Wissenschaften und Künste," the most important and comprehensive work of its kind.—K. E.
ERSKINE, the name of a noble Scottish family, which has probably produced as many men of talent as any other in Scotland. It traces its descent from Henry de Erskine, who possessed the barony of that name on the Clyde in the thirteenth century. The sixth in descent from him, Sir Robert Erskine, was great chamberlain of Scotland in the reign of David Bruce, and mainly contributed to secure the succession of the house of Stewart to the throne. The three principal fortresses of the kingdom—Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton—were committed to his care; and it was probably in consequence of their privilege as hereditary keepers of these important strongholds, that the Erskines were successively honoured for several generations with the duty of keeping the heirs apparent to the throne.—Sir Thomas Erskine, the great-grandson of the royal chamberlain, was elevated to the peerage in 1467, under the title of Lord Erskine. From him descended the Erskines of Dun, noticed below.—His son Alexander, the second lord, had the custody of James, prince of Scotland, afterwards James IV., whose favour he retained through life.—John, the fourth lord, had the keeping of James V. during his minority, and after his tragic death afforded for some time a refuge to his infant daughter, the unfortunate Mary, in Stirling castle, of which he was governor. His eldest son, who fell at the battle of Pinkie during his father's lifetime, was the ancestor, by an illegitimate son, of the Erskines of Sheilfield, near Dryburgh, from whom sprung the famous brothers, Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, the founders of the Secession Church. A daughter of the same noble was mother by James V. of the celebrated Regent Moray. The family attained its highest lustre in the next generation.—John, fifth Lord Erskine, who succeeded to the family dignity and estates in 1552, was one of the most powerful noblemen in the country, and was intrusted with the care of James VI. immediately after his birth. In 1665 he became Earl of Mar (see that title), and was chosen regent in 1571.—His brother, Sir Alexander Erskine, was ancestor of the Kellie branch of the family (see Kellie, Earls of). The son of the regent, the famous Jock o' Sclaits (slates), was the youthful companion of James VI., and held the office of treasurer of Scotland from 1615 to 1630. A younger son of this nobleman was the progenitor of by far the most celebrated branch of the Erskine family, that which bears the double peerage of Buchan and Cardross—David, second Lord Cardross, was one of an honourable minority of seven Scottish peers, who protested against the surrender of Charles I. to the English parliament—His eldest son, Henry, third Lord Cardross, who was born about 1650, was a distinguished patriot and presbyterian. On entering public life, he became a strenuous opponent of the infamous Lauderdale administration, and underwent severe persecution for the sake of his principles. In 1674 he was fined in £5000, because his wife had heard worship performed in his own house by a covenanting chaplain. After paying the sum of £1000, he was imprisoned for four years in Edinburgh castle on account of his inability to pay the remainder of his fine. Soldiers were quartered in his mansion for eight years, and his estates were wantonly despoiled. A second fine of £3000 was imposed upon him while he was still in prison, because Lady Cardross had without his knowledge caused one of her children to be baptized by a covenanting minister. He was released from confinement in July, 1679; and finding that there was no hope of redress or safety in Scotland, he joined a body of his countrymen who settled on Charlestown Neck in South Carolina. Driven from this plantation a few years afterwards by the Spaniards, who killed a number of the colonists, and destroyed their effects, Lord Cardross returned to Europe, and took up his residence at the Hague. He accompanied the prince of Orange in his expedition to England, and rendered important service in promoting the Revolution settlement. He was restored to his estates, and appointed a privy councillor. But his health had been seriously impaired by his long imprisonment, and the hardships he had endured in America, and he died in 1693 in the forty-fourth year of his age. His lordship's brother, Colonel Erskine of Carnock, was the father of the well-known author of "The Institutes of the Law of Scotland."—David, fourth Lord Cardross, inherited the earldom of Buchan from his cousin.—Henry, fifth Lord Cardross and tenth earl of Buchan, was a man of moderate talents, though of great good nature and polite manners. But the genius of the family burst forth with transcendent lustre in his famous sons. The eldest of these—
David Stewart Erskine, Earl of Buchan, was born in 1742. He was educated at the university of Glasgow; was for a short time in the army; then tried the diplomatic profession, and in 1766 was appointed secretary to the British embassy in Spain. But in the following year, on the death of his father, he returned home, and devoted the remainder of his life to the cultivation of literature and of art. He had considerable natural talents and extensive acquirements; but they were marred by his numerous eccentricities, and by his parsimony and immense vanity, which, Scott says, bordered upon insanity. "His imagination," Sir Walter adds, "was so fertile that he seemed really to believe the extraordinary fictions which he delighted in telling. His economy, most laudable in the early period of his life, when it enabled him, from a small income, to pay his father's debts, for which he was not legally responsible, became a miserable habit, and led him to do mean things." Lord Buchan was fond of acting the part of a Mæcenas, and not unfrequently attempted to patronize literary men (among others, Burns and Scott) in a way that drew down upon him public ridicule. He had a restless propensity for getting up puerile fetes, for one of which—the inauguration of a temple built to Thomson the poet—Burns wrote a poetical address. The earl was the founder of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, and contributed a number of discourses to the first volume of their Transactions. He was the author also of numerous papers on historical, literary, and antiquarian subjects—a portion of which he collected and published in 1812, under the title of "The Anonymous and Fugitive Essays of the Earl of Buchan." Like his two celebrated brothers, the earl was witty; but his wit, unlike theirs, was crackbrained, and sometimes caustic. Lord Buchan died in 1829.—J. T.
Erskine, Henry, the younger brother of the above, an eminent Scottish lawyer, was born in 1746. He received his education at three of the Scottish colleges, namely, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and was called to the bar in 1768. He speedily attracted attention by his legal knowledge, the variety and extent of his accomplishments, his eloquence, his wit, and his animated and graceful manner; and in no long time became the acknowledged leader of the Scottish bar. Like his brothers, David and Thomas, Henry Erskine early embraced liberal principles, and steadfastly adhered to them through good report and through bad report. He held the office of lord-advocate during the coalition administration, and a second time in 1806, under the ministry of Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox, and was for a short time member for the Dumfries district of burghs. The greater part of his career, however, was passed in "the cold shade of opposition;" and there can be no doubt that his professional prospects were seriously impaired by his steady adherence to the whig party. As he was undoubtedly the foremost man of his profession in Scotland, he was for eight successive years chosen by the advocates for their dean, or official head, but on the 12th of January, 1796, he was deprived of this office by a majority of a hundred and twenty-three against thirty-eight, in consequence of his having presided at a public meeting in Edinburgh to petition against the war with France. This step excited a bitter feeling of resentment among the liberal party throughout the country, and gave rise to a sarcastic poem from the pen of Burns. One or two of Mr. Erskine's rivals at the bar surpassed him in deep and exact legal knowledge; but he surpassed them all in the variety and extent of his accomplishments and of his general practice. His sagacity, intuitive quickness of perception, and great argumentative powers were recommended by the playfulness of his fancy, the copiousness and impressiveness of his language, and by the charms of his tall elegant figure, his handsome intellectual countenance, his clear sweet voice, and his polished and graceful manners. Add to all this his genial wit, delightful temper, and benevolent disposition, his private worth and his unsullied public honour, and it will be no matter of surprise that this eminent barrister and highly-gifted man was universally beloved and esteemed. Mr. Erskine was pre-eminently the advocate of the people, and his name was a terror to the oppressor and a tower of strength to the oppressed throughout Scotland. The feeling with which he was regarded by the common people was well expressed by a poor man in a remote
