Note 167 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
John Napier, of Merchiston (1550-1617), who published his invention in 1614. Our author calls him Lord Napier, but we are to understand the title as simply equivalent to "laird." He calls himself on one of his title-pages Baro Merchistonii, but that phrase is merely the designation of the superior of a barony, or lord of a manor. In the old Scottish Parliament men of this rank sat as "lesser barons."