The Sivintons of that Ilk, by A. Campbell Swinton. 343 



the Earl (afterwards Duke) of Lauderdale, to whom the King 

 had already, in anticipation of a conviction, gifted the "lands 

 and lordship of Swinton." The result — attributed by his co- 

 religionists to a special interposition of providence* — was, that 

 Swinton escaped the sentence of death, which awaited others less 

 implicated in the transactions for which he was brought to trial. 

 He was however committed as a prisoner to the castle of Edin- 

 burgh, the Decree of Forfeiture was renewed ; and two days 

 later the royal gift to Lauderdale was confirmed by the Parlia- 

 ment. Even his imprisonment was, for a time, not without its 

 alleviation, as he was indulged with the society of his wife. But 

 in December, 1662, she died in the castle, after giving birth to 

 a child. f The lady who met this sad fate, was Margaret Stewart, 

 daughter of William Lord Blantyre. By her, whom he married 

 in 1645, Swinton had three sons, Alexander, John, and Isaac, 

 and a daughter, Margaret, who married Sir John Eiddell of that 

 Ilk. Whether Isaac or Margaret was the child born in Edin- 

 burgh Castle is uncertain. Neither can it be stated positively, 

 how long the father's imprisonment lasted. Some traces of his 

 later life are to be found in the Diary of Provost Jaffray of Aber- 

 deen, who had been his colleague in one of Cromwell's Parlia- 

 ments, and who is described as a "ringleader" among the 

 Quakers in the North of Scotland, as was Swinton in the South. £ 

 Neither of them escaped the petty persecutions to which mem- 

 bers of the Society of Friends were exposed under the Act 

 against Conventicles. Swinton was also the author of numerous 

 Tracts, vindicating the opinions of the Sect, some of which are 

 still extant. § And he is understood to have had a principal share 



* According to Wodrow, " the Queen Mother and Papists took a care of 

 him, and brought him off." " And indeed," he adds, " quakery is but a 

 small remove from popery." 



f Lamont's Diary, (Maitland Club), p. 158. 

 X Life of Robert Blair (Wodrow Society), p. 533. 



§ Among them are ' ' A Testimony for the Lord by John Swinton. To all 

 the world to whom these shall come greeting" (six pages without date). 

 • ' Some late Epistles to the body, writ from time to time as the spirit gave 

 utterance, &c." dated 1663. " One warning more to the hipocrites of this 

 generacon" (MS) dated 7th month, 10th, 63. "England's warning or a 

 friendly admonition to the rulers thereof to beware of prosecuting the righte- 

 ous for yielding obedience to the call of God, lest by so doing (as they have 

 already begun) they provoke the Most High to judgment, and to pour out 



