STUDIA It, I
THE LIBRARY
of
VICTORIA IJNIVERSITY
Toronto
SIR
THOMAS URQUIIART
0 F CR03IARTIE
SIR TIIO.MA. URQUHART.
__
EIGNATUIRE OF SIR THOIAS URQUHART
SLIGHTLV ENLAIRGEDo
[.lll ttights teserved]
PI'¢INTED BY MOI'¢IISON AND GII, LIIITED EDINII'¢II
%VIIOSE PRAISE, S0 FI%EELY GIVEN»
I, TIIE AUTIIott'S MOST COVETED
REWARD.
PREFACE
E'V persons who take an interest in
general literature are wholly uu-
acquaiutcd with the naine of Sir
Thomas Urquhart, as that of the
trausl«ttor of a great French classic.
Ouly the m)re erudite can tcll
how thc naine of auother literary man, lierre
Antoine Motteux, cornes tobe associated with his
in connexion with the translation in question, and
are aware that the Scottish knight is the author of
original compositions in such diverse departments
as poetry, trigonometry, genealogy, and biography,
and that he played a prominent part in the public
lire of his rime.
It has been my object to bring together in thc
following volume ail the materials which are
available for giving a vivid picture of the personality
of Sir Thomas Urquhart, and of the circumstances
in which his lire was passed, as I think it would be
a pity if his romantic, fantastical figure were to
pass into oblivion. The materials for his lire are
fairly abundant, though they have tobe sought for
in many out-of-the-way corncrs. The slight but
fairly accurate sketch prefixcd to his lVov'ks in the
xii PREFACE
Maitland Club edition, and the carefully written
articles in Dr Irving's Scoltish tF'riters, and the
Dictionary of National zBiogra2h?/, contain the only
previous attempts which bave been ruade to give
his history. The limits within which the authors
of these notices had to work, have, however,
prevented their giving more tban a bare outline of
his career. I bave atteml)ted, with wh,t successit
is for my readers to say, to clotbe thc skeleton with
sinews and flesh, and to impart to the figure SOllle
mcasurc of animation.
As I bave had to do my work ata grcat
distancc from public libraries, I bave been obliged
to eflist the services of friends, more fortunately
situted, in the task of looking up multitudinous
references and allusions, which bore upon the
history of the person in whom I was interested, or
of the rime in which he lived. Miss Kemp, James
Walter, Esq., and Alexander Middlemass, Esq.,
Edinburgh, have been extremcly serviceable to
me in this way.
A variety of details of historical and biographical
interest bas been furnished me by 1)r Milne, King-
E,lvard; Gardcn A. Duff, Esq., ttatton Castle,
Turriff; Capt. DoughsWimberley, Inverness; J. L.
Auderson, Esq., Edinburgh; aud 1'. J. Andcrson,
Esq., oi' Abcrdeen University Library.
l'rofessors Crum Brown, Saintsbury, Butcher,
tnd Eggeling of my own .Al.ma Matcr have been
vew willing to give the information I have sought
from them; and through Professor Grierson of
Abcrdeen I have had the loan of many books
containing material of value for my purpose.
PREFACE xiii
Sheriff Mackenzic, Wiek, and Sheriff Shemmn,
Lerwick, have aided me in qucstions of literary
taste and of legal information; and from W. F.
Smith, Esq., Fellow of St John's College, Cam-
bridge, I bave received vahmblc help in writing thc
chapter on thc translation of llabclais. From the
latter's scholarly volumes upon thc grcat French-
man I have borrowed some notes, which appcar
with his initials attached to them. To Profcssor
Fcrguson of Glasgow I ara indcbtcd f,r thc photo-
graph of Urquhart's handwriting.
In the work of currecting proofsa somcwhat
laborious ttsk in thc prescrit cascI lmve had
kindly assistance from Dr Milne, above mcntioned,
and also from A. J. Tcddcr, Esq., London, Rcv. T.
Mathewson, ltcv. D. ][ouston, M.A., and J. M.
Goudie, Esq., Lerwick.
If I have olnitted the nmm of my hclper, or if
by frivolous colmnent I bave done Wl'Ong to the
shade of Sir Thomas, I would adopt the language
of Mr Collins in l'ride and P'e]udicc. " We are
all liable to err," he says. "I bave certtinly mcant
well through the whole affair; and if my
lnanner has been at all reprehensil,le, 1 herc beg
leave to apolgize."
JOIIN WILLCOCK.
UNITED Pr, ES. I!ANSE, LEttWICl«,
SHETLAND.
C0bTEiNTS
PREFACE
CIIAPTER I
The Urquharts and their Predccessors in Cromartie--Sir
Thomas Urquhart, senior--Birth of our Author--
School and University Days--Pecuniary and othcr
Troubles at Home--The Castlc of Cromartie--Our
Author's Studious Bent--Foreign Travcl--Thc English-
man Abroad--The Scot Abroad
CIIAPTER II
Recalled Home--The Covcnanting lIovemcut--The Trot of
Turriff--Our Author escapes to England--Is Knighted
--Publishes his Epigrams--His Father's Embarrassments
increase--Lesley of Findrassie--Death of Sir Thomas
Urquhart, senior--Our Author struggles in vain to
keep his Creditors at bay--Other WroJgs and Losses--
On bad Terres with thc Church
CHAPTER III
Unsuccessful Ri.iug in the llorth--Sir Thomas makes his
Peace with the Church--Rcturn of Charles I. to Scot-
land--Invasion of England--Battlc of Worcester--Sir
Thomas a Prisoncr in the Tower--Makes Friends--Is
liberated on Parole--Great Literary Activity--Revisits
Scotland--Dies--Later History of the Urquharts of
Cromartie--Characteristics of our Author--Glover's
Portraits of him .
PAO
xi
3O
69
xvi CONTENTS
CIIAI'TER IV
EPIGRAMS: DIVINE AND hIORAL--TIIE TRISSO-
TETRAS 111
CHAPTER V
IIANTOXPO'OXANON, o TuE FEmellE , 128
(']IAPTER VI
EKZKTBAAATPON, on THE JEWE[,--LOGOPANDEC-
TEISION, o TIIE UNIVEISAL LXNGUAGE 148
CIIAPTER
TRANSLATION OF I(ABELAIS 184
Ji»PEIgDICE8 209
ILLUSTRATIONS
Ærontis2iece
Page vil
Facig page 109
,, 116
,, 137
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
CtIAPTER I
Thc Urquharts and their Predecessors in Cromartie--Sir
Thomas Urquhart, senior--]3irth of our Author--School
and University Days--Pecuniary and other Troubles at
Home--The Castle of Cromartie--Our Author's Studious
]3ent--Foreign Travcl--The Englishman Abroad--The
Scot Abroad.
HE right of Sir Thomas Urquhart of
Cromartie to be included in the
list of famous Scots will scarcely
be granted by many of his fellow-
countrymen without some inquiry
into the grounds upon which it
is based. He himself, undoubtedly, would hot
have been backward in asserting his claire to such
honourable distinction, though he would bave
eutered u protest agaiust the presence of some of
those in whose company he would find himself.
In the ecclesiastical and political controversies of
the first half of the seventeenth century, he was,
as an Episcopalian and a Cavalier, connected with
I
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
the losing side, and, consequently, it is hot to be
expected that posterity should be so impartial as
to cherish his naine along with those of the victors
in the conflict. If is to his literary, and not to
his martial tchievements, that he owes his faine.
tIis translation of Rabelais is t»robably the most
brilliant feat of the kind ever aCCOlnl»lished, and
casts all his own original writings into the shade.
The fmtastical character of his own compositions,
indeed, both in regard to their subject-matter and
the diction in which they are clothed, forbids their
ever lmving a large circle of readers. An author
whose l»hraseology is like a eombilm.tion of that
used by Ancient l'istol with that of Sir Thomas
Browne nmy bave enthusiastic admirers, but they
are almost certain to be few in number. Yet his
works contain much interesting marrer, and t
them we are indebted for many details of the lire
of tbeir author.
Though it is hard to lelieve Sir Thomas
Urquhart's assertion that the connexion of the
Urquharts with the north-west of Scotland dates as
ïar back as the year B.c. 5 5 4, when an ancestor of his
named Beltistos crossed over ri'oto Ireland, and built
a castle near Inverness, the family was of consider-
able antiquity, and for many generations was one of
the most distinguished in that part of the country.
Nisbet, the great authority on heraldry, says that
" they enjoyed not only the holmurable office of
hereditary Sheriff-Principal oï the Shire of Crom-
artie, but the far greater part, if hot the whole of
the said sbire did belong to thera, either in loroloerty
MACBETH THANE OF CROMARTIE 3
or superiority, and they possessed a considerable
estate besides in the Shire of Aberdeen. ''1 The
admiralty of the seas from Caitlmess to Inverness
also belonged to them.
The Urquharts were not, however, the earliest
to bear rule in the part of Scotland with which
their naine is connected. Cromartie was originally
the C, rwmbawchty (or Crumbathy) of which
Macbeth was reputed thane, beforc he becamc
king. Wyntown in his Croykil relates Macbeth's
dream that he was first Thane of Cromartie, then
Thaue of Moray, and then King of Scotland. -
Afer the first and second titles had been conferred
upon him, he took steps to secure the third.
Probably the mote-hill of Cromartie was the site
1 System of Hc'aldry, ii. 274.
" Wyntown's narrative is as follows (quotcJ in Sir Wil|iam
Fraser's .Earls of Cvmarlic) :--
"A nyeht he thowcht in hys drerning,
Dat syttand he wes besyd pe Kyng
At 8ete in hwnting ;
Intil his Leisch had Grewhundys twh.
He thow«ht, quhile he wcs swà syttand,
He sawe thre wcmen by gangand ;
Aud ]ai wcmen pari thowcht he
Thre werd Systrys toast lyk to be.
De fyrst he hard say gangand by,
' Lo yhondyr pe Thayne of Crwmbawchty.'
De toyir woman sayd agayne,
' Of ]Iorave yhondyre I se pe Thayne.'
De thryd ban sayd, ' I se pe Kyng.'
ll pis he herd in hys dreming."
Wyntown's Crouyl:il, i. 225.
Wyntown's date is about ..]). 1395. ]Iaebeth was killed at
Lumphanan by lIacduff, 5th December ..]). 1056.
4 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
of his official residence as thane of the district when
he was at the beginning of his ambitious career.
In the thirteenth century the family of Mouat
(then de Montc .Alto) were in possession, 1 but early
in the following century the estate had accrued
to King Robert the Bruce, probably because the
Mouats had sublnitted to the English king,
Edward I. King Robert granted Cromartie to
Sir Hugh Ross, eldest son of William, Earl of
Poss, in 1315, and by him it was afterwards,
in the reign of King David Bruce (1329-70),
given to an Adam of Urquhart (" de Yrquhartt "),e
with whose descendants it remained for many
generations. In 1357 be got from the Crown
the hereditary sheriffdom of Cromartie, and eight
years later the saine Itugh Ross gave him the
estate of Fisherie, lu King-Edward, Aberdeen-
shh'e. This Adam is the first of the family to
emerge from the darkness of antiquity into the
light of history, and probably his naine, as the
founder of the Urquhart fortunes, suggested the
still more famous progenitor to whom our Sir
Thomas traced back his pedigree link by link, as
our readers will afterwards hear.
1 A charter of lands in Cromartie granted by William de Monte
Alto, between 1252 and 1272, is still in existence. T]»e granter of
the charter, having been owner of Cromartie, was claimed by Sir
Thomas Urquhart as one of his Urquhart ancestors, but with no
better authority than the earlier ancestors who figure in our
author's Pcdigree. See arls of Cvmartie, by Sir William Fraser.
It would seem ri'oto this that Urquhart was originally a place-
naine, probably Gaelic. There were two parishes of Urquhart in
the old province of Moray--one with a priory near Elgin, and
the other with a castle in what is now Inverness-shire.
THE TUTOR OF CROMARTIE 5
Our author's father, also a Thomas, and the
first of his line who was a Protestant in religion,
was born in 1 5 8 5. tIe succeeded to the property
in 1 6 0 3, and in 1 6 1 7 was knighted by James
in Edinburgh. As he was left an orphan at an
early age, he was brought up uuder the cure of
his grand-uncle, John Urquhart of Craigfintray,
who hs been commonly called from this circum-
stance "the Tutor of Cromartie." IIia great-grand-
nephew, our Sir Thomas, has celebmted his praise in
very high terres. " He was," he says, " over all
Britain renowned for his deep reach of natural wit,
and great dexterity in acquiring of many lauds and
great possessions, with all men's applause. ''
From all accounts, it seems that the" ]'utor" was
1 ,, Tutor" here simply mens "legal guardian "--for boys until
fourteen years of agc, and for girls until twelve. At'ter these ages
and before tlmt of twenty-one such wards are in the charge of
"Cumtors." Owing to our author's having the saine Christiau
naine as his fther, the mistake is often ruade of asserting that
John Urquhart was his tutor.
llZorks, p. 172. In a MS. volume of Unlublished poems by
Sir Thomas, which is described on p. 116, there is the ibllowing :--
"Upon the tutor of Cromarty, my great-grandfather's young«r
brother, and my father's tutor :
" The present tyme, the preterit, uor f«tur
T' ourselves, our fathers, nor posteritie,
Do now, have yet, nor will produce a tutor,
For's Pupfls weil of more dexteritie,
For he left free th' estate he had in charge:
4nd by meer industrie did's own enlarge " (iii. 7).
We are sorry to quote a poem of Sir Thomas's at this early stagc,
belote the atmosphere bas been created which is needed fo per-
ceiving and al)preciating its true value. The judîcious reader will,
however, return to it with interest when that process has been
coml)leted.
6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
faithful in the dischurge of all the duties belonging
to his office, 1 though he did hot succeed in imparting
to his pupil the secrct of acquiring landed prol)erty,
either with or without applause.
Sir Thomas Urquhart, senior, received his estates,
we are informed, " without any burthen of debt,
how little soever, or provision of brother, sister, or
any othcr of his kindred or allyance wherewith
to affect it." He married Christian, the fourth
daughter of Alexander, fourth Lord Elphinstone
(1552-1638), and received with lier a dowry of
nine thousand merks Scots (i.c. £500 Sterling).
The datc of out author's birth is given by Maitland
as 1605, but it is now certain that this is an error,
and that the true date is 1611. Sir Thomas was
the eldest of the family, and he tells us that he
was born rive years after the marriage of his
parents. He also informs us that his mother's
fther, Lord Elphinstone, held the office of High
Treasurer in Scotland a the rime of the marriage.
As that noblcmau was High Treasurer only from
just before 19th April, 1599, till 22nd September,
1601, it would hot havc been uureasonable to fix
the date of the marriage as probably some time in
1600, if we lmd no other ilffOl'lnation on the
subject. But it so ha.ppens that the marriage-
John Urqulmrt, "the Tutor of Cromartic," died lu 1631, at
the age of eighty-four, and was buricd in the old church of King-
Edward, Aberdeeashire, where theïe is a marble monument to his
memory.
Works, 13. 340.
Another erroneous date is in the edition of the Tracts of 1774,
where 1613 is giçen as the year oï out author's birth.
CONTEMPORARY EVENTS 7
contract is in existence, 1 and is dated the 9th of
July, 16 0 6, and consequently Sir Thomas's birth
would fall in the ycar 1611. Out author must
thereforc have been in error in describing his grand-
father as being High Treasurer at the rime of his
daughter's lnarriage. He had, indeed, occupied this
office some years before. Sir Thomas should have
said "had been," instead of "was," but his lordly
disposition of mind would probably lnake him con-
tcmptuous of such triltes.
In 1611, James w. was drav«ing near to the end
of the first period of his reign, during which he had
been uuder the influence of the traditions of the
days of Elizabeth and ]3urghley, and had hot yet
This is now amongst the Gardenston papers, having beeu
formerly in the possession of Mr Dunbar Dunbar. _An account
of its contents is given in .4ntiqearian 2Votcs, by C. Fraser
Nackintosh, p. 195. An indepcndent corroboration of the abov«
date of the marriage is givcn by a document now in the Register
House in Edinburgh (Aberdecn Sasincs), in which Sir Thomas
Urquhart, seuior, givcs sasine of the brony of Fisherie to Lady
Christian E1phinstone. The "precept," or clause in the marriage-
contract, which directs the nota T to give sasine of the estate
settled on thebride, is also dated thc 9th of July, 1606, and in it she
is described as being in sud TUrd vDyiMta!e. Probably the
marriage took place either on that day or very soon afterwards.
The bridegroom was just of age, while Lady Christian was under
sixteen, the date of ber birth being 19th Decelnber, 1590 (The
Lords ZTphistone, Fraser, i. 167).
The issue of this marriage were at least the following sons and
daughters :--(1) Tuo),s ; (2) Alexander ; (3) George; (4) John;
(5) [naine unknown] ; (6) Henry ; and (7) Jaue, m. Sir Alexander
Abercromby of Birkenbog; (8) Hclen, on. Sir James Gordon of
Lesmoir; (9) Annas, m. Alexander Strachan of Glenkindie;
(10) hIargaret, m. John Irving of Brucklay ; (11) [naine unknown],
m. Camlbell of Calder.
8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
passed into his own keeping, and the hands of pro-
fligate favourites. ]3acon was still in the shade of
distrust, from which, however, he was soon to
emerge: he was now, indeed, Solicitor-General, but
his ambition was hot satisfied by this post. The
heir-apparent to the throne was t'rince Henry, who
died in the following year. Charles, his brother,
was now eleven years of age. Shakespeare brought
out this year his play of Thc lIïtler's :Tale, and
Ben Jonson his Catilinc. Sir Walter RMeigh was
a prisoner in the Tower, and was busily engaged in
writing his History of thc lIorhl, which he com-
pleted in the following year, though it was hot
published until 1614. The Authorised Version of
the English Bible appeared this year. Milton was
now a child of scarcely three years old, and Crom-
well a boy of twelve.
The birthplace of our author is unknown; for
though the castle of Cromartie was the oflïcial
residence of the sheriffs, Sir Thomas Urquhart,
senior, is known to have had several other manor-
houses, one of which was Fisherie, 1 in the parish of
King-Edward, Aberdeenshire, in which he resided
from time to time. It is probable that the future
translator of Iabelais laid the foundation of the
erudition by which in after years he was distin-
guished, in ]3anff, which then possessed a grammar-
Fisherie is about six toiles from Banff.
" It is quite possible, however, that, in the parish school of King-
Edward, our author could bave got the rudiments of a classical
education. In 1649 (15th ov.), Mr James Petrie, who was school-
toaster there, applied for the school of Bauff, and, as a test of his
powers, "was ordeined to teache the sext satyr of Persius to-
UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN 9
school, rather than in the more northern town
which is associated with his naine.
Sir Thomas was only eleven years old when, in
1622, he entered the University of Aberdeen, 1 but
there is no reason fo believe that the average age
of the "men" of his year would be in excess of his
own. ]Donne was the saine age as Urcluhart when
he entered Oxford. The famous Crichton went u]?
fo St Andrews at the age of ten, though up fo that
time he had hot given evidence of any extraordimtry
wecocity. A gcneration before, Montaigne had
already completed his collegiate course when he
attained his thirteenth year. If seems strange to
us that boys of such tender age should have been
round able fo pass through a university curriculum ;
and we are forced to conclude either that the boys
of those days were intellectually superior fo those
with whom we are familiar, or that the studies
which occu]?ied them were less dee]? and severe
than those which are now pursued in seats of
learning. The latter is probably the true explana-
tion of the marrer. University education in Scot-
morrow in the school of Banf be nyne hours in l»resence of the
bailyies and others in the toune who wer scholars." He passed
through the test successfully, and was appointed to the office
(Auals of JBmoE, ii. 30, :New Spalding Club).
a The entry of his naine as a studênt on the roll is in the follow-
ing terres: " In Academiam regiam Aberdonensem recepti sunt
adolescentes quorum nomina sequuntur, preceItore Alexandro
Lunano, Anno 1622.
Tixomas Ureluhardus de Cromartie.
'usti Abcrdoïcnses, 1854.
IO SIR THOMAS URQUHART
land had been remodelled, and adapted to the
requirements of the time and of a l'rotestant society
in the previous generation, and in this work Andrew
Melville had a vcry notablc part. Iu 1583 a new
constitution had beeu drawn up for the University
o[ Aberdeen, and the arrangements prescribed by it
nmy have existed there when our author was a
student. The l'riucipal, according to this constitu-
tion, was l'rofessor of Theology, as well as incumbent
of the parish of Old Machar, and was responsible
for the govcrmncnt and disciplinc of the college.
Under him were four ]egeuts, one of whom was
Sub-l'rincipa.1, aud to them was assigncd the duty of
trtdning students lu wtrious departments of learning.
Thus physiology, geography, astrology, history, and
ttebrew were assigncd to the ub-I rmclpal. An-
other llegent explained "the principles of reasoning
from the best Greek and Latin authors, with prac-
tice in writing and speakiug"; while a third
lectured upon Greek, and read the more elementary
Latin and Greek authors. The fourth t'egent
taught arithuletic and geometry, and, along with
them, a portion of Aristotle's Orgaon, thics, ad
Politics, and Cicero's /)e O.7iciis. This attempt to
assigu slecial dep;rrtments to the various regents
respectively, was a marked imlrovement upon the
older system, under which they were each respons-
ible for teaching all the subjects included in the
curriculum.
The students paid fees, which varied in amount
1 I(itg's College : O.cers ad Gntduates, by P. J. Anderson,
M.A., pp. 347, 348.
THE NOVA FUNDATIO II
according to their social standing. 0n entcring the
tmiversity they were required to tke an oath of
loyalty to the Reformed religion. None were
allowed to carry arms, or to converse in any other
tongue than Greek or Latin. l'erhaps, however,
this latter rule was merely an attempt to restrain
the measureless ride of human speech. And in
order that nothing might iuterfere xvith the progress
of the students, the -hrora $'undatio, or new constitu-
tion of Aberdeen Un[versity, abolished all hol[days
(" otaries consuetas olim a studiis vacationes abolcri
penitus ").
Sir Thomas Urquhart's name does hot appear in
An "eminent Yorkshire edueationist" introduced the saine rule
into the establishment under his charge. It is probable, however,
tht in lIr Squeers's ese the arrangement was the result of inde-
pendent reserch into methods of eduction, rther tlmn a hint
borrowed frein Andrew lelville. "o holidaysnone of those
ill-judged comings home twice year that unsettle children's
minds se t" (Viclwlas Vicklcby, chap. iv.).
It is only fir te sny thnt there re doubts as te how far the
rrangements under the 2Vova -tndatio, as above described, were
in force in Sir Thomas Urquhrt's student dys. If the older
system were still in operation, the Alexnder Lunch, who is men-
tioued ns his prêceptor, would virtually lmve gaugh out author
11 the subjects contined in the currieulum through which he
pnssed. As there is no proof tlm Alexmder Lunan was nother
Admirable Crichton, the fet of his doing se would strengthcn
what we hve said nbove as te the comparative slightness of the
erudition impnrted in university eduction in those days. Sir
Thoms Urquhart speks of having "lerned the elements of
his philosophy" in the University of Aberdeen under Willim
Seton ( llorks, p. 263). It bas been suggested tlmt it is n errer
for John Seton, nd tiret if indicntes tht out uthor, like many
other students of King's College, took session or two at MarischM
College (see Anderson's $'asti .4cad. «garisc. il. 34, 58S).
IZ SIR THOMAS URQUHART
the list of graduates in 1626, so that there are no
meaus of determining from the records of King's
College how raany years he spcnt there. :For the
city in which he had received his education he ever
afterwards had a high regard. Thus he says of it:
"For honesty, good fashions, and learning, Aberdeen
surpasseth as far all other cities and towns in Scot-
land, as Londou doth for greatness, wealth, and magni-
ficence, the smallest hamlet or village in England." 1
tte gives unmeasured praise to some of those
eminent men who were associated with the faine
of Aberdeen Univcrsity in what bas been called its
"Augustau age "--the first four or rive decades of
the seventeenth century. Thus, according to him,
William Lesley, D.D., was "one of the most pro-
round and universal scholars then living"--like
Socrates in having published no works, but, un-
fortunately, unlike that philosopher in hot having
among his disciples a ]'lato and an Aristotle to
receive their master's knowledge and trausmit it to
future generations, a Of his successor in the prin-
cipalship, Dr William Guild, he says: "He de-
serveth by himself to be remembered, both for that
he hath committed to the press many good books,
tending to the edification of the soul, and bettering
of the minde; and that of all the divines that have
lived in Scotland these hundrcd yeers, he bath been
llorks, p. 395.
" Dr Lesley was successively Humauist, Regent, Sub-Principal,
and Principal of Kiug's College. In 1639 he was deprived of his
office by the Covenanting party.
tYorks, p. 262.
PECUNIARY" DIFFICULTIES x 3
the most charitable, and who bestowed most of his
own to lublike uses. '' At the rime when he
wrote these estimates of the sages at whose feet he
had sat as a student, some of his old friends were
under a cloud, and he had to be careful hot to
compromise them by his lraise. And so he says
of "Master William [?] Seaton," who had been his
tutor, "[he was] a very able preacher truly, and
good scholar, and [one] whom I would extoll yet
higher, but that being under the consistorian lash,
some critick Presbyters may do him injury, by pre-
tending his dislike of them, for being praised by
him who idolizeth not their authority." 2
At the time of the nmrriage of Sir Thomas
Urquhart, senior, Lord Elphinstone, who was fully
acquainted with the prosperous condition of his
son-in-law's affaixs, ruade him pledge hilnself to
manage his property so that if might descend to
his heir as he had himself received it. Unfortun-
ately this pledge was hot fulfilled. Through mis-
management and neglect his affairs got into dis-
order, and the later years of his lire were troubled
by pecuniary difficulties. His son says of him:
x lVorks, p. 263. The editor of the .Bool« of.Bon Accord gives a
lower estimate of Dr Guild's character : he says that his works are of
no literary merit, and that he got faine by his wealth and ostenta-
tious liberality. He was minister of King-Edward before he went to
Aberdeen ; and his widow, Catharine Rolland, founded a bursary
at the university for young men belonging to that parish.
lbid. p. 263 ;see p. 11, note.
Lord Elphinstonc died 14th January, 1638. During the four
preceding years his son-in-law had "ruade ducks and drakes" of
his ancestral possessions. His portrait, which is still preserved at
Carberry Tower, is engTaved in Sir William Fraser's work, The
14 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
" Of a, ll men living [he was] the justest, equallest,
and most honest in his dealings, [and] his humour
was, rather than to break his word, to lose all he had,
and stand to his most undeliberate promises, what
ever they might cost; which too strict adherence
to the a.usterest princiæles of vcracity, proved
oftentimes dammageable to bim in his negotiations
with many cmming sharks, who knew vith what
profitable odds they could scrue themselves in npon
the windings of so good a nature .... 13y the
unfaithfulnes, on the one side, of some of his
mental servants, in tilching froln him ranch of his
personal estate, and falsehood of several chamber-
lains and baylifl's to whom he had intrusted the
managing of his rents, in the unconscionable dis-
charge of their receits, by giving up one accourir
thriee, and of such accounts many; and, on the
other part, by the frequency of disadvantagious
bargains, which the slieness of the subtil merchant
did involve him in, his loss came unawares upon
him, and irresistibly, like an armed man; too great
trust to the one, and facility in behalf of the other,
oeeasioning so grievous a misfortune, which never-
theless did not proceed from want of knowledge or
abilitie in natural parts, for in the business of other
men he would bave given a very sound advice, and
was surpassing dextrous in arbitrements, upon any
Lords .Elphinstone. It gives one the impression of a grave,
melancholy man. He had fourteen sons and rive daughters. It
is to be hoped that none of his sons and no other of his sons-in-
law had the faculty for getting into diflïculties which Sir Thomas
Urquhart, senior, displayed.
A LETTER OF PROTECTION x5
reference submitted to him, but that hee thought it
did derogate from the nobility of his bouse and
reputation of his persou, to look to petty things in
marrer of his own affairs." 1
One of thc ways in which the elder Sir Thomas
succeeded in impoverishing himself and his family
was in becoming bail for peol:le who absconded ; so,
at least, we would in[er from an entry iii the
Court-book of the ]3urgh of Bau[l', under dtte of
21st April, 1629, in which we find that "Sir
Thmas Urqulmrt of Cromarty, hviug become
caution for the al)pear:mce of Alexander Forbes,
merchant in Balvenye, alleged forestaller, and the
said Alexander hot having appeared, Sir Thomas is
decerned to pay £40 Scots (£3, 6s. Bd. Sterling)."
In 1637 we fiud thut he was obliged to appeal
to his sovereign against the urgency of his creditors,
and a Letter of l'rotection was issued in his favour.
It ran as follows : "Letter of Protection granted by
King Charles the Fit'st, under his great seal, to Sir
Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, from all dilligence
at the instance of his creditors, for the space of one
year, thereby giving him a pcrson« stadi in fl«dicio,
notwithstanding he may be at the horn, and taking
1VorL's, p. 336.
i The offence offo'estalliap consisted in buyil:g merehandise,
victuals, etc., before they appeared in fair or market-place for
sale, or in taking steps fo raise the prices of such things, or in
dissuading anyone coming to market from carrying his goods
thithcr. The amount of fine for first offence ws, as above,
£40 Scots (or £3, 6s. Bd. Sterling) ; for second offence, 100 merks
(or £5, lls. ld. Sterling) ; while for th;.rd offence it was forfeiture
of movable goods.
I6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
him under his royal protection during the time.
Dated at St James's, 20th March, 1637. "1 A
somewhat humorous situation is suggested by this
document. The creditors might "put him to the
horn," i.e., according to the usual legal form, order
him in the king's naine to pay his debts on penalty
of being outlawed as a traitor, while the king himself
authorised him to take no notice of the proceedings.
In the saine year we have intimation of the
clder Sir Thomas's pecuni,ry misfortunes being
aggravated by domestic strife, for we find him
instructing a high legal functionary to raise an
action against his sons, Thomas and Alexander, for
their unfilil conduct. The charge was that of
"putting violent hands on the persone of the said
Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cronmrtie, Knycht, their
father, taking him captive and prissoner, and
detening him in sure firmance within ane upper
chalmer, callit the Inner Dortour, within his place
of Cromertie, lanuam in privalo carcere, fra the
Mononday to the Fryduy in the errer none therefter,
committit in the moneth of December last, 1636."
The case came up for trial before the Court of
Justiciary on the 19th of July, and was postponed
for a week, when it was abandoncd. The Lords of
Council had appointed a commission to settle all
differences between the father and sons, and on
receiving their report the Court dismissed the
case. e We havc no 1)articulars as to the causes of
M'Farlane's Gcnealogical Collcctions, il. 283. IS. Advocates'
Library.
Records of the Court of Justiciary.
CASTLE OF CROMARTIE 17
disagreement which led to such an unhappy state
of affairs, but we are hot likely tobe far wrong in
assuming that the sons wished to prevent their
father's taking some legal step which they con-
sidered would be detrimental to lais and their
interests. The afibctionate terres in which our
author describes his father's character ten years
after his death, in the words above quoted, makc
us sure that he sincerely regretted any wrong
towards him of which he may bave been guilty at
this rime.
The old castle of Cromartie has now long dis-
appeared, the stones of which it was built having
been used for the erection of a modern house in
1772, after the estate had passcd, by purchase,
from the family of Urquhart to Mr George Ioss.
If was a building of considerable antiquity. In
1470 a royal grant was nmde by James III. to
William Ur, luhart of the Motehill, or Mount of
Cromartie, with permission to erect on this a tower
or fortalice. Advantage was taken of this per-
mission to fortify the family mansion, and it was
converted into a castle of considerablc strength.
Sir Thomas says of it: " The stance thereof is
stately, and the bouse it selfe of a uotable good
ftbrick and contrivance."' An intereting descriptiou
It was built in the old turreted style, and defended on the
south by a moat and high wall. When it was taken down, in the
surrounding ground were round human keletons, and urns con-
taining human remains, both enclosed in graves ruade of flags
( Old Stat. Account).
: llZorks, p. 312. « The situation appêars in every view most
delightftfl" (Pococke's Tom., 1760).
I8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
of the building as it was j ust before its demolition
is given by Hugh Miller. "Dh'ectly behind the
site of the old town," he says, " the ground rises
abruptly from the level to the height of nearly a
hundred feet, after which it forms a kind of table-
land of considerable extent, and then sweeps gently
to the top of the hill. A deep ravine, with a little
stream running through it, intersects the rising
ground at nearly right angles with the front which
it presents to the houses; and on the eastern
angle, towering over the ravine on the one side, and
the edge of the bank on the other, stood the old
castle of Cromarty. It was a massy, time-worn
building, rising in some places to the height of six
storeys, battlemented at the top, and roofed with
grey stone. One immense turret jutted out from
the corner, which occupied the extreme point of the
angle, and looking down from an altitude of at least
one hundred and sixty feet on the little stream,
and the struggling row of trees which sprung up at
its edge, commanded both sides of the declivity and
the town below." Of the interior we are told by
the saine writer, on the authority of an old woman
who, as a child, had lived in the castle, that "two
threshers could bave plied their flails within the
huge chimney of the kitohen ; and that, in the great
hall, an immense, dark chamber, lined with oak, a
party of a hundred men had exercised at the pike. ''1
The elder Sir Thomas had also a winter residence
in Banff. 2 In the Court-book of the Burgh of Banff
Scenes and Zegends of the 2orth of 5'cotland, pp. 78, 80.
: This was a fortalice-tower, with gardens, orchards, dovecots,
CONNEXION WITH BANFF 9
we have the following entry: " 1630, July 21st, Sir
Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie gave in ane Act of
the Session of Banff, geiveing licence to him fo erect
ane desk and loft in the kirk of ]3anff (seeing he is
both a parochiner and resident within the said toun)
for his accomodatione. The brethren gave their
approbatione with express provision that neither
the edifice lmr lichtes of the said kirk suld bc
deteriorat." 1
]eyond the bare fact of his hving been a
student in the Univcrsity of Aberdeen, we have no
information concerning the manner lu which the
earlier years of our author's lire were passed, or the
etc., in the south part of Banff, which afterwards came into the
possession of the Earl of Airlie. The bounds are thus described :
"The common venncl at the north, the loch called the Saltlochs
at the east, the lands called Little Guishauch af the south, and the
road fo Overak at the west." Shortly before its dcmolition if
was the headquarters of the Duke of Cumberland's army on
its passage to Culloden. Besides this house and the castle of
Cromartie, the Urquharts occasionally occupied their mansion-
bouse of Fisherie. This stood a few yards to the south-west of
the present farmhouse of hlains of Fisherie. It was taken down
some sixty years ago. Some old trees still stand near the site of
the bouse and garden.
Annals of l?a».ff (New Spalding Club), ii. 28. The old
church in which Sir Thomas had a "desk" or pew, and a "loft"
or small gallery, is now in ruins. Only the south transept is
standing. In the parish church of King-Edward, Abcrdeenshire,
the handsome silver communion cups bear an inscription to the
effect that they were a joint present from Dr William Guild, the
then incumbent of the parish, Sir Thomas Urquhart, and his
uncle John Urquhart of Craigfintray. That the Sir Thomas
Urquhart here named is hot our author but his father, is evident
from the date of the incumbency of his fellow-donor, Dr Guild,
who was minister of King-Edward from 1608 fo 1631. The cups
bear date of 1619.
2o SIR THOMAS URQUHART
circumstances in which he acquired the miscel-
lneous erudition which his writings display. The
only relnark he makes about the education he
received is to the effect that his ftther 1Md out but
a very insignificant portion of his income upon this
item of family expenses. Yet, however little the
expenditure may bave been, Urquhart evidently
profited fully by the education whieh he had
received, and attained to somethilg more than a
gentlelnanly acqu,intance with some of the abstruser
departments of learning.
The special bent of his mind in early years, nd
his love for study rat|ler than sport, are shown in
the following reminiscence of his youth, which he
ntrrates with his char,eteristic diithseness. "There
h,ppening," he says, ':a gentlenan of very good
worth to stay awhile ,t my house, who, Olie day
amongst many other, was pleased, in the de,dst
rime of all the winter, with a gun upon his shoulder,
to search for a shot of some wild-fol ; and after
he had waded through many w,ters, taken excessive
pillS iii quest of his gain, and by means thereof
had killed some rive or six moor fowls nd pa.rtridges,
which he brought along with him to my house, he
was by sonle other gentlemeu, who chuneed to alight
aU my gare, as he entered in, very much eommended
for his love to sport; and, as the fashion of most
of our eountrymen is, not to pr,ise one without
disl»l'aising another, I was highly blamed for not
giving my self in that kind to the saine exereise,
having belote my eys so commendable a pattern to
imitate ; I answered, though the gentleman deserved
STUDIOUS TASTES 2I
praise for the evident proof he had given that day
of his inclination to thrift and laboriousness, that
nevertheless I was hot to bltme, sceing whilst ho
was busîed about that sport, I was imployed in a
diversion of another nature, such as optical secrets,
mysteries of natural philosophie, reasons for the
variety of colours, the finding out of the longitude,
the squaring of a circle, and wayes to accomplish
all trigonometrical calculations by sines, without
tangents, with thc saine compendiousness of com-
putation,which, in the estimation of lcarned men,
would be accounted worth six hundred thousand
partridges, and as many moor-foles.
There can be little doubt that Sir Thonms lmd
the best of the argument. But he was hot satisfied
with this: for nothing less wouhl content him than
vanquishing his opponent on his own ground, as
well as with the weapons of logic. With the saine
lordliness of retaper which had led him to re-
capitulate the dignified subjects which had occupied
his studious mind--the squaring of the circle being
but one of them--he chose the breaking-in of a
home as a set-off agaiust his friend's achievements
of the day before. The success of the scientific
sudent and the discomfiture of the mere sportsman
are told in the conclusion of the story. "In the
mean while," he says, "that worthy gentleman, being
wet and weary af ter travel, was hot able to eat of
what he had so much toyled for, whilst my braine
recreations so sharpened my appetite, that I supped
to very good purpose. That night past, the next
morning I gave six pence to a footman of mine, to
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
try his fortune with the gun, during the rime I
should disport my self in the breaking of a young
horse; and it so fell out, that by [the rime] I had
given my selle a good heat by riding, the boy re-
turned with a dozen of wild fouls, hall moor foule,
half partridge, whereat being exceeding well pleased,
I alighted, gave him my horse to tare for, and forth-
with entred in to sec my gentlemen, the most
especiall whereof was unable to rise out of his bed,
by reason of the Gout and Sciatick, wherewith he
was seized for his former daye's toyle." 1
In the early years of his manhood, belote out
author felt bimself qualified to take part in public
lire, he spent some rime in foreign travel. The
kind of figure cut by a young .Enflish gentleman of
that period upon the Continent we know from the
testimony of l'ortia, for it can scarcely be that
much change had taken place in the interval of a
generation, between her rime and the end of the
first quarter of the seventeenth century, tIe was
generally unversed in the languages of the countries
he visited, and, from his lack of Latin, French, or
Italian, was apt to fifil in understanding the natives,
or in making himself understood by them. tIe might
be handsome in figure, but conversation with him
was reduced to the level of a dumb-show, tIis
dress was often very odd, and his manners eccentric,
as flough he had bought his doublet in Italy, bis
round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and
his behavioureverywhere. A strong contrast to
him in the matter of language was the young
lIorks, p. 331.
THE SCOT ABROAD 2 3
Scotchman of the period, if Sir Thomas Urquhart
is to be taken as at a]l au average specimen of his
nation, and if his account of himself can be relied
upon. He says of himself that when he travelled
through France, Spain, and Italy, he spoke the
languages to such perfection that he might easily
have passed himself off as a native of any one of
these countries. Some advised him to do so, but
his patriotic feclings were too strong to allow him
to follow such a course: " he t)lainly told them
(without making bones thereof), that truly he thought
he had as nmch honour by his own country, which
did contrevalue the riches and ïertility of those
nations, by the valour, learning, and honesty,
wherein it did parallel, if hot surpass them."
It is somewhat difficult for the mind to grasp
the idea of a Scotchman in those days, when so
many of the things which we now associate vith
the nationality were hot in existencewhen his
Church was Episcopalian in constitution, the Shorter
Catechism hot yet written by Englishmen for his
use, Iurns unborn, and distilled spirits hot exten-
sively used as a beverage. We could scarcely even
know him by his costume. For no selï-respecting
representative of that country would assume the
Highlaud garb which so many Englishmen believe to
be generally worn north of the Tweed, if we are to
credit the authoritative statement of Macaulay to
the effect that "belote the Union it vas considered
by nine Scotchmen out of ten as the dress of a
thief. '' The characteristics by which "a Scot
lForks, 1 ). 272. " Itistory ofEnglnd, chat), xiii.
2 4 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
abroad" in those days was recognised, were, from
some accounts, hot shrewdness in making bargains,
economical habits, indomitable perseverance, and
unsleeping caution, but the pride and high-spirited-
ness which ruade him keen in dctecting and swiït
in avenging slights that might be cast upon the
country from which he came. So deep was the
impression ruade by these pcculiarities upon foreign
nations, that they became proverbial. "He is a
Scot, Ira has pepper in his nose !" 1 said they, some-
vhat familiarly, yet with touch of fear, when they
noticed tlm flashing eye, and the hand instinctively
seeking the sword-hilt. "tIigh-spi'ited as a Scot !"-
they exclaimed with admiration, when among them-
selves some soul was moved to unwonted courage.
Such, at least, is the impression produced upon the
mind by some of those novels in which Scott and
his imitators trace the wanderings of their fellow-
countrymen through European lands in those
earlier rimes. That there is some foundation of
truth for the lofty superstructure is rendered
credible by the case of Sir Thomas Urquhart.
" My heart," he says, "gave me the courage for
adventuring in a forrain climat, thrice to entcr
"Scotus cst, 2»ipcr i naso," Medioeval provcrb.
-" "Fier comme un Ecossais," French proverb.
s It may be as well to warn our readers at this point that Sir
Thomas Urquhart's vanity, or what would be called vauity in any
other man, was unbounded. So calm and unconscious is it, that
if often seems to betray a disordercd mind. Those who seek in
his estimates of himself for illustrations of the grace of humility
will seek in vain. They may, however, find other things, which,
if hot so edifying, are far nmre amusing.
SHAKESPEARE'S SCOTCHMAN 2 5
the lists against men of three severall nations, to
vindicate my native country 1 from the calumnies
wherewith they had aspersed it; whcrein it pleased
God so to conduct my fortune, that, after I had
disarmed them, they iu such sort acknowledged
their error, and the obligation they did owe me for
sparing their lives, which justly by the law of arms
I might have taken, that, in lieu of three enemies
that formerly they were, I acquired three constant
friends, both to my selfe and my compatriogs,
whereof by severall gallant testimonies they gave
evident proofe, to the improvement of my country's
credit in many occasions." e
The fair critic, whose estimate of the young
Englishman bas been referred to, gives ber opinion
also of his Scottish rival; but, strangely enough,
she observes in him qualities of a kind opposige
to those displayed by Sir Thomas Urquhart. She
was struck by his neighbourly charity, " for he
borrowed a box of the car of the Englishman, and
swore he would pay him back again when he was
able. ''s Can it be that the words put into ber
mouth are merely the ribald wit of an envious
The reader who has sufficient euriosity and leisure may compare
with the above the account which his contemporary, Lord Herbert
of Cherbury (1581-1648), gives of his duels in his .4 utobiography.
That noblcman was a kind of Sir Thomas Urquhart in water-
colour, and his single combats arc surrounded with a propor-
tionately milder glow of romance. Iudeed, they seem to haro been
generally undertaken in order to compel impudeur young men to
give back pieces of riband to charming young ladies from whom
they ha01 snatched them.
" IVorks, p. 311.
,l[crchant of l& a.icc, Act I. Scene ii.
2.6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
Southron, or are we to understand that the spirit
which triumphed ovcr so many inferiors was yet
wise enough to discern when it stood in the presence
of a mighticr than itsclf ?
How a young nmn on his travels should occupy
his rime, had been laid down in a little volume
which had been published just before Urquhart
set out to see the world abroad. In this he might
read a list of the things which should engage his
attention, drawn up in sonorous language by no
less a personage than a late Lord Ch,ncellor of
England--a man who was ready to give advice to
all his fellow-creatures in all conccivable circum-
stances. "The things," says Lord Bacon, "to be
seen and observed are : the courts of princes, especi-
ally when they give audience to ambassadors; the
courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes;
and so of consistories ecclesiastic; the churches
and monasteries, with the monuments which are
therein extant; the walls and fortifications of cities
and towns, and so the havens and harbours; anti-
quities and ruins; libraries, colleges, disputations
and lectures, where any are; shipping and navies;
house and gardens of stte and pleasure near great
cities; armories, arsenals, magazines, exchanges,
burses, warehouses; exercises of horsemanship,
fencing, trMning of soldiers, and the like; comedies,
such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort ;
treasuries of jewels and robes, cabinets and rarities;
and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable in the
places where they go. As for triumphs, masks,
feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and
GLEANINGS FROM TRAVEL z 7
such shows, men need hot be pu in mind of hem ;
yet they are hot tobe negleced."l
To what exten Urquhr followed a plan of this
kind itis impossible to say; for, though his
writings are so discursive ha we migh expec
to find in them allusions to anything remarkable
he had seen or heard, he bas very little to say
abou his foreign experiences. I)r Johnson spoke
wih contemp of an English peer, who had exended
his travels as far as Egyp, but who had brough
back only one small contribution to the general
stock of human informaionthe fact that he had
seen "a large serpent in one of the pyramids of
Egypt." Urquhar was not quite so poverty-
sricken as this; for he seems to have observed
examples of mental infirmity, illustrations of which
he migh doubless have found nearer home.
"I saw a Madrid," he says, "a bald-pated fellow
who beleeved he was Julius Cwsar, and therefore
went constantly on the strees with a laurel crown
on his head; and another at Toledo, who would
not advenure to goe abroad unlesse i were in a
coach, chariot, or sedane, for fear the heavens should
fall down upon him. I likewise saw one in Sara-
gosa, who, imagining himself o be the lawfull King
of Aragon, wen no where without a scepter in his
hand; and another in the kingdome of Granada,
who beleeved he was the valiant Cid that conquered
he Mores. A Messina, in Sicilie, I also saw a
man tha conceived himself to be the great Alex-
ander of Macedone, and that in a ten years space he
Essays, Ciril and Moral, xviii,
z8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
should be nmster of all the territories which he
subdued; but the best is, that the better to
resemble him ho always held his neck awry,
which naturally was streight and upright enough;
and another at Venice, who inmgined he was
Soveraiga of the whole Adriatick Sea, and sole
owner of a, ll thc ships that came from the Levante.
Of men tht fancied themselves to be women, beasts,
trees, stones, pitchers, glasse, augels, and of women
whose strained imaginations have falne upon the
like extravagancies, even in the midst of tire and
the extremest pains fortune could inflict upon them,
there is such variety of examples, amongst vhich
I have scen some at Rome, Naples, Florence, Genua,
:ptris, and other eminent cities, that to multiply
any moe [more] words therein, were to load your
ears with old wives' tales, and the trivial tattle of
idly imployed and shallow braind humorists."
He also tells, though hot in the saine connexion,
of his having been witness of the honour and
admiration lavished upon one of his fellow-country-
men, Dr Seaton, by the glitc of :parisian society.
"I have seen him," he says, "circled about at
the Louvre with a ring of French lords and
gentlemen, who hearkned to his discourse ith
so great attention, tlmt none of them, so long as
he was pleased to speak, vould off'er to interrupt
him, to the end that thc pearles falling from his
mouth might be the more order]y congested in the
sevcral treasures of their judgements."
:Part of his rime abroad was devoted to the
llZort:s, p. 364. " lbid. p. 256.
SPOILS OF BOOK-HUNTING z9
fascinating occupation of book-hunting, and he had
great pleasure in the spoils he had won. When
they were set in order on shelves in the library of
the castle of Croraartie, he looked on them with the
joy which only book-collectors know. "They were,"
he says," like to a compleat nosegay of flowers, which,
in my tmvels, I had gathered out of the gardens
of above sixteen several kingdoms."
I llorks, p. 402.
CtIAPTER II
]e«tllcd tIome--The Covenanting Movcmcnt--The Trot of
Turriff Our Author escapes to England--Is Knightcd--
Publishes his »igrams--His Fathcr's Embarrassments
iucrease--Leslcy of Findrassie--Death of Sir Thomas
Urquhart, scnior--Our Author strugglcs in vain to keep
his Oreditors at bay--Other Wrongs and Losses--On bad
Terres with the Church.
----(,'cf', H[LE Urquhar was engaged in
\,/\//ç i ,, l»Oil oro,'
çç in Scotlan« came to such a
height, that it was evident
that matters could only be settled by an appeal
to the sword, and, accordingly, he returned home
fo assist the party to which his family adhered.
He, doubtless, like Milton, considered it disgraceful
that, while his fellow-countrymen were fighting ai
home for liberty, he should be travelling abroad for
amusemelt and intellectual culture. His father,
who had been the first of the Urquharts to give
up Roman Catholicism for Protestantism, took the
unpopular side in the conflict that agitated the
Church of Scotland. He was a staunch Episco-
paan, and refused to accept the ational Covenant,
when those who had voluntarily and enthusiastic-
THE COVENANT 3t
ally entered into it attempted to coerce others
into following their examlle , and so turned it into
an instrument of tyranny.
The determined efforts of Charles i. and his
advisers to make the Church of Scotland in all
respects like the Church of England, were fiercely
opposed, and, for a rime, the party which was resolved
to make them as dissimilar as 1-,ossible trevailed.
Episcopacy, liturgy, ancient ecclesiastical customs
and rites, and all that savoured of l'relacy or
Popery, were swcpt away by the rising flood. Yct,
without committing oneself to the doctrine of
passive obedicnce, it may be doubted whether the
course of policy followed by the Covenanters was
either wise or scriptural. For, notwithstanding
the vehement protestations of loyalty expressed in
the :National Covenant, armed resistance to thc
royal authority was not obscurely hinted at in it.
"We," said the subscribcrs, "promise and swear
by the great naine of the Lord our God to continue
in the profession and obedience of the said religion;
and that we slmll defend the saine, and resist all
those contrary errors and corruptions, according to
our vocation, and to the utmost of that power which
God hath put into out hands, all the days of our
life." It is quite possible, it may be hoped, for one
to be in sympathy with a certain political party,
and yet to regret that the Church should identify
itself with that party; and it certainly was aot in
the end a good thin for the cause of religion that
it should have beea so closely allied as it was with
party lolitics in the seventeenth century. "My
3 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
kingdom is not of this world," said Christ; "if My
kingdom were of this world, then would My servants
fight." "lut up again thy sword into his place,"
He said to St leter, " for all they that take the
sword, shall perish with the sword." Itis difficult
to ste how these clear and eml»hatic utterances can
be mde to tmrmonise with the resolution hot on]y
to use force in the correction of ecclesiastical abuses
and religious errors, but also to coerce those who were
not l»rcpared fo follow thc saine course of policy.
The Covenmting 1-,arty were successful beyond
their hopes. The influence of the Mtrquis of
Argyle secured the allegiance to the cause of the
Highbnders in the west of Scotland; while, in
Inverness and the region north of the Moray
Firth, the movement was enthusiastically welcomcd.
On]y onc district in Scotland held aloofthat of
which Aberdeen was the centre. The conmmnity
there had probably but little sympathy with the
innovations which Laud was bent UlOn bringing
in, but they had still less with the Covena.nt.
They were attached to the modified form of Episco-
pacy which had now existed in Scotland since thc
Thc utter chaos which rcstlted from the fusion of rcligion and
politics may bo estimated lfore the fact that, in the October of 1650,
there wcre ia the narrow bounds of Scotland four different armies,
at enmity with each other, and each pret,ared to maintain with
the sword a diffcrcnt cause, namcly, the Scot.tish (Presbyterian)
army under GenerM Lesley, for King and Covenant combined;
the English (Independent) army, under Cromwell, which
against both ; the Highland army, under General hliddleton,
which was for the King without the Covenant ; and the Westland,
or ultra-Covenanting army, which was for the Covenant vithout
the King.
THE MARQUIS OF HUNTLY 33
Reformation (with the exception of the years between
15 9 2 and 1610), in which the bishops xx-ere little
more than permanent moderators of l'resbyteries,
and were subject to the General Assembly, and in
which the ritual was of a very simple character.
As a University and Cathedral city, and the resid-
ence of a large number of wealthy landed proprietors,
Aberdeen occupied a position of great importance
in Scotland, and xvas by no means under the
command of the capital. The heads of the
Covenanting party very speedily round it necessary
to take steps for bringing this corner of the king-
dom into subjection to themselves. They could
scarcely hope to succeed in overcoming the powerful
forces at the command of the English Government,
if they were to allow this enemy to remain undis-
turbed in their rear.
Accordingly, at a very early stage in the pro-
ceedings, they attempted to gain over to their side
the great territorial magnate of the district, the
Marquis of Huntly, who, from his tank and wealth
and hereditary loyalty to the throne, was likely to be
the leader of the King's party iii the North. ]tad
they succeeded, they would virtually have had the
whole country at their back, for the community
of Aberdeen, and the few neighbouring lairds, vho,
like Sir Thomas Urquhart, refused to accept the
Covenant, would not have dared to resist the
national policy by force of arms. In the negotia-
tions between the Covenanting leaders and the
Marquis of Huntly, we bave an illustration of the
very muddy roads along which religion is dragged,
34 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
when it forms an alliance winh a political pal"ty.
In is certainly winh somewhat of t shock that one
who is under the impression that ail the Cove-
nanters wcre saints of a very spiritually-minded
type, lea.rns of the grim option which they offered
to their possible opponent. Colonel Robert Munro,
who had seen service i',, Germany, was appointed
t,) wait upon the Marquis an Strathbogie, and to
acqudnn hiln with thc resolutions to which the
Covenanters had corne. "The sure of his com-
mission to lIuntly was," we are told, " that the
noblemen Covenantcrs were desirous that he should
join with them in the comnon cause; that, if he
would do so, and take the Covenant, they would
give him the first place, and make him leader of
thcir forces; and, further, they would make his
state and his fortunes greater than ever they were;
and, moreover, they should 1)ay off and discharge
all his dcbts, which they knew to be about one
hundred thousand pounds sterling; that their
forces and associates were a hundred to one
[in comparison] with the king; and, therefore, in
was to no purpose to him to take up arms against
nhem, for if he rcfused this offer and declared
againsn them, they should find means to disable
him for to hclp the king; and, moreover, they
knew how to undo hiln, and bade him to exl)ect
that they will ruinate his ïanfily and estates."
The hands were, perhaps, the hands of Christian,
the voice was certainly the voice of Mr Worldly
Wiseman !
The reply of the Marquis was admirable for the
ENVIRONED WITH COVENANTERS 35
spirit of generosity and chivalry which it breathed.
" To this proposition," we are told, " Huntly gave
a short and resolute repartec, that his fimfily had
risen and stood by the kings of Scotland; and for
his part, if the event 1,roved the ruin of this king,
he was resolved to lay his lire, honours, and estate
under the rubbish of the king's ruins." 1
Though Sir Thomas Urquhart, seior, was a
staunch Episcopalian and a devoted Royalist, thc
ch'cumstances in which he was placcd forbade his
aiding the ecclesiastical and political causes which
were dear to him with more thun good wishes.
Ite was surrounded by neighbours of the opposite
party, and isolated from those with whom he would
gladly have co-operated. Consequently, it renmined
for his eldest son, our author, who apparently was
residing at that rime at Balquholly Castle, in
Aberdeenshire, where the adherents of the l'oyalist
cause were numerous, to play a more heroic part.
Between the date of the siming of the Coven.nt
and that of the meeting of the General Assembly
in Glasgow in 1638, The Tables, for such was the
naine by which the executive government estab-
Gordon's çcots ,4ffairs, i. 49, 50. James Gordon (? 1615-1686)
was ministcr of Rothiemay in Banffshire. IIis History of çcots
,4ffairs fram 1637 to 161 is one of the principal authorities for
this period. It has no pretcnsions to style, but is correct and
impartial. It was first published in 1841 by the Spalding Club.
"-' Early in the year 1638 some account was given to King
Charles of the chief persons in the north of Scotland whom he
might regard as faithful to his cause. " In Rosse," it was said,
"Sir Thomas Urqhward, Sheriff of Cromerty, with his following,
but they [are] environed wifl Covenanters, ther neighbour "
(ibid, i. 61).
3 6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
lished by the revolutionary party was designated,
decided to suldue the city of Aberdeen and the
neighbom'ing country, and to compel the people
there to accept the Covenant. 13efore resorting
to force, however, an attempt was ruade to persuade.
A commitee of three eminent clcrgylnen, Heuder-
son, Dickson, and Cant, with the EarI of Montrose
as president, ws sent north to deal with the
somewhat unimpressible AbeMonians. The hos-
pitable corporation of the northern city invited the
visitors fo a banque of wine, but their invitation
was scornully declined. The dcputation " would
drink with noue till first the Covenant was sub-
scribed." Such incivility was new in the history
of the city, and a very satisfactory rebuke was
given to it by the materils for he proposed
banque being disributed among the poor.
can be easily imagined that aïer this unsatisfactory
beginning the serinons delivered by the clericnl
deputatiou fell upo unsympathetic ears, and ruade
but few converts. "The commissioners had one
powerfuI ally iu the town, in the person of Earl
Mtrischal, the son of the founder of the College,
who h,d died in 1623; and, when they were
reused licence to preach in the city churches, they
adjourned to his residence aS the north end of
whoEt is now Mttrisclml Street. The mansion
consisted of severaI buildings with glleries sur-
rounding courtyard, and from these g,nlleries the
three CovenoEnting ministers held forth from eight
o'clock in the mornhag till four in the afternoon,
trying to convince the people of the truth of the
THE ABERDEEN DOCTORS 37
Covenant. The children of granite, however,
proved absolutely impervious to the 'apostles,'
whom they scornfully pelted with mud." 1
A paper-war, which attracted considerable notice,
sprang up between the commissioners and six of
the Aberdeen clergy--populrly designated in con-
temporry literature as " the Aberdeen Doctors." e
In this warfare the representatives of the Covenant-
ing party came off rather badly. "The position
taken by the Doctors," says John ttill Burton,
"is the unassailable one of the dry sarcastic
negative. Whatever the Covenant might be--good
or badand whatever right ifs approvers had fo
bind themselves to if, how were they entitled to
force if on those who desired it hot ? And when
their adversaries became eloquent on ifs conformity
to Scripture and the privileges of the Christian
Church, the Doctors ever went back to the saine
negative positioneven if if were so, which we
do not adroit, yet why force it upon us ? "
Early in the following year, 1639, The Tables
resolved to suppress the northern Malignants, as
they were called, before Weparing fo enter on a
campaign against their enemy in the south, and
A History of the bSdversity oflberdccn., 1495-1895, by J.
Bulloch, p. 110.
: These courageous worthies were the bishop's son, Dr John
Forbes, Professor of Divinity in King's College; Dr Robert
Baron, Professor of Divinity, an,t nfinister in Al,erdeen; Dr
Alexander Scme, minister ot Old Aberdeen ; Dr William Leslie,
Principal of King's College; and Drs James Sibbald and
Alexander Ross, both ministers in Aberdeen.
t[is:oT of Scotland, ri. 235.
3 8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
thus save themselves from the dangers involved in
having an enemy in their rear. The Earl of Mon-
trose went north at the head of a considerable
body of troops, and took possession of Aberdeen.
The opponents of the Covenant fled from the city,
and Huntly, the leader of the Royalists, felt unable
to offer effective resistance. In spire of a safe-
conduct granted him by Montrose on his coming in
to tt coufcrcnce, he was taken prisoner to Ed[n-
burgh and lodged in the Castle.
This kidnapphg of the Ioy,nlist chier caused
great irritttion ; ud ttl)On a runiour of the fleet's
coming to the Firth of Forth, and of the Royal
army's apl,roach to the Scottish border, the
northern loy,nlists, of whom our Sir Thomas
Urquhart was one, resolved to take arms on the
King's side. The first mention of our author in
history is in connexion with this rising; and the
annalist Spalding relates two exciting incideats that
occurred in one week, in both of which he took part.
The first, which happeued on Friday, the 10th of
hhy, was an attelnpt ruade by him and some of
the other Royalist lairds or "barons," as they are
called, to take the castle of Towie-13arclay, in
See note on p. 123.
Towie-Barclay is thc naine of an estate in the south-east corner
of Turriff parish, Aberdeenshire, near Auchterlss Station, and faur
and a hall mlles south-east of Tnrriff. Th castle is snpposed to
have becn built in 1593. It remained pretty perfcct till 1792, was
re-roofed in 1874, and rctains a fine baronial hM1 with vaulted
ceiling. From at leoEst thc begiuning of t!m tburtenth century
till 1733, th stat belonged to th Barclays, one of whooe lin
was the celbratd Russian general, Prince IIichael Barclay de
THE FIRST SKIRMISH 39
Aberdeenshire. If seems that the lairds of Delgatie
and Towie-Barclay had plundered the house of
Balquholly, 1 which was occupied by our author, and
carried off a large supply of "muskets, guns, and
carabines." Sir Thomas was nt , man to submit
quietly to such an outrage as this; and, doubtless,
to his desire for vengeance was added a strong wish
to get possession of the firearms, now that there
was a good cause to be defendcd and brave men to
use the weapons. They bad intended to surprise
the castle, but when they cme fo it they found
the gares shut, and the place strongly guarded.
Lord Fraser and the eldest son of Lord Forbes
had already known that an attempt vas to be
ruade to recover the weapons, and had manned
Tolly (159-1818). In lî92 it was sold to the governors of
Gordon's Hospital, Aberdeen, for £21,000. Towie is a corruption
of Tolly. See Bflling's .Baronial zIntiguities, vol. iv.
Balqnholly, nov Hatton Castle : a sqnare, castel]ated mansion
of 1814, with finely wooded gronnds, in Turriff parish, three and a
quarter nfiles south-east of Trriff. It comprises a considerable
fragment of the ancient baronial castle of Ba]quholly (Gael. bailc-
coill«, "town in the wood'), the seat of the Mowats from the
thirteenth century till 1729, when the estate was sold to Alexandcr
Duff, Es, l. Sir Thomas Urqnhart must either have rented the
bouse from the hlowats, or lmve obt,ined leave to keep arms
there. The cellars in which the arms were probably kept are
exacfly as they were in 1638, except that the old loop-holes are
partly filled up. The name of the mansiou was changed to Hatton
Lodge in 1745, and to Hatton Castle in 1814, when themodern part
was built--Hatton being the naine of the property in Auchterless,
which previously belonged to the Duff family. The present pro-
prietor is Gardeu Alexander Duff, Esq., who succeeded to the
estates in 1866. There is behind Htton Castle a small croft
called Cromartie (see Ordnance lIap), probal:ly ri'oto our author's
occupancy of Balquholly or connexion with it.
4 ° SIR THOMAS URQUHART
the castle so effectually that the idea of storming
it was out of the question. A few shots were
exchanged, and then the attacking party rode away.
The only casualty was the death of David 1-'rott,
who was a servant of the laird of Gight, one of
Urquhart's friends. " This," the historian remarks,
"was the first rime that blood was drawn here
since the beginning of the Covenaut."
Four days after, a more serious encounter took
place between the two forces. The Covenanters of
the north had decided to assemble in force, and
fixed upon Turriff, in Aberdeenshire, as their bead-
quarters. The Royalists drew to a head at Strath-
bogie, some eleven mlles off, and resolved to disperse
their opponents. The Covenanting party was
about twelve hundred strong, and the Royalists
about eight hundred, but the latter had four brass
cannon, which very materially strengthened them
as an attacking force. They were under the
leadership of skilful officers, among whom Arthur
Forbes of Ilacktown [in King-Edward] is speci-
ally nlentioned. Sir Thomas himself informs us
that, "having obtained, though with a great deal
of pain, a fifteen hundreth [hundred] subscrip-
tions to a boud conceived and drawn up in
opposition of the vulgar [pol,ultr ] Covenant, he
selected from amongst them so many as he
thought fittest for holding hand to [taking in
An ancestor of Lord Byron.
"-Spalding's Mciorils, i. 185. Until within living memory
the exact site of Prott's [or Pratt's] grave was pointed out ; but it
is now qlite obliterated by being plonghed over repeatedly.
THE TROT OF TURRIFF 4
hand] the dissolving of their committees and un-
lawful meetings." 1
About ten o'clock on the night of Monday, the
13th of May, they started for Turriff, marching in
a "very quiet and sober manner," and by day-
break managed to steal upon the village by an
unguarded path. The sound of trulnpets and of
drums aroused the UlSUSpecting Covenanters to
the fact that they had been fairly surprised.
" Solne were sleeping, others drinking, and smoak-
ing tobacco, others walking up and down." A
few volleys of musketry, and a few shots discharged
from the calmon, servcd to disperse them, and the
village was taken possession of by the attacking
force. It was but a slight skirmish, in -hicl
three men were killed, two of the Covenantcrs,
and one of the Royalists; but it was the first
of the battles in the great Civil War, which
raged for so many years, and dcluged with blood
]IS. E2»igrams : The Animadversion.
"Ther fell only two gentlcmen upon the Covenantcrs sydc ;
one ]Ir James Stacker, a scrvant fo the Lord ]Iucholles; and
one Alexander Forbesse, servante to Forbesse of Tolqhwone : upon
the Gordons syde, one common foote souldiour killed, (hy the
unskilfullnesse of his owne comerades fyring ther musketts, as was
thoughte), whom the Gordons caused butye solemnly, that day,
out of ane idle vante, in the buriall place of Walter arcley of
Towey, within the clmrch of Turreffe ; hot without great tcrror to
the minister of the place, Mr Thomas ]Iichell, who all the whyle,
with his sonne, disgwysd in a womans habite, had gott upp and
was lurkinge above the syling of the churche, whilst the soul-
diours wer discharging volleyes of shotte within the churche, and
peircing the syling with tirer bulletts in severall places" (Gordon's
Scots Affairs, il. 258). The reader will keep in mind that
Gordon was the family narac of the Iarquis cf IIuntly.
4 SIR. TIIOMAS URQUtlART
so many fruitful plains in each of thc three king-
dores. On this accourir "the Trot of Turriff," as
it was called, should hot 1)e ïorgotten.
Aftcv this victory, the Royalists being masters of
the village, the common soldiers, who were hungry
after their night's narch, plundered the houses of
those thcy thought were Covenanters, and supplied
thcmselves with meat and drink. The grcatest lots
fcll upn the minister, Mr hlitchcll, who, however,
receivcd very Iiberd compensation ïrom l'arliament
in the folh)wing ycar. They next gathered as naa.ny
of the inlmbitants of Turriff together as they could
find, and ruade them accept and subscribe the King's
Covenant. This dcvice for securingadherents was,
howeve', incffcctual, for, a few weeks later, those
This was originally the King's Confession, and was drawn no
in 1580 by John Craig, minister of Itolyrood Housse, and subscribed
by James ri. and his household on 28th January, 1580-81. If is
priutcd ai length in Row's ttistoric of the Kirk of Scotland. It
reaffirms the Confession of Faith of 1560, but contains also a
solemn rcnunciation in great detail of the errors of Popery. It
was ai,proved ly the General Assembly in April, 1581. A
"Gem'ral Baud [Bond] for lIaintenance of the grue IZcligion" was
added in 1588. The National Covenant of 1637 was an ampli-
fication of the previons Confessions, containing in addition an
abjuration of Episcopal Church-government, as thc King's Con-
fession did of Pope T. In Sel»ferai»er , 1638, Charles I. issued a
proclamation for the Scottish peol,le fo snbscribe this King's Con-
lssion and Gencral Banal, bnt the Covenanters regarded this a
subi,le plot o divide thcm, an,t destroy the National Covenant,
and, therefore, protcsted against the proclamation. The Confession
and Band so suhscribed, for if was suhscribed by some, got the
name ofthe «, King's Covenant." If did hot, of course, contain the
abjuration of Episcopal Church-government. Those who adhered fo
if were called Maliguants ; while the name Covcnanters was appliett
to those who subscribed the llational Covenaut.
ESCAPES TO ENGLAND 43
who ]md sworn lo lhe King's Covenanl, on a
declaralion lhal they had acled under COml,ulsion,
were solemnly absolved by lheir minisler from all
obligalion lo keep
The oyalis$ leaders now began lo lhink of
furlher projeels, as lhe number of lheir ïollowers
inereased aller lhe vielory al Tarriff. They losl
no liane in marehing upon Aberdeen, and in quarter-
ing lhemselves upon ils inhabilanls, espeeially Ul-,on
Lhose who were known lo belong to Lhe CovenanL-
ing parly. Iii a few days, however, lhey foulid
lheir posilion unLenable. A eonsiderable number
of lheir Highland forces disbanded, and marched
away o lheir homes, phmdering as flmy wenl--" a
lhing," lhe hislorian remarks, "verye usuall wiLh
lhem." The others retrealed from Aberdeen, wben
lhe Covenanling army under lhe Earl Marisebal
enlered Lhe eily, on lhe 23rd oï May, 1639.
A small number of prominen Boyalisls, 1 of
whom our Sir Thomas v«as one, now resolved lo
leave Seolland, where lhe cause lo which Owy
were devoled was ai sueh a low ebb. A ship,
belonging o one Andrew Findlay, had been kepl
in readiness for an elnergeney like lhis, and on iL
lhey embarked haslily, aud sailed away lo England,
lo offêr lheir services lo Ch.rles I. " Urquharl,"
says I)r Irving, "who professes lo bave launehed
Among those who nmde their escape from Aberdeen along with
Urquhart were Adam Bellenden, the bi.hop of the diocese ; Alex-
,nder Innes, minister of Rothiemay ; Alexander Scrogie, a Regent
of King's College ; together with the bishop's son, nephew, ami
servant (Sp,lding's Mcnorials).
44 SIR THOMAS UR(UHART
forth in the view of six hundred of his enemies,
was, within two days, landed at Berwick, where he
found the Marquis of Hamilton, and delivered to
him a letter from the leaders of the northern
Iloyalists. Ite had likewise undertaken to be the
bearer of despatches to the King, containing the
signatures of the saine chieftains; and, having
proeeeded to the royal quarters, he obtained an
audience of His Majesty, and explained to him their
past exertions and future plans for his service.
fie appears to have been satisfied with his own
reeeption, and the vritten answer 'gave great eon-
tentment to all the gentlemen of the north that
stood for the king.'"
In one «f ont author's traets, published in 1659
we have a pedigree of the fmnily of Urquhart.
Under his own name he states that "he was
knighted by King Charles, in Whitehall Gallery,
in the yeer 1641, the 7 of April." In the saine
year he first ruade his appearance as an author in
the publication of his three books of E]@rarns,
Moral and 1)ivinc, of which a fuller notice will be
fomd in a ltter chapter. Let us now for a little
lcave Sir Thomas, happy in his sovereign's favour,
his head cncircled with the ivy-wreath that clothes
thc brows of learncd poets, and his eye fixed upon
a prominent crag of Mount Parnsus as hence-
forth specially his own, and turn to his father,
whose golden dreams have long since fled away,
and ]eft him but the dreariest and shabbiest prose.
Zlves of thc ,ç«ottish llZriters, vol. i. ; Urquhart's NS. Elffgrans :
Thc Animadversion.
CIVIL WAR A RELIEF 45
For thirty-six years the elder Sir Tholnas had
been in possession of the ample estates of the
house of Urquhart, and during ncarly the whole of
this rime the country had been st peace, so that
he had no one but himself to blame for the im-
poverished condition in which thêy were when his
son received them. The latter deseribed the state
of matters in the following terres: "All he be-
queathed unto me, his eldest Son, in matter of
worldly means, was twelve or thirteen thousand
pounds stcrling of debt, rive brethren ail men, and
two sisters almost mariageable, to provide for, and
lesse to defray all this burden with by six hundred
pomads sterling a year, although [i.e. even if] thc
warres had hot prejudiced me in a farthing, then
[than] v«hat for the maintaining of himself Moue in
a peaeeable age he inherited for nothing."
So exasperated w the old man by the inpor-
tunity of his ereditors, tllat st last, we are told, the
sound of one of their voiees was in his ears as "the
hissing of a basilisk." The great Civil War itself,
whieh bronght ealamity and grief to so many
homes, was ahnost weleomed by him for the
relief it brought him from the "hornings " and
"apprisings," and other legal proeesses, whieh
threatened him in rimes of peaee. "The dis-
orderly troubles of the land," says his son of him,
"being then far advaneed, though otherways he dis-
liked them, were a kind of refreshment to him, and
intermitting relaxation from a more stinging dis-
quietnesse. For that our intestin troubles and dis-
lFort's p. 340.
4 6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
tempers, by silencing the laws for a while, gave some
repose to those tht longed for a breathing time,
and by hudling up the terres of Whitsuntide and
M:rtimass, wbicb in Scotla|d are Lhe destinated
times for payment of debts, promiseuously with the
other seasons of the year, were as an oxymel julip
wherewith to indormiat thcm in a bitter sweet
security."
The most importunate of all the creditors, or,
as Urqtflart describes them, "the usurious cor-
morants," who harassed the unhappy proprietor of
Cromartie, was a certain Robert Lesley of Findrassie.
I[e held a mortgagc upon the estate, and though he
was indebted to its owncr for many acts of kind-
ness, he had been the first to foreclose upon the
property, and had persuaded other creditors to join
with him in taking this step. The annoyance and
mortification caused by thcse proceedings hastened
Sir Thomas's death. Two days before that event,
animtted by regret for the vrong hc had donc his
hoir by the impoverishment of the family property,
he assembled his yonnger children, and bound
them, "under pain of his everlasting curse and
execration," to do all in their power to help their
elder brother. The terres of this extraordinary
bond, his son tel]s ns, were these: "to assist,
concur with, follow, and serve me, to the utmost
of their power, industry, nd means, and to spare
neither charge nor travel, though it should cost
them all they had, to release me from the un-
deserved bondage of the domineering creditor, and
lForks, p. 346.
ATTEMPT TO REDUCE DEBTS 47
extricate my lands from the impestrements wherein
they were involved ; yea, to bestow nothing of their
owne upon no other use, till that should be donc
and all this under thcir own handwl'iting, secured
with the clause of registl'ation to mke the oppro-
brie the more notorious in cse of fMling, as the
pEper itself, whieh I have la 'etcntis, together with
anothcr signcd fo the saine sense, by my mothcr,
and also my brothers and sisters, Dunbugar [Dun-
luga8] 1 only excepted, will more evidently testifie."
Sir Thomas Urquhart, the elder, died in April [?],
1642, after a long and lingering ilhmss, s
Our author now returned holne to enter on 1)os
session of his estates, and to attelnpt to reduce to
something like order the chaos in which the family
aairs were. He resolved to commit the manage-
ment of his-property to trustees, who, af ter paying
his mother's jointure, were to dcvote the whole of
the test of the rents to the reduction of dcbt. He
himself went to lire on the Continent, in the hot,e
x Dunlugas is in the parish of Alvah, close by the river DevcroD,
on the east side.
lYo,'ks, p. 341.
a "He was alive last Whitsunti(M said the eoachnmn ....
WhitsuntideMas! eried Trim .... What is Whitsuntide,
Jonathan, or Shrovetide, or any tide or time past, to this"
(Tristmm Shaudy, vol. v. chap. vii.).
Our author states (lYorks, p. 341) fltat "his father's death
oceurred in August in the year 1642, some four yeares after the
hatehing of the Covenant." IIe is, however, very eareless in details
of ft, and is in error eoneerning this date. Sir Thomas Urquhart,
senior, is term "emqll" (i.e. "thc late") in the Burgess Roll of
Banff, on 14fil June, 1642 (Aqnals er a, il. 418). Perhal,s
the date was April instead of August. The Covenant was signed
1st Mareh, 1638,
4 8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
that in a few years he would be able to return
home and enjoy his inheritance unencumbered by
debt. These proceedings, with the disappointing
results that followed them, are related in a pas-
sage of his Logo_pandecteision, which is worth quot-
ing. " Immediately after nly father's decease," he
says, "for my better expeditiou lu the discharge of
those burthens, having repaired homewards, I did
sequestrate the whole rent (my mother's joyuture
excepted) to that use only, aud, as I had done
many rimes before, betook myself fo my hazards
abroad, that by verrue of the industry and diligence
of those whom, by the advise and deliberation of
my nearest friends, I was induced to intrust with my
attirs, the debt might be the sooner defrayed, and
the ancieut bouse rcleeved out of the thraldome it
was so unluckily faln into. But it fell out so far
otherwoEyes, that after some few years residence
abroad, without any considerable expence from
home, whcn I thought, because of my having morti-
fied aud set apart all the rent to no other end then
[than] the cuttiug off and defalking of my father's
dcbt, that accordingly a great part of my father's
debt hoEd been discharged, I was so far disappointed
of my expectation thcrin, that whilst, conform to
the confidence reposed in him whom I had intrusted
with my alïtirs, I hoped fo have been exonered
and relieved of many creditors, the debt was only
past over and transferred from one in favours of
another, or rather of many in the fnvours of one,
who, though he formerly had gained much at my
father's hands, was notwithstanding at the rime of
EGYPTIAN BONDAGE 49
his decease none of his creditors, nor at any rime
mine ; my Egyptian bondage by such means remain-
ing still the saine, under ttsk msters different only
in naine, and the rents neverthelesse taken up to the
full, to my no sma.ll detriment and prejudice of the
house standing in my person. The aime of somc
oZ those I concredited [committed] my weightiest
does [affairs] unto, being, as is most conspicuously
apparent, that I shonld never reap thc fruition nor
enjoyment of any portion, parcell, or 1,endicle oï
the estate of my predecessors, unlesse by my fortune
and endeavours in formin countries, I should be
able to acquire as much as might sufl]ce to buy it,
as we say, out of the ground. And verily," he
concludes, "though hot in relation to these imoble
and unworthy by-ends, it was my purpose and
resolution to bave done so, which assuredly, had
hot the turbulent divisions of the rime been such
as to have crossed and thwarted the atchieve-
ments of more fiisible projects, I vould have
accomplished two or three severall ways ere
now." 1
One is inelined to vonder vhat the çwo or
three lucrative undertakings vere, whieh çhis High-
lnd gentleman had in view vhen he spoke in this
way of the practicability of making enough money
to purchase back his estates. "What song the
syrens sang," says Sir Thomas ]3rowne, "or vhat
naine Achilles assumed vhen he hid himself among
women, though puzzling ciuestions are not beyond
Ell conjecture." ]3ut even as wise a man as Sir
lVorks, pp. 346, 347.
4
5 ° SIR THOMAS URQUHART
Thomas Browne might well pause before venturing
on a conjecture i connection with this marrer.
In one of the official records of the time, 1 there
is au entry which shows that Urqulmrt was resi-
dent in London in 1644. On the 9th May of that
year he is assesscd for a forced loan t £1000;
aud, ou the 16{,h of the sme month, there is an
order for him to be brought up in ctIstody to pay
his assessment ; while, on the 21st, it is noted that
his assessmeut is "respited till he slmll speak with
the Scottish committee and take further orders, he
eugoEgilg to appear whenever required." He no
doubt proved fo the committee tlmt he had no
property fit London, but was only a sojourner there,
and was accordingly virtuoElly discharged. His
place of resideuce in London at this rime was
Clare Street, then newly erected upon St Clement's
Caleular of Proccedi»gs of Commilee for _4dcanccs of Moeys-
Taxcs, i. 381.
Thc ncighbourhood is now a clnster of narrow, dirty streets
and passages, lincd chiefly with butchers' and grocers' shops,
which overfiow into the adjacent streets, and are supplemented by
fishmongers' and miscell:mcous stalls and barrows--a crowded,
noisy, and unsavoury place on Saturday nights. In 1640,
Charles L grauted his licence to Thomas York, his executors, etc.,
fo erect as many buildings as they thought 1,roper upon St
Clenmnt's Inn Fields, the inheritance of the Earl of Clare. He
issued another licence in 1642, permittiug Gervase Holles, Esq., to
make several streets of the width of ihirty, thirty-four, and forty
feet. These streets still reain the names and titles of their
founders--Clare Street, Denzil Street, and Holles Street. Clarc
Street is somewhat rich iu inteïesting associations. There is a
letter of Steele's to his wife, dated ri'oto the Bull Head Tavern in
this street, 24th August, 1710. If seems likely that he was hiding
there. Mrs Bracegirdle, a ceIebrated actress of that rime, "was
iu the habit of going iuto that neighbourhood, and giving money
A BURDENED ESTATE 5
Inn Fields, on the east side of 1)rury La.ne, and
ealled after John Holles, 1 second Ea.rl of Clare,
whose town-house wa.s near by.
Sir Thomas Urquhart now resolved to take thc
management of his o-n affairs, and, if possible, so
to eonduet matters as to seeure subsistenee for
himself, as well as satisNetion for his father's
ereditors; and, in the year 1645, he weut to lire
in the aneestral home at Cromartie. IIis rental
still mnounted to £1000 Sterling a ycar, whieh
represents about £7000 in our rime, but a debt of
twelve or thirteen ycars' ineome was a vcry serious
burden upon such an estate.
There eau be little doubt that the entanglement
in whieh the fina.neial aflirs of the house of
Urquhart were involved beeame noue the less eon-
fused and eonfusing when the gallant knight applicd
himself o unravel i. That was seareely a tsk
whieh he was fitted. 2,[ueh more approl-,riate
would it bave been for him to draw the sword, like
Alexander, and eut the Gordian knot. l'erha.ps his
failure, as in another well-known case, e is partly to
to the poor basket-women, insomuch that she could hot pass
without having thaukthl acclamations from people of all degrees."
If was to Clare Street and Clare l[arket that Jack Sheppard went,
after his escape fl'om Newgate : he there boght a butcher's fl'ock
and woollen apron, which he was wcaring when cal,tured af
Fiuchley. Here was Johnson's Hotel, celebrated for upwards of
seventy years for ifs à la mode bee£ Isaac Bickerstaffe, too, lived
in this strcet.
John Holles, creatcd Baron ttotghton of Houghton, in the
county of Nottingham, iu 1616, and Earl of Clare in 1624.
" "If I had known that young man [Uriah Heep]," said Nr
),Iicawber, "at the period when my ditticulties camc to a crisis, all
5 2 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
be attributed to his hot having had a legal adviser,
familiar with the intricacies of the law, and able to
prevent his creditors getting more than their pound of
tlesh, if no fo save cven that from them. Charles I.
once said that he kuew as mueh law as a gentleman
ought to know. Sir Thomas Urquhart seems to have
had t somewlmt similar acquaint,nce with the saine
subjcct, and this, like that of the person mentioned
iu the foot-note ou the prcceding page, was 1-,robab]y
«c, quired "a.s a defendant on civil process." There can
be no doul_, tha he "nmde an ellbrt" more than once.
In vain did be bave recourse to "pecunial charms,
ad holy w,tcr out of l'lutus' cellar." The charms
were indeed potent, but they were hot applied long
enough ; the holy water was composed of the right
ingrediets, but flere was too little of if in the
cellars at Cromartie. Ho could hot, with all
struggles, succeed in cm'ing what tle Limousin
zcholar in 1-,abelais calls " the penury of pecune in
the mrsupie" [i.c. the want of money in the purse]
--th complaint which is so mortifying fo the pride
,f any geutlem,n, but which is specially exasperat-
ing fo a Highland gentleman. His cares and dis-
tresses, or, as he calls them, his "solicitudinary and
luctiferous dscouraements, wereenough fo al,palI
the most undaunted spirits, aud kill a very l'aphla-
gonian partridge, tlmt is said fo bave two hearts."
I can sy is, thut I believe my creditors would bave been better
nmnged than they were" (Darid Col»verf'ld, chap. xvii.).
ll/'arks, p. 347.
" lbid. p. 346. For the auflmrity on which this interesting
ornithologicl stutement is ruade the reader will overhaul his Pliny
(//. 2V. xi. clmp. 3).
IMPORTUNATE CREDITORS 53
Probably Sir Thomas Urquhart was harshly dealt
with by his father's ereditors, though, of course, itis
possible that in the story as told by tbeln tbey
would appear in a more favourable light. They
had to do with a man who was unpraetieal and
fantastieal in the highest degree, and morbidly
sensitive in all matters that seemed to lower his
dignity or to east a slur upon his honore'. His
brains seethed with plans for the improvement of
agrieulture, trade, and edueation, but none of these
did the importunity of his ereditors permit him to
earry into effeet. " Truly I may say," he eomplains,
" that above ten thousand severall rimes I have by
these flagitators been interrupted for money, whieh
never eame to my use, direetly or indireetly one
way or other, st home or abroad, any one rime
whereof I was busied about speeulations of greater
eonsequenee then [than] all that they were worth
in the world; from which, had I hot becn violently
pluck'd away by their importunity, I would htve
emitted to publick view above rive hundred several
treatises on inventions never hitherto thought N,on
by any." Before his imagination there floated the
dream of Mat he might have been, and his mind
alternated between passionate remonstrances against
his unfortunate circumstances and delusive hopes
and anticipations.
The editor of the Maitland Club edition of
Urquharb's works truly remarks that there is a
melancholy earnestness, ahnost approaching in-
sanity, in his wild speculations on what he might
lorl's, p. 326.
54 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
have donc for himself and his country but for the
weight of" worldly ineumbranees. "Even so," he
says, " may if be said of myself, that when I was
most seriously imlmsied about the raising of luy
own and countrie's reputation to the supremest
reaeh of my endeavours, theu did my father's
crcditors, like so many millstones hanging ai my
heels, pull down the vigour of my fancie, and
violently hold tha under, what [which] other wayes
would have ascended above the sublimest regions of
vulgar conception." 1
So convinced was he that the schcmes and in-
ventions with which his thoughts were occupied
were of immense value, that he declared that he
ought to have the benefit of that Act of James III.
(36th stature of his fiïth Parliament)which pro-
vides that the debtor's movable gocds be tiret
"valued and discussed before his lands be apprise&'
He claimed this as a right from the State; "and
if," he says, "conform to the aforesaid Act, this be
granted, I doe promise shortly to display before the
worl, l, ware of greater wflue then [than] ever from
the East Indias was brought in ships to Europe." e
But unfortumtely the Philistines were too strong
for him.
To these pecuniary difficulties were added annoy-
ances and wrongs, which the meekest of mankind,
among whom Sir Thomas is hOt to be reckoned,
would have found it hard to bear.
Mention bas already been ruade of Robert Lesley
of Findrassie, the most relentless of all the creditors,
1 ]IrOT],,8, 1)" 328. "Ibid. p. 325.
LESLEY OF FINDRASSIE 55
who, according to Sir Thomas Urquhart's account
of matters, made lire bitter for him, and defeated his
many schemes ïor the benefit of the human race.
The injurions proceedings (,f this man form a sub-
jcct which our author can never lcave for any
length of rime, and to which it is necessary for his
biographer to revert occasionally, ttis mffortunate
debtor round a certain grim satisfaction, as well as
an opportunity for gratifying his taste for genea-
logical research, in tracing Robert's descent from a
celebrated murdercr--that :Nornmn Lesley whose
hands were dipped in the blood of Cardinal ]3eaton.
It is certain, however, that there was no real
foundation for this opinion. 1
Unless Robert Lesley is a much-maligned man,
his conduct towards the son of his patron was both
rapacious and ungrateful. On one occasion at least
he acted in a very high-handed manuer. "With
all the horse and foot he was able to command,"
says Sir Thomas, " he came in a hostile manner to
take possession of a farm of mine called Ardoch;
unto which . . he had no more just title then
[than] to the town of Jcricho mentioned in the
Scriptures; and at the offer of such an indignity to
our bouse, some of the hot-spirited gentlemen of
our naine would even then have taken him, with his
three sons, bound them hand and foot, and thrown
]7orman Lesley, laster of Rothes, eldest son of George, fifth
EOErl of Rothes, died without issue in 1554. This disposes of Sir
Thomas Urquhart's statement. The Lesleys of Findrassie then»
selves claimed to be descended from lobert, the fourth son of Earl
George. Sec Scotch Peerage Zaw, by J. Riddell, p. 190.
5 6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
them within the flood-mark, into a place called the
Yares of Udol, there to expect the coming of the
sea in a full ride, to carry him long to be seized
in a soil of a greater depth, and abler fo restrain the
iusatiableness of his immense desires, then [than]
any of my lands within the shire of Cromartie."
Sir Thomas, according to his own account, hindered
the perpetration of this violence, and gave his
enemy and those who accompanied him "a pass and
safe-conduct to their own houses." 1
Yet so far was the caitiff creditor from being
touched by this 1,roof of magnanimity on the part
of his debtor, that he applied himself with renewed
vigour to the concoction of sehemes for his total
destruction. So at least Sir Thomas would have
us believe. On one occasion Lesley tried to inveigle
him to Inverness, with the intention of having him
arrested at the suit of an accompliceJames
Sutherland, "Tutor of Duffus "--and kept in dur-
ance until he had satisfied all his enemy's demands.
On another occasion Lesley managed to get a troop
of horse quartered upon the tenants of Cromartie,
till, says our author,"I should transact for a sure,
of money to be paid to his son-in-law ; which verily
was the greater part of his portion." In addition
to this, a garrison was stationed for nearly a year
in the castle of Cromartie, where they conducted
themselves in a way calculated to wound and
humiliate the proud spirit of its proprietor. Among
other wrongs and losses infiicted upon him was
the sequestration of his library, which he had
llorks, p. 379. " Ibid. p. 380.
LESLEY DEFENDS HIMSELF 57
collected with sucla lgains. Sir Thomas says that
lae sought eagerly to be allowed to purclmse back
the precious volumes, but was himlercd by the
sl)itefulncss and indiffercnce of those to whom he
moEde application, and was ultimatcly able to secure
only a few of them, whicla had been stolon from
the collection and dispersed through the country. 1
In an amusing passage in the £ogoandcctcision,
our author gives us a specimen of the peculiaritics
of speech which distinguished lais arcla-enemy,
Lesley of Findrassie. As we read it we secm to
laear the very tones in which he enunciated or
defended his " felonious little plans." "Several
gentlcmen of good account," he says, "and others of
lais familiar acquaintance, having many rimes ve1T
seriously expostulated witla him why he did so im-
placably demean himself towards me, and with sucl
irreconciliability of rancor, that nothing could secm
to please him tlmt was consistent witla my weal,
lais answers most readily wcre thcse: 'I laave (ste
yc ?) mauy daughters (see ye ?) to provide portions
for, (see ye ?), and that (see ye now ?) cannot be done,
(see ye ?) without money; the interest (see ye ?) of
what I lent, (see ye ?), had it been termely [regu-
larly] payed, (see ye ?), would bave afforded me (see
ye now ?) sevcral stocks for new interests; I havc
One of these volumes containing the signature of our author is
still in existence. It is a copy of Arthur Jolmston's Latin poems,
printcd at Abcrdeen by laban, 1632, and is in the possession of
the lev. J. B. Craven, Kirkwall. It is a very fragile volume.
The signature in this volume, and two others, attachcd to legal
documents, are all that are known to be extant. We givc a
fac-simile of one of the latter on p. iv.
5 8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
(see ye ?) ai, prized lands (see ye ?) for these summes
(see ye ?) borrowed from me, (see ye now ?), and
(see ye ?) the legal [rime] bcing expired, (see ye
now ?), is it not just (see ye ?) and equitable (see
ye ?) that I bave 1)ossessi(m (see ye ?) of t, hese my
lands, (see ye ?), according t,o my undoubted right,
(sec ye now ?) ?' With these over-words of' see ye'
".,42prizing" is a legal process to which Sir Thomas several
rimes refers with great horror, and it may be as well to explain to
ont rcaders what it was, for fortunate]y it is now a thb)g of the past.
It was for long the only method of attaching a dcbtor's heritable
property. By the Act, 1469, c. 36, when payment of a debt could
hot be obtained out of the debtor's nmvables (including rent),
"the King's letters might be obtained, under which a debtor's land
might be sold by the Sheriff to the amount of his debts, and the
creditor paid out of the proceeds. If within six months no pur-
chaser could be found, a portion of the land equal to the debt was
to be alTrised by thirteen men chosen by the Sherifl; and the
portion apl,rised by them was to be ruade over to the creditor."
The debtor couht redeem withiu seven years. This procedure at
first took place in the head burgh of the sbire, where the jury
probably knew enough to make a fair valuation of Che land. But
after a rime the proceedings often took place in Edinburgh, where the
jury had no special knowledge, and might be packed by the creditor.
So that large cstates were sometimes carried off in payment of
trifling debts. The alTriser at once entered into possession, and
was not obliged fo account for the rcnts (until 1621, c. 6). It was
thus a powerïul engine of oppression. If A. wished B.'s land, and
B. owned land and nothing else, it was possible for A., if he could
only gct B. as his debtor even in a small sure, so to work matters
that for tbe dcbt he might apprise all B.'s land. Bcing then in
right of B.'s rcnts, he had B. complctely in his l:ower, and B. had
no resources for gathering together the amount of the debt which
he must puy in order to redeem his lands within the seven years
allowed. The law was much relaxed by the Act, 1621, c. 6, but the
above will enable us to understand how an unscrupulous creditor
might get an easy-going, lhriftless man into his clutches, and im-
poverish him and his family.
AN ACCUMULATION OF EVILS 59
and 'see ye now,' as if they had been no less
material tben [than] the l'salmist's N'lah, and
Hgaion Selah, did he usually nauseate the ears of
his hearers when his tongue was in the career of
uttering anything concerning me; who alwa.yes
thought that he had very good reason to make use
of such like expressions, 'do you see' and 'do you
see now,' because there being but little candour in
his meaning, whatever he did or spoke was under
some colour." 1
It must have been very |lard for the proud-
hearted chieftain to see his fatras devastated, his
tenants maltreated, his library thrown to the winds,
a garrison placed in lais house, and troops of horse
quartered upon his lands without any allowance,
in addition to all the misery and impoverishment
which lais father's wastefulness and neglect had
brought clown upon his head.
In 1647 an event occurred vhieh seriously
1 lYor]-s, p. 382. The evident meaning of the last sentence is
that Lesley's ways were so dark that if was highly neeessary for
him often to ask, "See ye?" Yet one eannot hêlp feeling that
this relentless ereditor may hot have been solely animated by
malignant hatred of his debtor. Even in the above speeeh there
seem to be claires 'hieh eannot be lightly brushed aside. One is
again reminded of Mr Mieawber, and of the sudden and unex-
pected glimpse of a better nature in his most tnculênt ereditor,
'hich was vouchsafed him when he got his dist.harge in bank-
ruptcy. "Even the revengeful bootmaker," we are told, "de-
clared in open court that he bore him [Mr lI.] no malice, but that
when money was owing to him he liked fo be paid. He said he
thought it was human nature" (David Co)q»e'field, ehap. xii.).
An eminent American philosopher has seid that there is a great
deal of hulnan nature in man. Thcre seems et any rate to have
been a great deal in Mr Lesley of Findressie.
60 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
affected the interests of our author, and placed him
in a still more humiliating position. Sir obert
Farqulmr of hlounie had "apprised" the estate
aud sheriffship of Cromartie, and was now confirmed
in the possession of them. He proceeded to sell
his rights to (Sir) John Urquhart of Craigfintray,
the great- grandson of the Tutor of Cromartie.
hnmediately upon this (SU') John purchased a com-
mission from Charles . to become hereditary Sheriff
of Cromartie. In this way the ancestral domains
and jurisdiction of which Sir Thomas Urquhart was
so proud virtually passed out of his hands. It was
hot, however, till after the Restoration apparently
that the new proprietor entered into possession.
He evidently allowed his claires to lie dormant until
the death of his cousin, Sir Thomas, and then put
them in force. Even if our author had no other
troubles to contend with, the knowledge that this
Damoclean sword was suspended above his head
would have been enough to destroy his peace.
:No doubt Sir Thomas sometimes thought that he
was the most unlucky chieftain the Urquhart race
had yet known,that such a nmltitude of mis-
fortunes had never corne upon one who bore his
naine since that day when, on a sunny plain in
Achaia, wild armed men first raised Esormon "aloft
on the buckler-throne, and with clanging armour
and hearts " hailed him as "forttmate and well-
In one of his queer .Eligrams , after comparing the insatiable
demands of his creditors to those of the grave and of the sea, he
closes with the following alliterative litany :
"Free me from Farchcr, Fraser, Fendrasie."
A ROYALIST'S LOSSES 6
beloved." 1 Sir Theodore Martin, indeed, says that
Urquhart's statements with regard te his misfortunes
should net be construed te the letter, any more than
should thc announcemcnts of his wonderful inven-
tions and dcsigns. They werc both, he considers, in a
grettt de'ee pet objects on which he had pcrmitted
his imagination te rest, till they had been transfigured
into a magnitude te which the reality probably bore
but a faint resemblance. = There is, however, ample
evidence in what we have already quoted, te show that
certain of the grievances he complaincd
no meaus imaginary. It is beyond dispute that he
sufibred heavily in his property in consequence of
his adherence te the R,_»yalist cause. In 1663 his
brother, Sir Alexander, presented a 1)etition asking
compensation for the losses suffered in the time of
his father and brother. The Commissioncrs ap-
pointed te examine into these claires repol'ted that,
before 1650, the damage inflicted upon the Urquhart
property amounted te £20,303 Scots, and during
1651-52 te £39,203 Scots--in ail £59,506 Scots,
which is ahnost £5000 Sterling.
The relations of Sir Thomas Urquhart with the
ministers of the churches of which he was patron
were uufortunately of a painful character. The
grounds of misunderstanding and dispute were
nmnerous. In addition to political and ecclesi-
"His subjects and familiars surnalued hinl [Esormon]
X@ro, that is [fo] say, 'fortunate and wcll-beloved'" (llorks,
p. 156).
Rabelais, p. xv.
a Acts ofthc JParliancnt of Scotlmtd, vol. vii. 4î9, «., b.
6z SIR THOMAS URQUHART
astical differences of opinion hetween the ministers
of thc three parishes (of which Sir Thomas was the
sole heritor) and himself, there werc disputes about
augmentation of stipends, 2 which they thought in-
adequate but wih which he had no faul to find,
the abolition of his heritable right to thc patronage
of these churches, the legal proceedings taken by the
incumbents to compel him to agree to arrangements
decided upon by the Presbytery with regard to
stipends and thc upkeep of buiklings, a.nd there were
also personal quarrels wih the ministers thcmselves.
Ia the following passage he tells his side of the story,
and gives us a vivid, t.hough hot an edifying glimpse
of the parochial politics of that far-off rime and
remote corner of Scotland. It is to be noticed
The parish of Cromartie consists of the north-east portion of
the peninsula callcd the Black Isle, terminating eastward in the
precipice called the Southcrn Sutor, and stretches for about four
toiles along the shore of the Moray Firth on file east, and bout
six along tht of the Firth of Cromartie on the north and west.
To thc west of the 1,rish of Cromartie wcre situated the joint
parishcs of Kirkmichael and Cu]lieudden, on the southern s]lore of
the Cromartic Fbth. In Sir Thomas Urquhart's tirae these were
seprate prishes, but they werc united in 1662, and a new chttrch
was built at Resolis, in Kirkmiclmel, near the border of Cullieudden.
Thenewly-coustituted parish bore and still bears the naine of Resolis.
-" I1 his Logopandect¢ision he speaks of the "stipauctionarie
ride" which began to overflow the land. He thought "with
sufficient bulwrks of good argument to have styed the immdation
thereof from two of his churchcs" ; but, he says, " I was violently
drven like a feather before a whirlew]nd, notwithstanding all my
defences, to the sanctmry of an inforced patience" ( Works, p. 352).
Ho does hot, however, appear to bave stayed loug in this snctuary,
or else the she]ter it flblted was but imperfect. Itis
auctionarie" (i.e. stipend-inereasing) rerainds us of h[r Mieawber's
clling his salry his "stii¢ndiary cmolumcts."
ELOQUENCE OF GILBERT ANDERSON 6 3
that Sir Thomas writes of himself in the third
person. "I think," says the supposed anonymous
writer of him, " there be hardly any in Scotland
that proportionably hath suffered more prejudice by
the Kirk then [than] hilnself; his own ministers
(to wit, those that preach in the churches whereof
himself is patron, Ma.ster Gilbert Anderson, Master
Robert Williamson, and Master Charles l'ape by
naine, serving the cures of Cromartie, Kirklnichcl,
and Cullicudden), having donc what lay in lhcln
for the fm'theranee of their owue covetous ends, to
his utter undoing; for the first f those thrce, for
no other cause but that the said Sir Thomas would
not authorize the standing of a certaiu pew (in that
country called a desk), in the church of ('romarty,
put in without his consent by a professed enelny to
his House, who had plotted the ruine thereof, and
one that had no land in the parish, did so rail
against him and his family lu the pulpit at sevcral
rimes, both before his face and in his absence, and
with such opprobrious termes, more like a scolding
tripe-seller's wife then [than] good lninister, squirt-
ing the poyson of detraction and abominable ïals-
hood (unfit for the chaire of verity) in the eares
of his tenandry, who were the onely auditors, did
most ingrately and despightfully so ca.lumniate
and revile their toaster, his own patron and bene-
factor, that the scandalous and reproachftd words
striving which of them should first discharge against
him its steel-pointed dart, did oftentimes, like
clusters of hemlock or wormewood dipt in vinegar,
stick in his throat ; he being allnost ready to choak
6 4 SIR THOMAS URÇUHART
with the aconital bitterness and renom thereof, till
the razor of extream p,ssion, by cutting them into
articulate sounds, and very rage if eelf, in the highest
degree, by procuring a vomir, had ruade him spue
them outof his mouth into rudc, indigested lumps,
like so many toads and vipcrs thathad burst teir
gall.
" As for the other two, notwithstanding that thcy
lmd been borne, and thcii" fathers before them,
wssals to his bouse, and the predecessor of one of
them hd shelcr in that hmd, by reason of slaughter
committed by him, '|lCll there was no refugc for
him anywhere else in Scotland ; and that the othcr
had never been adnlitted to any church ]lad it hot
been for the fvour of his foresaid 1,atron, who,
contrary to the xvill of his owne friends and great
reluctancy of the ministry it sclf, 'as both the
nominater and chuser of him to that function ; and
thaç belote his admission he did faithfully protest
he should all thc dys of his life rcmain contented
with that competency of portion the late incumbent
in that charge did enjoy before him ; they neverthe-
less behaved themselves so 1)eevishIy and uuthank-
fully towards their forenamed patron and toaster,
that, by verrue of au unjust decree, both 1)rocured
and purchased from a 1,romiscuous knot of men like
themselves, they used all their utmost endeavours,
in absence of their above rccited patron, to whom ald
The attention of the reader is specially directed to the marvt-1-
lous felicity and vigour of the above dcscription. Sir Thomas
himself bas never written anything better in ifs way.
" We fear that this is meant as a descril,tion of a presbytet-y.
UNEDIFYING SERMONS 6 5
unto whose house they had been so much behold-
ing, to outlaw him, 1 and declare him rebel, by open
proclalnation at the market-cross of the head town of
his owne shire, in case he did hot condescend [con-
sent] to the grant of that augmentation of stipend
which they demanded, conforme to the tenour of
the above-mentioned decree; the injustice whereof
will appeare when examined by any rational judge.
"Now the ])est is, when by some moderate gentle-
men it was expostulated, why against their toaster,
patron, and benefactor, they should have dealt with
such severity and rigour, contrary to all reason and
equity; their answer was, They were inforced and
necessitated so to do by the synodal and presbyterial
conventions of the Kirk, under paine of deprivation,
and expulsion from their benefices: I will hot say,
KaKoû ' " " ' [
Kopao, ¢a,«o, ooo, an evil eefo of an evil
crow], but may safely think that a wcll-sanctified
mother will hot have a so ill-instructed brat, and
that infleria humana cannot be the lawfull daughter
of a fl«'e divino parent."
Sir Thomas Urquhart is hot to be taken as
infallible in the opinions which he formed and
expressed concerning the quality of the sermons
which were delivered from the Presbyterian pulpits
of his rime. But there can be no doubt that
he hits upon one great fault by which many of
them were marred--that of being rather political
harangues than exhortations to godliness after the
Pauline fashion. Indeed, he goes so far as to say
The reference is to the proccss of "horning" described on p. 16.
" l'orks, p. 280-282.
5
66 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
that, as a rule, the preachers of his time seldom
gave such exhortations, as they were "enjoyned by
their ecclesiastical authority [authorities ?] to preach
to the times, 1 that is, to rail against malignants and
sectaries, or those whom they suppose to be their
enemies. '' 19reaching " to the times" Sir Thomas
found meant in his neighbourhood preaching against
him; and one may be allowed, itis to be hopcd,
without unduly wounding the feelings of those vrho
admire thc Covenantcrs, to think sympathetically
of his sufferings. Sydney Smith once spoke of a
form of capital punishment in vhich the victim
was to be "preached to death by wild curates." If
the above description of Mr Gilbert Anderson's
serinons be true, he certainly vras eminently qualified
to oltàciate as one of the executioners in carrying
out such a death sentence.
Tiret Sir Thonms Urquhart is not exaggerting mtters in
speking of such injunctions being gi'en by ecclesiasticl author-
ities, is proved by the following well-known passage in the memoir
prefixed to the llZorks of Archbishop Leighton :"It was
Question asked t [of] the Brethren, both in the clssicl and pro-
vincil Meetings of Ministers, twice in the Year, If they preached
the Dnties of the Times? And when it ws found that Me
]Lcighton did hot, he 'as qurrelled [sic] for this Omission, but
said, If all the Brethg'et have reachcd to the TEs, may hot one
oor JBrother be stffercd to preach ou ETT¥ ?"
lI'orks, p. 280.
The notice given us by Sir Thomas of Mr Anderson's preaehing
makes us desirous of knowing more bout him ; but, unfortunately,
only a very few facts eoneerning him are known. He was born in
1597 ; he grduated at Aberdeen in 1618 ; was settled at Cwdor, -
near lqairn, some rime before 30th October, 1627 ; was transferred
fo Cromrtie between 5th Oetober, 1641, nd llth Janury, 1642 ;
died in November, 1655, and was suceeeded in the benefiee by his
son Hugh (Scott's Fasti).
LATITUDINARIAN OPINIONS 6 7
But though Sir Thomas Urquhart was a Royalist
in politics, and an Episcopalian in religion, he was
eertainly no bigot in his dcvotion to the King or
the Church. In a passage in The Jcwel, he plainly
declares his belief "that there is no government,
whether ecclesiastical or civil, upon earth that is
ju'c divio, if that divine right be taken in a sense
secluding all other forms of govermnent, save it
alone, from the privilege of that title." 1 Indeed,
he treats such an idea as merely a pions fraud,
by which despotism is established and lnaintained
at a very cheap rate over tender consciences by
threatening them with the vengeance of Heaven in
case of disobedience. Such a man was hot likely to
be a blind partisan of any cause. Differences in
religions beliefs and practices he attributed to
differences of temperament among individuals, and
to climatic and national peculiarities; and in no
obscure terres he hints that he was of the opiniolt
of Tamerlane, " who believed that God was best
pleased with diversity of religions, variety of wor-
ship, dissentaneousness of faith, and multiformity
of devotion." ttowever powerfully such opinions
may appeal fo a certain class of minds, it is hard to
conceive of their being associated with deep religious
feeling; and accordingly we can scarcely be wrong
in concluding that one of the reasons why Sir
Thomas Urquhart held aloof from the Covenanting
movement was that he was at the antipodes fo
the majority of his fellow-countrymen in the marrer
of religions belief. A certain measure of aversion,
lVorks, p. 276. -" Ibid. p. 261,
68 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
suspicion, and horror is still manifested by many
towards those whose creed is supposed fo be of too
limited and negativc a character ; and we can easily
believe thtt iii tlle middle of the seventeenth
ccntury thi8 atlàtude was taken up even more
openly and cmphatic;dly. On a ltttcr ccasion,
'hcu, as we shÇdl relCttc, Sir Thomas Urquhart
applied to thc Commission of the General Assembly
to pardon his h«ving taken part in the capture of
Inverness, his case was referred to the miuister of
that town, Mr John Anna.nd, " that he might confer
with him [Sir Thomas] concerning some dangerous
opinions, which, as is inf»rmed, he hes sometimes
vented. '' In the view of the Commission of
Assembly the guilt of cherishing "dangerous
opinions" was as great as that of rekindling the
flames of civil war, if, indeed, it did hot surpass it.
Sec 1'. 83.
Ct[APTER III
Unsuccessful ising in the North--Sir Thomas makes his Pèace
with thc Church--Rcturn of Charles H. to Scotland--
Invasion of England--lattlc of Worcestcr--Sir Thomas
a Prisoner in thc Tower--Makes Fricnds--Is libcrated on
Parole--Great Literary Activity--levisits Scotland--
Dies--Latcr ]Iistor)" of the Urquharts of Cromartiê--
Characteristics of out Author--Glovcr's Portraits of him.
ttOIITLY aftcr thc news,of he execution
of Charles . reached Scotland, a rising
on the prt of some of thc leding
Cavaliers in the north took place, with
the view of restoring the Royal Family.
The most prominent person in this attempt was
Thom:ts Mackenzie of l'luscardine, younger brother
of Georgc, the secoud Earl of Seaforth, who for nearly
ten years past had managed the affairs of the family,
and was looked up to, both on accourir of his ability
and also on account of the great territorial influence
he represented. He had seen a good deal of service
abroad, and was atone rime governor of Stralsuud.
Along with him, and only second to him, was our
Sir Thomas Urquhart, to whom even civil war was
scarcely more fraugh with anxiety and danger
than was thc lire he had bcen forccd to lead for
Aniltarla Vote.ç, by C. Frasr-Mackinosh, p. 156.
7 ° SIR THOMAS URQUHART
some rime past. Together with them were as-
sociated eight other Royalists of good standing,--
among whom Colonel ttugh Fraser of Belladrum
and John Munro of Lemlair had a certain pre-
eminence,--and these ten formed a kind of
revolutionary committee for the control of the
movement they h,nd set on foot, and the govern-
ment of the district that might become subject to
them.
Montrose had determined, on hearing of the
execution of the King, to renew the war in Scot-
land, but I»luscardine and his associates did not
wait for his arrival. Clmrles was beheaded on
Tuesday, the 30th of Jauuary, 1649, and, by the
22nd of the next mouth, the Scottish gentlemen in
the north h,nd already taken the field, and cap-
tured Inverness. Four days after, on Monday,
26th February, a meeting of the Committee of War
was held in that town, the minutes of which are
still in existence, and contain the naine of our
author next in order to that of lluscardine him-
self.
The Committee passed certain enactments, by
which they took into their own hands the custoras
and excise of the six northern counties--Inverness,
Sutherl,nd, Cromartie, Caithness, Nairn, and Elgin.
An iuventory of all the amm.unition of the garrison
was ordered tobe taken. It was ,nlso decided that
Sir Thoms's house at Cromartie should be put in
a state of defence, and that the work should be
Atiquarian Notes, pp. 155-158 ; tTistory of the Clm Mac.
kenzie, by Alex. lIackenzie.
PROCLAIMED A TRAITOR 7I
carried out by the tenants of Sir James Fraser, a
bitter 1)rliamentarian, and opponent of the Stuarts
in the north, and by those of our knight's old
enemy, Lesley of Findrassie. 1 It is easy for un-
regenertte human nattu' to understand the pleasur
with which the members of the Committee of War
would give this last order. By another enactment, the
Committee declare that they consider it expedient
for their safety th,t the works and forts of Inver-
ness be demolished and levelled with the ground,
and they ordain th,t each person appointed fo this
work should complete his proportion of if before
eigbt days hve passed, "under pain of being
quartered upon and until the sid task be per-
formed."
On the 2nd of Match, Mackenzie of l'lus-
cardine, Sir Thomas Urquhart, and their associates,
were proclaimed as rebels and traitom by tho
Est,tes of 1),rliament,e,s "wicked nd malignant
persouns intending so far as in thume lyes, for
The enactment in question runs as follows:"It being
thought expedient by the said Committee that the bouse of
Cromartie be put in posture of defence, and that for the doing
thereof it is requisite some faill [turf] be cast and lcd, the sid
Committee ordains all Sir James Fraser's tenants within the
parochins [parishes] of Cromrtie and Cullicudden, together with
those of the Laird of Findrassie, vithin the parochin of Rosemarkie,
to afford from six hours in the moing to six hours at night, one
horse out of every oxengait [-- about 13 Scotch acres] daily
for the space of four days to lead the same faili to the bouse of
Cromartie." Of this enemy, Sir James Fraser, out author re-
marked af a later rime with regrettable bitterness, that he knew
only one good thing about him, and that was that he was dead.
- 4cts of the Perlia»ct of ,.çcotland, ri. 392.
7 2 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
their own base ends to lay the foundation of a new
bloodie and unnaturall warre within the bowells of
this their native country," etc. etc.
On the 1st of M,rch the Commissioners of the
General Assembly had written to t'luscardine and
his associates expressing their wonder and grief at
such a rising in the interests of "the lopish,
lrelaticall and Malignunt party," and threatening
file penalty of excommunication within ten days if
they would not "desist from and repent of that
horrid insurrection. ''1 The reply to this letter
came in due rime, and was signed by the principal
leader in the insurrection, and by some other
members of the Clan Mackenzie, and is, it must
be con.fessed, a distinctly prevaricating and hypo-
critical document. For one sentence at least in it
our author was responsible, though he neither
signs the letter nor is named in it. His pedantic
phraseology reveals his hand in the construction of
the reply to the Commissioners' remonstrances and
threats.
The letter is addressed " to the Honourable and
Iight everend," and begins as follows:--" Wee
have lately received yours of the first of Merch,
1649, for the which and your wisdomes Christi,n
care of ws, and your fatherly admonition to
ws, we humbly and heartily rander yow all
possible thanks." This lamb-like tone is maintained
with admirable gravity all through the epistle, and
is combined with a cnting phraseology which was
meant to be impressive, but which must have
1 Gcneml Assenbly ommission ecords, 1648-49, p. 220.
A DISINGENUOUS REPLY 73
entertained any members of the Commission of the
General Assembly who originally possessed and
still retained a sense of humour. "And quheras
[whereas]," so it goes on, "your wisdomes taks it
a matter of no lesse wondcr then [than] greife that
we, being vnder the oath of God and tye of our
:Nationall Covenant, would make insurrection and
take armes against the Lords people, certainly, if if
were so, we acknowledge your wisdomes had reason
to wonder and to be grieved. And it is no lesse
winder and griefe to ws, bcing wnder the said
oath and tye of Covenant, furthering the saine with
all our power and meanes, and at ail occasions
desireing nothing els then [than] the enjoying of
the liberty of the subject, and proprietie of our
goods, intended and promised in and by our Cove-
nant." :No one who has read any of Sir Thomas
Urquhart's origimtl works can doubt that the next
sentence was either composed or revised by him.
The two phrases which we have taken the liberty
of putting into italics could scarcely bave occurred
to any other member of the Committee of War.
"Yet we find, that evill willers and envyous nder-
miners, in a singtlar and prcelexlws u'ay aiming
ai our ruine, doe spend thc uintcssetce of their wilts
to find out means whereby, under spccious pretences
of the publick [good?] to extermine ws with
povertie, and by inventing fiesh occasions to make
ws odious, and bring ws vpon fresh stages [sic]
vnder the base name of Malignancy." If is un-
necessary to quote the whole of the letter, but a
couple of sentences, which describe what the in-
74 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
surgents had done at Inverness, deserve notice.
"But the whole countrey of all degrees, being
sensible of the oppression and insolency of the
vnnecessary and vnprofitable garison of Innernes to
Church or State, did heartily and vnanimously con-
tribute to the demolishing thereof, which being
done, all disbanded peaceablie, and the people
retired peaceablie to their owne bornes, without
offence to any nighbour of any degree or condition.
Aud now, when the said garison is dis-
mantled, we shall be found hot only disposed to
live peaceablie, bot also ready to obey all publick
ordours for the good of the Kingdome." The
writers ask that " the taxes and impositions," which
pressed with special severity on the class to vhich
they belonged, should be remitted, and liberty given
them to lead that religious, peaceful lire, to which
both by nature and by deliberate choice, they seem
to say, they were strongly inclined. The sting of
the letter is in its closing words. If these "evill
wfllers" succeed in persuading the Commissioners
of Assembly to go on with the sentence of ex-
communication, as fully deserved, they (the writers)
formally appeal against such a decision from the
Commission to the next General Assembly.
The ecclesiastical court to which the above letter
was sent ay have contained a goodly sprinkling of
fanatics, but it is certain that in it there were but
few, if any, imbeciles; so that the communication
from the Committee of War did hot succeed in
imposing upon those to whom its contents were
General Assc»bly Commis.ion P,.«cords, 16t8-49, pp. 249, 250.
ECCLESIASTICAL STATE-PAPERS 75
read. They did hot condescend to answer it, but
at once issued a pamphlet, entitled .,4 Dcclaration
and IZarni,g fo all Mcmbcrs of this Kirk, "to
recover, if possible, the disturbers of the peace of
God's people out of the snare of Sathan, and to
prevent others from falling therein." The docu-
ment displys very genuiue indignation and disnmy
at the possibility of the negotiations which were
being carried on for restoring Charles . as a
"covenanted king" to the throne of his ancestors,
being defeated, and of his coming back as an
arbitrary ruler a.nd oppressor of the Church. Those
who have a.ny doubt about the deterioration of both
religion and politics when they are fused together,
should rend this and other State l'apers of the
period, and their eyes would be opened. The
cahn assumption by the writers that political op-
ponents are the enemies of God, the claire to
knowledge of the Divine purposes and counsels, the
free use of the most sacred words of Scripture, the
dark fanaticism which inspires so many of the
uttera.nces, and the intense passion which makes so
many of them sound like mere raving--all combine
to make these documents very painful reading. A
circular letter of warning and exhortation was sent
fo l'resbyteries, attempts were ruade fo persuade
individuals fo disconnect themselves from the
insurrectionary movement, and a. message of en-
couragement was sent to Lieutenant-General David
Lesley to strengthen his hands in the work of
putting it down by tire and sword3
Gcneral Asscmbly Commission Records, 1648-49, pp. 252-262.
76 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
The insurgents, after demolishing the fortifica-
tions of Inverness, retired before the troops sent
to suppress them, and took refuge among the
mountains of Ross-shire. Lesley advanced to Fort-
rose and garrisoned the castle there, and then
proceeded to endeavour to make terres with the
leaders of the insurrection. The only one who
would listen to no accommodation was Mackenzie
of Pluscardine. Immediate/y on Lesley's return
south, he descended from the mountains, and at-
tacked and took the castle of Chanonry. Our Sir
Thomas Urquhart was now safely out of the con-
filet; but our readers anay wish to knov what
became of the insurrectionary movement which he
had such a large share in setting on foot, and from
which he round if prudent fo retire at an early stage.
Mackcnzie's force was brought up to eight or
nine hundred men by the accession of his nephew,
Lord Reay, with three hundred follo-ers. Soon
afterwards he was joined by Genera] Middleton and
Lord Ogilvie, and advanced into ]3adenoch, with the
view of raising the people in that and the neigh-
bouring districts. In what is called the Wardlaw
MS. a very vivid picture is given of the behaviour
of the Highlanders from the 1-eay country, when
they poured into Inverness on the lnorning of
Sunday, the 2nd of May, 1649. " They crossed
the bridge of :Ness," says the Royalist minister of
Kirkhill, " on the Lord's Day lu rime of divine
service, tud alarmed the 1-,eople of Inverness, iln-
peding God's worship in the town. For instead of
bells to ring in to service I saw and heard no other
ENGAGEMENT AT BALVENIE 77
than the noise of pipes, drulns, pots, pans, kettles,
and spits in the streets to provide them victuals in
every house. And in their quarters the rude rascal-
ity wofld eat no meat at their tables mtil t]»e bmd-
lord laid clown a shilling Scots upon each trencher,
calling this 'aiyiod cagainn' (chewing-lnoncy), whicb
cvery soldier «ot, so insolent were they."
The caml»aign was a very brief one. The
Royalists, joined by the Mar, luis of Huntly, at-
tacked and took the castle of Ruthven, but, soon
after, being hardly pressed by Lesley, they turned
southwards and took up their quarters in F, alvenie
Castle. General Middleton and Mackenzie were
despatched to treat with Leslcy, but before they
reached their destinatioa, the troops frola Fortrose,
after a rapid march, surprised the Royalist forces
at I-alvenie. A tierce engagement took place, in
which both sides suffered severely? Eighty of the
Strangely enough, in Hope's lnastasius, a Tatar messenger
travelling through Asia Minor to Constantinople is described as
acting in the saine insolent manner. "He would hot," says
Anastasius, "even after the daintiest rneal in the world, forego the
douceur he expected for what he used to call the wear and tear of
his teeth " (ii. 320).
An account of the battle is given in a letter addressed by the
victorious generals, Ker, Halket, and Strachan, to the Moderator of
the Commission of Assembly, dated 9th May, 1649. In it they
say: "We were in Innernes vpon Sunday at night, vhen we
received intelligence that the enemie were corne from Torespay to
Balvine, presently to discusse ws (sic). We could hot hear from
the Livetennent-Generall [Lesley], and the enemy was rnaking
himselfe strong in many severall quarters in [the] countric. Y'e
conceived it better to suppresse nor [flmn] to be suploressed. We
in our weak maner beged the Lords direction, that His blissing
might wait His owne and our labours, and, with great freedome
7 8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
insurgents fell in defence of the castle. The High-
lauders were dismissed to their homes on swearing
never agaiu to take up arms against the 1)arliament;
while their leaders were sent as prisoners to Edin-
burgh, where most of them veere set free soon
a[ter, on paymcnt of fines, and on giving security
that thcy wonld kcep the peace. By sharp and
vigorous action the remain: S sparks of insurrection
in the north were stamped out, and fresh bodies of
troois were stationed in the principal strongholds
of ttmt part of the country. Thus ended a rising
which would probably have had a very different
result, if it had been postponed until the arrival of
Montrose.
The saine writerX who gve an account of the
riotous and insolent demeanour of the ighland
soldiers in Inverness, furnishes us with a companion-
concluded to nmrch with all expedition to Torispay, intelligence
having corne certaine that they were lycing in Balveine at a wood,
whcre we engaged with Ihem ; and there the Lord delivered them
vnto our hands. We were hot abone six score fighting horsemen
and tuclfe nmskiteires. We had some more, but they were
wearied. We bave at this tyme about 800 prisoners, betuixt
3 or 4 scoir killed, and tuo or thrie hundred fled. My Lord
Rae and all the officers are, according to the capitulatioun
prisoners ; the rest are to be conveycd to their countrey, afIer we
receive order from the publick ; and therefore we shall expect such
further directions from you as you shall thinke fit, for secnring
and obliging, by oath, such as shall returne to their countrey"
(Gencral tlssembly Commissio ecords, 1648-49, p. 263). There is a
genuine Cromwellian ring about the phrases "beged the Lord's
direction," and " the Lord delivered them vnto our hands," vhich
we cannot help admiring ; and there is a beauty of its own in the
phrase "with great freedome" in the connection in which it
stands.
Wardlaw
DA¥ OF THANKSGIVING 79
pieturewthat of them on their way back to their
homes after their defeat at Balvenie. It is as
follows :--" lext twenty horse, and three companies
of foot, were ordered to convey the captives back
over the Spey, and through Moray to Inverness,
where I saw them pass through; and those men
who, in theh" ïormer march, would hardly eat their
meat without money, are now begging food, and, like
dogs, lap the water which was brought them in tubs
and other vessels in the open streets. Thence they
were eonducted over the bridge of lcss, and dismissed
everyone armless and harmless to his own bouse.
This is a marrer of fact which I saw and heard."
The profound feelings of anxiety which this
abortive attempt at insurrection had exeited in the
minds of the eeelesiastical rulers of Scotland are
very elearly indicated by the exuberance of joy with
whieh the tidings of the victory at ]3alvenie were
reeeived by the Commission of _Assembly. They
instantly decided to appoint a solemn Day of
Thanksgiving, on the 25th of May, for "the Lord's
mercifull defeat of the enemies of the peace of this
land." They tacked on a postscript to the above-
The Commission of the General Assembly is each year
nominated by that body, and is responsible to it, and is empowered
to dispose of all items of business remitted to it, and to act in the
interests of the Church during the months between the meeting of
the Assembly which nominated them, and that to 'hich they
report their proceedings. They are authorised to meet on certain
specific days, and oftener, when and where they think fit. The
next General Assembly may reverse thcir sertences, if they bave
exceeded their powers, or bave acted in any way which is con-
idered prejudicial to the interests of the Church.
General Assembly tecords, 1648-49, p. 264.
80 SIR THOMAS URÇUHART
mentioned I)eclaration and IVarnig, containing a
statement of the causes of the Thanksgiving, and
ordcred both to be read from all the pulpits in
Scç tlaud. Letters of congrtuhLtion were despatched
to the victorious ofiïcers, aml to others who had
been faithful iu the recent crisis, and full prticuhrs
of wht had taken i,hce were sent to the Commis-
sioners of Scotlaud at the ][ague, who were engaged
in the negotiations with " he young man, Charles
Stuart." In the last-mentioned document there is
a flicker of grim humour, as the writers send
intellgeuce of the destruction of the hopes which
news of the rebellion nfight tmve excited in the
minds of Charles and his friends. The hst sentence
in the letter can scrcely have been written or
read without a smile. "We bave apl)oiuted," they
say, "the twenty-fift day of Maij for a solemn
thanksgiving for this and other hLte mercies, where-
with we thought good to acquaint yow, that yow
manage this to the best advantage of the work in
your hands, according as yow shall thinke fitt."
It was once said of a good man that he would have
been better if he had had a little more of the devil
in him; and one is inclined to think more highly of
these good men for the touch of mtflice, which relieves
the sombre character of their conmnmication.
Ge.nera1.4ssembly Records, 1648-49, p. 2î0. The instructions
given to the Commissioners suggest the process known to us in
modern rimes as "rubbing it in" (the l,hrase is a technical one).
- In March of the following year, 1650, occrred the descent of
Montrose on the north of Scotland, which ended so disastrously
for him. After spending a few weeks in the Orkneys, where he
collected a few recruits, he landcd in Caiflness, and proceeded
COMMISSION OF ASSEMBL¥ 8t
The threatened boit of excommunication was hOt
launched, but our author round it necessary to apply
to the Commission of General Assembly in order
fo make his ponce with the ecclesiastical power.
Accordingly, on the 22nd of June, 1650, he
appeared in Edinburgh before this body, and pre-
sented his " supplicatioun" for lardon for the guilt
of taking part in the :Northern insurrection, and of
assaulting and razing tho walls of Invcruess.
The Commission met, doubtless, in that "little
roome of [off] the East Church" of St Giles,
which Baillie describes as haviug been "verio
handsomelie dressed for our Assemblies in all time
coming," ' and from which, throe years later, thc
English officers, under Cromwell's order, ejected tho
raembors of the General Assombly. The Commis-
sion on that day, when our author alpeared before
them, consisted of twenty-four members--the most
distinguished divines and politicians in Scotland of
the Covenanting party. The moderator, or chair-
man, was :Robert Douglas, 2 "a great State preacher,"
into Sutherland, where he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands
of Strachan and Halket, the generals who had successfully
sulTressed the insurrection in the north in the previous year.
Montrose was takell prisoner, and was executed in Edinburgh, on
Tuesday, 21st May, 1650.
Baillie's Letters (Edinburgh, 1841), il. 84.
: Robert Douglas (1594-1674) had been chaplain to a brigade of
Scottish auxiliaries, sent with the connivance of Charles I. to the
aid of Gustavus Adolphus, in the Thirty Years' War. He was
minister of the second charge of the High Church, Edinburgh,
and then of the Tolbooth Church, and was rive tiraes Moderator
of the General ASSelnbly (1642, 1645, 1647, 1649, and 1651).
Wodrow says, "He was a great man for both great wit, and grace,
6
82 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
who had been chaplain to the Scots troops in the
service of Gustavus Adolphus, and had won the
esteem of that monarch, and who in little more
than six months' rime would oflïciate at the corona-
tion of Charles If., for whom Sir Thomas Urquhart
had prematurely drawn the sword. ]3eside him
was Samuel Rutherford, the Principal of St
Andrews, whose fervid piety has found no lack of
admircrs in cvery geucration since his rime.
Robert Baillie, the writer of the Letters which
contain so many vivid pictures of events in that
stirring 1,eriod; David Dickson, l'rofessor of Divinity
iu Ghsgow, whose naine we have heard as one of
the dcputttion to persuade the people of Aberdeen
to take the Covenant ; and James Guthrie, who died
as a martyr, the year after the Reatoration, were
present flere that day. Tbe contrast between
these grave, dignified, saintly Covenanting leaders,
and the brilliant Cavtdier, Sir Thomas Urquhart, is
one which, by its picturesqueness, strongly impresses
the imagination.
The Commission, after hearing the petitioner's
statements, did hot, apparently; treat the marrer as
of very serious moment. The dangerous crisis was
over, and they eould afford to be merciful. They
seem to have eondoned the political offence, but
refcrred Sh" Thomas to Mr John Annand, minister
of Inverness, one of their number, " that he might
and more than ordinary boldness and authority and awful
majesty appearing in his ve T earriage and eountenanee." Burnet
affirms that he had "nmeh wisdom and thoughtfu]ness, but was
very silent and of vast pride" (Dictionary of-at. Biog. xv. 347).
RETURN OF CHARLES II 8 3
confer with him concerning some dangerous opinions
which, as was informed, he had sometimes vented."
If these could be expltfined away, and no further
complicity in disloyal schemes were brought home
to hiln, h[r Annand was empowered, acting at
all aimes under the advice of the Presbytery of
Inverness, to receive his public "satisfaction" in
the church of that city. How the marrer ended
we do not kuow. But there as vcry little doul)t
that Sir Thomas's nebulous hetcrodoxy proved no
bar to his being freed from ecclesiastical censure,
and that, in due course, according to the custom of
that aime, he stood, as a penient, before the
congregation of the Parish Church, in that city the
walls of which he had assisted to assault and over-
throw.
A fortnight after Sir Thomas Urquhart's
appearauce before the Commission of the General
Assembly, Charles I.. landed in Scotland, and was
accepted, though at first hot without deep mis-
givings, as" covenanted King." The party to which
out author belonged was for a aime excluded from
all share in puhlic lire; and even the army, which
was to defend the sovereign against the English
sectaries, was carefully sifted, to remove those whose
presence might bring a curse upon if. So that,
though the land resounded with war and the rumour
of war, Sir Thomas remained in an enforced quietude
in his castle at Cromartie. The effect of the battle of
Dunbar (3rd September) was to depress the faction
which had excluded the Royalist partisans from the
army, and kept the King himself in something very
8 4 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
l:ke bondage. Charles II., indced, is said to have
given thanks fo God for the victory of Cromvell
over the Covenanting forces at this battle, and the
only difficulty in the way of believing this statement
lies in the fact that he so seld,,m gave thanks for
a.nything.
The II, oyalist 1,arty now bcgan to rally about
thcir sovcreigu. Charles I. was crowncd at Scone
on thc 1st January, 1651, and in due rime an
arlny, which includcd lnany of the so-called
M«fliguants, was ready for trying conclusions once
agaiu with the terrible English Gcneral. And now
for the third rime our author took up arms on
bchalf of thc Stuarts. Af ter some lnonths of
cndlcss lnarchings aud counter-lnarchings, in which
Cromwcll evidently endeavoured to provoke his
enelnies into a repetition of the blunder by which
they had lost the battle of Dunbar, the Scottish
forces found an opportunity of marching into
England.
The latter, under David Lesley, had taken up a
strong position on the height of the Tor Wood,
between Stirling and Falkirk, from which they
refused fo be drawn out to battle; and Cromwell
resolved to take up his post on the other side of
the Royalist army. Accordingly, he crossed the
Forth af Queensferry, and, after defeating an
atteml»t to intercept him at Inverkeithing, reached
and occupied l'erth. The way to England was
uow open, and the Scottish army swiftly and
silently entered upon if, resolved to stake every-
thing upon a great battle.
INVASION OF ENGLAND 8 5
Sir Thomas Urquhart left his castle of Cromartie,
and took part in this expediion, though al,parently
he held no position of command in the army, and
was very much out of sympathy with nlany of
those who journeyed with him. Indeed, his un-
fortunate prejudices against the l'resbyterian and
Covenanting party COlne otlt in the stement he
makes, that many of those who started out to smite
"the Midianites and Philistines," when it came to
the push, managcd to make their way home, " being
loth to hazard their precious pcrsons, lest they
should seem to trust to the arln o[ flesh." The
mass of those, however, who formed the Scottish
army were of very different mettle, and the battle
in which they staked and lost everything was
one of the fiercest iii the whole of the great Cil
The course of their journey southward was
through Biggar and Carlisle, and then through
Lancashh'e. To their disappointment, they re-
ceived no great accession of Royalists, nor of any
others who were inclined to join them in the
attempt to overthrow the Commonwealtb. "They
marched," says the historian, "under rigorous
discipline, weary and uncheered, south through
Lancashire; had to dispute . the Bridge of
Warrington with Lambert and Harrison, who
attended them with horse-troops on the left;
Cromwell with the main army steadily advancing
behind. They carried the Bridge at Warrington;
they summoned various Towns, but none yielded;
Yorks, p. 279.
86 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
proclaimcd Lhcir King, vith all force of lungs and
heraldry, but none cried, God bless him. Summon-
ing Shrewsbury, with the usual negative response,
they quitted the London road; bent southward
towards Worcester, a City of slight Garrison and
loyal Mayor; there to entrench themselves, and
repose a little."l Yet but sligbt opportunity for
this was given them. The course taken by Crom-
well was through York, :Nottingham, Coventry, and
Stratford-on-Avon, and when he arrived at Wor-
cester with his army from Scotland, and with the
county militias, who had risen at his summons, his
forces numbered over thirty thousand men as against
the enemy's sixteen thousand.
Meantime Sir Thomas Urquhart had taken up
his quarters in Worcester, in the house of a Mr
Spilsbury, "3 very honest sort of man, who had an
exceeding good wonmn to his wife." tIis luggage,
which was stored in an attic, consisted, besides
" scarlet cloaks, buff suits, and arms of all sorts,"
of seven large "portmantles," three of which were
filled with unpublished works in manuscript, and
other valuable documents--the amount of which
he gives us in quires and quinternions, but which
need not be repeated here. "Peace hatb her
victories no less renowned than war," sang Milton
in his sonnet to the Lord General Crolmvell;
and perhaps Sir Thomas Urquhart hoped, after
achieving victory in war, to win a second set of
laurels by means of the contents of the three
"portmantles."
Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell, iii. 148.
BATTLE OF VORCESTER 87
On the evening of the 3rd September, the anni-
versary of the batle of Dunbar, and afterwards o
be the date of Cromwell's own death, the battle
of Worcester was fought, and he ltoyalist cause
utterly shattered. "The fighting of the Scots,"
says Carlyle," was tierce and desperate. ' My Lord
General did exceedingly hazard himself, riding up
and down in he midst of the tire; riding, himself
in person, to the Enemy's foot to offer them quarter,
whereto they returned no answer but shot.' The
small Scotch Army, begirdled with overpowering
force, and cut off from help or reasonable hope,
storms forth in fiery pulses, horse and foot ; charges
now on this side of the Itiver, now on that ;--can on
no side prevail. Cromwell recoils a little, but only
to rally and return irresistible. The small Scotch
Army is, on every side, driven in again. Its fiery
pulsings are but the struggles of death : agonies as
of alioncoiled inthefolds of aboa. 'Asstiff a
contest,' says Cromwell,' for four or rive hours as
ever I have seen.' "1
The conquered lost six thousand men, and all
their baggage and artillery; and Charles only with
difIlculty, and after many romantic adventures, suc-
ceeded in escapiug to the Continent when the fight
was over. Ten thousand prisoners, including eleven
of the Scottish nobility, were taken. The sufferings
of many of these brave men were severe in the
extreme. Some perished from want of food and
from gaol diseases, and large numbers of the survivors
were shipped for the plantations, and sold as slaves.
Carlyle's Olircr Cromwell, iii. 154.
88 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
Sir Thomas Urquhart, and, apparently, more than
one of his brothers, were among the prisoners, but
appeared to have fared better than many of their
companions in arms. The greatest of the misfor-
tunes that fell upon him was, in his estimation, the
sad rate that overtook his t»recious manuscripts.
The whole story, rclated in his own inimitable
style, may be read in Chal,ter vi. Itis enough to
say here that a parCy of marauders broke into his
quarters in search of valuables, that they forced
open the "pormantles" and turned their contens
out upon the floor, and afterwards carried off the
papers to use them for wrapping up articles of
plunder, and for lighting their pipes. Fortunately
some bundles of these papers were afterwards picked
up in the streets and brought back to him, and in
due rime round theh" way to the printer's.
After the battle of Worcester, Sir Thomas
Urquhart and some of the other Scottish gentlemen
who had beeu taken prisoners there were confined
in the Tower of London. He seems to bave
speedily gained the favour of his captors, and to
have been treated wiCh remarkable leniency. Indeed,
he speaks in terres of affectionate respect of various
ofiïcers of the l'arliamentary army from whom he
had received kindness, and acknowledges courtesies
extended towards him by the Lord General himself.
Thus he places on record his indebtedness to a
"most generous gentleman, Captain Gladmon," for
speaking in his favour to the l'rotector. And of
auother, whom he calls the Marshal-General, in
whose charge he had been placed, he has set down
ALLEVIATIONS OF CAPTIVIT¥ 89
the praise in the following elborate sentence :--
"The kindly usage of the Marshal-General,
Captaiu Alsop, whilst I was in his custody, I I ara
bound in duty so to ackuowledge, that I may
without dissimulation avouch, for courtesies con-
ïerred oll such as were within the verge of his
authority, and fidelity fo tbose by whom he was
intrusted with their tuitiou [oversight of them] in
that restraiut, that never auy could by his faithful-
ness fo the one and loving carriage to the other
bespeak himself more a gentlemau, nor in the
discharge of that military place acquit himself
with a more universally-deserved applause and
commendation."
The severity of his imprisonment was soon abated ;
and he was removed from the Tower fo Windsor
Castle, e and uot loug after, by the orders of Crom-
well, was paroled de die in diem. The comparative
liberty he now enjoyed enabled him to repair the
loss of his manuscripts after the battle of Worcester,
and he set himself to make the best of the frag-
ments he had recovered, and to prepare them for
publication, as well as to compose new material.
A paragraph in the Epilogue of one of his works,
in which he describes his warm appreciatiou of
the measure of freedom he now enjoyed, is worth
quoting. " That I, 'hilst a ]?risoner," he says,
"was able fo digest and write this Treatise, is an
effect nleerly proceeding from the courtesie of my
Lord Geueral Cromwel, by whose recommendation
to the Councel of State my parole being taken for
lYorlcs, 1 ). 408. " Cal. State Paliers, Dom. a Ibid.
9 ° SIR THOMAS URQUHART
my true imprisonment, I was by their favour
enlarged to the extent of the lines of London's
communication; for had I contimed as before,
COOlt up within walls, or yet been attended still
by a guard, as for a while I was, should the bouse
of my confinement llave never been so pleasant, or
nly keepers a very paragon of discretion, and that
the conversation of the best wits in the world,
with attluence of all manner of books, should have
been allowed me for the diversion of my minde, yet
such an antipathie I have to any kinde of restraint
wherein myself is hot entrusted, that notwithstand-
ing these advantages, which to some spirits would
make a jayl seem luore dclicious then [than]
freedom without them, it could hot in that eclipse
of liberty lie in my power to frame myself to the
couching of one sillable, or contriving of a rancie
worthy the labour of putting pen to pat)er, no more
then [than] a nightingale can warble it in a cage,
CI" '
or linet in a dun,eon, x
Another friend whom Sir Thomas Urquhart
round in the rime of need was the celebrated
Roger Williams, the apostle of civil and religious
liberty, and the founder of the settlement of Pro-
vidence, Rhodc Island, and missionary to the
Indians. In the Epilogue to the £ogopandcctcision
he thus uckuowledges his obligations to him: " [I
caunot] forget my thankfulness to that reverend
preacher ][r Roger Williams of Providence, in
New England, for the manifold favours wherein I
stood obliged to him above a whole month before
IVorks, p. 408.
ROGER WlLLIAMS 91
either of us lmd so nuch as seen other, and that
by his frequent and earnest solicitation i,, my
behalf of the most especial membcrs both of the
Parliament and Commel of State; in doing whereof
he appeared so truely generous, that when it was
told him how I, having got notice of his so un-
deserved respect towards me, was desirous to
embrace some sudden opportunity whereby to
testifie the affection I did owe him, he purposcly
delayed the occasion of meeting with me till he
had, as he said, performed some acceptable office
worthy of my acquaintance; in all which, both
be[ore and after we had conversed with one another,
and by those many worthy books set forth by him,
to the advancement of piety and good order, with
some whereof he was pleased to present me, he did
prove himself a man of such discretion and inimit-
ably-sanctified parts, that an Archangel from heaven
could hot have shown more goodness with less
ostentation."
lVork., p. 419. Roger Williams (c. 1600-c. 1684) was himself
a remarkable mn. He was ntive of Wles, ws edueated at
Oxford, and entered into holy orders; but his version to the
government and discipline of the Chureh of Englnd led him to
seek for greffer freedom in Amerie. He ws strenuous sscrter
of religious tolertion at time whcn it ws litle understood nd
lcss pretised nywhcre. His liberty of thinking and speking led
to his being bnished ri'oto Masschusetts ; and, thereupon, he 1,ur-
ehsed tract of land from the In,lians, nd founded setlement,
which he named Providence. At the rime when he generous|y
intereeded in fvour of Sir Thoms Urquhart, he ws residing in
London as the gent of the new settlement, of whieh he ws affer-
wards elmsen president. He ws on intirate terres with Cromwell,
hlilton, and other leoeing Puritns, nd eonsequently would be in
position to tender gret servic to his fi'iend Urcluhrt.
9 2 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
The years 1652 and 1653 form a period of
astonishing literary activity on the part of our
author, f«)r no fewer tlmn rive separate works were
then published by him, two of which were of very
considerable bulle The motive that had led him to
bring out his two former works--the E_pigrans and
Thc Trissotctras--had been a desire to benefit man-
kind and to advance the glory of his lmtive land.
:But now ho had to consider his own intcrests, and
to exert himself to promote them. Accordingly, his
present aire vas to couvince his captors of his extra-
ordinary merit$ and gifts, and of the incomparable
glory of that family which he had the honour of
represcnting.
In 1652 he issued his FIANTOXPONO-
XANON ; or, a Pectliar _P.romïottary of Time, of
which a detailed description is given in Chapter v.
The object of this treatise is to show the Protector
and the English l'arliament that the family of the
Urquharts could be traced back, link by link, to
the red earth out of which Adam was ruade, and to
suggest how lamentable it would be, if the ruling
power extinguished a race which had successfully
resisted the scythe of Time, and was capable of
rendering great services to the State.
This small treatise was closely followed by a
more important production, upon which Sir Thomas's
faine as au author largely rests--his EKZKTBA-
A ATPON; or, The Discoccïy of a most Exquisite
J'cwel. The title of this work is intended tobe an
abbreviation of a Greek phrase---" Gold from a
dttnghill"--and contins an allusion to the fact that
RETURN TO SCOTLAND 93
the first hall of it was, in its manuscript form, one
of the bundles of paper which the soldiers treated
with such disrespect after the battle of Worcester,
and which, indeed, was found next day in a kenncl
of one of the streets of that city. This book, a
fuller accourir of which we give later on, consists
of an introduction to a work on a Universal
Language, to which is added a rhapsodical pane-
gyric on the Scottish nation, and an account of
his fellow-countrymen who had been f«tmous as
scholrs or soldiers during the previous fifty
years.
In the course of the early prt of 1652
Urquhart had in some way excited the suspicions
of the Government, a«d in the month of Mty his
papers were seized by the authorities. Nothing
treasonable, however, was found among them, and
probably the harmless character of his pursuits,
which was thus brought to light, ruade a favourable
impression upon the Council of State. For, a few
weeks later, he was allowed, in answer to a petition
which he presented to the Council, and which was
referred to Cromwell, to return to Scotland to
arrérage his private affairs, and to be absent for
rive months. The only condition imposed upon
him was that during this rime he should do
nothing to the prejudice of the Commonwealth.
Sir Thomas Urquhart's creditors had been told
The leave granted was for rive months from the I4th of July,
I652. Before the expiration of this time, Sir Thomas asked for
liberty to stay for six weeks longer in Scotland, and this was
granted (Acts o Tarliament, vol. ri. pt. 2, p. 748b).
94 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
that he had been killed at the battle of Worcester,
and, as ho says in bis own characteristic way,
"for gladness of the tidings [they] had Inadiiied
[moistened] their nolls to some purpose with the
liquor of the grape, ''1 and had 1)ossessed themselves
of all his property. When they were assured by
letters from himsclï that he was still alive, they
claimed payment fol" debts which bad been long
discharged, undcr the impression that the receil)ts
],ad perished along with othcr pal)ers after the
l»attle. They even plotted, we are assured, to
arrest our author in London, after he had been
liberated upon parole. ]y tl:e thoughtful dis-
cretion of Captain Goodwin, of Colonel l'ride's
regiment, the receipts in question had been saved
out of the spoil of Worcester, and Sir Thonaas
Urquhart was able fo dislolay them to the unjust
creditors. "And when," he says, " they saw that
those their acquittances . were produced belote
them, they then, looking as if their noses had been
ableeding, could hot any longer for shame retard
my cancelling of the aïoresaid bonds."
In the midst of so many complaints of the
iniquity of credito's, it is gratiïying to find Sir
Thomas acknowledging that there was one of that
class who treated him with forbearance and even
with kindness. His thankïulness af discovering
this green oasis in the arid desert in which so much
of his liïe had been passed, is exlv.essed in his own
characteristic way. ":But may," he says, "William
tobertson of Kindeasse, or rather Kindncssc (for so
l'orks, p. 377. : Ibid. p. 38.
ROBERTSON OF KINDEASSE 95
they call this worthy man), for his going contrary
to that stream of wickedness which carryeth head-
long his fellow-creditors to the black sea of un-
christian-like dealing, enjoy a long life in this
world, attended with health, wealth, a hopeful
posterity, and all the happiness conducible to
eternal salvation; and may his children after him,
as heires both of his verrues and means, derive
[transmit] his lands and riches to their sons, to
continue successively in that line from generation
to generation, so long as there is a hill in Scotland,
or that the sea doth ebbe and flow. This hearty
wish of mine, as chier of my kinred [kindred], I
bequeath to all that do and are to carry the naine
of Urquhart, and adjure them, by the respect they
owe to the stock whence they are descended, for
my father's love and nfine to this man, to do all
manner of good offices to each one that bears the
naine of Robertson. ''1
His old enemy, Lesley of Findrassie, endeavoured
in vain to persuade the officers of the English
garrison, then stationed in Urquhart's bouse at
Cromartie, to arrest him as a prisoner of war, and
keep him in confinement " till he [Lesley] were
contented in all his demands. ''e An attempt
was also ruade to apprehend him at Elgin; but
he escaped all these machinations, and, af ter
travelling in safety through many of the principal
towns of Scotland, returned to London within the
specified rime, and gave himself up to the Council
of State.
1 lYorks, p. 384. " Ibid. p. 380.
9 6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
In the course of the year 1653 Sir Thomas
Urquhart published the last of his original works
--his £ogo2andccteision, and the translation of the
first two books of Rabeltis, in connection with
which his naine is best known. Thc object of the
former of these was to suggest a wonderful scheme
for a universal l«nguage, with the ide of being
restored by the Government to the full possession
of his liberty, and of being reinstted in the position
of power and wcalth, which he naintained was his
by hereditary right, in order to carry out the
scheme. His hopes and anticipations of success in
this appeal to the English Government were hot
daunted by the fact that to do what he required
would need several legislative changes, a reversal of
proceedings in Scottish courts of lw, and sub-
stntial grant from the Treasury. This, after all,
he considered, was a very small price to pay for the
benefits he would thereby confer upon the world.
That the appetl was hot successful needs scarcely
be told. Probably in no country in the world,
and at no period in history, could any be found
more likely to turn a deaf car to such requests,
than such men as Cromwell, Fleetwood, and
Overton. hIeu like these were too practical, and
of too hard a nature, to be impressed by any such
visionary schemes as those which their prisoner
delighted in constructing.
A veil of obscurity hangs over the closing years
of our author's life. His last appearance before
the public was in the issuing of the books above
mentioned. The only further record of him is in the
OUR AUTHOR'S DEATH 97
eontinuation of the Pedigree of the Urquharts, whieh
is contained in the Edinburgh edition of his Tracts.
In this we read that "he was confined for several
years in the Tower of London; from whence he ruade
his escape, and went beyond seas, where he died
suddenly in a fit of excessive laughter, on being
informed by his servant that the King was restored. ''1
If this account of matters be true, it would seem
that Sir Tholnas had forfeited some of those privi-
leges which he had won so soon after he had
become a State prisoner. It is quite possible that
this was in consequence of having joined in SOlne
Royalist plot against the Commonwealth and for
the restoration of Charles H.
In the preface fo the second book of Rabelais,
Sir Thomas promises very speedily to translate
the three remaining books of that author, so that
the whole "Pentateuch of Itabelais," as he calls it,
nfight be in the hands of English readers. But
this design was never completed. The translation
of the third book was found amont his papers,
and was published in 1693 by Pierre Antoine
Motteux, but it is probable that the editor himself
had some share in the work as issued fo the public.
Sir Theodore Martin considers that there is a
strong presumption against the truth of the above
accourir of Sir Thomas's death, in his entire silence
during the long period which elapsed between
the publication of his last work and 1660, the date
of the Ilestoration of Charles I. "Men," he says,
"so deeply smitten with the cacoëthes scribertdi as
Urquhart was, do not thus readily cast the pen
P. 37.
9 8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
aside; nor was the lack of a lublisher likely to
bave stood in the way of his literary career. His
writings, if for no other cause but the number of
his friends, must always have been a sale specu-
lttion for a printer, at a rime when l»rinting was
cheap and rea.ders numerous. ]3ut the imperfect
statc of his trmslation of abelais is perhaps the
best evidence of the inaccuracy of thc current belief.
Motteux says that Urquhart's version 'was
too kindly received hot to encourage him to English
the three remaining books, or ai least the third, the
fourth and fifth being in a manner distinct, as
being ]'antagruel's voyage. Accordingly he trans-
lated the third book, and would have finished the
whole, had hot deth prevented him.' This bears
hard against the supposition of that event having
occurred upwards of six years after the two first
books had been given to the world. It is probable
that he died much sooner, a victim in all likelihood
to that fiery restlessness of spirit,
'Which o'er-informs its tenement of clay,
And h'ets the lOigmy body to decay.'"
This conjecture is, however, improbable. A
petition from our author's brother, Sir Alexander
Urquhart, is still in existence, in which he asks for
a uew commission of hereditary Sheriffship of
Cromartie tobe ruade out for him, on the ground
of his being the eldest surviving son of the Sir
Thomas Urquhart who died in 1642. e Though
this document is unda.ted, i is assigned by the
editor of the volume of State Papers in v«hich it is
Rabelais, p. xiv. C,l. ,S'latc Pa2ers , Donestic, 1660-61, p. '2-37.
TRADITION PROBABLY CORRECT 99
tobe found, to August of 1660. if this date
be trustworthy, we nay be ahnost sure that the
traditional statement as to the ycar of out author's
death is correct.
The cause of his giving up his litcrary labours, and
of omitting to carry through thc work of translation
on which he had entercd, is, of course, unknown to
us. ]Ils health, physical or mental, nmy have be-
corne seriously impaired, or his spirits may bave
been too lnuch depressed by the misfirtunes that
crowded upou him, to alh»w him fo engage in
literary worlç Indeed, the alleged cause of dcah
from violent agitation of feeling cansed by hearing
of the Restoration of Charles ., argues in itself a
previous condition of great physical weakness.
There seems at first a certain grotesqueness in
such a fatal exuberance of joy in connexion with
such an event us Charles . regaining the crown
which his father had lost, and of which in another
generation all of his blood were tobe deprived.
But we have to keep in mind that Sir Thomas was
hot alone in his folly, if folly it were ; for a great
wave of exultation swept over the three kingdoms
at that rime. Out author had, like many of his
fellow-Royalisti, staked and lost everything he
possessed in the defence of the House of Stuart, and
one can have little difiîculty in understanding how
the announcement of the triumph of the cause,
which was so dear to him, should have agitated
him profoundly2
In the prcface to a new translation of Rabelais by W. F. Smith,
Esq., Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, some doubt is cast
al,on the above narrative of Sir ThomEs's dcath. Mr Smith
IOO SIR THOMAS URQUHART
Sir Alexander Urquhart failed to recover posses-
sion of either the barony or the Sheriffship of
Cromartie, and a year after the supposed date of
remarks, "This looks something like an imitation of Rabelais in
his account of thc death of Philemom" The reference is to the
tbllowig passages in Rabelais, who alluàes fo the story no fewer
thau three rimes. Ia Book i. 10, we reaà: "Just so the heart
with excessive joy is inwardly dilated, and suffereth a manifest
reso]ution of the vital spirits, which lnay go so farre on, that it
may thereby be deprived of its nourisbment, and by consecluence
of liïe itselï, by this Pericharie or extremity of gladnesse, as Galen
saith . . . and as if hath corne fo passe in former times . . . to
Philcmon and others, who died vith joy." I chap. xx. some
more particulars are given of the case; "As Philemon, who, for
secing au asse eate those figs, which were provided for his own
dinner, died with force oflaughing." tut in took iv. 17, we are
told tire whole story." "[leither ought you to wonder at] the
death of Philomenes, whose servant, having got him some new
tigs for the first course of his dinner, whilst he welt to fetch wine,
a straggling . . . ass got into the bouse, and, seeing the figs on
the table, witlmut îurthcr invitation, soberly fell to. Philomenes
coming into the room, and nicely observing with what gravity the
ass eat its dinner, said to his man, who was corne back, 'Since
thou hast set figs here for this revcrend guest of ours to eat,
mcthinks it is but rcason thou also give him some of this wine to
drink.' tIe had no sooncr said tl,is, but he was so excessively
pleased, and fell into so exorbitant a fit of laughter, that the use
of his spleen took that of his breath utterly away, and he immedi-
ately died." The story is taken froln Lucian (apofllot, c. 25)
or from Yalerius lIaximus (ix. 12), in wbich in the Paris folio
editio, (1517) the naine is given as Philomenes. There is un-
doubtedly a resemblance between the accourir of Philemon's death
and that of our author, but we think it can only be accidental.
The editor of the Edinburgh edition of tbe Tracts is, as I have
said, our only authority for the story of Urquhart's death ; but
there is no adequatc reason for doubting it. He seems to have
been ell versed in the history of the Urquhart famiIy, which he
brings Ul» fo date, and must have derived his information from
some mcmbers of it. It would be strange if in little more than a
ccntury aîter our author's death, an tttterly mythical account of it
should hoEve slrung up and round a llace amoug the details of
ESTATE PASSES TO COUSIN o
his petition, he is said to have ratified his cousin's
rights, 1 and in 16 6 3 he formally " disponed" the
estate (i.c. his title to it) to Sir John. 2 The new
ç«mily history. According to Lowndes's libliogr«l)hcr's [anual,
the editor of the volume was David Herd, the well-known
antiquary. Il" this statement be correct, we have all the more
reason fo ïely upon the SUplflementary information the volumo
contains, as Herd's acquaintance with Scottish history ail,| bio-
gïaphy was very extensive and accurate. In one of the _h'octcs
Ambrosiaa (llackwood's Magazinc, September, 1832), a highly
extravagant version is given of Urquhart's death. It is intcnded
to be humorous, but is merely fiat and silly. Only those can
stalle at if who have bcen trained up to believe that the _hoctcs
contain exquisite humour, and who bave, ihercfore, been accus-
tomed to welcome passages from it as mirth-inspiring. The state-
ment ruade in this mention of Urquhart, that his deaih was caused
by excessive alcoholic celebration of the happy evelt of the
Restoration, is utterly baseless and offensive ; and it is a pity that in
Allibone's Dictionary and in the Dictiotary of 'Vatioal Biograt&y
this article in Bla«kwood's Magazie should be rcferred to as one of
the sources of information conceaing Urquhart. The author of
it had hot access to any other account of Sir Thomas's dcath than
that given in the al)ove-mentioned edition of thc Tracts.
1 Acts of 39arliament, vii. 70.
Itwerness Sasiaes. The date when Sir Alexander Urquhart
received knighthood seems to be approximately fixed by the fact
that in a grant under the Privy Seal of 5th March, 1661, he is callc:l
Alexander, and in a notice of him of the 29th of the saue month
and year he appears as Sir Alexander (Acts of 39arliamctt, vil. 93).
From the fact that in this year the succession to the cstates and
hereditary Sheriffship of Cromartic were.entered upon by his cou.in
Sir John Urquhart of Craigfintray, it was taken for granted by the
editor of the Tracts (Edinburgh, 1774) that Sir Alexander had died.
This error is repeated by Hugh 5Iillcr, and by most of thosc who
bave ruade any reference to him. He was still alive in 1667, for
during that year he sol,l his s:dmon fishings in Over-rak and the
King's Water to John Gordon (sec also Acts of I)arliament, vii. 537).
He is spoken of as quodam in a charter of certain lands which had
belonged to him, 19th June, 1668. His cousin, Sir John Urquhart,
received knighthood about the saine rime ; at least he appears in
Parliament as Sir John» 1st January, 1661 (Acts of Parliamet, vil. 4).
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
possessors were, however, as unfortunate as their
immediate predccessors, for in no very long rime
they wcrc overwhelmcd by distresses like those
which had burdcned and embittered the lives of
)ur author and his father, lu 1682 the celcbmted
Sir Gcorge hLmkenzie, whose nmne, like that of
Queen Mary of England, is usutlly associated with
an unenviable epithet, as that of a cruel persecutor,
"apprized" the estate from Sir John's e son, Jonathan.
"There ws the Bluidy Advocate ]Iackenyie, who, for his
wor]dly wit and wisdom, had becn to the rest as god" (" Wander-
ing Willie's Talc" Rrdgautlet, chap. xi.).
There is said to have been some tragedy in connection with
the death of this Sir John Urquhart. According to Wodrow, as
quoted by Hugh Iiller, Mter hving posed as an ultra-Presbyterin,
he bec, me the friend and counse]lor of the ]ar] of Middleton,
Charles H.'s Commssoner for Scot]and, undcr whom Presby-
terianism was overturned and EldSCOl)acy set up iu its place (1661).
Tradition says that " about eleven years after the t)assing of the
Act, he fell into deep melancholy, and destroyed himself with
his own sword in one of the apartments of the o]d cast]e. The
sword, it is said, was flung into a neighbouring draw-well by one
of the domestics, and the stuin lcft by his blood on the walls and
floor of the apartment was distinctly visible at the rime the
building ws pulled down" (Scenes ad Ecgewls of the _horth of
Scotland, p. 111). Tradition is wrong, however, in saying eleven
years airer 1661; for on August 7th, 1677, Sir John, along with
others, received a commission " for 1)utting the ]aws against con-
venticles and other disorders into execution" ( lKodrow, ii. p. 366).
On the dealh of Jonatban's son, Colouel James Urquhart, in
1741, the shadowy honour of the hcadship of the family passed to
the Urquharts of hIeldrum, who were descended from the Tutor of
Cromartie by a third marriage with Elizabeth Seton, only daughter
of Alexander Seton of ]ieldrum, and ultimate]y heiress of that
estate. The last male representative of this line xvas ]Iajor
Bcauchamp Colclough Urquhart, who closed a promising career hy
a heroic dcath af the battle of Atbara, in the Sudan, on 8th April,
1898. His sister, Isabel Almie, is wife of Gardcn Alexader Duff,
Esq., tlatton Castle, Turrifl:
LATER HISTORY OF ESTATE IO 3
No one who knows what this means 1 will be sur-
prised to hear that it soon afterwards passed into
his possession. On his elevation to thc peerage
(1685) as Viscount Tarbat, first Earl of Cromartie,
he put his third-born son, Sir Kenneth, into posses-
sion of the estate, with the view of establishing a
branch of his family to be known as the Ma.ckenzies
of Cronmrtie. This phm was doomed to be defeated,
for Sir Kenneth's son George had no family, and
sold the estate to Captain William Urquhart of
Meldrum in 17413 The hmds were again sold fo
Patrick, Lord Elibank, in 1763, and by him to
George :Ross of Pitkerrie, nine years afterwards.
Mr Ross had amassed a large fortune in England
as an army agent, * and part of this he expended in
the purchase of the estate, and in the extensive
improvements which he effccted in it. One wishes
he had hot thought it desh'able fo pull down the
picturesque old castle, which had stood on the mote-
bill of Cromartie for three hundred years, and
which had sheltered so many generations of the
1 See p. 58.
-" Pococke, in his Tolo" through Scotland (1761), says of the castlo
of Cromartie : "It bas fllen into the hands of ono hlr Urquhart,
who had commanded Spanish Gally, and died Convert to
Popeïy; which slip his son, now eighteen years old, bas in some
degree recovered, by conforming to the Church of England"
(p. lï6 ; Scottish History Socictg}.
In the old Sttistical Account of Cromartie, and iu the preface
to the Maitlnd Club edition of Urquhart's Works, the estate is
said to bave passed into the banals of Sir William Pulteney.
Mr Ross is mentioned in the Letters of Junius (seo thoso of
29th November and 12th December, 1769). He was succeeded by
his nephew, from whom the present proprietor of Cromartie,
Mior Walter Charteris Ross, is dcsccnded.
o4 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
Urquhart family. Let us now, however, return fo
our author.
In telling the story of Sir Thomas Urquhart's
life, somc of his most striking peculiarities have
been disl)layed and illustrated, so tllat no one who
has rend the foregoing pages is altogether dependent
upon what lnay now be said for forming an estimate
of his character. His vanity is perhaps the most
striking trait in it; but only a very hard-hearted
moralist would call if a vice in his case, for itis as
artless as if is boundless, and is combined with so
much kindness of heart and generosity of feeling,
that we are more entertained by it than indignant
ai if. :No oue who looks into his wo,'ks can doubt
the intensity of his patriotism. Indeed, his pas-
sionate longing after personal faine is in all cases
combined with the wish fo couler additional glory
upon the land of his birth. His devotion to the
Royalist cause 1 is of the purest and most heroic
type, and the general tone of his character, as
revealed fo us in his books, is elevated and noble.
At the saine rime there is an element of the
grotesque in if, so that in his disinterested and
chivalrous disposition he reminds us of Don Quixote, e
Our Sir Thomas's memory should be cheri.hcd by defenders of
the naine and faine of liary Queen of Scots, for he goes so far as
to say that "igao,'auce, togethcr with hypocrisie, usury, oppression,
and i,fi,luty, took root in these parts [Scotla,dJ, whcn upright-
ness, plain-dealiug, and charity, with Astroea, took their flight
vith Quecn l[a T of Scotland iuto EngIand." Probably few of ber
admirers would be so daring as to assert this, though ,nany of
them doubtless would be glad to hear thc assertion ruade.
c We take the liberty of extracting these few sentences from the
lettcr of a friend, who has taken great iaterest in the execution of
this work :--" Sir Thomas would have been an original character in
ABSENCE OF HUMOUR o 5
while in his frequent allusions fo strugglcs wifl
peeuniary diffieulfies, as well as in his use of
magniloquent language, he disfinefly reealls Wilkins
Mieawber. A lively faney, a strain of genuine
erudifion beneafl his pedangl'y, and some sparks of
insanity, are oflmr elements in his Nngasfieal ehar-
,eter. Only a mind likc his own eould graee tire
maze of its windings and [sUrllillgS, and faflom
the depghs of igs eeeengrieity. In his flmughgs
"grugh is eonstantly beeoming ingerfused wifl
fiction, possibility wifl eergaingy, and tire hyper-
bolieal exgravaganee of his style only keeps even
paee wifla ghe prolifie shootings of his imagination." a
I is perhaps expeeged tiret one should, in a
measure, apologize for the eeeentrieigies of Urquhart's
elmraeter and literary sgyle, by explaining glaag he was
a humourist. But, unfortunately, humour is a quality
in whieh Urquharg was laeking, unless we undersgand
by the word mere fangastieal quaingness of flmught
and speeeh. In one passage of his works he speaks
wifla eontempt of "shallow-brained humourists, ''
and we should wrong his ghosg by putfing him
anaong ghose whom he abhorred. Nota single trace
of ghat subfle, graeeful play of faney and of feeling
whieh enters into our eoneepgion of humour is fo be
round in his works. His readers may smile as ghey
ahnost any surroundings--a kind of literary Quixote, with what
may be callet a 'parenthetical' genius, branching off af evcry
comma into the fresh images furnished by a teeming inmgination.
He was more than a translator of Rabelais--he scems fo have bcen
a kind of Rabelais himsclf."
Sir Theodore Martin, Rabel«is, p. xix. - See p. 8.
A different opinion is expressed in the preface to W. Han'ison
Ahsworth's capital novel of Cri«hton. "Sir Thomas," he says,
lO6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
turn over his pages, but he is always in deadly earnest.
The quality of wit he occasionally manifests in the
form of keen sarcasm, when hc gives full vent to
his feelings of scorn and contempt; as vhcn, for
example, hc describes those who went out to fight,
" but did hot hazard their precious persons, lest
thcy should seem to trust to the arm of flesh." 1
I[e can never give a simple statement of matters
of fact. Thus in his account of the Admirable
Crichton, instead of saying that the rector of the
university addressed a few complimentary sentences
to Crichton, and that the latter replied in the saine
rein, he says: " In complements after this manner,
ult'o cit'ooEue habitis, tossed to and again, retorted,
contrerisposted, backreverted, and nov and then
graced with a quip or a clinch for the better relish
of the ear, being unwilling in this kind of straining
curtesie to yeeld to other, they spent a full half-
hour and more." Everything must be dressed up
"with divers quaint and pertinent similes" belote it
is fit to be introduced to the reader's notice. To
quote again from the most accomplished literary critic
who bas written upon him: "IIistory, philosophy,
science, literature are ransacked for illustrations of
the commonest subject. His fancy is ever on the
alert, and you are constantly surprised by some
incongruous image, begotten in its wanton dllince
"is a joyous spirit--a right Pantagruelist ; and if he occasionally
'Projicit ampulls et sesquipedalia vêrba,'
he has an exuberancc of wit and plyfilness of fancy that amply
redeem his tendency to fanfaronade." Out readers have bundnce
of material before them fro" coming to a decision upon this question.
Sêe p. 85. " B'fl('s, p. 226.
PORTRAITS OF OUR AUTHOR o 7
with knowledge the most heterogeneous. He
bas always an eye to effect. His own learning
must be brought into play, rhetorical tropes must
flourish through his periods, 'suggesting to our
minds two several things at once,' aml, of course, as
diverse as possible, that ' the spirits of such as are
studious in learning may be filled with a most
wonderful delight.'" 1 His style reacts upon and
controls his thoughts, and often carries him, as
Ariosto's Hippogriff carried Astolfo, up into the
skies, whither those are unable to follow him who
are mounted on humbler animals, or bave no other
means than those with which they were born for
plodding along the dusty roads of earth.
If we can trust the two engraved portraits of
Sir Thomas Urquhart which bave corne down to us,
he was a man of handsome presence, and accustomed
to deck himself in all the splendour of costume to
which so many of his brother- cavaliers were
addicted. George Glover, the famous engraver,
drew both the portraits of him which are extant.
One of these appears as a frontisliece fo the
I'pigrams and to the ''issotctras. Itis a small
whole-length, and represents Sir Thomas in rich
dïess, e holding out his hand to receive from some
Sir Theodore Martin, R,&el«is, p. xx.
-"In Granger's iographical Di«tionat T (1779), this portrait is
describcd erroneously, as Sir Thomas Urquhart is said in it to be
dressed in armour. Probably the descriptionwas given from memory.
In the second volume of Bohn's edition of ttabelais, the frontis-
piece is a half-length portrait of the trnslator, evidently repro-
duced from the above. The effect, however, is highly disagreeable,
and the likeness must have produced an unfavourable opinion of
our author in the minds of most of those who bave looked
Ul)On it.
IO8 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
allegorieal personage a laurel wreath " for Armes
and Artes." 1 On a table beside him are his hat
and embroidered cloak. In the vacant spaces on
each side of the upper part of the figure are his
naine and titles : " S r Thomas Urchard, Knight, of
Bray and Udol, etc., Baron of Ficherie and Clohorby,
etc., Laird Baron of Cromartie and Hêritable Sheriff
thereof, etc." The portrait is described as taken
from the lire, and engraved in 1641 ; e a«ld beneath
itis a couplet by W. S., as follows :
"Of him whose shape this Picture hath design'd,
Verrue and learning represent the Mind."
Who W. S. was we do hot know. The date forbids
our identifying him with the Bard of Avon. He
was probably one of those mysterious personages,
who were always at hand to write epistles of com-
mendation to works by Sir Thomas, and to testify
on their " book-oath" to his gifts and graces.
The second engraved portrait is of great rarity,
and only one impression of it is known to be in
In this engraving, which is our frontispiece, the Greek inscrip-
tion runs thus : -o?s c vrttxa«tv I¢a vrpotrTda¢tv efiXapttrT , and
means, "1 thank lhosc ie]w sett you atd gave the odez." These
words arc, of course, addressed to the messengcr who has been
commissioncd by the Muses to convey the wreath to Sir Thomas.
Above thc wrcath itself is an obscure phrase--Movaapv[] ar6hos--
which is evidently a mixture of Latin and Greek, mtesaTum «T5,OS
(=d'5aTo),os?), "nessetger of the mscs." It may, however, be
that ar6hos is to be taken as "cçuitmctt" or "decoratiot," as
referring to the wreath. The courage with which Greek and Latin
forms are mixed up, and an ohl word dcspatchcd on its way with a
new meaning, of vhich this brief phrase gives evidence, is highly
cha'acteristic of Cromartian Greek. For further illustration of
the peculiarities of this local va'iety of Hellenic speech, see p. 149.
- Sir Thomas, therefore, claires by anticipation the titles of Baron
and Sheriff, which were afterwards to bc his.
The Puet sttrrounded by the Muses.
SETE ON PARNASSUS io 9
existence. It was probably meant to be a frontis-
piece to the unpublished volume of Epigrams
described on p. 116, the title of which was to have
been .A29ollo and the Mt«ses, but which never round
its way into print. In this engraving Sir Thonms
is depicted as seated with great complacency upon
Mount larnassus, in the midst of the Muses, seven
of whom are pressing, upon his attention wreaths of
1,urel of which he is worthy, "for Judgment, Learn-
ing, witt, Invention, sweetness, stile." At his feet
is the sacred fountain of Castalit or ttippocrene,
into the waters of which the other two Muses are
sportively dipping "sprinklers" or asperges. One
of them seems inclined to give Sir Thomas a
sprinkling, but refrains, either because it was
unnecessary or for fear of spoiling his nice clothes.
In the background, the winged horse 1)egasus is
flying sufficiently low down to allow a woman to
pluck a couple of feathers from his wings. Thesc
This use of the quills is referred to in the following passage in
Sir Thomas Urquhart's £lffgrams (MS.) :--
"The Invocation to Clio.
Book 2.
Wench wholly martial, fo whose inspiration
The Colophouian PSet ow'd his skill:
Let my verse merit no Lesse estimation,
Then [than] if the point of a Pegasid quill,
Dip'd in the sacred fontain Cballine,
Character'd the Impression of each Line."
The "Colophonian PSet" is--" hot to put too fine a point upon it"
--Homer, who, accoïding to some, was born at Colol,hos, in Asia
Minor. The phrase "Pegasid quill" in this passage strengthens
our opinion that this second portrait of Sir Thomas, which we give
here, ws intended to be a frontispiece to a second volume of
poems. The similarity of diction between this "Invocatiou" aud
the spceches of Ancient Pistol is very gret.
,o SIR THOMAS URQUHART
are no doubt intended fo l?rovide pens for Sir
Thomas's next literary undertaking. In the further
distance are several ïeathered creatures, which arc
probably meant for poetical swans, but which bear
a pùnful likeness to prosa.ic geese. Af the foot of
the picture in ont corner we have Apollo, playing on
his lyre; and on the ground in front are a half-
starved dragon and a shake, writhing in impotent
rage, as they witness the triumph oï Sir Thomas.
We can hardly be mistakcn in concluding that
thcse l«tst are symbolical rcl)rescntations of cnvious
and ctrlfing crities.
CHAPTER IV
EPIGRAMS: DIVINE AND ][ORAL, AND TEllE
EEISSOTETRAS
16 41, Sir Thomas [rrquhart pul dished
his first work--a volume of poems, en-
titled "EPIaA1s: DIVINE AND [ORAL," 1
and dedicated to the lIarquis of Hamil-
ton. The poems are divided into three
books, two of hich contain forty-five
epigrams, while the third contains forty-four. Most,
of them are in iambic pentameters, and are for the
greater part sextets in form; but though the versi-
fication is occasionally smooth, these compositions
do little credit to the Muse who inspired them.
They are, without an exception, pointless; and an
epi'am without a point is about as useless
and exasperating as a needle -ithout one. It is
Knight. London : Printed by Barnard Alsop and Thomas Fawcet,
in the Yeare 1641."
- It is only fait, however, to Urquhart to rêmember that his
idea of an Epigram was probably different from ours. In modern
rimes point or "bite" is regarded as essential to such kind of
compositions. The original idea of them vas that they should
contain a single distinct thought, and be briêf enough to serve as
inscriptions.
112 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
somewhat remarkable that in his prose compositions
the imagination of Sir Thomas seems quite un-
fettered, while in his poems it is under some such
restraining influence as a strait-waistcoat is said
to exercise upon a certain class of patients.
A wild legend, the origin of -hich is unknown,
but which is utterly baseless, asserts that Urquhart
" was laureated poet at l'aris before he was three
and twenty years of age. ''1 We could hardly
conceive of any responsible authorities being so far
" left to themselves " as to do a deed like this. The
story may be either the misapplication to Urquhart
of some vague tradition of «,ne of the feats of his
hero, the Admirable Crichton, or of what he himself
has actually recorded of the poet, Arthur Johnston3
A modern critic, vho has given Urquhart a full
measure of praise, finds himself unable to say a
word in favour of his poelns. "This slender
volume," he remarks, "gives hot the slightest
promise of talent. Its stanzas are indistingMshcd
and indistinguishable. There is no reason why any-
one should have written them, but, on the other
hand, there is no reason why anyone should hot.
They express the usmd commonplaces: the inevit-
ableness of death, and the worth of endeavour. A
mildly Horatian sentiment is dressed up in the
tattered rags of Shakespearianism, and the surprise
is that the author, whose prose is restrained by no
eonsideration of sound or sense, should have deemed
it worth whilc to print so talne a collection of
exereises." 3
Granger's Biographical History, iii. 160.
" IVorks, p. 263. Charles Whibley, 5¥iv tcview, July 1897.
THE EPIGRAMS 3
A favourable specimen of the E2)i9rams is the
following from the first book :-
"How DIFFICULT A THING IT IS TO TREAD IN THE PATHES
OF rERTUE.
«, The way to vertue's hard, uneasic, bends
Aloft, being full of steep and rugged alleys;
For never one to a higher place ascends,
That always keeps the plaine, and pleasant valleyes :
And reason in each human breast ordaincs
That precious things be purchased with paines."
Or take this from the opposite page :
«WHEN A TRUE FRIEND IAY BE BEST KNOWNE.
« As the glow-worme shines brightest in the darke
And frankincense smells sweetest in the tire;
So crosse adventures make us best remarke
A sincere friend from a dissembled lyer;
For some, being friends to our prosperity,
And hot to us, when it failes, they decay. »
The fault of obscurity, of which the poet
Browning bas been accused, could hot be laid to
the charge of Sir Thomas Urquhart. Nor can it
be said of him that he neglects truths that are
obvious, and occupies himself in discovering and
bringing forward those that are recondite. The
sentiments to which he gives utterance seem those
which spontaneously occur to the average mind;
on reading the subject of the poem, as given in the
title, and then the poem itself, we think
"A said whot a owt to 'a said,"
and we corne away without any feverih mental
agitation or aeeelerated movement of pulse2
* A school-girl once wrote in a copy of Moral Tales, which she
used for ber Italian lesson% that they were "moral to the last
8
4 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
The sentiments which, froln his own account,
had, on more occasions than one, filled his mind,
are expressed in the piece entitled " THE 6EIEIOUS
SPEECH OF A :NOBLE CAVALLIER AFTER HE ttAD
DISAIldIED IIIS fl._DVERSARY AT THE SINGLE COMBAT."
They are as follows :--
"Though with my raper, for the guerdon
Your fult deserveth, I may ldcrce ye,
Your penitence in crtving pardon,
Transpassions my revenge in mercy ;
And wills me bofl to end this present strife,
And give you leave in peace t' enjoy your life."
Another Epigram, which one critic regards as
Urquhart's chef d'ceux,re in this kind of composition,
is the following :--
"Take man from qcoman, all that she can show
Of her own proper, is nought else but wo."
In a letter of conmmndation prefixed to his next
work, 'hc 'rissotctras, Sir Thomas Urquhart says of
himself : " This Mathematicall tractate doth no lesse
bespeak him a good lPoet and Orator, then [tban]
by his elaboured poems he bath showne himselfe
already a good lhilosopher and Mathematician."
This sclf-criticism is all that could be desired. A
dcgree." The saine may be said of Sir Thomas Urquhart's Moral
l'pigrams.
This reminds one of Alice's subtraction sure. "Take a bone
from a dog. What remains ? The dog's temler would
remain" (Th'ough the Zooking-Glass, chalo, ix.). A somewhat
different and more sombre turn of thought than the above was
suggested to Southey's Dr Dove by the resemblance between the
words. "lYoman," hc says, "evidently neaning cither man's woe
--or abbreviated from woe to ma», because by woman was woe
brought into the world" (/7,e Doctor, chap. ccviii.).
FLASHES OF WIT I5
work on lnathematies thttt proves an authol"S
possession of poetical and rhetorical gifts, and a
volume of poetry which leads one fo think that
the singer is an accomplished mathematician, are
gifts with which the world is but seldom favoured,
and as it is likely that their merits will hot
instantly be observed, the zeal of the author in
calling our attention fo them is by no means
unnecessary. But when he goes on fo say, still
speaking of himself in the third person, "The Muses
never yet itspired sublimer conceptions in a more
refined stile then [thtn] is to be round in the accu-
rate strain of his most ingenious Epigrams," we feel
that he is less felicitous, tIis first shot bas hit the
blank, but the second is wide of the target altogether.
In his dedication of the volume to " the Mtrquis
of tIamilton, Earle of Arren and Cambridge, etc.,"
he describes ifs contents as " but fltshes of wit." A
modern reader will probably, howevcr, be inclined
to think that this modest opinion of them is far too
flattering. Ai rimes there is a ftfint suggestion of a
possible gleam of brightness, but this is instantly
followed by Egyptian darkness, and one is reminded
of a revolving light that has somehow gone wrong.
The volume closes with the somewhat liturgical
formula, "tIere end the first three ]3ookes of Sir
Thomts Vrch,rd's Epigrams," and with a doxology,
the latter being almost the only trace of marrer in
if fo justify the use of "Divine" in the title. The
author was evidently prepared fo go on with more
"bookes" of the kind, if he got any encouragement
from publishers or public, but, probably, both
thought if about rime for him fo stop. The fact
6 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
that, in rive years after this volume of poems had
appeared, a second edition should ,pl»arent]y bave
been brought out, would seem at first to indicate
that there must bave been some little run upon the
Epigras. But the truth of the nmtter is, that one
" William Leake" had evidently got the "remainder,"
,nd issued them in 1646 with a new title-pge.
lu the Introductory otice to Sir Theodore
Martin's edition of Rtbelais, some information is
given concerning a folio volume of unpublished
Epigrams by Urquhart, which is still in existence. 1
It consists of ten books, called after Aloollo and
the hIuses, each containng 110 Epigrams, except
the ltst, which bas 113. The IS. is dcdicated to
the Marquis of Hamilton; but, in addition to this,
each book bas r separate dedication to some one of
the author's political associates or friends. The
persons thus honoured are the ]Iarquis of ttuntly,
the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Northumberland,
the Erl of Iembroke, the Earl of Dorset, the
Earl of Holland, the Earl of ewcastle, the Earl of
Stafford, Lord Craven, and Lord Gaurin (Gowran).
According to the custom of that time, the readcr
finds his progress barred by several prefaces,
resloectively named, in this instance, as the
" Isagoge, or " Introduction," tbe "l'remomtmn,
and the "lrolog, '' and cannot get away without a
The title is as ïollows :--" Te ooks of Eloigrams : the Curio-
silie whereof, for Cotception, stile, i.astruction, and Other mixtures
of slow and substance, beSg no lesse fruilfdl then [than] pleasitg
to the diligent Peruser, are entitled Aeoo ad the MtsEs. [$5"itten
by thc Right l-orshiTfll Sr Tuot,s Ur, c,ID, lxiglt." The
volume is now in the possession of Professor Ferguson, of Glasow
Univeriy. From it out specimen of his handwriting is takeu.
Fac-simile of Sir Tholnas Urquhart's handwriting considerably reduced.
THE UNPUBLISHED EPIGRAMS 17
"Corollarie," an "_Animadversion," several extra
leaves of verses, "A Table for the more easie finding
oug of such Epigrams as treag of oue subject,"
an " Index," and a "List of proper names."
For one of these latter he bas reason to be grateful
to Sir Thomas, for the "Index" is a glossary of
" the harshest and most diculg words contained in
the preceding Epigrams."
The general characer of the unpnblished
El,igrams does no seem to be highcr than tha of
those which bave seen the light of day, and
consequently there is little likelihood of any anxiety
being expressed by the general public for a sigh
of them. Some of them also are of a sportive
turn, and are more in accorda.nce with the standard
of taste and manners which prevailcd in the middle
of the seventeenth century than with that of our
own day. From the "Animadversion" it secms
that Urquhart " contryved, blocked, and digested
these eleven hundred epigrams in a thirteen weeks
tyme." This sttrely breaks the record in the
matter of speed in producing epigrams, lfad the
results been better, one would have had more plea-
sure in supporting Sir Thomas against all-comers.
The second ]iterary venture nmde by Sir Thomas
Urqtflart was the publication of a scientific work,
cntitled "TIIE TRIS8OTETRA8"--a treatise which
The title-page, according to the custom of the time, gives a
somcwhat elaborate account of the contents of the volume. It runs
as follows :--"TiE EI:ISSOTETI:AS : Or, .4 ttOSt X(lttSflC 'ablc for
Resolving all manner:of Triangles, whether plain or sl,hericall , Rcct-
angular or Obliquangular, with greater ficility, then [than] evcr
hitherto bath been practised : Most necessary for ail such as would
attaine t tl.,e exact know!edge of Fortification, Dyaling, aviga-
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
professed to simplify trigonometry. Yet, notwith-
standing the statement on the title-1)age that the
new method of working Iroblems in that depart-
ment of mathematical science would be found in-
valuable by soldiers, sailors, architects, astronomers,
aud others, the volume seems to have dropped at
once into the depths of oblivion, without even
having 1)roduced ripple upon the surface of the
w,tel's. :No one is known to bave read it or to
have been able to read it. Lord Bacon, indeed,
says th,t things solid and weighty are drowned in
the river of rime, while things that are light and
blow»u 1) are carried down by its current) A very
comfortable theory would this be for those of us
who write books that are found unreadable and
drop at once out of notice, if only some trustworthy
person could be found who would certify to the
truth of Lord :Bacon's assertion.
The editor of the ]\Iaitland Club edition of Sir
Thomas Urquhart's Works has some qualms of
conscience about reprinting this treatise. With a
touch of humour, which only truc :Philistines will
fully appreciate, he says that some apology may
tion, Surveying, Architecture, the Art of Slmdowing, taking of
tleights and Distances, the use of both the Globes, Perspective,
tbc skill of making Maps, thc Theory of the Planers, the caleulating
of their motions, and ail other Astronomicall Computations what-
soever. 1Vow lately invented, and perfected, explained, commented
on, and, with ail possible brevity and perspicuity, in the hiddest
and most re-searehed mysteries, ti'om the very first m'ounds of the
Science it selfe, proved, and convincingly demonstrated. By Sir
Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie, Knight. Published for the benefit
of those that are mathematically affeeted. JSondon, Printed by
James Young. 1645."
Ad«acemcnt of Lea,',Jng.
THE TRISSOTETRAS 19
appear necessary, evc to a, A.ntioEuarian Çlub, 1 for
rcprinting a work apparently so unintelligible and
useless ; and accordingly he shelters himself behind
the opinion of Air Wallace, the l'rofessor of Mtthe-
maçics in tbe University of Edinburgh af that time
(1834). " I have," says Air Wallace, who had been
asked to examine the work, " looked at Sir Thomas
Urquhart's Trissotetras, but I hardly know what fo
think of it. The book is hot absolute nonsense, but
is written in a most unintelligible way, and so as
never book was written before nor since. On this
accourir if is truly a literary curiosity. There
al,pears fo have been a perverted ingenuity exercised
in writing it, and I imagine that, with some
patience, the author's plan might be understood,
but I doubt if any man would take the trouble; for,
after he had overcome the difficulty, there is nothing
to reward his labour. I presume the object of the
author was to fix the rules of Trigonometry in the
memory, but no writer since his rime bas adopted
his invention. Indeed, I do not observe the least
mention of his book in the history of mathematical
science. Yet, for his time, he seems hot to have
been a bad mathematician. Urqnhart speaks in
terres of great praise of Napier, yet not greater
than he deserved. I infer from this that he was
well acquainted with the subject as then known.
The book in question is certahfly a curio,s, if hot a
1 The italics are ours.
-"Sir Theodore Martin remarks that this conclusion nearly re-
sembles that of Socrates, upon being asked his opinion of the book
of Heraclitus the Obscure. "Those things," he said, "which I
understood were excellent; I imagine so were those I understood
hot ; but they require a diver of Delos" (Rabcla is, p. xviii.).
o SIR THOMAS UROUHART
valuable relic of Scottish genius in the olden time,
and it is a good specimen of the pedantry and
fantastic faste of the Author. If, therefore, by re-
printing his works, it be intendcd fo give a true
portraiture of him, ffhc Y'rissotetras should on that
accourir, and I see no better reason, again pass
through the press." 1
The volume is dedicated "To the right honour-
able and lnOSt noble lady, my dear and loving
mother, the Lady Dowager of Cronmrtie." The
"Epistle Dedicatory" is couched in the high-flown
language which others would have had difficulty in
concocting, but which seems fo flow with ease from
the lips of Sir Thomas. "Thus, Madam," he says,
" unto you doe I totally belong; but so as that
those exteriour parts of mine, which by birth are
from your Ladiship derived, cannot be more for-
tunate in this their subjection, notwithstanding the
egregious advantages of bloud and consanguinity
thereby fo them accruing, then [than] ny selfe ara
happy, as from my heart I doe acknowledge it, in
the just right your Ladiship hath fo the eternall
possession of the never-dying powers of my soule."
The following passage from the saine "Epistle"
reminds one of the adulatory terres in which Sir
Walter Ilaleigh and Spenser addressed Queen
Elizabeth: "ly verrue of your beloved society,
your neighbouring Countcsses, and other great
dames of your kindred and acquaintance, bccome
more illustrious in your imitation Il.c. in imitation
of you]; amidst whom, as Cynthia amont the
obscurcr planets, your Ladiship shines, and darteth
I'or's, p. xvi.
THORNY TERMINOLOGY" I 2 1
the angelick rayes of your matchlesse example on
the spirits of those who by their good Genius bave
been brought into your favourable presence to be
enlightened by them." The concluding passage in
his Dedication is still more remarkable: "I will here,"
he says, "in all submission, most humbly take my
leave of your Ladiship, and beseech Almighty God
that it may please his Divine Majesty so to blesse
your Ladiship with continuance of dayes, that the
sonnes of those whom I bave not as yet begot, may
attaine to the happinesse of presenting unto your
Ladiship a braine-babe of more sufficiencie and con-
sequence." 1
The ordinary reader who looks into thc volulne
cannot fail to be appallcd by the new and mysterious
terres with which its pages are crowded. Words
like " proturgetick," "quadrobiquadrequation," "sin-
diforall," "cathetobasall," "loxogonosphericall," and
"zetetick," are freely used, and many others equally
hard and thorny. Even the author himself finds
it necessary to append to the work a glossary,
containing an explanation of a number of the
words of which he had ruade use. " t3eing certainly
perswaded," he says, " that a great many good spirits
[i.e. worthy souls] ply Trigonometry that are not
versed in the learned tongues, I thought fit for their
encouragelnent to subjoyne here the explication of
the most important of those Greek and Latin termes,
which for the more efilcacy of expression I have
ruade use of in this Treatise." e
In some cases, however, the "explication," instead
of dispelling the darkness, only renders it more
1 lforl:s, p1). 55-57. " lbid. p. 131.
122 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
visible, as when, c.g., we are told that "catlctobasall
is said of the concordances of loxogonosphericall
moods, in the dtas of the perpendicular and the
base, for finding out of the maine quoesitum." "ln-
vcrsioall," we are told, "is said of the concordances
of those moods which agree in the manner of thei_r
inversion; tha is, in placing the second and ïourth
termes of the analogy, together with their indow-
ments, in the roolnes of the first and third, nd
contrariwise." I)robably only those who are able to
follow the statement that "o2Wovcrticall is said of
those moods which have a catheteuretick concord-
ance in their datas of the saine cathetopposites
and verticM1 mgles," will be qualified fo give an
intelligent assent o the staement that "sindiforall
is said of those moods the fourth terme of whose
amlogie is onely illatitious fo the mairie quoesitum." 1
Besides the Epistle of Dedication to the author's
mother, there are two Epistles nd SOlne Latin
verses addressed fo the reader. The former of
these last-mentioned Epistles is signed by Sir
Thomas, and consists of glowing tribute of re-
spec to Napier, the inventor of logaritbms. "To
vrite of Trigonometry," he says, "nd hOt make
mention of the illustrious Lord Neper oï Marchiston,
The uthor of the above sentences is one of the very few persons
in history or fiction known to us who wotld have been qualified to
join in thc conversation of the ldeasant company iii Illyria, 'hen
they began "to speak of Pigrogromitus, and of the Vapians passing
the equinoctial of Queubus " (Twcl.fth -hright, Act II. Sc. iii.)--the
allusion to which bas caused so many German commentators on
Shakespeare to spend s]eepless nights in their ]ibraries.
e John lal»ier , of Merchiston (1550-1617), who published his
invention in 1614. Otlr author ea]ls him Lord lapier, but we are
to undorstand the title as simply equivalent to "laird." tIe calls
NAPIER'S LOGARITHMS 3
the inventer of Logarithms, were to be unmindfull
of him that is out daily benefactor ; these artificiall
nulnbers by him first excogitated and perfected,
being of such incomparable use, 1 that by them we
may operate more in Ole day, and with lesse danger
of errour, then [thau] can be done without them in
the space of a whole week ; a secret -hich would have
himself on one of his title-pages Ba.v ]lc.rchistonii, but that phrase
is mercly the designation of the supcrior of a b.rony, or lord of a
manor. I,, the old Scottish Parliament men of this rank sat as
The subject of logariflmis is pcrhaps Olle of those things which
the ordinary readcr might safcly be presumed to know something
about. In these days of higher education for womcn, it would be
an act of impertinence to provide information on this point for tlmt
class of our readcrs. The following explanatious are, therefore,
intended for those members of the inferior sex whose education on
thc nmthcmatical side has bcen neglected. The idea of logarithms
arose in the mind of apier from the wish to simplify the processes
of multiplication and division, by making addition and subtraction
take thcir plie. To effect this, connect together a series of
numbers increasing by arithmeticM progression with a serics
incr«zsing by multiplication or by nmthenmtical progression.
Thus: 0. 1. 5. 32. 10. 102.
1. 2. 6. 64. 11. 2048.
2. 4. î. 128. 12. 4096.
3. 8. 8. 256. 13. 8192.
4. 16. 9. 512. 14. 16384.
To multit,ly, ay, 6 by 256, that is, to find thc 1.roducts of the
6th and 8th powers of 2, we lnust tke the (6 + 8)th or 14th power,
which ri'oto the kble is 1638. To divide 8192 by 256, or the 13th
power of 2 by the 8th, we must take the (13-8)th or 5th power,
which from the table is 32. By means of this principle calcula-
tions can be lnade by persons whose business it is to do so, and
stored up apart for use. The vast saving to mental labour by this
simple and beutiful adjustment of uumbers may be estimated by
a glance at any collection of tables of logarithms. In a science
like astronomy, progress would be terribly impcded if calcultions
had to be conducted by the ordinary mcthods.
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
beene so precious to antiquity that l'ythagoras, all
the seven wise men of Greece, Archimedes, Socrates,
llto, Euclid, and Aristotle, had, if cooevals, joyntly
adored him, and unanimously concurred to the
deifying of the revealer of so great a mystery."
concludes with the splendid sentence that :Napier's
" immortall faine, in spite of time, will out-last all
ages, and look eternity in the face." 1
The second Epistle to the reader is of a very
startling kind. If professes to be by some one
whose initials are J. A., and if is written in coin-
inondation of the look and its author, but there
can be no doubt tht it is the production of Sir
Thomas himself. He could no more disguise lfis
syle of writing than Sir l»icrcie Shafton could lay
asidc his Euphuistic English. After rcading thc
laudatory sentences bestowed upon the inventor
of logarithms, it is very amusing to find J. A.
renmrking of Sir Thomas Urquhart, that "tle praise
he hath beene pleased to couler on the learned and
hoourable :Neper, doth, without any diminution, in
cvery jot as duly belong unto himselfe." As all our
author's eulogies are constructed on a vast scale, it
is hot surprising to read that the new method of
measuring triangles, as compred with the old, is
like the sea-journcy betwcen the l'ill«trs of Hercules
[" commonly called thc Straits of Gibraltar "), as
compared with the land-journey from the one to
the other. In the one case, wc have a short voyage
of hot more than six hom's' sail; in thc other case,
a wa.lk of somc scven thousand long miies. The
two concluding paragraphs of the Epistle are so
Vorl¢s, p. 59. Ibid. p. 61.
A VALUABLE SECRET I2 5
extraordinary and so characteristic of our author,
that we must be allowed to quote then at lcngth.
« The secret unfolded in the following book," says
J. A., " is so precious, that [the author's] countrey
and kindred would not bave been more honoured
by him had he purchased [1,rocured] millious of
gold, and sevcrall rich territories of a grcat and
vast extent, then [than] for this subtile and divine
invention, which will out-last the continuance of
any inheritance, and renmine fresh in the under-
standings of men of profound literature, when
bouses and possessions will change their owners,
the wealthy become poor, and the children of the
needy enjoy the treasures of those whose heires are
impoverished. Therefore, seeing for the rnany-fold
uses thereof in divers arts and sciences, in specula-
tion and practice, peace and war, sport and earnest,
with the admirable fm'therances we reape by it in
the knowledge of sea and land, and heaven and
earth, it cannot be otherwise then [than] per-
manent, together with the Author's faine, so long as
any of those endure; I will, Goal willing, in the
ruines of all these, and when rime it selfe is exIired,
in :testimony of my thankfulnesse in particular for
so great a benefit, if after the resurrection there be
any COmlAementall [complimentary] af«bility, ex-
lresse myselfe then as I doe now, The Author's most
affectionate, and lnOSt hulnbly devoted servant, J.A."
Why out author should bave resorted to this
device for recommending himself and his book, we
cannot tell. lerhaps he felt that some strong
affirmations were needed in the case. lrobably he
lIorL's, p. 63.
I26 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
agreed with the old saying that, if you wish work
tobe thoroughly donc, you had better doit your-
self. The moral aspect of the marrer we leave in
the hauds of our readers for discussion.
In rive Latin elegiac couplets of a very neat and
polished kind, Alexander Ross 1 recommends The
Trissolctras to the reader, and assures the author
that Scotia, whom by his writings he was exalting
to the stars, looked down upon him with a benig-
haut stalle. Ross himself is now only known to
most of us from the mention ruade of him in
t[udibras, in the well-known passage-
" There was an ancient sage philosophcr
Who had rêad Alexander Ross over."
It is to be feared that Alexander 12,oss had hot
performed the saine fcat with regard to Sir Thomas
Urquhart's treatise; for his verses e would have
Alexandcr Ross (1590-1654) was a believer in ccntaurs and
grifiïns, in nations of giants aud pygmies, and also, of course,
in witchcs. In short, a prctty accurate statement of his in-
tellectual crccd might be constructcd by turning into the articles
of a confession of faith the list of "Vulgar Errors » controverted
by Sir Thomas Browne. It is interesting to know that he was
probably the last person in Scotland who heard the voice of
the water-kell,ie. "One day," he says, " travelling before day
with some company near the river Don in Abcrdeen, we hcard a
great noise and voices calling to us. I was going to answer, but
was forbid by my company, who told me ihey were spirits, who
noyer are heard there but before the death of somebody ; which
fell out too true, for the next day a gallaut genfleman was
drowned, with his horse offcring to svim over" (Quoted in
Lires of Emiet Mcn of Abcrdce, by J. Bruce).
" They begin--
" Si cupis oeflierios tutb 1)eragrare meatus,
Et sulcare audes si vada salsa matis," etc.
A friend, who knows
A PRAVER FOR CRITICS I2 7
been equally appropriate if the subjcct of thcm had
been a flying-machiue or a water-tricycle invented
by his friend.
At the end of the glossary in which the hardest
words in The Trissotetras are explained, the author
addresses a word in seasou to the persons iuto
whose hauds his boo] may fall. He expects that
" lcarued and judicious mathematicians" will welcome
it, and he promises them more of the saine kind.
His dignified attitude towards carping critics is very
impressive. "But as for such," he says, "who,
either uuderstauding it hot, or vain-gloriously being
accustomed to criticise on the works of others, will
presume to carp therein at what they cannot
amend, I pray God to illmninate their judgments
and rectifie their wits, that they may kuow more
and censure lesse; for so by forbearing detraction,
the venom whereof lnUSt needs reflect upon them-
selves, they will corne to approve better of the
endeavours of those that wi:»h them no harme."
" Himself to sing and build the lofty rhyme,"
has given me the following metrical translation of Ross's verses :--
" Wvuldst thou in safety trace ethereal ways,
Or plough with daring keel the briny deep;
Shouldst thon earth's vide expanses long to span,
Corne hither, make this learned book thine own.
By it, without Doedalian wings, canst fly,
-nd without Neptune, through the depths canst swim ;
By it thon canst subdue the Lybian heat,
_l[1 bear the cruel cold of Scythian skies.
On, Thomas! Scotia, whom unto the stars
Thy writiugs raise, will yet rejoice in thee."
IVo'ks, p. 146. 2V.B.--The attention of professional critics is
respectfully directed fo the above passage.
CI[APTER V
HANTOXPONOXANON, or, TIIE I)EDIGREE
lqE of the most characteristic of Sir
Thomas Urquhart's works is his
HANTOXPONOXANON : or,
A l'cculiar PROMPTUARY of
TIME. 1 This contains a com-
plete pedigree of the Urquhart
family from the creation of the world down to the
year A.D. 1652. Prefixed to it is a letter to the
reader by "a well-wisher," whose initials are G. P.,
into whose hands the pedigree had fallen by mere
chance, and who had thought himself bound in
duty to the public to see it safely through the
press. According to the statements of this dis-
interested philanthropist, the work in question was
but one of a large number of papers of very great
flnportance, forming part of the author's baggage,
1The full title ofthe Wol-k is as follows :--IIANTOXPONOXANON :
or, A Peculiar PROMPTUARY of TIME; Wherein (hot one
instant being omitted since the beginning of notion) is displayed
A most exact DIrECTOIY for ail particular Chronologics in what
Family soever: And that by deducing the true Pedigree and
Lineal descent of the most ancient and honourable naine of the
VRQVHARTS, in the bouse of COAnTIE, since the Creation of
the world, until this present yeer of God, 1652. London, Printed
for Richard Baddeley, and are to be sold at his shop, within the
]Iiddle-Temple-Gate, 1652.
A NARROW ESCAPE 2 9
whieh he had to abandon after the battle of
Woreester. It is the habit, we know, of im-
peeulfiOUS and importunate wayfarers to earry abou
with them documents of interest to whieh they
solieit attention; but why a man in Sir TholnaS
Urquhart's position should have gone on a eam-
paign, eneulnbered by various unpublished works
in manuseript, itis diffieult to say. l'erhaps the
simplest explanation is tlmt he was diflbrent from
other people.
The soldiers of Cromwell, we were told, ruade
but light of this portion of the enemy's baggage,
after "the fatal blowe given to the Royal party st
Woreester"; indeed, but for "a surpassing honest
and civil offieer of Colonel Pride's regiment," the
pedigree of the Urquharts would have been used
by "a file of musquettiers to afford smoak to their
pipes of tobaeeo." 1
The faine of Sir Thomas as an author and as
a soldier moved G. P., as he tells us, to commit this
treatise to the press. With eonsiderable ingenuity
he remarks that, though the author is now in prison
as a oyalist, he understands tha his position is
by no means "so desperate as that he thereby will
be mueh endangered." If any doubt up to this
point existed as to who G. P. might be, if is set st
test by the terres in whieh he pleads for favom'able
conditions being granted to the prisoner. " Itis
humbly desired," he says, "and, as I believe, from
the hearts of ail that are aequainted with him, that
the greatesg State in the world stain hOt their glory
by being the Atropos to eut the thred of thag
I lVo'ks, l 3. 151.
i3o SIR THOMAS URQUHART
which Saturne's sithe hath hot been able to mow in
the progress of all former ages, especially in the
10ersou of him whose inward abilities are like to
produce effects conducible to the State of as long
continuance for the future. ''x Only Sir Thomas
Urquhart himself had the secret of what we may
call the "spacious" manner of self-eulogy, which by
its very grandeur seems lifted up above all such
pctty feelings as pride or vanity.
The concluding passage in the address to the
reader is also worth quoting, as it illustrates the
magnanimous spirit in which the captive deprecates
severity towa.rds himself on the ground of the
injury which would thereby redouud to the State.
" Considering," it says, " how formerly he hath been
a Mecenas to the scholar, a patron to the souldier,
a ïavourer of the marchaut, a protector of the
artificer, and upholder of the yeonmn, it were a
thousand pities that by the austerity of a State,
which dependeth in both its esse and bene esse upon
the flourishing of these worthy professions, effects
so advantagious thereto, should, by not couferring
deserved courtesies on him, be extinguisbed in the
very brood." e
In the T'te Pcdig'ec ad Lineal Descet of
the Most Ancicnt and Hoot'ablc Faily of the
U'tha'ts i the Hoztse of Cv»a'tie, we bave a
brief but surprisingly complete history of the family
from the time of Adam s clown to A.I). 1652. The
1 lt7or](.s, p. ] 52. Ibid. p. 152.
Poor Sir Thomas thought that he was going back to the
beginning when he trced his descent up to Adam, or, fo be more
exact, to the red erth of Vhich the "protoplast" was ruade.
REMARKABLE GOOD FORTUNE 3 x
line runs through the Sethite and not the Cainite
branch of the human race, and, among the sons of
Noah, it passes through Japhet. The stol T is told
of a marginal note being found in the history of
some ancicnt Highland family, to the effect that
"about this tilne the Flood took place." Something
like this is to be found in the doculnent before us,
for, under the date 3.c. 2893, Sir Thomas adds to a
mention of his an¢estor Noah, a remark to the
cffect that "the Universal Deluge occurred in the
six hundreth yeer compleat of his age."
The good fortune of his ancestors in thcir in-
heritances, marriages, and friendships is very
remarkable. To one of them, Japhet, fell the
inheritance of "all the regions of Europe" ; Japhet's
grandson Penuel was "a most intimate friend of
Nimrod, the mighty hunter and builder of ]3abel ";
while his great-grandson Tycheros was chosen by
" Orpah, the daughter of Sabatius Saa, Prince of
thc Armenians, to be her husband, because of his
gallantry and good success in thc wars."
The naine Urquhart came into use at the
comparatively late period of .c. 2139, ,hen the
family had been in existence for over eighteen
hundred years. It was first borne by Esormon.
" He," we arc told," was soveraign l'rince of Achaia.
For his fortune in the wars, and affability in con-
versation, his subjeets and fanliliars surnamed him
The late Charles Darwin carried baek the pcdigree of man a
prodig;ous length, though he lowered its quality, There can be
little doubt that out author would bave disdained to aeeept what
used to be called "the lower aninlals" as, in any sense, aneestors
of mankind, or, af any rate, of the dignified fanlily of Urquhart,
IVorks, p. 156.
3 2 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
o@oX@'oç, that is [fo] s,ny, fortunate and well-
beloved. After which rime, his posterity ever since
bath acknowledged him the father of all that carry
the naine of Urquhart. 1 He had for his arms, three
banners, thrce ships, and three ladies, in field d'or,
with a picture of a young lady al»ove the waste,
holding in her right hand a brandished sword, and
a branch of myrtle in the left, for crest; and for
supporters, two Javauites, after the souldicr-habit of
Achaia, with this motto in the scroll of his coat-
armour, 'aîrct 'à 'p[a àoOéa'ct; that is, These
three are worthy to behohl. Upon his wife
Narfesia, who was soveraign of the Amazons, he
beg.t Cratynter."
The habits of the Urquharts to form alliances
and ïriendships with persons afterwards famous in
In one respect, at any rate, we bave legitimate ground of
triumph over our ancestors--we spell better than they did.
Charles Lamb once lent u volume of the o]d dramatists to a friend,
und asked him his opinion of it. The rldy wus that it contained
u considerable amount of bad spclling ! The name Urquhart, as
thus w'itten, occurs here in Sir Thom,s's "Pedigreê," and is,
doubtless, the correct fozn
of Urquhardus it occurs on
dcen, at which out author
been
" The
To all his
of the naine. In the Latinised shape
the register of the University of Aber-
sttdid. Yet Urchard seems to bave
naine our valiant Knight
challenges did 'ite."
The unbridlc4 licence in the marrer of spelling prcvalet at that
period is still further illustrated by the historian Gordon, who
wrote the History of Scots 4ffairs, and vho gives us the naine in
the form of Wrqhward ! This, one would think, was as far as it
was possiblc to get in the way of bad spelling, vithout altogether
taking leave of the sounds to be exprcssed by alphabetical signs.
After it the spelling Wrwhart, as we find it in an Act of Parlia-
ment of 1663, seems rather poor.
lVorks, 1 ). 156.
THE THREE LIONS' HEADS I33
saered and secular history is very marked. Thus,
one of them, Phrenedon Urquhart, "was in the
house of the latriarch Abraham at the rince of the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha." At a later
period, another, named Hypsegoras Urquhart, married
a daughter of Herculus Lybius; while a descendant
of theirs, Pamprosodos Urquhart, married Termuth,
" who was that daughter of Pharaoh Amenophis
vhich round Moses among the bulrushes, and
brought him up as if he htd been her o'«'n childe."
Another ancestor, Moliu Urquhart (c. .c. 1534),
married Panthea, "the daughter of Deucalion and
lyrrha, of vhom Ovid maketh mention in the first
) "
of his Metamorlï hoses. The genealogist goes on to
say that "in that part of Africk which, after his
naine, is till this hour called Molinea, by cunnfig
and valour together he killed in one morning three
lions ; the heads whereof, when in a basket, pre-
sented to his lady l«tnthea, so terrified her, that
(being quick with childe)for putting ber right hand
to her left side, with this sudden exclamation, O
Hercules, what is this ? the impression of three
lions' heads was round upon the left side of the
childe as soon as he was born." In consequence of
this incident, the three banners, three ships, and
three ladies in the Urquhart arms vere exchanged
for three lions' heads.
A century later, we find that Propetes Urquhart
married Hypermnestra," the choicest of Danaus' fifty
daughters." T]is mlst bave been some rime
after the little affair happened for which forty-nine
of her sisters were condemned to draw watcr in
Vorks, p. 159.
I34 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
sieves; for, as every schoolboy knows, the fifty
daughters of Danaus were married to their cousins,
the fifty sons of ,Egyl)tus, and all of them, but one,
at the bidding of their father, murdered thcir
husbands on the evening of the marriage-day.
Hypermnestra, however, had 1)ity upon her cousin
and husband, Lynceus, and spared him. 1 Ite must
have died shortly after, probably from natural
causes, as it is recorded in the work belote us that
she married 1)ropetes Urquhart, and became the
mother of Euplocamos Urquhart.
1 Horace gives us the speech in which she told Lynceus of his
danger, and urged him to make his escape--
"'Wake!' to her youthful spouse she cricd,
'Wake! or you yet may slcep too well:
Fly--from the father of your bride,
Her sisters fell:
They, as she-lions bullocks rend,
Tear each her victim: I, less hard,
Than these, will slay you hot, poor fl'iend,
lor hold in ward:
Me let my sire in fetters lay
Fit nercy to my husband shown :
Me let him ship from hcnce away,
To climes unknown.
Go; speed your flight o'er land and wave,
While light and ¥cnus shield you; go
Be blest: and on my tomb engrave
This talc of woe.' »
Odes, iii. 11 (Conington's Translation).
t[er sad forebodings concerning ber own rate, it is satisfactory to
know, were hot fully realised. Perhaps she was shipped away to
Cromartie, or Ireland, or Portugal, or Africa, or wherever it was
that the head of the Urquhart family was then reigning. Instead
of Lynceus having the melancholy satisfaction of putting an
inscription on ber tombstone, if is probable that she performed
that office for him.
CAINOTOMOS URQUHART 35
ïke thought of what the family to which
Hypermnestra belonged were capable when their
blood was up, must, one would think, have cast a
slight shadow of al3prehension upon the m,nrried life
of Prol3etes Urqulmrt. A more cheerful tone must
bave pervaded that of his descendant Cainotomos
Urquhart, for he, we are told, "took to wife Thy-
melica, the daughter of 13acchus, in recoml3ense of
his having accoml3anied him in the conquest of the
Indies." Further interesting particulars, which are
not elsewhere recorded, are related of this ancestor
of Sir Thomas. On lais return from the expedi-
tion in which he assisted ]3acchus to conquer India,
he "passed through the territories of Israel, where,
being tcquaiuted with Debora the Judge and lro -
t)hetess, he received from ber a very rich jewel,
which afterwards by one of his succession was 13re -
sented to Pentsilea, that Queen of the Amazons
that assisted the Trojans against Agamemnon."
Their son Rodrigo Urquhart (c. .c. 1295) was,
we are told, invited over by his kindred the Clan-
nolinespick, the principal clan in Ireland, and
" bore rule there with much al3plause and good
success "the one solitary instance of the kind, we
SUl»13ose, which is to be found in the history of that
"most distressful country." "From him," it is said,
1 Clamnolinespick is, we believe, more correctly clann-rnaol-an.
easbuig (the last pronounced espick), and means "the clan" or
"family of the servant of the bishop." They are probably the
Irish ancestors of the Macmillans of Knavlale in Argyleshire.
The word "maol," "a tonsured servant," occurs in Malise (naol-
Josa), "a servant of Jesus," a family naine of the old Earls of
Strathean ; and easbuig in Gillespie or Gillespic, "a servant" or
"gillie of the bishop."
I36 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
"is descended the Clanrurie, 1 of which naine there
were twenty-six rulers and l{ings of Ireland belote
the days of Ferguse the first, King of Scots in
Scotland."
A slight degree of uncertainty hangs about the
identity of the wife of Mellessen Urquhart (c. .c.
1049). Hcr lmme was Nicolia, and belote
marriage she " travelled from the remote Eascern
countries to have experience of the wisdom of
Solomon, and by nmny = is supposed to bave been
the Queen of Sheba." lier husband, however, must
bave considered tbat, tbough she loved wisdoln, she
had hot acquired much of it, or, at any rate, of the
kind which is needed fol" bringing up a )oung
family; for the historian goes on to say that
" 5Iellessen Urquhart nevertheless sent some of his
children to Ireland and Britain, to be brought
vith the best of his own father and mother's kindred."
Amongst othe" celebrated laersons who bad the
honour of being enrolled amongst the ancestors
of Sir Thomas Urquhart are 1)othina, a niece of
Lycmgus; ,*Equanima, the sister of Marcus Corio-
lanus; Diosa, the daugbter of Alcibiades; and
Tortolina, the daughter of King Arthur. It is
observable tbat for a good many generations im-
lnediately preceding the author's tfine, the ladies
who figure in the genealogy are of comparatively
Clanrm'ie is "the clan" or "family of Roderick." These are
thc Macrories and Fullartons, their cponym having been Pory or
Roderick, one of the two sons of Reginald, whose father in almost
trehistolic rimes was Somerled, Lord of the Isles. They settled
in Bute and Arran, and about Ardnamurchan and the islands
thcre.
This phrase--"by many "--is ,eery delightfll.
THE THREE BEARS' HEADS 37
lowly birth--seldom, indeed, do they reach the
rank of an earl's daughter. Either the supply of
princesses was by this rime somewhat exhausted, or
the demnds of the Urquhrts vere less exorbitant.
The high-spirited character of the most remarkable
scion of the family who drew up the genealogy
forbids us to think that, with the lapse of rime, they
h,d suffered ny diminution of courage. If rather
seems as though the world had entered upon a less
heroic stage. Perhaps, like Sir Thomas Broc-ne in
a later age, they had concluded that "if was too
late to be ambitious, for the great nmtations of the
world were aeted."
Iu the rime of Voconpos (.. 775) a further
change took place in the arms of the Urquharts,
which gave them their final form. "Vocompos,"
we learn, "was the first in the world that had the
bears' heads to his arms, being induced to exchange,
by the instigation of Kiag Solvatius, his arms of
three lions' heads, for the three bears' heads, razed,
because f the great exploit, in presence of the
King, done by him and his two brothers, in killing,
one morning, three wild bears, in the Caledonian
forrest: the supporters were also changed into two
greyhounds: the crest and impress remaining still
the saine as it was since the days of Astioremon."
IYorks, p. 168. A curious stone lintel now at Kinbeakie gives
a representation of the Urquhart coat of arms, such as if was in
Sir Thomas's own time. If was no doubt executed at his orders
and under his direction, for inscribed on it are the namcs of some
of those worthies who aI,pear in the above genealogical history.
The representation which we give of this stone is from a photoaph
specially taken for the illustration of this worl« As the porch in
the wall of which the slab is set is very narrow, it was impossible,
138 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
An tlleged ancestor of our author, William de
evcn with the use of a wide-angle lens, to get a more satis-
factory photogral»h than that which is here reproduced. Our
readcrs will thcrefore kindly excuse the distortion of shape
which is only too apparent, and accept as a measure of com-
pcnsation the vividncss with which the details of the engraved
stone are brmtght out. "This singular relic," says Hugh
Miller, "which has, perhaps, more of character impressed upon if
than any other piece of sandstone in the kingdom, is about rive
fect in length by thrce in breadth, and bears date A.r. 5612,
A.c. 1651. On the Iowcr and uppcr edges it is bordered by a plain
moulding, and at the ends by belts of rich foliage, terminating in
a chalice or vase. In the upper corner two knights in complete
arnmur on horseback, and with thcir lances couched, ri'ont each
othcr, as if in the tilt-yard. Two Sirens playing on harps occupy the
lower. In the centre are the arms--the charge on the shield thrce
bears' heads, the supporters two greyhounds leashed and collared,
the crest a naked woman holding a dagger and palm, the helmet
that of a knight, with the beaver partially raised, aud so profusely
nmntled that the drapery occupies more space than the shield and
supporters, and the motto hIEANE WEIL, SEAK WEIL, AND Do
WE. Sir Thomas's initiais, S. T. V. C., are placed separately,
one letter af the outer side of each supporter, one in the centre of
the crest, and one beneath the label ; while the names of the more
celebrated heroes of his genealogy, and the eras in which they
flourished, occupy in the following inscription the space betweert
the figures :--ANh'O .STIOREMONIS, 2226; ANo VOCOMI°OTIS,
3892 ; ANro MoLN[, 3199 ; ANNO RODRC, 2958 ; ANNO CHArI,
2219; Aro LtrTor¢cr, 2090; ANro Esoz[os, 3804. It is
melancholy enough that this singular exhibition of family pride
sbould bave been ruade in the saine year in which the family re-
ceived its deathblow--the year of Worcester battle" (Scelles and
Zegends of the Zrorth of Scotland, chap. viL). The arms of the
Urquhart family in their later form, as associated with those of the
Meldrum and Seton familles, are given in the 1774 edition of the
HA1NTOXPONOXA1NON, and are as follows :--"Arms, Or, three
Bears-heads, erazed, gules, langued azure. Crest, a demy Otter
issuing front the wreath sable, crowncd with an antique Crown, or,
holding betwixt lais paws a crescent gules. Motto above, _Per mare
et Terras, and belov» Mcan, speak, and do well. S«pporters, two
grayhounds, proper collared gules, and leashed." There can be no
doubt that the Urquhart arms should be the three bears' heads,
SIEGE OF CROMARTIE CASTLE 39
Mone Alto (-ouaL), 1 took 1)art in the 1)ariotic
resistance of Scotland against English oppression
which is associated with the names of Bruce and
Wallace, and the retint local traditions of that rime
partly corroborate Urquhart's statements. "This
William," he says, "caried himself so lovingly
towards King Robert, that when ahnost ail Scotland
was possest by King Edward's faction, and his lands
at Cromartie altogether overrun by them, and his
house garrisoned and victualed with three yeers
provision of ail necessaries for one hundred men, hc
by sraagem gained the casle, and with the
marrer of fourty men, keept it out against the forces
of Edward for the space of seven yeers and a hall,
during which rime ail his lands there were totally
wasted, and his woods burnt; so that, having
nothing then he could properly call his own but
the mote-hill onely of Cromartie, which he fiercely
maintained against the enemies, he was agnamed
Gulielmts de Monte Alto. At last William Wallace
though they are often described as three boars' heads. The records
of 1742 and 1760 in the Lyon Register make this quite certain.
Probably the close resemblance between the two words is the prin-
cipal cause of the confusion with regard to the matter which exists.
In the sculptured coat of arms, of which wc give a representation,
the heads certainly have a superficial rescmblance at least to those
of boars. A correspondent who takes an interest in this question
remarks, however, that "though the heads have tusks worthy of
any boar, they (i.e. the heads) are set at right angles to the necks
in a way in which no boar could be represented." On thc other
hand, the snouts of the animais hve that distinctly retroussé
shape which we associate with pigs, both wild and domesticated.
The question is, therefore, not so simple as at first sight it appears,
and can scarccly be adequately dealt with in a mere footnote.
Accordingly we leave our readers to discuss and settle the difficulty.
1 Sec p. 4, SUl»ra.
I4O SIR THOMAS URQUHART
came fo his relief, but, as I conceive, it was the
brother's son of the reuowned William, who in a
little den [or hollow] within two toiles of Cromartie,
till this hour called Wallon.ce Den, killed six hundred
of King Edward's uufortunate forces. Afterwards,
rdsiug the siege from abou the more-bill of
Cromartie by the assistance of his namesake the
other William, the shire of Cromarty was totally
purged of the enemy. "1
Tradition, according fo Hugh Miller, is silent
respecting the siege, but relates many details of
the battle. The Scotish forces lay iii ambuscade
in thc ravine or hollow which is still, or was uutil
recently, callcd by Wallace's naine, and attacked a
large body of English troops on their way to join
some of their couutrymcn, who were encamped on
the pcninsula of Easter loss. The English were
surprised and panic-struck, and left six hundred
dead on the field of battle. The survivors were
unacquainted with the country, and were under the
impression that there was continuous land betwecn
them and their countrymen on the çpposie shore.
" They were only undeceived," we are told, "when,
on climbiug the southern Sutor, where it rises
behind the town, they saw an arm of the sea more
than a toile in width, and skirted by abrupt and
dizzy prccipices, opening before them. The spot is
still pointed out where they ruade their final stand;
and a few shapeless hillocks, that may still be
seen among the trees, are said to have been raised
above the bodies of those who fell; while the
fugitives, for they were sool beaten from this
lIorks, p. 170.
A LARGE FAMIL¥
position, were either driven over the neighbouring
precipices, or perished amidst the vaves of the
Firth." 1
Sir Thomas does hot let us off easily. After
subjecting our credulity to a severe straia by one
kind of stat.emcnt, he unexpecedly increases the
tension by anoher. Thus he says that an ancestor
in the fifteenh century, Thomas Urquhart, had by
his wife Helen Abernethie, daughter of Lord Salton,
five-and-twenty sons, who grew up to manhood,
and eleven daughers, all of whom found husbands.
It would only have been kind of him to have
reduced these numbers ix little. But on one point
he has spared us: we are hot asked to believe that
there were others who died in infancy.
In a postscript Sir Thomas Urquhart expla[ns
that he has just given his readers a sketch of the
history of his family, but hopes to furnish them
with a COlnlflete narrative as soon as he obtains his
release from his parole, and is at liberty to attend
to this and to other matters of greater importance.
The thought of the delightful book in store for
maukind is so attractive fo him hat he cannot
help dilating upon it. " In the great chronicle of
cenes and JLegeds ofthe North of Scotland, IIugh lliller, p. 48.
This battle is supposed to be mentioned by Blind Harry, who bas
celebrated the achievements of Wallace in the following uncouth
lines :
"Wallace raid throw the northland into playne.
At Crummade feill Inglismen thai slew.
The worthi Scottis till hym thus couth persew.
Raturnd agayne and corne till Abirdeyn,
With his blith ost apon the Lammess ewyn »
(vil. 1084-88).
I42 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
the tIouse of Urquhart," he continues, "the afore-
said Sir Thomas purposeth, by God's assistance, to
make mention of the illustrious familles from thence
descended, which as yet are in esteem in the
countries of Germany, Bohemia, Italy, France, Spain,
England, Scotland, Ireland, and several other nations
of a warlner climate, adjacent to that famous terri-
tory of Greece, the lovely mother of this most
ancient and honourable stem. ''1 tic also intends
hot to omit the name of any family with which at
any rime the aforesaid house has contracted alliance.
The concluding paragraph is very amusing; for
in it our author promises to give proof of the state-
ments he bas ruade, by quoting from the works
of respectable chroniclers of past ages, though the
degree of certainty which the reader may thereby
cxpectto reach falls short of that given by tIoly
Writ or the works of Euclid. "And finally," he
says, "for confirmation of the truth in deriving of
his extraction from the Ionian race of the l'rince of
Aehaia, and in the deduetion of all the eonsiderable
1,artienlars of the whole story, [the author] is resolved
to produee testimonies of Arabiek, Greek, Latin, and
other writers of sueh authentiek approbation, that
we may boldly from thenee infer eonsequenees of
no less infallible verity then [than] any that is not grounded on faith by lneans of a Divine illumina-
ton, as is the story of the Bible, or on reason, by
verrue of the unavoidable inferenee of a neeessary
eoneluding demonstration, as that of the Elements
of Euelid; whieh being the greatesÇ evidenee that
in any narration of thatkinde is to be expeeted,
tl'orks, p. 174.
INFORMING IF NOT EDIFYING 143
the judicious reader is bid farewel, from whom
the Author for the rime most humbly takes his
leave." 1
It is needless to say that the scheme of filling
out the sketch of the history of the Urquhart
family was never carried out, if ever it had been
seriously entertained by Sir Tholnas; and we are
left in ignorance of the names of the Aral,ic, Greek,
Latin, and othcr authors on whose testimony our
belief in the authenticity of the narrative was to
have been firmly based. In the absence of this
our judglnent is left in suspense, unlcss, indeed,
we conclude that, as the genealogy begins and ends
with the names of actual persons, 2 the intermediate
part is hot likely to have been a mere fabrication.
If the links are sound in the places where we can
test them, it requires no very great exercise of
credulity to believe that they are the saine
throughout.
Matthew Arnold on one occasion laid down the
principle, that a book should either " edify the
uninstructed," or «inform the instructed." Sir
Thomas Urquhart's "HANTOXPONOXANON "
certainly justifies its existence according to this
standard of judging literature; for if it does hot
serve to edify the uninstructed, it does inform the
Works, p. 175.
u The editor of the 1774 edition of the Tracts of Sir Thomas
Urquhart says that he had compared the genealogy with the
records kept by the Lord Lyon of Scotland, which go back as far
as the reign of Alexander II. (,.). 1214-1249), and had round it
strictly correct from that period. In A1)pendix I., which contains
the lists of names of Sir Thomas's ancestors, we have taken the
liberty of indicating the names on which reliance cau be placed, by
printing them in italics (see p. 211).
144 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
instructed, since the iuforlnaLion it contains is not
to be found in any other quarter. 1
One's faith in the credibility of his narrative is,
however, a little shaken by finding that in the
second book of his favourite author, Pabelais, the
genealogy of the giant Pantagruel is carried up to
a period far beyond the Flood. It may be a mere
coincidence, but it is one of those coincidences that
make us very thoughtful. 2
At the rime when Sir Thomas Urquhart wrote,
Scotland was supposed to have had a dynasty of
kings and a connected political history dating far
a Sir Thomas is said to have remarked about "the Pedigree," that
by the first generation of readers it would be received with scoffs,
that the second generation would have their doubts about it, but that
the third generation wonld be heavily inclined to believe if. Time
has moved somewhat more slowly, however, than he anticipated,
and probably but few of us bave as yet got past the second stage.
" In the article on Crichton in the ldiogral)hia Britatnica, Dr
Kippis subjects our author to grave censnre (see 13. 158). With
res13ect to Urquhart's 13resent work he says: "Of his total dis-
regard to truth there is incontestible evidence in another work
of his, entitled The 2"rue ledigree, etc. In this work it is almost
incredible what a number of ïalsities he has invented, both with
resl?ect to names and ïacts. Perha13s a more flagrant instance of
im13osture and fiction was never exhibited ; and the absurdity of
the whole pcdigree is beyond the 13ower of words to ex13ress. It
can only be ïelt by those who have 13erused the Tract itself." It
is to be feared that Dr Kip13is was mentally akin to the Irish
bishop who remarked of Gullit, er's 2"ravels when it ap13eared , that
"all was not gos13cl that was in that book."
Some one has said that the namcs of Urquhart's ancestors, at any
rate on the nmle side, are very likely those of the giants and heathen
in the 4madis of Gaul; and certainly Famongomadan, Cartadaque,
Madanïabul, Arcalaus, and Basagante renfind one of chieïs and
heroes of the Cromartie line. In the female line the resemblance
is much closer; ïnr Asymbleta, Eromena, and Gonima distinctly
recall the Darioleta, Brisena, aud hladasima of the romance.
MYTHICAL HISTORY OF SCOTLAND I45
back before the birth of Christ. The impudent
fictions of Hector ]oece, whose history of Scotland
was published in 1526, had been accepted by the
public, and were regarded as genuine facts even by
such literary personages as Erasmus and lauIus
Jovius. lerhaps Sir Thomas thought that a
credulity which had cndured the considerable strain
'hich Boece had put upon if might be trusted to
bear a still greater weight. Indeed, he interwove
the story of his family with that which was current
as the genuine history of his native land.
According to the mythical history of Scotland,
Gathelus, a Grecian prince, having quarrelled with
his father Miol, took refuge in Egypt, and married
Scota, a daughter of the Pharaoh who perished in
the tted Sea. The young people came west and
founded lortugal (i.c. Port of Gathelus), and then
jom'neyed north to Scotland, bringing with them, as
part of their baggage, the coronation-stone yet to
be seen in Westminster Abbey. Their descendant
Fergus, "the father of a hundred kings," was the
founder of the Scottish monarchy. These shadowy
persons appear again, "with the moonlight strean»
ing through them," and play their parts in the
genealogy of the Urquharts.
Some have thought that Sir Thomas believed
devoutly in the genealogy himself, and was the dupe
of his own imagination. One would be sorry to
form so low an opinion of his mental endowments.
If the book in question were not an elaborate joke,
it can only bave been intended to impose upon the
English people by convincing them of the extra-
ordinary dignity and grandeur of their captive.
IO
I46 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
If this were indeed the case, he must have had an
humbler opinion of the intellectual faculties pos-
sessed by the aver,ge Englishman than even the
majority of his fellow-countrymen entertain.
A very amusing reference to this book of Sir
Thomas Urquhart's is to be found in the Decisions
of the Court of Session, under date of 23rd to 25th
January, 1706.1 In that year an action was
brought by the Eal'l of Sutherland against the Earls
t,f Crawford, Errol, and Marischal, to determine the
question of precedency in the rolls of l'arliament.
The imrsuer asserted that he was lineally descended
from an Earl of Sutherland living in 1275, wbile
his opponents' ancestors were hot Earls till about
1399. The lmrsuer laid stress upon the fact that,
in 1630, a formal inquiry into this matter had
been held at Inverness, and that the decision had
been in his favour. The persons who conducted
the inquiry were, he said, of undoubted credit, and
well versed in the particulars investigated, and
"might have had good information from o]d men
and writs, which in the course of time and through
accidents had long disappeared." The advocate for
the defenders replied that the " Clmncellor of the
Inquest" had been Sir Thomas Urquhart, who
might have traced the pursuer's descent from Noah,
as he had deduced his own genealogy from Adam,
and that the decision arrived at was of no more
value than "his fanciïul derivation of his own
pedigree. For the members of the Inquest seemed
to have sworn rashly npon matters of greater
1 FountMnhall, Decisiozs, il. 265 and 315 ; lIorrison, i)iclionary
of 1)ccisioas, xxvii. 1130t.
THE TWO SIR THOMASES I47
antitluity than they could certainly know." "It is
truc," was the 1-,ursuer's reply, "the defender in his
gaiety objects against Sir Thomas Urqulmrt as an
ill genealogist ; and it is owned that his derivation
from Adam and Noah was fantastic enough, and
indeed but ltts ingenii; but, after all, the
defender's criticism will hOt hinder hiln to pass
for most knowing gentleman." The case was
docided in favour of the E,rl of Sutherland, so f,r
as some of his contentions were concerned. But it
is somewhat curious tlmt his advocate overlooked
the fact tlmt the Sir Ïhomas Urquhart of 1630,
who lmd been the " (lmncellor of the Inquest," as
hOt the author of the book containing the genealogy
of the Urquharts, but that it was written by his
son. It is quite possible, however, that it was a
nmtter of notoriety that the elder Sir Thomas had
been a believer in the long pedigree which his
more falnous son had, years after, elaborated and
published2
In some ways the eldcr Sir Thomas remi,ds us of the pedantic
and nndignified monarch, James ri., from whom he received
knighthood. Both were the first Protestants of their respective
bouses, both were attached to prelacy rather than to Presbyterian-
ism, and both were vasteful and slovenly in money matters. If
the above conjecture be well founded, they had a further point of
resemb]ance to each other, in their interest in fabulous genealogies.
And it may be said of them both that they prcpared a series of
misfortunes for their chivalrous, high-spirited sons.
CItAPTER VI
EKY, KTBAAATPON: or, TIIE JEWEL, and
LOGOPANDECTE[SION : or, TIE UNIVERSAL
LAIGUAGE.
IR THOMAS URQUHAP, T'S previous
excursi«,ns into literatlre had been
of a somewhut tentative kind, and
calculated to whet the desire of a
judicious reader for him to enter upon
more serious undertkings. He lmd appeared in the
world of letters in several different aspects,--as a
a man of science, and as the representative and
poet, as historian of a family which, for long descent
and glorious achievements, could hot be rivalled, if his
statements concerning it were to be credited,--but
no one could forecast, from what he had already
published, the nature of his next literary exploit.
The volume which folh, wed the Pedigree of the
Ur, luharts has the strange naine above printed,
Its title-l*age is as follows:--EK-KTBAAATPON : Or, The
Discovery of A hIOST EXQUISITE JEWEL, raore precious then
[thn] D,x»mvs inchased in Gold, the like whereof was never
seen in any age ; found in the kennel of lForccstcr-streets, the day
a[ter the Fight, and six belote the Autumnal Equinox, atno 1651.
Servig in thi pl,ce, ïo Frontal a Vvc]"o. " of the honour oî
Sco.i), ïrom tha hthmy, whereito the Rigid tresbyteritn
THE JEWEL 49
but most of those who have occasion to mention it
more than once find it more convenient to call it
"The Jewel." 1 Its contents arc of such a character
that one who had read it carefully would find it
diiïlcult to state off-hand or in a singlc sentence
what they were. A Scottish Divinity professor of
somewhat erratic habits began, on one occasion,
party of that Nation, out of their Covetousness and ambition, most
dissembledly bath involved it. Distichou ad ZiboEm sequitur,
quo tres ter oeqnat Musarum numerum, casus et articuli.
roc. nom. 1 abl. 2 abl. dat.
0 thou'rt a Book in truth with love to many,
3 abl. 4 a. act. gen.
Done by nd for the fl'ee'st spoke Seo of any.
Ecies et fids szn.t bi iuvicem causoe. Loo, Printed 1,y Ja:
Cottrel; and are to be sold by ich. Baddeley, at the Middle-
Temlde-gate. 1652.
EKZKTBAAATPON is supposed to be the Greek for "Gold out
of the di¢." Dr Irng, the auflor of a very carefully-written
memoir of Sir Thomas Urquhart, in his Lices of 5ottish lliters,
vol. il., is a little puzzlcd by this extraordinary naine. The latter
p:trt of it was, he thought, perhaps connected with a6pto--" to-
morrow "in allusion fo the fact that this "exquisitc Jcwel" was
taken out of the kennel the mm'row after the battle of Worcester.
But the wo is evidently apo--the Lat. aurum, "gold." In the
" Postill" to the Pedigree of the Urquharts, out author says that
" the sbire of Cromartie... bath the names of its towns, villages,
hamlets, dwellings, promontories, hillocks, temples, dens, groves,
fountains, rivers, pools, lakes, stone heaps, akers, and so forth,
of pure and perfect Greek." We need not be surprised that Sir
Thomas's Greek has more affinity with the vernacular form of the
language current in the Cromartie of his time than with the Attic
of the age of Pericles,
"or eke oj thcnes was to
Probably in this northern dialect of the Greek tongue apov was
used instead of the more classical Xpt,«$s. Another indication of
the difference between the Croma'tian and Attic forms of speech
is given by Sir Thomas in the saine treatise in the naine
which Thucydides would bave written
SIR THOMAS URQUHART
lecture in which he was fo deal with several mis-
cellaneous items, with the words, " Gentlemen, my
subject to-day will 1)e hotch-potch." This is an
exact description of 'hc Jcwcl, and those to whom
nature bas given the mental apparatus needed for
appreciating Sir Thomas Urquhart will rejoice and
hot repine at the fact that the feeding laid be[ore
them is of a confused character. Accordingly no
logical sequence will be allowed to mar the sym-
metry of this chapter in which 'he Jcwel is
descriled.
The main contents of the work are lists of the
ancestors, male and female, of the Urquhart family
from the beginning down to the year 1652, taken
from the ]'edigree; a narrative of the sad rate that
overtook the author's manuscripts after the battle
of Worcester; some pages of one of them which
contained a scheme for a Universal Language; a
denunciation of the "unjust usurpation of the
t)resbyterian Clergy, and the judaical practices of
some merchants" by which discredit had been cast
upou the Scottish naine; an account of Scotsmen
ramons for martial exploits or for learning during
the previous half-century; a statement of personal
wrongs inflicted upon the author by ministers of
his own parishes ; arguments in favour of the union
of Scotland and England; and apologies for the
simple and unadorned strain in which the work is
written. All through the volume Sir Thomas is
spokeu of in the third person, and the signature of
" Christianus t)resbyteromastix" is attached to the
preface, or "the Epistlc Liminary," as it is called,
but there is scarcely auy attempt ruade to keep up
RAPIDITY OF COMPOSITION
the pretenee of anonymity. The object of the
writer is to try to obtain for the prisoner of war
restoration to complete liberty and the enjoyment
of his property, and he seeks to correct the evil
impression, which t.he conduct of certain persons
in Scotland had produced upon the English people,
by narrating the ma.rtial and literary achieve-
ments of more worthy representatives of his
nation.
The rapidity with which the work had been
produced is described by the writer in the following
terres. "Laying aside all other businesses," he
says, "and cooping my self up daily for some hours
together, betwixt the case and the printing press, I
usually afforded the serrer copy at the rate of above
a whole printed sheet in the day; which, although
by reason of the smallness of a Pica letter, and close
couching thereof, it did amount to three full sheets
of my writing; the aforesaid serrer, neverthcless (so
nimble a workman he was), would in the space of
twenty-four hours make dispatch of the whole, and
be ready for another sheet. He and I striving thus
who should compose fastest, he with his hand, and
I with my brain; and his uncasing of the letters,
and placing them in the composing instrument,
standing for my conception; and his plenishing of
the gally, and imposing of the form, encountering
with the supposed equi-value of my writing, we
would a.lmost every foot or so jump together in
this joynt expedition, and so neerly overtake
other in our intended course, that I was oftentimes,
(to keep him doing), glad to tear off parcels of ten or
twelve lines al»eece , and give him them, till more
I52 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
were ready; 1 unto whieh he would so suddenly put
an order, that almost still, before the ink of the
written letters was dry, their representatives were,
(out of their respective boxes), ranked in the compos-
ing-stick ; by means of which great haste, I writing
but upon the loosc sheets of cording-quires, which, as
I minced and tore them, looking like pieces of waste
paper, troublesome to get rallyed, after such dis-
persive scattredness, I had not the leisure to read
what I had written, till it came to a proof, and
sometimes to a ïull revise. So that by verrue of
this unanimous contest, a.nd joint emulation be-
twixt the theoretick and practical part, which of us
should overhye other in celerity, we in the space of
fourteen working daies compleated tbis whole book,
(such as if is), from the first notion of the brain to
the last motion of the press; and that without any
other help on my side, either of quick or dead, (for
l Sir Egêrton Brydges, Bart., an auflmr who combines a great
many of the peculiarities of the two Sir Thomas Urquharts, tho
father and the son, and who bas recorded his experiences in an
4ttobiogralhy, lays stress in like manner upon this quality of
speed in composition. Thus he says of his little novel, Mary de
Clifford (published in 1792), "it ws written with fervent
rapidity, which no one seems to believe ;--begun in October, lî91,
and the shcets sent to the prcss by the post, s fast as they were
scribbled." The passage in which he refers to the vexations to
which he had been subjected is worth quoting, on account of its
similarity to our Sir Thomas's story. "I bave suffered," he sys,
"a hundred rimes more disappointments, and crosses, and insults,
and wrongs, and deprivations, than Chatterton, yet my spirit,
though bent and sunk, was never broken. I ara calm and defiant,
though not hopeful, in proportion s the storm presses me ;--and
wht trials have I not undergone ? I do not men to relate all
these trials ; it would involve the conduct of obscure individuals,
mny of whom are still living" (4tobiogralhy , pp. 8, 9).
SNAPS AND SHAVERS 53
books I had none, nor possibly would I have ruade
use of any, although I could have commanded
them), then [than] what, (by the favour of God),
my own judgment and fancy did suggest unto
me." 1
The account which our author gives of the
plunder of his manuscripts after the battle of
Worcester, and of the strange series of accidents
by which some of the documents which make up
'he Jewel were preserved, is so odd and amus-
ing that it would be a pity to deprive our readers
of it, though it is related by Sir Thomas at great
length. " No sooner," he says, "had the total tout
of the regal party at Worcester given way to the
taking of that city, and srrendring up of all the
prisoners to the custody of the marshal-general
and his deputies, but the liberty, customa3" at
such occasions to be connived at in favours of
a victorious army, imboldened some of the new-
levied forces of the adjacent counties to confirm
their conquest by the spoil of the captives. For
the better atchievement of which designe, hot
reekoning those great ma.ny others that in all the
other corners of the town were ferreting every
room for plunder, a string or two of exquisite snaps
and clean shavers [snappers-up and phmderers ?]
(if ever there were any), rushing into Master Spils-
bury's house, (who is a very honest man, and hath
an exceeding good woman to his wife), broke into
an upper chamber, where finding, (besides scarlet
cloaks, buff suits, arms of all sorts, and other such
rich chaffer, at such an exigent escl-,catable lo the
lI%rks, p. 181.
I54 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
prevalent soldier 1), seven large portmantles fui of
precious COlmnodity ; in three whereof, after a most
exact search for gold, silver, apparel, linen, or any
whatever adoraments of the body, or pocket im-
plemeuts, as was seized upon in the other four,
hot hitting on any things but manuscripts in folio,
fo the quantity of six score and eight quires and a
hall, divided into six hundred fourty and two
quinternions and upwards, the quinternion con-
sisting of rive sheets, and the quire of rive and
twenty; besides some writings of suits in law, and
bonds, in both worth above three thousand pounds
English, they in a trice carried all whatever els
was in the room away save those papers, which
they then threw down on the floor as unfit for
their use; yet immediately thereafter, when upon
carts the aforesaid baggage was put to be trans-
ported to the country, and that by the example of
mauy hundreds of both horse and foot, whom they
had loaded with spoil, they were assaulted with the
telnptation of a new booty, they apprehending how
useful the paper might be unto them, went back
for it, and bore it straight away; which done, to
every one of those their camarads whom they met
with in the streets, they gave as much thereof, for
packeting up of raisins, figs, dates, ahuomls, cara-
way, and other such like dry confections and other
ware, as was requisite; who, doing the same them-
selves, did together with others kindle pipes of
tobacco with a great part thereof, and threw out all
the remainder upon the streets .....
/.e. af such an extremity liable to be forfeited to the victorious
soldier.
RESCUED FROM THE MIRE 55
" Of those dispcrsedly-rejected bundles of pal)er,
some were gzthered up by grocers, druggists,
chandlers, l»[e-makers, or such as stood in need of
any cartapacitory utensil, and put in present
service, to the utter undoing of all the writing
thereof, both in its marrer and order. One quin-
ternion, nevertheless, two days after the fight on
the Friday morning, together with two other loose
sheets more, by verrue of a drizelling rain, which
had made it stick fast to the ground, where there
was a heap of seven and twenty dead men lying
upon one another, was by the command of one
Master Braughton taken up by a servant of his;
who, after he had (in the best manner he could)
cleansed it from the mire and mud of the kennel,
did forthwith present it to the perusal of his
toaster; in whose hands it no so,ner came, but in-
stautly perceiving by the periodical couching of the
discourse, marginal figures, and breaks here and
there, accordiug to the variety of the subject, that
the whole purpose was destinated for the press, and
by the author put into a garb befitting either the
stationer or printer's acceptance; yet because it
seemed imperfect, and to bave relation to sub-
sequent tractates, he ruade all the enquiry he could
for trial whether there were any more such quin-
ternions or no; by means whereof he got full
information that above three thousand sheets of the
like paper, written after that fashion, and with the
saine hand, were utterly lost and imbezzeled, after
the manner aforesaid; and was so fully assured of
the misfortune, that to gather up spilt water, com-
prehend the windes within his fist, and recover
I56 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
those papers again, he thought would be a work of
one and the saine labour and facility." 1
Thc anonylnous personage who gives the above
accourir says that he heard of Mr Braughton's
discovery of these remarkable documents, and also
of "the great moan ruade for the loss of Sir
Thomas Urquhart's manuscl'ipts," and, putting the
two f:tcts together, resolved to ask Sir Thomas if
the papers found at Woïcester belonged to him.
l[c examined them, aud identified them as part of
the prcface to a grammar aud lexicon of a Universal
Lauguage, of which he was the inventor. The loss
of a work of such a size and of such great im-
portance did hot greatly depress him. He stated
that if ha got but encouragement and rime, freedom
aud the enjoyment of his ancestral estates, he
doubLed ot but Lhat he could supply the missing
shcets--the originals of which had corne to such
base uses and disastrous fate at Worcester. The
papers, therefore, found by Mr Braughton are
published in order that the readers lnay see the
reasonableness of giving Sir Thomas what he asked,
iii view of the astounding benefits which he would
in returu confer upon them. This is put with
great clearness and brevity in a couplet prefixed to
Lhe above narrative:
"He should obtaiI all his desires,
Who offers more thart he requires."
The fragment of the treatise concerning the
Uuiversal Language, which was picked up out of
the gutter of Worcester streets, wiped clean, and
ltorks, pp. 189, 190.
SCOTTISH SOLDIERS 57
presented to the public in Y'hc Jcu'cl, was re-
published with additions in Sir Thomas Urquhart's
next work, so that we may here pass it over with-
out further notice and allude to some of the other
matters treated of.
In order to vindicate the honour of his country,
Si» Thomas Urquhart tells at considerable length of
the faine won by various compatriots of lais in war
in every part of Europe, during the earlier hall of
the seventeenth century, and he draws the attention
of his readers to the faetthat, at no battle in thc
period named, were all the Scots that fought over-
thrown and totally routed. The explanation of
this statement is that there were always Scots on
both nides, so that, if some were defeated and taken
prisoners, others of that nation were victorious and
givers of quarter. This part of the work is of
great historical value, and, as ]3urton remarks, is
hot liable to the reproach of Urquhart's usual
wandering profuseness of languageits leading
defect on the other hand, being its too great
reselnblance at rimes to a muster-roll.
The choicest and raost remarkable passage in Sir
Thomas Urquhart's original works is, undoubtedly,
the description he gives in Y'he Jcwcl of his
fellow-countryman "the Admirable Crichton," who
belonged to the ltter part of the sixteenth century.
In an appendix 1 our readers nmy find a long extract
from it, in which that hero's feats are related. But
for fear of making the appendices out of a.ll pro-
portion to the size of this volume, the whole sketch
might bave been given. To most people the nme
1 Appêndix II. p. 215.
I58 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
of " the Admirable Crichton" is now a mere pro-
verbial phrase to describe a universal genius, and
whether the person who bore it is a historical or a
mythical character, is a matter of some uncertainty.
If any who are possessed of only this amount of
inforlnation on the subject seek for more by reading
our author's description of Crichton, the proba-
bility is that they will decide that he is quite
mythical. Thc extraordinary flightiness, turgidity,
and bolnbast which mark the narrative, in spire of
its many conspicuous merits, make it seem a mere
piece of burlesque, rathcr than a genuine history ; x
and yet thcre is ample evidence of an unimpeach-
Lble kind of the truthfulness of the lnain state-
ments which it contains. Sir Thonms Urquhart's
narrative was for a long time one of the principal
sources of information concerning the brilliant
young Scotchnmn, and the result was that a general
disbelief in the whole history became prevalent.-"
"This part is writteu in a euphuistic, rhapsodical vein, and
affords an indication of the saturation of Urquhart's mind with the
style of Rabelais. It might almost be picced together from the
meeting of Pantagruel with the Limousin scholar, the discomfiture
of Thaumast by Panurge, and the meeting of Pantagruel and his
party with Queen Entelechia" (W. F. Smith's Introduction to
abelais).
: Dr Kippis, the editor of the Biographia JBritanica, or Zivcs
of the Most ,Emiuet _Per«ons who hat, e _Flourished i Great JBritai.
and I.reland (1789), had a bad time in wriIing the notice of
Crichton that appears in it. He says that he entered upon the
task with diflïdence, and even with anxiety. On the one hand,
he was desirous hot to detract from Crichton's real merit, and, on
the other, he wished to form a just estimate of the truth of the
facts which are recorded coucerning him. Part of his perturbation
of mind was due to the indignation which he felt towards our
author, whose narrative of Crichton's adventures he regarded as
THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON
As Burton says, " It was from the hands of Sir
Thomas Urquhart that the world accepted of an
idol which, after a period of worship, it cast down,
but so hastily, as it was discovered, thtt it had
again tobe set up, but rather in surly justice than
the old devout admiration." 1 Tytler, in his Lire of
the Admirable Crichto, gives full proof from con-
temporary writers that the accomplishments and
feats ascribed to that persolmge are authentic.
James Crichton was born in 1560, of a noble
family, at Eliock, in l'erthshire. At the age of ton
he becalne a student at St. Audrews, then thc most
famous university in Scotlaud. lefore he was
fifteen years of age he graduated as Master of Arts,
utterly untrustworthy. At an early stage in the articlc hc
rcmarks : "And here it must be observed that no credit can
granted to any facts which depend upon the sole authority of Sir
Thomas Urquhart .... I must declare my full persuasion that
Sir Thomas Urquhart is an author whose testimony fo facts is
totally unworthy of regard ; and itis surprising that a perusal of
his works does not strike every mind with this conviction. His
productions are so inexpressibly absurd and extravagant, that the
only rational judgment which can be pronounced concerning him
is, that he was little, if at all, better than a madman. To the
character of his having been a madman nmst be added that of his
being a liar. Severe as this terre may be thought, I apprehend
that a diligent examination of the treatise which contains the
memorials concerning Crichton would show that it is strictly true."
The censure uttered by Dr Kippis is vcry scvere, but some excuse
for him is easily fouud. He was anxious to make his dictionary
of biography a mine of facts on which the public could rely with
absolute confidence ; and he saw before him the danger of quoting
as an authority a writer like Urquhart, who so palpably elongated
facts and embroidered them with fancies. His opinion with
regard to the P«digree of the Urquharts is given on p. 144.
The Scot Abroad, p. 256. In the Adveuturer, o. 81, Dr
Johnson has reproduced Sir Thomas Urquhart's narrative of the
career of Crichton, but bas toned down its glowing colours.
I6O SIR THOMAS URQUHART
and stood third in order of merit among the
students of his year. After lcaving the university
he spent three years in the pursuit of learning,
devoting himself to ont aftcr another of the vm'ious
branches of the science and 1,hilosopby of his rime,
until he had gone through nearly the whole of
them; and, by force of natural ability, aided, no
doubt, by intense application, he acquired the use
of ten dilïbrent languages.
Some time probably in the year 1578 he began
his foreign travels, with the desire hot only to
enlarge his experience of the world, but also to
display thc exteat of his learning in those public
disputations which were still in fashion ai the
continenttfi univcrsities. In form and countenance
he is scid to have been c perïect model of manly
beauty; whilst in tll the accomplishments of his
time he was as well versed as in the branches of
learning. He was a skilful swordsman, a bold
rider, a graceful dancer, a sweet singer, and a
cultivated mttsician. Soon after his arrival in
l'cris he set up, in accordance with a custom of the
time, in various parts of the city, cballenges to
literary end philosophic disputation, and announced
that he would present himself on a certain dcy at
the College of Navarre, to answer any questions
tllat might be put to him "in a.ny science, liberal
art, discipline, or faculty, whether practical or
theoretic," and this in any one of twelve specified
languagesHebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin,
Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch, Flemish, or
Sclavonian. Our readers may find in the a.ppendix
full narrative in Sir Thomas Urquhart's inim-
EXPLOITS OF PANTAGRUEL 161
itable style of this extraordinary episode. Though
Crichton seemed to make no preparation for the
learned encounter, to which he had clmllenged the
most scholarly men in France, he acquitted himself
in such a manner as to astonish all beholders, and
to receive the congratulations of the president and
professors of the University of Paris. From this
display of his intellectual powers and acquirements,
as well as from the brilliant figure he cut at the
balls and tournaments, which were such favourite
employments of the Court of France at that rime,
he acquired the title by which he is now universMly
known--that of "the Admirable Crichton." 1
If is worth while to compare the passage in
Rabelais which describes the similar feats of the
giant Pantagruel with the accourir Sir Thomas
Urquhart gives of Crichton's intellectual tourna-
ments?" To us there seems something very
1 The reader will remember that this simply meant the
"Wonderful Crichton"--this use of the word "admire" being
now archaic.
2The passage in Rabelais is as follows:--"Pantagruel . . .
would one day make trial of his knowledge. Thereupon in all
the Carrefours, that is, throughout all the foure quarters, streets
and eorners of the eity, he set up Conclusions to the number of
nine thousand seven hundred sixty and foure, « in all manner of
learning, touehing in them the hardest doubts that are in any
science. And first of all, in the Fodder-street he held disputes
Pieo della Mirandola in the winter of 1486-87 offered to maintain at Rome
900 theses de omni scibili (W. F. S.).
! Rue de let Feutre (near the Place Maubert) was the street in Paris here
the poorer students used fo lodge. It got its naine because straw served
them for beds and furniture. Dante says in Par. x. 137 :
"Essa è la luce eterna di Sigieri,
Che, leggendo riel vico degli strami,
Sillogizzb invidiosi veri." (Ibid.).
II
6a SIR THOMAS URÇUHART
ridiculous in the practice oï posting up placards on
the walls, clmllenging all-comers to disputation, but
in the sixteenth century it would hot necessrily
a.pper in this light. Iabelais, indeed, lughed at
it; but then he lughed at many things which the
people of his rime did hot think absurd. John
tIill Burton is oï the opinion tlmt Sir Thomas
Urquhart, in describing the way in which Crichton
eonducted himself on the field which had witnessed
thmtagruel's feats, htd the ridicule of t,belis in
view, and that, in spite of his laudtions, we
against all the Regents or Fcllowes of Colledges, Artists or hIasters
of Arts, and Oratoum, and did so gallantly, that he overthrev
them, and set them all upoa their tailes. He went afterwards fo
the Sorbonne, where he maintained argument against all the
Theologians or Divines, for the space of six weeks, from foure
a clock in the morning until six in the evening, except an interval
of two boutes to ref,'esh themselves, and take their repast. And at
this were present the greatest part of the Lords of the Court,
the Masters of Rcquests, Presidents, Coansellors, those of the
Accompts, Secretaries, Advocates, and othem : as also the Sheriffes
of the said town, with the Physicians and Professors of the Canon-
Law. Amongst which it is to be remarked, that the greatest part
were stubborn jades, and in their opinions ibstinite ; but he took
such course with them, that, for all their ergo's nd fallacies, he
put their backs to the wall, gTavelled them in the deepest
questions, and ruade it visibly appear to the world, that, compared
to him, they were but monkies, and a knot of mufled calves.
Whereupon everybody began to keep a bustling noise, and talk of
his so marvellous know]edge, through all degrees of persons in both
sexes, even to the very laundresses, brokers, rostmeat-sellea-s,
penknife-makers, and others, who, when he past along in the
street, would say, This is he! in which he took delight, as
Demosthenes the prince of Greek oratours did when an old crouch-
ing wife, pointing at him with ber fingers, said, That is the
man" « (il. chap. 10).
Cf. "At pulchrum est, dito monstrari, et dicier : Hic est" (Pers. i. 28).
(Ibid.)
CRICHTON IN ITALY 6 3
cannot help having the impression that his tonguc
is all the rime in his cheek. We think that this
is unfair to Sir Thomas. There is no rcason vhy
those who looked on in admiration at a real tourna-
ment should not also enjoy seeing a burlesque
one. So that it is quite possible that out author
smiled while he translated the French satire, and
that he gloved with honest pride and admiration
as he recounted his fellow-countryman's exploits
belote the University of laris.
After serving for a couple of ycars in the Frcnch
army, Crichton journcyed into Italy, and in the
month of August, 1580, arrived in Yenice. tIe
ruade the acquaintance of the famous printer, Aldus
Manutius, who introduced him to the princiial
men of learning and note in that city. ttere he
maintained the reputation he lmd acquired in t'aris,
and lives of him were written and published. From
Venice he proceeded to ladua, and from thence to
the Court of Mantua, where the adventure occurred
with which Sir Thomas Urquhart begins the
narrative of his celebrated fellow-countryman's
exploits, namely, the defeat and death of the travel-
ling bravo, whose challenge he had accepted. Sir
Thomas is the only authority for this incident in
Crichton's history. As there is no reason to believe
that he invented it, we are at liberty to suppose
that he round it in some one of the lives of
Crichton which he met with in his Italian travels,
but which has not corne down to us, o1" that he
heard of it ri'oto some of those who -itnessed it.
For, as Urquhart was born only twenty-three years
after Crichton's death, he must, in the course of
I6 4 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
his continental travels, bave met some who were
his contemporaries. 1
In consequcnce of this achievement, and also
of the brilliant reputtion acquired by Crichton, he
was appointed by the Duke of Mantua, companion
md tutor to his son, Vincenzio de Gonzaga, a
young man of some literary culture, but of ïurious
temper and dissolute morals. Very soon after,
Crichton met his death in a tragical manner, tIe
was walking home one evening in the streets of
Mantua, from a visit to his mistress, and was
plying a guitar, when suddenly he was attacked
by a riotous party of men in masks, whom, how-
evcr, he speedily put to ttight. He seized the
leader of the party, overpowered him, and tore off
his mask, and round to his horror that it was his
owu pupil, the son of the Duke of Mantua. I-Ie
instautly dropped upon one knee, and, in a sph'it
of romntic devotion, took his sword by the blade,
and presented its hilt to the prince. Vincenzio,
heated with wine, irritated at his discomfiture, and
also, itis said by some, inspired by jealousy, took
the sword and plunged it into Crichton's heart.
The brilliant young Scotsman was but twenty-two
years of age when he thus met hi.s ïate.
The narrative which Sir Thomas Urquhart gives
of the death of his hero is marked by the saine
richness of description as is tobe round in the
He says in reference to the whole history of Crichton : "The
verity of tàis sory I have here related, concerning this incompar-
able Crichton, may be certified by above two thousand men yet
living, who bave known him" (lKorks, p. 41}. Tltere can
scarcely bave bee so many, unless centenarians were much
commoner then than now.
CRICHTON'S LAST EVENING 6 5
accourir of his exploits as a scholar, a swordsrnan,
and an actor. In language of astonishing luxuriance
and frequent happiness of ldrase, he enlarges upon
the incidents of the last evening of Ca'ichton's life,
and depicts the tender intercom'se of the loyers
before the suddcn and bloodly close of their
courtship. With a minuteness which, as Tytler
remarks, reminds one of the multitude of 1)articulars
by the enumeration of which Mrs Quickly sought
to bring to Falstaff's renlembrance his iromise to
marry her, 1 Sir Thomas Urquhart dcpicts thc loyers
in the "alcoranal paradise" in which tlcy were
embowered on that cvening. ":Nothing," he says,
"tending to the llcasure of all the senses was
wanting; the weather being a little chil and
coldish, they on a blue vclvct couch sae by one
anothcr towards a char-coale tire burning in a
silver brasero, whilst in the next room adjacent
thcreto a pretty little round table of ccdar wood
was a covering for the supping of them two
together ; the cates l»repared for them, and a week
"Thou didst swear fo me upon a parcel-gilt goblet, sitting in
my Dolphiu-chmber, at the round table, by a sea-col tire, upon
Wednesday in Wheeson week, when the prince broke thy head
for liking his father fo singing-man of Windsor; thon didst
swear to me then, as I was wshing thy wound, to marry me and
mke me my ldy thy wife. Cnst thou deny it ? Did hot good-
wife Keech, the butcher's wife, corne in ihen and cM1 me gossip
Quickly ? coming in to borrow mess of vinegr ; telling us she
had a good dish of prawns ; whercby thoa didst desire fo et
some; whereby I told thee they were ill for grcen wound?
And didst thou hot, 'hen she was gone down stirs, desire me to
be no more so familiarity with such poor people ; saying that ere
long they should call me madam ? And didst thon hot kiss me,
and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings ? I put thee now to thy
book-oath : deny it, if thou canst" (2 Henry IV'. r. i.).
166 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
before th,t rime bespoke, were of the choisest
dainties and most de]icious junkets that all the
territories of Ita]y were able to afford, and that
deservedly, for all the Romane Empire could hOt
produce a completer paire to taste them." 1
A tragical note rings through the description of
the lamentation of the hapless girl over her
murdered lover. "She, rending ber garments and
tearing ber haire, like one of the Graces possest
with a Fury, spoke thus : ' 0 villains ! what have
you doue? you vipers of men, that have thus
basely slaine the wdiant Crichtoun, the sword of
his own sexe and the buckler of ours, the glory of
this age, and restorer of the lost honour of the
Court of Mantua : O Crichtoun, Crichtoun !'" "
The sequel of the story is in the saine vein
of florid eloquence. "The whole court," says Sir
ihimas, "wire miurning fir him full three
quarters of a yeer together. His funeral was very
stately, and on his hearse were stuck more epitaphs,
elegies, threnodies, and epicediums, then [than], if
digested into one book, would have outbulk't all
Homer's works; some of them being couched in
such exquisite and fine Latin, that you would have
thought great Virgil, and Baptista Mantuanus, for
the love of their mother-city, had quit the Elysian
fields to grace his obsequies; and other of them,
besides what was doue in other languages, composed
in so neat Italiau, and so purely fancied, as if
Ariosto, Dante, Petrark, and Bembo had been
purposely resuscitated, to stretch even to the
utmost their poetick vein to the honour of this
a lYorks, p. 234. e Ibid. p. 243.
THE SOLITARY" TURTLE 16 7
brave man; whose picture till this hour is to be
seen in the bed-chambers or galleries of the most
of the great men of that nation, representing him
on horseback, with a lance in one hand and book
in the other ; and most of the young ladies likewise,
that were anything handso»c, 1 in a memorial of his
worth, had his effigies in a little oval tablet of gold
hanging 'twixt thei_r breasts, and held, for many
yeers together, that metamazion, or intermammi]ary
ornament, an as necessary outward pendicle for the
better setting forth of their accoutrements, as
either fart, watch, or stomacher. My lord :Duke,
upon the young lady that was Crichtoun's mistres
and future wife, although she had good rents and
revenues of her own by inheritance, was pleased to
conferr a pension of rive hundred ducats a yeer.
The Prince also bestowed as much on her during
all the days of his life, which was but short, for he
did hot long enjoy himself after the cross rate of
so miserable an accident. The sweet lady, like a
turtle bewailing the loss of lier mate, spent all the
rest of her rime in a continual solitariness." e
After giving a long list of his fellow-countrymen
who had won faine in foreign ]ands by thei" valour,
1 Tlm italics are ours.
e llork.% p. 224. Af one of Charles Lamb's Wednesday
evenings in hlitre Court Building, Hazlitt tells us, "the naine of
the Admirable Crichton was suddenly started as a splendid
example of vastc toElents, so different from the generality of his
countrymen." A lorth Briton present declared himselfdescended
from that prodigy of learning and accomplishment, and said he
had family plate in his possession as vouchers for the fact, with the
initials engraved upon them of A. C.--" Admirable Crichton !"
A phrenological report upon this genfleman by Charles Lmb
would have enlargd "tlm public stock of harmless pleasure."
I68 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
learning, or skill, in order to put to silence those
who maligned his n,tion, Sir Thomas Urquhart
t,kes up a less pleasing topic--that of contem-
porary politics. In the plainest and most forcible
manner he repudiates the whole policy of the
dolninant party in Scotland, and declares that a
true :Royalist or M,lignant like himself had much
more in common with an Independent, than either
of them had with a t'resbyterian; and he enlarges
upon the turbulent disloyalty with which so many
of the last-named party had, in his opinion, con-
ducted themselves towards their sovereigns since
Queen M,ry's rime, evidently in forgetfulness for
the moment that his newly-found friends, the
Independents, had executed Charles I. and abolished
monarchy.
His account of the mode in which the Presbyterian
or" Consistorian" party were in the habit of treating
their kings is very amusing. " Of a king," he says,
" they onely make use for theh" own ends, and so
they will of any other supreme magistracie that is
hot of their own erection. Their kings are but as
the kings of Lacedemon, whom the Ephors presumed
to fine for any small offence; or a.s the puppy
[puppet] kings, which, after children h,ve trimmed
with bits of taffata, and ends of silver lace, and set
them upon wainscoat cupboards besides marmalade
and sugar-cakes, are oftentimes disposed of, even by
those that did pretend so much respect unto them,
for a two-peny custard, , pound of figs, or mess of
cream. Yerily, I think they naake use of kings in
their Consistorin State, as we do of card kings in
playing at the hundred; any one whereof, if there
M OCK-KI NGS 6 9
be appearance of a better gaine without him, and
that the exchange of him for another incoming card
is like to conduce more for drawing of the stake, is
by good gamesters without any ceremony discarded :
or as the French on the El:)iphany-day use their
tgoy de la Fcbve, or king of the bean; whom, after
they have honoured with drinking of his health,
and shouting Ze Ioy boit, le oy boit, they make lvay
for all the reckoning; hot leaving him sometimes
one peny, rather then [than] that the exorbitancie
of their debosh should hot be satisfied to the full.
They may be likewise said to use their king as the
players at nine-pins do the middle kyle, which they
call the king; at whose fall alone they aire, the
sooner to obtain the gaining of their prize; or
as about Christmas we do the King of Misrule,
whom ve invest with that title to no other end
but to countenance the bacchanalian riots and
lvreposterous disorders of the family where he is
installed. The truth of all this a.pl)ears by their
demeanour to Charles the Second, whom they
crowned their king at Sterlin, and who, though
he be for comeliness of person, valour, affability,
mercy, piety, closeness of couusel, veracity, foresight,
knowledge, and other verrues both moral and in-
tellectual, in nothing inferior to any of his hundred
and ten predccessors, had nevertheless no more rule
in effect over the I)resbyterian Senate of Scotland,
then [than] auy of the six foresaid mock-kings had
above those by whom they were dignified with the
splendour of royal poml»." a
a II'or)['s, p. 2î7. The charity which "believeth all things and
hopeth all things," or the credulity which persuades itself of the
I70 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
The passage in 2'he Jewel which tells of the faults
of the clergy, as illustrated by the conduct of the
ministers of the parishes of which Sir Thomas was
patron, has already been given fl these pages, and
therefore need not be repeated here; but room
must be round for the paragraph in which he
denounces those who by their covetousness had cast
a slur upon the Scottish name. The art of writing
such English perished with him, its inventor; and
one cannot be too thankful for such a passage as
the fol]owing. "Another thing there is," he says,
" that fixeth a grievous scandal upon that nation in
matter of philargyrie, or love of money, and it is
this: There bath been in London, and repairing to
it, for these many years together, a knot of Scotish
bankers, collybists, or coine-coursers, of traffickers
in merchandise to and againe, and of men of other
professions, who by hook and crook, las et nefas,
slight and might, (all being as fish their net could
catch), having feathered their nests to some purpose,
look so idolatrously upon their Dagon of wealth, and
so closely, (like the earth's dull center), hug all unto
themselves, that for no respect of vertue, honour,
kinred, patriotism, or whatever else, (be it never so
truth of the things which it wishes to believe, is manifest in Sir
Thomas Urquhart's estimate of the character of Charles II. Less
charitable or more inlpartial critics are probably inclincd to the
opinion that the existence in that sovereign of a number of the
above-mentioned virtues was as mythical as that of a good many of
his "hundred and ten predecessors." So far as "comeliness" is
concerned, Charles IL at a later period had a much]humbler view of
the matter than Sir Thomas here exprêsses. For he complained
that when they wished to represent a villain on the stage they
ruade up a fire somewhat like himselfi Sec Cibber's .dmlogy,
p. 111.
WORSHIPPERS OF DAGON 171
recommendable), will they depart from so much as
one singlc peny, whose emission doth hot, without
any hazard of loss, in a very short rime superluclate
beyond all conscience an additionall increasc to
the heap of that stock which they so much adore;
which churlish and tenacious humor bath ruade
many that were hot acquainted with any else of
that country, to imagine all their compatriots in-
fected with the saine leprosie of a wrctched peevish-
ness whereof those uonwdocuncluizing clusterfists
and rapacious varlcts have given of late such
cannibttl-like proofs, by their inhmnanity and
obdurte curriage towards some, (whose shoe-strings
they are hOt worthy to unty), that were it hot that
a more able pen then [than] mine will assuredly
hot faile to jerk them on all sides, in case, by their
better demeanour for the future, they endeavour hot
to wipe off the blot wherewith their native country,
by their sordid avarice and miserable baseness, bath
been so foully stained, I would at this very instant
blaze them out in their names and surnames, not-
withstanding tbe vizard of l'resbyterian zeal where-
with they maske themselves, that like so many
wolves, foxes, or Athenian Timons, they might in
all rimes coming be debarred the benefit of any
honest conversation."
After suggesting a number of ways in which the
tone of society in Scotland might be raised and
sweetened--one of which is the establishment of
"a free schoole and standing library in every
parish "eSir Thomas proceeds to argue in a very
Hrorks, p. 212.
: His unhappy prejudices against the Presbyterian clergy are
x72 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
sensible and convincing manner for complete union
between Scotland and England. The subject is
introduced by lengthy quotations from speeches by
Bacon, delivered by him in l'arliament as far back
as the year 1608, in which the advantages of such
an arrangement are set forth.
The style of our author is seen af ifs worst in
the peroration fo 2'he Jcwd, iu which he apologizes
for the comparative simplicity, if not baldness, by
which, in the opinion of some, if might be thought
fo be characterised. "I could truly," he says, "have
enlarged this discourse with a choicer variety of
phrase, and ruade it overflow the field of the
reader's understanding, with an inundation of greater
eloquence; and tlmt one way, tropologetically, by
metonymical, ironical, metaphorical, and synec-
dochical instruments of elocution, in all their
several kinds, artificially affected, according fo the
nature of the subject, with eml»hatical expressions
in things of great concernment, with catachrestical
in nmtters of meaner moment; attended on each
side respectively with an epiplectick and exegetick
modification; with hyperbolical, either epitatically
or hypocoristically, as the purpose required fo be
elated or extenuated, with qualifying metaphors,
and accoml»anied by apostrophes; and lastly, with
allegories of all sorts, whether apologal, affabulatory,
parabolary, enigmatick, or paremial. And on the
other part, schematologetically adorning the proposed
irrepressible, for immediately after suggesting "a standing library
in eustody of the minister of the parish," he adds, "with this
proviso, that none of the books should be embezeled ly him or any
of his suceessors" ( Yorl«s, p. 282).
THE GARDEN OF RHETORIC 73
theam with the most especial aml chicf flowers of
the garden of rhetorick, and olnitting no figure either
of diction or sentence, that might contribute to the
ear's enchantment, or perswasion of the hearer. I
could have introduced, in case of obscurity, synony-
mal, exargastick, and palilogetick elucidations; for
sweetness of phrase, altimetathetick commutations
of epithets ; for the vehement excitation of a natter,
exclamation in the front, atd epiphonemas in the
reer. I could have used, for the promptlier stirring
up of passion, apostrophal and prosopopceial diver-
sions; and, for the appeasing and settling of them,
some epanorthotick revocations, and aposiopetick
restraines. I could have inserted dialogismes,
displaying their interrogatory part with communi-
catively pysmatick and sustentative flourishes; or
proleptically, with the refutative schemes of antici-
pation and subjection, and that part which concerns
the responsory, with the figures of permission and
concession. Speeches extending a marrer beyond
what itis, auxetically, digressively, transitiously, by
ratiocination, oetiology, circumlocution, and other
wayes, I could have ruade use of; as likewise with
words diluinishing the worth of a thing, tapinotically,
periphrastically, by rejection, translation, and other
meaues, I could have served myself."
We have reason to be thankfifl to Sir Thomas for his kindness
in refraining from the style of composition which he here indicates,
for we can scarcely credit his assurance that the results would bave
been less terrifying than the descril,tiou of the processes by whieh
they would have been reached. There is no need for an apology,
for he has really done pretty well as itis. hlr Ruskin had once a
vision of ten thousand school-inspectors assembled on Cader Idris.
What horror would seize sueh a company, if they were treated as a
174 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
He goes on for a long rime in this strttin, and
is at pains to explaia that, if the work had been
written in this more elaborate manner, if would not
necessarily bave been found tedious even by young
ltdies. " I could bave presented it to the imagina-
tion," ho says, "in so spruce a garb, that spirits
blest with leisure, and free from the urgency of
serious employments, would happily bave bestowed
as liberally some few houres thereon as on the
perusal of a new-coined romance, or strange history
of love adventures. For although the figures and
tropes above rehearsed seem in their actu signato, (as
they signifie meer notional circumstances, affections,
adjuncts, and dependcncies on words), to be a little
pedantical, and to the smooth touch of a delicate
etr somewhat harsh and scabrous, yet in their
exerced act, (as they suppone for things reduplicat-
ively as things in the first apprehension of the
minde, by them signified), I could, even in far abstruser
purposes, have 8o fitly adjusted them with apt and
proper termes, and with such perspicuity couched
them, as would bave been suitable to the capacities
of courtiers and young ladies, 1 whose tender hearing,
for the most part, being more taken with the in-
class in elementary English, and the above passage were read out
as an exercise in dictation ! Nay, it is to be feared that even the
more august assembly in Dover House, the Lords of Education
themselves, would be panic-stricken at such a task. Only
hIacauly's "school-boy" would probably be round to enter upon
it with unblenched countenance, and to accomplish it successful]y.
This reminds us of Bottom the weaver. "I will roar that I
will do any man's heart good to hear me .... [Yet hot to frighten
the ladies.] I will aggrawte my voice so that I will roar you as
gently as any sucking dove : I will roar you an 'twere any night-
ingale" ( Mi'dsuznmer.2Vht' s Dïeam, . ii.).
A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE I75
sinuating harmony of a well-concerted period, in its
isocoletick and parisonal members, thcn [than] with
the never-so-pithy a fancy of a learned subject,
destitute of the illustriousness of 8o pathetick
ornaments, will sooner convey perswasion to the
interior faculties from the ravishing assault of a
well-disciplined diction, in a parade of curiously-
mustered words in their several ranks and files
then [than] by the vigour and fierceness of never so
many powerful squadrons of a promiscuously-digestcd
elocution into bare logical arguments ; for the swect-
ness of their disposition is more easily gained by
undermining passion then [tlmn] storming reon,
and by the ,nusick and symmetry of a descourse
in its external appurtenances, then [than] by all
the puissance imaginary of the ditty or purpose
disclosed by it. ''1
The last of Sir Thomas Urquhart's original works
was his" LOGOPAblDECTEISIObl, or an IIOERODUCOEIObl OEO
THE UblIVERSAL IANGUAGE," a portion of which, as
already mentioned, had been embedded in the con-
glomerate mass of The Jewel. The idea of a universal
language was hot originated by Urquhart, for itis
said that something of the kind had been planned a
generation earlier by the celebrated William Bedell
(15 7 0-16 4 2), the Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh,
who is better known for promoting the transla-
tion of the Bible into the Irish tongue. We are
told by Burnet, who wrote his life, that he had
in his diocese a clergyman named Johnston, a man
of ability, but, unfortunately, of "mercurial wit."
In order to give him adequate employment, and to
1 IVarks, pp. 292, 298.
76 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
keep him, we suppose, out of mischief, Bedell
planned OLLt ,% scheme for a universal character,
which should be understood by all nations as
readily as the Arabic numerals or the figures in
geometry, and strted Johnston upon the task of
completing it. He marie, we are told, considerable
progress with the scheme, but his labom's were
interrupted, and the resuls of them destroyed, by
the frightful rebellion of 1641.
The Logo2andccteision 1 is divided into six books,
which bear names of the remarkable kind which
seem to corne so readily to Urquhart's tongue, and
are so hard to be compassed by the tongues of
others. The "Epistle Dedicatorie" is an elaborate
piece of writing, and is animated by considerable
bitterness of spirit. If is addressed to Nobody
the person who bas assisted him in his labours,
pitied him in his sorrows, and relieved him in his
penury. It is only the first bookentitled
"Neaudethaumata, or Wonders of the New Speech"
which makes a pretence of dealing with the pro-
fessed subject of the volume, and of laying the
Logo2andcctcision , or an INTRODUCTION to the UVEISA
LA«VtCE. Digested into these Six several Books, eaude-
flmumata, Chrestasebeia, Cleronomaporia, Chryseomystes, eleo-
dicastes, and Philoponauxesis. By Sir Thomas Urquhart of
Cromartie, Knight. Tow lately contrived and lmblished, bofl
for his own utilitie, and that of all pregnant and ingenious Sph'its.
Credere quacrenti nonne hacc justissima res est? Qui non plura
cupit, quam ratio iTsa jubct. Englishcd thts, To graut him his
demands, were it not just? Who craves no more, then [than]
reason sayes he must. Zondon. Printed, and are to be sold by
Gilcs Calrert at the llack Spread Eagle at the West-end of .Pauls ;
and by Richard l'omlbts at the Sun and Bible near Pye-corner.
1653,
PROQUI RI TATI ONS 77
great scheme before the reader. Much fo the
gratification of the judicious student of the work,
Urquhart rambles off in the remaining books into
autobiographical details, from which we have already
gleaned heavily in the earlier chapters of this
volume, and the only connexion between them and
the Universal Language is that they show the
difficulties which prevented the author from carry-
ing out his plan. The sources from which these
difficulties arose are vaguely indicated in the titles of
the books: thus, the second is called "Chrestasebeia,
or Impious Dealing of Creditors "; the third, "Clero-
nomaporia, or the Intricacy of a Distressed Successor
or Apparent tIeir "; the fourth, " Chryseonystes, or
the Covetous Preacher"; and the fifth, "Neleodicastes,
or the Pitiless Judge." While the sixth book is en-
titled "Philoponauxesis, or Furtherance of Industry,"
and tells of the marvellous benefits which would accrue
fo all branches of trade, manufacture, nd industry
in Scotland, if the writer's demands were granted,
and he were ai liberty to carry out the multitudin-
ous schemes with which his mind was filled. The
volume concludes with requests or" proquiritations"
from thirty-two distinct petitioners, who modestly
conceal themselves from public notice under the
shelter of the initial letters of their names, that the
State would, for the various weighty reasons which
they allege, grant the desire of Sir Thomas to be
set free, and fo be established in possession of the
estates and honours which his family had enjoyed
from time immemorial. This section of the work
suggests failure in ingenuity on the part of the
author, for few persons above the condition of
12
78 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
idiocy could surely be ïound capable of believing
that the reasons and initials alike were anything
else than the concoction of Sir Thomas himself.
Very slight indeed can be the notice which we
are able to give of the proposed Universal Language,
the description of which, as set ïorth in the early
part of the I, ogo_pandecteision, is more like an in-
coherent dream than anything else. There is no
evidence that Sir Thomas Urquhart ever really
ruade a grammar or vocabulary oï the new lanmge.
Indeed, he writes about it h such a manner as to
lead oue to think that he had ruade no way in the
real working out of the scheme, but merely dreamed
of what he was going to do. In the new tongue
which was to supersede al1 others there were tobe
twelve parts of sl»eech, all words would have at
least ten synonyms, nouns and pronouns vould
have eleven cases and four numbers--singular,
dual, plural, and redual---and verbs would have
four voices, seven moods, and eleven tenses. "In
this tongue," says the author, "there are eleven
genders, 1 wherein," he truthfully adds, "it exceedeth
Eleven gendeïs seem nine more than are necessaïy, and the use
of such a large number suggests to one that in Sir Thomas's
Universal Language the distinctions in question were to receive
an undue amount of attention. At the saine rime, fault has been
found with out English language for being somewhat defective in
accentuating these distinctions; and an attemlt to correct this
shortcoming, to a certain extent, has been nmde by Southey in
Thc Doctor. He Woposed to anglicise the orthography of the
ïemale garment, " which is indeed the sister fo the shirt," and
then to utilise the hint offered in its new form : thus Hcmisc and
Shemise. In letter-writing every lerson knows that male and female
letters bave a distinct character ; they should thcrefore, he thought,
be general]y distinguished thus, tt2istlc and Shc2»istle. And as
MERITS OF THIS LANGUAGE '79
all other languages." " Every word in this language,"
we are told, "signifieth as vell backward as forward,
ad however you invert the letters, still shall you
fitll upon significant vords, whereby a wonderful
facility is obtained in making of anagrams.
Of all languages, this is the most compendious in
complement, and consequently fittest for courtiers
and ladies... As its interjections are more
numerous, so are they more eml,hatical in their
respective expression of passions, then [than] that
part of speech is in any other language whatsoever." 1
And finally Sir Thomas vouches for its conciseness
in a hyperbole which if would be difiïcult to excel.
" This language," he says, "aflbrdeth so concise
vords for numbering, that the number for setting
down, whereof would require in vulgar arithmetic
more figures in a row then [than] there might be
grains of sand containable from the center of the
earth to the highest heavens, is in if expressed by
there is the sanm marked difference in the writing of the
two sexes, he proposed Pen,ansM_p and PenwomansMl». Erroneous
opinions in religion being promulgated in this country by women
as well as nmn, the teachers of such false doctrine may be divided
into Iteresiarchs and Shcresiarchs, so that we should speak of the
Heresy of the Quakers and thc Sheresy of Joanna Southcote's
peol»le. The troublesome affection of the diaphragm, which every
one has experienced, is, upon the saine principle, to be called,
according to the sex of the patient, H«culs, or Shecu2s , vhich,
upon the principle of making our language truly British, is better
than the more classical form of Iticcu2s and Iteccculs. In its object-
ive use the word becomes ttiscups or Hercups ; and in like manner
Histerics should be altered into Herterics, the comlflaint never
being masculine. It is perhaps a little surprising that this
suggestion should bave lain before the British public for hall a
century, and bave been left unutilised.
: ll'orks, pp. 316-318.
180 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
two letters. ''1 A eonsiderable revenue might be
seeured if the rule round at the end of some of
Grimm's ITouschold g'ales were applied to this state-
ment, and strictly enforced: "Whosoever does hOt
believe this must p,y a thaler." In a very innocent
mnner our author excuses himself for the extra-
vagant praise he bas poured out upon his own
iuvention. "Why it is," he exclims, "I should
extoll the worth thereoï, vithout the jeopardy of
vaine glory, the reasou is clea.r and trident, being
necessitated ... to merchandise it for the redin-
tegratiug of an aneient fa.mily, i needeth hOt be
thought stra.nge, that in some mea.sure I descend
go the fashion of the shop-keepers, who, to scrue
up the buyer go the higher price, will tell them no
better tan be had for mony, 'ris the ehoieest ware
in England, and if any ca.n match it, he shall have
it for nought.. [And soi I went on in my
laudatives, to procure the greater longing, that an
ardent desire might stir up an emaeity la pro-
pensity fo buy], to the furtheranee of my proposed
end." Ont is obliged sadly to assent to his further
statement about sueh eonduet --" whereof . .
there wanteth not store of presidents [preeedents]." "
Hugh Miller, animated by the patriotie zeal
whieh prompts ont North Briton to stand by
another, and with the desire go make out the best
case possible for ont who was hot only a fellow-
eountryman, but also a fellow-townsman, speaks in
high terres of Urquha.rt's inventive powers as dis-
played in the Io9opandccteision. " The new chemical
vocabulary," he says, "with all its philosophieal
IVo-rks» pp. 316-318. "" Ibid. p. 332.
CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE 8
ingenuity, is constructed on principles exactly
similar to those which he divulged more than a
hundred years prior to its invention, in the preïace
to his Universal Language." 1 This is a statement
which it is rather diflicult to understand. The only
indication of the nature of the new tongue which
we can glean ïrom Sir Thomas's description of it,
is that every letter of every word in it would have
a meaning, so that when anyone who knew the
principles of the language heard a word for the
first rime, he would understand it. :Now, of course,
it is true that anyone who knows the principle of
the nomenclature of salts, to which, we suppose,
IIugh Millet refers, can tell a good deal about a
gccnes and Zegends, chap. vii.
" A somewhat similar project was described in the lIarquis of
Worcester's Ccntury of the xYames atd gca.ttling of . . . Inventions
(1663), in which the stean»engine is anticipated. The passage
is as follows :--" 32. How to compose an universal character,
methodical, and easie to be written, yct intellible in any
lauage : so that if an English«nan write it in English, a French-
man, Italian, Spaniard, Irish, Welsh, being scholars, yea, Grecian
or Hebritian, shall as lerfectly understand it lu their owne Tongue,
as if they were perfect English, distinguishing the Verbs from the
Nouns, the Numbers, Tcnses, Cases as prol,crly cxpressed in their
own Language as it was written in English."
A writer lu JBlackwood's 2llagazine lu 1820 afilrms that he bas
good reasons for believing that the above volume was really
by Sir Thonms Urquhart, and was dishonestly put forth as the
work of the Marquis of Worccster. tIe does hot give us any
of his reasons. The style of the little volume bears no resemblance
to that of our author, and flfis faet is of itself almost conclusive
proof that Sir Thomas Urquhart had nothing to do with it. The
Scottish knight could scarcely open his lil,s without rcvealing his
identity. It is rathcr ditticult to belicve, too, that a manuscript
lost by Sir Thomas in the streets of Worcester should bave been
picked up by the Marquis of Worcester. The coincidence would
be a very extïaordinary one.
82 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
sait from the name of if, say, nitrate of potassium,
KNO, but it would be impossible to invent a
systematic nomenclature of which this would hot
be true.
Thc saine author is also very much impressed by
the fact that the new langucge was fo contain the
dual, and reg«rds this, on Lord lXçonboddo's authority,
as c proof of philosophical acumen on the part
of the iuventor. He does hot take any notice of
the "redual," which the lauguage was also fo con-
tain, aud which might hure been taken as au
indication of double-distilled wisdom. Lord Mon-
boddo (1714-1799)says of the Greek language
th:t if there " were nothing else fo convince him of
ifs being a work of philosophers and grammgrians,
ifs dual ntlmber would of itsel[ be sufiàcient ; for as
certainly as the principles of body are the point,
the line, and the surface, the principles of number
are the monad and the duad, though philosophers
only are gware of the fact." The idea that this
venerated instrument for the expression or conceal-
ment of thought was the concoction of a committee
of primitive sages, and that they deliberately in-
vented the dual, and added if as another spike to
the chevat»-dc-fi'ise through which our young
people, of both sexes, lmve fo struggle on their
way to the Temple of Learning, is truly revolting.
One would hot like to think that the ancient
Heur Heine's angry allusions fo his ear]y scholastic experiences,
in which he suggests another and less honourable origin of the
Greek tongue : "Vom Griechischen will ich gar nicht sprechen--
ich itrgero mich sonst zu viel. Die MSnche ira Mittelalter hatten
so ganz Unrecht nicht, wenn sie behaupteten, dass dus Griechischo
eino Erfindung dos Teufels sel" (Dus tich Le Grad, viL).
LOSS OF THE DUAL I8 3
Greeks were quite so malicious as to do a thing
like tha.t. If is more probably the case that, like
other Aryans,' they received the dual as part of
the inheritance of the past, handed down to them,
and retained it; while in some of the cognate
languages' it was gradually rubbed off, very much
in the saine way as Lord Monboddo's men lost their
tails, when they gave up their arboreal habits,
and betook themselves to sedentary occupations.
1 Sanskrit, Old Persian, Lithuanian, and old Slavonic bave the
dual both in declension and conjugation, and in thc lirst of these
it is used much more frequently thau i Greek. Faint traces of it in
dcclension arc to be round in Teutonic speech, though in conjuga-
tion it is only in the Gothic tlmt the dual is used. In old Gaelic
the dual is a regular feature of declension, but hot of conjugation.
CHAt'TER VII
TRANSLATION OF ]:)ABELAIS
HE foundation on which Sir Thomas
Urquhart's literary faine securely
rests is his translation into English
of the first three books of the works
of Iabelais. Of these the first and
second appeared in two separate
volumes in the year 1653--exactly a century after
the death of the great French satirist--and the
third was published by Pierre Antoine Motteux
in 1693, long after Sir Thomas's own death. 1
1 The title-1)age of the first book does hot contain Sir Thomas
Ur«luhart's naine, but on if is his motto ("Mean, speak, and do
well "). It runs as follows :--" The first Book of the Works of
FIAICIS RABELAIS, Doctor in Physick : Containing Five Books of
the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of GArGAITçA and his
Sonne I)ANTAGRUEL. Together with the Patagueline Prognosti-
cation, the Oracle of the divine Bacbuc, and response of the bottle.
Hereunto are annexed the :Navigations unto the sounding Isle and
the Isle of the Apedefts : as likewise the Philosol)hical cream with
a Linmsin Epistle. All done by !Xlr. Francis Rabelais, in the
lh'ench Tongae, and now faithfully translated into English. eSvoe'
eJ)o')/e gai eJrpavve. London, Printed for Richard Baddeley,
within the Middle Teml)legate. 1653." On the title-1)age of the
second book are the translator's initiais, S. T. V. C. (Sir Thomas
Urquhart of Cromartie). While on that of the third book we bave
his naine in full : "Now faithfully translated into English by the
unimitable loen of Sir Thomas Urwhart, Kt. and Bar. The Trans-
OBSCURITY OF RABELAIS 18 5
The difiiculty, singularity, and obscurity of the
writings of Rabelais had probably been hindrances
in the way of their being presented to the English
public in their own tongue ; for, though the register
of the Stationers' Company preserves a record of
two attempts at translation, these seem to have been
but fragmentary, and to bave dropped still-born from
the press. The vorks themselves are hot known to
be extant, and nothing more than the bare naine of
them survives.
The difficulties which lie in the way of the
ordinary reader who wishes to become acquainted
with the" works of Pabelais are very considerable. 1
The fantastical style of the satirist, his countless
allusions to contemporary persons and events, his
lator of the Two First Books. Never before Printed. London:
Printed for Richard Baldwin, near the Oxford Arms in Warwick
Lane, 1693." Copies of the first and second books of the abovo
date are in the British Museum, but erroneously catMogued--not
under Urquhart, but only under C., S. T.V. A second edition of
them both seems from the Bodleian Catalogue to have bcen pub-
lished in 1664. Both are very rare, it is said, owing to the
destruction caused by the tire of London in 1666.
For those who are not speciM students, adcquate information
concerning Rabelais and extracts from his works are to be got in
Sir Walter Besant's luminous and charming volume in the series of
Foreign Classics for English Readcrs (Blackwood), and in Morley's
U,iversal Library (Routledge). In one of his poems Browning
describes the steps taken by a reader to banish the memory of a
dreary pcdant, wàose book he had been perusing. He says :
"Then I went indoors, brought out a loaf,
HMf a cheese, and a bottle of Chablis ;
Lay on the grass, and forgot the oaf
Over a jolly chapter of Rabelais."
Some bave turned over Rabelais and searched for the jolly chaIter
in vain, and have, perha]?s, attributed their failure to tlm want of
a bottle of Chablis.
SIR THOMAS URÇUHART
out-of-the-way learning, the care with which he
conceals at such lcngth the scriousness of his
purpose, and the incrcdible grossncss of manners
which so oftcn disfigures his pages, are obstacles
which cau with ditïiculty be surmounted. The last-
mentioncd characteristic is, indeed, a grave and in-
grained fault, which must for ever be a slur upon
the writer's faine. Yet we may say of him what
Don I)edro says of Benedick, "The man doth fear
God howsoever it seems not in him by some large
jests he will make "; or what Mrs Blower in St
Ronan's IF'cll says of her deceased husband, "tte
was a merry man, buthe had the rootof the matter
in him for a' his light way of speaking." Coleridge
" the brother," according to Mr Birrell, "whose
praise is throughout all the churches"--speaks of
Rabelais in very high terres indeed; "Beyond a
doubt," he says, "he was among the deepest, as
well as boldest thiukers of his age. ttis buffoonery
was hot merely Brutus' rough stick, which contained
a rod of gold : it was necessary as an amulet against
the monks and legates. Never was there a more
plausible, and seldom, I ara persuaded, a less appro-
priate line than the thousand rimes quoted
' Rabelais laughing in his easy chair'
of Mr I)ope. The caricature of his filth and zany-
This is somewhat doubtful. The Sorbonne and the Parliaments
might bave been moved by ultra-orthodox opponents to prosecute
Rabelais on this accourir. The true explanation seems to be that
the form of his book was poptflar, and the popular Frcnch litera-
turc of the ]Iiddle Ages--fableaux, farces, and burlesque romances
---can hardly be exceeded in the matter of coarseness (Etcy. Brit.,
"Rabelais ").
LIFE OF RABELAIS 87
ism show how fully he both knew and felt lhe
danger in which he stood. I could write a treatise
in praise of the moral elevation of Rabelais' work,
which would make the church stare and the con-
venticle groan, 1 and yet would be truth, and nothing
but the truth. I class abelais with the great
creative minds of the world, Shakespeare, Dante,
Cervantes, etc."
François Rabelais was born in Touraine, accord-
ing to the date usually given, and which there is
no reason to question, in the saine year as Luther
and Raphael, A.D. 1483, and died in l»aris in 1553.
His father had a small estate, and was an al?othe-
cary (or, as some say, a tavern-keeper) in the town
of Chinon, at the foot of the castle where, three
centuries before, our Henry H. had died, and
whither, a little more than fifty years before
Franç.ois was born, Joan of Arc had corne with
promises of supernatural aid to Charles vil. He
was the youngest of rive sons, and, as was often the
case in those days, was provided for by being ruade
a monk, while the other members of the family
divided amongst them the paternal estate. In one
passage in his works he speaks of mothers who
"cannot bear their children nor brook them in
their bouses nine, nay often not seven years, but by
l»utting a shirt over their robe, and by cutting a few
lmirs on the top of their head . . they transform
This is surely au early allusion to the superior sensitiveness on
some points of the "2Voucoformist Consciece." The faet alluded
to should inspire joy rather than call forth sneers, for when a
conscience becomes sensitive on some points there are reasonable
hopes of its becoming sensitive on others.
I88 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
them into birds," i.e., get rid of them as soon as
possible, and thrust them into monasteries. This
seems to have bcen his own sad ïate.
In course of rime, after the schoolboy period of
his life was past, he entered the order of Franciscan
monks at the convent of Fontenay-le-Comte in
l'oitou, and took holy orders; and it was here, dur-
ing the next fifteen years (1509-1524), that he
devoted himself to the acquisition of everything in
the shape of literature or learning, and laid the
foundation of the astonishing erudition which his
works display. His long residence in the monas-
tery had inspired F,belais with a deep hatred of
monasticism and monks, and, after being allowed to
exchange the Franciscan for the Benedictine order,
he laid down the regular habit and took that of a
secular priest, and leït the convent without the
sanction of his superior--a breach of ecclesiastical
discipline which exposed him to severe censure.
After wandering hither and thither in the pursuit
of medical knowledge, he entered the University of
Montpellier, graduated as a physician, and practised
there with credit and success. After being Hospital
I»hysician at Lyons, he spent some time in lome,
as a medical attendant upon Jean du ]3ellay, Bishop
of l»aris. While here he succeeded in making his
peace with the Church, and by a papal Bull (17th
January 1536) vas allowed to return to the Bene-
dictine order and to practise physic according to
canonical rules, i.e., to charge no fees and to use
neither tire nor knife. This release from ecclesiast-
ical disabilities allowed him to be appointed to a
place in the abbey of St Maur-des-Fosses, near
THE ENEMY OF HUMBUG t8 9
Paris. After another 1Jeriod of exile and wandering
he was nominated curé of Meudon, an office which he
resigned after two years. Three months afterwards
he died in Paris (9th April, 1553), and was buried
in the cemetery of the parish of St Paul's.
The publication of the satirical writings of
P.abelais was spread over a long series of years,
ïrom 1532 or 1533, when the first instalment,
in his Gargantua, was brought out, down to
1564, eleven years after his death, when the
fifth and concluding book of his Patagruel was
issued in its entirety. The main object of his
satire was what used to be called " the intolerance,
superstition, and disgusting follies and vices of the
Romish Church," but, incident«lly, pretenders to
knowledge of every kind corne under his lash. For
vhen imposture, folly, and humbug grow too rank
and noisome, there arise, it can scarcely be by acei-
dent, men like Lucian, abelais, and Voltaire, whose
calling it is to eut them down. That theirs is an
ill-reqtfited office is sufficiently plain from the odium
which, in spire of their beneficent labours, is oïten
associated with their names. « [Hast thou] only a
torch for burning, no hammer for building ?" says
the somewhat wearisome Herr Teufelsdr5ckh to
the last named of these satirists, "take our thanks,
then, andthyself away. '' Yet t-he torch for
burning is as necessary as the hammer for buihling,
if the site for the Temple of Truth is to be pre-
pared. It may well be tha.t burning down and
footing up are needed before building ca.n be begun,
and some oï those who have endeavoured to benefit
Sartor ttesartus, chp. ix.
9 o SIR THOMAS URQUHART
mankind have felt themselves called to the one sort
of work rather than to the other.
The form which Rtbclais chooses for the frame-
work of his satire is t.he burlesque adventures of
the giant Gargantua, of whom many ]egends were
current in Touraine, and of his son ]*antagruel,
sometimes spoken of as also a giant, and at others
as a wise and virtuous prince of ordinary propor-
tions. Along with the strauge, tangled, and chaotic
story of their exploits the writer fvm time to time
emmciates admirable ideas, which must have seemed
revoluti,mtry to his contemporarics, and some of
which even we hve hot yet realised.
The translation of abelais by Sir Thomas
Urquhar is his great literary achievement. "It is
impossible," says Tytler, " to look into it without
admiring the air of ease, freshness, and originality
which the translator bas so happily communicated
to his performance. All those singular qualifica-
tions which unfitted Urquhart to succeed in serious
compositionhis extravagance, his drollery (?), his
unbridled imgination, his burlesque and endless
epithetsare in the task of transltting abelais
transplanted into their tue field of action, and
revel through his pages with a licence and buoyancy
which is quite unbridled, yet quite allowable. In-
deed, Urquhart and Ilabelais appear, in many points,
to bave been congenial spirits, and the translator
scems to bave been born for his author."
As might bave been expected, the translation is
hot marked by painful exactness of rendering. On
the contrry, evidences of ctrelessness and in-
1 .Lire of CricMo»., p. 182.
AN UNBRIDLED TRANSLATOR IgI
accuracy are by no means uncommon, but yet the
work is, as some one calls it, "one of the nost
perfect transfusions of an author from one language
to another, t that ever man accomllished." The
great merits of the translation consist in its 10re -
serving the very air and style of the original, and
in the astonishing richness of vocabulary which it
manifests. Where abelais invents a word, Sir
Thomas invents one, or two, or three; and if the
former has a list of twenty or thirty epithets, thc
lttter has no hesitation in SUlqlying his readers
with forty or sixty, which seem quite as good as
the original stock which he thus enlarges. Some-
rimes, too, as Mr W. F. Snith, a very distinguished
student of Rabelais, remarks, "in translating a
single word of the French he often empties all the
synonyms given by Cotgrave into his version."
Mr Tytler, in the above-quoted criticism on
Urquhart's translation, speaks of the peculiarities of
his style as " revelling through his 1)ages with a
licence and buoyancy which is quite unbridled, yet
quite allowable." One is obliged to demur to the
last adjective. A translator, like a compositor,
should be under some obligation to adhere to the
text before him; and, as a rnatter of fact, the
success of Urquhart's version is occasionally inter-
fered with by this saine "unbridled revelling."
The style of tlabelais is graphic and vigorous, and
1 In addition to any aid Urquhart may have received from friends
who were intimately acquainted with the French language, he was
deeply indebted to Cot'ave's Frcnch Dictionary, l,ublished in
1611, and dedicated to "Sir William Cecil, Knight, Lord Burghley,
and sonne and heir apparant unto the Earle of Exetcr,"i.r., thc
grandson of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Burghley.
192 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
at rimes exceedingly graceful, and oecupies a high
place in French liLerature. Any tampering with it,
therefore, in the way of alteration or addition, was
hot likely to be an improvement.
But, even after Ml deductions are lnade, the praise
bestowed upon Urquhart's work has been fully
deserved. "The buoyancy and unelnbarrassed sweep
of its general character," says Sir Theodore Martin,
"which gives his Rabelais more the look of an
original than of a translation, its rich and well-
compacted diction, the many happy turns of phrase
that are quite his own, have fairly earned for it the
high estimation iu which it has long been held.
His task was one of extreme difiàculty, and there
have perhaps been few men besides himself that
could have brought to it the world of omnigenous
knowledge which it required. If was apparently
Urquhart's ambition to remise in his own person
the ideal of hulnan accomplishment, to be ai once
«Complete in feature and in mind,
With all good grace to grace a gentleman.'
He had left no source of information unexplored,
few aspects of life unobserved, and, in the trans-
lation of abelais, he round full exercise for his
multiform attainments. Ably us the work has
been completed by Motteux, one cannot but regret
that the worthy Knight of Cromarty had hot
spared hiln the task. ''1
The merits of the translation can scarcely be
exhibited in selections torn from their context, and
perhaps only partly intelligible; but perhaps the
Rabelais, p. xxi.
THE ABBEY" OF THELEMA t93
following may be welcome to the reader. Let us
take these extracts from the graceful and charming
sketch of the Abbey of Thelema, which was to be
different from all other monastic communities,
and was to bc the home of a society of young
people living together in all innocence and joy, free
from sordid cares, and devoted to the studies, exer-
cises, and accomplishments which are appropriate
to refined and noble spirits.
"' First, then,' said Gargantua, ' you must hot
build a wall about your convent, for all othcr
abbies are strongly walled and mured about ....
lIoreover, seeiug there are certain convcnts in thc
world, whereof the custome is, if any woman corne
in, I mean chaste and honest women, they ilnmedi-
ately sweep the ground which they have trod
upon; therefore was it ordained, that if any lnan
or woman, entered into religions orders, should by
chance cone within this new abbey, ail the roomes
should be thoroughly washed and cleansed through
which they had passed. And because in all other
monasteries and nunneries all is compassed, limited,
and regulated by houres, it was decreed that in this
new structure there should be neither clock nor
dial, but that, according to the opportunities and
incident occasions, all their hours should be dis-
posed of; for,' said Gargantua, 'the greatest losse
of time, that I know, is to count the hours. What
good cornes of it ? Nor can there be any greater
dotage in the world then [than] for oue to guide
and direct his courses by the sound of a bell, and
not by his owne judgement and discretion.'
I.c. the Carthusians : like their impudence !
I94 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
"Item, ]3ecause at that rime they put no women
into nunneries, but such as were either purblind,
blinkards, lame, crooked, ill-favoured, misshapen,
fooles, senselesse, spoyled, or corrupt; nor
cloystered any men, but those that were either
sickly, ill-bred lowts, simple sots, or peevish trouble-
houses; . . therefore was it ordained, that into
this religious order should be admitted no women
that were not faire, well featur'd, and of a sweet
disposition; nor men that were hot comely, per-
sonable, and well conditioned.
" Item, Iecause in the convents of women men
corne hot but under-hand, privily, and by stealth, it
was therefore enacted, that in this house there shall
be no women in case there be hot men, nor men in
case there be hot women.
" Item, Because both men and women, that are
received into religious orders after the expiring of
their noviciat or probation-year, vere constrained
and forced perpetually to stay there all the days of
their life, it was therefore ordered, that all whatever,
mea or women, admitted within this abbey, should
have full le,ve to depart with peace and contentment,
whensoever it should seem good to them so to do.
"Item, for tlmt the religious men and women
did ordinarily make three vows, to wit, those of
ch,tity, poverty, and obedience, it was therefore
constituted and appointed, that in this convent
they might be honourably married, that they might
be rich, and lire at liberty.
"h regard of the legitim,t time of the persons
to be initiated, and years under ad above which
they were hot cat,able of reception, the women were
MANNER OF LIVING x95
to be admitted from ten till fi[teen, and the lnen
from twelve till eighteen." 1
After an elaborate description of the magnificence
of the abbey and of its endowments, and of the
apparel worn by the members of the new order, we
are told of "holv the 'hclc»itcs wc'e govc'ncd, and of
their mannc" of living." "All their lire," we read,
"was spent not in lawes, statutes, or rules, but accord-
ing to their own free will and l»leasure. They rose
out of their beds, when they thonght good ; they did
eat, drink, labour, sleep, when they had a minde toit,
and were disposed for it. None did awake thcm,
none did offer to constrain them to eat, drink, nor to
do any other thing ; for so had Gargantua established
it. In all their rule, and strictest tie of their order,
there was but this one clause to be observed,
DO WHAT THOU WILT;
Because men that are free, well-borne, well-brcd,
and conversant in honest companies, have naturally
an instinct and spurre tlmt prompteth them unto
vertuous actions, and withdraws them from vice,
which is called honour. Those saine men when by
base subjection anti constraint they are brought
under and kept down, turn aside from that hoMe
dispositiou, by which they fornlerly were inclined to
vertue, to shake off aud break that bond of servi-
tude, wherein they are so tyraunously inslaved ; for
it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after
things forbidden, and to desire what is denied us. e
Book i. chap. 52.
"Nitimtr ia vctitum, scmper cupimus ncgata" (Ovid, Amor.
iii. 4, 17).
I96 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
" By this liberty they entered into a very laud-
able emulation, to do all of them what they saw
did please one. If auy of the gallants or ladies
should say, Let us drink, they would all drink.
If any one of them said, Let us play, they all
played. If one said, Let us go a-walking into the
fields, they weat all. If it were to go a-hawking
or a-huating, the ladies mounted upon dainty, well-
p:med nags, seated in a stately palfrey saddle, 1
carried oa their lovcly fists, miniardly begloved
every oe of them, either a sparhawk, or a laneret,
or a mrliu, aml the young gtllants carried the
other kinds of hawkes. So nobly were they taught,
that there wts neither he nor she amongst them
but could read, writc, sing, play upon several
musical instruments, speak rive or sixe severM
lauguages, and compose in them all very quaintly,
both in verse aud prose. Never were seen so
valiant knights, so noble and worthy, so dextrous
and skilful both on foot and a horseback, more
brisk and lively, more nimble and quick, or better
handling all manner of wepons then [than] were
there. Never were seene ladies so proper - and
handsome, so miniard and dainty, lesse froward, or
more ready with their hand, and with their needle,
in every honest and free action belonging to that
sexe, then [than] were there. For this reason,
when the rime came, that any man of the said
abbey, either at the request of his parents, or for
some other cause, had a minde to go out of it, he
.4vec leur palcfroy gwrrier--rather, "with their prancing
palfrey." Guorrier from Gr. *mpo,--haughty.
Cf. Heb. xi. 23, "a propcr child."
PANURGE x97
carried along with him one of the ladies, namely,
her whom he had before that chosen for his mis-
tris, 1 and [they] were mal'ried together. Aud if
they had formerly iu Thelelne lived in good devotion
and amity, they did continue therein and increase
it to a grcater height in their state of nmtrimony:
and did entertaine that mutual love till the very
last day of their life, in no lesse vigour and fervency,
then [than] at the very day of their wedding." 2
Such is the dream which floated before the lnind
of Iabel,is, but, unhappily, itis still an airy fancy,
and has never received , local habitation and a
naine. Mrs Grundy, the vegetarians, the teetotallers,
the anti-tobacco people, and the enemies of" ration,l
costume" bave up to the present forbidden the
erection of any such building.
One of the most prominent figures in the story of
Iantagruel is his favourite, :Panurge, who is a rogue,
a drunkard, a coward, and a malicious scoundrel, but
who yet, like Falstaff, in spite of all his moral defici-
encies, manages to appear as an amusing personage.
Into his lips is put, with a fine disregard of congruity,
an eloquent speech, which begins in praise of debt,
and ends by settiug forth the interdependence of all
things in the universe, lanurge is representcd as
having threescore and three ways of making money,
and two hundred and fourteen of spending ig, so ghat
he is always poor, and his sovereign Pantagruel re-
monstmtes with him on account of his prodigal habits.
He replies as follows : "]3e still indebted to sone-
Celle lculuelle l'auroit prins pour so d«rot--rather, "her, who
had chosen him as her devoted servant."
- Book i. chap. 5î.
I98 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
body or other, that there may be somebody a.lways
to pray for you; [to 1)ray] that the giver of all
good things may grant unto you a blessed, long,
and prosperous lire; fearing, if fortune should dea.1
crossly with you, ttmt it might be his chance to
corne short of being 1),id by you, he will always
speak good of you in every company, ever and
anon 1)urchase new creditors unto you; to the end,
th,t through their means you may make a shift by
borrowing from Peter to pay P,ul, 1 and with other
folk's earfl fill up his ditch. When of old in the
region of the Gauls, by the institution of the
Druids, the servants, slaves, and bondmen were
burnt quick at the funerals and obsequies of their
lords and masters, had hot they fear enough, think
you, that their lords and masters should die ? For,
per force, tbey were to die with them for comloany.
Did not they uncessantly send up their supplica-
tions to their great God Mercury, as likewise unto
Dis, the Father of Wealth, to lengthen out their
duys, and preserve them long iu health ? Were
not they very careful to entertain them well,
punctually to look unto them, and to attend them
fMthfully and circumspectly ? For by those meaus
were they to lire together at least until the hour
of death. Believe me your creditors with a more
fervent devotion will beseech [Providence] to pro-
1 Fr.f(drc 'ersre=Lat.faccre vers-ran (Cie. Art. v. 1, § 2), to
borrow money to pay another debt (F. W. S.).
Caes. B. G. ri. 19.
a ,, Deun na.rime Mcrctriim colun" (B. G. vi. lî) (Ibid.).
" alli se om»es ab Dite patte 29»'og»zatos dicnt '" (B. G. ri. 18).
Dis is called père des esc«=, as identical with Pluhs, the god of
hidden wealth (Ibid.).
THE PRAISE OF DEBT 99
long your life, they being of nothing more afraid
than that you should die .... I, in this only
respect and consideration of being a debtor, esteem
myself worshipful, reverend, and formidable. For,
against thc opinion of most philosophers, that of
nothing ariseth notbing, yet, without having
bottomed on so much as that which is called the
First Matter [Primary Marrer], did I out of nothing
become such lai maker and creator, that I have
created--what ?--a gay number of fair and jolly
creditors. Nay, crcditors, I will maintain it, even
to the very tire itself exclusivcly, 1 are fair and
goodly creatures. Who lendeth nothing is an
ugly and wicked creature. You can hardly
imagine how glad I ara, when every morning I
perceive myself environed and surrounded with
brigades of creditors,--humble, fawning, and full of
their reverences. And whilst I remark that, as I
look more favourably upon, and give a chearfuller
countenance to one than to the other, the fellow
thereupon buildeth a conceit that he shall be the first
dispatched, and the foremost in the date of pay-
ment; and he valueth my smiles at the rate of
ready money. I have all my life-time held
debt to be as an union or conjunction of the
heavens with the earth, and the whole cernent
whereby the race of mankind is kept together ; -" yea,
Excl«sively, i.e., "I will affirm it, but not go to the stake for
it" (F. W. S.).
"- A fine passage in one of South's Scrmos was evidently sug-
gested by thc above chapter in Rabelais. " The World is min-
tined by Intercourse ; and the whole Course of Nature is a gret
Exchange, in which one good Turn is nd ought to be the stated
Price of another. If you consider the Universe as one Body, you
200 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
of such vertue and efficacy, that, I say, the whole pro-
geny of Adam would very suddenly l»erish without it."
He then goes on to describe a world in which
there are no debtors and no debts. There will be no
regular course alnong the planets, but all will be in
disorder. Jul,iter, reckoning himself to be nothing
indebted to Saturn, will go near to thrust him out
of his i»lace; Saturn and Mars will combine to
promote the confusion; Mercury, being debtor to
no one, will no longer serve any; Venus, because
she shall have lent nothing, will no longer be
venerated. "The moon," he says, "will remain
shall find Society and Conversation to supply the Office of the
Blood and Spirits ; and itis Gratitude that makes them circulate.
Look over the whole Creation, and you shall see that the Band or
Cernent that holds together ail the Parts of this great and glorious
Fabric is Gratitude, or somcthing like it: you may observe it in
all the Elemcnts, for does hot the Air feed the Flame ? and does hot
the Flame af the saine time warm aud enlighten the Air ? Is hot
the Sea always sending forth, as well as taking in ? And does hot
the Earfl quit scores with ail the Elements, in the noble Fruits
and l'roductio»s that issue from it ? And in all the Light and
Influence that the Heavens bestow upon this lower World, though
the lower World cannot equal their Benefaction, yet with a Kind
of grateful Return, it reflects those Rays that it cannot recompense :
so that there is some Return however, though there can be no
Requital .... In short, Gratitude is the ga'eat Spring that sers all
the Wheels of Nature agoing ; and the whole Universe is supported
by giving and returning, by Commerce and Commutation. And
now, thou ungrateful Brute, thou Blemish to Mankind, and
l%proach fo thy Creation ; what shall we say of thee, or to what
shall we compare thee ? For thou art an Exception from all the
visible World ; neither the Heavens above nor the Earth beneath
afford anyfliing like thee : and therefore, if thou wouldest tind thy
Parallel, go to Hell, which is both the Region and the Emblem of
Ingratitude ; for besides thyself, there is nothing but Hell that
is always receiviug and never restoring" (I. SEP, M. xi. "Ofthc
odio«s Si» of In.gra.titde ").
A XVORLD WITHOUT LENDING 20I
bloody and obscure. For to what end should the
sun impart unto her auy of his light ? 1 I-Ie owed
her nothiug. Nor yet will the sun shine upon the
earth, nor the stars send down auy good influence,
because the terrestrial globe hath desisted from
sending up their wonted nourishment by vapours
and exhalations, wherewith tIeraclitus said, the
Stoicks proved, Cicero maintained, they were
cherished and alimented. No rain will
descend upon the earth, nor light shine thereon;
no wind will blow there, nor will there be in it any
summer or harvest. Such a world without
lending will be no better than a dog-kennel, a place
of contention and wrangling .... Bien will hot
then salute one another; it will be but lost labour
to expect aid or succour from any, or to cry tire,
water, murther, for none will put to their helping
hand. Why ? tic lent no money, there is nothing
due to him. hrobody is concerned in his burning,
in his shipwrack, in his ruine, or in his death ; and
that because he hitherto hath lent nothing, and
would never thereafter have lent anything. In
short, Faith, Hope, and Charity would be quite
banish'd from such a world--for meu are born to
relieve and assist one another."
x ,, Nec fratris radiis obnoxia surgere Luna" (Virg. Gcorg. i. 396)
(L w. s.).
" Infltcnce, much used as an astrological telan. Cf. ]lilton :
"taught the fix'd
Their ifluence malignant when to shower."
Par. Zost, x. 662.
" Bending one way thcir precious influeuce."
llymn o lhe ,Vath.ily, 71.
(Ibid.).
202 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
" But, on the contrary," he went on to say, " be
loleased to represent unto your fancy another world,
whereiu every one lendeth, and every one oweth, all
are debtors, and all creditors. 0 how great will
that harmony be, which shall thereby result from
the regular motions of the heavens! Methinks I
hcarit every whit as well as ever l'lato did. 1 What
sympathy will thcre be amongst the elcments! O
how delectable then uuto nature will be out own
works and productions! Whilst Ceres appeareth
loaden with corn, Bacchus with wines, Flora with
tlowers, l'omona with fruits, and Juno fait in a
clcar air, wholsom and pleasaut. I lose myself in
this high contemplation. Then will among the
race of mankind, peace, love, benevolence, fidelity,
tranquillity, rests, banquets, feastings, joy, gladness,
gold, silver, single money [small change], chains,
rings, with other ware, and chaffer of that nature,
be round to trot from hand to hand. :No suits at
law, no wars, no strife, debate, nor wrangling; none
will be there au usurer, none will be there a pinch-
penny, a scrape-good wretch, or churlish hard-
hearted refuser. Will hot this be the golden age
in the reign of Saturn?--the true idea of the
Olympick regions, wherein all [other] vertues cease,
Plato never pretends tht the "music of the spheres" can be
heard. Iffe adopts the theory to some extent from the Pytha-
goreans. Aristotle (de C¢,elo, il. 9), that the noise caused by
the movements of the heavenly bodies is so l)rodigious and
continuous, that, being accustomed to it from our birth, we do hot
notice it. The only notice in Plato that can be construed into a
statement about audible music of the sl)heres is in c2. x.,
where he speaks of a siren stauding upon each of the circles of the
planetary system uttering one note in ont tone ; and fi'om all the
eight notes there results a single harmony (F. W. S.).
AMPLIFICATION OF THE TEXT 203
charity alone ruleth, governeth, domineereth, and
triumpheth ? All will be ftir aud goodly people
there, all just and vertuous. 0 happy world ! O
people of that world most hat)py! Yea, thrice and
four rimes blessed is that people! I tbink in very
deed tlmt I am amongst them." 1
In one curious passage Sir Thomas Urquhart
amplifies the text of the author whom he trans-
lates, and supplies his readers with an astonishing
list of onomatopceic words, many of wbich will
probably be new to those who have hot corne across
this passage before. Rabelais bas nine of these
words, but the translator e enlarges the list to
seventy-one, lantagruel is arguing against fast-
ing and solitude as aids to a contemplative
life, and quotes the authority of his father
Gargantua.
"He [Gargantua] gave us also," he said, " thc
example of the pbilosopber, who, when be thought
most seriously to have withdrawn himself unto a
solitary privacy, far from the rusling clutterments
of the tumultuous and confused world, the better
to improve his theory, to contrive, comlnent, and
ratiocinate, was, notwithstanding his uttermost
cndeavours to free himself from all untoward
noises, surrounded and environ'd about so with the
barking of currs [bawling of mastiffs, bleating of
sheep, prating of parrets, tatling of jack-daws,
grunting of swine, girning of boars, yelping of
1 Book iii. chaps. 3, 4.
" If is «luire possible that lIotteux, who published the third book
of Rabelais after Ur(luhart's dctth, is responsible for some of the
interpolations.
204 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
foxes, mewing of cats, cheeping of mice, squeaking
«)f weasils, croaking of frogs, crowing of cocks,
kelding of hens, calling of partl'idges, chanting of
swans, chattering of jays, peeping of chickens,
singing of ltrks, creaking of geese, chirping of
swalhws, cluckiu 0 of moorfowls, cucking of cuckos,
bumling of bees, rammage of hawks, chirming of
linots, croaking of ravens, screeching of owls,
whicking of pi0s, gushing of hogs, curring of pigeons,
grumbling of cushet-doves, howling of panthers,
curlding of quails, chirping of sparrows, crackling
of crows, nuzzing of camels, wheening of whelps,
buzzing of dromedaries, numbling of rabets, cricking
of ferrets, hummiug of wasps, mioling of tygers,
bruzzing o bears, sussin 0 of kitnings, clamring of
scarfes, whimpring of fullmarts, boing of bufihloes,
warbling of nightingales, quavering of meavises,
drintling of turkies, coniating of storks, frantling
of peacocks, clattering of anag-pyes, murmuring of
stock-doves, crouthg of cormorants, cigling of
locusts, charming of beagles, guarring of puppies,
snarling of messens, rantling of rats, guerieting of
apes, snuttering of monkies, pioling of pelicanes,
quecking of ducks], yelling of wolves, roaring of
lions, neighing of horses, crying of elephants,
hissing of serpents, and wailing of turtles, that he
was much more troubled than if he had been in
the middle of the crowd at the fair of Fontenay or
Iqiort. ''1 In spire of the amplification of the
a Book iii. chap. 13. Foitenay le Comte in Lower Poitou and
1Viort wcre noted for their busy yearly fairs. There can be doubt
that the above passage was suggested to Rabelais by what St Jerome
records of the experience of St Hilarion in the dcsert. "Sic atten-
EARLIEST EDITIONS 205
original text of Rabelais, two of the sounds are
omitted--"the braying of asses," and the noise
ruade by grass-hoppers (soignent lcs ci(jalcs), which
we might have called "chirping," if the swallows
and sparrows had hOt taken possession of that term.
As already stated, the first two books were all
tlmt were published in the lifetime of Sir Thomas
Urquhart. They al»peared as separate volumes in
1653. The nnsold stock of each was reissued in
tuatus," he says, "[.jqjunio et vigiliis], et in tautum exeto corpore, ut
ossibus vix hacreret, quadam noete eTit infantmn audire vagitus,
ba]atus lecorum, mugitus boum, 1,1anctum quasi ]ntllJerum, leonum
rugitus, llllll'nnil, exercitus, et prorsus variartlm portcuta vocum,"
etc. (rita Saacti I[ilarbmis). In Burtou's Mtatomy of Mclat-
choly (iii. 4. 1. 2) there is the tbllowing reference to the saine
pasge: "Monks, Anachorites, and the like, after nmch empti-
ncss become melancholy, vertiginous, they think they hear
strange noises, confer with Hob-goblins, Dcvils.. Hilario»,
as Hietvmc rcports in his life, and A/hauasitts OEAutmti, was so
bare with fasting, that the skier did scarce stict" to the boncs ; for
want of vapours (sic) he could hot sleep, and tbr want of sloep
became idle-headed, hcard et,ery nOM i»oEants cry, O.rct fou',
lllt'cs h«l, Lions var (as he thovght), clalteriag " chain5
strangc voicce, aM the likc ilhtsiots of Devils." It is probable
also that Rabelais had read the followiug passage in the Lc of
Gcla, by lius Spartianus (c. A.». 317): "Familiare illi fuit
bas quoestionesgrammaticis proponere, ut dicerent, singula
animalia quomodo vocem emitterent, velut, Agni halant, porcelli
grmmiunt, palumbes n}inurl4unt, ursi saeviunt, leones rugiunt,
leopardi rictant, elephanti barriunt, ranoe coaxant, equi hinniunt,
asilfi rudunt, tauri mugiunt, easquc de veteribus al,probare."
is it likely that Rabelais was unacquainted with the verses in Teofilo
Folengo's (1491-1544) Mcrlini CoEaii Macavnicmt, which run thus :
" Nain Leo rugitum mittit, Lupus ac ululatum,
Bos boat, et nitrescit equus, Gallusque cucullat,
Sgnavolat et Gattus, baiat Canis, Ursus adirat,
Raucagat Oca, rudit Mullus, sed raggiat Asellus;
Denique quodque animal propria cure vote idabat."
206 SIR THOMAS URQUHART
1664, in one volume, an additional title-page, an
extra prefaee, and a lire of Pabelais being prefixed
to them. The volume beeame very searee, and in
1693-94 Pierre Antoine Motteux, a Frenehman,
who was toaster of exeeedingly raey and idiomatie
English, published an edition eontaining the third
book. This was extremely inaeeurate, so far as
typography was eoneerned, and gave the publie the
version of Sir Thomas Urquhart with certain
uuspceified changes ruade by the editor in order to
impart to if additional "smartness." In 1708
Motteux publisbed a eomplete translation of
llabelais, thc version of the fourLh and fifLlx books
bcing supplied by himself, as supplementary to
Urquhart's work. After the deaLh of Motteux, a
somewhat pretentious editor named Ozell " brought
out the eombined versions, with notes prineipally
taken from the Freneh of Duehat, and this has
In the introduction to this volume Motteux says that Sir
Thomas Urquhart was "a h.arncd l,hysician." It is difficult to
understand what could have given fise to such a statement. Sir
Thomas had many proects for thc bcnefit of the human race, but
therc îs no evidence of his ever having cherished that of combating
disease. One calmot help thinking of the magniloquent terlns in
which he would have extolled his remedies, if the fates had led
him to the concoction of patent medicines. It is doubtful, how-
over, whether he would have llad what is technically known as "a
good bed-side mammr." It is quite possible that Motteux siml,ly
meant that Sir Thomas was well acquaintcd with raedical science,
and hot that he was a physicien by profession. Yet his words
have often been undemtood as asserting the latter. Thus we find
the erroneous statement in Granger's 7Biographical l?icioavy,
the Amsterdam (1741) edition of Rabelais, and Sir John Hawkins'
ZoEe of Johnso., p. 294.
" Both Ozell and Motteux figure in Pope's 1),mciad, in i. 96,
and ii. 412, re.pcctivcly.
A LAST GLIMPSE eo 7
been reprintcd time after timc sincc its first
appearance in 1737.
At least seventeen editions of Urquhart's work,
either by itself or with Motteux's supplcmentary
matter, bave been issued since his day, and there is
no sign of its faine waxing dira through the lapse of
time; and therefore the immortality after which he
longed bas in a measure been won by him. And
so, once more before we take out leave of hini, we
look again into the twilight of thc past, and scc
his striking figure--the soldier, the sch(,lar, aud
the author--crowned with the wrcath which his
own hands have placed upon his brows, but which
succeedilg generations declare him worthy to bear.
APPENDICES
I. PIIIIITIVE FATHEIIS AND IIOTIIEIIS OF THE
NAIIE OF URQUHART.
II. THE ADMItlABLE CIICHTON.
14
APPENDIX I
OEIIE AMES OF TtIE C]I]EFS OF THE AME OF
URQUHART, AND OF TtIEIR 1-)IIMITIYE 'ATIIEIS;
as by Authentick Ilecords and Tradition they
were ïrom rime to time through the various
Generations of that Family sueeessively eon-
veyed, till the 1)resent yeer 1652 (p. 143).
The ancestors of Sir Thomas, for whose existence there is eidence apart
from his assertions, are indicated by their names being printed in it«lic. If
the editor of the T'acts (1774) were to be believed, the italics would have to
begin with George, 1o. 138 in the list. The fact that the names in this list are
more numerous than those in the list which follows, is to be exldained by
brothers succeeding each other occasionally, when there was no son fo inherit
the dignity of chieftainship.
1. Adam.
9,. Seth.
3.
4. Cale,an.
5. Mahalaleel.
6. Jared.
7. Enoch.
8. ]Iethusalah.
9. Lanech.
10. Noah.
11. Japhet.
1°. Javan.
13. PenueI.
14. Tycheros.
15. Pasiteles.
16. Esormon.
17. Cratynter.
18. Thrasymedes.
19. Evippos.
0. Cleotinus.
,1. Litoboros.
,. Apodemos.
23. Bathybulos.
,4. Phrenedon.
9,5. Zamcles.
6. Choronomos.
27. Lel»tologon.
8. Agloetos.
9,9. Megalonus.
30. Evemeros.
31. Callophron.
3. Arthmios.
33. Hypsegoras.
34. Autarces.
35. Evages.
36. Atarbes.
3. Pamprosodos.
38. Gethon.
39. Holocleros.
40. Molin.
41. Epitomon.
42. tt)Totyphos.
43. Melobolon.
44. Propetes.
45. Euplocamos.
46. Philophon.
2x2 APPENDIX I
47. Syngenes.
48. Polyphrades.
49. Cainotomos.
50. Rodrigo.
51. Dicarches.
52. Exagastos.
53. Denapon.
54. _Artistes.
55. Thymoleon.
56. Eustochos.
57. Eianor.
58. Thrvllumcnos.
59. lIcl]essen.
60. Alypos.
61. Anodflos.
62. IIomognios.
63. Epscl)hicos.
64. Eutropos.
65. Coryphoeus.
66. Etoimos.
67. Spu&cos.
68. Eumestor.
69. Griphon.
70. Enlmenes.
71. Pathomachon.
72. Ancpsios.
73. Auloprepes.
74. Corosylos.
75. ])etalon.
76. Beltistos.
77. tIor«cos.
78. Orthophron.
79. Apsicoros.
80. Philaplus.
81. Megaletor.
8. Nomostor.
83. Astioremon.
84. Phronematias.
85. Lutork.
86. lIaehemos.
87. tiehopoeo.
88. Epalomenos.
89. Tyeheros (2).
90, Apechon.
91. Enacmes.
9:L Javan (2).
(03. Lematias.
94. 1)rosenes.
95. Sosomenos.
96. Philalcthes.
97. Thaleros.
98. Polyoenos.
99. Cratesimachos.
100. Eunoemon.
]01. Diasemos.
102. Saphenus.
103. Bramoso.
104. Celanas.
105. Vistoso.
106. Polido.
107. Lustroso.
108. Chrestander.
109. Spcctabundo.
110. Philodulos.
III. Paladino.
112. Comicello.
113. Regisato.
114. Arguto.
115. Nicarchos.
116. Narsidalio.
117. t-Iedulnenos,
118. Agenor.
119. Diaprepon.
120. Stragayo.
121. Zeron.
122. Polyteles,
123. Vocompos.
124. Carolo.
1?,5. Endvmion.
126. Sebdstian.
1:27. Lawrence.
128. Olipher.
1"9. Quintin.
13o. Goodwin.
131. Frederick.
132. Sir Jaspar.
133, Sir Adam,
134. Edward.
135. Richard.
136. Sir Philip.
137. Robert.
138. Gcorge.
139. James.
140. ])avid,
APPENDIX I 23
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
146.
147.
Francis.
William.
Adam.
John.
Sir lVilliam.
IVilliam.
Alexander.
148. Thomas.
149. Alexander.
150. lI'alter.
151. Heavy.
152. Sir Thomas.
153. Sir Thomas.
THE
:N-AMES OF TIIE ]]OTItERS OF TtIE CHIEFS OF THE
NAME OF URQUIIART, AS ALSO OF THE [OTHERS
OF THEIR 1)RIMITIVE FATIIERS. The authority
for the truth thereof being derived from the
saine Authentick Records and Tradition on
which is gr,mnded the above-written Genealogie
of their male collaterals.
1. Eva.
2. Shifka.
3. Mahla.
4. ]ilha.
5. Timnah.
6. Aholima.
7. Zilpa.
8. :Noema.
9. Ada.
10. Titea.
11. Debora.
12. leginothi.
13. Hottir.
14. Orpah.
15. Axa.
16. /qarfesia.
17. Goshenni.
18. Briageta.
19. Andronia.
20. Pusena.
1. Emphaneola.
22. Bonaria.
23. Peninah.
24. Asymbleta.
25. Carissa.
26. Calaglais.
'2.7. Theoglena.
:28. Pammerisla.
29. Floridula.
30. Chrysocomis.
31. A rrenopas.
3:2. Tharsalia.
33. Maia.
34. loma.
35. Termuth.
36. Vegeta.
37. Callimeris.
38. Panthea.
39. Gonima.
40. Ganvmena.
41. The'spesia.
42. Hypermnestra.
43. Horatia.
44. Philumena.
45. Neopis.
46. Thymelica.
47. Ephamilla.
48. Porrima.
49. Lampedo.
50. Telcclvta.
51. Claralcl]a.
52. Eromena.
53. Zoca]lis.
54. Lepida.
55. Nicolia.
56. Proteusa.
2x 4 APPENDIX I
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
0.
ïl.
7:2.
73.
74.
7.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
04.
O5.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
Gozosa.
Venusta.
Prosectica.
Delotera.
Tracara.
Pothina.
Cordata.
Aretias.
Musurga.
Romalia.
Orthoiusa.
Recatada.
Chariestcra.
Rexenora.
Philerga.
Thomyris.
Varonilla.
Stranclla.
zEquanima.
Lai'osa.
Elfimona.
I)iosa.
Bonita.
Aretusa.
Bendita.
Regalletta.
Isumena.
Antaxia.
Bergola.
Viracia.
Dvnastis.
Dàlga.
Eutocusa.
Corriba.
Proecelsa.
Plausidica.
Donosa.
Solicelia.
Bontadosa.
Calliparia.
Creleuca.
Pancala.
Dominella.
Mundala.
Paraphais.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
19,3.
1"24.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
13-)..
133.
134.
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
146.
Philtrusa.
Meliglena.
Philetium.
Tersa.
Dulcicora.
Gethosyna.
Collabella.
Eucnema.
Tortolina.
I/ipulita.
Urbana.
Lalnpusa.
Vistosa.
Hermosina.
Bramata.
Zaglopis.
Androlema.
Trastevole.
Suaviloqua.
Fraucoline.
3Ltilda.
Allegra.
Winniïred.
Dorothy.
Lawretta.
Genivieve.
Marjory.
Jane.
Aune.
Magdalem
Girsel.
Mary.
Sophia.
Eleonore.
Rolind.
Lillias.
Brigid.
Agnes.
Cathcrinc.
Hcle».
Beatrice.
Elizabeth.
Elizabeth.
Christian.
APPENDIX II
TIIE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON (p. 157).
"To speak a little now of his compatriot Crichtoun,
I hope will hOt offend thc ingenuous reader; who
may know, by what is already displayed, that it
canuot be heterogeneal from the proposed purpose,
to make report of that magnanimous act atchieved
by him at the Duke of Mantua's court, to the honour
not only of his own, but to the eternal renown also
of the whole Isle of Britain; the manner whereof
was thus :
"A certain Italian gentleman, of a mighty, able,
strong, nimble, and vigorous body, by torture tierce,
cruell, warlike, and audacious, and in the gladiatory
art so superlatively expert and dextrous, that all the
most skilful teachers of Escrime, and fencing-masters
of Italy, (which in marrer of choice professors in that
.faculty, needed never as yct to yeild to any nation
m the world), were by hiln beaten to their good
behaviour, and by blows given in, which they could
hot avoid, enforced to acknowledge him their over
corner; bethinking himself, how, after so great a
conquest of reputation, he might by such means be
very suddenly enriched, he projected a course of ex-
changing the bhmt to sharp, and the folles into
tucks. Aud in this resolution providing a purse
full of gold, worth neer upon four hundred pounds
English money, traveled alongst the most especial
and considerable p.rts of Spaine, France, he Low-
216 APPENDIX Il
Couutryes, Germany, l'oie, Hungary, Greece, Italy,
and other places, where ever there was greatest
probability of encouutring with the eagerest and
most atrocious d uellists. And immediately af ter his
arrival fo any city or town that gave apparent likeli-
hood of some one or other champion that would enter
the lists and cope with him, he boldly challcnged them
with sound of trumpet, in the chier narket-place, fo
adventure au equal sure of money against that of
his, fo be disputed ai the sword's point who should
bave both. There failed not several brave men,
almost of ail nations, who, accepting of his cartels,were
hOt afraid fo hazard both their person and coine
against him ; but, (till he midled with this Crichtoun),
so maiue was the ascendant he had above all his
antagonists, and so unlucky the fate of such as
offered fo scufite with him, that all his opposing
combatants, (of what st,te or dominion soever they
were), who had hot lost both their life and gold, werc
glad, for the preservation of their person, (though
sometimes with a great expence of blood), to leave both
their reputation and mony behind them. Ai last,
returning homewards fo his own country, loaded with
honor and wealth, or rather the spoile of the reputa-
tion of those forraginers, whom the Italians call Tra-
montani, he, by the way, af ter his accustomed manner
of abording other places, repaired fo the city of
Mantua, where the Duke, (according fo the courtesie
usually bestowed on him by other princes), vouch-
safed him a protection and savegard for his person;
he (as formerly he was wont fo do, by beat of drum,
sound of trmnpet, and several printed papers, disclos-
ing his designc, battcred on all the chier gares, posts,
and pillars of the town), gave all men to understand,
that his purpose was to challenge, at the single
rapier, any whosoever of that city or country, that
durst be so bold as fo fight with him, provided he
would deposite a bag of rive hundred Spanish pistols
APPENDIX II 2I 7
over against another of the saine value, which he
himself should lty down, upon this condition, that
the enjoyment of both should be the conqueror's
due. His challenge was not long unanswered, for
it h,ppened, at the same time, that three of the most
notable cutters in the world, (and so highly cryed up
for valour, that ail the bravos of the lmd were
content to give way to their domineering, how
insolent soever they should prove, because of their
former constantly obtained victories in the field),
were all three together ai the court of M,ntua, who,
hearing of such a h,rvest of rive hundred pistols to
be reaped, (as they expected), very soon, and with
ease, had ahnost contested amongst themselves for
the priority of the first encounterer, 1,ut that one of
my Lord Duke's courtiers moved them to cast lots
for who should be first, second, and third, in case
none of the former two should prove victorious.
Without more adoe, be whose chance it was to
answer the cartel with the first defiance, presented
himself within the barriers, or place appointed for
the fight, where, his adversary attending him, as soon
a.s the trumpet sounded a charge, they jointly fel to
work; and, (because I ara hot now to amplifie the
particulars of a combat), although the dispute was
very hot. for a while, yet, whose fortune it was to be
first of the three in the field, had the disaster to be
first of the three tlmt was foylcd; for, at last, with
a thrust in the throat, he was killed dead upon the
ground. Thi, nevertheless, hot a whit dismayed the
other two, for, the nixt day, he that was second in
the roll gave his appearance after the saine manner
as the first had done, but with no better success ; for
he likewise was laid fiat dead upon the place, by
means of a thrust he received in t!'.c heart. The last
of the three, finding that he was as sure of being
engaged in the fight as if he had been the first in
order, pluckt up his heart, knit his spirits together,
218 APPENDIX II
and, on the day after the death of the second, most
couragiously entering the lists, demeaned himself for
a while with great activity and skill; but at last, his
luck being the saine with those that preceded him,
by a thrust in the belly, he within four and twenty
hours after gave u 1) the ghost. These (you may
imagine), were lamentable spectacles to the Duke and
citie of Mantua, who, casting down their faces for
shame, knew not what course to take for reparation
of their ht)nour. The couquering duellist, proud of
a victory so higlfly tending to both his honour and
profit, for the space of a whole fortnight, or two
weeks togetlmr, marched daily along the streets of
Mantua, (without any opposition or controulment),
like auother Ronmlus or Marcellus in triumph;
which, the never too much to be admired Crichtoun
perceiving, to wipe off the ilnpUtttion of cowardise
lyiug upon the court of Mantua, to which he had
but even then arrived, (although formerly he had
been a domestick thereof), he could neither eat nor
drink till he had first sent a challenge to the con-
queror, appelling him to repair with his best sword
in lais hand, by nine of the clock in the morning of
the next day, in presence of the whole court, and in
the saine place where he had killed the other three,
to fight with him upon this quarrel, that in the cour
of Mantua there were as valiaut men as he ; and, for
lais better encouragement to the dcsired undertaking,
he assured him that, to the aforcsaid rive hundred
pistols, he would adjoyn a thousand more, wishing
him to do the like, that the victor, upon the point of
his sword, might carry away the ficher bootay. The
challenge, with all its conditions, is no sooner accepted
of, the rime and place mutually condescended upon,
kept accordingly, and the fifteen lmndred pistols
hinc ide deposited, but of the two rpiers of equal
weight, length, and goodness, each takiug one, in
prescnce of the Duke, Dutchess, with ail the noble-
APPENDIX II 219
men, ladies, magnificos, and all the choicest of men,
women, and maids of that citie, as soon as the signal
for the duel was given, by the shot of a great piece
of ordnance of threescore and four pound ball, the
combatants, with a lion-like animosity, ruade their
approach to one another, and, being within distance,
the valiant Crichtoun, to make his adversary spend his
fury the sooner, betook himself to the defensive part ;
wherein, for a h)ng rime, he shewed such excellent
dexterity in warding the other's blows, slighting his
falsifyings, in breaking measure, and offert, by the
agility of his body, avoiding his thrust, that he
seemed but to play, while the other was in earnest.
The sweetness of Criehtoun's eountenanee, in the
hotest of the assault, like a glanee of lightning on
the hearts of the speetttors, brought all the Italian
ladies on a sudden to be enamoured of him; whilst
the sternness of the other's aspect, he looking like an
em'aged bear, would bave struck terrour into wolves,
and affrighted an English lnastiff. Though they
were both in their linens, (to wit, shirts and drawers,
without any other apparel), and in all outward eon-
venienees equally adjusted, the Italian, with re-
doubling his stroaks, foamed ai the mouth with a
eholeriek heart, and fetehed a pantling breath ; the
Seot, in sustaining his charge, kept himself in a
pleasant retaper, without passion, and ruade void his
designes; he alters his wards from tierce to quart;
he primes and seeonds it, now high, now lowe, and
casts his body, (like another Prothee), into all the
shapes he ean, to spie an open on his adversary, and
lay hold of an advantage, but all in vain; for the
invincible Criehtoun, whom no eunning was able to
surprise, eontrepostures his respective wards, and,
with an inoredible nimbleness of both hand and foot,.
evades the intent and frustrates the invasion. Now
is it, that the never before eonquered Italian, finding
himself a little faint, enters into a eonsideration that
220 APPENDIX II
he may be over-matched; whereupon a sad appre-
hension of danger seizing upon all his spirits, he
would gladly hoEve his lire bestowed on him as a gift,
but thoEt, having never been accustomed to yield,
he knows hOt how to beg it. Matchless Crichtoun,
seeing it now high rime to put a gallant catastrophe
to that so long dubious combat, animated with a
divinely inspired servencie to fulfil the expectation
of the ladies, and crown the Duke's illustrious hopes,
changeth lais garb, falls to act another part, and,
ft'om defender, turn assailnt ; never did art so grace
nattre, nor nature second the precepts of art with so
much liveliness, and such observancie of rime, as
when, after he had struck tire out of the steel of lais
enemie's sword, and gained the feeble thereof with
the fort of lais own, by angles of the strongest position,
he did, by geometrical flourishes of straight and
oblique lines, so practically execute the speculative
part, tht, as if there had been 12emoras and secret
charms in the variety of his motion, the fierceness of
lais foc was in a trice transqualified into the numbness
of a pageant. Then was it that, to vindicate the re-
putation of the Duke's family, and expiate the blood
of the three vanquished gentlemen, he alonged a
stoccade tic picdf«rme ; then recoyling, he advanced
another thrust, and lodged if home; after which,
retiring agin, his right foot did beat the cadence of
the blow tht pierced the belly of this Italien, whose
heart and throat being hit with the two former
stroaks, these three frnch bouts given in upon the
back of the other ; besides that, if lines were imagined
drawn from the hand that livered them, to the places
which were marked by them, they would represent a
perfect isosceles triangle, with a perpendicular from
the top angle cutting the basis in the middle; they
likewise give us to understand, that by them he was
to be ruade a sacrifice of atonement for the slaughter
of the three aforesaid gentlemen, who were wounded
APPENDIX II
in the very same parts of their bodies by other such
three venees as these, each whercof being mortal;
and his vital spirits exhalïng as his blood gushed out,
all he spoke was this, That seeing he could hot Iive,
his comfort in dying was, that he could hot dye by
the hand of a braver man; after the uttering of
which words, he expiring, with the shril clareens of
trumpets, bouncing thunder of artillery, bcthwacked
beating of drums, universal clapping of hands, and
Ioud acclamations of joy fi»r so glorious a victory, the
aire above them was so rarified by the extremity of
the noise and vehement sound, dispclIing the thickest
and most condensed parts thereof, that (as l'lutarch
speakes of the Grecians, when they raised their shouts
of allegre.ss up to the very heavens at the hearing of
the gracmus proclamations of :Pmlus 2EmiIius in
favour of their liberty), the very sparrows and other
flying fowIs were said to fall to the ground foi" want
of aire enough to uphold them in their flight.
"When this sudden rapture wts over, and ail husht
into its former tranquility, .the noble gallantry and
generosity, beyond expressmn, of the inimitable
Crichtoun, did transport thcm all againe into a new
exstasie of ravishment, whcn they saw him like an
angel in the shape of a man, or as another Mars,
with the conquered enemie's sword in one hand, and
the fifteen hundred pistols he had gained in the
other, present the sword to the I)uke as his due,
and the gold to his high treasurer, to be disponed
equally to the three widows of the three unfortunate
gentlemen lately slaine, reserving only to himself
the inward satisfaction he conceived, for having so
opportunely discharged his duty to the House of
lXantua.
"The reader perhaps will think this wonderful ; and
so would I too, were it hot that I know, (as Sir l'hilip
Sydney sayes), that a wonder is no wonder in a won-
derful subject, and consequently hot in him, who for
222 APPENDIX I1
his learning, judgelnent, valour, eloquence, beauty,
.nnd good-fellowship was the perfectesi resuli of the
joynt labour of the perfect nulnber of those six
deities, l'allas, Apollo, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and
13acchus, that hath been seen since the dayes of
Alcibiades; for he was lported to have been in-
riched with a Inemory so prodigk.us, that any serlnon,
speech, harangue, or other Inanner of discourse of an
hour's eontinuance, he was able to recite withoug
hesitation, after the 8alne nmnner of gesture and
pronunt.iatiou, in all points, wherewith it was de-
livered ai first; and of so stupendious a judgment
and conception, thai almost naturally he understood
quiddities of pl,ik.sol.hy; and as for the abstrusest
and Inost researched Inysteries of other disciplines,
arls, and fculties, the intentional species of theln
were as readily obvious to the interiour view and per-
spicacity of his mind, as those of the COmlnon visible
c.lours to the external sight of hiln that will open
his eyes to look upon them; of which accolnplish-
ment and Encyelopedia of knowledge, he gave on
rime so Inarvelous a testilnony ai laris, thai the
words of Admirabilis ,%ot,s, ihe Wonderful Scot, in
all the several tongues and idiolnes of Europ, were,
(for great while together), ly the Inost of the echos
resounded to the peircing of the very clouds. To so
great hight and vast extent of praise did gle never
too much to be exgolled reputation of the seraphick
wit of thag exilnious Inan attMne, for his colnlnand-
ing to be aftixed progralns on all the gares of the
schooles, halls, and colledges of that famous univer-
sity, as also on all the chier pillrs and post.s standing
before the houses of the most renowned Inen for
literature, resident within the precinct of the walls
and suburbs of thal most populous and Inagnifieeng
city, inviting theln all, (or any whoever else versed in
any kinde of scholastick faculty), to repaire ai nine of
the clock in the Inorning of such a day, moneth, and
APPENDIX II -3
yeer, as by computation came fo l,e just six weeks
after the date of the affixes, to the common schoole
of the colledge of Navarre, 1 where, (at the prefixed
time), he should, (God willing), be ready to answer to
what should be propounded to him concerning any
science, liberal art, discipline, or faeulty, praetieal or
theoretiek, hot exeluding the theologieal nor juris-
prudential habits, though grounded but upon the
testimonies of God and man, and that in any of these
twelve languages, Hebrew, Syriack, Arabick, Greek,
Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch,
Flemish, and Sclavonian, in either verse or prose, at
the discretion of the disputant ; which high enterprise
and hardy undertaking, by way of challenge to the
learndst men in the world, damped the wits of many
able scholars to consider whether it was the attempt
of a fanatick spirit, or lofty designe of a well-poised
judoznent; yet after a few days enquiry concerning
him, when information was got of his incomparable
endowments, all the choicest and most profound
philosophers, ïaathematicians, naturalists, mediciners,
alchymists, apothecaries, surgeons, doctors of both
civil and canon law, and divines both for contro-
versies and positive doctrine, together with the pri-
mest grammarians, rhetoricians, logicians, and others,
professors of other arts and disciplines at Paris,
plyed thefi" studys in their private cels for the space
of a ïaoneth, exceeding hard, and with huge paines
and labor set all their braines awork how to contrive
the knurriest arguments, and most difficult questions
could be devised, thereby to puzzle him in the re-
solving of them, meander him in his answers, put
The College of lavarre was founded hy Jt.anne of Navarre,
consort of Philippe the Fait, in 1305. Throughout the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries it was the foremost fonndation of the
University of Paris (F. W. S.).
- John Hill Burton points out the somewhat curious fa¢t that,
among the hero's linguistic accomplishments, Gaelic, 'hich must
bave been talked at his own door, does hot appear.
224 APPENDIX II
him out of his lnedium, and drive him to a non phzs ;
nor did they forger to premonish the ablest thero of
forraign nations not to be llnprepared to displlte
with him in their own material dialeets, and that
sometimes metrieally, sometimes otherwayes,
libitu. 1 All this while the Admirable Seot, (for so
ïrom theneeforth he was called), minding more his
hawking, hunting, tilting, vaulting, riding of well-
managed horses, tossing of the pike, handling of the
musket, flourishing of eolours, dancing, feneing, swim-
ming, julnping, throwing of the bar, playing st tennis,
baloon, or long catch; and sometimes st the house
gaines of dite, eards, playing st the ehess, billiards,
trou-nmdaln, and other sueh like ehamber sports,
singing, playing on the lute and other musical instru-
nlents, masking, balling, reveling ; and, whieh did most
of all divert, or rather distraet him from his speeula-
tions and serious employments, being more addieted
to, and plying eloser the eourting of handsome lad3"es ,
and a jovial eup in the eompany of baechanalian
blades, then [than] the foreeasting how to avoid,
shun, and eseape the snares, grins [gins ?], and nets
of the hard, obscure, and hidden arguments, ridles,
and demands, to be ruade, framed, and woven by the
professors, doetors, and others of that thriee-renowned
university. There arose upon him an aspersion of
too great proness t.o sueh like debordings and youth-
fui emaneipations, whieh oeeasioned one less ae-
quainted with himself t, hen [than] his reputation, to
subjoyn, (some two weeks before the great day
appointed), fo that program of his, whieh was fixed
on the Sorbone gate, these words: 'If you would
meet with this lnonster of perfection, to lnake seareh
for him . . . in the taverne . . . is the readyest way
to finde him.' 13y reason of whieh expression,
(though truly as I think, both seandalous and false),
the eminent sparks of the university, (imagining that
In the marrer of length this is sllrely a record sentence.
APPENDIX II 225
those papers of provocation had becn set up to no
other end, but to scoff and delude them, in making
them waste their spirits upon quirks and quiddities,
more then [than] was fitting), did resent a little of
their former toyle, and slack their studyes, becoming
almost regardless thereof, till the several peals of
bells ringin.g an hour or two before the time assigned,
gave varnmg that the party was hot to flee the
barriers, nor decline the hardship of academical
assaults; but, on the contrary, so confident in his
former resolution, that he would hot shrink to sus-
taine the shock of all their disceptations. This
sudden alarm so avaked them out of their last fort-
night's lethargy, that, calling to mindc, the best way
they might, the fruits of the foregoing moneth's
labour, they hyed to the fore-named schoole with all
diligence ; where, after all of them had, according to
their several degrees and qualities, seated themselves,
and that by reason of the noise occasioned through
the great confluence of people, which so strange a
novelty brought thither out of curiosity, an universal
silence was commanded, the Orator of the University,
in most fluent Latine, addressing his speech to
Crichtoun, extolled him for his literature, and other
good parts, and for that confident opinion he had of
his own sufliciency, in thinking himself able to justle
in matters of learning with the whole university of
Paris. Crichtoun answering him in no less eloquent
terres of Latine, after he had most heartily thanked
him for his elogies, so undeservedly bestowed, and
darted some high encomiums upon the university
and the professors therein; he very ingeniously
[ingenuously] protested that he did not emit his
programs out of any ambition to be esteemed able to
enter in competition with the university, but meerly
to be honoured with the favour of a publick confer-
ence with the learned men thereof. In complements
after this manner, ultro citroçe habitis, tossed to and
I5
aa6 APPENDIX II
again, retorted, contrerisposted, backreverted, and
now and then graced with a quip or a clinch for the
better relish of the ear, being un,illing in this kind
of straining curtesie to yeeld to other, they spent a
full hall hour and more; for he bcing the centre to
which the iunumerable diameters of the discourses
of that circulary convention did tend, although none
was to answer but he, any of them all, according to
the order of their prescribed series, were pernfitted
to reply, or commcnce new motions Ch any subject,
in what language soever, and howsoever expressed;
to all which, he being bound to tender himself a
respondent, in matter and form suitable to the im-
pugners propounding, he did first so transcendently
acquit himself of that circumstantial kinde of omtory,
that, by well-couched periods, and neatly running
syllables, in all the twelve languages, both in verse
and prose, he expressed to the lire his courtship
[courtliness] and civility ; and afterwards, vhen the
Rector of the university, (unwilling to bave any more
rime bestowed on superficial rhetorick, or to bave
that wasted on the fondness of quaint phrases, which
might be better employed in reciprocacy of dis-
cussing scientifically the nature of substantial things),
gave direction to the professors to fall on, each
according to the dignity or precedency of his faculty,
and that conform to the order given. Some meta-
physical notions were set abroach, then mathematical,
and of those arithmetical, geometrical, astronomical,
musical, optical, cosmographical, trigonometrical,
statical, and so forth through all the other branches
of the prime and mother sciences thereof; the next
bout was through all natural philosophy, according
to Aristotle's method, from the a¢roamaticks, going
along the speculation of the nature of the heavens,
and that of the generation and corruption of sub-
linary things, even to the consideration of the soul
and its faculties; in sequel hereof, they had a hint
APPENDIX II 227
at chymical extractions, and spoke of the prineiples
of corporeal and mixed bodies, according to the pre-
cepts of that art. After this, they disputed of
medicine, in all its thereapeutick, pharmacopeutick,
and chirurgical parts ; and hot leaving natural magick
untouched, they had exquisite disceptations concern-
ing the secrets thereof. From thence they proceeded
to morM philosophy, where, debating of the true
enumeration of 311 verrues and vices, they had most
learned roEtiocinations about the chier good of the lire
of man; and seeing the [that] oecumcuicks and
politicks are parts of that philosolhy, they argued
learncdly of all the several sorts of governlnents,
with their defccts and advantages; whercupon per-
pending, that, without an established law, all the
duties of ruling and subjection, to the utter ruin of
llumane socicty, would be as often violoEted as the
irregulrity of passion, seconded with power, should
give way thereto. The Sorbonist, canonical, and
civilian doctors most judiciously argued with h iln
about the most prudential maximes, sentences, ordin-
ances, acts, and statures fc)r ordering all rnanner of
persones in their consciences, bodyes, fortunes, and
reputation; nor was there an end put to those
literate exercitations till the grammarians, rhetori-
cians, poets, and logicians had assailed him with all
the subtleties and nicest quodlibets their respective
habits could afford, low when, to the admiration
of ail that were there, the incomparable Crichtoun
had, in all these faculties above written, and in any
of the twelve languages wherein he was spoke to,
whether in verse or prose, held tack to all the dis-
putants, who were accounted the ablest scholars
upon earth in each their own profession; and pub-
lickly evidenced such an universality of knowledge,
and accurate promptness in resolving of doubts, dis-
tinguishing of obscurities, expressing the members
of a distinction iu adequate terlnS of art, explaining
8 APPENDIX II
those compendious tearms with words of a more
easie apprehension to the prostrating of the sublimest
mysteries to any vulgar capacity, and with all
excogitable variety of learning, (to his own everlasting
fme), enterttincd, after tlmt kinde, the nimble witted
1)risians from nine o'clock in the morning till si):
at night ; the Rector now finding it high time to give
some rel,nxation to these worthy spirits, which, dur-
ing such a long sp,nce, had leen so intensively bent
upon the abstrusest speculatiCms, rose up, and saluting
the divine Crichtoun, after he had ruade an elegant
1)anegyrick, or encomiastick speech of hall an houre's
contimmnce, tending to nothing else but the extolling
of him for the rare and most singular gifts wherewith
God and nature had endowed him, he descended
from his chtire, and, attended by three or four of
the most especial professors, presented him with a
diamond ring and a purse ful of gold, wishing him to
accept thercof, if hot as a recompense proportional
to his merit, yet as a badge of love, and testimony of
the universitie's favour towards him. At the tender
of which ceremony, there was so great a plaudite in
the schoole, such a humming and clapping of hands,
that all the concavities of the colledges there about
did resound with the echo of the noise thereof.
" :Notwithstnding the great honor thus purchased
by him for his literatory accomplishments, and that
many excellent spirits, to obteine the like, would be
content fo postpose all other employments to the
enjoyment of their studyes, he, nevertheless, the very
next dy, (to refresh his braines, as he said, for the
toile of the former day's work), went to the Louvre in
a buff-suit, more like a favourite of Mars then [than]
one of the Muses' minions; where, in presence of
some pripces of the court, and great ladies, that
came to behold his gallantry, he carryed away the
ring fifteen times on end, and broke as many lances
on the Saracen.
APPENDIX II 229
"When fol' a quarter of a yeer together he after
this manner had disported himself, (what martially,
what scholastically), with the best qualified men in
any faculty so ever, that so large a city, (which is
called the world's abridgement), was able fo afford,
and now and then solaced these his more serious
recreations, (for all was but sport to him), with
alluring imbellishments of the tendrer sexe, whose
ina»wrato that he might be, was their ambition; he
on a sudden took resolution to le,ve the Court of
France, and return to Ily, where he had been bred
for many yeers together; which designe he pro-
secuting within the sl,ace of a moneth, (without
troubling himself with long journeys), he arrived at
the Court of Mantua, where immediately after his
abord, (as hath been told Mready),
memorable combat whose description is above
rebted. Here it was that the learned and valian
Cichtoun was pleased to cast anchor, and fix his
abode; nor could he ahnost otherwise do, without
disobliging the Duke, and the l'rince his eldest son;
by either whereof he was so dearly beloved, that
none of them would permit him by any means to
leav« their Curt, whereof he was the only yriz, ado,
the object of all men's love, and subject of their
discourse; the example of the great ones, and
wonder of the meaner people; the paramour of the
femle sexe, and paragon of his own. In the glory
of whieh high estimation, having resided at that
Court above two whole yeers, the reputation of
gentlemen there was hardly otherwayes valucd but
by the measure of his aèquaintance; nor were the
young unmaryed ladies, of all the most eminent
places thereabouts, any thing respected of one
another, that had hot either a lock of his hair, or
copy of verses of his composing. Nevertheless it
happening on a Shrove-tuesday at night, (at which
rime it is in Italy very customary for men of great
230 APPENDIX II
sobriety, modesty, and civil behaviour all the rest of
the yeer, to give themselves over on that day of
carnavale, as they call if, to all manuer of riot,
druukenness, and incoutinency, vhich that thcy may
do with the least imputatiou they can fo thcir credit,
they go maskt and mum'd with vizards on their faces,
and iu the disguise of a Zanni or 1)antaloon, to
ventilate their fopperies, and sometimes intolerable
enormities, without suspicion of being kuown), that
this over renowned Crichtoun, (who, in the after-
noon of that day, at thc desire of my Lord Dukc, the
whole court striving which sb.ould exceed each other
in foolery, and devising t,f the best sports to excite
laughter, ncith¢.r my Lord, the Dutchess, nor 1)rince,
being exempted from acting their parts, as well as
they could), upon a theater set up for the purpose,
beguu to prank it, à la Veaetiaa, with such a
flourish of mimick and ethopoetick gestures, that all
the courtiers of both sexes, eve those that a little
before were fondest of their owu conccits, at the sight
of his so i,imitable a garb, from ravishing actors that
they were before, turned them ravished spectators.
0 with how great liveliness did he represent the con-
ditions of all manner of men ! how naturally did he
set before tac eyes of the beholders the rogueries of
all professions, from the overweening monarch to the
peevish swaine, through all the intermediate degrees
of the superficial courtier or proud warrior, dis-
sembled churchman, doting old man, cozening lawyer,
lying travclcr, covctous merchaut, rude seaman,
pedantick scholar, the amourous shepheard, envious
artisan, vaiuglorious toaster, and tricky servant; ho
did with such variety display the several humours of
all these sorts of people, and with a so bewitching
energy, that he seemed to be the original, they the
counterfeit; and they the resemblance whereof he
was the prototype. He had all the jeers, squibs,
flouts, buls, qmps, htunts, whims, jests, clinches,
APPENDIX II 231
gybes, mokes, jerks, with ail the several kinds of
equivocations, and other sophistical captions, that
could properly be adal0ted to the person by whose
representation he intended to inveagle the company
into a fit of mirth ; and would keep in that miscelany
discourse of his, (which was all for the splene, and
nothing for the g,ll), such a c.limacterical and nier-
curially digested method, that when the fancy of the
hearers was tickled with any rare conceit, and that
the jovial blood was moved, he held if going with
another new device upon the back of the first, and
another, yet anotber, and another ag,ine, succeeding
one another for the promoval of what is a-stirring
into a higher agitation; till in the closure of tho
luxuriant period, the decumanal wave of the oddest
whimsy of all, enïorced the charmed spirits of the
auditory, (for afïbrding room to its apprehension),
suddenly to burst forth into a laughter, which
commonly lasted just so long as he had leisure to
withdrw behind the skreen, shift ofl with tho help
of a page, the suite he had on, apparel himself with
another, and return to the stage fo act afresh ; for
by that rime their transported, disparpled, and
sublimated fancies, by the wonderfully ol0erating
engines of his solacious inventions, had from the
hight to which the ilward scrues,wheeles, and pullies
of his wit had elevated them, descended by degrees
into their wonted stations, he was ready for the
personating of another carriage; whereof to the
number of fourteen several kinds, (during the rive
hours space that at the Duke's desire, the solicitation
of the court, and his own recreation, he was pleased
to histrionize it), he shewed himself so natural a
representative, that any would have thought he had
been so many several actors, differing in all things
else, save only the stature of the body i with this
advantage above the most of other actors, whose
tongue, with its oral iml01ements, is the onely instru-
232 APPENDIX II
ment of their minds' disclosing, that, besides his
mouth with its appurtenances, he lodged almost a
several oratour in every member of his body; his
head, his eyes, his shoulder, armes, hands, fingers,
thighs, legs, feet, and breast, being able to decipher
any passion whose character he purl,osed to give.
"First, he did present himself with a crown on his
head, a scepter in his hand, being clothed in a purple
robe furred with ermyne; after that, with a miter on
his head, a crosier in his hand, and accoutred with a
paire of lwn-sleeves ; and thereafter, with a helmet
on his head, the visiere up, a commanding stick in
his hand, and arayed in a lmff-suit, with a scarf
about his middle. Then, in a rich apparel, after the
newest fashion, did he shew himself, (like another
.Sejauus), with a periwig daubed with Cypres powder ;
m sequel of that, he came out with a three-corner'd
cap on his head, some parchments in his hand, and
writings hanging at his girdle like Chancery bills;
and next fo that, with a furred gown about him, an
ingot of gold in his hand, and a bag full of money by
his side; after all this, he appeares againe clad in a
country-jacket, with a prong in his hand, and a
Monmouth-like-cap on his head; then very shortly
after, with a palmer's coat upon him, a bourdon in
his hand, and some few cockle-shels stuck to his
hat, he look'd as if he had corne in pilgrimage from
St Michael; immediately after that, he domineers
it in a bure unlined gown, with a pair of whips in the
one hand, and Corderius in the other; and in suite
thcreof, he honderspondered e it with a pair of
pannier-like breeches, a mountera-cap on his head,
and a knife in a wooden sheath dagger-ways by his
".4 bourdon in hls hand "--" A musical instrument resembling a
bassoon, in use with pilgrims who visit the body of St James at
Compostella" (Sir John Hawkins).
"Hondcrspondcred"--i.c. flouudered. Fr. hod,'es2ordres
iii. 42)--" hudred-pounders," heavy, burly fcllows.
APPENDIX Il 233
side ; about the latter end, he cornes forth again with
a square in one hand, a rule in the other, and a
leather apron before him ; then very quickly af ter,
with a scrip by his side, a sheep-hook in his hand,
and a basket full of flowers to make nosegayes for his
mistris; now dmwing to a closure, he rants it first
i cttcrpo, and vapouring it with gingling Sl)Urs, and
his armes a kenbol like a Don Diego he strouts it,
and by the loftiness of his gte, plaies the Capitan
Spavento; thcn in the very twinkling of an eye, you
would have seen him againe issue forfl witb a cloak
upon his arm, in a livery garment, thereby rcprc-
senting the serving-mau; and lastly, at one rime
amongst those other, he came out with a long gray
beard, and bucked rufi; crouching on a stafi" tip't with
the head of a barber's cithern, and his gloves
hanging by a button at his girdle.
"Those fifteen several personages did he rcpresent
with such excellency of garb, and exquisiteness of
language, that condignely to 1)erpend the subtlety of
the invention, the method of the disposition, the
neatness of the elocution, the gracefulness of the
action, and wonderful variety in the so dextrous
performance of ail, you would bave taken it for a
comedy of rive acts, consisting of three scenes, each
composed by the best poet in the world, and acted
by fifteen of the best players that ever lived, as was
most evidently ruade apparent to ail the spectators
iu the fifth and last hour of his action, (which, accord-
ing to our western account, was about six a clock at
night, and by the calculation of that country, half an
hour past three and twenty, at that rime of the yeer),
for, purposing to leave off with the setting of the
sun, with an endeavour nevertheless to make his
"Jarber's cithcr "--" The instrument now ignorantly called a
guitar. It was formerly part of the furniture of a barber's shop,
and was thc amusement of waiting customers" (Sir John
Hwkins).
234 APPENDIX II
conclusion the master-pieee of the work, he, to that
effeet, summoning all his spirits together, whieh
never fMled to be ready at the cal of so worthy a
commander, did by their assistance, so conglomerate,
shuttte, mix, and interlace the gestures, inelinations,
actions, and very tones of the speech of those fifteen
several sorts of men, whose earriages he did person-
are iuto an inestimable ollapodrida of immaterial
morsels of divers kinds, suitable to the very
ambrosian relish of the Helieonian nymphs, that,
in the perpetia of this drammatieal exercitation,
by the inehanted transportation of the eye. and
eares of its speetabundal auditorie, one would have
sworne that tbey all had looked with nmltiplying
glasses, and that, (like that angel in the Scripture
whose voice was said to be like the voice of a
multitude), they heard in him alone the promiseuous
speech of fifteen several actors; by the various
ravishments of the excellencies whereof, in the
froliekness of a jocund straine beyond expectation,
the logofascinated spirits of the beholding hearers
and aurieularie speetators, were so on a sudden
seazed upon in their risible faculties of the soul,
and ail their vital motions so universally affected
in this extremitie of agitation, that, to avoid the
inevitable charmes of his intoxicatiug ejaculations,
and the accumulative influences of so powerfull a
transportation, one of my lady Dutchess' chief
maids of honour, by the vehemencie of the shock of
those incomprehensible raptures, burst forth into a
laughter to the rupture of a veine in her body; and
auother young lady, by the irresistible violence of
the pleasure unawares infused, where the tender
receptibilitie of her too tickled rancie was least able
to hold out, so unprovidedly was surprised, that,
with no less impetuositie of ridibundal passion
then [than], (as hath been told), occasioned a fracture
in the other young ladie's modestie, she, hot being
APPENDIX II 235
able longer to support, the well beloved burthen of
so excessive delight, and intransing jays of such
mercurial exhilations through the inellhble extasie
of an overmastered apprebension, fell baek in a
swown, without the appearanee of any other lift
into lier then [than] what, by the most refined wits
of theologieal speeulators, is eonceived to be exereed
by the purest parts of the separated enteleehises of
blessed saints in their sublimest conversations with
the eelestial hierarehies; tbis accident procured the
incoming of an apotheeary with restoratives, as the
other did that of a surgeon with consolidative medica-
ments3 Tbe Admirable Crichtoun now perceiving
that it was drawing somexhat late, and th«tt our
occidental ra.ys of l'ho, bus v«ere upon their turning
oriental to the other hemispherc of the terrestrial
globe; being withall jealous that the uninterrlpted
operation of the exnberant diversitie of his jovial-
issime entertaimnent, by a continuate winding up of
the humours there present to a higher, yet higher,
and still higher pitch, above the supremest Lydian
note of the harlnonie of voluptuousness, should, in
such a case, through the too intensive stretching of
the a]ready super-elated striags of their imagination,
This incident reminds one of the effect prodnced upon the
lawyers in court when "Pantaruel gave ]udgment upon the
diffêrence of the two lords." Out readers wïll remember that it
is the author of the above description who is the translator of the
narrative which relis of that wonderfully satisfactory decision.
"As for the counsellors, and other doctors in the law that were
there present, they were all so ravished with admiration et the
more than humane wisdom of Pantagruel, whieh they did most
elcarly pereeive to be in him, by his so accurate deeiion of tbis so
difficult and thornie cause, that thcir spirits, with the extremity of
the rapture, being elevated above the piteh of actuating the organs
of the body, they fell into a tranee and sudden extasie, wherein
they stayed for the space of three long houres ; and had been so as
yet, in that condition, had hot some good people fetehed store of
vinegar and rose water to bring them again into their former
sense and understanding, for the whi,.h God l,e praised every-
where. And so be it." (Rabel«is, il. 13.)
236 APPENDIX II
with a transcCndeacie ovr-reaching Ela, and beyond
the well concerted gara of rational equanimitie, in-
volve the remainder of that illustrious companie into
the sweet labyrinth and mellifluent auh-actuosities of
a lacinious delectation, productive of the saine incon-
venieuces which befcl the two afore-named ladies;
whose delicacie of constitution, though sooncr over-
corne, did hOt argue, but that the saine extranean
causes from him proceeding of their pathetick altera-
tion, might by a longer insisting lu an efficacious
agencie, and uuremitted working of all the consecu-
tively imprinted degrees that the capacity of the
patient is able to containe, prevaile at last, and have
the saine predominaucic over the dispositions of the
strongest complexioned males of that splendid socicty,
did, in his owu ordinary wearing apparel, with the
countenance of a Prince, and garb befitting the
person of a so weI1 bred gentleman and cavalier,
×a' ioE, full of miestie, and repleat with all excogit-
able civilitie, (to the amazement of all that beheld
his heroick gesture), present himself to epilogate this
his almost extemporanean comedie, though of rive
hours continuance without intermission; and that
with a peroration so neatly uttered, so distinctly
pronounced, and in such elegancie of selected tearmes,
expressed by a diction so periodically contexed with
isocoly of members, that the marrer thereof tending
in all humility to beseech the highnesses of the
Duke, lrince, and Dutchess, together with the
remanent lords, ladies, knights, gentlcmcn, and
others of both sexes of that honourable convention,
to vouchsafe him the favour to excuse his that after-
noon's escaped extravagancies, and to lay the blanle
o the indigested irregularity of his wits' excursions,
and the abortive issues of his disordered brain, npon
the customarily dispensed with priviledges in those
Cisalpiual regions, to authorize such like impertin-
encies at Carnavalian festivals; and that, although,
APPENDIX II 237
according to the most commonly received opinion in
that country, after the nature of Load-him, (a gaine
at cards), where he that wins loseth, he who, at that
season of thê year, playeth the fool most egregiously,
is reputed the wisest man; he, nevertheless, hot
being ambitious of the faine of enjoying good qual-
ities, by verrue of the antiphr,sis of the fruition of
bad onês, did meerly undergo that emancipatorie
task of a so profuse liberty, and to no other end
embraced the practising of such roaming and ex-
orbitant diversions but to give an evidcnt, or rather
infalliblê, demonstration of his eternally bound duty
to the tlouse of Mantua, and an inviolable testimony
of his never to be altered desiguê, in prosecuting all
the occasions possible to be laid hold on that can in
any mauner of way provê conducible to the advance-
ment of, and contributing to, the rêadiest means for
improving those advantagês that nay best promove
the faculties of makig all his choice cndeavours,
and utmost abilities at all rimes, etfectual to the
long-wished-for furtherance of his most cordial and
endeared service to the serenissime highnesses of
lIy Lord Duke, Prince, and Dutchess, and of conse-
crating with all addicted obsequiousness, and sub-
missive devotion, his everlasting obedience to the
illustrious shrine of their joynt commands. Then
incontinêntly addressing himself to the Lords, ladies,
and others of that rotonda, (which. for his daigming
to be its imnate, though but for that day, might be
accounted in nothing inferior to the great Colisee of
Rome, or Amphitheater of Neems), with a stately
carriagê, and port suitable to so prime a gallant, hê
did cast a look on all the corners thereof, so bewitch-
ingly amiable and magically efficacious as if in his
eys had bin a muster of ten thousand cupids eagêrly
striving who should most deeply pierce the hearts of
the spêctators with their golden darts. And truly
so it fell out, (that there hot being so much as one
238 APPENDIX II
arrow shot in vain), all of thein did love him, though
hot after the saine Inanner, nor for the saine end;
for, as the Inanna of the Arabian desarts is said to
have had in the Inouths of the Egyptian Israelites,
the very saine tast of the Ineat they loved best, so
the l'rinces that were there did Inainly cherish hiin
for is Inagnaniinity and knowledge; his courtliness
and sweet behaviour being that for which chiefiy the
nobleinen did Inost respect hiin; for his pregnancie
of wit, and chivalrie in vindicating the hçnour of
ladies, he was honoured by the knights, and the
esquires and other gentlemen courted hiin for his
affability and good fellowship; the rich did favour
him foi" his judginent and ingeniosity; and for his
liberality and Inunificence, he was blessed by the
poor; the old Inen affected hiin for his constancie
and wisdoine, and the young for his Inirth and
gallantry; the scholars were enainoured of hiin
for his learning and eloquence, and the souldiers for
his integrity and valour; the Inerchants, for his
upright dealing and honesty, praised and extolled
him, and the artificers for his goodness and
benignity; the chastest lady of that place would
bave hugged and iinbraced him for his discretion
and ingenuity ; whilst for his beauty and coineliness
of person he was, at least in the fervency of their
desires, the paramour of the less continent; he was
dearly beloved of the fait woinen, because he was
handsoine, and of thc fairest Inore dearly, because
he was handsoiner: in a word, the affections of the
beholders, (like so Inany several diaineters drawn
froin the circuinference of their various intents), did
ail concenter in the point of his perfection. After
a so considerable insinuation, and gaining of so
Inuch ground upon the hearts of the auditory, (though
in a shorter space then [than] the tiine of a flash of
lightning), he went on, (as belote), in the saine thred
of the conclusive part of his discourse, with a resolu-
APPENDIX II 239
tion not to eut it, till the overabounding passions
of the company, their exorbitant motions and discom-
posed gestures, through excess of joy and mirth,
should be all of them quieted, cahned, and pacified,
and every nmn, woman, and maid there, (according
to their humour), reseatcd in the saine intcgrity they
were at first; which whcn by the articulatest
elocution of the most significant words, expressive
of the choisest things tb, at fancie couhl suggest, and,
conforme to the matter's variety, elcvating or dcpress-
ing, fiat or sharply accinating it, with that proportion
of tone that was most consonant with the purl)oSe,
he had attained unto, and by his verbal harlll(,lly all{l
melodious utterance, sctled all their distempered
pleasures, and brought their disorderly raised spirits
into their former capsuls, he with a tongue tip't with
silver, after the various diapasons of all his other
expressions, and making of a leg for the spruceness
of its courtsie, of greater decorement to him then
[than] cloth of gold and purple, foErewel'd the
companie witb a complcment of one period so
exquisitely delivered, and so well attendcd by the
gracefulness of his hand and foot, with the quaint
miniardise of the test of his body, in the performance
of such ceremonics as are usual at a court-like
departing, that from the theater he had gone into a
lobie, from thence along three spacious chambcrs,
whence descending a back staire, he past through
a low gallerie which lcd him to that outer gate,
whcre a coach with six horses did attend him, bcfore
that magnificent convention of both sexes, (to whom
that room, wherein they all were, seemed lu his
absence to be as a body without a soul), had the full
leisure to recollcct thcir spirits, (which, by the neat-
ness of his so curious a close, were quoquoversedly
scattered with admiration), to advise on the best
expediency how fo dispose of thcmselves for the
future of that [delightful] night."
INDEX
Attitude towards
"Aberdeen Doctrs," 37.
Aberdcc çasincs, î (note).
Aberdeen University, 19.
New constitttion, 10, 11 (uoto).
Abercrombie, Sir Alcxander, 7
(note).
Abernethie, IIelen,wife of Thomas
Urquhart, 141.
Abraham, Patriarch, 133.
ztcts of the JParliament of S'cotland,
61 (note 3), 1 (note 2), 93
(note), 101 (notes).
Adam, 130, 146.
_,4drmcemcnt of Lcarnbg, 118
(note).
/Egyptus' sons, 134.
/Equanima, sister of Marcus
Coriolanus, 136.
Agamenmon, 135.
Ainsworth, W. Harrison, Crichton,
105 (note 2).
': Airgiod cagaitn " (chewing-
money), 77.
Airlie, Earl of, 19 (note).
Alcibiades, 136.
Alexander of Macedon, 27, 51.
Allibone, JDictioury, and Ur-
quhart, 101.
Alsop, Captain, treatment of Sir
Thomas Urqnhart, 89.
Anmdis of Gaul, 144 (note 2).
Anastasius, quoted, 77 (note 1).
Auderson, Gilbert, nfinister of
CromaloEie, 63, 66 (note 3).
--- Hngh, 66 (note 3).
P. J., 10, 11 (notes).
Amls ofBa.l; quoted, 8 (note
2), 19 (note), 47 (note 3).
6
Annand, John, minister of Inver-
ness, and Sir Thomas Ur-
quhart, 68, 82.
«lntiquarim xYotcs, 7 (note), 69,
70 (note).
Al»prizig , 58 (note).
Arcalaus, 144 (note).
Archimedcs, 124.
Ardnamurchan, 136 (note 1).
Ardoch farm, 55.
Ayll, Marquis of, and Coven-
anters, 32.
Ariosto 166.
Hippogriff and Astolfo, 10î.
Aristot[e, 124, 202 (note).
Organo, £[hics, a PolRics,
10.
Arnold, Matthew, standard for
judging literature, 143.
Arran, 136 (note 1).
Arren, Earle of 115.
Aruadel, Earl of, 116.
Astioremon, 137.
Asymble, 144 (note).
htbara, battle of 102 (note 3).
Atropos, 129.
BAccnvs, 202 ; conquers India,
135.
Bacon, Lord, Solicitor-General,
8.
On fate of solid and weighty
things, 118.
Rules for young travellers in
JEssays, Cit'il at ,lloral, 26.
Baddeley, Richard, 128 (note),
149 (note).
Badenoch, 76.
Baillie, Robert, Lctters, 81 (note
1), 82.
Baldwin, Richard, 185 (note).
4 2 INDEX
Balquholly Castle, 35, 39, 102(note
3) : new IIatton Castle.
Account of, 39 (note 1).
Balvenie, battle at, 77 (and note
2), 79.
Banff, 8,
Entry in Court-book of Burgh,
15, 19.
Barclay, Waltcr, 41 (note 2).
Barclays, 38 (note 2).
Baron, Dr Robert, 37 (note 2).
Basagante, 144 (note).
Beaton, Cardinal, 55.
Bedell, William, idca of universal
language, 175.
Belladrum, 70.
Bellay, Jean du, Bishop of Paris,
188.
Bellenden, Adam, 48 (note).
Beltistos, 2.
Bembo, 166.
Berwiek, 44.
Besant, Sir Walter, 185 (note 2).
Bickerstaffe, Isaac, 51 (note).
Biggar, 85.
Billing, l?aronial Mntiquities,
39 (note).
Biographia Britannica, quoted,
144 (note 2), 158 (note 2).
Birkenbog, 7 (note).
Birrell, A., 186.
Black Island, 62 (note 1).
l?lackwood's Magazic, quoted,
181 (note 2).
(See also names of subjects.)
Boece, Hector, fictious, 145.
l?ook of 1?on Mccord, 13 (note 1).
Bracegirdlc, Mrs, 50 (note 2).
Braughton discovers Sir Thomas
Urquhart's NSS.» 155, 156.
Brisena, 144 {note).
Browne, Sir Thonlas :
Phraseology, 2.
Quoted, 49, 137.
Vulga" .Errors, 126.
Browuing, Robert, 113.
Bruce, James, 126 (note 1).
-- King David, 4.
King Robert, grants Crom-
artie te Sir Hugh Ross, 4.
Bïuklay, 7 (note).
Brydges, Sir Egerton, .4 do-
biography ; Mary de Clifford,
152 (note 1).
Bullock, J. M., History of UMver-
sity of A berdee, quoted, 86.
Burghley, William Cecil, Lord,
191 (note).
Burnet, quoted, 82 (note), 175.
Burns, Robert, 23.
Burton, John Hill:
On "Aberdcen Doctors" in
Histo T of Scotland, 37.
On description of Criehton's
feats, 162, 223 (note 2).
On Sir Thomas Urqnhart's
writings, 157, 159.
Scot Abroad, quoted, 159.
Burton, Robert, Anatomy of
M,:lacholy, 205 (note).
CsA,/)« 1?elle Gallico, 198 (note).
Caithness, 3, 70, 80 (note 2).
Calder, Campbell of, 7 (note).
Calcndar of .Proceedings in Com.
nittec for .,4dvances of
$Iowys- Taxes, 50 (note).
Calvert, Giles, 176 (note).
Cambridge, Earl of, 115.
Cant at Aberdeen, 86.
Carberry Tower, 13 (note 3).
Carlisle, 85.
Carlyle, Thomas :
Oliver Cromwell, quoted, 86, 87.
Sartor t:csartus, quoted, 189.
Cartadaqne, 144 (note).
Castalia, 109.
Cawdor, 66 (note 8).
Chanonry Castle taken, 76.
Charles L :
Endeavours to force Episcopacy
on Scotland, 81.
Execution of, 69, 70, 168.
Letter of Protection to Sir
Thomas Urquhart, senior, 15.
Licence to T. York, 50 (note 2).
On knowledge of law, 52.
Charles H., 97, 99.
Crowued, 84, 169.
Lands in Scotland, 88.
Charles WL, 187.
Chatterton, 152 (note).
INDEX 243
Chiuon, 187.
"Christianus Presbyteromastix,"
150.
Cibber, Apology , 170 (note).
Cieero, 201 ; De Qciis, 10.
Cid, The, 27.
Clan Maekenzie, ï2.
Clanmolinespiek, 135 (and note).
Clanrurie, 136 (note 1).
Clare, Earl of 50 (note 2).
Clare Street, 50 (note 2).
Clio, 109 (note).
Colcridge, on Rabclais' writings,
186.
College of 1avarre, 160, 223 (note).
"Colophonian Poct," 109 (note).
Colophos, 109 (lmte).
Colnlnission of Gcneral Asscmbly,
72, 79 (and note 1), 81.
Constantinolde, 77 (note 1).
Cotgrave, Fre-nh Dictiona'y, 191.
Cottrel, James, 149 (note).
Court of Session, Decisions of, 146.
Covenaut signed, 47 (note 3).
Covenanting lIovement, 31.
Coventry, 86.
Craig, John, 42 (note).
Craigfintray, 5, 19 (note), 60, 101
(note 2).
Cratynter, 132.
Craven, Earl of, 116.
-- Rev. J. B., 57 (lmte).
Crawford, Earl of, 146.
Cfichton, James (the Admirable),
157, 158 (note 2).
Age on enterillg St Andrews, 9.
Sketch of, 159; Apl,endix ii.
215.
Cromartie (Crwmbawchty or
Clamabathy), 3, 70.
-- Castle, account of, 17 (and
note 1), 18.
Library, 29.
Put in state of defence, 70, 71
(lmte 1).
Siege of, 139.
estate, prol)rietors of, 103.
Lady Dowager of, 120.
-- parish, 62 (note 1).
Cromwell, Oliver, 8, 32 (note),
8, 86, 96.
Cullicudden, 62 (note 1), 63, 71
(note 1).
Culloden, 19 (note).
Cumbcrland's, Dukc of, head-
quarters, 19.
Curators, 5 (note).
D.N,vs' daughters, 133.
Dante, 166.
Quoted, 161 (note).
Darisleta, 144 (note).
Darwin, Charles, 131 (note).
JDavid Coppc:ficld, quoted, 51
(note 2), 59 (note), 62 (note).
Debora, Judgc and l'rophctcss,
135.
Dclgatie, Laird of, l,luuders lkfl-
quho]ly, 39.
Delos, 119 (note).
Demosthenes, 162 (note).
Dickson, David, Professor of Di-
vinity, Glasgow, 82.
Af Aberdeen, 36.
JDi«tioaa'ry of IValio.al JlTio-
gra2hy , quoted, 82 (note), 101
(note).
Diosa, daughter of Alcibiades,
136.
Dis, Father of Wtlth, 198.
Don river, 126 (note 1).
Don Quixote, 104 (and note 2).
Donne, Age ongoing to
ford, 9.
Dorset, Earl of, 116.
Douglas, Robert, Moderator of
Commission of Geneml
sembly, 81 (and note 2).
Dove, Dr, 114 (note).
Duchat, lqotes on Rabelais, 206.
Duff, Garden Alexander, 39, 102
(note 3).
Isabel Annie, 102 (note 3).
Dunbar, Battle of, 83, 87.
Dunlugas in Alvah, 47 (note 1).
EDWAI¢D, King, 138.
Egypt, English 1)eer in, 27.
Elgin, 4 (note), 70, 95.
Elibank, Patrick, Lord,
Crolnartie estate, 103.
Eliock, Perhshire, 159.
buys
z44 INDEX
E1phinstone, Alexander, Lord, 6,
13 (and note 3).
Lady Christian, 6, 7 (note).
Englishnmn abroad, 22.
Entelechia, Queen, 158 (note).
Episcopacy in Scotland, 32, 102
(note 2).
Erasmns, 145.
Eromena, 144 (note).
Errol, Earl of, 146.
Esormon, Prince of Achaia, 131.
Euclid, 124, 142.
FAI.KI ItK, 84.
Famongomadan, 144 (note).
Farquhar, Sir Robert, of Monnie,
and Cromartie crcditors, 60.
l"ergus, King of Scots, 136, 145.
Findlay, Andrew, 43.
Findrassie. (Sec Lesley, Robert.)
Firth of Cromartie, 62 (note 1).
-- of Forth, 38.
Fisherie, Barony of, 4, 8 (and
note 1), 19 (note).
Fleetvood, 96.
Florence, 28.
Folengo, T., Macaronea, 205 (note).
Fontenay-le- Comte, 188, 204
(note).
Forbes, Alexander, 15, 41 (note 2).
Arthur, of Blacktown, 40.
Dr John, 37 (note 2).
Forestalling, 15 (note 2).
Fortrose Castle garrisoned, 76.
Fouutainhall, Dccisions, 146
(note)
Fraser, (Colonel) Hugh, of Bella-
drum, and Rising in horth, 70.
-- (Sir) James, 71 (note 1).
Lord, garrisons Towie-Bar-
clay Castlc, 39.
Sir William :
Em'ls of C'omartic, quoted, 3
(note 2).
The Lords Elphinsloec, quoted,
7 (note), 13 (note 3).
G. P., 128.
Gardenstoun Papers, 7 (note).
Gargantua, 190, 193.
Gathelus, 145.
Gaurin (Gowrau), Earl of, 116.
Gcuera1,4sscmbly Commission Rc.
cords, 72 (note), 74 (note),
75 (note), 78 (note), 79 (note
2), 80 (note).
Genoa, 28.
Gight, Laird of, 40.
Gladmon, Captain, 88.
Glasgow, General Assembly in, 35.
Glenkindie, ï (note).
Glover, George, portraits of Sir
Thomas Urquhart, 107.
Gonima, 144 (note).
(;onzaga, Vincenzio de, 164.
(;oodwin, Cal»tain , 94.
Gordon, Jalnes, History tf Scots
.ci.ff'airs, 35 (notes), 41 (note
2), 132 (note)
(Sir) Jalnes, of Lesmoir, 7
(note).
John, 101 (note 3).
Granada, 27.
Grangeï, l?iogr«phical Dictiotary,
107 (note 2), 112 (note 1), 206
(note 1).
Grimm, Housrhohl 1'dcs, 180.
Gnild, Dr William, 13 (note 1),
19 (note).
Sir Thomas Urquhart's account
of, 12.
Gullicer's Tracels, 144 (note 2).
Gustavus Adolphus, 81 (note 2).
Guthrie, James» 82.
HALKET, General, 77 (note 2), 81
(note).
Hatton Castle. (Scc Balquholly.)
Hamilton, Marqnis of, 111, 115.
At 13crwick, 44.
Harrison, 85.
Hawkins, Sir John, _032, 233
(notes).
.Lfe of Johtson, 206 (note).
Hazlitt, quoted, 167 (note).
Heine, Das 37«h Le Gland, 182
(note).
Henderson at Aberdeen, 36.
Henry I., 187.
Henry, Prince, 8.
Heraclitus the Obscure, 119 (note),
201.
INDEX 24
Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, Auto-
biogral»hy, 25 (note 1).
Hercules Lybius, 133.
Herd, David, 101 (note).
Highland soldiers in Inverness,
76, 79.
Hippocrene, 109.
History of Clan Mackenzie, 70
(note).
History of Scotland. (Sce under
Burton, J. H. }
History of Scots Affairs. (Sce Gor-
don, James.)
Holland, Earl of, 116.
Holles, Gervase, 50 (note 2).
--John, Earl of Clare, 51 (and
note 1).
Homer, Birthp]ace of, 109.
Works, 166.
Hope, A »astasius, quoted, 77(note).
Horace, Odcs, quoted, 134 (note 1).
Houghton, in lffottingham, 51
(note 1).
Hudibras, Alexander loss men-
tioned in, 126.
Hunt]y, Second Marquis of, 116.
Covenanters and, 33.
Family naine (GolIlon), 41
(note 2).
Taken prisoner, 38.
Third lXlarquis of, takes
Ruthven Castle, 77.
Hypermnestra, 133, 134.
INNES, Alexander, 43 (note).
Inverkeithing, 84.
Inverness, 2, 32.
Capture of, 68, 70, 81.
Fortifications destroyed, 76.
Highland soldiers at, 76, 78.
Sasines, 101 (note 3).
Irving, Dr :
Account of SirThomas Urquhart
leaving Scotland, 43.
Zives of Scottish lVriters, 44
(note), 149 (note).
John, of Bruklay, 7 (note).
J. A., 124.
James III. "-
Act of, 54.
James llI.--coditited.
Grant of lXiotehill of Cromartic
te William Urquhart, 17.
James Vl., 7, 147 (note).
Japhet, 131.
Jericho, 55.
Jean of Arc, 187.
Johnson, Dr, on--
Crichton in Advcnttrer, 159
(note 1).
Traveller in Egypt, 27.
Johnston and Mr Bedell, 175.
Arthur, 112.
Latin Poems, 57 (note).
Jonson, Ben, Catiline, 8.
Jovius, Panlus, 145.
Julius Cesar, 27.
](ER, General, 77 (note 2).
Kinbeakie, Stone lfitel at, 137
(note).
King-Edward, Aberdeenshire, 4,
8 (note 2), 19 (note).
Kin.g's College : O.ffïcers and Grad.
talcs, 10 (note).
King's Covenant, Account of, 42
(note 1).
Kippis, Dr, 158 (note 2).
On Urquhart's pedigree, 144
(note
Kirkhill, 76.
Kirkmichael, 62 (note 1), 63.
LAIB, Charles, 132 (note), 167
(note).
Lambert, 85.
Laud, Archbishop, 32.
Leake, Wi]liam, 116.
Leighton, Archbishop, 66 (note 1).
Lemlair, 70.
Lesley, Lieut.-General David, 32
(note).
March te England, 84.
]Iessage of encouragement te,
75.
Takes Castle of Chanonry, 76.
lorman, 55 (and note 1).
Robert, of Findrassie, 59
(note}, 71 (note 1).
Conduct towards Sir Thomas
Urquhart, 55, 95.
246 INDEX
Lesley, Robert--conld.
Mortgage on Cromartie estate,
46.
Dr William, Sir Thomas
Urquhart's aecount of, 12 (and
note 2), 37 (note 2).
Lctters of Jtnius, 103 (note 3).
Li»cs of .Eminent Men o.f Aberdeen,
quotcd, 126 (note 1 }.
Livcs o.f S«otlish l'riters. (Sec
under Irving, Dr.)
Logarithms, 123 (and note).
Lowndes, B ibliogra2»hcr' s Mauual,
101 (note).
Lucian, 100 (note), 189.
Lumphanan, 3 (note 2).
Lunan, Alexauder, 11 (note).
Lnther, lIartin» 187.
Lynceus, 134.
MCAVLAV, 174 (note).
Itistory o.f England, quoted, 23.
Macbeth's titles, 3.
Macduff, 3 (note 2).
]Iackcnzie, Alexandcr, 70 (note).
-- (Sir) George, 102.
George, sclls estate to Capt.
W. Urquhart, 103.
-- (Sir) Kenneth, 103.
--- Thomas, of Pluscardine.
Enters Inverness, 76.
Proclaimed rebel and traitor, 71.
Rising in North and, 69, 70, 76.
/Iackintosh, C. Fraser. (Sec Aa.ti-
quaria -hrotes. )
Macmillans of Knapdale, 135 (n.).
Madanfabul, 144 (note).
Madasima, 144 (note).
Madrid, 27.
M'Farlaue, Genealogical Collec-
tions, 16 (note 1).
lIaitland, on date of Sir Thomas
Urquhart's birth, 6.
Mantu% 163.
]Iantua, Duke of, 164, 215
llantuanns, Baptista, 166.
llarischl College, 11 (note).
Marischal, Earl, 36, 146.
Enters Aberdeen, 43.
/Iartin, Sir Theodore,
Trissotetras 119 (note).
Martin, Sir Theodore--contd.
Unpublished Epigrams of Sir
Thomas Urquhart, 116.
Urquhart's account of his mis-
tbrtunes, 61.
Death, 97.
Translation of Rabelais,
192.
/Iary Queen of Scots, 104 (note 1).
Maubert, Place, 161 (note).
lleldrum arms, 139 (note).
]Ielville, Andrew, assists to re-
modcl University education,
lo, 11 (note).
lIercnry, 198.
Mcssina, 27.
/licawber, Wilkins. (Sec David
Copperfi:.ld. )
hliddleton, General, 32 (note).
Joins Mackenzie's force, 76.
Earl of, 102 (note 2).
Miller, Hugh, 102 (note 2).
Description of Cromartie Castle,
18.
On siege ofCrom artie Castle, 140.
On stone lintel at Kinbeakie,
138.
OnUrqnhart'sinventive powers,
1SO.
Reference to Sir Alexander
Urquhart, 101 (note 3).
(Sec also ,cews and Zege'ads of
Vo'th of Scotland. )
]Iilton, John, 8, 30, 91.
ttymn on 'ativity, quoted, 201
(note 2).
Paradise Lost, quoted, 201 (n. 2).
Sonnet to Cromwell, quoted, 86.
Miol, 145.
Mitchell, Thomas, ministcr of
Turriff, 41 (note 2), 42.
Molinea, 133.
Monboddo, Lord, on dual number,
182.
Montaigne, age on completing
collegiate course, 9.
Montrosc, Earl of, 36, 38, 78, 80
(note 2).
M'oral Talcs, 113 (note).
Moray, 3, 4 (note).
hloray Firth i 32, 62 (note 1).
INDEX 247
lIorlcy, Uuivcrsal L&rary, 185
(note o.).
Morrison, Dictionary of Dccisioers,
146 (note).
Motteux, Pierre A., 97, 184, 203
(note 2).
Completes Urquhart's Trans-
lation of Rabelais, 192, 206
(and note 1).
On Urquhart's Translation of
Rabelais, 98.
]Iouat (de Monte Alto) family in
Cromartie, 4 (and note 1).
-- William, takes part of Kil)g
Robert Bruce, 138.
Mounie, 60.
lIucholles, Lord, 41 (note 2).
]Iunro, Jtdm, of Lemlair, and
rising in North, 70.
Colonel Robert, ][ission to
Marquis of Huntly, 34.
NAR, 70.
Iqapier, John, of Merchiston, 119,
122 (and note 2), 124.
laples, 28.
Narfesia, Sovereign of the
Amazons, 132.
National Covcnant, quoted, 31.
Newcastle, Earl of, 116.
_h'cholas IVi«klcby, quoted, 11
(note).
Nicolia, 136.
Nimrod, 131.
Iqiort, 204 (note).
lqisbet, on Urquhart's propcrty, 2.
System of H(raldry, 3 (note 1).
Noah, 131, 146.
IVoctes A mbrosia,e (Blackwood),
version of Urquhart's death,
101 (note).
" Nonconformist Conscience,"
187.
orthumberland, Earl of, 116.
ottingham, 86.
OaLW, Lord, joins ][ackenzie's
force, 76.
Old Machar, 10.
Orkneys, 80 (note 2).
Orpah, 131.
Overton, 96.
Ovid, 195 (note).
Metamorphosis, 133.
Ozell, edition of Rabelais, 206.
P.¢Dt/t, 163.
Pantagruel, 158 (note), 161, 190.
(See also Urquhart, Sir
Thomas, Translation of
Rabelais. )
Panthea, daughter of Deucalion
and Pyrrha, 133.
Panurge, 158 (note), 197. (Sec
also Urquhart, Sir Thomas,
Translation of Rabelais.)
Pape, Charles, Minister of Culli-
cudden, 63.
Paris, 28.
Parnassus, ]Iount, 44, 109.
Pegasus, 109.
Pembroke, Earl of, 116.
Pentasilea, Queen of the Amazons,
135.
Penuel, 131.
Pericles, 149 (note).
Persius, 8 (note 2) ; quoted, 162.
Perth, 84.
Petrarch, 166.
Petric, James, 8 (note 2).
Pharaoh Amenophis, 133.
Philcmon (Philomenes), death
100 (note).
Pillars of ttercules, 124.
Pistol, Ancient, 2, 109 (note).
Pitkerrie, 103.
Plato, 124, 202 (and note).
Pliny, 52 (note 2).
Pluscardine. (Sec Iackenzie,
Thomas. )
Plutus, 52, 198 (note).
Pococke's Tour, 17 (note 2), 103
(note 1).
Pope, Alexander--
1)enciad, 206 (note 2).
On Rabelais, 186.
Portia, 22, 25.
Portugal founded, 145.
Pothina, niece of Lycurgus, 136.
Prott, David, killed at Towie-
Barclay, 40.
Providence, Rhodc Island, 90.
248 INDEX
Pulteney, Sir William, 103 (note 2).
Pythagoras, 124, 202.
QUEEN Elizabeth, 120.
--Mary, of England, 102.
Mary, of Scotland, 104 (note
1), 168.
Queensfcrry, 84.
RABAN, printer, Aberdeen, 57 (n.).
2abe[ezis, 107 (note 2), 119 (note),
185 (and note 2), 192 (note),
235 (note).
labelais, François, sketch of, 187.
Gargant a and _Pantagrucl, 189.
(Sce Urquhart, Sir Thomas,
Translation of II, abelais.)
Raleigh, Sir Waltcr, 120.
ltistory of the lVorld: 8.
Raphael, 187.
Reay, Lord, joins Mackenzie's
tbrce, 76, 78 (note).
ccords of Court of Justiciary,
16 (note 2).
tedgauttlet, quoted, 102 (note 1).
Resolis, 62 (note 1).
Riddell, J., ,Scotch Pcerage Law,
55 (note).
Rising of Cavaliers in orth, 69.
Robertson, William, of Kind-
easse, Sir Thomas Urquhart's
account of, 94.
Rolland, Catharine, 13 (note 1).
Rome, 28.
Ross, Alexander (1), minister iii
Aberdeen, 37 (note 2).
-- Alexander (2), 126 (note 1).
Recommends Trissotetras, 126.
Yerses, 126, 127 (note).
-- George, of Pitkerrie, buys
Cromartie estate, 17, 103.
-- (Sir) Hugh, owns Crom-
artie, 4.
-- (]Iajor) Walter Chartcris, of
Cromartie, 103 (note 3).
-- William, Earl of, 4.
Rothes, Eafls of, 55 (note).
Rothiemay, Banffshire, 35 (note
1), 43 (note).
Row, Historie of Iïrk of Scotland,
42 (note).
I¢oyalists escape to England, 43
(note 1).
Ruskin, John, 173 (note).
Rutherford, Sanmel, Principal of
St Andrcws, 82.
Ruthven Castle takcn by Marquis
of Huntly, 77.
ST ANDREWS, 82.
St tIilarion, 204 (note).
St Jerome, IZita ,çanct tIil-
ariouis, 204 (note).
5*t Ro(rn's lIell, quoted, 186.
Salton, Lord, 141.
Saragossa, 27.
Sccncs and Lcgeds of North of
,S'cotlad, quoted, 18, 102 (note
2), 139 (note), 141 (note).
Scota, daughter of Pharaoh,
145.
Scotch army marches into Eng-
land, 84.
Scotch Pceragc Law. (See Rid-
dell, J.).
Scotchman abroad, 24.
Scotland :
Episcopacy in, 32, 102 (note 2).
Four armies in, 32 (note 1).
Mythical history of, 145.
University education in,9. (Sec
also Aberdeen University.)
Scrogie, Dr Alexander, 37 (note
2), 43 (note).
Seaforth, George, Earl of, 69.
Seaton, Dr, in Paris, 28.
-- John, 11 (note).
-- William, 11 (note).
Sir Thomas Urquhart's account
of, 13.
Seton, Alexander, of Meldrum,
102 (note 3),
arms, 139 (note).
Elizabeth, 102 (note 3).
Shafton, Sir Piercie, 124.
Shakespeare, William :
Henry 1V., 165 (note).
Mcrchant of lcnice, 25.
Midsm,ner 2Xight's JDrcam,
174 (note).
Twclfth 2Vight, 122 (note).
l]iter's Talc, 8.
INDEX 249
Shephard, Jack, 51 (note).
Shrewsbury, 86.
Sibbald, Dr James, 37 (note 2).
Smith, Sidney, "preaching to
death by vild curatcs," 66.
-- W. F., Translation of
Rabelais, 158 (note 1), 99
(note 1), 191.
Socrates, 119 (note), 124.
Sodom and Gomorrha, 133.
Solvatius, King, 137.
Somerled, Lord of the Isles 136
(note 1).
South, Scrmns, 199 (note).
Southcote, Joanna, 179 (note).
Southey, Dr Dovc, 114 (note),
178 (note).
Spalding, mentions Sir Thomas
Urquhart, 38.
Mcmorials, quoted, 40, 43
(note).
Spartianus, Elius, Lire of Gcta,
205 (note).
Spenser, 120.
Spilsbury, Sir Thomas Urquhart
stays with, 86, 153.
Stacker, James, 41 (note 2).
Steele, Richard, 50 (note 2).
Stirling, 84.
Strachau, General, 77 (note 2),
81 (note).
Strafford, Earl of, 116.
Stralsund, 69.
Stratford-on-Avon, 86.
Strathbogie, 34.
Strathearn, Earls of, fami]y
naine, 135 (note).
Sutherland, Earl of, action
against Earls of Crawford,
Errol, and Marischal. 146.
-- James, "Tutor of Duffus,"
56.
TAMEr, LANE, 67.
Tarbat, Viscount, First Earl of
Cromartie, 103.
Tcrmuth, daughter of Pharaoh
Amenophis, 133.
Thaumast, 158 (note).
The Lords Iphinstone, quotcd,
7 (note), 13 (note 3).
The Tables and Aberdcen, 35, 37.
Thclema, Abbey of, 193 scqq.
Thelcmites, 195 scqq.
Thvugh the Looking- Glass,
quoted, 114 (note).
Thucydides, 149 (note).
Thymelica, daughter of Bacchus,
135.
Toledo, 27.
Torespay, 77 (note).
Tor Wood, 84.
Tomlins, Richard, 176 (note).
Towie-Barclay Castle, 38 (note 2).
laird of,plunders Balquholly,
39.
Tristram ,çhaày, quoted, 47
(note 3).
Trot of Turriff, 41 {and notc 2).
ïurriff, 38.
Inhabitants subscribe King's
Covenant, 42.
"Tutor," hIeaning of, 5 (note 1).
Tycheros, 131.
Tytler, Patrick F. :
Lire of thc Admirable Crichlon,
159 165, 190.
On Urqubart's Translation of
Rabelais, 190.
TNIVEItSITI" of Aberdeen, New
Constitution, 10, 11 (uote).
Urquhart, Adam of, owns Crom-
artie, 4.
-- Sir Alexander, 16.
Petition for compensation for
lossês, 61.
Petition for Sheriffshi 1) of
Cromartie, 98, 100.
Annas, 7 (note).
arms, 132, 133, 137 (and
note 1).
(Major) Beauchaml) Col-
clough, 102 (note 3).
-- Cainotomos, 135.
-- Euplocamos, 134.
-- family, descent of, 130 scqq.
-- George, 7 (note).
---- Helen, 7 (notc).
-- Henry, 7 (note).
ttçpsegvras, 133.
-- Colî)ne] James, 102 (note 3).
250 INDEX
Urquhart, Jane, 7 (note).
John, 7 (note).
-- Sir John, of Craigfintray, 101
(note 2).
Ilereditary Sheriffof Cromartic,
60.
Death, 102 (note 2).
-- John, of Craigfintray, "thc
Tutor of Cromartie," 5 (and
note 1), 6 (and note 1), 19
(note), 102 (note 3).
-- Jonathan, 102.
Margaret, 7 (note).
-- Mellessen, 136.
-- Molin, 133.
lames of Chiefs and
Primitive Fathers, Appcndix
i. 211.
lames of Molhers of Chiefs,
Appendix i. 213.
(de Vrquhartt), origin of
name, 4 (note 2), 132
(note 1).
-- Pamprosodos, 133.
-- Phrenedon, 133.
-- Propetes, 133.
-- Rodrigo, 135.
SR TnoAs (Urchard,
Urquhardus, Wrqhward, Wr-
whart), 132 (note).
Account of Aberdeen ,nd emi-
nent men, 12.
Account of Admirable Crichton,
157.
Account o f impoverished estates,
45.
Ancestry, 2.
At Worcester, 86, 129.
Birth, 6.
Birthplace unknown, 8.
Book-hunting, 29.
Characteristics, 53, 104 (and
notes 1, 2), 105, 130, 144
(note 2).
Conduct of creditors, 94.
Death, 97, 99 (note 1).
Description of his fathcr's
charactcr, 14.
Enters University of Aberdeen,
9 (and note 1}.
Escaloes fo England, 43.
Urquhart, Sir Thomas--cotd.
Foreign Travel, 22, 25, 27.
Knighted, 44.
Lesley and, 55.
Liberated on parole, 89.
Literary achievements, 2, 148.
Lives at Cromartic--financial
diflïculties, 51.
Loses ancestral domains and
jurisdiction, 60.
]IS. of unpublished Poems
quotcd, 5 (note 2) ; dcscribed,
116.
MSS. lost after Worcester, 88,
129, 154.
O G. Anderson's preaching,
63, 66.
Papers seized, 93.
Portraits, 107.
Fraise of "the Tutor of Crom-
artie," 5 (and note 2).
Prepares MSS. for publication,
89.
ærisoner in the Tower, 88.
Proclaimed rebel and traitor, 71.
Relations with ]Iinisters of
Chnrch, 61.
Religious bclief, 67.
Remiaiscence of his youth, 20.
Rental, 51.
Rcply to Commissioncrs' re-
monstrances, 72.
Resides in London, 50 (and
noe 2).
Returns home, 30.
Rising in North and, 69.
Schemes and inventions, 53.
Speed in conposition, 117, 151.
Succeeds to estates, 47.
"Supplication" for pardon, 81.
Takes np arms for Stuarts, 38,
69, 84,
Vanity, 24 (note 3).
Works :--
EKKTBAAATPOE: or,
Discovey of a most ex-
quisite Juwel, 92.
Account of, 148 scqq. (and
note 1).
Descri[,tion of Admirable
Crichton, 157 sqq.
INDEX 25t
Urquhart, Sir Thomas--con!d.
Works--continued
In contemporary politics,
168.
On tXme of Scots in battle,
157.
Quoted, 67, 153, 165, 168,
170, 172, 174.
Epigrams: Divine and Moral,
44.
Account of, 111 seqq.
Dedication, 111, 115.
Quoted, 60(note), 113, 114.
]XIS., quoted, 109 (note).
Logopadeclcision; or, An In-
troduction to the Uni-
versal Language :
Account of, 175 scqq.
Published, 96.
Quoted, 48, 57, 62 (note 2),
90.
IIA.NTOXPOIOXA510N :
Peculiar Promptuary of
Time, 92.
Accourir of, 128 scqq.
Translation of Rabelais, 2,
96, 97, 161,205.
&ccount of, 184, 190 seqq.
Exploiîs of Pantagïuel, 161
(note 2).
Genealogy of Pantagrncl,
144.
Interpolations, 203.
Panurge, Sketch of, 197.
Skctch of Abbey of Thcl-
ema, 193.
Yarious editions, 206.
Trissotctvas, 92, 114.
Accourir of, 117 (and note 1).
Unpublished Epigrams,
dications or; 116.
Thomas, marries Helen Aber-
nethie, their family, 141.
Sir Thomas, senior
Action against his sons, 16.
Becomes caution for Alexander
Forbes, 15.
Ielieves in long pedigree, 147.
Death, 47 (and ncte 3).
"Desk"or Pew iii Ban ff Church,
19 (and note 1).
Urquhart, Sir Thos., sen.--contd.
Episcopalian, 30, 33, 35.
larriage- con t ract, 7 (and note1).
Pccuniary difliculties, 13, 15,45.
Rcsidence in Ban[I; 18 (and
note 2).
Sketch of, 5, 6.
(Captain) William, of
Mcldrum, buys Cromartie
estate, 103.
WillLzm, receives grant of
Motehill of Cromartie, 17.
Urquharts oïMeldrmn, 102(note 3).
VALER1US IAXIMUS, 100 (note)
Venice, 28, 163.
Virgi|, 166, 201 (lmte 1).
Vocompos, arms of, 137.
Voltail'c, 189.
WALLACE, Professor of Mathe-
matics, Edinburgh, on l'ris-
sotctras, 119.
William, and William ]Xlouat,
139.
Wardlaw IIS., 76, 78 (lmte).
Wan'ington Bridge, 85.
Westminster Abbey, 145.
Whibley, Charles, _h5,w Rcvieu,,
quotcd, 112.
Wil|iams, Roger, Missionary to
Indians, 90, 91 (note 1).
Williamson, Robert, Minister of
Kirkmichae|, 63.
Windsor Castle, Sir Tllomas Ur-
quhart removed to, 89.
Wodrow, quoted, 81 (note 2), 102
(note 2).
Worcester, 86.
Battle of, 87.
-- Marquis of, Ceutury of the
.5ames ad Scantlig of
. . Inventios, 181 (note 2).
Worldly Wiseman, 34.
Wyntown's C'onykil, quoted, 3
(note 2).
YARES of Udoll, 56.
York, 86.
Thomas, 50 (note 2).
Young, James, 118 (note).
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the field of British Biography."[ornbtg Leader.
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" Mr. Smeaton h produced a very readable and vivid biography."Ac¢mff.
Fletcher o[ Saltoun, By G. W. T. OtOB
" Unmistakably the most interesting and complete story of the life of Fleter
of Saltoun that has yet appeed."Lee [ercury.
The * Blackwood Youp, By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
" Sir George Douglas, in addition to summarising their biographies, critic their
works with excellent and well-weighed appreclation."Litcrarff tVorld.
oma aclod, By JOHN VELLWOOB.
" Its general picturesqueness is effective, while the criticlsm is eminently llbeml
and sound."ISCOtS
Sir Walter Scott. By GEORGE SAINTSBURY.
" Mr. Saintsbu's miniature is a gem of its kind.--PMl Iall
Kirkcaldy of Yanffe, By Louis A. BARBÉ.
" A conscientious and thorough picce of work showing wide and accurate
knowledge."IGlg
Çobert Fegusson. gy A. B. GROSRT, D.D., LL.D.
'It is a creditable, useful, and painstaking book, a enuine contribution to
Scottish literary history."ritish l¢éekly.
dm Thomo. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
"The story of Thoon's claire to the disputed authorhip of' Rule Britannia'
is sustalned by his countrymn with sprit and in our judgment with success."
L iterature.
OLIPItANT ANDERSON F.ERRIER'S
"FAMOUS SCOTS " SERIES.
]/]O PY. Ey T. BANKS IACLACIILAN.
" Not only a charming life-story, if at times a pathetic one, but a vivid chapter in
the romance of Africa."Leeds [crcury.
D&viO Hum, By HENRY CALDERWOOD, LL.D.
" Fulfils admirably well the purpose ofthe writer, whlch was that of presentlng
clear, fair, and concise lines Hume and his philosophy to the mind of hls countrymen
and of the world."calsman.
Willi&m DunD&r. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
" A graphic and informed accouut hot only of the man and his works» but of his
immediate environment and of the rimes in whicb he lived."--ai/i}.
ir William Wall&ce. By Professor MçRlSON.
" Mr. lurison is to be heartily congratulated on this little boom. After much
hard and discriminate labour, he bas pieced together by far the best, one might say
the only rational and coherent, account of Wallace that exists."S¢akr.
Robert Louis Stevenson, By IARGARET I. BLACK.
"Certanly one of he most charming biographes we have ever corne across.
The wrter has style, sympathy, dstnction, and understanding. We were loth fo
ut the book aside. Ifs one fau[t s that if is too short."OHoo}.
Thomas Reid. By roçcsso CAMPBKLL FEASEE.
"Supples what must be allowed fo be a distinct want n out Hterature, in the
shape of a brl£, popular and accessible biography of the founder o[ the so-called
Scotdsh School of Phi[osophy, vitten with notable perspicuhy and sympathy by
one who bas ruade a specal study o£ the problems that engaged the mind of
-- Scot«man.
Pollok and Aytoun. By ROSALINE IAssON.
" Miss lasson tells the story of the lires of her two subjects fn a bright and
readab]e way. Her criticisms are sound and judicious, and altogether the little
volume is a very acceptable addition fo the series."ort
Adam Smith. By IIECTOR C. IACPHERSON.
" l bave learned much from your sketch of Adam Smith's lire and work. It
presents the essent]al facts in a lucid and interesting way." Mr. HERBERT
SI'ENCER tO tg
Andrew elville. By WILLIAM IORISON.
"The story is well told, and if takes one through a somewhat obscure pedod
wlth whlch if is we[l fo be acquainted. No better guide could be found than
Morison. "--Sectatar.
J&mes Frederick Ferrier. By E. S. HALDANE.
" Ferrier the man, aud even Ferrier the professor, liss Haldane brings near to
us, an attractive and interesting figure."Sot$man.
" This biography of him will be highly esteemed because of the grace and v.
with which Miss Haldane bas done her work. To the ' Famous Scots' series of
volumes there bave been many excellent contributions, but hOt one of them is more
interesting than this latest addition."Dundee CourAer.
King Robert the Bruce. By Professor MçRISON.
"Professor lurison has glven us a book for which hot o,fiy Scots, but eve man
who can appreciate a record of great days worthily told, will be grateful."Iorning
L eer.
"The story of Bruce is brilliantly told in clear and flexible language, which
draws the reader on wlth the interest of a novel. Professor lurison is a most
impartial and thoroughly reliable critic, and may be followed with confidence by all
who desire a truthful and unprejudiced picture of this greatest of the Scots."
A erdeen Journal
J&e$ O. By Sir GEORGE DOçGLAS. With Sketches
of Tannahill, Motherwell, and Thom.
OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER,
30 ST. MAR STREET, EDINBçRGH
2I PATERNOSTER SQUARE LONDON» E.C
