Of the published writings which I have consulted, it will suffice here to mention two: Mr. Leslie Stephen's article on Arbuthnot in the Dictionary of National Biography, in which, in a very short space, the main facts of Arbuthnot's life were for the first time set forth in an accurate manner; and the edition of Pope's Works, recently completed by Mr. Courthope, which is invaluable to all students of the period. November, 1891. G. A. A. Notes and Memorandums of the six days preceding the Death of a late Right Reverend LIFE OF DR. ARBUTHNOT. I. ABOUT three miles east of Bervie, a small town on the coast of Kincardineshire, between Stonehaven and Montrose, stands Arbuthnott Castle. Of the castle itself, and of its various owners, it is not necessary to our purpose to speak at length; but, fortunately for the family and for those interested in its story, one of its members, Alexander Arbuthnott, who was Principal of King's College, Aberdeen, until his death in 1583, and who was also the first Protestant minister at Arbuthnott, left a manuscript history called Originis et Incrementi Arbethnoticae Familiae Descriptio Historica; and this account is immediately connected with our subject, from the fact that DR. ARBUTHNOT's father wrote a continuation, the original of which is now in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh: A continuation of the Genealogie of the noble family of Arbuthnott by Mr. Alexr. Arbuthnott sometime Minister at the Kirk of Arbuthnott. An abstract of these accounts is given in the Calendar of the papers in the possession of Viscount Arbuthnott, which was prepared by Sir William Fraser for publication by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1881; and the reader can there trace the history of the various lairds from the thirteenth century, or earlier, to the seventeenth, 10 B when Robert was created first Viscount Arbuthnott by Charles I. His son Robert, who succeeded to the title in 1655, took a somewhat active part in public affairs, and lived until 1682. The third Viscount, whose name was also Robert, married in the following year Anne, daughter of George, Earl of Sunderland, but he died in 1694, in his thirty-first year. Lord Arbuthnott was patron of the living of Arbuthnott, and sometimes the parson was a connection of the patron's family. Such was the case in 1662, when Dr. Arbuthnot's father became incumbent upon the death of the Rev. John Sibbald1. The Rev. Alexander Arbuthnott was the son of Robert Arbuthnott2, a gentleman farmer of Scotsmill, a pretty place near Peterhead, and grandson of John Arbuthnott, who was Notary Public in 1598. The descent has been traced two generations further back, to James Arbuthnott, who was of Lentusch, Kincardineshire, in 1540, and whose three sons moved northwards about 1560, in order to be under the protection of the Keiths, the hereditary Earls Marischal3, who had intermarried with their own family. John, one of Alexander Arbuthnott's brothers, was factor to the Earl Marischal; while another brother, Robert, was a farmer in Buchan, and has 1 In his Continuation of the Genealogie of the noble family of Arbuthnott the Rev. Alexander Arbuthnott wrote: 'Mr. John Sibbald was my own predecessor at the Kirk of Arbuthnott, whose memory is yet recent in this place, and his fame doth and will flourish to all succeeding ages for his pious and religious life, his great painfulness in his calling, his learning and charitable works.' Sibbald was chiefly instrumental in building a school, gave money for a schoolmaster, and left his books, worth more than 1000 marks, for the use of incumbents who might follow him. He died suddenly, after thirty years' work. A copy of the inscription in St. Fergus Churchyard to Robert Arbuthnott and his wife Beatrix Gordon is given in Annals of Peterhead, by P. Buchan: Peterhead, 1819, p. 134. 3 George, the tenth Earl Marischal, joined the Earl of Mar in the insurrection of 1715, and was attainted and deprived of all his dignities (Notes on Dignities in the Peerage of Scotland which are dormant, or which have been forfeited, by W. O. Hewlett: London, 1882, pp. 156-163; An Historical and Authentic Account of the ancient and noble Family of Keith, Earls Marischal of Scotland, by P. Buchan Peterhead, 1820. |