on 27 Dec. 1681, fellow craft on 9 Nov. 1685, and freeman mason on 16 July 1687. He was warden of the lodge in 1695–7. He settled in Leith, and died 9 March 1728. By his wife Elizabeth Thomson he had several children [see under Mylne, Robert, 1734–1811]. He also is commemorated on the family monument.
[Dict. of Architecture; Mylne's Master Masons, pp. 171–249; Lyon's Hist. of the Lodge of Edinburgh, pp. 93–4; Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland; Cant's notes to Adamson's Muses Threnodie, 1774, pp. 129, 134–135; Builder, 1866, p. 187; Hist. of Holyrood House, pp. 89–94; Maitland's Edinburgh, p. 205; Steven's Hist. of Heriot's Hospital, pp. 87, 236; Ritchie's Report as to who was the architect of Heriot's Hospital, pp. 23–4; Brown's Inscriptions at Greyfriars, p. 249.]
MYLNE, ROBERT (1643?–1747), writer of pasquils and antiquary, said to have been related to Sir Robert Mylne of Barnton, North Edinburghshire, was probably born in November 1643. He is generally described as a ‘writer’ of Edinburgh, but also as an engraver; he gained notoriety by his bitter and often scurrilous political squibs against the whigs, but he also devoted much time and labour to copying manuscripts of antiquarian and historical interest. George Crawfurd, in the preface to his ‘History of the Shire of Renfrew,’ acknowledges his indebtedness to the ‘vast collections of public records’ belonging to Mylne, ‘a person well known to be indefatigable in the study of Scots antiquities.’ Among Mylne's other friends was Archibald Pitcairne [q. v.] Mylne died at Edinburgh on 21 Nov. 1747, aged 103 according to some accounts, and 105 according to others, and was buried on the anniversary of his birthday.
Mylne married on 29 Aug. 1678, in the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh, Barbara, second daughter of John Govean, minister at Muckart, Perthshire; she died on 11 Dec. 1725, having had twelve children, all of whom, except one daughter, Margaret, predeceased their father.
Many of Mylne's pasquils were separately issued in his lifetime, but others were circulated only in manuscript. From a collection brought together by Mylne's son Robert, James Maidment published, with an introduction and a few similar compositions by other writers, ‘A Book of Scottish Pasquils,’ 3 pts., Edinburgh, 1827; another edition appeared in 1868. In the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, there is a pamphlet, apparently by Mylne, entitled ‘The Oath of Abjuration Considered,’ 1712, 4to, and a complete manuscript catalogue of Mylne's printed broadsides.
[Introduction to A Book of Scottish Pasquils, 1827; Cat. of Advocates' Library; Crawfurd's Hist. of the Shire of Renfrew, p. vi; Scots Mag. 1747, p. 610; British Mag. December 1747; information from W. T. Fowle, esq.]
MYLNE, ROBERT (1734–1811), architect and engineer, was the eldest son of Thomas Mylne (d. 1763) of Powderhall, near Edinburgh, mason, eldest son of William Mylne (1662–1728), mason [see under Mylne, Robert, 1633–1710]. The father was city surveyor in Edinburgh, and, besides having an extensive private practice, designed the Edinburgh Infirmary, completed in 1745, and recently pulled down. He was apprenticed to the masonic lodge of Edinburgh 27 Dec. 1721, admitted fellow craft on 27 Dec. 1729, master in 1735–6, in which latter year he represented it in the erection of the grand lodge of freemasons of Scotland, and was grand treasurer from November 1737 to December 1755. He was elected burgess of Edinburgh on 26 March 1729. He died 5 March 1763 at Powderhall, and was buried in the family tomb at Greyfriars. By his wife Elizabeth Duncan he had seven children. A portrait by Mossman, painted in 1752, is in the possession of the family. A copy was presented to the grand lodge in 1858, and it is reproduced in Mylne's ‘Master Masons’ (p. 251). The old term ‘mason’ was dropped, and that of ‘architect’ adopted, during his lifetime.
Robert was born in Edinburgh 4 Jan. 1734, and began his architectural studies under his father. He was admitted ‘prentice as honorary member’ to the grand lodge on 14 Jan. 1754, and was raised to the degree of master-mason on 8 April of the same year. He left Edinburgh in April 1754 and proceeded to Rome, where he studied for four years. On 18 Sept. 1758 he gained the gold and silver medals for architecture in St. Luke's Academy in Rome—a distinction not previously granted to a British subject. The following year he was elected a member of St. Luke's Academy, but, being a protestant, a dispensation from the pope was necessary to enable him to take his place. This was obtained through Prince Altieri, himself a student of art. He was also made member of the Academies of Florence and of Bologna. He visited Naples and Sicily, and took careful drawings and measurements of antiquities. His notes were still in manuscript at the time of his death, though he was working on them with a view to publication in 1774. After travelling through Switzerland and Holland he reached London in 1759, bearing a very flattering recommendation from the Abbé Grant of Rome to Lord Charlemont (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. x. p. 252).
