mself for
officiating at Gask, his services would be henceforth dispensed with.
He sent to him his official robes, and returned some books, the reading
of which he had got from Mr Cruickshanks. It is said that George III.,
hearing of Gask's unswerving constancy, sent, by the member of
Parliament for Perthshire, his compliments--not the compliments of the
King of England, but of the Elector of Hanover--to Mr Oliphant. He
died in 1792, and was succeeded by his eldest son Laurence, the third
of that name in succession. It was this laird who pulled down the
"Auld House" in 1800, except a part of the front wall, which was
allowed to stand, as an interesting ruin, and around which now centre
so many tender and hallowed associations. He also built the present
large and substantial mansion-house, which occupies a commanding
situation a few yards from the "Auld House." With the concurrence of
the Presbytery, he removed the Parish Church and manse from the site on
which they had stood for several centuries to another about a mile to
the north. This must have been in many respects a very desirable
change, both for the laird and the minister. There were only a few
yards formerly between the mansion-house and the manse, and this
proximity must have at times been rather uncomfortable for both. A
more eligible site, however, could easily have been got on which to
build the new church and manse, but it possesses the great advantage of
being central for the whole parish.

About the period at which we have now arrived in our narrative there
was emerging into fame a member of the Oliphant family, who was
destined to throw as bright a lustre around that name as any who had
ever borne it--who is styled "the brightest jewel in the Oliphant
crown." I refer to Carolina Oliphant, who was the third daughter of
the younger Jacobite laird, and who was named after the King over the
water. She was born in the "Auld House"--which she afterwards
celebrated in song--in the year 1766. She gave early indication of
superior poetic genius and high musical accomplishments. Her great aim
was to purify the national songs, and to render them more suitable for
the use of the people. And she was led to attempt this from an
incident related in her memoirs. "Driving, during the annual fair,
through a small hamlet in the neighbourhood, she remarked many persons
holding in their hands a small book with a yellow cover. Desirous of
ascertaining what a