ning in divers sciences, as in music, theology, and astrology," erected the church of Seton into a collegiate establishment, and assigned an endowment for its support.—George, third lord, was a favourite of James IV., and fell with him at the disastrous battle of Flodden.— George, fourth lord, was one of the extraordinary lords of session, and "was ane wise and virtewes nobleman; a man well experienced in all games, and was holden to be the best falconer in his day."—George, fifth Lord Seton, was grandmaster of the household, and one of the most resolute and devoted friends of Queen Mary, and suffered much in her cause, though he had no share in the intrigues and crimes which brought on her misfortunes. It was he who guarded her on her flight from Holyrood, first to Seton and then to Dunbar, after the murder of Rizzio. It was to his mansion she retired after the murder of Darnley. He was also one of her chief supporters at Carberry Hill; and when she made her escape from Lochleven in May, 1568, Lord Seton, who was waiting for her among the neighbouring hills, immediately joined her, and escorted her to his castle of Niddry. He fought for her at Langside, and after the defeat of her forces there took refuge in Flanders, where he remained two years, and was reduced to such extremity that he is said to have driven a waggon for his subsistence. His picture in this occupation, and clothed in the appropriate garb, was placed in the gallery of his ancient palace at Seton. He returned to Scotland in 1570, and exerted himself to the last in behalf of his royal mistress. She at one time offered him an earldom, which he declined; and on his refusal the queen wrote, or caused to be written, the following lines—
" Sunt comites ducesque alii sunt denique reges;
Sethoni dominum sit satis esse mihi."
After the downfall of Regent Morton, Lord Seton was appointed one of the lords of the royal household, and in 1584 was sent by King James ambassador to France. He died in 1585. He is the Lord Seton who, with his son and daughter, figures so conspicuously in Sir Walter Scott's Abbot. His monument in Seton church commemorates his fidelity, and the prudence by which he thrice restored his house thrice ruined by the foreign enemy.—His son Robert, who was created Earl of Wintoun in November, 1600, was a great favourite of James VI., who with his queen often resided at Seton house, which was considered at that time the finest mansion in Scotland. The earl died in 1603, and his funeral procession was met on the highway by King James, then on his journey to take possession of the English crown. The successors of this earl were stanch royalists like their predecessors, and suffered for their loyalty during the civil war. One of them fought under Montrose, and was taken prisoner at Philiphaugh. —George, fifth earl of Wintoun, had early shown a singularly wayward and capricious temper, which Mackay, his contemporary, says was a family attribute. Having quarreled with his father, he spent several years in France in the condition of a journeyman blacksmith, and none of his friends knew where to find him when he succeeded to the earldom. When the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 broke out, the earl with a troop of horse joined Lord Kenmure, who had proclaimed the Chevalier St. George at Moffat as James VIII., and marched with the Northumbrian insurgents and Brigadier M'Intosh into England, though strongly disapproving of the foolish course which they adopted. It was afterwards remarked as very strange that this nobleman, the sanity of whose understanding lay under strong suspicions, had a far clearer view of the policy they should have followed than any of his associates. He displayed great gallantry at the barricades of Preston, and afterwards when lying in the Tower under sentence of death, he made his escape by sawing through with great ingenuity the bars of the windows of his cell. He ended his motley life at Rome in 1749, and with him closed the long and illustrious line which he represented. His large estates were forfeited to the crown, his ancient seat was pulled down about the close of last century, and nothing now remains to attest the splendour of this great old family but the collegiate church of Seton, with its stately monuments of the lords of Seton mouldering into decay, as their race is falling into oblivion. The branch of Seton-Gordons is now represented by the marquis of Huntly; and in 1840 the late earl of Eglinton, whose paternal ancestor was a Seton, was served heir to the title of Wintoun, and was the lineal male representative of the family. In consequence of so many other noble families having sprung from them, the Lords Seton were styled "Magnæ nobilitatis domini."—J. T.
WINWOOD, Sir Ralph, an English statesman of the reign of James I., was born at Aynho in Northamptonshire, and studied at Oxford. Having obtained the degree of M.A. in 1587, and that of LL.B. three years later, he was in 1592 elected proctor of the university. Part of the following seven years were spent by him in travelling on the continent; and in 1599 he accompanied Sir H. Neville's embassy to Paris as secretary. Sent to Holland in 1603, again in 1607, and for the third time in 1609, he had to urge upon the Dutch court the remonstrance of the English king in 1611 against the appointment of the Arminian Vorstius to the theological chair at Leyden. He died a secretary of state in 1617; and the papers which he left furnished the principal materials of the valuable "Memorials" which Sawyer published in 1725.—W. B.
WINZENGERODE, Baron de, born in Wurtemburg in 1769, and served for some time in the Austrian army, after which he entered the service of Russia, and became aid-de-camp to the Emperor Alexander I. In June, 1805, he was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the court of Prussia, to induce the king to take part in the coalition against France, and afterwards proceeded to Vienna to hasten the conclusion of a treaty between England, Russia, and Austria. He accompanied the Emperor Alexander in his journey to Germany, and took some part in directing the first movements of the Russian army. At the battle of Austerlitz he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. After the peace of Tilsit, Winzengerode took a less prominent part in politics; but on the renewal of the war he returned to his military duties, and was ordered to harass the French army in its retreat from Moscow. Entering the city with only a regiment of Cossacks, believing that the bulk of the French army had left it, he found himself suddenly confronted by a superior force, and was taken prisoner. Napoleon received him with severity, and ordered him to be conveyed to France, but the escort was attacked on the road by a body of Russian cavalry, and he was liberated. In 1813 he rejoined the army of Blucher, and occupied Dresden after the battle of Leipsic. In 1813-14 he was engaged in the conquest of Holland; he made himself master of the country almost without striking a blow, and entered Amsterdam the 23rd of November. After the French had evacuated the country Winzengerode united his forces with those of General Czernicheff, and took the city of Soissons by assault. Then, joining the army of Blucher, Winzengerode occupied Rheims with his infantry, recrossed the Marne and the Aube, and was then ordered to follow up Napoleon with his artillery and light cavalry—disposing his forces in such a way as to induce the belief that the whole allied army was close at hand. The stratagem succeeded; Napoleon attacked and defeated Winzengerode near Saint Didier, but this victory, by drawing him away from Paris, rendered inevitable the surrender of the capital. After the return of Napoleon from Elba, Winzengerode hastened to join the Austro-Russian army, but was not able to do so until after Waterloo. He died at Wiesbaden in 1818.—F. M. W.
WINZET, Ninian, D.D., an able and learned Roman catholic divine, was born at Renfrew in 1518. It is probable, as Mackenzie avers, that he was educated at the university of Glasgow, but nothing is known with certainty as to this point. About 1551 he was appointed master of Linlithgow school, and there, as he states, spent "about ten years of his most flourishing age." When the Reformation took place Winzet adhered to the Romish church, and was in consequence cited before John Spotswood, superintendent of Lothian, and after several conferences was expelled from his office, which he had filled "to the great satisfaction of the inhabitants." He had previously taken priest's orders, and now removing to Edinburgh, stood forward as the literary champion of his church, which had hitherto been but feebly defended by its Scottish adherents. He published in 1562, "Certane Tractates for Reformation and Doctryne and Manneris," and prepared and sent to the press a similar work called "The Last Blast of the Trumpet;" but the reformers had not yet learned the duty of toleration, and the magistrates of Edinburgh (August, 1562) broke into the printing-office, seized and suppressed all the copies of this tract which could be found, and fined and imprisoned the printer. The author finding that he could no longer remain with safety in his native land, took refuge in Flanders. In the course of the following year he published at Louvain his "Buke of Four Scoir Three Questions," together with a translation into the Scotch vernacular of the work of Vincentius Lirinensis, against the Profane Novations of
