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GOVERNOR MACRAE.

belonging to the President; and he concluded by saying that he expected a ready assistance from them in the pursuit of the above resolutions, which was accordingly promised."

Mr. Shaw remarks that during Governor Macrae's tenure of office, "the relations of the East India Company with the Nabob of Arcot remained unalter"ed, and what may be called the domestic incidents 'of the Presidency are few in number. But in all "matters connected with the trade of the place, the "reduction of the expenditure, the improvement of the 'revenues, the supervision of the mint, and the adminis"tration of justice, his proceedings are distinguished by an indefatigable industry, a display of strong sense, “and, above all, a fulness of record far beyond those of "any of his predecessors. Nothing appeared too large or "too small for Governor Macrae. Everything received

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'his attention in turn, from such matters of detail as the "sorting of cloths and the better preparation of the 'consultation books, up to the most difficult and "complicated questions connected with the coinage, the customs, the quit rent, or the very doubtful cases "of appeal from the Mayor's Court. Like most men 'who have risen from nothing, he was arbitrary and "occasionally harsh towards his subordinates, but he was a valuable servant of the company, whose orders "he rigidly respected."

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On the 14th of May 1730, George Morton Pitt, Esq., was appointed his successor, and on the 21st of January 1731, Governor Macrae sailed for England. without wife or child, but with a fortune said to be upwards of £100,000, which he brought home in diamonds and pagodas. The only relations that he could discover were his cousin, Isabella Gairdner, daughter of his mother's brother, and wife of Hugh Mc Guire, the carpenter, who was also a performer on the violin at dances and weddings. Mrs. Mc Guire was agreeably surprised by receiving a letter from her rich cousin, in which he promised to provide handsomely for herself and her family, which promise he

LORD GLENCAIRN, JAMES DALRYMPLE.

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amply fulfilled by giving a superior education to the sons and daughters, and by bestowing fortunes upon all of them. On re-visiting Ayr, which he left as a poor sailor boy, he was admitted a burgess in 1733, as James Macrae, late Governor of Madras.

In 1736 he bought the estate of Orangefield, in Ayrshire, and in 1739 he also bought for £25,000, the estate of Ochiltree, in the same county. He conveyed to JAMES MC GUIRE, the eldest son, the barony of Houlston, requiring him to take the name of Macrae.

ELIZABETH MC GUIRE, the eldest daughter, married 16th August, 1744, William, Earl of Glencairn, Governor Macrae having given to her for a dowry, the barony of Ochiltree and £45,000.

JAMES, the second son of that marriage, became 14th Earl of Glencairn in 1775, and died unmarried in 1791, and having been the friend and patron of Burns, he then wrote the "Lament on the Earl's Death." His brother, THE THIRD SON OF ELIZABETH MC GUIRE, succeeded to the peerage, which on his death became extinct, but has been claimed by Sir Thomas Montgomery Cunningham, of Corshill, Ayrshire.

MARGARET MC GUIRE, the second daughter, born in 1729, married in 1749, James Erskine of Barjarg, advocate, only surviving son of Charles Erskine, who as a Lord of Session, took the title of Lord Tinwald, and became Lord Justice Clerk. Her dower, received from Governor Macrae, appears to have been expended in the purchase of the estate of Alva, which was settled on Lord Tinwald for life, and eventually on his son James and his children, by Margaret.

MACRAE MC GUIRE, the third daughter, was married to CHARLES DALRYMPLE, Sheriff Clerk, of Ayrshire, who obtained as her dowry the Barony of Orangefield, to which their eldest son, JAMES DALRYMPLE, succeeded on his mother's death. It was he who introduced Burns to his cousin James, Lord Glencairn. James Dalrymple having lived extravagantly, found it necessary in 1791, to convey Orangefield to trustees, three of

122 DR. DAVID SHAW, DR. ANDREW SHAW.

whom were, the Rev. Dr. Dalrymple, John Ballantine, Banker in Ayr, and Robert Aiken.

The Rev. DAVID SHAW, D.D., minister of Coylton, who married Marion Dalrymple, daughter of James Dalrymple, Sheriff Clerk of Ayrshire, was the son of the Rev. Alexander Shaw, for many years Minister of Edenkillie, Morayshire.

His eldest brother was Andrew Shaw, D.D., Professor of divinity at St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, who married in 1730, Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. James Bannatyne, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, whose sister Katherine, married her cousin Hugh Blair, D.D., one of the Ministers of the High Church, and Professor of Rhetoric in the University.

He had six sons, one of whom was ANDREW SHAW, D.D., Minister of Craigie near Ayr, and he and his uncle, Dr. David Shaw, of Coylton, are both mentioned by Burns. Andrew was an able man and accomplished scholar. His brother ALEXANDER was born in Edinburgh but lived in London, and was the author of an account in manuscript of a visit to Scotland in 1795, particularly to his relation, Dr. Blair, who in his 78th year, then lived at Summerfield, near Leith. Alexander went to see his brother Dr. Andrew Shaw, at Craigie, and also his uncle DR. DAVID SHAW, who could read without spectacles and was able to perform his duties as a minister, till very near the time of his death, in 1810, in his ninety second year. The visit of Alexander to his uncle, is thus described by him.

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"Not many miles from Craigie was Coylton, the "habitation of a venerable relation, Dr. Shaw, with "whom I was connected by no less a tie than that 'of being his nephew. This venerable relation was, as well as my brother, a minister of the Church, and had grown old in the parish of Coylton, amidst the respect and good will of all the country.

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"The manse of Coylton was situated in a retired "and romantic vale on the banks of the Coil, which gives its name to one of the three districts of Ayrshire. The banks of the river, as it took its

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DR. DAVID SHAW.

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'way through the narrow and sequestered vale, were set with the hamlets of villagers or planted with coppice woods. The Coil then flowed with a gentle stream, but the ravages which it had made on its banks, and which had not even spared the good "Pastor's glebe, declared that it was sometimes an impetuous torrent. Burns, the poet of Ayrshire, "and particularly of this district, his native ground, "has bestowed on this river, which is often mentioned "in his works, the name of 'the brawling Coil.'

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"I visited with great satisfaction the reverend "minister of Coylton, who received me with the 66 most friendly welcome. His appearance was His white locks waved

"venerable and patriarchal.

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loosely on his shoulders; his fresh and ruddy "countenance showed that he enjoyed a vigorous old

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age. In this sequestered valley he had reared with "credit a numerous family of sons and daughters. "His wife, of equal years with himself and respectable "by her virtues, was now the companion of his age. Two sons were engaged in active life. His family "had formerly been more numerous, but he had lost 'many deserving children by death. These and other "afflictions he had endured with a firm mind, and in "the adversities of life had resembled the sage in "Spenser who

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Gently took that which ungently came.'

'I found a great pleasure in conversing with this "worthy and venerable relation, and in tracing his quiet walks by the river side. The tranquillity of the "vale seemed to correspond with the calm and satisfied temper of its inhabitants. His family was conducted "with the most perfect order. The day began and "closed with devotion, but the religion of the good "minister was not austere, and his prayers breathed "a calm spirit of holy trust and resignation to Provi"dence.

"Like my brother, he held a farm, which added

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"somewhat to his stipend, and enabled him the better "to indulge his hospitable disposition in the kind "entertainment of his guest.

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"The manse, the river banks, the village, the church, surrounded by its grove of venerable trees, "were all endeared to him, but he could not confine "himself within his parish bounds, and lived in intimate "correspondence with the neighbouring gentry, by "whom he was held in particular esteem.

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"From Coylton I proceeded to Ayr, where I was "entertained by my cousin, Charles Shaw, the son of Dr. Shaw. He was by profession a writer or attorney, was well esteemed, and at that time held the office of "provost, or first magistrate of Ayr. He had made an "advantageous marriage with a well-accomplished 66 'woman, and lived in a style of elegance."

Mr. Shaw's memoir and genealogy of the Dalrymple's of Langlands, supplies the following particulars respecting ROBERT AIKEN and some of his forefathers and descendants.

CHARLES DALRYMPLE, of Langlands (before-mentioned) born about 1650.

JAMES DALRYMPLE, Sheriff Clerk of Ayrshire, born about 1682, married Margaret Ramsay, sister of Dr. Ramsay, of Mountford.

JOHN AIKEN, Shipmaster, in Ayr, married Sarah Dalrymple, second daughter of the above James Dalrymple.

ROBERT AIKEN, their eldest son, the friend of Burns, married Janet Hunter, sister of Dr. Andrew Hunter, of Barjarg, Dumfriesshire, Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, who married the Honourable Mainie Schaw Napier, eldest daughter of William, sixth Lord Napier.

Another brother of Mrs. Aiken was John Hunter, of Bonnytown, in Ayrshire, who married Miss Fergusson, heiress of Doonholm.

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