William Alexander. I. First earl of Stirling, a Scottish poet, courtier, and speculator, born about 1580, died in 1640. He was the son of a private gentleman, was at an early age travelling tutor to the earl of Argyle, and about 1604 became attached to the court of James I., who in 1614 knighted him and appointed him gentleman usher to Prince Charles and master of requests. In 1621 he received a royal grant of Nova Scotia, and made strenuous efforts to sell it in parcels, issuing a glowing description of the country in a pamphlet entitled "An Encouragement to Settlers." To aid him, Charles I. in 1625 created the order of baronets of Nova Scotia, the title to be conferred upon purchasers of large tracts, and granted him the privilege of coining base copper money. According to Sir Thomas Urquhart, after selling 300 of these baronetcies, instead of 150, to which number they were to have been limited, and those who emigrated to the colony having failed to make a settlement, Alexander disposed of all rights and interests there to the French on his own account.

He obtained from the king in 1628 a charter of the lordship of Canada, and from the council of New England a grant of territory, including Long Island under the name of the island of Stirling; and he had also received at different times royal grants of five baronies in Scotland. But notwithstanding all these favors, he died so involved that his family estates were given up to his creditors. He was appointed secretary of state in 1626, keeper of the signet in 1627, a commissioner of the exchequer in 1628, and an extraordinary lord of session in 1631. In 1630 he was created Viscount Stirling, and in 1633 earl of Stirling:, Viscount Canada, etc. James I. called Alexander his philosophical poet. His works are numerous, and all didactic, heavy, and turgid, even when in the dramatic form. The principal are "Doomsday," in more than 10,000 lines, and "Four Mo-narchicke Tragedies," viz.: "Darius," "Julius CAesar," "Croesus," and "The Alexandraean Tragedy." His titles expired with the fifth earl, his last male descendant, in 1739, but several claimants have since arisen.

II. A major general in the American revolutionary army, born in New York in 1726, died Jan. 15, 1783. Claiming the earldom of Stirling, to which many of his contemporaries believed him to be entitled, he is generally known in American history as Lord Stirling. Having received an excellent education, more particularly in mathematics, he attained a high reputation as a man of science. During the French and Indian war he was a member of the military family of Gen. Shirley, acting at different times as commissary, aide-de-camp, and secretary. After the close of the war he went to Scotland, where he spent a large portion of his fortune in the unsuccessful prosecution of his claims to the title and estates of Stirling. On the breaking out of the war of the revolution he was appointed colonel of a regiment, and while stationed at New York. previous to the arrival of Washington from Boston, he fitted out an expedition consisting of a pilot boat and some smaller boats, with which he put to sea at night, eluding the vigilance of the sentinels of the British frigate Asia, which then lay in the harbor, and captured a transport laden with stores for the enemy at Boston. He opened the battle of Long Island, where, though he fought with obstinate bravery, he was compelled to surrender, after having secured the retreat of a large portion of his command.

Having been exchanged, he fought under Washington at Brandywine, commanded the reserve at Ger-mantown, and led a division at Monmouth. He died from an attack of gout. The name of Lord Stirling will always occupy an honorable place in American history, not only for his unquestioned patriotism and personal courage, but also for the part he took in exposing and defeating the designs of the "Conway cabal."