Andrew (Commonly Called Fletcher Of Saltoun) Fletcher, a Scottish author, born in Saltoun, East Lothian, in 1G53, died in London in 1710. He was educated under the care of Gilbert Burnet, then minister of the parish of Saltoun, and spent several years in travel on the continent. In 1681 he obtained a seat in the Scottish parliament for his native county, and distinguished himself by his inflexible opposition to the tyrannical tendencies of the English government. He soon found it necessary to withdraw to Holland, was then summoned before the privy council at Edinburgh, and failing to appear was outlawed, and his estate confiscated. He accompanied the expedition of the duke of Monmouth to England in 1685, but immediately went abroad again in consequence of shooting the mayor of Lyme-Regis in a scuffle. In Spain, on the application of the British ambassador, he was imprisoned, but escaped by the aid of an unknown friend; and in Hungary he gained distinction as a volunteer in the army against the Turks. At the Hague he was prominent in forwarding the scheme of the revolution of 1688, which restored him to his country. He soon recovered his estate and resumed his seat in the Scottish parliament, but became as vehement an opponent of the government of William as he had been of that of his two predecessors.

He exerted himself to the last against the union of the two kingdoms, and because the 12limitations'1 which he proposed failed to be adopted he retired from public life. He possessed tine scholarly accomplishments, and his writings sometimes display a high degree of literary excellence. The principal of them are: a Discourse of Government with Relation to Militias" (Edinburgh, 1698); two "Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland" (Edin-burgh, 1698): Discorso delle cose di Spagna (Naples, 1698);Speeches," etc. (Edinburgh, 1703); and an "Account of a Conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Governments for the Common Good of Mankind" (Edinburgh, 1704). His collected writings were published at London in 1 vol. 8vo in 1737, and an essay on his life and writings, by the earl of Buchan, appeared in 1797.