Henry Adamson was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

.

Henry was the son of James Adamson, Dean of the Merchant Guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

ry and Provost

Provost (civil)

A provost is the ceremonial head of many Scottish local authorities, and under the name prévôt was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Regime France.-History:...

 of Perth. He trained to follow his uncle, Patrick Adamson

Patrick Adamson

Patrick Adamson , Scottish divine, Archbishop of St Andrews, was born at Perth, Scotland, where his father, Patrick Adamson, was Dean of the Merchant Guildry. He studied Philosophy, and took the degree of M.A...

, into the church but instead became a schoolmaster in his home city.

His friend William Drummond

William Drummond of Hawthornden

William Drummond , called "of Hawthornden", was a Scottish poet.-Life:Drummond was born at Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian. His father, John Drummond, was the first laird of Hawthornden; and his mother was Susannah Fowler, sister of William Fowler, poet and courtier...

 encouraged him to publish his most famous poem: Muses Threnodie: of Mirthful Mournings on the death of Mr Gall, (Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 1638 — see 1638 in poetry

1638 in poetry

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Great Britain:* Henry Adamson, Muses Threnodie: of Mirthful Mournings on the death of Mr Gall, Edinburgh, noted for giving a general description of Perth in the 17th century; published with the encouragement...

). The poem is an important document for its general account of Perth in the seventeenth century. Adamson is credited with first using the word curling

Curling

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...

in 1620. He related that his friend, Mr Gall, "a citizen of Perth, and a gentle-man of goodly stature, and pregnant wit, much given to pastime, as golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, archerie

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

, curling and jovial companie". It also records the playing of Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 on the South Inch:

And ye, my clubs must no more prepare

To make your balls flee whistling through the air

It is also particularly noted for its connection of rosicrucianism, freemasonry

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...

 and second sight

Second sight

Second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, the supposed power to perceive things that are not present to the senses, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events before they happen , or about things or events at remote locations...

. Referring to the rebuilding of a bridge over the River Tay

River Tay

The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui , then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochhart, Loch Lubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay , in...

, swept away in 1621, Adamson wrote:

Thus Mr Gall assured it would be so

And my good genius doth surely know:

For what we do presage is not in grosse

For we be brethren of the Rosie Crosse;

We have the Mason word, and second sight,

Things for to come we can foretell aright.

External links

• Extracts from The Muses Threnodie (but not listing the extract dealing with the Mason word)
• http://www.AdamsonAncestry.com