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of State War Department, and, for a short time, President of the Board of Control. As Secretary-at-War, from 1855 to 1858, when the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny engaged all his energies, the name of Lord Panmure was much before the public; but as Lord-Lieutenant of Forfarshire and a liberal landlord, he was better known upon his wide estates. Dying at Brechin Castle, the place of his birth, on July 16, 1874, at the ripe age of seventy-three, he was buried in the family vault at Panbride, and mourned by many who had experienced his kindness. Leaving no issue, he was the last Baron Panmure, but was succeeded by his cousin, the Hon. George Ramsay, C.B., second son of the Hon. John Ramsay, fourth son of the eighth Earl of Dalhousie, as the twelfth Earl. Earl George, born at Kelly House, April 26, 1805, entered the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen, and, after his full share of service in all parts of the world, was appointed Admiral in 1875. In the same year he was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom under the title of Baron Ramsay of Glenmark. During his short tenure of the family estates in Forfarshire, he proved a liberal landlord, like his predecessors. He died at Dalhousie Castle, in Mid-Lothian, on July 20, 1880, and was laid in the family burial-vault at Cockpen. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the Hon. John William Ramsay, as thirteenth Earl of Dalhousie. The present Earl married the Hon. Lady Ida Louise Bennet, youngest daughter of Charles, sixth Earl of Tankerville, and has issue. He was Member of Parliament for Liverpool during a very short period when, in 1880, his father's death removed him to the House of Lords, and in December 1881, on the death of the Earl of Airlie, his Lordship was placed on the roll of the Knights of the Thistle, and duly invested by Her Majesty with the insignia of the Order.

Aspect of Navar-The Wirran-Story of the melder-sifter-Archæology of LethnotDunnyferne-" Lady Eagil's Chair"-Cobb's Heugh-Streams of the districtSuperstition anent the white adder-Superstitions of Lethnot-The Cateran. ALTHOUGH Navar and Lethnot are less favoured than Glenesk on the score of extent and the imposing features of lofty and rugged mountains, the general aspect of the whole is equally highland, and when traversed in a fine summer day, or viewed from the old British fort of Caterthun, it has a singularly sweet and inviting aspect. This is peculiarly the case when seen from the latter position, which embraces an extended view of four or five miles. But, like Glenesk, the district is singularly destitute of trees; for, with the exception of the plantation on Nathro, and a patch of firs at Balfield, there is little wood, either indigenous or cultivated. The old churchyard of Navar, on the sunny side of Blairno Hill, shaded by a few meagre ash-trees-the halfmoon-shaped bridge of Lethnot-the Board School, school-house, and other tidy cottages the kirk and manse-the hamlet of Balfield, where the laborious matron fits her charge for the domestic duties of after-life, and the parish wright and blacksmith drive their useful trades-are the main objects which enliven the natural barrenness of the prospect.

The hill of Wirran1 bounds the northern parts of the parish. It is about six miles long and 2082 feet high, commanding a fine view of the hills of Fifeshire and intervening objects. In the dark ages of credulity and superstition it was often used as the burial-place of suicides, and on the ridge or 1 Gael. Fuaran, 66 'a spring,"-hence "the hill of springs."

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sky-line of the hill numerous grave-shaped hillocks point out the resting-places of those luckless beings. At no distant date, when a suicide was found on one of the farms in the neighbourhood, the farmer, rather than allow the body to be conveyed in at the barn-door, had an aperture made in the front wall for that purpose: and, "although the hole was built up ower an' ower again," says our informant, "the biggin' wudna bide, but aye fell out!"

A kettle filled with silver is said to lie in the Craig of Stonyford, on the south-west side of Wirran, and of this the sun, when in full lustre, occasionally displays the bow and precious contents to the view of the credulous. Many attempts have been made to secure the treasure, but the "seekers" have all been unsuccessful. If the legend be correct, they have little cause for regret, for, as it will be with the finder of the kettle of gold which is said to be secreted in the well on the hill of Caterthun, so he also that finds this kettle of silver on the Wirran is to be instantly removed from this sublunary sphere, have constant labour until the world ends, and perpetual wailing thereafter!

The mill of Glascorry lies still farther to the west of the hill, and is famous in local story as the scene of a poor “meldersifter's" toil on the day of her narrow escape from a wolf. The tradition may thus be briefly told:-While the system of thirlage was in its zenith, and no better plan thought of, a servant-girl was one day sent to this mill to sift a melder, or grinding of corn. The melder being large, she had a long and hard day's work, and was so overpowered by fatigue, that on her way home she lay down on a bank to rest herself, and fell asleep. She rested soundly until daybreak, when, to her surprise and horror, she found a huge shaggy wolf lying on part of her garment; but, with great presence of mind, she succeeded in quietly extricating herself, and stealthily fled home. On relating her adventure, the alarmed neighbourhood went in pursuit of the wolf, whose life had been long sought

after because of the havoc he had made among the flocks in all parts of the glen. He had left the place where the girl saw him, and the part of her apparel which she had left, and on which he had wreaked his vengeance, was found torn to shreds; but chase being given, he was discovered on the West Shank of Wirran, and almost instantaneously shot by, it is said, Robertson of Nathro. This was the last wolf seen in the district-provincial story says in Scotland; and, whether in imitation of the usual love-story, or from fact, it is also told that the young laird of Nathro led the poor melder-sifter to the hymeneal altar!

The antiquarian objects of Lethnot, and indeed of the united parish, are few and unimportant, and the whole district is equally meagre in traditions regarding the Lindsays and other old proprietors. In the vicinity of Craigendowie, however, among the mass of artificial-looking cairns (which are said to be the graves of warriors), there was a small circle, composed of a quantity of stones about the same size, and ranged in the same manner, as those at Fernybank, already described. Unlike the latter, this circle was never thoroughly explored, even at the time of its removal more than forty years ago, and if as old as prehistoric times, it cannot now be said in how far it may have been a place of sepulture.1 Craigendowie has, perhaps, its true etymon in the Gaelic Craigandubh, or "the black rock," for the craig is an immense black rock close by the river-side; but, according to a truer etymology, as well as popular story, it implies the "rock of the funeral cairn," or perhaps the "craig of battle or mischief;" and, if any reliance can be placed on the tales regarding the malicious actions of the kelpie in the dark pool beside it, or in the story of warriors having fallen in the neighbourhood, the latter rendering may not be altogether inapt!

Some fifty years ago, a good specimen of concentric circles stood on the farm of Newbigging, about half-a-mile

1 There are still circles on the farms of Braco and Blairno.

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north of the house, on an elevated part of the mountain; but, of the twenty or thirty large stones that enclosed an area of from fifty to sixty feet in diameter, only one remains, the rest having been carried away for various utilitarian purposes. This boulder, which is about eight feet high, is sometimes called the Druidical, but more commonly the "Stannin' Stane of Newbiggin'," and many flint arrow-heads have been found in its vicinity. When demolished, the middle of the area of the inner circle was found to be filled with small stones to the depth of about three feet, under which lay a quantity of black clammy earth, mixed with pieces of charcoal, while a track about two feet broad, composed of loose red sandstone, laid to the depth of a few inches, ran directly through the clammy earth and pebbles, from side to side of the outer circle. The site of these circles is about a mile north of the channel of the West Water, which is the nearest bed of the old red sandstone.

At a short distance from this stone are the foundations of a square building called the castle of Dennyferne. Traces of human dwellings have from time to time been turned up in its vicinity, and evidences of ancient tillage are quite distinct in numerous ridge-marks. It is said to have been a residence of the Lindsays, and the surrounding cottages to have been occupied by their retainers.

In a place called the Taberan Loan, a large stone, from its peculiar shape, and the tradition that the ladies of Edzell used to rest on it when accompanying their lords on fishing expeditions, is known as "Lady Eagil's Chair." It is destitute of all other traditionary associations; but Cobb's Heugh, a romantic part of the West Water (mainly formed by the track of the Burn of Margie), is not so uninteresting in this respect, being associated with a story regarding an ancestor of Black, the founder of the Gannochy Bridge. This family long tenanted the Mill of Lethnot, and the occupant of the period was a strong athletic person, fully as austere and turbulent in temperament as he was powerful in body. He and the laird