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driving off some of his cattle. Unsupported as he was, he fired upon them, but was instantly surrounded and killed. The murderers escaped for a time, but ultimately two of them were taken and hanged.

That was the last of the romance of Muck. Its lairds took active part in the Stewart Struggle, and fought on their side at Kilsyth and Sheriffmuir. By the end of the century they became reconciled to the reigning house, for the "Isle of Muck," who met Dr. Johnson, had seen active service on the British side in the American War of Independence. Evil days, however, fell on the Macleans also, and they had to sell Muck. During the present century it has changed hands more than once. J. CALDER Ross.

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DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT MEDAL AT BUSBY.-This place is seven miles south of Glasgow. On Wednesday, the 5th July, during digging operations connected with drainage, one of the labourers discovered a relic of interest. He tried to clean it with a stone, and defaced it; but on one side of the medal, which is about the size of a penny piece, in the centre of a triangle, is a cherub with outstretched wings, pointing to the letter G above. On each line of the triangle are the masonic words, "Wisdom," "Strength," "Beauty." Above the cherub, outside the triangle, is a cock standing on a ball. The motto encircled is "Sit Lux et Lux Fuit." At the base of the triangle are a compass and square. On the opposite side of the medal are a shield, supported by two squirrels, and the motto, "Amor Po Etens Est" --Love is potent. The medal bears antiquity. J. F. S. G.

THE BRACO GORDONS.-In describing this family in the Aberdeen Free Press of May 24 and 25, 1899, I expressed some doubts as to the parentage of Sir Francis Gordon, who arranged the proposed marriage of Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia and the King of Poland. I have since discovered that Gilbert Gordon of Sallagh, in his addition (1651) to Sir Robert Gordon's Earls of Sutherland, speaks of Sir Francis as a son of John Gordon of Braco. Sir Francis, he continues, married a gentlewoman of "Danskin, with whom he had a great portion, whereby he was lyke to make a good fortune if God had spared him." But he died at Aberdeen in 1644; that is to say, in the year after he was made an Honorary Burgess of Aberdeen. I may add that Mr. A. M. Munro, working on

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Mr. Munro notes that "On 8th March, 1595, John Gordon of Braco and Agnes Strachan, his spouse, got infeftment on the lands of Whitecorse and others on a wadset, and redeemable from them for the sum of 5,400 merks. Then in 1609 James, eldest son of John Gordon of Braco and Agnes Strachan, and John, now of Braco, grant a renunciation of the above lands. John Gordon, said to be the last of the Braco Gordons, married Margaret Auchinclech, and died in 1678. The lands of Braco appear in the hands of the Earl of Aberdeen by the date of the Poll Book (1695)." Sir Francis succeeded his uncle, Patrick (who married Marjorie Erskine of the Balhaggerty family), as our agent at Dantzig. J. M. BULLOCH.

ANCESTORS OF THE REV. MATHEW HENDERSON. WANTED-Information as to the birthplace and ancestors of Mathew Henderson, who was ordained in 1758 by the Presbytery of Perth as a Secession Minister, and immediately sent as a Missionary to America. Address: James M. Clark, Attorney, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

BYRON'S PATERNAL GRANDFATHER.

IN a former number of this journal I dealt with the elopement of Captain Byron (the poet's father) with the Marchioness of Carmarthen. At that time I did not know that the Captain's father had been "another of the same." Old Admiral Byron (1723-86) is remembered chiefly as the hero of the wreck on the coast of Chili (which Byron utilised in "Don Juan"). But the Town and County Magazine (of Dec., 1773) shows him in another wreck, by pillorying him in its "History of the Tête-a-tête annexed," under the title of "Memoirs of the Nautical Lover and Miss Betsy G[ree?]n." The article, which is accompanied by portraits, is so typical of much of the journalism of the eighteenth century that I do not hesitate to quote it at length :

"We cannot suppose that in the course of three years' absence from his native country [as Governor of Newfoundland, 1769-72] the spirit of discovery precluded every other desire, or that the females of the southern hemisphere-many of whom are described as beautiful and attracting-did not excite those passions in our hero which have so often agitated him at home, and which now entitle him to a place in our amorous group. We find that the queens and princesses of the islands he discovered were ever partial to Englishmen, and we may reasonably suppose that the C....e did not escape their notice. In the course of his voyage we find him upon every occasion supporting the honour of the British flag; at the same time he displayed great humanity towards the natives of those countries where he landed. Whilst at school he was the champion of his form, and signalized himself as a Broughtonian. Courage, which is so great a recommendation to the fair sex, failed not to be his advocate, and his bedmaker evinced his abilities in the field of Venus as well as he had done in that of Mars. This event precipitated his departure from school. He was at this time only seventeen."

The article goes on to tell that after a short stay at Portsmouth he sailed for a cruise, and in a few weeks went into Plymouth, where he made the acquaintance of an officer's widow with whom he boarded. He seems to have promised to marry her, "but the ship fortunately sailing before the time appointed for his nuptials, he escaped the snare which was laid for him. New objects created new ideas, and he forgot his charming widow and intended bride in the arms of a beautiful Italian at Leghorn. At the close of the war in 1748 he retired from the sea to rural tranquility. He went again to sea in 1756. His wife [Sophia Trevannion, a Cornishwoman whom he married in 1748] engaged as a chambermaid the beautiful Betsy G... n. The girl's father was a farmer in the

neighbourhood, who had given her a good education at the village school, and she had improved a good understanding by reading and by conversation with the bettermost sort of females in the parish, associating with the curate's daughter. At the age of eighteen she entered Byron's service, and became a great favourite with Mrs. Byron, and she so fascinated the Admiral with her conversation that he soon experienced the effects of Betsy's charms, and, as he had frequent opportunities of being alone with her, he urged his suit so forcibly that he soon prevailed upon her to comply with his request. The correspondence was carried on for a considerable time without any suspicion, but at length Betsy's evil stars prevailed, and her mistress detected her in bed with her master. He sent her to town to lodgings in Golden Square, where he constantly visited her. Mrs. Byron dogged the Admiral there, and he had to clear out. He accordingly took an apartment for Betsy in an obscure part of the new building in Marylebone, where she now resides, and where our hero still pays her constant visits." Betsy was very fair, with light eyes, her hair also light and remarkably beautiful. She was rather under the middle size, but proportionably made, and might on the whole be pronounced a very captivating figure. Several overtures have been made to her from various quarters, but she has rejected considerable sums of money for temporary gratifications, and even settlements, so that she may be pronounced the faithful, as well as the pretty, Betsy G. . . n."

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In the Town and County Magazine of January, 1779, there appeared "The Memoirs of the Boisterous Lover and the Capricious Marchioness," which deals with Captain Byron and Lady Carmarthen. In a previous article I noticed how the journals of the day made fun of Lady Carmarthen's elopement (in 1778) with Captain Byron. I may cite a curious book, published by Kearsley, who went in for scandalous topicalities. The book is entitled :

The House of Peeresses, or Female Oratory, containing the debates of several Peeresses on the Bishop of Llandaff's Bill for the more effectual discouragement of the crime of Adultery. Principal Speakers, [etc.] Duchess of G-n [etc.]. President, A[meli]a Ba[rone]ss C[onyer]s, late M[archione]ss of Clarmarthe]n. London: Printed for G. Kearsley, [46] Fleet Street, MDCCLXXIX.

In speaking to the Bill, Lady Carmarthen, who was granted the place of Lady President on the basis of the Barony of Conyers, which she held in her own right, was made to deliver an ironic speech. She said: "We have reached the goal amid a variety of difficulties; the fruitless barriers to our courage-husbands, fathers, brothers--proved ineffectual obstacles in our way. Their mangled carcases (forgive the expression) are everlasting triumphs to our praise.”

J. M. BULLOCH.

STERCOVIUS, THE POLISH CRITIC OF THE SCOTS.

I HAVE already dealt in these pages with Stercovius, the Pole who was executed for printing a "libel" on the Scots. He was run to earth by Patrick Gordon of Braco (whose career I described at length in the Aberdeen Free Press of May 24 and 25, 1899). The actual "libel," as I stated, cannot now be got; it was probably destroyed entirely. But I have just come across a curious reference to the affair, which throws a new light on the subject. In 1640, a poem appeared, entitled A Counterbuffe to Lysimachus Junior, calling himself a Jesuite" (4to., 16 pp.). The poem, which was in the collection of David Laing, is partly reprinted in the third volume of Pasquils, issued by James Maidment in 1828. From that it appears that Stercovius had appeared in Scotland in his national costume. The children ridiculed his attire, and when he went back to Poland he wrote a stinging pasquil against the Scots, which lost him his head. The part of the "poetic" indictment against him, as quoted by Maidment, speaks :--

Of a Polonian swain, more curious
Nor wise or learn'd called Stercovius.

Hither he came clad all in antique sort,
Where seen in streets the subject of a sport
He soon became to childish gazers, who
With skriechs and clamours hiss him to and fro,
Till forced he was with shame and speed to pack him
And to his feet and loathsome cabin take him.
Where in a furious chollerick mood,

He nothing breathed but fire, revenge and blood;
And fondly swore our nation's overthrow
He should adventure with a sudden blow
Of his both pregnant and pernicious pen,
Like to a fierce and fearfull powder traine.
Thus fraught with furies home to Pole he goes
To wreck his splen on his imagined foes.
And there his pen he loos'd and with more spite
Nor hell had taught him thoughts, he did indite
A legend of reproaches, stuff't with lies,
Was bold to print and vent those calumnies
Against the Scots, their manners and their fame
Of purpose to obscure their splendid name
In all that Esterne clyme and tract of ground,
Where squadrons of our nation did abound;
Where some choice men of ours did take in hand
To supplicat the Princes of that land

Their wrong for to redresse, so with great paine,
Great search and length of time, their point they gaine,
For all vaste Teutons states, the Spruch, the Dan
Dispatch and arme with power some trustie man
Stercovius to pursue in any ground,

Take and arraigne him where he may be found,
Which is with great turmoil and travell done;
Yet things well acted are performed soone.

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TRINITY (EPISCOPAL) BELL, AYR. — This church is undergoing striking transformation for the better; albeit its bell, though of harsh tone, merits notice. Round its outside upper edge runs the inscription, in raised letters: Michael Burgerhuys me fecit, 1625," i.e., Michael Burgerhuys made me, 1625. This bellfounder cast most of the bells in Scotland about a century ago, and lived at Middleburg in Holland. It was originally cast for the Parish Church of Barnweill, and was given to the late Bishop Wilson by General Smith-Neill of Swinridgemuir, whose property it became when the kirk became a ruin. It was rung for the first time in the belfry of the Episcopal Chapel, Ayr, on Palm Sunday, 5th April, 1857. General Neill fell at the relief of Lucknow, 25th September, 1857, aged 47 years. A statue in Wellington Square, Ayr, keeps alive his noble memory. The bell was thus restored to the purpose for which it was primarily made. J. F. S. GORDON. ROMAN REMAINS IN KIRKINTILLOCH.While the moat at the Peel Park was recently being cleaned out, a lot of stones were found, some of which bore traces of Roman architecture, having the mason marks of the period on the surface. The great bulk of the stones was mediæval, and belonged undoubtedly to Comyn's castle, demolished by Robert the Bruce. This castle occupied the site of the old Roman fort. The Burgh Commission met on Tuesday evening, the 11th July, to discuss the "find," when it was agreed to raise subscriptions for explorations around the park, now the property of the burgh. J. F. S. G.

THE BUCHAN FIELD CLUB. Under the presidency of Mr. W. L. Taylor, Peterhead, the Club enjoyed an outing on the 8th ult. at Fedderate and Brucklay. One of the principal items of the day's business was hearing a paper read by Mr. Gavin Greig, Whitehall, New Deer, the subject being "Buchan in the Old Days." Although the "Old Days" are those within the memory of the essayist, yet the changes in all departments of social life and habits have been more marked than a mere casual survey would indicate, and Mr. Greig received deserved thanks for his careful paper. A visit to Brucklay Castle brought the proceedings to a close.

Queries.

5. THE SCOTS IN BOHEMIA.-In the Great Seal, Margaret Livingstone is described in 1629 as widow of Thomas Livingston, "servitor" to Frederick, the King of Bohemia (the husband of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James VI. of Scotland). In what capacity did Livingston serve? B.

6. Cock o' THE NORTH.-What is the earliest known reference to the title, "Cock of the North," applied to the noble family of Huntly? One early reference may be quoted. From the records of the Presbytery of Elgin it appears that one of the accusations against Mr. James Park, minister of Urquhart, ran as follows: "Lykwayes he cryed aloud against Kings and Monarches, Dukes and Marquesses, and him that was called Cock of the North, a button for them all: ther heads had happed off, ther honours were laid in the dust, and they were casten by as broken veshells." This accusation was laid before the Presbytery by Mr. John Innes, laird of Leuchars, on 16th August, 1660. Cullen.

W. CRAMOND.

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1202. AMERICAN-ABERDEEN GRADUATES (XII., 94, 127, 142, 159; 2nd S., I., 7).—Dr. Gammack is wrong in identifying the Peter Oliver who graduated M.D. at Marischal College in 1790 with our Peter Oliver, A.B., 1761. In the Harvard General Catalogue of 1797, I find it was our graduate of 1769 who received the Aberdeen degree—as correctly stated in Fasti Acad. Marisc., ii., p. 132; and S. N. & Q., xii., p. 95. Cambridge, U.S.A.

JAMES ATKINS NOYES.

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2. SCOTS COINAGE (I., 2nd S., 14).—In reply to "Ignoramus," I beg to say that, in the beginning of last century, church accounts were kept in Scots money, i.e., £1 Sc. 1s. 8d. stg.; Is. Sc. Id. stg., and so on. A 14s. piece was a merk, and was originally 13s. 4d. Sc. A guinea was an English coin=21s. stg., so out of two guineas the Kirk Session could well afford to give four pounds Scots. A doit was a penny Scots, or half a bodle, or the twelfth part of

an English penny. A few additional notes anent Kirk Session accounts of the period your correspon. dent refers to (1700-1710) may not be uninteresting. Many coins that found their way into the kirk ladle had to be converted into Scots coinage, e.g., French turners were in circulation in Scotland up to Louis XIV.'s reign. The name turner is from the French town Tournois, or from tournois, a French copper coin of similar size. They were also called billons, as being a mixture of copper and brass.

Since Allan's death naebody cared
For anes to speer how Scotia fared,
Nor plack nor thristled turner war'd
To quench her drouth,

For frae the cottar to the laird
We a' ran south.

-Beattie.

The Scotch turner had the thistle, and was sometimes called bodle or black farthing, value 2d. Sc. The copper coins of previous sovereigns were in common circulation in the beginning of Anne's reign. James VI. coined the plack (eightpenny piece), half plack (fourpenny piece), hardhead or twopenny piece, half hardhead or penny piece; also the turner and half turner, which were the same value as the hardhead and half hardhead. Charles I. coined the turner or twopence, and half turner or penny. Turners or bodles of Charles I. and II., with and without the numeral II. for value, are common. The copper coins of Charles II. and William and Mary are the bawbee or sixpenny piece and the turner, bodle or twopenny piece. There is no copper coinage of James II., and no Scotch copper coinage of Queen Anne. In explanation of the " 14s." your correspondent refers to, Sir William Denholme, master of the mint, may be quoted: "The value of thretteen shilling four pennies was never put upon the merk piece (of Charles II.) after they were raised to fourteen shilling, neither were they tearmed therafter merk peices but fourteen shilling peices in the Registers, and the value sett doune conforme." In the Rothiemay Kirk Session accounts for the year 1708 occurs the following entry :-" 1708, September 26th. Given to John Innes eleven fourteins to change for new money, being £7 19s. 6d.” This exchanging was in obedience to a royal proclamation of that year, calling in Scotch crowns, &c. Kirk Sessions began generally to keep their accounts in sterling money about the year 1770. Grange began in 1763, and Aberdour, in Aberdeenshire, not till 1809. Bodles and such-like coins came in less and less esteem. The Kirk Session of Glass in 1736 accepted an offer of 10s. Sc. for every shilling stg. of bodles, and in 1740 they sold £24 Sc. of bodles at 6s. 8d. for every 12s. in bodles. In 1749 they got £7 for £17 in bodles. In 1739 the Kirk Session of Urquhart (Morayshire) valued their bodles at 12 for a penny stg. The Kirk Session of Fordyce record, in 1749, that foreign doits used to be reckoned equivalent to Scots bodles, three of them making a halfpenny, but "in time coming twelve of them shall be equivalent to the penny sterling.' To discourage the use of doits the Synod of Aberdeen got farthings from London. In 1739 Fordyce sold nine pounds four

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ounces of Hibernias and Harps for 8s. per pound, and in 1690 they sold 24s. stg. of doits (for which they received, at the rate of 7s. for 12s.) for £8 8s. Sc. A few illustrative extracts follow :

1700. Given in turners to the poor at the kirk door, 35. (Cullen).

1709. £8 8s. 2d. of dyts among the collection money (Cullen). 1700. John Wast gave in his half mark (a merk was is. 14d. stg.) for leave to sit in the forebreast (Aberdour). 1701. William Daunie to be fined a mark for banning (Aberdour).

1702. Given to beggar 4d. Sc. (=d. stg.) (Aberdour).

1701. Received for bad (i.e., uncurrent) money, £3 165. (Fordyce).

1705. Penalty for fornication five marks, for adultery 20 marks (Fordyce).

1700. The officer's fee is 10 marks yearly (Grange).

1709. Paid for casting divots for the school a merk (Grange). 1710. It is reported that all the money in the former treasurer's hands is in dyts and lettered bodles (Grange).

Nothing could better exemplify the straits Kirk Sessions were sometimes driven to than the following entry from the Glass records :-" 22nd June, 1746. As the necessitys and number of the poor are increasing, the session came to a resolution of giving them two parts in current coin and the third in bodles, because their fonds are much drained." It may be added that the sign in place of libs. for pounds appears first in some northern Kirk Session accounts about the year 1704. Cullen.

W. CRAMOND.

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Scots Books of the Month.

Memoirs of a Highland Lady (Miss Grant of Rothiemurchus, afterwards Mrs. Smith of Baltiboys), 1797-1830. Edited by Lady Strachey. 8vo. 10/6. Murray. Geddes, Patrick. Chapters in Modern Botany. New edition. 3/6. Murray. MacInnes, Lieut.-Col. J., V.D. The Brave Sons of Skye, containing the Military Records (compiled from authentic sources) of the Leading Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Private Soldiers whom "Eilean a Cheo" has produced. With 100 portraits. 15/-. Eyre & Spottiswood.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending us their full name and address (not necessarily for publication) along with their contributions.

All communications should be accompanied by an identifying name and address. As publication day is the 25th of each month, copy should be in a few days earlier. ED.

Published by A. BROWN & Co., Booksellers, Aberdeen. Literary communications should be addressed to the "Editor," 23 Osborne Place, Aberdeen. Advertisements and Business Letters to the Publishers, 83 Union Street, Aberdeen.

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