ng to London, became a great favorite
of Charles the Second, who made him a lord of his bedchamber, and
afterwards appointed him ambassador to the French king, under whom the
Earl served two campaigns as his Majesty's aide-de-camp; and he was
absent on this service when King Charles died.

King James continued my lord's promotion--made him Master of the
Wardrobe and Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse; and his lordship
adhered firmly to King James, being of the small company that never
quitted that unfortunate monarch till his departure out of England; and
then it was, in 1688 namely, that he made the friendship with Colonel
Francis Esmond, that had always been, more or less, maintained in the
two families.

The Earl professed a great admiration for King William always, but never
could give him his allegiance; and was engaged in more than one of the
plots in the late great King's reign which always ended in the plotters'
discomfiture, and generally in their pardon, by the magnanimity of the
King. Lord Arran was twice prisoner in the Tower during this reign,
undauntedly saying, when offered his release, upon parole not to engage
against King William, that he would not give his word, because "he
was sure he could not keep it;" but, nevertheless, he was both times
discharged without any trial; and the King bore this noble enemy so
little malice, that when his mother, the Duchess of Hamilton, of her
own right, resigned her claim on her husband's death, the Earl was,
by patent signed at Loo, 1690, created Duke of Hamilton, Marquis
of Clydesdale, and Earl of Arran, with precedency from the original
creation. His Grace took the oaths and his seat in the Scottish
parliament in 1700: was famous there for his patriotism and eloquence,
especially in the debates about the Union Bill, which Duke Hamilton
opposed with all his strength, though he would not go the length of the
Scottish gentry, who were for resisting it by force of arms. 'Twas
said he withdrew his opposition all of a sudden, and in consequence
of letters from the King at St. Germains, who entreated him on his
allegiance not to thwart the Queen his sister in this measure; and the
Duke, being always bent upon effecting the King's return to his kingdom
through a reconciliation between his Majesty and Queen Anne, and quite
averse to his landing with arms and French troops, held aloof, and
kept out of Scotland during the time when the Chevalier de St. George's
descent