Address to the Prisoners and Sentence.

The Lord Justice-Clerk then addressed the prisoners as follows:—William Brodie and George Smith, it belongs to my office to pronounce the sentence of the law against you. You have had a long and fair trial, conducted on the part of the public prosecutor with the utmost candour and humanity, and you have been assisted with able counsel, who have exerted the greatest ability and fidelity in your defence.

I wish I could be of any use to you in your melancholy situation. To one of you it is altogether needless for me to offer any advice. You, William Brodie, from your education and habits of life, cannot but know everything suited to your present situation which I could suggest to you. It is much to be lamented that those vices, which are called gentlemanly vices, are so favourably looked upon in the present age. They have been the source of your ruin; and, whatever may be thought of them, they are such as assuredly lead to ruin. I hope you will improve the short time which you have now to live by reflecting upon your past conduct, and endeavouring to procure, by a sincere repentance, forgiveness for your many crimes. God always listens to those who seek Him with sincerity.

His Lordship then pronounced sentence of death in the usual form, and the sentence having been recorded and signed by the judges, it was read aloud as follows:—

The Lord Justice-Clerk and Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, having considered the verdict of assize, dated and returned this twenty-eighth day of August, against the said William Brodie and George Smith, Pannels, whereby the assize all in one voice find them guilty of the crime libelled; the said Lords in respect of the said verdict decern and adjudge the said William Brodie and George Smith to be carried from the bar back to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, therein to be detained till Wednesday, the first day of October next, and upon that day to be taken furth of the said Tolbooth to the place fixed upon by the magistrates of Edinburgh as a common place of execution, and then and there, betwixt the hours of two and four o’clock afternoon to be hanged by the necks, by the hands of the Common Executioner, upon a Gibbet, until they be dead; and ordain all their moveable goods and gear to be escheat and inbrought to His Majesty’s use: which is pronounced for doom.

Robt. M‘Queen.
Dav. Dalrymple.
Dav. Rae.
Jo. Campbell.
John Swinton.

The sentence having been read, Mr. Brodie discovered some inclination to address himself to the Court, but was restrained by his counsel. He thereupon respectfully bowed to the bench, and the pannels were removed to prison.[28]

The Court then rose.

APPENDIX I.

Notes on the Trial of Deacon Brodie in the Contemporary Reports by Morrison and Creech.

Note 1, [page 83.]

This unhappy man was tried for sheep stealing in the year 1782, and condemned to be hanged. He afterwards received His Majesty’s pardon conditionally that he should be transported for life. Government having adopted no plan for the transporting of felons from Scotland since the loss of America, he has, owing to that circumstance, been detained so long in prison; and I am sorry to add that he is not the only sufferer from the same cause.—Morrison.

Note 2, [page 93.]

It is said that Mr. Learmonth very properly wrote immediately to the Sheriff-Clerk’s office, and the intelligence was from thence sent to the Procurator-Fiscal, who at the time was in the playhouse. He immediately went out and set off with Mr. Williamson, the messenger, to Geddes’s house in Mid-Calder, twelve miles from Edinburgh, and brought him in on Sunday morning with the letters.—Creech.

Note 3, [page 99.]

On taking the precognition at the Sheriff-Clerk’s chamber; a curious circumstance occurred respecting this black dog. Smith, the prisoner, was under examination, and the above witness, Kinnear, was also present. Kinnear had said to the Sheriff that he was at such a distance that he would not know the men, but he would know the dog, having been at one time near him. Soon after, a dog was making a noise and scraping at the door, which being opened, the above witness said, “There is the dog,” and it ran and fawned upon Smith.—Creech.

Note 4, [page 104.]

This witness was much affected on coming into Court. On passing her husband, the prisoner at the bar, she looked at him with much seeming agitation. He stretched out his hands, and, in a loud whisper, entreated her not to answer a word to any question that should be put to her.—Creech.

Note 5, pages [108] and [109].

A discrepancy here appears betwixt the above witness and a following witness, James Murray, who, with Middleton, accompanied the prisoner Smith to the place. Murray said at the foot of Allan’s Close, below the Royal Exchange; and Warriston’s Close is above the Exchange, or west, the other east. Since the trial, we were at pains to have an explanation of this inconsistency, and went with Middleton to the spot. He conducted us down Warriston’s Close; and at the bottom of the steps at the foot of it, in the wall, immediately on the right hand, or to the east, and not three feet from the steps, he pointed out the hole where the iron crow and other instruments were found. He was asked how he and Murray came to disagree. He said it was true they went by Allan’s Close, turned into Mary King’s Close, and then went to the hole then, pointed out. In short, the one witness, Murray, describes it by the road they took, the other, Middleton, by the real situation of the place. Middleton acknowledged that he was wrong in saying Smith put in his hand and drew out the instruments. He was handcuffed, and could not stretch his arm. He only put his fingers to the mouth of the hole, to point it out, and Murray put in his arm as he immediately recollected after he left the Court. Both Middleton and Murray agree that the hole is the same where they found the iron crow, &c., and it is directly at the foot of Warriston’s Close.—Creech.

Note 6, [page 110.]

The further particulars of Mr. Williamson’s search for Mr. Brodie are curious, and, having been favoured with them from Mr. Williamson himself, we here subjoin them:—

On Monday, the 10th of March, Mr. Williamson began his search at Mr. Brodie’s dwelling-house, out-houses, &c. He searched several of Brodie’s haunts in Edinburgh and Leith. He searched all the inclosed tombs in the Greyfriars Churchyard. The reason for this was that, some years ago, Brodie assisted one Hay, accused of a capital crime in making his escape from the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, and concealed him eight or ten days in one of these tombs till the hue and cry was over. Hay by this means got off, and has never since been heard of. When it was known, on Wednesday, that Brodie had gone off to London on the morning of Sunday, the 9th, Mr. Williamson was despatched after him. At Dunbar he learned that Brodie had passed there about four o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday, and traced him to Newcastle, where he took the “Flying Mercury” light coach for York and London. From the coachman he learned that a man answering Brodie’s description had been set down at the end of Old Street, Moorfields, and did not proceed to the Bull and Mouth Inn, where the coach stops. Some persons of Brodie’s acquaintance were examined, and from the declarations of some of them there was reason to believe that Brodie had gone to the Continent. Mr. Williamson went to Margate, Deal, and Dover, but got no intelligence of him.

On Mr. Williamson’s return to London, he learned from Sir Sampson Wright’s people that Brodie had been seen about Bedfordbury. Mr. Williamson repaired to the billiard tables, hazard tables, cock-pits, tennis courts, &c., &c. As no house could be searched without making oath to his being there, Mr. Williamson left the management to Sir Sampson’s people, and returned, after eighteen days’ search in London, to Edinburgh.—Creech.]

Note 7, [page 111.]

On the journey from London to Edinburgh, Mr. Brodie was in good spirits, and told many things that had happened to him in Holland. He met with a Scots woman at Amsterdam, who asked him if he had been long from Scotland. She said that there was one Brodie, a citizen of Edinburgh, accused of robbing the Excise Office, and a great reward was offered for apprehending him. She little knew who she was speaking to, said Mr. Brodie. At Amsterdam, he fell in with the man who had committed a forgery on the Bank of Scotland. He (Brodie) said he was a very ingenious fellow. If he had not been apprehended he would have been master of the process in a week.

Mr. Brodie further told Mr. Williamson that the guide who had accompanied him and Mr. Groves from Amsterdam to Helvoetsluys had a fine repeating gold watch, which he (Mr. Brodie) said he could easily have possessed himself of at the time the man was taking leave of him, as he was then in liquor, and said he had often since regretted that he had allowed the fellow to go back with it.—Creech.]

Note 8, [page 118.]

Grahame Campbell said they all came back to Smith’s.—Creech.]

Note 9, [page 119.]

This evening, Friday, Brown gave information, and Smith Ainslie, Mrs. Smith, and Grahame Campbell were taken into custody. The reason of Brown’s giving the information is said to have been that he had seen the advertisement from the Secretary of State’s Office that evening promising a reward and a pardon to the person who should discover the robbery of Inglis & Horner’s shop. Brown was under sentence of transportation in England, and in daily fear of apprehension. The reward and pardon were too powerful to be resisted, and he foresaw that it would be necessary for the prosecutor to obtain his pardon for his offence in England before he could be admitted as a witness. No wonder that the Lord Justice-Clerk said to him, after his examination, that he was a clever fellow.—Creech.]

Note 10, [page 133.]

The witness seemed to be well acquainted with Macheath, but not with the “Beggar’s Opera.” The song is by Mat o’ the Mint:—

“Let us take the road.
Hark! I hear the sound of coaches!
The hour of attack approaches;
To your arms, brave boys, and load!

“See the ball I hold!
Let the chemists toil like asses;
Our fire their fire surpasses,
And turns our lead to gold.”

—Creech.

Note 11, [page 135.]

It was clearly proved in the course of this trial, and I had otherwise occasion to know, that there was no information given against Mr. Brodie until Monday, the 10th, when the unfortunate Smith was examined. A warrant was immediately issued for apprehending him, and a search made, but it was too late; he had gone for London the preceding day.—Morrison.

Brown did not mention Brodie on the first information he gave, nor, indeed, till he had returned from England, where he had gone in pursuit of the goods robbed from Inglis & Horner’s shop. It is supposed, by concealing Brodie, that he meant to have exacted money from him on his return to keep his secret. But Brodie was gone, and he then spoke out.—Creech.

Note 12, [page 152.]

This is what is called flash language, and means swore to me.—Creech.

Note 13, [page 153.]

This means the description of him which was inserted in all the Edinburgh and London newspapers, and was very minute and particular.—Creech.

Note 14, [page 154.]

This is another specimen of the flash language, or slang. “And glimed the scrive” means “burned the letter.”—Creech.

Note page 161.

As Brown, Ainslie, and Smith’s maid all concur that Mr. Brodie was in Smith’s house on the afternoon of the 5th March, it might appear a contradiction to this evidence; but Brown has fixed that it was very early in the afternoon, some time after two o’clock, but could not say that it was after three, so that it is evident the meeting in Smith’s which they alluded to was between two and three o’clock, and before this witness came to dine with Mr. Brodie. Vide Brown’s evidence.—Creech.

Note 16, [page 161.]

From Mr. Brodie’s house in Brodie’s Close, Lawnmarket, to Bunker’s Hill, is above half-a-mile, and Mr. Sheriff was home some minutes before eight o’clock.—Creech.

Note 17, [page 161.]

Peggy Giles, Jean Watt’s servant, said Mr. Brodie was in her mistress’s house on Thursday afternoon; but this may have been between two and three o’clock, which she called afternoon, in the same way as Smith’s maid said that the first meeting in her master’s was on the Wednesday afternoon, which, by Brown’s evidence, is fixed to have been before three o’clock.—Creech.

Note 18, [page 161.]

A report having been circulated that Mr. Brodie was married to this witness in prison—which, if true, would have disqualified her from being a witness—it seems to have been the object of the Lord Advocate’s questions to ascertain the fact.—Creech.

Note 19, [page 162.]

The Tron Church is near a quarter of a mile from the Parliament Close.—Creech.

Note 20, [page 163.]

This is inconsistent with Jean Watt’s evidence, as she said that Mr. Brodie was not in her house at all on Thursday, and not till Saturday.—Creech.

Note 21, [page 178.]

This doctrine, which had been suppressed in Scotland for above a century, was revived in the course of the memorable trial of Carnegie of Finhaven by the late Lord Arniston, the illustrious grandfather of the present Mr. Solicitor Dundas. Mr. Arnot, speaking of his address to the jury on that occasion, says, “He told them with a manly confidence, which conscious right inspired, that they must not be startled at the interlocutor of the Court.” And they were not startled; for although the facts found relevant to infer a capital punishment were clearly proved, the jury returned a verdict finding the pannel not guilty, because they were of opinion that the interlocutor pronounced by the Court on the relevancy was erroneous.—Morrison.

Note 22, [page 182.]

Old Norval’s speech in “Douglas.”—Creech.

Note 23, [page 183.]

The particulars of this story are as follows:—Major had won a considerable sum of money the night before, and insuch a manner as to lead to suspicion; two gentlemen, therefore, were determined to watch him, and for this purpose planted themselves the next night on each side of his chair, when, taking a proper opportunity, one of them seized his hand with the dice in it; he grasped it close, and would not part with them; the other, seeing this, knocked him down, and in the fall the Major drew with him the first gentleman, who, however, would not let go his hold till he wrested the dice from him.

He then presented them to the company, who instantly saw and acknowledged the deceit. The Major was attempting some apology; the company would hear nothing, but turned him out of the room with every mark of disgrace and reprobation.

The dice were afterwards presented to the Jockey Club, in order to come to some resolution upon this transaction; but the President said, as their meeting referred more immediately to the turf, they could do nothing in it, but determined for themselves not to let such a man in future mix with them in any company. This resolution has been since followed in all the reputable gaming clubs.

Such is the story; the reflection that arises from it is very obvious, which is, that though this degraded man was so unfortunate for himself as to be detected, where is the public gaming table that is not surrounded with such? And where is the man, without a fortune of his own, that can spend from one thousand to two thousand pounds a year—as most of them do—without having some superiority, some dexterity, over the generality of those who play with them?

If the independent men who play at public tables and at public watering-places, therefore, were to look sharp, independently of the consideration of rank, title, or fortune, they would constantly find out more majors of this kind; but if they would do better, they would avoid all those places which are subject to the contamination of such men.—Creech.

Note 24, [page 201.]

The using the word “pannel” in place of prisoner is peculiar to Scotland. It is believed it took its rise from the niche or place where the criminal was placed at the bar, which was called the pannel.—Creech.

Note 25, [page 210.]

During the whole time of this trial the Court was uncommonly crowded, notwithstanding the fees of admission were raised so high as three, four, and five shillings. The heat was for a great part of the time intolerable; and the noise and tumult occasioned by orders given by the Court to clear certain parts of the house frequently interrupted the business of the trial. But the audience, who had paid for their places, were determined not to be turned out of them, and therefore maintained their ground, although the soldiers’ bayonets were two or three times mentioned. The Court’s being occasionally subjected to such inconvenience proceeds from the doorkeepers being allowed to extort money for admission—a practice directly contrary to the statute law of the land, and derogatory to the dignity of the High Court.

The doorkeepers not only demand money, but they claim the privilege of determining who shall and who shall not be admitted. They even presume to exclude, when they think proper, a great proportion of the members of the Court. Many of the agents during this trial were compelled to pay a crown for their places, and others were refused admittance upon any terms. When it is considered that the practice of the criminal law of Scotland cannot be acquired from books, nor by any one man in the course of his own experience, and that the agents are often charged with the conduct of trials, upon the issue of which the lives and fortunes of their fellow-citizens depend, it seems highly inexpedient, not to say unjust, to deny them the privilege of admission to the Court, where alone they can have an opportunity of acquiring that knowledge which it is highly necessary they should be possessed of. The Court, however, seem to think differently, for upon a late occasion, when an agent complained to them of being excluded by the doorkeepers, they gave him no redress.

I have only to add that if it is still thought proper to allow the doorkeeper to take money, a fare should be established for admission to each of the different parts of the house, in proportion to the accommodation they afford, that all His Majesty’s lieges may be upon as equal a footing there as in other public places.—Morrison.

APPENDIX II.

A Brief Account of the Judges and Counsel Engaged in the Trial of Deacon Brodie.

Robert Macqueen, Lord Braxfield (1722-1799), eldest son of John Macqueen of Braxfield, Lanarkshire, sometime Sheriff-Substitute of the Upper Ward of that county, by his wife, Helen, daughter of John Hamilton of Gilkerscleugh, Lanarkshire, was born on 4th May, 1722. He was educated at the Grammar School of Lanark, and thereafter attended a law course at the University of Edinburgh, with the view of becoming a Writer to the Signet. He was apprenticed to Thomas Gouldie, W.S., Edinburgh, but finally decided to try his fortune at the bar, and, after the usual trials, was, on 14th February, 1744, admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates. He was employed as one of the counsel for the Crown in the many intricate feudal questions respecting the forfeited estates which arose out of the Rising of 1745. He quickly gained the reputation of being the best feudal lawyer in Scotland, and is said to have received greater emoluments from his practice than any counsel before his time.

On the death of George Brown of Coalston, Macqueen was elevated to the bench on 13th December, 1776, and assumed the title of Lord Braxfield. He was also appointed a Lord Commissioner of Justiciary on 1st March, 1780, on the resignation of Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck. In the same year was published an anonymous “Letter to Robert Macqueen, Lord Braxfield, on his Promotion to be one of the Judges of the High Court of Justiciary” (Edinburgh, 12mo). This pamphlet, which points out the common failings of Scottish criminal judges is attributed by Lord Cockburn to James Boswell, the elder (“Circuit Journeys,” 1889 p. 322).

On 15th January, 1788, Braxfield was appointed Lord Justice-Clerk, in succession to Thomas Miller of Barskimming, promoted to the Presidency of the Court of Session. He held that important office during a very interesting and critical period; and presided at the trials of Muir, Palmer, Margarot, and others, who were indicted for sedition in 1793-4, in the course of which he let fall from the bench the obiter dictum—“I never likit the French a’ my days, but now I hate them.” “In these,” says Lord Cockburn, “he was the Jeffreys of Scotland. He, as the head of the Court, and the only very powerful man it contained, was the real director of its proceedings” (“Memorials of his Time,” 1856, p. 116).

The conduct of Braxfield during these memorable trials has been freely censured in recent times as having been marked by great and unnecessary severity; but, the truth is, he was extremely well fitted for the crisis in which he was called on to perform so conspicuous a part, for by the bold and fearless front he assumed, he contributed not a little to curb the lawless spirit that was abroad, and which threatened a repetition of that reign of terror and anarchy which so fearfully devastated a neighbouring country. As an instance of his great nerve, it is recorded that Braxfield, after the trials were over, which was generally about midnight, always walked home to his house in George Square alone and unprotected, though he constantly commented openly on the conduct of the Radicals, and more than once observed in public, “They would a’ be muckle the better o’ being hangit!”

After a laborious and very useful life, Braxfield died at his residence, No. 28 George Square, Edinburgh, on 30th May, 1799, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and was buried at Lanark on 5th June following. Before taking up his residence in George Square, Braxfield lived for many years in Covenant Close. He was twice married. By his first wife, Mary Agnew, niece of Sir Andrew Agnew, he had two sons and two daughters; by his second wife; Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Chief Baron Ord, he had no children.

Braxfield was the last of our judges who rigidly adhered to the old “braid Scots.” “Hae ye ony counsel, man?” said he to Margarot, when placed at the bar, “Dae ye want tae hae ony appintit?” “No,” replied Margarot; “I only want an interpreter to make me understand what your Lordship says!” “Strong built and dark, with rough eyebrows, powerful eyes, threatening lips, and a low, growling voice, he was like a formidable blacksmith. His accent and his dialect were exaggerated Scotch; his language, like his thoughts, short, strong, and conclusive” (Cockburn, “Memorials of his Time,” 1856, p. 113). “Despising the growing improvement of manners, he shocked the feelings even of an age which, with more of the formality, had far less of the substance of decorum than our own. Thousands of his sayings have been preserved, and the staple of them is indecency, which he succeeded in making many people enjoy, or at least, endure, by hearty laughter, energy of manner, and rough humour” (ib. p. 114).

He domineered over the prisoners, the counsel, and his colleagues alike. Devoid of even a pretence to judicial decorum, he delighted while on the bench in the broadest jests and the most insulting taunts, “over which he would chuckle the more from observing that correct people were shocked. Yet this was not from cruelty, for which he was too strong and too jovial, but from cherished coarseness” (ib. pp. 115-116). Gerald, at his trial, ventured to say that Christianity was an innovation, and that all great men had been reformers, “even our Saviour Himself.” “Muckle He made o’ that,” chuckled Braxfield; “He was hangit” (ib. p. 117). On another occasion he remarked to an eloquent culprit at the bar, “Ye’re a vera clever chiel, man, but ye wad be nane the waur o’ a hangin’ ” (Lockhart’s “Life of Scott,” 1845, p. 425).

Of Braxfield’s grim humour in its unprofessional aspect but a few samples are now tolerable. Among these, however, is the following:—When a butler gave up his place because his mistress was always scolding him, “Lord!” exclaimed his master, “ye’ve little tae complain o’; be thankfu’ ye’re no marriet till her.”

“Out of the bar or off the bench,” says Stevenson, “he was a convivial man, a lover of wine, and one who shone peculiarly at tavern meetings.” When Lord Newton, then Charles Hay, was one morning pleading before him, after a night of hard drinking—the opposing counsel being in the like case—Braxfield observed, “Gentlemen, ye maun just pack up yer papers and gang hame; the tane o’ ye’s riftin’ punch and the ither’s belchin’ claret; there’ll be nae guid got oot o ye the day!” (“Kay’s Portraits,” 1877, vol. i., p. 169).

A portrait of Braxfield by Sir Henry Raeburn was exhibited at the Raeburn Exhibition at Edinburgh in 1876, a delightful description of which is given by R. L. Stevenson in his essay, “Some Portraits by Raeburn” (“Virginibus Puerisque,” 1881, pp. 219-236). Braxfield was, as every one knows, the prototype of Stevenson’s “Weir of Hermiston,” originally intended to be named “The Justice-Clerk,” and of which the author wrote to Mr. Charles Baxter, on 1st December, 1892, “Mind you, I expect ‘The Justice-Clerk’ to be my masterpiece. My Braxfield is already a thing of beauty and a joy for ever, and, so far as he has gone, far my best character” (“Letters to his Family and Friends,” 1899, vol. ii. p. 273)—a judgment which the literary world has unanimously sustained.

There is preserved in the Advocates’ Library a copy of the “Latin Thesis on a Title of the Pandects” (“De Cadaveribus Damnatorum”), written by Sir Walter Scott on his admission to the Faculty of Advocates, 11th July, 1792, with the following dedication:—

Sir David Dalrymple, Baronet, Lord Hailes (1726-1792), was the eldest son of Sir James Dalrymple, Bart., of Hailes, in the county of Haddington, Auditor of the Exchequer of Scotland, and Lady Christian Hamilton. He was born at Edinburgh on 28th October, 1726, and was descended on both sides from the nobility of the Scottish bar. His grandfather, Sir David Dalrymple, was the youngest son of the first Viscount Stair, Lord President of the Court of Session, and held the office of Lord Advocate for nineteen years. His mother was a daughter of Thomas, sixth Earl of Haddington, the lineal descendant of the first earl, who was Secretary for Scotland from 1612 to 1616, and President of the Court of Session from 1616 till his death in 1637. Dalrymple entered upon his studies at Eton, where he acquired a considerable knowledge of the classics and earned a high character for diligence and good conduct. He next re-visited his native city, and attended the University. From thence he went to Utrecht to study the civil law, returning to Edinburgh at the close of the Rising in 1746. He became a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 23rd February, 1748.

The death of his father two years later put Dalrymple in possession of a sufficient fortune to enable him to indulge his literary tastes; but he did not neglect his professional studies. As an oral pleader he was not successful. A defect in articulation prevented him from speaking fluently, and he was naturally an impartial critic rather than a zealous advocate. Notwithstanding this defect, he practised at the bar with much reputation for eighteen years. A great part of the business of litigation in Scotland at this time was conducted by written pleadings, and he became known as a learned and accurate lawyer.

On 6th March, 1766, Dalrymple was raised to the bench, on the death of George Carre of Nisbet, with the title of Lord Hailes, and on the resignation of George Brown of Coalston he was appointed a Lord of Justiciary on 3rd May, 1776. In the latter capacity he was distinguished for dignity, humanity, and impartiality—qualities at that times by no means characteristic of the criminal bench. The solemnity of his manner in administering oaths and pronouncing sentence specially struck his contemporaries. As a judge in the civil Court he was noted for his critical acumen and unswerving integrity. In knowledge of the history of law he was surpassed by none of his brethren, though among them were Elchies, Kaimes, and Monboddo.

At Edinburgh Lord Hailes lived some time in the Old Mint Close, foot of Todrick’s Wynd; he next had a house in Society, Brown’s Square; and latterly removed to New Street. His general residence was New Hailes, Musselburgh, where he died of apoplexy, the result of sedentary habits, on 29th November, 1792. Dr. “Jupiter” Carlyle, of Inveresk, who knew him well, summed up his character in a funeral sermon, in which he drew a glowing character of one of the most worthy of all the learned men of his time.

High as his memory stands as a judge, Hailes is better known to the world as a scholar and an author. His literary labours extend over a period of thirty-nine years—from the date of his first publication in 1751 till that of his last in 1790. “Lord Hailes was in some respects the very ideal of an historical inquirer. His mind was fair and dispassionate, and he reasoned with excellent logic. You will seldom find a mistake in fact or a conclusion not warranted by the premises in Lord Hailes’ ‘Annals.’ He had some defects, too, and the greatest of them is an unnecessary and repulsive dryness of narrative” (Cosmo Innes’ “Lectures on Scotch Legal Antiquities,” 1872, p. 8). His publications, almost without exception, related to the early antiquities of Christianity, or to the antiquities and history of Scotland, which before his time had been critically examined by scarcely any writer. His most important work is the “Annals of Scotland,” from Malcolm Canmore to Robert I., issued in 1776, and continued in 1779 to the accession of the House of Stuart. A complete catalogue of his numerous works will be found in “Kay’s Portraits” (1877, vol. i., pp. 367-370).

Sir David Rae, Baronet, Lord Eskgrove (1729-1804), son of the Reverend David Rae, of St. Andrews, an Episcopalian clergyman, by his wife, Agnes, daughter of Sir David Forbes of Newhall, was born in 1729. He was educated at the Grammar School of Haddington, and at the University of Edinburgh, where he attended the law lectures of Professor John Erskine (1695-1768). He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 11th December, 1751, and quickly acquired a considerable practice. When the celebrated Douglas cause was before the Court he was appointed one of the Commissioners for collecting evidence, and in that capacity accompanied James Burnett (afterwards Lord Monboddo) and Francis Garden (afterwards Lord Gardenstone) to France in September, 1764, for the purpose of investigating the proceedings which had been carried on in Paris relative to the case.

After thirty years of honourable and successful practice at the bar Rae was, on the death of Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, promoted to the bench on 14th November, 1782, and assumed the title of Lord Eskgrove, from the name of a small estate which he possessed near Inveresk. On 20th April, 1785, he was appointed a Lord of Justiciary, in succession to Robert Bruce of Kennet. He was one of the judges before whom Margarot, Skirving, and Gerald, the Reformers of 1793-4, were tried. He also assisted at the trials of the Rev. Thomas Fysche Palmer for sedition in 1793, and of Robert Watt and David Downie for high treason in 1794.

On the death of Lord Braxfield, Eskgrove was promoted to be Lord Justice-Clerk on 1st June, 1799, in which office he maintained the high character he had earned while at the bar. Henry Cockburn says of him, “Eskgrove was a very considerable lawyer; in mere knowledge probably Braxfield’s superior. But he had nothing of Braxfield’s grasp or reasoning, and in everything requiring force or soundness of head he was a mere child compared with that practical Hercules” (“Memorials of his Time,” 1856, p. 118). He was created a baronet on 27th June, 1804; died at Eskgrove on 23rd October following, in the eightieth year of his age; and was buried in Inveresk churchyard. He married, on 14th October, 1761, Margaret, daughter of John Stuart of Blairhall, Perthshire, by whom he had two sons. Eskgrove resided for many years in No. 8 St. John Street, Edinburgh.

“A more ludicrous personage,” says Cockburn, “could not exist. To be able to give an anecdote of Eskgrove, with a proper imitation of his voice and manner, was a sort of fortune in society. Scott in those days was famous for this particularly. Yet never once did he do or say anything which had the slightest claim to be remembered for any intrinsic merit. The value of all his words and actions consisted in their absurdity” (“Memorials,” pp. 118-119). In the trial of Glengarry for murder in a duel, a lady of great beauty was called as a witness. She came into Court veiled, but before administering the oath Eskgrove gave her this exposition of her duty—“Young woman! you will now consider yourself as in the presence of Almighty God and of this High Court. Lift up your veil, throw off all modesty, and look me in the face” (ib. p. 122). Cockburn also narrates that, having to condemn certain prisoners who had broken into the house of Luss and assaulted and robbed the inmates, Eskgrove first, as was his almost constant practice, explained the nature of the various crimes, assault, robbery, and hamesucken—of which last he gave them the etymology; he next reminded them that they had attacked the house and the persons within it, and robbed them, and then came to his climax—“All this you did, and God preserve us! joost when they were sitten doon tae their denner!” (ib. pp. 124-125). Cockburn tells many other anecdotes of him, too numerous for quotation here; but it would be difficult to omit the following:—On condemning a tailor to death for stabbing a soldier, the learned judge aggravated the offence thus—“And not only did you murder him, whereby he was bereaved of his life, but you did thrust, or push, or pierce, or project, or propel, the lethal weapon through the bellyband of his regimental breeches, which were His Majesty’s!” (ib. p. 122).

Lockhart states that, in Scott’s young days at the bar, he was counsel for the appellant in a case before Eskgrove concerning a cow which his client had sold as sound. In opening his case Scott stoutly maintained the healthiness of the animal, which, he said, had merely a cough. “Stop there,” quoth the judge; “I have had plenty healthy kye in my time, but I never heard o’ ane o’ them coughin’. A coughin’ cow! that will never do—sustain the Sheriff’s judgment, and decern!” (“Life of Scott,” 1839, vol. i., p. 299).

A felicitous parody of Eskgrove’s judicial manner is contained in the well-known “Advising” in the Diamond Beetle case (“Court of Session Garland,” 1839, pp. 75-77). Notwithstanding, however, his many eccentricities, he was a man of the highest integrity of character, and “cunning in old Scots law.”

John Campbell, Lord Stonefield (died 1801), son of Archibald Campbell of Stonefield, advocate, was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 9th January, 1748. He was subsequently appointed Sheriff of Argyll, an office which he long filled with the highest credit. On the death of Charles Erskine of Tinwald he was elevated to the bench, and took his seat, with the judicial title of Lord Stonefield, on 16th June, 1763. On the resignation of Francis Garden of Gardenstone, he was also nominated a Lord of Justiciary on 1st March, 1787. He resigned the latter appointment in the year 1792, but retained his seat on the bench till his death, which occurred at his residence in George Square, Edinburgh, on the 19th of June, 1801, after having been for thirty-nine years a judge of the Supreme Court.

It is somewhat remarkable that Stonefield and his two immediate predecessors occupied the same seat on the bench for a period of ninety years, Lord Royston having been appointed a judge in 1710, and Lord Tinwald in 1744.

Stonefield resided at one time in Elphinston’s Court, and latterly at No. 33 George Square, Edinburgh. Of his professional history no record has been preserved. As a scholar his attainments were considerable, and as a judge his decisions were marked by conciseness of expression and soundness of judgment. He was a zealous and liberal supporter of every scheme tending to promote the welfare and improvement of his native country.

By his wife, Lady Grace Stuart, daughter of James, second Earl of Bute, and sister of the Prime Minister, John (the third earl). Stonefield had seven sons, all of whom predeceased him. The second of these was Lieutenant-Colonel John Campbell, whose memorable defence of Mangalore, from May, 1783, to January, 1784, arrested the victorious career of Tippoo Sultan, and shed a lustre over the close of that calamitous war.

John Swinton, Lord Swinton (died 1799), son of John Swinton of Swinton, Berwickshire, advocate, by his wife Mary, daughter of Samuel Semple, minister of Liberton. He was admitted advocate on 20th December, 1743, and appointed Sheriff-depute of Perthshire in June, 1754. In April, 1766, he became solicitor for renewal of leases of the Bishops’ tithes, and solicitor and advocate to the Commissioners for Plantation of Kirks in Scotland, in place of James Montgomery, promoted to be Lord Advocate. He was elevated to the bench, with the title of Lord Swinton, on 21st December, 1782, on the death of Alexander Lockhart of Covington, and, on the promotion of Robert Macqueen of Braxfield in 1788, was also made a Lord of Justiciary. He retained both appointments till his death.

He died at his residence, Dean House, Edinburgh, on 5th January, 1799. Swinton married Margaret, daughter of John Mitchelson of Middleton, by whom he had six sons and seven daughters.

Swinton was the author of the following works:—(1) “Abridgment of the Public Statutes Relative to Scotland, &c., from the Union to the 27th of George II.,” 2 vols., 1755; “to the 29th of George III.,” 3 vols., 1788-90. (2) “Free Disquisition Concerning the Law of Entails in Scotland,” 1765. (3) “Proposal for Uniformity of Weights and Measures in Scotland,” 1779. (4) “Considerations Concerning a Proposal for Dividing the Court of Session into Classes or Chambers, and for Limiting Litigation in Small Causes, and for the Revival of Jury Trial in certain Civil Actions,” 1789.

Lord Cockburn, in his “Memorials of his Time” (1856, pp. 112-113), remarks—“These improvements have since taken place but they were mere visions in his time, and his anticipation or them, in which, so far as I ever heard, he had no associate, is very honourable to his thoughtfulness and judgment.” Cockburn also observes of Swinton—“He was a very excellent person; dull, mild, solid, and plodding; and in his person large and heavy. It is only a subsequent age that has discovered his having possessed a degree of sagacity for which he did not get credit while he lived. Notwithstanding the utter dissimilarity of the two men, there was a great friendship between him and Henry Erskine which it is to the honour of Swinton’s ponderous placidity that Erskine’s endless jokes upon him never disturbed.”

Sir Ilay Campbell, Baronet, Lord Succoth (1734-1823), was born on 23rd August, 1734. He was the eldest son of Archibald Campbell of Succoth, W.S., by his wife, Helen, only daughter of John Wallace of Ellerslie, Renfrewshire, and was admitted an advocate on 11th January, 1757. He soon obtained an extensive practice at the bar, and was one of the counsel for the appellant in the Douglas cause. During his last fifteen years at the bar his practice had become so great that there was scarcely any case of importance in which he was not engaged or consulted. In 1783 he was appointed Solicitor-General, in succession to Alexander Murray of Henderland, who was raised to the bench on 6th March of that year, but upon the accession of the Coalition Ministry he was dismissed, and Alexander Wight appointed in his place. Upon the fall of the Ministry he succeeded the Hon. Henry Erskine as Lord Advocate, and in the month of April, 1784, was elected to represent the Glasgow District of Burghs in Parliament, where he took an active share in all the important transactions of the time. The University of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1784, and from 1790 to 1801 he held the office of Lord Rector.

After acting as Lord Advocate for nearly six years, on 14th November, 1789, Campbell was appointed President of the Court of Session on the death of Sir Thomas Miller, Bart., and assumed the judicial title of Lord Succoth. He was placed at the head of the Commission of Oyer and Terminer, issued in the year 1794, for the trial of those accused of high treason in Scotland at that disturbed period, and was highly commended by English lawyers for the manner in which he acquitted himself in that capacity.

Campbell held the office of Lord President for nineteen years, and upon his resignation was succeeded by Robert Blair of Avonton. He presided for the last time on 11th July, 1808, being the final occasion on which the old Court of Session, consisting of fifteen judges, sat together. After the vacation, the Court sat for the first time in two Divisions. On 17th September, in the same year, he was created a baronet. He died on 28th March, 1823, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.

Campbell was an able lawyer, but without any great forensic gifts. His written pleadings were models of perspicuity, force, and eloquence, but his speeches though admirable in matter, were unattractive in delivery. Cockburn says of him, “His voice was low and dull, his face sedate and hard. Even when heaving internally with strong passion, externally he was like a knot of wood” (“Memorials of his Time,” 1856, p. 127). He was inferior to none of his brethren in depth of learning, and in private life was highly esteemed.

After his retirement from the bench, Campbell presided over two different Commissions appointed to inquire into the state of the Courts of law in Scotland, which he conducted with his accustomed industry and talent. He lived for many years in James’s Court, Edinburgh; but during the later years or his life he chiefly resided at his paternal estate of Garscube, Dumbartonshire, where he kept his active mind continually engaged in various literary and agricultural pursuits.

Campbell was married to Susan Mary, daughter of Archibald Murray of Cringletie, one of the Commissaries of Edinburgh, by whom he had six daughters and two sons, one of whom only survived, viz., Sir Archibald Campbell of Succoth, Bart., who was appointed one of the Senators of the College of Justice on 17th May, 1809. He retired in 1825.

Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer (1758-1819), the eldest son of Robert Dundas of Arniston the younger (1713-1787), Lord President of the Court of Session, was born on 6th June, 1758. He was a nephew of the celebrated Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira, whose daughter he afterwards married. He was educated for the legal profession, and became a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 3rd July, 1779, immediately after which he was appointed Procurator for the Church of Scotland. On the promotion of Sir Ilay Campbell to the office of Lord Advocate in April, 1784, Dundas, then a very young man, succeeded him as Solicitor-General; and on the elevation of the former to the bench as Lord President in November, 1789, the latter was appointed to supply his place as Lord Advocate, being then only in the thirty-first year of his age.

This office Dundas held for twelve years, during which time he sat in Parliament as a member for the county of Edinburgh (1790-6). He introduced into Parliament in 1793 a bill for defining and regulating the powers of the Commission of Teinds; but, from the little countenance extended towards it by the Ministry, and the strong opposition of the landed proprietors, he was under the necessity of withdrawing the measure.

Dundas conducted for the Crown, as Lord Advocate, the great prosecutions for sedition at Edinburgh in 1793-4; and on the occasion of the riots in connection with the Scottish Burghs Reform the windows of his house were broken by a hostile mob (“Kay’s Portraits,” 1877, vol. i., pp. 374-5). He acted as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates from 1796 to 1801; and, in 1799, was appointed Joint-Keeper of the General Register of Sasines for Scotland.

On 1st June, 1801, Dundas was appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Scotland, on the resignation of Chief Baron Montgomery. He held this office till within a short time of his death, which happened at Arniston on 17th June, 1819, in the sixty-second year of his age. His town residence was in St. John Street, Canongate.

The excellences which marked the character of Dundas were many, and all of the most amiable and endearing kind. In manner he was mild and affable, in disposition humane and generous, and in principle singularly tolerant and liberal—qualities which gained him universal esteem. As presiding judge of the Court of Exchequer, he on every occasion evinced a desire to soften the rigour of the law when a legitimate opportunity presented itself for so doing. If it appeared to him that an offender had erred unknowingly or from inadvertence, he invariably interposed his good offices to mitigate the sentence. “It was in his private life, however,” says his biographer, “and within the circle of his own family and friends, that the virtues of this excellent man were chiefly conspicuous, and that his loss was most severely felt. Of him it may be said he died leaving no good man his enemy, and attended with that sincere regret which only those can hope for who have occupied the like important stations and acquitted themselves as well.”

Dundas was one of the few individuals who were spoken favourably of by the Rev. William Auriol Hay Drummond in his “Town Eclogue” (Edinburgh, 1804)—

“Let justice veil her venerable head,
When dulness sits aloft in robes of red!
Though with delight we upright Cockburn see,
With courteous Cullen, deep-read Woodhouselee;
In the Chief Baron’s bland, ingenuous face,
Read all the worth and talent of his race.”

Lord Cockburn, who knew him well, gives an interesting account of Dundas in his “Memorials of his Time” (1856, pp. 156-159).

William Tait, advocate (died 1800), was the second son of Alexander Tait, one of the principal Clerks of Session, who is referred to in “The Court of Session Garland” (1839, p. 50). He was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn on 4th June, 1777, and became a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 19th February, 1780. He acted as Sheriff-depute of Stirling and Clackmannan from 1790 to 1797, and was member of Parliament for the Stirling District of Burghs from 3rd May, 1797, to 24th February, 1800. He died at Exeter on 7th January, 1800.

James Wolfe Murray, Lord Cringletie (1759-1836), was the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Murray of Cringletie, who had the honour to command the Grenadiers at the sieges of Louisburg and Quebec, and who died at Martinique in 1762. He was born on 5th January, 1719, and was named after General Wolfe, whose godson he was. He became a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 7th December, 1782, and was subsequently appointed Judge-Admiral. He was elevated to the bench on the death of Lord Meadowbank, and took his seat on 16th November, 1816, with the judicial title of Lord Cringletie, which he assumed from the family estate in Peeblesshire. He was also appointed one of the Commissioners of the Jury Court on 12th November, 1825. He resigned his judicial offices in 1834, and died on 29th May, 1836, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

Murray married, on 7th April, 1807, Isabella Katherine, only daughter of James Charles Edward Stuart Strange, H.E.I.C.S., a godson of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, by whom he had four sons and nine daughters. He resided at one time in No. 17 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.

References are made to Cringletie by Sir Walter Scott in his “Journal” (1891, pp. 322, 546); and an entertaining jeu d’esprit entitled “Notes by Lord Cringletie of the Trial, Douglas against Russell,” will be found in “Appendix to the Court of Session Garland” (1839, pp. 7-14).

Henry Erskine (1746-1817), second son of Henry David tenth Earl of Buchan, by his wife, Agnes, daughter of Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees, Bart., and brother of the celebrated Thomas Erskine, Lord Chancellor, was born in South Gray’s Close, Edinburgh, on 1st November, 1746. After receiving some preliminary instruction at St. Andrews, he matriculated as a student of the United College of St. Salvator and St. Leonard on 20th February, 1760. In 1763 he proceeded to Glasgow University, and subsequently went to Edinburgh University, where, in 1766, he attended the classes of Professors Wallace, Hugh Blair, and Adam Ferguson. He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 20th February, 1768. He had previously prepared himself for extempore speaking by attending the Forum Debating Society established in Edinburgh, in which he gave promise of that eminence as a pleader which he afterwards attained. His brilliant talents soon placed him at the head of his profession; and his legal services were as much at the command of the poor as of the wealthy. It was said of him that “no poor man wanted a friend while Harry Erskine lived.”

In August, 1783, Erskine was appointed Lord Advocate in the Coalition Ministry, in succession to Henry Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville). He held office only for a very short period in consequence of a sudden change of Ministry in December, 1783. Anticipating this, Dundas offered, on the day of his appointment, to lend him his own silk gown, suggesting it was hardly worthwhile buying a new one; Erskine replied that no doubt Dundas’s gown was made to fit any party, but that, however short his term of office might be, he declined to put on the abandoned habits of his predecessor. He was succeeded by Ilay Campbell (afterwards Lord President of the Court of Session).

On 24th December, 1785, Dundas having resigned the post of Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Erskine was elected in his place by a decided majority, in spite of the influence of the Government, which was exerted against him. Lord Cockburn remarks, “His political opinions were those of the Whigs; but a conspicuous and inflexible adherence to their creed was combined with so much gentleness that it scarcely impaired his popularity. Even the old judges, in spite of their abhorrence of his party, smiled upon him; and the eyes of such juries as we then had, in the management of which he was agreeably despotic, brightened as he entered” (“Life of Lord Jeffrey,” 1852, vol. i., p. 93).

Erskine had been annually re-elected Dean of Faculty since 1785; but in consequence of his having presided at a public meeting, held in Edinburgh on 28th November, 1795, to petition against the war, his political adversaries determined to oppose his re-election; and at the meeting of the Faculty on 12th January, 1796, Robert Dundas of Arniston, then Lord Advocate, was chosen Dean. Lord Cockburn, commenting on this incident, observes—“This dismissal was perfectly natural at a time when all intemperance was natural. But it was the Faculty of Advocates alone that suffered. Erskine had long honoured his brethren by his character and reputation, and certainly he lost nothing by being removed from the official chair. It is to the honour of the society, however, that out of 161 who voted, there were 38 who stood true to justice, even in the midst of such a scene” (“Life of Jeffrey,” vol. i., p. 94).

On the death of Lord Eskgrove in October, 1804, Erskine was offered the office of Lord Clerk Register, but declined it, refusing to separate his fortunes from those of his party. On the return of the Whigs to power in 1806 he once more became Lord Advocate, and was at the same time returned member for the Dumfries District of Burghs. The downfall of the Ministry in March, 1807, however, again deprived him of office, and the dissolution in the following month put an end to his Parliamentary career.

In 1811 Lord Justice-Clerk Hope was, on the death of Lord President Blair in May of that year, appointed his successor. Erskine, who was fifteen years Hope’s senior at the bar, being disappointed of the preferment to which his professional standing and abilities entitled him, after a brilliant career extending over a period of forty-four years, retired from public life to his residence of Almond-dell in West Lothian, where he died on 8th October, 1817, in the seventy-first year of his age.

Erskine resided at one time in George Square, Edinburgh, next door to No. 25, where Scott’s father lived. He removed in 1789 to No. 27 Princes Street.

Lord Cockburn calls Erskine “the brightest luminary at our bar,” and adds, “His name can no sooner be mentioned than it suggests ideas of wit, with which, in many memories, the recollection of him is chiefly associated. A tall and slender figure, a face sparkling with vivacity, a clear, sweet voice, and a general suffusion of elegance, gave him a striking and pleasing appearance” (“Life of Jeffrey,” vol. i., p. 91).

Erskine was twice married; his first wife, Christian, was the only daughter of George Fullerton of Broughton Hall, by whom he had several children, one of whom, Henry David, succeeded to the Earldom of Buchan on the death of his uncle, David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl, in 1829. By his second wife he had no children.

Alexander Wight, advocate (died 1793), was the son of David Wight, writer, Edinburgh. He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 2nd March, 1754, and was subsequently appointed Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales. He was vice-president of the Antiquarian Society, and was also a director of the Musical Society. He is said to have been long distinguished as an eminent counsel. He died at Edinburgh on 18th March, 1793.

Wight was well known as a legal writer, and was the author of “A Treatise on the Laws Concerning the Election of the Different Representatives sent from Scotland to the Parliament of Great Britain, with a Preliminary View of the Constitution of the Parliaments of England and Scotland before the Union of the two Kingdoms,” dedicated to Lord Mansfield (Edinburgh, 1773, 8vo); and also of “An Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of Parliament chiefly in Scotland, and a Complete System of the Law Concerning the Election of the Representatives from Scotland to the Parliament of Great Britain” (Edinburgh, 1784, fol.).

Cosmo Innes says of him—“If we did not know his unhappy end we should call Alexander Wight, the author of the ‘Law of Elections’ and ‘History of Parliament,’ the most sensible, dispassionate, and clear-headed of historical lawyers. He had great difficulties to contend with in writing too early for correct versions of our Acts of Parliament; and the curious charters appended to his volume lose much of their value by the extreme inaccuracy of the only readings which he could procure” (“Lectures on Scotch Legal Antiquities,” 1872, p. 11).

Wight is mentioned in “The Court of Session Garland” (1839, p. 47). It is recorded by Chambers in his “Traditions of Edinburgh” (1825, vol. ii., p. 159) that Wight was one of the earliest settlers in the New Town, where he built one of the houses on the south side of St. Andrew Square. He chose the situation of his new residence with a view to having the ancient part of the city still within sight, and especially St. Giles’ steeple and clock, which had for many centuries directed the motions of his legal predecessors. In order to prevent the intermediate line of Princes Street from interrupting his beloved prospect, he purchased the feu of the ground which immediately intervened, and erected that house now occupied by the Sun Insurance Office (No. 40 Princes Street) upon it with a flat and low roof.

Charles Hay, Lord Newton (1747-1811), son of James Hay of Cocklaw, Writer to the Signet, was born in 1747. After the usual preparatory course of education, he passed as an advocate on 24th December, 1768, having just attained his majority; but, unlike most young practitioners, Hay had so thoroughly studied the principles of law that he was frequently heard to declare he was as good a lawyer at that time as he ever was at any later period. He soon became distinguished by his strong, natural abilities, as well as by his extensive knowledge of his profession, which embraced alike the minutest forms of the daily practice of the Court and the highest and most subtle points of jurisprudence. He was promoted by the Fox Administration to the bench on the death of David Smythe of Methven, and took his seat, with the judicial title of Lord Newton, on 7th March, 1806. This appointment was the only one which took place in the Court of Session during what was termed the reign of “The Talents”—a circumstance on which it is said he always professed to set a high value. Newton died unmarried at Powrie, in the county of Forfar, on the 19th of October, 1811.

Hay was, during the whole course of his life, a staunch Whig of the old school. Whilst at the bar his opinions were probably never surpassed for their acuteness, discrimination, and solidity; and as a judge he showed that all this was the result of such a rapid and easy application of the principles of law as appeared more like the effect of tuition than of study and laborious exertion.

Newton possessed an extraordinary fund of good humour, amounting almost to playfulness, and entirely devoid of vanity or affectation. There was a strong dash of eccentricity in his character, but his peculiarities appeared in the company of so many estimable qualities that they only tended to make him more interesting to his friends. He possessed great bodily strength and activity till the latter years of his life, when he became excessively corpulent.

Cockburn calls him “a man famous for law, paunch, whist, claret, and worth,” and adds, “In private life he was known as ‘The Mighty.’ He was a bulky man with short legs, twinkling eyes, and a large purple visage; no speaker, but an excellent legal writer and adviser. Honest, warm-hearted, and considerate, he was always true to his principles and his friends. But these and other good qualities were all apt to be lost sight of in people’s admiration of his drinking. His daily and flowing cup raised him far above the evil days of sobriety on which he had fallen, and made him worthy of having quaffed with the Scandinavian heroes” (“Memorials of his Time,” 1856, p. 223).

Many quaint anecdotes are told of him. On the bench he frequently indulged in a certain degree of lethargy, and on one occasion a young counsel, who was pleading before the Division, confident of a favourable judgment, stopped his argument, remarking to the other judges on the bench, “My Lords, it is unnecessary that I should go on, as Lord Newton is fast asleep.” “Ay, ay,” cried Newton, “you will have proof of that by and by,” when, to the astonishment of the young advocate, after a most luminous review of the case, he gave a very decided and elaborate judgment against him. The following story, says Chambers, was once told of Lord Newton by Dr. Gregory to King George the Third, who laughed at it very heartily. A country client coming to town to see him, when at the bar, upon some business, found on inquiry that the best time for the purpose was at four o’clock, just before Hay sat down to dinner. He accordingly called at the counsel’s house at that hour, but was informed that Mr. Hay was then at dinner, and could not be disturbed. He returned the following day earlier in the afternoon, when to his surprise the servant repeated his former statement. “At dinner!” cried the enraged applicant; “did you not tell me that four was his dinner-hour, and now it wants a quarter of it!” “Yes, sir,” said the servant, “but it is not his this day’s, but his yesterday’s dinner that Mr. Hay is engaged with. So you are rather too early than too late” (“Traditions of Edinburgh,” 1825, vol. ii., pp. 276-277).

It is said that Newton often spent the night in all manner of convivial indulgences—drove home about seven o’clock in the morning—slept two hours—and mounting the bench at the usual time, showed himself perfectly well qualified to perform his duty. His Lordship was also so exceedingly fond of card-playing that it was humorously remarked, “Cards were his profession, and the law only his amusement.”

Newton resided for many years at No. 22 York Place, Edinburgh. His portrait by Raeburn—“just awakened from clandestine slumber on the bench,” as Stevenson describes it—is one of the most popular of that master’s works.

John Clerk, Lord Eldin (1757-1832), the eldest son of John Clerk of Eldin, the author of the well-known “Essay on Naval Tactics,” and his wife, Susannah Adam, the sister of the celebrated architects of that name, was born in April, 1757. He was educated with the view of entering the Indian Civil Service, but, his attention having been turned to the legal profession, he was eventually apprenticed to a Writer to the Signet. After serving his indentures, he practised for a year or two as an accountant. Then, having qualified himself for the bar, he was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates on 3rd December, 1785.

Clerk speedily rose to distinction in his profession and acquired so extensive a practice that, it is said, at one period of his career he had nearly one-half of the business of the Court upon his hands. On 11th March, 1806, on the resignation of Robert Blair of Avonton, he was appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland, an appointment which he held during the twelve months that the Whig party was in office.

“Had his judgment been equal to his talent,” writes Lord Cockburn, “few powerful men could have stood before him. For he had a strong, working, independent, ready head, which had been improved by various learning, extending beyond his profession into the fields of general literature, and into the arts of painting and sculpture. Honest, warm-hearted, generous, and simple, he was a steady friend, and of the most touching affection in all the domestic relations. The whole family was deeply marked by an hereditary caustic humour, and none of its members more than he” (“Life of Jeffrey,” vol. i., p. 200).

His practice at the bar had been for some time falling off, and his health had already begun to fail, when, on 10th November, 1823, Clerk was appointed an Ordinary Lord of Session in the place of Lord Bannatyne. Assuming the title of Lord Eldin, he took his seat on the bench on 22nd November. As a judge he was not a success; his temperament was not a judicial one, and his faculties at the date of his elevation were seriously impaired. In consequence of the infirmities of age, after five years of judicial work, he resigned in 1828, and was succeeded by Lord Fullerton. He died unmarried at his house, No. 16 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, on 30th May, 1832, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

As a pleader Clerk was distinguished by strong sense, acuteness, and the most profound reasoning. Throughout his entire career at the bar he delighted in defying, ridiculing, and insulting the bench; and it is recorded that his whole session was one keen and truceless conflict with judicial authority. He was in the habit of saying whatever he liked to certain of the Outer House judges without reproof. Lord Craigie especially, it is said, suffered a species of torture from him that required great natural sweetness and kindness of disposition to endure. Clerk, however, did not come off so well with the Inner House judges. On one celebrated occasion, having used somewhat threatening language towards Lord Glenlee in the Second Division, he was reluctantly compelled by the Court to make an apology to the offended judge. An account of this remarkable scene will be found in the “Journal of Henry Cockburn” (1874, vol. ii., pp. 207-210).

In politics Clerk was a zealous Whig. He had a considerable taste for fine arts, occasionally amused himself in drawing, painting, and modelling, and had such an attachment to cats that his house could always boast of half-a-dozen feline indwellers. It is recorded that at the sale of his collection of paintings and prints, which took place at his house in Picardy Place after his decease, the floor of the drawing-room gave way, and about eighty persons—one of whom was killed—“were precipitated into the room below, to the destruction also of much valuable china and numerous articles of vertu there displayed.”

In appearance Clerk was singularly plain; he was also very lame, one of his legs being shorter than the other; and his inattention to dress was proverbial. It is related that when walking down the High Street one day from the Court he overheard a young lady saying to her companion rather loudly, “There goes Johnnie Clerk, the lame lawyer,” upon which he turned round and said, “Na, madam, I may be a lame man, but no’ a lame lawyer.”

Clerk was of a convivial disposition, and the contrast between the crabbed lawyer and the good-natured bon vivant was strongly marked. He was a member of the Bannatyne Club, of which Sir Walter Scott was president. On one occasion, after the anniversary dinner, he is said to have fallen down-stairs and injured his nose, which necessitated his wearing a patch upon the organ for some time afterwards. On a learned friend inquiring how the accident happened, Clerk replied that it was the effect of his studies. “Studies!” ejaculated the inquirer. “Yes,” growled Clerk; “ye’ve heard, nae doot, about Coke upon Littleton, but I suppose ye never heard tell o’ Clerk upon Stair!”

An interesting account of Clerk’s striking personality is given by Lord Cockburn in his “Life of Lord Jeffrey” (1852, vol. i., pp. 199-205).

Robert Hamilton, advocate (1750-1831), son of Alexander Hamilton of Gilkerscleugh, Lanarkshire, distantly connected with the ducal house of Hamilton, was born about 1750. He entered the army, and was present at the Bunker’s Hill and other battles of the American War of Independence, where he fought gallantly, and was severely wounded. He afterwards studied law, and became a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1788. He was appointed Sheriff-depute of Lanarkshire in 1797, and on his resignation of that office, in 1822, he was appointed, on 5th February of the same year, Principal Clerk in the First Division of the Court of Session. He married a daughter of David Dalrymple of Westhall, one of the Senators of the College of Justice. He died on 13th December, 1831.

Hamilton was an intimate friend of his colleague, Sir Walter Scott, who mentions him frequently in his “Journal” as being incapacitated by gout from attending to his professional duties. They were both Commissioners of the Northern Lights, and went together the voyage of inspection in 1814, described by Lockhart (“Life of Scott,” 1839, vol. iv., pp. 182 et seq.). Hamilton is noted therein as good humoured, even when troubled with the gout; “a very Uncle Toby in military enthusiasm, and a brother antiquary of the genuine Monkbarns breed.” On his deathbed he gave Scott the sword he had carried at Bunker’s Hill.

Hamilton was well known as a legal writer and genealogist. He had the credit of being a good lawyer, and, it is said, “obtained much professional reputation for getting up the case for Hamilton of Wishaw, which carried the peerage of Belhaven before a Committee of Privileges. He also drew up the elaborate claim of Miss Lennox of Woodhead to the ancient earldom of Lennox, an interesting production, but based on a fallacy.”

APPENDIX III.

A List of Publications on the Subject of or having Reference to the Trial of Deacon Brodie.

Quarto, pp. xii. + 125.

This, the first separate report of the trial, by William Creech, was published on 5th September, 1788, “handsomely printed in quarto, price 3s., stitched,” and contained three appendices. It was originally issued without the portrait of Deacon Brodie, but on 15th September was advertised for sale as “embellished with a full length portrait of Mr. Brodie by Kay, and reckoned a very striking likeness. Price, 3s. 6d., or without the engraving, 3s. N.B.—The former purchasers of the above account of this singular trial will be accommodated with the print at 6d. each on sending their copies to Mr. Creech’s shop. A few copies of the print may be had separate from the trial at 1s. each.”

The advertisement adds—“A most shameful and mean piracy of the above account of the trial has appeared. This may, no doubt, in some degree be reckoned a compliment, as it is but fair to infer that when people are to pillage they naturally wish to take what they think most valuable; but such a breach of good manners and such a barefaced invasion of the right of another ought to be exposed. Application has this day been made to the Lord Ordinary to interdict the sale of this pirated edition.” This intimation has reference to the reports of the trial respectively published by Stewart and Robertson, as aftermentioned.

Octavo, pp. viii. + 279.

Morrison’s report of the trial, which is much the most accurate and complete, was published on 6th September, 1788. The editor writes in his preface, “It was thought better to state the proceedings by way of dialogue, in the same manner as all the English trials are published, than in the form of narrative—the usual manner or collecting both the depositions of witnesses and the pleadings of counsel in Scotland.” This was an innovation which rendered the report more interesting and valuable than its competitors. An account of the trial by Charles Elliot, the publisher, had been announced, but it was arranged that Morrison should prepare it, Elliot furnishing him with his MS. and publishing the book.

It is interesting to know from a contemporary account that Deacon Brodie, while in prison after his sentence, “has read all the publications respecting his trial, and has given it as his opinion that Mr. Elliot’s account was the best.”

The advertisement states—“There will be published on Monday an appendix to this trial, which will be given gratis. Those who have already got copies may send for the appendix.” With regard to this appendix, Morrison has a note that he had originally intended publishing certain interesting documents in his report, but had been informed by a friend of Brodie’s “that Mr. Creech had engaged upon his honour not to publish anything in his account of the trial, either in the form of anecdote or otherwise, that did not occur in the course of the trial itself.” Creech, however, published some additional matter, and Morrison considered “he was entitled to put the purchasers of his account on a footing with those who had purchased Mr. Creech’s.” The three appendices given in the first edition of Creech’s report were therefore issued by Morrison, as above mentioned.

Octavo, pp. vi.+72.

The advertisement of this account of the trial, which was published on 15th September, 1788 states—“The whole will be neatly printed on a fine paper and new type in three numbers at 9d.; the second number will be published on Saturday, the 20th; and the third on Friday, the 25th curt. And an additional number, price 3d., containing several occurrences, &c., from the day of their sentence till the 2nd of October next. N.B.—Commissions duly answered, for ready money only.”

This was one of the pirated editions referred to by Creech, and is a literal reprint or his first edition of the trial.

The Edinburgh Evening Courant of Thursday, 18th September, 1788, gives the following account of the interdict whereby Creech endeavoured to stop the sale of this and Stewart’s edition.:—“This day a new case in literary property was tried before Lord Dreghorn. Mr. Creech applied for an interdict against two piracies of his account of Brodie and Smith’s trial. The interdict was granted, and parties were heard this day at eleven o’clock. Mr. Creech has sent up copies to Stationers’ Hall by the mail-coach, with orders to enter the book in Stationers’ Hall, according to the Act of Parliament 8th of Queen Anne; but the certificate of entry was not yet arrived. Lord Dreghorn declared both the copies complained on were gross piracies, but as the words of the Act of Parliament were express, he was sorry he could do nothing else than remove the interdict to the sale of the piratical copies until the certificate of entry was produced, and a new interdict might then be applied for, with action of damages. By this judgment it is necessary that the book be entered in Stationers’ Hall before publication.”

In advertising Part II. for sale the publisher made the following announcement:—“When Mr. Robertson published the first number of the above trial he copied it from Mr. Creech’s account of it, not knowing or suspecting it to be property; but being since convinced that it is so, he applied to Mr. Creech for liberty to go on with his future numbers, which he obligingly consented to, although possessed of the certificate of the entry in Stationers Hall. The public will be regularly served, as advertised, with their numbers.”

4. A Full Account of the Trial of William Brodie and George Smith, Before the High Court of Justiciary, on the 27th and 28th Days of August 1788, for Breaking into the Excise Office; With an Account of several other Depredations committed by them and their Associates. Edinburgh: J. Stewart, Lawnmarket, 1788. (Price, 1s. only.)

This was the other “piratical copy” of Creech’s first edition, which was published on 15th September, 1788. No copy of the book is contained either in the British Museum or any other public library, so far as has been ascertained, and the above particulars are taken from a contemporary advertisement.

The publisher announced on 18th September—“J. Stewart informs his friends and the public that the interdict applied for by Mr. Creech was this day removed by the Lord Ordinary, and the sale goes on as formerly.”

Octavo, pp. 16.

Published on 2nd October, 1788, the day after the execution. It consists of two of Creech’s appendices, together with some additional particulars concerning the prisoners not given by Creech.

Octavo, pp. xxii.+ 288.

This second edition of Creech’s report, revised and corrected, was published on 3rd October 1788. The paragraphs in Smith’s declarations, omitted in the former edition as having no immediate relation to the trial, were here given in full, and three further appendices were added to those contained in the first edition. The volume included the portrait of Deacon Brodie, already published, and an additional portrait, entitled “Smith at the Bar,” also by Kay. The publication of this edition was delayed some days in order to give an account of the behaviour of the criminals at their execution.

Report of the Trial—Monthly Register for August,
pp. 114-120. Other references—pp. 101, 146-148.

Report of the Trial—August, pp. 365-372; September,
pp. 429-437. Other references—pp. 358-359, 514-516.

References—pp. 648, 829, 925.

References—Vol. xxx., pp. 207, 214-215.

References—Vol. i., pp. 194-195.

References—pp. 327-328.

References—pp. 165-168.

References—Vol. ii., pp. 60-113.

References—Vol. i., pp. 96, 119, 141, 256-265, 399;
vol. ii., pp. 8, 120-121, 286.

References—pp. 14, 35.

References—Vol. i., pp. 112-116, 217; vol. ii., 23;
vol. iii., 367.

References—pp. 113-119.

References—Vol. i., p. 222; vol. ii., 23.

Square 16mo, pp. viii.+182.

This play, of which Stevenson had prepared various drafts—the earliest in 1864—was first privately printed in 1880. A revised edition was printed “For Private Circulation Only” in 1888. The play was first published in “Three Plays by W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson,” 1892; afterwards in “Four Plays,” 1896, and separately, as above, in 1897, as volume i. of “The Plays of W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson.”

The play was first produced at Pullan’s Theatre of Varieties, Bradford, on 28th December, 1882. The subsequent occasions on which it was performed were as follows:—At Her Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, in March, 1883; at the Prince’s Theatre, London, on 2nd July, 1884; at Montreal, on 26th September, 1887; followed by a series of representations at Quebec, Toronto, Boston Philadelphia and other cities; and at the Star Theatre, New York, on 1st December, 1887. The cast of the play as performed in London and at Montreal is given in “Three Plays,” 1892, and in subsequent editions.

References—pp. 22, 52, 69, 70, 106, 161.

Crown octavo, pp. vi. + 258.

A novel founded upon the career of Deacon Brodie, and, so far as ascertained, his only appearance in fiction.

References—pp. 171, 224.

Reports of and comments upon the trial appeared in the three contemporary Edinburgh newspapers, viz., The Caledonian Mercury, The Edinburgh Advertiser, and The Edinburgh Evening Courant.

APPENDIX IV.

The Brodie Family Bible.

This unique volume was recently acquired in the course of business by Mr. Richard Cameron, bookseller, Edinburgh. On finding it to be the family Bible of Convener Francis Brodie, father of the notorious Deacon Brodie, Mr. Cameron communicated his discovery to the Town Council, by whom it was purchased for the city on 28th June, 1904, and placed in the Edinburgh Municipal Museum, where it now finds a fitting resting-place among many other interesting memorials of the old burghal life.

This volume is valuable as throwing light upon the antecedents of Deacon Brodie, as to which little was previously known. It is a fine copy of the folio edition of the Holy Bible, printed by James Watson, the famous Edinburgh printer, in 1722, and comprises the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, the New Testament, and King James’ version of the metrical Psalms. The book-plate of Francis Brodie appears within the front board of the book.

Francis Brodie has inserted between the Old and New Testaments a manuscript register of births, baptisms, and deaths occurring in his family, beginning with his own birth in 1708, and that of his wife, Cicel Grant, in 1718, their marriage in 1740 the births of their eleven children, most of whom died in infancy, and the deaths of other relatives.

It is noteworthy that the entry relating to the birth of his eldest child, William, has been cut out of the register, and the vacant space filled with blank paper. This was probably done in 1788, at the time of the Deacon’s trial and execution, which took place six years after the death of his father. There still, however, remains in the register a record of William’s birth. An entry appears with reference to the change of the calendar by Act of Parliament in 1752, whereby the Gregorian was adopted in place of the Julian calendar. In view of this, the events previously entered are repeated in accordance with the altered dates, each being eleven days later. In this new list the birth of the eldest son, William, is noted as occurring on 10th October, 1741.

The death of Francis Brodie on 1st June, 1782, is recorded by his daughter, Jean Brodie. Various later entries appear relating to members of the family, terminating in 1839 with the funeral letter of Jacobina Brodie (Mrs. Sheriff). Jean Brodie was the sister who kept house for the Deacon; and Jacobina Brodie was the wife of Matthew Sheriff, upholsterer in Edinburgh, who gave evidence at the trial in defence of his brother-in-law. Deacon Brodie refers to both sisters in his letters, which were produced in evidence against him.

The following is a copy of the entries above referred to, the original orthography being preserved throughout:—

Edinburgh, the 24 June 1708, was born I Francis Brodie, now Wright and Glass: Grinder in Edinburgh, Son to Ludovick Brodie, Writer to the Signet, and Hellen Grant his Spouse, was baptised by the Reverend Mr. Innes, in presence off

Edinburgh, the 17 August 1718, was born betwixt 11 and 12 att night, Cicel Grant (now my Spouse) Daughter to William Grant,

Facsimile of first page of MS. Register in the Brodie Family Bible.
(From the original in the Edinburgh Municipal Museum.)

Writer, and Jean Broun, his 2d spouse, and was baptised nixt day by the Reverend Mr. Freebairn, in presence of the above Ludovick Brodie, John Grant and Allexander Gordon, Writers &c., named after Mrs. Cicel Rentoun, Sister to the Laird of Lamerton.

Edinburgh, the 20th October 1740, We the above Francis Brodie and Cicel Grant was maried in Her Father’s house by the Reverend Mr. Wallace, Minister in Edg. before these witnesses, viz., our two fathers, John, Joseph, and Hellen Brodie’s my Brother’s and Sister, Ludovick Allexander, and Jean Grant’s her Brother’s and Sister, and John Grant, Writer to the Signet, my Uncle and her Cousin.

[Here followed the entry of the Deacon’s birth, which has been cut out of the page, as above mentioned.]

Edinburgh, the 22 September, 1742, was born att 6 in the morning being Wednesday, our Second Son and deied about 11 oclock that Forenoon and was buried that evening in the Greyfriars Church Yard, two double paces to the West side of the narrow road opposite to Harley’s Tomb, where a Great many of his Relations are interred.

Edinburgh, the 18 October 1745, was born betwixt 7 and 8 in the morning, being Friday, Hellen Brodie, our third child, and was baptised that same afternoon by the aforesaid the Reverend Mr. Mathieson, Minister in Edg., in presence of her two Grand Fathers, Hellen Brodie her Aunt, Ludovick Grant her Uncle, and John Grant, Writer, her granduncle, named after Hellen Brodie, her Grand Mother by her Father (who died the 15 December 1725).

The above Hellen Brodie contracted a sore throat, which in a few days occasioned her death on the 13th of August 1746 att 11 oclock forenoon, being Weddnesday, and was buried the nixt day in the evening att the above place beside her Brother. She was 9 months and 20 days old and a very agreeable Child.

Edinburgh, the 1st November 1747, was born 10 minutes after 5 in the morning, being Sunday, Ludovick Brodie, our Fourth Child and was Baptised that same afternoon by the Reverend Mr Glen, Minister in Edinr. in presence of his two Grand Fathers, Hellen Brodie his Aunt, and Ludovick Grant his Uncle, named after Ludovick Brodie his Grandfather.

The above Ludovick Brodie took a Chincouch, which in six weeks occasioned his death on the 14th of August 1748 att 12 oclock Forenoon, being Sunday, and was buried the nixt day in the evening att the above place beside his Brother and Sister. He was 9 month and 14 days old and a very agreeable, Strong Child.

Edinburgh, the 16th Jully 1749, was born half an hour after six in the morning, being Sunday, Francis Brodie, our Fifth and was Baptised that same afternoon by the Reverend Mr Glen, Glen, Minister in Eding., in presence of his Grandfather Ludovick Brodie, Hellen Brodie his Aunt, Ludovick Grant and John Brodie his Uncles, &c. Named after myself.

Edinburgh, the 16th October 1750 was born half an hour after Twelve in the morning, being Tuesday, Ludovick Brodie, our sixt Child and was baptised that same afternoon by the Reverend Mr Wallace, Minister in Eding, in presence of his two Grand Fathers, Hellen Brodie his Aunt, Mrs. Grant his Aunt, and Mrs. Grant his half Aunt, John Grant his grand Uncle, and John Brodie his Uncle, named after Ludovick Brodie his Grand Father.

By Act of the British Parliament, the Gregorian Kallender was introduced in Place of the Jullian, and in consequence of this, the day after the 2d of September (by leaving out eleven days) was the 14th of September, which makes the forementioned events to fall on the following days. viz.—

Francis Brodie (above designed) was born upon the 6 Jully 1708.

Cicel Grant, my Wife, was born the 28 August 1718.

We were married the 1st November, 1740.

Our First Child, William, was born, the 10 of October 1741.

Our Second Child was born and he died the 4 of October 1742.

Our third Child, Hellen, was born the 30 October, 1745 (her Grand Mother by the Father, whom she was named after died the 27 December, 1725) and she died the 25 August 1746.

Our Fourth Child, Ludovick, was born the 13 November 1747, and died the 26 of August 1748.

Our Fifth Child, Francis, was born the 28 Jully 1749.

Our Sixt Child, Ludovick, was born the 28 October, 1750.

Edinburgh, the 7th November 1752, betwixt 12 and 1 in the morning (being Tuesday) was born our Sevenths Child, and that same forenoon was baptised by the forementioned Mr. William Wallace, in presence of his two Grand Fathers, Mr. John Grant his Grand Uncle, Mr John and Mr James Brodie’s his Uncles by the Father, Mr. William and Mr. Ludovick Grant’s his Uncles by the Mother, and Mrs. Hellen Brodie his Aunt by his Father, named after John Brodie his Uncle.

The above John Brodie, upon the 15th January, 1753, (being Monday) took a Sudden illness and deied betwixt 6 and 7 in the morning and was buried in the before mentioned place. He was a very lively, well proportioned, well loock’d and thriving Child, to appearance, and was 9 weeks and 6 days old.

Edinburgh, the 28 February 1754, betwixt 2 and 3 in the morning (being Thursday) was born our Eight child, and that same day was baptised by the forementioned Mr. William Wallace in the presence of her two Grand Fathers, Mr John Grant her Grand Uncle, Mr James Brodie her Uncle by the Father, Mr William and Mr Ludovick Grant’s her Uncles by the Mother, and Mrs. Hellen Brodie (now Mrs. Rintoul) her Aunt by the Father, named Cicel after her Mother.

Edinburgh, the 26 May 1756, ten minutes after two in the morning (being Wednesday) was born our ninth Child, and that same day was baptised by the Reverend Mr David Rintoul, one of the Ministers in Kirkcaldie, in presence of her two Grand Fathers, Mr John Grant her Grand Uncle, Mr James Brodie her Uncle by the Father, Mrs. Rintoul her Aunt by the Father, &c., named Margaret after her Aunt in Law Mrs Grant, spouse to Mr Ludovick Grant her Uncle by the Mother.

The above Ludovick Brodie, our Sixt Child, died the 3d of June 1756 (being Thursday) att four o clock in the morning of the Small Pox, aged 5 years 7 months and 6 days, and was buried in the above mentioned place; he was a beautyfull, genteel boy, had more prudence than most of his age, which, joined to a great deal of vivacity, benevolence, and kindness in his disposition, made him beloved by every one who knew him.

Mr Ludovick Brodie, Clerk to the Signet, my Worthy Father, died of a Fever, att his own house in Edinburgh, the 16 June 1758 att 1 o clock afternoon, aged 86, he was a very long time in business (and before he died was the oldest Clerk to the Signet) and bore a very fair character, being honest in his transactions and benevolent in his disposition, embracing every opportunity of doing good and charitable Actions to mankind in generall and to his Relations and Acquaintances in particular; Religious without ostentation, an affectionate Husband (to my Mother, Hellen Grant, his only wife, who died likewise of a Fever the 27 December 1725. She was a pious woman, a dutifull Wife and an affectionate Mother,) and he was likewise a kind Parent and a constant and sincere Friend. As to his person, of a midle stature, strong, robust, and well proportioned, had an open and manly countenance, was burried the 19th Curt. in the above mentioned place.

Edinburgh, the 2d. February 1759, being Friday att —— was born our tenth Child and that same day was baptised by the above reverend Doctr. William Wallace, in presence of her Grand Father Mr William Grant, Mr. James Brodie her Uncle by the Father, Mr. Ludovick Grant and Mrs Grant her Uncle and Aunt by the Mother, Mr. William and Hellen Grant’s’ her 2d Cousins by the Father, and named Jean after her Grand Mother and her Aunt by the Mother.

Edinburgh, the 31 of Jully 1760, being Saturday, att 1 in the morning, was born our eleventh Child and that same day was baptised by Doctr. Patrick Cumming, Minister in Edinburgh, in presence of her Grand Father Mr Willaim Grant, Mr James Brodie her Uncle by the Father, Mr Ludovick and Mrs. Grant’s her Uncle and Aunt by the Mother, Mrs Gordon and Mrs Campbell her Aunts by the Mother, and Mrs Hellen Grant her 2d. Cousin by the Father, and named Jacobina after the above Mr James Brodie her Uncle.

Mr William Grant, Writer in Edinburgh, my wife’s worthie Father, died of old age the 18 of January 1762, att 8 oclock in the morning, in the 100 of his age, he was a very long time in business, had a very fair character for honesty in all his transactions. Religious without ostentation, a good Husband, a dutiful Parent, and in his own lifetime did a great many good and Liberall actions, particularly to his Children, Grand Children and great Grand Children, who were very numerous. As to his person, he was of a midle stature, well Proportioned, of a Fair and comely Countenance, and was buried the 21 curt. in the above place.

On the 19th of February 1768, being Frieday, a little after one in the morning, died of a lingering illness, my eldest Daughter, Cicel, wanting 9 days to compleat her 14th year and during the long time she was indisposed, behaved with great Fortitude and Patience, her own distress never making her neglect nor abate that natural affability and good manners which she shewed to all, and particularly to her relations; when in health her person was tall and gentile and her countenance agreeable, her behaviour modest, polite and sensible, her capasity to learn was quick, and had a retentive memory, and as she was sincerely religious (without the least tincture of enthusiesem), there is no doubt that being both Good and Innocent, she is now extreamly, and will be eternally happy in the Celestiall Mansions.

On the 6th of March, 1776, being Weddensday, about seven in the evening, died of a linguring illness my (then) Eldest Daughter, Margaret, being 19 years 9 months and 11 days old, she had a Sollid Understanding, and without ostentation was firmly attached to the Cause of Truth, Virtue and Religion, Kind and Affectionate to her acquaintances but more especially to her Relations, and among her last words expressed her gratitude for the care they had taken of her, I believe her illness originated from a severe cold, which she contracted about 8 months presiding her death. She is now (I hope) enjoying eternall Bliss with her dear sister Cecil.

On the 22nd September 1777, being Munday night, one quarter after 11 oclock, died of a fever my dear wife, Cicel Grant, aged 59 years and 25 days and married to me 36 years and 325 days (which wants 40 days of 37 years.) She was a Chaste and dutifull Wife, and besides a great many good Qualities, she was equalled by few in the prudent and skillfull management of Her House and Family, was Religious without ostentation, Charitable and good to all, and is buried in the above place (two double paces west of the narrow road opposite to Harleys Tomb) where a great number of my and her Relations lyes interred: and there is no doubt she now enjoys Celestial happiness.

Mr. Francis Brodie, Wright in Edinburgh, my worthy Father, died of the Palsy att his own house in Edinr., the 1st of June 1782, att 5 oclock afternoon in the 74th year of his age. His character was that of an honest man, an affectionate husband, an indulgent parent, a faithful friend, and a generous master.

Jean Brodie.

My sister, Jean Brodie, died at her own house on the 22 of August 1821, at 10 oclock at night, aged 62 years and seven months, after a long and severe illness, which she bore with patience. She was a generous and affectionate sister and Aunt, a Sensible and Correct Woman in every respect, and is buried in the above mentioned place.

Jacobina Sheriff.

My Eldest daughter, Cecilia Sheriff, died at my house on the 30 of June 1831, at 6 oclock morning, aged 42. She was a humble Christian and dutiful daughter and most affectionate sister, and most faithfull friend. I trust she is now with the Lord, and is buried in the above mentioned place.

Jacobina Sheriff.

Her Dear and Affectionate Sister. 1831.

Jane Sheriff.

Jacobina Sherriff, my worthy mother, died at my house after three months illness in the 79 year of her age, she was the most affectionate parent, kind, indulgent in every respect, unopressive to all, humble in her opinion of herself, and I now trust she is beyond the reach of all sorrow.

Jane Sherriff
or Molleson

March 23
1839

Sir,

The favour of your Company to attend the Funeral of Mrs. Sherriff, my Mother-in-law from my House here to the Greyfriars Burial Ground, on Thursday the 28th currt. at 2 oclock afternoon, will much oblige.

Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
James Molleson.

Edinburgh,
3 Gloucester Place,
March 25th, 1839.

APPENDIX V.

Excerpts from the Records of the Cape Club, in the Possession of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

I.
Roll of the Knights Companions of The Cape.
Date of Admission.
1775 February 25th.

No. of Diplomas
232

Names of the Knights
William Brodie

Titles of Knighthood
Llhoyd

II.
Record of Cape Club Petitions, Vol. i.
No. 232.
To the Sovereign and Knights of The Cape
The Petition of William Brodie Wright in Edinburgh

Humbly Sheweth

That your Petitioner is very desirous to be admitted a Member of The Cape.

May it therefore Please the Sovereign and Knights to
admit your Petitioner and shall ever pray

William Brodie

The Candidate is recommended by

Gilb. Waugh
James Syme

(Written upon the back of the Petition.)
Petition of William Brodie
1775
Grand Cape 25th Feb 1775.
Admitted D.S. Secry.
Sir Lhoyed.

III.

Minute of Meeting at which Deacon Brodie was admitted a Knight of The Cape.

Nineteenth Grand Festival of The Cape, held at
Capehall in Jas. Mann’s, Craigs Close, 25th
Febry. 1775.

	Present
	Sir Stick, Sovereign
	Sir Westerhole, Depute Sovn.
	Sir Fox, Treasurer
	Sir Shirk, Secretary
	Sir N. & A.,[29] Recorder

	Sir Waterhole fifth	—Old Sovereigns
	Sir Scrape third	—Old Sovereigns

	Sir Buildings	—Councillors
	Hall
	Bejing
	Bowl
	Stone

Sir	Wager, Chaplain
Sir	Dive	Sir Padlock
	Brimstone	Kipper
	Silenus	Cellar
	Launce	Jawbone
	Fender	Corryarroch
	Surprise	Drawbridge
	Bolt	Toe
	Forgetful	Caltonhill
	Marriage	Pole
	Finger	Porter
	Wig	Blott
	Laverock	Sword
	Dragon	Gutter
	Pedro	Fine
In	all 41	Bill £ : :

Sederunt

The	following officers were this day duly elected vizt:—
	Sir Stick, Sovereign	—Re-elected
	Sir Westerhole, Depute Sovereign
	Sir Fox, Treasurer
	Sir N. & A., Recorder
	Sir Celler, Secretary
Councillors:—
Sir	Tree	Sir Bank	—Re-elected
	Buildings	Bowl
	Hayloft	Stone
	Flatt	Fender
	Vote	Finger
	Be jing	Kipper

The Recorded Protested that as Mr. Auld was irregularly ballotted at this Festival without his knowledge or consent the same shall not preclude him from an Appeal to any after Grand Cape if he chuses to enter the same and took instruments in the Secretary’s hands and craved that this Protest be engrossed in the Minute of Sederunt of this Grand Cape.

The re-elected Sovereign after having taken the accustomed obligations to promote the Harmony of the Society was solemnly Crowned in the Chair of State with all the usual formalities and with the other officers taking their proper places, the public business of this Festival was most harmoniously concluded.

APPENDIX VI.

Excerpts from the Guild Registers of the Burgh of Edinburgh.