LIFE OF J. G. LOCKHART

CHAPTER I

GLASGOW, 1794-1808

"An Ell of Genealogy."-Origin and History of the Lockharts.— Symon's town.-The House of Saint Lys.-Lockharts of Symington, of the Lee.-The Heart of Bruce.-Cognisance of the Lockharts.—Sir Stephen and Sir Allan.-Homicidal Lockharts.— Lockharts of Cleghorn, Birkhill, Wicketshaw.-Milton Lockhart. -Lockharts of the Covenant.-A "Flyting."-After Bothwell Brig. Somervilles, Nimmos, Pringles.-Lockhart's parents.His birth. His shyness.-"Twa Puddens."-His early stoicism. -School days.-Habit of caricature.-Glasgow University.-His prizes.-The Blackstone.--The Snell Exhibition.-Goes to Oxford in a round jacket.

"EVERY Scotsman has his pedigree," says Sir Walter, in the Autobiographical fragment where he traces his own. The interest in our ancestors, "without whose life we had not been," may be regarded as a foible, and was made matter of reproach, both to Scott and his biographer, the story of whose own life is here to be narrated. Scott "was anxious to realise his own ancestry to his imagination; . whatever he had in himself he would fain have made out a hereditary claim for."

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In this taste there is not wanting a domestic piety; and science, since Sir Walter's day, has approved of his theory, that the past of our race revives in each of us.

For these reasons Scottish readers, at least, may pardon a genealogical sketch in this place. Or, if they be unkind, we may say of Lockhart, as he says in the case of Thomas Campbell, "He was a Scotsman, and of course his biographer begins with an ell of genealogy."

The pedigree of Scott's biographer and son-inlaw, John Gibson Lockhart, was hardly inferior in historical interest to Sir Walter's own. Both Sir Walter and his son-in-law were descended from cadet branches of noble houses. lf Harden was the "fountain of the gentry" of Scott, Lockhart of Lee was, as we shall see, in all probability, the source of the "gentry" of Scott's biographer.

In the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire is the parish of Symington, bounded on the east by the stripling Clyde, and rising in the south to the crest of Tinto. The whole district lies high, but, save for Tinto, is not hilly. The waters of the land, except Clyde, are but burns, which, in later life, Lockhart remembered with all a Scot's personal affection for his native streams. There is a warm wooded look, considering the height of the general elevation, and the parish is best known, perhaps, for Symington Railway Station, on the Caledonian Railway. The old official name of Symington is Villa Symonis

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Lockard, Symon's town, whence Symington. This name is understood to be derived from Symon Loccard, who, in the reign of Malcolm the Maiden, was lord of the parish, and founded the village and the church. The name Loccard also occurs, it is believed, in Lockerby, in Dumfriesshire (Locardebi), and certainly in Craig Lockhart, and Milton Lockhart, which is still in the possession of the family.1 A man of Symon Loccard's importance must necessarily have had forefathers of no mean estate. I have not had the opportunity to trace, through documents, this Loccard (probably derived from "de Loch Ard," a territorial designation) to the house of Saint Lys, and the companions of the Conqueror, but it is a mistaken etymology which accepts Lockhart of Lee as a corruption of Loccard de Saint Lys.

Whatever the truth of the Saint Lys theory may be, the eponymous hero, so to speak, of the Lockharts, Symon of Symington, founded his parish church about 1153. He also held lands in Ayrshire, and gave his name to Symontown in Kyle. He appears as a witness to charters and other deeds as late as 1190, and was succeeded by his son Malcolm.

The Lockharts of Lee, now the chief house of the family, soon eclipsed the parent branch of Symontown, which disappears in stormy times. In 1300 (circa) we find Richard Hastang, an Englishman,

1 "Lockhart" was only added to "Milton" some seventy years ago.

writing to Edward I., "praying for the lands of Simon Locard," in Ayr, "and in the Leye, in the county of Lanark." This Simon Locard of the Lee was knighted by Robert Bruce, and took his side. in the resistance to England. After Bruce's death, he sailed with the good Lord James Douglas, to carry the king's heart to the Holy Land. Douglas fell, fighting the Saracens in Spain; all the world knows how he threw the royal heart into the mellay, crying, "Lead on, as thou were wont to do!" Sir Simon then took the command, rescued the heart of Bruce and the body of Douglas, and returned to Scotland. His acquisition, in Spain, of the famous "Lee penny" ("The Talisman"), part of the ransom of a Moor, is well known. The Locards now added to their bearings a heart within a fetterlock, and took the name of Lockhart. "Did you ever hear of such a name, Master Hugh?" asks Scott, in his "Tales of a Grandfather," written for "Hugh Littlejohn," the son of John Gibson Lockhart.

While the Lockharts of Lee, themselves originally of the Symonton or Symington family, thus came to honour, the Symonton branch dwindled and vanished. Probably they took the English side, for Bruce, soon after his accession, conveyed the barony of Symonton, as crown property, to "Thomas fil Dick" (Thomae filio Ricardi), probably Thomas Dickson of Hesilside, who helped the Black Douglas to surprise the English garrison

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of Castle Dangerous, on a famous Palm Sunday.1 Thus the headship of the Lockharts was now settled in the patriotic and illustrious house of Lee.

From 1339 to 1440, the history of the Lockharts of Lee (as far as printed documents go), is somewhat obscure. In the latter year (1440) we find them settled in their lands by a charter to Alexander Lockhart, who was followed by his son Sir Allan, knighted by James III., and succeeded, in turn, by his son, Sir Mungo, who died before 1489.

Now in the days of this Sir Allan Lockhart of Lee comes on the stage a Sir Stephen Lockhart, who owned the lands of Cleghorn in Lanarkshire. About the parentage of this Sir Stephen Lockhart of Cleghorn, who was the direct male ancestor of John Gibson Lockhart, uncertainty prevails. A scholar who has aided me by his researches 2 says, "He may have been a cadet of the Lockharts of Lee, whose history at that period is not well known, and family tradition takes this view, though it has not found support from public documents." On the other hand, the authors of "The Upper Ward of Lanarkshire" (to which most of the information given here is due) find a Sir Allan Lockhart in possession of Cleghorn in 1441. "He," they say, "was undoubtedly a cadet of the Lockharts of Lee,

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1 See Scott's novel, "Castle Dangerous."

2 The Rev. John Anderson.

3 "The Upper Ward of Lanarkshire." By G. V. Irving and A. Murray. Glasgow, 1864.