Prothero, and Mr. Balfour Paul. The Council propose that Mr. Prothero
should be removed to the list of corresponding members, that Dr. Hume Brown
and Mr. Balfour Paul be re-elected, and that Mr. John Scott, C.B., be
appointed to the Council in the place of Mr. Prothero.
The Accounts of the Hon. Treasurer show that there was a balance in
November 1898 of £172, 12s. 9d., and that the income for the year 1898-99
was £521, 15s. 5d. The expenditure for this same year was £438, 14s. 1d.,
leaving a balance in favour of the Society of £255, 14s. 1d.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the Report, which, he said, was
very satisfactory, said that in the first place they had kept their
promises and arrangements in the past year, and, in the second place,
they had a very good bill of fare for the current year, even if there
were nothing additional to their programme as already published. The
books that had been announced as forthcoming were just the kind of books
that it was proper the Society should produce. But, in addition, they
would see there was forthcoming a very important publication which had
come to them out of the ordinary run. The late Sir William Fraser, in
addition to his other important bequests, which would for the future
affect the literature of Scottish history, gave power to his trustees
that they might, if they saw occasion, employ a certain portion of his
funds on some specific publications of the nature of those materials in
which he had been spending his life. The result had been that the
trustees, chiefly he believed by the advice of their Lyon King of Arms,
Mr. Balfour Paul, had offered as a gift to this Society those very
important genealogical documents, the Macfarlane documents, which had
been lying in the Advocates' Library, and to which a great many people
at various times had been referring, to such an extent that he believed
Mr. Clark, the librarian of the Advocates' Library, had been almost
incommoded by the number of such applications. Henceforth this would not
be the case, as the Macfarlane genealogical documents were to be
published under the editorship of Mr. Clark. That was a windfall for
which he had no doubt all the members of the Society would be thankful,
and when he moved the adoption of the report he meant specially to
propose their adoption of a hearty vote of thanks to the trustees of Sir
William Fraser.
Professor MASSON then alluded to the proposal of Mr. C. Stanford Terry
to produce the silent records relating to the union of Scotland with
England in the years 1651 to 1653. That was a portion of Scottish
history that had been almost forgotten, but a very important and
interesting portion of Scottish history it was. In 1651, after the
battle of Dunbar, and after Cromwell's occupation of Scotland, and after
he had gone back to England and had left Monk in charge in Scotland,
with about eight thousand Englishmen in Scotland, distributed in
garrisons here and there, it occurred to the Long Parliament of England,
then masters of affairs in Great Britain, that there ought to be an
incorporating union of Scotland with the English Commonwealth. That
proposal came before the Long Parliament in October 1651. It was agreed
upon, by way of declaration, that it might be very desirable, and a
committee of eight members of the Long Parliament was appointed to
negotiate in the matter. They came to Scotland, and there was a kind of
convention, a _quasi_ Scottish Parliament, held at Dalkeith, where
the matter was discussed. Of course, it was a very serious matter,
giving rise to various feelings. To part with the old Scottish
nationality was a prospect that had to be faced with regret. To this
Parliament the Commissioners proposed what was called the Tender, or an
offer of incorporating union. The variety of elements in Scotland--
Royalists, Presbyterians, Independents--in the main said that they must
yield, although they were reluctant. Even those who were most in
sympathy with the English Commonwealth politically shrank for a while,
and they tried whether the Long Parliament might not accept a kind of
compromise, whether Scotland might not be erected into a little
independent Republic allied to the English Commonwealth or Republic. But
at last all these feelings gave way, and the English Commissioners were
able to report before the end of the year, or in January--what we should
now call 1652, but then called 1651--that twenty of the Scottish shires
out of thirty-five had accepted the Tender, and that almost all the
burghs had accepted it, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and all the chief burghs
--Glasgow being the sole outstanding one. At last, however, Glasgow, on
thinking over the thing, agreed, and the consequence was that in April
1652 the Act incorporating Scotland with the English Commonwealth passed
the first and second readings in the Long Parliament. From April 1652
Scotland was, they might say, united with England, and in the
Protectorate Parliaments, in Cromwell's first and second Parliaments,
there were thirty members from Scotland sitting at Westminster with the
English members, and so through the protectorate of his son Richard, and
it was not till the Restoration that there came the rebound. Then the
order universally was: 'As you were,' and a period of Scottish history
was sponged out, so much so that they had forgotten it, and many of them
rather regretted it. At all events, it was a very important period of
Scottish history, and the proposed publication will give us flashes of
light into the feelings and the state of the country between 1652 and
1660.
Proceeding, Professor MASSON said the Society had kept strictly to their
announcements, and they had already contributed a great many
publications, which, at all events, had proved, and were proving, new
materials for the history of Scotland, giving new conceptions of that
history. They would observe in the first place how the publications had
been dotted in respect of dates, some of them comparatively recent,
others going far back. They would observe, in the second place, that the
documents had been of almost all kinds--all those kinds that were of
historical value; all those that really pertained to the history of
Scotland--that was to say, the history of that little community which,
with a small population, they named Scotland. There were various
theories and conceptions of history. The main and common and the capital
conception of the day was to give the story of the succession of events
of all kinds. In that respect Scottish history, though the history of a
small nation, would compete in interest with the history of any nation
that had ever been. Small, but the variety, the intensity of the life,
the changes, the vicissitudes, the picturesque incidents, no history
could compete for that kind of interest with the history of that little
torrent that had flowed through such a rocky, narrow bed. Crimes or
illegalities got easily into books, and this was a little unfortunate,
because people dwelt on such crimes and illegalities as constituting
history. But they did not. No more would the digest of the trials of
their Police Courts and of their chief Courts. They figured, of course,
in history, but there ought to be a caution against allowing too great a
proportion of those records of crimes and illegalities to affect their
views. Then there was a notion of history very much in favour with their
scholars at present, that it should consist merely of a narrative of the
actions of the Government and the formation of institutions--what they
should call constitutional history. There had been a school of
historical writers of late who would almost confine history to that
record--nothing else was proper history, and the consequence was that
the constitution of history was in the publication of documents and in
the changes in the manner of government. That was an essential and a
very important part of history, but by itself it would be a very dreich
kind of history. History was the authentic record of whatever happened
in the world, and Scottish history of whatever had happened in the
Scottish world. If he had been told that on a certain date King James
V., the Red Fox, rode over Cramond Bridge with five horsemen, one of
them on a white horse, they might say what use was it to him to know
that, but he did want to know it and have that picture in his mind. It
was a piece of history, and any one who was bereft of interest in that
sort of thing--however little use it might be turned to--was bereft of
the historical faculty. Then there was a conception of history that it
should consist in pictures of the generation, of the people, how they
were housed, how they were fed, and so on. That was a capital notion.
But he was not sure that there were not certain overdoings of that
notion. In the first place, they would observe that they must take a
succession of generations in order to accomplish that descriptive
history of the state of Scotland at one time, then at another, then at a
third, and so on. A description at one time would not apply to the
society of Scotland at another.
'Quhan Alysander, oure Kyng, was deid,
Quhan Scotland led in luve and le,
Awa' wes sons of ail and brede,
Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and glee.'
That was to say, it was a tradition before that time that there was
abundance and even luxury in Scotland. There had been a tendency in
history of late to dwell on the poverty and squalor of Scotland in
comparison with other countries--all that should be produced, and made
perfectly conceivable--and then also to dwell on the records of kirk-
sessions and presbyteries, showing the state of morality in Scotland.
All that it was desirable should be produced in abundance if they were
not wrongly construed--but they were apt to be. A notion had arisen what
a comical country Scotland must have been with its Shorter Catechism,
and its presbytery records, and its miserable food, and so on. That was
a wrong notion, and ought to be dismissed, because if they thought of it
the life of a community consisted in how it felt, how it acted. In those
days of poverty and squalor of external surroundings there were as good
men, as brave men, and as good women as there were in Scotland now. And
at all events, if there was anything in Scotland now, any power in the
world, it had sprung from these progenitors. They must have some
corrective for an exaggeration of that notion, which was very natural.
One was biography. They would be surprised if they were to know how many
biographies there might be along the course of Scottish history, say
from the Reformation. If they fastened on a single individual, and told
the story of his life, they not only told the story of his community in
a very interesting manner, but they got straight to some of those faults
which they were apt to be impressed by if they gazed vaguely at the
community. Dr. Hume Brown had written an admirable summary of the
history of Scotland, but he had contributed to the history of Scotland
in another way by his two biographies of Buchanan and Knox, and
especially by his biography of Buchanan. Another corrective was
literature. There had been no sufficient perception of how literature
might illustrate history; and why should it not if their aim was to
recover the past mind of Scotland? Every song, every fiction--was not
that a transmitted piece of the very mind that they wanted to
investigate? Here was matter already at their hand. Then, in a similar
way, if a noble thought, if a fine feeling, was in any way expressed in
verse or in prose, that came out of some moment or moments in the mind
of some individual, and it must have corresponded and been in sympathy
with the community in which it was expressed. Nothing noble had come out
of any man at any one time, but that man, in the way of expression of
literature, must have had a constituency of people who felt as he felt.
Unfortunately there was a long gap in what we called the finer history
of Scotland from the time of the Reformation to Allan Ramsay--in
literature of certain kinds. There were muses in those days, but they
were muses of ecclesiastical and political controversy--very grim muses,
but still they were muses. But from Allan Ramsay's time to this, to
study the history of the literature was to know more of the history of
the country than we would otherwise. David Hume, Adam Smith, Burns,
Scott--all these men were born and bred in Scotland so poor and so
squalid that we should say we would not belong to it now. Nobody was
asking us to belong to it. But these men, their roots were in a soil
capable of sustaining their genius and of pouring into their works those
things in the way of thought and feeling that delighted us now, and that
were our pride throughout the world.
Mr. D.W. KEMP seconded the adoption of the Report, which was agreed to.
The vacancies in the Council were filled by the re-election of Dr. Hume
Brown and Mr. Balfour Paul, and the election of Mr. John Scott, C.B., in
room of Mr. G.W. Prothero.
In reply to Mr. James Bruce, W.S., Dr. LAW said that the death of Dr.
Mitchell had caused some delay in the preparation of the third volume of
the Records of the General Assembly, but it had already been transcribed
for the printer.
A vote of thanks to Professor Masson concluded the proceedings.
ABSTRACT OF THE HONORARY TREASURER'S ACCOUNTS
_For Year to 31st October 1899._
I. CHARGE.
I. Balance in Bank from last year, £172 12 9
II. Subscriptions, viz.--
(1) 400 subscriptions for 1898-99,
at £1, 1s., £420 0 0
2 in arrear for 1897-98, and 6
in advance for 1899-1900, 8 8 0
1 in advance for 1900-1, and
1 for 1901-2, 2 2 0
----------
£430 10 0
Less 4 in arrear for 1898-99, 4 4 0
---------- 426 6 0
(2) 64 Libraries at £1, 1s., £67 4 0
2 in advance for 1899-1900, 2 2 0
----------
£69 6 0
Less 1 in advance for 1898-99, 1 1 0
---------- 68 5 0
(3) Copies of previous issues sold to New
Members, 23 12 6
III. Interest on Deposit Receipt, 3 11 11
----------
Sum of Charge, £694 8 2
==========
II. DISCHARGE.
I. _Incidental Expenses_--
Printing Cards, Circulars, and
Reports, £7 18 6
---------
Carry forward, £7 18 6
* * * * *
Brought forward, £7 18 6
Stationery, Receipt and Cheque
Books,..... 3 13 0
Making-up and delivering copies, 28 12 6
Postages of Secretary and
Treasurer, .... 3 9 7
Clerical Work and Charges on
Cheques, ... 5 13 6
Hire of room for meeting, 1 1 0
---------- £50 8 1
II. _Montereul Correspondence, Vol. II._,--
Composition, Printing, and
Paper,..... £139 9 0
Proofs, Corrections, and Delete
Matter, ... 20 8 0
Binding,..... 17 0 0
Indexing, ... 4 5 0
----------
£181 2 0
Less paid to account, Oct. 1898, 145 3 0
---------- 35 19 0
III. _The Scots Brigade, Vol. I._--
Composition, etc., ... £133 8 0
Proofs and Corrections,.. 29 14 0
Binding,..... 17 11 0
Indexing Vol. i., ... 5 5 0
---------- 185 18 0
IV. _The Scots Brigade, Vol. II._--
Indexing,...... £5 5 0
V. _Scotland and the Protectorate_--
Composition, etc., ... 105 6 6
Proofs, Corrections, and Delete
Matter, ... 18 3 0
Illustrations, ... 16 7 6
Binding,..... 17 11 0
Indexing,.... 3 16 0
---------- 161 4 0
--------
Carry forward, ... £438 14 1
* * * * *
Brought forward, £438 14 1
VI. _Balance to next account_--
Sum due by the Bank of Scotland
on 31st October 1899--
(1) On Deposit Receipt, £200 0 0
(2) On Current Account, 55 14 1
-------- 255 14 1
---------
Sum of Discharge, £694 8 2
=========
EDINBURGH, _23rd November_ 1899.--Having examined the Accounts of the
Hon. Treasurer of the Scottish History Society for the year to 31st October
1899, of which the foregoing is an abstract, and compared the same with the
vouchers, we beg to report that we find the said Account to be correct, the
sum due by the Bank at the close thereof being £255, 14s. 1d.
WM. TRAQUAIR DICKSON, _Auditor._
RALPH RICHARDSON, _Auditor._
Scottish History Society.
SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY
* * * * *
THE EXECUTIVE.
_President._
THE EARL OF ROSEBERY, K.G., K.T., LL.D.
_Chairman of Council._
DAVID MASSON, LL.D., Historiographer Royal for Scotland.
_Council._
JOHN SCOTT, C.B.
Sir J. BALFOUR PAUL, Knt., Lyon King of Arms.
P. HUME BROWN, M.A., LL.D.
Rev. JOHN HUTCHISON, D.D.
D. HAY FLEMING, LL.D.
Right Rev. JOHN DOWDEN, D.D., Bishop of Edinburgh.
J. MAITLAND THOMSON, Advocate, Keeper of the Historical
Department, H.M. Register House.
W.K. DICKSON, Advocate.
DAVID PATRICK, LL.D.
Sir ARTHUR MITCHELL, K.C.B., M.D., LL.D.
ÆNEAS J.G. MACKAY, Q.C., LL.D., Sheriff of Fife and Kinross.
Sir JOHN COWAN, Bart.
_Corresponding Members of the Council._
C.H. FIRTH, Oxford; SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, D.C.L., LL.D.;
Rev. W.D. MACRAY, Oxford; G.W. PROTHERO, Litt. D.
_Hon. Treasurer._
J.T. CLARK, Keeper of the Advocates' Library.
_Hon. Secretary._
T.G. LAW, LL.D., Librarian, Signet Library.
RULES
1. The object of the Society is the discovery and printing, under selected
editorship, of unpublished documents illustrative of the civil, religious,
and social history of Scotland. The Society will also undertake, in
exceptional cases, to issue translations of printed works of a similar
nature, which have not hitherto been accessible in English.
2. The number of Members of the Society shall be limited to 400.
3. The affairs of the Society shall be managed by a Council, consisting of
a Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, and twelve elected Members, five to make
a quorum. Three of the twelve elected Members shall retire annually by
ballot, but they shall be eligible for re-election.
4. The Annual Subscription to the Society shall be One Guinea. The
publications of the Society shall not be delivered to any Member whose
Subscription is in arrear, and no Member shall be permitted to receive more
than one copy of the Society's publications.
5. The Society will undertake the issue of its own publications, _i.e._
without the intervention of a publisher or any other paid agent.
6. The Society will issue yearly two octavo volumes of about 320 pages
each.
7. An Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held at the end of
October, or at an approximate date to be determined by the Council.
8. Two stated Meetings of the Council shall be held each year, one on the
last Tuesday of May, the other on the Tuesday preceding the day upon which
the Annual General Meeting shall be held. The Secretary, on the request of
three Members of the Council, shall call a special meeting of the Council.
9. Editors shall receive 20 copies of each volume they edit for the
Society.
10. The owners of Manuscripts published by the Society will also be
presented with a certain number of copies.
11. The Annual Balance-Sheet, Rules, and List of Members shall be printed.
12. No alteration shall be made in these Rules except at a General Meeting
of the Society. A fortnight's notice of any alteration to be proposed shall
he given to the Members of the Council.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY
_For the year 1886-1887._
1. BISHOP POCOCKE'S TOURS IN SCOTLAND, 1747-1760. Edited by D.W. KEMP.
(Oct. 1887.)
2. DIARY OF AND GENERAL EXPENDITURE BOOK OF WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM OF
CRAIGENDS, 1673-1680. Edited by the Rev. JAMES DODDS, D.D. (Oct. 1887.)
_For the year 1887-1888._
3. PANURGI PHILO-CABALLI SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIBRI SEX.--THE GRAMEID: an heroic
poem descriptive of the Campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, by JAMES
PHILIP of Almerieclose. Translated and Edited by the Rev. A.D. MURDOCH.
(Oct. 1888.)
4. THE REGISTER OF THE KIRK-SESSION OF ST. ANDREWS. Part i. 1559-1582.
Edited by D. HAY FLEMING. (Feb. 1889.)
_For the year 1888-1889._
5. DIARY OF THE REV. JOHN MILL, Minister of Dunrossness, Sandwick, and
Cunningsburgh, in Shetland, 1740-1803. Edited by GILBERT GOUDIE, F.S.A.
Scot. (June 1889.)
6. NARRATIVE OF MR. JAMES NIMMO, A COVENANTER, 1654-1709. Edited by W.G.
SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, Advocate. (June 1889.)
7. THE REGISTER OF THE KIRK-SESSION OF ST. ANDREWS. Part ii. 1583-1600.
Edited by D. HAY FLEMING. (Aug. 1890.)
_For the year 1889-1890._
8. A LIST OF PERSONS CONCERNED IN THE REBELLION (1745). With a Preface by
the EARL OF ROSEBERY, and Annotations by the Rev. WALTER MACLEOD. (Sept.
1890.)
_Presented to the Society by the Earl of Rosebery_.
9. GLAMIS PAPERS: The 'BOOK OF RECORD,' a Diary written by PATRICK, FIRST
EARL OF STRATHMORE, and other documents relating to Glamis Castle (1684-
89). Edited by A.H. MILLAR, F.S.A. Scot. (Sept. 1890.)
10. JOHN MAJOR'S HISTORY OF GREATER BRITAIN (1521). Translated and edited
by ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, with a Life of the author by ÆNEAS J.G. MACKAY,
Advocate. (Feb. 1892.)
_For the year 1890-1891._
11. THE RECORDS OF THE COMMISSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES. 1646-47.
Edited by the Rev. Professor MITCHELL, D.D., and the Rev. JAMES CHRISTIE,
D.D., with an Introduction by the former. (May 1892.)
12. COURT-BOOK OF THE BARONY OF URIE, 1604-1747. Edited by the Rev. D.G.
BARRON, from a MS. in possession of Mr. R. BARCLAY of Dorking. (Oct. 1892.)
_For the year 1891-1892._
13. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF SIR JOHN CLERK OF PENICUIK, Baronet, Baron of
the Exchequer, Commissioner of the Union, etc. Extracted by himself from
his own Journals, 1676-1755. Edited from the original MS. in Penicuik House
by JOHN M. GRAY, F.S.A. Scot. (Dec. 1892.)
14. DIARY OF COL. THE HON. JOHN ERSKINE OF CARNOCK, 1683-1687. From a MS.
in possession of HENRY DAVID ERSKINE, Esq., of Cardross. Edited by the Rev.
WALTER MACLEOD. (Dec. 1893.)
_For the year 1892-1893._
15. MISCELLANY OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY, First Volume--
THE LIBRARY OF JAMES VI., 1573-83. Edited by G.F. WARNER.
DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATING CATHOLIC POLICY, 1596-98. T.G. LAW.
LETTERS OF SIR THOMAS HOPE, 1627-46. Rev. R. PAUL.
CIVIL WAR PAPERS, 1643-50. H.F. MORLAND SIMPSON.
LAUDERDALE CORRESPONDENCE, 1660-77. Right Rev. JOHN DOWDEN, D.D.
TURNBULL'S DIARY, 1657-1704. Rev. R. PAUL.
MASTERTON PAPERS, 1660-1719. V.A. NOËL PATON.
ACCOMPT OF EXPENSES IN EDINBURGH, 1715. A.H. MILLAR.
REBELLION PAPERS, 1715 and 1745. H. PATON. (Dec. 1893.)
16. ACCOUNT BOOK OF SIR JOHN FOULIS OF RAVELSTON (1671-1707).
Edited by the Rev. A.W. CORNELIUS HALLEN. (June 1894.)
_For the year 1893-1894._
17. LETTERS AND PAPERS ILLUSTRATING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CHARLES II. AND
SCOTLAND IN 1650. Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by SAMUEL RAWSON
GARDINER, LL.D., etc. (July 1894.)
18. SCOTLAND AND THE COMMONWEALTH. LETTERS AND PAPERS RELATING TO THE
MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND, Aug. 1651--Dec. 1653. Edited, with
Introduction and Notes, by C.H. FIRTH, M.A. (Oct. 1895.)
_For the year 1894-1895._
19. THE JACOBITE ATTEMPT OF 1719. LETTERS OF JAMES, SECOND DUKE OF ORMONDE,
RELATING TO CARDINAL ALBERONI'S PROJECT FOR THE INVASION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Edited by W.K. DICKSON, Advocate. (Dec. 1895.)
20, 21. THE LYON IN MOURNING, OR A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES, LETTERS,
JOURNALS, ETC., RELATIVE TO THE AFFAIRS OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART, by
the Rev. ROBERT FORBES, A.M., Bishop of Ross and Caithness. 1746-1775.
Edited from his Manuscript by HENRY PATON, M.A. Vols. i. and ii. (Oct.
1895.) _For the year_ 1895-1896.
22. THE LYON IN MOURNING. Vol. III. (Oct. 1896.)
23. SUPPLEMENT TO THE LYON IN MOURNING.--ITINERARY OF PRINCE CHARLES
EDWARD. With a Map. Compiled by W.B. BLAIKIE. (April 1897.)
24. EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESBYTERY RECORDS OF INVERNESS AND DINGWALL FROM
1638 TO 1688. Edited by WILLIAM MACKAY. (Oct. 1896.)
25. RECORDS OF THE COMMISSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES (continued) for
the years 1648 and 1649. Edited by the Rev. Professor MITCHELL, D.D., and
Rev. JAMES CHRISTIE, D.D. (Dec. 1896.)
_For the year_ 1896-1897.
26. WARISTON'S DIARY AND OTHER PAPERS--JOHNSTON OF WARISTON'S DIARY, 1639.
Edited by G.M. PAUL. THE HONOURS OF SCOTLAND, 1651-52. C.R.A. HOWDEN. THE
EARL OF MAR'S LEGACIES, 1722, 1726. Hon. S. ERSKINE. LETTERS BY MRS. GRANT
OF LAGGAN. J.R.N. MACPHAIL. (Dec. 1896.)
_Presented to the Society by Messrs. T. and A. Constable._
27. MEMORIALS OF JOHN MURRAY OF BROUGHTON, SOMETIME SECRETARY TO PRINCE
CHARLES EDWARD, 1740-1747. Edited by R. FITZROY BELL, Advocate. (May 1898.)
28. THE COMPT BUIK OF DAVID WEDDERBURNE, MERCHANT OF DUNDEE, 1587-1630.
With the Shipping Lists of the Port of Dundee, 1580-1618. Edited by A.H.
MILLAR. (May 1898.)
_For the year_ 1897-1898.
29. THE DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF JEAN DE MONTEREUL AND THE BROTHERS DE
BELLIÈVRE, FRENCH AMBASSADORS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 1645-1648. Edited,
with Translation and Notes, by J.G. FOTHERINGHAM. Vol. I. (June 1898.)