Report of MEtiTiNtis fou loo? 19^ 



English soldier, whose attempt to spoil the image of the Virgin 

 of a jewel cost him the loss of his sacrilegious right hand. In 

 the archives of Rome there exists a reference, however doubtful, 

 to a pilgrimage in 1413 undertaken by many thousands of all 

 nations, for the purpose of visiting the holy well in its 

 immediate vicinity, to the virtue of whose spring had been 

 attributed many marvellous cures of body and limb, while 

 indisputable evidence can be produced to show that Pope 

 Pius II. traced the cause of the rheumatism from which he 

 suffered to the close of life to a pilgrimage in winter to this 

 same shrine during his visit to the Court of James I. in 1435. 

 The church is cruciform, the choir all arched with stone haviug 

 been added by Adam Hepburn of Hailes in 1439 ; and lu 

 addition to other interesting features it contains a Laird's Loft 

 with fine examples of old furniture in mahogany. A Visitor's 

 Book is kept in the vestry, in which the President inscribed his 

 name as representing the Club. On a rising ground behind 

 stands a lofty building, believed to be a sample of an ancient 

 tithe-barn, and possibly part of the pilgrims' houses referred to 

 in the Vatican document already mentioned. The hill is also 

 famous as the scene of a conventicle of a thousand people 

 assembled in 1678, which was dispersed by a garrison from the 

 the Bass, the outcome of which was the execution in the Grass 

 Market of James Learmonth for the crime of having attended 

 an unlawful assembly. From this point the route lay through 

 the property of Newbyth onward to Smeaton-Hepburn, the resid- 

 ence of our former President, Sir Archibald Buchan-Hepburn, 

 Bart., whose presence and participation in the day's excursion 

 contributed greatly to its variety and success. Arboriculture 

 has for long been the study of successive proprietors, with the 

 result that the parks and lawn abound in specimens of rare 

 Conifers and Deciduous Trees, planted and cultivated to the 

 greatest advantage. An extensive rock-garden also has been 

 recently added, in which the newest as well as the rarest of 

 Alpine plants have been attractively arranged and appear to 

 be thoroughly at home. A drive through the grounds 

 shortened to some extent the homeward journey, and brought 

 the members to the Railway Hotel, East Linton, at half-past 

 three o'clock. 



