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THE Northern Meeting in the
first years of the nineteenth century was the culminatory point of the
Highland season. And so it is to-day. "The famous Lady Jane, Duchess of
Gordon," says Mr. James Barron, "was a prominent patron of this assembly,
supported by her son, the Marquis of Huntly, and by one or other of those
daughters who had made such brilliant marriages. Her Grace delighted to
spend the autumn at Kinrara, enjoying the simple Arcadian life after the
toils of London Society. Miss Elizabeth Grant of Rothiemurchus, afterwards
Mrs. Smith of Baltiboys, describes the unpretending accommodation and the
frank enjoyment of hostess and visitors. "Half the London world of
fashion, all the clever people that could be hunted out from all parts,
all the north country, all the neighbourhood from far and near, without
regard to wealth and station, and all the kith and kin of both Gordons and
Maxwells, flocked to this encampment in the wilderness during the fine
autumns, to enjoy the free life, the pure air, and the wit and fun the
Duchess brought with her to the mountains." She also says Lord Huntly was
the life of social gatherings. "He was gay, young, handsome, fond of his
mother, and often with her; and so general a favourite that all the people
seemed to wake up when he came amongst them." The Duchess died in London
in April, 1812, and her remains were brought north by her son, and
interred in a sequestered spot chosen by herself, not far from Kinrara
House. The Marquis was the last of his line. He married in 1813 Elizabeth
Brodie, daughter of Brodie of Arnhall, but had no issue. In 1827, on the
death of his father, he succeeded to the Dukedom, and to an encumbered
property. Before his death in 1836, he had to part with Lochaber and a
portion of his Badenoch estates. The late Dr. Carruthers, in his Highland
Notebook, gives the following interesting reminiscences of the closing
days of the "gay and gallant Marquis," after he had become Duke of
Gordon:-
"There certainly never was a better chairman of a festive party. He could
not make a set speech ; and on one occasion, when Lord Liverpool asked him
to move or second an address at the opening of a session of Parliament, he
gaily replied that he would undertake to please all their lordships if
they adjourned to the City of London Tavern, but he could not undertake to
do the same in the House of Lords. He excelled in short, unpremeditated
addresses, which were always lively and to the point. We heard him once on
an occasion which would have been a melancholy one in any other hands. He
had been compelled to sell the greater part of his property in the
district of Badenoch, lessen the pressure of his difficulties, and
emancipate himself in some measure from legal trustees. The gentlemen of
the district, before parting with their noble landlord, resolved to invite
him to a public dinner in Kingussie. A piece of plate, or some other mark
of regard, would have been more apropos and less painful in its
associations ; but the dinner was given and received. Champagne flowed
like water ; the Highlanders were in the full costume of the mountains,
and great excitement prevailed. When the Duke stood up, his tall, graceful
form slightly stooping with age, and his grey hairs shading his smooth,
bald forehead, with a general's broad riband across his breast, the
thunders of applause were like a warring cataract or mountain torrent in
flood. Tears sparkled in his eyes, and he broke with a hearty
acknowledgment of the honours paid to him; he alluded to the time when he
roamed their hills in youth, gathering recruits among their mountains for
the service of his country-to the strong attachment which his departed
mother entertained for every cottage and family among them-and to his own
affection for the Highlands, which he said was as firm and lasting as the
rock of Cairngorm which he was still proud to possess. The latter was a
statement of fact; in the sale of the property the Duke had stipulated for
retaining that wild mountain range called the Cairngorm Rocks. The effect
of this short and feeling speech-so powerful is the language of nature and
genuine emotion-was as strong as the most finished oration could produce."
On the death of the nobleman who figures in this pathetic scene, the
entailed estates-still a splendid patrimony-went to the Duke of Richmond,
grandson of Duchess Jane, by her eldest daughter. The ancient title was
revived in 1876, and the present venerable peer holds the honours of the
Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
This is really not an
account of the Highlands as a whole, but only of those associated with the
games at Inverness, which began in 1840, and therefore we only continue
these personal details as being of those connected with them. To quote
again from Mr. James Barron, there were three other great local
proprietors who occupied prominent places, also experiencing their share
of human troubles. The last Earl of Seaforth was of marked ability,
triumphing from mental endowments over deafness and imperfect speech.
Living in a lavish period, he was, at least for a time, a member of the
extravagant circle round the Prince Regent. He was also involved in West
Indian Plantations, which proved unprofitable, causing the sale of part of
his property. After the death of his four sons, he died himself in 1815, a
widowed daughter succeeding a brokenhearted father.
The Hon. Archibald Fraser
of Lovat, last surviving son of Lord Simon, careful to business, was
successful in his affairs. Proud of his Highland descent, he helped the
Duke of Montrose to abolish the law forbidding the wear of Highland dress.
Here again, his five sons predeceased him, and the succession proved to
the Strichen branch of the family. Archibald died in 1815, eleven months
after Lord Seaforth.
Then comes Macdonell of
Glengarry, succeeding to and squandering a fine inheritance. His ambition
was to be a Highland chief of the olden time, so far as possible. He moved
about with a body of retainers, constituting his "tail." Always eager for
the limelight, he possessed talent and many kindly qualities, but he could
keep neither his temper under control, nor his expenditure under his
income. He died in 1828, his estates passing from his family for financial
reasons.
"The world is too much with
us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.
Little we see in Nature that is ours."
-Wordsworth. |
