Papers relating to William, first Earl of Gowrie, and Patrick Ruthven, his fifth and last surviving son

viii . Preface.
inquirer ever to get together all that relates to his subject.
After he has exhausted the information which is accessible to
himself, all that has been brought to light by his own " dig-
gings " in the historical mine, — new facts are certain, sooner
or later, in the Micawber phrase, to " turn up ;" facts which
very often modify, complete, or contradict, what has been al-
ready stated.
Some such facts, which have "turned up" since 1851, in
relation to Patrick Ruthven and his descendants, have been
thrown, together with some other papers which it is deemed
useful to preserve, into what has been termed a Supplement to
the present little volume.
At the close of my paper of 1851 it is stated that nothing
was known of Patrick Ruthven, the brother of Lady Vandyke,
who, in 1656 took out letters of administration to his father,
the Patrick Ruthven who was so long a prisoner in the Tower.
The words were scarcely published, when I found traces (which
I had missed before on account of a misprint in the Index to
Whitelocke's c Memorials') of this junior Patrick Ruthven
having petitioned the Protector Cromwell for some pecuniary
relief. Some years afterwards, a copy of the very petition pre-
sented by him was brought to light among a collection of pa-
pers of the Marquis of Bath, who permitted it to be printed in
' Notes and Queries. 5 This petition forms Article V. in the
Supplement now published. It will be seen in Article VI.,
that it has also been discovered that the same Patrick Ruthven
was born about 1628, that in 1656 he lived in St. Martin's-
in-the-Fields, and in 1667 in the Little Almonry, Westmin-
ster, and was twice married — in 1656, to Sarah Head, and
eleven years afterwards, as a widower, to " Jane McDonell, of
Ross, in Scotland." Other facts respecting him will probably
fall in the way of some subsequent inquirer.
In the Supplement will also be found a copy of a Letter of