sadvantage to a
public man of being of an easy, indolent temper, this celebrated
promoter of the union between Scotland and England, had acquired, by
courtesy, and by a long administration of affairs, a singular influence
over his countrymen. His character has been written with a pen that
could scarcely find sufficient invectives for those politicians who, in
the opinion of the writer, were the ruin of their country. The Duke of
Queensbury falls under the heaviest censures. "To outward appearance,"
says Lockhart, "he was of a gentle and good disposition, but inwardly a
very devil, standing at nothing to advance his own interest and designs.
Though his hypocrisy and dissimulation served him very much, yet he
became so well known, that no man, except such as were his nearest
friends, and _socii criminis_, gave him any trust; and so little regard
had he to his promises and vows, that it was observed and notorious,
that if he was at any pains to convince you of his friendship, and by
swearing and imprecating curses on himself and family to assure you of
his sincerity, then, to be sure, he was doing you underhand all the
mischief in his power."[17]

These characteristics must be viewed as proceeding from the pen of a
partisan; nor can we wonder at the contrariety of opinion which prevails
respecting any public man who proposes a great and startling measure.
Honours, places, and a pension were showered down upon this most
fortunate of ministers; and his career is remarkable as having been
cheered by the favour of four sovereigns of very different tempers. In
his early youth, after his return from his travels, the Duke of
Queensbury was appointed a Privy Councillor of Scotland by Charles the
Second. He held the same post under James the Second, but resigned it in
1688. The reserved and doubting William of Orange placed him near his
person, making him a Lord of the Bedchamber, and captain of his Dutch
guard; eventually he became Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and--to
abridge a list of numerous employments and honours--Lord High
Commissioner of Scotland. So far had Queensbury's fortunes begun with
the Stuarts and continued under the House of Orange. It appeared
unlikely that the successor of William--she who in her first speech
announced that her heart was "wholly English," to mark the distinction
between herself and the foreigner who had sat on the throne before
her,--would adopt as her own representative in Scotland the favo