Glimpses of Church and Social Life in the Highlands in Olden Times, and other papers

Front matter

IN OLDEN TIMES AND OTHER PAPERS BY ALEXANDER MACPHERSON, F.S.A. Scot. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCXCIII All Rights reserved " But lead me, O Malvina ! to the sound of my woods ; to the roar of my mountain streams. Let the chase be heard on Cona; let me think on the days of other years. And bring me the harp, O maid ! that I may touch it, when the light of my soul shall arise. Be thou near, to learn the song ; future times shall hear of me ! The sons of the feeble hereafter will lift the voice on Cona ; and looking up to the rocks, say, ' Here Ossian dwelt ! ' They shall admire the Chiefs of old, the race that are no more ! while we ride on our clouds, Malvina ! on the wings of the roaring winds. Our voices shall be heard at times in the desert; we shall sing on the breeze of the rock." — Ossian.

IN OLDEN TIMES " Tradition's lore and Celtic lay May well beguile the longest day While we pursue our Highland way, Or sad delight Recall the straths of rapid Spey When far from sight." ©etitcateo to tfje JHrmorg of EWEN MACPHERSON OF CLUNY MACPHERSON, CHIEF OF CLAN CHATTAN, C.B. "THE GENUINE TYPE OF THE OLD SCOTTISH CHIEF: THE CHIEF WHO LOVED HIS PEOPLE AND SPOKE THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE, AND LIVED ON HIS PROPERTY, AND DELIGHTED IN OLD TRADITIONS, IN OLD SERVANTS, IN OLD SERVICES, AND OLD KINDLY USAGES OF ALL KINDS." PREFATORY NOTE. T30RTIONS of the following papers have from time to time within the last few years appeared in various magazines, and are now, with considerable additions, presented to the public in a collected form. The volume makes no claim to learned or original research, and professes, as its title indicates, to be little more than a compilation or omnium gatherum of old folk-lore, and odds and ends gleaned from reliable sources, connected chiefly with the lordship of Badenoch in the central Highlands — that wide and extensive district so appropriately described by the late Principal Shairp of St Andrews as " the grand old country of the Chattan Clan."

Originally intended solely for natives of Badenoch, the author ventures to express the hope that the book may prove of more than local interest, as illustrating to some extent the Church and social life prevailing north of the Grampians, and the con dition and characteristics of the Highland people in olden times. The portraits of famous personages connected with the district in bygone days, and the other illustrations, will, it is hoped, tend to enhance the interest of some ofthe " Glimpses " given in the volume. The Appendix, embracing as it does so many historical

Preface

. VIII documents relating to the Clan Chattan, Prince Charlie, and the famous Cluny of the " 45 " (some of which are now pub lished for the first time), will, it is believed, prove specially interesting to members of the clan and natives of Badenoch generally. In the Cluny charter - chest are preserved a large number of original letters of historical importance, addressed to the Cluny chiefs of the time by Viscount Dundee, the Duke of Gordon, the Earls of Dunfermline, Mar, Marischall, Perth, and Rothes, the Master of Stair, Simon Lord Lovat, and others, from 1689 to 1756 in connection with the various Risings in the Highlands in favour of "the hapless Stuart line," which, it is hoped, may yet be published in some permanent form.

The author desires gratefully to acknowledge his obligations to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, and to his Grace's Com missioner, Mr Wedderspoon, for an inspection of the original document at Gordon Castle containing the rental, in 1603, of the lordship of Badenoch — a transcript of which is given in the Appendix ; to Cluny Macpherson for access to the Cluny charter chest and to the Cluny library ; to Mr Macpherson of Corri mony, for the use of the MSS. of his grandfather (" Old Biallid "); to the Rev. William Bruce of Glenrinnes, the Clerk of the Synod of Moray, the Rev. James Anderson of Alvie, and the Rev. D. S. Maclennan of Laggan, for access to the old records of the Synod of Moray, the records of the Kirk -session of Alvie, and the records of the Kirk-session of Laggan respectively ; and to Mr Brewster Macpherson of Belleville, Professor Blackie, the Rev. Dr Cameron Lees of St Giles, the Rev. Neil Dewar of the Free Church, Kingussie, the Rev. Thomas Sinton of Dores, Mr Fraser- Mackintosh of Drummond, Dr Joseph Anderson of the Society of Antiquaries, Mr David M'Gibbon, architect, Edinburgh, Mr William Mackay, solicitor, Inverness, Mr Alexander MacBain

PREFACE.

. IX of Rainings School, Inverness, Mr Hew Morrison of the Public Library, Edinburgh, Mr Roderick Maclennan of the Public School, Kingussie, Mr Donald Campbell, merchant, Kingussie, and his brother, Mr Paul Campbell, for valuable aid and suggestions in the preparation of the work. The cordial acknowledgments of the author are also due to the large and influential number of suscribers whose hearty encouragement led to the publication of the volume. He specially desires to record his warmest obligations in this respect to Mr W. J. MTherson of Rochester, New York- — one of the most devoted and patriotic members of the clan now living — through whose unwearied efforts upwards of fifty Macpherson subscribers were secured in America and Canada. So many Macphersons have not, it is believed, been brought together, so to speak, since the clan with their distinguished chief, and the famous preen banner at their head, so devotedly followed Prince Charlie in his gallant but ill-fated attempt to regain the crown of his ancestors.

The author may be permitted to add that any profits to be derived from the sale of the work are intended to be devoted to a fund for keeping in good order and repair the venerable churchyard of St Columba in Kingussie, where the mortal re mains of so many generations of Macphersons so peacefully rest with their kindred dust. A. M. Kingussie, August 1893. CONTENTS. GLIMPSES OF CHURCH AND SOCIAL LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS IN OLDEN TIMES.

Chapter I. Page

Introductory remarks — Reformation era— Prevailing superstition and credulity — State of Highlands prior to Reformation — Extraordinary incident in parish of Farr— "Dying testimony " of Alexander Campbell— Knox's system of Church discipline — Powers exercised by Church courts — "A cry from Craigellachie," . 3

Chapter II

The old lordship of Badenoch — The Wolf of Badenoch — Deputation from General Assembly in 1597 — Derivation of Badenoch — Celtic name for Kingussie — The Spey — The Moray floods of 1829 — Whimsical result of flood at Dalraddy — Extent and boundaries of parish of Kingussie — Watch hill or cairn ofthe Black Watch — Highland marauding of olden times — John Dhu Cameron — Characteristics of old Highland peasantry — Curious old tradition — The famous Witch of Laggan — Kingussie as the capital of Badenoch — Traces of Roman works on the Spey — Old silver-mine — Founding of village of Kingussie — Celebrity of district as a health resort, ....... 13

Chapter III

Parish of Kingussie — Earlier records — Old church life in the parish — Black sheep among ministers' men — Enactment anent " Pennie Weddings" — Effect of establishment of barracks at Ruthven in 1718 — Measures adopted by Kingussie Session against vagabonds and dissolute women following the garrison soldiers — Enactments against " grievous scandals " and " breaches of Sabbath " — State of church buildings in the Highlands last century — Fiddling at Leickwakes — Matrimonial contracts on Saturdays — Restrictions as to drinking in taverns on Sabbath — Jealous husband makes his wife swear upon a knife — Intermittent character of administration of sacraments — A wild Highlander — Prohibition against strangers and vagabonds — Change-keepers prohibited from supplying ale or aquavitie to drunkard — An odious Act of Parliament — Profanation of churchyards — Resolutions regarding proclamations and marriages, 29 b CONTENTS. XII

Chapter IV

Parish of Kingussie— Social life in bygone days— Colonel Thornton's visit to Badenoch in 1784— Restoration of Cluny estates— Colonel Thornton's account of the rejoicings on the occasion— Pitmain inn— The old Assembly rooms of Kingussie— Opening of rooms in 1821 by Marquis of Huntly- Condition of parishioners of Kingussie at close of last century— Their moderation in religious opinions— Results of Secession of 1843, ...-•• 44

Chapter V

Parish of Alvie— The church and manse— Loch Alvie— Remains found beneath church in 1880— Derivation of name of parish— Conflict in 729 between Angus, son of Fergus, and Nechtan, King of the Picts— Boundaries and extent ofthe parish — The Queen's expedition to Glenfeshie in 1860, . 56

Chapter VI

Church life in parish of Alvie— Old church records— Elders of the church in 17 13, all lairds of good family and substance— Desertion from National Church of Highland and Lowland lairds of later times— Duke of Argyll's words of warning to Presbyterians of Scotland — High Anglican sectarianism— Dean Stanley on Scottish Episcopacy — Sir David Brewster an elder of Alvie church — Punishment of erring sheep of Alvie flock — Results of Badenoch people joining Rising of 1715 — Cases of church discipline — Grievous breaches ofthe Sabbath — Punishment of parishioner abusing the minister — Educational state of parish in 1732— Cases for "breach of promise" and "slandering and scolding," . 61

Chapter VII

Condition and characteristics of old parishioners of Alvie — Kinrara — Jane, Duchess of Gordon — Her early life — Her married life — Her active habits and life at Kinrara — Her death in London and burial at Kinrara — Monument to her memory — Alexander, Duke of Gordon — George, last Duke of Gordon — Glimpses of life of last Duke and Duchess at Gordon Castle — Monuments on Kinrara Hill in memory of last Duke and Highlanders who fell at Waterloo — Prince Leopold of Belgium at Kinrara — The widow of last Mackintosh of Borlum — Sir David Brewster at Belleville — The Bedford family at Doune of Rothiemurchus — Visit of Lord Brougham and Sir David at the Doune — Loch-an-eilan and its castle, 72

Chapter VIII

Parish of Laggan — Old church of St Kenneth — Legends connected with building of church and " Allan of the Spoils " — Sir James the Rose — Cainnech, one of St Columba's monks — Battle at Garvamore in 1 187 — Traditions of Loch Laggan and its islands — boundaries and extent of parish of Laggan — Old fortification of Dun-da-lamh or the two-handed — Old military road by Corryarrick, 94

Chapter IX

Mrs Grant of Laggan — Her ' Letters from the Mountains' — Her description of the manse — Her allusion to the spirit of mischief inhabiting Corryarrick — Her CONTENTS. XIII 1 02 115 125 133 144 160 177 description of course of Bronnach — Her love for "the gentle and courteous cottagers" of her " ever dear Laggan"— Her life in Edinburgh after her husband's death — Glimpses of her life in Badenoch — Touching incident of last century — Gaelic ballad relating thereto, and translation thereof by Principal Shairp — The Queen's visit to Ardverikie in 1847, . . . . . THE OLD CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD OF KINGUSSIE (ST COLUMBA'S).

Chapter I

The planting of the church— St Columba— His last counsels— His death— Muriach, parson of Kingussie in the twelfth century — The Macphersons derive from him the name they now bear — Charter by William the Lion — Concession of Andrew Bishop of Moray — Agreement between same bishop and Walter Cumyn — Ordination order of same bishop — The Wolf of Badenoch cites Bishop of Moray to appear at Standing Stones of Kingussie — Founding of Priory of Kingussie — Prebendaries of Kingussie — St Columba's Fair — Reminiscences of ruins of old church, ..........

Chapter II

The three churchyards of Kingussie — Repair of St Columba's churchyard — The piscina of the old church — Oldest reference to St Columba's churchyard — A celebrated hunter and poet — The Forester of the Fairy Corry and his fairy sweetheart, ..........

Chapter III

Transcripts of inscriptions in St Columba's churchyard, with descriptive notes — Lieut. M'Pherson of Biallidmore — Lieut. -Colonel Angus Macpherson — The Macphersons of Crubinbeg — The Macphersons of Blaragie — Big George of Dallanach — The Macphersons of Invernahaven — The Macphersons of Knappach — The Macphersons of "Culenlean" — Lachlan Macpherson of Ralia — The Ardbrylach Macphersons, ........

Chapter II

Descent of "Cluny" from Gillicattan Mor, 299 SKETCHES OF THE OLD SEATS OF FAMILIES AND OF DISTIN- GUISHED SOLDIERS, ETC, CONNECTED WITH BADENOCH.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory remarks — Parish of Kingussie, 305

CHAPTER II.

Parish of Alvie, CONTENTS. XV 335 365 375 384 397 407 419

Chapter III

Parish of Laggan, THE OLD CASTLES OF RUTHVEN AND THE LORDS OF BADENOCH.

Chapter I

The old lordship of Badenoch — The earlier castles— The Earls of Huntly — The siege ofthe castle in 1594 — The battle of Glenlivet,

Chapter II

The "Water-Poet's" visit to the castle in 1618 — Capture of the castle in 1647 — The Macphersons and the wars of Montrose — Men of Badenoch arraigned by Synod of Moray — Capture of the castle in 1649 — Castle garrisoned by the English after battle of Worcester — Monck's despatch to Cromwell from the castle — Monck's proceedings in the hills, ......

Chapter III

The last Marquesses of Huntly — The Dukes of Gordon — Ratification to first Duke of lordship of Badenoch — Castle burnt by Dundee in 1689 — Letter by Lieut. Mackay ofthe garrison of Badenoch to the " Dutches of Gordone" in 1691 — "Vindication" by the Macphersons to the Duke of Gordon in 1699 — Shaw's description of old castle — Queen Mary said to have resorted to castle for pleasures of chase — Account of Queen Mary's "hunting the deer" in 1563 — The Rising of the '45 — Sergeant Molloy's defence of castle — Capture of castle by forces of Prince Charlie — Assembling of remnant of the Prince's followers at Ruthven after Culloden — They set fire to the castle to prevent its falling into hands of Royalists — "The graves of Culloden," . . . . . SELECTIONS FROM THE MSS. OF THE LATE CAPTAIN MACPHERSON ("OLD BIALLID").

Appendix

. The Clan Farsons' bond, 1 591— Covenant by members of clan, 1628— Bond beween Laird of Grant and men of Badenoch, 1645— Bond bv MTntosh of Torcastle to Cluny, 1665— Deliverance of "Lords of Privie Counsell" on "debait betwixt the Laird of MTntosh and Clunie M'Pherson," 1672— Letters from Lord Huntly to the Macphersons, 1674 — Extracts from genealogy of the Macphersons in Cluny charter-chest — Declaration by clan regarding chiefship, 1689 — Genealogy of the Macphersons from Jeremy Collier's 'Genealogical Dictionary,' 1701 — Bond of friendship between the Frasers, the Camerons, and the Macphersons, 1744 — Relative letter, Macpherson of Killihuntly to Simon, Lord Lovat— Account of watch undertaken by Cluny, 1744 — Transcripts of MSS. relating to the Clan Chattan and Cluny of the '45 — Letter to Cluny from " Secretary to the Chevalier de St George," 1758 — Letter intimating Cluny's death at Dunkirk, 1764— "The Clan Chattan" (from Skene's ' Highlanders of Scotland ')— Correspondence between Mackintosh and Cluny of the '45 regarding command of Clan Chattan — Battle of Invernahaven and conflict on North Inch of Perth — Prince Charlie's retreats in Badenoch — Genealogy of the Macphersons (from Douglas's ' Baronage of Scotland ') — Rental of " Lordshipe of Badyenoche," 1603, Index of Names and Places, List of Subscribers, .

ILLUSTRATIONS. "old cluny" (sitting position), ...... Frontispiece MAP OF BADENOCH, 1641-48, ..... To face page 13 KINGUSSIE FROM THE SOUTH, ..... ,.27 JANE, DUCHESS OF GORDON, ...... "75 THE LAST DUKE OF GORDON, ..... n 83 MRS GRANT OF LAGGAN, ...... „ 103 TABLET IN ST COLUMBA'S CHURCHYARD, KINGUSSIE, . . ,1 115 JAMES MACPHERSON, THE TRANSLATOR OF OSSIAN'S POEMS, . u 256 BELLEVILLE HOUSE, THE RESIDENCE OF THE TRANSLATOR, . 11 259 FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF THE TRANSLATOR, ... ,, 261 "OLD CLUNY" (STANDING POSITION), .... n 285 TOMB OF THE STUARTS IN ST PETER'S, . . . . ,. ■ 289 FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF PRINCE CHARLIE TO CLUNY OF THE '45, 11 290 CLUNY CASTLE, ....... 11 304 CLUNY THE PRESENT CHIEF OF THE CLAN, ... n 347 THE OLD CAVE OF RAITTS, ...... 11 ERRATA. Page 169, line 13, for "February" read "January." 11 359, 11 11, for "Ben Nevis" read " Invernevis."

The Illustrations of Kingussie and Belleville House at pages 27 and 259 are reproduced front Photographs by Messrs G. W. Wilson and Co., Limited, Aberdeen. IN OLDEN TIMES "To call up our ancestors before us, with all their peculiarities of lan guage, manners, and garb, — to show us over their houses, to seat us at their tables, to rummage their old-fashioned wardrobes, to explain the use of their ponderous furniture ; — these parts of the duty, which properly belongs to the historian, have become appropriated by the historical novelist." — Lord Macaulay. IN OLDEN TIMES.

Chapter I. Introductory

Ii 10 the southern inhabitants of Scotland the state of the mountains and of the islands is equally unknown with that of Borneo or Sumatra ; of both they have only heard a little and guess the rest. They are strangers to the manners, the advantages, and the wants of the people whose life they would model and whose evils they would remedy." So wrote Dr Johnson, the famous lexicographer and pioneer of Hebridean travellers, fully a century ago ; but in view of the Reports of Royal Commissions, and of the innumerable magazine and newspaper articles which have appeared of recent years, on the state of the Highlands — religious as well as social and political — any appro priateness which may have previously attached to the great southern Don's hyperbolical estimate of Lowland ignorance of our mountaineers and islanders is surely in a fair way of being altogether removed.

We have it in Sacred Writ that " in the multitude of counsellors there is safety," and their counsels — varied as they are — will, let us hope, lead to a remedy being provided for the many evils still rampant among us, and to our beginning to mend ecclesiastically and otherwise. Mistier, it has well been said, than our Highland mountains is our early Highland history. So speedily and almost entirely overcast was the dawn ofthe religious day in the Highlands in 1563, that even in the mainland of Ross-shire it is difficult to fix the Reformation era earlier than the re-establishment of Presbytery after the days of the tulchan bishops of James VI. For fully a century later than 1563 the darkness apparently lingered. In 1656 the Presbytery of Dingwall reported that the people of Applecross, "among their abominable and heathen prac tices, were accustomed to sacrifice bulls at a certaine time upon the 25th of August, which day is dedicate, as they conceive, to S. Maurie, as they call him."

In 1678 certain parties in Eilean Mourie, or St Ruffus, in Loch Ewe, were summoned " for sacrificing in ane heathenish mannar for recovering the health of Cirstane Mackenzie." Such, says Shaw, the historian of Moray, was the prevailing ignorance, that it " was at tended with much superstition and credulity. Heathenish and Romish customs were much practised. Pilgrimages to wells and chapels were frequent. Apparitions were everywhere talked of and believed. Par ticular families were said to be haunted by certain demons, the good or bad geniuses of these families — such as : On Speyside, the family of Rothiemurchus, by Bodach an Dilin — i.e., ' the ghost of the Dune ' ; 1 the Baron of Kincardine's family, by Red Hand, or ' a ghost, one of whose hands was blood-red ' ; Gartinbeg, by Bodach - Gartin ; Glenlochie, by Brownie; Tullochgorum, by Maag Moulach — i.e., 'One with the left hand all over hairy.' I find in the Synod Records of Moray frequent orders to the Presbyteries of Aberlaure and Abernethie to inquire into 1 When the Shaws were dispossessed of their family estate the Bodach sang these lines of lamentation : — ' Ho ro ! theid sinn 's a' chiomachas, Theid sinn a fonn 's a odhaichean 'S ged thug iad uainn ar duthchas Bidh ar dull ri cathair na firinn ; which have been freely translated : — " Ho !

Ro ! as exiles we go, From our lands and strongholds, away, away ; But we trust, though out-thrust By an earthly foe, To reach the City that lasts for aye, The City of Peace— for aye, for aye." According to the family legend, the Bodach continues to guard the graves and protect the memorial-stones at Rothiemurchus of the old barons." — Vide Roger's Social Life in Scotland, 1886, iii. 342. WITCHCRAFT IN THE HIGHLANDS. 5 the truth of Maag Moulach's appearing ; but they could make no dis covery, only that one or two men declared they once saw, in the evening, a young girl whose left hand was all hairy, and who instantly disappeared. Almost every large common was said to have a circle of fairies belonging to it. Separate hillocks upon plains were called Sitheanan — i.e., ' fairy hills.' Scarce a shepherd but had seen apparitions and ghosts.

Charms, casting nativities, curing diseases by enchantments, fortune-telling, were commonly practised, and firmly believed. As Dr Garth well describes the goddess Fortune — ' In this still labyrinth around her lye, Spells, philters, globes, and schemes of palmistry ; A sigil, in this hand, the gipsy bears, In t'other a prophetic sieve and shears.' Witches were said to hold their nocturnal meetings in churches, church yards, or in lonely places ; and to be often transformed into hares, mares, cats ; to ride through the regions of the air, and to travel into distant countries ; to inflict diseases, raise storms and tempests : and for such incredible feats many were tried, tortured, and burnt. If any one was afflicted with hysterics, hypochondria, rheumatisms, or the like acute diseases, it was called witchcraft ; and it was sufficient to suspect a woman for witchcraft if she was poor, old, ignorant, and ugly.

These effects of ignorance were so frequent within my memory, that I have often seen all persons above twelve years of age solemnly sworn four times in the year that they would practise no witchcraft, charms, spells, &c. It was likewise believed that ghosts, or departed souls, often returned to this world, to warn their friends of approaching danger, to discover murders, to find lost goods, &c. That children dying un baptised (called Tarans) wandered in woods and solitudes, lamenting their hard fate, and were often seen." : In his remarkable volume, ' The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire,' the late well-known Dr Kennedy of Dingwall condenses into two or three sentences the religious state of the Highlands and Islands prior to the Reformation: "Papacy claimed the whole region as its own, although its dogmas were not generally known or its rites universally practised.

Fearing no competing religion, the priesthood had been content to rule the people without attempting to teach them. His ignorance and super- 1 History ofthe Province of Moray, 306, 307. stition made the rude Highlander all the more manageable in the hands of the clergy, and they therefore carefully kept him a heathen. . . . Savage heathen could everywhere be found, trained Papists in very few places, when the light of the Gospel first shone on the north. There was even then quite as much of what was peculiar to Druidism in the religious opinions and worship of the people as of any peculiar practices derived from Popery." The following extraordinary incident is taken from the MS. of the late Rev. Lewis Rose, for many years minister of Tain, and the date assigned to it is about the year 1730 : " At that time there was a certain house in the Parish of Farr, in the north of Sutherland, in which religious meetings were held.

The moderator there was one whom they did not see, but whose presence might be gathered from his influence. The principal Man at these meetings at length rose to such a pitch of pious delusion that he imagined himself to be God the Father, and another Man gave himself out for God the Son, and a Woman took the honour of being the Holy Ghost. A third Man, who had an only son, a child, was dubbed Abraham, the Father of the Faithful. This man was com manded to sacrifice his Isaac, and he was ready to do so at once. The mother of the child, however, as was natural, felt her bowels yearn over her Isaac, and went in haste to gather people to rescue him ; but when they came they found the door barred. Forthwith they unroofed the house in order to save the life of the child, and at this unlooked-for interruption to the inhuman orgies the whole delusion evaporated, and the meeting dissolved." 1 Almost no less remarkable is the " dying testimony " of an Alexander Campbell, a native of the parish of Kilchattan, in Argyllshire, born in 1751, whose death occurred so late as in 1829.

Campbell is said to have been " the greatest and most renowned of all ' the men ' in the district in which he lived," and it would appear that many of the people regarded his sayings as dictated by positive inspiration. The "testimony" ex tended to forty-five closely printed pages, and it is stated that some por tions of it were too indelicate to be printed. The following extracts are given in the worthy man's own grammar and according to his own system of orthography : — " I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against those who tolerate all heretical 1 Blackie's Altavona, third edition, 1883, 335. DYING TESTIMONY OF ONE OF "THE MEN." 7 sects. I also bear testimony against the Church of England for using their prayer book, their worship being idolitrous. I bear testimony against the Popish Erastian patronising ministers of the Church of Scotland.

This is a day of gloominess and of thick darkness. They are blindfolded by toleration of popery, sectarianism, idolitary, will-worship, &c. I, as a dying man, leave my testimony from first to last against the reformed Presbytery ; they are false hypocrites, in principles of adherance to the modern party, who accept of indulgencies, inasmuch as that they are allowed to apply to unjust judges. It is evident they are not reformed, when they will not run any hazard to a constitution according to Christ. I leave my dying testimony against my brother Duncan Campbell, by the flesh, and his wife Mary Omey, on account of a quarrel between their daughter and my housekeeper, having summoned her before a justice of the peace, who having heard the case, did not take any steps against her ; I therefore testify against them for not dropping the matter.

There is no agreement between the children of the flesh and spirit, as Paul said. I leave my testimony as a dying man against Duncan Clark, in saying that my brother's cow was not pushing mine ; he was not present and therefore could not maintain it before judges. And my brother took his son, who was not come to the years, and got him to declare along with them. They would not allow my housekeeper to have the same authority in neighbourhood with them, as she was not married, and that is contrary to the word, Better to be as I am, as Paul said. I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against the letter learned men, that are not taught in the college of Sina and Zion, but in the college of Babylon, 2 Cor. iii. 6, Rom. vii. 6. They wanted to interrupt me by their letter-learning, and would have me from the holy covenant, Luke i. 72, and from the everlasting covenant, Isa. xxiv. 5.

I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against King George the third, for tolerating all denominations in the three kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, to uncleanness of popery, and as he himself reigned as a pope in all these three kingdoms. I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against paying unlawful tributes and stipend, either in civil or ecclesiastical courts, not according to the word of God, Confession of Faith, second reformation covenants, &c, if otherwise they shall receive the mark of the beast, Rev. xiii. 17, in buying and selling. I leave my testimony against covetous heritors, who oppress the poor tenants by augmenting the rents, as John M'Andrew that was in Ardmuddy, that he fell over a rock, and judgment came upon him and he died, and Robertson and M'Lachlan, surveyors, that caused lord Bredalbin to augment the land, and oppress the poor, and grind the face of the poor tenants.

I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against them that lift the dead, Isa. lvii. 2, and not to lay to resurrection. I leave, as a dying man, my testimony against playactors and pictures, Numb, xxxiii. 52, Deut. xviii. 10-14, Gal. iv. 10. I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against men and women being conformed to the world, and women having habits and vails, headsails, as umbrellas. I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against dancing-schools, as it is the works of the flesh. I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against the low country, as they are not kind to strangers. Some unawares have entertained angels (Heb. xii. 12). I, as a dying man, leave my testimony against women that wear Babylonish garments, that are rigged out with stretched-out necks, tinkling as they go (Isa. iii. 16-24, &c-) I> as a dying man> leave my testimony against gentlemen ; they altogether break the bonds of the relation of the words of God (Jer. v. 5).