Perthshire in bygone days

70 PEBTHSHIRE IN BYGONE DAYS.
CHAPTEE XIII.
SIE WILLIAM STIBLING-MAXWBLL, BABONET-
continued.
" A man so varied that he seemed to be,
Not one but all mankind's epitome."
John Dkyden.
The position so long held by Sir William Stirling-Maxwell,
as Knight of the Shire, tended to divert public attention
from the many and varied occupations of his life. His love
of letters was no doubt born with him ; but the study and
cultivation necessary to lead to such high results must
have been incessant and wearing. He had gathered around
him such an assemblage of vertu, such choice specimens of
man's achievements in literature and art, so many evidences
of an ardent and devoted spirit, in letters, in fellowship,
and in true religion, as could not fail in carrying his name
forward to unborn generations. Every angle and corner of
Keir savours of the man of taste ; every old domestic tells
the tale of his simple though gifted nature ; every tenant
speaks of his unostentatious liberality; and every grave
bears a motto, remarkable as evidence of a susceptible and
humane heart. Amidst my inquiries and conversations
respecting the men whose names head these pages, I have
heard many blighting remarks, some of them, I thought,
little deserved ; but from no man, or class of men, Con-
servative or Liberal, Churchman or Dissenter, have I heard
one depreciatory word of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell ;
and the nearer I go to his own immediate circle, the more
am I told of his estimable qualities, as well of heart as of
head and hands. Nothing so readily awakens in us a health-
ful regard for our fellow men as meeting in the outer world
such unqualified approval of conduct and character as have
been tendered to me of this excellent man. A year of such
a living memory is worth a lifetime of labour.
The mansion house of Keir stands on the western ridge
of the Ochils, as it descends into the Carse of Lecropt.
The large home park has a fine southern exposure, and the