Western Worthies | Page 2

elsewhere. Chiefly,
however, has "the land of mountain and of flood" bulked largely in the
records of the world, from the stern and heroic character and
statesmenlike tendencies of its titled nobility, the lights and shadows of
whose characters, as they are developed in the historic page, go a long
way towards conferring upon Scotland the distinguishing qualities that
have made her famous. As this is not intended to be even a bird's-eye
view of Scottish history, we may have said enough by way of
introducing the reader to one of the most noble and illustrious of the
hereditary peerage of Scotland. Every schoolboy is more or less
familiar with the annals of a race which has been identified through
many ages with the interests--political, social, and commercial--of the
West of Scotland. The Clan Campbell have been stigmatised as
haughty, aggressive, and ambitious. The soft impeachment may be
justly merited. Throughout the most exciting and eventful crises of

their country's history, the Campbells have always borne a
distinguished and conspicuous part, both in the field of battle and in the
Councils of State. Unlike not a few families and clans who can boast of
a lineage almost if not quite as ancient and noble as their own, their
name and fame are not "to hastening ills a prey." The lapse of years has
not dimmed the lustre of their achievements, or caused them to lie upon
their oars inactive and inglorious. The present head of their clan--the
Duke of Argyll--has in his day and generation been as distinguished as
any of his more formidable ancestry. Their prospective head--the
Marquis of Lorne--has passed the Rubicon of Royal etiquette, allied
himself with a Princess of the Blood, and gives promise of a most
useful and distinguished career. The clan can further claim for
themselves six members of the British Peerage, and no less than
twenty-two Baronets, nearly every one of whom has been raised from
the ranks for conspicuous merit in one sphere or another. In almost
every relation of life, the clan has had honour and glory reflected upon
it through some of its members; and, in consideration of its past,
present, and future importance, the possessor of the name of Campbell
may feel a justifiable pride in the stock from which he springs.
George Douglas Campbell, the present head of the Ducal House of
Argyll, unites in himself many of the most estimable qualities that
enabled his ancestors, apart from the mere accident of birth, to achieve
greatness. That he is one of the most exalted of Scotland's aristocracy, a
great territorial magnate, and entitled to take a high place in the
Council of the nation, are facts external and independent of his own
intrinsic merits. But the same remark does not apply to the Duke's rare
diplomatic and literary abilities, to the sageness of his wisdom, to the
maturity end value of his experience, and to the kindly qualities of his
heart. Pope spoke of an ancestor of his Grace as--
"Argyll, the State's whole thunder born to wield. And shake alike the
Senate and the field;"
but if the poet had applied his Muse to describe the living
representative of the noble House he could justly have bestowed upon
him a much greater meed of praise. It is a rare conjunction to find one

who is born great, seek also to achieve greatness; but this His Grace has
done in an eminent degree. The adventitious circumstances of his birth
placed him in a position only a few removes from Royalty itself, but
not content with mere physical greatness, and realising that "the mind's
the standard of the man," he has applied himself diligently to the
acquisition of wisdom, until both in the domain of politics and in the
still more cosmopolitan sphere of belles lettres he has, perhaps, made
himself more conspicuous by his sheer native worth than any other
member of the aristocracy of Scotland. Intimately associated from his
earliest years with the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of his native
country, he has been enabled, in his time, to do the State some service;
and when the "history of Scotland in the nineteenth century" shall come
to be written, the Duke of Argyll will be mentioned with honour and
grateful regard. On these, and many other grounds that might be quoted,
we are prepared to justify the incorporation in the present series of
articles of such a name and of such a life--a name that is as familiar in
the Church Courts as in the Councils of the nation, and a life that has
been singularly pure, useful, and exemplary.
Born April, 30, 1823, his Grace is the second son of the sixth Duke of
Argyll, by his marriage with Joan, daughter of John Glassel, Esq., his
father's second