The lands of Gask have now been in the possession of the Oliphant family for nearly six hundred years. The name was originally written Olifard, then Olyfaunt, and now Oliphant. Sir William Olyfaunt was the first of that name on whom these lands were bestowed by King Robert the Bruce. Sir William occupied a prominent position in the early history of our country. He was Governor of Stirling Castle, and when summoned in the name of Edward I. to surrender it, made the noble reply, "I have never sworn fealty to Edward, but I have sworn to keep the Castle, and must wait the order of my constituent." And when the Castle was besieged by Edward and his army he defended it for three months, and only capitulated from the scarcity of provisions. He was a member of the Parliament held at Aberbrothock in 1320, and subscribed along with some other Scottish Barons the famous letter to the Pope, which so nobly asserted the independence of Scotland. To that document were affixed the seals of Sir William Olyfaunt and Malise, Earl of Strathearn. He died in 1329, and was buried in the Church of Aberdalgie, where a monument of black marble was erected to his memory. When the present Church of Aberdalgie was built in 1773 the site was changed, and the monument to Sir William Olyfaunt was left in the open churchyard. In 1780, Mr Oliphant of Gask erected a stone covering over it to protect it from injury by the weather. Sir William was succeeded by his son, Walter Olyfaunt, who married a daughter of King Robert the Bruce, and, "having resigned the lands of Gask into the hands of his brother-in-law, David II., obtained, in 1364, a new charter confirming them to the said Walter and his spouse Elizabeth, our beloved sister, on a peculiar tenure for the reddendum of a chaplet of white roses at the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist at the manor place of Gask." This incident has been happily expressed in a poem by Miss Ethel Blair Oliphant, now Mrs Maxtone Graham, who inherits much of the poetic genius of her great-grand-aunt, Lady Nairne. THE TRIBUTE OF GASK Now ken ye the gift Gask has brought to the King? 'Tis an off'ring sae royal, sae perfect, and fair, Than jewels o' siller more dainty and rare, A crown for a maid or a monarch to wear. The courtier's tribute is but a poor thing, For what can he offer and what can he bring, Than the crown of White Roses from Gask to the King? Now ken ye the service Gask does for the King? All for his sake, in the bloom of the year, In the gardens of Gask the white blossoms appear-- The Royal White Roses to Scotland sae dear. Then far o'er Stralhearn let the praise of them ring, Let them live once again in the song that we sing, The crown of White Roses from Gask to the King.