Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/392

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Grant
386
Grant

wer his pleadings at the barr, and his discourses on the bench. One of his fellow-senators tells me he was a living library, and the most ready in citations; when the Lords wanted anything in the Civil or Canon law to be cast up, or Acts of Parliament, he never failed them, but turned to the place. He seemed a little ambulatory in his judgment as to church government, but was a man of great piety and devotion, wonderfully serious in prayer and hearing the word' (Analecta, iii. 282). The same authority relates that Grant and a few other lawyers set up a 'society for prayer, and a kind of correspondence for religiouse purposes about the [year] 1698.… This privat meeting laid the first foundation of that noble designe of reformation of manners in King William's time and Queen Ann's time that did so much good' (ib. iv. 235). Grant married three times: first, on 15 March 1694, Jean, daughter of the Rev. William Meldrum of Meldrum, Aberdeenshire; secondly, on 18 Oct. 1708, Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Alexander Fordyce of Ayton, Berwickshire; and thirdly, in 1718, Agnes, daughter of Henry Hay. By his first wife he had three sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Archibald, succeeded to the baronetcy, and represented Aberdeenshire from 1722 to May 1732, when he was expelled the house for the share which he had taken in the management of the charitable corporation. His second son was William Grant (1701?-1764) [q. v.] By his second wife Cullen had two daughters. There is a large picture at Monymusk representing Cullen and his family, painted by Smybert, a Dutch artist, in 1720. Cullen's portrait has been engraved by S. Taylor. He was the author of the following works: 1. 'The Loyalists Reasons for his giving Obedience, and Swearing Allegiance to the Present Government.… Wherein are answered (by prevention) all the Objections of Dissenters, according to their own Uncontrovertible Principles,' by F. G., gent., Edinb. 1689, 8vo. 2. 'A Brief Account of the Nature, Rise, and Progress of the Societies for Reformation of Manners, &c. in England and Ireland; with a preface, exhorting to the use of such Societies in Scotland, 1700,' (anon.), Edinb. 1700, 4to. 3. 'A Discourse concerning the Execution of the Laws made against Prophaneness,' &c. (anon.), Edinb. 1700, 8vo. 4. 'A Letter from … a Magistrate in the Countrey to … his Freind, giving a new historical account of Designs, through the Christian World, for Reforming Manners therein,' &c. (anon.), Edinb. 1701, 4to. 5. 'A Vindication of Informers of the Breaches of the Laws against Prophanenesa and Immorality—Asserting and Proving the Lawfulness and Necessity of Informing,' &c. (anon.), Edinb. 1701, 4to. 6. 'Reasons in Defence of the Standing Laws about the Right of Presentation in Patronages; to be offered against an act (in case it be) presented for alteration thereof: by a Member of Parliament. In a letter to his friend in the country' (anon.), Edinb. 1703, 4to. This pamphlet was reprinted as No. 7 of the 'Select Anti-Patronage Library,' Edinb. 1841, 8vo. 7. 'An Essay for Peace by Union in Judgment; about Church-Government in Scotland. In a letter from … to his neighbour in the countrey' (anon.), Edinb. 1703, 4to. 8. 'A Letter from a Country Gentleman to his Friend in the City; showing the Reasons which induce him to think that Mr. W[ebste]r is not the Author of the Answer to the Essay for Peace,' &c., fol. (1704). 9. 'A Short History of the Sabbath, containing some few grounds for its Morality, and cases about its Observance; with a brief answer to, or anticipation of, several objections against both (anon.), Edinb. 1705. 10. 'The Patriot Resolved, in a Letter to an Addresser, from his Friend. of the same Sentiments with himself; concerning the Union' (anon., Edinb. ), 1707, 4to. 11. 'A Key to the Plot, by reflections on the Rebellion [in Scotland 1715].… In a Letter from a Countryman in Scotland to a Courtier in London,' Lond. 1716, 8vo. The authorship of 'Law, Religion, and Education considered in Three Essays,' &c., Edinb. 1715, 8vo. has generally been ascribed to Cullen, but from internal evidence it would appear the author was another Francis Grant and not Cullen.

[Biog. Brit. (1757), iv. 2255-8; Chalmers's Biog. Dict. (1814), xvi. 187-91; Chambers' Biog. Dict. of Eminent Scotsmen (1869), ii. 169-71; runton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice (1832), pp. 488-90; Anderson's Scottish Nation (1863), ii. 364; Burke's Peerage, &c. (1886), pp. 610-11; Cat. of the Advocates' Library (1874), iii. 481, Supplementary Vol. (1879), p. 323; Brit. Mus. Cat.]

G. F. R. B.

GRANT, Sir FRANCIS (1803–1878), portrait-painter, born in Edinburgh on 18 Jan. 1803, was fourth son of Francis Grant, laird of Kilgraston. General Sir James Hope Grant [q. v.] was his brother. He was educated at Harrow School, and was intended for the bar. 'In youth, that is in extreme youth,' writes Sir Walter Scott in his diary on 26 March 1831, 'he was passionately fond of fox-hunting and othersports, but not of any species of gambling. He had also a strong passion for painting, and