Related
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
126 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 religion* At night wee cast anchor
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 125 stuiver. From thence to Workum
136 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Queens hand; whereat his Majestic smileing
110 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 I gave up my petition
116 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 a third, on the way to Konigsberg
1686] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 113 I gott our landlord to conduct
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 129 tooke no effect. Expended this day, for tea, four pence
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 129
tooke no effect. Expended this day, for tea, four pence ; for dinner, three
shillings ei<iht pence ; to the servants, with my sonne, two pliillinjis six
pence. I went and saw Westminster Abbay, and the monuments in Kinc^
Hary the Sevenths Chappel.
Being St. Georg his day, wee heard devotion, and a elesrant sermon in April 2S.
St. Jameses. The Queen, being somewhat recovered, walked to Hide
Parke, through St. James Pai ke, in her coach, attended by fyve others, and
a troope of guards. Expended this day, for dinner, four shillings four pence ;
at night, nineteen pence ; to my sonne and servants, two shillings six pence,
being a shilling to my sonne, and six pence to each servant.
I went by water to London, and spoke with my fFriends upon the Ex- April 24.
change, who entertained me with a "lasse of wine, in the Ship and Castle.
Expended for tea, two pence ; for oares, a shilliuir ; for coach hire back
againe, eii,'hteen pence ; for sei'vants, two shillings ; at night, fyve pence •
for trimming me, six pence.
Heard devotion at St. Jameses, where was the King and Queen, who April 25.
dined pubHckely this day, with rausick, at which I stayed, and was forced to
dine alone afterwards, all my ordinary company haveing dined already.
Expended this day, for dinner, with sonne and servants, six shillings eight
pence ; at night, to the servants, a shiUing ; for my self, fyve pence.
Hearing that the King intended to go to Chattam, I procured a note from April 26.
my Lord Melfort to be taken aboard of one of the Kings yachts ; and so, ac-
cordingly, went in coach to Billings Gate, the King being at dinner in the
Towre by my Lord Dartmouth ; and, hireing a boate, wee came to Detford,
and was received aboard of a yacht, which wee could have done without a
note, there being six yachts, and very few attendants, with the King.
Being come to 'lilberry skonce, over against Gravesand, the King went
a shoare, and went round the fortress, takeing a view of every thing, and
asked my opinion concernint>' the fortifications and oppurtenauces, which, as
reasonable, 1 extolled. The King made hast to the yacht, and was saluted
tried in the fleet and hiphly approved of, tlie thin?, it still remains a secret in the family.'
and louiid tar to exrccd any tiling ot ihiit kind (Douglas' Haronape of Scotland, pp 8, 9.)
then known, lioth for the facility of working, An underground chamber at (ioidoiistoun is
and the quintity of water it disciiarged; l)ut, shewn as his ialioratory, and he :ivcs in the
as ncitiier the inventor, nor the present pos- popular tra.litions of the neighhourhond as a
sessor [his son, the fourtli baronet, who died mighty wizard— the Michael Scott of Murray-
in 1772|, had ever an offer of any encouraj,e- land.,
ment suitable to the merit and usefulness of
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.