AN ESSAY, UPON The Inscription of MACDUFF'S CROSS In FYFE. By I. C. 1678.  Veterrima quaeque ut ea vina quae vetustatem ferunt esse debent suavissima: Cicer. de Amicitia. 
Edinburgh, Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, 1678.   
Antiquius quo quid est, hoc venerabilius▪ 
The INSCRIPTION UPON MACDUFFS CROSS, Which stands above the NEWBURGH, near LUNDORES, upon the Confines of STRATHERNE and FYFE.  
Maldraradrum dragos Malairia largia largos  
Spalando spadoes sieve nig fig knippite gnaros  
Lorea lauriscos lauringen louria luscos  
Et Coluburtos sic fit tibi bursea burtus  
Exitus et blaradrum sive lim sive lam sive labrum  
Propter maegidrim et hoc oblatum  
Accipe smeleridem super limpide lampida labrum.  
THough I had this of an ingenious Gentleman, telling me he came by it from the Clerk of Crail, who informed, that several succeeding Clerks there, have, for a considerable time, engrossed this as a true Copy in their Books, to preserve it from utter perishing, for it is now quite worn off the stone, at least altogether illegible. But be it so recorded in Crail, Newburgh or elsewhere, yet with their good favour, scarcely can I judge this a true and exact Copy; whether the fault has lain in the first Copiator from the stone, or from the Engraver, or partly both: For, none who knows the History of Macbeth, Malcom Canmore and Mackduff, will, I hope suppose, that such a King as Malcom Canmore, when he intended to witness a favour for Mackdaff's services, and such a subject as Mackduff, when he was willing to publish the royal Bounty of his Master, would upon the Cross of so famous a Sanctuery (as this was) have inscribed but nonsense. And though the true meaning and purport of the words be dark and abstruse to us, who now live at such a distance; yet I wonder why the learned Skeen should brand them as barbarous (I hope he only means unintelligible, and not nonsensical) For questionless they are (for what I have said) significative, and I doubt not but to purpose; and most probably they were written, either to signify the Privileges given by King Ma●colm to Mackduff, with the benefits he enjoyed by virtue thereof, or the Immunities, Freedoms and Pardons indulged by, and conferred upon, that Girth, if not in a complicated sense, all of these together. So then, allowing them to signify sense, which few men in a sober charity can well refuse; le's see (as far as we may) to what Language the words are best reducible, for to any single one they cannot: for, albeit the termination, flexion and construction I take to be most after the Latin, and that there be some Latin words intermixed, yet none will aver it all to be Latin; so to some other Language we must go, which is but one of two. Our old High-land or Irish tongue, or the Saxon: And as I hardly think it the High-land or Irish, as well, because I never, heard that brought under Roman Terminations, Constructions, or Declinations; So even those that would wrest it to that Language in some words, cannot follow it out in all, although they be seen in the Irish Tongue. And it is strange, none of our Highlanders, though Scholars ever interprets it; therefore I much rather incline to deduce it (at least most of it) from the Saxon, which I hope will not seem strange to the Intelligent when he remembers what footing the Saxons had in this Isle, and how Malcome Canmore was not only long an Exile at an English Saxon Court, but that he had interest in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, which was but sometimes a Province of the West Saxons And as there came 10000 English Saxons then in with Sibardus the King's Grandfather, so they must be but Novices in our Language, who do not find Vestiges of the Saxon in it almost every where. Taking then this Inscription to be Saxon (as to th● main) aped in a Latin dress, as to the main, I say, for suppose some words might savour of a Danish, or old French Extract, it needs not import, since both are of a Teutonick Origine, aped, I say, in a Latin dress, whither from the fancy of the Author, to make it to run the smother with the n●erlaced Latin in this his hexametrall composure, or from some inclination of King Malcome himself, of whom and of whose time, sayeth a grave Author, as now the English Court by reason of the abundance of Normands therein, became most to speak French, so the Scotish Court, because of the Queen and many English that came with her, began to speak English, I understand the English Saxon, the which language it would seem, King Malcome himself had before that learned, and now by reason of his Queen, did the more affect it; thus far he, where if I might be allowed a conjecture, perhaps this Sanctuary was granted at that pious Queen's entreaty, and here inscribed with her native tongue for her greater honour, and the rather under a Latin Vizorn, to invite the Scots (of no language more studious than Latin) to some love and knowledge of the Saxon. And so let us now with allowance, to rectify what Escapes may be in the Orthography, modestly examine the Words themselves; but lest I be thought to be too peremptory to impose my naked Conjectures, in a matter of such Antiquity, I shall bring my Vouchers where I have them, with the probable Motives that prevail with me to such a sense, still leaving a just Liberty to all who can find out better.  
First then (as the words lie in order) I take Maldraradrum to be a supposititious Genitive, in the plural number after the Greek way, from Maldra, Maldrus, the Germane Maldar, pro modio seu certa mensura frumentaria; and Spelman says, Maldri vocabulum est Alemanicum; and have we not to this day with us the Word Melder and a Melder of corn, and this Genitive Maldraradrum I construe with dragos, conjoined with its Latin adjective Largos, and this Dragos I suppose de●izon'd a Roman from drach or drache of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manipulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prehendo, manu arripio, Fut. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from which belike we have the words Draught (as applied to Cups and Fish-netts) drag, draw, so that largos, dragos, maldraradrum, may signify large quantities or measures of Corn, to be taken by some compulsive or distreinziable Force, as will I hope anon be sound agreeable with the rest of the Sentence.  
Malairia, I fancy here by wrong Orthography mis-written for mairia, Officium Majoris, Majoratus, Praefectura, says Spelman, (sufficiently known in the Burrowes Royal:) And does not our Skeen in his 15. Chap. of the Statutes of Alexander the Second, call the Earl of Fyfe, Marus Regis Comitatus de Fyfe, (whereof more anon) M●iria, I take to be in the Ablative Case, for we must not here be tied to the strict Rules of Metrical Quantities, or Grammatical Constructions.  
Largia, mis-written I suppose for Lagslita, or Laghslita, by inadvertency or transposing of the Saxon Letters; yea, and the Saxons sometimes in their Capitals, placed Letters within Letters, and were somewhat odd in their Contractions and Abbreviations, especially in Monumental Inscriptions; Lagslita, Transgressio Legis, Legis violatae poena, proprie ruptio legis, seu mulcta pro transgressione legis, Lag & Lagh, Lex, & Slit, rupta, Vox Danica, & in Anglo-Danorum Legibus primum deprehensa, says Spelman; But what needs me cite Spelman, have we not the Phrase, ilk land has its Laugh, and is not the word Slit, as obvious as beneficial to every Tailor: Lagslita, I take to be in the Accusative Case, which must be supplied with the Preposition propter, and yet for all this the sentence is but mank without the help of a Verb, which must be borrowed in knippite, written belike for knighthite, by placing the Roman p for the Saxon th', which yet may be excused; since Spelman finds that fault in the Transcriber of Canutus Laws, upon the word Thegen, or Pegen. Knighthite then, or Knippite, being a supposititious Verb, (for I know not the Saxon Constructions or Conjugations) after the Latin form, from the Saxon knight, or knit, signifying famulus minister, may import as much as, Receive ye as my Servant or Deputy, and being joined with Mairia, as my Lieutenant, (for so is yet a More within Burgh) so that famulus minister in this word here must be honourable, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as it is in Theini, Theigni, Thani, who from Thien to serve, were but famuli ministri, and yet were those famuli Regni Barones, as Spelman notes. And thus the sentence may be expounded, Receive for your Service as my Lieutenant, and through and by virtue of your Office of Lieutenantry, uplift and distreinzy large quantities and measures of Corn, for the Transgressions and Breach of the Laws, and why then should Skeen term that Barbarous, who himself homologats the same sense in another Language, in that his above-cited Chapter of King Alexander the second, Entitled, De Forisfacturis levandis ab illis qui remanent ab ●xercitu, where in the marginal Gloss upon the 4. Para. speaking of the Earl of Fyfe, his words are, Et ille non sicut Comes, sed sicut Marus Regis Comitatus de Fyfe, ad rectitudines suas exigendas: and does he not again, in his De Verborum significatione, in the word Clanmackduff, say out of Boettus, that amongst other Privileges, Mackduff and his Clan had the Privilege and Right of a Regality; yea and does not the learned Spelman say, what was Gildwite to the English Saxons was Laghslite to the Danes, and and both forisfactura to the Normans, (amerciaments with us) where may be noticed the judicious exactness of the composer, in his prefixing the general word Laghslita, to be amerciat by victual or corn; For Laghslitae, says one, anumerandae sunt mediis & levioribus delict●, quorum mulctae pietatis intuitu, & per misericordiam imponuntur. Nec graviora crimina, says another, inter Laghslitas simplices numerata aut levia, quaeque instar graviorum mulctata quisquam opinabitur. And so how methodically does here our old versificator proceed to faults and crimes of greater guilt, and more special denomination yet for a while still under the Conduct of Knippite.  
Sive gnaros spalando spadoes, I conjecture to signify, whether such as are known cunning, or accustomed to want, or put away their Weapons of Warfare: the two first words being Latin, I hope will not be refused; the construction of spaland●, I take to be a Gerund for an Infinitive, gnaros spalare a counterfeit Conjugation from an old French word, espaler to scatter, cast away, or spread abroad. Spadoes from espade or espadon, in the same language, a sword, and by a Metonymy, for any weapon. Neither needs it be strange that these Words are borrowed from the old French, which did depend upon the Teutonick and high Germane, as the modern does now more upon the Latin●; and that wanting and away putting of weapons of warfare were with us reputed Crimes, and punished as such, see Skeen himself, in the 27 chap. of the first statutes of King Robert the Bruce, de armaturis pro guerra & poena corum quo eas non habent; Which is there said to be forfeiture, or escheat of all his goods, and in the last chap. of the same Statutes, entitled, Non licetrendere arma hostibus Regni: The punishment is loss of Life, and Limb, and all they can tyne to the K●ng, which must be Goods. And it were but frivolous to allege that these Statutes are lo●g after the upsetting of Macduffs cross: For, how many things are punishable by the Common Law and practic of the Kingdom, before they become Statutorie: And does not their coming under a Statute, imply a prior Custom? Yea, an● who knows, but that after such a catastrophe as was at, and before, the Bruces coming to the Crown, they might be rather but revived, then original. And have not our subsequent Laws for Weapon-shawings been founded upon their Customs, to prevent such inconveniences for the future?  
Sive nig, And here we must return again to the Saxon, nig, For nighwite, the Syllable Wite, mulcta poena, being left out, which is sometime ordinary (our Ancestors delighting much in Monosyllables) and the rather allowable in this Metrical composure, nig or nigh contracted from nithing, Nidling or niderling; such as stay away from the host; For, says not; Malmesberiensis, Jubet (scilicet ●ex) ut compatriotas advocent ad obsidionem venire, nisi siqui velin● sub nomine Niderling, quod nequam sonat remanere, Angli qui nihil miserius putarent quam h●jus●e vocabuli dedecore aduri catervatim ad Regem, confluunt & invincibilem exercitum faciu●t And says not Matthew Paris, Vt ad obsidionem ventant jubet nisi velint sub nomine Nithing, recenseri▪ Angli qui nihil contumeliosius & vilius estimant, quam hujusmodi ignominioso vocabulo etc. And does not Spelman deduce Nidling, à vocabulis Anglo Normanicis, Nid, id est, nidus & Ling pullus, ac si ignavi isti homines, qui in exercitum proficisci nolunt pullorum instar essent, qui de nido non audeant prodire domi latitantes & torp●scentes. And have we not the above cited 15 chap. of our Alexander the second, entitled, De foris facturis levandis ab illis qui remanent ab exercitu Regis, Where the Earl of Fyfes' privilege is expressly reserved to him, qua marus Regis ad rectitudines suas exigendas; And wh●t be the pains and punishments of such as stay from, or desert the King's Host, are they not sufficiently known, and freshly remembered by us to this day?  
Fig for Figwi●e, Figwita, or Fyghtwita, the mulct of such as by fight raises a fray, trouble, or disturbance in the Host, or perhaps more generally, mulcta Rixarum cum verberibus, vel ipsae pugnae and Ranulphus Cistrensis calls Fy●twite, amerciamentum pro conflictu▪ And have we not a severe certification in a subsequent statute against such a raises a fray in the Host, 54 Act, 12. Par. Ja 2 d. And is not the word Fight y●t plain with us?  
Lorea by wrong Orthography▪ pro Lothea (I suppose) from the Saxon Hloth, Hlode, the Saxon aspiration being left out in the transcribing as is ordinary, the Saxons having a peculiar way of fixing aspirations on their consonants, by engrossing them with the same figure, as the Greeks in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the R. here written for Th', the Saxon figure of both being apt to impose one for another, if not narrowly noticed: Qui de Hloth suerat accusatus abneget per centum viginti Hidas, & sic emendet: hoc est, says Spelman, qui ●urmae illegitimae interfuisse arguitur, etc. And Hlothbota, mulcta ejus est qui turmae il●egitimae intersuerit, Bo●e Saxonicum, compensatio emendatio; And have we not a phrase in some places, they clod together, from the Saxon Hlode turma,, and how far unlawful meetings and convocations of the Liege; have been, and yet still are troublesome to this Kingdom, these that run may read: And if this word be rightly deduced, it seems, our forefathers have very prudently here placed it among the thick of the Cryms, which makes me the rather admire, why so much noise hath in this our Age been made for suppressing them, as if unlawful meetings had never been thought a Crime with us, till of late, I know some may incline to deduce this word from Lot, of the Saxon Hlot, sors, pars tributi sive solutionis alicujus quam inter alios quis tenetur praestare, says Sp●lman; So that such would make the meaning here to be a gift or surrender of all Unlaws or Escheats belonging to the King, and in that so often cited 15 chap. of the Statutes of Alexander the second, in the 5 parag. some ground may be there for such a conjecture from the Cavellis vero, etc. And some such privilege is yet granted to the house of Argyle, in point of escheats (or unlaws for Crymes) which yet here I conceive sufficiently included in knigththite, mairi●, and therefore likes best of the first exposition of the special Crime of unlawful Convocations, with liberty to the candid Reader to choose as he pleases.  
Lauriscos, I suppose should be read Leudiscos, from leudis, leodis & leudum, quae verba dicuntur pro Wergildo, de capitis estimatione leudi soccisi scilicet de compositione quam aliter Weram & Wergildum, vocan. Leudis, vasallus, cliens, homo ligius, subditus: So leudiscos may signify the amerciaments which were then due to the King by and attour the Kinbote) for killing of a free Liege. And that it was the custom among the Northern Nations, rather to amerciat then to take blood for blood, Hear Tacitus, Germani veteres & Aquilonares gentes, qui jugum pariter & leges omni Europae imposuere gravissima delicta ipsaque homicidia pecuniis commutabant: And another saying, Poenarum enim ratio apud mediorum Saeculorum homines in mulctis, potius quam in sanguine sita fuit.  
For lauringem, I willingly would read laricingin, Robbrie and theft, for thus with the n it is in the plural number from Laricinium, the French Larrecin, and both belike from the Latin Latrocinium, where says Spelman, Prisca Anglorum lex Larricinium divisit in majus & minus, the one with violence and force, the other without, the one in things of greater moment, the others of less: Hence the legal term Petit larcens, yet in use with the English.  
Lauria, I would read lairia, for lairwite layrwit, or leirwite, Stupri seu concubitus illegitimi mulcta in adulteros, fornicatores, virginumque corruptores animadversio (belike in their lines a rape, as they are expounded relative to the Girth) from the Saxon lagan, concumbere legar, concubitor, & wi●e, quasi concubitoris mulcta. And says not clearly Spelman, Ad maneriorum dominos (nescio an ad omnes ex consuetudine) olim pertinuit jurisdictio de nativis suis (id est servis & ancillis) corruptis cognoscendi multamque delinquentibus, tam viris quam foeminis inferendi ad quosdam etiam non de his solum sed & de aliis quibuscunque intra dominium ipsorum sic peccantibus, and have we not yet the word Laire in Childbed Laire and others.  
Luscos, I do not here take to be the Latin Luscus, but that the word should be rather written, liscos, for, or from Fliscos', the letter F, being lest out to make the line run the closer upon the letter L. Fliscos', Fugitivos, Fugitives, the words Flee, Flight, and Flisk, sufficiently known, as to flisk up and down here and there, as Fugitives use to do, who dare not well stay long in one place, all from, or in great affinity with Leipa, Si quis à Domino suo sine licentia discedat, ut Leipa emendetur, which Spelman understands, de profugo.  
Et Coloburtos, I read, Colovurtos, or yet rather Colovortos, or Colovertos: But like the Vowel u, is written in the third Syllable, to clinch the better by By'r, with the last word of the line: And every Bajane knows the affinitive betwixt the letters, B. and U. The signification however I take to be runaways, such as run away from their colours, and Culvertagium, I find a reproachful term of Cowardice, which Spelman thinks to come from Culvert a Dove, à columbina timidiatte, perhaps (as well, if not better) from vertere colobium: sure I am, we have the word Turncoat, allusive to its sense; and may not our disdainful word Collie derive its pedigree hence?  
Sic fit tibi bursea burtus, and so through the amerciaments and unlaws of the above written Crymes, your purse shall be heavy, that is, your gains and advantage the greater, Bursea for Bursa, and is not the word Burden, of known signification to the meanest? And their above written words would I rather, at least more especially expound with a relation to the Regality, and its Privileges, in favours of the Earl, yet not excluding some benefits of a Sanctuary to the transgressors (upon a composition) as the Reader at his pleasure may best incline to. But for my own part (with a just deference to better judgements) as I should attribute the preceding lines, rather to the Regality, so should I give the subsequent more to the Sanctuary.  
Exitus et Blaradrum, would I read exitus et bladadrum, a genetive, as Maldraradrum, from blade a weapon by which a mortal wound is or may be inflicted: Hence with us Blade, a sword, or sharp edged weapon, and with the Countrymen, to give a Blade, blaw, or after the English dialect, a blow, all (it would seem) from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, laedo, And does not Spelman say, That the Saxons in their Language agreed with, and followed much more the Grecians, than the Romans.  
Sive limb, whether on a limb, Sieve lamb, id est, Lath, Lith, ●ra Lit, the vowel i, commuted for a, and the letter m, fort, or th', It being usual for the Poets then, who were the Priests, to run much upon a letter; and is it not given for a rule, literae ejusdem ordinis & organi inter se sunt permutabiles; And here Th, being consonans aspirata, is not so entirely and depress'dly a Mute, but that it may be changed for a liquid in a Saxon Poem. Limb, membrum cum ●sse Lith, articulus cum nervis. And is not Lath used for what is pliable by, with, or on some ligament.  
Labrum, I take here to signify life, by some Catechresis of the Author, allusive to the phrase, Our life is in our lip.  
Propter magidrim▪ I would write, magidrin, Familias cognationis, seu cognatorum, from the Saxon maeg Cognatus,, says Spelman, the diphthong being abreviated to the vowel, (as is ordinary in the transcribing or compounds of that Language) mag, mage, or maghe, a kinsman, or Cousin: whence we use the word maech, for affinis to this hour and Hired, hidre, or hider, which Verstegan interprets a Lineage, a Family, hidrin, in the plural number: The Saxons making that by adding n, as we do now s, and leaving out the aspiration in the composition: Does not thus Magidrin better quadrat and agree with the privilege Skeen gives by that Girth, to the Clanmack-duffe, then to take propter for prope, as some would, and Magidrim for Mugdrim, because forsooth, the cross stands upon, or near a place of that name: But allowing their conjecture, what sense or cohaesion can they make from this, their prope mugdrim? Yet a little to convince them, Dare they not rather think, their mugdrim bears that name from this magidrin, in the lines, and imports as much, as the land, or place lying beside, or about the cross, of the kindred. And seeing there are yet the vestiges of some old buildings at mugdrim, Would it be any Heresy to think, that sometimes dwelled there an Overseer, to notice such as came to, and claimed the benefit of, the Sanctuary? which Skeen says, was such to the Kindred of Mackduff, that when any Manslayer, being within the ninth degree of kin and blood to macduff, came to that cross, and gave nine Kine and a Colpindach, he was free of the slaughter committed by him. And thus hath our learned Skeen made us understand, hoc oblatum.  
Accipe smeleridem, And for your Oblation, Receive an Oblivion, an Indemnity, a Pardon; whence belike we yet have the word smeire, smear, smore, as if a thing so covered over, by consequence may be presumed to be forgotten, or smeleris, smeleridis, (after the Greek way, as from Spelman, I have said, was but ordinary with the Saxons) Quasi abstersio, detersio, purgatio, form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, abstergo, detergo, purgo. I know some would have smeleridem, to signify a kiss, from smeirikin, a word so used in some places: but sure, our Smeleridem here must import more otherways, Alas! this privilege would prove to the manslayer, but as in the proverb, A kiss and a drink of cold water: But because the conjecture came (as I heard) from a man of reverence and reading, let me engross it thus, For this your offering or gift (to wit, of the kine) and by kissing of the Cross, receive ye an Oblivion.  
Super limpide lampida labrum, sufficiently explained already, only I could have wished they had come to my hand under a more Saxon Garb: limthite lamthita, the Saxon th', in the transcribing being often turned to b, d, or p, whether from the ignorance of the Saxon Character, or Euphoniae gratia, for good companies sake of the Words with which they are conjoined: And that I had reason to reduce most of these Words to the Saxon, I now (from what I have said) refer to the Courteous Reader, and hope I shall not be judged unreasonable to think these Lines, as I got them, might be miswritten in their Orthography, whether from the misunderstanding of the Saxon Character, if they were so ingraved, or (after so many Centuries) even of any other in which it might have been cut, since none who knows any thing, but knows it wants not its own difficulty to read but the Characters of an Age or two from ourselves, be they written in Parchment, or engraven in Brass or Stone: as for instance, I shall not stick to say they be no small Clerks, whom I could hold upon a Wager, would they go to St. Andrews, they should hardly at the first View, read me distinctly, with one Breath, the Inscription of Bishop Kennedies Tomb, in the Chapel of St. Salvators College, though he died but in the Year, 1466. And seeing I have heard several Copies and various Readins of these Lines (should I rather say of the Inscription upon this Cross) all differing amongst themselves, why may not I (seeing Skeen, of the two last which being most stuff with Latin, might be thought most legible, says no more, then, that they appeared to be conform to that purpose) crave Leave to offer mine, which to the intelligent will not appear very dissonant from the Copy I have already here transcribed, and the less will the difference yet be, to any who knows the Saxon Character, yea, and what if in some Characters our Predecessors wrote not as the English? does not every Language have its Dialects differing sometimes in whole Syllabications, as in the Lettering, Writing, and Pronunciation, (not to speak of the Injuries of Wether in so long a Tract of time) so upon all Adventures, I willingly would rectify and read my Copy thus, 
Maldraradrum dragos Mairia laghslita largos  
Spalando spadoes sieve nig fig knighthite gnaros  
Lothea leudiscos laricingen lairia liscos  
Et Colovurtos sic fit tibi bursia burtus  
Exitus et bladadrum sive lim sive lam sive labrum  
Propter magidrin et hoc oblatum  
Accipe smeleridem super limthide lamthida labrum.   
And this my Reading with their Orthographical Amendments, I submit to the discretion of the judicious, allowing any to use either the Roman p or the Saxon th', in what words I have here altered as they think fit, or shall agree best with their Ear and Fancy; And having already been so full upon every Word, I hope a closely interpretation needs not be here expected, because belike it may relish better, that (from what I have said) every man be his own Interpreter. Yet not too much to burden the Memory of the Reader, may I briefly paraphrase it; for a verbatim Exposition here, as in all the old Tongues (and they say the Teutonick, whereof the Saxon is but a Branch, came with Twisco from Babel) would sound a little harsh, as well in respect of the idiotisms of the two languages, as that most of the Words are legal Terms, or relating thereto, and so will hardly allow a narrow and precise Exposition: and although the ground work be Saxon, yet appears it under a Latin Mask; therefore as I said, I crave pardon to Paraphrase it under one View thus,  Ye Earl of Fyfe, receive for your Services, as my Lieutetenant by Right of this Regality, large Measures of Victual or Corn, for the Transgressions of the Laws, as well from those as want or put away their Weapons of Warfare, as of such as stays away from or refuses to come to the Host, or those that raises Frays or Disturbances therein, or from such as keep, haunt, and frequent unlawful Convocations; together with all Amerciaments due to me, for the slaughter of a free Liege, or for Robbery and Theft, or for Adultery and Fornication within your Bounds, with the Unlaws of Fugitives, and the Penalties due by such Cowards as deserts the Host, or runs away from their Colours; thus shall your Gains be the greater. And yet further, to witness my kindness, I remit to those of your own Kindred, all issues of Wounds, be it of Limb, Lith, or Life, in swa far as for this Offering (to wit, of nine Cows and a Queyoch) they shall be indemnified for Limb, Lith, or Life. 
And thus have I adventured to read and explain this Old Inscription, quae molta tenet anteiqua sepolta; and which, with Skeen's good Leave, I can no otherwise condemn for Barbarous, then that it is Saxon under a Latin Cover; where it would be remembered, that after the Goths and Vandals came into Italy, the Purity of the Roman Tongue was at a loss, until somewhat revived in the last Centurie, and that the Poets about Malcome Canmore's time, were ordinarily the Priests, and those of no great Reading, and for the most part no great and exact Linguists, or so neat and closely in their Poesy; as witness that Composition of the Carmelite friar's upon the battle of Bannockburn, some hundreds of years after the setting up of this Cross: And as this was one of, if not the oldest Regality in this Country, so by the Privileges hereby granted, it will to any understanding man appear to be very great; whence belike we have that common Phrase, The Kingdom of Fife, (an Epithet given to no other Shire) as if Mackduff had enjoyed his Estate much after the way of Hugh Lupus (or more properly the Abrincis) in his Earldom of Chester, of whom it is said, he enjoyed that Earldom from his Uncle the Conqueror, Adeo libere ad gladium, sicut ipse Rex tenebat totam Angliam ad Coronam; and yet I cannot affirm that Fife was ever a Palatinate; But sure the Privileges of this Regality and Sanctuary were somewhat more than ordinary. And this our Mackduffs posterity continued in a line male till the days of King David the Bruce: for one of them I find Governor of Perth for the second Balliol, after the Battle of Duplin, for which, whether he was forfaulted, or that his Estate and Honours, through want of issue-male, went with a Daughter, I cannot positively aver: For, one William Earl of Fife I find a witness in a Charter, granted by King David 2d, to the Scrimzeour of Didupe, in the 29. year of his Reign, whom I conceive to be that William Ramsay said by Skeen to have been made Earl of Fife by King David, withal Privileges, & cum Lege quae vocatur Clanmackduff, who might have married a Daughter of Earl duncan's, as well because he got all the old Privileges confirmed to him▪ as that in the Scrimzeours Charter, he is placed before the Earl of March; It not being so probable that the King would have given the privileges, and precedency of the old Earls of Fife to a new Stranger, if he had not had an interest of blood. And why should we too rashly conclude that noble Family, whose predecessors had deserved so well of the Crown, extinct upon a forefaultour for holding the Town of Perth for the second Balliol: Since our Historian says no more, But that he was sent Prisoner to the Castle of Kildrummie, and that he makes him also a prisoner to the Balliol, with the Earls of Murray, Monteth, and others; who, as he says, after the battle of Duplin, were Rebus desperatis coacti jurare in verba Balioli.  
Neither were the Bruce's too strike and severe in their forefaultours, (but upon great and singular provocations) studying rather to gain and reconcile the Subject by Indemnities, and Oblivions, then to exasperate them by too sharp punishments (especially when the Balliol's had some pretence and shadow of Right) But what became of this William Ramsay, I cannot say; whether he was forefaulted, or whether through want of issue, the Earledom of Fyfe returned to the Crown, or whether he had a daughter who was married to Robert the Governor, who enjoyed the Estate and Honours of Fyfe: But if as full in its privileges as the old Mackduffs, or William Ramsay, I dare not determine. But Skeen does positively tell us, that one Spence of Wormeston laid claim to, and enjoyed the privilege of the Sanctuary, upon his kill of one Kinninmonth, as being within the degrees of kindred to macduff.  
The Earl of Weems, and the Laird of Mackintosh speak themselves truly descended in a line Male from this our macduff, by two of his sons; But since I have seen nothing in write, as I shall be tender of their honour, not doubting but that they are sufficiently able from good documents, to evince their assertions to any who may be concerned; So I hope, it shall give no offence, though I glance at what I have from Tradition. Mackintosh then (be he the elder or the younger brother) in his Mother Tongue calls himself to this very day, Maktosich● Vichdhu●e, (that is, Filius Thani filii Duffi: the son of the Thane, who was the son of duff) whose Predecessor some three or four generations down from macduff, was in the days of K. William the Lion, by means of his Uncle Mackdonald of the Isles, matched to the Heretrix of the Clanchattan, by whom he got the Lordship of Lochaber: the Jurisdiction or Stewartrie whereof, as the Laird of Mackintosh yet retains, so quarter's he the coat of macduff in the chief corner of his shield. The Earl of Weems (be he from the younger brother or elder) yet possesses for his Inheritance, a part of the old Mackduff's Estate in Fyfe: And whose Progenitor, Sir David Weems, Ambassador for the Maiden of Norway upon the death of K. Alexander the third, is by Buchanan (nothing lavish of his Titles) styled, Equus Fifanus illustris. And doth not the Earl of Weems quarter also the Arms of the Earl of Fyfe, in his first and last Escutcheons.  
But as upon conference, I have met with an objection or two, so indulge me, Reader, I pray, for your fuller satisfaction, briefly here to repeat them with my answers: which (seeing I leave every man to his own judgement) may I hope, be neither an impertinent, nor altogether an unpleasant diversion.  
First then, Was it alleged, That neither Mackintosh, nor Weems, give the Surname of macduff: And what then? Will any pretender to the least knowledge of any Antiquity, or Reading, urge the arguement as conclusive, That therefore they are not of the same Stock, or Blood; yea, even by a line Male But (not here to debate, whether at that time any other Surnames, than Patronymicks, were fixed to a Family or Progeny) Can there be a clearer deduction than duff, Mackduffe (who was the Thane) and Macktosich-Vichdhuie, or would the movers of this objection, put me upon the question, when surnames (as now in use) first settled amongst us? And what if that was not before, perhaps considerably after, the days of Macolm-Canmore (I wish those Disputants would be pleased to teach me, what were the surnames of the old Earls of Stra●●erne, Lennox, and Rosse) Yea, and does not the native exposition of Mackint●sh, imply him begot en (and perchance he was of age too) ere macduff was dignified with the tittle of Earl, and consequently, before the return of Malcolm Canmore, with whom (some say) first came in as well that order of Honour, as the customs of our surnames. And seeing Weems was Mackintosh's Brother, might not he have been (and if elder surely, and even though the younger belike) in the same condition, begot before his father went to England, seeing Buchanan says of Macbeth, that upon Mackduff's escape, in uxorem & liberos omnem iram effudit: The latitude whereof I leave to be measured by such, who can best fathom the passions of an exasperated Tyrant. But what if I should say, as Boetius observeth upon the Stuarts in a much later time, that it was customary with us (as yet somewhat it is with the second sons of Barons in France) for Cadets to quit the surnames, they might have from their Paternal Family, and betake themselves and their posterity to others, and most ordinarily to t●e names of their proper possessions (as Weems here, from that word signifying Caves, whereof there be no scarcity thereabout) and so much the more easily in this case, where the Paternal itself macduff, is but a Patronymick. Yet shall I not escape without a second Attack, managed with I know not what confidence: To wit, That Mackduffes race, save in Mackintosh and Weems, continued not above a generation or two: Sure then, has our Buchanan exceedingly abused us; who all alongst, even down to the battle of Duplin, and the siege of Perth thereupon, writes them still Mackduff; his words in his ninth book, being, Mackduffus, Fifae Comes qui oppidum Balioli nomine tenuerat, and a little before that above-cited place, yet more particularly, Duncanus Mackduffus, Fifensis Comes (with others) apud Hostem captivus. And as all our Writers do unanimously rank this Duncan, the first Secular of the six Governors, after the death of K. Alexander the third, so have I myself read him, in a letter from the Parliament at Abirbrothock to the Pope, anno 1320. First of all named, and signing as Earl Premier of the Kingdom, where his seal yet appends fresh, four times bigger than any of the rest, with the Impress as they Record the Arms in the books of Heraldry for the old Earls of Fyfe, and as yet they are quartered by Mackintosh and Weems. But thirdly, it is retorted upon me, that if the Earl of Weems, and Laird of Mackintosh, had been true Cadets in a line Male, then if the Mackduff of Fyfe had not been forefaulted, one or other of them would undoubtedly, as the nearest Heir Male, have fallen to, and enjoyed, if not the Estate, at least the Honours of Fyfe. But the starters of this doubt, would be pleased to remember the slipperiness of its grounds; For are not Feudal Tailzies, and seclusive Provisions to Heirs Male, of a far later date with us: And so might that Earledom as well in its Honours, as Fortune, have gone with a daughter (as heir of line) to William Ramsay, and by a grand, child to Robert Stuart: Yea, and who well knows in what terms our grants of honour, (if then in Malcom Canmor's days consigned to writ) were conceived, or if they reached Collaterals▪ And the Predecessors of the Earl of Weems and Laird of Mackintosh, having come off many generations before the Family failed in the issue Male, the Honours might (the relation being remote) the more readily have been conveyed by a new Patent, with a Daughter or Oye in favours of some noble Minion, such as (belike was this William Ramsay, and) that Robert Stuart the King's second son, who was sometimes Governor of Scotland, and Duke of Albany, in the person of whose Son, Duke Murdoch, was that Earldom forefaulted to the Crown, in the days of K. James the first, and not as yet given out again, none ever since enjoying the Title and Dignity of Earl of Fyfe.  
But having thus far presumed upon, if not quite wearie● your patience, in this so thorny and misty affair; I must now, Courteous Reader, stand to the discretion of your Censure, where I shall allow you, That Rebus in priscis, ad unguem haud est quaerenda veritas.  
If on the other hand you will be pleased to grant me, Fidum annalium genus, sunt pervetusta carmina.  
And suffer me to conclude with what Skeen closeth the Preface to his De verborum significatione, 
Si quid novisti rectius istis,  
Candidus imperti: si non, his utere mecum.   
FINIS.   

THat, Gentle Reader, I may conceal you nothing; Just now, as it was a doing under the Irons am I told there is an exact Copy, with a true exposition of this Inscription at the Newburgh, in the hands, or books of the Clerk there: And yet my Informer, though with us a good Antiquary and Historian, could neither tell me the lines, nor the exposition. And pity it were that so old and famous a Monument in this our Kingdom, should be so closely dormant, in a poo● Countrey-village, without being communicate (for aught I know) to any: For it should seem, our Clerk-register Skeen, had neither seen nor heard of it, otherways (me thinks) he would hardly have called the lines so barbarous. But this, however, I hope may invite those of the Newburgh to divulge it, (if anysuch thing they have) for it is only truth, (not vanity) that here I am in quest of. And as this my weak Essay, I have adventured upon, without the help of any livings So crave I no it other Patron, but, Courteous Reader, your own Candour and Ingenuity.