"_Black Book of Scone._"--The _Black Book of Scone_, containing the
history of Scotland from Fergus I., was in Sir Robert Spottiswood's
library, and was given by Lewis Cant (a Covenanting minister) to
Major-General Lambert, and by Lambert to Col. Fairfax; which book
Charles I. had ransomed from Rome by a considerable sum of money: and it
is certain Archbishop Spottiswood had it and the _Black Book of
Paisley_, signed by three abbots, when he compiled his _History_, which,
with the famous _Red Book of Pluscardine_, Buchanan says he had, and
frequently cites.--Sir George Mackenzie's _Defence of the Antiquity of
the Royal Line of Scotland_; and also _Lives of Scotch Writers_.
The fate of the _Black Book of Scone_ may be a clue to the inquirer
after the _Black Book of Paisley_. It is not now in the library at
Spottiswood; and most of Sir Robert Spottiswood's property was pillaged
and ransacked during his imprisonment.