Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/83

 Campbell (the poet), Wentworth Beamont, and other influential men; but, death removing many of them, he was left almost alone to fight the battle of the Poles. The grants made by the House of Commons year by year were not sufficient to support all the victims of Russian, Austrian, and Prussian cruelty, but Lord Dudley was indefatigable in soliciting public subscriptions, and when these could no longer be obtained, in replenishing the funds of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland by means of public entertainments. For many years annual balls were given at the Mansion House in aid of the association, when Lord Dudley was always the most prominent member of the committee of management.

The labour attending these benevolent exertions was incredible, yet it was undertaken in addition to a regular attendance in parliament and an incessant employment of his pen in support of the Polish cause. His views respecting the danger of Russian aggression were by many laughed at as idle dreams, and his ideas respecting the re-establishment of Poland were pronounced quixotic. In November 1854 he went to Stockholm in the hope of persuading the king of Sweden to join the western powers in taking measures for the reconstruction of Poland, but he died there on 17 Nov. 1854; his body was brought to England and buried at Hertford on 16 Dec. He married, in 1824, Christina Alexandrina Egypta, daughter of Lucien Bonaparte, prince of Canino; she died on 19 May 1847, leaving an only son, Paul Amadeus Francis Coutts, a captain in the 68th regiment, who died on 1 Aug. 1889. Lord Dudley printed a ‘Speech on the Policy of Russia, delivered in the House of Commons,’ 1836; and an ‘Address of the London Literary Association of the Friends of Poland to the People of Great Britain and Ireland,’ 1846.

[Examiner, 25 Nov. 1854, p. 747; Gent. Mag. 1855, i. 79–81; Times, 21 Nov. 1854, 16 Dec.; Illustrated London News, 1843 iii. 325 with portrait, 1849 xiv. 124 with portrait; Report of Proceedings of Annual General Meeting of the London Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, 1839 et seq.; Estimates of Sums required to enable His Majesty to grant Relief to distressed Poles, Parliamentary Papers, annually 1834–52.] 

STUART, ESMÉ, sixth and first  (1542?–1583), only son of John Stuart or Stewart, fifth seigneur of Aubigny, youngest son of John Stewart, third or eleventh earl of Lennox [q. v.], by his wife, Anne de La Quelle, was born about 1542, and succeeded his father as seigneur of Aubigny in 1567. In 1576 he was engaged in an embassy in the Low Countries (Cal. State Papers, For. 1576–8, No. 968); on 25 Nov. he was instructed to go with all speed to the Duke of Alençon and thank him in the name of the estates for his goodwill (ib. No. 1030); and a little later he was instructed to proceed to England (ib. No. 1036).

After the partial return of Morton to power in 1579 the friends of Mary, whose hopes of triumph had been so rudely dashed by the sudden death of the Earl of Atholl, resolved on a special coup for the restoration of French influence and the final overthrow of protestantism. As early as 15 May Leslie, bishop of Ross, informed the Cardinal de Como that the king ‘had written to summon his cousin, the Lord Aubigny, from France’ (, Narratives of Scottish Catholics, p. 136). He was, however, really sent to Scotland at the instigation of the Guises and as their agent. Calderwood states that Aubigny, who arrived in Scotland on 8 Sept., ‘pretended that he came only to congratulate the young king's entry to his kingdom [that is, his assumption of the government], and was to return to France within short space’ (History, iii. 457). But he did not intend to return. As early as 24 Oct. De Castelnau, the French ambassador in London, announced to the king of France that he had practically come to stay, and would be created Earl of Lennox, and, as some think, declared successor to the throne of Scotland should the king die without children (, Relations Politiques, iii. 56). These surmises were speedily justified; in fact no more apt delegate for the task he had on hand could have been chosen. If he desired to stay, no one had a better right, for he was the king's cousin; and if he stayed, he was bound by virtue of his near kinship to occupy a place of dignity and authority, to which Morton could not pretend, and which would imply Morton's ruin. Moreover his personal qualifications for the rôle entrusted to him were of the first order; he was handsome, accomplished, courteous, and (what was of more importance), while he impressed every one with the conviction of his honesty, he was one of the adroitest schemers of his time, with almost unmatched powers of dissimulation. It was impossible for the young king to resist such a fascinating personality. On 14 Nov. 1579 he received from the king the rich abbacy of Arbroath in commendam (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1546–1580, No. 2920), and on 5 March 1579–80 he obtained the lands and barony of Torbolton (ib. No. 2970); the lands of Crookston,