With regard to the money he received from Stair, and the pensions in lieu of his estate, we cannot think there will he two opinions. The British ministry were the most consummate fools if they bestowed such a boon upon such a man without something profitable in return; and James was just such another fool, if he ever after put any confidence in him. The money transaction with Stair has never been, and perhaps from the nature of the service, could not be cleared up. The discovery of the plot in 1722, and the consequent banishment of Atterbury, was, we apprehend, the return for his pensions; and it was not unworthy of them, especially as, by bringing together three such spirits as himself, Inverness, and Atterbury, he put it out of the power of the chevalier to bring any one scheme to bear during their lives.
His character in consequence seems to have utterly sunk, and in the latter days of his life he appears to have been little regarded by any party. In 1729 he went for his health to reside at Aix-la-Chapelle, where he died in the month of May, 1732.
His lordship was twice married; first, to lady Margaret Hay, daughter to the earl of Kinnoul, by whom he had two sons; John, who died in infancy, and Thomas, lord Erskine. He married secondly, lady Frances Pierrepont, daughter of Evelyn, duke of Kingston, by whom he had one daughter, lady Frances Erskine, who married her cousin James Erskine, son of lord Grange, through whom the line of the family is kept up, and to whose posterity the honours of the house of Marr have been of late years restored.
ERSKINE, John, of Carnock, afterwards of Cardross, professor of Scots law in the university of Edinburgh, was born in the year 1695. His father was the honourable colonel John Erskine of Carnock, the third son of lord Cardross, whose family now holds the title of earl of Buchan. The zeal which colonel Erskine had manifested for the cause of the presbyterian religion and of liberty, constrained him to retire into Holland, where he obtained the command of a company in a regiment of foot, in the service of the prince of Orange. He afterwards accompanied that prince to England, at the revolution of 1688, and received as a reward for his services and attachment, the appointments of lieutenant-governor of Stirling castle, a lieutenant-colonelcy of a regiment of foot, and, afterwards, the governorship of the castle of Dumbarton. He was chosen, in 1695, a director of the African and Indian company of Scotland, and, in the following year, was sent to Holland and other parts of the continent, to manage the affairs of the company. He was representative of the town of Stirling in the last Scottish parliament, and was a great promoter of the legislative union of the kingdoms. When the treaty of union was effected, he was nominated, in the year 1707, to a seat in the united parliament of Britain, and, in the general election of 1708, he was chosen member for the Stirling district of burghs. He died in Edinburgh, January, 1743, in the 82d year of his age. He was four times married ; first, to Jane, daughter and heiress of William Mure of Caldwell, in Renfrewshire, by whom he had no issue ; secondly, on the 5th of January, 1691, to Anne, eldest daughter and co-heiress of William Dundas of Kincavel, who was the mother of John Erskine of Carnock, the subject of this notice, and of other three sons and a daughter; thirdly, on the 18th of April, 1725, to Lilias, daughter of Stirling of Keir, who died leaving no issue ; and, fourthly, to Mary, daughter of Charles Stuart of Dunearn, by whom he had one son.
John Erskine of Carnock having been educated for the profession of the law, became a member of the faculty of advocates, in the year 1719, and continued for some years to discharge the duties of his profession without having been remarkably distinguished. In 1737, on the death of Alexander Bain, professor of Scots law in the university of Edinburgh, Mr Erskine became a candidate
