Lord John Lauder Fountainhall

“ But who can dare to be angry with Sir Walter Scott? Who could be savage enough to be angry with the meanest individual who could write with so much good nature and bonhommie as he displays in his letter? ”

“ Even those who were most in sympathy with the English Commonwealth politically shrank for a while, and they tried whether the Long Parliament might not accept a kind of compromise, whether Scotland might not be erected into a little independent Republic allied to the English Commonwealth or Republic. ”

“ I do not much wonder that, employed as you are in administering fresh draughts of enjoyment from the exhaustless spring of your genius to the ever-increasing thirst of a delighted public, you should have forgotten my humble labours. ”

“ On man hes a great musket shot just in his breast, yet he did not dy of it but afterwards was hanged; a mans skin tanned sewed on straw, seimes like a naked man; the taille of an Indian cow, its white, wery long, at least in a dozen of sundry peices; the skines of some hideous serpents and crocodils brought from America and Nilus; a mans scull with 4 litle hornes in its front, they ware within the skin while he was alive ”

“ The object of the Society is the discovery and printing, under selected editorship, of unpublished documents illustrative of the civil, religious, and social history of Scotland. The Society will also undertake, in exceptional cases, to issue translations of printed works of a similar nature, which have not hitherto been accessible in English. ”

“ Our ancestors were sad dogs, and we to be worse than them, as Horace tells us the Romans were, have a great stride to make in the paths of iniquity. Men like your ancestor were certainly rare amongst them. I had a scrap some where about the murder of the Lauders at Lauder where Fountainhall's ancestor was Baillie at the time. After this misfortune they are said to have retired to Edinburgh. Fountainhall's grandfather lived at the Westport. ”

“ As to that obiection, that hunting being from the right of natur, which is unchangable, it cannot be prohibited by any civil Law, I say hunting is not from the rights of nature commanding but permitting. ”

“ The sone he brought in as the embleme of Justice ever minding his father of his bloody death and sufferings, to the effect that he take vengeance for it even on thess that crucifies him afresh. The mother he brought on the stage as the embleme of mercy, crying imperiously, jure matris, I inhibite your justice, I explode your rigor, I discharge your severity. Let mercy alone triumph. Surely if this be not blasphemy I know not whats blasphemie. To make Christ only Justice fights diamettrally [129] wt the Aposle John, If any man hath sinned he has a Advocat with the father. ”

“ Its a custome in France that when a young woman unmarried is condemned to dy for some offence (unlesse the fault be al the grivevuser) that if the hangman be unmarried he may sick hir in marriage and get hir hir life that way: that their hes bein seweral that have refused it and choosen rather to die. This hes great resemblance wt that custome in England that a man being sentenced to dy, if a common whore demand him in marriage she wil get him; it being a charitable work to recal a whore from hir loose and prophan life by making hir marry. ”

“ At Paris they are 5 pence a peice, at Poictiers a shiling a dozen. They fry their egges differently from us: they break them first in a plate: in the meantym they fry a considerable lump of butter, then pours in the egges salting and spicing them. Their hens are not so fertile as ours.
Our speaking of egges mindes me of Christophorus Colomba Lusitanian, a experienced skiper, first discowrer of the new world, tho he had gotten some encouradgements and conclusions about it from on Vespucius Americus Florentin, from whom it gets its denomination of America. ”

“ Each man sayes his grace to himselfe, their they sit looking on one another, poor creatures, as long as give they had had something to eat. They fast all that day, but if their be any that cannot fast it out, then he may go doune to the yard and houck out 2, 3 carrots to himselfe, or 'stow some likes some sibows, beets or such like things, and this is their delicates. If their be any day wheirin they have gotten more then suffices them all, the superplus they give to the poor. The convent hath no more rent than will defray their charges in keiping up their house about their ears. ”

“ A camel or Dromedary would be as much gazed on in France for strangers as they would be in Scotland. In Italy they have some, but few, for they are properly Asiatick wares, doing as much service to the Persian, Arabian and others Oriental nations acknowledging the great Tartar chain as the silly, dul asse and the strong, robust mule does to the French. The camel, according to report indeniable, because a tall, hy beast it most couch and lay doune on its forward feet to receave its burden, which if it find to heavy it wil not stir til they ease it of some of it ”

“ Il ne faut pas lire beaucoup, c'est a dire, il faut faire choiz des Auteurs et se les rendre familier. L'Histoire a bon droit est appelle le tesmoin des temps, le flambeau de la verité, la vie de la memoire, et la maistresse de la vie. ”

“ The parents also of the parties usually gives the new married folk gifts as rich plenishing, silver work, and sicklike.
In parties appealls heir from a inferior to a superior, if it appear that they ware justly condemned, and that they have wrongously and rashly appealed, they condeime them unto a fine called heir Amende, which the Judge temperes according to the ability of the persones and nature of the businesse: the fine its converted ether to the use of the poor or the repairing of the palais. ”

“ When a person dies in France they are very careful to mark in what posture after their death their feet are in; for if they be unæqually laying, on of them drawen up, they strongly beleive that by that the dead calls his or hir neirest friend let it be wife, father, or brother, on of which wil dy shortly after.
Its the faschion of the grandees when they die that they are exposed for 3 days after in a chamber hung all in doole [334] in their bed, also of dool, in the bests cloaths which they wor when they ware in life, so that al may come to sy them in that space. ”

“ We was in dispute above a hower and all in Latin: in the tyme gathered about us neir the half of the parish, gazing on me as a fool and mad man that durst undertake to controlle their curé, every word of whose mouth, tho they understood it no more nor the stone in the wall did, they took for ane oracle, which minds me of the miserablenese and ignorantnese of the peasants of France above all other commonalty of the world; our beggars leading a better life then the most part of them do. ”

“ Plumes are in wery great abondance heir, and that of many sorts. We have bein offered the quatrain, thats 26 of plumes, wery like that we call the whitecorne, tho' not so big, for 2 deniers or a double, thats for 8 penies the 100; and they sel them cheaper.
Great is the diversity amongs peirs their. Mr. Daillé hath told me that at least theirs 700 several sorts of peirs that grows in France, al distinguasble be the tast. We ourselfes have sien great diversity. Theirs a wery delicious sort of poir they call the poir de Rosette, because in eating it ye seime as give ye ware smelling a rose. ”

“ The thing that mainly moved my admiration was the hie ascendance of the water: what secret hidden power could carry the water clean contrary to its natural inclination which is to deschend, as every other heavy body, so hy that in some of them a man wt a speir could not reach its top.
The most wonderfull thing ever I saw is the infinit art that some curious painter hath showen on a large timber broad, standing in a corner of the yard: a small distance from it their is a revell put up which makes it appear the more lively, so that we win no nearer then the revell would let us. ”

“ To think on the other hand that he sould have died is as absurd, since its confessed that the trie of Life was given him as a sacrament and signe he sould not lay under the strock of death, for as death comes from that contrariety and discord of the elements of whilk our bodies are composed, so the fruit of this trie, at least typicaly, had the wertue of maintaining the contrary elements in a parfait concord and by consequence of vindicating a man from Death. ”

“ John Lauder, whose father is my wery much honored friend, his mother my neir kinswomen, and himselfe a very hopful youth inclined to vertue every way. He intends to stay som tyme wt you, theirfor I do earnestly recommend him to your best advice and counsell in what may concerne his welfare to assist him theirin, in all which I recommend him to you againe and againe as give he were my oune sone, assuring you that what favor or friendship you sall be pleased to show him, I sall ever acknowledge it as done to my selfe. ”

“ There comes no vine out of France to forreine country, save that which they brimstone a litle, other wise it could not keip on the sea, but it would spoil. Its true the wine works much of it out againe, yet this makes that wine much more unwholsome and heady then that we drink in the country wheir it growes at hand. ”

“ The Jesuites whipes their scollers wery cruelly, yea they whipt on to death at Poictiers: yet the father could obtaine nothing against them. The greatest affront that can be done to a woman is to cut the tayle of hir goune from hir, or even to cast ink in her face, since that a lovely face is the principal thing that commends a woman, hence as the greatest reproach a man can be upraided wt is bougre or j'en foute; so the greatest of their railings against a woman is to say, vous avez eu la robe coupé au queue. It hath bein practicat on some. ”

“ That the custome was that any who ware at the point of death and neir departing they cause send to any religious house they please, not forgetting money, to ring a Agonie that all that hears, knowing what it means, to wit, that a brother or sister is departing, may help them wt their prayers, since then they may be steadable, which surely seimes to be wery laudable, and it nay be not amiss that it ware in custome wt us. The Church of England hath it, and on the ringing any peaple that are weill disposed they assemble themselfes in the Church to pray. ”

“ A Frenchman told me that he beleived when the devil tempted our Saviour to worship him by showing him al the Kingdomes of the earth and the glory of the samen, that the devil did put his meikle thomb upon Scotland to hide it from our Saviour for fear that having seen it sick a montanous, barren, scurvey country, he sould have conceaved a disgoust at all the rest. ”

“ He on a tyme riding with the King from Stirveling to Edinburgh he was wery ill monted, so that he did nothing but curse wtin him selfe all the way. A gentleman of the company coming up to him, and seing him wt a wery discontented, ill looking countenance demanded, Whow is it, whow goes it wt you, my Lord? He answered, Was not the Dewill a fooll man, was he not a fooll? The other demanding wheirin, he replied, If he had but sett Job on the horse I am on, he had cursed God to his face. Let any man read his thoughts from that. ”

“ The father of this present King also, Lowis the 13, could exactly frame and make a gun, and much more a pistol, with all the appartenances of it, as also canons wt all other sort of Artillerie; for he was a great engineer.
There are amongs the French nobility some great deall richer then any subject of our Kings; for the greatest subject of the King of Englands is the Duc of Ormond, or the Earle of Northumberland, nether of which tho hath above 30,000 pounds sterling, which make some 300,000 livres in french money, which is ordinar for a peir in France. ”

“ The lawes of France wil hardly permit the father to disinherit his sone, unless he can prove him guilty of some hy ingratitude and disobedience against him, or that he hath attempted something against the life of his father; that he is debaucht he cannot.
The custome among the great ones of the most part of the world is that they cause any other of quality that comes to sy them be conveyed thorow their stables to sy their horses, as also causeth them sy their doges, their haucks, ther gardens. ”

“ The richness of France is not much to be wondred at, since to lay asyde the great cities wt their trafficks, as Tours in silkes. Bordeaux wt Holland wares of all sorts, Marseilles wt all that the Levant affordes, etc., their is not such a pitty city in France which hath not its propre traffick as Partenay [149] in its stuffes, Chatteleraut in its oil of olives, its plumdamies and other commodities which, by its river of Vienne, it impartes to all places that standes on the Loier. ”

“ The reason of which was to contrepoise the cold nature of this poison as of all that poison thats to be found in living creatures, which killeth us by extinguishing our natural radical heat, which being chockt and consumed the soul can no more execute its offices in the body but most depart. ”

“ About the course of a year after the beautiful Semahis gave a matchlesse daughter, which they called Almahide, and who at present is Sultane reyne, to the valliant Morayzel, who caused a learned Arabian cast hir Horoscope, who dressing hir figure, gave the strange answer, that the stars told him that she sould be fort sage et fort amoureuse, quelle sera en mesme temps femme et fille, Vierge et mariée, esclave et Reyne, femme d'un esclave et d'un Roy, heureuse et malheureuse, Mahometane et Chrestienne, innocente et coupable, et enfin plus estrange exposée an danger d'estre brulée toute vive. ”

“ What can a man do when he have no proofes? He most tho' reveall it and consequently lose his life; since after the truth sal appear and he sal be held be all to have died gloriously as a weill wisher to his country.
Its was strange of Cardinal Richelieu who know [224] all things that past thorow France as if he had bein present, and 2 of the most intimate sould not have spoken ill of him at Poictiers but he sould have knowen it or 4 dayes at Paris. ”

“ Yet Holland, that sink of all religions, permits them their synagogues and the publick excercise of their religion. They rigorously observe their sabath, our Saturdy, so that they make ready no meat on that day. If the wind sould blow of their hat they almost judge it a sin and a breach of the sabath to follow it and take it up. Their was a Jew wt us in the 1662 year of God that professed at least to turne Christian, and communicated in the Abby Church. ”

“ We cannot passe over in silence the observation the naturalists hath of the Sow, that it hath its noble parts disposed in the same very sort they are found in a man, which may furnish us very great matter of humility, as also lead us to the consideration and sight of our bassesse, that in the disposall of our noble parts we differ nothing from that beast which we recknon amongs the filthiest. They make great use of it in France heir. In travelling we rencontred wery great heards. ”

“ The tricks also of robbing the bride groomes of their faculty that they can do nothing to the wives is very ordinar heir; as also that of bewitching gentlewomen in causing them follow them lasciviously and wt sundry indecent gestures; and this they effectuat sometymes by a kind of pouder they have and mix in amongs hir wine; some tymes by getting a litle of hir hair, which they boill wt pestiferous herbs; whilk act when its parfaited the women who aught the hair will come strangely, let hir be the modestest woman in Europe, wheir the thing is doing, and do any thing the persones likes. ”

“ In shaving a man, its impossible for a Frenchman to cut a man; they have such a net way of baging the flech: also it would do a man good to be washen wt their water, whiles rose water, whiles smelling of musck: tho their fingers stinkes whiles, the French dighting their staille [234] wt their fingers, thinking it prodigality to do it wt paper: yett ther Kings of old did so, to teach their peaple frugality: hence it is that the Frenchman wil not eat til he wash: wil not eat wt ye til ye wash: for my oune part I would not eat wt a Frenchman til he wash. ”

“ To make the spirituall their was their all that swarm of grassopers which we are fortold sould aschend out of the bottemlese pit; all these filthy frogs that we are fortold that beast that false prophet sould cast out of his mouth, I mean that rable of Religious orders within the body of that Apostolical and Pseud-apostolicall Church of Rome. Only the Jesuits was wanting; the pride of whose hearts will not suffer them to go in procession with the meaner orders. ”

“ I demanding him whow a man that came abroad might improve his tyme to the best advantage, and what was the best use that might be made of travelling. He freely told me that the first thing above all was to remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth, to be serious wt our God: not to suffer ourselfes to grow negligent and slack in our duty we ow to God, and then to seik after good and learned company whence we may learn the customes of the country, the nature and temper of the peaple, and what wast diversity of humours is to be sein in the world. ”

“ In France a man wil do weill to take heid what women he medles wt; for if he get a woman of degre below himself wt child he most ether mary hir or tocher hir: if his aequal, ether marry hir or be hanged (which few chooses) : if she be far above his condition (especially if a valet engrosse his masters daughter or sister not married) he is hanged wtout al process brevi manu; the maid is thrust unto a convent to lead repentance their for hir lifetyme, since she hath prostrat hir honor so basely.
While I was at Poictiers a young fellow got a wanton cocquette, a cream keiper, wt child. ”

“ In many places of Germany their growes very good wines, in some none at all. The Rhenish wine which growes on the renouned Rhein, on which standes so many brave tounes, is weill enough knowen. They sometymes sell their wine by the weight as the livre or pound, etc., which may seime as strange as the cherries 2 tymes a year in France. Thus they ar necessitate to do in the winter, when it freizes so that they most break it wt great mattocks and axes, and sell it in the faschion we have named. ”