Annals and correspondence of the Viscount and the first and second Earls of Stair

Preface

I have been induced to engage in this biographical work principally by the historical and personal interest attaching to its subject. The first Viscount Stair and the first and second Earls of Stair were, in their respective walks, three of the most distinguished men of their time. The narrative of their lives connects with the history of Great Britain during an unbroken period of one hundred years, illustrating that history in various particulars, and clearing up, if not supplying, some of the links in the continuous chain of events.

Several valuable collections of hitherto unpublished Letters and Papers have, by the courtesy of their possessors, been placed at my disposal for this undertaking. These are — (i.) The ' Stair Papers,' in 28 volumes folio, in possession of the present Earl of Stair at Oxenfoord Castle, relating chiefly to the second Earl, and including the period of his celebrated embassy at Paris ; (2.) A series of letters belonging to

VI PREFACE.

the Marquis of Lothian, from the first Earl of Stair, when Secretary of State for Scotland, to Robert, fourth Earl and first Marquis of Lothian, Royal Commissioner to the second Assembly of the Scottish Kirk after its establishment in the reign of William and Mary; (3.) Letters from the first Lord Stair to Lord Arniston, and other letters in 1663 and 1664, in possession of Mr Dundas of Arniston ; (4.) Letters of the first Lord Stair to the Duke of Lauderdale and others during the reign of Charles II., acquired by Mr David Laing, of the Signet Library, Edinburgh, from the late Mr Dawson Turner's collection of ' Lauderdale Papers ; ' (5.) Letters from the second Earl of Stair, when campaigning with the Duke of Marlborough, to John, Earl of Mar, then Secretary of State for Scotland, copied from the originals in the Mar charter-chest for the present Earl of Stair, under the supervision of Mr William Fraser, Edinburgh ; (6.) a State-paper or Letter of the first Earl of Stair addressed to the Lord Treasurer Godolphin in 1703, as to Scottish affairs in view of a treaty of Union, and a letter from Lord Godolphin on the same subject to the Chancellor of Scotland, both acquired at the sale of the family papers of the Duke of Leeds by Mr John Webster, Aberdeen.

In the biography of the first Lord Stair, lawyer and statesman, a man of a career so varied as to have been successively upon confidential terms with General Monck, the Duke of Lauderdale, and King William III., I have confined myself strictly to a narra-

PREFACE. Vll

live of his life, interwoven as that was with the history of the country. The life of Lord Stair, who was for many years President of the Court of Session in Scotland, having been written not long since in a somewhat elaborate form by Mr ^Eneas J. Mackay of the Scottish bar, I have made this biography shorter than I otherwise might have done, at the same time introducing what novelty I could into the narrative, interspersing a number of hitherto unprinted letters, and avoiding all irrelevant matter.

The life of his son, the first Earl of Stair, has never, so far as I am aware, been written, though in connection with the massacre of Glenco his actings have been narrowly scrutinised and largely commented on. Versatile in politics in the early portion of his singular career, he settled down after the Revolution into the confidential Scottish Minister of King William, doing battle in the northern parliament with every one, Jacobite or Presbyterian, who had not the word of the Government, and taking a prominent part in the ecclesiastical proceedings which resulted in the establishment of Presbytery. His later time was chiefly distinguished by the consummate ability and powerful exertions he brought to bear on the settlement of the Treaty of Union, and the passing of the Act of Union through the Scottish parliament, — exertions which in the opinion of many cost him his life.

The biography of John, second Earl of Stair, may be said to form the piece de resistance of my bill of

V1U PREFACE.

fare. From the great amount of original MSS. relating to him in the Stair Collection, materials for the Annals of the second Earl were before me in greater abundance than in the case of his father and grandfather. He will be seen in a variety of characters — as the campaigner under Marlborough, and the friendly correspondent of John, Earl of Mar (to whom in the course of a short time after he stood in a very different relation), as the ambassador at Paris, of European celebrity, during the regency of the Duke of Orleans, watching the proceedings of the Jacobites and the Insurrection of 171 5, negotiating continental treaties, and quarrelling with his adventurous countryman Law ; then relegated to his estate in Scotland, joining the opposition against Sir Robert Walpole, and finally invested with the chief command of the British army, and fighting the battle of Dettingen.

If the faults of these personages have not been extenuated, nothing has been set down groundlessly to their prejudice. Sufficient evidence has been laid before the reader to enable him to form a judgment of their characters. I might possibly have abridged to a greater extent, and given more of my own writing instead of quoting the original pieces ; but it appeared to me that the value and race of many curious and historical letters and documents would thereby have been lost. Original letters, carefully preserved, in not a few of which the gold dust formerly used for drying the ink still adheres to the

PREFACE. IX

paper, must (one would say), if any thing can do so, show the very " form and pressure of the time." Where materials crowded too much upon me, I have made appendices to certain of the chapters, and have endeavoured to render this frequently neglected portion of a book more accessible and readable than it sometimes is.

The spelling of the MSS. has been for the most part modernised, for I found the original spelling, even in letters of the same person, so irregular and arbitrary that it could have answered no useful purpose to preserve it exactly, while the sense of many passages would have been less easy to follow. Characteristic old words and modes of expression I have not altered.

The only publications hitherto of Stair Letters or Papers that I am aware of are the Journal and a small portion of the Correspondence of the second Earl of Stair during his embassy at Paris, 1 715-1720, printed in the second volume of the Hardwicke ' State Papers,' and an inconsiderable collection of extracts of letters from Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to the same Earl, which had come into the possession of Horace Walpole's correspondent, Miss Berry, and were printed by her as illustrative of 'Walpole's Reminiscences.'

Such as they are, the Annals I now venture to present in these volumes are due in a considerable measure to the Reports of the Historical MSS. Commission, by which my attention was first drawn to the valu-

X PREFACE.

able collections in the possession of the Marquis of Lothian, the Earl of Stair, and Robert Dundas, Esq. of Arniston ; to each of whom I take this opportunity of tendering my grateful acknowledgments for the unreserved manner in which they have placed their family papers at my disposal. I have also very sincerely to thank David Laing, Esq., and John Webster, Esq., for the use they have granted me of original letters in their possession.

J. M. G.

June 1S75.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

VISCOUNT STAIR.

Chapter I. Page

Genealogy of the Stair family — Early Protestant reformers — Birth and education of James Dalrymple of Stair — Accepts a commission in Lord Glencairn's regiment — Becomes a regent or teacher of philosophy in Glasgow University — -Marries an heiress — Removes to Edinburgh, and exchanges philosophy for the profession of the law, . . . . .3

Chapter II

James Dalrymple goes to Holland as secretary of the Commission sent by the Scottish Parliament to invite Charles II. to come to Scotland to be crowned — Judicial arrangements under the Protectorate — The " Tender " — The Commonwealth judges — Dalrymple offered a judgeship by General Monck, which he accepts — -The Restoration, . . . . .10

Chapter III

James Dalrymple is knighted by King Charles, and made a judge of the Court of Session — Establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland — Declaration against the Covenant appointed to be taken by all persons in public trust — Sir James Dalrymple refuses to take it without an explanation — Is in danger of losing his judgeship — Letter to Lauderdale — How the matter was arranged — He is made a baronet, . . . . 17

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Lord Arniston deprived of his judgeship on refusing to sign the Declaration as to the Covenants without a written explanation adjected to his subscription — Letters of Stair and of Arniston upon this occasion — Letter of Lauderdale to the latter, and his answer — Was Lord Arniston over-scrupulous or Lord Stair too easy in their respective views of the difficulty? . 29

Chapter V

Lord Stair's opinion of the hazards attending the establishment of Episcopacy — Disposal of the office of Chancellor — Contemporary notices of Stair in the letters of Archibald Earl of Argyle — His places of residence — Acquisitions of land — Marriage of his daughter Janet to Dunbar of Baldoon — Letters of Lord Rothes — Assists in improving the constitution and practice of the courts of law, . . . . -38

Chapter VI

Lord Stair made President of the Session and a Privy Councillor — Is in favour of lenient measures towards the Covenanters — Lord Kincardine — Stair's sphere of action, the Civil Bench — His character as a judge — Question of Appeals to Parliament — Letters, . . . . . . -So

Chapter VII

Arrival of the Duke of York in Scotland as Royal Commissioner — President Stair takes up a position antagonistic to the Government— The Test Oath — He is deprived of his office without cause shown — Retires to the country, and is annoyed with a judicial persecution — Goes into exile — Publication of his Institutions of Scottish Law — His occupation at Leyden — Physiologia Nova Experimental — Views of the Prince of Orange — Sir James Dalrymple accompanies the Prince to England, . . . . . . . .61

Chapter VIII

Sir James Dalrymple principal adviser in Scottish affairs at the time of the Revolution — Convention of Estates— Letters to Lord Melvill — Murder of President Sir G. Lockhart — Stormy proceedings of the Convention Parliament — Opposition to the Dalrymplesbythe "Club" — Sir James Dalrymple reappointed President of the Session — Constitutional questions as to judi-

CONTENTS. X1U

cial appointments — President Stair attacked in a pamphlet by Ferguson the Plotter and Sir James Montgomery — Vindicates himself in his ' Apology ' — A Jacobite plot, . . -76

Chapter IX

President Stair not in favour of appeals to Parliament — His unpopularity— Views as to the king visiting Scotland — He is raised to the peerage — Settlement of Presbytery — Question as to calling out the militia — Death of Lady Stair — Attack on Lord Stair in Parliament — He is in danger of conflict with the Presbyterian clergy on the oath of allegiance and the royal supremacy — His death — And character — Posthumous work on the Divine Perfections — His surviving descendants, . 94

FIRST EARL OF STAIR.

Chapter I

Early life of John Dalrymple — Travels, and is knighted — His marriage to Elizabeth Dundas, heiress of Newliston — Early training in the profession of the law — Trial of the Earl of Argyle — Persecution of Sir John Dalrymple by the Duke of York's Administration — Hand-to-hand encounter with Graham of Claverhouse — Imprisoned and fined, and at last, with difficulty, liberated, . . . . . 115

Chapter II

Sir John Dalrymple, entering into King James's views as to the dispensing power, is suddenly promoted to be King's Advocate— Royal Proclamations suspending the penal laws against Nonconformists — Moderation of the new Lord Advocate — He is withdrawn from his office, and raised to the bench, . 124

Chapter III

Revolution of 168S — Sir John Dalrymple actively espouses the cause of William of Orange — Is distinguished in the Scottish Convention of Estates, and takes a principal part in the measures for settling the Crown — Is made Lord Advocate — Manages for the Government in the Convention Parliament — Difficulty of his position — Votes of the Parliament — Unpopularity of the Lord Advocate with the " Club "—Jacobite plot, 129

XIV CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Intention of the king to open the Scottish Parliament in person — State of parties — Management of the Parliament — Establishment of Presbytery — Part taken in it by Sir John Dalrymple — First General Assembly of the Kirk after the Revolution, . 144

Chapter V

Sir John Dalrymple, now Master of Stair, becomes Secretary for Scotland — Measures for restraining the hostile depredations of the Highlanders — Secretary Stair accompanies the king to the Continent — Proclamation of indemnity and pardon to the Highlanders upon certain conditions — The Macdonalds of Glenco, too late with their submission, are out of the letter of the proclaimed pardon — Proceedings thereupon — Tenor of the letters of the Master of Stair — King William's Instructions to the military officers — Was the atrocity of the affair of Glenco realised by the parties to it ? . . . . 152

Chapter VI

The General Assembly's Commission and the Episcopal Clergy — Views of the king and of the Master of Stair — The meeting of the Assembly adjourned by royal mandate to an inconvenient season of the year — The Earl of Lothian High Commissioner — Ill-humour of the Assembly — Letters of the Master of Stair to the Earl of Lothian on the affairs of the Assembly — The king's letter to the Assembly recommends union with Episcopal ministers on certain conditions — Resistance of the Assembly to the wishes of the king, . . . .163

Chapter VII

The Commissioner, in compliance with the King's instructions, dissolves the Assembly — Letters of the Master of Stair from London and the seat of war on the Continent to the Earl of Lothian — The Scottish Parliament pass Acts " for settling the quiet and peace of the Church " — The General Assembly again called to meet after a long interval — Expected collision with the civil power on the question of obliging the Presbyterian ministers to take an oath acknowledging William and Mary as king and queen de jtire — Part taken by Lord Stair and Lord Tarbet — The Rev. Mr Carstairs — The king and the Assembly come to terms — All's well that ends well, . . 177

CONTENTS. XV

Chapter VIII

A royal Commission issued for inquiring into the massacre of Glenco — Their Report eagerly taken into consideration by Parliament — Substance of the Report, and inconsistent proceedings of the Parliament — Address to the king for measures to be taken against the Master of Stair — His retirement from office, . . . . . . . .192

Chapter IX

The Master becomes by his father's death Viscount Stair, but refrains from taking his seat in Parliament — The king grants him a remission and pardon, as not having been accessary to the barbarous manner or mode in which the actors in the massacre of Glenco had executed their orders — After an interval of years resumes his part in public affairs — Is created an Earl by Queen Anne — Writes on the state of parties to Lord Godolphin — And on the Union negotiations to Secretary the Earl of Mar — Takes a prominent part in furthering the treaty of Union — His death and character, .... 199

SECOND EARL OF STAIR.

Chapter I

Early life and training of John Dalrymple, second Earl of Stair — His destination for the army — Accompanies his father to Flanders, and commences his military career under King William — Serves in the army of Marlborough, and receives the colonelcy of the Scots Greys — Letters to the Earl of Mar, Secretary of State for Scotland, from the seat of war — Becomes Earl of Stair on the death of his father — A representative peer of Scotland in the first "British Parliament, . . . 223

Chapter II

Lord Stair again with the army under Marlborough — Bearer of the despatch announcing the victory of Oudenarde — Letters to Lord Mar — Stair sent in a diplomatic capacity to Warsaw — Is present at the siege of Lille — His domestic affairs — With

XVI CONTENTS.

the change of ministry the war draws to a close — Lord Stair sent on a mission for supplies to the Earl of Oxford — Preliminaries of peace concluded — Stair forced to sell out, and deprived of his command, ..... 234

Chapter III

Lord Stair marries the Viscountess Primrose — Letter of Lord Finch — Change of circumstances upon the death of Queen Anne — Letters of the Dowager-Countess of Stair to her son — Appointment of Stair to the British Embassy at Paris, . 250

Chapter IV

Lord Stair arrives in Paris, and commences his duties as British ambassador — The leading objects of his mission — His firm tone in negotiating — Is disliked by Louis and his ministers, and takes the part of conciliating the Duke of Orleans — Letters of Lord Halifax and others — John Law of Lauriston — Stair remonstrates against the attack on Majorca by the Spanish and French fleets, in violation of the Treaty of Utrecht — Letter of Secretary Stanhope — Wanted, a cook for the Spanish ambassador, . . . . -259

Chapter V

Attitude of the Jacobite party towards the Government — Death of Louis XIV. — Schemes of the Jacobites counteracted by Stair — Notices of the Insurrection of 1715 in letters to Lord Stair from the Duke of Montrose, the Lord Advocate Sir David Dalrymple, and Secretary Stanhope, .... 272

Chapter VI

Lord Stair appointed to the colonelcy of the Enniskillen Dragoons —Correspondence with Marlborough — Purchase in the Army — Contraband trade between Paris and London in articles of dress — Aided by the employe's of the Embassy — Lady Loudoun's birthday gown — The Duke of Argyle's silk stockings — The Duchess of Marlborough's boddices — Anecdotes of Stair, whether authentic, ...... 286

Chapter VII

The Chevalier's journey through France, and embarkation at Dunkirk — Memorials by Stair, and equivocal conduct of the French government — The Chevalier in Scotland — Notices of

CONTENTS. XV11

the rebellion in letters of the Duke of Montrose, the Lord Advocate, and Sir Hew Dalrymple — Measures of the British government to prevent the Jacobites being harboured in continental states — Despatch from Secretary Stanhope, . . 296

Chapter VIII

Anomalous position of the British Ministry and of the Regent — Motives dictating the negotiation which resulted in the Triple Alliance — Conduct of the treaty transferred from Paris to the Hague and Hanover — Secretary Stanhope and the Abbd Dubois — The Regent takes a more decided part against the Jacobites — Conclusion of the treaty — Importance of its provisions— The Lord Advocate dissatisfied with the measures taken by Government subsequent to the Insurrection — Family letters of Lady Stair and others — Burning of Castle Kennedy, 312

Appendix

(Life of Viscount Stair.) chap.

IV. Letters from Sir Alexander Hume, Lord Glencairne, Lords

Arniston and Stair, . . . . . 331

VII. Test-Oath, 1681 — "Apology for Sir James Dalrymple, by

IX. "Information" by Viscount Stair as to proposed Acts of Parliament — Notice of Lord Hailes — Note as to Stair Arms, . . . . . . .361

(Life of First Earl of Stair.)

I. Sir John Dalrymple's Defence and Plea for Earl of Argyle, 371 VII. Letters from First Earl Stair and Lord Godolphin, . 378

(Life of Second Earl of Stair.)

IV. Letters, Joseph Addison, Prince Eugene, Col. Ligonier,

Second Earl of Stair, ..... 385 VII. Letters, Chevalier de St George, King George I. — Earl

Stair's Bill of Extraordinaries, 17 16, . . . 389

VIII. Despatches and Letters, Secretary Stanhope, Hon. C. Cath-

cart, George Prince of Wales, .... 392

VOL. I.

XV11I

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE FIRST VOLUME.

Portrait of Sir James Dalrymple, First Viscount Stair — from a Picture in the possession of the Earl of Stair at Oxenfoord Castle, Midlothian, . Frontispiece.

View of Stair House, Ayrshire — from a Pencil-Drawing

by Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, Esq., . . Opposite page 6.

Facsimile of an Autograph Letter of Viscount Stair to the Earl of Lauderdale — in the possession of David Laing, Esq., Signet Library, Edinburgh, Opposite page 38.

Portrait of John, First Earl of Stair — from a Picture by Sir John Medina, in the possession of the Earl of Stair at Oxenfoord Castle, .... Opposite page 113.

Facsimile of portion of a Letter (with Signature) from the First Earl of Stair to Lord Godolphin,

Opposite page 20S.

Portrait of John, Second Earl of Stair — from a Picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller, in possession of the Earl of Stair at Oxenfoord Castle Opposite page 221.

Coat of Arms borne by the Viscount and the First

Earl of Stair Page 367.

XIX

THE Correspondence contained in these volumes, of which by much the larger portion is now for the first time printed from the originals, includes Letters and Despatches from the following persons : —

/-• ■> r- »«• i r it^i r.n i( Thurlois State Papers,

General George Monck, afterwards Duke of Albemarle < .

( vol. VI.

( Aruiston MSS. — Laing MSS.— Court of Session Books of Sederunt — Melvill Papers {printed for the Bannatyne Club).

Aruiston MSS.

Do. \ Court of Session Books

of Sederunt.

Aruiston MSS.

Lauderdale Papers,

British Museum.

Letters of the Earl of Argyle (printed for the Bannatyne Club). ( Melvill Papers— Stair ■ \ (MS.) Papers. . Melvill Papers.

I Lothian MSS. — Mar MSS. — Leeds Family Papers — Papers Illustrative of the Highlands (MaitlandClub).

Melvill Papers.

Do.

Leeds Family Papers.

\ Marehmont Papers

(printed in 3 vols. Svo. )

rMSS. —Slair(MS. )

-Marehmont

Papers — Hardwieke

State Papers (11.)

(printed in 2 vols. 4J0. )

Sir James Dalrymple, first Lord Stair,

Sir James Dundas, Lord Arniston,

Sir Alexander Hume, cousin of Sir James Dundas,

King Charles II.,

John Duke of Lauderdale,

John Duke of Rothes, ....

Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyle,

The first, second, and third Earls of Marehmont, William, sixteenth Earl of Crawford, .

John, first Earl of Stair,

King William III., . . . .

Sol. -Gen. Ogilvie, afterwards Earl of Seafield, The Lord Treasurer Godolphin,

Duncan Forbes (the elder) of Culloden,

John, second Earl of Stair, Field Marshal, &c. ,

/ MarMSS.

Papers -

XX

LIST OF CORRESPONDENCE.

Hon. Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., of North Berwick- James, first Earl Stanhope, The first and second Countesses of Stair, The first and second Earls of Halifax, . The Rt. Hon. Paul Methuen, George Bubb Doddington (Lord Melcombe), . James, first Duke of Montrose, Hon. Sir David Dalrymple, of Hailes, ' (Lord Ad

vocate), .....

John, first Duke of Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, The eighth and ninth Lords Cathcart, Viscount Finch, afterwards seventh Earl of Winchel

sea and third Earl of Nottingham,

Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke,

■l

Stair Papers.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

The Abbe Dubois,

Mr Secretary Addison,

Prince Eugene of Savoy,

The Chevalier de St George (old Pretender),

King George I. and King George II., .

The British Ministers at Vienna, Genoa, and Venice,

Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough,

Mr Secretary Craggs, .

Cardinal Alberoni,

John Willes, Esq., K.C.,

Mr Sergeant Hanbury,

John first Duke of Roxburgh, .

Admiral Sir George Byng,

Colonel William Stanhope, afterwards Earl of Har

rington, ....

James, fifth Earl of Galloway, .

General Wightman, Arouet de Voltaire,

The land-stewards of the second Earl of Stair, Hon. James Erskine of Grange, Charles Lord Binning, eldest son of the si-xth Earl of )

Haddington, Lady Murray of Stanhope, Alexander, fourth Earl of Balcarres, Charles, third Duke of Queensberry, .

Lord Drummore, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

Stair Papers — Stuart Papers (App. to Vol.

I of Earl Stanhope's England').

Stair Papers — Sevelin-' ges' Memoircs Secrets.

Stair Papers.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Stair Papers — Hard- . wieke Papers.

Stair Papers.^

Do.

Mar MSS.

Stair Papers.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

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Do.

Do.

LIST OF CORRESPONDENCE.

XXI

William Pulteney, Esq.,

Susannah, Countess of Eglintoun,

William Lord Crighton,

The fourth Earl of Shaftesbury,

Colonel James Gardiner,

John Lord Carteret,

The Earl of Hertford (Duke of Somerset),

George, third Lord Reay,

The second Duke of Richmond,

Lady Susan Keck,

John, fourth Earl of Loudoun,

Charles, third Earl of Sunderland,

Sir James Agnew, Bart.,

Sir (or Mr) Gilbert Heathcote,

F. M. the Duke of Berwick, .

Charles, ninth Lord Elphinstone,

The Lord-Chancellor Hardwicke,

The Due de Noailles, .

Leopold, Prince of Anhalt,

Count Kevenhuller,

Stair Papers.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do. 'Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

ERRATA.

Vol. I. Page 252, line 7 from foot, for " disma " read "dismal." ,, „ 267, line 12 from top, for "poeple" read "people."

,, „ 308, line 9 from foot, delete comma after " prince."

,, ,, 311, lowest line, for "this" read "the next."

VISCOUNT STAIR.

Chapter I

Genealogy of the Stair family — Early Protestant reformers — Birth and education of James Dairy ■mp/e of Stair — Accepts a commission in Lord Glencairiis regiment — Becomes a regent or teacher of philosophy in Glasgow University — Marries an heiress — Removes to Edinburgh, and exchanges philosophy for the profession of the law.

The family of Dalrymple is of very considerable antiquity in Ayrshire. The name was derived from a baronial estate adjoining the river Doon, which was possessed by Dalrymples early in the fourteenth century, and was situated in what is now the parish of Dalrymple in that county. The principal family of Dalrymples in the fifteenth century was that of the Dalrymples of Laucht, one of whom acquired the lands of Stair-Montgomery on the water of Ayr, about the year 1450, by marriage with the heiress of these lands, Agnes Kennedy, — the relationship of the parties being so near, that a papal dispensation was requisite to legalise the marriage."5'' Their son,

* Contemporary Charters in possession of the Earl of Stair ; Crawford's Peerage, p. 451 ; Douglas's Peerage, by Wood, voce Stair.

4 THE STAIR ANNALS. [i494-

William Dalrymple, married Marion (daughter of Sir John Chalmers, of Gadgirth in Ayrshire), who is mentioned by the name of Lady Stairs in Knox's ' History of the Reformation in Scotland,' as having been one of the Lollards of Kyle.*

This little party of early reformers, including the wife of Dalrymple of Stair (or Stairs), were called, in the year 1494, to appear before the Council of James IV. of Scotland, on a summons by Blackeder, Archbishop of Glasgow, to answer for their heretical opinions ; the charge against them enumerating most of those articles of belief, contradicting the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, upon which the Protestant reformers afterwards took their stand. The king treated the charge lightly, and, after a formal hearing and a disputation between the Archbishop and one of the Lollards, the accused persons were dismissed from the bar of the council, not without some ridicule of their ecclesiastical assailant.t

John Dalrymple of Stair, grandson of William Dalrymple and his heretical wife, was among the first of the gentry in Scotland who made open profession of the Reformed doctrines, joining the Earls of Glencairn and Lennox when they appeared in arms in 1544, at Glasgow Muir, against the Governor of Scotland, the Earl of Arran. His son James was a staunch adherent of the Scottish Reformation of 1560, marrying Isabel, daughter of Thomas Kennedy of Bargany, by whom he had two sons, John Dalrymple of Stair and James Dalrymple of Drum-

* Kyle is a district of Ayrshire.

t Knox's Reformation in Scotland, ad init. ; Pinkerton's History of Scotland from the Accession of the Stewarts, ii. 418.

murchie. The elder of these brothers had an only son, James, who in 1620 made over the lands of Stair to his uncle, James Dalrymple of Drummurchie, who had married, in 161 7, Janet, daughter of Kennedy of Knockdow."* The only child of this marriage, James Dalrymple, afterwards President of the Court of Session and Viscount Stair, was born in his paternal home of Drummurchie, in the parish of Barr, Ayrshire, in the month of May 1619.

Deprived by death of his father when but four years old, he was brought up under the care of his mother, who is noted as having been " a woman of an excellent spirit ; " and he acquired the rudiments of his education at the parish school of Mauchline.t At the age of fourteen he was entered at the University of Glasgow, where, after passing through the usual Scottish curriculum of study, he took the degree of Master of Arts in the year 1637, his name standing first on the list of graduates in the university rolls.

James Dalrymple betook himself in the following year to Edinburgh, where the proceedings of the numerous party of all classes who were adverse to the introduction by King Charles I. of the Episcopal Church service-book, and also to his court of High Commission, already pointed to an issue of civil war.

The history of these eventful years has been often told. The celebrated " National Covenant," drawn