[178] John Clerk, a cadet of the house of Clerk, of Pennycuik, was born in 1689, and having studied medicine, became the first physician in Scotland. In 1740 he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians. He died in 1757.
[179] Sir John Clerk, second baronet of Pennycuik, was appointed a Baron of Exchequer in 1707. He was a patron of Allan Ramsay, and an ingenious antiquary. From his pen proceeded the song commencing, “O merry may the maid be that marries the miller.” He died 4th October, 1755.
[180] The Campbells of Succoth are descended from a branch of the ducal house of Argyll, their ancestors possessing Lochow, in Argyleshire (Nisbet’s Heraldry). John Campbell of Succoth, mentioned in the text, was progenitor of Archibald Campbell of Succoth, Principal Clerk of Session, and of Sir Islay Campbell, Lord President of the Court of Session.
[181] Anne, third wife of James fifth Duke of Hamilton, was daughter and co-heiress of Edmund Spencer, Esq., of Rendlesham, in the county of Suffolk.
[182] Sir William Gordon of Park, Bart., was grandson on the mother’s side of the celebrated Archbishop Sharp. He joined Prince Charles Edward in 1745, and was attainted, but the attainder was afterwards reversed. He died at Douay, 5th June, 1751.
[183] Charles Cochrane, of Ochiltree, grandson of the first Earl of Dundonald, succeeded his mother in the estate of Culross. He died in 1752.
[184] Charles Erskine, of Tinwald, third son of Sir Charles Erskine, Bart., of Alva, was admitted advocate in 1711. He was elected M.P. for the county of Dumfries in 1722, and nominated Solicitor-General in 1725. Raised to the bench in 1744 by the judicial title of Lord Tinwald, he was in 1748 promoted as Lord Justice Clerk. He died at Edinburgh, on the 5th April, 1763. Lord Tinwald combined a dignified deportment with much suavity of manner.
[185] Sir Walter Pringle, of Newhall, was called to the Bar in 1687. After enjoying a high reputation as a pleader, he was raised to the bench, as Lord Newhall, in June, 1718. He died 14th December, 1736, and the judges in their robes attended his funeral. The Faculty of Advocates commended him in their records, and the poet Hamilton, of Bangor, composed his epitaph.
[186] Sir Alexander Ogilvy of Forglen, Bart., second son of George Ogilvy, second Lord Banff, was Commissioner for the Burgh of Banff from 1702 to 1707. Admitted advocate, he was in 1706 appointed a Lord of Session, when he assumed the title of Lord Forglen. He died 30th March, 1727.
[187] The first wife of William, fourth earl of Dumfries, was the Lady Anne Gordon, only daughter of William, second Earl of Aberdeen. She died in 1755.