Chapter II: Introduction: The Manuscripts (2)

Although Lauder considered that Argyll had been unjustly condemned in the matter of the Test, his opinion about the expedition of 1685 was very different. He did justice to his capacity. He writes, 'Argile had always the reputation of sense and reason, and if the Whigs at Bothwell Bridge in 1679 had got such a commander as he, it's like the rebellion had been more durable and sanguinarie' But as soon as the news of Argyll's landing on the west coast came, this is his note, 'Argile, minding the former animosities and discontents in the country, thought to have found us all alike combustible tinder, that he had no more adoe then to hold the match to us, and we would all blow up in a rebellion; but the tymes are altered, and the peeple are scalded so severely with the former insurrections, that they are frighted to adventure on a new on. The Privy Council, though they despised this invasion, yet by proclamations they called furth the whole heritors of Scotland,' and so on. 'Some look on this invasion as a small matter, but beside the expence and trouble it hes put the country to, if we ponder the fatall consequences of such commotions, we'll change our opinions: for when the ramparts of government are once broke down, and the deluge follows, men have no assurances that the water will take a flowing towards their meadows to fructify them; no, no, just in the contrare.' Argyll was discovered and apprehended in his flight by a weaver near Paisley, of whom Lauder says, 'I think the Webster who took him should be rewarded with a litle heritage (in such a place wher Argile's death will not be resented), and his chartre should bear the cause, and he should get a coat of arms as a gentleman, to incouradge others heirafter.' It does not appear that this suggestion was acted upon.

But while Lauder was a supporter of the existing order of government and opposed to all revolutionary plans, his journals disclose that in the state of public affairs he found much matter for criticism and ground for anxiety. In 1674 he tells of what will happen 'whenever we get a fair and unpraelimited Parliament, which may be long ere we see it.' In 1683 he writes sadly: 'Though we change the Governors, yet we find no change in the arbitrary government. For we are brought to that pass we must depend and court the Chancelor, Treasurer, and a few other great men and their servants, else we shall have difficulty to get either justice or despatch in our actions, or to save ourselves from scaith, or being quarrelled on patched up, remote and innocent grounds. This arbitrary way Lauderdale attempted, but did not attain so great a length in it as our statesmen do now; and they value themselves much in putting the military and ecclesiastic Laws to strict and vigorous execution, so that, let soldiers commit as great malversations and oppressions as they please, right is not to be got against them. Witness John Cheisly of Dalry's usage with Daver and Clerk, in the Kings troupe, and Sir John Dalrymple's with Claverhouse.' In the same year he says of James, then Duke of York, and Monmouth, 'We know not which of their factions struggling in the womb of the State shall prevail.' He regarded these political evils and dangers as beyond his power to remedy. It was not till after he had entered Parliament in 1685 that he made any public utterance on politics. In the last two years of James's reign the Test Act was enforced against Nonconformist Protestants but not against Roman Catholics. Lauder, being then in Parliament, considered it his duty to take a part, and he made one or two very moderate speeches, which, although expressed with studious respect to the sovereign, were doubtless highly displeasing to the government.

OPINIONS ON ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES.

INFLUENCE OF STUDIES ABROAD

[Sidenote: H.N. 40.]

In the matter of the administration of justice he writes with much less reserve in his journals. The system was bad. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council, who tried a considerable number of causes, was ill-defined. The judges since the time of Charles I. were removable magistrates, entirely in the dependence of the Crown. Even the ordinary Lords of Session were not always trained lawyers--Lauder's father-in-law, for example, Sir Andrew Ramsay, long Provost of Edinburgh, became a judge with the title of Lord Abbotshall. There were besides four extraordinary lords who were never lawyers, and were not bound to attend and hear causes pleaded, but they had the right to vote. At the Revolution one of the reasons assigned for declaring the Crown vacant was 'the changing of the nature of the judges' gifts _ad vitam aut culpam_, and giving them commissions _ad bene placitum_ to dispose them to compliance with arbitary sourses, and turning them out of their offices when they did not comply.' Thus in 1681, when the Test Act was passed, five judges were dismissed, four ordinary, including the President, Stair, and one extraordinary, Argyll, and a new commission issued. When the Court was so constituted, it could hardly inspire implicit confidence, and the instances are numerous in which Lauder complains that injustice has been done, and the principles of the law perverted through the influence of political and private motives. Even the most eminent of the judges were not in his opinion clear from this blot. I have quoted one passage in which Lauder hints at Stair's partiality for Argyll. In another case in which Argyll was concerned he observes, 'Every on saw that would be the fate of that action, considering the pershewar's probable intres in the President.'[24] In 1672 when, as he considered, a well-established rule of law had been unsettled, he writes, 'This is a miserable and pittiful way of wenting our wit, by shaking the very foundations of law, and leaving nothing certain. The true sourse of it all is from the wofull divisions in the House, especially between the President and the Advocat [Mackenzie], each of them raking, tho from hell, all that may any way conduce to carry the causes that they head, _Flectere si neque superos_,' etc. One decision which excited his warm indignation was given in a suit by Lord Abbotshall against Francis Kinloch, who held a wadset over the estate of Gilmerton, which Abbotshall maintained was redeemable. He lost the case. After an extraordinary account of the way in which the decision was arrived at Lauder proceeds, 'the Chancelor's [Rothes] faint trinqueting and tergiversation for fear of displeasing Halton (who agented passionately for Francis) has abated much of his reputation. The 2d rub in Abbotshall's way was a largesse and donation of £5000 sterling to be given to Halton and other persons forth of the town's revenue for their many good services done to the toune. By this they outshot Sir Androw in his oune bow, turned the canon upon him, and _justo Dei judicio_ defait him by the toune's public interest, with which weapone he was want to do miracles and had taught them the way[25].... This decision for its strangeness surprised all that heard of it; for scarce even any who once heard the case doubted but it would be found a clear wodsett, and it opened the mouths of all to cry out upon it as a direct and dounright subversion of all our rights and properties.'

[24] Lauder was a very young man at the bar when he wrote these
strictures on Stair. They may be compared with and in part
corrected by a passage in Sir G. Mackenzie's _Memoirs_, p. 240,
which also bears on the appointment of incompetent judges.
'Lauderdale by promoting four ignorant persons, who had not been
bred as lawyers, without interruption, and in two years' time, to
be judges in it [the Session], viz., Hatton, Sir Andrew Ramsay,
Mr. Robert Preston, and Pittrichie, he rendered thereby the
Session the object of all men's contempt. And the Advocates being
disobliged by the regulations did endeavour, as far as in them
lay, to discover to the people the errors of those who had opprest
them: and they being now become numerous, and most of them being
idle, though men of excellent parts, wanting rather clients than
wit and learning, that society became the only distributor of
fame, and in effect the fittest instrument for all alterations:
for such as were eminent, did by their authority, and such as were
idle, by well contrived and witty raillery, make what impressions
they pleased upon the people. Nor did any suffer so much as the
Lord Stairs, President of the Session; who, because of his great
affection to Lauderdale, and his compliance with Hatton, suffered
severely, though formerly he had been admired for his sweet temper
and strong parts. And by him our countrymen may learn, that such
as would be esteemed excellent judges must live abstracted from
the court; and I have heard the President himself assert that no
judge should be either member of Council or Exchequer, for these
courts did learn men to be less exact justiciars than was
requisite.'

[25] See Appendix III.

It is not to be inferred from such strictures on the administration of justice, a matter on which, as an upright lawyer, Lauder was keenly sensitive, that he was an ill-natured critic of his professional brethren or of public men. On the contrary, the tone of his observations, though shrewd and humorous, is kindly and large-minded. He admired Lockhart, who was his senior at the bar, and whom he perhaps regarded more than any other man as his professional leader and chief, though he does not escape a certain amount of genial criticism. His enthusiastic eulogy of Lockhart's eloquence has been often quoted. In his estimation of Mackenzie it is easy to see, that while he doubted the wisdom and humanity of his relentless prosecutions, and while his arrogance comes in for criticism in a lighter vein, respect for his capacity, learning, and industry was the predominating element. It is pleasant to see the constant interest that he took in Bishop Burnet's books and movements, though they do not appear ever to have met. 'Our Dr. Burnet,' as he calls him. But that only means that he was a Scotsman, for he describes Ferguson the Plotter in the same way. There is nowhere a touch of jealousy or envy in those private journals.

The influence of Lander's period of youthful travels, his _Wanderjahre_, on his future development is seen in various ways. He always kept up his interest in foreign countries and foreign literature. He bought a great many books, a list of which year by year is preserved, and he read them. The law manuscripts, though they embrace a pretty wide field, are confined to domestic affairs. But in the _Observes_ there are every year notes and reflections on the events passing in every part of Europe, and especially France. There is some interest in the following passage, almost the last sentence in the _Historical Observes_, 'In regard the Duke of Brandenburgh and States of Holland have not roume in ther countries for all the fugitive Protestants, they are treating with Pen and other ouners of thesse countries of Pensylvania, Carolina, etc., to send over colonies ther; so that the purity of the Gospell decaying heir will in all probability passe over to America.' The foreign schools of law where he had studied naturally affected his treatment of legal questions. Until the publication of the great work of Stair, the common civil law of Scotland was in a comparatively fluid state, though there were some legal treatises of authority, such as Craig's _Feudal Law_. Mackenzie's _Criminalls_ was published in 1676, and is often referred to by Lauder. Many of his contemporaries at the bar had studied like himself in the foreign schools of the Roman Civil Law, and in his reports of cases the original sources are quoted with enviable familiarity and appositeness.

TORTURE, ASTROLOGY, AND WITCHCRAFT

In questions of social ethics, such as torture, and of popular belief, such as astrology and witchcraft, Lauder was not much in advance of his age. He frequently mentions the infliction of torture without any comment. When Spence and Carstairs were tortured with the thummikins, he describes them as 'ane ingine but lately used with us,' and possibly he had some misgiving. The subjects of astrology and witchcraft had an attraction for his inquiring and speculative mind.[26] He believed in the influence of the heavenly bodies, and more firmly in witchcraft, for which many unhappy women were every year cruelly put to death. These trials at times evidently gave him some uneasiness. But usually, with regard to both topics, his doubts do not go beyond a cautious hint of scepticism tinged with humour. He was fundamentally a religious man, and where he touches on the great issues of life, and the relation of man to his Maker, it is in a tone of deep solemnity. But he loves to discourse in a learned fashion on the influence of the stars. 'Charles the 2d,' he says, 'fell with few or no prognosticks or omens praeceeding his death, unlesse we recur to the comet of 1680, which is remote, or to the strange fisches mentioned, supra page 72, or the vision of blew bonnets, page 74,[27] but these are all conjecturall: vide, supra Holwell's prophecies in his Catastrophe Mundi,' and so on. In 1683 'we were allarumed with ane strange conjunction was to befall in it of 2 planets, Saturn and Jupiter in Leo.... Our winter was rather like a spring for mildnes. If it be to be ascrybed to this conjunction I know not.' In the case of comets there was less room for scepticism. In December 1680, 'a formidable comet appeared at Edinburgh.' In discoursing on this comet he remarks that Dr. Bainbridge observed the comet of 1618 'to be verticall to London, and to passe over it in the morning, so it gave England and Scotland in their civill wars a sad wype with its taill. They seldom shine in wain, though they proceed from exhalations and other natural causes.'

[26] Mr. Andrew Lang has pointed out to me that Lauder's remarks on the
identity of the popular legends in France and Scotland (_Journal_,
p. 83) are a very early instance of this observation, now
recognised to be generally applicable.

[27] P. 74, i.e. of his MS. For the vision of blue bonnets, compare
H.O., p. 142, and Wodrow's _History_, iv. 180.

[Sidenote: H.N. 198.]

[Sidenote: H.N. 146.]

Lauder relates several trials for witchcraft in much detail, and they evidently gave him some uneasiness. Some of the women commonly confessed and implicated other persons. In one such case the women, who among other persons, accused the parish minister, said that the devil sometimes transformed them 'in bees, in crows, and they flew to such and such remote places; which was impossible for the devil to doe, to rarefy the substance of their body into so small a matter ... thir confessions made many intelligent sober persons stumble much what faith was to be adhibite to them.' In another case from Haddington a woman confessed and accused five others and a man. Lauder saw the man examined and tested by pricking. He says, 'I remained very unclear and dissatisfied with this way of triall, as most fallacious: and the man could give me no accompt of the principles of his art, but seemed to be a drunken foolish rogue.' Then, according to his custom, he cites a learned authority, Martino del Rio, who lays bare the craft and subtlety of the devil, and mentions that 'he gives not the nip to witches of quality; and sometimes when they are apprehended he delets it....' 'The most part of the creatures that are thus deluded by this grand impostor and ennemy of mankind are of the meanest rank, and are ather seduced by malice, poverty, ignorance, or covetousness.' But he finds comfort in the pecuniary circumstances of the Tempter. 'It's the unspeakable mercy and goodness of our good God that that poor devill has not the command of money (tho we say he is master of all the mines and hid treasures of the earth) else he would debauch the greatest part of the world.'

CONTENTS OF HIS EARLY JOURNALS AND ACCOUNTS

It has already been mentioned that Lauder's later journals, when he came to chronicle public affairs and legal decisions, though they are full of graphic detail, contain little that is personal to himself. The manuscripts here printed, besides giving a picture of a Scottish student's life in France during the seventeenth century, include a narrative of his visits to London and Oxford on his return from abroad, his journey by coach and post from London to Edinburgh, and various expeditions in Fife, the Lothians, and the Merse, Glasgow, and the Clyde district, places where he had connections. He travelled on horseback. He kept one horse at this time, which appears in the Accounts. Considering his evident relish for travelling, it is remarkable that in his long life he never seems to have left Scotland after his return in 1667, though many of his more political brethren at the bar were constantly on the road between Edinburgh and Whitehall.

He kept his accounts with great care. There were no banks, and his method was to account for each sum which he received, detailing how it was spent in dollars, merks, shillings sterling and Scots, pennies, etc. We have both his accounts during his period of travel, which are included in the first manuscript, and those during the years 1670 to 1675. From the latter copious extracts are given, and they are informatory as to the prices of commodities, and the mode of life of a young lawyer recently married. There was settled on him by his father in his marriage contract an annuity of 1800 merks (£100), secured on land. His wife's marriage portion was 10,000 merks (about £555), half of it paid up and invested, the remainder bearing interest at 6 per cent. His 'pension' as one of the assessors of the burgh was £12 (sterling). His house-rent was £20 (sterling): in one place it is stated a little higher; and he sublet the attics and basement. The wages of a woman servant was nearly £2 (sterling). We find the prices of cows, meal, ale, wine, clothing, places at theatres, etc., the cost of travelling by coach, posting, fare in sailing packet to London and so on.

[Sidenote: H.O. 137.]

[Sidenote: Genealogical Roll.]

There are many illustrations throughout Lauder's manuscripts of the poverty of Scotland, relatively not only to the present time but to England. The official salary of a judge before the Union was £200, and it only reached that figure during his lifetime. Some time after the Union it was raised to £500. On the appointment of the Earl of Middleton as joint Secretary of State for England with Sunderland, in place of Godolphin, Lauder notes, 'This was the Dutchesse of Portsmouth's doing, and some thought Midleton not wise in changing (tho it be worth £5000 sterling a year, and 3 or 4 years will enrich on), for envy follows greatnesse as naturally as the shadow does the body, and the English would sooner bear a Mahometan for ther Secretar than a Scot, only he has now a good English ally, by marrieng Brudnell Earle of Cardigan's sister.' Thus the salary of a Secretary of State in England was the same in 1684 as it is now, whereas the salary of a Scottish judge was only one eighteenth part of its present amount: Lauder in his will gives a detailed account of his own investments. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder computes that he left about £11,000 besides the estate of Fountainhall, which he inherited. He was, however, the son of a wealthy man. At his marriage before he had any means of his own, 90,000 merks were settled by his father, who had several other children, on the children of the marriage (£5000 sterling, representing a sum many times as large in the present day).

MONEY

Lauder mentions a great variety of coins both in his Journal in France and in his Accounts after his return home. Some explanation of the principal coins may be useful. It is necessary to keep in mind that the value of coins was in a perpetual flux. There were during the century frequent changes in the value of coins relatively even to those of the same country.

1. _In France._

(1) _Livre_. The livre used by Lauder, and called by him indifferently 'frank,' was the livre tournois,[28] of 20 sous. It was, subject to exchange, of the same value as the pound Scots,[29] 1s. 8d. sterling, which greatly simplifies calculations. The £ s. d. French was equal to the £ s. d. Scots, and one twelfth of the value of the £ s. d. English or sterling.

[28] The livre parisis contained 25 sous.--Major's _Greater
Britain_ (S.H.S.), p. 32, note.

[29] See pp. 3 and 4 and _passim_.

(2) _Ecu, écu blanc_, or _d'argent_, a silver coin worth 3 livres,[30] or 5s. sterling, thus of the same value as the English crown, and sometimes called crown by Lauder.

[30] The value varied a little, but it was three livres in 1653.--
_Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et de Belles Lettres_
(1857), Tome 21, 2'me partie, p. 350.

(3) _Ecu d'or_, or _couronne_, golden crown. It was worth about 5 livres 12 sous,[31] equal to 9s. 4d. sterling. (P. 155, 'I receaved some 56 ll. in 10 golden crowns.')

[31] The exact value in 1666 in livres tournois was 5 ll. 11s. 6d.--
_Mémoires, ut supra_, p. 256.

(4) _Pistole_. A Spanish gold coin current in France. Its standard value was 10 livres tournois, equal to 16s. 8d. That fairly corresponds with a proclamation in Ireland in 1661 fixing it at 16s. Littré (_Dict._ s.v.), states the value of the coin a good deal higher, though he gives the standard as above. But its value gradually increased, like that of other gold coins, and in later Irish proclamations is much higher.

The British gold coins _Jacobus_ and _Carolus_ were also used by Lauder in France, and are explained below.

2. _In Scotland and England._[32]

[32] See Cochran Patrick's _Records of the Coinage of Scotland_
(1876); Ruding's _Annals of the Coinage_ (1817); and _Handbook of
the Coins of Great Britain and Ireland_ in the British Museum, by
H.A. Grueber (1899); Burns, _Coinage of Scotland_.

(1) _Jacobus_ (2) _Carolus_. James VI. on his accession to the throne of England, with a view to the union of the kingdoms, issued a coinage for both countries, which was in this sense uniform that each Scottish coin was commensurable and interchangeable with an English coin. The ratio of the Scots to the English £ s. d., which during centuries was always becoming lower, was finally fixed at 1 to 12. The English 20s. and Scots 12 l. pieces of equal value now issued were called the unite. The double crown or 10s. piece was the Scots 6 l. piece, the crown the Scots 3 l. piece, and so on.

The unite was so called from the leading idea of union, just as the double crown had the legend, _Henricus Rosas Regna Jacobus_. As Henry VII. united the Red and White Roses, James was to unite the two kingdoms. It seems probable that James intended the unite as a 20s. or pound piece to be the standard and pivot of the coinage of both countries, as the pound or sovereign has now become. This enlightened policy, though it had lasting effects, soon broke down in detail. In England the shilling proved too strong for the unite, and in Scotland the merk maintained its hold. To prevent the exportation of gold, the value of the unite of 154 grains[33] was raised to 22s. in 1612, though the king had himself proposed rather to lower the weight of silver. That caused confusion, 'on account of the unaptness for tale' of the gold pieces at their enhanced value, and a lighter 20s. piece of 140 grains was issued in 1619 for England only, known as the laurel piece, from the wreath round the king's head. In Scotland the original unite remained, and was sometimes called the 20 merk piece, to which value it roughly corresponded. It was repeated in the coinage of Charles I., the last sovereign who coined gold in Scotland prior to the Revolution. Thus it was the only Scottish 20s. sterling piece. Charles I.'s unite or double angel (20s. piece) for England was of the same lighter weight as the laurel. In 1661 the value of the gold coin was again heightened, the old unite to 23s. 6d., and the lighter English unite to 21s. 4d.

[33] The weights are given in round numbers.

The above information is necessary in order to identify the two gold coins which Lauder used. He generally calls the larger the Jacobus and the smaller the Carolus. At p. 80 the one is mentioned as 'the Scotes and English Jacobuses, which we call 14 pound peices,' and the other as 'the new Jacobus, which we cal the 20 shiling sterling peice.' At p. 154 he speaks of '10 Caroluses, or 20 shiling peices,' so that the new Jacobus and the Carolus are the same. While there was only one weight of Scots gold piece of the issue value of 20s. sterling, in England during the reigns of James I., Charles I., and Charles II. there were four: 1, the sovereign of James I. (172 grains); 2, the unite or double angel of James (154 grains), the same as in Scotland; 3, the laurel of James, the unite of Charles I., and the broad of Charles II. (140 grains); 4, the guinea[34] of Charles II., first struck in 1663 (131 grains). Now Lauder's larger coin was a Scots or English Jacobus, therefore it is the unite of James VI.; and his smaller coin is called both a Carolus and a new Jacobus, therefore it is the coin of 140 grains. The two pieces are mentioned in a proclamation by the Privy Council in 1661 heightening certain coins.[35]

[34] Once mentioned by Lauder, p. 220.

[35] This table may be compared with Louis XIII.'s valuation of some of
these coins (p. 80). The Scots piece there mentioned with two
swords, and the legend _Salus_, etc., is no doubt the sword and
sceptre piece of James VI. (1601-4). But the issue value of the
whole piece, not the half piece, was 611. Scots.

£ s. D. Scots. £ s. D. Scots. formerlie current at now to be current at The Double Angel [36] 13.06.08 14.04.08 The Single Angel 6.13.04 7.02.04 The Dager Peice 6.13.04 7.02.04 The Scots Ryder 6.13.04 7.02.04

The New Peice[37] 12.00.00 12.16.00 The Halfe 6.00.00 6.08.00 The Quarter 3.00.00 3.04.00

The Rose Noble, Scots and English. 10.13.04 11.07.04

The Hary Noble 9.06.08 9.19.00

[36] Lauder's Jacobus.

[37] Lauder's Carolus.

(3) _Dollar_. In Lauder's accounts the reader is struck by the prominent position of the dollar. While debts and obligations were calculated in pounds Scots or merks, dollars supplied the currency for household and other payments, just as pounds do at the present day. They were foreign coins of various denominations and various intrinsic value, but of inferior fineness to the Scots standard of silver money, which was eleven penny fine--eleven parts silver to one part alloy. They passed current for more than their intrinsic value, and the native silver money was withdrawn from the country. All through the reigns of Charles I. and Charles II. the subject gave great concern to the Mint, the Parliament, the Privy Council, and bodies with commercial interests like the Convention of 'Burrowis.' In 1631 the Privy Council issued a proclamation 'considering the greit skarsitie of His Majestie's proper coynes ... occasioned by the frequent transport theirof and importing of dollours in place of the same,' prohibiting the receipt of any dollars for coal or salt after 1st November next to come. 'That in the mean tyme the maisters and owners of the coalhewes and saltpans may give tymous advertisement to the strangers trading with them for coal and salt that they bring no dollours with them for the pryce of the salt and coal,' and that merchants exporting bestial or other commodities to England are to 'make return of the pryces' not in dollars, but either in H.M. proper coin or in the following foreign coins, the value and weight of which is fixed by the proclamation: Spanish pistolet, French crown, rose noble, half rose noble, quartisdiskue, single ryall. The proper method of dealing with the difficulty was matter of great controversy.

In 1633 George Foulis, master coiner, says in a memorial, 'In the first it is to be considerit that _the most pairt of the moneys presently in Scotland is only dollouris_.

'Secondlie, these dollouris are not all alike in wecht, some wheirof are 15 drops wecht, some 14-1/2 and many others lesser in wecht.

'Thirdlie, they are different in fineness, some 10, some 10-1/2, others baser. The best 15 drop and 10 1/2 fineness will not answer to the King's money in wecht or fynness to 54s. Scots.'

The best of these dollars was the Rex or Rix Dollar (Reichsthaler, dalle imporiale). In the reign of Charles I. the baser dollars which gave most trouble to the authorities were the dog dollars and the cross dollars. In the reign of Charles II. we hear more of the leg dollar, which approached the rex dollar in value, and had got a pretty strong footing.

On 14th January 1670, the Privy Council issued a proclamation on the narrative, 'Forasmuch as there hath been of late imported into this kingdom great numbers of those dollars commonly called leg dollars Haveing the impression of a man in armes _with one leg _and a shield ... covering the other leg ... which does usually pass at the rate of 58s. Scots money, and seeing that upon tryall of the intrinsick worth and value thereof they are found to fall short of the foresaid rate, and that in the United Provinces where the forsaid dollars are coyned, the passe only at the rate of crosse dollars, Therupon the King's Mtie with advice of his P.Cs. doth declare that (the rex or bank dollars now passing at 58s. Scotts) the true and just value at which the forsaids legs dollars ought to passe and be current in this kingdome is 56s. Scotts money....'

Thus we get the authorised value of these dollars at the period of Lauder's accounts. The accounts themselves show that the current value varied indefinitely, and is sometimes different in two consecutive items.[38]

[38] With regard to the etymology of 'leg,' Mr. Hallen in his
introduction to the _Account Book of Sir John Foulis of Ravelston_
(S.H.S.), p. xxxiii, gives some strong and perhaps convincing
reasons in favour of Liége. But the descriptions in the
Proclamation above quoted, and the fact that Lauder sometimes
calls them 'legged,' seem to show that the popular etymology in
Scotland was the man's leg on the coin.

Charles II. struck four merk-pieces at the issue value of 53s. 4d. Scots in two issues, the first in 1664, the second in 1675-1682. The second, and only the second issue, came at some later but unknown period to be known to numismatists as dollars. But I do not think there is any reason to suppose that Lauder called those pieces dollars. The accounts are in the period of the first issue, and Lander's dollar was of higher value. Probably his dollars were all foreign coins, generally rex dollars, as he often calls them. When they are leg dollars, he appears always so to distinguish them.

(4) _The Merk_, 13s. 4d. Scots, was raised in value by James VI. to 13- 1/2d. sterling, to make it interchangeable with English money. He coined none after his accession to the throne of England, and probably intended that no more should be coined. But the merk had too strong a hold in Scotland, and half merks were struck by Charles I., and various multiples and parts of merks by Charles II. at the old issue value of 13s. 4d. the merk. On the other hand, in 1651 Parliament 'cryed up' the 12s. Scots piece--equal to the English shilling--to one merk; and in 1625 the Britain crown or 31. Scots piece is officially described as 'known as the five merk piece,' though its issue value was only five shillings. This illustrates the confusion and uncertainty of the relative value of coins, of which parenthetically two other examples may be given. On 20th June 1673 Lauder notes the receipt of his year's salary as one of the assessors for the burgh, 'being 150 lb. Scots, which is about 229 merks,' whereas with the merk at 13s. 4d. (the standard value), 150 lb. is exactly 225 merks. In the same way he constantly states the same salary indifferently at 1501. Scots or £12 sterling, whereas 1501. Scots ought to have been equal to £12, 10s. sterling.

(5) _Shilling_. Lauder applies the name without distinction to the English shilling, 12s. Scots piece, which at page 80 he calls our shilling, and to the shilling Scots. The context generally shows which he means.

(6) _Groat_. Lauder's groat is the English groat of four pence, sterling. The groat Scots of less value had not been coined for a century.

(7) _Penny_. As in the case of the shilling, Lauder uses the name indifferently for English pence and pennies Scots, but more often English.

Such coins as testoons, placks, bodles, bawbees and turners, do not appear in his accounts, but some of them are casually mentioned in the text of the MSS., and are explained in footnotes.

LANGUAGE AND SPELLING

No alteration has been made on the text of the MSS. except the substitution of capital letters for small ones, where capitals would now be used. In this matter Lauder's practice is capricious, and it may safely be said that it was governed by no rule, conscious or unconscious. He spells the pronoun I with a capital, and usually begins a sentence with one. But names of persons and places are very often spelt with small letters. The use of capitals was not yet fixed, as it is now, and the usage of different languages, such as English, French and German, as it came to be fixed, is not identical. Some changes in the punctuation have also been made in transcription for the sake of clearness, but the punctuation, which is scanty, has not been systematically altered. In the MSS. some single words have been erased, or rubbed off, at the top and the foot of the page. The blanks are indicated, and as a rule, but not quite invariably, explained in footnotes. MSS. X and H are printed entire, with two unimportant omissions, one in each, which are noted and explained, and as regards MS. H, with the exception of some detached pages of accounts, and a catalogue of some books. Of these it was thought that the Appendix contains enough. From MS. K only extracts are given. The remainder contains more accounts, and a further catalogue of books, without the prices, and other memoranda and reflections, now of no interest. The spelling is to a large extent arbitrary.[39] It is less regular than, for example, the contemporary Acts of Parliament, but more regular than the letters of some of Lauder's contemporaries, in high positions.[40] A word is often spelt in different ways on the same page. There are, however, many constant peculiarities, some of which may have a linguistic interest, thus 'laugh' 'rough' 'enough' 'through' are spelt with a final _t_. The use of a final but silent _t_ Mr. Mackay in his introduction to Pitscottie,[41] p. cxl, says is a distinct mark of Scots of the middle period. 'Voyage,' 'sponge,' and 'large' are sometimes spelt without the final _e_. 'Knew,' 'slew,' 'blew' are spelt 'know,' 'slow,' 'blow.' 'Inn' is spelt 'innes.' 'See' is always spelt 'sy' or 'sie,' and 'weigh,' 'wy.' But these are only examples, taken at random. 'One,' 'off,' 'too,' 'thee' are spelt 'on,' 'of,' 'to,' 'the,' a snare to the unwary reader. 'V' and 'W' are frequently interchanged.

[39] Lauder's French in the Journal in France is full of mistakes,
both of grammar and spelling. He was only learning the language.

[40] Cf. Bishop Dowden's introduction to Lauderdale Correspondence
(S.H.S.), _Miscellany_, vol. i. p. 230.

[41] _Historic and Chronicles of Scotland_, by Robert Lindesay of
Pitscottie (Scottish Text Society, 1899).

Lauder's language is idiomatic, and he uses many Scottish words which were not common in the written literary language of his time. A few of these words are now rare and even difficult to trace.[42] Most of them are quite intelligible to persons who have been accustomed to hear Lowland Scots spoken, but for the sake of other readers I have been convinced that occasionally interpretation is not superfluous.

[42] One of them is 'dron,' p. 146. With reference to the words '_7
arbres_,' in the description of the Mail at Tours, p. 20, Mr. A.
Lang has suggested to me that _arbres_ might be a term in the _Jeu
de Mail_. Mr. H.S.C. Everard has kindly sent me the following
quotations from Joseph Lauthier's book on the game (1st ed.,
1717): 'C'est quand deux ou plusieurs jouent à qui poussera plus
loin, et quand l'un est plus fort que l'autre, le plus foible
demande avantage, soit par distance d'arbres, soit par distance de
pas.' 'On finit la Partie en touchant un arbre ou une pierre
marquée qui sert de but.' If certain trees were marked as goals,
that would be a better explanation than the one given in the note.

The thanks of the Society and my own are due to the owners of the MSS. I am grateful to Sir T.N. Dick Lauder and Sir William Fraser's Trustees (Sir James Balfour Paul, Lyon King of Arms, and the late Mr. James Craik, W.S.), for intrusting me with their MSS. for a long time, which made my work much easier; and more satisfactory. The Society is also indebted to Mr. David Douglas for the use of his transcript of MS., and for the first suggestion that the MS. should be printed.

By the kindness of Lady Anne Dick Lauder four portraits in her possession are reproduced. 1. Lord Fountainhall, in ordinary dress, a different picture from the one in robes published by the Bannatyne Club. 2. His first wife, Janet Ramsay, an attractive picture, which suffers in the photographic reproduction. 3. Sir John Lauder, Fountainhall's father. 4. Sir Andrew Ramsay, Lord Abbotshall, his father-in-law.

I have received constant assistance and advice from Mr. T. Graves Law, Librarian of the Signet Library. I have also to thank Sir Arthur Mitchell, who read some of the proofs, and gave me valuable suggestions, Mr. J.T. Clark, Keeper of the Advocates' Library, for ready help on many points, Mr. H.A. Webster, Librarian of Edinburgh University, Mr. W.B. Blaikie, of Messrs. T. and A. Constable, and Mr. Alex. Mill of the Signet Library, who in transcription and otherwise has given me efficient and obliging assistance.

I am particularly grateful to Miss Cornelia Dick Lauder, for the interest which she has taken in the book, and the help which she has given me in obtaining the necessary materials for it.

D.C.

EDINBURGH, _March_ 1900.

I

JOURNAL IN FRANCE

1665-1667

I

JOURNAL 1665-1667.

[The first leaves of the Manuscript are wanting. Lauder left Edinburgh on 20th March 1665, travelling by Berwick and Durham, and arrived in London on 1st April. See page 154.]

* * * * *

We saw also the fatall chair of Scotland wheirin our kings for many ages used to be croune. I fand it remarkable for nothing but its antiquity, it being thought to have come from Egypt some 3,000 years ago.

I went in the nixt place to the Tower, wheir on our entrin according to custome I left my sword. Heir first we saw a very strong armory for weapons of all sorts, as many as could furnish 20,000 men; we saw great field pieces of ordinance as also granadoes; we saw also many coats of maill, and among the rest on[43] very conceity all joined like fines of fisches on to another, which they informed me came as a present from the great Mogull who comands over 36 kings. The[re] ware hinging their as Trophees several peices of armour that they had taken from the french in their wars wt them. Their we saw the huge armour of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. We came nixt and saw the honors, wheir we saw the sword and seipter of honor; the croun was not their, by reason the parliament had use for it at Whitehal. We saw also a most rich Globe of christal beset wt most precious diamonds. We came in the 3d place to sie the Lyons, the Leopards, the aigle, and a long skine of a snake.

[43] One. Lauder's usual spelling.

We arrived London on Saturday 1 of April, we left it on Thursday 6 of April; about 4 a cloack we took boat, and landed at Gravesend about 10 a cloack at night, in which space we ware so merry in singing never but some of us singing and sometymes all, that the rowers protested that they never carried so merry a company doune the Thames. On the way we was tuise stoopt by men of war to know whither their ware any seamen in it, that they might be sent to the fleet: at which we alleadged Captain Blawprine[44] G. Moor was much troubled, for he was exceeding skipper like. To morrow tymously we tooke post about 6 a cloack, and reach Dover about one; yet we got not passage til ij at night. What a distressed brother I was upon the sea neids not hear be told, since its not to be feared that I'l forget it, yet I cannot but tell whow[45] Mr. John Kincead and I had a bucket betwixt us strove ... who should have the bucket first, both being equally ready; and whow at every vomit and gasp he gave he cried Gods mercy as give he had bein to expire immediately.

[44] Compare Blawflum (Jamieson), a deception. 'Prine' may be prein,
pin, a thing of little value. Moor is playfully described as
captain or skipper.

[45] How.

About 5 in the morning we landed on France the land of graven images. Heir we divided into 8 companies: Joseph Marior wt one Mr. Colison went into Flanders; Mr. Dick Moor and Kinkead went to Deip and so to Roan. Mr. Strachan, Hamilton, and I stayed in Calais til Monday, 10 of April, and joined wt the messenger for Paris one Pierre, a sottish fellow, yet one that entertained us nobly; their went also wt him besides us on Mr. Lance Normand, Newwarks gouernor and a son of my Lord Arreray or Broll,[46] a very sharp boy wt his governour Doctor Hall. In our journey we passed severall brave tounes as Bulloigne, Monstrul, Abewill, Poix, Beauveaus, wheir is the most magnificent church I had ever then sien. We chanced to lay a night at a pitty vilage called Birny, wheir my chamber was contigue to a spatious pleasant wood that abounded wt nightingales, small birds to look upon; who wt the melodiousnesse of their singing did put sleip quit from me. The great number we meit of souldiers all the way begat in us great fears of wooling [robbing],[47] yet it pleased God to bring us most safely to Paris 14 of April at night. Mr. Strachan led Mr. Ham[ilton] and me to one Turners, a Scotsman, wheir I lay that night, and wheir I recountred wt several of our countrimen, as Patrick Mein, Mr. Castellaw, Mr. Murray, Mr. Sandilands, a man wonderfully civil, Mr. Wilky, Mr. Gibson, and Mr. Colt. The day following I made my addresse to F. Kinloch, and brought wt me a letter containing my safe anivall to go in his packet for Scotland, I not having written any thing since I wrot at my parting from London. I delivered him also my fathers letter, B.[48] Kinlochs letter, and Thomas Crafurds, wt the bill of exchange; my fathers is as followeth:

[46] Roger Boyle, 1621-1679, first Baron of Broghill and Earl of
Orrery, M.P. for Edinburgh, 1656-58, member of Cromwell's House of
Lords. He was succeeded by his son Roger, 1646-1710.

[47] 'Robbing' interlined. 'Wooling' may mean 'shearing,' so robbing.

[48] Bailie.

_Edinborough, March_ 15, 1665.

SIR,--The bearer heirof, my sone, inclining to study the french tongue
and the Laws, I have theirfor thought it expedient to direct him to you,
being confident of your favour and caire, intreating[49] ...
recommendation by a few lynes to one Monsieur Alex.[49] ... [pr]ofessor
of the Laws at Poictiers to which place I intend he sould go: as also to
place him their for his diet in the most convenient house but especially
wt on of our profession and Religion. He hes a bill drawen on you wt a
letter of advice and credit; which I hope ye will obey. I have bein
desired by severalls to have direct him to our Mr. Mowat and have bein
profered to cause answer him what money he sould neid for 20 shiling the
Frank: but I inclined rather to send him to you (whilk I hope ye will
not take as trouble) tho I have payed Thomas Crafurd 21 shiling.[50]
What he stands in neid of during his abode I hope ye wil answer him, and
upon your advertisment and eis receipt I sal either advance or pay the
money upon sight. I most without vanity or flattery say hitherto he hes
not bein inclined to any vice or evill way and I hope sall so continue.
I know not positively what may defray his charges in his studies, diet,
and otherwise, but I conceive about 7 or 8 hundred franks a year may do
it; whowever I entreat you let me hear from you what ye think
wil do it and what ye will take for the frank. So being confident of
your cair heirof, and in doing wheirof ye sall very much oblidge him who
is, Sir,--your reall friend,

JOHN LAUDER.

[49] Page torn.

[50] See Introduction, p. xlviii.

The bill of exchange is as followeth:

_Edinburgh, 17 March 1665_, for 400 livres T.L.[51]

Sir,--4 dayes after sight of this my first bill of exchange (my 2 not
being payed) please pay to Mr. John Lauder or his order 400 livres TL
value receaved heir from his father B. John Lauder. Make punctuall
payment and please it to account, as by the advice of your humble
servant,

THOMAS CRAFURD.

For Mr. Francis Kinloch, Merchant in Paris.

[51] See Introduction, p. xlii.

Francis having read thir, out of his kindnese would suffer me to stay no wheir but in his oune house, wheir I stayed all the space I was at Paris, attended and entertained as give I had bein a Prince. While I was heir I communicated my intentions and directions for going straight to Poictiers to these countrymen fornamed, who ware all unanimously against it, not sieing what good I could do their since the Colledge was just upon the point of rising; they conceived theirfor that I might imploy my tyme much better either in Orleans at Mr. Ogilvyes house, or Saumur at Mr. Dualls; for in either of these I could have a richer advantage in reference to the language, both because its beter spoken their [then at] Poictiers, as also fewer Scotsmen their then in Poictiers. I sould also have for a pistoll[52] a month a master to give me a lesson on the Instituts once a day, which I could not so have at that rate at Poictiers. Thus they reasoned, and I fand Mr. Kinloch to be of the same mind. I considering that it was not expedient for me to step one step wtout direction from my father, I wrot the Vednesday following, 19 of Aprill, acquainting him wt it; and that I sould attend his answer and will at Orleans.

[52] See Introduction, p. xliii.

While I was at Paris I went and saw the new Bridge, and Henry 4 his stately statue in brasse sent as a present by the King of Denmark. I was also at the Place Royalle wheir stands Lewis the 13, this king of France his father, caused to be done by that great statesman in his tym, Cardinall Mazarin, whom he left tutor to the young king during his minority.

I was also at the Palais Cardinal and that Palais wheir the Lawyers pleads. The choops[53] their have great resemblance wt those in the hie exchange at London. I saw also that vast stupendious building, the Louwre, which hath layd many kings in their graves and yet stands unfinished; give[54] all be brought to a close that is in their intentions I think the Grand Seigniours seraglio sall bear no proportion to it. All we saw of it was the extrinsecks, excepting only the king's comoedy house which the force of mony unlocked and cost open; which truly was a very pleasant sight, nothing to be sein their but that which by reason of gilding glittered like gold. But the thing that most commended it was its rare, curious, and most conceity machines: their they had the skies, boats, dragons, vildernesses, the sune itselfe so artificially represented that under night wt candle light nothing could appear liker them.

[53] Shops.

[54] Give for gif, if.

The day before I left Paris, being according to the French account the 5 of May, according to the Scots the 25 of Aprill, Mr. Kinloch wt his wife and daughter Magdalen took Mr. Mein, Mr. Dick,[55] Mr. Moor and me in coach 4 leagues of Paris to Ruell to sie the waterworks their, which wtout controll be the best of any about Paris, by the way we passed thorow one of the pleasantest woods or Parks that ever my eyes did sie, called the Park of Boloigne. We saw Madrid also, but not that in Spaine; the occasion of the building wheirof was this: Francis, one of the kings of France, became Spaines prisoner, who demanded ...[56] ransome 8 milions. The french king payes him 4, and ...[56] promises him upon the word of a king that having once lifted it in France he sould come in person to Madrid and pay it. Thus vinning home he caused build a stately house a litle from Paris, which he named Madrid, and so wrot to the Spaniard that he had bein at Madrid and payed what he owed, according to that, '_qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare_' We saw also Mount Calvary, which the Deluded Papists will have to be the true representative of that Calvary wheir our Saviour suffered: its situate at that same distance from Paris that the true's from Jerusalem, of that same hieght, and so in all the circumstances.

[55] This may be James Dick, who was born in the same year as Lauder,
1646, afterwards Sir J. Dick of Priestfield, Lord Provost of
Edinburgh, and created a baronet.

[56] Page torn.

Thus we come to Ruell, wheir so many gallant sights offered themselfes that I know not wheir to begin; first the pleasant ponds abounding wt fishes of divers sorts, as carps, picks, etc., comes to be considred. But the rich waterworks are the main commendation of the place. It is not to be forgotten whow finely the fellow that showed us them, and set them on work by his engines did wet Mr. Dick, and followed him in the litle house (the Grotto) whethersoever he could stir. The thing that mainly moved my admiration was the hie ascendance of the water: what secret hidden power could carry the water clean contrary to its natural inclination which is to deschend, as every other heavy body, so hy that in some of them a man wt a speir could not reach its top.