Drumlanrig Castle and the Douglases

14 EARLY HISTORY OF DURISDEER.
PAINTINGS IN DRAWING-ROOM.
i. Henry Douglas, Earl of Drumlanrig, eldest son of
Charles, third Duke of Queensberry, born 30th October,
1722, was educated at Winchester College,
" When Bigg presided and when Burton taught,"
and at the University of Oxford. He entered the army
and distinguished himself so much that Charles Emmanuel,
King of Sardinia, ordered his ambassador in London to
wait on the Duke of Queensberry to thank him for the
services performed by his son. He married, 24th July,
1754, Lady Elizabeth Hope, eldest daughter of John,
second Earl of Hopetoun. After passing some weeks in
Scotland, he proceeded with his bride towards England,
and riding before the carriage was killed by the going off
of one of his own pistols, near Bawtrey, in Yorkshire, 19th
October, 1754, in his thirty-second year. This painting
is said to be by Sir Godfrey Kneller, but this is quite
impossible, as Sir Godfrey died in 1723, one year after the
birth of the Earl. It is difficult even to conjecture the name
of the artist who executed this painting and that of his wife,
Lady Elizabeth Hope, as after the death of Sir Godfrey
there is a great gap where there is no celebrated artist.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was indeed coming into notice about
1754, and it is just possible that these two paintings may
be by Sir Joshua.
2. Lady Elizabeth Hope, eldest daughter of John,
second Earl of Hopetoun. married to Henry, Earl of
Drumlanrig, never recovered the shock of her husband's
sad death, and dying childless, 7th April, 1756, in her
twenty-first year, was buried with her husband at Durisdeer.
This painting is also said to be by Sir Godfrey Kneller,