lately (1884) occupied Hawkhead, the barony brought to the Boyles, Earls of Glasgow, through the marriage of John, third Earl, with Elizabeth, daughter of George, Lord Ross. COILSFIELD AND THE MONTGOMERIES. WHETHER the old Eglinton mansion of Coilsfield was renamed altogether out of deference to Burns's fine lines, descriptive of those "banks and braes and streams around the Castle o' Montgomery;" or whether it was to keep fresh those tender memories of "Highland Mary," so closely associated with the house; or whether it was judged to be a seemly compliment to the name of its early owners--whether for any of these reasons, or for all of them, with others added, the substitution of 'Montgomery Castle" for Coilsfield has at least avoided the possible degradation of the name to "Culsfield," as has happened with a parish only a few miles south, but on the other side of Ayr water. Coylton years ago had degenerated in the common speech of its natives to "Culton," an unmeaning corruption, having no sort of apparent affinity, as it should have, with either Kyle or Coila. Coilsfield itself, as has been mentioned, although nearly in the centre of Kyle district, is not in Coylton, but in Tarbolton parish-on the right bank of the Feale, below the Abbey ruins, greatly altered since Burns's day by modern classic additions, but still embowered in those woods where "Simmer first unfaulds her robes." The traveller in this region of song may catch a glimpse of Montgomery Castle by approaching coastward from Tarbolton village, from which the mansion is distant only a good mile, or, if more convenient, he may travel westward from Mauchline, by way of Failford, a good deal longer but equally romantic route. The estate, within which tradition affirms the remains of "Old King Coil" were laid, is now in the possession of Mr. William Paterson. Putting aside mere minute genealogical details, with which these sketches are not much concerned, it may be stated generally that Hugh, third Baron of the family, and first Earl of Eglinton, was fourth in the line from that Sir John Montgomery, seventh laird of Eaglesham, who distinguished himself at Otterburn by capturing the fiery Hotspur, as detailed in the familiar old ballad of the fight : "The Percy and Montgomery met, That either of other were fain, They swapped swords, and they twa swat, And aye the blood ran down between." The patent of creation in favour of Earl Hugh was dated 20th January, 1508. After him came a succession of four Hughes, all Earls of Eglinton, the last of this early line of Montgomeries, Hugh, fifth Earl, being succeeded in 1612 by his cousin, Alexander Seton, father, among others, of James of Coilsfield, who, by his wife, daughter of John Macdonald, Kintyre, had a son, Hugh, from whom descended the present Earls of Eglinton. Hugh married twice (1) Jean, daughter of Sir William Primrose, with issue three daughters; (2) the famous beauty, Katherine Arbuckle, widow of John Hamilton of Letham. By her first marriage Mrs. Hamilton had, among other sons, Basil, who married Margaret, daughter of Clerk of Brackleken, whose family held large estates in Argyllshire as far back as the reign of James II. Their daughter, Bazill, married Captain Henry Beatson, of Glasmont, Fifeshire, grandfather of the Beatsons and Lacys of Campbeltown. By her marriage with Hugh Montgomery of Coilsfield, Katherine Arbuckle bore, with two daughters and three sons, Hugh, who took up the honours of the family on the death (1796) without male issue, of Archibald, eleventh Earl, brother of Alexander, tenth Earl, shot on Ardrossan sands by a poaching exciseman, named Mungo Campbell, as described in a former paper. The elder Hugh of Coilsfield was also father of that James Montgomery, a Lieutenant-General in the army, Grand Master in the masonic lodge of Tarbolton, of which Burns was made Depute-Master, 1784-5. In one of his early Edinburgh letters (March 8, 1787), addressed to Gavin Hamilton, the poet makes reference to his right worshipful brother, the General, in connection with an aliment case before the Supreme Court, of some interest in its day to Ayrshire people. Coilsfield House, purchased by the Montgomeries from Cunningham of Caprington, is connected with the life of at least two of Burns's heroines. Montgomery's Peggy," whom he had met first at Kirkoswald, when attending Rodger's school, passed afterwards into the Coilsfield family as a housekeeper or upper servant, and permitted herself to be wooed and sung of by the youth of twenty for some six or eight months, when she informed him that her heart had already been given to another. Peggy Thomson, with whom the good lass has been identified, became the wife of a person named Neilson, and lived long in Ayr. But it is with "Highland Mary" that the most tender memories of Coilsfield are entwined. Burns himself threw such an air of mystery and perplexing fancy over his connection with Mary Campbell that little more than surmise regarding either her movements or position is now possible; but it is not going far beyond what is known to presume that some time in the summer of 1785 she passed from service in Gavin Hamilton's house to Coilsfield, there to act as dairymaid, or, it may be, as nurse to some of the younger children of Hugh Montgomery. Within the grounds, and not far from the junction of the Faile with the Ayr, it is almost certain that romantic meeting and parting took place on the second Sunday in May (14th May, 1786), when they swore everlasting fidelity to each other, as recorded in the famous Bibles now appropriately placed in the monument at Brig o' Doon after a curious enough history. This brief episode for it was little more in the poet's career-was closed by the death of "Highland Mary" in her father's house at Greenock sometime, it is thought, during the month of October following. When Hugh Montgomery succeeded as twelfth Earl of Eglinton, only a portion of the then wide estates passed to him with the title, a valuable share falling to Lady Montgomerie, elder and only surviving daughter of the preceding Earl, Archibald. Born in 1739, Hugh Montgomerie entered the army in 1755, and, after serving with distinction in America, was appointed major in the Argyll or Western Fencibles when hostilities broke out with France in 1778. Six years later, when known as Hugh of Skelmorlie, his father living at Coilsfield till 1783, he succeeded Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, in the representation of Ayrshire, and sat till 1789, when, on being appointed inspector of military roads, he was succeeded in turn by Sir Adam. Hugh Montgomerie again entered the Commons for a few months in 1796, but on succeeding to the Earldom that year as heirmale, the seat was won by Colonel Fullerton of Fullerton. Earl Hugh had some years before this been appointed Lieut.-Governor of Edinburgh Castle, in room of Lord Elphinstone, and Colonel of the Western Fencibles, a Lowland regiment noticeable for having worn the Highland dress. A representative Peer from 1798 to 1806, Earl Hugh was in the last-mentioned year raised to the British Peerage as Baron Ardrossan. He was now becoming known as one of the most munificent, patriotic, and enterprising noblemen of his time, carrying out as he did valuable improvements on the estate, especially in the neighbourhood of Kilwinning, commenced, so far as planting was concerned, by a predecessor, Alexander, tenth Earl. Between 1797 and 1800 Earl Hugh also rebuilt Eglinton Castle, from designs by Paterson, on a scale of princely magnificence, worthy at once of his own long-descended house, and of the beautiful site it occupies on the banks of the Lugton. But even this was to be surpassed by his noble ambition to construct a grand harbour at Ardrossan for the purpose of making that place a principal port of Glasgow, with which it was to be connected by a canal passing through Johnstone and Paisley. Only a portion of this latter scheme was carried out, the application of steam to purposes of navigation, as well as to the conveyance of goods by land, coming to supersede the original scheme contemplated by the Earl. Commenced in 1806, the works at Ardrossan were brought to a standstill in 1815, when, although £100,000 had been expended, the Engineers, Telford and Rennie, indicated the likelihood of £300,000 more being required. The works were resumed in 1833, when Archibald William, thirteenth Earl, came of age, and then completed on a reduced scale, but not before the entire expenditure was found to have reached £200,000. This lavish expenditure on public projects, without any return in his day, began to exhaust even Earl Hugh's rent-roll, and various properties were sold to meet pressing obligations. Now, it is thought, also commenced the burdening of that wide Eaglesham estate, sold outright to Mr. Gilmour about 1840 by Earl Archibald, after having been in possession of the Montgomery family for over five hundred years. A brave soldier, but a strict disciplinarian, his easiness of access to tenantry, and an unbounded hospitality, suggesting more of the ancient baron than the modern nobleman, made Earl Hugh extremely popular among all classes in the West Country. An enthusiast in music, even to the extent of keeping a family piper, the Earl had no great taste or desire for public speaking. In his "Earnest Cry and Prayer," Burns describes his patron as "Sodger Hugh, my watchman stented, If bardies ere are represented, I ken that if your sword were wanted But when there's ought to say anent it Earl Hugh died 15th December, 1819, having had by his wife Elenora, daughter of Robert Hamilton of Bourtreehill, two sons and two daughters. The elder son, Archibald, Lord Montgomery, a Major-General in the army, predeceased his father, leaving two sons, Hugh, who died young, and is commemorated by a marble column erected by his grandfather in a retired part of Eglinton woods, and Archibald William, who became thirteenth Earl. Born at Palermo in 1812, Earl Archibald had a long minority, not unfavourable to the nursing of his estate, and which enabled him, as has been mentioned, to complete some of Earl Hugh's schemes in a moderate way. A leading patron in all manly sports, Lord Eglinton was much liked in the hunting-field as well as on the race-course, where a fair measure of luck fell to horses he had trained |