In the year 1474--the very year in which Maurice Keir Drummond of Concraig had parted with lands and office to his kinsman, the Laird of Cargill--Sir William Murray of Tullibardine obtained from King James III. a discharge or dishonouration of the Seneschalship of Strathearn. The effect of this was that his person and his lands were emancipated from the jurisdiction of the Steward's Court. This example was followed by the Laird of Abercairny, who held a tack of the lands of Tullichettle, which Sir William Stirling of Keir, the granter, was called on to warrant. In 1483, the Laird of Abercairny, Humphrey Murray, appeared at the Stayt of Crieff and withdrew his suit--"_Levavit sectam suam de predicta curia_," which was transferred by Crown charter to the King's Sheriff Court at Perth. Thus terminated the jurisdiction of the Earls Palatine of Strathearn. It was followed up by a declaration of date 16th February, 1505, to the effect that "the Baroneys of new create and maid within the King's Earldom of Strathearn within thir three years bipast" were released of all service in the Steward Court of the King's Earldom of Strathearn. Such service was now due to the King's Sheriff Court of Perth "in all times to cum." In giving this rapid sketch of the early history of Crieff, I have followed mainly the guidance of the writer of a historical introduction to a little book entitled _The Beauties of Upper Strathearn_. For the short account of the Skait of Crieff, I am indebted to one or two articles in the _Strathearn Herald_, written by the late H. B. Farnie, on the 17th and 24th days of November, 1860, just when the trenching and levelling were in full swing. We must now turn to the later period during which Crieff tasted the sweet uses of adversity. It suffered eclipse for 200 years--from the year 1483, when the jurisdiction of the Earl Palatine terminated, down to 1683, when a citizen of Crieff--George Drummond of Milnab--became Lord Provost of Edinburgh. During these long years, Crieff was an ordinary kirk-town, nowise distinguished among its fellows. It had its Gothic Church, which seems to have dated from a very remote period. When it was demolished, in 1787, forty gold coins of Robert I. were found in a hole in the wall six feet from the ground. There was a law plea for the possession of these coins between the Crown and James Gentle, the purchaser of the old walls, which was decided in favour of the Crown. The houses of Crieff were clustered round this old church--mainly east and north and south. Crieff had no west end beyond the Cross until after 1731, when the Master of Drummond made good his title to the Perth Estate, after the forfeiture which ensued upon the proceedings of 1715. It was burned to the ground in this year, but, thanks to the Master of Drummond, it had reached a thriving condition as a market town for the midland and western districts of Scotland, when the Highlanders broke loose again in 1745.