Early records of an old Glasgow family

136 THE EARLY RECORDS OF
given to Laurence Hill, C.E., as the representative of the Hill
family.
" Old John " Dunlop in his letter adds : " There is besides in
the same possession a diamond ring of the Countess of Kilmar-
nock." This, however, is not altogether correct. The diamond
ring now in my possession is understood to have belonged to
the 4th Earl ; the Countess' ring was an emerald one, which
descended to Dr. Laurence Hill's sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Hill
or Richardson, from whom it passed into the possession of her
daughter, Lady Elizabeth Margaret Richardson or Colebrooke,
Abington.
Earl of Kilmarnock s Diamond Ring.
The following is an interesting descriptive account of the
" Diamond Ring, gifted by William, the 4th Earl of Kilmarnock,
along with an emerald one, when under sentence of death in 1746,
to the Rev. Laurence Hill ; a Bible and an English Prayer-Book, in
the possession of Laurence Hill, C.E., Glasgow, used by the Earl on
the scaffold, being also presented by his Countess," contained in
a paper read by the late John Buchanan, LL.D., to the Archaeolo-
gical Society of Glasgow on 10th April, 1868.
" The ring is richly set with diamonds. A very large brilliant
occupies the centre of an oblong-shaped gold plate, expanding from
but forming an integral part of the ring.
" This large diamond is surrounded by ten smaller, and three
still less stretch along a portion of the hoop at each side of the
oblong plate where it and the ring unite, thus making in all seven-
teen diamonds of different sizes, finely cut and sparkling. From the
considerable dimensions of the hoop this fine antique was probably
worn on the middle finger.
" Immediately before his execution, Lord Kilmarnock gifted
this diamond, along with another in emerald, to the Rev.
Laurence Hill, then Minister of Kilmarnock, afterwards Minister of
the Barony Parish, Glasgow, from 1750 till 1774. He (Rev. L.
Hill) had espoused a daughter, by a second marriage, of Laetitia
Boyd, cousin and widow of the 2nd Earl of Kilmarnock. The ring