Iconographia Scotica or
Portraits
of
ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS
of
Scotland
Engraved from the most Authentic Paintings &c With short Biographical Notices.
By
John. Pinkerton. F.S.A. Perth.
London▪ Printed for
. Herbert John. P.
in Court Road▪ Barrett. 289. Holborn
MDCCXCVII.
SUBSCRIBERS AND PATRONS.
HIS MAJESTY, GEORGE III.
MARQUIS of Abercorn.
Earl of Ancram.
Miss Ablett.
Earl of Buchan.
Countess of Buchan.
Earl of Breadalbaine.
Lord Balgonie.
Lady Balcarras.
William Beckford, Esq. Font Hill, Wilts.
Rev. Mr. Brand, S. A. S.
Theodore Broadhead, Esq.
Mr. Booker, Bookseller, six sets.
Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, Booksellers, Edinburgh.
Earl of Clarendon.
Lord Colvill.
Sir David Carnegie, Bart. M. P.
J. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P.
Lord F. Campbell.
Thomas Coutts, Esq.
Mr. Collins, Devizes.
Rev. Mr. Candler, Lammas, Norfolk.
A. Lawson Mansfelde de Cardonnell, Esq.
Mr. Clarke, Bookseller, six sets.
Mr. Chapman, Bookseller.
Mr. Colnaghi, Printseller.
Mr. Constable, Bookseller, Edinburgh, six sets.
Mr. James Caulfield.
Right Rev. Bishop of Dromore.
Colonel Dowdswell.
— Douglas, Esq.
Francis Douce, Esq. F. A. S.
R. J. Dimsdale, Esq.
Hon. T. Erskine, M. P.
Mr. J. Edwards, Bookseller, fifteen sets.
Mr. R. Edwards, Bookseller, six sets.
Mr. Egerton, Bookseller, six sets.
Rev. R. Farmer, D. D. Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge.
Martin Fonnereau, Esq.
Rev. Mr. Ford, Canterbury.
Mr. Findlay.
Mr. Faulder, Bookseller, thirty sets.
Mr. Gardner, Bookseller.
— Hamilton, Esq.
Adair Hawkins, Esq.
Mrs. Herbert, Cheshunt, Herts.
Mr. Harding, Printseller, twenty-four sets.
Messrs. Hookham and Carpenter, Booksellers, six sets.
Mr. S. Hayes, Bookseller, six sets.
Rev. Mr. Ireland, Wotton under Edge, Gloucestershire.
— Ingram, Esq. Billiter Square.
Thomas Johnnes, Esq. M. P.
Mr. Jeffery, Bookseller, three sets.
Earl of Kelly.
John Kerr, Esq. Newbottle.
Major Alexander Kydd.
His Grace the Duke of Leeds.
Earl of Leven.
Earl of Lauderdale.
Lord Lesley.
Colonel Lesley.
— Lloyd, Esq.
Mr. Lowe, Bookseller, Birmingham.
General Melvil.
R. Marsham, Esq. F. R. S. Stratton, Norfolk.
— M'cKintosh, Esq.
Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie.
Mr. Manson, Bookseller, six sets.
Mr. Moltino, Printseller, nine sets.
G. Nicol, Esq.
Mr. Deputy Nichols.
Earl of Orford.
Professor Ogilvie, Aberdeen.
Alexander Orr, Esq.
F. Pigou, Esq.
Mr. Pennant.
Mr. Le Petit.
His Grace the Duke of Queensberry.
His Grace the Duke of Roxburgh.
Dr. Rutherford, Kelso.
Messrs. Robinsons, six sets.
Earl of Stair.
Lord Sheffield.
Sir John Sinclair, Bart.
Andrew Stuart, Esq. M. P.
— Smith, Esq. Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Mr. Simco, Bookseller, eight sets.
Mr. Stace, Bookseller, twelve sets.
Mr. G. Sael, Bookseller.
Mr. Scott, six sets.
S. Tighe, Esq.
Dr. Tytler.
Mr. Todd, Bookseller, York.
— Townley, Esq.
Mr. Turner.
— Wright, Esq.
R. Waters, Esq. two sets.
Messrs. White, Booksellers, six sets.
Mr. Walter, Bookseller, three sets.
Mr. Wilkinson, Printseller.
Mr. Waldron, Bookseller.
FINIS.
AUGUST 1, 1796. THIS DAY IS PUBLISHED, Part III. PORTRAITS OF ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS OF SCOTLAND.
Sold by Mr. CONSTABLE, Bookseller,
Edinburgh;
Messrs. MORRISON,
Perth;
Mr. TODD,
York;
Mr. NICOL, Bookseller to His Majesty,
Pall-Mall;
Mr. WILKINSON, No. 58,
Cornhill;
and Mr. HERBERT, No. 29,
John Street, Tottenham Court Road.
By whom Communications will be gratefully received.
ADDRESS TO THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY OF SCOTLAND.
AMONG the Romans noble families alone possessed the
Jus Imaginum,
the right of presenting to the public eye the portraits of their ancestors; this institution, far more sublime than the symbols of heraldry, at once stimulated all ranks to virtue, and prevented envy, by reminding the people of the public services, for which they were indebted to the ancestors of the great.
It is hoped that the nobility and gentry, in particular, will encourage this work by communicating drawings from portraits of eminent men, many of which may lurk in domestic concealment. Nor can it be necessary to remind them that the present expence is great, and the future remuneration uncertain; and that a work of this kind, and devoted solely to the national glory, when once abandoned, is seldom or never resumed.
PARLIAMENT
OF EDWARD I.
ALEXANDER III.
THE print prefixed, is rather given as a curiosity, than as presenting an accurate portrait of this monarch. It is taken from a copy, in the collection of the earl of Buchan, from an ancient limning, formerly in the College of Arms, London.
Alexander III. was born on the 4th of September, 1241. He ascended the throne, a minor not eight years of age, 13th July 1249, on the death of his father Alexander II. His life was distinguished by virtues; his reign by wisdom and justice. His accidental death, on the 16th March 1286, left Scotland a prey to the ambition of the English monarch, Edward I.
Annals of Scotland, by Sir David Dalrymple, vol. I.
sub annis.
The coronation of Edward took place on the 19th of August, 1274. Alexander, with his queen, and many of his nobility, assisted at the ceremony;
Ibid.
as did Llewellyn, prince of Wales. From the delineation here given, it also appears, that Alexander and Llewellyn sat in the house of peers, in a parliament held, as usual, after the inauguration.
This representation of the house of peers is curious and interesting. The archbishops of Canterbury and York are seated somewhat lower than Alexander and Llewellyn: the two persons behind the latter, are supposed to represent the pope's ambassadors: he behind Alexander to bear the deed of homage for the lands possessed by that monarch in England. The mitred abbots amount to nineteen; while the bishops present are only eight; the temporal peers, twenty. In the midst, the chancellor and judges appear on their woolsacks.
JAMES I.
From Jonstoni Heroes Scotiae
JAMES I.
THIS monarch was born in 1394, for he was in his forty-fourth year when he was slain in 1437.
Contin. of Fordun, II. 503.
In 1405, when he was about eleven years of age, he was sent to France for his education, by his father Robert III.; but was captured by the English on his voyage;
Ibid. 439. Winton's Chronicle, MS. p. 895, who expressly dates this capture in 1405; and the death of Robert III. a year after, 1406. See also Ruddiman's notes on Buchanan, I. 436.
and remained a prisoner in England for about nineteen years.
This captivity was nevertheless attended with eminent advantages. Nurtured in the school of adversity, his mind eagerly imbibed the elegant arts, and useful sciences: and, on the 21st of May 1424,
Contin. of Fordun, II. 474.
he ascended the throne of his fathers, perhaps the most accomplished sovereign in Europe of his time.
The regencies of Robert, and Murdac, dukes of Albany, had been fertile in public abuses: and the dilapidation of the royal lands and revenues, which they had shared among the nobles, in order to establish their own power, exposed the new sovereign to a choice of difficulties. His reign must be degraded by penury; or rendered dangerous by the arduous task of resuming the royal patrimony. The spirit and genius of James preferred the latter alternative; and, after a long series of national disorder, the sword of justice at length filled the hand of the monarch, and flashed in the eyes of an usurping aristocracy. The most guilty of the public depredators fell under the axe of the law: neither rank, nor even royal blood, could save them from equal justice. Terror for a time seized the peers, and established tranquillity. At length a conspiracy was formed; and James perished under the sword of an assassin, on the night between the 20th and 21st of February, 1437.
Contin. of Fordun, II. 503. Ruddiman's Buchanan, I. 439.
In poetry, in music, in the learning of his age, this prince was eminently skilled. In the field of manly and martial exercise his management of the horse, of the bow, of the spear, excited admiration: his domestic hours were dedicated to elegant writing, and miniature painting; to mechanical arts; and to the cultivation of the garden, and the orchard.
Contin. of Fordun, II. 504, 505, &c.
He was short of stature; and towards the end of his reign became very corpulent; but his strength and agility remained unimpaired.
Compare Contin. of Fordun, II. 504, with the Descriptio Asiae et Europae, by Pope Pius II. who had seen James in Scotland, edit. Paris 1534, 8vo. p. 415; "Jacobus eo tempore [1435] regnabat, quadratus, et multa pinguedine gravis, qui cum olim in Anglia captus," &c. "His hair was auburn, a colour between white and red." Drumm. Hist. p. 31.
The present portrait is taken, in fac-simile, from that in the
Inscriptiones Historicae Regum Scotorum
of Jonston, 1602, a series intitled to the greatest confidence of authenticity.
The plates were afterwards used in Murray of Glendook's Acts of Parliament, Edinburgh, 1681, folio. Those in Drummond's History, London, 1655, folio, seem copies, except James IV. but the likeness is lost, and the whole are of no authority.
JAMES V.
from a Painting in the Duke of Devonshire's possession.
JAMES V.
JAMES IV married Margaret of England, daughter of Henry VII, in August 1503; but many miscarriages and early deaths intervened before a vivacious fruit of their union appeared. James V was born on the 10th of April 1512:
Epist. Reg. Scot. M S. in Bibl. Reg. 13 B. II.
and in September 1513, when he was an infant of a year and a half, the sceptre fell upon his cradle, after the unhappy battle of Flodden, in which his father perished.
John duke of Albany assumed the regency in May 1515; and held it, with some intervals of absence in France, until July 1524; when Margaret regained the supreme power. In the following year she was constrained to share it with Beton the chancellor, and Angus her husband: and, in 1526, the latter usurped the sole authority.
Lesley, Buchanan, Lindsay, &c.
In the beginning of July 1528, James burst from the fetters of Angus, in his seventeenth year, and the first act of his power was the forfeiture and banishment of that peer, his brothers, friends, and adherents. After a short, but active and just exercise of sovereignty, he died on the 14th December, 1542, a victim to the embarrassments of the time, and his own high spirit. His sceptre and misfortunes passed to the celebrated Mary his daughter, an infant of a week old.
Ibid.
James V was a prince of no mean abilities; and from the reign of James I genius and love of the arts were hereditary in the house of Stuart. His subjects smiled at his vague amours, while they admired his personal courage, his strict administration of justice.
Lesl. 460. Buchan. xiv. 62. Lindsay 276.
His persistance in the religion of his ancestors, which was then that of the majority of the nation, has excited the calumny of protestant historians; but time extinguishes party, and revives candour. The only apparent stain on his reign is the execution of lady Glamis, the sister of Angus: but that she was actually concerned in a plot of the house of Douglas against the king's life, there is every room to believe, from original papers, which will soon be laid before the public. His sternness to the nobles was more than compensated by the protection, affability, and generosity, which he displayed to the people; and every cottage exulted in his glorious epithet of KING OF THE POOR.
Lesl. ib.
His person was of the middle size, elegant and majestic; his face was oval, his eyes blue,
Oculi caesii, ac illi quidem peracres. Ibid.
his hair yellow: add an aquiline nose, and the most striking features of the Stuarts, from the accession of the family to the death of this soverē ign, will be delineated. This portrait is from a drawing in lord Orford's possession, taken from a contemporary painting in the collection of the duke of Devonshire.
The resemblance accords with that given by Johnston in his Inscriptiones, and in Drummond's history, and with the gold coins. Yet by a miracle of inaccuracy, the late prints in Gu
hrie's history, &c. have not a shadow of likeness.
MARY OF GUISE.
from a Painting in the Duke of Devonshire's po
.
MARY OF GUISE, QUEEN OF JAMES V.
MAGDALEN of France, the first wife of James V, having died in July 1537, in the seventh month after the marriage, he, in the subsequent year, wedded Mary of Guise, or Lorraine. This lady was the daughter of Claude, duke of Guise, a branch of the house of Lorraine; and widow of Louis duke of Longueville. She arrived in Scotland on the 10th of June 1538; and the nuptials were immediately celebrated at St. Andrew's.
Lesley, 447.
During the life of her husband she appears to have taken no part in the political intrigues of a busy and important period. On his death, in Dec. 1542, she was immersed in the disputes between cardinal Beton and Arran, concerning the regency: and after the assassination of the former, in 1546, she began to assume an active share in the government. Instigated by the counsels of her brothers, the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine, she aspired to the regency, which she at length obtained in April 1554. But, amid the vehemence of the protestant and catholic parties, her situation was exposed to numerous difficulties; and her death on the 10th of June 1560, may be partly imputed to their pressure.
Robertson's Hist, of Scotland, I. 122, 137, 229.
An eminent historian has delineated her character with his usual ability. He represents her as possessing the most eminent qualities, discernment, address, intrepidity, prudence; gentle and humane, without weakness; zealous for her religion, without bigotry; a lover of justice, without rigour. Her sole foible was a devotion to France and the house of Guise, natural and almost unavoidable; but which became ruinous to her measures, and to her political reputation.
Robertson, I. 229, 230.
Yet she shewed extreme lenity to the reformers; and on her death-bed expressed to their chiefs, with many tears, her concern for any causes of dissention,
Lesley, 569.
and even condescended to hear the pious advices of their teachers with reverence
Knox, 228.
Religious party, and bigotry, have now lost much of their force; they perish, but virtue is eternal: and Scotland may justly regard Mary of Guise as one of the most illustrious queens who ever shared the throne.
Her beauty, and the elegant gentleness of her manners, are mentioned in general terms:
Lesley, 447.
but amid the silence of historians and writers of memoirs, her features may be best discerned from the portrait, which is contained in the same picture with James V, in the collection of the duke of Devonshire.
JAMES II.
from Jonston
Inscriptiones historice
JAMES II.
THIS monarch ascended the Scotish throne in February, 1437, being only in the sixth year of his age.
The historical materials of his reign are remarkably barren.
The continuator of Fordun ends his work at the death of James I. Hector Boyce, the notorious fabulist, is the only writer who details the reign of James II; and his account is translated by Lindsay of Pittscottie, and abridged by Lesley and Buchanan; though it deserve very little credit, being generally irreconcileable with the genuine fragments and records.
His minority was chiefly rendered memorable by the contests between Crichton and Livingston, and successive earls of Douglas. In 1449 James II espoused Mary of Gelder, niece of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy.
The execution of William, sixth earl of Douglas, in the castle of Edinburgh, 1440, had not quieted the rebellious spirit of that great family; and in 1452 James was, in the effervescence of passion, provoked to stab William, the eighth earl of Douglas, with his own hand, in the castle of Stirling. James, the succeeding earl, raised some commotions, which were speedily appeased, and the public tranquillity restored.
But in 1454 the grand rebellion of the house of Douglas commenced, which shook the Scotish throne, and was suppressed with much difficulty. In 1455 a forfeiture was led against the house of Douglas; and the four brothers, James it's chief, the earls of Moray and Ormond, and lord Balveny, were doomed to expiate, by death or exile, the vengeance of their offended monarch and country. Yet in the course of a few years the branch of Angus succeeded to the exorbitant power of the stem. Such strangers were the monarchs to modern theoretic ideas of a design to subvert the aristocracy; while, in fact, all they attempted was to withstand its incroachments, when they became absolutely incompatible with royalty.
On the 3d of August, 1460, James II was accidentally slain by the bursting of a cannon, while he was besieging Roxburgh.
James II was a prince of eminent spirit; and his measures were decisive even to violence. The obscurity attending his reign renders his private life little known. His person, according to a dry but veracious author, was robust; and a red stain, which covered one side of his countenance, gave rise to the vulgar epithet of James with the Fiery Face.
John Major, or Mair, p. 822, 826. Compare also the short chronicle in prose to the year 1482, at the end of Winton. MS. Reg. 17 D. XX.
This portrait is copied, in fac-simile, from that in the Inscriptiones of Jonston.
In Vol. II. of the Scotish Poets, printed at Perth, by the Morisons, 1787, 12mo. is an engraving of James II after a painting by Jameson, at Newbottel-Abbey, the seat of the Marquis of Lothian. The face has great resemblance to this; but Jameson has bestowed a more brilliant, and rather a more modern dress.
Edward first lord Bruce of Kinloss.
b
o
Chap. I
EDWARD BRUCE, FIRST LORD KINLOSS.
THIS statesman was the second son of Sir Edward Bruce, of Blair-hall, and the progenitor of the earls of Elgin, and Aylesbury. He was bred to the law, and displayed abilities which gained him the confidence of James VI, who sent the earl of Mar, and Bruce, to congratulate Elizabeth on the suppression of the insurrection by Essex, in 1601. The subsequent correspondence, between Bruce and Sir Robert Cecil, operated greatly towards the peaceable accession of James to the English throne.
On the 22d Feb. 1603, James erected the dissolved abbey of Kinloss, in Moray, into a lordship, in favour of this able negociator.
Lord Kinloss, attending his sovereign into England, was further rewarded by the office of Master of the Rolls: The patent is dated 8th July, 1604.
This account is derived from Douglas's Peerage, article
Elgin.
See also Pennant's London; and for the intercourse between Cecil and Bruce, the "Secret Correspondence," Edin. 1766, 12mo.
And his epitaph mentions that he died on the 14th of January, 1610, aged sixty-two years.
This figure is delineated from his monument in the Rolls Chapel, London; and is accompanied by the following inscription.
Sacrae Memoriae
Domini Edvardi Brvcii, Baronis
Brvcii Kinlossensis, Sacrorum Scriniorum
Magistri, dicatum, Qui obijt 14o Jan. Sal. 1610, Aetat.
62o . Jacobi Regis 8o .
Brucius Edvardus situs hic, et Scotus, et Anglus;
Scotus ut Ortu, Anglis sic oriundus Avis.
Regno in Utro
que
decus tulit, auctus honoribus amplis,
Regi a Consilijs Regni utrius
que
fuit.
Conjuge, Prole, Nuru, Genero, Spe, Re
que
Beatus;
Vivere nos docuit, nunc docet ecce mori.
ZACHARIAH BOYD, Minister at Glasgow.
from a Picture in the College there.
ZACHARIAH BOYD
WAS minister of the Baronry church of Glasgow, and bequeathed 20,000
l.
Scotish money, (about 1600
l.
sterling,) to the university there. In gratitude his bust was erected in marble, with an inscription commemorating the donation of that sum, and of his library. He lived in the reign of Charles I.
Macure's Glasgow p. 223.
His translation of the scripture, in such uncouth verse as to amount to burlesque, has been often quoted; and the just fame of a benefactor to learning has been obscured by that cloud of miserable rimes. Candour will smile at the foible, but applaud the man.
ISABEL OF SCOTLAND Duchess of Bretagne.
from Lobincau Hist de Bretagne Original in the Cathedral of Vann
r.
ISABEL OF SCOTLAND, DUCHESS OF BRETAGNE,
WAS the daughter of JAMES I; and in July 1441, was affianced to Francis, son of the Duke John V.
Argentré in his History of Bretagne, informs us that when the envoys of John returned from Scotland, that Prince was eager to know their opinion of the lady. They answered that she had beauty, health, and an elegant person, but was very silent, and apparently simple. To which remark the Duke returned this celebrated reply; "My dear friends, I beg you will return to Scotland and bring her to me; she is just such a wife as I desire for my son. Knowledge does a woman more hurt than good; upon my soul, I shall have no other. By the body of St. Nicolas, a woman is quite wife enough, when she can distinguish her husband's shirt from his waistcoat."
The marriage was accordingly concluded, but Isabel did not proceed to Bretagne, till November, 1442, and found her husband in the throne of that Duchy, by the style of Francis I, his father having died in August.
In 1450 she was left a widow with two daughters, Margaret who married Francis II Duke of Bretagne, and Mary afterwards wife of the Viscount de Rohan. After refusing the Prince of Navarre and other offers of matrimony, Isabel of Scotland died in an advanced age, in 1494.
This account is derived from Lobineau Hist. de Bretagne, Tome 1 p. 619, et infra, passim.
This portrait is a copy from the engraving in Lobineau's History of Bretagne, taken from the original painting in the Cathedral of Vannes.
ROBERT BOYD OF TROCHRIG
the Original in the College of Glasgow
ROBERT BOYD OF TROCHRIG.
THIS learned professor was the son of James Boyd of Trochrig in Airshire, archbishop of Glasgow, who died in 1581.
Keith, Bish. 155.
The Boyds of Pinkhill, and of Trochrig, were descended from Adam Boyd, third son of Alexander the second son of Robert lord Boyd, the famous Chamberlain of Scotland in the minority of James III.
Douglas, Peer. 376.
The celebrated Mark Alexander Boyd was of the family of Pinkhill, and first cousin to the professor.
See Biogr. Brit. art. M. A. Boyd.
Robert Boyd of Trochrig was professor of divinity at Saumur in France, when he was invited by James VI to the office of principal of the university of Glasgow. But not supporting the king's views in promoting episcopacy, he resigned, and was then called by the city of Edinburgh to the same station in the university there, and found equal opposition from the court. He therefore abandoned that charge, and became minister at Paisley. He died in 1629.
Macure's Glasgow, p. 35.
He wrote a commentary on the epistle to the Ephesians: and a poem called
Hecatombe Christiana,
preserved in the
Deliciae Poetarum Scotorum,
and dedicated to his relation Andrew Boyd bishop of Argyle, a prelate eminent for his active virtues in reclaiming that barbaric see.
The original painting is in the university of Glasgow.
ALICIA STEWART.
from her Monument in the Sa
y
ALICIA STUART.
OF this lady, no more is known, than what her epitaph bears, that she was daughter of Simeon Stewart of Lakingheth in Suffolk, and died on the 18th June 1573.
This Simeon Stewart seems the second son of Thomas Stewart of Mildenhall in Suffolk, a family which displayed twenty quarters in their coat armorial. Stewart of Barton-mills in Suffolk was another branch. This family also extended to Norfolk, and Cambridge shire: and seven generations being in Elizabeth's time reckoned from their first ancestor's leaving Scotland, that event must have happened in the Fourteenth century.
Visitation of Suffolk, temp. Eliz. MS. Harl. 1560, p. 343.
The portrait more properly belongs to the English series; but the elegant simplicity, and antique taste, of the monument were thought worthy of being better known: and this branch of the Stuarts deserves commemoration in this work, as it may tend to illustrate the genealogical history of Scotland, by promoting further enquiries.
An ingenious and respectable friend, who has made collections for Suffolk, says, "My notes for Lakenheath only mention an altar-tomb of grey marble for Simeon
Styward,
In this monument and the MS.
Stewart.
Styward, or Stew-ward, seems the original appellation; and
Senis
halcus
implies chief herdsman.
who died 30th April 1568. Arms,
1st and 4th a lion rampant, over all a bend raguled, Styward.
2d quart. 1st and 4th, Styward.
2d and 3d quart. 1st and 4th, 3 boars heads couped. 2d and 3d, a lion rampant.
3d, Styward imp. a lion rampant gardant, crowned.
Against the wall, an inscription for Johanna, daughter and heir of Edward
Pestney,
(qu. Restney,) wife of Simeon Styward: she died 1583."
ROBERT II
from Jonsto
Inscrip
.
ROBERT II.
THIS first monarch of the house of Stuart, ascended the throne on the 26th March, 1371, being in the fiftieth and fifth year of his age. He died on the 19th of April, 1390. His advanced years, and an inflammation in his eyes, prevented his personal appearance as an eminent actor in history; but his reign was distinguished by the battle of Otterburn, and other illustrious incidents.
He was a just and beneficent Sovereign. In person he was tall and majestic, but his countenance was disfigured by the inflammation of his eyes, which, Froissart says, were distorted and red as sandal wood;
Tome 11. f. 177.
a defect which procured him the vulgar epithet of blear eye.
This portrait from the Inscriptions of Jonston, seems not much to be depended on; the eyes are indeed distorted, but the beard worn in that age is wanting. The dress however accords with the
costume.
David II appears with the robe fringed on the shoulders, as here: and the form of the bonnet repeatedly occurs in Montfaucon's prints.
Strutt's Reg. and Ecc. Ant. plate liii. Montf. Mon. T. iii. pl. 22, 23, 36.
JAMES the First
from a Painting at Kielberg in S
bia
THIS portrait is taken from a painting at Kielberg, near Tubingen in Germany, the seat of the Von Lytrums.
The late learned Sir James Stuart Denham had informed Lord Buchan, that he had often seen at M. Von Lytrum's, a portrait full length of a Scotish king, in a close jacket,
the peaks of his shoes fastened to his girdle, with chains of gold;
that it was in a gallery with portraits of many other princes; that an ancestor of M. Von Lytrum, being a great traveller, had visited most courts in Europe, and obtained those pictures of the
reigning
sovereigns.
From his lordship's information.
Lord Buchan in consequence applied to M. Gognel, Chancellor to the Duke of Wirtemburg, at Montbeliard, for a copy of this piece; which only came to hand half length, as here, though the remainder would have presented an instance of a singular fashion, mentioned by old English writers as beginning in the reign of Richard II, but of which no other specimen is known in painting or miniature.
The editor was led to suppose that this prince was James IV, because the contemporary sovereigns were of his reign, or soon after. But he now inclines to infer James I, from the following reasons.
1. M. Gognel named it the latter.
2. The features correspond so much with the fine portrait of James I in Johnston's Inscriptions, that the beard, and more advanced years, seem to form the only difference.
3. The crown over the arms is too simple for the time of James IV; that of James III having fleurons of quite a different height and richness.
4. The hat resembles that of Charles VII of France, contemporary with James I, in Mezeray.
5. The jacket is not slashed. There is in Montfaucon
Mon. T. iii. pl. 64.
a portrait of Charles duke of Burgundy, slain in 1477, in this very dress, with the chain of the golden fleece; but the jacket is slashed in strait lines: and this fashion of slashing appears in the genuine portrait of James IV.
6. The shoes, with chains, are so rare, that it is probable they were only known in the latter part of the reign of Richard II, and in that of Henry IV, who died in 1413, when James I was twenty years of age, and had been a captive for eight years. Long peaks are common, and appear in the statutes of Edward IV; but no mention of chains occurs after the above period. It is improbable that Von Lytrum should from such a distance visit Scotland: but most likely that the portrait of James I was executed in England, during his captivity, and procured there by Von Lytrum, who not being able to get that of the reigning monarch, contented himself with another.
ALEX ERSKINE
ALEXANDER ERSKINE, PLENIPOTENTIARY FOR SWEDEN AT THE TREATY OF MUNSTER.
THIS noted treaty took place in 1649; and there are fine prints of the meeting, and of the different ambassadors, from one of which the present portrait is taken. The painter was Van Hulle.
In the military annals of Gustaf Adolf, Erskine was an eminent character. He was of the family of Erskine of Kirkbuddo in Fife, sprung from the Erskines of Dun: and was ennobled in Sweden. Some of his descendants were not long since settled at Bonne in Germany.
This information was obligingly communicated by lord Buchan.
Further materials have not arisen.
MARY.
from a Painting in Kensington Palace
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTLAND.
THIS work is rather to be regarded as an account of portraits, than of persons; and concerning this princess, in particular, so much has been written, that it is only necessary to state the chief dates, in order to illustrate the portraits.
In that splendid work, the Heads of Illustrious Persons o
England, Dr. Birch has proceeded on a different plan. But no one consults such books for biography; and it had been better if he had authenticated, and illustrated, the portraits, several of which are well known to be erroneous. This last cause, with the unwieldy size of superfluous ornaments, for the portraits themselves might have appeared in 8vo, may perhaps account for the abrupt termination of a work, which the more ample it had proved, the more honourable it had been to the nation. No patriot would wish to confine the number of its illustrious or eminent persons.
She was born on the 14th of Dec. 1542; went to France in June 1548; was married to the Dauphin April 14, 1558, in her sixteenth year: queen of France, June 1559; a widow Dec. 1560. She came to Scotland, August 1561; wedded Darnley, July 1565; a widow Feb. 1567; married Bothwell two months after; fled to England May 1568; beheaded 7 Feb. 1587, aged 44 years and 2 months, after a captivity of nearly nineteen years, the very term of that of James I of Scotland.
The fictitious portraits of Mary are infinite. In some of them she is confounded with Mary of Guise her mother, with Mary queen of France, sister of Henry VIII, and even with Mary of Medici. But any handsome woman is, with the picture dealers, Mary of Scotland. The following are the most authentic portraits.
The Scotish silver coin of 1553 gives her bust at 11 years of age; the gold, 1555, at 13. The silver, 1561, should be at 19. There is, it is believed, at Holyrood-house a portrait about 14, pale.
Cock of Antwerp in 1559 engraved a fine print, three quarters, in her seventeenth year. Mr. Harding's half length is faithfully copied from this print, which the editor has seen in the possession of Sir William Musgrave. The small eyes, and oval features, occur in all the genuine portraits; but this has not that rise in the middle of the nose, which appears in the others. Perhaps the engraver was careless; or this feature was the product of more advanced years.
Montfaucon, Mon. de la Mon. Fr. gives a curious small whole length of her, leaning on a chair. It is intended to be copied for this work.
The portraits by Elstrack, and a good modern profile by Stewart, may be classed between her twentieth and thirtieth year. The present undoubted portrait at Kensington, seems of a later date,
Portraits of Mary between her twentieth and thirtieth year, 1563—1573, are of all others, the most uncommon.
It has the marks of Charles I on the back, both when prince, and when king, with this inscription, "Of Jennet.
Queen Marye of Scotland, appointed by his Majesty for the cabinet roome, 1631. By Jennet."
Charles I certainly knew the picture of his grandmother. In the catalogue this piece is ascribed to
the younger
Jennet, and is mentioned as a present of lord Danby. It is a delicate small picture; the face is very pale, perhaps by the fading of the painter's carnation. Auburn hair, black eyes.
About the same age may be that in Johnston's Inscriptions; which, if the drawing were somewhat mended, would be a valuable portrait. It is published fifteen years after her death.
The tomb, Westminster abbey, gives a fine resemblance, between thirty and forty. Vertue's drawing in lord Orford's collection from lord Morton's picture; and his fine print, aet. 38, follow.
From the account of her execution it appears that she was then fat and bloated. There is a large print of her about this time, apparently by De Leu, with latin verses by a
G. Cr. Scotus.
The face the same as De Leu's small one.
WILLIAM FORBES
first Bishop of Edinburgh
WILLIAM FORBES, FIRST BISHOP OF EDINBURGH.
WHILE the English possessed Lothian for a short time, in the seventh century, there was a bishopric of Abercorn. The province, exposed to hostile inroads, was afterwards ruled by the metropolitan see of St. Andrews, which appointed an Archdeacon of Lothian, till Charles I, in 1633, created the bishopric of Edinburgh.
William Forbes, a native of Aberdeen, and Principal of the Marishal college there, was nominated bishop on the 26th of January 1634; but he only survived his appointment about two months, dying on the 1st of April that year. He was succeeded by David Lindsay, who was exposed to the fury of the populace on account of the new liturgy; and was deposed in 1638.
Keith, Bish. 38, 39.
Of bishop Forbes Keith gives the following character. "A person he was endued most eminently with all christian virtues, insomuch that a very worthy man, Robert Burnet lord Crimond, a judge of the session, said of our prelate, that he never saw him but he thought his heart was in heaven; and that he was never alone with him but he felt within himself a commentary on those words of the Apostle, "Did not our hearts burn within us, while he yet talked with us, and opened to us the scriptures?" During the time he was principal at Aberdeen, he had interspersed several things among his academical prelections, tending to create peace among the contending parties of christianity; some notes whereof were published, above twenty years after his death, under the title of
Considerationes Modestae et Pacificae,
&c."
Keith, Bish. 38, 39.
The book forms an 8vo volume, replete with theological learning; and its intentions are the more laudable, because very uncommon. But party, ever in extremes, is a stranger to reason, and to all
Modest and Pacific Considerations.
He who takes the middle open ground is only exposed to the fire of both armies. Power admits of no compromise: and, when overcome, receives no compromise: because another power rules.
SIR CONRAD RUTHVEN
from the Tabl
de Boye
SIR CONRAD RUTHVEN.
OF this gentleman no memorials have yet arisen. The portrait is given from the book mentioned below: and the only information there to be found is that Sir Conrad was a Scotish gentleman, and was surnamed the Red.
Recueil d'Estampes d'aprés les tableaux de M. Boyer d'Aguilles, à Aix. Paris 1744 folio. The articles are arranged by the names of the painters. No. 47 bears that John Bronchorst of Utrecht was born in 1603, and was yet living in 1661; that he was at first a painter on glass, but became acquainted with Cornelis Polemburg, and commenced painter in oil.
Of the portrait we only have "Portrait de Conrad Ruten, Gentilhomme Ecossois, surnommé le Roux." The inscription is
Conrardus Ruten, ex Scotia, Eques.
And from the context it was painted by Bronkhorst.
The inscription of the original print bears that he was a Scotish Knight. He appears to have lived about 1650; and was perhaps of the Gowrie family.
JAMES IV.
from a painting in the
of
at
JAMES IV.
THIS magnanimous prince ascended the throne on the 24th of June, 1488, aged sixteen, and fell in the unhappy battle of Flodden, 9th September, 1513, in the fortieth and first year of his age, and twenty-sixth of his reign, which forms an epoch of the greatest prosperity to which Scotland ascended, while a separate Power.
A complete knight of chivalry, generous, magnificent, a patron of the arts, gentle, affable, just; had his prudence equalled his other qualities, he would have been one of the greatest of monarchs. But his impetuosity of temper hurried him into two romantic and absurd wars with England; in the latter of which himself and a great part of his nobility fell, and the kingdom was left a prey to anarchy.
Historians describe his person as of the middle size and elegant, with a majestic countenance.
Lesl. 330. Buch. xiii, 42.
Many minute anecdotes of his dress &c. may be found in the contemporary account of his marriage with Margaret daughter of Henry VII, published in the last edition of Leland's Collectanea.
Vol. IV. App.
The present curious and interesting portrait is from a painting in the possession of Mr. Batsford, at Fulham; and which appears to have belonged to king Charles I, as its former possessor asserted it had. In the catalogue of that king's pictures, p. 87, there is this article:
"Item. Beside the door, the picture of king James IV of Scotland, with a faulcon on his fist, done after an ancient water-coloured piece; half a figure, so big as the life, in a carved frame. Length 3 f. 1. Breadth 2 f. o. Done by Daniel Mytens."
In that of the pictures of James II, No. 879 is "James IV, of Scotland half length with a hawk on his fist;" apparently the same. This piece was at Whitehall, in both reigns; and must have fallen into private hands after the fire in 1697. In the same collection two pictures of "
King James
with a hawk on his fist" are of James VI at five years of age, as appears from MSS. catalogues.
The picture has been put on fresh canvas, and reframed; and the size now is 3 feet 2 inches, by 2 feet and one quarter of an inch: a variation owing to the new frame not being so broad in the inner margin as the ancient. This invaluable piece is in good preservation; and Mytens, who flourished in the reign of James I of England, has shewn great talents in the execution. The prototype was probably a painting in distemper, in one of the Scotish palaces.
Complexion fair; eyes hazel; hair deep chesnut. Bonnet black, ornament enchased gold; shirt collar decked with jewels, and a small gold lace at the wrist: doublet red, with leopard lapels; robe red, lined with purple, and puffed with light cloth of gold. The rest for the falcon,
The
peregrine
falcon. Willoughby p. 71, & tab. 8.
in the right hand, is lilac with green fillets. The arch is red marble; the arms supported by the unicorns not distinguishable: the back ground is a clear sky.
PATRICK SCOUGAL
Bishop of Aberdeen
PATRICK SCOUGAL, BISHOP OF ABERDEEN,
WAS more memorable as the father of the author of "the Life of God in the Soul of Man," than from his own merits. He was son of Sir John Scougal of Scougal: and, from the parsonage of Salton in East Lothian, was preferred to the see of Aberdeen in 1664. He was a pious and worthy man; and died 16th February 1682, aged 73. Bishop Burnet, in the preface to his life of bishop Bedel, gives a high character of the respectable prelate of Aberdeen.
Keith, Bish. 79.
His contemporary, Scougal the painter, was apparently of the same family. Betwixt Jameson and Scougal there seems a break in the Scotish list of painters. Scotland indeed hardly produced a writer, or artist, during the commonwealth of England 1649—1660; and even its annals of that period are obscure. The History of Scotland under the commonwealth, illustrated from original papers, would form a curious and interesting work.
JOHN EARL OF MAR. Regent of Scotland
JOHN ERSKINE EARL OF MAR, REGENT OF SCOTLAND.
THIS truly illustrious character was third son of John twelfth lord Erskine; and was educated to the church: but the two elder brothers dying before their father, he became thirteenth lord Erskine in 1552. Ten years after, he regained the title and estates of Mar, which had been unjustly wrested from the family by James II.
Douglas Peer. art. Mar.
On the birth of James VI, in 1566, the royal babe was committed to the custody of the earl of Mar, then governor of the castle of Stirling. His candour and moderation became most conspicuous in the public distractions that followed; and he was almost the only man who wished to preserve the independence of his country, alike unviolated either by French or English influence. On the death of Lennox, the earl of Mar was chosen Regent, Sept. 6, 1571, in spite of the artifices of Elizabeth; but he did not hold that high office much above a year, dying on the 29th of Oct. 1572, not without suspicions of poison, a crime of which Elizabeth and Morton were not incapable. His age is not commemorated, but there is room to infer he was born about 1520.
His courage was conspicuous in his sally from Stirling castle at the head of thirty men, to repell the four hundred sent by Kirkaldy, to surprize the peers, and by his success in that unequal conflict. His attempts to conciliate all parties, and to maintain the independence of his country, against foreign influence, evince the real patriot. "He was perhaps the only person in the kingdom who could have enjoyed the office of Regent without envy, and have kept it without loss of reputation. Notwithstanding their mutual animosities, both factions acknowledged his views to be honourable, and his integrity to be uncorrupted."
Robertson, II. 37.
The painting, artist unknown, is in the possession of James Erskine Esq. of Alva. Eyes dark blue, and of sweet expression: hair dark; drapery black.
SIR ALEX ERSKINE of GOGAR.
from an original painting in the possesion of James Erskine Esq. of
SIR ALEXANDER ERSKINE OF GOGAR,
BROTHER of the celebrated Regent John earl of Mar, and ancestor of the earl of Kelly, was a distinguished character in the minority of James VI.
Doug. Peer. art. Mar. and Kelly.
After the death of the Regent, the care of the education of that prince fell to Sir Alexander; under whom Buchanan, and Peter Young, acted as chief preceptors. In 1578 he favoured the party which opposed the infamous Morton the Regent, who in revenge persuaded the young earl of Mar that his uncle intended to deprive him of the custody of the king, and the government of Stirling castle. The consequence was that Mar seized the command of that fortress, and expelled Sir Alexander.
Robertson II. 56, 58, 62.
He was nevertheless in the same year appointed governor of the castle of Edinburgh; and in 1580 vice-chamberlain of Scotland. He died before 1595, in which year his son Sir Thomas Erskine of Gogar appears, he who killed Alexander Ruthven in the Gowrie conspiracy, and was afterwards viscount Fenton and earl of Kelly.
Dougl. art. Kelly.
The painting is in the possession of James Erskine Esq. of Alva.
JOHN ERSKINE EARL OR MAR. L. H. Treasurer
from an original Painting in the possession of James Erskine Esq. of
JOHN ERSKINE, EARL OF MAR, HIGH TREASURER OF SCOTLAND,
WAS the only son of the Regent who died in 1572. In 1595 the king James VI entrusted to him the custody of his son: and it is highly to the honour of this illustrious family, that the care of their minor sovereigns had been in a manner hereditary; James V having been entrusted to lord Erskine by his mother Margaret, and the parliament. It was solely a special character of probity that produced those successive testimonies of high approbation.
This earl was joined with Bruce of Kinloss, in concerting with Cecil the means of securing to James VI the accession to the English throne: and he displayed much prudence in that grand transaction. In 1603 he was made a knight of the garter. On the death of prince Henry, whose education he superintended, he returned to Scotland. In 1615 he was appointed lord High Treasurer of that kingdom; an office which he resigned three years before his death, which happened in 1634.
Dougl. Peer. and Crawf. Off.
By his first wife, daughter of lord Drummond, he left only one son, John the stock of the family of Mar. But his second wife, lady Mary Stuart daughter of Esme duke of Lennox, bore him seven sons, and four daughters. The second of these sons is the ancestor of the Erskines, earls of Buchan; one of the others of the Erskines of Alva; besides other illustrious descendants.
Douglas Peer. 464.
Nor has the family degenerated in hereditary probity, and ability.
The picture, by Paul Vansomer, is in the possession of James Erskine Esq. of Alva. Eyes dark blue; hair silver-grey: complexion healthy. Drapery black; blue ribbon, and george suspended.
DARNLEY and LENNOX.
from their Mothers Tomb. Westminster Abbey
HENRY STUART LORD DARNLEY, AND CHARLES STUART EARL OF LENNOX.
SONS of Matthew earl of Lennox, by lady Margaret Douglas, are here represented from their figures in marble, kneeling by their mother's tomb, in Westminster abbey. Over the head of Darnley a gilt crown is suspended, to indicate that he was king of Scotland. The fate of this dissipated, weak, and imprudent youth is too well known, to need any recapitulation here. He was murdered 9 Feb. 1567, in the twenty first year of his age.
His brother Charles became earl of Lennox in 1571, on the death of his father. He died in 1576, leaving issue Arabella Stuart. The earldom revolved to his uncle, the bishop of Caithness; who, four years after, resigned it in favour of Esme, created duke of Lennox, his nephew in the noble line of Aubigny.
Dougl. art. Lennox. Stewart's Gen. &c.
GEORGE JAMESON
from a lecture in the possession of
GEORGE JAMESON,
THE Vandyke of Scotland, was son of Andrew Jameson, a builder, and was born at Aberdeen in 1586. The portraits by him at Taymouth are said to have been executed before he studied in Flanders;
So the late Lord Hailes thought, but this opinion is very doubtful; and the author of the Sketch of Painting in Scotland (Weekly Magazine, Vol. XV. Bee Vol. XVIII.) asserts, with great probability, that Jameson returned to Scotland in 1628.
and as one piece there is dated 1635, it would appear that he was advanced in years before he visited Rubens. He died at Edinburgh in 1644, aged 58; and was buried in the Gray-Friars churchyard.
For some account of his works the reader may consult the valuable "Anecdotes of Painting in England;" nor is much additional information to be procured. Dr. Arthur Johnston, in his Parerga, Aberdeen, 1637, addresses a small poem to Jameson, instructing him how to paint the beautiful lady Ann Campbell. One of his most curious paintings is at Cullen house, het seat of the Earl of Finlater: it is his own portrait, sitting in his painting-room, the walls of which are hung with pictures; probably such of his own as he most valued.
Jameson is the first Scotish painter on record; but eminent foreigners had visited Scotland, and painted illustrious portraits. The most curious assemblage of the kind is in the old gallery of the palace at Scone; a hunting-piece, in which James VI. and his chief courtiers appear. Alexander, the scholar of Jameson, married his daughter; and Cosmo Alexander engraved a portrait of Jameson, his great grandfather, in 1728. The elder Scougal, an imitator of Lely, and Corrudes, a foreigner, appeared in Charles the Second's reign; and were followed by De Wyck, or De Wit, and by the younger Scougal. To them succeeded Hude, and Medina, both foreigners; and Wait and Aikman, natives.
Sketch above quoted. More ample information concerning the elder Alexander, the Scougals, Corrudes, and Wait, would be interesting. They are unknown in the "Anecdotes of Painting."
This portrait of Jameson, with a miniature of Isabel Tosh, his wife, in his hand, is taken from a picture by himself, in the possession of another descendant, Mr. Carnegy, town-clerk of Aberdeen. Hair and eyes black.
JOHN LESLEY, BISHOP OF ROSS
JOHN LESLEY, BISHOP OF ROSS.
IT appears that this prelate was the natural son of Gawin Lesley, parson of Kingussie in Badenoch. He was born 29th Sept. 1527. In 1538 we find him at school in Moray; in 1546, an
acolyte
in the cathedral church of Aberdeen. He is a canon of Aberdeen in 1550, and prebendary and official of that diocese eight years after.
About 1563 he appears among the ecclesiastic lords of Session; and in 1565 is commendator of the abbey of Lindoris, and bishop of Ross.
His attachment to Mary, and his sufferings in her cause, are well known. Deprived of his preferments in his own country, he was at last forced into exile; and, after various disappointments in France and Flanders, he died at Brussels 31st May, 1596, aged 69.
Keith's Bishops, 115—118.
It is no wonder that his active character has been blackened by party; but a candid protestant must allow, that Bishop Lesley acted with uniform principle. As a writer, his reputation ought also to stand in a superior class; for, not to mention his works of controversy and piety, his History of Scotland, from James III. to his own time, is executed with great information and accuracy; and is far superior, in the real merits of history, to the elegant but incorrect work of Buchanan. The chronology, and the preservation of important events and incidents, are solely implied, for both were partizans; and this work, estranged from party, wishes not to pull a wreath from one character, in order to bestow it on another; but only to assign just applause where it is due.
This portrait is from an original in the university of Aberdeen.
KENSINGTON PICTURE.
COMPARTMENT I.
THIS exquisite painting is in complete preservation, though executed, as appears from the age of the prince, ten or twelve, about 1482 or 1484. Originally intended for an altar-piece, it is in two divisions, painted on both sides. The first division contains, on one side, the king, prince, and St. Andrew, as here: on the reverse is the trinity, the father an old man with the dead Christ on his knees, while the holy ghost is, as usual, typified by a dove. The other division presents the queen and a saint, apparently Canute the patron of Denmark, and perhaps the features may be those of her father Christiern I: the reverse bears the ecclesiastic, and angels.
The first compartment is rich in effect; and it is hoped the copy will present an adequate idea of the original. The king's gown is cloth of gold, the robes of a lilac purple. The lion of the arms is crowned, and the tressure does not go round the top.
It has been surmized that the saint might wear the features of Shevis, archbishop of St. Andrews, a favourite of James; but the ecclesiastics did not then preserve their beards, and the character of the face seems ideal.
PICTURE AT KENSINGTON
Compartment II
KENSINGTON PICTURE.
COMPARTMENT II.
THE queen's head-dress is singularly rich in gold, precious stones, and pearls. The upper part of the kirtle, or gown, is cloth of gold; the robe blue. The arms of Denmark and Scotland are exactly blazoned: the three united crowns for the united kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway: the three lions of Denmark; lion and ax, Norway: the dragon for Slavonia: the escutcheon of pretence is Holstein, Sleswick, Dithmarch, Delmenhorst, surmounted by Oldenburg.
The banner, borne by the saint, is the common cross of the crusades, with the inscription AVE MARIA.
It may allude to the arms of Gothland, the holy lamb supporting a banner, with the same cross as here. See the Elzevir
Dania.
His armour is a curious specimen of the plate-armour of the times, and a helmet appears in the preceding compartment: a gauntlet hangs by the sword. The ornament behind, apparently of oak leaves, is singular, but resembles that in one of the dresses of the order of the Knot or holy ghost in Montfaucon, instituted in 1352, but afterwards dormant till revived by Henry III in the 16th century.
Men. of the Fr. Mon. pl. cxviii. English edition.
Its meaning here must be left to some future antiquary
PICTURE AT KENSINGTON
III
KENSINGTON PICTURE.
COMPARTMENT III.
IT is probable that this picture was painted for the royal chapel at Stirling, founded by James III with much magnificence; and that the ecclesiastic here kneeling was the dean of that chapel, always the queen's confessor,
Spottiswoode Rel. Houses. p. 288. He had also episcopal jurisdiction.
three being no indication of superior dignity. The arms, three buckles and a cheveron, can be traced to no family in Scotland, except that of Bonkil in the Merse. But perhaps the person may be Sir William Rogers, the great English Musician, (the
Sir
being often applied to ecclesiastics,) or some other eminent foreigner.
The angels in the original have little of ideal beauty; and the unusual ornament of the coronet may denote the king's sister Mary, first wedded to Thomas Boyd earl of Arran, and afterwards to James lord Hamilton; while the other may be Margaret, not wedded to lord Crichton till 1487.
JAMES III
from Jonstom
ptiones
JAMES III
L
from the Picture at Kensmaton
JAMES III.
THIS monarch ascended the throne on the 10th of August 1460, in the eighth year of his age; and was slain, after the civil conflict at Sauchy, on the 18th June 1488, in the thirty-sixth year of his age.
His reign was distinguished by many memorable events, the recapture of Roxburgh and Berwick; and the acquisition of the Orkney islands, by his marriage with the daughter of Denmark. The chief stain on it is, the murder of the earl of Mar youngest brother of James; an incident the more singular, as that king was averse from blood—and though all historical evidence infer the guilt, yet the rebellious peers, eager to expose every fault of the government, never impute this to their sovereign's charge. If true, James must have been infatuated by his love of astrology, which predicted to him his death by one of his nearest kindred—and Mar may not have been innocent of a conspiracy against his brother's life. Certain it is that Albany, the second brother, aspired to the crown, and termed James III a bastard.
But the sovereignty of James was weak, despotic, and impolitic; and his warm attachment to the arts forms the most pleasing part of his character. His love of architecture raised Cochran to the chief power in the state; and Rogers the English musician was in high favour. The ferocious nobles despised what they esteemed the frivolous pursuits of the king; and, strangers to the arts, could not estimate their value. Of the patronage afforded by James III to foreign artists, this noble painting may present no unfavourable specimen.
Of the person of James III Drummond gives the best description. "This king, concerning his personage, was of a stature somewhat higher than ordinary, his hair was black, his visage was rather long than round, approaching in colour more to those in the southern than northern climates." This fallow complexion appears in the picture; which besides corresponds so much with Drummond's delineation, that it may be borrowed from the painting. And the complexion of James, so different from that of the Stuart race in general, may have had its weight in the calumnies of Albany, especially considering the amorous propensity of Mary of Gelder his mother. Eyes and hair black: there is somewhat of melancholy in the face, heightened in the original by a dark tinge even in the whites of the eyes.
MARGARET OF DENMARK, QUEEN OF JAMES III.
THIS lady was daughter of Christiern the first of that name, and first king of Denmark of the house of Oldenburg. She was married to James III in July 1469, being only in her thirteenth year; and brought the permanent dower of the Orkneys, the superiority of which had remained with the court of Norway for six centuries.
The Scotish historians are unanimous in applauding her person, her virtues, and piety.
Ferrerius f. 389. Lesley 315 &c.
An excellent wife, an affectionate mother, she adds the merit of being unknown in the political struggles of a turbulent period.
Margaret of Denmark died in February 1487, aged only thirty one years, and was buried at Cambuskenneth.
Drummond.
Whether she fell a prey to disease, or to the continual agitations occasioned by her husband's misrule, is left in doubt by the barren historians of that age.
JAMES VI.
from Jon
oni Inscriptiones.
JAMES VI.
THIS prince was born on the 19th of June 1566; and crowned on the 29th of July in the following year. In 1603 he united the arms of England and Scotland; and died on the 27th of March 1625, aged fifty nine.
With the defect of a feeble character, he had the high merit of being a pacific monarch; a very little learning, a very little knowledge, being sufficient to shew the advantages of peace over war, both to the king and the people. Even his short peaceful reign greatly advanced the trade, agriculture, and colonies of the kingdom: and if, by way of speculation, we could imagine it prolonged to the present epoch, the three realms would have been as one garden, as another China, in universal wealth and industry.
In features, particularly the nose, James VI resembles his father Darnley more than the ancient Stuart line. The singular stare of his eyes, mentioned by contemporary authors, is more apparent in the portraits taken in more advanced years; particularly a fine whole length at Windfor, in which the face not a little resembles the vulgar sign of the Saracen's head.
ANNE
from Jonstons Inscriptiones
ANNE OF DENMARK, QUEEN OF JAMES VI,
WAS the daughter of Frederic II king of Denmark and Norway. In October 1589 James proceeded himself in quest of his bride, as his grandfather James V had set an example of this gallantry. They were married in Denmark; and Anne was crowned in the ensuing spring.
She died in March 1619.
The character of Anne of Denmark was the reverse of that of her countrywoman, Margaret wife of James III. Amorous, bold, intriguing, impressed with little reverence for her husband's spirit, or abilities for government, she was immersed in polities, though her supreme cunning have veiled her from historical observation. That, in particular, she had no small share in the Gowrie conspiracy, may perhaps be shewn by the editor, in a short tract on that embroiled subject. At present he shall only hint that the main actor, Gowrie's brother, was a paramour of Anne, that she highly offended James by her continued favour to the forfeited family; that the earl of Gowrie himself appears to have been entirely innocent, and that Anne's ambition might conspire with her lover's infatuation, to imprison her husband, and rival Elizabeth in female sovereignty. Had the lover been a man of ability, had not his mind been almost distracted with the weight of the enterprize, another example might have been added to those in ancient and modern history, of imperious queens who have imprisoned or murdered their husbands.
HENRY SCOUGAL.
THEOL. PROF.
Author of "The Life of God in the Soul of Man."
Original in the College Hall, Aberdeen.
HENRY SCOUGAL, PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AT ABERDEEN,
WAS the son of Patrick Scougal bishop of Aberdeen 1664—1682; and has the merit of being the first Scotish author, it is believed, who wrote a book of practical piety. Ecclesiastical disputes, so inconsistent with the meek spirit of christianity, had first prevailed between the catholics and reformers, then between the episcopals and presbyterians, and afterwards between the presbyterians and independents. Sermons, and commentaries on scripture were sometimes interposed; but the chief object, the practice of the Christian virtues, was unaccountably neglected; Durham's curious work, On Scandal, being rather a discussion of ecclesiastic discipline and polity, and a defence of the presbyterians against the independent Jacobins of the day, than an ethical production.
Of Henry Scougal little is known. It is said that, being of an amorous complexion, he sometimes loved God, and sometimes loved women; and that having unfortunately become enamoured of a married lady at Aberdeen, he died in the struggles of virtue and passion. But he had grown so corpulent in his retreat, the steeple of the cathedral church of St. Machan's, at Old Aberdeen, that his executors were forced to extract the body through a window. These traditions seem rather inconsistent, as love is generally supposed rather to belong to the class of consumptions, than of dropsies; and it is rare that the amorous swain pines away into plenitude.
Scougal's Life of God in the soul of man was published by Bishop Burnet, in 1691, 8vo; and has since passed through many editions, being a work of eminent piety, without enthusiasm, and written in a clear neat style.
ALEXANDER HENDERSON
from a scar
Print by Hollar
ALEXANDER HENDERSON.
THIS Franklin of the Scotish commotions in last century was minister at Leuchars: and was in vain tempted with a bishopric. He died in 1649, regretting the excess to which affairs were carried; but never repenting of his own moderate motives and actions, as vainly repeated by his opponents; a stale device of party.
See Baillie's Letters 2 vols. 8vo.
In fact the presbyterians, after overturning the episcopal despotism of the time, were gradually ruining their own cause by a despotism far more disguisting. The saints attempted to establish a clerical aristocracy, not only over Scotland, but over England; and the civil power would have become the mere slave of ecclesiastic censure, and excommunication. Liberty of conscience was entirely denied by the presbyterian party; their church polity was a part of their creed; and the penalty against any diffent was excommunication in this world, and a liberal inheritance in hell fire hereafter. A man's private life was to be tainted with saintship or hypocrisy; and every pleasure was to vanish at the nod of those physicians of Sancho the governor. The presbyterians supported the regal power, as a shield against the independents, and sectaries; who, with far superior political skill, allowed universal liberty of conscience.
But a nondescript saint, named Cromwell, put himself at the head of the independents, and completely overthrew the presbyterian despotism. Both parties appealed to King Christ, and he decided in favour of the democratic church.
In the sole choice left, between the impertinent authority, and degrading superstition, of the presbyterians, and the power merely military of Cromwell, it is no wonder that the nation sighed for the ancient monarchy; a government at least of gentlemen over gentlemen, and more beneficent to all, than that of parsons or soldiers over slaves.
Henderson's favourite polity, and the clerical aristocracy, were after his death to be trampled under foot; but be timously escaped from the evils to come. One of the chief events of his life was, the solemn conference with Charles I at Newcastle, on various topics of religion and government; the relation has been printed, and does honour to both parties.
PATRICK FORBES of CORSE and ONEIL Bishop of Aberdeen 1618.
Original, Kings College Aberdeen.
PATRICK FORBES, BISHOP OF ABERDEEN.
THIS learned prelate was descended of the ancient and noble family of Forbes,
Pronounced
Forbis,
not
Forbs,
as in England.
and was himself
baron
or
laird
of the estates of Corse and Oneil in Aberdeenshire. Having received an excellent education, and being attached to ecclesiastical studies, he was often persuaded to take orders; but could not be prevailed on, till the year 1612, when the minister of Keith having, in a paroxysm of religious melancholy, stabbed himself, urged this as his dying request; but the motive, considering all the circumstances, seems most inadequate to the effect.
However this be, Mr. Forbes entered into ecclesiastic orders in his forty eighth year; and was chosen bishop of Aberdeen six years after. He died on the 28th March 1635, aged seventy one years, and was interred in the south aile of the cathedral.
In episcopal jurisdiction he was laudably rigid, and used suddenly to visit the churches of his diocese on sundays, that he might see the common method of the preachers, and accommodate his instructions accordingly.
He wrote a commentary on the Revelations, printed by Elzevir, 1646, 4to. Some particulars concerning him may be found in the life of the yet more learned and celebrated John Forbes of Corse, prefixed to his works Amst. 1703, 2 vols. folio.
Keith Bishops.
SIR ROBERT DOUGLAS,
SCOUNT BELHAVEN,
LADY DOUGLAS
from her Monument in the Savoy Chapel
SIR ROBERT DOUGLAS VISCOUNT BELHAVEN; AND HIS WIFE NICOLAA.
SIR Robert Douglas of Spot was descended from the Douglases of Dalkeith, afterwards earls of Morton. He had been page of honour to prince Henry son of Charles I, and was afterwards gentleman of the bed chamber, master of the houshold, and one of the privy council to that king.
In June 1633 he was created Viscount Belhaven; and dying in Scotland, Jan. 1639, he was buried in the vestry of the church of Holyroodhouse, under a splendid monument of alabaster, with a long inscription:
Douglas' Peerage.
the present figure being merely an addition to his wife's tomb.
Nicolaa Murray, afterwards wife of Sir Robert Douglas, was daughter of Sir Robert Murray of Abercairny. She died in November 1612, as we learn from a long inscription, copied in Strype's edition of Stow's Survey of London. But the following curious part, apparently on a separate tablet, is not now legible.
Ecce pudicitia et pietas,
Coeli utraque proles,
Accingunt dextra haec,
Haec tibi leva latus.
Juro, salo, coluere polo
Sic.
Rapuere, nec usquam
Te, neque jam tumulum
Destituere tuum.
Da. Humius Theag. non delendae amicitiae sempiternum monumentum.
David Hume of Godscroft,
Theagrius
as quaintly latinized, was author of the history of the Douglases, and a latin poet. The
sempiternum monumentum
must refer to his verses, not the tomb, surely erected by her husband.
The dress exhibits the Scotish farthingale, or small hoop, then become fashionable even among the English ladies.
From the long inscription we only learn that lady Douglas astonished even divines by her skill in theology; and unhappily died in her first child-bed.
JAMES IV.
From the
e
ur
at K
n
gton
JAMES IV.
from Jonstoni Inscriptiones.
JAMES V.
from Jonstoni Inscriptiones.
MARY
From a Pain
in Lord
Poss
ion
MARY.
from Monlli
on
MARY.
from
o
om Inscription
.
FRANCES STUART
Duchess of Richmond
FRANCES STUART, DUCHESS OF RICHMOND.
THIS celebrated beauty was the daughter of Walter Stuart M. D. third son of Walter first Lord Blantyre.
Stewarts House of Stuart, p. 167. Douglas Peer. 75.
The chief ornament of the court of Charles II, though rich in female charms, she captivated the heart of that monarch; who, finding all other hopes vain, was meditating a divorce from Catherine of Portugal, in order to espouse Miss Stuart, when she unexpectedly wedded Charles Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox, and Lord of Aubigny in France. This peer had succeeded his cousin Esme, in August 1661: and dying at Elsineur, in Dec. 1672, without issue, in him terminated the ancient race of Stuart of Lennox and Aubigny, created dukes of Richmond in 1623.
Ibid.
Charles II soon after gave the titles to his natural son by Louisa de Queroualle.
In the exquisite Memoires de Grammont may be found numerous anecdotes relating to Miss Stuart. To a person and face of wonderful excellence she united the simplicity of a child; and when the king and his courtiers were occupied in deep gaming, she would sit building castles of cards, while happy was the peer who assisted her in this amusement of a fool or a philosopher.
This portrait is engraved from a painting of great merit, by James Huysman, a Flemish artist. She is represented in the dress of a cavalier about the time of the civil wars, a suit of buff, or buffalo-hide, adorned with blue ribbands. The picture had belonged to James II, being mentioned in his catalogue as that of the Duchess of Richmond in man's apparel; and is now in the gallery at Kensington.
See Walpole's Aneedotes, III. 69.
The likeness corresponds with that on her tomb, in Henry the Seventh's chapel, Westminster-abbey, where her figure in wax may also be seen, with a stuffed-parrot, which is said to have died just-before or after her.
Another portrait, from Lord Westcote's at Hagley, is engraved for the late edition of the Memoires de Grammont. And there is an old mezzotinto, representing the duchess and her sister Sophia, who married Henry Bulkly Esq. master of the house-hold to Charles II.
Hair light auburn, eyes blue.
MARGARET of SCOTLAND, DAUPHINESS of FRANCE.
rom an An
vit I
mination in Mon
n.
MARGARET OF SCOTLAND, DAUPHINESS OF FRANCE.
WAS the eldest daughter of James I by his wife Joanna Beaufort. In July 1436 she was wedded to Louis dauphin of France, when she was only twelve years of age.
She died in August 1445, in her twenty second year, her exquisite sensibility being unable to digest a slanderous expression of a base courtier. Her marriage had been unhappy; the character of her husband, afterwards the infamous Louis XI, being malignant to an inconceivable degree.
Margaret was not only celebrated as a patroness of men of letters, but was herself a proficient in French poetry, having composed many rondeaux and ballads. In the examinations taken concerning the cause of her death, it is mentioned that she would sit up all night, writing poetry; and would compose twelve rondeaux in a day.
D
clos, Hist. de Louis XI, Vol. III.
This portrait is taken from the Monumens de la Monarchie Francoise of Montfaucon; and is not only interesting in itself, but as shewing the dress of the times. The likeness may be considered as verified by the plate next given by Montfaucon, from the same MS. and which presents a genuine portrait of Charles VII.
SEALS.
SIGILLVM DAVIT COMITIS ANGLORV REGINE FRIS
David Earl of Huntingdon, A. D.
1120.
SIGILLVM HENRICI COMITIS NORHVMBERLANDIE FILII REGIS SCOTIE
Henry E. of Northumberland,
1140.
SEALS.
WILLELMVS DEO RECTORE REX SCOTTORVM
William,
1165.
ALEXANDER DEO RECTORE REX SCOTTORVM
Alexander II,
1214.
SEALS.
ALEXANDER DEO RECTORE REX SCOTTORVM
Alexander III,
1249.
IOHANNES DEI GRACIA REX SCOTTORVM
John,
129
.
SEALS. THE THREE FIRST PLATES.
THE plan of this work, as may be judged from the Prospectus, entirely differs from those of Birch, Perrault, Hoffman, or the like; not being intended as a splendid publication of fine portraits, but as a variegated assemblage of ancient portraits in particular, represented without any improvement, and in the just colours of the various sources whence they are taken. Vertue, in his heads of the English monarchs, has sometimes been obliged to have recourse to seals; and they at any rate shew the
costume
of the time, and may sometimes serve to identify larger and more exact delineations. In the middle ages seals also present some of the best monuments of art, and must supply the want of medals.
The first plate contains those of David earl of Huntingdon, afterwards David I;
The seals of Alex. I, 11—David I, 1124—and Malcom IV, 1153 —are all from the same dye, and therefore omitted. Those of Duncan 1094, and Edgar 1097, are already reengraved in Guthrie's History.
and of Henry earl of Northumberland, son of that monarch. The first seal may be about A. D. 1120, the second, 1140. There is also in Anderson's Diplomata a seal of David earl of Huntingdon, brother of Malcom IV, and son of Henry earl of Northumberland; but as it varies little from the last it is omitted.
The second plate contains those of William, A. D. 1165 —1214; and Alexander II, 1214—1249.
The seals in the third plate are of Alexander III, 1249 —1286; and John Baliol, 1292—1296.
SEALS.
ROBERTVS DEO RECTORE REX SCOTTORVM
Robert I,
1306.
DAVID DEI GRACIA REX SCOTTORVM
David II,
132
.
SEALS.
EDWARDVS DEI GRACIA REX SCOTTORVM
Edward,
1333.
ROVERTVS DEI GRACIA REX SCOTTORVM
Robert II,
1371.
SEALS.
Robert Regent,
1406.
Queen Euphemia,
139
.
SIGILLVM ROBERTI DEI GRACIA REGIS SCOTTO
rum
Robert III,
1390.
SEALS. THE THREE LAST PLATES.
THE first is of Robert I, or Great, 1306—1329. This is from a charter dated in his ninth year. Mr. Astle, in his late publication of Scotish seals, gives another, used by Robert I towards the close of his reigned. In the same plate is that of David. II son of Robert I, who reigned from A. D. 1329 to 1371.
The second plate of this set contains that of Edward Baliol, who twice usurped the throne, during the reign of David II, first for three months Sept—Dec. 1332, and lastly for five years 1333—1338: and that of Robert II, the first of the house of Stuart, 1371,—1390.
On the third plate the first in order. of time is that of Euphemia Ross second wife, but sole queen, of Robert II. The reverse only bears the arms of David, Earl Palatine of Strathern, her son, who joins in the deed, dated 1375; in which they agree with Alexander Murray of Drumsergath, that he shall wed lady Jonet of Monymusk, sister of the queen, and be supported in his claim of inheriting some estate; and that Walter Murray, his brother, may if he chuse marry the eldest daughter of the said Jonet. This curious seal represents Euphemia, clothed in the close kirtle and mantle of the times, with a particular scepter alloted to the queens of Scotland in her hand. The Gothic architecture is well delineated; on her right hand are the arms of Scotland; on her left those of Ross. She appears to have died about 1387.
The next seal in order of time is that of Robert III, 1390—1406. The beard agrees better with the description of his person, given by the continuator of Fordun, than the portrait in Johnson's
Inscriptiones.
That at the top of the plate is of Robert duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, 1406—1419. The ducal coronet is of a singular form.
All these plates are from that rare and high-priced work, Anderson's Diplomata.
The subject of the engravers of seals in the middle ages is obscure. They were probably often Greeks from Constantinople, sometimes Italians, and laterly Flemings.
The seals of the four first Jameses are all from the same dye—and are besides unimportant, as from James I. the portraits of our monarchs are sufficiently identified. In this case, as in the former of Alex. I, David I, and Malcom IV, the first seal alone is entitled to any attention.