Parochial Registers.

There are, at the Register House, Edinburgh, three volumes of records belonging to Longforgan.

Vol. I. contains a record of births from 1634-78, and of marriages from 1633-75. Vol. II. contains a record of births from 1678-1776, and of marriages from 1716-51. Vol. III. contains a record of births and marriages from 1776 to 1819.

Then, in the custody of the local registrar, there is a record of births, deaths, marriages, from 1820 to 1854.

Cf. Report of Records at Register House.

"The records of the Kirk-Session begin in 1654, and consist of eight volumes, some of which are in a very indifferent state of preservation. But, in so far as a judgment can be formed, they all appear to have been pretty regularly kept" (N. Stat. Acc., x. p. 408).

The records now in the possession of Longforgan Session are numbered.

Vol. 8 (as it is marked) extends from 1673-1699. It is a large volume, well kept, and full of interesting matter.

Vol. 9 extends from 1710 to 1729. It is a book of 352 pages. It is also well kept, and the minutes are full.

Vol. 10 contains minutes for the years 1738-39, 40-41, 42-43-

Vol. 11 contains minutes for the years 1743-1749.

Those two volumes were found in the manse about 1822. They are in poorer condition, and are not nearly so well kept.

Vol. 12 extends from 1782-1812. There is a long gap before 1782.

Vol 13 begins in 1813, but after 1821 this volume came to be used chiefly as a cash book. This volume is of value from what may be called its appendices.

From 1821 the records are, on the whole, kept carefully.

The Parochial Registers in the Carse do not, except in the case of Errol, go back to Reformation times. The earliest entry in the Errol baptismal register is 1553. The Saint Madoes record goes back to 1591. In the other parishes the entries begin about the same time as in Longforgan.

The first entry at Kinnaird is in 1633
The first entry at Inchture is in 1623.
The first entry at Kilspindie is in 1656
The first entry at Abernyte is in 1664.

At Kinfauns, the register of births, baptisms, and marriages begins in 1646. In Liff, which adjoins Longforgan, though beyond the Carse, the register of births commences in 1633. See Turnbull's Memoranda, of the State of the Parochial Registers of Scotland.

A writer in Blackwood's Magazine (Feb. 1S4S), dealing with the bearing of certain facts in the New Statistical, makes the following observations, which need to be remembered about the records in Longforgan as well as elsewhere: "Most parishes have also records of births or baptisms, marriages and deaths. From these, and these only, this work could derive the element of its important section of vital statistics; but how far were they fitted to serve that purpose ? It is certain that they nowhere form a complete register of these occurrcnces, and that, for the most part, they are very defective. Baptisms appear to have been entered in the parish register regularly till the year 1783, when the imposition of a small tax broke the custom of registration; and when that tax was removed, Dissenting bodies were unwilling to resume the practice. The proportion of registered baptisms to births, for instance, is at the present time not more than one-fourth in Edinburgh, and one-third in Glasgow. The marriage register is also unavailable to statistical purposes, by reason of the practice of double enrolment—in the parish of each party. In many parishes no record of burials exists; in others, those of paupers are omitted."

The register of baptisms in Longforgan was kept only fairly, some of the Dissenters declining to register through the Established Church. The same may be said of the marriage register. The burial register was very imperfectly kept. In one period, where over four hundred baptisms are recorded, there are no burials entered. It was late in last century till it was done with any care. Even then it is an imperfect record of the actual number of deaths in the parish. The register was made up from the fees paid for the use of the mort-cloth. It needs, however, to be remembered that the poor did not pay for it; and, on the other hand, that it was sometimes used for persons who were brought from other parishes to be buried. Mr. Walker {New Stat., x. p. 411) thinks that the number of persons removed for burial from Longforgan, may be put against the number of persons brought to it. We cannot say if this be so; but in view of what has been said, we need to be careful in dealing with such statistics as may be gathered of the number of births, marriages, deaths. In 1794 there were 35 baptisms, 35 persons of the parish were marned, and the mort-cloth was paid for 16 times. The following year there were 43 baptisms, 20 persons of the parish were married, and the mort-cloth was paid for 18 times. In the decade preceding 1793 the mort-cloth was used 256 times, an average of more than 25 per annum. The draining and other improvements that were taking place were evidently lowering the death - rate. But its facts are full of suggestion. 1794 was a prosperous year in the parish, and the register tells us that 35 persons were married. 1795-96 was a very trying year, and the number fell to 20. Last year (1894) there were only 9 marriages. In 1893 the number was 7.

Church Accommodation.

The Established Church was built in 1795, during the ministry of Mr. Cairns. It is a good, substantial, plain, square building, with large Gothic windows to the south, and a circular gallery. Mr. Walker writing in 1838 for the Neiv Stat. Account, describes it as "very commodious and comfortable. It is too large, however, containing more than 1000 sittings, nor is there any probability of the ample accommodation which it affords being required. But it could not be better situated for the great bulk 01" the population," which numbered then 1638. It was then the only place of worship. The Census of 1891 showed the population to be 1779, a decrease of 75 since 1861. There are now, besides the Church in Longforgan, a Free Church with accommodation for 400, a Mission Station under the Established Church Session with accommodation for 300, and an Episcopal Chapel with accommodation for a considerable number. In connection with the last named, a large and handsome church has been bu'lt, but is as yet unopened. These are all at Invergowrie. There is also a Mission Hall in Kingoodie.

Stipend.

The following is from the Register of Minister and Readers in the year 1574 :—

The Glamis Book of Record, 1684-89, enters the stipend of the minister as 5 bolls wheat, 46 bolls beer, and 44 bolls oats (p. 4). Wheat was selling at about £6 per boll, barley at from £4 to 6s. 8d. per boll, oats at from to Per boll. On the lowest calculation this comes to about £350 Scots.

Cf. A. H. Millar's Introduction to Book of Record, pp. 37, 38.

The following extract is from Sinclair's Statistical\ vol. xix. p. 482 :—

"Manse.—The manse was built 1753.

"Stipend.—The stipend is 11 bolls of wheat, 56 bolls of barley, 57 bolls of oats, 2 bolls of meal, and jQ20 sterling, besides a good glebe, worth £10 sterling per annum at least; so that, with the house, garden, and offices, it is worth about £150 per annum, taken at a medium of 10 years back."

By the time that the New Statistical was written, another manse had been built, and otherwise the position was improved. This manse, which still stands, was built in 1823-24. It is spoken of as "an excellent house, commanding a delightful prospect, and embracing every accommodation for a family. The glebe consists of between 4 and 5 acres of good ground, and its yearly value may be stated at £14 or £15. The stipend was augmented in 1824 to 18 chalders of grain, in the following proportions, viz. 138 bolls of barley, 138^ bolls of meal, and 11 bolls of wheat, all payable by the highest fiars of the county, together with £2, being an allowance for a grass glebe, and £8, 6s. 8d. for furnishing Communion elements. The whole has amounted on an average of the thirteen years that have elapsed since the decreet of modification to about £308 a year" (New Stat. Acc., x. 419, 1838).

It was (1894) per crop £280, 7s. 8d., exclusive of manse and glebe. In 1893, per crop, it was ^319, 14s. 5d.

A hundred years ago, a proprietor in the paiish devised a plan for improving ministers' stipends in Scotland. It

is sketched in his account of Longforgan in Sinclair's Statistical\ vol. xix. pp. 482-83: Plan for improving Ministers' Stipends.

"It would be a good plan, were Government to make an offer to proprietors to purchase their teinds, which, il is believed, most would do. This would raise a very large capital; and were the produce put in the hands of trustees, under the direction of the Church, to be lent out by them to the best advantage, and to empower them to buy land if they thought proper, to be applied solely and entirely to pay the ministers' stipends, and to uphold the church and manse, a permanent fund would be established 'immediately, to accommodate the parishes with more beconvng places of worship, to lodge the ministers more commodiously, and also, to make many livings much better; and might, in time, be the means of making stipends keep pace with the value of money. This is but the outlines of a plan, which maj*, indeed, be liable to objections; but the advantages would be so great, it seems to merit consideration. The stipends would still be unequal, according to circumstances; but, by proper regulation, all of them might be better. The clergy would then be raised to that rank and consideration in society to which they are well entitled; and men of learning and abilities would consider the Church as an object of honourable ambition; heritors would no longer have causes of disputes with their pastors; and the Court of Teinds, with a thousand etceteras, might be set aside for ever."

It is evident that, a hundred years ago, one mind, at least, in Longforgan, was exercising itself on those questions which are pressing for solution to-day.

More recently, Mr. George Paterson, another of the lairds of Castle Huntly, showed interest in a question that is related to the ecclesiastical. In 1853 he published an Ilistornal Account of the Fiars in Scotland. Four years later, he put out another pamphlet, The Striking of the

Fiars in Scotland. The chief part of this had been printed before in Macphail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal, Feb. 1853. Some of the suggestions in these brochures have been accepted in the Perthshire Fiars Court.

Schools

In 1838 there were six schools in the parish—the Parochial School, and five others of a private nature.

After the Disruption, a school was carried on at Mylnefield by the Free Church, with an attendance varying at different times from 50 to 120 scholars. On the passing of the Education Act, the school ceased to exist, and the education of the young of the parish is conducted now n two schools—the Longforgan School with 145 scholars, and the Mylnefield School with 211 scholars; in all, 356. These schools obtained this year (1895) ^290, 8s. rod. in grants, and are doing good work. The total spent on education during the year, including the repayment of loans, has been ^939, is. 2d.

Sabbath Schools.

"There are also (New Stat. Acc., x. 420, 1838) three Sabbath schools, which have been very serviceable in diffusing among the youth an acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and of which the good effects would be still more apparent were the attendance upon them less fluctuating than it frequently is." There are now five schools, well equipped with libraries, etc.

At the Disruption a Sabbath school was started in Longforgan village at the suggestion of Mr. Walker. It was headed by John Dickson, Alexander Moncur, and Henry Prain. Lieutenant-Colonel Davidson, who came as a tenant to Castle Huntly in 1851, took a lively interest in its progress during the time he was in the parish. One of the visitors at the castle when the school was being entertained was Dr. Islay Burns of Dundee. The school had its ups and downs. At one time a determined effort was made by the laird to stamp it out, but it lived through the storm. It is to the honour of the then laird, that he afterwards frankly acknowledged his mistake.

Teachers Salary.

Answers to Queries made to Schoolmasters in consequence of an Application to Parliament in 1825 for an Augmentation of Salary. The answers were returned to Sheriff-Deputes.

Query 1. What were the salary and emoluments of the schoolmaster at the earliest period at which they can be correctly stated, and the branches of education taught at the same period ?

Ans. 1. Before the year 1697, the salary to the schoolmaster was paid by a certain tax on each plough (how much is not known), and by a tax on each house that had no land of yearly. The Kirk-Session paid for a house, school, and garden to the schoolmaster. The school fees in 166S were—for reading, 6§d. per quarter; for writing, iod. per do.; for arithmetic or Latin, is. i£d. per do. The school fees appear to have continued the same until 1758. There is a want of records from 1758 to 1772 ; but in that latter year, reading was raised to is. per quarter; reading and writing to is. 6d. per do.; arithmetic to 2s. per do.; Latin, 2s. 6d. per do. In 1697 the heritors fixed the salary at 5s. yearly, which continued till 1788, when they voluntarily subscribed a salary of .£20 yearly. The average number of scholars might then be about 80, as there were no p ;vate schools in the parish, which would make the schoolmaster's emoluments from 1697 to 1772 to be about ^18 yearly, exclusive of house and garden.

Query 2. What were the salary and emoluments of the schoolmaster between 1780 and 1803, and the branches of education taught at the same period ?

Ans. 2. The salary, as above, was ^7, 5s. until 1788, and the fees as fixed in 1772, which will make the emoluments of the schoolmaster to amount to £26 yearly from 1780 to 1788. From 1788 to 1803 the salary was £20, and the fees were raised to is. 6d. per quarter for reading, 2s. per do. for writing, 2s. 6d. for arithmetic, and 3s. for Latin, which will make the emoluments to be about £40 yearly for that period. The average of the schoolmaster's emoluments from 1780 to 1803 (23 yrs.) will thus amount to about The branches of education taught were reading, writing, arithmetic, Latin, and the practical mathematics. No private schools were in the parish for the greatest part of tl ;s period.

Query 3. What were his salary and emoluments between 1803 and 1824, specifying salary, school fees, other sources of emoluments, size of his house ?

Ans. 3. The salary was the maximum 4s. 5^d.).

The school fees were—2s. per quarter for reading; 2s. 6d. per do. for reading and wvning; 3s. per do. for reading, writing, and arithmetic; 5s. per do. for Latin; 4s. per do. for practical mathematics. The house is large, consisting of six rooms besides the teaching room. The annual average of permanent income of the schoolmaster (after deducting the poor scholars, who might be about £ of the whole number) was about ^37, 10s., exclusive of house and garden. During this whole period there were two private schools in the parish, which lessened the number of scholars at the Parochial School.—See the note at the end.

Query 4. What were these for the year ending in 1825?

Ans. 4. The salary and school fees are the same as in the preceding Answer to Question 3; but the number of scholars being a little below the former average, taken in that Answer, therefore the income of the schoolmaster for the year 1825 is ^36, 5s., exclusive of house and garden.

Note.—The year is understood in this Answer and in all the others to be accounted from the end of the harvest vacation of one year to the beginning of the harvest vacation in the next year.—See note at the end of the Queries for other sources of emoluments.

Query 5. State whether there be at present one or more schoolmasters established on the legal provision; if two, whether there be two schoolmasters' dwelling-houses, their size, the proportion of salary allotted to each, and the amount of school fees received by each.

Ans. 5. There is only one schoolmaster established on the legal provision.

Query 6. What is the present rate of school fees?

Ans. 6. The present fees for teaching at the Parochial School are—2s. per quarter for reading; 2s. 6d. per do. for reading and writing; 3s. per do. for reading, writing, and arithmetic; 5s. per do. for Latin; 4s. per do. for practical mathematics, in their various branches; is. for a full system of book-keeping; 7s. 6d. per do. for geography and the use of the globes.

Query 7. What is the average number of scholars who attend one or both schools annually ?

Ans. 7. The average number of scholars who attend the Parochial School annually is about 60; but there are only three quarters :n the year to be accounted for at that average, as one quarter is lost entirely by the harvest and other country work.

Query 8. What are the branches of education which the present schoolmaster is qualified to teach, and the branches actually taught ?

Ans. S. The schoolmaster is qualified to teach English, grammar, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, Latin, and the mathematics in their various branches, both in theory and practice. All these branches are actually taught.

Query 9. State whether there be at present any and what other schools in the parish; if there be, when established, by whom maintained, whether Dissenters or others, the emoluments of the schoolmasters, the rate of school fees, branches of education taught, and by what numbers of children attended ?

Ans. 9. There are two other schools in the parish. One of them, in the village of Kingoodie, was established about the year 1800. It is maintained by Thomas Mylne, Esquire of Mylnefield, who gives the schoolmaster a free house and garden. The present schoolmaster is a member of the Church of Scotland. The emoluments of the schoolmaster are about £20 annually, exclusive of house and garden. The school fees are—2s. per quarter for reading; 2s. 6d. per do. for writing; 3s. per do. for arithmetic. Reading, writi'.ig, and arithmetic are taught in this school. The average number of scholars for three quarters in the year is 60. The other private school is in the town of Longforgan. It is maintained by George Paterson, Esquire of Castle Huntly, who gives a free house to teach in. The present schoolmaster is a member of the Church of Scotland. The emoluments of the schoolmaster are about ^10, 10s. annually. The school fees are—2s. per quarter for reading, 2s. 4d. per do. for writing, and 2s. 6d. per do. for arithmetic. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are taught in this school. It was established about the year 1799. The average number of scholars for three quarters in the year is 30.

Query 10. What is the greatest distance at which children go daily to school ?

Ans. 10. The greatest distance that any of the scholars have to travel to the school is about two miles.

Query 11. State whether there be any part of a parish so distant from a school as to prevent attendance; there be, what is the distance, and w hat is the population of such part of the parish ?

Ans. 11. The northmost part of the parish is about six miles from the Parochial School; but it is not above two miles from the schools of the neighbouring parishes of Abernyte, Kettins, and Lundie, where the inhabitants send their children. There is, therefore, no part of this parish but the inhabitants may send their children to some school. The population of that part of the parish which cannot send their children to the Parish School, owing to the great distance, is about one-eighth of the wdiole population, which in 1821 was 1544.

Query 12. What proportion does the population of any towns or villages in the parish bear to the population of the whole parish ?

Ans. 12. The population of the town of Longforgan is about one third; and the population of the village of Kingoodie about one-eighth of the whole population of the parish according to the census in 1821, by which the population of the whole parish was found to be 1544.

Note referred to in Answers to Queries 3rd and 4th.— In addition to his income as schoolmaster, the present incumbent is also Session-Clerk, the average dues of which office may be about ^4, 10s. annually, which sum is to be added to the amount of income specified in Answers 31c! and 4th. George Paterson, Esq., the principal heritor, patronises the Parochial School, and has given annually for teaching poor scholars on his estates, since the year 1818 (having allowed £3 annually prior to that year for the same purpose), and also £1, is for teaching a Sunday school. Lord Kinnaird, another of the heritors, has also given £2, 10s. annually, since the year 1820, for teaching poor scholars on his estates. It may be observed that these allowances are not permanent, or of right, but only during pleasure. The whole average income from every source betw ixt 1803 and 1824, in Answer to Query

3rd, was about ^55. And the whole emoluments in 1825 from every source, in Answer to Query 4th, is ^59, 6s., including bad debts, or fees that are at present owing, but may never be paid.

Peter Forbes, schoolmaster, Longforgan, 8th October 1825. -—We, the minister, and two of the heritors of the parish of Longforgan, having read over, and considered the foregoing Queries with the Answers thereto, as made out by the schoolmaster, do certify them to be true, according to the best of our knowledge.

(Signed) Geo. Paterson, Robt. S. Walker, [Thos. Drummond.

Inns, etc.

More than one mention is made in the Session Records of the Brewers' houses in the town of Longforgan. In Earl Patrick's time there were three. When Sinclair's Statistical was published, there were two inns in the village, one at the west end, " and another about the middle of the town, upon a much larger scale, with a brew-house, malt barn, bake-house, and good stabling attached to it" (xix. 472). There were altogether in the parish at that time two brewers, two innkeepers, and four alehouses (p. 488).

When the New Statistical was written (1838), there were " four licensed public-houses in the parish, besides the toll-house, forming the boundary between the counties of Perth and Angus" (New Stat, Acc. x. 412). These were situated in Longforgan, Kingoodie, Mylnefield. The result of this state of things was melancholy.

There are now two licensed houses in the parish—one at Invergowrie, and one at Longforgan.

Financial Statement of Free Church Congregation in 1893.

In connection with the Jubilee of the Free Church, "a Statement of Accounts for fifty years, from the Disruption, 18th May 1S43 to 15th March 1893," was compiled by D. M. Watson and John Smith, joint-treasurers of the church. This is a somewhat unique compilation. It contains a list of the ministers of Longforgan from the Reformation to the Disruption, the names of the Free Church ministers, and elaborate statistics of the receipts and expenditure of the past fifty years under thirty-four headings, etc. It is a statement of great value as illustrating the growth of Christian liberality in the district. A few figures may be given:—

A large sum has been spent both on the church and on the manse since they were built.

We are especially thankful to sec an increase of missionary liberality. M'Cheyne was perhaps the first to give an impulse to this cause. The impulse has been renewed by manj', notably by the Rev. Dr. Paton of the New Hebrides on two memorable occasions, and the Rev. Dr. Laws of Livingstonia.

Longforgan Free Church Manse Library.

The following reference to this remarkable collection appeared lately in the Free Church Monthly Record:—

" In the Free Church manse of Longforgan, is a library which deserves to be better known. The idea of it originated, we believe, with Mr. Watson of Bullionfield, to whose contributions it mainly owes its existence. The first proposal was to establish it in Dundee, to connect it with the Free Library there, and to make it open to ministers of all denominations. This plan, however, was abandoned, and the library is now a local one, for the use of the Free Church minister of Longforgan, the presbytery and the deacons' court being trustees. Its cost, including bookcases, has been about ^1300, an additional sum of ;£ioo being sunk, and the interest spent on repairs, etc. The library is a very valuable one. It is rich in patristic literature, and contains some rare books, such as Knox's Liturgy (1611), Laud's Liturgy (1637), the Babylonish Talmud\ etc. It is also well supplied with the works of the great English Church writers, with the literature of Scotland during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and with many commentaries and books of reference."

Christian Agencies in 1895.

There are four churches—(1) The Established Church, (2) The Free Church, (3) The Scottish Episcopal Church, (4) The Established Church Mission. There are, in all of these, two services of some kind on Sabbath. In connection with one or all of them, there are Sabbath Schools, Bible Classes, Sewing and Mission Work Meetings, Prayer Meetings, Tract Distribution, etc.

There is a Mission Hall at Kingoodie, where a Service and a School are held on Sabbath, and a Prayer Meeting during the week.

Besides the strictly Church interests, the people contribute something to objects like the M'All Mission, China, Rescue Work, Colportage, etc. There is an Auxiliary of the Bible Society and a Young Women's Christian Association.

Kingoodie.

The meaning of Kingoodie, anciently written Chingothe, Kyngudy, Ceinguddie, Kingudie, Kingaidy, is puzzling. The first syllable Kin or Chin is, of course, the Celtic word for " head," Ceann, Kyn. Goodie may be the Gaelic Gaoth, gen Gaoiihe, the wind. Ceanngaoithe, or with the article Ceannagaoithe, the headland of the wind. In Bouitie parish, Aberdeenshire, there .s a h;ll called "Kingooc.ie Hill," 600 feet high. In the same parish there was a place, Kingoodie, where there were marks of the remains of a chapel. " Kingoodie is now part of the estate of Blair, and on its coming into the possession ol Mr. Leith (a nephew of Mr. Leith Lumsden of Clova) he changed the name of the house to Leithfield" (Rev. W. Temple's Tkanage of Fermartyn, p. 366).

Dr. Davidson of Bourtie informs me that the farm of Greystone or East Kingoodie (compare in our district Greystane and Kingoodie), where formerly stood a hamlet, is entirely exposed to the wind, and would exactly answer the above derivation. The rest of the property of Kingoody —or, as it is now more usually called, Blair—dips down from this elevated wind-swept point.

Kingoodie in Perthshire owes its importance to its quarry. It is on the Mylnefield estate. Last century, Mr. Mylne the proprietor built a number of cottages there for the quarrymen. We cull the following from an interesting note on the Kingoodie quarry in Sinclair's Statistical:—

"The Kingoody stone is of a greyish colour, called by minerologists Grain-stone; it is difficult to work; hard and durable to an uncommon degree; so much so, that the fine old tower, the steeple of Dundee, which was built of it in King David the Second's time, has shown scarce any symptoms of decay, except where the influence of the town atmosphere reaches. Castle Huntly, supposed to be built in 1452, has scarce a stone in it which has yielded to the influence of the weather; and a gate at that place, built of Kingoody stone, by Earl Patrick of Strathmore, 130 years ago, is crowned with four pyramids, the points of which appear perfectly entire at this day (1797), not measuring more in diameter than i-i6th of an inch. These are only a few amongst many instances of its durability.

"Mr. Mylne, the proprietor, employs from fifty to sixty hands in the quarry of Kingoody; four boats for transporting stone, which are navigated by nine hands, and not only sends stones to the whole extent from Montrose to Perth by water, but likewise for fifteen or sixteen miles of country round by land carriage. He also sends considerable quantities to England; and lately undertook, by contract, to furnish stones from this quarry to two navigable canals, the one called the Gippon's Navigation, near Ipswich; the other the Chelmsford Canal, near Maldon, in Essex. He has built a considerable village upon the spot for the labourers, the inhabitants of which at present amount to 116 of all ages.

"Although it does not properly belong to this paper to interfere w ith the business of revenue or finance, yet as the subject is curious, it is worth while to remark, that owing to the interpretation put upon the wording of the late Act of Parliament, for imposing a duty upon stone sea-borne, by the revenue officers, the exportat on of stone from this quarry, in all probability, wi1! soon be at an end. For, although the whole revenue arising to Government, betwixt the 5th day of July 1794 and the 5th day of July 1795, from this duty, was only ^16, 18s. 3f}d., jet, from the distance between Kingoody and the ports of Perth and Dundee, such is the difficulty of procuring coast-despatches for a cargo of stone, worth only 17s., and not exceeding iod. per ton in value, as to prolong a voyage, performed, before the commencement of this Act, in twelve hours, to three days. Whatever reasons Government may have for continuing this Act, as it is at present, does not fall within our province to say; but although of very small import to them, it is a very material concern to the proprietor and his employees; lor, in the year above mentioned, this duty alone occas. Dned a delay of work equal to twenty times the value of the duty paid."

Robertson (General View of the Agriculture in the County of Perth, p. 35) speaks of it as "unquestionably the finest in the county. Many astonishing slabs are raised at Kingoodie."

Morison, in his Guide to the City of Perth and its Environs, published in 1S12, says of the Depot (for 7000 prisoners of war) bu;lt at Perth in that year: "These buildings are chiefly of whinstone, from quarries n the vicinity of the town, and that of Kingoody Quarry in the neighbourhood of Dundee." The inner work of the Pell Rock Lighthouse is of Mylnefield stone.

In 1838, when the New Statistical was written, the company which rented the quarries were employing between 50 and 60 men. Good workers had 14s. a week. There were three boats carrying stone.

There are now (1895) between 60 and 70 men employed.

Rossie Priory, the seat of Lord Kinnaird, was built 01" stone from another quarry in the parish.

In Edward's Description of the County of Angus, 1678, he makes it terminate in one direction, "at the quarry of Kingudie."

The quarry was the scene of an unfortunate railway accident in 1852. A Ira n was thrown over the bridge beside it. The guard, Charles Balfour, was so dreadfully injured that he lay between life and death for months. He recovered, however, and was appointed stationmaster at Glancarse. He wrote "The Iron Horse," describing a journey from Dundee to Perth, in the early days of the railway. The piece has a local interest. We give two verses :—

"Come Hieland man, come Lowland man, come every man on earth, man,
And I'll tell you how I got on atween Dundee and Perth, man;
I gaed upon an iron road, a rail they did her ca', man;
It was ruggit wi' an iron horse, an awfu' beast to draw, man.
Sing fal la la.

The beast it roared, and aff we gaed, .through water, earth, and stanes, man;
We ran at sic a fearfu' rate, I thought we'd brak our banes, man;
Till by and by we stoppit at a place ca'd something Gowrie,
But ne'er a word had I to say, but only sit an' glower aye.
Sing fal la la."

This song may be found in Ford's Harp of Perthshire, where a place is also given to the songs of one or two local men. Amongst these are the authors of Random Readings in Verse and Prose, and Up Glenesk.

Bullionfield.

"In Scotland, the fourth of July used to be known as Martin of Bullion's Day, in honour of the translation of the saint's body to a shrine in the cathedral of Tours. There >s some uncertainty about the origin of the term Bullion, though, according to the Ukeliest etymology, it is derived from the French bouillcr, to boil, in allusion to the heat of the weather at that time ot the year. There is an old proverb that if the deer rise up dry and lie down dry on Mania of Bullion's Day, there will be a good gose-harvest, i.e. an early and plentiful one. . . . There are traces of both Martin and Bullion in Scottish topography. In Perthshire there is the parish of St. Martin's, containing the estate of St. Martin's Abbey. Some miles to the east is Strathmartin in Forfarshire, already alluded to, and no! far from t in the same county we find Bullionfield, in the parish of Liff and Benvie. It is probable that these names are in some way connected together." (Cf. Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs, by James M. Mackinlay, F.S.A., Scot., pp. 4S-49.)

In Pennant's Tour in Scotland, i. p. 78, we read: "Repassed the Tay at Bull on's Boat; visited the field of Loncarty." Bullion's Boat is not very far from St. Martin's.

The beautiful gateway leading into Greystane, just across the road from Bullionfield, was a part of the old St. Paul's Churchyard, London.

Storms and Distress.

The Ettrick Shepherd has a paper of thrilling interest in his Tales on storms. He says: " Storms constitute the various eras of the pastoral life. They are the red lines in the shepherd's manual—the remembrancers of years and ages that are past—the tablets of memory by which the ages of his children, the times of his ancestors, and the rise and downfall of families are invariably ascertained. Even the progress of improvement in Scottish farming can be traced traditionally from these, and the rent of a farm or estate given with precision, before and after such and such a storm, though the narrator be uncertain in what century the said notable storm happened. ' Mar's year,' and fl that year the Hielanders raide,' are but secondary mementos to the year nine, and the year forty—these stand in bloody capitals in the annals of the pastoral life, as well as many more that shall hereafter be mentioned."

Hogg describes the thirteen drifty days about 1620, the blast o' March 24th, 16—, when many thousands of sheep perished in a forenoon. "The years 1709, 40, and 72, were all likewise notable years for severity. In the latter, the snow lay from the middle of December until the middle of April, and all the time hard frozen. Partial thaws always kept the farmer's hope of relief alive, and thus prevented him from removing his sheep to a lower situation, till at length they grew so weak that they could not be removed. There has not been such a general loss in the days of any man living as in that year. It is by these years that all subsequent hard winters have been measured, and, of late, by that of 1795. . . . But of all the storms that ever Scotland witnessed, or I hope ever will again behold, there is none of them that can be compared with the memorable 24th of January 1794, which fell with such peculiar violence on that division of the south of Scotland that lies between Crawford-muir and the border. In these bounds there were seventeen shepherds perished, and upwards of thirty carried home insensible, who afterwards recovered; but the number of sheep that were lost far outwent any possibility of calculation. One farmer alone, Mr. Thomas Beattie, lost seventy-two scores for his own share."

It appears from the Records that remain that most of these were times of storm and distress in our district. One or two facts may be given. In 1607 there was a steady frost from December 1 to March 21, and "passage upone the yce over Tay all the tyme (at Perth) and passage ower and ower at the mil of Errol."

The frost of 1623-24 is spoken of as surpassing anything that has been experienced. There are a good many allusions to snow and impassable roads during the same century. If 1709 was disastrous, 1740 was dreadfully so, owing to the wildness of the storm in January. More memorable still is the storm of 1772. For a year or two the harvests had been scanty. The suffering was intensified by the great storm of 1772 and the poor harvest, and culminated in the Meal Mob riots which affected the district. The same causes, the storm, and the scanty harvest of 1795, issued ;n widespread suffering. The year 1812 is another black one in the annals of the poor. Of recent storms the most famous arc the Tay Bridge storm of 1879; the wild November gale of 1893, when thousands of the forest giants of Scotland and some of our noblest trees were hurled to the ground; and last, but not least, the long and strong frost and the blinding blizzard of 1895.