CLAVERHOUSE.


CHAPTER I.


John Graham, Viscount of Dundee, best known, perhaps, in history by his
territorial title of Claverhouse, was born in the year 1643. No record,
indeed, exists either of the time or place of his birth, but a decision
of the Court of Session seems to fix the former in that year--the year,
as lovers of historical coincidences will not fail to remark, of the
Solemn League and Covenant.[1]

He came of an ancient and noble stock. The family of Graham can be
traced back in unbroken succession to the beginning of the twelfth
century; and indeed there have been attempts to encumber its scutcheon
with the quarterings of a fabulous antiquity. Gram, we are told, was in
some primeval time the generic name for all independent leaders of men,
and was borne by one of the earliest kings of Denmark. Another has
surmised that if Graham be the proper spelling of the name, it may be
compounded of Gray and Ham, the dwelling, or home, of Gray; but if
Grame, or Græme, be the correct form, then we must regard it as a
genuine Saxon word, signifying fierce, or grim. Such exercises are
ingenious, and to some minds, possibly, interesting; but they are surely
in this case superfluous. A pedigree, says Scott laughingly as he sits
down to trace his own, is the national prerogative of every Scottishman,
as unalienable as his pride and poverty; but he must be very poor or
very proud who cannot find his account in the legitimate pedigree of the
House of Montrose.