[208] In those days, there being as yet no habeas corpus act, it was quite common for persons suspected of crimes to lie several years untried in prison. On the 15th of February 1666, William Drew petitioned for trial or liberation, after having been five years confined in Glasgow jail, on a charge of murder exhibited against him by the Laird of Keir.
[209] In Richard Baxter’s treatise on the Divine Life are some consolatory remarks which he addressed on this occasion to the bereaved mother of the young earl.
[210] View of Diocese of Aberdeen, Spal. Club.
[211] Pepys’s Diary, 3d ed., ii. 408, 437.
[212] In compliance with his petition, Leslie was relieved from the duty of the collection.
[213] Men near akin to the chief.
[214] Introduction to the Heart of Midlothian.
[215] M‘Ure’s Hist. of Glasgow (reprint), p. 166.
[216] London Gazette, Feb. 18, 1667.
[217] London Gazette, May 6, 1667.