favourable verdict has at once placed it among our standard books of modern travel.

Lord Southesk married, 1st, on 19th June 1849, the Lady Catherine Hamilton Noel, third daughter of the first Earl of Gainsborough, and of that marriage there was issue one son and three daughters. Lady Catherine Carnegie died in London, on 9th March 1855, only a few months previous to the restoration of the Southesk titles, and was buried in the family vault of Kinnaird.

Lord Southesk married, 2ndly, on 29th November 1860, the Lady Susan Catherine Mary Murray, eldest daughter of Alexander, Edward, sixth Earl of Dunmore, and of this marriage there is issue one son and four daughters.

Charles Lord Carnegie, eldest son of the Earl of Southesk, K.T., attained his majority on the 20th March 1875. The titles of the Southesk family, as already noticed, having been attainted in the rising of 1715, this was the first occasion since that date, that the coming of age of a Lord Carnegie had been celebrated, the present Lord Southesk having got the titles restored a few years ago. A very laudable desire was, therefore, expressed among the tenants of Lord Southesk's extensive estates, and the gentlemen of the county in general, that suitable recognition should be made of the interesting occurrence. Accordingly, a magnificent banquet was given in his honour on the 30th March, in the Mechanics' Institute, Brechin, at which there was a large attendance of noblemen and gentlemen of the county. The writer having been an honoured guest at the banquet, did what he could to render the proceedings both appropriate and agreeable. The "Congratulatory Ode" which he composed specially for the occasion, was read by the Rev. Mr Cameron, minister of Farnell, with great power and effect. The Ode is as follows:

:

CONGRATULATORY ODE.

Hail! youthful scion of a noble race,

In whose veins runs the purple blood of earls !

Six hundred years thy pedigree can boast,
From John de Balinhard, unto thy sire,
Whose cultured mind a radiance sheds around,
More brilliant far than daring deeds of arms,
Or senatorial triumphs in the State-
Whose glory, gourd-like, fadeth in a night.

Hail! youthful scion of a noble race!
On this auspicious day we greet thee well,
And bid thee welcome to our feudal feast;
Yet, not as vassals pay we homage due-
We meet as brothers, knit by every tie
Of friendship true, affectionate regard.
We go not forth to war, our trumpets hang
Unsounded in the corridors of peace,

Through which in low-breathed music ever rolls
The fervent homage of the loving heart.

Hail! youthful scion of a noble race!
Thy long, illustrious, bright ancestral line,
By warriors brave not all alone adorn'd,
But statesmen high in offices of trust-
Poets, lawyers, judges, men of high repute,
And loftiest range of thought, poetic song,
Whose mystic numbers vibrate in the ear,
Like ancient, well-remembered melodies.

Hail! youthful scion of a noble race!

The song of welcome greets thee from the bills,
Re-echoed from Monrommon's sylvan moor,
Whose woods are vocal with responsive praise;
The South Esk, sparkling bright with jewelled beams,
Enraptured onward flows in golden joy,
And virgin flowerets on its emerald banks
Blush sweeter in the fresh spring-time for thee.
And lo! in gossamer robes of purest white,
Gay crowned with diadems of roseate blooms,
Come tripping light with fairy feet, the band
Of loving sisters, whose soft voices, blent
With Nature's joyous songs, sweet fill the air
With strains divine of richest harmony!

Hail! youthful scion of a noble race,

In whose veins runs the purple blood of earls!
Uphold by noble deeds thine honoured name,
Not circumscribed by earth's contracted verge,
But stretching to infinity of space,

And grasping themes of philosophic thought,

Soar upwards ever with enlightened ken,
To higher, purer spheres of light divine.
Thus, like the eagle with expanded wings-
Imperial emblem of thine ancient House-

Sweep with thy pinions earth, and heaven, and time,
Thy keen eye fixed on far-off heights sublime,
Where, in unfading splendour, gleams the crown-
Eternal prize of glory and renown.

The "Song of Welcome," also composed by the Author, for the occasion, was finely and spiritedly sung by Mr Alexander Foote, son of the Rev. Dr Foote, Brechin :

SONG OF WELCOME.

Air.-"Lewie Gordon."

:

Brightest hope of Southesk vale!
Borne upon the fragrant gale,
Songs of beauty through the dale,
Ring out clear to welcome thee !

Joy each swelling bosom fills,
High o'er Carcary's gushing rills,
Echoed back from Grampian hills,
Sounds the trump of Jubilee !

Bursting woods all vocal sweet,
Blossoms white so rare and meet,

Clust'ring fondly round our feet,

Winds so balmy, fresh, and free!

Hark! Monrommon joins the song,

South Esk's hymns the strains prolong,
Maidens singing trip along,

Vocal valley, mountain, sea!

Scion of an ancient line!

Weal or woe, the task be thine

Boldly tread the path divine,
Leading on to liberty!

Pure thy soaring high desires,
Strive to emulate thy sires,

Keeping bright the holy fires

Pointing heav'nward, God, to Thee!

CHAPTER XXIII

GUTHRIE CASTLE.

Hail! Castle Guthrie's turrets high
Upshooting dark against the sky,

That grim old loop-holed stately tower,
The fit abode of feudal power.

LEAVING the princely mansion of Kinnaird, the first place of historic importance we reach, as we retrace our steps through the beautiful vale of Guthrie, is Guthrie Castle, the chief seat of the ancient family of that ilk.

The lands of Lour, situated in the barony and parish of Inverarity, were erected into a barony by Alexander III., and before the year 1464, they became the property of George first Earl of Rothes. On the 18th October of that year, the earl granted a charter of the barony of Lour, the lands of Muirtown, and half of the lands of Carrate, with the superiority of the barony, all in the shire of Forfar, in favour of Sir David Guthrie of Kincaldrum, Treasurer to James II. To much the same age as Redcastle, which was occupied down to about the close of the sixteenth century, probably belongs the tower or older portion of Guthrie Castle. Sir David Guthrie of Kincaldrum and Lour, acquired the barony of Guthrie from the Earl of Crawford, about the year 1465, and became the founder of the family of that ilk. The new dormitory of the Abbey Church, Arbroath, was erected about 1470, during the time of Abbot Guthrie.

The barony of Guthrie was probably Crown property when William the Lion granted the church and its patronage to the Abbey of Arbroath. Sir David Guthrie, when he

acquired the barony, purchased the church and patronage of Guthrie from the Abbey of Arbroath, and erected it into a Collegiate Church, with a provost and three canons, to which number his son added five. Sir David Guthrie was designed in the charters of King James III., in the public records, first, Captain of the King's Guard, afterwards Comptroller, then Register, and afterwards, Lord Treasurer, and last of all, Lord Justice General of Scotland. He was the son of Alexander Guthrie, laird of Kincaldrum, and brother to Abbot Richard of Arbroath, and appears to have been the most illustrious of his family. His grandson James was the parent of James Guthrie, the famous martyr who was executed at the Grassmarket of Edinburgh in 1651.

The celebrated William Guthrie, minister of Fenwick, author of the "Christian's Great Interest," was a son of the laird of Pitforthy, a collateral branch of the Guthrie family. He was born at Pitforthy in 1620, and died October 10, 1655. His ashes repose in the south aisle of the Cathedral of Brechin. William Guthrie, the historian of a later date, was a member of the same family.

In the charter by Sir John Erskine of Dun to Walter of Ogilvy, of the lands of Carcarry, 18th March 1400, occurs the name of John de Guthry. In the year 1506 the Abbot and Convent of Arbroath, granted to Thomas, Lord of Innermeith and Baron of Inverkeilor, by an indenture made between them, the free use of that haven for fishing purposes during his lifetime. To this document, Alexander Guthrie of that ilk, subscribes his name and designation as a witness. In the same year Sir Alexander Guthrie of that ilk, adhibits his name to the retour of the service of James, Lord Ogilvy, as heir of his father, Lord Ogilvy, in the lands and mill of the Kirkton of Kynnell. Andrew Guthrie of that ilk, subscribes his name to the retour of the service of James, Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, as heir to James, Lord Ogilvy, his uncle, in the lands of Brekko and Ballischan, 31st August 1558.

"Deidlie feuds" continued to rage for generations between