The family of Burnett of Leys, with collateral - Electric Scotland

134
THE FAMILY OF BURNETT OF LEYS.
V. GILBERT, Bishop of Salisbury, was the youngest
Crimond and Rachel Johnston of Warristoun.
son of Lord
It would be beyond the scope of the present narrative to enter into a
detailed history of this celebrated prelate. A life of Bishop Burnet
would mean a history of the Revolution of 1688, and of the stirring
times before and after that event, so interwoven was it with the political
and religious history of the day. Still, a volume devoted to the Burnett
family would hardly be complete without something more than a passing
mention of its most distinguished member. The Deeside family may
well be proud of having produced a son of such eminent talents, un-
swerving honesty of purpose, and, above all, toleration, in a corrupt and
intolerant age.
Honesty was certainly not the prevailing fashion amongst politicians
of his time, and in that respect the Bishop stood out in bold relief
amongst those who, whilst holding office under William and Mary and
their successor, were more or less involved in treasonable correspondence
with the exiled family. The foibles and weaknesses of the Bishop's
character have been handled with such virulence by his enemies that
posterity can afford to treat them with leniency, counter-balanced as they
are by his many virtues. Many of the most violent lampoons and satires
of the day were directed against him on account of the tolerant spirit he
displayed towards other religious bodies a trait in his character which
would hardly be considered deserving of censure at the present time.
Gilbert Burnet was born in Edinburgh on the i8th of September,
1643, and baptized on the 2ist of the same month. He received his
early education from his father, Lord Crimond, who was then in retirement
owing to his refusal to accept preferment under Cromwell, and
under his tuition made marvellous progress. At nine years of age he
could read Latin with ease, and was sent to Marischal College, Aberdeen,
where he studied with great success Greek, Mathematics, and Philosophy,
and was made Master of Arts in 1657, before he was fourteen years of
age. At the age of eighteen, his cousin, Sir Alexander Burnett of Leys,
offered him a family living, which he declined on the grounds that he
was too young to undertake such a charge.
In 1663 he spent six months in England, and visited the Universities
of Oxford and Cambridge, and in the following year he travelled in