H O N. S LO RD V B S O F 1 2 . THE RIGHT JOHN COUTT , PRO O T EDIN URGH , 74 ’ O F Co u TT s B A NK THE FOUNDER .

’ ’ om a McArdell s co o a z z o i a a F a m sa s o a . (Fr J mes ntemp r ry me t nt , fter All n y p rtr it ) C O U T T S 85 C O .

B A N K E R S

E D INBU RG H A ND LO ND O N

BEING

(the memoi rs of a f ami ly Distinguisbeo for its publi c S ervices i n Englano anoS cotlano

R A L P H R I C H A R D S O N

P . S. A . SCOT.

WITH MA NY PORTRA ITS A ND ILL USTRA TIONS

LOND ON

ELLI T T K 6 2 ATERN STER ROW EC . O S OC , , P O , 1 9 0 0

P RE F A C E

WHEN i n 1 895 my biography of George Morlan d

s appeared , some persons profe sed to be shocked to find

that so great a n artist should have led so irregular a

n o life . In the following pages I shall depict George

his u s n Morland struggling , like ill striou co temporary

s re Robert Burns , with fierce passion so faithfully i flect ed i n the works of both . My subject s a Banking

- , n house of world wide fame , i stituted and maintained

by men of spotless integrity , undying energy, and the

high e st professional skill .

As as far I know, there has been no adequate and

comprehen sive account yet published of the Coutts

an d i s s s family t numerou connections , for, ma terly

’ s s though they were , Sir William Forbe Memoir of

’ 1 0 a Banki n g House stop at the year 8 3 . Yet few

families have contributed more to the financial , political

l - and social we l being of the community , or have exhibited vi Preface

s finer examples of the highest class of citizen hip . In

the preparation of the Memoirs contained in the follow

s ing pages , original authorities in the British Mu eum

an d an d e elsewhere , the R cords of the Corporation of

Edinburgh , have been consulted in order to complete a

history as remarkabl e as it is instructive .

The work was inspired by the fact that the Edinburgh

’ Banking - house of the C ou t t se s successors is now ocon

a e f h pied by Governm nt o fice of which I am t e head .

From its windows c an be seen the site of the old Meal

u Market , and there is still a braeside p which once

’ W n clambered the President s Stairs , here Joh Coutts

s - u a s lived and e tablished his Banking ho se , and where ,

Lord Provost of Edinburgh (1 742 - 44) he entertained

the notables of the Scottish capital . The quaint old Parliament Close has become the

P e dignified arliament Squar , but , although ornate and

regular modern architecture has taken the place o f the

u l we c a n picturesq e if irregu ar buildings of olden days ,

‘ ’ ’ ‘ ’ still boast o f Charlie s statu e and the ai rc o c k 0

’

. ffi e St Giles , of which a clerk in this o c (Robert Fer

n gusson) o ce sang , and was hailed as elder brother by

u r m B ns hi se lf.

’ Nor has the old place of business of the C o u t t ses s m uccessors lost its conn ection with Money . The vol u e

of wealth annually inscribed in the Records of this

Governm ent de partm e nt exceeds the revenue of m any Preface

— o a Contin ental State ; and even Tom Coutts himself could not have wished for his heiress better titles than

. those which have been issued from this office since the days of Mary Stuart .

R . R .

S Y O M . S H . COMMI AR FFICE, E PARLIAMENT SQ UARE, DINBURGH ,

A ri l 1 00 . p , 9

CONTE NTS

CH A PTER

O LD E I . DINBURGH

TH N I I . E PARLIAME T CLOSE

TH E A S Y I I I . COUTTS NCE TR

IV V S S . LORD PRO O T COUTT T V . H E COUTTS BROTHERS

V I. S S THOMA COUTT , BANKER , LONDON

V II SIR W S . E . ILLIAM FORBE , BART , BANKER , DINBURGH

H . . R M P. V . SI S I I I JAME UNTER BLAIR , BART , , BANKER , EDINBURGH

TH E Y M I$ . LAD WITH THE GREEN ANTLE P . M . $ . SIR S . FRANCI BURDETT, BART ,

- S $ I. TH E BARONESS BURDETT COUTT

M A R RIBANK . M . P . $ II. SIR O S JOHN J , BART , , BANKER ,

E S DINBURGH ; AND PRINCIPAL FORBE ,

FJ L Su

INDE$

L IST O F ILLU STRAT IO NS

TH E H ON. S V S O F E RIGHT JOHN COUTT , LORD PRO O T DIN

’ 1 2 TH E O F S BURGH , 74 . FOUNDER COUTT BANK

F r an h is$ face

PA G E

E ’S O F E 1 2 S DGAR PLAN DINBURGH IN 74 , WHEN JOHN COUTT

WA S LORD PROVOST O F THE CITY

TH E M M E WA S EAL ARKET, DINBURGH , BEHIND WHICH

COUTTS’ BANK

TH E S E PARLIAMENT CLO E, DINBURGH , AFTER THE FIRE

O F 1 824

TH E O LD S E S’ PARLIAMENT HOU E, DINBURGH , NEAR COUTT BAN K

TH E S S E S’ PARLIAMENT TAIR , DINBURGH , NEAR COUTT BANK

S S THOMA COUTT , BANKER, LONDON W H ER D SS O F ST. A S O F GRACE THE UCHE LBAN , IDOW

S S Y THOMA COUTT , BANKER , LONDON , AND FORMERL

M SS M A SS I ELLON , CTRE

W O F SIR S S . ILLIAM FORBE PIT LIGO, BART , BANKER ,

E A S SS T DINBURGH , PPRENTICE AND UCCE OR O THE

C OUTTSES

TH E E B S’ COWGATE , DIN URGH , NEAR COUTT BANK xii List of Ill u st rat i on s

PAG E THE M S E S EADOW , DINBURGH , WITH GEORGE Q UARE,

WHERE YOUNG WALTER SCOTT AND H IS FIRST LOVE

RESIDED

H N SS - TH E RIGHT O . THE BARONE BURDETT COUTTS

Y S O F HON HOLL LODGE , THE RE IDENCE THE RIGHT . THE

BARONESS BURDETT- COUTTS CHAPTER I

O L D E D I NB U R G H

ONTEMPO RARY plans O f Old Edinburgh re e s mble the features Of a fossil fish . Whether we ’ ’ look at Gordon O f Rot h em ay s bird s - eye view ’ Of 1 647 or William Edgar s plan Of 1 742 (given with ’ Ma it l a n d s history o f the fish - like features remain ’ r m m p o inent and unchanged . The ani al s head was represente d by the im mense volcanic boss Of the Castle

e Rock . His body , thin at the n ck at the Castle Hill , attained considerable proportions as it broadened out ’ r Nor o n e towa ds the Loch on side , and Bristo on the Hi othe r . s bones were represented by innumerable closes stretching at right an gles from both Sides of his

e r — n n c nt al spine the High Street and C a o g at e . His tail terminated gracefully with H ole O d Palace ; whilst m m fla ers two i ense fins or pp stretched , the one towards

Pot t errow . Leith Wynd , and the other towards the The area Of Old Edinburgh remained for long as

e stereotyped as the fossil it resembled . Ther is really very littl e difference in appearance between the Oldest views O f all — those published in 1 544 and 1 575 ’ ’ — m a 1 6 O f Gordon s p Of 47 , and Edgar s map 1 2 n u r 74 , showing that for early two cent ies the city m re ained stagnant and unchanged , and that it was only du ring com paratively recent times that the breath Of u e O f s life and progress reached her . I n the co rs thi n C an ke r 2 C o u t t s a d O . , B s

O f s r history the Coutts family, we hall see how Edinbu gh st a é suddenly left her stereotyped Auld Reekie g , and blossomed out into o n e Of the gre atest and fairest cities

m f h ' f r n in Christendom . She was emble atic O t e o t u es O f O f m her own house Coutts , beginning in a s all and primitive way, and gradually, by industry and intelligence,

- attaining the highest distinction and world wide fame . O n O f looking at a map Old Edinburgh , we are struck with the fact that it m ust have been a very small place . s The Castle on the we t , Holyrood on the east , Leith Pott errow Wynd on the north , and on the south , were O f the limits a city which , as the capital Of Scotland , was already historically o n e O f the most interesting ’ capitals in Europe . Measuring its are a o n Edgar s O f 1 2 map 74 , we find that Old Edinburgh Occupied a s O f e e u pace about feet from ast to w st , by abo t

feet from north to south . Yet what historical s s cenes , what national event , what dramas , what $ tragedies , had not been enacted within this little space There is such a difference between Old and New m Edinburgh that , to enable the reader to have so e idea C ou t t ses i In e of the city when the came to l ve it , a bri f

s i r de cription of Old Edinburgh s necessa y . A great central street stretched from the Castle Hill n Walk (now know as The Esplanade) , eastwards by Castle Hill Street and the Land Market (better known ’ as the Lawn Market) , past St . Giles Church to the

O f C an on at e Nether Bow ; then past the Head the g , down the C an on g at e to the Abbey Close in front O f

Holyrood Palace . Edinburgh occupied the ridge Of ‘ ’ s - - m what geologist term a crag and tail for ation , and its great central highway descended gradually from a height of 3 60 feet to 1 1 9 feet . It was well named the e for O f High Str et , it occupied the highest ground the r little capital , whose inhabitants were ve y proud of its s as lofty house , which , if Nature had not given them ' S v u /c' q/ I w’ l u $rm 3 1m 4 1m ( IV)

T H E Y CIT .

n C O B an kers o u t t s a d . 4 C ,

’ i . d s the n orth The Nor Loch , as it was called , has appeared to make way fo r the line of the North British n Railway ; yet , in the ha ds of a capable landscape gardener, a large sheet of water here had great pos sibilit ies i s , and , indeed , the one thing which modern

Edinburgh lacks . Alexander Smith declared that there is n othing in Europe to match the view from Princes

Street on a winter night ; adding , Could you but roll ’ a river down the valley, it would be sublime . Boon

' u Nature , ever so indulgent to Edinb rgh , had provided a loch , as if to complete the beauty of her favourite $ s child ; but , alas the value of that gift was unrecogni ed , ’ No r and the Loch was permitted to disappear . Edinburgh was still a walled City when Maitland 1 wrote her history in 753 . The openings through the n — Town Wall were nine in umber viz . , West Port , Pot t errow Bristo Port , Port , Cowgate Port , Nether

e Bow Port , the Hospital Postern Gate , the Coll ge ’ H alkert on s Church Postern , Wynd Postern , and the O f Workhouse Postern . The posterns were the nature s of doorway or passages , whereas the ports were broad gateways to the city , and derived their name from the

orte . French p , a door It is scarcely necessary to dwell upon the fact that Scotland and France were in olden times closely con n c d r e t e . Whilst the Scots rega ded the French as

r t h e f iends and allies , they referred to English as our ’ e - auld enem ies of E n gland . Th y based their law courts o n n s O f the Fre ch sy tem , as they took the principles m the ir j u risprudence from ancient Ro e . Their highest municipal m agistrates were known as Provost and

'

r révét bai llzs. Bailies , from the F ench p and Their suprem e law - cou rt was entitled a College of J u stice

collé e de usti ce u u e ( g j ) , their supreme co rt j dges S nators sén a teurs o f o f u e e ( ) the College J stic , and th ir barristers a v ca ts Advocates ( o ) . French terms were interlarded in Old Edin b urgh 5

’ old C o ut t se s their common speech . A Scot Of the day called a dish an ashet (assi ette) he ate grosets and geans (g rosei lles and g uig n es) ; he cau ght sperli n (éperlcm ) ; he hated to be fashed (fli cker) ; he drank ‘ o u t o f a tassie (tasse) ; and when he heard the cry ’ Gardy loo G are l eau he quickened his steps to avoid an unsavoury deluge from above . Even to this day the Old Town of Edinbu rgh re sembles a Continental rather than an English city . The

- e - lofty , steep roofed , ston built houses , divided into flats m m approached by co on stairs , with closes , wynds , and u co rts instead of streets , recall old French towns , and furnish another re miniscence of the ancient historical connection between France and Edinburgh . The serried ’ e r mass of the High Street , crowned by St . Gil s ai y d of coronet , remin s us many a picturesque bit gleaned by

- r the artist in some Old wo ld Continental town . Although a town de pends for its celebrity u pon the fame of it s citizens rather than upon its area or popula tion , and a Weimar may outrival a Pekin , yet we cannot help feeling surprised at the small size and popul ation of Old Edinburgh . Its area has already been dwelt upon ; its population may next be glanced at . Mait land estim ated t h e population O f the City and the ’ n n m u parishes of C a o gat e and St . Cuthbert s to a o nt in 1 747 to Assum ing t h e correctness of these

u C ou t t ses figures , Edinburgh and sub rbs when the arrived th e re had a much smaller population than r r Greenock has at the p esent day, and were far infe ior ’ o f u to the population which Edinb rgh s seaport , Leith ,

- e 1 can now boast . Twenty ight years later, in 775 , a fresh estimate of the pop ulation of Edinbu rgh was made

u r e of r by H go A not , advocat , whose History Edinbu gh was published by W . Creech , Edinburgh , and J . Murray , ’ 1 m e U London , in 779 . Arnot s esti ate was bas d pon an accurate survey of the number of houses in Edin d C O an kers 6 Cou t t s an . , B

A . D . 1 burgh , Leith , etc . , taken 775 , for the purpose of collecting the road - money payable by each It e m s was found that there were separat fa ilie , and o ula by allowing six members to each family , a total p p tion of Edinburgh , Leith , and environs of was i s obtained . But this still a very small place , as modern towns go . Edinburgh , Leith , and suburbs had then b ut half the population of modern Dundee . There were no railways then to m ake Edinburgh one f of the great tra fic centres of the United Kingdom , and to bring tourists from the uttermost ends of the earth to visit it . It was a quiet little town , where everybody

e kn w everybody , and where everyone lived very com fort abl y and very cheaply . Arnot (who was himself likened by Harry Erskine to a speldron ) took t h e trouble of getting from ‘ the keeper of the principal tavern in Edinburgh ’ the highest prices of comestibles in Edin u 1 8 b rgh in 77 , and it is edifying to compare them with 1 8 1 1 the average prices in 99, 2 years later

DECEMBER . EDINBURGH PRICES FOR 1 7 7 8 . 1 8 9 9 .

r 1 e b 2 . o . 0 . e e d t d . 6d o 1 d B f, p 5 3 5 t

M on er . d . u t o d . o 10 . tt , p lb 3 3 g . 7d t d V r d . . ea e . o . l , p lb 4i t 55d 9d

or er 1h . d . o d . d t o 6d P k, p 4 . t 4& 5 .

o s er a r 2 5 . 5 . 2 . d . o 5 . a . F wl , p p i t o 4 5 6 t 3 e ch

D uc s er a r . . 25 . t o 2 5 . d 5 eac k , p p i 6 . 3 h

c en s er a r 1 . 2 . 2 . d . t o 5 . e ac . Chi k , p p i 5 d 5 3 3 h

e on s r a r d . e 6d o d . 1 0 eac Pig , p p i . t 7 . h

ar r e s er a r I o 1 . d . 5 . t o 5 . P t idg , p p i S. t 5 6 3 5 M u r o rous r 2 d . o 5 . d . 5 6d o 65 . 6d e e a r 5 . t . . t . i f wl (G ) , p p i 4 3 4 4 W u r d . o . c s e r 6d t o 5 . . 5 . 6 t 5 a 25 . 6d ild d k , p p i . 3 3 7

A oo 5 . g se 3 s . 6

A ur e s . 6d o 5 . 65 . t o 2 2 5 . t k y 4 . t 7

Sa m n r . o 6d . e . 1 0d 1 5 . 25 l , p lb . t o

a oc s er oz en I . . 1 5 . t o 5 . H dd k , p d S t o 2 5 6d . 9 W n s er oz en 2 . 1 5 . o 5 . hiti g , p d 5 t 9

A o s er 6d . 6d . o 1 5 . 6d 5 . l b t t . 3

Sm s 6 1 . 8d . e er 1 5 . d . o 5 65 lt , p t 3 .

O s ers er 1 00 8d . t o I s . 8s . d . y t , p 4 Old Edin b u rgh 7

At the period when Arnot wrote (1 779) Edinburgh ‘ ’ u h - fis . had an ab ndant market We know no place , ‘ s o f he says , supplied with uch variety excellent shell

fish as Edinburgh . Lobsters , crabs , muscles and ar shrimps e to be had at very reasonable rates . The re is such plenty of oysters that a large q u antity is annually e t h e xported to Medway and other rivers , there to lie ’ and fatten for the London market . Sobriety was n ot a strong point with the citize ns of the Scottish m etropolis during t h e eighteenth century . In r its fi st half the chief, if not the only, drink of the working classe s of Edinburgh was a species of malt - liqu or called ‘ ’ on for 1 2 - 2 twopenny , the duty which the year 7 3 4 amounted to Arnot lam ents the fact that i n ‘ m of u r m his ti e , the latter half the cent y, instead of alt liquor the lower class of inhabitants have betaken them s whi sk elves to tea and y . The first of these , to people r who are not able to afford generous diet and liquo s , cannot be esteemed wholesome . The last is equally pernicious to health an d to morals ; yet the use of that destructive spirit is increasin g am ong the common pe ople o f all ages and sexes with a rapidity which ’ th reatens the most important effects u pon society . He tells us that there were public - houses i n the

u u r 1 co nty of Edinb gh in 779 , which was equivalent to

- a public house fo r every fifty inhabitants . In u pper circl e s and in taverns Claret was the great m u s drink in Old Edinburgh , re inding of the celebrated stanza

on an s oo Fi rm an d e rect th e Cale d i t d , w h is m u on an d h is are oo Prim e as tt , Cl t g d ” 1 h ou ern s a esm an c r e Let h im d rin k P o rt t e S th t t i d , ’ h o son an d h is s r e . H e d ran k t e p i , pi it di d

There were no good inns in Edinburgh during the sur eighteenth century . Indeed , strangers were often prised at thei r first reception in a city accounting itself a o an d C 0 B an ker 8 C u t t s . , s

‘ ’ n n s s capital . The i , ays Arnot , are mean buildings ; their apartments dirty and dismal ; and if the waiters n ou t s happe to be of the way , a tranger will perhaps be shocked with the novelty of being shown into a room ’ u n - u s s by a dirty s b rned wench without hoes or tockings .

s n u s s s e . Thi bri gs to the dres e of the peopl John Kay , in h is inimitable portraits ofEdinburgh citizens at the close s see ofthe eighteenth century , let us how the better classes

- . an d s dressed A cocked hat wig, clean haven visage ,

- - ruffles , a swallow tailed coat, with vest and knee breeches Of s various colours , and neat tockings and buckled shoes , m m co pleted the attire of an Edinburgh gentle an . The

s r - s ladies gloried in enormou hats , towe ing head dresse , m en an d hooped petticoats . Working wore blue bonnets

lon coa s - s - t s . and g , with knee breeche and rough spun ho e m Working wo en wore the plaid , which frequently s covered both their heads and houlders , and often

- went bare footed , for the cheap heavy boots of that ’ rude age hurt the feet more than Auld Reeki e s causey ’ stanes . m Rude though the age was , however , it had any sterling qualities . If the living was plain the thinking as w high , and from the rude little Scottish capital shone many an intellectual search - light which sent its shafts athwart Europe . Old Edinburgh was the residence of some of the most famous men that ever lived . Allan Ram say and Robert Ferg usson foreshadowe d the mightier Robert Burns . Henry Mackenzie and John

r u Home prefigu ed the glorio s Walter Scott . Boswell introduced Johnson to philosophy as great as any

e . s m in Fleet Stre t Adam Fergu on , Ada Smith , and Dugald Stewart made Edinburgh a renowned seat of philosophy and political economy ; whilst James H u tton m ade it the birthplace of modern geology , and Joseph m Black of modern chemistry . David Hume and Willia Robertson wrote histories which engaged Eu ropean Old Edi n b u rgh 9

e S o f att ntion ; and ydney Smith , the originator the

Edi n bur h Revi ew u u r o g , la ghed the eighteenth cent y u t whilst living as a poor tutor in one of the poorest b u t cleverest cities in Christendom .

For Edinburgh was very poor then . Its municipal n o u revenue , which w exceeds half a million po nds

u annually , barely reached a year . Its val ed n ow rent , which amounts to two and a half million wa s pounds , then , even including Leith , only Public officials were paid on a scale com mensu rate with or the poverty of the day . The Lord Provost , Chief r r 00 m magist ate of the city , eceived £3 per annu to h im f Th e enable to keep up the dignity of his o fice . Lord President of the Court of Session g ot a

1 6 00 . year till 7 9 , when £3 was added to his salary r ot The Lord Justice Cle k g a year , and the of 0 other Judges Session £7 5 each , with an additional r £2 00 if they acted as Judges of Justiciary . The Lo d ’ Advocate s salary was that of the Solicitor er 00 ot 1 00 Gen al £4 , and the Advocates Depute g £ each . Borrowing the motto hum orou sly proposed for the

Edi n bur h Revi ew r e o f g , the Professo s of the Univ rsity Edinburgh lite rally cultivated the M u ses on a littl e ’ r n 2 00 . oatmeal . Their salaries ranged f om othing to £ n The latter sum sustai ed a Regius Professor , who ‘ lectured on those colossal subj e cts the law of Natu re ’ m ru r and nations . Monro professed anato y and chi rge y

e of 0 e r e for the modest r tainer £5 . The no less cel b at d e Cullen , Black , Gregory , and Young lived upon th ir ’ r r e students fees . Adam Fe guson explored the ecess s 1 0 e u r of moral philosophy for £ 2 . Hugh Blair l ct ed ‘ ’ - delightfully on rh et ori ck and belles lettres for £7 0 . for 2 John Robison expounded natural philosophy £5 , a d clari mi et ven era bi le n omen e u re n Dugald Stewart , , l ct d ’ m o n m ath em at i c ks and astronomy for £1 1 3 . Dr . Willia 0 ou t t an C O B an ke rs 1 C s d . ,

n - Robertso , the well known historian , was Principal of 1 1 1 the University, and received the enormous sum of m per annu . Of course the val u e of money was much greater then u s than now, and altho gh the philosopher and func

io n ari es e t of Old Edinburgh s em poorly paid , their re m u neration was on the sam e scale as that allotted

s u e 1 6 at Weimar to the illu trio s Go the , who in 77 was nom inated a Privy Councillor with a salary amounting 1 80 was u 0 to £ , which event ally increased to £45 after ’ r fo ty years service .

u n Fort nately for posterity , the li eaments of the lead ing actors on the stage of Old Edinburgh have been of preserved for us in the etchings John Kay , whose massive volumes re semble those blocks which the

m m r geologist lays open with his ha er , and discove s inside the life of a past age . There they all are , and

u — faithf lly delineated noblemen , j udges , generals , pro fessors — , lawyers with their quaint costumes , their

r . sh ewd faces , their manly forms It was in many n n ow was ways a differe t world to that we know , but it a world where genius and valour shone conspicuously, and N ew Edinburgh will not beat Old Edinbu rgh in these respects . was John Kay born near Dalkeith , Midlothian , in

1 2 u i n 1 82 6 . 74 , and lived in Edinb rgh till his death The eighty - four years he passed in or near the city enabled him to be a just connoisseur of its men and

s n - m anners . He had a mall pri t shop on the south ’ m e C ou t t ses side Of the Parlia nt Close , near the banking

u ho se , and his portraits of contemporary Edinburgh

i - celebrities were exhibited in h s shop windows . They were all drawn and engraved by himself, and when

e m coll cted for ed two large volumes , published at Edin

i n 1 8 bu rgh 3 7 . From the pages of Kay ’ s Portraits ’ we Obtain a

2 n C an k 1 Cou t t s a d o . , B ers

a C ou t t ses p rtners of the house founded by the ) , Sir ‘

n Mar oriba n ks . Joh j of Lees , Bart , and Sir James

Stirling , Bart . (both of Mansfield , Ramsay and and William Cumming (of Cumming and Son) . Three s of these bankers were Lord Provo ts of Edinburgh . Among merchants We observe Roger Hog of New s li ton , and Alexander Hunter of Polmood . Among antiquaries walked ponderously Francis

Grose , immortalized by Burns . s s Among men of cience shone Joseph Black , Jame ’ m n s Hutton , Robert Ja eso , the naturalist (Darwin preceptor) , and John Hope , the botanist . s e Among urgeons we notic Alexander Wood , Alex

n n s . s a der Mu ro (primus and ecundus) , Dr Jame Hay of s Hay ton , and Benjamin Bell .

s s . Among phy ician were Drs William Cullen , James

a n d . Gregory , Andrew Duncan , James Hamilton senior Among public - spirited Citizen s we observe Sir John

s . S . Sinclair of Ulb ter , Bart . , and Sir Henry Jardine , W , ’ the King s Remembrancer . Among actors appeared Joh n Henderson (u n sur ’ passed as Si r j ohn F alstafi) and Henry Erskine

- s H amlet Johnston , a law bred Edinburgh youth , who e a s w renowned . ss s Among actre es , the great Mrs . Siddon made her on s 1 8 first appearance the Edinburgh tage in 7 4 , and

r frequently entranced the city afte wards , even to the emptying of the General Assembly of the Church of

Scotland . Although his print - sh Op was close to their residence s and banking house , Kay doe not favour the Coutts family with any etchings , the cause probably being that ’ s Lord Provo t Coutts was before Kay s time , and the Coutts brothers had been transforming them selves from

Edinburgh citizens into London magnates . In fact , 1 2 John Coutts was Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 74 , Old Edin b u rgh I 3

’ o f the very year Kay s birth , and although James ’

s was MP . Coutts , one of the Provost s ons , for the i n s city of Edinburgh , he was established busines in

London . ’ Yet during Kay s long life he saw and pictured the Old Edinburgh in which John Coutts and his sons dwelt ; the friends with whom they mingled ; the citize ns with whom they did business . Edinburgh was no mean city with such m en forming its society .

e al m m Its w th might be small and its li its circu scribed , bu i n u r t in intellect , in integrity , ind stry , in ene gy , it of m e n was second to none . It was the nursery great

h o - w , at the trumpet call of progress , were ready to take their places in all quarte rs of the globe and assist in that vast expansion of the British Empire which

e occurred during the ninet enth century , and made it the greatest empire the world has ever seen . C HAPTER I I

TH E PARLIAMENT C LO SE

RIG INAL LY what is now known as Parliament

u u e Sq are , and which Old Edinb rgh call d the m r Parlia ent Close , was an Open space st etch ing from the church dedicated to Edinburgh ’ s patron

s . . aint , St Giles , downwards to the Cowgate On this space were erected conventual buildings and lodgings ’

o f . for the clergy St Giles Church , but part of it was

u - u occupied by a b rial gro nd . Here was buried with 1 2 o f great pomp in 57 the Reformer , John Knox , one ’

of . e ro the ministers St Giles , the Reg nt Morton p n oun c i n g his eu logy and declaring that the dead ’ preache r had never feared the face of flesh . An ’ iron tablet marks the su ppo sed site of John Knox s

u , grave which is ‘ in perilous proximity to the stat e of

m . Charles I I . in Parlia ent Square What rem aine d of the open Space to which reference ’ has been made is shown in Gordon of Rot h em ay s ’ - u 1 6 m bird s eye view of Edinb rgh in 47 , the Parlia ent House of Scotland having in 1 63 2 - 3 9 been built on

- part of it and occu pying its north west corner . I n m th e former ti es , when safety had to be consulted , Scottish Parliam ents met within the frowning walls o f

r Edinburgh Castle , and their ancient Hall , estored by

- e o n e - a public spirit d citizen , is of the show places of

r r r mode n Edinbu gh . The Pa liament Close derived its

R R B THE MEAL MA KET , EDINBU GH , EHIND WHICH WA S

’ S B COUTT ANK . Th e Parliam en t Cl o se 1 5 nam e from the Parliam e nt House erected on the space m e e in question , and eans the nclos d place adjoining the bu ilding which attests the distinctive nationality of Scotland . The Parliam ent Close wa s flanked by two lane s (Scotti ce the o n e o n its west side be ing ’ r u Beth s Wynd , which stretched f om the Cowgate p or of to nearly opposite the Tolbooth , Heart Mid on m lothian the other, its east side , being unna ed ’ o f Rot h e m a s m a b u t in Gordon y p, also ascending ’ from the Cowgate to t h e e aste rn gable of St . Giles

h e of m r Chu rch . At t south end the space co p ising t h e m n e w as Parlia e t Close , and facing the Cowgat , t h e m r e e Meal Market , an i po tant resort , for h r was obtained t h e staple which Sam u el Johnson de fin e d as of in England the food horses , but in Scotland the food of the pe ople .

1 6 r m e e — In 47 the Pa lia nt Close prop r that is , the ’ space on the level and t o the sou th of St . Giles

u — t h e r u o n Ch rch was bounded on no th by that ch rch , the east by hou ses com m u nicating (by t h e innom inate

e e e o n e t h e r lan b hind) with the Cowgat , the w st by Pa lia m e u o n u u nt Ho se , and the so th partly by that b ilding ,

e but partly open to t h e sloping grou nd below . Th re were then no shops b u ilt along the sou th ern gable of ’ u t h e m S r St . Giles Ch rch , and whilst Parlia ent tai s m ay have existed and furnish e d a means of c om m u n i c a e m u e tion b tween the Cowgate and Parlia ent Ho s , the ’ e S r m r Presid nt s tai s , so i portant in this biog aphy as

h e r u e u m t fi st Edinb rgh r sidence of the Co tts fa ily , did n o u e m e r m t exist , as they date and acq ir d their na f o

H e m e of t h e Sir w Dalry pl , who was Lord President

Cou rt o f Session from 1 698 .

r n u e m The e was o stat e of Charl s I I . in the Parlia ent ’ ’ 1 68 bu t r r - e e Close till 5 , , acco ding to Gordon s bi d s y

of t h e view , a doorway , approached by a series steps from 1 6 t s an C B k Co ut d o . , an ers

’ s close , led into the south tran ept of St . Giles Church

1 u in 647 . There was also a r nic cross (perhaps mark ing some O ld grave) on the Open space to the north east of the Parliament House . The portion of the fl a st on es close next that House was paved with g , and t h e House itself had a n elegant t urreted exterior with two turrets facing the paved close , three the Open

r g ound to the east , and three the open ground to the

. n south Thus , less than a century after Joh Knox died , the alleged site of his grave was covered with paving

r stones and converted into a public thoroughfa e . With ol d r n regard to the turreted Pa liame t House , its appearance was long perpetuated by being engraved on ’ the notes issued by the C o u t t ses Edinburgh descend

s C o . m ants , Sir William Forbe and , bankers , Parlia ent

Squ are . To understand the changes which the Parliamen t s 1 6 Close has undergone ince Gordon depicted it in 47 , we must becom e acquainted with the Fires which an d desolated it . These were so frequent so terrible as to encourage the belief that the conversion of a

s u - u r u con ecrated b rying ground into a p blic tho o ghfare , ’ e m and the desecration of John Knox s grav , de anded

s . s 1 6 6 special cha tisement The fir t fire was in 7 , and

m r . da aged the close conside ably The next , or Great

r 1 00 Fi e , occurred in 7 , and demolished its eastern 1 82 side . The third fire took place in 4, and swept n away hou ses which had bee rebuilt .

In 1 676 the Parliament Yaird , as it was then u called , suffered much by a fire ca sed by a stationer ‘ m ’ lo uting down with a candle a ong louse papers , m e which su ddenly went up in a blaze . The fla s spread , and all the eastern side of the Parliament Close was

u b rnt , as well as part of the High Street down to the

r s m C oss . N o doubt a fire would rapidly pread a ong n houses of that time , which were co structed so much

an C o B an kers 1 8 Cou t t s d . ,

‘ e r Forbes pathetically xclaims , All the p yde of Edin ’ u burgh is s nk . Among those who lost their houses were the Lord

m m r m High Co issioner , the President of the Pa lia ent , the President of the Cou rt of Session (Si r H ew

m e . Dalry pl ) , and most of the Lords of Session One C rossri le of the latter was Lord g , who had a wooden g , s C ro ssri and Forbes give a quaint picture of g naked , hi s with a child under oxter (armpit) , hopping for his ’ u life . The august Parliament Ho se itself barely

f e escaped , and the Register and Law O fic s became so confu sed that the lords and office rs of State met at ’ s a d ou rn ed t h e u on Ros s Tavern , and j l Co rt of Session account of the general disorder . The original office of the Bank of Scotland also o f perished . The Earl Leven was then not only

Governor of the Bank , but also Governor of the Castle , and he arrived o n the scene with a detachm ent of ’ soldiers , and assisted in the removal of the bank s val u ables to a place of safety .

Unconscious of the fate that awaited them , the 1 buildings destroyed in 7 00 were rebu ilt . The Royal 1 00 Exchange again arose , and bravely bore the date 7

f - o n r o re re . its portals , to ma k the year its e ction The e astern side of the Parliament Close was adorned with a m r e t h e pillared piazza , for ing a cove ed walk , a f ature of ’ squ are which has b e e n preserved to this day . John s Coffee - house occupied the north - e ast corner o f t h e ‘ ’ r close , and there the lawyers took their me idian ,

m m or and the wits discussed the latest pa phlet , poe ’ e n pasquinade . John Kay s characters crowded and s n m e livened the cene , and all we t erry as a marriag bell . 1 Then came the awful visitation of November 5 ,

1 8 . 1 0 . 24 Again the fatal hour was p m . when the

n fl r i alarm of fire was given . The c o ag at on originated Th e Parliam en t Cl ose 1 9

of r in the printing premises Ki kwood and Sons , in the

Old Assembly Close , which is some distance to the

of . e t h e m east the Parliament Close N vertheless , fla es

u spread rapidly , and the fire moved westwards , ntil ’ hou ses in B o rt hwic k s Close were enve loped in flam e s m by idnight . Chambers describes the scene as one ’ u stupendo s blaze . ’ 1 00 firem e n s r e As in 7 , so now, the efforts , pa alyz d

of fire r no doubt by the fury the , were endered useless

t h e of o f e by want water and prop r appliances . Owing e u f e of Con rd n t e to thes ca ses , the o fic the newspap r, and an e xtensive range of hou ses between the Asse m bly Fi shm arket m and Closes , went to destruction a id a ‘ u r e m h r ican of sparks , rese bling, says Chambers , the ’ dri t of rm thickest f a snow sto , and causing a bystander e m See red sn d w to xclai , the The wind rose and lashed the fire into redoubled h t e e e m r . fury . All night sc ne r se bled the Infe no At m r h e Con rd n t u five next o ning t b ilding fell with a crash ,

— but it was not till noon that is , fourteen hours after

— the fire began that it was subdued . Men were congratulating them selves on having r t h e m c r exo cised fiery de on , when the y arose that the Tron Kirk was on fire $ This im portant chu rch had

e 1 66 e been erect d in 3 , and occupied a site at a consid r

r m r able distance from the Pa lia ent Close , and f om the

e of u u . m S r sc ne the j st exting ished fire Yet so e pa k , it ‘ ’ u of red m e is tho ght , some the snaw just ention d , had drifted to the spire of the Tron Kirk and set it ‘ ’ m ‘ e . ablaz The weathercock , says Cha bers , stood

e re - m o r for a long tim p e inent , like a ph enix sp inging r m b ut ee r upward f o the flame at length it began to v ,

e r for m e S and , aft r eeling a oment , f ll along with the pire towards the east with a trem endous crash . The m achine ry of the clock was now distinctly visible

r of r m e th ough the apertures the towe , and glea d as in a 2 — 2 C o . r . ou a B k 2 0 C t t s n d , an e s

’ o n e r furnace . Sir Walter Scott was of the c owd watch ing the Fire Demon at work on the Tron Kirk spire , and when it was wreathed in flames , he ejaculated to Henry s Cockburn and others , Eh , irs mony a weary , weary serm on hae I heard beneath that steeple His father had sat , and his young mind had been tortured , there .

' Lu ckily the church Was saved by t h e arrival of Deacon

fire - n Field with a powerful engine , and the i habitants breathed again . ’

n . Not for lo g , however At ten o clock (fateful $) al was hour that very night , the arm given that the Parliament Close was on fire $ It was found that the s r n d s top to y of the e ormously high buil ing , the loftie t

- in Edinburgh , at the south east corner of the Close , ‘ ’ i n was a blaze . As the red snaw could not have n In drifted here , the wind bei g the opposite direction , the inhabitants had now no hesitation in regarding this fiery visit at i o n as a heavenly chastisement for their past s s t h e tran gres ions , and Chambers assures us that even most unconcerned and proflig at e persons found them se lves incapable Of beholding the terrific scene with ’ indifference . Beginning i ri the topmo st story of the well - named ‘ n n r Babylo teneme t of Edinbu gh , the fiery scourge ' rapidly de scended to the foundation . From windows of tremendous height above the ground fell papers and furniture , tossed out by the bewildered inhabitants . The

r to ches of the firemen added to the glare, whilst the dense crowds gathered below filled the lofty buildings

s . around with hoar e echoes Henry Cockburn , in his

u Memorials declares that whilst the j dges , the

Lord Provost , the Dean of Faculty and the Solicitor

fire General were all present to put out the , they squabbled so much over precedence and authority that the fire was allowed to make wild progress whilst s points of etiquette were being debated . He say it

Th e Parliam en t C lose 2 1

‘ ’ m s n al o t touched Sir William Forbes ba k , the libraries of the Advocates and of the Writers to the ’ Signet , the cathedral , and the Courts . ’ By five o clock in the morning the entire easte rn ‘ o f side the Parliament Close was consu med . The whole horizon was completely envelope d in lurid flam e

r and whilst pitying the prop ietors , upon whose faces ‘ ’ sat s e e r m s c o n consternation , urpris and f a , Cha ber

e m e gratulat d hi s lf and those like him , who had nothing to lose, by remarking that they could not have been placed in a situ ation where they could have derived more sublime enjoyment . It is su pposed that 2 50 fam ilies were rendered m ho eless by this great fire , which spread over an

r r e u - ext aordinarily wide a ea , d stroying fo r six storied m m ’ tene ents in the High Street , two tene ents in Conn s n i Close, four te ements of s x or seven stories in Old ’ m e B ort hwick s Assembly Close , six s aller t nements in

u - e old Close , and fo r six storied tenem nts in the Fish m Market Close . The eastern side of the Parlia ent

o f six Close , consisting of four tenement s from to

e m e e eleven stories each , was , as alr ady stated , co pl t ly r dest oyed . By the aid o f sappers and miners the gigantic wreck o f the se Parliament Close bu ildin gs was

r u r u m u b o ght to the g o nd a id a clo d of dust , which ‘ u darkened the whole sq are , and , says Chambers , as m s on s u the mighty ass descended , shouts aro e ho ts ’ u from the assembled multit de . m Fro the account of these fires just given , it is evident that any description of the Parliam ent Close must depend upon the period before or after any great

fire . When the C out t ses arrived in Edinburgh and th e u settled near the close , it had feat res familiar to

- r John Kay and represented in a well known eng aving , in which m any of hi s Old Edinbu rgh characters are introduced . o t s an d C o B an ker 2 2 C u t . , s

’ ‘ ’ According to Mait l an d s History of Edinburgh

' the Parliam ent Close was su rrou nded ch ic fly $ east by the following public buildings On its side ,

- was which was (and still is) entered by a carriage way, ’ rt the Custom House ; on its n o h side was St . Giles ’ ’ u Ch rch , with a row of jewellers , goldsmiths , and ’ bookselle rs shops along the southern gable o f the Church and facing the close ; on the west side of the

e e e w clos , which was (and still is) nt red by a foot ay , was the Goldsm iths ’ Hall (now part of the Signet Library)

e and the Parliament House , the latter approach d from the Cowgate by the Parliament or Back Stairs ; on south r m the side of the close was , next the Pa lia ent ‘ ’ s e t h e r Hou e , a fine edifice call d Treasu y, which

accommodated the Courts of Session and Exchequer , m f the Co missary and Chancery O fices , and the Record

f h e re O fice of Scotland . To the east of t T asury were

e e r m n the Stamp and Linen Offic s , the latt r a Gove n e t

1 2 for r concern , established in 7 7 the imp ovement of

the linen and hemp manufactures of Scotland . East ‘ o f these offices was t h e Post - Offic e ( in the highest private building probably upon from which descended stairs called the Post - Offic e Stairs o r Post u n r Ho se Stairs , dow which P incipal Robertson and 1 m Boswell took Dr . Johnson in 773 , and ade him look up from the Cowgate to ‘ the highest building in ’ r e r e Edinburgh , being thi t en floo s or stori s from the

r g ound upon the back elevation . ’ m e r Maitland makes no ention of the Presid nt s Stai s , though John Cou tts had his residence and bank the re

whilst he was writing his history . It is possible that the ’ President s Stairs came to be called t h e Post - Offic e Stairs

r t h e r u e u f om impo tant b ilding th y led to , j st as their desce ndants to - day (but fu rther to the north - east) are

m - ffi someti es called the Police O ce Stairs . Maitland s t h e also refers to stair called Meal Market Stairs , and

an d C o B an k er 2 out ts . s 4 C ,

s ing at once broke up in disorder, and shortly afterward

Prince Charlie was master of his beloved metropolis . ’ To the south of the Goldsmiths Hall was the m n m entran ce to the Parlia e t House , a handso e door

u s Of way su rmo nted by the royal arm Scotland , s of s r flanked by statue Ju tice and Me cy , which did

n . not escape waggish remarks , as whe the Hon Henry Ki n crai ie r Erskine invited Robertson of g , an eccent ic

Jacobite , to enter the Parliament House and see the ‘ ’ - $ B ut law courts , the latter declined , adding I ll tell ’ ’ $ s wi ye what , Harry tak in Ju tice ye , for she has stood lang at the door , and it wad be a treat for her ’ to see the inside like other strangers . Since the union r 1 0 of the Scottish and English Pa liaments in 7 7 , the Parliament House had been given up to the Su p reme u r r a n Co ts of Scotland , and the great Pa li me t Hall had

m sa lle de as- erdn s beco e a s p p for Scottish advocates . ’ Like St . Giles Church , the ancient Parliament Hall of Scotland was mercilessly div ide d up . Kincaid tells us that in his day (1 7 87) a Lord Ordinary sat towards

u the south end of the hall , which was called the O ter s or Hou e Court of First Instance , whilst the Com r u s e n d missa y and Bailie Co rt occupied its north , near ” which was What Lord Cockburn i n his M emori als o f

‘ ’ 1 800 - calls a low , dark , blackguard looking room , h being the Town Council Hall or Guild all , and over m m al it the Justiciary or Supre e Cri in Court , where r the She iff of Midlothian also held his court . From the south - eastern extremity of t h e Hall a door led into t h e u Inner House , where fourteen j dges sat an d formed the Supreme Civil Court . Over this court the Barons of Exchequer had apartments , access to which was obtained by the wi n ding stair in t h e south - west corner t h e S ’ of quare called Parliament Close . The Parlia e 1 800 m nt Hall in , as described by Cockburn , was u e 2 0 ff cr lly mutilated , for 5 to 3 feet had been cut o its

Th e Parli am en t Close 2 5

r 1 northern end , and a pa tition about 5 feet high was n of drawn across it . Cockbur says the whole this ‘ partitioned space seemed to be occu pied as a ’ ’ s j eweller s and cutler s shop . My first pair Of kates

e e u was bought ther , and I rem mber my s rprise at the figu res with black gowns and white wigs walking about ’ among the cu tlery . The eastern side of the Parliam e nt Close was

e occupi d by lofty tenements , in which dwelt all sorts of t h e and conditions men and women , from Countess 1 6 of Wemyss , who in 73 resided in a fashionable flat , to the poor Irishman who declared at t h e fire of 1 824 ‘ ’ that he had lost his all , which proved to be only the

m n straw attress o which he slept . ’ John s Coffee - house shared with the Su prem e Co u rts ‘ t h e the chief honours of the close . A piazza dubbed ’ ’ e r s Scoundr ls Walk connected the two , and the e ra cally s of u lawyer took their ease , to the disgust unsuccessf l ’ - e of litigants . John s occu pied the north east corn r the

for e e close , and was of ancient foundation , D fo says the oppone nts of the union between Scotland and

r r e England met there , and gained f esh st ength to ren w m et their opposition in the Scottish Parliament , which

Close at hand . ’ John Kay s print - shop w as also a gre at attraction at ’ e for r the east side of the Parliam nt Close , Kay s p ints often e xhibited a personal satire of a m ost biting

n ot . quality, greatly relished by those it did assail off e Kay could , however, hit excellent liken sses , and m r do a ple justice to persons for whom he had a egard , and both Sir William Forbes and Sir Jam es Hunter C out t ses Blair, partners of the , have to thank the

- u poor little print shop near their great banking ho se , not merely for handing their feature s worthily down m to posterity, but also for proclai ing the Charity and public spirit which governed their lives . n C k 2 6 C o u t t s a d o . , B an ers

Since these days what a t ransformation has come over the O ld Parliament Yaird o r Close $ It is no $ N . O longer a venerable close , but a modern square ’ r booths nestle round St . Giles Chu ch , for the gold sm iths were driven from that sanctuary like the money

r h e e r - f change s from t Templ . No p int shops or cof ee

e e t h e u m houses nliv n sq are , for Govern ent has annexed it all for pu blic offices . The exterior appearance of the close has also been

r m ve y uch altered . The statues of Justice and Mercy have disappeared , to make way for the Egyptian

Sphinx , which , being mysterious and oracular, was

e probably adopt d as a fitting emblem of Law . Elegant colonnades im part symm etry to the once irregularly ’ built close . The Scoundrels Walk will be sought for in ’ - . ff u r vain John s Co ee ho se fled to the High St eet , and has re cently become the property of the Corporation .

e u e o f r . The q estrian statu Cha les I I is , perhaps , the only venerable ve stige of the ancient Close . After ’ the fire o f 1 824 the Merry Monarch s e ffigy was t e

e r u e mov d to the Calton gaol , and emained in d ranc

e u vil d ring the rebuilding of the Close . It occupies a of site originally intended for a statue Oliver Cromwell , and was erected in 1 685 by the m agistrates and Council at a cost to the town of Scots sterling) . t h e The execution of statue has been much admired , and the fulsom e inscription on its pedestal was worthy m for of the ti es , did not Bishop Walton dedicate his London Polyglot first to Oliver Cromwell and after ran dilo wards to Charles I I . in similar lavish and g $ m of quent terms At the sa e time , the Corporation r r Edinbu gh were deeply indebted to Cha les I I . for r m 1 680 u u g anting the in a d ty pon ale and beer , which

r u u r b o ght in Scots ann ally, being the Co pora ’ u of so tion s best so rce revenue , that they were amply r f repaid for the p ice o the statue . Th e Parli am en t C lo se 2 7

In the following lines that well - known Edinbu rgh m Citizen and poet , Allan Ra say, describes in his ’ Morning Interview the statu e and Parliam ent Close

e 1 1 - as they w re in 7 2 , twenty one years after the con flag rat i on of 1 700

r A u us of m es Law for us c e ass Wh e e l t ak J ti p , ’ n r s s a u s an s in as n ra ss A d Cha l e t t e t d l ti g b ,

Am s o S uare c s r e s th e s id t a l fty q whi h t ik ight , r of s u n ous e With spac i ous fab i c s t pe d h ight , Wh ose sublim e roofs in cl ou d s a d van ce so high They s eem th e watch - towe rs of t h e n ethe r sky

W ere on c a as I ere on ce th e re e Es a es h e, l wh th t t ’ O f Scotl an d s P a rli am en t held free d ebates

H r an d ere D am on m ove e e Celia dwelt h did , ’ h i r an d ra n ove P resse d by s igid fate gi g l .

Another muse of the Parliam en t Close was Robert r Fergusson , a clerk in the Commissa y Office there , who ‘ ’ u t h e r of sang of A ld Reekie and Tron Ki k Bell , Charlie s ’ ’ ’

u a i rc oc k . e 1 stat e , and the o St Gil s , and died in 774 ,

- m f u e . o ag d only twenty three His lilts re ind us B rns , ’ u r altho gh wanting the latter s powe and finish , yet B u rns hailed h im as

’ far m e er ro er in th M u se s By y ld b th e , and ere cted a tombstone to his me mory with a noble inscription . ‘ ’ ’ h e i rc ock . u T a o St Giles , which is said by H go

1 6 1 e 1 8 Arnot to be f et above the ground , had in 79

r m rathe a curious experience , for, in fulfil ent of a

e m t h e u wag r , two me bers of B rgess Golfing Club suc c essfully drove golf- ball s over it from the south - east corner o f the Parliament Close . C HAPTER I I I

TH E C O UTTS ANCESTRY

m I KE that of so many other families , the na e C O UTTS i s probably derived from an ancient

- m Celtic place name . The Celts had the ad irable practice of describing places by their natu ral chara c eri i t st c s . Thus, if a district was wooded , they called ‘ ’ Coi llte o r it , signifying the Woods . A hamlet village springing u p there retained the original designa

- m tion . Hence we have the familiar Scottish place na e

Cu lts r u r , derived f om the woods originally s r ounding

ults - the village of that name . C occurs as a place name r r Cult in Aberdeenshi e , Fife and Wigtownshi e , whilst

r Kelt e s . occu in Linlithgow and Perthshires y , deriv d

m r u from the sa e o igin , is fo nd in Kinross and Perth

- llen r coi lli s s . Cu n hire Similarly , the place name is f om , ‘ ’ S n s - ignifyi g woodland , and occur as a place name in

Banff and Lanarkshires .

Coutts , Colt , Keltie , and Cullen , are names of well

e r known Scottish families , and are all apparently d ived l ‘ ’ from the O d Celtic designation of a wooded place .

Being inhabitants of that place , these families took their

r n ames f om it . Heralds may have given them coats ’ of- s l arm in which are represented three colts ga loping , but the Celtic origin of their name is preferable to the equine . In 1 879 the Royal Hi storical Society of London pub

0 o u t t s an d C o B an kers 3 C . ,

u Brigade , p blished by the Scottish History Society in ’ 1 8 Cou t s e m 99 , Allyn y r ceived a Captain s com ission in the Scots Brigade in the service of the Unite d N e ther

1 600 m eu - lands in , beca e Li tenant Colonel of Sir William ’ m re 1 2 1 6 1 e Brog s regi ent , and died befo May , 3 . Georg n e 1 6 1 and Robert Co tis were offic rs of the brigade in 7 ,

C ou t t i s - and Allane was a Lieutenant Colonel , and Joris Robbert Coutes an officer in the same brigade in

1 662 . Forfarshire succeeded Aberdeenshire as the head

of m e quarters the Coutts fa ily , and commerce succeed d

- r land proprietorship as the sphe e O f their industry . Both i n the towns of Forfar and D u nde e C ou t t ses engaged in mercantile pursu its acqu i re d wealth and position . But it was in the little town of Montrose that the great banking family of Coutts had undeniably their cradle .

e u s t h e They wer not sing lar in thi respect , for same

- m m e country town produced a fa ily historically as e in nt , of e C o ut t ses m the Clerks Penicuik , deriv d , like the , fro a plain merchant and Provost of Montrose , whose f er . o n e o descendant , Sir John Cl k , Bart , was the m m foremost Scots en of his time , a Com issioner for the r Union of Scotland and England , and a Ba on of

1 . Exchequer . H e died in 755 ‘ ’ The term m erchant in Scotland corresponds to marchd n d e that of in Franc , and , like many other e Scottish words , was probably d rived from that

u r m or sh o country . It sually means a t ades an retail p keeper and when we find that Bailie John Coutts was ‘ ’ 1 6 2 a merchant in Montrose in 7 , we infer that he m dealt in retail goods , after the anner of country shop

- t h e keepers to day . That he was also engaged in wood trade seems borne out by the Burgh Records o f

Montrose . m 1 6 8 John Cou tts beca e Provost of Montrose in 7 ,

i i and acqu r ng that year a property in Forfarshire , spelt Th e Co u t t s A n cestry 3 1

‘ ’ ‘ ’ r Ph alert o u n a va iously and Fullarton , he was p u H e pointed a Com missioner of supply for the co nty .

1 0 e m died in 7 7 , l aving by his wife , Christian S ith , who 1 08 u died in 7 , the large family of eight sons and fo r

u da ghters . Th e sons of John Coutts were t oo numerous and ente rprising all to rem ain at Montrose The eldest m 1 0 (Willia ) became its Provost in 7 4, and the second

on e e B u t r (John) was also of its magistrat s . the thi d m m m (Tho as) igrated to London , and beca e a leading m m e erchant (in the English sense) there , for he is na d with oth e r promoters in t h e Ac t which was passed by the Scottish Parliam ent in 1 695 for establishing the ’ e Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indi s , ’ e m e disastrously known as the Dari n Co pany , an ent r prise done to death by English jealousy and Royal

indifference . m We are ore concerned , however , with the fortunes r 1 66 of the fourth son (Pat ick) , who was born in 9 , and , r e emoving to Edinburgh , became a gen ral merchant m there . Dr . Rogers re arks , Having engaged in the ’ e e xport trade , he attain d opulence , which , whilst a

S of c om questionable proposition , hows that his sphere m e as Sir erc w wider than a retail one . William ‘ Forbes states that in his books there are accounts of

m r e u e e cantil advent res to New York and P nnsylvania , ’ e to Amst rdam , to France , and to the Canaries . He adds that he was a general m erchant in Edinbu rgh at e r 1 6 6 r least as a ly as the year 9 , and that his books we e ‘ kept in Scots money, and very neatly and distinctly ’ writte n .

u m 1 6 e u Patrick Co tts arried in 97 J an , da ghter of G arn ki rk of o f James Dunlop , of , and widow Dean

e Guild Campb ll , of Glasgow . By her marriage with

the latter she was mother of Janet Campbell , wife of m o f Tho as Haliburton , Newmains , Roxburghshire , 2 o u t s n d C o B an k r t a . e s 3 C , whose great - grandson was the illustriou s Sir Walter

D r b u r h e Scott , who was buried at y g Abb y , in the tomb

H ali ur on s m r bu r h of the b t of New ains and D y g . a n This e rly co nection , however indirect , of the C ou tt ses with the ancestors of the great Sir Walter is n S interesti g , for we hall find that long afterwards a ’ romantic episode occurred i n the lives of the C out t s es u s secun dus s cces or, Sir William Forbes , and the young

Walter Scott , which made a lasting impression on the ’ u latter . Barbara Haliburton , da ghter of Patrick Coutts 1 8 e of stepdaughter, married in 7 2 Rob rt Scott , tenant an d Sandy Knowe , near Kelso , their son was the father of Sir Walter Scott . 1 6 n Patrick Coutts married twice ; firstly , in 97 , Jea , ‘ s daughter of Jame Dunlop , proprietor of the estate o f G arn ki rk s , in Lanarkshire , by whom he had two son , m John and Ja es , and a daughter named Christian .

W e shall refer to these immediately . 1 02 s In 7 Patrick Coutts married , econdly, Rachel

Balfour, widow of William Forrester , Writer to the

Signet , Edinburgh , and daughter of Sir David Balfour, of Forret , a Scottish judge under the title of Lord

r r Fo ret . By this ma riage he had one child , a daughter

in e - r . a w Janet , who mar ied Mr John Stephen , merchant

s . in Leith , whose partner were the Hon Alexander

‘ Stuart (afterwards Lord Blantyre) an d a Mr . Walter ’ e o e Scott . Joh n St phen became a partner of the C ut t s s i n banking house both Edinburgh and London , as we e shall se in another chapter . 1 0 n al Patrick Coutts died in 7 4 , leaving perso ty worth or Scots a considerable sum ’ ’ for . s those days , in Sir W Forbe opinion) , which he directed to be divided among his three surviving m s children , John , Ja e and Janet , who were educated at Montrose . n an d m s n ot Like their father , Joh Ja e Coutts did Th e C ou t ts A n cest ry 3 3

e stay long at Montrose . Jam s went to London , became 1 0 a successful merchant , and , dying unmarried about 74 , left to his brother John what was then deemed the large fortu n e of

t h e s John Coutts , son of Patrick Coutt , a general i n merchant Edinburgh , and grandson of John Coutts ,

Provost of, and a merchant in , Montrose , was the first m m ember of the family to beco e cele brated . Born in 1 6 1 1 99 , he left Montrose for Edinburgh in 7 9 , and ’ after five years apprenticeship embarked on that business which was to bring to himself and his de n dan sce t s fame and fortune . Commencing as a commission agent and dealer in grain , he gradually became a negotiator of bills , and thus entered upon the sphere of banking with which the name of Coutts will be for ever associated . Of ss pleasing exterior and admirable addre , of tireless r indust y and remarkable intelligence , John Coutts , as will be shown in another chapter, eventually achieved the highest distinction as a citizen and a banker . In this chapter the Coutts an cestry has been set

a s e e forth truthfully as the facts will allow . P digre s extending back as far as Edward I . may be as m istaken ‘ ’ ’ as the three colts galloping in the Colts coat of

u f arms . The fact remains that the famous ho se o Cou tts is descended from a series of worthy m e rchants

and magistrates of Montrose . ’ n e When John Coutts celebrated co t mporary , Sir

John Clerk , of Penicuik, Bart . , sat down to write his autobiography (published in 1 892 by the Scottish r c om History Society) , he had befo e him a pedigree ,

piled by some indulgent genealogist , carrying back his ancestry to a John Clerk who was one of the hostages ’ for King David s ransom in He tells us curtly ‘ ’ that he always laughed at the antiquity of family , o u t t s an d C o B an kers 3 4 C . , and that his grandfather was bred up a m e rchant in ’ Montrose . u a s Of John Co tts , of John Clerk , it might very truthfully be said

’ ’ ’ ui ser n son a s n so n d ai e ux . Q t bi e p y , a be i

In 1 82 1 Colonel Drinkwater arranged and published

e o f A G nealogical Sketch , showing the Degrees Con sanguinity existing between the several Families of the s Allan ban k Stuart of , Elliots of Minto , Coutts Mar oriban ks of n r j , Kerrs Morriso , Ruthe furds , Trotters , ’

C on alt on . g , Bethune On the left side of this Sketch are blazoned the arms Allan b an k s r of Stuart of , Coutt of London , Ke r of l l C ast e aw . Morrison , Trotter of

s o f On the right side are the arm of Elliot Minto , Mar orib an ks s o f Ed erst o n j of Lee , Rutherfurd g , Con f n al o n o C o t . galton g , and Bethune of Balfour The armorial bearings of Coutts of London are

Crest $ A n ake d archer (shown on ly from t h e wai st upward s) d rawi n g a b ow . ’ A rm s In th e cen t re of a bordure d shi eld a stag s he ad with a

i n thi stle between t s a tl ers .

The thistle doubtless refers to the Scottish origin of ’ wh o of the Coutts family , are no more London than m m any other fa ilies e igrated there . In this Sketch ’ an elaborate genealogical table is C given , showing the onnection , through the female line , of the C ou t t ses of London with Sir Robert Stu art o f Allan ban k 1 68 (Berwickshire) , created a Baronet in 7 , n and his desce dants , who intermarried with the Elliots u s r of Minto (Roxb rgh) , Kerr of Mor ison (Berwick) , C ast lelaw r Mar oriba n ks of s Trotters of (Be wick) , j Lee u o f Ed e rs on (Berwick) , R therfurds g t (Roxburgh) , Con alt on s o f C o n al o n B et h un es o f g g t (Haddington) , and

Balfour (Fife) . Th e C ou t t s A n cest ry 3 5

fi Amid this i n t erram i c at i on of families , we find the of name of Lord Provost John Coutts Edinburgh , who 1 0 married in 73 Jean Stuart , the daughter of Sir John of Allan ban k Stuart , by whom he had

u s f o M r 1 . am es o o on n an e r wh o m arr e in 1 a J C tt L d , b k , i d 7 54 y Pea rim n e ce of eor e am e or n a a o g , i G g C pb ll , igi lly g ld sm b ut en a an er in th e S ran on on wh o ith , th b k t d , L d , assum e a m es ou s as h is ar n er us orm n h d J C tt p t , th f i g t e

firm of am e an d o u s an ers S ran . r C pb ll C tt , b k , t d Th ei

on au er m arr e h er cous n Sir o n S uar of ly d ght i d i , J h t t ,

Allan b an k .

om as ou s of on on an er wh o m arr r 2 . Th C tt L d , b k , i e d (fi st)

‘ usan S ar e om h e h ad S t ki , by wh 1 Susan m arr e 1 6 th e r Ear of u or ( ) , i d, 79 , thi d l G ilf d .

2 r n c s m arr e 1 800 th rs M ar ue ss of u a e e e . ( ) F , i d, , fi t q B t So a m arr e 1 Sir ran c s ur e ar . (3 ) phi , i d , 793 , F i B d tt , B t ,

P . r u r r n M . Thei d a ghte is th e Ba o ess B urd ett

C outt s . omas ou s m arr e secon in 1 81 arr o M e on Th C tt i d ( dly) 5 H i t ll ,

r i 1 82 h n D u o . re s wh o m a r e n t e n e f St A an s . act s , i d 7 i th k lb C HAPTER IV

LO RD PRO VO ST C O U TTS

N that admirable compendium of worldly wisdom

and business maxims , entitled Memoirs of a Bank ’ In g House Sir William Forbes tells u s that s John Coutts , the founder of the banking hou e he com m e m orat es e u o n s of , r sided in a ho se the econd floor ’ ’ s the President Stairs in the Parliament Close . This was the original counting - house of the now celebrated a s banking firm known all over the world Messrs . Coutts and Co . ’ The President s Stairs must not be confounded with

t h e the Parliament Stairs . The latter ascended from

Cowgate to the back of the Parliament House , and m were hence often called the Back Stairs . The for er ascended from behind the Meal Market (on the north side of the Cowgate) to a point east of the m iddle of the south m a n Side of the Parliament Close . They y be see in

’ ‘ m a 1 81 u Kirkwood s p of 7 , altho gh no name is attached m r to the the e .

According to that indefatigable antiquary Dr . Robert e s u Chamb r , to whose researches Edinb rgh owes so ’ m u ch , the President s Stairs derived their name from

O f r r . Sir Hew Dalrymple N orth Be wick , Ba t , who

u r s cceeded his father , the great Viscount Stai , as Lord

r m Pre sident of the Cou rt of Session in 1 698 . Dal y ple ’ re sided on the fourth floor of the President s Stairs

L ord P rovost C o u t t s 3 7

s of . that is , two storie above the house John Coutts Chambers remarks that the Parliament Close and the tenements behin d were then the chief residences of the ’ great and of the highe st Official characters i n the town . The famous Earl of B ute was born in 1 7 1 3 in the of Parliament Close . The Bank Scotland had originally

ffi u f its O ce in the gro nd behind the Close , an o fice which ,

1 00 . as already stated , perished in the Great Fire of 7 ’ So that the C outt ses residence and banking house were

n ot s . merely centrally, but fashionably ituated Accord ’ i n g to Mr . A . W . Kerr s History of Banking in Scot land the first private banking firm in Scotland was probably the house of John Coutts and C O . And the banking house always remained at or near it s old m m quarters , the Parlia ent Close , and never left the till it disappeared under another designation , and slipped from the control o f the C out t ses and their successors . ’ The President s Stairs are not men tioned by Sir Daniel ‘ Wilson in his monumental work entitled Memorials ’ 1 8 1 of Edinburgh in the Olden Time (second edition , 9 ) and we are indebted to a footnote in Robert Chambers ’ tiny volume on Edinburgh Fires (1 824) for definitely ’ locati n g the President s Stairs . A view of the Parlia ’

i . ment or Back Stairs s given in J and H . S . Storer s ‘ ’ excellen tly rendered Views i n Edinburgh where also we obtain a view of the Parliament Close or Squ are showing the entrance to the court in which was situated ’ ’

. d Sir William Forbes an d C o . s bank The Presi ent s Stairs were some little distance to the east o f this

e entrance , and wer separated from it by a tenement consisting of houses and shops . s Sir William Forbes think that , as John Coutts was a minor when his father died , the business of the latter, of that a general merchant in Edinburgh , was discon t i n u e d before John attained majority ; at all events , n othing is known of where John Coutts served his C ker 8 ou t ts an d o . B an s 3 C ,

s n apprenticeship , or when he fir t commenced busi ess n as a mercha t . Sir William found from letters that he was engaged in mercantile concern s i n Edinburgh in

— - 1 2 . the year 7 3 that is , at the age of twenty four On 1 0 1 0 s April , 73 , he married Jean , econd daughter of

r u Allan ban k Si . John St art of , Berwickshire , Bart , and as s n c o n thereby , how in the previous chapter, became n ec t ed with several notable families of the Scottish

Border. On inspecting the records of the Corporation of ‘ 1 8 1 1 Edinburgh , I find that on October , 7 2 , John ’ Coutts , merchant , was made a burgess and guild

u s brother of Edinburgh by right of Patrick Co tt , his father , merchant and guild brother . At this date

an Patrick Coutts had been dead seventeen years , d

- John Coutts was twenty two years old . on 2 1 0 Nine years after this , September 3 , 73 , shortly after his marriage , John Coutts entered the Town n r an d Cou cil of Edinburgh as a merchant councillo , next year attained the rank of bailie . He held that

ffi n 1 1 re - o ce only duri g 73 , being , however , elected bailie 1 1 ffi dis in 74 , attaining next year the O ce of highest of tinction , that of Lord Provost Edinburgh , which he

e r 1 2 2 1 . wa s h ld f om October 5 , 74 , to October , 744 It i n 1 2 n as whilst he was a bailie , 74 , that Joh Coutts w ’ appointed a Governor of the Orphans Hospital, Edin al 2 burgh , by the roy letters patent issued June 5 ,

1 742 . These were rather sleepy years in the annals of ’

E . u dinburgh In fact , John Co tts Provostship may be said to come between two terrific storms which shook — s Edinburgh to its centre the one the Porteou Riot , 1 6 occurring in 73 , and causing the then Lord Provost to be most severely handled by Governm ent ; and the ’ other (pe rhaps the result of the Governm ent s harsh measu res) the Jacobite Rebellion of 1 745 . Lord Pro vost Co u t t s 3 9

s - Always busine s like and practical , Lord Provost s Coutt , according to the Corporation minute s of O r 2 0 1 2 ‘ ctobe , 74 , invited the Town Council to Come ’ r to his lodgings in the President s Stai s weekly , o n s Tue day afternoons , in order to discourse over such ’ business as was to come before the Council , as the n Council chambers were the in disrepair .

e 1 1 r r On Septemb r 4 , 743 , the Corpo ation g anted him ‘ the m un ificen t sum o f £3 00 as a yearly allowance for ’ supporting the dignity of the chair . The sum now annu ally voted is showing how m u ch the value o f money has altere d .

r s r A t oublesome University Profe sor , who prefer ed enjoying him self at Brussels to attending t o . his duties m at home , ca e under the censure of the Corporation

r as patrons of Edinburgh University, and by its di ection

2 1 e Provost Coutts, on September 5 , 744 , wrot to the

. r ral Professor , Dr John Pringle , Professo of Mo Philo m m sophy , a letter infor ing him curtly that he ust eith e r com e hom e against t h e sitting of the College in the ’ r 1 t o r n h i yea 745 to attend y profession , or resig s

m . appoint ent The Professor cam e home . Nine years after John Coutts became a Bailie o f u r a Edinb rgh , a desc iption of the city w s penned by an English traveller, whose Letters from a Gentleman ’ in the North o f Scotland to his Friend in London e w re subsequently published at London in 1 7 59 . This 1 0 Englishman described Edinburgh , as it was about 74 , as follows $ When I first came into the High Street of that City , I thought I had not seen anything o f the ki n d more magnificent ; the extreme height o f the u are for s u ho ses , which the mo t part b ilt with stone o f and well sashed the breadth and length the street , and (it bei n g dry weather) a cleann e ss made by the e r high winds . I was xt emely pleased to find everything look so u nlike t h e de scriptions of that town which had m been given me by so e of my Cou n trymen . 0 o t an d C o B n k r u t s . a e s 4 C ,

s su . Being a tranger , I was invited to p at a Tavern The Cook was too filthy an object to be described ; only another Engli sh Gentlem an whispere d me and said he believed , if the fellow was to be thrown against

n u the wall , he would stick to it . Twisti g ro nd and round his hand a greasy towel , he stood waiting to W for know hat we would have supper , and mentioned s s s s D uke P ool , everal thing him elf ; among the re t a , a

e - l or a M e r foo . This was near according to his pron u n ci at ion or - but he meant a Duck , a Fowl , a Moor fowl , r or G o ust . We supped very plentifully and drank good French claret , and were very merry till the Clock struck Ten ,

r the hour when everybody is at libe ty, by beat of the

- filt h . City Drum , to throw their out at the windows Then the company began to light pieces of paper and throw them upon the table to smoke the Room , and , as I thought , to mix one bad smell with another . Being in my retreat to pass through a long narrow W n de y or Alley to go to my new Lodgings , a Guide was assigned me, who went before me to prevent my v01c e disgrace , crying out all the way with a loud ,

H u d our H uun de. y The throwing up of a sash , or otherwise Opening a window, made me tremble , while

e an d s b hind before me , at some little di tance , fell the terrible shower . Well , I escaped all the danger , and

r n s n a rived ot only afe and sou d , but sweet and clean , at my new quarters ; but when I was in bed I was fo rced to hide my head between the sheets ; for the smell of the filth thrown out by the neighbou rs on the back side of the house came pouring into the room to such ’ a degree I was almost poisoned with the stench .

u s t en O r Engli h traveller remarks that Eight , , and even twelve stories of the very high buildings into which t h e population of Edinburgh was then crowded

have each a particular family , and perhaps a separate Lord Provo st C o u t t s 4 I proprietor ; and therefore anything so expensive as a Conveyance down from the uppermost floor cou ld n e ve r be agreed on ; n or cou ld there be made within the build i n f ’ g any Receiver suitable to such numbers o people . ‘ ’ H e was also struck by the gibberish of a direction given him by a citizen who told him he m u st g o down

o n r the street and the No th side , over against such a

W n de on est place , turn down such a y and the W side of W n de L aun de or u the y , inquire for such a ( B ilding) stu d thri d Stai r where the Gentleman y , at the , that is ’

r . r three Sto ies high He , however , exp esses approval of d d s u e - d the boys called y , a very s ful Black guar , who atte nd the Coffe e - hou ses and publick place s to go ’ of Errands , and who appeared to know everybody in ’ the Town who is of any kind of Note . These boys , ‘ r u h e he says , formed a Co ps nder a Captain called t ’ s of t h e d d s u Con table y , who occasionally p nished of n c or them by fines Ale and Bra dy , but sometimes ’ po rally. When Prince Charlie appeared before the city in 1 r n September , 745 , the terrified Co poratio , as already ’

i n . t o stated Chapter I I , fled the Goldsmiths Hall to m consider what should be done to stay an ar y which , ’ of e being composed Highlanders , was , in Lowland rs

ca a ble de tout . m minds , considered p Although a ilitary ’ spirit had seized the Citizens when the Pre tende r s

r off r e a my was far , yet now that it was at thei gat s u their valour oozed away . The splendidly eq ipped trainbands refu sed to engage the ragged but dauntless m r Highlanders , whose wild slogans and heavy Clay o es caused two re gim ents of Irish Dragoons to ret reat at a furio u s gallop from C olt bridg e in the western su b urbs of Edinbu rgh to the e astern outskirts o f the city .

u As the citizens wo ld not fight , the Corporation had

r e to treat with Prince Cha lie , who had written th m ’ n r few From Our camp at Gray s Mill ear Slatefo d , a o t s an d C B an k r 2 u t o . e s 4 C ,

m iles from Edinburgh . A deputation was sent to the

e s H . H R. Princ to arrange term of capitulation , but . r s requi ed a positive an wer to his letter, and gave the

r n 2 a . m . 1 r Corpo atio till on September 7 to answe it .

e Ther upon another deputation , which included ex ’ on Provost John Coutts , waited the Prince s secretary , s John Murray of Broughton , and brought back an wer that the Prince would exact n othing from the city but ’ what his character as Regent entitles him to . Eventually

Prince Charlie got possession of Holyrood and the city , o f hi s m and attained the greatest success ca paign . As Joh n Coutts witnessed the Jacobites fl u shed with so s on e victory, he uccoured of their number after their

e . s d feat This was Jame Gib , who had served Prince Charlie throughout the campaign as Master of the ’ Hou sehold and Provisor for the Prince s own table . After Culloden Gib was made prisoner at Leven in

e s Fif , where he was robbed and roughly u ed by the C an o n at e n people . He was removed to the g Priso , 8 1 Edinburgh , where he remained till May , 747 , when he was set at liberty by an order from the Lord Justice

r - s Cle k , ex Lord Provo t Coutts having given bail for him that he should not leave the town of Edinburgh ’ m s for six onths . We find thi in Bishop Forbes life ’ work entitled The Lyon in Mourning , printed by the

Scottish History Society i n 1 895 . One might speculate as to what brought the wealthy Edinburgh banker i n to such intimate relations with the

u u s poor h nted Jacobite butler, and our spec lation are

partly satisfied by an incident related by Mr . James ‘ G . Low in a pamphlet entitled John Coutts , or Notes ’ on an Eminent Montrose Family, which was printed at

Montrose in 1 892 . Here we learn that Lord Provost ’ u e Coutts cousin , James Coutts , wo ld have be n elected Provost of Montrose bu t for his being such a keen 1 Jacobite . He supplied the rebels in 745 with pro

o t a C B an ke u t s n d o . rs 44 C ,

1 0 fift - o n e 7 5 , at the age of y , beloved and regretted by ’ ‘ r all his acquaintance , who , Fo bes adds , overlooked the im perfe ctions of his character when they thought of

e him as the upright citizen and useful magistrate , ver o f zealous in the service his friends , and a most agree ’ m e O f s . s able m mber ociety Fortunately , his hand o e lineaments have been han ded down to us in a portrait s o f executed by Allan Ram say , now in the posse sion

- - r - his great grand daughte , the Baroness Burdett Coutts , who presented an excellent copy to the Corporation of s m of Edinburgh , which hang in the private roo the ’ r u M Ardell s Lord P ovost . A reprod ction of c fine old mezzotint forms the frontispiece of this volume .

m e m Sir Willia Forbes , how ver, makes no ention Of a remarkable episode connected with Lord Provost John r Coutts , which is well worthy to rank among the Cu iosi

s of r m tie Literature . The ci cu stances were as follows In the beginning of the year 1 740 the weather was extremely severe throughout Great Britain . A fair was held on the ice at London . People perished of

u r u a cold througho t the cou n t y . The price of vict l s n so ro e e ormously . The frost was intense that the principal rivers in Scotland were frozen over , and ’ Chambers tells us in his Domestic An n als of Scotland

1 86 1 - i c e ( ) that the water mills were stopped by , and people had t o grind by hand . Food rose to famine r prices , and large contributions were required f om the rich to keep the poor alive .

During this very year (1 740) William Maitland , a u Fellow of the Royal Society of London , took p his reside nce in Edinbu rgh in order to write a history of u of Edinb rgh . A native Brechin , Maitland had as

u a merchant travelled thro ghout the Continent , settling L afterwards in ondon , where he became a zealous ‘ ’ u h is antiq ary , and wrote History of London , pub lish ed in 1 73 9 . Next year he came to Edinburgh , and L ord Pro vost C o ut ts 4 5 was occupie d writing his history of the city till the

e o f 1 b ginning 753 , when the work was published . It was then discovered that a paragraph occurred in t h e history grossly de famatory of Lord Provost John

u 1 0 u Co tts , who had died in 75 , leaving fo r sons m m Patrick , John , Ja es and Tho as . The family felt that steps m u st be imm ediately taken to protect the m of a n d outraged me ory their father , James Coutts was sele cted as their champion . r r of O f Acco dingly , in the Reco ds the Corporation Edinb urgh (5 0 Obligingly placed at my disposal by the ‘ u r r 1 m a tho ities) I find that in Ma ch , 753 , Ja es Coutts , ’ r me chant in Edinburgh , presented a petition to the of Lord Provost and magistrates Edinburgh , setting forth that the said William Maitland did most falsely ‘ and scandalously attack the character of an eminent citizen and magistrate now deceased ’ in the following paragraph in his recently issued ‘ History of Edin burgh $ ‘ — om 1 74o . In this year a great Dearth of C hap pe ned which affe cted t h e poor to s u ch a degree that many were re ady to perish for

want of Bread . And being of Opinion that the Dealers in Corn were entere d into an Engagem e nt rather to let their Corn spoil than se ll it unde r the price on on e u agreed , And Co tts (who was Provost of Edinbu rgh som e tim e after) r o u being a great Deale in Grain , the p p n u lace imagi ed , its said , That the devo r ing famine was in a great measure owing to him which enrage d them to su ch a height against t h e said Coutts that had for it s he not left the city his safety , as

u u e said , It was tho ght He wo ld hav been ’ torn in pieces by the enraged multitude . Cou t t s an d C O B an kers

t h e u Agreeably to petition presented by James Co tts ,

or r o f u the Bailies , magist ates Edinburgh , s mmoned

e m William Maitland to appear b fore the , and he did so 2 1 r u on March , 753 , and was asked va ious q estions as to his grou nds for inserting the offensive paragraph

u . j ust q oted He declined , however , to answer any e r questions until he had consult d his legal advise s .

u ou i n Mr . James Coutts there pon pointed t the ’ justice which would be done to his father s m em ory if ’ Mait lan d s History containing this false paragraph were ’ s u to get into circulation , and prayed the Bailie Co rt to prohibit the sale of the work until the proceedings in this lawsuit were terminated . The Bailies accord ’ i n gly prohibited Mait l an d s publishers from issu ing any r copies until further orders . Unfo tunately, however,

r su some copies had al eady been is ed , and are not only b u t are r for extant to this day, ve y much prized , the fact of their containing the damnatory paragraph c om plained of, which was subsequently expunged , adds considerably to their value in the eyes of bibliopoles . What occurred after the above proceedings were ’ commenced in the Bailies Cou rt the records do not r m disclose . Most probably a p ivate arrange ent was

u for come to between the Co tts family and Maitland ,

u e the latter turned a complete somersa lt , and wh n his history was next issu ed to the world the damnatory paragraph was found to have disappeared , and the ki n dli following beautiful reference to the public spirit , o f L ness , and Christian charity ord Provost John Coutts was discovered to be inserted in its stead 1 0 — In u 74 . this year was a great scarcity of Vict al ’ and it appears from the Council s Records that the Magistrates used all possible u M e ans for the Relief of the necessito s . They ordered their Treasurer to purchase such Quantities of Grain as should be Lord P rovost Co ut ts 47

found necessary for the Exigencies o f the

Poor ; caused grind it , and carry it to the s u r Market , to be old at a m ch easie Rate

than othe rwise could be had . Both

Banks lent the City Money , without

r u Interest , to pay for the Co n bo ght ;

. Coutts m e and Mr , and other Gentle n ,

who dealt in the Corn Trade , did import

e u gr at Quantities of Vict al , which they m delivered to the City at pri e Cost , which reduced the Price very considerably ; i n somu ch that the People lived in Plenty in m ’ the idst of Famine . This is a very differen t story indeed $ Instead o f

e wicked Mr . Coutts fle ing the city am id the execra of it s tions inhabitants , we now find him seated with a nim bus round his head and a loving population hail ing him as their deliverer from want .

u e Looking pon this picture and on that , we conf ss to a fe eling of bewilderment ; and after being permitted

r r this one glimpse into the way that histo y is w itten , we can express no surprise that historian s are some tim es m istrusted . Nor could Maitland plead that he wrote t h e fi rst

r a s pa agraph in ignorance , for , pointed out already, he

rr u o f 1 0 a ived in Edinburgh d ring the famine year 74 , and must have known all about it from personal

experience . Whether he was influenced by spite , by s go sip , or simply by mental aberration , we know not , b u t h e undou btedly committed to print the statement that in 1 740 John Coutts formed what is now called s a corner in grain , greatly to the uffering and indigna

m m u tion of the co nity .

- it s His ill expressed , disjointed paragraph , with ‘ ’ o f repeated its said , was worthy the literary hang ’ m an s office ; bu t Maitland submitted to a worse ou t u t an d C k C o t s o . , B an ers rage— that of eating his words and publicly proclaimin g the falseness o f his original statements . ’ The best refutation of Mait lan d s calumny consists in the fact that two years after the famine John Coutts was elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh . Short as ’ m m a people s emories y be for benefits received , they

r e r a e v y long for insults offered ; and , making every m obi li s turbd i s allowance for the , it impossible to believe that , if the Citizens had chased John Coutts r m b 1 0 f o Edin urgh for extortion in 74 , they would have offered him the civic crown in 1 742 . ’ Ma it lan d s History was published in folio at Edin ‘ i n 1 r burgh 7 5 3 , and p ofesses to contain A faithful ’ Relation of the publick Transactions of the Citizens , the au thor assertin g his scrupulous honesty and his i n e absolute independence the following sent nce , in which he pou rs contempt upon historians who flatter t h e great And if it should be alledged that my Expressions in m so e Places are too warm , the Reader , upon Reflexion , Im m or will discover that they are only so where Vice , ality and Inj ustice flagrantly appear ; for which the wicked Authors justly deserve to be reprehended and

u r not screened , as many are , by the most servile Ad lato s , as Num bers of Authors have shown themselves to have

e m be n , by soothing the Vices of any Persons in exalted Stations ; whereas had they faithfully and honestly dis t u r charged their respec ive D ties , by lashing thei wicked

r m u and detestable C i es , it wo ld not only have been a Means to deter Pe rsons of Distinction from the like

u u r bu t iniq ito s P actices , likewise had a good Effect

r t h e c om upon Poste ity in general , when they know m e m o rat i n g their wicked Actions would rende r them m r odiou s both to God and Men , their Me o y stink ,

r u e and be rende ed infamous to f tur Ages , as already

’ hinted . Lord Provost Co u t t s 49

n Thus Mr . William Maitla d , called heave n and earth to witness that he was n ot as other historians are , which was quite true , for , unlike them , he had been haled before the Bailies ’ Court for grossly libel ling an eminent Edinburgh citizen , and had , from fear

u of condign p nishment , altered from black to white a paragraph in his veracious History . C HAPTER V

THE C O UTTS BROTHERS

’ LTHO UG H Mait lan d s Hi story of Edinburgh n n s n o is mi ute , and eve diffuse , he make mention

n s i n e s it s of private ba ker the city , and r fer to his m Lord Provost in first issue , rather i pudently , as ‘ ’ on e i n his ss as . Coutts , and second i ue Mr Coutts ’ n n who dealt in the cor trade . Yet Joh Coutts had n b m un ific en t an d ot only een a popular Lord Provost , but was well known to be carrying on a large and ss of s o f lucrative busine , of which the negotiation bill s for s s exchange formed a con iderable part ; , ay Sir ‘ n n o n William Forbes , there were the country ba ks , an d consequently the bills for the export s and imports

n e of Perth , Dundee , Mo trose , Aberdeen , and oth r n s n n tradi g town in Scotland , with Holla d , Fra ce , and ’ other countries , were negotiated at Edinburgh , adding

s s o f s for e e In both ection thi island , a long p riod aft r n o f s public banks were established , the egotiating bill o f exchange was i n the han ds o f private merchan ts o r ’

s . Th e banker Bank of Scotland at its first erection , ’ n e says that bank s historia did deal in exchang , ’

b s m an d . but found it very trou le o e , unsafe , improper s of n his ss With the boldnes a man who k ew busine , John Coutts engaged with much success i n this unsafe

n C o . trade . U der the firm of Joh n Coutts and , his was the first private ban ki n g -hou se establi shed in Scot

t t an d o B an k r o u s C . e s C , of the descendants of the Provosts of Montrose and o f e Lord Provost Edinburgh , and , lik their ancestors ,

e they wer destined to achieve the highest distinction .

The firm in London , says Sir William Forbes ,

acted as correspondents of the house in Edinburgh , and transacted any other business with which they u i n an d were intr sted , either in money or the buying ’ e o f s lling goods on commission .

Whilst John Coutts and C 0 . began by doing what was conside red in those old - fashioned times rather

n u heterodox banki g business , the reg lar business of banking was carried on in Edinburgh by the two

u p blic banks which then existed , viz . , the Bank of Scot land and the Royal Bank of Scotland . As the Bank of England was in 1 694 projected by m a Scots an , William Paterson , so an Englishman (John Holland) was the originator of the Bank of an Scotland . He and others obtained Act of Parlia m 1 6 ent in 95 , erecting themselves into a company u nder the nam e of the Governor and Company of the ’ Bank of Scotland . The bank s capital consisted of

sterling . The Royal Bank of Scotland was established by 1 0 Royal charter in 7 7 , with a capital of enlarged in 1 7 3 8 to and from its foundation this bank was favoured and supported by the merchants

. as of Glasgow The Bank of Scotland , however , w of al much annoyed at the appearance a riv , and very strained relations existed between the two banks u ntil the increasing commerce and wealth of Scotland m de anded not only two , but several more public banks , and mutual assistan ce took the place of inj urious m rivalry a ong t h e Scottish banks . ’ 1 6— u s — I n 74 that is , after John Co tts Provo tship the British Linen Company was established by Royal of Charter, with a capital with power to Th e C ou t t s B ro t he rs 5 3

double the same , and licence to carry on the Linen m r e anufacture in all its b anches , and to promot it in e r ev y way . The Bank in connection with this company ,

r e er and the two Older banks al eady m ntioned , w e the only public banks existing in Edinburgh during t h e r eighteenth centu y .

e Although John Coutts and C o . was the arliest private banking house in Scotland , many other private

firms doing banking busin e ss soon arose in Edinbu rgh .

' re Man sfield Of such the was the firm of , Ramsay and

C o . m (afterwards Ra say , Bonars and the heads of which ultim ately were Sir John Marjoriba n ks of

r Lees , Bart . , and Sir James Sti ling of Larbert , Bart . ,

r both of whom we e Lord Provosts of Edinburgh . There was also t h e firm o f Cum ming and So n (in the ’ rs President s Stai , like John Coutts and of which

William Cumming was t h e head . The re were likewise m o f the fir s William Hogg and Son , William Alexander F airh olm es m and Sons , the , George Chal ers , Fordyce ,

m C o . Malcol and , Arbuthnot and Guthrie , Gibson and

e u u e Hogg , Thomas Kinn ar, Seton and Ho stoun , Sam l

e m Foggo , Johnston and S ith , Scott Moncrieffe and

f . C 0 . Ferguson , John Fyf e , and W Sinclair and As ’ ‘ 1 2 s we shall find , the Black year ( 7 7 ) thinned thi plethora of Edinbu rgh private banking firms .

Lord Provostships , baronetcies , and seats in Parlia

r r o ur ment we e showe ed upon early Edinburgh bankers ,

r o f who were gene ally not only men wealth , landed

bu t of u property, and influence , also great p blic spirit ,

f . e and usually o large private charity So syst matic , for example , was Sir William Forbes in his almsgiving , that his pensioners used at stated periods to await his exit from his banking house in the Parliament Close , s a n and on his death John Kay is ued etching, depicting

Sir William and his pensioners , with the inscription ’ — The good sh al l mourn a brother all a friend . t an C o B an ker ou t s d . s 54 C ,

s s an d C O a The banking hou e of Coutt Brothers . w s ’ on the second floor of the President s Stairs , Parlia

. of r o ment Close , Edinburgh That the cor esp nding an d London firm of Coutts , Stephen , Coutts Co . was ’

f . . e in Je frey s Square , St Mary Axe Th re had been a m third firm in Rotterda , of which John , the second son of the Lord Provost , was a partner , viz . , Robertson , ‘ ’ . s s Coutts and Stephen Their chief trade , ay Sir ‘ r was s s s William Fo bes , the hipping of tea , pirit and other articles of contraband goods for the smugglers on ’ the east and north coasts of Scotland . Lord Provost

s n s s u s Coutt , sitti g in ermine , directing again t m ggler s n all the terror of the law, whilst his son Joh supplied

s e t c . the malefactors with tea , pirits , , and lived by their contraban d trade— such were the inconsistencies s n s of the time , and the ecessary re ult of a trade with which the canvasses o f George Morland have made us n familiar , and which o ly clearer financial n otions enabled Government to destroy .

Abandoning his Rotterdam firm , and the very

u do btful business he there pursued , John came to n h i s an d Edinburgh and j oi ed brother James Mr . ’ Stephe n in carrying on in his father s old house the busines s of Coutts Brothers and Co . They were

- large corn merchants , like their father , and had agents C ait h in Northumberland , Aberdeen , Portsoy , Dundee ,

- n ness and Ross shire , who purchased cor for them ex elusively ; whilst they had great consignments of corn Of r made to them from the seaports Yo kshire , Nor

s . folk , and South Wale From Ireland , too , from s Drogheda and Belfast , they imported corn , whil t ships brought wheat to them from Danzig and KOn ig sberg . Altogether they conducted a very large business in s corn , and , as in the case of everal of the other private bankers in Edinburgh , this important staple , the staff ’ was ss . of life , the foundation of their banking busine Th e C ou t ts B rot hers 55

Sir William Forbes epitomize s with as much elegance as Plutarch the lives and characters of the four Coutts

— s s . Brothers Patrick , John , Jame and Thoma 1 . Patrick was more devoted to society and literature than to business , and whilst the active part of the manage ment of the London business rested chiefly on his younger brother Thomas , he gave attention to it only as long as Mr . Stephen lived . Then he travelled n n on the Continent , and being observed maki g otes r n whilst on the rampa ts at Lille , he had the misfortu e

e . to be arr sted as a spy He was thrown into prison , m re where he re ained several months , and was only e O f hi hi s leased by the prolong d efforts s friends . After e m n ew c o r lease he ca e to Scotland , and formed a s partnership , which included Sir William Forbe , under h e t old n ame of Co utts Brothers and C O . ‘ ’ ‘ 2 . s John Coutts , says Sir William Forbe , under e was whose eye chi fly I served my apprenticeship , one m n n of the most agreeable e I ever knew . Lively a d an d well bred , of very engaging manners , he had the happy talent O f - uniting a love of society and public ’ am usements with a strict attention to business . Sir ‘ William recollects only once seei n g him i n the counting - house disguised with liquor and incapable of t ransacting business — a sidelight of the times which those who condem n poor George Morland and Robert L t Burns may well note . ong af erwards a visitor to ’ ’ D owie s John tavern , not far from Sir William Forbes i n own bank Parliament Square , Edinburgh , spied one night a he ap of lads lying snoring on the floor of a s $ ’ room . He asked John Dowie who the e were Oh , ‘ ’ ’ ’ u s - 0 s q oth John , they re ju t twa three Sir Wullie ’ drucken Clerks . a s n It w s this John Coutt who , whe a Rotterdam

e s s hi s m rchant , upplied the Dutch smuggler whom s n n — a father , the Lord Provost , afterward co dem ed d o an kers 6 out t s an C . B 5 C , comedy which was en acted until he left Holland and j oined his brother James and Mr . Stephen as a member

s a n d C o . n . of Coutts Brother , ba kers , Edinburgh To ’ s n s s his le so s , ay his grateful apprentice , Sir William ‘ i s a n s Forbes , it that I owe y knowledge I posse s of n s s as the pri ciple of busine s , well as an attachment to form which I shall probably carry with me to the ’ ‘ grave . He had all the accuracy and all the strict ’ ness of a Dutchman , and although usually very gentle , ’ s n I have, say Sir William , see his eyes , which were n as black and pierci g , flash if with lightning if any ’ attempt was made to overreach him in a bargain . He

1 6 1 n . died in 7 , at Bath , aged o ly thirty years ‘ ’ s . 3 . James Coutt had not , says Sir W Forbes , those polished manners which his two elder brothers had acquired by living abroad an d mixing in the world .

H e was nearly as passionate as Mr . John Coutts ; but he differed from him in retaining a longer resentment . 6 was 1 2 1 6 M P . He from 7 to 7 8 . for the City of Edin

an d . burgh , resigned under peculiar circumstances According to a letter o f Lord Dundonald appearing in ‘ M orn i n Post 1 82 the g in March , 2 , in consequence of some strange and incoherent language in the House of s Common , he (James Coutts) was induced (at the suggestion of and by the persuasion of his frie nds) to ’ n refrai from attending that House .

e s At first a member of the Edinburgh firm , Jam s n n Coutt afterwards we t to Londo , where he entered into partnership with Mr . George Campbell , originally a goldsmith , but then a banker in the Strand . The n a firm the bec me Campbell and Coutts , and James

Coutts withdrew from the Edinburgh banking h ouse . O n a . i n 1 6 1 s the death of Mr Campbell 7 , he assumed partner his brother, Thomas Coutts , afterwards the

n n . celebrated Lo don banker , of whom more ano James ’ Coutts married George Campbell s niece , Mary Th e C o u t t s B ro the rs 57

Pea rim 1 8 g , and , dying in 77 , left his fortune of n to his only daughter , the wife of her cousin , Sir Joh Allan ban k Stuart , of , Bart .

. so n t oo 4 Thomas Coutts , the youngest , had much m r re arkable a ca eer to be epitomized with his brothers ,

r and requires a Chapter fo himself. Even Sir William e a s m 1 80 Forb s refrains , Tho as was then ( 3 ) alive , him ‘ from saying more regarding than that , by a

u u h as caref l attention to the b siness of a banker , he raised the reputation and business Of his house t o a e r o f high d g ee eminence , and has acquired a very great ’ fortune . When Sir William Forbes became an apprentice to r at the Coutts Brothe s , they carried on business both

— at u firm Edinburgh and London Edinb rgh , under the

s C o . n of Coutts Brother and , co ducted by John and

u e James Coutts and Mr . Stephen ; and at London , nd r

C o . e the firm of Coutts , Stephen , Coutts and , conduct d r by Patrick and Thomas Coutts . At Edinbu gh the

f r of u whole o fice staff, besides the pa tners , consisted fo r s e clerks and two apprentices , yet the hou e had ext nsive s transactions in corn , and did bu iness on commission s e in wine , and in shipping lead , almon , and oth r e articles . They also acted as exchange d alers and

e s bank rs by receiving deposit of money , for which they

r r allowed inte est . All these exchange operations we e r n a t a s cfed through the corresponding London house , which also bou ght and sold goods o n comm ission . The ultim ate migration of the C o ut t ses to London came about in this way $ In the middle of the eighte enth century there were only two banking houses west of r of r Temple Bar , one reso ted to by gentlemen the To y

o f . r interest , the other by those the Whig And ew ’ u St rat h allan s Dr mmond (a son of Lord ) , who had been ‘ out in the e stablished him self in London as a an d s m rs banker , his bank was re orted to by any membe 8 o ut t s an d C B k o . an er 5 C , s

’ of the English Tory aristocracy . Drummond s Bank ,

t sou on o f then , wi h its pe Stuart and Jacobite leanings ,

e was the Tory bank west of Temple Bar . G orge m Ca pbell began life as a goldsmith , but being patronized an d by his chief, the Duke of Argyll , other Whigs , he s m tarted a bank , which beca e the Whig resort west of

e Temple Bar . It is an inter sting circum stance that a descendant of the Duke of Argyll who inau gurated the

firm is now a member of it . 1 1 s s n On August , 754, Jame Coutt , who had ever of his been out Scotland , went to London on a visit to s n brother , Patrick and Thomas . Whe there he met and Pe a rim married Mary g , the niece of the George Camp

u m m . bell j st mentioned . I ediately after this event Mr Campbell received him into partnership under the firm m of Ca pbell and Coutts . James Coutts thereupon left his Edinburgh firm and became a London banker . Meanwhile his London brothers had also been m e assu ing a partner, viz . , Mr . William Dalrympl , merchant , Cadiz, brother of Sir Hew Dalrymple , of

N orth Berwick , Bart . , a descendant of the Lord ’ P resident Dalrymple from whom the President s

s . As Stair , where their father lived , took their name as n long as Mr . Dalrymple w a part er the firm was s known as Coutt Brothers and Dalrymple , but when his speculative habits led to a dissolution of the a s copartnery , the firm adopted the same name the

vi . s Co . Edinburgh house , z , Coutts Brother and , the n r t h e s Londo partners being Pat ick and Thomas , olde t and youngest sons of Lord Provost John Coutts . n was As has bee already mentioned , Patrick Coutts s never much of a busines man , so when George Camp bell (of Cam pbell and Coutts) died (about the two

n C out t ses . s Londo devoted to business , viz , Jame (of Campbell and Coutts) and Thomas (of Coutts Brothers and wen t into part n ership under the name of James

o u t t s an d C o B an kers C . ,

of engagements the old firm . Consequently , they had to control the manage ment o f the O ld firm as their ’ s ur o f brother representatives , and d ing the autumn

1 6 2 r r wh o 7 they a ranged with Sir William Fo bes ,

r went to London specially to see them , a new partne for ship the old house . Articles were drawn up by which it was agreed tha t

r in Edinburgh , out of respect for the memory of Lo d Old Provost Coutts , the firm should be styled John

s C o . be Coutt and , and in London it should known as m u Herries , Cochrane and Co . Thus the na e of Co tts e was eliminated from the old London firm , being us d now only by the bank of James and Thomas Coutts , who were the framers of the articles , which were signed ’ at James Coutts hou se i n the Strand on Christm as 1 6 2 . Day, 7 The resident partn ers of the Edinburgh firm of John

- C O . $ 1 erm Coutts and were ( ) John Stephen , cousin g an

s s r . of the brother Coutts ; (2 ) Sir William Forbe , Ba t ; n s and (3 ) James Hu ter , afterward Sir James Hunter M . P . Blair , Bart , .

The resident partners of the London firm of Herries , 1 Cochrane and Co . were $ ( ) Robert (afterwards Sir m Robert) Herries , who had been an inti ate friend of the late John Coutts at Rotterdam ; and (2) William

Cochrane , originally a woollen draper in the Lucken Lilli as u booths , Edinburgh , married to , da ghter of Sir Allan ban k s John Stuart of , and a ister of Lord Provost ’ Coutts wife . In modern times a joint - stock compan y usually signalizes a n ew epoch in its existence by erecting n e w r u , enla ged , and expensive b ildings ; but such was not the old way . Sir W . Forbes tells us that the

- of C o . r counting house John Coutts and , banke s , Edin ‘ ’ u i n u b rgh , was continued Provost Coutts ho se in the ’ s . Presiden t s Stairs , Parliament Clo e , in which Mr Th e Cou t t s B roth ers 6 1

’ Stephen s family had resided since the death of Mr .

In - John Cou tts . London the counting house was also continued in the hou se whe re it had been first estab ’ li sh ed r s . in Jeff ey Square , St Mary Axe , in which

r . u r Mr . Pat ick and Mr Thomas Co tts had esided , and

’ Mrs . r which was now occupied by Mr . and Coch an e . ‘ ’ ’ Th e old custom o f living above one s Shop was

. u M P . also practised by Mr James Co tts , . for the City

of Edinburgh , and senior partner of the rising firm of t James and Thomas Cou ts , bankers , Strand , London . At that tim e the Strand was not the overbu ilt e thorou ghfar it now is . Whilst on the most fre qu ented

r u t h e u o te to City , and eminently s ited to catch bu si ’

e s . on ness , M ssr Coutts banking house the south side o f the Strand commanded from its back windows an ’ of r e u uninterrupted view London s g eat st aven e , the

e Thames , and beyond that a distant prosp ct of the

Kent and Surrey hills . When Thomas Coutts su c c eeded James as resident above his Strand banking of house , he particularly enjoyed this view the river t h e and hills beyond , and when a terrace called Adelphi was proposed to be erected between t h e Strand and the m Tha es , and threatened to interrupt the view he so ‘ ’ m u u ch liked , Thomas Co tts purchased a vista the

u s u width of his house , and stip lated that a street ho ld t h e lead from the back of his bank to Adelphi , with a ‘ ’ clear view over the Thames , so that his vista might

never b e Closed . Thomas Coutts afterwards gave up his Strand

residence to his godson , Mr . Coutts Trotter , so that we find down to a com paratively recent date that som e member o r connection of the firm carried o ut its old r Edinburgh practice of living above the bank , a p actice u which was highly intelligible , considering the enormo s

u e val of the specie , notes , and securities which the

premises contained . C HAPTER VI

AS C O S AN E LO N O THOM UTT , B K R , D N

EW men engaged i n the ordinary business o f life have enj oyed the success or n otoriety of the

renowned Thomas Coutts , banker in the Strand .

of The fourth son of John Coutts , Lord Provost Edin

’ ’ burgh , he was born in the latter s house in the President s

1 . Stairs , Parliament Close , on September 7 , 73 5 His m Allan ban k other was a daughter of Sir John Stuart of ,

Berwickshire , Bart . , whose mother was a daughter of of n s was Kerr Morriso , Berwickshire , who e mother s n Grizel , daughter of Sir John Cochrane , eco d son of of William , first Earl Dundonald . This genealogy was 1 822 given in a letter dated March , , addressed by the then Lord Dundonald to the editor of the M orn i ng P ost , and reprinted in a pamphlet published at London

1 82 2 . in As to other details , related in the following s Chapter , regarding the life of Thoma Coutts , I was much indebted to the curious and very rare pamphlets contained i n the valuable library bequeathed to the

British Museum by the Right H on . Thomas Grenville

1 8 6 $ in 4 , to which I had special access When Prince Charlie was holding hi s Royal Court

u at Holyrood , Thomas Co tts was a pupil at the Edin H is burgh High School . preceptors there were , from 1 1 s 743 to 745 , John Rae , afterward Rector of the n 1 6 Grammar School of Haddingto and , from 74 to Th o m as ou t t s B an ker Lo n on 6 C , , d 3

1 . . of 747 , John Lees , M A , afterwards Rector the High f School o Edinburgh . This famous school drew to it

u m all that was best in Edinb rgh , and among Tho as ’ Coutts Class - fellows we meet the distinguished nam e s f o John Maclaurin , afterwards one of the judges of the

u r Co rt of Session , under the title of Lord Dregho n M ln e r of r Robert y , afterwards a chitect Blackfria s f ’ o . u Bridge, and surveyor St Pa l s Cathedral , London ;

r of Lord Pittenweem , afterwards Ea l Kelly , and a well

u r r known m sical composer ; and Alexander Wedde bu n ,

r Lofd of e afte wards Chief Justice England , and creat d m Lord Loughborough , and ulti ately Lord High Chan

llor r of . c e of Great Britain , and created Ea l Rosslyn ’

D r . e r m r As the school s historian , St ven , proudly e a ks , It i s a fact worth recording that the roll of its scholars includes the names o f three Chancellors of England

E — natives Of dinburgh Wedderburn , Erskine , and ’ Brou gham . Thomas Coutts and his th ree brothers were early ’ rm placed in their father s bank in Edinburgh , and fo ed

as . a m ischievous quartette , so far Mr Trotter , their

’ ’ of r father s partner , was concerned . One their t icks , u says Sir W . Forbes , consisted in their p tting a live ’ s m ouse under the cover of Mr . Trotter inkstand , and t h e e watching with glee for the s art was to giv when , u m on lifting the lid , the animal j ped out , to the no

sm all amusement , as might be expected , of the whole ’ - counting house . ’ The child is father of the man , and from beginning f of to end the narrative o the long , laborious life o n e Thomas Coutts abounds with droll stories , which wou ld not expect in connection with a hard - working banker piling up m oney acquired by professional skill al and unremitting toil . The truth is that , as we sh l m u r presently perceive , Tho as Co tts , whilst seve ely

precise and exacting in all that concerned business , 6 o u t t s an d C o B an kers 4 C . , allowe d himself exceptional liberty in all that related r to his p ivate life . He was an absolu tely independe nt

$

. u man Maker of his own fort ne , he spent it as and

. n o where he chose With social ambition , he sought for happiness where he thought he might get it , no m matter what Society ight say about his Choice . He regarded the opinion of the world with the indifference of a m an whose character was pure and whose e on science was clear ; and he found that the very Society which had professed itself shocked at his mésd lli d n ees was ever ready to grovel before his wealth . After getting a thorough grounding in banking busi ’ r i n n ness in thei father s office Edi burgh , the four brothers Cou tts resolved at his death to open a house

r i in London . Whilst John and James Coutts ema ned at the old bank on the second floor of the President ’ s

Stairs , Parliament Close , Patrick and Thomas opened ’

s u . a London branch in Jeffrey Sq are , St . Mary Axe As has already been explained , Patrick retired from active

u b siness , and John died ; whilst James left the Edin

u r b gh bank , and set up with the leading Whig banker,

Mr . George Campbell , under the firm of Campbell and n n Coutts , ba kers , Strand , London , this being the origi

s C o . of the banking house of Coutt and , 59 , Strand ,

- to day . 1 60 s On the death of Mr . Campbell , about 7 , Jame s Coutts a sumed his brother Thomas as a partner, and changed the name of the firm to James and Thomas

u s Co tts . Next year John Coutt died at Bath , and Patrick was compelled by a mental malady to retire

s . altogether from busine s James and Thomas , as ’ re firm rep senting them , rearranged their brothers , but

n s C o . under the ame of Herrie , Cochrane and , in London ; so that the only banking - house there bearing the name of Coutts was that of James and Thom as

. s Coutts in the Strand We mu t now leave them there , S S B R . THOMA COUTT , ANKE , LONDON

an C o B an k ers 6 6 C o u t t s d . , in which he was eminently successfu l ; and amon gst

n u mo eyed men he was looked up to as an oracle , altho gh he could seldom be con sulted from the wise and laud able

s — m axim on which Mr . Coutt ever acted of obtaining

u n u e as m ch happi ess as fort n placed within his reach . Mr To his financial skill , not only . Pitt , but other n Prime Ministers , are said to have been i debted for ’ m any valuable suggestions .

u n u - Aro d s ch a bachelor , highly respected , wealthy , and influential , there buzzed a cloud of matrimonial

' r suitors of t h e ve y highest class . N oble ladies vied with each other in catching the eye of the attractive

u yo ng banker , whose presence was so good , his char acter so high , and , above all , his fortune so enormous . Yet they had to confess that their m anoeuvres were in o f vain , and ultimately spoke him with affected dis

r - dain , decla ing he was the most cold blooded animal ’ that Scotland ever produ ced . How was this $ Why did Thomas Cou tts prefer to e art th ese noble ladies , proficient in ev ry that birth and

u - s education co ld bestow , a humble servant la s , whom they wou ld scarcely have deigned to notice This is a

u m s curio s psychological proble , and to under tand it we must turn to the history of a greater man than Thom as

u Coutts , the ill strious Goethe, who , like the London of t h e banker, deserted the company most intellectual ladies of the Court of Weim ar in order to take a peasan t bride . ’ Goethe c ontracted a decided m esulli cm ce when he Vu l iu s u married Christiane p , a beautif l girl of humble

u u life . Thomas Co tts , however , acted more hono rably

u to his h mble partner than Goethe did to his , for m Coutts arried Betty Starky at once , whereas the German philosopher allowed many years to pass before he had the courage or sense of ho n our to wed Christiane

Vulpi n s . Th o m as o u t s B an ker Lon on 6 C t , , d 7

The sentim ent which im pelled both of these cele ’ brat ed men to contract mesa lli an ces is explained in on e ’ of Goethe s conversations with Eckermann , during ’ which he lau ghed at the idea that a girl s intellect u al ‘ $’ qualities made men fall in love with her . Pshaw said Goethe , laughing , as if love had anything to do with the understanding $ The things that we love in a girl are som ething very different from the understand

e e ing . W love in her b auty , youthfulness , playfulness , trustingness , her character, her faults , her caprices , and

— — do G o d knows what je n e sui s quoi besides . But we ’ love u not her nderstanding . ’ h er me s After engage nt to her master brother, but

e u S b fore it was made p blic , Betty tarky continued to perform the usu al duties of a house maid in the Strand

. O n e s Office day, whilst she was couring the stairs , a er cl k approached wearing dirty boots , which Betty re e m quest d him to re ove . The Clerk snappishly refused , ‘ ’ whereu pon Betty remarked $ Before long I ll make ou u s y pull off yo r shoes and your tockings too , if I ’ Choose it . m s Of course , when Thomas announced to Ja es Coutt ’ u e his intended n ptials with the latter s housemaid , Jam s r r exp essed g eat surprise and annoyance . Besides , Lord

Dundonald tells us that Betty Starky, a most respect ’ m m of able , odest , handsome young wo an , had the care m ’ Ja es Coutts only daughter . How would his daughter like to have her former abigail converted into her aunt $ s Altogether, Jame Coutts was very angry with his ’ t h e s m an brother, yet latter sterling qualities as a , and his exceptional abilities as a banker were such that James n ever thou ght of dissolving the partnership o f e m Jam s and Tho as Coutts . So the latter took his ’

m e s . hu ble bride hom to his hou e in St Martin s Lane , ’ where Lord D u ndonald says he and his lordship s 5— 2 ou t ts an d C o B an k e rs C . ,

m s e Mrs . brother Often visit d them , and where Tho as ’ e e m e m r Coutts good s ns , a iable disposition and xe pla y ’ e r conduct end a ed her to all her husband s family , and ’ commanded the respect of everyone who knew her .

According to Sir William Forbes , James Coutts was s f a passionate man , and , owing to ome dif erence (which n ot m Sir William does reveal) with his brother Tho as ,

u he eventually went abroad with his da ghter Frances , s who married in Italy her cou in , Sir John Stuart , of

Allan ban k . u , Bart At T rin her father was seized with the same mental malady as his eldest brother Patrick , and he died at Gibraltar whilst returning hom e in 1 77 8.

u He left to his only Child , Lady St art , a fortune of and we shall see how very much richer his brother Thomas was when he died . m m s Owing to the death of Ja es Coutts , Tho a Coutts ’ of became the sole partner the firm . Coutts bank in the Strand was by this tim e an established instit ution and just as a Scotsman , William Paterson , projected

u of the leading p blic bank in the Metropolis , the Bank 5 0 s u m England , another Scot man , Thomas Co tts , beca e

u by his ind stry , integrity , and professional skill the i leading private banker n London . ’ r Unfortunate differences concerning Mr . Coch ane s ’ retirem ent had sprung up long before James Coutts de ath b etwee n his firm and the old paternal house in

r o f C o . Edinbu gh John Coutts and , now being ably

i . m S r . F s anaged by W orbe and his partners , Messrs

u Steph e n and H u nter . The London firm act ally now c or employed Messrs . Mansfield and Co . as their respondents in Edinbu rgh ; and Sir W illiam Forbes records that his only intercourse with Thom as Cou tts afte r the ru ptu re was occasional letters when anything occurred in which Sir William could be useful to h im in Edinburgh . What still further embittered the relation s of the Th o m as ou t t s B an ker Lon on 6 C , , d 9

m t h e m r fir s was establishment by Sir Willia Fo bes ,

e . e . e M ssrs H rries , Messrs Hend rson , and Sir William

of S ri n kell of u . Maxwell, p g , a banking ho se in St ’ m e Ja es s Stre t , London , called the London Exchange

m for u o f u Banking Co pany , the p rpose iss ing pro m i ssor e o n t h e y notes to travell rs payable Continent , m o n r 1 1 2 . to com ence Janua y , 77 ‘ ’ The invention of these Circular notes was du e

. u m m to Mr Herries , and has been fo nd an i ense boon

u m m u to to rists . Ja es and Tho as Co tts , however ,

o n r looked grimly , especially as the first offe of a share

e m in the scheme had been made to th , and they had e e d clin d it . They were also suspicio u s that the ’ r o f r manage s the new Scottish bank in St . James s St eet m ight try and filch away their cu stom e rs under the prete xt of furnishing them with circu lar notes for the

Continent . of Let us , however, return from these details Thomas ’ Coutts business life to his m u ch m ore inte re sting

h im e private career . His wife bore thr e children , all

u r o f m e r . da ghte s , and all whom ad b illiant marriages

1 . t h e Sophia , youngest , was the first to be mar m rr r . u 1 e ied On A gust 5 , 793 , she a i d Sir Francis

M . P . m r e r . . Bu d tt , Ba t , , a notable politician Fro

em e u th is descend d that disting ished philanthropist ,

u - t h e Baroness B rdett Coutts . m 2 . u e S san , the eldest daughter, arri d on Feb ru ar 2 8 1 6 o f r r y , 79 , the third Earl Guilfo d , and thei u u m 1 8 1 da ghter S san beca e , in 4 , Baroness North .

r u m r 3 . F ances , the second da ghter , a ried , on Sep

m e 1 800 te b r 7 , , John , first Marquess of Bute ; and whilst their dau ghter Frances became in 1 82 3 the Cou ntess of r Ha rowby , their son , Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart ,

1 82 r married , in 4 , the daughter of Lucien Bonapa te ,

Prince of Canino . e m It is evid nt , fro the noblemen their daughters n Co an ke rs C ou t t s a d . , B

Mrs . m m married , that Mr . and Tho as Coutts ust have moved in a high circle of society . Lord Dundonald Mr . u says he remem bers meeting Mr and s . Co tts and their then u n m arried three daughters in Scotland in ’ 1 8 - 86 on D u n don ald s 7 5 , when they were a visit to Lord l l l u s Va e fie d e . co sin , Sir Charles Pre ton , of y , Fifeshir But however much glam our the nobility of rank had n for most persons , it had one for Thomas Coutts . Whilst diligent in busine ss and exceptionally precise in h i all s business engagements , he was devoted privately to literature and the drama . During upwards of half ’ n m a ce tury , says the pa phleteer already quoted , his judgment and taste were acknowledged by the m ost ’ are celebrated dramatic authors and performers . We ‘ also informed that in dispelling the vapours that had congregated rou nd the fame of Thom son (poet of

The Season s Mr . Coutts by his zeal and exertions m ’ was not a little in stru ental . ’ Cultured and a perfect gentleman , Thomas Coutts mental qualifications were o f a nature that rendered his society much sought after by those who did not stand f ’ in need of his aid as the wealthiest banker o the age . wa s He one of the most interesting men in conversation ,

n n . full of a imatio , and inexhaustible in anecdote his Unfortunately, wife , who had had such a singular as n 1 81 career , w lo g laid aside before her death in 4 by an illness which led to her deafness and imbecility . Although Thomas Coutts had passed the age of three s score year and ten , he was physically and mentally extremely vigorous ; and whilst working hard at his n n ba k and amassing a large fortu e , he Often spent his

o f evenings at the theatre , or in the society his literary and dramatic friends . It w as in the course of these evening relaxations that

u he first saw Harriot Mellon , then a young and beautif l

- fi e . actress , forty v years his junior She had been born h om as ou t ts B an ker Lon o n 1 T C , , d 7

u 1 80 - 81 at Westminster abo t 7 , and had never seen her

. m father Her other subsequently married a musician , who was also a strolling player, and this man and his e o n wife rambl d foot about the provinces , with little r m Harriot t otting at their heels . The Ro ance o f Life ’ was never more extraordinary than i n Harriot Mellon s for case , it destined this little wandering waif to be

r r s t afterwa ds a famous actress , then wife of the iche

e banker in London , and finally a Duchess in the Peerag r of G eat Britain . ’ m e m So e ladi s , pitying Harriot s no ad career , placed

r - s for h er her at a espectable boarding chool , and paid education , after which she acted in the provinces .

of i n r Some her friends Stafford , then epresented in

e Parliament by Sh ridan , obtained for her an engage

r r ment at Dru y Lane . She also pe formed in the

r r p ovinces , and eventually settled at Cheltenham , whe e she entered into a building specu lation . Among Miss Mellon ’ s provincial tours was one to

r u Ha rogate , where , in a rude theatre sit ated Opposite and belonging to the Granby Hotel , a galaxy of talent per formed of which the grandest existing theatre in London In r re re would be proud . that Ha rogate barn (now p sented by a residence called Mansfi e ld House) appeared ’

IV . s during t h e season Mrs . Jordan (King William

- D ibdin lady love) , Miss Wallis , Thomas and his wife

a n d . (Miss Hillier) , Miss Mellon and her mother (Mrs G ra i n e r o f Entwistle) . Mr . William g , in his Histo y Harrogate says that a regular theatre was n ot erected in that town till 1 788 . With regard to Miss Mellon ’ s theatrical life and

- m . triumphs , her me oirs by Mrs Cornwall Barron Wilson ,

1 86 u r . Sh e which appeared in 8 , f rnish eliable details was considered the handsom est Audrey on the stage .

- u A remarkably good looking br nette , she had not the appearance of a n actress . As a contemporary critic 2 u an d C o B n ker o t t s . a s 7 C ,

observed , whilst Miss Farren was elegant , Mrs . Jordan

. u D e m fascinating , Mrs Goodall delightf l , and Miss r Ca p ’ set half the young fellows mad, Miss Mellon looked merely like a girl fresh from the country , with blooming

u r complexion , a tall , fine fig re , aven locks , ivory teeth , a cheek like a peach , and coral lips .

She was as good , generous , and amiable as she was s e m beautiful . She a sist d anony ously the family of Edm u nd Kean when that great actor was struggling up to the position he afterwards adorned , and was drawing

u only a meagre salary . The charity which disting ished

’ her in after - life was thus conspicuous when she was earning her own livelihood . One of the pamphlets in the Gre nville Collection alleges that Thom as Coutts introdu ced himself to Miss s Mellon , as many score of gentlemen had done , by m taking tickets for her benefit . Some ti e afterwards

s - 1 00 he ent her a bank note for £ , enclosed in a letter expressing his esteem for her professional capacity and the respectability of her private character , and adding that this su m might assist in furnishing the house sh e had taken at Cheltenham .

After consulting her friends , Miss Mellon accepted 1 00 s m the £ , e pecially , says the pamphlet , as it ca e ‘ ’ from a gen tlem an so venerable from his age . She established her stepfather (who had been in the orchestra of Dru ry Lan e Theatre) in a m uSIC - sh Op at s h e m n Cheltenham , where resided for so e time , and the went once more back to London . am Then occurred a singular thing , which the p hlet eer i s u p , inquisitive rogue as he , does not q ite clear e up . During her stay in London Miss Mellon sudd nly electrified her friends (no doubt all in need of money) by the announcement that she had won at a lottery a sum of in testimony whereof sh e produ ced a banknote for

ou t t an d C o B an ker s . s 7 4 C , gentlem an of threescore and upwards with a handsome ’ - s . m e actre s of twenty four With ore wit than d licacy , ‘ one newspaper insinuated that a certain rich banker

M elon had suddenly acquired a great relish for , and had ’ u purchased a slice at a dear rate . Another , with eq al

‘ ‘ h a d h eard audacity , declared that it that a certain celebrated actress made a slip near an em inent banking ’ house in the Strand . ‘ ’ ‘ Who the rich banker an d gentleman of three at score thus maliciously shot was , there could be no doubt . He was the friend and adviser of Pitt , the

- in - o f u s o f father law disting i hed noblemen , the Nestor the banking profession — h e was none other than m Tho as Coutts . What a haul for the vile blackmailer was here The wealthiest man in London declared to be cau ght i n the toils of his Delilah $ What would he not pay fo r su re ssIO n secrecy , for pp There c a n be no qu estion that during the lifetim e of his first wife , long lying in a moribund condition , u Thomas Coutts admired Harriot Mellon . He wo ld

B u t not have been a m a n of taste if he had not .

' there is no room for much of the chron i que scan daleuse contained in the pamphlet (printed i n entitled ’ Fine Acting, in the Grenville Collection . ’ In that very year Miss Mellon s theatrical caree r e came suddenly to a n end . The handsomest Audr y sh e s on the stage , ilently said farewell to it when she appeared in ‘ As You Like It ’ at Drury Lane on 1 81 February 7 , 5 , Thomas Coutts being present in his ‘ ’ . s . box On this evening , say her biographer , Mrs ‘ n - s Barro Wilson , her dres was extremely fanciful and ’ ‘ ’ pretty , including a rather short petticoat , revealing ’ ‘ Wa s yellow silk stockings with black clocks . She r m g eeted with much applause , and by no eans intended

s . this to be her la t appearance . On visiting Mr Coutts , Thom as ou t t s B an ke r Lon o n C , , d 7 5

’ u however, d ring the entr acte , she found him wearing a serious expression . He explained that he could n o ‘ ’ fo r longer bear to see her made up the stage , and hoped that this would be her last appe arance . With that extraordinary deference and respect which she always showed to him (and which led some im agi

r e native persons to believe he was her fathe ) , Miss M llon ’ d for old m an e . submitted , left the stage ev r An an s for r m r bu t love a young actress is always open to e a k , when that actress revels i n yellow silk stockings with black clocks ’ the Old man is apt to take alarm and withdraw his inamorata into private life . 1 81 o f A pamphlet published in 9 , with the object

s of o f 1 81 toning down the asperitie its predecessor 5 , states that Thomas Coutts purchased for Miss Mellon i of a v lla at the foot Highgate Hill , called Holly Lodge , e m su m paying to its owner , Sir Henry Van Te pest , the o f Envious an d uncharitable tongu es of cou rse

e u u b gan to wag , and to say very npleasant things abo t ’

chere a mi e. Mr . Coutts and his

Nor was the fair Harriot herself always very discreet . ‘ She invariably called h er m u n ific en t patron her dear ’ ‘ s r rr old Tom , and aid he had p omised to ma y her ’ ’ r within a m onth of his fi st wife s death , the latter being still alive . If Thomas Coutts made that prom ise (and he was

r . always a man of his word) , he ce tainly kept it His

o f r m a m wife , the object his fi st ro antic ttach ent , Betty

S r e m 2 2 1 81 ta ky , died on Dec ber , 4, and his matrimonial proposals to his second inam orata we re as prompt as they were laconic . m Calling u pon her at Holly Lodge nearly a onth ’ e ou u after his first wife s death , he said , My d ar, y m st u Come with me to church and be married . Yo r repu n o t ati on will otherwise be destroyed . There is other ’ way to protect you . o u t an B k C t s d C o . , an ers

SO 1 8 1 81 m on January , 5 , Tho as Co utts married

. s Harriot Mellon privately at St Pancra Church , Mr .

m h e Ray ond of Drury Lane Theatre giving r away . O n March 1 the parties were remarried at the same u r 2 1 81 church , and on Th sday , March , 5 , this second marriage was publicly announced in the Ti mes as follows $ on s r Married Wednesday, at St . Pancra Chu ch , Middle f . o sex , Thomas Coutts , Esq , to Miss Harriot Mellon , ’ - f Holly Lodge , Highgate . A notice to the same e fect i ’ appeared n the St . j ames s Chron i cle of the same date . Thomas Cou tts had evidently again succumbed to the fatal philosophy of Goethe , and chosen a woman

n ot u m for his wife for her social eq ality with hi self, not

bu t e for her careful upbringing and education , (to quot again the dangerously fascinating author of Faust and e ‘ M phistopheles) for her beauty , youthfulness , play

u r s h er f lness , trustingness , her cha acter , her fault , ’ — — G o d e n e sui s uoi s . caprices , and knows what j q be ides n The bonds of holy matrimony were , however, ever more faithfully borne than by the whilom actress and

n her venerable spouse , and to all the onsense that has been written about them we may well apply the lines prefixed to a pamphle t on the subject

urn soo S an er urn o e scro B , ty l d , b thy bl tt d ll ’ ’ rea n ess i s rea n ess s e of En v s sou . G t g t , pit y l

Proofs of the devotion of Thomas Coutts to his second wife abound . He is stated to have allowed her

r e to spend during the fi st year of their marriag ,

- an extraordinarily lavish amount of pin money, but it ’ m u n ee must be recollected that Mrs . Tho as Co tts ,

Mellon , was renowned for her charity and benevolence . $ a As a pamphleteer remarks , The public j ournals h ving spread— perhaps exaggerated and overcoloured— State s s ment of her profu se liberality, both herself and hu band

8 ou t t s an d C o B an kers 7 C . ,

2 1 82 2 e - AL L February 4, , ag d eighty seven , he left he ’ r possessed to his said wife , Ha riot Coutts . m e 1 820 His will was ad at London on May 9 , , and in it he appointed as his executors his said wife , his

— u r e r . m n u fo r pa tn s viz , Sir Ed u d Antrob s , Mr . Coutts

Mr Mar i an k . r b o s . m u Trotter , Edward j , and Mr Ed nd

‘ h e u Antrobus t yo nger ; also Mr . William Adam the f ’ o . e younger , Lincoln s Inn ; Mr Andrew Dicki , of the

Strand ; and Messrs . Thomas Atkinson and John ’

e . Parkinson , both of Lincoln s Inn Fi lds

The personalty left to Mrs . Coutts under this will amounted to besides which she alre ady pos sessed Holly Lodge . Five ye ars after the death of Thomas Coutts his

m r u 1 6 1 82 u re widow a ried , on J ne , 7 , William A b y de

u . . u Vere , ninth D ke of St Albans She died witho t

s u u 6 1 8 o f i s e on Aug st , 3 7 , and , with a nobleness mind which proves that the maxim Noblesse oblig e may actuate o n e risen from the ranks as well as one born

u in the p rple , she gave back to the Coutts family the h er entire estate she had received from it , heiress being

- the Baroness Burdett Coutts , who has made such noble u se of the fortune sh e thu s acquired from the good

r u . . hearted Har iot Mellon , D chess of St Albans To close this sketch of the remarkable career of

s u n Thoma Co tts , a few a ecdotes may be related by way $ Pun ctua li t of illustrating his private character . y was on e of his strong points . So punctually did he arrive at his bank in the Strand every morning , that whoever ’ n i n e he ard St . Martin s Clock strike and kept his eye ’ upon the door of Cou tts bank would within a m inute or so see Thomas Coutts ste p into the bank . Pri de i n the resources of hi s ban k was another feature

r - i n in his strong cha acter . At the time that his son

M . P s law, Sir Francis Burdett , . , was ent to the e u n t Tow r, Her Majesty Q ee Charlotte , who kep a O F T B O F S H ER S S S . S GRACE THE DUCHE AL AN , WIDOW THOMA S B R N N A ND R Y COUTT , ANKE , LO DO , FO MERL

M Is s N R S S . MELLO , ACT E

ou t s an C o B a k C t d . , n ers

’ e e u which he forthwith Op n d with Co tts bank , and which proved an e xtre mely l u crative one to Thom as s Coutts , as the nobleman shortly afterward paid ’ i n to it , besides recommending Coutts bank to all his friends , including King George I I I . , who u e r with Q e n Cha lotte honoured it with their patronage .

over ru den t r The above forms a good lesson to p banke s . Whilst treating hi s subordinates with cou rtesy and

u di sci li n e an d kindness , Thomas Coutts insisted pon p ' e i ci en c i n . of fi y his bank One the staff, who had been sent o ut to collect bills in London to the e xtent O f alleged that when in the street he had fallen

s u into a stupor , and had tepped into what he nder

- s . tood to be a hackney coach or cab It proved , how

u ever , to be the So thampton Mail Coach , and when the unfortunate youth came to his senses he found m him self in Southa pton . From the re he wrote to

e r . Mr . Coutts , and th n retu ned to London All the bu t o n money was eventually recovered , , the ground n ot u s that the clerk was reliable for banking p rpose , Thomas Coutts gave him a s u m su fficient to pu rchase an annuity , and dispensed with his further services . m en m u Like many other wealthy , Tho as Co tts was m odest o a tti re noted for his y f . He carried this p e culiarity so far that it procu red him one of the m ost amu sing adventu res which could befall a Croesus . He

r was visiting the Prince of Wales (afterwa ds George IV . ) ’ u at the latter s favo rite country resort , the Pavilion at r Brighton . Early one morning Thomas Coutts , d essed very plainly indeed in a brown suit , with brown cotton

‘ u rou n d hi s stockings that h ng loosely legs , took his seat on a b e nch near the Pavilion . A benevolent and m old so ewhat eccentric lady happened to be passing ,

e m s and , se ing what she i agined to be a mi erably poor old man in distressed circu m stances seated o n the bench , she advanced towards him , and said Th o m as ou t ts B an ke r Lon on C , , d 8 1

n My good man , you appear to have see better days . ’ ’ Here s a trifle to buy you a breakfast . Whereupon she handed him a token for five shillin gs issued by ’ ‘ u u l Co tts bank . Then she contin ed $ I wi l also see s that you get your dinner , and shall rai e a subscription ’ f r o you amon g my friends . s s Thoma Coutt thanked his benefactress profusely , and said he would be sure to be found upon the sam e

- bench at dinner time . He then bowed profoundly to ‘ u m n the lady and ret rned to the Pavilion , fro whe ce , in s s the cour e of dinner , he lipped away , and resumed his former position o n the bench . r s P e ently the benevolent lady reappeared , and with e her a n umb r of lady friends . ’ ‘ ’ sh e r ss . Ah , c ied , there s my distre ed old man There sits the poor old fellow for whom I asked your ’ charity . ‘ ’ ‘ ’ $ on e s . That exclaimed of the ladie Why , that s

Mr . ’ sh e n But , before could utter the great banker s ame , s the Prince of Wale himself appeared from behind , of and , to the amazement the benevolent lady, slapped on u $ the poor old man the back , and sho ted

Tom u Co tts , we have fined you a bottle for leaving your glass C HAPTER VI I

LL AM O ES A . BAN E E B SIR WI I F RB , B RT , K R, DI N URGH

E have just been considering the life of a ‘ man

s e u who , though famou and succ ssf l as a was banker , characterized by foibles which ,

e e an d n how ver inter sting romantic , are not ge erally

regarded with favour . We shall now contemplate c om another life , that of a man who rarely , if ever, ‘ m it t ed on s on a fault , and , looking thi picture and ’ that , be able to say which we prefer . Lord Macau lay declared he saw the whole Ten ’ m m e Com and ents written on Horner s face . C rtainly ’ n o one can look at John Kay s portraits o f Sir William Forbes without feeling that he is in the presence of a

of - r man b lameless integrity , splendid self cont ol , and

untarnished virt ue .

o n William Forbes was born at Edinburgh April 5 , 1 o r m 73 9 , only four years after Tho as Coutts . His e s r of fath r was a poor landles Baronet , and a membe

H- o f the Scottish Bar . is mother was a daughter John s of Forbe Boyndie , and cousin of Lord Forbes of

u e Pitsligo , who ltimately forfeited his estates for b ing ‘ O u t s in the The e tate of Monymusk , Aber dee n shi re \ , which originally belonged to the Forbes ’ r - baronetcy , had been sold by Fo bes great grandfather , so the boy had nothing before h im in order to achieve

— success but that most excellen t road to it hard work .

o t t an d C o B an k ers 8 u s . 4 C ,

of very engaging manners , he had the happy talent of uniting a love of society and public amusements with a ’ strict attention to busin ess . Reference has already

e been made to his training in Rotterdam , wher he sold ’

s n . goods to the smuggler to land in Scotla d Having , n says his apprentice , received his merca tile education in Holland , he had all the accuracy and all the strict ness of a Dutchman ; an d to hi s lessons it is that I owe an ss ss s s y knowledge I po e of the principle of busines , as well a s an attachmen t to form which I shall prob ’ ably carry with me to the grave .

John Coutts was not an easy master . So strict was ’ s n he , continues Forbe , in the discipli e of the counting s house , that I lept but one night out of Edinburgh from the commencement of my apprenticeship in May , 1 1 60 754, till the month of September , 7 , when I obtai n ed leave to go to Aberdeenshire with my mother ’ to pay a visit to our relations . One reason for Forbes being kept so closely to his work probably was that the office was by no means

. a s f overmanned Besides the p rtner , the whole o fice f an d sta f comprised only four clerks two apprentices . an 1 Lewis Hay became apprentice in 755 , the year e s n after Forb s , and James Hunter (afterward Hu ter

Blair) in 1 756 . On the expiry of his apprenticeship of five years in 1 e May , 759, Forb s continued to serve the company as t o a clerk for nearly w years , without receiving any

u emol ment , in the expectation of being at some con ’ v n i n r . s ar uh arso n s e e t opportunity, th ough Mr Franci F q

n . means , admitted a part er ’ This happy reward of seven years conscie n tious 1 6 1 n m labour occurred in 7 , whe Forbes was ad itted to partnership with Patrick and John Coutts and

- Mr . Stephen to the extent of one eighth share of A the house at Edinburgh . few month s after this Sir illiam Fo rb B B k es art . an er 8 W , , 5 copartnery had been form ed Patrick Coutts was laid s s a ide by illnes , which resulted in his deprivation o f reason , and John Coutts was seized at London with a painful disease which en ded fatally . ’ - r s By this unlooked for st oke , says Forbe , the two houses of London and Edinbu rgh were left in a most ’ destitute situation . As James and Thomas Coutts had abandoned the old London hou se and set up for them e selv s , and as Patrick and John Coutts had now been

r n removed from the Edinbu gh house , a great and u r r i a firm expected c isis occur ed the affairs of the old . The London house had not a person left in it who was was entitled to sign for the firm , and managed by

. Th Mr Keith , who only held a power of attorney . e

u o f Edinb rgh house was in the feeble hands Mr . s s Stephen , as isted by Forbe , a youth only two years of out his apprenticeship .

‘ ’ Yet a good name is better than great riches , and Forbes attributes the successful tiding - over of this ‘ s s an d acute crisi to the ble sing of Heaven , to the popu larity of Provost Coutts and his family in Edin s of burgh , and the e tablished reputation their firm , by which the friends and correspondents of the hou se were ’ induced to continue their business there as formerly .

‘

Fortunately Mr . Stephen and Forbes found a friend s in need in their tim e o f trial . Although Jame Hunter e was two years younge r than Forbes , his abilities wer , ’ r in the latter s Opinion , much supe ior ; and but for him , r u Forbes declares , the two partne s might have s nk ’ n ffi u e u der their load of di c lties . By Hunter s advic , the firm wound up it s specu lations in corn and re lin u i sh e d i n r q that trade entirely , being resolved futu e to confine the house to it s proper and natural business u of exchange and banking . By this prudent resol ’ ‘ s u r tio n , ays Forbes , and by n emitting assiduity and on a attention , we were enabled to go without any p . n k ers C o u tt s an d C o , Ba

m u u parent di in tion ofbusiness . H nter was afterwards , m s 1 6 2 f at Christ a , 7 , rewarded for his e forts by being

' m u assu ed as a partner in the Edinb rgh firm , the name

was a C o . of which ltered to John Coutts and , with

s . s Messr Stephen , Forbes , and Hunter as re ident m o f partners . The na e the London firm was also

m C o changed , and beca e Herries , Cochrane and . , with Messrs . Herries and Cochrane as resident partners . i n The new firm of John Coutts and Co . started

Edinburgh under the best auspices . It bore the name of one of the most respected Lord Provosts of the city .

It enjoyed the patronage of the great London bankers ,

James and Thomas Coutts , the former of whom was

M . P . u for Edinburgh . It had abandoned spec lation u in corn , and confined itself to legitimate banking b si

s . s nes Finally , it po sessed in William Forbes and u m en James H nter two young of exceptional ability ,

u character and ind stry , which afterwards led to their attaining the highest distinction in every field they entered . In 1 76 2 Forbes wen t to London and made the ac n re quainta ce of James and Thomas Coutts , who c eived him with much cordiality and arranged the new partnerships . Next year he proceeded to Holland osten ‘ ’ sibl s r y on bu iness , but in truth , he adds , from a st ong ’ desire on my part of visiting the Continent . Arriving

h e e at Rotterdam , he saw t Scottish merchants ther and made the tour of Holland ; then he visited Antwerp s s and Brus el , and , passing through Flanders , reached ’

s . Pari On Forbes return to Edinburgh , he learnt with extreme concern that matters were by no means ’ e right with regard to Mr . Cochrane , one of the partn rs of the London branch . He had been living beyond

u his income ; his affairs were in conf sion , and his

r s m . London pa tner, Mr . Herries , uggested his retire ent

an d C o B an k ers 88 C o ut t s . ,

from Scotland , the article being originally procured s from America by the merchant of Glasgow, the famous ’ r tobacco lords . The great company in F ance known as the Farmers - Gen eral enj oyed the exclusive privilege n n u n of importi g tobacco into Fra ce , and conseq e tly their agen ts in Britain did a very large and lucrative

s n s . an d s n bu i es William Alexander Son , mercha ts in

E n n s s- di burgh , were the age t of the Farmer General ’ n s u til Forbes partner, Robert Herrie , during a French

so m - l j ourney , ingratiated himself with the Far ers Genera n ss s that , upon a cool e ari ing between the latter and the

s s . was n s Mes r Alexander , Herries e tru ted with the pur chase of tobacco for France . Thinking that it might give him additional con sequen ce in the eyes of his new s s s n French patron , Herrie procured for him elf the ho our n i n 1 of k ighthood 774 . s s as of Not only , however, did Herrie pro per a man

ss $ n as a n n n . was busine he also sho e i ve tor It he who , as s s s u already mentioned , devi ed the y tem of Circ lar s s a n d note , whereby touri ts are saved the trouble risk ’ n s an d fin d of carrying foreig pecie , their bankers corre spon den t s ready to cash their circular notes at every f m o . s i s town i portance Indeed , uch the credit of these n - otes , that hotel keepers will cash them . In order to lau n ch the n ew idea of circular n otes with éclat i n 1 2 s due in London , a bank was , 77 , e tablished ’

. s s n n in St Jame Street , called the Lo don Excha ge

n i n s r Banking Compa y , which Herrie , Hunter , Fo bes , and others became partners , and which was specifically established for the purpo se of issuing promissory notes ’ r to t avellers payable on the Continent . ’

. s The manner of Mr Cochrane retirement , and the ’

s . s s e tablishment of this St James Street bank , evered the last ties of frien dship between the fi rm s of James

an d C o and Thomas Coutts , London , and John Coutts . , n Edi burgh . The latter firm had long wi shed to acquire Si r illiam Forbes B art B an ke r 8 W , . , 9

o f e e m possession th ir banking pr ises , which belonged to

. r . Mr James Coutts , and where Forbes apparently esided

s C O . As Coutts still refused to sell , John Coutt and s 1 2 removed at Whit unday , 77 , from the second to the ’ e e first floor of the Presid nt s Stairs , Parliament Clos , and there Mr . Bartlett (afterwards a partner) resided to ’ take care of the premises . If there is on e thing more than another for which ’ ‘ ’ s of s u Forbes Memoir a Banking Hou e are val able , it is for the busi n ess maxi ms scattered throughout them .

— on e r Thus , referring to two speculations in pape

- — i n making, and another in lead mining which Forbes

r u m e r and Hunter, who had no expe ience in s ch att s , were foolish enough to engage , Forbes lays down as a prin cipl e of the fi rst importance that a person who is in possession of a natural and valuable branch of busi n ess should never al low his tim e or his attention to be diverted to the prosecution of Objects which he does not understand , and which are foreign from his proper ’

e s . line , for such sp culation rarely come to any good

That Forbes and Hunter, who had a good growing 1 6 banking business in hand , should in 7 9 embark on

- 1 1 - paper making , and in 77 on lead mining, can only be explained by that restlessness and ove rc o n fiden c e o f su erfl uit youth , and p y of energy , which have often su s $ achieved cces , but which , alas have also too often led to failure .

. s m m A Mr Fra er , who had once anaged a s all paper mill , persuaded Hunter and his friend Mr . Guthrie to

e - er ct a very extensive paper mill at Polton , near Lass S wade , on the specious plea that Scotland never upplied

e for o r bu t itself with paper , eith r writing printing, every m n u o f year i ported to a very co siderable amo nt , all

u u r which wo ld be saved to the co nt y , and at the same

e u r r time a considerable profit accru to the nde take s , as ’ labour was much cheaper in Scotland than in England . t k C o u t s an d C o . , B an ers

The first two managers of the Polton Paper - mill came

. e from England , and then Mr Fras r took the affair in t h e e hand himself, mill b longing jointly to the Edin bu rgh banking firms of John Coutts and Co . and u n Arb thnot and Guthrie . Whe the latter firm failed

h e r 1 t 2 C O . in Black Yea of 77 , John Coutts and were

u s left in possession of a bad b sine s , which they gladly

m . n ade over to Mr John Hutto , lessee of the Melville

- Paper mill . ‘ r s Fo be characterizes their n ext speculation as , if s s po sible , till more indefen sible , because more of a ’ r r - preca ious natu e than paper making . Since mortals n first bega their search for El Dorado , the hidden tre asu res of the mine have had for them irresistible charms . Both partners celebrated their departure for 1 0 El Dorado by marriage . Forbes married , in 77 , m Sm it hfield Elizabeth , daughter of Sir Ja es Hay , of

H a s n an d t ou s . y , Peeble shire , Bart Hunter married , m s in the sa e year , the daughter and heires of John

r D un ske c o - Blai , of y, by Anne , sister and heir of line

C assilli s . was of David , tenth Earl of He to pay ,

f r r C assillis e o . how ver, this a istocratic connection Lord

- m had a lead ine on his estate , and induced his new relative to make a trial of its resources . Hunter con

sult ed . f m a Mr Alexander Sheri f, erchant in Leith , who ’ was connected with the working of Lord H opet ou n s mines at Leadhills . Like most mining experts , Sheriff

u was enth siast , and grasped at the idea of working ‘ an i li ’ Lord C ass l s m ine ; so it was agreed that his lordship , u ff Forbes , H nter , Herries , and Sheri , should form a

- copartnery for making a trial working of this mine . 0 Fortunately , each partner had to contribute only 3 , e 1 2 m and wh n the Black Year of 77 ca e , and Sheriff

m - failed , the ine trials ceased . Needless to add , each ’ 0 partner lost his £3 , and , but for Sheriff s bankruptcy, might have lost a great deal more , as Forbes confesses

o ut s an Co B k C t d . , an ers was largely due to the failure in London of a Scottish m adventurer na ed Alexander Fordyce , who began life

r u e c m as a hosier in Abe deen , but who s cce ded in be o ing firm f n O f R C o . a part er in the of ey , Neale and , bankers , h r n dl m T ead ee e . Street Fordyce speculated enor ously , e 1 66 s and in one sp culation in 7 , in Ea t India Stock , netted He purchased a fine estate at Roe m n ha pton , and built a church , where , says Marti , he

s on s u wor hipped a ort of velvet throne , surro nded by a glittering posse Of tall footmen and bedizened ’

s . m lacquey Then he stood for Parlia ent , and spent

an h e on unsuccessful contest . Then married

Lady Margaret Lindsay , daughter of the Earl of a s s B lcarres , and ister of Lady Anne Barnard , authore s , ’ of Auld Robin Gray . Then he purchased estates in

m . Scotland , and entertained su ptuously

At last Fortune turned against the bold gam bler . A l s him fa l in tocks cost Undismayed , he ’ hi s s an d plunged hands into his partners private fund , dashed into new specu lations . A Quaker uttered the ’ ‘ s fir t note of warning . Friend Fordyce , said he , I

n m m en n have know any rui ed by two dice , but I will ’ - not be ruined by Four dice . Hi s n Fordyce disappeared . terrified partners i vesti

of s hi s gated the state his affair , and found that name was attached to bills in circulation to the am ount of four m illions sterling $ r m was This discove y , ade on what ever after known 8 u as Black Monday (June , caused great fail res

bu t m r in England , in Scotland it si ply p oved dis astrou s . Scottish banks and bankers fell before it like the trees of the forest before a cyclone . The Ayr Bank

o f u . as Do glas , Heron and Co (bolstered it was by s e London bills) went down with a cra h , leaving a gr ater wreck than Scotland had suffered since t h e ill - starred r Darien expedition . One hundred and fo ty Scottish Sir illi a F o rbe B art B an k r m s . e W , , 9 3

- f m land owners su fered as shareholde rs . A ong them o f u were the Dukes Buccle ch and Queensberry , who s of invoked the a sistance of the Bank England , and were inform ed that that Bank already held in e not s of Douglas , Heron and Co . In Edinbu rgh the fallen banks lay thick as le aves in

m . r r Vallo brosa Arbuthnot and Guth ie , And ew Sin

C o . m a n d C o . s clair and , Fordyce , Malcol , John tone m and S ith , William Alexander and Sons , Gibson and

u u Balfo r, Anthony Ferg son , and William Hogg junior ,

e m all went down b fore the stor , never to rise again .

Alone among Edinburgh private banks , John Coutts

C o . C o m and , Mansfield , Hunter and . , and Willia

ru n Cumming and Son , stood fast . A was to have been ’ u made on Coutts bank , when s ddenly the report got abroad that that bank had received two m illions in e m n e speci fro London , the fact bei g that it had receiv d s u les than Thereupon the public , r shing like m n t m adde ed ca tle , demanded all they had fro the other s bank , and , whilst they ruined the latter quite need

u . lessly, established John Co tts and Co securely by m depositing their cash with the .

e It was a miraculous , a Provid ntial , deliverance for

Forbes and Hunter . If that unknown quidnunc had not starte d that fabu lous story of their receiving two m u e millions fro London , they wo ld have been dragg d down and t ram pled under foot like the rest . As it was , when the storm passed they rose from amid the wreck of other banks rich m en instead of beggars .

e of Be it remembered , howev r, that the public banks S of cotland , viz the Bank Scotland , the Royal Bank ,

C o . m and the British Linen , re ained unshaken by the black year of 1 77 2 and this fact no doubt led to private u banks falling in favo r in Scotland , their places being s taken by public bank , possessing abundant capital and am ple reserve fu nds . u an B an k r o t ts d C o . e s 94 C ,

As if to get rid of the nightm are through which they s had pas ed, Forbes and Hunter resolved to alter the

m of firm . m I 1 er re na e their Fro January , 773 , th efo , ’

firm . . the became Sir W Forbes , J Hunter and Co . u In this way also the two partners , both pro d , inde e m t h e pendent men , cut th selves free from leading t h e m of m m strings of Coutts fa ily , who James and Tho as m Coutts , bankers , Strand , London , had shown the selve s by no means friendly to the representatives of ’ firm their father s . r s Sir Robert Her ies , assisted by his brothers Charle

r- i a - and William and his brothe law, George Hender so n m e o f , for d the London corresponding house Sir

r e r C o . W . Fo bes , J . Hunt and , and the latter watched e m their London confrer s with so e anxiety . Owing to the extensive purchases of tobacco which he made as e for t h e r - Si r e ag nt Farme s General of France , Rob rt

rr m m e r He ies was drawn from banking to general co ce , and he and his partners e ngaged in extensive mercan

r e tile specu lations . As Fo bes and Hunter (as pr viously

ur et sim le explained) had resolved to be bankers p p , they did not like the mode o f bu siness o f their London house , and proposed that certain regulations should be introdu ced for its future conduct . The Herries

r e r e r brothers stoutly esist d any inte ference , and matt s m r r s ca e to a c isis , esulting in the entire eparation in 1 6 u 77 of the two ho ses of London and Edinburgh , and ’ t h e severa n c e by Forbes and H u nter o f all connection m with the London Exchange Banking Co pany , St . ’ Jam es s Street . Previous to this occu rrence Forbes had assisted in entertaining a celebrated visitor to Edinbu rgh . On ’

u 1 1 . u A gust 4 , 773 , Dr Sam el Johnson arrived at Boyd s ‘ h e o f t h e C an on at e Inn at t head g , and Boswell went ’ m et to h im directly . Next day (Sunday) Forbes the ’ J u piter of English lit e rat u re at Boswell s house at

6 o u t s an d C o B an ke t . rs 9 C ,

attention , of knowledge , of skill , and a better method u of comm nication , he has the advantage of his adver sary , it is an advantage to which he is entitled . There s must always be some advantage on one ide or other , and it is better that advan tage should be had by talents

r than by chance . If lawyers were to unde take no s cause till they were sure they were just , a man might e be pr cluded altogether from a trial of his claim , u tho gh , were it judicially examined , it might be foun d m ’ a very ju st clai . ‘ s was s n Boswell thought thi ou d practical doctrine , and natu rally repressed a too refined scrupulosity of ’ conscience on Forbes part . On the sam e Sunday Forbes and others met Johnson ’ at Boswell s at dinner . ’ ‘ m . s Co e , Dr Johnson , aid Boswell , it is commonly o ur thought that veal in Scotland is not good . But ’ here is some which I believe you will like . a h im There w s no catching . ‘ O NSO N $ J H Why , sir , what is commonly thought I

u . Your bu t should take to be tr e veal may be good , t n n that will only be an excep ion to the ge eral opinio , ’ n ot a proof against it . n Principal Robertso j oined the company after dinner , ‘ and next day showed Johnson the gre at Church of ’ n e St . Giles , the divided into four places of Presbyt rian ’ ‘ worship . Come , said Johnson jocularly to him , let ’ me see what was once a Church . m Next day Forbes ca e to breakfast , and introduced

s . to John on Dr Blacklock , the blind poet who was the poetical preceptor of Sir Walter Scott . Johnson h im c o m received , says Boswell , with a most humane ’ placency , and informed him that writing poetry was m u ch easier than com posing a Dictionary . The American War of Independence was at its height when Forbes and Hunter entered on a new i r m r k S illia Fo b es B art . B an e r W , , 97

o f r e contract Copa tn ry , whereby they and Mr . James Bartlett of Aberdee n became partners of the firm from

u 1 1 6 . 1 8 of Jan ary , 7 7 In 77 , as a result General ’ u B rgoyne s unsuccessful campaign , France allied itself ‘ ’ ‘ s with the Americans , with a view , says Forbe , of hu mbling the pride and diminishing the power of ’ r Great Britain . Immediately the B itish stocks fell . r 0 1 n Consols , which had ma ked 9 in 774 , went dow to f 63 % in 1 778. Bank o England Stock fell from 1 44 1 0 to 1 . m n Now was the ti e for buying , if men had confide ce r in the future of thei country , and both Forbes and e i Hunter had . Th y invested their reserves n Consols and Bank of England Stock , and they had ultimately r their rewa d, and added considerably to their private fortunes . s u We mu t now refer to H nter as Hunter Blair, he ’ su m m o n i n 1 having as ed his wife s na e succeeding , 777 , ’ k D u n s e n . to her father s estate of y, in Wigtow shire On e 1 81 the death of Sir Lawr nce Dundas in 7 , he was elected Mem ber of Parliam ent for the City o f Edin

re - 1 8 burgh , being elected in 7 4 ; but at the request of the citizens he resigned Parliam entary honours and m n In 1 86 beca e Lord Provost of Edi burgh , and 7 was created a Baronet . Nor did the shower of good things descend only u e 1 1 upon Hunter . His partner Forbes s cceed d in 7 8

e of e on to the state Pitsligo , in Aberde nshire , the death

H o n . r of the John Forbes , who had bought back pa t o f e e the family prop rty forf ited by Alexander, Lord ‘ i n Forbes of Pitsligo , for being Out the Sir William Forbes succe e de d to this estate as grandson ’ of Lord Forbes siste r Mary .

e A skilful banker, Forb s now proved himself also a m - ost enterprising , liberal , and patriotic land owner . No estate ever fell in to better hands than Pitsligo 7 an d C n ke 8 ou t t s o . B a rs 9 C ,

e s — when it came into his . Wealth , xperience , kill all were brought to bear upon that neglected estate in

- ff - s that far o north ea tern corner of Scotland , and the m wilde rness was made to blosso like the rose . ‘ ’ ’ In his Memoirs of a Banking H ou se F orbes is too m odest even to refer to h is a ch Ievem en t s as a land n s e s ow er, but the e are w ll tated in the biographical ‘ ’ ’ ‘ sketch i n Kay s Portraits He established n u mbers of poor cottars on the most uncultivated portions of the estate ; erected the village of New 1 Pitsligo ; and b y the utmost libe rality as a landlord induced settlers to come from . a distance . In the course of a Short space . of time he had the satisfaction o f seeing a thriving population and several thousand acres smiling with cultivatio n which were formerly the ’ r- abode only of the moo fowl or the curlew .

- Forbes instituted a spin nin g school at New Pitsligo .

r He int oduced the linen manufacture , and formed a bleachfield b s . He uilt place of worship both for the n s an d s Presbyteria Episcopalian , and he also erected a

. was u s school He a bo ntiful friend to the poor, cau ing meal to be given wee kly from his granary gratis to r n hi eve y poor perso on s es tate . The contemporary pari sh ministers of Tyrie and Pitsligo cause the dry old Statistical Account of Scot ’

1 s n . e land ( 793 ) to re ou d with his praises Provid nce , s exclaim the former , hath raised up another friend to s the people , and encourager of improvement , in Sir

To - s c an William Forbes . see what improvement do h i s ill m l look at farm of T en a o t . There may be seen s s n s an d good crop of ow gra s , grain , turnips , upon about thirty or forty acres of moor formerly n ot worth ’ two pence the acre . s was In detailing the life of Thoma Coutts , Goethe cited as an authority for some of it s incidents . That philosopher may al so be quoted in con n ection with

illi F b B art B an ker Si r am o r es . W , , 99

- s Forbes as a be n e fic e n t land owner . At the conclu ion ’ s h is of Faust , Goethe make his hero enj oy supreme moment of bliss when he imagined a wilderness being

- for converted into a dwelling place happy people , Faust exclaim ing

n r s oo s ou s Sheltere d from d a ge , the e g d folk w ld ee Y ou m an oo Old a e ass r us th , h d , g , p ight l tily ’ A m u u e ess an d on t o s an ltit d I d bl , l g t d ’ ’ - - O n Free dom s soil with freem en han d in han d .

As s a landlord Forbe merited the title Of Liberator , for he freed his tenants from exactions to which their forefathers had long been subject . s hi s Forbe was a devout man , and , like parents , belonged to a religious body which was then only emerging from the toil s of political persecution and popular suspicion . The only recognised churches in Scotland at that time were those belonging to the

u Presbyterian Established Ch rch of Scotland , then unweakened by Secessions or Disruptions . Forbes worshipped in the obscure little Cowgate ‘ chapel ’ of u m m n the Episcopalian comm nion , a co unio which had

s r seen better day , which had forme ly been the Estab lish ed bu t n Church of Scotland , which devotio to the

Stuart cause had brought to a sorry pass .

s of E i sc o al Ch u rc h of The hi tory the Scottish p p , which Sir William Forbes and his fam ily were such attache d and m u n ificen t members at a time when that Church

was s . in a very feeble condition , deserves a pa sing glance $ ealous Episcopalian historians connect it with the early Celtic Church in Scotland , which was independent of Rome , and whose Saints , Ninian , Columba, Kenti gern , and Cuthbert were , long before Rome exercised any authority in Scotland , canonized by the Scottish a h e people . But s both t Presbyterians and Rom an s Catholics of Scotland lay claim to these Saints al o , the surest historical ground on which to rest the origi n of 7 — 2 1 0 0 out t s an d C o B n k C . , a ers the Scottish Episcopal Chu rch is the date when its s e first Bishops undoubtedly were con ecrat d . That date 2 1 1 6 1 0 h i n is October , , w en the chapel of London

House the Bishops of London , Ely, Rochester, and s S ot t iswo d Worcester met and con ecrated p o , Arch of bishop Glasgow ; Lamb , Bishop of Brechin ; and

Hamilton , Bishop of Galloway . Ever since that date there h as been an unbroken line of Protestan t Bishops in Scotland . As this historical origin of the Episcopalian Church was due to the influence of James I . of England and

V I . of Scotland , who disliked Presbyterianism , a feel h i s s . ing which successors Charle I and I I . shared , it is not surprising that the Episcopalian Church was very much attached to the Stuarts , or that the Presby t eri an s opposed them and welcomed William of Orange . Nor is it surprising that , when the Stuarts were wanderers an d the Church their predecessors favoured was being persecuted , the Scottish Episcopalians s should be Jacobites , whil t the Presbyterians were

Hanoverians . s It was thi Stuart , this Jacobite , leaning which brought down upon the little but dauntless Episcopalian

u Ch rch all the terrors of the law . The Established

Church of Scotland under the Stuart Kings , it had

e be n violently disestablished under William I I I . its u s churches were pl ndered , and its curate were rabbled . n Yet , according to a celebrated Presbyteria authority , the Rev . Dr . Alexander Carlyle , minister of Inveresk fo r fift - 1 8 i n 1 80 y seven years , from 74 till his death 5 , the overthrow of the Episcopal Establishment was a ‘ political rather than a popular measure . It must be ’ ‘ observed , he says in his Autobiography , that when Presbytery was re - established in Scotland at the

u Revol tion , after the reign of Episcopacy for twenty

s r n - nine year , mo e tha two thirds of the people of the

ou t t an d k C s C o . , B an ers occupied a bu ilding up a close on the south side of the Lawn m arket ; the Royal Bank occupied another up a close on the south side of the Cross i n the High Street ’ and the British Linen Company s bank was i n Tweed dale Court , at the foot of the High Street . ’ s s s s In thi comfortable train of bu ines , ays Forbes ,

we went on till the year when Mr . Lewis Hay ,

n - of Ayr , who had bee thirty one years in the counting u was s . ho se , a sumed a partner By this time Hunter r had become Sir James Hunter Blair , Ba t . , Lord

u $ s Provost of Edinb rgh ; but , alas j u t when he had s ss reached the height of his fortune and u efulne , he

off - was cut , at the early age of forty six , dying at

1 1 8 . Harrogate on July , 7 7 an d h i s Forbes felt his death keenly , encomium on ’ his friend s character will be given i n a ch apt er specially s devoted to Hunter Blair, who e eldest son , Sir John

ss . Blair was , although a minor , a umed as a partner

Two bankruptcies , that of Charles and Robert Fall , of m of Dunbar, and Ja es and John Stein , near Alloa , 1 88 tested the resources of the old banking house in 7 , and proved how adm irably sound were its foundations . ’ Robert Fall s finan cial instability previous to his failure affords Forbes the Opportunity of enforcing one of those excellent business m axims to which reference h as ‘ r m a p eviously been made . It y be laid down as an m an infallible axiom in bu siness that , although any m ay at a particular time be in want of m oney from n s m n some u fore een disappoint e t or other, which it will be his endeavour as soon as possible to remedy , yet the m erchant who appears to be constantly in a state of f di ficulty i s either unsound at bottom , or he is carrying on bu siness more extensive than his own ’ capital is equal to . ’ Forbes banking hou se was safely piloted through all n the dangers attendant on the French Revolution , whe Si r illiam Forb B r B n k es a t . a er 1 0 W , , 3

n e m great and increasing demands o banks w re ade . ‘ These , says Forbes , were very much due to the machi nations of the seditiou s and the apprehensions of the $ s timid the fir t , wishing to give a blow to the existing Government by ru ining the credit of the nation and o f

m e of all oneyed peopl , thereby worked on the fears the others so as to create a general alarm and appreh en ’ sion .

on t h e m o f 1 1 an s Early orning March , 793 , expre s

m C o . arrived from Tho as Coutts and , London , to the of s r an Bank Scotland, their correspondent in Edinbu gh , n ou n ci n g that the Bank o f England had suspended pay m u e nts in specie . When Forbes heard this news he tho ght ’ u m the nation was r ined beyond rede ption , as he had al ways regarded t h e Bank of England as the bulwark of ’ u ‘ m p blic and private credit . All the bank anagers of Edin burgh at once repaired to the Ban k of Scotland to c on be was sider what should done , and it agreed that there was no choice left bu t to follow the example of the Bank ’

r m . of England , and suspend all fu ther pay ents in specie The m oment this was known in the street a scene of confusion and uproar took place of which it is u tterly im possible for those who did not witn ess it to form an ’ ’ ‘ fi h m e n c ar e . m s wo id a Forbes bank was st or ed by , ’ - e u men , street port rs , and b tchers men , all bawling out e at once for change , and j ostling one another in th ir endeavours who should get nearest to the table , behind which were the cashier and o urselves endeavouring to ’ pacify them as well as we could . r In two or three months public confidence was resto ed , ’ u m t h e firm s and by caref l manage ent , and by avoidance ’ of m m s everything that ight be ter ed tockjobbing , the was m an d evil day sur ounted , and prosperity peace ’ a i \ u were at last at t hed by Forbe s bank . It was nder m e 1 80 r these circu stanc s that , in January , 3 , Fo bes ’ s hi s r n clo ed Memoi s , which he had writte for the o u t t s an d C o B an ker C . , s

n son m an d u informatio of his eldest , Willia , he concl des by praying that all the partn ers of the bank may con t i n u e by the same harmony am ong ou rselves and the s ame unremitting attention and prudence as heretofore , s u so to conduct the affair of our ho se that , by the bless n as ing of Divine provide ce , it may still prosper it has ’ hitherto do n e . t s m 1 2 1 06 Three years af erward , on Nove ber , 8 , Forbes r m died at Edinbu gh , la ented by all who knew him . He passed away shortly after the publication of his Account of the Life and Writings of his friend James Beattie the

ss u Poet , Author of the E ay on Tr th , The Minstrel , etc . , a circumstance finely alluded to by Sir Walter Scott in the i n troduction to the fourth canto of Marmio n

$ Scarce h ad l am en te d Fo rbe s pa id ’ Th e r u e t o h is M n s re s sh a e t ib t i t l d , Th e a e of r en s scarce was o t l f i d hip t ld , ’ Ere th e n arrator s h eart was c old F ar m ay we search be fore we fin d A heart so m an ly an d so kin d ’ B ut n ot aroun d h is h on our d urn Shall fri en ds alon e or kin d re d m ourn Th e thou san d eyes h i s care h ad d ri e d P our at h is n am e a bitter tid e A n d frequen t falls th e grateful de w ’ F or en e s th e or n e er n b fit w ld k ew . If m orta l charity dare c laim ’ Th e A m s a r u e n am l ighty tt ib t d e , n scr e a ove h is m ou er n c a I ib b ld i g l y, ’ ’ Th e wi do s sh i eld th e or h a n w , p s s tay Nor ou a e sorro , th gh it w k thy w , d eem My verse i n tru des on thi s sad th em e

F or sac re wa s th e en a ro d p th t w te, ’ Thy Father s fri en d forge t thou n ot An d grateful title m ay I pl ea d F r m an a n or an d ee o y ki dly w d d d , To brin g m y tribute t o h is grave ’ ’ ’ b u t is all ave . Ti 5 little, t I h

’ - n h e n am e in th e old Sco s wa For bes . Scott pron ou ces t tti h y,

CHAPTER VI I I

BURGH

E are n ot told on whose recommen dation James

Hunter came to be connected with the Messrs . ’ Coutts banking hou se in Edinburgh . All we i s s a know that , whilst William Forbe became their p 1 n prentice in May , 754 , Hu ter entered into indentures

. was son n a year later He the of John Hu ter , a merchant

1 1 . in Ayr, and was born there in 74 Both Forbes and Hunter proved to be most valuable additions to the old banking house . Whilst the former brou ght to bear o n h i s work that ceaseless industry an d that unflinching integrity without which no business s can pro per , the latter added that touch of genius with ou t which n o business c an lead to fame and fortune . Forbes seems always to have regarded Hunter a s n as a far cleverer man tha himself, and on one occ ion ’ ’ his s s s records how, owing to partner uperior abilitie , n n he and Mr . Stephe were saved from si king under the load of bu siness cares a n d troubles . It was Hunter whom Forbes i n variably consulted i n every hour of ffi i n di culty , and it was by their happily working con cord from beginning to end that the business acquired a stability and success which it would n ot otherwise have displayed . s s Unlike Forbe , however, the banking hou e in the Si r am es H un t er Blai r B art B an ke r 1 0 J , 7

Parliament Close formed t oo small a stage for so m an energetic a as Hunter . Like the founder of the $ s firm , John Coutts , he was attracted by public di play , and harboured ambition for public office . Hunter accordingly e n tered t h e Town Council of rOle Edinburgh , and took part in politics , a for which u as he was well q alified , he possessed wonderful know O f ledge men and exceptional power to influence them . It was whilst a Town Councillor that he proved of so u se s u much to his former ma ter, James Co tts , when the latter again stood as a candidate for the represem t at i on of the city i n Parliament in the autumn of 1 767 . old Hunter canvassed actively for his chief, and doubt of e r less was largely the mean s s cu ing his return , for James Coutts was then not an Edinburg h but a London man , and was dependent upon local influence for success at the poll . By his activity a s a political partisan Hunter attracted atte ntion to himself as a fitting candidate for Parlia m r e - enta y honours . He was tal nted , popular, well to

o n e o f do , the heads of the leading private bank in

u r r Edinb gh , and he had married the hei ess of Blair of

D un ske r 1 81 y, in Wigtownshire . Acco dingly, in 7 , on

of r . the death Sir Lawrence Dundas , Ba t , Hunter

P . Blair (as his name now was) became M . for the city which his master , James Coutts , had represented . Forbes tells u s that Hunter assu med the name of ‘ Blair in addition to his own on the successive death s ’ of u four brothers of his wife , whereby he s cceeded to ’ her paternal estate of considerable value in Galloway . ’ - - e Hunter Blair s mother i n law was also an heir ss,

- having been the daughter and c o heir of line of David ,

C assillis tenth Earl of , an ancient Scottish peerage 1 1 1 of created before 5 , and now the title the eldest son

s r 1 8 1 . of the Marquess of Ail a , a pee age created in 3 Hunte r Blair sat for Edin burgh in Parliament from 1 0 8 u ker Co t t s an d C o . , B an s

1 81 1 8 t h e of 7 to 7 4, and in absence of events public r importance relating to Edinburgh during that pe iod , we may turn to the picture of private life in Edinbu rgh

1 8 u in 7 3 , upon which William Creech casts such a l rid ‘ ’ light i n his Edinburgh Fugitive Pieces Creech was a Bailie of Edinburgh between 1 7 88 and 1 2 r 1 81 1 1 81 h i s 79 , and was Lo d Provost from to 3 , so facts may be relied on . The distilling of spirits in Scotland leapt up from gallons in the beginning of the eightee nth century to more than a m illion and a half gallons at ‘ ’ . s the close Ardent spirits so ea ily obtained , remarks s Creech , are hurtful to the health , industry , and moral ’ of the people .

Whilst objecting to the definition of a great city , A s u t huge , di sipated , gl ttonous , collec ed mass of folly and ’ s r wickedne s , being wholly applicable to Edinbu gh , Creech admits that in 1 783 the Scottish capital ex ‘ h ibit ed e e a great falling Off from 1 763 . In no r sp ct were the m anners of 1 763 and 1 783 m ore rem arkable than in the decency, dignity , and delicacy of the one s period compared with the loosene s , dissipation , and f licentiousness o the other . Many people ceased to blush at what would formerly have been reckoned a m ’ cri e . 1 In 763 masters took charge of their apprentices , and kept them under their eye in the m asters ’ own

. 1 8 houses In 7 3 few . masters received apprentices into their houses , and the latter often spent their vacant i n time in vice and debauchery , and became idle , solent , and dishonest . In 1 763 ministers regularly visited a n d catechized 1 8 their parishioners . In 7 3 visiting and catechizing r were disused , and people might remain as igno ant as m m Hottentots , and the Ten Co andments be as little ’ known as obsolete Acts of Parliament .

an k er C o u tt s an d C o . , B s

$ . ship of Edinburgh , at once replied By all means I ’ of L should like to see the inside a ord Provost . In days when all Scottish Members of Parliam e nt was s for u swore by Pitt there no cope individ al action . As a magistrate and as a ban ker Hunter Blair playe d

- a n active and distinguished part . As a land owner also he vied with his partner Forbes i n liberality an d enterpri se .

- s Portpatrick , only twenty one and a half mile distant s s from the Iri h coa t , had long been the Chief port at which the nomadic Irish race landed and Spread over ’

. o on n s Scotland This p rt was Hu ter Blair estate , and

s . he re olved to improve it H e repaired its harbour , he started packets to ply regularly between Portpatrick an d n n r Do aghadee in Ireland , and he i duced the B itish Government to begi n those harbour operations which h i s n eventually, long after death , culmi ated in a loss to

H M s u . . Trea ury of half a million sterling . It was fo nd of s r that , owing to the prevalence fierce we te ly winds at n of was certai times the year , the coast at Portpatrick too exposed for a regular ferry service between Scotland an d Ireland . The harbour works therefore were allowed to go to perdition .

s ro Again rivalling Forbe , Hunter Blair became a p ressive s n s b g agriculturi t in Wigtow hire , teaching y actual example the backward son s of the wilds of n n s Galloway that , by the applicatio of i du try , capital , n n an and k owledge , cor field and pastureland c certainly be made to take the place of moorlan d an d morass . for b n an d s i n A kind heart all , oth ge tle imple , beat ’

n s . An m an n Hu ter Blair breast Ayr origi ally , he , a

n o f wealthy influe tial Laird , once grasped the hand the n an d hi s ploughman Bur s , asked him if it was in power to serve him Let the poet tell o f the i n terview in his ’ own as n words , he did , after Hu ter Blair s death , in writin g to a friend Si r am B l i B r B an ker es H u n ter a r a t . 1 1 1 J , ,

‘ The last time I saw the worthy public - spirited m an — a man he was — how few of the two - legged breed that pass for such deserve the designation — h e

s m r e pre sed my hand , and asked me with the ost f i ndly warmth if it was in his power to serve me , and if so that I would oblige him by telling him how . I had n f othing to ask of him ; but , if ever a child o his should be so unfortunate as to be under the necessity

so a m of asking anything of poor a man as I , it n G od may not be in my power to gra t it , but by I sh al l try

r u The warm invitation of the good banker, the p o d

e declinature of the poor but grateful poet , the d clama tory expression of thanks uttered by the latter when his wou ld - be benefactor wa s gone— all these scenes flash through the mind as on e reads the pregnant paragraph ju st quoted . ’ see s n r As we shall , Burn laid upo Hunter Blai s tomb a wreath of song which will keep that tomb sacred as long as Scottish poetry endures . Hunter Blair proved one of those indispensable m en s which great citie occasionally produce , deify , and a destroy . As he w s taken from his bank to be a m n m agistrate, and from the Cou cil Cha ber to sit in i n 1 8 m m Parliament , he now 7 4 was taken fro Parlia ent of to be placed in the highest civic position , that Lord i n m Provost . The Old banking house the Parlia ent Close began with a Lord Provost ; it had a Lord

Provost once more . Edinburgh had lain for centuries bound like a child h e as in swaddling clothes . Now s w bursting her bonds i n r and stretching forth every direction , flinging no th ’ s wards her white arm to the sea, whilst , looking south

s al n of r wards , she longed to c e the bo ny braes Blackfo d and Braid . Her northern advance had been duly established u k C o t t s an d C o . , B an ers when Lord Provost George Drummond founded the 1 6 a n d an North Bridge in 7 3 , provided avenue to the ” an d m New Town , that magnificent re arkably enter prising extension which proved how much confidence in the fu tu re greatness of their city the municipal s rulers of Edinburgh then pos essed . It may be added that both Forbe s and Hunter Blair ultimately resided n in George Street in the New Tow , this street being then (like Princes Street) largely devoted to dwellin g houses of the leading citizens . But Edinburgh still lacked a fitting aven ue to the n s south . To plunge dow one un avoury close and up another i n order to pass from the ridge of the High n St reet to the ridge of the U iversity , was not worthy of m n s a city already Clai ing the title of the Modern Athe , a title which her noble physiography an d intellectual

u . fame ab ndantly warranted Indeed , all travellers n seem to agree that , although the sites of Edi burgh and Athens resemble each other, that of the former is incomparably the finer of the two . Lord Provost Hunter Blair ’s struggle with the vested interests which opposed the erection of the Sou th ’ i n s s Bridge, and stood like dragons aga t Edinburgh

u bu t . path so thwards , was long, it was victorious

Probably it cost him his life , but he died in a good cause , and the grateful citizens named after him Hunter

Square and Blair Street , in the latter of which was the ’ - offic e was King s Printing , of which Hunter Blair the nominal head . An Act of Parliament was passed enabling the vested d an d i n terests to obtain j ust recompense for yiel ing , at 1 1 8 t h e fou n dat ion last , on August , 7 5 , of the great thoroughfare now so familiar to all as the Sou th Bridge was laid with masonic pomp by Lord Haddo , Grand

h e Master of Fre emasons in Scotland . To t fou n dation stone was affixed a plate bearing an inscription stating

Si r am es H u n t e r Bl ai r B art B an ker 1 1 J , . , 3 that Lord Provost Jam es Hunter Blair was the author ’ and indefatigable promoter o f the u ndertaking . ’ s for A life like Hunter Blair s , pent the public good ,

r r u so deserved to be c owned with oyal hono rs , all were

r 1 86 . g atified when the King , in 7 , created him a Baronet H e was only forty - five years o f age when he attained

u this dignity , after s ccessively filling with honour the of m positions agistrate , Member of Parliament , and

n $ Lord Provost . What might he ot yet attain to What deeds of usefulness and credit might he not yet perform $ Alas $

’ Th e best - laid sch em es 0 m i ce an d m en ’ an aft a e G g gl y.

1 8 The very next year ( 7 7) he died . He and Lady Hunter Blair had gone to Harrogate in order that Si r m m Ja es ight drink the waters . From there he c on st an t l r s y wrote to his partner, Fo be , who was in full e xpectation of seeing h im return completely restored to u r u n health , when s ddenly he lea nt that H ter Blair had

. H e s been seized with fever lingered only a few day , on u 1 1 8 s s and died J ly , 7 7 , to the urpri e and grief of all .

Two eulogies of his character, both as graceful as

r e m e n they we e sincere , were utt red after his death by f who greatly dif ered in life , yet whose hearts were ever o n e a n as tru e as th e ir words . The w s pro ounced by ’ r - m Hunter Blai s life long partner, Sir Willia Forbes ; the other was given to im m ortality by his poor but

e r . esteemed friend , Rob rt Bu ns ‘ Forbes wrote $ The loss of Sir James Hu n ter Blair m r u m was a most severe isfo t ne to his fa ily , to his f r o . partne s , and to the city Edinburgh His family ,

u consisting Of three sons and three da ghters , were all

n son n n you g , his eldest being o ly fiftee years of age ; a 8 1 o s an d C o B an ker 1 u t t . s 4 C ,

hi u so n . s r fo rth was added after his death We , partne s , of m were deprived a ost able associate in business .

Edinburgh lost by his death a most active magistrate , who had projected and carried on pu blic works e qu al ly conducive to the orn ament and advantage of the city . r of I , in pa ticular, was deprived by his death a friend c a n m whom I never replace , with who I had lived in a degree of intimacy which few brothers can boast of

r - - r du ing one and thirty years , in which long pe iod we of r never had a difference nor a separation inte est . It has been stated how we went on together from the tim e of r u r our app enticeship till we grad ally a rived , after a

o f variety of changes , to be at the head the house . But I should do great injustice to his superior talents did I not declare that to him it was chiefly owing that the hou se rose to such a pitch of unlooked - for prosperity

s u m and reputation . He posse sed a so nd and anly understanding and an excellen t heart . In his friend s m e re e r hips he was war , steady , and sinc , and ev r eady to promote the interest of those to whom he form ed an attachm ent . In his disposition he was cheerfu l and

m e fond of society , and his house was at all ti s dis

i h m r t n u i s ed . h e g for hospitality As a agist ate , was active and zealous in the discharge o f his du ty ; as a s u enator , he was honestly independent , s pporting the measures of the Mini sters of the C rown when he thought th em consistent with the principles of the

Constitution and the good of the peopl e . Too early

t o o e e m e or and d ply i mersed in business , he had littl n o e e r leisure for study, and was th r fo e but little acquainted with books or literature ; but he possessed in an emin e nt degree a species of knowl e dge o f the u tmost importance to him as a man o f bu siness— gre at

o f m u e e knowledge the world , and an al ost int itiv disc rn f r f o s o m en . u o f ment the cha acter In b siness , both a u p blic and private nature , he was skilful and active , and

o u t t s an d C o B k r C . , an e s

‘ ELEGY O N THE D EA TH O F SIR J A MES H U NTER

BLA IR .

Th e am of da - resa n are l p y, with ill p gi g gl , D im c ou san en ea th e es e rn ave , l dy, k b th w t w ’ ’ ’ n con s an as h owl d ro th e ar en n a ir Th i t t bl t th d k i g ,

A n d hollow whi stle d in th e rocky cave .

on e as an ere e ac c ff an d e L I w d d by h li d ll , ’ ’ O n ce th e l ov d h a un t s of Scotia s royal trai n

’ ' ' O r m use ere m s r am s on ce a o well d wh li pid t e , h ll w d , , l ’ O r m o uld rin g ru in s m ark th e sacre d fan e ;i

’ n cr n r r oun h e n roc Th i eas i g blast oa ed r d t e b etli g ks , ’ ’ Th e c ou s s - wi n d fl ew o er t h e s arr sk l d , wift g , t y y,

Th e roan n ree s un m e s e e r oc s g i g t ti ly h d th i l k , A n d shootin g m e te ors caught th e startle d e ye

Th e a m oon rose in h e v eas p ly t li id t, ’ ’ A n d m on t h e c ffs di sclos d a s a e orm g li t t ly f , In ee s of woe a ran c ea h er re a s w d , th t f ti b t b t , ’ An d m ix d h e r wailin gs with th e ravi n g storm .

W m r h u s o ild t o y hea t t e fili al p l es gl w , ’ ’ ’ Twas CALEDONIA S trophi ed shi eld I view d ’ H er orm m a e s c d roo d i n en s ve woe f j ti p p i , T h e lightn in g of h er eye in tears imbue d .

’ Re vers d a s ear re ou a e In war th t p , d bt bl , ' ec n e a an n er ers in e s un furl d R li d th t b , t fi ld , ’ a e a ea u m e eor le am d a ar Th t lik d thf l t g f , ’ A n d b rav d th e m ighty m on arc hs of th e world .

$ 7 M y patri ot son fill s an u n tim ely grave

W a n n d rm s h e r ith cce ts wild a lifte d a , s c i ed ’ Low e s th e h an d a oft wa s st re t ch d t o save li th t , ’ Low li es th e heart tha t swell d with h on est pride .

’ A e e n coun r o n s a o s ear w pi g t y j i wid w t , ’ Th e h elpless poor m ix with t h e orphan s c ry ’ Th e roo n A r s surro n r a ron s er d pi g t u d the i p t bi , A n d gra teful Sci en c e heave s th e he artfelt sigh

' — R. . Th e Kin g s P ark at H olyrood H ouse . B ’ — R . A n on s We . . i St . th y ll B ’ — R . A n on s a e . I St . th y Ch p l . B Si r am es H u n t er Blair B art B an ker 1 1 J , . , 7

I saw m y son s re sum e th ei r an ci en t fire ’ I saw fa i r Freed om s bl ossom s ri chly bl ow

B ut ah h ow o e i s orn b ut t o e re , l h p b xpi a r o Rel en tl ess Fate h as l id the i r G ua dian l w.

M a r o a s b ut sh a h e lie un sun y p t i t f ll , ll g, While em pty greatn ess saves a wo rthless n am e $

No e ver M u se s a o n h e r un e u on ue y h ll j i t f l t g ,

An d u ure a es ea r h i s ro n m f t g h g wi g fa e .

’ A n d o n a m o e r s e n s I will j i th t d er care , ’ ro u u re m es t o m a e h i s v r ues as Th f t ti k i t l t, That di stan t yea rs m ay b oa st of other Blai rs ’

h e sa an d van ish d th e s ee n as . S id , with w pi g bl t C HAPTER I$

TH E LADY WITH TH E GREEN MANTLE

H ERE is a romantic episode con nected with ’ Coutts old banking house in Edinburgh which n n is worth arrating , if only because it li ks the banking hou se with the name of one of the greatest and

s . be t of men , Sir Walter Scott The story is well told ‘ by Mr . Adam Scott in his book entitled Sir Walter Scott ’ s First Love ’ but Lockhart had already

a n d i s . vouched for it , there can be no doubt of t truth Of It is also , according to Lockhart , the foundation ’ ‘ ’ n s i n n Red au n t let an i cident Scott s ovel g , which is autobiographical as well as historical roman ce . This is the story

Willamina Stuart , a young and beautiful lady , the only child and heiress of a cadet of the ancient family n of Invermay , who afterwards became Sir Joh Wishart

F . Belches Stuart of ettercairn , Bart , went one Sunday ’ u r morning to Greyfriars Ch rch , Edinbu gh . When she came out , at the conclusion of the service , she found to her m ort ificat ion — for she wore a pretty green

— mantle that rain was falling , and that she had left

m . n her u brella at home In her agitation , she gla ced n ‘ eagerly round , and her glance was as eagerly retur ed n by a tall you g man , who remained spellbound at the n sight of so much beauty in distress . It sudde ly

t an d o B an ke r ou t s C . s C ,

This was the happiest period in Scott ’ s whole

‘ h e - ence . N ow could have shouted

Ich h abe geliebt un d g eleb en

’ O r s a , as he de cribed, his p ssion in Rokeby

He ove as m an a la c an e l d , y y t ll , ’ P reserve d in St an m ore s lon ely dell ’ H a u For h i s was m in strel s skill . e c gh t Th e art u n eac a b e un au t h l , t ght .

' H e love d h i S soul did N at ure fram e ’ For ove an d an c n u rs h flam e . l , F y e d t e

If ever man loved woman , Walter Scott did Willa

f r m m . was o ina Stuart It a case t ue love , that ost pertu rbed of all the stream s that flow from the fountains of the human heart .

Ah m e for au a ever cou rea ght th t I ld d ,

ou ever ear a e or s or C ld h by t l hi t y , ’ Th e course of ru o n v r t e l ve e e did run sm ooth .

’ The first to cast a bitter drop into Scott s cup of i s bl ss was his own father, a most con cientious , but

- of- e u most matter fact , old Writ r to the Signet , witho t a

m . grain of romance in his co position . Probably Mrs Scott had whispered to her hu sband what was going on

u r . between their son and Miss St a t At all events , the m old lawyer was deter ined to intervene , as he con ‘ sidered , s ays, Lockhart , that the young lady , who was highly connected , had prospects in fortune far above his ’ ’ son s .

r The method of interve ntion which old M . Scott e adopted was extremely effective, if also extremely pra ’ . m r tical He called on Willa ina s father , and info med ‘ h im of the intimacy of the young people , adding that s t o t h e e r he wished no uch affair , proceed without xp ess sanction of those most inte re sted in the happiness o f persons as yet t oo young to calcu late conseque nces for ’ ‘ f r . o themselves Sir John Stuart thanked Mr . Scott

u an C n ker C o t t s d o . , B a s

s man whom he unwittingly supplanted , and the elde t son s - n n of the distingui hed banker , land ow er , and phila t h ropi st celebrate d in a previou s chapter . His was a figure and disposition which would attract the attention of s n any lady , whilst his wealth and po itio made him a

. n s most desirable match Scott himself, lo g afterward , ‘ ’ i n portrayed him in Rokeby , the character of Red m n n ond , as striki gly attractive , declari g that

A orm m ore ac ve an d s ron f ti , light, t g, ’ N e e r sh ot t h e ran ks of war alon g Th e m o s e th e m an m en de t , y t ly, i Might grac e th e c ourt of m a id en queen A ace m ore a r ou e m fin d f f i y w ll ight , F or e m on n e t h e sun an d n R d d k w wi d ,

Nor oas rom r n ree b te d , f thei ti n ge wh e f , Th e c harm of regul arity B ut e very feature h ad th e power To a dd t h e e xpressi on of t h e h ou r Wh eth er g ay wit an d hum our sly D an c e d in t h e light of h i s blue e ye r en e ro an d an ce of fire O b d d b w gl , ’ A n d n n c ee s o e Er n s i re ki dli g h k , p k i O r soft an d sa dden ed gl an ces show H e r ready sym pathy with woe O r in th at w ayward m ood of m in d

W en var ous ee n s are c om n e h i f li g bi d ,

W en o an d sorro m n e n ar h j y w i gl e ,

' A n d o e s r n r c c e ear H p b ight wi gs a e he k d by f ,

An d r s n oub s ee ran s or o n i i g d t k p t p t d w , ’ A n d an ger l en ds a short -liv d frown In a s ran e m oo c m a s a rove th t t g d whi h id pp , Even wh en they d are n ot call it Love W e ve r c an e h is ea ures a e ith y h g f t pl y d , ’ A s aspen s sh ow th e light an d sh ad e .

’ - Scott s day dream was rudely and for ever dispelled . s i n He poured out his orrows verse , which without this key to its meaning will remain unintelligible , as in the s n of stanza beginni g , Harp the North , farewell where he exclaim s Th e Lady W i t h t h e G reen M an tl e 1 2 3

’ M uc ave o e s ra n s in e s on wa h h I w d thy t i lif l g y,

rou se cre oes t h e or h as n ever n o n Th gh t w w ld k w ,

W en on th ear n n ar r d a h e w y ight d aw e d we i e y, A n d ere r was h r our n bitt t e g i ef de v e d alo e . ’ a ou ve suc oes En c an ress is n e own . Th t I tli d h w , h t l thi

1 n In January, 797 , the lady with the gree mantle became the wife of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo . f r Scott afterwards married a lady o F ench extraction , and his first love dropped out of his acquaintance , if f o m . s not his me ory Indeed , the poet Keat maintained that it was the suffering endured by Scott in the loss of his first love which became the wellspring of his inspira m tion in all his minstrelsy and ro ance . m Sir Willia Forbes and Scott , however, continued , an d as they had always been , great friends . Banker r of bar ister though they were , both were a decidedly

r m e ma tial disposition , and at the first threat ad by i n Napoleon to invade Britain , they assisted raising a

m e m n u regi nt of Yeo a ry cavalry in Edinb rgh , of which

e m r Forb s was a Cornet , and Scott was Pay aster , Qua ter ’ ’ r s master, and Secretary . It was probably to Fo be appearance as a yeom an that Scott referred i n his previously - quoted lines

A orm m ore ac ve an d s ron f ti , light , t g, ’ ’ N e er sh ot t h e ran ks of war al on g .

’ m n Ru bi slaw was Scott s friend , Ja es Ske e of , also a ’

r e . r Co net in the regim nt He married Fo bes sister, and many were the festive m eetings held at his house ,

W n r s ere r an d a m s eam e a he fi e w b ight, l p b d g y, A n d ladi e s t un ed th e lovely lay A n d h e was h eld a lagg ard soul ’ Wh o sh un n e d t o quaff t h e Sparkli n g bowl .

The se lines from the introduction t o the fourth canto f m o Mar ion were dedicated by Sir Walter to Skene , 1 2 o u tt s an d Co B an kers 4. C . ,

m r and Mr . Ada Scott italicizes the following eference m n to their boon co panio , Forbes

An d on e ose n am e m us n ot sa wh I t y, ’ For n ot M im osa s t en d er t ree ’ S r n s soon er rom h c n h h i k f t e tou h tha e .

Although Forbes had u n wittingly inflicted upon

r h e Scott a wound which he ca ried to his grave , gloriously m ade u p for what he had done whe n Scott drank that bitter cup of affliction with which the drama o f of his life closed . When Scott sank beneath a load

r h e e r e debt that c ushed for ever all t joy out of lif , Fo b s m u re ca e to his rescue , and as his banking ho se figu d ’ m r m a ong the la gest of Scott s creditors , of who he was chairman , he was able to secure for the poor stricken

— r novelist the glory of Scotland , perhaps the g eatest m an — it had ever produced favourable terms . Let Scott m r h i s own e r m hi self ecord his feelings in words , tak n f o ‘ ’ r r 2 6 1 82 6 . his immortal Jou nal under date Janua y , He says

m e r v Sir Willia Forb s took the chai , and beha ed , as of he has ever done , with the generosity ancient faith

r and early friendship . They are deeper conce ned than I m most . n what scenes have Sir Willia and I not borne share together — desperate and alm ost bloody

r r r - aff ays , ival ies , deep drinking matches , and finally , m with the kindest feelings on both sides , so ewhat separated by his reti ring much withi n the bosom of his m m l . fa ily, and I oving ittle beyond mine It is fated o ur u s planets sho ld cros , though , and that at the

r s r for . pe iod most inte esting me Down , down , a hundred thou ghts ’ The cause o f Fo rbes retirement from the social world m ’ was the death of the lady with the green antle , who had exe rcised the same fascination over h im as ov e r s s m Scott , and who e lo s he felt so deeply that he beca e almost a recluse .

t n d k ers 1 2 6 Cou t s a C o . , B an had paid nearly out o f his own pocket to satisfy ’ n a London Jew s claim o Sir Walter . Next day Scott ‘ u s $ called pon Lady Jane again , and say I went to

r s make anothe visit , and fairly oftened myself like an old fool with recalling old stories till I was fit for

s r f r n othing but hedding tears , and repeating ve ses o i the whole night . This s sad work . The very grave s gives up its dead , and Time roll back thirty years to ’ add to my perplexities . Yet , he adds , what a romance to tell and told , I fear , it will one day be . And then my three years of dreaming and my two ye ars of

n ss . wakeni g will be chronicled , doubtle But the dead ’ will feel n o pain .

Next year Forbes died , whilst his illustrious debtor was destined to drag four weary years onwards to the for grave . Yet , although dying and broken ever , Forbes ’ death awoke in Scott the old wound which ‘ ’ . o n othing could stanch I have , he wrote to Lo k sad hart , a affliction in the death of poor Sir William

. im os Forbes You loved him well , I know, but it is p sible that you should enter into all my feelings o n the G occasion . My heart bleeds for his children . od help all CHAPTER $

SI A T A . M . P . R FR NC I S BURDE T, B RT ,

T may be remembered that the banking house i n London of Campbell an d Cou tts was originally

m ru m for ed under Whig auspices , D mond of ’ ra h al lan s A St t being the Tory West End ban k . l though Thomas Coutts never actively concerned h im i s self with politics , it possible that his Whig connec tion brou ght to his door a you ng m an of pronounced Whig principles who was destined to m ake a great

figure on the British political stage . This was Francis

u r of Burdett , grandson and heir of Sir Robert B dett ,

orem ark . m of F , Derbyshire , Bart , a fa ily War wi ckshire extraction which could boast an ancestor 1 0 who fell at the Battle of Pontoise in 44 , and another who was beheaded for his attachment to the Duke of 1 Clarence in 477 . r was 2 1 0 Francis Bu dett born on January 5 , 77 , and was educated at Westminster School and Oxford U n i r u s e i ve sity . The rebellio s in tincts which wer evident n his mature life led in his boyhood to his expulsion from Westm inster for joining in a mu tiny against the H e ad

m D r . 1 0 1 aster, . Smith From 79 to 793 he resided on the Continent , witnessing the birth and terribly swift progress of that greatest uph e aval in t h e annals of m r u . 1 8 odern histo y, the French Revol tion In 7 9 the s Ba tille , that emblem of despotic authority, had fallen ou tt s an d C o B an k r C . , e s

r r befo e the fu ry of the Pa isian populace . The sam e

r n s $ VI. yea the French Ki g, Loui , was brought by the

r s se mob f om Versailles to Pari , and a National As mbly

u substit ted democratic for monarchical supremacy . Such convu lsions would have shaken any nation to its

e - c ntre , but in the case of the easily excited French ,

n e who had never know fr edom before , delirium suc

c eeded . triumph , and license liberty ‘ ’ B u rdett arrived in Paris when la Nation shouted ’ that it had conquis son Roi , and when it demanded a tubu lar m m on which to write an absolutely new form m ’ é E é é . of govern ent based on Libert , galit , Fraternit To a youth of twenty it must have been a m ost at t rac tive and exciting scene . Everything seemed to bid so for r s fair the ights of man being at la t respected , and

r the ty anny of Kings being put an end to for ever .

r - Even the g eat commoner , William Pitt , so far sighted ‘ - 1 0 and cool headed , declared in January , 7 9 , that the p resent convu lsions in France must sooner or later u m m c l inate in general har ony and regular order, and France would stand forth as one of the most brillian t ’ r powers in E u ope . Pitt changed his mind afterwards when he found ‘ ’ that l e Peu ple Souverain could be as dangerou s a tyrant as any anointed King but the ideas imbibed by B u rdett i n Paris during the first beginnings of the

r m F ench Revolution , when all seemed aking for

m e n freedo , peac , and prosperity , were ever quite ex

t i n ui sh ed . s g The mas acres in Paris , the despotism of the mob , the execution of the King , appeared to him to be only part of the dreadful throes a nation must endure in its passage from a stage of subjection to one of

ru liberty . He had observed without dist st the fatal facility with which the French com mit the greatest excesses in order to remove wrongs which might have been remedied by less drastic measures .

1 0 ou t t s an d C o B an kers 3 C . , which to slip a young m an destin ed for a public

e care r . An d certainly Fran cis Burdett was destined for such m a n e a career . No of his time ever made a gr ater stir n than he . As i dependent as Thomas Coutts , he defied s the stereotyped opinion of the Hou e of Commons , and Coutts m ust have rejoiced to see in his son - i n - law one

own son . who might , from his character , have been his s He was not a man who either truckled to majoritie , or required a majority at h is back in order to annou n ce h i s opinions . Undismayed by his small following in s wa the House , he eemed to think that a minority s

e v ry often in the right and a majority in the wrong , and that the minority of to - day might become the majority of to - morrow ; and assuredly the measures he advocated with a tiny minority at his back r n Pa liamentary Reform , Catholic Ema cipation , Free dom — of Speech , and Prison Reform have all been s s i s s passed by sweeping maj oritie , uch the kaleido cope of politics . i s n s It not surprisi g that a politician of this fearle s , independent stam p should attract the attention an d 0 1 devotion of the independent English pe p e , wearied as they were with hide - bound partisans and venal ’ - s s place hunters . As we proceed with Burdett hi tory , we shall find him climbing higher and high e r in public e s est em , until at la t he became the most popular hi politician of s time . hi s 1 On the death of grandfather in 797 , he succeeded s to the title of Baronet , and to the family eat of

s . Foremark (Repton) , Derby hire Yet he particularly com mended himself by his independence and eloqu e nce L m to the populace of ondon , of who he soon became t h e h i for idol , and relying upon s popularity , he stood 1 0 Middlesex in 8 2 . That very year an even t occurred in Edi n burgh Si r Fran i s B u r et t B art M P 1 1 c d , . , . . 3 which had all t h e sudde nness an d brilliancy of a meteor in the Northern heaven s— the Edi n burgh Revi ew was u fo nded . The popular party o f Britain at last found a tongue of extraordinary skill and power , which rang like a bell throughout the land . Although he won the seat , Burdett had four years of costly and fruitless litigatio n concerning his Middlesex contest ; but the Edi n burgh Revi ew was every quarter proclaim s ing the doctrines which he repre ented , and which were destined one day to find a place in the Stat u te book . The old fou n tain of Engli sh liberties had become s s of m re con iderably choked in the proces ti e , and quired to be thorou ghly swept clean by the besom of

m — Refor . The Habeas Corpus Act that palladiu m of Englishmen— was frequently suspended without cause

. s or explanation The free expres ion of public opinion ,

- n which even the Anglo Saxons revere ced , was rudely

o r su . interfered with mmarily stopped Taxation , under s which the Engli h people are exceptionally restive , becam e heavier an d heavier as m onopolies spread and commerce languished . Again st all those assaults upon the liberties of the an people , Burdett demanded account from the Hi s sat sfac Government . opposition gave immense i

e tion to the common peopl of England , groaning under increased taxes and increasing poverty , the suppression of of the right of public speech , the suspension the s m of Habea Corpus Act , and the consequent com ittal untried persons to unlimited im prisonment worthy of

1 88 1 8 8. the Bastille of 7 , or the Cherche Midi of 9

But although struggling with this Hydra of evils , Burdett found tim e to demand also an inquiry into the condition of Coldbath Fields Prison , regarding u which , after a visit , he entertained the gravest s spicion . The prison authorities vainly endeavoured to balk the 9 — 2 1 2 o t n n k ers ut s a d Co . B a 3 C ,

bu t inquiry, Burdett triumphed , and it was proved that persons arrested for trifling political offe n ces were r s he ded with notoriou criminals . An attempt was made to stop Burdett visiting any other prison in r England , but his inquiry into Coldbath Fields P ison had been too much justified to sanction Government his stopping further investigation s . When we think of the vast sums Burdett paid in connection with his Middlesex election in endeavour

n s . ing to prevent his a tagoni ts , Mr Mainwaring and his son , from unseating him , we are strongly inclined to

- i n - s was believe that his father law, Thoma Coutts , at for s s s u his back , without uch as i tance B rdett must

. s have failed As it was , he was thoroughly disgu ted e with politics , which gave the prize to the heaviest purs , and resolved not to enter Parliament again unless merit and not money was to be his talisman .

u 1 806 s . In Febr ary , , he was un eated by Mr Main ’ waring s son , and Burdett retired from a field which was tainted with corruption . The great leader of the

r Whig party , Cha les James Fox , who had sat for West 1 80 1 minster since October, 7 , died on September 3 , 1 806 , and all eyes were attracted to that election at the s of dis olution Parliament , which occurred shortly after his death . Sheridan and Sir Samuel Hood at once came forward for the two seats representing the ancient borough of m West inster . Against them appeared a Scotsman

u son named James Pa ll , the of a Perth tailor , who had made money in India, and had sat for Newtown in the

Isle of Wight . Burdett had been invited to stand , but declined . Thinking well of Paull , however , for draw ing the attention o f Parliament to certain abuses in m of s s 1 000 the Govern ent India , Burdett ub cribed J£ ,

~ t oward s h i s election expen ses . Paull was beaten by ’ Sheridan and Hood after a fortnight s con test .

1 ou t t s an d C o B an kers 3 4. C . ,

‘ ’ Ministers ought to be unfettered and uncontrolled by any wish of the Prime Minister to appoint such and such a man to be a Minister ; and i n ill u stration of this n i n he mentio s that Burdett once remarked , bringing ‘ n forward a motion for reform of Parliame t , If a country gentleman were to offer to a servant out of place to make him his butler , and the man were to n a swer, I will not be your butler unless you will take m Harry for your coachman , and Thomas for your groo , n n and Dick for your footma , the gentlema would be ’ s s greatly a toni hed . s s Evidently Lord Rus ell disagreed with thi doctrine , ‘ for he styles Burdett a high prerogative Tory of the ’ A n s days of Queen n e , and declares that uch a doctrine ‘ was an arraignmen t of the whole course of con st it u t ion al Govern ment as it had existed from the accession ’ s of the Hou e of Hanover . s Whatever Lord Rus ell may have thought , Burdett of was for long the darling of the Radicals Westminster , ’ who called him Old Glory , and never ceased applaud as n ing him till , will afterwards be me tioned , his opinions acquired a Conservative hue . His lon g representation of Westminster was marked

r hi s by his advocacy of Parliamenta y reform , opposi

a n d c ul tion to corporal punishment in the Army , m i n at ed in his violent attack on Governmen t for corrupting members of Parliament . He declared in ‘ the Hou se of Commons that since the sale of seats s was in this Hou e Openly avowed , it was no longer to ’ be called the Commons Hou se of Parliament . The r u s s Gove nment were f riou , for the judiciou financial m am pu lat i on of members and seats had been reduced of to a fine art , and was the mainstay many an

Administration . Watching for an Opportunity to crush

Burdett , they thought they had found it when , after moving in an impassioned speech that a Radical orator Si r Fran i B B M P 1 s u r et t art . . . c d , , 3 5

u named Jones sho ld be released from imprisonment , he ’ had the hardihood to get his speech printed in C obbet t s ’ s m Political Register , and old broadcast as a pa phlet

. u for a shilling The Government , with that Bo rbon s do m like stupidity which eems to g despotis , intro d uc ed and carried a motion ordering Burdett to be s of u s n him arre ted for breach privilege , th co verting suddenly into the hero and martyr of the day .

u . m Burdett sh t hi self up in his house . He locked

No . 80 and barred , Piccadilly (where he then lived) , and defied Governm ent with all its forces to dislodge m m u e him . An i mense ob of his supporters s rround d

r e the house , and swo e that they would perish rath r ‘ ’ m u than see Old Glory suffer . They enca ped abo t it during the day, they bivouacked round it all night . ’ The air rang with their cries of Burdett for ever $ For four days the civil representatives of Government ’ en deavou red vainly to force the cordon o f Bu rdett s m out enthusiastic friends . At last Govern ent called the ’ e military . To His Majesty s Lifeguards was entrust d the unusual and un dig n ified duty of dragging a member f n of Parliament out o his ow house . Their officers were warned that they made them selves liable in all o f the pains and penalties the Law by such proceedings , s was r wa s but the hou e stormed , Bu dett seized , and , whilst London was placed under military control , he ’ was conveyed in one of the King s carriages to the

Tower . was s n It at thi ju cture that , as previously related , ’ r u - i n - Queen Cha lotte wrote to B rdett s father law , m sh e u Tho as Coutts , notifying him that wo ld with draw the slender balance at her credit in his bank in r three days , to which he returned the trenchant eply ’ that to withdraw even from Coutts bank required a notice of only three hours . ’ Burdett s residen ce in the Tower lasted for several n o n ker C ou t t s a d C . , B a s

weeks , when he was released , and then , by his desire , he was quietly rowed home to his house i n Pi ccadilly

u . by boat p the Thames By so doing , he prevented his Westminster Committee from carrying out a cherished scheme of conveying him again in a

u m s s n s tri phal car through the treet of Lo don , thi ’ time labelled Hero and Martyr . Hi s contempt for this tomfoolery proved that Burdett

- an s was no mere self advertising demagogue , but hone t n s politician , ear estly etting before the House of Commons hi s views without regard to hi s own profit Hi r or glorification . s championship of Parliamenta y s was of reform and purity of election that a brave , bold s n s man uttering entiments which few u derstood , becau e they were uttered before their time . For what he had s m aid and done in England , the Supre e Court of Scot B raxfield sen land , presided over by the brutal , had t en c ed many a man to transportation for life to Botan y

. as u s of Bay Indeed , it w fort nate for the cau e reform that reformers like Burdett lived in England , for that eminent Scottish judge , Lord Cockburn , in his Ex ’ m 1 888 s a ination of the Trials , published in , show that , n whilst England had then a vestige of liberty , Scotla d In s had none . other words , reform was po sible in

n ot . England, but in Scotland ’ s Burdett troubles were not , however , over when he

so - emerged from the Tower . The called Massacre of ’ 1 81 Peterloo in 9 , where an assemblage of Lancashire ‘ ’ Operatives , addressed by Orator Hunt on Parlia r r menta y reform , was sabred by caval y, awoke his s u n ympathies , and he condemned the authorities so compromisi n gly that Government had him tried at the

s s s . was 2 000 Leice ter As ize He convicted , fined J£ , , and ordered to be imprisoned for three months .

Returning to Parliament , he actually carried a in s s motion the Hou e of Commons , a most unu ual

1 8 o t an d C o B an kers u t s . 3 C ,

hard for Burdett . He appeared on the hustings at the n was as nominatio , and received quite well as his

a n d s n . opponent , the how of ha ds was in his favour s n Thi reduced the betting to eve , but nobody was pre pared for the great m ajority (5 1 5) by which Burdett C o n won . It was certainly a great triumph to the servative n n cause , and a great disappoi tme t to the ’ s s . violent Whig , and still more to the Radical

It was a relief, however, to Whigs like Lords Mel n L was bour e and Grey when eader defeated , for , as the diffi former bluntly remarked , The Radicals are very as i s cult to manage it , and if they had carried this election there would be no doing anything with ’

. s s s them Of cour e , the Con ervative were jubilant , ’ an d ‘ in the strange , eventful history of Francis Burdett nothing could have been stranger than that he should begin his Parliamentary career l n West minster by being dragged triumphantly along the s an d n street as a Radical idol , end it by bei g glorified as a Conservative hero . s s n o However , Burdett felt that We tmin ter would m s so re re longer be a co fortable eat for him , , having p s n s ented that constitue cy for thirty year , he migrated s to N orth Wilt hire , which he represented till his death

- on n 2 1 8 s . Ja uary 3 , 44, aged eventy four

His end was a lamentably pathetic one . In January ,

1 8 hi s n s . 44, wife died , and he became inco olable He hi s s n declared that happines was go e , and that he had n o u t longer any wish to live . He ref sed to tas e food , i s or to listen to the entreaties of h s friends . At la t he s n succumbed , dying literally of tarvatio a few days ’ an after his wife s decease . Husband d wife were buried the same day in the same vault in Ramsbu ry

- . For fift Church , Wiltshire y one years they had lived happily together , and even death could not separate them . i r Fran is B r et t B ar M P S u t . . . 1 c d , , 3 9

Burdett had fou ght like a political gladiator ; he died

u like a Roman senator . His long laborio s life was not

s for o f r mi spent , it helped forward the progress measu es without which B ritain would n ot have known the peace and prosperity which have distinguished it above all other nations during the gloriou s reign of Q u een

Victoria . CHAPTER $ I

TH E BARONESS BURDETT - CO UTTS

AU G HTER n s . of Sir Fra ci Burdett , Bart , the

f M - P . amous . for Westminster, grand daughter s n of Thoma Coutts , the great Lo don banker, Angela Georgina Burdett was as distinguished in her h was o n birth as she as been in her life . She born 2 1 1 81 April , 4, when George I I I . was King , and five years before the b irth of Her Majesty Queen Victoria . Lady B u rdett - Coutts has thus been desti n ed to see fou r Sovereign s on the throne of the U n ited Kingdom

i of Great Brita n and Ireland . s Her mother was Sophia , daughter of Thoma Coutts by his first wife . As already stated, he married a m second time , and his widow married Willia Aubrey de Vere , ninth Duke of St . Alban s . On the death of u s W s 6 1 8 the D ches ithout is ue on August , 3 7 , it was found that she had made An gela Georgina Burdett h er t n - e heir , the latter , he aged twenty three , inh riting the fortu ne which the Duchess had been left by Thom as n on e Coutts , and which amou ted to over million pounds .

- a n d n $ s Twenty three , a millio aire How few girl were ever in su ch a position $ Miss Burdett felt that

m u 1 8 honour st be paid where honour was due , so in 3 7 she ass u med by royal license the additional surname

- of Coutts . The name of Burdett Coutts has become

Th e B aron ess B u rdet t - Cou t ts 1 4 1

quite as famous as that of any mem ber of the Co utts

. f rm h family Nay , it may safely be a fi ed that , in t e r m history of the human ace , no wo an ever held a

for e higher place charity , philanthropy , and ev ry good work . Sir Francis and Lady Burdett were both laid to rest o n 1 8 r u the same day in January , 44, leaving thei da ghter,

- an Angela Georgina Burdett Coutts , orphan . But the descendant of such sterling men as Thomas Cou tts or and Francis Burdett did not sink in despair , de vote

herself to idle ness or pleasure . She felt that the wealth with which she had been so singularly and m u n ifi c en t ly endowed must neither be squande red n or

s o f h e r hoarded , but mu t be devoted to the welfare

- fellow creatures .

s u t It was a high resolve , and mo t nobly did she p m o f it into execution . She felt that the staggering ass poverty and m isery which surged rou nd her might be

s e ameliorated if wealth were wi ely direct d , and she looked about for a channel to do good . Her whole life r has been dedicated to this holy work , and in eve y department of charity and well - doing the name o f

- Burdett Coutts i s now a hou sehold word . m u n ificen ce s u r Her first was , perhap nat ally , shown towards the Chu rch to which she was so m uch

1 e of attached . In 847 she ndowed the bishoprics

Capetown , South Africa , and Adelaide , South Australia, so that the services of the Church of England m ight be Te n worthily established in these rising colonie s . years later she gave to endow the Church of England m in British Colu bia , with an additional to

s r for u . e tablish a bishop ic , and a clergy f nd m m r of In e o y her father , who for thirty years had

m r m u represented West inster in Pa lia ent , his da ghter

e of . m erect d the Church St Stephen , West inster , which 1 8 0 was consecrated in 5 , and which , with its associated o u t n d Co k C t s a . , B an ers

s mission buildings , chools , and Technical Institute , cost the pious don or Three other churches

s - in London were erected by Mis Burdett Coutts .

She erected another church , also dedicated to St . an d Stephen , in a poor quarter of the city of Carlisle , , it s i n 1 86 ss being present at consecration 5 , she expre ed ‘ the h Ope that a manly and virtuou s mi n istry might ’ preach and practise Christ s teachings within it s walls s n 0 1 to a faithful and under ta ding pe p e , and raise up living souls to bear witness from generation to genera ’ tion to God s revealed truth an d the salvation of m an ’ ’

. s n m l n i st r was kind Her robust expre sio , a manly y, n s s worthy of the daughter of Sir Fra ci Burdett , who e manlin ess was so conspicuous . As s previously related , one of the mo t mournful s funeral that England ever saw took place in January , 1 8 a n d 44, when Sir Francis Lady Burdett were on the m s s sa e day buried in the ame vault of Ram bury Church , s s Wiltshire . Their daughter helped to re tore Ram bury as Church , well as the adj oining church of Baydon , and erected numerous model cottages to supply the poor of the parish of Baydon with sanitary dwellings . The facts stated i n this chapter are largely drawn from a little volume on the good Baroness prepared for the ’ s E lady managers of the World Columbian xposition ,

H . R. H . ss s by desire of the Duche of Teck , and publi hed 1 8 s in London and Chicago in 93 . At this Expo ition a section presided over by Lady Burdett - Coutts was m devoted to the Philanthropic Work of British Wo en , as and it occurred to the lady managers that , the Baroness wa s not making any reference to her indi n as vidual work , and as her ame a philanthropist was as well known and as much ho n oured in America as i n

r s . B itain , ome account of her work must be given Hence this little volume was produced to commemorate ‘ ’ o ‘ n ot only a long life of noble deeds , but als the

t an o k C o u t s d C . , B an ers ancient manuscripts which afterwards proved of u se to

' the Revisers of the Old and N ew Testam ents .

’ Lady Burdett - Coutts has always waged war ag ain st

u cr elty in any form . Cruelty to children , cruelty to h r e . the lower animals , has found in a lifelong opponent 1 866 u r of In the G a dians St . Pancras Workhouse were s u everely censured by her , and afterwards at the inq est , on account of a desert e d child having been laid ou t for r 1 88 bu ial whilst still breathing and moving . In 3 she wrote to the Hom e S e cretary calling his attention to the numerous children ‘ consigned to death by their u nnatu ral parents as lightly as they were brought into ’ - . r life But she was more than a mere letter w iter . She founded the National Society for the Prevention of

' r 1 88 an of Cruelty to Child en , and in 9 Act Parliament was passed for the protection of children . As President ’ of the Destitute Children s Dinner Society , the good Baroness has still further helped to mitigate the terrible load of suffering under which lie so many of the children of the poor . It is but a step from a helpless child to a helpless animal , and the heart that beats for the one will feel

u e - for the other . Lady B rd tt Coutts declared that ‘ ’ w m a n s life , hether in or bea t , is sacred , and has proved her devotion to animals in variou s ways . Not

e m as merely did she k ep lla as at Holly Lodge , well r b u t as special b eeds of cows and goats , she became ’ President of a Beeke e pers Association because she thought honey would form a useful adjunct to the ’ peasant s means of life , and President of the British Goat Society because she considered the goat the poor ’ co man s w. ’ In 1 87 2 sh e was selected by the ladies com mittee of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to bring before the public the cruel trapping i mes of singing birds . She wrote to the T that her Th e B aron ess B u rdet t - Co u t t s 1 45 efforts to induce the nightingale t o build in the grounds o f Holly Lodge had always been foiled by bird - catchers m snaring the birds , and she exposed the inhu an practice o f u se these fellows of blinding birds to as decoys . A touching instance o f her interest in dogs occurred

u of an d ring her visit to Edinburgh , the home her c e s i n 1 8 sh e tors , January , 74, when received the freedom of the city . A little Scotch terrier had followed the s e u 1 8 8 remain of its mast r to Greyfriars Ch rchyard in 5 , and had becom e ever after a constant visitor to his grave 1 until it died in 87 2 . The terrier thus acquired the

of r u name G eyfriars Bobby , and hearing of its wonderf l

- devotion , Lady Burdett Coutts erected to its memo ry a fountain near the e n trance to the chu rchyard which it ’

u . m had so faithf lly visited Gentle en , said Napoleon

o n u to his Marshals , as they gazed a dog g arding its m o n e m fo r dead aster a battl field , there is an exa ple ’ r you of fidelity . Such is the lesson of the G eyfriars

Bobby monument in Edinburgh . The Baroness re monstrated with the shipping and railway companies regarding the sufferings to which cattle were exposed by reason of ill -constru cted trucks and the want of facilities for eating and drinking . She likewise aided costerm ongers in givin g better attention

e e to their donk ys , and built extensive and healthy stabl s m for them o n her Colu bia estate in East London . Her patronage of the Cart - horse Parade Soci ety has resulte d in many carters regarding with pride and treating with kindn e ss the noble anim als entrusted to their care . In 1 882 Lady B u rdett - Coutts attended at Newcastle a of parade of cart and waggon horses , and also donkeys e and the ponies used in coalpits , and a newspap r declared that a h u ndred thou sand people cam e into ’ the town that day to see the Baroness , who was enthu siastically welcom ed with cries of God bless you I’ to which she replied that In this life m an and 1 0 o t t an C o B an k r C u s d . , e s

’ beast are held together by God s own chain under one ’ law . Britain has been providentially saved from those dem ocratic excesses to which other countries are su b j cet by the consideration paid to her lower classes both r m by her Legislatu e and her social leaders , fro the

- Queen downwards . To true minded B ritons like

m r u e Tho as Coutts , William Fo bes and James H nt r l s Blair, wea th did not mean aving or prodigality , but it s j udicious application to deserving objects . Adopt

o f u - ing this notion true charity, Lady B rdett Coutts m devoted herself to i proving the condition of the poor . ’ Beginning in 1 860 by supporting the East - End Weave rs s Association , she next establi hed a sewing school where girls were received to be trained for domestic service as as u n well to be ta ght sewing , and where elderly wome of good character might spend the afternoon . Con n ec t ed with the school was a system of visiting by pro fessi on al r s nurses and the cle gy, by mean of which food ,

r wine , blankets , etc . , were distributed over a wide a ea . ’ 1 8 - r r In 79 the Baroness founded the Flower gi ls B igade , not merely to protect them whilst selling flowers in t h e streets , but also to teach them to make artificial flowers . ’ u She also formed a boys cl b , and a shoeblack brigade m and ission church , for the purpose of saving and elevating boys who mig ht otherwi se sink into poverty m and cri e . Charles D ic ken s c h aract eriz ed the j ourney from the ‘ West to the East End of London as one of the saddest and most extraordinary j ourneys in the world . Whilst s in the West End there was every ign of health , wealth a and h ppiness , in the East End there was want , suf

feri n . g , and disease His powerful description stirred ’ - i n m Lady Burdett Coutts heart , and the co pany of the great nove list she visited a typical East - End centre of poverty and degradation known a s Nova Scotia

ou t t s an d C o B an k C . , ers as ru led as autocratically an d unsympathetically by the

n - A glo Saxon as Poland is by the Russian . Noble hearted women like Lady Burdett - Coutts have removed

. An that reproach , if it ever existed Irish Roman Catholic priest having brought u n der her notice the suffering of the poor in the South an d West of Ireland 1 86 2 in , she despatched a trusted commissioner to report to her upon the subject . H is report fully con ’ s s firmed the prie t statements , and proved that extra ordinary suffering existed owing to the failure of the harvest , the obj ection of the people to enter the s n o f workhouse , and the ab e ce of any system outdoor relief. Miss Burdett - Coutts wi sely arrived at the conclusion that migration is the only rem edy for congestion of

u 1 86 s pop lation , so in 3 three partie of Irish emigrants from the congested districts were at her expense de spat c h ed to Canada . That year witnessed another

s - bad harve t in Ireland , and Miss Burdett Coutts Sh erki n established stores at and Clear Island , where corn , flour, meal , sugar and tea could be had at very low prices , and where blankets could be obtained on s loan . It will be ob erved that she did not believe in

ra tui tous . the g distribution of food , money or clothes m r She considered such would have a de o alizing effect , ‘ u and wrote that it wo ld be , in my opinion , quite an

u - d s ins lt to the hard working , willing islan er to be

e a u treat d as mendic nts , and also it wo ld injure the r prope ty and the place . My object is not to make de pendents on my bounty , or on that of anyone else , but to bring them comforts which can be secured by their ’ own industry hereafter . Whilst assisting the poor of the Irish humbler

- u classes , Lady Burdett Co tts did not forget another and as deserving class of poor people , namely , those s of who belonged to the upper circle society, and Th e B aron ess B u rdet t - C ou t t s 1 49

u o had been red ced by no fault o f their own t poverty .

r 1 881 Accordingly , she subsc ibed to the fund raised in for the relief o f indigent Irish ladies suffering ext rem e pecuniary distress by the non - paym ent of their rents owing to agrarian distu rbances . The m ost m un ific en t schem e ever launched by any woman for t h e benefit o f Erin was that announced by

- M . P . 1 880 t o . . . m Miss Burdett Coutts in Mr W H S ith , , m then First Lord of the Ad iralty , and which she de scribed t o him in a l etter as follows

My proposal was to advance s u ch a sum as would secure (hum anly speaking) the present and futu re r m of e ha vests in Ireland upon so e plan repaym nt , and with assistance for its distribution which I thou ght e r m Gov n ent might secure to m e . ‘ r u After the ha vest question , the most vital q estion s m t o t h e o f ee ed me debts the people , and I proposed to ’ relieve these if practicable . I don t know that I should be j ustified in u ndertaking to spend the whole of the

n e e e r m money adva ced for s ed wh n r paid , for ci cu s m a m tances y change , and in any case some per anent

o r scheme would have to be devised to prevent , at Th e r r of . least hinde , the ecurrence this fatal habit su m u r req i ed for seed I understood would probably be , n ot but exceed ,

’ When I rish pat h ri ot s enlarge upon England s ’ rod m r cruel , they should be asked what wo an of I ish race ever offe re d like this warm - hearted Englishwom an to advance a quarter o f a million sterling t o relieve the necessitie s of I reland $

But this was not all she did for the distressfu l Isle . In 1 880 she placed to the credit of a Roman m r Catholic priest at Balti o e , to enable him to give loans to fishermen desiring to purchase the big fishi n g boats they could not otherwise acquire . Visiting the n C an kers C o u t t s a d o . , B

s sh e Baltimore district four year later , became con vi n c ed of the necessity of the establishment of a fishery 1 88 e training school for boys , and in 7 she pr sided at the opening of the Baltimore Industrial Fishery School , i s an institution largely due to her untiring efforts . It n ot s s of urpri ing that Queen Victoria , in token her high approval of all Miss Burdett - Coutts had don e for her s 1 8 1 of subject , created her on June 9 , 7 , a Peeress the Realm i n her own right under the title of Baroness

- s Burdett Coutts , an honour accorded by Her Maj e ty to only four ladies .

P eace h ath h e r v ictorie s ’ No ss r n o n an war le e w e d th , yet during war - time Lady Burdett - Coutts was actively engaged in sending nurses to attend to the wounded . ’ She was president of the ladies committee form ed in . 1 879 to afford aid to the sick and wounded soldiers of the British army during the $ ulu campaign . Seven s of trained nur es were sent out , and at a cost $ nearly patients , both British and ulu , were attended to . When the Russians drove the Turks out of Bulgaria 1 8 in 77 , their Cossacks often perpetrated murder and enormities on the haples s Moslem women and children

- s fleeing southwards before them . Lady Burdett Coutt felt so much for her u n fortunate sisters that she wrote to the D ai ly Teleg raph a letter calling upon h e r fellow ‘ count rymen to remember the unhappy sufferers in a

- n far away country , of a other creed , whose life is ebbing

s . fast away , uncheered , de olate , abandoned We can

- s . not , perhap , stanch their life blood We can wash n s n our own ha d , though , free of its stain by bindi g up

— if s . their wounds not by our money, by our ympathy s If silver and gold there is none , we have prayer still , and He to whom all flesh comes hears the cry of the

ou t t s an d C o B an ker C . , s

i m u n fic en t . been a foremost and contributor If, like s other philanthropi ts , she has sustained disappoint m sh e a e o rr ents , has never llowed th m t a est the

s . N e e c progress of her genero ity o b n fa tor , living or

. f dead , is better entitled to the appellation o illustrious , ’ h a m m or s a fairer claim to an honoured e ory.

1 ou t ts an d C o B an kers 54 C . ,

oriban ks s j of Lee , Berwickshire , who married Grizel , daughter of Archibald Stewart (younger son of Sir Allan ban k as Robert Stuart of , who w Lord r o f m 1 1 6 P ovost Edinburgh fro 744 to 74 , and who , on s u spicion of com plicity with Prince Charlie when the e as o latt r captured Edinburgh , w c mmitted to the Tower for high treason , but ultimately acquitted . ’ Marjo riban ks descen t from a Stuart of Allan ban k

as . connected him , mentioned in Chapter I I I , with the m s s s fa ilies of Coutt , Kerr of Morri on , Trotter of Ca tle o f Ed ers on C on law, Elliot Minto , Rutherfurd of g t , C on alt on galton of g , and Bethune of Balfour .

Mar oriban k w 1 6 John j s as born in 7 2 at Bordeaux , where he became a wine - merchan t ; but coming to n England , he obtained a commissio in the Coldstream

as . 1 0 Guards , from which he retired Captain In 79 he m s arried the daughter of William Ram ay of Barnton ,

Midlothian , and was admitted a partner of the banking s firm of Mansfield , Ram say and Co . (afterward Ramsay , s Bonars and The e tate of Barnton , near Edin u i n 1 86 b rgh , now associated with Golf, was inherited 5 Si r by Alexander Charles Ramsay Gibson Maitland ,

a M P . n d . . of Clifton Hall Sauchie , Bart , for Mid lothian .

n m an d . Another partner of Ma sfield , Ra say Co was

Sir James Stirling of Larbert , Stirlingshire , Bart . , who m was three ti es elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh ,

- - - . 1 0 2 1 6 1 8 1 800 . viz , for 79 9 , 794 9 , and 79 The banking ’ house of the firm was in Cantore s Close , Luckenbooths ,

Edinburgh . It will be remembered that , on their rupture with the ban king hou se founded i n Edin bu rgh s by their father , James and Thoma Coutts , bankers ,

s . London , made Man field and Co their Edinburgh correspondents , and this may have led to Mr . Edward Marjoriban ks j oining the London firm and becoming ’ one of Thomas Coutts executors . Si r Jo h n M arjoriban ks 1 55

The Lord Provostship of John Marjoriban ks was dis t i n g u ish e d by the construction of the Regent Bridge and t h e splendid bu ildings comprising the Calton

r r P ison , Edinbu gh , although Lord Provost Hunter Mar oriban ks Blair was their original projector . j was r 1 81 an d w r e c eated a Baronet in 5 , was after a ds elect d hi M . P . u r s for Berwickshire , an hono r long bo ne by

s e e m u . de c ndant , the pres nt Lord Tweed o th Sir John Mar oriban ks 1 8 j died in 3 3 . Sir John ’ s brother Edward was a partner in the 6 u of Co . 1 banking ho se Coutts and , London , from 79 e 1 868 e till his d ath in , and his son Edward was lik wise

f u a n e 1 8 . r o d C o . a pa tner Co tts , and di d in 79 Another so n u e Ma r oriban ks 1 82 0 was D dl y Coutts j , born , 1 866 e created a Baronet , and who repr sented Berwick upon - Tweed from 1 853 till he was el evated to the

ee r e 1 881 r u of p ag in as Ba on Tweedmo th Edington ,

h u e in t e cou nty of Berwick . Lord Tweedmo th di d in

1 8 . 94, and was succeeded by his son , the Right Hon

Mar oriban ks e Edward j , who repr sented Berwickshire r m 1 880 1 8 n as f o to 94 , whe he was so well known Whip to the Liberal party in the Hou se of Com m ons . The present Lord Tweedmou th married i n 1 873

u e e Lady Fanny Churchill , da ght r of the s venth Duke of r u r m Ma lboro gh . One of his siste s arried the Right

. e e . M . P . Hon Sir Matthew Whit Ridl y, Bart , , Secre tary o f Stat e for the Hom e Departm e nt in Lord Sal is ’ bu ry s Adm inistration ; whilst anothe r m arried the

e e e s venth Earl of Aberd n , lately Lord Lieutenant of

r - Th e I elan d and Governor Gen eral o f Canada . seats

r G u i sa ch an - of Lo d Tweedmouth are , Inverness shire ,

- - u ou . and H tton Castle , Berwick Tweed Altho u gh not connected by family relations with the C ou t t ses of e , the celebrated grandson th ir partner and

u successor , Sir William Forbes , m st find a place in

o e these pages . If the C ut t s s and his grandfather C . an k ers Cou t t s an d o , B

m s excelled in banking and financial ad inistration , Jame i s s osit ion i n Dav d Forbe achieved an illustriou p _ the n of world of scien ce . He was the so Sir William

r s . Fo be of Pitsligo , Bart , the friend of Sir Walter Scott , ‘ ’ ’ and of the Lady with the green mantle , Scott s

. u o f first love , the daughter of Sir J W . B . St art

Fettercairn , Bart . ’ Jam es David Forbes was born at his parents town

u s 86 2 0 1 80 . ho e , , George Street , Edinburgh , April , 9

He was privately educated until , at the age of sixteen , he entered the University of Edinburgh . Although destined for the Scottish Bar , young Forbes early evinced that love o f natu ral science of which ultim ately b e a w s to become so brillian t an exponent . At the age of seventeen he began an anonym ous correspondence on scientific question s with Sir David

t u r s Brews er, and he afterwards contrib ted seve al paper ’ ‘ ’ m e to Brewster s Philosophical Journal . Acco pani d 1 8 0 r by Sir David , in 3 Forbes visited Lockha t at Chi efswood , near Melrose , and going on to Abbotsford ‘ m an to leave his card , Forbes says he saw the great

r hobbling up a plantation , apparently f ightened at a ’

ss s . visitor , a cla which indeed he had rea on to fly The same year (1 83 0) Forbes was called to the

u m Scottish Bar, but his tho ghts were as far fro juris ’ prudence as ever were Sir Walter Scott s . He devoted bu t himself heart and soul to scientific researches , to prevent injury from ~ the sceptical insinuations o f La ’ place and other modern philosophers , he attended Dr . ’ Chalm ers lectures on n atural theology at the sam e ’ ’ time as Dr . Reid s (Dr . Hope s assistant) on practical

u chemistry . His residence had been at Colinton Ho se , from which he rem oved to Greenhill House, near B ru n t sfield Links , Edinburgh .

- b s Although only twenty two , For e gave Brewster great assistance in the formation of the British Associa

C o ut t s an d C o B an kers

m 1 8 1 h i in 4 . That eventful visit took place on the

s s r Aar Glacier and on the lope of the Jungf au , and ’ from that date Forbes life was dedicated to the study o f glaciers . His first article on the subject appeare d Edi n bur h Revi ew 1 8 2 in the g of April , 4 , an article which was immediately translated into French . The same year he returned to the Alps , and celebrated there what ‘ ’ he calls the busiest and happiest summer he ever

- n spent , the result being his well k own book entitled ‘ ’ Travels through the Alps of Savoy , published in the

1 8 . of summer of 43 Marrying the daughter Mr . n George Wauchope , he spent his ho eymoon among the Alps . s his For several year he pursued Alpine travels , and s an d al o visited N orway , then his health gave way , sacrificed on the altar of scien ce . Then a curiou s

. m event occurred Sir David Brewster , who he had defeated in Edinburgh , but who had become Principal of the United College in the University of St . Andrews , was now appointed Principal of the University of

1 8 r Edinburgh . In 59 Forbes succeeded B ewster as

. a n Principal at St Andrews , appointment which he

1 1 868 e held till December 3 , , when he died , l aving behi n d him the memory of a faultless personal char r s acter , a g eat intellect , and an un urpassed devotion to scien ce . as The history of the Coutts family , told in these i s m r pages , a record; however imperfect , of a ked abilities devoted n ot m erely to the acquisition o f fame and fortune , but also to the building up of that mag n ific en t system of banking of which Scotland is so j ustly proud . If a Scotsman founded the Bank of m m E n gland , and an English an returned the compli ent n o f r e by fou ding the Bank Scotland , we can never fo g t that it was to the C out t ses an d other great banking families that Britain was often indebted for the sinews Th e C out t ses

of m of war in ti es trouble , and for financial security in times of peace ; and that it was the wealth accumulat e d by their industry and e n terprise which enabled the white wings of British ships to sweep the oceans of the globe , bearing the British flag to every clime , and eventually making London the commercial and fina n cial centre of the world . I N D E $

A B ERD EEN Ear of 1 a m ore re an 1 , l , 55 B lti , I l d , 49 A c ors an d ac resses E i n ur an of En an 2 1 0 t t , d b gh , B k gl d , 5 , 9 7 , 3 1 2 an of Sco an 1 8 0 2 B k tl d , , 5 , 5 , 93 , Ad am am th e oun er 8 , Willi , y g , 7 Ade a e s o r c of 1 1 an s u c E n ur 2 l id , bi h p i , 4 B k , p bli , di b gh , 5 , 93 , A ass z i n Sc o an 1 1 02 g i tl d , 57 A sa ar u s of 1 0 r va e E n ur il , M q i , 7 p i t , di b gh , 53 , 93 A n s A n n L A n n e a St se e St . a s ar ar a 2 lb , . ( lb ) B d , dy , 9 A e an er am an d Son s ar e am es an er E n l x d , Willi , , B tl tt , J , b k , di an ers E n u r 88 ur 8 1 0 1 b k , di b gh , 53 , , 93 b gh , 9 , A son Rev Arc a 1 0 a on s c urc an d sc oo s li , . hib ld , 5 B yd (Wilt ) h h h l , A s o f Sav o 1 8 lp y , 5 A m er ca Pro es an E sco a ea e am es oe 1 0 i , t t t pi p l B tti , J , p t , 4 urc of 1 0 1 e un e of a our Ch h , B th B lf , 3 4 Am er can W ar of n e en en ce ac ose 8 i I d p d , Bl k , J ph , , 9 6 ac oc D r 6 9 Bl kl k , . , 9

An ro u s Si r E m u n ar a r See un er- a r t b , d d , B t Bl i . H t Bl i an er Lon on 8 a r u b k , d , 7 Bl i , H gh , 9 E m u n th e ou n er an er ai r of D un ske 0 d d , y g , b k , Bl y , 9 Lon on 8 an re Lor n e m erc an d , 7 Bl ty , d , wi h t , Ar u n o an d u r e an ers Le 2 b th t G th i , b k , ith , 3 n r Pr n ce Lu c en 6 E n ur 0 B o a a e , , di b gh , 53 , 9 , 93 p t i i 9 ‘ u e 1 A r u e of 8 1 0 1 B oro ri , 2 gyll , D k , 5 , ghb dg 9 m es 8 A rn o u o Bos e , a , , t , H g , 5 w ll J 94 ’ Art S u e n s om e for La es B ra xfield Lor 1 6 t d t H di , , d , 3 I rec n s o o f 1 00 43 B hi , Bi h p ,

- - r L r rew s er Si r av 1 6 1 8 A s m ea a e . . u e B , , h d B tl tt , W (B d tt t D id 5 5 P v n 80 ou s 1 1 Br on a o , C tt , 5 ight ili A n so n om as 8 Br s A ssoc a on for t h e Ad tki , Th , 7 iti h i ti 1 A uch te rcou l 2 van cem en of Sc en ce , , 9 t i 57 1 1 A r an 1 2 B r s o u m a urc , , iti h C l bi Ch h 4 y B k , 9 9 L n en om an 2 1 02 Briti sh i C p y , 5 , 93 , e u m 2 a carres Ear of 2 Br s M us , 6 B l , l , 9 iti h 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 a ou r of orre 2 Burn s Ro er , 8 , , , , 5 B lf F t , 3 , b t 7 9

u s an d Co B an k Co t t . , ers

’ C ou t t ses rm s es n a o n s of u n d on a Ear of 6 2 6 fi , D ig ti D ld , l , , 7 th e — con ti n ued u n o o f G arn ki rk 1 2 D l p , 3 , 3 C ou tts Brothers an d D al

r m le 8 E n u r a ou 1 0 y p , 5 di b gh b t 74 , 3 9 ou s Son an d ro er a m n e C tt , T tt , 43 , f i , 45 1 i n 1 6 an d 1 8 c om are 5 7 3 7 3 , p d , ou s S e en ou s an d 1 08 C tt , t ph , C tt o 1 New C . own an d eor e S ree , 5 , 5 7 T G g t t , err es oc ran e an d C o 60 1 1 2 H i , C h , 6 or a n d Sou r es 1 1 2 4 N th th B idg , am es an d om as ou s r va e an s J Th C tt , 59 , p i t b k , 5 3 , 9 3 u c an s 2 1 02 p bli b k , 5 , 9 3 , ’ o n ou s an d C o . 1 . th e n P n n , , s r of ce J h C tt 3 7 5 Ki g i ti g fi , 1 1 2

u s a n d R o e r s o n , o n v ers 1 b t C t t U i ity , 9 , 57 S e en E n ur O ld t ph , 5 4 di b gh ,

om as ou s an d C o , 9 , a re a o f an d s ree s 2 Th C tt 7 , t t , 1 0 cos u m es 8 3 t , o a e E sco a a e C wg t pi p l Ch p l , 99 r n d i k , 7 ree c am 1 08 C h , Willi , am ous m e n 8 , 1 1 f ,

rom we O ve r 2 6 m a s 1 C ll , li , p , f ' rue t o an m a s reven on o , Nor Lo c C lty i l , p ti h , 3 1 o u a on 44 p p l ti , 5 rue t o ca e i n ran s 1 ov er C lty ttl t it , 45 p ty , 9 u en an ces r 2 8 C ll t y , r ces of rov s on s 6 p i p i i ,

u en D r . , s a ar es C ll , 9 l i , 9 u m er an u e of E i n u C b l d , D k , 43 d b r h Revi ew, th e 1 1 1 8 g , 3 , 5 u m m n an d Son an ers E n C i g , b k , di E o s o f n o lli t Mi t , 3 4 u r . 53 . 9 3 El s o of 1 00 b gh y, Bi h p , En w s e M rs 1 t i tl , . , 7 f or erw c ar al r m e o N . D y pl th B i k , B t , E sco a urc Am er can 1 0 1 pi p l Ch h , i , 6 8 3 . Sco s 5 tti h , 99 Da r m e am an er l y pl , Willi , b k , Ers n e H on arr 2 ki , . H y , 4 Lo n on 8 d , 5 D ibdi n om as 1 , Th , 7 F ai rh olm es an ers E n ur , b k , di b gh , c e n s ar es 1 6 Di k , Ch l , 4 53 c e A n rew 8 Di ki , d , 7 a ar e s an d o e r 1 02 F ll , Ch l R b t ,

ou as eron an d C o . an ers - D gl , H , b k , arm ers en era of ran ce 8 F G l F , 7 . A r 1 2 y . 9 . 9 . 93 94 re orn Lor 6 D gh , d , 3 ar u arson o f au on 8 8 F q h H ght , 3 , 4 r n wa er o on e D i k t , C l l , 3 4 er u son A am 8 F g , d , , 9 ru m m on A n d rew an er D d , , b k , A n on an er E n ur th y , b k , di b gh , Lon d on , 5 7 93 ' u m m n s n L n n 8 r o Ba , o o , , er u sson o e r 8 2 D d k d 5 F g , R b t , , 7 1 2 n u r re a 1 6 F res E , 7 i , di b gh g t ’ ru m m on Lo r Prov os 1 1 2 ower- i r s r ade 1 6 D d , d t , Fl g l B ig , 4 m ue an er E n D u n a i La ren e M . P a s S r c . o o S d , w , , 97 , F gg , l , b k , di 1 0 ur 7 b gh , 53 In dex 1 6 3

or e s un can o f u o e n 1 a o Lo rd 1 1 2 F b , D , C ll d , 7 H dd , , f N wm n H on . o n a ur on o e a s 1 1 J h , 97 H lib t i , 3 , 5 Lo r of P s o 82 arro a e 1 1 1 d , it lig , , 9 7 H g t , 7 , 3 o f o n e 82 H a Lew s an er E n ur B y di , y , i , b k , di b gh , m Pri n c a a es D . I 6 ip l J , 5 f i h n st u n Si r am B ar . an e r o Sm t field a d H a o Willi , t , b k , y , E n ur 6 60 ar . 0 1 0 1 di b gh , 3 , 53 , 59 , , B t , 9 , en erson eor e an er Lo n H d , G g , b k , i r am r du don S a . secun s Willi , B t , , , 94 an e r E n ur 1 0 1 2 1 err e s Si r o er an er Lo n b k , di b gh , 4 , , H i , R b t , b k , 1 2 - 1 2 6 1 6 don 6 0 6 88 3 , 5 , , 9 , , 94

i . or s r W . u n er n . 2 F e , S , a d C o , Sc oo o f E n ur 6 b J H t High h l di b gh , oare en r an er Lon on 94 H , H y , b k , d , or ce A e an er an er Lon 2 F dy , l x d , b k , 9 don 2 o am an d Son an e rs , 9 H gg , Willi , , b k , E r E n ur a co m an d C o . n u M l l , di b gh , di b gh , 53 am u n or an er Ed n 53 » 93 Willi , j i , b k , i orre Lor 2 ur F t , d , 3 b gh , 9 3 L 1 1 F ox ar es am es 1 2 o o e . 8. . . , Ch l J , 3 H lly dg 75 7 79 44 45 n ran ce an d Sco an om e , o , 8 F tl d , 4 H J h

- ren c arm ers en era 8 oo , Si r Sam ue , 1 2 F h F G l , 7 , 94 H d l 3 ren c evo u on 1 2 8 u m e av 8 F h R l ti , H , D id ,

r i r m es ar . ffe o n an er E n ur un er B a , S a , B , Fy , J h , b k , di b gh , 53 H t l i J t an e r Ed n ur 60 8 b k , i b gh , , 4 , a o a s o of 1 00 G ll w y , Bi h p , Si r o n ar 1 02 eo o ca Sc o ars at O or J h , B t G l gi l h l hip xf d , u on am es 8 r I 43 H tt , J , , 5 7

e or e III . 80 G g , n verm a 1 1 8- 1 2 1 am es 2 I y , Gib , J , 4 re an d i n 1 86 2 1 8 son an d a our an ers E n I l , 4 Gib B lf , b k , di ’ ss urde - ou s sc em e u r Mi B tt C tt h , b gh , 93 son an d o an ers E n u s Gib H gg , b k , di ur b gh , 53 ’ V I 1 n d . 00 am es . a r s sew n - sc oo 1 6 J I , Gi l i g h l , 4 ’ o n s o fee - ou se 1 8 2 2 6 ower r a e 1 6 J h C f h , , 5 , Fl B ig d , 4 m 8 o n son D r . Sa ue 2 2 as o Arc s o of 1 00 J h , l , , , 94 Gl g w , hbi h p , o n s on e an d Sm an ers an d o a an 2 J h t ith , b k , R y l B k , 5 E n u r oa Soc e r s 1 di b gh , 53 , 93 G t i ty , B iti h , 44

or an M rs . 1 oe e 1 0 6 6 6 8 J d , , 7 G th , , 7 , 9 ’ o sm i s a 2 G ld th H ll , 3

’ - ur Ka o n or ra e c er, 1 0 , 2 o over St . es c 2 , J h , p t it t h 5 G lf Gil Ch h , 7 y n 2 re or D r 1 0 ean E m u , G g y , . , 9 , 9 K , d d 7 e 1 2 ren v e om as 6 2 ea s th e o , G ill , Th , K t , p t 3 ’ r e an er Lon on rev e em o rs 1 e eo , , , G ill M i , 3 7 K ith , G g b k d 59 f re Ear 1 8 e Ear o , 6 G y , l , 3 K lly , l 3 ’ re fr ars o E n ur e e an ces r , 2 8 G y i B bby , di b gh , K lti t y errs of orr son 6 2 I 4S K M i , 3 4 ,

W . u or Ear of 6 err A . , G ilf d , l , 3 5 , 9 K , 3 7 I I — 2 a d C k Cou t t s n o . , B an ers

n n e ar om as an er E n e vi e Pa er- m 0 Ki , Th , b k , di M l ll p ill , 9 ur ese 1 0 b gh , 53 Middl x , 3 n o o n 1 1 6 in o E o s o f K x , J h , 4 , M t , lli t , 3 4 on ro D r M , . , 9

Lea - m n n i n 1 1 0 on rose 0 d i i g 77 , 9 M t , 3 Les e Si r o n 1 urra of rou on 2 li , J h , 57 M y B ght , 4 Leven Ear of 1 8 M ln e o er 6 , l , y , R b t , 3 L n dsa La ar are 2 i y , dy M g t , 9

Ne - - Loc art . G . 1 1 8 1 6 cas e ou n e 1 kh , J , , 5 w tl Ty , 45 ’ Lon on s o of 1 00 Nor Loc th e E n ur d , Bi h p , h , , di b gh , 3 E c an e an n om an Nova Sco a ar en s Lon on 1 6 x h g B ki g C p y , ti G d , d , 4 th e 6 Nurses i n $ u u cam a n 1 0 . 9 . 94 l p ig , 5 Lor Provos s of E n ur d t di b gh , 9 , I S3 O ch terc oul 2 , 9 O or n vers 1 xf d U i ity , 43 M cArdell am es en raver , J , g , 44 ac en z e en r 8 M k i , H y , Pa e r- m a n i n 1 6 8 p ki g 7 9 , 9 a an son Si r A . M itl d , Gib , C . R Par am en ose 1 1 0 1 li t Cl , 4 , ar . 1 B t , 54 res 1 6 am h i s Hi s Fi , Willi , 44 ; ’ a old Sco s 1 or 8 0 H ll , tti h , 4 t y , 4 , 5 ouse th e old 1 6 2 an s e u n er an d C o H , , , 4 M fi ld , H t . , S a rs 1 2 2 6 an ers E n u r t i , 5 , , 3 b k , di b gh , 93 Par i n son o n 8 m k , J h , 7 a sa an d C o . an ers R y , b k , Pau ames 1 2 E n u r 68 1 ll , J , 3 di b gh , 5 3 , , 53 Pea ri m ar 8 a s o f Ed n ur 1 g , M y , 3 5 , 5 M p i b gh , Pe er oo ass c r 1 M a e , 6 Cités d u M on de 1 t l 3 ’ Pi cca 1 G ordon s 1 dilly , 3 5 ' P am 6 6 1 1 0 1 2 8 E ar s I 2 itt , Willi , , , dg , ’ P s o Es a e Kirkwood s 3 6 it lig t t , 9 7 New 8 arc mon Ear of 1 0 1 , 9 M h t , l ,

P an s . See a s M ar ori b an ks E ar an er l M p j , dw d , b k , Po on Pa er- m 8 Lon on 8 1 1 1 lt p ill , 9 d , 7 , 53 , 54 , 55 Por a r c 1 1 0 o f Lees tp t i k , , 3 4 ' Pres en s S a rs 1 2 2 6 1 0 1 H n E M P , 5 , , 3 , o . ar id t t i Right dw d . . . Pres on of V alle fie ld 0 Lor ee m ou 1 t y . 7 ( d Tw d th) , 55 f ~ Pri n ce o a es e r Si r u e ou s ar W l (G o ge 80 D dl y C tt , B t Pri n e Pro ssor o n M , fe , 3 9 P . r . Lo ee m ou gl J h ( d Tw d th) , Pri son re orm 1 1 I SS f , 3

ir o n r . P . e S a M . an r J h , B t , , b k , E n ur 1 am sa A an oe 8 2 di b gh , 53 , 53 R y , ll , p t , , 7 ar orou u e of 1 a n er M lb gh , D k , 55 p i t , 44 ar n re eri c 1 Of a ma n 1 M ti , F d k , 9 B l i , 5 ea ar e 1 1 o er an er E n ur M l M k t , 5 , 7 R b t , b k , di b gh , M e ourn e Lor 1 8 1 lb , d , 3 5 e on arri o ac res s 0 am of arn on 1 M ll , H t , t , 3 5 , 7 Willi , B t , 54

Se e a so n n ar n . an ers St . A a s uc ess am sa o s a d C o ( l lb , D h R y , B , b k . of E n u r 1 ) di b gh , 53 , 54

o u t an C o B ke C t s d . , an rs

V an er om m o ore am of O ran e 1 00 d bilt , C d , 77 Willi g , son Si r an e 1 Wil , D i l , 7 , 3 7 a s ss 1 s re Nor 1 8 W lli , Mi , 7 Wilt hi , th , 3 ’ eav ers A ssoc a on Eas En d orces er s o of 1 00 W i ti , t , W t , Bi h p , 1 46 em ss ou n ess of 2 Ye om an r ava r E n ur W y , C t , 5 y C l y , di b gh .

es m n s er 1 2 - 1 8 1 1 1 1 1 2 W t i t , 3 3 , 4 , 5 3

e c n c a n s u e 1 You n D r . T h i l I tit t , 43 g , , 9 e an s ra n n o e e 1 Whit l d T i i g C ll g , 43 o n s re 1 1 0 $ u u cam a n n urse s 1 0 Wigt w hi , l p ig , 5

S ock P a ernos er R ow L on d on t , t t , . B Y THE SA ME A U HO R T .

I n On e Vol ume sa me si z e as the resen t r c e s . d , p , p i 7 6 . G EO RG E M O R L A ND ,

painter, l onbon

(1 763

’ With Rowlandson s Portrait of the Painter and Fi ve full- page Plates illustrati ve of some of the best paintings by Morland ;

ALSO A

r vin s a ter M rland in h i h Catalogue of the Eng a g f o t e Br tis Museum, an d a Chronological Catalogue of all Engravings

after Morland.

’ — A n n d s en sa e vo um e t o a n ers an d e r a ron s. St udi o i i p bl l p i t th i p t . ‘ ’ Th e story o f the pain t er s extraordin ary career i s adequately an d

— a d B ookm a n . sym pathetic lly tol . ’ A very appreciative an d affection ate sk etch of Morlan d s life an d hi s ’ — S ect at or . extraordin ary gi ft of rapid drawin g . p

om a n i on vol ume to the a bove ri ce 65 . C p , p O EMORLAND’S PICTURE GERG S.

(thei r $present possessors.

W H D E A LS O F THE C O LLEC O NS IT T I TI .

‘ ’ i s th e rs a em t o ca a o ue s a n er s or s an d M r It fi t tt pt t l g thi p i t w k , . Richardson h as fulfilled th e task with so m uch ca re an d research as to give

o u r w b e a va ua e referen ce for s u n s f h is bo k a tho i ty. It ill l bl t de t o ’ ’ or an d s r c rus c es an d a oo u de for co ec ors on th e rac M l i h ti iti , g d g i ll t t k .

cadem A y .

E R E. ELL 62 PA NO S E OW O O C . IOT STOCK , , T R T R , L ND N, ’ Elliot Stocks New Public ti a ons.

Secon d Edi ti on , Revi sed an d Enl arged , wi t h In d ex.

In c ow 8vo. c o c 65 . r n , l th , pri e THERI HTT BEAR RMS G O A .

‘ ’ B $ th e r er of th e Ser es of A r c es i c a eare i n h y , W it i ti l wh h pp d t e at urda Revi ew over a s n a ure S y th t ig t .

The oo b e oun d t o con a n i n u th e arran s A c s of P b k will f t i , f ll , W t , t arlia

n ud m en s etc . c w ere on n c en a re erre m e t , J g t , , whi h ly i id t lly f d t o i n t h e es ar su em Articles them selves. Th e e ppl en ted by th e quotation of m an y ’ Letters Paten t an d Gran ts— an cien t an d m odern - tog ether with other docum en ts.

Th e t o B a i s c a a oo t o ad a n d di d Right e r Arms ert inly b k be re stu e . It i s briskly w an d i n i of i ts c - a ow d w a c ritten , , sp te subje t m tter, n here ull , hile the f ts an d c on clusions d a w i a n d a d a t a re a a d wi a n d i n a c w e lt th rrive m rsh lle th skill , , pl es, even ith brillia n cy. Th e a tho h as d o ch t o l th t th a s t o a tt a o a l a n d Wi ll u r ne mu unvei e ru m ers rm ri , ' c i a of a ll wh o c a a o a n d d d a — re e ve the th nks genuinely re b ut these kin re m tters . L i ter a

‘ Th e oo i s xc a d an d ca co c o w it . It b k e ellent re ing , rries nvi ti n ith s pa ges are full of ’ ’ — o A ea a em . interest thr ughout . y We co d a lly c o d th l ttl boo k t o tho wh o a re ig o a t of ch a tt r i re mmen is i e se n r n su m ers , a n d a re n ot a o a o i of c a of a d b ve le rning s meth ng the lement rules her l ry , even though m a a of own t o a T they y be cert in their right use rms . e book i s forcibly an d c lea rly w a are a w a a n d o d x ac o ritten , the rguments un ns er ble supp rte by e tr ts fr m ancient d ocu ’ — a n d an co o d o a o a a re x o d . S tect a t or . ments , m y mm n elusi ns b ut rms e p se ;

In c ow t o. a d o o d i n c o 1 0 a o i c 2 1 5 . . r n 4 , h n s mely b un l th, 3 Illustr ti ns , pr e net KS AND CORNERS OF HR PSHIR NOO S O E.

’ A n Ar s s S e c n am es an d esearc es in th e oun V r u ti t k t hi g R bl R h C ty. e y f lly ra ed n Dr n us o r a a s. . H ORNH M M NS Ill t t with igi l wi g By H T ILL TI I , ‘ ’ author o f Nook s an d Co rn ers of H erefordshire a n d ’ n d r Nook s a Co n ers of Pembrok eshi re .

Th e a o d c d for ood d i n c o a n d a o o uth r eserves re it ju gment sele ti n , lt gether the v lume , w i t s o c m ade i a o w on hi s a i s on e a ith numer us sket hes , y the uth r himself hen r mbles , th t ’ a a o t o a of o wh o a an a for En lish o o a ppe ls str ngly the symp thies th se h ve y t ste g t p g r phy. ' — D a z /y New s. Th e book i s full of a rt istic illustra tions knit together by t erse but sufficient des crip I i s a xc a s a a io t o d of o d tions . t equ lly e ellent revel t n resi ents the ften unsuspec te a a o w c an d a s a o d w o of n e w an d be uties m ng hi h they live , b un ing ith suggesti ns interest ' — n d o . Gu a rdi a n i g routes t o the inten ing t urist .

ew W rk b CHARLES GOD FREY LELAND N o y .

In c ow 8vo . c o c 65 . r n , l th , pri e

THEUNPUBLISHED LEGENDS OF TIRGIL.

ar B H R ES O FREY E A N Glean ed chiefly from Oral N ration . y C A L G D L L D ’ Br itm an n au or o f e en ds of oren ce etc . (Han s e ), th L g Fl , Po ets i n need of untouched romantic subjec ts will fin d this volume something i n the ’ - — i . u t l ook na ture of a gold m ne 0 . ’ e a co o a R a i a n d ds o f Those wh o know M r. L l nd s Etrus R m n em ns Legen v o wh o d o n ot Florenc e will need n o further introduc tion t o h is la test o lume . Th se ' c a nn ot afiord t o lose a moment in m aking themselves a cquainted with these humorous ” ' — . a m es s Ga z e e. an d ima ginative tales . S t y tt — W u n f r a eekl S . One of the brightest books we ha ve seen o long time . y

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