NOTES ON THE ART TREASURES AT PENICUIK HOUSE MIDLOTHIAN BY JOHN M. GRAY F.S.A. SCOT. CURATOR SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. _REPRINTED, WITH LARGE ADDITIONS, FROM “THE SCOTTISH LEADER.”_ [Illustration] FIFTY COPIES FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 1889. THE ART TREASURES OF SCOTLAND. III. PENICUIK HOUSE. I. There are few Scottish families that, during the last two hundred years, have been more closely connected with the progress of culture in their native country than the Clerks of Penicuik. Claiming descent from the Drummonds of Hawthornden, through Elizabeth Henderson, grand-daughter of the poet and first wife of the first Baronet of Penicuik, they have produced, both in the main line and in its younger branches, a goodly proportion of men of intellect and mark. At present we need only name Sir John Clerk, the second Baronet, one of the Commissioners for the Union, and a Baron of the Exchequer, a man of varied attainments and the strongest individuality, and known as an enthusiastic antiquary; his son, Sir James, who was the architect of the present mansion of the family; whose brother, Sir George Clerk Maxwell, the fourth Baronet, distinguished himself by his efforts to promote the commercial interests of his country, establishing a linen manufactory at Dumfries, engaging in mining schemes for copper and lead, and writing much upon agricultural and industrial subjects; John Clerk of Eldin, younger brother of the last-named, author of the celebrated “Essay on Naval Tactics,” and known as an artist by his series of etchings which preserve in a manner so interesting to the antiquary the aspect of many of the historical edifices of Scotland; his well-known son John Clerk, “the Coryphæus of the Scottish Bar,” afterwards Lord Eldin; and the Right Hon. Sir George Clerk, sixth Baronet, the friend of Sir Robert Peel, one of the prominent politicians of his time, and especially versed in all matters of statistics. William Aikman, the portrait-painter, too, was descended from the house of Penicuik, his mother having been the eldest sister of Sir John Clerk, the first Baronet; and, in our own time, Professor James Clerk Maxwell, whose father was grandson of the fourth Baronet and brother of the sixth, has by his eminence in science added new lustre to his parental name. But not only have the Clerks been themselves witty—using the word in its best, its old English, sense—they have been the cause of wit in others; by their loyal friendships with the best Scottish painters and poets of their time, and their open-handed patronage of these men’s work, they have identified themselves with the history of art and literature in Scotland. One can hardly pronounce the name of Allan Ramsay without thinking of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, or the name of Alexander Runciman, without recalling that of Sir James, his son and successor.