ALEXANDER GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 



25 



climax, held in reserve for a crowning triumph : the sculptured 

 stone trenched up on the very spot, with its " sacrificing vessel, and 

 the letters A. D. L. L., which may stand without much violence for 

 Agricola dicavit libens lubens." " Certainly, sh'," responds the com- 

 plaisant Level, "for the Dutch antiquaries claim Caligula as the 

 founder of a lighthouse on the sole authority of the letters C. C. P. F. ;" 

 and so on to Mr. Oldbuck's " trivial essay upon castrametation, with 

 some particular remarks upon the vestiges of ancient fortifications 

 lately discovered by the author at the Kaira of Kinprunes," in which 

 he flatters himself he has pointed out the infallible touchstone of 

 supposed antiquity. It is interesting thus to trace the hand of the 

 great master, with his Midas-touch transmuting such arid contro- 

 versies into the sparkling humour of his choicest romance. 



Gordon was able to contribute to the Pennycuik discussions some- 

 what besides the learning which he had picked up in his northern 

 Alma Mater. Like.Dugald Dalgetty, he was a traveller to boot 

 though on more peaceful errands. What his precise age v/as at the 

 date ''of the publication of the famous folio on which his literary fame 

 is based, I have failed to ascertain. In point of years he was greatly 

 Baron Clerk's junior. But his journeyings had already extended 

 beyond the shadows of the Grampians, and with the publication of 

 the Itinerarium his connection with Scotland came to an end. His 

 correspondence with his "worthy friend, Dr. Stukeley," had now 

 been exchanged for more intimate personal intercourse, and he grows 

 enraptured over the assembled rank and learning of the old London 

 gatherings of the antiquarian fraternity, of which the Doctor was 

 Secretary. The London Society of Antiquaries had at that date for- 

 saken the Young Devil Tavern in Fleet Street, for the Foimtain 

 Tavern over against Chancery Lane, and in the followiirg year re- 

 moved to Gray's Inn Lane, and afterwards to the Temple. But 

 apparently the more dignified quarters thus provided for their de- 

 liberations conflicted too much with the social habits of that age ; and 

 so, in the following year, 1728, we find the Fellows have once more 

 emerged into Fleet Street, and are holding their meetings in the 

 Mitre Tavern there. It was, in truth, the Antiquaries' Club ac- 

 cording to the fashion of that eighteenth century ; and to the genuine 

 enthusiasts who took the lead in it, was so delightful that Gordon 

 exclaims, " For my own share, I think sincerely that England seems 

 now to be the true seat of the Muses, and London is become Apollo's 



