82 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
eclipse of the sun, when a countryman accosted him, requesting to be informed
whether the eclipse would take place that day. “No,” said the Secretary,
probably recollecting the reply of Dean Swift, “it has been put off till
to-morrow ! ” The clown went away apparently perfectly satisfied with the
information.
The following anecdote is told of the worthy Secretary. One night he was
seated solus by his own parlour fire, head of the West Bow. A bottle of
genuine Edinburgh ale-a beverage in which he greatly delighted-stood on
the hearth, to take the “ chill air off it,” while, with a foot extended on each
side of the cheering grate, and his head inclining gently forward, he was dosing
away the time till supper should be prepared. From this state of pleasing
half-unconsciousness, he was suddenly roused by a smart hit on the proboscis,
the cork having sprung with great force from the overheated bottle. The
drowsy Secretary, probably dreaming of another rencontre with the Grand
Clerk, demanded in a rage to know the cause of quarrel, and involuntarily
applying his foot, dashed the luckless bottle in a hundred pieces !
As an assistant clerk in the
Court of Session he was succeeded first by his son, and afterwards by his
grandson Mr. Hector Mason.
Mr. Mason died on the 26th September 1795.
No. CC.
REV. JAMES BAINE, A.M.
FIRST MINISTER OF THE RELIEF CONGREGATION, SOUTH COLLEGE STKEET.
THE REV. JAMESB AINE,w hose name holds a distinguished place in the
annals of the Presbytery of Relief, was the son of the minister of Bonhill, in
Dumbartonshire, where he was born in 17 10. His education was begun at the
parish school, and having been completed at the University of Glasgow, he
became a licentiate of the Church of Scotland. On account of the respectability
of his father, and his own promising talents, he was presented by the Duke of
Montrose to the Church of Killearn, the parish adjoining that in which his
father had long been minister, In this sequestered and tranquil scene he spent
many years ; and in after life, he has been often heard to say they were the
happiest he had ever experienced. He was here married to Miss Potter,
daughter of Dr. Michael Potter, Professor of Divinity in the University of
Glasgow, by whom he had a large family.’
His son, the Rev. James Baine, in early life became a licensed preacher in the Established
Church, but afterwards received Episcopal ordination, and was appointed to a chaplaincy in one of
our distant colonies. He latterly returned to his native country, and died at Alloa. Another aon
became a captain in the army, served abroad during the American and Continental wars, and was
aftemards, we believe, proprietor of an estate in Stirlingshire.