Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/343

Rh failure of that project, he was again restored to the place he had so honourably filled; but before the battle of Dunbar he again resigned on account of his great age, but appeared in the field as a volunteer. The year following, at a meeting of some noblemen for concerting measures in behalf of Charles II. at Eliot in Angus, he was, along with the rest, surprised by a detachment from the garrison of Dundee, carried to London, and thrown into the Tower. At the request of Christina, queen of Sweden, he was liberated, had his sequestration taken off, and no fine imposed upon him. He returned to Scotland in the month of May, 1654, and shortly after went to Sweden, to thank Christina for the favour she had done him by interceding with Cromwell on his behalf. How long he remained in Sweden is not known ; but he died at Balgony on the 4th of April, 1661, at a very advanced age. He was buried on the nineteenth of the same month in the church of Markinch. Few men have been more fortunate in life than Alexander Leslie, earl of Leven. He appears to have entered upon its duties without fortune and with a scanty education, and by the force of his talents, seconded by habits of religion and persevering industry, raised himself to the highest honours which society has to confer, both in his own and in foreign countries. His services were at the time of immense value to his country, and would have been much more so, had they not been shackled by the prejudices, the prepossessions, and the ignorance, of those whom the circumstances of birth placed over him as directors. His lordship acquired extensive landed property, particularly Inchmartin in the Carse of Gowrie, which he called Inchleslie. He was twice married; first to Agnes, daughter of Renton of Billy in Berwickshire, and by her had two sons, Gustavus and Alexander, the latter of whom succeeded him as earl of Leven; and five daughters. After the death of his first wife, which took place in 1651, he married Frances, daughter of Sir John Ferriers of Tamworth in Staffordshire, relict of Sir John Parkington, baronet of Westwood, in the county of Worcester, by whom he had no issue. His peerage finally became merged by a female with that of Melville, in conjunction with which it still exists.

LESLIE,, a celebrated military commander during the civil wars, and the first lord Newark, was the fifth son of Patrick Leslie of Pitcairly, commendator of Lindores, by his wife, lady Jean Stuart, second daughter of Robert, first earl of Orkney. Of his early life little more is known than that, like many others of his countrymen, he went into the service of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, where he distinguished himself by his military talents, and attained to the rank of colonel of horse. Returning from the continent at, or shortly after, the commencement of the civil wars, he was appointed major-general to the army that was sent into England under the command of the earl of Leven, to the assistance of the parliament. This army, which marched for England in the month of January, 1644, after suffering greatly from the state of the roads and want of provisions, joined the parliamentary forces at Tadcaster, on the 20th of April, with whom they were united in the siege of York, which was raised on the night of Sunday, the 30th of June, by the advance of prince Rupert, with all the strength of the royal army. Determined to give him battle, the confederates took post on Marston moor, on the south side of the Ouse, about five miles distant from the scene of their former operations. Here they hoped to have interrupted the march of the prince towards the city, which he was desirous of gaining; but permitting their attention to be engrossed by a party of horse which he despatched for this purpose, to contest the passage of a river, he in the mean time succeeded in throwing the whole of his army into the town. His immediate object thus gained, he was advised by his colleague, the marquis of Newcastle, to rest satisfied till he should