THE HIGHLAND HOST.
[To um Eorror or Tar ..SracrAroz."1
FIR,—Your review in the Spectator of May 9th of Mr. J. R. Elder's book on the Highland Host of 1678 recalled to my mind an incident, or rather a series of incidents, provoked by the Duke of Lauderdale's declaration making all beritors and masters responsible for the behaviour of their tenants and servants (1674), which was followed by the Act of Council (1677) compelling the former to give a bond for the loyal behaviour of the latter. The Duke himself was a large land- holder in Scotland, and no sooner had he signed the bond on his own account than the Covenanters seized the opportunity of embarrassing him by means of his own measures. With grim humour they selected his lands for their conventicles, and for a time there was no district in the country where the "illegal" meetings were held with greater frequency and enthusiasm. History, however, does not record that the Duke of Lauderdale as President of the Council summoned before him the Duke of Lauderdale as landowner and fined him for contempt of his own Court. There is something delightfully Gilbertian in the situation, all the more so that there is reason to believe that, despite his harsh policy against the Covenanters, the Duke remained to the end of his days a
sincere believer in Presbyterianism.—I am, Sir, &c., R
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