Trail, Rev. William, of Borthwick

i) Manuscript miscellany of prose and verse, mostly on religious and political subjects, PARTIALLY WRITTEN IN MARYLAND AND INCLUDING LETTERS DISCUSSING CAROLINA, with an alphabetical index at the front, most items with a note in the margin recording when copied and often the source (some items noted as “Copyed out of the print”); the first section mostly comprising prose tracts on subjects including the Hungarian renunciation of Protestantism, the “Character of a Tory”, the translation of the Bible into English, and “why many of the Protestant Dissenters scruple to take the Bonds of the good Behaviour”; followed by a number of tracts concerning Trail’s controversial ministry in Lifford, Ireland (e.g. “The Examination of Wm Trail before a Committee of the Lords of his Majesty’s most honorable Privy Council in the Kingdom of Ireland at Dublin ... June 22 1681”); copies of letters describing the new settlement of Charleston, South Carolina, notably one each by the early settlers Paul Grimball and Joseph Morton (both dated 1682) describing the land, its fertility, potential for trade, and Native Americans (“...The Indians will travell 2 or 300 miles to deal with English: their commodities are Beaver-skins, fox skins, Racoun skins, & Beares skins, with Beares-grease, & severall sorts of furres...”) but others giving a less rosy picture of life in the colony (“...all that generation that goes there, may expect nothing but poverty & ruine...”); texts written during Trail’s sojourn in Maryland, including “A Law of Maryland concerning Religion” (“Copied of the print April 1 1685”), “Reasons wherefore a consent to abolish the penal statutes against popery cannot be given by any who owne the present Government in Church and State (in Scotland)”, a copy of the ballad “Two Tom’s one Nat | In Council sat” with an introductory note (“...There comes Newes to America in Sept 1688 that the Queen of England was brought to bed of a son (the Prince of Wales) upon June 10 1688 & hereupon a day of Thanksgiving is injoyned to be publickely kept &c. Yet many doubt of thie truth of the story, & some of these Unbeleevers made the following lines upon this business sarcastically & satyrically...”), “A Dialogue betwixt 2 Horses” usually attributed to Andrew Marvell (“We read in profane & sacred records”), responses to the Glorious Revolution, “John Heart’s discourse on the manner & rite of swearing”; early 18^th century additions in different hands, mostly comprising verse political satires, including “The Recantation of a Penitent Proteus” (“Attend good people, lay by your scoffs and scorns”) by Robert Wild (written 1663), “Scotlands Epitaph” in Latin and English (“Here Scotland lyes, clad with a mournfull shade”, dated 26 November 1706), “On the Cross upon the Cupulo of St Pauls” (“Of all the Idols of Renown”), and other verses on the Act of Union, the 1714 Jacobite Rebellion, also with a copy of Robert Trail’s letter to his children (1665); the first 221 pages in a single hand, thereafter with some entries in other hands, contemporary pagination, ruled, 285 pages, plus blanks, 1681-c.1714, 4to (193 x 150mm), contemporary vellum with numbered paper label on upper cover, covers discoloured and worn with loss, upper hinge splitting

ii) Miscellany and memoranda book including student notes on Aristotle’s Logic, the lives of religious reformers including “Of Worthy men in the Church of Scotland”, extensive spiritual and ethical advice (such as "Directions for walking with God by R. Bolton”), notes on preaching, Latin hymns, some poems in English including “Lady Anne Clanbrazills [i.e. Anne (née Carey) Countess of Clanbrassil] Contemplation upon her Garden” (“Since Rhetoricians allow to feigne...”), "each man three devils hath, self born afflictions” (‘Necessary Observations’ by Thomas Randolph), and poems by, extracts from printed sources including Religio Medici and The Anatomy of Melancholy and George Wither’s Speculum speculativum, a list of London booksellers, alphabetical lists of books including books lent, written from both ends of the volume, chiefly in a single small neat hand, with some later additions in Trail’s larger later hand and a small number of items (notably the poem by Lady Clanbrassil) possibly in another hand, some entries in shorthand, 122 pages, plus blanks, 12mo (127 x 70mm), dated Edinburgh, 19 September 1659 at the front, some entries dated to 1694, contemporary blind tooled calf with paper label on upper cover, binding worn



 iii) Commonplace book, alphabetical index at front, with headed entries on a range of subjects, mostly religious, often citing Biblical and other authorities, mostly in English but with some entries in Latin and Italian, contemporary pagination to p.56 with text on 39 pages, the remainder blank, 8vo (175 x 110mm), dated at the front “Rotterdami, Sept. 7/17 1668 Ex dono Patris”, contemporary vellum with fore-edge flap and tie, binding stained



iv) "Brachygraphy", manuscript explanation of a system of shorthand, with prepositions, terminations, vocabulary, phrases, and also with extensive notes in shorthand, contemporary pagination to page 153, with four pages of notes at the end, mostly in Trail's hand with some additions by later family members, altogether 157 pages, plus blanks, dated at the front 3 October 1700, contemporary calf with paper label on upper cover, binding worn 

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

MANSUCRIPT NOTEBOOKS PROVIDING A RICH INSIGHT INTO THE SOPHISTICATED INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF A DEEPLY COMMITTED DISSENTING MINISTER, AND WHICH REVEAL THE EXCHANGE AND COPYING OF MANUSCRIPT TEXTS THROUGHOUT THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD, INCLUDING AMERICA. All three of these volumes were written by William Trail of Borthwick (see previous lot). The substantial miscellany in quarto was evidently written sequentially as its order closely mirrors its author’s life, and was begun when Trail was a minister for the dissenting community in Lifford, County Donegal. The transcription of letters discussing South Carolina no doubt reveals an interest in emigration to escape religious persecution, following his imprisonment by the authorities in Ireland who were hostile to Presbyterianism. Trail maintained his miscellany in Maryland (where he lived from 1683 to 1690), and these entries provide fascinating evidence for the transmission of texts between Britain and America in the period. He records that a ballad against the birth of a son to James II was written in Maryland. This ballad (“Two Tom’s one Nat | In Council sat”) appears in a number of other contemporary manuscript sources and was printed in 1689; if Trail is correct about the poem’s origin it shows these far-flung communities to be surprisingly deeply integrated into networks of scribal culture of the period. The miscellany was continued after Trail’s return to Scotland, although many of the final entries appear to have been made by other members of his family.

The smaller miscellany and commonplace book relate to specific earlier moments in Trail's life. The small duodecimo notebook was initially used by Trail as a student at Edinburgh and most of the entries were made in this early period of his life, but in later years he reused the notebook to keep records of his library. The religious commonplace book dates from his training for the Presbyterian ministry in the late 1660s.

The manuscript volume on shorthand explains the system of shorthand used by Trail in the other volumes, and which was also used by other members of the Trail family over the generations.