NOTICES OF SIR WILLIAM MURE.

It would seem confessed, in assailing the "ancient Faith," little proved more formidable than those satires and pasquils, for which, in particular, Sir David Lindsay stands so pre-eminently distinguished. Modified to the progress of events, writings of this nature continued to appear, no doubt with decreasing interest and point, down at least to the final period of the Revolution.

Considerably previous to the renewed outbreakings in the time of Charles the First, Sir William Mure of Rowallan published an elaborate and lengthy poem, under the title of the Trve Crucifixe, and by which, in this class of literature, his name has not yet utterly been forgotten. Haply, therefore, at least to those solicitous of such matters, a selection of the lighter emanations of the muse of the True Crucifixe, may not be deemed wholly uninteresting. Nor, peradventure, may the few casual memorials subjoined of its zealous author, at this distance of time, be viewed as greatly less acceptable; and it is only regretted, that neither the nature of the present compilation, nor the means of obtaining materials, enable doing more suitable justice to the subject.

The family of Rowallan in Ayrshire, is amongst the most ancient and honourably connected of the baronial rank in the country. Elizabeth Mure, wife of the Second Robert of Scotland-from whom have descended the succeeding Royal line of Stuart, and their illustrious successors to the present time—was a daughter of the house of Rowallan.1

SIR WILLIAM MURE, a selection of whose poesies here follow, was the lineal descendant and successor of the family. About the year 1593, his father, Sir William Mure of Rowallan, married, first, when very young, Elizabeth, daughter of Montgomery of Hazelhead, and by whom our author was the eldest of two sons, and a daughter married to Boyd of Pinkill. This lady appears to have been daughter to Hugh Montgomery of Hazelhead, Ayrshire (descended of Eglintoun), by Marion Sempill, 2 daughter of Lord Sempill, and sister to MONTGOMERY, author of the Cherrie and the Slae. In a metrical address, now first printed, to Charles, Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles the First, Sir William Mure thus alludes to his near connection with the Poet:

My Muse, quhich noght doth challenge worthy fame,
Save from MONTGOMERY sche her birth doth clayme.

1 An interesting genealogical memoir of the family, written by our author, was lately published, from the original MS. at Glasgow, by the Rev. William Muir. In which the curious reader may find an account of the ancestry of Rowallan detailed at length.

2 Crawford, followed by subsequent genealogists, calls her Janet; but in an original writ belonging to the family of Blair, Ayrshire, wherein "Hew Montgomerie of Heiselheid" grants a reversion of lands to John Blair of that ilk, 1581, she is named Marion, and was then living.

SIR WILLIAM MURE.

103

There certainly still remain indubitable indications of Sir William Mure's early proficiency as a scholar; and, as we learn from himself, before attaining his twentieth year, he composed an English metrical version of Virgil's Dido and Eneas-some further notice of which afterwards:

But pardon, Maro, if myn infant Muse
(To twyse two lustres scarce of yeirs attained).

Yet, in his education, it appears not that he was ever destined otherwise than merely to support, in his succession, the hereditary rank and condition of the family, in the several relations of society and the state: indeed, in the extremely limited field of that period, professional pursuits

of

any kind seem to have been but little thought of by the eldest branches of the more wealthy families. Before this time, Kilmarnock, in the near vicinity of the family residence, had risen to the rank of a burgh, and so, probably, might afford him the means of rudimental instruction. And there is perhaps still more probability, that he completed his education at the then newly revived University of Glasgow, under the direction of the eminent Principal Boyd, for whom it is apparent he always entertained the highest veneration: it is at least so far presumable, his brother Hugh, afterwards a clergyman in England, in 1618, was matriculated in that College.

Before fully completing his majority, in 1615, he mar

ried Anna, daughter of Dundas of Newliston;1 and by whom he had five sons and six daughters: of the latter, the only one mentioned to have been married, was Elizabeth, wife of Uchter Knox of Ranfurlie-for what seems known, the last of that race directly descending, from which the reformer has ordinarily been deduced. The eldest son, William, the friend of Guthrie of Fenwick, 2 succeeded his father, as Mure of Rowallan; Alexander was killed in the Irish rebellion, 1641; Robert, a major in the army, married the "Lady Newhall" in Fife; John was designed of Fenwickhill; and Patrick, probably the youngest, was created a baronet of Nova-Scotia, in 1662. He married, secondly, dame Jane Hamilton, Lady Duntreath; and of this marriage there were two sons and two daughters-James, Hugh, Jane, and Marion.

Following the course of the present inquiry, over no inconsiderable space of comparative public tranquillity in the history of those excited times, little occurs to disquiet the peaceful tenor of our author's domestic felicity-the elements of which, under more favourable circumstances, perhaps but few ever possessed in a higher degree. A taste for building and rural embellishment, seems discoverable in the family of Rowallan at a period when decorations of this nature were confessedly but little regarded in

1 John, first Earl of Stair, born about 1648, married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir John Dundas of Newliston, in the county of Linlithgow, Knight. This lady was mother of the second Earl, so well known in his military capacity.-Peer. voce Stair.

2 See Letters of the Rev. William Guthrie to Sir William Mure, younger of Rowallan, &c. just published by Mr. Oliphant, Edinburgh.

SIR WILLIAM MURE.

105

Scotland: and in these refinements, Sir William certainly fell nothing behind, if he did not rather surpass the slowly advancing spirit of his time; besides planting and other ameliorations, he made various additions to the family mansion, and "reformed the whole house exceedingly."

At last, however, the internal struggles betwixt the unbending assertors of presbytery, and the no less frantic policy of the court, to retain at least some modification of the former ceremonial, came to a crisis in the noted assembly at Glasgow, 1638. As a last alternative, the covenanters found themselves committed to the taking up of arms. Consequently, early in summer 1639, on the Royal preparations at York, the army of the covenant began to assemble, and about the beginning of June, formed the celebrated camp on Dunse-Law. Ayrshire, "according to the common undervaluing which was in the country, sent out 1200 foot and horsemen, under Lord Loudon's conduct as crowner, and Mr. David Dickson [of Irvine] as minister." The presence of the Earl of Eglintoun, an energetic and spirited nobleman, in consequence of a threatened descent from Ireland, appears to have been required for a time in the western parts; but Lord Montgomery, his son, attended the march, and the Earl afterwards, though late," joined the camp of the famed Leslie.

66

Of this subsidy of the county, Sir William Mure of Rowallan had the command of a company of his own

1 Baillie, I. 164, who remarks: "Our soldiers were all lusty and full of courage; the most of them stout young plowmen; great cheerfulness in the face of all."