lumbers
amidst these mountains or within this glen no one can say--we have but
dim tradition to guide us; but surely no spot seems more suitable for
the resting-place of the Caledonian bard. No monument is erected to
perpetuate his memory, nor speaking stone whispers to each passer-by in
the language of Wordsworth--

"In this still place remote from men
Sleeps Ossian in the narrow glen";

but it is surrounded by mountains torn and thunder-split, and it is
laved by a stream as pellucid as his own Cona, which ever sings as it
flows the lonely dirge of the bard who sang of battles and the breath
of stormy war. "We feel a pride," says Fittis, writing of Ossian's
tomb, "we feel a pride in cherishing the thought that the hoary bard's
pilgrimage closed in Perthshire's 'narrow glen,' where the murmuring
Almond sang his requiem, and that his ashes still rest not far from the
banks of the stream."

Innerpeffray, annexed _quoad civilia_ to the parish of Monzie about the
beginning of the seventeenth century, is one of its historic scenes.
It derives its name from the Pow--a small stream which joins the Earn
near this place. Inner-Powfray signifies the junction of two rivers.
The name Powfray was given to it when the marshy grounds around the
Abbey of Inchaffray were cut and drained, after the Battle of
Bannockburn, by order of King Robert the Bruce, for the services of
Maurice, Abbot of Inchaffray. In process of time "Powfray," or
"Innerpowfray," became merged into "Innerpeffray," the name by which it
has been known for many generations.

The first laird of Innerpeffray was Sir John Drummond. The lands were
bequeathed to him by his father as his patrimony, and in 1508 he
founded here a collegiate church, which he endowed with a revenue
sufficient to maintain a provost and prebend. The ruins of the chapel,
dedicated to Saint Mary, mentioned as early as 1342, are still to be
seen. The chapel has one feature not observed in any ecclesiastical
edifice--what is termed "a squint"--an oblique opening in the wall to
allow those who were late in attendance to hear mass without attracting
the attention of the officiating priest. Few traces of ornament are to
be seen on the building, but at the eastern gable there is a niche in
which a half life-size figure of the Saint may have been placed. The
chapel was an off-shoot of the Abbey of Inchaffray, and part of it has
been used for generations as the burial-place of the Earls o