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Representations of Finite Groups I
(Math 240A)

(Robert Boltje, UCSC, Spring 2016)

Contents
1 Representations and Characters 1

2 Orthogonality Relations 13

3 Algebraic Integers 26

4 Burnside’s pa q b -Theorem 33

5 The Group Algebra and its Modules 38

6 The Tensor Product 49

7 Induction 57

8 Frobenius Groups 69

9 Elementary Clifford Theory 74

10 Artin’s and Brauer’s Induction Thoerems 81

1 Representations and Characters
Throughout this section, F denotes a field and G a finite group.

1.1 Definition A (matrix) representation of G over F of degree n ∈ N is

a group homomorphism ∆ : G → GLn (F ). The representation ∆ is called
faithful if ∆ is injective. Two representations ∆ : G → GLn (F ) and Γ : G →
GLm (F ) are called equivalent if n = m and if there exists an invertible matrix
S ∈ GLn (F ) such that Γ(g) = S∆(g)S −1 for all g ∈ G. In this case we often
write Γ = S∆S −1 for short.

1.2 Remark In the literature, sometimes a representation of G over F is

defined as a pair (V, ρ) where V is a finite-dimensional F -vector space and
ρ : G → AutF (V )(= GL(V )) is a group homomorphism into the group of
F -linear automorphisms of V . These two concepts can be translated into
each other. Choosing an F -basis of V we obtain a group isomorphism
∼
AutF (V ) → GLn (F ) (where n = dimF V ) and composing ρ with this iso-
∼
morphism we obtain a representation ∆ : G → AutF (V ) → GLn (F ). If we
choose another basis then we obtain equivalent representations. Conversely,
if ∆ : G → GLn (F ) is a representation, we choose any n-dimensional F -
vector space V and a basis of V (e.g. V = F n with the canonical basis)
∼
and obtain a homomorphism ρ : G → GLn (F ) → AutF (V ). Representations
(V, ρ) and (W, σ) are called equivalent if there exists an F -linear isomorphism
ϕ : V → W such that σ(g) = ϕ ◦ ρ(g) ◦ ϕ−1 for all g ∈ G. The above con-
structions induce mutually inverse bijections between the set of equivalence
classes of representations (V, ρ) and the set of equivalence classes of matrix
representations ∆ of G over F .
If one takes V := F n , the space of column vectors together with the
standard basis (e1 , . . . , en ) then the matrix representation ∆ corresponds to
(F n , ρ) with ρ(g)v = ∆(g)v.

1.3 Examples (a) The trivial representation is the homomorphism ∆ : G →

GL1 (F ), g 7→ 1.
(b) For n > 2 let D2n = hσ, τ | σ n = 1, τ 2 = 1, τ στ = σ −1 i be the dihedral
group of order 2n. We define a faithful representation ∆ of D2n over R by
! !
cos φ − sin φ −1 0
∆(σ) := and ∆(τ ) := ,
sin φ cos φ 0 1

1
where φ = 2π/n. Note that ∆(σ) is the counterclockwise rotation about
2π/n and τ is the reflection about the vertical axis in R2 .
(c) The map ∆ : Sym(n) → GLn (F ), which maps σ ∈ Sym(n) to the
permutation matrix of σ is a faithful representation of Sym(n) of degree
n over any field. It is called the natural representation of Sym(n). (The
permutation matrix of σ has in its i-th column the canonical basis vector
eσ(i) , i.e., ∆(σ) maps ei to eσ(i) .)
(d) If ∆ : G → GLn (F ) is a representation and H 6 G then the restriction
of ∆ to H,
ResG i G ∆ GL (F )
H (∆) : H
qqqqq qqqqq
qqq qqqq
qqqq qqq
qqqqq qqqqq
n

is a representation of H over F of the same degree. Here, i : H → G denotes

the inclusion map. More generally, if f : H → G is an arbitrary group
homomorphism between two arbitrary finite groups then also

Resf (∆) : H f qqqqq

qqqqq
qq
G ∆ GLn (F ) qqqqq
qqqqq
qq
qqqqq qqqqq

is a representation of H over F of degree n.

(e) If G = {g1 , . . . , gn } and if we define the homomorphism f : G →
Sym(n) by (f (g))(i) = j, when ggi = gj , then

G f qqqqq
qqq
qqqq Sym(n) ∆ GLn (F ) , qqqqq
qqqq
qqq
qqqqq qqqqq

with ∆ as in (c), is a representation, called the regular representation of G. If

we rearrange the ordering of the elements g1 , . . . , gn we obtain an equivalent
representation.
(f) If ∆1 : G → GLn1 (F ) and ∆2 : G → GLn2 (F ) are representations of G
over F then also their direct sum
!
∆1 (g) 0
∆1 ⊕ ∆2 : G → GLn1 +n2 (F ) , g 7→
0 ∆2 (g)
is a representation of G over F . Since
! ! ! !
∆2 (g) 0 0 In2 ∆1 (g) 0 0 In1
= ,,
0 ∆1 (g) In1 0 0 ∆2 (g) In2 0
we see that ∆1 ⊕ ∆2 and ∆2 ⊕ ∆1 are equivalent.
(g) Let E/F be a Galois extension of degree n with Galois group G.
Then G 6 AutF (E) and we obtain a representation (E, i) in the sense of
Remark 1.2, with i : G → AutF (E) the inclusion.

2
1.4 Definition Let ∆ : G → GLn (F ) be a representation.
(a) We say that ∆ is decomposable if it is equivalent to ∆1 ⊕ ∆2 for some
representations ∆1 and ∆2 of G over F . Otherwise it is called indecomposable.
(b) We say that ∆ is reducible if it is equivalent to a block upper triangular
representation, i.e., to a representation of the form
!
A(g) B(g)
g 7→
0 C(g)

where A(g) ∈ Matn1 (F ), B(g) ∈ Matn1 ×n2 (F ), C(g) ∈ Matn2 (F ), and where
n1 , n2 ∈ N are independent of g ∈ G. Otherwise, it is called irreducible.

1.5 Remark Let ∆ : G → GLn (F ) be a representation.

(a) If ∆ is decomposable then ∆ is also reducible. Thus, if ∆ is irreducible
it is also indecomposable.
(b) A subspace U of F n is called invariant under ∆ (or ∆-stable) if
∆(g)u ∈ U for all g ∈ G and u ∈ U . More generally, if (V, ρ) is a rep-
resentation corresponding to ∆, a subspace U of V is called invariant under
∆ (or ∆-stable) if (ρ(g))(u) ∈ U for all g ∈ G and u ∈ U . Note that ∆ is
decomposable if and only if V has a decomposition V = U ⊕ W into two
non-zero ∆-invariant subspaces U and V . And ∆ is reducible if V has a
∆-invariant subspace U with {0} = 6 U 6= V .
In the following remark we recall a few results from linear algebra.

1.6 Remark Let V be a finite-dimensional C-vector space.

(a) A map
(−, −) : V × V → C
is called a hermitian scalar product on V if the following holds for all x, x0 , y, y 0 ∈
V and λ ∈ C:

(x + x0 , y) = (x, y) + (x0 , y) , (x, y + y 0 ) = (x, y) + (x, y 0 ) ,

(λx, y) = λ(x, y) , (x, λy) = λ̄(x, y) ,
(y, x) = (x, y) , (x, x) ∈ R>0 ,
(x, x) = 0 ⇐⇒ x = 0 .

3
 (b) Let (−, −) be a hermitian scalar product on V . And let f : V → V
be an automorphism of V . Recall that f is called unitary with respect to
(−, −) if (f (x), f (y)) = (x, y) for all x, y ∈ V . The following results hold:
(i) The vector space V has an orthonormal basis with respect to (−, −),
i.e., a basis (v1 , . . . , vn ) such that (vi , vj ) = δi,j for i, j ∈ {1, . . . , n}.
(ii) An automorphism f of V is unitary if and only if the representing
matrix A of f with respect to an orthonormal basis is unitary (i.e., AA∗ = 1,
t
where A∗ = A ).
(c) The complex vector space Cn has the standard hermitian scalar prod-
uct
(x, y) = x1 ȳ1 + x2 ȳ2 + · · · + xn ȳn .
The standard basis (e1 , . . . , en ) is an orthonormal basis with respect to this
product. An automorphism f : Cn → Cn is unitary with respect to (−, −) if
and only if the unique matrix A ∈ GLn (C) with the property f (x) = Ax, for
all x ∈ Cn , is a unitary matrix, since A is the representing matrix of f with
respect to (e1 , . . . , en ).
(d) The set of unitary n × n-matrices is a subgroup U (n) of GLn (C).
Every unitary matrix is diagonalizable, i.e., conjugate to a diagonal matrix.
Its eigenvalues are complex numbers of absolute value 1.

1.7 Proposition Every complex representation ∆ : G → GLn (C) is equiv-

alent to a unitary representation, i.e., to a representation Γ : G → GLn (C)
with Γ(g) ∈ U (n) for all g ∈ G.
Proof For x, y ∈ Cn define
X
hx, yi := (∆(g)x, ∆(g)y) ,
g∈G

where (−, −) is the standard hermitian scalar product on Cn . It is easy to

check that < −, − > is again a hermitian scalar product on Cn and we have
X X
h∆(g)x, ∆(g)yi = (∆(h)∆(g)x, ∆(h)∆(g)y) = (∆(k)x, ∆(k)y) = hx, yi ,
h∈G k∈G

for all x, y ∈ Cn and g ∈ G. Thus, ∆(g) is unitary with respect to h−, −i, for
every g ∈ G. Let S ∈ GLn (C) be a matrix such that its columns (v1 , . . . , vn )
form an orthonormal basis of Cn with respect to h−, −i. Then the represent-
ing matrix S −1 ∆(g)S of ∆(g) with respect to (v1 , . . . , vn ) is unitary. Thus,
the representation Γ = S −1 ∆S is unitary.

4
1.8 Corollary Let ∆ : G → GLn (C) be a representation and let g ∈ G be
an element of order k. Furthermore, set ζ := e2πi/k ∈ C, a primitive k-th
root of unity. Then there exists S ∈ GLn (C) (which can depend on g) such
that
ζ i1
 

S∆(g)S −1 = diag(ζ i1 , . . . , ζ in ) = 
 .. 
,
 . 
ζ in
the diagonal matrix with diagonal entries ζ i1 , . . . , ζ in , where the exponents
i1 , . . . , in are elements in {0, 1, . . . , k − 1}.
Proof By Proposition 1.7, the matrix ∆(g) is conjugate to a unitary matrix.
Moreover, by Remark 1.6(d), every unitary matrix is conjugate to a diagonal
matrix. Thus, there exists S ∈ GLn (C) such that S∆(g)S −1 is a diagonal
matrix, say with diagonal entries d1 , . . . , dn . Finally, since g k = 1, we have
(S∆(g)S −1 )k = S∆(g)k S −1 = S∆(g k )S −1 = In . This implies that the entries
di must satisfy dki = 1 for i = 1, . . . , n. Now the statement of the corollary
follows immediately.

Note that the previous corollary only says that each matrix ∆(g), g ∈ G,
is individually diagonalizable. This does not mean that ∆ as a repre-
sentation is diagonalizable, i.e., ∆ is equivalent to a representation with
diagonal matrices as values. Clearly, ∆ as a representation is diagonal-
izable if and only if it is equivalent to a direct sum of representations of
degree 1.

1.9 Theorem Assume that |G| = |G| · 1F is invertible in F . Let ∆ : G →

GLn (F ) be a representation and let U ⊆ F n be an F -subspace that is ∆-
invariant. Then there exists a ∆-invariant F -subspace V ⊆ F n such that
Fn = U ⊕ V .
Proof Let u1 , . . . , ur be an F -basis of U and extend it to an F -basis
u1 , . . . , un of F n . Let A ∈ Matn (F ) be defined by Aui = ui for i = 1, . . . , r
and Aui = 0 for i = r + 1, . . . , n. We set
1 X
A0 := ∆(g −1 )A∆(g).
|G| g∈G

Then we have
(i) A0 u = u for all u ∈ U .

5
 (ii) A0 x ∈ U for all x ∈ F n .
(iii) A0 A0 x = A0 x for all x ∈ F n .
(iv) A0 ∆(h) = ∆(h)A0 for all h ∈ G.
In fact, to see (i), note that
1 X 1 X 1 X
A0 u = ∆(g −1 )A∆(g)u = ∆(g −1 )∆(g)u = u = u,
|G| g∈G |G| g∈G |G| g∈G
since ∆(g)u ∈ U for all g ∈ G and u ∈ U . To see (ii), note that A∆(g)x ∈ U
for all x ∈ F n . Now (iii) follows immediately from (i) and (ii). And (iv)
follows from the computation
1 X 1 X
A0 ∆(h) = ∆(g −1 )A∆(gh) = ∆(hg̃ −1 )A∆(g̃) = ∆(h)A0 ,
|G| g∈G |G| g̃∈G
where we made the substitution g̃ = gh.
Now set V := kerA0 . We first show that V is ∆-invariant. For v ∈ V and
g ∈ G we obtain from (iv) that A0 ∆(g)v = ∆(g)A0 v = 0, which means that
∆(g)v ∈ kerA0 = V . Next we show that F n = U + V . In fact, let x ∈ F n .
Then using (ii) and (iii) we obtain x = A0 x + (x − A0 x) ∈ U + V . Finally, we
show that U ∩ V = {0}. So let x ∈ U ∩ V . Then 0 = A0 x = x by (i). This
completes the proof.

1.10 Corollary Assume that |G| is invertible in F and let ∆ : G → GLn (F )

be a representation. Then one has:
(a) The representation ∆ is equivalent to a direct sum of irreducible
representations.
(b) The representation ∆ is indecomposable if and only if it is irreducible.
Proof (a) We prove this by induction on n. If n = 1, the statement holds,
since every representation of degree 1 is irreducible by definition. Assume
now that n > 1. If ∆ is irreducible then we are done. So assume that ∆ is
not irreducible. Then there exists a ∆-invariant F -subspace {0} 6= U 6= F n .
By Theorem 1.9, there exists a ∆-invariant F -subspace V of F n such that
F n = U ⊕ V . Therefore, ∆ is equivalent to ∆1 ⊕ ∆2 for representations of
degree n1 , n2 < n. By induction the claim follows.
(b) If ∆ is irreducible then it is also indecomposable for trivial reasons.
Now assume that ∆ is not irreducible. Then there exists a ∆-invariant sub-
space {0} 6= U 6= F n . By Theorem 1.9, U has a ∆-stable complement V in
F n . This implies that ∆ is not indecomposable.

6
 We recall the following theorem from Linear Algebra without proof.

1.11 Theorem Let A1 , . . . , Ak ∈ Matn (F ). Then the following are equiva-

lent:
(i) The matrices A1 , . . . , Ak are simultaneously diagonalizable over F ,
i.e., there exists S ∈ GLn (F ) such SAi S −1 is a diagonal matrix, for all
i = 1, . . . , k.
(ii) The matrices A1 , . . . , Ak are individually diagonalizable over F and
they commute, i.e., Ai Aj = Aj Ai for all i, j ∈ {1, . . . , k}.

1.12 Corollary (a) Let ∆ : G → GLn (C) be a representation satisfying

∆(g)∆(h) = ∆(h)∆(g) for all g, h ∈ G. Then ∆ is equivalent to a direct sum
of representations of degree 1.
(b) Assume that G is abelian. Then every representation ∆ : G →
GLn (C) is equivalent to a direct sum of representations of degree 1. In par-
ticular, every irreducible representation of G has degree 1. In other words,
the irreducible representations of G are just the homomorphisms from G to
the multiplicative group C× of C.

1.13 Definition Let ∆ : G → GLn (F ) be a representation. The character

of ∆ is defined as the function

χ := χ∆ : G ∆ GLn (F ) tr F .
qqqqq
qqqqq
qqqq
qqq
qqqqq
qqqqq
qqqq
qqq

The characters of representations of G over F are called the F -characters of

G. If F = C, we just call them characters, or sometimes complex characters
of G. If F = C and ∆ is irreducible then χ is called a (complex) irreducible
character.
In the following remark we derive a few first properties of characters.

1.14 Remark Assume that ∆ : G → GLn (F ) is a representation and let

χ = χ∆ : G → F denote its character.
(a) Recall that for two matrices A, B ∈ Matn (F ) one has tr(AB) =
tr(BA). In particular, if S ∈ GLn (F ) one obtains tr(SAS −1 ) = tr(AS −1 S) =
tr(A). This implies that if ∆ and Γ are equivalent representations then
χ∆ = χΓ . Moreover, by the same property of the trace map we obtain, for
any elements g, x ∈ G, that

χ(xgx−1 ) = tr(∆(xgx−1 ) = tr(∆(x)∆(g)∆(x)−1 ) = tr(∆(g)) = χ(g) .

7
This means that the function χ : G → F is constant on conjugacy classes of
G. Any such function is called a class function or a central function on G.
The class functions f : G → F form an F -vector space CF(G, F ) with the
usual addition and scalar multiplication. The dimension of CF(G, F ) is equal
to the number k(G) of conjugacy classes of G. In fact, the characteristic class
functions which have value one on one particular conjugacy class and value
zero on all others form an F -basis of CF(G, F ).
(b) Let ∆1 : G → GLn1 (F ) and ∆2 : G → GLn2 (F ) be two representa-
tions. Then, for every g ∈ G, we have
!
∆1 (g) 0
χ∆1 ⊕∆2 (g) = tr = tr(∆1 (g)) + tr(∆2 (g)) = χ∆1 (g) + χ∆2 (g) .
0 ∆2 (g)

Thus, χ∆1 ⊕∆2 = χ∆1 + χ∆2 in the vector space CF(G, F ).

(c) The F -characters and representations of degree 1 are precisely the
group homomorphisms in Hom(G, F × ). They form an abelian group under
the product defined by (φ · ψ)(g) = φ(g)ψ(g), for φ, ψ ∈ Hom(G, F × ) and
g ∈ G. Recall that we have an isomorphism of abelian groups

Hom(G/G0 , F × ) → Hom(G, F × ) , f 7→ f ◦ ν ,

where G0 denotes the commutator subgroup of G, generated by all commuta-

tors [x, y] := xyx−1 y −1 , x, y ∈ G, and where ν : G → G/G0 , g 7→ gG0 , denotes
the natural epimorphism.
(d) Assume from now on that F ⊆ C. Note that

χ(1) = n .

Thus, the character of ∆ ‘knows’ the degree of the representation ∆. We call

χ(1) the degree of the character χ.
Let g ∈ G and assume that g k = 1. Then, by Corollary 1.8 we have

ζ i1
 

∆(g) = S 
 ..  −1
S ,
 . 
ζ in

for some S ∈ GLn (C), with ζ := e2πi/k and i1 , . . . , in ∈ Z. Therefore,

χ(g) = ζ i1 + · · · + ζ in .

8
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The triangle inequality implies that
n
|ζ ij | = n
X
|χ(g)| 6
j=1

with equality if and only if ζ i1 = · · · = ζ in . Thus, we have

|χ(g)| = χ(1) ⇐⇒ ∆(g) is a scalar matrix.

The set of elements g ∈ G with |χ(g)| = χ(1) is called the center of the
character χ and is denoted by Z(χ). In particular, we obtain

χ(g) = χ(1) ⇐⇒ ∆(g) = In ⇐⇒ g ∈ ker(∆) .

Thus, the character χ ‘knows’ the kernel of ∆. The set of elements g ∈ G

with χ(g) = χ(1) is called the kernel of χ and is denoted by ker(χ).
Finally, we will show that

χ(g −1 ) = χ(g) .

In fact, from above we have

−1
ζ i1 ζ −i1
  

∆(g −1 ) = ∆(g)−1 = S 
 .. 
S −1 = S 
 ..  −1
S .
 . 
  . 
ζ in ζ −in

Taking the trace yields

χ(g −1 ) = ζ −i1 + · · · + ζ −in = ζ i1 + · · · + ζ in = χ(g) .

1.15 Examples Assume that F = C.

(a) The character of the trivial representation is the constant function
G → C with value 1. It is called the trivial character and it is often denoted
by 1G or just 1. More general, any group homomorphism ϕ : G → C× =
GL1 (C) is a representation of degree 1 and at the same time a character of
G.
(b) For the regular character ρG , the character of the regular represen-
tation (cf. Example 1.3(e)), we find that ρG (1) = |G| and ρG (g) = 0 for
all g ∈ G with g 6= 1. In fact, in the latter case one has for all elements

9
gi ∈ G that ggi 6= gi . This means that all the diagonal entries in the regular
representation of g are equal to 0.
(c) Let G = Sym(3). Since we have an isomorphism

Hom(G, C× ) ∼
= Hom(G/G0 , C× ) = Hom(G/h(1, 2, 3)i, C× ) ,

see Remark 1.14, the group G has exactly two representations of degree
1, namely, the trivial representation and the sign representation ε : G →
{±1} 6 C× . Moreover, from Example 1.3(b), since Sym(3) ∼ = D6 , we have a
representation of degree 2 with the property that
! √ !
cos 120◦ − sin 120◦ − 1 − 23
(1, 2, 3) 7→ ◦ ◦ = √32 ,
sin 120 cos 120 − 12
2
!
−1 0
(1, 2) 7→ .
0 1

Its character χ is given by χ(1) = 2, χ(1, 2, 3) = −1, χ(1, 2) = 0. Since

every other element in G is conjugate to (1, 2, 3) or (1, 2), these three values
determine χ. We arrange these values in a table:

1 (1, 2) (1, 2, 3)
1 1 1 1
ε 1 −1 1
χ 2 0 −1

Since χ 6= 1 + 1, χ 6= ε + ε, and χ 6= 1 + ε, we obtain that every represen-

tation whose character is equal to χ is an irreducible representation. Here
we used Corollary 1.10 and the property in Remark 1.14(b). In particular, χ
is an irreducible character. We will see in Section 2 that there are no other
irreducible characters for Sym(3).
(d) Let G = hgi be a cyclic group of order k and let ζ := e2πi/k . Then
every homomorphism in Hom(G, C× ) is uniquely determined by its value on
g and the possible values are the k-th roots of unity, namely 1, ζ, ζ 2 , . . . , ζ k−1 .
Thus we obtain k characters of degree 1 which we arrange in the following

10
table.
1 g g2 ··· gj ··· g k−1
1 1 1 1 ··· 1 ··· 1
ϕ 1 ζ ζ2 ··· ζj ··· ζ k−1

ϕ2 1 ζ2 ζ4 ··· ζ 2j ··· ζ 2(k−1)

.. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . .
ϕi 1 ζi ζ 2i ··· ζ ij ··· ζ i(k−1)
.. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . .
ϕk−1 1 ζ k−1 ζ k−2 · · · ζ k−j · · · ζ
×
Note note that Hom(G, C ) is again a cyclic group of order k, generated by
the character ϕ.

Exercises
1. Let D2n = hx, y | xn = y 2 = 1, xy = yx−1 i be the dihedral group of order
2n.
(a) Show that
   
ζn 0 0 1
∆1 : D2n → GL2 (C) , x 7→ , y→
7 ,
0 ζn 1 0

with ζn := e2πi/n defines a representation.

(b) Decide if the representation ∆1 is equivalent to the representation
   
cos(2π/n) − sin(2π/n) −1 0
∆2 : D2n → GL2 (C) , x 7→ , y 7→ .
sin(2π/n) cos(2π/n) 0 1

2. Let G = hgi be a cyclic group of order 3.

(a) Show that
 
−1 −1
∆ : G → GL2 (Q) , g 7→ ,
1 0
defines a representation.
(b) Show that ∆ is irreducible over Q.
(c) Show that ∆ is decomposable over C.

3. Let ∆ : G → GLn (C) be a representation and let χ be its character. The

center of ∆ is defined as
Z(∆) := {g ∈ G | ∆(g) = α · 1n for some α ∈ C} ,

11
and the center of χ is defined as

Z(χ) := {g ∈ G | |χ(g)| = n}

(a) Show that Z(χ) = Z(∆).

(b) Show that Z(χ) is a normal subgroup of G.

4. Let G = hgi be a cyclic group of prime order p and let F := Z/pZ.

(a) Show that there exists a unique representation ∆ : G → GL2 (F ) with
 
1 1
∆(g) = .
0 1

(b) Show that the representation ∆ is indecomposable but not irreducible.

5. (a) Let G be a cyclic group of order 2. Try to explicitly decompose the

regular representation of G over C into a direct sum of irreducible representa-
tions, i.e., find an equivalent representation which is a direct sum of irreducible
representations.
(b) Do the same as in (a) for a cyclic group of order 3.

12
2 Orthogonality Relations
Throughout this section, G denotes a finite group. If there is no base field
specified, representations are considered to be complex representations.

2.1 Lemma (Schur) Let ∆1 : G → GLm (C) and ∆2 : G → GLn (C) be ir-
reducible representations and let A ∈ Matm×n (C) be an intertwining matrix,
i.e., a matrix satisfying

∆1 (g)A = A∆2 (g) for all g ∈ G. (2.1.a)

(a) If ∆1 and ∆2 are not equivalent then A = 0.

(b) If ∆1 = ∆2 then A is a scalar matrix, i.e., there exists λ ∈ C such
that A = λ · In .
Proof (a) Assume that A 6= 0. From this we will derive a contradiction. Let
U := ker(A) ⊆ Cn . Then U is a ∆2 -invariant subspace. In fact, for u ∈ U and
g ∈ G we have ∆2 (g)u ∈ U , since A∆2 (g)u = ∆1 (g)Au = 0. Since A 6= 0, we
have U 6= Cn . Since ∆2 is irreducible, this implies U = {0}. Thus, the linear
map Cn → Cm , x 7→ Ax is injective. Next consider V := im(A) ⊆ Cm . This
is a ∆1 -invariant subspace. In fact, let v ∈ V and g ∈ G. We need to show
that ∆1 (g)v ∈ V . Since v ∈ V , there exists x ∈ Cn with Ax = v. Therefore,
∆1 (g)v = ∆1 (g)Ax = A∆2 (g)x ∈ V . Since A 6= 0, we have V 6= {0}. Since
∆1 is irreducible, we obtain V = Cm . Therefore, the linear map Cn → Cm ,
x 7→ Ax, is also surjective, and consequently an isomorphism. Thus, m = n
and A ∈ GLn (C). Now Equation (2.1.a) implies ∆1 (g) = A∆2 (g)A−1 for all
g ∈ G. Thus, ∆1 and ∆2 are equivalent. This is a contradiction.
(b) Set ∆ := ∆1 = ∆2 . Let λ ∈ C be an eigenvalue of A and set
A0 := A − λIn . Then also A0 is an intertwining operator, i.e., it satisfies
∆(g)A0 = A0 ∆(g) for all g ∈ G. Since there exists a non-zero eigenvector for
λ, we obtain U 0 := ker(A0 ) 6= {0}. As in the proof of Part (a) we can see
that U 0 is a ∆-invariant subspace of Cn . Since ∆ is irreducible, we obtain
U 0 = Cn . But this means A0 = 0 and A = λ · In .

We derive a sequence of three corollaries from the above lemma, the last
of them showing that the number of irreducible representations of G is finite
and that the sum of the squares of their degrees is bounded by |G|.

13
2.2 Corollary Let ∆1 : G → GLm (C) and ∆2 : G → GLn (C) be irreducible
representations and let A ∈ Matm×n (C). Set
1 X
A0 := ∆1 (g)A∆2 (g −1 ) ∈ Matm×n (C) .
|G| g∈G

(a) If ∆1 and ∆2 are not equivalent then A0 = 0.

tr(A)
(b) If m = n and ∆1 = ∆2 then A0 = n
· In .
Proof We first show that A0 satisfies Equation (2.1.a). Let h ∈ G. Then
1 X 1 X
∆1 (h)A0 = ∆1 (hg)A∆2 (g −1 ) = ∆1 (g̃)A∆2 (g̃ −1 h)
|G| g∈G |G| g̃∈G
= A0 ∆2 (h) .

Here we made the substitution g̃ = hg.

(a) This follows immediately from Lemma 2.1(a).
(b) Set ∆ := ∆1 = ∆2 . By Lemma 2.1(b), there exists λ ∈ C such that
0
A = λ · In . Taking traces, we obtain
1 X
nλ = tr(λ · In ) = tr(∆(g)A∆(g −1 )) = tr(A0 ) ,
|G| g∈G

and the desired equation holds.

2.3 Corollary Let ∆1 : G → GLm (C) and ∆2 : G → GLn (C) be irreducible

unitary representations and write
   
∆1 (g) = rij (g) and ∆2 (g) = skl (g)
16i,j6m 16k,l6n

for g ∈ G.
(a) If ∆1 and ∆2 are not equivalent then
1 X
rij (g)skl (g) = 0
|G| g∈G

for all 1 6 i, j 6 m and 1 6 k, l 6 n.

14
 (b) If m = n and ∆1 = ∆2 then

1 X 1 if (i, j) = (k, l),
rij (g)skl (g) = n
|G| g∈G 0 if (i, j) 6= (k, l),

for all i, j, k, l ∈ {1, . . . , n}.

Proof Let A := (auv ) ∈ Matm×n (C) be arbitrary and let A0 = (a0ik ) ∈
Matm×n (C) be defined as in Corollary 2.2. Then, since svk (g −1 ) = skv (g),
the (i, k)-entry of A0 is given by
m X n X
1 X
a0ik = riu (g)auv skv (g) .
|G| u=1 v=1 g∈G

(a) By Corollary 2.2(a), we have a0ik = 0 for every choice of A and for
every choice of 1 6 i 6 m and 1 6 k 6 n. We choose A = Ejl , the matrix
all of whose entries are 0, except for the (j, l)-entry which is equal to 1. This
gives the desired equation.
(b) By Corollary 2.2(b), we obtain

 tr(A) if i = k,
a0ik =  n
0 6 k.
if i =

Now Choose A = Ejl and the result follows.

2.4 Corollary Let G be a group. The number of equivalence classes of

irreducible representations of G is finite. If ∆i : G → GLni (C), i = 1, . . . , k,
are representatives of these equivalence classes then one has ki=1 n2i 6 |G|.
P

Proof Let ∆t : G → GLnt (C), t ∈ T , be a set of representatives of the

equivalence classes of irreducible representations of G. We may choose them
t
to be unitary representations by Proposition 1.7. Write ∆t (g) = (rij (g)) ∈
GLnt (C) for every t ∈ T and g ∈ G. We consider triples (t, i, j) with t ∈ T
t
and i, j ∈ {1, . . . , nt }. For each such triple we consider the vector (rij (g)) ∈
|G|
C . By Corollary 2.3, these vectors are non-zero and pairwise orthogonal in
C|G| , and therefore the set of these vectors is linearly independent. Thus, the
number of triples (t, i, j), namely t∈T n2t , is bounded by |G|. This implies
P

that T is finite and the result follows.

15
2.5 Definition On the C-vector space CF(G, C) of class functions from G
to C we introduce the Schur inner product
1 X
(f1 , f2 ) := f1 (g)f2 (g) .
|G| g∈G
It is a straightforward verification that (−, −) is a hermitian scalar product
on CF(G, C). For characters χ1 , χ2 of G we also have
1 X
(χ1 , χ2 ) = χ1 (g)χ2 (g −1 ) ,
|G| g∈G
since χ2 (g) = χ2 (g −1 ) as observed in Remark 1.14(d). This implies
(χ1 , χ2 ) = (χ2 , χ1 ) ,
i.e., the Schur inner product is symmetric on characters.
2.6 Notation From now on, for the rest of the section, we fix the follow-
ing notation. We choose unitary representatives ∆1 , . . . , ∆k of the equiv-
alence classes of irreducible representations of G. We write n1 , . . . , nk for
their respective degrees and we denote by χ1 , . . . , χk their respective char-
acters. Then χi (1) = ni for i = 1, . . . , k and ki=1 n2i 6 |G| by Corol-
P

lary 2.4. We denote by Irr(G) the set of irreducible characters of G; thus,

Irr(G) = {χ1 , . . . , χk }. Finally, for t ∈ {1, . . . , k} and g ∈ G, we write
 
t
∆t (g) = rij (g) .
16i,j6nt

2.7 Theorem (First orthogonality relation) The irreducible characters

χ1 , . . . , χk form a set of orthonormal vectors in CF(G, C) with respect to the
Schur inner product. In other words,

1 X 1 if i = j,
(χi , χj ) = χi (g)χj (g −1 ) =
|G| g∈G 0 if i 6= j.

Proof From Corollary 2.3 we obtain, for s, t ∈ {1, . . . , k},

ns nt
1 X X  X 
(χs , χt ) = riis (g) t
rkk (g)
|G| g∈G i=1 k=1
ns X
nt
X 1 X s t
= rii (g)rkk (g)
i=1 k=1 |G| g∈G
ns
X 1
= δst = δst
i=1 ns

16
and the theorem is proven.

2.8 Corollary The irreducible characters χ1 , . . . , χk of G form a set of C-

linearly independent vectors in CF(G, C). Moreover, one has k 6 k(G),
where k(G) denotes the number of conjugacy classes of G.
Proof The first statement is a general fact about a set of orthogonal vectors
in a C-vector space with hermitian scalar product. The second statement
follows immediately, since dimC CF(G, C) = k(G).

The following theorem is an amazing fact: Although in general it is im-

possible to reconstruct a square matrix just from the knowledge of its trace,
a representation of G is determined up to equivalence by its character. How-
ever, given a character χ of G, it is in practice difficult to construct a repre-
sentation ∆ with character χ.

2.9 Theorem Let ∆ and Γ be (complex) representations of G which have

the same character, i.e., χ∆ = χΓ . Then ∆ and Γ are equivalent.
Proof By Corollary 1.10(a), we know that ∆ is equivalent to a direct sum
of irreducible representations. Moreover, each of these irreducible represen-
tations is equivalent to one of our representatives ∆i , 1 6 i 6 k. Thus,
altogether, ∆ is equivalent to a direct sum of the form
k
M
∆
| i
⊕ ·{z
· · ⊕ ∆}i . (2.9.a)
i=1
li summands

Similarly, Γ is equivalent to a direct sum of the form

k
M
∆i ⊕ · · · ⊕ ∆i . (2.9.b)
| {z }
i=1
mi summands

Here, li , mi ∈ N0 for i = 1, . . . , k. Remark 1.14(b) implies that

l1 χ1 + · · · + lk χk = χ∆ = χΓ = m1 χ1 + · · · + mk χk .

The linear independence of χ1 , . . . , χk now implies that li = mi for all i. But

this implies that the representations in (2.9.a) and (2.9.b) coincide. Thus, ∆
is equivalent to Γ.

17
2.10 Remark Let ∆ : G → GLn (C) be a representation and let χ denote
its character. By the argument in the proof of Theorem 2.9 we see that one
can write χ as
χ = m1 χ1 + · · · + mk χk ,
with unique coefficients m1 , . . . , mk ∈ N0 . One can determine the coeffi-
cient mi quickly from the knowledge of the character χ and the irreducible
character χi by
mi = (χ, χi ) , for i = 1, . . . , k. (2.10.a)
In fact, (χ, χi ) = kj=1 mi (χj , χi ) = mi , by Theorem 2.7. The number mi is
P

called the multiplicity of χi in χ.

2.11 Proposition For the regular character ρG of G one has

ρG = n1 χ1 + · · · nk χk ,

where ni = χi (1) for i = 1, . . . , k. In particular, evaluating at the identity

element, one obtains
|G| = n21 + · · · + n2k .
Proof Recall from Example 1.15(b) that ρG (1) = |G| and ρG (g) = 0 for
g 6= 1. Therefore, the definition of the Schur inner product yields (ρG , χi ) =
χi (1) = ni . Now equation (2.10.a) implies the formula for ρG . The second
statement is clear.

2.12 Lemma Let ∆ : G → GLn (C) be an irreducible representation with

character χ and let f ∈ CF(G, C). Then the matrix

f (g)∆(g −1 ) ∈ Matn (C)

X
∆f :=
g∈G

|G|
is a scalar matrix λ · In with λ = n
(f, χ).
Proof For any x ∈ G we have

∆(x)∆f ∆(x−1 ) = f (g)∆(xg −1 x−1 ) = f (xgx−1 )∆(xg −1 x−1 )

X X

g∈G g∈G
−1
X
= f (g̃)∆(g̃ ) = ∆f ,
g̃∈G

18
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where we substituted g̃ = xgx−1 . Therefore we have ∆(x)∆f = ∆f ∆(x) for
all x ∈ G. Now Corollary 2.2 implies that ∆f = λ · In with
tr(∆f ) 1 X 1 X |G|
λ= = f (g)χ(g −1 ) = f (g)χ(g) = (f, χ) .
n n g∈G n g∈G n

2.13 Corollary The set Irr(G) = {χ1 , . . . , χk } is an orthonormal basis of

CF(G, C) with respect to the Schur inner product. In particular, |Irr(G)| =
dimC CF(G, C) = k(G), the number of conjugacy classes of G. Moreover, for
every class function f ∈ CF(G, C) we have
k
X
f= (f, χi )χi ,
i=1

with the Schur inner product (f, χi ) ∈ C, for i = 1, . . . , k.

Proof By Theorem 2.7 it suffices to show that Irr(G) generates CF(G, C).
For this it suffices to show that the orthogonal complement hIrr(G)i⊥ C of
hIrr(G)iC is equal to 0, since CF(G, C) = hIrr(G)iC ⊕ hIrr(G)i⊥ C . So let
⊥
f ∈ hIrr(G)iC . Then (f, χi ) = 0 for all i = 1, . . . , k. Lemma 2.12 implies
that (∆i )f = 0 for every irreducible representation ∆i of G, i = 1, . . . , k. Set
k
M
∆ := ∆i ⊕ · · · ⊕ ∆i
| {z }
i=1 ni

and form ∆f as in Lemma 2.12. Then, ∆f is a block diagonal matrix with

ni blocks equal to (∆i )f . Therefore ∆f = 0. This implies that ∆0f = {0} for
every representation ∆0 which is equivalent to ∆. By Proposition 2.11 and
Theorem 2.9, the representation ∆ is equivalent to the regular representation
Γ with respect to any ordering g1 , . . . , gn of the elements of G. We may
assume that g1 = 1. Thus Γf = 0 and we obtain the following equation in
Cn , where ei denotes the standard basis vector for i = 1, . . . , n:
n n n
f (gi )Γ(gi−1 )e1 = f (gi−1 )Γ(gi )e1 = f (gi−1 )ei .
X X X
0 = Γ f e1 =
i=1 i=1 i=1

This implies that f (gi−1 ) = 0 for all i = 1, . . . , n. Thus, f = 0 and the proof
is complete.

19
2.14 Remark One arranges the values of the irreducible characters χ1 , . . . , χk
of G in a quadratic table, the character table of G:
g1 ··· gj ··· gk
χ1 χ1 (g1 ) · · · χ1 (gj ) · · · χ1 (gk )
.. .. .. ..
. . . .
χi χi (g1 ) · · · χi (gj ) · · · χi (gk )
.. .. .. ..
. . . .
χk χk (g1 ) · · · χk (gj ) · · · χk (gk )
Here, g1 , . . . , gk are representatives of the conjugacy classes of G. Often one
also writes the cardinality cj of the conjugacy class of gj in a row below gj .
Note that cj = [G : CG (gj )] for j = 1, . . . , k. Sometimes it is also useful
to add a row with the orders o(gj ) of the group elements gj , j = 1, . . . , k.
Usually the elements gj are ordered in ascending element order, and the
irreducible characters are ordered according to ascending character degree.
Thus, usually g1 = 1. One also usually has χ1 = 1, the trivial character.

2.15 Example For G = Sym(3) (which is isomorphic to D6 ) we obtain the

character table
gj 1 (1, 2) (1, 2, 3)
cj 1 3 2
o(gj ) 1 2 3
1 = χ1 1 1 1
 = χ2 1 −1 1
χ3 2 0 −1
from our work in in Example 1.15(c), since we now know that |Irr(G)| =
k(G) = 3.

2.16 Theorem (Second orthogonality relation) For any g, h ∈ G one

has 
k |C (g)| , if g and h are conjugate,
G
χi (g)χi (h−1 ) = 
X

i=1 0 , otherwise.
Proof Write fh ∈ CF(G, C) for the class function which is equal to 1 on the
class of h and 0 everywhere else. By Corollary 2.13, we have
k
X
fh = (fh , χi )χi
i=1

20
with
1 |G| 1
(fh , χi ) = · · χi (h−1 ) = · χi (h−1 ) .
|G| |CG (h)| |CG (h)|
This implies
k k k
1 X
−1
X 1 −1
X 
χi (g)χi (h ) = χi (h )χi (g) = (fh , χi )χi (g)
|CG (h)| i=1 i=1 |CG (h)| i=1

1 if g and h are conjugate,
= fh (g) =
0 otherwise,

and the proof is complete.

The following remark introduces some new operations on representations

and shows how those and the ones that were already established translate to
operations on characters.

2.17 Remark Let F be an arbitrary field.

(a) Tensor product of representations. Let f : V → V 0 and g : W →
W 0 be F -linear maps between F -vector spaces and let v1 , . . . , vn , v10 , . . . , vm
0
,
0 0 0 0
w1 , . . . , ws , and w1 , . . . , wr be F -bases of V , V , W , and W , respectively.
Moreover, let A ∈ Matm×n (F ) and B ∈ Matr×s (F ) be the representing
matrices of f and g with respect to these bases, respectively. Then the
representing matrix of the F -linear map f ⊗g : V ⊗F W → V 0 ⊗F W 0 , v ⊗w 7→
f (v) ⊗ g(w), with respect to the bases vi ⊗ wj of V ⊗F W and vi0 ⊗ wj0 of
V 0 ⊗F W 0 in lexicographic order is given by the Kronnecker product (also
called tensor product) A ⊗ B of A and B. It is defined by
 
a11 B · · · a1n B
 . .. 
A ⊗ B =  ..

.  ∈ Matmr×ns (F ) .
am1 B · · · amn B
Note that if m = n and r = s then
tr(A ⊗ B) = a11 tr(B) + · · · ann tr(B) = tr(A) · tr(B) . (2.17.a)
Since the composition of linear maps corresponds to multiplication of ma-
trices and since (f1 ⊗ g1 ) ◦ (f ⊗ g) = (f1 ◦ f ) ⊗ (g1 ◦ g), we obtain for any
additional matrices C ∈ Matl×m (F ) and D ∈ Matq×r (F ) that
(C ⊗ D)(A ⊗ B) = (CA) ⊗ (DB) ∈ Matlq×ns (F ) . (2.17.b)

21
If ∆1 : G → GLm (F ) and ∆2 : G → GLn (F ) are representations of G we
define their tensor product ∆1 ⊗ ∆2 by

∆1 ⊗ ∆2 : G → GLmn (F ) , g 7→ ∆1 (g) ⊗ ∆2 (g) .

Equation (2.17.b) implies that ∆1 ⊗ ∆2 is in fact a homomorphism, and

Equation (2.17.a) implies that

χ∆1 ⊗∆2 (g) = χ∆1 (g) · χ∆2 (g) ,

for all g ∈ G. If we define the product of class functions f1 , f2 ∈ CF(G, C)

in the usual way, by (f1 · f2 )(g) := f1 (g)f2 (g) for g ∈ G, then the above
equation shows that
χ∆1 · χ∆2 = χ∆1 ⊗∆2 .
In particular, the set of characters of G, as a subset of CF(G, C), is multi-
plicatively closed: The product of two characters is again a character.
(b) Contragredient representation. If ∆ : G → GLn (F ) is a representation
then also

∆∗ : G → GLn (F ) , g 7→ (∆(g)t )−1 = (∆(g)−1 )t = ∆(g −1 )t ,

is a representation, called the contragredient representation of ∆. One has

χ∆∗ (g) = tr(∆(g −1 )t ) = tr(∆(g −1 )) = χ∆ (g −1 ) ,

for all g ∈ G. If F ⊆ C then one also has χ∆∗ (g) = χ∆ (g). Thus, in this
case,
χ ∆∗ = χ ∆ ,
where ¯· : CF(G, C) → CF(G, C) denotes the function defined by f (g) :=
f (g), for all g ∈ G. In particular, the set of characters of G, as a subset of
CF(G, C), is closed under complex conjugation. For any character χ of G,
we call χ the contragredient character of χ.
(c) Inflation. Let N / G and let ν : G → G/N =: Ḡ, g 7→ gN , denote the
canonical epimorphism. For any representation Γ : G/N → GLn (F ) we write

Inf G
G/N (Γ) := Resν (Γ) := Γ ◦ ν : G → GLn (F ) .

This representation of G is called the inflation of the representation Γ. For

instance, the trivial representation of G is the inflation of the trivial rep-
resentation of G/N . By the fundamental theorem of homomorphisms, the

22
map Γ 7→ Inf G G/N (Γ), defines a bijection between the representations Γ of
G/N over F of given degree n and the representations ∆ of G over F
of degree n with N 6 ker(∆). Moreover, since ν is surjective, one has
Γ(G/N ) = (Γ ◦ ν)(G) = ∆(G). It follows that two representations Γ1
and Γ2 of G/N are equivalent if and only if their inflations Inf GG/N (Γ1 ) and
G
Inf G/N (Γ2 ) are equivalent. Furthermore, a representation Γ of G/N is irre-
ducible (resp. indecomposable) if and only if its inflation Inf G
G/N (Γ) is irre-
ducible (resp. indecomposable). This way, specializing to F = C, inflation
induces a bijection
inf G
G/N : Irr(G/N ) → {χ ∈ Irr(G) | N 6 ker(χ)} , θ 7→ θ ◦ ν .
(d) The character ring. We set
R(G) := {a1 χ1 + · · · + ak χk | a1 , . . . , ak ∈ Z} = hIrr(G)iZ ⊆ CF(G, C) ,
the Z-span of the irreducible characters of G in the C-vector space of class
functions of G. The elements of R(G) are called generalized characters or
also virtual characters. Every virtual character can be written as a difference
of two characters. Conversely, the difference of two characters is always a
virtual character. By Part (a), the product of two virtual characters is again
a virtual character. Therefore, R(G) is a subring of the C-algebra of class
functions CF(G, C). It is called the character ring of G. Note that since
Irr(G) is a C-linearly independent set in CF(G, C) it is a Z-basis of R(G).
Previously defined constructions for representations induce structural maps
on character rings and maps between character rings:
direct sum − ⊕− → abelian group structure on R(G)
tensor product − ⊗− → ring structure on R(G)
contragredient −∗ → ring automorphism ¯· : R(G) → R(G), χ 7→ χ̄
Resf → ring homom. resf : R(G) → R(G̃), χ 7→ χ ◦ f
ResG H → ring homom. resG H : R(G) → R(H), χ 7→ χ|H
Inf G
G/N → G
ring homom. inf G/N : R(G/N ) → R(G)
Here, f : G̃ → G denotes a group homomorphism, H denotes a subgroup of
G
G, and N denotes a normal subgroup of G. The functions resG
H and inf G/N
are special cases of resf .
In the following proposition we give a criterion for when a generalized
character χ ∈ R(G) is an irreducible character. Note that χ(1) is always an
integer.

23
2.18 Proposition For every χ ∈ R(G) the following are equivalent:
(i) χ ∈ Irr(G).
(ii) (χ, χ) = 1 and χ(1) > 0.
Proof If χ is irreducible then the properties in (ii) are clearly satisfied.
Conversely, assume that χ satisfies the properties in (ii) and write χ = a1 χ1 +
· · · + ak χk as a Z-linear combination of the irreducible characters χ1 , . . . , χk
of G. Then, by the first orthogonality relation (Theorem 2.7), we have
k X
k k
a2i .
X X
1 = (χ, χ) = (a1 χ1 +· · ·+ak χk , a1 χ1 +· · ·+ak χk ) = ai aj (χi , χj ) =
i=1 j=1 i=1

This implies that there exists a unique index i ∈ {1, . . . , k} such that ai 6= 0
and moreover that ai ∈ {1, −1}. In otherwords, χ = ±χi . Now χ(1) > 0
implies that χ = χi ∈ Irr(G).

Exercises

1. Let G be a finite group and let χ ∈ Irr(G). Show that Z(G) 6 Z(χ).

2. (a) Determine all the irreducible characters of the dihedral group D8 =

ha, b | a4 = b2 = 1, bab = a−1 i of order 8.
(b) Determine all the irreducible characters of the quaternion group Q8 =
hx, y | x4 = y 4 = 1, x2 = y 2 , yxy −1 = x3 i of order 8.

3. Assume that ∆ : G → GLn (F ) is a representation of a finite group G over

a field F and let ϕ : G → F × be a homomorphism.
(a) Show that also ϕ · ∆ : G → GLn (F ), g 7→ ϕ(g)∆(g) is a representation of
G over F , the twist of ∆ by ϕ.
(b) Show that ∆ is irreducible (resp. indecomposable) if and only if ϕ · ∆ is
irreducible (resp. indecomposable).
(c) Compute the irreducible representations of D10 (up to equivalence) and
their characters.

4. Determine the irreducible characters of Alt(4).

5. (a) Let f : G → H be a surjective group homomorphism and let ∆ : H →

GLn (F ) be a representation of H over an arbitrary field F . Show that ∆ is

24
irreducible (resp. indecomposable) if and only if Resf (∆) is irreducible (resp.
indecomposable).
(b) Determine the character table of the symmetric group Sym(4). (Hint: Use
(a) with H a factor group of Sym(4).)

6. Let G be a finite group and write Irr(G) = {χ1 , . . . , χk }.

(a) Let χ and χ0 be characters of G. Show that ker(χ + χ0 ) = ker(χ) ∩ ker(χ0 ).
(b) Show that ki=1 ker(χi ) = {1}.
T

(c) Let N E G. Show that there exists a subset I ⊆ {1, . . . , k} such that
\
N= ker(χi ) .
i∈I

In particular, one can determine from the character table the partially ordered set
of normal subgroups of G.

25
3 Algebraic Integers
Throughout this section, we denote by S a commutative ring and by R ⊆ S
a subring with 1S ∈ R. We introduce and study elements of S which are
integral over R. We specialize to the situation where R = Z and S = C
to obtain consequences for characters. Again, throughout this section, G
denotes a finite group. The main goal of this section is to show that the
degrees of the irreducible characters of a finite group G are divisors of |G|.
Recall that a polynomial f = an X n + · · · a1 X + a0 ∈ R[X] of degree n is
called monic if an = 1. Thus, a monic polynomial is always non-zero.

3.1 Definition An element s ∈ S is called integral over R if there exists a

monic polynomial f ∈ R[X] such that f (s) = 0.

3.2 Remark For s ∈ S one denote by R[s] the set of all finite R-linear
combinations of the elements 1, s, s2 , . . .. In other words, one has R[s] =
{f (s) | f ∈ R[X]} = h1, s, s2 , . . .iR . Clearly, R[s] is a subring of S. Moreover,
it is the smallest subring of S which contains R and s. In other words,
whenever R0 ⊆ S is a subring with R ⊆ R0 and s ∈ R0 then R[s] ⊆ R0 .
More generally, for elements s1 , . . . , sn ∈ S, one writes R[s1 , . . . , sn ] for
the set of all R-linear combinations of elements sa11 · · · sann with a1 , . . . , an ∈
N0 . In other words, R[s1 , . . . , sn ] = {f (s1 , . . . , sn ) | f ∈ R[X1 , . . . , Xn ]}.
Again it is easy to see that R[s1 , . . . , sn ] is a subring of S and that it is the
smallest subring of S which contains R and {s1 , . . . , sn }. Thus, R[s1 , . . . , sn ]
is independent of the order of the elements s1 , . . . , sn . It only depends on
the set {s1 , . . . , sn }. Moreover, if also t1 , . . . , tm are elements in S one has
(R[s1 , . . . , sn ])[t1 , . . . , tm ] = R[s1 , . . . , sn , t1 , . . . , tm ].
The following theorem gives useful characterizations of when an element
s ∈ S is integral over R. Note that any subring T of S which contains R is
also an R-module.
For the proof of the following theorem recall the following notion and fact
from linear algebra: If B ∈ Matn (R) is a square matrix with entries bij one
defines its adjunct matrix B̃ ∈ Matn (R), also called the cofactor matrix of
B, as the matrix with entries b̃ij , where b̃ij := (−1)i+j det(Bji ), where Bji is
the square matrix of size n − 1 that arises form deleting the j-th row and the
i-th column from B. This matrix B̃ has the property
B̃ · B = det(B) · In = B · B̃ .

26
3.3 Theorem For s ∈ S the following are equivalent:
(i) The element s is integral over R.
(ii) The R-module R[s] is finitely generated.
(iii) There exists a subring T of S with R[s] ⊆ T ⊆ S such that T is
finitely generated as R-module.
Proof (i)⇒(ii): By definition, there exist n > 1 and r0 , . . . , rn−1 ∈ R such
that sn + rn−1 xn−1 + · · · + r1 s + r0 = 0. We will show by induction on k > 1
that sk ∈ h1, s, s2 , . . . , sn−1 iR . For k = 0, . . . , n − 1 this is clear and for k = n
this follows from
sn = −r0 · 1 − r1 s − r2 s2 − · · · − rn−1 sn−1 . (3.3.a)
Now assume that k > n and that sk ∈ h1, s, s2 , . . . , sn−1 iR . Then, by Equa-
tion (3.3.a), we obtain
sk+1 = s · sk ∈ s · h1, s, s2 , . . . , sn−1 iR = hs, s2 , . . . , sn−1 , sn iR
⊆ h1, s, s2 , . . . , sn−1 iR .
This finishes the proof by induction and we have R[s] = h1, s, s2 , . . .iR =
h1, s, s2 , . . . , sn−1 iR , which is finitely generated.
(ii)⇒(iii): This is trivial: choose T = R[s].
(iii)⇒(i): Let {t1 , . . . , tn } ⊆ T be a generating set of T as R-module.
Then we can express sti as an R-linear combination of t1 , . . . , tn for every
i = 1, . . . , n. In other words, there exist elements aij ∈ R, i, j ∈ {1, . . . , n},
such that n
X
sti = aij tj for all i = 1, . . . , n.
j=1

One can rewrite this as a matrix equation for the matrix A = (aij ) ∈
Matn (R):    
t1 0
. . n
 ..  =  ..  in T .
(s · In − A)    
tn 0
Therefore, the matrix B := s · In − A ∈ Matn (R[s]) satisfies
     
t1 t1 0
. . .
det(B)In  .  = B̃B  .  =  .. 
 .   .  
 in T n .
tn tn 0

27
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
breeding and the de’il’s get. Nae halesome water can come forth
from such a polluted fountain!” Others cried: “Ill-hanged thief, if
at that time thou went’st to court, thou had been well hanged,
thou hadst not been here to be a pest to God’s church this day!”
One did cast a stool at him, intending to have given him a ticket
of remembrance; but jouking became his safeguard at that
time.’—Brief and True Relation of the Broil, &c., printed in App. to
Rothes’s Relation, 1830.
73 See Vol. I. p. 545.
74 Rothes’s Relation of Proceedings Concerning the Affairs of the
Kirk.
75 Become fusty.
76 Inundation.
77 Clarendon’s Life, ii. 333.
78 Whitelock’s Memorials, 485.
79 Gordon of Rothiemay’s Hist. Scots Affairs from 1637 to 1641.
Spalding Club, vol. i. 57.
80 Lady Mary Stewart, daughter of Esme, first Duke of Lennox.
81 Some extracts from this book were printed by the late Charles
Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., 4to, without date.
82 The moneys are Scots, being but a fraction of sterling money
of the same denomination.
83 The lady thus devoted her plate to the maintenance of the
Covenanted cause.
84 Cosmo Innes—preface to Fasti Aberdonenses, Spalding Club,
1854.
85 Gordon’s Hist. Scots Affairs.
86 Maitland Club Misc., i. 476.
87 Turners made by gipsies (cairds).
88 The reader cannot fail to have perceived that John Dhu Ger
has been twice killed already. How he contrived to outlive so
many deaths, I am unable to explain.
89 Guthry’s Memoirs.
90 Edinburgh Magazine, March 1819.
91 Balfour’s Annals of Scotland, iii. 128.
92 Archæologia Scotica, i. 503, note.
93 Wodrow’s Analecta, ii. 209, 280.
94 The battle of Edgehill, fought on the 24th of October 1642.
95 According to Burnet, Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston did
the same thing. ‘He would often pray in his family two hours at a
time, and had an unexhausted copiousness that way. What
thought soever struck his fancy during those effusions, he looked
on as an answer to prayer, and was wholly determined by it.’
96 This whimsical association actually occurs in the dittay of a
witch of this period.
97 Stevenson’s History of the Church of Scotland.
98 Willis’s Current Notes, April 1857.
99 See Thorpe’s Northern Mythology; also article on Sandsting in
New Stat. Acc. Scotland.
100 On the 8th of June 1643, a case came before the Privy
Council, at the instance of Lawrence Mercer and others, students
at St Andrews, who complained of a scandalous charge got up
against them by James Stewart of Ardvoirlich and his two sons,
Robert and Harry, to the effect that umwhile Alexander Stewart,
son of the first party, and brother of the two others, had received
deadly injuries from them in a college tumult, and died in
consequence. It was shewn that Alexander had provoked a tumult
by his insolent speeches, and afterwards lay for a day or two in
bed, but was found on inspection to be quite well, and he had
lived in good health for nine months after. The lords accordingly
declared the complainers to be innocent of what was laid to their
charge.
101 Notes to the Waverley Novels.
102 In a curious and rare pamphlet, by William Lithgow,
descriptive of the siege of Newcastle (Edinburgh, printed by
Robert Bryson, 1645), we get some idea of the wretched state to
which the place was reduced in consequence of its investiture of
several months. ‘We found great penury and scarcity of victuals,
ammunition, and other necessaries within that dejected town; so
that they could not have held out ten days longer, unless the one
half had devoured the other. The plague was raging in Gateside,
Sandside, Sunderland, and many country villages about.’ For this
reason, Tynemouth was obliged to surrender also; ‘the pestilence
having been five weeks there with a great mortality, they were
glad to yield and to scatter themselves abroad, but to the great
undoing and infecting of the country about.’
Lithgow, by the way, was dissatisfied with the treatment of
Newcastle by his countrymen. ‘As they abused their victory,’ says
he, ‘in storming the town, with too much undeserved mercy, so
they as unwisely and imprudently overreached themselves, in
plundering the town with an ignorant negligence and careless
omission.... And as they thus defrauded themselves with a whistle
in their mouths, so they pitifully prejudged, by this their inveigled
course, the common soldiers of their just due and dear-bought
advantages.’
103 ‘At Botarie, 25th October 1648, the brethren ordained to
intimat out of their several pulpits, that whosoever receipts and
converses with excommunicat persons, should be processed
before the presbytery.’—Strathbogie Presbytery Record.
104 Producing a fire by the friction of two sticks against each
other.
105 Daughter-in-law of the Lady Frendraught formerly noticed.
106 Records of the Kirk of Scotland, 1838, p. 446.
107 Peterkin’s Records of the Kirk of Scotland, p. 427.
108 Maitland Miscell., i. 436.
109 Maitland Miscel., i. 433.
110 Caldwell Papers, i. 91.
111 Wood’s Parish of Cramond, p. 77.
112 Coltness Collections (Maitland Club), p. 58.
113 Archæologia Scotica, ii. 108.
114 Lyndoch lies about seven miles north-west from Perth.
115 It is certain that Perth was visited by the plague in 1646. See
Memorabilia of Perth, p. 179.
116 In a popular publication quoted below117 occurs the following
notice of a well-known land mollusk, in connection with a
traditionary story of the plague, which has long had general
currency in Scotland:
‘In the woodlands, the more formidable black nude slug, the Arion
or Limax ater, will also be often encountered. It is a huge
voracious creature, herbivorous, feeding, to Barbara’s
astonishment, on tender plants; fruits, as strawberries, apples;
and even turnips and mushrooms; appearing morning and
evening, or after rain; suffering severely in its concealment in long
droughts, and remaining torpid in winter. The gray field slug
(Limax agrestis) is actually recommended to be swallowed by
consumptive patients! In the town of Dundee there exists a
strange traditionary story of the plague, connected with the
conversion, from dire necessity, of the Arion ater, or black slug, to
a use similar to that which the luxurious Romans are said to have
made of the great apple-snail. Two young and blooming maidens
lived together at that dread time, like Bessie Bell and Mary Gray,
in a remote cottage on the steep (indeed almost perpendicular)
ascent of the Bonnetmaker’s Hill. Deprived of friends or support
by the pestilence that walked at noonday, they still retained their
good looks and healthful aspect, even when the famine had
succeeded to the plague. The jaundiced eyes of the famine-
wasted wretches around them were instantly turned towards the
poor girls, who appeared to thrive so well whilst others were
famishing. They were unhesitatingly accused of witchcraft, and
had nearly fallen prey to that terrible charge; for betwixt
themselves they had sworn never to tell in words by what means
they were supported, ashamed as they felt of the resource to
which they had been driven; and resolved, if possible, to escape
the anticipated derision of their neighbours on its disclosure. It
was only when about to be dragged before their stern inquisitors,
that one of the girls, drawing aside the covering of a great barrel
which stood in a corner of their domicile, discovered, without
violating her oath, that the youthful pair had been driven to the
desperate necessity of collecting and preserving for food large
quantities of these Limacinæ, which they ultimately acknowledged
to have proved to them generous and even agreeable sustenance.
To the credit of the times of George Wishart—a glimpse of pre-
reforming enlightenment—the explanation sufficed; the young
women escaped with their lives, and were even applauded for
their prudence.’
117 Summer Life on Land and Water. By William W. Fyfe. 1851.
118 Remarkable Passages of the Lord’s Providence towards Mr
John Spreull, Town-clerk of Glasgow, 1635-54. T. Stevenson,
Edinburgh, 1832.
119 Arbroath Guide, Oct. 2, 1847.
120 Executed in the Palace-yard, Westminster, 9th March 1649.
121 6th October 1648—‘appoints the four bailies, the old provost
[Archibald Tod], the deacon of the chirurgeons, and their clerk, to
go down to the Canongate in the afternoon, and in the Council’s
name salute the Lord Cromwell, lieutenant-general of the English
forces, and thir presents sall be their warrand.’—Ed. Council
Register.
122 Defoe’s Review of the Brit. Nation, 1709.
123 Life of Cameron of Lochiel.
124 Balfour’s Annals. Britain’s Distemper, by Patrick Gordon.
125 Excerpts from Fraser of Wardlaw’s Memoirs. Inverness
Courier.
126 Rescinded Acts. Records of Kirk of Scotland.
127 Balfour’s Annals, iii. 427.
128 Son to umquhile John Stewart, usher to his majesty.
129 Acts of Estates, MS. Gen. Reg. House.
130 This narration is taken from Fergusson’s Diary, as quoted in
Satan’s Invisible World. We are obliged, however, for the name of
the minister to Wodrow, Analecta, i. 65.
131 Maitland Miscel., i. 439.
132 From tradition.
133 On the 18th of March 1647, finding that ‘the pride and
insolency of excommunicate persons doeth exceedingly increase,
and that the dreadful censure of excommunication is much
slighted and vilipended, whereby God is much dishonoured,’ the
Estates passed an act renewing the force of all previous acts
against such persons, and ordaining that, after forty days, letters
of horning and caption should be issued against them, to be of
full force unless they can shew that they have given ‘full
obedience and satisfaction to the kirk.’ The acts against papists
were at the same time renewed; none such to be capable of
public employment, husbands to be ‘countable for their wives’ if
the ladies should reset priests, and no person to take a servant
unprovided with ‘a testimonial of the soundness of their religion
from the minister where they dwelt.’
134 Register of the Presbytery of Lanark. Acts of the Scottish
Parliament, MS.
135 Records of Kirk of Scotland, p. 473.
136 Nicoll’s Diary.
137 Kirkton’s Hist. Church Scot., p. 64.
138 Nicoll’s Diary, p. 8.
139 Dr Wilde, in Census of Ireland for 1851; part V., vol. i., p.
110.
140 Baillie’s Letters, iii. pp. 97, 550.
141 See an interesting narration on this subject in Mr Mark
Napier’s Montrose and the Covenanters, 1838.
142 The formula used on the occasion is given in the following
terms by a writer of the seventeenth century: ‘When any one
dies, the bellman goes about ringing the passing bell, and
acquaints the people therewith in the following form: “Beloved
brethren and sisters, I let you to wit, that there is ane faithful
brother lately departed out of this present warld, at the pleasure
of Almichty God (and then he veils his bonnet); his name is Wully
Woodcock, third son to Jemmy Woodcock, a cordinger; he ligs at
the sixt door within the Norgate, close on the Nether Wynd, and I
would you gang to his burying on Thursday before twa o’clock,
&c.” The time appointed for his burying being come, the bellman
calls the company together, and he is carried to the burying-place,
and thrown into the grave as dog Lion was, and there is an end of
Wully.’—A Modern Account of Scotland, 1670. Harleian Miscellany,
vi. 121.
143 The mansion of the Earl of Moray in the Canongate, the same
house that Cromwell occupied on his brief visit in 1648. It is now
the Normal School of the Education Committee of the Free Church
of Scotland.
144 These anecdotes appear in A Short Abridgment of Britain’s
Distemper from 1639 to 1649. By Patrick Gordon of Ruthven.
Spalding Club. 1844. They are placed by the author in connection
with Cromwell’s comparatively peaceful visit to Edinburgh in 1648,
but must, beyond a doubt, refer to the crisis of 1650.
145 See under date December 18, 1649.
146 The small county of Kinross was included.
147 The annual valued rent of Fife and Kinross in 1674 amounted
to £383,379 Scots.
148 It appears from factory accounts in the Caldwell papers as if
oats fluctuated in the period 1645-54 between 6s. 1d. and 17s.
8d. sterling per boll. But probably the highest prices do not
chance to occur in these accounts.
149 Shew themselves.
150 Nicoll, p. 67.
151 Spalding Miscellany, iii. 205.
152 From a copy of the petition in possession of the present
Irvine of Drum.
153 See under July 18, 1649.
154 Illust. Shires of Aber. and Banff. Spal. Club. Vol. i. p. 285.
155 Apparently a tax imposed on houses—equivalent to hearth-
money.
156 A small sect who held that families were the only proper
congregations.
157 Register of the Committee of Estates (Gen. Reg. House),
Sept. 28, 1660.
158 Account of the Regalia, by Sir Walter Scott.
159 Burgh Record of Peebles.
160 Strang’s Glasgow and its Clubs, p. 7.
161 Whitelocke’s Memorials, 514, 515.
162 Quoted in Spottiswoode Miscellany, ii. 91.
163 Whitelock, 520.
164 See the Court of Session Garland (Stevenson, Edinburgh,
1839), p. 4.
165 Heath’s Chronicle, p. 356.
166 Mil. Memoirs of the Great Civil War, 4to, p. 220.
167 Memoirs of Locheil, p. 129.
168 Clarendon.
169 Wogan lay at Weem during his illness, and might therefore
have been expected to lie interred in the churchyard of that
parish; but Heath gives Kenmore as his last resting-place.
170 Abbreviate of Justiciary Register, by Lord Fountainhall,
quoted in notes to Law’s Memorials, p. 91.
171 Caldwell Papers, i. 92.
172 Satan’s Invisible World Discovered.
173 Nicoll’s Diary.
174 Baillie’s Letters, iii. 323.
175 About July 1655, a woman in Suffolk was taken possession of
by a devil at a Quaker meeting, and carried home, where she
soon after died. A circumstance which figures in the diagnosis of
many cases of alleged possession, is related regarding her.
‘Something ran up and down in her body under the skin, that
bellowed in her like a calf.’—Nic.
176 In an act of the Estates, March 22, 1647, it is acknowledged
that, at Martinmas of the preceding year, the debt owing to Sir
William Dick by the public was £533,971, 6s. 9d. Scots. In a
supplication, he set forth ‘his hard and distrest condition for want
thereof.’
177 The English parliament, March 3, 1660, granted a protection
to Sir Andrew Dick, and continued to him a pension of £5 a week
which had been for some time in arrears, recommending him at
the same time to the Council of State for such preferment in
Scotland as he is capable of.—Mercurius Politicus: March 15,
1660.
178 Mercurius Politicus, May 20, 1658.
179 Baillie’s Letters, iii. 387.
180 Lives of the Lyndsays, i. 296.
181 Parliamentary Diary, iv. 168. Desborough, along with one
Downing, represented Edinburgh in the parliament which
Cromwell assembled at Westminster in 1654.
182 Baillie. Letters, iii. 438. The countess is said by Baillie to have
been the medium through which the Scottish nobility acted on
General Monk, in prompting him to go to London, just before the
Restoration.
183 A Journey through Scotland, in Familiar Letters, &c. 8vo.
London, 1723.
184 In August 1657, his son, Lord Linton, was cited before the
presbytery of Peebles for certain scandalous miscarriages—as,
frequent absence from church, drinking, and swearing. He
submitted, and was rebuked. On the 3d of December of the same
year, ‘the presbytery, taking into their consideration a letter of
complaint formerly sent unto them by the Lord Linton,
complaining of his father as slandering him of unnatural dealing
towards his parents,’ appointed a committee to speak with them
both, and report. Lord Linton was afterwards asked to give in
particulars of his complaint, but he does not appear to have
complied with the request.
185 Inverness Courier, January 1851.
186 Stirk, a young ox. Hawkit, white-faced.
187 John Mean had assisted Montrose and the Engagement, and
incurred losses on these accounts. Acts of S. Parl., vii., App. 93.
188 We only know of this act from its being alluded to in the Privy
Council Record.
189 Cosmo Innes’s Preface to the Acts of the Parliament of
Scotland, 1844.
190 Thomson’s Scottish Acts, xi., App. p. 139.
191 See under March 1652.
192 In the parish of Aberdour, on the north coast of
Aberdeenshire, is the house of Auchmedden, once belonging to a
family named Baird. A local writer in 1724 reports that, among
some high rocks near the Auchmedden millstone quarry, ‘there is
an eagle’s nest; and the pair which breed there have continued in
that place time out of mind, sending away their young ones every
year, so that there is never more stays but the old pair.’193 ‘At one
period,’ says a writer of our own day, ‘there was a pair of eagles
that regularly nestled and brought forth their young in the rocks
of Pennan; but, according to the tradition of the country, when
the late Earl of Aberdeen purchased the estate from the Bairds,
the former proprietors, the eagles disappeared, in fulfilment of a
prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer, “that there should be an eagle
in the crags while there was a Baird in Auchmedden.” But the
most remarkable circumstance, and what certainly appears
incredible, is, that when Lord Haddo, eldest son of the Earl of
Aberdeen, married Miss Christian Baird of New Byth, the eagles
returned to the rocks, and remained until the estate passed into
the hands of the Hon. William Gordon, when they again fled, and
have never since been seen in the country. These facts,
marvellous as they may appear, are attested by a cloud of famous
witnesses.’194
193 View of Dio. of Aberdeen, Spal. Club, p. 447.
194 New Stat. Acc. of Scot.
195 See under May 21, 1650.
196 See Spottiswoode Miscellany, vol. ii., for a series of extracts.
197 Life of Thomas Ruddiman, 117.
198 Wodrow’s Analecta, i. 301.
199 Analecta, i. 106.
200 Law’s Memorials. By C. K. Sharpe, p. lxviii.
201 Contemporary with Kincaid flourished, in the north country, a
pricker named John Dick. One named John Hay, a messenger in
Tain, who had reached sixty without any discredit attaching to his
name, was denounced by a distracted woman as a wizard, and
immediately seems to have fallen into the hands of Dick, who,
without any authority, pricked him all over his body, having first
shaved his head to ascertain that there were no insensible parts
in that region. He was then transferred to Edinburgh, a journey of
nearly two hundred miles, and locked up in the Tolbooth. On a
petition from Hay, and the exhibition of certificates of character,
he was ordered by the Lords of Council to be liberated.
202 Kincaid lay nine weeks in jail, and then petitioned for his
liberty, representing that, being an old man, he had suffered
much in health by his confinement, and, if longer confined, might
be brought to mortal sickness; whereupon the Lords liberated
him, on condition of his giving security that he would prick no
more without warrant.
203 The full confessions of Isobel Gowdie and Janet Braidhead,
being perhaps the two most remarkable witch-cases on record in
Scotland, are given in Mr Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, iii. 600. From
these confessions, the following narration is made up.
204 The hiatus here supplied are a consequence of mutilation of
the manuscript.
205 Stubble.
206 A Dismal Account of the Burning of our Solemn League and
National Covenant ... at Linlithgow, May 29, 1662. Reprinted by
Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1832.
207 Wood’s Peerage, quoting Morison’s Decisions, 5626.
208 In those days, there being as yet no habeas corpus act, it
was quite common for persons suspected of crimes to lie several
years untried in prison. On the 15th of February 1666, William
Drew petitioned for trial or liberation, after having been five years
confined in Glasgow jail, on a charge of murder exhibited against
him by the Laird of Keir.
209 In Richard Baxter’s treatise on the Divine Life are some
consolatory remarks which he addressed on this occasion to the
bereaved mother of the young earl.
210 View of Diocese of Aberdeen, Spal. Club.
211 Pepys’s Diary, 3d ed., ii. 408, 437.
212 In compliance with his petition, Leslie was relieved from the
duty of the collection.
213 Men near akin to the chief.
214 Introduction to the Heart of Midlothian.
215 M‘Ure’s Hist. of Glasgow (reprint), p. 166.
216 London Gazette, Feb. 18, 1667.
217 London Gazette, May 6, 1667.
218 Abbotsford Miscellany. Mungo Murray seems to have been a
lieutenant of the king’s guard, and to have enjoyed a pension of
£200. See Maitland Misc., iii. 154.
219 See a letter from Sir Robert Dalrymple Horn Elphinstone to Sir
James Stewart Denham, inserted in the Abbotsford edition of the
Waverley Novels.
220 About the time of his marriage, there are several entries
regarding him in the Privy Council Record, as having contravened
the law in the introduction and keeping of Irish cattle and horses.
221 The editor of Lamont’s Diary gives the following note on
George Wood’s funeral: ‘The revolting practice of attaching the
corpse of a debtor seems from this entry to have been known in
Scotland, even at this late period; while there does not appear to
have been any legal authority for its adoption. The notion of its
legality, however, still prevails among the vulgar in England; and
although the late Lord Ellenborough held it to be contrary to the
law of England, it was observed by the unfeeling creditors of
Weivitzer the actor, and of the celebrated Richard Brinsley
Sheridan. How absurd soever this notion may seem, a still more
glaring error is known in the north of Scotland. It is there believed
by the common people, that a widow is relieved of her husband’s
debts, if she follow his corpse to the door, and, in the presence of
the assembled mourners, openly call upon him to return and pay
his debts, as she is unable! Strange and unfeeling as this
ceremony may be, the editor recollects an instance in which it
was practised by the widow of a man in good society.’325
222 Sir George Mackenzie’s Mem. Affairs Scot., 4to, p. 183.
223 Mackenzie’s Mem. Affairs Scot., p. 244.
224 Weir had been an officer on the popular side in the Civil War.
In the registers of Estates, under March 3, 1647, reference is
made to a supplication of Major Thomas Weir, in which he craved
payment of 600 merks due to him by an act of the Committee of
Estates of date the 17th of December 1644, and also payment of
what might be due to him ‘for his service as major in the Earl of
Lanark’s regiment by the space of twell months, and his service in
Ireland as ane captain-lieutenant in Colonel Robert Home his
regiment by the space of nineteen months;’ further asking ‘that
the parliament wald ordain John Acheson, keeper of the
magazine, to re-deliver to the supplicant the band given by him to
the said John upon the receipt of ane thousand pound weight of
poulder, twa thousand weight of match, and ane thousand pound
weight of ball, sent with the supplicant to Dumfries for furnishing
that part of the country.’ The matter was given over to a
committee.
225 Ravaillac Redivivus, p. 64.
226 Mem. Affairs Scotland, p. 62.
227 See under August 1660.
228 Memorials, p. 43.
229 Analecta Scotica, ii. 167.
230 Sir George Mackenzie, Memoirs of Affairs of Scot., p. 217.
231 Mackenzie’s Mem. Scot. Affairs, p. 226.
232 A tight body-coat, from Fr. just-au corps.
233 See vol. i., p. 427.
234 See vol. ii., p. 318.
235 Edin. Council Record.
236 Arnot’s Hist. Edinburgh, 1779, p. 598.
237 It is usually stated that the first coffee-house in England was
set up in 1654 in a shed in the church-yard of St Michael, Cornhill,
by one Pasqua, a Greek, servant of Mr Daniel Edwards, a Smyrna
merchant.
238 A tall house of several stories so called in Edinburgh.
239 Crookshanks’s Hist. Ch. of Scot., ii. 127.
240 Sketches of Perthshire (1812), quoted in Letters on
Demonology.
241 Sir George Mackenzie’s Hist. Affairs of Scot., p. 7.
242 See Wodrow’s Analecta, i. 84.
243 Balbegno is the name of a small estate in that county, near
Middleton’s patrimonial property. It was bought in 1690 by
Middleton’s brother.—Wood’s Peerage.
244 Law cites the following couplet, apparently as the last words
of the apparition:
‘Plumashes above, and gramashes below,
It’s no wonder to see how the world doth go.’
Plumashes are plumages; gramashes, coarse hose used as
gaiters. The words seem to be used allegorically to express the
two opposite conditions of life—that of the gay cavalier and the
plain hard-working man.
245 ‘Lord Middleton used to assert that a certain palmister, whom
he met in his youth, had predicted his elevation to the supreme
command of his country; but the end of this prediction he always
concealed, which made his companions suspect it was tragical, as
afterwards it did indeed prove.’—Kirkton’s Church History.
246 Blackwood’s Magazine, v. 75. Mr Hogg mis-states the year as
1620.
247 Rec. of Justiciary, Arnot’s Crim. Trials, p. 138.
248 Answer to Scots Presbyterian Eloquence.
249 A copy of this document, extracted from the Record of the
Privy Council, is printed in full in the appendix to Pennant’s Tour.
It recites that Lachlan Maclean of Broloies, Hector Og Maclean his
brother, and others, had been denounced rebels for refusing to
answer to the Earl of Argyle, justiciar of Argyle, for having in the
preceding April assembled three or four hundred men by the fire-
process (the fiery cross) in Mull, Moveran, and other places, and
taken warlike possession of the lands of Knockersmartin, &c. It
grants commission to Lord Niel Campbell, and nine other
gentlemen, to raise forces and proceed in warlike manner against
the rebels, assuring them that no slaughter or fire-raising they
may commit will be imputed to them as a crime, provided only
they give an account of their proceedings before next New-year’s
Day.
250 A daughter of Hamilton of Bardowie, in Baldernoch parish,
designed to pay a visit to her sister-in-law at Hamilton, when a
deaf and dumb woman, who had a year before given a
remarkable warning, came to the house, and, with many signs,
endeavoured to dissuade the young lady from her journey. ‘She
takes her down to the yard, and cuts at the root of a tree, making
signs that it would fall and kill her. That not being understood by
her nor any of them, she takes her journey, the dumb lass holding
her to stay. When the young gentle-woman is at Hamilton, her
sister-in-law and she go forth to walk in the park; and in their
walking they both come under a tree that is cut through at the
root, and leaning by the top upon another tree. In that very
instant, they hear it shaking and coming down; her sister-in-law
turns to the right hand, and she herself flees to the left, that way
that the tree fell, and so it crushed her and wounded her sore, so
that she dies in two or three days’ sickness.’—Law.
251 Satan’s Invisible World Discovered, p. 4-10.
252 The idea of familiar spirits was entertained in this age by
persons of the most dignified character. In October 1675, the
bishop and synod of Aberdeen were engaged in considering
‘divers complaints that some, under pretence of trances and
familiarity with spirits, by going with these spirits commonly called
the fairies, hath spoken reproachfully of some persons, whereof
some are dead, and some living.’ The synod threatened both the
seducers and the consulters with censure, ‘if, after admonition
publicly given, they forbear not such practices, or to vent and
spread such reproachful speeches, whereof the seducers are the
authors.’—A. S. R.
253 Analecta Scotica, i. 117.
254 See under July 25, 1661, and April 1, 1662.
255 Several of the inhabitants of Mull told me, that they had
conversed with their relatives that were living at the harbour
when the ship was blown up, and they gave an account of a
remarkable providence that appeared, in the preservation of one
Dr Beaton (the famous physician of Mull), who was on board the
ship when she blew up, and was then sitting on the upper deck,
which was blown up entire, and thrown a good way off; yet the
doctor was saved, and lived several years after.—Martin’s Descrip.
West. Isles, 1703. See of the present work, vol. i. p. 189.
256 Ars Nova et Magna Gravitatis et Levitatis. In a subsequent
work, entitled Hydrostatical Experiments, Sinclair described a kind
of diving-bell of his own invention, which he called an Ark.
257 Archæologia Scot., iv. 437.
258 Works of Dr Alexander Pennecuik, p. 178.
259 The grandfather of the celebrated David Hume.
260 The distance is seventeen miles.
261 A Short Account of Scotland. Published in London in 1702.
262 Sir Walter Scott, Letters on Demonology, p. 323. Sir Walter
attributes the anecdote to a generation too late.
263 See under November 1665.
264 See under February 1589-90.
265 Fountainhall’s Decisions, i. 113.
266 Fountainhall’s Decisions, i. 157.
267 Fountainhall.
268 This is the traditionary account, from Sharpe’s Notes to
Kirkton’s History, p. 182.
269 Fountainhall.
270 Archæologia Scotica, i. 499.
271 Historical Observes, p. 49.
272 See Fountainhall’s Decisions, passim.
273 Fountainhall’s Historical Observes, p. 62.
274 The documents connected with this curious witch-trial are
printed in the Scots Magazine for 1772, and again in the same
work in 1814.
275 Vide Fynes Moryson on Scottish travelling, sub anno 1598.
276 Pace, the weight of a clock, from Fr. le poids.
277 Swey, a kind of crane moving on a hinge against a wall.
278 It might have been supposed that this was a descendant of
Sir Robert Bruce; but the account of the Clackmannan family in
Douglas’s Baronage takes no notice of such a person; and it was
beyond doubt Peter de Bruis, ‘a Flandrian,’ who is mentioned
several times in Fountainhall’s Decisions as building a harbour at
Cockenzie, and obtaining a privilege for making playing-cards.
279 It was at its perihelion on the 17th of December, when it was
only 128,000 geographical miles from the sun.
280 Abbotsford Miscellany, i. 356.
281 See vol. i. p. 421.
282 Pamphlet on Woollen Manufactories, printed at Edinburgh in
1683.
283 Memorials for the Gov. of Royal Burghs in Scotland. By
Philopoliteios [Bailie Skene of Aberdeen]. Aberdeen, 1685.
284 Husbandry Anatomised, or an Inquiry into the Present
Manner of Tilling the Ground in Scotland, &c. By Ja. Donaldson.
Edinburgh, 1697.
285 Provost Dickison was assassinated in 1572. See vol. i. p. 81.
286 Fount. Decisions, i. 189, 193.
287 This epizootic raged also in England and other countries. It
was a disease styled Angina Maligna (probably pneumonia); a
blue mist was seen on the pastures.—Short’s Chron. Hist. of Air
Meteors, &c., 1748.
288 This curious case is stated more briefly in the present
volume, p. 227.
289 The common men were paid at the rate of 6d. a day;
drummers, 1s.; sergeants, 1s. 6d.
290 Fountainhall’s Decisions, i. 187.
291 From original documents.
292 Fountainhall’s Decisions, i, 188. In January 1686, the widow
of Patrick Cunningham, apothecary, successfully pursued Lady
Evelick for two hundred merks, being a sum the lady had
promised in writing ‘for the skaith the said Patrick suffered when
her son James Douglas put fire in Harry Graham’s chamber.’—
Foun. Dec.
293 The jail of Dumfries seems to have then been either insecure
or ill-conducted. In May 1683 there was a complaint before the
Privy Council from Sir Patrick Maxwell of Springkell, regarding a
notorious robber named Ludovick Irving, whom he had caused to
be followed to Ireland, there apprehended, and then brought to
Dumfries at an expense to himself of two hundred pounds
sterling. The man was first put into ‘a sure vault,’ but was
removed by the magistrates into ‘ane utter room, which had no
sure posts nor doors;’ so he had no difficulty in escaping. Sir
Patrick claimed his expenses from the magistrates, and demanded
their punishment.—P. C. R.
294 Strictly Wester Gledstanes, situated in the barony of
Carnwath and county of Lanark.
295 From a petition of the workmen employed in the king’s
printing-office in 1678, craving exemption from watching and
warding, it appears they were fifteen in number.—P. C. R.
296 Creech’s Fugitive Pieces, p. 82.
297 Letters to Earl Aberdeen (Spal. Club), p. 36.
298 The same with Mr Thomas Stewart noticed at p. 245 of this
volume.
299 Coltness Collections.
300 Sir Thomas’s father, Sir James Stewart of Coltness, presided
as provost of Edinburgh at the execution of Montrose. Ho suffered
imprisonment after the Restoration, and is said to have been only
rescued from something worse by the intercession of a cavalier
gentleman whose son’s life he had saved by his humane
intercession some years before.
301 Adverted to in this volume, p. 211.
302 The Council (April 23) ordered three hundred pounds to the
Rosses out of vacant stipends; but it is most unlikely that the
money or any part of it was ever realised.
303 In April 1684, Mrs Jean Barron, relict of the minister of Birse,
craved charity of the Privy Council as the daughter of Mr Robert
Barron, professor of divinity at Aberdeen, who ‘having had the
honour to be the first who opposed the Covenant,’ was pursued
for his life and banished on that account, finally dying in exile, in
such poverty that any means he might have had for the
maintenance of his family was lost; nor had any benefit ever been
derived from his nomination to the bishopric of Orkney, by which
King Charles I. had endeavoured to recompense his sufferings.
Mrs Jean was now with three fatherless children reduced to great
misery, in which she humbly hoped that the Council would not
allow the daughter of so great a sufferer to remain. The Council
recommended her case to the Lord Treasurer.
Anna Morton represented herself to the Council (July 20, 1685) as
the daughter of Mr William Morton, formerly minister of South
Leith, who, in 1640, for his refusal of the Covenant, was ‘not only
thrust out of his church, and plundered of all his goods and gear,
but, from the violent malice of these bloody persecutors, the
Covenanters, was necessitat for shelter of his life to leave his
native country and fly to England, where, thereafter, through their
cruel malice, he was most pitifully used, being apprehended and
incarcerat within the prison of York, and continued there in a most
miserable and penurious condition, to the utter ruin of himself, his
family, his fortune, and estate;’ all of which was fully testified by
competent witnesses. The petitioner was now a widow with a
charge of children, in helpless poverty and wretchedness, all
traceable to the impoverishment of her father. The Council
ordered her two thousand merks out of the vacant stipends of the
diocese of Argyle.
304 The death of the old Laird of Dumbiedykes in Scott’s tale of
the Heart of Mid-Lothian, involves an allusion to this piece of
national music: ‘He drank three bumpers of brandy continuously,
and “soughed awa’,” as Jenny expressed it, in an attempt to sing
Deil stick the Minister.’
305 See vol. i. p. 24.
306 MS. quoted in Wilde’s Table, Census of Ireland, 1851.
307 Notes to Fountainhall’s Chronological Notes of Scottish
Affairs, p. 5.
308 A sugar-house was first set up in Glasgow in 1667.—Gibson’s
Hist. Glasgow.
309 Sir Walter Scott relates this anecdote on the authority of Mrs
Murray Keith.—Notes to Fountainhall’s Chron. Notes, &c., p. 33.
310 ‘These’ is always used for ‘those’ in Scottish documents of
this age.
311 Fountainhall’s Decisions. Burnet’s History.
312 Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. v.
313 Letters to George Earl of Aberdeen (Spal. Club), p. 122.
314 Analecta, i. 114.
315 Memoirs of Lady Grizzel Baillie.
316 MS. in possession of Sir Hugh Purves Hume Campbell, Bart.,
Marchmont House.
317 Papers Relating to the Geographical Description, Maps, and
Charts of Scotland, by John Adair. Bann. Club Misc., ii. 345.
318 Papers Relating to Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ, in Bann. Club
Misc., ii. 307.
319 Scots Magazine, Obituary, 1791.
320 A Short Account of Scotland, &c. London, 1702.
321 Called the Old Bank Close, in the Lawnmarket, where
Melbourne Place now is.
322 The earl’s first marriage to a daughter of the Marquis of
Huntly—who, however, was not the mother of his children—is
noticed in this volume under 1649.
323 [Mackie’s] Journey through Scotland, 1723, p. 18.
324 From an original inventory of the articles, read before the
Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland by Sir David Laing, in 1857.
325Lamont’s Diary (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 212, foot-note.
 GENERAL INDEX.
Abduction, cases of, i. 222, 419, 469; ii. 251, 319, 390.
Abercorn, Lady, her persecution of Boyd of Trochrig, ii. 7, 8;
imprisonment in the Tolbooth, 25, 26.
Aberdeen, its relation to the Highlands of the Dee, i. 251;
remarkable trials for witchcraft in, 278-285;
election prayer of, 341;
frequent clan-combats and riots at, 384;
banqueting at baptisms forbidden, 541.
Threatened bar at mouth of harbour of, ii. 115;
its doctors, 119-121, 123-126.
Accidents, Presbyterian historian’s notes of rare, i. 444.
Acheson and Aslowan, adventurers in gold-seeking, i. 18.
Actors, companies of, in Perth and Edinburgh, i. 306;
at Aberdeen, 357.
A company at Edinburgh, ii. 404.
Acus marinus, or sea-needle, ii. 463.
Adair, John, his maps of the counties of Scotland, &c., ii. 483-485.
Adulteration by Edinburgh traders, ii. 240.
Aiken, Margaret, ‘the great witch of Balwery,’ i. 291.
Aikenhead, James, charged with selling amorous drugs, ii. 227.
Aird, Robert, a distinguished Episcopalian clergyman, petition of, ii.
281.
Airth, Earl of, remark of, on a Presbyterian prophetess, ii. 122;
his encounter with Graham of Duchrae, 309.
Ale, impost-duty on, ii. 253.
Algiers and Africa, collection for Scottish prisoners in, i. 124, 125,
471.
Petitions for Scottish mariners taken by pirates, ii. 93.
Anabaptists, dipping of the, ii. 213.
Anderson, Andrew, a trafficking papist, dies in the Tolbooth, ii. 60.
Anderson, Dr Patrick, his tract on Cold Spring of Kinghorn, i. 506.
Anderson, Father, banished from Scotland, i. 514.
Anderson, Walter, kills Archbishop Gladstanes’s cook, i. 431.
Anderson, Widow, the king’s printer, her petition, ii. 450.
Angus, Earl of, a papist, commissioned to pacify the north, i. 234;
craves permission to go into exile, 402, 403.
Angus, the Good Earl of; anecdote of his last illness, i. 235.
Apology for the Quakers, Barclay of Urie’s, ii. 344.
Apostates, punished as adulterers, i. 140.
Apparitions, frequent, ii. 435.
Apprentices, restriction of, ii. 41.
Ardkinlas, Laird of, his narrow escape, i. 246, 247.
Ardvoirlich, his dispute with Lord Kilpont, ii. 154-156.
Ardvoirlich, Lady of, Macgregors’ barbarous conduct to, i. 195.
Argyle, sixth Earl of, Lord Boyd, and other nobles, forsake Queen
Mary, i. 76.
Argyle, seventh Earl of, becomes a papist, i. 504.
Argyle, ninth Earl of, tried for qualifying the test, ii. 354;
his letter of fire and sword against the Macleans, 370-372;
his expedition and death, 469.
Argyle, Marquis of, beheaded, ii. 274, 275.
Arminianism, alarm for it in Scotland, ii. 1;
 spread of, in England, 60.
Army, old mode of raising an, i. 36.
Arthur, Sir John, a priest, prosecuted, i. 23.
Atheism, Antidote against, Dr More’s, ii. 475.
Athole, John Stewart, Earl of, entertains Queen Mary at a hunt, i.
29;
his suspicious death, 123, 124.
Athole, Marquis of, his dispute with Laird of Struan, ii. 423.
Athole, witches of, warm friends of Queen Mary, i. 70;
sad account of country of, 405.
Atkinson, Stephen, a speculator in gold-mines, i. 50, 474.
Auchinleck, George, of Balmanno, stabs Captain Nisbet, i. 141.
Auchmuty, a barber, beheaded for killing James Wauchope, i. 314.
Awin, M., a French surgeon, complaint against, by his Edinburgh
brethren, i. 260.

Baillie, Memoirs of Lady Grizzel, quoted, ii. 465-467.

Balbegno’s ghost appears to General Middleton, ii. 364.
Balcanquel, of that Ilk, fined for his wife’s non-attendance at parish
church, ii. 463.
Balcarres, Earl of, his death, ii. 296.
Balfour, John, a discoverer of witches, ii. 61.
——, William, a papist, his violence in St Giles’ Kirk, i. 14, 15.
Ballindalloch and Carron, Grants of, feud between, ii. 50-54.
Band of Friendship entered into by Earl of Eglintoun, Earl of
Glencairn, and others, i. 118, 119.
Bankrupt or dyvour, curious proceeding regarding, i. 236.
Bankrupts, severities against, i. 392.
Bannatyne, George, transcribes Scottish poetry, i. 57;
his arms and initials, 58.
Banner of Revenge, followed by a thousand mounted gentlemen,
i. 363.
Baptisms, order against extravagance at, i. 541.
Bar, backing of parties to the, proclamation against, i. 403.
An example of it, ii. 30.
Barbadoes, white population of, ii. 305;
religionists transported as slaves to, 397.
Barclay, Margaret, tried for witchcraft, i. 488, 489.
Barclay of Collerine, his uncle’s petition, ii. 436.
Bards and minstrels, act against; two poets hanged, i. 131.
Bargeny, Laird of, his death and character, i. 293;
another Laird of, collision with the Earl of Cassillis, 311;
killed in a fight near Brig of Doon, 360.
Barnacles, their development into sea-birds, Sir Robert Murray’s
account of, ii. 356.
Bartas, Sieur du, a French poet, visits Scotland, i. 173-175.
Bass, Lauder of the, and his mother, hold out against their
creditors, ii. 20.
Battle-visions, and ominous sights and sounds, superstitious
feelings regarding, ii. 146-148.
Beacons for shipping, introduction of; Isle of May light-house, i.
522, 523.
Beardie, great-grandfather of Sir Walter Scott, ii. 312.
Beaver hats, Captain Hamilton’s petition for liberty to manufacture,
ii. 453.
Bedesmen, the King’s, ancient custom regarding, i. 405.
Bedford, Earl of, ambassador to Scotland at baptism of King James
VI., i. 39.
Bee-house, John Geddie’s novel, ii. 323.
Beggars, strong and idle, act against, i. 131, 478.
Belhaven, Lord, anecdote of the blind, ii. 7.
——, Lord, curious incident in life of, ii. 249.
Bellman, formula used by the Edinburgh, ii. n. 202.
Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, tale of, ii. 166, 167.
Bible, first edition of the, printed in Scotland, by Arbuthnot and
Bassendyne, Edinburgh burgesses, i. 100;
difficulties of its progress through the press, 106, 107;
gratification of clergy at its completion, 131.
Birnie, Walter, preacher, the Privy Council’s kindness to, ii. 338.
Birthday, anniversary of Charles II.’s, held as a holiday all over
Scotland, ii. 291.
Bisset, Abacuck, maimed; anecdote of Queen Mary concerning, i.
180, 181.
Black Band, a conspiracy formed against Home of Wedderburn, i.
96, 97.
Black Saturday, why so called, i. 523.
Blackadder of Tulliallan, his case with Balfour of Burleigh, i. 386,
387.
Blackburn, Peter, Bishop of Aberdeen, his death, i. 475.
Blackhall, Father, narrative of his career as a priest in Scotland, ii.
129-134.
Blair, Alexander, of Freirton, gives surety for improved conduct to
his wife, i. 48.
Bleeding heart prophecy, i. 145.
Blood-showers, their probable origin, ii. 199, 488, 489.
Bog an Gicht Castle, illustration, ii. 48.
Bohemian army, from 3000 to 4400 men raised in Scotland for
the, ii. 9-11.
Bond of Association between Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm and
fifty of his clan, i. 190.
Books imported from Germany duty-free, i. 194, 195.
Borbrieffs, or birth-letters, petitions for, ii. 325.
Border Thieves, Regent Moray’s raid against, i. 60;
Regent Morton’s raid, 88;
their immunity from the pest, 158;
James VI.’s punishment of, 293, 294;
above 140 hanged by Earl of Dunbar, 400, 422, 423;
strong effort for suppression of, 443;
120 sent to Bohemian wars, 488;
Earl of Traquair’s rigorous measures with at Jedburgh, ii. 100.
Borrowing Days, storm of, i. 552, 553.
Borrowstounness, curious witch-trial at, ii. 405, 406;
Sweet Singers of, 414-416.
Bothwell, Adam, Bishop of Orkney, letter of, on plague, i. 55;
his character, 145.
Bothwell, Countess of, her humble supplication to James VI., i.
243;
inconstancy of James’s favour to, 264.
Bothwell, Hepburn, Earl of, his abduction of Queen Mary, i. 41.
Bothwell, Stuart, Earl of, demands 5000 merks from city of
Edinburgh, i. 189;
his attempt to seize James VI. at Holyroodhouse, 229;
second attempt at Falkland Palace, 237;
third attempt at Dalkeith Castle, 238;
scene in James VI.’s chamber at Holyrood, 250;
 his encounter with Laird of Cessford, 251;
his encounter with Lord Home, 255;
joins the papist lords, 255.
Bothwell Moor, harrying of, i. 71.
Bowmen, Charles I. raises a small troop of Highland, ii. 14.
Boyd, Janet, tried for witchcraft, ii. 31.
——, Robert, Lord, deserts the Queen’s party, i. 76;
bond of manred with William Fairly, 77.
Boyd of Trochrig, suffers great persecution in Paisley, ii. 8.
Boys, Society of the, i. 403, 404.
Brackla, Laird of, murdered, i. 233.
Braidhead, Janet, the witch, extracts from her confession, ii. 285-
291.
Brand, John, beheaded for murder, i. 467.
Brandy, its importation restricted, ii. 332.
Branks, an instrument of punishment, i. 47.
Brazen Wall, a party of this regiment surprised by Captain Wogan,
ii. 224.
Brechin, a keeper of a hotel in, apprehended for murdering his
guests in bed, i. 78.
Bride of Baldoon, original of the Bride of Lammermuir, story of, ii.
326-328.
Bridges and roads, ruinous state of, ii. 409.
Brimstone, vitriol, and alum, privilege of making, granted, i. 443.
Bronkhorst, a Fleming, tries to get a patent for the gold-mines of
Lanarkshire, i. 138;
acts as portrait-painter to the king, 139.
Brown, Gilbert, ex-abbot of New Abbey, imprisoned, i. 389;
 his books, &c., burnt, 422.
Brown of Hartree, his duel with Hay of Smithfield, i. 264, 265.
Brown, Robert, a Cambridge student; his peculiar religious
doctrines, i. 153.
Brownism, a tendency towards, rebuked, ii. 127, 145.
Browster-wife, origin of the term, i. 328.
Comic race by twelve brewster-wives, ii. 273.
Bruce and Forester, of Stirlingshire, their dispute, i. 260.
Bruce, Edward Lord, of Kinloss, his duel with Sir Edward Sackville,
i. 447-451.
Bruce of Clackmannan, patents a coal-mine water-engine, ii. 408.
Bruce, Peter, his patents for various machines, ii. 408;
his patent for playing-cards, 432.
Bruce, Robert, of Clackmannan; an incident in his life, i. 240, 241.
Bruce, Sir George, anecdote of James VI.’s visit to, at Culross, i.
485.
Bruits, rumours so called: their effects, ii. 4, 5.
Bruntfield, Adam, slays James Carmichael in single combat, i. 286.
Buccleuch, Countess of, her early marriage and death, ii. 250.
Buccleuch, first Earl of, his burial-procession, ii. 73, 74.
Buchanan, George, tutor to James VI., i. 83;
his death and character, 149, 150.
Bulmer, on Englishman, works the gold-mines in Scotland, i. 254,
255, 290.
Burgess, Dr, his specific for the plague, ii. 164.
Burnet, Rev. John, death of, ii. 363.
Burntisland, extraordinary riot in, i. 466.
Shipping at, in time of Commonwealth, ii. 249;
 Dutch ships attack, 318.
Burton, John, his brother’s complaint against him, ii. 424.
Butchers and Vintners, outcry against extortion of, ii. 489, 490.

Cabinet-making, James Turner’s petition, ii. 396.

Caithness, Earl of, beheads Alister Mac William Mor, i. 387, 388;
strife between, and Gordon and Mackay, 440-443;
his unruly conduct checked, 536-538.
Calder, Laird of, three gentlemen receive and die of poison meant
for, ii. 146.
Caligraphy, Esther Inglis, a Frenchwoman, her MS. volumes, i.
550-552.
Camel, exhibition of a, ii. 69.
Camerons’ raid against Struan of Kinloch, ii. 308.
Campbell and Smith, a combat between, in Edinburgh, i. 72, 73.
Campbell, Colin, of Glenurchy, a patron of the fine arts, ii. 62.
Campbell, John, of Calder, shot by Mac Ellar, i. 246.
Campbell of Moy, M‘Ranald of Glengarach’s attack on house of, i.
364.
Campbell, Sir Duncan, Laird of Glenurchy, his style of living, i. 207.
Campbell, Sir James, of Lawers, his thief-taking commission, ii. 381,
382.
Canongate, inhabitants of, infected by the pest, i. 56;
tavern arrangements in, 59.
Cant, Andrew, his moderatorship, ii, 181;
anecdote of, 182, 183.
Cape of Good Hope, the devil appears on board of a ship so
called, ii. 347.
Cappers, Scotch privateer vessels so called, ii. 317.
Caravan betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow, ii. 393.
Cardiness, Lady, Sir Alexander M‘Culloch’s assaults on, ii. 321.
Cargill, Donald, his predictions, ii. 372.
Carmichael, James, kills Stephen Bruntfield in a duel, i. 286.
Carnegie and Lithgow, Lords, duel of, ii. 305.
Carruthers, Marion, an heiress, i. 25.
Carstairs, Cardinal, anecdote of the thumbikens, ii. 460.
Cart, Hamilton’s patent for a new, i. 550.
Carvet, a Romish priest, pilloried, i. 33.
Cashielaws, an instrument of torture, i. 273.
Cashogle and Drumlanrig, private war between, i. 520, 521.
Cassillis and Wigton, Earls of, dispute between, ii. 30.
Cassillis, Earl of, and Kennedy of Bargeny, dispute between, i. 310,
363-366.
Cassillis, Earl of, marries widow of Lord Thirlstane; unmeetness of
the match, i. 293.
Cassillis, Gilbert, Earl of, sometimes called King of Carrick, his
extraordinary torture of Master Allan Stewart, i. 65-68.
Castle-Kennedy, anecdote of a thunder-clap at, ii. 28.
Catastrophe Mundi, a treatise on comets, ii. 456.
Cathcart, James, a pretended astrologer, ii. 467.
Cathkin and Lawson, oppose Episcopalian principles, i. 512.
Catholic missionaries, success in Switzerland, i. 515.
Catholics, see Papists.
Catholic nobles, driven to extremities, i. 219;
their treasonable correspondence with Spain, 244;
their sons placed under care of reformed ministers, 351;
 progress of persecution against, 415-417, 421, 422, 429.
Further persecutions of, ii. 57-60, 335-338.
Chalmers, James, his list of papists and seminary priests, ii. 283,
284.
Chancellor, Susanna, accused of consulting charmers, ii. 44.
Change-houses, Kirke’s description of Scotch, ii. 407.
Chapel of Grace, pilgrimages to, i. 325.
Charles I., his baptism, i. 321.
His marriage, ii. 4;
proclamation against popery, 4;
raises troop of Highland bowmen, 14;
letter to the Scottish Council, 25;
grants commission to Lord Gordon against papists, 36-41;
his interference on behalf of papists, 57-60;
his visit to Edinburgh, 63-69;
proclamation against communion stragglers, 81;
his expeditions against Scottish Covenanters, 106;
commences the civil war, 109;
rendered up by Scottish army, 112;
his remark on death of Earl of Haddington, 137;
anecdote of Irish rebellion, 141;
his execution creates enmity between ruling powers of
England and Scotland, 174.
Charles II., demonstrations on birth of, ii. 41;
invited to Scotland and proceedings there, 174;
his restoration, 255;
remark on inhumane laws, 260;
joy at restoration of, 261, 266;
anecdote of his visit to James Guthrie, 276;
extraordinary demonstration at Linlithgow on his birthday,
291, 292;
his fondness for bees, 323, 324;
evils of his reign, 330, 332;
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