Series 2 > Rentale Dunkeldense

INTRODUCTION
xi
aggressor against the Church—comes at one time or an¬
other, and often with frequency, under either or both of
these elusive categories. Apparently, too, the words were
found useful when one had nothing very good to say of a
man in particular but wished to speak pleasantly of him
in general. Under such circumstances a bald translation
would be quite unreadable. Apart from the necessity of
giving greater variety and precision, an attempt has been
made to reproduce the simplicity of the narrative.
Cosmo Innes seemed to regard the illuminated manu¬
script of the ‘ Lives ’ in the Advocates’ Library as a
somewhat poor copy derived from an original. It is very
doubtful if this view is correct; but it is exceedingly diffi¬
cult to make any positive assertion. The reproduction
at the beginning of the present volume, made from two
finely executed instruments among the charters preserved
in the Register House, has little or no bearing upon the
question. The one document has been selected mainly
because Myln admires Walter Small, treasurer of Dunkeld,
as the best writer of his time ; and the other because it is
an apparently rare specimen of Myln’s notarial sign and
his early style upon parchment. His manner upon the
paper of the account-book, half of which is demonstrably
in his hand, is more open and bold.1 But even upon paper
his mood constantly varies; and at first sight it is often
doubtful if we have the same hand. One permanent
characteristic is a peculiar capital A with a graceful loop
at the top.2 Thomas Brown followed Myln as clerk of
accounts, and evidently copied his senior very closely.
The facsimile of Brown’s writing given in the 1831 edition
of the bridge accounts does not take it by any means at
its best, and still less at its greatest similarity to Myln’s.
The imitation comes out curiously when Brown writes
1 Bolder even than it appears in the Douglas Book, iii. 184.
2 The specimen in the Cart, of Cambusk., xcvi., is poor.