SCOTTISH NATIONAL MEMORIALS.*
THIS is, like The Century of Portraits which was noticed in the Spectator some time ago, one of those truly magnificent books which are among the results of the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888. It shows us modern Scotch archaeology, typography, and illustration at their very best, consisting of a series of elaborate and yet not Dxyasdust-ish disquisitions by the leading Scotch antiquarians of the day on the subjects with which they are specially familiar, all printed in that exquisite style which distinguished The Century of Portraits. At once the excuse and the groundwork of the book is the collection of antiquities which, in the Exhibition of 1888, was housed in a structure which was styled " The Bishop's Palace," from its being a reproduction of the ancient Castle of Glasgow. This collection was admittedly the largest, the most important, and the most truly illustrative of Scotch life, history, and literature—so far as these can be reflected in relics—that has ever been made. It would not be inaccurate, indeed, to describe this work as a series of studies in the evolution of Scotland. Under the first section, which deals with Scottish archaeology proper, we have an account of prehistoric remains —including stone and bronze implements, sepulchral urns, • Scottish National Memorials a Record of the Historical and Archological Collection in the Bishop's Castle, Glasgow. Edited by James Paton. Glasgow : James MacLehose and Sons. 1690. and canoes—Roman remains, early Christian remains, and mediaeval remains. The next section is devoted to historical and personal relics, and includes "Memorials of Mary Queen of Scots," "Scotland After the -Union of the Crowns," and " The Jacobite Period." Next come " Scottish Literature," " Burghal Memorials," and " Scottish Life," treated under the heads of " Military," "Industrial," and "Domestic." Under the last head appears an article on " Scottish Silver-Plate and its Hall-Marks," which gives for the first time a full account of the condition of silversmiths' work in dif- ferent parts of Scotland, from many of which it has long disappeared. Among the final chapters is a gruesome one on " Torture and Punishment," by Professor John Ferguson, from which an idea may be obtained of the character of the " pirliewinkles," a form of thumbscrew ingeniously con- structed for the express purpose of crushing all the fingers of one hand, and which seems to have been used without any restrictions. At all events, about the end of the sixteenth .century, one David Seaton applied it to the hand of his maid, to discover whether she had employed sorcery in curing persons who were ill.
Personal relics, naturally enough, take a first place among these Scottish National Memorials. One or two are worth a special word of notice. Such is the pocket-Bible of Alexander Peden, the Covenanter and prophet, which seems to have been printed in London by the Stationers' Company in 1653. A photograph of a page of it is given in this volume. The type is remarkably clear. More tragically significant is the original—also reproduced photographically—of the order given by Major Duncanson to Captain Campbell of Genlylon, to carry out the massacre of Glencoe. Could there be anything more intelligible than this, traced in a handwriting worthy of it P—" Yow are hereby ordered to fall upon ye McDonnalds of Glencoe and putt all to ye sword under seventy. Yow are to have a special care that the old foie and his sones doe on no acct escape yor hands. Yow're to secure all the avenues that none escape." Another interesting relic is a letter from Rob Roy to the Earl of Breadalbane, dated November 12th, 1707. It is well written— the outlaw's handwriting, indeed, recalls very forcibly that of Robert Burns—and is couched in remarkably, if not sus- piciously polite language. The Mary Stuart memorials are, as was to be expected, numerous and notable. They include the prayer-book Mary is said to have used on the day of her -execution, and a letter from her to Henry III. of France, begun the night before, and completed on the morning of, her execution. The letter, which—as is shown by the concluding portion of it, reproduced in this volume—was written in a firm hand, remained in the archives of the Scottish College in Paris up to the time of the French Revolution, when it became the property of the Chevalier d'Hervilly. In many respects, however, the most interesting and archaeologically valuable of the relics in the Glasgow Exhibition which were associated with Mary, is what is known as the Kennet Ciborium, which is believed to have been presented by Queen Mary to Sir James Balfour of Burleigh, from whom it descended to its present owner, Lord Balfour of Burleigh. The word .ciborium was the name given in the early days of the Christian Church to the canopy which covered the altar, and which was shaped like a dome or reversed cup. It was often made of marble, or one or other of the precious metals. About the fourth century of the Christian era, it became a custom to make small portable vessels of different metals or of ivory, generally circular in shape, in which the Host was reserved after consecration. Of these vessels, also called ciboria, the Kennet relic, which is in good preservation, is one of the most remarkable. On the bowl there are six medallions, giving subjects from Old Testament history, and on the cover there are six others depicting events in the history of our Saviour. These, which are reproduced and very fully described here, give a remarkably good idea of the ecclesiastical art of the period.
We have but sketched the plan and given some idea of the character of this book, which it is easy to praise, delightful to dip into, and impossible, except from the standpoint of the antiquarian expert, to criticise minutely. It will be enjoyed in equal measure by the Scotchman who is a student of archaeology and history, and by the Englishman who has time to saunter through the sections into which it is divided, to sit down here and there, and drink-in the significance of the pictures of Scotch life in the past that are presented to him in rich abundance and under the most fascinating guise. The editor and all who have been associated with him deserve the warmest commendation on the completion of their labours.
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