350 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Hope Park.
British House of Lords, would have left the fortress
of honours and of property in ruins.?? The decision
of the Court of Session in 1767 led to serious disturbances
and much acrimony; thus the reversal
of it, two years subsequently, was received in Scotland
with the greatest demonstrations of joy.
Archibald, third marquis, and first Duke of
Douglas, created so in 1703, was the representative
of that long and illustrious line of warriors whose
race and family history are second to none in
Europe.
His father, the second marquis, had been twice
married-first to a daughter of the Earl of Mar, by
whom he had the gallant Earl of Angus, who fell
at Steinkirk in 1692 ; and secondly, to Lady Mary
Kerr, of the house of Lothian, by whom he had
Archibald, afterwards Duke of Douglas, his successor,
and Lady Jean, or Jane, celebrated, like
most of the women of her family, for her remarkable
beauty, but still more so for her singularly evil
fate.
In the first flush of her womanhood she was
betrothed to Francis, Earl of Dalkeith, who succeeded
his grandmother in the ducal title of
Buccleuch ; but the marriage was broken off, and
he chose another bride, also a Jane Douglas, cf the
house of Queensberry, and for many years after this,
the heroine of our story persistently refused all
offers that were made for her hand.
At length, in the eventful year 1746, when residing
at Druinsheugh, when she was in her fortyeighth
year, she was secretly married to Colonel
John Stewart, brother of Sir George Stewart, Bart.,
of Grantully, but a somewhat penniless man. Thus
the sole income of the newly-wedded pair consisted
of only A300 per annum, given rather grudgingly
by the Duke of Douglas to his sister. with whom
he was on very indifferent terms.
For economy the couple repaired to France for
-three years, and on returning, brought with them two
boys, of whom they alleged Lady Jane had been
delivered in Paris. Six months before their return
their mamage was only made known, on which the
duke, already referred to in our account of the
Yotterrow, though childless, at once withdrew the
usual allowance, and thus plunged them in the
direst distress; and to add thereto, Colonel Stewart?s
creditors cast him into prison, while his sons were
declared spurious.
With womanly heroism Lady Jane bore up against
her troubles, and addressed the following letter to
hlr. Pelham, the Secretary of State :-?6 Sir,-If I
meant to importune you, I should ill deserve the
generous compassion which I was .informed, some
months ago, you expressed on being acquainted
with my distress. I take this as the least troublesome
way of thanking you, and desiring you to lay
my application before the king in such ix light as
your own humanity will suggest. I cannot tell my
story without seeming to complain of one of whom
E nmey will complain. I am persuaded my brother
wishes me well, but from a mistaken resentment,
upon a creditor of mine demanding from him a
trifling sum, he has stopped the annuity which he
has always paid me-my father having left me, his
only younger child, in a manner unprovided for.
Till the Duke of Douglas is set right-which I am
confident he will be--I am destifute. Presumptive
heiress to a great estate and family, with two children,
I want bread. Your own nobleness of mind
will make you feel how much it costs me to beg,
though from the king. My birth and the attachment
of my family, I flatter myself, His Majesty is
not unacquainted with. Should he think me an
object of his royal bounty, my heart won?t suffer
any bounds to my gratitude ; and, give me leave to
say, my spirit won?t suffer me to be burdensome to
His Majesty longer than my cruel necessity compels
me. I little thought of ever being reduced to
petition in this way ; your goodness mill therefore
excuse me if I have mistaken the manner or said
anything improper. Though personally unknown
to you, I rely on your intercession. The consciousness
of your own mind in having done so
good and charitable a deed will be a better return
than the thanks of JANE DOUGLAS-STEWART.?
A pension of A300 per annum was the result ot
this application ; but, probably from the accumulation
of past debts, the couple were still in trouble.
The colonel remained in prison, and Lady JBne
had to part with her jewels, and even her clothes,
to supply him with food, lest he might starve in the
King?s Bench. Meanwhile she resided in a humble
lodging at Chelsea, and the letters which passed
between the pair, many of which were touching in
their tenor, and which were afterwards laid before
the Court of Session, proved that their two children
were never absent from their thoughts, and were
the objects of the warmest affection.
Accompanied by them, Lady Jane came to
Edinburgh, and in the winter of 1752 took up her
residence at Hope Park, in the vicinity of her
brother?s house. She sought a reconciliation, but
the duke sternly refused to grant her even an interview,
In a letter dated from there 8th December,
1752, to the minister of Douglas, she complains of
the conduct of the Duke of Hamilton in her affairs,
and of some mischief which the Marquis of Lothian
had done to her cause at Douglas Castle, and adds
in a postscript :-
