10 Anniversary Address. 



to Mr Ritchie, dated New Plymouth, New Zealand, Septem- 

 ber, 1869. The writer was Mrs Helen A. Wilson, the widow 

 of Dr Peter Wilson, who was a cousin of Mrs Ritchie's, 

 settled in New Zealand since 1841. 



Mr Gilmore, who is referred to as the bearer to this 

 country of the letter and the shield, is a merchant in the 

 same colony : — 



" The following is the way in which the Shield or Target, 

 which I now send to your care, was placed in my father's hands 

 and safe keeping. Secretary Murray, observing where the unfor- 

 tunate Prince had thrown this Shield, when he was obliged to 

 leave the field of Culloden, on the 16th April, 1746, returned at 

 night, brought it away, and placed it in the keeping of Mrs Skin- 

 ner, wife of General Skinner, at -that time chief engineer of all 

 Scotland, in whose possession it remained until 1786, when that 

 lady gave it to my father, James Simpson, a well-known enthusi- 

 astic admirer of the Prince. Since my father's death, it has been 

 carefully preserved by me. The settlement of some family affairs, 

 caused Mrs Skinner, at a very advanced age, to go to Gibraltar. 

 As she was staying at my father's, she was not long in finding out 

 how sincerely he was attached to the House of Stuart, and there- 

 fore considered him the right person, in whose charge to trust the 

 relic, I have often heard him describe the way in which she gave 

 it to him. A few days before her departure for England, she re- 

 quested him to attend her in her bedroom. Seeing the lady was 

 in her 84th year, there was nothing very improper in the request, 

 with which Mr Simpson complied When he entered, the door 

 was carefully locked, and the window blinds drawn down. When 

 all these arrangements were completed, the 'old Jacobite' un- 

 locked a large trunk, took out all its contents, then tore off the 

 paper lining which usually covers the inside of such useful articles 

 of domestic furniture, and to Mr Simpson's surprise, who began to 

 think her insane, she removed a false bottom and brought to light 

 the above mentioned Shield, after having been concealed in the 

 old Dame's trunk for forty-one years. It remained under my 

 father's eye for thirty-four years. Since 1820, I have watched 

 over the relic, but not with the care I ought to have had for it. I 

 was wrong in the first place in allowing it to be brought to this 



