^ MISCELLANY THE SPALDING CLUB. AUKKDEKN: I'RINTKI) BY W. miNXKTT. 42, Casti.i; Sti;ef.t. THE VJ 1 S (ELL A N Y OF THE SPALDING CLUB. VOLUME FIFTH. ABERDEEN: PRINTED FOR T H K CLUB. M DCCC LII. ^/Jl H Xfei'' '% IpnlMng Chtli. DECEMBER, M.DCCC.LIl. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT. THE EARL OF ABERDEEN, K.T. I!ir£-^5rpsi&rnts. THE DUKE OF RICHMOND, K.G. THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND, K.G. THE EARL OF KINTORE. THE EARL OF SEAFIELD. LORD SALTOUN. ijlB €nm[. The Lord Provost of Aberdeen. Sir Robert Abercromby, Bart. John Angds, Advocate, City Clerk, Aberdeen. John Hill Burton, Advocate, Edinbdrgh. Sir James Carnegie, Bart. Charles Chalmers of Monkshill. P. Chalmers of Auldbar. Sir W. G. G. Gumming of Altyre, Bart. Archibald Davidson, Sheriff of Abeudeenshike. John Dunn, Advocate, Aberdeen. The Earl of Ellesmere. Captain Fordyce. The Lord Forbes. Col. Jonathan Forbes. James Giles, R.S..\., Aberdeen. John Gordon of Cairnbulg, Advocate. George Grdb, Advocate, Aberdeen. Cosmo Innes, Advocate, Edinbcrgb. A. F. Irvine, Yor. of Drum. The Right Rev. James Kyle, D.D., Preshomt. Lord Lindsay. James Loch, Esq., M.P. Col. Leslie of Balquhain. Henry Lumsden of Auchindoir. Hugh Lumsden of Pitcaple, Sheriff of SuTiiERLANnsHiRr.. Lord Mp.dwy'n. The Rev. James Melvin, LL.D., Aberdeen. Joseph Robertson, Edinburgh. William Forbes Skene, Advocate, Edinburgh. The Right Rev. Wm. Skinner, D.D., -Aberdeen. Alexander Thomson of Banchory. Irtrttorit. .loHN Stuart, Advocate, Aberdeen. 3nint-(£rEnsnm5. John r>i.\iKir. and John Ligehtwood, Advdcatks, ABKitniuoN. TABLE OF CONTENTS. r.VGE The Editor's Preface, 9 Appendix to Preface—Ko. I., 47 D«>. Do. No. II.. ->() I. Extracts fri:)J[ the Registers of the Burgh of Aber- deen, 1 II. Extracts froji the Accounts of the Burgh of Aber- deen, 39 III. Letters to Dr. James Eraser, 1679-1689. 18:5 TV. Documents from the Charter Chest of the Earl of Airlie, 1578-1682, 201 V. Decreet of the Synod of Perth, in the case between William, Bishop of St. Andrew's, and Duncan de Aberbuthenoth, a.d. 1206, 207 VI. Extracts from the Court Books of the Baronies of Skene, Leys, and Whitehaugh, 1613-1687, 215 VII. Miscellaneous Charters and Contracts, from Copies at Panmure House, made from the Original Documents, 239 VIII. Birth Brieves from the Registers of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1637-1705, 323 IX. Missives to the Provost, Baillies, and Council of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1.594-1688, 369 X. Documents relating to Orkney and Shetland, 1438- 1563, 389 XL Statuta et Leges Ludi Litfrarh Crammaticorum Aberdonensiim. 1,553 397 : THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. In the year 1591, Mr. Thomas Mollisone, then Town-Clerk of A berdeen, in preparing a Catalogue of the " Registeris and Baillie Court Buikis of Aberdene, presentlie extint, or hes bene during the memorie of man thir thre scoir yeiris bygane," states that, be- fore the year 1380, there did not appear any volumes of Record. " Befoir this, scrowis on parchment, contening sum Courtis of the Brught of Abirdene, writin in Latyne all, and for ilk year ane skrow : na mater of importance or weycht extant or registrat thairin, nather yit ony ordinance or statut sett dounn, onlie suitis and actionis, or processus for annuellis, euil to be red, be resoun of the antiquitie of the wreit, and forme of the letter or charecter, weray schortlie and compendiouslie wretin, quhilk is not now vsit and skairslie gif ony man can reid the samyn " Of these scrolls two fragments were lately recovered out of masses of useless papers which were decaying in a garret of the Town House. They con- sist of narrow membranes of parchment, stitched together endwise, but are obviously only incomplete parts of the much longer Rolls, each of which had formed the record of a year. From these two Rolls, the selections printed in the commencement of the present volume have been extracted. In one case, of which the Record " 10 THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. has been preserved, and is now printed,-^ where the Brieve de recto is said to be sewed to the roll, as relative to the proceedings, that document still remains, attached to the Record, and except in one part, where the parchment has been somewhat injured by damp, the "scrowis" are in good preservation, and the character is not so "euil to be red" as the style of writing used by Mr. Molli- sone and his contemporaries." The proceedings preserved in these fragments are not without their value and interest, as exhibiting the forms and principles used in legal pleadings of the day. It may be thought that the most interesting matter is contained in the first extract, where reference is made to a « Lex Burgorum " regulating the giving over of lands within burgh. « per quam dicitur cum cartis et clamore fiat tradicio terrarum in burgis,'" in- asmuch as it seems to refer to a law which has not come down in our ancient code, known « as The Laws of the Burghs." Some valuable information on this point « will be found in Remarks on the Law of the Burghs, concerning delivery of Lands within Burghs," prepared, at the Editor's request, by Mr. Chalmers of Aldbar. which are appended to the Preface The Extracts from the earlier volumes of the Council Register which follow those from the Rolls, have been gleaned from'these' Records, on the occasion of several recent investigations; and it IS believed that they will be found of considerable importance in various ways. P- 6. b Part „ „f „„, „f t^^ s^^.^^.^„ .^ p^.^^^^ .^ ^^^^_^^ '^ Appendix to the Preface, No. I. THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. 11 ©xtrarts from ti)e accounts of H)e Burgf). These Accounts, for the period from 1398 to 1453, are en- grossed in the Council Register, amid the entries of the ordinary business of the Council and of the Burgh Court In the latter year, the accounts kept by the Dean of Guild commence in a separate form, although, unfortunately, the series which has been preserved is far from complete The first volume of the Trea- surer's Accounts, dates from 1559 ; and among these, also, several gaps occur. It is hardly necessary to enlarge on the great value of accounts such as those in question, for historical purposes. They relate to disbursements of the most diverse sorts—the most minute, as well as the most important—and serve, in many ways, to throw unex- pected light on historical events,—on the character, manners, and varied pursuits of our burghal forefathers. One striking feature pervading these accounts arises from the hospitable temper which seems to have characterised our civic rulers at all times. It cannot be denied that, on all occasions, the Cup of Bon-Accord was liberally dispensed.^ In the earliest of the Accounts now printed, there are many entries for wine, dispensed to various good neighbours of the Town, among whom the Bishop of the day was not forgotten. Indeed, the cordial hospitality of the Burgh to the Clergy was at all times remarkable Thus, in 1617-18, we have an entry " for wyne and spycerie to propyne the Laird of Corss," apparently when he was proceeding to St. An- drews, for the purpose of being consecrated ; and another entry '^ As to this cup, see " Book of Bon-Accord,'' p. 1.3. 12 THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. informs us that he got a similar propyne " when he returned bischope."" Again, Dr. William Forbes, who was Principal of Marischal College, on his removal, in 1622, to a pastoral charge in Edinburgh, got a banquet which cost 60 lib., and his wife was pre- sented with " wyne, suger, and tobacco." Dr. Forbes returned to the Burgh, as one of its ministers, in 1626 ; and in tliat year*" we find an entry for the freight of a vessel which conveyed his family and furniture from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, " with fyftie merkis to Thomas Forbes, his brother, for his chairges in going southe to convoy the said Dr. Forbes hither."' In 1633, he was " written for to teache befoir the King's Majestic," when his expenses were defrayed by his kind patrons'* ; and in that year he was promoted to fill the newly-erected See of Edinburgh. Before he left the Burgh, he received a supper, at which the Magistrates and the Clergy of the town were present, and at which the guests were regaled by the music of " the violers." The cordiality of the connection which subsisted between the parties cannot be better un- derstood than by the entry which shows the charge " at the salute- ing of Doctour Forbes, at his hame cuming, 4 lib. 14 s. ;"' and " for wyne careit to the Crabstane at the said Doctour Forbes de- parture." A like good feeling on the part of the Magistrates towards his colleague, Dr. Barron, appears by the following payment " for ane dussone siluer spoones to Mr. Robert Barroun, Minister, to his first hous, in token of the townes lowe to him, 61 lib. 10 s.' The first of the Reformed Ministers, Mr Adam Heriot, was re- <J e a 9". b 97. p. 144. p. 150. p. 101. ' Ibid. THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. 13 ceived at his entry with equal kindness, although displayed in rather a more homely fashion. In the Accounts of 1559-60, we have an entry for " ane garment and haill stand of claythis to Maister Adame Herreot, as well as for the expense of maintaining himself, his servant, and his horse, for 9 weeks"" Mr Robert Bruce, one of the Ministers of Edinburgh, who, in 1605, was banished by the King and Council to the north, after spending some years in Inverness, where he was not well received, ventured, in 1610-11, to come southward as far as Aberdeen.