STAIR. 223 II. 1695. 2 and 1. John (Dalrymple), Viscount Stair, &c. ■c rci t&l lst s - md b -> *• lfi48 i about 1667; admitted an Earldom L^.J Advocate [£ n 2 8 Feb. 1672, and distinguished himself, as such, in I. 1703. the defence of the Earl of Argyll in 1681 ; was in disgrace with the Government and was imprisoned in 1682 and 1684 ; was King's Advocate [S.], 1687-88, to carry out the "dispensing power " claimed by James II. ; a Lord of Session and L. Justice Clerk, 16SS ; M.P. [S.] for Strauraer, 1689 ; one of the three cominissrs. [S.] sent to offer the Crown to William and Mary in 16S9, and one of the six persons excepted from the act of indemnity of James II- ; Joint Sec. of State [S.], 1691, but resigned in 1695 owing to the obloquy which he (then known [only too well] as " Master of Stair") had incurred in his treacherous and most cruel conduct as to the massacre of the clan Macdouald, at Glencoe, in 1992.(») lie sue. to the pecrai/c [SJ, 25 Nov. 1695, and tho' he had obtained remission, from the King, of all consequences attending the Glencoe slaughter did not venture to take his seat till Feb, 1700. b ) P.O. to Queen Anne in 1702 by whom he wascr. 8 April 1703,;°) EARL OF STAIR, YISCUUNT DALKYMPLK, LOHD NEWLISTON, GLENLUCE AND STRANRAEK [S.l »'ith rem., failing heirs male of his body, to the heirs male of his lather. He was a Cummissr. for the Union [S.] in promoting which he took a most active part, his death being caused by his over exertion therein. (*) He m. Elizabeth, da. and h. of Sir John DdndaS, of Newliston, co. Linlithgow- He d. at Edinburgh, 8, and was bur. 11 Jan. 1706/7, at Kirkliston, co. Linlithgow, aged about OS. Funeral entry at Lyon office. His widow it. also at Edinburgh at an advanced age, 11 May 1731. Funeral entry as afsd. Earldom [S.] II. Viscountcy [S.] III.
- ? and J. John (Dalrymfle), Earl op
Staiu, Sec. fS.], 2d but lst surv. s. and h.,( d ) J. 20 1707 July 1673, at Edinburgh. He, when but nine years old, accideutly killed his eldest br. in April 1682, for which act he was pardoned under the Great Seal. He was ed. at the univ. of Leyden ; served as a volunteer at the battle of Steinkuk, 2 Aug. 1692 ; styled Viscoont Dalrymple from 1703 till lie sue. to the peerage [S.] as above, 8, of principle and of a more independent spirit than was common in those times. His portrait, by Sir John Medina, has been engraved, as also has one [Qy. by Paton ?] in Walpole's " Royal and Noble Authors. ("J In this fiendish affair, concocted with Argyll and Breadalbane, the guilty cognisance of .Stair as to the submission of the Chief of Maedonald is indubitable, and was so found by the Commission which was reluctantly granted in 1 (iP."> to avoid a Pari, inquiry. Those who desire to read all that can be said, or left unsaid, to clear William 111. from his share therein {viz. the authorising the " extirpation " of the Macdouahls, and afterwards the sheltering the convicted criminal), should read " Macaulay," who, however, erroneously states that the King dismissed Stair from office whereas he himself had previously resigned. The King, '• after all the facts of the case were fully explained, never expressed a syllable of disapproval of the conduct of his Minister." [Nat. Jlioyr.] The " Nine ol ' Diamonds" is called " I'ke Curse of Scot- land" (a name applied to it certainly as early as 1720) presumably from the nine diamonds (or lozenges) that are borne (on a saltire) in the arms of Dalrymple [N. and Q., 8 S., iii, 468.] Macky {Characters) says of him, when turned 50, that on Queen Anne's accession he was from Lord Stairs cr. Earl of K ij lie [sic] ; is a very good lawyer, of great natural parts and facetious conversation ; made always a better com- panion than a Statesmau, being naturally very indolent ; is handsome in his person, tall, fair." Lockhart of Carnwath calls him " extremely facetious and diverting, and, setting aside his politics, goodnatured," testifying also to his great eloquence." ( b ) Ho proposed to do so in 1698 but it awoke such " a humour among the members" that he refrained therefrom. (°) HiB creation as an Earl was, " greatly to the discredit of the Government, in 1703," writes Earl Stanhope [History, 1701-13], who adds, however, that his death striving to the last, by voice and vote, to carry thro' a measure essential to his country's welfare, may " reconcile us, however slightly, to a memory on which such a uload of infamy rests." ( d ) James, his eldest br., was b. 19 Feb. 1670, and d. young in April 1682, being shot by his br., John, afterwards the 2d Earl, at Carsrecreugh Castle, eo. Wigtou.
