you will be so good as to send me some printed

puisse reprocher aux auteurs de ces vies d'avoir été quelquefois un peu trop crédules sur des choses que Dieu a certainement faites, s'ils ont été dans l'ordre de ses desseins, on ne laisse pas d'en tirer de grands lumières sur les mœurs et les usages de ces temps là." Mr. Gibbon, vol. vi. p. 95. 8vo. ed., observes, that "The ancient legendaries deserve some regard, as they are obliged to connect their fables with the real history of their own times." And he then quotes lives of saints. But a matter, now so universally known, needs not to be further insisted on.

It so happens, that the lives of Scottish saints are mostly written by men of eminence Cuminius, Adomnan, Jocelin, Turgot, Ailred, were all men of real talents and celebrity.

Keith, in his Catalogue of Scotish Bishops, has given a Calendar of Scotish Saints, amounting to 106 in number. But of these, two thirds belong to the Irish; and, if they want any more, they may have them. Others belong to England and Wales; and not above twenty are found who actually either lived, or were born, in present Scotland; and of these not above half were real Scotish saints, or born in present Scotland. But the design of this work is to serve our ancient history and geography, which can only be done by giving the lives of those who resided in present Scotland.

First appears St. Ninian, who converted the Southern Picts, as Beda tells us; and that, as Usher shows, about the year 412. His life is translated from the Saxon, by the famous Ailred, Abbot of Rieval, about 1150; and two copies were in the Cotton Library; but both were unfortunately burnt in that wellknown fire of 1731. But another copy, written about the thirteenth century, is in the Bodleian Library; and the Editor has procured a transcript. Above all, the two lives of St. Columba, who converted the northern Picts in 565, as Beda tells us, are the most curious remains of the very earliest Scotish antiquities. They are written by Cuminius Albus, sixth Abbot of Hyona, (or Icolmkil,) in 657; and by Adomnan, eighth Abbot of Hyona, in 679. The last of these writers is mentioned by Beda: the first by the last; and the authenticity of their works is unquestionable. Cuminius and Adomnan are

receipts, or authorise me to give them in writing,

well put by Father Innes, as the very earliest writers who illustrate Scotish history. Cuminius is published by that great antiquary Mabillon, in his Sæcula Benedictina, (9 volumes folio,) a work not to be found in the first libraries of the kingdom. An abridgement of Adomnan was published by Canisius, in his Lectiones Antiquæ (six vols. 4to.); and re-published by Surius, and other Sanctologists. This abridgement Goodal, who had never seen a dozen manuscripts in his life, was so ignorant as to think complete, and to blame Bollandus for some additions from the full ancient copy, in his Vitæ Sanctorum, 32 volumes, folio; but a most correct and fine manuscript exists in the King's Library, and from it the work shall now be published literatim. It is a large production, in three books of forty or fifty chapters each; and is singularly minute, curious, and interesting: the parts omitted being those which relate to history, geography, private manners, &c. are just the most important: though the strange names seem to have shocked Canisius. His style is excellent for the time; and Usher even ranks him with Beda as an historic writer.

St. Kentigern, or Mungo, in 578, appears to much advantage : his life being written at great length, in 45 chapters, by Jocelin, a monk of Furness. He dedicates his book to another Jocelin, Bishop of Glasgow, from 1174 till 1199. A contemporary manuscript is in the Cotton Library, and is very valuable; containing strong lights as to the kingdom of Strathclyde in Scotland; of three successive kings of which, Morken, Roderick, and Constantine, it contains anecdotes; besides many geographical informations. The author tells us he compiled it from two old lives, the one in Irish, the other in Latin. The Life of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1070, by Turgot, Bishop of St. Andrews, her confessor, shall be given by Surius, compared with manuscripts, if any can be found that in the Cotton Library being burnt.

That curious piece of northern history, the Life of St. Magnus, Earl of Orkney, 1103, shall be given in the Latin translation of the original Islandic, printed at the end of the

it will much facilitate the cause in which I should wish to be successful.

GEN. STUART TO MR. PINKERTON.

67, Lower Grosvenor-street, Dec. 4, 1787.

General Stuart's compliments to Mr. Pinkerton, and returns with thanks the inclosed Tree, from James I. of England, a period much later

Orkneyinga Saga, or History of the Orkneys, published by Jonæus, Hafniæ, 1780, 4to.

The short Eulogy of St. David, King of Scotland, 1124, by Ailred, Abbot of Rieval, his contemporary, shall also be given, compared with three or four manuscripts in the Cotton Library.

The Editor shall only add, that the mode of subscription has become so common among those who use it as a pitiful snare to catch money, that pride might have deterred him from it, had he not been accustomed to despise that pride which would prevent a man from being useful. And he believes the reader is ere now convinced that the present will be a work of utility as well as curiosity. Indeed, as to the latter quality, few books can exceed it. The lives of saints were almost the sole prose reading of our ancestors; as the Metrical romances were their poetry. Both were

"The Classics of an age which heard of none."

Both abound with the most lively pictures of life and manners. And the lives of Scotish saints happen to be singularly curious and interesting from the eminence of the writers; from their length and minuteness; and from the light they throw on the ancient history and geography of a country, most of whose more precious records have perished."

than the Genealogy he is in quest of; namely, the Collaterals of John Stuart of Darnley, the Constable of the Scots army serving in France, who was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Crevant* in 1422, and afterwards killed, with his brother Alexander,† at La Bataille des Harengs, in a sortie from Orleans in 1428. The relation in which the present Sir John Stuart of Castlemilk stands with the Constable, as being the immediate male descendant from the Constable's brother, Sir William Stuart of Castle-milk, killed at the battle of Verneuil, in 1424, is the object of General Stuart's immediate researches, in which he expected some information from the book Genealogy of the Kings and Nobility of Scotland," at Mr. Edwards's in Pall-mall, said to have been sold to Mr. Pinkerton; but, though frequently sent for to Mr. Edwards's, it cannot be found.

66

In this battle, which was won by the English and Burgundians, Monstrelet tells us that the Constable of Scotland surrendered himself prisoner to the Lord de Châtelleux, but with the loss of an eye; and the greater part of the Scots, who were in the front ranks, were either killed or taken. Johnes' Translation, vol. i. p. 400.

† Monstrelet says that it was the son, and not the brother, of the Constable of Scotland, who was slain in this engagement, which was fought to protect a great convoy of provisions destined for the English army, and was ever after called the Battle of Herrings, because a considerable part of the convoy consisted of herrings and other articles of food proper for Lent. Johnes' Monstrelet, vol. i. p. 495.

L'Ecosse Françoise par Houston, and L'Histoire des Papes, Princes, &c. par Chambre d'Ormond vers l'an 1400, are the books which treat of the subject; but General Stuart cannot find them in England. Mr. Pinkerton, being well known to him by reputation as an antiquary much further back, is requested for his assistance in this family object, if it lies in his way, which the General will thankfully acknowledge any time he is pleased to call here.

MR. PINKERTON TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN.

Knightsbridge, Dec. 5th, 1787.

I am much obliged to your lordship for the facsimile, and for the information of your last could Lord Hailes be prevailed on to proceed with his Annals, it would be happier, than for that valuable writer to waste his time in confuting Mr. Gibbon. Scotland has few accurate historians, while Christianity has defenders in duty bound, all over Europe. He is angry with me, because he suspects my Christianism: but, if I were a Chinese or a Jew, he would not quarrel: such contradictions are found in the wisest of us. By a singular fate, I preserve the friendship of English churchmen, and yet lose that of a Scotish Judge. Yet I shall speak and write of him with respect, as he deserves.

Your lordship's information concerning the Morisons is too true. I promised to endeavor to