82 REPORT OP MEETINGS FOR 1901 



Martyr (Becket), which was erected by Herbert de Maccuswel 

 early in the thirteenth century (not the twelfth, as stated 

 on the stone), and endowed with the adjoining- lands. It 

 was destroyed by the English in Hertford's dragonnade of 

 1545. 



The mansion-house is a mediocre specimen of the Palladian 

 style. The original building, of which the present south- 

 eastern elevation formed the fa9ade, was completed in 1756, 

 and paid for largely out of prize-money. It was added to 

 in 1852. In the dining room is a portrait of Admiral Sir 

 James Douglas, 1704-87, the founder of this branch of the 

 family. He was the second of twenty children of George 

 Douglas of Friarshaw, co. Roxburgh, who was sixth in direct 

 descent from Jas. Douglas, knight, fifth of Cavers, SheriflP of 

 Teviotdale. He served with distinction in the war with France 

 which followed the rupture of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 1754, and arose out of questions as to boundaries and neutralities 

 in the New World.* In 1759 he was on service at Quebec 

 when the reduction of that town opened Canada to British 

 occupation, and was knighted for bringing home despatches 

 announcing the victory. Of more living interest is the possibility 

 that he may have been a listener to Wolfe's histrionic recitation 

 from Gray's " Elegy," and subsequent nobly generous com- 

 parison of the poet and himself. In 1761 Sir James commanded 

 a fleet in the Leeward Islands, and with Lord Rollo captured 

 Dominica, which had been captured by the French in defiance 

 of a Declaration of Neutrality. In 1762 he was second in 

 command of the fleet at the capture of Havana, a victory 

 represented in the large painting which hangs next to his 

 portrait. Havana was restored to Spain next year. I regret 

 to add that he formed one of the Court-Martial (1756) which 

 sentenced Admiral Byng to death — in the cynical phrase of 

 Voltaire's Candide, first used in reference to that incident, 

 '^ pour encourager les aut7-es." He was created a Baronet in 

 1786, in consideration of naval services. He is represented 

 wearing an admiral's uniform of the Nelson period. Among 

 other paintings in this room are four portraits by Allan 

 Eamsay, son of "honest Allan," and Court Painter to 



♦Dyer's Modern Europe, vol. iii., p. 294 



