il their beloved and royal race had
become lineally extinct.

The descendants of William, Earl of Nithisdale, have never been able to
ascertain where his Lordship is buried. His noble and admirable wife
died at Rome, as well as her husband; but her remains were brought to
this country, and they are deposited at Arundel Castle.

John Maxwell, who assumed the title of Earl of Nithisdale, appears to
have remained absent from Scotland until the troubles of 1745 began. It
was probably on the death of his father in 1744, that he returned to
take possession of the family estates,--that this, the representative of
the family of Maxwell, ventured to appear in Dumfriesshire.

The following correspondence which passed between the Earl of
Nithisdale, popularly so called, and his friend, Mr. Craik, of
Arbigland[35] in Dumfriesshire, is a curious commentary upon the motives
and reasons which actuated the minds of the Jacobites in the second
attempt to re-establish the Stuart family. The first letter from Mr.
Craik is dated October the thirteenth, 1745, when Edinburgh Castle was
blockaded by Charles Edward, who was publishing his manifestoes from the
saloons of Holyrood House. The answer from Lord Nithisdale is written in
reply to one of remonstrance addressed to him by his friend. There is no
date, but it is obviously written at Edinburgh.

The remonstrances from Mr. Craik were instantly dispatched, to avert, if
possible, any decided step on the part of Lord Nithisdale. The arguments
which it contains shew the friendly intention of the earnest writer.
Lord Nithisdale had, in his former letter, challenged his friend to
assign his reasons for dissuading him from the enterprise.

LETTER FROM MR. CRAIK TO LORD NITHISDALE.

"My waiting for a safe hand to convey this to you has prevented my
answering yours of the thirteenth sooner. It must give me great
pleasure that you have not determined to engage in the present
enterprize, which from several apparent symptoms I had reason to
apprehend; and if you stick by your promise of doeing nothing rashly
(fitt only for desperados indeed!) in a matter of such moment, I
shall be sett at ease from the anxiety I felt on your account.

"In mine which gave occasion to yours, I really had no intention to
enter into the merits of the cause: all I meant was, to make
experiment how far my interest with you could prevail to keep you
undetermined till meeti