ANWOTH, _Sept. 14, 1629_.
[Illustration: KIRKCUDBRIGHT.]
VI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of the illness of his wife_.
[MARION M'NAUGHT was daughter to the Laird of Kilquhanatie, in Kirkpatrick Durham (see Letter XXV.), the representative of an ancient family, now extinct, and connected also with the house of Kenmure, through her mother, Margaret Gordon, sister to Lord Kenmure. She became the wife of William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright, and was a woman extensively known and held in honour by the most eminent Christians and ministers of her day, on account of her rare godliness and public spirit. We find in "The Last and Heavenly Speeches of Viscount Kenmure," that by the special desire of that nobleman (who was her relative), she was in continual attendance on him as he lay on his deathbed. Her name is sometimes spelt "M'Knaight," or "M'Knaichte," the modern "Macknight." She had three children--one daughter, Grizzel, and two sons, Samuel and William,--who are often affectionately remembered in Rutherford's letters to her. The following epitaph was inscribed on her tomb, in the churchyard of Kirkcudbright:--
"Marion M'Naught, sister to John M'Naught of Kilquhanatie, an ancient and honourable baron, and spouse to William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright, died April 1643, age 58.
_Sexum animis, pietate genus, genorosa, locumque Virtute exsuperans, conditur hoc tumulo._"
The tombstone was lost sight of, but in 1863 was discovered again in removing the earth for a grave close by. It was only in 1860 that her house (in which the meeting between Blair and Rutherford took place) was pulled down. It stood at the foot of the High Street, which was then the principal street of the town.
A relative of this lady's husband, Fullerton of Carlton (see Letter CLVII.), wrote on her the following acrostic:--
M More happy than imaginèd can be, A And blessed, are such as with heart sincere R Resolve to cleave to Christ, to live and die I In Him, with Him, and for Him to appear. O O what transcendent glory grows from grace! N None but--no, not--the soul refinèd shall M' Make to appear; that life, that light, that peace, K Known only to the pure possessors all. N Now, _THOU_, by grace, art into glory gone, A And gained the garland of eternal bliss, I In seeing Him who, on that glorious throne, C Created, uncreated, glory is. H Heaven's quire did sing at thy conversion sweet, T Time posts thy final comforts to complete.
(_Append. to "Minute-Book of Committee of Covenanters."_)]