Mention has already been made of Bute's purchase of the site and remains of the Augustinian priory of St. Andrews, where he did a great deal of careful excavation and made many valuable discoveries. At Elgin, too, as has been seen, he was able to acquire the interesting old monastery and church of the Greyfriars; and it was a particular happiness to him, as it has been also to his youngest son, who inherited his property in the county of Elgin, that this unpretending sanctuary—now a convent of Sisters of Mercy—should have been once again, after more than three centuries, made available for the religious worship to which it was originally dedicated.
1899, Catholicity of taste
It is unnecessary, even were it possible, to give anything like a catalogue raisonné of Bute's less important architectural achievements. For more than thirty years, in the graphic phrase cited by one of the most distinguished members of the profession, "his hands were never out of the mortar-tub." No one familiar with the multitudinous and varied work executed under his immediate supervision during those years could fail to be struck by the catholicity of his taste, as well as by his curious and detailed knowledge of all architectural styles and periods. The feudal massiveness of Cardiff and Castell Coch, of Rothesay Castle and Mochrum, the graceful Gothic of Pluscarden, the Franciscan austerity of Elgin, the rich Renaissance and Jacobean details of Falkland, the Byzantine perfection of Sancta Sophia (copied by him in miniature at Galston)—all these appealed to him, each in its degree, with equal interest and force; and this catholicity of taste was reflected not only in the new buildings which he raised, but in the ancient buildings which he repaired, re-roofed, or restored with such careful reverence. Every detail of such work was personally supervised by himself; and he would be equally at home, and equally absorbed, in working out an heraldic design for the roof of an abbey church,[[7]] excavating among the almost shapeless ruins of a mediæval cathedral,[[8]] elaborating a purely Greek scheme of decoration for the oratory of his house in London,[[9]] or studying the details of the Sainte Chapelle at Paris, the upper basilica of Assisi, and the Gothic dome of Zaragoza,[[10]] in order to reproduce something of their varied beauties in his exquisite private chapel at Mountstuart. The transparent honesty which was part of his character was manifested in such restorations as he undertook at Cardiff, Rothesay, and St. Andrews, where at the cost of some æsthetic sacrifice, and often at much added expense (for the materials had sometimes to be brought from afar), he carried out the work in a stone different in colour from the ancient building, so that there should be no possible future confusion between the old and the new. Altogether it must be said that to Bute's other titles of honour is to be added that of a noble patron of a noble art. He enriched his native land with many splendid edifices, and he probably did more than any man of his generation to preserve and secure for posterity the venerable and priceless relics of his country's' past. Cor suum dabat in consummationem operum, et vigilia sua ornabat in perfectionem.[[11]]
One of the last publications issued by Bute (it appeared in 1899) was a book entitled "The Alleged Haunting of B—— House," a curious, if not altogether convincing, account of certain phenomena said to have occurred at a country residence in Perthshire, which Bute had leased for the purpose of psychical investigation. He had always, and more especially in the later years of his life, been attracted by such questions, and was at the time of his death a vice-president of the Society for Psychical Research. He was particularly interested in the subject of second sight, of which he endeavoured to obtain first-hand evidence by instituting inquiries among the Catholic Highlanders of north-west Scotland; but the person whom he commissioned to conduct the inquiry was to a great extent baffled by the insuperable reluctance of the Highlanders to communicate on such matters with a stranger. Bute himself maintained a very open mind as to all such phenomena, although he did not of course dispute their objective possibility. He had a profound distrust of paid and professional mediums, and was fully alive to the physical, moral, and spiritual risks attendant on all such researches unless conducted with due precaution and under proper guidance.
One of the chief ornaments of the judicial bench, who knew Bute well, once observed of him that if his vocation had been to the law, he might have reasonably looked to attain the highest honours of that profession:
Industry, learning, patience, impartiality, capacity for work, a remarkable power of grasping facts and weighing evidence, clearness of expression, and a single-minded desire for truth—if these, combined with a noble presence and a lofty integrity of character, are qualifications for judicial office, Bute possessed them all, and in a high degree.
1899, Effect of psychical study
Such qualities, or most of them, were no doubt equally serviceable when brought to bear on the obscure phenomena of psychical research, which Bute approached with the same unprejudiced detachment as he did the study of astrology, or the problems from the nooks and corners of history with which he loved to grapple. A friend ventured to ask him, not very long before his death, if he grudged the many hours he had devoted to these recondite investigations. He replied emphatically in the negative, adding after a pause: "I cannot conceive any Christian, or, indeed, any believer in life after death, not being painfully and deeply interested in such questions. For my own part, I have never doubted that there is permitted at times a real communication between the dead and the living, but I am bound to say that I have never personally had any first-hand evidence of such communication which I could call absolutely convincing." The last words were spoken with a certain melancholy earnestness which made a deep impression on the hearer. That Bute's interest in these matters had no frightening or depressing effect on himself is shown clearly enough from a note in his diary in which, after referring to his own rapidly-declining health, he adds: "My study of things connected with the S.P.R. has had the effect of very largely robbing death of its terrors."[[12]]
With the resignation of his Lord Rectorship of St. Andrews at the end of his second term of office, Bute's public work may be said to have come to an end. He had, as has been seen, conditionally accepted his re-election as Provost of Rothesay, but as the time drew near his resumption of the office was seen to be impossible. It was, in fact, in August, 1899, three months before the time due for the election, that he was struck down with what proved to be the beginning of his fatal illness. He rallied for a time, and his mind remained as unclouded, and his interest in many things as keen, as they had ever been; but it became before long increasingly evident that there was no prospect of any return to the activities of the past. 1900 was the year of the Passion-play at Ober-Ammergau; and he had always hoped to go thither once again with his family, and to renew in their company the well-remembered impressions made by his three previous visits. When this could not be, he rejoiced that his children were able to make the pilgrimage under the escort of an old friend, and he interested himself in every detail of their journey.