Transactions. 83 



spelled, Gretna. His name stands alone among the eminent men of 

 that parish in the Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire, where it is 

 also mentioned that many of his MSS. are in tlie possession of 

 the "Misses Gibson, Edinburgh." These ladies, now long 

 deceased, were my grand aunts, and then well known in Edin- 

 burgh society. It was when a boy, spending part of ray holidays 

 in Gretna, that I lirst heard the name of Mr Gatt mentioned 

 with reverence and regard ; but the old people who then loved to 

 speak of him are all dead; and, indeed, since the railway invaded 

 what was then a secluded parish these old-world stories, as I may 

 call them, have gradually given place to new and more exciting 

 narratives. 



My present purpose is to supplement the information which 

 has been already published by a few traditions within my own 

 knowledge, chiefly obtained from the late Rev. Mr Smith, 

 minister of Tillicoultry, who in his boyhood heard them from his 

 uncle, the late Rev. Mr Smith, minister of Morton, in Dumfries- 

 shire, both of whom entertained through life feelings of great 

 veneration and regard for Mr Gatt's memory. 



Mr Gatt sometimes spelled his name Gath, but I understand 

 this was because in Latin "Gatheus"is more euphonious, and 

 Gatt was his proper surname. In the Statistical Account it is 

 spelt Gait, which lias been a printer's error. He was born 10th 

 January, 1700, in Cullen, Banffshire; studied theology in the 

 University of Edinburgh; was examined and licensed in 1727; 

 and appointed assistant and successor to the Rev. Mr Black, 

 then minister of Gretna, towards the close of the same year. 

 He was ordained minister of the parish, 30th April, 1730, and 

 died as father of the Synod, 31st October, 1787, in his 88tli 

 year, and after a pastorate in the parish of altogether 60 years. 



He married in 1741 Miss Jean Gowanlock, daughter of the 

 then minister of the adjoining parisli of Kirkpatrick-Fleming, 

 who died in 1786, being a year before hiin.self, aged 86; and 

 both are buried in tlie parisli churchyard of Gretna. 



They had no family, and adopted a niece. Miss Maclaurin, who 

 died in Edinburgh unmarried, a venerable and highly respected 

 lady, in 1818, aged 88. 



A portrait in crayons of Mr Gatt represents a shrewd, kindly, 

 and intellectual countenance beneath a very old fashioned white 

 wig, and dressed in canonicals. This portrait has been sent to 



