Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/407

 the barony, 17 March 1636–7. He was one of the few peers who protested against the delivering up of Charles I to the English army at Newcastle in 1646, and was a promoter of the ‘engagement’ in 1648, for which he was fined 1,000l., and debarred from sitting in parliament in 1649. He died in 1671. He was twice married: first, in 1645, to Anne, fifth daughter of Sir Thomas Hope, bart., of Craighall, Edinburghshire, by whom he had Henry, third lord Cardross [q. v.]; and secondly, in 1655, to Mary, youngest daughter of Sir George Bruce of Carnock, Fifeshire.

[Douglas's Peerage of Scotland (Wood), i. 273; Addit. MS. 23114, ff. 42, 59, 62, 81.] 

ERSKINE, DAVID, (1670–1758), Scotch judge, son of David Erskine of Dun, near Montrose, Forfarshire, was born in 1670, and studied at the universities of St. Andrews and of Paris. He became a member of the Scottish bar on 19 Nov. 1698, and soon rose to eminence. He represented Forfarshire at the convention of estates, 1689, and in the parliaments of 1690, 1691, 1693, 1695, and 1696, and opposed the union. In November 1710 he took his seat as an ordinary lord by the title of Lord Dun, and on 13 April 1714 was also appointed a lord of justiciary. He resigned his justiciary gown in 1744 and his office as an ordinary lord in 1753, and died 26 May 1758 in the eighty-fifth year of his age (Scots Mag. xx. 276–7). He is author of a little volume entitled ‘Lord Dun's Friendly and Familiar Advices adapted to the various Stations and Conditions of Life,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1754. His arguments on the doctrine of passive obedience were assailed the same year by Dr. Robert Wallace, minister at Moffat, who characterises Erskine as ‘a venerable old man, of very great experience, and greatly distinguished for piety.’

[Brunton and Haig's Account of the Senators of the College of Justice, p. 491; Addit. MS. 6860, f. 29.] 

ERSKINE, DAVID (1772–1837), dramatist and antiquary, the natural son of David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl of Buchan [q. v.], was born in 1772. In early life he bore a captain's commission in the 31st foot, and also belonged to the York rangers. On the reduction of the 31st regiment, he was appointed a professor at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The Earl of Munster was there placed under his tuition, as were others of William IV's children, and at their request Erskine received the honour of knighthood, 11 Sept. 1830 (Gent. Mag. vol. ci. pt. i. p. 79). His father dying in 1829 bequeathed to him for life the whole of his unentailed estates, including Dryburgh Abbey, Berwickshire, which thenceforth became his permanent residence. Erskine, who was F.S.A. Scot., director of the Royal Academy of Edinburgh, and one of the founders of the Scots Military and Naval Academy in that city, died 22 Oct. 1837, aged 65. On 17 Nov. 1798 he married his cousin, Elizabeth, second daughter of Thomas, lord Erskine (ib. vol. lxviii. pt. ii. p. 993), and after her death, 2 Aug. 1800 (ib. vol. lxx. pt. ii. p. 804), he married secondly a Miss Ellis. He is the author of: 1. ‘Airyformia; or Ghosts of great note,’ 12mo, Kelso, 1825. 2. ‘King James the First of Scotland; a tragedy in five acts’ (and in verse), 12mo, Kelso, 1827. 3. ‘Love amongst the Roses: or Guilford in Surrey; a military opera, in three acts’ (and in prose), 12mo, Kelso, 1827. 4. ‘King James the Second of Scotland, an historical drama, in five acts’ (and in verse), 12mo, Kelso, 1828. 5. ‘Mary, Queen of Scots; or Melrose in ancient times … an historical melo-drama’ (in three acts and in prose), 12mo, Edinburgh, 1829. 6. ‘Annals and Antiquities of Dryburgh, and other places on the Tweed, second edition,’ 12mo, Kelso, 1836.

[Gent. Mag. new ser. viii. 652; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Erskine's Annals of Dryburgh, 2nd edit. pp. 49–50.] 

ERSKINE, DAVID MONTAGU, second (1776–1855), diplomatist, eldest son of Thomas, first lord Erskine [q. v.], the great orator, by Frances, daughter of Daniel Moore, M.P., was born, before his father was called to the bar, in 1776. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1802. He did not, however, try to follow his father's profession, but was elected M.P. for Portsmouth on 19 Feb. 1806 in his place, when he was made lord chancellor, and then obtained the appointment of minister plenipotentiary to the United States of America in July 1806. He was well fitted for the duties of this post, as he had married in 1799 the daughter of General John Cadwallader of Philadelphia, the companion of Washington and one of the leaders of the American revolution. He returned to England in 1809, and succeeded his father as second Lord Erskine in November 1823, and he remained unemployed until 1824, when he was appointed minister plenipotentiary at Stuttgard, from which place he was promoted to the legation at Munich in February 1828. He remained at Munich for more than fifteen years, during which he had no opportunity of distinguishing himself, and retired on