THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, AND LITERARY MISCELLANY. FEBRUARY 1823. NEMOIRS OF THE LIVES AND CHARACTERS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE BAILLIE OF JERVISWOOD, AND OF LADY GRISELL BAILLIE. BY THEIR DAUGHTER, LADY MURRAY OF STANHOPE. PRINTED AT EDINBURGH, MDCCCXXII. Is rescuing from obscurity the Memoirs of the illustrious family of Jerviswood, Mr Thomson* has established a strong claim to our gratitude, and added another to the many favours already bestowed by him on the literature of Scotland. It is, therefore, with singular satisfaction that we proceed to lay before our readers an account of this interesting volume, which the learned and accomplished Editor has enriched with a preface, and a short but spirited account of the fair author, Lady Murray of Stanhope, whose pious record of the characters and virtues of her distinguished parents will, we are confident, be read with the purest and most unmingled delight. Mr George Baillie, the son of Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, a man equally eminent for learning †, patriotism, and virtue, who "fell a victim to the vindictive tyranny of the government he had felt himself compelled to resist, and laid down his life with the serene firmness of a Stoic philosopher, and the meekness of a Christian martyr," was born on the 16th day of March 1664; and, consequently, was only about twenty years of age at the period of his father's execution ‡. A • Thomas Thomson, Esq. Advocate, Deputy Clerk Register. “He was in the Presbyterian principles, but was a man of great piety and virtue, learned in the law, in mathematics, and in languages." Burnet, I. 301. The circumstances of Baillie's condemnation, in point of perfidy, profligacy, and contempt of law and justice, are hardly to be matched, even in the annals of the Inquisition. When in jail, loaded with irons, denied all cornmunication with his friends, and upon the point of death from the severity of the treatment he had received," an accusation was sent him, not in the form of an indictment, nor grounded on any law, but on a letter of the king's, in which he charged him, not only for a conspiracy to raise rebellion, but for being engaged in the Rye-plot; of all which he was now required to purge himself by oath, otherwise the Council would hold him guilty of it, and proceed accordingly. He was not, as they said, now in a criminal Court upon his life, but before the Council, who did only fine and imprison. It was to no purpose for him to say, that by no law, unless it was in a Court of Inquisition, a man could be required to swear against himself; the temptation to perjury being so strong, when self-preservation was in the case, that it seemed against all law and religion to lay such a snare in a man's way. But to answer all this, it was pretended that he was not now on his life, and that whatsoever he confessed, was not to be made use of against his life; as if the ruin of his family, which consisted of nine children, and perpetual imprisonment, were not more terrible, especially to one so near his end R VOL. XII. coincidence of opinion on the subjects of civil and religious liberty, and an equal devotedness to the sacred cause of their country, against the most vindictive and profligate tyranny ever exercised on any people, had united, in the bonds of the closest friendship, the families of Jerviswood and of Sir Patrick Home of Polwarth, (afterwards Earl of Marchmont); a connection which was destined to become still more intimate, by the subsequent union of the only son of the martyred Baillie, to the eldest daughter of his friend: their attachment having been first formed in circumstances at once melancholy and romantic, but which we must allow their accomplished daughter to describe, when we come to speak of her mother. "Of the marriage between Mr George Baillie and Lady Grisell Home, (we quote from the editor's excellent preface,) there were two daughters, Grisell and Rachel. The former was married to Mr Murray, afterwards Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope; the latter to Charles Lord Binning, eldest son of Thomas, sixth Earl of Haddington, from whom are descended the present families of Haddington, and of Baillie of Jerviswood. To Lady Murray, the eldest daughter, we are indebted for the papers contained in this volume; in which, with a pious and affection ate hand, she has delineated the characters, and recorded the private virtues of her father and mother, as well as of her grandfather, the Earl of Marchmont; and with which she has interwoven some of the many singular incidents of their varied and eventful lives." After the judicial murder of his father, and the forfeiture of his estate, Mr George Baillie was destitute of every thing but friends, many of whom were in circumstances as hopeless as himself, and therefore in no condition to assist him. In this melancholy plight, he thought only of retiring to Holland, at that time the asylum of the persecuted and oppressed; but before setting out, he went to his estate, to take leave of his te nants and friends in that neighbourhood. Here, however, an incident of the most affecting kind occurred. From the love they bore to the memory of his father, as well as their attachment to the youth himself, the tenants not only paid him all the rents that were resting in their hands, but also advanced half-a-year's rent, "though they had then another master, the Duke of Gordon, to whom the estate was given!" Upon the sum thus generously furnished, and the credit he had in Holland, Baillie subsisted three years, till he returned, with the Prince of Orange, at the Revolution. as he was, than death itself. But he had to do with inexorable men: so he was required to take this oath within two days. And by that time, he not being able to appear before the Council, a Committee of Council was sent to tender him the oath, and to take his examination. He told them he was not able to speak, by reason of the low state of his health, which appeared very evidently to them: for he had almost died while they were with him. He in general protested his innocence, and his abhorrence of all designs against the King, or the Duke's life for the other interrogatories, he desired they might be left with him, and he would consider them. They persisted to require him to take the oath: but he as firmly refused it. So, upon this report, the Council construed his refusal to be a confession, and fined him £.6000, and ordered him to lie in prison till it was paid." (Burnet, I. 325.) Not satisfied with this, however, two informers, Tarras and Murray, were suborned to depose to some "discourses that Baillie had with them before he went to London, disposing them to rebellion ;" and upon this evidence, the dying man was hurried to his trial, condemned, and executed the same day: "So afraid were they," says Burnet, "lest death should be too quick for them!!!" "Thus," adds the same able, learned, and pious prelate," thus a learned and worthy gentleman, after twenty months' hard usage was brought to such a death, in a way so full, in all the steps of it, of the spirit and practice of the Courts of Inquisition, that one is tempted to think that the methods taken in it were suggested by one well studied, if not practised in them." Does it not seem strange, or rather inexplicable, that, in the very country where these murders, under the forms of law, were perpetrated, men should have after – wards been found insane enough to draw their swords in he cause of that cruel and arbitrary House by which they were sanctioned and patronized? After that memorable event, he was restored to the full possession of his patrimony, and was employed by King William during the whole of his auspicious reign. By Queen Anne he was appointed TreasurerDepute, and Member of the Privy Council of Scotland, and after the Union, was made one of the Commissioners of Trade. Upon the Accession of George the First, he was, without solicitation, made one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and, soon after, one of the Lords of the Treasury, at the express and spontaneous request of the Earl of Stanhope, then at the head of administration. this office he continued till the year 1725, when, at his own earnest desire, and to the extreme regret of the Sovereign, who duly appreciated his talents and his integrity, he was suffered to retire to a private station, and to spend the remainder of his life in the exercise of the purest virtue and the most exalted devotion. He died at Oxford, whither he had repaired to superintend the education of his grandsons, on the 6th of August 1738, being then in the 75th year of his age. In Never was there a man of milder manners, or sterner virtue, than George Baillie of Jerviswood: and to those who are so prone to calumniate the Covenanters and Presbyterians of Scotland,-to whom, under God, we are indebted for the inestimable blessing of that measure of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy, by representing them as a set of morose, gloomy, and ferocious bigots, strangers to the graces, charities, and humanities of life, and intolerant of every thing but the grim austerity of a cynical fanaticism, we recommend the attentive perusal of the following character of this virtuous and excellent man, drawn, indeed, by his daughter, but never intended for the public eye : With a rough and manly countenance, he had the most tender and affectionate heart, which, with his purse, was ever open to all in distress. He could never resist an object of charity. To his friends that wanted his assistance, I have known several instances where he has borrowed the money, to let them have it. I have three times in my life been witness, where the tenderness of his heart, Though he could bear, without hesitation or shrinking, any pain or operation to himself, he could not bear to see the cut of a finger in another. He was firm and steady in doing what he thought right; though it was a great uneasiness to him, when he saw he differed in opinion from those he had an esteem and affection for. He was strict in his own principles; and when at home, was constant in saying prayers every night in his own family. At London, where that was impossible; without greatly restraining his family in their hours, or making it known to every body, which he carefully avoided, he said prayers at eight in the morning; which no hurry of business hindered him from, nor any thing interrupted; till his deafness increased with his bad' health, in the year 1728, that he was not master of his own voice, from scarce hearing it, and then had a chaplain. He had the most universal charity, and the greatest allowance to give to others. If any body told him good of another, his constant answer was, "I am glad of it;" if bad, he said," How do you know that? You should not repeat nor believe things you are not sure of." But this was only to his own family, or those he was perfectly free with; since he was far from assuming the character of a general cor rector. He had not the smallest tincture of revenge, or resentment, even to them he very well knew had injured him; having a much lower opinion of his own merit and judgment than any one else had, and was constantly disposed and desirous of finding others in the right. He was disinterested in every instance of life, or he might, even with the strictest justice, have left a much better fortune to his family. He was impartially just; which his friends and relations often suffered by, when he was in offices where he might have served them: yet he never missed an opportunity of doing it, when they had right on their side, or he thought they deserved it, though his great modesty in asking made it always a pain to him. I have seen him uneasy for a week, when he had any thing in view he thought was fit for him to ask for a friend of his own; and so pleased when he obtained it, that those that were to have the benefit of it could not have more joy in receiving it. He had an infinite pleasure in giving even little trifling presents to his friends; but did not like receiving. If it was from any he thought had a view to his interest for them, he would not suffer it, though ever so trifling. He made us return a parrot given us, when he was in the Admiralty, by a gentleman who was solicit ing something there. Of such things I could give many instances. Though he was no joker himself, nobody relished a joke more, nor was more easy, cheerful, and pleased in company that he liked ; and often went in, with the same good humour, to the diversions that pleased his company, though it was not quite suitable to his own temper. When we came first to London, and were of an age to relish diversions, such as balls, masquerades, parties by water, music, and such like, my mother and he were always in all our parties; neither choosing to deprive us of them, nor let us go alone; and so far from being a restraint upon any of the company, that not one in it thought there could be any party with out them, and they generally were calculated at the times most convenient for my father. In all companies I ever saw him in, of any quality or dignity, he was always, by them all, considered and respected as the first in it; yet was he the furthest from pride, or assuming any thing to himself, and at all times was at pains to curb any appearance of pride or vanity in my sister or me; and the more, that perhaps he thought in some measure he might contribute to it, from the desire he had of having us inferior to none we kept company with. Formerly, when he went to London every year to the Parliament, and we in Scotland, he would restrain himself in necessary expenses, to bring all of us something he thought we would like, and was useful to us; and would have his trunk opened to give us them, before he took time to rest himself, and showed a pleasure in doing it I can never forget. Though the affairs of the public he was employed in took up much of his thoughts, so as often to deprive him of his night's rest, yet his family was never out of his mind, in all the times he was absent from them; which was at London, before the Union, whenever he or his friends thought his being there necessary for the good of his country; and after the Union, constantly went every winter, and staid as long as the Parliament sat, till the year 1714, that he carried up his whole family. He strictly observed his attendance in Parliament, and blamed those who made a bustle to get in, and then absented themselves upon any pretence; which he never did upon any account, but when his health necessarily required it. He never failed writing to my mother every post, and often to his children, though young, with great ease and freedom, but always mixed with instruction and good advice; which he insinuated, by commending us for having the disposition to do those things he wanted us most earnestly to pursue, and that with infinite tenderness and condescending affection. So desirous was he of having every one he was concerned in do their duty in all stations, that he generally brought with him, from London, some hundreds of little instructing books and catechisms, which he distributed amongst his tenants and servants. In his own house, he was easy, civil, kind, and hospitable to all, and observing, to the greatest trifle what was wanting and necessary for every one, but more particularly if any of the company was of inferior rank, or modest or backward; those he always took most care and notice of, and was greatly offended if he saw any belonging to him neglect them. Many proofs of this kind I could instance, but shall only name oné. Two of the poor Episcopal Clergy in Scotland came to ask charity for themselves and their brethren, without the expectation of seeing him. He received them kindly, kept them to dinner with him, contributed to their necessities, and shewed great displeasure at his servants for not having taken proper care of their horses, nor bringing them so readily as they would have done to those from whom they expected a reward. He never thought there was too much to entertain his friends in his own house, and always complained and was uneasy at superfluity in any other body's. He could not bear putting any body to expense, though he never grudged any himself that was reasonable; but had no pleasure in any thing that others did not share with him in. He had no ambition but to be free of debt; yet so great trust and confidence did he put in my mother, and so absolutely free of all jealousy and suspicion, that he left the management of his affairs entirely to her, without scarce asking a question about them; except sometimes would say to her, " Is my debt paid yet ?”. though often did she apply to him for direction and advice; since he knew enough of the law for the management of his own affairs, when he would take the time or trouble, or to prevent his being imposed upon by others. As to his public transactions, they are well known; nor am I capable of making a judgment of them. I know, by all his party and friends, his opinion and advice was constantly sought after, and very seldom he erred in his judgment; which nothing deterred him from giving freely, though by it he ran the risk of disobliging those he had a dependence upon. In the vear 1715, he gave strong proof of this, though then in the Treasury, which might have made him silent in giving an opinion against the measures of the Court; but he publicly declared himself for mercy to the poor unhappy sufferers by the rebellion; and, amongst many arguments for it, in a long speech he made in Parliament, which he begun by saying he had been bred in the school of affliction, which had instructed him in both the reasonableness and necessity of showing mercy to others in the like circumstances; and concluded by intreating them to take the advice which the prophet Elisha gave the king of Israel, in the 2d Book of Kings, 6th chapter, and 22d and 23d verses :-" And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldst thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel." His private behaviour was no less singular. His house was open to the wives, mothers, sisters, and other relations and friends of the poor prisoners; where they met with all the advice, assistance, and kind reception that could be given them. When the two lords suffered, he stirred not out of his room, nor dressed himself for some days; and sent the rest of his family to assist and comfort the near relations of those that suffered. In their last extremity, since it was not in his power to serve them more materially, he was thinking in what he could be useful to them; and considered, that concern and other things might have hindered Lord Kenmore's friends to get an order to receive his body and just so it was. He immediately sent and obtained it, and sent it by Mr Robert Pringle (who was then under-secretary) to Tower Hill; where he found his body actually in the surgeons' hands. He was the most just and sagacious observer of mankind that was possible, and was seldom deceived in his opinion of them. This made him press me, with many arguments, to marry one he preferred to Mr Murray; but as his affection and tenderness made him unable to stand out against the tears of any one he loved, upon my answering him only with tears, he said, "Dear child, I cannot see you cry; you must do what pleases yourself; I give my consent, since you cannot follow my opinion." And when it turned out to be the most unfortunate choice I could have made, which gave him a great deal of uneasiness and trouble, he never once upbraided me with having brought it upon myself; nor shewed less tenderness, in all my distress, than if it had been a thing entirely approved of by him. A strong instance of his tenderness, and compliance with his family, was the journey he made to Naples on account of Lord Binning's health, (whom indeed he was deservedly as fond of as he could be of any child of his own), at the time of life he had devoted for retirement. He pressed Lord Binning extremely to go with some friend to take care of him: but he absolutely refusing unless we went all together, he yielded to what was both disagreeable and inconvenient to himself; but after he took the resolution, he did it with great cheerfulness, never once complained of the difficulties or hardships of the journey, and seemed to like it very well. At Naples, where we were in a manner settled for sixteen months, he spent his time much in retirement, and to his own liking; though he always came into the society we had in an evening, and diverted himself, generally kept them to supper, and showed a heartiness and hospitality not customary in that place, and gained the hearts and admiration of all; of which he had strong proofs in our great distress, when Lord Binning died, by their being most useful and serviceable to us. Indeed their affection and tenderness for Lord Binning, and admiration of him in his sufferings, which he bore with the utmost patience, resignation, and even cheerfulness and good humour, was motive enough to engage their attention to every one of us; which they exercised with the greatest friendship and humanity, and ought ever to be remembered with gratitude by this family. There were Italians, who were Roman Catholics, as well as English, who were constantly with us; and when my father was praying by Lord Binning, in his last hours, they all joined with us; which was a great proof of their affection and condescension. My father's affliction was very heavy upon him, and he expressed it more strongly than ever I had heard him. Lord Binning committed and recommended to his care, the education of his children, and said he needed give no directions about it, since he was to do it: what he wished most earnestly |