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110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 79 I did writt to Sir John Hebden
1678] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 107 delivered to Gordon.
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 97 storme, wee could not gett over to Embden
1686] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 113 I gott our landlord to conduct
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 99 I went to Altenaw and heard devotion
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 47 good earnest to consider how I might ridd myself of this countrey
1653] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. U me that he was to stay tliere
10 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1653 conceit that this fellow had brought me out of the way, and intended to
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 103 to me, desireing me to let him have him
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1667] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 103
to me, desireing me to let him have him, and he would give me either
money or another for him. I answered that the horse indeed was not to
be sold, yet, seeing he had a fancy for him, he was at his service, and that
I would take it for a great favour, if he would be pleased to accept of him ;
and sent him along to his Excellency with one of my servants. But he
would not accept of him, and gave me many thanks for the offer.
I, being invited by Mr. Clay hills to his brandy house, went Avith Captaine
Gordon, Mr. Ayloffe, and Finlay Downy, and were merry. I bouo-ht mv
bay horse from Mr. Clayhills, and gave for him, with sadle, sherbrake, and
hulsters, my sable furr, and twelve reichs dollers. He gave me also Camb-
dens Brittannia.
I hired horses and waggons to Plesko, haveing ]\Ir. Isaack and Mr. May 9.
Deeve still in my company.
I did writt to Mr. Gellentin, Doctor Davidson, to Sir William Davidson, May lo.
to Captain KauflPmans and to Steelhand, glveing off Captaui Kauffmans
bed to the skipper Wulffe. Writt to Mosko to my wyfe, mother Mr.
Bryan, and Doctor CoUius.
Being invited to Mr. Herman Becker, I went, and with Mr. Van May u.
Sweden and his family, and diverse, were magnificently entertained. The
same day, haveing taken my leave of my ffriends who convoyed me out of
towne, I went from Riga, and came to Plesko the seventeenth, where the May n.
Woywod, upon pretence that the pest was in England, but, in reality, that
I would not let him have my black horse, which he fancyed, detained me
till the twenty fourth ; when, receiving my podwods, our company being May 24
augmented with Mr. Henry Munter, and a poor fellow, our pristaw, I
tooke my jorney, and the twenty seventh, came to Novogrod, and the May 27
second of June, to Torizok, the third, to Twere, the fourth, to Klb, and june->*
the fifth, to Axinina, where I had orders to stay, untill I should give notice
to the ambassy office, and get licence to come to Mosko. I dispatched my
pristave mimediately away with the letters from the governour of Plesko,
wherein was my testimony or skaska that there was no pestilence more in
England nor in any place through which I had passed.
About eight aclock in the morning, my father in law, with Mr. Bryan, June 6
came, and brought an order, that I should go to the Sloboda, and stay ('^*'""''
there till further orders. I came to the Sloboda, and was, with a great joy,
welcomed by my wyfe and ffriends.
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.