Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

. •. ." 'IH): A.SI.OAN MANL'SC];!!'!' AM) LAW ,S L'llKDXICLr.. xi
tlio Aniijuidiilc peuv;iges luainiaiiied tlial tliis .\ilaiii Jolinstono \>;as Mu;
common ancestor of the. Johu.stoiics of Jolniskiuc aiul Auiiaut-lale and llic
Joliiistonc'3 of ^Vestelilal].
In siqiport of that pi'L'teiision Kcveral Scottish cliroinclcs and liistorics,
as well as family tradition and documeatary pi'oofs, were all arrayed to prove
that a certain Matihuw Juhustone was the second son of Adam Joluistone of
Johnstone, and also the predecessor of the Johnstones of Westerhall. The
earliest of the chronicles refeired to is what is commonly known as tlie com-
].i];Uion of John xVsloan, a notary pulilic, who made miscellaneons collections
in prose and verse transcribed from Mf^s. towards the close of the reign of King
James the Fourth, or before the year 151 i. But tlie collecLion only contained
transcripts, and no original writs. The Asloan ms. having Lecu acipiirc-.d
by Alexander Eoswell of Auchinleck in 1730, came to be known as the
" Auchinleck Chronicle." Mr. Thc'mas Thomson printed privately a i'ew
copies of poitions of Asloan's collections in prose about the year 1819. In
an explanatory note b}' Mr. Thomsou he alludes to the errors of fact and of
date, as well as those of trauscrlptioir, wliich the collecLion exhibits, lie
explains that some of " the erroneous dates and accidental mistakes of tran-
scription liave been rectified in his print. It is added that several known or
suspected errors have been siifferecl to remain. The chronicle dees not evyu
mention the name of Adam Johnstone of Jolmstone or of Lis alleged sou
JlalXhcw, altliough it was ofll'red as evidence to prove the important fact of
Lho paternity of Matthew as son of Adam. Such a confessedly erroneous
chronicle was utterly v.-ortldess as legal evidence, and was rejected by tlie
House of Lords as not admissible in evidence.'
The next chronicle which was offered by Sir Prederic Jchiistoue to prove
till' ]iatcrnity of ^Matthew as the son of Adam was a manuscript known as
" Law's ]Manusc.ri])t," or "De chronicis Scotorum lire\'ia, l-'iL'l." It was pro-
iluced at a meeting of the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords on
' Minutes of Evulence in Annaiulale i)CC-r.Tgo, 21st July 1S7G, p. 100.