Heport of Meetings for 1906 37 



through Haddington and East Linton, and enters the sea 

 near Tynningham, the stately home of the Earl of Haddington. 

 The family of Dalrymplo has been intimately associated 

 with the history of Scotland, and of it Sir Walter Scott 

 declared that it "had ptoduced within the space of two 

 centuries as many men of talent, civil and military, and 

 of literary, political, and professional eminence, as any 

 house in Scotland." They were prominent in Ayrshire 

 in the middle of the 15th century, one of the daughters 

 of the house being accused of participating in the Wycliffe 

 heresy in 1484. Her great-grandson, John Dalrymple of 

 Stair, was an early adherent of the Eeformation, and her 

 great-grandson, James, after serving in the army, was called 

 to the bar in 1675, and thereafter appointed a Lord of 

 Session. He was created Viscount Stair and Lord Glenluce 

 and Stranraer in 1690, and before his death in 1695 completed 

 his great work on "The Institutions of the Law in Scotland." 

 He was buried in St. Giles Cathedral, in commemoration of 

 which the present Earl, being the eleventh in succession, 

 raised a tablet in that historic building during the sitting 

 of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland this year. 

 The house of Stair holds extensive estates not only in 

 Midlothian, but also in Wigtonshire, where Lochinch Castle, 

 the ancient home of the Kennedys, in the vicinity of Stranraer, 

 presents a fine example of Scottish baronial architecture. His 

 Lordship not being in residence was represented by his local 

 agent, Mr Smith, Cranstoun Eiddell, who accompanied the 

 party through the grounds. A visit was first paid to the 

 Gardens, at the entrance to which are fine specimens of 

 Cupressus Lawsoniana (35 feet in height), C Nootkaensis, 

 Lihocedrus decurrens, and Thuja dolohrata, the first of which 

 attracted much attention. Passing to the left of the gardener's 

 house, the members were conducted to the Mansion-house, 

 and thereafter over a fine lawn to the Pinetum planted about 

 fifty years ago, in which Pinus Austriaca and P. Laricio 

 were generously distributed for the sake of shelter. Among 

 finely grown and healthy Conifers were noted : — Abies grandis, 

 A. nobilis, A. Nordmanniana ; Pinus cemhra ; Picea orientalis ; 

 Ahietia Douglasii ; and Cedrus Atlantica. A stately row 

 of Wellingtonias (Sequoia gigantea) edges either side of the 



