(Vol. vii., p. 66.)
This prelate seems to have been a cadet of the family of Wauchope, of
Niddry, or Niddry Marischall, in the county of Midlothian, to which family
once belonged the lands of Wauchopedale in Roxburghshire. The exact date of
his birth I have never been able to discover, nor which "laird of Niddrie"
he was the son of. Robert was a favourite name in the family long before
his time, as is evidenced by an inscription at the entry to a burial chapel
belonging to the family to this effect: "This tome was Biggit Be Robert
Vauchop of Niddrie Marchal, and interit heir 1387." I am at present out of
reach of all books of reference, and have only a few manuscript memoranda
to direct further research; and these memoranda, I am sorry to say, are not
so precise in their reference to chapter and verse as they ought to be.
According to these notes, mention is made of Robert Wauchope, doctor of
Sorbonne, by Leslie, bishop of Ross, in the 10th book of his _History_; by
Labens, a Jesuit, in the 14th tome of his _Chronicles_; by Cardinal
Pallavicino, in the 6th book of his _Hist. Conc. Trid._; by Fra Paolo
Sarpi, in his _Hist. Conc. Trid._ Archbishop Spottiswood says that he died
in Paris in the year 1551, "much lamented of all the university," on his
return home from one of his missions to Rome.
One of my notes, taken from the _Memoirs of Sir James Melville_, I shall
transcribe, as it is suggestive of other Queries more generally
interesting. The date is 1545:
"Now the ambassador met in a secret part with Oneel(?) and his
associates, and heard their offers and overtures. And the patriarch of
Ireland did meet him there, who was a Scotsman born, called Wauchope,
and was blind of both his eyes, and yet had been divers times at Rome
by post. He did great honour to the ambassadour, and conveyed him to
see St. Patrick's Purgatory, which is like an old coal pit which had
taken fire, by reason of the smoke that came out of the hole."
Query 1. What was the secret object of the ambassador?
Query 2. Has St. Patrick's Purgatory any existence at the present time?