JOURNAL OF JOHN LAUDER

xl

1 1 remained very unclear and dissatisfied with this way of
triall, as most fallacious and the man could giv e me no
accompt of the principles of his art, but seemed to be a
drunken foolish rogue.' Then, according to bis custom, he
cites a learned authority, Martino del Rio, who lays bare the
craft and subtlety of the devil, and mentions that 1 he gives
not the nip to witches of quality and sometimes when they
are apprehended he delets it. The most part of the
creatures that are thus deluded by this grand impostor and
ennemy of mankind are of the meanest rank, and are ather
seduced by malice, poverty, ignorance, or covetousness: But
he finds comfort in the pecuniary circumstanœs of the
Tempter. It's the unspeakable mercy and goodness of
our good God that that poor dev ill has not the command
of money (tho we say he is master of all the mines and
hid treasures of the earth) else lie would debauch the greatest
part of the \Vorld.'

CO~"TE1\'TS OF lUS EARLY JOUR1\ALS A~D ACCOU~'T5

It has already been mentioned that Lauder~s later journals,
when he came to chronicle public affairs and legal decisions,
though they are full of graphie detail, contain little that is
personal to himself. The manuscripts here printed, besides
giving a picture of a Scottish stlldenfs life in France during
the seventeenth century, include a narrative of his visits to
London and Oxford on his return from abroad, his journey
by coach and post from London to Edinburgh, and various
expeditions in Fife, the Lothians, and the 1\lerse, Glasgow,
and the Clyde district, places where he had connections. He
travelled on homeback. He kept one horse at this time,
which appears in the Accounts. Considering his ev ident
relish for travelling, it is remarkable that in his long life he
never seems to have left Scotland after his return in 1667,
though many of his more political brethren at the bar were
constantly on the road between Edinburgh and Whitehall.