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142 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1Q8Q to be fed in the Parke. I did writt to the Earle of Middleton
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
142 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1Q8Q
to be fed in the Parke. I did writt to the Earle of Middleton, the Yiscount
of Melfort, to the Paters Dumbar* and ]Marr, and to Alexander Gordon.
I received some visitts in the morning, and dined in my lodging.
After noone, I gave a visitt to the Earle of Aberdeen, and had much dis-
com-se with him, concerning my owne particular. I agreed with my
landlady to pay for three servants dyet, eighteen pence a day. I did writt
to my brother to send me some papers to Edinburgh, and the necessary
charters, of the business betwixt my Lord ErroU and me.
I was in the ParHament,t and dined in Blaires^ with some noblemen.
In the afternoone, I payed some visitts to the noblemen who had done me
the honour. In the evening, meeting with some noblemen, wee went and
tooke a merry collation.
I dined in my lodging, and, after noone, went and visitt my cousin, Mr.
Thomas, where I received letters from my sonne, James, from Doway,
dated . . . May.
I dined in my lodging, and, after noone, went into the Parke to walke. I
gott up my trunks from Lieth, which came from Dantzick, and found all safe.
Haveing been invited by my Lord Chancellour to dinner, I went and
heard devotion, after which, in my Lord Chancellours packet, came, in a
coverto of Mr. Cambridge of Hamburg, a letter from our chieffe Minister
of State,§ acknowledging the reseat of some of myne on the way, and giveing
me power, in their Majesties name, to bring along some officers of inferiour
quality, as also some engeniers, fireworkers, and minirers, and to promise
them yearly pay, according to their quality, and liberty to go out of the
countrey when their occasions required. After noone, I went downe to
Lieth with the Earles of Airly and Dumferling.
I sent in the morning some cavear, and forty ermines, to the Duke of
* [Father William Dunbar, a member of The Parliament met upon the second and the
the Society of Jesus. In November, 1686, he fourth, but not upon the third of June.]
was appointed Almoner in Scotland to the t [A tavern of note. A kinsman writes
King, with a pension of £100 a year. (Ab- from Edinburgh to the Countess of Erroll, in
stracts of the Records of the Secretary's Office, November, 1688: ' I am oveijoyed to be con-
1686-7, no. 393, MS.) firmed of my Lord's final transaction with the
The Reverend Mr. Grififin of New Abbey town of Edinburgh, which was performed on
informs me that the papers of the Douay Col- Thursday last in Blair's, where my Lord Chan-
lege describe him as bom ' ex parentibus cellor was with my Lord [Erroll], and where
Domino Alexandre [Dunbar] de Berwick, et both were treated by the town.' (Miscellany
Domina Margarita Abercromby nobilibus.' of the Spalding Club, vol. ii. p. 294.)]
Father Dunbar was alive at Douay in 1714.] § [Golizyn.]
t [Here again Gordon's reckoning is wrong.
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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