that, for so many years, he continued the practice of keeping a register of his religious experiences, and the trials and difficulties of his Christian life. We have reason, therefore, to conclude that the 1740 volume exhibits an accurate transcript of the Original Manuscript, with this exception that the personal pronoun I has been changed to he, to suit, it might be, the necessarily fragmentary character of the volume. In fact, selections only were, or could be given, from the manuscript, judging from the subsequent volumes, in which the constant use of cypher or a kind of short-hand, interspersed more or less in every page, is quite sufficient to render no small portion of the writing altogether unintelligible, and to afford clear proof of the Editor's judgment and skill in his selections. His remark, therefore, of printing passages of a full sentence, thus becomes easily understood; but the wish he expressed regarding "the first Diary Book," has unfortunately never been gratified.

The attention of the Members of the Spalding Club was early directed to this Diary, as likely to furnish materials for a work of some historical importance, in addition to its local interest. Application was accordingly made to WILLIAM BRODIE OF BRODIE, Esq., the Author's representative, and this was liberally responded to by allowing the Secretary, Mr. JOHN STUART, to have the free use of such manuscript books as were preserved. The result of a careful search was to prove that the Author's Diary, which he had commenced in the year 1650, was continued till within one day of his death, on the 17th of April, 1680; although some of the volumes are lost; and further, that the Diary itself was chiefly confined to recording his daily religious experiences and meditations, interspersed with occasional notices of public occurrences.

The five volumes of Brodie's Diary which have been recovered, are as follows:

Vol. 1. Begins January 22d, 1655, and ends October 13th, 1656.

Vol. II.

Begins July 6th, 1661 (the first leaf probably commencing

July 1st, being lost), and ends July 11th, 1663.

Vol. III. Begins January 3rd, 1671, and ends December 31st, 1673. Vol. IV. Begins February 22d, 1676, and ends October 12th, 1678. Vol. V. Begins October 13th, 1678, and terminates with April 16th, 1680. The Diary is then carried on by his Son, James Brodie, from April 17th, 1680, and ends in February, 1685.

It is thus evident, that besides the two earliest, several of the intermediate volumes of his manuscripts have not been recovered. But in addition to the above volumes there are four others of an earlier date, containing short-hand notes of Sermons, to be afterwards noticed.

Here it is proper to repeat, to prevent any feeling of disappointment, that the following Diary has no claim to be regarded as Historical: it properly belongs to the class of Religious Meditations, or in other words, of Spiritual Experiences; the notices of local events, and the daily occurrences in private life, being subsidiary. At that time there prevailed in all classes of the community a degree of religious fervour and a deep sense of the importance of spiritual things, which led to the practice of recording from day to day, for personal benefit, pious exercises and reflections. Many of these Diaries still exist, and several of them have been printed. But the Laird of Brodie's Diary commends itself to notice, not as that of a private individual, but from his own position and his connexion with public affairs at a remarkable period in the history of Scotland, and from having intermingled passing allusions, not only to occurrences in his own family and neighbourhood, but also to the stirring events of his time, as well as incidental uotices of the public men with whom he associated. It is, no doubt, disappointing and unsatisfactory while he alludes to circumstances and events now of general interest, that instead of furnishing the details, he should so constantly break off with pious reflections, and his purpose of making them the subject of prayer to God. But we must not forget what has already been remarked, that while such entries reveal as it were the inner man, they were never meant for the public eye.

It may also be remarked that the BRODIE MANUSCRIPTS present no

small perplexity to an Editor. Not only has the Author's wretched handwriting to be mastered, and this aggravated by a peculiar orthography, and the free use of contractions, but there are portions of every other sentence written in a kind of short-hand. In case that any curious or important matter might be lurking under this disguise, the manuscripts were submitted, by means of the late EARL OF ABERDEEN, PRESIDENT OF THE SPALDING CLUB, to some persons in London skilled in decyphering, and in particular to Mr. A. Peterkin, who devoted much time and ingenuity in forming explanatory tables of the alphabet and chief contractions; the result of which was to show, when applied to various passages, that the Laird of Brodie used a system partly his own, not with any view of concealment, but as the easiest mode of carrying on his journals. As the passages or sentences written in this form, seemed to be, for the most. part, only pious resolutions and ejaculations, it was considered that the time, labour, and expense, that would be required to have these portions decyphered, might be employed to better purpose. With such aids, however, the manuscripts were put into the hands of Mr. Francis Shaw, Aberdeen, skilled in reading and transcribing old writings, with instructions to select from the volumes all the passsages that were historical or seemed to possess any local interest. This he accomplished in a satisfactory manner.

At a subsequent period, I was requested by the Secretary to give some assistance in revising these selections while at press for the Club, and I agreed to do so, with this understanding, that I should neither be held responsible for the selections themselves, nor be expected to collate the proofs with the originals. Upon comparing, however, the first specimen sheet with the manuscript, it seemed to me that the extracts might, with considerable advantage, be much enlarged, as Brodie's constant allusions to matters connected with the state of religious feelings and observances throughout Scotland were by no means unimportant. Perhaps the other extreme has been the result by making the extracts too copious. But it was desirable in printing a volume like the present that it should furnish a complete

picture of the Author as a man of sincere and devoted piety. In accomplishing this serious labour, I fortunately secured the aid of one who was singularly well qualified for the task, by his indefatigable application and familiar acquaintance with the history of that period, I mean the Rev. James Anderson, well known as the author of several valuable contributions to religious biography in such works as his "Ladies of the Reformation," "Ladies of the Covenant," and "Memorable Women of Puritan Times." It might perhaps have been well had we at first decided to reject the Author's peculiar orthography, he having, for instance, been so sparing of his final e's, that it became necessary to supply the vowel to prevent mistaking such words as made, observe, grace, face, rage, give, have, resolve, &c., written by him, mad, obseru, grac, fac, rag, giu, hau, resolu.

Having every reason to believe that the volume printed in 1740 was faithfully copied from the MS. Diary 1652-1654, now lost, and as it is now of considerable scarcity and value, there could, I thought, be no hesitation as to the propriety of reprinting it verbatim. It accordingly forms the first section or division of the present volume.

It is not essential to attempt any detailed account of THE FAMILY OF BRODIE. The Rev. L. Shaw, in his "History of the Province of Moray," first published in 1775, says, "This name is manifestly local, taken from the lands of Brodie ;" and he supposed the family "were originally of the ancient Moravienses, and were one of these loyal tribes, to whom King Malcolm IV. gave lands about the year 1160, when he transplanted the Moray rebels." He proceeds to trace the descent of the family for about 500 years from Malcolm Thane of Brodie, in the reign of Alexander III., and his son, Michael, son of Thomas de Brothie and Dyke, who had a charter of the lands of Brodie from King Robert I. about the year 1311. But I shall pass over the earliest period of the Brothies, or Brodies, as not essential for this work.

The reverend Historian of Moray admits, he could not trace their descent, as the old writs, he says, were either carried away by Lord Gordon, when he burned Brodie House in 1645, or were destroyed in that burning;a and I shall content myself with a brief notice of the Laird of Brodie's immediate progenitors. In Burke's History of the Commoners, &c., 1836,b and in the supplementary volume of the Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, 1848, more detailed accounts will be found, continued to the dates of publication, of the families of Brodie and of Lethen.

ALEXANDER BRODIE of Brodie who flourished at the middle of the sixteenth century, was twice married; first, to Margaret, daughter of Robert Dunbar of Durris, before 1553; and secondly, to Margaret Hay, widow of Dunbar of Benagefield. He died in August, 1583, and in his confirmed testament he is styled Alexander Brodie of that Ilk, mention being made of David Brodie, his eldest son, and other children; also of David Dunbar of Grangehill, as his eldest son's mother's brother.

DAVID BRODIE of Brodie was born in the year 1553. He married Janet Hay, youngest sister of his stepmother (daughter of John Hay of Park and Lochloy), in 1584. He died in May, 1627, aged 74, leaving a family of six sons and one daughter.

The younger sons of David Brodie were:

2. Alexander Brodie, who became the founder of the LETHEN Family, having purchased the barony of Lethen, in 1622, from Sir John Grant; with the Abbey lands of Kinloss, from Thomas, Lord Bruce of Kinloss, also the lands of Pitgavenie, in 1630, from Alexander Hay of Kinudie, and also during the rule of the English in the North, the Laird of Lethen in 1651 and 1652 sold the stones of Kinloss Abbey to be employed in building the citadel of Inverness. Subsequent dilapidations for the purpose