Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/184

212 title of lord Heathfield and baron Gibraltar, besides being elected a knight of the Hath. His lordship died at Aix-la-Chapelle, July 6, 1790, of a second stroke of palsy, while endeavouring to reach Gibraltar, where he was anxious to close his life. He left, by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Drake, a son who succeeded him in the peerage.

ELLIOT, first earl of Minto, a distinguished statesman, was born at Edinburgh, April 23, 1751. He was the eldest son of Gilbert Elliot, Esq., advocate, younger of Minto, by Mrs Agnes Murray Kynnynmond, of Melgund and Kynnynmond.

The earl of Minto was descended from a race of very eminent persons. His father, who became Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, baronet, was conspicuous as a parliamentary orator, and, in 1768, held the office of treasurer of the navy. He subsequently obtained the reversion of the office of keeper of the signet in Scotland. In the- literary annals of his country, he is the well-known author of several excellent poetical compositions, particularly the popular song, "My sheep I neglected." He also carried on a philosophical correspondence with David Hume, which is quoted with marks of approbation by Mr Dugald Stewart, in his Philosophy of the Human Mind, and in his Dissertation prefixed to the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Sir Gilbert was the eldest son of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, lord justice clerk, a respectable judge and most accomplished man, especially in music. Lord Minto, as he was called, is said to have been the first to introduce the German flute into Scotland, about the year 1725. In the history of Scotland, during the early part of the eighteenth century, he is distinguished by his zealous and useful exertions as a friend of the protestant succession, and also by his patriotic enthusiasm in every measure that tended to the improvement and advantage of his country.

The father of lord Minto was Gilbert Elliot, popularly called "Gibbie Elliot," at first a writer in Edinburgh, and in that capacity employed by the celebrated Mr Veitch to rescue him from the tyrannical government of Charles II. in Scotland; a duty in which he succeeded, though it led to his own denouncement by the Scottish privy council. Gilbert Elliot contrived to make his escape to Holland, but, nevertheless, was tried in his absence for high treason to king James VII., for which he was condemned and forfeited. After the revolution, he returned to his native country; and being recommended, both by his sufferings and his sagacity and expertness in business, was made clerk of the privy council. He subsequently entered at the Scottish bar, and rose to the rank of a civil and criminal judge. It is related, that when he came to Dumfries in the course of the justiciary circuit, he never failed to visit his old friend Veitch, who was there settled minister; and the following dialogue used to pass between them: "Ah, Willie, Willie," lord Minto would say, "if it had not been for me, the pyets [magpies] would have been pyking your pow on the Netherbow Port," "Ah, Gihbie, Gibbie," Veitch would reply, in reference to the first impulse which his persecutions had given to the fortunes of lord Minto, "if it had not been for me, you would have been writing papers yet, at a plack the page."

To return to the earl of Minto—his first education was of a private nature; and, as his father had prospects of advancement for him in England, he was subsequently placed at a school in that country. In 1768, he entered as a gentleman commoner at Christ church, Oxford : whence he was transferred to Lincoln's Inn, and in due time was called to the English bar. His health becoming delicate, he soon after commenced a tour of the continent, with the view of acquiring a knowledge of the general state of European life and policy. While at Paris, he frequented the society of Madame du Deffand, by whom he is justly