of Hessians. This was now attempted, and the gardener of Blair Castle undertook to be the messenger. The gate was opened without noise; he stole out unperceived, mounted a horse, and rode cautiously down the avenue to the highway; but immediately a firing and pursuit commenced, and, on the following day, a Highlander was seen mounted on the gardener's horse, so that the garrison thought he must have been either killed or taken. On the 1st of April, however, they were startled by an unexpected messenger; this was no other than Molly of the Inn, formerly the envoy of the rebels, who now came with the joyful intelligence that they had broken up their encampment, and gone away to Dalnacardoch. Sir Andrew, who was not only wary but short-sighted, would not trust the news, and abode a day longer in his hunger-bitten hold, when an officer arrived from the Earl of Crawford, to say that his lordship himself was on the road with his cavalry, and would arrive within an hour. Such was the case; for the gardener's horse being alarmed at the firing, had thrown him, and been captured by the Highlanders, so that he had made his journey to Dunkeld on foot. When Crawford arrived, Sir Andrew drew up his soldiers to receive him, and thus addressed the Earl: "My lord, I am very glad to see you; but, by all that's good, you have been very dilatory; we can give you nothing to eat." The Earl laughed good humouredly, and invited Sir Andrew and his officers to dine with him—an invitation that was never more welcome, perhaps, than at the present crisis. The summer-house in the garden was immediately turned into a dining-room, the table was plentifully covered with substantial dishes and excellent wines, and the half-starved and doomed defenders of Blair Castle were translated, as if by magic, inta the regions of safety, hilarity, and good cheer.
After the siege was thus raised, Sir Andrew Agnew's gallant defence was not forgot. He and his soldiers were publicly thanked by the Duke of Cumberland, and soon afterwards he was promoted to a Colonelcy of Marines. In 1747, in consequence of the abolition of the many old feudal offices in Scotland, his hereditary sheriffdom of Wigtonshire was among the number; but he received £4000 as a compensation from government. In 1750, he was appointed governor of Tinmouth Castle, in room of the Duke of Somerset. He died, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, in 1771, at the age of eighty-four, and was succeeded by his fifth son, Sir Stair Agnew, who was born October 9, 1734. His father, who at that period was absent on foreign service, found at his return the infant nestled in the maternal bosom. "What's this ye hae got, Nelly?" he asked, as this was the first intelligence he had of the event. "Another son to you, Sir Andrew," she answered. "And what do you call this boy?" "I have called him Stair, after the earl, your commander." "Stair, Sir Stair," repeated the knight, whistling the sibilant sounds through his teeth—"Sir Stair, Sir Deevil! It disna clink weel, Nelly." The sounds, however, were at last united, whether they clinked or not, for the child, by the death of his elder brothers, ultimately succeeded to the Baronetcy of Loclmaw.
ALISON, Rev. Archibald, M.A., LL.B., this distinguished writer on "Taste," whose works procured him a high reputation among the foremost literary judges of his day, was born in Edinburgh, A.D. 1757, and was the son of Mr. Andrew Alison, one of the magistrates of that city. When he had completed the usual course of an elementary classical education, he was sent, at the age of fifteen, to the university of Glasgow, where, after the usual curriculum of Latin, Greek, and Logic, he attended the lectures of Professor Reid, at that time in
