Saxon Church, but it is exceedingly improbable that her name ever travelled to this remote portion of the British Isles. There was also an old British writer, called Gildas, but, as he was a devout hater of the Scots, it is not likely that he was ever connected with the island in any way. Mr. Macaulay inclines to the belief that the word Kilda is a corruption of Culdee, the name. given to the early Christian missionaries in Scotland. There is a well in the island called Tobar-Kilda, and he takes this to mean the Culdee's Well, probably so called from some member of that order, who took up his residence there. Some one hearing the name would conclude that the well bore the name of a saint, and would have called the island St. Kilda after him, in preference to the older Hirt or Hirta.

The island of old belonged to Macleod of Harris, and was given over by him to a steward, generally a cadet of the Macleod family. This steward usually appointed a deputy, who was a native of the place, and resided in the island. This deputy had free lands, and an omer of barley from each family; he had also the honour of being the first and last in their boat, as they went and came to the smaller isles and rocks. The steward himself visited the island once every summer to collect the rents, which were paid in kind, the principal articles given being down, wool, butter, cheese, cows, horses, fowls, oil, and barley-silver or gold being then unknown in the island. Some years before Martin's visit, the steward attempted one year to exact a sheep from every family in the place, the number being twenty-seven, but this they refused to submit to. The steward then sent his brother, and a number of other men, to take the sheep by force, but the islanders met the invading party, and, armed with daggers and fishing-rods, attacked them with such effect that they were forced to return without attaining their object, and the attempt was not again renewed.

Just as we were about to conclude this paper, we learnt that the steamer "Hebridean" had been sent out to St. Kilda from Glasgow on Thursday, 15th October, with a quantity of supplies for the relief of the unfortunate islanders. The supplies consisted of oats, oatmeal, potatoes, tea, sugar, and other necessaries, and were presented by Sir William Collins, Principal Rainy, and

other gentlemen in the South, to whom all honour is due for their prompt and disinterested action. The vessel arrived in the Bay of St. Kilda on the evening of Sunday, 18th October, and early on the following morning the cargo was brought ashore and distributed among the poor islanders, who evinced the greatest gratitude towards their kind benefactors.

A striking instance of the simplicity of the inhabitants came under the notice of those who accompanied the "Hebridean" on her voyage. The night before the vessel's arrival in St. Kilda, one of the married women in the island heard, or imagined she heard, the report of a gun being fired, and, communicating this piece of intelligence to her husband, the two of them talked the matter over with some neighbours. Their deliberations resulted in a unanimous verdict that a fleet of men-of-war had arrived off the coast, in order to put the islanders to the sword, as the only means of cutting short their troublesome practice of sending pestering messages for help! No time was to be lost in escaping from the invaders, and the whole of the little band took to the hills, and spent the night in hiding. With the return of day, they came back to the village, but their fears were not set at rest, for several of the women admitted that, when the "Hebridean" awoke the echoes with her steam-whistle, they felt sure that the hostile fleet had come at last, and great drops of sweat fell from their foreheads. Probably Sheriff Ivory's recent military and police flare-up in Skye was fresh in the minds of the innocent St. Kildeans. The appearance of Captain MacCallum, however, who was well known to them all, soon restored their courage and gladdened their hearts.

H.M.S. "Jackal" left Rothesay Bay on Tuesday, 20th October, for St. Kilda, having on board Mr. Malcolm MacNeil, Commissioner for the Board of Supervision, Edinburgh, who is to enquire into the condition of the inhabitants, and the causes of the present distress in the island. We sincerely hope the visit may be productive of lasting good to the islanders.

Next month we shall give some more information regarding this far-off isle-truly, in the words of the Poet Laureate—

AN OLD CHURCH PROCESS.

[BY KENNETH MACDONALD, ESQ., F.S.A. SCOT.]

IN Mr. Fraser-Mackintosh's "Antiquarian Notes," a pretty story is told of Mr. Murdoch Mackenzie, one of the ministers of Inverness, who died in 1774, after a ministry in Inverness of nearly thirty-three years. At the time of his death, Mr. Mackenzie was minister of the First Charge, and his beadle was Ludovic, or Lody Ross, whose name still survives in local tradition. "When," says Mr. Fraser-Mackintosh, "Mr. Murdoch, who lived in Castle Street, lay a-dying, there was great lamentation, and none bewailed more than Lody, who was constantly in attendance. His evening bell-ringing could not be neglected, however. After discharging this duty, and emerging from the tower, what meets his astonished gaze? Nothing else than all the windows of the Kirk one blaze of light, while sacred music of the sweetest description rose in volume to the sky. But for a moment, however; and, rushing back to the clergyman's house, Lody found that the soul of his pastor had a few minutes since taken its heavenly flight, resting, as Lody firmly believed, for a moment, with its attendant angels in the arena of its close, searching, and pious ministrations." Mr. Fraser-Mackintosh thinks the incident more in consonance with the old Catholic building, than with the bald, and far from sightly, modern church. It is certainly difficult to imagine the present singularly plain High Church of Inverness illuminated with angelic light, and filled, even for a moment, with angelic music, but we must either accept the present Church as the locus of the incident, or reject it altogether, for the old Church was replaced by the present one two or three years before Mr. Mackenzie's death.

Mr. Murdoch Mackenzie, we learn from the Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticana, was translated from Dingwall to Inverness Third Charge in 1741 or 1742. He was translated to the Second Charge in 1751, and to the First Charge in 1763. In 1745 he married a daughter of John Hossack, who was Provost of Inver

ness at the time of the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Mr. Mackenzie died, as has been said, in 1774, in the 74th year of his age, and the 42nd of his ministry. It is said of him that "when engaged in prayer the tears were often seen falling from his cheeks, and he is said in preaching never to have uttered a word of which he did not feel the force and truth in his own heart."

When Mr. Mackenzie was translated to Inverness Third Charge, the minister of the First Charge was Mr. Alexander Macbean, who had been translated from the Third to the First Charge in 1727. Of him the Fasti says-"In his day he was the John Knox of the North, and one who greatly exerted himself to suppress the spirit of rebellion in and about Inverness during 1745 and 1746." He died in November, 1762, and was succeeded in the First Charge by Mr. Mackenzie.

While Mr. Mackenzie was incumbent of the Third Charge, the incumbent of the Second Charge was Mr. Alexander Fraser, who had been translated from Urquhart and Logie-Wester to Inverness in 1727. He died on 6th May, 1750, in the 76th year of his age, and the 48th year of his ministry, "eminent both for piety and talent."

These clergymen were, during their ministry, engaged in litigation, either with the whole heritors of their parish, or with the Magistrates of the town in which they ministered. Messrs. Macbean and Mackenzie were so engaged for several years, Mr. Fraser for a shorter period. Some papers connected with the processes, at the instance of the ministers, are in my possession, and as they are interesting in themselves, and contain information. of value to the student of local history, I propose to give some account of them.

A short time before Mr. Alexander Fraser's death, an action was raised by himself and Mr. Macbean against the Magistrates of Inverness, for payment of the difference between the stipend actually drawn by them, and a stipend of 1600 merks, for the years 1737 and 1738, "and in all time thereafter during the subsistence of" an Act of Parliament obtained by the town in 1737. The only documents in any way connected with the process, which I have seen, are a "State of the Process-The Ministers of Inverness v. the Magistrates of Inverness," written by Mr. John

Fraser, the town's Edinburgh solicitor, in 1753, and a letter from Mr. Fraser to Provost Hossack, sending him the "State." These documents, however, contain all the information we want as to the subject matter of the action, and they carry us so far down in the matter of date, that, with the assistance of a hint contained in one of the papers in a subsequent process, we can make a pretty safe guess at the result.

In the year 1719 the town of Inverness obtained right, by Act of Parliament, to raise a duty of two pennies Scots upon every pint of ale brewed or sold within the town and privilege of Inverness for 19 years. The money so raised was to be applied in paying the debts of the town, enlarging the existing Church, or building a new one, making provision for a minister or ministers, and in repairing and deepening the harbour. On 12th October, 1720, the Magistrates, who evidently thought the town would realise a large sum from the ale tax, and that they could consequently afford to be liberal to the ministers, enacted that after Martinmas, 1720, and during the continuance of the Act, the stipend of each of the ministers should be augmented to 1600 merks yearly. This stipend was paid to each of the then three incumbents, and to Mr. Alexander Fraser, the successor to one of them, for about 16 years. As the period for which the ale tax had been granted drew to a close, the Magistrates found that the town was more deeply in debt than ever, chiefly, they stated, on account of their expenditure in connection with "well-intended undertakings" pointed out by the Act-the Harbour principally. They, therefore, applied for, and, after an opposition which increased the debt of the town between £200 and £300 sterling, obtained a new Act, continuing the tax for 21 years. The Magistrates had by this time found out how much or how little could be done with a tax on ale, and in their new Act there was nothing about building a Church or providing for ministers; their sole ambition now was to pay the debt they had already incurred, and this was all the Act made provision for. The Magistrates, however, anticipated the omission of the ministers from the new Act by ceasing to pay the 1600 merks two years before the old Act expired. The ministers do not appear to have taken any action for ten or twelve years, but they then raised an