Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

xx vi
PREFACE.
Alexander Wilson,1 merchant, Glasgow, and on succeeding to
the old property in. 1752, they took steps for its disposal.
Accordingly, by a disposition, dated 29th August 1753, it was
parted with by husband and wife to Robert Barclay, formerly
(apparently) a merchant in Hamburgh, and Mrs. Anna Catha-
rina Todd, his spouse. The Glasgow merchant was increasing
his store, probably for the purchase of Glanderstoun, in
Renfrewshire, for, in 1771, he appears as laird of that
property, and claims arms, quartering with his own the talbots’
heads of his wife’s shield, with the motto of the Philp
family.
As to the old property, Barclay conveyed it, in 1768, to
William Graham of Morphie. In 1790 Robert Graham, his
heir, conveyed Almerieclose to William Kerr of Dumbarrow,
who sold it to Robert Lindsay in 1792. By arrangement,
Lindsay gave off the mansion-house and garden and offices to
Stewart Lyell of Dickmontlaw for a price of LT200. The
trustees under the will of George Lyell, son of the purchaser
of the mansion-house, sold the same to Dr. William Arrot in
1812. The trustees under the will of the son of Dr. William
Arrot now hold the property. The house is now let out into
workmen’s dwellings, and it would be difficult to recognise the
features of Ochterlony’s description. The panelling of some
of the rooms, the lead on the roof, together with the quaint
leaden gargoyles, and the general air of the old place, bespeak
the house of a burgess laird of some importance.
The late Miss Stirling Graham of Duntrune, the most
interesting and gifted author of Mystifications, could have told
us much more of the Philip connection with her family. She
was a frequent visitor to her aunt, Miss Alyson Graham, a
familiar figure in Arbroath, Mr. Hay tells us, through whom
she made the acquaintance of her first Worthy, Meg Matthews
—that admirable servant, who so well brought up her master’s
1 The Lyon Register by mistake calls him James.