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Alexander Pope or Paip died 1782, minister of the church of Scotland, was the son of Hector Paip of Loth, Sutherland. He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. 15 April 1725.
On 28 July 1730 he was elected session clerk and precentor of Dornoch, where probably he was also a schoolmaster. He is said to have in the summer of 1732 ridden on his pony from Caithness to Twickenham to visit his namesake the poet Pope, who presented him with a copy of the subscribers' edition of his ?Odyssey,? in five volumes, and a handsome snuff-box.
Pope was licensed as a preacher of the kirk of Scotland by the presbytery of Dornoch, 19 Feb. 1734, and having been unanimously called to the church of Reay, Caithness-shire, was ordained there on 5 Sept. He was remarkably successful in reforming the habits of the population of the parish, his great bodily strength being an important factor in enabling him to win their respect and deference. He is said to have enlisted some of the worst characters as elders, in order that they might be the better induced to curb their vicious tendencies; and he was accustomed to drive to church with a stick those of his parishioners whom he found playing at games on Sundays. He died on 2 March 1782.
By his first wife, Mary Sutherland, he had three sons; and by his second wife he had also three sons, the youngest of whom, James, became his assistant.
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