126 ALEXANDER GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 



that memorable event in the world of fancy, when Jonathan Oldbuck 

 nndid his brown-paper parcel in the Hawes Fly, or Queensferry 

 Diligence ; and, on his felloav-traveller inquiring as to the nature of 

 the volume which formed the object of his study, "he lifted up his 

 eyes with something of a sarcastic glance, as if he supposed the 

 young querist would not relish, or perhaps understand, his answer, 

 and pronounced the book to be Sandy Gordon's Itinerariuin Septen- 

 trionale, a book illustrative of the Roman remains in Scotland." 



The experiences of the laborious ■ and learned author were very 

 much of a piece with those of others who, before and since, have un- 

 dertaken such work. Of fame, of the sort attaching to such labours, 

 he had his share. He carried on a correspondence with Sir John 

 Clerk, and Mr. Roger Gale, a well-known English antiquary, the 

 fruits of whose labours, along with those of his brother Samuel, ai'e 

 preserved in the Reliquiae Galeance. The results of this correspond- 

 ence were communicated from time to time to the Society of Anti- 

 quaries of London, whither Gordon had removed on the completion 

 of his work. To such publicity they made no objection ; but by 

 and by they manifested some professed alarm at the hint of Gordon's 

 design to issue their letters to the world as a supplement to his own 

 folio. On the 16th of April, 1726, Sir John Clerk writes to Mr. 

 Gale : — " I received this moment the honour of yours of the 9th 

 instant, and at the same time one from Mr. Gordon, wherein he tells 

 me that he had laid aside all thoughts of inserting our letters in his 

 Appendix, and that he was only to take the substance of them in 

 his own way. This piece of news pleases me extremely ; and T hope 

 you will keep him to his word." 



The most, however, that Gordon could be persuaded to, appears to 

 have been the withholding of his correspondents' names. He printed 

 a folio tractate of "Additions and Corrections, by way of Supple- 

 ment, to the ' Itinerarium Septentrionale,' containing several disser- 

 tations on, and descriptions of, Roman Antiquities discovered in 

 Scotland, since the publishing of the said Itinerary ; together with 

 Observations on other Ancient Monuments foxmd in the north of 

 England, never before published ;" informing his readers that, since 

 his writing the Itinei-ary, he had been favoured with the following 

 lettei-s " concerning the Sepulchres, and Funeral Rites, of the 

 Ancients in Britain, from two gentlemen who are the honour of their 

 age and country : " and he adds, as a sort of apology for the use he- 



