Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36 by Sir John Lauder Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36 by Sir John Lauder Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made available by PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY, VOLUME XXXVI LAUDER OF FOUNTAINHALL'S JOURNALS MAY 1900 [Illustration: LORD FOUNTAINHALL.] JOURNALS OF SIR JOHN LAUDER LORD FOUNTAINHALL WITH HIS OBSERVATIONS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND OTHER MEMORANDA 1665-1676 page 1 / 622 Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by DONALD CRAWFORD Sheriff of Aberdeen, Kincardine, and Banff [Illustration: SIR JOHN LAUDER, FIRST BARONET. (Lord Fountainhall's Father.)] CONTENTS INTRODUCTION JOURNALS:-- I Journal in France, 1665-1667, II 1. Notes of Journeys in London. Oxford, and Scotland, 1667-1670, 2. Notes of Journeys in Scotland, 1671-1672, page 2 / 622 3. Chronicle of events connected with the Court of Session, 1668-1676, 4. Observations on Public Affairs, 1669-1670, III APPENDIX i. Accounts, 1670-1675, ii. Catalogue of Books, 1667-1679, iii. Letter of Lauder to his Son, PORTRAITS I. LORD FOUNTAINHALL II. SIR JOHN LAUDER, first Baronet, Lord Fountainhall's father III. JANET RAMSAY, first wife of Lord Fountainhall page 3 / 622 IV. SIR ANDREW RAMSAY, Lord Abbotshall All reproduced from pictures in the possession of Lady Anne Dick Lauder. INTRODUCTION THE MANUSCRIPTS There are here printed two manuscripts by Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, and portions of another. The first[1] is a kind of journal, though it was not written up day by day, containing a narrative of his journey to France and his residence at Orleans and Poictiers, when he was sent abroad by his father at the age of nineteen to study law in foreign schools in preparation for the bar. It also includes an account of his expenses during the whole period of his absence from Scotland. The second,[2] though a small volume, contains several distinct portions. There are narratives of visits to London and Oxford on his way home from abroad, his journey returning to Scotland, and some short expeditions in Scotland in the immediately following years, observations on public affairs in 1669- 70, and a chronicle of events connected with the Court of Session from 1668 to 1676; also at the other end of the volume some accounts of expenses. The third[3] may be described as a commonplace book, for the most part written during the first years of his practice at the bar and his early married life, but it also contains some notes of travel in Fife, the Lothians, and page 4 / 622 the Merse in continuation of those in MS. H., and a list of the books which he bought and their prices, brought down to a late period of his life. These manuscripts have been kindly made available to the Scottish History Society by the owners. The first is in the Library of the University of Edinburgh. The second is the property of the late Sir William Fraser's trustees. The third has been lent by Sir Thomas North Dick Lauder, Fountainhall's descendant and representative. [1] Referred to as MS. X. [2] Marked by Fountainhall H. [3] Marked by Fountainhall K. It was Lord Fountainhalls practice, during his whole life, to record in notebooks public events, and his observations upon them, legal decisions, and private memoranda. He kept several series of notebooks concurrently with great diligence and method. In all of those which have been preserved there is more or less matter of value to the student of history. But at his death his library was sold by public auction. The MSS. were dispersed, though their existence and value was known to some of his contemporaries.[4] Some are lost, in particular the series of _Historical Observes_, 1660-1680, which, judging from the sequel, which has been preserved and printed by the Bannatyne Club, would have been of great value. According to tradition the greater part of what has been recovered was found in a snuff-shop by Mr. Crosby the lawyer, the supposed original page 5 / 622 of Scott's Pleydell, and purchased at the sale of his books after his death by the Faculty of Advocates.[5] [4] Preface to Forbes's _Journal of the Session_, Edinburgh, 1714. [5] MS. Genealogical Roll of the Family of Lauder by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, in possession of Sir T.N. Dick Lauder. Eight volumes came into the possession of the Faculty of Advocates, and under their auspices two folio volumes of legal decisions from 1678 to 1712 were published in 1759 and 1761.[6] In 1837 the Bannatyne Club printed _The Historical Observes_, 1680-1686, a complete MS. in the Advocates' Library, and in 1848 they printed two volumes of _Historical Notices_, 1661-1688. These are after 1678 selections from the same MSS. from which the folio of 1759 was compiled, and the additions to the text of the folio are not numerous, though the historical matter, which was buried among the legal decisions, is presented in a more convenient form. But from 1661 to 1678 (about half of vol. i.) and especially from 1670 (for the previous entries occupy only a few pages) the notices are all new and many of them of considerable interest. In printing these volumes, which I believe are acknowledged to contain some of the best material for the history of Scotland at the time, the Bannatyne Club carried out a design which had been long cherished by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder,[7] though he did not live to see its complete fulfilment, and he was helped in his efforts by Sir Walter Scott. The story[8] is worth telling more fully than has yet been done. In the winter of 1813-14 Sir Thomas, then a young man, met Sir page 6 / 622 Walter at a dinner-party. Sir Walter expressed his regret 'that something had not been done towards publishing the curious matter in Lord Fountainhall's MSS.,'[9] and urged Sir Thomas to undertake the task. In 1815 Sir Thomas wrote to Scott asking about a box in the Advocates' Library believed to contain MSS. of Fountainhalls. Sir Walter replied as follows:-- [6] See Mr. David Laing's Preface to the _Historical Notices_, p. xx, Bannatyne Club. [7] Author of _The Moray Floods, The Wolf of Badenoch_, and other well-known books. [8] The original correspondence was bound up by Sir Thomas in a volume along with Mylne's book (see _infra_), and is in the possession of Sir T.N. Dick Lauder. [9] Letter, Sir T.D. Lauder to Sir W. Scott, 22nd May 1822, _infra_. 'Dear Sir,--I am honoured with your letter, and should have been particularly happy in an opportunity of being useful in assisting a compleat edition of Lord Fountainhall's interesting manuscripts. But I do not know of any in the Advocates' Library but those which you mention. I think it likely I may have mentioned that a large chest belonging to the family of another great Scottish lawyer, Sir James page 7 / 622 Skene of Curriehill, was in our Library and had never been examined. But I could only have been led to speak of this from the similarity of the subject, not from supposing that any of Lord Fountainhall's papers could possibly be deposited there. I am very glad to hear you are busying yourself with a task which will throw most important light upon the history of Scotland, and am, with regard, dear sir, your most obedt. servant, 'WALTER SCOTT. '_Edinr., 19 February 1815._' After a further interchange of letters in 1816 the matter slumbered till 1822 when there appeared a volume entitled _Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs from 1680 till 1701, being chiefly taken from the Diary of Lord Fountainhall_ (Constable, 1822), with a preface by Sir Walter Scott, who had evidently forgotten his correspondence with Sir Thomas.[10] The volume in reality contained a selection, comparatively small, from Fountainhall's notebooks in the Advocates' Library, with copious interpolations by the author, Robert Mylne (who died in 1747), not distinguished from the authentic text of the notes, and greatly misrepresenting Fountainhall's opinions. The next stage in the correspondence may be given in Sir Thomas's own words:-- [10] The preface and Mylne's interpolations are appended to Mr. Laing's preface to the _Historical Notices_. page 8 / 622 'Having been much astonished to learn, from a perusal of the foregoing review,[11] that Sir Walter Scott had stolen a march on me, and published a Manuscript of Lord Fountainhall's, at the very time when he had reason to believe me engaged in the work, and that by his own suggestion, and being above all things surprised that he had not thought it proper to acquaint me with his intention before carrying it into effect, I sat down and wrote to him the following letter, in which, being aware how much he who I was addressing was to be considered as a sort of privileged person in literary matters, I took special care to give no offence, to write calmly, and to confine myself to such a simple statement of the facts as might bring a blush into his face without exciting the smallest angry feeling. I hoped, too, that I might prevail on him, as some atonement for his sins, to lend a helping hand to bring forth the real work of Lord Fountainhall in a proper style.' [11] In Constable's Magazine. See _infra_. To SIR WALTER SCOTT OF ABBOTSFORD, BARONET. '_Relugas, near Forres_, _22nd May 1822_. 'DEAR SIR,--From _Constable's Magazine_ for last month, which has this moment fallen into my hands, I learn, for the first time, with some surprise, but with much greater delight than mortification, that you page 9 / 622 have condescended to become the Editor of a portion of my Ancestor Lord Fountainhall's MSS.