Wedderburn book; a history of the Wedderburns in ... - waughfamily.ca

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10 THE WEDDEllBUUN BOOK.
Part L
Sect. II.—
Cbap. I.
His three eldest so.is, authors of '" The Guile and Godlie Bn/lates," and their share
in the reformation of the Scottish Church. His second son John, Wedderl'iirn in Enr/laiid.
No history of the Wcdderbmns would be complete without an account of the shure
taken by James, John, and Robert, the thn'c elder sons of James Wedderbnrn, in the
reformation of the Scottish Church, a work which, long obscured by time, lias been of late
again brouj.'ht into prominence by several writers on church history and Scottish literature.'-
1 propose, therefore, in this section to collect together what is known of the work of these
three brothei-s, and to give an account of the second of them, John, wlio seems to have
been the chief contributor to the collection of "sangis" which lias come dovn to ns
from them. With the private life of the other two brothers, James iind Robert, both of
whom left descendants, and with the claim of Robert to be the sole author of another
remarkable work, I shall deal in the remaining sections of this chapter.
The chief, almost the only, authority for the iiistory of the work of the Wedderbunis
consists of an interesting passage from 1 Uivid C'alderwood's Histonj if the A'irk if Scotland,
which has been ai)tly termed " the great quarry for information on the ecclesiastical historv
of Scotland,"- from the time of Mr. Patrick Hamilton down to the death of James VI.
Writing in about the year 1625-30, he says'*:
" This yecre ( I 540) James Wedderburne, eldestsonne to James Wedderburne, merchant
at Dundie, called James Wedderburne at the West Kirk Style, was delated to the Kin",
and letters of cajitioun directed to take him. He departed secrectlie to France and remainccl
at Rowan (Rouen^ and 1 icen (Hicppe) till ho deceased. He had been brought up in Sanct
Leonard's Colledge in his youth in the time of the governement of Johne, I)uke of Albanie,
and was reasonablie wcill instructed in philosophic and humanitie. Thereafter lie went to
France where he played the merchant. After his returnc, he was instructed in religioun bv
James Hewat, a lilaeke frier at Dundie. He confirmed the doctrine which the otiier had
receaved in his youth, in St. Leonard's Colledge, miderMr. Gawin Logic. This James had a
good gift of f
oesie, and made diverse comedeis and tragedeis in the Scotisli tojigue,'' wherein
he nipped the abusscs and snperstitiouu of the time. He coinpcscd in fcjrni of a tragcdie
the beheading of Johnc the Baptist, which was acted at the West I'ort of Oiuidic, wherein
he carped roughly the abnsses and corrnpliouns of the Papists. He comjiiled the Historic
of Dyonisius the Tyranne, in forme of a comedie which was acted in the [ilay-fciKl of the .said
burgh, wherin he likewise nipped the I'apists. He eonuterfooted a'to the conjuring of .-i
ghaist,. which was indeed practised by Frier Laing, beside Kingorne, which Frier Laing had
beeue Confessor to the King. But after this conjuring the King was constrained for shame,
'
See Professor Mitchell's The U'edilerhnrns ami tJirir TrurA (1S67). Mr. Laing's edition of the Guile and
Oodlic Biilliilis (ISCS), nml Mr. ilax-.vell's (Md Uunflte.
2 See the Xatimml Diet, ol Ui'«iraphii, s. Calderwooil. He lived 1573 IC.'pO, and wrote his famous history
in the latter jiart of his life. Tlie M.S. of it is now iiaitly in the British .Aluseum and partly in the
Advof-ate.s' Lil'rary at Kdiuburyh. An edition of it in eight vols, was puWished by the Wodrow
Society in lS4'2-4(i.
' This account