308 Notes on Newton Don. By C. B. Balfour. 



it before. The eldest and another girP got over safely, the 

 second and Miss Ramsay (the survivor) were following, the 

 stream was rapid and frightened them, they had a parley 

 whether to go back, and in the meantime their clothes, which 

 they had tucked up, slipped down, and were caught by the 

 water, a twig caught Miss Ramsay and she floated ashore. 

 This was all she knew. It is supposed the two on shore 

 rushed wildly in when they saw the others carried down. 

 It was long before poor Lady Harriet could bear to see her, 

 but now she is very fond of her. If you saw the little river 

 you would think it impossible it could have produced such 

 a catastrophe, but there is no saying how it may be swelled 

 by rain." 



Lady Harriet died Tith March 1801, and Sir Alexander 

 in 1815. 



Sir Alexander Don, ()th Bart., born 1780. When a young 

 man, in 1803, he was in France at the moment when Napoleon 

 stopped foreigners leaving the country, and was detained there 

 till 1810. On his mother's death he had succeeded to the 

 estate of Ochiltree in Ayrshire. It is said that during his 

 sojourn in France he was exceedingly generous to his fellow 

 countrymen who were in difficulties, and perhaps this, together 

 with his expensive habits, led him to sell Ochiltree. 



Of his part in forming the I^order Society in 1813 mention 

 has been made. He was MP. for Roxburghshire, 1814-1826, 

 in the Tory interest. He rebuilt the house of Newton Don, 

 and finished the work his father had begun of laying out 

 the policies, but the expense entailed in this and other ways 

 was too great for the estate, which began to be broken up 

 soon after his death. His character is described in Sir Walter 

 Scott's Journal.*^ " His habits were those of a gay man 

 much connected with the turf, but he possessed strong natural 

 parts, and in particular, few men could speak better in public 

 when he chose. He had tact, wit, power of sarcasm, and 

 that indescribable something which marks the gentleman. His 

 manners in society were extremely pleasing, and as he had 

 a taste for literature and the fine arts, there were few more 

 pleasant companions, besides being a highly spirited, steady, 

 and honourable man." 



58 Miss Wilson. 



5» Scott's Journal, 1891 edition, p. 175. 



