[pp. v - vi]

[p. v] THE compilation of the following Memoir was suggested to me by David Douglas, Esq., who favoured me at the same time with three of the letters of Lady Balcarres here printed. These had originally been discovered by Mr. Vere Irving among the rich stores of correspondence left by John Duke of Lauderdale, and now preserved in the British Museum; and I am indebted to that gentleman for the use of transcripts made by him from other of her letters existing in that series. Two letters at pp. 49, 70, were communicated to me several years ago by the courtesy of Richard Almack, Esq. of Melford, Suffolk. The letter to Lauderdale, printed at p. 63, was the only one of Lady Balcarres' writing that I had seen when I published the "Lives of the Lindsays" many years ago. The letters of Sir Robert Moray to Alexander Bruce, Earl of Kincardine, which have supplied me with some interesting details, and which are the property of Professor Innes, were communicated [p. vi] to me by Mr. Douglas, with the owner's kind permission, at the same time with the letters above mentioned. The present Memoir is thus much fuller than that given in the "Lives;" and it includes also many details respecting the life of the heroine while the wife and widow of Archibald Earl of Argyll, which would not have found an appropriate place in that work.

My acknowledgments are due to the present Seaforth for permission to engrave the portrait of Lady Balcarres, preserved at Brahan Castle. The task has been executed with fidelity and skill by Mr. Cooper, of 188 Strand, London.