Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/74

102 two sons. William, the elder, inherited the estate of his father; Andrew, the younger, became the ancestor of the Douglases of Dalkeith, afterwards created earls of Morton. William acquired additional lands to the family inheritance; and, by this means, becoming a tenant in chief of the crown, was considered as ranking among the barons, or, as they were then called, magnates of Scotland. He died about the year 1276, leaving two sons, Hugh and William. Hugh fought at the battle of the Largs, in 1263, and died about 1288, without issue. William, his only brother, and father to Sir James, the subject of the present article, succeeded to the family honours, which he did not long enjoy; for, having espoused the popular side in the factions which soon after divided the kingdom, he was, upon the successful usurpation of Edward I., deprived of his estates, and died a prisoner in England, about the year 1302. Of this ancestor, the first whose history can be of any interest to the general reader, we have made mention in the life of Wallace, and, therefore, have no occasion to recur to him in this place.

The young Douglas had not attained to manhood, when the captivity of his father left him unprotected and destitute; and in this condition, either prompted by his own inclination, or influenced by the suggestions of friends anxious for his safety, he retired into France, and lived in Paris for three years. In this capital, remarkable, even in that age, for the gayety and show of its inhabitants, the young Scotsman for a time forgot his misfortunes, and gave way with youthful ardour to the current follies by which he was surrounded. The intelligence of his father's death, however, was sufficient to break him off entirely from the loose courses upon which he was entering, and incite him to a mode of life more honourable, and more befitting the noble feelings by which, throughout life, he was so strongly actuated. Having returned without delay into Scotland, he seems first to have presented himself to Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, and was fortunate enough to be received with great kindness by that good prelate, who promoted him to the honourable post of page in his household. Barbour, the poet, dwells fondly upon this period in the life of Douglas, whom he describes as cheerful, courteous, dutiful, and of a generous disposition, insomuch, that he was esteemed and beloved by all; yet was he not so fair, adds the same discreet writer, that we should much admire his beauty. He was of a somewhat grey or swarthy complexion, and had black hair, circumstances from which, especially among the English, he came to be known by the name of the Black Douglas. His bones were large, but well set; his shoulders broad, and his whole person to be remarked as rather spare or lean, though muscular. He was mild and pleasant in company, or among his friends, and lisped somewhat in his speech, a circumstance which is said not at all to have misbecome him, besides that it brought him nearer to the beau ideal of Hector, as Barbour fails not to remark, in a not inappropriate comparison which he attempts making of the two characters.

Douglas was living in this manner, when Edward, having for the last time, overrun Scotland, called together an assembly of the barons at Stirling. The bishop of St Andrews attended the summons of the English king on this occasion; and taking along with him the young squire whom he had so generously protected, resolved, if possible, to interest the monarch in his fortunes. Taking hold of a suitable opportunity, the prelate presented Douglas to the king, as a youth who claimed to be admitted to his service, and at the same time, made earnest entreaty that his majesty would look favourably upon him, and restore him to the inheritance, which, from no fault of his, he had lost. "What lands does he claim?" inquired Edward. The good bishop had purposely kept the answer to this question to the end, well knowing the hasty and