“I had applied much to classical learning, and had more than ordinary inclination for Greek and Roman Antiquities.
“I understood pictures better than became my Purse, and as to Musick I ... performed better, especially on the Herpsicord, than became a gentleman.
“This, to the best of my knowledge, is a faithful account of myself.”
The volumes are illustrated with over fifty drawings of the landscapes, buildings, statues, etc., which he had seen during his travels, “a few of many hundreds executed while I was abroad.”
In 1702 he was elected member for Whithorn in Galloway, which he represented till 1707; and his “History” contains curious particulars of the last sittings of the Scottish Parliament, and personal references to the prominent political figures of the period,—to the Duke of Queensberry, the Duke of Argyll, the Marquis of Tweeddale, the Earl of Stair, Robert Dundas, second Lord Arniston, and Fletcher of Salton—“a man of republican principles,” “a little untoward in temper, and much inclined to Eloquence.” In 1706-7, through the influence of the Duke of Queensberry, his first wife’s cousin, and the Duke of Argyll, he was appointed a Commissioner for the Union; and in the following year he became one of the Barons of the newly constituted Court of Exchequer in Scotland.
From this period till his death on the 4th of October 1755, his life was occupied with his official duties; with planting and improving his various estates; with the classical studies to which he continued faithful all his days; with the composition of various learned pamphlets, several of which have been published—his “Historical View of the Forms and Powers of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland,” written in conjunction with Baron Scrope, having been edited by Sir Henry Jardine in 1820; in the enjoyment of the society of his friend Allan Ramsay, the poet; and in correspondence with Roger Gale, and with Alexander Gordon, in the subscription list of whose “Itinerarium Septentrionale” he is entered for “five books,” in company with such well-known names as “Mr. Adams, Architect”; “The Right Hon. Duncan Forbes, Lord Advocate of Scotland”; “James Gibbs, Esq., Architect”; “The Right Hon. The Lord Lovat”; “Richard Mead, M.D.”; “The Hon. Sir Hans Sloane, Bart.”; and “Mr. John Smibert,” the portrait-painter. Gordon styles him “not only a treasure of learning and good taste, but now one of its chief supports in that country,” and pronounces that “among all the collections of Roman antiquities in Scotland, that of Baron Clerk claims the preference, both as to number and curiosity.” It was one of the Baron’s antiquarian experiences at a supposed Roman camp on his property of Dumcrieff, in Dumfriesshire, which, narrated to Scott by his son, John Clerk of Eldin, suggested the episode of the “Prætorium” in “The Antiquary.”
Occasionally across the quiet and characteristic pages that narrate his daily doings there falls the shadow of larger national events: of the Rebellion of 1715,—“The Earl of Mar was not only my acquaintance but my particular friend”; of the South Sea Scheme, in connection with which Clerk held stock, and was a consequent sufferer; and of the Rebellion of 1745, when the Highlanders in occupation of Edinburgh visited Penicuik House, demanding food and drink.
As a poet—or, at least, a rhymester—the Baron is known by the really vigorous verses which he added to the single surviving stanza of the old Scotch song
“O merry may the maid be
That marries the miller,”