London, 9th mo. 6, 1867.
Having returned to this city again from what has been to us a very pleasant and satisfactory tour throughout parts of Scotland, and especially to those towns where members of our religious Society reside, I take my pen to give a few jottings from my note-book. On the 12th of 8th mo. we left Newcastle-upon-Tyne for Glasgow in Scotland, distant by rail one hundred and twenty-five miles. The day was delightful, and as we passed on at the rate of thirty or more miles per hour we saw much calculated to please and instruct. Crossed the Tweed near its mouth, where the old town of Berwick enjoys a fine outlook upon the German Ocean, and where a halt of a few minutes reminded us that we had really reached the land of Scott and Burns, of Jaffrey and the Barclays, and of others whose names are familiar to the readers of Scottish history. Our course after leaving Berwick lay through extensive fields of ripening corn—or, as we Americans would say, of grain—interspersed with broad belts of potatoes and turnips, the whole indicating careful culture and a higher type of agriculture than I had previously noticed. As we approached Edinburgh there was less land under the plough, and instead green pastures cropped by numerous flocks of sheep, with an occasional sprinkling of other stock. Passing through the last-named city, we noticed the monument erected to the memory of Walter Scott. Its architectural beauty can hardly fail to catch the eye of the traveller. Another hour, through a valley of great fertility, brought us to Linlithgow, the birthplace of Mary queen of Scots. The royal castle is still standing. At the close of the day's travel we found ourselves at Glasgow, and, taking a hurried lunch at the house of William Smeal, were seated in the meeting of ministers and elders at the hour of seven, when visitors and visited were comforted together.
13th. Were present at the two-months' meeting—a favored season. At a joint meeting following that for worship the ministry of Eliza Wigham was approved. It was instructive to witness the freedom of expression, not only of the aged, but of young men and women, who cheerfully lent their aid to help the Church redeem her "charge" in so important a matter. Attended two meetings in Edinburgh; lodged at the house of William and Jane Miller. The next day, in company with these dear friends and others, went by rail to Aberdeen by way of Stirling, Perth, Dunbar, and Stonehaven. This ancient city of the North, of which Alexander Jaffrey was provost (or mayor), and in whose prisons many of the early Friends were incarcerated for conscience' sake, is in 57° 8' 57" north latitude, and lies upon the river Dee. It is built of gray granite. The houses are from two to four stories high, and present a clean and substantial appearance. A statue of Queen Victoria standing near the centre of the town is much admired. It is of white marble upon a pedestal of red granite highly polished. In the chapel at King's College a structure of the fourteenth century is shown, a pulpit—a relic from an ancient cathedral of the twelfth. Great labor must have been performed by hands no longer active to produce in the solid oak the carved figures and forms seen in this edifice of a bygone age. The other college buildings are of modern date. The general meeting of ministers and elders was held on the 17th. Godfrey Woodhard, William Ball, Thomas Wells, and Sarah Tatham in the ministry were present from England. The latter has been for some weeks our kind companion and caretaker.
10th, First day. Two meetings for worship were held, both well attended, the latter more numerously than could be accommodated in the house, several remaining near the door; all quiet and attentive. Most Friends present in the ministry took part in the vocal exercises, in which Christ was exalted as the rightful Head of His Church and as the world's only Saviour. The business of the general meeting is the same in character as that of a quarterly meeting. It was held on the 19th of the month, preceded by a meeting for worship. We may trust both were seasons of encouragement to Friends in this land, so remotely situated one from the other and accustomed to meet for worship in comparatively small numbers. While in Aberdeen we visited Barbara Wigham, now nearly ninety-three years of age, a valued minister who seems quietly waiting the pleasure of her Lord to leave her post of watching for a seat among the blessed. How delightful to look upon the ripe corn in the ear ready to be garnered! She is the daughter-in-law of John Wigham, who some years since travelled extensively in America, going as far east as Nova Scotia.
Left Aberdeen the morning of the 21st for Stonehaven, sixteen miles distant, where we had arranged for a meeting in the morning. This is a neat little town, nearly two miles from Ury, the ancient home of the Barclays, including the noted Apologist. The present "laird of Ury," John Baird, and his wife, Margaret Baird, kindly showed us about their palace-home and its extensive gardens redolent with fruit and flower, and in other ways continued to make our call a very pleasant one. Among things of special interest was shown a stool of rather clumsy make labelled "Library Stool of Robert Barclay the Apologist." Tradition and facts point to this as the veritable seat of that eminent Christian scholar while writing his unrefuted and as yet unanswered book, The Apology. A lengthened walk through field and pasture brought us to the "Sarcophagus" of the Barclay family, located upon an eminence overlooking the estate and its surrounding country, including Stonehaven and parts of the German Ocean. The building is of stone, with recesses in the interior walls containing tablets descriptive of members of the family, from Colonel David Barclay to Robert the Younger, who died in 1854, there being five in a direct line of the name of Robert. A larger tablet contains a synopsis of the history and genealogy of the family, running back many years prior to the time in which the name of Barclay finds a place in the history of Friends. The estate is large. One of its owners during his life cultivated two thousand acres and planted out one thousand five hundred other acres. At the time of our visit its pastures were enlivened by the presence of large herds of horned cattle and a flock of eight hundred ewe sheep, four hundred lambs, a portion of this year's increase having been disposed of previously. Numerous beeches of startling dimensions grace the lawn, and near where stood the old homestead an old yew tree, now in the strength of its power, reminds one that it might have enjoyed, and probably did enjoy, youth contemporaneously with the ancient "laird of Ury" and with his son the Apologist. The present dwelling is one of modern date; its predecessor and the "old Ury meeting-house" were removed to give it place.
Our meeting at Stonehaven was a relieving one. The family from Ury attended, and we were glad of their company. Thence we went forward to Glasgow by way of Dundee, accompanied by our kind friend, Robert Smeal, the gifted editor of the British Friend. Held large meetings at each of the above-named cities.
On the 24th, after a meeting at Kilmarnock, went that night to Edinburgh. Next day and first of the week met Friends and others at their place of worship. Here closed our religious labors in that interesting country, and we came pretty directly to this place, taking in meetings at Carlisle, Manchester, and Birmingham. Affectionately thy friend,
Eli Jones.
Eli Jones, in a letter dated 9th mo. 26th, thus alludes to service ahead: "We intend to leave London this evening for Paris, and after a few days there and among Friends in the south of France, embark at Marseilles for Greece; call at a few places in that classic land; thence pretty directly to Beirut in Syria, where, if the Lord shall make a way for us to labor in His service, we may spend some weeks in visiting school-missionaries and such others as may be disposed to hear the good news in the land of the Crucified One, and return by way of Jaffa, Alexandria, Cairo, and the island of Malta. We have as companions and helpers in the work our young friends Alfred Lloyd Fox of Falmouth, England, and Ellen Clare Miller of Edinburgh. Much kind interest has been manifested by Friends here in relation to this new field of labor."