Related
126 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 religion* At night wee cast anchor
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
138 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 to a coachman, to bring the trunke
136 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Queens hand; whereat his Majestic smileing
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
122 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 flesh was torren out of their armes
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
116 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 a third, on the way to Konigsberg
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
134 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 inff for a chamber, fyve shillings six pence a weeke
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
134 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686
inff for a chamber, fyve shillings six pence a weeke, and a bed for ray-
servant.
I removed to my new lodging, paying, for house hyre and some bookes
which 1 bonght, two pund eighteen shillings three pence ; for dinner, two
shillings six pence ; for a trunk maile, seven shillings six pence ; for two
paire of stokens, eight shillings ; for candle, six pence.
I heard masse and sermon at St. Jameses ; and payed for dinner, two
shillings three pence, and at night, eight pence. I bought some necessaries,
as a cover to a sadle, bosses and rings thereto, foure shillings ; for combes
and inkhorne, one shilling six pence ; for fyre, three pence ; for dinner, two
shillings two pence.
The English Parliament did againe meet, and was againe prorogued to
the twenty second of November, by the Lord Chancellour, there beino;, in
the upper house, twenty four, and in the lower, one hundred and thirty
members .
I spoke to the Secretary of State, that he might informe His Sacred
Majestic, that I desired to take my leave, who told me the same day, that
the King said, I should have private audience. Befor I went, the King
touched many nersons diseased with that called the Kings Evill,* in the first
chamber of presence. Payed, this day, for cofFy, eijiht pence ; for dinner,
two shillings ; at night, one shilling six pence ; to my servant, six pence ; for
a booke, four pence.
I dined in the Dutch house by St, Jameses, and payed, for dinner, one
shilling six pence ; for a booke, two shillings ; for ale, foure pence ; and for
coffy, three pence. This day. Prince George, with his Princesse and family,
went for Windsore, and much of the Kings plenishing or furniture went
thither.
Newes came from "Windsore that the Princess, the evening befor, was
* [See, on this subject, the verj' learned and ceremony used by the Kings of France, he
elahordte paper of Mr E. L Hussey, 'On the should thereby l"se some of tlie title which
Cure of Scrofulous Diseases attributed to the he had to the kingdom and crown of France.'
Royal Touch.' in the Archaeological Journal, Even at the end of the last century, it was
vol. X pp. 187-211,337. (Lond. 18.53.) believed, in the Highlands that certain septs
It would appear, from a passage in the of the great clan of MacUonald were able, by
Diary of Mr. James Melville, (pp. 657-8), that their touch, to cure the y?'(cap/i, a di.sease of the
our Scottish Kings had not been accustomed lungs or chest, called, also 'the MacD^nald's
to touch in their own realm, and that when disease,' in the same way as scrofula was
King James I. became King of England he called 'the King's Evil.' 'Ibe Mc'cDonalds,
somewhat unwillingly consented to the rite, it need scarcely be added, were supposed to
for some politick reasons, lest, omitting the be sprung from the Kings of the Isles.]
Gordon was brought up and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic, at a time when the Church was being persecuted in Scotland. At age of fifteen, he entered the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, East Prussia, then part of Poland. In 1661, after many years experiences as a soldier of fortune, he joined the Russian army under Tsar Aleksei I, and in 1665 was sent on a special mission to England. After his return, he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tatars in southern Russia. In recognition of his service he was promoted to major-general in 1678, was appointed to the high command at Kiev in 1679, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the Crimea, being made a full general. Later in 1689, a revolution broke out in Moscow, and with the troops under his command, Gordon virtually decided events in favor of Peter the Great against the Regent, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna. Consequently, he was for the remainder of his life in high favor with the Tsar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia. In 1696, Gordon's design of a "moveable rampart" played a key role in helping the Russians take Azov. One of Gordon's convinced the Tsars to establish the first Roman Catholic church and school in Muscovy, of which he remained the main benefactor and headed the Catholic community in Russia until his death. For his services his second son James, brigadier of the Russian army, was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701. At the end of his life the Tsar, who had visited Gordon frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes. General Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in manuscript in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow. Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635–1699) was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1859.