THE QUIGRICH. 437 



present representative of those to whom the Bruce entrusted the 

 custody of the sacred relic, has acquired a farm in Western Canada, 

 and — more from want of faith in the fidelity of future heirs, than 

 from himself undervaluing the hereditary trust, — is not unwilling to 

 part with the relic, if he could see it transferred to safe keeping. He 

 has hitherto named £500 as the lowest sum he was willing to receive 

 for it ; and at one time submitted to the Earl of Elgin, while Grov- 

 ernor Greneral of Canada, a proposition to take in lieu of this, two 

 thousand acres of Canadian land to be apportioned amoug his sons, 

 on learning that His Excellency, who claims the honors of the Bruce, 

 coveted tbe precious heirloom. Since then he has expressed his 

 approval of a modified scheme by which I have endeavoured to 

 secure the deposition of this national relic in the Museum of the 

 Scottish Antiquaries at Edinburgh, where it would possess an interest 

 and value altogether wanting to it while it lies, as it has done for 

 some time, safe but totally unheeded, in the strong room of a Cana- 

 dian Custom House. Under this proposed arrangement the Keeper- 

 ship of the Crozier is to remain nominally with the Dewars, — to avert, 

 it may be, the evil consequences said to have followed on a former 

 occasion, when the custody was transferred to other hands. My cor- 

 respondent, the Rev. M. McDonell Dawson, remarks in the letter 

 already referred to : " This family lost possession of the Crozier for 

 a time, having disposed of it for a sum of money to an ancestor of 

 my mother's family, who adhered to the ancient faith.* Soon after 

 this transaction, however, ceasing to prosper, and attributing their 

 change of circumstances to their indifference to a sacred object that 

 had been solemnly entrusted to them, they persuaded the purchaser, 

 or rather the person who inherited the Crozier from him, to part with 

 it in his favour." 



In reply to my inquiries for family traditions or documentary evi- 

 dence relative to the Crozier of St. Fillan, Mr. Dewar thus writes : 

 " I am sorry to say that I can give you but little information con- 

 cerning the Quigrich. My father came to this country in the year 

 1818 ; and in coming up the Ottawa river, met with an old Scottish 

 gentleman, of the name of McDonald, with whom he left several old 

 papers that he had concerning the Quigrich, which papers were 

 never returned, as Mr. McDonald's house was burned soon after, and 



♦ Mr. Alexander Dewar, the present owner, is a Presbyterian, as his immediate ancestors 

 were. 



