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.
VOL 11. 2 H
231 B1,OGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
The Marquis married, in 1793, MARY TURNER GAVIN, eldest daughter
and co-heiress of David Gavin,’ Esq., of Langton, by Lady Elizabeth Maitland,
daughter of James seventh Earl of Lauderdale. The issue of this union were
two daughters and one son. The eldest, Lady Elizabeth Maitland, was married
to Sir John Pringle, of Stitchel, Bart., and the youngest, Lady Mary, to the
Marquis of Chandos, afterwards second Duke of Buckingham.
The Marquis of Breadalbane died at Taymouth Castle, after a short illness,
in 1834, aged seventy-two.’ He was succeeded by his son, John Earl of Ormelie,
lately M.P. for Perthshire. He married, in 1821, the eldest daughter of
George Baillie, Esq. of Jerviswood, then heir-presumptive to the earldom of
Haddington, but had no issue.
As a substantial proof that the “ sway I’ of the surviving Countess Dowager
sat lightly, her ladyship was left one of the richest widows in Scotland. Another
instance of peculiar esteem, on the part of the Marquis, was the fact that, a few
years before his death, he caused to be erected, at great expense, a Cross of the
most elegant architectural design, in honour of the Marchioness, upon which is
an inscription highly complimentary to her ladyship. The Cross stands in a
delightful and conspicuous situation, at the extreme end of the celebrated “Beech
Terrace,” at Taymouth.
No. CCXLIX.
CAMPBELL OF SONACHAN
LAUGHING AT THE PRINT OF ‘( PETTICOAT GOVERNMEKT.”
THE shop of the artist, a place of much attraction, was unusually so while
the novelty of the above Caricature continued. Mr. Campbell, whose property
bordered on that of Breadalbane, was acquainted with the Earl; and
happening, as rarely occurred, to be in Edinburgh, he was induced to gratify
his curiosity by a peep at Kay’s window, where, little dreaming of the trap laid
for him by his friends, he no sooner recognised the burlesque representation
Subsequently settling in Scotland,
he purchased the beautiful estate of Langton (the ancient seat of the Cockborns), near Dunse,
in Berwickshire.
-a The whole of the personal estate of the late Marquis, it is said, exceeding 6300,000, had been
directed by his will to accumulate for twenty years, at the end of which it was to be laid out on
estates, to be added to the entailed property ; but his settlement wm partly set aside by the Marquis
of Chandos, in right of his wife, xrho obtained an affirmance, by the House of Peers, of the decisiou
of the Court of Session, declaring that the Marchioness and her husband, in her right, were entitled
to demand legitim.
This gentleman made a fortune in Holland or the Netherlands.