1700.—During the troublous times between the Battle of Killiecrankie and the Rising of 1715, Strathardle, Glenshee, Glenisla, etc., were terribly infested with bands of caterans and broken men, from Rannoch, Badenoch, and Lochaber. To keep clear of the strong Castle of Blair, where the Atholl family always kept strict watch for such depredators, they kept clear of the main valley of Atholl, and slipped along the Grampian ridge, and through the passes of Glenloch, Bealach-na-leum, and Glenlochsie, into the eastern glens, where, hurriedly collecting all the spoil they could, and making off as quickly and as quietly as they could, they were generally beyond pursuit before the alarm was given.

Though the last regular dan battle had been fought in 1689, at the Maol Ruadh, in Brae-Lochaber, between the Macdonells of Keppoch and Mackintoshes, and though the old order of things in the Highlands was rapidly giving way to a more civilized state of affairs, yet cattle-lifting was still reckoned an honourable occupation, in which any gentleman might engage, so long as it was carried on against hostile clans, or districts with which the raiders were at feud, or against the common enemy, the hated and despised Lowlanders. Yet it was counted a very dishonourable thing for a neighbour or clansman, and such an act was very rare indeed.

But as there have been rogues and rascals at all times, and amongst all races, from the family of Adam to the present day, so it sometimes happened that even amongst the Highlanders some men were found of deceitful and dishonest character, who, watching a favourable opportunity, and under cover of darkness, quietly helped themselves to their neighbours’ cattle. So expert did some of these black sheep become at this trade that they escaped for a long time, some even for a lifetime, but, as a rule, their evil doings generally came to light sooner or later, and, when they did, swift and sure was the punishment.

Though, as a true son of Strathardle, I am naturally inclined to say “ as little ill and as muckle guid ” as I can about my native glen, yet in truth I must confess that we had at least one of these undesirable characters in Strathardle, who lived by plundering his neighbours. This was the noted “Donal Mor” M'Coull, or Big Donald, the last of a race of M‘Coulls who for several generations held the estate of Easter Kindrogan, and where to this day many traditions linger about Donal Mor and his doings. Donal Mor's Bum and Donal Mor's Knowe, a little east of Kindrogan House, retain his name, where he hanged himself, and where his ghost is still supposed to haunt the bum, and scare the belated traveller passing the road. I well remember what a terror it was to me, as a boy, to pass there, and when I mustered enough courage to pass there alone after dark, I did think I was a hero, and fit for any desperate deed; and as familiarity breeds contempt, I soon got so hardened that I many a time played the ghost myself at the bum, and thereby gave a severe shock to the nervous system of some of my young neighbours.

These M'Coulls, as their Gaelic name tells, were M‘Dougalls, who originally came from Loan. The first of them, in some desperate fray in the south, happened to save the life of Robertson of Wester Straloch, a cousin of the Baron's, who, in gratitude, took him to Straloch and gave him a farm there. His son, Robert M‘Coull, crossed the river, and lived in Wester Kindrogan, which then belonged to the Baron, and the ruins of whose house is still to be seen below the west shoulder of Kindrogan Rock, half way between the rook and the road. We have already seen that Robert M'Coull was outlawed in 1620, for art and part in starving to death, with cold and hunger a neighbour—“ ane puir simple man ”—in the dungeon of Blair Castle. Soon after this, being, like Sir Ralph the Rover, “ now grown rich an plundered store,” the M'CouIls bought the estate of Easter Kindrogan, which they held till Donal Mor’s death.

Donal Mor got to be in league with the caterans, and greatly assisted them in their raids on Strathardle by giving them private information as to when and where to make a foray, and their depredations helped to hide his own private cattle-stealing, as every beast stolen was blamed on the caterans. In the Roll of 1638 we find—“ Alexander M'Coull of Eisber Kindroigmy, and lie himself lies of vapins ane gun, ana bow and sheafF (of arrows), ane swird, and ane tairge.” All the M'Coulls lived on bad terms with their neighbours, but Donal Mor was the last and worst.

Old Lachlan Rattray, a grandson of Rattray of Dalrulzion, tells us in his MS. of one of Dona's pranks in bringing Badenoch men to raid his near neighbour, Rattray of Tullochcurran's, cattle. He says : —“ The next year Alexander Rattray of Tullochcurran had at that time the lands of Inverchroskie, and also on that hill Minnoch and Bardsallaoage, which had not been laboured since the flood. And he and I being cousins, and schoolfellows, he would give me a good pennyworth of that place called Bardsallachage in that glen. So that I took a tack of it, and built houses on it, and bigged dykes round it, near to the Mill of Leuth, which is to be seen to this day. I also took Minnoch on the other aide of the Moss, and built a good house in Minnoch with a chimney in it, and a good new kiln in it, and to tell the truth I was very well there for several years, and cousin Sanders (Alexander) and I agreed very well. He was very kind to me, and I did him several times very good service, particularly when old M'Coull of Kindrogan, that lived hard by him, set some Badenoch men on his cattle, and stole away from him 18 head of cattle, which cost me a travel to Badenoch. I staid there for a month among the gentlemen of my acquaintance, and found out the theives and who was thedr masters, and I sent home to my cousin Sanders, and he came and brought our friend MTntosh of Dalmunzie with him, and we convened all the Badenoch gentlemen, and it was decreed among us all, Cluny MTherson being president: that Tullochcurren my cousin would have home with us, for our 18 head of cattle, we got 21 head of cattle for charge, etc.” So the Rattrays got off much better than usually was the case in those days; but I suspect M'lntosh of Dalmunzie had a good deal to do with it, as he was nearly related to duny.

One of Donal Mot's favourite pursuits was to slip out quietly at nights and steal the fattest and best of his neighbours' sheep; and as his character was now well known, suspicion began to fall upon him, with the result that the Baron, Wester Straloch, Dirnanean, and other neighbouring lairds got into the awkward habit of dropping in at unexpected times to inspect Donal's kail-pat, or even his supper-pat, to see an what fare he fed his eight strapping, big daughters. Now this was very inconvenient for Donal Mor, but he was a man of great resource, so with the able and willing assistance of his eight big daughters, he started and dug out an underground chamber, under the floor of his house, to which he descended by a cunningly concealed trap-door in a dark comer. In this chamber he made a fireplace, with an ingeniously contrived chimney, through which the smoke ascended in the wall and entered the kitchen chimney further up, so that both smokes came out together at the top of the chimney. In this underground retreat he could now safely cook his stolen mutton at any time, as well as salt and store his meat unknown to the upper world. Here his daughters could also prepare and spin the wool, and so expert were they at this art that if Donal brought in half a dozen sheep at midnight they had them dipt and the wool spun into thread before morning, and the mutton salted and stored by.

Handy girls they were, these great, strapping daughters of Clan Dougall, and hardy and strong, for when their father started his excavating operations, they made great bags of ox hide, and carried the earth on their broad backs down the steep bank and emptied it into the river Ardle, where it told no tales.

The old house of Easter Kindrogan stood in front of the present house, on the brink of the high bank overlooking the Ardle, a little north of where Kindrogan bum enters the river. I have known old men who remembered the ruins of the old house there, before the green was levelled; and the old garden was there also, on both sides of the bum. I remember of many of the old apple trees growing there, and the row of very tall beech trees on the river bank there is a remnant of the old garden hedge.

When I was a boy, the late Mr Small Keir of Kindrogan, for the sake of getting a view of the river from the windows of Kindrogan House, removed the highest part of the bank, sloping it towards the burn; and during these operations the workmen c^me upon the remains of Donal Mor’s underground retreat on the site of the old house. The underground chimney was found partly entire, and it must have been used for a long time, as there was a thick coating of soot on the stones. There was great excitement amongst the workmen, as they all well knew the story of the old house. I was very young at the time, but I got an old .spade and dug with hearty good-will, as I was in full hopes of finding Donal Mor’s claymore and other arms; but no, the destruction of the old house when Donal’s family were cleared out had been too complete.

The M'Coulls flourished for a long time—thanks to their snug underground retreat—and their neighbours’ sheep and stirks disappeared as mysteriously as ever, and nobody wondered so much as Donal Mor at the cunning way the caterans carried them off without leaving a trace. But at last the day of reckoning came. It was on a cold winter afternoon, a bitter day of wind, rain, and sleet, that the Baron, Patrick Small of Dimanean, and George Small of Dalreoch crossed the hill from Moulin and were passing Kindrogan on their way home. They were wet through, tired, and hungry, but as Donal Mor was not given to hospitality they did not intend calling on him, till, on passing the house, they noticed a great cloud of smoke issuing out of the kitchen chimney. “Surely" says Dalreoch, “Donal Mor is cooking an extra good dinner to-day.” “Very likely,” says Dirnanean, “as I lost three fine, fat wethers this week.” “Let us invite ourselves to dinner,” says the Baron, “and if he has anything extra good, we were never in more need of it."

So they made for the house, found the door open, but nobody about, so they marched into the kitchen, expecting, if they did not get dinner, at least to get a good warm at a big fire. But, to their utter astonishment, there was no fire in the kitchen; it had burnt out, and nothing there but some peat ashes. In a moment they were outside again gazing up at the chimney-head; but there was no mistake, for there was the chimney pouring forth volumes of smoke, like a modern steam-engine. Again they went inside, but found no trace of a fire.

After thinking it over, Dalreoch proposed that the other two should stay inside, and that he should go outside, scramble up to the roof of the house, and drop a good big stone down the smoking chimney. This was done. The stone came rumbling -down the chimney, they heard it pass close by them but unseen, then a great crash down below, followed by the frightened screams of Donald’s daughters, who had been busy cooking below when the great stone crashed into the pot and smashed it to pieces. They had grown careless, and not expecting visitors on such a day, some of them had gone below, and the rest, going out after the cattle, had let the fire go out, which caused the discovery.

Dimanean at once crossed the river and gathered some of his men. They made a thorough search, and the worthy laird not only found the skins of his three lost wethers, but many mor6. So did the other two lairds find many skins of cattle and sheep, -to be proof against Donal. That worthy was from home on some of his roving excursions, so they set a watch to wait his return; but one of his daughters, being out late, noticed armed men about the house, and, taking the alarm, she awaited her father, and warned him of his danger before he came to the house. He at once made for a cave he had ready in the great cairn at the foot of Kindrogan Bock, where he was safe for a time. But luck was against him. He had no food in his cave, and as a very heavy fall of snow came on that night, he could not come outside without his footmarks being seen and followed, as the whole country was now raised, men watching on every hill and pass, and his family kept dose prisoners. He had to come out at last for food, was seen and followed, but escaped in the wood for a time. But there was no escape; the circle of his. foes gradually closed closer and closer round him, till in despair he hanged himself with a rope he had used so long for tying his stolen sheep. This he did on the top of “ Cnoc Dhomhnuill Mhor ”—Donal Mor’s Knowe. His grave is still seen there, on the east shoulder, just over the top, out of sight of the road and about fifty yards west of the bum. So ended the career of Donal Mor—in the flesh; as for his ghost, well, if it is not about the bum to this day, it was well known when I was in the district.

Donal's family were banished from the country, his house was burned, and all his goods confiscated. The estate was then bought by William Small, brother to Patrick Small of Dimanean, in whose hands we find it in 1700. He afterwards married Margaret Keir, the heiress of Kinmouth, in Stratheam, when he added Keir to his name, and was the first of the Small-Keirs of Kindrogan. Margaret was the only daughter of John, son of William, son of Patrick Keir of Kinmouth. William succeeded in 1699, as we find in Perthshire Retours:—“ 1638— Jan. 4th, 1699. William Keir de Kinmouth haeres Patrick de Kinmouth, patris, in Occident dimidio terrarum de Kinmouth cum salmonum piscatione super aquam Ema” William was only a very short time laird of Kinmouth, as he succeeded in 1699 and we find John laird in 1704.

William Small at once began building a new and much larger house at Kindrogan, about a hundred yards west from the site of the old house, and built what is now the back part of the present house. Afterwards the front part was built alongside of it, and the two side wings were built by later lairds. About the same time, William Small bought the estate of Wester Kindrogan from Baron Reid of Straloch, and along with it the summer sheiling of Ruid-nan-Laoigh, at the head of Glenfemate, which had for ages belonged to that estate, and which we have seen so bravely defended in 1560, against the Earl of Atholl, by that warlike old “ Lady of the Stan,” Marjory, wife of Baron John V. of Straloch.

Though clan battles, cattle-lifting, and many of the old habits and ways of the Highlanders were gradually dying out, still there lingered in those dark, though not very distant, days many old beliefs and superstitions, especially about witches and witchcraft. Such was the case in Strathardle, as well as in all the wide district of Atholl, which we have already seen was ever famous for witches; and though now they were not so numerous that 2300 of them could gather at once on a hill, as they did in 1570 to wish bonnie Queen Mary good luck, yet many of these weird dames still carried on what they believed, or at least tried to make others believe, their uncanny “ dealings wi’ the Deil,” in spite of all persecution, and though hundreds of them were tortured, drowned, or burnt to death. It is most extraordinary how this imaginary crime of witchcraft obtained such a wide and general belief, not only amongst the poor and ignorant, but amongst classes whose education, intelligence, and opportunities of judging the evidence aright for themselves ought, at least, to have made more careful inquiry before condemning hundreds wholesale, and often without any regular trial, to fearful tortures and lingering deaths. The then kings ordered and encouraged those trials; the Scots Parliament and the Privy Council passed Acts and laws without number for burning witches; whilst lords, lairds, sheriffs, and bailies of regality all did their share, and last but not least, the Presbyterian clergy were the most bigoted and merciless of the whole. At one sitting the Privy Council granted fourteen separate commissions to take trial of witches in different parts of the country.

About this time the Privy Council granted its last commission to Strathardle for a trial of witchcraft, which shows us very clearly how such trials were got up and carried out by the authorities as a means of private spite and revenge. This was the case in which our old friend, Lachlan Rattray, was accused by the Spaldings of Ashintully of betwitching David Spalding, son and heir of Ashintully, and for which Lachlan was condemned to death, and only escaped by the great efforts and influence of his friend, Lord Forglen, then one of the Lords of Session, backed up by his cousins, the lairds of Dairulzion and Dalmunzie, who managed first to get the sentence cf dea.th delayed several times, and, after two years’ imprisonment, got him slipped quietly out of prison and away abroad to the war in Flanders, where he served under Captain Alexander Ogilvie, Lord Forglen’s son, in Colonel Preston s Regiment, in which he served with great credit for about ten years.

Lachlan was of the Rattrays of Dalrulzion, being the son of Alexander, son of David, son of Alexander Rattray, laird of Dalrulzion in 1620. His mother had previously been married to Alexander Robertson of Dunie, and on his death she got the house and lands of Dalnagaim, near Kirkmichael, as her jointure, and where she afterwards married, lived twenty-seven years, and where Lachlan was born and brought up. Growing up together from infancy, it was only natural that Lachlan and Ashintully’s two sons—David, the heir, and Andrew, afterwards 1st of Glenkilry—should become great friends, especially as they were all stalwart, athletic young fellows, equally at home in the ballroom or on the battlefield. Liachlan himself tells us in his MS.: —“I was not long home from school, when young David Spalding of Ashintully and I fell so intimate one with the other that there was no separation of us till the devil came in the ploy, which ye shall hear after. And who was like us both then for strength and manhood. And now I began again with my old acquaintance Spalding. We kept the old correspondence all this time. He still continued in his folly, but by this time my marriage, and the loss of my crop, and having a wife and four children to keep, made me some soberer.” Lachlan tried farming in several places, especially at Tullochcurran and Minnoch, but a series of extra bad, late harvests kept him back, and ruined many of the Strathardle fanners. He says: —“ And our corn being covered so long with frost and snow before it was filled, was entirely lost. I got no corn but what I pulled out of the snow with my hands, nor none in that glen, and in all the country a very b3»d, ill-filled crop, and famine, lasted six or seven years, that put many to the door that was in farmer times well to live.” Lachlan afterwards settled at the farm of Alrick, in Glenisla. Here young Spalding came to him and told him that “ he was bet witched by witches,” and he wished Lachlan to go to these witches and intercede with them to release him from the witchcraft, but he would have nothing to do with them. Upon this, young Spalding falsely accused Lachlan to his father and his uncle, Spalding of Whitehouse, that it was Lachlan himself that had bewitched him. They believed him, and at once went to Edinburgh to get a commission from the Privy Council to apprehend Lachlan to be tried for this crime. A strong force of Spaldings went to Glenisla and apprehended Lachlan, took him to Ashintully, and kept him in the dungeon there for two days. Instead of sending him to his own county town of Perth to be tried, where he might have friends, they took him north to Inverness ail the way, where, of course, young Spalding’s uncle, Mackintosh of Mackintosh, then reigned supreme, and where they were sure of a conviction. Lachlan tells us : —“ After being two days under a strong guard in Ashintully Castle, the morrow before day they called for a power of men, bound my two hands behind my back, and they had a long piece of rope that tied me behind, and two men did hold a grip of me behind, till we reached Inverness. There they carried me into a change house (inn) where was one Mr John Mackintosh, an agent new come from Edinburgh, and he was appointed to examine me, and give me a terror. And I had now come amongst all young Ashintully’s friends on the mother’s side, she being a daughter to Mackintosh.” Lachlan was advised to plead guilty to witchcraft, but refused, and so he was put in prison in the top of the town’s steeple, there to live on two pence a day. Plenty fresh air on the top of the steeple to give him a good appetite, but two pence was but a small sum to satisfy that appetite. How different Inverness must have now seemed to Lachlan, looking down from his cage on the top of the steeple, to what it did only such a short time ago, when himself and his now mortal foe, young Spalding, as officers commanding, led their gallant company of 80 Spaldings, followed by the same number of Robertsons, under Wester Straloch, along the High Street of Inverness, and past the foot of that very steeple, when they accompanied Lord9 James and Mungo Murray, sons of the Duke of Atholl, to try and release the Lady Amelia Murray from the clutches of Lord Lovat. Then, no doubt, these young officers cast a great dash on the streets of Inverness, and cocked their bonnets as high as any chieftain in the North. Now it was changed times for Lachlan. However, his friends were able to relieve him a little, as he tells us:—“When my good friend Lord Forglen heard of my treatment, he wrote Provost Duff of Inverness, who, whenever he had read the letter that told him who I was, and how I was treat, I was taken good care of, and my room in prison cleaned, and a good bedding and clothes sent to me, and after that the best in town was very kind to me all my time, and I was a year in prison before I was tried. And when the time of my trial was come, the head of our family—George Rattray of Dalrillion—and Lachlan M'Pherson in Dalmongie, who was married to my cousin Dalmongie’s sister, both came from Edinburgh with advices what to do at the trial. And he that sat high judge on me was the Laird of Grant, who was hired by the Spalding party to take my life, and would not allow an: Inverness Proctor to plead for me, so that DaJrillion was obliged to go to> Elgin to hire Procters there.”

The Spaldings, several of their servants, and, of course, the minister of the parish of Kirkmichael, Mr John Pearson, who was married to young David Spalding’s sister, all appeared a& witnesses against Lachlan. His proctors tried to speak for Him, but Judge Grant would not allow them, so he was condemned to death unheard. Though the Laird of Grant had power to condemn to death, yet he had not power to appoint a day for execution; so Lord Forglen, who was then one of the Lords of Session, got the other Lords to take up the case, with the result that Lachlan was three times reprieved in the first year, and after being kept in prison for two years was set at liberty. He then went abroad with Lord Forglen’s son, Captain Alexander Ogilvie, and joined Colonel Preston’s Regiment in Flanders. As he says : —“ For if I should stay at home, I was so proud and foolish that it would be very ready of them, out of revenge, or they kill me.”

This was in 1706, and Lachlan saw much hard fighting in Flanders till the peace of 1713, when he returned to Scotland. On his way home, at Newcastle, he met the Jacobite Earl of Derwentwater, who not only made great friendship with Lachlan, but claimed that he and all the other Scottish Rattrays were descended from his family, the Ratcliffes of Derwentwater* This statement Lachlan seems to have firmly believed, and in proof of which he tells us that the Earl showed him many old letters and papers showing the old connection of the families. If the founders of the three ancient Rattray families of Craighall, Dalrulzion, and Kinnaird, or Ranagullion, really settled there in the reign of Malcolm I., in 945, it shows that they are a very ancient race indeed, and it is quite possible, as we have already^ seen that the Rattrays of Craighall were well established there only a century later, in 1057.

I may give Lachlan’s own quaint version of this meeting, as recorded in his old MS.: —“ And I was not long at Newcastle when the Earl of Derwentwater, and his brother Charles, and' several others with them', lighted at my quarters. I was in pretty good habit, dad in scarlet, with a red doak about me. He asked the landlord who I was, and he told him I had come from abroad, and that my name was Mr Rattray. Then he desired the landlord to bring me to him, that perhaps he be of that name, he would know better what I came off than I did myself. And the landlord told me that the Earl wanted to see me. ‘ Sir,’ I said, ‘ I do not know the nobleman, but I have heard of him ; and you know I am not well with the ague, and bareheaded I cannot be, and stand too long I am not able.’ So he told the Earl what - said to have me excused. And when he heard this he said, ‘ Go and tell him from me that he shall not stand, nor yet be bareheaded/ And I went to the Earl’s room, and upon my word I wist not how to behave amongst all the rest, but he took me by the hand and pulled me down beside him, and clapped my hat on my head, and that he would let me know that all the men of Rattray in the North of Scotland came off his family. That night he caused his douar hire a horse for me, and I went home with him to Derwentwater. And there I was informed by the Earl and his brother Charles how all we of the name of Rattray came of his family, in King Malcolm the First’s time, by a slaughter that three brethren had committed in Newcastle. And they all three fled to the North of Scotland by sea, and where they landed in the north is by their landing called Rattray’s Bridge to this day. The elder brother took place in Craighall, the second in Dalrulzion, and part of his holden of Pope Paul, in King Malcolm’s reign. The third of them took place in Kinweed (Kinnaird), who is now this day Rannagullion. I could not remember till I called to memory that Ranagullion was the man that first sold Kinweed, and coifft (bought) Rannar gullion from Crawford Lindsay, called Earl Beardie. Now all this I have seen, of what I said by old letters by the Earl. And more to prove what I have said he let me see a bond granted by the present Dalrulzion’s grandfather, who was my granduncle’s son, when he was pursued by Atholl before the lords of seat, and imprisoned at Edinburgh to forfeit his estate. But the hand of Providence was in it. Old Derwentwater being in town when he was panelled there, and when Derwentwater heard the thing immediate he called Atholl and got Dalrulzion relieved, but took his bond that he would1 never be gultie of such a fact as being a Covenanter in usurping Cromwell’s time. Thiss I saw.”

Now, I do not for a moment doubt the existence of this bond, or that Lachlan saw it when at Derwentwater, as also many old letters from the Rattrays of the North, to which, of course, the services rendered to Dalrulzion by Derwentwater might have given rise; but I am very dubious of the story of the “ three brethren ” fleeing from Derwentwater and founding three families of Rattrays in Strathardle so early as the reign of Malcolm I., who began to reign 944, and reigned till 953. Lachlan also tells us that part of the lands of Dalrulzion were then “ holden of Pope Paul.” Now that could not be, as Pope Paul I. did not begin to reign for two and a half centuries after that, in 1188, and none of the Pope Paul’s were ever contemporary with any of the Soots King Malcolm’s. But at that time, and long before, it had become a craze with almost every dan and family to discard a local or known origin and to claim descent from some famous foreigner whose name, title, or armodal bearings resembled their own. And certainly the names here are veiy similar, as we find in early times the name Rattray spelt “Ratheriff,” which is very near Rattcliff. In any case, no doubt the Jacobite Earl of Derwentwater, who only two years after was beheaded for his share in the rising of 1715, and was even then plotting for a rising in favour of the Stuarts, thought it good policy to get such a gallant and experienced soldier as Lachlan, who had seen so much hard fighting under such able generals in Flanders, attached to his own side in the coming struggle. So he kept Lachlan for three weeks at Derwentwater, and, when he was leaving, he urged him very much to return there after he had seen his father and friends, and that he would keep him at Derwentwater for life.

Lachlan went on to Edinburgh and there saw his old friend, Lord Forglen, and told him all his adventures, and also the great kindness he had received from the Earl of Derwentwater, and that he wished him to go back to live with him at Derwentwater. Now, as Lord Forglen was a very staunch Whig, he did not at all approve of that, and would not allow it, but promised to get employment for Lachlan himself in Edinburgh; and, like a shrewd lawyer, the first way he set about doing so was to get Lachlan married, for the third time, to a well-to-do widow, who had a well furnished house and kept lodgers. It had so happened that some time before that it had come to be Captain Ogilvie, Lord Forglen’s son, and Lachlan’s turn to come over from Flanders to recruit for their regiment in Edinburgh. At first they had their quarters in Lord Forglen’s house, and so intimate was Lachlan with the family that his Lordship’s youngest son, James, asked and got permission to sleep with Lachlan, and all went well till the following incident happened, which I may give in Lachlan’s own words: —“ And when I went to my Lord’s house at night, my room that I layed in was next to my Lord s and Lady’s room, and coming in late at night, and I took my pipe as usual going to bed. And the Lady’s gentlewoman told me that the Lady made her burn the cork of a bottle to put r.wa.v the smell of my tobacco, and that my Lord said to her in a joke,1 My dear, how could you suffer the smell of powder in the Hay of battle V And the lady being so very kind to me in the days of old, I thought I would remove my quarters; so I took a room in the Blackfriars Wynd, and my landlady’s name was Mrs Hay, a widow. And after this, James, Lard Forglen’s youngest son, who before bedded with me, came again and bedded with me there also in Mrs Hay’s house. And she was very kind to us both. And about a month after this Mr James said to his father, my Lord, that he would have him cause me marrie Mrs Hay, my landlady, since there was great tokens of the war being over. And my Lord says he must know better what she was, and what debt she owes her people. And my Lord causes his foreman to haunt her house, and inquire about her, and then that he should upon it ask me gif I were willing, or not.”

But before his Lordship had satisfied himself as to the widow’s worthiness the storm-call of war again came to Lachlan, and he had to start away at onoe with his recruits and rejoin his regiment at the front in Flanders, no doubt leaving the widow lamenting, and praying for a speedy peace and Lachlan’s safe return. After some more hard fighting, he, as we have seen, again returned to Edinburgh, free of the army. During his absence, Lord Forglen and his foreman had made full inquiries about Mrs Hay, and kept a strict watch on her and her two bairns. So now, instead of Lachlan going back to the Earl of Derwentwater, Lord Forglen made him marry Mrs Hay, of whom he was now able to give the following good report: —“ I have caused search her out gif she was in anything of debt, and find there is no danger in it; but only two weak children that is not likely to live long.” Whether his Lordship thought the latter item of information would further encourage Lachlan or not, I know not; but he married Mrs Hay, “ and they lived happy ever after”—for thirty years, when she died in 1743.

Very soon after this, when the great rising of 1715 broke out, Lord Forglen, true to his promise, recommended Lachlan to the Provost and Council of Edinburgh to train their Volunteers raised for defending the city. So he was appointed adjutant of the 400 Volunteers raised amongst the burgesses to defend the city.

1715.—We have now come to one of the most interesting periods of Strathardle history—the stirring times of the great rising of the ’15, when most of the Strathardle men went out, under the Earl of Mar, to fight for the “ Auld Stuarts.” Little did these brave men think when they joined Mar when he raised the standard of King James on the historic bannerfield of Kirk-michael, after being joined by 500 Atholl men, under the Marquis of Tullybardine, and as many Strathardle men, under David Spalding of Ashintully and his brother Andrew of Glen-

Miry, that in two short months, on the fatal 13th of November, that one half of them would be taken prisoners at the surrender of luckless Preston, and most of the survivors of the other half at the terribly mismanaged battle of Sheriffmuir, all owing to the total incapacity of Mar as a leader, and the petty jealousies and quarrels of their other leaders. Neither Montrose, Dundee, nor ir'rince C liar lie ever had the same chance as Mar had of winning back the crown for the Royal Stuarts; but ne lingered idly on in Perth when he might have won a kingdom. Well might the gallant old Gordon of Glenbucket cry out in despair, when he saw the fatal blundering at Sheriffmuir, “ Oh! for one hour of Dundee.”

The story of the rising of the ’15 is so well known that I need only give what refers to Strathardle and its men, especially with the earlier events there, and the raising of the standard on the bannerfield of Kirkmichaei, about which there is a very great deal of confusion as to places and dates. Even in such standard works as Browne’s “ History of the Highlands,” Kellie’s do., Constable’s “ History of the Rising of 1715,” etc., we are solemnly told that Kirkmichaei “ is a village in Braemar,” whereas it is thirty miles south of Mar, with Glenshee and two lofty ranges of mountains between. This mistake is caused Partly by these writers following the accounts given by those arch-traitors, Patten, who acted as chaplain to Mr Forster, and Ebeneeer Whittle, who was valet to the Earl of Mar, and who both turned traitor to him and his cause—turned King’s evidence, which, after Sheriffmuir and Preston, was used against the prisoners, and caused the loss of many a fair estate, and the death of many a brave man, or what was even worse, being sold as slaves to the American planters.

Another cause of the confusion is the popularity of the well-known sang, “ The Standard on the Braes o’ Mar,” which mixes up the great “ Tinchel,” or hunting match, which took place at the end of August in Braemar, and at which all the chiefs named in the song were present, with the raising of the standard at Braemar on 6th September, and at which only 60 of Mar’s own vassals were present, all the other chiefs having hurried home to gather their men, with orders to meet Mar at Kirk-michael.

The valet, who was present, says in his evidence (Original Letters, p. 20):—“That Mr John Paterson was the person that proclaimed the Pretender King James VIII. And the Persons •of Note that were present at upsetting the Standard and Proclamatian were the Earl of Mar, General Hamilton, Dalmore (Mackenzie of, in Braemar), and his son.”

Browne, in his “ History of the Highlands,” says:—“ With 60 followers only, Mar proclaimed the Chevalier at Caetleton in Braemar, after which lie proceeded to Kirkmichaei, where on the 6th September (should be 16th) he raised his standard, which was consecrated by prayer, in presence, according to some accounts, of a force of 2000 men, mostly consisting of horse.”— (Annals of 2nd Year of George I., p. 28)

Of course, poets are supposed to be allowed a certain amount of licence, but in dealing with historical facts they are apt to mislead, as we have already seen in the case of the other well-known song, “ The Burning of the Bonnie House o’ Airlie,” where the poet makes Argyll brave enough to go personally to war against Lady Ogilvie, and gallant enough to invite her to “Come doun frae her castle, come doun and kiss me fairly,” when we know from his own letter of instructions to his cousin,

‘Dowgall” Campbell of Inverawe, that he remained safely at home in Argyll. So we see here also that none of the clans mentioned in the song were at the raising of the standard on the Braes o' Mar, and to be historically true the song should be—

“The standard on Kirkmichaei Haugh
Is up an; streaming rarely;
The Atholl and Strathardle men
Are coming late and early.”

I may here give the words of this song: —

“The standard on the Braes o’ Mar
Is up and streaming rarely,
The gathering pipe on Lochnagar
Is sounding loud and sairly:
The Hielandmen, frae hill and glen,
Wi’ belted plaid, and glittering blade,
Wi’ bonnets blue, and hearts sae true,
Are coming late and early.

“I saw our chief come o’er the hill
Wi’ Drummond and Glengarry,
And through the pass came brave Lochiel,
Panmure, and gallant Murray,
Macdonald’s men, Clanronald’s men,
Mackenzie’s men, Macgillvray’s men,
Strathallan’s men, the Lowland men
O’ Callander and Airly.

“Our Prince has made a solemn vow
To free his country fairly,
Then wha would be a traitor now
To ane we love so dearly?
We'll go, we’ll go, an’ seek the foe,
An’ fling the plaid, an’ swing the blade,
An' forward dash, an’ hack, an’ slash,
An' fleg the German carlie.”

We will now follow Mar’s movements in connection with Strathardle, and the brave lads who followed him from there. The Earl left London on 2nd August, in disguise, on board a small coasting vessel, and landed at Elie, in Fife, accompanied only by General Hamilton and two servants—a valet and a footman. In the hurry of landing, the latter fell off a plank laid between the ship and a rock, and was drowned. One almost, regrets that it was not the valet who met this fate, as we have already seen that he deserted at Logierait, went to Edinburgh, and, before the Lord Provost and Magistrates, sold his evidence to condemn brave men. Mar visited several of the Jacobite lairds of Fife, then pushed on to Dupplin Castle, the seat of his father-in-law, Lord Kinnoul, as we are told in the spies’ evidence, preserved in the Record Office, London: —“ From Fife, Mar travelled on foot, overland to his father-in-law, my Lord Kinnoul, his house, being supplied of horses by him for his journey to Braemar. He crossed the Tay, and through Scone and Coupar Angus towards the country of Mar, and the first night thereafter came to Thomas Rattray of Craighall, near to Blair of Gowrie, his house; and having communicated to him his design of taking up aams and serving for the Pretender, and concerting with him measures for the accomplishment, thence he passed from Craighall towards Strathardle, where the informer had occasion to see him by the way, being accompanied by 18 horsemen; and some of his vassals in Mar, having word of his approach, some waited on him to Spalding of Ashentulle his house; and knowing Spalding to be firm for the interest he was set up for, Mar talked very freely and in publishment of his designs; and knowing Spalding could raise some two or three hundred men, he promised him a colonel’s commission in the Pretender’s service; and withal told him whether the Pretender landed or not, General Hamilton and he were to lead an army south for the dissolution of the Union, and to have the grievances of the nation redressed. For Mar was at pains all the-way as he passed to spread a false report of the Parliament being designed to lay unsupportable taxes upon the nation, on lands, com, cattle, meal, malt, not only so, but even on oocks and hens; and that this was no mean reason for him to take up arms, since otherwise, in a very short time, the nation would sink under such burdons. This took so heavily with the common people, and animated them to take up arms. Mar passed two days with Spalding in Ashentullie Castle in great jollity, and as they were merry together, told him that at every house he had touched by the way he had borrowed something, and he must needs borrow something of him also; and being demanded what that might be, he told him that it was Spalding’s fiddler, which that gentleman readily granted. From thence he went to Spittai of Glenshee, where he lodged at a public house, and from thence to Mar. Mar’s design tnen was to set up the standard at once at Braemar, and then to march south to Perthshire, through Glenshee to Kirkmichaei, and then down Strathardle and encamp on the Muir of Blairgowrie; and they were to have a general rendezvous there, and from thence they were to send out detachments to Perth, Dundee, and Montrose, to go proclaim the Pretender.”

As Mar had issued his invitations to all the principal Jacobite chiefs of the Highlands, and to many of the Lowland noblemen, there was a great gathering of them at Braemar, to the great “ Tinchel,” or hunting, such as we have already seen took place so often at that time of year on the hills of Atholl and Mar; but on this occasion the hunting was merely an excuse for meeting to arrange their plans of campaign. When p-.ll was settled, they returned home to raise their men; but many of them had not reached their distant glens when Mar again summoned them to meet him at Aboyne on 3rd September. Those who resided near Abovne attended, and got instructions to at once arm their men, and meet Mar at Kirkmichaei without delay.

On the 6th September, Mar raised the standard at Castletxm of Braemar, on a small knoll or mound a few yards east of the Invercauld Arms Inn, on the south side of the road, now planted with trees. As we have already seen, he had only 60 of his own men there, mostly Farquharsons. He had dismissed 300 of his own men, who had come badly armed, with orders to get properly armed and return to join him as soon as possible.

Some of our historians say that after the raising of the standard at Braemar they marched over the Cairnwell, and encamped the first night at Spittai of Glenshee, then next day marched on to Kirkmichaei, and raised the standard there on the 9th September. That wag not the case, however, as I find Mar still writing from Braemar on the 13th September to the Marquis of TuUybardine and Spalding of Ashintully, to meet him with the Atholl and Strathardle men on the 16th or 17th September. Thk Marquis’s letter is preserved in “ The Jacobite Lairds of Gask,” p. 30, and is as follows: —

“Inveroall, 13 Sept. 1715.

“My Lord,—I intend now, with the assistance of God, to begin my march from hence on Thursday morning next very earlie, and intend to quarter that night at the Spittle of Glen-chie, where some more of the King’s forces are to joyn us on Friday Morning, when we intend to proceed on our march to Atholl, and to quarter on Friday night at Moulin. These are therefore empowering and requiring you forthwith to get the men of Atholl, Rannoch, etc., in readiness to joyn us at Moulin on friday’s night to attend the King’s Standard, as they will be answerable to their King and country, for whose service it may so much contribute. I am my Lord, your Lora, most obedient and humble servant, “ Mar.

“I’le expect to hear from your Lor. on our march to Atholl, as soon as you can, and you would endeavour to make some provisions at Moulin against we arrive.

“Since writing what is on the other side, I leave it to your Lor. whether you think it best to come yourself and meet us in Stratharle on friday morning, or wait our coming to Athol that night, or Saturday, which since writing I am aifraid it will be, before we get there by an accident which has happened, which is too long to write now. You can judge best of it on the place, but at this distance I incline to think you had best come to Stratharle to us, and if not your Lor. should certainly write to your vassals thereabouts to joyn us at the Spittle on friday morning, and they must have the letter on thursday night at furthest, and have sent an order and also wrote now to Ashin-tilly. “ Mar.”

At last Mar got away from Braemar, and crossed the Cairn-well and encamped the first night at Spittle of Glenshee. Next day—Saturday, the 16th—they marched to Kirkmichaei, and there encamped on the south bank of the Ardle, on the haugh that lies between the bridge and the Free Church manse. Here they were joined by 300 horse, in two companies, one under the Earl of Linlithgow, and the other under Lord Drummond; also by 500 Atholl Highlanders, under the Marquis of TuUybardine.

David Spalding of AshintuUy also joined with a strong body of his men, and Mar, according to his promise, at onoe made him colonel, and his brother, Andrew Spalding, 1st of Glenkilry, was lieutenant-colonel. The rest of the Strathardle men—Robertsons, Fergus sons, Farquharsons, and Rattrays—also joined, under Captain Peter Farquh arson of Rochallie, who was killed at Preston; Rattray of Corb; also Lord Nairne and his son, the Master of Naime, who then held the lands of Glenderby, Balna-killey, etc., in Strathardle, and their other clan officers, and under the sipecial recruiting of their warlike parish minister, the Rev. John Peirsome, who was married to a sister or Spalding of Ashintully, and whose father and grandfather, both named Francis Peirsome, had been ministers of Kirkmichael parish before him, and whom we shall find, in 1717, deposed by the Government for his active share in raising the Strathardle men to join Mar in 1715. The charge against him was “ for dissafaction to the Government, etc., as he had influenced his people to rebellion, prepared them to take up arms against the reigning family, and mounted his horse with that view.”

What a stirring sight it must have been on Kirkmichael Haugh that day when, in presence of all these gallant men, the Marquis of Tullybardine, the Duke of AthoH’s eldest son— “ Tullybardine, the loyal and true”—unfurled the standard of King James VIII., just as thirty years afterwards he unfurled King James's standard for his gallant son, Bonnie Prince Charlie, in lone Glenfinnan.

The Rev. R. Patten, in his History of the Rebellion,” published in 1/17, says, p. 4:—“This daring attempt began first about the latter end of August, 1715, in the shire of Perth, and in the Highlands of the shire or County of Mar, where they continued some days, gathering their People together till their Number increased; and then barefacedly they advanced to other Places, forming themselves into a Body, and particularly at a small Market-Town named Kirkmichael, where the Pretender was first proclaimed, and his Standard set up, with a Summons for all People to attend it. This was on the 9th September, where they continued four or five days, and then made their way to Moulin, another small Market-Town in the same Shire.”

Of course it was the raising of the standard there that gave the place its name of Bannerfield, or, as it is known in Gaelic,. Auchnarbrattaich.

The standard was made bv the Countess of Mar (Frances daughter of the Duke of Kingston), and was of a gorgeous bright blue colour, having on one side the arms of Scotland, richly embroidered in gold; and, on the other, the brave thistle of Scotland, with these words underneath, “No Union,” and on the top the ancient motto, “ Nemo me impune laoessit.”

All were in high spirits, and the clansmen shouted themselves hoarse; but in the height of their rejoicing an accident happened, which threw a visible gloom over the spirits of the superstitious Highlanders. This wais, that owing to a high gale of wind the gilt ball on the top of the flagstaff fell to the ground, and this they considered an evil omen for the cause they were engaging in, which shortly only proved too true. The old song describes this occurrence : —

“But when the standard was set up,
Sa*e fierce the wind did blaw, man,
The golden nit, upon the tap,
Down to the ground did fa’, man.

“The Hielandmen looked unca glam,
They didna like’t at a’, man;
And Seoond-sichtet Sandy said,
We’d do nae guid at a’, man.”

This ominous prophecy of the old seer damped the proceedings for a time; but there were bolder spirits there than Second-sichtet Sandy, and someone having made a gloomy remark to Spalding of Ashintully, that worthy, with the reckless impetuosity so characteristic of his race, exclaimed : “ Coma leibh sinn, cha thanaig ach rud math riamh e gu ard ”—“ Tuts, never mind that; nothing but good ever came from above”—and throwing his bonnet in the air, he shouted, “ Gum bu fada beo High Semus ”—“Long live King James ”—which set them all in good spirits again. This old saying of the Laird of Ashintully’s became a sort of proverb in Strathardle, and I well remember, when I was a boy, of an old friend telling me an anecdote of how he first heard it. It was in the early part of last century, when costly wars and bad seasons had made everything very dear, and, to crown all, an extra severe winter came on. The frost was hard, the snow lay deep for months, and the very poor people were really starving. Amongst them was a very honest man, with a young family, and it vexed his soul to hear his bairns cry for food, and none in the house. Near him lived a well-to-do farmer, with large flocks and a good farm, but so very miserly that though he had a. large potato pit in his stackyard he would not sell them even for ready money, as he expected to get a long price for them in spring. My friend and some cronies, inowing the hard case of the starving bairns, thought it no sin to go one dark night with a bag each and fill them at the farmer’s pit. Not wanting, for fear of inquiry, to let the poor man know from whom or where the potatoes came from, they arranged to climb on to the low thatched roof of the house and pour them down the great open hanging chimney, common to all such houses then. When they reached the top and looked down the wide, open chimney, they were much struck to see the poor man and his family on their knees at prayer, and heard the father earnestly petitioning Providence for daily bread for his starving baims. Never was any petition so quickly answered, as each man put the mouth of his bag to the chimney, and poured them •down in a great stream that scattered all over the floor. The astonished man rose to his feet, took a survey of the unexpected mercies from above, and then quietly said—“ Gu dearbh, is fior thubhairt Tighearna EasantuiUich, ‘ La togail na brattaich/ nach tanaig droch rud riamh e gu h-ard ”—“ Truly did the Laird of Ashintully say, on ‘ The Day of the Lifting of the Standard, that no bad thing came from above.” My friend was not then familiar with this oiu saying, but by calling on the man soon after, and leading the conversation back to the old Spalding lairds of Ashintully, he soon got it all. In those days the Highlanders seldom used figures for their dates, but always reckoned from some great event in their history, so that people dated their births, marriages, etc., so many years before or after “ The Day of the Lifting of the Standard,” or “ the Day of Culloden.” The last of these noted events from which dates were reckoned, and which was very commonly used in my youth in Straithardle, was the famous year 1826, “Bliadhna a bharr ghoirid”—“The Year of the Short Corn ”—when the straw was so short it could not be cut, so was pulled up by the root.

After the standard was set up, Mar staid several days at Kirkmichaei, during which time the Strathardle men ware divided into three companies, and each of these was joined to one of the Atholl regiments, commanded by the Duke’s three sons. The Spaldingsi were in Lord George Murray’s regiment, as we see by the following letter frcm the Marquis of Tullybardine to Andrew Spalding of Glenkilry, brother to Ashintully, asking him to come out for Prince Charlie in the ’45. It is in “ Jacobite Correspondence of House of Atholl,” No. III.: —

“Sir,—I have informed the Prince of your stedfast adherence, and good service done the King in 1715, when you was so good as to join your brother’s men to mine in the regiment commanded by my brother Lord George. I persuade myself that the same good principles do still remain in you, and that you’ll forthwith raise all the men living upon the Barronys of Asshuntly, and Balmacruchy, with those on your interest (Glenkiliy), and join the army commanded by the Prince, wherever the royall standard is, as most convenient for you. I am well informed since you have left the country you have always considered your interests joined with my family at all occasions; and therefore I hope you will do the same at this juncture. You served as Lieut.-Colonel in 1715, and now deservedly you need not ddubt of having the Colonel's command, and of all other services I can render you, being with perfect esteem and consideration.”

The second company, under the Master of Nairne and Lieuts. John and James Rattray, joined Lord Charles Murray's regiment. The third company, under Peter Farquharson of Rochallie (who was killed at Preston) and Captains Alex, and James Robertson, joined Lord Naime’s regiment. His Lordship was also a son of the Duke of Atholl, and having married Lord Naime’s only daughter, he succeeded to the title and estates. The two latter regiments crossed the Forth with Brigadier Mackintosh, and were mostly all taken prisoners at Preston. Lord George and his Spaldings remained at Perth, and fought at Sheriffmuir.

On leaving Kirkmichael, Mar marched up the strath by Tullochcurran and Kindrogan, and through Glen Brierachan, where, at the very head of the glen, at the famous well, “ Fuaran-a-Clash-Domhain,” at the road-side near the top of the hill, the Strathardle men halted, had a farewell drink from the well, gave three cheers for King James, and had, alas! for most of them, a long last look at the Strathardle hills,, as most of those who were not killed in battle, or executed after, died as slaves on the West Indian plantations.

As we have now seen Mar and his army out of Strathardle territory, I need only say that they marched over Badvo, and halted at Moulin, again at Logierait, then Dunkeld, and finally in Perth, where they halted only too long.

When Mar decided to send 2500 picked men across the Forth, under old Barium, we have already seen that two of the Strathardle companies went with the Atholl regiments. Most of these got safely across the firth, but some of them were amonerst the 200 who had to take refuge on the Isle of May from the English ships. These returned to Perth, and joined the other Strathardle men under the Spaldings, and fought at Sheriffmuir.

Most of the credit for successfully crossing the firth, in face of such a large hostile fleet, is due to a Strathardle man, Peter Farquharson of Rochallie, who had been bred a sailor, and therefore knew all about the winds, tides, and boats, besides being, what even the traitor, Parson, Patten, in his evidence calls, “ a gallant Gentleman, of an invincible Spirit, and almost inimitable Bravery,” as we will see when we come to his death at Preston.

After the Highlanders took possession of Leith Fort, the Duke of Argyll advanced against them with 1200 men, amongst whom were the 400 Volunteers of which our old friend, Lachlan Rattray, was adjutant. Old Lachlan, was very bitter against the Jacobites, and in his MSS. tells us:—“ The rebels were in Leith Citidai, and we might ait that time nave burnt them all with bombs, and driven them all in the sea-, had not the Duke been very merciful to his countrymen.” But Argyll knew better, as Brown in his history tells us he simply “sent a summons to the citadel requiring them to surrender, under pain of treason, and declaring that if they obliged him to employ cannon against them and killed any of his men in resisting him, he would give them no quarter. To this the Laird of Kynnachin, a gentleman of Atholl, returned this resolute answer: “ That as to surrendering they did not understand the word, which would therefore only excite laughter, and that if he thought he was able to make an assault, he might try.” This was followed by a discharge from the cannon on the ramparts, which made Argyll quickly retire. I am afraid if the Duke had made an assault that Lachlan’s much vaunted Volunteers would have been but of little service, as Rae, in his history, tells us: —“ Before Argyll reached Leith Fort, many of the brave gentlemen Volunteers, whose courage had cooled at the prospect of a fight with the Highlanders, slunk out of the ranks and went home. While deliberating on the expediency of making an attack, some of the Volunteers were very zealous for it, but on being informed that it belonged to them as Volunteers to lead the way, they nearly approved of the Duke’s proposal to defend the attempt till a more seasonable opportunity.” As Borlum left the fort that night, it saved any further risk to the Volunteers.

The Highlanders, having got possession of the Custom House at Leith, helped themselves very freely to the brandy found there, with- the result that forty of them were left behind, and next morning taken prisoners, and their arms sold in Edinburgh as curiosities. Of these, our old friend, Lachlan Rattray, bought a very fine Highland target, which he presented to his cousin, Rattray of Dalrulzion, in whose family it remained till, at the death of the last direct desoendent, it passed, along with the estate, to Mr Small of Dimanean, who very kindly showed it to me lately. Lachlan tells us : —“ Many of them drunk themselves to death that night in the King's custom house at Leith, and the rest marched south to England to get themselves hanged and banished. There was on the mom a deal of their arms sold through the city of Edinburgh, such as guns, swords, pistols, durks, and targes, of which I got ane targe and complimented it to the family 1 come off.”

So they marched for England, to the doleful fate Lachlan tells us of; and the brave Strathardle lads were amongst “ All the Blue B<wanets who went over the Border,” and who, whan they came to the black and swollen river Esk—

“Swam over to fell English ground,
And danced themselves dry to the piobroch sound".

On the march south, the Atholl and Strathardle men had the great advantage of being led by the sons of their feudal chief and their own clan officers, who, clad in Highland dress, marched on foot at their head, and partook of all their hardships and dangers, and which, as even their great enemy, the Rev. Mr Patten, is forced to say, “ powerfully gained the affection of their men.” In his history, describing the regiments on the march, under Borlum, he says : —

“The Fourth, the Lord Naim’s, Brother to the Duke of Athol; but by marrying an Heiress, according to the Custom of Scotland, he changed ms own name for hers. He came over the Firth with a good many of his Men. He is a Gentleman well beloved in his Country, and by all that had the advantage of being acquainted with him. He had formerly been at Sea, and gave signal instances of his Bravery. He was a mighty stickler against the Union. His son, who was Lieut.-Colonel to Lord Charles Murray, took a great deal of Pains to encourage the Highlanders, by his own Experience in their hard marches, and always went with them on Foot through the worst and deepest Ways, and in the Highland Dress.

“The Fifth Regiment was commanded by Lord Charles Murray, a younger son of the Duke of Athol’s. He had been a Comet of Horse beyond the Sea, and had gained a mighty good Character for his Bravery, even Temper, and graceful Deportment. Upon all the marches, he could never be prevailed with to ride, but kept at the head of his Regiment on Foot, in his Highland Dress without Breeches. He would scarce accept of a Horse to cross the Rivers, which his men at that season of the year forded above Mid-Thigh deep in Water. This powerfully gained him the affection at his men; besides his courage and behaviour at a Barrier at Preston was singularly brave.”

It was with great difficulty that the Highlanders were induced to march into England, but, once there, they behaved like brave men, and fought desperately when shut up m Preston. Patten, in describing the attack on the barrier, in which Rochallie fell, says : —“ Some were killed, and some also wounded, particularly two very gallant gentlemen were wounded here, and both died of their wounds. The one was Captain Peter Farquharson of Rochaley, a gentleman of invincible Spirit, and almost inimitable Bravery. This gentleman being shot through the Bone of the Leg, endured a great deal of torture in the operation of the Surgeon. When he was first brought into the Inn called the White Bull, the House where all the wounded were carried to be dressed, he took a glass of Brandy, and said, ‘ Come, Lads, here is to our Master’s Health; though I can do no more, I wish you good success.’ His Leg was cut off by an unskilful Butcher, rather than a Surgeon, and he presently died.” Before leaving this brave man, I may give a short account of his descent. Finlay Mor Farquharson of Invercauld, from which the clan takes its Gaelic name of Clan Finlay, was the most renowned of the race. He fell carrying the royal standard of Scotland at the battle of Pinkie, in 1547. His seventh son, Lachlan, became 1st of Bruachdearg, in Glenshee, before 1590, as we find then George Drummond of Newton of Blair becoming cautioner for him not to harm Andrew Spalding of Ashintully, or his brother James. Lachlan’s third son, George, of Easter Downie, bought Rodhallie in 1663. He married Grizel, daughter of Baron Reid of Straloch, and by her had a son Paul, whom we find in Rochallie, 1696-1729. His son Peter, or, as ho is sometimes called, Patrick, was our hero, who fell at Preston. In the Annals of Invercauld we find, on 6th June, 1710—“Contract of marriage between Patrick, son and heir of Paul Farquharson of Rochallie, and Ann, daughter of Finlay Fergusson of Cults. Their son, Finlay, was the last of his race. He married 1st Catherine, daughter of Lord James Murray, and sister of the wife of John Farquharson of Invercauld; and 2nd to Katherine, daughter of Paul Farquharson of Persie, but without issue by either marriage.” We are told in the Annals of Invercauld that the family of Rochallie were always very staunch Jacobites, and that their share in the '45 was the cause of their finally settling the estate on Invercauld in 1760. We find that Catherine Murray, daughter of Lord James Murray, was sister-in-law to John Farquharson of Invercauld, who was then her nearest male relative. She afterwards married Captain Finlay Farquharson of Rochallie, which marriage gave rise to the arrangement by which James of Invercauld became Rochallie’s heir, as recorded in a deed of disposition and assignation of Finlav Farquharson to James of Invercauld, 13th May, 1760:—“The said Finla Farquharson, failing heirs of his own body, disposes of his lands and estates to James Farquharson of Invercall,” etc. When Finlay married the Laird of Persie’s daughter, he put the same agreement in the marriage contract, on 6th November, 1776. Finlay died in 1777, and we find: — “ By virtue of the aforesaid documents the estate of Captain Finla Farquharson his now devolved upon James Farquharson of Invercauld, the said Finla having died without lawful issue of his body.” Such was the end of so many of our old Jacobite families after the disastrous times of the '15 and '45.

But we must now return to the besieged Jacobites in Preston. At the time of the attack in which Rochallie fell, Browne tells: —“ Whilst this struggle was going on near the church, a contest equally warm was raging in another part of the town, between Dormer’s division and the party under Lord Charles Murray. In approaching the barrier commanded by this young nobleman, Dormer’s men were exposed to a well directed and murderous fire from the houses, yet, though newly-raised troops, they stood firm and reached the barricade, from which, however, they were vigorously repulsed. Lord Charles Murray conducted himself with great bravery in repulsing the attack. Dormer’s troops returned to the assault, but were again and again beaten back with loss. They did all that brave men could do, but it was a hopeless case, and they had to surrender.” Of the 1468 prisoners taken at Preston, 930 were Scots, of whom 143 were noblemen and gentlemen. Lord Charles Murray, the Master of Nairne, and Ensign Nairne, his brother, were all tried by a court-martial, and all having been proved to have been officers in the Government service, were condemned to be shot, but afterwards, through the influence of their friends, were reprieved. Lord Naime was also condemned t*> death, but was afterwards reprieved. But a worse fate awaited the common men. Burton tells us:—“A large number, found guilty, were distributed among the Lancashire towns for execution; and the public mind was brutalized by scenes too closely analogous, in their external character at least, to Jeffrey’s campaign. ±t is pitiiul to see, on the lists, the many Highland names followed with the word ‘ labourer/ indicating that they belonged to the humblest class. Even more to be pitied than the victims consigned to the industrious hangman were those who, in the mercy of the Crown, were sent to the plantations, where, except a few who might be the accidental favourites of fortune, they lived in abject slavery.” And Browne tells us: —“ The remainder of the prisoners taken at Preston, amounting to upwards of 700, submitted to the King’s mercy, and having prayed for transportation, were sold as slaves to some West India merchants, a cruel proceeding, when it is considered that the greater part of these were Highlanders, who had joined the insurrection in obedience to the commands of their chieffs.” So ends the sad, sad story of the advance into England in the ’15.

Little better was the fate of the Atholl and Strathardle men who remained behind at Perth with Mar. The Duke of Atholl, of course, was on the Government side, and, when the rising began, he at once sent to Strathardle, to the Baron Reid of Straloch, and his relation, Alexander Robertson of Wester Straloch, to send him all the men they could to serve the Government. As they were always very staunch Whigs, they at once complied, and sent a strong body of men, who no sooner got to Atholl than the Duke at once sent them off, under command of John, brother to Wester Straloch, along with a lot of his own men, to garrison Perth. How they obeyed the orders of their feudal superior, we see from the “ Annals of Perth,” p. 354: — “ The possession of the city of Perth was now considered of great importance—forming, as it did, the communication between the Highlands and Lowlands. The citizens were divided in politics; but the Magistrates, who headed one party, declared for King George, took up arms, and applied to the Duke of Atholl for support. His Grace contributed a contingent of three or four hundred Atholl Highlanders, and the Earl of Rothes was advancing from Fife with 400 militia for the same purpose. This led the Hon. Colonel John Hay, brother of the Earl of Kinnoul, to muster 60 horse from the gentlemen of Perthshire, Fife, and Stirling, who bent their march towards the town. The Tory burghers assumed courage as these enemies advanced; and the Highland garrison, aware that though the Duke of Atholl still remained faithful to the Government, his eldest son, the Marquis of Tullybardine (and three younger sons), had joined the ranks under Mar, followed their own inclinations, and put themselves under Colonel Hay’s command to disarm the Whig citizens, whom they had come to assist. Thus Perth, on the 18th. September, fell into the hands of the Jacobite insurgents, by which they obtained command of all the low country betwixt that and the east coast.”

After wasting many weeks uselessly at Perth, Mar at last met Argyll at Sheriffmuir, a battle of which even such an experienced historian as John Hill Burton says:—“Of the rapid contest, called the battle of Sheriffmuir, it is extremely difficult to convey a distinct impression. The nature of the ground explains one source of confusion, in the two armies being unable to see each other until they almost met hand to hand/ The strange sight was seen, at the first charge, of the right wing of each army being victorious, while the left of each was utterly defeated. By mistake of orders, the cavalry on Mar’s left just before the charge left that position and joined the cavalry on the right, and so weakened the left wing very much. Browne tells us that at a council, held before the battle began, the Marquis of Huntly and several others advised a return to Perth; but all agree that the defeat of the left wing was mainly owing to the conduct of Rob Roy, who was there in command not only of a strong party of Macgregors, but also of the Clan Macpherson, and when ordered to charge, utterly refused, and kept his men on a hill till all was over and the time for plunder came. Of course he would not fight against Argyll, who had sheltered him so long, and backed him up so well in his feud with their mutual foe, the Duke of Montrose. In the “ Annals of Perth,' we read: —“ Rob Roy, in particular, who was in some respects Argyll’s dependent, as well as some others, manifested a reluctance to fight. It would appear that Rob and those others alluded to rather operated as a drag upon the rest. A strong party of Macgregors and Macphersons were under the freebooter’s immediate command, and he declined to charge when ordered to lead them on. In the confusion of an undecided field of battle, Rob improved the opportunity to his own private interest, for he plundered the baggage and the dead on both sides.” The very humorous song on the Battle of Sheriffmuir, by the Rev. Murdoch McLennan, of Crathie, very ably describes the strange result of the fight, Rob Roy's conduct, and the unwillingness of some of the others to fight: —

“There’s some say that we wan, and some say that they wan,
And some say that nane wan at a’, man;
But a’e thing I’m sure, that at Sheriffmuir
A battle there was, that I saw, man.
And we ran, and thev ran; and they ran, and we ran,
And we ran, and they ran awa7, man.

“Rob Roy stood watch on a hill, for to catch
The booty, for aught that I saw, man;
For he never advanced from the place where he stanoed,
Till no more to do there at a’, man.
For we ran, and they ran, etc.

“For Huntly and Sinclair, they maith played the tinkler,
With conscience black like a craw, man;
Some Angus and Fife men, they ran for their life, man,
And ne’er a Lot’s wife there at a’, man.
For we ran, and they ran, etc.”

Burns, in his own inimitable way, gives us very good reasons, for the Angus men running away—

“Their left-hand general had nae skill,
The Angus lads had nae guid will
That day their neebours’ blude to spill;
For fear, »y foes, that they should lose
Their cogues o’ brose—all crying woes;
And so it goes, you see, man.”

The Marquis of Tullybardine and Lord George Murray, with their Atholl men, and amongst them Spalding of Ashintully, and Glenkilry, and other Strathardle men, were on the left, amongst all the confusion and “ running awa’ ”—and they had to “ run awa ’ ” after a desperate struggle, as they were left unsupported to the attacks of Argyll’s cavalry. We are told that they rallied and faced about and made a new stand ten times before reaching the river Allan. That, however, only added to the list of captured and slain, m the list of 80 gentlemen captured at Sheriffmuir by Argyll, and sent prisoners to Stirling, over a score of them are gentlemen of Atholl, and many more of them were allowed to escape uy Highland gentlemen on the other side. Amongst those captured at Sheriffmuir and sent as prisoners to Stirling, and afterwards to Carlisle for trial, we find John Robertson, brother to Alexander Robertson of Wester Straloch, and Donald Robertson, Wester Straloch. It was the former who was in command of the men belonging to the Baron of Straloch and Wester Straloch, sent by the Duke of Atholl to Perth with his Atholl men to protect the city, but who, -eing more in sympathy with the Duke's four sons than with himself, joined the Jacobites and disarmed the burghers on the arrival of Mr John Hay's troop.

If Mar, with his victorious right wing, had pushed on to the assistance of his left, instead of standing idle on the battlefield for horn's, Argyll would have been caught between the two wings, and his small force must have been entirely cut up or captured.

1716.—Owing to the Earl of Mar setting up his standard and proclaiming King James at Kirkmichaei, at the beginning of the Rising of 1715, and so many of the Strathardle men joining him, and proving so active and enthusiastic in the cause of the Stuarts, the Hanoverian Government, after Sheriffmuir, sent a strong body of troops into the district, with very strict orders to make prisoners of all who had been out under Mar, and to plunder their houses and lands, and, above all, to disarm the whole country, secure every weapon, and take the whole to Perth. This force arrived at Kirkmichaei, from which parties were sent out all over the district, but as their arrival was well known, all the able-bodied men took to the hills and woods, and, of course, they carried all their arms with them. So well did the Strathardle men keep out of the way that the redcoats only came across a few aged men and boys, who, of course, had no arms. After many vain attempts, the disgusted soldiers returned to Perth, and reported their failure to capture either prisoners or arms to the authorities, who at once ordered the Duke of Atholl, the feudal superior, who was on the Government side, to see to the matter at once; so we find His Grace writing to his son, Lord James, who was then in London, as follows:—“That General Cadogan had acquainted him that he was to march north to reduce the clans. On the 26th March, the General went from Perth to Huntingtower and joined the Duke, and they travelled that day to Dunkeld, and next day they went to Blair Atholl. Also being informed that his vassals’ men in Strathardle and Spalding of Ashintully’s men had not submitted and delivered up their arms, he had accordingly sent fresh orders that they should do so on Tuesday and Wednesday last, and had desired General Cadogan to dispatch a hundred men to receive them. That he understood the orders were to disarm all Highlanders without distinction, but he hoped there would be an exception made in favour of those who had continued loyal to King George.”

Though the Duke, by the strict orders of the Government, had to make some show of disarming his vassals, yet he, like all the other great Highland chiefs, was not very active in carrying out that policy, as can be easily seen by the latter part of his letter. In the then disturbed state of the Highlands, with old clan feuds, and so many broken men and caterans in every district, and the Government utterly unable to preserve life and property, it was absolutely necessary to have arms for self-defence, especially on the Highland border, and in such a rich pastoral country as Strathardle, which, as we have already so often seen, had always been the happy raiding-ground of the more inland clans of the North and West, and so continued to be for many years after, till the Rannoch men lifted there the last creach ever taken in the Highlands.

Spalding of Ashintully, mentioned in the Duke’s letter, was not a vassal, but generally formed part of the Atholl following, always on the Stuart side; whilst the most powerful family in Strathardle, the Robertsons of Straloch—the “Barans Ruadh? —were always on the Hanoverian side, though in 1715 John Robertson, brother of Straloch,, and a lot of his clan, went out under Mar, and was captured, and he and his servant, Donald Robertson, were amongst the prisoners marched from Stirling Castle to Carlisle in September.

Every attempt to disarm Strathardle proved a failure, only a few old, useless weapons being brought in, with which the authorities had to be contented. All the serviceable arms were carefully retained, and frequently required for active service against marauding caterans from Lochaber and Rannoch, who, for nearly half a century after this, were a constant scourge to the district, and continually carrying off cattle.

1717.—The Rev. John Peirsone, minister of Kirkmichael since 1688, and whose father and grandfather, both named Francis Peirsone, had been ministers of the parish before him, was deposed, 4th June, “for dissaffection to the Government,” etc., “ as he had influenced his people to rebellion, prepared them to take up arms against the reigning family, and mounted his horse with that view.” This warlike divine, who certainly should have been in the Army instead of the Church, took a very active part in the many stirring events of his time, and did a vast amount of good in his parish. A bold, fearless man, who always went about armed with claymore and pistol, he was a perfect terror to all evil-doers, from the poorest tinker to the proudest laird, and he is said to have been the only man that ever kept his brother-in-law, Spalding of Ashintully, in fear of the ten commandments. He was much missed, a-nd the parish got into a very neglected state, as it was three years before his successor, Robert Bisset, was appointed to the parish, on 11th May, 1720.

1722.—In this year Lord and Lady Naime built a new mansion-house in Glenderby, as we find Lord Naime, on 27th June, writing to his brother, the Duke of Atholl, saying that he and Lady Nairne were to set out the following day for Glea-derby, but that their accommodation there would be but indifferent till they got up their new house. They comforted themselves, however, with the hope that it would be sooner finished when they were on the spot themselves. This house was afterwards accidentally burnt to the ground in 1744, after the estate had been acquired by Robertson of Straloch. Lady Nairne also enclosed and planted an orchard close to the house, the walls of which partly remain standing to this day.

The glen also at this time got its English name of Glenderby, its ancient name, and its Gaelic one to this day, being Gleann-dion-aite—the sheltered glen—a very appropriate name, as the high hills to the north, and Strondionaite and the Blavalg range to the west, shelter it so very much. Lady Nairne changed the name as a compliment to her brother-in-law’s family, the Earls of Derby, for the following reason. Lady Nairne’s father was Robert Naime of Strathord, near Perth, who, for his adherence to the House of Stuart during the civil wars, suffered ten years’ imprisonment in the Tower of London. At the Restoration he was liberated, and rewarded by being made a Lord of Session and one of the Judges of the Court of Justiciary, being elevated to the peerage as Lord Naime of Nairne, in Perthshire, with remainder to the husband of his only daughter, Margaret. His Lordship died in 1683, and was succeeded accordingly by his son-in-law, Lord William Murray (who assumed the name of Naime), fourth son of John, first Marquis of Atholl, by Lady Amelia Stanley, daughter of the 7th Earl of Derby. He also was a staunch supporter of the Stuarts, and so refused to take the oath of allegiance to the House of Hanover or his seat ; Parliament. He was one of the first to go out with Mar in th» Rising of 1715, raised a regiment of Atholl and Strathardle men, crossed the Forth with Borlum, advanced to England, was taken prisoner at Preston, tried for high treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. But his mother at once set the great influence of her family to work at Court, so not only was his life spared, but the Earl of Derby got some of the Naime lands, including Gingynate, transferred to his niece, Lady Naime, in her own right. In gratitude to her unde for this, she changed the old name of the glen into Glenderby, and in this quiet glen she spent the mcrt of her time for many years, not always on the best of terms with her neighbours, as I have heard many curious stories about her from old people in the strath.

When she planted her famous orchard, she surrounded it with a substantial stone wall, part of which still stands. She also planted a piece of ground with forest trees, and only surrounded it with a poor fence of turf and, birch branches, so that some goats belonging to one of her vassals, the Laird of Baillykeilly, easily broke through and destroyed all her trees. Not content with an admonition, or with threats of pains and penalties, her ladyship caused him to take out a new charter of e u-firmation, wherein the depredations complained of are all enumerated. Her ladyship also seems to have been bothered with foxes as well as goats, and she showed her usual energy k: dealing with them also, as will be seen from the following letter from her to her brother-in-law, the Duke of Atholl, which \ take from that magnificent work, lately published by the Duke of Atholl, “ The Chronicles of the Atholl and Tullybardine Families ”: —

“Naime, 1st April, 1723.

“My Lord,—Your Grace's shepherd, John Bennet, has importuned me to mention to your Grace, one Dun, who undertakes for a moderate sum to free the Bishoprick, Strathtay and Strathardle from Foxes. I told him whatever your G. appointed the other vassals to pay for his encouragement, he should have double for Glen Derby.—Is all from your Grace's obedient,

“M. Nairne.”

I have no doubt the said Dun made a good thing out of his being double payed for foxes, as there would be plenty of them in those d^ys, for, even in the present time, Glenderby is a most noted place for foxes.

1731.—At this period Atholl, Strathardle, and the Braes of Angus were very much infested with robbers and cattle-lifters, who carried off great numbers of cattle, and some of the natives seemed to have engaged in the raids also, as will be seen from the following letter to the Duke of Atholl from his factor, Bisset: —

“13 April 1731.

“Tho’ all the country's about have for some years past been peucably and free of thefts yet the countries of Atholl and Strathardle, have suffered more by theiving these two last years, than when that prevailed in the Highlands, in so far as that on the north side of Tay from Moulin to Dunkeld there have been no lens than 60 cous and horses stolen within said space and proportionately in Strathardle and ulenshee, and the several other parts of Atholl have suffered in like manner.

"1st. Whether or not His Grace would have any of these actors prosecute to death, and if he inclines to the initiative.

“2ndly. Whether, or not, both Robertson and Stewart, should In* put to death, or only one of them.

"3rdly. Whether Robertson, Baronne Reid’s friend, who was principal actor, or Stewart the receptor be put to death.

“4thly. Mr Dundas of Amiston having proposed to be at Kincragie, all the moncn of May, to drink goats whey, Commisar Bisset suspected that Boronne Reid would embrace that opportunity of applying him, to witt, Mr Dundas, in favour of his friend Duncan Robertson, and therefore the Commisar his prevented the Baronne, by waiting on Mr Dundas and prevailing with him and procuring his promise not only not to concern himself in favour of the theives, but that he would be ane accessor to the Judge. Therefore, least the Barrone should employ a lawyer for his friend, and should not Mr Dundas as well as Mr Graem, and His Grace’s ordinary lawyer be consulted for their advice and direction in a matter of this moment especially considering that the country will be at the charge of it.

“5thly. Whether would his Grace have this prosecution delayed until he return to the country himself, or should the same be done while we have the opportunity of Mr Dundas being in Atholl.”

1742.—Again Commissary Bisset reports to the Duke of Atholl: —“ The whole shire are infested with Rannoch men, who have broke all intirely louse, and are seen every day in little companies in the hills. The other day some of them entered a tenants house in Balgowan, bound all the family, and carried off all the best effects upon the honest man’s own horses.”

To put a stop to these destructive raids, a strong company of men, under Macdonnell of Shandwick, was stationed on the hills north of Atholl and Strathardle, and who did good servioe, aa Commissary Bisset again reports to the Duke : —

“Kincragie 14 June 1742.

“Shiandeck (Macdonnell of Shandwick) hath hepaned exceedingly well in our watch. Since he sett out the same about three weeks ago there that not since that time a sixpence worth stole out of Atholl, altho no less than 14 herschipps have been driven from the braes of Angus and Mearns through the Forrests of Marre and Badenoch, to Rannoch and Lochaber. Shiandeck having given a certificatione that he’l sieze all of them that will darr pass or repass through any of the hills of Atholl. There was only one theif that he found stragling in the hills last week, who he seized, and I have him prisoner in Dunkeld till Logierait is repaired/'

All this shows us what a terribly confused state the country was in at this time, when the old clan system was passing away, and the new mode of life only in its infancy. Before the Rising of 1715 every laird had to keep up so many fighting men, either for his own service or that of his superior. After the '15, so many Highland lairds had to flee abroad, and had their estates forfeited, or else hide amongst the hills, hunted and outlawed, that they could do nothing for their people; whilst the families of the men slain, or sold into slavery, were in absolute starvation, and dying of cold and hunger. There were then no industries in the country, and very little agricultural work, so the people had little to do, and lived at starvation point, their energies were deadened, and they gave way to idleness and cattle-lifting.

1745.—The gallant Black Watch, our oldest Highland regiment, had so distinguished itself on the occasion of its baptism of fire at the disastrous battle of Fontenoy, by covering the retreat and so saving the British army, that it drew the attention of the Government and the country to the value of the Highlanders as soldiers of the line; so it was at once decided that another Highland regiment should be raised by the Earl of Loudon, under the patronage of the chiefs and gentlemen of the country, whose sons and connections were to be appointed officers, on condition that they each brought a sufficient body of their respective clansmen to join the ranks, so as to qualify them for a commission. Amongst the officers, seven were from Atholl, two of them being the elder sons of the two leading Strathardle lairds—John Robertson or Redd, younger of Straloch, as lieutenant, and David Spalding of Ashintully, as ensign. These Atholl gentlemen raised 800 men, who assembled at Perth, whilst 760 men were assembled at Inverness by the Northern gentlemen. As the Rising of the ’45 began a few weeks after the regiment was raised, the Perth and Inverness divisions were not united till after Culloden. As the Straloch family were always staunch supporters of the Government since the devolution, the young Baron stuck true to his regiment, and kept most of his men in it till they were taken prisoners at Prestonpans. But as the Spaldings had always been on the Stuart side, young Ashintully and his men at once left the regiment and want home to Strathardle, where he raised the rest of his men for the Prince, whom they followed to Derby. On the return to Scotland, Spalding had to go home for a time in bad health, and, on his recovery, he wrote to the Duke of Atholl from Ashintully Castle, on 22nd January, 1746, asking for a higher commission in the Atholl Brigade, in support of which he says: —“ It is conterary to the Prince’s manifesto to refuse me a commission, as I had one from the Usurper, besides the men I brought along.”

After Culloden, Lord Loudon’s Highlanders remained in Scotland till May, 1747, when they went to Flanders. After seeing some hard fighting there, they were, at the peace of 1748, ordered home to Scotland, and reduced at Perth in June of that year, when young Straloch and his Strathardle men were transferred to the Black Watch, in which gallant regiment he served for 23 years, and saw much hard fighting. He afterwards was appointed Colonel of the 88th Regiment, and died on 6th February, 1807, the last of the famous Barons Ruadh of Straloch. He married Mary, daughter of the Earl of Stirling, and had one daughter, Susanna., married to her cousin, John Stark Robertson, but they had no issue. His father, Baron Alexander, had got into difficulties, and his trustees sold the extensive estates, which his ancestors had held for centuries—their old home, which took its name from them, Balvarron, to James Stormonth (ancestor of the present proprietor) of Lednethie, in 1781; Inverchroskie and Wester Straloch, to Mr Buttar of Faskaly, in 1781; Glenfernate, to the Duke of Atholl, in 1786; Tarvie, Cultalomie, Ennoch, etc., were also sold then. All his ancestors were known as Reid-Robertsons, but he dropt the Robertson altogether. He was a famous musician, and when in the Black Watch he composed the famous air, “ With the Garb of Old Gaul/’ which has ever since been the regimental march of the 42nd Highlanders. He left his fortune to his daughter in life-rent, and, as she had no family, it went afterwards to Edinburgh University, by his will, to endow a Chair of Music, which was founded in 1839, at a cost of £80,000.