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140 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Wee rode to Gingle Kirk
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
140 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686
Wee rode to Gingle Kirk,* foure miles ; to Sotiy,t two miles ; to Falaw,
one mile ; to Dalkeith, fyve miles, where dined, and payed, for our selves,
two shillings thi-ee pence ; for our horses, ten pence ; and wages, two pence.
About three a clock afternoone, wee came to Edinborgh, four mUes, where I
tooke up my lodging in the foot of the Cannongate, at the signe of the
Kings Annes.
About two houres after my arrivall, the Duke of Gordon came to see
me, and welcomed me very kindly. Afterwards, diverse other particular
ffi-iends gave me the honour of a visitt.
I went in the morning and payed my respects to his Grace the Duke of
Gordon, who was exceeding kind, and offered to conduct me to his Grace
the Lord Commissioner,^ and to the other grandees, desireing me to make
no address by any other person, but himself. So, takeing me into his coach,
I went to Court, and was addi-essed to his Grace the Lord Commissioner,
who received me very kindly. After some stay, wee went to the Lord
Chancellour,§ who was yet a bed. Afterwards, I went and gave a visitt to
the Earle of Aberdeen, and dyned with my cousin, Mr. Thomas Gordon,
clerk to the Justice Court.il Afterwards, wee went to a chamber opposite
to the Crosse, and see the ceremonies at the Cross, by the Provost .and ma-
gistrates, in drinking the Kings health, and remembring the late Kings
birth day, and happy restauration, which was followed by some volleyes of
shott, and thereafter by many bonefyres all along the streets.^
* [Channelkirk. The name, anciently and seems to have been in the confidence of
written Childenchirch or Childeschirehe, is the Scottish Roman Catholics.]
said to have had its origin in an incident of •[ [How the King's birthday was kept in
the hoy life of St. Cuthhert, in honom* of the Scottish capital in these days, may he
whom the church was dedicated. (Libellus seen from the following official account of the
de Ortii Sancti Cuthberti, cap. xxiii. ; Liber ceremony in the year 1700:
S. Marie de Dryburgh, p. 131.)] ' In the morning the great flag was pat up
t [Soltra] in the Castle, with the discharge of nine
t [Alexander, fourth Earl of Murray. Sir piece of canon, and, at the same time, divers
John Lauder notes that the Eoman Catholics tunes suitable to the occasion were played on
found a good omen in his nomination to pre- the musick bells The trained
side in this parliament, 'that as one Earl of bands of the City, Lcith, and the other
Mun-ay made the first penal laws against suburbs, about noon, being drawn up in good
them in 1567, so another Larl of Murray, his order upon the street about the Cross, his
great-grandchild, should take them away : Majesty's High Commissioner, being invited
but this presage failed them for this time.' by the Lord Provost, who, with the other
(Fountainhall's Historical Notices, vol. ii. p. magistrates, had for that end waited on his
736.)] Grace in the morning, came attended with a
§ [The Earl of Perth. He was cousin and great train of coaches, and the whole troop of
brother-in-law of the Duke of Gordon.] Horse Guards, the right honourable the Earl
II ['Honest Thorn Gordon,' as he was called, of Argile being on their head, as was likewise
was made clerk of the Court of Justiciary in the Earl of Crawfoord, an : all their other
November, 1682. He was a writer to the signet, otJicers, who sat on horseback during the
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.
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