DOUGLAS, the name of an ancient and once very powerful family in Scotland, long the rival of Royalty. Its origin is entirely unknown. Hume of Godscroft, in his ‘History of the Douglases,’ says, “We do not know them in the fountain, but in the stream; not in the root, but in the stem, for we know not who was the first mean man that did raise himself above the vulgar.” The traditionary account, a mere family fable, which he gives of their origin, is, that in the 8^th century, during the reign of Solvathius, king of Scots, one Donald Bane, of the Western Isles, made an irruption into the Scottish territory, and put to the rout the forces collected to repel his invasion. An unknown warrior, with his friends and followers, came seasonably to their aid, and in the conflict which ensued Donald was defeated and slain. When the king inquired at his attendants to whom he owed his deliverance, the stranger was pointed out to him by one of them, with the Gaelic words, “Sholto Dhu-glas,” – “Behold the dark man.” The king is said to have rewarded him with a large tract of land in Lanarkshire, which with the river by which it is traversed, was called Douglas after him.

      George Chalmers, (Caledonia, vol. i. p. 579) derives the origin of the name from Douglas water, tracing it to the Celtic words ‘Dhu-glas,” the darm stream. He states, but without any warrant, that the founder of the family was a Fleming named Theobald, who came to Scotland about 1150, and as a vassal of Arnald, abbot of Kelso, received from him a grant of some lands on Douglas water. Wyntoun (Chron. b. viii. c. 7.) Says that of the beginning of the Murray and the Douglas, he can affirm nothing for certain; nevertheless as both bear in their arms the same stars set in the same manner, it seems likely that they have come of the same kin, either by lineal descent or by collateral branch.

      The first of the name on record is William of Dufglas, who, between 1175 and 1199, witnessed a charter by Joceline, bishop of Glasgow, to the monks of Kelso, (see Origines Parochiales Scotiae, under parish of Douglas, vol. i. p. 155). He was either the brother or brother-in-law of Sir Freskin de Kerdale in Moray, and had six sons. 1. Sir Erkenbald, or Archibald, who succeeded him. 2. Brice, prior of Lesmahago, and in 1203 bishop of Moray. 3. Fretheskin, parson of Douglas, afterwards apparently dean of Moray. 4. Hugh, canon and probably archdeacon of Moray. 5. Alexander, sheriff of Elgin. 6. Henry, canon of Moray.

      Sir William of Dufglas, the third of the famiy and apparrently the son of Sir Archibald, was a witness to charters in 1240, and with Sir Andrew of Dufglas, probably his brother (progenitor of the Douglases of Dalkeith, earls of Morton) in 1248. He died in 1276. He had two sons, Hugh, who contributed to the defeat of the Danes at Largs in 1263, and succeeded his father in 1276, but dying without issue before 1288, he was succeecded by his brother William, surnamed the Hardy, from his valour and his deeds. In July 1291 he swore fealty to Edward the First in the chapel of Thurston. He afterwards attacked the English, and in 1296 was govenor of the castle of Berwick, when the town was besieged by Edward and taken. After the garrison had capitulated and been allowed to march out with military honours, Douglas was detained a prisoner in one of the towers of the castle called Hog’s Tower, and the same year he renewed his oath of fidelity to Edward, at Edinburgh. In May 1297, however, he joined Sir William Wallace, for which his estate was invaded with fire and sword by Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, and his wife and children carried off. In the subsequent July he again made sumission to Edward, when he was sent to England, and died in the castle of York in 1302.

      His eldest son was the celebrated Sir James Douglas, styled “the Good Sir James,” the first really great man of the family, of whom a memoir follows. He left two natural sons, Sir William Douglas, styled the Knight of Liddesdale, and Archibald Douglas, lord of Galloway, called “the Grim,” of whom afterwards.

      The knight of Liddesdale, the elder of the two, from his bravery was called the Knight of Chivalry. After the death of Robert Bruce, he supported the cause of his son, King David the Second, and was present at the attack on Annan in December 1332, when Edward Baliol was put to flight. Being appointed warden of the west marches he was overpowered and taken prisoner by Sir Anthony de Lucy in the following March, near Lochmaben, and did not reco er his liberty till April 1335. On his return home he

performed the most gallant feats, expelling the English from the whole of Teviotdale excepting the castle of Roxburgh. His afterwards defeated, at Kilblane, the titular earl of Athol. (See ATHOL.) Not long after this, he was sent ambassador to france to inform

David the Second, then residing at the French court, of the state of the realm. He afterwards sull.ied his fame by the cruel murder of Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie in 1342, who had in a gallant manner taken the castle of Roxburgh from the English, Douglas himself having failed to do so. [See RAMSAY of Dalhousie.] At the intercession of Robert Stewart, Douglas was pardoned by the king, and he was invested with the important charge of sheriff of Teviotdale and keeper of Roxburgh castle. He accompanied King David to the battle of Durham, 20^th October 1346, and was taken prisoner along with him. After an imprisonment of six years, he obtained his liberty upon dishonourable terms, as by an indenture which he entered into with Edward the third, 17^th July 1352, he engaged to serve that monarch against all parties whatsoever, and allow free passage to the English through his lands into Sxcotland; buyt was killed, in August 1353, as he was hunting in Ettrick forest, by his father’s nephew, and his own godson, Sir William Douglas, the first earl of Douglas, in revenge for the death of Ramsay. He left no issue.

      The good Sir James was succeeded by his next brother, Hugh, who seems to have laboured under some corporeal or mental defect, as his name never appears in history.

      Archibald Douglas, youngest brother of Sir James, succeeded to the regency of Scotland in the infancy of David II., on the regent Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell being led into captivity. He was killed at Halidon Hill, July 22, 1333.

      His son, Silliam de Douglas, was created earl of Douglas by David II. in 1357. Before this period the chiefs of the family were styled lords of Douglas. The first earl was taken prisoner with David II. at the battle of Durham, but soon rensomed. He recovered Douglasdale from the English; and also expelled them from Ettrick forest and Tweeddale, and part of Teviotdale. On the accession of Robert II. he was a calimant for the crown. He afterwards went to France, and was wounded at the battle of Poictiers, September 19, 1356. He commanded the Scots troops that defeated Musgrave, the governor of Berwick, near Melrose, in 1367. Two years afterwards he entered England with an army, and after burning Penrith, returned home laden with spoil. He died in 1384. He was thrice arried. By his first wife, Lady Margaret Mar, sister and heiress of Thomas, 13^th earl of Mar, he had a son, James, 2d earl of Douglas and Mar, and a daughter, Isabel, who inherited the earldom of Mar, on the death of her brother. By his second wife he had no issue. By his third wife, Lady Margaret Stewart, Countess of Angus, relict of 13^th earl of Mar, he had a son, George, earl of Angus.

      James Douglas, second earl of that distinguished name, succeeded to the title in 1384, and, after many valorous exploits, was killed at the battle of Otterburn, July 31, 1388. His last words were, “I die, like my forefathers, in a field of battle, and not on a bed of sickness. Conceal my death, defend my standard, and avenge my fall. It is an old prophecy, that a deal Douglas shall gain a field, and I hope it will be accomplished this night.” In Pinkerton’s History of Scotland will be found an interesting account of this battle, the subject of various poems and songs. He had two natural sons. The eldest, William de Douglas, was the ancestor of the ducal house of Queensberry, and from Archibald the second son, a valiant knight, the Douglases of Cavers are descended.

      Archibald Douglas, lord of Galloway, styled the Grim, third earl of Douglas, an illegitimate son of the good Sir James Douglas succeeded his cousin James, slain at Otterburn in 1388. He is said to have surpassed all the Scotsmen of his age in wisdom, prowess and hardy enterprise, in the extent of his acquisitions, and in wealth. In 1356 he accompanied William earl of Douglas to France, and was made prisoner at the battle of Poictiers, September 19^th of that year, fighting on the side of the French against the English; but made his escape, by the presence of mind of Sir William Ramsay of Colluthie, who treated him as a lacquey having on the armour of his master slain in the battle, and offered a ramsom of forth shillings for the pretended serving man, which was accepted, and he was ordered off to the field to search for his master’s body. Previous to returning to Scotland he remained some time at Bordeaux, and was the progenitor of several families of the same name in France. He is prequently mentioned by Froissart and other historians of that period. He and his son-in-law, the duke of Rothesay, successfully defended the castle of Edinburgh against Henry the Fourth of England in August 1400. He died in 1401.

      Sir William Douglas, Lord of Nithsdale, usually called “The Black Douglas,” was the illegitimate son of th preceding. He was a renowned warrior, and married Egidia, daughter of Robert the Second. His name was a terror to the English, and after a life of bold and

successful warfare, in 1389, with a train of Scottish knights, he went to Germany, and under Waldenrodt, Grand-master of the Teutonic Order, defended Dantzic, or Danesvick, against the pagans of Prussia, who besieged it under Udislaus Ingello. Douglas and his knights made a furious sally, cut the besiegers to pieces, and cleared the district, for which he was created prince of Danesvick, duke of spruce, and admiral of the fleet. Thenceforth all Scotsmen were declared freemen of Dantzic, and in token thereof, the arms of the nation, with those of Douglas, were placed over the great gate, where they remained until it was rebuilt in 1711. A part of the suburbs is still named Little Scotland, and near it was the bridge where Douglas was basely murdered by the contrivance of the English Lord Clifford and a band of assassins in 1390.

      Archibald Douglsd, fourth earl of Douglas, eldest son of Archibald, third earl, married Margaret, daughter of Robert the Third. He was concerned with the duke of Albany in the imprisonment of his brother-in-law the duke of Rothesay, and a remission under the great seal was granted to them 20^th May 1402, on account of his death, which was stated to have happened through divine providence. (See ALBANY.) At the battle of Homildon, 14^th September 1402, Douglas, who commanded the Scots, lost an eye, and was taken prisoner by Percy, the famous Hotspur. He afterwards joined Percy and his father, the earl of Northumberland, in their rebellion against King Henry, and proceeded with Hotspur towards Wales to assist Owen Glendower. The king met the insurgents at Shrewsbury, and in the battle which ensued, July 21, 1403, Percy was killed, and his army totally defeated. Douglas, whose prowess called forth the praise of his opponents, was taken prisoner, and in 1407 on recovering his liberty he returned to Scotland. After a variety of exploits against the English, with a number of his followers, he went over to France in 1423, and being slain at the battle of Verneuil, in Normandy, in 1424, was buried in the church of Tours. He was created duke of Touraine by Charles the Seventh of France, and had the popular name of Tyne-man, on account of his losing most of the battles in which he engaged.

      Archibald Douglas, fifth earl of Douglas, and second duke of Touraine, only son of the preceding, accompanied the earl of Buchan into France in 1420, at which time he bore the title of the earl of Wigton. He distinguished himself at the battle of Beaugé in 1421, and had the county of Longueville conferred on him by Charles the Seventh. He was one of the ambassadors to England to adjust the ransom of James the First, and returned to Scotland with his sovereign. He was arrested with the duke of Albany in March 1425, but was soon liberated, and sat as one of the jury on the trial of the latter. In May 1431 he was again imprisoned; but, at the urgent request of the queen and the nobility, was released in the following September. In 1437, on the death of James the First, he was elected one of the council of regency, and, in 1438, held the office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, in which capacity he summoned a parliament. He died at Restalrig, June 26, 1439.

      William Douglas, sixth earl of Douglas, succeeded his father Archibald, the fifth earl in 1439, when he was little more than fourteen years of age. His immense estates in Scotland, and his foreign wealth and influence as duke of Touraine, rendered him by far the most mormidable baron in the kingdom, and as he acted more like an independent prince than a subject, the Chancellor Chrichton resolved to cut him off, with his brother. A parliament being assembled at Edinburgh, after the second reconciliation of Livingston and Crichton, the young earl was by specious pretexts induced to enter the capital, for the purpose of being present at it; and afterwards with his ony brother David, and Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld, his counsellor and friend, attended a magnificent feast given by the sovereign in the castle of Edinburgh. The entertainment was prolonged with unusual pomp, and every delicacy was spread upon the table, when suddenly a band of armed men, at a biven signal, rushed upon them from an inner room, bound their hands, and after a brief and hurried trial for treason, they were led forth to instant execution. Malcolm Fleming, their companion, shared the same fate. This happened Nov. 24, 1440.

      James, seventh earl, called James the Gross, a prudent and peaceable man, the second son of the third earl, succeeded his grand-nephew. He was warden of the marches, and sat as one of the jury on the trial of Murdoch duke of Albany in 1425. In 1437 he had been created earl of Avondale, and died 24^th March 1443. He is said to have been married to Lady Beatrix Stewart, fifth daughter of Robert duke of Albany, regent of Scotland, but by her had no issue. By his second wife, Lady Beatrix Sinclair, daughter of Henry earl of Orkney, he had, with other children, William eighth earl, and James, ninth

earl of Douglas; Archibald earl of Moray, Hugh earl of Ormond, (see these titles); and Sir John Douglas, lord of Balveny, forfeited in 1455.

      William, the eighth earl, succeeded his father, James the Gross, in 1443; and, in 1444, married his cousin, Lady Margaret Douglas, the Fair Maid of Galloway, whose vast possessions restored the house of Douglas to all its former power, wealth, and grandeur. By his respectful submission he gained the affections of the young king, James the Second, who was weary of the control of Crichton and Livingston; and at a parliament held at Stirling in 1445, the chancellor and his colleague were, by the earl’s artifices, formally declared rebels, and their estates forfeited. About 1446 Douglas was created lieutenant-genral of the kingdom, when he became all-powerful in Scotland. In 1448 he obtained a victory over the English at the battle of Sark, and ravaged their country as far as Newcastle. James soon began to discover that he had advanced the earl too high; and, after the marriage of the king in 1449, his influence gradually declined. Disgusted at the loss of his power, and wishing to display his pomp in foreign countries, the earl proceeded, in 1450, to the Jubilee of Rome, with a retinue of six knights, fourteen gentlemen and eighty attendants. In his absence his vassals behaved so turbulently that the castle of Douglas was demolished by the king’s orders. On his return to Scotland, he sent a submissive message to the king, and seemed at first to resume his former ascendancy over James’ mind. But the enmity between him and Crichton, who had been restored to his former post of chancellor, still existed. Douglas attempted to assassinate Crichton, and hanged John Herries in contempt of the king’s authority. Proceeding in his treasonable course, he entered into formidable league with the earls of Crawford and Ross, and other nobles, for mutual defence and protection, and beheaded M’Lellan of Bombie for refusing to join in the confederacy. Such acts as these roused the indignation of James, who at length resolved upon endeavouring to rid himself of a subject so powerful. Accordingly, on the 13^th February 1452, Douglas was prevailed upon to visit the court at the castle of Stirling, having obtained a safe conduct under the great seal. After supper, the king, taking him apart, informed him that he had heard of his league with Crawford and Ross, and desired him to dissolve such an illegal engagement. Douglas haughtily refused, when James, exclaiming with an oath, “If you will not break this league, I shall,” drew his dagger, and plunged it into the earl’s bosom. Sir Patrick Gray then struck the earl with a battle-axe, and others rushing in, Douglas fell by a multitude of daggers.

      James, the ninth and last earl of Douglas, succeeded his brother, and immediately took up arms with the allies of his house to avenge his death. In 1454, James levied an army, and, after having ravaged the lands of the rebel earl, laid siege to his castle of Abercorn; to relieve which Douglas collected a large force, most of them borderers, and encamped on the south side of the Carron, on his march to Abercorn. The army of Douglas was far superior to the king’s, both in number and in valour; and a single battle must, in all probability, have decided whether the houseof Stewart of that of Douglas was henceforth to possess the throne of Scotland; but while his troops impatiently expected the signal to engage, the earl ordered them to retire to their camp. James, Lord Hamilton of Cadzow, who was with Douglas, impatient at his not giving battle to the royal army, urged an immediate atta ck, when the earl haughtily replied, “If you are tired, you may depart when you please,” and Hamilton immediately went over with all his vassals to the king. The other chiefs followed his example, and next morning, the proud and potewnt Douglas trembled when, instead of forth thousand men that he had commanded the day before, he beheld only a silent a deserted camp! On this unexpected change he fled into Annandale, where he lurked till spring 1455. On the 1^st of May in that year, his three brothers, the earls of Moray and Ormond, and Lord Balveny, were defeated at Arkinholme, by a body of the king’s forces. Moray was slain, and Ormond being taken prisoner, was executed for treason, while Douglas himself was forfeited, and, with his brother Balveny, forced to take refuge in England. Assisted by Percy, earl of Northumberland, he soon after made an attempt on the east borders, but was defeatedc in the Merse by the earl of Angus. For nearly thirty years after this period, he remained an exile in England. In his old age he longed once more to see his native country, and vowed that upon St. Magdalene’s day 1484, he would deposit his offering upon the high altar at Lochmaben. With five hundred horse and some infantry, he and the banished duke of Albany entered Scotland, July 22, and advanced to Lochmaben. The neighbouring chieftains assembled with their followers to oppose his progress, and he was finally defeated at Barnswork in Dumfries-shire. The aged earl was taken prisoner by a son of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, one of his own vassals. A grant of lands had been offered for his person. “Carry me to the king,” said Douglas to his captor; “thou art well entitled to profit by my misfortune; for thou wast true to me whilst I was true to myself!” The young man wept, and offered to fly with the earl to England; but Douglas, weary of exile, refused his proffered liberty, and only requested that Kirkpatrick would not deliver him to the king till he had secured his own reward. When he was conveyed to the king, either from shame or scorn, he turned his back on the son of James the Second, the destroyer of his house. The king contented himself with confining him to monastic seclusion in the abbey of Lindores in Fife, while the earl muttered, “He who may no better be, must be a monk.” In this retreat, after four years of penitence and peace, he died April 15, 1488.

      The title of earl of Douglas, of this the first branch of the Douglas family, existed for ninety-eight years, giving an average of eleven years to each possessor. During this time the house of Douglas rose to a degree of power scarcely inferior to that of royalty itself, and as an old historian remarks, it became a saying that “nae man was safe in the country, unless he were either a Douglas or a Douglas man.” The earl, when he went from home, was accompanied with a train of two thousand men; he kept a sort of court, and even created knights. The greatness of the family, indeed, attained to such a pitch that it matched eleven times with the royal house of Scotland, and once, under the Angus branch, with that of England.

      After the forfeiture of the earls of Douglas in 1455, their estates reverted to the Crown, but were shortly afterwards bestowed on the 4^th earl of Angus, head of a junior branch of the old famiy, descended from George Douglas, the only son of William, the first earl of Douglas, by his third wife, Margaret, countess of Angus.

      The Angus branch assisted in the destruction of the parent house, and it became a saying, in allusion to the complixion of the two races, that “the red Douglas had put down the black” – the house of Liddesdale being characterised as the black Douglas and that of Angus as the red.

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      George Douglas, the first earl of Angus, obtained a grant of that earldom in 1389, on his mother’s resignation of it in parliament. He married in 1397 Mary Stewart, second daughter of King Robert the Third. Taken prisoner with his cousin the earl of Douglas, at the battle of Homildon in 1402, he died the same year in England of the plague.

      His eldest son, William, the second earl, was one of the negotiators for the release of King James the First in 1423, which was accomplished in the succeeding year. He was one of those arrested with Murdoch, duke of Albany, in March 1425, but soon obtained his release, and sat on the trial of that nobleman for treason, in the following May, when the latter was convicted and executed. In 1430 he was sent ambassador to England. In 1433 he was appointed warden of the middle marches. In September 1435 he defeated Sir Robert Ogle at Pi0perdean, and died in 1437.

      His only son, James, third earl, died without issue by his wife, Johanna Stewart, third daughter of King James the First, and was succeeded by his uncle, George, second son of the first earl.

      George, fourth earl, was, in 1449 appointed warden of the middle marches, and, in 1451, was sent as ambassador to England. He had the chief command of the king’s forces against his kinsman the earl of Douglas in 1454, and on the forfeiture of the latter he obtained a grant of the whole lands and lordship of Douglas. He was standing next to James the Second when he was killed at the siege of Roxburgh in August 1460; and was wounded by a splinter of the cannon. IN 1462 King Edward the fourth advanced with a numerous army against Alnwick, when the earl of Angus, and Breze, high-steward of Normandy, marched with a considerable force, and gallantly relieved a French garrison which was then in the town. He died on 14^th November of that year.

      His eldest son, Archibald, fifth earl, was born in 1453, and succeeded his father when he was only nine years of age. He was usually called the great earl, and Archibald Bell-the-Cat, from the following circumstance: – In July 1482, when James the Third was preparing to invade England with an army, a number of the Scots nobility met together in a secret council, in the church of Lauder, for the purpose of concerting measures for ridding the country of the favourites of the king. In the course of the conference, Lord Gray took occasion to introduce the apologue of the mice consulting upon the means of deliverance from their tyrannical enemy the cat, and agreeing that a bell should be suspended from her neck to notify her approach; but the question was, what mouse had courage sufficient to fasten the bell? Angus immediately exclaimed, “I shall bell the cat;” and accordingly Cochrane, the most obnoxious of the favourites, was seized by the earl on his entrance into the church, and he and the others were hanged over the bridge at Lauder. In 1488 Angus joined in the combination against King James the Third, which terminated in the murder of that monarch on his flight from the field of Sauchieburn. He was in high favour with James the Fourth, who continued him in the wardenship of the eastern marches. He was also sworn a privy councillor, and in 1493, appointed lord high chancellor of Scotland, which office he resigned in 1498. He accompanied the latter monarch to the fatal field of Flodden, and endeavoured to dissuade him from hazarding a battle. James answered – “Angus, if you are afraid, you may go home.” The earl, feeling the affront deeply, at once quitted the field, but enjoined his two eldest sons, George, Master of Angus, and Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, with all his followers, to abide the event; and these knights, with two hundred gentlemen of their name, were among the slain, September 9, 1513. The earl retired to the priory of Whithorn, in Galloway, where he died in 1514. By his first wife, Elizabeth, only daughter of Robert Lord Boyd, high chamberlain of Scotland, he had three sons and three daughters, and by his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir William Stirling of Keir, he had one daughter and one son. Gavin, the third son, was the celebrated bishop of Dunkeld and poet, of whom a memoir is subsequently given.

      Sir Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, the fourth and youngest son, was a great favourite of James the Fifth when a child, and was called by him his “Gray-steel.” He was appointed high treasurer of Scotland 29^th October 1526, when his nephew the earl of Angus had obtained the supreme power in the government; but was, with the rest of the Douglasses, attained and forfeited in parliament, 5^th September 1528, on which he retired to England. At length, weary of exile, he ventured back to Scotland, and cast himself in the king’s way, on his return from hunting in the park at Stirling. On seeing him at a distance, James said to one of his courtiers, “yonder is my Gray-steel, Archibald of Kilspindl\ie, if he be alive.” The courtier answered that it could not be he, as he durst not come into the king’s presence. On the king’s approach, he threw himself on his knees and implored forgiveness, promising from thenceforth to abstain from meddling in public affairs, and to lead a quiet and private life. The king passed on with out vouchsafing a reply, and rode briskly up the hill towards the castle. Kilspindie kept pace with his horse, in the vain endeavour to catch a glance from the implacable monarch. Exhausted with fatigue he sat down on a stone without the castle-gate, and asked for a drink of water, which from fear of the king’s displeasure, was refused by the royal attendants. On being informed of this, James reproved them very sharply for their discourtesy, and said that if he had not sworn an oath that no Douglas should ever again serve him, he would have received him into his favour. He then sent word to Kilspindie to go to Leith, and wait his farther pleasure; subsequently he commanded him to retire to France, where he died soon after. James’ conduct on this occasion was blamed even by his stern and unrelenting uncle, Henry the Eighth who, on being told of it, uttered the familiar saying that “a king’s face should give grace.” Kilspindie’s forfeiture was rescinded 15^th Marcy 1542-3, when his son and heir, Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, was restored to his estates, and was afterwards twice lord provost of Edinburgh.

      George, Master of Angus, who fell at Flodden, as above stated, by his wife, Elizabeth, second daughter of John first lord Drummond, had three sons and six daughters. His eldest son, Archibald, succeeded as sixth earl of Angus; of him and of Sir George, the second son, styled of Pittendreich, afterwards. William, the third son, was prior of Coldingham in 1519, abbot of Holyroodhouse in 1522, and died in 1528. Jean or Janet, the second daughter, was the unfortunate Lady Glammis, who was burnt at the stake on the Castlehill of Edinburgh, 17^th July 1537, on the charge of conspiring the death of the king by poison, and also for having treasonably assisted her brothers, Archibald earl of Angus and Sir George Douglas of Pittendreich, after they had been declared traitors and rebels. A previous indictment against her, for poisoning her husband John, sixth Lord Glammis, and for which she was summoned to stand her trial at the justice-ayre of Forfar, 31^st January 1532, appears, from want of evidence, to have fallen to the ground. Mr. Pitcairn has entered fully into the charges against this ill-fated lady, and endeavours to show that she fell a victim to the implacable hatred of James the Fifth against the whole race of the Douglases. (See Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, vol. i. part i.) Mr. Tytler, on the contrary, thinks that there can be no doubt of her guilt. (Hist. of Scotland, vol. v. p. 265, and Note ii. in Appendix to that volume.) She was long popularly believed to have been burnt for witchcraft.

      Archibald, the sixth earl, succeeded his grandfather in 1514, and August 6^th the same year, married Margaret of England, queen dowager of James the Fourth, within eleven months after the fatal field of Flodden. At this period he was described by Dacre, the English ambassador in Scotland, as “childish, young, and attended by no wise councillors,” but Mr. Tytler adds, his person and countenance were beautiful, his accomplishments showy and attractive, whilst his power, as the head of the house of Douglas, was equal, if not superior, to that of any baron in the kingdom. In 1515, in consequence of the firm and decided measures adopted by the regent duke of Albany to obtain possession of the royal children, and to suppress an internal rebellion threatened by the English faction, at the head of which were Angus, the queen-mother and Lord Home, he retired with the queen to England, where she bore a daughter, the Lady Margaret Douglas, the future mother of the unfortunate Lord Darnley, While in England, Angus, Home, and Arran, entered into a private bond by which they engaged for themselves, their vassals and supporters, to resist the regent and endeavour to obtain possession of their infant sovereign. From this league, however, Arran was the first to withdraw Finding himself neglected by his brother-in-law, Henry the Eighth, Angus became reconciled to the regent, and leaving the queen dangerously ill at Morpeth, returned to Scotland in 1516. In the following June, on the departure of Albany for France, Angus was nominated one of the council of regency, and soon gained a powerful ascendency in the kingdom. On the queen’s return to Scotland, she proposed, in the absence of the duke of Albany, that her husband, Angus, should be appointed regent, but without success. Enraged at the disappointment, the earl’s violence and turbulence knew no bounds, and his inconstancy to the queen soon led that princess to express her determination to sue for a divorce. In 1520, the earl of Arran with many of the western nobility assembled at Edinburgh, resolved to apprehend Angus, and on the 29^th April a bloody conflict, known in local annals by the name of “Cleanse the Causeway,” took place on the High Street of that city between the rival factions, in which Angus slew Sir Patrick Hamilton, Arran’s brother, with his own hand, and the party of Arran, after a fierce resistance, were entirely routed. In 1521, on the return of Albany, Angus fled to England, and was subsequently exiled to France. In 1524 he secretly removed to the English court, and soon after returned to Scotland, greatly improved in experience, talent, and political skill. He had entered into a secret treaty with Henry the Eighth to support the English interests, but failed to effect a reconciliation with his wife. Early in the morning of the 24^th November of the same year, at the head of an armed force, he took possession of the capital, and being joined by the Chancellor Bethune, speedily acquired the chief direction of the government, with possession of the person of the young king, then in his fourteenth year. In March 1525 he was divorced frm Queen Margaret. In 1526 he obtained a remission for himself and his friends for all crimes and treasons committed by them for the previous nineteen years. Having prevailed upon Bethune to resign the great seal, he was himself appointed lord chancellor. At this time all the offices of state were filled either by a Douglas or by a creature of that house, and Angus defeated two attempts which were made to rescue the king from the durance in which he was held by him, the one by Scott of Buccleuch near Melrose, and the other by the earl of Lennox at Linlithgow, in which the latter nobleman was killed. At length, in July 1528, King James escaped out of his hands, and in the disguise of a yeoman of the guard, rode during night from Falkland palace to Stirling. Angus and his brother and uncle were immediately declared rebels and traitors, and after being deprived of their offices, sentence of forfeiture was passed against them. Angus retired to the borders, and the king unsuccessfully attempted to reduce the earl’s castle of Douglas. The royal forces were subsequently totally dispersed at Coldingham. James was also obliged to raise the siege of Tantallon, and on his retreat his train of artillery was attacked and captured, after an obstinate action, by Angus im person. It was on this occasion that the king declared with an oath, that while he lived, no Douglas should find a resting place in Scotland. Angus subsequently took refuge in England, was admitted into the privy council of Henry the Eighth, and in 1532, received from that monarch a pension of one thousand merks. At this time he disgraced his name by making several hostile incursions across the Borders against his own countrymen. On the death of James, he returned to Scotland, and in 1543 his attainder was repealed. In June 1544 when a number of the nobility signed an agreement to support the queen mother as regent, he was appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom. He behaved with great courage against the English at the battle of Ancrum Moor, in 1545; in which Sir Ralph Evers and Sir Bryan Laton, and several gentlemen of distinction, were slain on the English side. The earl had been greatly exasperated against the English, both on account of his lands having been ravaged by them, and also because they had defaced the tombs of his ancestors in Melrose abbey. Just as the battle was about to begin, a heron, disturbed by the troops, sprung from an adjacent marsh, and soared away over the heads of the combatants. “Oh,” said Angus, “that I had here my white goss-hawk; we should then all yoke at once.” The regent Arran complimented the earl for his distinguished conduct in this battle, and also his brother, Sir George Douglas, declaring in presence of the army that their actions had entirely removed all suspicions of their favouring the English interest. Henry the Eighth, enraged at this defeat, bitterly inveighed against Angus, accusing him of ingratitude, and vowed to be revenged. When this was told to the earl, “What,” said he, “is our brother-in-law offended because, like a good Scotsman, I have avenged upon Ralph Evers the defaced tombs of my ancestors? they were better men than he, and I ought to have done no less; and will he take my life for that? Little knows King Henry the skirts of Kernetable; I can keep myself there against all his English host.” At the battle of Pinkie, so disastrous to his countrymen, September 10, 1547, he commanded the van of the Scottish army. He died at the castle of Tantallon in 1556. Previous to his marriage with the queen dowager, he had been married to Lady Margaret Hepburn, second daughter of the first earl of Bothwell, who died in childbed in 1513. He subsequently married in 1543, Margaret, daughter of the fifth Lord Maxwell, by whom he had a son, James, who predeceased him.

      Sir George Douglas of Pittendreich, younger brother of the preceding, was master of the royal household, and in September 1526, had the charge of the young king, when his brother hastened forward from Edinburgh, to encounter the force under the earl of Lennox at Linlithgow bridge, on that nobleman’s unsuccessful attempt to rescue the monarch from the Douglases. James, who secretly favoured Lennox’s enterprize, advanced slowly and unwillingly, when Douglas, incensed at the delay, seizing his horse’s bridle, passionately exclaimed, “Think not that in any event you shall escape us; for even were our enemies to gain the day, rather than surrender your person, we should tear you in pieces,” – a threat which was never forgiven by the king. He was forfeited, along with his brother and uncle, 5^th September 1528, when he took refuge in England. In 1542, he and the earl his brother, at the head of a large body of their retainers, joined an English force which made a hostile incursion across the borders into Scotland, but was defeated at Hadden-rig by the earl of Huntley and Lord Home. After the death of James the fifth, the forfeiture of the Douglases was rescinded by parliament, 15^th March 1542-3, and Sir George, on his return to Scotland, was appointed a member of the privy council of the regent Arran. He had been intrusted by Henry the Eighth with the principal share in negotiating the proposed marriage of the young queen Mary with Henry’s son, Prince Edward, and made several journeys into England on that account in 1543. His talents, says Tytler, for the management of political affairs were superior to those of his brother, the earl, over whose mind he possessed great influence, and in his correspondence with Henry he expresses himself with great warmth of devotion to the English monarch, who, in his designs upon Scotland was very much guided by the information transmitted to him and his ministers by Sir George. The treaties of peace and marriage were finally arranged at Greenwich on the 1^st July 1543. In all the intrigues of the period he acted a prominent part, and when Angus and the other lords of the English faction, to escape the sentence of forfeiture to which their repeated treasons had exposed them, transmitted to the governor Arran a bond of adherence to the government, Sir George was one of the pledges that it would be faithfully kept, but was soon liberated. He and his brother subsequently joined the party of Cardinal Bethune, and their names appear among those of the Scots nobility who signed the agreement in June 1544, to support the authority of the queen-mother as regent of Scotland against the earl of Arran. In a parliament held at Edinburgh in the beginning of December of the same year, he and the earl were absolved from the charge of treason, and declared innocent of the crimes which had been alleged against them. In 1545 he joined the earl of Cassillis and other noblemen in the conspiracy (mentioned by Mr. Tytler for the first time by any historian) which, on the suggestion of Henry the Eighth, they had entered into for the assassination of Cardinal Bethune, and had an interview with one Thomas Forster, the English envoy, on the subject, but the project seems early to have been abandoned on their part. In August 1545, he was with the Scots army that invaded England, the vanguard of which was commanded by the earl of Angus, but retreated without effecting anything of consequence, “through the deceit,” as an ancient Chronicle relates, “of George Douglas and the vanguard.” In the memorable year 1546, after hearing George Wishart preach at Inveresk, he said publicly, “I know that my lord governor and my lord cardinal will hear that I have been at this sermon. Say unto them, I will avow it; and not only maintain the doctrine that I have heard, but also the person that teacheth, to the uttermost of my power.” After the assassination of Cardinal Bethune, he and his brother the earl of Angus were the first to vote that the castle of St. Andrews, in which those engaged in that act had taken refuge, should be besieged. He is said by Douglas in his Peerage to have been killed at the battle of Pinkie, 10^th September 1547, but there is no evidence for this statement; and Godscroft says expressly that having been one of the “appointed to ride about among the soldiers, to encourage them and keep order, it was so much the easier for him to flee.”  He appears as one of the extraordinary lords of session in the sitting of that court of the 1^st April 1549. He died before his brother, though the date of his death is not mentioned by the family historian. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of David Douglas of Pittendreich, he had David, seventh earl of Angus, James, earl of Morton, regent of Scotland, of whom a memoir is given below, and two daughters.

      David, seventh earl, was of an inactive and sickly constitution. He succeeded his uncle in 1556 and died in 1558. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Hamilton of Clydesdale, natural brother of the regent duke of Chatelherault, and had by her a son, Archibald, eighth earl, and two daughters.

      Archibald, eighth earl, was only two years of age when he succeeded to the titles and estates of his family, and was brought up with his uncle, the earl of Morton, who was his tutor and guardian. He carried the crown at the meeting of the first parliament of King James the Sixth, 15^th December 1567. On account of his virtuous and amiable disposition he was styled the good earl. Being one of the wardens of the marches, he executed that office for several years with great reputation. After the execution of Morton, in 1581, he retired to England, and was received with kindness by Queen Elizabeth. While in London, he contracted a friendship with Sir Philip Sidney. In 1582, after the raid of Ruthven, he obtained leave to return home, when he joined the faction of the noblemen concerned in that enterprize. In the following year, James, having emancipated himself from their power required them to surrender themselves by proclamation, but Angus was the only one who obeyed. In 1584, with the earl of Mar and Lord Glammis, he seized the castle of Stirling, and published a manifesto, declaring that they were in arms for the purpose of removing from the king’s presence Captain James Stewart, created earl of Arran, the unworthy favourite of James, but on his majesty’s advance against them with an army, they fled into England. In the parliament that met 22d August of the same year, Angus was attainted and his estates forfeited. In the following year, he returned to Scotland with the other banished lords, and expelled Arran from the court, obtaining a pardon for themselves an the revocation of their forfeiture. Towards the close of his life he was offered the office of chancellor of Scotland, but did not accept of it. He died in 1588. He was thrice married, and had a daughter, Lady Elizabeth Douglas, who died young.

      His heir-male, Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, succeeded as ninth earl. He was the son of Sir Archibald Douglas of Glenbervie, grandson of the fifth earl. The earldom was claimed by James the Sixth, who brought a suit against Sir William, for reducing the charters connected with the title, but on 7^th March 1588-9, a decision was given in favour of the latter. The ninth earl died in July 1591, in the 59^th year of his age. By his wife, daughter of Sir Robert Graham of Morphie, he had six sons and four daughters. His second son, Sir Robert, was the first baronet of the Glenbervie family. – See afterwards.

      William, his eldest son, tenth earl, was well versed in the antiquities and history of his country, and wrote a chronicle of the Douglases. Becoming a Roman Catholic, he, in 1592, engaged with the earls of Errol and Huntley in the treasonable plot of obtaining the king of Spain’s assistance for the reestablishment of popery in Scotland, and on the 1^st of the following January he was seized and committed to the castle of Edinburgh. On the 15^th of February, however, he made his escape, and joined the other two earls in the north. On the 11^th October, they came suddenly into the king’s presence, and offered to submit themselves to trial. On the 26^th November, it was determined that they and their associates should be exempted from all farther inquiry or prosecution on account of their correspondence with Spain, and that before the 1^st of February 1594, they should either submit to the church, and renounce popery, or remove out of the kingdom. They refused to accede to these conditions, and continued their treasonable negotiations. After the battle of Glenlivet, 3d October of the same year, in which, however, he was not present, Angus retired to the continent, and spent the remainder of his life in acts of devotion. He died at Paris 3d March 1611, in the 57^th year of his age, and was buried in the church of St. Germain de Prez, where a magnificent monument was erected to his memory, the inscription on which is printed at length in the Scots Magazine for 1767. By his countess, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Lawrence, fourth Lord Oliphant, he had three sons and two daughters; James, the second son, was the first Lord Mordington, see that title.

      His eldest son, William, eleventh earl of Angus and first marquis of Douglas, like his father, was a Roman Catholic, and a faithful adherent of the king during the civil wars. He maintained to its fullest extent the old princely hospitality and grandeur of the family at Douglas castle, where he chiefly resided. The king constituted him his lieutenant on the borders, and created him marquis of Douglas, 17^th June 1638. He joined the marquis of Montrose after his victory at Kilsyth in August 1645, escaped from the rout at the battle of Philiphaugh, 13^th September of that year, and soon after made terms with the ruling powers. He was fined one thousand pounds sterling by Cromwell’s act of grace and pardon. He died 19^th February 1660. He was twice married; first to the Hon. Margaret Hamilton, only daughter of Claud Lord Paisley, sister of James, first earl of Abercorn, and secondly to Lady Mary Gordon, third daughter of George first marquis of Huntley.

      Archibald, his eldest son, by his first marriage, styled earl of Angus, was appointed a privy councillor, and on 9^th February 1639, was constituted an extraordinary lord of session. He was a member of the committee of war in 1644, and subsequent years, and also of the committee of estates, and in 1650, obtained the command of a regiment of horse raised in the county of Haddington, for the defence of the country. He officiated as lord high chamberlain at the coronation of King Charles the Second, on January 1, 1651, and on 3d April following was created by that monarch earl of Ormond (see that title). He was fined one thousand pounds sterling by Cromwell’s act of grace and pardon, 1654, and died at Edinburgh January 15^th, 1655, before his father. His eldest son succeeded as second marquis of Douglas.

      William, his eldest son by his second marriage, became earl of Selkirk, and through his marriage with Anne duchess of Hamilton, third duke of Hamilton in 1660. See these titles.

      George, his second son by the same marriage, was in 1675 created earl of Dumbarton. See DUMBARTON, earl of.

      James, second marquis of Douglas, born in 1646, succeeded his grandfather in 1660, and was a privy councillor to King Charles the Second and James the Second. He died 25^th February 1700, in the 54^th year of his age. His eldest son, James, earl of Angus, burn in 1671, in 1689 raised for the service of the nation, in one day, a regiment of eighteen hundred men, now called the 26^th foot or Cameronians, of which he was appointed colonel, 19^th April of that year. After much active service he fell at the battle of Steinkirk 3d August 1692, in the 21^st year of his age, unmarried. His half brother, William, also bore the title of earl of Angus, but died an infant in 1694. Archibald, the third son of the second marquis, succeeded as third marquis.

      Archibald, third marquis of Douglas, born in 1694, succeeded in 1700, and in consideration of his illustrious descent, and the services of his ancestors, was created duke of Douglas while yet a minor, in 1703. In the rebellion of 1715, he adhered to the government, and fought as a volunteer at the battle of Sheriffmuir. On the conclusion of the treaty of union between England and Scotland in 1707, his grace’s tutors entered a protest on his behalf and that of his heirs and successors, to the effect that the said treaty should not in any way prejudice the rights and privileges belonging to them, as granted to their ancestors for their loyalty and great and faithful services, of leading the van of the army of Scotland in the day of battle, carrying the crown of that kingdom in processions, and giving the first vote in all parliaments, councils, and conventions, in Scotland, &c. It is in accordance with one of these rights that the duke of Hamilton, as chief of the house of Douglas, carries the crown of Scotland when necessary in all state processions in Scotland, and not because he is the next heir to the crown itself, after the present royal family, as is popularly but erroneously believed. The duke of Douglas died, childless, at Queensberry house, Edinburgh, in 1761, when the ducal title became extinct.

      The titles of marquis of Douglas, earl of Angus, and several others, devolved, through heirs-male, to the duke of Hamilton, on account of his descent from the first marquis of Douglas; and the eldest son of that ducal house is now styled marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale.

      Lady Jane Douglas, the sister of the duke, secretly married, in 1746, when her ladyship was forty-eight years of age. Mr. Stewart, afterwards Sir John Stewart, baronet, of Grandtully, in Perthshire. They resided abroad, chiefly in France, from 1746 till the end of December 1749. Of this marriage, it was asserted that twin sons were born in the house of a Madame le Brun, in Paris, 10 July 1748, when her ladyship was in her fifty-first year. The youngest of these children, Sholto Thomas Stewart, died in infancy. The other, Archibald Stewart, on the death of the last duke of Douglas, without issue, was served nearest lawful heir to his grace, September 3, 1761; but the guardians of the duke of Hamilton, then a minor, who had succeeded as marquis of Douglas, disputed his return, on the ground of his birth being surreptitious. The Court of Session in Scotland decided in favour of the duke of Hamilton, but on appeal to the House of Lords, its decision was reversed 17 February 1769, and Mr. Stewart, being thus declared entitled to the estates, assumed the name of Douglas, and in 1790 was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Douglas of Douglas. He died 26^th Dec. 1827. He was twice married. By his first wife, he had 2 sons and 1 daughter, and by his second wife, 3 sons and 3 daughters. His eldest son, Archibald, 2d Lord Douglas, died, unmarried, in January 1844, and was succeeded by his brother, Charles, 3d lord, who died Sept. 10, 1848. His half-brother, the Rev. James Douglas, appointed in 1819 rector of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, and in 1825, of Broughton, Northamptonshire, was the 4^th and last Lord Douglas. Born July 9, 1787, he married in 1813 the 2d daughter of the Hon. General James Murray, and died, without issue, April 9, 1857, when the title became extinct. The estates devolved on his half-sister, Jane Margaret, Lady Montague, widow of the 2d Lord Montague, and on her death in 1858 were inherited by her daughter, the countess of Home.

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      Douglas Castle, in the parish of Douglas, Lanarkshire, was the object of many a fierce conflict between the English and its proper lords. In 1760, it was accidentally destroyed by fire, but the last duke of Douglas ordered another to be built on a scale of magnificence corresponding to his high rank and extensive possessions. It was to consist of two spacious wings, but the duke’s death soon after prevented more than one being finished. The ruins of the old castle are very inconsiderable, consisting of but one ruined tower, standing at a short distance from the modern mansion. The preface to ‘Castle Dangerous,’ the last novel written by Sir Walter Scott, contains an interesting passage relative to his visit to Castle Douglas, the last place to which he made a pilgrimage in Scotland, previous to his departure for the continent in his vain search of health.

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      The Douglases of Drumlanrig, marquises and dukes of Queensberry, are descended from William, son of James, second earl of Douglas [See QUEENSBERRY, marquis of, and BUCCLEUCH, duke of.]

      Other branches of the Douglas family enjoyed for a time the titles of earl of Athole, and earl of Buchan; also that of Forfar; the latter merged in the dukedom of Douglas, on the death of the second earl in 1715, and became extinct in 1761; and earl of Solway, merged in the dukedom of Queensberry in 1711, extinct in 1778. See these titles.

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      The Douglases of Glenbervie were descended from the Hon. Sir William Douglas, second son of Archibald, fifth earl of Angus, commonly called “the great earl.” He obtained from his father the lands of Braidwood in Lanarkshire, about the year 1510, and by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir John Auchinleck of Auchinleck in Ayrshire, he acquired the lands and barony of Glenbervie in Kincardineshire. His only son, Sir Archibald Douglas, was knighted by King James the Fifth.

      The son of the latter, Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, knight, (afterwards ninth earl of Angus, as above mentioned) was a steady friend of Queen Mary. He accompanied her majesty in her expedition to the north against the earl of Huntley, and behaved with great bravery at the fight of Corrichie, in 1562 He was succeeded in the estate of Glenbervie by his second son, The Hon. Sir Robert Douglas, whose eldest son, Sir William, was by Charles the First created one of the original baronets of Nova Scotia, 30^th May 1625, with a grant of sixteen hundred acres of land in that colony. Sir Robert’s only son, Sir William, second baronet, married Anne, daughter and heiress of James Douglas of Stonypath and Ardit in Fife, with whom he got a great accession to his estate. He died in the reign of Charles the Second. His only son, Sir Robert, third baronet, commanded the Scots royals at the battle of Steinkirk in 1692, where he fell, and having no male issue, the title devolved upon is cousin, Robert Douglas of Ardit, (grandson of the Rev. Dr. George Douglas, rector of Stephney,) who was the second son of Sir Robert Douglas, brother of the tenth earl of Angus. Sir Robert died in 1750. His eldest son, Sir William Douglas, fifth baronet, a lawyer of great eminence and learning, was, in 1726, chosen provost of the city of St. Andrews, and was annually re-elected for nineteen years. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Douglas of Garvald, and died without issue in July 1764, when the title devolved upon his brother, Sir Robert Douglas, editor of the Peerage of Scotland, of whom a notice is given below.

      The baronetage of Glenbervie lapsed on the death of his only son Sir Alexander, a physician of eminence. Sir Robert’s only daughter married Kenneth, a younger son of Donald Mackenzie of Kilcoy, and their eldest son Kenneth Mackenzie, a general in the army, who assumed the name of Douglas, was created a baronet in 1831. He died 22d November 1833, and his eldest son, Sir Robert Andrews Douglas, 2d baronet, a major in the army, was succeeded on his death, 1^st March 1843, by his eldest son, Sir Robert Andrews Mackenzie Douglas of Glenbervie (born 19^th July 1837).

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      The Douglases of Carr, in Perthshire, are cadets of the Morton family, being lineally descended from James, sixth earl of Morton, of the Lochleven branch. (See MORTON, earl of.) To this family belonged Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, created a baronet 23d January 1777, of whom a memoir is given below. His eldest son, Sir William Henry, vice-admiral of the Blue, second baronet, died unmarried, 24^th May 1809, when the title devolved upon his brother, Lieutenant-general Sir Howard Douglas, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., K.C.S., and F.R.S., burn 1 July 1776; married in July 1799, Anne, eldest daughter of James Dundas, a scion of the house of Dundas of Dundas; issue, six sons and four daughters. Sir Howard was groom of the bedchamber to the late duke of Gloucester; served in Portugal and Spain in 1808-0; was present at Corunna; and served at Walcheren; served again in Spain in 1811-12, and received the cross of Charles the Third. He was governor of New Brunswick from 1823 to 1829, and lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands from 1835 to 1840. From 1842 to 1847, he represented Liverpool in parliament; became a general in the army and colonel in the 15^th foot in 1851 . He is the author of “An Essay on the principles and construction of military bridges,” and of a treatise on naval gunnery.

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      A baronetcy is also possessed by the family of Douglas of Springwoodpark, Roxburghshire, conferred, June 27, 1786, on Sir James Douglas, a naval officer of eminence, who was knighted, in consideration of bearing home the despatch announcing the surrender of Quebec in 1759, and was created a baronet for his subsequent professional achievements. In 1761 he commanded a fleet in the leeward Islands, took Dominica, and had a broad pendant at the siege of Martinique in the same year. On his death in 1787, he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir George, who died June 4^th 1821. His son Sir John James, third baronet, married, in 1822, Hannah Charlotte, only daughter and heiress of Henry Scott, Esq. of Belford, Roxburghshire, and assumed, in consequence, by sign manual, the surname and arms of Scott, in addition to those of Douglas. Sir John was Captain in the 15^th hussars, and served at Waterloo, for which he received a medal. He died 23d January 1836. His son, Sir George Henry Scott-Douglas, 4^th Baronet, born at Edinburgh 19^th June 1825, captain 34^th foot, 1850, retired 1851; married the eldest daughter of Francisco di Pina, Esq. of Gibraltar; with issue.

DOUGLAS, SIR JAMES, a renowned warrior, the companion in arms of King Robert Bruce, was the eldest son of William Lord of Douglas, the companion of Wallace, who died a prisoner in England in 1312. The young Sir James had taken refuge in Paris, where he lived for three years, but on his father’s death he returned to Scotland, and was appointed page in the household of Lamberton, bishop of St. Andrews. On the murder of Comyn and the raising of the standard of national independence, Douglas, who was then in his 18^th year, resolved to join his fortunes to those of Bruce. His great estates had been conferred by the English king on Lord Clifford, one of his barons, and he was determined to wrest them from him, if possible, by force of arms. Accordingly seeking his patron, the bishop, he informed him of his resolution to join Robert the Bruce. The interview is thus described by Barbour:–

      “Father,” said Douglas, addressing Lamberton, “thou hast seen how these English have spoiled me of my paternal property. Thou hast heard, too, how the earl of Carrick has openly asserted his claim to the crown, whilst these strangers are leagued against him, and have determined to avenge the slaughter of Comyn, and disinherit him as they have done me. Therefore, since these things are so, I have resolved with your good leave, to join my fortunes to Bruce, and share with him both weal and woe; nor do I despair, through his help, to gain my lands, in spite of Clifford and all his kin.”

      “Grateful should I be to God, my sweet son, that thou wert there!” replied the bishop, “yet were I now openly to give thee the means of joining him, it would work my ruin. Go, then, secretly, and take from my stable my own horse. Should the groom make any resistance, spare not a blow to queel it. This will exculpate me, and thou mayest then obey thy will.”

      Douglas faithfully followed these directions. He went to the stable, and seized the bishop’s horse, striking the groom, who attempted to stop him, with his dagger, and, mounting in haste, rode towards a place which he expected Bruce to pass on his way to Scone to be crowned. This was at a spot called Errickstane. The royal retinue of knights and attendants soon approached, when the young Douglas threw himself from his horse, and kneeling proffered Bruce his homage and his services. The king raising him up, and fondly embracing him, gladly received him into his service, and at once gave him a command im his small army, expressing his confidence that he would bear himself worthy of his brave ancestry.

      During the whole of the struggles of that eventful period, Douglas continued to be one of the most attached and courageous of Bruce’s adherents; and from the battle of Methven to the ‘crowning victory’ of Bannockburn, he signalized himself by his enterprise, his valour, his chivalrous spirit, and his unswerving patriotism. He reduced to Bruce’s authority the forests of Selkirk and Jedburgh, after he had recovered his own castle of Douglas from the English. On Palm Sunday, 19^th March, 1307, he surprised the English garrison which had possession of it; and not being able at that time to keep it himself, after removing such things as were most easily carried away, gold, silver, and apparel, with ammunition and armour, whereof he had greatest need, he caused all the meal and meat, corn and other grain, which had been collected by the English, to be laid together in one heap; the heads of the barrels, hogsheads, and puncheons of ale and wine, to be struck out, and the liquor mixed with the stores; he then slew all his prisoners, and flung the dead bodies among the heap, which his men called, in derision of the English, “the Douglas Larder.” He next ordered dead horses to be thrown into the well, to render it useless to the enemy, after which he set fire to the castle, and nothing was left standing but the scorched walls. This stronghold being rebuilt by the English, it was twice thereafter retaken by the Douglas, who had made a vow that he would be revenged on any one who should dare to take possession of it; hence it was generally called, both by English and Scotch, the Perilous Castle of Douglas. In March 1313 he took the castle of Roxburgh by stratagem; which, with his other exploits, increased the terror with which his name was regarded by the English, who styled him “the Black Douglas;” while in Scottish history he is known by the name of “the good Sir James Douglas.” At the battle of Bannockburn, 23d June, 1314, he commanded the centre division of the Scottish van. Previous to the battle, perceiving Randolph hard pressed in endeavouring to intercept a body of English cavalry which were trying to get into Stirling, Douglas requested the king’s permission to go to his succour; but was refused, on which he replied, “My heart will not suffer me to stand y and see Randolph perish, and therefore, with your leave, I must go and aid him.” The king unwillingly consented, and Douglas rode off to the assistance of his friend; but while approaching the place of combat, he perceived that the English were falling into disorder, whereupon he halted his men, saying, “Randolph has gained the day; let us not diminish his glory by sharing it.” After the victory, Douglas, with sixty horsemen, pursued the English king on the spur as far as Dunbar, whence Edward escaped in a fishing skiff to England. The same year Douglas entered England with Edward Bruce, and returned to Scotland, loaded with plunder. Being appointed by Bruce warden of the middle marches, he distinguished himself in various encounters on the Borders, and in different inroads into England. In 1312 he invaded the counties of Northumberland and Durham; and in 1327, with Randolph, led an army, consisting of twenty thousand light-armed cavalry, as far as Biland in Yorkshire, and for more than a month employed them in ravaging the whole northern districts of that kingdom. While on this expedition he penetrated during the night into the midst of the English camp, forced his way to the pavilion of the king himself, and very nearly took him prisoner. Their retreat on this occasion, before a superior English force under the young king, Edward III., was conducted with consummate skill. On the death of Robert the Bruce, Douglas, as his oldest and most esteemed companion in arms, was commissioned to carry his heart to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. Accordingly, attended by a splendid retinue, he sailed from Scotland in June 1330. On reaching Sluys in Flanders, he learnt that Alphonso, the young king of Leon and Castile, was then engaged in a war with Osmyn the Moorish king of Granada; and with the intention of fighting against the infidels, he and the knights and esquires by whom he was accompanied joined Alphonso’s army. On the 25^th August 1330, they came in sight of the enemy near Tebas, a castle on the frontiers of Andalusia, when the Moors were defeated with great slaughter, but Douglas, giving way to his impetuous valour, pursued them too eagerly, and in attempting to rejoin the main force, he perceived Sir Walter St. Clair of Roslin surrounded by a body of Moors who had suddenly rallied. With the few followers he had with him he turned hastily to his rescue, but was soon nearly overpowered by the numbers who pressed upon him. Taking from his neck the silver casquet which contained the embalmed heart of Bruce, he threw it before him among the thickest of the enemy, saying, “Now pass thou onward before us, gallant heart, as thou wert wont: Douglas will follow thee, or die!” The brave and “Good Sir James Douglas,” with the greater part of those who fought with him, were slain; and his body with the casquet containing the hear of Bruce, found upon the field, were conveyed together to Scotland, The heart of Bruce was deposited at Melrose, although his body was interred in the royal tomb at Dunfermline, and the remains of Sir James were buried in the sepulchre of his fathers at Douglas, where his son Archibald erected a monument to his memory.

DOUGLAS, GAVIN, bishop of Dunkeld, one of the most eminent of our early Scottish poets, styled by Warton, “one of the distinguished luminaries that marked the restoration of letters in Scotland at the commencement of the sixteenth century,” was the third son of the fifth earl of Angus, (nicknamed Bell-the-Cat,) by Elizabeth Boyd, only daughter of Robert Lord Boyd, high chamberlain of Scotland. He was born at Brechin in 1474. After completing his education at the university of Paris, he was in 1496 appointed rector of Hawick, and in 1509, on the recommendation of the king, nominated provost of the collegiate church of St. Giles, in Edinburgh. Before this period he had composed ‘The Palace of Honour,’ an apologue for the conduct of a king, in which, under the similitude of a vision, he depicts the vanity and inconstancy of all worldly glory. He had also completed a translation of Ovid’s ‘Remedy of Love,’ which is now lost. Subsequently, at the request of Henry, first Lord Sinclair, he translated into the Scottish vernacular the Æneid of Virgil, with the Supplementary book of Mapheus Vigius, which he undertook about 15123, and is said to have finished in sixteen months. To each book is prefixed an original poem, or “particular prologue” of his own, and the translation is executed with great spirit and unusual elegance for the period. In 1513, three weeks after the fatal battle of Flodden, he was admitted a burgess of Edinburgh, of which city his father had been provost.

      In 1544, the queen-regent, who had married his nephew, the young earl of Angus, appointed Douglas abbot of Aberbrothwick, and in a letter addressed to Pope Leo the Tenth, after extolling him as second to none in learning and virtue, earnestly requested that he might be confirmed in that abbacy, till his singular merit should be rewarded by some more ample endowment. Soon after she conferred on him the archbishopric of St. Andrews, when he took possession of the archiepiscopal palace; but John Hepburn, prior of St. Andrews, having prevailed on the canons to elect him to the see, laid siege to the fortress, and after some resistance, expelled Douglas’s servants. The earl of Angus, with a party of two hundred horse, made an unsuccessful attempt to regain the castle, and his uncle, who does not appear to have countenanced this proceeding, and indeed was always averse to violent measures, relinquished the archbishopric in favour of Andrew Forman, bishop of Moray, and archbishop of Bourges in France, a busy and ambitious churchman, who had obtained a bull from the Pope. At the same time he was deprived of the abbacy of Aberbrothwick, which was transferred to James Bethune, archbishop of Glasgow. Early in 1515, the queen nominated him bishop of Dunkeld, and by the interposition of her brother Henry the Eighth, obtained a papal bull in his favour, but the duke of Albany, who, in this year, was declared regent, to prevent him from possessing the see, accused him of contravening the laws of the realm in procuring bulls from Rome, and sentence of banishment was pronounced against him, which was subsequently altered to imprisonment. He was first committed to the custody of his former rival Hepburn, and confined in the castle of St. Andrews. He was afterwards removed to the castle of Edinburgh, and subsequently to that of Dunbar, whence he was again conducted to Edinburgh. On a reconciliation taking place between the queen and the duke, he obtained his liberty, after a confinement of upwards of a year, and was consecrated at Glasgow by Archbishop Bethune.

      During his imprisonment, Andrew Stewart, brother of the earl of Athol, had been elected postulate bishop by the chapter, and his retainers had taken possession of the episcopal palace. On Douglas’ arrival at Dunkeld, the pope’s bull was proclaim with the usual solemnities at the high altar, and the bishop was obliged to take up his residence at the house of the dean, where he was splendidly entertained, and where also, as the steeple of the cathedral was also garrisoned by Stewart’s adherents, he was next day under the necessity of performing divine service and administering the customary oaths to his canons. In the afternoon of the same day, while holding a consultation, the intelligence was received that Stewart had arrived in person to support his claim by arms, and at the same instant a volley of cannon shot was discharged from the palace and the cathedral. Douglas’ friends lost no time in assembling an armed force from the country, and on Stewart’s retiring into the neighbouring woods, those who held possession of the palace and cathedral were summoned to surrender, on pain of excommunication. On their refusal, James Carmichael, with a detachment of the bishop’s adherents, obtained admittance into the cathedral, partly by force and partly by stratagem, and the holders of the palace, intimidated by this occurrence, requested a truce for a few hours, and ultimately, through the interference of the regent, Douglas gained possession without the effusion of blood. The regent Albany being appealed to by both parties at Edinburgh, gave his sanction to the claim of Douglas, while Stewart was allowed to retain the revenues of the see which he had already collected, and obtained, besides two of the best benefices, Alyth and Cargyle, in the diocese. The following is a view of Dunkeld Cathedral:

[Dunkeld Cathedral]

      In 1517, Bishop Douglas, with Patrick Panter, attended the duke of Albany to France, for the renewal of the ancient league with that country, and the negociation being concluded, he returned before them to Scotland. In the following year he appears to have visited England, as in the Cotton Library is an original letter signed by the earl of Angus and others, recommending him to King Henry as a proper agent for adjusting certain articles in contemplation between them. In the dispute which took place between the earls of Arran and Angus in April 1520, which led to the bloody street conflict of “Cleanse the Causeway,” he acted the part of a mediator, though unsuccessfully, with the Arran faction, and his conduct on that occasion has been already described in the article, Archbishop Bethune, who owned his life to his timely interference. In the following year, on the return of Albany to Scotland, and the prosecution of Angus and his principal adherents, Bishop Douglas took refuge in England, and from Henry the Eighth received a liberal pension. At London he formed a friendship with Polydore Virgil, who was then engaged in composing a history of England, and he presented to him a brief commentary of the Scottish annals, in which he pursued the fabulous line of our ancestry from Athens to Scotland. In his absence a process was instituted in Scotland against him, and an unjust sentence of proscription issued in the name of the king and the three estates. He had been cited to appear at Rome, and intended to obey the pontifical mandate, but was seized with the plague, and dying at London in 1522, was interred in the Savoy church. He excels as an allegorical and descriptive poet.

      His works are:

      The 13 Bukes of Eneados of the famouse poete Virgill, translatet out of Latyne verses into Scottish metir, by the Rev. Father in God Mayster Gawin Douglas, bishop of Dunkel, and unkil to the Erle of Angus; every buke having his perticular prologe. Bl. Letter. London, 1553, 4to. A new edition. Edin. 1710, small fol. to which a large and valuable Glossary was added by the celebrated Ruddiman, which may serve as a Dictionary to the old Scottish Language; and a life of the author, by the Rev. John Sage, who acknowledges the assistance of Bishop Nicolson, Sir Robert Sibbald, Dr. Pitcairne, and Mr. Urry.

      The Palice of Honour, in 3 parts. Edin. printed by John Ross. 1579, 4to. Edition by W. Copland. London, 1553, fol. Both the editions are extremely scarce.

      He likewise translated Ovid de Remedio Amoris, which seems to have been the first of all his works.

      His allegorical Poem, called King Hart, was published for the first time, from an original MS. by Mr. Pinkerton. 1786.

DOUGLAS, JAMES, fourth earl of Morton, for some time regent of Scotland, was the second son of Sir George Douglas of Pittendreich, younger brother of Archibald sixth ear of Angus. Having married Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of James, third earl of Morton, who had no male issue, he obtained through her right, on her father’s death, his title and estates, to which he succeeded in 1553, previous to which event he was styled the master of Morton. He early favoured the cause of the Reformation, and was one of the original lords of the congregation in 1557, although at first he did not take a prominent part in their proceedings. He was, however, one of the commissioners for the settlement of affairs at Upsettlington, May 31, 1559. After the return of Queen Mary in 1561, he was sworn a privy councillor, and January 7, 1563, was appointed lord high chancellor of Scotland, in room of the forfeited earl of Huntley, who had been the head of the popish party. At the solicitation of Darnley, he was induced to join in the conspiracy against Rissio, and in consequence of his share in that dark transaction, was obliged, with his associated, to fly to England. Through the interest of the earl of Bothwell, however, he soon obtained his pardon, and returned to Scotland. He was aware of the design formed for the murder of Darnley, but refused to be a party in the plot. He was, however, one of those who subscribed the famous bond to protect Bothwell against the charge of being concerned in the murder, and to assist him in his project of being married to the queen. When that event took place, Morton, with others of the nobles, entered into a confederacy for the protection of the infant prince, and the protestant liberties of the kingdom; and was present with the confederated lords at Pinkie-Field, when Bothwell took his last farewell of the unfortunate queen. He was the same year restored to the office of high chancellor for life, and was also constituted high-admiral for Scotland, and sheriff of the county of Edinburgh, in the room of Bothwell. At the battle of Langside, Morton was one of the principal commanders. He was a chief actor in all the transactions which took place in Scotland during that unhappy period, when a civil war raged between the protestant or king’s party and the adherents of the queen.

      On the death of the earl of Mar, in October 1572, Morton was elected regent, being the fourth within five years. His rapacity and avarice soon rendered his administration odious; and his conduct towards some of the nobles caused them to league together for his destruction. The young king, James the Sixth, at Stirling had procured an interview with Argyle and Atholl, two of Morton’s enemies, and he determined to take the government into his own hands. Foreseeing the storm that was gathering, Morton, on September 12, 1577, tendered his resignation, and obtained a pardon for all his past offences. He then retired to Lochleven; but even in this retreat, which the people called

“The Lion’s Den,” his wealth and abilities rendered him formidable. Having, by means of the earl of Mar, obtained possession of the castle and garrison of Stirling, and the person of the king, he soon recovered all the authority he possessed during his regency. He now proceeded vigorously against his enemies, the Hamiltons and others; but in the midst of his measures of revenge and punishment, he was himself accused by Captain Stewart, a favourite of the king, (created earl of Arran) of being accessory to the murder of his majesty’s father; and brought to trial at Edinburgh, June 1, 1581. The whole proceedings against him seem to have been violent, irregular, and oppressive. The jury was composed of his avowed enemies; and he was found guilty of concealing, and of being art and part in the conspiracy against the life of Darnley. The first part of the verdict did not surprise him, but he twice repeated the words “art and part,” with some vehemence adding, “God knows it is not so!” He was beheaded next day by an instrument called “the Maiden,” which he had himself introduced into Scotland. In his ‘Confession,’ being the substance of a conference held the same morning with John Durie and Walter Balcanquhal, ministers, he admitted that on his return from England after the murder of Rizzio, Bothwell had informed him of the conspiracy against Darnley, which the queen, as he told him, knew of and approved, but that he had no hand in it. And as to revealing the plot, “to whom,” said he, “should I have revealed it? To the Queen: She was the doer of it. I was mindit indeed to the king’s father, but that I durst not for my life; for I knew him to be a sic a bairn, that there was nothing told him but he would reveal it to her again. And howbeit they have condemned me of art and part, foreknowledge and concealing of the king’s murder, yet, as I shall answer to God, I never had art or part, red or counsel in that matter. I foreknew, indeed, and concealed it, because I durst not reveal it to any creature for my life.” When his keepers told him that the guards were in attendance and all in readiness, he replied, “I thank my God, I am ready likewise.” On the scaffold his behaviour was calm, and his countenance and voice unaltered, and after some time spent in devotion, he suffered death with the intrepidity which became the name of Douglas. His head was placed on the public jail of Edinburgh; and his body, after lying till sunset on the scaffold, covered with a beggarly cloak, was carried by common porters to the usual burying-place of criminals. Having no issue, the regent made an entail of the earldom in favour of his nephew the eighth earl of Angus, and, after him, in case he died without issue, in favour of William Douglas of Lochleven, who became the seventh earl of Morton. Subjoined is his portrait:

[portrait of James 4^th Earl of Morton]

DOUGLAS, ROBERT, an eminent Presbyterian clergyman of the seventeenth century, was in early life chaplain to the Scots Auxiliaries in the service of Gustavus Adolphus, in the Thirty Years’ War, and became a great favourite with that monarch. He is said to have been a grandson of Mary, Queen of Scots, through a child borne by her to George Douglas of Lochleven; but of this there is no proof. On leaving the army, Gustavus said of him that he scarce ever knew a person of his qualifications for wisdom. “Mr. Douglas,” he said, “might have been counsellor to any prince in Europe; for prudence and knowledge, he might be moderator to a general assembly; and even for military skill I could very freely trust my army to his conduct.”  In corroboration of this, it is related that in one of Gustavus’ battles, he was standing at some distance on a rising ground, and when both wings were engaged, he observed some mismanagement in the left wing that was like to prove fatal, and he either went or sent to acquaint the commanding officer, and it was remedied, in consequence of which they gained the battle. While in the army, having no other book beside him, he committed nearly the whole of the bible to memory. In 1641 he was one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and frequently preached before parliament. Wodrow styles him “a great state preacher, one of the greatest we ever had in Scotland.” On January 6, 1649, he was one of the six ministers called in to assist the committee of despatch of parliament in drawing up instructions for their commissioners in London to endeavour to prevent the proceedings against the king. [Balfour’s Annals, vol. iii. p. 385.] He was moderator of the General Assembly which met in July 1649, and possessed great influence and authority among the clergy. In August 1650 he was one of the commissioners sent by the church of Dunfermline to solicit from Charles the Second his subscription to a declaration of his sentiments, which he refused to give. At the coronation of Charles at Scone, January 1, 1651, Douglas officiated, and his sermon on the occasion was printed. He was afterwards, with other members of the church commission, sent prisoner to London by Cromwell, but soon released. In 1659, when General Monk left Scotland, he and the other leaders of the Resolutioners sent Mr. James Sharp to London with him, to attend to the interests of the Presbyterian church. The correspondence of the latter with Mr. Douglas is inserted in Wodrow’s ‘History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland.’ While Sharp violated the trust reposed in him, and was appointed primate of Scotland, Douglas indignantly refused the high episcopal preferment that was offered to him, to accede to the introduction of prelacy. He is said, by Kirkton, the church historian, to have said to Sharp, on parting, “James, i see you will engage. I perceive you are clear. You will be made archbishop of St. Andrews. Take it, and the curse of God with it.” So saying, he clapped him on the shoulder, and shut the door upon him. He afterwards resigned his charge at Edinburgh, and in 1669 was admitted by the privy council, as an indulged minister, to the parish of Pencaitland in East Lothian. The date of his death is unknown. He had a son, Alexander, who was minister of Logie and one of the correspondents of Wodrow, to whose manuscript Analecta we are chiefly indebted for all that is known concerning his father.

DOUGLAS, JAMES, M.D., a skillful anatomist and accomplished medical writer, was born in Scotland about 1675. On completing his education, he proceeded to London, where he became eminent as a lecturer on anatomy and surgery. After published various medical works, he directed his attention particularly to the difficult and painful operation of lithotomy, and brought out in 1726, ‘A History of the lateral Operation for Stone,’ republished with an Appendix in 1733. He was subsequently appointed physician to the king, who granted him a yearly pension of five hundred guineas. His high reputation was considerably increased by his exposure of the deception of a female adventurer named Maria Tofts, who pretended that in occasional accouchements to which she was subject, she brought forth rabbits, and thus imposed on the credulity of many persons. A full description of the fraud he published in an advertisement in Manningham’s Journal. As lecturer on anatomy, he took for his assistant the afterwards celebrated Dr. William Hunter, who found in him both a patron and a benefactor. He also studied successfully the interesting subject of botanical science, and published several works on the subject. He died in 1742. He had collected, at a great expense, all the editions of Horace published from 1476 to 1739.

            A list of his publications is subjoined:

            De Auri Humano Tractatus. Bonon. 1704, 4to.

            Myographiae Comparatae Specimen; or, a comparative description of all the muscles in a man and in a quadruped (a dog) with an account of the muscles peculiar to a woman. Lond. 1717, 12mo. Edin. 1775, 8vo. to this edition an account of the blood vessels is added. Edin. 1750, 8vo.

            Descriptio comparata Musculorum corporis humani et quadrupedis. Lugd. Bat. 1729, 8vo. Leyd. 1738, 8vo. Dub. 1777, 8vo.

            A short Appendix to his account of the Human Muscles. 12mo.

            Bibliographiae anatomicae specimen, seu Catalogus pene omnium auctorum qui ab Hippocrate ad Harveium rem anatomicam illustrarunt. Lond. 1715, 8vo. With improvements. Leyden, 1734, 8vo. London, 1755, 8vo.

            Index Materiae Medicae. London, 1724, 4to.

            Lilium Sarnense, a description of the Guernsey Lily, with 3 large figure: and a botanical dissection of the Coffee Berry, with figures. London, 1725, 1737, fol.

            Arbor Yemensis fructum Café ferens; or, a description and history of the Coffee Tree. London, 1725, 1727, fol. supplement to the above, same year. fol.

            History of the Lateral Operation for extracting the Stone, by making a wound near the great protuberance of the Os Ischium, &c. first attempted by Frere Jacques in France, &c. Lond. 1726, 8vo. 1729. In Latin. Lug. Bat. 1733, 4to.

            Appendix to the Lateral Operation of the Stone. London, 1731, 8vo. Leid. 1733, 8vo.

            A Description of the Peritonoeum of that part of the Membrana Cellularis which lies on its outside, with an account of the true situation of all the Abdominal Viscera. London, 1730, 4to. In Latin. Helmst. 1733, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1737, 8vo.

            Nine Anatomical Figures, representing the external parts, muscles, and bones of the human body. London, 1748, fol.

            Account of a very large Tumour on the fore part of the Neck. Phil. Trans. 1706. Abr. v. 285.

            Of a hydrops ovarii: figure of the Glandulae and of the Uteris in a Puerpera. Ib. 318.

            Ulcer in the right kidney; dissection. Ib. 554.

            An extraordinary Dilation of the left ventricle of the heart. Ib. 1714. Abr. vi. 181.

            A botanical description of the flower and mid-vessel of the true English Saffron. Ib. 1723. Abr. vi. p. 678.

            On the Glands of the human spleen; on a fracture in the upper part of the thigh bone. 1716. Abr. vi. 262.

            Natural History of the Phaenicopterus, or Flamingo. Ib. 268.

            An account of a new method of cutting for the Stone. Ib. 580. 1722.

            A botanical description of the flower and seed vessel of the Plant called Crocus Autumnalis Sativus. Ib. 678. 1723.

            On the Culture and Management of Saffron in England. Ib. 1728. Abr. vii. 278.

            A short account of the different kinds of Ipecaeuanha. Ib. 356. 1729.

DOUGLAS, JOHN, an eminent lithotomist, brother of the preceding, was for some time surgeon to the Westminster Infirmary, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He was the author of several medical controversial treatises, criticising the works of Chamberlain, Chapman, and Cheselden, most of which are now forgotten. A list of their titles is subjoined.

            Syllabus of what is to be preferred in a course of Lectures on Anatomy. London, 1719, 4to.

            New method of making the high operation for Stone. London, 1720, 1723, 4to.

            Advertisement occasioned by some passages in Mannington Arms Diary. London, 1721, 8vo.

            Lithotomus Castratus, or Cheselden’s Treatise on the high operation for the Stone, examined. London, 1723, 8vo.

            An account of Mortifications, and of the surprising effects of bark in putting a stop to their progress. London, 1729, 1732, 8vo.

            Remarks on that pompous book entitled, Osteographia, or the Anatomy of the Bones, by Mr. Cheselden. London, 1735, 8vo.

            A short account of the state of Midwifery in London and Westminster, & c. London, 1736, 8vo.

            A Dissertation on the Venereal Disease. Lond. 1737, 8vo.

            A short Dissertation on the Gout. Lond. 1741, 8vo.

            Treatise on the Hydrocele. Lond; 1755, 8vo.

            An Answer to the Remarks on a Treatise on Hydrocele. London, 1758, 8vo. These Remarks were by Mr. Justamond.

            Account of the new method of cutting for the Stone. Phil. Trans. 1722. Abr. vi. p. 580.

            Surgical questions stated and answered. Ib. 1727. Abr. vii. p. 200.

DOUGLAS, JOHN, D.D., a learned prelate and critic, the son of Archibald Douglas, a respectable merchant, was born in Pittenweem, Fifeshire, July 14, 1721. His father was the son of the youngest brother of John Douglas, Esq. of Tilwhilly in Kincardineshire. After some preliminary education at the grammar school of Dunbar, he was in 1736 sent to St. Mary’s College, Oxford, being entered as a commoner. In 1738 he was elected to an exhibition on Bishop Warner’s foundation in Baliol College, and in 1741 he took his bachelor’s degree. After visiting France and Flanders, he returned to the university, and in 1743 he was ordained deacon. In 1744 he was appointed chaplain to the third foot guards, and was for some time with the regiment in Flanders, and at the battle of Fontenoy was engaged carrying orders from General Campbell to a detachment of English troops. In September 1745, he returned to England, with that portion of the army which was ordered home on the breaking out of the rebellion, and having no longer any connexion with the guards, he returned to college, where he was elected one of the exhibitioners on Mr. Snell’s foundation. In 1747 he became curate of Tilehurst, near Reading, and afterwards of Dunstew, in Oxfordshire. Soon after he was selected by the earl of Bath to accompany his son, Lord Pulteney, as travelling tutor to the continent. On his return to England in 1749, the earl presented him to the free chapel of Eaton-Constantine, and the donative of Uppington, in Shropshire. In 1750 he preferred him to the vicarage of High Ercal, in Shropshire, and continued a steady patron and friend to him throughout life. He only resided occasionally on his livings; at the desire of Lord Bath, he took a house contiguous to Bath house in London, where he passed the winter months. In the summer he generally accompanied his lordship in his country excursions, and in his visits to the nobility. In the Easter term of 1758 he took his doctor’s degree, and was presented by Lord Bath to the living of Kenley in Shropshire. He had ere this devoted himself to writing various political and controversial pamphlets. In 1761 he was appointed one of his majesty’s chaplains, and in 1762 was made canon of Windsor, which benefice he exchanged with Dr. Barrington, in 1776, for a residentiary canonry of St. Paul’s. In 1764 Lord Bath died, and left him his library; but his lordship’s relative, General Pulteney, not wishing it to be removed from the family, gave him a thousand pounds for it. On the general’s death, it was again bequeathed to him, and he again relinquished it to Sir William Pulteney for the same sum. Besides superintending the publication of Lord Clarendon’s Letters and Diary, and assisting Lord Hardwicke and Sir John Dalrymple in arranging their manuscripts for the press, at the request of Lord Sandwich, first lord of the admiralty, he prepared for publication the journal of Captain Cook’s voyages. In 1778 he was elected a fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. In September 1787 he was made bishop of Carlisle; and in 1788 dean of Windsor. In 1792 he was translated to the see of Salisbury. He was a member of the Literary Club founded by Dr. Johnson, and is frequently mentioned in Boswell’s Life of the latter. His death took place on 18^th May 1807. His literary labours may be summed up in the following list of the publications in which he was engaged:

            Milton no Plagiary; or, a Detection of the Forgeries in Lander’s Essay. London, 1751, 8vo. 2d edition, corrected and enlarged by the addition of a postscript. London, 1756, 8vo.

            The Criterion; or, Miracles Examined, in the form of Letters, and intended as an antidote against the writings of Hume, Voltaire, and the philosophers of that day. Lond. 1754, 8vo.

            An Apology for the Clergy against the Hutchinsonians, Methodists, &c. 1755.

            The Destruction of the French Foretold by Ezekiel, being an ironical defence of the sects attacked in the former pamphlet. 1759.

            An attack on certain positions contained in Bower’s History of the Popes, &c. London, 1756.

            A Serious Defence of the Administration. 1756.

            Bower and Tillemont compared. 1757.

            A full confutation of Bower’s Three Defences. 1758.

            The Complete and Final Detection of Bower. 1758.

            The Conduct of a late noble Commander candidly Considered; (in defence of Lord George Sackville). 1759.

            A Letter to two great Men on the approach of Peace; Which excited great attention, and was generally attributed to Lord Bath. 1759.

            In 1760, he wrote the Preface to the translation of Hooke’s Negociations in Scotland.

            Seasonable Hints frm an Honest Man. 1761.

            The Sentiments of a Frenchman; written in December 1762, on the day on which the preliminaries of peace were to be taken into consideration in parliament. Being printed on a sheet of paper it was pasted on the walls in every part of London, and distributed among the members as they entered the house.

            In 1763, he superintended the publication of Henry earl of Clarendon’s Diary and Letters, and wrote the Preface prefixed to these papers.

            During 1766, 1767, and 1768, he wrote several political papers printed in the Public Advertiser; and all the Letters which appeared in that Paper in 1770 and 1771, under the signatures of Tacitus and Manlius, were written by him.

            In 1766 and 1777 he was employed in preparing Captain Cook’s Journal for publication. In 1781, he prepared for publication the Journal of Cook’s third and last voyage, and supplied the Introduction and Notes.

            In 1777, he assisted Lord Hardwicke in arranging and publishing his Miscellaneous Papers, which came out in the following year.

            A Sermon, preached before the House of Lords on the anniversary of King Charles’ martyrdom. London, 1789, 4to.

            The anniversary sermon, preached before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, prefixed to the annual printed account of their proceedings, 1793.

DOUGLAS, SIR CHARLES, Bart., a distinguished naval officer, a native of Scotland, and a descendant of the sixth earl of Morton, was originally in the Dutch service, and it was with difficulty that he was enabled to obtain rank in the British navy. In the Seven Years’ War, which commenced in 1756, he was gradually promoted till he became post-captain. In 1763 he went to St. Petersburgh. In 1775, on the war with America breaking out, he had a broad pendant given him, and commanded the squadron employed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. His services on this station obtained for him the most flattering honours on his return to England, and he was created a baronet, 23d January 1777, for having, at the head of his squadron, the previous year, forced a passage up the river St. Lawrence, and relieved Quebec, then closely invested by the Americans. Soon after he obtained the command of the duke, of 98 guns. sir Charles cultivated on shipboard a natural genius for mechanics, for which he was remarkable; and at his suggestion, the substitution of locks for matches in naval gunnery was universally adopted throughout the British navy. He was appointed, November 24, 1781, captain of the fleet to Sir George Rodney, then about to proceed on his second expedition to the West Indies. Sir George’s flag being hoisted in the Formidable, Sir Charles assumed the command of that vessel; and, sailing from Torbay, January 15, 1782, they engaged and signally defeated the French fleet on the ensuing 12^th of April; the Formidable, followed by the Namur, the Canada, and the rest of the ships astern, having broken through the enemy’s line. The merit of this skillful manoeuvre, which till then was unknown in naval warfare, has been claimed for his father, since his death, by Sir Howard Douglas, son of Sir Charles, but Mr. Clerk of Eldin seems to have originally suggested the idea. Sir Charles was afterwards intrusted with the command of the Nova Scotia station, which he soon resigned. During the preparations for war in 1787, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and in 1788 was re-appointed to the Nova Scotia station. He died suddenly at Edinburgh of apoplexy 10^th March 1789. He was so perfect a linguist that he could speak six European languages correctly. He married, first, a Dutch lady of rank, who died in 1769, and secondly, Sarah, daughter of John Wood, Esq., and had three sons and two daughters.

DOUGLAS, SYLVESTER, LORD GLENBERVIE, eldest son of John Douglas of Fechil in Aberdeenshire, descended from Sir Archibald Douglas of Glenbervie, grandson of the fifth earl of Angus, was born May 24, 1743. He was educated for the medical profession, which he forsook for the law; and attained to great eminence at the English bar. In September 1789 he married the eldest daughter of Lord North, the prime minister, afterwards earl of Guildford. His first political situation was that of secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1793 he was elected M.P. for St. Canice in that kingdom. IN 1795 he was chosen M.P. in the parliament of Great Britain for Fowey in Cornwall, and the same year constituted one of the commissioners for the affairs of India, an office which he held till 1806. In 1796 he was chosen for Midhurst. In 1797 he became one of the lords of the treasury, and in November 1800 was appointed governor of the Cape of Good Hope. On 29^th December of that year he was created a peer of Ireland, under the title of Lord Glenbervie of Kincardine, and did not go out to the Cape, having relinquished the governorship in February 1801, when he was nominated joint paymaster-general of the forces in the room of Mr. Canning. In 1803 he was appointed surveyor-general of the woods and forests, which office he resigned in 1806, but resumed it in 1807. He died May 2, 1823. At his death, (his son, the Hon. Frederick Sylvester North Douglas, having died before him,) the title became extinct. His works are:

            Speech in the House of Commons, April 23d, 1799, relative to the Union with Ireland. 1799, 8vo.

            History of the Cases of Controverted Elections, which were tried and determined during the first and second session of the 14^th Parliament of Great Britain, being the 15^th and 16^th Sessions of Geo. III.; with an Introduction, of the Jurisdiction of the House of Commons in the trial of Controverted Elections . Lond. 1785, 2 vols. 8vo. 2d edition, with additions. 1786. 3d edit. with additions. Lond. 1790, 8vo. 4^th edit. with additions by William Frere, Sergeant at Law. Lond. 1813, 2 vols. 8vo.

            Reports of Cases in the Court of King’s Bench, in the 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st years of Geo. III. 3d edition with additions. Lond. 1790, 2 vols. 8vo.

            Experiments and Observations on a blue Substance found in a Peat Moss in Scotland. Phil. Trans. Abr. xii. 547. 1768.

            On the Tokay and other Wines of Hungary. Ib. xiii. 451. 1773.

DOUGLAS, SIR ROBERT, Bart. of Glenbervie, succeeded his brother, Sir William Douglas, in 1764. He was the author of ‘The Peerage of Scotland,’ historical and genealogical, illustrated with plates, Edinburgh, 1764, folio. The second edition, revised and corrected, and with a Continuation by the late John Philip Wood, Esq., appeared in 1814, in 2 vols. folio. Sir Robert also compiled the Baronetage of Scotland, containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Gentry of that Kingdom, published at Edinburgh in 1798. He was thrice married, but had issue only by his second wife, Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir James MacDonald of MacDonald, baronet, viz., Alexander, a physician of eminence, who succeeded him, and Janet, married to Kenneth, a younger son of Donald Mackenzie, Esq. of Kilcoy.

DOUGLAS, WILLIAM, an eminent miniature painter, a lineal descendant of the Glenbervie family, was born in Fifeshire, April 14, 1780. He received a useful education, and was well acquainted with both the dead and living languages. From his infancy he displayed a taste for the fine arts. While yet a mere child, he would leave his play-fellows to their sports, to watch the effects of light and shade, and, creeping along the furrows of the fields, study the perspective of the ridges. This enabled him to excel as a landscape painter, and gave great beauty to his miniatures. He and Mr. John Burnet, the celebrated engraver, were fellow apprentices to the late Mr. Robert Scott of Edinburgh. Having adopted the profession of a miniature painter, he was liberally patronized by many of the nobility and gentry both of Scotland and England, and his works will be found in some of the finest collections in this country. He was, in particular, employed by the Buccleuch family, and July 9, 1817, was appointed miniature painter for Scotland to the late lamented Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold, afterwards king of the Belgians. He possessed genius, fancy, taste, delicacy, and that rarer gift, combination, in a very high degree; and his enthusiasm for his art could only be surpassed by his excellence. His private virtues and social worth were acknowledged by all who had the privilege of his acquaintance. In his domestic relations, he was an affectionate husband, a good father, and a warm-hearted and faithful friend. His constant engagements prevented him from contributing to the Edinburgh exhibitions; but his works frequently graced the walls of the Royal Academy at Somerset House. Mr. Combe, the phrenologist, had a cast taken from his head while in life, and mentions, in one of his works, that the organs of his cranium were well developed for his profession. In a note attached to Mr. David Mallock’s poem on ‘The Immortality of the Soul,’ that gentleman thus speaks of him: – “The author would take this opportunity of stating, that if he has been at all successful in depicting any of the bolder features of nature, this he in a great measure owes to the conversation of his respected friend, William Douglas, Esq., Edinburgh, who was no less a true poet than an eminent artist.” Mr. Douglas died at his house, Hart Street, Edinburgh, January 30, 1832. He left a widow, a son, and two daughters.

DOUGLAS, DAVID, an eminent botanist and enterprising traveller, whose name is associated with all the rare and beautiful plants introduced in his time from North West America, was born at Scone, near Perth, in 1799. While yet a boy, he was employed in the gardens of the earl of Mansfield, at that time under the superintendence of Mr. Beattie, to whom he was bound apprentice for seven years. About 1817 he removed to Valleyfield, the seat of Sir Robert Preston, Bart., and about 1819 obtained admission to the Botanic Garden at Glasgow, where his fondness for plants attracted the notice of Dr., afterwards Sir W. J. Hooker, professor of botany, whom he accompanied in his excursions through the western Highlands, and assisted in collecting materials for the ‘Flora Scotica,’ with which that gentleman was then engaged. Dr. Hooker recommended him to the Horticultural Society of London as a botanical collector; and in 1823 he was despatched to the United States, where he procured many fine plants and greatly increased the Society’s collection of fruit trees. He returned in the autumn of the same year, and in July 1824 he was sent to explore the botanical riches of the country adjoining the Columbia river, and southwards towards California. On his arrival there in the succeeding April, he at once commenced his researches; and, from time to time, transmitted home vast collections of seeds, along with dried specimens, beautivully preserved, which became part of the Herbarium in the garden of the society at Chiswick. Of the genus Pinus he discovered several species, some of which attained to an enormous size; and to him botanists are indebted for the elegant Clarkia, the different species of Pentsemons, Lupines, Œnotheras, Ribeses, and a host of other ornamental plants.

      He returned to England in September 1827, and was shortly afterwards elected a fellow of the Linnaean, Geological, and Zoological Societies, to each of which he contributed several papers, since published in their ‘Transactions.’ About the beginning of October 1829, Mr. Douglas again sailed for the Columbia river, where he arrived June 3, 1830. After re-visiting North California, he made an excursion to the Sandwich islands. He died July 12, 1834, at the age of thirty-six, in the island of Hawaii, on the road to Hido, having falled into a pit made by the natives for catching wild bulls; and, one of the latter being in it at the time, it is supposed that his death was caused by wounds inflicted on him by the captured bullock.