er 8th, 1746.

Notwithstanding these seeming acts of negligence, which may possibly
have been explained, Lord Boyd became, in every way, worthy of being
the representative of an ancient race. He was an improved resemblance of
his amiable, unhappy father. Possessing his father's personal
attributes, he added, to the courtesy and kindliness of his father's
character, strength of principle, a perfect consistency of conduct, and
sincere religious connections, both in the early and latter period of
his life. His deportment is said to have combined both the sublime and
the graceful; his form, six feet four inches in height, to have been the
most elegant; his manners the most polished and popular of his time. In
his domestic relations he was exemplary, systematic, yet with the due
liberality of a nobleman, in his affairs; sagacious and conscientious as
a magistrate; generous to his friends. "He puts me in mind," said one
who knew him, "of an ancient hero; and I remember Dr. Johnson was
positive that he resembled Homer's character of Jaspedon."[396] "His
agreeable look and address," observes that adorer of rank, Boswell,
"prevented that restraint, which the idea of his being Lord High
Constable of Scotland might otherwise have occasioned."[397]

At the time of his father's execution, Lord Boyd was only twenty years
of age. He claimed and obtained the maternal estate, and obtained it in
1751. In 1758 he succeeded Mary, Countess of Errol in her own right, his
mother's aunt, as Earl of Errol, and left the army in which he had
continued to serve. He retired to Slains Castle, where he passed his
days in the exercise of those virtues which become a man who is
conscious, by rank and fortune, of a deep responsibility, and who
regards those rather as trusts, than possessions. He died at
Calendar-house, in 1778, universally lamented, and honoured.

The Countess of Kilmarnock survived her husband only one year; and died
at Kilmarnock in 1747. Two sons were, however, left, in addition to Lord
Boyd, to encounter, for some years, considerable difficulties. Of these,
the second, Charles, who was in the insurrection of 1745, escaped to the
Isle of Arran, where he lay concealed, in that, the ancient territory of
the Boyds, for a year. He amused himself, having found an old chest of
medical books, with the study of medicine and surgery, which he
afterwards practised with some degree of skill among the poor. He then
escaped to France, and marri