dy Gordon,"
author of the "Itinerarium Septentrionale" (1726), the very folio which
Monkbarns carried in the dilatory coach to Queensferry. Gordon had been
a student in the University of Aberdeen; he was an amateur in many arts,
but antiquarianism was his favourite hobby. He was an acquaintance of
Sir John Clerk of Eldin, the hero of the Praetorium. The words of Gordon
in his "Itinerarium," where he describes the battle of the Grampians,
have supplied, or suggested, the speech of Monkbarns at the Kaim
of Kinprunes. The great question was, Where is the Mons Grampius of
Tacitus? Dismissing Camden's Grantsbain, because he does not know where
it is, Gordon says, "As for our Scotch Antiquaries, they are so divided
that some will have it to be in the shire of Angus, or in the Mearns,
some at the Blair of Athol in Perthshire, or Ardoch in Strathallan, and
others at Inverpeffery." Gordon votes for Strathern, "half a mile short
of the Kirk of Comrie." This spot is both at the foot of the Montes
Grampii, "and boasts a Roman camp capable of holding an army fit to
encounter so formidable a number as thirty thousand Caledonians. . . .
Here is the Porta Decumana, opposite the Prcetoria, together with the
dextra and sinistra gates," all discovered by Sandy Gordon. "Moreover,
the situation of the ground is so very exact with the description
given by Tacitus, that in all my travels through Britain I never beheld
anything with more pleasure. . . . Nor is it difficult, in viewing this
ground, to say where the Covinarii, or Charioteers, stood. In fine, to
an Antiquary, this is a ravishing scene." He adds the argument "that
Galgacus's name still remains on this ground, for the moor on which the
camp stood is called to this day Galdachan, or Galgachan Rosmoor."
All this lore Gordon illustrates by an immense chart of a camp, and a
picture of very small Montes Grampii, about the size and shape of buns.
The plate is dedicated to his excellency General Wade.

In another point Monkbapns borrows from Gordon. Sandy has a plate (page
20) of "The Roman Sacellum of Mars Signifer, vulgarly called 'Arthur's
Oon.' With regard to its shape, it is not unlike the famous Pantheon at
Rome before the noble Portico was added to it by Marcus Agrippa." Gordon
agrees with Stukeley in attributing Arthur's Oon to Agricola, and
here Monkbarns and Lovel adopt almost his words. "Time has left Julius
Agricola's very name on the place; . . . and if ever those initial
let