St Anthony of Padua, confessor, 1231. St Damhnade of Ireland, virgin.
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Born. – C. J. Agricola, Roman commander, 40, Frejus, in Provence.
Died. – Charles Francis Panard, French dramatist, 1765; Simon Andrew Tissot, eminent Swiss physician, 1797, Lausanne.
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On this Day in Other Sources.
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The abbey of Lincluden is said to have been founded by Uchtred, son of Fergus, lord of Galloway, about the year 1164, for a sisterhood of Benedictine nuns.1 Of this early structure only a few stones remain, half buried in the grass, in the north aisle of the nave. On the abbey coming into the possession of Archibald (the Grim), third earl of Douglas, and lord of Galloway, towards the end of the fourteenth century, he transformed it into a collegiate church for twelve canons,2 Elias being the first provost.3
– Scots Lore, pp.307-316.
1 McDowall, Chronicles of Lincluden, p. 17.
2 Ibid. p. 51. McDowall appears to have no historical basis for his theory that Douglas wrongfully seized the abbey and lands.
3 Ibid. p. 54. The provost is referred to in a document dated 13th June, 1404.
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Having so far succeeded in annoying the marquis, Adam Gordon, after collecting a body of men, by leave of the privy council, went along with them to Germany, where he became a captain in the regiment of Colonel George Leslie. To terminate the unhappy differences between the marquis and Frendraught, the king enjoined Sir Robert Gordon, who was related to both, the marquis being his cousin-german, and chief of that family, and Frendraught the husband of his niece, to endeavour to bring about a reconciliation between them. Sir Robert, accordingly, on his return to Scotland, prevailed upon the parties to enter into a submission, by which they agreed to refer all questions and differences between them to the arbitrament of friends; but before the submission was brought to a final conclusion, the marquis expired at Dundee upon the thirteenth day of June, sixteen hundred and thirty-six, at the age of seventy-four, while returning to the north from Edinburgh. He was interred in the family vault at Elgin, on the thirtieth day of August following, “having,” says Spalding, “above his chist a rich mortcloath of black velvet, wherein was wrought two whyte crosses. He had torch-lights in great number carried be freinds and gentlemen; the marques’ son, called Adam, was at his head, the earle of Murray on the right spaik, the earle of Seaforth on the left spaik, the earl of Sutherland on the third spaik, and Sir Robert Gordon on the fourth spaik. Besyds thir nobles, many barrons and gentlemen was there, haveing above three hundred lighted torches at the lifting. He is carried to the east port, doun the wynd to the south kirk stile of the colledge kirk, in at the south kirk door, and buried in his own isle with much murning and lamentation. The like forme of burriall, with torch light, was not sein heir thir many dayes befor.”1
– History of the Highlands, pp.287-313.
1 Spalding, p. 43.
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Attired in his full uniform as a Scottish officer of James VII., and wearing the order of the Thistle, the duke [of Gordon] conferred with Major Somerville at the edge of the fosse; but their interview ended in nothing, so the bitter cannonade began again. That night, about twelve o’clock, a strong column of infantry crept up the north side of the Castle Hill, till a sharp fire from the tête-du-pont drove it down to the margin of the loch; but next morning it fairly effected a lodgment across the esplanade, under cover of the woolpacks. There were only nineteen men in the tête-du-pont at this time, yet their fire proved very destructive, and all the while they were chorusing loudly,
“The king shall enjoy his ain again.”
For nearly four-and-twenty hours on both sides the fire was maintained with fury, but slackened about daybreak. “In the Castle only one man was killed – a gunner, whom a cannon ball had cut in two, through a gun-port, but many were weltering in their blood behind the woolpacks and in the trenches, where the number of slain amounted to 500 men.” This enumeration probably includes wounded.
On the 13th of June [1689] the duke pulled down the king’s flag, and hoisted a white one, surrendering, on terms, by which it was stipulated that the soldiers should have their full liberty, and Colonel Winram have security for his life and estates; while Major Somerville, at the head of 200 bayonets, took all the posts, except the citadel. The duke drew up his forlorn band, now reduced to fifty officers and men, in the ruined Grand Parade, and thanking them for their loyal services, gave each a small sum to convey him home; and as hands were shaken all round, many men wept, and so ended the siege.
– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.47-66.
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Fire Insurance.
MADAME CORNICHON (née SIMPLE), after reading the accounts of the fire-proof dresses as lately tried with so much success by the Pompiers at Paris, ordered a gown, bonnet, veil, and an entire set of under-linen to be expressly made for her, and, upon being pressed for her reason for so strange an order, said, with the greatest naïveté, “Why the world, you know, is to be consumed by the Comet on the 13th of June, and I’ve no idea of being burnt to death.” – p.230.
One Begins to be Uncomfortable.
THERE can now be no doubt that the expected Comet will annihilate all things. An Adelphi playbill announces the Green Bushes “for the Last Time.” This is conclusive. When a drama that was not for an age but for all time, stops, Time himself had better take himself by the forelock, and make his bow. – June 13, 1857., p.235.
– Punch.
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“PROPOSED DEMOLITION OF AN INTERESTING HIGH STREET TENEMENT.
AT the Edinburgh Dean of Guild Court yesterday, an application made by the National Bank of Scotland for a warrant to take down and rebuild the tenement at the east corner of Cockburn Street and High Street and was continued for a week. The tenement in question, though not dating further back than 1689, has a certain historic interest. While facing the High Street and Cockburn Street, it also has a considerable frontage to Milne’s or Mylne’s Square, which represents one of the earliest of the improvements in old Edinburgh to afford more breathing space to the aristocratic dwellers in the crowded and narrow closes, before the gentry moved across to the green field on the other side of the Nor’ Loch. It was undertaken by Robert Mylne, a nephew of that ‘master mason to the King’ whose tombstone, with a rhyming epitaph, is in Greyfriars’ Churchyard, and himself a holder of the same office. Robert Mylne was a man of note, and left his impress on many parts of the city. He was the builder of the additions to Holyrood designed by Sir William Bruce, and his name is commemorated not only in Milne’s Square, but in Milne’s Court further up the High Street, and in the Mylne battery at the Castle… Apparently a man of means, Robert Mylne purchased the sites after the extensive fire in Parliament Square in 1700; he is heard of also as the possessor of the estate of Balfargie in Fifeshire; and dying in 1710, he was interred at Holyrood. The tenement is also associated with the stirring times of the Union, for it was in a ‘laigh shop’ or cellar on its basement floor that the deed of Union is said to have been signed and sealed. the tradition on the subject is that the Commissioners assembled in an ornamental summer-house at Moray House to affix their signatures to the treaty of Union, but, driven out of that place by the infuriated mob, they took refuge in the ‘laigh shop’ already referred to, and there completed the deed which was to have so beneficial an influence on the fortunes of the two countries. The entrance to the ‘laigh shop’ or cellar from the High Street has long since been closed, but the cellar still exists, and will not, it is understood, be disturbed by the proposed building operations. The rebuilding of the tenement is undertaken primarily to afford accommodation on the street level for the growing business of the bank.”
– Scotsman, Friday 13th June, 1890.
– Treaty of Union Articles, 1875-1900.
