BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 193.
Mft. MONCRIEF of Moredun, the venerablelooking old gentleman on the
right, entered as a member of the Faculty of Advocates a.t an early age, but he
never made a distinguished figure as a lawyer. His temper was naturally
distant and reserved ; and, far from seeking those intimacies which usually
contribute to bring many a person of inferior ability into practice, he rather
shunned than courted society.
He was very early promoted to the office of King’s Remembrancer in the
Exchequer Court, the duties of which he discharged for many years with fidelity
and attention. He was then preferred to the more elevated station of a Baron
of the Exchequer, and in this situation fully maintained the character which he
had previously acquired for regularity and despatch of business.
Baron Moncrief continued all his life a bachelor ; and, although by no means
parsimonious, amassed a considerable fortune. He took much pleasure in cultivating
the garden at Moredun,’ which, with great labour and expense, he brought
to the highest state of perfection. He was for many years most attentive in
presenting His Grace the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly
with such rarities as his garden afforded. Prior to his removal to Moredun, Mr.
Moncrief occupied that self-contained house in the Horse Wynd, next door to
the shop of Mr. Paton, carver and gilder.
Sir Thomas Moncrief, Baronet, of that Ilk, was the Baron’s nephew, and
nearest heir. Mr. Kay, in his MS. notes, mentions that the uncle, being
anxious to engage his nephew in a matrimonial alliance of his own choosing,
succeeded in completing a match between Sir Thomas and Lady Elizabeth
Ramsay, sister of the Earl of Dalhousie. On the celebration of the marriage
the Baron was very liberal, and presented all the domestics of Sir Thomas with
handsome presents, in honour of the auspicious occasion : but as
“ The best laid schemes of men and mice
Gang aft agee, ”
so in this case the marriage did not realise that domestic felicity which the goodhearted
bachelor had so fondly anticipated.
It is possible that neither party had consulted their own feelings in the
matter ; but, be that as it may, the Baron conceived that the lady had been
indifferently treated by his nephew, and he did not hesitate to declare so. At
his death-as a substantial proof of his esteem for the one, and his disapprobation
of the conduct of the other-he left the lady his estate of Moredun, and all
the other property of which he could deprive his heir-at-law.
Moredun is in the parish of Liberton, and about three miles from Edinburgh. It is now the
property of David Anderson, Esq., of the firm of Sir William Forbes and Company, banken in
Edinburgh. The garden, so much the favourite of the Baron, is still cultivated with peculiar care,
and does great credit to its present proprietor.
2 c
194 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. LXXX.
REV. GREVILLE EWING.
AS the subject of this sketch is still alive, and engaged in public service, propriety
forbids our entering into the minuter details of his personal history,
He is a native of Edinburgh, where he was born in 1767. Being originally designed
for a secular profession, he was, at the usual age, bound apprentice to an
engraver. A strong desire, however, to be engaged in the work of the ministry
induced him, at the close of his apprenticeship, to relinquish his intended profession
and devote himself to study. He accordingly entered the University of
Edinburgh, where he passed through the usual curriculum of preparatory discipline
; and, in the year 1792, he was licensed to preach in connection with the
National Church by the Presbytery of Hamilton. A few months after this he
was ordained, as colleague with Dr. Jones, to the office of minister of Lady
Glenorchy’s Chapel, Edinburgh.
A deep interest in the cause of missions seems, at an early period of Mr.
Ewing’s ministry, to have occupied his mind. At that time such enterprises
were to a great degree novelties in this country; and even, by many who
wished them well, great doubts were entertained of their ultimate success. By
his exertions and writings he contributed much to excite a strong feeling in regard
to them in Edinburgh ; nor did he content himself with this, but, fired with
a spirit of true disinterested zeal, he determined to devote himself to the work
of preaching the gospel to the heathen. For this purpose he united with a
party of friends, like-minded with himself, who had formed a plan of going out
to India and settling themselves there as teachers of Christianity to the native
population. The individuals principally engaged in this undertaking besides
Alr. Ewing, were the Rev. David Bogue, D.D., of Gosport; the Rev. William
Innes, then one of the ministers of Stirling, now of Edinburgh; and Robert
Haldane, Esq. of Airthrey, near Stirling,-by the latter of whom the expenses
of the mission were to be defrayed. With the exception of Dr. Bogue, all these
gentlemen still survive. The peremptory refusal of the East India Company,
after repeated applications and memorials on the subject, to permit their going
out, caused the ultimate abandonment of this scheme. Mr. Ewing, however, and
his associates, feeling themselves pledged to the missionary cause, and seeing no
opening for going abroad, began to exert themselves for the promotion of religion
at home. A periodical, under the title of The Missionary Magazine, was started
in Edinburgh, of which Mr. Ewing undertook the editorship, the duties of
which office he discharged in the most efficient manner for the first three years
.
