It was a fine promotion.  A gentleman of the bedchamber sleeps near the king every night, on a bed which is made up for him.  There are twelve gentlemen who relieve each other.

Lord David, whilst he held that post, was also head of the king’s granary, giving out corn for the horses and receiving a salary of L260.  Under him were the five coachmen of the king, the five postilions of the king, the five grooms of the king, the twelve footmen of the king, and the four chair-bearers of the king.  He had the management of the race-chorses which the king kept at Newmarket, and which cost his Majesty L600 a year.  He worked his will on the king’s wardrobe, from which the Knights of the Garter are furnished with their robes of ceremony.  He was saluted to the ground by the usher of the Black Rod, who belongs to the king.  That usher, under James II., was the knight of Duppa.  Mr. Baker, who was clerk of the crown, and Mr. Brown, who was clerk of the Parliament, kotowed to Lord David.  The court of England, which is magnificent, is a model of hospitality.  Lord David presided, as one of the twelve, at banquets and receptions.  He had the glory of standing behind the king on offertory days, when the king give to the church the golden byzantium; on collar-days, when the king wears the collar of his order; on communion days, when no one takes the sacrament excepting the king and the princes.  It was he who, on Holy Thursday, introduced into his Majesty’s presence the twelve poor men to whom the king gives as many silver pence as the years of his age, and as many shillings as the years of his reign.  The duty devolved on him when the king was ill, to call to the assistance of his Majesty the two grooms of the almonry, who are priests, and to prevent the approach of doctors without permission from the council of state.  Besides, he was lieutenant-colonel of the Scotch regiment of Guards, the one which plays the Scottish march.  As such, he made several campaigns, and with glory, for he was a gallant soldier.  He was a brave lord, well-made, handsome, generous, and majestic in look and in manner.  His person was like his quality.  He was tall in stature as well as high in birth.

At one time he stood a chance of being made groom of the stole, which would have given him the privilege of putting the king’s shirt on his Majesty:  but to hold that office it was necessary to be either prince or peer.  Now, to create a peer is a serious thing; it is to create a peerage, and that makes many people jealous.  It is a favour; a favour which gives the king one friend and a hundred enemies, without taking into account that the one friend becomes ungrateful.  James II., from policy, was indisposed to create peerages, but he transferred them freely.  The transfer of a peerage produces no sensation.  It is simply the continuation of a name.  The order is little affected by it.

The goodwill of royalty had no objection to raise Lord David Dirry-Moir to the Upper House so long as it could do so by means of a substituted peerage.  Nothing would have pleased his majesty better than to transform Lord David Dirry-Moir, lord by courtesy, into a lord by right.