630
him was executed by Patric Park, and another by
his second wife, a distinguished sculptor, and sister
of the artists Sir Noel and Waller Paton. His por-
trait, painted at the request of the Royal Scottish
Academy by Robert Herdman, R.S.A., was in
1870 added to the collection in the library of that
institution.
INNES, COSMO, M.A., F. S.A. Scot., an
eminent Scottish antiquary, professor of constitu-
tional law and history in the University of Edin-
burgh, was born at the old manor house of Durris,
on Deeside, 9th September, 1798. In this pleasant
district he passed his earliest years, which he, in
the fond recollection of old age, spoke of as his
"best years, or at least the years of most enjoyment."
When he had completed his school career by taking
the honourable position of dux of the High School
of Edinburgh, he continued his studies at the Uni-
versity of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford,
graduating as Master of Arts at the latter university.
From the literary studies of Oxford he passed to the
University of Edinburgh, and after the necessary
legal course he was admitted a member of the Scot-
tish bar in 1822.
Although he enjoyed a high reputation for legal
knowledge and general ability, his literary taste
interfered with his success as a pleader, and his prac-
tice, though considerable, was less extensive than
that of many who, with less knowledge and culture,
had more readiness and self-confidence. During his
entire life he was a consistent Liberal in politics, and
was the intimate friend of Lords Jeffrey, Cockburn,
and other leading Whigs of the earlier half of the
century. His abilities, however, rather than his
political creed—for he never took much interest in
the wranglings of political parties—secured to him
the post of advocate-depute in 1833, and the sheriff-
ship of Moray in 1840. In 1846 he was promoted
to the chair of constitutional law and history, a
position which derives some interest from the circum-
stance of its having been occupied by Sir William
Hamilton before his election to the chair of logic and
metaphysics. His lectures were characterized by
breadth of view, penetration, and clearness, and by
an easy, flowing, animated style; while his amia-
bility and generosity contributed still more to endear
him to his favourite students. In 1852 he was
chosen to succeed Thomas Thomson, his friend and
master, as clerk to the second division of the Court
of Session. He held the two offices of professor and
clerk to the Court of Session till the period of his
death, which took place at Killin, on the 31st of
July, 1874, after a brief illness of twenty-four hours.
It is not in any way to his legal position, but to his
zealous, long, and useful labours in the field of early
Scottish history, that Cosmo Innes owed his reputa-
tion, which extended even beyond the limits of his
own country. He was acquainted more or less with
many of the literary and political notabilities of
France, more especially with MM. Guizot and
Teulet. The latter gentleman, whose comparatively
early death was a serious loss to archæological
science, was brought over by Mr. Innes as a witness
in the famous Stirling peerage case, and remained
through life his constant friend and correspondent.
It was through this intimacy that M. Teulet was led
to do great service to Scottish history, by the pre-
paration for the Bannatyne Club of numerous papers
bearing on the political relations that existed in
early times between France and Scotland. The
results of Mr. Innes's own archaeological labours
are to be found chiefly in a few special treatises to be
afterwards mentioned, in the first volume of the Acts of
Scotland, in his numerous contributions to the Mait-
land, Bannatyne, and Spalding Clubs, and in the
Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot-
land. His first work was in connection with the
Maitland Club, for which he edited in 1832 the
Cartulary of the Abbey of Paisley. It was to the
Bannatyne Club, however, with which he first
became connected in 1829, and in the management
of which he had a principal part from the year 1832,
that he devoted so much of his time and of the
strength of his manhood. Between the years 1837
and 1856 he edited for this club about twenty vol-
umes, embracing the registers or cartularies of the
Cistercian abbey of Melrose, the see of Moray, the
abbey of Holyrood, the Benedictine abbey of Dun-
fermline, the see of Glasgow, the abbey of Kelso,
the priory of North Berwick, the abbey of Inchaff-
ray, the abbey of Aberbrothock, the abbey of New-
battle, and the see of Aberdeen. For the same club
he edited during the years 1851-55, with the assistance
of Joseph Robertson and others, the first two parts
of the Origines Parochiales Scotia:, a most impor-
tant and at the same time most expensive work;
The Black Book of Taymouth (1855), containing,
besides the genealogical records of the house of
Breadalbane, an anonymous poem of the sixteenth
century, entitled Duncan Laideus' alias aMakgre-
gouris Testament, with a power of satire and a
depth of pathos which make it worthy of a place
beside the poems of Dunbar and Lindsay; wrote
also a Memoir of Thomas Thomson, and completed
the Registrum Honoris de Morton, a series of ancient
charters relating to the earldom of Morton, which
had been commenced by Thomson, and left unfin-
ished at his death. For the Maitland Club he also
edited, in conjunction with Joseph Robertson, the
Monumenta Alme Universitatis (3 vols. 1854); and
for the Spalding Club, which confined itself to docu-
ments illustrative of the history of the north-eastern
counties of Scotland, he superintended the publica-
tion of The Brus, The Book of the Thanes of Cawdor,
and various other works of a similar nature.
Not forgetting altogether the general editorial care
which was required of him in the preparation of this
goodly array of volumes—large quartos most of them
—but which in quantity is very inconsiderable in
comparison with the labour of the skilful plodding
copyist, we are to regard his actual contributions to
Scottish archaeology, so far as these club books are
concerned, as lying in the introductions to the various
volumes. These form no mean contribution to the
illustration of early Scottish history; and it was quite
a wise act of their author to transfer them into a
single handsome octavo from what he calls the
"square repulsive volumes" of the clubs, a few
leaves of which, he was wont to complain, were cut
by perhaps a score of the subscribers, and thereafter
the large quartos were laid aside to sleep undisturbed
on the library shelf. His Sketches of Early Scotch
History and Social Progress: Church Organization,
The University, Home Life, are for the most part
composed of these prefatory papers, and, though
thus lacking the unity of a single treatise, they at
least afford valuable glimpses into the early history
and condition of our country, and are recommended
by their easy, graceful, yet vigorous style,—literary
qualities sadly wanting in the productions of most
antiquarian writers. Previous to the publication of
this collection of essays, he had' issued his Scotland
in the Middle Ages (1860), which had in the first
instance been delivered as lectures in the college
class-room. The book, though stimulating rather
than satisfactory, and not always accurate, was at
once ungrudgingly recognized as a valuable addition