thgow, and
Calendar, there came a stock of old Jacobite principles; Lord Linlithgow
had, indeed, suffered what was perhaps worse than death for his
adherence to James Stuart. The Earl of Errol, the grandfather of Lady
Kilmarnock, had led a more prudent course. Still he was a hearty
Jacobite, and though, as Lockhart declares, he did not at first make a
"great outward appearance," yet he was much trusted by the party; his
family had always been favourable to the Stuarts, and he was, also,
generally considered to cherish similar sentiments.[322] He had,
nevertheless, taken the oaths to Government in 1705; yet on the alarm of
an invasion in 1708, he was deemed so dangerous a person that he was
sent as a prisoner to Edinburgh Castle, where he died.

The love suit of Lord Kilmarnock was not likely, under his impoverished
circumstances, to prosper uninterruptedly. When he succeeded to his
estate he had found it much encumbered, and a considerable portion of
the old inheritance alienated. Lord Kilmarnock's disposition was not
formed for economy; he was generous even to profusion, and, as we have
seen had not escaped the temptations incident to his age. His addresses
to the Lady Anne Livingstone are said to have been prompted by his
necessities; her fortune was deemed considerable; and her family, well
knowing the state of the Earl's affairs, regarded his proposals of
marriage unfavourably. But the young nobleman during the course of his
courtship, and in opposing these objections, formed an interest in the
heart of the young lady. He was, indeed, a man born to charm the
imagination of the romantic, if not at that period of his youth, to
rivet affection by esteem. In his boyhood, although he made some degree
of progress in classical attainments, and even in philosophy and
mathematics, thus proving that natural ability was not wanting, he was
far more successful in attaining mere accomplishments, which add a
powerful charm to comeliness and symmetry than in mastering more solid
studies. He became an adept in fencing, in riding, in drawing, and also
in music; and acquired the distinctive and comprehensive designation, of
being "a polite gentleman."[323]

Disgusted with the cold discussions on settlements and rent rolls, and
disregarding maternal cautions, Lady Anne soon followed the dictates of
her own heart. She married the young and handsome nobleman without her
mother's consent, and a tardy sanction to the union was wrung from