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STIRLING, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL OF ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 925 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STIRLING, See also:WILLIAM See also:ALEXANDER, See also:EARL OF (c. 1567-1640) , most generally known as See also:Sir William Alexander, Scottish poet and statesman. son of Alexander Alexander of Menstrie (See also:Clackmannanshire), was See also:born at Menstrie See also:House, near Stirling, about 1567. The See also:family was old and claimed to be descended from Somerled, See also:lord of the Isles, through See also:John, lord of the Isies, who married See also:Margaret, daughter of See also:Robert II. William Alexander was probably educated at Stirling See also:grammar school. There is a tradition that he was at See also:Glasgow University; and, according to See also:Drummond of Hawthornden, he was a student at the university of See also:Leiden. He accompanied See also:Archibald, 7th earl of See also:Argyll, his See also:neighbour at See also:Castle See also:Campbell, on his travels in See also:France, See also:Spain and See also:Italy. He married, before 1604, See also:Janet, daughter of Sir William See also:Erskine, one of the Balgonie family. Introduced by Argyll at See also:court, Alexander speedily gained the favour of See also:James VI., whom he followed to See also:England, where he became one of the gentlemen-extraordinary of See also:prince See also:Henry's chamber. For the prince he wrote his Paraenesis to the Prince . . . (1604), a poem in eight-lined stanzas on the See also:familiar theme of princely See also:duty. He was knighted in 16og.

On the See also:

death of Henry in 1612, when he wrote an See also:elegy on his See also:young See also:patron, he was appointed to the See also:household of prince See also:Charles. In 1613 he (in See also:conjunction with See also:Thomas See also:Foulis and Paulo See also:Pinto, a Portuguese) received from the See also:king a See also:grant of a See also:silver-mine at Hilderston near See also:Linlithgow, from which, however, neither the See also:Crown nor the undertakers made any profit. In 1613 he began a See also:correspondence with the poet Drummond of Hawthornden, which ripened into a lifelong intimacy after their See also:meeting (See also:March 1614) at Menstrie House, where Alexander was on one of his See also:short See also:annual visits. In 1614 Alexander was appointed to the See also:English See also:office of See also:master of See also:requests, and in See also:July of the following See also:year to a seat on the Scottish privy See also:council. In 1621 he received from James I. enormous grants of See also:land in See also:America embracing the districts of Nova See also:Scotia, New See also:Brunswick, and the Gaspe See also:Peninsula, accompanied by a See also:charter appointing him hereditary See also:lieutenant of the new See also:colony. This territory was afterwards increased on See also:paper, so as to include a See also:great See also:part of See also:Canada. Alexander proceeded to recruit emigrants for his " New See also:Scot-land," but the terms he offered were so meagre that he failed to attract any except the lowest class. These were despatched in two vessels chartered for the purpose, and in 1625 he published an Encouragement to Colonies in which he vainly painted in glowing See also:colours the natural advantages of the new territory. The enterprise was further discredited by the institution of an See also:order of baronets of Nova Scotia, who were to receive grants of land, each 6 sq. m. in extent, in the colony for a See also:consideration of 115o. An See also:attempt made by the See also:French to make See also:good their footing in the colony was frustrated (1627) by See also:Captain Kertch, and Alexander's son and namesake made two expeditions to Nova Scotia. But Alexander found the colony a See also:constant drain on his resources, and was unable to obtain from the See also:treasury, in spite of royal support, 6000 which he demanded as See also:compensation for his losses. He received, however, a grant of See also:i000 acres in See also:Armagh.

He was the king's secretary for Scot-land from 1626 till his death, and in 1630 was created See also:

Viscount Stirling and Lord Alexander of Tullibody. In the same year he was appointed master of requests for See also:Scotland, and in 1631 an extraordinary See also:judge of the Court of Session. Meanwhile French See also:influence had gained ground in America. In 1631 Charles sent instructions to Alexander to abandon See also:Port Royale, and in the following year, by a treaty signed at St Germain-en-Laye, the whole of the territory of Nova Scotia was ceded to the French. Alexander continued to receive substantial marks of the royal favour. In 1631 he obtained a patent granting him the See also:privilege of See also:printing a See also:translation of the See also:Psalms, of which James I. was declared to be the author. There is See also:reason to believe that in this unfortunate collection, which the Scottish and English churches refused to encourage, Alexander included some of his own See also:work. He had been commanded by James to submit See also:translations, when James was carrying out his See also:long entertained wish to supplant the popular version of Sternhold and See also:hopkins; but these the royal critic had not preferred to his own. It has been assumed from the scanty See also:evidence that when Alexander was entrusted with the editing and See also:publishing of the Psalms by Charles I. he had introduced some of his own work. In 1633 he was advanced to the See also:rank of earl, with the additional See also:title of Viscount Canada, and in 1639 he became earl of Dovan. His affairs were still embarrassed and he had begun to build Argyll House at Stirling. In 1623 he received the right of a See also:royalty on the See also:copper coinage of Scotland, but this proved unproductive.

He therefore secured for his See also:

fourth son the office of See also:general of the See also:Mint, and proceeded to issue small copper coins, known as " turners," which were put into circulation as See also:equivalent to two farthings, although they were of the same See also:weight as the old farthings. These coins were unpopular, and were reduced to their real value by the privy council in 1639. Alexander died in See also:debt on the 12th of See also:February 164o, at his See also:London house in Covent See also:Garden. He was succeeded in the title by his See also:grandson William, who died a few months later, and then by his son Henry (d. 1644), who became the 3rd earl. When Henry's grandson Henry, the 5th earl (1664—1739), died, the earldom became dormant, and in 175Q it was claimed by William Alexander (see below). In 1825 the earldom was claimed by Alexander See also:Humphreys-Alexander, who asserted that his See also:mother was a daughter of the first earl. The charter of 1639, however, on which his title rested, was declared in 1839 to be a See also:forgery. See W. Turnbull, Stirling See also:Peerage Claim (1839). All Alexander's See also:literary work was produced after 1603 and before his serious absorption in politics about 1614.

End of Article: STIRLING, WILLIAM ALEXANDER, EARL OF (c. 1567-1640)

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