...eted as being written “Upon the late Viscount Stair and his family, by Sir William Hamilton of Whitelaw. The marginals by William Dunlop, writer in Ed... ... in Edinburgh, a son of the Laird of Househill, and nephew to the said Sir William Hamilton.” There was a bitter and personal quarrel and rivalry betw... ...es ne’er were cured but by the fall. One of the marginal notes ascribed to William Dunlop ap- plies to the above lines. “She had betrothed herself to ... ...atire on Lord Stair and his family was, as already noticed, written by Sir William Hamilton of Whitelaw, a rival of Lord Stair for the situation of Pr... ...trait of the first Lord Viscount Stair in the tricky and mean-spirited Sir William Ashton. Lord Stair, whatever might be his moral qualities, was cert... ...nded to a remote period of an- tiquity, and they had intermarried with the Douglasses, Humes, Swintons, Hays, and other families of power and distinct... ...mine, a haughty beauty, bearing in her looks all the pride of the house of Douglas, from which she was descended. The painter, notwithstanding his ski... ... lady. “Your mother, my Lucy!” replied Ravenswood. “She is of the house of Douglas, a house that has intermarried with mine even when its glory and po... ... agement of a little political interest in a neighbouring county where the Douglas family originally held large possessions. It was one of the bosom-h...

...ed over in silence the influences of his home and his father. That father, William Burnes, after having been for many years a gardener, took a farm, m... ...vigorous talk. Nothing is more characteristic of the class in general, and William Burnes in particular, than the pains he took to get proper schoolin... ... the prose style of Robert; that of Gilbert need surprise us no less; even William writes a remarkable letter for a young man of such slender opportun... ...what voluptuous style of beauty,” judging from the silhouette in Mr. Scott Douglas’s invaluable edition, the reader will be fastidious if he does not ... ...er is one of unmingled *For the love affairs see, in particular, Mr. Scott Douglas’s edition under the different dates. 53 Familiar Studies of Men & ... ...asses over our own. News reached them, indeed, of great and joyful import. William Peel received eight livres and five sous from the duch- ess, when h... ...is, because he had let slip his secret to one so grave and friendly as Sir William Coventry. And from two other facts I think we may infer that he had... ...hrie, or some other, or all, of these Edinburgh friends while he was still Douglas of Longniddry’s private tutor. But our certain knowledge be- gins i...