Showing Browse Resources: 1 - 25 of 106
Additional papers to the collection of John Riddell, the Peerage lawyer.
Series
Identifier: Adv.MSS.81.2.1-81.2.10
Scope and Contents
Most of the correspondence is addressed to James Law, Writer to the Signet, who acted as London agent in many Peerage Cases in which Riddell was involved; and much of it is from other lawyers.
Dates:
16th century-19th century.
`Adversaria`, being miscellaneous notes and copies of correspondence of Sir Robert Sibbald, with scholars such as William Nicolson, Edward Lhuyd and John Smith of Durham on Scottish history and antiquities.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.33.3.19
Scope and Contents
Smith`s letters (folios 47-61), some of which are originals, concern the records of Scottish history surviving at Durham. Other contents are as follows:(i) Notes on historical manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (folio 2).(ii) The life of Robert Morison copied from his ‘Plantarum Historiae Universalis Oxoniensis’, part 3, with notes on the same volume (folio 4 verso).(iii) `A list of Gold Scotch Coyns` (folios 13 verso, 18).(iv) `The...
Dates:
Circa 1682-1706, and undated.
Album containing copies of religious tracts, at least one of which is of John Livingstone, Minister of Ancrum, in the same hand as the 'Life' of Livingstone in Adv. MS.34.5.19.
Item
Identifier: MS.3858
Scope and Contents
The date 1673 (folio 53 verso) indicates that the manuscript was written after John Livingstone's death.The contents are as follows.(i) Livingstone's 'Memorable Characteristics' (folio 1); this is not one of the copies used for W K Tweedie's edition in ‘Select Biographies’ (Wodrow Society, 1845), volume i;(ii) 'The notes of some sermons knit together anent personall covenanting &c.' (folio 30);(iii) Questions on the duties of Christians,...
Dates:
1673.
Album of ‘Jacobite relics’, containing printed and manuscript material and portraits, formerly owned, perhaps started, by James Maidment, and containing additions made by a later owner.
File
Identifier: MS.2960
Scope and Contents
The printed matter is recorded in the Catalogue of Printed Books. In addition to some forgeries, the manuscript material is as follows:(i) Letter, undated, of John Stevenson, James Maidment's publisher, probably to Maidment (folio 2);(ii) A version, in a hand of about Maidment's time, of part of the poem on Lord justice Clerk Whitelaw, 'Old Nick was in want of a lawyer in hell,' printed by Maidment in ‘A book of Scotish pasquils’ (Edinburgh, 1827), page 73 (folio 2...
Dates:
1696-1891, undated.
Albums of letters and documents, almost entirely of Scottish interest, written by or relating to historical celebrities, and dealing with public and private affairs.
Sub-Series
Identifier: MSS.2955-2956
Dates:
1589-1881.
Alexander Nimmo`s copy of his account of the survey made by him in the summer of 1806 of the northern, eastern and southern boundaries of Inverness-shire, which he undertook on Telford`s recommendation, whilst rector of Inverness Academy, for the parliamentary commission appointed to fix the county boundaries of Scotland.
Item
Identifier: Adv.MS.34.4.20
Scope and Contents
The copy is in Nimmo’s own hand, written up in the form of a journal, from the notes which he took in his pocket-book whilst engaged upon the survey. It is written on the rectos of the leaves, the versos being left for maps (folios 11 verso, 12 verso), notes, bearings, and additions to the text. It appears to be incomplete, for it ends rather abruptly (folio 50). It is followed by an explanatory letter to John Rickman, who at the time was secretary to the commissions for making roads and...
Dates:
1806.
Antiquarian papers of James Dennistoun of Dennistoun, advocate and antiquary.
Series
Identifier: Adv.MSS.19.2.16-19.2.27
Scope and Contents
The papers consist of materials for a projected history of Dumbartonshire (Adv.MS.19.2.16-19.2.24), materials towards a projected work on the Scottish religious houses on the Continent (Adv.MS.19.2.25), and notes and extracts of Scottish interest from manuscripts in continental libraries (Adv.MS.19.2.26), together with a record of the bequest of Dennistoun`s manuscripts and a calendar of them (Adv.MS.19.2.27). The papers were arranged and bound by Mark Napier, executor of James...
Dates:
?1825-1856.
Apparently unpublished manuscript of `Gleanings of Antiquity in Forfarshire’ by James Thomson of Dundee.
Item
Identifier: Adv.MS.35.6.17
Scope and Contents
The manuscript contains:(i) a general topographical description of the area (folio 4);(ii) descriptions of ancient monuments and fortifications found there, including a concise account of the Druids (folio 15);(iii) accounts of excursions made in Perthshire in 1822 (folio 59);(iv) copies of ballads relating to Forfarshire, a translation of a Charter of King John of England to the clergy and people of Arbroath, 1206, and a copy of a reversion of...
Dates:
1825.
Balcarres Papers.
Collection
Identifier: Adv.MSS.29.2.1-29.2.9a
Scope and Contents
In the original inventory (a copy of which is at MS.3581, folios 6-7) signed by Thomas Ruddiman, then Underkeeper of the Library, the papers are listed in thirty-eight bundles. Most of these were arranged and bound during the period 1820-1849. Of the remainder, Adv.MSS.19.1.24 and 29.2.9a were bound in 1896, when it was not realised that Adv.MS.19.1.24 belonged to the collection. Adv.MS.16.2.3, now a small quarto volume, had also become separated from the rest of the papers, but can be...
Dates:
1231-1686, and undated.
`Book of Opinions`, volumes 2 and 3, containing copies of opinions and memorials of English Crown counsel in matters of customs and excise arising in the Exchequer or Treasury.
Series
Identifier: Adv.MS.28.3.1(i)-(ii)
Scope and Contents
The volumes were copied in July 1751 for John Maule, Baron of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, from other copies belonging to the Board of Customs in Edinburgh.
Dates:
1727-1746.
‘Breviary of the Decisions of the Lords of Session ... and of the Acts of Sederunt, from June, 1661, to July, 1681, observed by Sir James Dalrymple of Stair.’
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.81.1.1
Scope and Contents
The Acts of Sederunt, 1661-1681, as in the printed ‘Decisions of the Lords of council and session’, are followed by a summary of Decisions arranged alphabetically according to subject. The text is apparently copied from an incomplete manuscript.At the end, inverted, is a copy of ‘Instructions and rules ... to the Commissaries, clerks, procurators fiscalls, and other members of the court of the whole ecclesiasticall jurisdiction,’ forwarded under cover of a Royal letter dated...
Dates:
1661-1681.
`Chronicle of Perth`, 1210-1668, also known as Mercer`s Chronicle and Fleming`s Chronicle, with other documents relating to the burgh of Perth.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.35.4.4
Scope and Contents
The `Chronicle` was compiled probably between 1600 and 1668 by more than one person. Though attributed to John Mercer, town clerk of Perth, only the latter part appears to be his work. From 1660 it is almost entirely a register of burials.
Other items in the volume are a fragment of a legal memorial, circa 1597, concerning the foundation of the King James VI Hospital in Perth (folio 1), and a group of letters concerning Royal Burgh affairs (1614-1628), all copies (folio 20).
Dates:
?1600-1688.
Collection of genealogical material on various Scottish families and items of historical interest copied by Robert Mylne, the antiquary, in the late 17th or early 18th century.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.34.6.10
Scope and Contents
The contents of the manuscript are as follows:(i) ‘The Portrait of True Loyalty exposed in the Family of Gordon, without interruption to this present year 1691. With a Relationof the Castle of Edr. in the year 1689’ (folio 1), which is attributed to David Burnet, a Catholic Priest. The original manuscript, which was in Blairs College, Aberdeen (‘The House of Gordon’, page xxxvi), is at the Scottish Catholic Archives, Columba House, Edinburgh, where it has the...
Dates:
1554-1720.
Collection of state papers of the reigns of James VI and Charles I made by Sir James Balfour of Denmilne, Lord Lyon King of Arms.
Collection
Identifier: Adv.MSS.33.1.1-33.1.15
Scope and Contents
The collection is known both as the `Denmilne State Papers` and the `Denmilne Collection`. Less formally it is often referred to as the `Denmilne Manuscripts`.
Dates:
1548-1641.
Commonplace book of the Earl of Buchan.
Item
Identifier: MS.963
Scope and Contents
The comonplace book contains drafts of letters to the ‘Bee’, an inventory of the Earl of Buchan’s property, lists of Scottish portraits, an ode, ‘To the Shepherd of the Cot’, and notes and drafts of papers on the Scottish Peerage and other subjects. Included is a manuscript copy of ‘The New Order of Gooding and Manuring all sorts of Field Land with Common Salts’, by Archibald, afterwards 1st Lord Napier (said to have been printed by Robert Waldegrave), referring to the right to issue...
Dates:
1778-1791.
Composite manuscript consisting of two volumes (folios 1, 75) of copies, circa 1585, 1607, of papers, 1537-1606, in Italian and Latin concerning attempts to restore Roman Catholicism in England in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.31.4.15
Scope and Contents
Each volume has a contents list (folios 1, 77) and the second volume has its own foliation added in an apparently later hand.The first volume (folios 1-74) consists of copies (in the same hand), made apparently in or about 1585, of the following:(i) ‘Discorso del Priore d`Inghilterra a Papa Pio V circa la Riduttione di quel Regno’ (folio 2), being an account by Sir Richard Shelley, Grand Prior of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, written apparently early in 1570,...
Dates:
1537-1606.
Contemporary copies and translations of letters, mainly from Italy, reporting on European and Turkish affairs.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.19.1.20
Scope and Contents
Most of the documents are dated 1596. The subjects include Spanish policy in June and July of that year, leading up to the capture of Cadiz by the English (cf. ‘Calendar of State Papers, Domestic series ... 1595-1597’); a rising of janissaries in Constantinople; and events in Italy and eastern Europe. These are followed (folio 33) by miscellaneous papers, mostly concerning the siege of Montauban in 1621.
Dates:
1595-1761.
Copies, 17th century, of documents relating to heraldry.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.31.3.18
Scope and Contents
The contents of the manuscript are as follows:(i) A treatise on heraldry in 28 chapters, with particular reference to the Court of the Lord Lyon, 1661 (page 1). The last chapter is a copy of the proclamation, 1447, of Arthur, Constable of France and later Duke of Brittany. See Adv.MSS.31.5.2, folio 1, and 31.3.20, folio 1.(ii) `Kinges of armes and heraulds in Ingland 1628` (pages 75, 79). This has been numbered Cap.29 in continuation of (i). The work has been printed,...
Dates:
1385-1661.
Copies, 17th century, of Ramón Lull, ‘Ars juris’ and ‘De inventione mediorum juris civilis’.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.28.6.4
Scope and Contents
The description of the manuscript in the folio catalogue (F.R.185) includes the reference: (W.5.7).
Dates:
13th century-14th century.
Copies, 18th century, of various legal papers, 16th and 17th century.
Item
Identifier: Adv.MS.21.3.16
Dates:
16th century-17th century.
Copies, 19th century, and original papers collected by Sir William Fraser, 16th century-1793.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.23.3.25
Scope and Contents
The contents of the manuscript are as follows:(i) Latin legal abbreviations, 16th century. (Folio 1.)(ii) Speech in Latin addressed to `domine doctissime coeterique commilitones mei suavissimi`, in praise of modesty. Late 16th or early 17th century. (Folio 2.)(iii) Transcript, 19th century, of the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3 February, 1590, concerning the slaughter of David Taillor by William Spottiswood of that Ilk and others. Cf. ‘The...
Dates:
16th century-1793.
Copies, in chronological order, of the opinions given by John Inglis (later Lord Glencorse, Lord President of the Court of Session), some conjointly with other advocates.
Series
Identifier: Adv.MSS.81.4.13-81.4.18
Scope and Contents
The volumes are numbered V to X; it seems likely that the missing I to IV covered all of Inglis’s earlier career as an advocate, from 1835. The series ends with his elevation to the bench as Lord Justice Clerk in July 1858.
Dates:
1846-1858.
Copies, late 17th century, of letters, 1637-1638, of Robert Baillie, principal of Glasgow University, and of papers, 1638, concerning the Glasgow Assembly.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.32.3.12
Dates:
1637-1638.
Copies made by James Keay of Snaigow, circa 1722-1730, of legal works.
Series
Identifier: Adv.MSS.81.5.9-81.5.11
Dates:
1715, circa 1722-1730.
Copies of correspondence and papers concerning a dispute between Colonel (later Major-General) Charles Ross and Lieutenant-General Robert Boyd.
File
Identifier: Adv.MS.32.3.1
Scope and Contents
Both officers belonged to the 39th Foot which was then stationed in Gibraltar. The papers, which are not in chronological order, include letters to and from George Elliot, the Governor, extracts from regimental orders, and Ross`s own comments on the affair.
Dates:
1778-1780.