John Elliot

“ Elliot and Stevenson, a brother assistant, being made prisoners, and detained for several weeks in the hands of the insurgents at great peril of their lives. In the latter part of Elliot's service in the Southern Mahratta country that territory was annexed to the Bombay presidency, and Elliot, in the ordinary course, would have been retransferred to a Madras district, but at the special request of Sir John Malcolm, then governor of Bombay, he was allowed to remain until he left India on furlough in 1833. ”

“ Prince William, second son of King Christian of Denmark, was on 30 March 1863 unanimously elected as King George I. Elliot returned to England in the following month. In September of the same year he succeeded Sir James Hudson as British envoy to the king of Italy, taking up his residence at Turin. The foreign secretary, Lord John Russell, was freely charged, both in private correspondence and in the press, with un-justly superseding Hudson to make a place for Elliot, his own brother-in-law. ”

“ Therefore, Sir Walter, what I would take leave to suggest is, that if in consequence of any rumours getting abroad of your intention; which must be contemplated as a possible thing, because we know how difficult it is to keep the actions and designs of one part of the world from the notice and curiosity of the other; consequence has its tax; I, John Shepherd, might conceal any family-matters that I chose, for nobody would think it worth their while to observe me; but Sir Walter Elliot has eyes upon him which it may be very difficult to elude; ”

“ ELLIOT, Sir WALTER (1803–1887) , Indian civil servant and archæologist, born on 16 Jan. 1803, was a son of James Elliot of Wolfelee, Roxburghshire, a member of a junior branch of the old border family of Elliot of Lariston. His early education was conducted partly at private schools and partly at home under a private tutor. In 1818 he was sent to Haileybury College, having obtained a writership in the service of the East India Company at Madras. ”

“ Captain Elliot married in 1810, Eliza Cecilia Ness, a lady residing at Calcutta, by whom he has several children. His father was at that period Governor-General of Bengal, in which high office he was succeeded by the Marquis of Hastings, Nov. ”

“ Elliot, John (d. 1808) : before From 1786 insert He was whig M.P. for Cockermouth 1767-8, and colonel of marines 1779-87. 14 f.e. ⁠for 21 Feb. read 21 Sept. 264 ii 20 f.e. Elliotson, John: for in 1791 read 29 Oct. 1791 270 i 16 Elliott, Henry V.: for Fowell Buxton read North Buxton 15 f.e. ⁠for some of her religious poems are read one of her religious poems is ii 4 Elliott, John: for (fl. 1690) read (d. 1691) 19-18 f.e. ⁠for Elliott's name . . . . 1693. read Letters of administration were granted to his widow Elizabeth 26 Aug. 1691. He was there described as of St. Martin's in the Fields. ”

“ Elliott to the Duke of Orleans (Egalité) , who was in England for the third time in 1784, and about 1786 she settlod at Paris. The death of Sir John Elliott (1786) may have given her greater freedom of action, and she received, or continued to receive, 200l. from his estate, besides having a handsome allowance from the Prince of Wales. Her daughter, brought up in the Cholmondeley family, and married from their house in 1808 to Lord Charles Bentinck at Chester, is said to have paid her several visits in Paris and to have been noticed by Marie Antoinette. ”

“ Alive, your rank and pomp, as dust,
Beneath his feet he trod.
He knew the locust swarm that cursed
The harvest-fields of God.
On these pale lips, the smothered thought
Which England's millions feel,
A fierce and fearful splendor caught,
As from his forge the steel.
Strong-armed as Thor, a shower of fire
His smitten anvil flung;
God's curse, Earth's wrong, dumb Hunger's ire,
He gave them all a tongue!
Then let the poor man's horny hands
Bear up the mighty dead,
And labor's swart and stalwart bands
Behind as mourners tread. ”

“ There is no possible way of making a thing of beauty and a joy forever out of Mr. Elliot. If he were a British commissioner or an African prince it would be all the same. Nature has fixed him up according to her best ideas of a man, and it is evident that she did not consult him or any other mortal in the matter. The New York Tribune says he is very fine looking “when his face lights up.” ”

“ Elliot was an attractive woman in middle life, of slim, graceful figure and vivacious manner. She had one son out in the world, and one in college, and lived in a charming house just off the Avenue, with an adored but generally invisible husband, who was engaged in business downtown. ”

“ Elliot has such magnificent muscles he can do anything, and better than any one else, and that's why he's on the varsity, you see!"
"Thank you, Elizabeth," said grandma tranquilly. "I'd entirely forgotten that young men don't go to college now to study their lessons. My memory is certainly getting poor."
"No, grandma dear; it isn't. You remember everything a thousand times better than any one else, and what is more, you know it. But of course Elliot studies; he has to. Mr. Brewster says he thinks Elliot is one of the finest [Pg 12] boys he knows. He thinks he would make a splendid engineer. ”

“ Such, sir, is all that it is necessary for me to inform ye concerning our late worthy minister; and of the young laird ye shall hear more presently, in the history of
NE'ER-DO-WEEL TAM.
I never kenned a lad that I entertained a higher regard for than Thomas Elliot. His father left him fifteen hundred pounds, laid out upon a mortgage at five per cent. interest, and bequeathed in such a way that he couldna lift the principal. There was a vast deal of real goodness about his heart—he was frank, liberal, sincere. Every person that kenned him liked him. ”

“ The artist became an acknowledged master, and prosperity followed his labors. No one can mistake the rich tints and vigorous expression, the character and color, which distinguish Elliot's portraits; but few imagine how much he is indebted to the long possession and study of so invaluable an original for these traits, moulded by his genius into so many admirable representations of the loved, the venerable, and the honored, both living and dead. ”

“ Such fellows as Jack Elliot take a long time in dying. You should have seen him as I did (though it is well, however, you did not) , when doubled up by a grape-shot at Tel-el-Kebir. He'll be all right in a day or two, and meanwhile—
'What, Roland?' asked the trembling girl.
'I go to Edinburgh, to get at the real state of our affairs, what or however they may be; I feel inclined to shoot that fellow Sharpe like a dog if he crosses my path again at Earlshaugh!'
'Roland, Roland, you surely know all?' said his sister with intense sadness. ”

“ Mary drew the child to her, and whispered in his ear:
"Your uncle meant that I should soon be in Heaven, Elliot; and I hope it will not be very long before I am an angel. Don't you see how thin and pale I am?"
Elliot's eyes filled, as he looked earnestly at the gentle girl, so wasted of late, and throwing his arms about her neck, he hid his face on her shoulder, and murmured:
"Oh! you must not go from us—we can't spare you even to God! Why does he want to take you? He has plenty of angels already around him! Mother and uncle and I had almost as soon die ourselves as see you go away forever." ”

“ As soon as Charles and his followers had been relieved of their full dress they renewed the conversation in which they had been interrupted on the sands, Elliot first endeavouring to improve the occasion into an argument against the king's remaining in Jersey.
"That malapert bumpkin will be no friend either to me or to your majesty," he said. "At himself I snap my fingers. But it seems to me there are some two thousand of them who cry 'Vive le Roi' for half a pistole, but would cry 'Vivent nous autres' for nothing. If the French land here they will turn against you at once. ”

“ Following his father's example, he assumed the courtesy title of Lord Minto. He was named a lord of justiciary on 13 Sept. 1733 in succession to Sir William Calderwood of Polton, and succeeded Charles Erskine of Tinwald as justice clerk on 3 May 1763. He held both these offices at the time of his death, which took place somewhat suddenly at Minto on 16 April 1766.
Elliot was not specially eminent as a judge, but he was widely known and had great influence in his own day. He was an accomplished man, extremely well versed in Italian literature, and an excellent musician. ”

“ Guilt and surprise made the laird to tremble, but revenge gave steadiness to the hand of young Elliot. Both fired at the same moment, and with a sudden groan the laird fell dead upon the ground.
Some said that the earth was weel rid of a prodigal; while others thought it an awful thing that he should have been cut off in such a manner, in the very middle of his iniquities and career of wickedness; and it was generally regretted that he should have fallen by the hand of a lad so universally respected as Alexander Elliot. Such, sir, was the end of the young laird ”

“ Mr Elliot was in Bath. He had called in Camden Place; had called a second time, a third; had been pointedly attentive. If Elizabeth and her father did not deceive themselves, had been taking much pains to seek the acquaintance, and proclaim the value of the connection, as he had formerly taken pains to shew neglect. This was very wonderful if it were true; and Lady Russell was in a state of very agreeable curiosity and perplexity about Mr Elliot, already recanting the sentiment she had so lately expressed to Mary, of his being “a man whom she had no wish to see.” ”

“ Elliot was a man of far higher stamp than Miles. As we have seen, he had had a distinguished diplomatic career, and might be termed the saviour of Gustavus III in the acute crisis of 1788. He was brother of Sir Gilbert Elliot (first Earl of Minto) , and of Lady Auckland. In the summer of 1790 he was home on furlough. On 7th August he wrote from Beckenham, Auckland’s residence, congratulating Pitt on a favourable turn in the Spanish dispute. When the outlook once more darkened he requested leave to go to Paris in order to use his influence with his friend, Mirabeau, in the interests of peace. ”

“ From the casual talk that had floated to him, with its many little allusions punctuating the jolly give-and-take of their repartee, Elliot guessed that their lives had the same background of tennis, dinners, hops, official gossip, and business. They evidently knew one another with the intimacy that comes only to the segment of a small community shut off largely from the world and forced into close social relations. ”

“ This treaty, however, was broken by the treaty of Lunéville on 9 Feb. 1801, and Elliot accordingly was recalled. He arrived in London at the end of November 1801. In February 1803 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and also of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. On the formation of the whig ministry in 1806 Elliot received the office of president of the board of control, and was soon after appointed governor-general of India. He sailed from England early in February, and reached Calcutta at the end of July 1807. ”

“ Elliot’s house in town, where Lord and Lady Holland are lodged. I there supped with them. Mr. Elliot remarkably amusing; no one has so much small talk, or parries better by a jest an opinion he disapproves, but does not choose to refute. He has so much wit, originality, and knowledge of the world, his caprice rather increases than diminishes his powers of pleasing. He says the Princess Radziwill (mère) is like a high priest in an Italian opera. Those who have seen her will appreciate the comparison.
Sept. 2.—At Mad. Divoff’s. ”

“ Elliot's great desire of a reconciliation. In Lady Russell's view, it was perfectly natural that Mr. Elliot, at a mature time of life, should feel it a most desirable object, and what would very generally recommend him, among all sensible people, to be on good terms with the head of his family; the simplest process in the world of time upon a head naturally clear, and only erring in the heyday of youth. Anne presumed, however, still to smile about it ”

“ As so frequently happens with men of very dissimilar character, a great intimacy sprang up between them. They were sworn friends and companions; and during the long vacation of the second year, Bailey spent a great portion of his time at the house of Elliot's mother. In those days, before liberal notions began to prevail, this was considered as an honor; for Bailey was a man of aristocratic birth, and Elliot a plebeian. There was a great attraction in the house, however; for besides his mother, a sickly and infirm woman, Elliot's family comprised a sister, "the cynosure of neighboring eyes." ”

“ George Elliot (sometime servant to Master Thomas Roper; and since belonging to a Gentlewoman, the widow of Sir William Petre: in whose service he made show to be a sound and good Catholic) not long since committed a murder, To build upon hearsay proveth but a slender foundation. [A.M.] as men say: for which offence, fearing the danger that was like [ly] to ensue, he went and submitted himself to one of the chief Lords in the Court; and, the better to win his favour, on his own behalf promised to deliver into his hands the Father Edmund Campion. ”

“ The eyes of Elliot rested on Miss O'Neill. "She loves children."
"She sure does—no bluff about that." An imp of mischief sparkled in the eye of the supercargo. "Not married yourself, are you, Mr. Elliot?" ”

“ Elliot continued to retain his interest in literature and philosophy, and not only enjoyed the acquaintance of the principal literary celebrities of the day in London, but numbered among his special friends the leading members of the literary circle in Edinburgh. ”

“ There was something in Jack Elliot's well-bred and steady stare, as he focussed him with his eye-glass, that expressed vague wonder, insouciance, and no small contempt; it enraged Hawkey Sharpe and made his whole heart seem to burn in his breast with hate and suppressed passion, while fixing his own eyeglass defiantly and attempting suavely to say:
'Good-morning, Captain Lindsay—good-morning, gentlemen, all.'
Roland could scarcely master his passion or the impulse to club his fowling-piece and knock the fellow down. ”