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eight houris, leving without ye horse and fourtie men; within entret threscoir, of quhom ye principales ar, the erll himself, the Erll Murray, Schir William Keith, ane soune of lochlevinnes, William Stewart Constable, Maister Jhone Colvin, etc.

"The laird of Spott was this tym in the Kingis house, and immediatlie afoir yair kything, in the duikes chalmer, quha eftir yair cry crying a bothweill, Justice Justice, ran to ye zett and tuik ye keyis fra bog portar, and tuik out his twa servantis captives but culd not get ye laird of Cumbadge quha was kepit in ane uther chalmer, all his leggis with ye buittis dong in crosche, swa it is thocht yat Spot hes not bein of long forsein heirof, bot throw the unworthie misusing his servantis hes latlie run headlonge yarto.

In the tym of ye crying the Chancellar being sowpit was gangand in ye end of ye galrie befoir his hall, quhilk is devidit be ane perpan, and sudditlie ran up to the Chalmer with his servantis, casting doun in ye narrow turnpek fayer beddis, and at unknawin flaugueris with muskattis repowsit ye persewaris, slew ane Scott, and schot ane uther in the buttokis with ane schott, it is said yat Wauchop laird of Nathrie is schott throw ye bodie.

CURIOUS FACTS RELATIVE TO THE
ABDICATION OF QUEEN MARY, COM-
MUNICATED BY J. R. ESQ.

MR EDITOR,

THE publicity which has been bestowed upon every thing connected with the History of Queen Mary, may serve as an apology for adducing the following notice of what occurred at a critical and interesting period of her life.

Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, English ambassador to Scotland in the year 1567, intimates to Queen Elizabeth, the 25th of July of that year, that, after in a letter dated at Edinburgh upon certain conferences among the confederate Lords upon the 23d, the deposition of Mary, then a prisoner at Lochleven, had been finally resolved.*

He, at the same time, informs her, that,

"The Lord Lindsay departed this Morning (the 24th) + from this Town, accompanied with Robert Melvill. He carrieth with him three Instruments to be signed by the Queen. The one containing her con

other is a Commission of Regency of the Realm, to be granted to the Earl of Murray during the King's minority. The third is a like Commission, to be granted to certain of the Nobility and others, for the Government of the Realm during the King's minority, in case the Earl of Murray will not accept the Regency alone."

"In this tym, ze ken his chalmer is desent to have her son crowned, and to relinvidit fra ye duikis chalmer be ane burden.quish the Government of the Realm. The weran, the Chancellar earnestlie lukis throw to ye duik, craving yat he micht be receavit in his chalmer, or yat ye duik wold cum in to him, quha refusit, answering it war better for yaime baith to keip yaire awin lodgingis. With the samin cry, they of ye kingis house ware warnit, quha tuik up the King and the Quein in to ye tour, and caest to ye Yrn Zett. The persewaris seeing yai culd not haue entrie to ye Chancellar, purposit to entir into ye king be ye quenis chalmer, and with hammers brak up hir durr to have ye king in yair power.

"Thus they continew quhill neir ten houris, and yareeftir begin to retyr be ye durr yat leidit in to ye kirk, these quha were sett to keip ye laird burlie, and uther quha kennit nocht ye way, being eight in nomber war tain, and, upon Weddnesday, eftir preiching, hangit, all simple servantis, matho colvin, ane sone of heckie Stewartis in paislay, ane gentleman of the mersse, and utheris.

"The King with his domestiques tuik inquisitione of thir eight yain depositione. Quhile yai war at ye inquisitione, the lorde Montrose, and lorde Maxwelle cum down, and war haldin at ye durr; quhilk was market, and reportet be him quha was present, and sawit this, and siclyk worket a mislyking of the Nobiltie. Sua sone as thir reportis war spred, The erliss of Anguse quha wes in tentalloune, and Mortoune qua wes in lochlevin, cumis to ye toun, and court, and sic is the wisdome of the Chancellar, war receavit be ye king with gud countenance."

Register, we learn, that upon the 25th, By an entry in the Privy Council Lord Lindsay returned to Edinburgh, having accomplished the object of his mission. The Queen signed upon the 24th the three instruments mentioned above; and these, though their warrant be no longer preserved, professing to have been regularly sealed upon that day, are engrossed at full length in the acts of parliament of the year.

So stands the matter as narrated by historians, founded upon public record and official correspondence.

I, not very long ago, happened to meet with an original Notorial Protocoll of a James Nicholson, whether the same

* Original Letter in the Cott. Liby "Calig. C. I." ap. Keith, Hist. p. 424. + He writes upon the 24th, though his letter is dated upon the 25th.

Keith, Hist. p. 434, where the minute of Privy Council is inserted. The precise hour of the day when the Council met, or when Lindsay appeared, is not specified.

Regne_the

who, in the above year, was appointed Comptroller of the Thirds of Benefices, a character of some notoriety in his day, I cannot precisely determine. It is, however, evidently the production of the 16th century, and is authenticated by his attestation throughout, as well as by that of the Director of Chancery. Between the exterior binding and the backs of the leaves, where it had been pretty effectually concealed, there appeared a thinly folded scrap of paper, which proved to be a minute of a protest, taken at the request of parties by Nicholson, acting in his professional capacity, in the view of being afterwards extended. Of this document, which fills a single sheet, and is besides evinced by the water-mark to be of corresponding antiquity with the protosoll, the following is an accurate transcript:

"Upone the xxv day of July anno etc. LXVII., hora tertia post meridiem, præsentibus Richardo Carmichaell de edderm, Niniano lamby,† patricio Cranston, Henrico Sincleir.

My lord lyndesy requyrit thomas sinclair to seall thir three writtingis eftre following contenit in yis writtinge,

Regina,

Keipare of our privy seill, It is our will and
we charge ze, It is our will and we charge,
ze that, incontinent eftre the sight heirof,
ze put our prive seill to our thre lettres un-
derwritten, subscrivit wyt oure hand, ane of
yame beirande dimmissioune, and renun-
ciatioune of the governmente of our realme,
in favouris of our maist deir sone: Ane
uyer makande our breder James erle of
murray Regent to our said sone, during
his minoritie; And the third, in caise of
our saide brudris deceise, or quhill he cum
wytin our realme, etc. Makande James
duke of chasteautarault, Mathow erle of
lennox, Archibalde erle of ergile, Johne
erle of athole, James erle of Mortoune,
alexandre erle of Glencarne, and Johne erle
of Mar,-And, in caise of the said James
erle of murrayis refuising of acceptatioune
of the saide office singularlie upone him,
makande him, & yaine Regentis to oure
said sone; as the saidis lettres at lenthe
beris, kepande yir presentis for ze war-
rande, subscryvit wyt our hande at loch-
levin, the xxIII day of Julii, and of oure

Records of Assumption of Thirds of Benefices, unprinted Acts of Sederunt, &c.

+ This Ninian Lamby was a burgess of Edinburgh; he is a witness to a discharge in the year 1557, entered in a protocol of a John Robertson.

This repetition, as well as other things in the deed, indicate the precipitancy of its execution.

XXV zeire, sic subscribitur Marie R.-And, in name, and behalfe of the Remanent lordis foursaidis, Requyrit Thomas Sinclair to seall the saidis lettres, and offerit him the said warrande. Quha

onswerit yat sa lang as the quenis majeste is in warde, he walde seall na sic lettres that are extreordinare, And yereafter the saide lorde preissit him yerto, And tuke fra him the privy seill, and wyt cumpany of folkis, compellit him to sell the same, Quilk ye said thomas protestit wes agains his will vi maiori,' to ye quhilkis he culd not

resist. Ande the saide Lord tuke instrumentis yat he offerit to him the letter for his warrande."

We are thus furnished with a con

temporary copy of a missing document the warrant of Mary for her own abdication. The privy seal, then "de facto," was not appended to the three instruments until late in the 25th of July. A curious instance is afforded of the resolute manner in which Lyndsay, styled by Robertson "the Zealot" of his party, hurried on the accomplishment of their measures, at a crisis of considerable difficulty. And additional proof of the hazard, and perhaps unpopularity, of the enterprize, may be discoverable in this marked opposition of a public officer, who might not be altogether uninfluenced by the national feelings of the moment, asserted to have undergone a change favourable to the interests of the Queen.

The above circumstance, though unnoticed by any historian, is, as will be seen by the extract which follows, alluded to in the supplication presented to the Queen's Parliament, upon the 12th of June, in the year 1571, inserted in Bannatyne's MS. Journal in the Advocates' Library.

"It is not to be past over in silence, in what manner the privie seale was appendit to that Letter (the Royal Letter of Demission), how it violentlic, and be force [was] reft out of the Keperis' handis as may ap peir be authentick documentis, sua as hir Maiestis subscription was purchased by force, so was the Seill extorted be force.”

Without, however, what has been premised, the fact, resting merely upon ex parte statement, might have been discredited, if not utterly disbelieved. J. R.

Thomas Sinclair, we are informed by the Register of the Privy Seal, filled the situation of deputy of that seal from the year 1555 to the year 1574, when he was succeeded by a Henry Sinclair, probably the same who figures as one of the witnesses to the protest.

P. S.-The order for the proclamation of the marriage between Darnley and Queen Mary is still extant in the "Buik of the Kirk of the Canagait," one of the oldest and most curious registers of the kind that is extant. "The 21 of July anno domini 1565. "The quhilk day Johne Brand Mynister presentit to ye kirk ane writting-written be ye Justice Clerk hand, desyring ye kirk of ye cannogait, ande Minister yareof, to proclame harie duk of Albaynye Erle of Roise on ye one part, And Marie be ye grace of god quene of Scottis, Soverane, on ye uyer part. The quilk ye kirk ordainis ye Mynister to do, wyt Invocatione of ye name of God."

ON THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF MOTHER-OF-PEARL, AND THE METHOD OF COMMUNICATING THEM TO WAX AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.

By DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D. F.R.S. Lond. and Edin.

MOTHER-OF-PEARL is a well-known substance, obtained principally from the shell of the Pearl Oyster; and from the facility with which it can be cut and polished, it has been long employed for a variety of useful and ornamental purposes. Every person must have observed the fine play of the prismatic colours, to which mother-of-pearl owes its value as an ornamental substance, &c. and the ever varying succession of fresh tints which may be developed, either by changing the inclination of the plate, or the direction of the light in which it is placed. The nature and origin of these colours have never been investigated: they have been carelessly ascribed to the laminated structure of the shell, and have been regarded as a fine proof of the Newtonian Theory of the colours of natural

bodies.

I. On the Optical Properties of Mother

of-pearl.

In order to observe all the properties which we propose to describe in this paper, we must select a piece of regularly formed mother-of-pearl, which is known by the uniformity of its white colour in day-light, resembling somewhat the pearl itself, and scarcely exhibiting any of the prismatic tints. This regularity of structure is not often to be met with in the ordinary pieces of mother-of-pearl, nor is it indispensably necessary for the mere exhibition VOL II.

of some of its most remarkable properties; but in order to understand the nature and origin of the colours, the experiments must be repeated with pieces that are regularly formed.

If we take a plate of regularly formed mother-of-pearl, having its two opposite surfaces ground perfectly flat (but not polished), either upon a blue stone, or upon a plate of glass, with the powder of schistus, and if, with the eye placed close to the plate, we view in it, by reflection, a candle standing at the distance of a few feet, we shall observe a dull and imperfect image, free from all prismatic colours. This image is formed upon the ordinary principles of reflection, and is faint and undefined, owing to the imperfect reflecting power of the ground surface. On one side of this imperfect image will be seen a brighter image, glowing with the prismatic colours, and separated to as great a degree as the colours formed by one of the angles of a common equilateral prism of flint glass.

If the plate is now turned round in its own plane, the observer continuing to see the image, the prismatic image will follow the motion of the plate, and perform a complete revolution about the common image, the blue rays always keeping nearest the common image, and the red rays farthest from it. Let the plane be now placed in such a position, that the prismatic image is in the plane of reflection, and between the common image and the observer, and let the image of the candle be viewed at various angles of incidence. It will then be found, that the angular distance of the prismatic image from the common image gradually increases as the candle is viewed more obliquely, the distance being 2° 7', when the candle is seen almost perpendicularly in the plate, and 9° 14', when it is seen at the greatest obliquity. This angular distance varies with more rapidity when the plate is turned round 180°, so as to place the common image between the prismatic image and the observer; but in this case, we cannot observe the angle much beyond 60° where it amounts to 4° 30'.

On the outside of the prismatic image will be observed a mass of coloured light, nearly at the same distance beyond the prismatic image that the prismatic image is from the common image. These three images are always in the

E

same straight line; but the angular distance of the mass of coloured light varies according to a law different from that of the prismatic image. At great angles of obliquity, this mass of light has a beautiful crimson colour; at an angle of about 37° it becomes green, and at less angles it acquires a yellow hue, approaching to white, and becomes very luminous. The colours of this mass of light become more brilliant when the plate of mother-ofpearl is polished, and have an origin essentially different from the colours of the prismatic image.

Hitherto we have considered the phenomena only in the case where the surface has merely that slight degree of polish which accompanies smooth grinding. If a greater degree of polish, however, is communicated to the plate, the common image becomes more brilliant, and a new prismatic image starts up, diametrically opposite to the first prismatic image, and at the same distance from the common image. This second prismatic image resembles in every respect the first, and follows the same law by a variation of the angle of incidence. Its brilliancy increases with the polish of the surface, and when this polish is very high, the second prismatic image is nearly as bright as the first, which has its brilliancy a little impaired by polishing. This

second image is never accompanied, like the first, by a mass of coloured light. If the polish of the surface is removed by grinding, the second prismatic image vanishes, and the first resumes its primitive brilliancy.

When the preceding experiments are repeated on the opposite surface of the plate of mother-of-pearl, the same phenomena are observed, but in a reverse order, the first prismatic image and the mass of coloured light being now seen on the opposite side of the plate.

In examining the light transmitted through the mother-of-pearl, we shall perceive phenomena analogous to those which have been described. A coloured image will be seen on each side of the common image, having the same angular distance from it as those seen by reflection, and resembling them in every particular, the blue light being nearest the common image, and the red light farthest from it. These two images, however, are generally fainter than those seen by reflection:

When the second prismatic image is extinguished, by removing the polish, it is then the most brilliant when seen by transmission; and, in general, the image which is brightest by reflection is faintest by transmission, and vice

versa.

In pieces of mother-of-pearl that are irregularly formed, the common reflected image is encircled by a number of irregular prismatic images at different distances from it.

II. On the Communication of the Colours of Mother-of-pearl to other Substances.

THE phenomena which we have now described must be allowed to be very singular, and contrary to all our notions of the action of surfaces upon light; and had it not been for the accidental circumstance which led to the discovery of their communicability, it is probable that philosophers would have remained satisfied with ascribing them to reflection from differently inclined planes near the surface of the shell.

In measuring the angular distances of the prismatic image from the common image seen by reflection, I had occasion to fix the mother-of-pearl to a goniometer by means of a cement made of rosin and bees-wax. Upon removing it from the cement when in a hard state, by making it spring off by insinuating the edge of a knife, the plate of mother-of-pearl left a clean impression of its own surface; and I was surprised to observe, that the cement had actually received the property of producing the colours which were exhibited by the mother-of-pearl. This unexpected phenomenon was at first attributed by myself, and by several gentlemen who saw the experiments, to a very thin film of motherof-pearl detached from the plate, and left upon the cement; but subsequent experiments convinced me that this was a mistake, and that the motherof-pearl really communicated to the cement the properties which it possessed.

The best method of making this experiment is to employ black sealingwax, and to take the impression from the mother-of-pearl when the wax is rendered as fluid as possible by heat. The mother-of-pearl should be fixed to a handle like a seal, and its surface

should be carefully deprived of any greasy substance that might accidentally be adhering to it.

The properties of mother-of-pearl may also be communicated in this way to balsam-of-tolu, gum-arabic, goldleaf placed upon wax, tinfoil, the fusible metal composed of bismuth and mercury, and to lead, by hard pressure or the blow of a hammer. When the impression is first made upon the fusible metal, the play of colours is singularly fine; but the metallic surface soon loses its polish, and the colours gradually decay.

In order to show that in these cases no part of the mother-of-pearl is left on the surface, I plunged a piece of wax, after it had received the impression, into nitric acid, which would have instantly destroyed the carbonate of lime, of which the mother-of-pearl is chiefly composed, but it had no effect either in destroying or diminishing the colorific property of the surface. In soft cements, made of beeswax and rosin, the slightest degree of heat destroys the superficial configuration, by which the colour is produced. In sealing-wax, gum-arabic, and realgar, a much greater heat is necessary to destroy it; but in tinfoil and lead, its destruction can only be effected by the temperature at which they cease to become solid.

If we now examine the prismatic images reflected from the wax which has received the impression from an unpolished piece of mother-of-pearl, we shall find, that the single prismatic image which is thus produced is on the right hand side of the common image, whereas it is on the left hand side of the common image in the mother-of-pearl itself.

At different angles of incidence, the two coloured images, formed by the wax, follow the same laws as those produced by the mother-of-pearl; but the mass of green and crimson light never appears: It is therefore caused by some internal structure, which cannot be communicated to other bodies.

When an impression is taken from the fracture of mother-of-pearl, its faculty of producing colour is also communicated. In imparting to gumarabic and balsam-of-tolu the superficial configuration of mother-of-pearl, we are enabled, on account of their transparency, to observe the changes induced upon the transmitted light.

The extraordinary images formed by reflection were both visible-the pri mary one being remarkably brilliant, and the secondary one scarcely perceptible; but when the light was transmitted through the gum, the primary image was nearly extinct, while the secondary one was unusually brilliant and highly-coloured, far surpassing in splendour those which are formed by transmission through the mother-of-pearl itself. When both the surfaces of gum-arabic are impressed with mother-of-pearl, four images are seen. The colours seen by transmission are more brilliant in the gum than in the balsam, as the latter has the greatest reflective power; but the coloured images produced by reflection do not seem to have suffered a greater dispersion when they are formed by the metals than when they are formed by cements.

When the impression is taken from a pearl, the wax receives a character similar to that which is possessed by the pearl. The image reflected from the surface of the pearl is enveloped in a quantity of unformed light, arising from a cause which will afterwards be explained; and the very same white nebulosity is reflected from the

wax.

(To be continued.)

LETTER

TO THE LORD HIGH CONSTABLE, From MR DINMONT.

MY LORD, YOUR Lordship will be very concerned to hear of the death of your old tenant Maggie Scott: she has been long on your estate; and although the rent she paid was but small, yet every body had a respect for her from her great age and former character, for she was in her 78th year when she died; and has, as your Lordship may remember my telling you, been in a very weakly condition for many years past: she was always drivelling and repeating what other people said to her as observations of her own, and was grown very ignorant of every thing passing in the world. But as I remembered her once a very entertaining woman, and had a love for the stories she used to tell about the 45,

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