Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/185

 ii s. VIL MA*, s, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

181

LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1913.

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 in St. James's Church- yard, Piccadilly, 185 -St. Alban the Martyr, Holborn ' Notes on Cadney Church ' Expectoration and Ex- pletives, 186 Louise de la Rame'e (Ouida) Houses of Historical Interest Easter Day " Mors lilia sentibus sequat," 187.

QUERIES : Where shall the College of Arms of Canada Go? "Tool - making " " Torthwydie" " Touch " "In touch with" Double Flowers in Japan, 183 Authors Wanted MS. Volume of Bishop King's Poems Warren, alias Waller The Colour of the Sun Mithridates and Alexipharmics The Red Hand of Ulster John Lawson's Translation of Simson's ' Treatise concerning Porisms,' 189 Herbert Spencer's Patents Cre"cy Mile. Fennyvesci, 190.

REPLIES : Date of 'Book of Hours,' 190 Shark : its Derivation, 191 Johanna Williamscote, 192 Early Railway Travelling Ralph Carr, 193 Thames Bridge at Walton Richard Simon : Lambert Siranel, 194 "Apium" Brasidas's Mouse Stone from Carthage Petronius, Cap LXXXI. The Wreck of the Royal George, 195 Bibliography of Theses: Duncan Liddel The 'London,' ' British,' and 'English' Catalogues The Earldom of Somerset in the Mohun Family. 196 The Battle of Maldon "Of sorts" Saint Sunday Regi- ments: " Threes about !" 197 St. Alban's Abbey, 198.

NOTES OX BOOKS :' Cambridge History of English Literature,' Vol. IX.' Roman Life 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.

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, 1768], aged near eighty. A gentleman of primitive [sic] honour and integrity, great erudi- tion, remarkable for his profound knowledge of the laws and constitution of this kingdom, and not less so for his amiable and beneficent behaviour in

Erivate life. His writings in the cause of liberty ave enlightened and improved thousands, though the name of this benefactor to the public as an author was known only to his particular friends."

A 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, Absrdeenshire. 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

f\ i j

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,OOOZ. 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 Nethermuir, 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 com.plim.ent by cutting them off and leaving whatever he had to his publisher. 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 Nethermuir. 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