a namesake, Ninian Paterson, in 1682, from his ministry at Dunfermline for accusing him of adultery. William Row, in his continuation of Robert Blair's ‘Life’ (published by the Wodrow Society in 1848, p. 542), calls him ‘one of the most notorious liars of his time, and a vicious, base, loose liver;’ and Kirkton (Hist. of the Church of Scotland, 1817, p. 182) records some gross stories against him. George Ridpath (fl. 1704) [q. v.] dedicates to him in the most scurrilously abusive terms his ‘Answer,’ published in 1693, to the ‘Scottish Presbyterian Eloquence,’ and accuses him of scandalous offences. And these charges are found also in Scottish pasquils of the time. He was certainly actively engaged in all the intolerant measures of the government, and opposed, until the accession of James II, the granting of any indulgences. But many of the charges brought against him were clearly libellous, and Dr. Alexander Monro (d. 1715?) [q. v.], in his reply to Ridpath's pamphlet, says that ‘the world is not so besotted as to think that the archbishop needs particular answers.’ The accusations, however, are so definite that it must be feared they were not altogether groundless. Lockhart of Carnwath describes Paterson as proud, haughty, and avaricious.
Nothing is known of any published writings by him, except that Kirkton mentions (p. 185) a pamphlet which ‘he wrote to fix Dr. Oats his popish plot upon the presbyterians, and so to divert the inquiry from the papists.’ This has not been traced. An anonymous pamphlet, published in 1703, contains a vindication of a sermon by him on passive obedience. He was supposed to be about to write, in 1683, the life of Charles I, being encouraged to do so by Charles II (Lauder of Fountainhall, Diary, p. 425). Of his correspondence much remains, in print and manuscript. Some is to be found among the episcopal records formerly kept at Glenalmond, and now in the Theological College at Edinburgh. From these some remarks by him on a copy which he made in 1680 of proposed instructions approved by the king in 1670 with relation to ecclesiastical affairs are printed, with the instructions, in Stephens's ‘Life of Archbishop Sharpe’ (pp. 430–8). In the same volume (pp. 480–2) are a letter from him to Sharpe, of 6 May 1675 (before his consecration), and a ‘Representation of the Evils of a further Indulgence,’ dated 10 Feb. 1676 (pp. 499–504). Five letters written to Sancroft in 1681–5, one dated 20 Dec. 1688, excusing his compliance with King James's toleration, and enclosing a declaration made in 1686 in favour of a relaxation of the penal laws, and another on the prospects of the church in 1689, are printed from the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library in Dr. W. Nelson Clarke's ‘Collection of Letters relating to the Church in Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1848. A letter to Lauderdale, 4 June 1674, against a national synod, and another, of 17 June 1680, about debates in the council, are in Mr. O. Airy's ‘Lauderdale Papers’ (Camd. Soc. 1885, iii. 46, 199). His attestation, dated 5 Jan. 1703, of a copy made by him of Burnet's ‘Arguments for Divorce’ is printed in John Macky's ‘Memoirs,’ 1733. A letter to the Duke of Hamilton, 13 Feb. 1703, sending a copy of Sir J. Turner's observations on Bishop Guthrie's ‘sillie Memoirs,’ is calendared by the ‘Historical MSS. Commission,’ 11th Rep. vi. 199. Several letters now at Edinburgh, assigned to him in the Second Report of the Commission (p. 203), are really from his predecessor at Glasgow, Alexander Burnet; and one to Lauderdale, among the Malet Papers now in the British Museum, entered in the Fifth Report, page 314, is not from him, but from James Hamilton, bishop of Galloway. Correspondence with Bishop Compton of London in 1698–1707, which reveals disputes with his co-bishops, and relates to relief from Queen Anne, is in Rawlinson MS. C. 985 in the Bodleian Library.
The name of his wife and the date of marriage do not appear to be known. She had died before 1696, in which year he records in his diary an offer of marriage from Lady Warner. He speaks in several letters of his numerous family.
[In addition to authorities quoted above, Dr. H. Scott's Fasti Eccl. Scoticanæ, pt. vi. passim; Lauder of Fountainhall's Diary (Bannatyne Club), pp. 204, 268, 361, 656, 708, 850; information kindly furnished by the Bishops of Glasgow and Edinburgh, Mr. G. F. Warner, and others.]
PATERSON, JOHN (1776–1855), missionary, third child of George Paterson of Duntocher in the parish of Old Kilpatrick, near Glasgow, was born at Duntocher on 26 Feb. 1776, and became a student at the university of Glasgow in 1798. He was attracted by the religious revival which sprang out of the preaching of James Alexander Haldane [q. v.], and applied for admission into a class formed by the congregationalists to train young men for the ministry. He was sent to Dundee, and spent the greater part of 1800 there, under the care of the Rev. W. Innes. Removing to Glasgow, he on 5 July 1803 became the minister of a church which he had formed at Cambuslang, but he relinquished it on 17 June 1804, with the intention of going out as a missionary to India.
