BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 217
No. XCI.
SIR WILLIAM NAIRNE, BARONET,
LORD DUNSINNAN.
THIS gentleman was the son of Sir William Nairne, the second baronet of
Dunsinnan. Not being the oldest son, and having only a distant prospect of
succeeding to the estate, he was educated for the profession of the lam-, and
admitted an advocate in 1755. He was in 1758 appointed Commissary-Clerk
of Edinburgh, conjunctly with Alexander Nairne, a relative of his own. Sir
William (then Mr. Nairne), continued to practise at the bar upwards of thirty
years; and, if he did not acquire the fame of a great orator or a profound
lawyer, he was at least respectable in both capacities, and his virtues gained him
what was perhaps better-the esteem of all who knew him.
On the death of Lord Kennet, in 1786, Sir William was promoted to the
bench, and took his seat as Lord Dunsinnan-a circumstance which called forth
the following complimentary pun from the late Duchess of Gordon. A short
time after his elevation, her grace, happening to meet the newly appointed judge,
inquired what title he had assumed-Dunsinnun was of course the reply. ‘‘ I
am astonished at that, my lord,” said the Duchess, ‘‘ for I never knew that
you had begun sinning.”
In 1790 Sir William succeeded to the baronetcy, on the death of his nephew,
and thus became the fifth in succession who bore the title. He at the same
time bought the estate of Dunsinnan from another nephew, for the sum of
$16,000 ; and having almost no funds remaining, he was under the necessity
of adopting the utmost economy in order to clear off the purchase money. With
this view he continued to live a bachelor, keeping almost no company j and so
strictly did he abide by the rules he had laid down in this respect, that he was
accused by many of being actuated by very narrow and parsimonious feelings.
It is told of him, as illustrative of his peculiar economy, that he had only me
bed at Dunsinnan, besides those occupied by his servants, thus to preclude the
possibility of being put to the expense of entertaining visitors. It so occurred
that the late George Dempster of Dunnichen, one of the most intimate of the
very few friends with whom his lordship associated, paid him a visit at Dunsinnan
on one occasion ; and having tarried a little later than usual, a violent storm
arose, which induced Mr. Dempster to think of remaining all night. Dunsinnan,
unwilling to declare iAe inhospitable arrangement of his mansion, evaded
the proposition by every means possible, in hopes that the storm might abate.
At last, finding no likelihood of this, he sallied forth to the stable to order his
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