of Angus, as successor to the late Earl of Dalhousie; and in testimony of their high appreciation of his private character and public services. A brilliant company assembled in the Albert Institute on the occasion, the Countess of Strathmore, Lady Constance, Lord Glamis, the Honourable Francis Lyon, and the Honourable Ernest Lyon being present. On the lid of the elegant casket containing the Freedom of the Burgh, is engraved the following inscription:-"The freedom of the Burgh of Dundee, the certificate of which is enclosed in this casket, was by the unanimous vote of the Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council, conferred on the Right Honourable Claude, Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorn, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Forfar, in testimony of the respect entertained by them for his Lordship's character and public services." CHAPTER II. KINNETTLES. Sweet were the days by the swift-flowing Kerbet, THE name of the parish is doubtless derived from the Gaelic word Kinnettles, signifying "the head of the bog." The oldest forms in which the name appears are Kynettles, Kynathes, and Kynnecles. The ancient church of Kinnettles occupied a much more elevated position than the present structure on the banks of the Kerbet; and was one of the churches which was given by King James VI. to the Archbishop of St Andrews. Laurence of Montealt, a supposed kinsman of the old Lords of Ferne, was rector of the church in 1226; and Matthew was the name of the rector in 1364. In 1567 Inverarity, Meathie, and Kinnettles formed one parish, under the ministrations of James Fotheringham, to which was joined in 1574 those of Forfar, Rostinoth, and Tannadice, of all which Ninian Clement was minister, and Alexander Nevay was reader at Kinnettles. The last Episcopal clergyman was Alexander Taylor, author of a serio-comic poem entitled "The Tempest." Taylor and several of his brethren, when crossing in a boat from Burntisland to Leith, on 26th November 1681, encountered a terrific storm, and his description of the angry waves buffeting against the frail bark though quaint is very expressive : "Each kept his time and place, As if they meant to drown us with a grace; The first came tumbling on our boat's side, On the south bank of the Kerbet, opposite Brigton, is a conically shaped rising ground, called from time immemorial, Kirkhill, and which is supposed to have been at some remote period, the site of a religious house. It is matter of history that the proprietor of Foffarty built a popish chapel on his property after the Reformation, and appointed a priest to conduct the popish service, but the site of this chapel is said to have been on the margin of a den at the foot of Kincaldrum Hill. It was burnt by a party of Royal Dragoons in 1745; and so late as 1816, the ruins were dug up from the very foundation, and carried away to fill up drains! The lands of Foffarty were sold in 1758 to the Earl of Strathmore, and although they belong quoad civilia to the parish of Caputh, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland annexed them quoad sacra in 1773, to the parish of Kinnettles. The Wisharts of that Ilk were proprietors of Kinnettles before and during the year 1612, since which period the lands have passed into the hands of various proprietors. One of the more recent of these was Col. William Patterson, an eminent botanist, and sometime Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. He was the son of a humble gardener at Brigton, immediately adjoining Kinnettles. His parents being poor, he had the good fortune to receive the patronage of Lady Mary Lyon, second daughter of John, fourth Earl of Strathmore, by whom he was educated. Long residence abroad having impaired his health, he resolved to return to Great Britain, but died on the voyage, 21st June 1810. An elegant monument, on which are recorded his services and acquirements, was afterwards erected in the churchyard of his native parish. Mr John Inglis Harvey was another distinguished native of the parish. He left Kinnettles at a very early age, and after the completion of his studies at one of the English Universities, entered the service of the Hon. East India Company, and became a civil judge in India. The estate of Kinnettles was purchased in 1864 by its present proprietor, Mr James Paterson of Heathfield, Dundee, from the representatives of the late Mrs Harvey. The estate of Kinnettles occupies the whole of the south slope of Brigton Hill, with the tablelands to the north, down to the Kerbet water. It has, therefore, a beautiful exposure to the south, while it is sheltered from the north and east, by the woodland on the summit of the hill. A fine new mansion has been recently erected on a preferable site to that on which the old house stood, and somewhat higher up the hill, from elaborate designs by Messrs Peddie and Kinnear of Edinburgh. The building is in the old Scotch baronial style, and the broken, irregular outline of its walls and roofs, with their numerous turrets, towers, and battlements, arrest the attention, and challenge the admiration of the beholder, not less for their own beautiful proportions, than for the graceful manner in which they harmonise with the sloping ground in front, and the steep cliffs and overhanging woods behind. The total length of frontage to the south, including the north-east wing and conservatory, is 160 feet. The principal entrance is in the base of a massive square tower, at the south-east angle of the building. The front of the building to the west of the tower is most effectively treated, by being divided into two gabled projections, one at each end with recessed wall space between. In the front of the building is a spacious terrace, laid out in keeping with the style of the building, retained by low ornamental walls of Gothic character, and flanked at the angles by circular turrets, like miniature shot towers. Altogether the new mansionhouse of Kinnettles is one of the most elegant mansionhouses for its size, in the county of Forfar. The handsome village of Kinnettles is prettily situated on the banks of the Kerbet, a few miles to the east of Glamis, with whose history it is closely associated. Lying very low in the valley, it is ofttimes flooded by the waters of the Kerbet, which, during a spate in winter, frequently overflow its level banks. Hence its other name, "The Bog," by which it was equally well known as by that of its more aristocratic title, Kinnettles. The North Esk, has from time immemorial been the resort of the water-kelpies, and the Castle of Murphy being in the vicinity of that part of the river where he was most frequently seen, he afforded, tradition saith, most material service in its erection. In the Minstrelsy of the Border, Dr Jamieson refers to the circumstance thus: When Murphy's laird his biggin rear'd I carryt aw the stanes, And mony a chiel has heard me squeal, For sair birz'd back and banes. In a note the writer says "the water-kelpy celebrated the event of carrying stones for the building of the castle in rhyme; and that for a long time after, he was heard to cry with a doleful voice "Sair back and sair banes, Carrying the Laird o' Murphy's stanes." to which a later edition of the history has added— "The Laird o' Murphy will never thrive, So long as Kelpy is alive." As the extensive peat mosses in the neighbourhood, before they were drained, became the prolific nurseries of the "spunkies," so the Kerbet, like the North Esk, in a flood was also the favourite resort of the "water-kelpies "--both races of mythical spirits being now, alas! extinct. With earnest voice, yet full of fire, How Spunkie danced in sportive glee An awful sight on earth to see, Blue lighting all the dell |