born at Bexton, in Cheshire, in 1703. He was a learned antiquary, and an extensive contributor to the Philosophical Transactions and the Universal History. Being addicted to occasional absence of mind, the story is related of him, that preaching the condemnation sermon before some criminals who were to be executed the following morning, he told his audience that he would give them the remainder of his discourse next Lord's Day.1 Indications of a second marriage of Mersington's, before he was raised to the bench, and of a young family by that marriage, are afforded by a monument in Greyfriars' Churchyard, to "Francisca Swinton, third daughter of the second marriage to Mr. Alexander Swinton of Mersington, advocate, a child of seven years of age. The mother of the child so commemorated, was no doubt the second Lady Mersington mentioned by Douglas. It has indeed been doubted whether it was by her that Lord Mersington was the ancestor of several notable Scottish families. The doubt is founded on a funeral entry preserved in the Lyon Office, relating to the burial of Andrew

1 Andrew Swinton was the author of a volume of travels in Norway, Den

known to have belonged, between 1760
and 1785, to Dr. Peter Swinton, a

No relationship

mark, and Russia (London, 1792), which native of Cheshire and of St. Brides traceable between the two families.

was thought worthy of a German translation. The name also occurs in a street adjoining Gray's Inn Road, London, in which there is a publichouse called (but without a signboard) 'The Swinton Arms." Another house in Swinton Street bears the name of "Swinton Dairy." The property is

parish, London. A flat tombstone in
front of the chancel of the Church of
St. Sepulchre marks his grave, and is
also to the memory of his daughter, who
was the wife of Captain Spooner of
Leigh Court, Worcestershire.

2 Monteith's Theatre of Mortality,
reprint: Glasgow, 1834.

Fletcher of Aberlady in 1710. There the name of Mary Swinton, Mersington's daughter, is correctly entered as the mother of the deceased. But her mother again is represented as having been a Johnston of Hutton Hall, and her grandmother a Ker of Mersington. And in support of this view of the family connection, it is noticed that there is given as Lord Mersington's arms, the Swinton coat, differenced by having the cheveron charged with "a unicorn's head erased vert," the cognisance of the Kers, with reference, it is supposed, to his wife's descent from that family. It is, however, conclusively shown by the records of the Sheriff-Court of Berwickshire, that the Lady Mersington who survived her husband was Alison Skene. Her daughter, Mary Swinton, married, first, John Fletcher of Aberlady, and secondly, Brigadier-General Bruce of Kennet. And here we have a glimpse of the manners of the period, which is worth preserving. At Kennet, the family seat in Clackmannanshire, the pious Boston,' then in his twentieth year, was, on the recommendation of Lady Mersington, domesticated as tutor to young Aberlady, the General's stepson. In his autobiography, the worthy man recalls with complacency, that though not properly the chaplain of the family, yet finding himself providentially settled there, in the character he bore, he judged himself obliged in conscience to seek the

1 Thomas Boston, the well-known author of "Human Nature in its fourfold state," was born at Dunse in 1676, ordained minister at Simprin, then "the

smallest charge of a country parish in Scotland," in 1699, translated to Ettrick in 1707, and died in 1732.

spiritual good of the family, and to watch over their manners. So also of the 21st of January 1697, he records,1 "That day was a public fast day, and the night before, the family being called together, I laid before them the causes of the fast, and thereto added the sins of the family, which I condescended on particularly, desiring them to search their hearts for other particulars, in order to our due humiliation." Probably the zeal of the young tutor was not always tempered by discretion. And his attempted interference in the arrangements of the household seems to have been resented by its mistress. "The lady," he says, "was my great enemy, but professed great kindness to me when she spoke to me or to the ministers of me." By her marriage to Brigadier-General Bruce, Mary Swinton had with other issue a son Alexander. He served with distinction in the army during Marlborough's wars, and having married the heiress of Robert Lord Burleigh, was ancestor of the present Lord Balfour of Burleigh, to whom that title was adjudged by the House of Lords in 1868. Helen Swinton, another daughter of Lord Mersington, by Alison Skene, became the wife of Colonel Francis Charteris of Amisfield. That name and estate their only daughter transmitted to the noble family of Wemyss, by her marriage to James the fourth Earl. Lord Mersington's other daughters married Sir Alexander Cummin of Culter, John Belsches of Tofts, George Swinton of Laughton, Lawrence Drummond,

1 Boston's Memoirs, Edinburgh, 1813, p. 23.

brother of the Laird of Pitkellony, and Sir Alexander Brown of Bassendean.

Robert, third son of Sir Alexander Swinton of Swinton, commanded a troop of horse at the battle of Worcester, and was killed while attempting to carry off Cromwell's standard, which he had seized. The fourth son, James, is said to have been engaged in the same battle.1 But the writer who makes this statement may have confounded him with his brother Alexander. The fifth son was George of Chesters, Writer to the Signet; the sixth, David of Laughton, merchant in Edinburgh. Both of these married, and left descendants. During Sir Alexander Swinton's life, and that of his immediate successor, the family contributed several members to the service of the church in their native county. Besides Walter Swinton, already mentioned as minister of Swinton between 1632 and 1646, Patrick Swinton held the same office in 1668. Thomas Swinton was minister, first of Abbey St. Bathans in 1628, and afterwards of Edrom from 1649 to 1661. His tombstone is still to be seen in the churchyard of the latter parish. John Swinton was minister of Cranshaws from 1674 to 1710.

XX. JOHN SWINTON OF SWINTON, the eldest son of Sir Alexander, was a man of great ability and very varied fortunes. He married, in 1645, Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of William, second Lord Blantyre. In contemplation of this marriage, charters were granted by Sir

1 Douglas' Baronage, p. 131.

2

Alexander in favour of his son and his intended spouse, by which various portions of the estates, both of Swinton and Cranshaws, are conveyed to them, under burden of the liferent right of the granter's wife, Lady Margaret Home, if she should survive her husband.1 Sir Alexander died in 1652. Before that date the son had been chosen one of the Committee of Estates, and appointed a Commissioner for the Plantation of Kirks. He was also named one of the colonels for Berwickshire, for putting the kingdom into a state of defence. Nevertheless, we find him in June 1650 voting against a levy, "when, as the Parliament was informed certainly, Cromwell and a strong body of sectaries were marching down to invade the kingdom." In December of the same year, he is said to have gone over to the English forces, then occupying Edinburgh. By some of his apologists it has been asserted that this was not a voluntary act on his part, but that he was taken prisoner by a party of Cromwell's soldiers. And such was his own statement, when ten years afterwards he was admitted to his defence. It seems certain that it was as a spectator only, and not as a combatant, that he was present with the Parliamentary army at the battle of Worcester, where, as has been already noticed, two, if not three, of his brothers fought on the side of the King. In Scotland, however, his offence was looked on as unpardonable. He was excommunicated by the Commission of the Kirk, held at Perth in May 1651. A 1 Appendix CXVII., CXVIII. 2 Balfour's Annals of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 80.