_Father Blackhal._--In the _Brief Narration of Services done to Three noble
Ladies by Gilbert Blackhal_ (Aberdeen, Spalding Club, 1844), the
autobiographer states (p. 43.) that, while at Brussels, he provided for his
necessities by saying mass "at Notre Dame _de bonne successe_, a chapel of
great devotion, so called from a statue of Our Lady, which was brought from
Aberdeen to Ostend," &c. It may be interesting to such of your readers as
are acquainted with this very amusing volume, to know that the statue is
still held in honour. A friend of mine (who had never heard of Blackhal)
told me, that being at Brussels on the eve of the Assumption (Aug. 14),
1847, he saw announcements that the _Aberdeen_ image would be carried in
procession on the approaching festival. He was obliged, however, to leave
Brussels without witnessing the exhibition.
As to Blackhal himself, _The Catholic Annual Register_ for the present year
(p. 207.) supplies two facts which were not known to his editor--that he
was at last principal of the Scots College at Paris, and that he died July
1. 1671.