MEMOIR OK SIB J <J. I) A I. VII. I. 



Hied in tin- Advocate's Library. lie had contemplated compl--t- 

 ing t :-o aeries, but circumstances prevented the fulfilment of hi* 



intent ion. Tlu- work before us is entitled " A Brief Analysis of the Car- 

 tularies of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth Glmpd Royal of Stirling ! 

 ceptory of St Anthony at Lcith." Little of historical value is elucidated 

 from these records, yet they arc not without interest. They confirm the 

 existence of an early and settled system of Scotish jurisprudence. Men- 

 tioning a case of arbitration before six laymen, decided in the Church of 

 Perth in 1390, Sir John says " they pronounced an award as precise ami 

 formal as could be dictated at the present day. In another trial about 

 the same time, the prisoner was ordained to do penance. From the na- 

 ture of his sentence the ordinary dress of the peasantry at the time is plainly 

 indicated. It consisted of a hood, or cloak with a hood, a hat, base, shoe*, 

 and belt, with a knife. The nether garment is not mentioned. Although 

 in a Highland district , the people do not seem to have worn what is now 

 considered the Highland dress." 



The industry of Sir John was unceasing ; for in 1835, he favoured 

 the public with a work with which his name will be perpetually as- 

 sociated. We allude to his treatise on "The Darker Superstitions of 

 Scotland," published at Glasgow, in a thick 8vo., by Richard Griflin & Co. 

 The labour bestowed upon it must have been immense. The illustrative 

 facto are drawn from all authentic sources in this country, contrast'- 1 with 

 similar superstitions in foreign countries in ancient and modern times. 



About this time (1835) Sir John, who was a member of the " As- 

 sociation for Promoting the Arts in Scotland," and being himself, as for- 

 merly stated, an artist of great skill, exhibited to the society a number of 

 articles of his own manufacture. From a lengthy article on the subject , 

 in Chambers' Journal, we quote the following passages : 



" The amateur artist whose work we are about to describe, is Mr Graham Dalycll of Edin- 

 burgh, distinguished by his numerous antiquarian publications, and his patient inquiries into 

 the habits of the soophytical tribes, of which we lately presented some notices to our reader*. 

 This gentleman ban for many years prosecuted turning as an amusement, and, by the ex- 

 ercise of much natural ingenuity, and an expenditure of time which perhaps no professional 

 artist could hare afforded, be has produced some kinds of work, not only of surprising beauty, 

 but of such pecularitiet of shape and ornament, as would seem to defy the art by which 



