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ERSKINE, DAVID STEWART, earl
of Buchan, lord Cardross, was born on the 1st of June, 1742, O.S.,
and was the eldest surviving son of Henry David, the tenth earl, and Agnes,
daughter of Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees, his majesty’s
solicitor-general for Scotland. He was educated "in all manner of
useful learning, and in the habits of rigid honour and virtue," under
the care of James Buchanan, a relation of the poet and historian, and
learned the elements of the mathematics, history, and politics from his
father, who had been a scholar of the celebrated Colin Maclaurin. At the
university of Glasgow he engaged ardently in "every ingenious and
liberal study;" but what will be better remembered, was his connexion
with the unfortunate academy of Foulis the printer, which he attended, and
of his labours at which he has left us a specimen, in an etching of the
abbey of Icolmkill, inserted in the first volume of the Transactions of the
Scottish Antiquaries.
On the completion of his
education, lord Cardross entered the army, but never rose higher than the
rank of lieutenant. Forsaking the military life, he went to London, to
pursue the study of diplomacy under lord Chatham; and, while there,
was elected a fellow of the royal and antiquarian societies. In the
following year, 1766, his lordship was appointed secretary to the British
embassy in Spain; but his father having died thirteen months afterwards, he
returned to his native country, determined to devote the remainder of his
life to the cultivation of literature and the encouragement of literary men.
The education of his younger
brothers, Thomas, afterwards the illustrious lord-chancellor, and Henry, no
less celebrated for his wit, seems to have occupied a large portion of lord
Buchan’s thoughts. To accomplish these objects, he for years submitted to
considerable privations. The family-estate had been squandered by former
lords, and it is no small credit to the earl that he paid off debts for
which he was not legally responsible; a course of conduct which should lead
us to overlook parsimonious habits acquired under very disadvantagcous
circumstances.
Lord Buchan’s favourite
study was the history, literature, and antiquities of his native country. It
had long been regretted that no society had been formed in Scotland for the
promotion of these pursuits; and with a view to supplying this desideratum,
he called a meeting of the most eminent persons resident in Edinburgh, on
the 14th of November, 1780. Fourteen assembled at his house in St Andrew
square, and an essay, which will be found in Smellie’s Account of the
Society of Scottish Antiquaries, p. 4—18, was read by his lordship. At a
meeting, held at the same place, on the 28th, it was determined, that upon
the 18th of December a society should be formed upon the proposed model;
and, accordingly, on the day fixed, the earl of Bute was elected president,
and the earl of Buchan first of five vice-presidents. 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 Stewart
Denham;" "Account of the Parish of Uphall;" "Account
of the Island of Icolmkill;" and a "Life of Mr James Short,
optician." Besides these, he had printed, in conjunction with Dr Walter
Minto, 1787, "An Account of the Life, Writings, and Inventions of
Napier of Mercheston."
In the same year his lordship
retired from Edinburgh to reside at Dryburgh abbey on account of his health.
Here he pursued his favourite studies. He instituted an annual festive
commemoration of Thomson, at that poet’s native place; and this occasion
produced from the pen of Burns the beautiful Address to the shade of the
bard of Ednam. The eulogy pronounced by the illustrious earl on the first of
these meetings, in 1791, is remarkable. "I think myself happy to have
this day the honour of endeavouring to do honour to the memory of Thomson,
which has been profanely touched by the rude hand of Samuel Johnson, whose
fame and reputation indicate the decline of taste in a country that, after
having produced an Alfred, a Wallace, a Bacon, a Napier, a Newton, a
Buchanan, a Milton, a Hampden, a Fletcher, and a Thomson, can submit to be
bullied by an overbearing pedant!" In the following year his lordship
published an "Essay on the Lives and Writings of Fletcher of Saltoun
and the poet Thomson, Biographical, Critical, and Political; with some
pieces of Thomson’s never before published," 8vo. [Biographical
Notice of the Earl of Buchan in the New Scots Magazine, vol. ii. p. 49. From
this article most of the facts here mentioned are extracted.]
Lord Buchan had contributed
to several periodical publications. In 1784 he communicated to the Gentleman’s
Magazine "Remarks on the Progress of the Roman Arms in Scotland during
the sixth campaign of Agricola," afterwards printed, with plates and
additions, by Dr Jamieson, in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica. To
Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland he gave a description of Dryburgb, with
views, taken in 1787 and 1789. But his most frequent assistance was given to
"The Bee," generally under fictitious signatures. The last work
which he meditated was the collection of these anonymous communications.
Accordingly, in 1812, "the Anonymous and Fugitive Essays of the earl of
Buchan, collected from various periodical works," appeared at Edinburgh
in 12mo. It contains the following short preface: "The earl of Buchan,
considering his advanced age, has thought proper to publish this volume, and
meditate the publication of others, containing his anonymous writings, that
no person may hereafter ascribe to him any others than are by him, in this
manner, avowed, described, or enumerated." The volume is wholly filled
with his contributions to "The Bee;" among which, in the
department of Scottish history, are "Sketches of the Lives of Sir J.
Stewart Denham, George Heriot, John earl of Marr (his ancestor), and Remarks
on the Character and Writings of William Drummond of Hawthornden." The
second volume did not appear.
His death did not, however,
take place till seventeen years after this period; but he was for several
years before it in a state of dotage. Few men have devoted themselves so
long and so exclusively to literature; his correspondence, both with
foreigners and his own countrymen, was very extensive, and comprehended a
period of almost three generations. But his services were principally
valuable, not as an author, but as a patron: his fortune did not warrant a
very expensive exhibition of good offices; but in all cases where his own
knowledge, which was by no means limited, or letters of recommendation,
could avail, they were frankly and generously offered. One of the works
proposed by him was, "a Commercium Epistolarum and Literary History of
Scotland, during the period of last century," including the
correspondence of "antiquaries, typographers, and bibliographists,"
in which he had the assistance of the late Dr Robert Anderson. It is
exceedingly to be regretted that such a work, and referring to so remarkable
a period, should not have been presented to the public. It might probably
have had a considerable portion of the garrulity of age; but, from his
lordship’s very extensive acquaintance with the period, it cannot be
doubted that it would have contained many facts, which are now irretrievably
lost. |
