haps, after all, the designation was not so incorrect, for though he
held so many preferments, he never was in priest's orders, and sometimes
was not altogether free from suspicion of not being a member of the Church
of England at all, except as a recipient of its dues, and of course, a
deacon in its orders.

But it may be worthy of note, as affording another clue by which,
perchance, to trace some of Scrymgeour's MSS., that Sir Thomas Bowes, Kt.,
who was Sir Symonds D'Ewes's literary executor, employed Patrick Young to
value a collection of coins, &c., among which he recognised a number that
had belonged to the king's cabinet, and which Sir Symonds had purchased
from Hugh Peters, by whom they had been purloined. Young taxed Peters with
having taken books, and MSS. also, which the other denied, with the
exception of two or three, but was not believed. I do not know what
relation Sir Thomas Bowes was to Sir Samuel, who married Young's second
daughter, nor to Paul Bowes, who edited D'Ewes's _Journals_ in 1682. It is
quite possible that some of Scrymgeour's MSS. may have fallen into D'Ewes's
hands, may have come down, and be recognisable by some mark.

As to Scrymgeour's books, it is probable that they were deposited in Peter
Young's house of Easter Seatoun, near to Arbroath, of which he obtained
possession about 1580, and which remained with his descendants for about
ninety years, when his great-grandson sold it, and purchased the castle and
part of the lands of Aldbar. That any very fine library was removed thither
is not probable, especially any bearing Henry {548} Scrymgeour's name; and
for this reason, that Thomas Ruddiman was tutor to David Young, and was
resident at Aldbar, and would hardly have failed to notice, or to record,
the existence of any so remarkable a library as Scrymgeour's, or even of
Sir Peter Young's, who was himself an ardent collector of books, as appears
from some of his letters to Sir Patrick Vans (_recte_ Vaux) which I have
seen, and as might be inferred from his literary tastes and pursuits. There
is perhaps reason to believe that Sir Peter's library did not descend in
his family beyond his eldest son, Sir James Young, who made an attempt to
deprive the sons of his first marriage (the elder of whom died in infancy)
of their right of succession to their grandfather's estates, secured to
them under their father's marriage contract, and which attempt was defeated
by their uncle, Dr. John Young, Dea