Field Meetings. 01 



in " the dry summer " of 1862 whisky could be got for os Gd and 

 6s 6d per gallon. Many well-known names occur in the list 

 of customers. Among others we note, under date 1785 and 1786, 

 that of Mrs Carlyle's grandfather, designated in the book " John 

 Welch, Craingputock." Besides being laird of the moorland farm 

 which his grand-daughter's husband has rendered classic ground, 

 John Welsh farmed as tenant Penfillan, in Keir. The visitors 

 enjoyed also the hospitality of Mr and Mrs Laurie, and saw a silver 

 kettle which was presented to the former in acknowledgment of 

 lengthened service as secretary to the Tynron Curling Club. 

 Betaking themselves to the chui'chyard, they viewed the grave of 

 Mr Shaw, the naturalist, poet, and humorist of the glen ; and 

 neighbouring it the slab commemorating William Smith, a young 

 Covenanting martyr, only nineteen years of age, and son as the 

 inscription tells us " to William Smith in Hill " (nowCrawfordton), 

 who was shot "' at Moniaive Moss." The customary verse repre- 

 sents the martyred youth as saying 



" Douglas of Stonehouse, Laurie of Maxwelton, 

 Caused Cornet Bailie give me martyrdom." 



The first of this trio will sleep in the same churchyard with their 

 victim, for we read on a table-stone in a walled enclosure : " This 

 is the burial-place of John Douglas of Stonehouse. 16^3." The 

 arch-persecutor, Grierson of Lagg, was also a Tynron laird, and 

 the place names, Aird Linn and Aird Wood, pjrpatuate the title of 

 the barony which belonged to his family. The church is a neat 

 but unpretentious building, erected in 1838, and its interior is 

 enriched with two handsome figured windows, ti the memory of 

 Mr John Kennedy of Kirkland and Mr Adam Brown of Bennan. 



Turning- sharp to the right on passing Stonehouse, and before 

 reaching the steep Dunreggan Hill road to Moniaive, we enter the 

 most contracted part of the Shinnel glen, and the journey proceeds 

 through a pastoral country, for great part of the way under the 

 shade of umbrageous woods, dotted with chestnuts in splendid 

 bloom. Down by the bank of the stream a broad patch of intense 

 blue indicates a luxuriant growth of the wild hyacinth, and other 

 flowers stud the fields. The road is a rapidly ascending one ; 

 and starting from Tynron bridge at 359 feet above sea level, we 

 find ourselves at Auchenbrack at an altitude of some 620 feet. 

 Here a hospitable welcome awaits us from Mr J. R. W, Wallace. 

 A substantial tea is set out in the open, and when it has been 



