62 THE BANK ACCOUNTANT. 



learned that I set a valite on whatever was antique and 

 curious, he presented me with the fragment of a large 

 black-letter Bible which had once belonged to the 

 Urquharts of Cromarty.' 



It is perhaps worthy of mention that the value of the 

 black-letter Bible here alluded to may have been some- 

 what enhanced to Hugh by the circumstance that, in his 

 researches into the history of his native district and of 

 its remarkable men, he had come upon evidence that he 

 had the blood of Sir Thomas TTrquhart of Cromarty in 

 his veins. Far too proudly contemptuous of such a title 

 to distinction to specify the fact in his published writings, 

 he nevertheless referred to it, when the matter turned 

 up in conversation, as incontrovertible. The chapter de- 

 voted to Sir Thomas in the Scenes and Legends describes 

 him as a man of genius and learning, but fantastic, 

 speculative, and eccentric in the highest degree. He 

 flourished in the times of the Covenant and Common- 

 wealth. 



