COCKBURN,
a surname of old standing in Scotland, supposed to be a corruption of
Colbrand. In the Ragman Roll of those who swore fealty to Edward I. in
1296, occur the names of Piers de Cockburn and Thomas de Cockburn,
great ancestors of the Cockburns of Langton, Ormiston, and Clerkington,
very ancient vassals of the earls of March, from whom all the
Cockburns in Scotland are descended.
The
principal family of the name are the Cockburns of Langton. Their
immediate ancestor, Sir Alexander de Cockburn, obtained the barony of
Carriden, in Linlithgowshire, from David the Second in 1358, which
barony had been forfeited to the crown, by what in the law of Scotland
is denominated recognition, or a vassal disponing of his property
without the consent of his superior. This Sir Alexander de Cockburn
was twice married, first to Mary, daughter of Sir William de
Veteriponte, or Vipont, proprietor of Langton in Berwickshire, who
fell at Bannockburn in 1314, and in her right he obtained the lands
and barony of Langton; and, secondly, to Margaret, daughter and
heiress of Sir John Monfode of Braidwood in Lanarkshire. By his first
wife he had two sons, Sir Alexander de Cockburn, knight, keeper of the
great seal between 1389 and 1396, and created by Robert the Second
hereditary ostiarius parliamenti, an office annexed to the
barony of Langton, by charter of James the Fourth, February 20, 1504.
John, the second son, married Jean, daughter and heiress of John
Lindsay of Ormiston in East Lothian, and from him descended the
Cockburns of Ormiston, of whom afterwards. This John Cockburn of
Ormiston, or his son, was constable of Haddington, an office
hereditary for a long time in the family. By his second wife, Sir
Alexander Cockburn, the father, had Edward, ancestor of the Cockburns
of Skirling, long since extinct. In March 1567 Sir William Cockburn of
Skirling was appointed by Queen Mary keeper of the castle of
Edinburgh, an office which he retained till the following April, when
he was succeeded by Sir James Balfour of Pittendriech. In 1568 Sir
John Cockbourn of Skirling was one of the commissioners to England for
Mary queen of Scots.
From Sir
Alexander the son, descended Sir William Cockburn of Langton, knight,
who in 1595 obtained a grant of the lands and barony of Langton, with
the office of principal usher, and its fees and casualties, to himself
and his heirs male whatsoever, bearing the arms and surname of
Cockburn. He married Helen, daughter of Alexander fourth Lord
Elphinstone, and was succeeded by his son, William Cockburn, who was
created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1627. In 1641 he was commissioner
to the Scots parliament for Berwickshire, and on 13th
August of that year he presented a petition to the house concerning
the office of great usher, inherited from his ancestors, against John
earl of Wigton, who had assumed the office; when a committee was
appointed to consider the complaint and report. On the 17th
of the same month, while the question was still in dependence, on his
majesty, Charles the First’s entry into the house, Sir William, with a
baton in his hand, “too rashly,” as Baillie in his Letters says, went
before his majesty as principal usher, and “offered to make civil
interruption for maintenance of his right against the earl of Wigton.”
[Balfour’s Annals, vol. iii. 140.] The king, offended at his
presumption, immediately signed a warrant for his committal to the
castle of Edinburgh as a prisoner. The same day, the house interceded
with his majesty on his behalf, and after much entreaty the king
altered the warrant to confinement in his own chamber till next day.
On the 18th, his majesty declared in parliament that when
he signed the warrant he did not know that Sir William was a member of
the house, and he there promised for himself, his heirs and
successors, not to commit any member of parliament during session,
without the advice and consent of the house, and ordained that
declaration and promise to be recorded in the books of parliament. The
conduct of Sir William in this matter thus led to the recognition of a
great constitutional privilege. He subsequently alienated one half of
the ushership, and became joint usher with Colonel Cunningham.
His only
son, Sir Archibald Cockburn, second baronet of Langton, was, in 1657,
returned heir to his father in the office of principal usher, held
jointly with Colonel Cunningham, and also in the barony of Langton and
other property. In 1664, having purchased Cunningham’s liferent, he
obtained a new grant of the office, with a salary of two hundred and
fifty pounds, and other emoluments, for ever. Like the Humes of
Polwarth and Redbraes, and the Kerrs of Nisbet, this distinguished
family was eminent for piety, and suffered in the cause of civil and
religious liberty. In 1679 they established a meeting in one of the
houses attached to Langton castle, where they had regularly preaching
from Mr. Luke Ogle, Mr. John Veitch of Westruther, and Mr. Daniel
Douglas.
Sir
Archibald married Lady Mary Campbell, daughter of the earl of
Breadalbane, and died in 1705. His eldest son, Sir Archibald Cockburn,
third baronet, died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother,
Sir Alexander Cockburn, fourth baronet, who was killed at the battle
of Fontenoy. He was succeeded by his grandson, Sir Alexander Cockburn,
fifth baronet, on whose decease the title devolved on his cousin, Sir
James, sixth baronet, member of parliament for Peebles-shire in 1762.
He married, first, the daughter of Douglas of Murth, by whom he had
three daughters; and, secondly, Miss Ayscough, daughter of the dean of
Bristol and niece of George Lord Lyttleton, by whom he had five sons
and a daughter. He died 26th July 1804.
His eldest
son, Sir James Cockburn, the seventh baronet, and knight grand cross
of Hanover, was in 1806 one of the under secretaries of state; in 1807
governor and commander-in-chief at Curacoa; and in 1811 governor of
the Bermudas. He married in 1801 the Hon Marianna Devereux, eldest
daughter of the thirteenth Viscount Hereford; issue, an only daughter,
Marianna Augusta, married in 1834, to Sir James John Hamilton,
baronet, of Woodbrook, county Tyrone, Ireland. Sir James Cockburn died
26th Feb. 1852, and was succeeded by his brother, Admiral
Sir George Cockburn.
The estate
of Langton was in 1758 sold to David Gavin, Esq., and through his
daughter, who married the first marquis of Breadalbane, it passed into
the Breadalbane family.
The second
son, the Right Hon. Sir George Cockburn, G.C.B., admiral of the fleet,
and major-general of marines, succeeded his brother as 8th
baronet. Born in London 22d April 1772, he entered the navy in 1787,
and served at the battle of St. Vincent, the reduction of Martinique,
and in the expedition to the Scheldt. In 1810 he commanded at the
siege of Cadiz, and in 1814 and following year his daring
achievements, on the coast of the United States, mainly contributed to
the termination of the war with America. In 1815 he was appointed
commander-in-chief at the Cape and at St. Helena, to which island he
conveyed the emperor Napoleon. In 1818 he was created a military
knight grand cross of the Bath, and in 1827 was sworn a privy
councillor. In November 1841 he became an admiral of the red, and in
1847 rear-admiral of the United Kingdom. He was senior lord of the
admiralty from September 1841 to July 1846. He represented Portsmouth
in the parliament of 1818, and Weobley in that of 1820, and sat for
Ripon from October 1841 to July 1847. He died August 19, 1853, leaving
a daughter, the wife of a naval officer.
His next
brother, the Rev. William Cockburn, dean of York, succeeded as ninth
baronet, and died April 30, 1858. He was succeeded by his nephew, Sir
Alexander James-Edmund Cockburn, tenth baronet; knighted 1850; chief
justice of the common pleas in England 1856; a privy councillor 1857;
son of Alexander Cockburn, 4th son of sixth baronet,
minister plenipotentiary to Columbia, (died 1852).
Sir Francis
Cockburn, the fifth son of Sir James Cockburn, the sixth baronet, was
major-general in the army, and in 1837 governor and commander-in-chief
of the Bahama islands. He was knighted by patent in 1841. He served in
Canada, and was governor at Honduras.
_____
The
Cockburns of that ilk and Rysland, also in Berwickshire, are a branch
of the same family, their immediate ancestor being Sir William
Cockburn, of Langton, knight, who fell at the battle of Flodden Field
in 1513. By his wife, Lady Anna Home, daughter of the earl of Home, he
had three sons, namely, Alexander, who was killed fighting by his side
at Flodden; John, and Christopher. John, the elder of these two, was
succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander Cockburn, to whom succeeded his
eldest son, William Cockburn, designed of Cockburn and Rysland. He
married Margaret, daughter of John Spottiswood of that ilk, in the
same county, and his only son, John Cockburn of Cockburn and Rysland,
was created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1628. He married Mary,
daughter of William Scott of Harden, Roxburghshire, and had three
sons. The eldest, Sir James, second baronet, married Jane, daughter of
Alexander Swinton of Swinton, Berwickshire. His only son, Sir William,
third baronet, was succeeded by his eldest son Sir James, fourth
baronet. His second son, William Cockburn, was physician-general to
the forces under the great duke of Marlborough. The fourth baronet
died without issue, when the title devolved upon his kinsman, Sir
William Cockburn, great-grandson of Dr. William Cockburn, who had been
succeeded by his second son, Dr. James Cockburn. This latter had two
sons, William Cockburn, doctor in divinity, vicar-general and
archdeacon of Ossory in Ireland; and James Cockburn, a colonel in the
army and quarter-master, who was father of Sir William the fifth
baronet, by Letitia Little, heiress of the ancient houses of Rossiter
and Devereux in Ireland. Sir William was a lieutenant-general in the
army. He married, 1st January 1791, Elizabeth Anne,
daughter of Colonel Frederick Creutzer, of Manheim in Germany, an
officer in the royal horse-guards, and descended, through her mother,
the grand-daughter of Elizabeth Brydges, sister of the first duke of
Chandos, from the royal house of Plantagenet. He died in March, 1835,
leaving a son and a daughter. The son, Sir William Sarsfield Rossiter
Cockburn, M.A., is the sixth baronet. By his wife, Anne, eldest
daughter of the Rev. Francis Coke of Lower Moor, Herefordshire, he has
several children. His eldest son, Devereux Plantagenet Cockburn, was
born in 1828.
_____
The Ormiston
branch was for several generations distinguished as lawyers and
statesmen. On the marriage, as already stated, in 1368, of John,
second son of Sir Alexander Cockburn, knight, with the only daughter
of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Ormiston in Haddingtonshire, he obtained
from his father-in-law a grant of these lands, which was confirmed by
a charter of King David the Second the same year. Patrick Cockburn of
Ormiston kept the castle of Dalkeith for King James the Second against
the ninth earl of Douglas, then in rebellion, on account of the murder
of his brother the eighth earl. Having obtained the command of the
town, he put himself at the head of the king’s troops, defeated the
rebels, though his army was inferior to theirs, and obliged them to
retire. In 1508, King James the Fourth granted a charter of the lands
of Ormiston, on the resignation of John Cockburn in favour of his son
John Cockburn younger of Ormiston, and his spouse, Margaret Hepburn.
On 30th October 1535, Christopher Armstrong, Thomas
Armstrong of Mangerton, brother of the celebrated Johnny Armstrong and
chief of the clan, with several others, were denounced rebels for not
underlying the law for art and part carrying off, under silence of
night, on the preceding 27th July, seventy draught oxen and
thirty cows from John Cockburn of Ormiston, with three men their
keepers.
The old
house of Ormiston, the seat of the Cockburns, is associated with the
memory of George Wishart, the martyr. In January 1545, after preaching
at Haddington, that eminent reformer went on foot with Cockburn of
Ormiston and two of his friends to the house of Ormiston, where the
earl of Bothwell made him prisoner, and delivered him to Cardinal
Bethune. On March 29, 1546, James Lawson of Highriggs and two others,
found caution to underly the law for art and part of the assistance
afforded to William Cockburn of Ormiston and the young laird of Calder
in breaking their ward from the castle of Edinburgh. In 1547, John
Cockburn of Ormiston and Crichton of Brunston, on account of their
favouring the reformed doctrines, were, by the regent Arran and his
brother, Archbishop Hamilton of St. Andrews, banished the kingdom, and
their estates forfeited. On August 3, 1548, Ormiston found caution to
underly the law.
The family
of Ormiston for a long series of years occasionally held the office of
lord justice-clerk. The first of them who filled that office was Sir
John Cockburn of Ormiston, who succeeded to the estate in 1583. In
July 1588, he was admitted an extraordinary lord of session in the
room of Lord Boyd, resigned, and on the death of Sir James Bellenden
he was knighted, and appointed lord-justice-clerk. He was admitted an
ordinary lord of session 15th February 1593. At the
parliament held at Perth in July 1604 he was chosen one of the
commissioners to go to England to treat of a project of union then in
contemplation. In 1621 he voted in parliament in favour of the five
articles of Perth. In 1623, he resigned the office of
lord-justice-clerk, and died in June of that year. A curious letter is
extant, quoted in the appendix to Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, vol.
iii., from the Denmylne MMS. in the Advocate’s Library, addressed by
Mr. Alexander Colville, justice-depute, to Viscount Annand, a great
favourite at court, dated December 20, 1622, relative to the
justice-clerkship, in which it is stated that the laird of Ormiston,
the then justice-clerk, was “so afflicted with extreme age, blindness,
and other infirmities that he is altogether disabled either from
walking abroad, or discharging the duties,” and advising that in the
appointment of his successor it should be considered that “young men
and men of great clans are most dangerous for that place.” Sir John
Cockburn married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir John Bellenden of
Auchinoul, and widow of James Lawson of Humbie.
The next of
the family who filled the office was Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, a
younger son of John Cockburn of Ormiston, by his wife Margaret
Hepburn. He succeeded his brother John, as heir-male in the family
estate, 28th December 1671. He was commissioner for the
county of Haddington at the convention of estates in the years 1678,
1681, and 1689, and in the Scots parliament for 1696. He was nominated
one of the commissioners to treat of the union, 19th April
1689. On 28th November 1692, he was appointed lord justice
clerk, in place of Sir George Campbell of Cessnock, and about the same
time was sworn a privy councillor. On 28th May 1696, he was
named one of the commissioners to inquire into the massacre of Glenco,
and about this period he seems to have become unpopular, as in his
letters to Mr. Carstairs he complains of the “lies raised against
him.” In one of these, dated 23d July 1695, he particularly complains
of the earl of Argyle, who, he observes, “reflected on the whole
commission of Glenco.” On his part, Argyle, in a letter addressed to
Carstairs, complains bitterly of the authority given to the lord
justice clerk, “who,” he says, “with Sir Thomas Livingstone, has
powers to seize persons, horses, and arms, without being obliged to be
accountable to the council, make close prisoners, or otherwise as they
see fit.” In February 1699 he was appointed treasurer depute, or
chancellor of the exchequer. There seems also at this time to have
been an intention of making him an ordinary lord of session, which,
however, was violently opposed by Argyle, who addressed a strong
letter of remonstrance to Mr. Carstairs, dated 31st January
1699. On the accession of Queen Anne, he was dismissed from all his
offices. In January 1705, however, he was again appointed lord justice
clerk, and made an ordinary lord of session. In 1710 he was superseded
in his office of justice clerk by James Erskine of Grange, but
retained his place as a lord of session till his death, 16th
April 1735, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He was a man of a
good understanding and of great application to business, but of a hot
and overbearing temper. Macky, in his Memoirs, (p. 224) writing of him
when he was fifty years old, describes him as “a bigot to a fault, and
hardly in common charity with any man out of the verge of presbytery,
but otherwise a very fine gentleman in his person and manners, just in
his dealings, with good sense, and of a sanguine complexion.” Dr.
Houston, however, speaks most unfavourably of him. He says, “Of all
the (whig) party, Lord Ormiston was the most busy, and very zealous in
suppressing the rebellion (of 1715), and oppressing the rebels, so
that he became universally hated in Scotland, where they called him
the curse of Scotland; and when ladies were at cards, playing the nine
of diamonds, commonly called ‘the curse of Scotland,’ they called it
‘the justice Clerk.’” He married Lady Susan Hamilton, third daughter
of the fourth earl of Haddington, and had two sons, John and Patrick.
The latter, an advocate, married in 1731 Miss Alison Rutherford of
Fairnalee, authoress of one of the sets to the tune of “The Flowers of
the Forest.” Of his son John, the last but one of the family, and the
great promoter of modern agricultural improvement in East Lothian, a
notice is given immediately under.
Cockburn of
Henderland, the famous border freebooter, resided at the old square
tower of Blackhouse, once a stronghold of the Douglases on Douglas
burn in Selkirkshire, celebrated in song, and his tombstone is still
pointed out in that locality. With Adam Scott of Tushielaw, he was
hanged on the 27th July 1529, by order of King James the
Fifth, during that monarch’s progress for the suppression of disorders
on the borders.
A
distinguished person of this name was Sir Richard Cockburn of
Clerkington, lord privy seal in the reign of James the Sixth. He was
the son of Sir John Cockburn by Helen, daughter of Sir Richard
Maitland of Lethington, and on 22d April 1591, was appointed secretary
of state, on the resignation of his uncle, Sir John Maitland. On
November 11th the same year he was admitted a lord of
session. He was afterwards knighted, and in 1594 was sent by King
James to demand assistance from Queen Elizabeth to pursue the popish
peers, and was absent about six months. On the accession of the
Octavians to power, he was forced to exchange with John Lindsay of
Balcarres, his place of secretary for that of lord privy seal. In
1610, when a new privy council was formed, he was continued a privy
councillor, and at the same time was appointed a member of the high
court of commission for church affairs then constituted. On 14th
February 1626, he was removed from the bench, inconsequence of the
resolution of Charles the First that neither nobleman nor officer of
state should remain in that judicatory. He died in the latter end of
that year.
In 1451
Patrick Cockburn of Newbigging, lord provost of Edinburgh, was
appointed governor of the castle, and named, with other commissioners,
after the defeat of the English in the battle of Sark, to treat for
the renewal of a truce.
COCKBURN, HENRY,
Lord Cockburn. See SUPPLEMENT.
COCKBURN, JOHN,
of Ormiston, in East Lothian, the great improver of Scottish
husbandry, son of Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, lord-justice-clerk after
the Revolution, by his wife Lady Susan Hamilton, was born about 1685.
During his father’s life he was a member of the Scots parliament, and
gave his support to the union of the two kingdoms. He afterwards
represented East Lothian, in the parliament of Great Britain, from
1707 to 1741, and at one period was a lord of the admiralty, and also
held several other public situations, but he was chiefly distinguished
by his patriotic exertions to promote the improvement of his native
country. He succeeded to the family estate in 1714. At that time
agriculture in Scotland was in a very low state. Mr. Cockburn resolved
to endeavour not only to rouse up a spirit among the landed
proprietors for promoting improvements, but also, by every means of
encouragement, to animate the tenantry to conduct their operations
with energy and vigour. For this purpose he determined to sacrifice
his own private interests, and to grant long leases at such low rents
as would tempt the most indolent to exercise proper management. An
attempt was made at one time to set aside these leases, but it did not
succeed. His enterprising spirit did not rest content even with this.
He brought down skilful agriculturists from England, who introduced
the field culture of turnips, and of red clover; and at the same time
he sent up the sons of his tenants to England to study husbandry in
the best cultivated counties of that kingdom. He also established at
Ormiston a society for promoting agricultural improvements. His
exertions, however, were not confined to husbandry alone. In 1726 he
erected a brewery and distillery at Ormiston. With a view also to
promote the growth of flax, he obtained premiums from the board of
trustees for encouraging its culture. He established a linen
manufactory on his estate, and erected a bleach-field for whitening
linens, which was the second in Scotland of the kind. It was conducted
and managed by persons from Ireland; and to this Irish colony, it is
said that Scotland is in a great measure indebted for the introduction
of the potato, which was raised in the fields of Ormiston so early as
1734. To disseminate a spirit for agricultural improvement through the
country, in 1736 he instituted a club or society composed of noblemen,
gentlemen, and farmers, who met monthly for the purpose of discussing
some appropriate question in rural or political economy. It subsisted
above ten years. He also exerted himself in making the public roads
and keeping them in repair. He married, first, in 1700, the Hon.
Beatrix Carmichael, eldest daughter of the first earl of Hyndford, and
secondly an English lady related to the duchess of Gordon, by whom he
had a son named George. In 1748 Mr. Cockburn was under the necessity
of disposing of his estate to the earl of Hopetoun. He died at his
son’s house in the navy office, London, November 12, 1758. His son,
George, who succeeded him, is no farther deserving of notice than as
being the last of that distinguished family. He was appointed a
captain in the navy in 1741, and one of the commissioners of the navy
in 1756. He died at Brighton in 1770. He married Caroline, baroness
Forrester in her own right, and had a daughter, Anna Maria Cockburn,
also baroness Forrester in her own right, who died in 1808 unmarried.
COCKBURN, ALICIA,
or Alison, authoress of the beautiful lyric, ‘I’ve seen the smiling of
fortune beguiling,’ which forms one of the popular sets of the
‘Flowers of the Forest,’ was a daughter of Robert Rutherford of
Fairnalee in Selkirkshire. The exact year of her birth has not been
ascertained. It is supposed to have been about 1710 or 1712. We learn
from Stenhouse’s notes to Johnson’s ‘Scots Musical Museum,’ that her
writing of the song which has immortalized her name, was occasioned by
the following incident; “A gentleman of her acquaintance, in passing
through a sequestered but romantic glen, observed a shepherd at some
distance tending his flocks, and amusing himself at intervals by
playing on a flute. The scene altogether was very interesting, and
being passionately found of music, he drew nearer the spot, and
listened for some time unobserved to the attractive but artless
strains of the young shepherd. One of the airs in particular appeared
so exquisitely wild and pathetic, that he could no longer refrain from
discovering himself, in order to obtain some information respecting it
from the rural performer. On inquiry, he learned that it was ‘The
Flowers of the Forest.’ This intelligence exciting his curiosity, he
was determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the air. He
accordingly prevailed on the young man to play it over and over, until
he picked up every note, which he immediately committed to paper on
his return home. Delighted with this new discovery, as he supposed, he
lost no time in communicating it to Miss Rutherford, who not only
recognised the tune, but likewise repeated some detached lines of the
old ballad. Anxious, however, to have a set of verses adapted to his
favourite melody, and well aware that few, if any, were better
qualified than Miss Rutherford, for such a task, he took the liberty
of begging this favour at her hand. She obligingly consented, and, in
a few days thereafter, he had the pleasure of receiving the stanzas
from the fair author.”
In her youth
Miss Rutherford must have been very beautiful, for in a work by a Mr.
Fairbairn, styled “Professor of the French,” published at Edinburgh in
1727, entitled ‘L’Eloge d’Ecosse, et des Dames Ecossoises,’ in which
all the rank and beauty of the time are described in the most glowing
terms, we find her mentioned as among the most charming ladies of that
day, with Mademoiselles Peggie Campbell, Murray, Pringle, Drummond,
and nineteen others, her name, Alice Rutherford, as perhaps the
youngest, being the last in the list. She married, in 1731, Patrick
Cockburn, advocate, youngest son of Adam Cockburn, of Ormiston, lord
justice clerk of Scotland, and brother of the subject of the preceding
notice. Her husband “acted as commissioner,” says Sir Walter Scott,
“for the duke of Hamilton of that day; and being, as might be expected
from his family, a sincere friend to the Revolution and protestant
succession, he used his interest with his principal to prevent him
from joining in the intrigues which preceded the insurrection of 1745,
to which his grace [who was then only in his twenty-second year, is
supposed to have had a strong inclination.” Mr. Cockburn died at
Musselburgh, “after a tedious illness,” 29th April, 1753.
His widow survived him for more than forth years. She was distantly
related to the mother of Sir Walter Scott, who was the eldest daughter
of Dr. John Rutherford, professor of medicine in the university of
Edinburgh, a relation of Mr. Rutherford of Fairnalee, and through life
she continued in habits of great intimacy with Mrs. Scott.
Sir Walter’s
own personal recollections of this highly gifted and accomplished
woman are very interesting. “A turret in the old house of Fairnalee,”
says he, “is still shown as the place where the poem (‘I have seen the
smiling,’ &c.) Was written. The occasion was a calamitous period in
Selkirkshire, or Ettrick Forest, when no fewer than seven lairds or
proprietors, men of ancient family and inheritance, having been
engaged in some imprudent speculations, became insolvent in one year.”
At the time of the rebellion of 1745 he describes Mrs. Cockburn as a
keep whig, or adherent of the government. She was the authoress of
several parodies and little poetical pieces, and Sir Walter mentions
particularly a set of toasts descriptive of some of her friends, and
sent to a company where most of them were assembled, which were so
accurately drawn that the originals were at once recognised on their
being read aloud. One upon Sir Walter Scott’s father, then a young and
remarkably handsome man, is given as a specimen:
To a thing that’s uncommon –
A youth of discretion,
Who, though vastly handsome,
Despises flirtation:
To the friend in affliction,
The heart of affection,
Who may hear the last trump
Without dread of detection.
“My mother
and Mrs. Cockburn were related, says Sir Walter, “in what degree I
know not, but sufficiently near to induce Mrs. Cockburn to distinguish
her in her will. Mrs. Cockburn had the misfortune to lose an only son,
Patrick Cockburn, who had the rank of captain in the dragoons, several
years before her own death. She was one of those persons whose talents
for conversation made a stronger impression on her contemporaries,
than her writings can be expected to produce. In person and features
she somewhat resembled Queen Elizabeth; but the nose was rather more
aquiline. She was proud of her auburn hair, which remained unbleached
by time, even when she was upwards of eighty years old. She maintained
the rank in the society of Edinburgh, which Frenchwomen of talents
usually do in that of Paris; and in her little parlour used to
assemble a very distinguished and accomplished circle, among whom
David Hume, John Home, Lord Monboddo, and many other men of name were
frequently to be found. Her evening parties were very frequent, and
included society distinguished both for condition and talents. The
petit souper, which always concluded the evening, was like that of
Stella, which she used to quote on the occasion: –
A supper like her mighty self,
Four nothings on four plates of delf
But they passed
off more gaily than many costlier entertainments. She spoke both
wittily and well, and maintained an extensive correspondence, which,
if it continues to exist, must contain many things highly curious and
interesting. My recollection is, that her conversation brought her
much nearer to a Frenchwoman than to a native of England; and, as I
have the same impression with respect to ladies of the same period and
the same rank in society, I am apt to think that the vieille cour
of Edinburgh rather resembled that of Paris than that of St
James’s; and particularly, that the Scotch imitated the Parisians in
laying aside much of the expense and form of these little parties, in
which wit and good humour were allowed to supersede all occasion of
display. The lodging where Mrs. Cockburn received the best society of
her time, would not now afford accommodation to a very inferior
person.”
In the notes
to the first volume of Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum, Stenhouse’s
edition, two songs by Mrs. Cockburn are inserted, which were
communicated by Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe, who has added marginal notes
explanatory of the allusions to the persons described in them. The one
id entitled ‘A \Copy of Verses wrote by Mrs. Cockburn on the back of a
picture of Sir Hew Dalrymple,’ to the tune of ‘All you ladies now at
Land;’ the other is a lively drinking piece beginning ‘All health be
round Balcarras’ board,’ to the same tune, which seems to have been a
favourite with her. Sir Walter Scott mistook her first name, and
called her Catherine instead of Alice. In the entry of her marriage in
the parish registers of Ormiston, under date 12th March
1731, she is styled Alison Rutherford. She died at Edinburgh on the
22d of November 1794, when she was above eighty. “Even at an age,”
says Sir Walter Scott, (in his ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,’
vol. iii. page 338, edition 1833,) “advanced beyond the usual bounds
of humanity, she retained a play of imagination, and an activity of
intellect, which must have been attractive and delightful in youth,
but were almost preternatural at her period of life. Her active
benevolence, keeping pace with her genius, rendered her equally an
object of love and admiration. The editor, who knew her well, takes
this opportunity of doing justice to his own feelings; and they are in
unison with those of all who knew his regretted friend.” The following
extract of a letter from a lady to Charles K. Sharpe, Esq., in
reference to Mrs. Cockburn, is inserted among Mr. David Laing’s
illustrative notes to Stenhouse’s edition of Johnson’s Musical Museum:
– “She had a pleasing countenance and piqued herself upon always
dressing according to her own taste, and not according to the dictates
of fashion. Her brown hair never grew grey; and she wore it combed up
upon a toupee – no cap – a lace hood tied under her chin, and her
sleeves puffed out in the fashion of Queen Elizabeth, which is not
uncommon now, but at that time was quite peculiar to herself.” she
left property to the amount of £3,800, the bulk of which went to two
nieces, Anne Pringle and Mrs. Simpson. Her last will and testament, in
which Mark Pringle, Esq. of Clifton, and Alexander Keith, W.S., are
named executors, was confirmed 23d January 1795. The bequest to Sir
Walter Scott’s mother is thus mentioned: “I promised Mrs. Walker (a
mistake for Walter) Scott my emerald ring; with it she has my prayers
for her and hers. Much attention she and her worthy husband paid me in
my hours of deepest distress, when my son was dying.” She mentions
some of her poorer relations in affectionate terms, and leaves them
small annuities; and frequently alludes to her son, who died in 1780.
A lock of her hair was enclosed for two hair-rings for her ‘earliest
and most constant and affectionate friends, Mrs. Keith of Ravelstone,
and her brother, William Swinton,” Also a ring with Sir Hugh
Dalrymple’s hair, intended tor Mrs. Dalrymple, “ is now to be given to
her son Sir Hugh D., for whom Mrs. C. has great affection.” She
desires that her sister Fairnillie, if she outlives her, “may have
twenty pounds for mourning, besides the ring already mentioned; and
also, I leave her the charge of my favourite cat.” She gives some
directions about her funeral, and seems to have written an epitaph for
herself, as she adds, “Shorten or correct the epitaph to your taste.”
COCKBURN, PATRICK,
a learned professor of the oriental languages, was a son of Cockburn
of Langton in the Merse, and educated at the university of St.
Andrews. After taking holy orders, he went to the university of Paris,
where he taught the oriental languages for several years. In 1551 and
1662 he published at Paris two religious works which brought him under
the suspicion of heresy, and compelled him to quit Paris. On his
return to Scotland he embraced the doctrines of the Reformation. He
taught the languages for some years at St. Andrews; and in 1555
published there some pious meditations on the lord’s Prayer. He was
afterwards chosen minister of Haddington, being the first protestant
preacher in that place. He died far advanced in years, in 1559. He
left several manuscripts on subjects of divinity, and some letters and
orations, of which a treatise on the ‘Apostles’ Creed’ was published
at London, 1561, 4to. His published works are:
Oratio de
Utilitate et Excellentia Verbi Dei. Par. 1551, 8vo.
De Vulgari
Sacrae Scripturi Phrasi. Par. 1552, 8vo.
In Orationem
Dominicam, pia Meditatio. St. Andrews, 1555, 12mo.
In Symbolum
Apostolicum, Cmment. Lond. 1561, 4to.
