f his grandfather, the
Earl of Nithisdale, on the sixteenth of the same month.[1] At his
accession to his title, the Earl of Nithisdale possessed no common
advantages of fortune and station. "He was allied," says the Scottish
Peerage, "to most of the noble families in the two kingdoms." His
mother, the Lady Lucy, was daughter to the Marquis of Douglas; his only
sister, Lady Mary Maxwell, was married to Charles Stewart, Earl of
Traquair; and he had himself wedded a descendant of that noble and brave
Marquis of Worcester who had defended Ragland Castle against Fairfax.

In addition to these family honours, Lord Nithisdale possessed rich
patrimonial estates in one of the most fertile and luxuriant counties in
Scotland. The Valley of the Nith, from which he derived his title, owned
his lordship over some of its fairest scenes. Young, rich, and happily
married, he was in the full sunshine of prosperity when, in the year
1715, he was called upon to prove the sincerity of that fidelity to the
house of Stuart for which his family had so greatly suffered, and for
which it had been so liberally repaid.

It is remarkable that the adventurers in the unfortunate cause of the
Chevalier St. George were, with rare exceptions, men of established
credit, men who had vast stakes in their country, and who had lost no
portion of their due consideration in the eyes of others by extravagance
or profligacy. This fact marks the insurrection of 1715, as presenting a
very different aspect to that of other insurrections raised by faction,
and supported by men of desperate fortunes. So early as the year 1707,
it appears by Colonel Hooke's secret negotiations in favour of the
Stuarts, that the bulk of the Scottish nobility had their hearts engaged
in the cause, and that their honour was pledged to come forward on the
first occasion. In the enumeration given by one of the agents employed
in traversing the country, Lord Nithisdale and his relatives are
mentioned as certain and potent allies. "In Tweedale," writes Mr.
Fleming to the Minister of Louis the Fourteenth, "the Earl of Traquair,
of the house of Stuart, and the Laird of Stanhope are powerful. In the
shires of Annandale, Niddesdale, and Galloway, are the Earl of
Niddesdale, with the Viscount of Kenmure, the Laird of Spinkell, with
the numerous clan of the Maxwells; and there is some hope also of the
Earl of Galloway; Thus the King's party is connected through the whole
kingdom, and we are cert