316 Sir W. Elliot 07% Denholm and its Vicinity. 



the exercise of his profession. In the same year he was called 

 to the bar and admitted to practice as an advocate, which he 

 did with great success. After the Revolution he was ap- 

 pointed clerk of the Privy Council in Scotland, was knighted 

 in 1692, and created a baronet in 1700. He represented 

 Roxburghshire in the parliament of 1703, in which year also 

 he purchased the estate of Minto, from which he took his title 

 when raised to the bench in 1705. He died in 1718, and 

 was succeeded by his son, the second Sir Gilbert, who like- 

 wise followed the profession of the law, in which he rose to 

 eminence and became a lord of Session, and afterwards Lord 

 Justice Clerk, assuming the same title that his father had 

 taken. He had several children, most of whom became dis- 

 tinguished characters. His eldest son, the third Sir Gilbert, 

 represented first Selkirkshire and afterwards Roxburghshire 

 in parliament, and held office from 1756, when he became a 

 lord of the Admiralty, after which he filled the appointments 

 of treasurer of the Chamber, keeper of the signet for Scot- 

 land, and treasurer of the navy. He was also imbued with 

 literary tastes, and has left a monument of his poetical talent 

 in the elegant pastoral beginning — • 



•' My sheep I neglected, I broke my slieep crook." 



His sister Jean composed the beautiful version of the Flowers 

 of the Forest, printed by Sir Walter Scott in the Minstrelsy 

 of the Scottish Border:* — 



"I've heard them lilting at the ewe-railking." 



Another brother, John, was a distinguished naval officer, and 

 fought the brilliant action off the Isle of Man, which termin- 

 ated the daring career of Thurot on the 20th January, 1760. 

 Sir Gilbert died in 1777, and his son, the fourth Sir Gilbert, 

 after filling several diplomatic situations abroad, was raised to 

 the peerage, and appointed Governor-general of India. His 

 brother Hugh likewise occupied several important diplomatic 

 posts, and held one of the minor Indian governments — that 

 of Madras. The second earl maintained the character of his 

 family, and held the offices of ambassador at the court of 

 Berlin, and in the cabinet, of first lord of the Admiralty and 

 lord privy seal. He also cultivated the muses with no small 

 success, although none of his eff'usions have been allowed to 

 appear in print. 



But the most remarkable name connected with Denholm 

 is that of John Leyden, whose humble dwelling, in which he 

 first saw the light, we have just visited. Born in 1775 of 



* Vol. II , p. 156. 



