The Earl of Buchan was born in 1742, and succeeded to
the title and estates of the family in 1767. His course of education
being completed at the University of Glasgow, he soon after entered the
army, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant; but, disliking the
profession of arms, he did not continue long in the service. In 1766 he
was appointed Secretary to the British Embassy in Spain; but, on the
death of his father the year following, he returned to his native land,
resolved to prosecute pursuits more congenial to his strong literary
bias.
The first instance of the Earl's activity was the
formation of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries in 1780. The want of
such a Society had long been felt; yet it is strange his lordship
experienced illiberal opposition from parties, who afterwards, with much
inconsistency, established another, having similar objects in view,
called the Koyal Society of Edinburgh. In 1792 the first volume of their
transactions was published; and the following discourses by the Earl
appear in it: —"Memoirs of the Life of Sir James Stuart Denham"—"Account
of the Parish of Uphall"—"Account of the Island of Icolmkiln"—and "A
Life of Mr. James Short, Optician." Besides various fugitive pieces, in
prose and verse, he printed, in conjunction with Dr. Walter Minto, "An
Account of the Life, Writings, and Inventions of Napier of Merchiston."
1787, 4to.
In addition to the other objects of this Society, it
was resolved to establish a museum of natural history, for the better
cultivation of that science, and of which museum Mr. Smellie was
appointed curator. He was likewise permitted to deliver the projected
course of lectures on the philosophy of natural history in the hall of
the museum. The Society at the time having applied for a Royal Charter
of incorporation, an unexpected opposition arose (already alluded to in
our notice of Mr. Smellie) from Dr. Walker, Professor of Natural History
in the Universit}, and also from the Senatus Academicus as a body, who
memorialised the Lord Advocate (Mr. Henry Dundas, afterwards Lord
Viscount Melville) against the proposed grant of a' charter, alleging
that the Society would intercept the communication of many specimens and
objects of natural history which would otherwise find their way to the
College Musenm, as well as documents tending to illustrate the history,
antiquities, and laws of Scotland, which ought to be deposited in the
Advocates' Library. They likewise noticed that the possession of a
museum of natural history might induce the Society to institute a
lectureship on that science, in opposition to the professorship in the
University. The Faculty of Advocates and other public bodies also joined
in this opposition; but, after an elaborate reply on the part of the
Antiquaries, the Lord Advocate signified his approval of their request;
and, on the very next day, the Royal warrant passed the Privy Seal, in
which his Majesty voluntarily declared himself patron of the Society.
Although engaged in
literary and antiquarian research, the Earl of Buchan was far from being
an indifferent spectator of passing events. He did not enter the
political arena; but when invasion threatened common ruin, he not only
with his pen endeavoured to create union among his countrymen, but,
buckling on his sword, essayed to rouse them by example.
The Earl, however, was no
adherent of the powers that were ; and when the interference of the
Court had completely set aside all semblance of freedom in the election
of the Scottish peers, he stood forward in defence of his order; and,
although he long fought singly, he at last succeeded in asserting its
independence.
The residence of Lord
Buchan had lor many years been in Edinburgh; but, in 1787, he retired on
account of his health to Dryburgh Abbey—a property he acquired by
purchase. Here he instituted an annual festive commemoration of the
author of "The Seasons," the first meeting of which was held at Ednam
Hill, on the 22nd September 1791—on which occasion he crowned a copy of
the first collected edition of the Seasons with a wreath of balls. The
following may be taken as a sample of the eulogium of the noble Lord on
the occasion: "And the immortal Prussian, standing like a herald in the
procession of ages, to mark the beginning of that order of men who are
to banish from the earth the delusions of priestcraft, and the monstrous
prerogatives of despotic authority!" His lordship also took that
opportunity of attacking the great English lexicographer, "by whose rude
hands the memory of Thomson has been profanely touched." Burns wrote his
beautiful lines to the shade of the bard of Ednam for the occasion ; and
only five years afterwards, at the usual anniversary in 1796, Lord
Buchan had the melancholy pleasure of placing an urn of Parian marble
beside the bust of Thomson, in memory of the bard of Ayrshire. The copy
of the Seasons alluded to, enclosed in a beautifully ornamented case,
and enriched with some original autographs of the Poet, was subsequently
presented by his lordship to the University of Edinburgh.
The political sentiments
of the Earl of Buchan were generally known; but, in a work published in
1792, entitled "Essays on the Lives and Writings of Fletcher of Saltoun,
and the Poet Thomson, Biographical and Political," he embraced the
opportunity of enforcing his favourite doctrines.
In the same year, his
lordship presented the President of the United States with an elegantly
mounted snuff-box, made from the tree which sheltered Wallace. "This
magnificent and truly characteristic present," says a Philadelphia
Journal, of January 2, "is from the Earl of Buchan, by the hands of Mr.
Archibald Robertson, a Scots gentleman, and portrait painter, who
arrived in America some months ago." The box had been presented to Lord
Buchan by the goldsmiths of Edinburgh in 1782, from whom he obtained
leave to transfer it to "the only man in the world to whom he thought it
justly due." The box was made by Mr. Robert Hay, wright, afterwards in
the Edinburgh Vendue.
In prompting this compliment to the American General,
vanity had probably no inconsiderable influence; for, perhaps, there
never lived an individual who thought so much of himself, or one who, in
whathe said or did, had his own glorification more in view. Some amusing
anecdotes respecting him have recently appeared in Frasers Magazine;
and iu the Town Eclogue the reverend author has thus
satirised the foibles of the Earl:—
"His brain with ill-assorted fancies stor'd,
Like shreds and patches on a tailor's board;
Women, and Whigs, and poetry, and pelf,
And ev'ry corner stuff d with mighty self—
With scraps and puffs, and comments without end,
On prince and patriot, parasite and friend;
Vaunting his worth—how all the great caress'd;
How Hamilton dined, and how the Duchess dress'd;
And Ariosto sang the Buchan crest." Amongst other
extraordinary exhibitions got up by his lordship, was a sort of
assembly, upon Mount Parnassus, of Apollo and the nine Muses. The scene
of action was his lordship's drawing-room, where he presided over the
smoking tea-urn, crowned with a garland of bays—nine young ladies of the
first rank in Edinburgh enacted the Muses. To complete the tableaux, the
noble Lord thought that the presence of Cupid was indispensable; and the
astonishment of the Muses and the company present may be conceived, when
the door opened, and a blooming boy of ten or twelve years of age
entered as the god of love, with his bow and quiver—but in puris
naturalibus!! After all, vain as his lordship undoubtedly was, and
mean as many of his actions may be characterised, still, as the Editor
of the Percy Letters remarks, "he is entitled to more credit than
is usually allowed him. By his laudable economy he retrieved the
fortunes of the ancient family he represented—an example which it would
not be unwise for many of our noblemen to follow; he paid off every
farthing of debt left by his predecessor—a step equally worthy of
imitation; he begrudged no labour which might advance the interests of
science and literature, and he spared no pains to promote the success of
those whom he deemed worthy of his patronage. With these merits his
personal vanity may be overlooked, and even his parsimony be forgiven,
for we all know how difficult it is to eradicate early habits— habits,
too, engendered at a period when these acquisitions were a merit rather
than a demerit; for never let it be forgotten, that besides gradually
paying off debts for which he was not legally responsible, he for years
submitted to the severest privation, to enable him suitably to maintain
and bring up his brothers, Henry and Thomas."
Lord Buchan contributed largely to the periodical
works of his time —particularly to the "Gentleman's Magazine," the
"Scots Magazine," and still more particularly to the "Bee." In 1812, he
collected these stray productions, of which he published one volume at
Edinburgh, entitled "The Anonymous and Fugitive Pieces of the Earl of
Buchan." The preface announced the succession of other volumes, but no
more ever appeared. To Grose's "Antiquities of Scotland," his lordship
furnished the "Description of Dryburgh."
Besides the voluminous correspondence which he almost
constantly maintained with men of literature of all nations, and the
incessant exertions into which his active mind betrayed hirn, the Earl
was not insensible to the softer wooings of the muses, to whom his
leisure moments were sometimes devoted. Only a very few of these
productions, however, have been given to the public; but we have been
informed that he excelled in a "light, elegant, extemporaneous style of
poetry."
The Earl of Buchan married, on the 15th October,
1771, Margaret, eldest daughter of William Fraser, Esq. of Fraserfield,
but had no issue. His lordship died in 1829, and was succeeded by his
nephew, Henry David, eldest son of his brother, the Hon. Henry Erskine.
There are numerous portraits and busts of his
lordship. An excellent painting (from Sir Joshua Reynolds') adorns the
hall of the Scottish Autiquaries. Another, by Alexander Runciman, is in
the museum of the Perth Antiquarian Society. He also presented to the
Faculty of Advocates a portrait in crayons, with an inscription written
by himself, and highly complimentary to the donor.
