Report of Meetings for 18SG. By J. Hardy. 343 



watch, gave the word to be up and going, and so the party had 

 to climb up to the road again and retrace their steps to Bemer- 

 syde. Thence they marched in single file (or nearly so) along a 

 church road by the side of fields to Mertoun. 



Shortly after the spacious mansion of Mertoun House was 

 reached, which stands on a platform fronting to the river. The 

 house was kindly thrown open, the valuable library and the 

 pictures being examined with much interest. As a valuable 

 family relic, a fine cabinet that once belonged to Mary Queen of 

 Scots, was shewn in the drawing room. The inscription attached 

 bore that: — 



"This cabinet was given by Mary Queen of Scots to Cecil Drnry, 

 (daughter of Sir Drue Drury of Yorkshire), Maid of Honor and Companion 

 to her in Fotheringay Castle, where Queen Mary was confined under the 

 care of her father. 



"Cecil married Charles Kerr, 3d son of William, Earl of Lothian, and had 

 a daughter, who married John Scott of Gorrenberry, and their daughter 

 married Walter Scott, 3d son of Walter Scott, Earl Tarras, who succeeded 

 his nephew as Laird of Harden, and was great-grandfather to the present 

 Hugh Scott of Harden (1816). This cabinet remained in the Harden 

 family, and in the old house at Harden, till the family removed to 

 Mertoun." 



LIST OF SOME OF THE PORTRAITS AT MERTOUN HOUSE. 



Mary Lilias Scott (Flower of Yarrow). By A. Ramsay, 1740. 



"Walter Scott, Esq., of Harden, married Lady Diana Hume 

 Campbell, of Marchmont. By Miss Reid, 1756. 



Hugh Scott, Esq., of Harden — 1757. 



George, Earl of Tyrconnel, son of George Lord Carpenter, died 

 1760. By Bevis, 1745. 



Alicia Maria Carpenter, Countess of Egremont. By Bevis. 



Lady Bateman, wife of Sir Joas Bateman. Her daughter married 

 Sir Richard Shirley, and was grandmother to Ann Western, 

 Countess of Marchmont. Sir Eichard Shirley was descended 

 from the elder brother of Sir Anthony Shirley. Sir Eichard 

 Shirley was ambassador from Queen Elizabeth, to Persia, 

 and his brother Sir Anthony accompanied him, and returned to 

 England as ambassador from Persia, where he had married 

 an Armenian. His portrait and that of his wife are at 

 Petworth, the seat of Lord Leconfield. 



Count Bruhl, Minister Plenipotentiary from Saxony. 



Lord Bolingbroke. 



