Trail, Rev. Robert, of Greyfriars

autograph manuscript with scattered corrections, in a small but neat mixed hand with secretary features, providing a full and detailed account of the author's eventful life as a Scottish Covenanter ("...I am com to my old age & am warned by daylie increasing weakenes, to prepare for my removal to take a new review of the dayes of my pilgrimage, from the womb, even to this day..."), contemporary pagination, dated 1669, with an additional four pages written at the end of the notebook in the same hand ("The names of some of the friends of the cause of God in Scotland, whom the Lord called home to their rest since the beginning of out late troubles, since 1660") dated 26 April 1669, in a pre-bound notebook, leaves folded before use to provide margins, altogether 74 pages, plus blanks, 8vo (155 x 100mm), contemporary vellum with fore-edge flap, two small leaves of notes loosely inserted, binding stained

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

AN UNPUBLISHED AND UNKNOWN MEMOIR PROVIDING A REMARKABLE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF A COMMITTED COVENANTER LIVING THROUGH THE TUMULTS OF MID-SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCOTLAND. Trail, writing in exile in his late sixties, records his life from childhood onwards. In line with the Calvinist tradition of life writing, there is a strong element of introspective spiritual history to this memoir, as Trail recalls his own sinfulness, demonstrations of God’s love and favour, and his own gradual movement towards grace. He was born in Blebo in rural Fife and the earliest instances of God’s grace that he recalls are typical childhood mishaps – nearly choking after swallowing a glass trinket, and nearly drowning whilst playing in the sea. He describes his schooldays in St Andrews (vividly recalling how he stole a schoolfellow’s copy of Terence “because it was better bound than my own”) and his student days in the same city. Trail spent several years living amongst the Huguenot community in France in the late 1620s but returned to Scotland to be ordained. He was admitted minister of Elie in Fife in 1639, and almost immediately became entangled in the great public events of the day. He became part of the Covenanters’ armies, accompanying troops to Newcastle in the Bishops' Wars, and then becoming part of the Earl of Leven’s army in the English Civil War. In this capacity he was present at the critical Battle of Marston Moor on 2 July 1644 and describes how he thought the battle lost, being part of a force that was forced to retreat, only later discovered that “the other wing of our army had given a total defeat to the Enemy”. On returning to the battlefield he found that all three victorious generals had fled the field. Back in Scotland, Trail was translated to Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh in 1649 and attended the trial and execution of the Marquess of Montrose in 1650, which is vividly described in the memoir ("[he] went up the Ladder in his red scarlet casoke, in a verie stately maner, & never spake a word but when the executioner was putting the cord about his necke, he looked doune to the people on the scaffold, & asked, how long should I hang here? When my Colleague & I saw him casten over the ladder, we returned to the Commission...").

Trail's position as a pillar of kirk and community was overturned by the Restoration. He describes being arrested, released, accused of treason in a sermon, and going into hiding, travelling the city in disguise then taking refuge in rural Fife. Trail refused to take the Oath of Allegiance and was banished on pain of death in 1662, settling in Rotterdam in 1663. The last part of the memoir describes his life as part of the Presbyterian community in exile. Some years after this memoir was written, in 1674, he was finally able to return to Edinburgh, where he died two years later.