STEUART, Walter (of Pardovan?).
‘The ABC with the Shorter Catechisme appointed by the general Assembly to be a Directory for catechizing of such as are of a weaker Capacity.
Edinburgh. Written by Walter Stewart. 1714[–15].
8vo manuscript, pp. [10], 15, [11], including several blanks, in a fine calligraphic hand throughout, partly in imitation of blackletter, title-page with a decorative border; contemporary panelled calf, front cover detached; later inscription ‘The Gift of Hary [sic] Barclay Esqr to Grisell Baillie, Mellerstain Jan 1742'.
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‘The ABC with the Shorter Catechisme appointed by the general Assembly to be a Directory for catechizing of such as are of a weaker Capacity.
A very attractive calligraphic manuscript catechism, largely reproducing the very rare edition printed in Edinburgh in 1696 (NLS and Bodley only in ESTC). It was apparently produced in November–December 1714, and the imitation of both blackletter and roman type is consistently excellent throughout. At either end of the main text are several versions of what seems to be some sort of perpetual calendar in tabular form; a roundel diagram with the letters A-G; and several biblical quotations.
Though there were earlier Scottish catechisms, the first to be approved by the Kirk of Scotland after the Westminster Assembly was published in 1649. It was much reprinted, generally along with the Confession of Faith and the Longer Catechism, and then first thus, with the ABC for those of ‘a weaker capacity’, in 1663. All editions are now very rare, and it may be that rarity that inspired the present manuscript, though the care taken in its production is itself a devotional act in the catechistical tradition.
We have not been able to identify with certainty the Walter Stewart/Steuart (both spellings are used here) responsible for this transcription, but a plausible candidate is the Walter Steuart of Pardovan whose Collections and Observations methodiz’d concerning the Worship, Discipline , and Government of the Church of Scotland was published in four volumes in 1709. A manual of Presbyterian practice, it was much used in the American colonies and mentions the Shorter Catechism in several places. The later owner of this volume, by gift, Grisell Baillie (née Hume, 1665–1746), was a notable Scottish gentlewoman whose songs were included in Ramsay’s Tea Table Miscellany.
