Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/189

 us.v11.M/ln, s.191a] NOTES AND QUERIES. 181 LONDON, SATURDA Y, MARCH 8, 1918. CONTENTS.-No. 167. ' NOTES :-The Mystery of George Gordon, Author, 181- English Soldiers in Dutch Service in 1658, 183-Letter of Queen Caroline, 184-Inscriptions ln St. James’s Church- yard, Piccadilly, 185 -St. Alban the Martyr, Holborn- Notes on Cadney Church’ -Expectoratlon and Ex- letives, 186-Louise de la Bamée (Ouida)-Houses of Historical Interest-Easter Day-"More lilia sentlbus mquann 187. QUEBIES :-Where shall the College of Arms of Canada Go? - "Tool » making " - “Torthwydie” - “Touch ” - "In touch wlth”-Double Flowers in Japan, 188- Authors Wanted-MS. Volume of Bishop Kings Poems - Warren, alias Waller - The Colour of the Sun - Mithrldates and Al8X{£:&l1Dl¢8 -The Red Hand of Ulster-John Lawson’s nslation of Simson's ‘ Treatise concerninxagl Porlsms,' 189 -Herbert Spencer’s Patent- Crécy- e. Fennyvesci, 190. BEPLIES:-Date of ‘Book of Hours,’ 190-Shark: its Derivation, 191 - Johanna Williamscote, 192 - Early Railway Travelllzigi-Ralph Carr, 193-Thames Bridge at Walton - Richa Simon: Lambert Slmnel, 194 - “ Aplnm ”-Brasidas’s Mouse-Stone from Carthage- Petronius,  LXXXI. -The Wreck of the Royal Geol;gIe,° 195- lblioggaphy of Theses: Duncan Liddel- The ndon,’ ‘ Brit h,’ and 'English' Catalogues-The Earldom of Somerset ln the Mo un Family, 196-The Battle of Maldon-"Of sorts "-Saint Sunday-Regt ments: “Threes about!" 197-Sb. Alban’s Abbey, 198. NOTES ON BOOKS :-‘ Camhrldg? History of English Literature] Vol. IX.-‘ Roman L e and Manners under the Early Empire! Vol. IV.-State Papers at Venice relating to English Affairs- ‘The Fortnightly’-‘The Nineteenth Century.' Booksellers’ Catalogues. ,Notices to Correspondents. gluten. THE MYSTERY OF GEORGE GORDON, AUTHOR. IN the year 1768 The London Magazine made the following announcement (xxxvii. 118) :- “George Gordon, of the Middle Temple, late of Nethermuir, in North Britain, Esq. [died February 15, 17681, aged near eighty. A gentleman of primitive [iw] honour and integrity, great erudi- tion, remar able for his profound knowledge of the laws and constitution of this kingdom, and not less so for his amiable and benelicent behaviour in private life. His writings in the cause of libert ave enlightened and improved thousands, though the name of this benefactor to the public as an author was known only to his particular friends.” VA mystery surrounds George Gordon from start to finish of his career. We know he was the only son of John Gordon (d. 1725) of Nethermuir, in the parish of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, a family that had produced Peter the Great’s well-known general Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635-99). He first appears in the in- valuable ‘ List of Pollable Persons within the Shire of Aberdeen, 1696’ (ii. 10), as one of the three children of John Gordon and his wife Elizabeth Gordon, daughter of the Laird of Rothiemay. Mylne’s list of Scots Advocates shows that as “yr. of Neathermuir” he was called to the Scots Bar in 1713. Not another word is heard about him till his father made his will, dated 2 July, 1724), opening with the words :- “I, John Gordon, of Nethermuir, taking into consideration my present broken health, and the absence and misfortune of my son George Gordon ...... ” _ What the “ misfortune ” was has never been “redd ” up. Indeed, I know of no other reference to George till the notice of his death in The London Magazine forty- four years later. His father made “ the heirs of the body of the said George Gordon ” only residuary legatees, bequeathing his fortune to his daughters, one of whom married into the rich Dingwall family, and had a son John Dingwall, jeweller in St. James’s Street, who died in 1812, leaving 250,000l. George himself was never Laird of Nethermuir. The estate went to a dis- tant kinsman John Gordon (d. 1732), brother of Alexander Gordon of Aberdour, Aberdeenshire, a family which has just been treated in detail by the present writer in The Buchan Observer, Peterhead (7, 14, 21 Jan., 1913). It is significant of the mystery surrounding George that James Paterson, the only modern writer who has dealt with the Nethermuir Gordons, was clearly of opinion that he did become Laird, for he tells us (‘ History of Ayr,’ 1847, i. 221) that “ George Gordon of N ethermuir, dying without issue, was succeeded about 1731 ” by this John. As I have shown, George really lingered on till 1768, though he may have' been dead to his family. If his people cut him off, George duly returned the compliment by cutting them off and leaving whatever he had to his ublisher. There was probably little to leave, for he seems to have spent his life as a Fleet Street literary hack, and to have died alone, a sub-tenant in the Middle Temple. In his will, which he made on 12 Feb., three days before his death, with- out witnesses, there is not a word of any connexion with N ethermuir. He is de- scribed simply as “ George Gordon, Esq., of the Middle Temple.” Even this is mysterious, for he was not a member of the Bar, his name not appearing in the