friend); George Brown, Lord Coalston; James Fergusson, Lord Pitfour; Francis Gardine, Lord Gardenstone; and James Burnett, Lord Monboddo-seven in all. Between July 7 and 14 each Judge spoke in the order of seniority. The interlocutor formally declaring the decision of the Court in favour of reduction was dated 15th July. Among the lawyers engaged at one time or another in the case, besides many elevated to the Bench during its progress, were-Andrew Crosbie, the reputed original of Scott's "Counsellor Pleydell;" Alexander Wedderburn, afterwards first Earl of Rosslyn and Lord Chancellor of England; Robert Macqueen, afterwards Lord Braxfield; and James Boswell, friend of Johnson, a contributor to the prolific literature of the case in the form of what he called "The Essence of the Douglas Cause." Another busy writer of the time in favour of Archibald Douglas was a distant north-country kinsman, Francis Douglas, farmer and journalist, and afterwards rewarded with a life-rent of the Douglas farm of Abbotsinch, near Paisley. Popular sympathy running strongly in favour of Mr. Douglas, several threatening letters were received by the Lord-President, to which he simply drew the attention of the Court, but rewards for discovering the authors of which were offered by each of the parties concerned in the suit.

On the failure of Mr. Douglas's case before the Court of Session in Scotland there was an immediate appeal to the House of Lords, and two years afterwards (February 27, 1769) a decision was pronounced in favour of Mr. Douglas which secured him the estates as lineal heir of Duke Archibald. The decision was received in Edinburgh with much rejoicing and some tumult. The counsel who spoke before the Lords were, for the appellant (Douglas)-the Lord-Advocate and Sir Fletcher Morton; for the respondents (Yarke)-Wedderburn and Dunning. The Lord-Chancellor (Camden) and Chief-Justice Mansfield spoke with weighty eloquence in favour of Mr. Douglas. A man of quiet, retired habits, and an excellent landlord, he was raised to the peerage as Lord Douglas of Douglas, 1790, and died universally respected, December, 1827. His friend the Duchess. died at Bothwell Castle, October, 1774.

Lord Douglas married (1) in 1771 Lady Lucy Graham, sister of the Duke

of Montrose, by whom he had Archibald, who succeeded as second Lord Douglas, and died unmarried January, 1844; and Charles, who also succeeded as third Lord Douglas, and died September, 1848; also Jane-Margaret, Lady Montague; (2) in 1785, Lady Francis, sister of Henry, third Duke of Buccleuch, and had with other sons and daughters, James, who of all the second family alone survived to succeed to the honours of this ancient and distinguished family. The Rev. James, fourth and last Lord Douglas, half-brother of two preceding Lords, and eldest son by second marriage of Archibald, first Lord Douglas. Taking holy orders, he became Rector of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, 1819; Rector of Broughton, Northamptonshire, 1825; succeeded his half-brother, Charles, as fourth Lord Douglas, September, 1848; married, 1813, Wilhelmina, daughter of the Hon. General James Murray, and died at Bothwell Castle without issue in April, 1857, aged sixty. This was the last male descendant of the Douglases of Douglasdale, the title becoming extinct, and the wide estates devolving on JaneMargaret, widow of the second Lord Montague, and on her death in 1858, on her daughter, Lucy-Elizabeth, who, in 1832, married Alexander, tenth Earl of Home, descended from the old Northumbrian line of Cospatrick, the parents of Alexander, eleventh Earl, whose sudden death within his grounds of The Hirsel, Coldstream, in the summer of 1881, was lamented by friends and, tenants. The deceased Earl was succeeded in the family honours by his eldest son, Charles Alexander Douglas, Lord Dunglas, born in 1834, and educated at Eton and Cambridge.

MONTROSE FAMILY DESCENT AND

POSSESSIONS.

SOME misapprehension existing as to the position occupied by the present Duke, or fifth in the line of descent, the marriage of his Grace to a lady of his own name (1876), presents a favourable opportunity for mentioning a

few facts connected with a family not more distinguished for activity in public affairs than the private merits of some of those who in modern times have borne the honours of the ancient house of Montrose. Passing lightly over such occurrences as may have happened within the fabulous period of Scottish history, extending from King Eugene in the fifth to Malcolm Canmore in the eleventh century, a firm footing within a time of law and record is reached in the reign of Bruce. In exchange for lands in Cardross, the lands, it may be presumed, where the great King ended his days, as described by Froissart, Sir David Graham of Kincardine obtained the property of Old Montrose, Forfar, and was succeeded by his son, another Sir David, made prisoner at the battle of Durham in 1346. A grandson, Sir Patrick of Dunduff and Kincardine, was one of the hostages through which the release of King David II. was ultimately obtained. By his first wife, Matilda, Sir Patrick had issue, among others, William, his successor; and by his second, Edgidia Stewart of Ralston, he had Patrick, who became Earl of Stratherne in virtue of his marriage with Euphame, Countess Palatine. By his first wife, a daughter of the house of Oliphant, Sir William Graham had a son, Alexander, who predeceased his father, leaving Patrick to succeed to the honours of the house; and by his second marriage with Lady Mary Stewart, daughter of King Robert III. (who had been twice a widow before, and afterwards married a fourth time), there was issue among others two sons, founders of branches famous in the history of the family. The eldest, Robert, was ancestor of the Grahams of Fintry and Claverhouse; the latter, in the person of James, created Viscount Dundee in 1688, about a year before his death on the field of Killiecrankie. A younger brother, William, founded the house of Garvock, from which descended in due course Sir Thomas Graham, Lord Lyndoch, the renowned hero of Barossa. Patrick Graham of Kincardine, above referred to, one of the Lords of the Regency during the minority of James II., was elevated to the dignity of a Lord of Parliament, with the title of Lord Graham, in 1445. Patrick left William, who, by his marriage with

Lady Anne Douglas, daughter of the Earl of Angus, left another William, third Lord Graham and first Earl of Montrose. The additional honour was conferred for gallantry shown on the field of Sauchieburn, where his Royal master, James III., lost his life; and, in fitting harmony with the loyal traditions of his house, Earl William fell at Flodden with King James IV. and the flower of the Scottish nobility. He was twice married-first to Annabella, daughter of Lord Drummond, by whom he had William, the second Earl in succession; and second, to Janet, daughter of Sir Archibald Edmonstone, by whom he had Patrick, ancestor of the Graham of Inchbraikie. From Mungo, youngest son of William, second Earl, descended the house of Killearn. John, third Earl, posthumous son of Lord Graham, who fell at Pinkie in 1547, was first Chancellor and then Viceroy of the Kingdom of Scotland. His son John, fourth Earl, was appointed President of the Council in 1626, but dying the same year was succeeded by James, the only son of his wife, Lady Margaret Ruthven, eldest daughter of William, first Earl of Gowrie.

The career of this James, fifth Earl and first Marquis, known in history as the great Marquis of Montrose, falls rather within the history of Scotland than the annals of a single family, even though it be as illustrious as the house of Graham. A very few sentences, therefore, must serve to indicate the part he took in the affairs of the nation during what was probably the most troubled period of its history. Coldly received, as he imagined, at the Court of Charles I., Earl James, afterwards Marquis, threw himself with characteristic ardour into the cause of the Covenanting party, and in company with Argyll assisted to keep in check movements made by the more active Royalists in the north. In this way he came to be mixed up with the attack on the house of Ogilvie, famous in song as "The Bonnie House of Airlie," and referred to by the "great Argyll" himself in presence of the late Duke of Montrose so late as 1864, the occasion being a dinner at Stirling in connection with the Highland and Agricultural Society's show. "You will go (so ran the instructions of Argyll to one Dugald, with so many hundred men)

into the country of my Lord Ogilvie, and you will lift his cattle, and you will drive them to Straanmare; and you will proceed to the house of my Lord Ogilvie, and you will destroy the said house, and you will pull down the yetts and windows, and gin it be langsome ye will fire the house." Castle Campbell suffered for this in after days. Suspicious of the sincerity of the Covenanting party, annoyed it has been said at their excesses, and anxious it may be concerning the ultimate fate of Monarchy in the strife, Montrose, after a second audience of the King, passed over to the Royalist party about the close of 1639. "Division (writes Principal Baillie in October of that year) is much laboured for in all our estate. They speak of great prevailing with our nobles-Home evidently fallen off, Montrose not unlikely to be ensnared with fair promises of advancement." During a lull in the military operations of 1640 there was offered for signature to Montrose a new covenant or bond, suggesting that Argyll should be named Captain-General, with arbitrary powers north of the Forth. Stung at the proposal, the Marquis suddenly quitted his division of Alexander Leslie's army on Dunse Moor, and took horse for Cumbernauld, the house of the Earl of Wigtown, where he met Home, Athole, Mar, and other friends. A new bond was then drawn out, acknowledging obligation to the covenant already signed, but stipulating for their mutual aid and defence in case of need. For five years Montrose continued to be the most prominent and successful leader on the King's side. In six well-disputed conflicts against superior armies-at Tippermuir, Bridge of Dee, Castle of Fyvie, Inverlochy, Aulderne, and Alford-the gallantry and military genius of the great Marquis prevailed. "Tell," it has been written, "those traitors of proud London town that the spears of the North have encircled the Crown." But for Naseby all might have gone well with the King. At Kilsyth, the last and crowning victory, Montrose appeared to be master of all Scotland. His troops, according to Earl Stanhope, spread over the low country like a torrent, and only such castled crags as Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton could lift themselves above the general inundation. Argyll and the other leaders of the Covenant fled for safety to