220 Field Meetings. 



deposits before that period were to receive only four per cent. 

 The balance sheets shewed that in 1817 there were 130 deposi- 

 tors, and that the deposits, with added intere.st, amounted to 

 £1606 3s 2d; and that in 1822-3 the depositors' balances had 

 increased to £2042 19s 6d; in 1826-7 they rose to £2313 5s SJd. 

 The highest point reached during Dr Duncan's life, we know, 

 was in 1835, when the funds amounted to £3326. 



The famous Runic Cross, now so splendidly housed in 

 Ruthwell Church, is closely associated with the name of Dr 

 Duncan, who rescued it from neglect and destruction ; and the 

 Rev. Mr Dinwiddle is the zealous custodier and enlightened his- 

 torian of the precious relic of early British Christianity. He 

 told its story afresh to the visitors as they gathered around it, 

 and in a manner which invested it with fresh interest. 



Tea was set on the lawn, under the shade of a wide-spreading 

 elm tree, and the hospitality of the manse was gracefully dis- 

 pensed by Mrs Dinwiddle, assisted In" Mrs Scott and Miss 

 M'Creath. Here also a short business meeting was held, under 

 the presidency of Mr R. Corsane Reid of Mouswald Place. Miss 

 Gillespie, of Mouswald Manse, was admitted a member of the 

 society, on the motion of the Rev. Mr Angus. Provost Nichol- 

 son, Maxwelltown, who is himself a native of the parish of 

 Ruthwell, proposed a cordial vote of thanks tu the Rev. Mr Din- 

 widdle and Mrs Dinwiddle, and this was seconded by Mr Irving, 

 Corbridge-on-Tyne. Thanks were also accorded to the Earl of 

 Mansfield, Mr and Mrs Johnstone-Douglas, and the Rev. Mr 

 Angus and Mrs Angus, on the motion of Mr W. Dickie, seconded 

 by Dr Semple. Mr Dinwiddle ol)ser\'ed that the tree under 

 which they sat was no doubt one of those which Dr Duncan 

 planted ; and mentioned that in the garden there is a remnant of 

 an espalier of his planting, commonh' known in the district as 

 "the Doctor's apple-dyke." On one of the trees in the policies 

 the initials of two of his sons, cut in their boyhood, are still very 

 distinct. Dri\ing off in the early e\ening, with renewed ex- 

 pressions of thanks to the lady of the manse and the minister, 

 the company drove home b\ way of the Brow ^^'ell and Bankend. 

 On the wa}- they noted the stunted condition of the Isle Tower, 

 which was the residence of the Maxwells of Xithsdale after Caer- 

 laverock Castle ceased to be inhal)ited. A good deal of the 

 masonrv has fallen dunnr;- the winter. 



