David Freebairn was minister of Auchterarder from 1680 to 1686, when he became minister of Dunning. He was deprived by the Privy Council, 4th September, 1689. He went to Edinburgh, and was consecrated a bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church, 7th October, 1722, and died Primus and the oldest Presbyter in Scotland, 24th December, 1739, in his eighty-seventh year and sixty-fourth of his ministry. "He was of blameless conversation and sweet temper, while he was a vigilant preacher and a successful physician." His son Robert was a bookseller and printer in Edinburgh, and a staunch adherent of the Stuart family. Andrew Duncan, D.D., was minister of Auchterarder from 1781 to 1802, when he was translated to Ratho. He was Principal Clerk to the General Assembly, and Moderator of the Assembly in 1824. Robert Young was presented to the church by the Earl of Kinnoull, 14th September, 1834. Objections were taken to him under the Veto Act, and his settlement was delayed till 1843. He died 15th September, 1865. He was an excellent scholar, an able preacher, and a faithful pastor. In conclusion, let us express a hope that Auchterarder may long flourish and increase in prosperity, and that the sentiment contained in its motto may continue to be verified--_Non potest civitas abscondi supra montem posita_. [1] M.S. in the Imperial Library at Paris. Fonds Lat., 6049, folio 30 b. [2] Buchanani Hist. [3] Knox's _History of the Reformation_. [4] _Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_. Vol. II.; 1689. [5] _Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_. Vol II.; 1646. [6] _Calendar ut supra_; 1691. [7] _Calendar_; 1858. [8] _History of the House of Drummond_. By Viscount Strathallan. [9] _Rotuli Camerarii Scotiae_. [10] _Register of the Privy Council of Scotland_. Vol. I., p. 348. [11] _Liber Insule Missarum_. [12] _Guthrie's Memoirs_. [13] _History of Brechin_. By David D. Black (pp. 97-98.) AT THE GATE OF THE HIGHLANDS By Rev. JOHN HUNTER, M.A., Crieff The title describes admirably the position of the town of Crieff, planted as it is on the Knock, at the base of which the main road from Stirling and the South splits into two portions--the one running by way of Monzievaird and Comrie, the other by Monzie and the Sma' Glen, into the Western and Northern Highlands. Crieff has had a long history. The most probable meaning of the name is "Tree-town," from _Craobh_--Gaelic for "tree"--a fact that carries us back into a remote age. Fifty or sixty years ago, the Breadalbane Highlanders spoke of Crieff as the "town of the tree." In early historical times the fame of Crieff was overshadowed by that of Foulis, near by which was the Castletown--the principal residence of the Earls Palatine of Strathearn--not the Celtic Earls whose home was at Tom-a-chastel, but the Stewarts, and afterwards the Grahams, who rose into place and power in Strathearn upon the ruins of the ancient line, which seems to have had no family name.