1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 109 memorated him in mournful wise

Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"

1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 109

memorated him in mournful wise. On the thirtieth ot September, he received a circumstantial
account of the defeat of the Eai-1 of Argyle in Scotland, and of the Duke of Monmouth in Eng-
land ; and of the execution of the former, at Edinburgh, on the thirteenth of June, and of the
latter, on Tower-hill, on the fifteenth of July. Along with these tidings he got certain copies
of Latin verses, which his loyalty thought worthy of being copied into his Diary. The first
may be read backwards :



The second runs thus :



" Sat se jam erutam tenet mature Majestas."



" Rex Argile ambit Scotus, Monmutius Anglus,
Esse : perit, Regem qui petit cnse suum.
Eruta mature Majestas Anglo periclo est,
Scote tuo Eegi, plaude Britanno tuo.''

The third, an epigram on Monmouth, borrowed its point from the early history of Rome :

" Mutius ense petit Eegem et Monmutius, errant,
Hie caput invitus, sponte dat ille manum."

The last took the shape of an epitaph upon Argyle :

" Ecce sub argillo jacet hie Argile cruento :
Non oculis Argus, sed fraude Argivus Ulysses."

Influenced, no doubt, by the accession of a Prince of his own faith to the English throne,
Gordon now determined to renew his eflbrts for leave to return to his own country. In a petition
which he placed in the hands of Prince Golizyn, he recounted all the services which he had per-
formed in Russia, called to mind the promises of liberty which had been made to him, recapitu-
lated his many grievances, and represented that, unless he were allowed to visit Scotland, he was
in danger of losing the inheritance which had fallen to him by the death of his parents. If abso-
lute release from the service should not be granted, he prayed that he might at least have leave
of absence for six months. The answer to this petition was a summons to Moscow, where he
arrived on the first of January, 1686. Here he met his friend Lefort, and stood god-father to
his son Daniel. Permission was at last given him to visit England, on condition of a speedy
return, for which his wife and children were to be hostages. The incidents of the journey are
thus recorded in his Diary : — ]

A.D. 1686.
I sollicited the Boyar* about my going out of the countrey, and was bidd January :
bring a petition.

*[\Vassilij Wassiljewitsch Golizyn.]