Related
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 99 I went to Altenaw and heard devotion
150 DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Nethermuir. I went thereafter to the Links
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 163 and equity which I had on my syde
138 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 to a coachman, to bring the trunke
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
170 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1690 delighted that he made the Boyars
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 97 storme, wee could not gett over to Embden
146 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [168G Haveing dyned, and hearing my trunks were come from Edinburgh
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
146 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [168G
Haveing dyned, and hearing my trunks were come from Edinburgh,
I tooke horse and rod to Kelly,* where I was kindly welcomed by the
Earle of Aberdeen, and the Lord Haddo, his sunue. Wee had large
discourses of many things, and spoke at length of my owne particular ; and
haveing perused the charters and writeings of the lands of Achluichries,
wee found it convenient not to sell it, it being both well holden and well
worth the keeping.
After breakfast, I tooke horse and passed Ithan water by boat ; and it
being a very great raine, I made a visitt to the Laird of Shivee3,t and then
to the Milne of Drumwhendill, where the river Ebry being greatly en-
creassed and overflowing the banks, I was forced to stay at the Milne about
three houres, untill the water did fall a litle, and then rode the fuird with
great hazard and danger.:]: In passanto, I made a visitt at Coldwells,§ and
another at Dudwick,|| and takeing a standing drink at the Bony Wyfes, in
the evening, I came to my brother John his habitation.^
I rose up early, and walked up to the Kairne, and to the Karny Winke,
and then downe to my unkle, and about some part of the fields thereabout,
which I beheld to my great satisfaction and contentment, and dined by my
unkle. After dinner, my sister, with her husband and diverse ffriends, came to
see me. Towards evening, wee went over and supped by my brother John.
Nethermuir*" being come, wee consulted and spoke with my brother
John about his accompts. He gave in a long reckoning of expenses for my
children and effaires, wherewith I was no wise satisfyed ; so being to go
downe to Crowdan, wee deferr'd all to the next day. Haveing visitted
diverse gentlemen in the parish, I dined with my sister, and was very
merry ; and afterwards visiteing others, I returned at night to my brothers.
* [Now called Haddo House.] VIT , after the Rerolution, he was, by that
■f [(leorge Gray. The house of Schivas still prince, made chancellor of the diocese ot
kept by the old religion: hence, perhaps, its Dublin. Some years afterwards, he formally
motto, ' Faith is an anchor '] abjured the Reformed faith, by a writing which
I [' The Ebrie, in its ordinary volume, is of is printed in Le Quien's Nullito des Ordina-
no great account ; but in heavy rains, owing to tions Anglicanes, t. ii. p. 313. Paris, 1725. He
the unusual declivity of the banks along its died at Rome in 1726, at the age of eighty two.]
course, it swells into an imposing torrent : the |1 [Then possessed by the Fullertons, the
occasional fury of its passage has worn deep first of whom, a colonel in the French service,
holes in the channel, so that, from a harmless- was of the ancient faith. In the previous ge-
looking sti'eam, it sr)metimes proves a dange- neration, Dudwick belonged to General James
rous pit-fall.' (liuchan, by the Kev. John B. King, asoldier who distinguished himself in the
Pratt, p. 243. Aberd. 1858 )] 'J'hirty Years' War, and was created Lord
§[Ttieseatof a family which gave birth to Dr. Eytliin or Ythan, by King Charles f., in 1642.]
John Gordon, consecrated IJishop of Galloway S [Wcstertown of Auchleuchi'ies.j
•in 1688. Following the fortunes of King James ** [John Gordon.]
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.