TRANSACTIONS. 5] 
a plan for a new building, but, being too expensive, one prepared 
by the tradesmen, on whose reports the reverend court acted, was 
preferred, and Mr M‘Diarmid has suggested, in accounting for the 
elegance of the church, that the design must have been partly 
borrowed from Mr Adam’s plan. A careful perusal of the process 
before the Presbytery and of the proceedings of the Town Council 
in the matter will, I think, lead to the conclusion that another 
and more likely explanation is to be found. 
Estimates submitted to the Presbytery along with the reports 
on the reparation of the Old Church had been approved, and on 
the amount brought out, the proportion to be paid by the land- 
ward heritors had been arranged. Being thus restricted, the 
Council, on Mr Adam’s plan proving too expensive, arranged one 
with the tradesmen on the lines of their reports and estimates, 
but with such modifications as the new conditions seemed to re- 
quire. In this way the design originated and grew out of the 
form of the Old Church. The ground plan almost exactly follows 
the old one; the central division corresponds in position and 
width with the old chancel and nave, as do the aisles with those 
preceding ; and the most prominent feature, viz., the arcades, a 
pre-Reformation characteristic, is also carried forward from the old 
church. Even the number of the pillars and half pillars agree, and 
the roof, although of pavilion form, was intended to be triple like 
the old one, the arcades being built for its support ; but a change was 
afterwards arranged, as, according to a minute of Council dated 
25th June, 1745, it was agreed on the suggestion of the trades- 
men to alter the plan, and, instead of three roofs, to adopt a design 
of one span, with a platform on the top, which the tradesmen 
represented would be as sufficient and much more beautiful. The 
pulpit now occupies exactly the place where the ancient altar 
stood. 
Ill. A Bronze Ewer Found near Moniaive. By Mr Joun 
CorRRIE of Moniaive. 
The brass tripod ewer was found during May, 1885, by a 
drainer employed on the lands of Craigmuie, an estate on the 
boundary line between Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. 
The soil in the vicinity is of the character of moss, and the ewer 
was found embedded therein at a depth of about three feet from 
the surface. The broken foot was found lying close beside. Mr 
Thos. Conchie, mole-catcher, Moniaive, noticing the strange shaped 
