by the fupprefiion of the dignified clergy. Many of the barons, therefore, «" ea 1 ^ 
catched the fpirit of the prevailing zeal, and warmly efpoufed the expediency 
reducing religion to a Ampler form, than was found in the expenfive eftabli{h men * ^ 
cathedrals and collegiate churches : accordingly, during the minority of James _ 
wc find the fchemes of the facrilegious avarice nearly completed } and while the 1 
fatiable Morton directed the councils of adminiftration, the greatcft part of the 1 cV ^ 
nues of the church were alienated to fecular purpofes, and to indulge the wifi ie * ^ 
his favourites. It is true, that when the above monarch afcended the throne oft 
united kingdoms, and faw how far the {lability of his crown was to be mainW 10 ^ 
by the influence of the fpiritual lords, by royal authority the lands and revenu^ s ^ 
the church were to be reflored, and the Bishops of Scotland ordained to i e 
their feats in parliament, as fome balance to the turbulent fpirit and encreafing p° ^ 
of the barons. The General Afifembly, which had been authorized by law, as a 
preme council for confulting the interefts of religion, joined their voice of app r0 _ 
tion to the decrees of the king, and concurred in the expediency of thefe meafb r ^ 
but the barons, who had once tailed the comfort of enjoying the ecclefiaftical em 
ments, and thereby finding their fortunes more unembarrafied and free, relu£t‘ lI \^ 
gave up their claim to the pofteflion, and foon profited anew ot the opp° rCun '^] ar 
which the fucceeding diftradlions of government offered them — favoured the p°P 
remonflrances of the hardfliips they fuffered from the alledged tyranny of the bifh°P^ 
and concurred with the preachers againll Episcopacy, to obtain the fanflion ot 
for its abolition, and the future appropriation to themfelves of the extenfive reven ^ 
which had fupported the Catholic inftitutions. At what particular epochs of &£ 
formation the feveral lands devoted to the church reverted into the hands ° ^ 
nobles, is not always particularly fpeeified in the annals of that period, nor won 
of much efiential confequence, if more particularly known. _ ^ 
Laurence the fourth Lord Olipbani, who forved heir to his father in i$66, * s ^ 
prefented in memorials of the times as a man of lingular merit, a great loyah > 
hering firmly to the interefts of Queen Mary during all the time of the civil vv3 ^ 
His fon married a daughter of the Earl of Morton. Few families had 
greater figure in Caledonian flory than his. The race is traced up to a j 5 
Dane, who came over in the reign of Donald VI. One of the defcendan^^ 
found witnefs to a charter of a priory granted by King David II f. Another, 3 
of great intereft and power, married Lady Elizabeth Bruce, daughter of th e 
mortal King Robert. . ^ ^ 
Charles the feventh Lord Olipbant, who, in the end of laft century, ma rrie ^. jlS 
young lady of the family of Ogilvie of Milltown , built this caftle, which ft*M 
his name. Their only fon died when young j and their lands in the barony 0 
were recognized, by adjudication, to be then the property of the Earls of ^ 
later. They had been of old in the poflefllon of that family ; and after vari° uS 
tune reftored, continue annexed to the extenfive territories, which conftitute th eir 
fent fo valuable eftate. 
* Dcuglajds Peerage, 528. 
f Chartulary of CoWngham. 
