Pray for the soul of the Rev. George Gordon, who died at Dufftown, on the 10th May, 1856, in the eighty-first year of his age and the fifty-ninth of his ministry.

This venerable Clergyman, who, after a long and laborious life, has gone to his reward, was born in Fochabers on the 27th March, 1776. Before he had reached his tenth year, he was sent to the Seminary of Scalan in Glenlivat, which he entered on the 24th December, 1785, and where he remained for two years and a half. In June, 1788, he went to the Scots College of Valladolid, where he was ordained Subdeacon on the 21st May, 1796, Deacon on the 10th June, 1797, and Priest on the 23d September of the same year,* by Don Emanuel Joachim Moron, Bishop of Valladolid. After a further residence of a year in that house, he returned to Scotland in October, 1798, and having spent a short time in Edinburgh, he was sent to Aquhorties. In October, 1799, he was appointed to succeed the Rev. Alexander Menzies at Foggyloan, and while he held that charge, he erected the Chapel and other houses of that Mission. In 1805, he was transferred to Blairs, and while he ministered to the small congregation there, he supplied occasionally at Fetternear, and also for some time at Dundee. In 1809, he was removed to Keithock, in Auchindown. After the death of the Rev. Donald Stuart, on the 2d February, 1820, at Elgin, he also attended occasionally the congregation of that town till the end of 1827.

The erection of the village of Dufftown presented a favourable opportunity of placing the ecclesiastical establishment of this Mission in a more central and therefore more convenient situation for both the pastor and his flock than was that of Keithock. Two feus, to which were attached three acres of land, were taken by Mr. Gordon, and the present Chapel and house, the building of which was commenced in July, 1824, were in a state fit for occupation by the first of June of next year. The necessary funds were provided partly by the congregation and partly by contributions which he raised over Scotland and Ireland. The Chapel, both in outward design and internal decoration, is a very elegant structure, and a great ornament to the locality.

The remaining part of his life was passed in Dufftown, where he ministered faithfully to the spiritual wants of his flock, and employed his moments of relaxation from his pastoral duties in useful occupations. While at College, he found time, without prejudice to his more important studies, to cultivate his taste and talents for music, and these he turned in after life to good account for the glory of God and the honour of Religion. The fruits of his proficiency and success in that delightful science he gave to the world in two volumes of “Sacred Music for the use of Small Choirs.” This collection has been highly appreciated, having obtained a wide circulation not only throughout Scotland, but also in England, Ireland, and many parts of America. He also enriched his Chapel with a magnificent organ, which has not its equal in the north. No person was better acquainted than Mr. Gordon with the history and traditions of his own part of the country, and he committed much information of this kind to writing; but it has never been printed in a collected form. He was also in the habit of employing a portion of his spare hours in the healthful exercise of cultivating his garden, and he improved with his own hands the greater portion of the ground attached to the Chapel property. A striking feature of his character was his indomitable perseverance. Having once made up his mind, he was deterred by no difficulty, nor could he rest satisfied till he had accomplished the good he proposed to himself, what­ ever amount of time or labour it might cost him. His time he husbanded with the most scrupulous care, never allowing, if he could help it, a moment to be wasted. In his daily occupations, he was a perfect pattern of order and regularity. He had laid out for himself a rule for the distribution of his time to which he adhered with unflinching tenacity. Everything had its own fixed hour, and this system he would not allow, almost on any consideration, to be interrupted or interfered with, except when duty called him.

Thus did he live in primitive simplicity, respected and esteemed by all around him. In 1848, having begun to feel the inroads of advanced age and its concomitant infirmities, he was relieved from his missionary duties, but continued to reside in the Chapel-house along with the Clergyman appointed in his stead to take charge of the congregation. A short time before his death he had become almost helpless from the effect of an obstinate cancer in his left arm. He bore his sufferings with that heroism of resignation and patience which was so much in keeping with the rest of his character. He never complained, and it was with the utmost reluctance that he would, even in his helplessness, accept the assistance of anyone. Feeling that his end was drawing near, he had, several days previously, received the last consolations of that Religion of which he had so long been the worthy and exemplary minister. On the evening of his death, having expressed a wish to be raised to his chair, this last desire of his was complied with, and in that posture he ceased to breathe, after receiving the last benediction, and while the prayers for the agonising were being concluded, on the eve of Pentecost, a festival for which he had a special devotion.

The funeral took place on Thursday the 15th May. The pillars and dome of the magnificent canopy over the Altar, and the Altar itself and pulpit, were covered with black cloth edged with white. The windows were also partially darkened. The previous evening the body was placed in front of the Altar on a bier, and surrounded with lighted tapers. High Mass was celebrated by the Rev. J. Kemp, the Clergyman of the place; the Rev. James Glennie of Chapeltown being Deacon, the Rev. C. Tochetti of Keith, Subdeacon, and the Rev. H. Gall of Tomintoul, Master of Ceremonies. After Mass, the customary Absolution was performed by the Right Rev. Bishop Kyle. The coffin was then lowered into a grave prepared for it on the Gospel side of the Altar. So deeply had all been impressed with the mournful solemnity of the occasion, that they seemed unwilling to take leave of a spot where all that was now left of him who had for so many years watched over them was consigned.

* There must be an error in the date of his birth, or of his ordination.