DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.65478#0053
and “made a place for himself [Whitton], out of a piece of Hounslow
Heath, on purpose to try what shrubs and trees he could bring the
barrenest soil to bear.”1 It was Duke Archibald who planted in the
wilderness at Ham House the beautiful Scotch firs whose red trunks and
dark spreading heads now tower above the rest of the wood, and which
are said to have been the first trees of their kind ever planted in England.
But Duke Archibald did not confine his whole attention to his
scientific pursuits. He took part in the political affairs of his day, and
readers of Sir Walter Scott’s Heart of Midlothian 2 will recollect the
interview which was arranged by him between Queen Caroline and
Jeanie Deans, and which took place in Richmond Park, close to Ham
House.
The second daughter of the Duchess of Lauderdale, Lady Catherine
Tollemache, married twice. Her first husband was James, Lord Doune,
eldest son of the Earl of Moray. He died in the lifetime of his father,
but Catherine Lady Doune’s two sons became successively Earls of
Moray. After Lord Doune’s death his widow married as her second
husband John Gower, fifteenth Earl of Sutherland. She died in 1698,
and her portrait by Vanderhelst is in the Long Gallery at Ham House.
The Duke of Lauderdale had lived but little in Scotland since his
marriage to Lady Dysart, but he visited Edinburgh from time to time,
and was always in correspondence with his friends there. He held the
office of Heritable Standard-Bearer of Scotland (an office still held by
the Earl of Lauderdale), and as such he was entitled to bear on his shield
of arms the red Lion Rampant of the Royal Arms of Scotland.
Defoe travelled in Scotland twenty years after the Duke of Lauder-
dale’s death, and speaks of his having been an absentee. Defoe says:
“ From Kelso we passed through Lauderdale, a long valley on both sides
of the little river Lauder, from whence the family of Maitland (first Earls
and then Dukes) took their title. The family-seat of Lauder, which stands
about the middle of the valley, is an ancient house, but not large. Nor
did it receive much addition from the late Duke, whose Duchess found
ways to dispose of his fortunes another way.” 3
Bishop Burnet considered that the Duke “by the fury of his
behaviour heightened the severity of his ministry, which was liker the
cruelty of an Inquisition than the legality of justice.” And Lord
1 Letters of Lady Mary Coke, vol. i,, p. xxx. 3 A Tour through the Whole Island of Great
2 Chapter xxxvii. Britain, by A Gentleman [Defoe], vol. iii., p. 284.
I I
Heath, on purpose to try what shrubs and trees he could bring the
barrenest soil to bear.”1 It was Duke Archibald who planted in the
wilderness at Ham House the beautiful Scotch firs whose red trunks and
dark spreading heads now tower above the rest of the wood, and which
are said to have been the first trees of their kind ever planted in England.
But Duke Archibald did not confine his whole attention to his
scientific pursuits. He took part in the political affairs of his day, and
readers of Sir Walter Scott’s Heart of Midlothian 2 will recollect the
interview which was arranged by him between Queen Caroline and
Jeanie Deans, and which took place in Richmond Park, close to Ham
House.
The second daughter of the Duchess of Lauderdale, Lady Catherine
Tollemache, married twice. Her first husband was James, Lord Doune,
eldest son of the Earl of Moray. He died in the lifetime of his father,
but Catherine Lady Doune’s two sons became successively Earls of
Moray. After Lord Doune’s death his widow married as her second
husband John Gower, fifteenth Earl of Sutherland. She died in 1698,
and her portrait by Vanderhelst is in the Long Gallery at Ham House.
The Duke of Lauderdale had lived but little in Scotland since his
marriage to Lady Dysart, but he visited Edinburgh from time to time,
and was always in correspondence with his friends there. He held the
office of Heritable Standard-Bearer of Scotland (an office still held by
the Earl of Lauderdale), and as such he was entitled to bear on his shield
of arms the red Lion Rampant of the Royal Arms of Scotland.
Defoe travelled in Scotland twenty years after the Duke of Lauder-
dale’s death, and speaks of his having been an absentee. Defoe says:
“ From Kelso we passed through Lauderdale, a long valley on both sides
of the little river Lauder, from whence the family of Maitland (first Earls
and then Dukes) took their title. The family-seat of Lauder, which stands
about the middle of the valley, is an ancient house, but not large. Nor
did it receive much addition from the late Duke, whose Duchess found
ways to dispose of his fortunes another way.” 3
Bishop Burnet considered that the Duke “by the fury of his
behaviour heightened the severity of his ministry, which was liker the
cruelty of an Inquisition than the legality of justice.” And Lord
1 Letters of Lady Mary Coke, vol. i,, p. xxx. 3 A Tour through the Whole Island of Great
2 Chapter xxxvii. Britain, by A Gentleman [Defoe], vol. iii., p. 284.
I I