Barclay of Ury

Barclay of Ury: David Barclay (1610-1686). Served under Gustavus
Adolphus, was an officer in the Scotch army during Civil War. He bought the estate of Ury, near Aberdeen, in 1648. He was arrested after the
Restoration and for a short time was confined to Edinburgh Castle, where he was converted to Quakerism by a fellow prisoner. His son, also a
Quaker, heard of the imprisonment mentioned in this poem and attempted to rescue his father. During the years between this trouble in 1676 and his death in 1686, the persecution seems to have been directed largely against his son. (See Dictionary of National Biography for details.)
Whinier naturally felt keenly on this subject, as he himself was a
Quaker.

1. Aberdeen: capital of Aberdeenshire, and chief seaport in north of
Scotland; fourth Scottish town in population, industry, and wealth. The buildings of Aberdeen College, founded in 1494, are the glory of
Aberdeen.

7. churl: a rude, low-bred fellow.

10. carlin: a bluff, good-natured man.

35. Lutzen: a town in Saxony where the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeated the Austrians, Nov. 16, 1632.

36. Gustavus Adolphus, "The Great" (1594-1632). He was one of the great
Swedish kings, and was very prominent in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-
1648).

56. Tilly: Johann Tserklaes, Count von Tilly, a German imperial commander in the Thirty Years’ War.

57. Walloon: a people akin to the French, inhabiting Belgium and some districts of Prussia. They have great vivacity than the Flemish, and more endurance than the French.

66. Jewry: Judea.

76. reeve: a bailiff or overseer.

31. snooded. The unmarried women of Scotland formerly wore a band around their heads to distinguish them from married women.

99. Tolbooth: Scotch word for prison.

126. This idea is expanded in the poem "Seed-time and Harvest."