Gask, he devised and carried out a great practical improvement in that
locality. He along with some others applied to the Scotch Parliament
in 1690 for an Act to compel all the adjoining proprietors to
contribute their share towards the expense of cutting a channel
sufficiently deep and broad to carry off the water, which at that time
must have frequently flooded the fields, and thus reclaimed much
valuable land. About forty years ago a considerable sum was expended
in still further deepening and broadening the Pow, and that stream
never overflows its banks now unless in very rainy seasons. As the
estate of Gask is bounded by the Pow on the north side, it shared in
the benefits resulting from that improvement. Mr Oliphant succeeded to
Gask in 1705, and would doubtless display the same practical sagacity
in carrying out improvements on the estate which then came into his
possession. He probably planted some of those noble trees which still
surround the mansion-house, and which are undoubtedly of great age.
At the Revolution in 1688, when James II. was driven from the throne
of Britain, the Oliphants still retained their steadfast allegiance and
devoted loyalty to the exiled monarch, and regarded his successors as
usurpers. Cherishing these sentiments, we can well imagine they would
hail every enterprise that had for its object the restoration of their
hereditary king. An opportunity soon occurred. In 1715, a "Rising"
took place to accomplish this end. The laird of Gask, though strongly
favouring the movement, yet with great prudence remained at home, and
saved his estate from forfeiture. But he sent his two elder sons to
join the standard which the Earl of Mar had reared for the restoration
of the Chevalier St. George, the only son of James II. They both took
part in the battle which was fought at Sheriffmuir, on the 13th
November, between the Jacobite forces, led by the Earl of Mar, and the
Government forces under the command of the Duke of Argyle. It was an
indecisive battle, both sides claiming the victory. The Jacobites,
retreating through Strathearn, burned many of the villages, inflicting
great hardships on the peaceful inhabitants by rendering them houseless
during the rigour of winter. The attempt to restore the Chevalier St.
George soon collapsed, but it does not seem to have been followed by
the thrilling scenes, the hairbreadth escapes, and the rigorous
treatment which marked the close of the subsequent rebellion.
James Oliphant died in 1732, and was succeeded by his eldest son
Laurence, who is styled the "Jacobite Laird, _par excellence_." He had
been in hiding for some time after the "Rising" of 1715. He, however,
soon returned home, freed from all Suspicion of disloyalty. He
married, in 1719, a daughter of the second Lord Nairne, "who was as
staunch a Jacobite as himself." At Gask House there is a wooden cup,
with a silver rim near the top and another near the bottom. The upper
one has the inscription--"_Spumantem calicem paternum in regis legitimi
hoeredetarii salutem redditumque felicem loete haurimus_"; and a free
translation of this inscription is on the lower one--"Our grandsires'
flowing cup we drink, and sing God save; restore our true-born lawful
King. Amen. L.O.G. June 10th, 1740." This discloses the strong
Jacobite tendency which he cherished, and the ardent longing which he
felt for the happy return of his hereditary King. He had not long to
wait till another opportunity occurred of making a second attempt to
accomplish the object so dear to him. In 1745, Prince Charles landed
in the Western Isles, when the Highland Clans rallied to his standard
with many others favourable to his cause. The laird and his son--both
Laurence--joined Prince Charles at Perth, and incurred the risk of loss
of life and property. Gask was greatly annoyed that he could not
induce his tenants to enlist in the cause of the Prince, and he had
recourse to a very extreme measure to enforce compliance with his
wishes. In connection with this we have a very interesting statement
in "The Jacobite Lairds of Gask," being a quotation from Dr. Chambers'
_History of the Rebellion_. Perhaps no one experienced so much
difficulty in his levies as the good laird of Gask, though he was at
the same time, perhaps, the person of all others the most anxious to
provide men for the service of his beloved Prince. This enthusiastic
Jacobite was, it seems, so extremely incensed at the resistance he
received from some of his tenants that he actually laid an arrestment
or inhibition upon their corn-fields, in order to see if their interest
would not oblige them to comply with his request. The case was still
at issue when Charles, in marching from Perth, observed the corn
hanging dead ripe, and eagerly inquired the reason. He was informed
that Gask had not only prohibited his tenants from cutting their grain,
but would not permit their cattle to be fed upon it, so that these
creatures were absolutely starving. Shocked at what he heard, he
leaped from the saddle, exclaiming, "This will never do," and began to
gather a quantity of the corn. Giving this to his horse, he said to
those that were by that he had thus broken Gask's inhibition, and the
farmers might now, upon his authority, proceed to put the produce of
their fields to its proper use. It was on this occasion that the laird
of Gask had the high honour of receiving and entertaining the Prince at
his house. The table on which he breakfasted is still in the House of
Gask, and in good preservation. It bears the inscription--"Charles,
Prince of Wales, breakfasted at this table in the low drawing-room at
Gask on the 11th September, 1745." The chair on which he then sat was
not allowed to be occupied by any other for many years thereafter.
There are still at Gask House several interesting relics of Prince
Charles, which are carefully preserved--viz., his bonnet, the Royal
brogues, crucifix, and ribbon of the Garter, his spurs, and a lock of
his hair, &c. The high honour conferred on the Gask family by this
visit from their Prince would tend to inspire them with greater zeal
and ardour in advancing his cause. They continued faithful and devoted
followers of the Prince in the romantic attempt he made to regain the
throne of his ancestors, and they took part in many of the battles that
were fought to secure that object. They were both present on the field
of Culloden and fought with great bravery on the fatal day that proved
so disastrous to the Prince's cause, and which must have all but
extinguished the most sanguine hopes of the keenest Jacobite. After
the Battle of Culloden the Oliphants endured great hardships for six
months while hiding among the hills of Buchan, and had many narrow
escapes, until at last they landed in Sweden on the 10th November, 1746.
But while they were involved in many troubles in those trying times,
there arose one from an unexpected quarter, which caused them great
annoyance. In 1740, Mr Oliphant, as almost sole heritor, intruded the
Rev. John M'Leish into the parish, in opposition to the wishes of a
large majority of the people. But he lived deeply to regret the step
he then took, for, on the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1745, the
minister became one of his most bitter enemies. Some of the colours
taken at the Battle of Prestonpans "fell to Mr Oliphant, which he sent
to his own house at Gask." Mr M'Leish, knowing this, searched for them
to deliver them to the Duke of Cumberland, but Emily Dewar, a faithful
servant at the house, hid them in the pump, so that the minister could
not find them. He told the tenants not to pay their rents to a rebel
landlord. When the Duke of Cumberland, at the request of Lady Gask,
sent out a guard from Perth to protect that lady in those troublous
times, the minister, on hearing this, was highly indignant, and
said--"What right had they to protect a rebel lady?" He also said that
he would go to Perth next day and speak to the Duke of Cumberland about
this. He said and did so many things calculated to annoy and irritate
the Gask family, that years after, when hiding on the Continent, Mr
Oliphant wrote saying--"That ingrate man's actings have tried my
patience more than all that has happened to me." The conduct of the
minister to the laird during this trying period was surely most harsh
and unkind, even though he entertained different political views. Mr
M'Leish would probably regard, as a national calamity, the restoration
of the Stuarts, knowing well the arbitrary and unconstitutional way
they often acted when in power. He might also fear that there would be
great danger to the Protestant cause were a Roman Catholic to occupy
the throne of Britain. But while we sympathise with these sentiments,
and think that Mr M'Leish was quite entitled to hold them, it was
surely ungrateful and unkind to act in the way he often did, not only
to Mr Oliphant, but also to his lady. The Oliphants were thoroughly
conscientious in holding their principles, and they gave the strongest
proof of this in risking their life and the loss of all their worldly
substance in maintaining them. At the same time, we are of opinion
that theirs was a mistaken loyalty, and it was well that they did not
succeed in accomplishing their object. Had they done so, it is
probable that the civil and religious history of our country would have
been different, and Britain might not have attained to the high
position she now occupies among the nations. But, while holding this
opinion, we cannot fail to admire the inflexible steadfastness with
which they adhered to their principles, and the noble sacrifices they
made in support of them. It is supposed that, as Lady Nairne would
often hear from her father of the doings of Mr M'Leish, she has a hit
at him in one of her songs--
"M'Leish's ae daughter o' Claverse-ha' Lee,"
In his latter days, Mr M'Leish was in a very infirm state, and unable
to discharge his ministerial duties. During the two last years of his
life there was only public worship in Gask Church once a month. The
days on which divine service was held, and the names of the ministers
who officiated, are still to be seen in our Session records. During
his long illness it is interesting to read of the tender sympathy which
Mr Oliphant expressed for him, and the Christian spirit of forgiveness
which he manifested towards him. He wrote from the Continent:--"I'm
sorry to hear that Mr M'Leish has been so much distressed in his
health. It will perhaps be agreeable to him, and let him know that I
do heartyly forgive him all the injurys he has done me undeservidly....
I shall mention no other particulars of the way he has treated me, but
as I have sincerly forgiven, I pray our commune Father to forgive him,
which I hope he will be earnest to obtain." There is no record that Mr
M'Leish ever felt or expressed regret at the unkind way in which he had
treated his benefactor.
The Oliphants, after making their escape from this country to the
Continent in 1746, continued to reside in different places there for
seventeen years. And during that long period they sent home to their
friends in this country a great many letters giving a detailed account
of their movements, and of their meeting with other exiles suffering
with them in the same cause and for maintaining the same principles of
loyalty. And these papers and letters, preserved in the Gask
charter-room, have been turned to excellent account by the present Mr
Oliphant in the very interesting volume he compiled entitled _The
Jacobite Lairds of Gask_.
As both father and son took part in the Rebellion, the estate of Gask
was forfeited. But it was re-purchased from the Government in 1753 by
Mr Oliphant of Condie, who was understood to be acting for the Gask
family, at the sum of £17,800. The estate was, however, larger then
than it is now, including both Cowgask and Williamston. The two latter
were afterwards sold to pay part of the purchase money for Gask. It
was at one time proposed to sell the Ross and Newmiln, but Mr Oliphant
objected to this, as he considered these two farms the most improvable
part of the estate. We are told in _The Jacobite Lairds of Gask_ that
few lost more than the Oliphants by the "Rising" of 1745. If we reckon
the seven years in which the estate was withheld from them, and the
large sum for which it was bought back from Government, these losses
would come to about £60,000 of our money.
The Oliphants returned to Gask after an absence of seventeen years, in
November, 1763. As Mr M'Leish died on the 24th March of the same year,
the laird and the minister never met again.
After all the dangers to which they had been exposed on the field of
battle, and all the hardships they had to encounter during the long
period they were in hiding on the Continent, they were at last
permitted to return in safety to their native land, to spend the
evening of their days in their "Ain dear wee Auld House."
The elder Jacobite laird died in 1767, and was gathered to his fathers
in the old Kirk of Gask. He was succeeded by his only son, the younger
Jacobite laird. He continued to adhere with the most unshaken
steadfastness to the cause of the Prince, for whom he had done and
suffered so much, and brought up his family in the strictest principles
of loyalty to the King over the water. When his family read the
newspapers to him after his eyesight became impaired, if the names King
or Queen occurred, they must only indicate this by employing the
initials K. or Q., otherwise he sharply reproved them.
When Prince Charles died in 1788, leaving an only brother, Cardinal
York, many of the Jacobites transferred their allegiance to George
III., and most of the Scotch Episcopalian clergy began to pray for the
reigning family, which they had not hitherto done. Among these was Mr
Cruickshanks, Episcopal minister at Muthill, who occasionally
officiated at Gask. When Mr Oliphant heard this, he at once wrote to
Mr Cruickshanks that, as he had now disqualified himself 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 publication so popular might contain, she
despatched her footman to purchase a copy. It proved to be a
collection of songs and ballads, many of which were ill suited for the
hands of youth." But she also composed a large number of original
songs of great excellence, two of which are of exquisite beauty and
tenderness--"The Land o' the Leal" and "The Auld House." In early life
Miss C. Oliphant had an intimate friend and companion in Miss Erskine,
daughter of the Episcopal minister at Muthill. Miss Erskine was
afterwards married to Campbell Colquhoun of Killermont. Their first
child died when scarcely a year old. This led Carolina Oliphant to
write "The Land o' the Leal," which she sent with a letter of
condolence to Mrs Colquhoun in her sad bereavement. But the strictest
secrecy was enjoined as to the writer of it, and for many years
thereafter only a very few knew that this beautiful and touching song
was written by Carolina Oliphant. At one time it was supposed to have
been written by Burns on his death-bed, and the first line then
was--"I'm wearin' awa', Jean"; but it never appeared in any collection
of his poems. The songs of Lady Nairne have now become so well known
and so highly appreciated, that it is scarcely necessary to refer to
them at fuller detail here. She was married to Major Nairne in 1806 in
an upper room of Gask House. As Major Nairne then held an official
appointment in Edinburgh, they took up their abode in that city, in a
cottage built for them by the old Chief of Strowan, called Carolina
Cottage. She there employed her pen in composing songs for the
_Scotish Minstrel_, while she enjoyed the intellectual society into
which she had been introduced, and in which she was so well fitted to
shine. One of her songs, "The Attainted Scottish Nobles," had a great
influence in restoring them to their former titles. When George IV.
visited Edinburgh in 1822, Major Nairne and other attainted Scottish
Peers were introduced to the King at Holyrood. And when it came to the
knowledge of the King that Mrs Nairne had written that song it made him
favourable to the introduction of a measure which passed through both
Houses of Parliament, and received the Royal sanction in June, 1824,
for the reversal of the attainders. Major Nairne was then restored to
his rank in the Peerage as Lord Nairne, and Mrs Nairne became Baroness
Nairne, by which she has ever since been known.
Lord Nairne died in 1830, and was succeeded in the title by his only
son, William, sixth Lord. Lady Nairne felt deeply her bereavement, but
was sustained under it by the comforts and consolations of religion.
She henceforth devoted all her efforts to the mental culture and moral
and religious training of her only child. She removed to different
parts of the country for the benefit of his health. But with all her
maternal care he sickened and died at Brussels in 1837. By the death
of her son the ties which bound her to the world were in a great
measure severed, and her thoughts and affections were raised to that
higher and holier state on which those who were nearest and dearest to
her had now entered. She returned to Gask in 1845, and spent the last
two years of her life within a few yards of the spot where she was
born. She had received early religious impressions when on a visit to
Murthly Castle, and these were greatly deepened by the successive
trials and bereavements wherewith she was visited. She still continued
to take a great delight in doing good and in contributing to advance
the cause of religion in the world. Having a sum of money at her
disposal, she consulted Dr. Chalmers as to the most useful and
charitable purposes to which it might be applied. And it was at this
time that she contributed £300 to Dr. Chalmers' West Port Mission, on
the condition that he should never reveal the name of the donor. She
was as careful to conceal her good deeds as she had been to conceal the
authorship of the beautiful songs she composed. She gradually became
weaker and weaker, but as the "outward man decayed the inward man was
renewed day by day." In her song of the "Auld House" she beautifully
describes how, at the evening of the day,
"The setting sun, the setting sun,
How glorious it gae'd doon."
So in the evening of the day of her life her sun went gloriously down
to rise and shine in a fairer land--"The Land o' the Leal." She was
buried in Gask Chapel, which is erected on the site of the old Parish
Church, and to the building of which she contributed. A few years ago
a granite cross of beautiful design and workmanship was erected to her
memory by Mr Oliphant in the grounds of Gask. It bears the appropriate
inscription:--
CARMINA MORTE CARENT
CAROLINA OLIPHANT
BARONESS NAIRNE
BORN AT GASK, 1766
DIED AT GASK, 1845
If superior poetical genius, great moral worth, and high Christian
character deserve to be held in remembrance, there are few more
entitled to this honour than Lady Nairne. Nor could a more appropriate
spot have been chosen by Mr Oliphant on which to rear this tribute of
affectionate regard to the memory of his grand-aunt than in the midst
of that beautiful scenery which she loved so well, and which she has
immortalised in her songs. Lady Nairne, however, has reared for
herself a monument far more durable than that of brass or granite, in
her beautiful songs, which, as the inscription truly says, will never
die.
I must here make a brief reference to a native of this parish, who,
although born and brought up in humble life, yet attained to great
eminence in his profession. I refer to Laurence Macdonald, who for
some time wrought as a common mason, but who showed a strong genius for
sculpture. The first piece of work of that kind that he did was the
family coat-of-arms of Garvock House. Mrs Oliphant discerning his
rising genius in this direction, took him to the Continent when the
Gask family removed there in 1822, to afford him better opportunity for
the cultivation of this art. He ultimately settled in Rome, and became
one of the first British sculptors in that city. He was there known as
Lorenzo de Gasco, from his native parish. In recognition of the
kindness he had received from the Gask family, he afterwards sent as a
gift to the laird one of his best works, which now occupies a prominent
position in the House of Gask.
James Blair Oliphant died in 1847, and was buried in the Gask Chapel.
"He was the eighteenth in unbroken male succession from the William
Oliphant upon whom Robert Bruce bestowed the lands of Gask." After his
death the estate was under trustees for nearly twenty years. And
during this period a litigation was carried on as to the right of
succession. Mr Oliphant of Condie was confident that he could
establish his claim to be the nearest male heir. But there was a link
wanting in the chain of evidence, and he failed to realise his sanguine
expectations. The estate then came into the possession of the late
laird's sister's family, when the eldest son, Mr Kington Oliphant,
succeeded to it nearly thirty years ago.