John Alexander studied his art chiefly in Florence; he returned to
Scotland in 1720, and thereafter chiefly resided in Gordon Castle,
under the patronage of the Duchess of Gordon.
[348] Henry, second Duke of Newcastle. His Grace died in 1794.
[349] George Selwyn, M.P., the celebrated humorist, was born in
1719, and died 25th January, 1791. (“Sir George Selwyn and his
Contemporaries,” by J. H. Pope, 1843.)
[350] Walter Macfarlane, of that ilk, descended from the old Earls
of Lennox, was an accomplished antiquary and ingenious genealogist.
He died at Edinburgh, on the 5th June, 1767. His valuable MSS. were
acquired by the Faculty of Advocates.
[351] Lady Elizabeth Macfarlane, wife of Walter Macfarlane, of that
ilk, was eldest daughter of Alexander, fifth Earl of Kellie. She
married, secondly, Alexander, eighth Lord Colville, of Culross, and
died in 1794.
[352] Edward Shuter, comedian, died 1st November, 1776.
[353] The Duke de Nivernais, an eminent French statesman and poet, was
born 16th December, 1716, and died 25th February, 1798.
[354] General Sir George Howard served under the Duke of Cumberland in
suppressing the Scottish Rebellion of 1745. In a note to his “Life of
Johnson,” Boswell styles him “My very honourable friend.”
[355] Mrs. Boscawen was daughter of William Evelyn Glanville, Esq.,
and wife of Admiral Edward Boscawen, a distinguished commander, and
sometime a Lord of the Admiralty. In 1761 she became a widow. Her only
son succeeded as third Viscount Falmouth; and of her two daughters,
Frances, the elder, married Admiral John Leveson Gower, brother of the
first Marquess of Stafford; Elizabeth, the younger daughter, married
Henry, fifth Duke of Beaufort. In her poem entitled “Sensibility,” Miss
Hannah More remarks of Mrs. Boscawen that she—
“Views enamoured in her beauteous race All Leveson’s sweetness and all
Beaufort’s grace.”
In the “Life of Johnson,” Boswell, in allusion to having met the Hon.
Mrs. Boscawen at dinner at Allan Ramsay’s (29th April, 1778), writes:
“Of whom, if it be not presumptuous in me to praise her, I would say
that her manners are the most agreeable, and her conversation the best,
of any lady with whom I ever had the happiness to be acquainted.”
[356] See _postea_.
[357] Sir Philip Ainslie, of Pilton, Edinburghshire.
[358] Sir John Pringle, Bart., a distinguished physician. He was
in 1772 elected President of the Royal Society, and six discourses
delivered by him to that body were published after his decease, under
the care of Dr. Kippis. These discourses form the theme of Boswell’s
criticisms. John Pringle died on the 18th January, 1782, aged
seventy-five.
[359] The Hon. Patrick Boyle, second son of John, second Earl of
Glasgow.
[360] Sir John Wemyss, Bart., of Bogie, Fifeshire.
[361] This improvident gentleman, who had sought refuge from his
creditors in the sanctuary of Holyrood Abbey, was related to the
family of Lord Colville, of Culross. From a dinner card pasted into
the commonplace-book, the wife of Dr. Alexander Webster, of Edinburgh,
formerly minister of Culross, thus entreats Boswell’s support to this
unfortunate bankrupt:—
“Mrs. Webster begs Mrs. Boswell would set about the collection for
poor Mr. Colville, who is truly starving and has not a house to cover
his head. Mr. Ely Campbell has too much humanity not to give something
handsome.”
[362] Sir Thomas Rumbold was created a baronet 23rd March, 1779, being
then Governor of Madras and M.P. for Shoreham. He had distinguished
himself at the siege of Trichinopoly and the retaking of Calcutta. He
was wounded at the battle of Plassey, when acting as aide-de-camp to
Lord Clive. He died 11th November, 1791.
[363] John Paradise, D.C.L., P.R.S., was son of the English consul at
Salonica, by his wife, a native of Macedonia. He studied at Padua, and
afterwards at Oxford. Having settled in London, he became a cherished
associate of Dr. Johnson. He was distinguished for his learning and
social virtues. He died 12th December, 1795.
[364] This gentlewoman, _née_ Anne Cochrane, was wife of Sir George
Preston, Bart., of Valleyfield. She was daughter of William, Lord
Cochrane of Ochiltree.
[365] A naval captain, of the House of Brisbane, of Brisbane in
Ayrshire.
[366] Katherine, Lady Maxwell of Monreith, wife of the fourth baronet.
She was daughter and heir of David Blair of Adamton, Ayrshire.
[367] Charles Cochrane, Esq., of Culross, a member of the Dundonald
family.
[368] Sir Robert Monro, Bart., of Fowlis (not Sir Harry Munro), is
commemorated in the churchyard of Falkirk by a massive and elegantly
sculptured tombstone. He fell in the engagement at Falkirk on the 17th
January, 1746.
[369] The Rev. James Rolland was ordained minister of the first charge
of Culross in 1758; he died 10th December, 1815, in his eighty-eighth
year, and the sixty-second of his ministry. He was reputed for his
amiable manners and sterling piety. (_Scott’s Fasti._)
[370] William, second Earl of Dumfries, had only one son, Lord
Crichton, who reached maturity. He predeceased his father, leaving a
son and daughter. The earl died in 1691.
[371] Dr. Robert James, best known in connection with the fever powder
that bears his name, was born in 1703, at Kinverston, Staffordshire.
After practising as a physician at Sheffield, Lichfield, and
Birmingham, he removed to London, where he published his “Medicinal
Dictionary.” In the preparation of this work he was assisted by Dr.
Johnson, who had been his schoolfellow, and who regarded him as a
skilful practitioner. Dr. James produced several other medical works.
He died at London on the 23rd March, 1776.
[372] Mr. Gilbert Walmsley, an early friend and patron of Dr. Johnson.
He was an elegant scholar, and contributed many translations in Latin
verse to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_. He died on the 3rd August, 1751. A
monument to his memory has been reared in Lichfield Cathedral.
[373] Thomas Sheridan, father of his more celebrated son, Richard
Brinsley Sheridan (see _supra_).
[374] _Née_ Lady Charlotte Compton, daughter of James, Earl of
Northampton, and wife of Field-marshal George, fourth Viscount
Townshend.
[375] James Short, the eminent optician, was a native of Edinburgh, and
studied at the university of that city. In 1736 he became mathematical
tutor to the Duke of Cumberland. In 1739 he made a survey of the Orkney
islands. He subsequently settled in London as an optician, and obtained
a high reputation for his skill in constructing telescopes. He died
on the 15th June, 1768, aged 58. He had experienced the patronage of
James, thirteenth Earl of Morton, and he evinced his gratitude by
bequeathing a thousand pounds to Lady Mary Douglas (afterwards Countess
of Aboyne), the daughter of his benefactor.
[376] Boswell refers to the Dowager Lady Colville, relict of Alexander,
the eighth Baron. She was daughter of Alexander, sixth Earl of Kellie,
and sister of the Hon. Captain Andrew Erskine.
[377] Thomas Alexander, sixth Earl of Kellie, an eminent musician and
noted humorist. Died 9th October, 1781.
[378] David Dalrymple, son of Henry Dalrymple of Drummore, passed
advocate in 1743, and was raised to the bench as Lord Westhall, 10th
July, 1777. He died 26th April, 1784, in his 65th year.
[379] The parish of Carsphairn, in the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright,
became vacant in May 1780, by the death of the Rev. John Campbell.
The presentee, Mr. Affleck, was probably a son of John Affleck, of
Whitepark, in the same county. His settlement was successfully resisted.
[380] The Rev. James Brown merits more than a passing notice. Youngest
son of the Rev. John Brown, minister of Abercorn, he was born in that
parish in 1721. Licensed by the Presbytery of Perth in 1745, he was in
1747 ordained minister of Melrose. In 1767 was translated to Edinburgh.
At Melrose he gave an impulse to the linen manufactures of the place;
he afterwards became a zealous promoter of the national charities. On
his recommendation, Scripture Paraphrases were added to the Psalmody of
the Church. He died on May, 1786.
[381] Lieut.-General Alexander Leslie was second son of Alexander,
fifth Earl of Leven. In active service during the American war, he
distinguished himself at the battle of Guildford, on the 15th March,
1781. His only child, Mary-Ann Leslie, married 15th June, 1787, John
Rutherford, Esq., of Edgerstown.
[382] Sir James Johnstone, Bart., of Westerhall, was a
lieutenant-colonel in the army and member of Parliament. In 1792 he
laid claim to the marquisate of Annandale. He died unmarried in 1794.
[383] Mr. Robert Keith was ambassador at Vienna in 1749, and in 1758
was transferred to St. Petersburg. He died at Edinburgh in 1774.
[384] Miss Jenny Keith. The younger sister, Anne, latterly called
Mrs. Murray Keith, was an intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott; she
is the prototype of Mrs. Bethune Baliol, in the introduction to the
“Chronicles of the Canongate.” She died in 1818, aged 82.
[385] Thomas Barnard, D.D.
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note:
—Obvious errors were corrected.