The Festival of All-Saints. St Benignus, apostle of Burgundy, martyr, 3d century. St Austremonius, 3d century. St Cæsarius, martyr, 300. St Mary, martyr, 4th century. St Marcellus, bishop of Paris, confessor, beginning of 5th century. St Harold, king of Denmark, martyr, 980.
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Born. – Benvenuto Cellini, celebrated silversmith and sculptor in metal, 1500, Florence; Nicolas Boileau, poetical satirist, 1636, France; Lydia Huntley Sigourney, American poet, 1791, Norwich, United States.
Died. – Charles II. of Spain, 1700; Alexander Cruden, author of the Concordance, 1770, Islington; Lord George Gordon, originator of the No-Popery Riots of 1780,* 1793, Newgate, London.
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ALL-SAINTS-DAY.
This festival takes its origin from the conversion, in the seventh century, of the Pantheon at Rome into a Christian place of worship, and its dedication by Pope Boniface IV. to the Virgin and all the martyrs. The anniversary of this event was at first celebrated on the 1st of May, but the day was subsequently altered to the 1st of November, which was thenceforth, under the designation of the Feast of All Saints, set apart as a general commemoration in their honour. The festival has been retained by the Anglican Church.
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ALEXANDER CRUDEN.**
This persevering and painstaking compiler, who was appointed by Sir Robert Walpole bookseller to the queen of George II., died at his lodgings in Camden Street, Islington, November 1, 1770. The Concordance, which has conferred celebrity on his name, was published and dedicated to Queen Caroline in 1737. He was permitted to present a copy of it in person to her majesty, who, he said, smiled upon him, and assured him she was highly obliged to him. The expectations he formed of receiving a solid proof of the queen’s appreciation of the work, were disappointed by her sudden death within sixteen days of his reception. Twenty-four years afterwards, he revised a second edition, and dedicated it to her grandson, George III. For this, and a third edition issued in 1769, his booksellers gave him £800.
He was often prominently before the public as a very eccentric enthusiast. Three times, during his life, he was placed in confinement by his friends. On the second of these occasions, he managed to escape from a private lunatic asylum in which he was chained to his bedstead; when he immediately brought actions against the proprietor and physician. Unfortunately for his case, he stated it himself, and lost it. On his third release, he brought an action against his sister, from whom he claimed damages to the amount of £10,000, for authorising his detention. In this suit also he was unsuccessful. In the course of his life, he met with many rebuffs in the prosecution of projects in which he restlessly embarked, as he considered, for the pubic good; for all of which he solaced himself with printing accounts of his motives, treatment, and disappointments.
One of his eccentricities consisted in the assumption of the title of Alexander the Corrector. In the capacity implied by this term, he stopped persons whom he met in public places on Sundays, and admonished them to go home and keep the Sabbath-day holy; and in many other ways addressed himself to the improvement of the public morals. He spent much of his earnings in the purchase of tracts and catechisms, which he distributed right and left; and gave away some thousands of hand-bills, on which were printed the fourth commandment. To enlarge, as he thought, his sphere of usefulness, he sighed for a recognition of his mission in high-places; and, to attain this end, succeeded, after considerable solicitation, in obtaining the signatures of several persons of rank to a testimonial of his zeal for the public good. Armed council, or an act of legislature, should formally constitute him Corrector of Morals. However, his chimerical application was not entertained.
Another eccentricity arose out of the decided part he took against Mr Wilkes, when that demagogue agitated the kingdom. He partly expressed his intense feeling in his usual mode – by pamphlet; but more especially evinced his aversion by effacing the offensive numeral No. 45, wherever he found it chalked up. For this purpose, he carried in his pockets a large piece of sponge. He subsequently included in this obliteration all the obscene inscriptions with which idle persons were permitted at that time to disgrace blank walls in the metropolis. This occupation, says his biographer Blackburn, from its retrospective character, made his walks very tedious.
His erratic benevolence prompted him to visit the prisoners in Newgate daily, instruct them in the teachings of the gospel, and encourage them to pay attention, by gifts of money to the most diligent. This good work he was, however, induced to relinquish, by finding that his hardened pupils, directly he had turned his back, spent these sums in intoxicating liquors. While so engaged, he was able to prevail upon Lord Halifax to commute a sentence of death against Richard Potter, found guilty of uttering a forged will, to one of transportation.
Still animated with a desire to regenerate the national morals, he besought the honour of knighthood – not, he declared, for the value of the title, but from a conviction that that dignity would give his voice more weight. In pursuit of the desired distinction, he seems to have given a great deal of trouble to the lords in waiting and secretaries of state, and probably exceeded the bounds of their patience, for, in a commendation of Earl Paulett, he admits that less-afflicted noblemen got quit of his importunities by flight. This earl, he says, in an account of his attendance at court, ‘being goutish in his feet, could not run away from the Corrector as others were apt to do.’ In 1754, he offered himself as a candidate to represent the city of London in parliament. In this contest, he issued the most singular addresses, referring the sheriffs, candidates, and liverymen to consider his letters and advertisements published for some time past, and especially the appendix to Alexander the Corrector’s Adventures. ‘If there is just ground to think that God will be pleased to make the Corrector an instrument to reform the nation, and particularly to promote the reformation, the peace, and prosperity of this great city, and to bring them into a more religious temper and conduct, no good man, in such an extraordinary case, will deny him his vote. And the Corrector’s election is believed to be the means of paving the way to his being a Joseph, and an useful and prosperous man.’ He also presented his possible election in the light of the fulfilment of a prophecy. But the be-wigged, and buttoned, and knee-breeched, and low-shoed electors only laughed at him. He consoled himself for the disappointment with which this new effort was attended, as in former ones, by issuing a pamphlet.
The most singular of Cruden’s pamphlets detailed his love adventures. He became enamoured of Miss Elizabeth Abney. The father of this lady, Sir Thomas Abney, was a successful merchant, who was successively sheriff, alderman, lord mayor of London, and one of the representatives of the city in parliament. He was a person of considerable consequence, having been one of the founders of the Bank of England, of which he was for many years a director; but his memory is especially honoured from the fact of its being interwoven with that of Dr Watts, who resided with him at Stoke-Newington. His daughter inherited a large fortune; and to become possessed of both, became the Corrector’s sanguine expectation. Miss Abney was deaf to his entreaties. For months he pestered her with calls, and persecuted her with letters, memorials, and remonstrances. When she left home, he caused ‘praying-bills’ to be distributed in various places of worship, requesting the prayers of the minister and congregation for her preservation and safe return; and when this took place, he issued further bills to the same congregations to return thanks. Finding these particular attentions did not produce the desired effect, he drew up a long paper, which he called a Declaration of War, in which he declared he should compass her surrender, by ‘shooting off great numbers of bullets from his camp; namely, by earnest prayer to Heaven day and night, that her mind might be enlightened and her heart softened.’ His grotesque courtship ended in defeat: the lady never relented.
The precision and concentration of thought required in his literary labours, the compilation and several revisings of his Concordance, his verbal index of Milton’s works, his Dictionary of the Holy Scriptures, his Account of the History and Excellency of the Holy Scriptures, and his daily employment on the journal in which the letters of Junius appeared, as corrector of the press, render Cruden’s aberrations the more remarkable. And a still more curious circumstance, consists in the fact that his vagaries failed to efface the esteem in which he was regarded by all who knew him, more especially by his biographers, Blackburn and Chalmers; the latter of whom said of him, that he was a man to whom the religious world lies under great obligation, ‘whose character, notwithstanding his mental infirmities, we cannot but venerate; whom neither infirmity nor neglect could debase; who sought consolation where only it could be found; whose sorrows served to instruct him in the distresses of others; and who employed his prosperity to relieve those who, in every sense, were ready to perish.’ Are there many men more worthy of a column in the Book of Days?
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* Lord George Gordon’s speech to the House of Lords is detailed in the Newcastle Chronicle report, Saturday 15th May, 1779, within the collection, Articles 1750-1800.
** You’d not know it from the article associated with this man but he was in fact Scottish, born, brought up, and schooled in Aberdeen.
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On This Day in Other Sources.
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All Saints, All Hallows or Halloween, “Samhuinn,” 1st of November, is late in autumn – so there are Pagan as well as Christian observances connected with these two seasons.
– Popular Tales, vol.4, pp.348-369.
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Bishop Herbert was succeeded by Ingelram, who had a bull for his consecration notwithstanding the vehement opposition of the Archbishop of York, 1st November 1164,1 and a papal precept for his reception. He was previously Archdeacon of Glasgow and Chancellor of the kingdom.
– Sketches, pp.29-70.
1 He was consecrated at Sienna by Pope Alexander III., 28th November 1164.
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This same year, [1298,] Sir William Wallace, the Protector, besieged the castle of Dundee in Angus, and took the same, the last of September, and put all the English therein to the sword; and upon the next day, being the first of November, he engaged the English army on Craigmore, commanded by Sir Hugh Cressingham, with whom he fought a very great battle, and killed above 4000 English, with their general, Cressingham. None of the Scots died that day of note, save only Sir Andrew Murray, the father of noble Sir Andrew Murray, who was thereafter Governor of Scotland, and did soundly revenge his father’s death upon the English. On this battle, I find that Arnold Blair [of Dunfermline], chaplain to Wallace, has left us, in his diary, these monkish verses:-
The Scots took the valid warning to heart
William Wallace, and those teaching to attack,
As the nation of English, whom they hold as living prisoners,
To own Scots they quickly revert;
In addition to the King John
Then own the kingdom, if she were in debt
Serve the King, they can lose their rights.
Hence one thousand three hundred less one
The Scots will win the year
Embittered against the English, they render his funeral with heavy heart,
As it is marked by a great war, the bridge bears witness.
– Historical Works, pp.77-88.
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The marriage of the daughter of Sir James of Douglas with Sir John of Hamilton, Lord of Cadyhow, was arranged by an indenture of 1st November 1388, the original of which, still preserved at Dalmahoy, is so curious in its provisions that it has been thought proper to print it translated in the Appendix XIII. The seal appended gives the earliest coat-armour that is known of any of the name of Hamilton.1
– Sketches, pp.325-340.
1 An earlier seal is described by T. Innes as extant in his time in the Scots College at Paris. It was of David Hamilton, in 1361, and Innes blazons it, Super scuto tria quinquefolia. – Regist. Episcop. Glasg. vol. I. Tabula, p. cxxxii. No. 297, note i.
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THIS Indenture made at Dalkeith 1 November 1388 between noble men Sir James of Douglas lord of Dalketh on the one part and Sir John of Hamyltoune lord of Cadyow on the other part, contains and witnesses that between the parties foresaid it is accorded in form as follows, namely that the said Sir John, God willing, shall take to wife and marry Jacoba of Douglas the second daughter of Sir James: which Jacoba the foresaid Sir John shall make be infeoffed in conjunct fee in the whole barony of Kinele with pertinents and with services of free tenants, in the constabulary of Lynlythqw within the sheriffdom of Edynburgh: To have and hold to the foresaid Jacoba and the heirs lawfully to be procreated between her and the foresaid Sir John; which heirs also the foresaid Sir John shall make constitute and ordain his true heirs and lawful successors of all lands to him pertaining within the kingdom. For making of which marriage and conjunct feofment the foresaid Sir James of Douglas shall give and pay to the foresaid Sir John of Hamyltoune the true annual value of all his lands which the said Sir John possesses in property, the say of this convention, according to what by faithful recognition of the old extent of the said lands it may be ascertained to extend to in annual value: And moreover the foresaid Sir James of Douglas shall give and pay to the foresaid Sir John of Hamyltoune, immediately after the completion of the said marriage and of the conjunct feofment, the half of the old extent of all the tenements which are held of him in chief by ward and relief anywhere within the kingdom: For the faithful making of which payment the foresaid Sir James of Douglas obliges himself and his heirs to pay to the foresaid Sir John of Hamyltoune immediately after the completing of the said marriage and conjunct feofment, a hundred merks of Sterlings, and thereafter annually at each term of Pentecost and Martinmas fifty merks of Sterlings; and so from year to year and from term to term, shall continue the said payment successively until the said sum of the extent of the lands and tenements foresaid to the foresaid Sir John and his heirs shall have been fully paid. And if it happen, which God forbid, the said Jacoba to die without heir between her and the foresaid Sir John lawfully procreate, it is accorded between the parties foresaid that the foresaid Sir John of Hamyltoune and his heirs shall restore pay and refund to the foresaid Sir James of Douglas and his heirs such sum of good and usual money as the said Sir John received in marriage with the said Jacoba at such terms and place and in like manner as it had been before paid to him. And if, by any unfortunate chance it happen the said Jacoba, by the death of her brothers or otherwise, to come in future times to the inheritance and lordship of the said Sir James her father, which God forbid, both the parties foresaid will and grant that a son, whether elder or younger, who may survive between the said Sir John and the said Jacoba procreate or to be procreate lawfully, shall receive and enjoy that inheritance, assuming the surname of Douglas and the arms which the foresaid Sir James bears of hereditary right. And for the faithful fulfilment of all and each of the foresaid conditions both parties foresaid pledged their hands bodily (manus corporaliter astrixerunt). In witness whereof, to the parts of this indenture the seals of the parties are interchangeably appended, place day and year foresaid.
– Sketches, Appendix XIII.
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“Courses taught yeirly in the King’s College of Aberdine:- The Colledge sitteth downe in the beginning of October, and for the space of a moneth till the studentis be weill convened, both masters and schollaris are exercised with repetitiones and examinationis, quhich being done, the courses are begun about the first or second day of November…”
– Sketches, pp.254-324.
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“We cam to Glasgw about the first of November 1574, whare we fand Mr. Piter Blakburn, a guid man, new com from St. Andrios, enterit in the Collage, and begoun to teatche conform to the ordour of the course of St. Andrios. But Mr. Andro [Melville] entering principall maister, all was committed and submitted to him, wha permitted willinglie to the said Mr. Piter, the cair of the Collage leiving, quhilk was but verie small, consisting in litle annualles then, and sett him haillelie to teatche things nocht hard in this countrey of befor, wherin he trauelit exceiding diligentlie, as his delyt was therin alleanerlie. Sa falling to wark with a few number of capable heirars, sic as might be instructars of vthers therefter, he teatched them the Greik grammer, the Dialectic of Ramus, the Rhetoric of Taleus, with the practise therof in Greik and Latin authors, namlie, Homer, Hesiod, Phocilides, Theognides, Pythagoras, Isocrates, Pindarus, Virgill, Horace, Theocritus, etc. From that he enterit to the Mathematiks, and teatched the Elements of Euclid, the Arithmetic and Geometrie of Ramus, the Geographie of Dyonisius, the Tables of Honter, the Astrologie of Aratus. From that to the Morall Philosophie; he teatched the Ethiks of Aristotle, the Offices of Cicero, Aristotle de Vurtutibus, Cicero’s Paradoxes and Tusculanes, Aristotle’s Polytics, and certean of Platoes Dialoges. From that to the Naturall Philiosophie; he teatched the buiks of the Physics, De Ortu, De Cœlo, etc., also of Plato and Fernelius. With this he ioyned the Historie, with the twa lights thereof, Chronologie and Chirographie, out of Sleidan, Menarthes, and Melanchthon. And all this, by and attoure his awin ordinar profession, the holie tonges and Theologie. He teachit the Hebrew grammar, first schortlie, and syne more accuratlie; therefter the Caldaic and Syriac dialects with the practise thereof in the Psalmes and Warks of Solomon, Dauid, Ezra, and Epistle to the Galates. He past throw the haill Comoun Places of Theologie verie exactlie and accuratlie; also throw all the Auld and New Testament. And all this in the space of sax yeirs, during the quhilk he teatchit euerie day customablie twyse, Sabothe and vther day; with an ordinar conference wityh sic as war present efter denner and supper. His lerning nad peanfulness was mikle admired, sa that the nam of that Collage within twa yeirs was noble throwout all the land, and in vther countreys also. Sic as haid passed ther course in St. Androis cam in number ther, and entered schollars again vnder ordour and discipline, sa that the Collage was sa frequent as the roumes war nocht able to receaue them. The scolmaister of the town, Mr. Patrik Scharpe, was his ordinar heirar and contubernall, whome he instructed and directed in the maist commodius bringing vpe of the youthe in grammer and guid authors; whom I hard oftentymes profes that he lerned mair of Mr. Andro Meluill craking and pleying, for vnderstanding of the authors quhilk he teatched in the scholl, nor be all his comentares. Sic lyk Mr. Peter Blakburn, wha tuk vpe the first clas. Finalie, I dare say there was na place in Europe comparable to Glasgw for guid letters during these yeirs for a plentifull ad guid chepe mercat of all kynd of languages, artes, and sciences.”1
– Sketches, pp.220-253.
1 Mr. James Melville’s Diary, Bann. Club edit. p. 38.
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The Clan-Chattan, who had never submitted without reluctance to the earl of Huntly, considered the present aspect of affairs as peculiarly favourable to the design they entertained of shaking off the yoke altogether, and being countenanced and assisted by the Grants, and other friends of the earl of Moray, made no secret of their intentions. At first the earl sent Allen Macdonald-Duibh, the chief of the Clan-Cameron, with his tribe to attack the Clan-Chattan in Badenoch, and to keep them in due order and subjection. The Camerons, though warmly opposed, succeeded in defeating the Clan-Chattan, who lost fifty of their men after a sharp skirmish. The earl next dispatched Mackronald with some of the Lochaber men against the Grants in Strathspey, whom he attacked, killed eighteen of them and laid waste the lands of Ballendalloch. After the Clan-Chattan had recovered from their defeat, they invaded Strathdee and Glenmuck, under the command of Angus Donald Williamson, and killed Henry Gordon of the Knock, Alexander Gordon of Teldow, Thomas Gordon of Blaircharrish, and the old Baron of Breghly, also a Gordon. The baron was much addicted to hospitality, and unsuspicious of any bad design against him he entertained the hostile party in his best manner, but they afterwards basely murdered him. This occurrence took place on the first day of November fifteen hundred and ninety-two. To punish this aggression the earl of Huntly collected his forces and entered Pettie, then in possession of the Clan-Chattan, as a fief from the earls of Moray, and laid waste all the lands of the Clan-Chattan there, killed many of them, and carried off a large quantity of cattle which he divided among his army. But in returning from Pettie after disbanding his army, he received the unwelcome intelligence that William Mackintosh, son of Lauchlan Mackintosh, the chief, with eight hundred of the Clan-Chattan, had invaded the lands of Auchindun and Cabberogh. The earl, after desiring the small party which remained with him to follow him as speedily as possible, immediately set off at full speed, accompanied by Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, and thirty-six horsemen, in quest of Mackintosh and his party. Overtaking them before they had left the bounds of Cabberogh upon the top of a hill called Stapliegate, he attacked them with his small party, and after a warm skirmish defeated them, killing about sixty of their men and wounding William Mackintosh and others.
– History of the Highlands, pp.213-232.
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What the Bank of England has often in modern times been to the British government, Thomas Foulis, the Edinburgh goldsmith, was in those days to King James – a ready resource when money was urgently required for state purposes… The royal debt to Thomas was no less than £14,598; and as a security so far for this sum the king consigned to him ‘twa drinking pieces of gold, weighing in the haill fifteen pund and five unce,’ which the consignee was to be at liberty to coin into ‘five-pund pieces,’ if the debt should not be otherwise paid before the 1st of November next, [1594.] ‘the superplus, gif oney beis,’ to be forthcoming for his majesty’s use. The value of the gold of these drinking-cups at the present day would be about £950, which shows that the debt in question was expressed in Scottish money. It may be remarked, that on the same day the king consigned another gold drinking-cup, weighing twelve pounds five ounces, in favour of John Arnott, burgess of Edinburgh, who had lent him £6000. It further appears that Thomas Foulis very soon after lent the king £12,000 more ‘for out-redding of sundry his hieness’ affairs.’
– Domestic Annals, pp.124-176.
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Three of the Earl of Gowries servants were executed at Perth, Mr Thomas Cranston, George [Craigenvelt (the Butler)], and [John MacDuff] one Baron; likewise the [whole] friends, tutors, curators and children, pretending any right to the earldom of Gowrie, were summoned to [appear] before the parliament, called [on] the first of November, this year [1599].
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The snow covered the face of the ground, this year, from the 1st of November in [1599], until the 1st day of May this year.
– Historical Works, pp.340-416.
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The winter of 1601-2 is described by Birrel as of unheard-of severity and duration. It lasted from the 1st of November to the 1st of May.
– Domestic Annals, pp.124-176.
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Nov. 1 [1602]. – At Perth – ‘Henry Balnaves and William Jack made their repentance in their awn seats on Sabbath afternoon, for making libel against Mr William Couper, minister, and Henry Elder, clerk –
As King David was ane sair sanct to the crown,
So is Mr William Couper and the clerk to this poor town.
Ane act of Council against them, that nane of them should bear office or get honourable place in the town thereafter.’ – Chron. Perth.
– Domestic Annals, pp.124-176.
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Nov. 1 [1610]. – ‘… before the going to of the sun, there were seen by twelve or thretteen husbandmen great companies of men in three battles, joining together and fighting the space of an hour, on certain lands perteening to my Lord Livingston and the Laird of Carse. The honest men were examined in the presence of divers noblemen, barons, and gentlemen, and affirmed constantly that they saw such appearance.’ – Cal.
– Domestic Annals, pp.177-227.
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Master William Bowie, the inditer of the Black Book, figures in one of these letters as the instructor of John and Duncan, the sons of Robert Campbell, afterwards Sir Robert of Glenurchy.1
– Sketches, pp.341-394.
1 Some extracts from Master Bowie’s account may be allowed:-
Jhone Campbell his compt since the first of November 1618.
Imprimis, for ane “first part” and “colloquie” to him,
xj s.
Item for ane pok to his buikis,
iiij s.
For his candle in the schoole all that winter 1618,
viij s.
For ane eln linnyng to be him sokis,
xij s.
For ane half eln of cloth to be schankis,
xx s.
For ane eln and half ane quarter of red stenning to be him tua paris to the holy-day,
iij lib.
of the quhilkis Duncan gat ane pair.
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“To take a view of the yairds and woods (from the lights or platforme of the house) in the latter end of April or beginning of May, one would thinke the wholl fields wer covered with linnen and carpets; such variety hes the undergrouth and leaves, with the flourishing of severall sorts of trees that growes there, and as ther is much pleasure in this, soe there is noe little profite accresses to the owners from the woods and orch-yairds, wherein you have the choicest of fruits, in a seasonable year, from the middle of May untill the first of November; from the trees you can eat of some one kind or other, their being few years but the chessnuts and wallnuts comes almost to perfection; the apprecocks, peaches, and other outlandish fruits allways; the wine berrie and figgs to a great length. In a word ther is not one insche of the Over Mayns of Cambusnethan that is not both for profit and pleasure: take but the testimonie of a judicious English judge by name Judge Smith;1 while he was goeing the circuits in the west, he came of purpose to see Cambusnethan and went up the Halkie hill, that overlooks much of the domaine, in a rapture he expresses himself thus, ‘All Scotland and three parts of England cannot compare with that peice of ground!’” Such is Cambusnethan described to have been nearly two hundred years ago; and we are also entitled to say, that its beauties and fertility do not appear to have been exaggerated.
– Select Views, pp.35-38.
1 He was one of Cromwell’s judges. Sir Walter Scott, says it was of him, and his brother in commission, Mosley, that the epigram was first composed, which has since been applied to others:
Smith, Mosley, and Necessity,
Are very like each other;
Necessity hath got no law,
Nor Smith, and Mosley neither.
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Nov. 1 [1639]. – Owing to the confusions, the Court of Session did not sit down as usual for the winter session to-day, ‘but was vacant the haill winter session, to the great grief of the true creditor, and the pleasure of the debtor unwilling to pay his debt.’ – Spal.
– Domestic Annals, pp.257-277.
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After refreshing his army a few days in Angus, Montrose prepared to cross the Grampians, and to march to Strathbogie to make another attempt to raise the Gordons; but, before setting out on his march, he released Forbes of Craigievar and Forbes of Boyndlie, on their parole, upon condition that Craigievar should procure the liberation of the young laird of Drum and his brother, from the jail of Edinburgh, failing which, Craigievar and Boyndlie were both to deliver themselves up to him as prisoners, before the first of November [1644]. This act of generosity, on the part of Montrose, was greatly admired, more particularly as Craigievar was one of the heads of the covenanters, and had great influence among them. In pursuance of his design, Montrose marched through the Mearns, and upon Thursday the seventeenth of October, crossed the Dee at the Mills of Drum, with his whole army. In his progress north, contrary to his former forbearing policy, he laid waste the lands of some of the leading covenanters, burnt their houses, and plundered their effects.
– History of the Highlands, pp.342-364.
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“QUI . ERIT . ILLE . MIHI . SEMPER . DEUS . 1583,” was the legend which first caught the eye above a door of a tenement on the west side, long occupied by James Murray, Lord Philiphaugh, raised to the bench November 1st, 1689, without having any predecessor, being one of the set of judges nominated after the Revolution. After being chosen member of Parliament for Selkirk in 1681, he had become an object of special jealousy to the Scottish Cavalier Government. He was imprisoned in 1684, and under terror of being tortured in the iron boots, before the Privy Council in the Laigh Chamber below the Parliament House, he gave evidence against those who were concerned in the Rye House Plot.
– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.219-227.
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I. Whereas the Custom that has too long prevailed amongst the Highlanders of Scotland, of having Arms in their Custody, and using and bearing them in travelling abroad in the Fields, and at publick Meetings, has greatly obstruded the civilizing of the People within the Counties herein after named; has prevented their applying themselves to Husbandry, Manufactories, Trade, and other virtuous and profitable Employments; has been the cause of many Riots, Robberies, and Tumults; hath and does tend to disappoint the Execution of the Law, to the Dishonour of Government, and unspeakable Loss of his Majesty’s Subjects; has in a peculiar manner, been one of the fatal Causes of the late Unnatural Rebellion, and may occasion the like or greater Calamity in Time to come, if not prevented by a proper Remedy: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assemble, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the first Day of November, in the Year of our Lord, One thousand seven hundred and sixteen, it shall not be lawful for any Person or Persons within the Shires of Dunbartain on the North Side of the Water of Leven, Sterling on the North Side of the River of Forth, Perth, Kincardin, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty, Argyle, Forfar, Bamff, Sutherland, Caithness, Elgine, and Ross, to have in his or their Custody, use or bear Broad Sword, or Target, Poynard, Whinar, or Durk, Side-Pistol or Side-Pistols, or Gun, or any other warlike Weapons, in the Fields, or in the Way, coming or going to, from, or at any Church, Market, Fair, Burials, Huntings, Meetings, or any other Occasion whatsoever, within the Bounds aforesaid, or to come into the Low-Countries armed, as aforessaid: And in case any of the said Person or Persons above described, shall have in his Custody, use or bear Arms, otherwise than in this Act directed, every such Person or Persons, so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted before one or more Justices of the Peace, or before any other Judge competent of the Place summarly, shall, for the first Offence, forfeit all such Arms, and be liable to a Fine, not exceeding the Sum of Forty Pounds Sterling, and not under the Sum of Five Pounds Sterling, and to be imprisoned till Payment of the said Fine; which if not instantly paid after Commitment, the said Fine may and shall be levied out of the Offenders Goods and Estate, by Warrant of the Judge who shall pronounce any such Sentence, to be applied, the one half to the Use of the Informer, and the other at the Sight of the Justices of the Peace where such Offenders shall be convicted, towards the repairing the publick Works within the said Shire; and further, liable to a Month’s Imprisonment: And being convicted for a second Offence, before a Court of Justiciary, or before the Judges at their Circuits, shall forfeit such Arms, and be lable to a Fine, nor exceeding the Sum of Eighty Pounds Sterling, and not under the Sum of Ten Pounds Sterling; and for every subsequent Offence, to a Fine double of the former, to be levied and applied as above: And for want of Payment of any such Fine, or a sufficient Distress to satisfy the Payment of it, the Offender shall be liable to be transported to any of his Majesty’s Plantations beyond the Seas, there to remain for the Space of seven Years.
– Acts Relating to Scotland, George I., 1st Year, Chapter 54, 1715.
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An Act for more effectual Disarming the Highlands in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland; and for the better securing the Peace and Quiet of that Part of the Kingdom.
WHereas, by an Act made in the First Year o’ His Majesty’s Reign, Intituled, An Act for the more effectual Securing the Peace of the Highlands in Scotland, it was Enacted, That from and after the First Day of November, which was in the Year of our Lord, One thousand seven hundred and sixteen, it should not be lawful for any Person or Persons (except only such Persons, as are therein mentioned and described) within the Shires of Dunbartain, on the North Side of the Water of Leven, Sterling, on the North Side of the river of Forth, Perth, Kincairdin, Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Cromarty, Argyle, Forfar, Bamf, Sutherland, Caithness, Elgin, and Ross, to have in his or their Custody, use or bear Broad Sword or Target, Poynard, Whinger or Durk, Side Pistol or Side Pistols, or Gun, or any other Warlike Weapons, in the Fields, or in the Way coming or going to, from, or at any Church, Marketm Fair, Burials, Huntings, Meetings, or any other Occasion whatsoever, within the Bounds aforesaid, or to come into the Low Countries Armed as aforesaid: And in case any of the said Person or Persons above described should have in his Custody, use or bear Arms, otherwise than in the said Act was directed, every such Person or Persons so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted beefore One or more Justices of the Peace, or before any other Judge competent of the Place summarily, should, for the First Offence, forfeit all such Arms, and be liable to a Fine not exceeding Forty Pounds Sterling, and not under Five Pounds Sterling, and to be imprisoned till Payment of the said Fine, which, if not instantly paid after Commitment, the said Fine might and should be levied out of the Offenders Goods and Estate, by Warrant of the Judge, who should pronounce any such Sentence, to be applied in such Manner, as by the said Act was directed, and the Offender should be further liable to a Months Imprisonment; and, being convicted for a Second Offence, before the Court of Justiciary, or before the Judges at their Circuits, should forfeit such Arms, and be liable to a Fine not exceeding Eighty Pounds Sterling, nor under Ten Pounds Sterling; and for every subsequent Offence, to a Fine the Double of the former, to be levied and applied as by the said Act is directed; and that, for the want of Payment of any such Fine, or a sufficient Distress to satisfie the Payment of it, the Offender should be liable to be Transported to any of His Majesty’s Plantations beyond the Seas, there to remain for the Space of Seven Years, as by the said Act, relation being thereunto had, may at large appear. And whereas, notwithstanding the said recited Act, many Persons within the said several Shires and Bounds still continue possessed of great Quantities of Arms and Warlike Weapons, which they use and bear as formerly, and therewith, in Contempt and Defiance of the Laws of the Kingdom, commit many Robberies and Depredations, oppose the due Execution of Justice against Robbers, Outlaws, and Persons Attainted of High Treason for the late unnatural Rebellion, and collect, for their own Use, the Rents of Estates forfeited by such Attainted Persons, and belonging to the Publick, to the the Dishonour of the Government, and the Terror and great Loss of His Majesty’s faithful Subjects inhabiting in that Part of the Kingdom: Now, for putting a Stop to the said present Mischiefs, and for preventing the like in Time to come, Be it Enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, from Time to Time, and at all Times hereafter, it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lord Lieutenant of every one of the said Shires, or to and for any such other Person or Persons, as His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, shall, by his or their Sign Manual, from Time to Time, think fit to authorize and appoint in that Behalf, to cause Letters or Summons to be issued in His Majesty’s Name, and under his or their respective Hands and Seals directed to such of the Clans and Persons within the said several Shires and Bounds, as he or they, from Time to Time, shall think fit, thereby commanding and requiring all and every Person and Persons of or belonging to such Clan or Clans, and all and every such other Persons therein named, inhabiting within the particular Limits therein described, on a certain Day in such Summons prefixed, to bring in and deliver up, at a certain Place in such Summons also to be mentioned, all and singular his and their Arms and Warlike Weapons unto such Lord Lieutenant, or other Person or Persons authorized and appointed by His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, in that Behalf, as aforesaid, for the Use of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, and to be by him or them disposed of in such Manner, as His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors shall afterwards appoint; and if, at any Time after the Day in such Summons prefixed, any Person or Persons belonging to the Clan or Clans in such Summons named, or any other Person or Persons aforesaid in such Summons mentioned, shall, by the Oath of any Two or more credible Witnesses, be convicted before any Two or more of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the Shire or Stewartry, where such Offender or Offenders reside, or is or are apprehended of having or bearing any Arms or Warlike Weapons after the Day prefixed in such Summons, such Person or Persons, being so convicted as aforesaid, shall and may, by Warrant under the Hands and Seals of such Justices of the Peace, be forthwith committed to such safe Custody, as in the said Warrant shall be expressed, to be there kept and detained without Bail, until the said Justices of the Peace shall cause him or them to be delivered over (as they are hereby respectively impowered and required to do) unto such Officer or Officers belonging the Forces of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, as shall be appointed, from Time to Time, to receive such Men, within every such Shire or Place respectively, to serve as Soldiers in any part of His Majesty’s Dominions beyond the Seas, for which Purpose the respective Officers, who shall receive such Men, shall then cause the Articles of War against Mutiny and Desertion to be read to him or them in the Presence of such Persons, as shall so deliver over such Men unto such Officers respectively, who shall cause an Entry or Memorial thereof to be made, together with the Names of the Persons so delivered over, and a Certificate thereof in Writing under their Hands and Seals, to be delivered to the Officers appointed to receive such Men; and from and after reading the said Articles of War, every Person so delivered over to such Officer, to serve as a Soldier in His Majesty’s Dominions beyond the Seas, shall be deemed a lifted Soldier to all Intents and Purposes, and shall be subject to the Discipline of War, and in case of Desertion shall be punished as a Deserter.
– Acts Relating to Scotland, George I., 11th Year, Chapter [26], 1724.
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The Coygerach of St. Fillan was long afterwards known in the Highlands of Perthshire. the last of these deeds was registered as a probative writ at Edinburgh, 1st November 1734; and M. Latocnaye, who made a tour in Britain in 1795, gives this notice of the Relic. – “Ayant vu l’announce d’une fameuse relique, en la possession d’un paysan aux environs, nous avons demandé à la voir. Elle ressemble assez au haut bout d’une crosse d’évêque, et est d’argent doré. Le bon homme qui nous l’a montré, et qui gagne quelque peu d’argent avec elle, vraisemblablement pour augmenter notre intérêt, nous a dit très sérieusement, que quand les bestiaux étanient enragés, il suffisait de leur faire boire de l’eau passée par l’intérieur de sa relique; l’eau bouillonne sur le champ quand le remède ne veut pas opérer (d’où on pourrait conclure qu’il opère souvent), et que l’on venait de plus de cent milles chercher de son eau… Quoiqu’il en soit, j’ai été charmé de trouver une relique parmi les Presbytériens.”1
The Relic, it is believed, has been for some years in Canada, but whether it retains its virtues in the New World is unknown.
– Sketches, pp.341-394.
1 Promenade autour de la Grande Bretagne, par un Officier Français Emigré, p. 294. Edinb. 1795.
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That from and after the First Day of November, One thousand seven hundred and forty six, no Person should exercise the Employment, Function, or Service of a Chaplain in any Family in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, or of a Governor, Tutor, or Teacher of any Child, Children, or Youth residing in Scotland, or in Parts beyond the Seas, without first qualifying himself by taking the Oaths thereby directed and appointed, and causing a Certificate of his having so done to be entered or registered as is therein directed, under the Pains and Penalties therein mentioned: And that it should not be lawful for any Person in Scotland to keep a private School for teaching English, Latin, Greek, or any Part of Literature, or to officiate as a Master or Teacher in such School for Literature, other than as therein mentioned, until the Situation and Description of such private School be first entered and registered, with a Certificate of his having qualified himself by taking the Oaths appointed by Law as therein mentioned; and such Master or Teacher is thereby required, as often as Prayers shall be said in such School, to pray, or cause to be prayed for, in express Words, His Majesty, His Heirs, and Successors, by Name: And whereas it hath been found by Experience, that so much of the said Act as is herein before recited is not sufficient or effectual to answer the Purposes thereby intended, and that it is necessary to enforce the same by some new Provisions and Regulations; be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of same, That it shall and may be lawful for the respective Lieutenants of any of the Fifteen Shires in the said recited Act for that Purpose named, and for such other Person or Persons as in pursuance of the same Act hath or have been authorized by His Majesty, or shall hereafter be authorized by His Majesty, His Heirs, or Successors, to issue out Letters of Summons for the delivering of Arms and Warlike Weapons as is therein mentioned, to nominate and appoint by Writing under their respective Hands and Seals, such Person or Persons as they respectively shall think fit to receive the Arms or Warlike Weapons so to be delivered up in Obedience to any such Summons from any Person or Persons so delivering up the same at the Days and Places to be for that Purpose mentioned in any such Summons, and the Person or Persons so nominated or appointed to receive any such Arms or Warlike Weapons, shall transmit, or cause the same to be transmitted to such Place or Places as such Lieutenant or other Person authorized as aforesaid shall direct and appoint; and all and every Person and Persons, obliged by the said recited Act to deliver up his, her, or their Arms or Warlike Weapons, shall incur the like Penalties and Forfeitures, and be subject to the same Punishments respectively, for having or bearing Arms or Warlike Weapons after the Day prefixed in any such Summons, issued in pursuance of the said recited Act, and this present Act, as he, she, or they are by the said recited Act made subject or liable to for having or bearing Arms or Warlike Weapons, contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of the said recited Act.
– Acts Relating to Scotland, George II., 21st Year, Chapter 26, 1747.
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The chief articles manufactured in this district, towards the end of last century, were yarn and brown linens, of which a great quantity was spun and wove in the town of Alyth, and the district around it. The quantity of cloth stamped from the first November 1787, to the 1st November 1791, at an average, was 258,639 yards yearly, and the medium price £6,939 10s. 32/12d. This branch of manufacture still exists, but has not thriven so much as might have been anticipated.
– Gazetteer of Scotland, pp.31-32.
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522. WILLIAM MOTHERWELL.
Born, 1797; died, 1st November, 1835.
Editor and author. His first literary occupation was assisting in the compilation of the “Bibliotheca Britannica.” In 1827 he edited a valuable collection of ballads, under the title of “Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern.” He was editor of The Paisley Advertiser and of a high-class literary work called The Paisley Magazine. In 1830 he became editor of The Glasgow Courier, which he conducted till his death with great ability and success In 1832 he published a volume of original pieces entitled “Poems Narrative and Lyrical,” which was most favourably received. About the same time he supplied his friend Andrew Henderson with an excellent preface for a collection of Scottish Proverbs. Besides other work, Motherwell edited, with James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, and edition of the poems of Robert Burns. (See Nos. 1337, 2588.)
– Memorial Catalogue, Gallery 2.
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Maggie Shields
Maggie Shields was a power loom weaver at Templetons Greenhead Factory Calton, who went to her work on the 1st November 1889 and became one of the 29 young girls to lose their lives when the ornate wall that was being built collapsed during a storm and demolished the weaving shed where Maggie and her co-workers were working. Maggie was 22 years old and lived at 10 Gibson Street, Calton. The Glasgow Herald on the 2nd November reported that Maggie was missing at that time. The factory was designed by architect William Leiper. His design was inspired by the Doge’s palace in Venice. There was a memorial garden built at the corner of London rd and Tobago st that is believed to have been built to comemerate the death of these 29 girls and on the wall was a plaque with the poem: