Publications of the Scottish History Society, Volume 36 Journals of Sir John Lauder Lord Fountainhall with His Observations on Public Affairs and Oth

Lord Fountainhall John Lauder

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It was Lord Fountainhalls practice, during his whole life, to record in notebooks public events, and his observations upon them, legal decisions, and private memoranda. He kept several series of notebooks concurrently with great diligence and method. In all of those which have been preserved there is more or less matter of value to the student of history. But at his death his library was sold by public auction. The MSS. were dispersed, though their existence and value was known to some of his contemporaries. Some are lost, in particular the series of Historical Observes, 1660-1680, which, judging from the sequel, which has been preserved and printed by the Bannatyne Club, would have been of great value. According to tradition the greater part of what has been recovered was found in a snuff-shop by Mr. Crosby the lawyer, the supposed original of Scott's Pleydell, and purchased at the sale of his books after his death by the Faculty of Advocates. Preface to Forbes's Journal of the Session, Edinburgh, 1714. MS

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• France

Informations

• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 23 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819900948
• Langue: English

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INTRODUCTION
THE MANUSCRIPTS
There are here printed two manuscripts by Sir JohnLauder, Lord Fountainhall, and portions of another. The first 1 is a kind ofjournal, though it was not written up day by day, containing anarrative of his journey to France and his residence at Orleans andPoictiers, when he was sent abroad by his father at the age ofnineteen to study law in foreign schools in preparation for thebar. It also includes an account of his expenses during the wholeperiod of his absence from Scotland. The second, though a smallvolume, contains several distinct portions. There are narratives ofvisits to London and Oxford on his way home from abroad, hisjourney returning to Scotland, and some short expeditions inScotland in the immediately following years, observations on publicaffairs in 1669- 70, and a chronicle of events connected with theCourt of Session from 1668 to 1676; also at the other end of thevolume some accounts of expenses. The third may be described as acommonplace book, for the most part written during the first yearsof his practice at the bar and his early married life, but it alsocontains some notes of travel in Fife, the Lothians, and the Mersein continuation of those in MS. H., and a list of the books whichhe bought and their prices, brought down to a late period of hislife. These manuscripts have been kindly made available to theScottish History Society by the owners. The first is in the Libraryof the University of Edinburgh. The second is the property of thelate Sir William Fraser's trustees. The third has been lent by SirThomas North Dick Lauder, Fountainhall's descendant andrepresentative. Referred to as MS. X. Marked by Fountainhall H.Marked by Fountainhall K.
It was Lord Fountainhalls practice, during his wholelife, to record in notebooks public events, and his observationsupon them, legal decisions, and private memoranda. He kept severalseries of notebooks concurrently with great diligence and method.In all of those which have been preserved there is more or lessmatter of value to the student of history. But at his death hislibrary was sold by public auction. The MSS. were dispersed, thoughtheir existence and value was known to some of his contemporaries.Some are lost, in particular the series of HistoricalObserves , 1660-1680, which, judging from the sequel, which hasbeen preserved and printed by the Bannatyne Club, would have beenof great value. According to tradition the greater part of what hasbeen recovered was found in a snuff-shop by Mr. Crosby the lawyer,the supposed original of Scott's Pleydell, and purchased at thesale of his books after his death by the Faculty of Advocates.Preface to Forbes's Journal of the Session , Edinburgh, 1714.MS. Genealogical Roll of the Family of Lauder by the late SirThomas Dick Lauder, in possession of Sir T.N. Dick Lauder.
Eight volumes came into the possession of theFaculty of Advocates, and under their auspices two folio volumes oflegal decisions from 1678 to 1712 were published in 1759 and 1761.In 1837 the Bannatyne Club printed The Historical Observes ,1680-1686, a complete MS. in the Advocates' Library, and in 1848they printed two volumes of Historical Notices , 1661-1688.These are after 1678 selections from the same MSS. from which thefolio of 1759 was compiled, and the additions to the text of thefolio are not numerous, though the historical matter, which wasburied among the legal decisions, is presented in a more convenientform. But from 1661 to 1678 (about half of vol. i.) and especiallyfrom 1670 (for the previous entries occupy only a few pages) thenotices are all new and many of them of considerable interest. Inprinting these volumes, which I believe are acknowledged to containsome of the best material for the history of Scotland at the time,the Bannatyne Club carried out a design which had been longcherished by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, though he did notlive to see its complete fulfilment, and he was helped in hisefforts by Sir Walter Scott. The story is worth telling more fullythan has yet been done. In the winter of 1813-14 Sir Thomas, then ayoung man, met Sir Walter at a dinner-party. Sir Walter expressedhis regret 'that something had not been done towards publishing thecurious matter in Lord Fountainhall's MSS.,' and urged Sir Thomasto undertake the task. In 1815 Sir Thomas wrote to Scott askingabout a box in the Advocates' Library believed to contain MSS. ofFountainhalls. Sir Walter replied as follows: – See Mr. DavidLaing's Preface to the Historical Notices , p. xx, BannatyneClub. Author of The Moray Floods, The Wolf of Badenoch , andother well-known books. The original correspondence was bound up bySir Thomas in a volume along with Mylne's book (see infra ),and is in the possession of Sir T.N. Dick Lauder. Letter, Sir T.D.Lauder to Sir W. Scott, 22nd May 1822, infra . 'Dear Sir, – Iam honoured with your letter, and should have been particularlyhappy in an opportunity of being useful in assisting a compleatedition of Lord Fountainhall's interesting manuscripts. But I donot know of any in the Advocates' Library but those which youmention. I think it likely I may have mentioned that a large chestbelonging to the family of another great Scottish lawyer, Sir JamesSkene of Curriehill, was in our Library and had never beenexamined. But I could only have been led to speak of this from thesimilarity of the subject, not from supposing that any of LordFountainhall's papers could possibly be deposited there. I am veryglad to hear you are busying yourself with a task which will throwmost important light upon the history of Scotland, and am, withregard, dear sir, your most obedt. servant, 'WALTER SCOTT.' Edinr., 19 February 1815. '
After a further interchange of letters in 1816 thematter slumbered till 1822 when there appeared a volume entitled Chronological Notes of Scottish Affairs from 1680 till 1701,being chiefly taken from the Diary of Lord Fountainhall (Constable, 1822), with a preface by Sir Walter Scott, who hadevidently forgotten his correspondence with Sir Thomas. The volumein reality contained a selection, comparatively small, fromFountainhall's notebooks in the Advocates' Library, with copiousinterpolations by the author, Robert Mylne (who died in 1747), notdistinguished from the authentic text of the notes, and greatlymisrepresenting Fountainhall's opinions. The next stage in thecorrespondence may be given in Sir Thomas's own words: – Thepreface and Mylne's interpolations are appended to Mr. Laing'spreface to the Historical Notices . 'Having been muchastonished to learn, from a perusal of the foregoing review, thatSir Walter Scott had stolen a march on me, and published aManuscript of Lord Fountainhall's, at the very time when he hadreason to believe me engaged in the work, and that by his ownsuggestion, and being above all things surprised that he had notthought it proper to acquaint me with his intention before carryingit into effect, I sat down and wrote to him the following letter,in which, being aware how much he who I was addressing was to beconsidered as a sort of privileged person in literary matters, Itook special care to give no offence, to write calmly, and toconfine myself to such a simple statement of the facts as mightbring a blush into his face without exciting the smallest angryfeeling. I hoped, too, that I might prevail on him, as someatonement for his sins, to lend a helping hand to bring forth thereal work of Lord Fountainhall in a proper style.' In Constable'sMagazine. See infra . To SIR WALTER SCOTT OF ABBOTSFORD,BARONET. ' Relugas, near Forres , 22nd May 1822 . 'DEARSIR, – From Constable's Magazine for last month, which hasthis moment fallen into my hands, I learn, for the first time, withsome surprise, but with much greater delight than mortification,that you have condescended to become the Editor of a portion of myAncestor Lord Fountainhall's MSS. From this I am led to believe,that the circumstance of my having been engaged in the work since1814 must have escaped your recollection, otherwise I think youwould have informed me of your intention or inquired into mine . In the winter 1813-14, I had the happiness of meetingyou at the table of our mutual friend, Mr. Pringle of Yair, whereyou expressed regret to me that something had not been done towardspublishing the curious matter contained in Lord Fountainhall'sMSS., urging me at the same time to undertake the task. Having alsosoon afterwards been pressed to perform this duty by Mr. ThomasThomson, Mr. Napier, and several other literary friends, I was ledto begin it, and Lord Meadowbank having presented my petition tothe Dean and Faculty of Advocates, they were so liberal as topermit me to have the use of the MSS. in succession atFountainhall, where I then was on a visit to my Father, and where Itranscribed everything fit for my purpose. Emboldened by theremembrance of what passed in conversation with you at Mr.Pringle's, I took the liberty of trespassing on you in a letterdated 18th February 1815, to beg you would inform me whether youknew of the existence of any of Lord Fountainhall's MSS. besidesthe eight Folio volumes I had then examined. You did me the honorto write me an immediate reply, in which you stated that you knewof no other MSS. but those I had mentioned, and you conclude bysaying, that you were glad to hear that I was busying myself in atask which would throw much light on the history of Scotland. InMay 1816, whilst engaged here in arranging and retranscribing thematerials I had collected for the work in the order of a Journal, Imet with a little difficulty about the word FORRES, which the senseof the passage led me to read FORREST, meaning ETTRICK FORREST.Knowing that you were the best source from which true informationon such subjects was to be drawn, and presuming upon your formerkindness, I again addressed you, 23rd May 1816, begging to knowwhether I was right in my conjecture. To this I received a verypolite answer in