u LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. VOLUME I. VOL. I. a )av. L. of C 1241. (genealogical ©fwrt to oinstrab tor Hfocs of tftc lltntisavs. SLtbrfif of ti)t Htntrsags; OR, A MEMOIE OF THE HOUSES OF CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES, BY LORD LINDSAY. W DA 158 -3 i_e>c^7 TO WHICH AKE ADDED, EXTRACTS FROM THE OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF ALEXANDER SIXTH EARL OF BALCARRES, DURING THE MAROON WAR ; TOGETHER WITH PERSONAL NARRATIVES BY HIS BROTHERS, THE HON. ROBERT, COLIN, JAMES, JOHN, AND HUGH LINDSAY AND BY HIS SISTER, LADY ANNE BARNARD. SECOND EDITION. IN THREE VOLUMES. — VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MUKKAY, ALBEMAKLE STEEET. 1858. The right of Translation is reserved. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. " MY THOUGHTS ARE WITH THE DEAD ; WITH THEM I LIVE IN LONG-PASS'D YEARS; THEIR VIRTUES LOVE, THEIR FAULTS CONDEMN, PARTAKE THEIR HOPES AND FEARS ; AND FROM THEIR LESSONS SEEK AND FIND INSTRUCTION WITH AN HUMBLE MIND." SOUTHEY. " THE GLORY OF CHILDREN ARE THEIR FATHERS." Prov. xvii. 6. LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. ADDRESSED AND INSCRIBED SIR COUTTS AND MARGARET LINDSAY. INTRODUCTORY LETTER My dearest Coutts and Margaret, It was for your instruction and amusement that I undertook some years ago the compilation of the following Memoir of our family, — I now present it to you with every kind and affectionate wish. Do not allow yourselves to fall into the common prejudice, that Genealogy is a dry uninteresting study — Lethe's wharf her paradise, and her votary dull as the weed that fattens there. The Spirit of Discovery breathes expectation as eager, and enjoyment as intense, into the heart of the enthusiastic Genealogist as into that of a Bruce or a Humboldt. His researches resemble theirs ; he journeys, as it were, into the mountains of an unexplored land, where peaks beyond peaks bound the horizon as far as the eye can reach, their snowy pinnacles glittering in the sun, while clouds of darkness rest on their sides and conceal their bases. But, as he ascends, the clouds open to receive and disappear below him, and, while he is lost to the sight of those who watch him from the plain, the bonds by which those mighty thrones of Nature are allied are clearly revealed to him ; peaks, hitherto undescried, arise to greet him as he advances ; mountain-rills, whose accumulating waters spread verdure and fertility through other regions than those he has left behind, refresh him with their grateful murmur ; while, wherever he wanders, the fruits of knowledge hang luxuriantly around him, in fragrant clusters, reserved for his hand alone to gather. Such, intellectually, is the pilgrimage of the Genealogist. He starts with a few isolated names in view — the sole remem- brances that Time has spared of the race whose origin and early annals he is ambitious of elucidating. Rolls of charters are laid before him ; he examines them one by one, his rapid eye recog- INTRODUCTORY LETTER. nising at once, in the body or among the witnesses of the docu- ment, the one familiar name, the object of his inquiry. By his side lie the tablets wherein he registers each newly discovered clansman, with exact reference to the date and purport of the deed that testifies of his existence. Nothing wearies him. Chief- tains start to light whose very names have been forgotten ; the casual hint of relationship thrills through him — and if he unex- pectedly light upon a charter to some holy shrine, the granter con- firming the gifts of by-gone ancestors and adding to them himself, brothers and children consenting to the donation, and kinsmen witnessing it, his heart throbs, his cheek burns, and his hand quivers with rapture as he transcribes a document which at a glance reveals to him a long avenue of ancestral dead, eyeing him grimly through the gloom, like corpses in a vault of the Guanches. And then, with a quick and feverish step, he hurries to his closet, and there, arranging his notes in chronological order, broods over them in silence, till a ray of light flashes from among them —the war- riors of old time arise and defile before him ; a patriarch leads the array, his children follow after him, and their sons and grandsons, gliding side by side, close the ghostly procession. Nor is it a mere dream, for they assume the very rank, and defile in the very order of time, in which the eye of the antiquary has just discovered that they lived. — Is his task over? 'tis scarce as yet begun. Now let him invoke Biography — now let him emerge from night into day, from genealogical gloom into the blaze of history ; now and hence- forward let him accompany his chosen people — emancipated, like the American Indians, from the subterranean world their ancestors have so long dwelt in — through all their wanderings on this upper earth; chronicling their loves, their hates— their joys, their sor- rows — their errors, their virtues ; estimating their influence on the world they lived in, and deducing lessons of principle from their conduct and its consequences, which may be beneficial to hundreds yet unborn of emulating descendants. There is, indeed, something indescribably sublime in the idea INTRODUCTORY LETTER, xi of a race of human beings influencing society through a series of ages, either by the avatars, at distant intervals, of heroes, poets, and philosophers, whose names survive among us, familiar as house- hold words, for centuries after their disappearance, or by the con- tinuous development of genius, wisdom, and virtue, through successive generations, till the name which has been thus immor- talized becomes at last, through the experience of mankind, pre- sumptive of worth in the individuals who bear it. A Genealo- gical Biography which should make us as intimately acquainted with such a race as if, like its guardian angel, we had watched over it from its birth, would surpass in interest the brightest pictures of romance, would be the most engaging portrait of human nature that, fallen as that nature is, the pencil of Truth could delineate. Few, however, are the families whose annals the world would judge worthy of such investigation, and it is not therefore to the Public that I think Family History — to use the expression in its most dignified sense — should, in general, be addressed ; it is not, I repeat, for public but private use, that I have compiled these ' Lives of the Lindsays.' Every family should have a record of its own. Each has its peculiar spirit, running through the whole line, and, in more or less development, perceptible in every generation. Rightly viewed, as a most powerful but much neglected instrument of education, I can imagine no study more rife with pleasure and instruction. — Nor need our ancestors have been Scipios or Fabii to interest us in their fortunes. We do not love our kindred for their glory or their genius, but for those domestic affections and private virtues that, unobserved by the world, expand in confidence towards our- selves, and often root themselves, like the banian of the East, and flourish with independent vigour in the heart to which a kind Providence has guided them. And why should we not derive equal benefit from studying the virtues of our forefathers? An affectionate regard for their memory is natural to the heart ; it is an emotion totally distinct from pride, — an ideal love, free from that consciousness of requited affection and reciprocal esteem xii INTRODUCTORY LETTER. which constitutes so much of the satisfaction we derive from the love of the living. They are denied, it is true, to our personal acquaintance, but the light they shed during their lives survives within their tombs, and will reward our search if we explore them. Be their light, then, our beacon, — not the glaring light of heroism which emblazons their names in the page of history with a lustre as cold, though as dazzling, as the gold of an heraldic illuminator, but the pure and sacred flame that descends from heaven on the altar of a Christian heart, and that warmed their naturally frozen affections till they produced the fruits of piety, purity, and love, evinced in holy thoughts and good actions, of which many a record might be found in the annals of the past, would we but search for them, and in which we may find as strong incentives to virtuous emulation as we gather every day from those bright examples of living worth which it is the study of every good man to imitate. — And if the virtues of strangers be so attractive to us, how infinitely more so should be those of our own kindred, and with what addi- tional energy should the precepts of our parents influence us, when we trace the transmission of those precepts from father to son through successive generations, each bearing the testimony of a virtuous, useful, and honourable life to their truth and influence, and all uniting in a kind and earnest exhortation to their descend- ants so to live on earth that — followers of Him through whose grace alone we have power to obey Him — we may at last be re- united with those who have been before and those who shall come after us, " No wanderer lost, A family in heaven ! " Unfortunately, that private history and those personal anecdotes which give a juster view of character than the pages either of the genealogist or the historian, must be sought for through so many ancient records and forgotten volumes, that, unless an industrious hand collect and class them in due order, much time would be lost and an ordinary curiosity wearied out in the inquiry. To supply this deficiency in the case of our own family has been my object in compiling the following memoir. — A compilation I advisedly INTRODUCTORY LETTER. xiii term it. Anxious to avoid the suspicion of undue partiality, I have studied to adduce the testimony of contemporaries to the individual merits of our forefathers, rather than indulge myself in those general estimates of character which it would be equally difficult for a critical reader to assent to or disprove. But I may bespeak for them, collectively, a favourable censure — I may even avow that I shall be disappointed if their chequered annals be deemed devoid of a useful and animating moral. You will find them in peace and war, " under the mantle as the shield," equally eminent, — brave warriors in the field, and wise statesmen in the cabinet ; you will contemplate the grandeur which they attained in the hour of prosperity — the devotion with which they perilled all, when gratitude and duty demanded the sacrifice. You will follow them to their homes, and will there recognise many whom you may love — many whom, I hope, you will imitate ; men, not ashamed of being Christians — women ? meek and humble, yet in the hour of need approving themselves, in the highest sense of the word, heroines ; while from the example of both you may, under God's blessing, learn the great, the all-important lesson, that con- viction of our own utter unworthiness, and faith in the atonement and resurrection of our Redeemer, can alone give us peace in life, divest dissolution of its terrors, and hallow the remembrance of a death-bed to the survivors. Be grateful, then, for your descent from religious, as well as from noble ancestors ; it is your duty to be so, and this is the only worthy tribute you can now pay to their ashes. Yet, at the same time, be most jealously on your guard lest this lawful satisfaction degenerate into arrogance, or a fancied superiority over those nobles of God's creation, who, endowed in other respects with every exalted quality, cannot point to a long line of ancestry. Pride is of all sins the most hateful in the sight of God, and, of the proud, who is so mean, who so despicable as he that values him- self on the merits of others ? — And were they all so meritorious, these boasted ancestors ? were they all Christians ? — Remember, remember — if some of them have deserved praise, others have xiv INTRODUCTORY LETTER. equally merited censure, — if there have been " stainless knights," never yet was there a stainless family since Adam's fall. " Where then is boasting?" — for we would not, I hope, glory in iniquity. " Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust ! " And, after all, what little reason has Europe to plume herself on ancestral antiquity ! Not one of our most venerable pedigrees can vie with that of a Rajpoot of India or a Rechabite of the desert ; nor is it but to our Christian birth that we owe a temporary supe- riority to the " dispersed of Judah " and the " outcasts of Israel," whose fathers bent before the Ark of the Covenant when ours were nameless idolaters, and whose seed will soon (if we read aright the signs of these latter times) be re-established in the " glorious land " of their sires, as the peculiar people of God and the priests of Christianity, when the times of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, and Judaea, no longer weeping under her palm-tree, shall have seen the vine of Christ overshadow the whole earth, one happy fold under one shepherd, in whose inheritance none but " the meek and lowly of heart" shall participate. One word more. — Times are changed, and in many respects we are blessed with knowledge beyond our fathers, yet we must not on that account deem our hearts purer or our lives holier than theirs were. Nor, on the other hand, should we for a moment assent to the proposition, so often hazarded, that the virtues of chivalry are necessarily extinct with the system they adorned. Chivalry, in her purity, was a holy and lovely maiden, and many were the hearts refined and ennobled by her influence, yet she pro- claims to us no one virtue that is not derived from and summed up in Christianity. The " Age of Chivalry" may be past — the knight may no more be seen issuing from the embattled portal - arch, on his barbed charger, his lance glittering in the sun, his banner streaming to the breeze — but the Spirit of Chivalry can never die ; through every change of external circumstances, through faction and tumult, through trial and suffering, through good report and evil report, still that Spirit burns, like love, INTRODUCTORY LETTER. xv the brighter and the purer — still, even in the nineteenth century, lights up its holiest shrine, the heart of that champion of the widow, that father of the fatherless, that liegeman of his God, his king, and his country — the noble-hearted but lowly-minded Christian gen^man of England.* " Take, then," let me conclude with Sir Philip Sidney, " this little book ; read it at your idle times, and so you will continue to love the writer, who doth exceedingly love you, and most heartily prays you may long live to be principal ornaments to the family of the" Lindsays. 1831—1836. * This was written many years ago, in early youth. I would say now, as the result of observation both at home and abroad, that, if there is one characteristic of the Englishman more peculiar than another in every rank of society, it is the spirit of Chivalry — manifesting itself in deference for women, self-sacrifice in their cause, and in always taking the weaker side. TO THE PUBLIC. The interest excited by the following work in many who have read it in the original form, as circulated among my clan and friends, and the frequent applications for it which have reached me from public libraries, and even from beyond the Atlantic — some before, but most of them subsequently to, a recent review in the Quarterly — have determined me to publish it to the world in general : — And I have been confirmed in this resolution by the repeated proofs which have come to my knowledge of late years of a love and attach- ment to the name and race of Lindsay still lingering in Scotland among all classes — satisfying me that there at least, in my Fatherland, it will be received with welcome. But for the assurance of this national sympathy, I could scarcely have resolved upon withdrawing the curtain of privacy with which I had originally shrouded these ' Lives of the Lindsays.' The plan and the principles on which the work was written are so fully ex- plained in the Introductory Letter as almost to supersede the necessity of any further remarks. But as the book was addressed to readers presumed already to hold Genealogy in reverence, a few additional observations, unnecessary to such an audience, may not be uncalled for in submitting it to the public. Nothing, as it appears to me, can be less rational than the vulgar scoff at pedigree and genealogy. The adage so constantly quoted by the antiquary, that no one who could lay claim to family antiquity ever despised it, un- doubtedly meets with exceptions ; but a reverence for the past, and a desire to establish a connection between it and self, are instinctive in human nature. And if instinctive, then, rightly directed, they must be ennobling principles. " Whatever," says our great moralist, " withdraws us from the power of our senses ; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings :" — I do not see why this sentiment might not have originated under the ruined towers of the De Veres or Percies, as well as among the cloistered cells of Iona. It is amis- take to suppose that the old feudal barons were uniformly worthless, tyrannical, unintellectual despots. Some of them undoubtedly were so, and those too of whom most is heard in history, and from whose character consequently the modern idea of the whole class is taken. But many of them, on the contrary, were worthy of all esteem and affection, courteous, frank, refined, kind, and Christian. Moreover, in the common estimate of those times, we almost entirely overlook the softening and endearing influence of woman, and the happiness diffused, then as well as now, around the places where she dwelt. We are apt to think of the ladies of chivalry merely as spectators at the tournament, forgetting that, for ten or twenty days of the year passed in such scenes, they spent the three hundred and fifty in the charities of home. Descent VOL. T. b xviii TO THE PUBLIC. therefore from one of the great historical families of Europe — or even from the less illustrious— or even from a mere line of respectable, undistinguished pro- genitors, when considered as a chain establishing a connection with the past — may well be considered as a valuable heritage, a source of lawful satisfaction, an influential though subordinate principle in the formation of character and the regulation of conduct through life. Few who have studied human nature will dispute this. The inheritance of an illustrious name may have but a slight influence in restraining a bad man from the commission of a dishonourable action, but there cannot be a doubt of its invigorating influence on those who are worthy to bear it ; it is an incentive to virtue, to emulation, to consistency, — and God forbid that in days like these we should cut away one sapling, however weak, which may assist us in climbing the rough, and rocky, and hilly path of honour and virtue which is set before us. At the same time, the sluggish — those who are disposed to rest their claims to consideration on the merit of their ancestry, and not their own individual activity — should remember Sir Thomas Overbury's pithy sarcasm on such characters, that they resemble potatoes, of which the only valuable portion is under ground. It was in truth a noble saying of the late Lord Clarendon, that birth conveyed no merit, but much duty, to its inheritor. I make no apology therefore for Genealogy, — and even in a lower and merely intellectual point of view, as supplying many an hiatus in the page of early history, as unveiling many a secret spring which, unseen and unsus- pected, has influenced the revolutions of human affairs, and as throwing no scanty ray on the spirit and manners of the past, she may stand fearless before the altar of Time, by the side of History, though on the step below her. While, intricate as are the mazes into which she leads her votaries, there is a pleasure in threading them to be appreciated only by those who have expe- rienced the thrilling interest awakened by the exercise of Reason, Imagination, Intelligence, and Memory, all working together in the investigation of Truth — perpetually occupied in fresh researches, and making new discoveries. — But I have expatiated sufficiently, in the Letter above alluded to, on the intellectual pleasures of Genealogy. Till lately indeed, more especially in Great Britain and North of the Tweed, Genealogy merited the ridicule which was so freely lavished on her. It is but a few years ago since the most unfounded fictions were currently believed as to the origin of the Scottish families. The Stuarts were universally held to be the descendants of Banquo — the Douglasses of the " dark grey man " who fought under King Solvathius against the Danes, — it would be endless to enumerate all the fictions with which vanity and flattery peopled the blank of time ; they are now forgotten, — all, save the beautiful legend of the patriarch Hay at Loncarty, on which Milton in his youth proposed to found a drama, and which has been immortalized by its adoption by Shakspeare into the plot of ' Cymbeline.' A new era in Genealogy commenced with the present century. The ancient records of the kingdom were published, private papers and monastic char- tularies were brought to light, charter-evidence was insisted upon as the test TO THE PUBLIC. xix of descent, — and the first-fruits of this more critical spirit was the discovery of the real ancestors of the Stuarts and Douglasses by the indefatigable Chalmers. It was in fact the application of Criticism to the last stronghold of historical prejudice, — and at the first touch of the battering-ram the un- substantial bulwarks crumbled into dust. The spirit thus awakened has given birth to a race of historical antiquaries and genealogists, most consci- entious, industrious, erudite, and acute ; and to many of them, but especially to my friend JOHN RIDDELL, ESQ., ADVOCATE, whose name will be so frequently mentioned in the following pages, I have been indebted for most valuable assistance — assistance which has enabled me materially to improve these 1 Lives of the Lindsays,' to rectify errors, supply omissions, and in short render them in all respects, I trust, more worthy of the favour they have been honoured with hitherto.* The multitude of historical works issued by the Bannatyne, Maitland, and other antiquarian book-clubs, within the last twelve years, have also been of great service to me in revising these volumes. For my views of the manner in which it appears to me that Family History ought to be compiled, I may refer to my Introductory Letter so frequently alluded to, and will only add my conviction, that till the fact be recognized that, probably through an organization originally the same, an hereditary character is common in more or less development to all the individuals descended from the same stock — beginning, if the reader will, from Noah, but restricting the common character, first to Japhet and his descendants, then to whichever branch of those descendants history and philology may more * Among the friends to whom I have been thus obliged, may be mentioned — in anti- cipation of more special acknowledgments, scattered through the following pages — the following gentlemen : — James Dennistoun, Esq., of that Ilk, Advocate, — William Frazer, Esq., WS., of 11, Forres Street, Edinburgh, — Cosmo Innes, Esq., Sheriff of Moray, — David Laing, Esq., Librarian to the Writers of the Signet, and Secretary to the Banna- tyne Club, — Alex. Macdonald, Esq., of the Register House, — James Maidment, Esq., Advocate, — Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H., — Robert Pitcairn, Esq., WS., — Joseph Robert- son, Esq., of 12, Abbotsford Place, Glasgow, — Alex. Sinclair, Esq., — W. B. D. D. Turn- bull, Esq., Advocate, — and John Whitehead, Esq., of 84, Great King Street, Edinburgh : — With whom I may associate in this general expression of acknowledgment, the Rev. William Gregor, of Bonhill, the Rev. Harry Stuart, of Oathlaw or Finhaven, and the Rev. George Walker, of Kinnell, as having furnished me with valuable information regard- ing their respective localities : — Nor must I omit to acknowledge the advantage derived to these Lives from the courtesy of the Earl of Rothes, the Earl of Glasgow, the Earl of Fife, the Lord Forbes, Lord Gray, Lord Torphichen, Lord Panmure, Sir George War- render, Bart., of Lochend, W. F. Lindsay Carnegie, Esq., of Spynie, Fred. Fotheringham, Esq., as guardian for his nephew, the young Laird of Powrie, and George MacNeal, Esq., of Ugadale, in entrusting my father with valuable papers for the prosecution of his claim to the Earldom of Crawford ; and from that of Sir John Ogilvie, Bart., of Inverquharitie, of Sir Robert K. Dick Cuninghame, Bart., of Prestonfield, and of Sir Charles Ross, Bart., of Balnagowan, in communicating interesting documents preserved in their respective repositories. My obligations to members of my own clan have been too manifold for enumeration here. — I have also profited by the collection of ancient Scottish seals, formed by Mr. Henry Laing, seal-engraver, 25, Clyde Street, Edinburgh, — a very worthy and deserving man, whose casts in glass of ancient seals are beautiful in themselves, and invaluable for perpetuating such fragile memorials of the past to future ages. b 2 XX TO THE PUBLIC. 9 peculiarly fix upon as the progenitors of the Teutonic race, and so downwards till the period when hereditary surnames became distinctive of particular families throughout Europe — that till this principle, I repeat, be recognized and adopted as the basis of disquisition. Family History will never rise or deserve to rise to the intellectual dignity it might otherwise attain to. It is not a little curious indeed, that, in Scotland at least, philosophy has been anticipated in this conclusion by common usage and experience. To each of the great historical families of Northern Britain its presumed peculiar charac- teristic has for ages been popularly assigned in alliterative epithets — their gaiety to the Gordons, their doughtiness to the Douglasses, their gallantry to the Grahams, their lightsomeness, or buoyant cheerfulness, to the Lindsays — epithets proverbial North of the Tweed, and so many keys to the character of the tribes to which they are applied, so many germs of that philosophy of genealogy which I would fain see more fully investigated and practically applied. It is indeed my anxious hope that histories may be hereafter written of the great families of Britain and of Europe, on a plan similar to that which I have accomplished for "mine own people." Were the public and private annals of the Douglasses, Hamiltons, Seytons, Grahams, Maitlands, &c, of Scotland, those of the Nevilles, Courtenays, Howards, Percies, Greys, Stanleys, Talbots, and Seymours of England, and those of the Fitzgeralds, Butlers, De Courcys, and the royal races of Ireland, illustrated in a similar manner, by the stores of original documents in the possession of their representatives, and with a view to the ascertainment and elucidation of the psychological charac- teristic of each race, as above stated, the result would be not merely morally beneficial to each of the families so commemorated, but creative of an entirely new class of literature, far from devoid of public interest or unconducive to the public benefit. That the circulation of the ' Lives of the Lindsays ' has in more than one instance suggested the undertaking of similar compilations, is a fact that has afforded me the sincerest gratification, as a pledge that this aspiration may not fall to the ground. Two final observations occur to me in closing these preliminary pages. — In a work like the following there must of necessity be much that is not merely amusing, — much which, detachedly considered, may appear trifling and un- worthy of insertion, and, to use the common phrase, " interesting only to the family." But — omitting the plea that it was for the family in the first instance that the work was written — this objection would apply equally to painting, poetry, history — in short, to every species of composition of which the moral lies in a general result. Any one on reflection will perceive how much this is the case in Biography. It is only during part of a life that the hero is the foremost agent, yet it is necessary briefly to detail the events in which he bears a subordinate part, and even those that immediately precede his entrance on the scene of action, in order to enable the reader to appreciate his conduct and influence when he does appear. And when the biography is that of a family considered as an individual, the same necessity recurs ; there are periods of preparation, periods of activity, periods of repose, — births, deaths, and marriages thus acquire extrinsic and collatei-al interest ; and in TO THE PUBLIC. this manner of viewing things, the weight which mere adherence lends to a good or a bad cause ought not to be disregarded. On the other hand, as, in the history of an individual, public events are represented with more or less prominence according to the share the individual has in them — are, in short, grouped round the hero, though that hero may have been a hero only to very partial eyes ; and yet no one is offended at what is implied in the primary conditions of such delineation, — even so is it with the history of a family ; such incidents as the family mingle in must be brought prominently forward, the family must ever be painted conspicuously on the canvas, must assume a corresponding prominence in the narrative — exaggerated and untrue if the biography be misunderstood as history, but justifiable and inevitable under the conditions presupposed. — Without this forewarning, it might appear to the reader of the following 1 Lives ' as if the history of the Lindsays were that of their country, as if I had attributed to them undue influence and importance, — but they assert no preeminence above their peers, the historical baronage of Scotland. — Of the character of the race thus commemorated, and of their claim to such commemoration, it would behove me to say somewhat were I not their kinsman as well as their biographer, — the one character impels me to speech, the other to silence ; and my readers will forgive me that I yield to the latter impulse. St. Germain-en-Laye, 21 Sept. 1847. Since the above was written, the ' Lives of the Lindsays ' have been reviewed at some length in the Journal des Debats by M. Philarete Chasles, the brilliant and learned author of the ' Etudes sur l'Antiquite,' ' Sur le Moyen Age,' &c. &c. His criticism is interesting from the point of view in which he regards the work, as a symptom and symbol of the mind of the North, and as expressive of the effort which, in his opinion, the Aristocratic spirit is making at the present moment to associate itself with the principle of progress, without forfeiting its own cherished traditions and recollections. A few paragraphs may be here subjoined, — and I do not deny that I have great pleasure in citing the testimony of a distinguished foreigner to the interest of the characters whose ' Lives ' I have delineated, and of whom I may say in apology, as the Persian poet of his friends, " They are a string of pearls, and I The silken thread on which they lie." " On lit a la tete de cet ouvrage anecdotique un panegyrique enthousiaste et ingenieux de l'esprit de race et des vertus ou des qualite's qui en decoulent. Lord Lindsay n'admet pas plus que nous une aristocratie sans me'rite ; il veut, en conservant la chevalerie, qu'elle ne degenere pas, et il dit que, si elle est e'teinte comme institution, elle se survit a elle-meme, a titre d'he'roisme qui se chargera de de'fendre la patrie, le pauvre, le faible, et l'opprime. Ce sont des ide'es genereuses et justes en partie seulement ; car il n'est permis a personne de confondre la defense des infe'rieurs avec la sympathie pour ses egaux ; le sentiment de 1'egalite moderne est un sentiment tout nouveau, ne' d'une phi- losophic qui n'a pas donne' ses fruits ; sentiment contraire a la hierarchie febdale dont la fe'eondite' est e'puise'e. Chez Lord Lindsay, l'esprit aristocratique ou de famille, allie aux travaux du present, a ses esperances, a son activite', a ses conquetes, se montre sous son xxii TO THE PUBLIC. meilleur jour et dans son intensite la plus e'nergique. Non seulement l'orgueil de l'he're'- dite, mais le dernier effort de l'esprit de clan s'y manifeste tel qu'il s'est de'veloppe chez les nations Celtiques et les peuples septentrionaux, surtout en Ecosse. Nous dirons tout a l'heure ce que nous pensons de cet esprit de famille et de rac e, qui a fait de bien grandes choses, et qu'il faut remplacer, non maudire. " Ces grandes choses ont ete fort melees, comme il arrive toujours, et selon la con- dition de l'humanite, qui ne sera jamais parfaite ; la lecture des charmans Me'moires des Lindsays ne confirme pas absolument la these de l'auteur en faveur des vertus inevitables de l'aristocratie. II y a d'excellentes gens, et c'est la majorite', parmi les Lindsays ; il y a aussi de fort mauvais sujets dans le nombre, — et ce sont les plus inte'ressans, parce qu'ils sont dramatiques. . . . " Ces Lindsays parlent eux-memes, qui en langue Ecossaise, qui en Anglais du quin- zieme siecle, et avec une rusticite' assez mordante, ceux-ci en Franeais ou en Anglais du temps de Pope ; il y a parmi eux des coquettes, des prudes, des conspirateurs, des voyageurs, des puritains, cela doit etre ; tous ont des romans particuliers, la plupart des mines fieres et aventureuses qui font plaisir a voir. En les passant en revue, on ressent quelque chose de cette delicate jouissance d'une soiree d'automne passe'e a oublier les re'alite's et a parler aux ancetres au milieu des portraits de Versailles. Le roman est la, et la ve'rite' aussi, ou du moins ce que Ton croit vrai. On aime a savoir qu'il y a eu des hommes qui ont re'ellement ve'cu et agi aiusi ; on les retrouve avec joie dans ce demi- jour du passe'. Voila des tragedies et des contes qui n'ont besoin d'aucune mise en ceuvre ; comme ces agates dont les veines figurent, sans que l'artiste y ait aide', de singuliers paysages, des valle'es solitaires, des forets sombres, et des clairieres baigne'es de soleil. Le livre de Lord Lindsay produit a peu pres sui 1 le lecteur cet effet poe'tique et reel. " Les mieux dore's, les plus he'ro'iques, les plus sagaces de ces personnages sont aussi ceux qu'il est le plus agreable de lire ; il ne faut pas croire les pe'dans, qui calomnient la finesse et la force de l'esprit, et n'estiment que les ennuyeux. Tacite, Voltaire, et Bacon sont fort amusans ; Alexandre et Cesar le sont aussi. Les Lindsays le sont souvent. " Dans la race des Lindsays il y a quelques personnages ordinaires et sans valeur, comme toujours ; il y en a beaucoup de curieux, d'importans, d'originaux, qui signalent l'epoque ou ils vivaient et la marquent d'une empreinte puissante : vrai personnages de Walter Scott. . . . " Les mceurs brillantes et aventureuses de la cour de Charles II. , la severe e'conomie de la vieille Ecosse, traditions, le'gendes, re'alite's, debris de lettres d'amour — s'entre- melent, dans ces re'cits de famille, d'une maniere fort divertissante ; c'est la vie elle- meme et son rayon bizarre ou comique, traversant les faits les plus tragiques comme nn rayon joy eux dans la nuit. " Parmi ces petits faits, souvent minutieux et qui n'inte'ressent que la famille, il y en a qui ont de la valeur pour l'histoire : les sympathies ou les antipathies politiques de l'Ecosse s'y trahissent na'ivement ; on y voit, par exemple, que les Ecossais aimaient Charles I er comme Stuart, et qu'ils le de'testaient comme demi-calviniste ; on yvoit qu'ils exe'craient Guillaume III. comme homme, et qu'ils l'estimaient comme chef de'voue' du protestantisme en Europe. Mais le livre est surtout curieux a titre de svmptome ; il represents non seulement l'aristocratie sur la de'fensive et l'invincible adherence des Ecossais a la famille et a la ge'ne'alogie, mais la veneration du passe', la superstitieuse conservation des souvenirs, des faits, des moindres de'tails ; caracteres spe'ciaux de certaines races du nord. " Le fait, dont les hommes du midi s'occupent assez peu, est pour les hommes du nord l'objet d'une etude attentive. II n'y a pas d'histoire chez les Indiens, qui font de l'his- toire naturelle un symbole, et tout le monde sait que leur gebgraphie est chime'rique TO THE PUBLIC. xxm comme leurs annales. Si vous traversez le diametre entier du globe terrestre, vous rencontrez an point oppose, la oil les glaces du pole vont commencer, le peuple le plus historique qui existe, celui qui vit exclusivement dans le passe, les Islandais, qui touchent par les origines aux Allemands et aux Anglais. II n'y a pas de souvenir dont cette petite nation n'ait garde curieusement la trace et l'empreinte ; les laboureurs et les pecheurs de la cote re'petent les sagas et se rappellent le nom, la ge'ne'alogie, et les actes de leurs vieux Rois. II semble que le passe' domine celles des families humaines qui sont force'es a la concentration de l'esprit et aux fatigues du corps ; pour elles, la moil est toujours pre'sente et redoubtable. Les races du midi au contraire, qui vivent du present et dans le present, ont assez peu de soin de leurs morts et de leur passe' ; ou, quand elles s'occupent du passe', elles le transforment. La minutieuse realite' des annales de l'lslande est prouve'e par les dates et par l'encbainement logique ; tout y est vrai ; mais je ne crois pas grand'chose de la le'gende myfhologique Grecque ; il est fort possible que, depuis Ouranos jusqu'a Lycurgue, pas un mot ne soit vrai. Progne ne me semble pas plus historique que Me'ne'las ; Agamemnon que Saturne : cet adorable men- songe ne de l'imagination et de la sensibilite, palais de nue'es magiques, est d'ailleurs plus solide que s'il eut e'te' bati de marbre. Ce sont des considerations generales qu'il est inutile de de'velopper ici ; remarquons seulement l'e'troite parente' de l'esprit aristocratique et des souvenirs de Thistoire, de l'esprit de famille, et de la religion du passe'. La con- servation des moindres details historiques, perpetuus par l'aristocratie du nord dans le dessein avoue' de glorifier une famille et de prote'ger le systeme des races nobles et de la hie'rarchie chevaleresque, ne nous e'tonnera plus ; et le livre de Lord Lindsay s'expliquera de lui-meme, non par la seule vanite de gentilhomme, mais par un autre ordre d'ide'es infiniment plus estimable. " L'orgueil de race, e'videmment attaque' dans ses derniers asiles, apporte ses titres pour re'sister a l'esprit nouveau ; il sent la ne'cessite' de se de'fendre historiquement contre l'egalite' devenue maitresse des destine'es ; l'aristocratie la plus exclusive de l'Europe, force'e de se mettre sur la defensive, s'aime de son grand bouclier, et y montre inscrites en guise de blason des preuves de courage et de services rendus. C'est un honorable exemple et en meme temps une transformation importante que cette fusion des deux ge'nies, l'un populaire et qui marche en avant, l'autre exclusif et qui regarde les temps e'coule's ; l'un qui ne reconnait de distinction que le me'rite actif, l'autre qui se rejette sur le passe' pour prote'ger l'avenir. II est vrai que le genie du passe' est toujours le ge'nie vaincu, et que le livre de Lord Lindsay, tout rempli de sentimens tiers et de souvenirs glorieux, est ne'anmoins un hommage au monde nouveau." — Philarete Chasles. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. Page Sect. I. Norman origin of the Lindsays — the Sires de Limesay in Nor- mandy — The Lords of Wolverley in England — Limesay and Lindsay the same name and race — Walter de Lindsay the first settler in Scot- land 1 Sect. II. State of Scotland preliminary to, and at the period of, the Norman Conquest — the Picts and Scots — Saxon colonization — settlement of the Normans under David I. — his grand schemes for the civilization of Scotland G Sect. III. The descendants of Walter de Lindsay — William de Lindsay, of Crawford, High Justiciary under William the Lion; and his three sons, the founders of the three Houses of Crawford, Lamberton, and Luffness, the latter of which ultimately succeeds to the representation of the Lind- says — history of these three races till the devolution of Crawford on the English Pinkeneys, and of Lamberton on the Sires de Coucy, through heiresses, and the succession of the House of Luffness to the chiefship of the Lindsays — representation of the royal Celtic line of Scotland, and of the Anglo-Saxon line of England, now vested, through Christiana de Lindsay, heiress of Lamberton, in the Duchesse dAngouleme . . .1 Sect. IV. War of independence — adherence of the House of Lamberton and of the Pinkeneys of Crawford to John Baliol — of the House of Luffness to Wallace and Bruce — grant of Crawford, on the forfeiture of the Pin- keneys, to Sir Alexander Lindsay of Luffness — murder of the Red Cumyn — death of Sir John Lindsay — Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, son of Sir Alexander — Battle of Bannockburn — Letter of the Magnates Scotise to Pope John XXII., 1 320 — death and character of King Robert Bruce . 34 Sect. V. Renewal of the war — expedition of Edward Baliol — Sir David, Sir John, and Sir Alexander Lindsay, Knights bannerets — Death of John Lindsay, Bishop of Glasgow — Edward Baliol's flight from Scotland — marriage of Sir David L. of Crawford — his accessions of territory — his children, Sir James of Crawford, Sir Alexander of Glenesk, Sir William of the Byres — Armorial bearings of the family 45 Sect. VI. Early junior branches and younger brothers — Robert, Abbot of Peterborough — William, Chancellor of Scotland — Rodolphus, Grand- master of the Scottish Templars — Sir William of Symontoun — William, Great Chamberlain — Houses of Craigie and Dunrod— the Murder of Caerlaverock — Houses of Covington and Wauchopdale, and of Bon- hill, &c 5 XXVI CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER II. Page Sir James L. of Crawford — origin of feuds with the House of Glamis — death of Sir Alexander L. of Glenesk at Candia on his pilgrimage to Jeru- salem — Sir William of the Byres knights the son of St. Bridget of Sweden at the Holy Sepulchre ■ — Wars with England — battle of Otter- burn, 1388 — adventures of Sir James Lindsay 69 CHAPTER III. Sir David L. of Glenesk, son of Sir Alexander — his combat a I'outrance with Lord Welles on London Bridge — founds a chantry of five priests in honour of his victory — nearly loses his life in a combat with the Clan Donachie — Siege of Fy vie — death of Sir James L. of Crawford, and succession of Sir David — his creation as Earl of Crawford in 1398 — his character, his repartees — his sister Euphemia — his death — his chil- dren — ■ letter to Henry IV. of England 87 CHAPTER IV. The fifteenth century emphatically the feudal age of Scotland — Sketch of the ordinary life of the Earls of Crawford — their castle of Finhaven — their town-residence in Dundee — their burial-place — their domestic life — their estates — their power as Earls of Regality — collateral branches of the family — influence of clanship. Alexander second Earl of Craw- ford — obtains the hereditary sheriffdom of Aberdeenshire. Character of James I. — commencement of the struggle between the Scottish Kings and the aristocracy — extirpation of the House of Albany — unjust for- feiture of the House of March — exclusion of the Erskines from the Earl- dom of Marr, and resumption from the Grahams of that of Strathern — murder of James — death of Alexander Earl of Crawford . . .107 CHAPTER V. Continuation of the struggle between the King and the aristocracy, the former supported by the Church — David third Earl of Crawford — his league with William Earl of Douglas — opposed by Kennedy, Primate of Scot- land — Earl David, assisted by the Ogilvies, ravages " St. Andrew's land " — -is excommunicated for a year — treats it with contempt — quarrel be- tween Alex. Master of Crawford, Earl David's eldest son, and the Ogilvies — battle of Arbroath, 1446 — Earl David slain in endeavouring to recon- cile the parties — the battle fought on the anniversary of the excommuni- cation — victory of the Lindsays, and capture of the leader of the Ogilvies — murder of the latter, as asserted, by the Countess of Crawford — sub- sequent feuds 126 CHAPTER VI. Alex, fourth Earl of Crawford, the Tiger Earl or Earl Beardie — enters into a ii< w league with the Earl of Douglas and MacDonald of the Isles, in CONTENTS OF VOL. I. xxv ii connection with the Yorkist party in England, to dethrone the King and overthrow the government — Douglas murdered by the young King, James II. — Crawford intercepts the royal lieutenant, Huntley, who is hastening to the King's aid — battle of Brechin, 1452 — Crawford's de- feat — the Cup of Assuanlee — Crawford forfeited — submission of Dou- glas, the successor of the murdered Earl — Crawford surrenders himself in expiation for his followers — is pardoned through the intercession of Bishop Kennedy — entertains the King at Finhaven — the King's vow — Crawford's whole character changes — he dies within six months after- wards — popular tradition as to his fate .134 CHAPTER VII. Sect. I. David fifth Earl of Crawford, Earl Beardie's son and heir — is left a minor — his " tutor," or guardian, Walter L. of Beaufort, ancestor of the Houses of Edzell and Balcarres — John first Lord Lindsay of the Byres, High Justiciary — Ingelram Bishop of Aberdeen — his voyage to Eome, character, and writings . .145 Sect. II. Marriage and majority of Earl David — political revolutions — James L. of Covington, Provost of Lincluden Abbey and Lord Privy Seal — Earl David rises in power — acquires the hereditary Sheriffdom of Angus — is appointed Keeper of Berwick and High Admiral — his embassies — his magnificence — his worth. Character of James III. — his patronage of art and letters — discontent and contempt of the nobles — conspiracies against him secretly abetted by England — raid of Lauder — Earl David takes part with the King — is appointed Master of the Household and Lord Chamberlain — change and reformation in the King's character — his vigorous and paternal administration — apprehensions of the malcontent party and renewal of their intrigues with England — they adopt the principles and language of the Kiverses and Hastingses, hostile to the great Norman aristocracy and asserting popular rights — Crawford and Huntley are appointed High Justiciaries — the malcontent nobles seize the person of the Prince Royal, poison his mind against his father, and break out into open rebellion — James assembles his friends — Earl David and David Lord Lindsay of the Byres join him — Lord Lindsay's gift to James — Earl David created Duke of Montrose, to him and his heirs — battle of Stirling, 1488 — death of James — capture and ransom of the Duke of Montrose — coronation of James IV. . . .151 Sect. III. Remorse of the young King — he pardons the Duke of Montrose — who is compelled however to surrender the hereditary Sheriffdom of Angus — new patent of the Dukedom of Montrose — penitence of the con- spirators — their petition to the Pope for pardon — bull of remission, and subsequent Act of Parliament rescinding all previous acts of injustice. Domestic afflictions of the Duke — death of his eldest son — accusation of fratricide against the younger — traditions relative thereto — the Duke and Duchess are received into the third order of St. Francis — the Duke dies at Finhaven 163 xxviii CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER VIII. Page Sect. I. Political state of Scotland at the close of the fifteenth century — the accession of James IV., like that of Edward IV., signalizes the com- mencement of a new era, in which intellect begins to assert its superiority over hereditary power — continuance of the struggle between the aris- tocracy and the Crown, the latter aiming at irresponsible power — trial of Lord Lindsay of the Byres after the battle of Stirling, as narrated by Lindsay of Pitscottie — his defence by his brother Patrick — his acquittal — strange contradictions of the times — death of Lord Lindsay, and suc- cession of his brothers John and Patrick, as third and fourth Lords L. of the Byres 1 74 Sect. II. John sixth Earl of Crawford — his unhappy career — his prodi- gality — his misfortunes — character of James IV., emphatically a feudal monarch — his policy an exception to that of the Stuarts — love of his people, attachment of the aristocracy — the battle of Flodden, 1513, and previous speech of Patrick Lord Lindsay — death of Earl John and of Walter Lindsay the young Laird of Edzell 1 80 CHAPTER IX. Alexander seventh Earl of Crawford, High Justiciary — his death, and the succession of his son, Earl David — political struggles during the minority of James V. — domination of Angus — John fifth Lord Lindsay — com- mencement of the leaning of the Byres family to popular rights and principles, as opposed to feudalism — • Sir Walter Lindsay, Lord St. John, Grandmaster of the Templars, High Justiciary, &c. — Majority and inde- pendence of James V. — he despatches Sir David Lindsay of the Mount ambassador to Charles V. to renew the commercial league with Flanders — vigorous government of James — his interposition in favour of the rightful heirs of Edzell — Earl David deprived of certain estates by James — his enmity in consequence — Alexander the " Wicked Master " of Crawford — his crimes — is repeatedly pardoned by his father, but proves incorrigible — is tried and convicted of constructive, or legal, par- ricide, and forfeited ; and David Lindsay of Edzell, next heir male and heir of entail, is called to the succession, 1541 — death of the old Earl and of the Wicked Master — Earl David of Edzell adopts the son of the Wicked Master as his own child, and eventually makes him his heir, restoring to him the title and estates — ingratitude of the latter, and of the restored family, to Earl David and his descendants — the whole his- tory an illustration of the abuses and decrepitude of feudalism . . .188 CHAPTER X. Sect. I. Lindsay of Pitscottie, the historian — Sir David L. of the Mount, Lord Lion King-at-arms — his birth and education — serves in Italy — is appointed Usher to King James V. on the birth of the latter — wit- nesses an apparition before the battle of Flodden — his influence on the character of James V. — attachment to him of James .... 207 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. xxix Page Sect. II. Corruptions of the Church, no less gross than those of the State — a Reformation needed in both — Sir David's warfare against all abuses, ecclesiastical and civil — severe repressive measures by the clergy — in- crease of disaffection — Sir David's ' Satire of the Three Estates,' and 'Squire Meldrum,' as analysed by Mr. Tytler 217 Sect. III. Sir David's old age — his ' Monarchic ' — analysis and observations by Mr. Tytler — death of Sir David — traditions respecting him — editions of his poems — his other works — his personal character . . .241 Sect. IV. Sir David's character as a reformer — his views of government, civil and ecclesiastical — analysis of his opinions — his influence on pos- terity, and popularity in Scotland 252 CHAPTER XI. Sect. I. Succession of Mary Queen of Scots, in 1542 — State of Parties — Regency of Mary of Guise — reaction of Catholicism against Protestantism, in antagonism to the Reformation — the League — importance of Scot- land, as the check upon England — her present neutrality — object of the League to incline her to Catholicism, with the view of ultimately placing Mary on the throne of united Britain and extirpating heresy — Scotland from henceforward divided into two distinct factions, Catholic and Pro- testant, French and English, in their politics and affection — adherence of the Crawford family to the Catholic, of the Lindsays of the Byres to the Protestant party — character of these respective Houses — Patrick Master of Lindsay, an enthusiast in the cause of reformation — his father more moderate, but warmly in favour of it — wars of the Regency — friendship of the Master of Lindsay and Kirkaldy of Grange — death of Mary of Guise — pacification — power remains in the hands of the Re- formers — ■ deposition of the Church Catholic and substitution of Presby- terianism — Nunc dimittis of John Lord Lindsay — return of Mary to Scotland 263 Sect. II. Character of Mary — zeal of Patrick Lord Lindsay against Popery — rebellion and fall of Huntley — Mary's cruel position, a martyr to the League and Catholicism — character of Lord Lindsay — marriage of Mary to Darnley — the Runabout Raid — murder of Rizzio — birth of a son to Mary, afterwards James VI. 272 Sect. III. Murder of Darnley — Marriage of Mary with Bothwell — the Lords of the Congregation (as the Reformers style themselves) collect their forces, and meet Bothwell and Mary at Carberry-hill — Lindsay chal- lenges Bothwell to single combat — surrender of the Queen — her me- nace to Lindsay — her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle — Lindsay extorts her resignation of the crown in favour of her son James, and the appointment of Moray as Regent — escape of Mary — Crawford and her friends assemble for her defence — battle of Langside — victory of Moray — Mary's flight to England 282 Sect. IV. Crawford, Huntley, &c, assemble their followers, demand assist- ance from the King of Spain, and expostulate with Elizabeth — she persuades Mary to command them to disband their followers — trial of XXX CONTENTS OF VOL. I. the Queen — death of Moray — wars of the Queen's and King's Lords — submission of Huntley, Crawford, &c. — Kirkaldy of Grange and Mait- land of Lethington, in possession of the Castle of Edinburgh, the last to hold out — siege of the castle by Lindsay and Morton — Kirkaldy surren- ders, and is sentenced to death — Lindsay's fruitless attempt to save his old friend, who is executed — Lethington takes poison — close of the civil wars, and regency of Morton 288 CHAPTER XII. Sect. I. Death of David tenth Earl of Crawford, and succession of his son Earl David, the eleventh — his unfortunate marriage — his accidental encounter with Lord Glamis, the Chancellor, and death of the latter — trial and acquittal of Crawford — he departs for Italy — renewal of feuds with the House of Glamis — Lord Lindsay's estrangement from Morton — conjointly with others, he effects his fall — Morton recovers his ground — compromise between the two parties — the King's favourites, Lennox and Arran — conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, Crawford adhering to the Catholic or French interest, Lindsay to the party of the Reformers and Elizabeth — Measures of James for the repression of the spiritual despotism of the Kirk — imprisonment of Lord Lindsay and of Mr. David Lindsay, minister of Leith — vision of the latter — raid of Stirling, by which Lindsay and the Protestant Lords regain possession of the King's person — ■ Arran is slain — Lord Lindsay retires from public affairs, and dies 296 Sect. II. Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1 587 — Crawford and the Catholic Lords open a correspondence with Spain — are encouraged by James — Elizabeth soothes him down. James's negotiations for a wife — preli- minary measures, reconciliation of Crawford and Glamis, and other feudal enemies, by the King's intervention — procession and feast in the High Street of Edinburgh — rebellion of Crawford, Huntley, and Errol — its suppression — Crawford goes abroad — James sails for Denmark — is married to Anne of Denmark by Mr. David Lindsay — Alexander Lind- say, younger brother of Crawford, is created Lord Spynie, and espouses the Countess Dowager of Angus — letters of James on the occasion . .311 CHAPTER XIII. Sect. I. Houses of Edzell and Balcarres — their descent respectively from David and John, the eldest and second sons of David L. of Edzell, ninth Earl of Crawford — Catherine Campbell, Countess of Crawford, their mother — her character — early education of her sons at home, in France, and in England — their return to Scotland — marriage of Sir David — John becomes a Lord of Session, by the title of Lord Menmuir — marries, and obtains a charter of the barony of Balcarres — death of the Countess Catherine 326 Sect. II. Contrasted characters of Sir David and Lord Menmuir — their affection — letter from Lord Menmuir to his brother — their mining speculations — planting and gardening — Sir David's taste for architec- ture, and decorations at Edzell ... .... 338 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. xxxi Page Sect. III. Public services of Lord Menmuir — critical situation of the king- dom — his Acts modifying the constitution of the parliament, and abridg- ing the power of the nobility — assists in revising the laws — is appointed Master of the Metals, and one of the Octavians, or Commissioners of the Exchequer, with the view of improving the finances — is appointed Lord Privy Seal and Secretary of State — improvement in the King's character — Lord Menmuir's " plat," or scheme, for the provision of the clergy — how defeated — collisions between the Kirk and State, the former led, secularly, by James Lord Lindsay, son of Lord Patrick — tumult of the 17th of November, 1596 — Lord Menmuir's " Questions" on the subject of Church government — perplexity and answers of the Kirk — conven- tion of a General Assembly — and introduction of Episcopacy — the com- mencement of a struggle which continues with more or less violence till 1688 351 Sect. IV. Lord Menmuir's illness — resigns his offices — Sir David succeeds him as Lord of Session, by the title of Lord Edzell — Lord Menmuir's last letter to his brother — his will — his death, 1598 — his character — his wife, Dame Marion Guthrie — her character and death — her epitaph 370 Sect. V. Latter days of Mr. David Lindsay — is appointed Bishop of Ross — baptism of Prince Henry, and attendant festivities — death of Queen Elizabeth, and succession of James to the throne of England — feud between David Master of Crawford and David younger of Edzell, and accidental slaughter of Lord Spynie by the latter — letters from Lord Edzell to James — subsequent reconciliation between the families of Edzell and Spynie — death of Lord Edzell — his widow, Isabel Forbes — death of David Bishop of Ross 381 APPENDIX TO VOL. I. I. Proofs of the earlier part of the Pedigree prefixed to these 'Lives' . . 401 II. Various orthography of the surname Lindsay, from charters and other an- cient documents .413 III. Descendants and representatives of Christiana de Lindsay, Dame de Coucy . 413 IV. Charter by Sir David de Lindsay, Lord of Crawford, to the Abbey of New- battle, of the lands of Smith wood, co. Lanark, 1328 .... 414 V. Account of Robert de Lindsay, Abbot of Peterborough, elected 1214, died 25 Oct. 1222. From Dean Patrick's edition of Gunton's History of the Church of Peterborough 416 VI. " Forma Distributions xx librarum," — of an annual rent of twenty pounds bestowed by Sir William L. of Symontoun on the Abbey of Newbattle, 1293 418 VII. Description of the Castle of Craigie, Ayrshire Observer, 25 Feb. 1845 . . 420 VIII. Observations on the "Dominium "of Buchan, vested in Sir James Lindsay of Crawford, who died in 1397, and on the dismembering of the earldom of that district, from a letter by Joseph Robertson, Esq. . . .421 XXXli CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Page IX. ' The Rose-a-Lyndsaye,' a ballad 423 X. Observations by Joseph Robertson, Esq., on the site of St. Drostan's church in Glenesk, from a letter to the author ..... 424 XI. Observations on the import of the terms " bondi, bondagia, nativi, et eorum sequele," in the charter of the thanedom of Downie to Sir Alex. L. of Glenesk, 1373, — from a letter to the author by Joseph Robert- son, Esq 425 XII. List of families of the name of Lindsay, in Scotland and elsewhere . 428 XIII. Extracts from the Indenture between the Lairds of Inverquharitie and Clova, 26 March, 1524 447 XIV. Indenture between Alex. Ogilvie of Auchterhouse and Walter Lindsay of Beaufort, 9 March, 1458-9 451 XV. Notices of James L. of Covington, Provost of Lincluden, and Lord Privy Seal, temp. James II. and James III. . . . . . • 452 XVI. Extract from the Chamberlain Rolls, 1457 453 XVII. Charter or Patent of the Dukedom of Montrose, 18 May, 1488 . . 454 XVIII. Protest by David Duke of Montrose, 29 Oct. 1488 . . . .456 XIX. Act of Parliament, passed at Stirling, 18 Sept. 1489; and Notice of the Litera or Patent passed in consequence, 19 Sept. 1489, with respect to the Dukedom of Montrose ........ 457 XX. Bull of Pope Innocent VIII., 27 June, 1489 459 XXI. "Indenture between David Duke of Montrose, Earl of Crawford, &c, and the Friars of Dundee, anent the xx mark annual furth of Drum- came," &c, 2 Aug. 1489 . . . . . . . .461 XXII. Extracts from the Bond between the Earl and Master of Crawford, 9 Aug. 1546 463 XXIII. List of documents connected with the history of the Wicked Master . 465 XXIV. Further notices of the Lindsays of the Mount . . . . . 466 XXV. Extract from a Survey of the Estates of the Earldom of Devon, 1548 . 468 XXVI. Extracts from the Letter of the Queen's nobles to Queen Elizabeth, 28 July, 1568 469 XXVII. Letter from the Earl of Argyle to the Earl of Crawford, 31 July, 1568 . 470 XXVIII. Circular addressed by David eleventh Earl of Crawford to his friends, on his trial for the slaughter of Lord Glamis, November, 1579 . . 471 XXIX. Ballad of ' Earl Crawford' . .472 XXX. ' The Content of the Discourse made by Mr. Walter Lindsay of Bal- gawies, put in Spanish and in print,' 1586 ..... 476 XXXI. Extracts from the Life of Mr. Alex. Ross, Schoolmaster of Lochlee, by his grandson, the Rev. Alex. Thomson of Lentrathen — prefixed to the ' Fortunate Shepherdess,' by the former, Dundee, 8vo. 1812 . . 478 XXXII. ' Act anent the Form and Order of the Parliament,' and others, 1587 — from the autograph drafts of John Lindsay, Lord Menmuir . . 485 SEALS ILLUSTRATING THE ARMORIAL BEARINGS Sir James Lindsay, of Crawford, 1371. Sir Alexander Lindsay, of Glenesk, 1371. OF THE EARLS OF CRAWFORD, BALCARRES, &c. David, First Earl of Crawford, 1398. David, Duke of Montrose and Earl of Crawford, 1488 John, Twentieth Earl of Crawford, 1749. LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. CHAPTER I. " Who that antique stories reads Consider may the famous deeis Of our nobill progenitours ; Whilk should to us be right mirrours, Their virtuous deedis to ensue, And vicious living to eschew." * * * * * Lindesays all, ane surname of renown." Sir David Lindsay of the Mount.* SECTION I. Various accounts were formerly current concerning the origin of the Lindsays, — one deriving them from a warrior who had assisted King Kenneth MacAlpine in his conquest of the Picts,-f- — another from Grim MacDuffus, King of Scotland at the close of the tenth century, and grandfather of the fabulous Banquo,J — and a third from the Saxon Earl of Lindeseye in Lincolnshire, who, after an unavailing resistance to the Conqueror, found * In my citations from old writers throughout these ' Lives/ I have (as a general rule) adopted the modern orthography, except in the case of words etymologically different. I would not however be understood to deprecate the preservation of the ancient spelling in compilations of a less popular character. f " The first man of the surname, whilk was callit Lindsay, (ane proper name then to him, whilk now is the surname of our clan,) Kenneth II., son to Alpin, rewarded with large bounds and lands in this country for his guid counsel and sovereign manhood in the overthrowing of the Pyghtis (Picts.)" Speech of Alex. 4th Earl of Crawford to James If., 1453, ap. Boeth., lib. xviii., translated by Pit- scottie. — See also the ' Dignity of the Scottish Peerage vindicated,' Edinb. 4to. 1719, p. 18, — a tract in which the history of the Lindsays is selected and com- mented upon, as a sufficient illustration of that dignity, — which may be a prima facie apology for the publication of the present work. % MS. Genealogy, dated 1623, in the Haigh Muniment-room. VOL. I. * B 2 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. t. refuge, along with Edgar Atheling and his sister Margaret, at the court of Malcolm Caenmore.* But documentary evidence is the only test of truth in genealogical research, and these legends, like those that obscured the origin of the Douglases, Hays, Stuarts, and other Scottish families, have been swept away for ever by the scythe of historical criticism. Walter de Lindsay, an Anglo-Norman, who figures as a mag- nate or great baron under David L, Prince of Strathclyde or Cumbria, before his accession to the throne, is the first of our name who appears in Scotland.! He is a witness to the celebrated ' Inquisitio ' or inquest of Prince David into the possessions and rights of the see of Glasgow within his territories, in 11164 The surname 6 De Lindsay,' however, is territorial, and derived from a property of which Walter was not in possession, § — he had in- herited it therefore from a father contemporary with the Conqueror. That father presents himself in the person of Baldric de Lindsay, || a Norman gentleman who held the lands of Farford, Ilemingby, and others in Lincolnshire under Hugh Lupus, Earl Palatine of Chester, in 1086-7, at the time of the great survey by William the Conqueror, entitled Domesday Book,H and who granted the tythes of Farford and Oxcombe to the Abbey of St. Evroul, near Evreux * Rolfs Life of John 20th Earl of Crawford, 4to. 1753, p. 24.— Wyntown, the Prior of Lochleven, who wrote c. 1420, expresses a prudent uncertainty as to their origin : — " Of England come the Lyndysay, Mair of them I can nocht say." — Chron. B. viii. 7, 159. f For the proofs of descent and consanguinity, as laid down in this opening chapter and the pedigree, see the Appendix, No. I. % 1 Inquisitio de Terris Ecclesie Glasguensis/ printed in the ' Registrum,' or Chartulary of Glasgow, torn. i. p. 7. — Mr. Riddell considers this Inquisitio the " oldest authentic Scottish document extant." Stewartiana, p. 109. — The Lindsays, he says elsewhere, " can thus prove a higher antiquity than any in our (the Scot- tish) peerage, by means of authentic evidence." Peerage and Consistorial Law, torn. ii. p. 977. § Hereditary territorial surnames were invariably at that period taken from estates actually possessed either by those who bore the surnames, or by their ancestors. There is no property of the name of Lindsay in Scotland. || An Angodus de Lindsay, who bestowed an hundred acres of land in Hardres- hille, co. Warwick, on the Abbey of St. Alban's, before 1093, (Dugd. Monasl., torn. ii. p. 220, ult. ed.,) was a contemporary of Baldric, but not Walter's father, as shewn in the Appendix, infra. Domesday Book, Line. p. 349 b. Sect. I. THEIR NORMAN ORIGIN. 3 in Normandy.* But Baldric likewise derived bis surname from property not in his possession ; j and, consequently, he too must have inherited it from a still remoter ancestor, a De Lindsay who was necessarily born during the earlier half of the eleventh century. It is here, therefore, where traces on the surface cease, that the spade of exploration must be put into the ground — that genealo- gical criticism must begin its work ; and the result of a long and careful enquiry is, that the Lindsays are an offshoot of the noblest family of the Normans, and of a common male stock with Rollo and the Dukes of Normandy. A glance at the pedigree prefixed to these ' Lives ' will assist you in following the very brief sketch that I shall here give of this early descent and history. Ivar, Jarl, or independent prince, of the Uplanders of Norway, the representative of the Thorian race, the reputed descendants of Thor, and of Thor's mythic ancestor Fornioter, King of the North, was the father of Ey stein, surnamed Glumra or the Eloquent ; and Eystein again was father of Rognvald, surnamed the Wise and the Magnificent, and of Malahulc, the remote progenitor of the Lindsays. Rognvald submitted to Harald Harfagre, the first King of all Norway, and was by him appointed Jarl of More and Raumsdal on the Western coast of Norway, — he was father of Rollo, and great-great-great-great-grandfather of William, the * General Charter of Confirmation by Ranulph 3rd Earl of Chester, 1119-28, — Chart ularij of St. Evroul, MS. Biblioth. Imperiale, Paris. f The only 4 Lindsay ' in England is the vast district of that name in Lincoln- shire. Farford and the other property of Baldric lay within that district ; but it is hardly necessary to remark, that to derive an hereditary surname from it in those days Baldric must have been its proprietor or superior lord, which was not the case; and it is impossible to suppose that he and his family could have usurped the surname, and still more so, that such an usurpation should have been acquiesced in by the whole community there resident, their equals and superiors in territorial importance, and even by the Earl Palatine himself, who, on that supposition, would assign them a title implying feudal superiority over himself in Lincolnshire. The descent asserted by Rolt from the Saxon Earls of Lindsay is out of the ques- tion, the Lindsays being distinctly a Norman race, as proved by their bearing an hereditary territorial surname, by their Christian names being Norman, not Saxon, by their figuring among the Norman witnesses to charters, &c. &c. The origin of the surname is, in fact, otherwise fully accounted for, as shewn briefly in the Appendix, infra. The "manor of Lindsay in Essex," spoken of by genealogists, neither does nor ever did exist. The Limesays, presently to be spoken of, and their Lindsay successors, had large property in Essex, which may have given rise to the error. * B 2 4 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. Conquerors respectively of Normandy and England. Malahulc accompanied Rollo in his expedition to Normandy, and became the ancestor of the great house of De Toeny, the hereditary standard-bearers of Normandy. Randolph de Toeny, Malahulc's great-grandson, who flourished under Richard II., had two sons, Roger, surnamed the Spaniard, his successor, and Hugo. Roger rose in arms on the accession of William the Conqueror, re- fusing obedience to a bastard, while other and more legitimate heirs of the royal blood existed ; but he was defeated and slain. He was succeeded by his son Randolph, who accompanied the Conqueror to England in 1066, and became the ancestor of a long line of barons, the last of whom died in the reign of Edward II. ; while an equally illustrious race, the Lords of Stafford and Earls and Dukes of Buckingham, descended from Roger's younger son, Robert. Hugo, the younger son of Randolph, and brother of Roger the Spaniard, settled on a manor not far from Rouen, and founded the family of De Limesay or De Lindsay — the names being identical and interchangeable alike in etymology and practice — in Normandy and Britain. He left two sons, Randolph, styled ' de Limesi' and 6 de Lindesiaco,'* who accompanied the Con- queror to England in 1066, and continued the line of the Limesay succession— and Baldric de Lindsay, above mentioned, the father of the Northern branch of the family, f The history of the De Toenys, as you may well imagine, is full of romantic incidents both before and after the Conquest, and that of the Staffords is equally so ; while the records of the De Albinis, and various other families descended from the Toenys, might supply ample materials of interest, — but I must confine myself here to the history of our own peculiar branch of Lindsay. J * Formed on the same principle as Coucy, Coci-acum ; Montmorency, Mont- morenci-acum, &c. f I have for some years past been occupied at intervals in collecting and arranging proofs of this earlier descent of the Lindsays ; and intend printing them at large in a separate form, to range with my recent ' Eeport of the Montrose Claim.' A summary of the line of proof is given in the Appendix, infra. The identity (I should add) of the families Limesay and Lindsay was first pointed out to me by that distinguished antiquarian and my hereditary friend, the late Mr. Morritt of Rokeby. % The fief of Toeny, from which the De Toenys derived their surname, ori- ginally pertained to the see of Rouen, and was granted to Randolph, the son of Hugo Lord of Cavalcamp, and grandson of Malahulc, by his brother Hugo, Arch- Sect. I. THE DE LIMES AYS. 5 The original seat of the De Limesays, I should add, was at the manor of that name in the " Pays de Caux," near Pavilly, five leagues N.W. of Rouen. They continued to flourish on the spot for many generations after the Conquest, and failed apparently shortly after the middle of the thirteenth century, when the Sires de Frontebosc, or Frombosc, a younger branch, succeeded to the property. Their descendants in the female line, Comtes de Fron- tebosc and Marquesses de Limesay, flourished till the French Revolution ; and it is to a history of the race, privately printed above half a century ago by the representative of the second branch, M. Toustain de Richebourg — a devout loyalist, and who has made his volume the depository of all his thoughts and feelings for many years — that I owe these later particulars.* Randolph de Limesay, above mentioned as having come over at the Conquest, obtained above forty lordships in different counties of England, including Wolverley in Warwickshire, the chief seat of his posterity, and from which they took their style as barons. There was but little of the castle remaining in Dugdale's time, save the moat, and certain " great banks, whereon ancient oaks do grow," coeval probably with the first arrival of the Normans. bishop of Rouen, who ruled from 942 to 989. Acta Archiep. Rothomag., ap. Mabillon, Vett. Analecta, p. 223. The Toenys afterwards obtained the fief of Conches, and are frequently described in history by that name. Their alliances were always with the families of the great feudatories or with sovereign houses, in conformity with their distinguished origin. The romance of the middle ages attributed to them the chivalrous epithet of ' Knights of the Swan,' as in the description by Matthew Paris of Randolph de Toeny, son of Roger, the first settler in England, as "in armis clarissimus, et genere natione Normannus, ab illis famosis militibus trahens propaginem, qui a Cygni nomine intitulabantur," Abbatum S. Albani Vita, p. 29, edit. Wats; and in the Anglo-Norman poem, the ' Siege of Carlaverock,' written at the beginning of the fourteenth century, where Robert de Toeny, the last of the line, is described thus,— " Robert de Tony, ki bien signe , Ke il est du Chevalier a eigne." — P. 42. — In accordance with which legend, the Lord de Toeny in question sur- rounded his coat of arms with lions and swans alternately, as on his seal appended to the Letter to the Pope in 1301. Ibid., p. 369. The De Toenys shared this poetical descent with the Counts of Boulogne, and a curious legend connected with the conquest of Jerusalem by Godfrey, related in Mr. Wright's Northern Mythology, vol. iii. p. 309, appears to be based upon the same popular belief. * This work is extremely rare. It has no regular title-page, but merely the prefix ' Famille de Toustain-Frontebosc' The house of Toustain-Frontebosc bore or, a fesse-cheque'e, or and azure. Their cri-de-yuerre was, " Vive le sang des Rois Normands ! " 6 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. L Randolph founded the Priory of Hertford before 1093, in depen- dency on the Abbey of St. Alban's, — to which latter house he bore profound veneration, and within whose hallowed precincts he and his wife Hadewisa were admitted as brother and sister before their decease.* Alan de Limesay, his son, and Gerard his grandson, succeeded him, and were similarly bountiful ; but the son of Gerard dying without issue, the property went to his two daughters, to wit, Basilia, wife of Sir Hugo de Odingsels, and Aleonora, wife of Sir David de Lindsay of Crawford, of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, the representative of Walter de Lindsay, the son of Baldric, and the original settler in Scotland under David I.-f- But before sketching the history of Walter and his family, I must make a few observations on the state of Scotland generally at the period of their establishment there, and on the character and consequences of the Norman colonization of Britain, — for a family cannot be rightly understood without appreciation on the one hand of the native or hereditary predisposition of the race it belongs to, and that of the country or society in which its lot is cast, on the other. I will be as succinct as possible — and will begin on this side the Deluge. SECTION II. Four great waves of population have in succession overflowed Europe, — the Aborigines, a race proved by their language to have been akin to those of India, Northern Asia, and America, | and whom I consider to have been of Hamite origin, § — the Celts, * Dugdale's Monastico)i, torn. iii. pp. 300. f See Dugdale's Baronage, torn. i. p. 769; Monast. torn. iii. p. 298 sqq. ; torn, vi. pp. 137, 833, &c. ; Antiquities of Warwickshire,^. 103, 341, 345, 539, 992, 1108. % The Euskarian or Basque race, and the Finnish, are remnants of this original population in Europe. Its existence throughout the intermediate regions would appear from the known fact of there having been an inferior class, of serfs, among the Celts, and from the numerous foreign words in the Celtic dialects, which are explainable by the Finnish and Tartar languages. See Dr. Prichard's Physical Hist., torn. iv. p. G05. § See my Progression by Antagonism, p. 25. Sect. II. THE CELTS IN SCOTLAND. 7 the earliest branch of the Indo-European or Japhetan race, who occupied the whole of Central and Western Europe, reducing the Aborigines to servitude, but adopting, as I should surmise, not a few of their superstitions, — the Classic nations and the Slavonians, closely akin ; the former occupying the peninsulas of Italy and Greece, the latter the districts which they still retain in the East of Europe, — and, last of all, the Teutonic race, fresh from their Persian mountains, who, piercing through the Slavonians and thundering at the rear of the Celts, the Greeks, aud the Romans, pressed continually forward till they had occupied, either as colonists or conquerors, the whole of the soil that those nations had previously ruled over, regenerating them by intermixture, and re-creating out of the broken fragments of empire the king- doms and polities of modern Europe. You must not however misunderstand me as asserting that the whole of the Celtic, the Slavonian, or the Teutonic race was at once discharged on the plains below them — on the contrary, each of the waves I speak of represents a succession of migrations, Celtic, Slavonian, or Teutonic, continuing till the fountain which supplied the race ceased to flow. The Celtic race thus consists of two great collective branches of earlier and later migration, the earlier represented by the Gael, the later by the Welsh or Cymry ; and the Teutonic, in like manner, of three — the Upper German tribes, the Lower German, which may otherwise be styled the Saxon race, and the Scandinavian, from which sprang the Normans.* Restricting our view to our own country, its earliest historical inhabitants were the Albiones, who occupied the whole of the island. They were driven Northwards by the Britanni, a colony from Belgium, who occupied England and gave it the name of Britain. Both these nations were Celtic, the Albiones belonging to the earlier or Gaelic, the Britanni to the Welsh or Cymraic branch of the race. The Britanni were conquered, civilized, and corrupted by the Romans — the Albiones, more distant, escaped the yoke. Both became Christians in the course of the early ages. The Britanni retain their name in the writings of Caesar and the Romans, their conquerors — the Albiones exchange theirs for that of Caledonians or Picts, by which they are subsequently * Prichard's Physical History, passim. LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. known in history. But the original name was never forgotten, and is still perpetuated in that of " Albanich," the Gaelic de- signation of the Highlanders of Scotland, their direct repre- sentatives.* The Picts or Albiones gradually acquired union and power, and became a kingdom of considerable eminence during the early ages. It consisted of a confederacy of fourteen clans, inhabiting seven provinces, ruled over by seven hereditary chiefs, or " maor- mors," who elected the sovereign. The nation was divided into two great tribes, the Picts and Pictardach, the former inhabiting the mountains, the latter the Lowlands of Scotland — a distinction arising apparently from local causes, not from any diversity of race or manners.! Ireland, in the mean while, had undergone a revolution resem- bling that which had befallen the sister island. The earliest inhabitants were the Hiberni, but their power was overthrown by the Scoti, an invading race, from whose supremacy the island receives the name of Scotia in the early mediaeval writers. Early in the sixth century a colony of the Scoti settled in the province of Argyle, and are known in history by the name of the Dalriads. They dwelt there, apparently in fraternity with the Picts, and exercising their arms in conjunction with them against the Saxons, then in possession of England, for two hundred years, without any extension of territory. J But in the ninth century the im- prisoned waters broke loose, and the result of a long and bloody contest was the subjugation of the Picts by the Scottish race, whose name from henceforward became that of Northern Britain. The actual conquest was confined to the Lowlands, the patri- mony of the Pictardach, but the Picts or Highlanders were compelled to acknowledge the general superiority of the Scottish kings. The Scots made no alteration in the laws or polity of the country — the tribes were still ruled by their hereditary maormors, and the transfer of authority was effected upon the whole so peaceably, and the name of the conquerors so rapidly supplanted that of the * Skene's Hist, of the Highlanders, torn. i. pp. 4 sqq. f Ibid., pp. 23 sqq. ; pp. 244 sqq. % The Irish legendary poem of the ' Death of the Sons of Usnach,' appears to belong to this period of Scoto-Irish colonization. It is singularly characteristic and beautiful. Sect. II. THE CELTS IN SCOTLAND. 9 conquered, that it has been supposed in later times that the whole Pictish race was exterminated ; and their disappearance has been the fertile theme of wonder for many centuries. The fact was, that the two nations, being akin in race, language, and manners, naturally coalesced.* It is to this period — to the exercise of " guid counsel and sove- reign manhood " in the " overthrowing of the Pyghtis," and to the gratitude of Kenneth MacAlpine, the hero of the conquest, that the tradition, above alluded to, of the fifteenth century, attributes the rise of the Lindsays in Scotland. Subsequently to the Pictish conquest, the Scottish kingdom flourished w T ith more or less prosperity till the year 1034, when it was nearly overthrown by the establishment of a Norwegian state in Caithness, under Thorfinn, Jarl or Earl of the Orkneys, a celebrated Viking, or Scandinavian pirate. Most of the great provinces or maormorships became subject to him, and the terri- tory of the Scottish king, the " gracious Duncan," was restricted to the narrow limits of Athol and Argyle. Rising in arms during the absence of Thorfinn on a predatory incursion into England, Duncan attempted to regain his dominions, but MacBeth, the Maormor of Moray, allying himself with the Norwegians, defeated and slew him, drove his children into England, and assumed the Crown, which he wore for eighteen years, ruling in the South, while his ally Thorfinn governed in the North of Scotland. At the expiration of that period, Edward the Confessor sent an army into Scotland, by whom MacBeth was defeated and slain, and the royal race were restored to their throne in the person of Malcolm Caenmore. His kingdom was however bounded by that of Thorfinn till the death of the latter six years afterwards, when the Scandinavian sovereignty sank down and expired in an hour, bequeathing to Scotland as the sole memory of its existence the Norwegian population which inhabit the North-Eastern Lowlands to this day.f Malcolm Caenmore then ruled without a com- petitor, the first Celtic monarch who obtained the complete sove- * Skene's Hist, of the Highlanders, pp. 1 5 sqq. ; pp. 46 sqq. — The identification of the Picts with the ancient Caledonians on the one hand, and the modern Gael, or Highlanders, on the other, is the most interesting among the many points of historical criticism illustrated in the able dissertation from which I have abridged these notices. f Ibid., pp. 113, sqq. 10 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. reignty of Scotland, and the last who governed it on Celtic principles. A new race, a new spirit had long been growing up within the realm, and the ancient polity was doomed to give way to a new and Teutonic civilization. Ages before this period the Britanni, or Celts of England, the remotest subjects of the Roman Caesars, had succumbed under a new enemy, the Saxons. The Romans had imparted to them Christianity and civilization, but ease and luxury had enervated their ancient valour, and they fell an easy prey to the manly sons of Odin. Some migrated to France, where the Breton race still preserve their ancient name and language ; others retreated to the mountains of Cornwall, Wales, and Cumberland, where Celtic states subsisted till late in the middle ages. The Saxons occupied the fertile fields of England, and pushed their conquests Northward till checked by the Picts and Scots. Wars immediately ensued, the result of which, through obscure transactions extend- ing through many ages, was the subjection of the Scoto-Pictish kingdom to the Saxon kings — not in property, but in political de- pendence ; a dependence which, sometimes relaxed through the impossibility of enforcing it, frequently thrown off, but invariably re-established, was generally acknowledged and acted upon till the days of Edward Plantagenet. It may be unpalatable to our national pride, but it is a fact established by incontrovertible his- torical evidence, that the Saxon " Basileus," or Emperor, held this superiority — not, as may be supposed, over provinces feudally held of England, but over the whole of the Scottish dominions of the Scottish kings — a superiority, it is to be remembered, purely political, and implying neither right to the soil nor interference with the national laws, liberties, and manners, — while the pro- tection thus accorded to the Scottish kings, in acknowledgment of this dependence, saved those laws and liberties in instances innume- rable from annihilation.* Such close intercourse, however, with the royal race of England, the frequent visits paid to the Saxon court, and their share in the deliberations of the Wittenagemot, where they ranked first in place and honour, after the Basileus, could have but one effect, that of Anglicizing, in other words, civilizing the Celtic sovereigns. * Sir Francis Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, torn. i. pp. 466 sqq., 598 sqq. ; torn. ii. pp. ccxxxiv sqq., cccxxx sqq. Sect. II. THE SAXONS IN SCOTLAND. 11 But there was a cause still more direct, and within their own territories, which hastened this result. The kingdom of Scotland, under Malcolm Caenmore and his predecessors, consisted of three distinct principalities united under one sovereign. The first and parent state was the Scoto-Pictish kingdom, their hereditary dominions, consisting of the whole of Scotland North of the two friths. The second was the province of Anglia, Saxonia, or, as it was more correctly and ultimately styled, Laodonia or Lothian, extending from the German Ocean Westwards — a district colonized at an early period by the Saxons, and which had been granted by the great Edgar to Kenneth of Scotland towards the close of the tenth century, on the oath of the latter to govern it by Saxon laws.* The third was the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde, or, as it was now beginning to be called, the principality of Cymryland or Cumbria, extending from the Western limits of Lothian to the Atlantic, and bounded to the North by Scotia Proper, or the Scoto-Pictish kingdom, to the South by Northumberland and Lancashire. It had been held by a succession of native princes under Saxon superiority, till the extinction of the race, when it was granted to Constantine, King of the Scots, who established the principle that it should always be held by the " tanist," or next heir to the Scottish throne, pre- serving its distinct laws, usages, and language. From this time forward it was held as a military benefice under the Saxon kings of England, f It is obvious therefore that, setting aside the kingdom of Strath- clyde, which did not, strictly speaking, belong to them, the Scot- tish kings ruled over one half of their dominions by Pictish law, over the other, the province of Lothian, by Saxon, — and it will not be wondered at, that the Saxon or more civilized and governable element gradually but surely attracted to it their heart and affections. It was in fact this acquisition of Lothian which de- Celticised the Scottish kings and Scottish Lowlands.^ The very kingdom of Strathclyde, fortified as it was by distinctive laws and language, was not proof against the neighbourhood ; Saxon spirit, Saxon usages, and Saxon laws gradually insinuated themselves within its pale, and at the very moment when the famous ' Inqui- sitio Principis,' already alluded to, reveals the existence of the * Ibid.j torn. i. p. 475. f Ibid* p. 440. \ Ibid., p. 478. 12 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. ClIAP. I. original privileges of the province, they vanish away.* The result was, that of the two great public officers, the High Justiciaries of Scotland Proper and of Lothian, the latter, after no long interval, extended his authority over the kingdom of Strathclyde, and the term Lothian itself came to denote the whole of Scotland South of the two friths. But fair as was the dawn of Saxon civilization, it was the herald merely of day, or rather of the fresh and early sunrise, prophetical of noon. The Saxon empire had long been declining. The character of the race had degenerated since the days of Egbert and Alfred, — reverence had abated, demoralization had set in, the kingdom was weakened by assaults from without and corruption from within, and at the battle of Hastings the sceptre passed, at one blow and to the amazement of Europe, into the hands of William the Norman. The peculiar characteristics of the Scandinavian tribes, which I noticed as forming the third of the great divisions of the Teutonic race, were their roving habits, their lofty and chivalric exaltation of spirit, their indomitable energy, and the singular plasticity with which they adapted themselves to every change of external cir- cumstances, at the same time that they overruled and fashioned them to their will. They were thus peculiarly fitted for the office assigned them by Providence, of the regenerators of mankind. The Goths, the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Lombards,! had, at the period I am speaking of, fulfilled this mission, — the North- men, or Normans, were yet in reserve, the last to appear on the stage, and the greatest of the line. Bringing their original name and a mythology rich, imaginative, and profound from their Asian birthplace, we find them settled as a sacred or hero race in the Scandinavian peninsula in the earliest ages of Christianity. The narrowness of the soil, joined to their restlessness of spirit, launched them upon the ocean, and they became the Sea-kings of the North, — they conquered Russia, propped up Byzantium, colonized the coasts of England and Scotland, peopled Iceland, and discovered America ; and lastly, collecting the flower of their * Sir Francis Palgrave's Itise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, torn. i. p. 447. f All these nations can be traced from the neighbonrhood of Scandinavia and tbe Baltic; all are closely akin in character and destiny ; all have been misunderstood till recently as destroyers and barbarians. Sect. II. THE NOKMANS IN SCOTLAND. chivalry, landed on the shores of Neustria, under Rollo the Dane, at the commencement of the tenth century. A feeble monarch and a distracted nation were unable to resist them, and Neustria became their own, under the new name of Normandy. They mingled in marriage with the native inhabitants — of a race more civilized and less warlike than themselves, and, by an invariable law of physiology, a still nobler progeny sprang from the inter- mixture, retaining in all respects the freedom and independence of their sires, but inheriting a softer and more humanized strain of character from their maternal, or Franco-Gallic ancestry. The Church then stepped forward — and the sons of the Vikingr be- came her most devoted children, her most liberal benefactors. A succession of able rulers consolidated the Norman polity and fostered the progress of civilization, till, at the commencement of the eleventh century, the national character presented, in its gravity, temperance, faith, reverence, and the high and enthusi- astic sense of chivalry and honour, the fairest type of humanity hitherto developed by any one nation in Christendom. The hour was then ripe for their translation to a broader field of action in the scheme of Providence.* * " Without laying aside that dauntless valour," says Mr. Macaulay, " which had been the terror of every land from the Elbe to the Pyrenees, the Normans rapidly acquired all, and more than all, the knowledge and refinement which they found in the country where they settled. Their courage secured their territory against foreign invasion. They established internal order, such as had long been unknown in the Frank empire. They embraced Christianity, and with Chris- tianity they learned a great part of what the clergy had to teach. They aban- doned their native speech, and adopted the French tongue, in which the Latin was the predominant element. They speedily raised their new language to a dignity and importance which it had never before possessed. They found it a barbarous jargon ; they fixed it in writing ; and they employed it in legislation, in poetry, and in romance. They renounced that brutal intemperance to which all the other branches of the great German family were too much inclined. The polite luxury of the Norman presented a striking contrast to the coarse voracity and drunkenness of his Saxon and Danish neighbours. He loved to display his magnificence, not in huge piles of food and hogsheads of strong drink, but in large and stately edifices, rich armour, gallant horses, choice falcons, well-ordered tournaments, banquets delicate rather than abundant, and wines remarkable rather for their exquisite flavour than for their intoxicating power. That chivalrous spirit which has exercised so powerful an influence on the politics, morals, and manners of all the European nations, was found in the highest exaltation among the Norman nobles. Those nobles were distinguished by their graceful bearing and insinuating address. They were distinguished also by their skill in negotiation, and by a natural eloquence which they assiduously cultivated. It was the boast of one of their historians that the Norman gentlemen were orators from the cradle. But their chief fame was 14 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. I need not expatiate on the blessings which have accrued to England through the Conquest — the regeneration of the Saxon race through amalgamation with the Norman, and the birth from that union of a still higher offspring, the Saxo- Norman English- man, inheriting the principle of Independence from the one parent, and that of Order or Reverence from the other, with all they imply, of antagonism and progression, as represented in the Con- stitution of Great Britain. The effects of the revolution as regarded Scotland were imme- diate, but less direct. Its first result was an attempt on the part of Malcolm Caen more to throw off the submission he owed to the English Crown, — it was unavailing, and he was compelled to submit and do homage to William, like his ancestors.* The second was the flight to Malcolm's court of Edgar Atheling and his sister Margaret, the last descendants of the Saxon kings, — Margaret became his wife, and her brother Edgar dying without issue, the heirship and representation of the blood of Alfred and Cerdic centered in her children, the Celtic kings of Scotland, who thus, by a singular vicissitude, became the cherished darlings of the Anglo-Saxon population both North and South of the Tweed. This marriage and the claims derived from it extin- guished the last vestige of Celtic nationality in the breast of the Scottish kings ; the children of Malcolm and Margaret inherited with Saxon names Saxon feelings, and Edgar, Malcolm's suc- cessor, assumed the title of Basileus, as representative of the royal line of Britain,! and superseded the ancient Pictish maor- morships by the feudal title of " Comes," or Earl, by which the hereditary chieftains of Angus, Fife, Athol, Marr, and their brethren, are thereafter known in Scottish history. While lastly, confining our view to the reigns of Malcolm, Edgar, and Alex- derived from their military exploits. Every country, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Dead Sea, witnessed the prodigies of their discipline and valour. One Norman knight, at the head of a handful of warriors, scattered the Celts of Connaught. Another founded the monarchy of the Two Sicilies, and saw the Emperors both of the East and of the West fly before his arms. A third, the Ulysses of the first crusade, was invested by his fellow-soldiers with the sovereignty of Antioch ; and a fourth, the Tancred whose name lives in the great poem of Tasso, was celebrated through Christendom as the bravest and most generous of the champions of the Holy Sepulchre." — Hist, of England, torn. i. p. 11. * Palgrave, torn. ii. p. cccxxxi. t Ibid., torn. i. pp. GOT sqq. Sect. II. KING DAVID I. 15 ander I., must be enumerated the settlement in Scotland by those monarchs, in the spirit of these new feelings as well as from motives of humanity, of numerous Saxon refugees, the noblest of the nation, who flocked from England after the Conquest and during the whole reign of the Conqueror, and of whom Cospatrick, Earl of Northumberland, the great-grandson of King Ethelred, and the ancestor of the Dunbars, Earls of March, was the most illustrious.* And it is to this period that another of the apo- cryphal traditions I noticed at the commencement of this narrative refers the settlement of the Lindsays, under the hypothesis of their being of Saxon origin, — deriving them from the " Ealdor- men " or Earls of Lindeseye in Mercia — an illustrious descent, if it could be established, as the race in question was of the royal line of the Saxons, and descended in direct succession from Winta, the youngest son of Odin.f But the completion of the groundwork of Scottish civilization, by the introduction of the Norman element, the feudal law, and the monastic system, was reserved for David L, youngest son of Malcolm and Margaret, and successor of Alexander L, — the sainted son of a sainted mother, and allowed even by Buchanan to present the perfect model of a wise and virtuous sovereign. Educated in England among the most accomplished and chival- rous of the Normans, he had imbibed their character and prin- ciples ; and even before his accession to the throne, during his administration of Strathclyde or Cumbria, he conceived the scheme of humanizing his country by introducing a new race of proprietors from Normandy and England — colonists, not con- querors — men who would diffuse the superior civilization of the South, foster the religious establishments he proposed to scatter over the land, and control the barbarism of the natives, — and the wisdom and discrimination with which he selected these colonists are evinced by the superior happiness and prosperity enjoyed by Scotland during the rule of his successors down to the close of the thirteenth century. The whole history, in fact, of Scotland subsequently to the reign of Alexander I. is that of the working out of the scheme first organized and brought into systematic action by St. David ; and the mingling of races thus associated, * Chalmers' Caledonia, torn. i. p. 499. f Florent. Wigornensis, p. 688 ; Palgrave, torn. i. p. 592. 16 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. the Celt, the Saxon, and the Norman, each strongly opposed in character, neither absolutely subjected to the others, and all of them contributing their quota or element to the formation of that national character which has been the result of their fusion, is the cause in great measure of those strong lights and deep shadows, of that strange antagonism of feelings and principles, sometimes in advance, sometimes in the rear of the times, which renders the history of Scotland so picturesque and peculiar.* It must not however be supposed that the Celtic population viewed this utter apostacy from their ancient traditions with indifference. Rebellions constantly broke out, the question usually turning on the conflicting principles of Celtic and feudal succession — the Celtic law awarding it to the brother, the feudal to the son. It was on this Celtic principle that, on the death of Malcolm Caenmore, Donaldbane, his brother, was set up by the Scottish maormors as their king, in opposition to his son Edgar, and it was solely through the arms of William the Norman that this insurrection was quelled. Attempts of a similar nature repeatedly followed during the succeeding century. f But day by day the feudal law became more and more predominant, and the Celtic star paled on the horizon, while the remembrance of what the Celtic law actually was, is essential to the right comprehension of * " David I.," says Mr. Burton, " had passed his youth iu England ; had ' rubbed off the rust of Scottish barbarity,' as William of Malmesbury complacently says ; and had married an Englishwoman. His education and tastes attached him to the gallant race, who, wherever they went, were first in arms and arts, and mingled the sternest powers of man with his finest social enjoyments. He courted the presence of the lordly Normans. They had nearly exhausted England ; and the new territory opened to them, if less rich and fertile, was still worth commanding. It was chiefly in the fertile plains of the South, and in the neighbourhood of the English border, that they were most thickly congregated ; but some of them found their way far North, to the wild districts beyond the Grampians, where the great- ness of the estate was some compensation for its barrenness. But wherever their lot was cast — among the Saxons of Midlothian, the Celts of Inverness, or their brother Norsemen of Caithness — these heroes, who united the courage and fierce- ness of the old Sea-king to the polished suavity of the Frank, became the lords of the land, and the old inhabitants of the soil became their subordinates." Life of Simon Lord Lovat, p. 3. — The history of the Norman race, as regenerators of society, has yet to be written. They infused new life into every country where they settled — into England, Scotland, Sicily, and Russia. Their history would fall into three periods or divisions, that of their Scandinavian infancy, that of colonization and conquest, and lastly the analysis of their influence on modern society. t Skene's Highlanders, torn. i. pp. 108, 115, 125 sqq., 130 sqq. Sect. III. THE FOUR RACES OF SCOTLAND. 17 numberless passages, otherwise strange and incomprehensible, in our national history. The seven maormorships, or earldoms, are indeed recognisable, in the fruitless assertion of their privileges as a court of election, as late as the end of the thirteenth century,* — one of them still exists, in uninterrupted lineal (though female) succession, at the present day, in the noble family of Erskine ; and of the others, which similarly devolved on female heirs, but have become extinct in the direct line, the heirs-male still survive among the chieftains of the Highland clans of Scotland.t Four races therefore, to conclude this rapid sketch, were thus settled and living in Scotland at the period to which I have now returned — the twelfth century, as witnessed by the charters of the Scottish kings and the testimony of history, — to wit, the Franci, or Normans, the Angli, or Saxons, the Scoti, or Scottish race, and the Picts — of whom the Northern division or Highlanders seem to have been included under the name of Scoti, while the Southern, and more especially the remnant of the ancient Britons of Strathclyde, receive the name of Wallenses, or Galweienses — as inhabitants of the peninsula of Galloway 4 These races rank in the charters in the order in which I have enumerated them, — each retained in great measure the language, laws, customs, and habits of thought, peculiar to itself ; and all more or less have been influential on posterity, who thus inherit Celtic clanship, Saxon independence, and Norman chivalry, with a substratum possibly of superstition derived from the aboriginal Hamite popu- lation, as the basis of the national character of Scotland. — Walter de Lindsay, the Anglo-Norman colonist, on whose name and history I have so long paused, must answer to us in this survey as the type of his race, — and the fortunes of his successive repre- sentatives will be the subject of the succeeding pages of these memoirs. * Palgrave's Documents relating to the Affairs and History of Scotland, p. 14; Skene's Hiyhlanders, torn. i. p. 243. f Proved by Mr. Skene in his learned and luminous dissertation on the High- landers of Scotland, passim. % The name of Galloway was then applied to the whole peninsula lying between the Solway, the Clyde, and the Irish Sea. VOL. I. C 18 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. SECTION III. Walter de Lindsay, thus settled in Scotland under the banner of the sainted David, figures repeatedly in his charters while Prince of Cumberland, but disappears after the death of Alex- ander I., his brother.* His name is replaced, after a brief interval, by that of William de Lindsay, his younger brother, and his successor in possessions and favour as a magnate of Scotland and a witness to the royal charters,! — the sole documents, you must remember, which we have to depend upon, seeing that no con- temporary histories have been preserved of those times in Scot- land, and mere pedigrees are, by themselves, utterly unsatisfac- tory. William is the first of the Scottish Lindsays of whose local * " Walterus de Lindeseie " held a knight's fee in Norfolk, of the honour of St. Edmund, in the time of Henry II., who reigned from 1100 to 1135. Liber Niger Scaccarii, torn. i. p. 282. He was in all probability settled there by Robert, son of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, a monk of St. Ebrulf in Normandy, on his appointment to the abbacy of St. Edmundsbury, which he held from 1100 to 1102. At the time moreover of the great inquest into the lands of the Knights Templars in 1185, Alured or Alfred, the Deacon, answers for a toft of land in Fordington, co. Lincoln, a district held originally under Hugh Lupus, " ex dono Walteri de Lindesei," Dugd. Monast., torn. vi. p. 829. a I conceive both these Walters to be identical with Walter de Lindsay, the first settler in Scotland. The early Lind- says were all closely connected with the Earls Palatine of Chester, a connection originating, or at least already existing, in the time of Hugh Lupus (as shewn in the case of Baldric de Lindsay), and transmitted through his son Earl Richard, and his nephew Ranulph de Meschines, third Earl of Chester, in the central and Northern districts of England, and through the De Meschines, Lords of Copeland, in Cumberland. Through this latter family they were also allied with the Cos- patricks Earls of Dunbar, and the Lords of Allerdale, a branch of that family, as will be presently shewn. I should observe that the fact of vassalage and feudal dependence by no means implies inferiority of rank or birth, such being merely a modern conception. In the present instance, the vassalage was under the Earls Palatine of Chester, who were petty princes, holding of the Crown de gladio, as the Dukes of Normandy held of France, and whose vassals were reckoned within their palatinate in the same rank as the vassals of the Crown in the dis- tricts which were not palatine. The Scottish branch of the Lindsays held unin- terruptedly of the Crown as magnates Scotice from the moment of their settlement in Scotland, although they also in many instances held estates under superiors, their associates and peers otherwise in the baronage of the kingdom. t Excepting ecclesiastics, none but tenants in capite, barons, or magnates, as they are indifferently styled, are witnesses to the charters of the Scottish kings. n " Gilibertus de Lindeseia" appears in the same inquest as holding a borate of land in Widine, near Fordington. Sect. III. WALTER AND WILLIAM OF ERCILDUN. 19 habitation we Lave precise legal evidence.* He resided in Roxburghshire, on the banks of the Leader, at Ercildun,t illus- trious in song as the home in later times of Thomas the Rhymer, and near the Abbey of Dryburgh, to which he, as well as his son Walter, was a liberal benefactor,!; — while in a charter of the latter baron to that of Kelso we find the name of his son also, William, associated as consenting to the donation, which William thereafter renews and confirms, on his own authority. § The seals of these two latter barons, Walter and William, preserved in the Chapter-House of Durham Cathedral, exhibit a lively type of the character of the young Norman noble. They are repre- sented on horseback, riding gently along, with falcon on wrist, unhelmeted, and with their shields hung carelessly behind them, — the only variation being that the father, Walter, rides without bridle or stirrup, and the bird rests placidly on his hand, while the latter, William, is in the act of slipping it on its prey. They might be thought to prefigure the character more recently attri- buted in tradition and song to the " Lindsays light and gay," who were not less alive to the enjoyments of peace than the more exciting raptures of war. Both Walter and William, I should add, are represented without beards, shewing that they at least * That Walter, the original settler, was an inhabitant of the principality of Cumbria, may indeed be inferred as probable from his witnessing the Inquisitio of 1116. f Now Earlstoun. He held it under Cospatrick Earl of Dunbar. % He grants two bovates of land in Ercildun, " cum tofto et crofto et pastura," with consent of " Walter, my son and heir," Chart. Dryburgh, p. 83, — and, in another charter, the " Sartum Alwini, ex ilia parte aque versus Cadesley," &c, — ■ which latter donation is repeated by Walter almost in the same words. Ibid., p. 79. Cadeslea is the scene of the beautiful ballad of ' Katharine Janfarie.' — William de Lindsay also grants to Dryburgh the " terram que fuit Magistri Thome de Hare- gune in villa, de Berwic, proxime cimiterio Sancte Trinitatis in australi parte herentem," — but I am doubtful whether this be not his grandson William, who flourished under William the Lion. Ibid., p. 108. § The original charter by " Gauterius de Lyndesey " confers the church of " Ercheldune," with a carucate of land, for ever, for the souls of King David and his eldest son, Earl Henry, and for that of Walter de Lindsay, his uncle,— for the souls of himself and his wife, and those of all his predecessors and successors. " Et hospitale in eadem villa quietum erit ab omni redditu decimarum." — The charter of William de Lindsay repeats the grant even more fully, adding, " Promisi autem quod pro posse meo hanc elemosinam ad opus et utilitatem ecclesie Dunel- mensis manutenebo." Both charters are now preserved in the Treasury of Durham Cathedral, and are printed in Mr. Raine's Hist, of N. Durham, App. p. 39. C 2 20 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. still adhered in that respect to the fashion of the Anglo-Norman race South of the Tweed.* Contemporary with the original Walter de Lindsay, and his successor William, lived another De Lindsay, probably the brother of the former, by name Randolphus or Ranulphus, who obtained large estates in Cumberland, South of the Sol way, in marriage with Ethelreda of Allerdale, granddaughter of the illustrious Saxon refugee, Cospatrick, and sister of Guuilda, wife of Uchtred, the Pictish Prince of Galloway.t Randolph witnesses charters of King David, of Henry Prince of Scotland, and of his uncle by marriage, Earl Cospatrick the second,^ and is otherwise known by his gifts to the Priory of St. Bees in Cumberland, a cell of St. Mary's, York,§ and to the Priory of Carlisle, whose represen- * " The Lord Lion King," (Sir David Lindsay,) observes Mr. Raine, " shall explain the seal and detail the habits of his ancestor : — " And sa he levit plesandlie, Some time with hawking and hunting, Some time with wanton horse rinning, And some time, like ane man of weir, Full galliardly wald rin ane speir : He wan the pryse above them all." — Squire Meldrum. The name is spelt " De Lindeseie" in the circumscription of both seals. The seal of William de Lindsay is engraved in the plate of seals pre- fixed to this chapter. t The manors of Blenerhasset and Ukmanby came to Randolph through this marriage. Chronicon Cumbria, ap. Dugd. Monast., torn. iii. p. 585. X Charter by Earl Cospatrick, before 16 August, 1139, when the Earl died. Raine's N. Durham, App. p. 25. — Charter by David I. to St. Bees. Begist. S. BegcB, Harl. MSS. 434, fol. 17.— Charter by Prince Henry to the Abbey of Holm- cultram. Dugd. Monast., torn. v. p. 594. § He gave them the church or chapel of Lowes water and two bovates of land early in the twelfth century. I do not know the precise date, but it was fifty years before the charter of Confirmation granted them by Alicia Countess of Albe- marle, as heir of her brother William, the son of William, the son of Duncan, eldest son of Malcolm Caenmore — commonly called the Boy of Egremont,— and in which charter it is stated, that the monks had possessed the " capellam, cum duabus bovatis terre eidem capelle pertinentibus," by the gift of Randolph de Lindsay, " jam quinquaginta annis transactis." Begist. fol. 12. — The Boy of Egremont was alive in 1160, and a partaker in the rebellion of the Scoto-Pictish Celts of Scotland, of which the object apparently was to set him on the throne as the rightful heir. I do not know however the period of his death, and perhaps it would be safest to deduct the fifty years from the period of the death of Alicia's husband, William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle, which, being in 1179, would refer the gift of Randolph to c. 1129. — He is a witness to the gift of the church of Childewic by Alice's mother Cecilia de Rumeli to the priory of Emmesey before 21 Jan. 1139, a and to a The ' Approbatio,' licensing the ac- I bishop of York, who died on that day. ceptance of the gift, is by Thurstan Arch- | Dugd. Monast., torn. vi. p. 203. Sect. III. WILLIAM OF CRAWFORD. 21 tatives, the Dean and Chapter, still hold the manor of Lorton in virtue of his donation.* I am uncertain whether or not he left issue,f but a William de Lindsay — possibly the representative of the Scottish Lindsays — appears as a claimant of Loweswater and other lands which had belonged to Randolph, in the reign of Richard Coeur-de-Lion ; and persons of the name of Lindsay inherited land in the neigh- bourhood as late as the reign of Edward I.{ But I must advance with a more rapid step. William de Lind- say of Ercildun, and, as he is also styled, of Luffness, the grandson of William, figures as magnate of Scotland and witness to the charters of Malcolm the Maiden and William the Lion, from 1161 to 1200 ; between which extreme points of his career he appears in 1174, as one of the " Ostages fifteen, The greatest that of our land were seen," § given in redemption of King William after his capture by Henry II.,— and, between 1189 and 1199, as High Justiciary of Lothian, || an office which, as I have already partly intimated, con- ferred paramount authority in all civil and criminal jurisdiction to the South of the two firths, as the corresponding one of Justiciary of Scotland Proper did to the North of that boundary. These justiciarships were the highest offices under the Crown, and were always held by barons whose power enabled them to enforce the the charter of William FitzDuncan, evidently executed at the same moment, which has been engraved from the original in Whitaker's Hist, of Craven, p. 162. * A charter of Confirmation by Henry II. enumerates " ex dono Randulfi de Lindeseia totam terram quam habuit prsedictus Randulfus in Artureth, et totam terram suam de Loretiina, cum molendino et cum omnibus p. tinentiis ejusdem terrae." Dugd. Monast., torn. vi. p. 144. — Besides, according to Nicholson and Burn, " the miller, his wife and children." According to these writers, Lorton " is the most beautiful and pleasant, as well as most fertile vale in the whole country." Hist. Cumberland and Westm., torn. ii. p. 62. f His wife Ethelreda, Hethreda, Hectreda, or Uctreda, as her name is variously written, survived him, and married, as her second husbaad, William de Esseville. Regist. S. Bega;, fol. 39. X Nicholson and Burn, torn. ii. p. 60. § Wyntown's Cronykil, torn. i. p. 326, — and Rymer's Fcedera, torn. i. p. 39. || Charters in the Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, torn. i. p. 67 ; Chart. Kelso, p. 304 ; Chart. Melrose, pp. 15, 116 ; Thomson's Acts of Parliament, torn. i. Introd. p. 81. 22 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. regal authority and the execution of the laws, — while the office of Chancellor, which ranked immediately next to them in dignity, was almost invariably bestowed on churchmen. William is the first of the Lindsays whom we find associated with the territory of Crawford in Clydesdale, so inseparably con- nected with their later history.* This is proved by his donation * " The great mountain territory of Crawford," or Craw ford- Lindsay, as it was commonly called, " forms," says Chalmers, " the Southern extremity of Lanark- shire, and is the highest district in the South of Scotland, the waters running from it in opposite directions South and North," into the Clyde and Solway Frith. a The Lindsays are usually said to have acquired it by the marriage of Sir David Lindsay, son of William, with the daughter of Sir John Crawford, about 1230; but I have found no proof of this marriage, and William certainly possessed it long before. They held it till the close of the fifteenth century — according to Chalmers till the rebellion against James III. in 1488, when David Duke of Montrose was deprived of it by the successful faction, who gave it to Archibald Bell-the-cat, Earl of Angus. Others say the Duke exchanged it with Earl Archi- bald for lands in Forfarshire. A few years subsequently the name was altered by charter to Crawford-Douglas, " but," says Chalmers, " established usage prevailed over chartered authority, and the old name of Crawford-Lindsay was continued." Caledonia, torn. iii. p. 732. — It was sometimes called the South Highlands. One of the mountains is named in Blaeu's curious Atlas, " Lindsay es Croce." The ruins of the Castle of Crawford or Tower Lindsay are still to be seen ; " the latter," says Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account, " now lies in the form of a large heap of earth, all over green." Wallace's capture of Crawford Castle, while in occupation of the English, is related by Mr. Carrick in his Life of that hero, torn. i. p. 193, and the ballad of the ' Gude Wallace 5 seems to be founded upon it. In the time of James V. veins of gold and silver were discovered in Crawford, which proved so productive that from the metal gathered there a new gold coin was issued, the most beautiful of the Scottish series, and called the bonnet-piece, the King being represented on it with that national head-dress. On one occasion, it is said, the foreign ambassadors, being out hunting with King James, dined with him at the old Castle of Crawford. " The King made some apology for the dinner, which was composed of the game they had killed during the hunting and ha wking of the day, but he assured his guests that the dessert would make them some amends, as he had given directions that it should consist of the finest fruits which the country afforded. The foreigners looked at each other with surprise, on hearing the King talk of fruits being produced amidst the bleak moors and barren mountains around them. But the dessert made its appearance in the shape of a number of covered saucers, one of which was placed before each guest, and being examined was found full of gold bonnet-pieces, which they were desired to accept as the fruit produced by the mountains of Crawford-muir." Tales of a Grandfather. The a The view from a lofty eminence near the Lead-hills is bounded hy the Solway Frith, the mountains of Skiddaw and Helvellyn, the Isle of Man, Ailsa Craig, the Isle of Arran, and the Pentland hills. Sect. III. SIR DAVID OF CRAWFORD. 23 of a portion of the district to the Abbey of Newbattle.* He also granted the lands of Fauhope to the monks of Melrose,t and others near Binnyn to the Priory of St. Andrews.! But Newbattle became the favourite abbey of the Lindsays subsequently to William's time, and the chain of charters by which the gift of William was successively confirmed and added to by his descend- ants affords complete and connected evidence of their descent and pedigree for several generations. By William's wife, Marjory, daughter of Henry Prince of Scotland, and sister of King William the Lion and David Earl of Huntingdon,§ he left a son and heir, Sir David, || Lord of The gold-mines have long been abandoned, and lead is the only metal now sought for in the neighbourhood of " Auld Crawford-Lindesay's towers." a * It grants " quamdam partem terre mee de Crauford, illam scilicet que jacet ad Suth-West de Brothyralewyn, et ad aquilonem de Deiher," according to boun- daries which are described at length. Earl David of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, is a witness to it, and to the Confirmation which follows. Chart. Newbattle, MS. f The charter confers on the monks the lands of " Fauope, sicut aqua Ledre vadit, et sicut sepis includit," for the souls of his father and mother, &c. Chart. Melrose, torn. i. p. 11. — This charter is witnessed by " Drogone (misprinted Aro- sina) de Lindeseia," — who also witnesses a charter of Alice de Rumeli in the Register of St. Bees, fol. 8. — " Jurdanus de Lindeseia " witnesses a confirmation by Thomas de Muschans, or Muschamp, who flourished in 1174. Raine's N. Durham, App. p. 137. — I have no doubt that all these Lindsays were closely related. % He grants " Deo et ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Binnyn," a half carucate of land which " antecessor meus Durandus " (his predecessor, that is to say, in the pro- perty) had given them, " cum prato et tofto in curia Durandi," &c. This was between 1178 and 1188. Chart. Priori/ of St. Andrews, p. 180. — Durandus was probably the " Durandus Vicecomes" who flourished under David L, as proved by other documents in the same Chartulary, pp. 181, 191. § Robert de Pinkeney claimed the Scottish throne in 1291 as descendant and representative of Marjory, mother of his grandmother Alice de Lindsay, the heiress of this original House of Crawford. See his * Peticio,' Rymer's Fozd., torn. ii. p. 576. The mother of Alice having been Aleonora de Limesay, as shewn hereafter, Marjory must have been the wife, not of David, Alice's father, but of William, her grandfather, the William spoken of in the text — one generation more remote. || It is only at the beginning of the thirteenth century that the title " Dominus," betokening knighthood, begins to be prefixed to the Christian names of the Scottish barons, and for many generations it was almost as often withheld as the con- a The lead-mines of Crawford were I a notice in the Chamberlain Bolls, torn. i. wrought as early as 1264, as appeals by | p. 48. 24 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. Crawford, and two younger sons, Sir Walter and William, of whom Sir Walter became the ancestor of the House of Lamberton, and William of the Lindsays of LufFness, who ultimately succeeded to the male representation of the Lindsays.* Sir David, the eldest son, succeeded his father in 1200, about a year before his marriage with his English kinswoman, Aleonora de Limesay, daughter of Gerard and sister of Sir John de Limesay, and who became the coheiress ultimately (with her sister Basilia) of the barons of Wolverley.t Like most of his family, he was munificent to the Church, — he confirmed his father's donation of lands in Crawford to the Abbey of Newbattle, J gave the lands of trary. Hence William de Lindsay, father of David, and his ancestors, may have been, and probably were, knights, but I have not styled them so, having no proof of the fact. Whenever, subsequently to this, the title " Sir " is prefixed, it is on the authority of some charter or document in which the baron is styled " Dominus." * Simon de Lindsay, who flourished temp. William the Lion and Alexander II., was possessed of part of the territory of Molle, in Roxburghshire, by gift of his mother, Isabel de Molle, daughter of Eschyna de Molle, the original heiress, daughter again of Thomas de Lundoniis, Hostiarius or " Durward " of Scotland. Isabel may have been a second wife of William de Lindsay. Her mother Eschyna married, first, Robert de Croc, by whom she had Isabel, and secondly, Walter FitzAlan, the High Steward, ancestor of the royal family of Stuart. Simon granted the land of" Hungerigge" in Molle, " et quoddam pratum sub Ederadesete," to his daughter Helen de Lindsay, whom failing, to her sister, Domina Eschyna de Lindsay. Hungerig afterwards belonged to the Lindsays of Wauchopdale, among whom the name Simon reappears at the close of the century. David de Lindsay and Simon de Lindsay are witnesses, in close connection, as father and son or brothers, to a confirmation in the Chartulary of Newbattle, and either the same or another Simon de Lindsay appears as Canon of Dunkeld, and chaplain to Hugo Bishop of that see, before 1211. Chart. P. St. Andrews, p. 291 ; Chart. Hohjrood, p. 53. t Dugdale's Baronage, torn. i. p. 769. — I may observe here that both David and Simon de Lindsay, the subject of the preceding note, bore an eagle displayed on their seals, the same arms as the De Limesays, but previously to the Limesay in- heritance devolving upon the former. For Simon's seal, vide Chart. Melrose, p. 131. David's is appended to the charter of the lands of Sleparsfield to the Abbey of Holy rood, presently to be mentioned. The device in Simon's shield is not within a shield, but it was not always the custom at first to place it so. For ex- ample, the fleur-de-lys of the Montgomeries appears as a simple device or emblem without a shield on the earliest seals of that family. (See Mr. Laing's Scottish Seals, art. Montgomery.) And the fact that other members of the family bore the eagle likewise proves that it was not in Simon's case a mere personal device, peculiar to the individual, but a cognisance common to him and them. Other Lindsays not descended from the marriage likewise bore the eagle, as shewn infra, p. 64, note f . X Chart. Newbattle, MS. Sect. III. SIR DAVID OF CRAWFORD. 25 Sleparsfield to the Abbey of Holyrood,* and the moiety of the church of Long Ichinton to the Priory of Hertford, t was High Justiciary of Scotland, J and is a frequent witness to the charters of his uncle David Earl of Huntingdon, § the Sir Kenneth of Sir Walter Scott's chivalric romance, ' The Talis- man,' and from whom he would appear to have derived his Christian name, for centuries afterwards the favourite one among the Lindsays. He died in 1214, leaving a son, David, a minor, who had been detained as one of the hostages for King William in England under Earl David's care for five years pre- viously, || and who still remained there under ward of King John till the death of his maternal uncle, Sir John de Limesay, in * These lands of Sleparsfield, in the parish of Linton-Roderick or West Linton, co. Peebles, had been previously given to them by Richard Cumyn, the first of that name who settled in Scotland, " cum assensu et consilio " of his (Cumyn's) wife, Hestilda, — and by Willian Cumyn, son of Richard, — which latter confirma- tion must have been before 1210, when William became Earl of Buchan. As he is described simply as William Cumyn in David's charter, it was probably granted previously to that year. For David's charter see the Chart. Hohjrood, p. 211. — Hestilda was probably the original possessor of West Linton. She was daughter and heiress of Gothrik, or Uchtred, son and heir of Donaldbane King of Scots, son of Duncan King of Scots, — and appears as the wife, successively, of Richard Cumyn, c. 1152-1159, and of Malcolm Earl of Athol, c. 1178-1186. William Cumyn, Earl of Buchan in right of his second wife, was son and heir of Richard and Hestilda, and Richard Cumyn (father of John Lord of Badenoch, the Red Cumyn) was son and heir of William. — " How David of Lyndesay," ob- serves Mr. Joseph Robertson, to whom I owe these particulars, " came to succeed the Cumyns in the lordship of this territory, I am wholly unable to explain. The Lindsay possessions in Tweeddale were very considerable at a period not long afterwards."— William de Lindsay, I may add, David's father, is witness to a charter by Richard Cumyn and his wife Hextildis to Hexham, in Northumberland. Dugd. Monast., torn. vi. p. 184. — I may here tender my acknowledgments to Joseph Robertson, Esq., of Glasgow, for many very valuable notices connected with the early Lindsay possessions in Scotland. f This was subsequently confirmed by Gerard de Lindsay. " The benefit the monks derived thereby was two parts of the tythe corn throughout all the demesne lands of the town. But the other moitie was granted by the said David to William de Odingsels," son of Basilia de Limesay, sister of his mother Aleonora. Dugdale's Warwickshire, p. 345, edit. ult. % Between 1203 and 1208, Chart. Kelso, p. 318; 6 Nov. 1208, Chart. Melrose, p. 93 ; Acts Pari, torn. i. p. 68* ; and c. 1211, Chart. Kelso, p. 313. § Chart. St. Andrews, pp. 237, 239 ; Chart. Lindores, p. 38, &c. He and other Lindsays are also frequent witnesses to the charters of the High Stewards of Scotland. || Mandate, 1213. Lit. Claus., p. 137— The hostages had been given in 1209> on the conclusion of a treaty between King William and King John.— A precept is issued to the sheriffs of Oxford, Suffolk, and Norfolk, about the " terra heredum David de Lindes'," 1214. Lit. Claus., p. 208. 26 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. 1222, when King Alexander of Scotland paid three hundred pounds for the guardianship, ward, and marriage of Sir John's heirs,* to wit, of the young David de Lindsay, his brothers Gerard, William, and Waiter, and his sister Alice — the English property which devolved on the eldest son, David, extending over the counties of Essex, Hertford, Oxford, Warwick, Leicester, Norfolk, and Suffolk. He also, as " Dominus David de Lindsay," figures as High Justiciary of Lothian in 1238. t And the in- fluence which it may be supposed the pious character of Earl David exerted over him was evinced by successive grants to New- battle of further districts in the territory of Crawford, — of the vale of the Alwyn in 1232, of the valleys of Glengonar and Glen- capel in 1239, and furthermore, of a salt-work in the Carse of Callander, in Stirlingshire, given to his grandfather William de Lindsay by King William — the first and third of these donations being respectively for the souls of his brothers William — probably identical with a " W. de Lindissi," who was Chancellor of Scot- land in 1231$ — and Walter, of whom he had been successively bereaved,§ — and lastly, by his foundation, in association with his mother, of the monastery of Elcho, in Strathern, for Cistercian nuns, on a piece of ground which King Alexander had given her for that purpose. |] He died in 1241, H and was succeeded by his brother Sir Gerard, who confirmed the preceding grants to New- battle, and added to them the privileges of the chase and free forest, hitherto carefully reserved, with the usual immunities, * See the Lit. Claus., pp. 384, 386, 387, 494 ; the Excerpta a Eotulis Finium, 6 Feb. 1222 ; and the Lit. Claus., p. 628, 31 Oct. 1223. f Chart, de Levenax, p. 31. % If this identification be correct, William must have been young, to fill such an office : but it seems warranted by the facts that W. de Lindsay appears and dis- appears as Chancellor in the same year, 1231, and that in 1232 David de Lindsay mortifies lands for the soul of his brother William, probably just dead. § Chart. Newbattle, MS. — The Confirmation by Alexander II. of the grant of Brotheralwyn is dated the eighteenth year of his reign, and that of the grant of Glengonar the twenty-fifth. || Chart. Dunfermline. — David's charter was granted before 1238, " Dominus G.," i. e. Galfridus, Prior of Dunfermline, elected as abbot in that year, being one of the witnesses. " Domina Margeria de Lyndeseya " and " K. de Crawford," David's chaplain, are also witnesses. Marjory may have been his grandmother, or his wife, for he was married, though he had no children, — this appears from his charter of Glengonar, in or before the year 1239, Chart. Newbattle. ^ In which year, on the 16th of May, Henry III. received his successor's homage. Excerpta ex Jiotulis Finium, p. 342. Sect. III. ALICE DE LINDSAY. 27 extending over all the lands conferred by his predecessors.* Sir Gerard died in 1249, j and the whole of his broad territories, both in Scotland and England, devolved on his sister, Alice de Lindsay, * Chart. Newbattle.— The charter of Confirmation was granted between the 16th May, 1241, when Gerard did homage to King Henry as his brother's heir, and 1242, when Sir Walter Olifard, Justiciary of Lothian, one of the witnesses, died. The charter of free forest has no date, but was probably granted shortly before his death, as the Confirmation by Alexander II. is granted " ad instantiam Gerardi de Lynddessay, qui nobis super hoc in vita sua supplicavit." a — " The extensive pro- perty, in this territory, of the monks of Newbattle, comprehended," says Mr. Chalmers, " the western side of the valley of the Daer, the whole valleys of the Powtrail and Elwan, the last whereof was anciently called Alwyn, the valley of Glengonar and the smaller valley of Glencapel, eastward to the Hurleburn. This ample district was constituted a free forest with the usual privileges by a charter of Alexander II. to the said monks. It was afterwards" (by Sir David Lindsay of Crawford) " created a barony, which was called the barony of Friemuir, or Craw- ford-muir, and the monks had an ample jurisdiction over the whole. This extensive property contained the valuable range of lead-mines, which were called the Lead- hills, in the upper part of Glengonar ; and also the places where the gold-mines were formerly wrought, at the gold scours, in the valley of the Elwan, and the gold-mines in the lower part of Glengonar." The Carmichaels of Meadowflat were afterwards the hereditary baillies of the barony of Crawford-muir, under the monks of Newbattle. Chalmers' Caledonia, torn. ii. p. 733. f In which year his sister and heiress paid her homage, by her husband. Rot. Orig. in Curia Scacc. Abbrev., torn. i. p. 11. — Either Gerard or his grandfather had erected the village of Crawford into a burgh, (as alluded to in the gloss given in the preceding note,) and he specially reserves the rights of " his burgesses of Craw- ford " in the charter of free-forest, above mentioned, to Newbattle. " The village of Crawford," says Mr. Chalmers, " was constituted a burgh of barony as early as the reign of William the Lion by a grant from the proprietor of the district to a certain number of persons of small portions of lands in the vicinity, with the right of common pasturage and other easements. These burgesses have in modern times been called Lairds and their wives Ladies." — " They have been used," says Mr. Heron, about fifty years ago, " to hold what has been called a Freedom, consisting of four or five acres of croft-land for each family, with the privilege of feeding each a certain number of sheep, cows, and horses on the hill or common pasture." — " The several rights and police of this petty community," adds Mr. Chalmers, " were regulated by Birlaw Courts, which were held weekly, in which each member or Laird had a vote. They were noisy, and the members regularly adjourned to the alehouse." — " This establishment seems to have been formed for the maintenance of the retainers of the Lords." — Chalmers' Caledonia, torn. iii. p. 735 ; Heron's Travels in Scotland. a A gloss in the Chartulary enumerates the process of donation by the successive Lords of Crawford, as follows: — " Nota, quod Willielmus de Lynddessay, qui con- tulit terrain Brotheralwyne et Polnetrinoth, habuit filium nomine David, qui confirma- vit donacionem paternam, ut superius. Iste vero David habuit duos filios, scilicet, David primogenitum, qui contulit terram quae est inter Brotheralwyn et rivulum de Glengonar. Sed uterque donator retinuit sibi aves et feras. Gerardus vero, frater istius David posterioris, libertatem foreste contulit, nichil sibi vel suis reservans prseter materiem edificandi tantum pro civibus suis dc Crawford." 28 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. wife of Sir Henry Pinkeney, a great baron of Northamptonshire, whose grandson Sir Robert claimed the Crown of Scotland at the competition in 1292, as descended from the Princess Marjory through his grandmother Alice de Lindsay.* Sir Robert's brother and heir, Sir Henry Pinkeney, having no children, resigned his whole estates to Edward I. and his heirs for ever ; but Crawford and its dependencies had even before his death been seized and declared forfeit by the Scottish authorities, and bestowed on Sir Alexander Lindsay of Luffhess, the ancestor of the more recent House of Crawford. f I now proceed to the House of Lamberton, descendants of Sir Walter de Lindsay, second son of William of Crawford, the Justiciary. They rose to a degree of power surpassing that of their elder brethren of Crawford. For four successive generations, all of them married heiresses. Their progenitor, Sir Walter, was High Justiciary of Lothian,! Constable, or Sheriff, of Berwick, then the emporium of Britain, under William the Lion,§ was sent ambassador to King John, with the Bishop of St. Andrews, Ingelram de Baliol, and three other great barons, by King Alex- ander in 1215,|| — and, taking part with the English barons that * Rymer's Fcedera, torn. ii. p. 576 ; and vide supra, p. 23, note §. — Even the corrected statement given by Lord Hailes, Annals of Scotland, torn. ii. p. 343, con- founds John de Limesay with David de Lindsay, husband of Marjory. f Inferred from the fact of Crawford having been held since the commencement of the fourteenth century by Lindsays not descended from Alice, the heiress, — coupled with the historical fact of the confiscation of the lands held by Englishmen in Scotland, and analogous instances of the distribution of lands so confiscated.— For mandates by Edward I. to John de Warenne Earl of Surrey, Governor of Scot- land, to take possession of " omnes terras et tenementa " which Robert de Pinkeney had held within the kingdom, and to give his brother and heir, Henry de Pin- keney, seizin of them, Henry having in the mean while paid his homage, — dated respectively 24 Oct. 1296, and 18 Feb. 1296-7, see the Rotuli Scotia, torn. i. pp. 36, 38. — I am aware of no other notices of the Pinkeneys in connection with Scotland. % Chart. Soltre, MS. ; Chart. Newbattle, MS. § Chart. Soltre, MS. ; Chart. Coldingham, ap. Raine's N. Durham, App. pp. 122, 123 ; Chart. Kelso, pp. 42, 245 ; Chart. Newbattle, MS.— I rather think he did not hold these offices subsequently to the death of William the Lion. — For the wealth of Berwick in the thirteenth century, see Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, torn. ii. p. 303. — " The Chronicle of Lanercost describes it as a city of such populousness and commerce that it might justly be styled a second Alexandria, whose riches were the sea, and the waters its walls ; the citizens were most wealthy and devout." Chalmers' Caledonia. || Rym. Feed., torn. i. p. 203; Hot. Lit. Patent., torn. i. p. 150. Sect. III. SIR WALTER OF LAMBERTON. 29 year, under the banner of Alexander, was in the following spring punished by King John by the seizure of his lands in Hunting- donshire, * which he probably held by investiture of his uncle Prince David, the Earl of that county. Sir Walter bestowed the churches of Fordington and Ulseby, in Lincolnshire, on Croyland Abbey before 1202, f and before 1212 entered into a curious con- vention with Arnald, Prior of Coldingham, by which the latter, as patron of the mother church, (probably of Morthington,) con- cedes that Walter during his life may have mass performed in the chapel which he had built in his court of Lamberton, on condition that there should be no access to the chapel except through the middle of his hall or chamber, that the chapel should be served only by the chaplain of the mother church, or by a passing chap- lain, who should not serve for more than one or two days, and that there should be no mass said in the chapel on the five great festivals, namely Christmas, Candlemas, Easter, Whitsunday, and the day of the dedication of the parish church. The chapel of Lamberton afterwards became the parish church, and figures in more than one scene of our Scottish annals. :J Sir Walter de Lindsay died either in 1221 or 1222, § leaving a son and heir, Sir William, who figures as a guarantee of peace with England at the convention at York in 1237, || and, along with Sir David of * " Mandatum est Vicecomiti Huntingdon, quod habere faciet Rogerio de Millers terram quae fuit Walteri de Lindesy e in Malleswrth (Moles worth) ." Lit. Claus., p. 250. — The Lindsays would seem however to have regained this property ; Sir Gilbert Lindsay was Lord of Molesworth in the time of the first three Edwards, as will be seen hereafter. f " Walterus de Lindeseie venit et recognovit cartam suam et donationem quam fecerat et warantizavit Abbatise de Croiland super ecclesiis de Fordington et Ulseby." Abbrev. Placit., p. 32. % Raine's N. Durham, App. p. 112; and information from Joseph Robertson, Esq., of Glasgow. § " Dominus Walterus de Lindeseie " is a witness in that year, (vide Appendix, No. L, Head III., n. 2,) but was dead in 1222, when " P. de Walloniis, per con- sensum Domini Regis, accepit in uxorem , quondam uxorem Walteri de Lindeseia, contra ipsius voluntatem, eo quod essent in tercio vel quarto gradu con- sanguinitatis vel affinitatis propinqui ; unde et ipse P. Romam adiit, et a Domino Papa dispensacionem in contracto conjugio permanendi, prout ipse retulit, impe- travit." Chron. Mailros, p. 140. — P. de Walloniis " may have been the celebrated Philip, the Chamberlain. He had however a son grown up at the time, William de Valoines. || Rym. Feed., torn. i. p. 377 ; Matth. Paris, p. 437, edit. 1644. — The name is misprinted " Lungespey " in Rymer. 30 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. Luflhess, at the still more important one in 1244,* — and whose marriage with Alice, sister and coheiress of William de Lancaster, Lord of Kendal, a descendant of the Earls of Anjou, brought the moiety of that immense inheritance into the House of Lamberton, — the Lindsay portion including the beautiful and classic districts of Winandermere and Grassmere, with various other estates in Westmoreland, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, more recently known collectively as the " Richmond Fee," — War ton, in the latter county, being assigned as the chief seat or demesne, t Sir William was succeeded by his son, Walter de Lindsay, whose charter of liberties to Warton, a very curious document, hasjpeen printed by Mr. Baines in his History of Lancashire, J — and Walter § by his son, Sir William, who cemented a close connec- tion previously existing between the Lindsays of Lamberton and the Baliols by marrying Ada, eldest surviving sister of the unfor- tunate King John, and ultimately eldest coheir to her nephew Edward, pseudo-King of Scotland. Sir William was killed in * Rym. Feed., torn. i. p. 426 ; Matth. Paris, p. 646 ; Tytler, torn. i. App. p. 422. — Eight years previously, in 1236, William de Lindsay, Henry de Baliol, and Master Abel, came to King Henry, and prayed that he would restore the Earldom of Huntingdon to the King of Scotland, as having ward of the heirs of John le Scot, son of David Earl of Huntingdon, deceased. Abbrev. Placitorum, p. 105 ; Pal- grave's Documents concerning the History of Scotland, p. 1. f For the history of the Lancasters, and their Lindsay successors, see Dugdale's Baronage, torn. i. p. 421, and Monasticon, torn. v. p. 248 ; the Hist, of Cumberland by Nicholson and Burn, torn. i. pp. 30 sqq. ; West's Antiquities of Furness Abbey, pp. 28 sqq. ; Baines' History of Lancashire, torn. iv. pp. 457 sqq. ; Whitaker's Hist, of Richmond, torn. ii. p. 477. X Tom. iv. p. 571. — " By this deed, which is without date, he confirmed to his fres burgesses of Warton, to have their burgages as freely as they could of right acquire in the town of Warton, to hold to themselves, their heirs or assigns, excepting religious men, clerks, and Jews, with all the appurtenances and liberties, with certain exceptions mentioned in the charter." The original is preserved among the Lansdowne MSS., Cod. 559, fol. 140. § The arms of Walter are blazoned, " de goules, ung faux escocheon varree," in a roll of arms compiled between 1243 and 5 Dec. 1247, published by Sir N. H. Nicolas. These arms being a variation of those borne by the Baliols, imply a close alliance already existing between the families. — In 1275 we find notice that Edward I., for a fine of twenty-four marks, pardoned and remitted to Walter Percy of Kildale the transgression he had been guilty of, " ducendo in uxorem Cristianam, que fuit uxor Walteri de Lindeseye defuncti, que de Rege tenuit in capite, sine licentiu. et voluntate Regis," &c. — she being an heiress. Rot. Orig. in Curia Scacc, torn. i. p. 23. — Edmund, brother of the King, petitions for the homage of William de Lindsay, tenant of the honour of Lancaster, in 1278. Rot. Lit. Patent., torn. i. p. 7. Sect. III. CHRISTIANA, DAME DE COUCY. 31 battle against Llewellyn Prince of Wales on the sixth of Novem- ber, 1283,* and the whole of his vast estates, both in England and Scotland — the former comprising above seventeen manors, f besides " feoda" and " terra?," towns and hamlets, numberless ; the latter extending, as held in capite of the Crown, over twenty- five Scottish sheriffdoms or counties^; — devolved on his daughter and heiress, Christiana de Lindsay, wife of Ingelram de Guignes, second son of Arnold III., Count of Guignes and Namur, and Sire de Coucy in right of his mother Alice, the heiress of that House, so illustrious in history and romance § — and to whom she had been married by her cousin King Alexander III. before * For William de Lindsay's summonses to perform military service in person against Llewellyn, in 1277 and 1282, see Sir F. Palgrave's Writs, torn. i. pp. 194, 223. — The chronicler Knyghton describes the manner of his death : — " Quod cum Rex audisset et intellexit, disposuit se cum Baronibus suis ire in Walliam ad bel- landum contra perjurum et miserum Lewlinum et Davidem fratrem ejus ; sed ista guerra erat ferox, fortis, et tsediosa, nam in hyeme contigerat ; Lewlinus instauravit castrum de Snowdonne de victualibus et hominibus armatis, adeo quod Rex nescivit ubi haberet ingressum ; Angli vero per brachium maris venire fecerunt bargias, batellas, naviculas, et grossas plancas ad faciendum passagium dicto castello tarn pedestribus quam equestribus ; sed Wallenses adeo fortes erant, quod Anglicos in fugam retroarcebant, ita quod concursus Anglorum tarn festinus et grandis extitit ad fugiendum, quod pondus eorum suppressit bargias in profundo, et multi boni milites ibidem fuerunt nece subacti, viz. Dominus Rogerus de Clifford, Dominus Willielmus de Lindesey Alius, &c. et multitudo magna aliorum ; et hoc contigit in die Sancti Leonardi." Chron. ap. Twi/sden, Scriptores, col. 2464. f Those, to wit, of Winandermere, (including the island called Le Holme, the capitual messuage of the barony of Kendal,) Grasmere, Langden, Applethwaite, Stirkland Ketill, Hoton in Hay, Casterton, and half the manor of Kirkby Kendal, in Westmoreland ; of Morholm, Wyresdale, Ulverstone, Hernford, Wulerston, Ash- ton, Stoteford Whityngton, in Lancashire, — and of Middleton Tyais, and Thornton in Lonsdale, in Yorkshire. See the Inquis. post Mortem, under the names of Wil- liam de Lindsay, " Ingelramus de Gynes et Christiana uxor ejus," and William de Coucy, torn. i. pp. 80, 309 ; torn. ii. pp. 110, 133, 142, 172, 339, 354. X Those, to wit, of " Edenburgh, Hadyngton, Berewyk, Pebles, Selkirk, Jedde- worth, Rokisbrugh, Dunfres, Wyggeton, Are, Kentyre, Dunbretan, Lanark, Stri- vilyn, Perth, Clacmannan, Linliscu, Fif, Forfar, Kincardyn, Aberden, Fyvin (?), Banff, Inernarn, Elgin, Forais, Invernes," — as enumerated in mandates by Ed- ward I. to the several Sheriffs to repossess Ingelram in his lands within their respective bounds, " quia . . semper in fide nostra permansit," and in others, relat- ing to his subtenants, 4, 8, and 10 Sept. 1296, Rot. Scot., torn. i. pp. 28, 30. — Neither Robert Bruce, nor any of the barons in whose favour similar letters were addressed at the same time, appear to have possessed property in half the number of counties. § They were of the old peers, or immediate feudatories of France, and usually matched with princes. Their motto is well known, — " Je ne suis Roy ni prince aussi, Je suis le Seigneur de Couci." 32 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. 1285.* She conveyed indeed a far richer inheritance to her chil- dren in the representation of the ancient Scoto-Pictish dynasty of Scotland, and of the original Saxon line of England, including Ed- ward the Confessor, Alfred the Great, Egbert, Cerdic, and Odin, — all centering ultimately, through eldest sons and heiresses, her direct representatives, in Henry IV. of France, and through him in the present Duchesse d'Angouleme, daughter of Louis XVI.| Finally I must trace the descendants of William de Lindsay, the third son of William of Ercildun and Crawford. His appa- nage was the barony of Luffness in Haddingtonshire, and he figures in the charters as " William son of William " to distinguish him from his contemporary nephew, William son of Walter, of Lamberton. He lived till 1236, and was succeeded by his eldest son Sir David Lindsay of Brenwevil and the Byres, properties that he had acquired before his father's death.J He acted as High Justiciary of Lothian from 1243 to 1249, § and, on the convention between Scotland and England in 1244, was one of the four great barons who swore on the soul of their lord the king, that the conditions then entered into should be kept invio- * It is in Christiana's right that he figures as a Scottish magnate in the great Assemblies at Scone, 5 Feb. 1283-4, and at Brigham, 17 March 1289-90, and thereafter on occasions innumerable both in Scotland and England. He was a devoted adherent to Edward in his Scottish wars. He succeeded to the Sirerie of Coucy in 1311, and spent the rest of his life in France, where he died in 1321. Christiana seems to have returned to England after his death. Duchesne, Hist, de la Maison de Guines, pp. 253, 451 ; Preuves, p. 302. f See the Pedigree of Christiana's descendants in the Appendix, No. III. — For this pedigree, and for the notice of Sir William's marriage with Ada de Baliol, as well as for other valuable pieces of information, I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Alexander Sinclair, Esq.— See also Mr. Sinclair's disquisition on the representation of the House of Baliol in the appendix to his Treatise on Heirs Male, pp. 135, 141. The barony of Baliol was claimed in 1365 by Eadulphus, or Enguerrand de Coucy, " ut consanguineus et heres proximior defuncti Edouardi Domini de Ballolio," in right of his grandmother, Christiana, and it was adjudged to him accordingly, as appears from his designation, " Dominum de Ballolio," in 1369. Hist, de la Maison de Guines, Preuves, pp. 441, 442. % He is styled " of Branilvewell " in a charter of Garmylton and Byres, granted to him by Gilbert Earl of Pembroke, who had obtained the Lordship of Had- dington in marriage with the Princess Margaret, sister of Alexander II. See the Appendix, No. I., Head IV. m. 2. § Witness as Justiciary to a charter of Alexander II. to the Bishopric of Argyle, 10 Nov. 1243— confirmed 26 Sept. 1507, Reg. Mag. Sig. ;— 1243, Chart. Melrose, p. 172;— 1243-6, Chart. Kelso, p. 309 ;— 12 Nov. 1246, Chart. Scone, No. 81 ;— 8 Feb. 1247, Chart. Melrose, p. 236 ;— 1240-1249, Chart. Balmerinach, p. 10;— 8 July, 1249, charter, confirmed 26 Sept. 1507, Reg. Mag. Sig. Sect. III. SIR JOHN, HIGH CHAMBERLAIN. 33 late by him and his posterity.* His piety evinced itself in grants to the Abbeys of Balmerinach and Newbattle,t and was inherited by his son, Sir David, who, after figuring as one of the Regents of Scotland during the intestine struggles of 1255,t and as High Chamberlain in 1256,§ and granting a charter of freedom to the Abbey of Aberbrothock, now Arbroath, from toll and custom in all the ports of his territories, (| perished in the crusade of St. Louis.^f He left a son, afterwards Sir Alexander, a minor, under the guardianship of his brother Sir John de Lindsay, a baron of great power in Northumberland through his wife Dionysia,** and in Scotland through the influence centering in him as representative of the Lindsays during his nephew's minority. ft He acted as High Chamberlain for several years under the virtuous and noble Alexander III., the last of the royal Celtic * Rym. Foed., torn. i. p. 426, &c. Vide supra, p. 30, note *. t To Balmerinach of twenty shillings yearly from his mill of Brenwevil in Ayrshire, for the welfare of the soul of Ermengarde of good memory, Queen of Scotland, " domine mee," confirmed on the 28th March, 19 Alex. II., — i. e. 1233, Chart. Balmerinach, p. 18: — To Newbattle, "ut quieti sint perpetuis temporibus in portu de Luffenauch ab omni tolnagio et ab omni aM consuetudine que exigi vel evenire potest" Chart. Newbattle, MS. — The port of Luffness, now Aberlady, is the nearest to the town of Haddington. % Act by the King " de consilio magnatum nostrorum," &c. Acts Pari., torn. i. p. 77 ; Rym. Feed., torn. i. p. 566. § Fordun and Bower, Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 90. — The appointment was for seven years, though, in consequence of a change of administration, he did not retain it for that time. || The style of this charter resembles that of a letter rather than a legal grant : — " Omnibus, &c. David de Lindsay salutem in Domino. Noveritis me . . dedisse . . Abbati et Conventui Sancti Thome Martyris de Aberbrothock, ut ipsi et eorum homines quieti sint et liberi a tholoneo et consuetitudine per totam terram et per omnes portus terre mee. Et in hujus rei testimonium present! scripto sigillum meum apposui. Valete." Chart. Aberbrothock, p. 97. Bellenden's Boece, torn. ii. p. 343; Dugd. Monast., torn. vi. p. 1155 ; Family Genealogies. — It was probably in the last crusade of St. Louis in 1268, which was joined by many of the Scottish nobility. ** Extracts from the ' Magnus Rotulus Pipse,' 1267 and 1269, in Hodgson's Hist. Northumberland, torn. ii. pt. i. pp. 273, 283. — He figures too in 1287, as having infeoffed Johanna, wife of William le Chamberlein, in the villa or manerium of Pettesho in Suffolk, held of the honour of Huntingdon, Plac. de quo Warranto, p. 97. — A John de Lindsay witnesses the charter of creation of the burgh of Newtyle, in 1264, and a charter of Alexander III., 4 March 1266, Chart. Lindores, p. 8. — It may be observed too, that David de Lindsay, the Chamberlain in 1256, was possessed in 1265 of Chirden in Tynedale, a district held by the Kings of Scotland in Northumberland. Calend. Rot. Chart., p. 83. ft On this point see the Appendix, No. I., Head IV. ix. vol. i. r> 34 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. race,* and was one of the Magnates Scotia? who acknowledged Margaret of Norway, grand-daughter of Alexander, as the heiress apparent of Scotland, in the celebrated convention at Scone in February, 1283-4, f but disappears in 1289, when Sir Alexander takes his place, as chief of the race, in the convention at Brigham, after the death of King Alexander^ when the storm was already beginning to threaten the independence of Scotland. SECTION IV. Hitherto, you will have observed, there had been constant and friendly intercourse between Scotland and England, — many barons held lands on both sides of the Tweed, and many a border min- strel might have begun his lay, like Albert Graeme, with " It was an English lady bright, The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall ! And she would marry a Scottish knight, For Love will still be Lord of all." The fact was, that the nobles, whether of England or Scotland, were as yet neither English nor Scottish, but Norman. Nation- ality, at least in Scotland, there was little or none, — the charters of the kings (as I have already observed) are addressed to " French, English, Scots," the latter name being restricted to the Celtic population. Each race was living distinct and apart, the Saxon and Norman indeed assimilated and fused to a considerable degree, and more so perhaps than in England, § but the Celtic or more genuine Scottish stock, the heirs of all the ancient tra- ditions of the country, standing proudly aloof. Nothing could have brought about the fusion of these different races, or created a spirit of nationality and patriotism, so effectually as an attack * He is Chamberlain in May, 1278, Chart. Dunfermline, p. 52, — 2 Oct. 1279, ibid., p. 52, — 4 July, 1280, Charter printed in Kaine's N. Durham, App. No. 77, — and probably, says Crawford, continued to hold the office during the remaining years of King Alexander. Lives of Officers of State, p. 265. f Acts Pari, torn. i. p. 82. % Acts, torn. i. p. 85. § The Saxons, it will be remembered, were settlers in Scotland on the same political footing as the Normans — not an oppressed and conquered race as in England. Sect. IV. SIR ALEXANDER OF CRAWFORD. 35 upon the rights and liberties of all concerned by a foreign power, — and the creation of this nationality, the fusion of Normans, Saxons, and Celts into Scotsmen, is in fact the historical moral as it was the providential result of the great struggle under Wallace and Bruce against England and Edward during the latter years of the thirteenth and the commencement of the fourteenth century.* The period between the death of Alexander III. and the accession of the Stuarts, represented in the Scottish annals by the dynasty of Bruce, forms therefore a second and distinct period in the history of modern Scotland. My sketch of this period must how- ever be very brief. I have already mentioned the fact that the Scottish kings held their crown under the superiority of those of England, and were in fact their vassals — a term to which modern ideas only have attached the sense of degradation. From the days of Edgar in 974, when, in his triumph on the Dee, Kenneth of Scotland, and seven of his brother kings, the pillars of the Saxon empire, rowed the royal barge of the Basileus, while the latter steered, f to the revolt and submission of Malcolm Caenmore, this homage was recognised and paid, at longer or shorter intervals. These intervals became longer after the Norman Conquest, but the homage paid by David I. to Henry of England, in whose court he sat and voted as premier peer precisely as his ancestors had sat in the Wittenage motif — the unconditional submission and fealty sworn to by William the Lion and his nobles after his capture by the English in 1174 § — the claim of Henry III. to the supremacy of Scotland, a claim evaded indeed rather than acknowledged in the treaty of 1244, to which David and William de Lindsay are guarantees || — and the general and unreserved homage and fealty * This has been remarked, I believe for the first time, by Mr. Burton, in his Life of Simon Lord Lovat, p. 4. f Palgrave's Hist. English Commonwealth, torn. i. p. 477 ; torn. ii. p. cclii. % Palgrave, torn. ii. p. cccxxxv. § Ibid., torn. ii. p. cccxxxvii. — This homage was not renounced, as is commonly understood, by Richard I., — things were left exactly as they were. Ibid., torn. i. p. 615 ; torn. ii. p. cccxxxviii. || The charter granted by Alexander to Henry commences with an explicit and general acknowledgment of service and duty, and then adds that the convention at York is to hold good, this convention relating simply to a compromise between Alexander and Henry, by which Henry gave the Scottish King certain lands in the North of England, for which he swore fealty. See Rymer, torn. ii. pp. 428, 374. D 2 36 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. vowed to Edward I. by Alexander III. in 1278* — are facts in no wise to be distinguished in character, as affecting the political dependence of Scotland, from the long array of earlier precedents. The truth would appear to be, that subsequently to the Conquest a principle of reservation and ambiguity gradually crept into the language of diplomatic intercourse between Scotland and England, and was wisely encouraged by both nations, in order to prevent any interruption to the cordial understanding that prevailed between them ; but that nevertheless the ancient claim still sur- vived, and from time to time asserted its vitality, as witnessed in the preceding instances.! Admitting this — which, I repeat, involves no degradation according to feudal notions — we are rescued from the inevitable, and surely more unpalatable alternative, of con- fessing our ancestors in 1174 and 1290 to have been dastards and villains. And it is the only theory on which the whole series of early transactions between England and Scotland receives a clear and intelligible explanation. The English claim had hitherto been limited to that of simple superiority, but Edward, a prince of genius, sagacity, and power, resolved on a more decided policy, and to reduce Scotland to an integral part of his own dominions. Circumstances conspired in every way to facilitate his purpose. A proposal was started, it does not appear, though we may guess, by whose suggestion, that Margaret of Norway, the heiress of the Scottish crown, should be espoused to the youthful Edward Prince of Wales, the heir of England. The idea was hailed with transport both South and North of the Tweed, — Sir Alexander Lindsay, as I have already mentioned, was one of the Scottish nobles who agreed to it at the great Council held at Brigham in 1289 ; and a treaty was concluded with the plenipotentiaries of Edward, by which the " rights, laws, liberties, and customs of the kingdom of Scotland, civil and eccle- siastical, as hitherto observed and in use," were secured to the nation for ever, whether heirs should spring from the marriage or not, without forfeiture of their integrity or independence ; while * Rymer, torn. ii. p. 126. t See Lingard's observations, Hist, of England, torn. iii. p. 276,— observations which in my youth rendered me indignant and furious ; but the great lesson of life is to face truth. I still indeed think Dr. Lingard's representation of Edward's conduct and character too favourable. Sect. IV. SIR ALEXANDER OF CRAWFORD. 37 at the same time a proviso was appended, saving all preexisting rights either on the side of Edward or of Scotland, — which left the question of superiority precisely where it was before.* Margaret, however, the heir of so many hopes and anxieties, died on her voyage to Scotland, and her death and the intrigues of Edward brought forward ten competitors for the Crown,t among whom John de Baliol and Robert de Bruce were distinguished as possessing the highest claims, Baliol as representing the eldest, and Bruce the second daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon, — ■ Bruce maintaining that as he was one degree nearer in blood than Baliol to the late king, his claim was preferable — a plea founded upon the ancient Scoto-Pictish law, now superseded.^ Edward assumed the office of arbiter, but demanded a previous recognition of his superiority, as Lord Paramount. The com- petitors and the assembled nobles hesitated at this, but the claim was based, as they well knew, upon hereditary rule and precedent, and they complied. He then announced " that although he now asserted his right of superiority with the view of giving judgment to the competitors, yet that he meant not to relinquish his right of property in the kingdom of Scotland, acclaimable thereafter in fit manner," — intimating, in other words, in contradiction to the principle on which all parties had hitherto proceeded, " that the kingdom of Scotland was a male fief and not descendible to heirs-female, and consequently that it had returned to himself as Lord Paramount, in default of heirs-male," — the inference from this new principle being, that " if any of the competitors should hereafter dispute his right of superiority, Edward reserved his right of property to be asserted in fit manner and time con- venient.'^ Having made this protestation, Edward demanded nothing further than the acknowledgment of superiority, which was given by a formal instrument, executed by the ten competitors, on the 3rd of June, 1291. A council or jury was now appointed, composed of forty com- * Hailes' Annals, torn. i. p. 190. t One of them, as above noticed, being Robert de Pinkeney, heir of line of the original Lindsays of Crawford. X Skene's Highlanders, torn. i. p. 160. § Hailes' Annals, torn. i. p. 204. 38 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. missioners appointed by Baliol, forty by Bruce,* and twenty-four by Edward ; and, after long pleadings and investigations, Edward pronounced judgment in favour of Baliol, renewing at the same time his caveat or protest, " that it should not impair his claim to the property of Scotland." t Baliol swore fealty at Norham on the 20th November, 1292, and was immediately put by Edward in possession of the kingdom. Baliol was undoubtedly a weak man, but I am doubtful whether he deserve the extreme reprobation bestowed on him by our histo- rians, — all of them, be it remembered, writing subsequently to the war of independence, and when the knowledge of the original relations of the two kingdoms had died away. In acknowledging the superiority of Edward, he did no more than his predecessors had done before him, — and no special acknowledgment of the claim of property was required. You will observe the distinction between the two claims, — it is a most important one, and the hinge, as it appears to me, on which the whole question turns. The claim of superiority was ancient and lawful — that of property a novelty and unjust, a tyrannical encroachment, generating and justifying resistance. Edward's ulterior purposes stood revealed from this moment. Having asserted his right of property on Scotland, and leaving the feudal inference to be deduced by others, he proceeded to act upon the scheme laid down, as I conceive, in the recesses of his own heart — a deliberate scheme to goad the unhappy Baliol into rebellion. He encouraged appeals from the Scottish to the English courts, insisted on his personal attendance in reply to them, interfered unwarrantably in his interior administration, and required him and his barons to contribute supplies and service for his wars in Gascony. The eyes of the Scottish nobles were now opened — they evaded these demands, negotiated a treaty of alli- ance with France, appointed a council for the conduct of public affairs, dismissed Baliol's English followers, invaded Northumber- land, and persuaded or compelled their monarch to renounce his fealty to Edward. Edward's object was thus gained — Baliol was in rebellion. He marched to Scotland, defeated the Scots at the battle of Dunbar, * Two of Brace's commissioners were Lindsays, as will be mentioned presently, t Hailes' Annals, torn. i. p. 221. Sect. l\ r . SIR ALEXANDER OF CRAWFORD. 39 and reduced the whole kingdom to submission, — the record of which is still preserved in the celebrated Ragman Roll, where the names of almost all the Lindsays then flourishing in Scotland, with their chief Sir Alexander, are found inscribed as swearing fealty to Edward — in fellowship with those of the whole remaining baronage and commonwealth of Scotland, with the exception, an honourable distinction, of Sir William Wallace and Sir Andrew Moray of Both well,* — while it must in fairness be remembered, that, even had the homage thus rendered acknowledged (as it did not) the property in the soil asserted by Edward, such a submis- sion, interpreted by the morality of the times, as an oath extorted under compulsion, would not have been considered dishonourable. The unhappy Baliol in the mean while submitted to Edward, abjured his Crown, was sent to the Tower, and thereafter permitted to retire to France, where he spent the remainder of his days in obscurity. The nation was sunk in despondency, when her pros- pects once more brightened, and Wallace, the immortal Wallace, came to the rescue. Among the first to join him were the High Steward of Scotland, Robert Bruce, Earl of Car rick, the recent competitor, Sir William Douglas, Sir Andrew Moray, and Sir Alexander Lindsay ; but heart-burnings arose, and all of them, except Sir Andrew, sub- mitted for the time to Edward, f Sir Alexander however soon rejoined the patriots, and had the honour, at the close of the pro- tracted struggle, in 1304-5, to be one of the seven allies of Wallace, specially excepted by Edward out of the general con- * The Lindsays enumerated in Ragman Roll are the following : — Sir Alexander, Sir Philip, (of Wykingby,) Johan de Lindsay, of Lanarkshire, (perhaps the Cham- berlain,) another Johan de Lindsay, Sire Wautier de Lindsay, of Edinburghshire, (evidently Sir Walter of Thurston and Craigie, presently to be mentioned,) Wautier de Lindsay, of Berwickshire, (of Parva Lamberton, also to be mentioned hereafter,) James de Lindsay, (son of Sir Walter of Thurston,) and Hugh de Lindsay, burgess of Jedworth. t The instrument by which Robert de Bruce, Earl of Carrick, " James Seneschal de Escoce," or High Steward, " Alisaundre de Lindeseie," " Johan frere le Se- neschal," and William de Douglas, acknowledge their rebellion and submit uncon- ditionally to Edward, dated at Irvine, 9 July, 1297, is printed in Sir F. Palgrave's Documents, &c, p. 197, — and another, of the same date, by which the Bishop of Glasgow, the High Steward, and "Alisaundre de Lindeseie" become "main- perners," or sureties, for Robert Bruce's loyalty, till the latter shall give his daughter Marjory in pledge and release them, ibid., p. 199— The originals of both are preserved in the Treasury of the Exchequer, London. 40 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. ditions of pardon offered to their unhappy countrymen, as having been more obstinate in their rebellion, and deserving more signal punishment,* — while the fact of his having received the accolade of knighthood from Edward's own hand some years before was remembered against him in aggravation. f The " wycht " Sir Walter Lindsay 4 of Thurston and Craigie, and his son, Sir James, § cadets of the House of Luffness, or, as I must now term it, of Crawford, were among the contemporary adherents to the cause of Scottish liberty, and the latter more especially to that of his kinsman Robert Bruce the younger, its destined vindicator and redeemer. The circumstances which led to the decisive act, which flung Bruce upon his fortunes and led to the independence of Scotland, are unknown. || All that can be ascertained is, that Cumyn of Badenoch, popularly named the Red Cumyn, his personal rival, and the leader of the Baliol * " Item, le Roy voudroit que Monsire Alexaundre de Lyndeseie eust aucune penance outre les condicions du comun, por la fuyte qu'il fit du Roy, qui chevalier li fist." — Indenture, Palgrave's Documents, &c., p. 284. — In obedience to which it is afterwards " Ordene, que Monsire Alisandre de Lyndeseye demoerge hors d'Escoce par un demy an." Acts Pari., torn. i. p. 163 ; Rot. Lit. Pat., torn. i. p. 213 ; Pal- grave's Writs, torn. i. p. 162. f It has been lately suggested by an ingenious writer, signing himself D. C, in the ' Scottish Journal,' that Wallace was, as his name implies, of Celtic origin, — that he personified the principle of Scottish nationality, as opposed to Saxon or Norman supremacy, — and that this was the secret of his intense hatred to the English, of his popularity with the lower classes in Scotland, and of the hostility shewn him by the nobility, who were of Norman or Saxon origin, — and finally, that the armies of Wallace were the patriarchal clans of Scotland, arrayed against the English, as in later times at Prestonpans and Culloden. See the Scottish Journal, torn. i. p. 262. X He is so termed by Blind Harry, the metrical historian of Wallace, who fre- quently drew from original sources now lost. See Mr. Stevenson's Introduction to the Wallace Papers, Maitland Club, p. xiii. § Wautier de Lyndeseye and Johan de Lindesey were two of the forty commis- sioners chosen for Robert Bruce in the pleadings before Edward at Berwick in 1292. Rym. Fozd., torn. ii. p. 556 ; Palgrave's Documents, p. 53. — Edward was Sir Walter's guest, probably by compulsion, at Thurston, on the 5th of July, 1292, William de Douglas, father of the " good Sir James," having sworn fealty to him on that day " in Capella Manerii Domini Walteri de Lyndeseye, in quo tunc dictus Dominus Rex hospitabatur." Rym. Feed., torn. ii. p. 569— Sir James's filiation is proved by the following notification :— " Item, Alisandre le Conuers a demande pur Thomas Conuers son frere le droit des terres Monsr. James de Lyndeseye, fuiz et heir Sire Wautier de Lyndeseye, en le manoir de Thureston, en conte' de Berewyk." Peticions des terres qui sont demandees en Escoce ; Palgrave's Documents, p. 314. — It would appear from this that Sir Walter was then dead. || Fordun and Wyntown are trustworthy writers, but I am impressed with the strong arguments of Lord Hailes, Annals, torn. i. App. p. 354. Sect. IV. SIR JAMES OF CRAIGIE. 41 interest,* was at Dumfries at the same time with Bruce, that they held a secret conference in the church of the Minorites or Fran- ciscans, that a quarrel arose between them, and that Bruce, in a paroxysm of rage, stabbed him on the steps of the high altar. Rushing to the door, he met Sir James Lindsay and Roger Kirk- patrick of Closeburn, who demanded what had disturbed him? " I doubt," replied Bruce, " I have slain Cumyn." — " Have you left it doubtful ?" replied Lindsay. — " I make sicker,'' or " sure," rejoined Kirkpatrick, — wherewith they rushed into the church, and Kirkpatrick, asking the wounded baron whether he deemed he might recover, and hearing from him that he thought he might if he had proper leech-craft, stabbed him to the heart, f — a deed for which Bruce and his adherents were excommunicated as soon as the news reached the Holy See. Bruce was defeated in his first battle, and a long period of misery and privation ensued, during which he skulked as a fugi- tive in the Highlands and Western coasts of Scotland, while Edward wreaked his vengeance on all his adherents that fell into his power ; his brother, the beautiful Nigel Bruce, Sir Christopher and John Seyton, the Earl of Athol, and Sir Simon Frazer were put to death, the two latter with refined cruelty, and their heads placed beside Wallace's and those of the other Scottish patriots on London Bridge, — and Sir John Lindsay, the uncle and guar- dian apparently of Sir Alexander, only escaped a similar fate by perishing in the same battle at which Sir Simon Frazer was taken — that, namely, of Kirkencliff, near Stirling — the last desperate stand made against Edward after the flight of Bruce to Rachlin — and where Sir John was driven with his companions into the river, and drowned, — preferring death in the waters of his own free land to the tender mercies of Edward. J * He was not, as is commonly asserted, the next heir to the Crown after John Baliol, — that status was vested, first in Edward Baliol, King John's son, then a prisoner in England, and secondly in Christiana de Lindsay, Lady of Lamberton, daughter of Ada, King John's sister, Marjory, Cumyn's mother, being younger than Ada. This of course throws further discredit on the assertion that Cumyn and Bruce were the representatives of the two claims to the throne, and that Bruce offered to waive his right and support Cumyn's, on condition that the latter should resign to him his estates, or vice versa. f Scotichronicon, lib. xii. cap. 7 ; Buchanan, Hist., lib. viii. cap. 28. X Sir John's death is described as follows in a contemporary " Balad against the Scots," descriptive chiefly of the executions of Wallace and Frazer, and published 42 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. Fortune however, or rather Providence, soon smiled on Bruce. He quitted his retreat, landed in Scotland, and his career was thenceforth one of victory, the brightest page in Scottish history. Sir Alexander Lindsay, after invading Galloway in 1307, in com- pany with Edward Bruce and Sir James Douglas,* the "good Lord James" of history and tradition, — after sitting as one of the great barons in the parliament of the 16th March, 1308-9, which acknowledged Robert Bruce as lawful King of Scotland,! — and granting a charter of lands near Montrose to the Dominican monks of Cupar in Angus,! disappears from the scene ; but his son, the " Schir Dawy the Lyndyssay, That was true and of stedfast fay." by Ritson from a MS. of the time of Edward II., in the Harleian Library : — I give it in the ancient orthography : — ■ " Nou ichulle fonge ther ich er let, a Ant tellen ou of Frisel, ase ich ou byhet ; b In the batayle of Kyrchenclyf Fiysel was ytake, Ys countenance abatede eny bost to make, Bysyde St'velyn ; c Knyhtes and sweynes, Frernen and theynes, Monye with hym. " So hii weren byset on everuche halve, d Somme slave were, ant somme dreynte hemselve ; e Sire Johan of Lyndeseye nolde nout abyde, f He wod into the water his feren him bysyde, To adrenche.e Why nolden hii bewar ? Ther nis non azeyn star ! Why nolden hii hem bythenche ?" h — Ancient Songs, p. 9. — The whole poem is extremely curious both in an historical and literary point of view. * Chron. Lanercost, p. 212. f Acts Pari., torn. i. p. 99. — Sir Alexander is ranked first after the great officers of the Crown, Thomas Randolph, and " Jacobus dominus de Douglas." % This gift, of the lands of Little Pert, is enumerated in a charter by Robert Bruce, 5 Oct. 1308, confirming the monks of Cupar in all their possessions. "Per- haps," observes Mr. Joseph Robertson, " we may find in this charter ground for conjecturing the existence of some connection between the great House of the Dur- wards and that of the Lindsays. The Durwards held large territories in Angus, in the very neighbourhood of Montrose, where they planted a convent of the Friars a " Now I will take up where I left off." f " Would not abide." 8 " To drown." b " As I you behight," promised. h " Why would they not beware ? c " Striveling," Stirling. There is no opposing [one's] star (or d " Halve," half, or side. destiny). Why would they not bethink ■ " And some drowned themselves." themselves?" Sect. IV. SIR DAVID OF CRAWFORD. 43 of Wyntown, the poetical Prior of Lochleven,* inherited his loyalty, and enjoyed through life the steady favour of his so- vereign. He was either taken prisoner at the battle of Bannock- burn, or had been in durance before it was fought, being exchanged, five months afterwards, along with his brothers Regi- nald and Alexander, afterwards Sir Alexander Lindsay, and Sir Andrew Moray.t When, in compliance with Edward's entreaties, Pope John XXII. sent orders to excommunicate Bruce and his gallant followers on every Sunday and festival throughout the year, Sir David was one of the bold and faithful men who addressed to him from Arbroath — no longer as Saxons, Normans, or Celts, but under Preachers of St. Domenic's rule ; and Cupar was the favourite abbey of their race, in which they made their burial for several generations." Mr. Robertson suggests this in connection with the fact that the Lindsays held also part of the old Durward domains both in the parish of Kinerny, a now united to that of Midmar, and that of Alford, in Aberdeenshire. The main line of the Durwards ended, in 1275, in Sir Alan, the " flower of chivalry," who left three daughters, coheiresses, whose marriages have not yet been discovered. Or the right of the Lindsays to the Aber- deenshire property might have been derived from the Fife family, who obtained the greater part, if not the whole, of the Lordship of Onele, soon after the extinction of the Durwards, and by whom its remains were surrendered to the Crown in the year 1389. * Cronykil, lib. viii. cap. 40. — Though written in verse, we possess no historical record more minute, authentic, or curious, than Andrew of Wyntown's ' Orygynale Cronykyl of Skotland.' It was written at the request of his patron, Sir John Wemyss, of Reres and Kincaldrum. ..." It would be unjust," says Mr. Tytler, in his graceful ' Lives of Scottish Worthies,' " to expect from a writer labouring under such disadvantages anything like a well-digested and classically constructed history, as this term is used in these modern days. We have, on the contrary, instead of a building of correct taste and Grecian proportion, an extraordinary and rambling edifice somewhat resembling the ancient castles, or picturesque monas- teries, of the times in which the author lived ; where, in defiance of all rules and orders, a chamber, or a chapter, was added, according to the exigency or the fancy of the moment. The language too, or materials with which his work is constructed, is as rude and venerable as the ivy-coloured walls, or weather-beaten pinnacles, upon which the waves of successive centuries have left the traces of their progress. Yet, what spectator of taste has not often preferred the ancient castle, with all its romantic disproportion, to the symmetrical beauty of the modern edifice ? And where is the student, who is an enthusiast in the history and antiquities of his country, that would not rather read the quaint and homely descriptions of the Prior of Lochleven than the pages of modern writers, where vigour, freshness, and ori- ginality are so often sacrificed to insipid elegance?" f Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 134; Rym. Feed., torn. iii. p. 502. * Namely, Tulybraloch, Tulynahilt, Balnadodl, &c, now comprised within the estate of Corsindae. 44 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. the united national appellation of Scotsmen — that memorable assertion of their country's independence, which it would be un- pardonable to omit mentioning in any notice, however succinct, of this period of Scottish history. After denying all past, and dis- owning all future dependence upon England, and recapitulating the evils heaped upon them by the ambition of Edward, from which they had been freed by Bruce ; " to him," they proceed, " we will adhere as to our rightful king, the preserver of our people, and guardian of our liberties ; but should he ever dream of subjecting us to England, then will we do our utmost to expel him from the throne as a traitor and our enemy ; we will chuse another king to rule over us ; for never, so long as one hun- dred Scots are alive, will we be subject to the yoke of England. We fight not for glory, we strive not for riches or honour, but for that liberty which no good man will consent to lose but with his life. We are willing to do anything for peace, which may not compromise our freedom. If your Holiness dis- believe us, and continue to favour the English, giving undue credit to their false allegations, then be sure that God will impute to you all the calamities which our resistance to their injustice must necessarily produce. We commit the defence of our cause to God!"* God did favour it. Victory followed victory, till Edward, weakened and disheartened, was fain to strike a truce with King Robert, to last for thirteen years from 1323, when Sir David Lindsay reappears as one of the Scottish guarantees for its ob- servance.! Years of steady, peaceful government succeeded under the mild rule of Bruce, till finally, on the 1st of March, 1328, at an English parliament assembled at York, he was formally acknow- ledged King of Scotland, and our country recognised for ever as a free and independent kingdom. J The aim of Bruce's life was now accomplished. Happier than the law-giver of Israel, he had been permitted to accompany his chosen people to the last through all their troubles, till he had established them free denizens of a free country, the land of their * Acts Pari., torn. i. p. 114 ; Fordun, Scotichron., torn. ii. p. 275. f Rym. Feed., torn. iii. p. 1025. X Hailes' Annals, torn. ii. p. 127. Sect. V. SIR DAVID OF CRAWFORD. 45 children's love, — he had crowned his work of patriotism ; he had won the wreath of glory. His star hovered over him awhile, as he leaned against the goal, weary with the race, but at last de- parted fairly, lingeringly but for ever, while slowly, amid a nation's sobs, he sank into the arms of death, a willing prey. Well indeed might Scotland, well may mankind, revere King Robert's name, for never, save Alfred the Great, did monarch so profit by adversity. Vacillating and infirm of purpose, a courtier and a timeserver at the footstool of Edward, during the days of Wallace, and betrayed into sacrilege and bloodshed on the very steps of the altar at Dumfries, he redeemed all by a constancy, a patriotism, a piety, alike in his troubles and his prosperity, which rendered him the pride and example of his contemporaries, and have been the theme of history and of a grateful posterity in all succeeding ages. — The Christian, the patriot, the wisest monarch, and the most accomplished knight of his age, and more endearing than all, the owner of a heart kind and tender as a woman's, we may indeed bless his memory, and visiting his tomb, pronounce over it his epitaph in the knightly words with which Sir Hector mourned over Sir Lancelot : — " There thou liest, thou that wert never matched of earthly knight's hands ! And thou wert the most courteous knight that ever bare shield ! And thou wert the kindest man that ever struck with sword ! And thou wert the goodliest person that ever came among press of knights ! And thou wert the meekest man and the gentlest that ever eat in hall among ladies ! And thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest !" Such, and more than this, was Bruce. SECTION V. But the struggle for Scottish independence was not yet over. The death of King Robert and the youth of his only son King David II. caused the intrigues of the English faction to spring up as thick as ever. Edward Baliol, the son and heir of King John, was set up by Edward, the Third of that name, now King of England, and marched for Scotland in 1332, at the head of three thousand infantry and four hundred men-at-arms. He was 46 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. accompanied by a gallant band of English knights, styled " the disinherited barons," or " les querelleurs" — claimants, that is to say, of the lands of which their fathers had been dispossessed in the war of independence. It was altogether an expedition quite in keeping with the romance of the period, and was very nearly being successful. Baliol was victorious in his first battle, that of Duplin, which must have fallen heavily on the Lindsays, if the statement of Boethius, that eighty gentlemen of the name fell, have the slightest foundation in truth.* Baliol proceeded to Scone, where he was crowned, entrusting the government of Perth to the Earl of Fife, who was ejected by Sir Alexander Lindsay and Sir Robert Keith, after three months' siege, when Sir John Lindsay of Wauchopdale, grandson of Sir John the Chamberlain, was appointed Governor in his stead. f Sir John, however, along with his chief, Sir David, and Sir Alexander, Sir David's brother, J all three knights bannerets, § was captured at Halidon * He includes their chief also : — " David Lindsay a Glenesk, cum octoginta generis sui prsestantibus nobilitate viris," are his words, — possibly adapted from the exaggerated narrative of some ancient ballad. Hist., p. 313. — Buchanan, in repeat- ing the story, names their chief Alexander. Hist., lib. ix. cap. 7. — On the death of these Lindsays and their chief, Johnston has the following epigram in his ' Heroes Scoti :' — " Vellem alium cecinisse tibi quam in morte triumph urn, 0 nec morte unquam aut Marte tacende tuo ! At potior pulchra cedit tibi morte triumphus, Luxque tibi casso lumine vera redit. Parque duci et sociis virtus ; par exitus ; idem Ardor agens animos ; omnia pene pares. Discidium his unum, — cum mors semel omnibus instet, Qui prior, anne prior debeat ille mori." f Bellenden's Boece, torn. ii. p. 417, — where however the epithet "fortissimus vir," applied in the original to Sir John, {Hist. p. 303,) is overlooked. X Sir Alexander was Lord of Ormiston, in Eastlothian, and had an only child, Joneta, who carried that barony in marriage to the ancient family of Cockburn. See charters concerning the marriage, 39 Dav. II., in Robertson's Index, pp. 85, 86. a — The Cockburns quarter the Lindsay fesse-chequee in remembrance of it. Failing the heirs of this marriage, Ormiston was to go to William de Lindsay, Lord of the Byres, youngest son of Sir David of Crawford, and consequently Sir Alex- ander's youngest nephew. § The minimum of income prerequisite to entitle a knight to the rank of ban- neret was £500 per annum, equivalent to above £6000 in modern money. James' Life of Edward the Black Prince, torn. ii. p. 5. — Lord Chandos did not consider himself powerful enough to claim to be one till the battle of Najarra. Ibid., p. 298. a An index, drawn up about the year 1629, of many records of charters granted by the sovereigns of Scotland between 1309 and 1413, most of which are now lost, and edited by William Robertson, Esq., 4to. 1798, — an invaluable relic. Sect. V. SIR DAVID OF CRAWFORD. 47 Hill in the ensuing year, 1333.* And finally John Lindsay, Bishop of Glasgow,! a descendant of the House of Lamberton, and uncle, I believe, of Christiana, Dame de Coucy4 returning from France to Scotland with two ships, conveying the instruments of a treaty between France and Scotland, thirty thousand pounds in money, together with warlike stores, contributed by the King of France, and with many noble ladies of Scotland, who had taken refuge in Flanders during the troubles, and on the first appear- ance of tranquillity had besought his escort on their return, was intercepted by the English Admiral, John de Ross, and captured, after a gallant resistance, — the men-at-arms being all slain or drowned, and the Bishop mortally wounded in the head, of which he died before reaching the land ; while several of those noble ladies refused, it is said, to eat or drink, for very grief and sorrow at their misadventure, and died on board, and were buried toge- ther with the Bishop, after reaching land, at Wytsande, on the coast of England. This sad event took place in August, 1337.§ Baliol meanwhile had been compelled to quit Scotland long before the war of which he had been the original pretext was composed. He fled to England, and received hospitality for awhile at Morholm, the residence of his cousin-german Christiana de Lindsay, then a widow and in old age. " She entertained him," says the Chronicle of Lanercost, " with divers solaces and festivities, and he promised her, if he should chance to prosper in his enterprise, great lands and revenues in Scotland which * Knyghton, Chron., col. 2564 ; and see a Chronicle quoted by Tytler, Hist, of Scotland, torn. ii. p. 454. f He appears to have been elected in 1321, — see Mr. Innes' Preface to the Re- gistrum Episc. Glasguensis, p. xxxvi. — Spotswood says he was " given much to the adorning of his church." Hist. Church of Scotland, p. 114. — The Mr. John de Lindsay, who witnesses deeds in the Paisley Chartulary, pp. 195, 197, about 1275, was probably the Bishop. % A document is preserved in the Register of the Bishopric of Glasgow, describing his seal, which he had lost. On one side was the shield of William de Coucy, on the other his own proper coat of arms, — the latter, as proved by impressions of the seal still extant, was an orle, with a bend dexter, which connects him with the Baliols, with Walter de Lindsay, probably his grandfather, (vide supra, p. 30, note,) with Sir Gilbert Lindsay, hereafter to be mentioned, &c. Reg. E. Glasg., torn. i. p. 231. — The Bishop adhered at first to the party of his kinsman, Edward Baliol, in 1333. Preface, p. xxxviii. § Hemingford, torn. ii. p. 280 ; Walsingham, p. 118; Lord Hailes' Annals, torn, ii. p. 197 ; Reg. Episc. Glasg., Preface, p. xxxvi. 0 48 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. belonged to her hereditarily from ancient times."* But she died two years afterwards, in 1335,t and though Edward III. granted Lamberton and other estates in the South of Scotland, originally belonging to Christiana, and forming the " Baronia de Lynde- seye," to her son Sir William, Sire de Coucy, that same year,J it is needless to add that the grant was merely nominal, and that they were never restored to the line of their original proprietors. The star, in fact, of the House of Crawford was now in the ascendant. The barony of Crawford, with its dependencies, had been bestowed, as I have already mentioned, on Sir Alexander, on the forfeiture of the Pinkeneys, — many fair estates, and an hereditary annual rent of one hundred marks, then a very large sum, from the great customs of Dundee, were among the tokens of favour bestowed upon Sir David by Robert Bruce ;§ and by his marriage with Mary, coheiress of the Abernethies, in 1325, || he acquired a great accession of territory in the shires of Rox- burgh, Fife, and Angus. He was entrusted too at one time with * Chron. Lanercost, p. 271. — Christiana had a charter of free warren in Mor- holm and Winandermere in 1331, Cal. Rot. Chart., p. 163. — Morholm had been a park since the time of Walter de Lindsay, her grandfather, as appears by his charter to Warton, already cited. Every trace of the manor of Morholm is now lost. Baines' Hist. Lancashire, torn. iv. p. 572. f Inquis. post Mortem, torn. ii. p, 62. J By a charter of Confirmation, 5 June, 1335, in which are enumerated " tota baronia de Lyndeseye infra villam Berewici super Twedam ;" the manerium, or manor, of Lamberton, in Berwickshire ; the manor of Caverton, and half the barony of Wester-Ker, in Eoxburghshire ; the manor of Scravelyn, in Peeblesshire, — that of Durisdeer, in Dumfriesshire, and the " libera hospitia " of Haldecambehouse, Selkirk, and Traquair, — the manor of Parva Fenton, &c, in the county of Edinburgh, with all the knights' fees, patronage of churches, &c, belonging to William within the said counties. Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 352. — The five counties in which these estates lay had been made over to Edward III. in the preceding year, 1334, by Edward Baliol, to be annexed to England for ever. Hence this Confirmation, and hence no notice is taken in it of the Lindsay estates in those counties not included in Baliol's concession. § Reg. M. Sig. — The annual rent was confirmed by David II. to Sir David's grandson, Sir James Lindsay. Robertson's Index, p. 86. — And see the Chamberlain Rolls, torn. ii. p. 212, anno 1434. || The dispensation, bearing that date, was discovered by Andrew Stuart in the Vatican, — see his History of the Stuarts, p. 446. — " The family of Abernethy was one of the oldest in Scotland, and, along with the old Earls of Fife and the ' Black Priest of Wedale,' shared in the transcendant privilege of a sanctuary." Riddell's Remarks on Peerage Law, p. 153. Sect. V. SIR DAVID OF CRAWFORD. 49 the custody of Berwick Castle,* and at another with that of Edinburgh, which is especially mentioned by Wyntown, in praise of his orderly and prudent conduct while in that office : — " Intil his time with the countrie Na riot, na na strife made he."f Nor was he ungrateful for these honours and distinctions, as witnessed by his donations to God and the Church. He con- firmed the grants of his predecessors, and more particularly of Sir Gerard de Lindsay, to Newbattle, — granting to the monks, for himself and his heirs, a charter of free barony over all the lands thus bestowed upon them, with all its privileges, and without any " retinementum," or claim in requital, save the suffrages of their prayers.J And, in addition to this, by a distinct charter, he bestowed upon them another extensive district within the same domain of Crawford, on the tenure of their perpetually serving the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, adjoining the Castle of Crawford, and that of St. Lawrence of the Byres, and keeping them in repair, — assigning moreover, for the support of the priest at the former chapel, an ancient house denominated " the Lady's manor-place " as a residence, and land for making himself a garden, and pasture for a horse and for five cows and five calves, and two acres of meadow-land, together with fuel, and the right of fishing in the Clyde, — and a similar provision, though on a smaller scale, for the priest at the Byres ; pledging himself at the same time by a subsidiary charter to make up the loss to the monks by land elsewhere, should they be deprived of the territory in question through any law-plea or otherwise. § And finally, several years afterwards, towards the close of his career, I find * Payment, in 1329, " Johanni de Lessiduwyn pro feodo suo, de tempore quo David de Lyndes' fuit custos ville Berewyci," &c. Chamberlain Bolls, torn. i. p. 99. f Cronykil, SfC, torn. ii. p. 266. % The charter is dated "in capella Beati Thome Martiris juxta Castrum de Crawford." Chart. Newbattle, MS. § Chart. Newbattle, MS. — I have printed this charter in the Appendix, No. IV. — " The existence of the chapel of the Castle of Crawford is carried back to the years 1175-1178 by charters in the Register of Holyrood, Liber Cartarum Sancte Cruris, pp. 42, 55." Information from Joseph Robertson, Esq., who adds, after enumerating the chapels at Lamberton and Thurston, " I have not observed any other instance in Scotland of the presence of a chapel in each of so many manors of the same family." VOL. I. E 50 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. him mortifying, as it was then called, two marks annually, out of the lands of Pitfour, near Cairnie, for the maintenance of a wax- light, to be kept burning through all future time at the tomb where the Lady Mary, his late wife, lay buried, and where he hoped to be laid beside her — in the choir of the Abbey-church of Lindores — for the benefit of both their souls. This latter charter is dated at the monastery, on the 19th of November, 1355,* — he had probably retired thither to die, as his name nowhere occurs subsequently to that period. Sir David left three surviving sons, whose alliances and pos- sessions I must here briefly enumerate, as it will render my narrative more distinct and clear hereafter. They had had an elder brother, David, a very gallant youth, who had been killed several years before his father, unmarried, and aged only twenty- one, at the disastrous battle of Neville's Cross, or Durham, where David II. was taken prisoner. He fought under the King's banner, and fell with the flower of the chivalry of Scotland, in a vain struggle for his preservation.! The eldest surviving brother, Sir James, married that same year his cousin Egidia Stuart, sister of Robert II., and daughter of the High Steward by the Princess Marjory, daughter of King Robert Bruce, — a marriage for which, on account of their near relationship, a dispensation was obtained from Rome at the request of King Philip of France 4 She bore him an only son, Sir James Lindsay, afterwards Lord of Crawford, and a daughter, Isabelle, wife of Sir John Maxwell * Chart. Lindores, p. 45, — where the Confirmation by David II., in the thirty- sixth year of his reign, is also printed. Cairnie had been granted to William de Lindsay, Rector of Ayr, and his heirs, in 1319. f Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 343. % Stuart's Hist, of the Stuarts, p. 446. — The dispensation is dated at Avignon, 11 April, 1346. They were within the third and fourth degrees of consanguinity, the one being second-cousin, the other second-cousin once removed, to the other. Egidia afterwards married Sir Hugh Eglinton, who is mentioned together with " Egidia de Lyndesay," his wife, (ladies who married a second husband usually in those days retaining the surname of the first,) in the Chamberlain Bolls, under the year 1365, torn. i. p. 439, — and who obtained from Robert II., in the second year of his reign, a charter to himself, " et Egidie de Lyndesay, sorori Regis, sponse sue," of the lands of Boningtoun, and others. Robertson's Index, p. 97. — A Confirmation by Robert II. of Egidia's terce or provision out of the estates of Crawford, Evandale, Kirkmichael, Maryton, Dunbolg, and Cairnie, and from the customs of Dundee, dated 21 Nov. 1383, is in the Muniment-room at Haigh Hall. Sect. V. SIR ALEXANDER OF GLENESK. 51 of Pollock.* The third of Sir David's sons, Sir Alexander, married Catherine, daughter of Sir John de Striviling, or Stirling, and heiress of Glenesk and Edzell, in Angus, and of other lands in Invernessshire,t by whom he had issue Sir David of Glenesk, the first Earl of Crawford, and Sir Alexander, — he married, secondly, Marjory Stuart, niece of Robert II., J who bore him two sons, Sir William of Rossie,§ ancestor of the Lindsays of Dowhill, still numerous in Scotland, and Sir Walter, || besides a daughter, * They were married, apparently, either in 1372 or 1373, judging from charters in Robertson's Index, pp. 114, 115. — Isabelle had a rich dower of unentailed lands in Galloway, (ibid. p. 119,) and became the ancestrix of the two knightly families of Pollock and Calderwood. Four isolated shields, of the fourteenth century, taken from the ancient castle, now in ruins, have been inserted by Sir John Maxwell of Pollock, the present representative of Isabelle, in the walls of the stables at Pol- lock; the first represents the arms of Maxwell, the second the fesse-chequee of Lindsay, the third the lion of Abernethy, and the fourth the garbs of Cumyn, the feudal arms of Buchan — probably added here, as having been assumed by Isabelle's brother, Sir James of Crawford and Buchan. In those days families exhibited the arms of their different alliances in separate shields, instead of quartering them. — Isabelle afterwards married Sir Henry Preston, as proved by a charter of Sir James, the second, of Crawford, to his " dilecte sorori, Domine Elisabethe," (a name often used interchangeably with Isabelle in the fourteenth century,) and her husband Sir Henry, of lands in Fermartyne, 1390-1397. Aberdeenshire Collections, Spalding Club, p. 500. f Original settlement, 1365, by Catherine Stirling of her estates, on Sir Alex- ander, Haigh Muniment-room; and royal charter, Robertson's Index, p. 61. — The cognisance of the Stirlings of Glenesk being three stars, in common with the House of De Moravia and other Northern families, (the Stirlings being even sometimes designed, territorially, De Moravia,) Sir Alexander differenced his paternal coat by placing a star in the dexter chief point, or upper corner, of the shield. His son Earl David dropped it on becoming chief of the family, — but the star was readopted by the Lindsays of Edzell, and seme'e on the bordure borne by those of Balcarres. % She was daughter of Sir John Stuart of Ralston, brother of Robert II. Wyn- town says of her son, Sir Walter Lindsay, " Intil the thrid and the thrid gre Of kin wes James our King and he.' — Book ix., cap. 28. § Robert Stuart, Earl of Fife and Menteith, son of Robert II., granted a charter to Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk, on his resignation, of the two Rossies, in Fife, entailing them on Sir Alexander and the heirs-male of his marriage with Dame Marjory Stuart, his cousin. Attested enrolment of this charter, by desire of Walter Lindsay of Rossie, 5 Aug. 1445. || He visited England in 1407, to tilt with the Lord of Beaumont, (Wyntown, lib. ix. cap. 28,) — was Sheriff of Aberdeenshire in 1417, (Reg. M. Sig. ; Aberdeen- shire Collections, p. 343,) — was styled of Kinneff in 1422, by disposition, probably, of his nephew, Alexander Earl of Crawford, — had a charter of Morphie-Fraser, at which time he had a daughter and heiress, Elizabeth Lindsay, (Haigh Muniment- room,} — and witnesses a charter of Alexander Earl of Crawford in 1438. E 2 52 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. Euphemia. And lastly, Sir David's youngest son, Sir William, whose appanage was the Byres in Haddingtonshire, acquired the barony of Abercorn and other extensive estates with his wife Christiana, daughter of Sir William Mure of Abercorn,* and inherited moreover by disposition from his elder brother, Sir Alexander, the offices of hereditary baillie and seneschal of the regality of the Archbishopric of St. Andrews, t offices retained for many centuries by his posterity, even subsequently to the Reformation, down in fact to the middle of the last century, and which gave them great power in Fifeshire and wherever the Archbishops possessed property and influence. The Earls of Lennox held the like office under the Archbishops of Glasgow. Sir William was the father of another Sir William, J who obtained, by his marriage with Christiana, daughter of Sir William Keith, the hereditary Marischal of Scotland, the barony of Dunotter, with its impregnable castle, on the dreary coast of Kincardine, — which he afterwards, however, exchanged with his father-in-law for the lordship and castle of Struthers in the more pleasant vales of Fife,§ which became the chief residence of his posterity, — under the service, however, on the part of the Keiths, that in time of war the infant heir of the Lindsays of the Byres should reside with his attendants in Dunotter. || This second Sir Wil- liam IT was the father of Sir John, the first Lord Lindsay of the * See Appendix, No. I., Head V., vn., 4, and ancient charters, Regist. Mag. Sig. ; Rob. Index, p. 117. — In memory of this marriage Sir William's descendants adopted three stars, in chief, on their shield, three stars being the arms of the Mures of Abercorn. t Granted to Sir Alexander by the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 9 April, 1378. Miscellany of the Maitland Club, torn. i. p. 378. % See the Appendix, No. I., Head V., viii. § Charters in the Byres charter-chest at Crawford Priory, Fifeshire ; and see Appendix No. I., Head V., VDL, 2. — Charter by Robert III. to William Keith of the barony and castle of Dunotter, by resignation of William Lindsay. Robertson's Index, p. 143. || Gordon of Straloch's Description of Scotland, in Blaeu's Theatrum Orbis, p. 108 of the volume devoted to Scotland and Ireland. % Sir William of the Byres founded, in 1413, a chapel to the Holy Trinity in the Cathedral of St. Andrews, to be supported by eight pounds yearly, out of the barony of Aldie in Strathearn. Beg. Mag. Sig. — Long afterwards, in 1612, after Byres and its dependencies had been sold to Sir Thomas Hamilton, ancestor of the Haddington family, a parliamentary ratification to him includes "the patronage of the chaplainry called the Ladie Chapel of Drem, foundit of auld be William Lord Lindsay, and thereafter annexit to the chaplainry and alterage foundit Sect. V. SIR JAMES OF CRAWFORD. 53 Byres ; his descendants acted a distinguished part in Scottish history, and eventually succeeded, in prejudice of the heirs-male, to the honours of the elder branch, or House of Crawford. Each of these three surviving brothers — the sons of Sir David, Lord of Crawford — took, as we shall see, an active part in the affairs of their time. The two elder, Sir James and Sir Alex- ander, were especially active during the period immediately sub- sequent to 1350, — Sir James, after his father's death, in nego- tiating his sovereign's release,* and Sir Alexander in seeking honour in the foreign wars ; he obtained a safe-conduct to pass through England to the continent in 1368, with a train of sixty horse and foot,t probably to take part in the struggle between France and England for Aquitaine, and for some years we lose sight of him. He reappears shortly before the death of King David, and his seal, with that of his nephew Sir James, the son of his elder brother long before deceased, is still attached to the famous instrument or declaration of the magnates of Scotland, immediately after the coronation of King Robert II., in 1371, by which they bound themselves to recognise his eldest son, the Earl of Carrick, as King of Scotland after his deaths — a recognition by which the succession to the throne was virtually secured for ever to the House of Stuart. Sir William, the youngest of the three sons, was also distinguished both in policy and war, — we shall hear more of him hereafter. Sir David left a daughter also, the wife of the chief of the House of Dalhousie, and mother of Sir Alexander Ramsay, a most distinguished warrior. § And I ought to have mentioned previously, that he had had a sister, Beatrice de Lindsay, wife of Sir Archibald Douglas, brother of the " Good Lord James," and mother of William, the first Earl within the paroche kirk of St. Andrews at the altar called the Trinity altar, situat within that part of the said paroche kirk callit the Lord Lindsay's Yle, &c." Acts Pari., torn. iv. p. 484, * Eotuli Scoiice, passim; and Rob. Index, p. 108. — An allusion occurs in the Chamberlain Rolls, under 1358, to "tempore capcionis Comitis Marchiseper Domi- num Jacobum de Lindsay," described also as " quondam Dominum Jaeobum," &c. —Tom. i. p. 306. — I do not know the period or the event thus alluded to. f Rot. Scot., torn i. p. 830. % Acts Pari, torn. i. p. 182. — The seals are engraved in the plate of seals prefixed to this chapter. § Sir William of the Byres was uncle of Sir Alexander Ramsay, according to Froissart, — it could only have been maternally, through a sister of the former. 54 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. of Douglas, — an alliance which became the ground, I presume, of the close fraternity that long existed between the Houses of Crawford and Douglas. Beatrice afterwards married Sir Robert Erskine of that Ilk, and was ancestress of the Earls of Marr.* Before closing this section, I must add a few words on the armorial bearings of the family, a subject of vital interest during the ages of which I am speaking. They underwent an important change towards the close of the thirteenth century, — Sir Alex- * According to Wyntown, Sir David Lindsay of Crawford was " erne," or uncle, to William first Earl of Douglas, Cronykyl, lib. viii. cap. 41. — This must have been through a sister, the wife of Sir Archibald Douglas, and Earl William's mother. That mother is legally proved to have borne the name of " Beatrix de Douglas " subsequently to her marriage, the surname being doubtless assumed from her husband, exactly as Egidia, sister of Robert II., assumed the surname of her husband Sir James Lindsay. Beatrice de Lindsay must therefore have been the original or maiden name of the lady in question. Beatrice's husband, Sir Archi- bald, died in 1342, — her son, Earl William, in 1384, — her grandson, the gallant Earl J ames, four years afterwards, at Otterburn, childless. He was succeeded by Archibald of Galloway, illegitimate son of the " Good Lord James," as third Earl ; but the heirship of line and representation of the original Douglasses descended through Aleonora, daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas and Beatrice de Lindsay, sister of William first Earl of Douglas, and wife of Sir James Sandilands of Calder, to the present Lord Torphichen, — to whose courtesy in affording us the use of valuable papers the Balcarres family have been greatly beholden in the recent Crawford peerage claim. See Mr. Riddell's Remarks upon Scottish Peerage Law, pp. 160 sqq. The establishment of the true maternity of William first Earl of Douglas is interest- ing historically, as disproving the fiction by which the Douglasses were represented as having a claim to the Crown preferable to that of the Stuarts, through descent from Dornagilla Cumyn, daughter of John Cumyn of Badenoch by Marjory sister of King John Baliol, the alleged wife of Sir Archibald Douglas, and mother of the first Earl of that name ; the said Dornagilla being thus unduly substituted for Sir Archibald's only and lawful wife, Beatrice de Lindsay, — while, even supposing Dornagilla had been Earl William's mother, the descendants of Christiana de Lindsay, as already mentioned, had the prior claim. For this observation I am indebted to Mr. Eiddell, as also for proof of the identity of Beatrice de Lindsay, or Douglas, with Beatrice, the Erskine ancestress. He discovered many years ago, in the Marr charter-chest, a grant by David II., in 1323-4, to Archibald Douglas, of the lands of Rettreif, and others, to him and his heirs. These lands must have been the terce or jointure of Beatrice de Lindsay, or Douglas, enjoyed by Sir Robert Erskine, her second husband, "jure mariti." The lands reverted to the Douglasses after her death, and it is impossible on any other ground to account for the fact of the deed in question being in the Marr repositories. — Beatrice, it should be added, is always called Beatrice Lindsay in the old Erskine pedigrees. — She was dead in 1356-7, as appears by a charter by David II., in the Torphichen charter- chest, confirming a charter to " quondam Domine Beatrici de Lindsay " by Duncan Earl of Fife, &c. Sect. V. ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 55 ander Lindsay abandoned the eagle of Limesay, and adopted the fesse-chequee argent and azure,* probably in consequence of his close alliance by kindred and interest with the High Steward, — retaining however the original gules, or red ground of the shield ; while his son, Sir David, employed the eagle as tenant, or sup- porter, of the escutcheon, thus inscribed with the fesse-chequee, — the insignia thus exhibiting, in the symbolism of ancient heraldry, the purity and truth of knightly love, elevated and borne up by the Holy Spirit. These insignia are enshrined within a star and a circle, emblematical of heaven and eternity, on Sir David's seal, still attached to an ancient charter granted shortly before his death.f The ideas thus enunciated received more varied and fuller expression from his descendants. They abandoned the eagle, and adopted two lions, gules, as their supporters, figurative of the strength of love — as exhibited on the seal of Sir James, above alluded to, in 1371 — with the head of an ostrich as their crest, and the mysterious and almost awful motto, or "posie," as it was then termed, " Endure !" — the oldest (as yet ascertained) of the Scottish mottoes4 Sir David, the first Earl of Crawford, on being elevated to that dignity, § quartered the arms of Abernethy with his own ;[| and the House of Balcarres, in later times, encircled the Crawford shield with a bordure azure, semee of stars, or, sub- stituting moreover, as their crest, a pavilion, or tent, azure, simi- larly semee of stars, or — to signify heaven, as the goal of Chris- tian pilgrimage, and ensigned by a banner, gules, in allusion to * As seen on his seal, appended to the instrument by which Sir Alexander be- comes main-pemer, or surety, for Robert Bruce, 9 July, 1297, cited supra, p. 39. — It is engraved in the plate of seals preliminary to this chapter. t Alluded to previously, p. 4, as in the charter-chest of Sir George Warrender, Bart. — See also the plate just referred to. X Sometimes it is written " Endure Fort ! " corrupted in later years into " Furth." The family herald bore it as his name previously to 1464. Exchequer Bolls. § During his predecessor Sir James's life he bore the same arms and supporters as his father. See the Chart. Inchaffray, App. p. xlix. || As seen upon his seal attached to ancient charters, and given in the plate above referred to. It is a beautiful specimen of the art of seal-engraving at the close of the fourteenth century. It gradually declined in Scotland till the middle of the seventeenth century. — Earl David was among the earliest Scottish peers who used quartered arms. Nisbet's Ancient and Modern Use of Armories, 1718, p. 89. — This was a corruption of the pure essence of heraldry. The Crawford family ought to have borne the simple coat of Lindsay, which is indeed occasionally attributed to them, as e.g. in the HarL MSS., No. 4030. 56 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. the expression in Solomon's Song, " His banner over me was love," — bridling the lions with a starred collar, azure, and taking as their motto the words, " Astra, Castra, Numen, Lumen, Munimen," — " The Stars my Camp, and God my Light and Strength." — While the Lindsays of the Byres, neglecting the Abernethy quarterings, assumed three stars in the chief of their shield, in token of their descent from the House of Abercorn, and two griffins, figurative of Our Saviour in his mingled divine and human nature, as supporters, and a swan, displayed, as their crest, with the motto " Je ayme !" — sometimes exchanged for a Scottish one, " Love but dreid," Anglice, " without dread."* The junior branches of the Lindsays varied these principal bearings ad infi- nitum^ answering each other and their chief, in their mottoes especially, with a constant play of reference to the leading injunc- tion, " Endure ! " — as for example, " Sis fortis ! " borne by the house of Cavill, " Firmiter maneo," by that of Dowhill, and " Patientia vincit," by the Lindsays of Wormestone. And Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, who delighted in these plays of ingenuity, adding to the Byres coat a man's heart in base, argent, took for his crest a heart in flames, gules, transfixed with an arrow, and surmounted by a scroll, 44 Caritas, Caritas, Caritas!" * These arms, with the exception of the motto, were *borne by John first Lord Lindsay of the Byres, as witnessed by his seals still extant. They are given, with the motto " Je ame," in a MS. of blazonings, of the reign of Queen Mary, Adv. Library, — and with the motto " Love but dreid," in the dedication to John Earl of Lindsay of the map of Fife in Blaeu's ' Theatrum Orbis,' 1645. And see the plate of seals at the commencement of this chapter. — " This coat," says Crawford, " was still carried by the Lord Lindsay of the Byres and all the numerous branches and descendants of this noble family till the 1644, that the Earl of Lindsay was obliged by the entail of the Earl of Crawford to carry the armorial bearings of the House of Crawford, and this was thought peculiar only to the Earl of Crawford himself, and was not communicable to the younger branches of the family, — they kept till (to) the ensigns armorial of the House of Byres ; for Master Patrick Lindsay, the second son of this very Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, did not wear the coat of his father as Earl of Crawford, but, as his second son as Earl of Lindsay and Lord Lindsay of the Byres, the fesse-chequee with the three mullets or stars in chief, with a crescent as his brotherly difference." Memoirs Hist, and Genealogical of the Lindsays, MS. by George Crawford, historiographer of Scotland, now in the possession of Alex. MacDonald, Esq., of the Eegister House, to whose kindness I am indebted for its perusal. — John 20th Earl of Crawford quartered the arms of Crawford and Lindsay of the Byres on his seal, as may be seen in the plate above referred to. Sect. V. BARONIAL TENURE. 57 with " Fides " and " Spes," Faith and Hope, as two maidens proper, for supporters,* thus carrying the original idea so far out as to lose its honest flesh and blood substantiality in pure ab- straction. Heraldry, I need not say, had a most living and eloquent speech in the early days of chivalry, and many a deep moral lesson was thus bequeathed to posterity. I have but one remaining observation to offer here. It might seem as if I had attributed more importance than their due to what appear to be but a succession of simple knights, — but the fact is, that I might have styled them Lords Crawford, Luffness, Lamberton, &c. with as much propriety as the early Percies, Nevilles, Mowbrays, and others, are styled Lords Percy, Neville, Mowbray, &c. by the English genealogists, — their tenure, status, and rank being precisely the same.t The Lindsays are occasion- ally indeed styled so by the chroniclers, J but it is not usual, and * See his arms, as blazoned by himself, in his collection of Scottish blazonings, as printed at Edinburgh, folio, 1822. t This is proved, independently of other evidence, by their figuring as witnesses in the royal charters from David I. downwards, an honour to which (as already mentioned) none but tenants in capite, or feudal barons, were admitted. There might have been differences in wealth and power, but all the magnates (strictly speaking) were peers. a Neither the Bruces till the marriage of the elder Bruce with the Countess of Carrick — nor the Baliols till their elevation to the throne — nor the High Stewards till after the middle of the fourteenth century, possessed any title higher than that of simple " Sire," or " Seigneur " — like the De Coucys of France. b In England the barons ceased to be peers, unless specially so created, during the thirteenth century, but in Scotland the old system continued till 1587, long after the creation of the Earldom of Crawford. — The Lindsays of Crawford, while barons by tenure in England in the thirteenth century, are in fact correctly inserted as such by Sir Harris Nicolas in his English Peerage, torn. i. p. 377. X E. g. Sir James Lindsay of Crawford is styled the " Sire de Lindsay " by a " There is great reason to believe that to every considerable tract of land granted by the Conqueror, to be held in capite of the Crown, a dignity was an- nexed, with a jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, in conformity to the usages then established in Normandy. Thus Selden says : Tenere de rege in capite, habere possessiones sicut baroniam. And to be a baron, with a right to sit with the rest of the barons in councils or courts of judgment, according to the laws of that time, were synonymous. In course of time, the estate to which the dignity of a baron was annexed, was called a baronia, &c." Cruise on Dignities, p. 22. b " Lord Hale has observed that the title of dominus in the writs to the lords was in ancient times very rare ; but they were directed to ' Willelmo de Grey, chivaler;' and so in the other writs at common law. And the reason, as given by the old books, was, because the King writes to none of his subjects by the name of Lord. But in the time of Henry VI. this was altered in many cases ; for divers of the nobility are summoned by the names dominus de Say, dominus de Ferrars, &c." Cruise on Dignities, p. 71. 58 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. I have preferred the simple style of chivalry, as current in both countries during these early centuries — subjoining merely the above general protest in vindication of what might otherwise be disregarded. Their rank and position may be stated more briefly thus — that the Lindsays having been tenants in capite, and great barons or Magnates Scotise, in uninterrupted succession, from their arrival in Scotland, till the creation of the Earldom of Crawford, their peerage properly dates from the beginning of the twelfth century — while their territorial and foreign surname proves them to have been noble, in the proper and continental sense of the term, prior to the migration. SECTION VI. I pause here for a moment, ere closing this chapter, to mention certain junior branches and two or three individual Lindsays, hitherto left unnoticed as younger brothers or collaterals, but whose memory we would not willingly let die. One of the most interesting of the latter class is Robert de Lindsay, Abbot of Peterborough under King John in England, a dignitary whose wisdom, providence, energy, honesty, piety, and beneficence are affectionately recorded by all the early chroniclers of that great monastery. I must refer you to them, and to the more modern historians Gunton and Patrick, for an account of his many merits, — his decoration of the convent and the church, in the former of Froissart, and " Jacobum Dominum de Lyndsey" in his safe-conduct, 15 Dec. 1381. "David Sire de Lyndesey" is so designed in 1398. So Wyntown, in his account of the battle of Glenbrerith, in 1392,— " The Schirrave of Angus in Ketynnis lay, And by hirn near Schir Patrik Gray, The Lord de Lyndyssay at Dundee :" — And in his account of the creation of the Earldom of Crawford, 1398 : — " The Lord Schir Dawy the Lyndyssay Was Erie maid that yere," &c. — So too in the account of the meeting at Haldanestank, — " Schir Davy, Lord than de Lyndesay, Was at that tryste that ilke day," &c. — See also Robertson's Index, p. 139. It would be superfluous to adduce instances of this from the 'Dignity of the Scots Peerage Vindicated,' Eolt's 'Life of John Earl of Crawford,' and such-like works of the last century. Sect. VI. ROBERT ABBOT OF PETERBOROUGH. 59 which he glazed fourteen, in the latter thirty windows, previously stuffed merely with reeds and straw to keep out the weather, besides covering the Abbot's hall with lead, building a lavatory for the monks, and a larder for the cellerarhis, — his successful vindication of the existing privileges of the monastery, and exten- sion of its immunities by purchasing rights of forestry from the King ; and his augmentation of the number of monks from seventy-two to eighty, assigning his manor of Bellasyse for the maintenance of the additional eight,* — and pass to "W. de Lyndissay," Chancellor of Scotland in 1231, f already presumed * Gunton's Hist, of Peterborough, with additions by Bishop Patrick, folio, 1686, pp. 24, 293 sqq. — Robert de Lindsay was elected in 1214, and died in 1222. I cannot suppress one amusing passage : — " Before his time, there had been great discord and murmuring, contention and envy, frequently happening among the brethren propter minutionem, about blood-letting (which was very necessary sometime to those sedentary people, who were subject to repletion) ; and no wonder, because nobody could accipere minutionem, be let blood, without an order from the Prior ; who let some have it oftener, others more rarely ; some after five weeks, others after six, and others not till after eight, or ten, or fifteen, or perhaps half a year. To take away therefore all trouble out of their minds about this matter, this Abbot ordered that the convent should be divided into six parts, and upon the day of letting blood, he that was the senior of that part, whose turn it was to have the benefit of it, should ask licentiam minuendi, (and that under his hand,) for his brethren from the Prior." — See further extracts, curiously illustrative of monastic times, and of Abbot Robert's energy and zeal, in the Appendix, No. V. Other English Lindsays appear in the records, — e. g. Vitalis de Lindsay, as possessing land in Newbyres, co. Wilts, given him by King Henry II., who reigned 1154-1189, — Vitalis being still alive in 1221, Lit. Claus., p. 466,— Richard de Lindesie and Matilda his wife, as holding land in Magna and Parva Crawle, and in Doddelee, co. Bucks, 1196-1203, Fines, torn. i. pp. 165, 209, and Testa.de Nevill, p. 248, — John de Lindsay, Prior of Mendham, co. Suffolk, before 1204, Dugd. Monast., torn. v. p. 56, — Gilbert de Lindsay and Emma his wife, proprietors in Derbyshire in 1220, Fines, torn. ii. p. 19, — Thomas and Felicia de Lindsay, tenants in co. Huntingdon, temp. Henr. III. and Edw. I., and apparently scions of the House of Lamberton, Testa de Nevill, pp. 26, 331, 354, — William de Lindsay, who sued in 1285 for a moiety of the church of Ringsted, co. Norfolk, (a property which belonged subsequently, at least, to the Chamberleyns,)— William de Lindsay, who receives a pardon for adhesion to Thomas Earl of Lancaster, 1318, Palgrave's Writs, Part II. p. 130, — Richard de Lindsay, lord of the manors of La Lee and Old Courthall, co. Warwick, 1322, Inquis. ad quod damnum, p. 266, — Gilbert de Lynd- seye, Prior of St. Nicholas, Exeter, 1359, then aged and infirm, Dugd. Mon., torn. iii. p. 376, — Alice Lyndesey, Prioress of Daunton, co. Kent, 1436, ibid. torn. iv. p. 286, — William de Lindsay, son and heir of Richard de Lindsay, both Lords of Derteford, co. Kent, 12 Edw. IV., Inquis. post mortem, torn. iv. p. 357, — and many others. The Lindsays cease in the summonses to the English parliament after the reign of Edward II. f Witness, 30 June 1231, to a charter of Alexander II. to the Knights Templars, confirmed 19 Oct. 1488. Reg. M. Sig. 60 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. identical with William, younger brother of Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, — to William de Lindsay, Dean of Glasgow in 1246,* — and to Rodolphus de Lindsay, Preceptor of Torphichen, and Grand-master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem within Scotland at the time of the dissolution of the order in 1306. f Nor must I overlook Sir William de Lindsay, Lord of Symon- toun in Ayrshire, younger son of Sir David, the first, of Luflness, and of his wife Lady Margaret, and thus younger brother of the Sir David who died in the crusade of St. Louis, and of Sir John, the High Chamberlain under Alexander III. He was a munifi- cent benefactor to Newbattle — bestowing on the monks, and on other " pauperes Christi " through their intervention — for the benefit of his own soul, his wife Lady Alice's, and in especial his mother Lady Margaret's — an annuity of twenty pounds sterling, his directions for the distribution of which are minute and interesting, — one hundred and four shillings being assigned to the monks "ad pitancias," for buying two shillings' worth of food more delicious than usual, and " salsamenta," or sauces to accom- pany it, for their recreation, on every Sunday throughout the year ; four pounds eighteen shillings and sevenpence, to the provision of twenty-four pair of " sotularia," or conventual shoes, " bonorum et largorum " — substantial and roomy — with two " pictacia, sive taconos " — parchment strings— to each pair — for distribution among them yearly at Haddington, on the feast of All Saints ; thirty-two shillings and eight pence for the pur- chase of ninety-two ells of Totness cloth, to be distributed among thirteen of the most indigent poor the same day and place — four ells to each person ; six pounds ten shillings, to be given in alms to thirteen hundred poor people, the same day, annually, so that each may have a penny ;J five shillings to remunerate the distri- butors for their trouble ; one mark to entertain the Franciscans * "Magister Willelmus de Lyndeseya," Dean of Glasgow, figures from 1236 {Chart. Melrose, pp.243, 262, 263, 667; Chart. Scone, p. 47) till 1246 (Chart. Kelso, p. 231). — See also Chart. Kelso, p. 331. — I do not know whether he is to be considered identical with " Magistro W., clerico nostro, filio Roberti de Lindesia," to whom Andreas de Moravia, Bishop of Moray, grants a prebendary's stall between 1234 and 1242. Chart. Moray, p. 66. t Robertson's Index, p. 11. X Six score pennies to the hundred was at that time the universal computation of the North. Sect. VI. SIR WILLIAM OF SYMONTOUN. 61 of Haddington on the anniversary of Lady Margaret, the morrow of the feast of the Pope St. Gregory,* provided they celebrate mass to her memory within their church where she lies buried, — and half a mark the same day to the Carmelites of Luffness for similar commemoration ; half a mark for lighting up the lamp of St. Mary in the church of St. Giles at Ormiston on the vigil of the Purification of the Virgin, and thirteen pence for lighting a lamp in the infirmary at Newbattle ; the sums in question, if not distributed on the days ordained, to be divided between the Franciscans and the repair of the bridge of Haddington, unless some horrible tempest or war have prevented the distribution.! The value of the pound sterling, as may be supposed, was much greater then than now. J This charter was granted in 1293, immediately before Sir William's departure for Rome, apparently on a diplomatic mission to the Pope on behalf of his country- men ; Edward during his absence seized his property, and made provision out of it for his wife Lady Alice in 1296.§ — Another William de Lindsay, well known to antiquarians as Rector of Ayr, Canon of Glasgow and Dunkeld, Lord of Kirkmichael, in Galloway, and of Cairnie, [| and High Chamberlain of Scotland for many years under Robert Bruce,1T was, I believe, a younger * The 12th of August. t Chart. Newbattle, MS. — I have printed in the Appendix, No. VI., the " Forma Distributions XX. librarum," as given in the Chartulary, a very curious document. X The yearly sum thus bequeathed by Sir William was equivalent to above £100 of our present money. § Mandate by Edward, 4 Sept. 1296, Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 28— Lady Alice, as Lord Hailes observes, was probably an heiress. Annals, torn. i. p. 243. — I suspect she was of the family of Lockhart. || He is described as " Sir William Lindsay, Canon of Glasgow and Dunkeld, and Rector of the church of Ayr, and Lord of Kirkmichael a in Nithsdale, and of Letany," in a charter, 7 May 1327, Beg. Episc. Glasg., torn. i. p. 238. — William de Lindsay, Canon in Glasgow, has a charter from Robert Bruce " of the barony of Kirkmichael in valle de Nith, whilk Roger Mowbray tint by forfalture." Robert- son's Index, pp. 12, 120. — See also for other grants to him, ibid. pp. 2, 8, 14, 21, 26. — " If the vicars," observes Mr. Innes, " of the richly endowed regulars were only scantily and grudgingly maintained by their wealthy patrons, it is evident that from the earliest times the secular rectors were often men of wealth and family. Some of them were the younger sons of great families, and in more than one instance we find clergymen possessed of considerable landed property." Preface, Chart. Melrose, torn. i. p. xxviii. He was Chamberlain, 19 June 1312, when he witnesses an indenture between a Printed " Kyrcunel," I presume by mistake. 62 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. brother of Sir Alexander of Crawford, and rivalled his cousin Sir William in munificence, as is evinced by his charters preserved in the Chartulary of Glasgow.* The landed property of both these Williams ultimately reverted to the House of Crawford.f From yet another William, uncle of Sir William of Symon- toun, and younger son of the first William of Luffness, descended the powerful House of Craigie and Thurston, of whom Sir Walter and Sir James, mentioned in a preceding page as partisans of Wallace and Bruce, were successively representatives. Sir James, the accomplice in the murder of the Red Cumyn in the church of the Minorites at Dumfries, was succeeded by another Sir James, his eldest son and heir, in whose person the sacrilege of the father was visited by a fearful retribution, as recorded by the ancient chroniclers. Sir James and Roger Kirkpatrick, as you may recollect, were partners in the deed. " The body of the slaughtered Cumyn was watched during the night by the Franciscans with the usual rites of the Church. But at mid- night the whole assistants fell into a dead sleep, with the exception of one aged father, who heard with terror and surprise a voice like that of a wailing infant exclaim, ' How long, O Lord, shall vengeance be deferred ? ' It was answered in an awful tone, ' Endure with patience until the anniversary of this day shall Sir Andrew Lesley and Sir William Lindsay, 25 Dec. 1316, Chart. Melrose, torn. i. p. 348, — 4 Jan. 1317-1318, as a witness to a charter cited by Crawford, Officers of State, p. 268,-12 April 1319, Chart. Inchaffray, p. 80. * By which, and relative documents, dated 1323 and 1327, he bestows ten pounds sterling annually (owing to him by Sir Simon Lockhart of the Lee) on the Dean and Chapter, part to be divided among the resident canons, and part to the support of a chaplain to celebrate divine offices for ever in the chapel of the Holy Trinity of Ayr, which Sir William had built, — Sir David Lindsay, Lord of Crawford, and Sir James Lindsay witnessing the original bond by Sir Simon, and the Confirmation by Robert Bruce. Reg. Episc. Glasg., torn. i. pp. 235 sqq. — Notices of Sir William Lindsay occur in the Chamberlain Rolls of 1329, torn. i. pp. Ill, 139. f Cairnie was subsequently possessed by Sir David, son of Sir Alexander of Crawford; and Sir James Lindsay, the second, had a charter from his uncle Robert II., in 1376, of the barony of Kirkmichael, which he held, as the King states, " hereditaria, ex infeodatione . . avi nostri . . Domini Roberti . . Regis," — that is, Robert the Bruce. See the ante-penultimate note. The charter confirms to him the rights of regality which his predecessors had enjoyed — to hold as fully, freely, and honourably as any Earl or Baron in Scotland. Reg. M. Sig., p. 133. — Sir James therefore held Kirkmichael as heir of William de Lindsay. — The same Sir James is styled " Dominus de Crawford et de Symontoun" in a charter confirming a grant by one of his vassals to Allan de Lauder, c. 1361. Sect. VI. HOUSE OF CRAIGIE. 63 return for the fifty-second time.' — In the year 1357," says Sir Walter Scott, "fifty-two years after Cumyn's death, James of Lindsay was hospitably feasted in the Castle of Caerlaverock in Dumfriesshire, belonging to Roger Kirkpatrick. They were the sons of the murderers of Cumyn. In the dead of the night, for some unknown cause, Lindsay arose, and poniarded in his bed his unsuspecting host. He then mounted his horse to fly, but guilt and fear had so bewildered his senses, that, after riding all night, he was taken at break of day not three miles from the castle, and was afterwards executed by order of King David II."* Sir James, thus untimely cut off, was succeeded by his son, Sir John Lindsay of Craigie and Thurston, whose daughter and heiress, Margaret, carried the property into the family of Ricardton, ever since designed " of Craigie," the representatives in the collateral male line of Sir William Wallace. f The male representation of the Lindsays of Craigie seems then to have devolved on the House of Dunrod, descended from John Lindsay, designed " Dominus de Dunrod " in 1360,| and who would * Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 361 ; Boeth., fol. 326 verso. — Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe has founded a beautiful ballad on this legend, the ' Murder of Caer- laverock.' t The House of Craigie were chiefly attached to the High Stewards, of whom they held Thurston in Berwickshire. They are constant witnesses to their charters, as well as to those of the contemporary Kings of Scotland. For the name of their ancestor William, I have no proper evidence beyond the family genealogies. The wife of this ancestor, and her inheritance of Craigie, appear in a Confirmation, circa 1272, by which "Walterus de Lindsay, miles, filius et heres quondam Cristiane Hose, et Matildis soror ejusdem Cristiane, heredes quondam Domini Johannis Hose, militis," confirm the church of Cragyn, or Craigie, to the Abbey of Paisley. Chart, de Passelet, p. 233. — Eespecting Sir James, Sir Walter's son, I need only add to what is said in a preceding note, supra, p. 40, that " Dominus Jacobus de Lindsay, miles," was living 21 Sept. 1323, when he witnesses, together with Sir David of Crawford, a charter in the Regist. Episc. Glasguensis, torn. i. p. 236. — This was probably the second Sir James, executed after the murder of Caerlaverock. That Sir James, the second, was eldest son and heir of Sir James, the first, is distinctly asserted in the Scotichronicon, loc. cit. — Sir John Lindsay of Craigie, his successor, figures from 1356-7 till the commencement of the reign of Robert II. ; he was a powerful personage, Sheriff and Coroner of Ayrshire, and possessed property in Durisdeer, co. Dumfries, the lands of Murletyre, co. Forfar, and those of Rattray, in Buchan. Rob. Index, pp. 46, 53, 63, 97, 98, 131, — where there are notices proving the marriage of his daughter. Sir John had a paternal uncle, William Lindsay, — I do not know whether or not he left issue. There are still considerable remains of the Castle of Craigie, which has been a strong and stately pile. See an interesting account of it in the Appendix, No. VII. J In a charter dated 1360, in the Morton Charter-room. The seal appended to 64 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. appear to have been a younger brother of Sir James of Craigie, and younger son of the murderer of Cumyn.* The Lindsays of Dunrod, a wild and warlike race, nourished for centuries in power and affluence, and their history is a dark and stormy one, in perfect keeping with the legend attaching to the memory of their ancestor. Two other lines of powerful barons, the Lords of Covington and Wauchopdale, descended from Sir John de Lindsay, Cham- berlain of Scotland, and uncle and guardian, as above mentioned, of Sir Alexander of Crawford. By his wife, Dionysia, he had two sons, Sir Philip and Sir Simon de Lindsay, knights bannerets of Cumberland and Northumberland under Edward EL,f and the respective ancestors of those two families. Sir Philip obtained it bears a fesse-chequee, with three stars in chief — the same difference as that after- wards adopted by the Lindsays of the Byres. * I deduce this from the following considerations: — 1. The Lindsays of Craigie were closely connected with the High Stewards, and held their barony of Thurston under them ; the Lindsays of Dunrod, similarly, were established in Renfrewshire by the Stuart family, — this suggests a relationship between the two families. — 2. Sir John Lindsay of Craigie grants to his son-in-law, John Wallace, an annual rent out of the lands of " Thornyle," in the barony of Renfrew, temp. David II., Rob. Index, p. 97. But these lands of " Thornele," afterwards called " Thornle- Lindsay," subsequently belonged to the Lindsays of Dunrod, — in 1492, Acta Dom. Concilii, p. 253 ; in Oct. 21, 1527, charter to Sir William Cunningham of Glencairn, Reg. Mag. Sig. — I conclude from this that they were part of the appanage assigned to the Dunrod ancestor by the House of Craigie. — 3. Sir James, the second, of Craigie, is described as " primogenitus" of his father, the first Sir James, Scoti- chronicon, loc. cit. He had probably therefore a younger brother — with whom on the preceding considerations I identify John, the first Lord of Dunrod. — 4. In corroboration of this argument, I may cite the tradition of the Dunrod family and of the West of Scotland, that the House of Dunrod were descendants and repre- sentatives of Sir James, the murderer of the Red Cumyn — who is elsewhere shewn to have been the Lord of Thurston and Craigie ; while, if credit may be allowed to the tradition, thus supported, their ancestor John of Dunrod could not have been so descended except as younger brother of Sir James, the second, as above contended. f Their arms are blazoned as follows in the Roll of Arms of the bannerets of England, between 1308 and 1314, cited supra, p. 4 : — " Sire Felip de Lyndesheye — de or, a un egle de porpre." — " Sire Symon de Lyndesheye — meisme les armes, a un baston goboune de argent e de azure." — In proof of the filiation, I may cite a charter of Robert Bruce to Robert Lauder of the mill of Lethberd, co. Stirling, " quod fuit quondam Philippi de Lyndesey, militis, et quod molendinum Simon de Lyndesey, miles, frater ejusdem quondam Philippi, contra nostram dignitatem regiam forisfecit de guerra," Reg. Mag. Sig., — taken in connection with the extract from the Chronicle of Lanercost, cited below. — The precedency given to Sir Philip, • and the difference in the arms of Sir Simon, as blazoned in the Roll above cited, prove the former to have been the elder brother. Sect. VI. COVINGTON AND WAUCHOPDALE. 65 the manors of Wykingby and Merston, in Lincolnshire, by bis wife Beatrice le Chamberleyn,* Sir Simon the barony of Wauchopdale, whether by marriage or otherwise I do not know.f Both took part with Edward in the war of independence, their English pro- prietorship outweighing, it would seem, their Scottish patriotism. J * They were already married in 1281. Plac. de quo Warranto, p. 415 ; Inquis.ad quod Damnum, p. 253.— Sir Philip appears to have had an interest also in the manor of Bloxham, co. Lincoln, in 1284, Placit. Abbrev., p. 206. — He and his brother Sir Simon had property also in Stirling, Reg. M. Sig., and Sir Philip had grants from Edward- II. of the lands of Polmaise-Marischal, co. Stirling, in 1309, Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 80. — They had property in Northumberland and Cumberland, as appears from their being classed as bannerets under those counties, — property probably inherited from their parents Sir John and Dionysia. It is probably in virtue of such Northumbrian possessions that the Chronicle of Lanercost relates a curious monkish legend, how on the death of that accomplished youth, John de Vesci, only son and heir of William, the competitor for the Scottish crown, " Dominus Philippus de Lyndesei," " Miles de Scotia," " Domini Johannis films," his instructor in chivalry, " dicti pueri educator," fell ill of grief, and afterwards of a strange disease, under which he lay for eight days on his bed at Beverley, speechless, and apparently deprived of his outer senses, till St. Cuthbert, pitying his sufferings, appeared to him in a vision, and told him, that he had merited his illness for having abandoned to neglect and ruin the hermitage and chapel of Inippavym, situated in his territory, and solemnly assigned to the Saint by his (Sir Philip's) ancestors — " now," added he, " a stable for cattle ! Yet, in what thou hast sinned hitherto, be it forgiven thee ; and do thou, receiving thy health, purge and repair my dishonoured sanctuary." Whereupon Sir Philip, suddenly recovering his speech, thanked the Saint, and besought his forgiveness. He often afterwards, adds the chronicler, attested this vision to his friends. This legend is inserted under the year 1295. Chron. Lanercost, p. 163. f Family tradition has always represented this domain as the earliest property of the Lindsays in Scotland. " Wauchope Castle ... is situated on a steep preci- pice, beautifully romantic, upon the river Wauchope, which, with its waters murmuring below among the pointed rocks and brushwood, renders the situation grand and picturesque. In those days it has been a place of great strength ; the fosse and other outworks of this ancient castle are still clearly discernible." Old Stat. Account, torn. x. p. 598. — See the Rot. Lit. Patent., torn. i. p. 211, for the account of proceedings, in 1306, against Sir Simon on the score of alleged oppres- sion in cutting of wood on the lands of Traquair, sold by him to William the son of Robert, " in qua solebat habere xvi bondos," or aboriginal slaves, &c. % Simon de Lindsay was " Gardein des Fortclosees de Lydel e del Eremitage" — the celebrated Castle of Hermitage — on behalf of Edward, 30 Oct. 1300, Palgrave's Documents, &c. p. 249. — Simon was one of the English prisoners released after the battle of Bannockburn, when his brother John, a priest, came to Scotland to negotiate his ransom. Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 132. — Philip was summoned from the county of Lincoln to perform military service against the Scots in 1300 and 1301, Palgrave's Writs, torn. i. pp. 334, 355, — and figures as "de la compagnie de Monsire Henr. de Percy " among the " Magnates qui fuerunt in guerra Scotie," serving under Edward at the siege of Stirling, Documents, &c, p. 269. — Philip was again summoned to serve against Scotland in June, 1315, Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 146. — VOL. I. F 66 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. Sir Philip died in 1317,* leaving issue a son named John, who resigned the barony of Stabilgorton, which he held appa- rently in his own right, to the " good Sir James " of Douglas, j but afterwards obtained that of Covington, in Lanarkshire, in marriage with the daughter of Sir Robert Maitland of Thirlestane, and bequeathed it to his posterity.^ Sir Simon also left a son, Sir John Lindsay, the Knight banneret alluded to in a former page, and who repaid the generosity of Robert Bruce in restoring him his father's property§ by a loyal adherence to the fortunes of his son, King David, sealed by his death in his defence at Neville's- Cross in 1346. || The descendants of these cousins, in the He seems, like many of the Limesays, to have been closely allied with Thomas Earl of Lancaster, having obtained a pardon, in 1313, for participation as his adhe- rent in the death of Gaveston, Palgrave's Writs, torn. ii. pt. ii. p. 67. — William de Lindsay, whose exact position on the family tree I do not know, obtained a similar remission in 1318, ibid., p. 130. And Sir Peter Limesay and John de Limesay of Warwickshire, and Richard de Limesay, all figure as adherents to the Earl in 1322, when he was executed in consequence of the detection of long and treason- able correspondence with Robert Bruce. Ibid., pp. 200, 210, 214, &c. * Abbrev. Rot. Orig., p. 233. f Robertson's Index, pp. 10, 21. — The district on either bank of the Esk below the limits of Wester Ker formed the old parish of Stabilgorton. % A few words of explanation are necessary here. Three John Lindsays, powerful barons, flourished in the middle of the fourteenth century. One of them was a knight banneret, the Lord of Wauchopdale, — his filiation is proved in the following note. The second, John of Dunrod, we have shewn by strong proba- bility to have been a scion of the House of Craigie. The third was John Lindsay of Covington, a descendant unquestionably of the House of Crawford, bearing, as he does, the fesse-chequee, but who cannot be affiliated to the family tree unless we admit his identity with John of Stabilgorton, eldest son of Sir Philip Lindsay, and who disappears almost immediately after his father's death. The argument therefore stands thus. We have the line of Sir John the Chamberlain, through his eldest son, Sir Philip, downwards to a John Lindsay ; we trace the House of Covington upwards to a John Lindsay, — and can get no further either way ; both these Johns were men of rank, both contemporary ; no father can be assigned to John of Covington, considered as distinct from John of Stabilgorton, — I conclude therefore that they were identical. § By a charter to John Lindsay, son of Simon Lindsay, " of the lands of Wa chop- dale, Langriggs, in Annandale, with the 8 merk land of Scraeisburgh, quas idem Simon erga nos forisfecit, and mony mae," cited in Robertson's Index, pp. 12, 15. — Sir John received at the same time a charter of lands in Rutherford and Maxton. Keg. Mag. Sig. || Knyghton's Chronicle, ap. Twysden, Scriptores, col. 2564. — Edward Baliol had forfeited him previously. The following notice occurs in 1340 : — " Rex (Edw. III.) confirmavit Johanni de Orreton in feodo omnia terras et tenementa infra Scotiam quae fuerunt Johannis de Lyndesay de Walghopp, militis, ei (to Orton) concessa per Edwardum Regem Scotorum." Cal. Rot. Patent, p. 140. Sect. VI. HOUSE OF BONHILL. G7 respective lines of Covington and Wauchopdale, were rich and powerful in their day, and flourished, surrounded by a nu- merous circle of junior branches, till the end of the seventeenth century. Another very early branch of the Lindsays, and apparently, like the preceding, of Luffness or Crawford origin,* settled on the romantic banks of the Leven, near Lochlomond, Patrick, son of Sir Hugo de Lindsay, obtaining charters from his kinsman Malcolm Earl of Lennox, who flourished between 1292 and 1333, of the lands of Buchnull, now Bonhill, with the hereditary offices of toshach-darroch, or baillie, and forester of the Lennox.t The descendants of these woodland rangers flourished there for at least three hundred years. Finally, I may notice Sir Gilbert de Lindsay, knight banneret, J Lord of Moles worth in Huntingdonshire, and donor of one hun- dred and sixty acres of land in that manor to the Priory of Chicksand,§ as a scion of the House of Lamberton, actively engaged on the side of Edward throughout the war of inde- * They quartered, in 1490 and afterwards, the lion of Abernethy with the Lindsay fesse-chequee — not certainly as descended from the Abernethy heiress, but in conformity to a Scottish usage by which, in later ages at least, cadets occasionally took the full arms of existing chiefs, whatever they might be, — the earliest Douglas cadets, for example, the bloody heart, though sprung off before the time of the " good Sir James," &c. f Charter by Earl Malcolm, Chart, de Levenax, pp. 49, 51. — "Toshach-darroch," " marefeodus," or " mair of fee," and " heritable baillie," are the terms by which the former office is described in ancient deeds, as held by the Lindsays. It was a distinct and separate office from the forestership. Information from my friend James Dennistoun, Esq., of that Ilk. % He is enumerated as such among the bannerets of Huntingdonshire in the Roll of Arms, 1308-1314. § Rot. Hundred., torn. ii. pp. 618, 632, — where it is also mentioned that he held the town and manor of Molesworth under William de Lindsay, who held under William de Bruce, and he under Robert de Bruce. Other lands he must have held in capite, being a knight banneret. His possession of property in Stirling (Rob. Index, p. 27) would suggest a near kinded to the brothers Sir Simon and Sir Philip, had he not held under William de Lindsay, probably of Lamberton, and had not his arms been so different. They are nearly the same as those of Walter de Lindsay of Lamberton, who flourished in 1245, (vide supra, p. 30,) and John Lindsay, bishop of Glasgow under Robert Bruce, — and are blazoned as follows in the Roll of Bannerets, — " De goules, crusule de or, a un escuchon de veer percee," or, as given with some variation by Edmondson, " Gules, an ines- cutcheon vairee, bordered argent, within an orle of eight cross crosslets, or." Sir Walter de Molesworth bears the same arms in the Roll of Arms above cited, and the present family of Molesworth nearly the same. F 2 68 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. I. pendence,* and who died in 1319-1320, t but of whose succession I know nothing ; and Sir Walter Lindsay, a partisan of the elder Baliol, and not improbably brother of Sir Gilbert, J as ancestor of the Lindsays of Lamberton Parva, still surviving as late as 1364.§ They expired however almost simultaneously, as would appear, with the dynasty of Bruce, to which the line of Lamberton had from the first been so bitterly opposed ; and in the year 1371, Sir James of Crawford seems to have been the only male repre- sentative of the three brothers, David, Walter, and William de Lindsay, the sons of William of Ercildun, Luffhess, and Craw- ford, High Justiciary of Scotland under King William the Lion. I fear that these opening pages must have appeared rather wearisome to you. But it is only by ascending to the source of a river that one can appreciate its youthful character, its life and independence, — and though the richer foliage of the forest be wanting in those higher regions, there is still an interest attaching to the mosses and lichens that clothe the rocks of its nativity, and even the pebbles in its bed gleam like pearls through the broken mirror of its wave. We have now reached a more familiar epoch— a period of emerging and expansion into the broader vale of history — that of the accession of the House of Stuart. * He served under Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, in the Scottish war in 1299, 1300. Documents, p. 209. — Ingelram de Gynes is said in 1297 to be "moram faciens in Scotia," with the Earl of Hereford, Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 51. f Abbrev. Rot. Orig., p. 249. X His seal, engraved in the plate prefixed to this chapter, displays an orle, the Baliol cognisance. — " Walter de Lindesei, miles," witnesses a charter by King John Baliol to Nicholas de la Haye, of free warren of all his lands, 1 August, 1295, in the Errol charter-room, {Spalding Miscellany, torn. ii. p. 314,) and another, 4 June, 1295, Reg. Episc. Glasg.,tom. i.p. 212.— He is to be distinguished from the contemporary Sir Walter, of Thurston and Craigie, the partisan of Bruce. § Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 887 ; Inquis. post Mortem, torn. ii. p. 264 ; Carr's Hist, of Coldingham, p. 146. Chap. II. CAPTURE OF BERWICK. 69 CHAPTER II. " There are seven fair flowers in yon green wood, On a bush in the woods o' Lindsay ; There are seven braw flowers and ae bonnie bud, Oh ! the bonniest flower in Lindsay. And she is aye my bonnie, bonnie rose, She's the bonnie young Rose-a-Lindsay, An' ae blink o' her e'e wad be dearer to me Than the wale o' the lands o' Lindsay. " But will I weep whare I maunna woo, An' the lan' in sic disorder ? My arm is strong, my heart is true, An' the Pereie's o'er the border. Then fare ye weel, my bonnie, bonnie rose, An' blest be the bonnie woods o' Lindsay ; I will gild my spurs in the blood o' her foes, An' come back to the Rose-a-Lindsay ! " Scottish Ballad. The development of Scottish nationality was now complete, and, with the reign of Robert II., a period commences, brilliant but brief, which may be described as the chivalric age of Scotland. Robert was scarcely seated on the throne when animosities began to revive with England ; the truces were constantly in- fringed by raids and forays, and Sir James of Crawford, Sir Alexander, and Sir William Lindsay constantly appear among the commissioners appointed to redress these grievances.* The chivalrous spirit of Froissart throws a charm over this period of our national history ; he visited Scotland, and was familiar with many of the "gentil knights" whose adventures and feats of arms he has so glowingly described. One of these adventures, which chanced in 1378, singularly illustrates the spirit of the time. The Castle of Berwick, the key of the borders, had been taken from the English by a gallant squire, Alexander de Ramsay, grandson of Sir David of Crawford, with only forty men. On the news of this daring deed being * Rotuli Scotia, passim. 70 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. brought to the barons and knights of Scotland, they determined to march thither, to reinforce the castle, and protect Ramsay. Sir Archibald Douglas and Sir William of the Byres, the former cousin, the latter uncle to Ramsay, proceeded to Berwick accord- ingly, with a force of five hundred men, and on drawing near to the town sent out spies to reconnoitre the English, who were dis- covered drawn up in two battalions, ten thousand strong, before the gates. " When Sir Archibald Douglas and the Scottish knights," con- tinues Froissart, " heard this account, they were quite melancholy, and said, ' We cannot think it will be any way profitable for us to advance further to meet the English, for they are ten to one, and all tried men ; we may lose more than we can gain, and a foolish enterprise is never good, and such is what Alexander Ramsay has performed.' Sir William Lindsay, a valiant knight, and uncle to Ramsay, took great pains to persuade them to succour his nephew, saying, ' Gentlemen, my nephew, in confidence of your assistance, has performed this gallant deed, and taken Berwick Castle, — it will turn to your great shame if he should be lost, and none of our family will in future thus boldly adventure themselves.' — Those present answered, ' that they could not amend it, and that the many gallant men who were there could not be expected to risk their own destruction in the attempt to prevent a single squire from being made prisoner.' It was therefore determined to retreat further up in their own country among the mountains near the river Tweed, whither they marched in good order and at their leisure." In the mean while Alexander Ramsay and his forty followers made good their defence of Berwick for a considerable time against the ten thousand followers of the Earl of Northumberland, who pressed the siege with his miners and war-engines,* accom- panied by Henry Percy, the celebrated Hotspur, who at this siege first entered on his military career. As might be expected, the castle was at last taken, and all its defenders, except Ramsay, were slain. After the recapture the Earls of Northumberland and Nottingham, determining to make an incursion after their enemies and to offer them battle, marched towards Roxburgh up Tweed-side, and directing their main course towards the Merse, * " Si pres que un oiselet ne s'en put partir sans conge." ClIAP. II. SIR WILLIAM OF THE BYRES. 7i sent a detachment of three hundred men, under a brave knight named Sir Thomas Musgrave, to Melrose, to discover if any of the Scots were lurking there in ambush. Sir Thomas and his party, having arrived at Melrose, ordered two of their squires to scour the country, to find out the situation of the Scots, but these squires fell into an ambuscade commanded by Sir William Lind- say, " who had posted himself there," says Froissart, " in hopes of meeting with some adventure, and to hear news of Berwick, and also what had been the fate of his nephew Ramsay, and into whose hands he had fallen. This he was very anxious to learn. He had with him about forty lances. The English were seized immediately on entering this ambush, which gave the knight very great pleasure. He demanded from them whence they came, but they were afraid of speaking, lest they should betray their masters ; however, they were forced to be explicit, for the knight assured them he would have them beheaded if they did not truly answer all the questions he should put to them. When things became so serious, and they saw no means of escaping, they related how the Castle of Berwick had been regained, and all found within put to death except Alexander Ramsay. They afterwards told how the Earls of Northumberland and Nottingham were marching along Tweed-side in search of the Scots, and how Sir Thomas Mus- grave, his son, Sir John Seton, and Sir Richard Brereton, with three hundred spears and as many archers, were lodged in the Abbey of Melrose ; and that these knights had sent them out to discover where the Scots were. 6 By my troth P replied Sir William, 4 you have found us, and you will now remain with us !' They were then taken aside, and given up to some of their compa- nions, with orders to guard them well under penalty of their lives. Sir William instantly sent off one of his men-at-arms, saying, 4 Ride to our main army, and tell them all you have heard, and the situation of the English, — I will remain here till morning, to see if anything else may happen.' " — The envoy arrived in the evening at Haddington, where the Scottish army lay, and delivered his message ; the Scots and English met on the plain of St. Giles, where the latter were totally defeated, and Sir Thomas Musgrave, with several of his colleagues, were taken prisoners.* * Froissart, Citron., torn. vii. p. 47, edit. Buchon. 72 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. Four years after this adventure, in 1382, the feuds which so long subsisted between the Glamis family and our own originated. A gentleman of the name of Lyon, the ancestor of the House of Glamis, had been recommended to the King by Sir James Lind- say, at whose instigation King Robert made him his private secre- tary, bestowed on him the Castle and thanedom of Glamis, gave him one of his daughters in marriage, and finally created him High Chamberlain of Scotland. "What unthankfulness," says Godscroft, " Sir James did find in him afterwards, or did ap- prehend and conceive, it is not particularly set down ; but finding his own credit with the King to decrease, and Lyon's to increase, and taking Lyon to be the cause thereof, esteeming it great ingratitude after so great benefit, he took it so highly and with such indignation, that, finding him accidentally in his way a little from Forfar," at a place called the Moss of Balhall, " he slew him very cruelly, and fearing the King's wrath, fled into a voluntary exile," — The Earls of Douglas and March, however, advocated his cause at court, and after a short absence, during which he went on pilgrimage to St. Thomas a Becket's shrine at Canterbury,* he was recalled and pardoned.t — It will surprise * Safe-conduct, 16 Jan. 1383. Rot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 46. f " This Lyon," says Godscroft, " was a young man endued with all the natural gifts of body and mind that could be. He was comely in personage, well bred, and of a good carriage and winning behaviour, which made him to be well liked of all men, and in special by this James Lindsay ; who received him into his train and made him his secretary. By this occasion being often at court, the King took notice of him, and liking his deportment, and upon Crawford's commendation, took him into his service, and made him his domestic secretary. It fell so out at last, that the King's daughter, by Elizabeth More, fell in love with him, and was made with child by him ; which he revealed to the Earl of Crawford. The Earl, fearing that the King would take the matter heavily and heinously, and use the young man hardly, devised this way for his safety ; he caused another gentleman of his ac- quaintance to take the blame on him, and to absent himself as guilty ; and then, being very familiar with the King, deals with him to bestow his daughter (seeing she had thus fallen) on John Lyon, and to give him the lands of Glamis with her, which was done accordingly." Boethius, fol. 329 verso ; Hume of Godscroft's Hist, of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, p. 88, edit. 1648. — "Sir John's death," says Crawford, " was much regretted by the whole court, and the King, his father-in- law, we are told, bore it with extraordinary grief, and for a long time could no wise be prevailed with to pardon Sir James Lindsay, though he was his nephew by his only sister, and, before that unhappy accident, his great favourite. He was, by the King's own direction, interred in the Abbey-church of Scone. He left a son behind him, who being young at his father's death, the King his grandfather took him under his own immediate care and protection, not only his own person but all his Chap. II. SIR ALEXANDER OF GLENESK. 73 you to hear that this violator of the laws had held for many years, and I believe still held at the period in question, the High Jus- ticiarship of Scotland — that it was either restored to him, or that he never forfeited it, acting as such long afterwards* — and that he figures hereafter as one of the most loyal and courteous knights of the age ; but many of the " gentil knights" of Froissart were also feudal barons, and consequently the annals of the times, as harmonised from the contemporary narratives of the historian of chivalry and the homely monk — I say not this of Scotland only, but of all Europe — present often a strange mixture of courtesy and barbarism. — The Scotichronicon, in its brief allusion to the above affair, styles Sir James " Lord of Crawford and Buchan" — to the latter of which "dominia" he had acquired a right, but through what channel it is difficult to divine.f The title is con- stantly given to him afterwards. J The gallant and adventurous Sir Alexander of Glenesk died this same year, 1382, in the island of Candia, on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. § His last act before leaving home had been to rebuild his parish-church at Finhaven, and assemble his family and friends to its consecration by the bishop of the diocese. || He too had been for several years High Justiciary of the North of Scotland, at first singly, latterly (I believe) in association with his dependents, terras suas, homines suos, and his whole estate, whether moveable or immoveable, universas possession.es suas, omnia bona sua, mobilia seu immobilia, strictly inhibiting and discharging any person whatsoever to injure or molest him or them, under the highest penalty the law could inflict." Officers of State, p. 301. * He appears frequently as Justiciary, between 1-373 and 1377 inclusive, in the Chamberlain Bolls, torn. ii. pp. 29, 31, 50, 57, 94, — and a judgment or decree passed by him with assent of his Council, in 1387, is printed in the Collections for the Hist, af Aberdeenshire, Spalding Club, p. 273. — He was also Sheriff of Lanarkshire in 1373, by grant for life, Chamberlain Rolls, torn. ii. p. 57. f Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 395. — I may refer to the Appendix, No. VIII., for some interesting observations on this subject, and on the ancient Earldom of Buchan, furnished to me by the kindness of Joseph Robertson, Esq. % He was also Lord of Wigton, by charter, 19 April, 1372. Rob. Index, pp. 97, 130. § Scotichron., torn. ii. p. 395. — Sir Alexander Lindsay and Sir John Edmon- stone had a safe-conduct, 4 Dec. 1381, to pass through England towards the Holy Land, Rot. Scot., torn. ii. pp. 40, 60. || Charter by Sir Alexander, ult. Aug. 1380, engrossed in a Confirmation by Robert II., preserved in the charter-chest of Mrs. Sterritt Duff of Corsindae. Com- municated to me by Joseph Robertson, Esq. 74 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. nephew, Sir James.* He was succeeded by his eldest son, the celebrated Sir David, subsequently Earl of Crawford. Sir William of the Byres also went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and knighted the son of St. Bridget of Sweden at the Holy Se- pulchre, but the date of this expedition does not appear, f Hostilities with England were renewed in the spring of 1383. A truce had been entered into between the English, Scots, and French, near Boulogne, and the French, who had engaged to give notice of this to the Scots, had neglected to do so. The English border nobles took advantage of this remissness to enter Scotland soon after Easter, and before the publication of the treaty, and made a vast havoc of the country, " giving," says Froissart, " the lands of the Earl of Douglas and the Lord of Lindsay to the flames, and sparing to burn nothing as far as Edinburgh." $ The Scottish barons were highly incensed at this outrage, and the King had given orders that a large army should be assembled for the purpose of intercepting the English on their retreat to their own country ; when the arrival of the ambassadors sent from France to notify the truce caused him to change his mind, and he then did all in his power to induce them to accept the truce while it was in their option. " This," says Froissart, " caused a difference between the King and the knights of his country. The Earls of Moray and Douglas and the Children of Lindsay " — (including under this patriarchal title the " Sire de Lindsay," or Sir James, and the other contemporary knights of the family, whom he describes as Sir James's six brethren, " six freres, tous chevaliers ") — " held a secret meeting with such knights and squires of Scotland as wished for war, in the church St. Giles, in Edinburgh," where they fixed upon Dalkeith as their trysting- place, and marched accordingly into England at the head of fifteen thousand men, on a retaliatory foray, wasting the lands of the Percies and Mowbrays and of the Earl of Nottingham, and the whole country to the gates of Newcastle. King Robert had * He had held the office of Justiciary for several years before 1373, Chamberlain Bolls, torn. ii. p. 29, — was Justiciary in 1378, p. 101, and in 1379, p. 109. f Scotichroii ., torn. i. p. 281. % " Entrerent en Ecosse, et ardirent la terre au Comte de Douglas et celle au Seigneur de Lindsay, et ne dcporterent (epargnerent) rien a ardoir jusques a Edim- bourg." Chron., torn. ix. p. 20, edit. Buchon. Chap. II. THE CHILDREN OF LINDSAY. 75 no difficulty in clearing himself of any participation in this inroad, the whole expedition having been kept secret from him. He sent a herald from himself and the French ambassadors to testify to his having assented to the proposed truce, and commanded, " as strongly as lay in him," his vassals to do the same, — but that the Douglasses, the Earl of Marr, and " all these brethren De Lind- say," the Ramsays, and Sir William Seyton, would neither attend the parliament in which the treaty was agreed to, nor assent to the truce, — such damage, as they asserted, having been done to their lands by the English. The explanation was deemed satis- factory, and the heralds returned to Scotland with the letters of truce, which were proclaimed throughout the two kingdoms.* No sooner had the truce expired than hostilities recommenced. An auxiliary force under John de Vienne, Admiral of France, was sent to Scotland, but these foreign friends were found to be rather an incumbrance, the old system of starving and worrying the invading armies proving the most effective.! The English, under the Duke of Lancaster, entered Scotland with a large force, but found the country a desert ; everything had been re- moved, and famine and sickness at once weakened and destroyed his army, while the desultory warfare of cutting off the English foraging parties was carried on with its usual success. While the Duke's army was thus occupied, his fleet attacked the isle of Inchcolm, where they robbed and burnt the monastery, and com- mitted similar outrages wherever they landed, till they were encountered, with a mere handful of followers, by " Young Alysawndyr the Lyndyssay younger son of the late Sir Alexander of Glenesk, and almost immediately afterwards by his cousin Sir Thomas Erskine,J with a " joly company," riding from the East. Joining their forces, which amounted to about eighty horse, they attacked the English * Froissart, torn. ix. pp. 26 sqq. t De Vienne brought large subsidies from France to be distributed among the principal Scottish nobles, towards the expenses of the war. Sir James received two thousand livres tournois, equivalent to eight thousand pounds of modern money, Sir David of Glenesk five hundred, equal to two thousand, and Sir William of the Byres the like sum. Rym. Feed., torn. vi. p. 485. X Sir Thomas was the eldest son of Beatrice de Lindsay, sister of Sir David of Crawford, by her second husband Sir Robert Erskine of that Ilk. 76 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. near Queensferry, killed many, and drove the rest back to their ships in such terror, that, besides the loss sustained in their hasty retreat, they suffered forty of their men, who were upon one of the ropes, after it was cut, to be drowned before their eyes.* Nor did the Scots submit tamely to these devastations. They made similar inroads on the North of England, burning and destroying the country. This state of things continued till the approach of winter, when the English nobles, dreading the diffi- culties they might be exposed to in crossing the mountains of Cumberland, retreated homewards ; the foreign auxiliaries re- turned to France, and the Scots to the Lowlands, where, with half a dozen stakes, they rebuilt their houses, and, bringing their cattle out of the recesses of the forests whither they had been driven for concealment, speedily resumed their ancient habits and occu- pations. But, of all these forays and combats, none are remembered in general history except the battle of Otterburn, by far the most chivalric conflict of the age, and which, in all its circumstances, strikingly illustrates the character of the Scottish feudal aristo- cracy, their political relationship to, or rather independence of the sovereign, and the general spirit of national warfare towards the close of the fourteenth century. Great enmity having recently arisen between the Percies and Nevilles, the two most powerful families on the English borders, the Scottish barons judged it a favourable opportunity for a reta- liatory foray on England. " In order," says Froissart, " that their intentions might be known, they appointed a feast to be holden at Aberdeen, on the borders of the Highlands. The greater part of the barons attended, and it was then resolved that in the middle of August, 1388, they should assemble all their forces at a castle called Jedworth, situated among the deep forests, and on the borders of Cumberland. Having arranged everything concerning this business, they separated, but never mentioned one word of their intentions to the King, for they said among them- selves he knew nothing about war." Accordingly, on the appointed day, the " Children of Lindsay " — to wit, Sir James of Crawford, the " Sire de Lindsay" — Sir * Wyntown's Cronyhyl, torn. ii. p. 320. — Sir Alexander was afterwards slain at the battle of Verneuil, 1424. Boethius, fol. 345. Crap. II. BATTLE OF OTTERBURN. 77 David of Glenesk, Sir William of the Byres, Sir Alexander of Wauchopdale, and Sir John of Dunrod — came with their followers to the trysting-place, where they met their kinsman the Earl of Douglas, with the Earls of Fife and Moray, and various other powerful Scottish barons. They formed the most numerous assembly that had been seen for sixty years in Scotland, and, the more effectually to combine their plans, appointed another meeting to take place at Yetholm before they began their march into England. The English nobles, meanwhile, having received information of the intended rendezvous at Jedworth, from the minstrels and heralds, whom, as privileged spies, they had sent to attend the meeting at Aberdeen, made secret preparations in their own country to resist the apprehended invasion. They despatched one of their squires to attend the third conference at Yetholm, and discover the intentions of the Scots. In the disguise of a groom he entered the church where the Scottish chiefs were in council, and heard the whole proceedings, but, when he returned to the place where he had left his horse tied, he found it had been stolen, and fearful of exciting suspicion by enquiring after it, set off on foot, booted and spurred as he was, homewards. This very caution occasioned his detection. " I have witnessed many wonderful things," said a Scots knight to his friend as they stood near the church -door, " but what I now see is equal to any ; that man yonder has, I believe, lost his horse, and yet makes no enquiry after it ; on my troth, I doubt much if he belongs to us ; let us go after him, and see whether I am right or not." They soon overtook him, and on their approach, says the histo- rian, with much simplicity, " he was alarmed, and wished himself anywhere else." His contradictory answers confirmed their sus- picions ; they brought him back to the church, and threatened him with death if he did not truly answer all their questions. Love of life prevailed, and he told them all he knew concerning the force and disposition of the English, who, inferior in numbers, wished to avoid an encounter with the Scots, intending, while the latter were foraying England, " by way of counteracting their career," to invade Scotland. " Should you march to Cumberland," said he, " they will take the road through Berwick to Dunbar, Dalkeith, and Edinburgh ; if you follow the other road, they 78 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. will then march to Carlisle, and enter your country by these mountains." " The barons of Scotland," continues Froissart, " were in high spirits at this intelligence, and considered their success as certain, now they knew the disposition of the enemy. They held a council as to their mode of proceeding, and the wisest and most accus- tomed to arms, such as Sir Archibald Douglas, the Earl of Fife, Sir Alexander Ramsay, Sir John Sinclair, and Sir James Lindsay, were the speakers." They determined that the army should be divided, and two expeditions made, so that the enemy might be puzzled whither to direct their forces. The first and largest of these divisions (to be commanded, according to Boece,* by the Earls of Fife and Menteith, Sir Alexander Lindsay of Wauchop- dale, and other great barons of Scotland) was, with the baggage, to advance towards Carlisle ; the other, consisting of three or four hundred spears, and two thousand stout infantry and archers, was to proceed, under the Earl of Douglas, Sir James Lindsay, Sir Alexander Ramsay, Sir John Sinclair, and others, to Newcastle- on-Tyne, cross the river, and enter Durham, spoiling and burning the country. They would have committed much mischief before the enemy would receive any intelligence of it, and then, in case of pursuit, the two armies should unite and fight together. Accordingly, on the appointed day, they entered England with displayed banners, ready to lift cattle, burn, and slay, as was the custom in these border raids. Douglas and his division proceeded through Northumberland, which they did not molest, but as soon as they entered the bishopric of Durham, the plundering began ; they ravaged the whole country to the gates of Durham, and then returned to Newcastle, where they remained two days to try the mettle of the English warriors. In one of these skirmishes Douglas took Hotspur Percy's pennon, and swore he would carry it to Scotland, and set it on his castle. Percy vowed he should never take it out of Northumberland, to which Douglas replied, " Then you must come this night, and take it from before my tent." Percy's wish to attack the Scots that night was, however, overruled ; proceeding on their way, they arrived the following day at Otterburn, a small village about twelve miles from New- castle ; the castle held out, and the Scottish leaders determined to * Boeth., fol. 332. Chat. II. BATTLE OF OTTERBURX. 79 stay there a day or two, in order to reduce it, and to give Percy an opportunity of regaining his banner. Hotspur, on hearing that the Scots were waiting for him, set out for Newcastle immediately after dinner, and arrived on the field just after sunset. It was a sweet summer's evening, clear and bright, and the breeze blew soft and fresh,* — most of the Scots had taken their evening meal and lain down to rest, when the Percy's war-cry roused them. The English attacked their encampment with the greatest fury, but the sutlers and followers of the army defended a barricade of waggons that had been placed there to guard against a surprise, with such determined courage, that no impression could be made in that quarter, and the Scottish commanders, having in the mean time armed themselves and arrayed their men, were now ready for action. Douglas, sweeping by a silent movement round the hill, fell full on the flank of the English, while they were engaged in a marsh which bordered on and defended the Scottish encampment : the mele'e became general, and for some hours they fought by moonlight, — neither would yield, though the gallant Scottish band fought against treble their number. At last the noble Douglas, rushing too hastily forwards, was borne down mortally wounded by the English lances. It was not at first known who had fallen, for the tide of battle was for the moment setting against the Scots, and some time elapsed before the English were again forced to give way, and the spot where Douglas fell was cleared. Sir James Lindsay, Sir John and Sir Walter Sinclair were the first to discover him as he lay bleeding to death. " How fares it with you, cousin?" asked Sir John. "But poorly," said he, " yet, God be thanked ! few of my fathers have died in bed ! There has long been a prophecy that a dead Douglas should win a field ; I trust it will now be fulfilled. My heart sinks — I am dying — do you, Walter, and you, John Sinclair, raise my banner, and cry 1 Douglas !' and tell neither friend nor foe I am lying here." These were his last words ; Sir James never saw him afterwards. They raised the banner, and with cries of " Douglas ! Douglas I" fell afresh on the enemy : their companions behind them came * ■ II faisoit assez clair, car la lune luisoit : et si etoit au mois d'Aout, et faisoit bel et sery (clair), et si etoit l'air coi (calme), pur, et net." Froissart. 80 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. hurrying up when they heard the cry, and overtook them as they fought round the banner which John Sinclair carried ; and ever they cried, " Douglas ! Douglas !" and plied axe and spear and sword till the English gave way and the field was won. — When they returned to the spot where they had left Douglas, he was dead. Hotspur and his brother Sir Ralph were taken prisoners after a brave resistance, and with them were captured or slain almost the whole chivalry of the North of England. The pri- soners were treated with the greatest courtesy, as if they had been the brothers of the victors. " Of all the battle.-," says Froissart, " that have been described in this history, great and small, this of which I am now speaking was the best fought and the most severe, for there was not a man, knight or squire, who did not acquit himself gallantly, hand to hand with his enemy." — " I had my information," he adds, " from both parties, who agree that it was the hardest and most obstinate battle that was ever fought." Douglas's body was carried by the army to Melrose, and he slept with his fathers, his banner waving over him. Such was the battle of Otterburn ! The defeat of the English was complete, and the Scots chased them for five miles. The ancient ballad bears witness to the valour of " the Lindsays light and gay " on that eventful evening : — " The Lindsays flew like fire about Till all the fray was done."* But Sir James's adventures were not yet ended. When the Scots had returned from the pursuit, Sir David and Sir John Lindsay asked after their chief, but none could give them any news of him, whereat, says Froissart, they marvelled and grieved * Sir James Lindsay is noticed under the title of u Dominus de Buchan " in the English ballad of Otterburn : — 4i The Lord of Bowghan in armure bright On the other hand he shall be," &c. — Percy's Eeliques. — The epithet " licht," or light, usually applied alliteratively to the Lindsays in Scotland, implies * cheerful, or lightsome," in Northern speech. u In the old days of clanship," says Mr. Chambers, " when every different family had distinctly different characteristics as well as interests, this great Angus clan was usually designated ' the light Lindsays,' probably on account of some peculiar levity of disposition which they might think proper to manifest in their military conduct." — Scottish Ballads, p. 14, — the most select and best edited collection I know of. Chap. II. SIR JAMES OF CRAWFORD. 81 much, doubting not but that either he had been slain or taken prisoner. " Now," says the chronicler, " I will tell you what befel the said knight of Scotland." Sir Matthew Redman, Governor of Berwick, and commander, in conjunction with Sir Robert Ogle, of one of the two great " battles," or divisions, in which Percy had marshalled his army, had mounted his horse to fly — very reluctantly, but still, all things considered, he alone could not recover the day. Sir James Lindsay, noticing his departure, and being mounted on a fleet charger, immediately galloped after him, lance in hand, and after a chase of more than three English leagues,* got so close to him that he might, had he chosen it, have stricken him with his lance. But, instead of doing so, he shouted to him repeatedly, " Ha ! Sir Knight !" (for he saw well that he was one, though he knew not his name), " turn ye ! — 'tis foul shame thus to fly ! — you have only me to cope with — and if you can discomfit me — I am Sir James de Lindsay !" When Sir Matthew heard that, he pulled in his horse, and wheeling round, drew his sword and betook himself cheerily to his defence. Sir James aimed at him with his lance, but Sir Matthew, by writhing his body, escaped the blow, and the point of the lance was buried in the ground, and there remained fixed. Sir Matthew cut it in two with his sword. Sir James then threw the truncheon on the ground and seized his battle-axe, which hung from his neck, (and well he knew how to use it !) and assailed Sir Matthew, who defended himself bravely. Thus they pursued each other for a long time by the light of the moon, the one with the axe, the other with the sword, for there was no one to interrupt them. During a pause in this tourney, Sir James Lindsay asked Sir Matthew, " Knight, who art thou ?" to which the other replied, " I am Sir Matthew Redman." — " Well," rejoined Sir James, " since we have thus met, I must conquer thee, or thou me !" — and then began the battle again, and they had no other weapons save the one his sword and the other his battle-axe, which he used with one hand very dexterously, the Scots being accustomed thus to handle it. At last, Sir Matthew's sword flew out of his hand in a return- stroke, and he stood defenceless. " Lindsay," said he, " I yield * " Trois lieues Angloises." Froissart. VOL. I. G 82 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. me." — " Rescue, or no rescue?" asked Sir James. — "I consent. You will bear me good company ?" — " By Saint George, I will !" rejoined the knight, " and for a beginning, since you are my pri- soner, what shall I do for you?" — " I wish," said Sir Matthew, " that you would allow me to return to Newcastle, and by Saint Michael's day I will render me at Dunbar, or Edinburgh, or at any port you chuse in Scotland." — " I am willing," said James, — " let it be at Edinburgh on the day you name."* With these words they took leave of each other, Sir Matthew returning to Newcastle, walking his horse gently, as it was much fatigued. " Now," saith Froissart the chronicler, " I will tell you a mar- vellous adventure which befel the knight of Scotland — an adven- ture not to be forgotten in connection with this night of peril — a freak of fortune such as often bechanceth in love and war. Sir James might well say, 6 This morning I thought to have gained much, but in sooth I have lost more than enough in chasing the English.' I will tell you why." Sir James had no sooner parted with Sir Matthew, than he and his squire (who, it appears, had followed him closely through all the vicissitudes of this eventful night) entangled themselves in the mazes of a broad heath, covered with furze and thickets of low wood, and entirely lost their road — which Sir James soon found out, but it was then too late to remedy the evil. No stars were visible, the moon had gone down, and the night was dark and gloomy. Coming at last to a path which ran, as he thought, in the right direction, he pursued it, — alas ! it was the direct road to Newcastle ; and he would have arrived at the gates, of his own accord, before day-break, but for a previous rencontre with the Bishop of Durham, who had been too late for the battle, and * " Such," says Holinshed, " was in those days the humanity among the bor- derers and both nations towards their prisoners, which to this day doth continue between the inhabitants of those places. But if any do not return at the day appointed, this punishment is set upon him for a perpetual disgrace, that in the assemblies of true days (to demand restitutions of things and injuries done by the one nation to the other) they use that he which complaineth himself to be deceived by his prisoner (on his promise) doth carry about a hand or glove painted on a cloth, with a long staff or spear, to be seen of all men ; the which is accounted a singular infamy to the deserver thereof. For they which have so broken their faith be ever after hated of their friends and acquaintance ; for which dishonesty they will not afford them good report or entertainment." Chap. II. SIB JAMES OF CRAWFORD. 83 was at that very moment returning to Newcastle by a path running, it seems, nearly parallel with the one Sir James had taken. Sir James's horse, scenting the English horses, began to neigh, and caracole, and paw the ground, and press in that direction, and the knight, thinking that they were his friends, and that he was close to Otterburn, gave him the rein, and, in unsuspecting confidence, rode into the midst of the Bishop's company. The Bishop, seeing the dark shadow of a horse and rider, rode forward and asked, " Who goes there ? friend or foe, herald or minstrel ?" to which Sir James, still unaware of his situation, replied, " I am James de Lindsay." " Ha ! Sir Knight," cried the Bishop, " you are very welcome ! render yourself my prisoner !" — " And who are you ?" asked the astonished intruder. — " I am Robert de Neville, priest, and Bishop of Durham." Sir James saw well that resistance would be useless, surrounded, as he was, by five hundred men, and said only, " Sith it must be so, God's will be done !" Thus they rode on together to New- castle, Sir James entertaining the Bishop with the account of his chase and capture of Sir Matthew. " And where is he ?" asked the Bishop. " By my faith," replied Lindsay, " I have seen nothing of him since I fianced him ; he started for Newcastle, and I was on my road to Otterburn " — " In my opinion," interrupted the Bishop, " you chose your road ill enough, Sir James ! for lo ! this is Newcastle which we are now entering." " I cannot help it," answered Sir James, " I have taken, and I am taken, — such is the fate of arms ! I had fixed Sir Matthew's day for appearing at Edinburgh, but I think he need not trouble himself to take so long a journey to make his fynance." " So it seems," rejoined the Bishop.* * Stewart, who, in his metrical paraphrase of Boece, has inserted and disfigured the episode so charmingly told by Froissart, amplifies the Bishop's self-gratulation as follows : — " This ilk bishop that ilk time said and leuch, a ' Now see I weill I am happie aneuch, That nother gave, no yet has taen ane straik, Ane waillit weirman, b wight as ony aik, c Of noble bluid, now at my pleasure here, Lo ! I haif gottin to be prisoneir ! Had a Laughed. A chosen warrior. c Oak. G 2 84 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. With these words they entered Newcastle, and all went to their several lodgings ; Sir James continuing with the Bishop as his guest and prisoner. Guards were set, for fear of the Scots, at all the gates, towers, and walls, and the Bishop himself watched at the principal barrier till sun-rise. Meanwhile, Sir Matthew Redman had also reached Newcastle, a little before the Bishop's arrival, and after disarming himself, (as a captive knight,) and putting on other clothes, he went to wait on the Bishop at his lodging, where he met Richard Hebe- don,* Sir James's squire, who told him the whole story of his master's misadventure. Greatly did Sir Matthew marvel at this news, and then bade the squire lead him to his master's apartment. He found Sir James leaning against the window, looking out, and very melan- choly — doubtless for the loss of his friend Douglas. The two knights recognised each other immediately by day-light, having often met before on the borders and at the march- meetings. " What has brought you here, Sir James ?" was Sir Matthew's salutation. " By my faith, Redman !" replied the former, inter- rupting his sad thoughts, and turning to meet him — " ill-luck !" — and then repeated the tale already told. " I believe," he added, " there will be no need of your coming to Edinburgh to obtain your ransom, for we can finish the matter here, if my Had all the laif a been as happie as I, The Scottis had nocht win sic victory ! ' " This Matthew Redman that same time was there, And saw the Lindsay when his face was bare," b &c. — A copy of this work (a large folio volume of many thousand lines) is preserved in the University Library at Cambridge. It was begun, says the author, on the 18th of April, 1530, and finished on the 29th of September, 1535. It is probably the composition of one of the two poets of the name of Stewart mentioned by Sir David Lindsay as his contemporaries. 0 — The author promises, (fo. 253,) that he will speak truth concerning Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, " Of my father though proavus was he." And again, " Proavus als sic-like was to my mother, The Earl of March callit George of Dunbar." * Possibly a mistake for " Hepburn." The late Sir Thomas Lauder has so repre- sented it in his romance, ' The Wolf of Badenoch.' a Remainder. b With his visor lifted, or without his helmet. c Complaint of the Papingo, Works, torn. i. p. 286, edit. Chalmers. Chap. II. SIR JAMES OF CRAWFORD. 85 master consent to it." — " We shall soon agree as to that," rejoined Sir Matthew, " but you must come and dine with me, for the Bishop and his men are going to attack your countrymen ; I know not what success they will have, nor shall we be informed till their return." — " I accept your invitation," answered Lindsay. Then, concludes Froissart, did these two knights rally each other, and bandy many blythe words of merriment, and thus said the English knight, " By my faith, little did I think to find my master, Sir James Lindsay, here !" — " Such," replied the Scot, " is the chance of arms. As little thought I last night to have gained so little by chasing the English !" * The proposed exchange does not however seem to have been effected, — at least no sooner did the news of Sir James's capture reach King Richard at Cambridge, than he despatched a mandate, with advice of his Great Council, to Earl Henry of Northumber- land, " that he should on no account dismiss Sir James Lindsay, of Scotland, knight, now newly captured in battle on our side," either for pledge or ransom, till further orders. f I cannot say therefore how the affair terminated between Sir James and Sir Matthew, — but it was an interference of this sort many years afterwards which mainly contributed to the rebellion of the North under Hotspur. Not long after this conflict of Otterburn the English and French met at Lolinghen, between Boulogne and Calais, with the view of concluding a truce for three years ; the Bishop of Aberdeen, Sir Archibald Douglas, Sir John Sinclair, and Sir William of the Byres were sent as commissioners for Scotland to protest against it,X — the treaty however was concluded, and a joint embassy of English and French despatched to Scotland, who persuaded the * Froissart, Chron., torn. xi. chap. 118, 119, 120, ed. Buchon; torn. iii. chap. 115, 116, ed. Regnault, 1513, — Knyghton, who says, " de Scotis multi capti sunt, inter quos Jacobus de Lindsay, frater reginse Scotise, vir potentissimus," Chron. ap. Twysden, col. 2728,— Boeth., p. 332,— Mills' Hist, of Chivalry, torn. ii. p. 82.— A ballad entitled 1 The Rose-a-Lindsay,' referential to the Sir James and his " six freres tous chevaliers" celebrated by Froissart, was published not long ago in the Aberdeen Herald as " an old ballad, appearing to be of considerable antiquity, and not, as it is believed, to be found in print." I have prefixed a couple of its verses as a motto to the present chapter, but it will be found entire in the Appendix, No. IX. t Rym. Feed., torn. vii. p. 607. % Froissart, Chron., torn. xi. p. 493. 86 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. II. Scottish nobles to become parties to this cessation of hostilities, — to the great delight of the King, who had long been desirous of seeing his country enjoying those blessings of peace, which his warlike barons did not so readily appreciate. He died shortly afterwards, and his son was crowned by the title of Robert III., on the 14th of August, 1390, the day after his father's in- terment. Chap. III. DAVID EAKL OF CRAWFORD. 87 CHAPTER III. When Schyr David the Lyndyssay rade Til Lundyn, and there journe made." Wyntown's Cronykyl. " 0 goodly usage of those antique tymes, In which the sword was servaunt unto right ; When not for malice and contentious crymes, But all for prayse and proofe of manly might, The martiall brood accustomed to fight ; Then honour was the meed of victory, And yet the vanquished had no dispight ; Let later age that noble use envy, Vyle rancour to avoid and cruel surquedry." Faerie Queene. The reign of Robert III. began auspiciously ; the truces were re- newed, and the three kingdoms seemed alike desirous of peace. The mortal conflicts in which the Scots and English had so lately been engaged were now exchanged for the amicable, less san- guinary, but equally glorious combats of the lists, which were never in higher estimation than towards the close of the fourteenth century. I must now introduce you, in a more particular manner, to Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, as a bright example of knightly worth, the accomplishments of the warrior combining in his character with the amiable qualities of the man, while both were enlivened by a spirit of repartee, of which more than one sally is recorded by the old chroniclers of Scotland. Of his chivalrous expedition to the court of England, undertaken in his twenty-fifth year,* in 1390, they have given us ample details, dwelling upon them with peculiar satisfaction, our countrymen having distinguished them- selves so highly in every contest. * He was born, in all probability, in 1366, the year after the settlement of Glenesk by Catherine Stirling on his father Sir Alexander. 88 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. This " passage of arms " originated as follows. John Lord Welles, a warrior of great celebrity,* having been sent ambassador into Scotland by Richard II., chanced to be carousing with the Scottish nobles at a solemn banquet, where, the conversation turning on valiant deeds of arms, and Sir David eagerly extolling the prowess of his countrymen, he exclaimed, " Let words have no place ; if you know not the chivalry and valiant deeds of Englishmen, assail ye me, day and place where ye list, and ye shall soon have experience." Then said Sir David, "I will assail ye!" — Lord Welles naming London Bridge for the place, Sir David appointed the festival of St. George for the day of combat, " be reason that he was some-time ane valiant knight,"f — and forthwith began preparations for his expedition.:]: All being ready, in the words of the Prior of Lochleven, " A thousand, three hunder, and ninety year Fra the birth of our Lord dear, The good Lyndyssay, Sir Davie, Of Glenesk the Lord mightie, Honest, able, and avenand,§ Pass'd on conduct || in England, With knights, squires, and other men Of his awin retinue then ; * " Lord Welles was a descendant of Adam de Welles, who lived in the time of Richard I., and he had served in the wars in Flanders, France, and Scotland, under the Kings Edward III. and Richard II., and the valiant John Duke of Lancaster. As he was ten years old at his father's death, in 1360, he must have been about forty when he justed on London Bridge ; and after being summoned to parliament from 1376 to 1420, he is supposed to have died in the following year on the Tuesday next after the feast of St. Bartholomew, which being Sunday, Aug. 24, 1421, made it the 26th of the month. He bore for arms, ' or, a lion rampant, double queue, sable.' " — Chronicles of London Bridge, 1827, p. 201. f Boethius, translated by Bellenden. X It appears from Wyntown that a formal " taylyhe," taillie, or instrument of agreement, was drawn up, and signed or sealed by both parties, binding them to the combat. This was not unusual, and the conditions of the tourney were frequently specified in such documents. One of the two duplicates executed on the present occasion may perhaps be some day discovered. § Comely. || Safe-conduct. His passports, original and of prolongation, for himself and his retinue of twenty-eight persons, including two knights, squires, valets, &c, are printed in the Rotuli Scotice, torn. ii. pp. 103, 104, — and translations of them in the Chronicles of London Bridge. Among them is one for the ship ' St. Mary ' of Dundee, freighted with " unum integrum harnesium de guerra pro corpore David Lyndesey de Scotia, militis." Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 89 Where he and all his company Wes well arrayed and daintily, And all purveyed at device ; There wes his purpose to win prise." * He was received with high honour by King Richard, and on the appointed day — both parties appearing in great state at London Bridge, cased in armour of proof, and mounted on mighty war- horses — he entered the lists against the Lord of Welles. The scene was splendid ; the fair ladies and gallant knights of Richard's court were seated all around, the King and Queen — Anne of Bohemia, surnamed the Good — in the highest places of honour, while a great concourse of the common people attended, attracted by the interest of the spectacle and the fame of the antagonists.! After the usual preliminary ceremonies, at the stirring blast of the trumpet, the knights rushed at each other on their " mighty horses right eagerly," with spears sharply ground, " to the death ;" they attainted,^ and both spears were broken, but in this adventure the Scottish knight sat so strong, that, although Lord Welles's spear was shivered to pieces on his helmet and visor, he stirred not, insomuch that the spectators cried out that, contrary to the law of arms, he was "locked," or tied, to the saddle. This suspicion he disproved by riding up to the royal chair, vaulting lightly out of his saddle, making his obeisance to royalty, and leaping back again into his seat " right deliverly " without touching the stirrup, or receiving any assistance, although loaded with complete armour. " Incontinent they rushit to- * To win honour. t " And now, Sir, let us suppose the parapet of London Bridge decorated with rich hangings of tapestry and cloth of gold, such as we know it was customary to adorn those edifices with on occasions of rejoicing and triumph. The lists, you re- member, were sixty paces in length by forty in breadth, but as the whole width of the bridge was but forty feet, this rule, though made by Thomas Duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II., must have been dispensed with. The ground within the lists was to be paved with large stones, hard, level, and firm ; and the entrances, which were commonly erected East and West, were to be fenced with bars, seven feet or more in height, that a horse might not be able to leap over them. At either end of the lists were erected the tents of the tilters, having their shields suspended over the entrances, which it was also customary to hang up, at once to denote their residence and to declare their knightly intentions." Chron. of London Bridge. X " The attaint" consisted " in striking the helmet and shield of one's anta- gonist firmly and strongly, with the lance held in a direct line, so that the weapon might break, unless the champion was overthrown." Ivanhoe. 90 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. gidder with new spears the second time, with burning ire to conquess (acquire) honour. But in the third rink," (or course — having exchanged their spears for stronger ones,) " Lord Welles was doung (struck) out of the saddle with sic violence that he fell to the ground," " Flatlings down upon the green " — " with great displeasure of Englishmen."* Sir David then himself dismounted, and they commenced a desperate foot-combat with their daggers, which ended in the total discomfiture of Lord Welles ; for Sir David, fastening his dagger between the joints of his antagonist's armour, lifted him off his feet, and hurled him to the ground, where he lay at his mercy. King Richard, who had seen the whole affair from his " summer castelle," called out to the victor, " Lyndyssay, cousin, good Lyndyssay ! f Do furth that thou should do this day " — ■ meaning that, if he wished to push the matter to extremity, as the laws of these combats d Voutrance permitted, no one should hinder him. It was then that the victorious knight displayed the grace, sweetness, and courtesy of his chivalry, for, raising his foe, and taking him kindly by the hand, he led him beneath the ladies' gal- lery, and " presented him to the Queen as his gift, wishing, like a true knight, that mercy should proceed from woman. "J The Queen thanked him, and then gave liberty to Lord Welles. Sir David supported him in the lists till a leech arrived, " tenderly embracing him, that the people might understand he fought with na hatrent, allanerly (solely) for the gloir of victory." He * Bellenden's Boece, — the verse " Flatlings," &c., from Wyntown. f The epithet " cousin " was not given by courtesy in those days, but only in cases of actual kindred. I do not however know what relationship existed between Sir David and Richard Plantagenet. Sir David signs himself " cousin " in addressing Henry IV., and Henry designs his son, Alexander Earl of Crawford, his " carissimus consanguineus " in 1407— but Henry was personally akin to almost all the nobles of Scotland through his maternal descent from the great House of Cumyn, and he made the most of the relationship. X Mills' History of Chivalry. Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. visited him afterwards every day till he recovered from the effects of his fall. Such was " The Lyndyssay, That in his deed all courteous wes ! " * * Wyntown's Cronykil, torn. ii. p. 353 ; Boeth., fol. 347 ; Bellenden's Boece, torn, ii. p. 470 ; Holinshed's Chronicle of Scotland, p. 366 ; Mills' Hist, of Chivalry, torn. i. p. 17; Ty tier's Hist, of Scotland, torn. iii. p. 80. — I subjoin Wyntown's graphic description of this tourney, as a choice specimen of pure old Scotch at the beginning of the fifteenth century. " Sa even upon the sixth day Of that month that we call May, Thai ilk foresaid lordis twa, The Lyndyssay and the Welles, thai On horse ane agane other ran, As their taillie a had ordained than. b The Lyndyssay there, with manful force, Strak quite the Welles fra his horse Flatlings down upon the green ; There all his saddle toom c was seen. All the people standand by Of this deed had great ferly, d For in all England before than The Welles wes a commendit man, Manful, stout, and of guid pith, And high of heart he was therewith. And thereat mony Englishmen Had baith despite and envy then ; Sa, for despite and great envie, They to the King tauld privily That then the Lyndyssay fast was tied. That well was proved, the teller lied ! For fra e the Lyndyssay gat witting That it was tauld sa to the King, Sittand on his horse, but bade, f Even on furth to the King he rade, And off his horse deliverlys He lap down — that the King clearly Kenned well that they falsely lied That said the L}^ndyssay before was tied. Then said the Lyndyssay reverently, To the King kneeling courteously, 4 Excellent prince ! now may ye Gif I was tied clearly see.' And when he had said that, than, Withouten help of any man, But be his awin agile force, Again he lap upon his horse, All the lave h for to fulfil That langed be the taillie theretil. " When Agreement, indenture. e As soon as. * Then. c Empty. d Marvel. f Without delay, s Nimbly. h The rest. 92 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. Sir David tarried three months in England at King Richard's desire, " sporting and feasting among the nobles," and " highly praised of all estates for his noble port and great liberality."* He then returned to Scotland, after entertaining the English nobles at a sumptuous farewell banquet, f * Holinshed's Chronicle. ^ t A repartee of Sir David's at this banquet is thus told by Boethius. An Eng- lish knight, hearing the heralds loudly extolling Sir David's prowess, exclaimed " When all their courses on horse wes done, Togidder they mellayed on foot soon, With all their weapons, as be the taillie Obliged they were for til assaillie. Sa with their knives at the last Ilk ane at other strak right fast. Sa, of this to tell you mair, The Lyndyssay fastened his dagger Intil Welles' armours fine Well lauche, a and him lifted syne b Something fra the erde c with pith ; And als, right manful virtue with, Openly, before them all, He gave the Welles a great fall, And had him hailly d at his will, Whatever he wald have done him til. " The King, in his summer castelle That all this journey e seen had well, Said, ' Lyndyssay, cousin, good Lyndyssay ! Do furth that thou should do this day.' As to be said, Do furth thy debt, There shall na man here mak thee let. f But the Lyndyssay nevertheless, That in his deed all courteous wes, Said to them that stood him by, ' Help, help now, for courtesy ! ' The Welles he took than be the hand, That on the green was there lyand, ' Rise, rise, Sir Knight, and stand on feet,' He said, ' there should be done mair yet ; Yhit it is na time to leve.' So held he Welles be the neve,S That up he helped him to rise. Sir Dawy the Lyndyssay on this wise Fulfilled in London his journey With honour and with honesty. And to the Queen than of England He gave this Welles in presand, h Thus quite wonnen all freely ; And she then of that courtesy Thanked him," &c. a Low. b Afterwards. c Earth. « Wholly. c Battle. 1 Hinder thee. s Hand. h As a present. CUAP. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 93 " And sa he, With honour and with honesty, Retourit syne in his land harae, Great worship eked till his fame." — " To this day," adds the Scotichronicon, " Sir David's knightly memory is held in the highest celebrity in England." * To perpetuate the remembrance of his victory, and in gratitude to the martial Saint to whose favour he attributed it, Sir David founded a chantry of five priests, or vicars choral, " within Our Lady Kirk at Dundee," to sing hymns to the dragon-queller's praise for ever.f Two years after this English visit, Sir David nearly lost his life in a conflict of a very different description. Scotland, though en- joying external quiet for some years after the battle of Otterburn, remained internally as much harassed as ever, for private feuds burst out, and the Northern districts in particular exhibited a scene of continued ravage and desolation. Wyntown, as usual, gives us the fullest and most authentic account of this misad- venture. bitterly, " No wonder the Scots now excel all others in courage, since they have come of the blood of our English nobles, when Scotland was occupied by our arms some years since." To which Sir David replied gaily, " Beware, lest, in thus re- proaching us, you confess yourselves the offspring of monks and father confessors, or at least of clowns and ploughmen, who, at the time that the English nobles (as ye allege) were becoming our ancestors, took advantage of their absence to become yours ! " * He describes him as " valens miles, et in omni probitate bellica quamplurimum commendatus." — For further details of this expedition, see the Scotichronicon, torn, ii. p. 422 ; Boethius, fol. 335, — and Bellenden's Translation, torn. ii. p. 470. Sir William Dalyell's encounter with Sir Piers Courtenay, as related in the Scotichronicon, will be found in the eighth note to the first Canto of Marmion, or in Ty tier's History, loco cit. The last victory that graced the Scottish expedition has never, that I am aware, been related in English. During the contests of the nobles, great contentions had arisen among their followers, " ilk man contending to decore his a win nation with maist loving." At last a certain Englishman challenged one Donald, a Scottish mountaineer, and " magister equitum," or principal groom, to Sir David, to fight with him in single combat, each man standing on his cloak, and without any other weapon, offensive or defensive, than his sword. The King and nobility sanctioning the proposal, Donald chose the " Forum Londinense," (I suppose, Guildhall,) for the place of combat ; the Englishman fixed the day ; and at the appointed hour and place Donald made his appearance, spread out his cloak, and took his station upon it, — but when the Englishman saw him looking so brisk and bloody-minded, his heart failed him, and he refused the combat. Boethius. t Boethius, and Bellenden's Translation. 94 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. " A thousand three hunder ninety and twa Fra Christ was born of Maria, There fell a high great discord Between Sir Dawy the Lyndesay, Lord Of Glenesk, and the Highlandmen. Three chieftains great were of them then, Thomas, Patrick, and Gibbon, — ■ Duncansons wes their surnoun." A day had been appointed for conference, with the view of com- posing this " discord," but the Duncansons did not keep the tryste, and a spy sent up the country by Sir David never reappearing, he heard nothing more till tidings arrived of there having " come down all suddenly Of Scottis a great company,"* three hundred or more in number, who were ravaging Glenisla, the North-west of Angus. Duncan Stewart, natural son of the notorious Alexander Earl of Buchan, the Wolf of Badenoch, and who emulated the atrocities of his father, accompanied them. Sir Walter Ogilvie of Auchterhouse, Sheriff of Angus, " that good knight, Stout and manful, bauld and wight," f was then at Kettins, and Sir Patrick Gray not far off; they marched to attack the invaders, and were followed by Sir David of Glenesk from Dundee, with a few of his people, who augmented their force to about sixty men, and with this handful they encoun- tered the enemy. The battle was fought at Glenbrerith, probably Glenbrierachan, about eleven miles North of Gasklune, with great obstinacy, but the issue was unfortunate for the Lindsays and Ogilvies. The Sheriff, with many of his clan, and his uterine brother, Leighton of Ulishaven, were slain. Sir David, armed at all points, and on horseback, made great slaughter among the catarans, but having pierced one of them with his lance, and pinned him to the ground, the dying warrior writhed his body upwards on the spear, and, collecting all his force, with a last dying effort, fetched a sweeping blow with * The epithet " Scots " is here still restricted to the native Celtic race, long after a more comprehensive signification had been assigned to it by the letter to Pope John in 1320. t Ancestor of all the branches of the noble House of Ogilvie. Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 95 his broadsword, which cut through the knight's stirrup-leather and steel-boot, " Three ply or four above the foot," to the very bone, — " That man na straik gave but that ane, For there he deit ; yet nevertheless That guid Lord there wounded wes, And had deit there that day Had not his men had him away, Agane his will, out of that press." * Duncan Stewart was soon afterwards captured by Sir James of Crawford, still, I believe, the High Justiciary of Scotland — " and all his complices punist for their conspiration." f Three years afterwards Sir James had another and a more pressing summons to the North. His wife, Margaret Keith, * Wyntown, Cronykyl, torn. ii. p. 367. — He describes Sir David's onset with much vigour : — " While they were in that press fechtand, a The Lyndesay guid wes at their hand, And of tha Scottis here and there Some he slew, some woundit sair. Sa, on his horse he sittand than Through the body he strak a man With his spear down to the erde ; That man hald fast his awin swerd Intil his neve, b and up thrawand 0 He pressit him, nocht-again-standand d That he wes pressit to the erde ; And with a swake e there of his swerd, Through the stirrup-leather and the boot, Three ply or four above the foot, He straik the Lyndesay to the bane. That man na straik gave but that ane," &c. f Boeth., fol. 335, and Bellenden, torn. ii. p. 469. — Possibly this feud between Sir David and the Highlanders may be accounted for by the following considera- tion, — that Robert de Atholia, son of Duncan the Fat, the heir-male of the ancient Earls of Athol, and chief of the Clan Donachie, or, as they are now termed, Ro- bertsons, (Skene's Highlanders, torn. ii. p. 141,) had married a daughter and co- heiress of Sir John Stirling of Glenesk — a sister consequently of Catherine, the mother of Sir David. She bore him only a daughter, whose marriage carried the property inherited from the Stirlings into the family of Menzies. Robert married a second time, and had issue the three chieftains mentioned in the text, of whom Duncan became the ancestor of the Robertsons of Struan. Undefined claims and supposed rights might well have occasioned the foray in question. a Fighting. c Writhing up. b Hand. d Notwithstanding. e Sudden and hasty stroke. 96 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. daughter of Sir William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, and heiress of Fermartine, or Fyvie, in Aberdeenshire, " a guid Lady, That led in all her time guid life," * had been employing some masons at her castle of Fyvie, with whom the followers of her nephew, Robert de Keith, " a mighty man Be lineage, and apparent than For to be a Lord of micht," quarrelled. The discourteous chief took up the matter so warmly as to besiege his aunt in her own castle, — she held it out, and sent notice to her husband, who was then at court. He started immediately, with four hundred men, to relieve his wife, but was intercepted by Keith near the Kirk of Bourtie, in the Garioch, where Sir James utterly defeated him, and with the loss of above fifty of his followers : — " Sa Robert quite Wes in that bargain f discomfyte ; Fra then he passed nocht till Fivy, For til assiege that guid Ladj." % The last great feud that at this period prevailed in the North, that between the Clan Chattan and Clan Kay, was soon after- wards brought to a settlement by Sir James and the Earl of Moray § in the manner familiar to every one since the publication of the ' Fair Maid of Perth.' After this conflict quiet was restored to the Highlands, and Scotland enjoyed tranquillity for many years, the truce with England being constantly renewed, and intercourse between the two countries encouraged as much as possible. Sir James died shortly afterwards, in 1397, without male issue, * " Domina Margareta de Lyndesay, sponsa quondam Domini Jacobi de Lynde- say," is mentioned in the * Chamberlain Rolls,' in 1398, torn. ii. p. 364, and subse- quently till 1403, p. 565, — and Sir James's charter of lands in Fermartine to his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Preston, 1390-1397, {supra, p. 51,) is witnessed by " ca- rissimo patre nostro, Domino Willielmo Keith, Mariscallo, et Roberto Keith, fratre nostro." t Combat. % Wyntown, torn. ii. p. 371. § Boethius, fol. 335 ; Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 420 ; Buchanan, lib. x. ; Tytlcr, torn. iii. p. 76. Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 97 and the chiefship of the Lindsays, together with the barony of Crawford and the other entailed estates and revenues, devolved on his cousin-german, Sir David of Glenesk, — while the Lordship of Fermartine, or Fyvie, and other unentailed properties, were divided between his daughters, Margaret and Euphemia, respec- tively married to Sir Thomas Colville and Sir John Hemes of Tereagles.* He left a more enduring memorial in a convent of Mathurine, Robertine, Red, or Trinity Friars, founded by him at Dundee in 1392, for the ransom of Christian captives from Turkish slavery, and which gradually assumed the character of an hospital, in which decayed burghers of Dundee resided till about seventy years ago.f On the 21st of April, 1398, the year after Sir James's death, his successor Sir David was created Earl of Crawford, by solemn belting and investiture, in the parliament held at Perth that year,:]: — the Earldom of Crawford being the third created since the extinction of the Celtic dynasty, that of Douglas having been the second, and that of Moray the first. § And this creation was * See the Appendix, No. I., Head V., iv. t " The Hospital of Dundee was founded several centuries ago by the Earl of Crawford," (Sir James Lindsay,) " who bequeathed for the maintenance of the poor citizens of Dundee certain buildings upon the site of the old academy at the foot of South Tay Street, and some yearly rents to be used in maintaining them as a poor-house, or Maison-dieu. This establishment was afterwards augmented by bequests and donations from other individuals; and Queen Mary, in 1567, granted to the Hospital of Dundee the lands, tenements, &c, belonging to the Dominican and Franciscan friars, and Grey Sisters, consisting of the present burying- ground and monastic buildings to the South, Serreshaugh, or Manorgan's-Croft, now Hospital-ward, part of the present meadows and adjoining ground. From certain old records it would appear that the lands and revenues of the hospital were once much more extensive and valuable than now. It is not above seventy years since decayed burgesses resided in the Hospital. The minister of the Cross Church officiated to the establishment ; and he still receives part of his stipend from the funds of the institution. It has since been found more wise to distribute the funds to persons residing in their own houses." Stat. Account, torn. i. p. 51. — "Some- times," says Mr. Thomson, "as much as £500 were paid to decayed burgesses. The ground on the South side of the Nethergate, extending from the Catholic chapel Eastward to the Sea-wynd, is said to have belonged to the friars." Hist, of Dundee, p. 326. — Robert III. dissolved the connection of the church of Ketnes or Kettins from the Maturine convent of Berwick, and annexed it to Sir James Lind- say's foundation at Dundee by a charter cited in Robertson's Index, p. 1 52. He is the only benefactor, except Sir James, on record. % Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 422 ; Wyntown's Cronykyl, torn. ii. p. 381, — and for other relative authorities see Mr. Riddell's Crawford Case, pp. 2 sqq. § Notwithstanding the great merits of the patriots who struggled for the inde- VOL. I. H 98 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. accompanied by a regrant of the principal fief of Crawford, " with a regality," or, as it was technically phrased, " cum quatuor punctis coronse," conveying privileges to him and his posterity analogous to those enjoyed by the Earls Palatine of England and the continent.* Earl David had married some years before the Princess Eliza- beth Stewart, daughter of Robert II., — her dowry was the barony of Strathnairn in Invernessshire.t I do not know whether this was accompanied by the Sheriffship of Banff, of which he gave charters to Thomas Earl of Moray 4 Brave, courteous, and accomplished, he passed through life honourably to himself and his name. One of his repartees on a very interesting occasion has been preserved by Wyntown. At a march-meeting at Haldanestank, to which he and his cousin Sir William of the Byres had been deputed commissioners, to meet John of Gaunt and other English nobles, to prolong the truce and regulate the jurisdiction of the borders, he happened to observe that Harry Percy was sheathed in complete armour, notwithstanding the peaceable character of the conference. " It is for fear of the English horsemen, " said Hotspur in explanation, for he was already meditating the insur- rection immortalised by Shakspeare. " Ah, Sir Harry !" rejoined Sir David, in allusion to the night of Otterburn, " I have seen pendence of Scotland under Robert Bruce, he only advanced one of them to the dignity of Earl, to wit, Randolph Earl of Moray,— only one other Earldom, that of Douglas, was conferred during the reign of David II., " and so high a value was then put upon the dignity, that, the branches of the royal family excepted, and some confirmations of new families to old dignities, there was but one other family " (that of Lindsay) " advanced to it before the reign of King James II., who made several creations, though not vested with the same powers." Dignity of the Scottish Peerage Vindicated, 1719, p. 15. * Robertson's Index, p. 141. — " It was therefore (as well as from other proof) not by the more frequent form of creating the principal fief, dominium, or baronia of the family, or their whole estates, into a comitatus, that the Earldom of Crawford was constituted, seeing that their principal fief of Crawford still then continued, as it besides did afterwards, to be merely a barony." Crawford Case, p. 4, — and see the paragraphs following, concerning the ancient connection of titles with land. f Her name is stated to have been Elizabeth in most of the ancient genealogies. In consequence of this alliance, Earl David is constantly styled the King's " son " and "brother" in the charters of Robert II. and Robert III. % Robertson's Index, p. 142, Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 99 you more sorely bestad by Scottisb footmen than by English horse !"* He was no less sage in counsel than ready in reply, and the records are full of the safe-conducts granted to him as charged with negotiations by his sovereign.! Sometimes indeed he sought for adventure and honour in the foreign wars. Between a visit to England in October, 1398, and the 29th of December, 1404, the date of his safe-conduct for entering England with one hundred persons, horse and foot, in his train, and passing through to Scot- land, his name is not once mentioned in the Rotuli, and it is merely from foreign sources that we learn that he gave a letter of service and homage, under his seal of arms, to Louis Duke of Orleans, on the 1st of January, 1401-2, { and that in May that year he was hovering with a fleet on the coast of Corunna in Spain, probably as a partisan of France. § It was through this * Wyntown, torn. ii. p. 377; Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, torn. i. p. 75. — The original passage is as follows : — " Sir Henry the Percy young at right, Was armit all over in birny bright ; a Sir Dawy Lord than de Lyndesay Said til him courteously that day, £ Sir Henry, what makes you to be Sa weirlike b as you now we see ? ' Til him than answerit the Percy, ' I will that you wist, Sir Dawy, Of Scottismen I dreid na force ; But this I do for English horse.' Than said the Lyndesay, Sir Dawy, ' Thou kens right weill yet, Sir Henry, That oft has Scottismen with their force Thee sairer greivit than English horse ! ' " — Sir David's safe-conduct for this meeting at " Hawdenstank " is dated 22nd Sept. 1398. Rot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 142. t See the Rotuli Scotice, passim. X Inventory of Documents in the Archives of France, Abbotsford Club, p. 34. — The " letter " of service is without any exception save his duty to the King of Scot- land and his eldest son. Louis Duke of Orleans was at this moment strengthening himself in every way for his contest with the Duke of Burgundy for the Governor- ship and Lieutenancy of France. § He was at Corunna, in company with " le Sire de Hely, Messire Rasse de Renty, et plusieurs autres avec leur armee," when the celebrated Norman adven- turer, Jean de Bethencourt, touched there on his voyage of discovery to the Canaries. I quote from ' L'Histoire de la premiere Decouverte et Conqueste des Canaries,' &c., written by Bontier, a Franciscan friar, and Jean le Venier, a priest, domestics of Bethencourt : — " Si descendit Monseigneur de Bethencourt a terre, et alia a la ville oil il avoit a besongner, et trouva qu'ils defaisoient une nef de plusieurs habillemens a Burnished armour. b Warlike. H 2 100 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. absence that he probably escaped death or capture at the dis- astrous battle of Homildon, and the pain of personal presence during the investigations that followed upon the murder of the resignation of his uncle the Duke of Albany, at the Scottish parliament held in January, 1398. Rothesay was of a wild and thoughtless disposition, little qualified for such a charge, and had alienated the affections of all whom he ought to have courted and conciliated. He had been affianced to his cousin, the beautiful Euphemia de Lindsay, sister of Sir William of Rossie and of Earl David, — he slighted her for Elizabeth Dunbar,* and her again qu'ils avoient prinse, nous ne scavons sur qui. Quand Bethencourt vid cela, il pria le Comte qu'il peust prendre de la nef aucunes choses qui leur estoient necessaires, et le Comte luy octroya, et Bethencourt s'en alia en la nef, et fit prendre une ancre et un batel, et les fit amener a sa nef. Mais quand le Seigneur de Hely et ses com- pagnons le sceurent, ils n'en furent mie contens, et leur en despleut : et vint Messire Rasse de Renty vers eux, et leur dit, qu'il ne plaisoit mie au Sire de Hely qu'ils eussent le batel ni l'ancre. Bethencourt leur respondit que c'estoit par la volonte du Comte de Craforde, et qu'ils ne le rendroyent point. Ouye leur response, le Sire de Hely Tint vers Monseigneur de Bethencourt, et luy dist qu'il ramenast ou fist ramener ce qu'ils avoient prins de leur nef, et il luy respondit qu'il l'avoit fait par le conge du Comte. Si y eut de grosses paroles assez. Quand M. de Bethencourt vid cela, il dit au Sieur de Hely, ' Prenez batel et ancre de par Dieu, et vous en allez/ ' Puis qu'il vous plaist,' respondit le Sire de Hely, * ce ne feray-je mie, ainchois les y ferai mener aujourd'huy, ou j'y pourvoyray autrement.' Respondit le dit Be- thencourt et Gadifer, ' Prenez les, si vous voulez, car nous avons autre chose a faire.' Le dit Bethencourt estoit sur son partir et vouloit lever les ancres et soy tirer hors du port, et incontinent se partit. Quand ils virent cela, ils armerent une galiote, et vindrent apres le dit Bethencourt, mais ils n'approcherent point plus pres, fors qu'on parla a eux, et y eut assez de paroles qui trop longues seroyent a raconter. Ils n'eurent one autre chose, ne autre response, que ainsi la premiere estoit, et s'en retournerent a tant." — Pp. 7, 8, 9.— Earl David's courtesy to Bethen- court is quite in character. — This passage and the character of his employment may receive illustration from a statement in the ' Histoire de Charles VI.,' by Jean Juvenal des Ursins, Archbishop of Rheims, p. 151, edit. 1653: — " 1402. Les An- glois equipperent des vaisseaux sur mer, et mirent gens dedans, qui faisoient maux infinis sur mer, et specialement grevoient fort les Isles estans en la mer, obeissans au Roy de France. Les Francois se mirent sus es marches estans sur la mer, obeissans au Roy de France, et firent tant de diligence, que souvent trouvoient les Anglois sur mer et les assailloient, et aussi les Anglois se defendoient le mieux qu'ils pouvoient. Toutefois les Francois plusieurs petites victoires eurent aucune- ment sur leurs ennemis, et tellement qu'ils ne s'adventurerent plus d'ainsi voguer sur mer." * " Sicut et filiam Comitis Marchia?, sic eandem repudiavit," are Bower's words. Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 432. — But these must be connected with what he says previously, at page 428. Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 101 for Marjory Douglas, — the consequence was the deadly enmity of the Earl of March and of Sir William ; and more recently he had offended his father-in-law, the Earl of Douglas, by personal affronts and neglect of his daughter, and disgusted one of his own immediate followers, Sir William Ramorgny, a man of polished manners and revengeful heart, who proved a ready tool in the hands of Albany for his destruction. Influenced by his brother, King Robert consented to suspend Rothesay from his office of Governor, — the Bishop of St. Andrews having just died, Sir William and Ramorgny suggested to the Prince that he should ride to St. Andrews and keep the castle for the King's interest ; he set off with a small train, but was intercepted by them, and conveyed a prisoner to the castle, till Albany should determine what further steps should be taken. Albany and Douglas pre- sently arrived, and transported the unfortunate Prince to Falk- land, where, as was commonly reported, he was starved to death. Albany was generally considered the murderer, nor did his acquittal by a tribunal to whose judgment he voluntarily sub- mitted himself diminish the general impression of his guilt.* * Scotichronicon, ut supra. — " Willielmus de Lindsay, de Rossy, miles," was living 16 Oct. and 20 Feb. 1423, the dates of charters in the Haigh Muniment-room by which he resigns to his superior lord, Alexander Earl of Crawford, the lands of the Halton of Inverarity, co. Forfar, and receives from the Earl the lands of Dunbulg and others in the barony of Balinbreich, Fife. — " Dominus Willielmus de Lindsay " and " Domina Matilda," his wife, were living in 1434, when the latter, described as the spouse of the former, received £10 " ex concessione Regis," Chamberlain Rolls, torn. iii. p. 211, — and which £10 appears subsequently, p. 560, to have been an annuity, which she still draws in 1452. — Sir William and Lady Matilda had a son, Mr. James Lindsay, a priest, appointed to the parsonage of Douglas by Wil- liam Earl of Douglas, and by collation of John Bishop of Glasgow, 12 June, 1443 {Beg. Mag. Sig.) — to a Canonry in the Collegiate Church of Bothwell, by presen- tation of William Earl of Douglas, who calls him " consanguineus noster," 4 Oct. 1447 (Regist. Episc. Glasg., torn. ii. p. 366) a — and finally, in or about 1476, to the post of Dean of the Cathedral of Glasgow, in which capacity he figures till his death in 1487 (Obitus, 17 May, 1487, ibid., p. 615). — He founded the chaplainry of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence in the Cathedral of Glasgow, for the souls " quon- dam Willielmi Lynddesai patris sui et Domine Mathildis Stewart matris sue," 1 April, 1486. (Ibid., p. 450.) — His arms, as borne on his seal, are the simple fesse-chequee, with a star in chief on the dexter side, and two lions as supporters, precisely those borne by Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk, father of the first Earl of Crawford, — inducing the inference that he was a descendant of Sir Alexander, a Mr. James Lindsay, Canon of Glas- gow and Secretary to William Earl of Douglas, is witness to a charter dated 6 Aug. 1447, and confirmed 1450, in the Great Seal Register. 102 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. Rothesay's death was followed by a renewal of hostilities with England — the rout at Homildon — and the capture of James, the surviving heir of King Robert, by the English. Robert, dreading the ambition of Albany, which had already proved so fatal to his eldest son, determined on preserving the younger from a similar fate by a foreign education. France, the ancient ally of Scotland, was chosen for his residence. Albany discovered the design, and it was probably at his instigation that an English vessel waylaid and captured the young Prince on his voyage and carried him to London, where, in violation of a truce then sub- sisting between the two nations, he was confined a prisoner in the Tower. It then became Albany's policy to throw every obstacle in the way of his nephew's release, in order that he himself might retain the almost regal authority he had long possessed ; and the poor old King dying of a broken heart in April, 1406, on hearing through his father Sir William Lindsay — thus to be presumed identical with the knight of Rossie — and Lady Matilda Stewart. I do not know the filiation of Lady Matilda, but should conjecture, from the fact of the royal annuity above men- tioned, that she was a daughter, legitimate or illegitimate, of the royal House. a — Walter de Lindsay of Rossy, who flourished in 1445, and concerning whom vide supra, p. 51, was probably the eldest son of this marriage, and elder brother of the Dean of Glasgow. Walter may probably have been the father of another church dignitary, " Magister Willielmus Lindsay," prebendary of Dunkeld, parson of Inch- machnach, and vicar of Newtyle, described as " domus Rossie in Fyff primoge- nitus " in the dedication of the 4 Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld,' by Alex. Miln. He had been promoted under Bishop George, who ruled the see between 1484 and 1515. b — Much obscurity still rests on the succession of the House of Rossie and its connection with that of Dowhill, which is stated (vide supra, p. 51) to have de- scended from Sir William of Rossie. The earliest ascertained Dowhill ancestor is William Lindsay of Logie, who flourished at the close of the fourteenth century, and held Crambeth, now Dowhill, through Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Agnes de Crambeth and Sir James de Valoniis. Rossie had been the property of the Valloines family before it came to the Lindsays, and it is hence inferred that William of Logie and Sir William of Rossie were identical. The evidence is not perhaps conclusive, but the legitimate and near propinquity of the House of Dow- hill is established by their being called as heirs in the Crawford entail of 1541. a Mr. James Lindsay, Canon and Dean of Glasgow, must be distinguished from his contemporary, Mr. James Lindsay, Provost of Lincluden, of whom I shall speak hereafter. b Contemporary, and even possibly identical, with this William Lindsay, lived an " honorabilis vir, Dominus Guillermus Lyndesay, nuper Prior prioratus loci de Restennet, Ordinis Sancti Augustini," so described in a notarial instrument dated 12 June, 1476, preserved among some ancient muniments of the Priory of Res- tennet at Glamis Castle, and of which I possess a transcript through the kindness of my friend W. B. D. D. Turnbull, Esq. — He may have succeeded William Forfar as Prior in 1474. Chap. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 103 of his son's disaster, the Duke attained the object of his ambition, the sole and unfettered government of Scotland. Earl David had returned to Scotland shortly before this event. He had a safe-conduct for visiting England on business connected with the preservation of the truce in December, 1406,* and would appear from this and other circumstances to have been as active and energetic as ever, but he seems, though still in the prime of life, to have felt a presentiment of approaching death, and to have prepared for a longer journey. He had mortified a sum of money to the Cathedral of Aberdeen for the souls of his parents and of the faithful dead, in 1400, f and endowed a chaplainry in the chapel of St. Beternan,J in the Cathedral of Brechin, in 1405, to celebrate divine offices for the souls of his father and mother, his grandfather, Sir John Stirling, and (as before) of the faithful dead,§ — he now, in December, 1406, executed, with the concur- rence of his eldest son, Alexander, a series of charters endowing the five priests in the parish- church of Dundee, already mentioned, to the honour of Our Lady of Victory and of St. George the Martyr, and founded an additional altar to the memory of All Saints in the same church, appointing two more chaplains to officiate at it. || He further made settlements of lands and annual * Rotuli Scotia, torn. ii. p. 181. f Regist. Episc. Aberdon., torn. i. p. 203. X So in the charter, but the Saint in question is unknown to hagiologists. " There occurs a St. Bercham, Bishop and Confessor, on April 6, and a St. Berethun, Abbot and Confessor, on May 15, in the old Scottish Calendar. We are much at a loss as regards the pious men of early Scottish history, especially in the North. For example, Saints Braoch and Skeoch, or Skaa, of whom nothing is known, are intimately connected with the county of Forfar." Information from\W. B. D. D. Turnbull, Esq. — Another Forfarshire Saint, held in especial reverence in Glenesk, was St. Drostan Abbot, the nephew of St. Columba, who withdrew from the rule of the celebrated Abbey of Dalquongale in Ireland, " et in partibus Scocie se trans- tulit, ubi, vitam heremiticam ducens, in loco qui dicitur Glenesk ecclesiam con- struxit." Breviarium Aberdonense, fol. xix. — His office is printed in the Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, torn. ii. pp. 373, 374. Information from Joseph Robertson Esq., whose further very interesting observations, tending to fix the ministry and church of St. Drostan at Edzell, will be found in the Appendix, No. X. § Chamberlain Rolls, torn. ii. p. 660. || Robertson's Index, p. 161. — " Sir David, Earl of Crawford . . . endowed both the chantry and this altar with an annual stipend of forty merks, payable out of the Earl's Lodging," the town-residence of the family in Dundee. " The other endow- ments of the Choristers, separately from All Saints, were, — at the foundation of the choir, granted annually and for ever, for its support,— twelve marks from the 104 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. rents on his younger sons, — provided, with a father's tenderness, for his sister, the unfortunate Euphemia,* — and, in short, made ready, as a good Christian, for his summons before his Maker. It came at the expected hour, in February, 1407, when he died, as we may trust, in humble faith and resignation — though at the early age of forty-one — at his castle of Finhaven, and was buried in the family vault in the Grey-Friars' Church at Dundee, f Tradition indeed has forgotten this, and points to the remains of Tower Lindsay at the Castle of Crawford — the original keep of the fortress, but now crumbled down into a vast tumulus, all over green — as Earl David's grave. He left four sons — Alexander, his successor, David of New- dosk, Gerard, and Ingelram, Bishop of Aberdeen, of whom I shall speak hereafter, J — and three daughters, the eldest, Lady Margaret, married to her cousin-german Archibald fifth Earl of Douglas and Duke of Touraine, " with sic pomp and triumph," says Pitscottie, " that never the like was seen at no man's mar- riage,'^ — the second, Lady Marjory, to Sir William Douglas of Lochleven, to whom she bore the heroic Catherine Douglas and barony of Inverarity, twelve from that of Meigle, twelve from Megginch, twelve from Downie, each conferred by a separate charter, and each separately confirmed by Robert Duke of Albany, Regent, at Perth, on the same day, 24 Feb. 1406. Be- sides these, they had revenues amounting to £83. 2s. lid., which were drawn out of the profits of certain houses and properties, situated at different places in the town and elsewhere. The gross income of the choir, including the moiety of the forty merks, was £128. 9s. 7c?., averaging to each chorister £15. 12s. 9c?." Thomson's Hist, of Dundee, p. 286. * Robertson's Index, p. 166. — The charter is there said to be granted by Alex- ander Earl of Crawford, but as the preceding charter, by which Patrick Graham Earl of Strathern and Euphemia his wife grant her an annuity, is dated 6 Dec. 1406, I suspect that it is by mistake for Earl David. These two charters are fol- lowed by a third grant to her by Sir William of Rossie. t MS. Genealogy, 1623, in the Haigh Muniment-room ; Sir James Balfour's MSS., Adv. Library, Edinburgh. % Strict proof of Ingelram's filiation is wanting. His close connection with the Crawford family is attested both by his biographer Boethius and by his foundation of an obitus for the soul of David third Earl of Crawford, slain at Arbroath in 1445-6. I should have supposed him younger brother of that Earl, but it is hardly possible, as he was an old man and infirm in 1440. I therefore conclude him pro- visionally among the younger children of Earl David. § Chron. Lindsaij of Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 17. — Her name is usually given as Matilda, but there is an entry in an Exchequer Roll of a payment out of the lord- ship of Brechin " Mergarete de Lindsay, Comitisse de Douglas." Information from Mr. Itiddell. — The names Margaret, Mariota, Marjory, Matilda, &c, were indeed constantly interchanged in those days, like Isabelle and Elizabeth. CHAP. III. DAVID EARL OF CRAWFORD. 105 the ancestor of the Earls of Morton, — and the third, Elizabeth, to Sir Robert Keith, Marischal of Scotland.* I do not know that I can conclude this notice more appropriately than by subjoining the solitary specimen of Earl David's corre- spondence now surviving — a letter addressed by him to Henry IV. of England, in February, 1405, on the occasion of a merchant- ship of St. Andrews having been seized and confiscated by the English, in violation of the truce. The style is that rather of a sovereign prince than a simple subject, and its tone of graceful courtesy is quite in keeping with Earl David's historical charac- ter : — " A tres excellent et tres puissant Henry, par la grace Dieu, Roy de Engleterre.\ " Excellent et tres puissant Prince ! " Je me recomande a vostre tres-haut noblesse tant come je puis, en desirant savoir bones nouvelles de vous et de vostre noble estat, lequel nostre Seigneur veulle maintenir come vous voudries et come je le desire ! " Tres noble Prince ! plaise vous assavoir que j'ay entendu par les marchans de la ville de Sanct Andreu quevne neff de Flandres venant devers Escoce, charge de marchandise et des biens de ces mesmes marchans de la ville de Sanct Andreu, ont este prins par escumeurs % d'Engleterre estans en vne armee barge, qu'est appellee la Barge de Calace, sur le rivage d'Escoce, et amenes en * I do not know whether it was one of these three daughters, or a fourth, who is the subject of a curious bond of friendship between " Sir David, Earl of Crawford," and " Sir Thomas of Erskine, Lord of that Ilk," dated at Brechin, 20th Dec. 1400, and by which, on the understanding that Sir Robert Erskine, eldest son of Sir Thomas, is to marry Earl David's daughter, Sir Thomas, on the one hand, forgives Earl David six hundred out of twelve hundred marks, which was to be the lady's dowry, and Earl David on the other obliges himself, after the decease of Isabelle Countess of Marr, to support Sir Thomas and Dame Jean his wife with all his power and might in the recovery of the lands of Marr and Garioch — in other words, of the Earldom of Marr, from which, their rightful inheritance, the Erskines were so long arbitrarily excluded. Inventory of the Marr Writs, MS. p. 218. — Sir Thomas Erskine (already mentioned supra, p. 75) was the son of Beatrice de Lind- say, sister of Sir David of Crawford ; Sir Robert and Earl David's daughter must therefore have been second-cousins once removed, the lady being of the generation junior to that of her proposed husband. f I give this letter in the original orthography. % Pirates— skimmers of the sea. 106 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. III. Engleterre au port de Halyeland, et la ont fait distribucon de partie des diz merchandise, come Jehan Raa, porteur de cez presentes, et ses compaignons, marchans de la ville de Sanct Andreu, a vostre tres-haut noblesse plain a plain saueront racon- ter. Et pour ce, tres excellent Prince ! je vous requer, que puisque teillx* choses sont attemptees encontre la vertu des treucx ja piece f prins, et ausi que les dis marchans et ville de Sanct Andreu m'apartenynt, qu'il plaise a vostre tres noble Seig- neurie de faire faire restoracon des diz biens au devant diz mar- chans, la ou il porront estre trouves dedans vostre roiaume ou seigneuries, lesquelx denrees et marchandises sont estimes et somees par loialx marchans a la value de mille libres. " Tres excellent Prince, li Sanct Esprit vous ayt en sainte garde, et vous donne haver X et bon fin ! Et s'il y a chose es parties par deca que je peusse faire a vostre tres noble plesance, comandez le moy et je le feray tres volentiers et de cuer. " Escript a Donde, le second jour de Januer. " Vostre simple cousin, " David Lyndessay, Conte de Crauffurde." § * Telles. f Now for some time. % " Havre," I suppose— equivalent to " Bring you into port," a nautical metaphor not inappropriate in sequence to the preceding paragraph. § This letter, and others, touching the same ship, from Kobert III., the Duke of Albany, Henry Wardlaw, Bishop of St. Andrews and afterwards Cardinal, and Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld, are bound up, miscellaneously with other very interesting Scottish correspondence, in a folio volume, preserved among the Cottonian MSS. (Vesp. F. vii. 48), in the British Museum. All these letters are written in Latin except those of Earl David and Sir David Fleming, the latter being in Scottish. I presume Sir David felt like the celebrated Earl of March, or Dunbar, who, in writing to Henry five years before, ends his letter thus, apologizingly : — " And, noble Prince ! mervaile nocht that I write my lettres in English, for that ys mare clere to myne understanding than Latyne or Fraunche." Pinkerton, Hist. ScotL, torn. i. p. 449. — It may be tracing the influence of race too narrowly, but one cannot but remember that George of Dunbar, the representative of the exile Cospatrick, was the noblest representative of the Saxon race — which in Cromwell's time signalized its emancipation by banishing Latin from our charters. --To return to Earl David's letter, it further illustrates the statement of Mr. Ty tier, that in the fourteenth century " the Scottish nobles possessed companies of merchants, who speculated on their account and under their protection," Hist. ScotL, torn. ii. p. 315, — so at least I interpret Earl's David's assertion, "que les dis marchans et ville de Sanct Andreu m'apartenynt." — The sum of £1000, at which the cargo was valued, and which is dwelt upon with emphasis in almost every one of the letters, was a very large one in those days. Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. 107 CHAPTER IV. " Lindsay's castle jutteth forth On the wild, old, sounding sea, And a gallant race of the hardy North, As their mountains strong, as the billows free, That monument of ancient worth Through long long centuries have held, Bequeathed unto the modern earth By the great dim hands of eld." Ernest Jones. If the fourteenth century be styled the chivalrous, the fifteenth and the sixteenth may be emphatically termed the feudal age of Scotland. A Robert Bruce, a Lord James of Douglas, a Sir Alexander Ramsay, an Earl David of Crawford, are characters which it is delightful to contemplate, shining like bright stars in the midnight arch of our country's history, — but they set one after another, and a race of rougher mould succeeded, an age of feudal barbarism ; like the first hour before day-break, it was cold and chill, — " The moon had gone down and the stars were few." And this lasted (although there were bright exceptions, noble occasional outbreaks of national and knightly feeling) till the glorious day-spring, — ay, till the sun of the Reformation and of modern civilization had been long up in the heavens. The period before us exhibits three distinct phases — acts in the great drama of Scottish feudality, — the struggle of the King and the Church against the great feudal aristocracy ; the struggle of the King, the Church, and the great feudal aristocracy against the lesser and more numerous nobility, asserting popular rights and principles, — and, thirdly, the struggle of the King to make himself independent alike of Nobles, Church, or People — an abso- lute monarch. Outlines indeed like these — distinguishing the immutable laws and general tendencies of the development of 108 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. man from his individual and partial efforts, often to the retard- ment of that development— must ever be liable to exceptions; it is enough if we can discern a leading idea, a central principle, in each century, to which the particular events recorded bear nearer or remoter reference, and, apart from which, the history even of a private family must appear a maze without a plan in the map of Providence. I must now attempt to give you some idea of the ordinary life of the Earls of Crawford in the fifteenth century, and generally during the times of feudalism. Till the death of Sir James of Crawford, in 1397, the family had resided chiefly in Clydesdale ; but Earl David, and Sir Alexander before him, had spent their lives in Angus, and that county became henceforward the home of their predilection. Their principal residence was at Finhaven, a castle built on a high bank or hill, overhanging the Lemno, and deriving its name " Fion-abhain," or the " White river," from the foam cast up by the . rippling of the waters of that little stream at their confluence with the South-Esk, almost under the castle walls. The site is not striking, from elevation or otherwise ; but a more favourable position in a military point of view could not have been chosen, the castle being situated at the entrance of the great valley of Strathrnore, so as to command the whole of the Lowlands beneath the base of the Grampians ; while, at the same time, it guards the passes of the Highlands through the neighbouring valleys of Glenisla, Glenprosen, and Glenclova.* Little now remains of the fortress save the keep, a lofty square tower of the fourteenth century, split asunder as by lightning and overgrown with ivy, and from the summit of which a view was obtainable till recently over the whole surrounding country, — but, judging by the graceful proportions and beautiful masonry of the fragment that remains, and the extent of ground enclosed within the fosse, Finhaven, when entire, must have been a most stately structure.! A noble Spanish chestnut, nearly forty-three feet in circumference, orna- mented the court of the castle, and probably served as the " covin-tree," under which the stirrup-cup was drunk when guests * New Stat. Ace, torn. xi. p. 298. t " It is distant in a North-Easterly direction, and on the new road to Brechin, about six miles from Forfar." Chambers' Picture of Scotland, torn. ii. p. 233. Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. 109 departed on their journey. It was in full growth and vigour in the days of Earl David's great-grandson, commonly called " Earl Beardie," but a gillie, or messenger lad, sent on an errand from the Castle of Carriston to that of Finhaven, having cut a walking- stick from it, the Earl was so enraged that he hanged him on a branch of it, — such at least is the tradition, and from that moment the tree began to decay, though it was not till 1740 that the bitter frost of that year killed it, and for twenty years later it continued standing till a storm in 1760 finally levelled it with the ground. The ghost of the gillie has ever since constantly walked between Finhaven and Carriston, under the name of Jock Barefoot, getting credit for all the tricks and rogueries commonly attributed in England to Robin Goodfellow.* The church of Finhaven — rebuilt, as already mentioned, by Sir Alexander Lindsay imme- diately before his departure for Palestine — arose contiguous to the castle-walls,f and the neighbouring hamlets of Aberlemno and Tannadyce afforded accommodation to the families of the imme- diate retainers. Westward of the castle, a tract of primeval forest, chiefly of oak, styled the Barony of the Forest of Platane, extended for several miles — nominally the property of the Crown, but de facto of the Earls of Crawford, who held it as hereditary foresters, J and had a lodge, or residence, in the green-wood, the vestiges of which are still pointed out under the name of Lindsay's Hall.§ The forest has now entirely disappeared, but the tradition of the country bears that the wild cat could leap from tree to tree from the Castle of Finhaven to the hill of Kirriemuir. || * Information kindly furnished by the Eev. Harry Stuart of Oathlaw, or Fin- haven. — This tree " was of the spreading kind," says Pennant ; " the circumference near the ground was forty-two feet eight, of the top thirty -five feet nine, of one of the largest branches twenty-three feet." Second Tour in Scotland, ap. Pinkerton's Coll., torn. iii. p. 436. — " When it was cut down, the late Mr. Skene of Carraldstone (Carriston) caused a table to be made of the wood of the tree . . . The table is now in the possession of the Earl of Aboyne (Marquess of Huntley) at Aboyne Castle. The roots of the tree are still to be seen in the court-yard of the castle." New Stat. Ace, torn. xi. p. 294. f Some vestiges of it remain at a place called Aikenfaulds. Forfarshire Illus- trated, p. 122. % By charter, with the barony of Fothnevyn, or Finhaven, granted by Robert II. to Sir Alexander Lindsay, in the fifth year of his reign. Robertson's Index, p. 129. § Forfarshire Illustrated, p. 124. || New Statistical Account, torn. xi. p. 170. 110 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. At certain seasons — during the winter probably — this country residence was exchanged for the " Palatium Comitis," the " Earl's Palace," the " Great Lodging," or the " Earl's Lodging " * — as it is variously described in ancient records — in the provincial capital, Dundee, — a vast and antique edifice, part of which was still standing about sixty years ago, with the letters ILurtegai) em- bossed on the battlements ; and which stood in what was for- merly styled the a Flukergait " — now the Nethergate — West of the High Street or Market-place, occupying with its offices and " viridarium," or garden, the whole space between that street and the river, f A chapel, or oratory, dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, was attached to the palace, J and served for the daily devotions of the family ; but on great church festivals, and on the anniversaries of their ancestors, when mass was celebrated for their souls at the altars founded by themselves or their children, they attended in the parish-church of St. Mary, still further West- ward, and formerly denominated the " Kirk in the Fields," from its situation outside the town — and where Earl David had founded the chantries mentioned in the preceding chapter, § — or otherwise, * The town-house of a nobleman was termed his " Lodging" in old Scotch. f Ancient charters in the Haigh Muniment -room, and others ; Chambers' Gazetteer of Scotland, torn. i. p. 232; Thomson's Hist, of Dundee, pp. 157, 317. — "It extended," says Mr. Thomson, " from Couttie's or Spalding's Wynd, on the East, as far West as the prolongation of the Dundee and Newtyle Railway. The house of the Messrs. Gray is built upon part of the site of this ancient mansion, and some fragments of an inscription, found formerly on the Earl's Lodging, are preserved in the offices of the modern building." — By the courtesy of Mr. Robert Gray, and through the intervention of my friend Mr. Martin Lindsay of Dundee, I am enabled to add, that Mr. Gray's father had a perfect remembrance of the South front or entrance of the Earl's Lodging, long before he became the possessor. It was entered by a gateway, over which there was a battlement or bartizan, along which was inscribed the legend, " David Lord Lindsay, Earl of Crawford." — " The only remnant of the building," adds Mr. Lindsay, " now remaining — in the Nether-gate, and called the ' Earl's Inn' — is a very rude piece of work, and in its aspect presents no feature either of strength or elegance ; its present height is about forty feet, and the breadth the same, — the other side corresponds with this. It appears to have been the entrance to an inferior court." — It presents a facade, with a projecting semi-tower, the ground-story consisting of two vaulted apartments, and a vaulted passage of entrance by the door. — The Earl's Lodging ultimately, during the latter half of the sixteenth century, became the property of Catherine, widow of David ninth Earl of Crawford, by whom it was settled on her second son, John Lindsay of Balcarres. X Thomson's Hist, of Dundee, p. 317, — and an ancient charter cited infra, Chap. VII. Sect. I. § It was a noble building, built in the form of a Cathedral, with transepts, &c. Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. Ill in that of the Franciscan convent, lying to the North of the town, commonly called "the Grey-friars," — where generation after generation of the Earls of Crawford were finally laid to rest, and where their tombs were still to be seen, in Gothic magnificence, till the destruction both of convent and church at the Reforma- tion.* Subsequently to that catastrophe, they were buried in St. Mary's.f Another religious foundation of the family, or one at least of which they possessed the patronage, the Chapel of St. Nicholas, crowned the rock named after that Saint at the mouth of the harbour of Dundee, — where they also reared a tower and It was unfortunately burnt down in 1841, and nothing remains save the square steeple-tower. Thomson's Hist, of Dundee, p. 174. * David, tenth Earl of Crawford, possessed himself of the greater part of the property of the monastery near Dundee, through an arrangement with the Abbot, at the time of the Reformation, as appears from his son David the eleventh Earl's petition to parliament, dated 1587, stating, " that by a charter of alienation of few- ferm . . . John Fergusson, provincial of the Grey Friars of Dundee, with consent of the rest of the freirs of the said place, analiet (alienated) to his said umquhile father, David last Earl of Crawford, all and haill their yairds, tofts, crofts, and meadows, with their pertinents, liand on the North side of the said burgh, given to them of before be his (Earl David's) predecessors." Acts Pari., torn. iii. p. 474. — In the Retour of David twelfth Earl of Crawford, 1594, in the Haigh Charter-room, the property thus obtained is described as lying " apud oppidum de Dundie, incipientibus ab orientali parte ubi communis amnis oppidi existit, et ab amne predicto extendentibus ad boream sicut commune pratum dicti oppidi dirigitur, versus terras Constabularii de Dundie, a prout etiam fosso dictorum fratrum vocato Welzairdis tendenti ex parte occidentali ad montem vocatiim Tentourhill et Hortum Spinarum, b et ab illis ad Thome Monorgonn, et ab hinc prout crofte dictorum fratrum ab australi parte ad parietes appellatas Parpallis c jacentibus — ecclesie loco et cemeterio dictorum fratrum tantum exceptis," — the site of the monastery and its cemetery, that is to say, which had been granted to the town by Queen Mary as a burial-ground, — it still remains so, and is now called the HoufF. Thomson's Hist, of Dundee, p. 321. f A precept of seisin proceeding on the resignation of George fourteenth Earl of Crawford in favour of Alexander second Lord Spynie, dated 1631, in the Haigh Muniment-room, conveys to him "solum et unicum privilegium et libertatem sepulchri in ilia parte ecclesise parochialis de Dundie, nuncupate antiquam eccle- siam de Dundee, ex adverso suggestum" (the credence-table), "ubi principale altare ex antiquo stetit." — This church was built by David Earl of Huntingdon, (the Sir Kenneth of the Talisman,) in fulfilment of a vow uttered during a storm on his return from Palestine, — the wind moderated, and the vessel arrived safely in the harbour of Dundee, where he fulfilled his vow by erecting this church. Thomson's Hist, of Dundee, p. 174. a Of Scrymgeour of Dudhope, Constable of Dundee. b The garden of thorns, always at- tached to a Franciscan convent, in me- mory of a legend of the founder of the order. c 44 Parpall-wall, a partition- wall." Jamieson. 112 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. fortalice, which, with the possession of the craig, gave them the command of the port.* It was at this rock that David Earl of Huntingdon landed on his return from Palestine.! The inner life of the family, especially at Finhaven, was of an * In the enumeration of family property in a bond between the Earl and Master of Crawford, 9 Aug. 1 546, there is specified " the Craig lyand within the flude- mark beside Dundee, with the fortalice and donation of the chaplainry of Sanct Nicholas fundat within the same. " Beg. Mag. Sig. " When Earl David," the first of Crawford, says the author of the Genealogy of 1623, I cannot say with what correctness, " came home to Scotland, in memory of that honourable action," (the victory over Lord Welles,) " he caused build ane chapel upon ane craig at the mouth of the harbour of Dundee to the glory of God and to pray for his soul, and lotted lands for entertainment of monks for that effect." Its sanctity has long since been profaned, and " until a few years ago," says Mr. Thomson, " it was the site of the public slaughter-house." Hist. Dundee, p. 320. — " I remember the Craig Rock," says Mr. Martin Lindsay of Dundee,— "in my boyhood it used to be a feat to clamber up its rugged sides ; this was before the changes on the Ferry landing-place ; since then it is hidden from the public sight, but the South side is still to be seen from behind the house of the manager of the Ferry, which is still in the common parlance of the burghers called ' The Craig.' It seems to have been, like the many St. Michaels, an island rock at high tide." f The following quaint description of Dundee from a very rare tract, a ' Descrip- tion of the County of Angus,' written in 1678, and "translated from the original Latin of Robert Edward, Minister of Murroes," Dundee, 1793, will illustrate the preceding topographical details, and may amuse the reader : — " The town is divided into four principal streets, which we may suppose to represent a human body, stretched on its back, with its arms towards the West, and its thighs and legs towards the East. The steeple " (St. Mary's) " represents the head, with an enormous neck, rising upwards of eighteen stories into the clouds, and surrounded with two battlements or galleries, one in the middle, and another at the top, like a crown adorning the head ; whose loud-sounding tongue daily calls the people to worship. The right hand is stretched forth to the poor; for there is a large and well-furnished hospital " (Sir James Lindsay's foundation) " on that side ; but the left hand, because nearer to the heart, is more elevated towards heaven than the right, indicating a devout mind panting after celestial joys. In the inmost recesses of the breast stand the sacred temples of God. So remarkable were the people of this place for their adherence to true religion, that, at the Reformation, it was honoured with the appellation of a second Geneva. On the left breast is a Christian burying-place," (on the site of the Franciscan convent,) "richly and piously ornamented, that the pious dead may be long held in veneration and esteem. In the belly is the market-place ; at the middle of which is the cross, like the navel in the body. Below the loins stand the shambles, very neat and convenient, having a hidden stream of fresh water, which (after wandering through the pleasant meadows on the left) runs under them ; and which, having thus, as it were, scoured the reins and intestines of the town, is afterwards discharged into the river. Here the thighs and legs are separated. The sea, approaching the right, invites to the trade and commerce of foreign countries ; and the left limb, separated from the right a full step, points to home trade, in the Northern parts of the country." P. 21. Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. 113 uniform but enjoyable character ; martial exercises, the chase, and the baronial banquet, enlivened by the songs of the minstrel and the quips of the jester, occupied the day, and the evening was whiled away in " the playing of the chess, at the tables, in reading of romans, in singing and piping, in harping, and in other honest solaces of great pleasance and disport,"*— the ladies mingling in the scene throughout, whether in the sports and festivities of the morning or the pastimes of the evening — though a portion of the day was always spent in their " bowers/' with their attendant maidens, spinning or weaving tapestry. Occasionally indeed a higher responsibility devolved upon them, — during the absence of the Earl, whether in attendance on the Parliament, or in warfare public or private, his wife became the chatelaine, or keeper of his castle, with full authority to rule his vassals, guide his affairs, and defend his stronghold if attacked at disadvantage during his absence, — and right well did she keep her trust, as we have already seen in the instance of Margaret Keith, Sir James Lind- say's wife, at Fyvie.f The society of the castle consisted of the Earl and his imme- diate family — any guests that might be resident with him — the ladies attendant upon his wife and daughters — the pages, of noble or gentle birth, trained up in the castle under his eye as aspirants for chivalry — his own domestic officers, most of them gentlemen of quality, the chaplains, the secretary, chamberlain, chief maris- chal, " familiar squire," armour-bearer, the last of which offices * Quoted from the contemporary account of the death of James I., in 1437. So too " Solace " in Sir David Lindsay's ' Satyre of the Three Estates :' — " Sir, we shall mend our conditioun Sa ye give us remissioun ; But give us leave to sing, To dance, to play at chess and tables, To read stories and merry fables, For pleasure of our king." — Works, edit. Chalmers, torn. i. p. 466. f " No importance comparable to this, no position equally calculated to call forth the human faculties, had fallen to the lot of woman before, nor, it may be added, since. And the fruits are seen in the many examples of heroic women which the feudal annals present to us, women who fully equalled, in every masculine virtue, the bravest of the men with whom they were associated,— often greatly surpassed them in prudence, and fell short of them only in ferocity." Edinb. Rev., torn, lxxxii. p. 409. VOL. I. I 114 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. was hereditary,* besides numerous attendant gentlemen, cadets generally of the younger branches of the family, who had attached themselves to him as " servitors," or feudal followers. The property that supported this hospitality was extensive. The Earls of Crawford possessed above twenty great baronies and lordships, besides other lands of minor importance, in Forfarshire, Angus, Perthshire, the Mearns, Fife, Aberdeenshire, and the more distant sheriffdoms of Inverness, Banff, Lanark, Wig- ton, Dumfries, and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright! — those in Forfarshire alone extending over two-thirds of the county, — be- sides hereditary revenues from the Great Customs of Dundee, Montrose, Forfar, Crail, Aberdeen, and Banff, amounting to above three hundred marks annually, equivalent to two thousand pounds sterling in the present day 4 Of these baronies some were * In the family of Auchinleck of that Ilk, as I have been informed. — The names of these officers constantly occur as witnesses to the charters of the Earls, — those, e. g., of David Fotheringham, Auchinleck of that Ilk, and Stephen Lockhart of Todrick, as shield or armour bearers to David fifth Earl of Crawford, — Dr. James Dickson, Canon of Brechin, as his Chamberlain, in 1476, and Mr. Henry Barre, Rector of Collace, in 1487, — Dr. Thomas Lyon, as his chaplain ; Dr. Alexander Scott and Mr. Gilbert Tyrie, rectors of Wigton and Lyne, his clerks, &c. &c. f The baronies, namely, of Finhaven, the Forest of Platane, Inverarity, Ferne, Glenesk, Clova, Kinblythemont, Guthrie, Oures, Kirkbotho, and the thanedom of Downie, in Angus, a — those of Meigle, Balindaloch, Alyth, Baltrody, Pitfour, Melginch, Ruthven, Lethro, and Carnbathy, in Perthshire, — the thanedom and regality of Newdosk, in the Mearns, — the barony of Auchterallon, (including the lands of Tulynahilt, Tulybraloch, and New-park, or Kelly,) in Aberdeenshire, — the baronies of Balinbreich and Cambo, and the lands of Auchtermonzie, in Fife, — the barony of Strathnairn, in Invernessshire, and that of Crawford, in Lanark- shire, and the regality of Kirkmichael, in Dumfriesshire. Entails of 1421, 1474, 1546, — and other documents in the Haigh Charter-room and elsewhere. See Mi- nutes of Evidence in the Crawford Peerage Claim, pp. 49, 124. — Other lordships, as those of Wigton, of Brechin, of Kinclevin, &c., were occasionally, for a time, in the possession of the Earls of Crawford, but I have not reckoned them in the above enumeration. X To wit, one hundred marks from the Great Customs of Dundee, originally granted by Robert Bruce, — forty, from the Great Customs of Montrose, one hun- dred shillings " de firmis burgi de Crail," and as many from those of Forfar, — one hundred marks from the Great Customs of Aberdeen, and forty, " firmarum bur- a The original charter of this thanedom to Sir Alexander of Glenesk in 1373 grants it " cum bondis, bondagiis, nativis, et eorum sequelis," — the free husbandmen, and the "natives," "theowes," or "serfs," attached to the property, with the chattels and posterity of the latter. Robertson's Index, p. 96. — The reader will find in the Appendix, No. XL, a very interesting letter from Joseph Robertson, Esq., on the import of the above terms in the charter of Downie, and similar early Scottish conveyances. Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. 115 held in their own hands, others by the immediate cadets of the family, or by families of alien blood, not unfrequently of much older standing in the district, holding as vassals of the Earldom ; all or most of them were fortified by strong castles, — and over those included in the family entails, as the " Comitatus," or " Earldom," of Crawford, the Earl possessed rights of regality, which ensured him, in the words of a recent historian, " at least as many of the privileges of an independent prince as a Margrave or Pfalzgrave. His courts were competent to try all questions, civil or criminal, that of high treason against the sovereign alone excepted. He appointed judges and executive officers, who had no responsibility to the im- perial authority. He had within his territory a series of municipal systems, corporations with their municipal officers, privileged mar- kets, harbours and mills, with internally administered regulations of police, applicable to weights and measures, fishing privileges, and other like useful institutions. He could build prisons and coin money. When any of his subjects were put on trial before the King's courts, he could 4 repledge ' the accused to his own court, only finding recognisances to execute justice in the matter." * He was thus a governor under the sovereign, and not a mere judge, like the sheriff, — while, that nothing should be wanting to the feudal power of the family, the Earls of Crawford acquired early in the fifteenth century the sheriffdom of Aberdeenshire in hereditary right, f and soon after the middle of the century that of Forfar- galium," — and thirteen, afterwards augmented to nineteen marks, from the borough of Banff. These were almost all acquired in the fourteenth century, Kobertson's Index, pp. 52, 86, 117 bis, 122, 127 bis, 132, 133, 143, — and are still conveyed in the family entails as late as 1631. Minutes of Evidence, &c, p. 372. * Burton's Lives of Simon Lord Lovat and Forbes of Culloden, p. 162. — " An analogy," adds Mr. Burton, " will be seen between regalities and the palatinates created in England. The jealousy with which any dispersal of the privileges of the Crown among the great barons was watched in England brought back two of the three palatinates to the King at a very early period, while the third, being in the possession of a bishop, could not be the means of throwing any dangerous power into the hands of a particular House, and remained in existence till the year 1836." ■ — " Although," observes Mr. Eiddell, " we had, in fact, many palatinates, accord- ing to English notion, that is to say, fiefs invested with royal jurisdiction, yet the term was almost wholly unknown in Scotland. Only one Earldom, that of Strathern, was styled a palatinate but what the peculiar nature of the distinction was does not appear."— Remarks on Peerage Law, p. 57. t The original hereditary grant has not been discovered, but it would seem to have been bestowed*" on them towards the end of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century, by Robert III. Sir Walter Lindsay was Sheriff of Aberdeenshire i 2 116 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. shire, — as the Lindsays of the Byres, the most powerful cadet of the House, did that of Fifeshire, after a long struggle with the Leslies, in the following century.* The Earldom of Crawford therefore, like those of Douglas, of Moray, Ross, March, and others of the earlier times of feudalism, formed a petty principality, an " imperium in imperio," — the Earls affected a royal state, held their courts, had their heralds or pursuivants, and occasionally assumed the style of princes in the numeration of their ancestors and themselves, as David L, David II., Alexander L, Alexander II., of the name, Earls of Crawford, after a fashion more frequent on the Continent than in Britain. f They had also a " Concilium," or petty parliament, consisting of the great vassals of the Earldom, with whose advice they acted on great and important occasions,! — these vassals were for the in 1417, probably under Alexander Earl of Crawford, as the sheriffdom is con- veyed in the entail of the Crawford estates executed by Earl Alexander in 1421 They held it (with the exception of a momentary interruption in 1452) till 1511, when John Earl of Crawford resigned it to William Earl of Errol, but only con- ditionally, reserving to his family the right of redemption. Vide infra, Chap. VI. Sect. II. — It was finally resigned by David Earl of Crawford, 3 March, 1540-1, in favour of George Earl of Huntley. Reg. Mag. Sig., and information from Joseph Robertson, Esq. — The nobles, in those days when power was everything, disdained no offices which gave them influence. We thus find David eleventh Earl of Crawford obtaining a charter of the hereditary office of Constable and Justiciary within the city of Brechin, 1 1 Sept. 1 589. * Patrick Lord Lindsay was Sheriff in 1517, {Inquisition, Adv. Library,} and in May, 1524, he obtained a grant of the office to himself, his son, and grandson, afterwards John Lord Lindsay, which was confirmed by Parliament, July, 1525. Sibbald's Hist. Fife, p. 239.— John Lord Lindsay obtained a new grant, 14 Dec. 1538, to himself and his heirs, (Spalding Club Miscellany, torn. ii. p. 189,) but the Leslies would not acquiesce in this, — in 1565, Randolph writes to England that " the Earl of Rothes and Lord Lindsay are at daily discord," (Selections from un- published MSS. in the College of Arms, p. 126.) — and Knox describes them under the preceding year as having " contended now a long time for the heirship of Fife." Hist, of the Kirk, Sfc, Works, torn. ii. p. 495, edit. Laing. t Ingelram de Lindsay, Bishop of Aberdeen, grants lands in 1454 for the soul of " David Lyndesay, Secundi, Comitis Craufurdie," Collections, Hist, of Aberdeen- shire, torn. ii. p. 265. — But a much more curious instance, in which the Countesses are numbered as well as the Earls, may be cited, in a charter by which " Marjoria Secunda, alias Ogilvy, Comitissa Craufurdie," grants to the convent of the Fran- ciscans of Dundee an annual rent of twenty marks, "pro salute anime David Secundi, Comitis Craufurdie, sponsi nostri, &c, cum consensu et assensu predilecti nostri David Tertii, Comitis Craufurdie," &c, 17 Nov. 1478, (Reg. M. Sig.,)— Marjoria II., alias Ogilvie, widow of David II., third Earl of Crawford, being so styled to distinguish her from her mother-in-law Marjoria, or Mariota, widow ot Alexander the second Earl. X " The Earls of Ross, Lords of the Isles," says Mr. Riddell, " and perhaps one Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. 117 most part steadily attached to their chieftains or " over-lords," but it required a firm will and a strong hand to keep them in order ; and more than once a family catastrophe was the signal of rebellion, and of an attempt to transfer their allegiance to the Crown. Family councils were also occasionally held, one of which, of a very extraordinary nature, both in its occasion and its results, will come under our notice hereafter. Thus far the picture I have drawn bears a close resemblance to the feudalism of the Continent. But, owing to the mixture of Celtic and Norman blood, a peculiar element mingled from the first in the feudality of Scotland, and has left its indelible impress on the manners and habits of thought of the country. Differently from what was the case in England, the Scoto-Norman races were peculiarly prolific,* and population was encouraged as much as possible. The Earl or Baron bestowed a fief, for example, on each of his four sons, who paid him tribute in rent and service ; each son subdivided his fief again among his own children, and they again among theirs, till the blood of the highest noble in the land was flowing in that of the working peasant, at no remote interval. This was a subject of pride, not shame, in Scotland. Within three or four centuries after their settlement in the North, above one hundred different minor Houses or families of Lindsays were or two of our highest and noblest magnates — such as the Douglasses in the heyday of their glory, &c. — especially when the right of a regality was annexed to their lands — had a ' Council/ who advised and assisted the chief and over-lord in his deliberations, and gave their consent to the marriages and political alliances of the family, as can be proved by our records. The feudal system, as regarded the higher fiefs, involved a kind of 4 dominium in dominio,' and hence induced some- thing analogous to a parliament or public council." — The names of the Council of David fifth Earl of Crawford are given as follows in a Charter of Confirmation in favour of his "lovit cousin and squire, John of Auchinleck of that Ilk," in 1466: — Thomas Ogilvy of Clova, David Fotheringham of Powrie, and Thomas Fother- ingham, his son and apparent heir, Michael de Durham of the Grange, Patrick Garden of that Ilk, Philip Lindsay of the Halch, John Balbirny of Innerichty, and John de Lowre of that Ilk, all of them barons of Forfarshire, where the inquest was held. liey. Mag. Siy.— ln the Charter by James III., creating Earl David Duke of Montrose, the Earl's "nobiles" are mentioned — evidently the barons holding of the Earldom, and who would naturally form this Council, though varying accord- ing to the locality where the Earl might happen to be for the time. * Evinced by the ramifying tendency of the Scottish Stuarts, Douglasses, Hamil- tons, Lindsays, &c, as compared with the Howards, Percies, Mowbray s, De Veres, &c, many of which have become entirely extinct, while most of the old Scottish families number their hundreds and thousands, in every class and station of life. 118 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. flourishing in Scotland, many of them powerful independent Barons, holding in capite of the Crown — many more, vassals of the House of Crawford, — the greater number settled in Angus and the surrounding counties, yet others in districts more remote and in the extremity of the kingdom,* — all of them however ac- knowledging the Earls of Crawford as the chiefs of their blood, and maintaining constant intercourse with them, either by assist- ance in their feuds, or by sending their sons to seek service either with them or their more powerful kinsmen,! — the whole clan thus forming collectively, more particularly during the fifteenth cen- tury, a great barrier and breakwater between the fertile Eastern Lowlands and the lawless clans of the Highlands. — This is no imaginary sketch : — the charters of the Earls of Crawford and of their principal cadets, through several centuries, bear witness to the constant intercourse maintained even with branches settled for generations in districts far removed from Angus, but whose claims of kindred were never forgotten by themselves or over- looked by their chiefs, — while a constant preference was given to priests, notaries, pedagogues, tradesmen, and even domestic ser- vants, of the name and blood of Lindsay.^ A principle of union * For a catalogue of these families, see the Appendix, No. XII. f In illustration of this, I may cite from the ' Criminal Trials,' and a contempo- rary document, the lists of the followers who attended Alexander Lord Spynie, on an occasion when he was attacked in ambuscade by the Master of Ogilvie in 1600, and the young Laird of Edzell in a conflict with Wishart of Pittarrow, on the High Street of Edinburgh, in 1605: — With Lord Spynie were Alexander Lindsay of Fesdow, Harry Lindsay, sister's son to Lindsay of Pitcairlie, Mr. Patrick Lind- say, (a graduate of some university, the prefix Master then implying this,) David Lindsay, father-brother (paternal uncle) to the Laird of Blairfeddan, Alexander Lindsay at the Mill of Finhaven, and Harry Lindsay of Blairfeddan, all in Angus : — with Edzell, beside his younger brother, were David Lindsay, younger of Vane, John Lindsay, younger of Broadland, in the Mearns, Alexander Lindsay, younger of Kethick, Mr. Patrick Lindsay, son of Patrick Lindsay, burgess of Dundee, William and John Lindsay, brothers german to Alexander Lindsay of Cultrany, in Fife, Mr. John Lindsay, brother german of Alexander Lindsay of Dunrod, in Renfrewshire, and George Lindsay, brother german of John Lindsay of Covington, in Lanarkshire. Pitcairn's Crim. Trials, torn. ii. p. 135; Letter of Slain s, or of atonement between Sir David Lindsay of Edzell and the family of one Guthrie, slain in the conflict with Pittarrow, 1 Feb. 1606, Haiyh Muniment-room. \ Proveable by the charters and miscellaneous private transactions of the family, too numerous to specify, — and more especially, as regards domestic servants, by their wills. Thomas Lindsay, for instance, was steward, Archibald Lindsay porter, and George, Duncan, and Adam Lindsays, servants in other capacities in the family of John Lindsay of Balcarres, Lord Menmuir, — and so likewise in that Chap. IV. FEUDAL LIFE. 119 and attachment thus reigned throughout the whole race ; the tie of consanguinity was carefully acknowledged in each ascending stage, — the meanest felt himself akin to the highest, — the feudal bond was sweetened by blood, and the duty to the chief became the paramount principle of action, — and it is to this mixture of feudalism and patriarchism, the result of the mingling of races above alluded to, and reigning throughout the whole social sys- tem, that much of that good faith, which a celebrated historian of France has recognised as the distinguishing and redeeming feature of feudal times in Scotland — passion and conviction bear- ing ever a stronger sway than selfish interest* — is attributable. The value for names is indeed still strong in Scotland — a link of mutual interest between the upper and lower classes who bear the same patronymic ; it is rare to find a Lindsay, a Hay, a Drummond, in the low r er orders, who has not some tradition at least of descent from the Houses of Perth, Errol, or Crawford. And these traditions form not unfrequently a strong moral motive, producing self-respect, exertion, and independence, and deterring the individuals who inherit them from doing aught unworthy of the race they attach them to. — It has been the fashion of late years to undervalue feudal and patriarchal times, — they exhibit, it is true, but a limited and partial stage of civilisation, but no nation ever rose to enduring constitutional greatness without passing through feudalism, or something akin to it. And we must not forget that we always in a rude age hear of the bad rather than the good, of those who are the curse rather than the of his brother, Sir David of Edzell. Several of these men wrote excellent hands. — " Mr. David Lindsay " was " pedagog " to the young Lord Spynie in 1608. Lindsay notaries appear endlessly in the family papers. * " Peut-etre penserait-on que c'est l'aspect pittoresque du pays, ses montagnes, ses lacs, ses torrents, qui donnent aux romans historiques dont la scene est en Ecosse quelque chose de si attrayant ; mais I'interet pro-fond qu'ils inspirent provient bien moins de cette cause materielle que du spectacle vivant offert par une serie de commotions politiques, toujours sanglantes, sans exciter le de'gout, parce que la passion et la conviction y jouent un bien plus grand role que l'intrigue. II y a des pays en Europe ou la nature a un aspect plus grandiose qu'en Ecosse ; mais il n'en est aucun ou il y ait eu tant de guerres civiles, avec tant de bonne foi dans la haine, tant de chaleur d'ame dans les affections politiques Aucune histoire ne merite a un plus haut degre d'etre lue avec attention, et etudiee a ses sources originales, que celle de ce petit royaume, si long-temps ennemi de l'Angleterre, et reduit maintenant a l'etat de simple province de l'Empire Britannique." Augustin Thierry, Etudes Historiques de Dix A?is, p. 172. 120 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. salt of society. There must have been much happiness and much virtue which we do not hear of. — But I must now resume the thread of my narrative. Alexander second Earl of Crawford quitted Scotland for France the year after his father's decease, but wherefore he went, or what he did there, or when he returned, history telleth not.* Years passed away, and James, the youthful King of Scotland, was still detained a prisoner in England, and, as long as Albany had the power, there seemed every prospect of his remaining there. At last, by the influence of his friends in Scotland, a negotiation was opened by which he was to be allowed to revisit his dominions, on condition of leaving hostages for his return. Letters of safe-conduct were accordingly granted to the Earls of Douglas, Marr, and Crawford to visit England,! but from some cause, probably the underhand interference of Albany, the treaty was suddenly broken off, when almost every preliminary had been settled. Negotiations for the King's ransom were resumed in 1421, after the death of Albany, when Crawford reappears as a commissioner for that purpose ;J but his final return did not take place till 1423, when Crawford, Lennox, Wigton, and other nobles met him at Durham, and escorted him to Scone, where he was crowned on the last day of May.§ Crawford, after receiving the accolade of knighthood from the King's hand, || departed imme- diately for England as one of the twenty- eight hostages pledged for his sovereign — a gallant band, among which Sir John Lindsay of the Byres had also the honour of being numbered.1T They took oath on the Gospels that they would remain in the custody of the King of England till everything agreed upon by James should be fully executed.** In all these negotiations no mention * On the 20th Nov. 1407, Henry IV. grants, at the supplication of the Earl of Douglas, a safe-conduct to his "carisshno consanguineo," Alexander Earl of Crawford, to pass through his dominions with twenty persons in his company to Amy as (Amiens?) in France, and to return by the same route. JRot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 185. f Dec. 8, 1416. Rym. Feed., torn. ix. p. 418 ; Rot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 219. X Rym. Feed., torn. x. p. 307 ; Rot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 229. § Rym. Fad., torn. x. pp. 327, 381. || Excerpta e Cronicis, &c, p. 227. T Rot. Scot., torn. ii. pp. 244-5. ** Sir John of the Byres obtained his liberty in 1425, but Crawford was detained Chap. IV. ALEX. EARL OF CRAWFORD. 121 was made of ransom — a tacit admission of the illegality of the illustrious prisoner's capture. But, although unjustly detaining him, Henry of Lancaster had bestowed the most anxious care on James's education. Born a man of genius — a poet, a musician, and a legislator — he acquired under the eye of Henry every knightly accomplishment ; and a singularly enquiring mind and profound sagacity concurred with a daring resolution, and the power of concealing his purposes till they were ripe for execution, in determining him to introduce into Scotland after his return home the improvements he had so long witnessed in England, — to assimilate, in a word, the two countries as much as possible. His reign exhibits an unremitting anxiety to protect the people, to elevate the middle classes, and to pro- mote the best interests of his country ; while, as conducive to these ends and to his own personal security, he set it before him as the great object of his life to depress and crush the great feudal aristocracy, — and to this object, pursued with unswerving and remorseless determination, justice and mercy were too often sacrificed. It cannot be denied indeed that an iron hand was needed to quell the disorders that had arisen under the long administration of Albany. The inherent vices of the feudal system had deve- loped themselves with frightful rankness, the kingdom was one field of violence, the laws were openly disregarded, and every baron ruled as a sovereign prince — an arbitrary tyrant. The determination to put a stop to this, to pluck up the evil by the till November, 1427, when lie had leave to return on giving an equivalent. Rot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 261. — In the treaty for James's release the income of the hostages is stated, — affording a curious comparative view of the wealth of the Scottish aristocracy. Duncan Lord of Argyle and the eldest son of the Lord of Dalkeith are rated at fifteen hundred marks each ; the eldest son of the Earl of Athol at twelve hundred ; the Earls of Moray and Crawford, and Lord Erskine, at one thousand ; the Constable Hay of Errol, the Marischal Keith, and the Lord of Dirlton, at eight hundred ; Andrew Gray of Foulis at six hundred ; Thomas Boyd of Kilmarnock, Hamilton of Cadyow, and John Lindsay of the Byres, at five hundred, &c. — A thousand marks, according to Dr. Henry, was equivalent to £6666 in his time. But this valuation must, I think, have been below the truth, unless it be understood to represent the sums actually received in coin by the respective nobles, independently of other revenues, probably paid in kind. At the same time it may be remembered that the vast estates of Clifford, the first Earl of Cumberland, in the rich vales of Yorkshire, only produced £1719 per annum in the reign of Henry VIII. Whitaker's Hist. Craven, p. 262. 122 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. roots, to make " the rush keep the cow" throughout his dominions, mingled in the King's mind with a most bitter enmity to the memory of his uncle Albany, whose machinations had added years to his captivity, — and this enmity descended to his son Murdoch, who had assumed the Governorship, almost as a matter of course, after his father's death. It was not long before he struck the blow. Eight months after his return, having matured his plans, and surrounded himself with a strong military force, he astounded Scotland by the sudden arrest of Duke Murdoch and his whole family (with the exception of James, his youngest son, who escaped), together with twenty-six of their most powerful adhe- rents, including Lord Crawford's uncle, Sir Alexander Lindsay of Kinneff. The Duke, his sons, and his father-in-law, the venerable Earl of Lennox, were executed, but the twenty-six barons were released immediately afterwards.* There is no doubt that the whole administration of the Albanys had been usurpation, but they had been loved by the people, and there was a craftiness, a cruelty in the whole process of their punishment, which cut deeply into the heart of the King's popularity. Little however could be alleged to justify the next great step taken by James, the forfeiture of the House of Dunbar. George Earl of March, who had rebelliously leagued with England and the Percies against his native country, had been pardoned by Albany, as Regent ; his son had succeeded in due course of time, and twenty-six years had elapsed since the epoch, which was supposed to be buried in oblivion. James denied the validity of the pardon, procured a decree confirming the original forfeiture, confiscated the vast estates of the family, and offered its degraded representative the Earldom of Buchan, with the pitiful annuity of four hundred marks, in compensation, — it was scornfully rejected, and the Earl retired to England ; but the cruelty and injustice of the procedure swelled the tide of present discontent, and bore bitter fruit under the succeeding reign. A third act of similar oppression excluded the House of Erskine from their rightful inheritance, the Earldom of Marr, which James confirmed to a branch of the royal family, doubly illegitimate, — and it was not till the reign of Queen Mary, ever just, ever generous, that this iniquitous decision was reversed. * Scotichroiiicun, tom. ii. p. 482. Chap. IV. ALEX. EARL OF CRAWFORD. 123 The loyalty of the Erskines induced them to acquiesce, with a mere protest in reservation of their rights, — but the King gained little by their forbearance. A fourth act of injustice, the most glaring of all, sealed James's doom. The Earldom of Strathern, held by David, eldest son of Robert II. by his second wife, Elizabeth Ross, had descended to the Grahams in the due course of female succession, — James deprived them of it on the pretext that it was a male honour and reverted to the Crown, creating the youthful heir Earl of Menteith in lieu of it. Sir Robert Graham, uncle of the deprived Earl, a man of powerful and determined character, after fruitlessly remon- strating with the King in favour of his nephew, formally renounced his allegiance, and organized a conspiracy against his life. The attempt was fixed for the night of the 20th of February, 1437. The revelry of the Court had been kept up till a late hour, — the guests had retired, and the King remained standing before the fire, in his night-robe, conversing with the Queen and her ladies. At this moment the clang of arms was heard, and lights flashed up from the court-yard — Sir Robert Graham's threatened vengeance darted on the King's remembrance — the tumult advanced nearer and nearer — James sprang to the door ; the bolts had been removed ; he attempted to force the windows, but they were barred with stancheons of iron, — at last, recollecting a small closet concealed under the apartment, he tore up a plank of the floor, leaped down, and closed it above him — it opened originally by a little doorway on the court, and would have secured his escape, had not the entrance been built up, only a few days before, by his own orders, in consequence of his tennis-ball having repeatedly rolled in and been lost in it— the steps of the murderers were now heard hurriedly approaching, and Catherine Douglas, one of the Queen's ladies, flying to the door, thrust her arm through the staples where the bar should have slided — her arm was soon broken, the door dashed open, and they rushed in — but the King was not to be found till one of them, recollecting the secret closet, pulled up the board and discovered the unhappy prince standing below. Sir Robert Graham darted to the spot, and despatched him with repeated blows.* * " The causes of his slaughter," says the annotator of the ' Extracta e Cronicis Scocie/ " wes that he wes owre cruel to his lords efter that he had laid mony 124 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IV. The kingdom stood aghast with horror, — Sir Robert and his accomplices were hunted down, seized, and put to death with the most frightful tortures, which were borne by Sir Robert with unshrinking fortitude, even in his last moments justifying the deed, and prophesying that the day would soon arrive when Scotland would bless his memory for having rid her of such a tyrant. Alexander Earl of Crawford is said to have been active in the capture of the assassins,* but the little we know of his character renders me unwilling to suppose that he countenanced the horrors that attended their execution. Singularly enough, the King's principal defender at this closing scene of his life was Sir David Dunbar, brother of the disinherited Earl of March, a noble and loyal baron, who, though unable to save him, and wounded by the assassins, pursued them on their retreat, and killed one of them, though the rest escaped. James II. subsequently bestowed on him the lands of Auchter- monzie and Cairnie, in guerdon of his loyalty, and they descended to his sole child and heiress, Margaret, afterwards wife of Earl Beardie, grandson of Alexander Earl of Crawford. f Earl Alexander seems to have mingled little in public life sub- sequently to his return from England, — he doubtless held as much aloof from the Court as possible. He had, in 1421, previously to his departure for England, renewed the entail of the Crawford estates, settling them on the heirs-male for ever, " bearing the name and arms of Lindsay," under the penalty of forfeiture and devolution on the next male heir, if they should be changed or disused, J — the earliest instance in Scotland of what is termed a strict entail, with an irritant and forfeiting clause or penalty, in the event of infringement of its conditions, — and, in 1429, he mortified the sum of twelve marks yearly for the support of a nobles in pledges of his ransom in England, — he cherished not his nobles, but cruelly put them to death, and in the parliament of Perth he thocht to haif forfaltit mony of them, and desirit to see their charters; some schew (shewed) their swerds, and said their forbears (ancestors) wan their lands be that ... He wes ane man of great policy and wisdom, bot owre sharp to his barons." Page 236. * Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 118. t Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 503 ; and original title-deeds of Auchtermonzie and Cairnie in the Charter-room at Crawford Priory, quoted by Mr. Riddell, Crawford Case, p. 54. % Printed, from the original in the Fotheringham Charter-chest, in the Crawford Case, p. 42. Chap. IV. ALEX. EARL OF CRAWFORD. 125 chaplain, to celebrate a daily mass at the altar of St. George and St. Leonard, in St. Mary's, the parish-church of Dundee — alter- nately with the other chaplains there endowed by his ancestors — for the souls of himself, of his " most beloved spouse Mariota," of his children, and his ancestors, of his sovereign James King of Scotland and Lady Johanna Beaufort, the Queen, and for all persons whom he might have injured, without having made suf- ficient atonement, and for all the faithful dead — for ever.* He died in 1438, the year after the King's murder, and was succeeded by his son Sir David Lindsay, third Earl of Crawford — David Earl of Crawford " and Lord the Lyndissay," as he is designated in 1443, f a title ever since borne by the Earls of Crawford. * From the original, Fotheringham Charter-chest, Crawford Case, p. 43. t In the following letter to Sir Alexander Forbes, the chief of that ancient and powerful Northern House, preserved in the Charter-room of his representative, the present Lord Forbes. I give it in the original orthography, as a curious relic of the time : — ■ " David Erie of Craufurde and Lorde the Lyndissay to Schir Alexander of Forbas, of that Ilk, knycht, oure deput of the shereffdome of Abirdene, greeting. Forquhy that we ar infourmyt that oure soueren lorde the Kyng, with the avise of his counsail, has chargit yhou, as deput of the said sheriffdome, to ger (cause) restore agayne to oure cousin and alye, Dauid Scrymgeoure, al his gudis that he was spolyheit of, as ye knaw ; and als the gudis that Alexander Stewart tuke out of the landis of Pettfoure his maling (farm), — noghtagaynstanding, as we ar infourmyt, yhe haf done litle or nought to oure said soueren Lord's chargis, of the quhilk we ferly (marvel) mikle, gyf it sa be, con- siderand the office that yhe bere : — Quharefor we charge yhou in oure saide soueren lorde the Kingis name, that, noghtwythstanding the delay bigane (bygone), yhe fulfil and serue oure saide souerene lordis lettres in al fourme and effect as thai proport in thaimself, langing (concerning ?) oure said alyis guds to be restoryt, and vtheris things contenit in thaim, as yhe will answere to hym and his counsail thareupon, — for we have new charges thereupon of late. And forther we declare to yhou, that sin oure said cousin and alye has na wyte (blame) of the gret hereship (foray) made be the Lorde of Gordone vpon yhou and yhoure frendis, as we ar . . . sekirly (surely) informyt, we desire and wald that his saide gudis war restoryt agayn, sa that it nedyt (needeth) us not to entromet (meddle) tharewith, sin he and yhoure frendis ar bath so nere to us. Gevin under oure seele at Dunde, the viii ,en day of Aprile, the yhere of God i m iiii c and xP'iii." 126 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. V. CHAPTER V. t{ Earl Lindsay heard and curled his lip, He knew the distant horn ; And there were din and hurry in Finhaven's towers that morn ; The clasping of maily armour on, And girding of glaive and sword ; The warders trode, the Lindsays rode O'er dyke, and ditch, and ford." NEVAY. The dying prophecy of Sir Robert Graham proved true. When the horror and pity aroused by the King's murder had a little subsided, the nobles clearly saw that his death was the only chance that could have preserved their power. They now applied themselves by every means to retrieve, confirm, and augment it. William Earl of Douglas and David Earl of Crawford were at this period the most powerful subjects in Scotland ; they entered into a solemn league of association and friendship, with the object of drawing to their party the other great feudal families, and thus united to rule paramount in the state. Everything seemed propitious — the King a minor — the Queen-mother powerless — Douglas the Lieutenant-General of the kingdom — the ministers, Livingstone and Crichton, men of talent indeed, but not of the more powerful nobility, and occupied in continual struggles with each other ; nothing, humanly speaking, could have resisted them, when a single man stood forward and saved his country — Ken- nedy, Bishop of St. Andrews and Primate of Scotland — the guide and councillor of the King during his minority, his adviser in his riper years — a man of honesty, learning, wisdom, courage, and moderation, the Wallace of his century, and the fairest imper- sonation of the Church in her mediaeval character as the con- servatrix of equity and peace on earth, — a man whom it is not unreasonable to believe that God had mercifully provided for the Chap. V. DAVID THIRD EARL OF CRAWFORD. 127 occasion, and whose words, spoken in His name, could not fall to the ground.* Kennedy's eye had long been fixed on the machinations of Crawford and Douglas, and on the discovery of their league he coalesced with Crichton, then at enmity with them, and threw his whole weight into the hostile scale. Crawford instantly resented it by descending from his hills, in company with his friend and kinsman Alexander Ogilvie of Inverquharitie, and other allies, and invading the patrimony of St. Andrew in Fifeshire, harrying the Bishop's lands, burning his granges and tenements, and carry- ing off, in default of the prelate himself, an immense booty to his fastnesses in Angus. Kennedy, after fruitlessly remonstrating against this outrage, formally excommunicated the Lindsay chief with mitre and staff, bell, book, and candle, for a year, — denouncing the bitterest curses of Heaven against the impious Earl and his friends and abettors, and laying under interdict every place where their persons might be. The fierce chief, who submitted to no laws from man, cared little for such a denunciation from the Church, f But this sacrilege met with its reward — and within the twelvemonth. * The following is the character of Bishop Kennedy, as drawn by the chronicler, Lindsay of Pitscottie : — " This Bishop James Kennedy wes wondrous godly and wise, and wes weill learned in divine sciences, and practised the same to the glory of God and weill of his Church, for he causit all persons (parsons) and vicars to remain at their paroche kirks for the instruction and edifying of their flock, and caused them preach the word of God to the people, and visie them that were sick ; and also the said Bishop visited every kirk within his diocie four times in the year, and preached to the said paroche himself the word of God, and required of them gif they were duly instructed be their person and vicar, and gif the puir were sus- tained, and the youth brocht up and learned conform to the order that wes tane in the Kirk of God, and where he fand not this order keeped, he made great punishment, to the effect that God's glory might shine in his diocie, leaving guid example to all archbishops and kirkmen to cause the patrimony of God's word to be used to his own glory and to the common weill of the poor. Further, he was ane man weill learned in the civil laws, and had great practique in the same, sa that he wes maist able of any in Scotland, either spiritual or temporal, to have given ane wise counsel, and specially in parliament, or when ambassadors craved their intents, nane wes sa meet as he to have answered them, or when any civil insurrection wes in the country, and specially lese-majesty aganes the King's own person, quherein he wes weill practised." Chron., torn. i. p. 170. f Addicioun of Scottis Corniklis and Deidis, commonly called the ' Auchinleck Chronicle,' privately printed by Thomas Thomson, Esq., — almost the only contem- porary record of the 'time ; De Cronicis Scotorum Brevia, by John Law, Canon of St. Andrews, MS., in the Library of the University of Edinburgh, p. 38 ; Lindsay of Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 52 ; Boeth., fol. 365. 128 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. V. The Benedictines of the Abbey of Aberbrothock, or Arbroath, had, it seems, appointed his eldest son, Alexander Master of Crawford,* their chief justiciar, or supreme judge in civil affairs, throughout their regality. f " But with his huge train of followers he became chargeable to the monastery, and otherwise," as an historian of the Lindsays expresses it, " uneasy to the convent," X so that the Chapter formally deposed him, and appointed Alex- ander of Inverquharitie to succeed him in his office. The Master, however, showed no intention of surrendering it, but took forcible possession of the town and abbey ; the rivals therefore assembled their friends and followers to decide the question by the sword. Douglas sent one hundred Clydesdale men to the aid of the Master, and the Hamiltons also assisted them with some forces. The Ogilvies found an unexpected auxiliary in Sir Alex- ander Seyton, the powerful Lord of Gordon, afterwards Earl of Huntley, who, arriving at Inverquharitie, on his road to Strath- bogie, the night before the battle, was obliged, by a rude law of ancient Scottish hospitality, to own his host's quarrel, and take the field with him.§ Many other barons, either for love or * " Master " of Crawford, of Angus, of Sutherland, &c., was the peculiar style and title — not, as commonly supposed, of the eldest son only, but of the next or presumptive heir to a Scottish peerage. The title was not adopted till near the middle of the fifteenth century. Alexander Master of Crawford, mentioned in the text, is the first of the Crawford family so designed — in a charter, dated 21st of March, 1444, in the Great Seal Register. The previous style is shewn by that given to his father Earl David, during his father's lifetime, in a Bond of Reversion, 12 Feb. 1436, in which the father and son are styled " Alishander Erie of Craufurde and Schir David the Lyndesay, the sone and the aire of that ilk." Crawford Case, p. 44. — An instance in which the heir presumptive uses the style of Master may be seen in a charter dated at Finhaven, 23 July, 1631, by "Alexander Lindesaye, Crafurdie Magister, frater legitimus et natu maximus . . Comitis Georgii, Crafurdie Co- mitis," &c. Ibid., p. 91. — The second title of the family was used by the eldest son — as, for example, by " Alexander Lord Lindsay, Master of Crawford," in 1493, ibid., pp. 58, &c, not by courtesy, as in England, but by right ; and such eldest sons sat in the Scottish parliament and were peers as well as their fathers. Frequently, when a family possessing an old and historical title were advanced to a higher but new one, the eldest son or Master retained the old name, — thus, the eldest sons of the Earls of Bothwell took the style of " Master of Hailes," those of the Earls of Lennox that of Lord Darnley, &c— " Master, in Scotland," says Mr. Riddell, "had, in a great degree, the same meaning with ' Monsieur ' ordinarily in France, though not there given to the King's eldest son." Crawford Case, p. 82. t He was also Justiciary of the Abbey of Scone, in Perthshire. % Crawford's Hist, Lindsays, MS. § " Ane ancient custom," says Leslams, " among the Scottishmen, that wheresoever they happen to lodge, they defend their hosts from all hurt, even to the shedding of Chap. V. DAVID THIRD EARL OF CRAWFORD. 121) hatred, espoused the Ogilvies' cause, and the united force marched for Arbroath on Sunday, the 13th of January,* 1445-6, with the intention of taking the town, but found the Lindsays, in great force, drawn up in battle array before the gates. It must have been a beautiful sight ! The two armies were composed of the bravest knights and gentlemen of the North-East of Scotland ; steeds were prancing, broadswords gleaming, and banners waving in the evening breeze ; the word was given, and that gallant scene was about to be changed to one of blood and carnage, when, as they were on the very point of closing, the old Earl of Crawford, on his panting charger, rushed between them. He had heard at Dundee of the approaching conflict, and galloped to Arbroath in hopes of arriving in time to prevent bloodshed between his own clan and those who had till then been our friends — nay, his own wife was an Ogilvie. But before he could be heard, (though his son drew bridle in deference to his presence,) t he was encountered by one of the enemy who knew him not, and, darting his spear through his mouth and neck, mortally wounded him. Furious at the sight, J the Lindsays rushed to the charge, and a desperate conflict ensued, which ended in the total defeat of the Ogilvies and their allies, who left more than five hundred dead on the field of battle, while the loss of the victors did not exceed one hundred. Sir John Oliphant of Aberdalgy, Sir John Forbes of Pitsligo, Sir Alexander Barclay of Grandtully, Maxwell of Tellein, Garden of Boroughfield, and David of Aberkerdach, their blood and losing of their lives for them, if need be, a so long as their meat is undigested in their stomachs." — Gordon's Hist, of the Earldom of Sutherland, p. 71 ; Leslai de Orig., Sfc, Scotorum, p. 297. * The date of Earl David's obitus in the Cathedral of Aberdeen being the 17th of January, (Begist. Episc. Aberdonen., torn. ii. p. 200,) and the death of the Earl having taken place four days after the battle, this gives the 13th as the day of combat. The ' Auchinleck Chronicle ' fixes it on the 23rd, p. 38, — Lesley (correctly) on the 13th in the Latin version of his history, p. 297, but on the 23rd in the Scot- tish, p. 18, — Buchanan on the 24th, lib. xi. cap. 22, — the Extracta on the 20th, p. 242. t Lindsay of Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 54. % " Whilk when his son and friends beheld, they were so enraged, that they sud- denly rushed upon their enemies with great ire; but they upon the other side resisted the press, and held off their adversaries richt manfully for ane long time, while (till) at the last the Laird of Inverquharitie wes deidly wounded," &c. Ibid. a Such evidently must have been the wording of the MS. VOL. I. K 130 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. V. were killed on the enemies' side. The Lord of Gordon * and "Wat Ogilby," brother of Inverquharitie,t escaped by flight. Inverquharitie himself was taken prisoner, and carried to the castle of Finhaven, where he died of his wounds and grief at his defeat, J — unless, indeed, a darker story, credited at the time, be correct — that the Countess Marjory, his cousin-german, in the agony of finding that her husband was wounded to death, rushed to his chamber and smothered him with a down pillow. § Earl David expired after a week of lingering torture, and his body lay for four days unburied, since, in the awful words of a contemporary chronicler, || "no man durst earth him," till Bishop Kennedy sent the Prior of St. Andrews to take off the excommunication, and pronounce forgiveness over the dust of his enemy.1T It did not escape notice that the battle of Arbroath, where Crawford re- ceived his death's wound, was fought on that day twelvemonth that he ravaged "St. Andrew's land" in Fife.** And, remem- bering the stormy and lawless life of our ancestor, we should rejoice with the old chronicler, that " he died in ane guid action, labourand to put Christian men to peace, albeit he was very inso- lent all the rest of his lifetime." ft It is easy to imagine how deeply this catastrophe must have affected Scotland, consequent, as it was then supposed, on the * " Huntley, being destitute of his folks in this manner, horsed himself, and fled away to the house of Inverquharitie, to save his life." Ibid. f " Wat Ogilby " succeeded his brother, who left no issue, and was the ancestor of the existing House of Inverquharitie. % He was buried in the South aisle of the parish church of Kinnell. His boot and iron spur, the latter measuring eight inches long by four and a half broad, with the rowel as large as a crown-piece, were hung up over his grave, — the spur is now in the possession of the Eev. George Walker, minister of Kinnell, to whom I am in- debted for more than one valued communication. — " There are several tumuli," says the ' Edinburgh Gazetteer,' speaking of the locality, " and tradition points out the field of a battle fought between the rival clans of Lindsay and Ogilvie in 1445." § " Et ballivus captus Fynewin ducitur ; et dum concepit Comitissa, quod sponsus Comes morti proximus fuisset, accessit ad cameram ubi erat ballivus vulneratus jacens, qui et ipse frater erat Comitisse, et dum intellexit quod, chirurgicorum arte impensa, convalere potuit, superposito lecto plumiali, eum, ut aliqui ferebant, ad in- teritum acceleravit." Extracta e variis Cronicis Scocie, p. 242. || Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 39. % His obitus, as above mentioned, was celebrated on the 17th of January, which fixes the day of his decease. ** Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 39. ft Boeth., p. 365 ; Pitscottie, torn. i. pp. 53 sqq. Chap. V. DAVID THIRD EARL OF CRAWFORD. 131 excommunication, — friendship turned into hatred — one offender slain in the attempt to effect a reconciliation, the other perishing by the hands of a woman, and that woman, as believed at the time, not his kinswoman merely, but his sister — the whole prepa- rations for the catastrophe matured during the twelvemonth for which the curse was imprecated, and that catastrophe taking effect on the very day when the curse expired. Excommunication, with its withering effects, gives here the gloom and awfulness of the old Greek tragedy, without the revolting characteristic of the latter, the innocence of the parties hereditarily doomed to crime. But the story is really one of providential retribution. The Lindsays, however, flushed by their victory, were not to be deterred from following up their advantage, and, in the words of a contemporary, they " efter that a great time held the Ogilbies at great subjection, and tuik their guids and destroyit their places."* Vestiges are said to be still discernible of a wing of the castle of Inverquharitie, destroyed after the battle ;f and Thomas Ogilvie of Clova, a younger brother of Alexander, assisted in the demolition. J He had sided with the Lindsays against his clan, and the barony of Clova, forming the North- West barrier between the country of the Lindsays and that of the Ogilvies, was his reward, § — a stroke of feudal policy which se- cured us a friend on the frontier, and engaged our enemies in intestine feuds and dissensions, to their own detriment and our infinite advantage, for nearly a century afterwards. A solemn indenture was then entered into between the Houses of Clova and Inverquharitie, extremely curious, and drawn up by certain churchmen, by which " the great skaiths, hurts, harms, slaughter of friends, tinsal (loss) of guids, through discord in times bygane sen (since) the battle of Arbroath" were finally "concorded" and closed, and friendship and kindliness re-established between them. (| But this pacification merely transferred without annihi- * Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 38. f Forsyth's Beauties of Scotland. % " Indenture betwix Innerquharitie and Clovay for the douncasting of the House of Innerquharitie efter the battle of Aberbrothock," 25 Sept. 1450. Inverquharitie Charter-chest. § David, fifth Earl of Crawford, on renewing his investiture, states it to be granted to him "prosuis servitiiset magnis laboribus," 6 July, 1482. Beg. Mag. Sig. || This indenture is dated " at the water-side of Prosswym (Glen-prossin) betwix K 2 132 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. V. lating the weight of feudal hate ; the Lindsays lost, the Ogilvies gained a partisan ; the feud between the two clans raged as fiercely as ever, nor was it till the accession of James VI. to the united throne of Great Britain, that peace was finally established between them. And even subsequently to that period, and down to the present day, their fortunes, according to popular super- stition, have been mainly influenced by these early feuds. When Cardinal Betlmne was Abbot of Arbroath, they were still con- tending for the office which had been the original cause of dispute ; and his half-serious, half-sportive imprecation, " that every future Lindsay might be poorer than his father," is often cited to account for the fact that not a single landed proprietor of the name of Lindsay is now to be found in Angus, where once they were so numerous.* The Ogilvies, direct male descendants of the original Celtic Maormors, or Earls, of the province, and one of the most gallant names in Scottish history, deservedly retain their ancestral seat. " We had been friends — had shared the feast together, Fought side by side, and our first cause of strife, Woe to the pride of both ! was but a slight one." I have only further to add, that a ballad narrating the legend of the battle of Arbroath was still extant, and sung at social meetings, within the memory of man, in Angus, — a composition of little poetical merit, judging by the fragments that remain of it, but constructed with this peculiarity, that the Lindsays and Ogilvies could be made to change places, and win or lose the battle, according as the company for whose entertainment the minstrel sang it were partisans of one or the other of the rival families of Angus.f By his wife, Marjory, daughter of Alexander Ogilvie of Auchter- house, chief of that ancient race, and hereditary Sheriff of Angus, Innerquharitie and Cortoquhy," the 26th March, 1524 —and, as illustrative of the times, I have inserted some extracts from it in the Appendix, No. XIII. — I am in- debted to the kindness of the present Sir John Ogilvie, Bart., of Inverquharitie, for the communication of this, and the preceding indenture of 1450. * Chambers' Hist, of the Rebellion of 1745, torn. i. p. 302. f Information from the Rev. George Walker. — I subjoin, as illustrating our rela- tions with the Ogilvies and the early genealogy of that noble House, the following statement of their descent, as first (in some important points) ascertained and fixed CiiAr. V. DAVID THIRD EARL OF CRAWFORD. 133 Earl David left a large family of children, — Alexander, his suc- cessor ; Walter Lindsay of Beaufort and Edzell, of whom, and his descendants, I shall speak more particularly hereafter ; Wil- liam of Lekoquhy,— Sir John of Brechin, — and James ; of whom William became the ancestor of the House of Evelick, in Perth- shire, with its various cadets, — Sir John, of that of Pitcairlie, in Angus, and their junior branch of Cairnie, — and James, the youngest, accompanying the Princess Eleanor Stuart to Germany, when she went to be married to Sigismund of Austria, espoused an heiress near Augsburg, where his descendants were reported to be still subsisting, and in good circumstances, about a century ago.* by my friend Mr. Riddell — I am happy to say from documents belonging to my father :-— I. Sir Walter Ogilvie of Auehterhouse, hereditary Sheriff of Angus, killed at the battle of Glenbrierachan, 1392, vide supra, p. 94. — 'Left issiie, 1. Alexander, his successor; 2. Walter of Lentrathen, ancestor of the Airlie family ; and 3. John of Inverquharitie, ancestor of Sir John Ogilvie, Bart. : — But the respective seniority of these two brothers is doubtful. John left issue, 1. Alexander of Inverquharitie, killed at the battle of Arbroath, 1445, without issue. 2. Walter of Inverquharity, successor to his brother, and ancestor of Sir John Ogilvie, Bart. 3. Thomas of Clova, ancestor of that family. II. Alexander Ogilvie, of Auehterhouse, Sheriff of Angus, fl. 1406-1423. Left issue, 1. Sir Patrick, his successor. 2. Sir Andrew, of Inchmartin, ancestor of the extinct Earls of Findlater. 3. Marjory, Countess of Crawford. III. Sir Patrick Ogilvie, of Auehterhouse, Sheriff of Angus, and High Justiciary of Scotland, fl. 1418-1427. Left issue, 1. Alexander, his successor. 2. Walter of Beaufort and Oures,-— died without issue, after 1453. IV. Alexander Ogilvie, of Auehterhouse, Sheriff of Angus, fl. 1438-1465. Left issue, V. Margaret Ogilvie, heiress of Auehterhouse, Countess of Buchan. * " James, of whom came the Crafters in Augsburg." Note by David Lord Balcarres to a MS. Genealogy written before 1580, in the Haigh Muniment-room. — " James . . went to Almenie, and married there, whose posterity to this day is very populous, and honourable, and famous, chiefly in Augsburg." MS. Genealogy, 1623, ibid. — " He was married to the heretrix of ane ancient family there for his valour in arms ; his posterity to this day does possess large territories near Augs- burgh." MS. Genealogy, by Sir James Balfour, Adv. Lib. — Memoirs by James Earl of Balcarres, MS. 134 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VI. CHAPTER VI. Waldhaves. " The Lindsay, then, was loved among his friends?" NlNIAN. " Honoured and feared he was, but little loved ; For e'en his bounty bore a shew of sternness, And when his passions roused, he was a Sathan For wrath and injury. * * * * I brought him a petition from our convent ; He granted straight — but in such tone and manner, By my good saint ! I thought myself scarce safe Till Tay rolled broad between us !" Sir Walter Scott. Alexander de Lindsay, Lord of that Ilk, Earl of Crawford, Knight " (as the Master of Crawford and victor of Arbroath is designed in a charter of 1449*), is still remembered traditionally in Scotland as " the Tiger,"f or " Earl Beardie," nicknames which he acquired from the ferocity of his character and the exuberance of his beard, :f though a comparatively modern au- thority derives the latter epithet from the little reverence in which he held the King's courtiers, and his readiness to " beard the best of them."§ He had married, as I have already inti- mated, Marjory Dunbar, a daughter of the House of March, an alliance that was not calculated to foster his loyalty. Douglas and Macdonald of the Isles, the titular Earl of Ross, shared with * Haigh Muniment-room. f " Dictus Tigris, qui totam Angusiam in subjectione tenuit." De Cronicis Sco- tornm Brevia, MS. X " Surnamed < Beardie,' or ' David with the Long Beard,' " according to Sir James Balfour, MS. Adv. Lib. § " Weill known by the designations of ' Earl Beardie,' or ' Beard the best of them.'" Genealogy of the House of Drummond, by Lord Strathallan, 1681 ; p. 132. — He is styled " Earl Beardie " in a curious grant under the privy seal to Patrick Lindsay Bishop of Ross of the non-entries of the Earldom of Crawford, 14 Dec. 1615, in which the family genealogy is recited for two centuries. Chap. VI. EARL BEARDIE. 135 him the chief power in Scotland ; virtually petty princes, their united strength far exceeded that of their sovereign. The imme- diate consequence of Earl David's death at Arbroath was a new league between these three nobles, of mutual alliance, offensive and defensive, against all men, the King himself not excepted, — but this was kept carefully concealed. The King had now attained the age of seventeen, and exhibited a character beyond his years. Kennedy had won his warm attach- ment and confidence, — it was his advice to temporise — to disunite his enemies, and subdue them in detail. James inherited all his father's jealousy and hatred of the aristocracy, but had derived a lesson of prudence from his unhappy fate. The league in the mean while between the three nobles gradually acquired a defined outline and purpose, and there seems reason to believe that, before the close of 1451, it had assumed the character of a con- spiracy, in conjunction with the Yorkist party in England, to dethrone the King and usurp the government.* It was about the commencement of the following year that the bond came to light. James sent for the Earl of Douglas to Stir- ling, and, after vainly entreating him to break the league, stabbed him, in a paroxysm of rage, with his own hand.f Crawford im- mediately rose in rebellion, and assembling " the haill folks of Angus, and a great company of his kin and friends,"^ encamped at Brechin, with the intention of intercepting the Earl of Huntley — his old antagonist at Arbroath — now appointed Lieutenant- Governor of the kingdom, and who was hastening with an army of between three and four thousand men, composed chiefly of the Forbeses, Ogilvies, and other loyal clans of the North-East of Scotland, to his sovereign's assistance, — James having in the mean while marched as far as Perth, with the object of effecting a junction with Huntley, and preventing Crawford from joining Douglas. § The battle of Brechin was fought on Ascension-day, || the 18th * Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, torn. iv. p. 90. f On the 22nd of Feb., 1452, Shrove-Tuesday. X Lindsay of Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 105. — They were " guided," says Drummond of Hawthornden, " by some French commanders." Works, p. 31. — I do not know his authority for this statement. § Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 47. || Boethius, fol. 374. 136 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VI. of May, 1452,* at the Hair Cairn, f on the moor, about two miles North-East of the town. J The most determined courage was dis- played on both sides, and though Crawford's army, gathered so hastily, was far outnumbered by the united force of the royalists, § the victory remained for a long time uncertain, till a company of fresh Angusshire men came up to renew the battle, and, taking advantage of the hill-side, rushed so fiercely on Huntley's van- guard, that his men were thrown into confusion and gave back. The Lindsays redoubled their efforts — the royalists retreated be- fore their furious charge — the King's standard was in danger, and Crawford was on the point of victory, when, providentially for Scotland, the desertion of one of his most trusted vassals occasioned his defeat. This traitor was John Collace of Balnamoon, who, before the engagement, had requested Crawford that, in the event of their victory, his son might be put in fee of the lands of Feme, which lay near his house and convenient for him. " The time is short," replied the Earl, " stand bravely by me to-day, and prove your- self a valiant man, and you shall have all and more than your desire." || Whether Balnamoon was not contented with this answer, or whether, as appears to me more probable, he had some prior pique against the Earl, or whether, in fine, he hoped, by betraying his over-lord, to obtain the advantage of holding his lands directly of the Crown, I know not ; but he instantly de- parted, as if he would have fought most furiously, — yet, when he * Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 47. f Information from my hereditary friend, the Right Rev. David Low, Bishop of Moray and Ross. | " In the field on the moor beside Brechin." Auchinleck Chron., p. 47. — " The spot is a little to the North-East of the parish of Brechin, not actually in it, though so termed ; on the road leading to the North-water Bridge." Old Stat. Ace, torn, v. p. 4G3. — " The Earl of Crawford," says Sir Robert Gordon, " understanding that the Earl of Huntley was coming from the North to aid the King, he assembled all his friends and followers to hinder his passage, at the foot of the Cam of Month (Cairn o' Mount). Huntley did weill know that he was to pass through the enemy's country, which made him press on with all his might and force to gain the passage of the North-water Bridge. This he did, although with some loss of his men. Both armies encountered two miles by east Brechin, between the town and the North-water Bridge," &c. — Hist. Earldom of Sutherland, p. 72. § " And there was with the Earl of Huntley far mair than was with the Earl of Crawford, because he display it the King's banner, and said it was the King's action, and he was his lieutenant, &c." Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 48. || Lindsay of Pitscottie, on his own authority. Chap. VI. EARL BEARDIE. 137 saw his time come, when he should have supported his chief, who was then fighting " cruelly," and who, if duly seconded, would have won the field, — at this critical moment, I say, he drew off his division, consisting of three hundred men, armed with bills, broad- swords, battle-axes, and long spears, on whom the Earl chiefly relied, and " in whose hands the haill hope of victory stood that day," aside from the left wing, where they were stationed ; and thus left the middle ward, where Crawford fought, exposed and unprotected, the left wing being engaged with the enemy. Huntley seized the opportunity to assault and break the troops thus laid open, and the consequence was, that the Tiger's men, who were on the point of gaining the victory, were defeated, not- withstanding his frantic efforts to recover the day.* He fled immediately to Finhaven. A son of Donald, Thane of Cawdor, f who had been taunted with cowardice before the battle, and had fought valiantly throughout the day through the desire of regaining his character, pursued him so fiercely that he got into the midst of his immediate followers, and was compelled, for safety, to go along with them, as if he had been one of their party, into the castle, where he heard the Tiger exclaim, on alighting from his horse and calling for a cup of wine, that he would willingly pass seven years in hell, to gain the honour of such a victory as had that day fallen to Huntley.J The young intruder sat at supper in the great hall among the crowd, when an alarm was given that Huntley was upon them, — all started to their arms, and in the confusion he effected his escape, carrying off with him Crawford's silver goblet, which he presented to Huntley at Brechin as a voucher for his singular adventure. § * Auchinleck Chron., p. 48; Boeth^ fol. 374; Pitscottie, torn. i. pp. 105 sqq. ; Tytler's Hist, of Scotl., torn. iv. p. 105. f More correctly -written Calder. See a note to Chapter IX. of these Lives. X " That he wad be content to hing seven years in hell by the breers o' the e'e " (the eyelashes) is the traditional version of this exclamation. § Pitscottie, on his own authority, torn. i. p. 107 ; Tytler, torn. iv. p. 106. — This adventurous youth is said to have been ancestor of the Calders of Assuanlee, an estate which the historian of the Gordons asserts to have been given him by Huntley in reward of his daring ; adding that " George Duke of Gordon had a cup made of silver, and gilded and embossed as like to the original as a workman could do, and gave it to this Mr. Calder of Assuanlee, to be kept in his family by him and his successors, under penalty of paying double the feu-duty of his lands that he then paid to the Duke and his successors ; and out of this cup," he adds, " have I of late drunk. It weighs 12 lib. 13 sh. [sic] sterling." Gordon's Hist, of the Family of 138 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VI. Earl Beardie lost his brother, Sir John Lindsay of Brechin and Pitcairlie, in this battle, beside the Laird of Dundas, " and other Gordon, torn. i. p. 70. — The adventure at Finhaven may possibly be true, but the estate of Assuanlee was granted to the Calders twelve years before the battle of Brechin. It may probably have been regranted with additional privileges by Huntley on this occasion. The story is told somewhat differently in some MS. ' Geographical Collections relating to Scotland,' bearing date 1723, and preserved in the Advocates' Library. " There was one Hutcheon Calder in company with Huntley, who by his cunning and courage got into the camp of Earl Beardie, and likewise into his tent, who after supper brought away the said Earl's drinking-cup (which cup Calder of Assuanlee keeps to this day), being a large silver cup, overlaid with gold, holding a Scots pint and two gills, of fine engraven and carved work, and cape (cover), upon which there was an inscription, which is now lost ; wherewith returning to the camp, in the silence of the night, he gave account to Huntley of the situation of Earl Beardie's camp and number of his forces, and, as a testimony of his being there, produced the said cup ; upon which intelligence they attacked Crawford in the morning, and de- feated his forces, for which service the said Hutcheon Calder obtained the lands of Assuanlee, whose posterity possess it to this day." The " Assuanlee Cup " is now in the possession of Mrs. Alexander Gordon, only surviving child of the late Sir Ernest Gordon of Park and Cobairdy. It was ac- quired by the father of Sir Ernest, James Gordon of Cobairdy, in the following curious manner. " Some years after the * forty -five,' a party of gentlemen, Jacob- ites, and all more or less under the ban of government, ventured to hold a meeting at a small hostelry in Morayshire, between Elgin and Forres. In the course of their sederunt, one of their number, Gordon of Cobairdy, got up to mend the fire, and in doing so saw something at the bottom of the peat-bunker, or box for holding the peats, which seemed to glitter. He fished the object out, and found that it was a large and handsome old cup, but perfectly flattened. On inquiry, it turned out that this was the celebrated ' Cup of Assuanlee,' which had been pledged to the land- lord of the inn by the Laird, a drinking spendthrift, in security for a debt. Co- bairdy, who was a man of considerable taste and a collector of rarities, never lost sight of the cup, but, when opportunity offered, got it into his possession, though he and his family had to pay more than one sum of money which had been raised by Assuanlee on the security of his little-cared-for heirloom. Having passed into Co- bairdy's possession, he had it perfectly restored to shape. It stands about fifteen inches high, is richly embossed, and is peculiarly graceful in shape and workman- ship. There are no arms upon it, though one account says that the arms of the Earl of Crawford were upon it. There is the following inscription in the centre of the lid, 4 Titubantem firmavit Huntleus, Breichin, Maii 20 [or 28], 1453/— but in characters apparently of the seventeenth century." — I owe these and some preceding particulars to the kindness of Mrs. Gordon through the courtesy of my kinsman Mr. Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple. Other families beside that of Assuanlee date their settlement as landed proprietors in the North of Scotland from the era of Earl Beardie's defeat at Brechin, — for ex- ample, those of Dunain, Dochfoure, and others of the name of Baillie, in Inverness- shire, are descended from a son of the Laird of Laniington, whose gallantry at the battle of Brechin was rewarded by Huntley with part of the Castle-lands of Inver- ness (Shaw's Hist, of Moray, -p. 176), — and Sir William Leslie of Balquhain, for his bravery at Brechin, got from Huntley the lands of Kincraig in Marr, and Abachie in Strathbogie. Collections, Hist. Aberdeenshire, p. 530. Chap. VI. EARL BEARDIE. 139 sindry gentlemen, weill till three-score of coat-armours," " where- of," says Pitscottie, " had been great pity if there had been a better quarrel." Huntley lost his brothers, William and Henry Seyton, and Gordon of Methlic, ancestor of Lord Aberdeen.* In consequence of this defeat, the superstition long prevailed, that green was unlucky to the Lindsays, the prevailing colour of their dress having on this occasion been of that colour : — that " A Lindsay with green Should never be seen," is an old traditional proverb in the clan. The Ogilvies dislike green equally, having worn that colour on the occasion of their defeat at Arbroath : — " Maxwell and Johnstone both agree for once ! " Crawford had already been declared the King's enemy and a rebel, because he had contemned his authority on being summoned by a herald to " underlie," or submit to the law. The decree of forfeiture was now repeated and confirmed ; f his " lands, life, and goods " were declared forfeit to the state ;$ his lordship of Brechin, with the hereditary sheriffdom of Aberdeenshire, were adjudged to the gallant Huntley ;§ and while the armorial coat of the victor was honourably and deservedly augmented, that of the rebel was torn, and his bearings abolished and " scrapit out of the Book of Arms for ever." || But though crippled by his loss sufficiently to prevent his junc- * Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 48. t 12 June, 1432, Audi. Chron., p. 48. X Ibid. § Gordon's Hist. Earldom of Sutherland, p. 73 ; Godscroft's Hist. Douglasses, p. 200 ; and other writers of the seventeenth century, — several of whom speak of his being deprived of the sheriffdom of Invernessshire. But more ancient testimony would be desirable. || Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 108 ; Gordon's Hist. Earldom of Sutherland, p. 73. — Huntley, says the latter writer, afterwards exchanged with Crawford the lordship of Brechin for that of Badenoch. " Three lions' heads in a yellow field were added to his arms, with the privilege of carrying before his horse-companies at all wea- ponshaws and battles from henceforward a pincel (or banner) of four corners, which privilege none other of the Scottish nobility hath." — The precedency in parliament and the heritable sheriffdom of Aberdeenshire were restored to the family ; David fifth Earl of Crawford appears as sheriff in the Exchequer Rolls immediately after his father's death, and, as mentioned in a previous note, they retained the office till near the middle of the sixteenth century. 140 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VI. tion with the Douglasses, the Tiger's power was otherwise but little weakened by his defeat at Brechin ; while menaces were thundered against him from Edinburgh, he was not idle in Angus ; his forces recruited, he took a terrible revenge on all who had either refused to support, or had deserted him at Brechin, ravag- ing their lands, destroying their castles, and spreading terror and desolation wherever he went.* A desultory but bloody warfare was now carried on in the South between the Douglasses and the King, who, after granting various lands to those he wished to attach to his interest, and ele- vating several barons to the ranks of the nobility, had assembled an army of thirty thousand men, well armed and devoted to his cause. His most powerful supporter was George Earl of Angus, head of a rival branch of the House of Douglas, whose siding, on this memorable occasion, with his sovereign against his own clansmen, gave rise to a proverb, allusive to the family complexion of the respective branches, that " the Red Douglas had put down the Black." It was soon discovered that Earl James, the representative of the swarthy Douglasses, though brave as the doughtiest of his ancestors, wanted their decision of character. Distrustful of his abilities, and conscious that their cause was a bad one, his friends remonstrated with him and recommended submission, but in vain. The consequence was the desertion of so many of his followers, that, on the appearance of the royal army before Douglas Castle, " he found himself compelled to lay down his arms, and to implore, with expressions of deep humility and contrition, that he might be once more restored to favour." The " appointment," or bond, by which this clemency was extended to him is dated the 28th of August, 1452, little more than three months after the battle of Brechin, f Earl Beardie, meanwhile, in the North — abandoned by many of his allies, and doubting the fidelity of the rest — all hope of successful resistance at an end, and not a chance, save one, remaining of saving his clan and friends from ruin — " tuik * Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 107. — The ancestor of the Southesk family joined in Earl Beardie's rebellion, and Huntley burnt his castle of Kinnaird in consequence. Forfarshire Illustrated, p. 87. t Tytler's Hist. Scot., torn. iv. p. 112. Chap. VI. EARL BEARDIE. 141 purpose," says Pitscottie, " to humble himself," and deliver him- self up to the King as an expiation for those who had been misled by him. " Sa, when the King was passing to the North land, coming through Angus," in April the following year, six months after the submission of Douglas,* " the Earl of Crawford came bare-headed and bare-footed to the King, clad as he had been ane miserable caitiff, guilty of ane crime, accused in judgment, dolorous and in poor arrayment, to move the judges and magis- trates to commiseration and pity ; f and sa, accompanied with ane small number of folks, sad, with dreary countenance, cast him in the King's gate. But fra hand (forthwith) he came before the King's Grace with tears bursting forth abundantly, and fell on his knees ; whilk being shewn to the King what man it was, and wha they were in his company, and that the Earl confidit meikle in the King's clemency, wherein he had placed his haill hope of restitution — then moved but (without) ony fear or dreadour, pat himself in his Grace's will and mercy — the King bade raise him up to see wherefore he came, all fear and dreadour set aside." His speech is given at length by the chronicler, — the safety of his followers lay nearer his rough but warm heart than his own. " I regard not my own person," said he, "in no manner of way, and therefore it is content to me to underlie what punishment you please, either to be hangit, to be riven with wild beasts, to be drowned, or cassen (cast) ower ane craig. For it is neither the fearful enduring (suffering) of my dearest spouse, nor the greeting (weeping) of my bairns, nor the lamentable sobbing of my friends, nor the hership (plundering) of my lands, that moves me sa meikle as the decay and falling of our House, and lamentable chance and fortune of the noblemen of Angus, with the rest of my adherents, whose lives, lands, and guids stands in danger for my cause and surname of Lindsay. Have compassion on the noblemen that concordit to my faction, that they, at the least, be not spoilzied (spoiled) of their lives and heritages for my offence." " When the Earl had thus endit, the noble and gentle men of * His death, in September 1453 (Auch. Chron.,y. 51), took place in the sixth month after his restoration. Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 124. f It was customary, in those days of almost childlike susceptibility, for culprits thus to present themselves before their judges. 142 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VI. Angus, that came in his company to seek remission, held up their hands to the King maist dolorously, crying, ' Mercy ! ' while (till) their sobbing and sighing cuttit the words that almaist their prayers could not be understood ; through the whilk there raise sic ruth and pity amang the company, that nane almaist could contain themselves from tears." The King, in short — at the intercession of Huntley and Kennedy, with whom Crawford had privately been reconciled, and by whose advice he had devised this singular interview — moved, moreover, by the same mingling feelings of policy, pity, and self-reproach, which had induced him to extend the hand of pardon to the fallen Douglas — frankly forgave them on the spot, saying he wished neither for their " lands, lives, guids, nor geir," but for their " hearts and friendship," — and he gained both from that moment. Their chief, delighted with the King's kindness, and " glorying in his happy adventure," endeavoured afterwards to do him all the service he possibly could. Before he left Angus, he joined him with a chosen company of the chivalry of the county, and, having escorted him in his farther progress, returned with him to Finhaven, where he entertained his royal guest and his train with princely hospitality, — " promising faithfully to be ready with all his forces to fecht aganes the conjured enemies of this realm where and whenever it pleased the King's Majesty."* King James had, however, sworn, in his wrath, a solemn oath " to make the highest stone of Finhaven the lowest ;" he went up to the roof of the castle and threw down to the ground a stone which was lying loose on one of the battlements, thus accom- plishing his vow, if not in the spirit, strictly to the letter. In Godscroft's time, nearly two hundred years afterwards, this stone was still preserved at Finhaven, secured with an iron chain.t And a farm, it may be added, about a mile west of Finhaven, has ever since borne the name of Revel Green, in memory, it is said, of the festivities that took place on this joyful occasion.^ After his reconciliation with the King, Earl Beardie's whole character changed ; from being the wildest of the wild chiefs of the North, he " gave over all kind of tyranny, and became ane * Boethius, fol. 376, verso; Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 123. This was in June, 1453. f Godscroft, p. 200. X Information from the Rev. Harry Stuart, of Finhaven. Chap. VI. EARL BEAEDIE. 143 faithful subject, and sicker targe (sure shield) to the King and his subjects. At the last, in this manner being reconciliet and set at quietness and rest, his friends and all others, as appeared, being also in great ^tranquillity, fortune, that suffers na thing to remain long stable, but all things subject to ruin and decay, leaning upon ane bruckle (brittle) staff, tholed (suffered) not the happy estate of this man long to continue ; for in the sext month after his restitution he tuik the hot fever, and died in the year of God ane thousand, four hundreth, fifty-four years, and wes buried with great triumph * in the Grey Friars' of Dundee, in his forebears' (ancestors') sepulchre."f Tradition, however, has forgotten his repentance ; and the Tiger Earl is believed to be still playing at " the de'il's buiks " in a mysterious chamber in Glamis Castle, of which no one now knows the entrance — doomed to play there till the end of time. He was constantly losing, it is said, when, one of his companions advising him to give up the game — " Never," cried he, " till the day of judgment ! " The Evil One instantly appeared, and both chamber and company vanished. No one has since discovered them, but in the stormy nights, when the winds howl drearily around the old castle, the stamps and curses of the doomed gamesters may still, it is said, be heard mingling with the blast. £ Earl Beardie's history, I need not observe, is full of meaning, — his character exhibiting the harsher outlines of feudalism, yet not altogether without redeeming features; Bishop Kennedy, on the other hand, his antagonist throughout his career, representing, as I above remarked, the power of the Church leagued with the State to enforce order and bridle licence. That career embraces the period of about seven years after the battle of Arbroath, — his general prosperity during those seven years, and their disas- * " Regia prope pompa," are the words of Boethius, fol. 376, verso. f Boeth., loco ext.; Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 124. — " Item, the year of God 1453, in the month of September, dieit Alexander Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, in Finevyn, — that was callit a rigorous man and ane felloun, (fierce,) and held ane great rowme (space) in his time, for he held all Angus in his bandoun, a and was richt inobe- dient to the King." Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 51. % Chambers' Picture of Scotland, torn. ii. p. 231. a In bandoun may signify, authoritatively, "as if he had actually been their sove- reign." — Jamieson, in voce. 144 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VI. trous termination, might have suggested in those days a compact with the devil, retarding, but finally yielding to the effect of the excommunication pronounced by Bishop Kennedy, and which had brought every one of them on whom it had been imprecated, except himself, to the dust. By his wife, Elizabeth Dunbar, who survived him for nearly half a century,* Earl Beardie left two sons, minors, David fifth Earl of Crawford, created Duke of Montrose by James III., and Sir Alexander of Auchtermonzie, who inherited that barony from his mother,f and long afterwards, when an old man, after the death of his grand-nephew, Earl John, at Flodden, succeeded as seventh Earl of Crawford. Earl Beardie left a daughter also, Lady Elizabeth Lindsay, wife of John the first Lord Drummond, and ancestress of the unhappy Darnley, father, by Mary Queen of Scots, of James I. of Great Britain. * She was still living in 1496, as appears by a document cited in the Crawford Case, p. 49. She had become the wife of Sir William Wallace of Craigie in 1478, Acta Dom. Aaditorum, p. 75. f Sir Alexander differenced his arms by assuming a rose, the well-known badge of the Dunbars Earls of March, in the centre of the Crawford coat, as proved by his seal appended to ancient charters, Crawford Case, p. 176. — He and his family resumed the simple Crawford arms on succeeding to the Earldom. — " The marks of cadency," adds Mr. Riddell, " used at present for younger sons, the crescent, star, martlet, &c, were comparatively but modern, and far more common in England than in Scotland, where other brisures, mostly derived from France, including the bordure, served for the purpose." AHJ.TOC&li AFl] IS 1 { 4 — MXDowid 5 ,£a,rl of ' Cwomford, Dvuke, ofMoritroSb. (2). Jlea> Master of Crawford. m.,/ u u ef°£mi of a MiAwid- &f°£ouri of c.fb) Ja^d/of } £a^-iofoimziovnd Hf-JSartqfCSW.Dmid, 42?-£arlofC.A?> ) Jftxvg M ?£a,rL of C.A :2? L 'lord J._ (13) teor^J^Lordf.AM) Pat 6f lord L of bl* Byre* \\b).Jvhru tffEoorlofC.- a,vod, /■?} of Lindsay. 1 16). MM.- f&r£arf qfCAYl). John 49 f Earl of CAYS) John 20 EarlofC. ( \9).&ery* 2if£arl of C.A IW.Uorgt, 22 n f / Ea,rtqf C.Al\\SLrI>awodLi,ruihay of thoJffoiwUt, Lion J6,ruj at./lrnus. John Murray. Albemarle Srreet Sect. I„ DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 145 CHAPTER VII. "He is past, he is gone, like the blast of the wind, And has left but the fame of his exploits behind ; And now wild is the sorrow and deep is the wail, As it sweeps from Glenesk to the far Wauchopdale. Bright star of the morning, that beamed on the brow Of our chief of ten thousand, 0 where art thou now ? The sword of our fathers is cankered with rust, And the race of Clan Lindsay is bowed to the dust." Earl Crawford's Coronach. SECTION I. It was under David, fifth Earl of Crawford, that the Lindsays rose to their highest power in Scotland. In a charter, dated the 27th of February, 1458-9, I find some obscure but remarkable hints relative to his early history. He grants Herbert Johnstone of Dalibank, ancestor of the house of Westerhall, the lands of Gleneybank, with the office of baillie of the regality of Kirk- michael, in Dumfriesshire, " for his faithful service at the time when he was held a captive by the late James Earl of Douglas, and chiefly for the liberation and abduction of his person from captivity and from the hands of the said Earl."* This, as sug- gested by an able historical critic,t probably took place on a second rebellion of James Earl of Douglas, soon extinguished, in March, 1454. The principal friend of his youth, however, seems to have been Thomas Fotheringham of Powrie, afterwards his " familiar squire," and whom he ever regarded with peculiar affection and kindness. On renewing his charters, between twenty and thirty years after his accession, he grants him additional lands " for his faithful service and constant attentions," paid to him " gratanter * Regisl. Mag. Sigilli. t Mr. MacGregor Stirling, MS. Collections. VOL. I. L 146 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. et multipliciter," from his youth upwards.* I cannot but attri- bute much of what was noble, loyal, and self-devoted in Earl David's after career to the influence of this gallant gentleman, who stood by his side, immoveable as a rock, in the darkest mo- ment of his fortunes. The Fotheringhams, I should add, were always closely allied in blood and friendship with the House of Crawford, and the hereditary regard has manifested itself most kindly to our behoof in the present generation. But Earl David's immediate " tutor," or legal guardian during his minority, was his paternal uncle, Walter Lindsay, — that office being assigned in Scotland, in default of other testamentary pro- vision, to the next of kin on the father's side. Lord of Beaufort and the Aird, in Invernessshire, and of Glenesk, Feme, Edzell, Kinblythemont, and Panbride, in Angus, f Walter was a power- ful baron, of great talent and unscrupulous ambition. His mother, the Countess Marjory, resembled him in these qualities, and seems to have stood ever at his side, as his prompter and abetter. An Ogilvie herself, her whole energies would appear to have been directed to depress her kindred and elevate the House of Crawford on their ruin. Bonds of the most singular nature are extant by which her nephew, Alexander Ogilvie of Auchter- house, the chief of her race and hereditary Sheriff of Angus, delivers himself up, apparently on no ground of fatuity or inca- pacity, to the absolute keeping, disposal, and " governance " in person, office, and estate, of Walter and his mother, on a pledge by Walter to defend him against all the world " at my goodly power, like as I wald help, supply, maintain, or defend my Lord my brother's son, my Lady my moder, or my own heritage." J * Charter, 16 July, 1481 : confirmed 13 Jan. 1481-2. Reg. M. Sig. 0 t For the charters establishing his successive territorial aggrandisement, (from the Haigh Muniment-room,) see Mr. Eiddell's Crawford Case, pp. 147 sqq. — His original patrimony was the barony of Strathnairn, in the North, the dowry of the Princess Catherine, his great-grandmother, but, owing to the disturbed state of that ^ district, rendering it difficult to deal with, the Crawford family resumed it, and gave him Ferne, in Angus, in exchange. His son Sir David, like himself, is usually styled "of Beaufort," but he ultimately parted with that property and with the Aird, (estates now engrossed in those of Lord Lovat and the Chisholms,) and concentrated himself in Angus. — Walter assumed as his heraldic difference a star in the centre of the Crawford coat, as already noticed. % Notarial Exemplification, 4 Jan. 1460, in the Haigh Muniment-room, reciting the bonds alluded to. Extracts from the principal one, dated 9 March, 1458-9, are printed in the Appendix, No. XIV. Sect. I. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 147 And the transactions between them close with the resignation of the Sheriffdom by Alexander of Auchterhouse, and its transfer here- ditarily to Earl David, by a solemn deed executed " in capella Palatii Domini Comitis Craufurdie,* infra burgum de Dundie," 2 September, 1469, and in which Alexander's daughter, Margaret Ogilvie, Countess of Buchan, and her husband, also, by separate deeds, concur.t — Marjory must however have had endearing qualities to balance those of more masculine character; Earl David unquestionably bore her a deep affection, — twice, during his life, he founded perpetual masses for her soul, and on the latter occasion he speaks of her as his " grandam of haly memor," as if her latter days had been passed in the odour of sanctity. Possibly I may have wronged her — but the circumstances of her earlier life would seem to tell against her. Walter, I may add, was succeeded in course of time by his eldest son, Sir David of Beaufort, who first assumed the style of Edzell from the capital messuage of his barony of Feme, and who became the ancestor of the Lindsays of Edzell and Glenesk, of whom the Earls of Balcarres were originally the latest branch, and are now the representatives. Their ancient residence, the Castle of Edzell, now a mouldering ruin, but still magnificent in decay, is one of the many " chiefless castles " of the Lindsays scattered over Scotland wherever they dwelt, and " breathing stern farewells From grey but leafy walls, where ruin greenly dwells." Contemporary with Walter, and indeed with his father and grand- father, flourished the venerable John Lord Lindsay of the Byres, whom I have mentioned as a hostage for King James I. in 1424, and who had been elevated to the dignity of a Lord of Parlia- ment in 14454 — a dignity then novel and peculiar in Scotland, as distinguished from the baronage ; the system adopted in Eng- land, in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I., of making a dis- tinction between the great body of the barons and the few sum- moned to attend in parliament — the latter forming (with the Earls) exclusively the peerage — not having been introduced into * In the chapel of St. Michael within the town-residence, more usually styled the Earl's Lodging, at Dundee, described supra, p. 110. t Documents in the Charter-room of Lord Gray, at Kinfauns. X Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 542. i. 2 148 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. the sister country till 1587.* John Lord Lindsay held the High Justiciarship of the North of Scotland for many years,t and pre- sided in that capacity, in association with Walter Lindsay of Beaufort, acting as Sheriff of Aberdeenshire during his nephew Earl David's minority, in the solemn assize, or justice-ayre, held in the tolbooth at Aberdeen, on the 5th of November, 1457,J when James II. appeared in person before them to claim the Earldom of Marr, attended by the Chancellor, Constable, Marischal, and other high officers of state, and a splendid train of nobles and courtiers, — perhaps the most solemn occasion on which either Justiciary or Sheriff ever sat in judgment — while that judgment, which reaffirmed the exclusion of the House of Erskine from their hereditary and rightful honours, was, there can be no doubt, wilfully or ignorantly, unjust. It is not unworthy of remark that Ingelram de Lindsay, the venerable Bishop of Aberdeen, great- uncle of Walter and great-grand-uncle of the youthful Earl David, withheld the sanction of his presence from what he must have deemed a scene of splendid oppression. Ingelram Bishop of Aberdeen was a bright contrast to the Earl Beardies and Walters of Beaufort I have so lately introduced to you. He had been in holy orders for some years before 1424, § attended the Council of Basle, as " familiar presbyter and acolyte of our most holy father, the Pope," Eugene IV., in 1434, || and was preferred to the see of Aberdeen on the death of Bishop Henry Leighton in December, 1440.11 He was then old, infirm, and in bad health, and one Alexander, who had expected to have been advanced to that bishopric, resolved, as one of his biographers expresses it, " to trick him handsomely out of his life, not doubt- * Vide supra, p. 57. Lords Forbes, Somerville, Gray, Saltoun, Sinclair, &c, of the Scottish peerage, are but imperfectly described as Barons — that title, though recently disused, being common to all the landed proprietors, or lairds, holding of the Crown, North of the Tweed. t Between the years 1457 and 1466. Chart. Dunfermline, pp. 345, 354. X Attestation of proceedings of that date among the Marr charters preserved in the Register House, Edinburgh ; and Retour of Inquest relative thereto, same date, also in the Register House. Information from Joseph Robertson, Esq. § Record of parliament held at Perth, 26 May, 1424. Robertson's Pari. Records, p. 10. || Safe-conduct, 10 March, 1434. Rot. Scot., torn. ii. p. 286. ^[ Ingelram Bishop of Aberdeen sat in the parliament held at Stirling in Febru- ary, 1442. Acts Pari., torn. ii. p. 58. Sect. I. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 149 ing that he would be preferred next;"* and the method he took was, to calumniate him by evil reports at Rome, expecting pro- bably that the pain and annoyance of the consequent investigations would speedily despatch him. Ingelram, however, learning the treachery that had been practised, started at once for Italy, crossed France, embarked at Marseilles, and after twelve days' voyage reached Rome, where Eugene, his former friend and patron, received him with the utmost kindness, and, on hearing his vindication, fully confirmed him in his see. He spent some months at Rome in services of piety, and then returned by land to Scotland, — but so far from dying of the fatigue of the journey, as his enemies had expected, he arrived at Aberdeen in better health than when he left it, and lived there in a green old age, and " ruling the affairs of the Church very wisely," for nineteen years longer, during which he was universally beloved. He died on the 24th of August, 1459, as would appear from his obitus having been celebrated on that day, according to the records of the cathedral. f " Bishop Lindsay," says Spots wood, " was a man constant in his promises, of a spare diet, but very hospitable, for he enter- tained great numbers both of learned men and others, especially the eldest sons of noblemen and barons in the North parts, J and notwithstanding of his age and public employments, was ever at study when he could find any free time from those cares. A little before his death he fell in the King's displeasure for denying admission to some whom the King had presented to certain bene- fices, for that they were mere ignorants or for their years incapable. But this did not much trouble his mind, as being no way conscious to himself of any just offence offered." The citi- zens and matrons of Aberdeen, " who loved him dearly," shed tears of sorrow as they kissed his dead body, and afterwards bore it to the grave — " such reverence," exclaims Boethius, " attended Ingelram both living and dead !" * Mackenzie's Lives of Scottish Writers, torn. i. p. 458. f Regist. Episc. Aberdon., torn. ii. p. 203. — His anniversary, however, was celebrated on the 17th of November, ibid., p. 220. The anniversary and obitus were, in fact, occasionally distinct services — the obitus being invariably performed on the day of the actual demise of the person commemorated, the anniversary a more special ceremony appointed on a different day. % ." Exemplis optimis tenera imbuit pectora." Boeih. 150 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. He was buried in the choir of the cathedral, which he had " marvellously ornamented," and his effigy was sculptured on his tomb.* Besides other theological works, he left an unfinished com- mentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, " which he regarded," says Boethius, " with such love and reverence that he had learnt them by heart, and constantly carried them in his bosom." He also founded an ecclesiastical college, and enacted certain statutes for its government, which were confirmed by his successor, and are printed in Mr. Kennedy's history of the " brave town of Aber- deen, "f Five years before his death, considering, as he says, " that we shall all stand, as saith the Apostle, before the judgment-seat of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to receive as we have done in the body, whether good or evil, and thus willing, with God's assistance, to amplify the worship of Holy Mother Church, to the honour of God the Omnipotent and of the Blessed Virgin " — he settled his Lordship of Westhale in the Garioch, which had been given him by King James II., on the Cathedral of Aberdeen, for the maintenance of a chaplain to celebrate mass in the Cathedral Church " for the souls of the King and his Queen-consort Lady Mary, for his own soul, and for that of David II., of good memory, Earl of Crawford," who had been slain at Arbroath, — the said chaplain paying therefrom to the chaplains serving in the choir of the cathedral the sum of forty shillings yearly, for the special celebration of the anniversaries respectively of himself (the Bishop) and of Earl David, on the morrow after the octaves of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that is to say, on the 24th of August, and on the 17th of January, thenceforth and for ever.J * " Bishop Ingelram was a liberal benefactor to the Church. Many donations of his are on record in the inventories of the cathedral treasury. He put a stone roof on the cathedral, and laid the pavement ; and added the churches of Roth wen and Monimusk to the number of prebends." Mr. Innes's Preface to the Regist. Episc. Aberd., torn. i. p. xxxviii. f Boethii Episc. Murthlacens. et Aberdon. Vita, edit. 1522, fol. 11 verso; Spots- wood's Hist. Church of Scotland, p. 104; Kennedy's Hist, of Aberdeen, torn. ii. p. 2, — and Mr. Innes's Preface to the Regist. Episc. Aberd., ut supra. t Dated 16 Sept. 1454, Reg. Episc. Aberdon., torn. i. p. 264; Collections, Hist, of Aberdeenshire, torn. ii. pp. 200, 265. — Contemporary with Bishop Ingelram lived Jerome Lindsay, Doctor of Civil Law, and a Franciscan, and said (on insufficient Sect. II. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 151 SECTION II. The same year that Bishop Ingelram died, the ward and mar- riage of his youthful nephew Earl David was granted to James Lord Hamilton,* whose daughter, Elizabeth, he seems to have then married, though only in his eighteenth year.f In November, 1461, he was allowed by special dispensation to enter into posses- sion of Crawford-Lindsay, his barony in Lanarkshire, J but his minority only fully expired in 1462, when the final "compt and reckoning" took place between himself and his uncle, Walter of Beaufort." § The career of James II. had in the meanwhile come to an end. He was killed by the bursting of a cannon, while pressing the siege of Roxburgh, in 1460. His successor, James III., being but a child, the Queen-mother immediately assumed the govern- ment, under the guidance and advice of the wise and patriotic Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews. The Chamberlainship was given to Lord Evandale, the High Justiciarship to Lord Boyd, and the custody of the Privy Seal was confirmed to Mr. James Lindsay, who had held that office since 1452, || — a personage in authority) to have been a brother of the House of Crawford, Scotia Sacra, torn. i. p. 553, by Father Hay, who adds that he " Perthense coenobium fundavit, . . . Oli- phanto Domino mira devotione impensas subministrante. Floruit 1452." — Demp- ster cites his works, Hist. Eccles., torn. ii. p. 44 5; but these authorities are very apocryphal. * By charter, penult. Feb. 1458-9. Reg. Mag. Sig. f This seems in fact to have been the average age at which they married in those times — at least in the Crawford family. The date of the birth of David first Earl of Crawford may be fixed in 1366, the charter of Glenesk being granted by Cathe- rine Stirling in 1365, — and David the fifth Earl, his great-great-grandson, was born in 1440. — "One of the most remarkable social characteristics of the middle ages," observes Sir E. Lytton Bulwer, " is the prematurity at which the great arrived at manhood, shared in its passions, and indulged its ambitions." Last of the Barons, torn. ii. p. 82. — Compare the description of Earl Beardie in the 'Fair Maid of Perth,' as " a lad of fifteen with the deep passions and fixed purpose of a man of thirty," — and " bearing on his brow, while scarcely beyond the years of boyhood, the deep impression of early thought and premature passion." I Retour in the Charter-room of Sir George Warrender, Bart., Crawford Case, p. 50. § Crawford Case, p. 51. || He appears as " Clericus Rotulorum et Registri Domini Regis" in the Cham- berlain Rolls, 4 Jan. 1451, torn. iii. p. 574, — but always afterwards as "Secreti Sigilli Custos." 152 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. whom, as -Baron of Covington in Clydesdale, Provost and Minister of the Abbey or Collegiate Church of Lincluden, and the most familiar confidant and councillor of the Queen,* the feudal, eccle- siastical, and political characters were strangely blended, f The government was carried on with firmness and wisdom till the death of Kennedy in May, 1466, when the family of Boyd sud- denly rose into power, possessed themselves of the King's person, and engrossed the management of affairs. Earl David supported this revolution,! probably through the influence of his father-in-law Hamilton. His first prepossessions were certainly on the side of the aristocracy against the Crown, and this may be accounted for to a certain degree by a circum- stance personal to himself, independently of traditional example and of the prejudices of his order. * Aachinleck Chron., p. 22 : Tytler, Hist., torn. iv. p. 188. t The Provost of Lincluden is to be distinguished from his contemporary James, Canon and Dean of Glasgow, mentioned in a note, supra, p. 101. The key to this distinction lies in the facts, that James Lindsay was served heir of his father Sir John Lindsay, "quondam Domini de Cowantoun," 14 July, 1434, — that James Lindsay of Covington, still a layman, witnesses a charter by William Earl of Douglas to Patrick Hepburn, 29 June, 1444, — and that Mr. James Lindsay, a priest, is instituted parson of Douglas by John Bishop of Glasgow, 2 June, 1443, the year previous, and must consequently be a different person. I may refer to the Appendix, Xo. XV., for some notices of the Provost, and shall only state here that he held the privy seal till his death in 1468, when John Lindsay of Covington was served his heir. The last document in which he figures is a bond or agreement between the Earls of Argyle, Arran, &c. " anent the government of the King's person " and for mutual assistance, which is subscribed by ; * The Preve Sele Lynd- say," 15 April, 1468. Abbotsford Club Miscellany, torn. i. p. 7. a — He was dead before 17 Jan. 1468-9 following, when his brother, John Lindsay of Covington, was infeft as his heir. — The ' Auchinleck Chronicle,' I may add, speaks unfavourably of the Provost, b but much mystery seems to rest on his history and character. % Bond, 10 Feb. 1465, cited by Tytler, Hist., torn. iv. pp. 203, 208. a " Jacobus Lindesay, filius Johannis de Lindesay de Covintoun." appears in the list of incorporated or matriculated members of the University and College of Glasgow, in the archives of the Uni- versity and College, on the 4th October, 1467. This would seem to prove that the Provost had died, and his brother John succeeded him. before that date. If so, the ' ; Preve Sele Lyndsay" of 15 April, 1468, must have been a different individual — possibly the Dean of Glasgow. b *' Item, the said Queen, efter the deid (death) of King James II., tuik Master James Lvndesay for principal consalour, | and gart (made) him keep the privy seal, notwithstanding that the said Master James was excludit fra the council of the foresaid King and fra the court, and for his very helynes, and had been slain for his demerits, had not been he was re- deeruit with gold." Auch. Chron., p. 22. — " The word ' helynes,' " observes Dr. Jamieson, " is evidently used in a bad sense ; but what that is must be left undetermined. Perhaps it may signify duplicitv, — Tent, hael, subtilis." Suppl. I Scottish Diet. Sect. II. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 153 Many years previously, on his return from England in 1424, James I. had reclaimed the annuities hereditarily paid to many noble families out of the Great Customs of the kingdom, admit- ting of no exception unless where rights could be established by proper charter or other evidence. The claim proved futile, at least as regarded the Crawford family, and the annuities conti- nued to be drawn as usual, and apparently without challenge, till the death of Earl Beardie and the minority of his son. The first payment from the customs of Aberdeen subsequently to that period seems to have taken place unopposed, but in 1457 the King sent an angry mandate to the Customer, or chief officer of the customs, bidding him discontinue it, and tore the precept or warrant, offered in the usual manner for his signature, with his own hands.* The remembrance of this was not likely to enhance Earl David's early loyalty, — and the futility of the interference must have aroused his contempt, for the pension, after possibly a brief intermission, was still paid, and continued to be paid till the close (at least) of the sixteenth century. f Be this as it may, the ambition and tyranny of the Boyds soon disgusted their friends ; a counter conspiracy was organized, in which Earl David was a party, J — they fell, and the House of Hamilton rose on their ruin. Earl David now rose daily in power and influence. He obtained a grant from King James in 1472 of the lordships of Brechin and Navar for life, § which, joined to the Sheriffdom of Angus and the possession of the Castle of Brichty, the key of Forfarshire, always annexed to it, [| made him absolute in that county, — he was appointed to the responsible post of Keeper of Berwick in July, * See the extract from the 1 Chamberlain Rolls,' a curious one on many accounts, in the Appendix, No. XVI. The royal intervention would seem to have taken place on the occasion of the visit of King James to Aberdeen to claim the Earldom of Marr. f Family entails of 1546, 1589, and later, — and public accounts during that period, — see e.g. Crawford Case, p. 77. % Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, torn. iv. p. 225. § Charter, 9 March, 1472-3, Reg. M. Sig. || In later times at least, and probably at the time alluded to. But Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk had obtained a charter of Brichty from Richard de Monte Alto, Lord of Ferne, to himself and the heirs-male of his body, and with substitu- tions in favour of Sir William of the Byres and Sir James of Crawford, 20 Dec. 1379, — now preserved in the Fotheringham Charter-chest. 154 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. 1473, for three years,* and in May, 1476, to that of High Admiral of Scotland, on the rebellion of the Earl of Ross, MacDonald of the Isles, f and for twenty years he was employed in almost every embassy or public negotiation that took place between England and his native country. J He was indeed well qualified to repre- sent his nation in foreign climes, being princely in all his dealings. His magnificence was unbounded, — his squires, armour-bearers, chamberlains, and chaplains occur repeatedly in the Great Seal record ; § his heralds, the appendage of sovereignty, are men- tioned in the Exchequer Rolls, and as having exchanged their earlier name "Endure" for " Lyndesay," || — the former having apparently either suggested, or been adopted from the motto or "posie" of the family, "Endure fort!" — while in the midst of all * For three years, from 17 July, 1473. Beg. M. Sig. — " The key in the mouth of the ostrich, the ancient crest of his family, seems to allude to his being Governor of Berwick." Mr. MacGregor Stirling. f Buchanan, lib. xii. cap. 36. — The King intended to co-operate with him by land. Alarmed at such formidable preparations, MacDonald made his submission. % See the Botuli Scotice, passim, from 1465 to 1485. — One picturesque scene in which he figured, the betrothment of the Princess Cecilia, youngest daughter of Edward IV., to the Prince Royal of Scotland, is thus described by Mr. Tytler, as " a curious illustration of the formality of feudal manners." — " On the 26th of Oc- tober, [1474,] David Lindsay Earl of Crawford, Lord John Scrope, knight of the garter, along with the Chancellor Evandale, the Earl of Argyle, and various Eng- lish commissioners and gentlemen, assembled in the Low Greyfriars' church at Edinburgh. The Earl of Crawford then came forward, and, declaring to the meet- ing that he appeared as procurator for an illustrious prince, the Lord James, by the grace of God King of Scots, demanded that the notarial letters, which gave him full powers in that character to contract the espousals between Prince James, first- born son of the said King, and heir to the throne, and the Princess Cecilia, daughter to an excellent prince, Lord Edward, King of England, should be read aloud to the meeting. On the other side, Lord Scrope made the same declaration and demand ; and these preliminaries being concluded, the Earl of Crawford, taking Lord Scrope by the hand, solemnly, and in presence of the assembled parties, plighted his faith that his dread lord, the King of Scotland, and father of Prince James, would bestow his son in marriage upon the Princess Cecilia of England, when both the parties had arrived at the proper age. Lord Scrope, having then taken the Scottish Earl by the right hand, engaged, and, in the same solemn terms, plighted his faith for his master, King Edward of England. After which the con- ditions of the treaty upon which the espousals took place were arranged by the respective commissioners of the two countries, with an enlightened anxiety for their mutual welfare." Hist. Scotl., torn. iv. p. 242. § Vide supra, p. 114. || In an Exchequer Roll for 1460 there is mention of the "signifer," or pur- suivant, " Comitis Craufurdie," and in a later one, for 1464, a payment is made " Endure, Signifero, nunc Lyndesay heraldo nuncupato." — He seems to have been Sect. II. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 155 this, he seems, from the style he occasionally adopted, like his father,* to have laid far more stress on his personal quality as a knight, than on the hereditary distinctions to which he had been born.f And so far as can be ascertained, he was not undeserving of these high honours. He was kind to his dependants and followers, liberal to the Church, and loyal to his sovereign, — and the historian Boethius, his contemporary, sums up his character, in anticipation of what he intended to write of him had his work been finished, in few but emphatic words, as " inter optimos prin- cipes quos nostra aetas vidit jure commemorandus."J Earl David made a new entail of the family estates in 1474, settling them on his heirs-male for ever, — an important document, as it regulated the succession for many generations afterwards, § — and mortified lands, for his own soul and for those of his ancestors, in the Cathedral of Brechin, [| and for his grandmother the Countess Marjory, as above mentioned, and for James III., in the church of Meigle in Perthshire,^ nearly about the same time. The state of the country, meanwhile, and the character of the King demand our attention. Ever since the death of Kennedy the nobles had been regaining their power, and feuds, whether the first of the nobility upon whom the honour of having a herald was conferred in Scotland, — at least, there are no earlier notices of such. a * Vide supra, p. 134. f An observation of Mr. MacGregor Stirling, in his MS. Collections. He cites, in illustration of it, the designation of Earl David, in his safe-conduct as ambassador to England, with other magnates, 6 March, 1471-2, as "David Lyndesay, Earl of Craforth, Knight," — adding that " from a variety of circumstances, as illustrated in the ' Rotuli' and the ' Foedera,' it seems inferrible that in many instances the persons to whom the Kings of England gave safe-conducts had a choice of the styles under which they were to pass." — Similarly, the anniversary of his grandfather, Earl David, was founded by Ingelram de Lindsay, Bishop of Aberdeen, " pro anima Davidis Lyndesay, militis, et Comitis Craufurde." Regist. Episc. Aberd., torn. ii. p. 211. % Boeth., fol. 379 verso. § Royal charter, 6 Dec. 1474, — in the Haigh Charter-room. Printed at length in the Minutes of Evidence, Crawford Claim, p. 124. || April 3, 1472. Charter-chest of the town of Brechin. % April 25, confirmed 16 May, 1474. Beg. M. Sig. a In England, however, George Dunbar, the celebrated Earl of March, at the be- ginning of the fifteenth century, had a pursuivant, under the title of " Shrews- bury," a proud distinction, evidently de- rived from his so signally conducing to the victory obtained against Hotspur and his adherents, which fixed Henry IV. upon the throne. Information from Mr. Riddell. 156 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. old or new, broke out in all directions. That between the Houses of Crawford and Glamis, now of nearly a century's standing, would have slept probably during Earl David's lifetime, but his son Alexander, the Master of Crawford, a mere stripling, revived it, and with such violence as to require the interference of parlia- ment, in 1478.* The King, devoted to music and the fine arts, making their professors his associates to the exclusion of his nobles, neglecting public business, and endowed with no military genius, was little able to bridle his haughty barons, who scorned the intellectual exercises he delighted in as unchivalrous and unmanly, and attached themselves by preference to his brother Albany, a man of specious manners and accomplished in all knightly exercises, but utterly unprincipled. A conspiracy was at last organized between Albany, Angus, and various discontented nobles on the one hand, and Edward IV. on the other, to dethrone the King and instal Albany in his place, to hold the Crown as the vassal of England. f Its ulterior object, however, was studiously concealed from the greater number of the nobles who engaged in it. J The first act of the conspiracy was the destruction of the "minions" whom James patronized, and in especial of Cochrane, an architect, on whom he had bestowed the revenues of the Earldom of Marr. James had summoned his barons to march against England ; they assembled at Lauder, but only to seize these unfortunate men, hang them on the bridge, convey their sovereign under constraint to Edinburgh, and then dismiss their army. Crawford had been one of the purifiers, as they termed it, of the royal council. § But no sooner did Angus darkly broach * March 6, 1478. Acts Pari, torn. ii. p. 122. f The treaty between King Edward and "Alexander," as he styles himself, " King of Scotland, be the gift of the King of England," may be seen in Rymer, torn. xii. p. 156. — The Duke binds himself, in return for Edward's assistance in obtaining the Crown, to do homage and fealty for it within six months, " in sic wise as other Kings of Scotland, whilk had friendly intelligence with the realm of England, haif done in ony zeir (year) past to the King of England," — in evident revival of the ancient claims which had been surrendered in 1328, — to yield the town and castle of Berwick to England, — to break the alliance with France, and be governed by English counsels in future, — and finally, " gif the said Alexander can mak himself clear fro all other women, according to the laws of Christian Church, within ane zeir next ensuing, or sooner," to marry " my Lady Cecile," Edward's daughter, " and gif he cannot sa clear him," to marry his son and heir, " gif ony sic shall be," to a lady of the blood-royal of England. X Tytler, torn. iv. p. 274. § Pitscottie, torn. i. p. 190. Sect. II. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 157 the idea of deposing the King, than he scouted it with indig- nation, — the better spirits stood instantly apart, and a party- rallied round their sovereign, which in a short while overthrew Albany and his faction. Earl David, already for some time past Master of the Household,* was appointed Lord Chamberlain on this revolution, f A great change now manifested itself in the King's character. The bitter lesson he had learnt at Lauder was not lost upon him, — he threw off his apathy, his dreams of art and literature, aroused himself to his kingly duties, devoted himself to the administration of justice and suppression of crime, strengthened his interests at home, exhibited a firm face against foreign aggres- sion, secured the attachment of the clergy, the higher nobles, the middle classes, and the great body of the people, J and ex- hibited in short during the remaining years of his reign the picture of a wise and paternal government. The malcontent nobles on the other hand, Angus and his faction, conscious that the King had never forgotten the Raid of Lauder, and that punishment must sooner or later fall on them for their feudal delinquencies, renewed their intrigues with England, and received ample but secret encouragement both from Richard III. and his successor Henry. They adopted the principles and language of the Ri verses and Hastingses, the leaders of the revolutionary and anti-feudal movement South of the Tweed — hostile to the great Norman aristocracy, § — proclaimed themselves the champions of law, of liberty, of the people ; denounced their King as a tyrant ; and crowned their disloyalty by seizing the person of the Prince Royal, poisoning his mind against his father, and dazzling him with the prospect of the Crown. The King on his part saw that things were drawing to a crisis, and both parties mustered all their force against the meeting of parliament in October, 1487. || * Witness as such, 10 Oct. 1482. Beg. M. Sig., and Collections, Hist. Aberdeen- shire, p. 608. — Crawford says he was appointed in 1480, succeeding Lord Borthuik, Hist. Lindsays, MS. t He is witness as Chamberlain, 29 April, 1483, — and as Master of the House- hold and Chamberlain, repeatedly till the close of the reign. Reg. M. Sig. \ " They knew," says Pitscottie, of the malcontent barons, " the King to be weill loved of all the commons and boroughs, and specially with the ancient and aged barons of the country." Chron., torn. i. p. 214. § See the interesting Dedicatory Epistle to the ' Last of the Barons.' || Tytler, torn. iv. pp. 299 sqq. 158 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. Every provision there passed, every step that James took, indi- cated his firm determination to be King in Scotland, — and not the least so, his creating his second son Duke of Ross and Marquess of Ormond — thus pointing him out, as it was supposed, as his successor to the throne. Crawford and Huntley were at the same time appointed conjointly High Justiciaries of the North of Scotland, where the royal interest chiefly lay.* The parliament broke up, but the demon was abroad, — Angus and Argyle, Lords Gray and Drummond, Sir Alexander Home, chief of that powerful border clan, Lord Hailes, the head of the Hepburns, and their associates, broke out into open rebellion, raised the royal standard, and proclaimed war, in the name of the Prince, against their sovereign. The unhappy King, to whom it had been foretold that he should perish by his nearest of kin, now saw this prophecy in the direct course of accomplishment. The great majority however of the Northern and more powerful nobles were loyal. Many a gay Gordon, many a gallant Graham, and many a light Lindsay came thronging to their sovereign's aid at this hour of need, — but by none was the summons obeyed with more alacrity than by Earl David of Crawford and David Lord Lindsay of the Byres, son and successor of Lord John, the Jus- ticiary, a true-hearted veteran, famous in the foreign wars, who appeared at the trysting-place at the head of the chivalry and commons of Eifeshire, as his chief did at the head of those of Angus, — their united forces forming a gallant body of six thou- sand foot and two thousand horse, loyal as their leaders, and " all ready to wair (expend) their lives with them in the King's defence."! Lord Lindsay, in particular, exhorted the King to be of good courage and advance boldly against the enemy. He was riding upon " ane great grey courser," of remarkable spirit and beauty ; alighting, and making his obeisance to his sovereign, he begged his acceptance of the noble animal, which, he said, had he ado to flee or follow, advance or retreat, " would waur (beat) all the horse of Scotland at his pleasure, if he would sit well," — a gift which was thought ominous at the time, and had a consequence little anticipated by the faithful baron. " So the * Jan. 11, 1487-8, Acts Pari, torn. ii. p. 182. t Pit scot tie, torn. i. p. 216. Sect. II. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 159 King," says Pitscottie, " accepted of the horse, and thanked him greatly." * Thirty thousand men, in all, being assembled, the King dis- played his banner, and advanced against his son and the rebel nobles, encamped at Blackness, near Linlithgow. A desertion there took place on the King's side, of the Earls of Marischal and Errol, Lord Glamis, and some others, who retired to their estates. A pacification ensued f — too lenient on the part of the King, who was still the stronger party, but averse to bloodshed, and, it would almost seem, unmanned and cut to the heart by his son's treason — and he disbanded his army. He proceeded to reward the friends who had remained true to him by honours and estates. No man had deserved more nobly of him than the Earl of Crawford, and he accordingly created him Duke of Montrose — by charter under the Great Seal, dated the 18th of May, 1488, narrating his loyalty and the manifold acceptable services which " Our faithful and most dear cousin, David Earl of Crawford and Lord Lindsay, hath done unto us with unwearied good will " — inasmuch as " he hath freely and often exposed himself and his nobles and vassals for the defence of our person and Crown, and more especially of late, against those faithless lieges convened against the royal standard and majesty at Blackness" — in return for which service, the King adds, as well as for future deserts, " being willing that the said David, our cousin, should shine with more ample dignity, we have, of our certain wisdom, plenitude of power, and special grace, elevated, made, and created, and, by the tenor of this present charter, do elevate, make, and create him a Duke — to be entitled and designated, in perpetual future times, Duke, hereditarily, of Montrose." — The grant conveys to the Duke and his heirs, after the invariable feudal rule of connecting titles of dignity with land, the castle and borough of Montrose, with its customs and fisheries, and the lordship of Kincleven, in Perthshire, the dowry of the late Queen of Scotland, with its rights and privileges, &c, all of which are erected and incorporated into the Duchy of Montrose, to * Ibid. f Its articles may be seen in the Appendix to Pinkerton, Hist., torn. i. p. 505. — Sir Alexander Lindsay of Auchtermonzie, Crawford's brother, was one of the com- missioners on the King's part. 160 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. be held in free regality for ever, with Courts of Justiciary, Cham- berlainship, &c., — on the tenure of rendering therefrom a red rose yearly on the day of St. John the Baptist.* — It was the first instance of the rank of Duke having been conferred upon a Scottish subject, not of the royal family. Scarcely had James had time to breathe after dismissing his army, when he learnt that his son and the malcontent faction were reassembling their forces and preparing for further treason. True to the end, the Duke of Montrose and Lord Lindsay of the Byres, the Earls of Menteith and Glencairn, Lord Erskine, like his race, forgetful of hereditary wrongs, Lords Graham and Ruthven, rallied once more round the royal banner at Stirling, and, the rebels advancing upon them from Falkirk, the armies met near Stirling, at a place called Sauchieburn, close to the Bannockburn of King Robert Bruce, on the 9th of June, 1488. But you shall have the narrative of this unhappy day from the lips of our clansman Pitscottie, one of whose principal assist- ants in the compilation of his chronicle was the brother and successor of the stout Lord Lindsay of the Byres. " On the morn that the day brake," " the King rose with his council and the lords that were with him, and passed forward to the Torwood in arrayed battle. And sic-like, the King's enemies, on the other side, came pertly (boldly) forward to the water of Carron, aboon the bridge thereof, to the number of twelf thou- sand men, all mounted on horseback, and six thousand footmen, f And there came wise men betwix on every side to treat for peace, but the King, seeing he was sa great of power aboon his enemies, would in na ways but forward, to be avengit on them wha had * Reg. Mag. Sig. — Printed in the Appendix, No. XVII. — On this creation the Duke added to his arms an escutcheon argent, charged with a rose, gules, which he carried by way of a surtout over his arms. Sir David Lindsay's Heraldry, p. 37 ; Nisbet's Heraldry, torn. i. p. 371. And see his seal, engraved in the plate prefixed to the first chapter of these Lives. — A new royal or public herald was also created on this occasion, under the name of " Montrose," as appears by the Exchequer Rolls. It was the custom at that time, on conferring very exalted or remarkable dignities, to create heralds bearing the name of such dignities. Henry VIII., on creating his natural son, Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Somerset, similarly created a new heraldic officer by the name of " Somerset Herald." t The six thousand foot are added from the folio edition of 1728. Four thou- sand at least are necessary to make the narrative consistent. Sect. II. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 161 risen and rebelled aganes him. Then the King arrayed his battle, and made forward to the fields, and pat his men in order, as efter follows, — that is to say, ten thousand Highland-men, with bows, in the vanguard, the Earl of Huntley and the Earl of Athol leaders of the said host ; syne (then), in the rear-ward, other ten thousand men of the Westland and Strivilingshire (Stirlingshire) men, — and their leaders were my Lord Erskine, the Lord Graham, and the Lord of Menteith. The King him- self wes in the great steall,* with all the boroughs and commons of Scotland ; and on the one wing, on his right hand, passed David Earl of Crawford and Lord David Lindsay of the Byres, and with them two thousand horsemen and sex thousand footmen, of Fife and Angus ; and on his left hand passed Alexander Lord Ruthven, with all Strathearn and Stormont, to the number of five thousand men. " Thus, the King being in order and passing forward in arrayed battle, word came to him that his enemies were in sight. Then the King cryit for his horse, whilk my Lord Lindsay had given him, and lap (leapt) upon him, and rade to ane knowe (hill-head), to see the manner of their coming. And he saw them in three sindry battles, to the number of sex thousand men in every battle, — the Homes and the Hepburns having the vanguard, and with them in company Merse, and Tiviotdale, and East Lothian ; and nixt them, Liddesdale and Annandale, with mony of Gallo- way ; and syne came the haill lords that conspirit aganes the King, and brought with them in their company the Prince, to be their buckler and safety, and hastit fast forward with great courage, because they knew the King's faculty, that he was neither hardy nor constant in battle. Sa the King, seeing his enemies coming with his awin (own) banner displayit and his son aganes him, he remembered on the words whilk the witch had spoken to him many days before, that he should be destroyed and put down by the nearest of his kin — whilk he suspectit then apparently to come to pass ; and by the words of the foresaid witch, illusion and enticement of the devil, he tuik sic ane vain suspicion in his mind, that he hastily tuik purpose to flee. In the mean time the lords, seeing the King tyne (lose) courage, desired * The centre, or main body of an army, as distinguished from the wings. — . Jamieson. VOL. I. M 162 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. him to pass by (apart from) the host while (until) they had foughten the battle. " By this, the Homes and the Hepburns came sa fast upon the King's vanguard, and on the other side they shot sa mony and sa thick nights of arrows at them, that they hurt and slew mony of their horses, and put them aback. But at the last the thieves of Annandale came in, shouting and crying, and fearit (terrified) the King sa, that wes not practiqued in war, that he tuik purpose and fled his way, and thought to have win (reached) the town of Striviling (Stirling) ; but he, spurring his horse at the flight-speed, coming through the town of Bannockburn, ane woman perceived ane man coming fast upon horse, she being carrying in water ; she ran fast away, and left the pig (pitcher) behind her ; sa the King's horse lap the burn and slack of freewill, wherefra the woman came. And the King, being evil-sitten, fell aff his horse before the mil n- door of Bannockburn, and sa wes bruised with the fall, being heavy in armour, that he fell in ane deadly swoon ; and the milner and his wife harled (dragged) him into the miln, and, not knowing what he wes, kest him up in ane nuik, and covered him with ane cloth." The King's army meanwhile were defeated, but " retirit and fled in good order, while (till) they gat to the Torwood, and there debatit lang time while (till) night came, and then they fled away als quietly as they might, part * and part to Striviling. But their enemies, on the other side, followed them very sharply, sa that there wes mony ta'en, hurt, and slain of them. u And by the King's enemies were returning back, the King himself owercame (revived), lying in the miln, and cry it — gif (if) there wes ony priest, to make his confession. The milner and his wife then, hearing thir (these) words, requirit of him what man he was, and what was his name. He happenit to say, unhappily, ' This day, at morn, I wes your King ! ' Then the milnward's wife clapped her hands, and ran furth, and cryit for ane priest. In this mean time ane priest was coming by, (some says he wes my Lord Gray's servant,) and he answerit and said, ' Here am I, ane priest ; where is the King ? ' Then the milner's wife tuik the priest by the hand, and led him in at the miln-door ; and how soon the said priest saw the King, he knew him incontinent, * A hiatus in all the MSS. of Pitscottie. Sect. III. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 163 and kneelit down on his knees, and speirit (asked) at the King's Grace, 4 gif he might live gif he had guid leeching ? ' He an- swerit him, 6 he trowit (helieved) he might : but he wald have had ane priest to tak his advice, and to give him his sacrament.' The priest answerit, 1 That shall I do hastily ! ' — and pullit out ane whinger, and gave him four or five straiks even to the heart, and syne gat him on his back and had him away. But na man knew what he did with him, nor where he buried him." * Such w r as the fate of King James III. The Earl of Glencairn, the Lords Erskine, Semple, and Ruthven were slain, and the Duke of Montrose, after a valiant defence and receiving severe wounds, was taken prisoner, and compelled to ransom himself and his followers.! The strength of the royalists was broken by this defeat, and the King's death left them without head or life as a party ; power passed uncontrolled into the hands of the rebels, and they proceeded to crown their tool and instrument, the youth- ful Prince, at Scone, on the 26th of June, 1488, by the style of King James IV. — being then in his seventeenth year. SECTION III. The immediate consequence of this reverse to the Duke of Montrose was the loss of his public offices, which were apportioned among themselves by the victorious faction, the Justiciarship of the North being given to Lord Lyle, and soon afterwards to Andrew Lord Gray ; the Mastership of the Household to Lord Hailes ; and the Great Chamberlainship to Sir Alexander Home of that Ilk. On the meeting of parliament, in October following, sum- monses were issued to the Earl of Buchan, Lord Bothwell, Ross of Montgrenan, (the late Lord Advocate,) and other survivors of the royalist leaders, to appear and answer for their trea- sonable convocation in the late King's defence against his son. Lord Buchan appeared and confessed his guilt, and was pardoned and received into favour. Bothwell, on the contrary, * Pitscottie, torn. i. pp. 217 sqq. f Protest by the Duke, cited infra. M 2 164 LIVES OF THE LIXDSAYS. Chap. VII. was forfeited and deprived of his title and estates, which were erected into an Earldom and bestowed on Lord Hailes, ancestor of the husband of Queen Mary. But the Duke of Montrose's name neither occurs among the summonses nor in the subsequent judicial proceedings, — an omission at first sight difficult to account for.* Shortly afterwards, and on or before the 17th of October, 1488, an Act Rescissory was passed by the King and Estates in parlia- ment, annulling all such grants of lands, offices, or dignities, con- ferred by the late King during the eight preceding months, " as might be prejudicial to our Sovereign Lord and to the Crown that now is," — on the ground, it is stated, that such grants were conferred " for the assistance to the perverse council that were contrair the common good of the realm, and cause of the slaughter of our Sovereign Lord's father,"t thus imputing to his own loyal defenders the death of the unhappy King, whom they themselves had murdered. The Duke of Montrose was not however in any way affected by this Act, the young King having already taken steps which rendered it, in his case, nugatory. Though deluded by the arts of the rebel nobles, James had been seized with sudden and overwhelming remorse on being in- formed of the melancholy fate of his father, — a remorse which, though evanescent for the moment, broke out ultimately with an intensity that embittered his existence.^ It was, apparently, * See the Acts of Parliament, torn. ii. pp. 201 sqq. t This astounding falsehood is constantly repeated in the Acts of Parliament, the most singular instance occurring in the vote passed " be the three Estates and haill body of the parliament . . . that the slaughters committ and done in the field of Striviling, where our Sovereign Lord's father happenit to be slain, and others divers his barons and lieges, wes all-utterly in their default and colourit deceit, done be him and his perverse council divers times before the said field ; and that our Sovereign Lord that now is, and the true lords and barons that wes with him in the samyn field, were innocent, quit, and free of the saids slaughters, field, and all pursuit of the occasion and cause of the samyn. And that ae part (each part) of the three Estates foresaid, Bishops, Prelates, Great Barons, and Burgesses, give their seals hereupon, togidder with Our Sovereign Lord's Great Seal, to be shown and producit to our haly father the Pope, the Kings of France, Spanze, Denmark, and other realms, as shall be seen expedient for the time." Acts. Pari., torn. ii. p. 211. — To which it may be added that a grant exists in the Great Seal Eegister, 26 Dec. 1489, to Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, for services in his embassy to France, England, Burgundy, and Austria, — evidently on the mission contemplated in the closing sentence of the preceding Act. | Tytler, Hist. Scotl., torn. iv. p. 323. Sect. III. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 165 during this first fierce access of contrition, that he directed letters patent to be issued under his privy seal, freely remitting to the Duke of Montrose " his displeasure of every description conceived against him " in consequence of his loyalty to his father, the late sovereign, and his share in the battle of Stirling, — in other words, a free pardon, untrammeied by a single condition, and wiping off every supposed stain of disloyalty or guilt.* These letters patent, nevertheless, the King placed in the hands of Andrew Lord Gray, one of his most powerful adherents, to remain in his possession until the Duke should make over and resign to that nobleman the hereditary Sheriffdom of Angus — an office which, as I re- marked before, gave him, coupled with the possession of the fortress of Brichty, the Gibraltar of Forfarshire, the supreme authority in that county, — the sole qualification to render the pardon available being thus the surrender of the Sheriffdom to Lord Gray, in whose hands the pardon was deposited, and who could withhold it at his pleasure, and was doubtless expected to do so, should the Duke refuse compliance. Irritated, as it should seem, by the meanness and cruelty of this proceeding, (in which we may believe the King to have acted under the constraint of his advisers rather than of his own free will,) the Duke did for some time refuse to comply, but at last found it necessary to yield, and on the 1st of November, 1488, signed a power of * The original letters patent are no longer (so far as is known) in existence, and the Privy Seal Register only begins in 1498. The fact of the pardon, as stated, is proved infra. — It may be observed that by Scottish law, differing wholly in that respect from that of England, the King had full power and prerogative to pardon, even in the most aggravated cases, independently of the consent and corroboration of Parliament. For instances of this, as recent as the reign of Charles II. of Great Britain, see Mr. Riddell's Peerage Law, pp. 128, 750, 752, 758. — Nay more, the feudal maxim, " Princeps tamen, si feudum concesserit sciens incapaci, videtur cum ejus incapacitate dispensare, et eum natalibus restituere," ruled in full force. Ross of Montgrenan, for example, the Lord Advocate under James III., above men- tioned, was expressly attainted and forfeited by Act of Parliament, yet we find him shortly afterwards sitting in parliament and acting as before, and receiving grants from the King, recorded in the Great Seal Register. Hence he must have been pardoned solely by the King through the grants in question, recognising him as a " capax," or subject who could be dealt with ; for neither in the books of parlia- ment nor in the Great Seal Register is there any Act rescinding his forfeiture. — Much more therefore must the special pardon have availed the Duke, who was neither forfeited nor affected (as will appear) by the Act Rescissory. Whether granted before (as is most probable) or after that Act, the pardon neutralised and rendered it innocuous, so far as he was concerned. 166 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. attorney, by which he authorized the new Earl of Bothwell and Sir Alexander Home, two originators and ringleaders of the late rebellion, to resign the Sheriffdom, for himself and his heirs, into the King's hands, — which was accordingly done by Sir Alexander on the 6th of November following, at eight o'clock in the morn- ing, in the King's chamber at Lord Bothwell's castle of Hailes, in the presence of the Earl himself, and a multitude of barons, gentlemen, and others " in great number assembled in the said chamber," — the King accepting the resignation in person, and transferring the office on the instant to Lord Gray, who was in attendance by his procurator, William Liddell, — the whole affair passing in due legal form and etiquette, and the Duke being re- cognised throughout as such by the King and the whole assembly, without cavil or exception. Nevertheless, before thus complying, the Duke solemnly and in due form, " for remedy of law at a fit- ting time and season," protested against the whole proceeding as illegal and unjust, the resignation being extorted (as he affirmed) against his will " by such fear of death as may befall a constant man, by the apprehension of the loss of his heritage, and by the danger of his kinsmen, friends, and followers," who were " still standing under the royal ban, or displeasure, on account of their adherence to him," — founding this plea and protestation on the free unfettered pardon by letters patent previously issued in his favour by the King. This protest, dated the 29th October, 1488, and subscribed by the notary in legal form, before the faithful Fotheringham of Powrie and other witnesses, at the Duke's "manerium," or palace, at Dundee, is still preserved,* and re- cites, as I have here narrated it, the secret history of this cruel transaction. f * In the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. An ancient copy of it, and the deeds transferring the Sheriffdom, are in the Gray Charter-room. f I have printed it, with a translation, in the Appendix, No. XVIII. — The con- dition annexed to the pardon having been thus complied with, the Duke continued to enjoy the honours and lands conferred by the patent of 18 May, 1488, notwith- standing the Act Rescissory. A conclusive proof may be given of this. The lordship of Kincleven, it may be remembered, was granted (and, I may add here, for the first time) by the patent alluded to. It had been royal property, and had been the dower of the late Queen. If the Act Rescissory had taken effect, it would have been resumed by the Crown. But it was retained by the Duke, without intervention of any new Act or conveyance. This is proved by the compotum, or accounts, pre- served in the public records, of the royal steward, who declares that the Duke had received the rents for two years before the year he is accounting for,— that is to Sect. III. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 167 Matters continued in this state till the 19th of September, 1489, when a new patent or charter of the Dukedom of Montrose was issued under the Great Seal, granting it de novo to " David Earl of Crawford and Lord Lindsay," in accordance with an Act of Parliament passed on the preceding day, proceeding on a recital of the Duke's good services to the King and his prede- cessors, expressed even in stronger terms than in the first grant of the dignity by the unhappy James III.* say, that he had received them uninterruptedly since the 26th June, 1488, the very next month after the grant of the patent of 18 May, 1488. — If therefore the patent held good in the case of Kincleven, it must also have held good in that of the Dukedom, — lands and dignities being equally struck at by the Act Rescissory, and "approbation and reprobation" being inadmissible in law. The Act Rescissory was therefore a dead letter, as regarded the Duke of Montrose, — who was altogether " out of the mischief." And this is independently established by the full and com- plete recognition of him as Duke by all parties, including the King, (the sole fount of honour,) the Church, (as will be seen hereafter,) and the State, subsequently to the passing of that Act, and previously to the transaction noticed in the following paragraph of the text and its relative note. * Acts Pari., torn. ii. p. 215; Reg, Mag. Sig. — See the Appendix, No. XIX., for the Act of Parliament and for the analysis or abstract (all preserved) of the second patent in the Great Seal Register, — the patent itself, contrary to the usual custom, not being inserted in extenso, probably on account of its being a mere repetition of the old one, which is referred to as its rule and standard. This new patent has of late years been misunderstood (from an abbreviated phrase in the abstract) as restrictive of the honour to the Duke's lifetime, — but, independently of the reference to the former one, and of the fact that in the Act on which it passed, which is engrossed at full length in the records of Parliament, there is no such restriction expressed, it would, under such construction, be wholly null and void, as not proceeding upon a resignation, — the indispensable preliminary, if it were intended to alter or limit the mode of descent. This second patent thus resolves into a mere reissue or confirmation of the first, after a manner not at all unusual in the tumultuous and unsettled times of feudalism, — rights perfectly valid and indis- putable being repeatedly confirmed by successive monarchs and barons, for the greater security of grantees. A special cause may indeed be assigned for it in the present instance, inasmuch as it was granted while a rebellion of the late King's adherents, which had broken out in the summer of 1489, was still raging, as appears by a curious letter from James IV. to Sir Robert Arbuthnot of that Ilk, dated the 23rd September, that is to say three days after the date of the second patent, and cited by Nisbet in his Heraldry, torn. ii. App. p. 83. — Gratitude to the Duke for giving his friends no countenance in what was now disloyalty may have induced the King to grant it, as well as a desire of publicly notifying the Duke's restoration to favour in consequence of his compliance with the condition of resigning the here- ditary Sheriffdom of Forfarshire. Or it may be accounted for in another point of view, by the supposition that the young King and triumphant faction may have been desirous that the Duke's honours should appear to flow from themselves and not from their victim, the late monarch. Whether the Duke held them wader the first or the second patent was in fact immaterial, as he was still the premier peer of Scotland. 168 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. It must not in the mean while be supposed that the rebellion, the regicide, the subsequent forfeitures, and other acts of injustice perpetrated during these eventful months, escaped chastisement from the hand of the Church, the common parent and protector of Christendom, or that her thunders were fulminated in vain against the "ultima Thule" of the North. I ought indeed to have mentioned previously, that King James had applied in his distress to Innocent VIII., then occupant of the papal chair, and that Innocent had sent a legate to mediate between him and the rebels, — that the legate received the news of the King's death within two days after his arrival in London, and consequently returned to Rome without proceeding farther on his journey.* But it is not so generally known that the Pope formally excommunicated the rebels during the lifetime of the King, — that, some time after the battle of Stirling, they petitioned him for absolution, acknowledging their guilt, — and that Innocent accordingly issued a bull, dated the fifth of the Calends of July (the 27th of June), 1491, empowering the Abbots of Jedburgh and Paisley, and the Chancellor of the Church of Glasgow, at their discretion, to absolve the penitents, restore them to the sacraments, and reunite them to the body of the Church, on due expression of contrition and pledge of penance. f The young King, it will be observed, is not included in the excommunication of his partisans, but it is well known that the consciousness of participation in their guilt haunted him continually afterwards, and that he wore a heavy chain of iron round his waist, in penance, to his dying day.{ — * Boethius, as continued by Ferrerius, fol. 401, verso. — The legate was Adrian Castellesi, of Cornuto, afterwards created a Cardinal by Adrian VI. f This curious document was first published by Father Innes, in his scarce work, the Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland, torn. ii. p. 837 I have printed it, with a translation, in the Appendix, No. XX., from the original in the Douglas charter-chest. % Such and so enduring was the horror that pervaded the country on account of the death of James III., that the third parliament of the young King, his successor, assembled at Edinburgh, 20 Feb. 1491-2, passed an Act, providing, "be the command and advertisement of our Sovereign Lord the King," that, "for the eschewing and ceasing of the heavy murmurs and noise of the people of the deid (death) and slaughter of our Sovereign Lord's fader, . . that the person or persons that put violent hands in his person and slew him are nocht punished," . . a reward should be given to any who should make known those that " were the overthrowers of the late King with their hands." Acts, torn. ii. p. 230, — where it is also stated, that King .James IV. was " maist desirous" that the perpetrators "be known and punished after their demerits," calling the murder an "odious and cruel deed." Sect. III. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 169 Partial and individual submission sufficed doubtless to restore the principal delinquents to the favour of the Church, but no public or general confession of penitence took place till March, 1503-4, when an Act was passed by the King, " with consent of the three Estates of Parliament," revoking all donations, gifts, statutes of Parliament or General Council, and all other things done by him in times bygane, either hurting his soul, his crown, or haly kirk," — an act which may be presumed to have atoned in full for all bygone royal or national delinquencies. # David Duke of Montrose survived the death of his beloved master for seven years, but took little part in public affairs subse- quently to that catastrophe. The young King indeed soon saw through the perfidy and selfishness of the faction that had seduced him into rebellion, and restored him his confidence. He was appointed, in February, 1489-90, a member of the Secret Council, in whom the entire administration of affairs was vested, f and to all outward appearance his fortunes seemed reestablished. But a bitterer arrow than that of political hostility had lodged itself in his heart, and seems to have wasted him away. He was unfor- tunate in his children, and a domestic tragedy, darkly and dimly indicated in the mouldering records of the family, had diverted his thoughts from earth to a better world. It appears, in fact, that in the autumn of the eventful year 1489, his eldest son, Alexander Lord Lindsay, who had long been leading a wild and ungovernable life, J and had taken part against him in the recent struggle, § quarrelled with his younger brother, John, a character And a hundred marks' worth of land in fee and heritage is offered as an induce- ment to the discovery. * Acts Par]., torn. ii. p. 237. — It has been already shewn that the original creation of the Dukedom of Montrose was not affected by the Act Rescissory, — but had this been the case, the Act Revocatory above mentioned would have restored it. That creation could only by any possibility have been affected by the Act Rescis- sory ; but now that very Act Rescissory — passed against the loyal adherents of the murdered monarch, in perpetuation of rebellion, by excommunicated and unrepentant men, and with the sanction of the sovereign, the late King's son, who suspected himself a parricide— and thus deeply injurious to the young King's soul, to the honour of the Crown, and to Holy Church, in the person of the Pontiff, Inno- cent VIII. — was itself rescinded. t Acts Pari, torn. ii. p. 220. X Besides his renewal of the feud with the Glamis family, already alluded to, he had been committed to the Castle of Blackness, 22 April, 1479, for chasing two monks of Cupar. Acta Dom. Concilii, p. 25. § Alexander Lord Lindsay is entrusted, in conjunction with Lords Glamis and 170 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. equally reckless, and who had attached to himself his cousins- german Sir David, afterwards eighth Earl of Crawford, and Alexander of Rathillet, the sons of his uncle, Sir Alexander of Auchtermonzie, — that they met in arms, — that Lord Lindsay was wounded, and died shortly thereafter at his castle of Inverqueich, — and that, on the 23rd of April, 1512, twenty-three years after- wards, letters " to search John," then "Earl of Crawford, for the slaughter of Alexander Master of Crawford, his brother," were issued by Andrew Lord Gray, (the same nobleman who had obtained the Sheriffdom of Angus from their father the Duke,) under his seal as Sheriff, charging the Earl, his cousins Sir David and Alexander, and others their accomplices, to give surety that they would appear before the King's Justiciary (Lord Gray him- self), on the third day of the next justice-ayre held at Dundee, to " underlie the law " for the said crime, under the alternative, in case of non-appearance, of being denounced the King's rebels, — which they accordingly were by another document, dated 24th July, 1513 ;* subsequently to which no further notice occurs of this dark transaction and equally mysterious accusation, in con- sequence of the death of Earl John within three months afterwards at the disastrous battle of Flodden-field. It appears moreover from contemporary documents, that Lady Janet Gordon, the widow of Alexander Lord Lindsay, married Patrick, eldest son and apparent heir of the same Andrew Lord Gray, shortly after her husband's death,f — and from family genealogies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that popular rumour accused her of having smothered her first hus- band, Lord Lindsay, with a down pillow, in the Castle of Inverqueich, J to which he had apparently been removed, wounded, Gray, with the government of Angus, both in its Highland and Lowland districts, by Act of Parliament, 17 Oct. 1488 — at the very moment when the Duke, his father, was under the ban of the royal displeasure, and unreconciled to the govern- ment, as proved by his protest of the 29th October. I conclude from this, and from the Master's association with Lords Glamis and Gray, that he had sided with the rebels. On the other hand, the loyal Lord Lindsay of the Byres and the Sheriff of Fife have a similar authority given them in Fifeshire, on the same day. Lord Lindsay may indeed have made his submission — but we know that the Duke had not done so at the time when his son is appointed to the government of Angus. Acts Pari, torn. ii. p. 208. * Papers in the Haigh Muniment-room. t She afterwards married a third husband, Halkerston of South wood. X "He was smorit be his wife." MS. Genealogy ante 1580, Haigh Muniment- Sect. III. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 171 after his conflict with his brother, — while a tradition of the present day, in singular conformity with the above, points out a high table- rock in the beautiful glen at Craighall, near Inverquiech, (a property formerly held by feudal vassals of the Earls of Craw- ford,) as the scene of the penance imposed on a Lady Lindsay for murdering her husband, namely, that she should sit upon it and spin night and day, till the thread should reach the river beneath. — Enquiry halts here. Whether guilty or not, her hus- band's blood can only be shifted from her by referring it to the hand of her brother-in-law, Earl John, — by running upon Scylla in seeking to avoid Charybdis, — and the truth is lost for ever in the bloody ocean of Flodden. It was shortly before this catastrophe, but when the alienation of his sons from himself and from each other had already steeped his soul in the bitterness of death, that the Duke of Montrose entered into a convention or contract with the Minister Provincial of the Friars Minors, or Franciscans of Scotland, and " specially with the Warden and Convent of the Friars of Dundee," founding a weekly mass, to be performed at the high altar of their church, for the souls of himself and his wife, and for the late King " of haly memory," King James III., and for his grandmother, the Countess Marjory — besides other services to be performed at his sepulchre, all minutely specified, — the indenture ending with the intimation that " the said mighty Prince and Lady Margaret, Princess, his spouse, was resavit in the provincial chapter to the confraternity of the Order of Saint Francis " — as members, I pre- sume, of the third, or associate order — " and to the suffrages thereof," on the same day that the deed was executed, the 2nd of August, 1489.* — His death took place at Christmas, in 1495, in his fifty-fifth year, at Finhaven, and he was buried accordingly in the Grey Friars' Church at Dundee. f room. — " He was smored in his bed at Innerquich, and, as was thought, not without knowledge of his wife." Genealogy of 1623, ibid. — And so too Sir James Balfour's ' Genealogy,' in the Advocates' Library. * For this curious document, preserved in the Haigh Muniment- room, see the Appendix, No. XXI. t Sir James Balfour's Genealogy, MS., Adv. Lib. — The Dukedom sank into dormancy after the Duke's decease ; his son, Earl John, being apparently deterred from assuming it by the melancholy circumstances of his position above detailed, and by others hereafter to be noticed. It has however been recently claimed by the Duke's heir and representative, my father, whose petition was referred by Her VOL. I. * 172 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VII. Majesty, in the usual course, to the House oT Lords for their advice and opinion thereupon. The claim was based on the following argument, — 1. That the original patent, 18 May, 1488, to David Duke of Montrose and his " heirs," was in nowise affected by the Act Rescissory of October that year, (which Act was qualified in its terms, and incapable of taking effect without due legal application, and was a dead letter from the moment of its enactment,) as proved by the facts, that all the grants of James III. passed during the period struck at by the Act stood firm and valid notwithstanding ; that the Duke enjoyed the estates granted under the patent, and was formally recognised as Duke by James IV., during the interval between the Act and the second patent ; and that the patent of the Earldom of Glencairn, the only other dignity granted under the same circumstances as the Dukedom, stood firm and undisturbed, as by the solemn and final judgment of the Court of Session, the only competent Court, in 1648 : — 2. That no taint of forfeiture attached to the Duke in any manner : — 3. That the second patent, of 19 Sept. 1489, was not a regrant, upon resignation, of an existing honour, with an altered destination, but a grant expressly de novo, in terms of the original one — which could not thereby be prejudiced : a — And, 4. That, consequently, it being acknowledged law that a duly constituted honour can only be alienated by forfeiture or resignation, neither of which took place in the case in question, and the Act Rescissory not in any manner affecting it — the original patent 18 May, 1488, must be still in force, as fresh as ever, and the Duke- dom be vested in the " heir " of the Duke, as called in the said patent, to wit, his heir-male, Lord Crawford— the destination of the family estates in 1488 having been to such and such only by the regulating entail of 1474 (vide supra, p. 155), and the context of the patent equally necessitating a male construction. The claim thus rested on strict law, as established by precedents, throughout, independently of equity — while the latter plea was entirely in Lord Crawford's favour. The strongest opposition, public and private, was offered to the claim, and the Committee of Privileges reported to the effect that the Act Rescissory had an- nulled the Dukedom, and that the claim was untenable. Under these circumstances I felt it incumbent upon me to publish (through Mr. Murray) a Report of the claim, including the pleadings at large and the evi- dence adduced by the claimant and by the opposition ; and I prefaced it by an humble Address to Her Majesty, pointing out the misstatements as to fact, the misrepresentations of evidence, and the general ignorance and disregard of peerage law and precedent upon which the Opinion of the Committee proceeded, and praying Her Majesty to remedy this injustice by rescinding the Act Rescissory in my father's favour.— The Report of a Committee of Privileges is of course not a The Act of James IV., with advice of Parliament, 18 Sept. 1489, on which the second patent proceeds as on its warrant, states that the King, considering that the ancient Earls of Crawford, the predecessors of the grantee, have held their lordships hitherto by the title of Earl, and being dis- posed to change the said title of Earl into a greater and higher one, has elevated de novo the said Duke of Montrose " in Du- catum," or to the dignity of Duke. (See the Appendix, p. 458, infra.) This Act of Parliament was the warrant for the patent 19 Sept., by which its interpretation talis to be controlled, according to peerage law and usage ; and the above expressions distinctly prove that the Dukedom was intended to descend in the same line of succession as the old and now transmuted Earldom, %. e. to heirs male. The Act is conceived in the same terms, and is precisely parallel in every respect with the grant of the Dukedom of Lennox (the next Dukedom granted in Scot- land) in 1581, which dignity descended under that grant to heirs male. (See ' Mon- trose Report,' pp. lxxvi sqq.) My father has not as yet claimed under the Act 18 Sept. 1489. Sect. III. DAVID DUKE OF MONTROSE. 173 final ; and, whether through the grace of Her Majesty, or through other courses of procedure still open to the claimant, I feel unwavering confidence in the ulti- mate success of this claim. I cannot conclude this note more fittingly than by inserting the following letter addressed to the representative of a branch of my family which settled nearly two centuries ago in Virginia, U.S., by the learned Chief Justice of the U. States Court of Claims, the Hon. J. J. Gilchrist — and which Major Lindsay, the gentle- man alluded to, and who had sent the Chief Justice the 1 Report,' has kindly for- warded to me : — " My dear Sir, Willards, 12th March, 1856. You must be aware that it is impossible within the limits of a letter to make a critical analysis of the mass of materials contained in the 4 Eeport of the Montrose Claim/ It would give me great pleasure to study the case faithfully, and to examine it thoroughly ; but the engrossing nature of my duties forbids it. The ' Report ' affords a study of deep interest to all who are fond of historical investi- gations, and of tracing back to remote ages the fortunes of the distinguished families whose story is so admirably told in the ' Lives of the Lindsays.' I entirely sympathise with the feeling which prompted the eloquent language of Lord Chief Justice Crewe, — ' I suppose there is no man who hath any apprehension of gentry or nobleness, but his affection stands to the continuance of so noble a name and house, and would take hold of a twig or twine thread to uphold it.' But the claim of the Earl of Crawford stands on a firmer basis than mere sentiment. Without pretending to a knowledge of English Peerage Law, which lies out of the path of legal investigation in tins country, I cannot understand how the House of Lords reached the result that the Patent of the 14th May, 1488, was invalid, and that the ' Act Rescissory ' should be sustained. The reasoning against the ' Act Rescissory ' seems to me conclusive — unless there be some mysterious art necessary to be applied in the construction and effect of an Act relating to dignities, which does not obtain in construing other statutes. The ' Act Rescissory ' seems to me to be as dead as the members of the Parlia- ment that enacted it. Without undertaking to enter into the argument, I conceive that the facts, firstly, that all the grants of James III. survived the Act and were not impaired by it, and, secondly, that the Earldom of Glencairn, a case precisely in point and a precedent for this, was held not to have been affected by it, furnish sufficient evidence of the claim made by the Earl of Crawford. I can understand why parvenu peers should be unwilling to see their honours overshadowed by the men of the times of William the Conqueror ; but I cannot so readily apprehend the reason why peers of ancient creation should so strenuously combine to resist a claim to a peerage simply because, if successful, the claimant will take precedence of them. The true theory of the British Peerage seems to me to be, that it is the connecting link between the memories and traditions of the past and the realities of the present. A just and proper Conservatism is more consonant to the habits, the tastes, and the education of the English, than the feverish desire for progress which characterises the Americans. We have been trained and educated in a Republic, while all the associations of the English are with a Monarchy. A form of government which people have inherited from their ancestors cannot be put off like a garment. A ready-made Republic would suit the English as little as a ready-made Monarchy would suit us. With this conviction, if I were a British peer, of ancient historical descent — which certainly, in relation to the individual, is the most magnificent position a man can occupy — I should gladly aid the revival of ancient honours, even though they should throw my own into the shade. I should feel that, whatever I might lose in that regard, I should gain in the increased lustre of the body to which I belonged. The selfishness of the opposition to the Earl of Craw- ford's claim therefore surprises me, and its extreme narrowness no less. I trust that Her Majesty will take a more enlarged view of the case than the House of Peers seem able to appreciate. My remarks and views upon this subject must necessarily be crude and im- perfect, but, such as they are, they are much at your service. Very sincerely yours, To Major Lindsay, $c. J. J. Gilchrist." An opinion like this, so noble and just in its general sentiments, and pronounced from a point of view apart from the prejudices and passions which influence us on this side of the Atlantic, reads, I humbly conceive, like the judgment of posterity. 174 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. CHAPTER VIII " There was silence deep, like the silence of sleep, Through all that lofty hall,— An instant more, and like torrent's roar, A sound through the silence broke ; 'T was stern and loud, 't was fierce and proud, 'T was Lindsay's voice that spoke." H. G. Bell. " 0 ride with the tidings to the Lady Lindsay's bower, And tell her to sigh till her heart it be sore ; And tell her to weep till her days shall be o'er, For a tale of such woe she ne'er heard of before." Anon. SECTION I. A few observations suggest themselves at this pause in my narra- tive, essential to your apprehension of the spirit of the epoch we are entering upon. It was the period of transition in Scottish history — from the spirit of feudalism to that of modern civilization; the two principles first stood apart in hostile development at the battle of Stirling, and an old and a new world then revealed them- selves, preparing, but not yet fully prepared, to battle for supe- riority. It is true that the revolution of 1488, intellectually con- sidered, was a mere shuffle of the cards, a thunder-clap in the summer's day — the result of passion rather than reason, of instinct rather than cool calculation or definite purpose — one of those mysterious upliftings of the curtain by which Time anticipates to the discerning eye the revelations of futurity. But however selfish and interested the views of the rebel barons who dethroned and murdered their sovereign might be, the accession of James IV., like that of Edward of York in England, did in reality sig- nalize a change in the spirit of the times, the commencement of a new era, in which individual intellect began to assert its pre- eminence over hereditary power, — like Warwick in England, the Sect. I. DAVID LORD LINDSAY OF THE BYRES. 175 Duke of Montrose represented the ancient Norman aristocracy in Scotland, and his fall, like Warwick's, was typical of that of feudalism. Things indeed went on to all appearance as they did before. There was little external difference, or, if any, feudalism shone more brilliantly than ever, resuming the garb of chivalry, borrowing the light of dawning civilization, and outshining her, — and yet a mighty change was going on all the while beneath the surface, in preparation for the struggle of the coming century ; new forms of character were developing themselves, old ones were becoming modified, — every relation of life, every thread of thought, was becoming complicated ; and with the Duke of Montrose, feudalism, in its pure essence, as representing the influence of territorial power, and of will uncontrolled (practically) save by moral considerations — an influence which made gods or demons of men, as Providence permitted — fell for ever. The Scottish aris- tocracy, it is true, was by no means crushed, as in the sister country, — it maintained its power and its baronial and princely prerogatives comparatively unimpaired till very recent times ; but the policy of James I. was still persevered in by his successors, with the sole exception of James IV. and Queen Mary, — all of them, down to Charles I. inclusive, waging war incessant against the more powerful Houses of Scotland, as opposed to their own cherished scheme of establishing an absolute monarchy, — while a still more powerful control was exercised over those Houses by the slow but silent growth of public opinion — to wdiich they themselves greatly contributed. But before proceeding to the events that illustrate these obser- vations, I must revert for a while to the stout Lord Lindsay of the Byres, who had distinguished himself so zealously in the royal cause before the battle of Stirling. An interesting account is given by Pitscottie of his trial by the successful faction subse- quently to their victory, — a trial of which no trace now remains in the public records, and which the learned Pinkerton consequently believes to refer to an insurrection which broke out in the summer and autumn of 1489, headed by the Earl of Lennox, Lord Forbes, and a few other adherents of the late King, and which was soon put down.* Be this as it may, the narrative is characteristic of the times, and true in spirit if not in every minute particular ; * Pinkerton, Hist. Scotl., torn. ii. p. 12. — Vide supra, p. 166. 176 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. and Pitscottie, it must be observed, is entitled to the more credit, inasmuch as he quotes the personal information of one of the principal actors in the scene described. On the appointed day,* Lord Lindsay and his associates were solemnly arraigned before the King and Council assembled in the Tolbooth, Lord Lindsay's name being first specified in the sum- mons, because, as it was alleged, he had been " the most familiar friend " of the late monarch, " and was frackest (freest) in his opinion, and used himself maist manfully in his defence aganes his enemies, wherefore the conspirators had greatest envy at him." — " Lord David Lindsay of the Byres," so ran the " dittay," or bill of indictment — " answer for the cruel coming aganes the King at Bannockburn with his father, and in giving him counsel to have devoured his son the King's Grace here present ; and to that effect gave him ane sword and ane good horse, to fortify him aganes his son. Your answer hereto !" Now Lord Lindsay, " being ane rash man and of rude lan- guage, albeit he was stout and hardy in the fields, and weill exer- cised in war," was totally unacquainted with legal forms and usages, and knew not how to answer formally to this accusation ; nor could he get any lawyer to speak for him, as they all declined the perilous office of pleading for a traitor. At last, however, wearied with hearing his name repeatedly called, and the dittay read, he started up and spoke as follows : — " Ye are all lurdanes,f my lords ! I say ye are false traitors to your Prince, and that I will prove with my hands on any of you whilk halds you best, from the King's Grace down. For ye, false lurdanes ! hes caused the King to come aganes his father in plain battle, where that noble Prince was cruelly murthered among your hands by your advice, though ye brought the Prince in pre- sence for your behoof, to make him the buckler of your enterprise. Therefore, false lurdanes ! an the King punish you not hastily for that murther, ye will murther himself when ye see time, as ye did * The 10th of May, 1489, according to Pitscottie. — " The parliament of January, 1489," observes Mr. Pinkerton, " might have formed a session of justice in May," for the trial of Lord Lindsay, as stated by Pitscottie. f " Lurdane, a worthless person, one who is good for nothing, whether man or woman. In the same sense we may understand the following passage " (quoting the above speech) , " although, from its connexion, it perhaps requires a still stronger meaning." Jamieson. Sect. I. DAVID LORD LINDSAY OF THE BYRES. 177 his father. Therefore, Sir !" he continued, turning to the young King, who presided in person at the trial, " beware of them and give them no credence, for they that wes false to your father can never be true to yourself. Sir, I assure your Grace, if your father were yet alive, I would take his part and stand in no awe of thir (these) false lurdanes ; and likewise, gif ye had ane son that wald be counsellit to come in battle against you by evil counsel of false traitors like thir, I wald surely take your part, and fight in your quarrel aganes them — even with three aganes six of thir false traitors, wha cause your Grace to believe evil of me. Time shall try (prove) me to be truer at length nor (than) any of them." The Chancellor, " hearing the gross and rude speech and sharp accusation " of Lord Lindsay, thought " he hit them over near ; therefore, to excuse the matter, he answer it and spake to the King in this manner : — ' Sir, Lord David Lindsay is but ane man of the auld warld, and cannot answer formally, nor yet speak reverently in your Grace's presence. Your Grace maun (must) be guid to him, and I traist (trust) he will come in your will,' "* — and then, turning to the incensed veteran, he recommended him to submit himself to the King's pleasure, and he should be well treated. "Thir words," says Pitscottie, " were spoken purposely to cause Lord David Lindsay come in the King's will, that it might be ane preparative to all the rest that were under the summons of forfaultry (forfeiture) to follow and to come in the King's will, — and thought to have cuitled (tickled) them off that way. " But ane Maister Patrick Lindsay, brother-german to the Lord David Lindsay," and the most eminent " forspeaker," or advocate of that day, " hearing his brother desirit to come in the King's will, wes not content therewith ; to that effect he stramped sadly on his brother's foot, to gar (make) him understand that he wes not content with the desire whilk the Chancellor proponit to him. But the stramp of Maister Patrick was sa sad upon his bro- ther's foot, wha had ane sair tae, that the pain thereof was very dolorous ; wherefore he lookit to him, and said, 4 Thou art ower pert, loon ! to stramp upon my foot ; wert thou out of the King's presence, I should take thee on the mouth.' " * Submit to the King's mercy. VOL, I. N 178 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. Mr. Patrick, however, disregarding his brother's " vain words," " plat on his knees " before the court, and, in the name of God, besought for leave to speak in his brother's behalf, " for although he and I," said he, 44 hes not been at ane thir mony years, yet my heart may not suffer me to see the native House, whereof I am descendit, perish." " Sa the King and the justice gave him leave to speak for his brother. Then the said Maister Patrick raise aff his knees, and was very blythe that he had obtained this licence with the King's favour. Sa he began to speak very reverently in this manner, saying to the haill lords of parliament, and to the rest of them that wes accusers of his brother at that time, with the rest of the lords that were in the summons of forfaultry, saying : — 4 I beseek you all, my lords, that be here present, for His sake that will give sentence and judgment on us all at the last day, that ye will re- member that now instantly is your time, and we have had the same in times bygane, as we may also have hereafter ; desiring you to know your awin estate, and that all things are changeable, but God's justice and judgment stands ever firm and stable ; therefore now, do ye as ye wald be done to in the ministration of justice to your neighbours and brethren, wha are accused of their lives and heritages this day, whose judgment stands in your hands. There- fore beware in time, and open not the door that ye may not steek (shut) !' " The Chancellor then bade him say something in defence of his brother, assuring him that he should have justice at their hands. Mr. Patrick replied by a protest against the King's sitting in judgment on the case, as a violation of his coronation oath that he would not sit in judgment on his lords and barons in any action in which he was a party himself. 44 But here," he observed, 44 his Grace is both party, and was at the committing of the crime himself ; therefore he ought not, neither by the law of God nor man, to sit in judgment at this time ; therefore we desire him, in the name of God, to rise and depart out of judgment, while (till) the matter be farther disputit, conform to justice." 44 Upon this," continues the chronicler, 44 the Chancellor and lords concludit that this petition was reasonable ; therefore they desirit the King to rise up and pass to the Inner Tolbooth, whilk wes very unpleasant to him for the time, being ane young prince, Sect. I. DAVID LORD LINDSAY OF THE BYRES. 179 sitting upon seat royal, to be raisit be his subjects. But the lords, thinking shame to break justice, removit him on this manner, and then callit upon Lord David Lindsay and his procurator, Maister Patrick Lindsay, to answer forward to the points of the summons and dittay therein contained." Then Mr. Patrick, speaking " with humility," yet re-reminding them not the less, " that we have been in the place wherein ye are now, and it may happen us to have the King and court at our pleasure, as ye have now," — proceeded to show that the summons required that the persons specified in it should appear within forty days, without continuation (prolongation) of days," and that, as forty- one had elapsed, they could not legally be compelled to answer till summoned anew. The summons was examined, and found to run as Mr. Patrick stated ; the prisoners were released therefore, and no further steps were ever taken against them. Lord Lindsay, in particular, was " sa blythe at his brother's sayings," that, forgetting his sore toe, and the heavy stramp of Mr. Patrick's foot, he rapturously 44 burst forth, saying to him, — 4 Verily, brother, ye have fine pyet (magpie)* words ! I could not have trowit (believed) that ye had sic words. By Sancta Marie ! ye shall have the Mains of Kirk- forthar for your day's labour.' " — The King, as may be supposed, was far from being equally captivated ; he told Mr. Patrick, that a he should gar him sit where he should not see his feet for a year," and accordingly threw him into the castle of Rothesay in Bute, where he remained in prison a whole twelvemonth ere he was released.! — 44 The miserable subterraneous dungeon, in which he was confined, is still shown ; it has only a loop-hole, level with the ground, for light and air. "J I have related this trial at full length, every step of the pro- ceedings throwing light on the extraordinary character of the times, at once in their concordance and their contradictions, — the distinction, as you will have observed, being clearly drawn between the 44 auld warld," the age of feudalism, that appeared to be pass- * " Does this signify ornate, from the idea of the beauty of the feathers of a magpie T — Dr. Jamieson, Scottish Diet, in voce. f Pitscottie, torn. i. pp. 238 sqq. X Tales of the Muirs, by my friend Mrs. Gillespie Smyth, the " Authoress of Selwyn." N 2 180 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. ing away, and the new, the aristocracy of worth and mind, of which the rebels proclaimed themselves the heralds and repre- sentatives, — intellect, however, on the one hand, even out of the mouth of the superannuated loyalists, pinning down the usurpers to the observance of those very laws which they had used as their stalking-horse to power ; and James, on the other, the leader of the new era, punishing that interference by incarceration of the successful pleader, in the very spirit of that feudalism of which he, or rather his friends, proclaimed themselves the castigators and reformers. The King, in fact, never forgave Mr. Patrick's advocacy of his brother, and the insult he conceived himself to have undergone in being " raised from his seat royal " by his subjects. Lord David died three years after this trial, in 1492, leaving no male issue, and was succeeded by his brother, John, the third Lord Lindsay, " a bold brave man," as his character has been transmitted to us, fC commonly designed 4 John Out with the Sword,' "* and on whose death, similarly without male issue, in 1497, Mr. Patrick, the hero of the preceding trial, succeeded as fourth Lord Lindsay of the Byres. t SECTION IL John Master of Crawford had in the mean while succeeded to the Earldom of Crawford, but did not assume the Dukedom of Montrose. His career was not a happy one, — his extravagance was great ; he alienated lands held in capite of the Crown, and thus fell into bad odour with the sovereign ;J he was reduced to resign the hereditary Sheriffdom of Aberdeenshire, which was not regained for * Crawford's Hist. Lindsays, MS. f Patrick Lord Lindsay and Sir John Lindsay of Pitcruyy, his son, had a licence, in 1508, under the privy seal, "to pass to France in pilgrimage." % He had forfeited in this manner his lands of Auchterallon and others in Aber- deenshire, of which however he obtained a regrant from the Crown, penult. July, 1507, (Corsindae Charter-chest,) and also the great barony of Glenesk, as deter- mined by a judgment of the Lords of Council, 14 Aug. 1511. The latter forfeiture occasioned violent litigations, as it affected the interests of numerous parties feudally dependent upon the barony, as the families of Edzell and Evelick, the Duchess of Montrose, &c. — See the records of the Supreme Court, 1511 and afterwards. Sect. II. JOHN EARL OF CRAWFORD. 181 many years after his death ; * the charge of fratricide hung over his head through life, — and his children all died in infancy.f But rays of light are seldom wholly absent from the moral landscape, and I may cite his appointment in 1503, conjointly with Huntley, Argyle, Marischal, and Lord Lovat, to the government of Scot- land from Tay to Shetland ;| his foundation, in 1506, of a daily mass and requiem at the great altar of the Franciscans of Dundee, for the souls of his father, his elder brother, his wife, and himself, together with daily special absolution at the " epi- taphium" or cenotaph of the Earls of Crawford, in the said church of the Franciscans, § — and, finally, his death at Flodden in 1513 — as redeeming features in his history. || This last event, however, requires a few preliminary observations. James, the fourth of that name, had taken warning by the ex- perience of the past. The fate of his father, and that more espe- cially of his great-grandfather, James I., had made a deep and indelible impression on his mind ; he became convinced that a feudal monarch could not exist independently of his nobles, — that, however partially successful in the attempt to control them by force, he must succumb at last. He devoted himself there- fore to win their hearts, and thus to rule them by love. And he * Charter of the Sheriffdom, &c, heritably to William Earl of Errol, 10 Feb. 1510, on Earl John's resignation. Reg. Mag. Sig. — The right of redeeming it "be payment of the sum of sex hundreth marks " was reserved to him however by a distinct " letter," or agreement ; nevertheless, on the consideration that the said Earl William "has done to me divers thanks, guid deeds, and profits in my guid matters," he executed an obligation, 23 Nov. 1512, binding himself and his heirs- male, to whom the reversion was made, not to " redeem nor outquit the said office fra the said Earl of Errol nor his son William, succeedand to him, in the time of their lifis." Charter-room at Slaines Castle, — information from Joseph Robert- son, Esq. t Genealogy of 1623, MS. Haiqh Muniment-room. — He left a natural son, John Lindsay, of Downie, in Angus, — father of Patrick, Archbishop of Glasgow. X Acts Pari., torn. ii. p. 248 ; Gregory's Hist. West Highlands, p. 98. — This was on the abortive rebellion of the Hebrideans and Western Highlanders in support of Donald Dhu, the grandson and heir of John Lord of the Isles. § April 15, 1506. Haigh Muniment-room. || He seems to have been fond of horses, dogs, falcons, &c. Payments occur in the Treasurer's accounts to the "Earl of Crawford's falconer" — "to the Earl of Craw- ford's man that brought dogs to the King " — to another that " brought ane halk to the King" — to a third that "brought twa gere-falcons to the King" — to a fourth for 'bridle-silver of two horses giffin" by the Earl "to the King," &c. — Payments also ccur to " the Countess of Crawford's harper," on several occasions. 182 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. succeeded, — his energy and strength of character carried all before him ; abuses were rectified, crime was put down, law vindi- cated, commerce protected, literature and art encouraged and developed, — and the event of Flodden-field proved the depth of the attachment which he had thus inspired both in prince and peasant. — " In this mean time," says Pitscottie, contrasting his reign (in the spirit of misapprehension) with that of James III., " was guid peace and rest in Scotland, and great love betwixt the King and his subjects, and he wes weill loved of them all, for he wes very noble, and thought that the vice of covetousness rang (reigned) over meikle in his father, whilk should nocht ring (reign) in him ; nor yet no cowards nor pickthanks should be authorized nor advanced in his company ; neither used he the counsel but of his Lords, whereby he wan the hearts of the whole nobility, sa that he wald ride out-through ony pairt of the realm, him alone, unknown that he wes ane king, and wald lig (lie) in puir men's houses, as he had been ane traveller through the country, and wald require of them where he ludged where the King wes, and what ane man he wes, and how he used himself towards his subjects, and what they spake of him through the country, and they wald answer to him as they thought guid. Sa by thir doings the King heard the common bruit (report) of himself. This prince wes wondrous hardy and diligent in the execution of justice, and loved nathing sa weill as able men and guid horses ; therefore at sindry times he wald gar make procla- mation through the land to all and sindry his lords and barons, wha were able for justing or tourney, to come to Edinburgh to him, and there to exercise themselves for his pleasure, some to rin with the spear, and some to fecht with the battle-aix, some with the two-handit sword, and some with the handbow, and all other exercise. Whosoever faucht best gat his adversary's weapon delivered to him by the King, and he wha ran best with the spear gat ane spear headit with pure gold delivered to him to keep in memory of his practique thereintil. By this mean the King brought his realm to great honour and manheid, that the fame of his justings and tourneys spread through all Europe, whilk caused rnony errand knights come out of other pairts to Scotland to seek justing, because they heard the knightly fame of the Prince of Scotland. But few or nane of them passed away unmatched, and Sect. II. JOHN EARL OF CRAWFORD. 183 ofttimes overthrown." * — The fair picture of a feudal kingdom, and which there is no reason to believe exaggerated as regards Scotland under her fourth James. His reign, as I have already remarked, was an exception, like that of Queen Mary afterwards, to the policy of the early Stuarts. But all this fair nourish was to come to a doleful ending, — " The flowers of the forest were a' wede away !" The tale of Flodden is written in blood on every heart in Scot- land. France, for centuries the faithful ally of Scotland, was then in a most critical situation, almost every potentate in Europe having combined against her. Henry VIII. commenced hosti- lities by sending an army to invade Guienne, at the same time committing to the Earl of Surrey the task of arraying in arms the whole of the North of England, to be ready to repel the Scots in case they should invade his kingdom. These preparations natur- ally led James to suppose that an attack on Scotland was in contemplation, in order to incapacitate her from rendering any succour to her distressed ally. Under this conviction, James despatched a fleet with four thousand land-forces to the assistance of France, and, finding that he could get no redress from Henry for various injuries committed against his subjects, he determined on anticipating that monarch's purpose of invasion by an imme- diate attack on England. With this view he summoned the lieges, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, throughout Scotland, — the war was unpopular, for the nation had tasted the sweets of peace, but the summons was obeyed, " for every man," says Pitscottie, "loved his prince sa weill that they wald in na ways disobey him." The armies met near the hill of Flodden on the 9th of September, 1513, — the flower of Scotland's chivalry was there, but the King's utter incapacity as a general, and his Quixotic sense of honour, ruined all. A singular scene took place previously to the battle. Surrey, * 4 1 And of his court through Europe sprang the fame, Of lusty lords and lovesome ladies ying, Triumphand tourneys, justing and knightly game, With all pastime, according for ane king, — He was the gloir of princely governing !" — Sir David Lindsay, who had been bred at James's court, Works, torn. i. p. 314. — It is singular, by the way, in what high repute the little kingdom of Scotland is always held in the chivalrous romances of the Middle Ages. 184 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. the English commander, though of blood proverbially noble, was not, in the political balance of the day, equivalent to a king ; and yet James proposed to fight in person against him, like a knight of the Round Table. The want of provisions had moreover occa- sioned a general departure of the commons from the Scottish host, which was therefore composed almost exclusively of the nobles and gentlemen of the realm, and their immediate followers, — the disproportion in rank and political importance between the two armies was thus enormous ; and the cooler and wiser heads on the Scottish side were averse to fighting at all, — while James, on the other hand, was disposed to yield every advantage to the enemy. The Council assembled to discuss the point at issue, and Patrick Lord Lindsay of the Byres, then the Nestor of the senate, was appointed their Chancellor or president, as being " the most learned of their number, and of the greatest age, and of the greatest experience amongst them all." The nobles laid the case before him, and required his opinion. " My lords," replied the sage old baron, " ye desire my opi- nion, gif the King shall give battle to England or not at this time. My lords, I will give you forth ane similitude, desiring you to know my mind by the same hereafter. I compare your lordships to ane honest merchant, who would in his voyage go to the dice with ane common hazarder, and there jeopard ane rose- noble on ane cast aganes ane gleed (gilt) halfpenny, — whilk gif this merchant wins, it will be accompted little or else nought ; but gif he tynes (loses), he tynes his honour with that piece of gold, — whilk is of far greater valour. Sa, my lords ! ye may understand by this, ye shall be callit the merchant, and your king the rose-noble, and England the common hazarder wha hes nothing to jeopard but ane gleed halfpenny — in comparison of our noble King and ane auld crookit carle lying in ane chariot. And though they tyne him, they tyne but little ; but gif we jeopard our noble prince at this time with ane simple wight, and happen to tyne him, we will be callit evil merchants, and far waur (worse) counsellors to his Majesty ; for gif we tyne him, we tyne the haill realm of Scotland and the nobility thereof, (for nane, my lords, have bidden here with us at this time but nobles and gentlemen,) * sa I conclude that it is not decent nor seemly * " The commous departed from us for lack of victual " is Pitscottie's gloss or Sect. II. JOHN EARL OF CRAWFORD. 185 for us to jeopard our noble King and his nobility with ane auld crookit carle and certain sutors (shoemakers) and tailors with him in company. But better it were to cause the King to remove, and certain of his lords, whom he thinks maist expedient, to take the matter in hand and jeopard themselves for the King's plea- sure and their awin honour, and for the common weal of the country at this time ; and gif your lordships will conclude in this manner, I hald it best in my opinion." The barons had agreed in this conclusion, and were appointing leaders to the different divisions of the army " to fight against England, and the King to pass with certain of his nobility a little from the army, where he might see the valiant acts on both sides," when James, who was present in disguise, interrupted their deli- berations with a furious avowal of his determination to fight against England with his own arm, though they had all sworn the contrary, — " and as for Lord Lindsay," said he, turning to the venerable statesman, " I vow to God I shall never see Scotland sooner than I shall cause hang him over his awin yett (gate)!" — a threat which was of course rendered futile by the event of Flodden-field.* Pitscottie and Hall have perhaps given the clearest account of this disastrous day, and to their pages I refer you for particulars.! Enough, that the whole affair was wretchedly mismanaged, the sage advice of Lindsay and other veterans disregarded, and the kingdom sacrificed to a punctilio. Among those who fell were the gallant young Walter of Edzell, our direct ancestor — who comment upon this passage, erroneously (as I conceive) inserted in the text of the above speech. * Pitscottie, torn. i. pp. 273 sqq. ; Hall, p. 562, edit. Ellis. — " O what a noble and triumphant courage was this !" exclaims the English chronicler, " for a king to fight in a battle as a mean soldier ! But what availed his strong harness, the puissance of his mighty champions, with whom he descended the hill, in whom he so much trusted that with his strong people and great number of men he was able, as he thought, to have vanquished that day the greatest prince of the world, if he had been there as the Earl of Surrey was ; or else he thought to do such an high enterprise himself in his person, that should surmount the enterprises of all other princes. But howsoever it happened, God gave the stroke, and he was no more regarded than a poor soldier ; for all went one way. . . . This may be a great mirror to all princes, how that they adventure themselves in such a battle." t " I refer you," says Sir Walter Scott in a letter written after visiting the field of battle, " to Pitscottie, who narrates at large, and to whom I give credit for a most accurate and clear description, agreeing perfectly with the ground." Life, torn. i. p. 183. 186 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. VIII. fought under the King's banner, and was one of the faithful band who, after the day was utterly lost, formed themselves into a ring, and fought to the last in defence of their King, till he fell in the midst of them, surrounded by a tower of their corpses* — and his chief, John Earl of Crawford, who, conjointly with the "gallant Graham" of that day, William Earl of Montrose, commanded a dense body of seven thousand,! or, according to another au- thority 4 twelve thousand men, armed with long lances and leaden maces, which did great execution. They formed the second (from the left) of the four great divisions of the Scottish army, facing Lord Thomas Howard the Admiral, by whom, supported by Lord Dacre, they were routed and cut to pieces, though, accord- ing to an English chronicler, " they did what they could to their utmost resistance, in hopes to have bathed their blades in English blood." § * King James's order " to our Secretar and David Lindsay of Edzell, to put order to our lieges and tenants of the Earldom of Crawford, Dun, Brechin, Edzell, and Montrose, anent their forthcoming to our army and host," 19 Oct., is printed in Keith's History of the Church, p. x. — A Mandate by K. James V., 5 Feb. 1531-2, (cited in the chapter following this,) speaks of " Walter Lindsay, son and heir to Sir David," as having " deceasit in the field of Flodden with our maist noble father, and under his banner, through the quhilk the said Sir David was licent to remain at hame," &c. — the latter being old and infirm. Crawford Case, p. 162. f French Gazette of the battle of Flodden, printed in Pinkerton, torn. ii. p. 456. % The poem of ' Flodden-field,' cited below. § Hall,?. 562; Holinshed, p. 1492. — Their share in the battle is described as follows in ' Flodden-Field,' a rude but curious English poem of the sixteenth cen- tury, edited by Weber, p. 108: — — " And many a Scot that stout did stand With dreadful death they did reward. So Howard, through bold Heron's band, Came safe and sound to the vanguard ; Where the Admiral, with strength extent, Then in the field fierce fighting was, 'Gainst whom in battle bold was bent Two Earls of an antique race, — Th' one Crawford called, th' other Montrose, Who led twelve thousand Scotsmen strong, Who manfully met with their foes, With leaden mells and lances long. There battering blows made sallet sound, There many a sturdy stroke was given, And many a baron brought to ground, And many a banner broad was riven. But yet in fine, through mighty force, The Admiral quit himself so well, And wrought so that the Scots had worst, For down in field both Earls they fell." Sect. II. JOHN EARL OF CRAWFORD. 187 I do not know whether or not the aged Lord of the Byres was personally engaged, but David of Kirkforthar led his father's vassals to the field, and perished with his chief and King ; of all his followers but one single survivor returned to the " bonnie parks of Garleton."* Earl John's body was discovered on the field after the battle, and carried to Dundee, where he was interred with his fathers in the church of the Grey Friars. f * Fragment of an old ballad, cited by Mr. Miller, in a note to his poem, ' Baldred of the Bass,' 8vo. 1824:— " For a' that fell at Flodden-field, Rouny Hood of the Hule came hame." — This David of Kirkforthar must not be confounded with another of the same name, grandson of Patrick the fourth, and younger brother of John the fifth Lord Lindsay of the Byres, and the ancestor of the Lindsays of Kirkforthar, now repre- sented in the female line by George Johnstone Lindsay, Esq. f Genealogy by Sir James Balfour, MS. — On Earl John's death without male issue, the Earldom and entailed estates went to Sir Alexander of Auchtermonzie, the heir-male, together with the " goods of heirship," or heir-looms, — the remaining personal and unentailed property to Earl John's sisters, Lady Margaret and Lady Elizabeth or Isabelle Lindsay — for the names were then frequently interchanged — the heirs of line. Earl Alexander however found it necessary to bring an " action and cause" against Earl John's widow, Marion Home, for wrongly withholding from him his " guids of heirship, that is to say, his best gown of black satin, linit with fringes, price" (or value) "ane hundreth merks, ane great silver pot, with the cover, containing forty eight unces, price forty eight merks, ane great silver coup, wyt the cover owregilt wyt gold, contenand xx unces, price xl merks, vi silver spunys, his best furneist bed," &c. Crawford Case, p. 60. — Similarly, after the death of Alex- ander Master of Crawford, and of the Duke of Montrose, Earl John had brought an action against Sir Patrick Gray and Janet Lindsay his spouse, the Master's widow, for detaining "nine guns, great and small, with their chawmaris," or chambers, 3 " the price of the piece overheid, v 1 '. vii s . viii. d ," &c, these ordnance being necessary to the security, as it is to be presumed the " best gown" was to the dignity, of the representative of the family. Ibid. p. 59. — Of the two heirs of line above men- tioned, Lady Margaret married John Blair of Balmy le, Lady Elizabeth David Lyon of Brakie, ancestor of the Lyons of Cossins. There is extant a memorial addressed to Rome on the part of Elizabeth Lindsay and her husband, craving, that, having ignorantly married in the fourth degree of aflmity, they may receive a dispensation to continue married, and that their offspring may be legitimated. Old Register of Infeftments, Sfc, Aberdeen. — This is in favourable contrast to the infinity of applica- tions that took place previously to the Reformation, for the dissolution of marriages formed under similar ignorance, or on grounds much less creditable. a " The lower part of a gun, where the charge is lodged." Camden, quoted by Jamieson. 188 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. CHAPTER IX. Lindsay. " Ask the blue welkin, ask the silver Tay, The Northern Grampians — all know my wrongs !" Sir Walter Scott. — " David Erie of Craufuird, wise and wight." Sir David Lindsay. m»m Amidst the general gloom occasioned by the unfortunate event of Flodden-field, a firm resolution of resistance was displayed by all classes, but Surrey took no steps to improve his advantage. James, the young King, having only attained the age of two years, his mother Queen Margaret was chosen Regent, and Sir Alexander of Auchtermonzie, now Earl of Crawford, the vene- rable Patrick Lord Lindsay of the Byres, and two other noblemen, were appointed to remain continually with her, to give her counsel and assistance.* A large party, however, were averse to the trust thus reposed in the sister of Henry VIII., and invited the Duke of Albany, then resident in France, and, after the infant Prince, next heir to the Crown, to come over and assume the Regency. He was unable to do so immediately, but sent over his near kinsman, Hamilton Earl of Arran, as his representative. Arran found a strong party arrayed against him, including Home, the Chamberlain, and the Earl of Angus, all powerful in the South, and Crawford and Huntley, who shared the chief power in the North of Scotland.f The whole kingdom was in a state of disorganisation, deadly feuds raging both in the Highlands and on the Borders, for the suppression of which Crawford was appointed * In December, 1513. Bee. Pari., 537, cited by Douglas. I do not however find the passage thus referred to in Mr. Thomson's edition of the Acts of Par- liament. f Tytler, torn. v. p. 92 ; Pinkerton, torn. ii. p. 114. Chap. IX. DAVID EIGHTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 189 High Justiciary by North, and Lord Home by South the Forth.* Crawford, however, died shortly afterwards, at a great age, in May, 1517,f and was succeeded by his son, Sir David, the eighth Earl of Crawford, Shortly before Albany's arrival, the nation was disgusted by the Queen's marriage with Angus, — she lost much of her influence in consequence, and, by the terms of her late husband's will, forfeited the Regency, which was assumed by Albany. Earl David of Crawford took part with the Queen and Angus against him. After some years, during which the Regent acted, under most trying circumstances, with much firmness and wisdom, he retired to France, with the secret determination never to return to Scot- land. He had scarce set sail, when the Queen, attended by Arran, Lennox, Crawford, and others of the nobility, brought the young King to the Parliament-House, and made him assume the government. He was declared of age on the 30th of July, 1524, being then only thirteen.! On the retirement of Albany, Angus, who had separated from the Queen, and had been living abroad, returned to Scotland, and the star of the Red Douglasses culminated. The young King was kept by them under the closest restraint. His impatience under their thraldom became known. An open attempt to rescue him proved ineffectual, — Lennox, its leader, was slain, the insur- gents were forfeited, and their lands distributed among the dominant faction, Angus taking for himself " the ample princi- pality of Lord Lindsay " of the Byres, " and the lands of all the Eastern and Northern barons who had supported Lennox. "§ * Tytler, ibid. ; Pinkerton, torn. ii. p. 119. | On the 14th or 15th of May, — Treasurer's Accounts, printed by Mr. Pitcairn in his ' Criminal Trials/ torn. i. p. *266. — The Retour of his son Earl David, dated 1 Feb. 1517-8, speaks of his having been then dead seven months, "aut eocirca." Crawford Case, p. 64. — The Genealogy of 1623 says, that "Earl Alexander died at Finhaven, and was buried at Dundee." He is said to have had a daughter, the wife of Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, son of Bell-the-Cat, Earl of Angus, and whose story is so beautifully told by Godscroft ; see the Lady of the Lake, canto v. note 12. % Pinkerton, torn. ii. p. 238; Tytler, torn. v. p. 177. § Tytler, torn. v. p. 206. — In the Register of the Privy Seal are letters by the young King, dated 25 Oct. 1526, promising to Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, Treasurer, " our haill escheat of John Lord Lindsay's lands and gudis," then under summons for treason, on his (expected) conviction and forfeiture. Pitcairn's Crim. Trials, torn. i. p. *239. — " At this time," says Pitscottie, " the Douglasses pat sair 190 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. James found himself obliged to dissemble, and, having lulled to sleep the suspicions of his keepers, he escaped to Stirling, where he was joined by Lindsay, Argyle, Huntley, and others, who had been forewarned of his intentions.* The Douglasses were banished and remained in exile the whole remainder of King James's reign. The Lord Lindsay just alluded to was John, fifth of the line, grandson and successor of the sage Lord Patrick, who had sur- vived as late as 1526. t We find the Lindsays of the Byres from this time forward identifying themselves more and more with the party theoretically opposed to feudalism, and maintaining popular rights and principles, — the party which eventually brought about the Reformation and the Revolution of 1688. " The wise Sir Walter Lindsay," Preceptor of Torphichen and Lord of Saint John, the Grand Master of the Knights of Jerusalem within Scotland — a celebrated knight and statesman, " By sea and land ane valiant Capitaine "J — and said to have been a younger son of John Lord Lindsay, the High Justiciary, and younger brother of Lord David, of " John Out with the Sword," and of Lord Patrick of the stramping foot § — forms a sort of link between the earlier and feudal, the later and more constitutional period of the Lindsays of the Byres ; "he was well beseen and practisit in wars," says Pitscottie, " baith in Italy and Spain, || and had oft-times foughten against at the Lord Lindsay, and thocht to have forfault him, but he gave largely of his lands and geir to escape that envy for the present time, thinking that that court wald nocht continue lang." Chron., torn. ii. p. 330. * Pitscottie. — Lindsay's name does not appear in the printed editions, but does in the Wemyss manuscript, the best existing. f William, younger son of Patrick fourth Lord Lindsay of the Byres, was ancestor of the Lindsays of Pyetstone and of Wormestone, the former represented in the collateral, and the latter in the direct male line, by Sir Henry (Lindsay) Bethune, of Kilconquhar, Bart. % Sir David Lindsay, Works, torn. ii. p. 309. § This is hardly possible, chronologically, but I know of no evidence proving his filiation. He describes himself as " kinsman " to John Lindsay of Covington in 1534, in granting a discharge connected with his office of Grand Master, — this might suggest a descent from the House of Covington, but stricter proof would be desirable. He had a brother, Alexander, mentioned in the Justiciary Kecords under 1537. || Other Lindsays fought in Italy during the early years of the sixteenth century, —as, for example, Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, the poet, and Sir Matthew Chap. IX. DAVID EIGHTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 191 the Turks in defence of the Christians, being in company with the Lord of the Rhodes, and there he was made knight for his valiant acts, and thereafter came in Scotland and servit the King, and came in great credit with his Grace,"* — while, in a civil capacity, he was a Lord of Session, or of the supreme legal tribunal,! and held the High Justiciarship of the South of Scotland.^: He died, in high repute and at a great age, before 1547,§ and his monu- ment is still shewn in the choir of the church of the Preceptory at Torphichen. || On the expulsion of the Douglasses King James took the reins of government into his own hands. One of his first measures was to despatch Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, the celebrated Lion King, to Brussels, where the Emperor Charles V. then held his court, in order to renew the commercial alliance that had for nearly a century subsisted between Scotland and the Netherlands.^ Lindsay, "Capitaine (ou Gouverneur) de la Roquette, au Chateau de Milan, Seigneur de l'illustre Maison de ce nom en Ecosse," recorded by Hozier as having married Anne, daughter of Philip Braque, Knight, and Seigneur of Le Luat, in France. Armorial, Sec, Reg. iii. pt. i. p. 83. * Pitscottie, torn. ii. p. 393— He defeated the English at the battle of Haldenrig, in August, 1542, (being virtually the chief commander,)— an action of which Pits- cottie has given an animated description, loco citato. f He was admitted, 19 May, 1533.— Brunton and Haig's Hist. Account of the Senators of the College of Justice, p. 42. % Chalmers' Caledonia, torn. ii. p. 875. § He attended the parliament held 19 Dec. 1545, and probably died soon after- wards. Letters of legitimation are granted to James Lindsay, bastard and natural son "quondam Walteri Domini Sancti Johannis," 20 Jan. 1546-7. Reg. Mag. Sig. — His death is usually stated in 1558. || Chalmers' Caled., ut supra. — His style is as follows in a charter, 20 April, 1540, in the possession of Cosmo Innes, Esq., " Walterus Lindsay, Miles, Dominus Beati Johannis, Preceptor de Torphichen Ordinis Jerosolimitani," a — or in Sir David Lindsay's heraldic MS., " Schir Walter Lyndesay, Knyt of the Roddis, and Lord of Sanct Johnis," where his arms are blazoned, — the simple fesse-chequee with a St. George's cross in chief; these arms are also sculptured on Calder Church, and may be seen on his seal, 1542, as engraved in the Acts Pari, torn, ii., facing p. 591. f Tijiler, torn. v. p. 236.—" I come to Brussels," he writes to the Secretary of State, in a letter preserved in the Cottonian Library, " the iii day of July, where I fand the Emperor, and gat presence of his Majesty the iii day efter my coming, and hes gotten guid expedition of the principal errands that I was send for, and hes gotten the auld alliances and confederations confirmit for the space of ane hundret a To this charter " Alexander Lindsay, | ness, — probably his brother, mentioned ballivus baronie de Maryculter," is wit- | supra. 192 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. At home he adopted the most vigorous measures for putting a stop to the disorders of the realm. His eye was everywhere, and an instance of his vigilance in the cause of right occurred the very year after his emancipation from the Douglasses. Walter Lind- say, younger of Edzell, who fell at Flodden, had been the only son and heir apparent of Sir David of Beaufort and Edzell, son of Walter the " tutor " to Earl David, afterwards Duke of Mon- trose. Walter left a young wife and four sons, David, afterwards ninth Earl of Crawford, the eldest, Alexander, John, and Robert of Kirkton, father of David Lindsay, the celebrated minister of Leith and Bishop of Ross, of whom I shall speak hereafter.* Their grandfather Sir David, Walter's father, married again, and had a second and younger son, Alexander, ancestor of the Lind- says of Vane and Kethick, in Angus. Falling into dotage, and influenced probably by his young spouse, Sir David attempted to alter the succession, and convey his estates to the young Alex- ander in exclusion of the children of Walter ; but King James years ... I remainit in the court vii owks (weeks), and odd days, upon the matters pertaining to the merchants. Item, the bruit (rumour) was here over all this country when I come to the court, that the King's Grace, our Sovereign, was deid, for the whilk cause the Queen of Hungary send for me, and enquirit diligently of that matter at me. It was shawn to me that the Emperor's Majesty gart all the kirkmen in Brussels pray for his Grace's saul. Thae (these) novels were send for verity furth of England and were halden for effect (truth) ay while (till) my coming to the court.— My Lord, it were too lang to me write to your Lordship the triumphs that I haif seen sen (since) my coming to the court Imperial ; that is to say, the triumphand justings, the terrible tournaments, the fechting on foot in barras (the lists), the names of lords and knights that were hurt the day of the great tournament,— whase circumstances I haif written at length in articles, to schaw the King's Grace at my hame coming. Item, the Emperor purposes to depart at the fine of this month, and passes up in Almany for reformation of the Lutherians. The Queen of Hungary remains here Regent of all thir countries, and was con- firmit Kegent be the iii Estates in the town of Brussels the v day of July. And as for other novels I refer to the bearer. Written with my hand at Handwarp (Antwerp), the xxiii day of August, [1531,] by your serviteur at his power, " David Lyndsay, " Harault (herald) to our Sovereign Lord." — Cotton Lib., Calig. B. I. 298. — It were devoutly to be wished that the " Articles," or Report to King James respecting the tournaments, &c, alluded to in this letter, were recoverable. * These sons are enumerated in the Crawford entail of 1541. John and Robert were slain at the battle of Pinkie, in 1547, according to the Genealogy of 1623 — written by a grandson of Walter, through one of his daughters, a sister of the four brothers mentioned in the text. Chap. IX. DAVID EIGHTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 193 interfered, and prevented what " mycht nocht," to use his own words, " stand in gude conscience/' Walter's son being " rychteous heritour," and " we," adds the King, " havand in mynd to help and favour thame that dyd gude service to our maist noble father" in the field of Flodden.* " Seldom," it has been observed, " in any case did a prince use his prerogative better than James V. upon this occasion,"! and happy would it have been for him had he been as just in great things as he was in small, and had he adopted his fathers policy of ruling his nobles by love, instead of that of James I. of crushing them by oppres- sion. His fate might in that case have been different. Earl David of Crawford was deprived by James, about this time, of large estates in the Lowlands, and of his lands in the remote Hebrides, — whether justly or not I cannot say, as the charges brought against him do not appear ; but the effect, as described by the Earl of Northumberland, in a letter to Henry VIII., was to engender so great a hatred in his heart against the Scottish King, that it was believed he would willingly join with Angus, Argyle, and other disaffected nobles in the English in- terest.:]: Whether he did so or not is uncertain. Crawford, indeed, having sown the wind, was about to reap the whirlwind. The weight of retribution — for the sorrow he had contributed in his early years to bring upon the Duke of Montrose in the death of his son, the unfortunate Master of Crawford — was beginning to press upon his own head. The hand of Providence is visible throughout these scenes, apportioning their deserts to * Mandate by James V., Feb. 1531-2. Haiyh Muniment-room. f Crawford Case, p. 161. % " The King of Scots hath plucked from the Earl of Argyle, and from his heirs for ever, the rale of all the out Isles, and given the same to Mackayne, a and also taken from the Earl Crawford such lands as he had there and given the same to the said Mackayne, the which hath engendered a great hatrit in the said Earl's heart against the said Scottish King." — And again, 27 Dec. 1531, he reports the Earl of Bothwell as informing him, that, " remembering the banishment of the Earl of Angus, the wrongful disinheriting of the Earl of Crawford," &c, he " puts no doubt, . . seeing all their hearts afore expressed be withdrawn from the King of Scots, to crown your Grace in the town of Edinburgh within brief time." Orig. letters cited by Tytler, torn. v. pp. 236, 240. a Alexander Maclan Cathanach, chief I of Isla. Gregory's Hist, of the W. High- of the Clan Ian Vohr, or MacDonalds | lands, p. 132. VOL. I. O 194 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. the actors, and bequeathing lessons of grave import to posterity. Earl John, as I have already mentioned, had been deprived of all his many children during their minority, — Earl David's son was spared, to be a curse to his father and to his kind.* Alexander Master of Crawford, surnamed emphatically by Scottish tradition " The Wicked " or " Evil Master," exceeded all his compeers in prodigality, recklessness, and crime. He was the Absalom of his century. Like the son of David, he had been put in fee of the Earldom by his father, as future Earl, which gave him independent power, and the barony of Glenesk had been assigned to him in consequence.t Attaching to himself a band of ruffians, he seized his father's fortress of Dunbog, and commenced the life of a bandit, oppressing the lieges, tyrannizing over the clergy, and levying black-mail, or tribute, over the whole sur- rounding country 4 As early as 1526, his father had been obliged to appeal to the Crown for protection from " bodily harm," threatened against himself, his wife, and friends, by his rebellious son ; § the Master expressed contrition, and by the intervention of the Archbishop of St. Andrews and others, u as amicable com- positors," the Earl received him once more " into heartly favour and kindness," engaging to confirm him in the fee of the Earldom, provided he relapsed not into crime, and banished his " present company " of evil abettors, — the infeoffment to be " null, cassit, and retretit (broken and retracted), but ony process " (without any law proceedings), in case of contravention or failure in these conditions. || But the evil nature soon broke out again, and four * Alexander Lindsay of Kathillet, Earl David's younger brother, and like himself an associate with Earl John in his feud with the unhappy Master of Crawford, also died without other issue than an illegitimate daughter, Mirabella Lindsay, who fell a victim to seduction. f By charter, under the great seal, 2 Sept. 1527. X The tribute was two wethers, or one bullock, or ten shillings, from the tenants in Feme, Tannadyce, Menmuir, and Glenesk. Indictment, 1530, infra. § Letters of Lawburrows by James V., " ex deliberatione Dominorum Concilii," 20 Feb., fourteenth year of his reign, i.e. 1526— commanding the Sheriff of Angus to give them protection. Haigh Muniment-room, Crawford Case, p. 166.— The "wife" of Earl David, mentioned in the text, was not, I am happy to say, the Wicked Master's mother, but his stepmother, Earl David's second wife, Isabel Lundie, a daughter of that ancient House in Fife. His own mother, Mariana Hay, daughter of the Earl of Errol, had died too soon, — a mother's gentle influence might have been his sal- vation. || Decreet Arbitral, 9 June, 1529, pronounced by James Archbishop of St. An- Chap. IX. DAVID EIGHTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 195 years afterwards, on the 16th of February, 1530-1, he was so- lemnly arraigned at a Justice-ayre held at Dundee, the King himself presiding in person, when a fearful catalogue of enormities were alleged against him and his accomplices, — rapine, rape, murder, common brigandage, the occupation of lands belonging to the Earl of Buchan for five years, the besieging his father's castles with the intention of murdering him, the surprising him at Finhaven, " laying violent hands on him," and imprisoning him in his own dungeon for twelve weeks, and on another occasion car- rying him by force to Brechin, where he confined him for fifteen days, — besides breaking open his coffers, pillaging his writs, and seizing his rents and revenues. No defence was offered — none could be made — the Master admitted everything, and threw him- self on the King's mercy.* By the Scottish law, founded on the Roman, his guilt was parricide and its penalty death — personal to himself, civil to his posterity.f His life was spared, probably through his father's intercession, and with a lingering hope that he might yet repent. But the forfeiture took effect to the legal exclusion of himself and his posterity from succession to the estates and honours of Crawford, blotting them out as if they had never existed. And he acquiesced in this, and implemented or fulfilled the law, by solemnly abjuring and renouncing, of his own free will, all right or claim " to all the lands of the Earldom of Crawford," in favour of Earl David his father, to dispose of, in whole or in part, according to his good pleasure ; confessing him- self at the same time to have " sinned grievously and enormously " against his said father, and against the Decreet Arbitral pro- nounced by the Archbishop of St. Andrews, — and stretching out his right hand and binding himself to this renunciation (as it was called) of " all kindliness and right of succession, in presence of his unhappy parent, in the public street between the chapel of St. John and the houses of the lepers at the East end of the burgh of drews, the primate and legate of Scotland, and other arbiters, &c. Haigh Muniment- room, Crawford Case, p. 166. * Ancient official Extract from the Record, or Book of Adjournal, of the High Court of Justiciary, Haigh Muniment-room, Crawford Case, p. 167, and more fully, p. 236.— I am glad to say that no Lindsays of the higher rank appear in the list of his accomplices ; Patrick, brother of Mr. John Lindsay, and " Alexander Lindsay, alias Evil Sandy," are the only clansmen indicted along with him. f Crawford Case, p. 10. o 2 196 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. Dundee, the third hour after noon on the penultimate of March, 1537.* But while parricide by Scottish law was not held to amount to treason against the sovereign, it as little affected the interests or rights of the next heirs-male collateral, who succeeded in such cases as if the original intervening heirs had become naturally extinct. f It thus obtained in the Crawford instance. The next heir-male was David Lindsay of Edzell, the eldest son of Walter who had fallen at Flodden, and he succeeded in consequence to the position of " Master," or heir-apparent, of Crawford, not through favour or selection, but in due course of law as the next heir under the regulating entail of 1474 — " nocht forfaltand," as it is expressed, " his richt of succession," as " nearest heir of tailzie," — the late Master having " of law and consuetude forfaltit and tint (lost) the succeeding to his father, and made himself unable to bruik (enjoy) his heritage of the said Earldom of Crawford."J It so happened, indeed, that David of Edzell was peculiarly acceptable to the aged Earl. He had stood ever by his side as his protector and friend, had released him from the captivity into which his son had cast him,§ and had shewn him throughout these years of suffering the love that was his due as the chief of his clan, and an earnest anxiety to preserve the family from ruin. It was therefore with the confidence of gaining a son in lieu of the one who had forsaken him, that the old Earl presented him to King James as his rightful heir, and executed a long series of charters by which he invested him in fee of all his lands and revenues, and finally settled on him the barony of Auchtermonzie and lands of Cairnie, inherited from his grandmother, Margaret of Dunbar — not conveyed by the entail of 1474, and to which Edzell consequently had no right — in token, as he expresses it, * Notarial Instrument, Crawford Priory Muniment-room, Crawford Case, p. 69. f Crawford Case, p. 11. \ Bond, referred to infra. — " To compare great things with inferior," observes Mr. Riddell, " his right was precisely the same with that by which the House of Brunswick now justly holds the Crown of these realms. Both succeeded in con- formity to law, and were so recognised, although not the nearest heirs de facto, still as the nearest legal heirs capable of taking." Crawford Case, p. 1 5. § " At last, by means of David Laird of Edzell, he was relieved and brought home, for the whilk cause," &c. Genealogy of 1623, written, as observed before, by a descendant of the Edzell family ; Lord Strathallan's Hist, of the Drummonds, p. 199; Crawford's Hist. Lindsays, MS. Chap. IX. DAVID NINTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 197 of bis " cordial love " and grateful acknowledgment.* All these charters were confirmed by King James, wbo executed, on Earl David's resignation, an especial charter of entail, under the Great Seal, dated the 16th of October, 1541, in virtue of which the whole " Comitatus," or Earldom, with all its rights of regality and otherwise, was conveyed to David Lindsay of Edzell and the heirs -male of his body, whom failing, to the next male descend- ants, enumerated seriatim, of the House of Edzell, and the heirs- male respectively of their bodies, — whom failing, to his remoter kinsmen, the Lindsays of Evelick and Dowhill successively, — and finally, on the contingency of all these lines becoming extinct, to his own nearest heirs-male, bearing the name and arms of Lindsay, for ever.j The transaction was now complete, the cup full on all sides, and the last scenes of the drama followed in rapid succession, — the Wicked Master was slain within the twelvemonth in an igno- minious broil with a cobbler of Dundee, J — the old Earl took to his bed, worn out and broken-hearted, and died, after a lingering illness, at the castle of Cairnie,§ on the 27th or 28th of November, 1542,|| — and David of Edzell succeeded in due course as next heir and ninth Earl of Crawford. An attempt was indeed made to oppose him, and, in singular illustration of feudal politics, the arrow came from the hostile bow of the Ogilvies. James Lord Ogilvie and the Master of Ogilvie, * Ancient deeds in the Crawford Priory Charter-room, of which the principal, and those especially concerning the gift of Auchtermonzie and Cairnie, are cited or referred to in the Crawford Case, pp. 70, 71. f Crawford Case, p. 70. % " His son David was sticked by a souter of Dundee for taking a stoup of drink from him." Genealogy of 1623. § The remains of this castle, which is said to have been built by Earl Beardie, and bears the name of Earl's — or Lord's — Cairnie, are still to be seen in the parish of Moonzie, or Auchtermonzie. They consist of the keep or donjon, and a round tower, which formed one of several, enclosing with the intervening wall a considerable portion of ground. The keep is fifty-three feet in height by forty-two in breadth ; the walls are between five and six feet thick, — the second floor was occupied entirely by the great hall, which is about forty feet by twenty. " The defence of the castle and its outworks was anciently strengthened by a broad morass, which appears to have entirely surrounded the slight rising ground on which they were situated." Swan's Hist. Fife, torn. ii. p. 85. || Summons of Reduction, &c, 6 Dec. 1554, Haigh Muniment-room, Crawford Case, p. 169. 198 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. his eldest son, had possessed themselves of the person of the son of the Wicked Master, David Lindsay, a minor, and, with him and in his name, seized the Castle - of Finhaven the moment the news arrived of Earl David's death. Nor was it till the Queen Regent Mary of Guise sent forth her mandate for its restoration under pain of treason, that they surrendered it.* Earl David then stretched out his hand to the unfortunate orphan, brought him home, took him to his bosom, and brought him up as his own child. Another remarkable scene followed. Long before 1541, King James had adopted his predecessor the first James's policy of appropriating and annexing to the Crown the great fiefs of the kingdom, — scrupling at no injustice in compassing his purpose. He had thus quite recently compelled the Earl of Morton to resign his Earldom, — a resignation which, after the death of James, was annulled by the Court of Session, with the most severe reprobation.! In the same spirit, before consenting to sanction the new investiture to Edzell, he had extorted from him a bond, or obligation, to resign the Earldom, its fiefs and honours, to himself thereafter, under the penalty of one hundred thousand marks, " and tinsel (loss) of life and heritage, ad perpetuam remanen- tiam," — that is, to remain with him and the Crown for ever. This was on the 28th of December, 1541,$ and, as the most recent act of oppression against the nobles, it may not improbably have instigated their refusal at Fala to march against England till their grievances should have been redressed, § — a refusal which, as is well known, so deeply affected James that he died in consequence, broken-hearted. No sooner did the news of his * Charge by Queen Mary, 13 Dec, 1542, to " James Lord Ogilvie, James Master of Ogilvie, . . . David Lindsay, son to umquhile Alexander Lindsay, callit Master of Crawford," (that is, styled so in popular parlance, although disinherited, and without lawful claim to the title,) " James Ogilvie of Clova," (thus acting against us, reconciled to his clan by the Indenture of 1524, noticed supra, p. 131, and pro- bably a keen partisan of the late Master,) and others— commanding them to deliver up the Castle, — Haigh Muniment-room. Crawford Case, p. 169. f Riddell's Remarks upon Scottish Peerage Law, p. 122. X Ancient Transcript, Haigh Muniment-room, and a contemporary notarial copy, kindly communicated by Cosmo Innes, Esq. § There is a remission in the Haigh Muniment-room, to David Lindsay of Edzell, and John and Robert, his brothers, for absence from the raid of Falloway and Tan- tallon, 1542. Chap. IX. DAVID NINTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 199 death reach Earl David than he recalled his bond by a formal protest at the altar of St. Francis in the Cathedral of St. Giles at Edinburgh, as having been extorted from him unjustly and under peril of life,* — but seven thousand marks were exacted from him the following year by the grasping Regent, Arran, Duke of Chatelherault, as the price of a discharge, or acquittance of this unhappy engagement. Nor was it till many years after his death that Mary Queen of Scots, ever anxious to redress wrong and repair her father's injustice, granted a discharge or renunciation of it to his son, Sir David of Edzell, by a charter under the Great Seal, dated the 3rd of March, 1564.f Earl David, of Edzell, now ruled at Finhaven and over the wide-stretching domains of the House of Crawford ; no competi- tor, near or remote, existed ; the Government, the Parliament, the Church — James V., Mary of Guise, the Regent Arran, and Mary Queen of Scots, all acknowledged him J — he sat in parlia- ment, and lived and died, in unchallenged possession of the fiefs and honours of Crawford. But as soon as he was fairly settled in his new dominions, new feelings began to stir in his heart, or old ones rather developed themselves in a new manner — feelings closely connected with the days of clanship and feudalism. His ruling passion had been the preservation of the family inheritance and dignity, and its transmission unimpaired to posterity. He had protected it hitherto, — he had incurred, as his son informs us, " the feud of the haill country " — of the barons, that is to say, who held of the House of Crawford, and who had hoped to rise to power and independence on its ruins, — the inheritance now cen- tered in himself — he had no children, and was married, but his wife, the Dowager Lady Lovat, was old ; he was in the prime of life, and a meaner spirit might have speculated on futurity. But the instinct of clanship and of reverence for the principle of legitimacy was stronger in his breast than any personal or family feelings. Though legally excluded by his father's crimes, the * Notarial Instrument, 6 Jan. 1542-3, engrossed by the notary " Edwardus Dikson," along with other contemporary documents executed by him, in an original protocol, — communicated by Mr. Riddell. f Discharges, 1544 and 6 Dec. 1571, cited in an ancient Inventory of the Edzell papers, in the Haigh Muniment-room. % Crawford Case, p. 170. 200 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. direct descendant of his chief and benefactor survived in the son of the Wicked Master : the youth stood ever in his presence, — his " humile and formal behaving " induced him to believe that he would inherit the virtues and not the vices of his forefathers, — and the legal substitute could not find in his heart or conscience to profit by his misfortune. " Movit," therefore, as it is expressed, " of good zeal and piety, and remembering the great love and kindness of the said umquhile Earl of Crawford, and in mind to recompense the samyn to his offspring, nocht failzeing to him,"' and for the "love and favour'" which he bore to that offspring, he determined to adopt him, in legal form, as his own child, and thus reconvey the fiefs and honours to him and his posterity, in exclusion of his own contingent future offspring and collateral heirs. He procured the assent and confirmation of the Crown, and executed the requisite charters by which the youthful David was reinstated in the position of his father, and put in fee of the Earldom as Master of Crawford, — Earl David reserving the right of succession to his own descendants and heirs collateral, as heirs of entail, in the event of the failure of the direct male heirs of the restored David.* A solemn bond or contract was at the same time drawn up. by which the Master acknowledged his obligations, and accepted his duties, as adopted son to Earl David, and engaged, on failure of its conditions, or on re-enacting the enormities of his father, to resign the Earldom for himself and his heirs for ever, on the payment of two thousand pounds by his adopted father, his heirs or assignees, in the kirk of Dundee, " and I, my heirs and assignees, fra thenceforth to be secludit therefra for our ingratitude for ever.'' The whole of the preceding facts are recited at large in the preamble to this curious document. f * Royal Charter, 2 May, 1546, Reg. Mag. Sig.— Crawford Case, p. 75. t Bond, or Obligation, to David Earl of Crawford by the adopted Master, 9 Aug. 1546, Reg. Mag. Sig., Crawford Case, p. 74.— Extracts "will be found in the Appendix, No. XXII., where also, under Xo. XXIIL, will be found a list of the pieces, or documents, proving the history of the Wicked Master. — " • Xumquid magis Othone fuit ?' " observes Mr. RiddelL u has been asked, in reference to the alleged disinterested closing act of the Emperor Otho. Perhaps that of David ninth Earl of Crawford, in a humbler sphere, was superior, while not outraging, like the former, any just or divine ordinance." Crawford Case, p. 16. u It has been supposed,"' says Aristotle, " that a King, having the power to make his son his Chap. IX. DAVID NINTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 201 Nearly at the same time the young Master espoused Margaret Bethune, daughter of Cardinal Bethune by a sister of Lord Ogilvie, born to him, as some assert, in marriage previously to his entrance into holy orders, though this is doubtful.* They were married at Finhaven with princely magnificence ; her dowry was four thousand marks, an immense sum in those days,f — the Cardinal gave her away in person, designating her as his daughter in the marriage settlements he then returned home to St. Andrews, where he was murdered a month afterwards. The remaining years of Earl David's life, and the greater part of the revenues of the Earldom, were spent in redeeming the estates from the incumbrances brought upon them by the extrava- gance of the recent Earls, subsequently to the death of the Duke of Montrose, § — a thankless office, as all his labour was undone by his successors, the descendants of the Wicked Master, hereditarily doomed, it would seem, to prodigality and crime. He married, in 1549, a second wife, Dame Catherine Campbell, daughter of successor, may not exercise it. But this cannot be believed. It would be an act of virtue of which human nature is incapable." Polit., lib. 3, cap. 1 5. — But of which human nature, enlightened and strengthened by. the grace of God, is not incapable. * " Carruthers says, in his history of Queen Mary's reign, p. 41, that the Cardi- nal was a widower previous to his entering into holy orders, and this is the more likely from his having remained at the University of Paris till he was twenty-six years old. I imagine indeed he was not in deacon's orders till the two years ex- pired after his obtaining the abbacy of Arbroath and his returning from France in 1526, at which time he was twenty-eight." Lyon's Hist, of St. Andrews, torn. i. p. 28. — Lord Herries, in his Memoirs, describes Margaret Bethune as the Cardinal's " base daughter, who was gotten and born when the Cardinal was young, and before he was a priest." P. 15. — This is more likely to be the truth. t " A dowry," says Mr. Tytler, " little inferior to that of a princess."— Henry of England only gave 6800 with his niece to the Earl of Lennox. Buchanan, lib. xv. cap. 39 ; Knox, &c. — The Genealogy of 1623 asserts that Cardinal Bethune worked upon Earl David by " threats and allurements " to resign the Earldom in favour of his intended son-in-law —this is the assertion of a collateral descendant of the House of Edzell. Calderwood, on the contrary, asserts that the Cardinal went to Angus " and marrieth his eldest daughter upon the Earl of Crawford's son, by that means to strengthen himself," {Hist, of the Kirk, torn. i. p. 220,) — which, considering the Cardinal's circumstances at the moment, is much more probable. X The Contract of Marriage is dated at St. Andrews, 10 April, 1546. It is pre- served in the Charter-room at Crawford Priory. § There is a long " Inventair," in the Haigh Muniment-room, " of lands of the Earldom of Crawford sauld and wedset (mortgaged), whilk wes redeemit be David Earl of Crawford, Laird of Edzell." 202 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. Sir John Campbell of Lorn,* younger son of Archibald, second Earl of Argyle, and widow of James Master of Ogilvie, who had opposed the son of the Wicked Master, afterwards David Master of Crawford, against him. She proved a most noble character, and bore him a large family of sons and daughters, of whom the eldest, Sir David, was ancestor of the succeeding Lindsays of Edzell, and the second, J ohn Lord Menmuir, of the Earls of Balcarres. At Earl David's death, therefore, in 1558, his own eldest son succeeded to the simple barony and other estates of Edzell, and David, the son of the Wicked Master, to the Earldom and fiefs of Crawford. But long before that period his conduct had disap- pointed the hopes and embittered the declining years of his bene- factor,! and in 1559 it is stated, in a legal document under the * Otherwise styled " of Calder." — The Calders of Calder were said to be de- scended from a brother of Macbeth, to whom, on his assumption of the Crown, he resigned the thanedom of Cawdor. They ended in an heiress, Muriella Calder, Dame Catherine's mother, who (if tradition may be credited) was captured in childhood by John of Lorn and the Campbells, while walking out with her nurse near Calder Castle. Her uncles pursued and overtook the division to whose care she had been entrusted, and would have rescued her but for the presence of mind of Campbell of Inverliver, who, seeing their approach, inverted a large camp-kettle as if to conceal her, and, commanding his seven sons to defend it to the death, hurried on with his prize. The young men were all slain, and when the Calders lifted up the kettle no Muriella was to be found. Meanwhile so much time had been gained, that further pursuit was useless. The nurse, at the moment the child was seized, bit off a joint of her little finger, in order to mark her identity — no unnecessary precaution, as appears from Campbell of Auchinbreck's reply to one who, in the midst of their felicitations on arriving safely in Argyle, asked what vras to be done, should the child die before she was marriageable ? " She can never die," said he, " as long as a red-haired lassie can be found on either side of Loch- awe ! " — John of Lorn and his captive were afterwards married ; Lord Cawdor is their representative, and the Campbells of Ardchattan, Airds, and Cluny are their collateral descendants. f Only two years after his adoption, " David Lindsay, son of umquhile Alexander Lindsay, callit Maister of Crawford," attacked and spoiled Glenesk at the head of six hundred men, horse and foot, carrying away eighty-four oxen and sixty-nine ' kye,' and otherwise ravaging the country. Earl David took upon himself the re- sponsibility, reimbursed the sufferers, and pardoned the offender, — as appears by " the just copy of the instrument of assignation of the spoliation of the guidis of Glenesk, made be the tenants thereof to my Lord Crawford," 20 Dec. 1543, in the Haigh Muniment-room. — It was probably to guard against a repetition of such con- duct, and perpetuate the "humile and formal behaving" which the young delinquent had assumed subsequently to his benefactor's forgiveness, that the Bond, or Obligation, of 9 August, 1546, (supra, p. 200,) was drawn up with such peculiar and special stringency. — And even subsequently to this, in June, 1557, " David Master of Craw- ford," then residing "at his dwelling-place of Innerquich," (of evil omen in the Chap. IX. DAVID NINTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 203 signet of the Queen, that he had so conducted himself " that be all law, natural and civil, he deserves disheresing and tinsale (loss) of the benefit of the said adoption,"* — intimating how lenient and forgiving his predecessor had still been, even after his second marriage, the birth of a flourishing family, and the provocations received from the ungrateful serpent he had fostered in his bosom, might have tempted him to revoke that rash experiment. Earl David was scarcely cold in his grave before the Crown was obliged to interfere. His successor, now David tenth Earl of Crawford, obtained a new charter of the Earldom, calling to the succession, on failure of his own male issue, his heirs-female, in exclusion of the House of Edzell,t — a charter which Queen Mary, as in the similar case of her father's extortion of the bond " ad perpetuam remanentiam," annulled as unjust, and for which she substituted another, dated March 22, 1564-5, securing the succession of the Edzell family after the extinction of the male descendants of the restored Earl, in terms of the conveyance of 1546 and the regulating entail of 14744 This entail of 1564, was renewed, with the same specific destination, in 1589,§ and continued in force till the year 1642, when King Charles L superseded it, as regarded the honours, at the request and on the resignation of Ludovic sixteenth Earl of Crawford, regranting the Earldom to Earl Ludovic and the heirs-male of his body, whom failing, to John Lord Lindsay of the Byres and the heirs-male of his body, whom failing, to the heirs-male of Ludovic, — a charter by which the whole line of Byres descended from John Lord Lindsay were interpolated between the descendants of the Wicked Master and the family of Edzell — who ought to have succeeded on their extinction, but were thus unjustly postponed for two centuries. The Lindsays of the Byres took credit to themselves in later times history of the Masters of Crawford,) was a partaker with " James Lord Ogilwy, Thomas Ogilwy of Craigs, his tutor," and others, in " the spolie " of Finhaven. Pa- pers, Haigh Muniment-room. — The Ogilvies were therefore still persevering in their policy of supporting the Master of Crawford against the Earl. * Inhibition, 31 Dec. 1559. Haigh Muniment-room. t Dated 8 July, 1559, — at the moment when the struggle between the Queen Regent and the Lords of the Congregation had come to a crisis, and the Queen may have found it expedient to yield to Crawford's unjust wishes in order to secure his assistance. Reg. Mag. Sig. X Reg. Mag. Sig., Crawford Case, p. 76. § Reg. Mag. Sig., Crawford Case, p. 78. 204 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. for having promoted the restoration of the son of the Wicked Master.* It is very possible, — and if so, their intrigues on that occasion must be reckoned as the first step in a series of machina- tions, persevered in for many generations and ultimately suc- cessful, to accomplish the transference of the honours of Crawford to themselves. In order to complete the picture of family politics subsequently to the restoration of the Earldom to the son of the Wicked Master, I may add that Earl David, the restored noble, and his descendants persecuted the family of Edzell and their repre- sentative Sir David, the son of their benefactor, with the most bitter enmity, — and the state of things some few years afterwards is forcibly depicted in a Memorial presented by Sir David to the Lords of Council at Edinburgh — a statement in which one is doubtful whether most to admire the dignity of the remonstrant or the delicacy and forbearance towards his chief evinced in his language, and from which I extract a few passages as a brief summary of the preceding narrative : — "My father," says Sir David, "gat the Earldom be dispo- sition of the Earl for the time, for causes reasonable of all law — not to be rehearsit for my Lord's offence, f with consent of ane Prince of perfyte years and his Council ; seeing he wha should have succeedit wald have destroyit the house, whilk my father, being nearest of tailzie, preservit, — with feud of the haill country, wha thocht to have made their conquests thereupon.^ "Within four years he resignit it over again in favour of my Lord's father, for the love and kindness of his predecessors, and adoptit him to be his son, upon bands and aiths (oaths) anew. " It is true he resignit not Glenesk and Ferne, because his awin lands lay within these baronies, and that the Earl of Craw- * In a letter from William, eighteenth Earl of Crawford, to his legal adviser, touching a claim preferred by David Lindsay of Edzell to the Crawford honours in 1685, he alludes to "two taillies from the Earls of Crawford to my predecessors, which was but just, they having been so active to cause repone the son of that Master of Crawford whom Edzell's predecessor had by a trick provoked the father to exheridate." f Lest my Lord should be offended. X Whenever a great fief fell into disorder, whether through forfeiture or other- wise, the vassals crowded round the sovereign, begging for charters to themselves, to hold henceforward in capite of the Crown. Chap. IX. DAVID NINTH EARL OF CRAWFORD. 205 ford had not three-score punds of maill (rent) free in them baith of property, by (beside) the superiority, — ane great pairt whereof in like manner was analiet (alienated) out of the ground before, and specially the superiority of Edzell. " For his Lordship's father's guid will of this pairt not resignit, my father gave him" (David the tenth Earl), "at sindry times and by sindry contracts, mair nor (than) ten thousand marks, upon bands that gif ever he troublit him he should renounce and overgive again the Earldom. Last of all, I marriet his dochter," (Lady Helen Lindsay, as will be seen hereafter,) " without ony tocher," or fortune, — while he proceeds to urge that he had deserved well rather than ill from the present Earl, his antagonist, as having " procured to myself for his Lordship's cause allanerly (only) the deadly feid (feud) of the greatest Houses in Angus, with whom I am not yet reconciliate, — beside, that his Lordship will never verify that ever I disobeyit his Lordship's word or writ, but was ever ready to serve when I was requirit," — the requital being, he adds, that the Earl now, on vexatious and futile pre- texts, " insists straitly against me for the wreck and destruction of my House ;" — entreating, in conclusion, that he may " have equal justice, notwithstanding the greatness of my competitor." * To which I may add, in confirmation of his claims to a different treatment, that the private correspondence of himself and his brother, the Balcarres ancestor, is full of their duty to the House of Crawford, whom they seem to have served without a murmur or thought of complaint, as if, instead of oppressors, they had been their dearest friends and benefactors. I have dwelt at considerable length on the preceding circum- stances ; but, independently of their interest to ourselves as Lind- says, they are illustrative of the times, as exhibiting in strong opposition the good and the evil side of feudalism, at the moment when that mighty system, upheaved by the deep throes of the earth beneath, was beginning to slide down into the valley, and its glittering pinnacles to melt in that warmer atmosphere into waters of beneficence — healing the injuries they had inflicted in their prior state of chilly and prominent rigidity, and fertilizing the soil for that fair growth of intellect and constitutional govern- * Petition to the Lords of Council, Haigh Muniment-room. 206 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. IX. ment, which has gladdened it in more recent times, — for a people have never become truly great, have never attained full constitu- tional development, unless by passing through a childhood and youth of tutelage, and profiting in riper years by the counsel and continued presence of those guardians of old tradition and of national chivalry from whom they have derived a history. Feu- dalism has in all ages been the parent of Liberty.* * " Peu de scenes du moyen age," concludes M. Philarete Chasles, after relating the history of the Wicked Master, and of the restitution of his son by Earl David of Edzell — " offrent d'une maniere aussi complete et aussi dramatique le melange de bonnes et de mauvaises qualites, des generosites et des violences, dont les moeurs feodales favorisaient le developpement, — c'est de l'histoire digne du philosophe, du roman digne d'un poete." Journal des D€bats, 30 Nov., 1847. Sect. I„ SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 207 CHAPTER X. " Melliflui cantus Syren dulcissima, qualem Scotigena3 Aonides et recinunt et amant ; Deliciae regum, tituloque ac nomine regis ; Hoc fuerat nato quod fait ante patri ; Quam Musis carus, quam diis quoque regibus olim, Tam vent placuit religione Deo." Arthur Johnston. " And still he made some quaint remark, At which, while Bethune's eye grew dark, The good King James with laughter shook, But quickly calmed his joyous look, Which said, with frown no wrath that bore, ' Sir David Lindsay, jest no more ! ' " Falkland, a Vision, by G. B. " Intil his buiks to speak he did nocht spare Aganis all vice, ay where it did abound." Henry Charteris. SECTION I. A Reformation indeed, both civil and religious, had been needed long before the middle of the sixteenth century, and a Reformer arose in the person of the celebrated poet and satirist Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lord Lion King at Arms under James V. — the herald, in a higher sense, of almost every improvement, civil and ecclesiastical, that took place in Scotland during the suc- ceeding centuries — yet a reformer in the spirit of constitutional government, as then existing, though as yet only in the germ — not in that of the more violent partisans of change. He stands in fact, like Janus, between the two great developments of Scottish life, facing and belonging equally to both, — the connecting link between our ancient and modern, our feudal and domestic history. Like his kinsman and contemporary, Lindsay of Pitscottie, Sir David aimed at being intelligible to his own countrymen, nor aspired beyond the hope " Of being remembered in his line With his land's language," — 208 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. and as both poet and historian wrote at a period when that lan- guage was in its greatest purity, the study of their writings is indispensable to every one who wishes to attain a knowledge of its beauty and energy. They abound too with the most graphic delineations of the manners, superstitions, and prejudices of their age and country.* Of Pitscottie little is known except his descent from the Lind- says of Pyetstone, and his birth in the parish of Ceres, Fifeshire, in which the small estate by the name of which he is usually designated is situated.t The chronicle on which his fame rests includes the history of Scotland from the commencement of the reign of James III. till shortly after the accession of Queen Mary, — and in the materials, says he, I was " instructed, learned, and * Of another poet of the sixteenth century, Christian Lindsay, the fate has been very different. " When we are dead, that all our days but daffis. Let Christian Lindsay write our epitaphs," says Montgomery in a sonnet to Hudson ; but of the epitaphs for which Lindsay appears to have been celebrated, not one is now known to be extant. The following spirited sonnet, however, addressed by him to the said Hudson, upbraiding him for treachery to Montgomery, has been preserved : — " Oft have I heard, but efter found it true, That courtiers' kindness lasts but for a while ; Fra once your turns be sped, why then adieu ! Your promised friendship passes in exile. But, Robin ! faith, ye did me not beguile, I hopit aye of you as of the lave. If thou had wit, thou wald have mony a wile To mak thyself be knawin for a knave. Montgomery, that sic hope did once conceive Of thy guid will, now finds all is forgotten ; Though nought but kindness he did at thee crave, He finds thy friendship, as it ripes, is rotten !" — Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, torn. iii. p. 504 ; Lives of Scottish Poets, du. 1822, torn. iii. p. 143. f In an old MS., Adv. Lib., Jac. V., 7, 12, p. 394, enumerating the sons of Patrick fourth Lord Lindsay, the writer mentions, " 3. William Lindsay of Piotstoun, of whom was Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, the historian* and of it also" (i. e. the family of Pyetstoun) " are descended the Lindsays of Wolmerstoun." — " There is the grant of an escheat in the Privy Seal Register to ' Robert Lindsay of Pits- cottie' in 1552 ; and Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, with Robert Lindsay of Kirk- forthar, is upon a service, in 1562, of John Campbell of Lundy in the lands of Balkello, still extant in the Douglas Charter-chest." Riddell's Peerage and Con- sistorial Law, torn. i. p. 500. — Christopher Lindsay of Pitscottie was served heir of Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, his father, in 1592. I am aware of no other notices of the chronicler or his family. Sect. I. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 209 lately informed by Patrick Lord Lindsay of the Byres, Sir William Scott of Balwearie, Sir Andrew Wood of Largo," the famous Scottish Admiral, " Sir David Lindsay of the Mount," and others — all of them distinguished gentlemen of the period ; so that, judging from the dates thus afforded, he was probably born during the latter years of the fifteenth, or soon after the com- mencement of the sixteenth century. His naivete and humour, his minute touches of individuality, his picturesque and graphic style, and the high spirit of chivalry and warmth of heart that glow through his every page, render him by far the most inte- resting of the old Scottish chroniclers,* — Sir Walter Scott has been constantly his debtor in his poems and romances, and you cannot have forgotten the frequent and endearing epithets with which he delighted to honour " honest Pitscottie." It is to be regretted only, that we know little or nothing of him personally, either from his writings or from extraneous sources.^ But of Sir David Lindsay, the Lion King, our information is much more copious, and derived in great measure from his own self-revelations. He was born at the Mount, the family residence in Fifeshire, in or about 1490, — the eldest son, and eventually representative, of an ancient branch of the House of Byres, originally resident at Garmylton in East Lothian. He received the first elements of education at the grammar-school of Cupar, was sent to the uni- versity of St. Andrews in 1505, and left it in 1509, at the age of nineteen, his father having died during one of the intermediate * I see no reason for considering him guilty of the dedicatory epistle to Robert Stuart, Bishop of Caithness, in which this sublime stanza, allusive to the untimely death of James II. at Roxburgh by the bursting of a cannon, occurs : — " But, ever alas ! this Roy of great renown, When he had brought his realm to great stability, East, West, South, North, up and down, There was nothing but peace and unity ; Yet came there a chance most suddenly : — This potent prince, this Roy of great renown, Was murdered by a misfortunate gun." f Pitscottie's 'Chronicle' has been published in folio, 1728; in 12mo., 1749 and 1778 ; and in two vols. 8vo., 1814, edited by Mr. Graham Daly ell. None of these editions however give the text from the best manuscript, belonging to Captain Wemyss of Wemyss Castle, and which I propose, by the kind permission of the proprietor, to print, as a new edition, for the Bannatyne Club. VOL. I. P 210 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. years, 1507.* He served a campaign in Italy in 1510, when, as he says in the person of the Courtier in the 1 Monarchic,' " I saw Pape Julius manfully- Pass to the field triumphantly, With ane richt awful ordinance, Contrair Louis the King of France," — a visit which, independently of initiating him into the fields of chivalry, must have given him some insight into the literature, art, and manners of Italy.t He had returned however to Scotland before the 12th of October, 1511, when he appears in the records as a member of the royal household ;J and on the birth of the Prince Royal, afterwards James V., on the 12th April, 1512, he was 'appointed that very day as his " servitor," and gentleman usher, or, as the office is described in the Treasurer's Accounts, after the battle of Flodden, " Keeper of the Kingis Grace."§ In the succeeding year, 1513 — I quote Mr. Tytler's full and very interesting memoir of the Lion King — " he makes his appearance on a very strange and solemn occasion. He was standing beside the King in the church at Linlithgow, when that extraordinary apparition took place, immediately before the battle of Flodden, which warned the monarch of his approaching danger, and solemnly entreated him to delay his journey. The scene is thus strikingly described by Pitscottie. "At this time the King came to Lithgow, where he was at the council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God to send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. And there came ane man clad in ane blue gown, in at the kirk-door ; beltit about him with ane roll of linen cloth, and ane pair of bootikins on his feet, to the great of his legs, with all other clothes conform thereto ; but he had nothing on his * For the authorities for these dates, &c, see the Life prefixed by Mr. Chalmers to his edition of Sir David's works, three vols., 8vo., 1806. t Works, torn. iii. p. 135. — The passage quoted in the text might not be alto- gether sufficient warrant for this visit to Italy ; but I may observe, in confirmation of it, that Sir David speaks of the Italian women as an eye-witness, in his ' Sup- plication against Sydetails,' 1 536. Works, torn. ii. p. 200. % On that day he was presented with a quantity of blue and yellow taffety, to be a play-coat for the play performed in the King's and Queen's presence in the Abbey of Holyrood. Life, by Mr. Tytler, Lives of Scottish Worthies, torn. iii. p. 192. § Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, torn. i. p. *261. — He is subsequently termed "the King's Usher." Ibid., p. *265. Sect. I. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 211 head but side hair, and on his haffets (temples), which wan (reached) down to his shoulders, but his forehead was bald and bare. He seemit to be ane man of fifty years, with ane great pike-staff in his hand, and came fast forward amang the lords, crying fast and specially for the King, saying that he desirit to speak with him, while (till) at the last he came to the desk where the King was at his prayers. But, when he saw the King, he made him little reverence or salutation, but leaned him down gruflings (lowly) on the desk before him, and said to him in this manner : — ' Sir King, my mother hath sent me to thee, desiring thee not to go where thou art purposit ; for, if thou do, thou shalt not fare well in thy journey, nor nane that are with thee. Further, she bade thee converse with no woman, nor use their counsel ; for if thou do it, thou wilt be confounded and brought to shame.' By this man had spoken thir words to the King, the even-song was near done, and the King pausit on thir words, studying to give him ane answer ; but in the mean time, before the King's face, and in presence of all the haill lords that were about him for the time, this man evanishit away, and could no-ways be seen or comprehendit, but vanishit away as he had been ane blink of the sun or ane whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard say Sir David Lindsay, Lion herald, and John Inglis, the marshal, wha were at that time young men, and special servants to the King's grace, were standing presently beside the King, — wha thought to have laid hands on this man, that they might have speired further tidings at him, but all for nought ; they could not touch him, for he vanishit away betwixt them, and was no more seen."* " There can be little doubt," observes Mr. Tytler, " that the mysterious and unearthly-looking personage, who appeared in the royal chapel and vanished like a whip of the whirlwind, was a * " The wondering monarch seemed to seek For answer, and found none ; And when he raised his head to speak, The monitor was gone. The marshal and myself had cast To stop him as he outward past ; But, lighter than the whirlwind's blast, He vanished from our eyes, Like sunbeam on the billow cast, That glances but, and dies." Si?- David Lindsay's Tale ; Marmion. p 2 212 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. more substantial spectre than was at that time generally believed. James, with the recklessness which belonged to his character, was hurrying into a war which proved highly disastrous in its conse- quences, and was highly unpopular with a great proportion of his nobles ; and the vision at Linlithgow may have been intended to work upon the well-known superstitions of the monarch. It is even by no means impossible that Sir David Lindsay himself knew more of this strange old man than he was willing to confess ; and whilst he asserted to Buchanan the reality of the story,* con- cealed the key which he could have given to the supernatural appearance of the unknown monitor, "f Sir David was for many years the constant companion and play- mate of the youthful sovereign. " On no man of his age," it has been observed, " could the superintendence of moments of such susceptibility have more providentially devolved. Lindsay was a man of elegant taste and grand ideas, as great a philosopher as he was a poet, a detester of abuses and prejudices, and the secret projector of some of the most important improvements which soon after took place in the condition of his country." J — " He ever," says Mr. Ellis, " remained a most intimate and con- fidential friend of James V., which honour he seems to have merited by the affection with which he served him, and by the honest and wise counsels which he never failed to offer him."§ Few passages in Sir David's poems are more interesting than those in which he recalls to his sovereign's recollection the amuse- ments with which he had entertained his infancy : — " When thou was young, I bore thee in my arm Full tenderly, till thou begouth|| to gang ; And in thy bed oft happit^f thee full warm, With lute in hand syne softly to thee sang ; Some time in dancing fiercely I flang, And sometime playing farces on the floor, And sometime on my office taking cure. * " In iis," (i. e. " qui propriiis astiterant,") " fuit David Lindesius, Montanus, homo spectatai fidei et probitatis, nec a literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totius vita? tenor longissime a mentiendo aberat ; a quo nisi ego haec, uti tradidi, pro certis accepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam omissurus eram." Bu- chanan, Hist., lib. xiii. cap. 31. f Lives of Scottish Worthies, torn. iii. p. 194. X Lives of Scottish Poets, du. 1822. § Specimens of the Early English Poets. || Begun. f Wrapped. Sect. I. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 213 And sometime like ane fiend transfigurate, And sometime like the griesly ghaist of Guy,* In divers forms oft times disfigurate."t And again, in his 6 Complaint to the King's Grace,' after telling us that he lay " nichtly by the Kingis cheek," he reminds him " How, as ane chapmanj bears his pack, I bore thy grace upon my back, And sometimes stridlings on my neck, Dancing with mony bend and beck. The first syllabis that thou did mute§ Was ' Pa Da Lyn ;'J| upon the lute Then playit I twenty springs^ perqueir,** Whilk was great pleasure for to hear ."if Sir David had a memory delightfully stored with ancient lore, and soon made his pupil acquainted with the adventures of Hector, Alexander, Hercules, Troilus, Samson, and King Arthur ; and when history and romance failed, " Feignit many a fable " on the sieges of Tyre, Thebes, and Troy. At one time he would tell him " Of lealJJ lovers stories amiable at another, he would recite to him the mysterious prophecies of Bede, Merlin, and Thomas the Rhymer, or initiate him into the enchanting horrors of " Reid Etin,"§§ and the " Gyre Carline."|| || A discipline of the imagination, which doubtless tended to the realization of that romantic character, which Ariosto has immor- talised in his Zerbino, and Sir Walter in the Knight of Snow- doun. In the midst, however, of these recreations, Sir David never lost sight of the grand object to which his earliest poetical efforts * Guy Earl of Warwick. f ' The Dreme,' 1528. Works, torn. i. p. 186. I Pedler. § Articulate. || " Papa, Davie Lindsay," according to Mr. Tytler, or, as Sir Walter Scott interprets it, " Where's Davie Lindsay ? " — " Play , Davie Lindsay ! " is suggested by my kinsman, Mr. Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, with the happiness (I cannot doubt) of truth. Quick cheerful airs. ** Accurately, by heart, Fr. par cceur. ff Works, torn i. p. 257. %% Loyal. §§ The tale of Reid Etin is mentioned in the ' Complaint of Scotland,' as a popular story of a giant with three heads. — Chalmers. Illl " The Gyir Carline is the Hecate, or mother-witch, of the Scottish pea- sants." — Jamieson. 214 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. were all directed, the improvement of the young Prince's cha- racter, both as a sovereign and a man, and through him that of his countrymen in general. " Wherefore, sen thou hast sic capacitie To learn to play sa pleasantly and sing, Ride horse, rin spears, with great audacitie, Shoot with hand-bow, cross-bow, and culvering, Amang the rest, Sir, learn to be ane king ! Kythe* on that craft thy pregnant fresh ingyne,f Grantit to thee be influence divine. And sen the definition of ane king Is for to have of people governance, Address thee first, above all other thing, Till put thy body till sic ordinance, That thy virtue thy honour may avance : For how should princes govern gret regionis That cannot duly guide their awin persdnis ? And gif thy grace wald live right pleasantlie, Call thy council, and cast on them the cure ; Their just decreits defend and fortifie, — ButJ guid counsel may na prince lang indure ; Wark with counsel, then shall thy wark be sure ; Chuse thy council of the maist sapient, Without regard to blude, riches, or rent. Amang all other pastime and pleasour, Now, in thy adolescent yearis ying,§ Wald thou ilk day study but half an hour The regiment of princely governing, To thy people it were a pleasant thing ; There micht thou find thy awin vocatioun, How thou should use thy sceptre, sword, and crown. The chronicles to knaw I thee exhort, Whilk may be mirror to thy majesty ; There shall thou find baith guid and evil report Of every prince, after his quality ; Though they bin|| deid, their deidis shall not die; Traist weill thou shalt be sty lit in that storie As thou deservis, put in memorie. Request that Roy, whilk rent was on the rude,^[ Thee to defend from deidis of defame, That no poet report of thee but guid ; For princes' days enduris but as ane dream ; Since first King Fergus bure ane diadem, Thou art the last king of five score and five, And all are deid, and nane but thou alive. * Shew. II Be. f Genius. J Without. § Young. ^1 " That King, who rent was on the cross." Sect. I. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 215 Of whose number fifty and five ben slain, And most part in their awin misgovernance ; Wherefore I thee beseek, my soverane, Consider of their lives the circumstance ; And when thou knaws the cause of their mischance, Of virtue then exalt thy sails on hie, Traisting to 'chaip * that fatal destiny. Treat ilk true baron, as he were thy brother, Whilk maun at need thee and thy realm defend ; When suddenly ane doth oppress another, Let justice mixt with mercy them amend ; Have thou their hearts, thou hes enough to spend ; And be the contrair, thou 'rt but king of banef What time thine heirisj hearts ben from thee gane.§ * Escape, Fr. echapper. t That is, King of the Bean, in the amusements of Twelfth Day, the Feast of the Epiphany. % Lords. § From ' The Testament and Complaint of our Sovereign Lord's Papingo, King James the Fift ; whilk lies sore vroundit, and may not die till everie man have heard what she says; wherefore, gentle reader, haste you that she were out of pain.' — Who would not comply with a request so charitable ? — Moreover the ' Com- plaint,' written in 1529, and Sir David's "first open declaration of war against the abuses of the Romanist religion in Scotland," is, according to Mr. Tytler, a poem, " in point of elegance, learning, variety of description, and easy playful humour, worthy to hold its place with any poem of the period, either English or Scottish." 3 a " Nothing," observes Mr. Tytler, "can be more graceful or pleasing than our first introduction to the papingo : — ' Ane papingo, right pleasand and perfyte, Presentit wes till our maist noble King, Of whom his Grace ane lang time hud delyte, — Mair fair of form I wot flew ne'er on wing ; This proper bird he gave in governing To me, whilk was his simple servitour, On whom I did my diligence and cure To learn her language artificial, To play " platfute" and whistle " futebefore ;" But of her inclination natural She counterfeit all fowlis less or more, Of her courage. She wald, without my lore, Sing like the merle, and craw like to the cock, Pew like the gled, and chaunt like the laverock, Bark like a dog, and keckle like ane kae, Blait like ane hog, and buller like ane bull, Wail like ane gowk, and greit when she was wae, Climb on ane cord, syne laugh and play the fule ; She might have been ane minstrel against Yule, — This blissit bird was to me sa pleasand, W here'er I fure I bure her on my hand.' " With his pleasant companion sitting on his hand, Lindsay, one sweet summer's morning, strolls into a garden to enjoy himself, ' Amang the fragrant flowers Walking alane, nane but my bird and I.' He wishes to ' say his hours,' — -to repeat his morning orisons — and, in the interval, places his little green friend on a branch beside him ; and she, delighted with her liberty, instantly begins to climb from twig to twig, till she reaches the dizzy height of the topmost bough, — ' " Sweet bird," said I, " beware ! mount not owre high, Return in time, perchance thy feet may failzie ; Thou art right fat, and nocht vieill used to fly, — The greedy gled, I dread she thee assailzie." " I will," said she, " ascend, vailzie quod vailzie; It is my kind to climb aye to the height ; Of feather and bone I wat weill I am wight." So on the highest little tender twist, With wing displayit, she sat full wantonly ; But Boreas blew ane blast or e'er she wist, Whilk brak the branch, and blew her suddenly Down to the ground, with mony careful cry.' ******* " In her last moments, the unfortunate papingo addresses an epistle, first to the King, her royal master, as in duty bound, next to her brethren at court, and, lastly, she enters into a long expostulation with her executors, a pye, a raven, and a hawk, who personate the characters of a canon regular, a black monk, and a holy friar. In this manner, somewhat inartificial, if we consider that the poem is long, and the papingo in the agonies of death, 216 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. ****** And finally, remember thou maun die And suddenly pass off this mortal see ; Thou art not sicker* of thy life twa hours, — Sen from that sentence there is nane may flee, King, queen, nor knight, of lawe estate nor hie, But all maun thole of bitter death the showers — t Where are they gone, thir papes and emperours ? Are they not deid ? — So shall it fare of thee ! "% Sir David little thought, when writing these noble stanzas, that he was himself to be one of the little company who attended the dying Prince at Falkland, and closed his eyes— dying of a broken heart, through neglect of his father's example and Sir David's precepts, at the early age of thirty-one. § — The scene has often been described, but Pitscottie's simple relation, probably from his * Sure. f " But all must undergo the throes of bitter death." X " Exhortation to the Kingis Grace," at the conclusion of the ' Dreme,' 1 528. § Pitscottie, p. 177, edit. 1728. Lindsay contrives to introduce his advice to the King, his counsel to the courtiers and nobles, and his satire upon the cor- ruptions of the clergy. Much in each of these divisions is excellent, the observa- tions are shrewd, the political advice sound and honest, the poetiy always ele- gant, often brilliant, and the wit of that light and graceful kind, which, unlike some of his other pieces, is not deformed by coarseness or vulgarity. " The scene which takes place at the death of poor papingo is described with great felicity and humour. The gled or hawk, who pretends to be a friar, holding up her head, whilst the raven stands on one side, and the magpie on the other, enquires tenderly to which of the three she chuses to leave her fortune and goods : — * " Chuee yon," she said, " which of us brethren here Shall have of all your natural geir the curis, Ye know none bene more holy creaturis." " I am content," quoth the poor papingo, " That ye, Friar Gled, and Corbie Monk, vour brother, Have cure of all my gudis, and no mo, Since at this time friendship I find none other." " We shall be to you true as to our mother," Quoth they, and swore to fulfil her intent ; " Of that," said she, I take ane instrument." ' " She tben leaves her green mantle to the quiet and unobtrusive owl, her golden and brilliant eyes to the bat, her sharp polished beak to the affectionate pelican, 1 To help to pierce her tender heart in twain her angelical voice to the single-songed cuckoo, her eloquence and ' tongue rhe- torical ' to the goose ; her bones, which she directs to be enclosed in a case of ivory, to the Arabian phcenix, her heart to the King her master, and her intestines, liver, and lungs to her three executors. Having finished her last injunctions, Polly disposes herself to die, and falling into her mortal passion, after a severe struggle, in which the blood pitifully gushes from her wounds, she at last breathes out her life. ' Extinguished were her natural wittis five.' " Her executors then proceed to divide her body in a very summaiy manner. ' My heart was sad,' says Lindsay, ' to see this doleful partition of my favourite ; her angel feathers scattered by these greedy cormorants in the air.' Nothing at last is left except the heart, which the magpie, with a sudden fit of loyalty, vindicates as belonging to the King. The portion, however, is too tempting to the raven. ' Now, may I be hanged,' says he, 1 if this piece shall be given either to King or Duke;' a tussle ensues, the greedy hawk, seizing the heart in her talons, soars away, whilst the rest pursue her with a terrible din, and disappear in the air. So ends the tragedy of the papingo." Lives of Scottish Worthies, torn. iii. pp. 222 sqq. Sect. II. SIK DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 217 friend Sir David's own lips, breathes the deepest sadness. A little before he expired, word was brought him that his queen had become the mother of an infant daughter, the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots. — " It came," said he, alluding to the Crown of Scotland, " with a lass, and it will go with a lass," " and sa he commendit himself to the Almichty God, and spake little from thenceforth, but turned his back to his lords and his face to the wall." When the last cold chill came over him, "he turnit him upon his back, and lookit and beheld all his lords about him that were there for the time, and gave ane little laughter, syne kissed his hand, and gave it to all his lords round about him, and thereafter held up his hands to God, and yieldit the spirit."* It must have been a sweet remembrance to Sir David ever after, that the love and respect of his beloved sovereign had never chilled, never varied,f even when, in manhood, he addressed him advice as uncourtly, and rebukes (when he needed them) as se- vere, as those he so freely lavished on the vices of the subjects and the corruptions of the Church — a subject to which I must now call your attention. SECTION II. Every vast system, political or ecclesiastical, that has grown up into life and power, and flourished for centuries, has been con- genial with, expressive of, and necessary to, the development of human civilization in the region where it flourished, and during the period of its growth and vigour. But, like all things earthly, every such system has an inward canker, an ultimate tendency to degeneracy and corruption — out of which corruption, slowly and gradually, a new order of things disengages itself — a giant sub- * Pitscottie, torn. ii. p. 407. " As Lion King, Lindsay must have directed the mournful ceremony of the funeral rites, which placed James V. by the side of his first wife, Queen Magdalen, in the chapel of Holyrood-house." Chalmers' Life. f He had been dismissed, along with Bellenden, the translator of Boece, and other personal attendants of King James, in 1524, by the intrigues of the Queen Mother, though with a small pension. After the expulsion of the Douglasses, the King appointed him Lion King in 1 530, and took care that his pension should be faithfully paid him, notwithstanding his many claims and his impoverished ex- chequer. Tytler. 218 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. stitute, which shakes itself free, and then tramples on the dis- solving dust of its parent. Such was the case with Church and State, Feudalism and Catholicism, in the sixteenth century. The atrocities of the Wicked Master, as detailed in the preceding chapter, have sufficiently illustrated the degeneracy of feudalism. But the clergy were no less corrupt. At no period in our history were their ignorance, arrogance, and profligacy so conspicuous ; while many could hardly read, fewer understand their breviaries,* they engrossed the highest offices of the state, wallowed in riches, and lived in open defiance of decency and morality. Such conduct in the ministers naturally weakened the attachment of the people to the faith ; but if a hint of disapprobation escaped any one, he was instantly branded as a heretic, and consigned to the flames. To all but the learned, the Scriptures, the only source of truth, were as a sealed fountain ; the possession or use of a translation was accounted heretical, and in consequence the laity, in general, knew nothing of the doctrine sand precepts of their religion, but what the priests chose to impart to them. Many, however, were beginning to search the Scriptures, while pity for those the clergy * Pitscottie tells an amusing story of Archbishop Foreman, who fairly broke down in saying grace at a dinner he gave the Pope and cardinals on leaving Rome for Scotland, whither he had been appointed legate by Julius II. " He was not ane guid scholar, nor had not guid Latin, but began rudely after the Scottish fashion, saying ' Benedicite,' believing that they should have said ' Dominus,' but they answerit ' Deus,' in the Italian fashion, whilk pat the Bishop by (beside) his intendment, that he wist not how to proceed forward, but happened in guid Scots in this manner, saying (whilk they understood not), ' the divil I give you all, false cardinals to in nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen !' Then all the bishop's men leuch (laughed), and also the cardinals themselves, and the Pope enquired whereat they leuch, and the bishop shew that he was not ane guid clerk, and that his cardinals had put him by his text and intendment, therefore he gave them all to the devil in guid Scots, whereat the Pope himself leuch very earnestly." On one occasion, when King James was holding his court in the midst of his nobles and prelates, Sir David, who never let an opportunity escape him of satirising the powerful and luxurious ecclesiastics, approached him with due reverence, and besought his Majesty to instal him in an office which was then vacant. " I have," said he, " servit your Grace lang, and luik to be rewardit, as others are ; and now your master tailor, at the pleasure of God, is departit ; wherefore I wald desire of your Grace to bestow this little benefit upon me." — The king replied that he was amazed at such a request from a man that could neither shape nor sew. " Sir," re- joined Sir David, "that makes na matter ; for you have given bishoprics and bene- fices to mony standing here about you, and yet they can neither teach nor preach ; and why may not I as weill be your tailor, though I can neither shape nor sew ?" Henry Charteris' Preface to Sir David's Works. Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 219 had condemned to the stake, and admiration of the fortitude with which they bore their sufferings, induced others to enquire what the tenets were, which could inspire these martyrs with such un- bounded faith and constancy. This led to more conversions, and thus the very measures, adopted by these bigots to repress the spirit of reformation, recoiled, by divine providence, against them- selves.* Against all these abuses, civil and ecclesiastical, Sir David pro- claimed hostility. The restoration of the Christian faith to its pristine purity, the emancipation of his countrymen from mental and priestly bondage, and the amelioration of their political and social condition, were the objects to which he devoted his life. His warfare was as fearless as it was determined, — while the printer's name was studiously concealed, and the place of impression falsified, in the publication of his works, his own full name and titles always figured on the title-page, scorning concealment ; and, strange to say, there is no record of his having been challenged or persecuted in consequence.f The ' Dreme,' the earliest of his * John Knox has recorded the sarcastic and almost prophetic advice of one John Lindsay, "a merry gentleman," and "familiar" to James Bethune, Archbishop of St. Andrews : — " My lords, if ye burn any mo, except ye follow my counsel, ye will utterly destroy yourselves ; if ye will burn them, let it be in howe (low) cellars, for the reek (smoke) of Mr. Patrick Hamilton hath infected as many as it blew upon." — " Thus," adds the reformer, " it pleased God that they should be taunted in their own faces." History, torn. i. p. 42, edit. Laing. — "There were many pro- fessors at this time," in 1539, says Calderwood, "howbeit secret, not only amangthe citizens and burgesses, as Sibilla Lindsay, spouse to John Fowler, George Aldjoy, merchant, John Maine, merchant, Patrick Lindsay, goldsmith, and his brother Friar Alexander, a great mathematician and maker of horologes, Francis Aikman, apo- thecar, and sundry others in Edinburgh." Hist. Kirk, torn. i. p. 134, edit. Wodrow. — Friar Alexander Lindsay appears in the Council Register of the Burgh of Aber- deen, 23 July and 13 Oct. 1537, as having " reformit and mendit" the town " knok,'' or clock, in a manner most satisfactory to the provost and citizens, — the " knok " is to " be set and input again in the maist convenient place of their tolbooth, where she might be sureliest keepit be the advice of the correcker (correcter) of the same," &c. Extracts, Sfc, printed by the Spalding Club. — Contemporary, perhaps identical, with Friar Alexander, was the celebrated pilot and nautical surveyor, Alexander Lindsay, who accompanied James V. on his circumnavigation of Scotland in 1535, and whose charts were published at Paris in 1583. The originals are preserved in the British Museum, Harl. MSS. 3996. See, for a graphic description of this voyage, Swan's Hist, of Fife, torn. i. p. 106. | His works were condemned to be burnt by the last Roman Catholic synod held in Scotland before the Reformation, in 1558, — but not till then. Pitscottie, torn. ii. p. 526. 220 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. writings, appeared in 1528, and from that year till his death a series of poems, blending the attractions of rich imagery with philosophical argument, and the keenest, though often, it must he confessed, the coarsest invective, issued from his pen, and were read, says Dr. MacCrie, 44 by every man, woman, and child in Scotland,"* preparing the ground, as another writer has remarked, for the seed of reformation afterwards sown by John Knox.j The most singular and most original of these poems is the 4 Satire of the Three Estates, in Commemoration of Virtue and Vituperation of Vice,' 44 a morality which, in the regularity of its form, the breadth and boldness of its satire, and the variety of its delinea- tion of character, was superior to the productions of any of the early English dramatists,"]: and which had the strongest influence on the age it was addressed to, — and I may couple with it, as of equal interest on other grounds, the 4 History of Squire Meldrum,' the latest romance of chivalry, and esteemed by Mr. Tytler pecu- liarly valuable and interesting as supplying a vivid picture of the * MacCrie's Life of Knox, p. 398, edit. 1839. f " In fact, Sir David was more the reformer of Scotland than John Knox ; for he had prepared the ground, and John only sowed the seed." Pinkerton. — " But as to the more particular means," says Eow, " whereby many in Scotland gat some knowledge of God's truth in the time of great darkness, there were some books set out, such as Sir David Lindsay his poesie upon the Four Monarchies, wherein many other treatises are contained, opening up the abuses among the clergy at that time ; Wedderburn's Psalms and Godly Ballads, changing many of the old popish songs unto godly purposes ; a Complaint given in by the halt, blind, and poor of England, aganes the prelates, priests, friars, and others such kirkmen, who prodigally wasted all the tithes and kirk-livings upon their whores and other unlawful pleasures, so that they could get no sustentation nor relief as God had ordained. This was printed, and came into Scotland. There were also some theatrical plays, comedies, and other notable histories acted in public ; for Sir David Lindsay his Satire was acted in the Amphitheatre of St. Johnstone " (Perth) , " before King James V. and a great part of the nobility and gentry fra morn to even, whilk made the people sensible of the darkness wherein they lay, of the wickedness of their kirkmen, and did let them see how God's Kirk should have been otherwise guided nor it was ; all whilk did much good for that time. As for a particular example, that book of Sir David Lindsay's, being printed, came privately to sundry men's hands, whilk, when they had read and considered, it made them know the ignorance, wickedness, and profane- ness that was among the clergy ; for a craftsman of St. Johnstone reading it dili- gently," &c. &c. Hist. Kirk, p. 6, edit. Wodrow. — He proceeds to recount an anecdote which will be found elsewhere, infra, chap. xiii. sect. 1. — Sir David indeed himself would have been very unwilling to identify himself with the lengtbs to which Knox and his successors went in Scotland. X Ty tier's Scottish Worthies, torn. iii. p. 236. Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 221 manners of the times.* I substitute for my own, in both in- stances, the more able and graceful analyses of Mr. Tytler, the most recent and impartial biographer of Sir David Lindsay. "The 'Satire of the Three Estates,'" says Mr. Tytler, "is divided into three parts. Of these great divisions, the first ap- pears to have been directed against the evil councillors, who, under the minority of James V., neglected the virtuous and pru- dent education of the young monarch, and permitted his youth to be polluted by idleness and vice. The dramatis personce are numerous ; we have King Humanity (Rex Humanitas), Diligence, Good Counsel, Hameliness, Verity, Chastity, and Divine Cor- rection. In addition to these, such low and disreputable inter- locutors as Flattery, Falsehood, Sensuality, intrude themselves, with occasional appearances of abbots, princesses, parsons, Placebo, Deceit, Danger, Solace, and Soutar's wife. The proceedings open with a sort of prologue by Diligence, who requests the audi- ence to remember that no satire is intended against any person in particular ; that all is general, offered in pastime, and to be heard in silence. ' Therefore,' says he, 6 let every man keep his one tongue, without permitting it to wag against us, and every woman her two.' ' Prudent people, I pray you all, Take na man grief in special, For we shall speak in general, For pastime and for play. Therefore, till all our rhymes be rung, Let every man keep weill ane tongue, And every woman tway.' " The plot of the first part, if it deserves such a name, is extremely simple. King Humanity, with a disposition naturally easy and amiable, is seduced into evil and wicked courses by Flattery and Sensuality, from which he is at least reclaimed by Divine Correction and Good Counsel. He then declares himself ready to redress all grievances and correct all abuses, for which end Diligence is ordered to summon the Three Estates of the Realm. ' Here,' says the stage direction, ' shall the messenger Diligence return, and crying, oyez, oyez, oyez, say thus,' * " The ever-charming and unique story of Squire Meldrum, valuable as deline- ating our peculiar usages at an early period." Riddell's Law Tracts, p. 223. 222 LIVES OF THE LIXDSAYS. Chap. X. ' At the command of King Humanitie, I warn and charge all members of Parliament, Baith spiritual estate and temporalitie, That till his Grace they be obedient, And speed them to the court incontinent In guid ordour. arrayit royallie. Wha beis absent, or inobedient. The King's displeasure they shall underly. Also I mak you exhortatioun, Since ye have heard the first pan of our play, Go tak ane drink, and mak eolLatioun ; Ilk man drink till his marrow. I vou prav.' ;> The second part opens with an attack upon the extreme severity with which the churchmen exacted their tithes, a poor mendicant appearing on the stage, and asking charity, with a miserable story of the oppression under which he had sunk. During the dialogue which takes place between the Pauper, Dili- gence, and a Pardoner, or retailer of the papal indulgences, the Three Estates of the Realm issue from the 4 palzioun,' or tent, in procession : but, to the horror and astonishment of the audience, they approach the King's presence, not in the usual fashion, with their faces turned towards the sovereism. but £oinp; backwards. Correction enquires the cause of this strange procedure : — * Correction-. My tender friends. I pray you, with my heart. Declare to me the thing that I wald speir, What is the cause that ye gang all backwart ? The veritie thereof fain wald I hear. Spiritualitie. Sovereign, we have gane so this mony a year, Howbeit ye think we gang indecently, We think we gang right wondrous pleasantly. Diligence. Sit down, my lords, into your proper places, Byrne let the King consider all sic cases : Sit down. Sir Scribe, and Dempster ! sit down too, And fence the court as ye were wont to do/ The sovereign now announces his readiness to redress all abuses, but is reproved for his hasty resolution by the Spirituality, upon which, Correction, declaring his astonishment that such abo- minable counsel should proceed from these grave sages, orders Diligence to make open proclamation that every man who feels Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 223 himself aggrieved should give in his bill, or come forward and tell his story : — ' Haste, Diligence, proclaim it is our will That every man opprest give in his bill.' " No sooner is this invitation made public, than John the Common-weill comes dancing in upon the stage in the highest possible spirits, although rather sorrily clad ; upon which, this homely dialogue ensues between him and Rex Humanitas : — ' Rex Humanitas. Show me thy name, gudenian, I thee command. John. Marry, John Common-weill of fair Scotland. Rex. The Common-weill has been amang his faes. John. Yes, Sir ! that gars the Common-weill want claes. Rex. What is the cause the Common-weill is crookit ? John. Because the Common-weill has been o'erlookit.* Rex. What gars thee look so with ane dreary heart ? John. Because the three estates gang all backwart.' " A long catalogue of abuses is now presented by John, which it is impossible to analyze particularly, although, in some in- stances, they present a singular picture of the times. The Pauper's description of the law's delay, in the Consistory Court, is excellent. He had brought an action for the recovery of da- mages against a neighbour, to whom he had lent his good grey mare : — 4 Marry, I lent my mare to fetch hame coals, And he her drownit in the Quarry -holes ; And I ran to the Consistore to pleinzie,f And there I happed amang ane greedy menzie ;J They gave me first ane thing they call citandum, Within eight dayis I gat but debellandum, Within ane month I gat ad opponendum, In half ane year I got inter loquendum, And syne, how call ye it? ad replicandum; But I could ne'er ane word yet understand him ; * Overlooked, neglected. f Complain. % Multitude. 224 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. And then they gart* me cast out mony plakkis,f And gart me pay for four and twenty acts ; But or X they cam half gate § to concludendum, The fiend ane plack was left for to defend him. Thus they postponed me twa year with their train, Syne, hodie ad octo, bade me come again. And then thir rooks they roupit || wonder fast, For sentence silver they cried at the last ; Of pronunciandum they made wonder fain, But I gat never my guid grey mare again.' " All abuses having been duly investigated, and a remedy pro- vided, Correction proposes that John Common- weill should be stripped of his ragged habiliments, clothed in a new suit of 4 satin damas, or of velvet fine,' and placed among the lords in the par- liament. He is accordingly arrayed gorgeously, and, having taken his place, Correction congratulates the audience — ' All virtuous people now may be rejosit,^[ Sen Common- weill has gotten ane gay garmount,** And ignorants out of the Kirk deposit ; Devout doctours, and clerkis of renoun, Now in the Kirk shall have dominioun ; And guid Counsel, with Lady Veritie, Are ministers to our King's Majesty. Blest is that realm that has ane prudent king, Whilk does delight to hear the veritie, Punishing them that plainly does maling Contrair the Common-weill and equitie.' " Proclamation is then made of the acts of the parliament ; Theft, Deceit, and Falsehood are hanged, after having severally addressed the people ; Folly is indulged with a reprieve, and the piece concludes with an epilogue by Diligence, entreating the audience to take ' their little sport ' (such is the term he uses for a play lasting nine hours) in patience, making allowances for the rudeness of the matter, and the poverty of the style." ft * Made. f Pennies. % Before. § Half-way. || Croaked fast. ^[ Rejoiced. ** Garment. ft Scottish Worthies, torn. iii. pp. 239 sqq. — The following letter, dated 26th Ja- nuary, 1540, from Sir William Evers, envoy of Henry VIII. to Scotland, to the Lord Privy Seal of England, gives a curious account of this play, as it had then been per- formed " in the feast of Epiphany at Linlithgow, before the King, Queen, and the whole council, spiritual and temporal. In the first entries comes in Solace, (whose part was but to make merry, sing ballads with his fellows, and drink at the inter- ludes of the play,) who shewed first to all the audience the play to be played. Next come in a King, who passed to his throne, having no speech to th' end of the play, Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 225 Such is the outline of this singular production, in which, as Sir Walter Scott observes, 44 the spirit of Aristophanes, in all its good and evil, seems to have actuated the Scottish King-at-Arms." * The 'Satire of the Three Estates' was repeatedly acted in Scotland. The performance, like that of the ancient drama, took place under the open heaven, in situations where advantage could be taken of a natural amphitheatre ; at Cupar, in 1535, the " play-field," a large green hill, of much natural beauty, to the North of the Castle, f was the scene of representation ; in 1539- 40, on the feast of the Epiphany, it was performed in the open fields by express desire of the King, who, with the ladies of the court, then resident at Linlithgow, attended the representation ; at another time, it was acted " in the amphitheatre of St. John's- and then to ratify and approve, as in plain parliament, all things done by the rest of the Three Estates. With him come his courtiers, Placebo, Pickthank, and Flattery, and sic alike guard, — one swearing he was the lustiest, starkest, best proportionit and most valiant man that ever was ; another swore he was the best with long-bow, cross-bow, and culverin, — and so forth. Thereafter there came a man armed in harness, with a sword drawn in his hand, a bishop, a burgessman, and Experience, clad like a doctor, — who set them all down on the dais under the King. After them came a poor man, who did go up and down the scaffold, making a heavy complaint, that he was herriet through the courtiers' taking his feu in one place, and his tacks in another ; wherethrough he had skailed his house, a his wife and children begging their bread, — and so of many thousands in Scotland ; saying there was no remedy to be gotten, as he was neither acquainted with controller nor treasurer. And then he looked to the King, and said he was not king in Scotland, for there was another king in Scotland, that hanged John Armstrong with his fellows, and Sym the laird, and mony other mo, but he had left one thing undone. Then he made a long narration of the oppression of the poor by the taking of the corpse-present beasts, b and of the herrying of poor men by the consistory law, and of many other abusions of the spirituality and church. Then the Bishop raise and rebuked him. Then the Man of Arms alleged to the contrary, and commanded the poor man to go on. The poor man proceeds with a long list of the bishops' evil practices, the vices of the cloisters, &c. This proved by Experience, who from a New Testament shews the office of a bishop. The Man of Arms and the Burgess-man approve of all that was said against the clergy, and allege the expediency of a reform with the consent of Par- liament. The Bishop dissents. The Man of Arms and the Burgess said they were two and he but one, wherefore their voice should have most effect. Thereafter the King in the play ratified, approved, and confirmed all that was rehearsed." Encycl. Britann., Supp., art. Drama. — " This Interlude, however, as enacted at Linlithgow in 1 540, was materially different from the play as published by Lindsay." Ti/tler. * Encycl. Brit, ut supra. f Swan's Hist. Fife, torn. ii. pp. 9, 10. a Given over keeping house. b " Mortuary, or funeral gifts to the church, in recompense, as was pretended, VOL. I. for anything that had been omitted or withheld by the deceased." Jamieson. 226 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. town," or Perth: and, in 1554, was performed, at the "play-field" in the low valley of Greenside, which skirts the Northern base of the Calton Hill,* in presence of the Queen Regent "and ane great part of the nobility, with ane exceeding great number of people, lasting fra nine hours before noon till six hours at even."f It was witnessed and applauded, on all these occasions, by an immense multitude of all classes — bishops and clergy, nobles, burgesses, yeomen, labourers, and tacksmen, — " and yet," observes Mr. Tytler, " it exposes, with a poignancy of satire and a breadth of humour which must have made the deepest impression, the abuses of the Catholic religion, the evils of pluralities and non- residence, the ignorance of the priests, the grievances of tithes, the profligacy of the prelates, and the happy effects which would result from a thorough and speedy reformation. Hitherto what had been written against these excesses had never reached the people ; it was generally shut up in a learned language, which they did not understand ; if composed in English, there were few printing presses to multiply books, or, if printed, the great body of the people could not read them. But Lindsay, when he wrote a play in the language of the people, and procured permission to have it acted before them, at once acquired a moral influence over the times, and gave a strength and edge to his satire, which probably neither the King, the clergy, nor the author himself con- templated. Had it been otherwise, it is difficult to believe that the prince or prelates would have suffered, or any author have dared, the trial of such an experiment. "J But I must now proceed to the ' History of Squire Meldrum,' which is as opposite in style and spirit to the preceding ' Satire ' as can well be conceived. It was written, without a thought of * Wilson's Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, torn. ii. p. 155. t Chalmers' Life, ~\Yorhs, torn. i. p. 61. % "It is indeed a singular proof," observes Sir Walter Seott, "of the liberty allowed to such representations at the period, that James and his Queen repeatedly witnessed a piece in which the corruptions of the existing government and religion were treated with such satirical severity." — An underplot of a less serious descrip- tion is carried on throughout this curious composition, by the introduction of Com- mon Theft as a borderer come to Fife to steal the Earl of Rothes' best hackney and Lord Lindsay's brown jennet ; the marauder is taken, and, in violation of Horace's precept, executed on the stage, after uttering a ludicrously pathetic lament on his hard fate, and a farewell to his brother reivers of the border dales. Sect. II. Sill DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 227 politics, civil or ecclesiastical, from feelings of friendship and admiration for its hero, and for the amusement of the family of Lord Lindsay of the Byres, under whose roof that hero had been long domiciled. I have termed it the last romance of chivalry, — but I ought to qualify the expression as applicable rather to the manner and spirit than to the matter of the narrative. There is nothing in it extravagant or beyond probability. " It was composed," says Mr. Tytler, " about the year 1550, and contains a biography of a gallant feudal squire of those days, drawn up from his own recital by the affectionate hand of his friend and contemporary. * With help of Clio I intend, Sa Minerve would me sapience lend, Ane noble Squyer to descrive, Whose douchtiness during his lyfe I knew myself, thereof I write, And all his deeds I dare indite, And secrets that I did not know That noble Squire to me did show. So I intend the best I can Describe the deeds, and eke the man.' " We have accordingly the birth, parentage, education, adven- tures, death, and testament of * Ane noble and valiant Squire, William Meldrum, umquhile (lately) Laird of Cleish and Binns.' " We first learn that he was of noble birth. ' Of noblesse* lineally descendit Whilk their gude fame has aye defendit. Gude Williame Meldrum he was named, Whose honour bricht was ne'er defamed.' " After being educated in all the exercises of chivalry, this noble squire began his ' vassalage ' at twenty years of age. His portrait at this time is prepossessing. His countenance was hand- some, his expression cheerful and joyous, his stature of middle height, his figure admirably proportioned, yet strong and athletic ; his manners were amiable, and his love of honour and knightly * In the true or continental sense of the word. Every British gentleman, en- titled to bear coat-armour, is noble, whether titled or not. It is only in compara- tively recent times that this has been forgotten, and the term " nobility " exclusively appropriated to the Peerage. Q 2 228 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. deeds so ardent that he determined to win his spurs both in Eng- land and in France. ' Because he was so courageous, Ladies of him was amorous. He was ane lover for a dame, Meek in chalmer like a lamb ; But in the field ane campioun, Rampand like ane wild lyoun.' " At this moment James IV. had dispatched a fleet to assist his ally the King of France against the attack of Henry VIII. It conveyed an army of three thousand men, commanded by the Earl of Arran, whilst the office of admiral was entrusted to Gordon of Letterfury. Under Arran young Squire Meldrum determined to commence his warlike education, and an adventure soon occurred which is strongly characteristic of the times. In passing the coast of Ireland a descent was made upon Carrickfergus, which was taken and sacked with great barbarity. In the midst of those dreadful scenes which occur under such circumstances, a young and beautiful lady had been seized by some of the brutal soldiery, and was discovered by Meldrum imploring them to spare her life, and, what was dearer to her than life, her honour. They had stripped her of her rich garments, and she stood helpless and almost naked when this brave youth flew to her assistance, and upbraided them for their cruelty and meanness. He was instantly attacked by the ruffians, but the struggle ended in his slaying them both, and saving the lady from the dreadful fate which seemed impend- ing over her. The description of her dress is graceful and curious : — ' Her kirtle was of scarlet red, Of gold ane garland on her head Decorit with enamelyne, Belt and brochis of silver fyne.' " Scarce had Squire Meldrum rescued this beautiful and un- known lady when the trumpet sounded, and it became his duty to hurry on board. But his noble and generous conduct had made an impression on her which can be easily imagined. To be saved from death and dishonour, to see her deliverer only for a moment, but to see enough of him in that brief interval to be convinced that he was the very mirror of youthful beauty and valour, all this was what few gentle hearts could resist, and we do not wonder Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 229 when she throws herself in a transport of gratitude and admira- tion at his feet, informs him of the high rank of her father, and in very unequivocal terms offers him her hand and her heart. But it might not be ; Squire Meldrum dared not desert the banner of his lord the high admiral ; he must pass on to take his fortune in France. ' Ah ! ' said the lady, 4 if it must be thus, let me dress myself as thy page, and follow thee but for love ! ' ' Nay ; thou art too young to be thus exposed to danger,' said Meldrum ; * but let this warlike expedition be brought to an end, and when the peace is made I will be right glad to marry you.' ' Lady, I say you in certain, Ye shall have lufe for lufe again, Truly unto my lifis end. Farewell, I you to God commend.' " Meldrum now embarks, after having received a love-token from his mistress, a rich ruby set in a ring, and the fleet reaches the shores of Britanny, where the army is disembarked, and the squire entrusted with the command of five hundred men. 4 Harry the Eighth of England,' pursues the history, 4 was at that time lying with his army at Calais, making war on the realm of France ; and although there was no pitched battle, yet daily skirmishing took place between the hosts, for the King of France with his great army was encamped near hand in Picardy. Squire Mel- drum, hearing of this, immediately chose a hundred spears, the best men in his company, and, riding to the French quarters, was courteously received by the King.' It chanced that at this mo- ment there was amongst the English a hardy and excellent soldier, named in the story Maister Talbart, probably Talbot, who used to stalk about with 4 silver tokens of war ' in his bonnet, speaking somewhat lightly of the French, and proclaiming that, for his lady's sake, he was ready to break his spear with any man who would accept his challenge. His defiance had not been answered previous to Meldrum's arrival in the camp. Talbart next ad- dresses the Scots, and the young squire, without a moment's hesitation, takes up his gage : — ' And when the Squyer Meldrum Heard tell this campioun was come, Richt hastily he past him till, Demanding him what was his will ? 230 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. Forsooth, " I can find none," quoth he, " On horse or foot dare fecht me." " Then," said he, " it were great shame Without battle ye should pass hame, Therefore to God I make a vow The morn myself shall fight with you." ' " Talbot, an experienced champion, with an iron frame and great skill in his weapons, dissuades the young adventurer from a contest in which he represents him as certain to lose his life. Meldrum, however, derides his assurance, and assures him that, with the assistance of God, he trusts to tame his pride : — ' I trust that God shall be my guide, And give me grace to stanch thy pride, Though thou wert great as Gow Mak Morne.' * " The Englishman now returns to his brethren in the camp, and informs them of the combat which he is to have on the morrow with a young Scot, whose pride he means to take down. * He showed his brethren of his land How ane young Scot had ta'en on hand To fecht with him beside Montreuil, " Bot I trust he shall pruife the fuil." Quoth they, " The morn that sail we ken, The Scots are haldin hardie men." ' "When," continues Lindsay, "it was reported to Monsieur D'Aubigny that the squire had taken on hand to fight with Tal- bart, he greatly commended his courage, and, requesting his pre- sence in his tent, interrogated him upon the subject. Meldrum then modestly acknowledged that he had for the honour of Scotland undertaken that battle ; adding, that were he as well horsed as he was armed, he had little doubt of the victory. Upon this D'Aubigny sent through the host, and, collecting a hundred horse, bade the squire select the steed which pleased him best. He did so accordingly, and, lightly leaping on his back, pushed him to his speed and, checking him in his career, declared that no horse in the world could run more pleasantly. The picture of the youthful warrior setting out for the combat all armed except the head, with his helmet borne before him by his squire, is charm- ingly given : — * Gaul, the son of Morni. Sect. II. Sill DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 231 ' He took his leave, and went to rest, Then early in the morn him drest Wantonly in his warlike weed, All bravely armed, except the heid. He leapt upon his courser good, And proudly in his stirrups stood. His spear and shield and helm was borne By squyers that rode him beforne ; A velvet cap on head he bare, A coif of gold confined his hair. * * * * * The squyer bore into his shield An otter in a silver field.* His horse was barded full richlie, Covered with satin cramosie. Then forward rode this campioun With sound of trumpet and clarioun, And speedilie spurrit o'er the bent, Like Mars, the god armipotent.' " Talbart, in the mean time, is greatly disturbed by a dream, in which he sees a great black otter rise from the sea, and fiercely attack him, pulling him down from his horse. He relates the vision to his friends, who ridicule his consternation ; and, ashamed of his weakness, he arms himself at all points, and, mounting his horse, proceeds to the lists. The arrangement of the lists, and the meeting of the combatants, is extremely spirited. ' Then clariouns and trumpets blew, And weirioursf mony hither drew ; On every side come monie man, To behald wha the battel wan. The field was in a meadow green, Where every man micht weill be seen. The heralds put them sa in order, That na man past within the border, Nor pressit to come within the green, Bot heralds and the campiouns keen. The order and the circumstance Were lang to put in remembrance. When thir twa nobill men of weir Were weill accouterit in their geir,£ And in their handis Strang bourdounes,§ Then trumpets blew, and clariounis ; And heraldis cryit, hie on hicht, Now let them go — God schaw the richt ! * The arms of Meldrum in Sir David Lindsay's Heraldry p. 111. are. argen demi-otter issuing out of a bar waved, sable. f Warriors. % Warlike habiliments. § Strong spears. 232 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. Then speedily they spurrit their horse, And ran to uther* with sic force, That baith thair spears in sindrie flaw.'f " After an obstinate contest, Talbart's dream is realised : he is vanquished, and thrown to the earth with such force that his companions believe him dead. 4 Then it was,' says the legend, c that the squire leaped lightly from his horse, and, taking the wounded knight in his arms, courteously supported and com- forted him ; but when he looked up and saw his shield, with the device of an otter upon a silver field, " Ah," said he, " now hath my dream proved true : yours is^ the otter that hath caused me to bleed ; but never shall I just again. Here, therefore, accord- ing to our agreement, I yield to thee both horse and harness." ' ' Then said the squire most courteously, " I thank you, brother, heartily ; But nothing from thee must I take, — I fight for love and honour's sake ; Who covets more is but a churl, Be he a belted knight or earl." ' " Delighted with these noble sentiments, the captain of the English takes Meldrum by the hand, and leads him into the pavilion, where he is served with a sumptuous collation, and highly commended by all for his valour and generosity. Mean- while, Talbart's wounds are dressed ; and the squire, before taking his leave, embraces him with tenderness, and bids him be of good cheer, for this was but . the chance of arms. He then mounts his horse, and returns to his own camp, where he is received with much honour. " From Picardy the squire proceeded to Normandy, as the navy of Scotland was still lying on that coast ; and finding little opportunity of gaining distinction, he put himself at the head of a company of a hundred and sixty men-at-arms, — ' Enarmed well, like men of weir, With hackbut, culvering, pike, and spear and returned to Amiens, where Lewis of France was then encamped. As the war had terminated, however, he found no military employment ; and although much courted in France, * Against each other. f Flew asunder. / Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 233 and 1 asked in marriage by a lady of great possessions,' youth made him so 6 light-headed,' that he did not choose to wed ; and having fitted out a ship for himself and his soldiers, well fur- nished with * artillery, bow, and speir,' besides the best wine that he could select, he set sail from Dieppe for Scotland. On the voyage, he was borne down upon by an English privateer, of far greater size and strength than his own vessel ; yet he disdained to attempt an escape ; and, after a desperate engagement, captured the hostile galzeon, by boarding her. He then con- tinued his voyage ; and, on his arrival in Scotland, was welcomed home with much delight, and feasted by all his friends. ' Out thro' the land then sprang the fame That Squyer Meldrum was come hame. When they heard tell how he debaitit, With every man he was so traitit, That when he travelled thro' the land They feasted him fra hand to hand, With great solace, till, at the last, Out thro' Strathern the Squyer past ; And as it did approach the night, Of ane castell he got a sight, Beside a mountain in a vale ; And there after his long travail, He purposit him to repois,* Whereat his men did much rejois.f Of this triumphant pleasant place A lovely ladie mistress was, Whose lord was dead short time before, Wherethro' her dolour was the more ; But yet she took some comforting To hear the pleasant dulce talking Of this young squyer, of his chance, And how it fortuned him in France.' " The manners of the times are strongly marked in the pas- sage describing the squire's bedchamber. ' He found his chalmer weill arrayit With dornikj work, on board displayit. Of venisoun he had his waill,§ Gude aquavitse, wine, and aill, With noble comfits, bran, and geill ; || And so the squyer fared right weill.' * Repose. t Rejoice. X Napery. § Choice. || Brawn and jelly. 234 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. " This adventure concluded, as might be expected, in the gal- lant Meldruni gaining the heart of this young widow : but dis- covering that he is related to her late husband, they delay the marriage till a dispensation can be procured from Rome. Mean- while, as they have plighted their troth to each other, he remains at the castle. ' And sa he levit pleasantlie Ane certain time with his ladle. Sometime with hawking and hunting, Sometime with wanton horse finning ; And sometime, like ane man of weir, Full galzeardlie wald rin ane speir. He wan the prize above them all, Baith at the butts and the futeball ; Till every solace he was abill, At cartis and dyce, at chess and tabill : And gif ye list, I shall you tell How he besiegit ane castell.' " Into the particulars of this siege we may not enter ; but messengers having arrived in Strathern to inform his beautiful mistress that a baron, named Macfarlane, had violently occupied one of her castles in the Lennox, the squire declares his deter- mination to proceed instantly against him. 1 Intill his hart there grew sic ire, That all his body brint like fire, And swore it suld full dear be said, Gif he should find him in that hald.'* "The squire now arms himself, assembles his men, and. with his lady's right-hand glove in his helmet, rides day and night till he reaches the castle, which, after an obstinate defence, he carries by escalade, exhibiting as much clemency in sparing Macfarlane when he lay in his power, as he had shewn courage and martial skill in the siege. ' And so this squyer amorous Siegit and won the lady's house, And left therein a capitaue, Then to Strathern returned agane, Where that he by his fair ladie Receivit was full pleasantlie.' * Swore if he found him in that hold it should be a dear purchase. Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 235 " In the midst of ttiis solace there occurs a sudden and me- lancholy change, which is thus sweetly introduced hy Lindsay, — ' Of warldlie joy it is weill kenn'd That sorrow bene the fatal end ; For jealousy and false envie Did him persew richt cruellie. I marvel not tho' it be so, For they were ever lovers' foe.' " Stirling of Keir, a cruel knight, who possessed an estate near thi.s lady's castle, in Strathern, had, it seems, determined that a gentleman of his acquaintance should marry her, and, disappointed in his hopes by the arrival of Squire Meldrum, he lays a cowardly plot for his destruction. Accordingly, when about to cross the ferry between Leith and Fife, on his return from Edinburgh, where he had been called by business, he finds himself beset by his mortal enemy, with a party of sixty men. Yet, although only eight servants were in his company, such is his indomitable valour, that he disdains to fly ; and, after a desperate contest, is left for dead on the field, bathed in his blood, and almost cut to pieces by unnumbered wounds. Anthony D'Arcy, Seigneur de la Bastie, a French knight of great valour and accomplishment, was, at this moment, lieutenant or sub-governor of Scotland, appointed by the Duke of Albany, then regent. He happened to be passing with his suite near the spot where the unfortunate Meldrum had been left by his cruel assailants, and instantly ordering a pursuit, and personally engaging in it, he apprehended the assassin, and had him lodged in ward, before a few hours had elapsed. Before, however, the trial came on, he was himself most cruelly waylaid and murdered by Flome of Wedderburn ;* and Meldrum, who now slowly recovered from his wounds, had the mortification to see his mortal enemy liberated from confinement, and to hear that his lovely mistress had been compelled to marry, in spite of the strongest resistance on her side. When the squire lay so grievously wounded in his lodging, the wisest physicians in the country are described as flocking unsought to give him their advice ; and so ably did he profit by their attendance and instructions, that, in the course of his recovery, he himself became * In 1518. 236 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. an expert 4 leech,' and greatly benefited the poor by prescribing for them. * The greatest leeches of the land Came to him all without command, And all practikis on him provit, Because he was sa weill belovit ; They took on hand his life to save, And he them gave what they would have ; But he sa lang lay into pain, He turned to be ane chirurgiane ; And als by his natural ingyne,* He learned the art of medicine. He saw them on his bodye wrocht, Wherefor the science was dearlie bought. But afterward when he was haill He sparit na cost, nor yet travail, To prove his practicks on the puir, And on them workit many a cure.' " Greatly weakened in his constitution by his wounds, but bearing a high reputation, not only for warlike experience but civil wisdom, Meldrum was courted by Patrick Lord Lindsay of the Byres, f an ' aged lord,' who delighted in his company, and prevailed on him to become his chief marischal, and auditor of his accounts. He was also made sheriff-depute of Fife,J and proved not only an equal judge and generous friend to the poor, but, from his wonderful knowledge of medicine, he delighted in visit- ing those who were sick or wounded, and distributing to all his advice and his medicines without recompense. The conclusion shews in a very pleasing manner his faithfulness to those vows which he had so solemnly made to his betrothed mistress in Strathern : — ' Then each year, for his lady's sake, A banquet royal he would make, With wild fowl, venison, and wine, With tart, and flam, and frutage fine ; Of bran or geill there was no scant, And ippocras he wald not want. I have seen sitting at his tabill Lords and lairdis honorabill, With knightis and mony a gay squyar, Which were too lang for to declair ; Genius. t Our old acquaintance, " Mr. Patrick" of the stramping foot. % By Lord Lindsay, the Sheriff principal. Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 237 With mirth, musick, and minstrelsy. All this he did for his ladie, And for her sake, during his life, Wald never be wedded till ane wife. And when he did decline to age He faillit ne'er of his courage. Of ancient stories for to tell, Above all other he did precell ; So that everilk creature To hear him speak took great pleasure.' " After some years," during which he grew old among the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of his early patron, 44 this illustrious squire was seized with a mortal illness, and expired at the Struther in Fife, the castle of" John Lord Lindsay, the grand- son and heir of Lord Patrick. " During his sickness, however, he had leisure to write his testament, which has been thrown into verse by Sir David Lindsay with much spirit and beauty. It is a remarkable production, and, independent of its poetical merit, which is of a high kind, may be studied with advantage as an authentic picture of a dying warrior of those times. It breathes from beginning to end the soul of chivalry. First, we have the squire's acknowledgment of the instability and brevity of all human existence ; — my body, says he, is now weak, I plainly feel I am about to pay my debt to nature ; but I here resign to God my spirit which he hath made immortal. 4 My spreit hartlie I recommend In manus tuas, Domine ; My hope to thee is to ascend, Hex ! quia redimisti me. From sin resurrexisti me, Or else my saul had been forlorn ; With sapience docuisti me, — Blest be the hour that thou wast born ! 5 44 Having declared his faith and trust in God, he proceeds to nominate three noble lords, all of the name of Lindsay, to be his executors, — David Earl of Crawford, John Lord Lindsay, his 44 master special," and Sir Walter Lindsay, Lord St. John, a noble travelled knight.* 4 1 do so,' says he, 4 because the surname of Lindsay never failed to the Crown, and will never fail to me.' His injunctions now become minute. 4 Dispose,' says he, 4 of my * The Preceptor of Torphichen, of whom I have spoken supra, p. 190. 238 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. X. wealth to my next of kin, according to your pleasure. It is well known I was never addicted to heaping or hoarding. I cared no more for gold than for glass. And ye, my dear friends, vvho are my relatives by blood, fail not, I beseech you, to be present at my funeral feast. Ye know how magnanimously I have defended that family fame which is dear to us all. As to the disposal of my body, it is my command that ye first disembowel it, and, having washed it well with wine, enclose it in a costly carved shrine of cedar or cypress, anointing it with delicious balm, cinnamon, and the most precious spices.' 1 In cases twain, of gold and precious stones, Enshrine my heart and tongue right craftily, Then raise a monument above my bones In holy abbaye, plac'd triumphantly, Of marble blocks ensculptur'd curiously ; Therein my coffin and my dust enclose, Within those solemn precincts to repose.' " There succeeds a curious specimen of the general belief in judicial astrology in these times. ' It is certain,' says the squire, ' that the constellations of Mars, Venus, and Mercury presided over my nativity. To their influence I owe my fame in foreign lands. Wherefore,' says he, 1 1 leave my body to Mars, my ornate tongue to Mercury, and my faithful heart to Venus.' This conduct is eulogised by Lindsay as devout, pious, and charitable, so there evidently appeared nothing improper in this pagan style of testament, which to our ears sounds so profane and unchristian. The same strange mixture of warlike triumph and joyous devotion, of christian and classical imagery, runs through the whole. ' Let me be buried,' says he, 4 in every way like a warrior; let there be no monks or friars, or anything in a black livery about my bier.' 1 Duill* weeds I think hypocrisie, and scorne ; With heudis heklit doun athwart their een,f By men of arms my body shall be borne ; Into that band see that no black be seen, But let the liveries be red, blue, and green.' "The funeral procession, or rather the martial triumph, is directed to be under the heraldic care of his friend, Sir David Lindsay. * Mourning. t With hoods pulled down over their eyes. Sect. II. SIR DAVID OF THE MOUNT. 239 ' My friend, Sir David Lindsay, of the Mont, Shall put in order my processioun. I will that there pass foremost in the front, To bear my pensil, a stout campioun, With him a band of Mars' religioun — That is to say, instead of monks and freirs, In gude ordour ane thousand hagbutteirs. ' Next them a thousand footmen in a rout, With spear and shield, with buckler, bow, and brand, In liveries rich, young stalwart men and stout ; Thirdly, in order there shall come a band Of warriors, that know well to wreck their harmes,* — ■ Their captain with my standard in his hand : On barbed steeds a hundred men-at-arms.' " It would be tedious to marshal the whole procession. The silver banner with the three sable otters, the helmet carried by a knight, the sword, gloves of plate, shield, and the coat armour, are all dwelt on by the dying squire with affectionate earnestness ; and their places fixed for them in the procession. Then follow his barbed horse, and his spear carried by some brave man of his own kindred. After which the procession is to be closed by a multitude of earls, lords, and knights, clothed in the livery of the deceased, and bearing each a laurel branch in their hands — as a proof that the warrior, whom they are carrying to the grave, never fled from any field, or yielded himself prisoner to an enemy. ' Each baron bearing in his hand on high A laurel bough, ensign of victory ; Because I never fled out of the field, Nor yet as prisoner to my foes did yield.' " Having arrived at the cathedral, after the gospel and the offertory, the squire directs an orator to ascend the pulpit, where, with ornate eloquence and at great leisure, he is to read the book of the legend of his life from end to end. 6 Then,' says he, ' enclose my body in his sepulture, but let no knell be rung.' ' Let not be rung for me that day soul-knells, But great cannounis gar them crack for bells.' ZW ■ 4 fiord Bate**™ 1 7 > Jqpk&uM mft \%\AUa> /fEarlrfB:- ^.Jnnn.fa* wife. llO" iW 111) /W.^r, ofEdudwiyh, (12'.ZW Z/U jH»wMmaU laird ofEd/ufl ( 13> .' ^ . ? r^*> >?"£ a .yl of & J m.dnm fay -mft . 1 20) d&E e^EaAofB.A 'l\\Elu< fas-mfo (22). ft f 1* .hi in' Burn, ard. B . J, ft. Sect. I. CATHERINE COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD. 327 the antipodes in disposition and character, continually associated in what appears to us most unequal and unnatural friendship — and though the strangest contrasts constantly perplex us even in the characters of the same individuals — still the growth of that civilization, though retarded by many causes, has been clearly progressive ever since. David of Edzell, ninth Earl of Crawford, died, as I before mentioned, in 1558, at his castle of Invermark in Forfarshire, bequeathing his soul " to the Omnipotent God and the whole Court of Heaven," and his body to be buried " in his own aisle within the church of Edzell," added by him to that edifice some years before.* One slight additional trait may be here added to his character, his paternal care over his servants and followers, thus, self-reproachfully, alluded to in a letter written many years afterwards by his son, John Lindsay of Balcarres, to his elder brother, of Edzell : — " My men is not meet for you, nor yours for me ; for nane of us takes over meikle pains to bring them up sa weill as our fader did." He left five sons, Sir David, his successor, and John, afterwards of Balcarres, the two eldest, — Sir Walter, of Balgawies, the third — a convert to Catholicism, and the most zealous and daring "confessor" of his time — the confirmer of Huntley, Errol, and Angus in the faith — keeping " open receipt" for Catholics in his castle of Balgawies, where mass was regularly performed by an English Jesuit, who was afterwards martyred in England — and whose profession, we are told, was notwithstanding attended with impunity, through "the devilish custom" of "deadly feid (feud) in Scotland," through which "none durst mell (meddle) with the said baron, by reason of his great friend- ship in the country and good fellows he held about him,"t — James, the fourth son, the Protestant rector of Fettercairn — a mild, learned, and accomplished divine, warmly attached to his brother * Will, dated at Invermark, 20th of Sept. 1558. Haigh Muniment-room. — His first wife, Janet Gray, dying in 1549, bequeaths her body similarly to be buried " in . . . insula infra ecclesiam parochialem de Edzell, per dictum nobilem dominum, meum sponsum, noviter constructa." Ibid. f See the * Content of the Discourse made by Mr. Walter Lindsay of Balgays,' 1586, referred to supra, p. 312, and printed in the Appendix, No. XXX. — Sir Walter's castle of Balgawies was destroyed by King James in his Northern expe- dition, 1593. Tytler, torn. ix. p. 173.— He was afterwards, as will be seen, mur- dered by David Earl of Crawford, 328 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. John, and who died young, while on a mission to Geneva,* — and, lastly, Robert Lindsay of Balhall, the fifth, who lived and died a plain country gentleman in Angus. Earl David had two daughters also, Margaret and Elizabeth, the wives respectively of John Earl of Atholt and of Patrick third Lord Drummond.J He bequeathed his children to the sole guardianship of his widow, * He visited France, in the first instance, to seek relief from the stone, by which he was painfully afflicted. He says in a letter to his brother John, dated Paris [1579]: — " As concerning myself, please you wit, the 24th of this instant, August, I have ta'en my voyage from this town towards Geneva, being pressit thereto baith be sundry writings from the ministry in Scotland, as also be ane infinity of Scotsmen here, wha, ye knaw, are mony ways fashious. By (besides) this, some sight of the country, with far greater commodity in my expenses, and the winter season being at hand, did haste me. I knaw ye will do in my matters as ane loving brother, wherever I be." He died at Geneva, the 15th of June, 1580, and an epitaph or elegy to his memory was written by the celebrated Andrew Melville, and may be found in the Delicice Poetarum Scotorum, edit. 1637, p. 122, or (partly) in MacCrie's Life of Melville, torn. i. p. 426. The following are extracts from it :— " Dum te magnus amor virtutis, et astheris alti Igneus ardor agit, patriam, fratresque, sororesque, Et matrem instantis luctantem in limine lethi Deseris ; a Oceani fluctus, hyemesque feroces, Atque omnes terras casus, ccelique ruinas Ter frustra aggressus, ter retro, 0 fata ! repulsus, Secure contemnis ; et effugis Anglobritanni Arva beata quidem, sed adhuc minus hospita, necnon Celtaiumi crudele solum, crudelia tandem Regna dolis Italorum atris ; et caade recenti Carneficum dirorum infamia, b Sequana qua se Obliquat flexu vario .... Jam Genevam, Genevam verse pietatis alumnam, Florentem studiis coelestibus omine magno Victor ovans subis ; ac voti jam parte potitus, Jam Bezae dulci alloquio, &c. &c. . . . .... Non jam tu urbes hominesque videre Amplius, aut patriam rursus, carosque parentes, Visere, vel fratres optas, dulcesque sorores . . . At nobis reditum lastum exoptantibus, ultro Tu, mi Iacobe ! polumque petens, patriamque perennem, Luctum, eheu ! lacrymasque relinquis ! Te canas flevere Alpes, visaeque Lemanno Illacrymare cano ; visus pater ipse Lemannus, Et Rhodanus liquidis planctum miscere sub undis." f Then Lord Innermeath, — " head of a noted and lawful branch of the House of Stewart, created Earl of Athol in 1595, and by whom she had issue James Earl of Athol." Crawford Case, p. 177. \ " The head of that great House ; from which connexion the Earls of Perth and Melfort (Dukes abroad), and the four first Dukes of Roxburgh, &c., were male de- scendants, besides a host of nobility in the female line." Crawford Case, p. 177. a The Countess Catherine died Sept. 17, I b Allusive to the recent Massacre of 1578. | st. Bartholomew. Sect. I. CATHERINE COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD. 329 Dame Catherine Campbell, together with a third of the whole Crawford and Edzell estate as her " terce," or jointure. She is spoken of accordingly by the English envoy, Randolph, in 1564-5, as "the greatest marriage" — the richest heiress or dowered widow — " in Scotland." * But she preferred the memory of Earl David to any new alliance. She survived her husband for twenty years, sparing no pains or expense in the education of her children, and acting towards them, in all respects, the part of a most wise and judicious parent. She resided chiefly at Edzell, and occasionally at the Castle of Brechin, and in the Earl's Lodging, the ancient residence of the Earls of Crawford at Dundee.f David and John, the two eldest sons, appear to have been born respectively in 1551 and 15524 They were brought up at Edzell among their clansmen, and on reaching the fit age were sent to pursue their studies on the Continent under the care of Mr. James Lawson, § afterwards the well-known colleague of John Knox in the ministry of Edinburgh, — " a man of singular learning, zeal, and eloquence," says Mr. James Melville, " whom I never heard preach but he meltit my heart with tears." || While to the epithets, " pious, learned, eloquent, modest, zealous, prudent," bestowed on him by Dr. MacCrie,TT I can add my own testimony to his disinterestedness and integrity, as evinced in his correspondence with Lady Crawford during his superintendence of her sons' studies abroad. * In a letter to Sir William Cecil, 20th of March, 1564-5, Keith's Hist. Church, torn. ii. p. 272. f On her celebrated Northern progress, in 1562, Queen Mary honoured Edzell by her presence for one night, on the 25th of August. Keith, torn. ii. p. 157. — Imagination can easily picture the still young and blooming Countess, and her fair train of sons and daughters, receiving her at the great gates of the Castle. The Queen held a council that day at Edzell, — in all probability it took place in the pleasance or garden described infra, Sect. II., according to her constant habit of receiving ambassadors, and discussing affairs of state with her ministers and nobles, out of doors, — for which see Chalmers' Life, torn. i. p. 71. — 'The room she slept in at Edzell subsequently weut by the name of the Queen's Chamber. % Crawford Case, p. 217. § Spotswood, p. 335. || Memoirs, p. 26. — He describes him elsewhere as " for gifts and estimation chief amangs the ministry," p. 146. ^ Life of And. Melville, torn. i. p. 323. — " A man he was," says Archbishop Spotswood, " of good learning and judgment, of a pious and peaceable disposition, but carried too much with the idle rumours of the people." Hist., p. 335. 330 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. Through this worthy man, and the patron who recommended him, the better principles of the Scottish Reformation descended in a direct line from the Lion King, Sir David Lindsay. You have already become acquainted with his last and most elaborate work, the ' Monarchic' " Row," says Dr. MacCrie, speaking of Sir David's poems, " has preserved an anecdote which serves to illustrate their influence and the manner in which the reformed sentiments were propagated at that period. Some time between 1550 and 1558, a friar was preaching at Perth in the church where the scholars of Andrew Simson attended public worship. In the course of his sermon, after relating some of the miracles wrought at the shrines of the Saints, he began to inveigh bitterly against the Lutheran preachers, who were going about the country, and endeavouring to withdraw the people from the Catholic faith. When he was in the midst of his invective, a loud hissing arose in that part of the church where the boys, to the number of three hundred, were seated, so that the friar, abashed and affrighted, broke off his discourse and fled from the pulpit. A complaint having been made to the master, he instituted an enquiry into the cause of the disturbance, and, to his astonishment, found that it originated with the son of a craftsman in the town, who had a copy of Lindsay's ' Monarchic,' which he had read at intervals to his schoolfellows. When the master was about to administer severe chastisement to him, both for the tumult he had occasioned, and also for retaining in his possession such an heretical book, the boy very spiritedly replied that the book was not heretical, requested his master to read it, and professed his readiness to submit to punishment, provided any heresy was found in it.* This proposal appeared so reasonable to Simson, that he perused the work, which he had not formerly seen, and was convinced of the truth of the boy's statement. He accordingly made the best excuse which he could to the magistrates for the behaviour of his scholars, and advised the friar to abstain in future from extolling miracles and from abusing the Protestant preachers. From that time Simson was friendly to the Reformation." f — On the esta- * This supports my view of Sir David's religious creed and character as a Ke- former. Neither John Knox, nor Lawson, nor any of the later Protestant divines would have thus judged it. f Life of Knox, p. 398; Kow's Hist, of the Kirk, p. 6.— Kow adds this anecdote, in sequence to the passage quoted supra, p. 220. Sect. I. CATHERINE COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD. 331 blishment of the Kirk of Scotland, he became one of its ministers ; he was a learned man and an author, and many of his pupils highly distinguished themselves in after life. Of these James Lawson was one ; Simson, being much struck with the talent and avidity for learning which he displayed as a poor boy, took him to his own home, gave him an excellent education, and afterwards recommended him to Lady Crawford.* Through this spiritual genealogy, therefore, Sir David may, in some sort, be reckoned as an ancestor of the Houses of Edzell and Balcarres. The expedition of Mr. Lawson and his pupils was, however, less fortunate than had been expected, as appears from the letters of the worthy " governor." The first is addressed to Mr. David Borthuik of Lochhill, Lord Advocate, the friend and legal adviser of Lady Crawford, to whom he sent it after perusal. They had a"stormy voyage to Dieppe, where they were hospitably welcomed by a Scottish merchant, Mr. William Aikman, who sent up with them to Paris, " to convoy us, Matthew Aikman," probably his son or nephew, " ane guid young man, who did us great pleasure, and wald receive na recompense of us, albeit we offerit [it] instantly (pressingly) and honestly." Previously, however, to quitting Dieppe, "we visitit my Lord Duke's Grace," at the Chateau d'Arques, " and was honourably and gladly entreatit of him, who speirit at (enquired of) David the whole maner of your worship's house, the number of male and female, the weill- fare of his guiddame (grandmother), sindry times," and " efter we had dinit, he causit us to be honourably convoyit (escorted) again to Dieppe to our supper." t They took up their quarters at Paris J in the "rue of Cannes, near the College of Rheims, * MacCrie's Life of Melville, torn. i. p. 323. f I do not know who this Duke was. % Mr. Lawson's statement of expenses illustrates the rate of travelling in those days in France : — " We come to Paris the xiii day of April ; the expences betwix Dieppe and Paris was very large, — at meltith (meal-time) every man was at noon whiles (sometimes) x, and whiles ix sous, — at even man and horse xv whites, a and sometimes xvi sous. Our horse hire was xiii crowns. The boat from the raid (road) to Dieppe, convoying of clothes, and expences in Dieppe, was v crowns So that or (before) we came to Paris, 1 crowns were spendit, and more." — In Paris, " Mr. John Menteith had preparit for us, before our coming, ane lodging wherein we have two chalmers, four studies, and other easements" (" aysiamenta," or accom- modations) " at will. The burden (rent) is in the year lvi crowns," &c. a " White-money, silver pieces. A Scandinavian idiom, — Sueio- Gothic, hwita pen- ningar, silver money." Jamieson. 332 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. at the sign of the Bowl, not far from the place where the King's Lectors reads, standand conveniently near to all the Colleges," — and for a short while all was propitious. But Mr. Lawson's second letter, addressed to Lady Crawford, must have surprised her, being dated from London. Troubles had broken out between the Catholics and Huguonots, and they had been obliged to fly from Paris at a moment's warning, leaving their books behind them, and saving nothing but the clothes on their backs. They took refuge at Dieppe, where they " abode for ane space, looking for some peace and aggreance between the King and the Prince " de Conde. — But ultimately, adds Mr. Lawson, we were " con- strained also to leave Dieppe, for the Captain of the Castle of Dieppe convenit with M. Ramelerie, Vice- Admiral of Normandy, who quietly brought in the castle four hundred men of weir (war), who, after three combats, raising of fire in the town, and slaughter, obtainit victory and tuik the town. In the beginning of the assault the ports (gates) were halden close, that we could not get furth, yet we purchasit (obtained) the means to pass furth in the road (harbour) be ship, and remainit there ane space to behald the end of the matter, bot we saw nothing but spoiling and slaughter, and therefore were compellit to pass over to England." They rode to London, and from thence proposed, when the letter was written, to " pass to the University of Cambridge," to remain there till peace should admit of their return to Paris, or till they should receive further instructions from Lady Crawford. " These troubles," adds Mr. Lawson, feelingly 3 " make me to be tirit and weary of my office. Some part easy it is to be ane pedagogue in peace, but in sic times I have found be experience what solicitude it makes." He proceeds to touch upon the character of his pupils, with due discrimination. " I think it were not the warst to send for David, for, to speak the truth, I find him not so obedient to my counsel as I wald wish, and therefore I desire rather to be exonerate nor (than) to admonish in vain. I will not dissimile, but I rather will shew the truth, that your Ladyship have no occasion to accuse me. I counsel, I exhort, privately and openly, and albeit I profit something, yet not so meikle as I wald wish. — John is able to come to great understanding of letters, and gives him wholly for the same, and therefore guid it were that he continue it. Letters" Sect. I. CATHERINE COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD. 333 (he adds) " may be learnit here " (that is, at Cambridge), " near als weill as in Paris, and we hope that Paris shall be at rest hastily, for now the Prince has set his whole force aganes the town, he sieges the same and the fauxbourgs,* and guid hope there is of his victory, or else that the matter shall come to aggreance." A later letter from Cambridge informs Lady Crawford, that " our being this space in England has not been unprofitable, for by (besides) that we have seen the fashions of the country, the order of the University, and manner of the schools, we have also not put off time in vain towards our study in guid letters." Their expenses, he says, had been considerable, owing to their many journeys, the loss of their books and clothes," and the necessity of buying new ones, — but, he adds, " your ladyship's three hundred crowns will serve more nor (than) ane year. It would have servit far longer, if troubles had not ensewit. Our time " (he concludes) " has been troublesome, but God has preservit us in our dangers, (praisit be He therefore !) and so the loss of gear (property) is less to be regardit." t I cannot give such minute details respecting the subsequent education of the two brothers. David, I believe, soon afterwards returned to Scotland, — but the sum of two thousand pounds is stated in a legal paper, dated 1572, to have been spent by his mother upon her son, " Maister John Lindsay," in " entertaining and upbringing him at the schools in Scotland, England, and divers times in France," J so that I conclude he returned to Paris as soon as circumstances permitted. § After the return of her eldest son, Lady Crawford bought his marriage from the Crown, and gave it to him, and he took to wife * Foberis, orig. f Letters, Haiyh Muniment-room. X Contract between the Countess of Crawford and Mr. John Lindsay, &c. Haigh Muniment-room. § " After his return to his native country," says MacCrie, Mr. Lawson " testified his gratitude by the zeal with which he uniformly promoted public education ; and his exertions in restoring the High School, and erecting the University of Edinburgh, entitle his name to a place among the distinguished benefactors of literature/' Life of And. Melville, torn. i. p. 324. — Lawson's appointment, in De- cember, 1568, to the office of " pedagogue in University Street," determines the period of his visit to Paris with Lady Crawford's sons as anterior to that date. Lawson was afterwards Principal of Old College, Aberdeen, and preached at Edinburgh for twelve years. Spotswood, p. 335. — I have mentioned his death supra, p. 308. 334 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. Lady Helen Lindsay, sister of Lord Crawford, " without any tocher," or fortune, as mentioned in a preceding page.* She bore him two sons and four daughters, but died young, in 1579, and he subsequently married Dame Isabel Forbes, granddaughter of John the sixth Lord Forbes, and widow of Innes of Cromie, ancestor of the later Dukes of Roxburgh, — a woman older than himself, but most excellent and amiable, whom he loved with deep affection, and who survived him, but without leaving any issue. John Lindsay, in the mean while, had been provided for in a manner of universal usage in those days, but certainly most reprehensible, and even sacrilegious — by the revenues of the rectories of Menmuir, Lethnot, and Lochlee, in Angus, livings in the gift of the Edzell family, | and from the former of which, like other laymen similarly circumstanced, he took the style, familiar to every Scottish antiquary, of Parson of Menmuir. J He had also the tiends, or tithes, of certain parishes, § and a pension of two hundred pounds annually out of the bishopric of St. Andrews, || and the small estate of Drumcairn, in Angus, was settled upon * Supra, p. 205. — On the family resubsiding into simple Lairds of Edzell, Sir David resumed the star in the centre of his shield, the mark of difference originally assumed by Walter of Beaufort, — as appears from his seal attached to various charters in the Haigh Muniment-room. This difference was not however rigidly adhered to, and the Edzell family frequently bore the simple arms of Crawford, — though without the supporters, till they became chiefs of the clan. f Settled upon him while yet a child, by charters in the Haigh Muniment-room. X " After the Reformation in Scotland, and complete abolition of Papacy, in 1560, the nobility and barons stepped into the possessions of the Romish clergy, and thereby alimented and provided their otfspring ; from whence it happened that the latter, having secured the temporalities even of abbeys, priories, and bishoprics, . . were, although laics, and occasionally mere striplings or infants, styled Abbots, Priors, and Bishops, — besides innumerable instances of their figuring as Parsons and Rectors after the fashion of Mr. John Lindsay. This was moreover advan- tageous to the former, as, in right of such titles and possessions,**they claimed a seat and vote in Parliament, like their predecessors before the Reformation." Crawford Case, p. 215. — Mr. Riddell cites, in illustration of the above, the case of " Walter, Prior of Blantyre," the first Lord Blantyre, a laic, and that of Robert Stuart, Earl of Lennox, u who obtained the patrimony of the Bishopric of Caithness in his youth, and who, as Keith observes, ' never ' took * priest's orders,' and yet was described, in a solemn religious commission, as a 1 Reverend Father in God, Robert Bishop of Caithness,'" ( Crawford Case, p. 215,) — " an audacity," observes the ' Quarterly Review,' " from which a late royal and gallant Bishop of Osnaburgh would have shrunk." Q. B., torn, lxxvii. p. 474. § Contract, 21 Sept. 1555, Haigh Muniment-room. || By writ under the Privy Seal, 11 July, 1576. Sect. I. CATHERINE COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD. 335 him. He applied himself, however, to the study of the law as his profession, and rose so rapidly to celebrity, that he was deemed fit for a seat in the Supreme Civil Court, or Court of Session, when not yet thirty years of age. Difficulties, indeed, occurred at the outset ; he had powerful enemies, but not less powerful friends— with the Earl of Argyle and the Duke of Lennox at the head of them ; the former being his near kinsman, the latter proba- bly propitiated by Mr. David Lindsay of Leith, who had converted him to the Reformed faith. Arran, on the other hand, the rival of Lennox in the King's favour, opposed his advancement in the Privy Council ; and the Prior of Blantyre, as John Lindsay states in a letter to his brother Edzell, "persuadit so the King, that, for nothing my Lords Argyle or Lennox could do, his Grace wald not grant my presentation ; whereupon I declarit to my Lord of Lennox, that, in case his Grace desirit ony man to be preferrit rather nor (than) me, I wald . . . content myself as I was of before." Lennox, however, would not permit this, " and hes so dealt with the King sinsyne (since) " adds Lindsay, " that he has causit me deliver him my presentation, whilk he hes promisit to gar the King subscrive." * This was done accordingly, and on the 5th * " Always," he adds, " albeit I get it subscrivit, nothing can be done while (till) the sentence of barratrie (simony) be pronuncit against Mr. Archibald, the day whereof is in April," — this Mr. Archibald being titular Parson of Glasgow and Lord of Session, an intriguing bad character, youngest son of Douglas of Whittingham. — I subjoin the remainder of the letter, as historically interesting, being written at the moment of the discovery of a plot set on foot by Randolph, the agent of Queen Elizabeth, and to be executed by Douglas of Whittingham and certain servants of Morton — then in confinement, shortly before his execution — with a view to the rescue of that nobleman, the firm friend of Elizabeth ; and of which plot the seizure of the King was to have been the first act, and the capture or murder of Lennox, Montrose, and Argyle, the second. Lennox received inti- mation of it, seized Whittingham, put him to the rack, and discovered everything. Randolph fled to Berwick, and Elizabeth abandoned Morton to his fate. See Tytler's History, torn. viii. p. 87. The threats of an English invasion if Morton were injured, the patriotic feelings those threats elicited, and the pecuniary embarrassments of James, (which were such that, although it had been earnestly recommended that the King's person should be defended by a body-guard, it had been found impossible to raise funds to pay the soldiers' wages, Tytler, torn. viii. p. 61,) are also alluded to in this letter : — " As for news," continues Lindsay, " ye shall wit that the Lairds of Whiting (Whittingham) and Spot is detainit upon certain traffic whilk they had with Mr. Archibald Douglas in Berwick. George Affleck, 9 being ta'en in Edinburgh be Captain Stewart, hes suflerit the boots b sin- a Or Auchinleck, a servant of Morton. b A mode of torture then in use. 336 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. of July, 1581, " Mr. John Lindsay of Drumcairn" was presented by the King to the Lords, as " a man that fears God, of good literature, practice, judgment, and understanding of the laws, of good fame, having sufficient living of his own, and wha can make good expedition and despatch of matters touching the lieges of this kingdom," * — whereupon his election followed, and his adop- tion of the forensic title, by which he was subsequently known, of syne, and hes confessit three principal points, — the poisoning of the Earl of Athol be Alexander Jardine, in Stirling ; ane conspiration whilk should have been the last week execute, to take the King, slay my Lord Lennox, Montrose, and Newbottle, whilk was the thing whilk England hes been trafficand within the country this lang time, — the third is ane great quantity of my Lord of Morton's silver and gold within Aberdour, upon the whilk the place is ta'en, and Alexander Jardine brought to this town to be booted. The ministers now in time of their fast preachit very despitefully, but sen the confessions of George Auchinleck and Whiting — who also hes confessit freely that he knew of the last conjuration, baith the ministers is more calme and boasts themselves that this revelation is the fruict of their fasting, and also the hearts of the people is wonderfully movit, beside that divers others, seeing all hes failit, hes ta'en up ane new course ; for the Comptroller hes left the Court, and putten his sons in service with my Lord of Lennox,— Dunfermeline a is also to ride hame this vacance. As for the King's servants, order is ta'en that they who is not in quarter shall pass hame, and not burden the King his house, whilk order will depesche (despatch) more nor the half of them, who remainit daily, at the least for iii months, while (till) their quarter come in again. Divers of them is suspectit to have been participant of this last enterprise. Mr. John Colvil is also absent from that cause. Mr. John Provand is suspectit to have brought hame the Earl of Athol's poison, and is also absent out of this town. There is ane thousand fitmen (footmen) listit up. Edinburgh avances x thousand pounds. The ambassador " (Bowes, of England) " is to ride hame the beginning of the next week. The bruit of the weir (war) continues. As for the Gaird (Guard), it is not yet ta'en up, bot every noble man wakes the Abbey his nicht about. . . . Mr. Walter b is appointit be the Council to be ane of the King's domestics ; he is also ane of ane voluntary band of young gentlemen, who hes subscrivit ane band to serve the King the time of his weirs (wars) upon their awin expenses. As for William Symmer, ye shall wit that, because I bot reasonit the Tutor of Lovat's matter at ane friendly tryste (meeting) betwix him and my Lady March, I have lost my credit at Colonel Stewart's hand, who sinsyne has opponit himself plainly in Council to my presenta- tion, yet I shall see what may be done therein be the moyen (means) of others. — Nothing else, but commits you to God's protection. From Edinburgh, the 17th day of March, 1580. " Be your broder at command and service, " Mr. Jhon Lyndesay." c * Brunton and Haig, Hist. Account of the College of Justice, p. 177. a Elphinstone, Abbot of Dunfermeline, who had been sent to England, 1578, to excuse the King's poverty to Elizabeth. Tytler. b Afterwards Sir Walter Lindsay of Balgawies, already mentioned, brother of Sir David and John Lindsay. c The title " Master," in those days, was prefixed to their signatures by such as had taken an academic degree. Sect. I. CATHERINE COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD. 337 Lord Menmuir. Nor had King James ever reason to regret having consented to his promotion. — The same year, 1581, Lord Menmuir married Dame Marion Guthrie, granddaughter of Sir William of Lunen ; * and, five years afterwards, purchased the lands of Balcarres, Balniell, Pitcorthie, and others in Fifeshire, and obtained a royal charter uniting them into a free barony in his favour, f — an estate which, with the lands of Balmakin and Innerdovat in Angus, formed the original patrimony of the Bal- carres family. Three years before Lord Menmuir's promotion to the bench, his mother, the good Countess of Crawford, died at the Castle of Brechin, in Angus, on the 1st of October, 1578. She had been long unwell, and, feeling the approach of death, her habits of business did not desert her, — she sent for her lawyers, held long consultations, made her final dispositions, and set her house in order with the greatest composure and method, — bequeathing moreover in'her will, a minute and very curious document, lega- cies numberless to her children, her relatives, and friends, to her many retainers and chief servants, her " gentlemen " and " gen- tlewomen," and to the hospital of Dundee, J — bequests indeed less precious by far than the memory of her virtues. § She is the * She was the widow of Mr. David Borthuik of Lochhill, Lord Advocate, a cadet of the noble House of Borthuik, and the legal adviser and personal friend of John Lindsay's mother, Lady Crawford. Dame Marion was invested in liferent, inter alia, with the Earl's Lodging in Dundee, which had been settled upon John and his heirs-male, &c, by his mother, in 1572. Crau-ford Case, p. 216. t June 10, 1592. Reg. Mag. Sig. X Founded by Sir James Lindsay of Crawford in the fourteenth century. I sup- pose it is in virtue of this legacy that a correspondent of her eldest son, Sir David of Edzell, writes to him as follows, 19 Dec. 1581 : — " I have found ane agit father, of lxxiiii years, named Andro Michel soun, wha is your kinsman, his mother being ane dochter of the House of Morphie, — my Lord, your father, of guid memory, lovit him weill ; he hes beeu ane honest merchant in this town (Dundee) , but now both agit and failzeit (failed) in substance ; therefore your wisdom shall do weill to recommend him be your writing unto the Provost, bailzies, and sessioun of Dundee as your elemosynar, to be receavit in their hospital," &c. § She bequeaths a silver basin, engraved with her arms, and a cup, of silver gilt, purchased for her in France, " when I was in court with the Queen Kegent," together with her " greatest chainzie (chain) of gold," and " the pand a of ane bed of green streming, b broderit (embroidered) with black velvet and white silk, with the curtains of green Spanish taffetie and frinzies," to her eldest son David, — to a " A narrow curtain fixed to the roof I b " The cloth now called tammie or or lower part of a bed." Jamieson. | tameny." Ibid. VOL. I. Z 338 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. earliest that I can point to, in the dim twilight of the past, of a line of excellent mothers whom it has been my delight to recognize among our female ancestry, to whose early culture and watchful love many a virtue and many a blessing with which our forefathers have been gifted are under God attributable. Her influence, in particular, may be clearly traced in the character and career of her children, and especially of the two eldest — whose more familiar and domestic life and conversation must now claim our attention. SECTION n David — now Sir David Lindsay of Edzell,* — and his brother Lord Menmuir, had displayed a diversity of character from the first, as testified by Mr. Lawson, and this increased as they grew up, but it did not affect their love ; they continued dear friends through life. Edzell's character resembled the scenery of his native glens — all lights and shadows ; he possessed noble qualities — honour, generosity, warm affection, and even extreme tender- ness ; but, on the other hand, he was profuse and negligent of his affairs, and indifferent to bloodshed, at least in his earlier years, when feudal enmity or duty to his chief — a prominent principle of action with him as with his father — intervened. With all this, he Mr. John, the whole " plenishing" and furniture pertaining to her in the Lodging in Dundee, and a silver cup " as ane taiken (token) in remembrance of me, be reason he is absent presently from this realm," — to " Maistress Margaret Lindsay," her daughter, afterwards Countess of Athol, " my black velvet gown, with the white ermine, ane skirt of raisit purpure ; alsua my second great belt chainzie, with my neck chainzie, and ane pair of bracelets, all of gold, whilks are the fairest and best ornaments that I have," — besides " sax furneist beds, viz. the twa Flanderis, and four Scottish tykes a of beds, furneist with an Arras-wark covering, twa Scottish coverings, the best mat (coverlet), with the best blankets, sheets, cods (pillows), and boustars (bolsters) ; and furder, my white horse that I use to ride upon, with my best saddle," — and to " Dame Elizabeth Lindsay, Lady Drummond," her " golden bracelet, enamelit with white," with her " black velvet gown, bordered with ane border of broderit satin, and sax pair guid blankets," with all their de- pendencies. Haigh Muniment-room; Crawford Case, p. 176. * He was knighted at the creation of Esme Stuart as Duke of Lennox in October, 1581. Marjoribanks' Chronicle, p. 32. a " Tiken, the case which holds the feathers of a bed or bolster." Ibid. Sect. II. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 339 had tastes and pursuits which mingled with his more feudal cha- racteristics in strange association ; he was learned and accom- plished, — the sword, the pen, and the pruning-hook were equally familiar to his hand ; he even anticipated the geologist's hammer, and had at least a taste for architecture and design. In these latter pursuits he had a congenial friend and associate in his brother Lord Menmuir — whose character, however, I shall not here anticipate further than that his intercourse with Edzell was that of an elder rather than a younger brother, which the former willingly submitted to ; he stood as a prompter and better angel continually at his side, urging him when remiss, bridling him when too forward, reproving him when unjust, mediating between him and his many feudal enemies, and never failing to point out the right and honourable and kind course, when his advice was asked or needed. As an illustration of their respective characters, and of the wild life of a feudal chief in that age of mingled bar- barity and civilization, I subjoin the following letter, addressed to him by Lord Menmuir, at a moment when he stood in great peril through his participation in the slaughter of Campbell of Lundie, and his support of his cousin, Alexander Lindsay of Vane, in some violence done to the Bishop of the Isles,* — the result being the combined enmity of the Earls of Argyle and Montrose : — " Richt honourable Sir and Broder ! " Efter heartly commendations of service, please wit that with great difficulty I have gotten all matters betwix the Bishop, John Symmer, and Alexander Lindsay ta'en up, and new blanks f subscryvit to friends, whilk should meet again upon the 10th of October. " The cause whilk hes movit me to be so earnest is because I am surely informit be men of credit and honour, that the extraor- dinar dealing usit against the Bishop is altogedder interpretit to proceed of your device and invention, to put him to trouble. And albeit I am assurit that the contrair is of verity, and that ye earnestly desire all these matters to be agreeit so friendly as might * John Campbell, of the family of Calder or Cawdor, — not the most exemplary of characters, as he alienated the lands of the see, &c. Transactions of the lona Club, torn. i. pp. 6-19. t Cartes-blanches. z 2 340 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. be, yet it is true that the former supposition, conjoynit with the malicious information of the Laird of Ardkinglas,* who is the only guider of the Earl of Argyle, hes so movit the said Earl, that for revenge of the said violence usit against the Bishop, and als of the slaughter of Lundy, whilk is now renewit and aggregit (increased) be the malice foresaid, there is ane enterprise devisit to harry and spoil all Glenesk be the moyen (means) of Mac- Gregor, with the number of three hundreth haberschons (breast- plates), twa hundreth bowmen, and ane hundreth hackbutteers, whilk the Earl will oversee ; as they allege that ye do the injuries and plain oppression done to the Bishop be your friends, whom ye suppone (suppose) to be at your command, — the said Bishop being ane of the said Earl's principal friends, albeit as it were a stranger in this country. — On the other pairt, it is most true that the Earl of Montrose, having ane grudge in his mind, conceivit of before, for the casting down of the Cruives of Morphie, and the same being augmentit be this violence usit be Alexander Lindsay against the Bishop, was purposit to have lien in wait for you," and done you some shame, — whilk matter was so far agetward (in progress), that he, being advertisit of your riding to some pairt in the Mearns, as I suppose, his servants was in armour and upon horseback, and only stayit be sic moyen (means) and guid chance as I shall tell you at meeting. " For remeid of the premises, I have desirit the Bishop to advertise the Earls foresaid of the taking up of matters, and hes assurit him that, as I believe, they shall be finally agreeit, whereof I have written myself something to the Laird of Ardkinglas. Fintryt will travail (labour) to pacify my Lord of Montrose. As for your pairt, assure yourself all the premises is most true, and neither inventit be me to put you in terror, as others does, nor yet lightly creditit or believit be me upon ane bruit (rumour), bot that I have written upon sure information, as ye shall knaw at meeting. — And, albeit there were na advertisement hereof, yet ye might think the same very likely gif ye wald consider the malice of all Highlandmen, the guiding whilk Ardkinglas hes of the Earl, how easily they may perform the said enterprise, and how glad thieves and limmers will be to be employit in sic ane * Campbell of Ardkinglas. f Graham of Fintry. Sect. II. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 34] turn. Wherefore my counsel is, that, sa far as ye may without ony din or bruit, ye cause watch the country, as ye did when other thieves was purposit to have made ane hership (foray) thereupon ; and als, that ye have sic moyen with the Tutor of Lovat,* MacKintosh, the Farquharsons, and other Highland [friends], that ye may be quietly advertisit gif ony thing be meanit [against] you, and that ye may knaw the Earl's mind sa far as ye may. " Farder, I have promisit in your name (as I will request you to perform) that ye shall declare, baith be word and writ, to Alex- ander Lindsay and the rest, that ye will not in ony ways assist them in any wrang whilk they will pretend to do to the Bishop, that they may be better disposit to concord again the nixt meeting. " The ground of all thir matters proceeds of your rash con- senting to assist the Earl of Crawford to do ane manifest wrang, whereupon the slaughter of Lundy fell in your hand,f and upon the casting down of the Cruives, — and that ye cannot fra your heart forgive the Bishop and enter into familiarity with him, as ye was of before. All the premises was done without my guid advice. For things by-past there is no remeid, — I shall do what I can to put all your matters to ane rest. Bot in times coming, I wald request you to be better avisit, and to use counsel of your best friends. Consider how troublesome is the warld, how easily ony man who is stronger nor (than) ye at ane time may do you ane wrang, and how little justice there is in the country for repairing thereof. Therefore I wald desire you above all things to travail to live in peace and concord with all men, otherways your life and pairt of the warld shall be very unpleasant, ever in fear, danger, and trouble, whereof the maist pairt of them who calls themselves your friends wald be glad. J " Let me have some answer with diligence, and sleep and delay * The guardian of the young Lord Lovat, then a minor, — I presume, his paternal uncle, Thomas Fraser of Strichen. f Edzell obtained a remission to himself, his brother Robert Lindsay of Balhall, the Lindsays of Balquhadlie, Kethick, and others, for the slaughter of John Camp- bell of Lundie, 7 Aug. 1 583. Haigh Muniment-room. % A paragraph is omitted here, relating to the marriage of Margaret Lindsay, his sister, to the Master of Innermeath, afterwards Earl of Athol. Her tocher appears to have been large, — more than nine thousand five hundred marks. 342 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. not, bot avise and pause weill upon this letter. Sa I commit you to God ! " From the Vane, the 28th of September, 1582. " Be your assurit brother, " at command and service, " Mr. John Lyndesay." Lord Menmuir was only thirty when he wrote this excellent letter, but he had already approved himself an able man of busi- ness, had propitiated the King, who honoured him with his con- fidence,* and was marked out for advancement.! Their correspondence was latterly, at least, on more peaceful subjects. Lead-mines, supposed to be of great value, were dis- covered in Glenesk, and rocks of alabaster, excellent, as it was asserted, for lime ; and Lord Menmuir, whose attention had been already directed to the subject of mining, with a view to the improvement of the public revenue, entered eagerly into the project of working them. Workmen were procured from Germany, smelting furnaces built, and large sums expended, — and how sanguine their first hopes were, and with what zeal the enterprise was begun at last, after several ineffectual commencements, the following letter will shew. It was carried to Edzell by a German, engaged by Lord Menmuir for the business. * He appears from his letters of this date to have had ready access to the King's ear. f I may give another extract from his letters to Edzell, in illustration of his agency as a peace-maker in the midst of these feudal jars, and of the clannish and feudal principles that then prevailed in Scotland ; the date is a good deal later, 6 December, 1591 : — "My Lord of Spynie and I hes conferrit at length anent our Angus affairs. Some neighbours wald [have] made him believe that it was for evil will of our chief a that ye assistit not my Lord Ogilvy. I assurit him of the contrair, — that the reason thereof was because he wald neither assist our chief nor you in your feid (feud) ; he hes assurit me there was ane enterprise against your market, whereunto my Lord Ogilvy's bairns should have drawn our chief. There is ane agreeance to be the twenty -second of this instant, — he assures me he will be friend to your House, and I have obliged myself that ye shall be answer- able to him for your duty to the House of Crawford. The agreeance is betwix our chief and the House of Glamis. When our chief comes to Angus, ye may visie (visit) him, and put out this opinion out of his head. And siclike ye shall write friendly to my Lord of Spynie, shawand that ye have understood of his guid will be me, and promisand to proceed be his lordship's avice (advice)." n That is, on account of the evil will borne by Lord Crawford against Lord Ogilvy. Sect. II. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 343 " Right honourable Sir and Broder ! "Efter heartly commendations of service, please wit, I have chosen ane metal-man, very metal-like ! * and lies sent him to you as maist necessar for mony affairs. He can burn lime, and says the grey stane hard at Invermark, beside the lead eur (ore), whilk also he affirms to be lead eur, is a lime-stane. He can mak charcoal of peats, and will desire na other fuel, either to burn lime or melt copper. He is perfyt (perfect) in kenning of ground, and discovering of metals. He can essay the little essay, and melt in great ; and will learn Andro Daw and all your folks. He offers for ten pounds sterling to big you a miln (build you a mill), whilk will serve for melting of copper and lead, and making of iron — whilk also he can make perfytly ; and says, gif ye will get him a seam bot three finger braid of your copper, he shall pay himself all his yearly wages, and get you two hundred pounds sterling of yearly profit, whilk will extend to mair nor nineteen hundred pounds Scots. He will promise to tarry for a year with you, providing he be thankfully pay it of three pounds, twelve shillings, in the ouk (week), whilk is eight shillings less nor the twa Dutchmen f whilk we had of before, and that he be oukly (weekly) avancit. He will give you down twelve shillings of his oukly wages, gif ye will furnish to himself and his wife a house and fire, — whilk I think best, for it will be easy to you, and hald you in sa meikle silver oukly. He has a very guid conceit of your eur, and says Thomas Fowlis' folks hes cassin (cast) away over meikle thereof, and desires na better nor (than) he hes cassin away. " With these foresaid guid qualities, ye man (must) understand, he hes a bee ! J — as mony guid craftsmen hes, and is fickle, and gif he be not weill handlit and payit, he will slip away, as he hes done presently fra Thomas Fowlis' wark. Yet I have gotten Thomas his consent. I fear your forgetfulness in payment, and in appointing his house and fire, and in causing him be furnishit * Mettle-like — a pun. f That is to say, Germans, as the epithet " Dutch " then implied. We still speak of the High and Low Dutch dialects. % " He has a bee in his bonnet " is still a Scottish proverbial expression for one somewhat eccentric. The idea is not unfamiliar to the old English writers (see Narcs' ' Glossary '), — but I have seen no attempt to explain its origin. 344 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. upon his awin expences, — therefore direct all thir things to your carline.* ' ' Farder, the Earl of Argyle t hes written earnestly to you, to be in Glasgow the second of April nixt, at a solemn convention of his friends, — wherein ye man (must) not disobey his lordship's request, otherways he will think him far disappointit, now when he hes maist ado. J I will, [if] able, keep the tryste myself. It will be bot three days riding to the compass. Sa God preserve you ! " From Edinburgh, the 9th of March [1593-4]. " Your broder at service, " Mr. John Lyndesay. "P.S. 1. My Lord Lindsay hes spoken something to me anent your dochter, bot I tauld him ye was enterit in communing with others. § " P.S. 2. This Dutchman says, your alabaster will be excellent white plaister. They call him Bernard Fechtenburg. He hes meikle English, [sa] that your carline will understand him weill aneuch. He can also make sleik (slack), and if you can get him bot iron eur, he thinks to mak you meikle profit. Ye man (must) get fellows to help him, and to learn his craft. To conclude, I am content that, of the silver whilk ye are achtand (owing) me, ane half-year's wages be bestowit on this bearer, to essay gif he will hald whilk he hes hecht (offered)." * Old woman, — to wit, his wife. Both Lord Memmir and Edzell having mar- ried women older than themselves, " carline " is the playful term by which they always speak of them. f With whom, it would appear, Edzell was now completely reconciled. % Probably in reference to the discovery made in 1594 of the conspiracy of the Chancellor Maitland, Huntley, the Campbells of Glenorchy, Lochnell, Ardkinglas, and others against the life of Argyle, Tytler, torn. ix. p. 183. All the friends of Argyle were at feud with Maitland. — Lord Menmuir himself would appear to have been in hot water this same year : — " Also," says he to his brother, in a letter dated the 7th of June, " I pray you to borrow to me my Lord of Spynie's light corslet, whilk he gat fra Francis Moubray, bot for a space, while (till) I settle this trouble, and while (till) he be quit of his fevers. Gif Sir James Lind- say be passand out of Scotland, he hes mony guid muskets in the Castle of St. Andrews, whilk I wald either buy fra him or keep in Balcarres while (till) his returning. Speak this as it were of your awin head." § A proposal of marriage by James Lord Lindsay of the Byres, — but I do not know which of Edzell's daughters is here alluded to. Sect. II. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 345 I cannot exactly say how these speculations turned out, but papers and plans without end relating to them survive in the family repositories.* I suspect, the trees planted by Sir David and Lord Menmuir were more profitable to their descendants than the fruits they sought for under the earth. Glenesk, in particular, became, under Sir David's care, a nursery to the surrounding country : — "Ye desire me, " writes his half-brother Lord Ogilvie, " to bestow some few lines on you concerning my planting, — truly, albeit I be elder,f I will gif you place as maist skilful therein. Your thousand young birks (birch- trees) shall be right welcome." — " Re- member," on the other hand, writes Lord Menmuir, somewhat impatiently, " to send me my firs and hollins (holly-trees)," — forwarding to him at the same time a "propine (present) of elm- seed." — And an allusion to a favourite study of both brothers, closely allied with planting, occurs in a letter of the same writer * The most curious of these is a Contract, dated 12th October, 1602, betwixt Sir David and his eldest son on the one side, and " Hans Ziegler, citiner of Nurem- berg in the country of High Germany, on the other by which the former " sets and grants to him and his companions all and sindry the minds (mines) of gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, tin, and lead, and of all other minerals (except iron and marmor), within all the bounds of . . . the barony of Edzell and Glenesk," — with right of building houses, furnaces, cutting wood, &c, for twenty-five years ; the return being, " to thankfully pay and deliver, &c, the fifth part of all and sindry the saids metals of gold, silver, &c, whilks the said Hans, his partners, &c, shall happen to dig, hoik, work, and win out of the saids minds," &c. &c. : — Sir David further granting them " the power to big and erect towns and burghs beside the said mines, to create baillies, officiars, and others members within the samyn, to hald courts and to do justice thereintil, . . for the space of twenty-five years." The passion for mining, once awakened, did not fall asleep in the House of Edzell, and the successive operations of the family are described as follows in Edward's 4 Description of Angus,' written in 1678 : — " As to the metals contained in the bowels of this county, it is affirmed that different kinds of them are to be found in the valley of North Esk. The great-grandfather of the present proprietor of Edzell " (that is, Sir David of Edzell, with whom we are now occupied) " discovered a mine of iron at the wood of Dalbog, and built a smelting-house for preparing the metal. This gentleman's grandson" (John L. of Edzell) "found some lead ore, near Innermark, which he refined. The son of this latter" (David, the penultimate Laird) " found a very rich mine of lead on the banks of the Mark, about a mile up the valley from the castle of Innermark. In a mountain of hard rock, where eighteen miners are digging deeper every day, they have come to a large vein of ore, which, when the lead is extracted and properly refined, yields a sixty-fourth part of silver. This vein seems to be inexhaustible." Description, &c. t He was the eldest son of the Countess Catherine by her first husband James Lord Ogilvie. 346 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. from Edinburgh, thanking him for his " letter with ' La Maison Rustique '* and 4 Columella,' whilk will serve for my idleness in Balcarres and not for this town." The taste, in fact, for planting, gardening, and agriculture had descended to them from their father, Earl David, and it became hereditary in both families — of Edzell and Balcarres. A curious notarial instrument, by which Earl David " discharges," or remits, the prosecution of a bygone feud, ends with the attestation that " these things were done in the viridarium, or garden, of the said noble Lord David, Earl of Crawford, at his fortress of Edzell, at the eleventh hour before noon," in the presence of such and such witnesses,! — evidently while he was taking his morning walk there ; and though the de- coration of that garden, as it now exists, be the work of his son, the site is doubtless the same, and his enjoyment of it was pro- bably as great. The garden at Balcarres was similarly at all times an object of interest and pride to its possessors. A taste for architecture — the propensity, as it is now termed, to build, was similarly inherited from Earl David. The Castle- hall of Edzell, and the other buildings adjacent to the Keep, seem to have been built by him, his arms and initials, and those of Dame Catherine Campbell, with the date 1553, being sculptured over the principal entrance. Sir David, in his turn, completed these buildings, and rebuilt the garden-wall in a style of archi- tectural decoration unparalleled, I believe, in those days in Scot- land, — the walls presenting the Lindsay fesse-chequee and stars of Glenesk, flanked by small brackets for statues, alternately with sculptures in alto-rilievo, representing the Theological and Car- dinal Virtues, the Seven Sciences, the planets, &c, in the alle- gorical style and manner of the followers of Niccola and Andrea Pisano in the fourteenth century,^ — a st yle which, introduced into * Then, it seems, as now, a favourite in the family. t Instrumentum quiete clamacionis, 13 May, 1552. Panmure Charter-room. | For example, Temperance is represented by a woman pouring water from one vase into another, — Prudence, with her snake and mirror, — Justice, with her balance, — Faith, with the cup and cross, — Hope, with one hand raised, the other pressing her bosom — an anchor and a spade resting beside her, the latter perhaps to signify that she looks beyond the grave, — Charity, with her children, — Geometry, surveying the globe, with compasses and quadrant, — Music, with a guitar, — Arith- metic, with a shadow of the peculiar grace given her in most of the old frescoes and sculptures, — " Dialectica," or Logic, with a serpent twined round her arm, frogs couching at her feet, her hands stretched out in argument, the Holy Spirit, figured \ Sect. II. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 347 the district by Sir David, has perpetuated itself to the present day in a school or succession of village-sculptors, whose works, a long array of tombstones, moulder in the ancient kirkyard of Edzell. While, to shew how insecure was enjoyment in that dawn of refinement, the centre of every star along the wall forms an embrasure for the extrusion, if needed, of arrow, harquebuss, or pistol. You will understand this pleasance to be of small dimensions, when I add that it, as well as the outer court, is con- tained within the ancient moat of the castle.* Sir David had by a dove, resting on her head, and the Deity (apparently) looking down upon her from heaven, — and finally (for the rest are almost effaced or destroyed), Rhetoric, holding the caduceus of Mercury in one hand, and a roll in the other. — And the same memory of Italy survives in the sculptures of the Summer-house, where the niche above the doorway (now built up) is filled by a vesica piscis, enclosing a figure of St. Michael, in flowing robes, a spear in his right hand, and in his left (apparently) a crescent, and standing on a crocodile, figurative of the conquest of light over darkness, of good over evil, of Christ over Satan. — It is curious that the last relics of the school of Niccola Pisano should be found under the shadow of the Grampians ! * The moat no longer exists, in consequence of the West Water having formed for itself a new channel during a flood above a century ago. — The following minute description of Edzell Castle, as it exists in the present day, is given by the editor of the 1 Views of Edzell Castle, Forfarshire,' recently published at Edinburgh : a — " The Castle of Edzell is an extensive ruin, consisting of two towers, which are connected together by what has been once a range of magnificent apartments. The square tower towards the South, called 1 Stirling's Tower,' is evidently of much older date than the rest of the building, and must anciently have been one of those lofty square insulated keeps which were so necessary for safety and retreat in feudal times. Tradition reports that it was built and inhabited by a family of the name of Stirling, from whom it descended by marriage to the Lindsays of Glenesk. The great hall was a lofty arched apartment, which ran along the whole front of the building connecting the towers, and, after the Revolution, was used as a chapel for the Episcopalian part of the population, which was indeed the religious profession of very nearly the whole inhabitants of the parish. The opposite tower is round, and the most ruinous part of the building now standing. The more ancient tower is the least decayed of the whole, and has yet a firmer wall than any part of the more modern structure. There are still the remains of apartments which have re- ceded from the two towers, particularly the round one, to a considerable distance backwards ; bat the whole interior of the castle has been completely dismantled, and the materials carried off. " The garden, or pleasance, of the castle, is a square enclosure of about sixty paces, and upon three sides the wall is decorated with various emblematical figures and coats of arms of the Lindsays, which seem, from the dates upon the shields, to have been designed about the beginning, and towards the middle, of the seventeenth century. " Immediately a The letter-press, I understand, is by the Rev. Mr. Hutcheon, Episcopal clergyman, Stonehaven. 348 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. also schemed a " new town of Edzell," the plans for which, with cross and market-place, exist in our archives, but were never carried into effect. " Immediately above a door in the N.E. corner of the garden is a shield, con- taining the arms of Lindsay and Forbes, apparently bearing date 1604, and inti- mating the marriage of Sir David Lindsay of Edzell with Dame Isabel Forbes, his second wife. The shield has a knight's helmet for crest, surmounted with a scroll bearing the motto, ' Dum spiro spero,' — ' While I breathe I hope.' On each side of this slab, and indeed on each side of all the sculptures in the garden, there are carved stones projecting several inches from the wall, and apparently intended as pedestals for supporting pillars or statues, but it does not appear that anything of the kind had ever been placed upon them. a " The other sculptures on this side of the garden are rude emblematical repre- sentations of the planets, alternated with chequers, and surmounted with three stars, each having seven rays. . . . One of the sculptures is a rude and grotesque represen- tation of Saturn, to which the sculptor has somewhat gratuitously added a wooden leg. The figure is very flat, and but little relieved ; the frame in which it stands, as well as that of all the others, is surmounted with an arched niche, having carved mouldings surrounding it, and which seems to have been intended to contain a bust or vase ; but these niches are all empty. The other figures on this wall are so covered with fruit-trees nailed against them, and so much mutilated, as to be scarcely discernible, and have all been executed in a style very inferior to the sculptures on the other walls of the garden. The garden-house, situated at the S.E. corner, is an ancient building, forming part of the garden-wall, and is decorated in a similar manner with sculptures, surmounted by a window of very beautiful pro- portions and elegantly carved frame. " The South wall is ornamented with seven figures in high relief, which are well designed, considering the state of the art in Scotland at that period. They stand at equal distances, being alternated with chequers, surmounted with three stars, and immediately above each of them is a niche, as in the other wall. The figures represent Charity, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Music, Geography, and Justice — five sciences, flanked by two cardinal virtues. Immediately behind each piece of sculpture, there is an aperture in the wall, apparently made to contain a slab with a coat of arms or inscription, but these have either been removed, or, perhaps, were never inserted ; indeed, the whole three sides of the wall impress one with the idea that it had either never been finished, or that certain parts of its decorations had been carefully removed. " The West wall is not so long as the other two, in consequence of ' Stirling's Tower ' projecting considerably into the N.W. corner of the garden. This wall has four principal sculptures, with the same decorations and accompaniments as those on the other walls. These are the remaining sciences and cardinal virtues, but so much mutilated and defaced that the outline of the figures can scarcely be dis- cerned. They appear neither to have been so highly relieved, nor so carefully finished, as those on the South wall. Some of them have fallen from their places, and the whole seem hastening fast into oblivion. The North wall, which is shorter than the others by the whole breadth of ' Stirling's Tower,' has never had either sculpture or inscription upon it, but seems merely to have been part of the ancient wall of the castle." I need only- add to this description, that the castle, especially the older part, has a They have most likely fallen and perished. Sect. II. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 349 No place, I may add, could be more favourable than Edzell and Glenesk for agricultural improvement. — " Edzell," says an Angusshire gentleman, reporting the statistics of his county to Sir Robert Sibbald, at the beginning of last century, " lies close to the hills, betwixt the water called the Wast-water and the Water of North Esk, which, joining together, make as it were a demi- island thereof. It is an extraordinar warm and ear (early) place, so that the fruits will be ready there a fortnight sooner than in any place of the shire, and hath a greater increase of bear (barley) and other grain than can be expected elsewhere. The Castle or place of Edzell," he says, " is an excellent dwelling, a great house, delicate garden, with walls sumptuously built of hewn stone, polished, with pictures and coats of arms in the walls " (the sculp- tures above alluded to), " with a fine summer-house, with a house for a bath, on the South corner thereof,* far exceeding any new work of thir times, — excellent kitchen-garden and orchard " (out- side the walls), " with divers kinds of most excellent fruits and most delicate, — new park, with fallow deer, built by the present Laird," — the last of Sir David's descendants, and the last who lived there before all went to ruin. " It hath an excellent outer court, so large and level that of old, when they used that sport, they used to play at the football there, and there are still four great growing trees, which were the dools (goals). — West from Edzell," he adds, enumerating the family property, " lies Lethnot, and North-west of Lethnot lies Lochlee, both Highland countries, but pay a great rent. There is abundance of venison, muir and heath fowls, in the forest thereof, and great plenty of wood " — been admirably planned with a view to defence ; loopholes are seen everywhere ; every approach and staircase is commanded, — small rooms exist, apparently for no purpose except to give access to the embrasures. And the architecture of the great Stirling Tower is beautiful in its simplicity . a In a picture of Edzell in the pos- session of my father, painted apparently about a hundred and fifty years ago, the figures of a peasant and his wife in the foreground are in the Highland dress, and I am informed by my venerable friend Bishop Low, who was born within a few miles of the castle, that the kilt was worn and Gaelic spoken in Glenesk till about a century ago. * The garden-house of the description in the preceding note. a There is a seat within the window of the principal room of the great tower, opposite the fireplace, and overlooking the garden, which fancy readily peoples with the young maidens of the family in the olden time. Queen Mary probably sat in it on the occasion of her visit to Edzell. 350 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. the plantations of Sir David. — " In Lochlee is the great and strong castle of Invermark, upon the Water of North Esk," — where Earl David died and his grandson, the son of Sir David, as we shall find, found refuge in later years. The district, he concludes, " is very well peopled, and upon any incursions of the Highland caterans (for so those Highland rohbers are called), the Laird can, upon very short advertisement, raise a good number of weill- armed pretty men, who seldom suffer any prey to go out of their bounds unrecovered." * I may add that, previously to the beginning of the last century, the castle was approached by avenues of " most stately beech 99 — now no more, — and that the upper hills of the district were formerly covered with fine oak and beech, where now nothing grows but heather.y Such were the results of Sir David's architectural and agricul- tural improvements, — those of his brother, Lord Menmuir, were on a much smaller scale. But while Edzell, from its situation — low and at the foot of the hills — could exhibit nothing picturesque or grand apart from its own architectural character and decora- tion, Lord Menmuir, in fixing his residence at Balcarres, be- * Description of Angus by Ochterlony of Guynd, MS., Adv. Lib. — Nearly about the same date (1678), Mr. Edward describes these " weill-arnied pretty men" as follows : — " The Angusians, especially those who inhabit the Grampians, are even at this day fond of going about armed ; insomuch that they seldom go out without the ornament, or rather burden, of a bow, quiver, a shield, sword, or pistol, and they always have with them a kind of hook, to knock down and catch wild beasts or birds, as occasion may offer. These Highlanders, however, notwithstanding the suspicious appearance which their arms give them, consider it as the greatest of crimes to take corn or meal from mills, whether by force or stealth. Their mills, as I have often seen, stand open day and night, and neither have, nor stand in need of, any gates or doors. Who then can say that they are a people addicted to theft ?" Description of Angus, p. 37. — Alexander Ross, author of the ' For tunate Shep- herdess,' a poem of much merit, written in the Angusshire dialect, was, for above half a century, schoolmaster of Lochlee, the Highland dependence of the Lindsays of Edzell, — though in his time the estates had passed away from the name for ever. Some extracts from his life, descriptive of the manners of the inhabitants of that remote district, a generation or two after the period described by Ochterlony, when the warlike character had in a great measure passed away, and before modern civilization had destroyed their primitive simplicitv, will be found in the Appendix, No. XXXII. t Old Statist. Ace, tom.x. p. 103. a This is the la.st notice I have met with of bows and arrows as weapons of ordinary use in Britain. Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 351 queathed to his descendants the enjoyment of fresh and pure air, of proximity to the sea, and of a prospect embracing rock and meadow, island and lake, river and ocean, well nigh boundless, — and for which they have great reason to bless the merciful Disposer of all things who has cast their " lines of life " so pleasantly. — And it may be an agreeable reflection to them, that, though part of the original edifice, as built in the Scoto-Flemish Gothic of the sixteenth century, has been destroyed in the course of more recent improvements, the greater part still remains, incorporated with the more modern structure, — and that a few of the more ancient trees that surround the house, ilexes and hollies, are still venerated among us as having been planted by the hands of our ancestor Lord Menmuir. section in. I must now proceed to give you some account and estimate of the services of Lord Menmuir, more especially, as a public cha- racter. Scotland was at this time in a very critical condition, — the law- lessness of the nobles was becoming more and more intolerable ; the Crown was on the point of bankruptcy ; the ministers of the Kirk were wretchedly provided for, — and the Kirk, as a body, was assuming an attitude of spiritual independence incompatible with monarchy, or even civil government. The Chancellor, Sir John Maitland of Thirlestane, brother of the celebrated Lethington, a man of commanding talent, but unscrupulous, and familiar with conspiracy and bloodshed, recognized these evils, and opposed many of them, but irregularly, sinning himself, and through his creatures, and they continued to increase, — James feared, and cowered under him, and little was done. In that little, however, Lord Menmuir bore a distinguished part. The King, as I have already intimated, had honoured him with his confidence as early as 1582, but it is in 1587 that he first appears prominently, as member of different public commissions, and as framing in par- ticular, in the seclusion of his closet, various Acts, which modi- fied the constitution of the Scottish Parliament, abridged the power 352 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. of the nobility, and contributed to prepare the way for a period of peace and tranquillity, of moral and intellectual improvement, un- dreamt of hitherto in Scottish history. Every Scottish baron had a legal right to sit and vote in the national council, but few or none of the less powerful lairds availed themselves of a privilege involving the obligation of distant jour- neys and much expense ; and the consequence was a great acces- sion of power to the higher nobles. James I. had attempted to neutralize this, by passing a law dispensing with the attendance of the lesser barons in Parliament, on condition of their sending two delegates from each Sheriffdom to represent them in that assem- bly. This law, if it ever took effect, soon fell into desuetude, and it was not till 1587 that the Acts alluded to, ' Anent the form and order of Parliament,' ' Anent the vote of the Barons in Parliament,' and others, drawn up by Lord Menmuir, and giving its final and most constitutional character, development, and defi- nition to the parliamentary body in Scotland, were brought forward and passed — notwithstanding the bitter opposition of the nobility, headed by Lord Crawford, who, in name of his order, solemnly and in legal form protested against them.* The original rough drafts of these memorable Acts are still extant among our family papers, f From this time forward, scarcely any commission connected with the government, the improvement of the finances, the regulation of the taxation, &c, was considered complete without Lord Men- muir's name being included in it. The most important of these commissions was one appointed in the year 1592, consisting of the Chancellor and the most celebrated lawyers of Scotland, to whom the task was entrusted of " visiting," revising, and selecting from the ancient laws of the kingdom, those of most importance, " which ought to be generally known to the lieges, and should be kept and obeyit by them," — these were to be carefully tran- scribed and delivered to " his Highness' printer " for publica- * Acts Pari, torn. iii. p. 510.— " The Earl of Crawford did strongly oppose, and in name of the nobility protested against their receiving " the small barons to a voice in Parliament by their commissioners. " That which the King intended by this was to free the barons from their dependence upon noblemen, and have the Estates more particularly informed at their meeting of the abuses in the country." Spotswood, p. 365. t I have printed them from the originals in the Appendix, No. XXXII. Sect. III. JOHN OF 13ALCAKKES, LORD MENMUIR. 353 tion :* — A most useful service, and the accomplishment of Sir David Lindsay's aspiration, uttered thirty-nine years previously, that the laws, not only of God but of man, should be set forth, published, and made familiar to the people in the vernacular idiom. f — That same year the King created and granted Lord Menmuir for life the office of " Master of the Metals " and minerals within the kingdom, — "knowing the qualification," says his Majesty, " of his weill-beloved Councillor, and his travels in seeking out and discovering divers metals of great valour within this realm, and in sending to England, Germany, and Denmark, to get the perfit * Acts Pari., torn. iii. p. 564. f "I wald some prince of great discretioun In vulgar language plainly gart translate The needful lawis of this regioun ; Then wald there not be half sa great debate Amang us people of the law estate ; Gif every man the verity did knaw, We needit not to treat a thir men of law. " Till do our neighbour wrang we wald bewar, Gif we did fear the lawis punishment ; There wald not be sic brawling at the bar, Nor men of law loup b to sic royal rent ; To keep the law gif all men were content, And ilk man do as he wald be done to, The Judges wald get little thing ado. ****** " Let Doctors write their curious questionis, And arguments, sawn c full of sophistrie, Their logic and their high opinionis, Their dark judgmentis of astronomie, Their medicine and their philosophie, — Let poets shaw their glorious ingyne, As ever they please, in Greek or in Latyne ; " But let us have the buikis necessare To common-weill and our salvatioun, Justly translait into our tongue vulgare." — The Monarchie,Works, torn. ii. p. 351. — The question, in fact, whether the State should speak Latin or English, has ever been one of struggle between the Hindoo and Medo-Persian, the Norman and Saxon, the Conservative and Democratic prin- ciple, in the British character and constitution. When the latter gained the ascendancy under Cromwell in England and the Covenanters in Scotland, English (as indeed I observed in a previous note) was immediately adopted in all public documents, — Latin was restored at the Eestoration. It is thus that trifles, mere ut- terances apparently of popular caprice, illustrate rooted, essential, and universal principles. a Fee. VOL. I. b Leap. c Sown. 2 A 354 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. assay and knowledge thereof," * — an appointment sanctioned by extensive powers, and the object of which was the increase of revenue to the Crown by the exploration of the mineral wealth of Scotland, more especially the gold-mines of Crawford-moor, on the lands granted by the Lindsays, above three hundred and fifty years before, to the monks of Newbattle. But this resource was found unproductive, or at least the necessary preliminary outlay was too expensive. In the mean while, the Crown debts increased daily, pillage prevailed in every direction, and it became necessary to adopt most determined remedies. Four years before this period, in 1591, Lord Menmuir had been appointed one of the Queen's Master Stabulars, or managers of her revenues,! an office which he shared with three other Com- missioners, chosen from among the most able lawyers in Scotland, — they had, during the interim, redeemed her embarrassments, and brought her affairs into the most prosperous condition. Con- scious, says Mr. Tytler, of the peculation that went on around her, she " omitted no opportunity to point out to the King the rapid diminution of the Crown-revenues, and the contrast between her own command of money, out of so small a dow r ry as she en- joyed, and the reduced and beggarly condition of the household and palaces of her royal consort. On New Year's Day, 1595, coming playfully to the King, she shook a purse full of gold in his face, and bade him accept it as her gift. He asked where she got it. ' From my Councillors,' she replied, i who have but now given me a thousand pieces in a purse, — when will yours do the like?' — 'Never!' said the King; and calling instantly for his Collector and Comptroller, creatures of the late Chancellor," (Maitland, recently dead,) " he dismissed them on the spot, and chose the Queen's Councillors " — Lindsay, Seyton, Elphinstone, and Hamilton % — " as his financial advisers, and committed to them the entire management of his revenues and household. It was soon found that the charge would be too laborious for so small a number, and four others were added — the Prior of Blan- * Acts Pari., torn. iii. p. 558. f Oct. 14, 1591. Beg. Mag. Sig. X Seyton was afterwards Lord Chancellor, and the first Earl of Dunfermline ; Elphinstone, the first Lord Balmerinoch, — and Hamilton, the first Earl of Had- dington. Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 355 tyre,* Skene the Clerk Register,! Sir David Carnegie, J and Mr. Peter Young, Master Almoner. These new officers sat daily in the Upper Tolbooth, and from their number were called Octa- vians.§ They acted without salary, held their commissions under the King's hand alone, and by the vigour, good sense, and orderly arrangements which they adopted, promised a speedy and thorough reformation of all financial abuses." || " The powers vested in these Octavians," says Dr. Robertson, " were ample and almost unlimited. The King bound himself neither to add to their number, nor to supply any vacancy that might happen, without their consent ; and, knowing the facility of his own temper, agreed that no alienation of his revenue, no grant of a pension, or order on the treasury, should be valid, unless it were ratified by the subscriptions of five of these Com- missioners. All their acts and decisions were declared to be of equal force with the sentence of judges in the civil courts, and in consequence of them, without any warrant, any person might be arrested or their goods seized. Such extensive jurisdiction, together with the absolute disposal of the public money, drew the whole executive part of government into their hands. They re- tained their power, notwithstanding a general combination against them, and they owed it entirely to the order and economy which they introduced into the administration of the finances, by which the expenses of government were more easily defrayed than in any other part of the reign of King James." — " Talent," ob- serves Mr. Chambers,, " the naked quality for which the King * Afterwards the. first Lord Blantyre. t Sir John Skene, editor of the ' Lawes and Actes of Parliament, maid be King James the First and his successors, Kings of Scotland,' &c, printed in Edinburgh, in folio, 1597, — and of which a most beautiful (if not large paper) copy, in the library at Haigh, bears the following inscription, " Magnifico et Generoso Domino, genere et virtute nobilissimo, Domino David Lyndesay de Edzell, Equiti Aurato, in suprema curia Senatori ac Consiliario, amico veteri ac domino, in perpetuam perpetuse amicitise ac observantise memoriam, Joannes Skene D.D." — Sir John is now represented by James Skene, Esq. of Rubislaw, whose son's work on the High- landers of Scotland I have been so much indebted to in the opening chapter of these Lives. % Father of the first Earl of Southesk. § " Commissioners of the Exchequer, but otherwise by the people called Octa- vians." Calderwood, torn. v. p. 393. || Tytler, torn. ix. p. 210 ; Reg. Mag. Sig. See. — The Commission is dated 9 Jan. 1595. 2 a 2 356 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. had selected them, was found even in this rude age so far to transcend all merely external pretensions.* The arrangement," adds this historian, " was found to be in every respect a fortu- nate one for James. It supplied him with what he most wanted in personal character, the power of saying ' No ' to unreasonable requests, and of acting with firmness in the protection of his pre- rogative against the frequent invasions which were made upon it. His government acquired by this arrangement all the advantages of vigour and accuracy, and there was now exhibited for the first time in Scotland a ministry selected upon principles at all ap- proaching to those which dictate the construction of a British cabinet in modern times." t King James appointed Lord Menmuir Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal in March, 1595-6, J and, in May following, Secretary of State for life,§ — an office which he retained till induced to resign it by illness shortly before his death. In this capacity the correspondence and complicated negotiations with foreign powers, for the object of securing their support of James in the event of his succession to the throne of England, fell to the conduct and guid- ance of Lord Menmuir. || A great change had manifested itself in the King's character and conduct during the last few months, since his relief from the thraldom in which he had been held by Maitland ; he seemed to have grown years in wisdom and energy, and, in the words of the English envoy, Nicolson, he " began to rule like a king."1[ * This too was in fulfilment of Sir David Lindsay's advice, to King James V. : — " Ckuse thy Council of the most sapient, Without regard to bluid, riches, or rent." f Life of King James, torn. i. p. 217. % Procuratory of Resignation, &c., by Walter, Prior of Blantyre, Lord Privy Seal, in favour of Lord Menmuir, " for new gift and disposition to be made thereof" to the latter, " during all the days of his lifetime," 6 March, 1595-6. Haigh Muniment-room. § Appointment, " to be our Secretair and Keeper of our Signets, for all the days of his lifetime," under the Privy Seal, 28 May, 1596. Haigh Muniment-room. || Balcarres Papers, Advocates' Library. ^[ Tytler, torn. ix. p. 216. — Let me refer to some very valuable observations on James's public character by Mr. Maidment, in his preface to the ' Letters and State Papers during the reign of K. James VI./ printed for the Abbotsford Club. — " One important fact," he observes, " seems to have been almost entirely over- looked, — that, when James assumed the reins of government, he found the king- dom in a semi-barbarous state, and that he left it in a state of comparative civi- lization . . . Surely a monarch who, in the course of a few years, could by his Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 357 The great questions that remained for settlement were those relating to the Kirk, and Lord Menmuir seems to have been the King's chief confidant and adviser throughout the measures now adopted. James had long been anxious to introduce Episcopacy, and • this met with the warm concurrence of Lord Menmuir, who is in consequence represented by contemporary writers as a disguised Papist. 44 The first thing to be considered was the necessity of making some provision for the ministry, and after much deliberation he drew up a 44 plat," or scheme, for 44 planting " the whole kirks throughout Scotland with perpetual local stipends, — a scheme which, according to Mr. James Melville, 44 was thought the best and maist exact that ever was devisit or set down," and which is inserted at full length in the curious Memoirs that bear testi- mony to its excellence.* — 44 The revenues of the Church," says Dr. Cook, 44 having been much impaired by annexations to the Crown, by the erection of Church -lands into temporal lordships, by the iniquitous practice of granting long leases of tithes for an elusory payment, by pensions, and by the manner in which that portion of the thirds pertaining to the Crown had been alienated, — he proposed, as the only method of providing comfortably for the clergy, that all tithes should be declared to be the patrimony of the Church, that the Lords of the Exchequer, (the Octavians,) with such ministers as should be appointed by the Assembly, being equal in number to the Lords, should modify and assign, from certain bounds in every parish, a quantity of victual, and other duties of vicarage, with a manse and glebe, as a local stipend to each church, in whatever manner the tiends might have been previously granted or enjoyed ; that the Commissioners should energy and perseverance put down anarchy, and restore order, deserves something better from posterity than the appellations of a roi faineant, an empty pedant, or arbitrary tyrant. . . He has been sneered at for his theological acquirements, which are admitted on all hands to have been considerable ; but his knowledge of the principles and practice of laws in general, and especially of those of Scotland is not so generally known. There is however an existing memorial of his extra- ordinary legal ability in his award on the disputed claim to the barony of San- quhar. . . The result of his labours may be found in an argument which, for soundness, learning, and eloquence, will not easily be matched." — Mr. Maidment thinks " that justice has not been done to his Scottish administration, which was generally wise, salutary, and efficient." Introd., pp. xii, sqq. * Melville's Memoirs, pp. 223 sqq. ; Caldcrwood, torn. v. pp. 420 sqq. 358 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. have power to unite or disjoin parishes, with consent of the parishioners ; and that the assignations made by them should be valid, giving full power to the ministers in a summary way to collect what belonged to their benefices. He then laid down a method for the valuation of tithes so as to prevent all further dilapidation ; and he recommended that, this having been accu- rately done, an estimate should be made of the amount of the whole tithes ; and that what remained, after paying the stipends, should be employed for upholding schools, for sustaining the poor, and for other godly uses, the title, however, to the whole being vested in the ministers, who were to account for the surplus to persons nominated for receiving it. " This scheme, by distributing all the tiends, for the temporal estates of the Church had been previously and for ever wrested from it, left nothing for the support of prelates, — thus following out the Act of Parliament abolishing that order, and effectually preventing its restoration in the form in which it had once existed. But as one of the Estates of Parliament was thus destroyed, and as a spiritual Estate was judged requisite for preserving the entire fabric of the political constitution, Lindsay concluded by a pro- position that, in time coming, every presbytery should send, from its own members, a Commissioner to Parliament, — that, from the Commissioners so returned, the two other orders should choose as many as, joined with the surviving possessors of prelacies, should compose a number equal to that of any of the other Estates ; and that, after the decease of the titular bishops, the whole of the representatives of the Church should be taken from the Commissioners elected by presbyteries, the persons chosen having the same rights and privileges in Parliament as had been possessed by the prelates. " In this scheme," observes Dr. Cook, " there is much which is excellent. It was admirably calculated to secure the clergy from the horrors of want ; it released them from the anxiety and trouble to which, by the former mode of paying their stipends, they had been subjected ; while it most equitably, in the best way of representation, gave them that voice in the great council of the nation, to which by practice, by law, and in justice, they were entitled, but of which they were unfortunately, through their own mistaken views, afterwards deprived. Had the scheme been Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 359 maturely weighed, some alterations and improvements would no doubt have been suggested ; but it was, in general, acceptable to the ministers, and it would in all probability have been carried into effect, had not the events which soon took place made a material change in the civil and ecclesiastical state of the kingdom." * It was soon, indeed, found expedient, both by Lord Menmuir and his royal master, to introduce a more authoritative discipline than then existed in the Kirk, in order to neutralize the demo- cratic principle which was rendering it, more and more every day, a Papacy, a Spiritual Despotism. The Acts of 1584 had been rescinded by the Parliament of 1592, and other concessions were then made which for the first time legally established the Kirk to its own satisfaction, — and the results of this imprudence were quickly manifest in the increasing presumption, intolerance, and tyranny of its ministers, who, instead of confining their attention to spiritual matters, intermeddled with those of the State, thwarted and insulted the King, and made their pulpits a stage for seditious harangues, and, not unfrequently, personal abuse. Nothing was sacred from their touch, — whatever they touched became spiritual and within their province. And the especial object of their aspirations was the purification of the land by the thorough extirpation of idolatry, or, in other words, of Ca- - tholicism.f * Hist. Church of Scotland, torn. ii. pp. 57 sqq. — " This plat, . . some little things amended, would have been gladly received by the brethren of best judgment, if in the month of August following there had not been an Act of the Estates devised, touching the renewing of the tacks (leases) of tithes to the present tacksmen, for their granting to the present plat, which in effect made the tithes in all time coming heritable to them, their local stipend and a portion to the King set aside in every parish ; to the which neither the Kirk, nor gentlemen whose tithes were in other men's possession, could nor would condescend (consent) to. And so the said Mr. John, chief in this work, gave it over as a thing not like to be done in his days." Calderwood, torn. v. p. 433. t I subjoin (by the kindness of David Laing, Esq., which has frequently afforded me valuable information) a curious series of Minutes of the Kirk, a few years later, as illustrative of their inquisitorial proceedings : — "11 Nov. 1601. — The Presbytery of Edinburgh ordains their brither (brethren) Mr. Henry Blyth and Mr. James Muirheid to ga to my Lord Crawford, lately retourit out of France, and to crave his resolution gif he be of the religion presently professit within the realm ; and gif he has keepit the same sen his departing last out of the country, — and to report his Lordship's answer the xviii of this instant. "18 Nov. 1601. — Anent the commission given the xxi [xi] of this instant to Mr. Henry Blyth and Mr. James Muirheid, to ga to my Lord Crawford, and to enquire his 360 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. It was on this point that the Church and the State now came into collision. Huntley, Arran, and Bothwell, Roman Catholics in religion, had rebelled three years before, in consequence of the concessions of 1592, but were put down and exiled. They professed peni- tence and a readiness to hear the arguments of the Kirk against their faith, and besought permission to return home. James was disposed to grant it, but the mere suggestion of such an idea raised a tempest of indignation ; " their crime, it was urged, was of that atrocious nature which rendered pardon by the civil power impossible ; they were idolaters, and must die the death, though, upon repentance, they might be absolved by the Kirk from the sentence of spiritual death," — such was their reasoning, such their anathema ; and David Black, the minister of St. Andrews, wound up his denunciations by stigmatizing the Lords of Session as miscreants and bribers, the nobility as cormorants, the King as a " devil's bairn, guided by Satan," and the Queen of England as an atheist. Black was immediately summoned before the Privy Council, — he refused to plead before a civil tribunal, and referred his judgment to the Kirk itself, sending a copy of his refusal, by means of the Commissioners of the Kirk then sitting in Edin- burgh, to the different Presbyteries for signature. James com- manded the Commissioners to leave the capital and return to their charges. " But this royal order they were in no temper to obey. They instantly convened, and, in the phrase used by their own historian, * laid their letters open before the Lord.' The Lordship gif he continuit in the religion presently professit within the realm, and to return his Lordship's answer this day. According hereunto, the said hrither declarit that they had spoken his Lordship, — wha protestit to them he was of the religion presently professit within the realm ; and when he was young, heing furth of the realm, he saw nathing in all the papistry to divert him from it, and at this time he saw far less, hut was rather confirmit in the truth of religion, and wald be ready, whenever it should please the Presbytery, to convene before them and give open declaration of his religion. His Lordship's answer being considerit, the Presbytery has appuntit that the said ministers and Mr. Peter Hewitt shall desire his Lordship to be present the xxv of this instant to the effect foresaid. " xxv Nov*""" 8 , 1601. — Anent the commission given the xviii of this instant to their hrither Mr. Harry Blyth and Mr. Peter Hewitt to speak my Lord of Crawford, and to desire his Lordship to be present this day to give the declaration of his religion that he had given to the said Mr. Harry. According hereunto, the said hrither declarit that they went to seek his Lordship, but he was departit to the parts of Angus and Fife, as they were informit. Their report being considerit, continues the same while (till) his Lordship's coming in thir parts again." Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 361 danger, they declared, was imminent, and the ministers of the city must instantly in their pulpits deal mightily with the power of the Word against the charge which commanded them to desert their duty. As the spiritual jurisdiction flowed immediately from Christ, and could in no way proceed from a King or civil magis- trate, so also the power to convene for the exercise of such jurisdiction came directly from Christ, and could neither be im- peded nor controlled by any Christian Prince. They declared, therefore, that they would not obey the proclamation, but remain together, to watch over the safety of Christ's Church, now in extreme jeopardy ; and sent an angry message to the Octavians, assuring them that, as the Kirk had been in peace and liberty on their coming to office, and was now plunged into the greatest troubles, they could not but hold them responsible for the late bitter attacks upon its privileges."* James, in the midst of this, shewed the utmost forbearance, and made repeated efforts to conciliate these wrong-headed men, but all was in vain, — " the Kirk, protesting that every effort had failed to obtain redress for the wrongs offered to Christ's King- dom, proclaimed a fast ; commanded all faithful pastors to betake themselves to their spiritual armour ; caused * the doctrine,' to use the phrase of those times, ' to sound mightily ;' and protested that, whatever might be the consequences, they were free from his Majesty's blood." " The King," says Mr. Tytler, " whose account of these pro- ceedings I shall insert at length, " received this announcement with the utmost scorn ; commanded the Commissioners instantly to depart the city ; ordered Black to enter into ward ; and pub- lished a Declaration, in which he exposed, in forcible and indignant terms, the unreasonable demands of the Kirk. Out of an earnest desire, he said, to keep peace with the ministers, he had agreed to waive all inquiry into ' past causes,' till the unhappy differences between the civil and ecclesiastical tribunal had been removed by the judgment of a Convention of Estates and a General Assembly of the ministry. All that he asked in return was, that his proceedings should not be made a subject of pulpit attack and bitter ecclesiastical railing, — instead of listening * Tytler, torn. ix. p. 236. 362 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. to which request they had vilified him in their sermons, accused him of persecution, defended Black, and falsely held him up to his people as the enemy of all godliness. In the face of all such slander and defamation, he now declared to his good subjects, that, as it was his determination, on the one hand, to maintain religion and the discipline of the Church as established by law, so, on the other, he was resolved to enforce upon all his people, ministers of the Kirk as well as others, that obedience to the laws and reverence for the throne, without which no Christian kingdom could hold together. For this purpose certain Bonds were in pre- paration, which the ministers should be required to subscribe, under the penalty of a sequestration of their property.* " Meanwhile, the Commissioners having retired from the city, a short breathing- time was allowed ; and Secretary Lindsay, trusting that the ministers of Edinburgh might now be more tractable than their brethren, prevailed on the King to send for them. As a preliminary to all accommodation, they insisted that the Commissioners should be recalled ; and the King, relaxing in his rigour, appeared on the point of acceding to their wishes, when some of the i Cubiculars,' as the lords of the bedchamber and gentlemen of the household were called, interposed their ill offices to prevent an agreement. These ambitious and intriguing men had long envied and hated the Octavians, and had hoped, under colour of the recent dissensions in the Church, to procure their disgrace and dismissal. Nothing could be more unfavour- able to such a plot than peace between the King and the Kirk ; nothing more essential to its success than to fan the flame, and stir the elements of discord. This they now set about with dia- bolical ingenuity. They laboured to make the Octavians odious to the party of the Protestant barons and the ministers. They assured them that all the hot persecution of Mr. Black arose from this hydra-headed crew, of whom they knew the leaders to be Papists.-]- They insinuated to the Octavians, that the ani- mosity of their enemies in the Kirk was so implacable as to throw their lives into jeopardy; and they abused the King's ear, to whom their office gave them unlimited access, by tales against the citizens of Edinburgh, who mounted guard every night, as they * Spotswood, p. 426. f Calderwood, torn. v. p. 511. Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 363 affirmed, over the houses of the ministers, lest their lives should fall a sacrifice to the unmitigable rage of their sovereign. " By these abominable artifices, the single end of which was to destroy the government of the Octavians, the hopes of peace were utterly blasted ; and the little lull which had succeeded the retirement of the Commissioners was followed by a more terrific tempest than had yet occurred. The King, incensed at the con- duct of the citizens and the suspicion which it implied, commanded twenty-four of the most zealous burgesses to leave the capital within six hours ; a proceeding which enraged the ministers, whose indignation blazed to the highest pitch when they received an anonymous letter, assuring them that Huntley had been that night closeted with James. The information was false, and turned out to be an artifice of the Cubiculars ; but it had the effect intended, for all was now terror in the Kirk. Balcanquhal," one of the leading ministers, " flew to the pulpit ; and, after a general discourse on some text of the Canticles, plunged into the present troubles of the Kirk, arraigned the 8 treacherous forms ' of which they had been made the victims ; and, turning to the noblemen and barons who were his auditors, reminded them in glowing language of the deeds of their ancestors in defence of the truth ; exhorting them not to disgrace their fathers, but to meet the ministers forthwith in the Little Church. To this quarter so great a crowd now rushed, that the clergy could not make their entrance ; but Mr. Robert Bruce, pressing forward, at last reached the table where the Protestant barons were seated, and, warning them of the imminent perils which hung over their heads, the return of the Papist Earls, the persecution of Black, the banishment of the Commissioners and the citizens, conjured them to bestir themselves and intercede with the King. " For this purpose, Lords Lindsay," of the Byres, " and Forbes," — the former the son of Lord Patrick, of the earlier days of the Kirk,* 6 ' with the Lairds of Barganie and Balquhan, and * James Lord Lindsay had already repeatedly signalised his Protestant zeal ; he had joined in a Band against Huntley and the Papists, March, 1592, Row's History, p. 155 ; and his bold determination had settled a long dispute at the convention of barons and ministers in Mr. Robert Bruce's gallery, 9 Jan. 1593, held with refer- ence to a proposed expostulation with the King against his encouragement of papists. See Calderwood, torn, v, p. 216. — Still more recently, during the King's 364 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. the two ministers, Bruce and Watson, sought the royal presence, then not far off ; for the King was at that moment sitting in the Upper Tolbooth with some of his Privy Council, while the Judges of the Session were assembled in the Lower House. On being admitted with the rest, Bruce informed the monarch that they were sent by the noblemen and barons then convened, to bemoan and avert the dangers threatened to religion. ' What dangers ? ' said James, — ' 1 see none ; and who dares convene, contrary to my proclamation ? ' — ' Dares ! ' retorted the fierce Lord Lindsay — ' We dare more than that ; and shall not suffer the Truth to be overthrown.'* As he said this, the clamour increased ; numbers were thronging unmannerly into the presence-chamber, and the King, starting up in alarm, and without giving any answer, retreated down stairs to the Lower House, where the Judges were assembled, and commanded the doors to be shut. The Pro- testant Lords and ministers upon this returned to the Little Kirk, where the multitude had been addressed during their absence by Mr. Michael Cranstoun, who had read to them the history of Haman and Mordecai. This story had worked them up to a point that prepared them for any mischief ; and when they heard that the King had turned his back upon their messengers, they became furious with rage and disappointment. Some, dreading the worst, desired to separate, but Lindsay's lion voice was heard above the clamour, forbidding them to separate. ' There is no course,' cried he, * but one ; let us stay together that are here, and promise to take one part, and advertise our friends and the fa- vourers of religion to come unto us, and let the day be either theirs or ours ! ' f Shouts now arose, to force the doors and bring out the wicked Haman ; others cried out, 1 The sword of the Lord and of Gideon ! ' — and, in the midst of the confusion, an agent of the courtiers, or, as Calderwood terms him, ' a messenger of Satan, sent by the Cubiculars/ vociferated, 6 Armour ! armour ! save yourselves — Fy, fy ! bills and axes ! ' The people now rose in arms, some rushing one way, some another ; some, thinking the progress in the North, in October, 1592, it was chiefly through "the good Lord Lindsay's " instance that he destroyed Huntley's castle of Strathbogie, and others. Ibid., p. 357. * Spotswood, p. 427. t Inserted, from Spotswood, p. 428. Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 365 King was laid hands on, ran to the Tolbooth ; some, believing that their ministers were being butchered, flew to the Kirk ; others thundered with their axes and weapons on the Tolbooth doors, calling for President Seyton," Secretary Lindsay,* " Mr. Elphin- stone, and Mr. Thomas Hamilton, to be given up to them, that they might take order with them as abusers of the King and the Kirk. At this moment, had not a brave deacon of the craftsmen, named Wat, with a small guard, beat them back, the gate would have been forced, and none could have answered for the conse- quences. But at last the Provost, Sir Alexander Hume, whom the shouts of the uproar had reached as he lay on a sick bed, seizing his sword, rushed in, all haggard and pale, amongst the citizens, and with difficulty appeased them into a temporary calm. ' 4 James, who was greatly alarmed, now sent the Earl of Marr to remonstrate with the ministers, whom he found pacing up and down, disconsolately, behind the church, lamenting the tumult, and excusing their own part.f On being remonstrated with by Marr, all that they required, they said, was the abolition of the Acts done in prejudice of the Kirk during the last four weeks ; that the President, Comptroller, and Advocate, men suspected in religion and enemies to the truth, should have no voice in eccle- siastical matters ; and that the good citizens who had been banished should be recalled. These demands being reported, the monarch promised to lay them, when put into the proper form, before his Council ; and, seizing the moment of tranquillity, ven- tured to open the doors of the Lower Tolbooth, and, accompanied by the Provost, Baillies, and Octavians, slipped quietly into the street, and proceeded to his palace at Holyrood."t * Inserted from Moysie, Memoirs, p. 131. f " They sent the Earl of Marr and Lord Ochiltree to the Lords and ministers convenit in the kirkyard. . . At their coming to the kirkyard on the back side, where the Lords, ministry, and all were convenit, some words were wisselit at the first betwix the Earl of Marr and Lord Lindsay, whilks could not be quenched a long time, while (till) the Lord Ochiltree desired the Lord Lindsay to have patience, and hear the Earl of Marr deliver his Majesty's commission, as it became him weill to do, — quhilk efter he did, he returnit with my Lord Ochiltree to his Majesty." Moysie's Memoirs, p. 131. % Tytler, torn. ix. pp. 242 sqq. — Lord Lindsay, for his share in this tumult, " was compelled to pay ane great sum of money." Hist, of the House of Kennedy, Bann. Club, p. 24. 366 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. This memorable " Seventeenth of November," as the day was long afterwards remembered, confirmed the King's determination to introduce Episcopal rule into the Kirk. " His first step was to summon a General Assembly of the Church to meet at Perth on the last of February. His next was an act of con- ciliation. The eight Councillors, who, under the name of Oc- tavians, had for the last eighteen months managed the financial department of the state, and indirectly controlled every part of the government, had been especially obnoxious to the Protestant clergy, and to a section of the courtiers and bedchamber lords. They were hated by the ministers, who suspected them to be mostly concealed Roman Catholics ; by the Cubiculars, because they had curtailed their perquisites, and introduced a strict economy, — and the King, by accepting their resignation, believed that he would popularize his intended ecclesiastical innovations." * — This resignation did not of course prejudice Lord Menmuir's office as Secretary of State. Lord Menmuir now drew up the celebrated fifty-five " Ques- tions," as they were called, mooting the principal points in dispute between the King and the Clergy, and which James circulated among the different Synods and Presbyteries ; " not, as he solemnly declared, for the purpose of troubling the peace of the Kirk by thorny disputes, but to have its polity cleared, its cor- ruptions eradicated, and a pleasant harmony established between himself and its ministers. f The spirit and tendency of these questions gave great alarm to the brethren. The King inquired, whether matters of external ecclesiastical regimen might not be disputed, salvd fide et religione ; whether the Prince by himself, or the pastors by themselves, or both conjointly, should establish the Acts concerning the government of the Kirk ; whether the consent of a majority of the flock, and also of the patron, was necessary in the election of pastors ; whether there could be a lawful minister without impositio manuum ; whether pastors should be permitted to allude by name to councillors and magistrates in * They resigned, says Spots wood, in consequence of " the malice and envy car- ried unto them for the credit and place they had with the King, which their service had well deserved. . . But the King loved to have peace, though with his own loss ; neither did they like to be the instruments of his trouble." Hist. Church, p. 43.3. t Spotswood, p. 434. Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 367 the pulpit, or to describe them so minutely as to leave no doubt whom they meant, although the parties so attacked were guiltless of notorious vices, and had not been previously admon- ished ; whether the pastor should be confined to the doctrine directly flowing from his text, or might preach all things on all texts ; whether the General Assembly of the Kirk might be convoked without consent of the Prince, he being pius et Chris- tianus Magistratus ; whether it were lawful to excommunicate such Papists as had never professed the Reformed faith ; whether a Christian Prince had power to annul a notoriously unjust sen- tence of excommunication, and to amend such disorders as might occur, either by pastors failing in their duties, or by one jurisdic- tion usurping the province of another ; whether fasts for general causes might be proclaimed without the command of the Prince ; whether any causes infringing upon the civil jurisdiction, or inter- fering with vested private rights, might be disputed and ruled in the ecclesiastical courts ; and whether the civil magistrate had not a full right to stay all such proceedings." * " These searching interrogatories," — the " teazing and cunning queries," as Wodrow calls them, " of Mr. John Lindsay,"! — " were received with no inconsiderable dismay by the clergy. They took great offence that their forms of ecclesiastical polity, which they considered irreversibly fixed by Act of Parliament, and founded, as they contended, on the word of God, which had been so highly eulogized also by the King in 1592, should be called in question. They saw how acutely the Questions had been drawn up ; how deeply they touched the independence of the Kirk ; what a total revolution and alienation the late excesses of the ministers had occasioned in the mind of the Sovereign, and how earnest and determined he seemed in the whole matter." — They felt too an uncomfortable conviction that, by these questions, keen * Spotswood, pp. 435, 436, — where the Questions are inserted at length, as also in Calderwood, with the replies of the Synod of Fife, presently to be mentioned, torn. v. pp. 585 sqq. — They were printed in quarto at the time under the following title, ' The Questions to be resolvit at the Convention of the Estates and Generall Assemblie, appointed to be at the Burgh of Perth the last day of Februarie next to come. Edinburgh. Printed be Robert Waldegrave, Printer to ye King's Majestie, Anno Dom. 1597.' — "There is in the College Library at Glasgow a copy of this book, which appears to have belonged to Melville." MacCrie's Life of Melville, torn. ii. p. 96. — It is of the extremest rarity. t Biographical Collections, torn. i. p. 192. 368 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. and penetrating as those of Socrates in Lord Menmuir's favourite Plato, they were at once inveigled and compelled into the defini- tion and affirmation of their views, into the unmasking of the essential despotism, the popery, of their principles, — that there was no mode of evading them ; and, to do them justice — for they had lion hearts — they never for one moment dreamed of doing so, or of compromising what they believed to be the interests of Christ. " All this, however, demanded instant vigilance and resistance. Many private conferences were held ; and in the end of February the brethren of the Synod of Fife convened at St. Andrews, where, after ' tossing of the King's questions for sundry days,' they drew up their replies, which, as was to be expected, ruled everything in favour of the Kirk, and resisted every claim on the part of the King. Some of these answers are remarkable, and seem to shew that the principles then laid down were incompatible with the existence of civil government. Thus the first question, whether matters concerning the external government of the Kirk might not be debated, salvd fide et religione, was met by a per- emptory negative ; on the second, they were equally positive that the King had no voice in the discussion or establishment of any acts relating to Church government. All the Acts of the Kirk (so was their response worded) ought to be established by the Word of God. Of this Word the ordinary interpreters were the pastors and doctors of the Kirk ; the extraordinary expounders, such as were called for in times of corruption, were the prophets, or such men as were endowed by God with extraordinary gifts ; and kings and princes had nothing to do but to ratify and vindicate, by their civil sanctions, that which these pastors and prophets had authoritatively declared. As to the indecent and scurrilous practice of inveighing against particular men and councillors by name in the pulpit, they defended its adoption by what they termed Apostolic authority. 4 The canon,' said they, ' of the Apostle is clear : — " They that sin publicly, rebuke publicly, that the rest may fear," — and so much the more if the public sin be in a public person.' On other points they were equally clear and decided in favour of their own practices and pretensions. All things, they contended, might be spoken on all texts ; and if the minister travelled from his subject, he was only following the Sect. III. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 369 express directions of Paul to Timothy. The General Assembly might be convened without the authority of the King, because the officers of the Kirk received their place and warrant directly from Christ, and not from any temporal prince ; and the Acts passed in that Assembly were undoubtedly valid, although carried against the Royal will. On this question their reasoning was extraor- dinary : — ' The King (they contended) should consent to, and give a legal sanction to all Acts passed in the Assembly ; and why ? Because the Acts of the Assembly have sufficient authority from Christ, who has promised that whatever shall be agreed upon on earth by two or three convened in his name, shall be ratified in heaven ; a warrant to which no temporal King or Prince can lay claim ; and so,' it continues, ' the Acts and Con- stitutions of the Kirk are of higher authority than those of any earthly King, — yea, they should command and overrule Kings, whose greatest honour should be to be members, nursing-fathers, and servants to this King, Christ Jesus, and his House and Queen the Kirk.' * — To pursue the answers is unnecessary, enough having been given to shew their general tendency. But the courage of the Synod of Fife, by whom these stout replies were drawn up, did not pervade the whole body of the Kirk ; and the King, who managed the affair with his usual acuteness and dex- terity, succeeded in procuring a majority in the General Assembly, and ultimately carrying his own views." f The result was the convention of a General Assembly, to which all the ministers of the Northern counties, who were much less rigid than their southern brethren, were summoned by the King, — and the resolution, that the Assembly, instead of continuing its proceedings, should devolve its powers on a General Commission of fourteen ; whose report, when laid before Parliament, was found to contain a requisition, " that the ministers, as representing the Church and Third Estate of the kingdom, might be admitted to have a voice in Parliament," — the object, it may be remem- bered, which Lord Menmuir had advocated in his " Plat " for the planting of the Kirk throughout Scotland. A few protested, but, whether the recent fever had exhausted itself, or from whatever * See the answers to the several questions, " conceived," as Mr. Hallam remarks, " in the full spirit of the thirteenth century," in Calderwood, torn. v. pp. 585 sqq. f Tytler, torn. ix. pp. 25G sqq. VOL. I. 2 B 370 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. cause, the Parliament passed an Act without opposition, declaring, " That such pastors and ministers as the Crown provided to the place and dignity of a Bishop, Abbot, or other prelate, should have voice in Parliament as freely as any other ecclesiastical prelate had in any former age." — " A General Assembly was soon afterwards convened, in which the subject was solemnly argued in the King's presence, first by a committee of brethren, and afterwards by the whole Church," — and "in the end the question was carried by a majority of ten ; the Assembly finding that it was expedient for the good of the Kirk that the ministers, as the Third Estate of the realm, should have a vote in Parlia- ment ; that the same number, being fifty-one or thereby, should be chosen, as were wont of old in time of the Papistical Kirk, to be Bishops, Abbots, and Priors ; and that their election should belong partly to the King and partly to the Kirk."* " Thus," exclaims Calderwood, in concluding this singular nar- rative, " was the Trojan horse, the Episcopacy, brought in, — covered with caveats, that the danger might not be seen," — with provisions, that is to say, intended to secure the benefits and neu- tralize the evils of the system, — and thus was a struggle com- menced, which continued, with more or less violence, till the memorable year 1688. SECTION IV. This great revolution accomplished, Lord Menmuir's work was over. The King held him in the highest esteem, and intended him, it is said with great probability, " to have the chief place in the kingdom,"! but, though still in the prime of life, he had for years suffered agony from the stone, — every remedy then in use, short of the last, had been resorted to, without diminishing his sufferings, which he bore notwithstanding, as evinced by his letters, with invincible cheerfulness and resolution. But the evil * March, 1596-7. Tytler, torn. ix. p. 271. t MS. Memoir of his grandson, Alexander Earl of Balcarres, Haigh Muniment- room. Sect. IV. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 371 gradually gained ground, and he determined to visit Paris, then the usual resort of persons similarly afflicted, in order to be " shorn," or cut, for the disease.* Many allusions to this inten- tion and to his sufferings occur in the correspondence of the time. 4 4 Before my ganging to France," he writes to his brother on the 3rd of February, 1596-7, "I will give you a puncheon of wine in Balcarres for my bon-alley,f and let ony other man rede (counsel) the King, the Earl of Huntley, and the ministers for another year."+ March, the following month, being fixed upon for his voyage, he was appointed by King James his ambassador to France, " for sindry weighty and great affairs concerning the honour and profit of our realm," including the removal of certain imposts and exactions on the subjects of Scotland, contrary to the "auld league " between the two countries, and also for " pursuing, col- lecting, and intrometting with all sums of money, lands, guids, and gear whatsomever fallen to us be the decease of our umquhile dearest mother," the unhappy Queen Mary — a commission which he seems to have expected to be able to execute, and offered to undertake " upon his own expences, not burdening us at this time to advance or deburse ony sums of money," — the King, however, would not permit this, and assigned him one hundred crowns monthly during his absence, " sa lang as he shall remain in the saidis services, or either of them."§ But the privy-seal was never appended to the parchment from which I quote ; he was unable to start — and the duty devolved on another. Four months later, on the 1st of June, 1597, Mr. Hercules Rollock writes to him from Edinburgh, that the King had gone to Falkland, and that "it is thought good that your Lordship visit him there ; for friends mislikes your lang absence fra Court, some suspecting your miscontentment therewith, and others de- * Most of them died there, as is proved by contemporary wills. f From the French bon-aller. " A drink taken with a friend when one is about to part with him, as expressive of one's wishing him a prosperous journey." Jamieson. % " This day, or the morn," he adds, " we will be at our wits' end anent the aggreance with the town of Edinburgh and sitting of the Session. It shall be aganes my will gif we come out of Edinburgh." § Precept or Order by the King, Haigh Muniment-room. — And see Acts Pari, torn. iv. p. 113. 2 B 2 372 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. spairing of your health, inter aulicos vidturios, yraidoe inhiantes. God preserve your Lordship ! "* Towards the end of 1597 he resigned his office of Secretary of State and his place in the Session, which was bestowed on his brother, Sir David,f thenceforward designed Lord Edzell, — but by special interposition of his grateful sovereign, his title and rank as Lord Menmuir were continued to him for life, J — a life rapidly drawing to a close. His hopes, however, of being able to make the voyage to Paris seem to have revived during the winter, as appears from the following letter, the last in our possession, addressed to his bro- ther, — but a letter as full of uncertainty as expectation : — " Right honourable Sir and Broder, " After heartly commendations ot service, please wit, I was redit (minded) to have sent my dochter, but ane occasion of ane marriage to her with the Master of Sinclair is offerit, whilk makes me to bring her to this, — thankand you always heartly of your good will and your carline's,§ whase broder-son shall be heartly welcome to me in case I convalesce efter my intendit section in March next. Receive my hackney again in custody while (till) the event of my said section. As to the avancement of Sir James or Mr. Jeremy, || ye may [be] assurit I will do what I can, hot planting of men about the King is not easy as ye believe, specially of sic whase competitors is already plantit, as they are both. I am sa weariet with sickness and other impedi- ments that I have displantit myself be demission of the Secretary^ to Mr. James Elphinstone, whilk doing ye shall not condemn while (till) ye hear my reasons, and time try the effect. I wald wish cauld weirs (wars) with the Ogilvies while (till) we see my Lady Athol's intention to our sister-son,** — whilk was my meaning * Letter, 1 June, 1597. Moysie's Memoirs, App. xxvi. f In Feb. 1598. Brunton and Haig's Hist. Account, &c, p. 178— Edzell held the office of Master of the Metals also, in 1606. Paper, Haigh Muniment-room. % May 15, 1598. Brunton and Haig, p. 178. § Lord Edzell's wife, as mentioned supra, p. 344. || Sir James Lindsay of Petroddy, probably, who was gentleman of the bed- chamber some years afterwards ; and Mr. Jerome, afterwards Sir Jerome Lindsay, Lion King at Arms, son of Mr. David Lindsay of Leith, Bishop of Ross. \ That is, the office of Secretary. ** James Earl of Athol. Sect. IV. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 373 of friendship amang friends and neighbours. I thank you of your buck's blood,* bot I believe a whittle (knife) man (must) be my best medicine under God. Sa I commit you to God's pro- tection. " From Edinburgh, the twelfth of January, 1597-8. " Your broder at service, " M. J. Lindesay." Increasing infirmity, however, prevented the intended voyage ; and I cannot say whether the operation was performed at home or not, — but from that time onwards he gradually sank, though the fatal termination was protracted for some months longer — months probably of self-communion and preparation for that future world on whose threshold he was standing ; while his heart seems to have been filled with deep gratitude for the " mony baith spiritual and temporal gifts, whilk," to use his own language, " I never mereit (merited) in respect of my manifauld sins, the forgiveness and redemption whereof I lippen (trust) only to my Saviour Jesus Christ." — Many a trait of character may be read in the language and provisions of a will of the olden time, and that of Lord Menmuir is full of these intimations, so gratifying to posterity. " Being assurit," says he, "of my salvation be the bluid of Christ only, I leave my saul to the great God of Heaven, Creator thereof, thankand His great Majesty for the giving of it to me, and of all His benefits in this life, abune (above) my merit and expectation, — therefore maist willingly quitting this warldly life again, whensoever it shall please His Majesty to retire my saul again to Himself." — Should his death occur in or near Edinburgh, he desires that his body should be buried in the Abbey-kirk, beside the remains of the late Justice- Clerk, f the Lairds of Segie and Barnbarrow,^ Mr. John Graham, § and other lords of the Session, "my friends and companions," — if at St. Andrews, in St. Leonard's Kirk, — if at Balcarres, " in the Kirk of Kilcon- quhar, under my awin seat." — " And that," he proceeds, " with- * A favourite specific, then, for the stone. t Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchinoul, who died in 1591. % James Meldrum younger of Segie, who died 15 Feb. 1588 ; and Sir Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch, who died 22 July, 1597, ancestor of the present Robert Vans Agnew, Esq., of Barnbarroch. § John Graham of Halyards, shot in a feud, 13 Feb. 1593. 374 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. out ony superfluous solemnity or greater convocation of friends nor (than) may be had upon the morn efter my decease." And " I wald request my friends and bairns," he adds, " rather to be merry nor (than) to make lamentation for my decease, and to think that their lamentation will do me na guid, nor can not be foundit upon ony guid reason, gif they hope that I will be in a guid estate." After providing for his children's worldly weal, and bequeath- ing them to the guardianship of his elder brother, Lord Edzell, and other friends, he in an especial manner commends his daughters to the "kindness and diligence, whereof," says he, " I am weill assurit," of his sister-in-law, Dame Isabel Forbes, the Lady of Edzell ; thereby observing the last and most earnest prayer of his deceased wife, * that he would " bring up our bairns in God's fear, and albeit ye have mony rich friends, yet never should let them be in that company where they will see vice. There is few," she adds, " either of your or my friends, in whose company I would wish any of them to be, except in the Laird of Edzell's and Colluthie's,t wha, I am sure, fear God." — After remembering his friends, and providing kindly for his servants and dependants, his last request is, that his son would continue to love and protect them ; while " on the other pairt," says he, " I recommend my said son and remanent bairns to the love and care of my haill friends and servants, praying them to continue their guid will towards them, as they have done towards me." — " And sa," he concludes, " of new recommending my saul to the great eternal God, I heartily take my leave fra this warld."J — He expired on the 3rd of September, 1598, at ten in the morning, at his house of Balcarres in Fifeshire, and was buried in the Kirk of Kilconquhar.§ He had barely attained his forty-seventh year. * In her will, — vide infra, p. 379. t David Carnegie, of Colluthie, one of the Octavians and father of the first Earl of Southesk, married Margaret Lindsay, daughter of Lord Edzell. Their daughter, Magdalen, was the wife of the illustrious Montrose. % Testament, Haigh Muniment-room. — Of his Lindsay servants, mentioned supra, p. 118, Thomas Lindsay, the steward, and George Lindsay are remembered by legacies of a hundred marks each, " with a stand (suit) of fine claithes," explained in another draft of the will as " a stand of London brown," apiece, — and Duncan Lindsay receives £20, and " a stand 'of Scottish claith." § Memoranda of the Laird of Moncreijf, Lamont's Diary, App. p. 229 ; Family Vapers, &c. — A portentous eclipse had scared Scotland early in 1598, and Lord Sect. IV. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 375 A very few remarks on Lord Menmuir's character, public and private, will suffice. His talents were very varied ; eminent at once as a lawyer and statesman, and an excellent practical man of business, he was a scholar, a man of letters, and a poet ; was familiar with the Greek, wrote with grace and energy in what was then styled the " universal language," and was master of more than one foreign tongue, with which his different residences on the continent had familiarized him at an early age.* Much of his correspondence, both in Latin and Scottish, is preserved in the public repositories of Scotland,! — his style in Scottish is un- usually vigorous, easy, and colloquial ; he delighted especially in proverbs, the wisdom of the people, and indulged occasionally in a pun, the sneeze of wisdom. Of his 'Epigrams' I can give a less satisfactory account; he was esteemed "excellent in that airt " by Scott of Scottistarvet and Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, themselves poets and no mean judges of literary merit, J but none of them have come down to us. A similar fate has attended his treatise * De Jure Anglicano,' of which the Master of Gray, to whom he had shewn it at Falkland, requests the loan in a letter printed among his correspondence. § He was a book-collector, like many of his descendants, and his library became the nucleus of a collection which they, inheriting his taste for literature, continually augmented. He had the spirit more- over of an historical antiquary, and accumulated numerous state Menmuir's death was among the events supposed to have been foretold by it : — "Upon Saturday, the 25th of Februar," says Calderwood, "betwixt nine and ten hours before noon, began a fearful eclipse, which continued about two hours. The whole face of the sun seemed to be covered and darkened about half a quarter of an hour, in such measure that none could see to read on a book. The stars appeared in the firmament ; sea, land, and air was still, and strucken dead as it were. The ravens and fowls, flocking together, mourned exceedingly in their kind. Great multitudes of paddocks (frogs) ran together, making an uncouth and hideous noise. Men and women were astonished, as if the day of judgment had been coming. Some women swooned. The streets of Edinburgh were full of cries. Some ran off the streets to the kirk to pray. The like fearful darkness was never seen in this land, so far as we can read in our histories or understand by tradition." Hist., torn. v. p. 681. * He would appear from his papers to have been acquainted, at least, with French, Italian, and Spanish. f Several of his Latin letters are printed in Mr. Maidment's Letters and State Papers during the Reign of K. James VI., Abbotsford Club, pp. 18 sqq. % See a letter of Sir John Scott, infra, torn. ii. p. 6. § Letters and Papers relating to the Master of Gray, p. 184. 376 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap, XIII. papers and letters by personages distinguished during the earlier years of the sixteenth century ; all of which, with others of later date, are now preserved, by the gift of his great-grandson, Colin Earl of Balcarres, in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. * Of his mineralogical studies I have already spoken, but I may mention here his having invented an engine for raising water out of coal-mines, f and his taste for building and architecture, the result of which was the erection of the family mansion in 1595, % * Of this interesting series — styled by Mr. Maidment " the invaluable collection of papers accumulated by the Lindsay family " — presented by Earl Colin to the Faculty of Advocates in 1712 — and recently arranged and bound up in nine folio volumes by the care of the learned librarian, Dr. Irving, " the greater proportion," says Mr. Maidment, " was collected by John Lindsay of Menmuir, Secretary of State, &c, and refers to the reign of the Queen Kegent Mary of Lorraine ; including an extensive correspondence with the Court of France, in which are to be found letters of Catherine de Medicis, Henry II., the celebrated Anne Constable de Montmorency, Diane de Poitiers, and other equally distinguished persons." — Of these letters, twenty-five of Henry II. have been printed by Mr. Maidment in the Miscellany of the Maitland Club (torn. i. pp. 207 sqq.) ; and in the Analecta Scotica, 2 vols. 8vo., 1836-7, edited by that gentleman, will be found fourteen more from Mary Queen of Scots, written prior to her attaining the age of fifteen ; three from Margaret of France, Duchess of Savoy ; four from James V. of Scotland ; four from Catherine de Medicis ; four from Diane de Poitiers ; and two from Jeanne d' Albret, Queen of Navarre. These (with the exception of the letters of Henry II. and Diane de Poitiers) have also been collected into a little volume, entitled, ' Lettres de quelques hauts Personnages, addressees a la Eeine d'Ecosse, Marie de Guise, tirees des MSS. originaux et autographes, recueillis par Milord Balcarres. Edimb., 8vo., 1834.' — And those of Mary Queen of Scots have recently been inserted in the valuable collection of her Letters by Prince A. Labanoff. — " The letters during the reign of James VI. are comparatively few, and relate chiefly to his negotiations with foreign powers, to obtain their recognition of his right of eventual succession to the Crown of England. They possess considerable interest," — and have been printed in the Analecta Scotica, and among the Letters and State Papers during the Reign of James VI., above mentioned. — " Besides the preceding papers, the collection includes various others relating to the Balcarres family, and the Uni- versity of St. Andrews." Introduction by Mr. Maidment to the ' Letters and State Papers,' &fc. — " What volumes," exclaims the enthusiastic Dr. Dibdin, " to open — to feed upon — to revel in ! As you turn over their letters, you are living with the Henris, Montmorencies, Catherines, Maries, and Guises of the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries. Read and meditate, ... ye sons of the South !" Northern Tour, torn. ii. p. 597. f " Patent by James VI. for twenty-one years, anno 1600, in the archives of the family of Balcarres. In this patent the decay of coal through the abounding of water in the coal-mines is strongly set forth." Arnot's Hist, of Edinburgh, 4to., 1779, p. 67. — Arnot was a friend of the family; the paper may probably have been given to him as a curiosity, — at all events it no longer exists in our repositories. % He is said to have " built a house to the skies " in the sermon of one of the fanatical preachers of 1597, who prophesied that, notwithstanding this exaltation Sect. IV. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 377 and of which many other proofs exist among the family papers. Nor was he, if we may judge from a copious list of musical instruments drawn up in his handwriting, insensible to the charms of melody. — But his character as a man threw mere genius and accomplishment — as it ever should — into the shade. " His virtue," it is said, " did appear in all his actions, but most in his righteous administration of justice,"* — a merit ever quoted with praise in those days of corruption ; he was generous to his friends and kinsfolk, liberal and hospitable to strangers ; he enjoyed the love of his family, the confidence of his prince, and the respect of his contemporaries, of whom Archbishop Spotswood has described him as " a man honourably descended, of exquisite learning and a sound judgment, held worthy by all men of the place he had in the senate both for his wisdom and integrity," f — while the ruder but nervous pen of the Presbyterian Melville emphatically cha- racterises him as "a man of the greatest learning and solid natural wit joined with that," " for natural judgment and learning the greatest light of the policy and council of Scotland." J Lord Menmuir was twice married, — to Dame Marion Guthrie, already mentioned, and to Dame Jean Lauder, the Dowager Lady of Corstorphine — a termagant concerning whom I have nothing pleasing to relate except the fact of her husband's for- bearance, and the provision he made for her comfort after his decease. § He had no issue by her, and it is to Marion Guthrie, " his posterity should beg their bread, which some of his auditors should see, and that it was doubtful if ever God should grant him repentance." Spotswood, p. 446. * Memoir of his grandson, Earl Alexander. Haigh Muniment-room. f Hist, of the Church, p. 453. X Memoirs, p. 290. — I may add to these testimonies, that an intended grant by King Charles I., immediately after the death of King James, to Sir David Lindsay, son and heir of Lord Menmuir, proceeds upon the preamble, that the latter (Lord Menmuir) had not " reaped the sweet fruits of his (King James's) princely favours in such large measure as, for his wisdom and fidelity, not only in the ordinary dis- charge of his duty as Principal Secretary, but in all other affairs of consequence and treaties with ambassadors of foreign princes and estates, and public commissions, his Majesty's said dearest father intendit to have bestowit upon him." Draft, Haigh Muniment-room. — And as a further testimony of his worth, he held for several years before his death the office of Chancellor of the University of St. Andrews, in which capacity the celebrated Andrew Melville addressed him a playful Latin poem in the form of a petition from that venerable Alma Mater herself, the opening lines of which I have prefixed as one of the mottoes to this chapter. § There is a long, minute, and very curious paper in the Haigh Muniment-room, entitled ' Articles of the Agreement betwix Mr. John Lindsay and Dame Jean 378 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. the mother of his children, that we must look back as our ances- tress. She seems to have been the model of a wife and mother, — uniting, to a sincere and fervent dependence on her Saviour, en- dowments and graces which endeared her to the kindred that surrounded her, and ought to ensure her the respect and love even of her remotest descendants. Affectionate to her friends, considerate to her inferiors, compassionate to the poor and the afflicted, a helpmate on whose care her husband could rely in all worldly and domestic affairs, still it was the first wish of her heart that those she loved should fix their trust on that Rock of Ages which alone can afford the soul security and peace. And as her life was virtuous, so was her death-bed exemplary. Her illness would seem to have been a malignant fever, — her husband was unfortunately absent, I believe on one of his foreign embassies, and her will consequently assumes the character of a letter rather than a testament, and is so much the more interesting. After committing her soul 44 in the hands of the great God, where I am Lauder, his Spouse,' drawn up by the friends of both parties, and subscribed at Edzell, 15 May, 1595; by which, among other articles of mutual compact and for- giveness, Lord Menmuir stands pledged, " with the help and concurrence of the Laird of the Bass," " to procure at his Majesty's hands the said Dame Jean her liberty, and the discharge of the Act of Secret Council anent her warding be North the Water of Tay, upon such conditions and with sic expedition as the same may be obtainit at his Majesty's hands," — she having, it appears, been imprisoned in conse- quence of her outrageous behaviour, — and further, to receive her to reside with him in his houses of Balcarres, Edinburgh, and Clerkington, and allow her one thousand marks a-year, — while she, on the other hand, engages to desist and cease henceforward from all " enormities " similar to those of which she had been guilty, and to procure the obligation and assurance of Mr. George Lauder of the Bass and others of the name, and the Sinclairs of Roslin and Ravensheuch, " that the said Dame Jean shall not in ony times hereafter divert frathe society of her said husband but (without) ane just and reasonable cause, and that scho shall not spulzie, reif, nor abstract his writs, guids, and gear out of his houses, and that scho shall not reif nor spulzie his tenants, nor uptake and intromit with ony mair of their rent nor (than) is appointit be thir presents by (independently of) the said Mr. John his consent, and that scho shall not recept, nor supply, nor intercommune with ony of the King's rebels, wha are or shall be declarit traitors, nor with ony other rebels whilks are or shall be put to the horn at the said Mr. John his instance, but that scho shall desist and cease fra all siclike doing in times coming, under the pains of ten thou- sand marks, in case this obligation, in haill or in pairt, be contravenit be her." — These Articles are signed by all the Lauders, and by the Lindsays of Edzell, of Vane, and of Kinnettles. — " Dame Jean," observes Mr. Riddell, " must have had something of the turbulence of the Bass Rock and winds in her, being evidently of the old Lauders of the Bass, who preferred Bass to all the world." Sect. IV. JOHN OF BALCARRES, LORD MENMUIR. 379 sure it shall be convoyit to the highest heavens and conjoinit with my head, Christ, in whose bluid I am sure of remission of my sins," and commending her children to her husband's care in the words already quoted, she proceeds to apportion her worldly goods, her jewels and trinkets, and other property, among her friends and kindred, — none are forgotten, and many of the legacies are sweet- ened by kind words for memory to brood upon. She leaves her husband a rich chain of gold, " whilk ye bought to me yourself," in the days probably of their early courtship, — to her eldest son, John, a similar one, " to be given be him to his wife, if the Lord has appointit him to live," and, failing him, to her second son, David, — and to her daughters, her mother, her brothers and sis- ters, similar memorials, " in taiken of my guid will ; praying them to respect the heart and guid will of the giver rather than the valour of the gift," — the roll of legacies ending with a donation of forty pounds towards the " bigging " (building) of the new kirk, when the wark shall begin," — of twenty marks " to the kirk and hospital, to be distribute amang the poor," and twenty more " to Mr. Pendrie, Englishman, the minister." — " I pray you," she concludes, " to visie all my writs, and not to take un- kindly care, but to keep yourself, to provide for your puir babes. As for the insicht (furniture) of your house in this town (Edin- burgh), as also in Balcarres, ye will find perfyt inventars of all, written with my awin hand, and als of your claithes, and our bairns', and of all the compts and servandis fees. I repent that my pen wes sa meikle occupiet in warldly turns. I pray you, remember me if I have forget ony thing, and the Lord God of Heaven be with you, my dear husband ; the sun ga'ed never down upon ony wrath that ever wes betwix you and me in this warld. The Lord give you grace to come in guid company efter me, and to join yourself to them wha fears God, — for I take God to wit- ness, I was ever mair 'careful of your saul than of your body." " This being done," adds her mother,* in a postscript appended to the will, " scho tuik leave of me her mother, William Maule, Mr. Walter Balcanquhal, Bethia her sister, and Mr. John David- son, all with great earnestness and affection, and never spake of * She was a Henderson of Fordell ; of the family which produced the poet Henryson in the sixteenth century. 380 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. the warld therefter, but ever of God ; and upon the morn ther- efter conferrit at length with the said Mr. Walter, the minister, anent the joy of the heavens, to his great comfort ; and therefter, be the force of the sickness, ravit, but all in guid things, while (till) the twenty-fourth day,* being aneMonenday, in the morning betwix sex and seven, at whilk time scho depairtit, and was buriet upon the morn therefter. "f Sir Hadrian Damman a Bistervelt, a Belgian knight, envoy of the States of Holland to the Court of Scotland, and her husband's and her own friend, wrote the following lines to her memory : — " In optimatem matro?iam, Mariam Gutheri, Nobilis Viri et Consiliarii Regii, M. Johannis Lyndesii, Dn. Menmurice, suavissimam In vita conjagem, Epitaphium. " Terque quaterque animi felix, Guthereia felix Hoc fragili intuitur corpore functa Deum ; Utque omnem solita est per vitam dicere laudes, Jam canit angelicis indigetata choris. Vos longum, conjux cum dulcibus optime natis ! Magna perennantes vivite cura Dei ; Dum spatia emensi mortalis maxima vitse, Hospitium ad cceli deveniatis idem !" " O'er death victorious, face to face with God Thrice-happy Marion stands, and, as her songs On earth were his, among the angelic choirs Still sings His praise. Long may ye sojourn here, Sweet children, sorrowing husband ! still your God's Peculiar care, till, satisfied with days, Ye reach the same abiding-place in heaven !" % * The 24th of July, 1592. f Testament, 16th of July, 1592. Haigh Muniment-room. X The children of Lord Menmuir and of Marion Guthrie, in the order of their seniority, were, John, his successor ; Catherine, wife of Sir John Lindsay of Balin- scho, younger son of David tenth Earl of Crawford, and subsequently of John Brown of Fordell, and the mother of children to both husbands ; Margaret, wife of Sir John Strachauchin, or Strachan, of Thornton ; David, the first Lord Balcarres ; Alexander, who died young ; Janet, married to Sir David Auchmutie, of that Ilk ; and Robert, who died without issue in 1638. Sect. V. DAVID BISHOP OF EOSS. 381 SECTION V. A few parting notices of various personages frequently men- tioned in the preceding pages will conclude this long chapter. Mr. David Lindsay, the venerable minister of Leith, to whose interest with the Duke of Lennox his cousin Lord Menmuir had, unless I mistake, owed his early promotion, survived him for many years. He was appointed Bishop of Ross in 1600,* in accordance with the recent Act in favour of Episcopacy — a form of Church government he had always advocated, and in favour of which he had constantly been selected to argue in the disputations held on the subject by the Kirk. That same year he returned public thanks at the Market-Cross of Edinburgh for the King's escape from the Gowrie Conspiracy, " in a very eloquent oration," f — " which action being ended, there was ringing of bells, shooting of cannons, between three and four in the afternoon, and bonfires set in the streets and upon Arthur's Seat, and other eminent places far and near, on this and the other side of the water." J The King landing at Leith six days afterwards, " Mr. David Lindsay taketh him to the kirk, exhorteth him after thanksgiving to per- form his vows made before-times for performance of justice ; at which words he smiled, and talked with those that were about him, after his unreverent manner of behaviour at sermons." § It was David Lindsay also who baptized King Charles I., and his elder brother, Prince Henry. The baptism of the latter prince was celebrated with singular magnificence at Stirling, the favourite residence of the Kings of Scotland. Minute accounts of the cere- * On the 5th of November, Spotswood, p. 456. — David Bishop of Eoss was ad- mitted as " ane of the Council " on the 3rd of December following. Records of the Privy Council. f Sir James Balfour's Annals, torn. i. p. 406. — It appears from Calderwood, that the ministers were in a great strait, pressed by the Lords of Council to return thanks for the King's delivery from treason, but doubting whether any treason had existed, and therefore conscientiously scrupling to affirm it in their thanksgiving ; when Mr. David Lindsay coming in, and shewing that he had been at Falkland, and had heard the whole narrative from the King's own mouth, they determined " that he, instead of the rest, should give praise to God." Hist., torn. vi. p. 46. — It appears questionable indeed whether the King himself was not the conspirator, instead of the unhappy Gowrie. % Calderwood, torn. vi. p. 50. § Ibid. 382 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. mony and attendant festivities have been transmitted to us. The royal chapel, we are told, was hung with rich tapestry, the King being seated at the North-east end, and the foreign ambassadors near him, while a pulpit was erected in the centre, beneath which sat Mr. David, and two other ministers, with a table covered with yellow velvet before them. All things being in readiness, the King and his nobles took their seats, passing through a guard of hackbutteers, " the younkers * of Edinburgh," (as they are styled in the rare contem- porary tract descriptive of the ceremonial,) who lined the passage of communication between the Prince's chamber-door and that of the chapel. In the mean while, the ambassadors had been mar- shalled to the Prince's chamber, where he was lying on his bed of state, which was delicately embroidered " with the story of Her- cules and his travails." The ambassador of England took the young prince in his arms, the trumpets sounding melodiously, and Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, the Lion King, escorting them to the chapel. After a discourse on the sacrament of baptism, that holy rite was administered, and the child christened by the names of " Fre- derick-Henry, Henry- Frederick," which Sir David repeated thrice with a loud voice, " and his brethren, with trumpets sounding, confirmed the same." They then returned to their places, and Mr. David Lindsay delivered " a learned speech in French to the ambassadors," wherein the King's relationship to each prince whose representative was present was genealogically set forth and commented upon. The blessing having been given, Sir David cried with a loud voice, " God save Frederick-Henry, Henry- Frederick, by the grace of God, Prince of Scotland !" — and the remainder of the heralds repeated the same after him. " Then the King, the Prince, the ambassadors, the nobles, and ladies of honour, retired forth of the chapel in such order as they entered ; and repaired towards the King's Hall, — during their passage the cannons of the castle roared, that therewith the earth trembled ; and other smaller shot made their harmony after their kind." In the King's Hall the young Prince was dubbed knight, and crowned with a ducal coronet, and was again proclaimed by Sir David Lindsay, " The right excellent, high, and magnanime * Young gentlemen, in the original sense of the word, Jung herr. Sect. V. DAVID BISHOP OF ROSS. 383 Frederick- Henry, Henry-Frederick, by the grace of God, knight, and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Earl of Carrick, Duke of Rothesay, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland." After this ceremony, John Lindsay of Dunrod, and several other gentlemen, received the accolade of knighthood, and were proclaimed on the terrace of the Castle, " with sound of trumpets, and great quantity of divers especes of gold and money cast over amongst the people." About eight in the evening, the banquet was served in the great hall of the Castle. Sir David Lindsay, "with his trumpets sounding melodiously before him," marshalled the guests, the King, Queen, and ambassadors being " placed all at one table, formed of three parts after a geometrical figure, in such sort that every one might have a full sight of the other." Ladies, nobles, ambassadors, addressed themselves to the feast, with the appetite of Homer's heroes, " and betwixt every nobleman or gentleman stranger was placed a lady of honour or gentlewoman." When the first course was ended, there came in a Black -a- moor, drawing, by traces of pure gold, a triumphal car, on which " was finely and artificially devised a sumptuous covered table, decked with all sorts of exquisite delicates and dainties of patis- serie, fruitages, and confections." Around the table were sta- tioned "six gallant dames, who represented a silent comedy," their names being Ceres, Plenty, Faith, Concord, Liberality, and Perseverance. This chariot, we are informed, " should have been drawn in by a lion, but, because his presence might have brought some fear to the nearest, or that the sight of the lights and torches might have commoved his tameness, he was supplied by a Moor." Plenty, Liberality, and their colleagues, delivered the dishes to the noblemen who acted as sewers to the party, and, having performed this service, withdrew. Presently in sailed a ship ! she measured eighteen feet long and forty high ; the sea she sailed upon was twenty -four feet long, and " her motion was so artificially contrived within herself, that none could perceive what brought her in." Neptune stood on the stern with his trident and crown, and near him were Thetis, and Triton " with his wilke trumpet," and round about the ship were " all the marine people," with the Sirens, " decored with all the riches of the seas, as pearls, corals, shells, and metals, very rare 384 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. and excellent." This noble vessel was laden, like the car, with sweetmeats disposed " in crystalline glass, gilt with gold and azure ; her masts and cordage were red, with golden pullies, her ordnance thirty-six brass cannon, her anchors silver-gilt, and all her sails of white taffetas, with the arms of Scotland and Den- mark embroidered on the mainsail," — her mariners were dressed " in changeable Spanish taffetas, and her pilot in cloth of gold." The remainder of the crew consisted of fourteen musicians, ap- parelled in taffety of his Majesty's colours, and Arion with his harp. She sailed slowly and gracefully up to the table, to the accompaniment of Triton's conch, the master's whistle, and the discharge of her own ordnance. — All this was, of course, allusive to King James's matrimonial voyage to Denmark. Arrived at her destination, the vessel gave up her stores, com- prising " all sorts of fishes, herrings, whitings, flukes, oysters, buckies, lampets, partans, lapstars, crabs, spout-fish, clammes, &c, made of sugar, and most lively represented in their own shape." While these good things were being transferred to the banquet- table and discussed by the guests, Arion, who was sitting "upon the galley-nose, which resembled a dolphin-fish," played on his harp ; a concert of hautboys, and afterwards of viols, succeeded, to which ensued "a still noise of recorders and flutes," and lastly, a general grand crash of all the instruments. When the banquet was ended, and grace had been said, the hundred and twenty-eighth psalm was sung " with most delicate dulce voices and sweet harmony, in seven parts, with fourteen voices." The ship then retired, and the party soon afterwards broke up about three in the morning.* Such was a royal christening in the days of Scotland's inde- pendence, but the young Prince, in whose honour these rejoicings were held, died young, and so universally lamented that " even unto this day," says the editor of a reprint of the tract I have been quoting — writing in 1687 — " when women in Scotland do lament the death of their dearest children, to comfort them it is ordinarily said, and is past into a proverb, ' Did not good Prince Henry * From the * True Account of the most Triumphant and Royal Accomplishment of the Baptism of the most excellent, right high, and mighty Prince, Henry Frede- rick, by the grace of God, Prince of Scotland, and now Prince of Wales, as it was solemnized 30 Aug. 1 594.'— Reprinted in Scotia Rediviva, torn. i. p. 470. Sect. V. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 385 die ? ' "* — But I must apologise for this lingering glance of re- trospection. The death of Elizabeth, and succession of King James, took place in 1603. He was proclaimed Sovereign of Great Britain by Sir David Lindsay of the Mount,f and was accompanied to England by the^Bishop of Ross,{ Sir John Lindsay, eldest son of Sir Henry of Kinfauns, Sir James Lindsay and Bernard Lindsay, of Lochhill, gentlemen of his immediate suite, — of whom Sir John was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation. § It was a de- pressing moment for Scotland. In less than a fortnight after the King's departure, the Privy Council advise him that the " sub- mission," or agreement " betwix the Lindsays and Ogilvies " had been subscribed the day before by Lord Spynie and the Master of Ogilvie "in our haill presence," || — there had been a renewal of the feud two or three years before, in which Lord Spynie nearly lost his life but now the flame sank down and expired, — it might almost appear, at first, as if the King's departure had taken all life and spirit out of them. A strange stillness, in fact, settled down upon the nation, as if with the presence of their King, whom they loved at heart, though so constantly at bickers with him, honour, and life, and all worth living for, had passed away for ever. This stillness was broken, as regards the Lindsays, by a sad catastrophe. David Master of Crawford, eldest son of Earl David, the fellow rebel with Huntley and Errol, exceeded even his father in recklessness and extravagance, riding through the country illegally armed, and pursuing his feudal or personal * enemies with unrelenting bitterness.** He slew in this manner, * See, for an interesting biographical notice of him, the fourth volume of Lodge's Portraits of Illustrious Personages. t Sir James Balfour's Annals, torn. i. p. 412. X Spotswood, — who mentions that he was appointed one of the Commissioners for effecting the union of Scotland and England in 1604,— a project that, I need scarcely add, failed. Hist, &c, pp. 476, 480. § Nichols' Progresses of James /.—Sir John left two daughters only,— no sons. || Letters and State Papers, James VI, p. 52. — Lord Edzell was appointed a member of the Privy Council on the penult. May, 1603. Act of Admission, Haigk Muniment-room. f Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, torn. ii. p. 130. ** There is a touching letter among the Balfour MSS., from William Fullerton of that Ilk to King James, complaining that, though he had spent above forty years in VOL. I. 2 c 386 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. and " under trust," or assurance, on the 25th of October, 1605, Sir Walter Lindsay of Balgawies,* brother of Lord Edzell, and son of Earl David, to whose forbearance and generosity he and his father owed their estates and honours. The relations of Sir Walter bitterly resented this injury, and his nephews especially, David the " young Laird," or heir apparent, of Edzell, and Alexander of Canterland, his brother, determined on having blood for blood, notwithstanding all that Lord Spynie, who was uncle to both parties, could do to make up the quarrel. On the 5th of July, 1607, between nine and ten at night, the brothers, with eight followers, Lindsays for the most part,f all " in gear," or armour, waylaid the Master in the High Town of Edinburgh, and attacked him furiously, — he had no attendants, — Lord Spynie and Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig alone accompanied him ; it was dark, so that " they could not know ane be (from) the other," and, in the rapid exchange of shots and sword-strokes, the three friends were all wounded, the Master and Lord Spynie so desperately, that, though the former recovered " with great loss of blood," Lord Spynie expired of his wounds eleven days after- wards, regretted by all parties, his death being accounted, even the service of the late Earl of Crawford, and merited well of the son likewise, yet the latter " has, without ony cause or occasion, conceived sa high a displeasure aganis me, as nothing can content him but my life, which he hes sought at the uttermost of his possibility; like as, now lately in this last month of October, I being riding out of your Majesty's town of Dundee in peaceable and quiet manner, luiking for na harm, he, accompanied with the number of twenty horse, with hagbutts, pistolets, and swords, set on me, chasit and pursewit me to the said town, and through the town to the Merket Cross, shot and dischairgit pistolets at me, and, missing me, hes shot ane gentleman called Gideon Guthrie in the body, to -the great peril of his life ; sa that there is no residence for me at my awin home, nor in na pairt of the country but with the extreme hazard and peril of my life." In con- sideration whereof, he entreats his Majesty to interfere in his behalf with the Privy Council and Lord Chancellor for his protection. Letters and State Papers, &c, p. 167. * Pitcairn's Crim. Trials, torn. iii. pp. 65, 248. f They are indicted in the subsequent proceedings as follows : — David Lindsay, fiar of Edzell ; Thomas Lindsay, son natural and servitor to David Lindsay, elder of Edzell ; Harry Lindsay, son to David Lindsay of Kinnettles ; Mr. John Lindsay, sometime minister at , son to John Lindsay of Barras, servitor to the auld Laird of Edzell ; George Lindsay, brother to the Laird of Covington, also servitor to the Laird of Edzell, elder ; Mr. James Lindsay, son to Lindsay of Broadland ; Andrew Straiton ; Home, son to Robert Home of the Heuche ; Gawin Lindsay, brother to the said Laird of Covington. Sect. V. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 387 by the aggressors themselves, " a pitiful mistake." * "He was much lamented," says Archbishop Spotswood, " for the many good parts he had, and the hopes his friends conceived that he should have raised again that noble and ancient House of Craw- ford to the former splendour and dignity, all which perished with him, he that was in place and escaped the peril being a base, unworthy prodigal, and the undoer of all that by the virtue of his ancestors had long been kept together." t Spotswood indeed anticipates time in describing the Master as " in place," or at the head of the family ; it was not till the death of his father on the 22nd of November, J four months after the catastrophe, that he became twelfth Earl, or — as he is disgracefully known in the genealogies of the time — the " Prodigal Earl " of Crawford. Edzell, in the mean while, the debt of blood having been exacted, " passes his way in safety, and his folks with him." § He took refuge in Angus, and remained in hiding for several years, residing chiefly at Auchmull and Invermark, fortalices belonging to the family, the latter in the recesses of Glenesk, beyond the reach of justice, || — and this in despite of an interdiction to his father by the authorities at Edinburgh, forbidding him to give him shelter in any of his houses, and in particular from receiving him at Edzell Castle, under penalty of ten thousand marks.1T This not unnatural disobedience on the part of Lord Edzell may have given colour to the calumnies of the Master, now Earl of Crawford, who accused him everywhere of complicity in the crime. After several months of vain endeavour to bring this slander to a tangible shape, Lord Edzell addressed the King directly in the following terms : — " Maist sacred Sovereign ! " It may please your Majesty : — Albeit I have stayit here in Edinburgh ane year and three months bygane, craving ever to be * Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, and ancient authorities there cited, torn. iii. pp. 62 sqq. t Spotswood, p. 504. X David, eleventh Earl of Crawford, is stated to have " died at Cupar in Fife, being of the age of fifty-five years, and was buried at Dundee." Genealogy q/1623, MS. § Anon. MS. Chronicle, quoted by Pitcairn, loc. tit. || Old Stat. Account, torn. x. p. 103. ^ Letter, cited infra. 2 C 2 388 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. tryit of the unhappy slaughter of my umquhile Lord of Spynie, whereof I protest hefore God and your Majesty I am maist inno- cent, my Lord of Crawford will neither call me (prosecute me) therefor, nor stay, baith privately and publicly, yea in face of your Majesty's honourable Privy Council, to calumniate me. Wherefore, seeing my modesty moves not my Lord of Crawford rightly to consider my innocency, I maist humbly pray your Ma- jesty to direct your Thesaurer and Advocate to call and put me to ane honest and unsuspect trial ; and, being tryit (proved) innocent, that I may have surety to live in peace, to serve your Majesty. I have suffered many injuries, specially five of my servitors shot with pistols and hurt, yet hes not complainit, — my- self also, during the space foresaid, not wardit only, but banishit from my virtue, and yet my Lord of Crawford his insolence not movit nor stayit from seeking of my wreck. Praying your Majesty to consider and to cause order to be put to the premises, I pray God to grant your Majesty ane lang and prosperous reign, and to bliss your royal progeny. — Sa, kissing humbly your hands, I rest ever " Your Sacred Majesty's " maist humile and obedient " subject and servitor, « Edinburgh, 16 Aug. 1608."* « EdZELL." Finding, however, no redress, and other circumstances having occurred in the interim, Lord Edzell subsequently addressed to the King another letter, on the penultimate of March, 1608-9, as follows : — " Maist Sacred Sovereign ! " It may please your Majesty : — Being advertised that the Earl of Crawford hes sent express to your Highness of certain letters as written be me to my son, and recoverit (discovered) be him within the house of Auchmull, where my son was wont to dwell, whilks informs it was my will and command to slay the umquhile Lord of Spynie, and so plotter and contriver of that unhappy and wild slaughter, — thinkand thereby to avert your Majesty's wontit favour from me, and to disgrace me at the hands * Printed, from the Balfour MSS., Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, torn. iii. p. 64. Sect. V. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 389 of all honest men ; I have chosen and presumit to take the hardi- ment humbly to pray your Highness not to give credit to any copy of any letter coming from the hands of my enemies, unto the time the principal (original) be tryit (proved) to be written, sub- scrivit, or directit be myself ; for I protest in presence of God, I never had any sic unnatural and ungodly enterprise in my heart, meikle less directit the doing thereof. And to make this mair manifest to the world, I have inventit improbation,* that all living may know how unjustly I am usit be the Earl of Crawford, and how he wha was the beginner of all thir troubles be the murder of my umquhile brother, Sir Walter, under traist, wald now eke craft to his cruelties, and, in place of repentance, be false calum- nies, wald also bereave me of my fame and life, albeit I have ever been, and yet am, maist willing to abide all ordinar trial of law. Farther, I must also regret that the said Earl, being lately at Court, hes privily obtainit ane commission unto ane number of his rioters and defenders, for searching of my son; and under colour thereof, hes intentit not only to surprise my house of Edzell, where my haill evidents (deeds) and [those] of other friends yet remains, but also to bereave me of my life within my awin lodging in Edinburgh, and, to the effect foresaid, wears daily pistolets and hackbuts, prohibited be your Majesty's Acts, alleg- ing ever they are seeking rebels. For remeid whereof and my awin security, in respect of the reasons foresaids, [and] specially because your Majesty's honourable Privy Council hes already grantit ane very ample commission, excepting only my house of Edzell, within the whilk I have found caution (security) not to recept my son, nor any of these rebels, under the pain of ten thousand merks, toties quoties ; I will maist humbly pray your Majesty to direct ane warrant to your Highness' Privy Council of this country to suspend the last privately obtainit commission, as your Majesty will have me free of that shadow (imputation), be the whilk my undeservit enemy craves my life and land, — for otherways, the Council, for the reverence they carry to that com- mission signed by your Highness, will not mell (meddle) there- with : — Hoping for your Majesty's wontit protection now, sa meikle the rather that I am so unkindly, unnaturally, and without * A form in law, by a corresponding action, to prove that certain forgeries, or supposititious documents, are not genuine. 390 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. deserving, troublit be that House, of the whilk ever of auld, not unknown to your Majesty, in their troubles, I have sa weill meritit otherways. If I find not security here, I will be forced, although be sea, in respect of my age and inability, upon my knees to beg the same at your Highness' self. Thus, maist humbly kissing your Highness' hands, and praying the Eternal lang to preserve your Majesty and royal progeny, I rest ever " Your Sacred Majesty's " maist humble and obedient " subject and servitor, "Edzell."* Upon this, the 6th of September, 1609, was appointed for the trial of Lord Edzell and Alexander of Canterland, his second son, as suspected connivers at the death of Lord Spynie, — they presented themselves for trial, but no one appeared against them, and consequently, on the 19th of that month, they formally protested, that, since no one appeared to prosecute them, no one should at any future time be allowed to call them to account. This, however, was met by a counter-protest in the name of Lord Spynie's infant children, that, whatever might be done, their right of ultimate prosecution should not be invalidated.! Here, therefore, the matter rested for the remainder of Lord Edzell's life, and during the first years of his successor,^ till the * Balfour MSS., ap. Pitcairn, torn. iii. p. 65. f Pitcairn, ibid. % The younger Edzell seems to have been extremely anxious to propitiate the offended Church, as appears by the following passage in a letter from Archbishop Spotswood, the Scottish primate, to the King, 18 Feb. 1610 :— "The Laird of Edzell, younger, hath given in to me and the Synod a most humble supplication for accept- ing his repentance, and relaxing him from the sentence of excommunication. But that matter also is referred to your Majesty's pleasure, for, since here (praised be God !) ecclesia et respublica est eadem numero, where I have power, none shall be mernbrum ecclesice who is not membrum reipublicce and your Majesty's acknowledged subject; yet this I have presumed, that two should be deputed to the Earl of Craw- ford and two to the Laird of Edzell for mediation, if it shall please your Majesty to spare his life, which is in your Majesty's reverence for that unhappy slaughter." Wodrow's Biog. Collections, torn. i. p. 274.— And that the Church was at last dis- posed to relax her censures appears from the following appeal to the King by Crawford and Spynie, without date, but probably about 1611 t or 1612, preserved among the Balfour MSS. : — " Most dread and gracious Sovereign ! " We, your Majesty's humble subjects, the Earl of Crawford, the Lord Spynie, Anna and Margaret Lindsays, dochters to umquhile Alexander Lord of Spynie, hearing Sect. V. SIR DAVID, LORD EDZELL. 391 year 1616, when a solemn contract, strikingly characteristic of feudal times, was entered into between " Alexander Lord of Spynie," eldest son and heir of the late Lord Spynie, " taking the burthen on him for his sisters and for the remanent his kin, friends, allya (alliances), and four branches, baith on the father's side and mother's side," on the one hand — and David Lindsay of Edzell, son of Lord Edzell and now Laird, on the other ; by which, on David's affirmation " be his great aith (oath)" that the slaughter of Lord Spynie had not been committed by himself "actually," nor by his command, "but most unhappily upon mere accident and suddenty, as he shall answer to God in the great and fearful day of judgment," — and on his paying to Lord Spynie and his heirs eight thousand marks, and making over to them the town and lands of Garlobank, "in assythement (compensation) and satisfaction of the said slaughter " — Lord Spynie and his kin " remit, forgive, and discharge all rancour of their hearts and minds, with aH action of displeasure competent to them " (at law) " aganes the said David Lindsay " and his adherents, " for the foresaid slaughter," — binding themselves at the same time to give them full and sufficient " Letters of Slains," or of blood-forgive- ness, for the said slaughter, and " consenting that our Sovereign Lord grant his Highness' remission for the same :" — which " Letter of Slains" was granted accordingly, and followed by a Remission, or Pardon, under the Great Seal, dated at Whitehall, March the 7th, 1617.* that the Presbytery of Edinburgh and Bishops of this your Majesty's kingdom hes enterit in dealing with the Laird of Edzell for relaxation of him fra his excommunication, without any satisfaction of your Majesty, or guid will of us, which shall never be without your Majesty's special command for our pairts, we most humbly have taken occasion to pray your Majesty wald not suffer so hard ane preparative pass in our contrair, who has no other protection, under God, but your Majesty's favour ; and we doubt not but your Majesty will remember the one of us wanting his uncle and dearest friend, the rest their father, and has left us altogidder unprovidit, and that puir estate whilk it pleased your Majesty of your most gracious liberality to bestow upon umquhile the Lord of Spynie, your Majesty's own creature, be his untimely death now brought to ruin. So, in all humility, we most humbly desire your Majesty to send such order to the Bishops, that there be no favour shewn to that cruel murderer without your Majesty's first satisfaction. Praying God for your Majesty's monie happy days, we, as we ought, shall ever remain " Your Majesty's most humble " and obedient servants, " Crafoed. " Spvnie." — Letters and State Papers, 8fc, p. 276. * Contract, 6th and other days of Nov^ 1616 ; Letter of Slains, same date ; Re- mission under the Great Seal, 7 March, 1617, — all in the Haigh Muniment-room. — 392 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. Lord Edzell, whose latter days were rendered miserable by this feud, and who, from intimations of earlier date, might seem to have been to blame, like Eli, for not restraining his son more severely in his youth,* died at Edzell, in his sixtieth year, on the 14th of December, 1610,f leaving no issue by his second wife, Isabel Forbes, who executed three days after his decease a dis- position, or deed, most affectingly illustrating her deep regard for his memory. By this document — on the preamble that, " forsa- meikle as the said Sir David, my umquhile husband, during the time of his lifetime, was most loving, liberal, and beneficial to me, and mair nor (than) careful of my health and estate, albeit I was most heavily diseasit thir many years bygane, and altogether unable, be reason of age and infirmity foresaid, to discharge that duty which otherways appertainit unto me, — seeing also, in time of my health, my said umquhile husband rewardit largely and freely tocherit J sindry of my aunts, and not only permitted me for the most pairt to dispone at my own pleasure, and to convert to my awin particular adoes, and remuneration of sindry of my friends whom I best pleasit, all and haill the fermes (rents), and guids, and gear whatsoever of my liferent, conjunct-fee, and terce- lands of Cromie," (in right of her first husband,) " but also gave liberally of his own proper guids and gear, and gave me liberty Crawford Case, p. 133. — Later in the same year, on the 15th and 28th of May, 1617, and in final concording of all differences, letters of slains were granted to David Earl of Crawford by a family of Galbraiths, the children of a servitor of Edzell's, killed in defence of the House of Auchmull by Earl David, James Ogilvy of Clova, Sir John Wood of Fettercairn, the Lindsays of Blairfeddan, Kethick, and Coralhill, &c. — in consideration of certain sums of money paid to them, " in name of kinbute and assythement (compensation and satisfaction) for the said slaughter," by David Lindsay of Edzell. Haigh Muniment-room. * After a previous combat or " tulzie " at the " Salt-tron of Edinburgh," on the 17th of June, 1605, between the younger Edzell and the young Laird of Pittarrow, and which lasted from nine till eleven at night, or, as Sir J. Balfour states, " till almost two in the morning," — Edzell and Pittarrow, the fathers of the two young men, were committed to prison for neglecting to contain their sons within their houses as they had been commanded by the Chancellor, Archbishop Spotswood. Pitcairn's Crim. Trials, torn. iii. p. 62. — At the same time it must be allowed that the feudal usage of investing the heir-apparent with a portion of the family estate during the lifetime of the father rendered parental coercion much more difficult then than now. — Edzell, however, as already intimated, though a Lord of Session, partook much more of the old feudal baron than his brother of Menmuir. t Ancient MS. note, cited in the Analecta Scotica, torn. i. p. 1 86. % Provided in marriage dowries. Sect. V. DAVID BISHOP OF ROSS. 393 to give of the samin, but (without) any kind of compt or control- ment, to divers and sindry my friends and servants, scarce knawn be eyesight be the said Sir David, — and seeing also that [at] the time of his most distressit estate he held and entertainit to me, and only for my cause, ane very sumptuous and patent house, sa that thereby many of my friends resorted thereto, to his great expences and manifold charges, — and seeing also, my said um- quhile husband has left his house in extraordinar debt, partly be reason of the causes foresaids, and partly be reason of ane ma- lignant feid (feud), and many cautionries (securities) contractit be him, specially for James Earl of Athol, whereof I was not the smallest occasion, — Therefore, for relief of the samin debts," thus oppressing the House of her adoption, this noble-hearted woman made over to her cousin, John Livingstone of Dunypace, and his heirs and representatives, her whole tierces or provision, both on the estates of Cromie and Edzell, in trust, for the payment and relief of her husband's debts and estate, — contenting herself for the remainder of her days with a bare aliment ; and on the sole con- dition that Sir David's heir should " give me liberty to remain during all the days of my lifetime in the place (or Castle) of Edzell :" * — An act of generous self-devotion for which her me- mory ought to be held in honourable and grateful remembrance by the family, and which bears ample witness to Lord Men- muir's wisdom in bequeathing his daughters to her tender care after his decease. It only remains for me now to notice the death of the venerable David Lindsay, Bishop of Ross, three years afterwards, in 1613. His name has occurred repeatedly in these pages. I have already mentioned his descent from Walter, the young Laird of Edzell, who fell at Flodden. He had at an early age, on returning from his travels abroad, joined the ranks of the Reformers, f He was appointed minister of Leith on the establishment of the Kirk of Scotland in 1560, from which year, for above half a century, his name constantly occurs in the ecclesiastical historians, who all bear testimony to his abilities and worth, though his inclination to a moderate episcopacy and acceptance of the Bishopric of Ross * Disposition, Sfc, Haigh Muniment -room ; Crawford Case, p. 182. f Spotswood, p. 520. 394 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. are sad demerits in Presbyterian eyes. It should not be for- gotten as a trait in his character, that he was the only clergyman, with the exception of the King's own chaplain, who would pray for the ill-fated Mary at the moment when, apprehending her instant execution, James besought the prayers of the clergy, as a last resource, for her preservation.* " Notwithstanding the various and important situations which he held,f he continued his ministry at Leith until his death, in the eighty-second or eighty-third year of his age." { He was, says his son-in-law, Archbishop Spotswood, " a man of a peaceable nature," " wise and moderate," " universally be- loved and well esteemed of by all wise men. His corpse were § interred at Leith by his own directions, as desiring to rest with that people on whom he had taken great pains during his life." || He left a son, Sir Jerome Lindsay of Annatland, afterwards styled of the Mount, having married the daughter and heiress of Sir David Lindsay, Lion King, the poet's nephew, on whose death in 1621 he succeeded him in his office, — and a daughter, Rachel Lindsay, wife of the primate, and the happy mother of Sir John Spotswood of that Ilk, a noble and loyal knight, who suffered greatly in the cause of Charles I., — of Sir Robert, Lord President of the Court of Session, and Secretary of State for Scotland — the kind, the Christian martyr, who sealed his loyalty to the same unfortunate monarch on the scaffold,H — and of a daughter, Anne, * Ibid. f Besides those already mentioned, he was named a member of the Court of High Commission established by James ; but, owing to his advanced age, he took little or no part in its proceedings. % Campbell's Hist, of leith, p. 329 ; Spotswood, ibid. § The word " corpse " is usually followed by a plural verb in old Scottish. || Spotswood, ibid. — A memoir of him may be found in the Eev. James Scott's Lives of the Scottish Reformers, 1810, pp. 225 sqq. — A work of his was published after his death, bearing the following quaint title : — ' The Heavenly Chariot laid open, for transplanting the new-born Babes of God, from Time infected with Sin, towards that Eternity in the which dwelleth Kighteousness : made up of some rare pieces of that purest Gold which is not to be found but in that richest Treasury of Sacred Scripture. Imprintit at St. Andrews, by Edw. Raban, Printer to the University. 4to., 1622.' — I have never been able to meet with it. f For an account of the death of this admirable man, (" an exit," observes Mr. Napier, " so saint-like as to seem a type of the death of his sovereign,") see Wishart's Life of Montrose. — " He was remarkable," says the reverend biographer, " for his deep knowledge of things, both divine and humane ; for his skill in the Hebrew, Sect. V. DAVID BISHOP OF ROSS. 395 "virtuously and religiously bred," and happily married to Sir William St. Clair of Roslin * Chaldaic, Syriac, and Arabic, besides the western languages, and an intimate ac- quaintance with history, law, and politics. He was the honour and ornament of his country and the age, for the integrity of his life, for his fidelity, for his justice, and for his constancy. He was a man of an even temper, ever consistent with himself; so that his youth had no need to be ashamed of his childhood, nor his more ad- vanced years of his youth. He was a strict observer of the ancient worship, and yet not a vain and superstitious professor of it before the world, — a man easy to be made a friend, but very hard to be made an enemy ; insomuch that, after his death, he was exceedingly regretted even by many of the Covenanters. His lifeless body was taken care of by Hugh Scrimgeour, an old servant of his father, and buried privately ; nor did he long survive the doleful office, for not many days after, seeing the bloody scaffold upon which Sir Eobert suffered not yet removed out of the place, he immediately fell into a swoon, and, being carried home by his servants and neighbours, died at his own threshold." Life, &c, p. 243. * Life, prefixed to Spotswood's History, edit, folio.— This Sir William must, I think, have been the grandson of a Sir William of Roslin, who " espoused," says Father Hay, " Lindsay, daughter to the Laird of Edzell, brother-german to the Earl of Crawford," &c, and who was one of the most interesting characters of the sixteenth century. " He was made Lord Justice-General by Francis and Marie, King and Queen of Scotland, in 1559; he sided with the Queen at Langside in 1568, for which fact he obtained a remission in 1574. He was confirmed in his office of Justiciary in 1570. He gathered a great many manuscripts which had been taken by the rabble out of our monasteries in the time of the Reformation, whereupon we find as yet his name written thus, Sir William Sinclar of Roslin, Knight; he delivered once an Egyptian from the gibbet in the Borough-muir, ready to be strangled, returning from Edinburgh to Roslin, upon which accompt the whole body of gipsies were, of old, accustomed to gather in the stanks of Roslin every year, where they acted several plays during the month of May and June. There are two towers which were allowed them for their residence, the one called Robin Hood, the other Little John." Geneal. of the St. Clairs of Roslin, &c, p. 135. — " I do not know how it may strike others," observes Mr. Turnbull, after citing this passage, " but to me the above presents a most beautiful picture of the past. The short but graphic sketch of Father Hay does infinite honour to the me- mory of Sir William Sinclair ; and his fame for loyalty, humanity, justice, and literary enthusiasm, 'is thereby more clearly shown forth than in the encomiastic strains of a laboured panegyric. The gratitude exhibited by the poor wanderers of the earth, in their annual gambols of wild but hearty glee, beneath the towers of their protector, is not to be lightly regarded in the lineaments of the past." Ex- tracta, &c, Introd., p. xiii. — The House of Roslin is one so distinguished in every way, both in letters, arts, and arms, that I regret I cannot produce any trustworthy evidence for the alliance referred to by Father Hay. I must therefore endeavour to associate ourselves with it through the aid of fancy and imagination, by remind- ing the reader of the fair Rosabelle's plea for tempting "the stormy frith" in which she perished : — " 'Tis not because Lord Lindsay's heir To-night at Roslin leads the ball, But that my lady mother there Sits lonely in her castle-hall. 'Tis 396 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Chap. XIII. The descendants of David, Bishop of Ross — as already men- tioned, from a different motive of interest — were still existing at the Mount in Fifeshire, though, I believe, in a decaying state, at the commencement of the last century, and others are still flourishing in America. * 'Tis not because the ring they ride, And Lindsay at the ring rides well, But that my sire the wine will chide If 'tis not filled by Rosabelle. O'er Roslin all that dreary night A wond'rous blaze was seen to gleam," &c. &c. * Of Robert Lindsay, younger son of Sir Jerome of Annatland and the Mount, (as is asserted,) and the early friend of Dr. Pitcairn, the celebrated Jacobite, a strange story is related. Fellow-students, it was supposed, in the occult sciences, they bound themselves by a solemn pledge, that whichever died first should, if possible, acquaint his friend with his condition in the world unseen. Lindsay died towards the close of 1675, four years after the compact, and while Pitcairn was at Paris ; and, the very night of his death, Pitcairn dreamt that he was at Edinburgh, where the following conversation ensued between them : — " Archie," said Lindsay, " perhaps ye have heard I am dead ? " — " No, Robin," replied Pitcairn. — " Aye," replied Lindsay, " but they buiy my body in the Greyfriars ; I am alive, though, in a place whereof the pleasures cannot be expressed in Scots, Greek, or Latin. I have come with a well-sailing small ship to Leith Roads to carry you thither." — " Robin, I'll go with you ; but wait till I go to Fife and East-Lothian, and take my leave of my parents." — " Archie ! I have but the allowance of one tide. Farewell ! I'll come for you another time." — For nearly twenty years afterwards the Doctor never slept a night without his friend Lindsay's appearing to him, and telling him he was alive ; and having a dangerous sickness, in 1694, he was told by Robin that he was delayed for a time, and that it was properly his task to carry him off, "but was discharged (forbidden) to tell when." — Thus incomplete, the story ends. — Hibbert's Philosophy of Apparitions, p. 211.— The same story is told, not so graphic- ally, but with more details, of David Lindsay, Clerk to the Council at Edinburgh, by Wodrow. — " My informer acquaints me that the Doctor (Pitcairn) has frequently told him of David (I think Lindsay is his name, if I remember) his constant appearing to him to that time, which was a little before the Doctor's death. David was Clerk to the Council at Edinburgh, and had been intimate with the Doctor at the College and Schools, and afterwards, and they used very frequently to be toge- ther. Whether they were of the same disbelieving principles, and equally sceptical, my informer knows not. The Doctor was at Paris when David died at Edinburgh. Just about the time of David's death, as the Doctor afterwards came to know, that same night the Doctor, at Paris, dreamed he was at Edinburgh, and heard of David's death, and did believe it, but afterwards he met him in the Land-market, and David desired he might go with him, — that the Doctor said he was dead, and he would not go with him, — that David said it was true his body was dead, and that they had carried it to the Grey -friars' churchyard, but he was still alive as much as before, and the Doctor behoved to go with him, — that he went down the street with him with reluctancy, and into several houses where they used to drink, but got no access, — that still he importuned the Doctor to go with him, and went down Leith Wynd, and the Doctor went to Calton Craigs, and left him, and saw him go to a ship, and go out of his sight, - that this dream was repeated to him Sect, V. PATRICK ARCHBISHOP OF GLASGOW. 397 He was succeeded in his bishopric by Mr. Patrick Lindsay, the son of an illegitimate son of John sixth Earl of Crawford,* — " a good man and very fervent preacher," as he was described to the historian Keith by persons who remembered him,f — and who held the see till the year 1633, when he was appointed Arch- bishop of Glasgow. eight or ten nights, with several variations, but still in sleep David appeared to him, till letters came from Edinburgh to Paris, and he went to his banker there to get some money, who told him with great regret, that by this day's post he had let- ters that on such a night (when the Doctor dreamed first) his good friend David died at Edinburgh. The Doctor was struck, he said, and told his banker that he believed it was true, and gave him some hint of his dreams ; the Doctor added, that since that time, generally speaking, David appeared to him every night. My informer asked the Doctor if he could account for such an odd passage ? He swore he could not account for it at first, but he thought he could account for it since, and through his life (I believe he imagined by habit and custom) that the matter was fact. And he had another instance of a dream of the same nature about his sister ; that he went, as he thought, to her house in his sleep, and could not find her ; and next day he got the accounts of her death. These are odd passages, and if fact, and not coined by the Doctor, seem to be strange vouchsafements of Providence to a person of the Doctor's temper and sense, and methods of conviction which might, perhaps, be some way accounted for, but I fear were misimproven by him." Analecta, torn. iii. p. 520. — I should think David was the right name, Wodrow being an almost contemporary authority ; and there seems reason to believe that Robert was the ancestor of the branch settled in America. * Crawford the antiquary was " weill informed," he says, " that his father was Lieut.-Colonel John Lindsay, a brother of the House of Edzell," who had the estate of Downie in Angus. Hist. Lindsays, MS. — As Archbishop Lindsay was seventy- eight when he died in 1644, he must have been born in 1566. I should have sup- posed John, younger brother of David of Edzell, ninth Earl of Crawford, to have been his father, were he not stated in the Genealogy of 1623 to have been slain at Pinkie in 1547. There was however a John Lindsay of Downie, described in 1536 as " son natural of umquhile John Earl of Crawford," and still living in 1562 (as proved by documents in the Haigh Muniment-room), whom I suppose to be the Colonel John Lindsay of Downie alluded to by Crawford, and father consequently of the Archbishop. f Keith's Cat. of the Scottish Bishops, p. 265. — He is mentioned, together with another clergyman, approvingly by Spotswood in a letter introducing them to the King, 19th of June, 1606 : — " These be affectionate and good soldiers, and such as are requisite for the Metropolitan of North Britain, who cannot fight but aback in your Majesty's service." Wodrow's Biog. Collections, torn. i. p. 243. — He was appointed to the see of Ross, 27 Oct, 1613, and was consecrated in Leith, 1 Dec. 1613, Calderivood, torn, viii. p. 178. APPEXDIX. APPENDIX. No. I. — Page 2. Proofs of the earlier part of the Pedigree prefixed to these ' Lives? N.B. — I have followed, in the arrangement of the ensuing proofs, the course of narration adopted in the opening chapter of the ' Lives.' For the proofs of the Crawford descent subsequently to the close of the fourteenth century, I may refer to the ' Case ' drawn up by John Riddell, Esq., for my father, as claiming the Earldom of Crawford, and to the printed Minutes of the evidence adduced in support of that claim. — I have not in this pedigree inserted the countless younger brothers, unless when they became the patriarchs of junior branches, or were otherwise remarkable. L ORIGINAL LINE. PKOOFS :— I. That Ivar, Jarl of the Uplanders of Norway (1), descended of the race of Thor, was father of Eystein Glumra, and Eystein of Rognvald, Jarl of More, the father of Rollo, Conqueror of Normandy, — 1. Statement in the * Fundin Noregur,' or * Origines Norvegiae,' the earliest relic, the Genesis (as it were), of Scandinavian history, as follows: — " Thor had two sons, Nor and Gor. . . Gor's sons,Heitir and Beitir, became mighty Sea-Kings, who often waged war upon the race of Nor. From Heitir descended, through his son's son, Halfdan the Old, in the fifth degree, Jarl Rognvald, who lived into the time of Harald Harfagre." — Saga-Bibliothek, af P. E. Miiller, vol. ii. p. 430. 2. Statement in the ' Islands-Landnamabok,' or ' Liber Originum Islandiai :' — " Ragnvald, Jarl of More, the son of Eystein Glumra, the son of Ivar, Jarl of the Uplanders, the son of Halfdan the Old, espoused Ragnhilda, daughter of Rolf Nefia. Their son was Ivar. . . Another son was Gaungo- Rolfr, who conquered Normandy ; from him descended the Jarls of Rouen and Kings of England." Landn., p. 301, edit. 1774. — Compare Snorro's Heimskringla, vol. i. pp. 84, 100, edit. Hafn., 1777 ; or Laing's transla- tion, vol. i. pp. 279, 292-3. II. That Eystein Glumra had a younger son, Malahulc (2), who accompanied his nephew Rollo to the Conquest of Normandy ; and that the De Toenys were his male descendants, — 1. Statement by William of Jumieges, in his account of the rebellion of Roger Sire de Toeny on the proclamation of William the Bastard, afterwards surnamed the Conqueror: — " Rogerius Toenites, de stirpe Malahulcii, qui Rollonis Ducis patruus fuerat, et cum eo Francos atteiens Normanniam fortiter acquisierat," &c. — Duchesne, Script. Norm., p. 268. The inter- mediate male descent could be traced link by link, if necessary. III. That the De Limesays, otherwise occasionally styled De Lindsays, of Normandy and England, were a younger branch of the De Toenys, — ? 1. The foundation charter of the Priory of Hertford by Randolph de Limesay, ante 1003, is witnessed by " Robertas de Stafford, nepos Domini." Dugd, VOL. I. * 2d 402 APPENDIX. No. I. Monast., torn. iii. p. 300. Robert must therefore have been either nephew or cousiu-germau to Randolph, the word ' nepos ' beaiing those significa- tions at the time. That Robert was a younger son of Roger Sire de Toeny, the subject of the pi eceding section, by his only wife Godehilda, appeal's from the great charter of confirmation to the Abbe)* of Conches, Gallia Christiana, torn. xi. Instmmenta, col. 128, sqq. It is further proved, that Godehilda, Robert's mother, was daughter of Raymond Borrel, Count of Barcelona, who died in 1017, (Aderaar. Cuban., ap. Recueil des Historiens des Gaules, torn. x. p. K>6 ; Chron. S. Petri Vivi Senon., ibid. p. 223 ; Lappenberg, A.-Norman Kings, p. 38, transl. Thorpe,) — that Randolph de Limesay 's wife was Hawisa, daughter of William Fitz- osbome, Earl of Hereford, {Clutterbuck, Hist. Hertf., vol. ii. p. 505; with which compare Dnnesday Book, Glouc. p. 162,) — and that Robert de Staf- ford's wife was Avice de Clare, (Dugd Monast., torn. vi. p. 231.) — Under these circumstances it follows that, whether 1 nepos ' imply nephew or cousin- german in this particular instance, the relationship was on the male side, and not through females ; and thus, that Randolph de Limesay and Robert de Stafford we:e of the same male stock and family, and that Randolph was a De Toeny. The presumption is in fact in favour of the latter alternative, as Limesay was not Toeny property, but held of the Viscounts of Arques, and therefore most probably came through marriage of Randolph's father with the heiress. Hugo de Limesay (3) appears as Sire de Limesay in 1060 (Cart. S. Trin. da Mont de Rouen, ap. Coll. des Cartulaires de France, torn. iii. p. 433) ; and ancient pedigrees of the English Limesays derive then- descent from a baron of that name contemporary with the Conquest (Pedigree 1 Lindsey' — i. e. Limesay — of Warwickshire ; Hurl. MSS. 1555, fol. 61, &c, — also statement in a Chartulary of the Abbey of Cirencester, quoted by Dugdale, MSS.Ashmolean Museum, vol. F. 1. p. 86). — I conclude therefore that Randolph was son of Hugo, younger brother of Roger Sire de Toeny. IV. That the De Limesays and De Lindsays were of the same male stock and family, — 1. Proved by the facts, i. That, in accordance with a general law of etymology, and in keeping with the usage in the case of the roots ' lime ' and - linden,' and their derivatives, Lindberg, Lymberg; Lymbery, Lind- bury; Lymford, Lyndeford ; Lyndefeld, Lymefeld ; Limbeuf, Lindebeuf, &c, the names of Limesay and Lindsay were in practice frequently inter- changed and applied to the same families and individuals in popular usage, heraldic MSS., &c.,* in ancient public records,f in ancient transcripts of Battle Abbey Roll, and in a charter to which Randolph de Limesay, the first settler in England, is witness as a De Lindsay, in 1084, \ — ii. That the Lindsays of Scotland bore originally the same arms as the Limesays,§ — iii. That Angodus de Lindsay, who granted lands in Hardreshille, co. * Hurl. MSS., 1177, 1552 ; MSS. Univ. Library, Cambridge, Ff. 2. 27, Kk. 1. ™, &c, &c. See also Edmondson's Heraldry, Robson's or Burke's Armorials, &c. Compare Camden, Britannia, p. 610, edit. 1722, and Bemers translation of Froissurt, vol. ii. folios 155, 156, 159 and verso, 160, &c, edit. 1525. f Lit. Clans., pp. 384, 386, 387 ; Testa de Nevill pp. 166, 169; Pipe Roll, 22 H. 3, ap. Madox, Hist. Exchequer, vol. ii., p. 242, — C (lend. Lnquis. post mortem, vol. i. p. 72, &c. X Morice, Hist, de Bretagne, Preures, torn. i. p. 459. — Vide p. 4, n. *, supra. £ Proved by the seals of Simon de Lindsay, c. 1171, Chart. Melrose, p. 131 ; of David de Lindsay, ante 1210, appended to the charter of Sleparsfield, supra, p. 25; of David, his son, Dugd. MSS., Ashm. Mus. vol. N. p. 144,— by the blazoning of the coats of Sir Simon and Sir Philip de Lindsay, Roll of Arms of Edward IT., el. Nicolas, p. 86, and see p. 64, n. f> supra — all the preceding Lindsays bearing the Limesay eagle ; and by the seal of Sir David Lindsay, 1345-6, appended to a charter in the Warrender charter-chest, in which the eagle acts as tenant, or supporter, for which see the plate of seals, supra. No. I. APPENDIX. 403 Warwick, to St. Alban's Abbey, ante 1093, was next neighbour to the Limesays in that county, — iv. That the religious sympathies of the two families (as likewise of the Toenys) were with the same Abbey of St. Alban's; while it maybe added, that the Abbey of St. Evroul, to which Baldric de Lindsay granted lands c. 1086, was the favourite monastery of the Toenys in Normandy, — and, v. (omitting other adtninicula of less importance), That, long after the settlement of the Lindsays in Scotland, the families reunited themselves by marriage, and the Scottish Lindsays succeeded to one half of the Limesay inheritance in England through that alliance. (Vide supra, p. 24.) — All the conditions required in proof of agnatio, or community of male origin, by the Continental and feudal jurists * are thus fulfilled in this instance. V. That Baldric de Lindsay (4) was son of* Hugo (5), and brother of Randolph de Limesay, — 1. The earliest ancestors from whom surnames could be inherited and trans- mitted in Normandy by younger sons and their descendants, as personal designations, apart from possession of the territory from which the sur- name was derived, belonged to the generation of Robert the Devil, father of William the Conqueror. This appears from examination of the contem- porary Norman charters preserved in the Gallia Christiana, and other similar collections. Baldric, therefore, appertaining to the generation of the Conqueror, must necessarily have derived his surname by immediate male descent from Hugo, who flourished in 1060, as above stated. Settling in Lindsay in Lincolnshire, under Hugh Lupus, his original surname would be at once assimilated, insensibly and inevitably, to that of the district, and without oftence to any one. Compare my' observations, p. 3, note f, supra. VI. That Baldric de Lindsay (4) was the father of Walter (5), the first settler in Scotland, — 1. This may be concluded from the considerations, that Walter must have inherited his surname (vide p. 2, and n. §, supra), — that Angodus, the contemporary of Baldric, (p. 2, note ||, supra,) would seem to have died without issue, as his estates in Warwickshire lapsed to the Earls of Chester before 1128 (Bartletfs Hist. Manceter, pp. 47 sqq.), — that Baldric had issue, as appears from the attestation of " Ric. fil. Baldrici de Lindissi " to the charter of confirmation to St. Evroul by Ranulph Earl of Chester, ante 1128 (p. 3, note *, supra), — and that Walter, having migrated to Scotland, was by fair inference his younger son. VII. That Walter de Lindsay (5) was succeeded by William, of Ercildun, his younger brother (6), — 1. Charter, cited infra, by Walter, son of William of Ercildun, ante 1152, granting lands for the repose of the soul " Gauterii avunculi mei." VIII. That William de Lindsay of Ercildun (G) was succeeded by his son Walter of Ercildun (7) — 1. Charter by " Willelmus de Lyndesay," granting two novates of land, &c, in Ercildun, to the Abbey of Dryburgh, " concedente Waltero, filio et herede meo." Chartul. Dryburgh, p. 83. And see the next proof. * Vide, e.g., the ' Jurisprudent Heroica ' of Christyn, 1668, p. 118. 404 APPENDIX. No. 1. IX. That Walter de Lindsay of Ercildun (7) was succeeded by his son, William of Ercildun, who was also Lord of Crawford (8), — 1. Chaiter by " Gauteiius de Lyndesey," ante 1152, granting the church of Ercildun and a carucate of land, &c. to the Abbey of Kelso, " pro animS, Gauterii avunculi mei," " concedente et testificante Willelmo, filio meo." Charters of Coldingham, ap. Raines Hist. North Durham, App., p. 39. — And that William of Ercildun was also Lord of Crawford would appear from a chaiter by " W. de Lindeseia," 1153-65, granting the lands of Fauhope to Melrose, witnessed by Swan and Cospatiick de Ercildun, of the original family of Ercildun, and by Swan, the son of Thor, the original feudal superior of Crawford. Chart. Melrose, p. 11. — William de Lindsay " de LufFenac," or of LufFness, who witnesses a solemn judgment, 1180, by King William the Lion, Chart. Melrose, p. 103, was also apparently the same person. II. ORIGINAL LINE OF CRAWFORD. PROOFS :— I. That William de Lindsay of Crawford and Ercildun (8), High Justiciary of Scotland, had issue David de Lindsay (9), his heir apparent, and also, presumptively, a younger son, Walter, — 1. Charter by William de Lindsay, granting part of Crawford to the Abbey of Newbattle, witnessed by "David Comite, fratre Regis," (David Earl of Huntingdon,) " David herede meo, Waltero de Lynddessay, et aliis." Chart. Newbattle, MS. II. That Sir David de Lindsay (9), son of William of Crawford,* succeeded his father, and had issue a second Sir David de Lindsay of Crawford (10), — 1. Charter by David de Lindsay, confirming the preceding grant of part of Crawford, " quam pater meus, Willielmus de Lynddessay, &c, dedit," — witnessed by " Waltero de Lynddessay." Chart. Newbattle, MS. 2. Charter, by which " Ego, David de Lynddessay, filius David de Lynd- dessay, concessi et confirmavi, &c, totam ten-am, &c., quam Willelmus avus mens eis dedit, et quam David de Lynddessay, pater meus, eis con- firmavit." Chart. Newbattle, MS. III. That Sir David de Lindsay (10), son of Sir David, son of William de Lindsay of Crawford, died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother, Sir Gerard (11), — 1. Notification that on the 16th May, 25 Henr. III. (1241), " Rex cepit ho- magium Gerardi de Lindes', fratris et heredis David de Lindes'." Ex- cerpt a e Rotulis Finium, p. 342. 2. Chaiter to Newbattle, between May 1241 and 1242, by which " Ego, Gerardus de Lynddessay, filius David de Lynddessay, confirmavi dona- * Though I have already said it, I must repeat here, that Sir David is the first of the line to whose name the title Dominus is prefixed, importing knighthood. It was only in his time, subsequently to the year 1200, that the usage of so prefixing it came in, and it was long before the usage became invariable. I give the title henceforward where I have authority for it, not otherwise. No. I, APPENDIX. 405 cionem omnium terrarum quas Willielmus de Lynddessay, avus meus, eis dedit, &c. . . . et prseterea donacionem David de Lynddessay, fratris mei," of other districts. Chart. Newbattle, MS. 3. Charter, between 1243 and 1249, by which " Gerardus de Lynddessay" confirms to the Abbey of Newbattle " donaciones quas Willelrnus de Lynddessay, avus meus, et David, frater meus primogenitus, fecerunt, &c. . . Test. Domino David de Lynddessay, Justiciario Laodonie," &c. Chart. Newbattle, MS. IV. That Sir Gerard de Lindsay (11) died without issue, and was succeeded by his sister Alice de Lindsay (12), wife of Sir Henry de Pinkeney ; and that the representation of Sir David de Lindsay, eldest son of William de Lindsay of Crawford, centered in the descendants of Alice (13, 14, 15), in 1291,— 1. Notification, that "34 Henr. III. (1249-1250), Rex cepit homagium Henrici de Pinkeney, qui duxit in uxorem Aliciam, sororem et heredem Gerardi de Lyndes', de medietate baronie de Lymesy." Rot. Orig. in Curia Scaccarii Abbreviation p. 11. 2. Genealogical Statement by Robert de Pinkeney, grandson of Alice, in his Petition, or Claim, for the Scottish crown: — "Alicia . . et ex ea" Hen- ricus de Pynkeny, a, quo Robertus de Pynkeny, qui nunc petit regnum Scotie." Rym. Feed., torn. ii. p. 576. III. LINE OF LAMBERTON. PROOFS : — I. That William de Lindsay of Crawford, &c. (8), Justiciary under William the Lion, had, besides his eldest son David, a second son, Sir Walter (16), ancestor of the House of Lamberton, — 1. Charter by William de Lindsay of Crawford to Newbattle, already cited, (No. II. i. 1,) witnessed by " Davide herede meo, Waltero de Lynd- dessay," &c. 2. Charter by David, the son of William de Lindsay, (supra, No. II. I. 2,) confirming the said grant, to which " Walterus de Lynddessay" is also witness. 3. The precedence conceded to Ingelram de Gynes, husband of Christiana de Lindsay (20), heir of line and heiress of the House of Lamberton, over Sir Alex. Lindsay of LufFness (25), in the Great Council held at Brig- ham, 17 March, 1289, — implying the seniority of the former line. 4. Charter by Edward III., 5 June 1335, to William de Coucy (21), heir of line of the House of Lamberton, conveying the "Baronia de Linde- seye," a term and dignity implying seniority over the contemporary House of Luffness or Crawford. Vide infra, No. III. vi. 2. II. That Sir Walter de Lindsay of Lamberton (16) flourished till 1221, and had issue Sir William de Lindsay (17), — 1. Convention, before 1212, between Walter de Lindsay, Baron of Lamber- ton, and Arnold Prior of Coldingham, touching the chapel at Lamberton. Raine's N. Durham, App. p. 112. 2. Convention between William Bishop of Glasgow and the Abbey of Kelso, 1221, witnessed by "Domino Waltero de Lindeseie," Reg.Episc. Glasg., p. 101. 3. Charter of Confirmation by Walter FitzAlan the High Steward, between 1203 and 1222, in which latter year Walter of Lamberton was certainlv 406 APPENDIX. No. I. dead,* — witnessed by " Domino Waltero de Lindeseia et Willielmo de Lindeseie." Chart. Kelso, p. 211. — And for other charters in which Walter and William figure as witnesses, and in the same order, see the Chart. Melrose, p. 13; Chart. Passelet, p. 18, 1204-1214; and Chart. Arbroath, p. 69, 1211-1214. 4. Charter of Confirmation, by Alex. II., 7 March, 12 Alex. II. (1227), witnessed by "Willielmo filio Walteri de Lindes'," Chart. Melrose, p. 246, — so designed, to distinguish him from a contemporary William de Lindsay, not the son of Walter, hereafter to be mentioned, f III. That Sir William de Lindsay of Lamberton (17) had issue Walter de Lindsay of Lamberton (18), — 1. Notice in the "Institute Domini Thomae Prioris," &c, 1235, "De Ser- vicio debito Priori Dunelmensi de Coldinghamschire . . . Willielmus de Lyndesey et hgeredes sui, de Parva Lambertona et mansura extra villam." Hist. Dunelmensis Scriptores III., Surtees Soc, p. xli. 2. Statement by Stell, the monk of Furness Abbey, — " Item, supradictus Willielmus de Lancastra, tertius, duxit in uxorem Agnetem de Brus, de qua habuit, viz. Helewisam, quam duxit in uxorem Petrus de Brus se- nior, et Aliciam, quas nupsit Doinino Willielmo de Lindesay." Dugd. Monast., torn. vi. p. 909. 3. Genealogy in the Cokersand Register, — " De Alicia et Willielmo de Lyndesay, Walterus." Ibid. 4. Charter of liberties to Warton by "Walterus filius Willielmi de Lyn- desay," before 1272-3. Baines' Hist, of Lancashire, torn. iv. p. 572. IV. That Walter de Lindsay of Lamberton (18) left issue Sir William de Lindsay of Lamberton (19), — 1. Genealogy in the Cokersand Register, "De Waltero, Willielmus." Dugd. Mon., torn. vi. p. 909. 2. Acknowledgment by "William de Lindeseye," serving in obedience to a previous summons against Llewellyn Prince of Wales, of his service of one knight's fee and a half for one moiety of the barony of Kendal, 1277. Palgrave's Parl.„Writs, torn. i. p. 209. V. That Sir William de Lindsay of Lamberton (19) left issue Christiana de Lindsay (20), his daughter and heiress, wife of Ingelram de Gynes, Sire de Coucy, — 1. Inquest, 10 Edw. I. (1282), on the death of " William de Lindeseye," tenant in capite, &c. Inquis. post Mortem, torn. i. p. 80. 2. Genealogy in the Cokersand Register, — " De Willielmo, Willielmus ; de secundo Willielmo, Christiana de Lindesay ; et dicta Christiana cepit in maritum Ingelram um de Gynes." Dugd. Mon., torn. vi. p. 909. — I have taken the liberty of suppressing the second William, as implying more generations than is compatible with chronology, — unless the second Wil- liam was a brother of Christiana, instead of her father. In support of this it may be observed that the chronicler Knyghton describes the baron slain in 1283, and whom Christiana succeeded, as " Dominus Willielmus de Lindsay, filius." Chron. ap. Twysdeni Scriptores, col. 2464. * Vide supra, p. 29. f A Confirmation by Alex. II. to the Abbey of Inchaffray, between 1214 and 1226, is similarly witnessed by " Willelmo de Lyndesay, filio Walteri de Lindesay." Chart. Tnchaffray, p. 19. No. I. APPENDIX. 407 VI. That Christiana de Lindsay (20) left issue Sir William Sire de Coucy (21), her son and heir, — 1. Inquest, 3 Edw. III. (1335), on the death of " Christiana de Gynes," tenant in capite, &c. Inquis. post Mortem, torn. ii. p. 62. 2. Charter by Edward III., 5 June 1335, proceeding on the statement, " Cum Willielmus de Coucy dederit et concesserit per cartam suam Wil- lielmo de Coucy filio suo," " totam baroniam de Lindeseye," including Lamberton, &c. — which " nuper ad manus Edwardi Regis Scotie per mortem Christiane de Lyndeseye, matris praedicti Willielmi de Coucy, cujus hseres ipse est, devenerunt," &c. Sot. Scot., torn. i. p. 352. IV. LINE OF LUFFNESS OR CRAWFORD. PROOFS :- I. That William de Lindsay of Ercildun, Crawford, and Luffhess (8), Jus- ticiary under William the Lion, had a third son, William (22), ancestor of the Lindsays of Luffness, the second House of Crawford, — 1. Solemn Judgment, 1180, already quoted, supra, No. I. XI. 1, to which " Willielmus de Lindeseie de Luffenac" is a witness. 2. Presumption, that the name of David having been given (through the peculiar circumstance of an alliance with the royal family) to the eldest son of William, and the second having received that of the grandfather, Walter, the third would be named after the father, William. 3. Charter by King William, 1189-1199, to the monks of Manwell, wit- nessed by "Wilelmo de Lyndesei . . . Wilelmo de Lyndesei," — distinct and contemporary personages. Fragmenta Scoto-Monastica, p. xl. 4. Charter by Alexander II., 26 Feb. 1226, witnessed by "W. filio de Lindese," — a baron holding in capite, and the son of a father bearing the same Christian name ; that name being — not Walter* — but William, as implied by the care taken to distinguish "William de Lindsay, son of Walter de Lindsay," from him in the charter dated the following year, 1227, cited supra, No. III. n. 4, — William, father of William, here in question, being almost to demonstration William the Justiciary, Lord of Crawford, Ercildun, and Luffness, under William the Lion. II. That William de Lindsay (22) lived till 1236, and had issue Sir David de Lindsay (23), — 1. Charter of Confirmation by Alexander II., 28 May, 1230, to the Abbey of Paisley, witnessed by "Wilelmo de Lyndes', David de Lyndes'." Chart. Passelet, p. 48. 2. Charter by Alex. II., 3 Dec. 1236, witnessed by "Willielmo de Lyn- deseia, David de Lyndes'." Chart. Melrose, p. 85. 3. Charter by Alex. II., 5 Feb. 1241, witnessed by "David de Lindes', patre, filio Willielmi," — so designated in order to distinguish him from the contemporary David de Lindsay, son of David, of Crawford. Chart. Scone, p. 46. III. That a Sir David de Lindsay was in possession of the manor or barony of Brenwevil in 1233, and obtained the lands of Byres and Garmylton between 1235 and 1241,— 1. Charter by " Dominus David de Lindesay," styled in the Chartulary be- low cited, " de Brenwyvill," on or before 28 March, 1233, to the Abbey * The only Walter de Lindsay who flourished during the early years of the century, and who was second son of the Justiciary William, was then dead. 408 APPENDIX. No. I. of Balmerinach " de molendino de Kerchow," styled in the royal Con- firmation of it, 28 March, 1233, " de Kerkou de Brenwyvill." Chart. Balmerinach, p. 17. 2. Charter by Gilbert Earl of Pembroke, 1235-1241, to " David de Lindsay de Branilvewell," of the lands of Garmylton and Byres, co. Haddington, — recorded in the Act and Decree Register of the Court of Session, in 1555, at the request of John fifth Lord Lindsay of the Byres, as granted to his " forbearis," or ancestors. IV. That Sir David de Lindsay of Brenwevil was identical with Sir David de Lindsay, High Justiciary under Alexander II., — 1. Charter by Alex. II., 1240-1249, to the Abbey of Balmerinach, witnessed by " David de Lindsay, Justiciario Laodonie," — forming part of the chain of foundation-deeds to which No. IV. m. 1, belongs. Chart. Balmeri- nach, p. 10. V. That Sir David de Lindsay of Brenwevil, High Justiciary, was distinct from Sir David de Lindsay of Crawford (10), — 1. His figuring as a witness to the charter of Gerard de Lindsay, brother and successor to David de Lindsay of Crawford, supra, No. II. m. 3. VI. That Sir David de Lindsay of Brenwevil, High Justiciary, and distinct from Sir David de Lindsay of Crawford, was identical with Sir David de Lindsay, son of William, and Lord of Luffhess, — 1. Charter by Maldowen Earl of Lennox, 2 March, 1238, witnessed by " Domino David de Lindsay, tunc Justiciario Laodonie," and " Domino Willielmo de Lyndsay," the Lord of Lamberton. Chart. Levenax, p. 31. 2. Charter by William de Colville, witnessed by "Domino David de Lynd- dessay, Domino de Luffenauch, Willielmo de Lynddessay, Domino de Lamberton," Chart. Newbattle, MS. — The precedence here conceded to David of Luffhess over William of Lamberton, the representative of an elder branch, may be accounted for by his official rank of High Justiciary, — in the same manner that David takes precedence over William de Lindsay in the treaty with England, 1244. VII. That Brenwevil and Byres were possessed by the Crawford family in the fourteenth century, and that Sir David of Brenwevil, Byres, and Luffhess, High Justiciary (23), and a distinct person from Sir David Lindsay of Crawford, was thus, presumptively, their ancestor, — 1. Among " Les peticions des terres qui sont demandees en Escoce," pre- sented to Edward I., c. 1298, "Item, Roger de Borehunte ad demande le manoir de Brenwyfle, qui feut a Monsire Alisandre de Lyndeseye (25) en le conte d'Are." Palgrave's Documents, &c, p. 314. 2. Charter by Sir John de Graham, 21 Sept. 1335, witnessed by " Dominis David de Lindesay de Brenwyl," also of Crawford (28), and " Johanne de Lindesay de Cragyne," or of Craigie, " militibus." Chart. Melrose, p. 415. 3. The production of the original charter of Brenwevil by John Lord Lind- say, as granted to his "forebears," — vide supra, No. IV. ill. 2. 4. The possession of Byres by the later Crawford family, as proved infra, No. V. v. 3. No. I. APPENDIX. 409 VIII. That Sir David de Lindsay, of Luffness, Byres, and Brenwevil (23), son of* William de Lindsay of Luffness, had issue a second Sir David de Lindsay of Luffness (24), — 1. Charter by Alex. II., 5 Feb. 1241, witnessed by " David de Lindes', patre, filio Willielmi," — that is to say, by David de Lindsay, son of William, and father in 1241 of another, a younger, David,' — so designed, as already observed, in order to distinguish him from David de Lindsay of Crawford, his contemporary, son of David de Lindsay, and who died that same year, 1241, leaving no issue. Chart. Scone, p. 46. 2. Charter by Alex, the High Steward to the Abbey of Balmerinach, wit- nessed by " Davide de Lindesai, juniore," and by " Dominus Wido de Norman ville," who figures from 1250 to 1265. Chart. Balmerinach, p. 21. 3. Charter, without date, by which " David de Lynddessay, filius David de Lynddessay," grants the freedom of the port of " Luffenauch " for ever to the Abbey of Newbattle. Chart. Newbattle, MS. IX. That Sir David, the second, of Luffness, Byres, and Brenwevil (24), left issue Sir Alexander Lindsay of Byres and Brenwevil (25), — 1. Statement in the " Placita de Assisis," &c. held at Wark in Tynedale, on the octaves of St. Martin, in the 31st year of Alexander III., i. e. 1280 : — " De vallectis et puellis qui sunt et esse debent in custodia Regis, dant quod," &c. " Item, Alexander, filius David de Lyndesey, est in custodia Domini Regis, et Johannes Cumyn habet dictam custodiam de dono Regis, et valent terre sue per annum xliiii m." {Communicated by the courtesy of Sir F. Palgrave.) — The lands in Tynedale, here spoken of, are evi- dently those in Chirden, mentioned as having belonged to David de Lindsay in 1265, Calend. Rot. Chart., p. 83.* * At p. 50, supra, I have stated that Sir James Lindsay, son of Sir David of Crawford, married Egidia Stuart, daughter of Walter the High Steward and sister of Robert II., and that the bride and bridegroom were within the third and fourth degrees of consanguinity, i.e. were second cousin, and second cousin once removed, respectively — this relationship being dispensed with by a Papal Bull, dated 11th April, 1346. I had not noticed at the time, that the relationship is stated in the Bull to have been " ex parte patrum." This proves that Sir David Lindsay, father of Sir James, and Walter the High Steward, father of Egidia, were related in the second and third degrees, i.e. were cousin german and cousin german once removed. It further appears, i. That Sir James and Egidia (the father of Sir James having married in 1325, and the father of Egidia in 1315, while Egidia had a son by her third marriage after 1376) were respectively twenty and not more than eighteen years of age at the time of their marriage, and thus strictly contemporary ; ii. That Sir David Lindsay (who married in 1325, and who died in 1355), and Walter the High Steward (who was born in 1293), were likewise contemporaries ; and, hi. That Walter the High Steward was born when his father James (who was born before 1241) was past fifty — thus occasioning the loss of a generation on the Stuart side of the pedigree, James the High Steward being consequently contemporary, not with Sir Alexander, Sir David's father, but with David, Sir David's grandfather, who fl. in 1255 and afterwards. Various modes through which the relationship dispensed with in 1346 may have originated will here suggest themselves. I have not as yet sufficiently investigated them ; but I may mention that there is evidence that the wife of James the High Steward, and mother of Walter, was Egidia de Burgh, daughter of Walter Earl of Ulster — which precludes the hypothesis of a marriage between James and a sister of David de Lindsay ; and that I am inclined to believe that the relationship originated through a marriage between Sir Alexander Lindsay, the father of Sir David and grandfather of Sir James, and a daughter of Sir John Stuart of Bonkyl, younger brother of James the High Steward. * 410 APPENDIX. No. I. X. That Sir Alexander de Lindsay of Luffness, Byres, and Brenwevil (25), acquired Crawford, not by descent but by gift of the nation, on the confiscation of the estates held by Englishmen in Scotland during the war of independence at the close of the thirteenth century, — Crawford being till then held by the Pinkeneys, — 1. Intimation, " 18 Feb. 1296-7, de seisina terrarum facienda Henrico de Pinkeney. — Rex cepit homagiurn Henrici de Pynkeney, fiatris et heredis Roberti de Pynkeney defuncti, de omnibus terris et tenementis in terra, Scotie die quo obiit," &c. Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 38. 2. Statement by Lord Hailes, Tytler, and other Scottish historians, of the confiscation above alluded to. 3. Possession of Crawford in later times by a race of Lindsays not descended from Alice de Lindsay, heiress of the original elder stock, and her hus- band Henry de Pinkeney. V. LATEE LINE OF CEAWFORD. PEOOFS :— I. That Sir Alexander de Lindsay of Crawford, Brenwevil, and Byres (25), left issue Sir David de Lindsay (28), — 1. Charter, 1327, by " David de Lynddessay, Dominus de Crawford, filius et hseres quondam Domini Alexandri de Lynddessay," confirming a charter of " Dominus Gerardus de Lynddessay " to the Abbey of New- battle. Chart. Newbattle, MS. II. That Sir David de Lindsay of Crawford (28) had an eldest son David (29), who died without issue before his father, and a second son, even- tually his heir, Sir James de Lindsay (30), — 1. Statement by Fordun, that " David, filius et haeres Domini David de Lyndesay " was among the " interfecti " at the battle of Neville's Cross, 1346. Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 343. 2. Safe-conduct, 5 Sept. 1351, from Edward III., for " Jacobus de Lyndesay, filius et haeres David de Lyndesay, militis," as a hostage for David II. Rot. Scot., torn. i. p. 744. III. That Sir James de Lindsay of Crawford (30) left issue a second Sir James of Crawford (31), — 1. Charter by David II., 1370, " Jacobo de Lindesay, filio et haeredi quon- dam Jacobi de Lindesay, militis," of one hundred marks sterling from the Great Customs of Dundee, " sicut David de Lyndesay, miles, avus dicti Jacobi, eas percipere consuevit," &c. Reg. Mag. Sig. IV. That Sir James, the second, of Crawford (31) died without male issue, leaving two daughters (32), coheiresses to his unentailed estates, — 1. Convention, 4 Feb. 1402-3, between " Domina Mergareta de Lyndesay," described as " una heredum et senior filia bone memorie quondam Do- mini Jacobi de Lyndisay, militis, Domini de Bouchan," and widow of the late Sir Thomas Colville, &c, and Sir Henry Preston of Ferrnartine, concerning the castle of Fyvie. Collections Hist. Abercl., p. 501. 2. Charter by Sir John Hemes of Ten-eagles and Euphemia de Lindsay his wife, daughter of Sir James, selling to Sir Henry Preston and Dame Elizabeth their portion of Fnmartine,— confirmed in 1405. Tbid., \\ 508. No. I. APPENDIX. 411 V. That Sir David, of Crawford, Brenwevil, Byres, &c. (28), had a third son immediately junior to Sir James, viz. Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk (33),- 1. Charter, 1357, by David II., " Alexandro de Lyndesay, filio Domini Davidis de Lyndesay, militis, Domini de Crawford," and to Catherine Stirling his spouse, of all their lands in the counties of Inverness and Forfar. Haigh Muniment-room. 2. Charter by Sir James Lindsay to Alexander his brother, of the barony of Byres, temp. David II. Robertson's Index, p. 62. 3. Charter by Sir James Lindsay, the second, of Crawford, temp. Rob. II., confirming a donation of William de Moravia, witnessed by "Domino Alexandro de Lindsay, Domino de Glenesk, avunculo suo." Cited by Crawford, MS. Collections, Adv. Lib. 4. And in proof that Sir Alexander was immediately junior to Sir James, see the entail, infra, No. V. VI. 2. VI. That Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk (33) had issue a son, Sir David of Glenesk (34), created Earl of Crawford in 1398,— 1. Charter by "Alexander de Lyndesay, Dominus de Glenesk," to Alex- ander Strachan of Carmylie, ult. Aug. 1380, — witnessed by "David de Lyndesay, filio meo et hserede." Corsindae Charter-chest. 2. Charter by Robert II., of the barony of Crawford, &c, to Sir James Lindsay and the heirs-male of his body ; whom failing, to David de Lindsay, " filio nostro," (as having married a daughter of King Robert,) and the heirs-male of his body ; whom failing, to Alexander, William, and Walter, brothers of the said David, and the heirs-male of their bodies respectively, &c. Robertson's Index, p. 133. 3. Testimony of Wyntown in his 4 Cronykyl,' torn. ii. p. 381, under the year 1398, "The Lord Schire Dawy de Lyndesay Wes Erie maid yat yere, on a day, Of Craufurd, and he beltit swa." VII. That Sir David Lindsay of Crawford (28) had a fourth son, junior to Sir James of Crawford and Sir Alexander of Glenesk — to wit, Sir William Lindsay of the Byres (35), who married Christiana, daughter and heiress of Sir William More of Abercorn, — 1. Charter, 1355, by "David de Lindsay, Dominus de Crawford," "Wil- lielmo de Lindsay, filio suo," of the lands of Scotston. Cited by Craw- ford, Officers of State, p. 414. 2. Charter by David II., 17 Jan. 1365-6, of the lands of Byres to William de Lindsay, on the resignation of his brother Sir Alexander, — the lands, failing heirs-male of William's body, to return to Sir Alexander and his heirs-male. Reg. Mag. Sig. 3. Charter by Robert II., 27 Dec. 1374, of Drem, &c, to Sir William Lindsay " et Cristiane sponse sue," and their heirs. Reg. Mag. Sig. 4. Charter by Robert II., 13 Jan. 1381, of the barony of Abercorn, &c, to Sir William More and his heirs-male, whom failing, "Willielmo de Lindsay, militi, et Cristiane sponse sue," &c. Reg. Mag. Sig. 5. Charter, between 1378 and 1382, by " Jacobus de Lindsay, Dominus de Crawford, filius et haeres Domini Jacobi de Lindsay, Domini ejusdem," of the barony of Chamberlain-Newton, "Willielmo de Lindsay, Domino de Byres, avunculo suo, et Cristiane sponse sue, et haeredibus suis mas- culis, quibus deficientibus, carissimo avunculo nostro, Alexandro de Lindsay, Domino de Glenesk." Cited by Crawford, Officers of State, p. 415. 412 APPENDIX. No. I. VIII. That Sir William, the first, of the Byres (35), had a son, also Sir William of the Byres (36), who married Christiana, daughter of Sir William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, — 1. Charter by Bobert III., penult. June, 1393-4, " Willielmo de Lyndesay, militi," and his heirs, of the lands of Pittendriech, upon resignation of William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, and Margaret Fraser, his wife. Elphinstone Charter-chest. 2. Excambion between Sir William Lindsay of the Byres, and Christiana (Keith) his spouse, on the one side, and Sir William Keith, Marischal, and Margaret Fraser his spouse, the parents of Christiana, on the other ; by which Sir William receives Dunottar in exchange for Struthers, — witnessed by " Sir James Lindsay, Lord of Buchan," and " Sir David Lindsay, Lord of Glenesk," and therefore between 1382 and 1397. Con- firmed 13 May, 1440. Beg. Mag. Sig. 3. Charter of the lands of Auchterutherstruther (Struthers), granted by Sir William Keith in favour of Sir William, 8 March, 1395. Crawfon Priory Muniment-room. 4. The consideration that the statement hitherto received, viz. that Si] William of the Byres, son of Sir David, was father of John, first Lord Lindsay, involves a chronological difficulty, Sir William having been already married in 1375, and John Lord Lindsay being alive in 1478 : — a generation therefore has been dropped ; and as John Lord Lindsay was unquestionably the son of Sir William who flourished in 1395, and two marriages appear on record, of a Sir William of the Byres to Christiana Keith in that year, and of a Sir William of the Byres to Christiana More in or before 1374, it is reasonable to suppose that these Sir Wil- liams were not one and the same person, but father and son — which ob- viates the difficulty. IX. That Sir William of the Byres (36) had issue a son, Sir John Lindsay, created Lord Lindsay of the Byres in 1445 (37), — 1. Entail of the Crawford patrimony, 13 Dec. 1421, by Alexander second Earl of Crawford, in which " Johannes de Lindesai de Byris" and his heirs-male are called to the succession after Sir William and Sir Walter, brothers of the first Earl. Crawford Case, p. 42. 2. Notarial Instrument, 28 July, 1428, relating to Struthers, in which there is reference " quondam Domino Willielmo Lyndesay, Domino de Byris," styled " pater dicti Johannis Lyndesay Domini de Byris." Crawford Priory Muniment-room. 3. Charter by Alex. Seyton of Tulybottin, son and heir of Elizabeth Gordon, Lady of Gordon, 23 Feb. 1439-40, " magnifico et potenti Domino, Jo- hanni Lyndesay de Byris, militi, filio etheredi prefati Domini Willielmi," viz. of the Sir William of the Byres who exchanged Dunottar for Struthers: — Confirmed 13 May, 1440. Beg. Mag. Sig. 4. Attestation by Bower, the continuer of Fordun, that John Lord Lindsay of the Byres was so created in 1445. Scotichronicon, torn. ii. p. 542. Nos. II., III. APPENDIX. 413 No. II.— Page 4. Various Orthography of the Surname Lindsay, from Charters and other ancient Documents. Lyndeseya Lyndeseia Lindeseia Lindessaya Lindesseya Lindisseia Lindesaia Lindesia Lyndesius Lindesius Lindesaus Lindensay Lynddessay Lynddessaye Lynddesai Lyndessay Lindessaye Lyndyssaye Lyndisseye Lyndesaye Lindesaye Lindesaie Lyndeseye Lyndeseie Lindeseie Lyndesheie Lyndeshey Lyndessey Lyndyssey Lindessey Lindessi Lyndessai Lindessay Lyndissay Lyndissai Lindissay Lyndyssay Lindyssay Lyndissai Lindissa Lyndysay Lyndisay Lindisay Lindiesay Lyndezay Lindezey Lyndyssey Lyndessey Lindyssey Lindessey Lyndessy Lyndesy Lindesy Lindesye Lyndesie Lindesie Lindesi Lindeci Lyndesey Lindesey Lindesei Lindesee Lindese Lindesay Lyndesai Lyndesay Lindesa Lindsai Lyndsaie Lyndsay Lyndsa Lyndsey Lyndsy Lindseye Lindseie Lindsey Lindsai Lindsay Lindsa Linsaye Linsaie Linsai Lynsay Linsay Lynsey Linsey Lynse Lyncay. No. III.— Page 32. Descendants and Representatives of Christiana de Lindsay, Lady of Lamberton and Dame de Coucy. Christiana de Lindsay married Ingelram de Gynes, or Guignes, Sire de Coucy, and had issue, 1. William, Sire de Coucy. 2. Ingelram, Viscomte de Meaux, whose daughter and heiress Jeanne de Coucy married Jean de Bethune, ancestor of all the branches of that House. William Sire de Coucy, married Isabelle, daughter of Guy de Chatillon, Count of St. Pol, by Mary of Brittany, and had issue, 414 APPENDIX. No. IV. Jngelram VI., Sire de Coucy, who married Catherine, daughter of Leopold I., Duke of Austria, and had issue, Ingelram VII., le Grand, Sire de Coucy, Count of Soissons, and Earl of Bedford, who died at Brusa, prisoner to Bajazet, in 1397, — he married Isabelle, daughter of Edward III. by Philippa of Hainault, and had issue, Marie, Dame de Coucy, Countess of Soissons, who married Henry, eldest son of Robert Due de Bar, by Mary of France, and had issue, Robert de Bar, Count of Marie and Soissons, who had issue, Jeanne de Bar, Countess of Marie and Soissons, who married Louis de Lux- embourg, Count of St. Pol, and had issue, 1. Jean, Count of Marie and Soissons, who died without issue. 2. Pierre de Luxembourg. Pierre de Luxembourg, Count of St. Pol, Marie, and Soissons, who married Margaret, daughter of Louis Duke of Savoy, and had issue, Marie, Countess of St. Pol, who married Francois de Bourbon, Count of Vendome, and had issue, Charles Duke of Vendome, who married Francoise, daughter of Rene Duke of Alencon, and had issue, Antoine, King of Navarre, who married Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, and had issue, Henry IV., of France, father of Louis XIII., father of Louis XIV., father of Louis the Dauphin, father of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, father of Louis XV., father of Louis the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI., father of Marie-Therese-Charlotte, de France, Duchesse d'Angoulemc. No. IV.— Page 49. Charter by Sir David de Lindsay, Lord of Crawford, to the Abbey of New- battle, of the lands of Smithwood, co. Lanark, 1328. " Omnibus hoc scriptum visuris vel audituris, David de Lynddessay, Domi- nus de Crauford, filius et heres quondam Domini Alexandri de Lynddessay, Salutem in Domino sempiternam. Noverit universitas vestra me, pro salute anime mee, et pro animabus omnium antecessorum et successorum meorum, dedisse Deo et Ecclesie Sancte Marie de Neubotle et monachis ibidem Deo servientibus et in perpetuum servituris, quamdam partem terre mee de Smethewood, per has divisas, videlicet, &c Tenendam et habendam eisdem monachis et eorum successoribus in liberam, puram, et perpetuam clcmosinam, cum omnibus aysiamentis et libertatibus ad terram predictam spectantibus vel spectare valentibus in futurum, subtus terram et No. IV. APPENDIX. 415 supra terram, &c. . . . cum omnibus juribus et libertatibus ad curiam Baronis pertinentibus, vel pertinere valentibus in futurum, sine impedimento mei vel heredum meorum vel successorum sive ballivorum nostrorum. . . . Sed quod eadem terra et omnes homines habitantes, cujuscunque conditionis fuerint, sint omnino liberi et exempti de Baronia mea de Crauford in omnibus, absque ullo . . . retinemento . . . Dicti vero Monachi de Neubotle et eorum successores Capelle Beati Thome Martyris juxta Castrum de Crauford de uno monacho vel sacerdote seculari, et Capelle Beati Laurentii Martyris de le Byris de uno monacho vel sacerdote seculari, de eadem terra de Smethewood in perpetuum facient deserviri, necnon et edificia dictarum Capellarum manu- tenebunt, et competentem apparatum de eadem eisdem Capellis ministrabunt in futurum. Et ego, David predictus, do et concedo, et hac presenti carta mea confirmo, dictis monachis de Neubotle et eorum successoribus in per- petuum, ad sustentationem monachi vel sacerdotis secularis predicti Capelle Beati Thome Martyris ministraturi, et ibidem divina celebraturi, antiquum Manerium Domine pro domo ad inhabitandum, et pro orto sibi faciendo, et her- bagium in Ragardgil pro uno equo, et pro quinque vaccis, et pro quinque vitulis, ita quod vituli postquam annum in etate compleverint inde amoveantur, et duas acras prati cum dimidia in prato del Pymyr, et focal e ad sufficientiam in loco qui dicitur Levedy-moss, et piscationem in aqua de Clud cum Rethi, quod est tractus unius hominis, cum libero introitu et exitu ad utendum omnibus pre- missis. Do etiam et concedo, et tenore presentium confirmo, eisdem monachis de Neubotle et eorum successoribus in perpetuum, ad sustentationem monachi vel sarcedotis secularis dicte Capelle Sancti Laurentii Martyris ministraturi et ibidem divina celebraturi, duas acras terre cum dimidia juxta Capellam pre- dictam Beati Laurentii, pro domo sibi facienda et pro agricultural sua, prout ego eas mensurari feci et limitari, et herbagium per totam pasturam de le Byris extra segetes et prata pro uno equo, et pro duabus vaccis, et duobus vitulis, ita quod vituli postquam annum in etate compleverint amoveantur inde, et com- mune aysiamentum focalis in Glademor, cum libero introitu et exitu ad utendum omnibus premissis. Et ego, David de Lynddessay predictus, et heredes mei et successores, omnes donaciones, concessiones, et confirmaciones meas pre- dictas, cum omnibus juribus, libertatibus, et aysiamentis suis nominatis et non nominatis, predictis monachis de Neubotle et eorum successoribus manutene- bimus, warantizabimus, et ab omni exactione seculari et demanda acquietabimus, et contra omnes homines et feminas defendemus in perpetuum. In cujus rei testimonium presens scriptum meum sigilli mei appositione roboravi. Datum in Capella Beati Thome Martyris, predicta die Veneris, proxima ante festum Nativitatis Beate Virginis, ut supra." 416 APPENDIX. No. V. No. V.— Page 59. Account of Robert de Lindsay, Abbot of Peterborough, elected 1214, died 25 Oct. 1222. — From Dean Patrick's edition of Gunton' s History of the Church of Peterborough, Lond., folio, 1686, pp. 293 sqq. " This Abbot, with whom this church was happily provided, . . . was a wise, discreet, and honest man, in all things very provident, as Swapham hath delivered his character to us, who relates a great many worthy things he had done, and gifts he had bestowed on the church, while he was only Sacrist, among which that of making thirty glass windows, which before were stuffed with reed and straw, was one of the least. He made one window also of glass in the Regulare Locutorium, another in the Chapterhouse, on the side where the Prior sat, nine in the Dormitory, and three in the Chapel of St. Nicholas. He made the whole chancel of Oxney, and a table* with the image of the Blessed Virgin upon the altar. He augmented also the dormitory, and made private chambers ; and then built a larder hard by the kitchen, for the use of the Cellerarius. Which solicitous goodness of his moved the Convent with one consent to raise him to a higher station, by chusing him for their Abbot ; whom they presented to King John at Winchester, upon the day of the Assumption of St. Mary. Being kindly received by him, he went to Northampton, and there on St. Barnaby's day received from Hugh Bishop of Lincoln ornationis suce benedictionem. " As soon as he returned home, he offered a rich cope and a pall ; and then made it his business to deliver the country from that grievous slavery and bondage they were in by the foresters and the beasts, which at that time domineered over men. Mr. Gunton hath given some account of it ; I shall only add that this deafforestation was made in the year 1216, as appears by the agreement made between this Abbot and the Milites and Francolani, who had any interest in the Nasse of Burgh : which is annexed to the Description of all the woods, and their names, and the names of those to whom they belonged, when it was disafforested. In the year before which, 1215, King John had granted his charter confirming all the liberties of the church ; which was confirmed by Pope Innocent the Third, as may be seen in Matthew Paris ; and there is the very same in our Records at the end of Swapham. " Beside the benefactions mentioned by Mr. Gunton, (the first of which was only covering the Abbot's Hall with lead versus claustrum, in that part next the Cloister,) I find divers others no less memorable. For he gave four marks of silver to the Infirmary ; and eight shillings Custodi Hospitum, to buy mats and other necessaries for his office ; and got a bond out of the hands of the Jews, for five and thirty marks, upon which they demanded a vast sum oi money, it being an old debt. He freed also the tenants of this church in the manor of Stanwig, a secta Undredi de Hecham, for a sum of money which he gave to the Earl of Ferrers. He purchased likewise the advowson of the church of Clopton, and gave two marks of gold, and his own silver cup, ad fcretrum Sanctce Kyneburgce. He made the new inward gate, and the new * That is, picture. No. V. APPENDIX. 417 stable for the Abbot's horses, and the Vivarium near the church-yard. He built not only the Hall of Collingham, but also of Stowe, which Martin Abbot afterwards changed ; and a chamber at Tine well, another at Cotting- ham, a summer-house at Stanwick, with a chapel, and almost finished the chapel at Kettring. Barns he built in several places, and erected the great building beyond the Bakehouse and Malthouse ; and by a plea against the Abbot of Croyland obtained the power of enclosing as much as he pleased of the common pasture in the marsh of Pykirke, and made it separate ; and finding the church-yard too strait, he gave, to the honour of God and of his Church, a part of his own vineyard to enlarge it, for the burial of the monks and of their parents and friends, which he surrounded also with a strong and high wall. " Anciently the Abbot and Convent received sixty marks of silver yearly from Fiskertune and Scoter, for their clothes and shoes ; which he finding to be too little, added twenty marks more. And twenty shillings also, for the celebration of three feasts in copes ; viz. the Transfiguration of our Lord, the Translation of St. Thomas, and the birthday of St. Hugh." After mentioning Abbot Lindsay's attendance at the Council of Lateran, 1215, — u Here it was provided, among other things, that all Convents of monks should fast (that is, eat no suppers) from the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross till Easter. Which order the Abbot, when he returned from this Council, prevailed with his Convent to observe as they did at Rome. But not without many entreaties ; for it had been the custom, not only here at Burgh " (Peterborough) " but in other places, for the monks to eat two meals a day at certain times, — for instance from the Exaltation of Holy Cross till the first of October ; from the Nativity till the Octaves of the Epiphany ; and many other days within that compass of time fore-mentioned, on which the Convent was wont to have one dish at supper with cheese. And therefore, propter integritatem Eleemosynce, that their constant allowance might not be diminished, the Abbot ordained, that what was wont to be provided for their supper they should have at dinner. " Before his time there had been great discord and murmuring," &c. — [ Vide supra, p. 59.] " Swapham observes that he found seventy-two monks here when he came to the Convent." He "gave other revenues, not only for the recreation, as the word is, of those seventy-two monks, but for the increment of eight monks more, whereby the whole number was made eighty, — and particularly Belasyse, as Mr. Gunton observes, to find those eight with bread and beer. In the charter wherein he settles those lands, he makes mention of the obser- vation of his own anniversary, the expences of which were to be borne out of them. " Immediately after that Statute about the forenamed anniversaries, there follows a Constitution (which I suppose therefore was made by this same Abbot Robert), directing what was to be done when any part of the Body or Blood of Our Lord in the Sacrament by negligence fell upon the ground or upon a mat, carpet, or the like. " This Abbot lived in evil days, (which makes the many good things he did besides these the more commendable,) there having been great discord, as VOL. I. 2 E 418 APPENDIX. No. vr. Swapham observes, between the King and the Church, insomuch that the kingdom was interdicted for above six years ; after which followed cruel and most shameful wars between the King and the nobles, in which churches were broken down and destroyed, and what was in them pillaged and carried away. " After he had governed nine year and ten months he died, in the feast of Crispinus and Crispinianus. It should be eight year, for he began to govern in the year 1214, and all agree he died in the year 1222. So the MS. Chron. Johan. Abbatis: — 'An. MCCXXIL, obiit Robertus de Lyndesey, Abbas Burgi, cui successit Alexander Abbas.' And so Swapham himself. " He was commemorated here on the day after Simon and Jude, as appears by the Calendar, where, over against that day, I find ' Depositio Domini Roberti de Lindsey,' which doth not agree with Swapham's account, who places his death on the 25th of October." No. VI.— Page 61. " Forma Distributions XX. librarum" — of the twenty pounds bestowed by Sir William de Lindsay of Symontoun on the Abbey of Newbattle. From the Chartulary of that Monastery. " Anno gratie MCC mo , Nonagesimo Tertio, ad festum Sancti Andree Apostoli, facta est haec Conventio inter Dominum Willielmum de Lynddessay, filium quondam Domini David de Lynddessay, ex parte una, et viros religiosos, Dominum Johannem Abbatem de Neubotle et Conventum ejusdem loci ex altera, videlicet, — quod dictus Dominus Willielmus dedit et concessit, et hoc presenti scripto confirmavit, Deo et Ecclesie Beate Marie de Neubotle viginti libras sterlingorum annui redditus, illas scilicet, in quibus Dominus Colynus Cambel, filius quondam Domini Gylascop Cambel, et heredes sui, et eorum assignati, per scriptum suum tenentur firmiter obligati ad solvendum annuatim dicto Domino Willielmo et heredibus suis vel assignatis seu assignatorum attornatis, in Monasterio de Neubotle, in die Sancti Andree Apostoli, in per- petuum, rati one cujusdem contractus conventionis inite inter predictum Dominum Willielmum et dictum Dominum Colynum de terra de Symondstona in Kyi, — Quasquidem viginti libras annui redditus predicti Abbas et Con- ventus, et eorum successores, recipient annuatim a predicto Domino Colyno Cambel et heredibus suis, vel eorum assignatis, per literam dicti Domini Wil- lielmi de assignato in predicto Monasterio de Neubotle, die Sancti Andree Apostoli, in perpetuum, ad distribuendum in usus monachorum dicti Monas- terii, et perpetuas eleemosinas aliorum pauperum Christi, pro salute anime sue et Domine Alicie sponse sue, et pro anima Domini David de Lynddessay patris sui, et specialiter p"ro anima Domine Margarete de Lynddessay matris sue, et omnium antecessorum suorum et succcssorum, et omnium fidelium defunctorum, in hunc modum subscriptum, — Videlicet, quod dicti Abbas et Conventus et eorum suc- cessores solvent annuatim, in die Sancti Andree Apostoli, de pagamento dic- tarum viginti librarum, centum et quatuor solidos bonorum sterlingorum No. VI. APPENDIX. 419 Conventui de Neubotle ad pitantias, et hoc in manu Prioris, de quibus idem Conventus possit habere singulis diebus sabbatorum per annum duos solidos sterlingorum ad emendum sibi cibaria solito delicaeiora cum salsamentis pro recreatione eorundem ; quequidem cibaria distribuentur in Conventu pro voluntate Prioris. Et dicti Abbas et Conventus, et eorum successores, inve- nient septies viginti et quatuor paria sotularium conventualium, bonorum et largorum, et duo pictacia sive taconos cum quolibet pare, ad distribuendum eisdem pauperibus totidem die Animarum apud Hadyngton, pro quibus sotu- laribus cum pictaciis sive taconibus quatuor libre, xviii s., vii d., allocabuntur dictis Abbati et Conventui et eorum successoribus, de predictis viginti libris. Et distribuent insuper tresdecem pauperibus magis indigentibus quinquaginta duas ulnas de Totenes, ita quod quilibet habeat quatuor ulnas panni, die et loco prenominatis, pro quo panno allocabuntur eisdem Abbati et Conventui, et eorum successoribus, triginta duo solidi et octo denarii. Et facient eodem die dis- tributionem mille et trescentis pauperibus de sex libris et decern solidis, ita quod quilibet pauper predicti numeri habeat unum sterlingum tantum apud Hadyngton. Et distributores dictorum denariorum habeant ipsa die quinque solidos pro eorum labore et expensis, et pascent, die anniversarii Domine Margarete de Lynddessay, matris Domini Willielmi, scilicet in crastino Sancti Gregorii Pape, Fratres Minores de Hadington in memoriam matris dicti Domini Willielmi, in quorum ecclesia sepelitur, de una marca predictarum viginti librarum, si tamen dicto die fratres solempniter celebraverint pro anima ipsius, alioquin dicta marca distribuatur aliis pauperibus ubi dicti distri- butores viderint magis expedire. Et eodem die pascent fratres Carmelitas de LufFenauch cum dimidia marca, si tamen ipso die pro anima dicte Margarete solempniter celebraverint, sin autem in usus pauperum distribuatur ut dictum est. Et solvent insuper dimidiam marcam ad luminare Beate Marie Ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Ormiston, in vigilia Purificacionis Beate Marie, et tresdecem denarios ad luminare unius lampadis in Infirmitorio Pauperum de Neubotle, de residuo dictarum viginti librarum. Ad quas quidem distributiones prenomi- natas, loco, die, et modo supradictis, fideliter annuatim faciendas, predicti Abbas et Conventus obligant se et successores suos, et omnia bona sua mobilia ubicunque fuerint inventa, fore distringenda per ballivos de Hadington, quous- que de predictis distributionibus fuerit plenarie satisfactum, una cum dampnis que pauperes ad statutes diem et locum convenientes sustinuerint pro dilatione facta per defectum predictorum Abbatis et Conventus, pro quibus dampnis dabunt quolibet die quo a distributionibus faciendis cessatum fuerit post diem statutum, dimidiam marcam Fratribus Minoribus ad eorum refectionem et fabrice pontis de Hadyngton, inter eos equaliter dividendam, nomine damp- norum quociens fuerint commissa, nisi tam horribilis tempestas ipso die ingruerit, aut guerra impedierit quod predicte distributiones competenter non poterunt fieri, nec pauperes ad locum convenire, et tunc fiet sequenti die vel proximo die quo tempus fuerit amenum ; alioquin ex tunc predictam dimidiam marcam de die in diem incurrant pro dampnis. In cujus rei testimonium pre- senti scripto cyrographato partes prenominate alternatim sigilla sua apposuerunt. Testibus, &c." 2 e 2 420 APPENDIX. No. VII. No. VII.— Page 63. Description of the Castle of Craigie. From the Ayrshire Observer, 25 Feb. 1845. " Having some business in Kilmarnock last week, we availed ourselves of the fine weather to diverge from the direct line of road, and pay a visit to the ruins of Craigie Castle. Little is said of this stronghold in any of our topo- graphical works ; and, judging from its appearance at a distance, one is not prepared to expect anything very peculiar or striking in its character. We were, however, most agreeably disappointed. If not as massive as some of the other strengths of which remains exist in the county, it is by far the most magnificent, while the general design displays a degree of military science in vain to be sought for in any part of Ayrshire, if not in Scotland. The only fortalice with which we are acquainted at all comparable is that of Auchincas in Annandale, supposed to have been built by the celebrated Randolph. The same judiciously defensive principle is obvious in the works of both. The very choice of the sites bespeaks superior military talent. That of Craigie Castle is particularly excellent. The building stands on a gentle rising ground facing the West, between two morasses, which, prior to their being drained, must have presented an insuperable barrier to attack on either side ; while deep ditches cut in front and in rear between the two bogs, or rather locks, completely isolated it from the solid land. There is besides no eminence near enough from which any implement of destruction then known could have been propelled against the walls, or thrown into the castle, with effect. The area within the moat is stated in the New Statistical Account — which, by the way, gives a very limited account either of the Castle or the other antiquities of the parish of Craigie — to be about four acres. One half that extent would be nearer the mark. The main building, or castle, occupies the centre, and con- sists of an oblong square, four stories in height. The principal apartment, or grand hall, which seems to have occupied the entire of the second floor, still retains the evidences of superior, if not magnificent architecture. The columns of the arched roof, rising from the floor, appear to have converged towards the top, pretty much in the style of the celebrated Chapterhouse of Cross- raguel. The outer walls, judging from the remains that are left, would reach to about half the height of the Castle. The drawbridge stood at the North- West corner of the building ; and was defended by a tower, which thoroughly commanded the approach — South- West as well as West and North ; while, from the circuitous nature of the passage to the Castle, the besiegers, even after they had gained an entrance, would be exposed to a raking cross-fire, both from the walls of the castle and the court-yard in the rear. In short, upon whatever side the assault might be attempted, the building is so constructed that the enemy would be completely outflanked on all sides, save, perhaps, the East, where the breadth of the ditch seems to have been mainly depended upon. The two large vaults on the South and East, which appear to be entirely independent of the keep, were designed, in all probability, as places of safety No. VIII. APPENDIX. 421 for the families of the defenders. The premises must have been capable of accommodating between two and three hundred retainers. " At what time the Castle was built is perhaps beyond the possibility of ascertaining. We are inclined, however, to think that it was either wholly or partially erected towards the close of the fourteenth century, subsequently to the marriage of Wallace of Riccarton with the heiress of Craigie in 1371. It was in consequence of this marriage that the descendants of the family of the ' Saviour of Scotland ' came into possession of the property of Craigie. What seems to strengthen our conjecture is the circumstance of a stone, bearing the arms of the Wallaces and Lindsays blended, having been found among the ruins of the Castle. This relic is still preserved in the garden of the Mains of Craigie adjacent, and is regarded with no small curiosity by the neighbour- hood, — the peasant, unacquainted with heraldry, believing it to represent two wild men playing at draughts. The original arms of the Lindsays were Gules, a fess-chequee Argent and Azure; those of Wallace, Gules, a Lion rampant Azure, to which two supporters, savages, were afterwards added. The arms of the first Wallace of Craigie, after his union with the heiress of that pro- perty — as represented upon the old stone — is a Fess-chequee with a Lion rampant in the centre, upon a tablet supported by two savages in a sitting posture. The colour of the cheque and lion, if ever painted on the stone, does not now appear. The tablet is worthy of preservation, and ought to be placed beyond the chance of accident." No. VIII.— Page 73. Observations on the " Dominium 99 of Buchan, vested in Sir James Lindsay of Crawford, who died in 1397, and on the dismembering of the Earldom of that district, from a letter by Joseph Robertson, Esq. " Your Lordship asks, ' Was Margaret Keith, the wife of Sir James Lindsay of Crawford and Buchan, the heiress of Buchan ?' — I cannot discover any reason to think so, though it is long since I endeavoured on this supposition to account for the ' dominium de Buchan ' having vested for a time in the per- son of the Knight of Crawford. The case of the Earldom of Buchan in the middle of the fourteenth century stood thus. Earl John Comyn, forfeited in the reign of King Robert I., died in England, leaving two daughters, his heiresses. The elder, Alice, married Sir Henry Beaumont, who in her right took the style of Earl of Buchan, under which designation he sat for many years in the English Parliament. He was one of the disinherited Lords who placed Edward Baliol on the Scottish throne, and when peace was established between Scotland and England, his claims to his Scottish inheritance were especially reserved. They never took effect however, and he died in England, trans- mitting his rights to a daughter, married to De Strabolgy Earl of Athol. The younger daughter of Earl John Comyn married a son of the Earl of Ross, who received with her from King Robert I. one half of the Earl of Buchan's 422 APPENDIX. No. VIII. heritage in Scotland. On the other half of the Earldom of Buchan King Robert settled some of the most faithful of his followers, — e. g., Sir Gilbert Hay, the Constable, received the barony of Slaines ; Sir Robert Keith, the Marischal, obtained the barony of Alneden, now Aden; one Douglas got the barony of Aberdour, and another that of Crimond. But with none of these lands was there any vestige conveyed of a right to the Earldom of Buchan. The half of the Earldom conveyed to a son of the Earl of Ross descended in that family, though not in rightful lineal descent, as is sufficiently well known, to William the last Earl of the old race. In the year. 1370 this Earl, who died shortly afterwards, was prevailed on (as he asserted, by force and fraud) to resign his whole possessions into the King's hands ; who there- upon granted a new charter to the Earl and the heirs-male of his body law- fully begotten, whom failing to Sir Walter of Lesley and Euphame his spouse, the Earl's eldest daughter, and the heirs begotten between them, whom failing, to Johanna or Janet, the Earl's second and youngest daughter, (after- wards wife of Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth,) and her heirs, of the Earldom of Ross, and Lordship of Skye, and all his other Lordships and lands, except- ing those lands and lordships which belonged to the Earl in the shires of Aberdeen, Dumfries, and Wigton, that is, (as can be shewn,) the half of the Earldom of Buchan which came into the Earldom of Ross in dowry with the daughter of Earl John Comyn. This charter is in the printed Register of the Great Seal, p. 74, and in the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. i. A pp. p. 177. It does not shew what became of the half of the Earldom of Buchan resigned by Earl William, but not reconveyed in the King's charter. But from a complaint made by the Earl to King Robert II., on the 24th of June, 1371, (of which there is a MS. copy in the library at Panmure, the original, I believe, being in the charter-room at Philorth,) it appears that ' all the lands and tenements of himself and his brother Hugh of Ross, lying within Buchan,' were, in spite of their remonstrances, given to his son-in-law, Sir W T alter Lesley. On what terms this grant was made, and to w r hat line of heirs, in the absence of the charter itself, cannot be ascertained ; but that the tenure was different from that of the Earldom of Ross, is more than presum- able, from the fact that the lands were excluded from the new charter of that dignity and territory. Sir Walter of Lesley granted charters to several vassals of lands which were part of the Earldom of Buchan, and died about the year 1379. His widow, the Countess Euphemia, who on the 9th of March, 1381-2, is found confirming a grant of lands in Buchan made by her late hus- band, was, before the 25th of July, 1382, married to Sir Alexander Stewart, the well-known Wolf of Badenoch, w ho thereupon received a royal charter of all the lands belonging to her, but among which, it is observable, are not enumerated any of the lands in the Earldom of Buchan, (Regist. Mag. Sigilli, p. 164,) though in this very charter he is styled (so far as I have observed, for the first time) Earl of Buchan. From all this, the inference is, I think, obvious, that the Crown held that it was possessed of the right of disposing of that Earldom, without regard to the claims of the Earls of Ross. It is in com- petition with this Alexander Stewart, husband of Euphame of Ross, that Sir James of Lindsay of Crawford, in April, 1385, appears as a claimant for the Dominium de Buchan, Acta Pari. Scot., vol. i. p. 187. But on what ground No. rx. APPENDIX. 423 the claims of the Knight of Crawford rested, does not appear. I can see no reason to imagine that his wife (who was certainly a daughter of Sir William Keith, the Marischal) was descended from the old Earls of Buchan, either through the wife of Sir Henry of Beaumont, or the wife of the son of the Earl of Ross. It is but conjecture, but I would be disposed to surmise that Sir James Lindsay may have rather derived his right from Sir Walter of Lesley, who was his kinsman, and immediately after whose death it is, that the Knight of Crawford appears with the style of the ' Dominus de Buchan.' 11 Since writing part of the preceding, regarding the Earldom of Buchan in the year 1382, I observe that I have overlooked a charter in the printed Register of the Great Seal, (p. 165,) proving that the Countess Euphame of Ross resigned her lands of Buchan (there called the barony of Kynedward, from the name of the chief castle) in the King's hands ; who thereupon granted them to Sir Alexander Stewart, Lord of Badenoch, and the Countess Euphame. This charter is dated on the 22nd of July, 1382; and Sir Alex- ander Stewart is styled in it simply ' Dominus de Badenach.' Another charter, dated two days afterwards, on the 24th July, 1382, styles him ' Comes Buchanie,' — as if in the mean time, by the simple grant of the lands of Buchan, or otherwise, he had become possessed of the Earldom. I have not observed any mention anywhere of a Comes or Dominus de Buchan between the time of Earl John Comyn and Sir Henry of Beaumont, and that of Sir James of Lyndesay and Sir Alexander Stewart — an interval of about half a century." No. IX.— Page 85. ' The Rose-a-Lyndsaye^ a Ballad. " There are seven fair flowers in yon green wood, On a bush in the woods o' Lyndsaye ; There are seven braw flowers an' ae bonny bud — Oh ! the bonniest flower in Lyndsaye. An' weel luve I the bonny, bonny rose — The bonny, bonny Rose-a-Lyndsaye ; An* I'll big my bower o' the forest boughs, An' I'll dee in the green woods o' Lyndsaye. There are jewels upon her snawy breast, An' her hair is wreathed wi' garlan's, An' a cord o' gowd hangs roun' her waist, An' her shoon are sewed wi' pearly ns. An' (), but she is the bonny, bonny rose, She's the gentle Rose-a-Lyndsaye ; An' I'll big my bower where my blossom grows, An' I'll dee in the green woods o' Lyndsaye. 424 APPENDIX, No. X. Her face is like the evenin' lake. That the birk or the willow fringes, Whase peace the wild wind canna break, Or but its beauty changes. An' she is aye my bonny, bonny rose, She's the bonny young Rose-a-Lvndsaye ; An' ae blink o' her e'e wad be dearer to me Than the wale o' the lands o' Lyndsaye. Her voice is like the gentle lute. When minstrels tales are tellin' ; An' ever softly steps her fute. Like Autumn leaves a-fallin'. An' oh, she's the rose, the bonny, bonny rose, An' oh, she's Rose-a-Lyndsaye !' An' I'll kiss her steps at evenin' close, Thro' the flowrie woods o' Lyndsaye. Oh, seven brave sons has the gude Lord James — Their worth I downa gainsay, For Scotsmen ken they are gallant men, The children o' the Lyndsaye : An' proud are they o' their bonny, bonny rose, O' the bonny young Rose-a-Lyndsaye ; But pride for luve makes friends like foes, An' woe i' the woods o' Lyndsaye. But will I weep where I mauna woo, An' the lan' in sic disorder ? My arm is strong, my heart is true, An the Percie's o'er the border. Then fare-ye-weel, my bonny, bonny rose. An' blest be the bonny woods o' Lyndsaye ; I will gild my spurs in the bluid o' her foes, An' come back to the Rose-a-Lyndsaye." No. X.— Page 103. Observations by Joseph Robertson, Esq., on the site of St. Drostans church in Glenesk, from a letter to the Author. " I am disposed to think that the site of St. Drostan's church in Glenesk was at Edzell. St. Drostan was himself an Abbot, and doubtless his founda- tion, like that of all other missionaries of his age and country, was monastic. Now at Edzell we see, in the Register of Arbroath (pp. 7, 47, 48, 49), the land in the possession of an 4 Abbe,' — a hereditary lay abbot, or coarb — in No. XI. APPENDIX. 425 that age an invariable token of the existence at the place so distinguished of an early religious settlement. Thus in the Charters of Holyrood we find the 1 Abbe of Falkirk ' in possession of the lands of St. Modan's monastery ; in the Act. Pari. Scot., vol. i., the lay Abbot of Glendochart in possession of St. Fillan's monastery in Strathfillan ; and even Iona itself appears in the Irish annals during several ages as in the possession of the ' Coarb of Colm- kille.' Throughout Scotland indeed, as generally in Ireland, and occasionally in England and on the continent, the ecclesiastical benefices in the beginning of the twelfth, and still more in the end of the eleventh century, had fallen into lay hands, and become hereditary in them. It was part of the religious reform which St. Margaret began, and which St. David nearly completed, to rescue the possessions of the Church from these lay usurpers. — The ' Abbe ' of Edzell demonstrates the existence of an old religious foundation there ; and as we read of no other ancient church in Glenesk except that founded by St. Drostan, it seems no violent inference to hold that this was at Edzell." No. XI.— Page 114. Observations on the import of the terms " bondi, bondagia, nativi, et eorum sequele," in the Charter of the Thanedom of Downie to Sir Alex. L. of Glenesk, 1373, — from a letter to the Author from Joseph Robertson, Esq. "It is exceedingly difficult to determine the precise meaning of terms expressing social condition, which are often as evanescent as the phases of society itself, and sometimes take significations strangely different from their first use, — e. g. ' husband ' and ' villain,' both words employed at first to denote only classes of agricultural life. This difficulty is especially great in questions regarding ' serfs ' — a subject which has received so little satisfactory discussion in this country, that it is still a point in dispute between English lawyers and Mr. Hallam whether there was any distinction between the ' villein in gross ' and the ' villein regardant.' See Supplemental Notes to the History of the Middle Ages, pp. 383-386. " It has been said (Regist. Cartarum de Kelso, Pref., p. xxxv.) that in Scotland the name ' bondus ' and ' nativus ' was indiscriminately applied to the villein or serf. This may have been the case at some very early period, though I do not remember any instance of it. In the only instances I have observed of the occurrence of 4 bondus ' in the original Latin of our ancient statutes (Acts Pari. Scot., vol. i. pp. 47*, 327), it appears to me to denote a class of men above the condition of the mere serf. " Be this as it may, I do not think that it will be questioned by any one, that the ' bondus ' in the year 1373 was not a serf. I imagine that his con- dition was that of a tenant of a small piece of ground, for which he had to pay to his lord certain services called ' bondagia,' — a term which perhaps was used also to denote the ground or land occupied by the ' bondus.' The ' bondus,' in short, 426 APPENDIX. No. XI. at least in the end of the fourteenth century, appears to me to have been simply a free ' husbandman.' The terms of the Downie charter — granting the lands ' cum bondis, bondagiis ' — do not reject this interpretation. To a very late period we have charters granting lands ' cum tenentibus, tenandriis, et serviciis libere-tenentium ;' but it has never been supposed that these phrases implied that the ' tenants ' were ' serfs,' sold or transferred along with the ground which they tilled. " I may illustrate my interpretation of what ' bondi et bondagia ' were in the fourteenth century, by reference to a particular case. In the year 1358 the Sheriff of Peebles, in accounting for the Crown rents of that shire to the Exchequer, reports that he had received nothing from the King's ' bondages ' of Traquair and Inverleithen, because these were in the hands of William Maitland, by what title was unknown:—' Et nihil . . . de bondagiis Regis de Trequayr et Inuerlethane, quia in manu Willelmi Mautalent, quo titulo ignoratur, super quo inquiratur et consulatur Rex.' Chamb. Rolls, vol. i. pp. 317, 319. This inquiry led to a charter by King David II., as we learn from Robertson's Index to the missing charters, — ' Carta to William Maitland of the bondage-lands of Traquair, and sundry others, &c.' Robertson's Index, p. 37, No. 4. u This was in 1358. Now, when we go back to the end of the previous century, we find the Sheriff of Traquair, in the year 1288, accounting in exchequer for the fine or grassum which he received from the free farmers (or renters — ' maillers,' to use our old Scottish word) who took certain lands of bonds lying waste : — i Item, per gressumam captam de liberis firmariis qui ceperunt quasdam terras bondorum vastas usque ad terminum quinque annorum , xx vi solidi, viii denarii.' Chamb. Rolls, vol. i. p. 56*. 1 1 There can be no doubt of the identity of the ' terre bondorum ' occupied by free tenants in 1288, and the 1 bondage-lands' or ' bondagia Regis ' of 1358. " I shall now shew that the same lands were known by the name of ' hus- band-lands ' in the year 1480. In that year there was before the Lords of Council an ' accioune and cause perse wit be Mergret of Murray ' (I believe, the widow of the famous ' Outlaw Murray ' of the Border Minstrelsy) ' again James Erie of Buchane anent the wrangwis occupacione of twa husband landis in Tracquare, clamyt be the said Margret, and wrangwisly occupiit be the said James.' Acta Bom. Concilii, p. 70. " The illustration does not end here. Houses in the hamlet of Traquair are still held on the tenure of finding certain 4 bondages,' — that of performing certain services of agricultural work. New Stat. Acc. Peebleshire, parish of Traquair. " I might adduce other reasons for believing that in the fourteenth century the ' bondus ' was substantially the same with the ' husbandman.' What the husbandman was we see very clearly in the rental of Kelso about the year 1300, Regist. Cartarum de Kelso, p. 461, and pref., pp. xxxvii, xxxviii. — We see there, too, the nature of the ' bondages,' or services, which he had to pay, — and so lasting was this sort of tenure in Scotland, that its extinction in many districts is a thing quite within the memory of living men. I^nave myself heard farmers in the uplands of Man- congratulate themselves on the No. XI. APPENDIX. 427 new arrangements of their leases, which freed them from the ' bondages,' or services, exactly like those recapitulated in the rental of Kelso, which they or their fathers had been accustomed to render to their landlords.* " So much for the 1 bondi et bondagia.' As to the ' nativi et eorum sequele ' there is no doubt. The ' nativus ' was an absolute serf, a ' born thrall,' the property of his lord as completely as a negro in the Southern pro- vinces of the United States of America is at this day. The ' sequele ' were his issue or progeny — the ' thewe ' of our Anglo-Saxon law, of which we have a good explanation in a valuable little glossary written on the back of a rental of lands in Scotland, preserved in the treasury at Durham : — ' Thew . . hoc est, quod habeatis totam generacionem villanorum vestrorum, cum eorum secta et catallis vbicunque fuerint inventa, exceptis quod si quis nativus quiete per annum et vnum diem in aliqua villa privilegiata manserit, ita quod in eorum communem gildam tamquam ciuis receptus fuerit, eo ipso a villenagio libera- bitur.' Raine's N. Durham, App., pp. 106, 107. — Concerning the condition of the ' nativus,' the serf or villain, the notices of our ancient statutes will be found gathered together under the head ' nativus ' in the indices of matters to the Acts Pari Scot., vol. i. pp. 469, 507. " I need not say that there is nothing singular in the terms of the Downie charter, which speaks only the common language of the grants of that age. But — at the risk of spoiling your Lordship's enjoyment of a fine passage in the father of Scottish poetry — I may point out a charter (Regist. JSpiscop. Aherdonensis, vol. i. pp. 183, 184) which proves that Archdeacon Barbour, notwithstanding his aspiration ' Ah ! freedom is a noble thing ! ' had no scruple in hiring out serfs and their issue with the lands which they cultivated. The Chapter of Aberdeen in the year 1388, Barbour being then one of its members, lease their barony of Murtle on the Dee to William Chalmers, 1 cum bondis, bondagiis, nativis et eorundern sequelis? — The opera- tion of the conveyance of the ' sequele ' was the cruellest of all. I have read, in a French chartulary, a deed which shews that, through the taint carried by the 1 sequela,' two persons originally free became slaves by intermarrying. A free man, by marrying a female serf, became himself a serf ; his wife dies ; he marries a free woman, — and this second wife becomes a serf, along with all her issue." * " I may also refer your Lordship," says Mr. Robertson subsequently, "to a rental of the lands of the King of Scots in Northumberland and Cumberland in the years 1285- 1287, (Talgrave's Documents, &c, torn. i. pp. 3-14,) shewing that these lands were possessed by tenants in bondage — ' tenentes in bondagio ' — along with tenants in ' dreug- age,' ' free tenants,' tenants in ' serjeanty,' tenants ' at will,' tenants called cottiers, 1 tenants in socage,' 'tenants in burgage,' and certain tenants called ' gresmen.' These tenants called ' grassmen ' were known in Scotland till a comparatively recent period. 428 APPENDIX. No. XII. No. XIL— Page 118. List of Families of the name of Lindsay, in Scotland and elsewhere. N.B. — This list has been formed from the published Retours of Service, the Acts of Parliament, and other printed records, — from the Register of the Great Seal, (down to 1554,) from original documents in the Haigh Muniment-room, — and from private communications from my antiquarian friends. It must, however, be considered very imperfect. — Save in a few instances, the line of succession only is noticed, without reference to younger brothers. Except where the mark f, signifying " died," occurs, the dates merely express the years in which the individuals referred to are mentioned. Aberdeen. — Lindsays in A., probably a branch of the Lindsays of Fesdo, which see. Aikenhatt (Angus). — James L. of A., 1592. — John L. of A., 1638.' — Harry L. of A., 1642-3. America, Virginia. — Descended, according to a family MS., from the Lindsays of the Mount, the genealogy being thus stated : — Sir Hierome Lindsay, — father of Sir David L. of the Mount, — father of Robert L., the first emigrant to America, — father of Opie L., — father of Robert L., — father of William L.,* — father of George Walter L., — father of Capt. Geo. F. Lindsay, U. S. Marines, present representative of the family. — It is evident from the tradition that the descent from the Mount family must be subsequently to the date of Sir Hierome, or, as he is generally styled, Sir Jerome's marriage w r ith the heiress, he, Sir Jerome, being specified as the original ancestor ; and, as it appears on counting the generations backwards that Robert Lindsay, the first emigrant, was of the same generation with David Lord Balcarres, there can be little doubt that the said Robert was a younger son of Sir Jerome, the latter belonging to the generation of John Lord Menmuir, father of David Lord Balcarres. — That the name of Sir Jerome's father-in-law, Sir David L. of the Mount, has been misplaced in the above pedigree, might be proved by existing legal evidence. The Virginian Lindsays are thus a branch of the House of Edzell, through the family of Annatland, which see. Arms. — The Crawford coat, with the ribbon, sable, of Abernethy, debruising the whole shield, for difference. Crest: — A mailed hand supporting on a dagger's point a pair of balances, proper. Motto: — " Recta vel Ardua." Annatland. — See Lives, torn. i. p. 394. — Descended of Edzell. — Walter younger of Edzell, whof 1513, had issue Alex., his second son, — father of David, minister of Leith and Bishop of Ross, f 1613, — father of Sir Jerome L., first of Duninno, afterwards of Annatland, Lord Lion King-at-Arms, f 1642, who married first, Marg. Colville, whof before 10 May, 1603, and had issue David, baptized 2 Jan. 1603 ; secondly, Agnes, d. of Sir David L. of the Mount, Lion King, and had issue James L. of the Mount, so designed in 1643 and afterwards, Clerk of the Exchequer in 1661, and who f 1674. — Lindsay of the Mount, 1710. — See America. * And of Opie L. of the Mount, Fairfax Co., Virginia, and Thomas Lindsay. No. XII. APPENDIX. 429 Ardjnbathy (Perth).— Descended of Evelick— the elder branch, I believe ; see torn. ii. p. 284.— Patrick L. of A., 1600-1621.— John L. of A., 1690-1700. Auchinskeoch (Kirkcudb.).— Desd. of Fairgirth ?— John L. of Auchinhay, &c. (lands possessed by James L. of Auchinskeoch in 1628), 1490-3. —John L. of Auchinskeoch, 1585-1614.— James L. of A., 1628 ; father of Andrew L. of A., 1648. Auchnaday (Angus). — Dav. L. of A., 1572. — David L. of A., Depute Sheriff of Forfar, 1628.— Dav. L., elder, and Dav. L., younger, of A., 1638. Augsburg (Germany). — Lindsays of. — See torn. i. p. 133. Balcarres (Fife). — Earls of. — From John, Secretary of State to James VI., second son of Dav. L. of Edzell, ninth Earl of Crawford. See Lives, torn. i. p. 327, and afterwards, — and the Crawford Case, by John Riddell, Esq. — On the death of George, 22nd Earl of Crawford, in 1808, Alex. 6th Earl of Balcarres succeeded as 23rd Earl, but the title has only been assumed in the present year, 1848, on the recognition of the House of Lords, by James 7th Earl of Balcarres, 24th Earl of Crawford. Arms. — Those of the Earls of Crawford, within a bordure, azure, charged with eight stars, or. Crest : — On a wreath, a pavilion azure, seme'e of mullets, or, — the canopy and fringes of the last, — ensigned on the top with a pennon, gules. Supporters : — Two lions, seiant guardant, gules, each gorged with a collar azure, charged with three mullets, or. Motto : — " Astra castra, numen lumen, muni- men." Vide supra, torn. i. p. 55. Now, however, the Earls of B. have adopted the Crawford arms. Balcarres and Leuchars (Fife). — The Hon. Robert L., second son of James 5th Earl of Balcarres, became proprietor of these estates, and, dying in 1836, was succeeded by his eldest son, Colonel James L., of B. and L., Gren. Guards, Colonel of the Fifeshire Militia, and late M.P. for Fifeshire, — and who, by his wife Anne, d. of Sir Coutts Trotter, Bart., of Westville, is father of Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., younger of B. and L. Arms. — Those of the Earls of Balcarres. Balgawies (Angus). — From Sir Walter, 4th son of David L. of Edzell, ninth Earl of Crawford,— father of Dav. L. of B., 1607-1615.— Will., son of Dav. L. of B., 1630. Baehall (Angus). — Robert L. of B., youngest son of David L. of Edzell, ninth Earl of Crawford, left issue Dav. L. of B., 1598, f s. p., and John L. of B., 1600, f in 1602. Baemungie (Fife). — Will. L. of Feddinch had issue Will. L. of B. ; father of Alex. L., Esq., now of Balmungie. Balmure. — Alex. L. of B., 1488. — See Glenmure. Balquharrage (Stirl.). — See Blacksolme. Barcloy (Kirkcudb.). — The designation, from 1505 to 1593, of the Lindsays of Wauchopdale, deprived during that period of the greater part of their estate. 430 APPENDIX. No. XII. Barnyards, or the Halch (or Haugh) of Tannadtce (Angus), — The hereditary Constables of Finhaven Castle. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 282. — Philip L. de le Halche, styled by David third Earl of Crawford " dilectus consanguineus et scutifer noster," 1442, — Constable of Finhaven and " scutifer" of Earl Beardie, &c, 1453-1466-1468-1469-1474.*— Dav. L. of Halch, 1489. — Alex. L., Constable, and John his brother, 1494.f — Dav. L. of Hauch, 1523 ; father of Dav. L. of H., Constable, described as his son and heir, 1533.— Dav. L. of B., Constable, 1555-1557-1567-1569-1571- 1575 ; father of Pat. L. of B., served his heir, 1596.— Dav. L. of B., 1620. — Rob. L., son of James L. of Glenquiech, and paternal grand-nephew of Pat. L. of B., who was served his father's heir in 1596, was served heir of the said Patrick, his grand-uncle, 1692. — See Glenquiech. Arms. — The seal of Philip L. of the Halch, who fl. c. 1450, presents a star within an orle. Beaufort. — See Edzell. Belstain (Lanark). — Descd. of Covington. — L. of B., 1570. — Col. James L. of B., governor of Edinburgh Castle, 1641— of Berwick Castle, 1644-1658. —Will. L. of B., 1661-1672. Birthwood (Lanark). — Descd. of Covington. — Will. L. of B., 1643. — Andrew L. of B., 1670. Blacksolme, or Blackhoem (Renfrew), and Balquharrage (Stir!.). — Descd. of Dunrod, or rather the elder line of that family, according to George Crawford, Hist, of Lindsays, MS. — George L., eldest son of David L. of Dunrod, temp. James V., — father of John L. of Blacksolme, 1544,— father of John L. of B., f 1618, — father of Mr. George L. of B., minister of Roseneath, f 1644, — father of Capt. John L. of B., — father of George L. of B.,— father of Alex. L. of B. (and of the Rev. Will. L., of Dun- donald, who f s. p.), — Alexander being the father of Will. L. of B. and Balquharrage, 1728, who sold his estate in Scotland, and settled in Jamaica. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 292. Arms, as recorded in the Lyon Register. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, arg. and az. ; in chief, a label of three points of the second, — the label, according to Crawford, " being to indicate that his ancestor was an eldest son of the family of Dunrod, though the succession was put by (past) him." Hist. Lindsays, MS. — Crest : — A withered branch of oak, sprouting forth green leaves, proper. Motto : — " Mortua vivescunt." Blaikerstoun (JBerw.). — John L. of Downie, natural son of John 6th Earl of Crawford, had issue J Patrick Abp. of Glasgow, f 1644, — who had issue David L. of B., who, dying without issue, was succeeded in that barony by * Philip de Lindsay witnesses a charter of David Earl of Crawford, 9 March, 1390, Robertson's Index, p. 150, — and others. He may have been the ancestor of the Barn- yards family. f " 18 June, 1494. The Lords [of Council] decree that Alexander Lindsay, Constable of Finhevin, and John his brother, do wrong in the occupation of the lands of the Halch of Tannadys, called the Berneyards, and that they shall devoid the same, to be bruikit by John Schevez of Dempstertown," &c. — Acta Bom. Concilii, p. 328. % According to Crawford, Hist. Lindsays. See Lives, torn. i. p. 397. The Archbishop was, however, by other accounts, a descendant of the House of Edzell. No. XII. APPENDIX. 431 his brother, Mr. James L. of Lcckaway, served his heir, 1633, — and Mr. James by his son, served his heir 1665. Blairfeddan (Angus).— Mr. John L. of B., 1535-9. — John L. of B., for whose slaughter Sir John Ogilvie of Inverquharitie had a remission, 21 Feb. 1588.— John L. of B., 1592,-Harry L. of B., 1600-1612-1617-1631,— quondam de B., 1642. Bonhill, Ballul, or Bonneii. (Dumbarton). — Dominus Hugo de L. had a son Patrick L., who obtained charters of B. and certain hereditary offices from the Earl of Lennox before 1333. Vide Lives, torn. i. p. 67. — John L. of B., " marefeodus " and baillie depute of the Lennox, from 1449 to 1496,— father of Will. L. of B., marefeodus, &c, 1509-1512,— father of John L. of B., sheriff depute of the Lennox, 1523, f 1541, — father of Mungo, otherwise Quentin L. of B., f 1589, — father of John L. of B.,f 1593, — father of Mungo L. of B., 1604, f 1641, — who was succeeded by his nephew Mungo, eldest son of his younger brother Adam L. of Stuck- rodger ; Mungo L. of B. had issue an only child and heiress, Anna L. of B., who m. in 1662 Will. L., eldest son of John L. of Wauchopdale, and had issue Mungo L. younger of Wauchope, — -which title see. — The Bonhill family was subsequently represented by the Lindsays of Stuckrodger, which also see. Arms. — John L. of B., who fl. 1449-1496, bore quarterly, first and fourth, a saltier ; second, a lion rampant, debruised with a ribband, for Abernethy ; third, the fesse-chequee, &c, for Lindsay. His son, Will. L. of B., bore, first and fourth, the lion of Abernethy ; second and third, the fesse-chequee, — in the centre point, a rose. — John L. of B., in 1589, bore a double fesse-chequee between three mullets. Information from my friend James Dennistoun, Esq., of that Ilk. Bonytoun (Angus).— Alex. L. of B., f 1569.— Dav. L. of B., 1588. Brechin (Angus). — Alex. L., hereditary smith of the burgh, 1511. — Rob. L., citizen and hereditary smith, f 1605, — father of David L., served his heir in the office, 1605. Broadland (Mearns). — John L. of B., Fastdavach and Auchcarny, 1456-7. —Alex. L. of B., 1562.— Alex. L. of B., 1594, 1601.— John L. junior of B., 1605, 1606. Arms. — Gules, fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; in chief, a fleur-de-lys, argent. Sir Dav. Lindsay's Heraldic MS. Bucksted (Sussex). — Lindseys of. — Thomas L. of Dent (in right of his wife), —father of Miles L. of Dent,— father of Edward L. of Bucksted, fl. 1608,— father of Richard L., Esq. — For the pedigree of the Lindseys of Bucksted, see the Sussex Visitation, 1630. Arms. — Or, an eagle displayed sable, armed az., a chief vaire'. Crest : — An eagle displayed sable, beaked and legged or, charged on the breast with a cross-pate'e of the last. Edmondson. Cahoo, co. Tyrone, now of co. Louth, &c, Ireland. — A branch of Loughry, descd. from Alex. L., M.D., second son of Robert L. of L., who f 1674. Dr. Lindsay is said to have been killed, together with his daughter, by a cannon-ball during the siege of Derry, 1688, while looking from the ram- 432 APPENDIX. No. XII. parts. His son, Walter L. of Cahoo, f 1742, leaving issue the Rev. Alex. L., Rector of Kilmore, near Monaghan, f 1752,— father of the Rev. Walter L., Rector of Bally connell, f 1776, — father of the Rev. Alex. L., Rector of Rathdrum, f s. male issue, and of Robert L., Esq., father of Walter L., Esq., of Dublin, barrister-at-law, the present representative of the family. — Robert, immediate younger brother of the Rev. Walter L. of Bally- connell, was represented, through his son, Lieut.-Col. Robert L., by the son of the latter, the late gallant General Effingham L., of Constance, Switzer- land, who f in 1848, leaving issue :— And the Rev. John L. of Carrick- fergus, younger son of Walter L. of Cahoo, who f c. 1742, is represented, through his son Waterhouse Crymble L., Esq., who f 1814, by the son of the latter, the Rev. John L., Vicar of Stanford on Avon, to whose courtesy I owe the preceding notices. Ar/ns. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; in chief three mullets, in the base a crescent, of the second. Crest: — A swan, proper. Motto: — "Love but (without) dread." Cairn (Angus). — Descd. of Pitcairlie. — Henry L. of C, son of Alex. L. younger of Pitcairlie, was father of John L. of C, served his father's heir, 1698.— John L. of C, 1710. Arms. — Quarterly, first and fourth, gules, the fesse-chequee, within a bordure, componed arg. and az., — second and third, the lion, &c, for Abernethy. Crest: — Two stalks of wheat disposed saltier-wise, proper. Motto: — " Non solum armis." Nisbet. Carseeuch (Dumfries). — Descd., apparently, from Fairgirth. — James L. of C, 1483. — Eliz. L., heiress of C, married, before 1546, to Rich. Browne. — James V. granted, in 1538, to James L., his masterfalconer (who held that office, under Mary of Guise, and Mary Queen of Scots, for twenty years after his death), part of the lands of Westshaw, co. Lanark, resigned by Eliz. L. of Carsleuch. — James L., master falconer, &c, and John L. his son and app. heir, 1563. Castellharrie. —Lindsay of C. Arms. — Quarterly, first and fourth, argent, three roses ; second and third, gules, a lion rampant, argent. — MS. Lyon Office. Cavill (Kinross). — Descd. from John L. of Cavill, natural son of Sir Alex. L. of Glenesk, who f 1382, father of the first Earl of Crawford. — Rob. L. of C, and George fiar of C, 1598.— Rob. L. of C, 1620.— James L. of C, 1702-1710. Arms. — Those of the Earls of Crawford, within a boi'dure, quartered or and gules, and charged with eight martlets, countercharged. Crest: — An ostrich-head erased, proper. Motto: — " Sis fortis ! " Nisbet. Colby (Norfolk). — Lindseys of C. Arms. — Or, an eagle displayed, gules. Crest : — An unicorn, seiant regardant, or, armed, hoofed, maned, and ducally gorged, azure. Edmondson. Coralhill (Fife). — James L. in C, 1532, and David L. his eldest son. — Dav. L. of C, 1555.— James L. of C, 1586.— David L. of Quarrelhill, 1598-1607-1617. No. XII. APPENDIX. 433 Cormieston (Lanark). — Roland L. of C, younger son of John L. of C, who f 1623, fl. 1645, and left issue a son, a gardener near Edinburgh about the beginning of last century. He seems to have been the next male repre- sentative of Covington, after the extinction of the direct line. Corsbasket (Lanark). — Probably from Alex. L. of C, (" Alius carnalis " of Alex. L. of Dunrod,) 1485-1494-1504-1506.— Alex. L. younger of C, 1509.— Alex. L. of C., 1519-1537-1540, and Robert L., his son and apparent heir, 1537-1540.— Rob. L. of C., 1543.* Arms. — 'Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, two mullets in chief, argent, in base a cinquefoil, argent. Sir David Lindsay. Covington (Lanark). — Sir John Lindsay, Chamberlain of Scotland temp. Alex. III., had an eldest son, Sir Philip L., whose son, John, acquired Covington by marriage before 1366. See Lives, torn. i. p. 66. — John L. of C. was father of Sir John L., " Dominus de Cowantoun," who fl. 1423, — father of Mr. James L. of C, Provost of Lincluden and Lord Privy Seal, served his father's heir 1434, f c. 1467, s. p. (see Lives, torn. i. p. 151), and of John L. of C, served his father's heir 1467, f 1494 ; father of John L., who, predeceasing his father, the latter was succeeded by his grand- son, John L. of C, served heir of his grandfather 1494 ; father of John L., who predeceased his father, and left issue John L. of C, f 1521 ; father of John L. of C., f 1551 ; father of John L. of C, f 1601 ; father of L. younger of C, who predeceased his father, leaving issue John L. of C, f 1623 ; father of George L. of C, f 1628 ; father of John L. of C, f 1645, s. p., and of Sir Will. L. of C, served his father's heir 1646,— Sir William was improvident and ruined the family, and f before Nov. 1, 1688, leaving issue John L. of C, so designed at that time, and who f without issue. — See Cormieston, and Lives, torn. ii. p. 287. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, in base a mascle, or. Seal of the Provost of Lincluden, c. 1450. But Crawford says the fesse-chequee was carried between three mascles, argent. Perhaps this may have been the case in the seventeenth century. Craigie (Ayr), and Thurston (Berw.). — Will. L., younger son of Will. L. of Luffhess, who fl. 1180-1236, was father of Sir Walter L. of Thurston and Craigie, f before 1298, — father of Sir James L., fl. 1306, — father of Sir James L., f 1357, — father of Sir John L. of T. and C, whose daughter and heiress, Margaret, carried the estates into the family of Wallace of Riccarton. See Lives, torn. i. p. 62. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure. Crawford (Lanark). — Barons and Earls of. — See Lives, passim, and Mr. Riddell's Crawford Case. Arms. — The original arms (vide supra, p. 24) were the same as those of Limesay, viz. gules, an eagle displayed, or. The fesse-cheque'e was assumed in lieu of the * " A representative of the Dunrod family . . sold the 'hundred pund land,' of Kilbryde, including the Castles of Kilbryde Mains and Corcebasket, about 1640." Scottish Journal, torn. i. p. 275. — " The ancient Castle of Basket," it is there added, "was the jointure-house of the family of the Mains." VOL. I. 2 F 434 APPENDIX. No. XII, eagle about the beginning of the fourteenth century, the eagle being retained at first as the tenant or supporter of the shield. But at the close of that century, the Crawford arms were blazoned as follows, and have remained so ever since : — Quarterly, first and fourth, gules, a fesse-cheque'e, argent and azure, for Lindsay ; second and third, or, a lion rampant, gules, debruised with a ribband, sable, for Abemethy. Crest : — An ostrich proper, holding in its beak a key, or. Supporters : — Two Lions, seiant, gules, armed, or. Motto, as borne at least from the middle of the fifteenth century : — "Endure Fort," sometimes corrupted into "Endure Furth." Seeds of the family, and Sir David Lindsay's Heraldry. Crevoche (Ayr). — Dav. L. in C, witness, 1547, to a charter of Rob. L. of Dunrod. — Arch. L. of C, father of Arch. L. of C, served his heir in 1608. Cuedrany.— Dav. L. of C, 1521-1523.— Dav. L. of C, f before 1566.— Will. L., his son and successor, apparently, 1566-7. — Alex. L. of C, father of Alex. L. of C, served his heir in 1607. — Capt. James L., son lawful to umquhile Alex. L. of C, 1614. Cuesh (Aberd.).— Descd. of Dowhill.— Will. L. of C, father of Will. L. of C, who was served heir, 1672, to his grandfather James L. of Cushnie.* — William's son and heir, William (the third of that name), f without issue, and the estate was carried, in marriage, by his sister Lilias, to the Fordyces of Gask. — Now represented by Arthur Dingwall Fordyce, Esq., of Culsh. Arms. — Same as those of Dowhill, with a base unde, surrounded with a bordure engrailed, or. Crest: — A tower proper, ensigned with a crescent, argent. Motto : — " Firmiter maneo." Dent (York). — See Bucksted. Derteford (Kent). — Will. L. of D. (son and heir of Richard L. nuper de D. ), 12 Edw. IV. Dowi-t.l (Kinross). — See Lives, torn. i. p. 102. — Descd. from Sir William of Rossie (also styled " of Crambeth," and " of Logie "), younger brother of David first Earl of Crawford. Sir William had issue, John L. of Crambeth, 1447,— father of David L., f 1472,— father of John L. of C. and Dowhill, — father of Adam L. of D. (who succeeded in 1501, set. 15, and f 1544),— father of John L. of D., f 1566,— father of James L. of D., who f 1591, leaving two sons, of whom John, the eldest, had issue Adam, who f unmarried, after having been for many years deprived of his estates by hif uncle John L. of Kinloch, second son of James L. of D. — This John, designed of D. and Kinloch, f 1629, leaving issue, James, f 1638, — father of John L. of D., born 1623, — father of James L. of D., f s. p. 1705, and of William Bishop of Dunkeld, 1679, whose son, James, succeeded his cousin, as Laird of Dowhill, 1705. His son, Martin, was father of James, father of the late Colonel Martin Lindsay of Halbeath, father of Dav. Baird Lindsay, Esq., present representative of Dowhill. See also Lives, t. ii. p. 284. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, a star of the second in chief, and * William L. — who erected, 1583, in the old church of Turriff, adjoining the barony of Anchterless, in which Cushnie is situated, a monument to the memory of his father, William L., who f 1579, and of his mother, Barbara Mouat, who f 1558 — may have been the father of James L. of Cushnie. — Information from M. W. Lindsay, Esq. No. XII. APPENDIX. 435 the base barre-unde, of the second and third. Crest : — A castle, proper. Motto : — " Firmus maneo." Drumgans (Lanark).— Descd. of Covington ?— George L. of D., 1666, 1672, father of John L. Dunkeny (Angus).— Mr. David L. of D., Bishop of Edinburgh (see Lives, torn. ii. p. 16), had issue John L. of D., served his father's heir 1640, but f 1642, s. p., and five daughters, served heirs-portioners to their bro- thers 1643. Dunrod (Lanark).— See Lives, torn. i. p. 63. From John L. of D., 1359- 1360, younger son of Sir James L. of Craigie and Thurston.— John L. of D., 1382, 1384.— John L. of D., 1429-1449-1451-1464-1467,— father of Alex. L. of D., 1471-1495,— father of John, who f before his father, and was father of David, who succeeded his grandfather as Baron of Dunrod, and f 1521— his eldest son, George, was disinherited, and became ancestor of the Lindsays of Blacksolme, which see ; his second son succeeded as John L. of D., 1522-1526-1537-1540, and had issue David, who predeceased his father, leaving issue Rob. L., his grandfather's heir in Dunrod, 1540- 1544,*— father of Rob. L. of D., 1584, who f s. p., and of Sir John L. of D. (knighted at the baptism of Henry P. of Scotland, 1594), served his brother's heir 1591, and f 1602, — father of Alex. L., the last Baron of Dunrod, concerning whom, and the Dunrod family generally, see torn. ii. p. 290. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; in chief two mullets, and in base one, of the second. Crest: — A duck, with her wings expanded. Supporters: — ■ Two unicorns, seiant. — These bearings were seen by Crawford on the ruins of the Mains Castle at Kilbride. Hist. Lindsays, MS. Eaglescairnie (Hadd.). — Descd. of Kirkforthar. — James L., second son of Pat. L. of K., who fl. temp. Mary and James VI., had issue Pat. L., burgess of St. Andrews, 1646 — father of Pat. L., Rector of the Grammar School of St. Andrews, — father of Pat. L., Provost of Edinburgh, &c, f c. 1755, — father of Pat. L. of Eaglescairnie (in right of his wife, Margaret Hali- burton), who f 1801, leaving three daughters, and of Lieut.-Col. John L., — father of the late Sir Patrick Lindsay, K.B., f 1837, representative of Eaglescairnie and Kirkforthar, and dejure Lord Lindsay of the Byres. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 295. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, between three stars in chief, and a hand and gauntlet in base, argent. Motto : — " Live but (without) dread)." Easter Tyrie (Aberd.). — Descd. from Evelick, according to Crawford. —John L. of E. Tyrie, 1678-81. Edzell and Glenesk (Angus). — Walter L. of Beaufort and Edzell, second son of David third Earl of Crawford, was father of Sir David L. of B. and E., f 1527, — father of Walter L., younger of Edzell, slain at Flodden, * Robert L. of D. was at the Parliament of Aug. 1560 ; was elected Provost of Glasgow, 1562 ; was in that year baillie to the Priory of Blantyre ; and signed a bond of manrent, along with thirty-five other noblemen and gentlemen, to Robert Lord Semple, in 1572. Scottish Journal, torn. i. p. 274. 2 f 2 436 APPENDIX. No. XII. 1513, — father of David L. of E., who succeeded his grandfather in 1528, and as ninth Earl of Crawford in 1542, and f 1558,— father of Sir David L. of Edzell, f 1611, and of John Lord Menmuir, ancestor of the Earls of Bal carres. — Sir David had issue David younger of Edzell, whose only son, Alex, younger of Edzell, dying before his father in 1638, without male issue, he was succeeded (1648) by the son of his (David's) younger brother, Alex, of Canterland, to wit, John L. of Edzell, f 1671,— father of David L. of E., dejure 14th Lord Lindsay (see Lives, torn. ii. p. 255), f 1698, — father of David L. of E.,the last baron, dejure 15th Lord Lindsay, whof in 1744, without issue. See Lives, tom. ii. pp. 253 sqq. Arms. — Walter, the first of the family, bore the Crawford arms with a star in the centre for difference ; — so too did Sir David of Edzell, the eldest son of David 9th Earl of Crawford. Sir David of the Mount assigns them the simple fesse-chequee, as borne by Sir Alex, and Sir Dav. of Crawford, temp. Eob. Bruce, but they usually bore the Crawford shield without any difference. On the death of the last Lord Spynie, when the Edzell family became the Crawford heirs-male, they assumed the full arms, supporters, and crest of Crawford, with the sole exception of carrying a horse-shoe, or, in lieu of a key, in the mouth of the ostrich in the crest. Esperstoux. — Michael L. of E., 1586. — James L. of E., served son and heir of Michael L. of E., his father, 1609. Evelick (Perth). — Descd. from Will. L. of Lekoquhy, third son of David 3rd Earl of Crawford. — Will. L. of L., f 1468, — succeeded by his brother Walter L. of L.— David L. of Leckothy, 1478-1484.— David L. of Montago, 1496, renounces Lekoquhy, 1497. — Dav. L. of Montago, 1511. — Dav. L. of M., and Lord of Lekoquhy, and his sons William and James L., and Mr. John L., heir of his brother Alexander in part of Lekoquhy, 1519. — John L. of Montago, 1541. — Pat. L. in Lekoquhy, 1543. — John L. of Evelick, his marriage-contract dated 1551, — 1563-1575-1589-1592-1599- 1606, — father of Pat., fiar of Evelick, 1593, but who seems, after his suc- cession, to have sold the estate to his younger brother, Alex. Bishop of Dunkeld, himself assuming the title of Ardinbathy — which see. The Bishop f 1644, and was succeeded by his son, Alex. L. of E., who f 1663, leaving issue Alex. L. of E., created a Bart, in 1666,— father of Sir Alex. L. of E., 1690,— father of Sir Alex. L. of E., f 1762 — father of General Sir David L. of E., f 1797, — father of Will. L., Ambassador to Venice, and Governor of Tobago, who \ before his father, unmarried, and of Sir Charles L. of E., drowned 6 March, 1766, unmarried, the last of the direct line of the House of Evelick. See Lives; torn. ii. p. 283. Arms. — Those of the Earls of Crawford, within a bordure, argent. Nisbet. Fairgirth (Kirkcudbright). — Descd. from Covington, according to Craw- ford. — James L., of the stewartry of Kirkc, 1467. — James L., laird of F. (in right of his wife, Margaret Cairns), 1478-1493. — James L. of F., Chamberlain of Galloway, and his son James L., 1495. — Michael L. of F., son and heir of James L. of F., formerly Chamberlain of Galloway, 1500. —Archibald L. of F. (son of Margaret, lady of F.), 1506.— Michael L. of F., and Herbert L., his son and apparent heir, 1507-1509. — John L. of F., 1527.— James L. of F.. 1531.— John L. of F., 1545-1570.— James L. No. XII. APPENDIX. 437 of F., 1585.— James L. of F., son of James L. of F., 1607. L. of F., 1648.— John L. of F., 1662.— James L. of F., served heir of James L. of F., his great-grandfather, 1664. — James L. of F., served heir of James L. of F., his father, 1680. Feddinch (Fife). — Will. L., second son of Pat. L. of Wormestone (who fl. 1651), was father of Will. L. of F., whose son Will. L. of F. was father of Will. L. late of Feddinch, who f s. p. Fesdo (Angus?). — Descd. from Edzell. — Alex. L. of Fesdo, 1600. — John L. of F., the last Laird, was father of William, — father of John L. of Bogs, f 1625 (whose son, William, settled in Poland), of Will. L., merchant in Aberdeen (probably ancestor of the Lindsays long settled in that town), and of Dav. L. of Barreldykes. William had issue the Rev. John L. of Dufton, 1679, f 1726,— father of the Rev. Will. L. of Melmerby, in Cum- berland, author of a MS. family history from which I have derived this genealogy, — father of the Rev. John L. of Stow and Waltham Abbey, f s. p., and of Joseph L., whose son, L., continued the history alluded to. See Aberdeen and Poland, and Lives, torn. ii. p. 280. Garmylton. — See Mount. Garnock (Ayrshire). — Viscounts of. — From Patrick Lindsay, second son of John 17th Earl of Crawford. His descendants assumed the name and arms of Crawford, as heirs of entail of the estate of Kilbirnie. They succeeded, in the person of George 4th Viscount, to the Earldom of Crawford. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 250. Arms. — John first Viscount Garnock bore, quarterly, first and fourth, azure, three cross patees, or, for Barclay ; second and third, gules, a fesse-cheque'e, argent and azure, for Lindsay ; and, by way of surtout, gules, a fesse, ermine, for Crawford. These arms appear on the richly carved Crawford gallery in the church of Kilbirnie, erected by the first Viscount, — and those of his father, Patrick Lindsay, are also given, quarterly, first and fourth counterquartered, Crawford and Barclay, as before ; second, gules, a fesse-cheque'e, argent and azure, and in chief three stars of the second, for Lindsay of the Byres ; third, the single coat of Lindsay. Scottish Journal, torn. ii. p. 34. — Nisbet however blazons the Garnock arms as follows : — For Crawford of Kilbirnie, quarterly, first and fourth, gules, a fesse ermine, for Crawford ; second and third, a cheveron between three cross patees, argent, for Barclay. Supporters : — Two greyhounds, proper. Crest : — An ermine, proper. Motto : — " Sine labe nota." When the Garnock family succeeded to the Earldom, they assumed the Crawford arms. Gills (Kent). — This hamlet was possessed, 7 Henr. VI., by Richard Lindesey, whose descendant William Lindesey, 14 Henr. VII. , alienated it. Hasted's Kent, torn. i. p. 248. Glenesk (Angus). — See Edzell. Glenmure, sometimes styled Balmure (Ayr). — Alex. L. of Balmure, 1488. — Gilbert L. of Glenmure, — father of John L. of G., living in 1505. The family ended in four co-heiresses c. 1536. Glenquiech (Angus). — Descd. of Barnyards. — Rob. L. of G. was served heir, 1664, to his father, James L. of G., and to his great-uncle, Pat. L. of Barnyards, 1692. The family ended about the middle of last century, and 438 APPENDIX. No. XII. the last representative was the Rev. David L., Episcopal minister at St. Andrews. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 282. Grange (Lanark ?). — Descd. from Covington. — Bernard L. elder, and Bern. L. younger, of the G., 1594.— Bern. L. of the G., 1605.— Allan L. fiar of G., brother of George L. of Covington, who f 1628. Guxton (Norfolk). — Edmund Lyndsey of Ifield (which see), and who bore or, an eagle displayed, gules, beaked, &c, azure, m. Margaret, d. and heiress of Rob. Berney, lord of Gunton, who f 1559. Edmund's descendant, Edward Lindsey, Esq., alienated it to the Earl of Dorset, temp. Charles I. Anns. — Or, an eagle displayed, within a bordure, gules, charged with ten cinque- foils, argent. Edmondson. Halch, or Hauch of Tannadyce (Angus).— See Barnyards. Hollymount (Mayo). — Descd., apparently, like the elder branch of the family, the Lindsey Bucknalls of Turin Castle, from Dunrod. Thomas L., of Turin Castle, had a younger son, Thomas L., Esq., — father of Thomas L., Esq., of Hollymount, — father of the present Thomas Spencer L., Esq., of Hollymount. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, in chief two mullets, and in base one, of the second. Crest : — An eagle, with two necks, displayed. Jlfotto : — " Endure fort." Ifield (Kent). — John Lymsey of Ifield, 1 Rich. III. — The manor afterwards belonged by purchase to another John Lymsey, who f 38 Henr. VIII., — succeeded by his son, Edmund Lymesey or Lindsey (vide supra, Ifield), living 38 Eliz., who sold it. Edward Lindsey, Esq., figures in connexion with it temp. Charles I. Arms. — Or, an eagle displayed, sable, within a bordure, gules, charged with eight cinquefoils, argent. Edmondson. Kent. — A branch, apparently, of the Lindseys of Ifield. Arms : — Or, an eagle displayed, sable ; on the breast, a mullet of the second ; within a bordure, gules, charged with eight cinquefoils, argent. Edmondson. Kethick (Angus). — Descd. from Edzell. — Sir Dav. L. of Beaufort and Edzell, who f 1527, had, by his second wife, two sons, of whom the younger was the first Laird of Kethick. Genealogy of 1623. — Dav. L. of K. was father of Alex. L. of K., who succeeded him anno 1 Francis and Mary (1558).— Alex. L. of K., 1583.— Dav. L. junior of Vane, and Alex. L. junior of Kethick, figure together in 1606. — Alex. L. of K., 1617. Kllconquhar (Fife). — Henry L. of Wormestone, who sold that estate to his younger brother Patrick (see Wormestone), inherited Kilconquhar from his mother Margaret, d. of Thomas Bethune of K., a descendant of Cardinal Bethune, and thereupon adopted the name and arms of Bethune. He f in 1819, and was succeeded by his grandson, the present Sir Henry (Lindsay) Bethune, of K., Bart., eldest son of Henry's eldest son, Major Martin L., who had predeceased his father. Sir Henry is representative of the family No. XII. APPENDIX. 439 of Wormestone, and of the Lords Lindsay of the Byres. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 296. Arms. — Quarterly : — first and fourth, argent, a fesse between three mascles, or, for Bethune ; second and third, argent, a cheveron, sable, charged with an otter's head, erased, of the first. Crest : — An otter's head, erased, proper. Motto : — M Debonnaire." Kilquhtss (Fife). — Norman L. of K., third son of John 5th Lord L. of the Byres, f between 1574 and 21 June, 1587, leaving issue Pat. L. of K., who f 1598, — father of James L. of K., served heir of his grandfather Norman, 1627, and f c. 1667, — leaving issue James L. of K., served heir to his father, 1669, and who sold Kilquhiss ; and Norman L., his younger brother. No succession is known of these two brothers. Kllspindie (Perth). — Descd. from Evelick. — Pat. L. of K. resigned, and Will. L., younger son of Alex. Bishop of Dunkeld, had a charter of K., 1625.— Will. L. of K., 1690-1709. Kinnettees (Angus). — Descd. from Evelick, according to Crawford. — Pat. L. of K., 1511.— Dav. L. of K., 1568, 1582, 1588, 1589, 1597.— Dav. L. elder, and Dav. L. younger, of K., 1588, 1604.— Dav. L. of K., 1605, 1616-1638-1641. The family ended, says Rolt, in Thomas L., Archbishop of Armagh, 1713, — son, according to Anth. k Wood, of the Rev. John L., a Scot, minister of Blandford, co. Dorset. Life of John E. of Crawford, p. 39. Kirkforthar (Fife). — John Master of Lindsay, eldest son of Pat. 4th Lord L. of the Byres, had a younger son, David L. of Kirkforthar, — father of John L. of K.,— father of Pat. L. of K., fl. 1586,— father of David L., younger of K., and of James, ancestor of Eaglescairnie, which see, — David L. younger of K. left issue Dav. L. of K., who succeeded his grandfather, —father of Dav. L. of K., fl. 1669,— father of John L. of K., and of the Rev. Dav. L., minister of Cockpen (father of George L. of Plewlands, who f s. p.) — John L. of K. had issue Christopher L. of K. (father of Christ. L. of K., who f s. p.), Lieut. George L. (father of Capt. Dav. L. of K., who f s. p. c. 1798), and John L., father of Sergeant Dav. L., f s. p. 1809, the last representative of Kirkforthar. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 294. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, between three stars in chief, and a hunting-horn in base, argent. Crest: — An ostrich with a key in its bill. Motto: — "Live but (without) dread." Kittocksyde (Lanark). — Descd. from Dunrod. Crawford's Hist. Lindsays, MS.— George L. of K., 1501. Lamberton (Berwick). — William L. of Crawford, Justiciary of Scotland under Will, the Lion, had a second son, Sir Walter L. of L., f 1222, — father of Sir William L. of L., fl. 1236-1244,— father of Walter L. of L., fl. 1247,— father of Sir William L. ofL., fl. 1275-1283,— fatherof Christiana de Lindsay, wife of Ingelram Sire de Coucy, f 1335. See Lives, torn. i. p. 28. Lee and Courthall (Warw.). — Rich. L. de la Lee and C, 15 Edw. II. 440 APPENDIX. No. XII. Leith. — John L. of Wormestone, who f 1715, had a younger son, Patrick, out in the forty -five and subsequently executed, — father of James L., — whose sons, Robert and William, are eminent wine-merchants in Leith, and have issue. Lenstoken. — James L. of L. had issue James L. of L. and John, served his brother's heir of conquest in 1623. Lethnot (Angus). — Dav. L. of L., 1458, — father (by Margaret Fentoun, heiress of Baky) of Dav. L. of L. and Baky, 1458 (bailiff of Dav. Earl of Crawford, 1467), 1468-1479-1481.— Thomas L. of L. 1517, 1549.— Dav. L. of L., 1556.- Alex. L. in L., 1562.— Thomas L. of L., 1617.— Alex. L. of L., 1666. Limesay. — The original Norman form of the name Lindsay, especially as borne South of the Tweed and in Normandy. For the De Limesays of Nonnandy see Lives, torn. i. p. 4; for those of England, ibid., p. 5. Arms. — Gules, an eagle displayed, or. Linbank (Lanark). — Descd. from Dunrod. — Dav. L. of Lekprevy exchanged, in 1539, the lands of Lekprevy for those of Linbank. His son, L., married Elizabeth L., heiress of Linbank, whose son, Dav. L. of L., was served heir to his mother, 1600; to his grandfather, Dav. L. of Linbank, 1607, — and, the same year, to his great-great-grandfather, Robert Lekprevik of that Ilk. The Lindsays of Linbank were hereditary sergeants and coroners " per totam regalitatem dominii de Kilbride." Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, between two stars in chief, and a hunting-hom in base, of the second. Sir David Lindsay and Xisbet. Lindsay. — The Scottish form of the name Limesay. See Lives, torn. i. p. 4. Arms. — Till the end of the thirteenth century, the same as Limesay ; afterwards, on the same ground of gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, — this coat is dis- plaved on the breast of the Limesay eagle in the seal of Sir David L. of Crawford, 1346. Lindsay of the Byres (Hadd. and Fife). The Lords Lindsay. — Descd. from Sir William, fourth son of Sir David L. of Crawford, who fl. 1314-1355, and uncle of the first Earl. — Sir William was father of a second Sir William, fl. 1395,— father of Sir John, created Lord L. of the Byres, 1445, fl. 1421- 1478, — father of David, John, and Patrick, second, third, and fourth Lords L., — Lord Patrick being father of Sir John L., who dying before his father, the latter was succeeded (1526) by his grandson John 5th Lord L., f 1563, — father of Patrick 6th Lord L., f 1589, — father of James 7th Lord L., 1 1601,— father of John 8th, and Robert 9th Lord (f 1609 and 1616),— the latter being father of John 10th Lord L. of the Byres, Earl of Lindsay 1633, and 17th Earl of Crawford c. 1651. — Earl John's male line became extinct in 1808. See Lives, passim. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; three stars in chief, of the second. Crest: — A swan with its wings expanded, proper. Supporters: — Two griffins, gules, armed and membered, or. Motto : — " Live but (without) dreid." And sometimes on a scroll proceeding out of the helmet, " Je Ayme." No. XII. APPENDIX. 441 Lochhill (Midlothian). — See Lives, torn. i. p. 319. — Thomas L., searcher general of Leith, 1560, and Snowdon herald, 1571, under Sir David L. of Rathillet, was father of Bernard L. in Inglisberry Grange, Lanarkshire, and of Lochhill, in Scotland, and of Drum and Craigballe, co. Tyrone, Ireland, groom of the chamber to James VI. and Charles I., — father of Capt. Thomas L., groom of the chamber to Charles I., 1631, his father's heir; Robert L., cup-bearer to Charles P. of Wales, 1649 ; and Bernard L., searcher of Leith by royal grant, 1623 ; the three brothers being all alive in 1640. — Capt. Thomas L. had a son, John, mentioned along with himself in 1647. Arms. — The same, doubtless, as those of Loughry, — which title see. Logies (Perth). — Thomas L. of Logies (whose wife, Jane Douglas, was dead in 1588), — father of Thomas L. of L., f before 1614, when his sister Margaret was served his heir. Loughry, or Tullyoge, otherwise Manor-Ltndsay (Tyrone). — See Lives, torn. i. p. 320. — Rob. L. of Tullyoge, or Loughry, chief harbinger to James I., second surviving son of Thos. L., Snowdon herald in 1571 (see Lochhill), was father of Rob. L. of L., an officer in the royal army at Wor- cester, f 1674, set. 70, and of Alexander, ancestor of the Cahoo branch, which see. — Robert L. was father of Rob. L. of L., a refugee in London- deny during the siege in 1689, f 1691, — father of Rob. L. of L., justice of the Common Pleas, &c, f s. p. 1742; and of John L. of L., f 1761, — father of Rob. L. of L., f 1823,— father of John L. of L., f 18 26, —father of John L., Esq., of Loughry, f 1848. Arms. — Those of the Lords L. of the Byres, with a crescent in base, for difference, as represented on the tombstone of Robert L., the first, of Loughry, who is described in the inscription as " e nobili Scotorum Lyndesaiorum familia oriundus." Motto: — "Love but dread." Crest: — A swan, proper, standing, his wings closed. Lowth (Ireland). — See Cahoo. Luffness (Hadd.). — William de Lindsay of Crawford, Justiciary of Scot- land temp. William the Lion, had a third son, William de L. of Luffness, t c. 1236,— father of Sir David L. of L., fl. 1243,— father of Sir David L. of L., fl. 1256,— father of Sir Alex. L. of L., fl. 1289-1307,— father of Sir David L. of Crawford, fl. 1314-1355, — grandfather, through his third son, Sir Alex. L. of Glenesk (f 1382), of Sir David, first Earl of Crawford. See Lives, torn. i. p. 32. Mains (Kirkcudb.). — Probably a branch of Fairgirth. — Roger L., nat. son of James L. of F., is legitimated 1544-45. — Roger L. of M., dead in 1575. — Herbert L. of the M., 1589.— John L. of M.,— father of Will. L. of M., served his heir, 1688.— Will. L. of M., 1690-1709. Maryville (Cork). — John L., the first of this family that settled in Ireland, and who m. Mary, d. of Thomas Weekes, Esq., of Tipperary, f 1737, leaving issue, Thomas L., who had succeeded in 1730 to the estates of his maternal uncle, Weekes, Esq., in Tipperary, but, dying s. p., 1757, was succeeded by his nephew (the son of his younger brother William), 442 APPENDIX. No. XII. John L., who f 1801, — father of Thomas L., barrister, of co. Tipperary, f 1814, —father of John L. Esq., of Maryville, co. Cork, barrister-at-law, the distinguished antiquarian and numismatist, present representative of the family ; of Paul L., by change of name, Paul Maylor, Esq. ; and of Thomas L., Esq., — all the three brothers having issue. — John L., Esq., younger brother of Thomas L., who f 1814, left issue John L., Esq., who also has issue. See Lives, torn. ii. p. 289. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, — the simple Lindsay coat, from which I conjecture that this may be a branch of the House of Wauchopdale. Crest: — An ostrich holding a key, proper. Motto : — " Indure Furth." Maucheinhole (Lanark). — Descd. from, and said to have been the latest landed representatives of, Dunrod. Crawford's Hist. Lindsays, MS. — See Lives, torn. ii. p. 292. Molesworth (Huntingdon). — Walter de L. was deprived by King John of lands in Molesworth, 1216.— Sir Gilbert L. of M., knight-banneret, fl. 1294- 1319. See Lives, torn. i. p. 67. Arms. — Gules, an inescutcheon vaire", bordered argent, within an orle of eight cross crosslets, or. The Molesworths of England bear nearly the same. Moxtego. — See Evelick. Monzeky (Angus).— Alex. L. of M., 1516.— Mr. John L. of M., 1528.— Dav. L. of M., 1562. Mount (Fife). — See Lives, torn. i. pp. 209 sqq. From Andrew L. of Garmyl- ton, natural son of Sir Will. L. of the Byres, — father of Will. L. of Garmyl- ton,— father of Dav. L. of the Mount, f 1507,— father of Sir David L. of the M., the poet and Lion King, who, dying without issue,, c. 1555, was suc- ceeded by his brother, Alex. L. of the M. ; and he, in 1576, by his son, Sir Dav. L. of the M., crowned Lion King 1592, and who f 1623, without male issue. His eldest d., Agnes, earned the estate in marriage to Sir Jerome Lindsay of Annatland, which title see. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, between three stars in chief, and a man's heart in base, argent. Crest : — A man's heart, in flames, gules, trans- fixed with an arrow, and surmounted by a scroll, " Caritas, caritas, caritas." Supporters : — Faith and Hope, ("Fides" and " Spes,") as two maidens, proper. Motto: — " J'ayme." Sir D. Lindsay's Heraldry.* Newton of Nydie (Fife), — From Norman L., chamberlain, in 1627, to John 10th Lord L. of Byres, — father of John L. of N., burgess of Anstruther, 1639, 1663,— father of Alex. L. of N., his father s successor in 1676,— father of John L. of N., who had succeeded his father in 1685, and was still living * The charter to Andrew L. of Garmylton, natural son of Sir William of the Byres, is particularly specified by Chalmers as No. 33 of the Garmylton title-deeds, and yet, as Mr. Frederick Lindesay observes with great justice — how comes it that Sir David bears the three mullets in chief, which were the arms of Sir William's wife, Christian Mure of Abercorn ? He was liable to a heavy penalty for using arms to which he was not entitled, and the second Sir David of the Mount was directed by Act of Parliament, 1593, "to enquire into the right of all persons bearing arms, and to distinguish and discern them with congruent differences," &c. No. XII. APPENDIX. 443 c. 1720, — father of three sons, who f s. p., and of a daughter, Janet, wife of Pat. L., Rector of the Grammar-school at St. Andrews. See Eagles- cairnie. Northfeat (Lanark). — Probably descd. of Covington. — Alex. L. of N., 1554. —John L. in N., 1643. Overscheiees (Lanark). — Descd., I believe, of Dunrod. — James L. of O., —father of Will. L. of O., whose will is dated 1597-8.— Alex. L. of O.,— father of James L. of O., served his father's heir in 1616. — James L. of Scheills, 1620. Persie (Angus). — John L. of P., 1696. — Andrew L., sometime of P., now in Mill of Dunbog, 1716. Perth. — John L., m. at Carnock in 1689, was father of the Rev. Henry L., minister successively of Bothkennar, Stirlingshire, 1721, and of Perth, 1741, — father of Will. L., Major of dragoons and aide-de-camp to the Earl of Crawford in Flanders, where he was killed unmarried ; of the Rev. Dr. John L., Rector of Spanish Town, Jamaica, and promised that see, if erected, — a distinguished naturalist, some of whose essays may be seen in the Gentle- man s Magazine, toms. 51, 53, 55, 58, &c, but who f s. p. ; and of David L., purser, R.N., and merchant in Perth, — father of Henry L., merchant and banker in Perth, f 1840, — father of JohnL., Esq., merchant in London and proprietor in Perth and Methven, the present representative of the family.* Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; in chief a label of three points, — the arms attributed to the House of Wauchopdale by Nisbet, suggesting a descent from that family. Crest : — An ostrich, proper, holding a key in its beak. Mottoes :—Below the shield, " Endure Forth in a scroll above it, " Love but dread." Pieeanfeat (Dumbarton). — Descd. of Bonhill. — James L. of P., 1564-1582. — Rob. L. younger of P., 1591. — James L. in P., 1603. Pitcaireie (Angus). — From Sir John L. of Brechin and Pitcairlie, f 1453 (see Lives, torn. i. p. 133), fourth son of David third Earl of Crawford. — Dav. L. of P., 1544-1550.— John L. of P., 1589-1593.— Alex. L. of P., 1609-1621-1639 — father of Alex. L. of P., served his heir 1655 —father of an eldest son, of whom I know nothing, and of Henry L. of Cairn, which title see. Pitscandlie (Angus).— Mr. Dav. L. of P., 1621 to 1642,— father of John L. of P., served his heir 1656, fl. 1664-1669— father of Dav. L. of P., living 1690.— John L. younger of P., 1699-1711.— John L. of P., 1715. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; a dirk or dagger, paleways, in base, proper ; and in chief, a mullet for difference. Nisbet. * Among the traditions of Mr. Lindsay's family are these, — that William L., aide-de- camp to the Earl of Crawford in Flanders, received that appointment in consequence of his admitted relationship to the Earl, — that David L., Mr. Lindsay's grandfather, was introduced to and received by Earl John of Crawford at Perth in 1745-6, as belonging to one branch of his family, — and that Dr. John Lindsay was visited as a relative in Jamaica in 1780 by the then Viscount Garnock, afterwards 22nd Earl of Crawford. 444 APPENDIX. No. XII. Pitscottie (Fife). — Will. L. of Pyetstone (which title see) is stated in an old MS. (Adv. Lib., Jac. V., 7, 12) to have had a son, Rob. L. of Pitscottie, the historian, who fl. in the middle of the 16th century, and was father of Christopher L. of P., whose marriage-contract is dated 1592. Poland. — Lindsays in P., — a branch, apparently, of those of Fesdo, — which title see. And see Lives, torn. ii. p. 281. Arms. — Those of Crawford, but with the quartering of Abernethy surrounded by a bordure azure, semee with eight mullets. Pyetstone (Fife). — See Lives, torn. i. p. 190. — From William, second son of Pat. 4th Lord L. of the Byres, who gave him the lands of Pyetstone, which were confirmed to him by John Lord L., 26 May, 1529; William f before 21 Feb. 1554, leaving issue David L. of P., served his fathers heir in 1561, summoned before the Lords of Council for his concern in the slaughter of Dav. Rizzio, 19 March, 1565, and still living in 1594. — The Laird of P. died 11 Sept. 1605. Moncreiff's Diary, App. to Lamont, p. 230.— Will. L. of P. had a charter of P. from Rob. 9th Lord L., in 1612, —father of Will. L. of P., living 1640 and 1670,— father of George L. of P. — Pyetstone was judicially sold in 1699. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure ; three stars, argent, in chief ; and in base, a mascle, argent. Sir Dav. Lindsay. Rascabrell (Kirkcudb.). — Descd. from Fairgirth. — James L. of R., mur- dered 1596, — succeeded by his brother, Andrew L. of R. — Hew L. of R. has a gift of escheat, &c, of James L. of Fairgirth, 1606. — Henry L. of R., served heir, 1647, of his mother, Agnes, d. of Charles, 4th son of Sir Charles Murray of Cockpool, Bart., and wife of L. of R. — Agnes and Mariota L., served heirs-portioners of Henry L. of R., their father, 1694. Rathillet. — A frequent appanage for younger sons in the House of Crawford. Rossie (Fife). — Sir William of Rossie, younger son of Sir Alex. L. of Glenesk, who f 1382, had issue Sir William L. of R., father of James L., Dean of Glasgow, and (apparently) of Walter L. of Rossie, fl. 1445. — Will. L., prebendary of Dunkeld, who fl. c. 1500, is decribed as " domus Rossie in Fyff primogenitus." See Lives, torn. i. p. 101, and also Dowhill. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, a star in chief on the dexter side. Skegby (Notts), and of Kent. — Lyndseys of — . Arms. — Argent, on a chief, sable, three griffins' heads, erased of the field. Edmondson. Spynie.— Lords Spynie. — Sir Alex. L., fourth son of David 11th Earl of Crawford, was created Lord S. in 1590, and, being killed in 1607, was suc- ceeded by his only son, Alex. 2nd Lord S., f 1646, whose only surviving son, George 3rd Lord S., dying s. p. 1671, the property went to his (Lord George's) sister, Margaret, wife of Will. Fullarton of that Ilk, from whom it has descended to W. F. Lindsay Carnegie, Esq., of Spynie and Boysack, the present representative of the family, and rightful inheritor, as it is No. XII. APPENDIX. 445 apprehended, of the honours of Spynie, — besides being heir of line of the original House of Crawford. See Lives, torn. i. p. 320 ; ii. p. 255. Arms. — Those of Crawford, with a label of three points, argent (some books have a crescent in place of the label). Supporters : — Two lions, seiant, armed and langued, or. Crest : — An ostrich-head erased, proper, with an horse-shoe, or, in its beak, and a label of three points about its neck, as have also the supporters. Nisbet. Stuckrodger (Dumbarton). — The last representatives of Bonhill. — Adam L. of S., whose eldest son Mungo succeeded to Bonhill, had a younger son, James L. of S., — father of James L. of S., who sold that property, leaving issue a son, Mungo L., of whom all trace has been lost. Information from James Dennistoun, Esq., of that Ilk. — The property would seem, however, to have been purchased by some one of the family, as would appear from the following notices : — Matthew L. of S., a party in bonds in 1692 and 1693. — Rob. L., eldest son in life of the deceased James L. of S., mentions Matth. L. of the regality of Lennox, his brother, in a disposition, 1699. — Matthew L. of S., clerk of the regality of Lennox, is so described in a bond in 1706. Thornton. — Descd. of Dunrod. — Dav. L. of T., — father of Alex., who wit- nesses a charter of Alex. L. of D., in 1494, " filio suo carnali, Alexandro L. de Corsbasket."— Andrew L. of T., 1573. Tullt allan (Perth). — Duncan L. of T., grandfather of Adam L. of T., served his heir, 1673. Tullichewin, or Tulliquhone-Lindsa y (Dumb.). — Descd. of Bonhill. — Dav. L. of Ferrie, served heir, 1581, to James L. of T. Wester, his brother, — father of Adam L., served his heir 1599. — Mungo, William, and Dav. L., portioners of Meikle T., 1656. Turin Castle (Mayo). — Descd., apparently, from Dunrod. — Samuel L. of Ballina or Belleek, in the barony of Tyrawly, co. Mayo, fl. in the 17th century, had issue Thomas L. of Turin Castle, — father of the Rev. Samuel L. of T. C, Rector of Enniskillen, and of Thomas L., Esq., ancestor of Mr. Lindsey of Hollymount, which title see. — The Rector had issue, by his wife Frances, eldest d. of the Right Hon. Colonel Charles Bucknall, two sons, Thomas Bucknall L. of T. C, f s. p., and JohnL., Esq., of T. C, who assumed the additional surname of Bucknall from his maternal grand- father, and left issue, Samuel Lindsey Bucknall, Esq., now of Turin Castle. Arms (those of Bucknall). — Argent, two cheverons, gules, between three bucks' heads, cabossed, sable, attired, or. Crest: A buck's head, cabossed, sable, attired, or. — For the Lindsey arms of the family see Hollymount. Vayne, Vainvy, or Vane (Angus). — Sir Dav. L. of Beaufort and Edzell, who f 1527, had (by his second wife, Elizabeth Spens) a second son, Alex. L. of V., dead in 1561— father of Alex. L. of V., f 1588— father of Dav. L. of V., fl. 1584-1606 — father of David L. of V., 1614— father of Alex. L. of V., 1617. — Alex. L., "sometime of Vain," is frequently mentioned, about 1640, by Spalding. 446 APPENDIX. No. XII. Watjchopdaee, or Wauchope (Dumfries), and of Wykingby and Merston (Lincoln). — Sir John L., Great Chamberlain, temp. Alex. III., had a second son, Sir Simon L. of Wauchopdale, — father of Sir John L. of W., f 1346.— Sir John L. of W., 1394.— John L. of Walghope, 1 Jan. 1412, resigns to Alex. 2nd Earl of Crawford, "domino suo," an annual rent out of Brichty, co. Angus.— John L. of W., 1490-1494.— John L. of W., for- feited in 1505, — father of John L. of Barcloy, 1552, — father of James L. of Barcloy, restored in 1593 to the family property, — father of James L. of Barcloy and Wauchope, served his father's heir in 1607, and f 1638, — father of John L. of W., served heir, 1661, to James L. of B. and W., his grandfather, — father of Will. L. of W., married in 1662 to the heiress of Bonhill, fl. till 1707,— father of Mungo L., younger of W., 1697-1707. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-cheque'e, argent and azure. Index to the Lyon Register, 1661, MS. — Sir Dav. Lindsay adds, in chief, a label of three points, argent. Weems. — Lindsay of W. Arms. The Crawford coat, but no ribband in the Abernethy quartering. MS. Lyon Office. Woeverley (Warwickshire). — For the Limesays, Lords of Wolverley, see Lives, torn. i. p. 5. Wormestone (Fife). — See Lives, torn. i. p. 190. — John L., burgess of Cupar, in Fifeshire, temp. Jac. VI., second son of Will. L. of Pyetstone, second son of Pat. 4th Lord L. of the Byres, had issue Patrick L., first baron of Wormestone, — father of John L. of W., served his father's heir 1640, a devoted loyalist, — father of Patrick L. of W., taken at Worcester 1651, f 1666, — father of John L. of W., advocate, who on the judicial sale of Pyet- stone in 1699 was called in to support it, and who f 1715, — father of George L. of W., advocate, f 1764, — father of John L. of W., advocate, f s. p. ; of William, Capt. of an E. Indiaman, who also f s. p. ; and of Henry L. of W., successor to his brother in that estate. — Henry L. of W. sold Wormestone to his younger brother Patrick L. thus of W., — father of David L., Esq., now of Wormestone. For Henry's own descendants and representatives, see Kilconqvhar. Arms. — Gules, a fesse-chequee, argent and azure, with three stars in chief, and in base a mascle, argent. Crest: An ostrich, proper, with a key in its bill. Motto : " Patientia vincit."* N.B. — Besides the preceding, the following names of landed proprietors of the name of Lindsay occur isolatedly in ancient records : — John L. of Alicht (Perth), and his spouse, 1492.— Dav. L. of Aschynrie, 1602.— John L. of Auchintagart (Dumfr. ?), fl531.— Dav. L. of Auchtercruvy (Fife?), and his son John, 1632. — Dav. L. of Balentine, 1703.— Alex. L. of Balhelvie (Aberd.), 1475.— Dav. L. of Balquhar, 1629.— L. of Ballerno, the same with Dav. L. of Kinnalde, infra. — Dav. L. of Bal- quhindle, 1579-83.— Rob. L. of Banharless, 1603.— Dav. L. of Barreldykes, c. 1650.— John L. of Barres (Mearns), 1607.— Dav. L. of Birkenbush (Angus), 1576. — L. of Birne (Aberd.), close of 17th century.— Will. L. of Caldersall (Dumfr.), * These arms, the same as those of Pyetstone, were borne by Patrick L., first baron of Wormestone, on his seal. No. XIII. APPENDIX. 447 1657 — Dav. L. of Carnbady (Perth), dead in 1469.— Dav. L. of Correthe, 1616.— John L. of Cringletoun, 1638. — Charles L. of Cidnachty (Dumfr.), 1678. — John L. of Culterhopes (Lanark), and his son Alexander, cadets of Dunrod (?), 1501. — John L. of Downie (Mearns), natural son of John Earl of Crawford, 1555. — James L. portioner of Drumcaim, 1603. — Dav. L. of Echbetoun, 1590. — John L. of Gartal- lartane (Perth), 1507. — John L. of Gask, 1667. — Lynseys of Gigleswike, co. York, holding the lordship under Rich. Earl of Cumberland, 6 Eliz. — John L. of Glen- terren (Dumfr.), 1618.— James L. of Gleslit, 1672.— Will. L. of Haggishall (Fife), 1613. — John L. of Kingsait, 1638. — L. of Kinloch, — a title borne occasionally by cadets of the House of Dowhill. — Dav. L. of Kinnalde (Fife), keeper of the tolbooth of Edinburgh, 1612.— John L. of Kirkfarquhar (Fife), fl600.— Dav. L. of Lethinte, 1575. — Alex. L. of Lichton (Perth), temp. Q. Mary. — Dav. L. of Logie (Fife), 1457. — Mr. John L. of Manelie, 1530. — John L. of Markhouse (Angus), 1563.< — Will. L. of Milletowie, end 17th century. — Sir James L. of Pitroddy (Angus), 1593- 1597. — Mr. Dav. L. of Quhetserrese, 1542. — L. of Rathillet, a title occasionally borne by cadets of the House of Crawford. — Thomas Linsey of Rickerby (England), his estate forfeited 1652. — Mr. Alex. L. of Sa?idieford, 1588. — Dav. L. of Scottis- toun (Fife), 1532. — Walter L. of Scryne (Angus), descd. apparently of Evelick, 1516. — Andrew L. of Sergerth (Kirkcudbright), descd. apparently of Fairgirth, 1585.— John L. of Seytoun, 1453-4.— Dav. L. of Sheriffbank, 1555.— Dav. L. of the Tower (Angus), end 17th century. — Alex. L. of Viccarland, dead in 1666. — George L. of Westerhall, dead in 1630. No. XIII.— Page 132. Extracts from the Indenture between the Lairds of Inverquharitie and Clova, 26 March, 1524. " " Thir Indentures, made at the Water-side of Prossin, betwix Innerquharitie and Cortoquhy, the xxvi day of the month of March, in the year of God ane thousand five hundreth and twenty-four years, bears witness, — that it is aggreeit and perpetually concordit betwix right honourable and worshipful men, that is to say, David Ogilvy of Innerquharitie for himself, his heirs, successors, kin, and friends, on the tane (one) part, and Thomas Ogilvy of Clova, for himself, his heirs, successors, kin, and friends, on the toder part, in manner, form, and effect, as efter follows : — That is to say, that the saids persons binds, oblises, and compromits them, and ilk ane of them, to abide and underly (submit to) the final sentence and decreet arbitral of thir persons underwritten, that is to say, ane noble and mighty lord, James Lord Ogilvy, right worshipful and honourable men, Maister Anthon Ogilvy, person (parson) of Inchbrick, Sir John Melvill of Raith, knight, Patrick Ogilvy of Inchmar- tin, William Ochterlony of that Ilk, Maister Thomas Erskine of Haltoun, and James Fentoun of Ogill, as friends, arbitrours, and amicable compositors, chosen be thir presents commonly betwix the saids persons, to decide upon all claims, wrangs, hurts, harms, skaiths, mutilation, slaughters, and debatable matters betwix them, committit be ilk ane upon others (each other) in times bygane, afore the date of thir presents. . . . And be reason that all matters debatable are referrit and compromittit to friends' decision, as said is, baith the parties are content be thir presents, that all King's letters (summonses) raisit betwix them be desert (abandoned) in themself, and never usit contrair us APPENDIX, No. XIII. oders (each other). And in this mean time, while (till) the saids sentence and decreet arbitral be given, the saids parties shall remit, and be thir presents remits, the rancour of their hearts to others (each other), and shall live in concord and perfite charity, and sic-like efter the said sentence be given, as guid Christian men and tender friends should do, under the pain of eternal damnation of their souls, because that is the precept et law of God. And for perpetual kindness, concord, luif (love), and charity betwix the Houses of Inner- quharitie and Clova in times coming, fra the day of the date of thir presents indentures, to be had, and never break to be made, or discord again, the said parties, for themself, their heirs now livand, and heirs and successors to succeed perpetually in the saids twa Houses, binds and oblises them, their heirs and successors present and to come, be the faiths and truths in their bodies, in the largest form of obligation that can be devisit or extendit be the notars and men of law, that ilk ane of them, their heirs, successors, and friends, shall take oders' plain part in all their just actions, quarrels, debates, or claims, and defend oders, their persons, guids, heritage, kin, and friends, aganes all deathly, our Sovereign Lord, the King's Grace, and their superiors owre (over) lords, allanerly (only) exceptit ; and that none of thir twa persons, viz. Lairds of Innerquharitie et Clova, their heirs present and to succeed, shall hear nor see others' skaith, hurt, or harm, of persons, gear, or heritage, in privy or openly, but they shall warn oders, and tak oders' leisome (lawful) and just parts, as said is. And gif ony of the saids parties, their heirs and successors, warns oders to tak their parts in actions, conform to this present band of per- petual kindness, and bes allegit be the party warnit that the matter is nocht just nor honest to pursue, and sa the party warnit ought nocht be this band tak part therein, and the toder party alleges the matter is just and honest ; in that case, they shall cause the best of their friends, wise men, consider the matter, and use their counsel therein. And gif it be funden (found) be friends, that the matter that they be requirit to ... be just, the party warnit shall tak plain part therein, conform to this present band. And gif it be funden injust or inhonest, in that case the party warnit shall labour for concord, and to square the saids matters be friendful way and concord, sic-like as it were his awin matter, efter his possible power, and nocht desist nor lie by fra his friend's help and his matters. And gif there happens matters debatable betwix friends or kinsmen of the saids Lairds of Innerquharitie and Clova, their heirs and successors, or betwix ony of the parties et friends of the toder party ; in that case, the saids parties and their heirs and successors shall call their friends and kinsmen before them to trystes (meetings), and hear their allegations, and labour all manner of ways for concord. And in the mean time, while (till) trystes be set and concord essay it, the saids parties shall be evenly friends and faders of pax, and tak na partial part aganes oders. And efter the allegations of friends that are at discord be heard, and the verity of faults be knawn, they shall give their guid, weill avisit, counsels to them. And gif ony friends be contrair guid ways and counsel, and desires erar (rather) discord na (nor, than) concord ; in that case the saids parties and their heirs and successors shall tak part with the friends and kinsmen that will use their counsel, contrair them that gangs contrair their counsel, in all just actions and matters. And gif they think nocht expedient to tak open part, for mair evil appearand ; in No. XIII. APPENDIX, 449 that case, they shall ordain the saids friends and kinsmen pursue oders orderly be law, owder (either) canon or civil, and keep charity, unity, concord, and this present band, betwix them, and nocht mak gadering nor convocation of friends, to saw discord or labour to break this present contract and perpetual band of kindness, but (without) fraud or guile, or ony colourit way. And gif the saids principal parties friends bes obstinate, and makes for convocation be way of deed, the saids parties shall at their utter power afauldly (honestly) stop the samyn. And gif ony division or discord be appearand, or appears, betwix the saids principal parties, their heirs or successors ; in that case, the parties shall prevene to evade evil appearand, and warn the best avisit friends they have to pass betwix them, and induce them to continuance of concord, and refer debates or quarrels to the decision of weill avisit friends, and submit and compromit [them thereto. And gif friends can nocht decide the matters, ilk ane shall pursue oders orderly be the law, but (without) ony bragging, convocation, or gadering of friends, and be contentit of the decreet of the law, and keep ay charity, concord, and this band betwix them, unbroken in all puncts (points). And gif warning be made be their owrelords (overlords) or superiors to gedder (gather) contrair oders with them ; in that case they shall keep that they aucht (ought) of the law to their superiors and owrelords, and labour for concord, and be faders of pax, and stop evil safer (so far) as they may, and cause oder guid avisit friends labour thereto. . . And gif it happens ony of thir parties, their heirs present and to come, and successors, to break in ony of the puncts of this perpetual band of kindness ; in that case the party breakand shall pay sex hundreth punds, usual money of Scotland, as proper debt for contemption of God and Haly Kirk, disobedience of the King's Grace, and costs, skaiths, and expences to parties, taxit and modifiet as efter follows, — that is to say, twa hundreth punds to the Kirk-works of Kyllemuir and Cortoquhy, to be evenly divided, viz. ane hundreth pund to ilk ane kirk- work, twa hundreth punds to the King's Grace, and twa hundreth punds to the party keepand this said band be the party breakand, as proper debt, taxit and modifiet, and nocht in name of pain, sa soon the fault and break bes openly knawn and previt (proved) before the official of Sanct-Andro's for the time be the parties that thinks them hurt. And efter the fault be declarit be the Judges, and the party failzeand (failing) knawn to have broken ony punct of this band, and fallen in the payment of the saids sums, and compellit to pay the samyn ; in that case, yet this said band shall nocht be dissolvit, expirit, nor desertit, but continue ay on perpetually, . . because that is God's command, the whilk luifs (loves) concord and charity, and calls in the Evangel the keepers thereof his awin bairns, sayand Beatipacifici, quum filiiDei vocabuntur, and expellit discord out of heavenly and erdly (earthly) paradise, and pro- clamit pax be his herauts (heralds) the angels in his Nativity, commandit his Apostles to say, Pax be in the house where they come, and finally, left to the Apostles and all Christian men, in his last testament, concord and pax, sayand, Pacem meam do vobis, pacem meam relinquo vobis, and confirmit the samyn efter his Resurrection at his apparition to his Apostles, sayand, Pax vobis, — signifiand that God desires all his Christian men to live in pax in this life, present and mortal, and efter our resurrection, in life eternal. And als, per- petual concord is right necessar amangs friends, the whilk are stark (strong), VOL. I. 2 G 450 APPENDIX. No. XIII. unite (united) togider in concord, and may nocht guidly be destroyit be their enemies ; the whilks be discord comes be succession of time to final destruction of their persons, heritage, and guids ; as we see naturally, ane bundle of wands bunden togider may nocht be soon broken, but, ilk ane beand (being) separate and dividit be themself, they may be soon broken, with little labour. And sa, for great profit of pax, and great skaith of discord, perpetual bands of kindness and pax are commendable amangs friends, but (without) ony expira- tion or desertion, and specially betwix the saids parties, their heirs and suc- cessors, the whilks hes incurrit great skaiths, hurts, harms, slaughter of friends, tinsal (loss) of guids, through discord in times bygane, sen (since) the battle of Arbroath. And to evade the samyn in times coming, and live in charity and concord, the foresaid band of perpetual kindness is right pleasand to God, necessar and profitable to friends. And attour (moreover), the great God, Maker of all, and all his creatures, heavenly and erdly, inclines and induces us to concord and charity ; and final ends of all pleas, battles, slaughters, hurts, and harms maun (must) be concord, pax, and charity, Quia bellamus ut pacem et concordiam finaliter habeamas. And for perpetual con- tinuance of the said concord, the parties above written hes taxit, modifiet, and declarit, and be thir presents taxes, modifies, and declares all the sums above namit, and to be namit, upon the breakers, sa oft as happens fault, and previt, as said is, for contemption of God, Haly Kirk, and disobedience of the King's Grace, and for costs, skaiths, expences, hurts, harms, and wrangs done betwix the saids houses sen the said battle of Arbroath, by the puncts above compro- mittit and aye to be payit to guid compt be the party or parties breakand, as proper debt, in part of recompensation, in the manner above expremit, and nocht in name of pain or pains. And ferder (further), the saids parties gives power be thir present indentures, to the notars of thir presents and men of law, to extend and make the said band of perpetual kindness in the maist large and sickerest (surest) forms that can be devisit, for sickerness of baith the saids parties, and their heirs present and to come. And als, the saids parties, their heirs and successors, are content that this present compromit and perpetual band of kindness, extendit to the largest form, be inscrit word be word in the saids officials' books of Sanct Andro's, and have strength of ane eik (duplicate) thereof, and they to be monished to observe the samyn, under the pains of great cursing, aggravation, reaggravation, and interdiction, to fulfil the samyn in all puncts, as said is. . . To the whilks premises, and all puncts thereof, the saids parties, their heirs and successors, present and to come, are bunden and oblist, and be thir present indentures binds and oblises them, con- junctly and severally, be the faith and truth in their bodies, their great aiths (oaths), upon the Haly Evangels touchit, and crucifix, solemnly given and made, under the pains of man-swearing, tyning of laute (losing of loyalty), and Christendom infamite (incurring infamy before Christendom), togidder with the censures, cursing, and sums above written ; and the breakers thereof to be halden man-sworn, perjure, infame, and nocht as guid Christian men, but (without) faith and laute. In verification of all and sindry thir premises, the saids parties and their heirs now present appearand, that is to say, David Ogilvy of Innerquharitie, John Ogilvy, appearand heir to the samyn, for themself, their heirs, successors, kin, and friends, and Thomas Ogilvy of Clova, No. XIV. APPENDIX. 451 and James Ogilvy, his son and appearand heir, for themself, their heirs, successors, kin, and friends, hes subscrivit thir present indentures interchange- ably, and are content that the samyn indentures be made in autentic forms of instruments, extended be thir notars underwritten, under their signets and subscriptions manual, in sa mony forms as pleases them to raise, and ilk ane of others' seals and subscriptions, for perpetual remembrance and observing, be affixit thereto, day, year, and place above written. Before thir witnesses, right honourable and worshipful men, James Fentoun of Ogill, Walter Ogilvy in Glaswal, Robert Falconer, Sir Andrew Liddell, Alexander Ogilvy in Mygwe, Alexander Lindsay, and Patrick Wardlaw, and oder divers." No. XIV.— Page 146. Indenture between Alexander Ogilvie of Auchterhouse and Walter Lindsay of Beaufort, 9 March, 1458-9. " This Indenture, made at Dundee the ix day of the month of March, the year of God I m 4444lviii years, betwix honourable men, Alexander of Ogilby of Ochterhouse on the ta (one) part, and Walter Lyndesay of Beaufort on the tother part, proports and bears witness, . . . That the said Alexander has made the said Walter his Depute of his office of Sheriffdom of Forfar for all the days of the said Walter's life, with power to substitute under him ane or ma (more). . — And alsua, the said Alexander has made the said Walter his baillie of all and sundry his lands, possessions, and annual rents, wheresomever they be, within the kynrik (kingdom) of Scotland, for all the terms foresaid, . . And alsua, the said Alexander is oblist be the faith of his body, and be the present indentures oblises him to the said Walter, that he shall remain with the said Walter, and be governit be the counsel of the said Walter and of the said Walter's moder, his dearest aunt, and who that they will take to them, and, in absence of his foresaid aunt, be the counsel of the said Walter allanerly (only), and who the said Walter will take till him, in the governance of his person, his lands, his guids, his house of Ochterhouse, his manor-place, and all other things that to the said Alexander pertaineth or any manner of way may pertain time to come within the kynrik of Scotland, for all the days and times of the said Alexander's life. And gif it happens, as God forbid, me the said Alexander to be ta'en, handlit, or away had fra the said Walter or his foresaid moder, my aunt, and the governance of them, as said is, ony manner of way be ony person or persons, sib or fremit (kindred or strangers), wherethrough I may be strenzeit (constrained), treatit, seducit, or counsellit in the contrair of my appunctments and conditions before written, to write, send, or charge other (either) be myself or ony others in my name to the said Walter in discharging and overgiffing of the governance of my person, my office, or bailliary, or in delivering of my house, my place, my maills (rents), profits, or any other things to me pertainand, I will, and be the present Indentures I charge the said Walter, now as than (then) and than as now, 2 g 2 452 APPENDIX. No. XV. that he answer nocht. attend, nor obey to ony charges or writs that I. the said Alexander, or ony others in my name, may charge or write, unto the time that I, the said Alexander, be with the said Walter at freedom xl days, in like wise as I wes the day of the making of thir Indentures. — And I, the said Walter, is oblist. and be the present Indenture obliges me, and be the faith of my body to the said Alexander, in the help, supple, maintenance, and defence of the said Alexander, his person, his lands, his guids moveable and unmoveable. at my guidly power, like as I wald help, supple, maintain, or defend my Lord, my brother-son. my Lady, my moder, or my awin heritage. And to the keeping and the fulfilling of thir appunctments and conditions . . the said Alexander and Walter, the holy Evangels touchit. has giffin their bodily aiths (oaths). In witness of the whilk things, to the part of thir In- dentures remainand with the said Walter the said Alexander has affixit his seal, and to the part of thir Indentures remainand with the said Alexander the said Walter has affixit his seal. — the day. year, and place before written, before thir witnesses. Thomas of Ogilby of Clova. John of Ogston of that Ilk, Thomas of Fodringham, with others." Na XV.— Page 152. Notices of James Lindsay of Covington, Provost of Linchiden and Lord Privy Seal, temp. James J J. and James LI J. 1. His service, as heir to his father. Sir John Lindsay, "quondam Dominus de Cowantoun," 14 July, 1434. 2. Charter by William Earl of Douglas to Patrick Hepburn. 29 June, 1444, confirmed 20 May. 1452. witnessed by " Jacobo Lyndissay de Colvantoun." Reg. Mag. Sig. 3. Charter by James II.. 3 Jan. 1447, to John Lindsay, younger brother of Mr. James Lindsay, of the barony of Covington, on Mr. James's resigna- tion. 4. Instrument taken upon Mr. James Lindsay's admission to the Collegiate Church of Linchiden. 11 March. 1447. 5. Charter by Alex. Earl of Crawford to John, brother-german of James Lord Hamilton, 18 June. 1449. confirmed 18 Feb.. 1487. witnessed by Mr. James Lindsay, " Provost of Linchiden." Reg. M. Sig. 6. Compotum. 4 Jan. 1451, being present ''Magistro Jacobo Lyndesay, Preposito Ecclesie Collegiate de Lyncloudane, Clerico Rotulorum et Registri Domini Regis." Chamb. Rolls, torn. iii. p. 574. 7. Charter, 12 Jan. 1452, by George Earl of Caithness, witnessed by " Magistro Jacobo Lyndezay, Preposito Ecclesie de Lyncludene, Priv. Sig. Custode." Reg. M. Sig. 8. Charters numberless, in which he figures either as principal or witness, as Provost of Lincluden and Lord Privy Seal, till 15 Feb. and 9 March, 1466-7. No. XVI. APPENDIX. 453 9. Appointment of Mr. James Lindsay, as Archdean of Landenny, 15 April 1454. — I am uncertain whether this be the Provost of Lincluden or the Dean of Glasgow, mentioned supra, p. 101. 10. Charter, 15 Feb. 1466-7, by James III., " clerico meo, Magistro Jacobo Lyndessay, Preposito de Lincluden, Sec. Sig. Custodi," &c, of the lands of Clochburne, &c, " quas idem Jacobus personal iter resignavit, et quas Rex baronie de Colvantoune annexit et incorporavit." Reg. M. Sig. 11. Inquest, 9 March, 1466-7, in which he figures as " Venerabili Domino, Magistro Jacobo Lindsay, Custodi Secreti Sigilli, &c, et Barone de Cowan- ton." 12. Enumeration of "Jacobus Lindesay, filius Joannis de Lindesay de Covintoun," among the matriculated members of the University of Glasgow, 4 Oct. 1467. 13. Bond of mutual agreement between the Earls of Argyle, Arran, &c. r anent the government of the King's person, and for mutual assistance ; sub- scribed by "The Prive Sele Lyndsay," 15 April, 1468. 14. Infeftment, 17 Jan. 1468-9, of John Lindsay of Covington, (proceed- ing on a previous Service,) as heir of his brother James. 15. Character of the Provost of Lincluden, in the Auchinleck Chronicle, — see supra, p. 152. No. XVI.— Page 153. Extract from the Chamberlain Rolls of 1457. " Compotum Johannis Fyfe et Johannis Marr, Custumariorum burgi de Aberdene," (rendered 23rd of July, 1457,) of all receipts and expences "per magnam custumam dicti burgi," (from September 24, 1446,) and containing this entry : — " Et allocatur Johanni Fyfe, alteri compotantium, per solutionem factam Waltero Lyndesay, fratri quondam Alexandri Comitis Craufurdie, ultimo defuncti, in plenam solutionem cujusdam portionis custume dicti burgi, quam dictus quondam Comes solebat percipere, licet injuste, quia omnes cus- tume magne et parve totius regni, una cum firmis burgorum et aquarum, etc., totius regni, concesse fuerant Domino Regi, in perpetuam remanentiam cum corona, per tres status regni in pleno et primo parliamento tento apud Sconam per quondam Regem Jacobum ultimo defunctum, statim post coronationem ejusdem, ut patet per literas Domini Regis sub signeto in ultimo compotonon ostensas, xxxiiii 1 ' - xii s * vi d ', quam summam idem Johannes debebat in pede ultimi compoti sui ob non ostensionem literarum predictarum. Et mandabatur eidem per Dominum Regem quod amplius dicto Waltero, vel cuicunque Comiti Craufurdie, de dicta custuma, vel aliqua ejus parte, [non] responderet in futurum ; et quas literas Dominus Rex propriis manibus laceravit ad non solutionis amodo memoriam sempiternam." Crawford Case, p. 51. 454 APPENDIX. No. XVII. No. XVII.— Page 160. Charter or Patent of the Dukedom of Montrose, 18 May, 1488. '"Jacobus. Dei gratia Rex Scotorum. Omnibus probis hoininibus totius terre sue. clericis et laieis. Salutem. Cedit namque regibus ad gloriam et honoreni, dum persone preclari generis, suis preclaris exigentibus mentis, dignitatibus inclitis preferuntur : ut exinde. cum suos cemerint status et nomina majoribus titulis decorari. ad grandiora virtuosiora peragenda. magis ac magis. in suam laudem. resmique reipublice decorem et frugem, studeant se ferventius in- sudare. — Hinc est quod Nos. sedula meditatione pensantes obedientiam actualem. gTatamque obsequendam gratificandam promptitudinem. quas fidelis et carissimus consanguineus noster, David Comes Craufiirdie et Dominus Lindesay. nobis indefessa intentione exhibuit multis modis : Et perspectatius attendentes. quod liberaliter. ut debebat. personam suam. suosque nobiles et vassallos. pro persone nostre et corone tutamine et defensione. nostro etiam bonore conservando. frequenter exposuit periculis cum etFectu. et precipue ac novissime contra nostros infideles ligeos. qui se contra nostram majestatem et vexillum in campo bellico apud Blakness opponebant. — Et pro suo seniro nobis in futurum impendendo : Eundem David, nostrum consanguineum. ampliori volentes fulgere dignitate. et Comitis titulum supradietum inmajorem exeelsio- remque matantes. dictum David, consanguineum nostrum. Ducem. ex nostris certa scientia. potestatis plenitudine. et gratia speciali. subliruavibus. fecimus. et creavimus. ac tenore presentis carte nostre sublimamus. facimus. et creamus. perpetuis futuris temporibus Dccem hereditarie de Montboss intitulandum et nuncupandum. — volentes et decernentes dictum David, consanguineum nostrum, et suos in dictu Ducatu succedentes. Duces appellari. Dedimusque et conces- simus. tenoreque presentis carte nostre damus et concedimus. eidem. hereditarie. capitale messuagium et locum Castri de Montrose, vulgariter nuncupatum le Castelsted. necnon totum et integrum burgum et villain nostram de Montrose, cum redditibus. firmis burgalibus. magnis et parvis custumis. ac libertatibus et commoditatibus eorundem. nunc nobis de eisdem burgo et villa pertinentibus : Ac etiam dedimus. et tenore presentis carte nostre damus. eidem nostro consan- sniineo portum et stationem navium ejusdem burgi. cum pertinentibus. cum firmis aquarum et piscationibus nobis de eodem burgo pertinentibus. et infra libertatem ejusdem existentibus. jacentibus infra viceeonritatuni nostrum de Forfare. Insuper dedimus et concessimus. tenoreque presentis carte nostre damus et concedimus. hereditarie. eidem Duci capitale messuagium et locum Castri dominii nostri de Kinclevin. ac terras dominicales ejusdem quas sponsa quondam Willielmi Haket nunc ad vitam hahet, ac omnes et singulas alias terras dicti dominii de Kinclevin, cum molendinis, multuris, et piscariis eanm- dem, ac cum omnibus aliis pertinentibus. tenentibus et tenandriis, nobis de dicto dominio pertinentibus. Quodquid capitale messuagium et locum Castri de Montrose, ac bursrum et villain de Montrose, cum firmis. bursralibus aquaticis. magnis panisque custumis, dicti burgi. cum libertatibus aliis eorun- dem, necnon capitale messuagium et locum Castri dicti nostri dominii de Kinclevin. ac terras dominicales ejusdem. ac omnes et singulas alias terras No. XVII. APPENDIX. 455 dicti dominii de Kinclevin, cum tenentibus, tenandriis, molendinis, multuris, piscariis, et omnibus aliis pertinentibus, jacentibus in vicecomitatu nostro de Perth, creavimus, univimus, annexivimus, et incorporavimus, ac tenore pre- sents carte nostre creamus, unimus, annectimus, et incorporamus, in unum merum et liberum Ducatum, perpetuis futuris temporibus Ducatum de Mon- trose nuncupandum, ac tenendum in libera regalitate pro perpetuo. Tenen- dum et habendum predictum capitale messuagium et locum Castri de Montrose, vulgariter nuncupatum le Castelsted, ac burgum et villam de Montrose, cum libcrtatibus eorundem superius dictis, necnon capitale messuagium et locum Castri de Kinclevin, et terras dominicales ejusdem, ac omnes et singulas alias terras dicti dominii de Kinclevin, cum molendinis, multuris, piscariis, tenenti- bus, tenandriis, et aliis omnibus pertinentibus, nobis de dicto dominio spectan- tibus, nunc per nos in unum merum et liberum Ducatum creatum et incorpora- tum, Ducatum de Montrose ut premittitur nuncupandum, dicto David et heredibus suis, de nobis et successoribus nostris, Regibus Scotie, in feodo et hereditate, ac in libero Ducatu, necnon in libera regalitate, imperpetuum, per omnes rectas metas suas, antiquas et divisas, prout jacent, in longitudine et latitudine, in boscis, planis, moris, maresiis, viis, semitis, aquis, stagnis, rivulis, pratis, pascuis, et pasturis, molendinis, multuris, et eorum sequelis, aucupa- tionibus, venationibus, piscationibus, petariis, turbariis, carbonariis, lapicidiis, lapide, et calce, f'abrilibus, brasinis, brueriis, et genestis, ac cum curiis Justiciarie, Camerarie, et aliis curiis, tam infra dictum burgum quam in libertate ejusdem, et infra dictas terras de Kinclevin, et earum exitibus et amerciamentis, ad usum et profitum dicti David suorumque heredum levandis et percipiendis ; Ac cum omnibus aliis et singulis libertatibus, com- moditatibus, et asiamentis, ac justis pertinentibus quibuscunque, tam non nominatis quam nominatis, ad predicta capitalia messuagia, loca Castrorum, burgum et villam de Montrose, et terras, cum omnibus pertinentibus suis spectantibus seu spectare valentibus quomodolibet, in futurum, adeo libere, quiete, plenarie, integre, honorifice, bene, et in pace, sicut aliquis Ducatus cuicunque persone infra nostrum regnum temporibus retroactis datur, seu con- ccditur, aut dari, seu concedi poterit, qualitercunque, in futurum. Reddendo inde annuatim dictus David et heredes sui nobis et successoribus nostris, Regibus Scotie, unam rubeam rosam, apud dictum capitale messuagium de Montrose, in festo Sancti Johannis Baptiste, in estate, nomine albe firrae, si petatur tamen, pro omni alio servitio seclari, seu demanda, questione, aut exactione, que exinde juste exigi poterint quomodolibet vel requiri. Insuper volumus et concessimus, tenoreque presentis carte nostre volumus et concedi- mus, quod burgum dicti burgi de Montrose et inhabitantes ejusdem, ac omnes alie persone inhabitantes libertatem ejusdem, replegientur per dictum David, suosque heredes et ballivos, ad libertatem et privilegium itinerum Camerarie tenendorum infra dictum burgum, et etiam pariformiter burgenses et inhabi- tantes dictum burgum, una cum omnibus et singulis tenentibus et inhabitantibus prefatum dominium de Kinclevin, nunc dicto David datum, veresimiliter per dictum David, et suos heredes ac ballivos, replegientur de itineribus nostris J ustitiarie de Forfare et Perth . Quare universis et singulis justitiariis et camera- riis nostris, qui pro tempore fuerint, stricte precipiendo mandamus, quatinus vos et vestrum quibus dictos burgenses, et libertatem ejusdem, prefatosque tenentes, 456 APPENDIX. No. XVIII. et inhabitantes dictum dominium de Kinclevin, ut prefertur, ad plegium admittatis seu admittat, sub omni pena que competere poteritis in hac parte. In cujus rei testimonium, presenti carte nostre magnum sigillum nostrum apponi precipimus. Testibus ut supra. Apud Edinburgh, decimo octavo die mensis Maii, anno Domini millesimo, quadringentesimo, octuagesimo octavo, et regni nostri vicesimo octavo." No. XVIII. Page 166. Protest by David Duke of Montrose, 29 Oct. 1488. " In Dei nomine Amen. Per hoc presens publicum instrumentum cunctis pateat evidenter et sit notum, quod anno Domini millesimo quadringentesimo octuagesimo octavo, die vicesimo nono mensis vero Octobris, indictione sexta Pontificatus sanctissimi in Christo patris, et domini nostri, Domini Innoccntii, divina providentia Pape, Octavi, anno quinto, — in mei, notarii publici, et testium subscriptorum presentia personaliter constitutus, nobilis, magnificus, et potens dominus, David Dux de Montrose, Comes Craufurdie, et Dominus Lindesay, ex sua certa scientia ostendit et declaravit, et multum lamentabiliter exposuit, qualiter post magnam displicientiam quam illustrissimus et serenissi- mus princeps noster, Jacobus Scotorum Rex, Quartus, conceperat contra personam suam, ac contra consanguineos, amicos, et homines suos, ex eo quod steterat et constanter permansit cum recolendissimo memorie excellentissimo Rege suo, Jacobo Tertio, apud Strivelyng et alubi, ubi diem suum clausit extremum, cujus animabus [sic] Altissimus propicietur Deus, in quo loco multos sustinuit ictus, captus, detentus, lesus, vulneratus, atque cum suis redemptus fuerat ; nichilominus, hiis transactis, predictus excellentissimus Rex noster Jacobus modernus, ex suo speciali favore et innata regali gratia, remisit, et indulsit sibi omnimodam hujusmodi displicientiam per literas suas patentes, suo sigillo privato signatas, et ipsas litteras ad manus nobilis Domini Andree Domini Gray tradidit, secum remansuras quousque idem Dominus Dux suum officium Vicecomitis de Forfar hereditaria, et nullo alio modo, traderet et assignaret : — Pro quibus, prefatus Dominus Dux solemniter protestabatur, pro remedio juris tempore opportuno, quod quicquid faceret penes' donationem officii sui predicti seu terrarum suarum, aut aliorum bonorum, seu rerum, non prejudicaret sibi aut heredibus suis tempore futuro, cum enim hoc facere, revera, astringitur propter metum vite qui cadere potest in virum constantem, et amissionis hereditatis sue, et hoc quod facit, de facto, ut asseruit, facit invite, ad conservandam vitam et hereditatem suam, necnon ad conservandos consan- guineos, amicos, et homines suos, qui adhuc stant et remanent sub accusatione regia pro causa superius notata. Super quibus, idem Dominus Dux a me, notario publico subscripto, sibi fieri petiit instrumentum, et instrumenta, unum vel plura. Acta fuerunt hec in manerio dicti Domini Ducis apud Dunde, hora quasi decima ante meridiem, vel eocirca, sub anno, die, mense, indictione, et pontificatu quibus supra ; presentibus ibidem providis et discretis viris, Thoma No. XIX. APPENDIX. 457 Fothringhame de Poury ; Dominis Alexandro Guthre, Rectorc de Lundychty, Moraviensis dioccsis ; David Guthre et David Colstoun, presbyteris, testibus ad premissa vocatis pariter et rogatis." TRANSLATION. " In the name of God, Amen ! Let it appear evidently to all men and be known by this present public instrument, that in the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred and eighty-eight, on the twenty-ninth day of the month, namely, of October, in the sixth Indiction, and in the fifth year of the pontificate of the most holy father in Christ, and our Lord, the Lord Innocent, by divine Providence Pope, — the noble, magnificent, and potent Lord, David Duke of Montrose, Earl of Crawford and Lord Lindsay, in the presence of me, notary public, and of the witnesses underwritten, shewed and declared, and very lamentably set forth, from his certain knowledge, how, after the great dis- pleasure which our most illustrious and serene prince, James, King of Scots, the Fourth, had conceived against his person and against his kinsmen, friends, and men, because that he had stood and constantly adhered to the last to his most excellent King, of revered memory, James the Third, at Stirling and elsewhere, where he closed his last day — to whose soul the most high God be propitious ! in which place he sustained many blows, captures, detentions, injuries, wounds, and was ransomed with his followers, — Never- theless our said most excellent King, James that now is, from his special favour and innate royal grace, indulged and remitted to him, by his letters patent sealed with his privy seal, his displeasure of every sort in this manner conceived against him, and delivered these letters into the hands of a noble lord, Andrew Lord Gray, to remain with him until the said Lord Duke should deliver and assign [to him] the office of the Sherifdom of Forfar, heritably and in no other manner : — For this cause the said Lord Duke solemnly protested, for remedy of law at a fitting season, that whatever he may do respecting the donation of his office foresaid, or of his lands or other goods or things, shall not prejudice him or his heirs in time to come, since truly he is constrained to do this through such fear of death as may befall a constant man, and of the loss of his heri- tage, — and this that he doth, he doth, in fact, as he asserted, against his will, for the preservation of his life and heritage, as also for the preservation of his kinsmen, friends, and men, who still stand and remain under the royal ban from the cause above noted. On which counts the said Lord Duke required from me, notary public, subscribed, an instrument and instruments, one or many, to be executed for him. These things were transacted in the manor-place of the said Lord Duke at Dundee, at the tenth hour before noon or thereabouts, year, day, month, indiction, and pontificate as above ; being there present provident and discreet men, Thomas Fotheringham of Powrie, Sir Alexander Guthre, Rector of Lundychty, of the diocese of Moray, Sir David Guthre and Sir David Colstoun, presbyters, witnesses summoned to the things premised." No. XIX.— Page 167. Act of Parliament, passed at Stirling, 18 Sept. 1489; and Notice of the Litem or Patent passed in consequence, 19 Sept. 1489, with respect to the Dukedom of Montrose. Act of Parliament, Sfc. " Eodem die Septembris, anno quo supra, Supremus Dominus noster, Jacobus Quartus, Dei gratia Scotorum Rex, cum avisamento maturaque delibcracione Magni Concilii sui antedicti, Recognoscens quod cedit regibus ad gloriam et 458 APPENDIX. No. XIX. honorem, dum persone preclari generis, preclaris exigentibus meritis, digni- tatibus inclitis preferuntur, ut exinde, cum suos cernerint status et npmina majoribus titulis decorari, ad grandiora virtuosioraque peragenda magis ac magis in suam laudem regnique et reipublice decorem et frugem studeant se ferventius insudare : — Pateat igiter universis, tarn presentibus quam futuris, eundem Dominum nostrum Regem, pensantem obedientiam actualem gratamque obse- quendam gratificandam promptitudinem, quas fidelis suus consanguineus, David Comes Crawfurdie et Dominus Lindesay, et sui predecessores incliti predeces- soribus dicti Domini nostri Regis, Scocie Regibus, ac eidem supremo Domino nostro Regi, indefessa intentione exhibuerunt multis modis, propter que et alia ipsius condigna merita et suis serviciis futuris temporibus impendendis, idem supremus Dominus noster Rex, ex debito sue regalis magnificencie, volens ipsum David amplioribus prosequi favoribus gratie et honoris, — cum itaque predecessorum suorum, Crawfurdie Comitum, digne recolenda prioritas titulo Comitatus suas dominationes supradictas ab antiquis temporibus tenuerunt ; Hinc est, quod supremus Dominus noster Rex eundem David, suum consan- guineum, volens ampliori fulgere dignitate, et Comitis titulum supradictum in majorem excelsioremque mutans, dictum David, suum consanguineum, Ducem de Montross ex suis certa scientia, potestatis plenitudine, et gratia speciali, sublimavit, fecit, creavit, et de novo erexit in Ducatum, Ducatusque nomine et prerogative volens ipsum gaudere et potiri, secundum formam et tenorem carte dicti Domini nostri Regis dicto David Duci de Montross super premissa con- ficiende." Notice of the Litem, Sfc. " Data estlitera Comiti Craufurdie, creando ipsum Ducem de Montrose pro toto tempore vite sue, et concedendo sibi capitale messuagium et locum castri de Montrose, vulgare nuncupatum le Castlestede, necnon totum et integrum burgum et villam de Montrose, cum redditibus, firmis burgalibus, magnis et parvis custumis, ac libertatibus, et commoditatibus earundem, nunc Regi de eisdem burgo et villa pertinentibus, ac portum et stationem navium ejusdem burgi, cum pertinentibus, cum firmis aquarum et piscationibus Regi de eodem burgo pertinentibus, infra libertatem ejusdem jacentibus, infra vice- comitatum de Forfar, ac etiam capitale messuagium et locum castri de Kinclevin, ac terras dominicales ejusdem, quas quondam Joneta Fenton, sponsa quondam Willielmi Haket, ad vitam prius habuit, ac omnes et singulas alias terras dominii de Kinclevin, cum molendinis, multuris, et piscariis earundem, ac cum omnibus aliis pertinentibus, tenentibus, et tenandriis, Regi etiam de dicto dominio per- tinentibus, jacentibus infra vicecomitatum de Perth, — creando omnia predicta in unum merum et liberum Ducatum de Montrose nuncupandum, ac tenendum in libera regalitate, &c, cum omnibus clausulis secundum formam carte, ac cum itineribus et curiis justiciarie et camerarie, &c, de data xix mi diei mensis Septembris, anno regni Regis secundo." No. XX. APPENDIX. 459 No. XX.— Page 168. Bull by Pope Innocent VI II, 27 June, 1491. " Innocentius Episcopus, Servus servorum Dei, dilectis filiis de Pasleto et de Iedworth, Glasguen. dioces., Monasteriorum Abbatibus, ac Cancellario ecclesiae Glasguensis, Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Exuberans Apostolicae sedis dementia recurrentium ad earn post excessum cum humilitate personarum statui libenter consulere, eisque se propitiam exhibere, consuevit, atque benignam. Exhibita siquidem nobis nuper, pro parte nonnullorum regnicolarum regni Scotiae, petitio continebat, quod olim, postquam per nos intellecto, quod nonnulli domini tam spirituales quam temporales dicti regni adversus clarae memoriae Jacobum tertium, ipsius regni regem, illiusve statum, insurgere, imo et regem ipsum a dicti regni regimine expellere intendebant et moliebantur, nosque, per quasdam literas nostras, nonnullas sententias, censuras, et pcenas ecclesiasticas, etiam privationis dignitatum et beneficiorum eccle- siasticorum, necnon ad ilia inhabilitationis, contra in ipsum regem insurgentes et eorundem insurgentium fautores promulgaveramus, quae post modum in partibus illis publicatae fuerunt, nonnulli regnicolae ejusdem regni carissimo in Christo filio nostro, Jacobo quarto, ejus Alio, moderno regi, tunc principi Scotiae, qui pro salute et utilitate defuneti regis et regni prasdictorum statum et consilium ipsius regis reformare, et quosdam regis praedicti defuneti falsos consiliarios vi et potentia expellere deliberaverunt, adhaeserunt et illius fautores exititerunt, ac cum, pro parte tam defuneti quam moderni regum praedictorum, exercitus parati fuissent, et inter se manus conseruisse, praefatus rex defunctus in conflictu, cum diversis aliis personis, occubuit, nonnullis ex praefatis expo- nentibus in dicto conflictu praesentibus, alijs vero absentibus qui ijsdem pras- sentibus in praemissis adhaeserunt, et alias aliquotiens ipsi regnicolae quae praetextu duntaxat dicti conflictus contra ipsum regem defunctum insurrexerunt ; unde tam praesentes quam absentes adhaerentes et alias contra dictum regem defunctum insurgentes praefati dubitant sententias, censuras, et pcenas incur- risse : — Cum autem, sicut eadem petitio subjungebat, exponentes praefati de praemissis ab intimis doleant, cupiantque pro commissis pcenitentiam agere salutarem ; Pro parte ipsorum nobis fuit humiliter supplicatum, ut ipsos a scntentiis, censuris, et pcenis praefatis, in ipsis litteris nostris quomodolibct contentis, absolvere, ac alias ipsis et eorum statui in praemissis opportune pro- videre de benignitate apostolica, dignaremur ; Nos igitur, attendentes quod praefatae sedis dementia ad earn recurrcntibus post excessum cum humilitate personis suae pietatis gremium favorabiliter aperire consuevit, ac volentes exponentes praedictos, apud nos alias de probitatis et virtutum meritis com- mendatos, horum intuitu favoribus prosequi gratiosis, eorum in hac parte supplicationibus inclinati, discretioni vestrae per apostolica scripta committimus et mandamus, quatenus vos, vel duo, aut unus vestrum, omnes et singulos qui in dicto conflictu interfuerunt, ac absentes qui illis adhaeserunt, et auxilium, consilium, assensum, consensum, et favorem, verbo vel facto, quoquomodo, praestiterunt, nec non qui alias quam praetextu duntaxat dicti conflictus contra ipsum regem defunctum insurrexerunt, et contra dictas nostras litteras quovis- modo devenerunt, ac si eorum nomina et cognomina praesentibus insererentur, 460 APPENDIX. No. XX. si haec humiliter petierint, ab omnibus et singulis sententijs, censuris, et pcenis, in dictis nostris litteris quomodo libet contentis, et per eos prgemissorum occasione qualitercunque et quotiescunque incursis, quas ac si litterae praedictae de verbo ad verbum insertae forent praesentibus, haberi volumus pro expressis, auctoritate nostra, hac vice duntaxat, absolvatis, in forma ecclesiae consueta, injunctis ipsis, et eorum cuilibet, pro modo culpae, pcenitentia salutari, et aliis quae de jure fuerint injungenda, eosque, et eorum singulos, unitati Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae, et sacramentorum ecclesiasticorum participationi, commu- nionique fidelium, eadem auctoritate restituatis, — non obstantibus praemissis, ac constitutionibus et ordinationibus apostolicis, caeterisque contrariis quibus- cunque. Datum Romae, apud S. Petrum, anno incarnationis Dominicae millesimo quadringentesimo nonagesimo primo, quinto kalend. Julii, pontifi- catus nostri anno septimo." TRANSLATION. " Innocent the Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, to his beloved sons the Abbots of the monasteries of Paisley and Jedworth, of the diocese of Glasgow, and to the Chan- cellor of the Church of Glasgow, sendeth greeting and the Apostolical benediction. The overflowing clemency of the Apostolic See hath been wont joyfully to regard, and shew itself propitious and benign to the condition of such persons as return to it with humility after going astray. Forasmuch as a petition lately exhibited to us on the part of certain inhabitants of the Kingdom of Scotland did set forth, that, some time ago, on intelli- gence reaching us that certain Lords, as well spiritual as temporal, of the said kingdom were purposing and plotting to rise in insurrection against James the Third, of illustrious memory, of that kingdom King, and against his rule — yea, rather to expel the said King from the government of the said kingdom, we did, by certain our letters, promulgate certain sentences, censures, and ecclesiastical pains, as well as deprivation of ecclesias- tical dignities and benefices, and of the capacity of being advanced to any such, against those insurgents, — and that, after these letters had been promulgated in those parts, cer- tain inhabitants of that kingdom, who had resolved, for the safety and behoof of the said King and of the kingdom of the same, to reform the state and council of the said King, and to expel certain councillors of the said King by force and power, adhered to our very dear son in Christ, James the Fourth, son of the said late King, then Prince of Scotland, and stood out as his favourers, and on the part as well of the defunct as of the present King armies were arrayed and came to blows, and the late King fell in battle, with divers other persons, certain of the said declarants being present in the said battle, and others, their adherents, being absent, — and that, in other wise and at other times than on the occasion (to wit) of the said battle, the said inhabitants [of Scotland] had risen in insur- rection against the said defunct King, — whence, as well the present as the absent adhe- rents [to the Prince], and those who have on other occasions risen in insurrection against the said defunct King, fear that they have incurred [the said] sentences, censures, and pains : — But since, as the same petition subjoined, the said declarants grieve from the bottom of their hearts for the fore-mentioned things, and wish to perform salutary penance for the deeds committed, Supplication was humbly made to us on their part that we should deign, of our Apostolic benignity, to absolve them from the foresaid sentences, censures and pains, howsoever contained in those our letters, and otherwise provide fittingly for their condition under the circumstances foresaid : — We therefore, considering that the clemency of the Apostolic See foresaid has been wont to open the bosom of its mercy favourably to such persons as return with humility to it after going astray, and willing to pursue with gracious favours the foresaid persons, commended to us by their merits of probity and virtues (well ascertained) in other respects — being inclined by their supplications thereto, — do commit and commend by Apostolical writ to your discretion how far you, two or one of you, shall, by this our authority, for this time only, absolve, in the customary form of the Church, from all and singular censures and pains, howso- ever contained in the said our letters, and in whatever manner or how often soever incurred [by them] on account of the foresaid things — which censures we will to be for No. XXI. APPENDIX. 461 expressed, as if the foresaid letters were inserted word for word in the present — all and each one of the parties being enjoined salutary penance according to the measure of guilt, and other things which shall be right to enjoin, — and [further] restore by the same authority to the unity of Holy Mother Church, and to the participation of the Sacra- ments of the Church and to the Communion of the Faithful — all or each who were pre- sent in the said battle, or who adhered to them while absent, and in any manner afforded them aid, counsel, assent and favour, by word or deed, and also who otherwise than on the occasion (to wit) of the said battle, rebelled against the King, and in any manner acted in opposition to the said our letters — even as if their names and surnames were inserted in the present writ — if they shall seek these things humbly, — nothing of what has passed, whether Apostolical constitutions and ordinations, or other things contrary, being an obstacle hereto. — Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of the incarnation of our Lord one thousand four hundred ninety and one, on the fifth of the kalends of July, in the seventh year of our Pontificate." No. XXL— Page 172. ' ' Indenture betwix David Duke of Montrose, Earl of Crawford, fyc, and the .Freirs of Dundee, anent the xx mark annual furth of Drumcarne" fyc. 2 Aug. 1489. " This Indenture, made at Inverkeithing, the second day of August, the year of God a thousand four hundreth auchty (eighty) and nine years, proports and bears witness, that it is appointit and accordit betwix thir parties underwritten in manner and form as efter follows ; that is to say, a right noble and mighty prince, David Duke of Montrose and Earl of Crawford on the ta (one) part, and his humble bedemen (prayer-men *) and orators, Freir John Yhare, Minister Provincial of the Freirs Minors of Scotland, togidder with consent and assent of the haill Chapter Provincial, wardens, discretors, and diffinitors,f and specially the Warden and Convent of the Freirs of Dundee, on the toder (other) part : — That, because the said mighty prince has giffen, be state and possession, twenty marks of usual money of Scotland, of annual rent be year, to be taken up at twa usual times in the year, Whitsunday and Martimas in winter, be even portions, of his lands of Drumcarn, in the lordship of Glenesk, within the sheriffdom of Forfar, to his foresaid place and orators, Warden and Conventual of Dundee, beand and for to be for the time, through his special charity and grace, for uphalding and continuation of Goddis service in the samyn ; Wherefore, the said Minister Provincial, all haill the said body of the Chapter, Wardens, discretors, diffinitors, Warden and Convent of the said place of Dundee, are bunden, and be this present writ binds and oblises them, * Such is the original, literal, and beautiful meaning of the word, — men, that is to say, living in a religious community, and bound to pray for the souls of those who founded it. Latterly it has been understood as almsmen or paupers. f The office of diffinitor, I am informed by high authority, was tantamount to that of considtor in a Franciscan monastery, — the diffinitors therefore may be considered as a species of council or conventual parliament. The discretce in Franciscan nunneries were nuns selected for their supposed judgment and experience to assist the superior in the government of the community. I presume the discretors filled the same office in the monasteries of the order. 462 APPENDIX. No. XXI. in maist strait form of obligation, and their successors, yearly for to do and fulfil, leally and truly, in their bodily aiths and conscience, and under all pain and charge that they may dree anens (before) God and man, this service and observance underwritten, for the heal (health) of saul and body of the said mighty prince, Lady Margaret, princess, his spouse, his noble progenitors and successors, and for the saul of a noble lady of haly memor, Marjory, grand- dame to the said mighty prince, and all Christian sauls, — that is to say, that the said Warden and Convent of Dundee that shall be for the time, every year, perpetually and daily, shall say a mess at the hie altar of the said place, and every Friday shall sing a mess of the Requiem at the said altar, with the haill Conventual of the said place, beand for the time, for the sauls foresaid, the whilk mess shall be openly callit the Duke's mess of Montrose. And mairatour (moreover), the said Warden and Convent shall graith (prepare) an honorable epitaph (monument), coverit with a honorable tapet (tapestry), with twa serges (wax-candles), borne with twa angels of brass as chandelars, to be lightit at the said mess, the whilk epitaph the ministers of the altar principal, efter the veneration and honouring of the Sacrament, shall incense honorably. Mairatour, the said Warden and Conventual shall twice in the year solemnly sing, with note, with all debtful ceremonies, in maist honourable wise, ' Placebo ' and 1 Dirige,' with mess, on the morn with note, and every brother that is priest a privy mess, that is to say, ane for the faderis saul of the said mighty prince all the days of his life, and efter the decease of the said mighty prince, yearly and perpetually for his saul, and another for the saul of Dame Marjory foresaid, the day of her obit, — and in the time of the obit-doing of this said mighty prince, the mane (name ?) of eik (also) Lady Margaret, princess, and spouse till him, shall [be] ne'myt (namit ?) and prayit for. And to the mair augmentation, the said Warden and Conventual shall per- petually and nightly sing, efter Compline, before the prayer-bell, in the queir (choir) of the said place, solemptly, this anthem of Our Lady, the glorious Virgin Mary, ' Alma Redemptoris,' for the saul of ane hie and mighty prince, James the Third, our sovereign Lord, the King of Scotland, of haly memor, wham God assoilzie, and all Christian sauls ! And that all thir things above written shall leally and truly be done, to the part of this Indenture to remain with the said mighty prince the seals of the Minister and Wardens Principal of his province is to-hungen, and to the part of this Indenture to remain with the Warden and Convent of Dundee the said mighty prince has hungen to his seal, day, year, and place before written, — the whilk day this said mighty prince, and Lady Margaret, princess, his spouse, was resavit in the Provincial Chapter to the confraternity of the order of Sanct Francis and to the suffrage thereof." No. XXII. APPENDIX. 463 No. XXII.— Page 200. Extracts from the Bond between the Earl and Master of Crawford 9 August, 1546. " Be it kenned till all men be thir present letters, Me, David Lyndesay, Maister of Crawford, oy (grandson) to David umquhile (late) Earl of Craw- ford, that last deceasit, — Forsameikle as the said umquhile David Earl of Crawford, regretting the great ingratitudes, injures, and wrangs of umquhile Alexander, than (then) Maister of Crawford, my fader, done and committit aganes the said umquhile Earl, his fader, through whilks the said umquhile Alexander, my fader, of law and consuetude, forfaultit and tint (lost) the suc- ceeding to his fader, and made himself unable to bruik (possess) his heritage and Earldom of Crawford, and for others considerations," &c. . . "resignit all and haill his lands, rents, and heritage of the said Earldom of Crawford in umquhile our sovereign Lordis hands, of guid mind, whom God assoilzie ! that last deceasit, for infeftment to be made to the said David now Earl of Craw- ford, nearest heir of tailzie (entail), not forfaltand his right of succession, be his Highness thereof, as the said infeftment at mair length proports," [yet] " nevertheless, the said David, now Earl of Crawford, movit of guid zeal and piety, and remembering the great luif (love) and kindness of the said umquhile David Earl of Crawford, and in mind to recompense the samyn to his offspring not failzeand (failing) to him, for guid of the House, maintaining of the House, and permanence thereof, and for luif and favours he bears to me in regard of my humile and formal behaving in times bygane, and for afauld (honest) service to be done be me in time coming to the said David, now Earl of Craw- ford, for all the days of his life, hes adoptitand acceptit me as his son, and hes resignit all and sindry the lands and baronies underwritten in our sovereign Lady's and my Lord Governor's hands, in favour of me, for heritable infeft- ment of fee to be made to me, and my heirs male, lawfully to be gotten of my body, thereof, whilks failzieing (failing), to the heirs male of tailzie of the said David, now Earl of Crawford, specifiet in his said infeftment of fee and great charter tailzie made lately be our said umquhile sovereign Lord, that last deceasit, to him thereupon," &c. . . Therefore, for these "causes, I, the said David Lyndesay, Maister of Crawford, with auctority, consent, and assent of venerable and honourable persons, Maister David Pitcairn, Archdean of Brechin, James Rynd of Kerse, and James Fentoun of Ogill, my curators, binds and oblises me faithfully, my heirs and assignees, to be guid sons and servands, and to serve ably and truly the said David, now Earl of Crawford, for all the days of his life, and shall accept, and be the tenor of thir presents accepts and undertakes the guid guiding and governing of the said Earlis men, tenants, and servants, to the service of the Queen's Grace, my Lord Governor, and the auctority, in the armies, hosts, gaderings, assemblings, and others charges whatsomever, to be laid to me be the said Earl at his will, and enduring the same allanerly (only), — and als, shall solist (prosecute), defend, and pursue all and sindry the said Earlis actions, causes, pleas, and quarrels, lawful and honest, in the law and by the law, upon the said Earlis expenses, against all 464 APPENDIX. No. XXII. deadly, our sovereign Lady and the auctority allanerly exceptit," &c. . . " And gif I failzie in the premises, or ony pairt thereof, or I, my servands, or any others in my name, command, or assistance, commits ony fault aganes the said Earl, his men, tenants, or servands, I shall as oft cause the same incontinent thereefter be assylit (acquitted) and amendit at the sight of the said Earl, or else content and pay the double avail (value) of the dampnage and skaith done be me or my assisters to the sustainers thereof, as shall be sufficiently provit before the Lords of Council or ony others judges competent at the said Earlis will, but (without) forgiveness, — and gif I put violent hands in the said Earl, to his slaughter, dishonour, or down-putting, or commit exorbitant reif or spulzie of his landis-tenants, to the maist part of the rents thereof, or assieges his places, and withhalds the samyn by (apart from) the avise of the said Earl, or vexes, inquiets, or troubles the said David, now Earl of Crawford, his heirs or assignees, or calls, or pursues them be the law in the peaceable josing (enjoying) and bruiking (possessing) of the lands of Glenesk, Edzell, Newdosk, Feme, with the pertinents, and that because he hes given to me and my heirs male all the baronies above written, — as God forbid I do ! — in thir cases fore- saids, I bind and oblise me faithfully, with consent and assent of my saids curators, my heirs and assignees, to the said David, now Earl of Crawford, his heirs and assignees, that, what time or how soon I failzie in the premises, or ony point thereof, the said fault being notourly (notoriously) and lauchfully (lawfully) proven be honest, unsuspect gentlemen, to sufficient nummer (number), before the Lords of Council as judges competent thereto, as effeirs (befits), the said David Earl of Crawford, his heirs or assignees, contents and pays to me, my heirs or assignees, upon ane day betwix the sun rising and passing down of the samyn, haill and togidder, in nummerit money, upon the hie altar within the paroche kirk of Dundee, upon xl days' warning, as use is, the sum of twa thousand pounds, usual money of Scotland, having course of payment for the time, then to resign, overgif, freely deliver, quitclaim, and discharge fra me, my heirs and assignees, to the said David, now Earl of Crawford, his heirs and assignees, all and sindry the lands, baronies, annuals, lodgings, &c, with towers, places, milns, fishings, superiorities, advocation and donation of benefices, and chaplainries," &c. . . "but (without) fraud or guile ; and gif we absent us fra the resait (receipt) of the said sum, warning being lawfully made, as said is, than (then) it shall be lesome (lawful) to the said Earl, his heirs and assignees, to haif full and free regress and ingress in and to the property and possession heritable of the said lands, . . siclike as he had the samyn before my heritable infeftment thereintil, and assignation and alienation foresaid, — and I, my heirs and assignees (the said fault being lauch- fully proven, as said is), fra thynefurth (thenceforth) to be secludit therefra for our ingratitude for ever." No. XXIII. APPENDIX. 465 No. XXIII.— Page 200. List of Documents connected with the history of the Wicked Master. 1. Letters of Law burrows by James V., Feb. 20, 1526, " ex deliberatione Dominorum Concilii," commanding the Sheriff of Angus to give protection to David Earl of Crawford against his son, the Master. Haigh Muniment-room. 2. Charter under the Great Seal, 2 Sept. 1527, proceeding on the resigna- tion of David eighth Earl of Crawford, investing his son, the Wicked Master, with the fee of the Earldom. Crawford's Hist, of the Lindsays, MS. 3. Decreet Arbitral, 9 June, 1529, by James Archbishop of St. Andrews, &c, between David Earl of Crawford and his son, the Master, " anent the handling of the person of the said Earl of Crawford, uptaking of his maills and ferms," &c. Contemporary Transcript, Haigh Muniment-room. 4. Indictment and Trial, 16 Feb. 1530, of Alexander the Wicked Master, for (constructive) parricide, &c, before the Justiciary Court, in presence of King James V. Contemporary official Extract from the Boohs of Adjournal, Haigh Muniment- room. 5. Interdiction of Alex. Master of Crawford, 7 July, 1531, from alienating his lands and heritage. Orig. Register of the Supreme Civil Court. 6. Notarial Instrument, penult. March, 1537, attesting that Alexander Master of Crawford had voluntarily abjured his heritage, and renounced all kindliness between himself and his father. Crawford Priory Charter-room. 7. Bond, or obligation, 28 Sept. 1541, by David Lindsay of Edzell to James V., to resign the Earldom of Crawford to the Crown, " ad perpetuam remanentiam," when he shall be called upon to do so. Contemporary tran- script, Haigh Muniment-room, and Notarial copy, communicated by Cosmo Innes, Esq. 8. Mandate by James V. to the Treasurer, Oct. 6, 1541, commanding him to expede a signature "of the heritable fee of all and haill the Earldom of Crawford to our lovit David Lindsay of Edzell." Haigh Muniment -room. 9. Charter, 16 Oct. 1541, by James V., of the Crawford patrimony and estates, resigned by David Earl of Crawford, to David Lindsay of Edzell. Regist. Mag. Sig. — This is subsequently described as the charter of the " Comitatus " of Crawford. 10. Assignation, 22 Dec. 1541, by David Earl of Crawford to David Lindsay of Edzell, &c, of all reversions and redemption of wadsets (mort- gages) on the Crawford estates, — in order to complete the title in his favour. Gray Charter-chest, according to Crawford, Hist, of the Lindsays ; Register of the Supreme Civil Court. 11. Charter, 12 Oct. 1542, by David Earl of Crawford to David Lindsay of Edzell, granting him " pro cordiali amore," &c, the non-entailed property of Auchtermonzie and Cairnie. Crawford Priory Charter-room. 12. Letter, by James V., subscribed by the King's own hand, 24 Oct. 1542 (on the eve of the march to Fala), charging the free-tenants of the Earldom of Crawford to serve him under David Lindsay of Edzell "as fiar of the said Earldom." Haigh Muniment-room. VOL. I. 2 H 466 APPENDIX. No. XXIV. 13. Summon? of Reduction. 6 Dec. 1554, by David Master of Crawford, son of the Wicked Master, asserting that for three months, or thereby, preceding 1 the charter of Auchtermonzie, 12 Oct. 1542 (No. 11), the Earl had been " vexit with deadly sickness and infirmity, bed-fast, . . to his decease, wha deceasit the xxvii or xxviii of November, or thereby, the year of God mdxlii years." Haigh Muniment-room. 14. Charge by Queen Mary, 13 Dec. 1542, to James Lord Ogilvie, to James Master of Ogilvie, his son, to William Wood of Bonytoun, and David Lindsay, "son to umquhile Alexander Lindsay, callit Master of Crawford," &c, to deliver up the Castle of Finhaven to David Earl of Crawford. Haigh Muniment-room. 15. Notarial Instrument, 6 Jan. 1542-3, by which David (of Edzell) Earl of Crawford recalls his Bond to James V., engaging to resign the Earldom " ad perpetuam remanentiam," &c. Communicated by Mr. Riddell. 16. Charter by Mary Queen of Scots, 2 May, 1546, of the Crawford patri- mony and estate, to David Master of Crawford, son of the Wicked Master, on the resignation of David (of Edzell) Earl of Crawford. Reg. Mag. Sig. 17. Solemn Bond, 9 Aug. 1546, by David Master of Crawford, son of the Wicked Master, to David (of Edzell), Earl of Crawford, on the adoption of the former by Earl David as his son. Register of the Books of Council of Session. 16 March, 1557. 18. Discharge, 6 Dec. 1571, by Mary Queen of Scots, to David Lindsay of Edzell, of the Bond granted by his father (David ninth Earl of Crawford) to James V., "ad perpetuam remanentiam." Ancient Inventory, Haigh Muni- ment-room. No. XXIV.— Page 247. Further Notices of the Lindsays of the Mount. The members of the Mount family, as they existed in 1542, are enumerated in an entail of the family estates by Sir David, dated that year; they were settled on his four younger brothers, John, Alexander, Patrick, and David, failing himself and his issue. Life by Chalmers, Works, torn. i. p. 25 : — 1. Sir David, the poet, died before 18 April, 1555, as proved by the " Letter" cited supra, p. 247. 2. John left an only child, Isabel, heir of line of her uncle, the poet. 3. Alexander succeeded to the Mount, before 18 April, 1555, the date of the "Letter." He was dead on the 17th July, 1576, when his will was deposited in the Commissary Court, Edinburgh, where it is pre- served, — and was succeeded by his son and heir Sir David, the second so styled, of the Mount. 4. Patrick, — of him I know nothing. No. XXIV. APPENDIX. 467 5. David, the youngest brother, probably born of a second marriage, and to whom the following notices appear to refer : — Letter to David Lindsay, afterwards Dingwall pursuivant, of 10/. yearly as his fee by the customs of Cupar. Reg. Privy Seal. Letter of Thomas Randolph to Sir William Cecil, 15 Oct. 1561, preserved among the Cottonian MSS., in which he writes as fol- lows : — " I have good occasion to commend unto your honour the bearer hereof, Mr. David Lindsay, Rothesay Herald of Arms, for that good will he beareth unto me, and friendship that I have found at his hands. This is he that only adhered unto the lords in the defence of his country, and ready also to do that lawful service he may unto the Queen's Majesty, my sovereign. To let him be the better known unto your honour, he is brother unto the notable David Lindsay, King of Arms. He is able to procure me the sight of a book, with one word of your honour's mouth, wherein are all the arms of all the noblemen and barons, both new and old, that are in Scotland." (Probably his brother's heraldic MS. lately printed.) Illustrations of the Reign of Q. Mary, 1543-1568, p. 92. Gift, 20 March, 1566, to David Lindsay, Rothesay Herald, his heirs and assigns, of the ward of an annual rent of eight merks from the lands of Kingask, in the Queen's hands since the death of Sir David Lindsay of the Month, and the marriage of Isabel Lindsay, brother's daughter and heir of line of the said Sir David. Reg. Privy Seal. Appointment, 13 Sept. 1568, of Sir David Lindsay of Ratherlet to the office of Lyon King of Arms. Ibid. Gift, 18 May, 1574, to Sir David Lindsay of Rathillet, Lyon King, of the non-entry of the lands of Mont, &c. Ibid. Letter, 14 Oct. 1580, ratifying a gift by Sir David Lindsay of Luthery, Lyon King at Arms, to Robert Lindsay, son lawful to Thomas Lindsay, Snawdoun Herald, of the chaplainry of St. Michael within the parish-kirk of Falkirk for life. Ibid. Sir David, son of Alexander Lindsay of the Mount, succeeded to the pro- perty, and was appointed Lyon King, 25 Dec. 1591, and inaugurated, 2 May, 1592, being "crowned by King James with the ancient crown of Scotland, which was used before the Scottish kings assumed the close crown," and afterwards dining at the same table with King James, wearing the crown upon his head. Chalmers' Works of Lindsay, torn. i. p. 51. — Sir David had no male issue, and left three daughters, co-heiresses, Agnes, Euphemia, and Catherine, — the eldest married to Sir Jerome Lindsay of Annatland, son of David Bishop of Ross. — Sir David resigned the office of Lyon King in Sir Jerome's favour, and the latter was created Lyon King, 27 June, 1621. Sir David died two years afterwards. Sir Jerome resigned the office in 1630, to Sir James Balfour. His descendants took the style of the Mount, and, as already mentioned, were still in possession of the estate in 1710. 2 H 2 468 APPENDIX. No. XXV. No. XXV.— Page 259. Extract from a Survey of the Estates of the Earldom of Devon, 1548, printed in Nichols' 1 Topographer and Genealogist] torn. i. p. 44. " And because it doth appear in this survey that the commodities of the Earldom of Devon do not only consist in the yearly rents and revenues of the possessions, but also in fines, heriots, waifs and strays, profits of wood-sales, tin-works, and such other like casualties which do rise and grow unto the lord by the customs of the lordships and manors in the said counties, these customs are not so universal as if a man have experience of the customs and services of any one manor he shall thereby have perfect knowledge of all the rest, or if he be expert of the customs of any manor in any one county that then he shall need no further instructions for all the residue of the manors within that county ; but as the lordships and manors are divers and several, and descended to the ancient House of the Earldom of Devon by the death of sundry ances- tors by inheritance, so are the customs distinct in the same, for every lord within his own manor devised such customs for his own tenants as to his own contentation seemed best. And as every of the lords at the beginning were contented to grant divers parcels of their manors to sundry gentlemen and others to hold of them freely by sundry kinds of suits and services, and pay- ment of certain free rents yearly, so was their policy also to have others to travail and till the earth, and to use the trade of husbandry for the increase of corn to serve their own necessity, and to be ministers also to the common- wealth ; and to these kind of people they granted their lands for term of life and lives, reserving certain rents, suit of court, fines, heriots, and such other services as hereafter shall appear. And if the lord were inhabiting upon the manor, he also bound them to do custom works, which they call due days, as in time of tillage, hay-time, and harvest, according to the rate and quantity of their tenements and farms. These customs, although they were in some places a heavy burthen, yet the tenants received them thankfully, and thought it but their duty during their lives to serve their lord at all times with all their might and power, themselves, their servants, and all. And when they should depart their habitation, either by occasion of death or bargain and sale, or otherwise, and would not forget at whose hand they had received the benefit of their living, but would gratify the lord with their best beast or some other best parcel of their moveable goods, in token of a remembrance and know- ledging of their good will toward their lord, the lords also, to requite the good will of their tenants, were their only defence and buckler against all men in their just and rightful causes. These things and such-like knit such a knot of collateral amity between the lords and the tenants, that the lord tendered his tenant as his child ; and the tenants again loved and obeyed the lord as naturally as the child the father, and many times loather t' offend his lord than the child his father, so that, if the lord were at any time commanded to serve the King's Majesty, the tenants would leave wife, children, and substance, and follow their lord, and adventure their lives with him most willingly, and had no care of their lives to remember that, if their chance No. XXVI. APPENDIX. 469 were to be left in the field, the wife, so long as she kept herself sole and unmarried, should enjoy th' whole living, towards the education and bringing up of the children, without any fine or other exaction for the same. And if the children followed the steps of their parents in obedience and good behaviour towards the lord, his liberality was so much that they should have the preferment of their father's ferm before any others. Such was the study and policy of our forefathers, to nourish up their tenants in obedience, that they might have their service in time of war, for the defence of themselves and their country, and in time of peace to have them necessary ministers in the commonwealth, and so get their living with the travail of their bodies." No. XXVI.— Page 289. Extracts from the Letter of the Queens Nobles to Queen Elizabeth, 28 July, 1568. After entreating for assistance, in order to the Queen's restoration, on the plea that "it becomes your Highness and all other princes of their princely duty to put hand to this matter, and to give help and supply to our Sovereign for example cause, that others inferiors subjects be not tholit (suffered) to put violent hands in their Princes, Kings, Queens, or others supreme powers," they add, " And gif it be sa, that your Majesty be not minditto the supply of our Sovereign at this present, as we have desirit, we will maist humbly beseek your Highness to sutfer our Queen's Grace to come and depart freely furth of your realm again to her awin country, and not to make ony aid or assistance in ony sort to those her unnatural subjects, conspirators aganes her ; that we may do her our service, in reponing and establishing her Grace in her awin realm, as our debt-bound duty is. For we are all deliberate to serve her Highness, to maintain her as our native Princess, indurand her lifetime, and efter her the heirs comit of her body, — and this is the least thing that your Majesty can do, or we can desire ; for we will never put doubt in this point, but your Majesty will freely deliver our mistress in her awin realm, considerand how she come of benevolence to seek your princely aid and help as to her sister, and not as a prisoner. And gif your Highness wald be sa extreme and rigorous as to hald her within your realm again (contrary to) her will, it will be highly aganes your princely honour, whilk we trow not your Majesty will fyle (defile) nor violate, nor yet your divers promises made to her. And als it wald be odious to all others princes and nations, the like thereof has not been seen, . . that ony King or Queen comand furth of their awin country to seek succours at another prince should be halden captive there aganes her will. And our Sovereign hes mony sundry friends in other realms, wha wald be highly offendit gif they knew her Majesty stayit, or halden aganes her will, or captive, wha wald find remeid therefor . . Beseekand " (they conclude) " maist humbly your Highness to hear and grant to us our reasonable desires toward our Sovereign, that ye may addebt her Majesty and us perpetually to 470 APPENDIX. No. XXVII. your Highness, — and not to refuse us or cast away this our reasonable and gentle petitioning, wha is sa willing to do your Majesty honour and service ; and not to alienate us or our hearts fra your Majesty, through the evil handling of our Sovereign. And let us not have occasion to lament her Majesty and our causes to other princes, whilk, gif she be detainit, we maun and will do, of our duty, to all Christian kings and princes in Europe, for her help. From the town of Largs, the 28th day of July, 1568. " Your Majesty's humble servants at power, " Archbishop of St. Andrews, > " Huntley, " Argyle, " Crawford, " Errol, " Rothes, " Cassillis, " Eglinton, " Caithness, " Fleming, " Ross, " Sanquhar, " Ogilvy, " Boyd, " Olipiiant, Drummond, Borthuik, " Maxwell, " Somerville, u Forp.es, " Yester." No. XXVII.— Page 289. Letter from the Earl of Argyle to the Earl of Crawford, 31 July, 1568. " My Lord, " After our heartly commendations, we have thought it expedient to make your Lordship participant with our proceedings of the nobility in thir West parts, in the Queen's Majesty our Sovereign's service, and for the security of us that are her favourers and faithful subjects. For this 28th of July instant, we have convened with all the great men of the nobility and great barons of the West parts, such as my Lord Duke's friends of Chatelhe- rault, Earls Eglintoun, Cassillis, Lords Fleming, Boyd, Sanquhar, Master of Herries, Lairds Lochinvar, Johnstone, with many other great barons, who all are bent to set forward our Sovereign's service, and be constant therein ; and it was thought expedient among them all to renew the samyn band among themselves for our Sovereign's service, which was made before herself in Hamilton. " Item. They thought good to write to the King of Spain and the Duke of Alva in favours of our Sovereign Lady, and for help and support of men and munition. And because they were hastily to be sent away, we got not leisure to send them to you, to be subscrived, which we doubt not but ye will confirm and ratify. And siclike we have written to the Queen of England right sharply. " Item. There is a great part of the nobility that are faithful subjects to our Sovereign summoned to this pretended Parliament, the 16th of August nixt No. XXVIII. APPENDIX. 471 (which wc arc all deliberated to stay), that we and our friends of the nobility should be forfaultcd, with such our (other ?) faithful subjects that are true and faithful to our native born prince and heretrix. And to that effect, we will have all the folks we can make to be ready against the tenth of August, to come to such places as shall be appointed, with twenty days' victual. And this is the common cause to all our friends convening, or that favour us ; and the noblemen our friends will resist the said forfaulture to the utter power of their lives. Herefore we pray your Lordship, and all the nobility about you and under your charges, with all your friends, and others the Queen's Grace's favourers, who love us and our friends, our lives and our heritages, to make all your force ready against the said tenth day of August, that therefore my Lord Huntley and all these parts may meet and come together ; and to come to Saint Johnstoun (Perth) or thereabouts ; and that your Lordship have some harquebusiers, under charge of some captain, to be in your company ; and at the least, to stay all Earls, Lords, prelates, that have vote in Parliament, that no man come to their pretended Parliament. " Farther, we have caused make proclamation at all boroughs, that no man of any borough come to their Parliament, or to send them men or money in any sort, or yet to thole (suffer) any officers of arms to proclaim any of their letters within their towns, but allanerly (only) in our Sovereign Lady's name. And if they do the contrair, they to be used with fire and sword, to the rigour. And we desire your Lordship to do the same in the towns beside your Lordship in the North, as Dundee, Montrose, Forfar, Brechin, and the copy thereof shall be sent to your Lordship. ''Farther, please your Lordship to make the lords and barons about your Lordship partakers and assisters to our Sovereign Lady, the Queen, of thir our proceedings, and your Lordship do siclike in the bounds ye have commission of, and haste us answer again. Off Dunune, the last of July, 1568. " Your Lordship's assured at power, " Argile." No. XXVIII.— Page 299. Circular addressed by David eleventh Earl of Crawford to his friends, on his trial for the slaughter of Lord Glamis, November, 1579. " My Lord, " Efter my maist heartly commendations, it hes pleasit the King his Majesty, with advice of his Council, to appoint the third day of November nixt for me to underlie the law in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, for the slaughter of umquhile my Lord Glamis, Chancellor, whereof, as God knaws, I am innocent. And seeing this is the maist weighty matter that ever I had or is able to have ado, standing upon my honour, life, and heritage ; and considering also it is and hes been the custom of this country in the like causes to crave and require the advice and presence of the greatest friends ; having therefore 472 APPENDIX. No. XXIX. always esteemit your Lordship maist special and tender of bluid to me, I will effectuously pray your Lordship that, substantiously, accompanyit with your honest kin, friends, and servands, it will please your Lordship to take the pains to meet in Edinburgh upon the first day of the said month of November, to advise with my remanent guid lords and friends what is convenient to be done and providit for my lawful and just defences the said day, — as your Lordship will do me maist special pleasure, and oblishe me to acquit your Lordship with the like guid will when ye or [other] of yours shall have the occasion to employ me. Thus I commit your Lordship in the protection of God. " At Cairnie, this of , 1579. " Your Lordship's right affectionate friend to my power, " Craufurd." No. XXIX.— Page 300. Ballad of ' Earl Crawford.'' r. " Oh we were seven bonnie sisters, As fair women as fair could be, And some got lairds, and some got lords, And some got knights o' high degree, — When I was married to Earl Crawford, This was the fate befel to me. When we had been married for some time, We walked in our garden green, And aye he clapp'd his young son's head,* And aye he made sae much o' him. I turn'd me right and round about, And aye the blythe blink in my e'e, — It was ae word my merry mou' spake That sinderit my guid lord and me ! He call'd upon his stable-groom To come to him right speedilie — i Gae saddle a steed to Lady Crawford, Be sure ye do it hastilie ; ' His bridle gilt wi' gude red gowd, That it may glitter in her e'e, And send her on to bonnie Stobha', All her relations for to see.' * This is confirmed by Sir James Balfour, who says in his MS. Genealogy of the Lindsays in the Advocates' Library, that Earl David had, by Lilias Drummond, "an only child, David, who died in infancy." — A curious historical confirmation of tradition. No. XXIX. APPENDIX. 473 II. Her mother lay o'er the castle- wa', And she beheld baith dale and down ; And she beheld her, Lady Crawford, As she came riding to the town. ' Come here, come here, my husband dear ! This day ye see not what I see ; For here there comes her, Lady Crawford, Riding alane upon the lea !' When she came to her father's yetts, She tirled gently at the pin, — — ' If ye sleep, awake ! my mother dear, Ye'll rise, let Lady Crawford in.' ' What news, what news, ye Lady Crawford ? That ye come here so hastilie ?' — ' Bad news, bad news, my mother dear, For my guid lord's forsaken me !' — ' Oh wae's me for you ! Lady Crawford, This is a dowie tale to me, — Alas ! you were too young married To thole sic cross and misery.' — ' Oh haud your tongue, my mother dear ! And ye'll let a' your folly be, — It was ae word my merry mou' spake, That sinderit my guid lord and me.' Out it spake her brither dear, As he stept ben the floor ; ' My sister Lillie was but eighteen year When Earl Crawford ca'd her a whore ! — ' But haud your tongue, my sister dear, And ye'll let a' your mourning be, I'll wed you to as fine a knight That is nine times as rich as he.' — ' Oh haud your tongue, my brother dear, And ye'll let a' your folly be, I'd rather ae kiss o' Crawford's mouth Than a' his gowd and white monie. ' But saddle to me my riding steed, And see him saddled speedilie, And I will on to Earl Crawford's, And see if he will pity me.' 474 APPENDIX. No. XXIX. III. Earl Crawford lay o'er castle-wa', And he beheld baith dale and down ; And he beheld her, Lady Crawford, As she came riding to the town. He call'd ane of his liverymen To come to him right speedilie, — ' Gae shut my yetts, gae steek my doors, Keep Lady Crawford out frae me !' When she came to Earl Crawford's yetts, She tirled gently at the pin, — ' Oh sleep ye, wake ye, Earl Crawford — Ye'll open, let Lady Crawford in ? ' Come down, come down, oh Earl Crawford, And speak some comfort unto me, — And, if ye winna come yoursel', Ye'll send your gentleman to me.' — ' Indeed I winna come mysel', Nor send my gentleman to thee ; For I tauld you when we did part Nae mair my spouse ye'd ever be.' She laid her mouth then to the yetts, And aye the tears drapt frae her e'e, — Says, ' Fare ye well, Earl Crawford's yetts ! You again I'll nae mair see.' IV. Earl Crawford call'd on his stable-groom To come to him right speedilie, And sae did he his serving-man That did attend his fair bodie, — 4 Ye will gae saddle for me my steed, And see and saddle him speedilie ; And I'll gang to the Lady Crawford, And see if she will pity me.' Lady Crawford lay o'er castle-wa', And she beheld baith dale and down, And she beheld him, Earl Crawford, As he came riding to the town. No. XXIX. APPENDIX. 475 Then she has call'd ane of her maids To come to her right speedilie, — 1 Gae shut my yetts, gae steek my doors, Keep Earl Crawford out frae me !' When he came to Lady Crawford's yetts, He tirled gently at the pin, — ' Sleep ye, wake ye, Lady Crawford ? Ye'll rise and let Earl Crawford in. ' Come down, come down, oh Lady Crawford ! Come down, come down, and speak wi' me ! And gin ye winna come yourseP, Ye'll send your waiting-maid to me ?' — ' Indeed I winna come mysel', Nor send my waiting-maid to thee, — Sae take your ain words hame again At Crawford Castle ye tauld me. — ' Oh mother dear ! gae make my bed, And ye will make it saft and soun' ; And turn my face unto the West, That I nae mair may see the sun.' Her mother she did make her bed, And she did make it saft and soun', — True were the words fair Lillie spake, Her lovely eyes ne'er saw the sun. The Earl Crawford mounted his steed, Wi' sorrows great he did ride hame ; But ere the morning sun appear'd This fine lord was dead and gane. Then on ae night this couple died, And baith were buried in ae tomb ; Let this a warning be to all Their pride may not bring them low down." 476 APPENDIX. No. XXX. No. XXX.— Page 312. ' The Content of the Discourse made by Mr. Walter Lindsay of Balgawies, put in Spanish and in print,' 1586. £< Imprimis, he does declare the King his age, his religion, and how far he is addicted daily more and more to the Calvinian heresy : — " Next, he doth discourse of the ministers of Scotland, of their inclination to seditions, of their moyen and power in the country, of their presbyteries and form of government democratically : — " Of the difference in religion betwixt Scotland and England, — the injustice, acknowledging no supremacy nor visible head of the Church, whereas, in the contrary, the Queen of England will be acknowledged supreme head of the Kirk of England : — " Of the King of Scotland his evil mind towards the ministers, by cause of their great power and extraordinary presumptuous dealing, tending to their own preferment and the said King his wrack and overthrow : — " Of the Act of Parliament made in Scotland, to the imitation of England, where it is established for the crime of lese-majesty to hear a mass, reset any Jesuit priest or seminary : — " That the sea-coast and boroughs of Scotland and their indwellers are all heretic, and that the most part of barons and nobility [are] Catholics, or at least favourers of Catholics : — " That the Laird of Fintry, who was martyred in Scotland, and the Baron of Balgawies, son to th' Earl of Crawford, come near of the King's blood, were only constant in the Catholic religion and open confessors : — " Of the Baron of Balgawies, who keeped an open receipt for Catholics, and specially keeped an English Jesuit in his house long time, who was after martyred in England : — " The Baron of Balgawies his excommunication, and of the blank subscrived by the King to the ministry for their warrant of his apprehension : — " Of the devilish custom, in Scotland, and barbarous cruelty of deadly feid (feud), taking their revenge of any pertaining to their enemy or of his name, although never so innocent of the fault, whilk was th' occasion that none durst mell with the said Baron, by reason of his great friendship in the country, and good fellows he held about him : — " Of the Baron of Balgawies his courageous dealing and open confession of the Catholic religion, and how by his example th' Earl of Huntley, Errol, and Angus did make open confession thereof: — " Of the custom of Scotland amongst Catholics to draw Saints on St. Valen- tine's day, and how Huntley, having drawn St. Lawrence, after they had celebrate the said St. Lawrence' feast, confessed and received devoutly, did defeat a great number of Argyle's men wha was corned in the Crabro (Cabrach) to have killed his men and spoiled his country,— and this the Earl did with a few number : — " More,— how the said Earl, with all others that was with him, thought No. XXX. APPENDIX. 477 themselves miraculously assisted by God, so that nothing could gainstand them that day : — " Upon this, the said Baron doth take occasion to discourse of my Lord Maxwell, how an angel did appear to him in the shape of a young man, in the mean-time he was pressed by the ministry to subscrive their heresy, assur- ing him that if he did, against his knowledge, for worldly promotion, sub- scrive, that hand which committed th' offence should be rutted (rotted) from him, besides that he should die an ignominious death, as having transgressed the angel's commands, — indeed it did follow : — " Next, he shows how my Lord Claud,* being persuaded by his lady, for warldly respects, to subscrive the confession of faith proponed to him by the ministry, being thereafter at mass, and hearing that part of the Evangell read, 1 Qui me negaverit coram hominibus,' &c, crying out against the said lady and her informers, he took th' offence so heavy in part that he become at the present in a most high and vehement frenzy, whilk doth continue with him to this day. " Then doth he make a summar (summary) repetition of the prosperity, reputation, and honour th' Earl of Arran was in at his being in France, so long as he was a Catholic, and how, being persuaded thereafter by the Queen of England, upon some high preferment and worldly respects, to leave his religion, embrace that heresy professed in England, for the time, and follow a course against God and his own conscience, how not only he but his father, Duke Hamilton also, wha had embraced that same heresy, did fall in malicious disgrace, th' one dying shortly thereafter in great misery, left as it were by all men, and th' other, through great displeasure and fear of God's judgment, becomes frenetic, as he did yet remain to th' example of further offenders : — " Of Mr. George Carr his apprehension by the moyen of Mr. Bowes, ambassador for the Queen of England at the time, and knavery of Mr. James Macartney, apothecary, together with the noblemen's blank, which he had received to have carried in Spain : — " Of the King of Scotland his command that no Englishmen shall be suffered to come in his country or go out of the same by ship without the Queen of England's ambassador's special licence to that effect : — " Of the Pope his good affection to help the afflicted country of Scotland in sending to the King thereof, and in writing particularly to his Majesty : — " Of Mr. James Gordon, with a messenger of the Pope's and some English priests, their landing in Scotland at the New Town of Aberdeen, — of their apprehension, together with the money they did carry, by the magistrates of that town, — and how the said town and magistrates were not only compelled to deliver the saids persons and money by the noblemen Catholics to their former liberty, but also made particular offer of all their service to th' Earl of Huntley : — " And last of all, how the said noblemen, by reason of the King of Scots his extremity against them, were forced to mell (meddle) with the said money, whilk was sent to the King, for their own defence, as did appear thereafter by proof." * Lord Claud Hamilton. 478 APPENDIX. No. XXXI. No. XXXI.*— Page 350. Extracts from the Life of Mr. Alexander Boss, Schoolmaster of Lochlee, by his grandson, the Rev. Alex. Thomson of Lentrathen, — prefixed to the ' Fortunate Shepherdess,' by the former, published at Dundee, 8vo. 1812. " The parish of Lochlee, in which our author lived for fifty-two years, is situated in the North-West corner of the county of Angus. The loch, from which, as well as from the small river Lee, running into it, the parish derives its name, appears very near its West end. It is reckoned a Scotch mile in length from East to West, and half a mile in breadth from North to South. This beautiful piece of water, excepting on the East, is surrounded by moun- tains. These are so remarkably high and steep, particularly on its North and South sides, as to command the attention of every stranger, who is struck with the romantic grandeur of the scene. The summit of two of these mountains, one on the North, and another on the South side of the loch, is inaccessible to a traveller who would attempt to ascend directly from it. He can only get to the top of either, who has leisure and patience to take a wide circuit for that purpose. " Our author's habitation was situated very near the East end of the loch, close by the foot of a high and steep mountain, fronting the south. Another mountain rose directly opposite, the base of which, not a quarter of a mile from his house, was likewise so high as to prevent the sun from shining upon it for thirty days in winter. During that gloomy period, our author could only be consoled with the hope of a pleasure to come; knowing that the sun would be the more welcome when he again made his appearance. " This retired place, about twenty miles N.W. of Brechin, the nearest market-town, is generally uncomfortable during the winter months, buried in deep snow, and exposed to boisterous winds from the loch. But good sub- stantial houses, which many of the inhabitants were careful to build for them- selves, and with some taste, as well as excellent peat and turf, to which many of them had easy access, rendered their situation more comfortable than other- wise it would have been, and, in the words of the celebrated author of the Seasons, ' Sitting happy by the social fire, They heard the excluded tempest idly rave along !' "Their favourite amusements in winter were music and dancing. These regularly began about the Christmas holidays, and continued occasionally during the time that nothing could be done without doors in the way of improving their little farms. They were excited to devote more of their time to the amusement of dancing than perhaps they would otherwise have done, by the fascinating music of a celebrated performer on the violin, John Cameron, descended of a respectable family of that name, and a native of the parish of Crathy, in Aberdeenshire. He resided most of his time in Glenmuick, a place distant only a few miles from Crathy where he was born ; but, for the * Erroneously referred to at p. 350 as No. XXX II. No. XXXI. APPENDIX. 479 space of forty years, if not more, he came regularly every winter, when the weather would permit, to the parish of Lochlee. " When he arrived in this hospitable and happy country, about the begin- ning of December, every one of the inhabitants, the old as well as the young, rejoiced to see him ; and though sometimes, on account of deep snow which rendered it very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to travel over the Grampian mountains, his stay was protracted beyond the time when he wished to return home, this was always most agreeable to the young people. A considerable number of the men were musicians themselves, who had been taught by him, and were very desirous to improve, and therefore they were always the better pleased the longer he favoured them with his company and with his music. " Our author, though he had not the most correct ear, yet, as he played a little on the violin himself, was always glad to see John Cameron, and listened to his tunes with pleasure ; but, as this musician was of very correct behaviour, agreeable in his manners, entertaining in his conversation, and remarkable particularly for communicating some curious facts characteristic of the High- landers and discovering their genius, his company was equally acceptable to many on that account. " Our author used to mention what this good old man had often told him was a practice in the united parishes of Crathy and Braemar, about the time of his first appearing in the capacity of a musician at weddings and other public meetings where music and dancing commonly prevailed. Not later than the year 1720, he said that the people in this Highland district not only expressed their mirth but their sorrow by moving to music. . . . When any member of a family died, a musician was immediately sent for, and before the interment, as soon indeed as possible after the person had expired, the whole family, excepting the children, were desirous to vent their sorrow by a kind of dancing. The musician accordingly played on the violin, or bagpipe, slow plaintive music ; the nearest friends of the deceased appeared first on the floor, took the first dance, and expressed their grief by their motion as well as by their tears.* " The honest man, who communicated the account of this custom to our author, likewise told him that it was just about wearing out at the time when he was first employed as a musician ; that in this capacity he was called to three or four of these houses of mourning ; and that the custom, though very prevalent before in that country, was soon after universally discontinued. . . . "The people of Lochlee," however, "only sixteen miles South of this Highland country, never had, so far as can be learned from tradition, the least tendency to this mode of expressing their grief ; and instrumental music was never employed by them but to express mirth and joy. " With such entertainments as were harmless and inoffensive now and then taking place, the gloomy season of winter slipped insensibly away, when more serious exercises in the field succeeded, and such a mode of agriculture as was then practised engaged the attention of every one fit for labour. " As their farms were then generally small, each consisting of between twelve and sixteen arable acres, let for two nineteen years and a life, and rented at a mere trifle, with the advantage of very extensive and valuable sheep- * See Logan's Scottish Gael, torn. ii. p. 374. 480 APPENDIX. No. XXXI. pastures, and as they had liberty to sub-let on as lucrative terms as possible, they were not disposed, nor, as they themselves conceived, under the necessity of subjecting themselves to hard and tedious labour ; but, though higher rents and greater industry would doubtless have rendered them more affluent, yet the most of them were in easy circumstances, not desirous to accumulate, and literally taking no thought for to-morrow. " They were people, in general, who distinguished themselves by their benevolence, friendship, and readiness to serve and assist one another. They were free and hospitable to strangers, especially to such as they were satisfied, from what they had heard or could learn of them, merited attention. But they were rather shy and reserved to those whom they knew nothing about ; and such independent minds did they generally discover, that they paid no sort of homage to any person who had the appearance of a gentleman, when they happened to meet him on the road or had occasion to speak to him, if they did not know him to be a gentleman," &c. &c. It is among this primitive people that the scene of ' Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdess,' has been laid by the ingenious author; but his esti- mate of their prowess in repelling incursions of the Highland caterans is con- siderably lower than Ochterlony's, cited supra, p. 350, as will appear from the following rough analysis of the poem. I give it as illustrative of the state of society in Glenesk in times more nearly approaching our own, and also be- cause there are passages in the poem which vindicate for the author a higher place in the list of Scottish poets than has as yet been assigned to him. Rosalind and Helenore — in more familiar speech, Lindy and Nory — have grown up together as lovers until the respective ages of seventeen and sixteen, when a band of Sevilians, or Highland robbers, having broken down from the mountains and driven away the whole cattle of the district, Lindy pursues and overtakes them, but is overpowered, severely beaten, and left bound with ropes at a distance from the village. Nory, meanwhile, hearing of the creagh, and that the shepherds were slain in defence of their property, flies in despair to the hills, and, after wandering all night, is discovered by the gallant young squire, Olimund laird of Bon- ny ha', sleeping under a tree. Her beauty makes a deep impression on him — she wakes — he courteously accosts her — supplies her with food, and conducts her to the house of his aunt, hard by, where she is kindly received by the old lady and her daughter. The young women being gone to bed, Olimund's aunt rather abruptly informs him that his father is dead, which does not, it appears, grieve him much, the avaricious old laird having been enforcing on him, sorely against his will, the expediency of a match with a very ugly and dis- agreeable heiress, whose property (her only recommendation) lies contiguous to his own. Relieved from his fears on this score, Olimund confides his passion for Nory to his aunt, who engages on her part to do her best to detain her as her guest during the few days that his father's unexpected death requires him to pass at home. The story now returns to the unfortunate Lindy. Three days passed before he could extricate himself from the ropes with which the robbers had No. XXXI. APPENDIX. 481 left him bound. He staggers homeward till he reaches the house of Nory's mother, Jane, whom he finds in deep grief, not only at her daughter's absence, but that of her husband, Colin, who had gone in search of her two days before, but had not yet returned. Lindy, after taking some refreshment, starts in quest of her, following the track of the " hership," or stolen cattle, Westward — thinking it most likely that Nory had gone in that direction, instead of the course she had actually taken, to the Eastward. He overtook the caterans, but they immediately seized him, bound his arms, and drove him before them, with the stolen cattle, till they reached their home, where he was immediately locked up, and found the old shepherd Colin (who had been similarly cap- tured) the companion of his prison. They were kept to hard labour and fed very scantily. Bydby, however, the comely, frank-hearted, and out-spoken daughter of the house, smitten with Lindy's good looks, declares her love for him, and offers to accomplish their escape, on condition that he would marry her. Colin, a pitiful time-server (and indeed Lindy's whole conduct argues him little better), presses him to do so, and, on Lindy's pleading his love for Nory, urges the expediency of at least feigning to agree to Bydby 's proposal, and that it would be easy to give her the slip when once at liberty. Lindy, therefore, subscribes to the conditions, and from this moment sinks in our esteem. The following night Bydby steals the key of their prison from under her brother's pillow, and lets them out ; they start together for Flavinia, the name given throughout the poem to the braes of Angus, or, in a more restricted sense, the district of Lochlee. They have scarcely gone two miles, when Lindy suddenly stops, scratches his head, and pretends to miss his new Sunday's coat — Bydby, unsuspicious of the ruse, runs back for it, on their promise to wait for her return, but the moment her back is turned, they pro- ceed on their way, and in due time reach their native glen in safety. Bydby, returning to the spot, and finding she has been deceived, deter- mines to pursue them, fearing to return home, and fixed in her purpose of enforcing her claim on Lindy. She starts immediately, and travels all the next day till evening, when, weary, hungry, and thirsty, but still carrying Lindy's coat — (" For wi't she wadna part, Because it gae some gladd'ning till her heart") — • she reaches a brook, and after quenching her thirst at it, and her hunger with juniper-berries, falls asleep under a clump of birch-trees, in spite of her fears of fairies and hobgoblins, which would have made any one " eerie " at such a time and place. — But this passage I must insert at length, being the most imaginative in the poem : — " Thus making at her main, a and lewdring on, b Through scrubs 0 and craigs, wi' mony a heavy groan, Wi' bleeding legs and sair massacred shoon, Wi' Lindy's coat aye feltring d her aboon, Till on a high brae-head she lands at last, That down to a how e burnie pathlins f past. " Moan. b Moving heavily on. c Stumps of heather or roots. ll Entangling. e Deep. f By a deep descent. VOL. I. 2 I 482 APPENDIX, No. XXXI. Clear was the bumie and the bushes green, But rough and steep the brae that lay between ; Her burning drowth inclined her to be there, But want of maughts 3 and distance eek'd her care. Now by this time the evening's falling down, Hill-heads were red, and hows b were eerie c grown. Yet wi' what pith she had she taks the gate, And wan d the burn, but it's now growing late. The birds about were making merry cheer, She thinks their music sang, ' Ye' re welcome here !' With the cauld stream she quenched her lowan e drowth, Syne of the etnagh -berries f ate a fouths That black and ripe upon the busses h grew, And were new watered wi' the evening dew. Then sat she down aneath a birken ' shade That spread aboon her and hang k o'er her head, — Couthie, m and warm, and gowany n the green, Had it, instead o' night, the daytime been ; But grim and gousty, 0 and pit-mark,P wi' fright A' thing appeared upon the dead o' night. For fear she cowered like maukini in the seat, And dunt for dunt r her heart began to beat. Amidst this horror., sleep began to steal, And for a wee her flightring s breast to heal, — As she half-sleeping and half-waking lay, An unco 1 din she hears of fouk u and play. The sugh v they made garred w her lift up her e'en, And 0 ! the gathering that was on the green ! Of little foukies clad in green and blue, Kneefer and trigger x never trod the dew ; In mony a reel they scampered here and there, Whiles on the yird,^ and whiles up in the air ; The pipers played like ony touting-horn, z — Sic sight she never saw since she was born. As she's behading aa a' this mirthful glee, Or e'er she wist, they're dancing in the tree Aboon her head, as nimble as the bees That swarm, in search of honey, round the trees. Fear's like to fell bb her, reed cc that they sud fa' And smore dd her dead, afore she wan awa' ; Syne in a clap, ee as thick's the motty sin, 4. They hamphisedss her wi' unco fyke hh and din. Some cried, ' Tak ye the head, I'se take a foot, We'll lear" her upon this tree-head to sit And spy about her,' — others said, ' Out-fy ! Lat be, she'll keep the King of Elfin's ky.' Anither said, ' O gin she had but milk, Then sud she gae frae head to foot in silk, ,l Strength. 0 Ghostly. y Earth. *» Knolls. P Pitch-dark. Blowing horn. c Exciting fears of ghosts. The hare. Beholding. d Reached. r Stroke for stroke. bb Kill. u Flaming. s Throbbing. cc Lest. f Juniper-berries. 1 Strange. dd Smother. 8 Quantity. u Folk. ee Moment. Bushes. v Rustling sound. ff The motes in the sun- 1 Birchen. w Made. beam. k Hung. x Activer and trimmer. gg Surrounded. m Comfortable. jab Strange bustle. " Covered with gowans, or mountain daisies. Learn, teach her. No. XXXI. APPENDIX. 483 Wi' castings a rare and a gueed nooris-fee, b To nurse the King of Elfin's heir Fizzee.' Syne ere she wist, like house aboon her head, Great candles burning, and braw table spread ; Braw dishes reeking, 0 and, just at her hand, Trig green-coats sairing, d a' upon command. To cut they fa', and she amang the lave ; e The sight was bonnie, and her mou' did crave. The mair she ate, the mair her hunger grew, Eat fat f she like, and she could ne'er be fu' ; The knibles elves about her ate ding-dang, Syne to the play they up, and danced and flang ; Drink in braw cups was ca'd about gelore, 1 ' Some fell asleep, and loud began to snore. Syne, in a clap, the fairies a' sat down, And fell to crack' about the table roun'. Ane at anither speered, k ' Fat tricks played ye, Whan in a riddle ye sail'd o'er the sea?' Quoth it, ' I steal'd the King of Sweden's knife, Just at his dinner, sitting by his wife, Whan frae his hand he newlins m laid it down ; He blamed the steward, said he had been the lown." The sakeless 0 man denied, syne yeedP to look, And lifting aff the table-claith, the nook I gae a tit,i and tumbled o'er the bree, r — Tarn gat the wyte, s and I gat the tehee : 1 I think I never saw a better sport, But dool fell'd Tarn, for sadly he paid for't.' — 'But,' cpioth another, ' I play'd a better prank : I garred a witch fa' headlins in a stank" As she was riding on a windle-strae ; v The carline gloffed, w and cried out " Will awae !" ' ■ — Another said, 1 1 coupet x Mungo's ale Clean heels o'er head, fan it was ripe and stale, Just whan the tapster the first chapin* drew ; Then bade her lick the pail, and aff I flew ; Had ye but seen how blate z the lassie looked, When she was blamed, how she the drink miscooked !' — Says a gnib aa elf, ' As an auld carle was sitting Amang his bags, and loosing ilka knitting bb To air his rousty coin, I loot a claught, cc And took a hundred dollars at a fraught. Whan wi' the sight the carle had pleased himsel, Then he began the glancing heap to tell. As soon's he missed it, he rampaged red-wood, tld And lap and danced, and was in unco mood, — Ran out and in, and up and down ; at last His reeling een upon a raip ee he cast, Knit till a bauk, ff that had hung up a cow, — He taks the hint, and there hingsss he I trow.' a Cast-clothes. b Good nurse's fee. c Smoking. d Serving. e Rest. f What. s Nimble. 11 Driven about in abun- dance. 1 Chat. k Asked. m Newly. n Loon, knave. ° Innocent. p Then went, i Snatch. r Broth. s Blame. 1 The laugh. B Headlong in a pond. * Reed. w Took sudden fright. x Overturned. y Quart. z Sheepish. aa Glib, quick. bb Tape. cc Made a snatch. dd Stormed about in frenzy. ee Rope. ff Beam. ss Hangs. 2 i 2 484 APPENDIX. No. XXXI. As she's behading ilka thing that past, Wi' a loud crack the house fell down at last ; The reemish a put a knell into her heart, And frae her dream she wakened wi' a start ; She thought she couldna 'scape o' being smored, And at the fancy loudly cried and roared. Syne frae the tree she lifted up her head, And fand, for a' the din, she wasna dead ; But sitting body-like, as she sat down, But b ony alteration, on the groun'." Pursuing her way the next morning, Bydby arrives about nightfall in the neighbourhood of the old lady's house where Nory is still residing as a guest. Nory, accidentally meeting her in the wood, and hearing her story, determines to guide her herself to Flavinia. Oft", therefore, they start in company. On approaching the village, Nory desires Bydby to go first and announce herself to Lindy — intending to follow presently, and discover by their manner whether Lindy has played her false or not. Bydby opens the door and walks in, to Lindy 's consternation — is received coldly, but asserts her rights with such spirit, backed by threats of visits from her Highland kin to enforce them, that he knows not what to answer her, but consents to her proposal of referring the question to Colin's decision, trusting that it will be in his favour. At this juncture Nory appears at the door, and Lindy's delight at seeing her (though damped by her averted looks) at once reveals to Bydby the state of the case. Bydby, however, relaxes not a jot in her pretensions, and a great deal of argu- ment ensues, during which Lindy cuts a very poor figure, and sinks every moment in Nory's esteem, her regard for the elegant and honourable Squire Olimund (who had already, unconsciously to herself, supplanted him) rising in proportion. This her description of him in a short conversation with her father and mother, during a few minutes' retreat from the scene of discussion, clearly enough betrays ; and the sagacious old shepherd, on reentering , the cottage, has no scruple, therefore, in joining Lindy's own father and all their brother shepherds (by this time congregated there) in urging on the " blate and bumbazed " youth their fears of a Highland feud, Bydby's good looks, and her rightful claim on his hand. At this moment Olimund himself arrives " in armour sheen," and with five or six running footmen — declares his love for Nory — and adds his voice to those of Bydby's advocates, which ultimately prevail, Lindy himself, we are glad to find, being much softened in her favour by her very decided admiration for his ruddy cheeks and yellow hair. The priest is sent for, and the two couples are married forthwith. — The ceremony is scarcely over when the Sevilians, or Highlanders, arrive in warlike guise in quest of their kinswoman, but, on being informed of the recent events, exchange their vows of vengeance for those of friendly alliance, and engage to restore, for Bydby's sake, the whole drove of which they had plundered their late antagonists. The following morning the squire carries his bride home. His old nurse, at whose house they stop, half-way, to refresh themselves, recognizes in Jane, Nory's mother, the late laird's sister, who had been stolen away in childhood Rumble. b Without, No. XXXI I. APPENDIX. 485 by the gipsies — Nory, therefore, is Olimund's cousin-german — of gentle blood, consequently, and the scandal of a mesalliance is done away. " So hame they went, and led a blythesome life, Happy as ever yet were man and wife. A blooming offspring frae this marriage sprang, That honoured virtue and discouraged wrang." No. XXXII.— Page 352. ' Act anent the Fwm and Order of the Parliament,' 1587, and others, — from the autograph drafts of John Lindsay, Lord Menmuir. " Forsameikle as the form and order of the Parliament hes been brought to gryt decay in times bypast, in sa far as it wes nocht knawin what nummer of ilk estate necessarly ought to be present thereat, nor what is proper place and rank of ilk nobleman and others to sit and give their vote in, nor what habits ilk estate should wear the time thereof, nor what form of reasoning should precede the voting of matters to be determinate therein ; whereby sic incon- venients hes followit, that sometime two contrair Parliaments hes at ane time been halden in time of troubles, and the place of honour properly pertaining to ilk nobleman was changit at ilk Parliament at the appetite of the chief courtier, and there was na difference of apparel betwix ane Earl and ane bur- gess, and also that sometime acts formit in favour of private men to the hurt of others nocht callit * hes been presentit the day of the voting, and agreeit unto in haste without ony reasoning had of before thereupon amongs the Lords of Articles, conform to the common order ; and siclike ilk Parliament was con- trair to other, and the later reducit (rescinded) the decreits of the former ex eisdem deductis in matters of treason, and also made contrair acts in civil actions betwix party and party without ony lawful process preceding, or summoning of parties wha might be interessit thereby ; and other times the enormity was sa gryt, that themselves wha wes convenit, putting doubt of the lawfulness thereof, ane act was made finding the same to be ane lawful Parliament, and twa of the estates wald concur and make acts in prejudice of the thrid (third), the said thrid estate hailly (wholly) opponing themselfs thereto, — whereby it came to pass that the said sovereign court of Parliament, wherein good laws for the weillfare of the country, and the life, honour, and lands of noblemen and others accusit upon treason, should be determinate upon with maist mature deliberation and good justice and equity, became the maist incertain and dan- gerous form of judgment of all others of this realm : — For remeid whereof our Sovereign Lord, with avise of his estates, hes statute and ordainit, — " 1. That, in time coming, it shall not be esteemit ane lawful Parliament, except gif the twa pairt at the least of the haill nummer of ilk estate, wha ought and should have vote in Parliament, be present personally thereat, and the absents for lawful causes constitute others of that same estate, wha are * Not duly summoned to answer for their interest. 486 APPENDIX. No. XXXII. presents, their attorneys and procurators, to gif vote and avise for them, and the unlaw (fine) of ony absent to be v° merks to the King : — " 2. Siclike that nathing shall pass as ane law, or be determinate upon in Parliament, except gif the twa part of them of ilk estate wha are present personally agree and consent plainly thereunto : — " 3. Item, that all things agreeit unto be the Lords of Articles, and to be therefter votit as acts and laws, be first publicly read and reasonit in presence of the haill Parliament twa days at the least before the final voting and con- cluding thereof : — " 4. Item, that every estate shall haif their several apparel in seemly fashion, conform to the pattern thereof, whilk our Sovereign Lord shall cause make and command to be observit, under the pain of twa hundreth punds, and debarring of them ignominiously furth of the Parliament-house : — "5. Item, that the auld form in cheising (chusing) of the Lords of Articles, whilk was, that the Earls and Lords should cheise sa mony of the Kirkmen, and the saidis Kirkmen to cheise of the Lords, and they baith to cheise of the thrid estate of the Commons, be changit, because the best qualifiet sometimes is not chosen ; and in times coming every estate to cheise, of their awin nummer, Lords of Articles, with their prolocutor, to speak in name of the haill estate sic things as concerns the same in general, but (without) prejudice of ony others, to reason freely concerning ony matters proponit, — and the nummer of the saidis Lords of the Articles to be equal in ilk estate : — " 6. Item, that na advocate nor prolocutor be stoppit in ony ways to com- peir and defend for ony person accusit in Parliament for treason or otherways, but that whatsomever person accusit shall haif full liberty to provide himself of advocates and prolocutors in competent nummer, to defend his life, honour, and land, aganes whatsomever accusation, — the intending whereof should not prejudge the party of all lawful defence as gif it were confesso that the said accusation were true, whilk were to condemn before lawful trial : — " 7. Item, that na particular civil questions or process betwix private persons be determinate upon in Parliament, but the same remittit to the Judge Ordinar : — " 8. Item, that na private men's lands, benefices, nor pensions whilk are not cassable (voidable) be revocation be in ony ways ta'en away in Parliament ; under whatsomever colour or pretext, except the pairty wha may be prejudgit be lawfully convict of ane crime, whilk may import the said pain : — 9. Item, that ane nummer of the best qualifiet Lords of the Session be present with the Lords of the Articles, and at the voting and concluding of matters in Parliament, to gif their avice in questions of law, in case they be requirit — " 10. Item, for eschewing of contention betwix noblemen amang themselfs, and commissioners of boroughs amang themselfs, for the first place and honour in Parliament, that presently trial be ta'en of every nobleman's rank and place of Parliament duly pertaining to him, and als the order of sitting and voting of boroughs and others whatsomever having vote in Parliament, and the order prescrivit to be keepit in all Parliaments, conventions, and counsels, and to be registrate in the Books of Parliament, and not to be alterit except with the avice of the three estates. No. XXXII. APPENDIX. 487 " And our Sovereign Lord, with avice foresaid, statutes and ordains that the order above-written shall be inviolably observit in all time coming, as the necessar and lawful form of all Parliaments, and faithfully promits to do or command nathing whilk may directly or indirectly prejudge the liberty of free voting and reasoning of the saids estates, or ony of them, in ony time coming." Anent the Vote of the Barons in Parliament. 11 Forsameikle as in the cxii Act of King James the First, it was statute that in ilk sheriffdom, at the head court, there should be twa or ma (mair) wise barons chosen be the rest, to be sent to the Parliaments or General Councils, as commissars of the shire, whilks had full and haill power of all the laiff (lave, rest) of the sheriffdom, under the witnessing of the sheriff's seal, with the seals of divers barons of the shire, to hear, treat, and finally determine all causes to be proponit in Council or Parliament, and to propone all and sindry needs and causes pertaining to the commons, — quhilk Act, albeit it be come to desuetude, yet was maist reasonable in the self, in sa far as the Parliament should represent the haill body of the common-weal ; and therefore every chief member thereof, either be themselfs, or others having their power, should give their avice and consent to sic things as should be determinate therein, — and it were ane gryt absurdity that every mean craftsman within boroughs in a manner should have avice in Parliament, in sa far as be their votes their commission- ers to the Parliament is chosen, and that in like manner the haill mean barons of the realm, commonly callit Lairds, being in nummer, riches, wisdom, and all other guid qualities, ane of the chief pairts and members of the common-weal, under the Earls and Lords, should be all utterly secludit fra all vote in Par- liament, either be themselfs or their commissioners, specially being authorisit with ane law of the country, and be the example of other foreign weill governit countries, — upon the whilk respects, ane supplication being given in be the saids mean barons, commonly called Lairds, to our Sovereign Lord and three estates assemblit at Linlithgow in the current Parliament, halden upon the . . . day of December, 1585 years, desiring the foresaid Act to be ratifiet, and liberty granted of new to them to cheis yearly their commissioners for the Parliament, conform to the said Act, &c, the said supplication was referrit be the haill estates then convenit to our Sovereign Lord, to do therein as his Majesty should think guid and expedient : — Whilk matter and determina- tion thereof our Sovereign Lord then acceptit, whereupon instruments was ta'en in name of the saids barons be Sir John Maitland of Thirlestane, knight, and William Douglas of Glenbervie, as ane Act of the said current Parliament at mair length proports. And now our Sovereign Lord, efter his Hienes' perfit age, being weill avisit herewith, and knawand perfitly the gryt com- modity whilk will redound to the haill common-weal be the wisdom and guid discretion of the saids mean barons, specially the estate of the Kirk being sa far decayit, and considering that it wald be gryt iniquity to debar them fra their foresaid auld privilege and liberty, whilk was establishit of before be ane law ; his Majesty, having divers times, with avice of his estates in Parliament, ratifiet and confirmit all and whatsomever privileges grantit be his Hienes' 488 APPENDIX. No. XXXII. predecessors to the saids barons of his realm, — Therefore, with avice of the three estates of Parliament, hes declared, statute, and ordonnit, that the sheriff of ilk shire shall cause the saids mean barons and freehalders, commonly callit Lairds, yearly, at the head courts within ilk sheriffdom, cheis twa of the wisest and maist discreet barons of the shire, and best affectit to our Sovereign Lord's service and profit of the common- weal, who commission, shall be authorisit be the seal and subscription of the said sheriff, and sex at the least of the remanent barons of the shire, in name of the haill shire, whilk twa commissioners for ilk shire, chosen and authorisit, as said is, shall be repute ane pairt and member of the thrid estate of the Commons, and shall have power for the haill commons of the shire (exceptand the boroughs), to propone in all the General Councils or Parliaments whilk shall occur that year sic things as they shall think expedient for the common- weal, and shall have their votes in all things that shall be determinate in the saids Parliaments as freely as ony others commissioners of boroughs, or other subjects wha presently hes vote in Parliament. " And to the effect that this vote pass not in desuetude, as of before, our Sovereign Lord, with avice forsaid, hes ordonnit that his Hienes' precept directit to the sheriff of ilk shire for convening to the Parliament shall com- mand the said sheriff to elect and send the saids twa commissioners for the barons and commons of the shire (except the boroughs), to assist and have vote in the Parliament to be halden in manner above written, as the common form of the precepts of the Chancellary uses to be direct to others his Hienes' subjects wha had vote of before : — And that the observing of this Act shall be ane special point of the sheriff's office, and the pain and unlaw (fine) of non- observing thereof ane c pounds for the sheriff's pain, and, for the parts of the haill barons and freehalders, the tinsal (loss) of the votes of their commis- sioners for the nixt Parliament that shall follow allanerly (only), gif by and attour (besides) them there be ane sufficient nummer of others to vote and assist in the said Parliament." The Session to have Vote in Parliament with the Prelates. " Our Sovereign Lord, with avice of the estates of Parliament, Understand- ing that the estate of the clergy is like to decay be the dissolution of all benefices and annexation of the temporality thereof to the Crown, and be dis- position of the tiends and spirituality thereof to the ministers, whereby the nummer of them wha should have vote in Parliament is like to decay, — in con- sideration, alsua, that the half of the Lords of Session, be the first institution yet observit, is of the Clergy, albeit some of them be not prelates, and that of auld clerks of learning and judgment had vote in Parliament, and war of the Estates, and upon his Majesty's predecessors' Secret Council, and als employit for commissions of the Parliament, and in ambassadries to other countries, albeit they were not prelates, — having alsua respect that the saids Lords of Session are the common judges under his Majesty upon the interpretation and judicature of the Acts of Parliament, whereby it is necessary they be present at the making thereof, as men of learning and judgment, best acquaintit with No. XXXII. APPENDIX. 489 the laws, like as in other weill governit countries na law nor edict has full force while (till) they first be authorisit be the Courts of Parliament, whilks be the Session in this country is representit, and in all conventions of their estates the presidents and councillors of the saids courts hes vote,— Hes there- fore, with avice foresaid, and with the special consent of the saids prelates and estate of the clergy, statute and ordonnit, that in all times coming the saids Lords of the Session shall have vote in Parliament with the saids prelates, to supply their decaying estate, as said is ; And that the saids Lords of Session shall be ane pairt of the said estate of the Clergy in all time coming, and shall have ... of their nummer upon the Articles, to be chosen promiscue with the prelates be the Lords and Barons and Burgesses, and that ane precept of the Parliament be direct in all times coming to the Senators of the College of Justice for this effect, with the rest of the precepts directit to the prelates, earls, lords, commissioners for barons and boroughs, &c, — But (without) pre- judice always of the honourable dignities of the present possessors of the prelacies enduring their lifetimes, to be bruikit (possessed) be them in Par- liament and otherways, as of before." 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