58 GLEANINGS OF BIOGRAPHY. Sept;2r> 



fire, that would have juftly intitled him to a very high 

 rank among the mufes, had that performance never 

 exifted. 



Gleanings of Biography* 



To the Editor of the Bee. 

 Sir, 



JlLvery body knows the ftory of "Wallace, the Scottifh 

 patriot giving the Englifh a great overthrow at Stir- 

 ling, by letting part of their army pafs over a wooden 

 bridge which was then at that place, and then fcparat- 

 ing them from the reft by means of a carpenter, who 

 had prepared matters fo, that the bridge fell down by 

 the pulling out of a pin. 



The defcendents of this carpenter ftill remain at 

 Stirling, arid take the furname of Pin, or the Pin ; as 

 John the Pin, Robert the Pin, &c. A much mor6 

 honourable furname this than Plantagenet or Bourbon. 

 Plantagenet in particular took its origin from the tri- 

 fling circUmflance of broom being worn in the hats of 

 ibme of the chiefs of that houfe of Anjou in battle. 



Soriie tiriie or other we may know how to confer 

 true nobility, without the diftinftions of ranks and pri- 

 vileges. Felix faujlumque fit ! When I vifited Stirling, 

 after I knew this tradition, I fent for the Pin, and made 

 him one of my beft bows, as it were to th-e lliade of 

 the great Wallace ! 



F-ft hie, eft animus lucls contemptor, 



Et iitum (^ui vita bene credat enii honorem. 



JOHN LAW OF LAURIESTON 



Was the eldeft Ion of a goldfmith burgefs in Edin- 

 burgh, by Elizabeth Campbell, heirefs of Laiiriefton, 



