Scotch Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 5, 31 October 1890, Page 3

Scotch Notes

The Right Rev. Monßignor Clapperton has been appointed Bißhop of Dunkeld, of which diocese he was Vicar General under the late Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Rigg. Dr. Clappprton is a native of Fochabers, Mor?yshire, where he was born in 1831. He studied for the priesthood at Saint Sulpice in Paris, and was ordained in that city by Archbishop Sibour. His life as a priest, however, bus been passed in Scotland, where he has served on the missions respectively at Dumfries, Falkirk, and Dundee. Mr, Gladstone is expected to visit Scotland towards the end of October. He will be for tome ten days the gu^st of Lord Roseberry at Dalmeny, and will address meetings of bis Mid L thian constituents. He will then visit his nephew, Sir John Gladstone, at F-eque, making a halt, on the way, at Dun. lee, where he will open an art gallery and receive the freedom of the city. A new and valuable coalfield has b.en discovered at Bhaw<*burn, near Btnnehou9e, in L-inarkstnre. It is estimated to yield 3,000,000 tons of workable coal. A serious departure from the rigid observance of the Sabbath day in Scotland has been initiated ac Aberdeen. It takes the snap? of concerts of sacred music, and, on the occasion in question, the band of the Cameron Highlanders, who came from Edinburgh, were the performers, lbere was a crowded audience, and an opinion was commonly expressed that the performance was quite as edifying and much more agreeable than any sermon, at least of the ordinary quality, could have been. How long will the programmes be confined to sacred music only ? The Duke of Fife is a nobleman who seem? to combine the faculty of serving himself with that of serving his neighbour, in a fashion worthy of much admiratiou. His Grace, for example, has lately been accountable for the issue of a circular calling for subscriptions towardu placing a steamer on the African lake, Victoria Nyanza, for the purpose of forwarding missionary enterprise and advancing the interests of Christiani'y. His Grace, meantime, holds a considerable interest in a company formed for the purpose of projecting the African interior and making then profit of what may he found there — to whom, as a matter of course, any advancement of communication in the country must prove advantageous Still moie recently the Duke has explained that his reasons for acting, as he has of late been doing, in rather a remarkable manner, and selling laige portun9 of his estates, are that he desires to place isolated property in hands better able to concentrate tneir care jn it, as well as to increase the number of smaller land owners a"d s • strt-ugthen the mstituiions of the kingdom. His Grace's principles, as may be "■ecu, are particularly fortunate now th-ittie value of landed property is decreasing, and even tha worldly-w se only aright no be indisposed to Bell. To find so tender a conscience in high places should be decidedly reassuring. And if also there be a reward to be gamed — doeß not virtue always deserve ooe ? Interest has been aroused in scientific circles by the discovery, in a cave dwelling at Oban, of some human skeletons oeheved to be o great antiquity. One of them is alleged to be of unusual siz3. Oi skull, besides, is spoken of as more than commonly thick, and another is said to be of the type distinguished by a receding forehead, and of which some specimens had already been discovered. A pre-historic origin is claimed for all. Obituary records contain tho names of two remarkable men — the one notable for his wealth, the other for his age. Sir James Mackenzie, the former, whs a man who had risen from humble b ginings to the possession of princely riches, which he hp.nt like a pimce in exalted company. A better feature in his career, however, was his consideration for his tenar.t y, to whom he was an < xcellent lanalo'd. — Peter Latng the latter of the two diceased, waE kn wq as the Eigm henten&nau — having lived in the best of yood health and 6pmt9 until a few days before bis death, Peter's claim to distinction, however,

has not been left undisputed, an asserted authority allotting him 89 yean only. General opiaioo, nevertheless, gives him the longer span. The eigbh annual conference of the Highland Land League has been m de the occasion of a great demonstration at Wick. The Crffter's Commissioners were denounced becaus-\in fixing fair rentß, they made no allowance for improvements made by the tenants T ey were also accused of goir g about hob-nobbing with landlords and factors. The ministers of the Established Church likewise incurred rebuke, for the antagonism which, it was alleged, many of them ■bowed towards the proposed Laud Law Reform. A proposal to more a resolntion approving of disestablishment and disendowment w«s rejected by no very large majority. A resolution was passed to tbe effect that no settlement of the land question could be regarded as inal which did not recognise the inherent and historic right of tbe Highland people to their native toil. There was a very full attendance, and among thecloßing ceremonies was an imposing procession, in which numerous banners were carried, some of them displaying very significant designs and mottoes. Messrs. Primmer, Thompson, and McVarish have been playing their anti- Popish cantrips in several other places. Where, however, any notice was taken of them it was of a strongly disapproving kind, and disgust at their own proceedings is all they have evoked. Protestant testimony has been forthcoming to the nature of the lives led by »ac monks of Fort Augustus — whose rejected and spiteful postulant McVarish has calumniated them. Gentlemen who bad been guests at their monastery ha»e described what they witnessed there— the con. elusion being that McVarish had not found the hard work agree with him. No doubt he finds more congenial companions in Messrs. Primmer and Thompson, The somewhat famous Lady Dunlo has been appearing as Tenus in burlesque at the Theatre Boyal, Edinburgh. Her Ladyship ia very lightly c ad, and shows well in spectacular effects. She appears to have been badly used, but if certain interviews published in the papers speak the truth, there would naturally be an inclination — and perhaps one not altogether inexplicable to ÜBe her badly. As a peeress of the realm she must decMely cut a comical figure. The title of Clancarty has come into strange relationship. In the last generation it was synonymous with all that was the pink of propriety and perfectly respectable. In Presbyterian pulpits some very generous testimony has been borne to the worth of the late Cardinal Newman. In some casae, indeed, an attempt was made to belittle his memory. The Rev. Mr. Hunter of Glasgow, for instance, held him up to tbe congregation as a striking example of the danger of believing too much— hardly the prevailing danger in the present day. The Rev. T. 8. M*rjoribanks of Prestonkirk, on the other hand, described him as one of the Most saintly men not only of this generation but of history. Saintliness of so high an order, he said, was ordained but for few. The Bea serpent has been quite eclipsed by an apparition in Orkney Near Southside, Daernees, it is affirmed, a creature has emerged from the sea, sitting upon a sunken rock near the Bhore. — But as to its appearance, who shall deeenbe that f It haß a little black bead, a long white neck, a white body, shaped like ihat of a human being, and two long arms which it waves above us head. If it was a Yankee ekipper that brought the news, we could understand it. but coming from a douce Scottish source, there seems no more to be said.