Blair Collection > Book of Common Order, commonly called John Knox's Liturgy

Notices of Bishop Carswell. xxvii
which existed in a certain portion of the community,
but they do not represent the real truth respecting
Carswell.
Bishop Carswell died in July or August 1572. 1 He-
was alive on the 21st June 1 5 72, 2 and was dead before
the 4th September 1572, when a presentation was given
to the Chancellary of the Chapel Royal, vacant by his
death, 3 and on the 20th September, a license was
granted to elect a Bishop of the Isles in his room. 4
" There is a tradition that he ordered his remains to
be deposited in the Priory of Ardchattan, about forty
miles distant from Carnassery. The day of his
interment was marked by a violent storm, which
occasioned much distress to the great concourse of
people who attended the funeral, carrying the bier on
their shoulders, according to the custom of the times ;
so that to this day, when there is a tempest of more
than ordinary violence, there is a common saying
among the people, ' There has not been the like since
Carswell's funeral day.'" 5
These notices of Bishop Carswell are short and
imperfect ; but little has come down to us through the
three hundred years that have intervened since his
death. The times in which he lived were troublesome,
and were followed by times not less so, and much of
what may have been transmitted from his own time
must have perished.
Privy Seal Reg. B. xli. fo. 20. - Ibid.
[bid. fo. 30. J Ibid. fo. 19.
New Statistical Account, vol. vii. p. 556.