1st Duke of Gordon

103
Hooke, who stayed seven weeks in Scotland,
returning to Dunkirk on June 17, could make
very little of His Grace, whom he visited in thct
North. He reported on the ease as follows: —
He would not sign the memorial, because one
of the articles of it required the personal appear-
ance of the King of England, and he could not
prevail upon himself to think of exposing their
Prince to the danger of war, though he owned at
the same time that his presence in Scotland
would be worth 10,000 men to him. He was
likewise not of the opinion of the others in their
demanding of His Majesty to send troops into
England or Scotland. His Grace thought that,
if the English should withdraw their's from the
low countries, there would not be any need of
this new alliance, and that the King's forces
would be more usefully employed against his
enemies on that side. However, in his letter to
His Majesty, he approves of the memorial, and
he told me that he found it agreeable to the
sentiments of all his friends with whom he had
taken proper measures.
A further account of the Duke is given by
another of Barley's spies, Captain John Ogi'lvk
of the Airlie family, who went under the name of
"Jean Gassion." Be reported to Barley on Dec.
25. 1707, as follows (Portland Papers: Hist. MSS.
Com. iv., 166): —
At Banff I did visit the old Lady Marchioness
of Buntly, the Duke of Gordon's mother, and
there I found a. nest of priests and their Bishop,
Nicolson, who goes b^ the name of Dr Bruce.
They were going to Aberdeen to an assembly,
whereupon I dispatched my brother Jsoeph to go
to them to see what he could learn amongst them
for my further information, and I went my way
to the coast of Baichan to the Earl Marshal's,
where I was confirmed without any reserve by
his lordship.
It is a wonder to me to see the Roman Catholic
service public in every place, just as public as it
was in King James's time, both at Edinburgh,
Aberdeen, Banff, and on the Duke of Gordon's
land, whole nests of priests, and for those that
are Roman Catholics they have their priests and
chapels avowedly.
At Aberdeen I found my brother Joseph, and
that he had learned that Doctor Gordon, who
was a. doctor of the Sorbonne in France, and who
is a Bishop here of the popish church, was sent
to the Bighlands to advertise the Highland cla"«
to provide themselves in arms and to be in readi-
ness when called. He speaks their language, and
is a bishop, and what little religion he had is
Roman Catholic.