358 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'«i S. VIII. Oct. 29. '59. 



must admit, that I have hitherto regarded the 

 mention of Cardinal Wolsey's name, in connection 

 with it, with equal incredulity. But we are now 

 presented with the specific statements, that it was 

 " Empson's house," and " occupied by the Car- 

 dinal whilst Dean of Lincoln." For those state- 

 ments I beg to ask for proof: otherwise I shall be 

 disposed to agree (more closely than I have 

 hitherto done) with the assertion of Red Hat 

 AND Stockings that " certainly as valuable asso- 

 ciations — - so far as Wolsey is concerned — are 

 attached to Morton Court." 



John Gough Nichols. 



BEV. JOHN ANDERSON, MINISTER OF DUMBARTON. 



(2"« S. vii. 435. ; viii. 255.) 



As the career of this northern polemic seems to 

 interest some of your readers, the following notes 

 gleaned during a somewhat close examination of 

 the records, civil and ecclesiastical, of the parish 

 in which he was so long minister, may not be 

 consiflered out of place. The first to which I 

 would draw attention corrects an error into which 

 your correspondent C. D. L. has inadvertently 

 /alien as to Anderson's early career. From the 

 recollection of a missing memorandum, your cor- 

 respondent states that Anderson, before removing 

 to Dumbarton, had been presented to a parish by 

 the Duke of Montrose. On coming to Dumbar- 

 ton, in 1698, he is spoken of as a probationer — a 

 phrase that hardly applies to a placed minister. 

 At a meeting in February, 1698, "the Presbytery 

 being informit of a young man, Mr. John Ander- 

 son, probationer att Edipburgh, licensed by that 

 Presbytery, and who preaches frequently there to 

 good satisfaction both of ministers and people, at 

 the request of the magistrates (in whose gift the 

 living is), write him to supply Dumbarton." A 

 formal call being afterwards given by the parish, 

 the Presbytery proceeded with his trials in order 

 to ordination ; but on the 12th July " did seriously 

 posse him about his mariadge and principles of 

 Presbyterian government, but all the brethren 

 were satisfied with his answers ; so far that they 

 find it not expedient to object anything against 

 him upon these heads hereafter." A little farther 

 delay, however, ensued, and a committee was ap- 

 pointed to inquire into " the complex circum- 

 stances of the case." A favourable report being 

 presented to the Presbytery by this committee, 

 the ordination was fixed to take place on Sep- 

 tember 14th. The more prominent features in 

 Anderson's life from this point are noticed in 

 an article, of which he is the subject, in Cham- 

 bers's Biographical Dictionary. It has been 

 stated that Anderson was indebted for his first 

 advance in life to the Duke of Montrose. I have 

 always understood it to be the Duke of Argyle, 



in whose family he acted as tutor, and with whom 

 he continued in habits of intimacy during his life. 

 It is highly improbable that, at the end of the 

 seventeenth century, the houses of Argyll and 

 Montrose would stifle their strong enmity to ad- 

 vance the interests of a poor scholar like Anderson. 

 Indeed, his strong Presbyterian sympathies makes 

 his connexion with Montrose a most unlikely oc- 

 currence. On the other hand his connexion with 

 Argyll cannot be disputed ; and if reliance could 

 be placed in one ofWoodrow's gossiping corre- 

 spondents, it would appear that John Anderson 

 sought through the influence of that family to at- 

 tain greater honour than he ever reached. Writ- 

 ing from Glasgow, on the 6th January, 1716, it is 

 recorded : — 



" Mr. Anderson, of Dumbarton, is in town. I believe 

 that he is petitioning the Duke [of Argyll] about the 

 Principall of Edinburgh's place." 



This must have been on the death of Carstairs, 

 when William Wishart, one of the ministers of 

 Edinburgh, was appointed to the Principalship, 

 In the Argyll and Burnhanh Papers (printed at 

 Edinburgh in 1834), from which the above is 

 taken, other notices will be found of Anderson's 

 connexion with the Argyll family. It may thus 

 be readily understood that when Rosneath parish 

 became vacant, James Anderson was none the 

 less acceptable to the patron from being the son 

 of the minister of Dumbarton. The " call" which 

 Anderson received from the North- west church 

 in Glasgow was most strenuously resisted by the 

 Presbytery and the Town Council of Dumbarton. 



Among the Smollett Papers at Cameron House 

 in this county, which I had recently an oppoi*- 

 tunity of examining, there is the draft of a re- 

 monstrance indorsed " Paper against Mr. Ander- 

 son's Transportation." It is addressed to the 

 ministers of the Presbytery of Dumbarton, and 

 declares that there is no reason for the proposed 

 change, but to " satisfy the humours of a proud 

 people, who are the sons of pride, who delight in 

 robbing their neighbours of their property." 

 Several scripture parallels are then adduced, and 

 the remonstrance concludes with a desire that the 

 Presbytery should not add fuel to the fire of the 

 pride of the people of Glasgow, but rather seek 

 to quench it with the water of disappointment. 

 Another glimpse of this "transportation" busi- 

 ness is obtained in one of Woodrow's letters to 

 the Rev. James Hart, Edinburgh, and published 

 in the edition of his correspondence issued by the 

 Woodrow Society. I would be glad if any of 

 your correspondents could furnish me with the 

 exact date of Anderson's death. It was, I appre- 

 hend, between 1721 and 1723; his successor was 

 appointed in the last-mentioned year. Samuel 

 Royse published Verses Sacred to the Memory of 

 the Bev. John Anderson, Minister at Glasgow, ob. 

 anno 1721. If this is the correct date, it would 



