150 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
and, even in his latter years, when retiring from a hard-fought field in Dunn’s
Hotel, or any other convivial place of resort, he would allow no escort.
His remains
were interred in the Greyfriars’ Churchyard, where a stone records the following
tribute to his memory :-
Mr. Grant died at his house, in Erown’s Square, in 1784.
SACRED,
To the Memory of
ISAAGCR ANT,E sq., of Hilton,
Writer to His Majesty’s Signet,
who died the 27th December 1794,
aged seventy years ;
universally esteemed and much regretted
by all who knew him.
In him the poor lost a friend, the rich a
cheerful, facetious companion, and
the world an honest man.
This Stone was erected at the reqliest
of his eldest aon, ISAAGCR ANT,
Feb. 2, Anno Domini 1798.
The third, or rather the first figure in the background, represents another
old bachelor, ARCHIBALD MACARTHUR STEWART, Esq., of Ascog-a
gentleman somewhat eccentric in several particulars. He generally wore white
clothes, of the description exhibited in the Print, and had a peculiar manner of
throwing his legs over each other in walking, which was owing probably to his
great corpulency.
Mr. Stewart was the only son of Mr. Macarthur of Milton, and succeeded to
the estate of Ascog, under a deed of entail executed by John Murray of Blackbarony,
of the lands of Ascog, and others, dated 28th May 1763. His relationship
to the entailer is not mentioned in the deed; and he is called to the
succession upon the failure of heirs of the entailer, and of his sister Mary and
her heirs. Mr. Murray left a large personal estate, which was invested by his
successor, Mr. Macarthur, in the purchase of land in Argyleshire.
Not less wealthy than Mr. Grant, and, like him, a bachelor not of the most
continent habits, he is said to have been exceedingly parsimonious in his
domestic arrangements. Kay relates that, when he lived at the Castle Hill, he
kept no housekeeper or servant, but generally employed some neighbour’s wife
or daughter to perform the ordinary drudgery of the house. He had a great
attachment to swine, and kept a litter of pigs in his bedroom. On removing
to other premises, some time after the death of his mother, with whom he resided,
it is told, as illustrative of his singular notions, that he would not allow the
furniture to be disturbed, but locked up the house, under the impression that
the old lady might occasionally come back and take up her abode there !
Mr. Stewart was proprietor of part of the lands of Coates, near Edinburgh,
and lived for some years in the old turreted house at the west end of Melville
Street, He latterly resided in Lord Wemyss’ house, Lauriston, where he died
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 151
on the 28th March 1815, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His estates were
separated-the Ascog estate falling to Frederick Campbell Stewart, Esq., the
next substitute of entail-and the Milton property returning to the heir of his
father, John Macarthur. His unentailed and personal estate was left to a lady
-a distant relation-who had for some years before his death taken charge of
him.
The figure next to Stewart is that of the HON. JOHN LESLIE, then a
Captain, and afterwards a Lieut.-General in the army. He was t.he son of
David sixth Earl of Leven, and born in 1759. He joined the army in 1778,
as an ensign in the first Foot Guards, with which regiment he fought, against the
French in Holland in 1794, where he was wounded.’ He was subsequently
promoted. In 1808 he was made Lieut.-General, and served on the Continent
during a considerable portion of the late war. He died about the year 1827.
His widow, the Hon. Mrs. Leslie, was a daughter of the late Thomas Cumming,
Esq., banker.
The handsome figure to the right represents CAPTAIN (afterwards Major-
General) WEMYSS of Wemyss Castle, then M.P. for the county of Fife.
Being cousin to the Duchess of Sutherland, he was appointed Colonel of the
regiment of Fencibles raised on her estate in 1779, and which was disbanded in
1783. When this corps was reimbodied in 1793, he was again invested with
the command, and served with the regiment in Ireland during the Eebellion.
In the meantime his rank in the army going on, he became Major-General ;
and, in 1800, was commissioned to form a regiment of the line, which he did,
chiefly composed of those who had previously served in the Sutherland
Fencibles, reduced on the suppression of the Eebellion about two years before.
This corps still exists as the 93d Highlanders.
Major-General Wemyss married the eldest daughter of General Sir W.
Erskine, Bart., by which connection the estate of Tor$ fell to the possession
of his son, Captain James Erskine Wemyss, then M.P. for Fife. He died at
Wemyss Castle, on the 5th February 1822.
The ladies introduced in the Print are some of the fair friends in whose company
the parties were occasionally to be seen on the fashionable promenades.
Their costumes display the prevailing taste of the times. The head-dresses
were those in vogue immediately prior to the introduction of the Lunardi bonnets.
1 Captain Leslie wan of so very spare a figwe, that his brother officers affected to be greatly
snrprised at the possibility of his having received aflesh wound.
Sir James Erskine of Tarry, brother-in-law of the late General Wemyss, was 8 devoted
admirer of the fine arts, and formed a collection of paintings, marbles, and bronzes, said to have
cost about f15,000, the whole of which he bequeathed to the College of Edinburgh, for the purpose
of “laying a foundation for a Gallery for the encouragement of the fine arts.” Si James died in
1825. The title and estate descended to his brother John (a bachelor), on whose death in 1836,
the will of the donor became available ; and the pictures are now deposited in the National Gallery
until funds can be procured foi carrying the intentions of the testator more fully into effect.
The wound was in the thigh.
