cum Minimis non asperé, non inhumané,
utrosque eodem bene merendi studio complexus,
utrisque idem, aequé utilis ac charus.
Filius — erat mirâ in patrem pietate;
Pater — filiarum amantissimus quas quidem tres habuit,
unam e primâ conjuge, duas ex alterâ, castas, bonas,
matribus simillimas;
cum iis omnibus usque ad mortem conjunctissimi vixit.
Tertiam Uxorem sibi superstitem reliquit.
Ad humaniores illas ac domosticas virtutes tanquam cumulus accessit
Rerum Divinarum amor non fictus,
summa Numinis Ipsius reverentia,
quibus imbuta mens, exuvias jam corporis depositura,
ad Superiora se erexit,
morbi diutini languoribus infracta permansit,
et vitam tandem hane minimè vitalem — non dissoluté, non infructuosé actam —
morte verè Christianâ claudens,
ad patriam coelestem migravit.
Obiit 17° Junii, a.d. 1728,
annis sexaginta quatuor expletis, provectiori aetate sané dignus,
cujus ope effectum est
ut multi, non inter prinios pené vagitus extincti,
ad extremam nunc senectutem possint pervenire.
Viro Integerrimo, Amicissimo
ob servatam in partu vitam,
ob restitutam sa:pius et confirmatam tandem valetudinem,
Monumentum hoc Sepulchrale ejus Effigie insignitum posuit
EDMUNDUS DUX BUCKINGHAMENSIS,
appositis inde statuis ad exemplum marmoris antiqui expressis, quae
quid ab illo proestitum sit, et quid illi (redditus licet)
adhuc debetur, posteris testatum faciant.
In the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. VI. (1866-67), pages 284 to 310, there are printed:— “Notes relating to Mrs Esther (Langlois, or) Inglis, the celebrated calligraphist, with an enumeration of Manuscript Volumes written by her between the years 1586 and 1624. By David Laing, Esq., Sec. F.S.A., Scot.” I am permitted to present my readers with an abridgment of Mr Laing’s Paper. Nicholas Langlois and Marie Preset, his wife, fled to this country from the St Bartholomew Massacre; their infant daughter, Esther, born (probably in Dieppe) in 1571, was a refugee with them. They immediately, or soon after their flight, settled in Edinburgh. The rudiments of the art of calligraphy, which Esther brought to such perfection, she learned from her mother. On the anniversary of St Bartholomew in 1574, “9 Calend. Septemb. 1574 quo die multa Christianorum millia, duos abhinc annos in Galliis trucidatione perfidiosa, e vivis fuerunt sublata,” Nicholas Langlois wrote a Latin letter to Mr David Lyndsay, Minister of Leith, acknowledging his obligations. The letter is followed by a copy of some sets of verses, in which his wife exhibits her beautiful writing in various styles of penmanship. This artistic portion of the still existing manuscript is introduced by the announcement, “Uxor mea vario caracteris genere ilia pro viribus in sequenti paginâ, me suasore, descripsit;” and it is signed thus:— Marie Preset Francoise escrivoit à Edimbourg le 24 d’Aoust, 1574.
The City Treasurer’s accounts bear evidence of the kindness shown to this refugee family, and prove that he was enabled to open a French school:—
