Here lyes the corps of the Revrd. Mr Thomas Howie
late Minister of the Gospel at Annan,
where he exercised his office upwards of 50 yrs., during all which time he was faithful and diligent in his Lord and Master’s service, and his principal care was to seek to save his own soul and those of oyrs. and in hopes of having the approbation of Well done, good and faithful servt., enter into the joy of thy Lord. He departed this life May 23d 1753, aged 75.
Here lyes the corps of Elizabeth Davidson
late spouse to Mr Tho. Howie Minr of the Gospel at Annan.
She was a pious and resigned Christian, and affectionat wife and indulgent moyr, and in hopes of a blessed resurrection departed this life Septr 23d 1751, aged 80.
Here lye Margaret and Christiana Howies, daughters to Mr Thomas Howy minister of the Gospel at Annan and Elizabeth Davidson his spouse, who both departed this life in May 1722. Marg. aged 9 years and a half, Christiana, three.
| Psa. LXV. 20. | The child shall die an hundred years old. Dear children, ye were most sprightly and fair. | |||||||
| qu. os |
A gn’llos |
D ivus |
T risti |
D ulcedine |
P avit. |
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Here lies Thomas Johnstone, Esq. of Gutterbraes, late Provost of Annan, Grandson of the late Rev. Thomas Howie, who died 2d Sept. 1815, aged 85.
Monsieur Marchant de Saint-Michel was High-Sheriff of Anjou, in the reign of Louis XIII. He was a man of wealth, as was his brother, a Reverend Canon. The latter being, of course, a celibate, the son of the former, as the heir of both, was a youth of “great expectations.” Young St Michel entered the German military service, and at the age of twentyone, became a convert to Protestantism, for which reason he was disinherited by his father and also by his uncle. He then found a home in England, as gentleman carver to Queen Henrietta Maria. But a friar thought fit to rebuke him for not going to mass. St Michel struck the friar, and lost his appointment. Nevertheless, he married a daughter of Sir Francis Kingsmill, the widow of an Irish esquire, and settled at Bideford in Devonshire, where he had children, of whom a son and a daughter are identified. St Michel was persuaded to return to France and to take a house in Paris for himself and his family. He served in the French army; and once on returning home, he was distracted to find that his wife and two children had been inveigled into the convent of the Ursulines. One of these children was the lovely Elizabeth (born in 1640), then twelve or thirteen years of age, and “extreme handsome.” He succeeded in rescuing his family, unperverted by Romanism, and again betook himself to England, apparently settling in London. At the age of fifteen, Elizabeth was married to Samuel Pepys, gentleman, now known to fame as the “diarist.” She is called, in the register of St Margaret’s, “Elizabeth Marchant de Saint Mitchell, of Martins-in-the-ffeilds, spinster;” the date of her marriage is 1st December 1655. Her brother, Balthazar St Michel, thus became a protege of her husband, the really able naval administrator. His debût in naval warfare delighted Pepys : he writes, June 8, 1666, “To my very great joy, I find Baity come home without any hurt after the utmost imaginable danger he hath igone through in the Henery, being upon the quarter-deck with Harman all the time I am mightily pleased in him, and have great content in, and hopes of his doing well.” — Again, 21st November 1669, “Sir Philip Howard expressed all kindness to Balty when I told him how sicke he was. He says that before he comes to be mustered again, he must bring a certificate of his swearing the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and having taken the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England. This, I perceive, is imposed on all.” Balthazar was made Muster-Master in 1668, and in this office he was allowed to employ a deputy in 1666, and to accept an appointment in the Admiralty. The latter year was the date of the lamented Mrs Pepys’ death, whose epitaph, written by her husband, is on a monument in the Church of St Olave, Hart Street:—
