Ayrshire > Volume 2

THE BOYLES OF KELBURN 159
did not settle upon his lees. Residing at Kelburn almost
constantly, he found abundance of work lying to hand,
in the county, in the management of his own estates,
and in multitudinous affairs of many kinds. He interes-
ted himself in the financial embarrassments of his friends,
Lord Garnock and Corsehill. He took part in the
arrangement of the election of the Scotch Peers to the
House of Lords, and in elections. He found time to
devote to the Queensberry estate. He procured appoint-
ments for friends. He was interested in the settlements
of ministers. He gave counsel and advice. He looked
to the wellbeing of the poor. He placed his library at
the disposal of his grandsons.
A curious record is preserved of the proceedings of a
Baron Court held in 1726, which fined his coachman for
profane swearing, and amerced him in the substantial
penalty of three hundred pounds Scots (£25 sterling) for
a violent assault on a groom and two other fellow-
servants.
As the years went on the Earl suffered severely from
gout and kindred complaints. His second wife died in
Edinburgh, 1724, and was buried in the Abbey of Holy-
rood House. Lord Glasgow himself died at Kelburn,
October 31, 1733, aged 67, and was buried at Largs. And
thus closed a life, not without its viscissitudes, but
marked by much good work done for the nation ; a life
characterised by unblemished probity at a period in
Scottish history when temptations to men in high estate
were many, and when, in the procession of events, it was
no easy matter to avoid the occasions of possibly
becoming compromised that abounded in many
directions. A spy employed by the English Government
before the Union to investigate the character of the
Scottish nobility, reported that Lord Glasgow was
distinguished by application and capacity, and that he
was " a fat fair man." This description agrees with the
portraits of him that are extant. He is said to have
had much of the air and manner of an eccentric brother
of Marion Stewart, his mother.