rm even greater actions than that which procured him the name
which has since been so celebrated in Scottish history. The crest and
motto are still borne by the family.

This anecdote has, however, been rejected for the more probable
conjecture that the family of Erskine derived its appellation from the
estate of Erskine on the Clyde:[7] yet it is not impossible but that
tradition may, in most cases, have a deeper source than we are willing
to allow to it. "There are few points in ancient history," observes a
modern writer, "on which more judgment is required than in the amount
of weight due to _tradition_. In general it will be found that the
tradition subsisting in the families themselves has a true basis to rest
upon, however much it may be overloaded with collateral matter which
obscures it."[8]

But that which ennobled most truly the first Earl of Mar, of the house
of Erskine, was his own probity, loyalty, and patriotism. Destined
originally to the church, John, properly sixth Earl of Mar, carried into
public life those virtues which would have adorned the career of a
private individual. In the melancholy interest of Queen Mary's eventful
life, it is consolatory to reflect on the integrity and moderation of
this exemplary nobleman. Too good and too sensitive for his times, he
died of a broken heart, the result of that inward and incurable sorrow
which the generous and the honest experience, when their hopes and
designs are baffled by the selfish policy of their own party. "He was,
perhaps," says Robertson, "the only person in the kingdom who could have
enjoyed the office of Regent without envy, and have left it without loss
of reputation."[9]

From the restoration of John Earl of Mar to his family honours, until
the reign of Charles the First, the prosperity of this loyal and
favoured family increased, interrupted indeed by some vicissitudes of
fortune, but by no serious reverses, until that period which, during the
commotions of the Great Rebellion, reduced many of our proudest nobility
to comparative poverty.

Among other important trusts enjoyed by the family of Erskine, the
government of the Castle of Edinburgh, and the custody of the principal
forts in the kingdom, attested the confidence of their Sovereigns. To
these was added by Mary Queen of Scots, the command of the Castle of
Stirling, and the still more important charge of her infant son. To
these marks of confidence numerous grants of lands and high