St Soteris, virgin-martyr, 4th century. St Scholastica, virgin, 543. St Erlulph, of Scotland, bishop, martyr at Verdun, 830. St William of Maleval, 1157.
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Died. – Sir William Dugdale, historian and antiquary, 1686, Shustoke; Isaac Vossius, scholar, of Leyden, 1689, Windsor; Montesquieu, French jurist, 1755, Paris.
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THE UMBRELLA.
In all the large towns of the empire, a memory is preserved of the courageous citizen who first carried an umbrella. In Edinburgh, it was a popular physician named Spens. In the Statistical Account of Glasgow, by Dr Cleland, it is related that, about the year 1781, or 1782, the late Mr John Jameson, surgeon, brought with him an umbrella, on his return from Paris, which was the first seen in the city, and attracted universal attention. This umbrella was made of heavy wax-cloth, with cane ribs, and was a ponderous article. Cowper mentions the umbrella twice in his Task, published in 1784.
The umbrella was originally formed and carried in a fashion the reverse of what now obtains. It had a ring at top, by which it was usually carried on the finger when furled (and by which also it could be hung up within doors), the wooden handle terminating in a rounded point to rest on the ground. The writer remembers umbrellas of this kind being in use among old ladies so lately as 1810.
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ANECDOTE PRESERVED BY DUGDALE.
The laboriously industrious antiquary, Sir William Dugdale, to whom we owe a large proportion of what has been preserved of the ecclesiastical antiquities of England, died at the ripe age of eighty-six. His son, Sir John Dugdale, preserved from his conversation some brief anecdotes, and among the rest a merry tale regarding the Scotch covenanting minister, Patrick Gillespie. This esteemed leader having fallen into a grievous sin, the whole of his party felt extremely scandalised, and ‘nothing less would serve them than to hold a solemn convention, for seeking the Lord (as their term was) to know of him wherefore he allowed this holy brother to fall under the power of Satan. That a speedy solution might be given them, each of them by turn vigorously wrestled with God, till (as they pretended) he had solved their question; viz.: that this fall of their preacher was not for any fault of his own, but for the sins of his parish laid upon him. Whereupon the convention gave judgment that the parish should be fined for public satisfaction, as was accordingly done.’ – Life of Dugdale, 4to, 1827, p. 60, note.
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On this Day in Other Sources.
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MONK ELECTED TO THE MORAY BISHOPRIC.
Simon de Tosny, Abbot of Coggeshall, a monk of Melrose, is this year elected, and consecrated Bishop of Moray [on] the 10th of February [of] the following year, 1172, at St. Andrews.
– Historical Works, pp.19-38.
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When Edward of England invaded Scotland in 1303, he resided in the abbey of Dunfermline from the 6th of November that year till the 10th of February, 1304. At leaving it, Edward caused his army to set it on fire. “On account,” says Matthew of Paris, “of its magnitude, the nobles of the kingdom were accustomed to assemble here to devise plots against Edward; and, during war, they issued thence, and proceeded to plunder and destroy the inhabitants of England. The royal army, therefore, – perceiving that they had converted the temple of the Lord into a den of thieves, and that it gave great offence to the English nation, – utterly destroyed it, by levelling all its splendid edifices to the ground; sparing from the flames the church only, and a few lodgings for monks.”
– Gazetteer of Scotland, pp.388-395.
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The King’s college, the chief ornament of the place, is a large and stately fabric, situated at a little distance from the town on the east side. It appears that there existed, so long ago as the reign of Malcolm IV., a “Studium generale in collegio canonicorum Aberdoniensium,” which subsisted till the foundation of this college by Bishop Elphinstone. In 1494, Pope Alexander VI., by a bull dated February 10th, instituted, in the city of Old Aberdon, or Aberdeen, an university, or “Studium generale et Universitas studii generalis,” for theology, canon and civil law, medicine, the liberal arts, and every lawful faculty; and privileged to grant degrees. James IV. applied for this bull on the supplication of Bishop Elphinstone, who is considered as the founder. But though the bull was granted in 1494, the college was not founded till the year 1505.
– Gazetteer of Scotland, pp.3-11.
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DARNLEY MURDERED.
In the Cowgate – whilom a pleasant country lane between green hedgerows, with its southern slope covered by yellow corn or grass, among which the cattle browsed knee deep till the thrifty monks of Melrose began to speculate in household property, in the days when James I. was King – in the Cowgate we shall again see the fated Cardinal Beaton occupying his turreted mansion at the corner of the Blackfriars Wynd; and, anon, Mary Stuart, nearly a mother, yet in all her girlish loveliness, afoot under a silken canopy, escorted by her archer guard and torchbearers, proceeding to the ball at Holyrood on that fatal night in February, when a flood of red flame was seen to rise near the Dominican garden, and a roar as of thunder shook the city wall, when the dissolute Darnley was done to death in the lonely Kirk-of-field.
– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.1-8.
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Upon the 10th day of February, this year, 1567, King Henry, the Queen’s husband, was, within his own palace of Kirk o’ Field, in Edinburgh, strangled; his dead body cast out in a back court; and the house wherein he and his servants had been murdered, blown up with gun powder; his corpse the next day, without any funeral solemnity, [was] interred in the abbey church of Holyroodhouse.
– Historical Works, pp.275-340.
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Bothwell was a man of coarse character, fully as much disposed as any man in that age to gain his ambitious ends by violence. He seems now to have thought that an opportunity was presented for his acquiring a mastery in Scotland. He caused the wretched Darnley to be murdered at his lodging in the Kirk of Field, near Edinburgh (February 10, 1567). Being suspected and accused of this act, he submitted to a trial, but was able to overbear justice, and to maintain his place in the queen’s councils.*
– Domestic Annals, pp.30-34.
* Chalmers again, with help of the state papers and other contemporary documentation pretty well secures Bothwell’s guilt alongside that of Morton, Moray and Mar, without the knowledge of Mary. That he was promised Mary as his wife, regardless of his already being married, should he dispatch her husband, Lord Darnley. This evidence is supported by those in that faction against her being convicted of the King’s murder after she was already imprisoned in England.
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Feb. 10. – ‘… at twa hours in the morning, there come certain traitors to the provost’s house [in the Kirk of Field], wherein was our sovereign’s husband Henry, and ane servant of his, callit William Taylor, lying in their naked beds; and there privily with wrang keys openit the doors, and come in upon the said prince, and there without mercy worried him and his said servant in their beds; and thereafter took him and his servant furth of that house, and cuist him naked in ane yard beside the Thief Raw, and syne come to the house again, and blew the house in the air, sae that there remainit not ane stane upon ane other, undestroyit… At five hours, the said prince and his servant was found lying dead in the said yard, and was ta’en into ane house in the Kirk of Field, and laid while [till] they were buriet.’ – D. O.
– Domestic Annals – pp.30-34.
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AMBASSADOR FAILS TO COMMUNICATE MARY’S MESSAGE TO HER SON.
The King was now scarcely fifteen; and he was in the hands of a treasonous faction, consisting chiefly of the old plotters against his mother. De la Motte, though he was disappointed, in his chief object, was civilly treated; and left Edinburgh, on his return, on the 10th of February 1583: the other French ambassador, Mons. Mazenville, remained, at Edinburgh, as resident minister. About the same time, Bowes, and Davison, reported to Walsingham their negotiations, and their endeavours to counteract de la Motte. Soon after, Elizabeth, and her ministers, took into consideration the whole negotiation; and seem to have felicitated themselves, that they had prevailed, in their negotiations at Edinburgh; and disappointed the hopes of the Scotish Queen.
– Life of Mary, pp.274-281.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN ENGLISH STUDENT IN GLASGOW.
“The Reverend Mr. Roger Baldwin having in his younger days exercised his ministry in Edinburgh, and been well acquainted with Scotland, encouraged several of his acquaintances to send their sons to their Universities, especially to Glasgow, as a place best adapted to their studies, and under the strictest discipline; and for encouragement he undertook to conduct them thither himself, which was a wonderful condescension. Accordingly, five of us set out from Preston, February 10, 1672, viz., Mr William Baldwyn, Mr. Peter Green, Mr. John Jones, Mr. Peter Withington, and myself, rejoicing in the happiness of so good a guide. After a prosperous journey, by the will of God, Mr. Baldwin saw us all admitted into the College of Glasgow, and entered into the several classes into which we were directed, and then returned with his servant into England. Blessed be the Lord for inclining the heart of this his faithful servant, not only to counsel, but also to conduct us to this happy place…”
– Sketches, pp.220-253.
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COCKBURN OBTAINS A RELIGIOUS FAN.
Mr. Cockburn, having taken the oaths, “set up the English Liturgy at Glasgow” in November, 1712. “Thus,” says Wodrow, “that is begun in Glasgow which was scarce ever expected to be seen once in my day.” On 10th February, 1713, he writes: “When I am in Glasgow, I cannot but acquaint you that this last post I have Mr. Cockburn’s sermon on January 30 in print.”
– Memorial Catalogue, Gallery 1.
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