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or Perthshire on Forth, its History and Antiquities with elucidation on Scottish Life and Character from the Burgh and Kirk-Session Records of that District by David Beveridge (1885) in two volumes.
PREFACE
The object of the following work is twofold—to give a monograph or special history of a particular district, and at the same time, by using the civil and ecclesiastical records of that district as a basis, to present a view of the social and domestic usages of Scotland in bygone times. It may be regarded as an endeavour to combine a survey of the annals and local antiquities of a detached region of Perthshire with a contribution, though a modest one, in historical studies and folk-lore, to the general fund of archseological literature.
The district of which the history and description form the subject of the following pages, is one which, though situated at no great distance from either the eastern or western capital of Scotland, is yet from various circumstances comparatively unknown. It is somewhat difficult of access to the majority of tourists; it contains no extraordinary or sensational wonders of natural scenery; and no very prominent or decisive event in Scottish annals has transpired within its bounds. Still it exhibits many features that are both remarkably interesting and attractive; and it is connected, by implication at all events, with several of the most important epochs in the history of our country. It presents, moreover, a special claim for consideration in the circumstance of its being for the most part virgin soil, such as has scarcely yet been exploit6 by literary investigators or pioneers; and may therefore, to carry out the metaphor, be expected to produce to the first labourers in the field a tolerably abundant harvest.
As regards the special department of inquiry on which I have adventured myself—the elucidation of old times and manners by means of the municipal and ecclesiastical records—it is a subject which of late years has attracted great and ever-increasing attention. The age has become keenly alive to the importance of having those records examined and published, in view of the light which they may be expected to shed both on historical questions, strictly so termed, and the modes of life and domestic surroundings of our ancestors. These last, it is now generally admitted, are as deserving of study as the narrative of public events and commotions, the prowess of military leaders, the succession of monarchs, or the struggle of political factions. Another ever-growing desire of the mind of the day is to penetrate behind the scenes of public history, to understand the machinery of the stage and the promptings of the actors who there played their part, so that the conduct and merits of the drama enacted may be more thoroughly realised and comprehended. The urgency of this demand is shown by the eagerness with which autobiographies of great or distinguished individuals are sought for and welcomed by the reading public. Nor has the Legislature been slow to respond to this aspiration in the extensive provision which it has made for the calendaring and publication of the State papers; and more recently, in the commission issued for the investigation of the documents contained in charter-chests and private collections.
In reference specially to the investigations of our Scottish municipal and ecclesiastical records, several labourers have already appeared. Among these, Dr Marwick has done excellent service in the analysis of the burgh records of the Scottish capital; Dr Laing has been equally successful with those of the pleasant town of Newburgh, on the banks of the Tay, and also with the ecclesiastical archives of the place, as bearing mainly on the history of the venerable Abbey of Lindores, in its immediate vicinity; Dr Ebenezer Henderson has made the kirk-session and town-council minutes of Dunfermline yield a vast amount of interesting information; and Dr Boss has produced a very entertaining little volume from the materials furnished by the session-books of the parish of Dalgety. But the chief place is to be accorded to Dr Robert Chambers, who, in his ‘ Domestic Annals of Scotland,’ by presenting to the reader a series of extracts from the civil and ecclesiastical records of past times, accompanied by a running commentary, has exhibited in an interesting and satisfactory manner, as Thomas Carlyle did a few years previously in ‘Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches,’ the principle of leaving historical documents to tell their own tale, and thus enabling the reader to form his own independent conclusions.
It is quite true that the burgh and kirk-sesssion records themselves, taken in detail, do not furnish a very entertaining or even profitable department of reading. There is often but “ a halfpenny-worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack”—or, to speak more correctly, a modicum of good grain hidden in a mound of chaff. That is to say, the materials of useful information are frequently encumbered with prolix and tedious phraseology, or buried in a mass of tedious and uninteresting details. Yet copious stores of valuable matter exist there, and many of the entries themselves have a special interest and piquancy. By the exercise of some industry, along with a judicious selection and blending, it seems possible to produce a narrative which, even in those days of high pressure and impatience of aught savouring of the heavy or prolix, might be capable of attracting the notice and commanding the attention of ordinary readers. Such a task I have set myself to; and though I am far from confident of having accomplished it creditably, I am yet conscious of having expended all my energies and done my best towards effecting so desirable a consummation.
It may be proper to state, that whilst the following work has been written from a Presbyterian point of view, and with a strong desire to render justice to a system of ecclesiastical polity which has too often been both misapprehended and maligned in its own as well as in other lands, I have endeavoured throughout to act with the utmost impartiality and fair-play. I have in no way spared the Presbyterians, or tried to screen their failings, when their conduct has seemed in any respect indefensible; and as I have not hesitated to contemplate the humorous as well as the serious aspects of the various incidents and circumstances presented to the notice of the reader, I may possibly have exposed myself occasionally to the charge of lukewarmness or indifference in religious matters—an animadversion for which I should be sorry indeed to think that I had furnished any cause. It is a trite remark that when any one attempts to do impartial justice to all parties, he often only succeeds in drawing on himself general censure and condemnation.
Like many others of a similar kind, this undertaking took its rise from small beginnings. Having been almost accidentally induced, through the occurrence of a suitable opportunity, to investigate the earliest volume of the kirk-session records of Culross, I made a few extracts from it, and was led on gradually to extend my researches through the remaining ones, and afterwards through the minutes of the town council of Culross and the kirk-session records of Tulliallan. It was suggested to me that, with the aid of supplementary information, there could be formed out of these a consecutive narrative or treatise which might pass muster as a local history of the parishes of Culross and Tulliallan. The incitement being thus given, I proceeded to gather fresh materials, and contrived ultimately to bring the results of my researches into a regular and connected form. Every possible source of information has been tried, and every endeavour made to render the work as a whole both interesting and useful.
In conclusion, I have only to express my thanks to my relative, Mr Erakine Beveridge, of St Leonard’s Hill, Dunfermline, who very kindly took, specially for this work, the photographic views from which the chief part of the illustrations, including the frontispieces of the two volumes, have been derived; to Mr John J. Dalgleish, of West Grange, Culross, who has contributed a valuable and interesting paper on the birds of Culross and Tulliallan, which will be found in the Appendix; to Mr T. Etherington Cooke, of West Arthurlie, Barrhead, who allowed me to use, for the purposes of illustration, some of the beautiful photographs taken by him of Culross and its neighbourhood; to Major Johnston, Culross Abbey, and the Rev. John M'Gregor, Culross, for similar favours; to the Rev. William Bruce of St Serfs-next-Culross, for liberty of access to the large and excellent library at Dunimarle; to the Rev. George Stephen, of the First Charge, Culross, and Mr J. K. Penney, registrar there, for access to the kirk-session books, and to the collection of papers in the possession of the latter, formerly belonging to the corporation of the girdlesmiths; to Mr Andrew Stephen, town-clerk of Culross, for similar favours in reference to the burgh records; to the Rev. John Smeaton, minister of Tulliallan, and Mr Buchanan, registrar there, for access to the session-books of that parish; and generally to the subscribers to this work, respecting which I can only express the hope that its perusal may not be altogether unattended with satisfaction, and that any favourable expectations entertained may not be deemed to be altogether unfulfilled.
Durham House, Torrtburn, June 1885.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ross/index.htm
Alastair
PREFACE
The object of the following work is twofold—to give a monograph or special history of a particular district, and at the same time, by using the civil and ecclesiastical records of that district as a basis, to present a view of the social and domestic usages of Scotland in bygone times. It may be regarded as an endeavour to combine a survey of the annals and local antiquities of a detached region of Perthshire with a contribution, though a modest one, in historical studies and folk-lore, to the general fund of archseological literature.
The district of which the history and description form the subject of the following pages, is one which, though situated at no great distance from either the eastern or western capital of Scotland, is yet from various circumstances comparatively unknown. It is somewhat difficult of access to the majority of tourists; it contains no extraordinary or sensational wonders of natural scenery; and no very prominent or decisive event in Scottish annals has transpired within its bounds. Still it exhibits many features that are both remarkably interesting and attractive; and it is connected, by implication at all events, with several of the most important epochs in the history of our country. It presents, moreover, a special claim for consideration in the circumstance of its being for the most part virgin soil, such as has scarcely yet been exploit6 by literary investigators or pioneers; and may therefore, to carry out the metaphor, be expected to produce to the first labourers in the field a tolerably abundant harvest.
As regards the special department of inquiry on which I have adventured myself—the elucidation of old times and manners by means of the municipal and ecclesiastical records—it is a subject which of late years has attracted great and ever-increasing attention. The age has become keenly alive to the importance of having those records examined and published, in view of the light which they may be expected to shed both on historical questions, strictly so termed, and the modes of life and domestic surroundings of our ancestors. These last, it is now generally admitted, are as deserving of study as the narrative of public events and commotions, the prowess of military leaders, the succession of monarchs, or the struggle of political factions. Another ever-growing desire of the mind of the day is to penetrate behind the scenes of public history, to understand the machinery of the stage and the promptings of the actors who there played their part, so that the conduct and merits of the drama enacted may be more thoroughly realised and comprehended. The urgency of this demand is shown by the eagerness with which autobiographies of great or distinguished individuals are sought for and welcomed by the reading public. Nor has the Legislature been slow to respond to this aspiration in the extensive provision which it has made for the calendaring and publication of the State papers; and more recently, in the commission issued for the investigation of the documents contained in charter-chests and private collections.
In reference specially to the investigations of our Scottish municipal and ecclesiastical records, several labourers have already appeared. Among these, Dr Marwick has done excellent service in the analysis of the burgh records of the Scottish capital; Dr Laing has been equally successful with those of the pleasant town of Newburgh, on the banks of the Tay, and also with the ecclesiastical archives of the place, as bearing mainly on the history of the venerable Abbey of Lindores, in its immediate vicinity; Dr Ebenezer Henderson has made the kirk-session and town-council minutes of Dunfermline yield a vast amount of interesting information; and Dr Boss has produced a very entertaining little volume from the materials furnished by the session-books of the parish of Dalgety. But the chief place is to be accorded to Dr Robert Chambers, who, in his ‘ Domestic Annals of Scotland,’ by presenting to the reader a series of extracts from the civil and ecclesiastical records of past times, accompanied by a running commentary, has exhibited in an interesting and satisfactory manner, as Thomas Carlyle did a few years previously in ‘Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches,’ the principle of leaving historical documents to tell their own tale, and thus enabling the reader to form his own independent conclusions.
It is quite true that the burgh and kirk-sesssion records themselves, taken in detail, do not furnish a very entertaining or even profitable department of reading. There is often but “ a halfpenny-worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack”—or, to speak more correctly, a modicum of good grain hidden in a mound of chaff. That is to say, the materials of useful information are frequently encumbered with prolix and tedious phraseology, or buried in a mass of tedious and uninteresting details. Yet copious stores of valuable matter exist there, and many of the entries themselves have a special interest and piquancy. By the exercise of some industry, along with a judicious selection and blending, it seems possible to produce a narrative which, even in those days of high pressure and impatience of aught savouring of the heavy or prolix, might be capable of attracting the notice and commanding the attention of ordinary readers. Such a task I have set myself to; and though I am far from confident of having accomplished it creditably, I am yet conscious of having expended all my energies and done my best towards effecting so desirable a consummation.
It may be proper to state, that whilst the following work has been written from a Presbyterian point of view, and with a strong desire to render justice to a system of ecclesiastical polity which has too often been both misapprehended and maligned in its own as well as in other lands, I have endeavoured throughout to act with the utmost impartiality and fair-play. I have in no way spared the Presbyterians, or tried to screen their failings, when their conduct has seemed in any respect indefensible; and as I have not hesitated to contemplate the humorous as well as the serious aspects of the various incidents and circumstances presented to the notice of the reader, I may possibly have exposed myself occasionally to the charge of lukewarmness or indifference in religious matters—an animadversion for which I should be sorry indeed to think that I had furnished any cause. It is a trite remark that when any one attempts to do impartial justice to all parties, he often only succeeds in drawing on himself general censure and condemnation.
Like many others of a similar kind, this undertaking took its rise from small beginnings. Having been almost accidentally induced, through the occurrence of a suitable opportunity, to investigate the earliest volume of the kirk-session records of Culross, I made a few extracts from it, and was led on gradually to extend my researches through the remaining ones, and afterwards through the minutes of the town council of Culross and the kirk-session records of Tulliallan. It was suggested to me that, with the aid of supplementary information, there could be formed out of these a consecutive narrative or treatise which might pass muster as a local history of the parishes of Culross and Tulliallan. The incitement being thus given, I proceeded to gather fresh materials, and contrived ultimately to bring the results of my researches into a regular and connected form. Every possible source of information has been tried, and every endeavour made to render the work as a whole both interesting and useful.
In conclusion, I have only to express my thanks to my relative, Mr Erakine Beveridge, of St Leonard’s Hill, Dunfermline, who very kindly took, specially for this work, the photographic views from which the chief part of the illustrations, including the frontispieces of the two volumes, have been derived; to Mr John J. Dalgleish, of West Grange, Culross, who has contributed a valuable and interesting paper on the birds of Culross and Tulliallan, which will be found in the Appendix; to Mr T. Etherington Cooke, of West Arthurlie, Barrhead, who allowed me to use, for the purposes of illustration, some of the beautiful photographs taken by him of Culross and its neighbourhood; to Major Johnston, Culross Abbey, and the Rev. John M'Gregor, Culross, for similar favours; to the Rev. William Bruce of St Serfs-next-Culross, for liberty of access to the large and excellent library at Dunimarle; to the Rev. George Stephen, of the First Charge, Culross, and Mr J. K. Penney, registrar there, for access to the kirk-session books, and to the collection of papers in the possession of the latter, formerly belonging to the corporation of the girdlesmiths; to Mr Andrew Stephen, town-clerk of Culross, for similar favours in reference to the burgh records; to the Rev. John Smeaton, minister of Tulliallan, and Mr Buchanan, registrar there, for access to the session-books of that parish; and generally to the subscribers to this work, respecting which I can only express the hope that its perusal may not be altogether unattended with satisfaction, and that any favourable expectations entertained may not be deemed to be altogether unfulfilled.
Durham House, Torrtburn, June 1885.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ross/index.htm
Alastair