Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/366

Rh expressed his penitence for not having been from the beginning more devoted to its interests. ‘He granted,’ writes Calderwood, ‘that he had greatly offended that man of God, John Knox; and wished often that he had builded an hospital when he built his castle at Lauder [the castle of Thirlestane begun by him was completed by his grandson, John, duke of Lauderdale], and cried often for mercy’ (History, v. 382). The king's sonnet on Maitland is inscribed on the tomb of black alabaster, which, with recumbent effigy in his chancellor's robes, was erected by his son John, earl of Lauderdale, in the parish church of Haddington. He is also eulogised in a sonnet by Alexander Montgomery (fl. 1591) [q. v.] An engraving of Chancellor Maitland from the original portrait in Thirlestane Castle is given in Warrender's ‘Illustrations of Scottish History,’ 1890. Another engraving is in Smith's ‘Iconographia Scotica.’

Although less brilliantly endowed than his brother William, Maitland showed many of his characteristics, including his indifference to the religious disputes of the time. If less daring and adventurous in his schemes than his brother, his statesmanship was much safer both for himself and the country. Cecil declared him to be ‘the wisest man of Scotland;’ and the sway he exercised over the king, as well as his ability to maintain so long his peculiar ascendency, notwithstanding the plots and schemes of influential rival factions, indicates both great force of character and a remarkable mastery of the methods of worldly success.

Like his other brothers, Maitland inherited the literary tastes of his father. A number of his poems are included in the ‘Deliciæ Poetarum Scotorum hujus Ævi illustrium,’ Amsterdam, 1637. These and four poems in Scots—‘Aganis Sklanderous Toungs,’ ‘Ane admonition to my lord Mar, Regent in Scotland,’ ‘Advyce to be Blythe in Bail,’ and ‘Inveccyde Aganis the Deliverance of the Erle of Northumberland’—were published in appendix to the poems of his father, Sir Richard Maitland, by the Maitland Club, 1830. With the exception of the third, the ‘Scots Poems’ have been reprinted in ‘Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation’ (Scottish Text Society). Their strain of reflection is commonplace.

By his wife Jean, only daughter and heiress of James, fourth lord Fleming [q. v.], lord high chamberlain of Scotland, Maitland had a son, John, second lord Maitland and first earl of Lauderdale, and a daughter, Annie, married to Robert, lord Seton, son of the first Earl of Winton.

 MAITLAND, JOHN, second and first, born at Lethington 24 May 1616, was the eldest surviving son of John, second lord Maitland of Thirlestane, who was created first Earl of Lauderdale in 1624, and died in 1645; and was thus grandson of Sir John Maitland [q. v.] and grand-nephew of William Maitland of Lethington [q. v.], the minister of Mary Queen of Scots. His mother was Isabel Seton, second daughter of Alexander, earl of Dunfermline, high chancellor of Scotland. She died in 1638, having given birth to fifteen children, of whom one daughter, Sophia, and three sons, John, Robert (d 1658), and Charles, third earl of Lauderdale [q. v.], alone survived her.

On 30 March 1622 John received a charter of the lands and baronies belonging to the abbacy of Haddington, with the barony of Haddington (, Peerage of Scotland). With the greater part of the Scottish nobility he embraced the covenant, the only means whereby he could take part in public life. In March 1641 he was in London with the Scottish commissioners, but whether or no in any official capacity is uncertain (, Letters and Journals, i. 473). At the great Scottish parliament of this year he, with others, was refused the right, which for some time had been granted to the eldest sons of peers, of being present, though without a vote, at the deliberations (ib. p. 379;, Hist. Scotl. vii. 137). He was soon regarded as one of the rising hopes of the ultra-covenanting party. In July 1643 he was an elder in the assembly at St. Andrews. On 8 Aug. he was named by the assembly one of the commissioners for the Solemn League and Covenant, and on 17 Aug. was ordered to carry it to the two houses at Westminster. He was also sent as a lay elder, with John Kennedy, sixth earl of Cassillis [q. v.], and Archibald Johnston, lord Warriston [q. v.], the two most uncompromising covenanters, to attend the Westminster Assembly which was to meet on 5 Nov. He there earned the complete confidence of Henderson, Baillie, and his other colleagues. Henderson speaks especially of his skill in dealing with the peers, while Baillie thought ‘no livinge man fitter to doe Scotland service against the plotting independent party’