16 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. I. 



NOTE. 



THE CLERKS OF PENICUIK \ND MAXWELLS OF MIDDLEBIE. 



Miss ISABELLA CLERK, of 3 Hobart Place, London, has 

 kindly furnished me with the following statement, to 

 which I have added some annotations. These are 

 chiefly derived from a book of autograph letters, which 

 was long kept at Glenlair, and is now in the possession 

 of Mrs. Maxwell. 



" The Clerks of Penicuik are descended from John Clerk, 

 of Kilhuntly, in Badenoch, Aberdeenshire, who attached 

 himself to the party of Queen Mary, and had to leave that 

 part of the country in 1568 during the troubles. His son, 

 William Clerk, was a merchant in Montrose ; he lived in the 

 reigns of Mary and James the Sixth, and died in 1620. 



" John Clerk, his son, was a man of great ability. He 

 went to Paris in 1634, and having acquired a large fortune 

 there in commerce, returned to Scotland in 1646, and 

 bought the barony of Penicuik, and also the lands of 

 Wright's Houses. He married Mary, daughter of Sir William 

 Gray, of Pittendrum. This lady brought the necklace of 

 Mary Queen of Scots into the family, through her mother, 

 Mary Gillies, to whom it was given by Queen Mary before 

 her execution. He died in 1674. His eldest son John 

 was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1679." 



This Sir John Clerk (the first baronet) records a singular 

 affray with sixteen robbers who attacked the house of Penicuik 

 in 1692. He kept them at bay until the neighbouring tenants 

 came to his relief. His pluck, sagacity, presence of mind, good 

 feeling, and piety, are conspicuous in the narrative. 



