The chapter of the cathedral of Caithness, as it was constituted by Gilbert Murray, consisted of ten members, the Bishop being the chief, and receiving the fruits of six parishes for his use. The archdeacon had for his prebend the church of Bower. Among the appointments of the undignified canons, one had for his prebend the church of Olrig, one the church of Dunnet, and a third the church of Canisbay.

Before the Reformation, Caithness would seem to have been intensely Popish. Every parish in the county abounded with small chapels dedicated to particular saints or saintesses; and of these there were images, chiefly of stone, which the ignorant vulgar regarded as objects of worship. The common people were in fact little better than rank idolaters. Such was the deep hold which Popery had in the district, that many years after the Reformed faith was introduced, some of the older inhabitants were accustomed, at particular times, to visit the old chapels, and kneel before the images. The Reformed ministers, of course, did all in their power to suppress this debasing superstition; but they found they had to do with a very "stiff-necked generation." The work was not only difficult, but perilous. In 1613, Dr Richard Merchiston of Bower fell a martyr to his zeal against this species of hagiolatry. He was in the habit of going through the adjoining parishes, and demolishing the images wherever he found them. The people of Wick, at the time, would appear to have been still strongly attached to the old superstition. In the course of a crusade through that parish, the worthy iconoclast entered the royal burgh, and broke a stone image of their patron saint, St Fergus. [St Fergus was no legendary or fabulous saint, but an Irish missionary who came to Caithness about the middle, it is supposed, of the eighth century, and did much to convert the natives, who were then in a state of heathenism, to Christianity. His residence would appear to have been in Wick, or its neighbourhood. After labouring for some time in that district, he went to Buchan, in Aberdeenshire, and thence to Glammis, in Angus, where be died. His remains were deposited in the Abbey of Scone. "The great house of Cheyne," says Cosmo Innes, "so much connected with Caithness, was proprietor of the parish in Buchan, which derives its name of St Fergus from the Caithness saint."—See note by this eminent archaeologist in "Bannatyne's Miscellany," Vol. III.] The inhabitants were shocked and exasperated at what they deemed an act of sacrilege, and with difficulty were restrained by the magistrates from doing violence to his person. They secretly threatened vengeance, however, and a party of them following him as he went home in the evening, caught hold of him, and drowned him in the river of Wick. It was given out that it was the saints who did it, and that St Fergus, in particular, was seen astride of the parson in the water, and holding him down! A further idea of the semi-barbarous condition of the natives, and of the little regard paid to outward decency during the religious services of the church, may be gathered from the following anecdote in the old statistical account of Halkirk. "Some time after the Reformation," says the writer, "during the incumbency of the Reverend Mr Cumming, the lettergae, as the precentor was called, was one Tait, gardener in Brawl. This Tait sung so loud, and with such a large open mouth, that a young fellow of the name of Iverach was tempted to throw a stone into it, whereby his teeth were broken, and his singing stopped at once, and he himself almost choked. Iverach immediately took to his heels; the service was converted to laughter; two of Tait's sons overtook him, and the scene was closed with a most desperate fight."

It was some considerable time after the Reformation before all the parishes in the county were provided with ministers. In 1576 only four of the parishes, namely, Wick, Thurso, Halkirk, and Dunnet, had pastors. The other parishes were indifferently supplied by laics, who read to the people, and were thence called readers. All the incumbencies, however, would seem to have been filled up about the year 1600.

Education made still slower progress in the county than the Reformation from Popery. The heritors disregarded, or at least evaded, the Parochial School Act; and the ministers, it would seem, were not very troublesome in urging upon them their bounden duty in regard to this most important matter. The peasantry were literally serfs, and the lairds were not particularly anxious to expand their ideas, and elevate them above that condition. Wick and Thurso were not legally supplied with schools till 1706; and, even so late as 1772, Reay was without a statutory school. In some cases the heritors gave the pittance of legal salary, but no school-room or school-house, and the schoolmaster not unfrequently taught in the church or in the steeple! The steeple of the church at Dunnet was many years used as a school-room. Owing to the culpable negligence of the heritors, in not affording the necessary accommodation and means of education, the great body of the people, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, were in a lamentable state of ignorance. Not one in fifty could either read or write. In 1701, when a call was "moderated in" to a new minister in Wick, it is stated in the session records that the "call was unanimously subscribed by the heritors and elders present, and consented to by a great number who could not subscribe."

At the present day, Caithness, in the matter of education, is pretty much on a par with most other counties in Scotland. The parochial schools, where the parishes are large, are supplemented by schools belonging to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, and to the Free Church. There are also a few subscription and adventure schools, which are chiefly taught in the winter season. Were if not for this addition to the means of education provided by law, a great portion of the people would have been totally uneducated. This would have been particularly the case in such a parish as Latheron, for instance, which is about twenty-seven miles long and from ten to fifteen broad. When the last statistical account of this parish was drawn up, there were in it altogether no fewer than eighteen schools. Of these, fourteen were unendowed, and, it is said, of very inferior quality. This might, indeed, be expected from the smallness of the emoluments, which averaged only from £3 to £A, including fees! "What is wanted," the writer of the account very sensibly remarks, "is not so much additional schools as additional salaries. Without the latter it is hopeless to attempt to raise the character of the former."

On the 5th of January, 1838, some Caithness gentlemen, residing in Edinburgh, organised a society, entitled "The Edinburgh Caithness Association," chiefly with the laudable view of promoting the spread of education, and raising its standard in their native county. Its principal founder was Mr Benjamin Mackay, late of the High School, a man of great learning and distinguished ability. He drew up regulations and a programme of the various branches for examination, copies of which were transmitted to the several heritors, ministers, and teachers in the county. By the rules of the Association, competitions were to be held annually in Wick and Thurso. All the schools, male and female, in the two districts were to be open to them; and the clergy of the different denominations were to be the examinators, and to award the prizes to the successful competitors. No constitution could have been framed freer from sectarian or party bias, or with a more benevolent object. The scheme was warmly approved of, and most of the gentlemen and clergy in Caithness, and a good many residing out of it, but connected with the county by property or otherwise, joined the Association, and remitted donations and contributions in order to raise a fund for defraying the necessary expenses. A handsome legacy of £100 was bequeathed to it by Mr Francis Sutherland, an old Caithness man who had long resided in the United States. The Earl of Caithness was made honorary president. In the month of September, 1841, Mr Mackay attended himself the first competitions at Wick and Thurso, examined the pupils, and inaugurated the Association with great eclat. Every thing promised to go on flourishingly, when the unfortunate Disruption in 1843 took place, and converted the whole of Scotland into an arena of bitter religious strife. The evil spirit got into the competitions; and though outward decency was observed, there was little brotherly-kindness among the examinators, and matters did not get on harmoniously. In awarding the prizes, cries of partiality were raised, and broad insinuations thrown out of collusion between some of the examiners and the teachers. A system of cramming for the express purpose of carrying off prizes was known to be carried on; and many parents exclaimed against the practice of certain teachers, who, for several months every year, confined their attention to a few of their more advanced scholars; while the general business of the school was handed over to one or two of the bigger boys.

In 1845, the Free Church ministers and their teachers withdrew from the competitions, on the ground that the Committee of the Association at Edinburgh had arbitrarily appointed as chairmen two gentlemen connected with the Established Church, whereas they ought to have left each meeting to choose its own chairman. The secedors set on foot a rival Association, and competitions under its auspices were held at Wick and Thurso for the first time in 1846, and continued for a year or two afterwards. The parent Association, however, by certain concessions, brought about a reunion, which continued until 1853, when a second disruption took place, and the rival Association was reorganised. In 1857 the committee at Edinburgh obtained the assistance of Dr Gumming, Government Inspector of the Free Church schools, as examiner-in-chief at Wick and Thurso—an arrangement which they fondly hoped would unite all parties. But in this expectation they were disappointed; for the clergymen of both churches, generally speaking, kept away from the meetings, and but few schools sent pupils to them. The rival Association, which betrayed symptoms of unhealthiness from the beginning, has ceased to exist; and the original competitions are still carried on, but they are not supported as they ought to be, and they have lost a good deal of the public interest which at first attached to them. Such is a brief history of the Edinburgh Caithness Association, or rather of the competitions at Wick and Thurso, which shows how extremely difficult it is to work out the most benevolent scheme when it has to contend with the jealousies and prejudices of human nature. It cannot be denied, however, that in spite of these unfortunate jarrings and divisions, the competitions have done good. They have given a stimulus to education in the county; and they might have been productive of still greater benefit if the mischievous spirit of party could have been excluded from the proceedings.

To the honour of the Association it deserves to be mentioned, that since the competitions commenced, not fewer than 1500 volumes of literary and religious publications have been distributed as prizes, exceeding in value £200, besides £100 expended in bursaries to students from Caithness attending the University of Edinburgh. Mr Andrew Snody, a gentleman who has long taken a warm interest in the cause of education, has been secretary of the Association from its commencement.