[Sidenote: ECCENTRIC AYRSHIRE LAIRDS] Another crack-brained laird in the same county has left inscribed on a stone monument upon his property a record of his eccentricity. I came upon it standing by itself near an oak tree at Todhills in the parish of Dalry. On the west side of the stone the following inscription has been cut; ‘There is an oak tree a little from this, planted in the year 1761, it has 20 feet of ground round it for to grow upon, and all within that ground reserved from all succeeding proprietors for the space of 500 years from the above date by me, ANDREW SMITH, who is the ofspring of many Andrew Smiths who lived in Auchengree for unknown generations.’ On the south side the stone bears the subjoined lines: My Trustees ROBERT GLASGOW Esq of Montgreenan WILLIAM COCHRAN Esq of Ladyland I stand here to herd this tree And if you please to read a wee In seventeen hundred and sixty one It was planted then at three feet long I’ll tell more if you would ken It was planted at the byre end I’ll tell you more you’ll think a wonder It’s alloud to stand for years five hundred It has twelve yards a cross and round about It belongs to no man till that time is out But to ANDREW SMITH tho he were dead He raised it out of the seed So cut it neither Top nor Tail Least that the same you do bewail Cut it neither Tail nor Top Least that some evil you oertak Erected By ANDREW SMITH of Todhills Octr 1817 When in the year 1867 the British Association met in Dundee, some of the members were entertained at Fingask--that charming old Scottish chateau, with its treasures of family and Jacobite antiquities. Among the visitors was Professor Charles Martin of Montpellier, who so delighted the Misses Murray Thriepland with his enthusiasm for Scotland and everything Scottish, that they bade him kneel, and taking a sword that had belonged to Prince Charlie, laid it on his shoulder and, as if the blade still possessed a royal virtue, dubbed him knight. Some years afterwards I chanced to meet him on a river steamer upon the Tiber, bound for Ostia with a party from the University of Rome. He was delighted to be addressed as ‘Sir Charles Martin,’ and recalled with evident enthusiasm the charms of Fingask and of the distinguished ladies who so hospitably entertained him there. [Sidenote: NEW LAIRDS]