BI 0 GRAPH I GAL SKETCH E S. 317
cxxx.
CAPTAIN JAMES JUSTICE OF JUSTICE HALL,
AND
A LADY IN THE COSTUME OF 1790.
SIR JAMESJ USTICdeEsc,e nded from a family of that name in England, came
to Scotland about the end of the seventeenth century, and held the office of
Clerk to the Scottish Parliament. He acquired the estate of Crichton, with the
celebrated castle, in the county of Edinburgh, which he left to his son, James
Justice, Esq., who was one of the principal Clerks of the Court of Session. This
gentleman was very fond of horticulture ; and was the author of a book entitled
“Justice’s Scots Gardener ”-a work which, as the result of practical experience
with reference to the soil and climate of Scotland, was formerly in great repute,
and is still worthy of consultation. The author was so great an enthusiast in
this favourite pursuit, that he spent large sums in importing foreign seeds,
roots, and trees. The collecting of tulips being one of the fancies of his day,
Nr. Justice was so deeply affected with the mania, that he has been known not
to hesitate giving 350, or sometimes more,’ for a single rare tulip root. The
extravagance of this propensity, with other causes, rendered it necessary for
him to part with his estate of Crichton; and about the year 1735 it became
the property of Mark Pringle, Esq.’ With the residue of the price of this large
property Mr. Justice purchased some lands in the vicinity of the village of
Ugston, or Oxton, in the parish of Channelkirk and county of Berwick, where
he built a mansion-house, which he called Justice Hall-a name which it still
retains.
By his second marriage Mr. Justice left an only son (the subject of the
Print), who was born about the year 1755 ; but at what period he succeeded
his father is not exactly known. He entered the army as an officer in the
marine service ; served abroad during the American war, and attained the rank
of Captain. He was above six feet in height and well proportioned. His
“he rage for tulips was, for a long series of years, peculiar to the Dutch, who used to give very
large prices for single roots of a rare description. For a short period it was very prevalent in Britain,
where a gentleman is reported to have given a thousand pounds for a black tulip-he being at the
time the owner of another root of the same description. Upon making the purchase he put the
root below hi heel and destroyed it, observing that nuw he was the possessor of the only black tulip
in the world I ! !
a This gentleman killed William Scott of Raehurn, great grand-uncle of Sir Walter, in a duel.
They fought with swords, aa was the fashion of the time, in a field near Selkirk, called, from the
catastrophe, the Rseburn Meadow. Mr. Pringle fled to Spain, and was long a captive and slave in
Barbary.-l;ockhart’s f i f e of Scott, p. 4, vol. i
