A memoir of Lady Colquhoun
IK c if^^^^^^^^HUi 1 1 ^^^H 1 i[! ^^^^^Hi ||i 1 1' i I ♦ / ^^^^^^^^^^ ...1 i\ ^^'^^'^ "'^' '" "" .......I J^ .■: «' -<'^/ BR 1725 .C55 H3 1850 Hamilton, James, 1814-1867 A memoir of Lady Colquhoun \ n /z. 6^ ,^-^-^^ ^ A MEMOIR LADI COLQUHOUN BY JAMES HAMILTON, D.D. AUTHOR or "life in earnest," "mount of olives," "harp on THE WILLOWS," "THANKFULNESS," "LIFE OF HALL," AND "the happy HOME." NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROAUVVAY, 1850. PREFACE. When the Editor was requested to compile this Memoir, he could not forget his scanty leisure, and his hmited acquaintance with Lady Colquhoun. But the invitation of her family, the belief that a near rel- ative of his own, now no more, would have responded to it with all the eagerness of his fervent nature, and the hope that such a narrative might be blessed to the reproduction of similar characters, at length in- duced him to make the attempt. In the prosecution of his undertaking, the Compiler has felt both the lack and the excess of materials. To the affectionate diligence of a family who cannot revere too devotedly the memory of such a parent, and who have kindly put at his disposal all Remains and Recollections hkely to illustrate her history, he is indebted for documents which might easily expand this memorial fourfold. On the other hand, many most valuable portions of her Ladyship's correspond- IV PREFACE. ence are gone beyond recall. One series of her let- ters perished in a conflagration ; another was lost at sea ; and many have disappeared as they passed into hands less careful than theirs who first received them. And, precious as is her Diary, having been kept for uses entirely personal, it contains few singular or ex- trinsic incidents. The difficulty of selection has been great. Many references are omitted which would have been peculiarly gratifying to relatives and friends ; and many passages, in themselves so edify- ing, that their suppression caused a pang at the mo- ment, and still leaves a misgiving. But, in a printed book, as in a public address, the writer well knows that the most venial fault is bre^^ty ; and his only gi'ief will be, if, in trying to earn that pleasant cen- sure, he has failed to do justice to one whose rare ex- cellence merited a copious record and a more skilful biographer. London, August 10, 1849. CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. FAGB Sir John Sinclair — Tliurso Castle — Lady Janet Sinclair — Nurse Morris — Stoke Newington — The Sisters — Dr. Walter Buchanan, and Wilberforce's "Practical VieV ....... 7 CHAPTER II. Rossdhu and Loch Lomond — Sir James Colquhoun — Dr. Stuart, of Luss — Aristocratic Society in Scotland long ago — Commencement of the Diary — A Mother's Leg- acy ....... 28 CHAPTER in. Death of Mss Hannah Sinclair — Luss and Arrochar Bible Society— The Poor of Scotland Thirty Years ago — Nelly — " Despair and Hope" — BeU Macintyre — Tract Distribution— The School of Industry— The Sab- bach School — "Kirkings"— The Diary— Dr. Alex. Stewart— Mr. Legh Richmond— Dr. Chalmers— Miss Jane FarreU 11 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE Publications — "Impressions of the Heart" — Dr. Colqu- houn, of Leith — Dr. Hamilton, of Strathblane— Dr. Malan — A Daughter's Marriage — First Visit to Brigh- ton— The Pavilion and the Sabbath — "Be not far off; for Grief is near" — The Ilhiess and Death of Sir John Sinclair and Sir James Colquhoun . . .143 CHAPTER V. "Thy Maker is thy Husband" — Class for grown-up Girls — Lady Colquhoun's Talent in Expounding Scripture — Visits to Suffolk — Labors amongst the Cottagers of Stutton and the Inhabitants of Thistle-street — Let- ters to Miss S.— Sunday Trains . . .200 CHAPTER VI. The Disruption— The Free Church at Luss — Societies — Education in India — Irish Mission — Gaehc Schools — Making a Friend of the Unrighteous Mammon — Piety at Home — Servants — Diary concluded — Death of her Daughter-in-law and Lady Sinclair . . . 233 CHAPTER VIL Sunset in Autumn — Waiting for Spring . , . 268 CHAPTER I. O SATISFY US EAKLY AVITH THY MERCY; THAT "W^E MAY REJOICE AND BE GLAD ALL OUR DAYS. PSALM XC. 14. I do remember them, their pleasant brows So mark'd with pure affections, and the glance Of their raild eyes, when, in the house of God, They gather'd up the manna that did fall Like dew aiound, MRS. SIGOURNKY. To few of her sons is Scotland more indebted than to the late Sir John Sinclair, of Ulbster. Entering into active life at an early age, for sixty busy years he was constantly spending m the service of his neighbors and his country excellent talents and a good estate. Whilst yet a lad at college he gave earnest of that passion for improvement, and that dauntless enterprise, which distinguished him through hfe. Among its many wants, his native Caith- O LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. ness wanted roads, and it was in vain that Mr. Sinclair urged his brother landowners to supply the deficiency. There was a steep hill, called Ben Cheilt, which ran right through the county, and as an objection to the turnpike, at once witty and fatal, it was always asked, " When will you show us a road over Ben Cheilt?" But one summer morning, having beforehand provided great store of implements, the young laird mustered on the spot 1200 laborers, and ere nightfall a good carriage-way was thrown over this terrible mountain. And much of his subsequent career was the same exploit re- peated. In every undertaking he laiew that he must look for a Ben Cheilt,— a Hill Diffi- culty, on which all the timid and all the lazy would take their stand ; and he always sought to surmount it by some brilliant and conclusive operation. And by dint of his own heroic exertions, and by the aid of those friends whom his reputation and his systematic obligingness were perpetually acquiiing, he accomphshed many works of enormous labor and of more than national utility. Encouraged by the success of his schemes for improving the hus- bandry of his own ungenial realms, he founded LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. 9 that Board of Agriculture which has intro- duced a new era in the tillage of the empire, whilst his untiring labors have left his name associated with the productive fisheries and thriving sheep-farms of Scotland. The list of his publications fills thirty pages of print ; and if the themes be too various, and if fresh pro- jects succeed one another too rapidly, they show the industry of the student who could impart information on subjects so diverse, and the benevolence of the statesman whose only concern was to make other people rich and contented. His "Statistical Account of Scot- land"* is a trophy of his unconquerable energy and unwearied good-humor. It was a task for which, saving the engineer of Ben Cheilt, few would have had faith or perseverance suffi- cient. In order to compile it, he required answers to one hundred and sixty queries from nearly a thousand ministers. To many of his correspondents, such topics were strange or distasteful, and all of them encountered diffi- culties in the shyness, and sometimes in the superstition, of their natural informants. Ten- ants would not tell the produce of their farms * In twenty-one volumes, octavo. 10 LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. for fear that their rents should be raised, and Highland shepherds would not count their flocks, lest their vain curiosity should entail a judgment on the fleecy people. But, by a judicious admixture of coaxing and objurga- tion, the sanguine Baronet quickened the dili- gence of the ministers, and by patience and adroitness, the ministers ehcited the essential facts from their over-cautious parishioners. One laid aside his Cicero and another his "PoU Synopsis" till he should complete his census of pigs, poultry, and milch-kine. Pro- fessor Cooper grew archaeological over the "Auld Wives' Lift" and Dr. Gibb waxed curious in acoustics :* in stately periods, worthy of a Scottish Johnson, Mr. Sheriff told how many pounds of clover, and how many firlots of rye-grass were sown, in order to procure a hundred stones of hay ; whilst the melhfluous cadence of Dr. Mackinla}^ lent new charms to * Witness the clever and well-bred echo at Mugdock Castle : " Opposite to this tower is heard a very extraordinary echo. It repeats any sentence of six syllables, in the exact tone, and with the very accent, in which it is uttered; waiting deliberately till the sentence is finished before it begins." — Stat. Acct. xviii. 579. LIFE OF LADY COLQ,UHOUN. 11 printed calicoes, duffles, serges, and mancoes, and all fabrics which owed their glory to Kilmarnock and to "creelman's composition." When the mighty work was completed, no country possessed a survey of its internal re- sources so comprehensive, or local histories so minute, as were contained in its elaborate pages. It greatly helped to create the science of statistics, and to the Scottish antiquarian it is a record of ever-growing value. — When to such literary and economic toils, we add that in mellow age he could reckon two hundred of his countrymen who owed their worldly advancement to his friendly offices, and that he numbered among his friends and corres- pondents half the renowned names of Europe, we shall convey some idea of his wide ac- quaintance with his contemporaries, as w^ell as a specimen of his ceaseless and kind-hearted activity.* When the heir of Ulbster was still young, full * For interesting memorials of Sir John Sinclair we are indebted to the filial affection of both a son and a daughter. See Miss Catherme Sinclair's " Shetland and the Shetland- ers ;" and " Memoirs of the late Right Honorable Sir John Sinclair, Bart" by Archdeacon Sinclair. 12 LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. of the chivalry which ihrough his stiong-mincled mother. Lady Janet,* he had derived from the ancient house of Sutherland, and exulting in all the possibilities of an existence which he meant to fill with noble deeds, at the residence of Mr. Maitland, at Stoke Newington, he saw a young lady, whose rare attractions drew many admirers round her. Of these none could be more ardent than Mr. Sinclair, and he soon won the affections of a congenial mind. But Miss Maitland was an only child and an heir- ess, and her mother grudged that her future liome should be so far away. However, the same love which would fain have kept her daughter near her, could not long gainsay that daughter's deliberate choice ; and ere long the sanction of either parent gave to the happy suitor his lovely bride. Nine years passed pros- perously. Mr. Sinclair was in Parliament ; his * Lady Janet was daughter of William Lord Strathnaver, ■who, had he sm-vived his father, would have been seven- teenth Earl of Sutherland. Her sister, Lady Helen Suther- land, married Su" James Colqulioun, of Luss, grandfather of that Sh James who became the husband of Miss Janet Sin- clair. Consequently, Lady Colqulioun and her husband were LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. 13 knowledge of finance made him an authority on that great question of the day, and gained him tlie special favor of the Premier. He had received the promise of a Baronetcy,* and was daily rising into higher political influence and public celebrity, when his flattering prospects were shrouded in sudden gloom by the removal of his much-loved partner. Along with the memory of her feminine graces and endearing gentleness, Mrs. Sinclair left her representatives in two little girls, almost too young to miss her, but still so like her, that, in the daughters, there was a promise that the mother would appear again. Hannah, the oldest, was five years of age, and Janet, of whom we are now to write, was only four. She was born in London on the 17th of April, 1781, and during her infancy her parents resided at Westminster and White- hall. The first home of these motherless children was their ancestral seat, Thurso Castle. That stormy mansion looked more like a nursery for * After his wife's death, as Mr. Smclair had no son, by a very unusual concession to the feelings of his friend, Mr. Pitt made out the patent of Baronetcy in favor of Su- John, with remainder to liis daughters and their heirs male. 2 14 LIFE OP LADY COLQ.UHOUN. a lord of the isles, or like, what it was at first, the ocean-nest of the amphibious Caithness earls, than a retreat for tender orphans, cradled beneath a southern sun. But in that grim old castle the Orphans' Guardian had provided for them all but a mother's care. Not only was it the frequent resort of their fond surviv- ing parent, but it was the permanent abode of their paternal grandmother, a Scottish gentle- woman of the olden school, shrewd, energetic, notable, proud of her ancient lineage, and, as became the descendant of that venerable peer who first affixed his tremulous autograph to Scotland's Covenant, a firm adherent to the Presbyterian polity ; one who looked w^ell to the ways of her household, and indited horta- tory epistles to youthful clergymen ; but also one who, amidst all the strictness of a mana- ger, and all the stateliness of a high-born dame, carried about that constitutional kindli- ness, and those profound affections, which — like a deep well fenced with rustic masonry — ■ the old mothers of Scotland sometimes hid within a dry or stoic manner. Lady Janet now lived for the daughters of her son, and though perhaps imperfectly acquainted with LIFE OP LADY COLaUHOUN. 15 the distinguishing truths of the Gospel, it was her anxiety to bring up her youthful charge religiously. She constantly took them to the parish church, and then examined them on the sermons they had heard, and required them every Sabbath to repeat to her a Psalm and the Shorter Catechism. At the Castle also resided their father's sister, a kind lady, who, throughout her long life, never ceased to be much loved by her nieces.* And there, too, so- journed a judicious and affectionate servant — the English nurse, Morris — to whose warm- hearted counsels and simple Bible lessons her youthful charge were at that period more in- debted than to any human influence. Herself a guileless and God-fearing Christian, this faithful attendant imbued the minds of her young mistresses with much of her own truth- fulness and reverence for sacred things. One Sabbath Miss Jessie came in with a lapful of live shell-fish, which she had gathered on the shore at a great distance from the Castle. " I think, my dear," said Morris, " you should not * She afterwards became !Mi-3. 16 LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. have gathered them on the Sabbath-day ; you had better put them again where you got them." Miss Jessie disappeared, and was late of return- ing. She had scrambled back the whole way along that rocky coast, till she came as nearly as she could judge to the spot where she had found the periw inkles, and then put them care- fully back again. To her latest day she re- tained the simplicity and ingenuousness, as w^ell as the respect for the Sabbath, which she learned thus early ; and to her latest day, Nurse Morris experienced the gratitude of the Misses Sinclair, who provided her with an ample annuity, and were careful that in health, as in sickness, she should w^ant no comfort which money could procure. From Thurso Castle it was a grand sight to view the Pentland Frith in its winter's fury — and the sisters often viewed it. On the short December days — in Caithness extremely short • — they would stand and watch as one long wave after another swung home, and exploded be- neath them ; till at last some monster billow, with skirmishers streaming before him, rolled up to the charge, and as he burst on tlie base- ment, the windows were washed with brine, LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. 17 and the old tower shook like a lighthouse. To gaze on that stormy ocean, and listen to its noisy anthem, were great lessons ; and even in these our days of infant training, it might be well if more provision were made for such book- less education, and the young mind were per- mitted to commune more freely with nature in her wild and gentle moods. The subject of this memoir often reverted to the solemn and awe-struck emotions with which she used to survey the many waves of that mighty sea. To her it lived. In its gambols it was a famil- iar and a play-fellow; in its turmoil it was a preacher of Jehovah's majesty ; and when for- mal instructions had nearly faded from remem- brance, she was still conscious of lofty thoughts, and grave impressions, derived from this august but kindly tutor. From Thurso Castle Lady Janet brought her grand-daughters to Edinburgh. There, for three years they dwelt in the ancient Canon- gate, whose quaint houses were still occupied by such of the aristocracy as had not migrated to the New Town ; and then, to complete their education, they were sent to the school at Stoke Newington, where their own mother had spent 2* 18 LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. her youthful days. Mrs. Crisp, by whom this school was conducted, received the children of her former pupil with a very warm affection, and, in her well-ordered establishment, the business of learning went briskly forward. The different branches were taught by the best teachers ; the Misses Sinclair enjoyed good health, and were endowed with excellent abili- ties ; they had already acquired the most essen- tial elements of knowledge before coming to London, and they had every incentive to study which the affection of their governess and the good-will of their companions could supply. Accordingly, they made signal proficiency, and w^ien, at the respective ages of fifteen and six- teen, they returned to Edinburgh, in person and acquirements advanced beyond their years, they found a ready welcome into that brilhant society to which their birth was a passport, and into which their kind mother-in-law, Lady Sinclair,* rejoiced to introduce them. * The second wife of Sir John Sinclair was the only daugh- ter of Lord Macdonald. She was not more eminent for beauty and accomplishments, than for benevolence and sweetness of disposition. The attachment of the Misses Sinclair towards her was warm and well deserved, for she was always a kind LIFE OF LADY COLGIUHOUN. 19 However, it was the great happiness of the sisters that even they had no love of fashion and no turn for gaiety. And it was their otlier great happiness that they had an ardent love for one another. Hannah was a student. Even during her childish days at Thurso, she had nearly as many friends as there were books in her father's library. She knew the haunt of each, and climbing on a chair got hold of her favorite poet or divine, and sat demurely read- ing whilst the summer tempted her to play. To her it was the great event, not when the carrier brought a package of new toys, but a parcel of new volumes ; and when ministers and learned people visited the Castle, she posed them with hard questions. At school the same tendency bewrayed itself. Her turn was still for thought and knowledge. She was fond of languages ; she was an adept in grammar, history, geography, arithmetic ; she could cal- culate an eclipse, or analyze "Reid's Inquiry." And, as might be expected, she was sedate and speculative, and often silent. From extreme modesty, reserved, she was still more self-con- mother and a faithful friend to them. She survived her hus- band ten years, and died in IS-iS. 20 LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. tallied, because amongst companions of her own sex she seldom found much sympathy in her intellectual pursuits. But Jessie was more hvely. Dutiful and diligent, and considerate of each one's feelings, she was full of merry life and social glee. There was health in her nimble step and a prepossession in her fair and open features, and a peculiar charm in her tuneful voice. To her sister's turn for music she added a remarkable command of the pencil ; and whilst her sister pored over problems and deep authors, Jessie read for information. Her sister pondered and reasoned, and carried with her a mind full of queries and surmises ; but Jessie seemed to have an innate affinity for things "honest, lovely, and of good report," al- most akin to Christian faith. At first sight contrasts, their characters were really the com- plement of one another. Their diversity in- creased their fondness, and enabled the one to supply what the other lacked. For her erudite and thoughtful sister the younger felt an admir- ing and up-looking deference ; whilst the hmpid perceptions and true instincts of that younger mind often proved lights in dark places to the more abstract inquirer. LIFE OP LADY COLaUHOUN. 21 At that period Dr. Walter Buchanan was one of the ministers of Canongate. His warm and affectionate nature had been cast in the mould of the Gospel, and as it shone from his happy countenance and breathed in his gra- cious words, holiness was very beautiful.* * Dr. Walter Buchanan was born in 1755. After he was licensed he received an invitation to become the minister of the Scotch Church at Rotterdam, and was also called to the chapel of South Leith, of whicli Dr. Colquhoun was for so many years the eminent pastor. But instead of either charge he accepted the office of assistant to Mr. Randall, of Stirling, whom he succeeded in 1780. In 1789 he was translated to the collegiate Church and parish of Canongate, where he remained until his death in 1832. He was a beau- tiful specimen of Christian urbanity and warm-heartedness, and his house was the natural resort of the pious Churchmen and Dissenters who in those days, — the days of Simeon, Rowland Hill, and George Bm-der, — came to Edinburgh, and who, until the year 1799, were allowed to occupy indiscrimi- nately the pulpits of the Scottish Establishment. Along with Dr. Davidson he was noted for his Uberal encourage- ment of pious students of Theology, and by the books which he lent them, the friendly advice which he gave them, and the many substantial services wliich he rendered them, find- ing a tutorship for one, and the office of schoolmaster or assistant minister for another, and frequently giving goodly sums to those in straitened circumstances, he became a gen- eral patron to all probationers of Evangelical sentiments in 22 LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. The sisters looked at him with reverence. They had been told a great deal about re- ligion, and they thought of it as something strict and precise; but they had never met anything so fascinating as they saw in their saintly pastor. They were quite arrested. Even amidst gay parties and volatile com- panions there followed them many a remin- iscence of those fervent intercessions and per- suasive counsels to which they had hearkened on the previous Sabbath. At last one day Miss Sinclair said to her sister, " If to obtain eternal life, we have only to practise goodness ; if we have only to do what is right in the sight Edinburgh. For many years he edited a periodical Tvhich supphed the godly faniihes in Scotland with missionary in- telligence and instructive Sabbath-reading, — " The Rehgious Monitor." With that constancy wliich was one of her love- liest characteristics, Lady Colquhoun never abated for one hour in the grateful and venerating affection with wlaich she regarded this eartlily guide of her youth ; and when, long afterwards, her own daughter was married, she felt it a hal- lowing and auspicious circumstance that the rite was solem- nized by her own spiritual father. And in liis widow, who sui'vived for fifteen years, she fomid one of her most esteem- ed and congenial friends. The house of Mrs. Buchanan was the last to which Lady C. paid a visit. LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. 23 of God and avoid what is evil, I am sure it would be folly not to make the attempt." And the proposal was made to one who had already been pondering the matter in her own mind, and who was beginning to be much im- pressed with the value of her soul and the un- certainty of life. The two resolved to become religious. They often retired and read the Bible together, and became very exact in de- votional exercises. But still they were not satisfied. They saw that their pastor and Christians like him, " had bread to eat which they knew not of," and they longed for this hidden manna. At this time they found on their father's table a Theological Treatise, newly published and inscribed, " From the au- thor." It was " A Practical View of the Re- ligious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes, by William Wil- berforce, M.P." It seemed the very book they wanted. They carried it oflf to their own apartments and perused it with avidity. They could easily recognize in it the same system of Evangelical doctrine which their minister preached, and, as one truth after another un- folded in the bland and eloquent expositions 24 LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. of the gifted author, they were transported with dehght. In the precision of a printed book, and in the free, inartificial language of a layman, they understood the Gospel. In Christ believed they found their peace with God ; in Christ loved they learned a new mo- rality. It was Dr. Buchanan's scriptural preaching and elevated walk which first pre- possessed them in favor of vital godliness, and which long continued to be the chief means of building them up in faith and holiness ; but it was the " Practical View" which first corrected their self-righteous errors and first taught them God's own method, — the rehgion of receiving and relying. After this the Canongate Church was dearer than ever. With sacred delight they hailed the return of the Sabbath, and to them the most hallowed spots in the world were tlie dusky pulpit in which re-appeared that man of God, and their own family pew with its faded lining of green baize. With its brown light, its heavy pillars, and clumsy sounding- board, and with an audience becoming rapidly more and more plebeian, that sanctuary had charms which more classical structures and LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN 25 more fashionable resorts could never counter- vail. It was the Bethel where God first met them, and during each sojourn in Edinburgh, the youngest sister used always to revisit it, till shortly before the time when she arrived at " her Father's house in peace." • Now, also, was found the benefit of " two walking together." Miss Sinclair's seriousness and reflectiveness at an earlier period had proved of essential service to Miss Janet; and now that service was requited, for, indulging the metaphysical propensity of her mind. Miss Sinclair was soon involved in perplexity as to the primary truths of revelation.* The doc- trines of the Trinity, the incarnation, the eter- nity of future punishment, the Divine sove- reignty, all in succession proved stumbling- blocks ; and though much distressed at her own reluctant doubts, she had not within her own resources the means of removing them. In spiritual matters her only confidant was her younger sister ; but a mind like hers could not have sought a better counsellor. To Miss * "We liere anticipate the narrative by a iew years. It •^as not till Miss S. had reached her 21st year that she felt the doubts described above. 3 26 LIFE OF LADY COLQUHOUN. Janet the Gospel had always been its own witness. She cared not to reason about " fate, free-will, foreknowledge, knowledge absolute :" but she saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. To her the religion of the Bible was beaurtful. To her, in His revealed char- acter, God was light, and she perceived no darkness at all. To her the Bible was truth, and the Gospel was the wisdom of God. And instead of debating with her sister, she directed her mind to the same objects which had assur- ed herself. That which she had seen of the Word of Life she declared to her disquieted friend ; and by dwelling on the fitness of the Gospel, and the loveliness of the Saviour's character, and by urging her to pray, she sought to bring that friend to "fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." And she succeeded. By means of the more prominent and practical truths of Christianity, she conjured away her sister's abstruser doubts and intellectual difficulties, and had the happi- ness to see that dearest of her kindred a sharer of her own ingenuous and healthful piety. Our language contains few summaries of Evangel- ical Christianity more simple and comprehen- LIFE OF LADY COLQ.UHOUN. 27 sive than Hannah Sinclair's "Letter on the Principles of the Christian Faith ;" and in reading it we feel our interest deepened by re- membering that tliis labor of sisterly love is in good measure the result of sisterly prudence and piety; for under the blessing of God the Spirit it was her younger sister's meekness of wisdom and simplicity in Christ which mainly contributed to establish Hannah Sinclair in the "Christian Faith." But an event had now occurred which, whilst it left them attached as ever, interrupt- ed their daily communings. On the 13th of June, 1799, and in the nineteenth year of her age. Miss Janet Sinclair was united in marriage to James, eldest son of Sir James ColquhouD of Luss, Baronet. CHAPTER II ORO"W IN GRACE, AND IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. 2 PETER IIL 18. Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth Wisely hast shiinn'd the broad way and the green, And with those few are eminently seen, That labor up the hill of heavenly truth, The better part, with Mary and with Ruth, Chosen thou hast. Thy care is fix'd, and zealously attends To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, And hope that reaps nut shame. Milton's sonnets. Has the reader ever spent a bright day on Loch Lomond ? Has he gone at leisure, and carried to it a spirit free from guilt and fore- boding ? Rising heaUhily and praying ear- nestly, has he opened his soul and consented beforehand to let in all the wonder and deliglit with which the great Creator may be pleased to fill it? And, in his own hired boat, drop- ping from isle to isle, has he taken leisure to LIFE OF LADY COLQ,UHOUN. 29 gaze and meditate and dissolve into the scene? And was there ever day hke that? Not that you can describe the sights unutterable; though you carry within yourself placid visions and sunny images of which you know that the origin was there: a silvery fulness, and stand- ing forth from it, mossy rocks and clumps of verdure; a giant mountain on a throne of empyrean, with a foot-stool of lazulite ; vistas through the hot and flickering air, such as the fire-tinted pencil of Turner only can depict ; pure summits and a polished flood, which made you think of the hills of immortality, and the snowy robes w^iicli sweep the sea of glass : whilst, like the music which breaks a dream and then makes it beatific, through all the trance there went and came the sense of a pervading Presence, — the nearness of that Eternal Wisdom which built the mountain and up to its green edging brimmed the flood. But though no words can restore the land- scape, you remember how it refined your per- ception and ennobled all your faculties : the fallow-deer on Inchlonaig and Inchmurrain grew tall as the elk, and you were sure that the hawk was an eagle. The Persicaria in 3* 30 LIFE OF LADY COLQUHOUN. the baj^s, with its rosy spikes, and the toad- flax on the beach, were new and gorgeous flowers ; and Bible texts and stanzas of favor- ite hymns thrilled j^ou with excessive emotion. You had put off the commonplace, and were clothed upon with fine and pellucid senses ; and there was no longer aught tame or vul- gar in the world, for you yourself were nobler. With a keen eye for its varied beauties, the subject of our biography now found her home in one of the loveliest regions of all tliese lovely shores. Surrounded by stately trees, and sheltered from the blast by the ferny slopes of a Highland Mountain, Rossdhu looks out upon Loch Lomond, where its waters are widest and its isles and margins fairest.* * A small volume has been compiled, describing tbe sen- sations of different travellers in visiting Niagara. A similar volume might be devoted to Loch Lomond. Such experi- ences are interestmg. Be it the perfection of grandeur or the perfection of beauty, the tendency of noble scenery is to concentrate the soul, and notliing can be more revealing of the real character than the genuine utterance of sucli intensi- fied moments. And, after the lake in all its loveliness had subsided mto her cahn and daily consciousness, few tilings •were more delightful to Lady Colqulioun than to witness the rapture of a fervent novice. Neai* the mansion of Rossdhu LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. 31 And, though encompassed by soft lawns and blossoming parteiTcs, it is near enough to the is the Island of luclitavanacli, from wLose elevated crest, tradition says, a great bell used to summon to their several chm-ches the people of four parishes. Of course, this belfry- knoll commands a splendid view ; but, owing to liis lame- ness, it was with some difficulty that they dragged Legh Richmond to the summit. Once there, however, they could not drag liim down ; but, slowly revolving his radiant visage, and thi-ough his great round-eyed spectacles devouring the landscape, he always hushed his fidgetty companions with the sentence, — " The eye is not satisfied with seeing." But a shorter glance sufficed his friend and contemporary, Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge. With l^s usual vivacity hapifouetted round to look at every object as they pointed it out ; then turning to his hospitable guide, he exclaimed, " Sir James, you tm-n to this side and you say, ' That is mine ;' and you tm-n to the other side and say, ' That is mine ;' but," lifting both his hands, " I look up and say. Heaven is mine !" On the same spot Dr. Chalmers exclaimed, " I wonder if there will be a Loch Lomond in heaven 1" And there Dr. Malan knelt do^vn, and poured forth the fulness of his heart in such a prayer as many have heard beside his own Lake of Geneva, Perhaps, however, the mood of mind most congenial to her own was that expressed by one whom she never person- ally knew. In the diary just published of the devoted mis- sionary, John Macdonald, he writes, " I took an opportunity of visiting Loch Lomond, and was exceedingly delighted. O how sweet and tranquil . was the bosom of the lake ! I thought of the ' peace of God that passeth understanding.' " 32 LIFE OF LADY COLQ,UHOUN. mountains to be constantly visited by breezes from the broom and the heather. Some of the windows look out on a ruined gable of that castle from which the fierce Sir Humphrey used to sally with his followers when he went to fight the Clan Gregor ; and near that castle, overshaded by ancient yews, is the roofless chapel, where the fierce Sir Humphrey was laid to sleep when all his fights were over. With its pictures and its library and its spa- cious halls, with three parishes for its manor and the queen of Scottish lakes for its out- look, and with all the self-contained luxury which marks the country-seat of a wealthy Baronet, at the period of life most susceptible of enjoyment, the younger Miss Sinclair found herself the lady of Rossdhu.* But the grace of God had full possession of her mind, and, amidst all the blandishments of smooth-going existence. He Himself was her chiefest joy, and His Word her chosen guide. Amidst all the charms of the landscape and the fascina- tions of refined society, she never neglected a household duty. "The lines have fallen to * Her father-in-la'w died, and she became Lady Colquhoun in 1805. LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. 33 me in pleasant places," was her devout ac- knowledgment regarding her earthly lot ; and, though embowered in scenes so fair that they almost justified the relaxation to which they perpetually tempted, she never ceased to hear a voice, authoritative and earnest, saying, " Occupy till I come." Of retiring habits, and fain to dwell among his own people. Sir James Colquhoun was much beloved by his dependants. Personally cognizant of their character and circumstances, there survived betwixt himself, his farmers, and cotters, the best relic of feudalism, — its mutual affection. He took the principal man- agement of his own estates, and never turned adrift on the world the orphan or the widow.* It was his greatest happiness to have a wife hke Lady Colquhoun. At first, proud of her looks and her elegant manners, he learned to * In early life Sir James had serred in the army. Having raised a company in his own neighborhood, according to the regulation at that period, he was appointed to the command of it, and thus joined his Regiment with the rank of Captain. He was afterwards elected Member of Parhament for the county of Dumbarton. On the death of his father he retired from the army, and chiefly resided on his estate, devoting himself to its improvement. 34 LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. value her gentle wisdom and unworldly good- ness, till at last harmony of affection merged in harmony of faith. She saw his prejudices against evangelical religion. Slie scarcely hoped to remove them by conversation ; but she prayed for " oil in her lamp," and sought to make her own light shine. Her prayers w^ere answered ; her consistency Avas rewarded. Her husband became gradually and more and more intelligently attached to the same prin- ciples. In appointing pastors to the eight parishes of which he w^as patron, it was his first anxiety to find ministers of fervent piety. And when, by and by, he was chosen an elder of the Church, and had a voice in its supreme Assembly, his vote was always given for those measures wliich conferred privileges on Chris- tian congregations, and which promised most effectually to extend the Gospel. Luss can boast of more than one celebrated divine. It was here that Maclaurin com- menced his eminent ministry, and here that he would have been content to spend his life in preaching those sermons so full of holy eloquence and magnificent theology. And it was here that John Colquhoun was born. In LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. 35 his boyhood he herded sheep on the Mulea Hill, and till thirty years of age plied the shuttle of a hand-loom weaver, when he got his heart's desire, — went to College, and be- came one of the most useful preachers and solid authors of the Scottish Church. But, for many years after Lady Colquhoun came to Rossdhu, the parish minister was Dr. John Stuart. Although not eminent as a preacher, he was famed for his scholarship and his scientific attainments. To his knowledge of the original Scriptures, and to the idiomatic purity of his Gaehc, the Highlanders are mainly indebted for the perfection which their version of the Bible has attained. And at a time when few cared for natural history, he was pursuing it with enthusiasm among the mountains of Breadalbane ; and with such success, that when Pennant, Lightfoot, and Sir Joseph Banks came to explore the Scottish Fauna and Flora, it w^as from Mr. Stuart they derived their most important information. The "Manse Garden," at Luss, contained many exotic rarities, and, still more interesting to the botanist, many of the scarcest plants of Scot- land ; and in that garden it was a great delight 36 LIFE OF LADY COLaUHOUN. 