Grant younger of Ballindalloch, reported to the Council that he had lately taken an opportunity to attack some of the broken men who formed the company of the outlaw James Grant. Entering into pursuit of two, named Finlay M‘Grimmen and ---- Cumming, he and his people had killed the first, and taken the second. They had carried Cumming three miles, intending to exhibit him alive to the Council, along with the head of M‘Grimmen; but the country rising upon them, they had been obliged to put the man to death. The Lords accepted this act as good service, and ordered M‘Grimmen’s head to be affixed to the Nether Bow Port; at the same time giving the inbringer of it a guerdon of a hundred merks, ‘for encouragement of others.’---_P. C. R._ * * * * * [Sidenote: 1635.] The year at which we are now arrived is the epoch of the establishment of a regular letter-post in Scotland. There was previously a system of _posts_, in the proper sense of the word--namely, establishments at certain intervals, where horses could be had for travelling, and which had the occasional duty of forwarding packets of letters regarding public affairs. As illustrative of this system of posts, which was probably limited to the road between Edinburgh and Berwick (as part of the great line of communication with London), with possibly one or two other roads--On the 29th of March 1631, the lords of the Privy Council dealt with the fault of ---- Forres, postmaster of Haddington, respecting a packet of his majesty’s letters which had been lost by his carelessness. It appears that Forres was bound to have fresh horses always ready for the forwarding of such packets; but on one late occasion he had sent a packet by a foot-boy, who had lost it by the way, and he had never taken any further trouble regarding it. On the ensuing 3d of November, the Council had occasion to find fault with William Duncan, postmaster in the Canongate, and more particularly with a post-boy in Duncan’s employment, because the latter, instead of carrying his majesty’s packet to the postmaster at Haddington, had given it to ‘a whipman’ of Musselburgh, to be carried to Duncan’s house there (designing probably that it should be forwarded by another hand). The Council recommended Sir William Seton ‘to prescribe regulations to the postmasters, for the sure and speedy despatch of his majesty’s packet, both anent the postmasters their constant residence at the place of their charge, and keeping of are register for receipt of the packets.’--_P. C. R._ These circumstances appear as characteristic of a time when the postal arrangements were at once very new and very simple.