Trail, Rev. William, of Borthwick

carefully inventoried and divided into sections, beginning with an alphabetical index, followed by notes on "Diaries", detailing the various diaries he had kept previously and his resolution for future life writing (4 pages), notes on his early life (2 pages), the remainder of the volume divided into numbered and headed sections, with notes added over a period of time under each heading, some sections continued further on in the volume for reasons of space (with page numbers cross-referenced), headed as follows: "1. Some particular mercies & favors", 2. entirely in shorthand, "3. Communions", "4. Journeys & Voyages", "5. Some particular miscarriages towards particular persons, in conversation", "6. His body, the frailty & sickness & dangers", "7. Studies", "8. Some things Historicall", "9. Some miscellaneous & casuall Accidents & Memorable Providences especially as to Publicke Affairs", "10. Communions", "11. Some Books", "12. Miscellaneous Accidents & Providences in Particular & Private Affairs", "13. Death or Burial of some friends or Acquaintances", "14. Casuistica quaedam. About Spirituall and soul concernments", 15. entirely in shorthand, "16. Memorable sights", "17. Sermons Notable and Memorable", "18. Miscellaneous Resolutions", 19 in shorthand, followed by "Copy of a letter from Mr Robert Traill to his Children, written in the Time of his Banishment", entirely in Trail's hand but with later entries in a larger hand, contemporary pagination to p.310 with text on about 190 pages, plus blanks, with a single leaf with additional notes loosely inserted, dated on the front paste-down Rotterdam, 12 April 1664, with dated entries to 5 August 1705, 8vo (140 x 75mm), contemporary vellum with fore-edge flap and tie, lettering and paper label on upper cover, binding stained

AN UNUSUAL AND DETAILED RECORD OF A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LIFE SPENT IN SCOTLAND, THE NETHERLANDS, IRELAND, ENGLAND, AND THE NEW WORLD. William Trail was the son of Robert Trail of Greyfriars. He was born in 1640, attended Edinburgh University, began training as a Presbyterian minister but was prevented from being licenced by the restoration of the Episcopacy after the Restoration. He went with his father into exile in the Low Countries in 1663, was eventually licenced by Presbyterian ministers in London in 1671 and was ordained in Lifford, Ireland, in 1673. He came into conflict with the authorities in Ireland and was imprisoned in 1681-82, then travelled to America and had a congregation in Maryland from 1684-90 (he lists "Rehoboth (on Potomek R/ in Maryland)" amongst the locations where he took Communion). He finally returned to Scotland after the Revolution of 1688 and was admitted minister to Borthwick, Midlothian, where he remained until he died in 1714.

The external dramas of Trail's life are recorded in this notebook and this volume evidently accompanied Trail on his travels, so some entries were written in the New World. The manner in which he records his life has an interest of its own. He inventories his life by dividing it into different categories, constructing a series of lists which expand over the years. Each of these lists tell a different story and together they provide a portrait of a life that takes in  his movements, his life as a reader and as a scholar, instances of God's grace towards him, his aspirations, and even memorable sights - which include comets, the Dutch East India fleet at Delft, and the British royal family in London.