St Maurice and his companions, martyrs, 286; St Emmeran, bishop of Poitiers, and patron of Ratisbon, martyr, 653.
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Born. – John Home, author of Douglas, 1722, Leith; Peter Simon Pallas, traveller, 1741, Berlin.
Died. – Mardonius, Persian commander, slain at Platæa, 479 B.C.; Virgil, epic poet, 19 B.C., Brundusium; François Bernier, eastern traveller, 1688, Paris; Pope Clement XIV., 1774.
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MAJOR BERNARDI.
[An] instance of suffering and injustice was perpetrated by the revolution government in Scotland. In 1690, and English gentleman, named Neville Payne, was arrested on suspicion of being implicated in the conspiracy to restore James II., commonly known as Montgomery’s Plot. The Scotch privy-council, not, however, without instructions from London, put Payne to the torture, but though considered to be ‘a cowardly fellow,’ he did not make any disclosures. Severer means were employed to extract confession and the names of accomplices, the torture being applied to both thumbs and one leg, as severely as compatible with the preservation of life, but without success. Although there was nothing against the man, save mere suspicion, he was confined, with more or less severity, in various prisons in Scotland, for more than ten years, till at last the privy-council, apparently puzzled as to what they would do with the ‘vain, talking fellow,’ liberated him without bail or other security. From the Domestic Annals of Scotland, we learn that Payne was an inventor and projector of improvements in ship-building and river navigation; and in all probability he was the same Nevill Payne, who figures in the dramatic history of England, as the author of three clever plays.*
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* More on Neville Payne’s time in Scotland can be found in James Grant’s ‘Old and New Edinburgh,’ Chapter 7.
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On this Day in Other Sources.
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In this year, 1486, was King Richard, of England, killed by Henry, Earl of Richmond, (as I have [before] written,) the 22nd of September.
– Historical Works, pp.189-214.
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This year, 1533, King Henry VIII, of England, having, upon scruple of conscience, as he pretended, repudiat[es] his wife, Catherine [Aragon] of Spain, by which act he both exasperates the [Holy Roman] Emperor Charles [V.] and Pope Clement VII. against him; and immediately he married Anne [Boleyn], whom he had lately created Marchioness of Winchester. She bore him a daughter, christened Elizabeth, the 22nd of September, this same year.
– Historical Works, pp.238-275.
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On the morrow, she arrived, at old Aberdeen, on the 22d of September [1562], preparatory to her public entry into the New town. Here, was she, honourably received, on the morrow; “and the good mind of the inhabitants shown,” said Randolph to Cecil, “as well in spectacles, plays, interludes, and other, as they could best devise. They presented her with a cup of silver, double gilt, well wrought, with 500 crowns in it: wine, coals, and wax, were sent in, as much, as will serve her, while she remains here. Her determination,” continues Randolph,” is to remain to put this country, in good quietness. Her noblemen remain with her; and more daily come in.” A few there were, however, who said, that the only disturbers of the quiet of the country were Murray, and his coadjutors, whose whole conduct, on this northern tour, was violent and unwarrantable.
…
All the great objects of this northern tour being thus accomplished, by giving possession of Moray to Mar, and effecting Huntley’s ruin, the Queen, and her suite, returned southwards, on their progress to Edinburgh. At Aberdeen, the Queen, remained, from the 22d of September, till the 5th of November, when she departed for Dunnoter, where she slept:..
– Life of Mary, pp.62-77.
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ALEXANDER CAMPBELL THE LAIRD OF CALDER
HIS PURSMAISTERIS COMPT.
…
xxij day of September [1591] being Wednesday in Doundaraw.
Item giffin to the portar ther
vj s. viij d.
Item giffin to the woman that maid your bedis ther
vj s. viij d.
Item giffin to the cuik ther
vj s. viij d.
Item to the boyis that ferreit owir out of Doundaraw
v s.
Item giffin in Lochgyllisheid to the puire
xvj d.
Item to the men of the boat that come with yow to the Carrik out of Lochgyllisheid
xiij s. iiij d.
Item giffin to the boy that ye send out of Doundaraw to Lochgyllisheid to provyd ane boat for yow
vj s. viij d.
Item to ane boy of your awin ye send bak to Doundaraw for the venesone, to be his expenssis to Striveling
– Sketches, Appendix VIII.
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Among the constancies of the court this year, one was remarkable, that at Glasgow, in September [1595], the King received [Margaret Douglas] the Countess of Bothwell to his favour [on] the 22nd day at night;..
– Historical Works, pp.340-416.
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The late Earl of Buchan was devotedly attached to this place. At a short distance from the abbey he constructed an elegant wire suspension-bridge over the Tweed, 260 feet in length, and 4 feet 7 inches between the rails, which was recently blown down. His lordship also erected on his grounds here an Ionic temple, with a statue of Apollo in the inside, and a bust of the bard of ‘The Seasons’ surmounting the dome. He also raised a colossal statue of Sir William Wallace, on the summit of a steep and thickly-planted hill; which was placed on its pedestal September 22, 1814, the anniversary of the victory at Stirling bridge, in 1297. “It occupies so eminent a situation,” says Mr. Chambers, “that Wallace frowning towards England, is visible even from Berwick, a distance of more than 30 miles.” The statue is 21½ feet high, and is formed of red sandstone, painted white. It was designed by Mr. John Smith, sculptor, from a supposed authentic portrait, which was purchased in France by the father of the late Sir Philip Ainslie of Pilton. The hero is represented in the ancient Scottish dress and armour, with a shield hanging from his left hand, and leaning lightly on his spear with his right. Upon a tablet below there is an appropriate inscription.
– Scotland Illustrated, pp.140-142.
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A recontre took place between James Stuart of Dunearn, who conceived his honour and character impugned in an article which he traced to Duncan Stevenson, the printer of the paper, in the Parliament Square. Stuart, with a horsewhip, lashed the latter, who was not slow in retaliating with a stout cane. “The parties were speedily separated,” says the Scots Magazine for 1816, “and Mr. Stevenson, in the course of the day, demanded from Mr. Stuart the satisfaction customary in such cases. This was refused by Mr. Stuart, on the ground that, ‘as the servile instrument of a partnership of slander,’ he was unworthy of receiving the satisfaction of a gentleman. Mr. Stevenson replied on the following day that he should forthwith post Mr. Stuart as ‘a coward and scoundrel,’ and he put his threat in execution accordingly. Next day both parties were bound over by the sheriff to keep the peace for twelve months.”
But the matter did not end here. Mr. Stuart discovered that the Lord Advocate, Sir Walter Scott, and other Conservatives, had signed a bond for a considerable amount, binding themselves to support the Beacon, against which such strong proceedings were instituted that the print was withdrawn from the public entirely by the 22nd of September. “But the discovery of the bond,” continues the magazine just quoted, “was nearly leading to more serious consequences, for, if report be true, Mr. James Gibson, W.S., one of those who had been grossly calumniated in the Beacon, had thought proper to make such a demand upon Sir Walter Scott as he could only be prevented from answering in a similar hostile spirit by the interference of a common friend, Lord Lauderdale.”
All these quarrels culminated in Mr. Stuart of Dunearn, not long after, shooting Sir Alexander Boswell, as author of a satirical paper in the Glasgow Sentinel, which had taken up the rôle of the Beacon.
– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.174-182.
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JOHN KNOX’S towering monument. The inscription on one side reads:
TO TESTIFY GRATITUDE FOR INESTIMABLE SERVICES
IN THE CAUSE OF RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND CIVIL LIBERTY;
TO AWAKEN ADMIRATION
OF THAT INTEGRITY, DISINTERESTEDNESS, AND COURAGE,
WHICH STOOD UNSHAKEN IN TH MIDST OF TRIALS,
AND IN THE MAINTENANCE OF THE HIGHEST OBJECTS; FINALLY,
TO CHERISH UNCEASING REVERENCE FOR THE PRINCIPLES AND
BLESSINGS OF THAT GREAT REFORMATION,
BY THE INFLUENCE OF WHICH OUR COUNTRY, THROUGH THE
MIDST OF DIFFICULTIES,
HAS ARISEN TO HONOUR, PROSPERITY, AND HAPPINESS.
THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION
TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN KNOX;
THE CHIEF INSTRUMENT UNDER GOD, OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND,
ON THE 22ND DAY OF SEPTEMBER 1825.
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