[Sidenote: 1667.]
Heretofore there had been only an irregular transmission of letters by
means of foot-messengers between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and in the
latter city there had been ‘long experience of the prejudice sustained,
not only by the said burgh of Aberdeen, but by the nobility, gentry,
and others in the north country, by the miscarrying of missive
letters, and by the not timous delivery and receiving returns of the
samen.’ It was now thought that there ought to be a constant post at
Aberdeen, whereby ‘every man might have their letters delivered and
answers returned at certain diets and times.’ It was therefore arranged
with the consent of Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie, his majesty’s
postmaster-general, that Lieutenant John Wales should establish a
regular horse-post at Aberdeen, to carry letters to Edinburgh every
Wednesday and Friday, returning every Tuesday and Thursday in the
afternoon; every single letter to pay 2s., and every double letter 4s.,
every packet 5s. per ounce (in all cases Scots money). All other posts
were discharged. Two years later (January 28, 1669) Inverness became
sensible of a need for the same accommodation, though on a humbler
footing. Accordingly, Robert Mean, keeper of ‘the Letter-office’ in
Edinburgh, having, with concurrence of Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie,
his majesty’s postmaster-general for Scotland, undertaken ‘to settle a
constant foot-post between Edinburgh and Inverness, for the advancement
of trade, correspondence, and convenience of the king’s subjects,’ the
Privy Council, on petition, granted warrant for the purpose, the post
‘to go and return two times every week to Aberdeen, and once every week
to Inverness, wind and weather serving,’ and the rates to be--‘For the
conveyance of every single letter not exceeding one sheet of paper,
to and from any place not exceeding forty miles Scots distant from
the place where such letter shall be received, 2s. Scots money, and
every double letter for the miles foresaid 4s. Scots, and for every
ounce-weight the foresaid miles 5s.;’ for distances of threescore
and fourscore miles, in proportion. ‘Wind and weather serving’ is an
amusing qualification, considering that there was only one ferry of
six or seven miles and another of two miles to cross. The Inverness
post had not yet acquired the resolution which is said to have been
expressed many years later by a carrying communication between
Edinburgh and that northern burgh, when it was announced that ‘a waggon
would leave the Grassmarket for Inverness every Tuesday, God willing,
but on Wednesday _whether or no_.’
[Sidenote: 1667.]
The interest connected with this important institution may perhaps
justify the preservation of one or two notices in themselves trivial.
February 20, 1668, a complaint was made to the Privy Council by certain
Edinburgh merchants, against Robert Mean, as to his charges of 1d. for
each single, 2d. for each double, and 3d. upon each triple letter,
in addition to the former dues of 4d., 8d., &c., and Robert was
peremptorily ordered to discontinue these extra charges.--_P. C. R._
In August 1672, Anna Keith, relict of John Wales, keeper of the
Letter-office in Aberdeen, complained to the Privy Council against
the magistrates of Aberdeen, for having, on her husband’s death,
extruded her from the office, in contravention of the contract between
them and her husband, which provided that, in the event of his death
before the expiration of the seven years engaged for, his heirs and
representatives were to have the option of carrying on the business, by
providing a qualified substitute. The magistrates had gone so far as
to incarcerate Mrs Wales’s servants for going about their duties, ‘and
by touk of drum discharged all persons from employing the complainer
any further in the said office.’ They had also conferred the office
on another person, without waiting to set it up to auction, ‘though
several of the burgesses did offer considerably for the same.’ The
Council replaced Mrs Wales in her husband’s office.--_P. C. R._
There is a whimsical incongruity in the connection of a Graham of
Inchbrakie with a thing of such modern and commercial associations
as the Post-office. Patrick--his common name was ‘Black Pate’--was
a semi-Highland cavalier of the purest lustre. It was at his house,
situated on the skirts of the Highlands, that Montrose had raised his
meteor-like standard in 1644. The trouble he had given to the lords of
the Covenant and to Cromwell could only be rewarded at the Restoration
with this office, which in 1674 descended to his younger son John.
One could scarcely imagine a more heterogeneous assemblage of ideas
than that of Montrose’s friend as postmaster-general, and the son of
the lady who threw the anti-prelatic stool in 1637 as keeper of the
Edinburgh office under him.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: APR.]
[Sidenote: 1667.]
During the unfortunate and discreditable war with Holland in 1665-6-7,
a field was obtained for the enterprise of the Scotch in the trade of
privateering. A very considerable number of _cappers_, as they were
called, generally vessels of from a hundred to two hundred tons burden,
were fitted out from Glasgow, Leith, and Burntisland, under clever
and adventurous captains, in order to take the Dutch merchantmen. We
hear of one belonging to Glasgow, so low as sixty tons burden, yet
carrying five guns, and a crew of sixty persons, having further on
board thirty-two firelocks, twelve half-pikes, eighteen pole-axes,
and thirty swords, with provisions for six months.[215] A Glasgow
privateer, commanded by one Chambers, distinguished itself by seizing a
Dutch capper of eight guns and bringing it up the Clyde, along with a
merchant-vessel laden with salt.
Towards the close of the war (February 1667), a Glasgow merchantman
of three hundred tons, returning from Spain with wines, encountered
a Dutch man-of-war. The captain sent most of his crew below, and
remained on deck himself with seven men, to give tokens of submission.
The Dutchman sent twenty-two men in a boat to take possession of his
supposed prize, and, seeing another vessel at the moment, set off in
pursuit of it. The captors suspecting no stratagem, the concealed crew
came forth in the evening, and easily overpowered them, thus retaining
possession of their vessel, which they brought safely into Glasgow with
twenty-two prisoners.[216]
[Sidenote: APR. 30.]
The ports of Leith and Burntisland having in this way given great
annoyance to the Dutch, a resolution was made to attempt a retaliation;
and little more than two months before the celebrated attack on the
Thames shipping, a fleet of thirty sail appeared one day at the mouth
of the Firth of Forth. At first it was supposed to be the English
fleet under Sir Jeremy Smith; but the Dutch colours soon appeared, and
there was then a hasty effort made to protect the coast. The royal
commissioner Rothes placed militia along both shores. Some of the
Burntisland privateers took their cannon on shore, and raised a battery
to defend the harbour.[217] The Dutch ships lashed out with their
ordnance against that town, and knocked down a few chimneys, but did no
further harm. Seeing no great encouragement for landing, they yielded
at length to a somewhat violent west wind, and ‘that night did tak sail
and removed from our coasts, without hurt done to any person.’--_Nic._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: JUNE 4.]
[Sidenote: 1667.]
Mr William Douglas, son of the deceased Laird of Whittingham, was
tried for his concern in an unfortunate duel, in which Sir James Home
of Eccles was killed. The affair took its origin in a quarrel in a
tavern in Edinburgh, ‘after excessive drinking.’--_Lam._ We learn
from the evidence of a hackney-coachman, that being employed by four
gentlemen--namely, the two who have been mentioned, the Master of
Ramsay, and Archibald Douglas of Spott--he drove them to a lonely spot
on the shore near Leith, where they all came out, and drawing their
swords, ‘went through other.’ He saw Sir James fall under the thrust
of the accused party. Another person saw the accused standing over Sir
James after he fell, and when the unfortunate gentleman was carried
into Leith, he heard the accused ask him forgiveness. A third witness
observed the Master of Ramsay with his foot on Spott’s neck, and when
he (the deponent) removed the Master, Spott got up, ran at the Master,
and called him ‘cullion!’ It seems to have been a barbarous quarrel
barbarously wrought out; and when we see how the men acted after they
began fighting, we cannot but wonder that they were able to come to the
field in one vehicle. William Douglas was sentenced to have his head
stricken off his body three days after at the Cross of Edinburgh.--_B.
A._
* * * * *
There was a great drouth this summer, so that the grass was burned up,
and the victual whitened before the middle of July, and ripened at the
end of that month.--_Lam._
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1668.