and
because of the part he is supposed to have taken in bringing her to
justice, not only was a curse pronounced upon the parish, but for
rhyming purposes a curse is also pronounced on Mr Bowie and his
successors in office--

"Yon bonnie manse shall ne'er a tenant see
Who shall not yet this bitter day abye,"--

a curse which has not been realised, so far as we know, in the case of
any of those who have ministered in holy things in the parish. If
there is any honour attached to the work of burning witches, we
conclude that the parish can claim the honour of being the first to
obey the law enacted on the 4th of June, 1563, and if the evidence
given at the trial of John Brughe be at all reliable--as we have no
reason to doubt--the real name of the witch was Kate Nike Neiving.

Fifty years ago, Monzie was a flourishing village of one hundred and
twenty inhabitants, while in the immediate neighbourhood there would be
perhaps two hundred and thirty more. Now, the population over the same
area is not above a fourth of that number. The few cottages that
remain speak of other days, and the old churchyard, and the jougs--an
iron collar in which offenders were pilloried--fastened to the porch of
the church, bring back the long-forgotten past. Many changes have
taken place during the last fifty years. Pendicles have been swept
into large farms; the industry of weaving and spinning has disappeared.
But the natural aspect of Monzie is unchanged: the Almond and the
Shaggie still run sunny and clear from the everlasting hills through
her silent vales, which look upon the lover of nature with a face of
beauty as fresh and entrancing as ever.

[1] _Statistical Account of Monzie_, by Mr Laurie.

[2] _Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland_, 1732.

[3] _Liber Insule Missarum_.

[4] _Memorials and Queries_. Printed by Constable, Edinburgh, 1846.

[5] _The Holocaust_. By Rev. George Blair. Edinburgh: 1845.

[6] The first Graeme of Inchbrakie was a son of the first Earl of
Montrose. His father gave him a charter to it, and to Aberuthven,
dated June, 1513.

[7] The stone had been honoured by being set in a gold ring.

[8] _Waverley Anecdotes_, p. 190.

[9] _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_. By John Graham Dalziel.
Glasgow: 1835, p. 579.

THE CASTLE, BARONY, AND SHERIFFDOM OF AUCHTERARDER

By A. G. REID, F.S.A., Scot., Auchterarder

Tradition asserts that the Castle of Auchterarder was