198 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
“ For worth revered, 10 I full of years,
Amid the sorrowing people’s tears,
Does Hopetoun to the tomb descend,
Who mourn their constant, kindest friend,
Oft have I heard, as o’er hie land
I wandered in my youthful days,
The farmer bless his fostering hand,
And ploughman’s ruder note of praise.
Oft,(too, in Humbie’s fairy vale-
Of Hopetoun have I heard the tale
Romantic vale I so sweetly wild-
Of sorrow soothed or want beguiled.
The mausoleum may arise,
But far superior are the sighs
Displaying well the sculptor’s art ;
That rise from many a wounded heart.
The historic record shall survive,
The legendary tribute live
And unimpaired its meed bestow ;
When time haa laid the structure low.
In early life to warfare trained,
He gained the glory arms can yield ;
When Gallia had her lilies stained
On Minden’s memorable field.
Hsnce wreathed, the titled path he trod-
A path (haw few pursue his plan !)
Bright, marked with piety to God
And warm benevolence to man.
The niche he leaves a brother fills,
Long, long o’er Scotia’s vales and hills
Whose prowess fame has blazoned wide ;
Shall Niddry’s deeds be told with pride !”
Having no male issue, the Earl of Hopetoun was succeeded by his half-brother
John, fourth Earl, G.C.B., and General in the Army, who had distinguished
himself so much by his gallantry and abilities in the West Indies in 1794 ; in
Holland in 1799 j and at the battles of Corunna, Bayonne, Bourdeaux, and
Toulouse. For these services he was created a British Peer in 1814, by the
title of Baron Niddry. A
handsome equestrian statue has lately been erected to his memory in St. Andrew
Square, in front of the Royal Bank, by the citizens of Edinburgh.
. Earl John was twice married,-first, in 1798, to Elizabeth, youngest
.(aughter of Charles Hope Vere of Craighall, who died without issue in 1801 ;
secondly, in 1803, to Louisa Dorothea, third daughter of Sir John Wedderburn
of Ballendean, by whom he had twelve children,’ of whom seven sons and
It will be recollected that when George IV. visited Scotland in 1822, his Majesty embarked at
Port-Edgar, having previously partaken of a repast at Hopetoun House with the Earl, his family,
and a select company assembled for the occasion. While at breakfaat, one of the Earl’s sons, a lively
He died at Paris on the 27th August 1823.
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