Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/95

Rh persuaded to touch them, either in jest or earnest; and yet the Viennese were such a gambling, card-playing people, that a diplomatist could have little chance among them, unless he countenanced them in their folly. Sir Robert, in this case, hit upon the following compromise, on the ingenuity of which he valued himself not a little: "A lady who is generally remarkably lucky at cards, but who had lately a bad run of about a week, complained t'other day loudly of her misfortunes, and said she must soon relinquish cards, her favourite amusement. I immediately thought I might strike an advantageous bargain with this dear creature, and satisfy all mankind. I therefore agreed to attack Dame Fortune with my money and her fingers ; and now she plays her three parties every day in my name, and at my risk; and I am now one of the prettiest card-players in Vienna—by proxy!" All this was dull enough at the best; but one of his official duties was to endure it with a contented countenance, and appear happy with everything around him. His chief consolation consisted in epistolary correspondence with his friends at home, and while he freely imparted to them those lively communications in which his duties of political secrecy were not compromised, he was urgent for a full requital. Amidst these interchanges, also, the thought of his own country, of which he had seen so little, was always uppermost, and he was anxious for its improvement; so that amidst his diplomatic cares he would attend to the welfare of Scottish plantations as zealously as if he had been a retired country gentleman. Upon this head, among many other topics, he thus writes to his only sister, the Margaret Bethune Baliol of Sir Walter Scott: "And now pray, my dear Anne, let me appoint you my substitute with G—— (his bailiff in Tweeddale), to din into his ears ’Trees, trees, trees, every time you meet him. I have not a twig of his planting at the hall, and I own I expected a forest. This is no joking matter; I would rather be master of a handsome plantation and hedgerows, than a mine of gold; so you know you can and will pursue it. You shall be the ranger of the new forest in Tweeddale, and your husband, when you get one, shall be Lord Warden of the Marches." Want of trees at this time did indeed constitute the nakedness and the shame of Scotland ; and though exertions had for some time been going on to repair the deficiency, all that had as yet been done was little better than Adam's fig-leaf. It is pleasing to contrast with this the gay costume of foliage with which our country is clothed in the present day.

After having ably discharged his duties of envoy at Vienna, Sir Robert was a second time appointed to the office. The sky of Europe was already lowering with the coming French Revolution, so that the utmost-political foresight and circumspection was necessary; and here he showed himself a statesman fitted for the crisis. In his duties he was grievously hampered by the remissness of the home government, that left his despatches unanswered; and in 1788 we find him writing to the Marquis of Caermarthen, then Secretary of State, upon the subject, with an honesty somewhat rare in diplomatic correspondence, and with a strict, stern disinterestedness, which few of our envoys would venture to use towards their official superiors. Fifty-three letters he had already written to the Secretary's office, without receiving an answer to any of them. After an indignant remonstrance at such neglect, he adds: "A complete change of system, in regard to German politics, has become not only expedient, but, indispensably necessary. But that it should have taken place in the king's councils without any secretary of state's having ever given me the most distant