or a satisfactory account of it given. The farmer long resisted compliance with the request; and, but for a friendly hint from Mr. D. D. Black, the town-clerk of Brechin, who advised him to give it up in some quaint manner, the farmer would have been thrust from his holding, and the bell, perhaps, entirely lost sight of. But, instead of this, on the re-appearance of the instrument, Lord Panmure in 1838 not only instructed Mr. Black to renew the farmer's lease on favourable terms, but also desired him to procure another bell for the kirk of Lethnot.

This interesting parochial relic was sent from Navar to the church of Arbirlot, but by what right beyond his Lordship's will it is difficult to see. There, however, it was cracked some years ago, and it now lies in the Arbroath Museum. It is not perhaps too much to hope that it may yet be recast and restored to its legitimate abode; for, although deprived of the kirk, the Navarians tenaciously adhere to the use of the old place of sepulture, and the belfry is still a strong substantial erection. The headstones here are few,-the oldest bears the recent date of 1771; and although the mottoes are of no general interest, it may be worthy of notice, that the late Jonathan Duncan, who was long Governor of the Presidency of Bombay, drew his first breath, and spent his earliest years, within a few paces of this enclosure.

Born in 1756 on the farm of Blairno,1 which his parents rented prior to their removal to the Wards near Montrose (at the schools of which town he was educated), he joined a maternal uncle in India, when only eighteen years of age, and began life as a writer in the Bengal establishment. From his aptitude in the knowledge of the languages, the laws, and the manners of the East, he was appointed, at the early age of thirty, to the government of the Province of Benares, where he exercised the confidence reposed in him during a period of unprecedented difficulty with a success which has been rarely surpassed.

1 "1756, May 16; James Duncan and Jean Meiky, tenants in Blairno, had a son baptized named Jonathan."-(Lethnot Par. Reg.)

NAVAR-GOVERNOR JON. DUNCAN.

137

Among the many blessings which flowed from his administration at Benares," says Sir James Mackintosh, who was judge at Bombay at the time of Duncan's death, and from whose official record of his career we glean these particulars,1 "the reform which he effected in the barbarous and cruel practice of female infanticide among the chieftains of the Eastern part of the Company's possessions in that province, as it is peculiarly illustrative of the humanity of his disposition, is the more worthy of particular commemoration, since he ever contemplated the success that attended his laudable efforts in the accomplishment of so beneficent an object as one of the happiest incidents of his life; and with equal ardour and solicitude has he been engaged in prevailing on the chieftains of Kattywur and of Cutch to renounce that inhuman custom, the existence of which in these provinces had recently become known to the Government."

Mr. Duncan was removed from the government of Benares to that of Bombay and its dependencies in December 1795. In that still more elevated position he dispensed justice with marked success and benevolence, with the unequivocal approval of the British Legislature, the Court of Directors, and the inhabitants in general, down to the time of his death. This occurred on the 11th of August 1811, when he had only attained his fifty-eighth year. He was buried at the public expense, in the cathedral of Bombay, with all the pomp and honour becoming his high position, and a magnificent monument was erected to his memory. On this, however, the place of his birth is stated as being at Wardhouse, near Montrose-an error that may have arisen from his having purchased that property, on which he spent his boyhood, and where, perhaps, he contemplated spending his later years.

1 Bombay Courier, Aug. 17, 1811. Kindly communicated, with other information, by the late Dr. James Burnes, K.H., Ph. Gen. at Bombay. In Contemplation and other Poems, by Alexander Balfour, there is an elegy to the memory of Governor Duncan.

SECTION II.

In truth they were as bold a race

As ever mounted steed.

Navar and the lordship of Brechin-David Earl of Huntingdon-Maison-Dieu of Brechin-Family de Brechin-Family of Maule-Erskines of Dun-Pedigree of the Maules-Panmure ennobled-Purchase of Edzell-Lord Panmure-Fox Maule-The late Earl.

IT has been shown in a previous chapter that the property or parish of Lethnot came to the Lindsay family at the same. time, and in the same manner, as their great Glenesk estate, namely, through the marriage of Sir Alexander with the coheiress of Sir John Stirling; but the district of Navar, from earliest record, has been conjoined with the lordship of Brechin. In addition to other payments made from Navar to the church, Walter Stuart, Earl of Athole, who married the only child and heiress of Barclay, Lord of Brechin, gave an annual of forty pounds to that cathedral from his lands of Cortachy, "and failing thereof, through war, poverty, or other cause," the sum was to be paid from the lands of the lordship of Brechin, of which Navar formed a part.1

Before entering upon a notice of the various persons who have borne the ancient title of Lord of Brechin and Navar, it may be observed, that subsequent to the time of the Reformation, Nathro (which has long formed a part of the estate of Careston), and the neighbouring lands of Tilliquhillie, were held by a family of the name of Douglas (cadets of the ancient house of Tilwhilly in Kincardineshire),2 while, at a subsequent period, Nathro belonged to the second Earl of Panmure, and afterwards to a Charles Robertson, sometime tenant in Trusto.3 Easter and Wester Tillyarblet were long possessed by descendants of Erskine of Dun, but since the purchase a few years

1 Reg. Episc. Brech. i. p. 47.

2 Reg. de Panmure, ii. p. 328 (1649).

3 Inquis. Spec. Forfar., Nos. 295 (1647), 385 (1662), 546 (1697), etc.

NAVAR-LORDS OF NAVAR AND BRECHIN. 139

ago of Easter Tillyarblet, both now belong to the Earl of Dalhousie, while to the estate of Careston belong Nathro and the grazing farm of Tillybirnie, which was described by Ochterlony as being "well accommodate in grass parks and meadows." With these exceptions, the whole district of Navar has been owned by the family of Panmure since the year 1634, and the only two heritors of the united parish in the present day are Lord Dalhousie and Mr. Adamson.

As regards the ancient Lords of Brechin and Navar, the first was David, Earl of Huntingdon and the Garioch, founder of the church of the Virgin Mary at Dundee, and brother to William the Lion. Earl David had a natural son, Henry, to whom he gave this lordship, and from the district of Brechin he assumed his surname. Sir William de Brechin, the son of this Henry, founded the Domus Dei or Maison-Dieu of that city in 1264, and was one of the most illustrious barons in the time of Alexander III., having been one of the guardians of Scotland in the English interest during the minority of that king. His only child, David, who married a sister of the Bruce, swore fealty to Edward in 1296, and supported the English with great ardour until 1308, when the Scots gained the battle of Old Meldrum.2 On this he fled to his castle at Brechin, but being besieged by the Earl of Athole, he joined Bruce's standard, and ever after espoused his cause. His son was the fourth and last of the male line of the ancient family de Brechin, and was also one of the great barons who signed at Arbroath the celebrated letter to the Pope in 1320, asserting the independence of Scotland; but, being privy to the conspiracy of William de Soulis, he and some of the other traitors. were executed, and had their lands forfeited.

Sir David Barclay, who, throughout the whole war of the Independence, continued Bruce's unflinching supporter, married

1 Tytler, Hist. of Scot. i. p. 12; Reg. Episc. Brech. i. p. 4 (1267); Reg. de Panmure, ii. p. 205.

2 Called indifferently the battle of Barras, Old Meldrum, and Inverurie,--Barras, where the battle took place, lying between the other two.

Margaret de Brechin, the only sister of the forfeited noble; and now that the male line of the family was for ever swept away, Bruce conferred the lordship of Brechin and Navar on her husband, in recompence for his many services; but this brave knight was unfortunately slain at Aberdeen, in 1350, by John de St. Michael of Mundurnah.1 By Margaret de Brechin (the niece of Bruce), Barclay left an only son and daughter,-the latter married Sir Robert Fleming of Biggar, and her only surviving child, Marion, became the wife of William Maule of Panmure. The last-mentioned David Barclay served in the Prussian wars, for which he had a safe-conduct from Edward III. to pass through England. Dying sometime after the year 1364, he left an only daughter, Margaret, who was married to Walter, second son of Robert II., by Euphemia Ross. Walter, in right of his wife, assumed the estates and titles of Brechin, but having participated in the murder of his nephew, James I., he was executed as a traitor in 1437, in a still more ignominious and revolting manner than his predecessor, de Brechin, his torture being protracted over three days.2

Athole's wife having predeceased him, he was allowed, simply by the courtesy of the kingdom of Scotland, to retain her lands during the remainder of his life; so that, although his own estates were forfeited at the time of his execution, the lordship of Brechin should of right have passed to Sir Thomas Maule of Panmure as nearest heir to the Countess of Athole, by descent from Marion Fleming of Biggar; but, under pretence of forfeiture, it was annexed to the Crown by Act of Parliament in 1438, and was afterwards granted, in liferent or in fee, to various persons. This Sir Thomas died between 1442 and 1450; and, although admitted judicially to be heir to the Countess of Athole, justice was not done to him and his successors, who found "Chancellour Crightoun and the King's Council partys too hard for them to deal with. However, 1 Balfour, Annals, i. p. 113.

2 For his connection with Brechin and neighbouring parishes, see Reg. Episc. Brech. i. and ii. pass.