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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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324 B I 0 G R AP H I C AL S KE T C HE S. of ninety-three. In his manner and habits he was scarcely less peculiar than the Laird, though somewhat more particular as to his dress. He wore a plain coat, without any collar ; a stock in place of a neckcloth ; knee breeches ; rough stockings ; and shoes ornamented with niassy buckles. At an early period of life he persisted in wearing (until so annoyed by the boys as he walked in the Meadows, that he judged it prudent to comply with the fashion of the times, ’) a hat of a conical shape, with a narrow brim, in form not unlike a helmet. At a later period he adopted the broad-rimmed description represented in the Print. When he had occasion to call any of his domestics, he rang no bell, but invariably made use of a whistle, which he carried in his pocket for the purpose. His indifference to money matters amounted even to carelessness. He kept no books with bankers ; a drawer, and that by no means well secured, in his own house, being the common depository of his cash, Though an ardent admirer of the British Constitution, yet not insensible to its abuses or defects, he was opposed to the foreign policy of Government at the era of the French Revolution. His opinions on this subject he embodied in an anonymous pamphlet, entitled “ An Inquiry into the Justice and Necessity of the Present War with France,” 8vo, Edin. 1795, of which a second and improved edition was published the following year. In this essay he contended for the right which every nation had to remodel its own institutions; referring, by way of precedent, to the various revolutions effected in Britain, without producing any attempt at interference on the part of other states. “If we consult the principles of natural law and equity,” says the writer, “ France must certainly have an equal right with any other European state to change and to frame her constitution to her own mind. She is as free and independent in this respect as Great Britain, or any other kingdom on the globe ; and there does not appear to be auy reason why she should be excluded from exercising this right, or why we should pretend to dictate to her with regard to the government she is to live under. When Louis XIV., on the death of James VI., thought proper to proclaim his son King of Great Britain, how did the Parliament here take it? Did they not address the King upon the throne, and represent it in their address as the highest strain of violence, and the greatest insult that could be offered to the British nation, to presume to declare any person to be their King, or as having a title to be so P What, therefore, should entitle us to take up arms in order to force them to submit to monarchical government I” Such is the style and spirit of the Inquiry. Pursuant to a deed of entail, Mr. James Gibson, W.S. (afterwards Sir James Gibson-Craig, Bart. of Riccarton and Ingliston) succeeded to the estate, and assumed the name and arms of Craig. The $Ouse in Princes Street, No. 91, now occupied as a hotel, was left to Colonel Gibson. In politics, Mr. Craig was decidedly liberal. Mr. Craig died on the 13th of March 1823. Cocked hats were then the rage.
Volume 9 Page 431
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