Series 1 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (First volume)

144
CIVIL WAR PAPERS
F. van Rienndyk, Keeper of the Archives at the Hague, but
came too late for use in the new edition of Wishart’s Montrose.
For further information on the subject .of these letters the
reader is referred to Part n. cc. vi, vii, in that work; see
especially pp. 258-9, and the notes below.
The translations of the letters are intended to be literal, and
corrections, in italics, are given only where the sense seems to
demand the conjecture.
Sir John Cochran, or Cocheran, as he seems to have styled
himself, was the eldest son of Alexander Blair, third son of
John Blair of Blair, who married the heiress of Wm. Cochrane
of that Ilk, and took his wife’s name. He was recommended
to Charles i. by Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, and attained
the rank of Colonel. His residence abroad, with Queen Eliza¬
beth, and acquaintance with foreign courts and languages,
probably marked him out as a suitable agent in the negotia¬
tions Charles carried on for assistance from abroad. In 1642
he was sent to solicit aid from the king’s uncle, Christian iv.,
King of Denmark (Gardiner, Civil War, i. 45), and again in
1644. But the war between Denmark and Sweden (1643-
Peace of Brdmsebro, 23d Aug. 1645), during which Jutland
was overrun by the Swedes, left Christian little opportunity to
help his kinsman. Sir John’s character was summed up by
Charles i. as that of a man ‘ having maney discourses, most of
his auen praises.’ The wordiness of his letters, notably his
Hamburg despatch, No. xxix. below, gives indication of this.
His younger brother William was raised to the peerage as
first Earl of Dundonald. For further details of his life than
are contained in the following letters and notes see Douglas’
Peerage ; Gardiner's Civil War, Index ; Diet. Nat. Biog. ; and
Wishart’s Deeds of Montrose, edit. Murdoch and Simpson,
1893j Index.