BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 233
personal knowledge possessed by the artist, and rumour has not assigned any
particular circumstance matrimonial as a foundation for the caricature.’ His
lordship was universally known to be a very excellent and patriotic man-goodnatured,
though not so to a fault ; and we are not aware that the Countess had
a more inordinate desire of domination than is common to most other ladies of
spirit.
JOHN FIRST MARQUIS OF BREADALBANE, EARL OF ORMELIE, etc.,
was born in 1762. He was the eldest son of Colin Campbell of Carwhin, by
Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald Campbell of Stonefield, Sheriff of Argyleshire,
and sister to Lord Stonefield, one of the Senators of the College of Justice.
He was educated at Westminster School; and afterwards resided for some
time at Lausanne, in Switzerland. He succeeded to the earldom and estates of
Breadalbane on the death of his cousin (father of the late Countess de Grey)
in 1783.
In 1784 his lordship was elected one of the sixteen representative Peers of
Scotland; and until created a British Peer in 1806, by the title of Baron
Breadalbane, was rechosen at all the subsequent elections.
In 17 9 3 he raised the Breadalbane Regiment of Fencibles,whichwas afterwards
increased to four battalions. One of these was enrolled, as the 11 6th Regiment,
in the regular service, and his lordship appointed Colonel of the corps. He
subsequently held the rank of a field officer, and was created a Marquis in 1831,
at the coronation of William IV.
The habits and disposition of the noble lord were not such as to make him
ostentatiously forward in public affairs. His attention was chiefly devoted to
the improvement of his immense estates, great portions of which, being unfitted
for cultivation he laid out in plantations. In 1805 he received the gold medal
of the Society of Arts for his success in planting forty-four acres of waste
land, in the parish of Kenmore, with Scots and larch firs, a species of rather
precarious growth, and adapted only to peculiar soils. In the magnificent
improvements at Taymouth his lordship displayed much taste ; and the Park
has been frequently described as one of the most extensive and beautiful in the
country.
Prince Leopold (afterwards King of the Belgians), when on a tour through
part of Scotland in 1819, paid a visit to Taymouth, where he was received with
all the hospitality characteristic of the olden times. His lordship’s tenantry
being summoned to attend in honour of the distinguished guest, about two
thousand men assembled in front of the Castle,
“ All plaided and plumed in their tartan array,”
where they performed a variety of evolutions very much to the gratification of
the Prince.
1 It ww said the Print waa suggested by some of the officem of the Fencibles, who, having been
refused leave of absence, attributed their want of success to the interference of Lady Breadalbane.
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