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 Programming
in Ada 2012
with a Preview of
Ada 2022

Published online by Cambridge University Press

Published online by Cambridge University Press
 Programming
in Ada 2012
with a Preview of
Ada 2022
JOHN BARNES

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

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477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia

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Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of

education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781009181341
DOI: 10.1017/9781009181358

© John Barnes 2014, 2022

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2014
Reprinted with corrections and additions 2021
Second edition 2022
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-009-18134-1 Paperback

Additional resources for this publication at www.cambridge.org/barnes12-22

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of

URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 To Barbara

Published online by Cambridge University Press

Published online by Cambridge University Press
 Contents

Foreword xv
Preface xvii

Part 1 An Overview 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 Standard development 3
1.2 Software engineering 4
1.3 Evolution and abstraction 6
1.4 Structure and objectives of this book 8
1.5 References 10
2 Simple Concepts 11
2.1 Key goals 11
2.2 Overall structure 12
2.3 The scalar type model 17
2.4 Arrays and records 19
2.5 Access types 22
2.6 Errors and exceptions 23
2.7 Terminology 26
3 Abstraction 27
3.1 Packages and private types 27
3.2 Objects and inheritance 30
3.3 Classes and polymorphism 34
3.4 Genericity 40
3.5 Object oriented terminology 41
3.6 Tasking 43
4 Programs and Libraries 47
4.1 The hierarchical library 47
4.2 Input–output 49

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 viii Contents

4.3 Numeric library 52

4.4 Running a program 54
Program 1 Magic Moments 59

Part 2 Algorithmic Aspects 63

5 Lexical Style 65
5.1 Syntax notation 65
5.2 Lexical elements 66
5.3 Identifiers 67
5.4 Numbers 68
5.5 Comments 71
5.6 Pragmas and aspects 71
6 Scalar Types 73
6.1 Object declarations and assignments 73
6.2 Blocks and scopes 75
6.3 Types 77
6.4 Subtypes 79
6.5 Simple numeric types 81
6.6 Enumeration types 87
6.7 The type Boolean 90
6.8 Categories of types 93
6.9 Expression summary 95
7 Control Structures 101
7.1 If statements 101
7.2 Case statements 105
7.3 Loop statements 108
7.4 Goto statements and labels 114
7.5 Statement classification 111
8 Arrays and Records 117
8.1 Arrays 117
8.2 Array types 122
8.3 Array aggregates 127
8.4 Characters and strings 132
8.5 Arrays of arrays and slices 135
8.6 One-dimensional array operations 138
8.7 Records 143
9 Expression Structures 149
9.1 Membership tests 149
9.2 If expressions 151

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 Contents ix

9.3 Case expressions 155

9.4 Quantified expressions 157
10 Subprograms 161
10.1 Functions 161
10.2 Operators 169
10.3 Procedures 171
10.4 Aliasing 177
10.5 Named and default parameters 179
10.6 Overloading 181
10.7 Declarations, scopes, and visibility 182
11 Access Types 189
11.1 Flexibility versus integrity 189
11.2 Access types and allocators 191
11.3 Null exclusion and constraints 198
11.4 Aliased objects 200
11.5 Accessibility 204
11.6 Access parameters 206
11.7 Anonymous access types 210
11.8 Access to subprograms 214
11.9 Storage pools 220
Program 2 Sylvan Sorter 223

Part 3 The Big Picture 227

12 Packages and Private Types 229
12.1 Packages 229
12.2 Private types 234
12.3 Primitive operations and derived types 241
12.4 Equality 247
12.5 Limited types 251
12.6 Resource management 257
13 Overall Structure 263
13.1 Library units 263
13.2 Subunits 266
13.3 Child library units 268
13.4 Private child units 272
13.5 Mutually dependent units 279
13.6 Scope, visibility, and accessibility 283
13.7 Renaming 287
13.8 Programs, partitions, and elaboration 292

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 x Contents

Program 3 Rational Reckoner 297

14 Object Oriented Programming 301
14.1 Type extension 301
14.2 Polymorphism 307
14.3 Abstract types and interfaces 315
14.4 Primitive operations and tags 318
14.5 Views and redispatching 328
14.6 Private types and extensions 334
14.7 Controlled types 342
14.8 Multiple inheritance 347
14.9 Multiple implementations 353
15 Exceptions 361
15.1 Handling exceptions 361
15.2 Declaring and raising exceptions 364
15.3 Checking and exceptions 370
15.4 Exception occurrences 372
15.5 Exception pragmas and aspects 376
15.6 Scope of exceptions 381
16 Contracts 385
16.1 Aspect specifictions 385
16.2 Preconditions and postconditions 388
16.3 Type invariants 399
16.4 Subtype predicates 405
16.5 Messages 413
17 Numeric Types 417
17.1 Signed integer types 417
17.2 Modular types 423
17.3 Real types 425
17.4 Floating point types 427
17.5 Fixed point types 430
17.6 Decimal types 436
18 Parameterized Types 439
18.1 Discriminated record types 439
18.2 Default discriminants 443
18.3 Variant parts 449
18.4 Discriminants and derived types 453
18.5 Access types and discriminants 456
18.6 Private types and discriminants 463
18.7 Access discriminants 465

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 Contents xi

19 Generics 469
19.1 Declarations and instantiations 469
19.2 Type parameters 475
19.3 Subprogram parameters 485
19.4 Package parameters 492
19.5 Generic library units 498
20 Tasking 501
20.1 Parallelism 501
20.2 The rendezvous 503
20.3 Timing and scheduling 508
20.4 Protected objects 513
20.5 Simple select statements 521
20.6 Timed and conditional calls 524
20.7 Concurrent types and activation 527
20.8 Termination, exceptions, and ATC 534
20.9 Signalling and scheduling 540
20.10 Summary of structure 546
21 Object Oriented Techniques 551
21.1 Extension and composition 551
21.2 Using interfaces 554
21.3 Mixin inheritance 560
21.4 Linked structures 562
21.5 Iterators 565
21.6 Generalized iteration 570
21.7 Object factories 577
21.8 Controlling abstraction 581
22 Tasking Techniques 587
22.1 Dynamic tasks 587
22.2 Multiprocessors 590
22.3 Synchronized interfaces 598
22.4 Discriminants 609
22.5 Task termination 614
22.6 Clocks and timers 617
22.7 The Ravenscar profile 626
Program 4 Super Sieve 627

Part 4 Completing the Story 631

23 Predefined Library 633
23.1 The package Standard 633
23.2 The package Ada 637

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 xii Contents

23.3 Characters and strings 640

23.4 Numerics 659
23.5 Input and output 663
23.6 Text input–output 669
23.7 Streams 678
23.8 Environment commands 684
Program 5 Wild Words 695
24 Container Library 699
24.1 Organization of library 699
24.2 Doubly linked lists 701
24.3 Vectors 709
24.4 Maps 713
24.5 Sets 725
24.6 Trees 737
24.7 Holder 747
24.8 Queues 749
24.9 Bounded containers 757
24.10 Indefinite containers 761
24.11 Sorting 767
24.12 Summary table 769
25 Interfacing 781
25.1 Representations 781
25.2 Unchecked programming 785
25.3 The package System 788
25.4 Storage pools and subpools 790
25.5 Other languages 797
Program 6 Playing Pools 803
26 The Specialized Annexes 807
26.1 Systems Programming 807
26.2 Real-Time Systems 809
26.3 Distributed Systems 813
26.4 Information Systems 815
26.5 Numerics 815
26.6 High Integrity Systems 820
27 Finale 823
27.1 Names and expressions 823
27.2 Type equivalence 827
27.3 Overall program structure 830
27.4 Portability 834

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 Contents xiii

27.5 Penultimate thoughts 836

27.6 SPARK 839

Appendices 851
A1 Reserved Words, etc. 851
A1.1 Reserved words 851
A1.2 Predefined attributes 852
A1.3 Predefined aspects 859
A1.4 Predefined pragmas 862
A1.5 Predefined restrictions 864
A2 Glossary 867
A3 Syntax 873
A3.1 Syntax rules 873
A3.2 Syntax index 891
A4 Introducing Ada 2022 901
A5.6a Generalized literals 902
A7.3a Iteration filters 902
A8.8 General aggregates 903
A9.5 Declare expressions 904
A9.6 Reduction expressions 905
A13.7a Renaming objects and values 906
A15.5a Aspect No_Return 907
A16.2a Default initial conditions 907
A16.2b Contracts and access types 908
A16.6 Global state 908
A19.2a Default generic parameters 912
A20.2a Entries, aspects, and synchronization 913
A21.6a Iterator interfaces 914
A21.6b Procedural iterators 915
A22.7a Profiles 917
A22.8 Parallel blocks and loops 917
A22.9 Conflict checking 919
A23.4a Big numbers 920
A23.4b Random numbers 927
A23.6a Images 927
A23.6b Text buffers 928
A24a Containers 931
A24.2a Doubly linked lists 931
A24.3a Vectors 939
A24.4a Maps 941
A24.5a Sets 942
A24.6a Trees 943

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 xiv Contents

A24.7a Holder 944

A25.1a Size and representation attributes 945
A26.1a Atomic operations 945
A27.1a Staticness 946

Answers to Exercises 947

Bibliography 951
Index 953

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 Foreword

T his is being written shortly after the successful launch of the James Webb Space
Telescope, a demonstration of what can be achieved if enough care is taken with
the software engineering.
It is also on the cusp between 2021 and 2022, a time to both look backwards and
to look forward. It is a similar matter with Ada 2022. On one hand, it looks back,
filling in gaps in what should, with the benefit of hindsight, have already been in
earlier editions of Ada. On the other hand, it looks forward to a world where many-
core processors are ubiquitous and need to be made use of efficiently.
The Ada programming language continues to evolve in order to better support
the development of software applications with high requirements for reliability and
system integrity. The 4th major revision of the language, Ada 2022, includes
improvements in many different areas, but with particular focus on a few topics:

• allowing software developers to easily and safely take advantage of the parallel
execution capabilities of multi-core and multi-threaded architectures;
• allowing developers to more precisely express their intent regarding a
program’s structure and logic via improved contracts and other forms of
assertions;
• providing improved support for containers;
• providing “creature comforts” to ease the use of common programming idioms.

The introduction of parallel loops and parallel block statements allows users to
express the possibility of parallel execution of constructs that also have well-
defined sequential semantics. The Global and Nonblocking aspects can be used to
enable static detection of unsafe concurrent access to variables.
Contracts are improved along two different axes: contracts are supported in
more contexts (e.g., the Default_Initial_Condition aspect and support for
precondition/postcondition specifications for access-to-subprogram types and for
generic formal subprograms), and more expressive forms of expressions are defined
in order to make it possible to write more precise contracts (e.g., declare
expressions, reduction expressions, delta aggregates, and calls to static functions).
There is a sometimes-unappreciated point about some of these expression forms that
may seem like just syntactic sugar (another example is Ada 2012’s quantified
expressions). It is true that the same value could be computed in a function body

xv

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 xvi Foreword

without too much trouble, but then what would the postcondition be for this
function? How would the declaration of the function describe its result? So these
new forms do enable more expressive contracts.
Support is added for iterating over containers, and for constructing container
values using aggregates. The mechanisms used to accomplish this can also be used
in user-defined container implementations; the implementation-defined containers
have no special “magic” that is unavailable to users who want to “roll their own”.
Support is also provided for literals of private types, for indexing operations on a
private type, for implicit dereferencing of certain non-access types; all of these are
intended to make it easier to hide the implementation of a private type without
taking useful functionality away from clients. And the private type in question may,
of course, be a container type.
“Creature comforts” include the introduction of some features that have long
been available in other programming languages. A name ("@") is defined for the
target of an assignment statement, as in:

Function_Call.Some_Long_Name(Some_Index_Expression) : = @ + 1;

The Image attribute is now available for almost all types and objects, not just
for scalars; support for (in effect) user-specified Image functions is provided.
Restrictions on aggregates are relaxed (index values can now be used in array
aggregate component expressions); a discriminant value in an aggregate can be non-
static in more cases. Predefined support for big numbers (integer and real) is added.
Internationalization support is improved via the various new Wide_File_Names and
Wide_Wide_File_Names packages.
And there are many, many other improvements to the language as well. The
Jorvik profile, the System.Atomic_Operations package, the Object_Size attribute,
iterator filters, and lots of other stuff.
And who better to guide a user through all of this material than John Barnes?
John has been involved in Ada programming language design efforts since shortly
after the birth of Ada Lovelace (or so it seems). He combines his detailed
knowledge of the subject with a special talent for exposition. He has an unusual
ability to anticipate, and correct for, the ways that a reader might be confused by
whatever corner of the language he is describing. His choices of examples are
invariably both enlightening and entertaining. His writing combines technical
correctness with accessibility and humor.
For folks who want to write software that works correctly (admittedly, a small
audience), there is value in learning about Ada and, in particular, about Ada 2022.
And for anyone who wants to learn about Ada, there is both value and fun in
learning about it from John’s fine book.

Enjoy!
Steve Baird & Jeff Cousins,
Current and Past Chairs of the
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG9
Ada Rapporteur Group (ARG)

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 Preface

elcome to this updated version of Programming in Ada 2012 which describes

W Ada 2012 as revised by the Corrigendum approved and published by ISO in
2016 and also includes an extensive appendix entitled Introducing Ada 2022.
The original language, devised in the 1980s, is known as Ada 83 and was
followed by Ada 95, Ada 2005, and then Ada 2012. We are now on the verge of Ada
2022 which as I write is currently being processed by ISO and is almost certain to
be approved in 2022. But as life with a virus shows, the future is never certain!
However, although Ada 2022 is now imminent, it is likely that Ada 2012 will
continue in use in its own right for some time. Accordingly, it seems appropriate to
present both Ada 2012 and Ada 2022 so that the book can serve the needs of those
continuing to use Ada 2012 and also those moving to Ada 2022 in the near future.
The book has therefore been structured so that the main chapters describe the
2016 updated version of Ada 2012 in detail. The book concludes with a major
appendix describing the key new features of Ada 2022.
Ada has gained a reputation as being the language of choice when software
needs to be correct. And as software pervades into more areas of society so that ever
more software is safety critical or security critical, it is clear that the future for Ada
is bright. One observes, for example, the growth in use of SPARK, the Ada based
high integrity language widely used in areas such as avionics and signalling.
Ada 83 was a relatively simple but highly reliable language with emphasis on
abstraction and information hiding. It was also notable for being perhaps the first
practical language to include multitasking within the language itself.
Ada 95 added extra flexibility in the form of the full dynamic features of Object
Oriented Programming (OOP) and in fact was the first such language to become an
ISO standard. Ada 95 also made important structural enhancements to visibility
control by the addition of child units and greatly improved multitasking by the
addition of protected types.
Ada 2005 then added more flexibility in the OOP area by the addition of
multiple inheritance via interfaces and it also added more facilities in the real-time
area concerning scheduling algorithms, timing and so on. It also added further
facilities to the standard library such as the introduction of a container library.
Ada 2012 made further very important enhancements. Perhaps the most
important was the addition of features for contracts such as pre- and postconditions
and type invariants. These in turn showed the need for more flexible expressions
and so conditional expressions, case expressions, and quantified expressions were

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 xviii Preface

also added. Tasking facilities were enhanced to recognize multicore architectures.

The container library was also enhanced to include multiway trees and task-safe
queues. Bounded forms of all containers which are important for high integrity
systems where dynamic storage management is often not permitted were also
added.
Ada 2022 makes important improvements in two key areas: reliability and
efficiency. Reliability is improved by contracts which are strengthened by the
addition of annotations describing the manipulation of global state. The form of
contracts as pre- and postconditions which take the form of expressions has
stimulated the enhancement of the power of expressions. So Ada is being nudged in
the direction of expression/functional languages (but not too much). The other area
of concern is efficiency and this is addressed by the inclusion of lightweight parallel
features to enable the straightforward use of multiprocessors. Both reliability and
efficiency are addressed in the container library by the concept of stable state which
enables many common operations to be performed more efficiently but still with
full reliability.
The main body of the book comprises 27 chapters grouped into four parts as
follows

• Chapters 1 to 4 provide an overview which should give the reader an

understanding of the overall scope of the language as well as the ability to run
significant programs as examples – this is particularly for newcomers to Ada.
• Chapters 5 to 11 cover the small-scale aspects such as the lexical details, scalar,
array and simple record types, control and expression structures, subprograms
and access types.
• Chapters 12 to 22 discuss the large-scale aspects including packages and private
types, contracts, separate compilation, abstraction, OOP and tasking as well as
exceptions and the details of numerics.
• Chapters 23 to 27 complete the story by discussing the predefined library,
interfacing to the outside world and the specialized annexes; there is then a
finale concluding with some ruminations over correctness and a brief
introduction to SPARK.

The finale includes, as do its predecessors, a fantasy customer in a shop trying

to buy reusable software components and whose dream now seems as far away or
indeed as near at hand as it did many years ago when I first toiled at this book. The
discussion continues to take a galactic view of life and perhaps echoes the cool
cover of the book which depicts NGC 7027, the Jewel Bug nebula. Maybe one can
view this as the new Ada 2022 bursting from the domain of Ada 2012!
There are various appendices. The first summarises the reserved words, aspects
attributes, pragmas, and restrictions. The second is a glossary. The third gives the
full syntax of the 2016 version.
The fourth appendix is an overview of the important new features in Ada 2022.
It is arranged into subsections that match those of the body of the book describing
the 2016 version. Thus appendix Section A19.2a contains material relating to
Section 19.2 of the main body whereas Section A9.5 is a completely new
subsection for Chapter 9.

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 Preface xix

In order to avoid the book becoming unwieldy, the full details of the syntax for
Ada 2022 and an updated table summarising the containers in Ada 2022 are
provided on the website. The answers to all exercises are also on the website but
those for the introductory Part 1 are also included in the book for the convenience
of readers encountering Ada for the first time. More details of the website will be
found below.
Whenever a new standard appears and is put into use, it is almost inevitable that
various imperfections are soon discovered. Ada 2012 was no exception and a
number of corrections and improvements were deemed to be necessary. These
alterations were processed in the usual manner by the Ada Rapporteur Group and
resulted in a Corrigendum which was approved and published by ISO in February
2016. The body of this version of Programming in Ada 2012 accordingly covers this
updated 2016 standard. I have also taken the opportunity to convert the uses of
pragmas such as Pure and Preelaborate to aspect clauses in order to smooth the
transition to Ada 2022.
The revisions are described by Ada Issues (AIs) and a number of these are
mentioned in the Index. The early ones relate to the 2016 corrigendum but most
concern the evolution of Ada 2022.
And now I must thank all those who have helped with this new book both by
pointing out errors in the first edition and by reviewing the text of this new edition
and especially the Ada 2022 material. Many thanks therefore (in alphabetical order)
to Steve Baird, Janet Barnes, Ben Brosgol, Randy Brukardt, Jeff Cousins, Bob Duff,
Tama McGlinn, Pascal Pignard, and Tucker Taft. Their much valued comments
enabled me to improve the presentation and to eliminate a number of errors. I must
also give extra thanks to Randy Brukardt without whose eternal energy as editor of
the Ada standard, I would find writing about Ada a very difficult task indeed.
Finally, many thanks to my wife Barbara for help in typesetting and proof-
reading and to friends at Cambridge University Press for their continued guidance
and help.
John Barnes
Caversham, England
January 2022

Notes on the website

The website for this book is www.cambridge.org/barnes12-22. As well as the full
syntax for Ada 2022 and a table giving a summary of all container operations in Ada
2022, it contains the answers to all the exercises, some obscure or obsolete material
on exceptions, discriminants, and iterators which were in previous versions of the
book, additional material on the six sample programs in the body of the book and
some further programs illustrating new features in Ada 2022.
Each example in the book commences with some remarks about its purpose and
overall structure. This is followed by the text of the program and then some notes
on specific details. A desire to keep the program text short means that comments are
at a minimum. However, the corresponding source text on the website includes
much additional commentary. The website also includes further discussion and
explanation and suggestions for enhancement. In general the programs use only
those features of the language explained in detail by that point in the book.

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than Venus when she seemeth greatest ... the said star never
changed his84 place ... and so continued (by little and little
appearing less) the space of sixteen months; at what time it was so
small, that rather thought, by exercise of oft viewing, might imagine
the place, than any eye could judge the presence of the same.’—
Holinshed.
This was the celebrated Star of Tycho, so called
because Tycho Brahé made it the subject of 1572.
observation. The Danish astronomer is known to
have first observed it a few days before the date assigned by
Holinshed—namely, on the 11th of November, while taking an
evening walk in the fields. From the suddenness of its appearance,
and its very great brightness, he suspected that his sense was
deceived, and was only convinced he saw truly when he found some
peasants gazing at the imposing stranger with as much
astonishment as himself. It has been regarded as an example of a
class of stars which move in periods between remote and
comparatively near points in space; and as there was a similar object
seen in 945 and 1264, it was supposed that the period of this star
was somewhat over 300 years. But ‘the period of 300 years, which
Goodriche conjectured, has been reduced by Kiell and Pigot to 150
years.’85
The Star of Tycho, during the time it was visible, ‘suffered several
very remarkable changes. On a sudden it became so brilliant, that it
surpassed in brightness even Venus and Mercury, and was visible on
the meridian in the daytime. Its light then began to diminish, till it
disappeared sixteen months after it had been first seen.’86
‘This year, a great and sharp frost almost
continually lasted from before the feast of All 1572-3.
Saints, till after the feast of Epiphany of our Lord,
with sometimes great and deep snows, and sometimes rains, which
freezed as fast as the same fell to the ground, wherethrough at
Wrotham, in Kent, and many other places, the arms and boughs of
trees, being overcharged with ice, broke off and fell from the stocks
... also the wind continued north and east till after the Ascension
Day, with sharp frosts and snows, whereby followed a late spring.’—
Stowe.

The gipsies, who are usually said to have

wandered into Europe from the East in the 1573. Apr. 3.
beginning of the fifteenth century, are not heard of
in Scotland before 1540, when a writ of the Privy Seal was passed in
favour of ‘John Faw, Lord and Earl of Little Egypt,’ enabling him to
rule his company in conformity with the laws of his pretended
country. First accepted as noble refugees, possessing a semi-
religious character, they were in time discovered to be mere rogues
and vagabonds. It was now declared in the Privy Council, that ‘the
commonweal of this realm was greatumly damnifiet and harmit
through certain vagabond, idle, and counterfeit people of divers
nations, falsely named Egyptians, living on stowth and other
unlawful means.’ These people were commanded to settle to fixed
habitations and honest industry; otherwise it should be competent to
seize and throw them into the nearest prison, when, if they could
not give caution for a due obedience to this edict, they were ‘to be
scourgit throughout the town or parish, and sae to be imprisonit and
scourgit fra parish to parish, while [till] they be utterly renderit furth
of this realm.’—P. C. R.
Little more than three years onward (August 27, 1576), it was
declared that this act had ‘wantit execution’—a very common
misfortune to acts of council in those days; and it was found that
‘the said idle vagabonds has continuit in their wicked and
mischievous manner of living, committing murders, theft, and
abusing the simple and ignorant people with sorcery and divination.’
Men in authority were now enjoined to stricter courses with these
wanderers, on pain of being held as their accomplices.

An English force having come to help the Regent in

winning Edinburgh Castle, the operations of the May 2.
siege commenced by the fixing up of twenty ‘great
pieces’ at four several places around the ancient fortress. ‘They shot
so hard continually, that the second day they had beat down wholly
three towers. The Laird of Grange ... would not give over, but shot at
them continually, both with great shot and small; so that there was a
very great slaughter amongst the English cannoneers, sundry of
them having their legs and arms torn from their bodies in the air by
the violence of the great shot. At last, the Regent continuing his
siege so close and hard—the captain being forced by the defendants
for lack of victuals—rendered the same, after a great many of them
were slain [May 29].’—Bir.
Mr Robert Hamilton, minister of St Andrews, was in Edinburgh at this
time, along with the servant who had written down John Knox’s
prediction regarding the fate of Kirkaldy (see under 1571). According
to James Melville, ‘they gaed up to the Castle-hill, and saw the
forewark of the castle all demolished, and running like a sandy brae;
they saw the men of weir all set in order. The captain, with a little
staff in his hand, taken down over the walls upon the ladders, and
Mr Robert, troubled with the thrang of the people, says: “Go, what
have I ado here?” In going away, the servant remembers his master
of the sermon, and the words, wha was compelled to glorify God,
and say he was a true prophet.’
‘William Kirkaldy of Grange, knight, sometime
captain of the Castle of Edinburgh, and James Aug. 3. 1573.
Mosman, goldsmith, were harlit in twa carts
backward, frae the Abbey to the Cross of Edinburgh, where they,
with Mr James [Kirkaldy] and James Cockie, were hangit,’ ‘for
keeping of the said castle against the king and his regent.’—D. O. Bir.
Such was the dismal end of one who had undoubtedly been a most
valiant soldier, though, it must be added, an unsteady politician, and
too much a follower of private ends in public affairs. His concern in
the assassination of Cardinal Beaton also detracts somewhat from
the sympathy which would naturally be felt for him on this occasion.
James Melville relates some curious particulars regarding his latter
days and his execution:
When John Knox was on his death-bed in Edinburgh, November
1572, the situation of Kirkaldy and his friends in the castle had
become critical. Mr David Lindsay, minister of Leith, came to visit the
reformer, and asked how he did. ‘He answerit: “Weel, brother, I
thank God; I have desired all this day to have you, that I may send
you yet to yon man in the castle, whom ye ken I have loved sae
dearly. Go, I pray you, tell him that I have sent you to him yet ance
to warn and bid him, in the name of God, leave that evil cause, and
give ower that castle: gif not, he shall be brought down ower the
walls with shame, and hing against the sun: sae God has assured
me.” Mr David, howbeit he thought the message hard, and the
threatening over particular, yet obeyed, and passed to the castle;
and meeting with Sir Robert Melville walking on the wall, tauld him,
wha was, as he thought, meikle movit with the matter. Thereafter
[he] communed with the captain, whom he thought also somewhat
moved; but he passed from him into the Secretar Lethington, with
whom, when he had conferred a while, he came out to Mr David
again, and said to him: “Go, tell Mr Knox he is but ane ... prophet.”
Mr David, returning, tauld Mr Knox he had discharged the
commission faithfully, but that it was not weel accepted of after the
captain had conferrit with the secretar. “Weel (says Mr Knox) I have
been earnest with my God anent the twa men; for the ane [Kirkaldy]
I am sorry that so should befall him; yet God assures me there is
mercy for his saul: for that other [the Secretary Lethington], I have
nae warrant that ever he shall be weel.”’
The castle surrendered, and Kirkaldy fell into the
power of the Regent Morton. He offered all he 1573.
possessed for his life. But the reformer’s prophecy
was to be fulfilled, and how far it served to fulfil itself, we may
surmise from what Morton wrote to the English agent. ‘Considering,’
he says, ‘what has been, and daily is, spoken by the preachers, that
God’s plague will not cease while the land be purged of blood, and
having regard that such as are interested by the death of their
friends, the destruction of their houses, and away taking of their
goods, could not be satisfied by any offer made to me in particular....
I deliberated to let justice proceed.’87
Mr David Lindsay, who had gone with Kirkaldy’s fruitless offer, ‘the
morn by nine hours comes again to the captain, the Laird of Grange
[who was now confined under a guard in a house in the High
Street], and taking him to a fore-stair of the lodging apart, resolves
him it behoved him to suffer. “O, then, Mr David (says he), for our
auld friendship, and for Christ’s sake, leave me not.” So he remains
with him, wha, passing up and down a while, came to a shot [a hole
fitted with a sliding panel in the wooden front of the house], and
seeing the day fair, the sun clear, and a scaffold preparing at the
Cross, he falls in a great study [reverie], and alters countenance and
colour; whilk, when Mr David perceived, he came to him and asked
what he was doing. “Faith, Mr David (says he), I perceive weel now
that Mr Knox was the true servant of God, and his threatening is to
be accomplished.”’ Lindsay mentioned the assurance which Knox had
had regarding the ultimate salvation of the unfortunate man; which
gave him much comfort and renewed courage; ‘sae that he dined
moderately, and thereafter took Mr David apart for his strengthening
to suffer that death, and in [the] end beseeks him not to leave him,
but to convoy him to the place of execution. “And take heed (says
he), I hope in God, after I shall be thought past, to give you a taiken
of the assurance of that mercy to my saul, according to the speaking
of that man of God.”
‘Sae, about three hours afternoon, he was brought out, and Mr
David with him, and about four, the sun being wast about the
northward nook of the steeple, he was put aff the ladder, and his
face first fell to the east, but within a little while, turned about to the
west, and there remained against the sun; at whilk time Mr David,
ever present, says he marked him, when all thought he was away
[dead], to lift up his hands that were bund before him, and lay them
down again saftly; whilk moved him with exclamation to glorify God
before all the people.’

On the destruction of the queen’s party, ‘the

burgesses and craftsmen wha remainit the time of Aug. 1573.
the cummers [troubles] in Edinburgh, behovit to
compone for their life, and the least that any man payit was twenty
merks, and they that had nocht to pay were continuit to the third
day of the aire, with fifteen days’ warning, to be halden within the
sheriffdom. This composition should have been equally distributed
betwixt the Regent and the burgesses that had their houses
destroyit; but the Regent causit bring the haill to the Castle of
Edinburgh, and wald not part with ane penny; for the whilk causes
the burgesses stayit and wald not pursue nane hereafter, by
occasion they were nocht the better, and also therethrough obteinit
the indignation of their neighbours. God of his grace grant the poor
consolation, for they thole great trouble!’
Afterwards—‘the burgesses and craftsmen and others wha remainit
in the town in the time of the cummers, were chargit that they, on
their awn expenses, might mak black gray gowns, with the whilk
they stood at the kirk door ane hour before the preaching ..., whilk
gowns were decernit to be dealt to the poor.’—D. O.

During the late troubles, the Border-men had been

in a great measure left to pursue their own Aug. 25.
courses unmolested. Now that the civil war was
ended, Morton was able to turn his attention in that direction. At this
date, he proceeded from Dalkeith with a host of 4000 men to
Peebles, where he was met by the Earl of Argyle with a hundred
horse and an equal number of ‘carriage-men;’ and the party then
went to Jedburgh against ‘the thieves.’ ‘Some thieves came in and
gave baud for the rest, and some pledges were delivered to the
Regent for good order; but or [ere] they wald obey, their corns and
houses were destroyed, with great spulyie of their goods.’ The
Regent returned in a few days to Dalkeith. ‘Notwithstanding of this
raid, the haill thieves convenit, and harried the country, following ay
on the host.’ A second and more vigorous expedition of the same
kind having then been resolved on, ‘seven score or thereby of the
thieves come to the Regent, and pledges for the rest, wha was put
in prison, some in the Castle of Edinburgh, some in the Tolbooth
thereof, and some in the north land.’—D. O.

The burgh records of Glasgow from 1573 to 1581,

of which liberal excerpts have been published by 1573-81.
the Maitland Club,88 throw much light on manners
and the state of society, and also on the burgal or municipal
customs. Glasgow was then a little town, undistinguished from any
other of its size, excepting in its university and a small commerce,
chiefly of a coasting description. We see in these records all the
common affairs of a petty town, but with the rough character proper
to an age of ignorance and ill-regulated feeling.
The quarrels, flytings (scoldings), and acts of personal violence form
by far the most conspicuous entries in these records. Men strike
women, women clapperclaw each other, and even the dignitaries of
the town are assailed on the street and in their council-house.
Whingers (that is, swords) and pistols are frequently used in these
conflicts, and sometimes with dire effects. As examples—
April 9, 1574.—‘Alexander Curry and Marion Smith, spouses, are
found in the wrang for troublance done by them to Margaret Hunter,
in casting down of two pair of sheets, tramping them in the gutter,
and striking of the said Margaret.’ Surety is given that Alexander and
Marion shall in future abstain from striking each other; and ‘gif they
flyte, to be brankit‘—that is, invested with the kind of iron bridle,
with a tongue retroverted into the mouth, of which a description has
already been given. (See under Oct. 30, 1567.)
April 23.—William Wilson is found in the wrong for blooding of
Richard Wardrope on the head. Richard and Andrew Wardrope are at
the same time found in the wrong as the occasion thereof; and John
and Andrew Wardrope, for hurting and wounding of the said William
Wilson, to the great effusion of his blood in the Gallowgate on the
morning thereafter. So also, Richard and John Wardrope are
declared guilty of ‘onsetting and invading of the said William with
drawn swords and pistols in the mercat, on Shere Thursday last.’
Shere Thursday,89 otherwise called Maundy Thursday, is the day
before Good Friday.
One common species of case is an attack of one
female upon another, ‘striking of her, scarting of 1573-81.
her, and dinging her to the erd’ [earth]; in one
instance, ‘shooting of her down in her awn fire.’ Injurious words
often accompany or provoke these violent acts. Bartilmo Lawteth
strikes ‘ane poor wife’ to the effusion of her blood. Ninian Swan
strikes Marion Simpson with ‘ane tangs’ [pair of tongs], and knocks
her down—she, however, having previously spit in his face. ‘Andrew
Heriot is [November 8, 1575] fund in the wrang and amerciament of
court for troublance done to David Morison, in striking of him with
his neive in Master Henry Gibson’s writing-chamber, on the haffet
[side of the head], and also for the hitting of him on the face with
his neive upon the Hie Gait, and making him baith blae and bloody
therewith.’
George Elphinstone of Blythswood, one of the bailies, suffered a
violent attack in the council-house (August 24, 1574) from Robert
Pirry, a tailor, who wounded him with his whinger, striking one of the
officers at the same time. For this, Pirry lost his freedom as a
burgess. Six years afterwards, the same magistrate was assaulted on
the street by George Herbertson, ‘saying how durst he be sae pert to
deal ony wines without his advice;’ after which he threatened the
bailie with his whinger. Immediately thereafter, Herbertson assailed
the magistrate in the Tolbooth, ‘giving him many injurious words, sic
as knave, skaybell, matteyne, and loon, and that he was gentiller nor
he, having his hand on his whinger, rugging it halflings in and out,
and that he cared him not, nor the land that he had nowther.’
In June 1589, Thomas Miln, chirurgeon, was brought before the
magistrates for slanderous speeches against them, and for applying
to the town itself an epithet which now, at least, appears strangely
inapplicable—the Hungry Town of Glasgow. He was sentenced to
appear at the Cross and openly confess his fault.
Much light is thrown on the character of the age by the magistrates
ordering ‘every booth-halder [shopkeeper] to have in readiness
within the booth ane halbert, jack, and steel bonnet, for eschewing
of sic inconveniences as may happen, conform to the auld statute
made thereanent.’
The streets of the town appear to have been kept much in the same
state in which we now find those of neglected country villages, yet
not without efforts towards a better order of things. The ordinances
for good order may be said to prove the disorder. It is statute (1574)
‘that there be nae middings laid upon the fore-gate [front street],
nor yet in the Green, and that nae fleshers toom their uschawis
upon the fore-gate, and that nae stanes or timber lie on the gate
langer nor year and day.’ In 1577, this statute is renewed in nearly
the same words, shewing that it was but imperfectly obeyed; and
next year there is a simple order ‘that the haill middings be removed
off the Hie Gait, and that nane scrape on the Hie Gait.’
The town, according to a common custom, had its
‘minstrels,’ by which is inferred simply musicians— 1573-81.
probably a couple of bagpipers. In 1579, there is
an entry of ten shillings ‘to the minstrels, for their expenses to
Hamilton siege.’ This was a siege in which popular affections would
probably be engaged at Glasgow, as its object was to destroy the
last vestige of the queen’s interest in Scotland. At the Whitsunday
court 1574, the minstrels are continued until ‘the Summerhill,’ by
which was meant a court annually held at a place so called, when
the marches of the town’s property were subjected to review. There,
accordingly, on Sunday the 20th June, Archibald Bordland and
Robert Duncan are ‘admittit to be menstrals to the town for this
instant year, and to have frae ilk freeman allenarly, but meat, twa
shillings money at the least, with mair at the giver’s pleasure.’
In the treasurer’s accounts, we are struck by the many considerable
presents, chiefly of wine, given by the town to noblemen possessing
influence over its fortunes. We find, amongst frequent propines of
wine to the Earl of Argyle, as much as seventeen gallons given at
once. Two hogsheads are given to Lord Boyd, six quarts to the lord
provost, two quarts to the parson of Glasgow, and so forth. At the
town’s banquets, aquavitæ figures on several occasions, a quart
being charged twenty-four shillings.
Several allusions are made in these records to the ‘knocks’—that is,
clocks—set up for the public conveniency. An old one is repaired,
and James Scott gets a sum ‘for labour done by him in colouring of
the knock, moon, and horologe, and other common work of the
town.’ References are made to several trades not known in our age
by the same names, as a lorimer, the maker of the ironwork in
horse-furniture; a snap-maker, by which is to be understood a
maker of firelocks, then called snap-hances; a ladleman; a tabroner,
meaning a drummer; &c. In 1577, the magistrates grant a pension
of ten marks to Alexander Hay, chirurgeon, to encourage him to
remain in Glasgow, ‘in readiness for serving of the town by his craft
and art.’ This gentleman would bleed the citizens in exigencies of
their health, and shave them daily.
The editor of these records remarks on the
treasurer’s accounts, that the revenue is fully 1573-81.
stated, and the whole expenditure minutely
detailed. ‘It is true,’ he says, ‘the magistrates and “divers honest
men” occasionally treat themselves to a dejeune; but this is after the
completion of some public business, tending to the honour and profit
of the commonweal. Indeed, the class of disbursements which,
strictly speaking, are the least legal, the most rigid corrector of
abuses could not well object to. We allude to the numerous
benevolences bestowed upon poor scholars to buy them a suit of
clothes, or books, to enable them to prosecute their studies; the
sums voted to shipwrecked mariners, to ruined merchants who had
lost their horses by some untoward accident, or to the widows and
children of those burgesses whom unforeseen difficulties had
plunged into absolute want. Not a little of the public funds is
sometimes devoted to ransom unfortunate burgesses from captivity
among the Turks, while considerable sums are expended in providing
medical aid for those afflicted with physical infirmities, or who have
met with severe bodily injuries.... Much curious matter may be
elicited regarding the sports and pastimes of the people. The diverse
disbursements for foot-balls are not unworthy of notice. We also
meet with payments made to a piper called Ryall Dayis, and to “a
fule with a treen sword,” as well as to certain young men of the
town, for their playing—probably bearing a part in some mask or
public pageant. The care bestowed on the decorement of the town’s
minstrels is evinced in the entry of the purchase of blue cloth to
make two coats for them, with as much “cramosie” as would serve
for containing the town’s arms thereon. Nevertheless, though this
care was shewn for the recognised minstrels of the burgh, the
profession had thus early fallen into disrepute; for in the ordinance
anent the pest [in 1574], “pipers, fiddlers, and minstrels,” are
unceremoniously classed together as vagabonds, and threatened
with severe penalties, should they venture into the city in
contravention of the act.’
In those days, the citizens of Glasgow kept each his cow, which was
fed, under the care of a town’s herdsman, in a common beyond the
walls, as is the case with small burghs like Lauder and Peebles at the
present day. In March 1589, John Templeton and John Hair were
appointed herds for the year to come, John Templeton for ‘the nolt
and guids aboon the Cross,’ and John Hair for ‘the nolt and guids
beneath the Cross and the rest of the nether parts of the town.’

A strange tragedy took place at the Cross of

Edinburgh. Robert Drummond, sometimes called 1574. Apr. 11.
Doctor Handie, who had been a great seeker and
apprehender of papists, had been punished for adultery by exposure
in the church and banishment from the city. Out of favour on
account of his services against popery, he was pardoned and
brought back; but being again found guilty of the same offence, he
was condemned to exposure in the stocks at the Cross, along with
the companion of his crime; after which he was to be burnt in the
cheek. While undergoing this punishment, ‘there being great science
(?) of people about them, and the Doctor Handie being in ane great
furie, said: “What wonder ye? I sall give you more occasion to
wonder.” So, suddenly, he took his awn knife, wha strake himself
three or four times fornent the heart, with the whilk he departit. This
done, the magistrates causit harl him in ane cart through the town,
and the bloody knife borne behind in his hand; and on the morn
harlit in the same manner to the gallows on the Burghmuir, where
he was buried.’—D. O.
The Regent had passed an act, very agreeable to
the people, to prevent the transporting of grain out May.
of the country. There were, however, certain
merchants who found it not difficult, by means of bribes, to obtain
from him a licence enabling them to break the law. One of these was
Robert Gourlay, originally a servant of the Duke of Chatelherault,90
but now a rich merchant in Edinburgh—at least so we may
reasonably infer from the grandeur of his house, not long ago
existing. Robert was driving a good trade in this way, when the kirk,
of which he was an elder, interfered to put an end to what it
regarded as an unrighteous traffic. He was pronounced by the
General Assembly to be guilty of a high offence in transporting
victual out of the realm, and was sentenced to appear in the
marriage-place in the church, and publicly confess his offence, clad
in a gown of his own, which should thereafter be given to the poor.
He obstinately refused to submit. The Regent came forward as his
friend, and told the minister, Mr James Lowson: ‘I gave him licence,
and it pertaineth not to you to judge of that matter.’91 But it was all
in vain. A week after, Robert was glad not only to go through the
prescribed penance, but to crave forgiveness of the kirk for his
temporary disobedience.92

The press was not likely to be a friend to the

Regent, and the Regent, therefore, was not a July 29. 1574.
friend to the press. At this date he induced the
Privy Council to issue an edict that ‘nane tak upon hand to emprent
or sell whatsoever book, ballet, or other werk,’ without its being
examined and licensed, under pain of death, and confiscation of
goods.—P. C. R.
The town-council of Edinburgh agreed with a
Frenchman that he should set up a school in the Sep. 3.
city, to teach his own language, for which he
should be entitled to charge each child twenty-five shillings yearly,
besides enjoying a salary of twenty pounds during the council’s
pleasure.—City Register, apud Maitland.

‘The summer right evil weather, and dear; the boll of malt five merk
and half merk, and the boll of meal four merk and three merk. Evil
August; wind and rain. The harvest evil weather that ever was seen;
continual weet.’—C. F.
Consequently, in autumn and winter, ‘there was ane great dearth in
Scotland of all kinds of victuals.’—D. O. ‘About Lammas, wheat was
sold at London for three shillings the bushel; but shortly after it was
raised to four shillings, five shillings, six shillings, and before
Christmas to a noble and seven shillings, which so continued long
after. Beef was sold for twenty pence and two-and-twenty pence the
stone, and all other flesh and white meats at an excessive price; all
kind of salt fish very dear, as five herrings twopence. Yet great
plenty of fresh fish, and oft times the same very cheap.... All this
dearth notwithstanding (thanks be given to God) there was no want
of anything to him that wanted not money.’—Howes.

‘The pest came to Leith by ane passenger wha

came out of England, and sundry died thereof Oct. 14.
before it was known.’ On the 24th, it entered
Edinburgh, ‘brought in by ane dochter of Malvis Curll out of Kirkaldy.’
The Court of Session abstained from sitting in consequence. ‘My
Lord Regent’s grace skalit his house and men of weir, and was but
six in household; I know not whether for fear of the pest or for
sparing of expenses.’—D. O.
In December, the kirk-session of Edinburgh,
‘foreseeing the great apparent plague and scourge 1574.
of pest, hinging universally upon the haill realm,’
and considering that ‘the only ordinary means appointed by God in
his holy word, whereby the said apparent scourge may be removed,
is ane public fast and humiliation,’ did accordingly appoint such a
fast, to last for eight days, with sermon and prayers every day, and
the people’s ‘food to be breid and drink with all kind of sobriety.’93
We do not hear of the pest proving very deadly in Scotland on this
occasion.

This Christmas-day, the minister and reader of

Dumfries having refused to teach or read, ‘the Dec. 25.
town ... brought a reader of their own, with tabret
and whistle, and caused him read the prayers.’ This extraordinary
exercise they maintained during all the days of Yule. It was
complained of at the subsequent General Assembly, and referred to
the Regent.—Cal.

In this year died David Home of Wedderburn, a

gentleman of good account in Berwickshire, and 1574.
father of the David Home of Godscroft, to whom
Scottish literature owes the History of the House of Douglas. The
son has left us a portraiture of the father, which, even when we
make a good allowance for filial partiality, must be held as shewing
that society was not then without estimable members. ‘He died in
the fiftieth year of his age, of a consumption, being the first (as is
said) of his family who had died a natural death—all the rest having
lost their lives in defence of their country.
‘He was a man remarkable for piety and probity,
ingenuity [candour], and integrity; neither was he 1574.
altogether illiterate, being well versed in the Latin
tongue.... He had the Psalms, and particularly some short sentences
of them, always in his mouth; such as: “It is better to trust in the
Lord than in the princes of the earth:” “Our hope ought to be placed
in God alone.” He particularly delighted in the 146th psalm, and sung
it whilst he played on the harp with the most sincere and unaffected
devotion. He was strictly just, utterly detesting all manner of fraud. I
remember, when a conversation happened among some friends
about prudence and fraud, his son George happened to say, that it
was not unlawful to do a good action, and for a good end, although
it might be brought about by indirect methods, and that this was
sometimes necessary. “What,” says he, “George, do you call ane
indirect way? It is but fraud and deceit covered under a specious
name, and never to be admitted or practised by a good man.” He
himself always acted on this principle, and was so strictly just, and
so little desirous of what was his neighbour’s, that, in the time of the
civil wars, when Alexander, his chief, was forfeit for his defection
from the queen’s party, he might have had his whole patrimony, and
also the abbacy of Coldingham, but refused both the one and the
other. When Patrick Lindsay desired that he would ask something
from the governor [Morton], as he was sure whatever he asked
would be granted, he refused to ask anything, saying that he was
content with his own. When Lindsay insisted, says he: “Since you
will have it so, I will ask something; but you must first assure me I
will not be refused.” Then Lindsay swore to him that he should have
whatever he desired. “Let me have, then,” says he, “the abbacy of
Haddington.” “That you cannot get,” says Lindsay, “as I received it
myself some time ago. But ask something seriously; for if you do not
get a share of our enemies’ estates, our party will never put
sufficient trust in you.” To this David answered: “If I never can give
proofs of my fidelity otherwise than in that manner, I will never give
any, let him doubt of it who may. I have hitherto lived content with
my own, and will live so, nor do I want any more.”
‘David was a man of that temper, that he never was willing to offer
any injury, nor to take notice of one when offered. His uncle George
Douglas sometimes stayed at Wedderburn. He still kept up a secret
grudge at Alexander of Home on account of that controversy they
had had about Cockburnspath. Alexander happened to be at this
time at Manderston, which is within half a mile of Wedderburn.
Alexander of Manderston, with a great number of attendants, goes
out with him to hunt; and as he was a turbulent man, and much
given to ostentation, under the pretext of seeking game, he ranges
through all Wedderburn’s fields. This was intended as an affront to
George Douglas, and to shew him what trouble he occasioned to his
nephew David.
‘George had resolved to bear the thing patiently, and to dissemble;
but David, knowing their intention, and not bearing that any affront
should be put upon his uncle, mounts his horse, and orders his
servants to do the like, and, taking George along with him, he
presses hard upon the heels of Alexander, who was then going
home, and follows him to the very doors of his own house of
Manderston, and hunted about the whins and broom at the back of
the garden, till evening forced him to return home.’94
At this time was the conspiracy or Black Band
formed against him, which he bore patiently, and 1574.
at the same time wisely repulsed. I know not upon
what account some gentlemen of the Merse entered into this
conspiracy; it is certain it was for no misdemeanour of his, nor did
they pretend any. Alexander of Manderston was the contriver of the
whole. It was a thing openly known, for in the meetings of the
judges on the Borders about mutual restitutions, the one [party]
stood on this side, and the other on that, like opposite armies....
One day, when both parties were returning home, and among the
rest Manderston, some of Wedderburn’s followers, flushed with
indignation, advised him no longer to bear the arrogance of the
confederates. He, on the other hand, refused to stain his hands in
blood, saying that Manderston was furious and insolent in his youth,
but would grow wiser when he was old, and acknowledge his fault.’
John Stuart, the titular abbot of Coldingham, a natural son of James
V., was importuned to join the Black Band, but had too much regard
for Wedderburn to do so. While he was absent in the north with his
brother the Regent Moray, his wife, who had a spite at Wedderburn,
made a strange kind of demonstration against him. She ‘ordered the
men of her faction to be present on a certain day, and to bring along
with them wains, carts, and other things fit for carrying off the
corns, all of which was carefully done. But Wedderburn with his
friends having gathered together about 500 horse, hastens to the
fields, and dissipates the scattered troops before they could unite
themselves into one, breaks the wagons, looses the horses, and
drives them away. On this they all betake themselves to flight,
together with Stuart’s wife (she was called Hepburn, and a sister of
old Bothwell). A few received some strokes; none were wounded;
but so great was the terror struck into them all, that they all sought
hiding-places in their flight. Some hid themselves among the furze or
broom; others under the banks of the river; some in the fields of
corn, and all either in one place or other. One John Edington
(commonly called the Liar, as he was always the messenger of
strange news, which was commonly false) hid himself in the ambry
of a poor old woman, from which he was dislodged, to the great
diversion of his enemies and his own great terror. When their fear a
little subsided, and it appeared that none were hurt, the affair
appeared so ridiculous both to themselves and others, that Hepburn
(as she was a woman of a pretty good genius and poetically
inclined) described the whole in some verses. Nor was there ever
anything afterwards attempted by the confederates.’
David is described as being swift of foot, and fond
of foot-races. Horse-racing was also one of his 1574.
amusements. ‘He collected a number of the
swiftest horses both from the north of Scotland and from England,
by the assistance of one Graeme, recommended to him by his
brother-in-law, Lochinvar. He generally had eight or more of that
kind, so that the prize was seldom won by any but those of his
family.... He was so great a master of the art of riding, that he would
often be beat to-day, and within eight days lay a double wager on
the same horses, and come off conqueror.... He went frequently
from home to his diversion, sometimes to Haddington, and
sometimes to Peebles, the one of which is eighteen, and the other
twenty-four miles distant, and sometimes stayed there for several
days with numerous attendants, regardless of expense, as being too
mean and sordid a care, and below the dignity of one of his rank.
‘Being educated in affluence, he delighted in fencing, hunting, riding,
throwing the javelin, managing horses, and likewise in cards and
dice. Yet he was sufficiently careful of his affairs without doors.
Those of a more domestic nature he committed to the care of his
wife, and when he had none, to his servants; so that he neither
increased nor diminished his patrimony.’
The writer, in the true spirit of his age, cites Wedderburn’s love of
the house of Home as ‘not the least of his virtues.’ The chief was
prejudiced against him, but ‘he bore it patiently, and never failed
giving him all due honour.’ At length, Lord Home being taken
prisoner by Morton at the close of the queen’s wars, and put into
Leith Fort, Wedderburn went to see him, and acted so much as his
friend as to obtain his release and secure his love.
David’s first wife, of the Johnstons of Elphinston, in Haddingtonshire,
was a paragon of benevolence. She not only supplied the poor
bountifully, but often gave large help to superior people who had
fallen back in the world. She would give the clothes of her own
children to clothe the naked and friendless. Yet, such was her good
management, that she left at her death 3000 merks in gold—‘a great
sum in those days.’ ‘Everything in the family had a splendid
appearance; and this she affected in compliance to her husband’s
temper. As she was herself, so she instructed her children in the fear
of God, and in everything that was good and commendable. To sum
up her whole character, she obtained from all the appellation of the
Good Lady Wedderburn.’
David ‘was of a beautiful and manly make. His
complexion (for a man) was rather too fair. He had 1574.
yellow hair, and an aquiline nose; his stature rather
inclining to tall, his countenance comely and majestic, claiming at
the same time both love and reverence. He much affected elegance
in his dress, but not extravagance. He was very fond of his children,
and seldom ceased to dance them in his arms.... These are the
parents who make me rejoice in my birth. These are the parents
who are an honour to their posterity. To live and die like them, loving
and beloved by all, is my great and only ambition.’95

‘In the meantime, there was ane great dearth in

Scotland of all kind of victuals.’—D. O. 1574-5. Feb.

In the course of the late civil war, Lords John and

Claud Hamilton came to an inn to apprehend old Mar. 7.
Carmichael and the Laird of Westerhall. The house
being beset and set on fire, the two gentlemen surrendered, on
condition that their lives should be spared; but after they came
forth, and were disarmed, Westerhall was slain, and Carmichael
carried away a prisoner.
Westerhall being a dependent of the house of Angus, his death
added largely to the resentment already felt by the Regent towards
the Hamiltons. Love, however, which so often raises wrath, here
came in to smooth it. There was a certain widowed Countess of
Cassillis, whom Lord John knew and loved; and, as she was a cousin
of the Regent, it became necessary to effect a reconciliation with
him before a match could be effected. As one step towards this
object—for doubtless there would be others, and particularly one
involving a money-payment to the griping Morton—Lord John, now
the actual head of the princely house of Hamilton, agreed, along
with his brother, to perform a ceremony of expiation for the death of
Westerhall. The Earl of Angus, head of the house of Douglas, being
placed in the inner court of Holyrood Palace, Lords John and Claud
walked across barefooted and bareheaded, and falling down on their
knees before the earl, held up to him each a naked sword by the
point, implying that they put their lives in his power, trusting solely
to his generosity for their not being immediately slain. Soon after
this strange scene, Lord John wedded Lady Cassillis.
This seems, after all, to have been but a partial
and temporary restoration of the Hamiltons to 1574-5.
court favour. There were many who could not
forget or forgive their concern in the slaughter of the Regents Moray
and Lennox. Douglas of Lochleven, uterine brother of Moray, was
irreconcilably bitter against them. ‘Twice he set upon the Lord
Hamilton, as he was coming from Aberbrothick, and chased him so
that he was constrained to return to Aberbrothick again. Another
time, as he was coming through Fife, he made him flee to Dairsie,
which he beset and lay about it till the Regent sent to him and
commanded him to desist.’—H. of G.

Though copies of the English Bible had found their

way into Scotland, and been of great service in Mar. 8.
promoting and establishing the reformed doctrines,
there was as yet no abundance of copies, nor had any edition been
printed within the kingdom. There was, however, a burgess of
Edinburgh named Thomas Bassendyne, who for some years had had
a small printing-office there. He was probably too poor a man to
undertake the printing of a thick quarto, the form in which the Bible
was then usually presented; but he took into association with
himself a man of better connection and means, named Alexander
Arbuthnot, also an Edinburgh burgess; and now it was deemed
possible that an edition of the Scriptures might be brought out
within the realm of Scotland. The government, under the Regent
Morton, gave a favourable ear to the project, and it was further
encouraged by the bishops, superintendents, and other leading men
of the kirk.
On the day noted, the Privy Council, seeing that ‘the charge and
hazard of the wark will be great and sumptuous,’ decreed that each
parish in the kingdom should advance £5 as a contribution, to be
collected under the care of the said officers of the church, £4, 13s.
4d. of this sum being considered as the price of a copy of the
impression, to be afterwards delivered, ‘weel and sufficiently bund in
paste or timmer,’ and the remaining 6s. 8d. as the expense of
collecting the money. The money was to be handed to Alexander
Arbuthnot before the 1st of July next.
Arbuthnot and Bassendyne, on their parts, bound
themselves to execute the work under certain 1574-5.
penalties, and respectable men came forward as
their sureties. Those who stood for Arbuthnot were David Guthrie of
Kincaldrum, William Guthrie of Halkerton, William Rynd of Carse, and
James Arnot of Lentusche—all Forfarshire gentlemen, be it remarked
—a fact arguing that Arbuthnot himself was of the same district. The
exact arrangements of Arbuthnot and Bassendyne between
themselves do not at this time appear; but we find that Bassendyne
engaged in Flanders one ‘Salomon Kerknett of Magdeburg’ to come
and act as ‘composer’ at 49s. of weekly wages, and sought the aid
of Mr George Young, servant of the abbot of Dunfermline, as
corrector of the press. Having ‘guid characters and prenting irons,’ it
was to be expected that the work, great and sumptuous as it was,
would go quickly and pleasantly on. This hope, however, was not to
be realised. (See under July 18, 1576.)—P. C. R.
Among the evils of these times, was one which the
present generation knows nothing of but from Mar.
history. Owing to the constant exporting of good
coin, and the importing of bad, the circulating medium of the
country was in a wretched state. There seems to have been a
regular system for coining base placks and lions (otherwise called
hardheads) in the Low Countries, to be introduced by merchants into
Scotland. The Regent, in a proclamation, described the abundance
of debased money as the chief cause of the present dearth, the
possessors of grain being thus induced to withhold it from market.
For this reason, according to his own account, proceeding upon an
act of the convention now sitting, he ordained the old coin to be
brought to the cunyie-house, where it would be ‘clippit, and put in
ane close lockit coffer upon the count and inventar of the quantity
receivit frae every person;’ and meanwhile the lately issued genuine
placks and lions were to have currency at twopence and a penny
apiece respectively—that is, at denominations above their value. Any
one hereafter possessing the false coin, was to be punished as an
out-putter of false money.
‘Every day after this proclamation, induring the convention, the poor
veriit and banned the Regent and haill lords openly in their presence,
whenever they passed or repassed frae the Abbey, whilk was heavy
and lamentable to hear.’—D. O.
The Regent, while thus an oppressor of his people by attempting to
enhance the value of the coin, was engaged in several sumptuous
undertakings. He was restoring the Castle of Edinburgh at a vast
expense, and also erecting a new mint—putting over its door, by the
way, a prayer which he had at this time much need to use—
Be mercyfull to me, O God.
His own personal extravagances were not less
remarkable. He erected at Dalkeith a magnificent 1574-5.
palace, richly adorned with tapestries and pictures,
and fitter for a king than a subject. Here he lived in an appropriate
style. All this he did at the expense of his enemies. He kept a fool
named Patrick Bonny, who, seeing him one day pestered by a
concourse of beggars, advised him to have them all burnt in one
fire. ‘What an impious idea!’ said the Regent. ‘Not at all,’ replied the
jester; ‘if the whole of these poor people were consumed, you would
soon make more poor people out of the rich.’—Jo. R. B. Hist.

‘There was ane calf calfit at Roslin, with ane heid,

four een, three lugs [ears], ane in the middle, and 1575. Mar. 30.
ane on ilk side, twa mouths.’96—Sinclair of Roslin’s
MS. additions to Extracta ex Chronicis Scotie.

A number of French Protestants having at this time

taken refuge in London in great poverty, there was June.
a collection in Edinburgh for their benefit, one
person being commissioned to go ‘through the Lords of Session,
advocates, and scribes,’ and another ‘to pass to the deacons and
crafts,’ in order to gather their respective contributions.—R. G. K. E.

The General Assembly declared its mind regarding

the dress fit for clergymen and their wives. ‘We Aug.
think all kind of broidering unseemly; all begares97
of velvet, in gown, hose, or coat, and all superfluous and vain
cutting out, steeking with silks, all kind of costly sewing on
passments98 ... all kind of costly sewing, or variant hues in sarks; all
kind of light and variant hues in clothing, as red, blue, yellow, and
such like, which declare the lightness of the mind; all wearing of
rings, bracelets, buttons of silver, gold, or other metal; all kinds of
superfluity of cloth in making of hose; all using of plaids in the kirk
by readers or ministers, namely in the time of their ministry, or using
of their office; all kind of gowning, cutting, doubletting, or breeks of
velvet, satin, taffeta, or such like; all silk hats, and hats of divers and
light colours.’ It was recommended to the clergy, that ‘their whole
habit be of grave colour, as black, russet, sad gray, or sad brown; or
serges, worset, chamlet, grogram, lytes worset, or such like.... And
their wives to be subject to the same order.’
It is rather curious that any such sumptuary
regulations should have been required for the 1575.
Presbyterian ministers, or even their helpmates,
as, according to all accounts, their incomes for the first forty years
after the Reformation were wretchedly narrow and irregular. The
thirds of the old benefices assigned to them by Queen Mary’s act
were far from being well paid. In the pathetic words of a memorial
they presented to Mary in 1562, ‘most of them led a beggar’s life.’
They were as ill off under the grasping Morton as at any other time.
The proceedings of the General Assembly of 1576 reveal that some
were compelled to eke out their miserable stipends by selling ale to
their flocks. The question was then formally put: ‘Whether a minister
or reader may tap ale, beer, or wine, and keep an open tavern?’ to
which it was answered: ‘Ane minister or reader that taps ale or beer
or wine, and keeps ane open tavern, sould be exhorted by the
commissioners to keep decorum.’—B. U. K.

Towards the end of this year, the Regent Morton was at Dumfries,
holding justice-courts for the punishment of the Borderers. ‘Many
were punished by their purses rather than their lives. Many
gentlemen of England came thither to behald the Regent’s court,
where there was great provocation made for the running of horses.
By chance my Lord Hamilton had there a horse sae weel bridled and
sae speedy, that although he was of a meaner stature than other
horses that essayit their speed, he overran them all a great way
upon Solway Sands, whereby he obtained great praise both of
England and Scotland at that time.’—H. K. J.

It was found that in Meggotland, Eskdale-muir, and

other parts near the Border, ‘where our sovereign 1576. Mar. 27.
lord’s progenitors were wont to have their chief
pastime of hunting,’ the deer were now slain with guns, not only by
Scotsmen, but by Englishmen whom Scotsmen smuggled in across
the Border, and this often at forbidden times; all which was ‘against
the commonweal and policy of the realm.’ The Privy Council
accordingly took measures to put a stop to these practices.—P. C. R.

‘The first day of May, 1576 years, was sae evil, the
wind and weet at the west-north-west, with great May 1.
showers of snaw and sleet, that the like was nocht
seen by them that was living, in mony years afore, sae evil.’—Chr.
Aber.

The Earl of Huntly died in a sudden and mysterious

manner at Strathbogie Castle. Having fallen down May. 1576.
in a fit while playing at foot-ball, he was carried to
bed, where he foamed at the mouth and nostrils, struggled with his
hands, and stared wildly, as if he would have spoken, but could
never command but one word—‘Look, look, look.’ He also vomited a
good deal of blood. After four hours’ illness, he expired.
‘The Earl of Huntly being dead thus on Saturday at even, Adam
[Gordon, his brother] immediately causit bear but [out, outward] the
dead corpse to the chalmer of dais [room of state], and causit bear
into the chalmer where he had lain, the whole coffers, boxes, or
lettrens [desks], that the earl himself had in handling, and had ony
gear in keeping in; sic as writs, gold, silver, or golden work, whereof
the keys were in ane lettren. The key of that lettren was at his awn
bag, whilk Adam took and openit that, and took out the rest of the
keys, and made ane inventory upon all the gear he fand within that
coffer, or at least on the maist part and special part of that that was
within; and when he had ta’en out sic money as to make his awn
expenses south, he lockit all the coffers again, and thereafter lockit
the chalmer door, and put up the key, and causit lock the outer
chalmer door where the dead corpse lay. After they had set candles
in the chalmer to burn, and gave the key of that chalmer door to
John Hamilton, wha was man having greatest care within that place
and credit of the Earl of Huntly in his time—this done, with sic other
directions made for waiting on the place, Adam made him ready, and
took the post south at 12 hours on the night, as I believe.... At ten
hours or thereby before noon, on the morn after the earl was dead,
there was in ane chalmer together, callit the leather chalmer, ...
fourteen or sixteen men lamenting the death that was so suddenly
fallen, every man for his part rehearsing the skaith [damage] that
was to come by that death to them. Amangst the whilk there was
ane westland man standing upright [with] his back at the fire, wha
said the cause was not so hard to nane as [it] was to him, for he
was newlings come out of Lochinvar, for some evil turn that he had
done that he might not brook his awn country for ... he falls flat
down on his face to the ground dead. The men pullit him up, cuist
up door and window, and gave him air; there could appear no life in
him, except he was hot.’ After lying several hours in the fit, ‘he
recovered with great sobbing and working with his hands, feet, and
body, and he cried, “Cauld, cauld.”’ This lasted till next morning,
when he recovered thoroughly.
‘On the morn ... Tyesday next after the earl’s
death, John Hamilton was gone up to the gallery 1576.
of the new wark [building] to bring down spicery
or some other gear for the kitchen, and had with him ane Mr James
Spittal, and ane other man of the place, whose name I have
forgotten.... This John Hamilton opened ane coffer, taking out
something that he needit; he says: “I am very sick,” and with that he
falls down, crying, “Cauld, cauld.” The other twa took him quickly up,
cast up the window, and had him up and down the house. At length
he said he was very sick; he wald have been in ane bed. Mr James
Spittal convoyit him down the stair. When he was there down, he
remembered that he had forgotten ane coffer open behind him; he
turned again and the said Mr James with him, and when they had
come again, they found the third man that was with them fallen
dead ower the coffer, and he on his wambe lying ower the coffer.
John Hamilton might make no help, by reason he himself was evil at
ease. Mr James Spittal ran down, and brought up twa or three other
men, and carried him down the stair, and up and down the close,
but could find no life in him. At length they laid him in ane bed,
where within ane while he recovered, with sighing and sobbing,
wrestling with hands, feet, and body, and ever as he got ony words
betwixt the swooning, he cried, “Cauld, cauld;” and this lasted
twelve or thirteen hours, and I trow langer, if he was sae weel
waited on as the lave [rest], as he was not, but gave him leave to
work him alane, because he was ane simple poor man. All these
wrought as the Earl of Huntly did in his dead passions, except they
vomited not, nor fumed at the mouth and nostrils.
‘Upon that Tyesday after the deid [death], ane
surgeoner of Aberdeen, callit William Urquhart, 1576.
came to Strathbogie and bowelled the dead
corpse, which, after the bowelling, was ta’en out of the chalmer and
had into the chapel, where it remaineth to the burial. John Hamilton
receivit the key of the chalmer door again when the dead corpse
was ta’en out. On Wednesday next after the deid, Patrick Gordon,
the earl’s brother, was sitting on ane form next to that chalmer door
where that the dead corpse was bowelled; he hears ane great noise
and din in that chalmer, whether it was of speech, of graning, or
rumbling, I cannot tell. There was sixteen or twenty men in the hall
with him; he gars call for John Hamilton, and asks gif there was
onybody in that chalmer; the other said: “Nay.” He bade him
hearken what he heard at the door, wha heard as he did. Then the
key was brought him. He commandit John Hamilton to gang in, wha
refused; he skipped in himself; John Hamilton followed ane step or
twa, and came with speed again to the door for fear. Patrick passed
to the inner side of the chalmer, and heard the like noise as he did
when he was thereout, but yet could see nothing, for it was even, at
the wayganging of the daylight. He came back gain very affrayedly,
and out at the door, and show[ed] so mony as bidden in the hall
what he had heard, wha assayit to pass to the chalmer, to know
what was there; but nane enterit ower the threshold; all came back
for fear. This pastime lasted them more nor ane hour. Candles were
brought, the chalmer vissied [examined]; nothing there. As soon as
they came to the door again, the noise was as great as of before,
the candles burning there ben [within]; they said to me that knows
it, there is not sae meikle a quick thing as a mouse may enter within
that chalmer, the doors and windows [being] steekit, it is so close all
about. Judge ye how ghaists and gyre-carlins come in among them.
They were ane hour or twa at this bickering, while ane man of the
place comes in among them, and said to Patrick: “Fye, for gif he was
not tentie [careful], the bruit [report] wald pass through the country
that the Earl of Huntly had risen again.” Then Patrick called them
that had heard it, and commandit that nae sic word should be
spoken.’—Ban.

The work of printing the Bible, undertaken by

Arbuthnot and Bassendyne in March of the year July 18.
preceding, had proved a heavier undertaking than
they expected, and had met with ‘impediments.’ They now therefore
came with their sureties before the Privy Council, and pleaded for
nine months further time to complete the work, obliging themselves,
in case of failure, to return the money which had been contributed
by the various parishes. This grace was extended to them.