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Scs. sfe.5S } PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY VOLUME LV OCHTERTYRE BOOKE OF ACCOMPS October 1907 OCHTERTYEE HOUSE BOOKE OF ACCOMPS 1737-1789 Edited with Introduction and a Glossary by JAMES COLVILLE, M.A., D.Sc. [Edin.] Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society 1907 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ix THE HOUSE BOOKE OF ACCOMPS .... 1 INVENTORY OF OCHTERTYRE FURNITURE . 247 GLOSSARY 253 INTRODUCTION We know far too little of social life in Scotland during those days when modern conditions were a-making. No wonder the simple annals of the poor, or even the sordid chronicle of burgher money-making, shows only blank pages except under the modern search-light of realistic fiction. But some voice might have spoken from the baronial mansions where alone cultured intercourse was possible, at least during the eighteenth century, when wit found an audience everywhere and elegance a vogue. Modern social writers, indeed, have composed for our diversion, not enlightenment, sketches filled in with such Bembrandtesque shadows of dirt and debauch as prove the superiority of the modern superior person. How our nearer forefathers themselves figured as verbal artists of character and thought, their own or that of others, few letters or memoirs tell us. Thfe standard of living and the economy of the households have been but partially disclosed in default of contemporary material. For eighteenth century ‘gentility’ was abhorrent of personal portraiture as savouring of vulgar impertinence. The grand style was the only mode, but even of that we have not much to show. All the more to be prized, therefore, is such a veritable human document as is still preserved at Ochtertyre, in Strathearn, and generously 1 This volume belongs to a group of Scottish History Society publications all notable for their distinctively human tone, and all illustrative of each other. These are: Account Book of Cunningham of Craigends, 1673-80 ; Glamis Papers, 1684-89; Memoirs of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 1676-1755; Turn- bull's Diary, 1657-1704; Account Book of Sir John Fouiis of Ravelston, 1671-' 1707. On the mpst familiar phase of domestic life the Ochtertyre House Booke throws light from an entirely new quarter. x OCHTERTYRE HOUSE BOOKE OF ACCOMPS placed at the disposal of the Scottish History Society by the owner, Sir Patrick Keith Murray, Bart. The fact that such a manuscript existed among the Ochtertyre Papers is alluded to, in passing, in the Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports, but I am not aware of any other reference having ever been made to the document. The Commissioners have garnered mainly from the field of politics, and thus have often overlooked many such ‘ unconsidered trifles1 as the House Booke. These are the ‘human documents’ which serve to throw on the social life of the past that undesigned light which illuminates the nation’s story with colour and interest. This document is entitled ‘ The House Booke of Accomps begun January the 1: 1737.’ It is a goodly folio, written in that neat, clean hand which we owed to our close intercourse with Holland, and in excellent preservation but for the re- moval of a few leaves at the end. The record is dated from Fowlls1 regularly from day to day till the middle of Sep- tember 1737, when the family remove to Ochtertyre, is re- sumed at Fowlls with the new year, and again dated at Ochtertyre at the end of October 1738. About the middle of February 1739, the record ends abruptly at Ochtertyre. The baronial family of the Murrays of Ochtertyre has the rare distinction of showing an unbroken descent in the male line from the fifteenth century, a William alternating almost regularly with a Patrick. The founder was a Moray of the house of Tullibardine (d. 1476). They played a baron’s part, for a Patrick, a grandson of the founder, fell at Flodden; a William (second baronet), again, was taken prisoner by Argyll at Shirramuir; and yet another (fourth baronet) was captured at Prestonpans. Their ancestral home was, and is, Ochtertyre, 1 The spellings Fowlls and Foulls occur indifferently in the manuscript. They represent the favourite monosyllabic pronunciation of such names in Scotland. ‘Fowlis,’ on the other hand, is modern and dissyllabic. This modernising produces such an absurd series as Stennes (monosyllable), Stenhouse, Stone- house ; Claveres, Clavers, Claverhouse. INTRODUCTION xi but the House Booke concerns itself more with the family doings at Fowlls Easter, so called to distinguish it from Fowlls Wester, in the neighbourhood of CriefF. It was William,1 created first baronet in 1673, who acquired Fowlls from its ancient possessors, the Grays, of whom more anon, in the year 1667. Patrick, the second baronet (1656-1735), lived much at Fowlls. He executed (1726) a singular deed of entail, to the effect that no heir was to take a title above baronet under forfeiture of his inheritance. In the Harley Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm. Reports) there is a kindly reference to him. Harley’s son, the second Earl of Oxford, on a visit to his sister. Countess of Kinnoull, at Dupplin (1725), tells how, on the homeward journey, he forded the ‘Arne in company with the Laird of Auchtertire, an elderly, worthy gentleman of sixty-nine, who lives about fourteen miles off.’ There was no bridge then over the Earn at Gask, on the high road to Perth. This kindly 1 Table of the family and its relationships (birth or marriage) in the neigh- bourhood, and referred to in the House Booke :— William(bought (1615-81),Foulls Easter 1st Bart.,1667). created 1673 (1)2nd Patrick Bart. (1656-1735), (2) Sir Mungo Murray of Lintrose. ^ (2) Isobel,(1702) Alex. (1) William (1682-1739), (3) Patrick of Ayton Dundee,DuncanofLundie,prov. 1703-34 ; their 3rdof Lord Bart., Lovat, m. daughter d. 1771. of(Fife), Duncan m. ofa daughterLundie. grandson,can, 1st Lord Admiral Camper- Dun- Amelia,Murray m. of (1735) Lintrose. John PatrickBart. (1707-64), 4th Margaret,Graham m.of Fintry.(1735) Williamat Fowlls (1746-1800), : built present5th Bart., house a soldier: of Ochtertyre. lived much PatrickStrathearn—6th (177—made Bart. roads and bridges through William—Astronomer—7th (1801-61)—m. daughterBart. of Keith of Ravelston xii OCHTERTYRE HOUSE BOOKS OF ACCOMPS interest of the Kinnoull family in the old gentleman must have been in recognition of what he had done for the unfor- tunate tenantry, burnt out of their poor clachans by the heartless order of Mar in his march on Dunblane (1715). The laird is said to have spent large sums on this Christian object. As he had married (1681) a daughter of Mungo Haldane of Gleneagles, he must have felt himself bound by kindly ties to the Auchterarder district. His eldest son and heir, a William, did not long enjoy the title (1735-39). He married a daughter of the Lord Lovat who was cousin to the notorious Simon Fraser of the ’45. The House Booke ends in February of 1739. It is his establishment that is there chronicled. Under December 25, 1738, when the family is resident at Ochtertyre, we have the entry: ‘ Goose from Fowlls and sent 2 to my Lady Lovat.’ This lady, the Baroness Lovat, was the laird’s mother-in-law. In all probability she was then staying at Drummond Castle, not far off. The two families —Drummond and Fraser—were connected by marriage. In one of the letters1 of Simon Fraser, he tells how, on his journey south (September 1740), he had rested at Drummond Castle. Continuing his journey next day, he narrates the discomforts of a break-down of the frail family coach on the dreary moor of Ardoch, on his way to Stirling. Sir William, the third baronet, died in 1739, leaving a debt of df?20,000, a fact which may have had some bearing on the expenditure of the household. He was an accomplished scholar, and had travelled in France and Italy. In February 1737 the House Booke notes: ‘ letter to Sir Wm,’ and again, ‘ to my Lady.’ This is repeated during the following months of March, April, May, June, and July. These letters generally came by messenger from Dundee, charge 2d. a letter, the family being then at Fowlls. His successor, Sir Patrick, fourth baronet, like many of his class in those days, served 1 Letters of Lovat to Fraser of Inverallochy (Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. ii.). INTRODUCTION xiii as an officer in the Royal army. His commission as Captain in Lord Sempill’s Highland Regiment of Foot was dated December 1744. Taken prisoner at Prestonpans, he retired on parole to Ochtertyre, where he remained till released by Cumberland’s march to the north. His son and successor, Sir William (1746-1800), built the present house of Ochter- tyre near the close of his life. He, and still more his son, belonged to the noble band of enlightened, improving lairds to whom Scotland owes so much. His son, Sir Patrick (succeeded 1800), had much to do with the making of the fine roads and bridges in Strathearn and creating those charms of wood and water around Crieff, in which the present baronet so generously allows the public to share. It was in the old house (a part of it still stands) to the north and higher up the hill than the modern mansion, where Burns halted on his Highland tour. Here, he says, ‘ I lived, Sir William’s guest, for two or three weeks, and was much flattered by my hospitable reception. ... I find myself very com- fortable here, neither oppressed by ceremony nor mortified by neglect’ (October 15, 1787). He enjoyed a walk up the romantic Turrit glen in the company of two of the laird’s sons, and a cousin, Euphemia Murray of Lintrose, the ‘ Flower of Strathmore.’ To this double inspiration we owe the piece on the Water-fowl in Loch Turrit, and the song, f Blythe, blythe and merry was she.’ It will be well to visualise the district in which the old house of Fowlls was situated.

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