St Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, confessor, 431.
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Born. – Jacques Delille, French poet, 1738, Aigues–Perse, Auvergne.
Died. – Nicolas Machiavel, Florentine statesman, 1527, Florence; Jean-Pierre de Bougainville, French poet, 1763.
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On this Day in Other Sources.
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Sweetheart Abbey,1 or, as it is sometimes called, New Abbey, was founded by Lady Dervorgilla2 in memory of her husband, John Balliol, the founder of Balliol College, Oxford,3 who died in the year 1268.4
– Scots Lore, pp.307-316.
1 Laing’s Seals, i. 1130. “SIGILLUM COMUNE MONASTERII DULCIS CORDIS.”
2 Bain’s Calendar of Documents, iii. 69.
3 Ibid. i. 2401. King Henry III. lent John de Balliol 20l on 22nd June, 1266, for the use of his scholars at Oxford.
4 Ibid. i. 2501.
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The King having stayed at Paris till the month of May, he begins to make ready for his return home to Scotland. So having shipped in about the middle of May, so he, with his Queen and train, lands at Leith [on] the 22nd of June, this same year [1536], accompanied [by] the Admiral of France, and diverse others of the French nobility.
– Historical Works, pp.238-275.
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For some time after this, we have no more letters. Crichton seems to have joined the duke at Gonzaga, and remained there for about six weeks. Towards the end of June, however, he suddenly abandoned the country residence and returned to Mantova, from which city he wrote to Zibramonti in a very indignant state of mind, evidently much hurt by some insult offered to him by one of the courtiers, or, it may be, by the prince himself:-
Most Illustrious and Esteemed Sir,
I believe your lordship has done me the favour of letting his highness know the reason of my return to Mantua, and the vexation caused me by the little respect which others showed to bear towards my honour in the request made to his highness, which may be the cause of my repenting of my simplicity and treating those who promise themselves so much from me in a very different manner. My health has been much injured by the carriage. Nevertheless, I hope during this illness to be able to serve his highness in some way, since all my thoughts are directed next to the glory of God, to that of my master; and the greater the difficulties may be in the carrying out of such a plan, so much more sweetness shall I feel in it.1 But Signor Cavallero, whom, by means of his highness’ apothecary, I have informed of my illness, gives me no hope of my being able to present myself to his highness for the space of eight days without danger of great infirmity. I should be happy and have a quiet mind if I obtained license for this period, and I would pray your lordship, by that humanity which is all your own, to maintain me in his highness’ favour, and in that of your lordship, whose hands I kiss with all affection, begging the Lord to give you all contentment and felicity.
Your Illustrious Lordship’s
Most Affectionate Servant,
JAMES CRICHTON.
Mantua, 22nd June, 1582.
– Scots Lore, pp.181-192.
1 … et per eseguire cosí fatto disegno, nelle maggiori fatiche, sentirò magior dolcezza.
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The 22nd of June, this same year [1591], Francis, Earl of Bothwell, who had been [a] prisoner in Edinburgh castle some 20 days, escaped from thence. The reasons of his imprisonment were, that he had consulted with witches, especially with one, a notorious devil, called Richard Graham, to destroy the King and Queen. Immediately after his escape, he was declared [a] rebel, and all his majesty’s subjects, under the pain of treason, inhibited to receive him, or give him any maintenance.
– Historical Works, pp.340-416.
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A convention of estates called by the covenanters, without any authority from the king, met at Edinburgh on the twenty-second of June, sixteen hundred and forty-three, and he soon perceived from the character and proceedings of this assembly, the great majority of which was covenanters, the mistake he had committed in rejecting the advice of Montrose, and he now resolved, thenceforth, to be guided in his plans for subduing Scotland to his authority by the opinion of that nobleman. Accordingly, at a meeting held at Oxford, between the king and Montrose, in the month of December sixteen hundred and forty-three, when the Scots army was about entering England, it was agreed that the earl of Antrim, an Irish nobleman of great power and influence, who then lived at Oxford, should be sent to Ireland to raise auxiliaries with whom he should make a descent in the west parts of Scotland in the month of April following; – that the marquis of Newcastle, who commanded the royal forces in the north of England, should furnish Montrose with a party of horse, with which he should enter the south of Scotland, – that an application should be made to the king of Denmark for some troops of German horse; – and that a quantity of arms should be transported into Scotland from abroad.
– History of the Highlands, pp.314-341.
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To the same effect Ray, who wrote in 1661, says that in the towns in Scotland “they make up the fronts of their houses with fir boards nailed one over another,* in which are often made round holes or windows to put out their heads. Instead of ceiling, even in the best houses in great towns, they cover the chambers with fir boards nailed on the roof within side.” Such were most of the houses in Glasgow, and as might be expected in such circumstances, the town more than once suffered severely by the ravages of fire. By a great conflagration which occurred in 1652 nearly a third of the town was destroyed, and many families were obliged to betake themselves to huts hastily erected in the adjoining fields. A minute of the town council of 22d June in that year, after enumerating the closes and tenements destroyed, thus sums up the loss: “Whereby after compt it is fund that there will be neir fourscoir closses all burnt, estimat to about ane thousand families so that unless spidie remedie be vseit and help soght out fra such as hes power and who is harte God sall move it is lyklte the toune sall come to outer ruein.” On this occasion the magistrates ordered the church doors to be opened, not for shelter, but for the benefit of people who “now want chalmeris and other places to reteir to for making of their devotioune.” A collection was made throughout the kingdom to assist those who had suffered by the fire – the funds being distributed by a committee of the town council.
– Old Glasgow, pp.68-80.
* See an example of wood-fronted tenements on Stockwell street in Glasgow from the Thomas Fairbairn Lithograph already uploaded.
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The Privy Council collected all its disposable forces at Edinburgh, and requested instructions from the court. It was speedily determined that the Duke of Monmouth should be sent down to take command of the army. On Sunday, the 22d of June [1679], he had advanced to Bothwell, a village about a mile distant from the insurgent camp. The river Clyde ran between the two armies, and was only to be crossed by Bothwell Bridge, a long narrow pass, highly capable of defence. That point was stoutly defended, for nearly an hour, by some men from Galloway and Stirlingshire, under Hackstoun of Rathillet. At length, when their ammunition ran short, they sent back to the main body for a supply, which was denied. They were of course obliged to retire, and leave a free passage to the royal troops. When the horse soon after rode off from the field, the foot, left defenceless, could not stand an instant against the charge of the enemy. Excepting twelve hundred, who laid down their arms, the whole body took to flight, without having made the least effort at resistance. About three hundred were cut down in the pursuit.
The prisoners were brought in a body to Edinburgh, and confined, like sheep in a fold, within the gloomy precincts of the Greyfriars’ Churchyard, where, for four months, they had no seat or couch but the bare ground, and no covering but the sky. Two clergymen, Kid and King, were executed. Of the rest, all were set at liberty who would own the insurrection to have been rebellion, and the slaughter of the archbishop murder, and promise never more to take up arms against the government. Those who refused were sent to the Plantations; a mode of disposing of prisoners which had been introduced by Cromwell.
– Domestic Annals, pp.322-337.
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Claverhouse chased into the city a number of persons whom he found attending a preaching near Strathaven, and massacred a considerable number of them near the Gallowgate Port. Of the Presbytery of Glasgow fourteen ministers were ejected from their livings. Several persons were hanged in the streets merely because they refused to conform to Episcopacy, and guards were placed at the city ports on the Sabbath mornings to prevent any of the citizens from attending services in the fields. Many of the townspeople were present at Bothwell Bridge [22nd June 1679], and the minister of the Barony parish, Mr. Donald Cargill, was executed at Edinburgh for complicity in that affair.
– Old Glasgow, pp.162-175.
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An important historical event happened recently in the neighbourhood of Stirling. Yet among the vast multitude who assembled on the field of Bannockburn on the 22nd of June 1889 to witness the unfurling of the Scottish Standard, how many were there who realised the importance of the event or its lesson to the Scotsmen of the present day. There is always a period in the history of every people when they are prepared to rest upon the past deeds of their ancestors, and forget that each generation of men have duties to perform to their nation, among which the handing down to their children the institutions and freedom of their country is the most sacred. We have been too much inclined to rest and be thankful, and this period of slothful ease has been taken advantage of by the Power who opposed our ancestors at Bannockburn to undermine our institutions, and to obliterate our separate national existence, and blot out our name from among the nations of the earth. There had never been a pause in the policy adopted by England towards Scotland, and they are now affecting by stratagem what they failed to accomplish by force of arms. Let us pause and consider, then, if the achievements of Wallace and Bruce are worthy of our admiration and imitation, or if we must condemn them as the actions of a barbarous age, whose natural ferocity was given over to war and rapine. Were these men contending for a great principle, and were the sacrifices they made a proper price to pay for Scotland’s independence as a nation? Were the victories of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn a good or bad thing for Scotland? These are not idle questions; they lie at the root of separate national existence, and are as pregnant with thought for us as they were to our fathers in 1314. The verdict of history and the general opinion of mankind have stamped their approval upon the band of patriots who suffered for Scotland and finally triumphed in 1314. Well, then, what did these heroes contend for? Simply for the right of Scotsmen to be masters in their own country, and to be able to direct its destinies. Is the fruit that has sprung from this glorious achievement worthy of the sacrifices made by these noble men? Let the proud position which Scottish genius holds to-day answer the question. One of the smallest peoples in Europe, inhabiting a rugged and barren soil, with a sour and fickle climate, yet they have transformed their country into a garden, and given the world giants in intellect, who have taken the foremost place among civilised men. This pigmy nation can take its place by virtue of the genius of her sons side by side with France, England, Italy, and Germany, and you have to go back to the ancient Greeks before you find a parallel.
– How Scotland Lost Her Parliament, Chapter X.
