bench as Lord Kinneder. The charge against him of an improper liaison, a sex scandal with Mrs Burt, a well known prostitute from Edinburgh, so seriously affected his health and spirits that, though it was proved to be utterly groundless, he never recovered from the shock caused by the accusation. It "struck", said Scott, "into his heart and soul"; he became nerveless and despondent, was finally attacked by fever and delirium, and died on 14 August 1822. Lockhart states that he never saw Scott "in such a state of dejection" as when he accompanied him in attendance upon Kinneder's funeral. At the time George IV was paying his memorable visit to Edinburgh, and Scott, owing to his grief, plunged into the gaiety of the moment with an aching heart. "If ever a pure spirit quitted this vale of tears", wrote Sir Walter to a friend, "it was William Erskine's. I must turn to, and see what can be done about getting some pension for his daughters." Lockhart thought that Erskine was "the only man in whose society Scott took great pleasure, during the more vigorous part of his life, that had neither constitution nor inclination for any of the rough bodily exercise in which he himself delighted." If, as Erskine supposed, Redmond in Rokeby is meant for a portrait of himself, Lockhart must have exaggerated Erskine's effeminacy. Erskine wrote several Scottish songs. Personal life On 13 September 1800 Kinneder married Euphemia Robison (only daughter of Professor John Robison- Physicist), who died in September 1819. She was buried in the churchyard of Saline, Fife, where there is an epitaph on her tombstone written by Scott. William Erskine's children with Euphemia Robison were: Euphemia (4 June 1801 Saline, Fife, Scotland – 7 June 1852 Portobello, Midlothian, Scotland) m. George Dawson 22 June 1829 Edinburgh, Scotland, 5 children Helen Drummond (3 December 1803 Saline, Fife Scotland – 11 August 1829 Ellichpoor, Bombay, India) d.s.p. William (11 July 1805 Saline, Fife, Scotland – 28 April 1811 Edinburgh, Scotland) Mary Anne (17 March 1807 Saline, Fife, Scotland – 13 August 1881 Bolarum, India) m. Joseph Baker Puget (1803–1833) 1 July 1831 Ellichpoor, Bombay, India, m. Alexander Adam (1795–1834) 5 June 1834 Bolarum, India, d.s.p. Jane (2 April 1809 Saline, Fife, Scotland – 26 February 1837 Leamington, Edinburgh, Scotland) d.s.p John (6 November 1810 Edinburgh, Scotland – 8 July 1846 Saline, Fife, Scotland) m. Isabella Christianne