whilk could subscrive." Two years later, after Montrose's unsuccessful attempt to restore Charles II., the thanksgiving was held "for the victorie in the north," or the decisive battle of Invercarron, in Ross-shire, where the champion of royalty was defeated by Colonel Strachan, taken prisoner, and afterwards hanged at Edinburgh. A few months later, the minister" was appoynted by the Presbytery to attend the Lord of Egill's regiment for a month," the latter, like his noble relative of Balcarres, being a staunch supporter of the Covenant. Towards the close of the same year two fasts were kept, the one "for the sinnes of the King's famillie," and the other "for taking the rebels; "3 as was also a fast, ten years later, for "the King's happy restauratioune." Some of these scenes occurred during the ministry of Mr. David Campbell, who was a supporter of the Parliament, for the time being, and the feeling in the parish at the time of his death is well exemplified in the reception which Mr. M'Henrie received from the parishioners in 1699, when he preached the kirk vacant on the death of Mr. Campbell, for he declares that on that occasion he "was violently opposed by severall women with clubs in their hands, so that he could not have access" to the church.4 During the rebellious movements of the early part of the following century, when the Chevalier de St. George attempted to establish his right to the throne, the faith that had been bought by the price of so much blood was suspended in the parish for a short time, the minister being "obliged to retere," and the church and pulpit taken summary possession of by "curats and rebellious intruders;" but on the happy conclusion of hostilities the ejected pastor resumed his labours, and the schoolmaster and several farmers, who had aided 1 Parish Reg. May 20, 1650. 2 Ibid. Aug. 11, 1650. 3 Ibid. Dec. 22, 1650. 4 The King's advocate was apprised of "the said ryot," and issued "counsell letters against the robbers."-(Brechin Presby. Record, iii. fol. 35-45, 9th July 1699.) MENMUIR-CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD. 303 and abetted the treasonable doings of the times, were rebuked for countenancing those "who prayed for a popish Pretender, and for success to the rebels against our protestant soveraign King George.' "1 The kirk, which was the scene of those unseemly but interesting historical events, stood on the site of the present commodious edifice, and seems to have been replaced by another in 1767,2 when George Ogilvy was the minister. This lasted to 1842, and was in much the same style of building as the existing church at Careston, with an aisle on the north side, and lofts in the north, east, and west ends. The Collace burial-aisle stood detached near the east end of the church, but was demolished when the present building was erected; and" a skull was found with a band, or fillet, of silver lace around it, with stripes of the same covering from the fillet to the crown of the head. The silver is supposed to have been the remains of a skull-cap, and appeared to have been plaited with hair. In the progress of decay, it had come to adhere closely to the bone."3 Two fragments of stones-one a rudely incised cross, the other a cross in low relief-were got in the Collace burial-place in 1861. There is no monument, however, belonging to either the Collaces, the Lindsays of Balhall, the Symerses of Balzeordie, or the Livingstons of Balrownie, all of whom were long proprietors in the parish; but the following quaint lines on John Symers of Balzeordie, were written by a local Latin poet of the name of Leech, who will soon after be noticed :— "Joannis Simmer (quod æstatem Anglice sonat) à Balyordie, tumulus. Regnat hyems, æstas fuerat; miracula non sunt, Estas si brumâ iam subeunte, perit." 4 The burial-place of the Carnegies of Balnamoon is attached to the north side of the church, and enclosed by a parapet and railing, which in 1872 took the place of the previous high wall 1 Parish Reg. Feb. 18, and April 18, 1716. 2 Old Stat. Acc. v. 150. 4 Epigrammata, p. 59. with massive moulding. Built into the church wall, there is a beautiful sculpture of the armorial bearings of the first laird of the name, Sir Alexander, impaled with those of his lady, Dame Giles, eldest daughter of Alexander Blair of Balthyock, with the date 1639, and their respective initials, "S. A. C. : D. G. B." As Sir Alexander survived long after this period, the date, perhaps, refers to the time of his lady's death and the erection of the aisle. Though no monument marks the graves of the Carnegies (except a marble recently raised to the memory of three of the late laird's family, and a granite Iona cross to his own by his surviving daughters), the graveyard contains an abundance of mortuary memorials, but few possess any general interest. Perhaps the most remarkable (taking into account the humble position in life from which the erector rose to eminence) is that erected by "Colonel David Leighton, C.B., AdjutantGeneral at the Presidency of Bombay, in memory of his parents, Thomas Leighton and Ann Fairweather." After the erection of this monument in 1825, the Colonel was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General; and, for his meritorious services in India, where he was esteemed for the justice and impartiality of his conduct, and for his military attainments, he was made K.C.B. in 1837. His ancestors can be traced in the Parish Register back to the year 1698, when his direct progenitors, "David Leighton and Jean Mathers, were married." Sir David, however, was not a native of Menmuir, but of Brechin, having with his three sisters been born in Market Street, where his father erected a house, and David first saw the light in 1774. Owing to feeble health, his father removed to a pendicle on the farm of Cookstone, and for a time carried on the work of a wheelwright; in the same claybuilt cottage, long since removed, the widow remained with her family. In early youth, Sir David was a banker's clerk in Montrose, but, having a taste for military service, he obtained, through MENMUIR-SIR DAVID LEIGHTON, K.C.B. 305 the influence of his uncle (father of the late Mr. Leighton of Bearhill), a cadetship in the East India Company's Service, on 20th January 1795, and rose step by step till he attained the highest position. When he died at Cheltenham, on 1st June 1860, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, he had received the honour of knighthood, and was senior officer on the Bombay establishment. He had seen a long period of active service in India, and for many years had held the office and discharged the duties of Adjutant-General to the Bombay army with firmness, impartiality, and general satisfaction. The following epitaph, though not remarkable for either sublimity of thought or orthographical accuracy, is worthy of transcription, as pointing out the burial-place of a family surnamed Guthrie,1 whose members bore a chief and active part in the management of the municipal affairs of the city of Brechin for upwards of a century. They long continued to be the most considerable traders of that city, and the late Dr. Alexander Guthrie, sometime Provost, and the late Rev. Dr. Thomas Guthrie of Edinburgh, famous as the advocate of Ragged Schools, were sons of one who had also been chief magistrate. The principal farms of Menmuir were once tenanted wholly by Guthries, and the small estate of Burnside was owned by one of them; but the name (save in the female line) is now almost unknown in the parish. The tablet, from which these lines are copied, was erected in 1795, and is profusely decorated with mortuary emblems: "All passengers as you go by, And chance to view this stone, To mind you of Mortality, Behold the scull and bone: Likewise the darte, that wounds the hart, And syath that cuts the Threed Of life, and coffin for to hold, The bodie when its dead." 1 The father of the first Guthries in Menmuir was tenant of Balbirnie Mill, near Brechin, and is represented as residing with his son in Menmuir, Sept. 21, 1731.— Mem. Book of York Buildings Co., MS., p. 332, the property of the Earl of Dalhousie U At Tigerton, the only hamlet in the parish, the Episcopalians had a meeting-house down to a late date, in which the service was conducted at first by a resident minister, as was done by Dean Somerville, and then by the minister of the Brechin chapel. Though not so extensive as in old times, this village is still the home of the wright, blacksmith, shoemaker, and grocer; and is remarkable in story as the spot on which. the Earl of Crawford and his merciless followers rested, when wreaking their vengeance over the lands of Collace of Balnamoon, through whose treachery Crawford supposed he had lost the battle of Brechin; and, from the fact that the Earl bore the singular sobriquet of the "Tiger," the name of Tigertown is said to have been conferred upon this particular place. SECTION II. Of the antient lordis and ladies gaye, OLD POEM. Lands of Menmuir-Royal residence-Kilgery-Exploit of Peter de SpaldingHermitage of Kilgery chapel-Balzeordie-Somyrs of Balzeordie-Slaughter of Graham of Leuchland-Connection of the Carnegies in Menmuir-Menmuir thanage belonged to different families-The Collaces became reduced-yet known to literature-Leech a connection-Carnegies of Balnamoon related to the Arbuthnotts-Purchased Balzeordie and Balrownie-"The rebel laird ”—not such a sot or Goth. Down to about the middle of the fourteenth century the lands of Menmuir were in possession of the Crown, under the superintendence of thanes, and the rents were drawn by the sheriffs; during that period the poverty of the inhabitants and the value of the rents are well authenticated. David de Betun, sheriff of Forfar in 1290, claims deduction in his accounts for that year, for lxvi lb. xiij s. iiij d., rent of the land of Menmoryth," which could in no way be recovered on account of the poverty of the husbandmen of the said land, as the chamberlain and whole country witnesseth," and this rent was increased by fifty marks |