horses in such manner, he was immediately declared incapable of publick trust, and was both fined and imprisoned.

There are also fifty of the town of St. Johnston's incapacitated upon a very slight pretence, so that it is very impossible for them to find a sufficient number of citizens for the magistracy of that town.

2. Your subjects are sometimes upon slight, and sometimes upon no grounds imprisoned, and often kept prisoners many months and years, nothing being objected to them, and are required to enter themselves prisoners; which is contrary to law. It was in the former article expressed, that many of these person, declared incapable of publick trust, did also suffer imprisonment; and, besides these instances, lieutenant general Drummond, whose eminent loyalty and great services are well known to your Majesty, was required to enter himself a prisoner in the castle of Dumbarton; where he was kept one year and a half, and was made a close prisoner for nine months, and yet nothing was ever objected to him, to this day, to justify that usage.

The lord Cardross was, for his lady's keeping two conventicles in her own house, at which he was not present, fined one hundred and ten pounds, and hath now been kept prisoner four years in the castle of Edinburgh, where he still remains, although he hath often petitioned for his liberty; and sir Patrick Holme hath been now second time almost one year, and nothing is yet laid to his charge.

Besides these illegal imprisonments, the officers of your Majesty's forces carry frequently warrants with them, for apprehending persons that are under no legal censure, nor have been so much as cited to appear; which hath put many of your subjects under great fears, especially, upon what was done in council three years ago: capt. Carstayres, a man now well enough known to your Majesty, did entrap one Kirkton, an outed minister, into his chamber at Edinburgh, and did violently abuse him; and designed to have extorted some money from him. The noise of this coming to the ears of one Baily, brother-in-law to the said Kirkton, he came to the house, and hearing him cry murder, murder! forced open the chamber door, where he found his brother-in-law and the captain grappling; the captain pretended to have a warrant against Kirkton, and Baily desired him to shew it, and promised, that all obedience should be given to it: but, the captain refusing to do it, Kirkton was rescued. This was only delivering a man from the hands of a robber, which nature obliged all men to do; especially, when joined with so near a relation. The captain complained of this to the council, and the lord Hatton, with others, were appointed to examine the witnesses: and, when it was brought before the council, the duke of Hamilton, earls of Moreton, Dumfries, and Kincarden; the lord Cocheren; and Sir Archibald Primrose, then lord register, desired, that the report of the examination might be read; but that, not serving their ends, was denied. And, thereupon, those lords delivered their opinion, that, since Carstayres did not shew any warrant, nor was slothed with any publick character, it was no opposing of your

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Majesty's authority in Baily, so to rescue the said Kirkton; yet Baily was for this fined in six-thousand marks, and kept long a prisoner.

Those lords were, upon that, so represented to your Majesty, that, by the duke of Lauderdale's procurement, they were turned out of the council, and all command of the militia. And, it can be made appear, that the captain had, at that time, no warrant at all against Kirkton, but procured it after the violence committed; and it was antedated, on design to serve a turn at that time. This manner of proceeding hath, ever since, put your subjects under sad apprehensions.

There is one particular further offered to your Majesty's consideration, concerning their way of using prisoners.

There were fourteen men taken at a field conventicle, who, without being legally convicted of that, or any other crimes, were secretly, and in the night, taken out of prison, upon a warrant signed by the earl of Lynlythgo, and the lords Hatton and Collington, and were delivered to capt. Maitland, who had been page to the duke of Lauderdale, but was then a French Officer, and was making his levies in Scotland, and were carried over to the service of the French king, in the year 1676.

3. The council hath, upon many occasions, proceeded to most unreasonable and arbitrary fines, either for slight offences, or for offences where the fine is regulated by law, which they have never considered, when the persons were not acceptable to them. So the lord Cardross was fined in one-thousand one-hundred and eleven pounds, for his lady's keeping two conventicles in his house, and christening a child by an outed minister without his knowledge. The provost formerly mentioned, and Baily, with many more, were also fined without any regard to law.

The council hath, at several times, proceeded to the taking of gentlemen's dwelling houses from them, and putting garisons in them, which, in time of peace, is contrary to law. In the year 1675, it was designed against twelve of your Majesty's subjects, and was put in execution in the houses of the earl of Calender, the lord Cardross, the lady Lumsden, &c. and was again attempted in the year 1678, in the houses belonging to the lairds of Cosnok, Blagan, and Rowall, which were possessed by soldiers, and declared garisons. Nor did it rest there, but orders were sent from the council, requiring the countries about their houses, to furnish them for the soldiers' use, and to supply them with necessaries, much contrary to law. It was against this, that sir Patrick Holme came to desire a remedy; and, common justice being denied him, he used a legal protestation, in the ordinary form of law, and was, thereupon, kept for many months a prisoner, and declared incapable of all publick trust, &c.

There is another particular, which, because it is so odious, is unwillingly touched; yet it is necessary to inform your Majesty about it; for thereby it will appear, that the duke of Lauderdale, and his brother, have, in a most solemn manner, broken the publick faith, that was given in your Majesty's name.

One Mitchell being put in prison upon great suspicion of his having attempted to murder the late archbishop of St. Andrews, and there being no evidence against him, warrant was given by the duke of Lauderdale, then your Majesty's commissioner, and your council, to promise him his life, if he would confess; whereupon, he did confess; and yet, some years after that, that person, who, in deed, deserved many deaths, if there had been any other evidence against him, was, upon that confession, convicted of the crime, and the duke of Lauderdale, and his brother, being put to it by him, did swear, that they never gave, or knew of any assurance of life given him and when it was objected, that the promise was upon record, in the council books, the duke of Lauderdale did, in open court, where he was presnt only as a witness, and so ought to have been silent, threaten them, if they should proceed to the examination of that act of council, which, as he then said, might infer perjury on them that swore; and so did cut off the proof of that defence, which had been admitted by the court, as good in law, and sufficient to save the prisoner, if proved. Thus was that man hanged upon that confession only, though the promise, that drew it from him, doth appear upon record, and can be proved by good and clear evidence. And from this your Majesty may judge, what credit may be given to such men.

We do not, at present, enlarge on other particulars, though of great importance; such as monopolies, selling places and honours, turning men of known integrity out of their employments, to which they had a good and just right during their lives: the profits of one of the most considerable of these being sequestered for some time, and applied for the duchess of Lauderdale's use the treating about, and receiv.ng of, great bribes by the duke and duchess of Lauderdale, and the lord Hatton, and particularly from the towns of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Lynlythgo, and many others, for procuring, from your Majesty, warrants for illegal impositions within these towns; the manifest and publick perverting of justice in the session; besides, the most signal abuses of the mint and copper coin, that are most grievous to all your subjects. But the number of these is so great, and they will require so many witnesses to be brought hither for proving them, that we fear it would too much trouble your Majesty now to examine them all; but your Majesty shall have a full account of them afterwards.

One thing is humbly offered to your Majesty, as the root of these and many other oppressions, which is, that the method of governing that kingdom for several years hath been, that the lord Hatton and his adherents frame any letter that they desire from your Majesty to your council, and send it to the duke of Lauderdale, who returns it signed; and this is brought to the council; upon which, if at any time a debate ariseth concerning the matter of that letter, as being against, or with law; and when it is proposed, that a representation of that should be made to your Majesty; then the lord Hatton, in his insolent way, calls to have it put to the question, as if it were a crime to have any warrant either debated or

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represented to your Majesty, which is procured by the duke of Lauderdale, or himself; and this is ecchoed by his party, and, this means, any further debating is stopped.

There are some other particulars relating to these heads, that are to be offered to your Majesty in other papers, which are not added here, lest your Majesty should now be troubled with too long a paper.

AN ESSAY ON WRITING,

AND THE

ART AND MYSTERY OF PRINTING.

A TRANSLATION OUT OF THE ANTHOLOGY.

Quisquis erat, meruit senii transcendere métas, &c.

From a broad-side, printed at London, in the year 1696.

WORTHY that man to 'scape mortality,

And leap that ditch where all must plunging lie,
Who found out letters first, and did impart,
With dextrous skill, writing's mysterious art,
In characters to hold intelligence,

And to express the mind's most hidden sense.
The Indian slave, I'm sure, might wonder well,
How the dunib papers could his theft reveal.
The stupid world admir'd' the secret cause
Of the tongue's commerce, without help of voice;
That merely by a pen it could reveal,

And all the soul's abstrusest notions tell :
The pen, like plougb-share on the paper's face,
With black and magick tracks its way does trace,
Assisted only by that useful quill,

Pluck'd from the geese that sav'd the Capitol.

First writing-tables paper's place supply'd,
Till parchment and Nilotick reeds were try'd':
Parchment, the skins of beasts, well scrap'd and dress'd,
By these poor helps of old, the mind express'd':
But after times a better way did go,

A lasting sort of paper, white as snow,

Compos'd of rags well pounded in a mill,
Proof against all but fire, and the moth's spoil.
What poor beginnings these! The silk-worm there
Had nought to do, no silken-threads were here;
But rags, from doors pick'd part, from dung-hills part,
Mash'd in a mill, gave rise to this fine art;
Which in an instant gives a speedy birth
To Virgil's books, the rarest work on earth.

But still an art from heaven was to come,
(From thence it came) this matter to consume;
Which could transcribe whole books without a hand;
Behold the press! see how the squadrons stand!
In all his fights the Roman parricide,
With half the skill, ne'er did his troops divide;
Nor Philip's son, who with his force o'er-run,
And mow'd the countries of the rising morn:
Not the least motion from their post, but all
Work hard, and wait the welcome signal's call;
The letters all turn'd mutes, in iron bound,
Never prove vocal, till in ink they're drown'd:
The lab'ring engines their still silence break,
And straight they render up their charge and speak :
Now, drunk with the Castalian flood, they sing,
Arma virumq; gods, and god-like kings:
Six hundred lines of Maro's, quick as thought,
Beyond the nimblest running-hand are wrought;
Much fairer too the characters do show;

For

grace, fam'd Cockquer's pen, its head must bow.
Three-thousand births at once, you see, which soon
O'er ev'ry country scatter'd are, and thrown,
In ev'ry tongue with which fame speaks are known:
These types immortalise where-e'er they come,
And give learn'd writers a more lasting doom.
Court rites, Galenick precepts, Moses' rules,
Are printed off, the guides of learned schools:
What wonders would antiquity have try'd,
Had they the dawn of this invention 'spy'd?
The offices of Tully were the first

That came abroad in this new-fashion'd dress.
Imperial Mentz herself would author prove;
And Venice cries, she did the art improves
Not ancient cities more for Homer strove.
Goddess! preserver from the teeth of time,
Who keeps our names still fresh in youthful prime;
What man was he who thus the Gods have grac'd,
Worthy among the stars to have a place!
Like head of Nile unknown; thy bubbling rise
Is hid, for ever hid} from mortal eyes.

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