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EARL OF WILLIAM ALEXANDER STIRLING (c...

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 925 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EARL OF See also:WILLIAM See also:ALEXANDER See also:STIRLING (c. 1567-1640)  , most generally known as See also:Sir See also:William See also:Alexander, Scottish poet and statesman. son of Alexander Alexander of Menstrie (See also:Clackmannanshire), was See also:born at Menstrie See also:House, near See also: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 See also: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: EARL OF WILLIAM ALEXANDER STIRLING (c. 1567-1640)
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