"Licence to S^{r} George Hay Annent Selling off his Irne, Scots Act passed August 4th 1621.

"Oure Souerane Lord With advyse and consent of the Estaittis of Parliament, And in speall with advyse and consent of the Commissionaris off the haill ffrie burrowes Royall within this Realme, Gevis and grauntis full and frie Libertie, Licence, and powar to Sr George Hay off kinfawnis knicht Clerk off his hienes Regr be him selff his seruantis and vyeris in his name, To transport and Carye ony Irone maid be him and his saidis servantis in his name within this realme To any poirt or harbrie off any ffrie burgh Royall or ony vther place within ye samen, To vnloade weigh and dispone vpoun the said Irone to any persoun qt sumeuir within this realme that they sall think expedient, And that notwithstanding off ony privilegis or Liberties qt. sumeuir formarlie grauntit to the saidis burghes To be contrar heiroff Quhairanent his maiestie with advyse and consent foirsaid dispensse be thir pñtis, Provyding Alwayis that this pñtt act Sall nawayis hurt nor preiudge the liberties and priviledges of the saidis Royall burghis in any vther caices, And that in regaird they thame selffis haif consentit to this priviledge."

Remarks on Dr Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Hebrides. By the Rev. Donald M'Nicol, A.M., London, 1779.

Page 139.—"Several English companies come to different parts of the west coast for charcoal, and bring ore all the way from England to be there smelted."

Page 155 et seq.—"The smelting and working of iron was well understood and constantly practised over all the Highlands and Islands for time immemorial. Instead of improving in that art we have fallen off exceedingly of late years, and at present make little or none. Tradition bears that they made it in the blomary way, that is, by laying it under the hammers in order to make it malleable, with the same heat that melted it in the furnace.

"There is still in the Highlands a clan of the name of MacNuithear, who are descended from those founders, and have from thence derived their surname. I am likewise well informed, that there is in Glenurchy, in Argyleshire, a family of the name of MacNab, who have lived in the same place, and have been a race of smiths, from father to son, for more, perhaps, than three hundred years past; and who, in consequence of the father having instructed the son, have carried down so much of their ancient art, that they excel all others in the country in the way of their profession; even those taught in the south of Scotland, as well as in England, not excepted. A tinker or smith of the name of Mac Feadearon, a tribe now almost extinct, was the most famous of his time for making arrow-heads.

"It is certain that Mac Donald was formerly possessed of most of the western isles, as well as of several large districts upon the continent or mainland. He had many places of residence, such as Ardtorinish, &c., but the most common one was in an island in Lochsinlagan in Isla. Near this place, and not far from Port Askaic on the sound of Isla, lived the smith Mac Cregie (that is, the son of the Rock), and his posterity for a great length of time. There is still pointed out, by the inhabitants, the rock out of which he dug his iron ore. Near the rock is a large solid stone, of a very hard consistency, on which he knapped his ore; and, at a little distance, there is a cascade on a rivulet, where stood his mill for polishing, or otherwise preparing the iron which he had manufactured. He and his descendants made complete suits of armour, according to the fashion of the times; such as helmets, swords, coats of mail, &c. The Isla hilt for the broadsword is well known, and so famous as to have become proverbial."

Extract from Douglas's Peerage.—Kinnoul.

"George Hay, the second son [of Peter Hay of Melginche] born in 1572; went about 1590 to the Scots College at Douay, where he studied some years under his uncle Edmund, and returning home about 1596, was introduced at Court by his cousin Sir James Hay of Kingask. King James the VI. was pleased to appoint him one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber, and to bestow on him the Carthusian priory or Charter House of Perth, with a seat in Parliament, 18th Feby. 1598: also the ecclesiastical lands of Errol by another charter dated the 1st of that month. But finding the rents too small to support the dignity of a lord of Parliament, he returned back his peerage to his Majesty. He attended the King to Perth, 5th August 1600, when the Earl of Gowrie was killed in his treasonable attempt on his Majesty's life. Mr Hay applying to the profession of the law, acquired considerable property, was designed of Netherleiff, and had charters of Dunninald, in Forfarshire, 17th May 1606, and of Lewes, Glenelg, Barra, &c., 24th July 1610. He was appointed Clerk Register in 1616 and knighted. Sir George Hay of Netherleiff had charters of an annual rent of Redcastle, 18th July 1620; of the barony of Kinfauns, 20th July 1620; of Tulliehow, 20th March 1622; and of Innernytie, Kincluer, &c., 15th May 1622. He was constituted High Chancellor of Scotland 16th July 1622; had charters of Craigton 28th August 1622, of the land and earldom of Orkney and Zetland 22d August 1624; of the barony of Aberdalgy, Duplin, &c., 29th July 1626. He was created a peer by the title of Viscount of Duplin, and Lord Hay of Kinfauns, 4th May 1627, to him and the heirs male of his body, and advanced to the dignity of Earl of Kinnoul, Viscount of Duplin, and Lord Hay of Kinfauns, by patent, dated at York, 25th May 1633, to him and his heirs male for ever. His Lordship enjoyed the Chancellor's place with the approbation of the whole kingdom and the applause of all good men, for his justice, integrity, sound judgment, and eminent sufficiency till his death, which happened at London on the 16th December 1634. His body was conveyed to Scotland, and on the 19th August 1635, was interred in the Church of Kinnoul, where a sumptuous monument was erected to his memory, being a statue of his Lordship of the full size, dressed in his robes as chancellor, and reckoned a strong likeness. There is no inscription on the monument: but an epitaph on him by Dr Arthur Johnston is published in Crawford's lives of the Officers of State, beginning thus:—

Gone is the wise Lycurgus of our time,
The great and grave dictator of our clime.

His Lordship married Margaret, daughter of Sir James Halyburton of Pitens, and by her, who dying 4th April 1633, was buried at Kinnoul 7th May following, had issue—

1. Sir Peter Hay, who had charters to Peter Hay, eldest son of George Hay of Neyerleiff, of the ecclesiastical lands and right of patronage of Errol, 8th Jany 1602-3; and of the lands of Dunnynald, 23d May 1611. He died before his father, unmarried.

2. George, second Earl of Kinnoul."

Portrait of George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull, now in Dupplin Castle.

Extracted from the Life of George Jamesone, the Scottish Vandyck, by John Bullock, 1885, p. 150.

"This picture bears evident trace of Jamesone's hand, but it has been largely repainted. He wears a fine cap, richly ornamented with lace, and a common ruff over a plain doublet. It is a usual feature of these repainted portraits that the dates of Jamesone's pictures are generally sacrificed by the restorer.

"He was the youngest son of Peter Hay, and was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, and honoured with the dignity of knighthood (1598). He was created Baron of Kinfauns and Viscount Dupplin in 1627, and in 1633 was created Earl of Kinnoull. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir James Haliburton of Pitcur. He died in 1634."

The portrait of Sir George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull, above described, is reproduced amongst our illustrations.

Another portrait of the illustrious ironfounder of Loch Maree, also at Dupplin Castle, forms another illustration. It is entitled "Portrait of Sir George Hay of Megginish, by Ferdinand." It represents Sir George as a young man in armour.

On a map of "the Kingdome of Scotland," by John Speed, published in 1610, there is marked to the north or north-east of Loch Hew "mines of iron." The sheet of water called on the map "Loch Hew" is evidently Loch Maree.

H.

ADDENDA on St Maelrubha and Ecclesiastical History.

The following Notes are principally gleaned from Dr Reeves' paper on St Maelrubha (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. iii., p. 258 et seq.), and from "Bishop Forbes' Journals," &c., by Rev. J. B. Craven (1886):—

St Maelrubha was eighth in descent, on his father's side, from Niall of the Nine Hostages, Sovereign of Ireland, through Eoghan (who died in 465), one of Niall's sons, and on his mother's side he was akin to St Comgall, the great abbot of Bangor, in the county of Down. He was born 3rd January 642, and trained at the monastery of Bangor, of which, according to some, he became abbot. In 671, following the example of St Columba, he went to Scotland, probably in the first instance to Iona, and in 673 he founded the church of Applecross, which became the nucleus of a conventional establishment, following the order of Bangor, and for a long time affiliated to that monastery. He founded a church on an island on Loch Maree,—both island and loch still bearing his name in the corrupted form of Maree. He preached Christianity in the adjoining districts. Maelrubha's Seat, near Loch Clair, is so named because it was a place where he preached. He died at Ferintosh, whilst discharging his sacred office, on Tuesday, 21st April 722, at the age of eighty. There is a tradition that he suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Danes, but it seems inconsistent with existing records. His body was removed to Applecross, and there interred. He acquired so great a reputation for sanctity that he was regarded as the patron saint of this part of Scotland, whence he extended his influence both in the islands and on the mainland. His work in the parish of Gairloch did not die with this holy man. Isle Maree became the residence of a priest. Later on two churches were erected within the parish,—the church dedicated to St Maelrubha at Gairloch, and a church near the head of Loch Maree, then called Loch Ewe. In all probability this church stood (as tradition has it) by the small well that still bears the name of Tobar Mhoire, or "Mourie's well." No doubt St Maelrubha had himself hallowed the spot by blessing the well, or preaching close to it. From the numerous dedications of churches to his memory, not only here but elsewhere, we learn how laborious must have been his missionary work. The name Maelrubha is compounded of Mael, a servant, and Rubha or Ruba, patience. It has been corrupted in almost endless variety. There are the following amongst many undoubted corruptions:—

Mulruby,Morew,Maree,
Malrew,Morow,Mărie,
Mulruy,Maroy,Măry,
Mulroy,Mareve,Mury;

or dropping the initial letter,

Arrow, Erew, Olrou;

or dropping the first element of the compound name,

Rice, Row, Rufus,
Ro,Ru,Ruvius;

or combining the title "Saint,"

Summaruff,Samarevis,Samerivis,
Samervis,Smarevis,Smarivis.

Contemplating these corruptions of Maelrubha, one cannot but conjecture that the name Smiorsair, given to a hamlet two miles north of Tobar Mhoire, is derived from the name of the saint, and that perhaps some other Gairloch names may have had the same origin. At and near Applecross are many names connected with the saint and his successors.

The churches founded by St Columba and St Malrubha not having the assistance of a powerful body like the Church of Rome (with which they had no connection), gradually fell into decay. Later on the Romish Church stepped in and gathered up the threads of languishing Christianity; but the inaccessible Gairloch seems to have had no place in church history for some centuries. No doubt Christianity was maintained by a few pious priests amid the clan contests and general turbulence that filled the long interval before the Reformation. That casting off of the Roman yoke made little difference on the west coast. It seems most likely that the Rev. Farquhar MacRae, ordained vicar of Gairloch in 1608, was brought up as a Roman Catholic, and no doubt his learned hearer, Sir George Hay, was so too; but neither they nor the common people seem to have objected to the change made by the Reformation, nor can we suppose that it affected them to any appreciable extent. The simple ritual of the Highland churches was scarcely capable of any change; and it is not likely that forms and ceremonies were much debated in Gairloch.

It was far different when the change came from Presbyterianism to Episcopacy. The Highlanders clung to the old faith, and stoutly struggled against the introduction of Presbyterianism.

The diocese of Ross at the Revolution (1680) comprised within its bounds thirty-two parishes divided into four presbyteries or "exercises," one of which was Gairloch. Of the thirty-one clergy (one parish was vacant) nine were deprived of their livings by the Presbyterians; one voluntarily demitted, declining to obey the new powers; one offered to submit to the new church government (his services were declined); of one parish we have no account; and the remaining nineteen continued (without submission to presbytery) to hold their benefices to their deaths. Of this last class was the Rev. Roderick Mackenzie, Episcopal minister of Gairloch, whose masterly disregard of the Presbytery has been stated (page 65).

When the long incumbency of the Rev. Roderick Mackenzie was brought to a close by his death in 1710, the presbytery resolved to have a minister of their own settled in Gairloch. The Rev. John Morrison was nominated, and the Rev. Thomas Chisholm was sent to Gairloch to take preliminary measures. At a meeting held at Kiltearn, 28th February 1711, Mr Chisholm reported "that, in obedience to the presbytery's appointment, he had gone to the parish of Gerloch in order to have preached at that church and serve the edict for Mr Morrison's admission; but after he was come near to said church he was seized upon by a partie of men and carried back again about six miles, and that being let go by them, he had essayed again to go to the said church another way, and that he was again seized upon by another partie of men, and carried back by them to Kan-loch-ow, where he was detained by them for some time as a prisoner, and thereafter by other parties coming successively was carried back till he was a great way out of the parish, and not let go till Sabbath afternoon; but that while he was detained prisoner (understanding that he was designedly carried back lest he should preach at Gerloch) he had read and intimat the said edict before six or seven persons, within ane house at Kan-loch-ow, which is one of the preaching places of the said parish, and he returned the said edict endorsed by him with the attestation of his having executed the same in the foresaid manner." The Rev. John Morrison was admitted minister of Gairloch,—not at Gairloch, for that was impossible, but at Kiltearn. The story of his treatment by the tenants of Sir John Mackenzie of Coul, and of Sir John's declaration to him, has been recorded (pp. 65, 66). It seems the presbytery represented Sir John's conduct to the General Assembly, but he set them at defiance, and apparently with impunity.

When the Presbytery of Gairloch was constituted in 1724, only two ministers were found in its bounds.

The subsequent progress of Presbyterianism in Gairloch is recorded in [Part I., chap. xvi]. Notwithstanding the statement of the Rev. Daniel Mackintosh in the "Old Statistical Account" (1792), that there was then no division or dissent in the parish, it seems that there were at least a few who still clung to Episcopacy, for we find from a quotation given in "Bishop Forbes' Journal," that in the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century Episcopal "pastors took it by turns to wander over the west of Ross, through Strath-Garve, Torridon, and Gairloch, and thence into Skye and the Long Island, ministering to the detached families who still kept up a connection with them."

Mulruby,Morew,Maree,
Malrew,Morow,Mărie,
Mulruy,Maroy,Măry,
Mulroy,Mareve,Mury;