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 ALEXANDER GORDON, 
 
 ! 
 
 THE ANTIQUARY^ ,u kuU /f ^^ 
 
 
 5Y DANIEL WILSON, LL.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND ENGLISH l.rTBRATURE, 
 
 VMivKTixiv CoUege, Toronto. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 COPP, CLARK & CO., PRINTERS, COLBORNli STREET. 
 
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 [From the "Canadian Journal."] 
 
 ALEXANDER GORDON, 
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 ^^lHEn0 
 
 .>" 
 
 ,■;> 
 
 BY DANIEL WILSOX, LL.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OP HISTORY AND ENOLISH LITERATCKE, 
 
 Uiitversily CoVege, Toronto. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 GOPP, CLARK & CO., PRINTERS, COLBORNE STREET. 
 
 1873 
 
ALEXANDER GORDON. THE ANTIOUARY 
 
 I 
 
 ■h 
 
 BT DANIEL WILSON, LL.D., 
 rroftuor ofllUtory aU H,tylUh Ukralurt. UiUviriUy Comgf, Toronto. 
 
 It is now close upon the completion of ji full centurv and a half 
 since there issued from the Lomlon press, in A.D. 172G,'the Itinera- 
 rium Septentrionale of Alexander Gordon, familiar to all men as 
 that prized folio which Jonathan Oldbuck undi.l from its brown 
 paper wrapper in the Hawes Fly, or Queensfeny Diligence, on that 
 memorable day when we are first privileged to make the accpiaintanco 
 of The Antiquary 7>«r excellence. Over its pages many a devotee of 
 archaeology in that Augnstan age, and since, following his example, 
 has '< plunged, nothing loath, into a sea of discussion concerning urns, 
 var,c.s votive altars, Roman camps, and the rules of castrametation." 
 It was, in tnith, the vade mconn of all Roman antiquaries of that 
 eighteenth century; and, though long since sui)crsedcd and displaced, 
 It embodies results of- honest research which can never wholly lose 
 their worth. 
 
 In his preface, Gordon tells us he "chiefly intended to illustrate 
 the Roman actions in Scotland," and the work has as ii central 
 idea " Julius Agricola's march into Caledonia." In dealing with the 
 Danes,- -who, in the estimation of historians and antiquaries of that 
 age, divided with the Romans the exclusive share in all historical 
 remains,— he limits himself, in like manner, to "An account of the 
 Danish invasions on Scotland, and of the monuments erected there 
 on the diflferent defeats of that people." He expressly designates his 
 elaborate and learned folio as " this present essay on the antiquities 
 of Scotland, my native country;" and purposes by its publication to 
 relieve the Scottish nation from the charge of negligence " in collecting 
 and publishing to the world their treasures of the Roman antiquities." 
 As a publication, however, it issued from the English i)ress. The 
 title-page— which, after the fashion of eighteenth century folios, 
 includes an elaboi-utu summary of contents and a long Latin motto,— 
 
4 ALEXANDER GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 Golden^!!:,,''' T":ir *''* " '' ^°'' ^^ ^- «^-'^-' -t «- 
 
 Golden Ball i„ Cornlull, and by sundry other bookseller in the 
 ^cin.ty o Covent GarJen, Temple Bar, and St. Paul's Church Yarr 
 ^^l^ZTr^'T' '^•^*^™'*^ ^^ London most do congregr: 
 ^gn of the Golden Ball xn Cornhill, or the Half Moon near Temple 
 Ku were the mere retailers of stray copies. The title-page sets f" th 
 
 wl t\:;?™'^'/"' ^'^ ^"*^^°^'" ^'^'^ ^« --diate^inotd by 
 wh t in our jnore democratic age would be regarded as an extrava 
 gant, If not altogether fulsome dedication, to ChLles, Duke of Q ens- 
 erry and Devon, illustrious in the antiquity of hi^ line; beadng Ts 
 a Douglas, a name exalted in the annals of Europe- possessing bv 
 
 fa heis jomed to a superlative nobility all his own ; and so the dedi 
 atory laudation proceeds in its extravagant hyperboles. The Duke's 
 nnection with the actual matter in hand appears to have be n 
 mainly traceable to the fact thaf the Roman works .t Birrenswork 
 in Annandale, were situated on his Grace's estate, and the Duke 
 had liberally aided Ins explorations there. It wis not onlv an 
 
 ventuied to diffor from his theory as to the precise place where 
 hif::: /"*"^' ^-^'^^^^^^^ ^^^ *'- route'pu.uedbyhiml 
 
 the Caledonian territories." and "only six miles from where the 
 S.lway Firth is fordable, are to bo seen the vestiges of the fe 
 Roman Camp of any to be met with in the south of Scotland, and 
 the most entire and best preserved one that I ever saw." He e he 
 recognises, as "yet to be seen by all, the four gates mentioned by 
 
 SeTrar ; ' T'''''' ^""'"^^^' ^^^*^^' -^ «--*- Gate." 
 sallv Th- ^^ ■"' "'""^^'' ""^ ^'^^'^^^"^ly wide in case of a 
 
 t d is sti,r'"" '"'"' "^"' *'^ ^™*''^^"°^' "^ g---^^'^ t-t 
 
 V lU m, '-^"^^"""S, as IS also the ditch surrounding the camp ;" 
 
 with much ese, all tending to "confirm the character of Agricola 
 as given by Tacitus : Adnotabant periti, non alium ducem opportuni- 
 tates locorura sapientius iegisse," &,c. 
 
 The locality is indeed one wi;h abundant attractions for the archa3- 
 ologist. Both Roman camp., and native eru-thworks abound. Aboautiful 
 
ilian, at tlie 
 sllers in the 
 'hurch Yard, 
 ) congregate, 
 es under the 
 near Temple 
 ge sets forth 
 followed by 
 nn extrava- 
 3 of Queens- 
 hearing, OS 
 assessing by 
 OAvned fore- 
 so the dedi- 
 The Duke's 
 have been 
 irrenswork, 
 I the Duke 
 it only an 
 ;ual citadel 
 lonent who 
 lace where 
 by him in 
 nthusiastic 
 ing Avithin 
 where the 
 if the first 
 tland, and 
 Here he 
 itioned by 
 itra Grates. 
 1 case of a 
 eral's tent 
 lie camp ;" 
 Agricola 
 )pportuni- 
 
 he archoB- 
 - beautiful 
 
 ALEXAJfDEU GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 5 
 
 enamelled bronze bridlebit in the museum of the Scottish Antiquaries 
 was found deep in the moss at the east end of Birrenswork Hill; and 
 from the neighbouring moss of Middleby, only a few vears subse- 
 quent to Gordon's visit to Annandale, a remarkable series of deco- 
 rated rings, horse furniture, and otiier examples of native work in 
 bronze, was recovered, and secured by his friend Sir John Clerk of 
 Pennycuik, in whose collection tlicy still are. The Roman entrench- 
 ments of Annandale are famous for their varied disclosures of 
 inscribed altars and tablets, sculptures, statuary, and hypocausts ; a 
 ruined temple, with the name and dedication of its architect, amandus, 
 inscribed on the sculptured ligure of the goddess Brigantia ; a muti- 
 lated statue of Fortune, the fruit of a vow in gratitude for restored 
 health, performed byaPref-^ of one of Agricola's Tungrian cohorts; 
 the sepulchral tablet, dedk. d by a Boman mother to the sliado of 
 her daughter Pervica, a maiden who faded away under that bleak 
 northern sky ; with much else replete with interest to the antl.juary 
 and historical student. 
 
 No wonder then that Gordon, when penning a courtly dedication 
 m the style of his age, gave full play to the most laudatory eulogies 
 of the patron who had won his gratitude by facilities extended 
 to him when ransacking the hoards of this old Bomaii treasury. 
 But though ho reverts in a similar stylo to the services of this and 
 other titled patrons, he couhl discriminate between the true virtuoso 
 and the gilded sham; and is l>y no means a blind idolater of 
 rank and title. He contrasts the honoured patrons of learnin-v and 
 historical research with others, " and it is to be regretted, some of'them 
 of birth and fortune," who "give out that antiquity, and such dike 
 branches of learning, are but the chymeras of virtuosi, dry and un- 
 pleasant searches;" while they find in bear-gardens, gaming-tables 
 and midnight revoUings things which fit their genius the best. But 
 "such dissonant souls" ho pronounces, in spite of all their wealth 
 and honours, to be " only the dignified dregs of nature ! " 
 
 The volume is illustrated with a map and sixty-six plates, engraved 
 from the author's own drawings. These, as well as the prefiitory 
 notices, are turne.l to account as a means of honouring with special 
 dedications others of his patrons, including Duncan Forbes of Oul- 
 loden. Lord Advocate of Scotland, the Honourable Roger Gale Sir 
 Gdbert Elliot of Minto, Sir James Dalrymplo of New Hales' Sir 
 Hans Sloan, M.D., General Wade, and others whose names are 'still 
 
AtRVAxnrn oonms, ti.k anti,j,.a„v 
 
 ''■"" 1"^. ^^•-<l. an ,,I<:u- m,wI oil,..,. n-opI.ioH. won- .-amo,! hon.n 
 
 ml; I "• •^"' r^--;"' '^-'- -<i-I"i<- in Soo.lan.!, ,I,a of 
 
 «oun s as also two oun.-u or wo.l,..,s of (ho liko ,„,>,al, li„t it i 
 .l.spnt.hIo whothc- .hoso ™ Ho,na,. o. not. llowovo.- aa v 
 <•"'•'->- m thou- kiM.l. an,l of tho ohl ,„ix-t l„.„.s, 1 havo Ih, i l 
 to oxhil.it a drauirhf of ono of thon, Tho H..... . ^^ 
 
 l,„«f.„ ,... ). ' ii"< 111. I ho iJaroii has several sorts of 
 
 I kow.so a pan- of the hoBt prosorve.l oropi.Ia- or l{o„,au sho ■ 
 th t 0.. 1 saw As iorthe ,„..i„l. a,.,l ourioaities in his poss.Ji. ' 
 
 ZlZ ' ' ^^^"" "•^"•"'•'' '^ ^'•"''*'- *^ ^^'-•'•"^' ^>- 
 
 Nor was the n.ino.I site of irouses.ea.ls un^vorthvto eall forth the 
 u.eli.,ent enthus.as,., of itn explorers; .or even now.when the at 
 and eu!p,un>,l <,,n„v.. whieh h.y aeattered evervwlu-re in sid.t" 
 .onion s ,n.t v.it. havo lonj, l.een .v.nove.l its hUest expl..!; D 
 nnuv, .pe.ks of the ruins of the ancient .t^ ,.n.ainin« " o pl^, 
 
I'lHlioprt, nil,) 
 
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 of li'iiniing 
 lilt country." 
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 Ar.RXANnrK (lonnov, titk ANTrQt'Aiiv. 7 
 
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 llon-oviniH will l.n (||(t |>i)iiip,.ii of llritiiin." 
 
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 out, his pm-HovorinK nwrnroIioH, mi..| ..,nlM..|y M„. .vmillH in llm fniiioiiM 
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 fandli..,r „« " Th.< S,.„|pli,|.o,| SIom-h ,.f Moutliuxl," mid UHHiKnod with 
 littlo l.oNitMlioo to lu.tivo Cl.riKliio. iirt, l.iit in Oonlon'N .Iny nnl...Ki. 
 tiitinxly nm-rilinil t<. (Iio pM>,'.in DiinoH, ..In., ,.,,1.10 iin,I,.r roviow, " with 
 olli.T .MirioitN roniiiioH of „nti,p.i(y n.«v..r l...fo,-., .•oMUioioioiit..<'l (., ll,.. 
 piil'lio." Ilo (I.-mIh. indooil, with (1,0 wholo H.il.j....t of SoottiHli ..rchir 
 oh.Ky, PHitw',.H(honoiolorHl,oo,l, „ul ...nl.noM.H in hin nn(.i.p,M. i.ii, 
 roportory ovorythini^ from tl.o rudost Htono „x.. or lo..n/o ,.,.|t, (<> 
 tl.o llnthwoli t'roMH n,.,i oM.,.r ..l.oioo Hpon„„.nH <.f nntivo .' rl ; 
 Mion-h nftor (ho C.nhion of hin .|,.y N.il.o.-.Iit.atiotr nil .-Iho to what w.o'. 
 llicn <|oi.nio(l claHHii; and li.onuin. In our own a-,'o of rovivcwl ....di- 
 ir.val (antoH, wo may iodood f.-oj thankful that it vv^.h not tla-n poHsildo 
 to aooonipiiHli litorally nil that w,.« impliod in tl.o antlior'a wiHh 
 tlifit"aoti(piityand InarninK n.ay (louriHl. in (J.o inland, to tho tot..! 
 extirpation of (,'(ith!,-ism, I'/iiomnrr, mul IkhI taut':" 
 
 (lordon mil.H(Hinontly faippl.Mn.M.tod J.is Itinmuinm with an up 
 I'ondix, chiofly onriohod l,y nio.inH of a loarn.-d corroHpondonco r-f.n' 
 oorn.ng anoiont Hopulcliral ritoH in llritnin, ..arriod „„ botwoon l.i.s 
 own Hp..r-ial fri,.„d an<l patron. Hi.' .John Cloik, and TJo.for (ialo, a 
 learnod EiiKliHl. anti.piary, whoso nanio is porpotiiatod, alon;^. with 
 (Imt ..f hiH brotli.,r Han.uol, in tho Mlrp,{„- (lalmnm of ^''i,.hoi'H 
 mhUolU,ca Topn,,rnphica ItriMnnim. Thoy aro prononnc<Ml by 
 (SonK.n to bo " two gonth-nion who arc th(, honour of tlieir ul'c! and 
 country." 
 
 Tho part whicli " Han.ly Oonlon " and his Itinorarinm Septontrio- 
 
 nnl 
 
 o play, not only in on(* of tl.o cl 
 
 but in its autobiograi 
 
 loiocst of tho Wavorloy Noveln, 
 )hio picturings of tho groat novelist himself has 
 
8 ALEXANDER OORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 holpod to recall from a fast-obscming oblivion the momory of the old 
 Ronuvu a,>t,quary, though too lato for any minute portraiture ef the 
 nan. Dr Robert Chambora refers to him, in his " Lives of Illus. 
 tnoua Soo smcn. ... one of the numerous subjects of tho oiographer'« 
 en of uhom nothing is known except their birth in Scotland, and 
 heir transacions m public life o«. of it ;" and yet, as his Itinera- 
 mnn shmv.s, he djd perform not a little very creditable and thorough 
 work wjth.n the bounds of his native land before he finallv joinL 
 I.e ranks of the Scots abroad." Nevertheless, it is the fit of 
 Im la er years having been passed in the New World which has 
 s unulated me to some research, in the hope of recovering traces of an 
 old Scottish antiquary and scholar in the times of American colonial 
 
 Alexander Gordon was an enthusiast after the true Oldbuck type 
 He must have been something of a genius, though of the arid and 
 
 amlui witli the Latin classics, and « possessing what was not in 
 
 US u„e common among the Scottish literati, an intimate knowledge 
 
 f ho r.reek language." He .vas no less familiar with the languag! 
 
 and htenvturo of France and Italy; and, with a singular taste 
 
 r? t t,"r ''''; "^' ''^ ''''''' ^^^* -* less infamous 
 •son fo the heme of one of his loariiod folios. Ho was a Master of 
 
 Arts but whether of 01.1 Kiug's College, or of Mari.schal College. 
 
 pationise his famous foho we might bo tempted to recognise the 
 avour extended to an alumnus of King's College, by the subs .t on 
 of ;• riie Principal of the University of Old Aberdeen " for two 
 opies, wale the head of the rival University of the New Town 
 ontents himselt with one. but then it is " One Royal" Another of 
 his subscnbers IS "Thomas Blackwell, M.A., Greek Professor in he 
 Mnscha University of Aberdeen," possibly his old instructor in 
 S". Tniri.'"^ .Joh, Ker, M.A., Greek Professor to th 
 University of Old Aberdeen," extends a like favour to the work; and 
 the^name of its author was no rare one in the northern city o; the 
 
 He was, I presume, a n.ativo of Aberdeenshire, but no record has 
 been recovered to tell of his family origui. Sundry Gordons figur" 
 among the subscribers to his fplio. and two of the most distinguished 
 of the name-The Honourable Sir William Gordon, of luv Jordon 
 
QUAHY. 
 
 the memory of the old 
 lute portraiture ef the 
 I his " Lives of Illus. 
 cts of tho biognipher's 
 jirth in Scotlaiul, and 
 I yet, as his Itinera" 
 3(lital)Ie and thorough 
 sfore lie finally joined 
 e-JS, it is tho fact of 
 w World which has 
 icoveri ng traces of an 
 of American cohaiial 
 
 £3 true Oldbuck typo, 
 ough of the arid and 
 I of good education, 
 iing what was not in 
 
 intimate knowledge 
 [• with the languages 
 ith a singular tasto 
 ; not less infamous 
 He was a Master of 
 f Marisohal College, 
 the subscribers who 
 3d to i-ecognise the 
 , by the subscription 
 iberdeon " for two 
 
 of the New Town 
 'oyal" Another of 
 ek Professor in tho 
 s old instructor in 
 ek Professor to the 
 ir to the work ; and 
 orthern city on the 
 
 , but no record has 
 dry Gordons figure 
 most distinguished 
 a, of lav^rgordoii, 
 
 ALEXANDER QORDOX, THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 9 
 
 and tho Right Honourable Sir Thomas Gordon, Vice Admiral of 
 Russia, — are each selected for the special honour of dedication of au 
 engraved plate. But tlie Gordons of Aberdeenshire are too numerous 
 a clan to admit, on such grounds, of the assumption of relationship 
 between tho author and those of his name who extended their 
 patronage to the work. For a time, at least, he was a citizen of 
 Aberdeen, and, as I was informed by tho lato Sir George Clerk of 
 Pennycuik, professionally engaged as a teacher of music. He was 
 indeed possessed of tastes and accomplishments of a varied ran<'e, 
 including more than one of tlie line arts, and was even reputed to be 
 the composer of sonxe favourite Scottish aira. He must have pre- 
 sented peculiar traits of character such as Scott would have delighted 
 to study, for he appears to have exhibited characteristics and habi- 
 tudes ordinarily reckoned incompatible. He led a roving life, 
 changed his profession repeatedly, devoted himself with unbounded 
 enthusiasm to one of the most unprofitable hobbies that can engross 
 the energies of a student, sought fame and fortune in the Old World 
 and the New in widely diflering occupations and pursuits, and yet 
 ended by giving the lie to the old proverb which says " A rolling 
 stone gathers no moss ;" for, as will be seen, he bequeathed to his 
 son and daughter a substantial estate in his New World home, along 
 with the more characteristic inheritance of certain broad acres in 
 Utopia ! 
 
 In 1720, Dr. William Stukeley— famous among the English anti- 
 quaries of that eighteenth century,— published his account of Arthur's 
 Oon, a singular, if not wholly unique structure on the banks of the 
 River Carron, near the town of Falkirk, in Stirlingshire ; or rather, 
 as Dr. Stukeley notes, " near Graham's Dike," or the Northern 
 Roman Wall. In that ti-eatise he expresses his wonder that, among 
 the many good scholars of the Scottish nation, no one had been found 
 to collect and publish to the world the actual treasures of Roman 
 antiquity abounding in their midst, instead of continuing to compile 
 their ancient history " from invention and uncertain reports." This 
 Gordon tells us in his preface, " was sufficient excitement for mo to 
 proceed still more vigorously in collecting what I had begun ;" and 
 so, he was able to say, when his work was finished, " I confess I 
 have not spared any pains in tracing the footsteps of the Romans, and 
 in drawing and measuring all the figures in the following sheets from 
 the originals; having made a pretty laborious progress through 
 
M 
 
 10 
 
 trt of So„*i„- , „ 
 
 almost everj. part of ^ , ^^"^"Q^ARr. 
 
 ■»«V otter cmfo' r '''""'^ "'■"«' I „„ ,„"°, '» ";• exj™»o of 
 bo found." "" "'"' "»U» mo„u„,„," '"« «;«»inl,. co„vi„ceJ 
 l««,,!„e to .,,,„„ "'-"*««» ,„„yyot 
 
 V iim as the ft f;/'",^°"^-^'^ ^-ler, and in ^ "" """' "' 
 
 ^^^ t^- pages Jri,t;;f . «*"'lv of S-eottis; l^r ? /^''^"^"^^ 
 
 "'"io inscriptions oft T^''' *''^^'«*«. the I L ?^'^ '^'"^ 'J^' 
 
 i« furnishes nn ^ ^^^" ^^^"""te haunts of f,'"' ^^"^''•"^ale 
 Scott tun ecT ^"'°"«^^^«^^^'>io j>art of t ^ ^'^'^^ ""^-"I'^t.-^bu; 
 
 -*-' to - Vthr^Str °^ "- P-n,euik fan.,, ,, 
 
 "«m was a rrr-ivo . ^'°^'&"' Cleric, tlie a„fl ^'/ '^°'»'«"ni' 
 
 *""-. -e ma^ pre,!, ™° '' ^^'W.... His h ^'^ '" *^^ 
 
 ^•^*«-ords, tw\^'^"'""^"^«™.thatMCrv i"^ '"'""^' ^^-- 
 buttofun,;^'^';:^!^^ -P* to make the entW t'^'' '''^'"««^-es 
 
 '-^"cl especially, that o^t, '^'''•^'^*-^«*- «nn^Hs enc^! '**'^ ""^*''' 
 in due time L,, , . ^' "manufacture of a vZ ""'' ^''^^^ed ■ 
 
 «f the ever-metn t "°* ^^«« ^earnetf amJ ' ^"^ ^"^^^hed 
 
 ^'' stor,. i3 a genuine 
 
iRr. 
 
 '^«en able to h,vs 
 
 't'^^S of this ^yoyk 
 
 '«i»5r my o^vt^ cir- 
 t'je ex])ense of 
 ^^'-^mly convinced 
 
 the antiqnitie., 
 *' minsti-el talcs 
 i-e.soarc]ies were 
 'Ott himself ere 
 *«> «H mon, in 
 ances wronght 
 and character, 
 cribe.s and de- 
 
 ^egends, and 
 h AnnandaJe, 
 'ovo]isfc,-„but 
 aerials which 
 lost original 
 
 IS communis 
 tiio Itinera- 
 
 ^^<i "SliaiJjr 
 
 »'ij society. 
 °^"i in the 
 'its at thifj 
 'nd Mons 
 •'lemseives 
 qiiaiy the 
 ter under 
 reserved : 
 hidi M^as 
 ^n'nished 
 in those 
 idJo and 
 :hing of 
 rentiine 
 
 ALEXANDER CORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. H 
 
 ^gond of the Pennycuik family, derived by Scott Inmself from 
 ^ .Iham Clerk, of Eldin, the grand.son of the Baron. On one occa- 
 sion, as he told, when visiting his grandfather at Dumcrioff, in 
 Dumfriesshire, the old Baronet carried some virtuosos to see a sun- 
 posed Roman camp, and on his exclaiming at a particular spot, 
 Tins I take to have been the Piv-etorium," a herdsman who stood 
 by responded: " Pra^torium here, pra^torium there; I ma.Ie it wi' a 
 ihuig^iter spade " A brother of his informant, afterwards famous on 
 the Scottish Bench as Lord Eldin, inherited another trait of the 
 8cion.s of the Pennycuik House. Being skilled as an artist, he em- 
 ployed his ingenuity in the manufacture of antique statues, which 
 mutilated into a becoming aspect of genuineness, were in due time 
 dug up, to the gi-eat delight of the laird and the enrichment of his 
 museum. 
 
 The cm-ious collection of Roman and other antiquities which 
 engaged the study of the older Scottish antiquary, and which Gordon 
 enriched with various contributions, including a fine votive altar 
 found at Barhill, on the Antonine Wall, a legionary tablet from the 
 Croehill Fort, and other gifts of like kind : is still preserved at 
 Pennycuik House, as in the days when the author of the Itinorurv 
 was welcomed there by the Baron, to whose taste its formation il 
 chiefly due. It w.^s, indeed, when prosecuting my own researches 
 among its antique treasures, that the family traditions above referred 
 to, relative to the author of the Itinerarium Septentrionale, were 
 communicated to me by the lato Baronet. But the old mansion 
 Itself, which furnished the arena for discussions akin to those which 
 wrought such strife between the houses of Knockwinnock and Monk- 
 barns,^ has long since disappeare.1. ITae present house, built bv the 
 Barons son and successor in 1761, in the classic stvle which Robert 
 Adam was then bringing into general favour, is chiefly interenting 
 for Its gi-eat room, styled Ossian's Hall, elaborately decorated by the 
 pencil of Runciman with frescoes illustative of the popular Gaelic 
 epic^ Its builder extended to the poet Allan Ramsay a like hos- 
 pitable welcome with that which Gordon had received from his prede- 
 cessor; and the romantic locality of Habbie's How, the scene of the 
 poets Scottish pastoral, lies only a few miles to the south-west 
 among the Pentland Hills. ' 
 
 There is no room for doubt that Scott had Gordon and his experi- 
 ences m view, and even bore in remembrance certain familiar inci- 
 
12 
 
 ALKXANDKU GOnnox, THE ANnQtURV. 
 
 ! >i' 
 
 I I 
 
 dents connected witJi tlm fnr.r^n*- i . 
 
 cuik collection, .vh 1 I'rt r" -"^ r '•^^"'^ «^ *'- P^'""3'- 
 OMbuck. He doe. irde7t , "r"'" ° '"'''''^'''''^ ^^ J--*''- 
 Cl^rouielesof thoCanoMgato" tint '< f ,"' '" "^troduction to " Ti.o 
 buck, in .The Anti,„a:v'\v„ 1, ''V'Tf'' "^ '^--t''''- Old- 
 friend of my youth f. Jl T ^ '^ ^"""''""' «" ^'"^t Of nn old 
 
 shakespea.^ro;wt:;,i:;:''"'r i?^ ^--'-in,.e;: 
 
 date that tho only inei.lent i " Tf ^'"* ^'' "^^^'^ '^^ ^ J'^ter 
 
 cun.stancesof his earl fin ,° ""^•''' ^— od fron. tho real cir- 
 old honse near a Z L^ ^ ^f ^ '^^ ^'^^^ '^^^ '^ --'-' i-"' 
 chanced to witness in J ^l,^ ^ , ' T f ^'^^"^ ^^''"^'l' «cott himself 
 
 conflict .ithM.;C^.frVV^'r '^^ ''"''"'•' " ''' 
 old High Street of Edinb j" n ' " , ''^ '"" ^'^^ ^*'"^'^ ^" ^^« 
 
 including «.. excellent tt- iitr; ^ j /T'^"' ^^"•^'^"^^- 
 tumour; learning, ^vit and l.- II n ^ * ''"»"'" ^^ «»^'^°id 
 
 -ore a little marlt^d by t^ n '^'- ""'*' P^'^"^"* *'^^* they 
 
 Ponnycuik traditio:! W l ^^ ^f^^r' ''■ ''' '^-'^^^-'"~thl 
 easy to conceive of the patent ' , , !°*''^"» in common; nor is it 
 over unbending so far as o If ^f '. T^'"'" "' '^'' It-orarium 
 
 But the po^er o i I "lit^. n :" 7 '' °' "^^ '^^ '^™"-'>^- 
 1- being tL mere lit r y p^ 1 , '^t""^' '" ^'^"" ^° ^^^'-^ of 
 ance. Many traits f , ' , fS 1 P """ '^""■^•'^^" "^^l"'-*" 
 Cmg, were donbtless i^ . ! '' I^T ,''7' ^'^"' ^' '^^^^^ 
 
 but wo have the authority o? To . "^ '^"""''"^'^ ^^'"^uck; 
 
 of Eldin, a younger iVtl^t: ':; p!/^^^ T '''"' ''-'' 
 once famous essay on divi.lin<r H «" l ^"""y*^»'k,-author of a 
 
 ascribed some of L ri:::!^;^^'^--':^' '' 'T '''' 
 tion in naval tactics ;-,vho inherito 1 H . ^*'"°'''^ ''"''«^"- 
 
 father, supplied not a few of ten V T-^'^""'^"''^" t-tes of his 
 table portraiture of tho Lah I f 7* f ^''^ *°-'-« - the inimi- 
 -Lolly unconscious of pt^:^"!^,^::' 'Z:?- ,^--- the author 
 hin^self, derived in pa ffi-om th ! ^""'"^ *^^ Abbotsford 
 
 youth, and fostered by Ih sTu.S: .r^"^ °' '™^^« "^ ^- 
 Itinerarium Septentriona"^ B ^ Z T "' " ^^^^^ ^^^'on's 
 
 and not mere portraits mu.h '" '^'''''''''' ''' ^^^tions, 
 
 H^iiraus, much less caricaturp« Ti,«„ . 
 
 nature, and replete with evidence of thT P ^ ''^ *'^'' *° 
 
AtEXANDEn COnnoX, THE AXTIQL'AnY. 13 
 
 With incident and character derived from this nnlikely source, there 
 can bo no question. It is in.lood very much in the actual words of 
 Cordon's loarn.,,1 argumont, though i,i a ,ur,re con.lonsed form than 
 suited tho ample j,a:,.o of las foli,,, that the Antiquary holds forth 
 to Lovol on tlio disputed site of A,-ricola'a victory. " As for our 
 Scottish antiquaries," .says (Jordon, " thoy arcso divided that some 
 wdl have it to he i,i the shire of Angus, or in the Mearns ; some at 
 the Llair of Athol in Perthshire, or Ardoch in Strathallan ; and 
 others at Tnnorpcffory :" an,l so the solemn ohl folio, formal, tall and 
 loan as its learned author, proceeds as it were in stately amplifica- 
 tion ol tho very words listened to l,y Lovel on tho Kaim of Kin 
 prunes. And <'now, after all this discuH..ion," conti.uied the Laird 
 of Monkbarns, with one of his slyest and most complacent looks 
 "what would you think, Mr. Lovel-I say, what would you think 
 if tho memorable scene of conflict shouhl happen to be on tho very 
 spot called the Kaim of Kinprunes ? "-or, as In's genuine prototype, 
 Sandy Gordon, would have it, at Galdachan, in Strathern. He has 
 combated his opponents in detail, and now ho proceeds : " From all 
 which I am of opinion that the real place where the battle was 
 fought, at the Mons Grampius, is, ns I have already asserted, in 
 Strathern, the famous Glacialls leme of which Claudius the poet 
 afterwards makes so much mention." For is there not Agricola's 
 camp visible there to all men, with distinct agger and fossa, porta 
 decumana, prx'torium, and all else ? 'Tis true, a part of the square 
 IS washed away by the Ruchel, a torrent that there joins the river 
 Ern. But what of that, when the identification can be clinched in 
 this unanswerable fashion: "Tho situation of the ground," saya 
 Gordon, " is so very exact witli tho description given by Tacitus, 
 that in all my travels through Britain I never beheld anything with 
 more pleasure, it being directly at the foot of the Grampian Hills ; 
 besides there are the colles, or small rising grounds on which the 
 Caledonians were placed before the battle, and also the high hill on 
 which tho body of the Caledonian army lay, and from which they 
 came down upon the Romans. Nor is it difficult, on viewing this 
 gi-ound, to guess at the place where the coinnarii, or charioteers, 
 stood. In fine, to an antiquary, this is a ravishing scene." And so 
 he closes his argument beyond possible assault, with this crowning 
 evidence : " Galgachus's name still remains on this ground ; lor the 
 moor is called to this day Galdachan, or Galjachan Rossmorel" 
 
14 
 
 AI.KXANDKU GOUI.ON. TIIK AM„^rAUV. 
 
 JV'iiii the cnrnp nf Ardncli 
 
 To(i|,.n|.i,|„i„ l.iiiuf J^^.jr^ 
 
 Arc niiiK liiiifTH' rents 
 I'or sfvc'ii liiindiMl ycnr. 
 
 fulc tl»„ l,i,„«,. to bido Lore .'itinlff:,, ■!:;■;,■" """"" ' " '"=.-■ 
 But Mr. Al<,x,„„|e,. GorJou was m kn,.vW, a Icpt. Ho merit, .11 
 
tcriiil.s which ]io 
 iiidccd, h) liiuit 
 ivd'a |irnt(i(y|M). 
 ion alioiit King 
 'I' into tliat of 
 liticii that fVdiu 
 • ctf tho n-iitcr, 
 i Iiicli thiTo uro 
 I very grouiul- 
 ■Hcs whicii uro 
 
 tl n.s(n.h):,'ical 
 • gmiiilCiithor, 
 
 fiiHl uiit tlio 
 II hiul I not 
 lii'li Wiia (lis- 
 
 Iif any troa- 
 'aiiliquitios." 
 liavo titirivod 
 ohvioii.s iliat 
 -loviiiij Kilio 
 ("fr," as tho 
 ifot's ^'I'avc. 
 liviiior's rod, 
 iiOKs to liavo 
 toinan ware, 
 
 ruins of St. 
 i»an nature's 
 )' gain wad 
 lis, at twal 
 
 I a bigger 
 
 3 merits all 
 ' diligently 
 
 us rOCOlvla 
 
 ALKXANPEU CJOUnON, THE ANTIQIAHY. 15 
 
 of parthworkH, inaoriptionH, nnd r..li<,s of vnri.n.s kitxls. of whirl,, l,„t 
 for hun, all knowledge would havo Iukmi lost, 'i'ho title of j.iH 
 famoHH folio iH " ItiiiorHrium Heptentrionalo, or a jonrnoy (hro' most 
 ofthoConnlieHof Heotland, ami Ihoso of tho North of Kngland •" 
 Tu>t indeed that that is the whole title, for it runs on into d.-tails 
 M.lhoient lor a res|Hrtal.lo I»refae(^ an.l gua,ant«TH "a [.arlh^ular 
 dc8.-r.j.tu.n of the Jton.na walls of {!.nnl.e,|and, Northun.herland 
 .and Scotland; th.ur dillerent stationn, wateh-towers, tnrretH, explo- 
 ratory nisHeH, height. I.rea.lth, and all their oJn-r dirn.MmionH ; taken 
 by an actual g.H)nietri<..I nurvey from sea to sea. with all the altarH 
 nnd inscriptionn," ie., &c. Ah to ^^on,s Grarnpius, he ha.s surveyed 
 it for luniself, an.l (K.orH hiH oi.i.on.-nts by reminding then, that tho 
 remarkable range of n.ountain.s call.Kl tho (Grampian Hills reaches 
 from Uun,bart,m on the C'lyd.«, to Al.er.leen on the (Jerman Ocean • 
 and though, no doubt, the Mona Giampins they aie in search of 
 must be one of thi.s long rango of Montos Grampii, yet he says : 
 "Till I seoHon,.* vestiges of a Jloman ea,,np in the Mearna, where 
 there are uono, I cannot bo convinced that Agricola wont ho far 
 north." 
 
 It was worth Sir John Clerk's while to give hospitable ontor- 
 tan,nient at Po.nnycnik llouso to one who could spcmk as an eyo- 
 witness of eve.-y can,p, tower, an.l barrow of tin, whole Grampian 
 chain. Tho Harou's father-in-law was Sir John Inglis, of Cramon.l, 
 famous for its Roman harbour, of which Gor.lon says: "Jlere 
 several llonian insorij.tions have been dug up, and an incre.liblo 
 <iuantity of Roman coins of gold, silver, and brass of all sorts," 
 besides altars, tfec, whicli he describes from the originals " now in 
 Baron Ole.-k's coll.iction ;" and ho ad.ls, " among all the collections 
 of Roman antiquities in Scotlan.l, that of Baron Cle.'k justly claims 
 the preferen.30, both as to number and curiosity ;" but above all, a 
 Roman stilus for writing, found, with its theca gmphiaria, within an 
 old Roman sepulchre, or cairn, in tho County of Edinburgh, and 
 " eatoemed by all the curious as tho greatest rarity of that kind ever 
 found in Britain." Tho Baron's own learned report of his exj-lora- 
 tions IS embodied in Gordon's supplement, wherein he notes the dis- 
 covery in this same sepulchre of a " peri)etual lamp," such as are 
 affirmed to have been found still burning on tho opening of certain 
 tomks, ami, in defiance of all known laws of combustion, to have 
 only gone out when a 8ui)])ly of oxygen was admitted to them ! 
 
IC 
 
 Af-KXANDKU Onwrxw, THE ANTtQlMIlY. 
 
 North K.k w.„,U ^ ,,, ,^,,,,,, ,, ^,,, ,.,_^^_^^^ - 
 
 In 0,-osk: an. .ssumv.;.Mon .11 h„,..lH with anti,«., «it.. an"l 
 
 fohoH an,l c,„..rto« .till ...-viv,. ; «„., U.o v„l„.Ll. ..oll.-Hi, . 
 Ro,nan nn.l oth... anti,..iti..s which nnvanl.! hi„ ..,,U.,...,io.l 
 lu M, ronn.l.n, n>,MoM.. cr whh nM«,„..nt.Hl hy hi. fathorin-law. Hir 
 Jo n luKhH f....,n tU. .h, ,,.n.an ..port at tI,o ,.o„,h ..ft"" 
 
 o.no _..„no„.s illu.st,rati..n« fo.- t,... .• ,V..hi.t..H.- Annnl« of sI:;. 
 
 .."n " ; '-'•••— •'"^'■--'^ K.-..P of ti,„..,.. of .hi.,, th. 
 .•ontml ono. a ,p,eon, Hoato,! with a l„«,k an.l h.p .lo« o„ h.-r Icnoo 
 BUKKo^ts as .lo«t,nation a- tho qn.-n pi,H-« of a «ot of ,.|,ohs ,„... - 
 won, t. I.ke othn-s of U. oIhsh. fnnu tho tn.k of tho waln./or 
 hM.|...ono of Chancor. It i.s lahollo.l. in tho han.lwri.in, .,f tho 
 Bu-on. a« l.avu>fi boon foun.l l.y John A.lair. tho oM S.-ottinh 
 K-«mphor..n 168L',whon,-n^«o,l in a nurvoyoftho kin^don. hy 
 appo.nt„>ont of tho I.nl. of tho S.>ttish iVivy Council. U It 
 thon,foro, have l... in tho Ponnyonik colloction whon (h.nh.n wn 
 ransacking U for las Itinomry ; h.t it lay out of tho lino of hi, 
 
 ^uiot:!:^"' "^ "' •^'^"^ '''' ''-' «™"--'^^ *'- -^-«^ 
 
 Only a fow milo.s distant fi-om Ponnycuik ITonsn, in tho vicinity 
 he old Roman track, lios tho village of Konuvua, the nan.e of 
 whch .. snp,.>..,l to por,>otuato tho momoiy of tho con«truct,or« of 
 c«rtam Koman works noar by, nn.l so, as Oonlon «ty«, " to prove 
 tl.e voracity of its otyn.ology." Tho stables of Ponnvcuik Ilouso 
 are now surmounted with a domo-liko structure, f ...c-ly erected in 
 the neighbounng gi-ounds r. a fa(>simile of the AHh.n-s Oo,, of Dr 
 Btukeloys old quarto: n singular boo-hive Btruoturo .' squared 
 niasonry twenty-iive feet in diameter, which, in spite of every con- 
 flicting analogy or probability, CJordon ag«,es with tho elder author 
 in behoving to have l«en a Roman tomr.lo erected by Agricola As 
 to what Dr. 8tukeloy did or di.l not believe, we need not gr^itly 
 -on.->m ourselvoa. Ho visite<l O.xfonl in Septemlx^r, 1724, little 
 _ ; 'a „ha. ^ year prior to the issue of Cionlon's famous folio from 
 >-' r< -.«;», and whftn he must havo boen in froquor 
 
 ant oorro3j)OQd' 
 
 eucQ 
 
I IVnHniiif.«i, nFicrn 
 lu'iiiiin iilutidi, 0^ 
 aii«i(|Ho nih'M und 
 
 nnd ill not. n fow 
 I lihiiirv of It'iiniod 
 iiblti collcition of 
 iH «'X|ilointi(iiiii in 
 t futlior ill Inw, Hir 
 lin iikoiilh of tlin 
 ImtoiH, fiinuHlioil 
 
 Annuls of Hoot- 
 tt'ork, and n mro 
 •a, of which (hr> 
 >iloK on her knoo, 
 fc of I'hPHH men,— 
 of thn wiilnis, or 
 aiirlwritini,' of Uip 
 tlio ol<l HcottiHh 
 
 tho kingdom J,y 
 unnoil. It must, 
 dion (Jordon wns 
 >f tho lino of hiu 
 dod tho intorost 
 
 ^ in tlie vicinity 
 ana, tlio niune of 
 ) constructors of 
 siiys, " to prove 
 onnycuik ITonso 
 uiQ'iy or ictoil in 
 iiir'M 0,.p of Dr. 
 txim of sijmired 
 ;e of every con- 
 tho oldor author 
 ^ Agrioola. ,V8 
 lood not greiitly 
 or, 1724, little 
 inous folio from 
 corro?i>oadeacQ 
 
 AM:,\ANni:u <. nuns, thk AVTKjirAiiv. J7 
 wiM, !,is n„,i,u,uian fri-nd on u,.ny knotty point, of n,. .■prnt,. 
 un nnd . .du..|,on A ,„„, lK..ho|:„...„dunM,„,.rvth,.n.vM,|,.nt 
 
 l.oroa.|...lh.wofh.s.-ol|,.,.,T,,,,,, ,, ,..., ,,i,;,^,,,f , 
 
 n..s vol„m.no„Hofsvn„.,H.wh works, in all th.,,. ,.di„„,.., ..x,..,,,! 
 
 '',';'7;'.' l.m.dn.dvolu M. hasr ni.d .!,.. ,„•, „. , ,„,, 
 
 W..I1 this .onnncnt on hin l.n.l, • ,n,(i,,„„,v : '.TIh. |„. Sfuk-lov 
 
 '';'/'' ;l"'.v („M,,v. lu show, as l„.addiHshin.,..|r,o fan,.; alto. 
 
 -l'■^ ;<mns„ph.H.ha,:u-l.rin thi.tashic.n: ..Noanti,,nan:u,"..vo.. 
 I ;'l HO nvly. not to say lic-ntiouM. a fan.-.y an Slnkol J Tl.,. |,... 
 
 ; . "."• ';'-:••';: '•<•"""" l-.s(. i-Han.-d hln. liko a p,..s.sion. M,.t , .„. 
 
 ol h,H . ......phonH am n.t ■ visions than hoIk..- .vlatio. f .,,.. 
 
 --ldl.,.p,...,v,v,.dl,v,,no,.dina,yoyo.a„ ,...,,„.,., ,,,,., 
 
 ^^.•n,HM..h l.n.ad ronlninons w.-hs of spocniation wov.-n out of Hi, ' 
 
 ;:""• ";"""; ;"";••" ^"-••-..,1,0... ■ of tlm .. A....onnt of., 
 
 '-'"."" '"'"I'l". Artlnn'H()„n," in tho ...stin.ation of ..ritioal and din 
 m.nn.atn.K jud,.. V,.t ti.o old provorl, hol.ls «oo.l. that "a n.an 
 
 •s known l.y Ins fn..ndK;" and* I h.W ' <;o..do„ Mands 
 
 .-us,n,..ont,n.,toHndMnapp......i,,,ivovonli..,.. All-rpna. ..in. 
 
 W .> I>r. (Mo-s and V.n.U>n'. Itinonu-i.-n will l.o f.l,.„ .,ij 
 
 tn-san.n..howo,.ld;'', Id.s. .<nor, T hop., .ill tho laLonnsand 
 
 '"lustry ol „.y worthy fn.-n.l Doctor Stnkoh.y l.o ovor forgot J. 
 
 i....s lavo„,.od tho p,„.lio with so many notahlo discovorios in ti Ji I 
 
 and oti.or i.ra,i.-h.,s of valnal.lo orn.iitio,, " ' ^ 
 
 As to Arthur's 0,>n. tho (i..t notico .,f it o.-.-urs in tho Jlistoria 
 
 ofS>otlan,lsamllndan,rspnmitivo(M.n\stiancTa.an,litsmasomYWHH 
 notgroatlv .hlUn-ont from that of tla- S.-ottish round towon, pod.I 
 ascnh... to tho Pi.t,s. Whothor it was . saoolhnn or a nalu soltn 
 a ton.p mn t-rmnn, or what olso, no two unti.p.arios w.-ro a<.rood' 
 
 not u 1 ko tho f.tmous Panth-on at Homo, h.foro tho nol,io porti.-o 
 was add,, to a by Mai-cus Aurolius:" only (Jo...lon must nJls noto 
 'f ^''r ' '"-' '-^ "f '-- '"-iek. " when,as Arthur's Oon is ml 
 
 ?lT';i".-"r: '' !r" '^^""^•" '^'^ ""'"^H"'^ !--> its min. 
 xu i,-i.., .^,r ...icliaol Lritcc, t'uo biirlnuiuii on whoso lands it stood. 
 2 
 
I. ( 
 
 18 
 
 ALEXANDER GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 pulled it ilowu for materials wlierowith to build a mill-dam on tho 
 -Hivor (Jarron. Tiie river whoso banks it had made memorable from 
 the days of XenniuR, if not of Agricola, avenged the sacrilege by 
 sweeping away the dismoiabered sacelhnn; and so Sir John Cllerk, 
 after " eursing the Gotliic Knight with boll, book and candle," did 
 the best he could to reproduce tho lost relic on the banks of the 
 North Esk. A noteworthy little incident, highly illustrative of 
 ScDttish character, is mentioned by Dr. John Hill Burton, who 
 liimself remembers it b-ing brought as a charge against a candi- 
 date for the representation of a Scottish county, certainly more than 
 a century after the base deed was perpetrate ., that he was a des- 
 cendant of tlio desti'oyer of Arthur's Oon ! 
 
 There was much to be pondered over by the Ltiird of Pennycuik 
 and his imlustricus brother antiquary. There had been a basso- 
 relievo visihle on the time-worn archway of Arthur's Oon, as like to 
 an eagle with expanded wings as was that over ]\Ionkbarns' own 
 doorway to the Abbot of Trotcosey's mitre ; only, as Goi-don feels 
 bound to confess, " age and time, and perhaps the same barbarous 
 hand that erased the letters, may have defaced it, but even now part 
 of the body and one of the wings may be faintly discerned." Here 
 again was subject mattej.- for many a solemn conclave. Gordon sums 
 up a grand array of exhaustive arguments thus : " But besides all 
 this, l^r. Scukeloy has well ol.)served that time has left Julius Agri- 
 cola's very name on the jtlace, as entire as the building, seeing it 
 goes frequently under the appellation of Julius Iloff, or house ; and 
 if ever these initial letters I. A, M. P. M. P. T., mentioned by Sir 
 Robert Sibbald, were engraved on a stone in this building, it may not 
 be reckoned altogether absurd that they should bear this i-eading, — 
 Juluis Acjricola magna: pietatis monumenttan ])osuit iemplum. But 
 this tho reader may either accept or reject, as he pleases. However, 
 I think it may as jirobably bo received as that inscription on Cali- 
 gula's Pharus in Holland, which, having these following letters, 
 C. C. P. P., is read Caius Caligula pharum fecit." Hero, it can 
 scarcely be necessary to remind tlie reader, is the undoubted original 
 of Aiken Drum's lang ladle. The Antiquary has demonstrated to 
 Level beyond all possibility of cavil that the Kaim of Kinprunes, 
 the Castra pruinis of Claudiau — in consjKciu classis, in sight of the 
 Roman fleet, as Tacitus has it, — con-esironds in all respects to tho 
 scene of Agricoia's final conHict; and now is produced the grand 
 
 ! s. 
 
ALEXANDER GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 10 
 
 illl-ilam on tlio 
 lemorable from 
 10 sacrilcgo by 
 r John C/lork, 
 (1 candle," did 
 y bunks of tlio 
 illu.sti-ativc of 
 Burton, wlio 
 lunst a C'uuli- 
 iily more than 
 ho was a dcs- 
 
 of Ponnycuik 
 
 been a basso- 
 Don, as like to 
 :jiikbavn8' own 
 
 Goi'don feels 
 ame barbarous 
 even now part 
 erued." Iloro 
 
 Gordon sums 
 3ut besides all 
 't Julius Agri- 
 diiig, seeing it 
 or house ; and 
 ntioncd by Sir 
 ug, it may not 
 :his reading, — 
 empluni. But 
 es. However, 
 iption on Cali- 
 lowing letters, 
 
 Here, it can 
 lubted original 
 Binonstrated to 
 of Kinjirunes, 
 in sight of the 
 respects to the 
 3ed tho grand 
 
 ttlimax, held in reserve for a crowning triumph: the sculptured 
 stone trenched up on the very spot, with its "sacrilicing vessel, and 
 the letters A. D. L. L., which may stand without much violence for 
 Agricola dkavit lihejis lulimfi." " Certainly, sir," responds the com- 
 plaisant Lovel, "for the Dutch antiquaries claim Caligula as the 
 founder of a liglithouse on the sole authority of the letters C. C. P. F. ;" 
 and so on to Mr. Oldbuck's " trivial essay upon castrametation, with 
 some particular remarks upon the vestiges of ancient fortifications 
 lately discovered by the author at the Kaini of Kinprunes," in which 
 he flatters himself he has pointed out tht; infallible touchstone of 
 .supposed antiquity. It is interesting thus to trace the hand of the 
 great master, with his Midas-touch transmuting such arid contro- 
 versies into the sparkling humour of his choicast romance. 
 
 Gordon was able to contribute to the Pennycuik discussions some- 
 what besides the learning which he had picked uj) in his northern 
 Alma Mater. Like Dugald Dalgetty, he was a traveller to boot 
 though on more peaceful errands. What his precise ago was at the 
 date of the publication of the famous folio on which his literary fame 
 is based, I have failed to ascertain. In point of years he was greatly 
 Baron Clerk's junior. But his journeyings had already extended 
 beyond the shadows of the Grampians, and with the pul)) ■"cation of 
 the Itinerarium his connection with Scotland camo to an end. His 
 correspondence with his " worthy friend, Dr. Stukeley," had now 
 been exchanged for more intimate personal intercourse, and he grows 
 enraptured over the assembled rank and learning of the old London 
 gatherings of the antiquarian fraternity, of which the Doctor was 
 Secretary. The London Society of Antiquaries had at that date for- 
 saken the Young- Devil Tavern in Fleet Street, for the Fountain 
 Tavern over against Chancery Lane, and in the following year re- 
 moved to Gray's Inn Lane, and afterwards to the Temjde. But 
 apparently the more dignified quarters thus provided for theii- de- 
 liberations conflicted too much with the social habits of that age ; and 
 so, in the following year, 1728, we find the Fellows have once more 
 emerged into Fleet Street, and are holding their meetings in the 
 Mitre Tavern there. It was, in truth, the Antiquaries' Club ac- 
 cording to the fashion of that eighteenth century ; and to the genuine 
 enthusiasts who took the lead in it, was so delightful that Gordon 
 exclaims, " For my own share, I think sincerely that England seems 
 now to be the true seat of the Muses, and London is become Apollo's 
 
^ir- 
 
 20 
 
 ALEXANDER GORDO.V, THE AN'TIQUARl'. 
 
 favourite residence." In Lis dedication to tlie Duke of Queensbeny 
 he expresses liis gratitude " for many favours received botli at homo 
 and abroad;" and iiis repeated allusions to the arcliitecture of Rome 
 and to the galleries of art of Naples, Venice, Florence, aiid other 
 celebrated collections of continental Europe, as m-cU as to the 
 Raphaels, Titians, Domenichinos, and Vandykes in English collec- 
 tions, prove his familiarity with the works of the gi-eat masters as 
 objects of personal study. He was indeed a zealous collector bin.- 
 self, alike as an antiquary and a connoisseur of art. Ho claims for 
 "the Morcuiy now in London, which I myself had the good fortnne 
 to buy for the present Lord Eatoman in Italy," an artistic valuo 
 equrd to any statue in Europe ; while we come repeatedly on such 
 references as this: "I carried away from the Fort of Carvoran a 
 small portable altar, with an inscription dedicated to the tutelary god 
 Vitorinus. This piece of antiquity I gave to Baron Clerk, and take 
 It to bo the same mentioned l)y Cambdcn." Again, at Castlestead, 
 the Petriana of later Anglo-Roman antiquaiies, in Northumberland '• 
 " here I purchased a small altar dedicated to the god Mars. The in- 
 scription is thus: DEO SAXCTO MAUTI VI^NVSTINVS LVPVS VOTVM 
 
 SOLVIT LVBENs MERiTo. lliis small altar, which I presented to the 
 Right Hououmble the Earl of Hertford, is very singular in gixing 
 the epithet Sanctus to tlie god IMars. Cambdcn shews an altar with 
 an inscrii.tion, Deo sancto Relutucadro, which is supposed to be Mars ; 
 but this confirms the title Sandua to that god of war, and is a very 
 gi-eat curiosity." Had his researches been turned to a collateral 
 branch of inquiry, well calculated to have engaged his attention, ho 
 would have learned from a study of the famous Eugubine Tables, 
 found at the Umbrian twvn of Iguvium in 1444, that ^a«cw was' 
 the tutelary deity of the Sabines, and Salms, the son oi Sancm, their 
 chief divinity and eponymous, with much else peculiarly tempting to 
 so indefatigablo an etymologist as Goi-don proves himself to have 
 been. For it was a study ho " loved, not wisely, but too well." 
 
 But the prized altar of the Petrianian Mars has beguiled us from 
 the remoter wanderings of the author of the Itinerary. This much is 
 certainly known of him, that in eariy life ho travelled over various 
 parts of the Continent, explored considerable ]^ortions of Franco 
 on foot, visited Germany, resided for years in Italy, and so— 
 along with other fruits of such experience,— was able to confute 
 Hector Boothius and later speculators on the purpose for which 
 
 I 
 
)f Queen sbeiiy 
 I both at horn© 
 Jcture of Home 
 ;nce, and otliei' 
 ell as to the 
 English collee- 
 •eat masters aa 
 collector him- 
 IIo claims for 
 e good fortnne 
 artistic value 
 atedly on such 
 jf Carvoran a 
 le tutelary god 
 'lerk, and tak'^ 
 nt Castlestead, 
 'thumherland : 
 lars. The in- 
 
 LVPVS VOTVM 
 
 esouted to the 
 ular in gi\ing 
 
 an altar with 
 3d to be Mars ; 
 
 and is a very 
 3 a collateral 
 I attention, ho 
 jubino Tables, 
 it Sanciis Avas 
 ' Sanciis, their 
 y teinj)ting to 
 nself to have 
 oo well." 
 idled us from 
 
 This much is 
 [ over various 
 ns of France 
 ly, and so — 
 le to confute 
 88 for which 
 
 ALEXANDER GOHDON, THE ANTIQUARY. O] 
 
 Arthur's Oon wa.s constructed. Wiudiug up a comprehensive ar^u- 
 ment in las It.nerarium, he adds this iinal result of his own observa- 
 tions : " Indeed, for my own part, T never observed, in Italy or (dso- 
 where, any real Eoman temple whatsoever wldch was not at least 
 tour times as largo as Arthur's Oon." 
 
 But, as already Idnted, the antLpiarian traveller had tastes and 
 ac(ju,rements of a varied range, and in some respects of a more n.ar- 
 ketablo character. He was able to state, in closing hLs Itinerary 
 that <'all the monuments in this work are truly and faithfully ex- 
 hibited from the originals, drawn on the spot by ray own hand;" and 
 as he refers to the inadequate encouragemeut oxtenrlod to him havinr. 
 compelled him to curtail the expenditure on engraving, it is only 
 just to assume that lie had a greater command of his pencil than the 
 coarsely executed plates of his folio would suggest. In reality as 
 now appe^trs, he worked in oil, practised the art of jxn-trait paintin-^ 
 and, as will bo seen, made some of his imintings, including his own 
 portrait, subjects of special becjuest in his will. 
 
 In music his skill was considerable, nor is it wholly improbable 
 that we may owe to him one or other of the unclaimed airs associated 
 with Scottish song. Aberdeenshire has contri],uted its full share 
 both to the lyrics and music of our national minstrelsy. The Rev 
 John Skinner, one of its own native poets, in his vigorous wonls to 
 the old reel of Tullochgorum, appeals to the national sympathies 
 against new-fangled foreign tastes :— 
 
 AV'liat need tliero be sao great a fraiso 
 
 Wi' driii^rin'.j du 1 Italian lays, 
 
 I wadiia gie our aiii strathspeys 
 Fo.- hah" a hunder score o' them 
 William Marshall, butler to the Duke of Gordon, composed and 
 adapted some of the fine airs to which Burns wedded more than one of 
 his most beautiful songs, such as " Ofa'theaiits the wind can blaw" 
 and we owe to the M.S. lute-book of Sir Robert Gordon of Stralocli 
 dated lb2(, several fine soug tunes of an earlier century It 
 would be a pleasant .liscovery if wo were enabled to associate a 
 familiar national or Jacobite air with the name of the old Scottish 
 antiquary. According to the traditions of Penuycuik House his 
 musical skill had been turned to account in liis continental wander- 
 ings, somewhat after the fashion of GoI.Ismith's f!ut«, thou-1-. doubt 
 TuZ "T '^r^'^ P'-«fessional ways than those which the author 
 ot Iho Iraveller thus artlessly records :— 
 
.f .wfmmm 
 
 22 
 
 ALKXAXDEIt OOUnoV, TIIK AXTTQUARr, 
 
 lIo\> oft(>n Imvo I led (liy sn<) livo olioir, 
 Villi liii»cl(>:i.« )n|H> l)csi(l<> tl 
 
 ■VVIii 
 
 sli (1 
 
 10 miiriDUfini; Loiro I 
 
 lIl'W 
 
 iijf I'ltiis ftloiiu; llu! margin ^w-w, 
 Ami IVoslioiiM from tlio wbvo tlio zcplivr ll 
 And Imiily, tlio' my Im 
 l?ut. Ill 'ckM nil tiiiu> mil 
 Yet woiilii ih,> vi luiri. J, j^,, ,„y „.,„„i 
 
 II' Ii tiiuch, fiili'riii;,' stilt, 
 limn "(I tli(> (111 
 
 lu'cr's skill, 
 runs p wor, 
 li<nir. 
 
 And diiiicc. f.>rn;,.|ful of the iicvoiitid,. 1 
 
 Aliko nil a;,'i's. Daiiu's of ancient da 
 
 llavi- K- 1 tluir diildron ilir,.' tli.> niirtlifnl nm,-..i' ; 
 
 And the piy Hi'andsiro, skili'd in -cstio Ion-. 
 
 Llns frisk'd bcmouth t,hi> biii'diMi of iln-iv sooro. 
 
 Without tlio geniality of the iiuthor of " The Tmvollc.-," (Jonl.m 
 must liiivo luul somo of liis waywiinl pi-oponsitios. Clialuu.Ts Hav« 
 that ho "msi.I.xl many youi-s in Italy, a,U(l visikM most parts of that 
 country." Of this Italian «ojourn---in Avhatovor oaimcitv it may 
 have iKH^n carriod out.—tho known fruits ur« his lives of Toih* 
 Alexander VI. ami Cai.sar Uor-ia. ami his " Comploto ili.story of 
 Ancient Amphitlie.it.vs, more ].articuLirly iv-anlin- the arehitecture 
 of these lmil,lin,-s. and in lurtieular that of Verona/' (rauslaleil from 
 tho Italian of the Alaixiui.s Scipio lAlalVei. But both his liter.u-v ami 
 professional laboui-s must have Ihxmi pursued in „ sin-nlarly erratic 
 fashion. He swms to have foi-s;iken tho .^[ns<-s for a' time after his 
 return from his continental wan.lc-rin-s. and is reported to have ac- 
 quired mucli of his minute knovvled-e of Romano-8cotie antiquities 
 while eni?ia:(nl lus a surveyor of tho route for the projected canal be- 
 tween the Forth and the (lyde, which follows the "same course as 
 tho line of Agricola's foi-t,s and t]i(> later wall of Antoninc. 
 
 In 1732 Crordou issued pmixwals for emr.tivin- by subscription 
 a complete view of tho Roman Walls in Britain, as thoy milly ap- 
 Far on the .j^mund ; their hei.^dit, thickness. numlKU- of cou.-sos iu 
 the stone wall, ins^-riptions. altars, ami all else ; "th.-ir whole nnmlvr 
 again delineated from their originals, acc-onlin,!,r to exact mensuration, 
 with a scale, and correction of former publications." Had 1„> y^. 
 ceived adc(p.ato encouragement, he would doubthvss have anticipated 
 Hoi^ley, Hodgson. Stuart, and Bruct^ in many of th.-ir iiulustrious 
 researehes. But he had alivudy remarked of the illustrations of his 
 Ihnerarmm: "Had my encouragement from the public been moro 
 considei-able, they might have been executed with more expense 
 tlinngli not with grontcv truth and cxacfcnns.." Horslev's linfam^C, 
 Aomam w..^, moreover, ready for the prcsaj tlio ScottLsli untupuu'V 
 
ALEXANDKIl OOllDOX, TIIK ANTIQUARY. 
 
 23 
 
 i^r," (ntnloii 
 IdilmtTH H;iys 
 iiiirts of tliiit 
 city it. iiiiiy 
 ITS of Popo 
 ^ History of 
 Kii'Iiitooturo 
 iisliid'd from 
 litcraiy ami 
 liirly t'l-riitie 
 luc iiftor his 
 . to liiivo ac- 
 ) aiiti(juitit's4 
 I'll canal bo- 
 u> coui'so as 
 
 iilKSoriptioa, 
 y iraily ap- 
 
 coui-sos in 
 olc nuiulx^r 
 iciisiiratiou, 
 Had he ro- 
 an ticijiated 
 iiuhistrioim 
 lions of his 
 
 been moro 
 :e exponso, 
 i Brltamiin 
 I until juavy 
 
 h:iil lal.onivd on a thankh'HH task, and tho fniitn of Ids painHtuking 
 roHoarclios woiv; loat to tlio world. 
 
 " How profil.li'HH tho rv\w.» tlmt wo cull, 
 Tiimliliiif; till! lust liolds of aiiiliilimi.s Uoino ;" - 
 HO nii-iit til.. .lis,tppointcd untlior havo cxclainn-d, ovon in a more 
 literal ,v.,.ns.. than tiio poot meant. Tins (lisappoiid,nient may have 
 inllneneed tlie incident.s of his later ean^er, tJionoli he still fonnd .some 
 n^co.i^ridtion of his s.-rviees in the ea,iso of letters and arohieolo;,^. 
 In ir.-id he was appointed Hecretary of the Soci(!ty for th(! lOnttonra^^e- 
 ment of L.-arnin-,', and soon aft<n' siice<-eiled to "the nioi-.^ congenial 
 oliieo of Secretary of tho Socii^ty of Antiipiaries of London. U was 
 probably tln'on^di the inMuence of his brother antiipiary, Dr. Stnkcdey, 
 that he also obtained tlie secretarysiiip of the Ki^'yptian Socii^y, of 
 which that aniialde entlni,siast was one of the founders ; and so liad 
 a new bent given to las rosoarches, which is proved by his will to 
 liMVo been thenceforth th.! I'ulin^' passion of his life. Tho Hociety 
 was cldefly coini.o.sed of gentlem.;n who had visited l':;rypt, n,nd were 
 thereby asKuni(Hl to havo aehleved some spf^eial mastery of its anti.,ue 
 lore. Tlieir Secrotaiy, without apparently havini,' «iiijoye(l such op- 
 portnnities, tni'iied his imh.fati-able z,,al in this new direction, pub- 
 lished a succession of very hiarned and unreadable folios, undertook 
 to solvo tho mysteries of hh^o-lyphies befoi-e the Kosi^tta Wtone was 
 heard of, and to illustrate "all the E;,yptian miunmies in England!" 
 Hence followed, in especial, "Two Essays towards explainbig the 
 hieroglyphical figures on i\w collin belonging to (!a,ptain w" Ee- 
 thieullior, and on tho Egyptian nnnumy in the musiaim of Dr. 
 ]\Io.id ;" another folio of twenty-five jdate.s of Egyptian mumnues, 
 engraved by VaniK-r (Jucht; and, in.hsed, eiulless hieroglyphic (duci- 
 dationsand mystilications, carried on to tho clo.se of a life terminated 
 under circumstanci's well calculattMl to have wcjan.ul anyone but 
 Kucli an enthusiastic devoti!.) from this unprofitable toil 
 
 Of (Imjipinu: buckets into empty wcliji, 
 
 Ami {^'rowing old in dnnvhig nothing up. 
 
 Alexander Gordon, it may be surndsed, was somewhat of a f.jssil 
 munimy Idmself Had his northern Alma Mater been able to 
 fnrne^h it, his fittest nicho would have been some snug College 
 Fellowsldp, with a Bodleian Library to browse in at his will. ]3ut 
 it has rather been the fiisliion in the. North to let audi Feihnv.s .'ulti- 
 vato their learniiig on a little oatmeal. I confess to a kindly feeling 
 
24 
 
 ALK.\AN'ni:il fiOHDOX, TIIK ANTIQrAnY. 
 
 hi 
 
 l.n ho ol, anti.,„a,y. Ifin f.to. tho,„h no ,.:..•.. on. i. tl.o history 
 
 f tlH. ...ot was ..anvlv what ho ^h.ono,!. II. ,n,.st havo ha. 7o 
 
 •- I-,t of .vs..,n,.,a„eo to Jonathan (>hli.„.,. H.ara ' i'^ 
 
 ...ho,nanyap^^^^^ " Wo.-o ho .hon^hl ^ : 
 
 'HW, I w nhl knon- M-hat to n.aico of him. .l{„t ho novo,- „.,vs 
 .-ty a sl..!l,n, without looldn^anxionslyafto. tho ohan^o . ' " 
 
 s.xponoo ,o a,.t ... than anotho,- la.ls halt^o.-oun. an,U 
 -- an oh hlao..h-tto,. oopy of an Aot of PaWian.ont iW ..a v 
 th< n :^o to tlu. ,,.,lf, or tho ohan,,.^.I,ouso." Tho author of tl, > 
 -nun was of tho san,o tVn,a. t„.o; an., having „:,:!'. ::; 
 wl.^h to n,u.o, afV.. lal.onrin. so ..dously^o , uci.lat 1" 
 
 TU ,os o. t (.hi VVorhi, ho nn.h.rtool. an .nph. Itino ^ „ T 
 ^ntnona^ hoyonci tho An^host lin.it n.arkod lyoohnnn or tl! ^^^f 
 tho god TonnuH.s. It M-as his fortuno to closo his dili^.n li^o 
 -ong tho novoltios of a worhl hoyon.l tho Atlantic, wii^- ^ 
 Konian oaglo never tlow. '"uu i tuo 
 
 In 17-11 Gordon was sncceedcd in tho office of .Secretary to the 
 Wy of A„t.q„aries of London by Mr. .To.seph Anu., 1 Jl l!^^ 
 byhis ahours on typographical antiquities. He had married ari 
 no donbt found tho rewards of ardu.dogical learning ril^'l 
 :rt -uhstanthd resources on which to sustain^;;!;:: 
 .od bo I e accepted a,, inv.tatio,^ to accon.pany (Governor iU.n to 
 ^outh rarohna, who., he obtained an official appointn.ent, a^ . 
 ' valuable grant of huul, and died apparently in the year 17H 
 eavxng to Ins family gifts of fortuno far beyJnd what ould h.ve 
 een hoped for from the career of tho antiau^rian enthusias • 
 
 .m poss.b o that tins colonial appointment bore son.e sli.-ht relat o 
 to his earher researches. At least the fact is notional 1 tb 
 -ong tho Roman relies recovered ly him while 0^,^. .. ^ 
 Antomno wall, at Barhill Fort, near Auchinday, .vas a Kon ■ mal r 
 sc.d,,ture.l with patera and pr.fericulum, whill,, he s" " ^ 
 in the hands of my curious and honoured friend. Janu-s Vlen I 7 
 present Provost of I ithgov." This is no doubt the James' en 
 of Longcroft, Esq., who appears as a subscriber for two royal copies 
 o the Itjnerarnnn, an<l not improbably a relative of His Excel lecy 
 James & en, Governor of South Carolina, the patron at who.. i,vita 
 tioa Gordon emigrated to his hiter borne in tho Nl^.v World. 
 
ALEXANDER OOUDOX, THE ANTIQrAUY. 
 
 26 
 
 tlio history 
 vo liiid Olio 
 
 invfcfislio 
 'it>ii,i,'litlt's.s, 
 y \vli() luul 
 'iion of the 
 K'vor ](Mys 
 inakcH Iii'h 
 ill jiDiidcr 
 lys, I'lither 
 tlio Itiiio- 
 I iu'iv.s on 
 ' (lie tiiifi- 
 riiiin kSoj). 
 
 t('lU]>l(( of 
 
 W'lifc Jifo 
 litJier tho 
 
 y to the 
 it known 
 I'icd, and 
 research 
 onsehold 
 Ul(>n to 
 icqnired 
 
 11- ir.u, 
 
 Id li.'ive 
 t. It is 
 roliition 
 tliat, 
 "^ the 
 111 iiltar 
 
 is now 
 1, Esq., 
 i Glon 
 
 copies 
 >ileiicy 
 invita- 
 
 Unfortunatoly I'ly t'liiiiiirios after traces of tlio old Scottifsli anti- 
 i|u;vry in lii.s now lionio beyond tlu> Atlantic were delayed till after 
 the close of tho f^reat Southern AV'ar, which has led to th(! destruc- 
 tion of records that might hiivo thrown further liglit on his own 
 career and on that of liis descendants. N(!V(!rtheless, research 
 has been rewarded far beyond n\y expectations, mainly throujs^li tho 
 kind'and zealous co-operation of (loneral Wilniot (}. do Saussuro, of 
 Charleston, Houth C'ai'olina, President of tho St. Andrew's Society 
 of that city, and one wlio prizes his claims to Scottish descent 
 through a matciuial ancestress. A lexander Gordon became a member 
 of that Society shortly after his settlement in C-'harlestcin, as appears 
 from its historical roll ; but unhiipi)ily the original records, which 
 should have told of the part he phiyed in its proceedings, periwhed in 
 the late wai-. In its original constitution the Society is styled the 
 St. Andrew's Club, and as such nourished till the War of Indepi'ud- 
 ence. In an address delivei'cd before the Society by Mitchell King, 
 Esq., when celebrating its centennial anniversary, on St. Andrew's 
 Day, tlio .'30th of November, 182'J, the speaker remarks : " In ex- 
 amining the earlier records of tho Society, it is interesting, and 
 sometimes curious, to read the petitions, and see the various applica- 
 tions made to them. If a poor man liad been oi)pressud by a rich 
 neighbour, if lie had lost his little crop, or stood in need of necessaries 
 for his family, he ajjplied to the St. Andrew's Society. One tells 
 that his neighbours have trespassed on his land, and that ho has been 
 hariissed and ruined by lawsuits. Another says that after he had 
 made a good crop a pai-t of it was destroyed by the bears, and tho 
 rest stolen by negroes. In 1747, the sister of a Scottish Baronet, on 
 licr third application for further relief, informs them that sho believes 
 tho recent troubles in Scothuid (i.e. tho rebellion of 174.''),) had pre- 
 vented her brother from sending her assistance:" and so the narrative 
 proceeds. But for tho ravages of more recent troubles, wo might 
 have recovered some graphic touches illustrative of the share which 
 Alexander Gordon took in the good work of the St. Andrew's Club 
 of Charleston, tho oldest chiu-itable society of South Carolina. From 
 tho imprint of tho original rules of the club — " Loudon : printed by 
 .rames Crokatt, printer and bookseller to tho Society, at tho Golden 
 Key, next the Inner Templo Gate, in Fleet Street, 1731,"— it seems 
 doubtful if a printing press li.id been set up in South Carolina witliin 
 ten years of tho arrival in that scene of his latest achievements, of 
 
t i 
 
 26 
 
 ALEXANDER OORDON, THE ANTIQrAUV, 
 
 1^1 
 
 th. an hor o tho It.norannm an.l othor loanunl folio, an.l n„„,,o.. 
 Wl,on tlu, ac. hus. wluol. H„,.,>Iio. thoso. facts wa.s .l.-liv.Mv.l ^ s'^i;' 
 a you.,,.. AI.>xan.l..,. Gonlon, po.sil.Iy ono..,h a ,n ,„ o tl ' 
 nnti.,,ia.y, was s.-crotaiy of tli,, Hodvtv T„ tl ^ """" ^' ^''^ 
 
 auoauention.,i.„.iu....ao.;;;;^;j:L:i^^^^^^ 
 
 Skono, an on,.ual Mo.uhor of tl.o Council of tl.o P , .'l, 
 
 Fmsor, a favouriU, tnulor aiaoir. tho V ^"^/'^ '"*•"- .J'»iiu 
 
 tl» Daily A,lv,.rti»,,, „;, Kxi-U, ,„ r^ , ,""' '" *"■""« 
 
 tmcesofhi.n in South f<.„ I "^'1""''*'« aft,-.- any surviving 
 
 Ioagu..t that l^t ,^:'^:j™ J^-»-' *« V the ackno.- 
 
 of the Society, but not^ ^ v s tl^'T;, "" "" ""'' ^"""^ 
 dreamt of its bei„. that of t " '"""• ^" ™'« 
 
 *. proper Probate C„„n ; b„t '.t' "; ' ,.1" .n.Tr wf 
 Si,er.,„ when be burnt Oo,„„,bi, .,.e „,„ .„„,3 t^^^^"'"' 
 
AnEXANOEIl COIIDOX, TIU: ANTIQUARY. 2 1 
 
 IToro HOPinod a liopclcss teniiiniiiiou to my too tardy iiuiiiirios 
 after tliii old colonist. Karly in Novcmlicr, 1^0 1, Onicral Slu'rniiui 
 tol(\t,'i-a|)lu)d to WaHhiii^'tou : " (i(!ori;ia and South Carolina are at 
 my mercy, and I shall strike." On the 10th of the same month he 
 gave Atlanta to the flames, and set out on tlie <,'reat laareh in which 
 ho swept, like a desLroyinp; an.^i'l, throu;,'h the South. Colunibia, 
 the capital of the latter stati;, experienced tho siuno fate as Atlanta ; 
 and amonj,' tho many tn>asnn>s tliat perislicd I could no longer doubt 
 that, witli all its other recoi-ds of varyinj; worth ami value, the will 
 of Alexander tJordon, with the evidence it contained of family ties 
 and fortune's favours, liad for ever passed beyond recal. Ihit not 
 so. The indefatigable zeal of General do Saussure, stimulated by u 
 hearty apjjreciation of the interest attaching to the search, led him 
 to hunt for months among old deeds and records, with tho gratifying 
 result of adding various facts to our knowh.'dgo of tho object of in- 
 quiry, in addition to tho recovery of tho higiily cliaractoristic docu- 
 ment of tho antiipiary's last will, and its evidences of tho ruling 
 passion strong in death. 
 
 In ono of the public ollices, in Charleston, my khid con-cspondont 
 traced out the recorded copy of a deed by which one llamerton, tho 
 Registrar of the Province, farms out his office to Ah^xandm- Gordon, 
 and a|)points him, as his attorney, to transact all the business and 
 receive all tho fees of the office. "Tho book," ho ad.ls, "in which 
 tho deed is recorded, is so rotted away by the ink as to make it 
 scarcely legible, and tho leaves fall in pieces as they an; turned." 
 Nevertholess, it has been recovered ero too late; and hero we find tho 
 old Al>erdeou Master of Arts, Music Teacher, Painter, Land Sur- 
 veyor, Litterateur, Secretary of tho London Antitpiaries, (jf tho 
 Egyptian Club, ic, in an entirely novel character its Attcrney-at- 
 Law, and Registrar of the Province of South Carolina. Among 
 other recorded conveyances. General de Saussuro has also traced one 
 of a large lot of land in Charleston, in 1740, to Alexander Gordon, 
 which he must have possessed at the time of liis death ; though such 
 was not the kind of worldly estate of Avhich ho made much account 
 in tho linal disposition of his goods. It is also apparent, from the 
 same record, that he waa domiciled in South Carolina prior to 28th 
 March, 1716, the date of the conveyance to him, and that he died 
 hefore 23rd July, 17.').'), os njion that day Alexander Gordon and 
 Frances Charlotte Gordon, as devisees of Alexander Gordon, convey 
 tho lot to Sir Egerton Leigh. 
 
28 
 
 ALEXAXDER OOKDON, TIIR ANTIQUARY. 
 
 His fion apponrs to J.avo Mlo^voi\ tl,e last of ih.. , . • 
 
 voeutioM,s of th„ vorsatilo Sc.ot -ts T fi 1 "^^ professional 
 
 fiecl copy of wluc.ri : ; "* *''° "^'^ '"''''i"'"-^'' f-' '^ -Tti- 
 
 "•<«fe of lK„lv l,t i ' ''''"'V"""'' ''«'"» ""=■' "'»a..J 
 
 ^^y -0, the saCl t.:^ Z^l^^ ''-'r ^'""'^'' ^'- ^^^'^'^^' 
 manner ho bcaaoathn to ho W. .7 "" ;''^'"'«^^ •"-^•" I- like 
 
 own picture, to;tho • l^ , ', ^.^-^'"r'-' '^^^-'°"' ^'« ^-v- "-7 
 -I^roscutations^" ' t^t T^f''''' ''''' i''^^'^*-««' -- anj 
 
 hi« silver wac and to "'' , "' '"''''*"•' ^^''"^-'^ ^'''-"l^'te. 
 more .uh.tu^ i b . ^^ ! 7 '''' '''"' ^ '"''' *^>- ^""^^ ^1- 
 
 other ,nvpictuirc if "T *'""°""' " "^*'' all and singuhu- 
 plate and Lu::h 1 ^^^r ^t;:^ ^"-^^-^-'y ^^-," .ith the 
 an.l those all disposed of ll ^^"^ ^ '^'"'^^'^^ ^^^^^''"^ *l^«»i 
 
 i-ul bequests : ' I em It t nf "= "^^'"""^ ''"^ ^^^^'^ ^^ »-^- 
 
 may bo, cause to bo printed and n .7 ' "' ^""^'""""tly as 
 
 - manuscript, and t tul ^ A C ■£ e ' 7 t T ^■"'""'""»" 
 the History and Chrouologytf t e'^, fjtf^^^^ *^'^ ^^"^^-""S 
 
 nations, from tlie earhV-.f -^^^TJ>tians and other most ancient 
 
 the Great Z&c^T '^^T."' T"'' ''' ^^^ *"- of Alexander 
 eon tvvo-think'or lit, : ' ?' f "^ *^"^ *^«*^^*- ^«i"-ths to his said 
 
 tiou, and :tlw n^,::r:!:™ thisinv^..UepubIiea- 
 
 .1 udu^ntci the remainmg thu-d ! It is to be 
 
ALKXASPnn OOU.'OX, THE AXTigrAUV, 
 
 29 
 
 foarod tliat tlio lieirs liml no iidffniato faitli in llio marketable value 
 of liii-m);,'lyi>liic eluculations, and tlio world Htill awaits the puldiou- 
 tion of tliis Critical Essay. 
 
 From an old diary kojit by a South Carolinian j^'cntlonian, about a 
 century a;^o, to wiiicli General do StuiHsure lias liad access, it aiipears 
 that Frances Gordon married, on the l^Oth May, 170;J, John Trouji, 
 probably the same whoso name figures alonj,' witii lliat of her brothi'r, 
 as John Tro\ip, Attorney-at-I.aw, anlon^,' the Freemasons of the 
 Union Kilwinning Lodgo of Cliarleston. 
 
 At this point all traces of Alexander Gordon, tho older, are 
 lost. During the lato war, tho regist. books of almost all the 
 churc'lirs iu Chfirleston were destroyed, and a diligent search, among 
 the older tombstones of its conneteries has failed to reveal the 
 last resting-place of himsolf or his descendants. But if Roman 
 ai\ti(piary ever follows from tho Old World on a i)ilgrimage to the 
 tomb of tho author of the Itinerarium Septentrionale, it must be 
 sought, or fancied, beneath the shade of some Pride of India or other 
 semi-tropical tree, where the River Ashley finds its way to the At- 
 lantic through a region devoid of older antiquities than the trail of 
 extinct forest tribes. When Alexander Gordon settled in South 
 Carolina, the Catawbas, Yamassees, Cherokces, and other aboriginal 
 tribes still clung to their old hunting grounds, much as the tribes 
 of ancient Caledonia hovered round the settlements of its Roman 
 colonists, when Inveresk and Cramond were the Roman sea-ports of 
 the Forth. But such analogies were little heeded hi that eigliteonth 
 century. The Roman auti(iuary ha.l exchanged the favourite re- 
 searches of his Scottish itinerary for more oLscure Egyptian mys- 
 teries ; and it maybe doubted if, amid the novel duties of Provincial 
 Registrar, it ever occurred to him that he stood in a relation to 
 those native tribes, the aboriginal owners of the soil, analogous to 
 that of a prefect of the old Roman proprietor among the Gadeni and 
 Otadoni of the LothiaTis. 
 
 Among tlic paintings and drawings, plans, and surveys of Roman 
 walls, altars, inscriptions, and all else, which Alexander and Franc'\s 
 Charlotte, his son and daugliter, inherited from the antiquai-y, there 
 must have been some covetable fruits ot his early labours, more ap- 
 preciable now than then, if they have escai>ed the ravages of time, 
 and the still more destructive violence of civil war. Aliove all, 
 there fell to the share of Alexander Gordon, Jan., the portraiture 
 
30 
 
 AT,EXANi)En oonno.v, run antiquauy. 
 
 -1 om,,V.s of tho voritahl. anH,„a,y hl.nH..lf, paiutod hy hU own 
 
 :;;;:';;":::::i.r;v:;:;i;:r"^--^"- 
 
 But no .Wn.lantH of the uutl.o.. of tho Itiaemrm.a „re now 
 known u. South Oan,Iin., of wlunn to in.nin, .ft., tho .ZJZ 
 tl. .- fan...I ancestor ; tho,,,h th.- slight tmcos Htill roeovem llo «oom to 
 m,ho:.to that thoy ,„-o.,,..nHl. l-Von, an histo.-i,.! Hk<.t,.h of t St 
 Au.h-ow'H Society of tJluirh-ston whirl. .... • • 
 
 tho oihoo-hoanTs .n,l ,non.hor.s can ho tn.co.l ft-o... it fuun.I.ti n 
 As..nnn, tho Ah.an.h... (lonhm of 174„.48,of tho St^T^^^, 
 Ch.h.toho tl,o anti,na..y hi>n.soif, his hou'.s nan.o Woo. not I 
 unon, ,t,s n,..a.he..s, tho„,h tho (h.^ons of tho.so ohl coh.la J 
 a othony.so we 1 roprosontod : in 1757 by the Hon. Captain Jol. 
 Gonlon ; ,n bC.l hy tho Ilov. Charh.s Gordon; and in 1 ,;:, h ^ 
 R.|,'ht 1 on. J.ord A.hun Gorch.„. .ith othons of later dato on o 
 1825, when another Ah-xauder (lordon appoarH,-possih,v e -"nd 
 
 f on. 8-8 o 18.53. Ho then iiUod tho oihco of treasurer till 1844 
 
 t.^ytdl 18.0 when tho nan.c disappears fron. amon.^ the Society's 
 ihce.bearer.tdl 1859. at which year Alexander (.;don i,s eh'^l^d 
 n-.st viee.pres.Ien- and so continnes till 1804, when ho nn.st have 
 been removed by retiren.ent or-if it h„ the .„no individnal,-by 
 W 1 ';; ;f ™'"^;\"S^ l^-^. -->"* a. that dato i,s, the Sou l.ern 
 >\ ar and all tho troubles which followed have wrought n.any changes ■ 
 
 case to trace any connection with the descendants of Sandie Gordon 
 ot Oldbuck veneration. ' 
 
 John Troup, who in 1754 witnessed the antiquary's will, may bo 
 assumed to be the attorney-at-law of that nanle adnntte.i to -the 
 Union Ivilwnnung Lodge of Ancient Free Masons in 17Go_the ' 
 year before his marriage to Frances Charlotte Gordon, whose In-other 
 had joined the same Lodge a few years earlier. John Troup ar.pears 
 to have been a popular an.l prosperous man. On the reorgan sation 
 of the St._ An row's Club, under its later name of the St. Andrew" 
 Society m 1787, after the War of Lidependence, he was cho.sen 
 assistant-treasurer, and from 1700 to 1794 he tilled tho office of vice- 
 prcsident. He was distinguished in like manner by the brethren of 
 the Kxlwummg Lodge. From an ohl record re.>oyered among tho 
 
AliEXANDEn OOUDOS, THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 .31 
 
 pappra of Dr. ICaward liynali. ii i'onuw oiYv-v of tlio Loilgo, which 
 piirtiiilly riphiceH ollicial reconlH, (U-Htroyed, aloiij,' with nil the j-'wcls, 
 liookn iiiul chart.-rH, in tlu* ^ivat firo of l^llS, hy which ii liiigo 
 portion of tho city of ChaHcstoii was mliiccil to aslicH : it npi«virH 
 that on Monthly, inth January, 17!)4, t\w Ki-^ht Worshipful Master, 
 Jolin Troup, entertained the Lo(lj,'o at his own hoiiso ; and in a note 
 acfonipaiiyiii^' tliis entry, his (U'ath is recorded on tlio .^Otli January 
 of tlio foHowing year. A Jaine.i Troup, prol.:ilily liis son, joined tho 
 Loilgo in tlie hitter year; but the <h'stniction of n'larly all tho rc;,'istry 
 books of births, marriaj^'es, and deaths, at (JhaHeston, during the luto 
 w.ir; added to tht! absence of any recognition of the old scholar and 
 antiquary, as such, in his later home: render it inipossible to trace out 
 his descendants through either line, or to recover any duo to the deposi- 
 tory of tho paintings and drawings mentioned in his will ; and, above 
 all, to that of the portrait of the testator himself. ])ainted by his own 
 hand, and s[>ecially lieipieathed to his son as a family lieirhK-ni. 
 
 To tlio kind co-operation of General do Sanssure, President of tho 
 St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, South Carolina, I owe tho re- 
 covery of tho most imi)ortant facts rehitive to the colonial life of tho 
 author of the Itinerary ; and I still indulge the hope that he may bo 
 ablo to crown his persevering and successful labours by tracing out 
 this povtndt of Sandy Gordon,— doubtless in the full glory of wig, 
 rutUes, and lapcd waistcoat, of the Georgian era,— and gracing with 
 so interesting a piece of historical portraiture tlu; hedl o. >,he Society 
 of tho Sons of St. Andrew, founded iu tho city of Charleston nearly 
 a century and a-half ago.