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THOMAS GRAHAM, LORD
LYNEDOCH.
page 170
At the age of twenty-four, Mr. Graham offered himself as a candidate, in the
Whig interest, for the representation of the county of Perth, in opposition to
the brother of the Duke of Athole, but was defeated by a majority of only six
votes. Two years later (1774) he married Mary, second daughter of the ninth Earl
Cathcart, a lady of remarkable beauty and
accomplishments. Her elder sister, on the same day, became Duchess of Athole.
'Jane,' wrote Lord Cathcart, 'has married, to please
herself, John, Duke of Athole, a peer of the realm; Mary has married Thomas
Graham of Balgowan, the man of her heart, and a peer among princes.' The laird
of Balgowan was distinguished for his accomplishments as a scholar as well as
for his skill in the cultivation of his estate, and with his books, the
improvement of his property, his field-sports, and, above all, the society of
his lovely and amiable wife, he spent eighteen years in the tranquil and happy
condition of a country gentleman, beloved by his neighbours and tenantry,
distinguished only as a daring rider and sportsman, and a good classical
scholar.
THOMAS GRAHAM, LORD LYNEDOCH.
page 172
In the autumn of 1787, Mrs. Graham happened to be on a visit at Blair, to the
Duchess of Athole, along with their youngest sister, Miss Cathcart,
then in her seventeenth year, when Robert Burns, at that time on a tour in the
Highlands, came with a letter of introduction to the Duke. His Grace was from
home, but the visitor was cordially welcomed by the Duchess, and the Duke
returned before he left Blair. The poet afterwards declared that the two days
(September 1st and 2nd) which he spent there, were among the happiest days of
his life. In a letter which he wrote from Inverness, on September 5th, to Mr.
Walker, afterwards Professor of Humanity, of Glasgow, who was then residing at
Blair Athole, enclosing his well-known 'Humble Petition of Bruar Water,' the
poet says, 'The "little-angel band"—I declare I prayed for them very
sincerely today at the Fall of Fyers. I shall never forget the fine family-piece
I saw at Blair: the amiable, the truly noble Duchess, with her smiling little
seraph in her lap, at the head of the table; the lovely
"olive-plants," as the Hebrew bard finely says, round the happy
mother; the beautiful Mrs. Graham; the lovely sweet Miss Cathcart,
&c. I wish I had the power of Guido to do them justice.' Sad to tell, these
three lovely sisters all passed away in the flower of their youth. The Duchess
survived Burns's visit only three years, and Mrs. Graham five. Miss Cathcart,
who was singularly amiable as well as beautiful, was cut off at twenty-four. And
yet other three members of the Cathcart family lived to
a great age. In order to induce Burns to visit her and her husband at Lynedoch, Mrs. Graham offered to conduct him to a spot hallowed in Scottish
song—the graves of Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, which lie in the bosom of that
romantic estate. Bessie Bell was the daughter of the Laird of Kinnaird, and Mary
Gray of the Laird of Lynedoch. An intimate friendship existed between them, and
when the plague of 1666 broke out, the two young ladies built themselves a house
in a retired and romantic spot, called the Burnbraes, about three-quarters of a
mile westward from Lynedoch House, where they resided for some time, and were
supplied with food by a young gentleman of Perth, who, it is said, was in love
with them both. The disease was unfortunately communicated to them by their
lover, and proved fatal. 'The pest came frae the burrowstoun, and slew them
baith the gither.' They were buried in a sequestered spot called the Dronach
Haugh, at the foot of of a brae of the same name, upon the banks of the river
Almond. The beauty and the fate of these 'twa bonnie lasses' arc commemorated in
an old ballad bearing their name.* He promised to do so, and there is every
probability that he performed his promise when he visited Mr. Ramsay of
Auchtertyre in the following October. It is not unworthy of mention that Lord
Lynedoch had a handsome iron railing placed round these celebrated graves, and
caused them to be neatly trimmed, and covered with wild flowers.
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