BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 99
was said she afterwards formed a “ mesal2knce” with John (commonly called
Jack) Fortune, a surgeon, who went abroad (brother of Matthew Fortune,
who kept the Tontine, Princes Street)-both sons of old Fortune who
kept the noted tavern in the High Street, the resort of the higher ranks in Scotland
fifty years ago ;’ but Mrs. Fortune was a younger sister.
Sir Hew’s family originally consisted of fifteen, several of whom died when
young. The eldest daughter, Miss Mary, was married in 1775 to General
Fletcher of Saltoun (then Campbell of Boquhan), and afterwards to Colonel
John Hamilton of Bardowie, in Stirlingshire; and the second, Lucken, was
married to General Gordon Cuming of Pitlurg, Aberdeenshire, by whom she
had ten children.
Mr. Kay mentions that the publication of this Print created great excitement
at the time (1784), and was the cause of several articles being written pro and
con in the periodicals of the day. Captain Crawford (brother to the lady) was
very much irritated, and threatened to cudgel the limner, at the same time
“ daring him at his peril to pencil any lady ever after.” As might have been
expected, this threat had a very contrary effect-being immediately followed by
an alteration of the Plate, making the head-dress of Miss Crawford a little more
ridiculous, and also by the caricature of ‘‘ RETALIATIO;N O R THE CUDGELLER
CAUGHT.”
RETALIATION ; OR THE CUDGELLER CAUGHT,
REPRESENTthSe gallant and high-minded Captain Crawford, who was then young,
in the hands of a brawny porter, while his sister and her companion, Miss Hay
of Montblairy, who then resided with her mother in Haddington’s Entry, Canongate,
are lustily calling out for help. This caricature, however, is supposed to
have been merely a flight of fancy, without any foundation in fact. Captain
Crawford, afterwards Sir Hew, was a very handsome man. He married a Miss
Johnston, of the county of Leitrim in Ireland, by whom he had two sons and
three daughters.
“On the 10th of October 1775, a wager w8s determined at Fortune’a tavern, Edinburgh, on the
quality of the beef of two bullocks-one fed by the Duke of Buccleuch, the other by John Lumsdaine
of Blanairn, Esq. A sirloin of each waa roasted ; and it took two men to carry each to the table.
The wager was determined in favour of the Duke. Besides his Grace and Mr. Lumsdaine, there were
a goodly number of other iioblemen, gentlemen, clergy, etc., at dinner-twenty-one in number--aZZ
dressed in the nzanufactures of Scotland.” The Duke of Bucclench is well known to have been “ a
great encourager of Scotch manufactures,” which were at that time in their infancy.-The Earl of
Hopetoun, as Commissioner to the General kssembly, used to hold state in Fortune’s tavern ; and
on election occasions the Scottish Peers frequently terminated the proceedings of the day by dining
there. The premises were at an earlier period the town residence of the Earls of Eglinton.
100 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. XLVIII.
HENRY VISCOUNT MELVILLE
AND
THE HON. ROBERT DUNDAS OF ARNISTON,
LORD CHIEF BARON OF THE COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
THE first figure in this Print represents the Right Honourable HENRY
DUNDAS, Viscount Melville and Barop Dunira.
Mr. Dundas was second son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord President
of the Court of Session,’ by Anne, daughter of Sir William Gordon of Invergordon,
his lordship’s second wife, and was borq an the 28th April 1742.
After completing his education at the University of Edinburgh with the
usual course of legal st,udy, he was admitted a Member of the Faculty of Advocates
in the year 1763,
At this period it has been said, that, after paying the expense of his education
and admission to the faculty, Mr. Dundas had just sixty pounds remaining of
his patrimony.
Mr. Dundas began his splendid public career in the comparatively humble
capacity of an assessor to the Magistrates of Edinburgh. The office of one of his
Majesty’s Depute-Advocates was then conferred upon him j and subsequently
he was appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland.
To these situations he recommended himself by his superior talents, which
were early displayed, and which obtained for him the highest consideration of
the Bench and Bar. But the ambition of Mr. Dundas was directed to higher objects
than were to be attained even by the most brilliant success at the Scotch
bar, where the only honour that would follow the most successful exertion of
talent, would be a seat on the bench. He accordingly resolved to try his fortunes
in the sister kingdom, and with this view, in the year 1774, successfully
contested the county of Mid-Lothian with the Ministerial candidate. He, however,
afterwards joined the party then in power-became a zealous and able
supporter of Lord North‘s Administration-and was, as a reward for his services,
appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland in 1775. Two years afterwards, he
obtained the appointment of Keeper of his Majesty’s Signet for Scotland.
1 To prevent any misconception, it may be right to mention that there were two Presidents of
the Court of Session hearing the name of Robert Dundas. The first, who waa born on the 9th
December 1685, and died on the 26th August 1753, was the father of Lord Viscount Melville. The
second, who was born on the 18th July 1713, and died, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, on the
13th December 1787, waa the eldest son of the preceding judge by his first marriage with Elizabeth,
daughter of Robert Watson, Esq. of Xuirhouse, and in this way was the “half-brother ” (to use a
Scotticism) of Lord Melville.
