By MRS. THOMSON,
AUTHOR OF
"MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH,"
"MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH," ETC.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1846.
LONDON:
Printed by S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley,
Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
[Pg iii]
In completing this work, I have to repeat my acknowledgments to thosefriends and correspondents to whom I expressed my obligations in thePreface to the first volume; and I have the additional pleasure ofrecording similar obligations from other channels.
I beg to testify my gratitude to Sir William Maxwell, Bart., ofMontreith, for some information regarding the Nithsdale family; which, Ihope, at some future time, to interweave with my biography of the Earlof Nithsdale; and also to Miss Charlotte Maxwell, the sister of SirWilliam Maxwell, whose enthusiasm for the subject of the Jacobites isproved by the interesting collection of Jacobite airs which she isforming, and which will be very acceptable to all who can appreciatepoetry and song.[Pg iv]
To Sir John Maxwell, Bart., of Pollock, and to Lady Matilda Maxwell, Ioffer my best thanks for their prompt and valued suggestions on the samesubject.
I owe much to the courtesy and great intelligence of Mrs. HowisonCraufurd, of Craufurdland Castle, Ayrshire: I have derived considerableassistance from that lady in the life of the Earl of Kilmarnock, andhave, through her aid, been enabled to give to the public severalletters never before published. For original information regarding theDerwentwater family, and for a degree of zeal, combined with accurateknowledge, I must here express my cordial thanks to the Hon. Mrs.Douglass, to whose assistance much of the interest which will be foundin the life of Charles Radcliffe is justly due.
I have also to acknowledge the kindness of Mons. Amedée Pichot, fromwhose interesting work I have derived great pleasure and profit; and toMadame Colmache, for her inquiries in the Biblothéque du Roi, fororiginal papers relating to the subject. To W. E. Aytoun, Esq., ofEdinburgh, I beg also to express my acknowledgments for his aid insupplying me with some curious information regarding the Duke of Perth.The kindness with which my researches, in every direction, have beenmet, has added to my[Pg v] task a degree of gratification, which now causesits close to be regarded with something almost like regret.
One advantage to be gained by the late publication of this third volume,is the criticism of friends on the two former ones. Amid many errors, Ihave been admonished, by my kind adviser and critic, Charles KirkpatrickSharpe, Esq., of having erred in accepting the common authorities inregard to the celebrated and unfortunate Lady Grange. Whatever were thesorrows of that lady, her faults and the provocation she gave to herirritated husband, were, it appears, fully equal to her misfortunes.Since the story of Lady Grange is not strictly connected with mysubject, I have only referred to it incidentally. At some future time,the singular narrative of her fate may afford me a subject of furtherinvestigation.
I beg to correct a mistake into which I had fallen, in the first volume,r