Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/428

 formed the foundation of Scott's novel, ‘My Aunt Margaret's Mirror,’ in the ‘Chronicles of the Canongate’ (see Traditions of Edinburgh, ed. 1869, pp. 76–82), and she declared she would never marry again. Stair, however, declared that he would win her, and to get over her reluctance he concealed himself in her house, and by appearing at her bedroom window compelled her to marry him, to save her reputation, in 1714.

On the accession of George I, Stair as a whig leader at once returned to honour and favour. He was re-elected a representative peer, made a lord of the bedchamber, appointed colonel of the Inniskilling dragoons, sworn of the privy council, and appointed minister plenipotentiary at Paris. In January 1715 he reached Paris, and commenced his famous mission by compelling his predecessor, Matthew Prior, to give up the secret correspondence with the tory ministers, on which were based most of the charges laid in the impeachment of Oxford and Bolingbroke. During the few months which elapsed before the death of Louis XIV, Stair occupied himself in preparing for the new reign, and took care to make friends with the Duke of Orleans. When Louis XIV died he was therefore prepared to play the great part which has made him an important figure in English history. The era of peace which followed the wars of Louis XIV was really initiated by Stanhope and the regent Orleans, and it was Stair's duty to maintain the compact at Paris and to watch over the policy of Orleans. But he had a yet more important duty, namely, to keep the English government informed of the intrigues of the adherents of the Pretender after the Pretender himself had been expelled from France. To carry out these duties he lavished money with profusion, and lived in a princely fashion. His banquets and his gaming parties were famous; and though seeming to be devoted to pleasure, he took care to have every one in his pay. He was informed both of the most secret decisions of the regent's council and of every move of the friends of the Pretender, and the information he afforded to his ministry at home was invaluable. He kept watch, through his spies or though Madame de Gyllenburg, on the schemes of Alberoni, and revealed to the regent the conspiracy of Cellamare. He is believed to have signed, as representative of Great Britain in Paris, the preliminary convention with France of 18 July 1718. But in spite of his vigilant opposition to the intrigues of the Pretender's friends, he always insisted on rigid personal deference being paid to the unfortunate Mary of Modena, and even dismissed a young aide-de-camp who had spoken against her because ‘she had once been queen of England.’ In February 1719 he was raised from the rank of minister plenipotentiary to that of ambassador, and made his famous official entry into Paris, a superb ceremony, chiefly arranged by his master of the horse, Captain James Gardiner, whom he had befriended ever since he was a cornet of dragoons, and who was afterwards killed at the battle of Prestonpans. At this period Stair seemed at the height of power, but his fortune had been impaired by his lavish expenditure, and he tried to repair it by stockjobbing on a large scale in the schemes of Law. He himself had introduced his compatriot to the Cardinal Dubois, and had recommended him to the ministers in London; yet when Law obtained his commanding influence in the councils of the regent Orleans, Stair became jealous of him, and quarrelled with him. Stanhope deemed it prudent to cultivate Law's favour, in view of Law's immense credit at the regent's court. He thought it better to rule the regent through Law than Stair. The great ambassador was therefore recalled in 1720 and succeeded by Sir Robert Sutton.

Stair's services were very inadequately rewarded; he received the sinecure office of vice-admiral of Scotland, but nothing more, and practically retired from politics for a time. His friend Stanhope died a few months after recalling him, and Sir Robert Walpole, while carrying out the policy initiated by Stanhope, preferred to have his brother, Horace Walpole, at Paris. Stair occupied himself in trying to repair his shattered fortunes. From January to April of each year he lived in London, attending the House of Lords (1707–8 and 1715–34) while he was a Scotch representative peer. For the rest of the year he lived on his estates in Scotland, either at his hereditary seat of Castle Kennedy in Wigtownshire, or at Newliston in Linlithgowshire, which he had inherited from his mother. He was the foremost agriculturist and rural economist of his time. He introduced many improvements on his farms; he laid out Newliston afresh—it is said in exact imitation of the military positions at the battle of Blenheim; and he was the first Scotchman to plant turnips and cabbages in fields upon a large scale; while Lady Stair became a leader of society in Scotland, and, among other things, helped to bring the watering-place of Moffat, whither she went every year to drink the waters, into repute. But his active temperament tired of inaction; he became one of the leading opponents of Sir Robert Walpole, and still more of Archibald Campbell, earl of Islay,