Estate of the last decaying age thereof, this 1600 year of Christ (erroneously called a Yeare of Iubilee), which is from the Creation the 5548 yeare; containing sundrie singularities worthie of observation, concerning courses of times and revolutions of the Heaven, and reformation of Kalendars and Prognostications, with a Discourse of Prophecies and Signs, preceding the last daye, which by manie arguments appeareth now to approach,’ Edinburgh, 1599. A more ample version in Latin under the title ‘De Sabbaticorum annorum Periodis Chronologia,’ London, 1619; 2nd ed. 1623. 4. ‘De Unione Britanniæ, seu de Regnorum Angliæ et Scotiæ omniumque adjacentum insularum in unam monarchiam consolidatione, deque multiplici ejus unionis utilitate, dialogus,’ Edinburgh, 1604. David Buchanan (De Script. Scot. Ill.) mentions also his ‘Aureum Seculum,’ his ‘Translation of Pindar's Olympic Odes,’ his ‘Dissertation on the Greek Lyric Metres,’ his ‘Lexicon of Three Languages,’ and his ‘Collection of Homilies;’ but none of these manuscripts are now known to be extant.
[Histories by Keith, Calderwood, and Spotiswood; Knox's Works; Wodrow's Miscellany, vol. i.; Wodrow's Analecta; Robert Baillie's Letters and Journal (Bannatyne Club); Diary of James Melville (Wodrow Soc.); Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. i. 118–19, ii. 388, 715, 786, iii. 150.]
PONT, TIMOTHY (1560?–1614?), topographer, elder son of Robert Pont [q. v.], Scottish reformer, by his first wife, Catherine, daughter of Masterton of Grange, was born about 1560. He matriculated as student of St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews, in 1579–80, and obtained the degree of M.A. in 1583–4. In 1601 he was appointed minister of Dunnet, Caithness-shire, and was continued 7 Dec. 1610; but he resigned some time before 1614, when the name of William Smith appears as minister of the parish. On 25 July 1609 Pont was enrolled for a share of two thousand acres in connection with the scheme for the plantation of Ulster, the price being 400l. (Reg. P. C. Scotl. viii. 330).
Pont was an accomplished mathematician, and the first projector of a Scottish atlas. In connection with the project he made a complete survey of all the counties and islands of the kingdom, visiting even the most remote and savage districts, and making drawings on the spot. He died before 1625, probably in 1614, having almost completed his task. The originals of his maps, which are preserved in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, are characterised by great neatness and accuracy. King James gave instructions that they should be purchased from his heirs and prepared for publication, but on account of the disorders of the time they were nearly forgotten, when Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet prevailed on Robert Gordon (1580–1661) [q. v.] of Straloch to undertake their revision with a view to publication. The task of revision was completed by Gordon's son, James Gordon [q. v.], parson of Rothiemay, and they were published in Blaeu's ‘Atlas,’ vol. v. Amsterdam, 1654 (reissued in 1662 in vol. vi). The ‘Topographical Account of the District of Cunninghame, Ayrshire, compiled about the Year 1600 by Mr. Timothy Pont,’ was published in 1850; and was reproduced under the title ‘Cunninghame topographized, by Timothy Pont, A.M., 1604–1608; with Continuations and Illustrative Notices by the late James Dobie of Crummock, F.S.A. Scot., edited by his son, John Shedden Dobie,’ Glasgow, 1876.
[Chalmers's Caledonia; Prefaces to the editions of his Cunninghame; Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. iii. 360.]
PONTACK, —— (1638?–1720?), tavern-keeper, was the son of Arnaud de Pontac, president of the parliament of Bordeaux from 1653 to 1673, who died in 1681. Another Arnaud de Pontac had been bishop of Bazas at the close of the sixteenth century, and several members of the family held the office of ‘greffier en chef du parliament,’ and other posts in France (L'Abbé O'Reilly, Histoire complète de Bordeaux, 1863, pt. i. vol. ii. p. 126, vol. iii. p. 42, vol. iv. pp. 274, 550). After the destruction of the White Bear tavern at the great fire of London, Pontack, whose christian name is unknown, opened a new tavern in Abchurch Lane, Lombard Street, and, taking his father's portrait as the sign, called it the Pontack's Head. His father was owner, as Evelyn tells us, of the excellent vineyards of Pontaq and Obrien [Haut Brion?], and the choice Bordeaux wines which Pontack was able to supply largely contributed to the success of his house, which seems to have occupied part of the site (16 and 17 Lombard Street) where Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock, & Co.'s bank now stands (Journal of the Institute of Bankers, May 1886, vii. 322, ‘Some Account of Lombard Street,’ by F. G. H. Price). The site cannot have been the same as that of Lloyd's coffee-house, for Pontack's and Lloyd's flourished at the same period.
Pontack's became the most fashionable eating-house in London, and there the Royal Society Club dined annually until 1746. On 13 July 1683 Evelyn wrote in his ‘Diary:’ ‘I had this day much discourse with Monsieur Pontaq, son to the famous and wise
