Balfron originally belonged to the once powerful family Drummond, who, along with it, held in their own right the lands of the barony of Drummond proper, known now by the name of Drymen. They also were the proprietors of Roseneith, Auchendown, and Cardross in Monteith. Balfron was given to the youngest brother or the chief "Malcolm Big." How or when it passed from their hands, we have not been able to discover. The lands of the parish are now parcelled out amongst many proprietors or heritors, all of whom are, with one or two exceptions, unfortunately for the best interests of the parish, non-resident.

Historical Notices.-In connection with this parish there are, doubtless, many occurrences worthy of being noticed here. For brevity, however, we select only the two following; the first affords the last instance that we are aware of, of abduction being punished capitally in Scotland; and the second is a tradition in opposition to what is generally supposed to have been the case by the historians of the time. First it was from Edinbelly, in this parish, that Rob Roy, Junior, abducted Jean Kay or Wright; and for which he suffered the last penalty of the law at Edinburgh. Jean Kay, whom Rob abducted, was the heiress of Edinbelly, and, though not quite fifteen years of age, was the widow of Mr Wright of Wright's Park. She is described as being interesting enough in her appearance, and rather of a comely countenance. One evening, a very few weeks after Mr Wright's death, Rob, with a party of fifteen Highlanders, landed unexpectedly at Edinbelly, and carried the young widow off to his retreat in the Highlands. In process of time he was pursued, taken, convicted, and executed for the crime. Second, it was at Clockburn, in this parish, according to a very common tradition, that the assassins of Archbishop Sharp first drew bridle, after the murder of that prelate in Magus Moor, in Fifeshire, on 3d May 1679. The distance travelled could not have been less than seventy or eighty miles. A solitary tree now marks the spot where, at the time referred to, the house and offices of a small farm stood, and which afforded the accommodation which men and horses required. Without pretending to say how much credit should be attached to this tradition, we may be allowed to state, that there is some presumption of its truth, from the fact, that one of the conspirators, Balfour of Burly, died at Roseneath, under the protection of his kinsman Argyle; and that the spot where the halt was made in this parish is in the direct route, or what may have been supposed to have been so, from Magus Moor to that place.

Eminent Men.- The first to be noticed is Alexander, fifth Earl of Glencairn. "There is hardly," says Chambers, "any patriotic name in Scottish history entitled to more of the credit of a firm and zealous pursuit of liberty, than Alexander, fifth Earl of Glencairn." The friend the associate, and the protector of Knox, he has well earned this character. In all the struggles by which Scotland was distinguished for civil and for religious liberty, from 1554 till 1574, when Glencairn died, he took an active and prominent part, and of this every reader of Scottish history is aware.

The next distinguished person connected with this parish, is the Inventor of Logarithms, Napier of Edinbelly and of Merchiston ; to whom, in the opinion of Hume the historian, the title of a great man is more justly due than to any other which his country ever produced. He was born in the year 1550, and in the year 1617 he died, at Merchiston Castle, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Of this latter fact there is, we believe, little doubt; but as to the place of his birth, this is involved in some obscurity, there being little else to guide us on this point than the tradition of the country; and upon this Balfron, in common with some other parishes, lays claim to having been the birth-place of this great man. It is quite certain that -Edinbelly, in this parish, did belong to the Napiers, for many years; that the same family became the proprietors of Culcreuch; and that Sir William Napier of Milliken, as the representative of the Napiers of Culcreuch, was, in Edinburgh, in 1818, served heir and lineal representative of John Napier, the Inventor of the Logarithms. Thus the two families are identified, namely, the Culcreuch Napiers, and the Edinbelly Napiers. Now, we believe that John Napier was born in Edinbelly, and not at Drumbeg, as is occasionally alleged; because, though the Napiers had property in Drymen parish, still there was no house on the property which could be supposed a mansion suitable to the consequence of the family. Drumbeg, the spot which local tradition assigns, is mentioned by authors as " an obscure spot" In point of fact, it is a very common thatched farmhouse, whereas the remains of the mansion-house of Edinbelly, in Balfron parish, are still in existence; and the arms of the family are yet to be seen on the wall of what was part of the original house. This of itself is a circumstance which marks the character of the mansion, and assigns the status of the owner. But there is another circumstance in connection with this matter, that ought not to be forgotten. In the year 1593, we find Napier publishing his Exposition on the Revelations; and in his preface addressed to the King, he shows very strongly his adherence to the strict Presbyterian principles of the time, his preference to which may be traced very naturally to his intimacy with the fifth Earl of Glencairn, whose seat, Ballindalloch, was within a mile and a half of Edinbelly, the residence of his boyhood, if not his birth-place. Otherwise, it is difficult to account for Napior's predilection for these principles, seeing that the bias of his mind might naturally have been to the other side, when it is remembered that his father was Master of the Mint, to one who had no great partiality to the Presbyterian party. When it is stated besides, that, upon the Edinbelly property, not many years ago, there was a monument standing, raised to the memory of this great man in accordance with the tradition, which assigned this property as his birth-place, we are inclined to believe that, though at Gartness and Drumbeg he may have resided, yet at Edinbelly the Inventor of the Logarithms first saw the light. Edinbelly, the place in question, is, at present, the property or the much respected and deservedly esteemed Robert Dunmore Napier, Esq. of Ballikinrain.

Parochial Registers.-The first date of the parochial register is 1691, when the first proclamation of banns in order to marriage is inserted. The first registration of baptisms is in 1687. From that time till the present, the register of baptisms has been very irregularly kept. From the year 1825 downwards, to the present year, with a few exceptions, the records of session have been regularly kept.

Manufactures.-Previous to the year 1780, this parish was, strictly speaking, rural. Agricultural pursuits occupied the population, if a population could be really said to be occupied, who were of necessity compelled, from the low state of agricultural pursuits, to pass fully the half of their time in idleness. But in the year 1780 a very material change took place in the parish, by the establishment of an agency for manufacturing calicoes, under the influence and patronage of a very enterprising and intelligent man,-the late Mr Dunmore of Ballindalloch and Ballikinrain, in whom were united the activity of the country gentleman and the liberality of the merchant; and to whom this part of the country is indebted for many valuable improvements, of which certainly not the least are its high-roads. The calico establishment, however, did not turn out very satisfactorily; Mr Dunmore, therefore, formed a connection with the Buchanans of Carstone in Killearn parish, who had just then built the Deanston Cotton Works, near Doune, in Perthshire; and with these gentlemen, in the year 1789, he built the cotton-mill in this parish, known in trade by the Ballindalloch Cotton Works. Mr Archibald Buchanan, the younger of the two enterprising and ingenious brothers, the partners of Mr Dunmore, had been taught the practical parts of cotton-spinning at Cromford in Derby, under the well known Arkwright, the original inventor of cotton-spinning by means of machinery. In the year 1789, cotton-spinning was, under this company, introduced into this parish, and from that time, down to the year 1793, was successfully carried on by them. But in the year 1783, Messrs James and Archibald Buchanan transferred the property to Messrs James Finlay and Company, merchants, Glasgow, who still continue to be proprietors, and who, at their several works at Deanston, Catrine, and Balfron, give constant employment to 2500 hands. The works at Balfron are driven by a stream from the Endrick, which, in dry seasons, is kept nearly uniform by water from a reservoir of 33 Scotch acres, constructed about thirty years ago, in Dundaff Moor, one of the oldest estates of the Montrose family, and contiguous to the ruins of the castle of Sir John De Graham, the friend of Wallace. This stream falls on a water-wheel of almost 30 horse power, which drives 12,000 mule spindles with their preparations. Two hundred and fifty-eight hands or thereby, and these chiefly females, are now employed at the works. It is understood to be the first cotton work in Scotland at least, in which female spinners were exclusively employed.

Wages -Tbe company pay weekly, and generally on a Thursday, the wages due to their workers. These vary for spinners, from l0s. to 13s. per week; and for piecers from 2s. to 4s. according to the work done. These wages are apparently low, and are certainly much lower than are paid for the same quantity of work done-in Glasgow, where a spinner is paid from 23s. to 30s. per week. Perhaps the difference is not easily accounted for. Provisions of all sorts are much the same here as in town; dress much the same. The hours for working are just as long. The only thing which certainly is lower, is house rent; but we are far from being sure that this will make up for the difference in wages. Originally, there were employed at this mill, 400 persons, young and old. The difference in point of numbers can be readily accounted for, by the improvements introduced into machinery. For example, in 1792, there were in what is termed a "pass" four men, each having two piecers, that is to say, twelve persons in all. Now, one woman spins in one pass with the assistance of three piecers, that is four persons in all what the twelve originally did. In point of numbers, the reduction will be still greater, if the self-acting jennies are as successful as they promise in the meantime to be. One woman by herself, with one of these, is able to spin as much as four with the jennies in common use; and for this invention is the cotton trade indebted, if we are not misinformed, to James Smith, Esq. of Deanston, so well known as the ingenious author of many important discoveries in various branches of science. It ought to be stated, that the workers here are in general healthy; they are clean and " tidy" in their appearance, which, may no doubt, contribute to this. In point of morality, the mill population may bear comparison with any of the same rank in any of the parishes adjoining; and to several of the mill girls, is the writer of this indebted for kind and efficient assistance in teaching a Sabbath school.

In the year 1792, Messrs John Monteith and Company, of Glasgow, established and carried on for several years an extensive printing-work; but it was found to he too distant from coal to be conducted with advantage. It was therefore abandoned. The site and property were purchased by the proprietors of the cotton works, Messrs James Finlay and Company, and have not been again turned by them to any manufacturing purpose. The great proportion of our village population are occupied with, and dependent upon, hand-loom weaving; there being in Balfron village between 300 and 400 looms. The character of the work done here is what is known by light jaconets and lawns, in numbers varying from 900 to 1600, and harnesses, by which are meant fancy dresses and shawl patterns of all sorts. Our hand-loom weavers are, like the others throughout the kingdom, a sadly depressed class of artisans. There may be no doubt amongst them, here as elsewhere, the idle and the worthless; but, taking them as a body, they are an industrious hardworking class. They toil at what is termed long hours, and long enough these are, being from 6 a.m. or even earlier, to 8 p.m., and even later; and yet they are only able to earn a miserable pittance; the average of their wages, after deducting expense of carriage, light, shop rent, and agency, not being 6s. per week. What becomes of the family in times of sickness? and to what a state of misery it may frequently be reduced, may be conceived.

As to the poor hand-loom weaver giving an education to his children, even in the most common way, the thing is impossible,-thankful is he, if he can provide their daily food and give them clothing. Why, it is asked, do parents bring up their children to such misery, by encouraging them to follow a trade which is so very much overdone, and which entails upon them a certain un-avoidable suffering? The answer is obvious. The very effect of this misery now operate as a cause, under which the unhappy parent is compelled to have recourse to the dire expedient of getting assistance from his child. No sooner are its hands ready for the shuttle, it matters not what may be the sex,-the poor child is placed upon the loom, there to "eik" out, by its 1s. 6d. or 2s. per week, the pittance of the half-starved parent. He would prefer, no doubt, to send his child to the school, there to learn those acquirements which may adapt both body and mind to after toil. But the temptation is too much to be withstood. He grasps at the little help which the child can give; and even with a heavy heart puts him to the trade which he teaches himself. No apprentice fee is required; and all that is made, however little, goes to the assistance of the family. Any one who attends to these circumstances will be at no loss to see how, from year to year, and from generation to generation, misery is handed down and perpetuated.

Nor can any one who knows the circumstances of the weavers, be astonished that there should be discontent at times among them. Our wonder is, that there is so little, more especially when they have so little opportunity for moral and religious training. It is no easy matter, we are aware, to say what the Legislature should do. But, the subject is well worthy the attention of philanthropists; and, in the name of thousands of our suffering countrymen we cannot help wishing, that some remedy were speedily introduced to alleviate sufferings and privations, which, we are satisfied, have no parallel in our Christian land.