wealthiest and most intellectual communions, worshipping in the noblest temples in the country.

Dr J. S. Barty, the present incumbent of Bendochy, was ordained assistant and successor to his father, Mr Thomas Barty, in 1829. He was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 1868; and in the same year was entertained at a public dinner at Dundee in recognition of his great abilities as a minister of the Gospel, and for general services to his church and country. During the agitation for the abolition of the Corn Laws, he distinguished himself under the nom-deplume of "Peter Plough," as an uncompromising opponent of the Abolitionists. He also contributed some able papers to Blackwood's Magazine, under the signature of "Cato the Censor."

Dr Barty, amongst his other accomplishments, includes that of a discriminating and enthusiastic botanist. In his elaborate description of the parish in the "Statistical Account of Scotland," he lovingly enumerates almost every plant found in it of interest to the botanical collector. The catalogue is so complete even at this date, that with the exception of a few plants in the adjoining parish of Coupar Angus, the student will find it contains the botany of a section of country extending from the base of the Sidlaws, across the valley of Strathmore, and over the Grampian range. To the east the practised eye of Don has left little to be discovered, but his researches do not seem, in the doctor's opinion, to have extended so far westward.

In this exhaustive enumeration of the Flora of the district, are included the Hieracium sylvaticum, a rare plant in Strathmore; the Ornithopus perpusillus; the Lythrum Salicaria; the Scirpus sylvaticus; the Chelidonium majus, &c.

In the highland part of the parish, the vegetation being of a sub-alpine type, are found, amongst other rare plants, the Alchemilla alpina, Viola lutea, Meum athamanticum, Sesleria coerulea, Polygonum viviparum, the Primula elatior; the Listera ovata; the Pyrola rotundifolia; the Botrychium lunaria.

The earliest date of the baptism register, Dr Barty states, is 23d January 1642. The proceedings of session commence with 11th September 1692. The marriage register begins in 1700. The minutes of session in the end of the seventeenth, and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, give some curious revelations of the history of the period. Regarding one offender, the doctor quotes" the session thouyat fitt to bring him in sackcloth, and cause him acknowledge his guilt on his knees." And regarding another, she appears for the twentieth time before the congregation on the stool of repentance! Again, T. B., "being examined anent what was alleged anent his stricking Thomas Craigie, a boy, on the Sabbath day, answered that the said Thomas threw in a stone among the children, and that he went out and only shot him over, he being removed, the members after discoursing of it, thought fit to dismiss him with the session rebook." Again, the laird of having been cited, appeared, and being asked whether he did "scandalously go out on the fast day with his gun," answered, "that he went out only to fleg the tod from his sheep." He was dismissed with the session's rebuke. The following entry also occurs, viz.,— "Received from G. B. 2 lib. 9 sh with other 2 lib. paid by him before to the session, is accepted as satisfaction for his daughter's resiling from purpose of marriage with one A. B., after the publication of the banns." An assault in 1721, of a very extraordinary character, having been committed on the person of a servant by his master, the case was taken up by the civil magistrate. The master, however, was cited before the session. He appeared and gave in a paper which he called a "declinator," having in company with him Mr Charles Hay, writer in Cupar. The declining their jurisdiction seems greatly to have provoked the session, and “having considered the whole matter, the insolent carriage of the said W. R., in presuming to decline this judicatory, his bringing in a public notar on the Lord's day," &c., "they did, ani hereby do refer the samen to the reverend presbytery of

Miggle to determine therein, in such a way as may either make the said W. R. obsequious to discipline, or bring him under ecclesiastical censure," &c. It is not recorded, quietly adds the doctor, whether the presbytery rendered the said W. R. "obsequious."

The Isla takes its rise in the Grampians and runs southeast with a rapid current, until it is joined by the sluggish Dean, and the "ireful Ericht," this latter river being com posed of the united streams of the Blackwater and Ardle. Thus increased in its volume of water, the Isla meanders past the church and manse of Bendochy, after which its direction is south-west to the Tay, into which it falls at Kinclaven.

Nearly the whole of the parish having been at one time Abbey lands belonging to the abbacy at Coupar-Angus, there are, as may be supposed, several interesting antiquarian objects in the district. The names of Monk Mire, Monk Callie, the Abbey Mill of Blacklaw, indicate to the present day, the connection which subsisted betwixt this parish and the religious houses at Coupar-Angus. In ancient times. there was a chapel at St. Phink, of which a small part of the foundation still remains. Near this place, as also at Pictfield, there were several cairns, below and around which human bones partially burned, bronzed battle-axes, and spear-heads have been found. At Monk Callie, there was also a chapel, and the burying-ground attached is still used as such.

The walls of the "parish church," Dr. Barty relates, "are very old. The pulpit is curious, being carved of oak, resembling John Knox's pulpit at St. Andrews, and evidently of the same era. There is a monumental stone in the back wall of the church to the memory of Nicol Campbell of Keithock, (son of Donald, Abbot of Coupar, and grandson of the Earl of Argyle,) who died 1587, aged seventy. Another in the west passage, (the inscription on which will soon be obliterated) to David Campbell of Denhead, the brother of Nicol Campbell. There are two other stones on the wall of the church, one to the memory of Leonard Leslie, entitled

Dominus de Cupro, Commendator of Coupar, who died 1605, aged eighty-one; and another representing a John Cummin of Couttie in this parish, dressed in a coat of mail, and standing on a dog; the date 1606."

We might now saunter "at our own sweet will," over level haughs and up gently sloping ridges in the lowland part of the parish, towards the confluence of the Ericht and Isla, until we reach the frontier of the Grampians; and then sniffing the mountain air of the Highlands, continue our delightful rambles to the hill of Persie where the wild roe breeds and abounds, and to which occasionally the red deer wanders from the herds of Caenlochan. We might also ply the "gentle art " in the angle of the confluence between the Ardle and Blackwater; or have a shot at the grouse or blackcock as they rise among the heather hills. But we shall, for the present, bid adieu to the pleasant scene; and while our eye again lovingly rests on the quiet, sequestered manse, "snugly embosomed in its own little grove of wood," let us listen to the warning voice of its incumbent which issues from its hallowed precincts "Oh! ye, my successors, lift not up the axe against the trees. Touch not the old ash, that has stood for a century the sentinel of the manse, guarding it from the eastern blasts, and protecting from the storm the graceful birches that weep and wave their graceful branches below."

Since these pages were written, alas! this amiable and learned divine has passed away to his heavenly rest, leaving an odour behind him of rich and pleasant memories, none the least of which is the deeply cherished recollection of the writer's visit to the manse and braes of Bendochy only a few short months before his departure hence. Although feebler in body, he seemed stronger in spirit, his conversation being characterised by all the ardour and exuberance of youth. But his work was done, and premonitions were not awanting that the summons was already on the wing, and the chariot ready!

THE parish of Blairgowrie, which we have now reached, adjoins that of Bendochy, and lies on the north side of the valley of Strathmore, stretching along the gently rising heights till it terminates on the lofty summits of the Grampian mountains. The barony once formed a part of the extensive possessions of the family of Gowrie, and the name is, doubtless derived from the Gaelic word Blaar, -a place where moor and moss abound, with the addition of Gowrie, as the ancient name of the district.

The parish is unusually rich in lochs, rivers, bridges, and old castles. Of the first there are no less than six, viz. the Stormont Loch, Black Loch, White Loch, Fingask Loch, the Monkmyre Loch, and Ardblair or the Rae Loch. The rivers connected with the parish are the Ardle, and Blackwater, the Lunan, and the Lornty, all these united forming the Ericht, which flows along the north-east boundary of the parish, and