THE BRUCES OF ELGIN (CONCLUDED).
DWARD, eldest son of the deceased Lord, succeeded as second ri Lord Bruce of Kinloes. He was invested with the Order of the Bath at the coronation of Prince Henry, June, 1610, and was one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber to King James. He was killed in August, 1613, in a duel fought at Bergen-op-Zoom with Sir Edward Sackville, Earl of Dorset. We abridge Mr. Chambers's account of the fatal affair :—"They were gay young men, living a life of pleasure in London, and in good friendship with each other, when some occurrence arising out of their pleasures divided them in an irremediable quarrel. Clarendon states that on Sackville's part the cause 'was unwarrantable.' Lord Kinloss in his chal- lenge restals to us that they had shaken hands after the first offence, but with this remarkable expression on his own part, that he reserved the heart for a better reconciliation. Afterwards, in France, Kinloss learnt that Sackville spoke injuriously of him, and immediately wrote to propose a hostile meeting. 'Be master,'' he said, of your own weapons and time; the place wheresoever I will wait on you. By doing this you will shorten revenge, and clear the idle opinion the world ha,th of both our worths.' Sack- vine received this letter at his father-in-law's house in Derbyshire, and he lost no time in establishing himself with his friend Sir John Heidon at Tergoso, in Zealand, where he wrote to Lord Sackville), so as to come to an agreement for mutually releasing Before the death of his father, the first Earl, Robert Lord their weapons. At last Sackville (who had lost a finger in this Bruce represented the county of Bedford in the Convention tussle), with a kick and a wrench together freed his long capti. Parliament of 1660 and the Parliament of 16M. On the 18th of vated weapon,' and pointing it at Bruce's throat, demanded if he March, 1664, he was created Baron Bruce of Skelton, in Yorkshire, would ask for his life or yield his sword, 'both which,' says (the original seat of the Anglo-Flemish Braces, which had, how- Sackville, though in that imminent danger, he bravely denied to ever, passed into other families), Viscount Bruce, of Ampthill in do.' He then says that, being wounded himself, and feeling loss Bedfordshire, and Earl of Ailesbury (or Aylesbury) in Bucking- of blood, having three conduits running on me, which began to make hamshire. In 1667 he was one of the six peers who, with twelve me faint,' and through remembrance of Bruce's former bloody of the House of Commons, were commissioned to take an account desire, he struck at his heart, but missing it, the sword passed of such moneys as had been raised and assigned to King Charles through his body, and drawing out my sword, I repassed it again II. during the war with the Dutch. On October 18, 1678, he was through another place, when he cried, ' Oh ! I am slain !' seconding sworn a Privy Councillor, was one of the gentlemen of the King's his speech with all the force he had to cast me ; but being too weak, bedchamber, and a commissioner for executing the office of Earl after I had defended his assault, I easily became master of him, Marshal of England. At the coronation of James II. (VII. of laying him on his back, when, being upon him, I redemanded if he Scotland) the Earl carried St. Edward's Staff, and on the 30th of would request his life, but it seemed he prized it not at so dear July, 1685, had the White Staff delivered to him by the King as a rate to be beholden for it, bravely replying 'he scorned it.' Lord Chamberlain. He died on the 20th of October in the Which answer of his was so noble and worthy, as I protest I could same year. He was a man of considerable learning and studious not find in my heart to offer him any more violence, only keeping habits, well versed in antiquities, a patron of learned men, and a him down, until at length his surgeon, afar off, cried out he collector of MSS., especially those that related to England. Five would immediately die if his wounds were not stopped.' Where- of his sons died young, and he was succeeded by his son Thomas, upon I asked if he desired his surgeon should come, which he third Earl of Elgin and second Earl of Ailesbury. He was an accepted of. This thus ended, I returned to my surgeon, in ardent Jacobite, but made no scruple of taking the oath of elle- whose arms, after I had remained awhile for loss of blood, I giance to William in 1689, or of breaking it afterwards. In 1690, lost my sight, and withal, as I then thought, my life also. when it was known that William was about to cross the seas for But strong water and his diligence quickly recovered me, when his Irish campaign, Ailesbury, with Dartmouth and Clarendon, I escaped a great danger. For my lord's surgeon, when nobody formed an extensive plot against him. In 1695 he was again one dreamt of it, came full at me with his lord's sword, and had of the Jacobite conspirators who met together on William's leaving not mine, with my sword, interfered, himself, I had been for the Continent at the Old King's Head in Leadenhall Street. slain by those base hands, although my Lord Bruce, weltering in Still Ailesbury always denied that he had ever thought of effecting his blood, and past all expectation of life, conformable to all his a revolution by immoral means. However, he crossed the seas, former carriage, which was undoubtedly noble, cried out, 'Rascal, and was admitted to a private conversation with the French King, hold thy hand!' Perhaps in imitation of his great kinsman in which a plan was laid for the following winter. Next year, on the Bruce,' the heart of Edward, Lord Kinloss, was inclosed the detection of Fenwick's plot, Ailesbury was arrested and sent to
in a silver case, brought to Scotland, and deposited in the Abbey the Tower, and narrowly escaped the block. He had married Eliza- Church of Culross, near the family seat. The tale of the Silver beth, sister and heir of William, Duke of Somerset, with whom he
Heart had faded into a family tradition of a very obscure got the great Wiltshire estates which form the basis of the present character when, in 1808, this sad relic was discovered, bearing on property of the Marquis of Ailesbury, and return two scions of the exterior the name of the unfortunate duellist, and containing the family to the House of Commons. The Countess had been what was believed to be the remains of a human heart. It was greatly alarmed at the arrest of her husband, and "had watched again deposited in its original place, with an inset iption calcu- with intense anxiety the proceedings against Sir John Fenwick.
dated to make the matter clear to posterity. The Bruce motto, Her lord had been as deep as Sir John in treason," and "she Furatus,' is also seen on the wall." A picture of this relic is given learned with dismay that there was a method by which a criminal by Mr. Chambers (Domestic Annals of Scotland, Vol. I., p. 450). who was beyond the reach of the ordinary law might be punished. puperstition has added its contribution to the miserable story. Her terror had increased at every stage in the progress of the bill The writer of a treatise on Second Sight, published in 1763, assures of attainder" against Sir John. "On the day on which the us that "the unfortunate Lord Bruce saw distinctly the figure Royal assent was to be given her agitation became greater than
or impression of a mort-head On the lucking-glass in his cham_ her frame could support. When she heard the sound of the guns
ber that very morning he set out for the fatal rendezvous, where which announced that the King was on his way to Westminster, he lost his life in a duel, and asked of some that stood by him if she fell into fits, and died in a few hours," on the 11th of January, they observed that strange appearance, which they answered in 1697. Perhaps partly from compassion at this domestic calamity the negative. His remains," continues the writer, "were in. Ailesbury's life was spared, and he was allowed to retire to Brussels terred at Bergen-op-Zoom, over which a monument was erected, in 1698, and died there in November, 1741. During his exile he with the emblem of a looking-glass, impressed with a mort-head, married a second time, a foreign lady of rank. He was succeeded to perpetuate the surprising representation, which seemed to indi- by his son (by the first marriage) Charles, fourth Earl of Elgin, cate his approaching untimely end. I had this narrative from a and third Earl of Ailesbury, who was elected as member for Great field officer whose honour and candour are beyond suspicion, as Bedwin in the Parliaments of 1707, 1708, and 1710, and in the he had it from General Stuart, in the Dutch service. The moan- last also for Marlborough (now represented by Lord Ernest Bruce), meat stood entire for a long time, until it was partly defaced for which latter place he preferred to sit. He was summoned to when that strong place was reduced by the weakness or treachery the Upper House as Lord Bruce of Whorlton on the 31st of
of Cronetrom, the Governor." This is unfortunate. Whom December, 1711, being one of the twelve peers summoned that
General Stuart had the story from (the important link) does not day to secure a majority for the Tory administration. On the appear. 17th of April, 1746, he was created Baron Bruce of Tollenham, in Kinloss that he would wait for his arrival. The other immediately The unlucky duellist was succeeded by his brother, Thomas,
proceeded thither, accompanied by an English gentleman called third Lor4 Bruce of Kinloss, who had a charter of the barony Crawford, who was to act as his second, and also by a surgeon and of Pittencrieff, June 23, 1632. Attending King Charles into a servant. They met, accompanied by their respectiveafriends, at a Scotland next year, he was at the time of the coronation created spot near Bergen-op-Zoom, where but a village divided the States Earl of Elgin by a patent dated June 21, 1633, with remainder territories from the Spanish Netherlands, so as to evade the justice to his heirs male for ever bearing the name and arms of Bruce. of the country whose laws they violated. According to Sackville, On the let of August, 1641, he was created a peer of England, by whose narrative of the actual duel still remains, Bruce had, in the title of Baron Bruce of Whorlton, in Yorkshire. He adhered choosing his adversary's weapon, expressed some bloodthirsty in the civil war to the cause of the Parliament throughout, being sentiments, that gave him reason to hope for little mercy if he should one of the most regular in his attendance at Westminster, even be the vanquished party. But we must remember that it was Sack. when the affairs of the Parliament were in their most disastrous vine's policy to endeavour by every means in his power to extenuate condition. He survived the Restoration, and died December 21, the extremities to which he himself proceeded. The duel was fought 1663, being succeeded by his only son Robert, second Earl of in a meadow ancle-deep at least in water. They stripped off their Elgin, who on the Restoration was appointed Lord-Lieutenant doublets and attacked each other. Sackville received two severe of Bedford (July 26, 1660). The custody of the " Great Park" sword wounds, one in his sword-arm and the other in his breast. of Ampthill in that county had been granted by the Crown in They then grappled each other's swords, and remained struggling 1613 to Lord Bruce, and the lease continued in the family till the thus, neither venturing to rely on the good faith of the other (says year 1738, when it was purchased by the Duke of Belford.
Sackville), so as to come to an agreement for mutually releasing Before the death of his father, the first Earl, Robert Lord their weapons. At last Sackville (who had lost a finger in this Bruce represented the county of Bedford in the Convention tussle), with a kick and a wrench together freed his long capti. Parliament of 1660 and the Parliament of 16M. On the 18th of vated weapon,' and pointing it at Bruce's throat, demanded if he March, 1664, he was created Baron Bruce of Skelton, in Yorkshire, would ask for his life or yield his sword, 'both which,' says (the original seat of the Anglo-Flemish Braces, which had, how- Sackville, though in that imminent danger, he bravely denied to ever, passed into other families), Viscount Bruce, of Ampthill in do.' He then says that, being wounded himself, and feeling loss Bedfordshire, and Earl of Ailesbury (or Aylesbury) in Bucking- of blood, having three conduits running on me, which began to make hamshire. In 1667 he was one of the six peers who, with twelve me faint,' and through remembrance of Bruce's former bloody of the House of Commons, were commissioned to take an account desire, he struck at his heart, but missing it, the sword passed of such moneys as had been raised and assigned to King Charles through his body, and drawing out my sword, I repassed it again II. during the war with the Dutch. On October 18, 1678, he was through another place, when he cried, ' Oh ! I am slain !' seconding sworn a Privy Councillor, was one of the gentlemen of the King's his speech with all the force he had to cast me ; but being too weak, bedchamber, and a commissioner for executing the office of Earl after I had defended his assault, I easily became master of him, Marshal of England. At the coronation of James II. (VII. of laying him on his back, when, being upon him, I redemanded if he Scotland) the Earl carried St. Edward's Staff, and on the 30th of would request his life, but it seemed he prized it not at so dear July, 1685, had the White Staff delivered to him by the King as a rate to be beholden for it, bravely replying 'he scorned it.' Lord Chamberlain. He died on the 20th of October in the Which answer of his was so noble and worthy, as I protest I could same year. He was a man of considerable learning and studious not find in my heart to offer him any more violence, only keeping habits, well versed in antiquities, a patron of learned men, and a him down, until at length his surgeon, afar off, cried out he collector of MSS., especially those that related to England. Five would immediately die if his wounds were not stopped.' Where- of his sons died young, and he was succeeded by his son Thomas, upon I asked if he desired his surgeon should come, which he third Earl of Elgin and second Earl of Ailesbury. He was an accepted of. This thus ended, I returned to my surgeon, in ardent Jacobite, but made no scruple of taking the oath of elle- whose arms, after I had remained awhile for loss of blood, I giance to William in 1689, or of breaking it afterwards. In 1690, lost my sight, and withal, as I then thought, my life also. when it was known that William was about to cross the seas for But strong water and his diligence quickly recovered me, when his Irish campaign, Ailesbury, with Dartmouth and Clarendon, I escaped a great danger. For my lord's surgeon, when nobody formed an extensive plot against him. In 1695 he was again one dreamt of it, came full at me with his lord's sword, and had of the Jacobite conspirators who met together on William's leaving not mine, with my sword, interfered, himself, I had been for the Continent at the Old King's Head in Leadenhall Street. slain by those base hands, although my Lord Bruce, weltering in Still Ailesbury always denied that he had ever thought of effecting his blood, and past all expectation of life, conformable to all his a revolution by immoral means. However, he crossed the seas, former carriage, which was undoubtedly noble, cried out, 'Rascal, and was admitted to a private conversation with the French King, hold thy hand!' Perhaps in imitation of his great kinsman in which a plan was laid for the following winter. Next year, on the Bruce,' the heart of Edward, Lord Kinloss, was inclosed the detection of Fenwick's plot, Ailesbury was arrested and sent to
in a silver case, brought to Scotland, and deposited in the Abbey the Tower, and narrowly escaped the block. He had married Eliza- Church of Culross, near the family seat. The tale of the Silver beth, sister and heir of William, Duke of Somerset, with whom he
Heart had faded into a family tradition of a very obscure got the great Wiltshire estates which form the basis of the present character when, in 1808, this sad relic was discovered, bearing on property of the Marquis of Ailesbury, and return two scions of
Wiltshire, with remainder to his nephew, the Hon. Thomas Bruce Brudenell, youngest son of George, Earl of Cardigan, and lie died without surviving mile issue, February 10, 1747, when the title of Earl of Ailesbury became extinct (being subsequently revived. June 8, 1776, in the person of his nephew, the ancestor of the present Brudenell-Bruce line, to whom the Wiltshire property passed.) The title of Earl of Elgin, however, devolved on the last Earl's heir male, Charles, Earl of Kincardine, descended from Sir George Bruce of Cannock, next brother to the first Lord Bruce, of Kinloss, who is described as a man of ability and sagacity, well acquainted with the trade and manufactures of his country. He settled at Culross, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, where be established extensive and flourishing coal-works. He also carried on the manu- facture of salt to a great extent, and was engaged in considerable foreign trade. There is an amusing story of a visit paid to him by King James VI. in 1617. The King "invited his company to dine with him at a collier's hut, referring to an elegant mansion which Sir George had built for his accommodation in the town of Culross. They proceeded in the first place to examine the coal-works, which were then wrought a considerable way under the sea, issuing at some distance from shore on a little island, where the product of the mines was put directly on board vessels, The King and his courtiers, unaware of this peculiar arrangement., were conducted along the mine till they reached the sea shaft, and here being drawn up, found themselves suddenly surrounded by the waves. James was excited to great alarm by the unexpected situation, and called out 'Treason I' His courteous host re-assured him by point- ing to an elegant pinnace moored alongside, to carry him ashore in the event of his not wishing to return by the mine."
Sir George attained to great wealth, and had a charterof the barony of Carnock in Fife, besides being knighted. He died on the 6th of May, 1625. His grandson, Edward Bruce, was created by King Charles L, on the 26th of December, 1647 (at Carisbrook), Earl of Kincardine and Lord Bruce of Torry, to him and his heirs male. He died in 1662, and was succeeded by his brother Alexander, second Earl of Kincardine. He had married a Dutch lady, and be- coming acquainted with the exiled Royal family in that country, supplied them liberally with money in their necessities. According to Burnet, "he was both the wisest and the wittiest manthat belonged to his country, and fit for governing any affairs but his own, which he, by a wrong turn, and by his love for the public, neglected to his ruin ; for they, consisting much in works, coal, salt, and mines, required much care ; and he was very capable of it, having gone far in mathematics. His thoughts went slow, and his words were much slower, but a deep judgment appeared in everything he said or did. He had a noble zeal for justice, in which even friendship could not bias him. He had solid principles of religion and virtue, which showed themselves with great lustre on all occasions. He was a faithful friend and a merciful enemy. I may perhaps be inclined to carry his character too far, for he was the first man that entered into friendship with me. We continued for sixteen years in so entire a friendship that there was never either reserve or mistake between us all the while till his death. And it was from him I understood the whole secret of affairs—for he was trusted with everything. He had a wonderful love towards the King, and would never believe me when I warned him what he was to look for if he did not go along with an abject compliance with everything. He found it true in conclusion, and the love he bore the King made his disgrace sink deeper in him than became such a philosopher and so good a Christian." After the Restoration he was the only man who dared to speak against the re-introduction of Episcopacy into Scotland before the wish of the nation had been ascertained. In 1667 he was joined with Tweeddale in the Government of Scotland, entered with .him into opposition to Lauderdale, and went up to London to seek support at Court, but Lauderdale prevailing, he was dismissed with the others from his offices in 1676, and died July 9, 1680, deeply involved in debt, and the estate had to be sold in 1700. The new Earl (Alexander), son of the last, was very eccentric, and died November, 1705, unmarried, having lost his sight some years before. There was then a competition for the succession to the Earl- dom of Kincardine between his sister, Lady Mary, and Alexander Bruce, son of Robert Bruce, of Bromhall (an eminent advocate), third son of Sir George Bruce of Carnock, the latter of the claimants being successful, and becoming fourth Earl of Kincar- dine. The succession is now again doubtful. According to some Robert, eldest son of this Earl Alexander, succeeded as fifth Earl, while others deny the existence of Robert, and pass on to another son, who is variously called fifth or sixth Earl, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas, sixth or seventh Earl, who in 1740 was succeeded by his son William, seventh or eighth Earl of Kincar- dine, who died in the same year, and was succeeded by his son Charles, eighth or ninth Earl of Kincardine, who, in 1747, sue- ceeded to the earldom of Elgin. He was kman of very amiable character, *but preferred a private life to public offices. Dis- covering a very extensive limestone rock on his estate he employed about 400 men in working it, built a town of 100 houses for their accommodation, erected a number of kilns for burning the stone, and opened a fine harbour. He also was a zealous agriculturist. Re is described as most attentive and kind in his care for the wants of those in his employment. He died at Bromhall on the 14th of May, 1771. He had married Martha, only child of Thomas White, banker, of London, who became governess to the Princess Charlotte, and died in 1810. Her son, William Robert, succeeded as sixth Earl of Elgin, and ninth or tenth of Kincardine, but dying on the 15th of July, 1771, only two months after his father, was succeeded by his brother Thomas, seventh Earl of Elgin and tenth or eleventh of Kincardine, who was a general officer in the army, and commenced a diplomatic career in 1790 with a mission to the Emperor Leopold, whom he accom- panied on a tour to his Italian States the following year. In 1792 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Brussels, and on the occupation in that year of the Netherlands by the French was sent to Hesse Camel, and afterwards was with the Prussian army during their operations in 1793. He was attached to the Austrian force till the evacuation of the Low Countries in 1794, was appointed Minister to the Court of Berlin in 1795, made a Privy Councillor in 1799 aud Minister to the Ottoman Porte, where he continued till the French were finally driven out of Egypt. He was then invested with the Turkish order of the Crescent. During this embassy he procured the. removal from Greece of what are called the Elgin marbles, and also made a valuable collec- tion of Greek medals and a series of inscriptions from the plain of Troy. He was chosen a representative peer of Scotland in 1790, 1796, and 1806, and died November 14, 1841. He was twice mar- ried, his first wife being divorced, and by his second he had a son James, who succeeded him as eighth Lord of Elgin and eleventh or twelfth Earl of Kincardine. He was created, September 1, 1849, Baron Elgin in the peerage of the United Kingdom, and was the late well-known and able Governor-General of Canada and India, in which latter country he died, November 20, 1863.
He was succeeded by his son, Victor Alexander, ninth Earl of Elgin and twelfth or thirteenth Earl of Kincardine, the present possessor of the baronial honours of the Braces. His uncle, Gene- ral Robert Bruce, is well known as the late governor of the present Prince of Wales, and his aunt, Lady Augusta, is the wife of Dean Stanley. Taken as a whole, the Braces of Elgin have well sustained the credit of the Royal race from which they spring.
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