of his grand-aunt than in the midst of that beautiful scenery which she loved so well, and which she has immortalised in her songs. Lady Nairne, however, has reared for herself a monument far more durable than that of brass or granite, in her beautiful songs, which, as the inscription truly says, will never die.

I must here make a brief reference to a native of this parish, who, although born and brought up in humble life, yet attained to great eminence in his profession. I refer to Laurence Macdonald, who for some time wrought as a common mason, but who showed a strong genius for sculpture. The first piece of work of that kind that he did was the family coat-of-arms of Garvock House. Mrs Oliphant discerning his rising genius in this direction, took him to the Continent when the Gask family removed there in 1822, to afford him better opportunity for the cultivation of this art. He ultimately settled in Rome, and became one of the first British sculptors in that city. He was there known as Lorenzo de Gasco, from his native parish. In recognition of the kindness he had received from the Gask family, he afterwards sent as a gift to the laird one of his best works, which now occupies a prominent position in the House of Gask.

James Blair Oliphant died in 1847, and was buried in the Gask Chapel. "He was the eighteenth in unbroken male succession from the William Oliphant upon whom Robert Bruce bestowed the lands of Gask." After his death the estate was under trustees for nearly twenty years. And during this period a litigation was carried on as to the right of succession. Mr Oliphant of Condie was confident that he could establish his claim to be the nearest male heir. But there was a link wanting in the chain of evidence, and he failed to realise his sanguine expectations. The estate then came into the possession of the late laird's sister's family, when the eldest son, Mr Kington Oliphant, succeeded to it nearly thirty years ago.

We have briefly traced the history of the Oliphants during the long period they have been in possession of Gask estate, and while many of them have been distinguished in different walks of life, none of them ever occupied the high position which the present Mr Oliphant does for literary attainments and scholarly accomplishments. He has unfolded the history of his family with all that fulness of information by which he is characterised in The Oliphants in Scotland and The Jacobite Lairds of Gask. And I must express my great indebtedness to Mr Oliphant for the information I have derived from these volumes in writing this article. But I am persuaded that Mr Oliphant's literary fame will rest more on another work he produced some years ago, entitled The Old and Middle English, in one volume, and The New English, in two volumes, than on the other two, interesting as they are. In these volumes Mr Oliphant has traced the development of the English language during the last 600 years. The most competent scholars and critics have spoken of these volumes in the highest terms of commendation, and declared that Mr Oliphant has done, unaided, what would have required a company of philologists to achieve. Mr Oliphant, however, is not only devoted to literary pursuits, but he also takes a practical interest in the welfare of all in the parish; often visits them in their dwellings, and has a great pleasure in promoting their social enjoyments. In these respects he is cordially supported by Mrs Oliphant. And I only express the best wishes of all on the estate that they may be long spared together to dwell among their own people, and to maintain the same friendly relations with them in the future as they have done in the past.