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KER, ROBERT, earl of Ancrum,
a nobleman of literary accomplishment, and the direct ancestor of the
present noble family of Lothian, was descended from a third son of Sir
Andrew Ker of Ferniehurst, and entered public life as laird of Ancrum in
Roxburghshire. He was born about the year 1578, and succeeded to the family
estate in 1590, on the death of his father, who was assassinated by his
kinsman, Robert Key, younger of Cessford. He was cousin to the famous,
or rather infamous Robert Ker, the favourite of James VI., and who was
raised by that prince to the title of earl of Somerset. The subject of this
memoir appears to have also been honoured, at an early period of life, with
court favour. Soon after the king’s accession to the English throne, he is
observed to occupy a considerable station in the household of prince Henry,
which was, perhaps, more splendid, and consisted of more persons than the
present royal household. He afterwards was employed about the person of
prince Charles, who became his patron through life. By the mediation of this
prince, a match was effected between Sir Robert and the lady Anne Stanley,
daughter of the earl of Derby.
In 1620, Sir Robert was
involved in a fatal quarrel by a young man named Charles Maxwell, who
insulted him, without the least provocation, as he was entering the palace
at Newmarket. In a duel, which followed, Sir Robert killed his antagonist;
and, although the friends of the deceased are said to have acquitted him of
all blame, so strict were the rules established by the king for the
prevention and punishment of duels, that he was obliged to fly to Holland,
where he remained about a year. During his exile, he employed himself in the
collection of pictures, for which, like his royal master, he had a good
taste: those which he brought with him on his return, were eventually
presented to the prince. He was also distinguished by his literary taste. In
Drummond’s works there are a letter and sonnet which he addressed, in 1624,
to that poet, and which breathe an amiable and contemplative spirit. The
latter is as follows:
A SONNET IN PRAISE OF A
SOLITARY LIFE.
Sweet solitary life! lovely, dumb joy,
That need’st no warnings how to grow more wise
By other men’s mishaps, nor the annoy
Which from sore wrongs done to one’s self doth rise.
The morning’s second mansion, truth’s first friend,
Never acquainted with the world’s vain broils,
Where the whole day to our own use we spend,
And our dear time no fierce ambition spoils,
Most happy state, that never takest revenge
For injuries received, nor dost fear
The court’s great earthquake, the grieved truth of change,
Nor none of falsehood’s savoury lies dost hear;
Nor knows hope’s sweet disease that charms our sense,
Nor its sad cure—dear-bought experience!
R. K. A.
On the accession of Charles
to the throne, in 1625, Sir Robert Ker was one of the friends who
experienced his favour. He was in that year constituted a gentleman of the
bed-chamber, and in June, 1633, when the king was in Scotland at his
coronation, he was elevated to the peerage, under the title of earl of
Ancrum. Previous to this period, his son William, by his first wife
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Murray of Blackbarony, had married his
relative, Anne, countess of Lothian in her own right, and had been, by the
king, enodowed with a full participation of that title. It was therefore
arranged, in the patent granted to the subject of this memoir, that
his own title should descend to the children of his second marriage, he thus
enjoyed the singular honour of being father of two peers.
Unlike many other persons who
owed every thing to this prince, the earl of Ancrum continued his steady
adherent during the whole of his troubles; though he was unable to prevent
his eldest son, the earl of Lothian, from acting one of the most conspicuous
parts on the opposite side. On the death of Charles, his lordship took
refuge in Holland, where he spent the remainder of his days in solitary
afflictions and poverty, and died in 1654, in the seventy-sixth year of his
age. His title was inherited by his son Charles, but ultimately merged in
that of Lothian. In Park’s edition of Walpole’s Royal and Noble Authors,
there is a beautiful portrait of his lordship, assigning him a thoughtful
and strongly-marked countenance, and apparently done in old age. |
