Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/289

Rh be mentioned as a remarkable instance of the disproportion of particular talents to general vigour of mind."

Laing was intimately acquainted with Charles Fox, with whom he conducted an ample correspondence, the letters of which on both sides, still, we believe, exist unpublished, and would certainly form a very interesting addition to our epistolary information regarding great men. That eminent statesman frequently quoted the historical works of Mr Laing, as containing matter which could be relied on for its authenticity; and Laing became an active and zealous supporter of the short administration of his friend, during which he represented his native county in parliament. It is said, that notwithstanding the disadvantages of his manner, he was listened to and much respected as a speaker; and he gave all the assistance which so short a period admitted to the plans of the ministry for improving the Scottish courts of law. After his brief appearance as a legislator, the state of his health prevented him from interfering in public business. Whether from excessive study and exertion, or his natural habit of body, he suffered under a nervous disorder of excessive severity, which committed frightful ravages on his constitution; and it is said that he was required to be frequently supported in an artificial position, to prevent him from fainting. He retired to his estate in Orkney, and his health being to a certain extent restored by a cessation from laborious intellectual pursuits, his ever active mind employed itself in useful exercise within his narrow sphere of exertion: he improved his own lands, introduced better methods of cultivation than had been previously practised in the district, and experimented in the breeding of Merino sheep. He died in the end of the year 1818, having, notwithstanding the great celebrity of his works, been so much personally forgotten by the literary world, that it is with difficulty that we have been enabled to collect matter sufficient for an outline of his life. He was married to Miss Carnegie, daughter of a gentleman in Forfarsbire, and sister-in-law to lord Gillies. His property was succeeded to by Samuel Laing, his elder brother. Besides the works we have discussed above, it may be mentioned that he edited the Life of James VI., published in 1804.

LAUDER,, lord Fountainhall, an eminent lawyer and statesman, was born at Edinburgh, on the 2nd of August, 1646. His father was John, afterwards Sir John Lander, baronet, a merchant and baillie of Edinburgh, a younger branch and afterwards chief of the family of Lauder of Bass and Lauder. The subject of our memoir was his eldest son, by his second marriage with Isabel Ellis, daughter of Alexander Ellis of Mortonhall. By this wife he had fourteen sons and two daughters; by a previous marriage he had three children, and by a third wife, of whom mention will be made hereafter, he had four sons and two daughters. Of the early education of young Lauder, we know nothing, with the exception of a passing memorandum in his voluminous memorials of legal matters, which shows that he had passed some time at the university of Leyden, at that time the principal continental resort of students at law. "The university of St Andrews," he says, "claims to be freed from paying excise for all drink furnished to the scholars, and that upon the general privilege competent to all universities by custom. I remember we enjoyed that privilege at Leyden, after our immatriculation." Having accomplished his preparatory studies, he passed as an advocate on the 5th of June, 1668, and commenced the