GLASGOW, _Sept. 28, 1651_.
CCCXXXVI.--_To_ LADY RALSTON.[486]
[486] Wodrow MSS. vol. xlv. 8vo, No. 13. "This letter," says Wodrow, "is taken from a copy; but is certainly Mr. Rutherford's to Lady Ralston of that ilk, which I have from her grandchild, and, as far as I can see, is not printed."
[LADY RALSTON, whose maiden name was Ursula Mure, was daughter to William Mure of Glanderston, a respectable family in the county of Renfrew, and wife of William Ralston of that ilk. Mr. Alexander Dunlop, minister of Paisley, was married to one of her sisters, and Mr. John Carstairs to another. Lady Ralston was a woman of distinguished piety. Mr. Dunlop, who "was most impartial in his judgment of persons of worth," spoke in the highest terms of her Christian character. One day, commending her to Mrs. Hastie, wife of Mr. Alexander Hastie, minister of Glasgow, he spoke so much to her commendation that Mr. Hastie said to him, "I wonder to hear you speak so much to the praise of that lady; I think you speak more of her than of your own wife." He answered, "Sanders, I love truly to be just to everybody. I think my wife is truly a good woman, and all the rest of the sisters are good women; but I must say, Lady Ralston is a person more than ordinary. I know very few come her length; yea, Sanders, I truly think shame to even myself to be a Christian beside her, when I look to her carriage. She is a very odd [singular] woman" (Wodrow's "Analecta"). Mr. John Carstairs also bears testimony to her Christian excellence, and to the kindness she had shown to him and his family, particularly after his ejection from his church in Glasgow, in 1662, for conscience' sake.]