His son said to him, "You should establish such a book, sir, at Melrose;" upon which Sir W.replied, "No, Walter; I should just have to see a great deal of abuse of myself." On his son deprecating such a result, and on his observing my surprised look, he answered, "Well, well, I should have to read a great deal of foolish praise, which is much the same thing." An amusing account is given of the cause of Lord Gardenstone withdrawing this volume from the hotel, and of his determination to submit it no more to the tender mercies of the passing traveller.

As Professor Stuart of Aberdeen was passing an evening at the inn, the volume was handed to him, and he wrote in it the following lines, in the style of the prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer:-- "Frae sma' beginnings Rome of auld Became a great imperial city; 'Twas peopled first, as we are tauld, By bankrupts, vagabonds, banditti.
Quoth Thamas, Then the day may come, When Laurencekirk shall equal Rome." These lines so nettled Lord Gardenstone, that the volume disappeared, and was never seen afterwards in the inn of Laurencekirk.

There is another lingering reminiscence which I retain connected with the inn at Laurencekirk.

The landlord, Mr.Cream, was a man well known throughout all the county, and was distinguished, in his later years, as one of the few men who continued to wear a _pigtail_.

On one occasion the late Lord Dunmore (grandfather or great-grandfather of the present peer), who also still wore his queue, halted for a night at Laurencekirk.