Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/175

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WILLIAM DUNLOP.
203


subscription, chiefly among gentlemen connected with the nary. The foundation stone was laid in April, 1821; the scaffolding removed in August, 1822, on the occasion of George IV. 's visit to Edinburgh, and the statue was put up in 1827. The architect was Mr William Burn of Edinburgh. Lord Melville was twice married; first to Miss Rannie, daughter of Captain Rannie of Melville, with whom he is said to have got a fortune of 100,000. Another of Captain Rannie's daughters was the wife of Mr Baron Cockburn of the Scottish court of exchequer, and mother to the late Henry Cockburn, Esq., one of the lords of session. Lord Melville's second wife was lady Jane Hope, daughter of John and sister to James, earl of Hopetoun. Of his first marriage there were three daughters and one son; of the second no issue. Lord Melville's lauded property in Scotland consisted of Melville Castle in Mid-Lothian and Dunira in Perthshire. He was succeeded in his titles and estates by his only son, the right honourable Robert Dundas, the present lord Melville, who held the office of first lord of the admiralty under the administrations of the earl of Liverpool and of the duke of Wellington.

Lord Melville can hardly be said to have been an author, but he published the three subjoined political pamphlets, each of which was distinguished by his usual good sense and knowledge of business.[1]

DUNLOP, William, principal of the university of Glasgow, and an eminent public character at the end of the seventeenth century, was the son of Mr Alexander Dunlop, minister of Paisley, of the family of Auchenkeith, in Ayrshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of William Mure of Glanderston. One of his mother's sisters was married to the Rev. John Carstairs, and became the mother of the celebrated principal of the college of Edinburgh; another was the wife, successively of Mr Zachary Boyd, and Mr James Durham. Being thus intimately connected with the clergy, William Dunlop early chose the church as his profession. After completing his studies at the university of Glasgow, he became tutor in the family of William, lord Cochrane, and superintended the education of John, second earl of Dundonald, and his brother, William Cochrane of Kilmarnock. The insurrection of 1679 took place about the time when he became a licentiate, and he warmly espoused the views of the moderate party in that unfortunate enterprise. Though he was concerned in drawing up the Hamilton declaration, which embodied the views of his party, he appears to have escaped the subsequent vengeance of the government. Tired, however, like many others, of the hopeless state of things in his own country, he joined the emigrants who colonized the state of Carolina, and continued there till after the revolution, partly employed in secular, and partly in spiritual work. He had previously married his cousin, Sarah Carstairs. On returning to Scotland in lb'90, he was, through the influence of the Dundonald family, presented to the parish of Ochiltree, and a few months after, had a call. to the church of Paisley. Ere he could enter upon this charge, a vacancy occurred in the principality of the university of Glasgow, to which he was preferred by king William* November, 1690. Mr Dunlop's celebrity arises from the dignity and zeal with which he supported the interests of this institution. In 1692, he was an active member of the general correspondence of the Scottish universities, and in 1694, was one of a deputation sent by the church of Scotland, to congratulate the king on his return from the continent, and negotiate with his majesty certain affairs concerning the interest of the church. He seems to have participated considerably in the power and influence enjoyed by his distinguish-

  1. The substance of a speech in the house of commons, on the British government and trade in the East Indies, April 23, 1793, London, 1813, 8vo. Letter to the chairman of the court of directors of the East India Company, upon an open trade to India, London, 1813, 8vo. Letters to the right honourable Spenser Percival, relative to the establishment of a Naval Arsenal at Northfleet, London, 1810. 4to.