21 EIOG RAP HI GAL SKETCH E S.
No. CLXXVIII.
GENERAL JAMES GRANT OF BALLINDALLOCH.
GENERAL GRANT entered the army as an ensign in the Royal Regiment in
1741, at the age of twenty-one, having previously applied himself to the study
of the law. In 1747 he was Aide-de-camp to General St. Clair on his embassy
to Vienna, to which David Hume, the historian, acted as secretary. On the
journey, Hume and Sir Henry Erskine, General St. Clair’s other Aide-de-camp,
quarrelled, and would not exchange words, on which occasion Captain Grant
had the difficult task of keeping up the conversation, while all four travelled
in the same carriage, so as to conceal from General St. Clair the terms on
which the other two stood. He saw a good deal of service both in the Low
Countries and in America : in the latter he held several high commands during
the war. He was second in command to Lord Albemarle at the taking of the
Havannah, directed the attack on the Morne Fortunbe at St. Lucia, and was
afterwards Governor of East Florida, After having been for some years
Governor of Dumbarton Castle, he was appointed in 1789 to the Government
of that of Stirling, in the room of Lieutenant-General Mackay, and was Colonel,
first of the 55th, and afterwards of the 11th Regiment of Foot. He represented
the county of Sutherland in Parliament for many years, and was an intimate
friend of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, as also of the Earls of Sutherland and
Panmure! and of General Scott of Balconie. When walking one day with the
last of these, Nisbet of Dirleton satirically remarked--“ There go the Imepam6Zes
-an honest but a simple pair.“
General Grant was one of the most noted bow vivants of his day; and
when travelling was always accompanied by his cooks. It was an established
rule with him not to hazard his palate on any dish until its quality had been
previously ascertained. While in command of the forces in the north of
England, where he kept an open table for his military friends, he would say to
his Aide-de-camp--“ Monypenny, have you ate of that dish more than once 8”
If answered in the affiative, he would add-“Then be kind enough to help
me.” He usuallf spent the winter in London, where the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of York frequently partook of his good cheer, and where he
daily entertained small and select parties. During summer he kept open house
at his country residence of Ballindalloch, beautifully situated on the banks of
the Spey and Avon, in Morayshire ; and spared no expense on its improvement.
Some parts of the waste lands, it is said, cost him at the rate of one hundred
pounds per acre ; but he used to say that he would rather “ Buy land at that
rate on his own estate than at a very low one anywhere else.’’ It was a maxim