STORY OF THE COUNTESS or'Sraza. — Tbis house was occupied by the
dowager of the celebrated general and statesman, John, second Earl of .Stair, who died in 1747. Her Ladyship, after long exercising a sway over the haut ton of the Scottish capital, died here, November 21, 1759, at a very advanced age. The late Mr. Mackenzie, author of the Man of' Peeling, informed the author that he recollected her Ladyship living in this home. The close takes ita name from her Ladyship. Some remarkable circumstances in the early life of this lady were given in the Traditions of Edinburgh, and afterwards formed the groundwork of a tale by the Author of Waverley, under the title of "Aunt Margaret's Mirror." They are now related here in a more ample form. She was the youngest daughter of James, second Earl of Londonn,and come- quently was granddaughter to-that stern old .Forl.who wig 4o•koportent irpert in the affairs of the Covenant, and who was Lord ChantseWor of Scotland du- ringthe troublous times of the Civil War. While very 'young (about the be- ginning of the eighteenth century), she was married to James, first Viscount Primrose, a nobleman of extremely bad temper, and, what was worse, of very dissolo: ibaracter. Her Ladyship, who had a great deal of her grand- father in her, could have managed most men with great ease, by dint of superior intellect and force of character • but the cruelty of Lord Primrose was too much for her. He treated her so barberously, that she had even occasion to apprehend that he would some day put an end to her life. One morning, during the time when she was labouring under this dreadful anticipation, she was dressing her- 'self in her chamber, near an open window, when his Lordship entered the room behind her with a drawn sword in his hand. He had opened the door softly, and, although his face indicated a resolution of the most horrible nature, he still had the presence of mind to approach her wits the utmost caution. Had she not caught a glimpse of his face and figure in her glass, he would, in all proba- bility, have approached her near enough to execute his bloody purpose, before she was aware, or could have taken any measures to save herself. Fortunately, she perceived him in time to leap out of the open window into the street. Half- dressed as she was, she immediately, by a very laudable exertion of her natural good sense, went to the house of Lod Primrose's mother, where she told her story, and demanded protection. That protection was at once extended ; and it being 310W thought vain to attempt a reconciliation, they never afterwards lived together.
Lord Primrose soon afterwards went abroad. During his absence, a foreign con- juror or fortune-teller, came to Edinburgh, professing, among many other won- derful accomplishments, to be able to inform any person of the present condition or situation of any other person, at whatever distance, in whom the applicant might be interested. Lady Primrose, who had lost all trace of her husband, was in- cited by curiosity to go, with a female friend, to the lodgings of this person in the Canongate, for the purpose of inquiring regarding his motions. It was at night; and the two ladies went, with the tartan screens or plaids of their ser- vants drawn over their faces, by way of disguise. Lady Primrose having de- scribed the individual in whose fate she was interested, and having expressed a desire to know what he was at present doing, the conjuror led her to a large mirror, in which she distinctly perceived the appearance of the inside of a church, with a marriage party arranged near the altar. To her infinite astonish- ment, she recognized in the shadowy bridegroom no other than her husband, Lord Primrose. The magical scene thus so strangely displayed was not exactly like a picture ; or if so, it was rather like the live pictures of the-stage than the dead and immovable delineations of the pencil. It admitted of additions to the persons represented, and of a progress of action. As the lady gazed on it, the ceremonial of the marriage seemed to proceed. The necessary arrange- ments had, at last, been all made ; the priest seemed to have pronounced the preliminary service; he was just on the point of bidding the bride and bride- groom join hands ; when suddenly a gentleman, for ,whom the rest seemed to have waited a considerable time, and in whom Lady Primrose thought she re- cognized a brother of her own then abroad, entered the church, and made hur- riedly towards the party. The aspect of this person was at first only that of a friend, who had been invited to attend the ceremony, and who had come too late; but as he advanced to the party, the expression of his countenance and figure was altered very considerably. He stopped short; his face assumed a wrathful expression; he drew his sword, and rushed up to the bridegroom, who also drew his weapon. The whole scene then became quite tumultuous and in- distinct, and almost immediately after vanished entirely away. When Lady Primrose got home, she wrote a minute narrative of the whole transaction, to which she appended the day of the month on which she had seen the mysterious vision. This narrative she sealed up in the presence of a wit- ness, and then deposited kin one of her drawers. Soon afterwards her brother returned from his travels and came to visit her. She asked if, in the course of his wanderings, he had happened to see or hear any. thing of Lord Primrose. The young man only answered by saying, that lie wished he might never again beer the aame of that detested personage mentioned. Lady Primrose however,
' questioned him so closely, that he at last confessed having met his Lordship, and that under very strange circumstances. Having spent some time at one of the Dutch cities,—it was either Amsterdam or Rotterdam,—he had become ac- quainted with a rich merchant, who had a very beautiful daughter, his only child, and the heiress of his enormous fortune. One day his friend, the mer- chant, informed him that his daughter was about to be married to a Scottish gentleman who had lately come to reside there. The nuptials were to take place in the course of a few days; and, as he was a countryman of the bridegroom he was invited to the wedding. He went accordingly, was a little too late for the commencement of the ceremony, but, fortunately, came in time to prevent the union of an amiable young lady to the greatest monster alive in human shape —his own brother-in-law, Lord Primrose !
Although Lady Primrose had proved her willingness to believe in the magical delineations of the mirror, by writing down an account of them, yet she was so much surprised and confounded by discoveringthem to be consistent with fact, that she almost fainted away. Something, however, yet remained to be ascertained. Did Lord Primrose's attempted marriage take place exactly at the same time with her visit to the conjurer? To certify this, she asked her brother on what • day the circumstance which he related took place. Having been informed, she took out her key, and requested him to go to her chamber, to open a drawer which she described, and to bring her a sealed packet which he would find in that drawer. He did as he was desired, when, the packet being opened, it was disci vired that Lady Primrose had seen the shadowy representation of her bus- bane abortive nuptials on the very evening they were transacted in reality. s story, with all its strange and supernatural circumstances, may °Mx ex- cite smile in the incredulous reader. All that the narrator desires to say in its favour, is this : it fell out in the bands of honourable men and women, who could not be suspected of an intention to impose on the credulity of their friends; it referred to a circumstance which the persons concerned had the least reason in -the world for raising a story about; and it was almost universally believed by the contemporaries of the principal personages, and by the generation which succeeded.
Lord Primrose died in 1706, leaving a widow who could scarcely be expected to mourn for him. She was still a young and beautiful woman, and might
have procured her choice among twenty better matches. Such, however, was the idea she had formed of the married state from her first husband, that she made a resolution never again to become a wife. She kept her resolution for many years, and probably would have done so till the day of her death, but for singular circumstance. The celebrated Earl of Stair, who resided in Edinburgh during the greater part of twenty years, which he spent in retire- ment from all official employments, fell deeply in love with her Ladyship, and earnestly sued for her hand. If she could have relented in favour of any man, it would have been in favour of one who had acquired so much public honour, and who possessed so much private worth. But she declared to him also her resolu- tion of remaining unmarried. In his desperation, he resolved upon an expedient by which he might obviate her scruples, but which certainly marks the age as one of little delicacy. By dint of bribes to her domestics, he got himself insinu- ated, over night, into a small room in her Ladyship's house, where she used to sax her prayers every morning, and the window of which looked out upon the
principal street of the city. At this window, when the morning was a little advanced, he showed himself, en dishabille, to !fie -people passing along -the street;—an exhibition which threatened to have such a fatal effect al:amber Ladyship's reputation, that she saw fit to accept of him for a husband. She was more happy as Countess of Stair than she had been as Lady Prim- rose. Yet her new husband had one failing, which occasioned her much and frequent uneasiness. Like all other gentlemen at that period, he sometimes in- dulged too much in the bottle. When elevated with liquor, his temper, contrary to the general case, was by DO 1:: ems improved. Thus, on his reaching home, after any little debauch, *lie generally had a quarrel with his wife, and some- times even treated her le son with viol, nce. On one particular occasion, when quite transported beyond the bounds of reason, he gave her so severe a blow upon the upper part of the face, as to occasion the effusion of blood. He immediately after fell asleep, altogether unconscious of what lie had done. Lady Stair was so completely overwhelmed by a tumult of bitter and poignant feeling, that she made no attempt to bind up her wound. She sat down on a sofa near her torpid husband, and wept and bled till morning. When his Lordship awoke and perceived her dishevelled and bloody figure, he was surprised to the last degree, and eagerly inquired how she came to be m such an unusual condi- tion? She answered by detailing to him the whole history of his conduct on the preceding evening; which stung him so deeply with regret,--for he seam nobleman of the most generous feelings,--that he instantly vowed to his wife never afterwards to take any species of drink, except what was first passed through her hands. This yew he kept most scrupulously till the day of his death. Henever afterwards sat in any convivial company where his lady could not attend to sanction his potations with her permission. Whenever he gave any entertainment, she always sat next him and tilled his wine, till it was necessary for her to retire; after which, he drank only from a certain quantity which she had first laid aside.
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