The mother was Susan Campbell, one of
the Campbells of Auchenbreck. Her father Colin, a merchant in
Greenock, is said to have been the heir to both the estate and the
baronetcy; he claimed neither, which casts a doubt upon the fact,
but he had pride enough himself, and taught enough pride to his
family, for any station or descent in Christendom. He had four
daughters. One married an Edinburgh writer, as I have it on a
first account - a minister, according to another - a man at least
of reasonable station, but not good enough for the Campbells of
Auchenbreck; and the erring one was instantly discarded. Another
married an actor of the name of Adcock, whom (as I receive the
tale) she had seen acting in a barn; but the phrase should perhaps
be regarded rather as a measure of the family annoyance, than a
mirror of the facts. The marriage was not in itself unhappy;
Adcock was a gentleman by birth and made a good husband; the family
reasonably prospered, and one of the daughters married no less a
man than Clarkson Stanfield. But by the father, and the two
remaining Miss Campbells, people of fierce passions and a truly
Highland pride, the derogation was bitterly resented.
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