308^ AXEC. OP THE LATE EARL OF ERROL. Nov. 9, 



period, it was evident, from his converfat'on, he had 

 read and ftudied a good deal, yet it vas not eafy (or 

 them to conjecture how he could have found opportu- 

 nities for attaining thefe acquirements. Hurried, as 

 he was, from one entertainment to another, and foli- 

 cited on every hand to grace die pleafurable parties of 

 every friend, it was truly amaziiig that his head was 

 not turned, his underft^nding perTcrted, or his heart 

 corrupted by tlie adulation he received ; yet fo very 

 bountiful had nature been to this fingular man, that 

 vanity feems nej-er to liave made an imprcflion on his 

 mind, nor vice to have corrupted his heart ; and though 

 reafon was not permitted at all times to exert her fove- 

 reign fway over his acliansy yet when Ihe was allowed 

 to refump her feat in deHtcration, her vigour at no time 

 feemed to be impaired. Ot a difpofition, warm, gene- 

 rous, and humane, pnulence was at times difmifled as 

 n frigid monitor •, and it was not till towards the de- 

 cline of life that he difcovered how much he had erred 

 by not fconcr attending to her fuggellions. 



Lord Errol, while yet a very young man, married 

 Mil's Lockhart, daughter to a gentleman long noted as 

 a man of eminence at the Scottiih bar, who was after- 

 wards raifed to the bench by the title of Lord Coving- 

 ton. This lady, though poiTeflcd of good fenfe, 

 great reclitude of heart, and beneficence of difpofition, 

 had the misfortune to inherit from nature a weakly 

 conflitution, which rendered it impoflible for her to 

 undergo the fatigue of accompanying his Lordfliip in 

 , the various excurfions that he, as an officer, was 

 obliged, or as an agreeable companion was induced to 

 malce. Being thus, too often deprived of a faithful 

 monitor, which the temptations to which he was ex- 

 pofed, and his own pliability of difpofition required, 

 he was drawn, inadvertently, into expences that his for- 

 tune was not able to beai', which laid the foundation 

 of a diftrefs that proved the only alloy to his happi- 

 nefa in the latter part of his days. 



