S92 Memoir of James Stuart. 



head I want, not your hands ;"' and considerately and kindly adding that he 

 •would make only one stipulation ; that James should no longer mount a 

 ladder, not even to prune his favourite peach trees. 



Mr. Stuart did much for the embellishment of Musselburgh, by planting 

 forest trees and evergreens on both sides of the river Esk, near to the town, 

 the trees being liberally furnished by Sir John Hope ; and, also, by adorning 

 the rapacious High Street with rows of trees ; thus giving it the agreeable 

 aspect of a Continental place. In acknowledgment of these public services, 

 and in testimony of their respect, the maeistrates and town council of Mus- 

 selburgh, in IS29, presented Mr. Stuart with a pair of silver cups, suitably 

 inscribed. 



The Caledonian Horticultural Society is in the practice of voting honorary 

 medals or rewards to meritorious head gardeners w lio have served in the same 

 iamilies for the greatest number of years. In 1813, Mr. Stuart received this 

 mark of distinction ; and, at his own request, the award was a piece of useful 

 plate (a silver teapot), with an appropriate inscription. Of this memorial of 

 his long service at Pinkie he always professed himself more proud, than of all 

 the various prizes which, at different times, he obtained from gardening 

 societies. 



In 1S34, the completion of the 50th year of his service at Pinkie (or 

 his jubilee, as it was styled,) was celebrated in Menkendick's inn, at Mussel- 

 burgh, when more than 50 of the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, 

 and several friends trom a distance, met to do him honour. After dinner, two 

 riddles of claret (literally riddles [sieves], filled with some dozens of bottles of 

 claret) arrived from Pinkie house, as a present from Lady Hope, Sir John being 

 at that time absent from home. ^Vhen Mr. Stuart's health was given from the 

 chair, and when the whole companv, standing up, congratulated him enthu- 

 siastically, the venerable guest did not for a moment lose self-possession, 

 but proceeded, with serious composure,yet with the most complacent smile, to 

 return thanks. The writer of this notice cannot now recall the precise 

 expressions ; but he can say that they were ftill of good sense and good 

 feeling, and such as characterised the resigned Christian and benevolent friend. 

 The mention of the family of Hope of Pinkie, however, produced a burst of 

 gratitude from the old man, which did equal honour to both parties. On 

 that occasion he was presented with a bust of himself, done by Mr. Alexander 

 Ritchie, an ingenious artist of Fisherrow. ^Ir. Stuart's head was finely 

 formed, and made a most beautiful bust. A copv of this bust was afterwards 

 executed in stone, by desire of Lady Hope, and was honoured with a niche in 

 the conservatory of Pinkie garden, where it still remains. 



Mr. Stuart continued through life attached to the Secession Church, in the 

 communion of which he had been brought up ; but he adhered to that 

 constitutional " remnant " who maintained the principles of the original 

 Seceders (who, be it observed, seceded onlv from the then prevailing party in 

 the judicatories of the EstabUshed Church, appealing to the first free and 

 reforming General Assembly, and, in their own language, " looking for and 

 longing for reunion in the^truth," but who remainecT firmly attached to the 

 Church of Scotland as established by the law of the land). He was a most 

 regular attendant on the ministn,- of Dr. M'Rie of Edinburgh, the celebrated 

 biographer of Knox and Melville. When the walk of five miles to Edinburgh 

 became fatiguing to Mr. Stuart, Sir John Hope presented him with a pony, and 

 thus enabled the worthy patriarch to wait on the ministrations of his revered 

 pastor till the lamented death of the doctor, in August, 1835. 



For a good many years, syn)ptoms of calculous complaints had occasionally 

 annoyed the subject of this memoir. Latterly these became aggravated, and 

 produced considerable suffering. But, till the severe winter of 1S37-8, he 

 continued actively employed in superintending the garden and home farm. 

 The last communication received by the writer of this notice from his worthy 

 old correspondent at Pinkie was dated 12th December, 1837 ; it was auto- 

 graphic, having been written with the left hand, and accompanied a basket 



