Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maitland, Richard (1653-1695)
MAITLAND, RICHARD, fourth Earl of Lauderdale (1653–1695), Jacobite, eldest son of Charles, third earl of Lauderdale [q. v.], and brother of John, fifth earl [q. v.], by Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Lauder of Halton, was born 20 June 1653. He was styled of Over-Gogar, before his father succeeded to the Lauderdale title, after which he was known as Lord Maitland. On 9 Oct. 1678 he was sworn a privy councillor, and appointed joint general of the mint with his father. In 1681 he was made lord justice general, but in 1684 he was deprived of that office, on account of suspected communications with his father-in-law, Argyll, who had escaped in 1681 to Holland, and in 1683 had had some connection with the Scottish part of the Rye House plot [see Campbell, Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyll]. It would appear, however, that Maitland had really no sympathy with the schemes of Argyll, for so steadfast was he in his support of the Stuart dynasty, that he declined to agree to the revolution settlement, and became an exile. According to Nathaniel Hooke, he was present at the battle of the Boyne, 1 July 1690, after which he and Hooke retired together to Limerick (Hooke, Correspondence, i. 438). Subsequently he went to the court of St. Germains. As, however, he disapproved of the extreme catholic policy of James, he lost the royal favour, and while his wife, who shared the strong protestant sympathies of the Argyll family, was ordered to England, not to return any more, he himself was forbidden to appear at James's court, and his pension was reduced to one hundred pistoles a year. He succeeded to the earldom of Lauderdale on the death of his father, 9 June 1691, but was outlawed by the court of justiciary 23 July 1694. After his exclusion from St. Germains, he retired to Paris, where he died in 1695. By his wife, Lady Agnes Campbell (1658–1734), second daughter of Archibald, earl of Argyll, who married after his death Charles, fifth earl of Moray, he left no issue.
Lauderdale was the author of a verse translation of ‘Virgil,’ published in two volumes in 1737. Dryden states that Lauderdale sent him over a copy from Paris, while he was working at his own translation, and that he consulted it as often as he doubted of the author's sense (Works, ed. Scott, xiv. 223–4). Lauderdale also wrote a ‘Memorial on the Estate of Scotland’ (about 1690), printed in Hooke's ‘Correspondence’ (i. 438–52), and in the index wrongly attributed to his father, Charles, third earl of Lauderdale.
[Hooke's Correspondence (Roxburghe Club); Dryden's Works; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 72.]