Chapter V: Introduction: The Opening Up of Strathearn (3)

THE HISTORIC PRESBYTERY OF AUCHTERARDER

By Rev. G. D. MACNAUGHTAN, B.D., Ardoch,
_Clerk of Presbytery_

The district embraced within the bounds of the Presbytery of Auchterarder belonged for the most part to the ancient Diocese of Dunblane. Within it lay the famous Abbey of Inchaffray, and the minister of Muthill was usually Dean of Dunblane. As originally erected, the Presbytery was, indeed, the Presbytery of Dunblane, but in 1593 the General Assembly ordained the Presbytery of Dunblane "to be transportit to Auchterardour, with liberty to the brethren of Dunblane appealing to resort either to Auchterardour or Striviling as they please." When at last it got into shape it consisted of the following fifteen parishes, viz.:--Auchterarder, Blackford, Comrie, Crieff, Dunning, Fossoway, Foulis-Wester, Gask, Glendevon, Madderty, Monzie, Monzievaird, Muckhart, Muthill, and Trinity-Gask. Beginning on the shores of Loch Earn, it followed on both banks the river of that name for more than twenty miles, stretching upwards on either side to the surrounding hills. Northwards it reached even the banks of the Almond, while southwards it found its way into the uplands of Strathallan, and, breaking by the pass of Gleneagles into the Ochils, it went right through them to the level ground beyond, following the windings of the Devon. As a background, rose the mighty peaks of the Grampians; in the foreground lay the gentler, greener, rounded heights of the Ochil range. The seat of the Presbytery was Auchterarder, a long, straggling village, built along the crest of a rising ground; a mile or two distant from the south bank of the Earn, and at the same time not far from the top of Strathallan. Towards the close of the sixteenth century we have to think of the various parishes above named as being duly supplied with Protestant pastors, who met regularly in Auchterardour for the "weekly exercise," and to dispose of any church business that came before them. Most of these first members of the Presbytery seem to have been cadets of the leading families of the district, and, amongst them, Drummond, Graeme, Murray or Moray were common names. The Presbytery of Auchterarder first begins to take a prominent part in public affairs during the religious troubles of Charles I. The Jenny Geddes riot in St Giles has just taken place, and petitions are pouring in from all quarters against the ill-fated service-book. The Privy Council is at its wits' end as between a king resolved on innovations and a nation that will have none of them. It sends up to London specimens of the petitions received--one from the nobility, one from the gentry, one from the burghs, and a fourth from the clergy. The clerical petition thus honoured was that from the "Presbytrie of Auchtererdoch." The petition of this Presbytery was probably selected not on account of the zealous character of the opposition of its members, but on account of their known loyalty. The impression to be produced on the King's mind was that, if even Auchterarder opposed his designs, his projects were hopeless. The Covenant was sworn, but Auchterarder was not zealous for the Covenant. In the divisions of opinion, which led eventually to the rising of Montrose, Auchterarder sympathised with the minority. A Warning and Declaration with reference to these divisions was ordered by the General Assembly to be read from every pulpit, and "the brethren of Auchtererdoch" took it upon them to disobey. It was the first illustration of that independence of judgment for which they have more than once been famous. It was resolved to make an example of this disobedient Presbytery, and they were cited before the Assembly of 1643. "The Presbytery of Auchtererdoch was under the rod," writes Baillie, "to be made an example to all who would be turbulent." "After long examination of their business," he continues, "at last they were laureat. Some two or three of that Presbytery (when many of the gentry who were not elders were permitted to sit among them and reason against the Warning and Declaration, and when Ardoch presented reasons in write against these pieces, yet they were proven to have been forward for the present reading) were commended. Others who, notwithstanding of the Presbytery's conclusion of not reading, yet did read, were, for voicing the continuation, gently rebuked. Others who at last caused read parts of them, and Mr James Rowe, who caused read them before himself came in, were sharply rebuked, and their names delete from among the members of this Assembly. Ardoch, ane old reverend gentleman, for his former known zeal was spared, only, was urged upon oath to reveal the persons from whom he had the reasons contrary to the Warning." This is a curious picture of the internal condition of the Presbytery, and exhibits in strong relief the friendly relations existing betwixt its members and the gentry of the district. The James Rowe referred to was minister of Muthill, and was married to Margaret Stirling, a daughter of the laird of Ardoch, the "old reverend gentleman" above named.

When, after the Restoration, Episcopacy was re-established, Auchterarder once again formed part of the Diocese of Dunblane, and was for a time under the mild sway of the Episcopate of Leighton. The Episcopacy was almost nominal. There was no liturgy; the service continued to be much what it had been before, though Leighton encouraged the brethren to make their preaching "plain and useful for all capacities, not entangled with useless questions and disputes, nor continued to a wearisome length"; "to read larger portiones of the Scriptures"; "to restore the Lord's Prayer to more frequent use, likewyse the Doxologie and the Creed." The Presbytery continued to meet as usual, and virtually elected its own Moderator. The chief difference was that at the Synod the Bishop as of right occupied the chair. At this period we have another interesting glimpse of the internal condition of the Presbytery. It was complained to one Synod that "some young men, ministers within the Presbytrie of Ochterarder, had behaved themselves somewhat irreverendlie and undeutifullie towards some of the brethren who were older than themselves both for age and work of the ministrie. The Bishop having taken the samyne to consideration, desired the Moderator of the Presbytrie of Ochterarder, that at their first Presbyterial meeting, to admonish such brethren, that in time coming they should absteine from such unbeseeming misbehaviour, otherwyse to shew them that he would advert to it hereafter." The young lions of Auchterarder had evidently {107} begun to roar, catching something of the independent spirit of their seniors.

In this district there was but little of the Covenanting feeling that was rampant in the West. An Abdiel, however, was found among the faithless in the person of William Spence, minister of Glendevon. In 1678 he laid a paper on the table of Presbytery in which he testified against the errors of the times. He was dealt with with great leniency and patience, but in the end he proved incorrigible. After long delay he was at last, in the beginning of 1681, deposed and excommunicated by the Bishop and Synod. From that time onwards he became a political agent, and was mixed up in the plots which filled the closing years of the reign of Charles II. In 1684 he was arrested and questioned. Though made to undergo the torture of the boot, he refused to disclose anything. He was then handed over to the tender mercies of General Dalziel, the "Muscovy beast who would roast men," and was kept from sleeping for eight or nine days till his enemies themselves were weary. He had to be thumbscrewed, and told that they would screw every joint of his body, one after another, before his courage began to fail. "Yet {108} such was the firmness and fidelity of this poor man," writes Bishop Burnet, "that even in that extremity he capitulated, that no new questions should be put to him, but those already agreed on; and that he should not be obliged to be a witness against any person, and that he himself should be pardoned." After the Revolution he came back to Glendevon; in 1691 was translated to Fossoway, and, having outlived all his troubles, died there in peace in 1715 at the age of eighty. The policy, with which he had associated himself as a minority of one, had triumphed.

The Revolution fell upon the Presbytery of Auchterarder like the very crack of doom. All its members, with two exceptions, were ousted. These were the Rev. James Roy, minister of Trinity-Gask, and the Rev. Robert Sharp, M.A., minister of Muckhart. Unfortunately, at this interesting period the Presbytery records are a blank. The last minute before the Revolution is that of September 7, 1687; the next is that of November 9, 1703. When the curtain thus rises again at the beginning of the eighteenth century the _personnel_ of the Presbytery has completely changed. Elsewhere the transformation seems to have been accomplished with little difficulty; but it was different in the Episcopal stronghold of Muthill. That parish, we find, has not yet submitted to the authority of the Presbytery, and is still vacant. It was not till August 3rd, 1704, that Mr William Haly was ordained as minister of Muthill. On the day of his ordination there was a riot, "several in the parish keeping the doors of the kirk and kirkyard with swords and staves"; and not until the following year (March 20, 1705) were the keys of the church of Muthill finally laid upon the table of the Presbytery. The new members of the Presbytery were very different from the old. They were now strongly Presbyterian in feeling, and ultra-evangelical in theology. In 1711, when threatened with the Queen Anne Act restoring Patronage, we find them instructing their commissioners to the Assembly "to take all care that Patronages be not again restored," and in the following year "to give a testimony against the encroachments made on this church by the tolleration and patronages." They were earnest in prayer on behalf of the Protestant Succession of the House of Hanover. On account of the Jacobite rising of 1715 there was no meeting of Presbytery from August 30, 1715, till February 9, 1716. At this meeting reference is made to "the Popish and Jacobite rebells who had infested the bounds, threatening ministers not to pray against them and their pretended king, by reason whereof ministers were forced to flee; and spoiling the goods of the people, and robbing and burning their houses and corns; and now that they were driven out of their bounds by the good providence of God accompanying the king's forces with success against them."

The Presbytery of Auchterarder had now to deal with a matter, small in itself, which, nevertheless, created considerable stir in the Church Courts, and ultimately led to secession. On December 11, 1716, Mr William Craig, student of divinity, appeared before them for license. The Presbytery being deeply impressed with "the errors of the times," examined him strictly as to his soundness of faith. Further consideration of the matter having been delayed for about a month, Mr Craig was again (January 15, 1717) before the Presbytery; was asked by them to sign the answers formerly given by him, and though he "seemed to scruple a little at something of the wording" of some of them, he finally did so, and was licensed. His signature still stands at that date in the Presbytery's copy of the Confession of Faith. The most famous statement signed by him was to the following effect:--"And further, I believe that it is not sound and orthodox to teach that we must forsake sin in order to our coming to Christ and instating us in covenant with God"--language capable of bearing an Antinomian meaning, and soon to be known as the "Auchterarder Creed." At next meeting of Presbytery (February 12, 1717) Mr Craig came back, representing that he was troubled with scruples anent the paper he had subscribed, that he had done so hastily, and that he now wished to explain his explanation. The Presbytery, after hearing him, resolved to declare his license null and void, and in the end he had to appeal to the Assembly. The Assembly of 1717 was somewhat startled at the theological language of Auchterarder, ordered the Presbytery to restore Mr Craig's license, declared the chief article of the new creed to be "unsound and most detestable," and asked them to explain its meaning to a meeting of the Commission. The Presbytery was of course able to show that their meaning was both pious and orthodox, and that they had been only a little over-zealous for the purity of the faith. In the old Auchterarder fashion, they had been thinking for themselves, instead of taking ready-made opinions from other people. One good result of the commotion was that Presbyteries were henceforth prohibited from putting queries of their own, preliminary to license, but "those and no other" which had received the authority of the Church. Yet it had other results which were evil. The discussion over the "Auchterarder Creed" led to the re-publication of the "Marrow of Modern Divinity," and the "Marrow Controversy" led directly to the secession of the Erskines. The _origo mali_ was in Auchterarder.

The "Rising" of 1745 did not interfere so much with the business of the Presbytery as that of 1715 had done. During that eventful year it continued to hold its meetings as usual. The only reference is that on May 1, 1746, a fortnight after Culloden, the Presbytery appoints that if His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland shall come this way in his return from the North, certain members should wait upon him to congratulate him upon the victory obtained by him over the rebels.

On December 14, 1756, the celebrated tragedy of _Douglas_, written by John Home, minister of Athelstaneford, in East Lothian, was acted in Edinburgh. This atrocious fact caused much searching of heart in all ultra-evangelical circles. The awful news reached Auchterarder. Meeting in Glendevon Church on May 12, 1757, for the ordination of Mr David M'Gibbon, the Presbytery came to the following resolution:--"The Presbytery, taking into their serious consideration the general fame that a minister of this Church has composed the tragedy of _Douglas_, and has been at great pains to get it represented on the stage both at London and at Edinburgh, to the scandal of very many; and the Presbytery further considering how hurtful stage plays are to the interest of religion, and to the morals of the people, and always were held to be so in every well-regulated government, heathen as well as Christian, therefore did and hereby do instruct their representatives in the ensuing General Assembly humbly to insist with the venerable Assembly that they would be pleased to make effectual enquiry, without loss of time, into the ground of the above flame; and if it shall be found to be indeed true {114} that ministers of the Gospel, members of this Church, have done and behaved as above alledged, that the General Assembly would be pleased to enquire if such adequate censure has been inflicted on these brethren as their crime deserves; and if it has not, that the venerable Assembly would order it to be done, and that they would be further pleased to give some publick testimony of their abhorrence of such practices, that the world may see the just resentment of this Church against so uncommon and unprecedented a behaviour in some of her undutiful sons, and that they would do this in such a manner as shall appear to the venerable Assembly to be most effectual for preventing the like in any of their members of whatever degree in time coming." The zeal of Auchterarder was burning with a holy fire.

In the course of the eighteenth century the best known members of the Presbytery were the dynasty of Moncrieffs at Blackford, and Dr. John Kemp, of Trinity-Gask. Of the former, three generations succeeded each other from 1697 to 1775, in which year Sir Henry Moncrieff left Blackford to become minister of the West Kirk, Edinburgh. Of Dr. Kemp, who left Trinity-Gask {115} in 1776, to become minister of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, a full account will be found in Kay's _Edinburgh Portraits_. He was three times married, his second and third wives being Earls' daughters.

The century was now drawing to a close. Since the Reformation there had been no church extension within the bounds of the Presbytery. At last, however, there was to be an awakening from this long sleep. The district of Ardoch formed the southern portion of the parish of Muthill. In the centre of it lay the famous Roman Camp, one of the most ancient historic spots in Scotland, whose earthen trenches had been thrown up by the soldiers of Agricola. It was the traditional site of the Battle of Mons Grampius, where Galgacus and his Caledonians fought for liberty, and, after all that has been written on the subject, is as probably the real site as any other. There, in 1780, a chapel of ease was built, and opened for worship on March 25, 1781. The bounds of the chapel also included a small portion of the parish of Blackford, and a larger portion of that of Dunblane, the Presbytery thus extending its jurisdiction down the banks of the Allan to within a few miles of the cathedral city. The Chapel at Ardoch was the Presbytery's first-born child. In later years, in connection with the Church Extension movement, promoted by Dr. Chalmers, the West Church was built in Crieff in 1838, and the Chapel of Blairingone, in the parish of Fossoway, in 1840. Thus equipped, the Presbytery of Auchterarder was to meet the storm of 1843.

In the earlier years of the nineteenth century there were even to observant eyes no signs of the coming blast. The Act of Queen Anne, restoring Patronage, though long protested against, had been sullenly acquiesced in by the Church. Moderates and Evangelicals, though contending together in the several Church Courts, kept themselves carefully within the limits of the Church's constitution. But a new era was about to dawn. The struggle for political liberty which found expression in the great Reform Act of 1832, had its counterpart also in the ecclesiastical world. Patronage was again felt to be an intolerable burden, and the rights of the Christian people to require vindication. In these changed circumstances it became a difficult and delicate matter to "redd the marches" between the Church and State. With level-headed common-sense upon both sides it might have been done. Unfortunately, in the struggle our most prominent national characteristics, instead of being combined, got opposed to one another. The proverbial "canniness" of the Scottish nation was all upon the one side; the equally proverbial _perfervidum ingenium_ was all upon the other. Led by the latter feeling, the Church resolved to fall back on her own inherent rights and to get quit of Patronage by a side wind. In 1834 she passed the Veto Act, giving power to "the major part of the male heads of families, members of the vacant congregation," in any parish to get quit of an unpopular presentee. The Presbytery of Auchterarder was doomed to be the cockpit in which this great fight was to be fought out. In the autumn of 1834 the Rev. Robert Young was presented to the parish of Auchterarder by the Earl of Kinnoull. At the moderation of his call on 2nd December the Rev. John Clark, Blackford, preached from Mark xii., 10-11, a text somewhat interesting in the light of what afterwards took place--"And have ye not read this scripture: The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and is marvellous in our eyes?" Mr Young's call was signed by three persons, for the Earl of Kinnoull as Patron, and by two members of the congregation. He was vetoed by 287 male heads of families, and the Presbytery had no option under the Act but to reject the call. This decision was confirmed on appeal to the Assembly, and Mr Young and the Earl of Kinnoull had to seek redress in the Civil Courts. The "Auchterarder Case" now attracted the attention of the whole country. It raised the question of the legality of the Veto Act. In November, 1837, it was heard before the whole Court of Session, and the Judges by a majority found that, Mr Young having been duly presented, the Presbytery was bound to take him upon trials. An appeal was ultimately taken to the House of Lords, and by it, in 1839, the decision of the Court of Session was re-affirmed. By the highest legal authority the Veto Act was found to be worthless. But the Church had gone too far to retrace her steps, and she now raised the banner of Spiritual Independence. Other questions had come to the front which heightened and intensified the feeling that prevailed. By the equally illegal Chapel Act, also passed in 1834, chapel districts were formed into parishes _quoad sacra_, and their ministers found entitled to seats in the Church Courts. The minister of Ardoch Chapel at once took his seat in the Presbytery, and was followed in due time by the ministers of the West Church, Crieff, and the Chapel at Blairingone. The Church had been led into an _impasse_ from which there was no outlet but by secession. The secession came. In defence of their somewhat mysterious principles no fewer than 451 ministers, on the 18th day of May, 1843, left the Church. All the world wondered. It was said that in no country other than Scotland could such a spectacle have been seen. Yet one cannot help looking back with sorrow upon the blundering that made it possible. Like the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, it was "magnificent, but not war."

With the addition of the chapel ministers the membership of Auchterarder Presbytery had risen to eighteen. The parish of Auchterarder was still vacant. Of the remaining seventeen, eight were found to have seceded. Of these, five were legal members of Presbytery--viz., James Carment, Comrie; Peter Brydie, Fossoway; John Reid Omond, Monzie; John Ferguson, Monzievaird; and James Thomson, Muckhart. The three others were the chapel ministers--Samuel Grant, Ardoch; Finlay Macalister, West Church, Crieff; and Andrew Noble, Blairingone. The case of Mr Brydie, of Fossoway, was somewhat peculiar. On October 13, 1843, he petitioned the Presbytery asking it to annul its judgment with regard to him, and submitted a medical certificate to the effect that at the time of his secession he was "in a state of lunacy." The Presbytery, having consulted the Synod, reponed him, on the ground that at the time he separated himself from the Church he had been in a state of unsound mind.

The Presbytery now once more consisted of fifteen parishes and three chapels. The vacancies in the parishes were easily supplied. It was different with the chapels. A new minister was, indeed, ordained at Ardoch in December, 1844, but it was 1848 before the West Church, Crieff, and the Chapel of Blairingone were once more re-opened for worship in connection with the Church of Scotland. The decks had been cleared after the storm, the rigging re-fitted, and the sails spread once more to catch the favouring breeze. In a few years the Presbytery's organisation had become more efficient than ever. In 1854 certain portions of the parishes of Monzie and Foulis were disjoined from the Presbytery to form a part of the new parish of Logiealmond. In 1855, Ardoch was erected into a parish _quoad omnia_. In 1864, the West Church, Crieff, became a parish _quoad sacra_. The Chapel of Blairingone was also by and by to become a parish; yet, when it did so, it no longer formed a part of the Presbytery of Auchterarder. In 1856 the General Assembly determined to create a new Presbytery of Kinross, and for this purpose to disjoin the two parishes of Muckhart and Fossoway (the latter including Blairingone) from the Presbytery with which they had been associated for two hundred and fifty years. Auchterarder refused her consent, and protested, but in vain. She was bereaved of her children.

This change somewhat altered the centre of gravity of the Presbytery. Hitherto Auchterarder had been its natural centre, and its most convenient place of meeting. From this time onwards it began occasionally to meet at Crieff. In 1866 an Act of Assembly was passed ordaining it to meet alternately in Auchterarder and Crieff.

After the Secession of 1843 a subtle change began to creep over the opinions of the Presbytery. It was no longer the ultra-evangelical body which it had been for more than a century. It began to take broader views of culture and of human life. Were another minister of the Church of Scotland now to write a new tragedy of _Douglas_ he would be likely to receive its congratulations rather than its denunciations. Its theology became sweeter, and it is in no danger of framing a new "Auchterarder Creed" upon the lines of the last. When the new movement began for the improvement of public worship there was, indeed, enough of the old leaven left to lead to a vigorous resistance. This struggle centred round "The Crieff Organ Case" in 1866-67. Ultimately, however, the new views prevailed, and at the present moment (1896) the once hated "kist of whistles" has found its way into no fewer than thirteen out of the sixteen parishes which at present compose the Presbytery. Since the days of that conflict, indeed, its spirit has broadened and broadened. The old independent tone, for which it had been conspicuous even in the seventeenth century, has become more and more marked. In recent years the Presbytery has never been willing tamely to follow the lead of Assembly leaders and Assembly Committees, but has insisted on expressing a vigorous opinion of its own upon all the questions of the day.

In the course of the present century several ministers, afterwards to become better known, have begun their respective careers within the bounds of the Presbytery. Dr. William Robertson, latterly minister of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, was ordained as minister of Muckhart in 1831. Dr. Robert Home Stevenson, minister of St. George's, Edinburgh, Moderator of the General Assembly of 1871, was ordained in 1840 as assistant and successor in the parish of Crieff. Dr. John Cunningham, minister of Crieff from 1845 to 1887, was Moderator of the General Assembly of 1886, and was latterly Principal of St. Mary's College, St. Andrews. His successor in the Moderatorship of Assembly, Dr. George Hutchison, Banchory-Ternan, was ordained as minister of Monzie in 1845. Dr. Paton J. Gloag, then of Galashiels, Moderator of the Assembly of 1889, was ordained in 1848 as assistant and successor in the parish of Dunning. Dr. John Wilson, a genial man, much beloved by all his brethren, was minister of Dunning from 1861 to 1878, Clerk of Presbytery from 1864, and author of "Index to the Acts of Assembly." Dr. William Mair, minister of Ardoch from 1865 to 1868, is now of Earlston, and author of the well-known "Digest of Church Laws."

The loss of Muckhart and Fossoway, the addition of Ardoch and Crieff West left the Presbytery still with its original number of fifteen parishes. There was yet another to be added. In the extreme west of the parish of Comrie, at the point where the River Earn leaves its parent lake, was the district of Dundurn. Next to Ardoch, it was probably the oldest historic spot within the Presbytery. There, first of all places within the bounds, had the Gospel in the course of the sixth century been preached by the saintly Fillan. It was still haunted by sacred memories. It had been the site of a pre-Reformation chapel. It had long been a preaching-place for the minister of Comrie. Latterly there had sprung up by the shores of the beautiful lake a hamlet which called itself St. Fillans. It became a favourite place of summer resort. In 1879 a new chapel was built, and in 1895 the district of Dundurn was erected into a parish _quoad sacra_.

At the present moment (1896) the Presbytery thus consists of sixteen parishes, all fully equipped; 94 elders and 5023 church members form its effective strength as a part of the Church militant. It has faced many a serious crisis in the past; with a calm cheerfulness it faces the future.

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.