Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36

Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Publications of the Scottish History Society,
Vol. 36, by Sir John Lauder, et al, Edited by Donald Crawford
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Title: Publications of the Scottish History Society, Vol. 36
Author: Sir John Lauder
Release Date: July 17, 2004 [eBook #12930]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY, VOLUME XXXVI
LAUDER OF FOUNTAINHALL'S JOURNALS
MAY 1900

[Illustration: LORD FOUNTAINHALL.]

JOURNALS OF SIR JOHN LAUDER LORD FOUNTAINHALL WITH HIS OBSERVATIONS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND OTHER MEMORANDA
1665-1676
Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by DONALD CRAWFORD Sheriff of Aberdeen, Kincardine, and Banff

[Illustration: SIR JOHN LAUDER, FIRST BARONET. (Lord Fountainhall's Father.)]

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
JOURNALS:--
I
Journal in France, 1665-1667,
II
1. Notes of Journeys in London. Oxford, and Scotland, 1667-1670,
2. Notes of Journeys in Scotland, 1671-1672,
3. Chronicle of events connected with the Court of Session, 1668-1676,
4. Observations on Public Affairs, 1669-1670,
III
APPENDIX
i. Accounts, 1670-1675,
ii. Catalogue of Books, 1667-1679,
iii. Letter of Lauder to his Son,

PORTRAITS
I. LORD FOUNTAINHALL
II. SIR JOHN LAUDER, first Baronet, Lord Fountainhall's father
III. JANET RAMSAY, first wife of Lord Fountainhall
IV. SIR ANDREW RAMSAY, Lord Abbotshall
All reproduced from pictures in the possession of Lady Anne Dick Lauder.

INTRODUCTION
THE MANUSCRIPTS
There are here printed two manuscripts by Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, and portions of another. The first[1] is a kind of journal, though it was not written up day by day, containing a narrative of his journey to France and his residence at Orleans and Poictiers, when he was sent abroad by his father at the age of nineteen to study law in foreign schools in preparation for the bar. It also includes an account of his expenses during the whole period of his absence from Scotland. The second,[2] though a small volume, contains several distinct portions. There are narratives of visits to London and Oxford on his way home from abroad, his journey returning to Scotland, and some short expeditions in Scotland in the immediately following years, observations on public affairs in 1669- 70, and a chronicle of events connected with the Court of Session from 1668 to 1676; also at the other end of the volume some accounts of expenses. The third[3] may be described as a commonplace book, for the most part written during the first years of his practice at the bar and his early married life, but it also contains some notes of travel in Fife, the Lothians, and the Merse in continuation of those in MS. H., and a list of the books which he bought and their prices, brought down to a late period of his life. These manuscripts have been kindly made available to the Scottish History Society by the owners. The first is in the Library of the University of Edinburgh. The second is the property of the late Sir William Fraser's trustees. The third has been lent by Sir Thomas North Dick Lauder, Fountainhall's descendant and representative.
[1] Referred to as MS. X.
[2] Marked by Fountainhall H.
[3] Marked by Fountainhall K.
It was Lord Fountainhalls practice, during his whole life, to record in notebooks public events, and his observations upon them, legal decisions, and private memoranda. He kept several series of notebooks concurrently with great diligence and method. In all of those which have been preserved there is more or less matter of value to the student of history. But at his death his library was sold by public auction. The MSS. were dispersed, though their existence and value was known to some of his contemporaries.[4] Some are lost, in particular the series of Historical Observes, 1660-1680, which, judging from the sequel, which has been preserved and printed by the Bannatyne Club, would have been of great value. According to tradition the greater part of what has been recovered was found in a snuff-shop by Mr. Crosby the lawyer, the supposed original of Scott's Pleydell, and purchased at the sale of his books after his death by the Faculty of Advocates.[5]
[4] Preface to Forbes's Journal of the Session, Edinburgh, 1714.
[5] MS. Genealogical Roll of the Family of Lauder by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, in possession of Sir T.N. Dick Lauder.
Eight volumes came into the possession of the Faculty of Advocates, and under their auspices two folio volumes of legal decisions from 1678 to 1712 were published in 1759 and 1761.[6] In 1837 the Bannatyne Club printed The Historical Observes, 1680-1686, a complete MS. in the Advocates' Library, and in 1848 they printed