e sweet uses of adversity. It suffered
eclipse for 200 years--from the year 1483, when the jurisdiction of the
Earl Palatine terminated, down to 1683, when a citizen of
Crieff--George Drummond of Milnab--became Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
During these long years, Crieff was an ordinary kirk-town, nowise
distinguished among its fellows. It had its Gothic Church, which seems
to have dated from a very remote period. When it was demolished, in
1787, forty gold coins of Robert I. were found in a hole in the wall
six feet from the ground. There was a law plea for the possession of
these coins between the Crown and James Gentle, the purchaser of the
old walls, which was decided in favour of the Crown. The houses of
Crieff were clustered round this old church--mainly east and north and
south. Crieff had no west end beyond the Cross until after 1731, when
the Master of Drummond made good his title to the Perth Estate, after
the forfeiture which ensued upon the proceedings of 1715. It was
burned to the ground in this year, but, thanks to the Master of
Drummond, it had reached a thriving condition as a market town for the
midland and western districts of Scotland, when the Highlanders broke
loose again in 1745. It suffered no second burning, though the
Highlanders had possession of it, and Prince Charlie held a stormy
council of war in the old Drummond Arms, at the foot of Hill's Wynd.
Since then, Crieff has become a "braw toon" without the other "singe"
its Highland neighbours destined for it. The coming of the railway in
1856, and the adoption of the Police Act in 1864, have done wonders,
enabling it to take full advantage of its many attractions. It was
loyal to the Hanoverian dynasty during the troubles of the "'15" and
the "'45"; but one hundred years before the last outbreak it gave a
kindly welcome to Montrose, who entrenched himself very securely at
Callum's Hill, having doubtless his headquarters at the house of his
kinsman, Inchbrakie.

We come now to look more closely at Crieff, when it set out upon its
comparatively undistinguished career as a kirk-town. No doubt it felt
the loss of the Court of the Steward of the Earl Palatine of
Strathearn, just as the whole strath felt the want of the sunshine of
the Royal favour after the murder of King James I. in the Blackfriars
Monastery of Perth, at Christmastide, 1437. But though, doubtless,
many forsook it, some remained, and there were kirk-lands near by for
the