u 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[No. 140. 



The then Earl of ErroU was one of the Commis- 

 sioners : he made no claim, as in rijrht of birth, to 

 be the first subject in Scotland. He is set down 

 and ranked as the fourth among the Earls. 



In the roll which was called daily in the Scottish 

 Parliament, at the time of the Union, termed the 

 Union Roll, the Earl of ErroU is marked second of 

 the earls, one of those who had stood before him in 

 1606 (Argyle) having been created a duke, and 

 the other earldom (Angus) having become merged 

 in a dukedom ; and he stands ranked in the same 

 way, as the second of the earls, in the roll which 

 has been called at all elections of peers since 1746. 



But upon the subject which has been mooted in 

 this case by your correspondents, we are not left 

 in any doubt. On the 13th of J\Iarch, 1542, it is 

 thus stated in the minutes of the Parliament of 

 Scotland : 



" The quhilk day the Lordis spirituale, temporale, 

 and Commissars of burrowis representand the thre 

 estatis of Parliament hes declarit and declaris James 

 Erie of Arrane, Lord Hamiltoun, secund persoun of this 

 realme, and narrest to succeed to the Crone of the 

 samin, falzeing of our Sovirane Lady and the barnis 

 lauchfiillie to be gottin of hir bodie, and nane utheris, 

 and be resoiin thereof tutour lauchful to the Queenes 

 Grace, and Govnour of this Realme." 



This James Earl of Arran, and Governor of the 

 •Realm, was grandson of Margaret Countess of 

 Arran, eldest daughter of King James II. : thence 

 arose his relationship to Queen Mary, and to the 

 royal family. 



James, the Regent, was created Duke of Chatel- 

 heraud in France ; his grandson, John, was created 

 Marquis of Hamilton in 1599 ; James, the grand- 

 son of this Marquis John, was created Duke of 

 Hamilton in 1643, with a limitation to him and the 

 heirs male of his body; which failing, to his brother 

 and the heirs male of his body ; which failing, to 

 the eldest heir female of the duke's body, without 

 division, and the heirs male of the body of such heir 

 female. He left no issue male. 



On the death of William, his brother, the second 

 <3uke (who also died without issue male), he was 

 succeeded in the honours and estates by Anne, the 

 daughter of the first duke, who thus became 

 Duchess of Hamilton, and was the lineal heiress 

 of the Regent Earl of Arran, who was declared 

 to have been the nearest heir to the crown in 

 1542. 



James, the eldest son of Anne, fell in the well- 

 known duel with Lord Mohun in 1712. 



Her grandson James, and her great-grandson 

 of the same name, were successively Dukes of 

 Hamilton. The last-mentioned James, sixth 

 Duke of Hamilton, married Miss Gunning, in her 

 day a lady of great beauty and celebrity ; and was 

 by her father of two sons, James- George and 

 Douglas, who were successively seventh and eighth 

 Ihilres of Hamilton. They had also one daughter, 



Elizabeth, who was married to Edward, the twelfth 

 Earl of Derby, in 1 774. 



When the Commissioners for settling the prece- 

 dency of the Scottish nobility made their decree in 

 1606, the Duke of Lennox was the peer first named. 

 He was then a duke, while the head of the Hamil- 

 ton family was only a marquis : but the honours 

 of Lennox became vested in King James VL, 

 through his father Lord Derneley, and were thus 

 merged in the crown. King James VI. granted 

 these honours anew to members of the Lennox 

 family whom he selected. The whole of these new 

 creations had disappeared before the union of the 

 kingdoms. 



Accordingly, in the Union Roll, the Duke of 

 Hamilton's appears as the first name; and the same 

 has so appeared in every list used since the Union. 

 There appears thus to be no reason to doubt that 

 the head of the Hamilton family is the first subject 

 in Scotland after the blood royal. 



It has been mentioned that James, sixth Duke 

 of Hamilton, and Elizabeth his wife, had two sons, 

 who were successively Dukes of Hamilton; and 

 that they had also a daughter, Elizabeth Countess 

 of Derby."* 



When Douglas Duke of Hamilton died, the 

 Countess of Derby, his sister, came to be heiress of 

 line to Anne Duchess of Hamilton, who had suc- 

 ceeded to the honotirs and estates in the preceding 

 century : but these honours and estates had been 

 limited to the heirs male of the body of the Duchess 

 Anne ; and, upon the death of Douglas Duke of 

 Hamilton without issue, they became vested in his 

 uncle Archibald, the ninth Duke of Hamilton, the 

 father of the Duke that now is. 



Elizabeth Countess of Derby was the grand- 

 mother of the Earl of Derby, our present Premier, 

 to whom her rights, whatever they were, have 

 descended. 



Most persons conversant with subjects of this 

 nature are aware of the high position which the 

 Earl of Derby holds ; but, it is believed, there are 

 few who are fully aware of the high position in 

 which he stands in the Peerage of Scotland to 

 the Illustrious family of Hamilton, as heir of line 

 to Anne Duchess of Hamilton, whose issue male 

 now enjoy the honours and estates. Scbutatob. 



INSCEIPTION AT PEESEPOLIS. • 



(Vol. v., p. 560.) 

 Premising that I know nothing of this inscrip- 

 tion excepting from the communication of your 



* Elizabeth Duchess of Hamilton married, as het 

 second husband, John, fifth Duke of Argyle, and by 

 him had two sons, George- William and John-Douglas- 

 Edward, who were successively Dukes of Argyle. 

 Thus she was mother of four dukes, — perhaps, out of 

 the royal family, an unprecedented occurrence. 



