Earls of Cromartie > [NSLBLANK]

T
his Book of the Earls of Cromaetie owes its existence to the liberality
of their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. Her Grace was
created, in 1861, Countess of Cromartie. As the representative of the Earls
of Cromartie, and ■ heiress of their estates, Her Grace inherited a large col-
lection of the Correspondence of her distinguished ancestor, George first Earl
of Cromartie, a statesman who exercised great influence during a long life.
He was born in the year 1630, in the reign of King Charles the Eirst, and
died in the year 1714, in the reign of King George the First. He thus lived
in the reigns of seven sovereigns. Six of these he served faithfully in high
judicial and political offices, and he was, when he finally retired from public
life, the oldest servant of the Crown, having been for the long period of sixty
years in the active service of his country.
Although much of his correspondence has been lost, owing to the for-
feiture of his grandson, the third Earl of Cromartie, in 1746, a large portion
of it is still preserved, embracing the period from the Eestoration of King
Charles the Second to the death of Queen Anne.
The Cromartie Correspondence and Charters came under my notice some
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