How seriously Bute took his unremitting efforts "to save St. Andrews," as his own expression was, is shown in a characteristic passage of one of his letters describing a recent discovery among the priory remains:
A head of Christ in stone, seemingly life-size, has just been found under the earth at the Priory. I would I could take this as an intimation of His favour towards the [Greek: témenos] of His [Greek: prôtóklêtos].[[3]] I have written for much prayer at the grave of the Apostle, primarily thanksgiving for the graces bestowed upon him in time and eternity.
Bute had of course visited more than once the tomb of St. Andrew at Amain, of which he speaks in the striking peroration, already quoted, of his Rectorial address. At his request the Archbishop of Amalfi sent him a large number of photographs, including some of the tomb, and one, specially taken, of the skull of the Apostle, which Bute, who attached much importance to craniological evidence, greatly valued.
1894, Winter sports in Scotland
The winter of 1894-1895 was an unusually severe one, even in the mild and sheltered Isle of Bute; and Bute, always complacent towards the frolics of the younger generation, speaks of curling, sleighing, and tobogganing as the order of the day, and of the "extraordinary descent of a snow-covered slope by Mr. S—— (a distinguished architect at that time a guest at Dumfries House) upon, or rather with, a tea-tray." He writes further, in this connection, of his schoolboy sons:
J—— and N—— seem both devoted to curling; and this fact, and the way in which it associates them with the people, delights me.[[4]]
The latter reference is interesting, and even pathetic, recalling as it does the pleasure Bute himself had always taken from his boyhood, notwithstanding his natural shyness, in associating on kindly terms, whether at weddings or less formal social gatherings, whenever opportunity offered, with his humbler neighbours in Buteshire and elsewhere. It was this characteristic, combined with his singular courtesy and unpretentiousness of manner, which won the affection as well as the respect of the reserved and undemonstrative people among whom, for the most part, his life was spent.[[5]]
