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YALE UNIVERSITY
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THE GREAT HISTORIC FAMILIES
OF SCOTLAND.

VOL. I.

THE

QREAT HISTORIC FAMILIES

OF

SCOTLAND

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Jtlustrateb witb Coats^'Of^arms, etc.
James (3<^lov~

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.

JIAMES MACVEIGH
10, BROOKE STREET, DUMFRIES, N.B.
Christmas, 1888

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CONTENTS OF VOL. I
INTRODUCTION
THE ANCIENT EARLDOM OF MAR
THE EARLD0:M OF MENTEITH
THE DOUGLASES
THE ANGUS DOUGLASES
THE KEITHS ....
THE SETONS ....
THE RUTHVENS OF GOWRIE
THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT
THE MACKENZIES OF SEAFORTH
THE MACKENZIES OF CROM ARTIE .
THE HAMILTONS 
THE HAMILTON-DOUGLASES
THE CAMPBELLS OF ARGYLL
THE CAMPBELLS OF LOUDOUN .
THE CAMPBELLS OF BREADALBAXE .
THE CAMPBELLS OF C.\WDOR .
THE LESLIES ....
THE LESLIES OF ROTHES .
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262 291296
xii Contents. PAGE
THE LESLIES OF LEVEN  302
THE LESLIES OF NEWARK  . . 306
THE RAMSAYS  . 308
THE MAULES  . . . • 319
THE LAUDERDALE MAITLANDS . . • • • • 347
THE HOMES  37°
THE MARCHMONT HUMES  391

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THE GREAT
HISTORIC FAMILIES OF SCOTLAND.

INTRODUCTION.
IT the Union of the kingdoms in 1707 the Peerage Roll of
Scotland contained ten dukes, three marquises, seventy-
five earls, seventeen viscounts, and forty-nine barons — in
all, a hundred and fifty-four peers. There have been
subsequently enrolled one duke, two marquises, two earls, and
six barons. At the present time the Scottish peerage consists
of only eighty-seven members, and of these forty-nine are also
peers of England or of Great Britain, while three are peers of
Ireland. Since the passing of an Act in 1847 ordering the Lord-
Clerk Registrar, until otherwise directed by the House of Lords,
not to call the title of any peerage on the Union Roll in
respect of which no vote had been received during the present
century, most of the dormant and extinct peerages have been struck
off the roll; but fourteen, which are believed to be extinct, have been
allowed to remain, on the ground that votes have been received in
respect of them since the year 1800. There are altogether forty-
eight dormant or extinct Scottish peerages, and sixteen are merged
in other titles. Nine of the eleven dukedoms which appear on the
roll are still in existence, though one of them — Queensberry— is
united with the dukedom of Buccleuch. That of Gordon, which
expired in 1836, has recently been replaced by a British title of the
same rank conferred on the Duke of Richmond, who represents the
^der branch of the family in the female line. The dukedom- of
VOL. I. B

2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Douglas expired in 1761 on the death of the half-witted peer, the
first and only possessor of that title ; while the other dignities of
that famous old house passed to its male representative, the Duke
of Hamilton. The only dormant marquisate is that of the Johnstones
of Annandale, last borne by the fatuous peer to whom David Hume,
the philosopher and historian, for a short time acted as tutor. Of
the dormant earldoms the oldest and most celebrated is the double
earldom of Monteith and Strathern, of which Charles I., in the most
arbitrary and unjust manner, deprived its last possessor, and by way
of compensation conferred upon him the earldom of Airth, a title
which is also now dormant. Next comes the earldom of Glencairn,
long held by the powerful Ayrshire family of Cunningham, who
fought in the cause both of the Reformation and the Covenant. The
last of this illustrious race was a nobleman of a most amiable dis
position and great personal attractions, whose untimely death was
lamented by Burns in the most pathetic stanzas the poet ever wrote.
In this list is the earldom of Hyndford, held by the Carmichaels, one
of whom was an ambassador at the Prussian, Austrian, and Russian
courts. Their estates but not their titles have descended to the
present Sir Wyndham Carmichael Anstruther. In this list, too, are
the Marchmont titles — an earldom, a viscounty, and a barony — which
were enjoyed by a branch of the powerful Border family of Home.
They were originally conferred upon Sir Patrick Hume, who, through
the exertions of his devoted daughter, the noble-minded Grizel
Baillie, escaped the fate of his fellow-patriot, Baillie of Jerviswood ;
was subsequently the associate of the Earl of Argyll in his ill-starred
expedition in 1685, and finally became Lord Chancellor of Scotland
after the Revolution of 1688. His grandson, Hugh, the third and
last earl, was the friend of Pope, who makes frequent and affectionate
mention of him in his epistles, and of St. John, Peterborough, and
Arbuthnot, and the other members of that brilliant circle. The
earidom of Marchmont, the viscounty of Blasonberrie and the barony
of Polwarth, Redbraes, and Greenlaw descended to his heirs male
and their heirs male, and as the two sons of Earl Hugh predeceased
him the titles became dormant at his death. But a prior barony of
Polwarth, created in 1697, was made to descend to the heirs male of
the first peer and their heirs, and forty years after the death of Eari
Hugh his grandson, Hugh Scott of Harden, presented a petition to
the House of Lords claiming the title of Lord Polwarth, and his
claim, was admitted without opposition. The extinct earidom of

Introduction. 3
Forfar was created for a youthful scion of the Douglas family, whose
life, if it had been prolonged, might have saved the dukedom from
extinction. He fell fighting under the royal banner at Sheriff-
muir, having received no fewer than sixteen broadsword wounds
besides a pistol shot in his knee. The earldom of Stirling, conferred
in 1633 on Sir William Alexander, an eminent statesman and poet,
became dormant on the death without issue of Henry, fifth earl, in
1739, and none of the claims which have been preferred to the title
have as yet been made good. Among the dormant but not extinct
peerages is the barony of Somerville, the title of an ancient and at
one time powerful Border family, which has not been claimed since
1870. The barony of Cranstoun, also celebrated in ballads, tradition,
and story since the fifteenth century, became dormant on the death of
the eleventh Lord Cranstoun in 1869. Heirs of both dignities are,
however, believed to be in existence. The last representative of the
' Bauld Rutherfords,' Earls of Teviot and Barons Rutherford who
bore a conspicuous part in Border forays, was the prototype of the
Master of Ravenswood in Sir Walter Scott's tragic tale ofthe ' Bride
of Lammermoor.' He died on the Continent without issue in 1724.
The earldom of Newark, which was conferred on the celebrated
Covenanting General David Leslie, who contributed to the victory
of the Parliamentary army at Marston Moor, and defeated the great
Marquis of Montrose at Philiphaugh, became extinct on the death of
his son, the second lord, in 1694.
The most interesting of all the dormant or extinct titles are the
peerages forfeited in connection with the 'Fifteen' and the 'Forty-
five,' when the last desperate efforts were made to bring ' the auld
Stewarts back again,' and gallant gentlemen and noblemen not a
few perilled and lost their lives and estates in the Jacobite cause.
One of the most noted of the noblemen who were ' spoiled of their
goods' and their hereditary honours in 17 15 for their adherence to
the old Scottish dynasty was the eccentric Earl of Wintoun, the head
of the ancient and powerful house of Seton, immortalised by Sir
Walter Scott for their fidelity to the unfortunate Queen Mary. The
earldom was revived in 1859 as a British peerage in favour of the
Earl of Eglinton, but the extensive estates ofthe Setonshave passed
into other hands. The Kingston peerage, which was held by a
cadet of the Seton family, was also forfeited in 17 15, and has not
-been restored. Viscount Kenmure, the chief of the Gordons of
Galloway, whose gallantry is commemorated in the well-known

4 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
ballad ' Kenmure' s on and awa', Willie,' was closely associated
with the Earl of Wintoun in the Jacobite insurrection, but, less fortu
nate than that nobleman, he forfeited his life as well as his titles and
lands for the sake of the Stewart cause. The estkte was bought
back by his widow, and the family titles were restored in 1826, but
became extinct on the death of the eleventh viscount in 1847. The
Earl of Nithsdale, the chief of the powerful Border house of Maxwell,
was to have suffered along with Viscount Kenmure, but escaped
from the Tower through the agency of his heroic wife. His estates
were regained, but the earldom has not been recovered. The titles
and estates of the Keiths, hereditary Grand Mareschals of Scotland
from the twelfth century downwards, were also lost in the fatal
rising of 1715. A similar fate befell the Livingstons, descended
from the Chancellor of James II., who possessed the earldoms of
Callendar and Linlithgow. The gallant Seaforth, ' High Lord of
Kintail,' chief of the powerful clan of the Mackenzies, was exiled
and forfeited for his share in ' the Fifteen.' The titles and estates,
however, were recovered, but the former became extinct on the death
ofthe last Earl of Seaforth in very painful circumstances in 1815.
Another great Jacobite noble who took part in that rebellion was the
Earl of Panmure, who was wounded and taken prisoner at the
battle, of Sheriffmuir, but was rescued by his brother Harry Maule,
worthy descendants both of that brave Sir Thomas Maule, who in
the War of Independence gallantly held out his castle of Brechin
against a powerful English army and lost his life in its defence. The
earldom has not been restored, but the Panmure estates were pur
chased from the York Building Company by the earl's nephew, and
are now in the possession of the Earl of Dalhousie, the representa
tive of the Maules in the female line.
The forfeitures incurred in consequence of the rebellion of 1745
were much fewer and less important than those of 17 15. Pitsligo,
the prototype of the immortal Baron Bradwardine in ' Waverley,'
lost his title and estates, but succeeded in making his escape
to the Continent. The Eari of Cromarty's life was spared out
of compassion for his numerous family, but his associates— Lovat,
Kilmarnock, and Balmerino — lost their lives as well as their titles
and estates in the Stewart cause, and were the last peers who were
executed in this country for treason.
' Pitied by gentle minds, Kilmarnock died ;
The brave, Balmerino, were on thy side.'

Introduction. 5
The earldom of Cromarty has lately been revived in favour of the
present possessor of the estates, the Duchess of Sutherland, and her
second son ; and the chief ofthe Eraser clan recovered in 1 857 the Lovat
title forfeited in 1746 bythe notorious Simon Eraser. The titles and
estates of the Drummonds were forfeited shortly after the Revolu
tion of 1688, when the Earl of Perth, the Chancellor, and his brother.
Viscount Melfort, the Secretary of Scotland, fled to France after
their master, James VII., and became naturalised subjects of the
French King. The Duke de Melfort, a descendant of the Secretary,
obtained in 1853, by a special Act of Parliament, the restoration of
the ancient Drummond titles, but his efforts to recover the family
estates have been unsuccessful.
A number of dormant Scottish peerages have been revived within
the last few years, and there is good reason to believe that heirs to a
good many more of this class still exist.

THE ANCIENT EARLDOM OF MAR.
|HE original earldom of Mar has been pronounced by the
Ulster King-of-Arms, the most ancient title in Great
Britain, perhaps in Europe. The learned and accurate
Lord Hailes remarks that ' this is one of the earldoms
whose history is lost in antiquity. It existed before our records and
before the era of genuine history.' It has been held in succession
by members of the great historic houses of Douglas and Stewart,
Drummond and Erskine ; has been borne by the hero of Otterburn
and by the victor in the critical battle of Harlaw, which finally
decided the protracted struggle for supremacy in the Highlands
between the Saxon and the Gael ; by the sons of two of the Scot
tish kings, and by three rulers who governed Scotland with vice
regal authority, one of the three being the most sagacious and
energetic statesman that ever held the reins of government in our
country. The province of Mar, from which the title is taken, lies between
the rivers Don and Dee, and is the most extensive and interesting
district in Aberdeenshire. The Llighland portion of the earldom,
termed Braemar, is noted for its wild and majestic scenery. It con
tains Macdhui, the highest mountain in Scotland, Cairntoul, Ben
Avon, and Cairngorm, which are little inferior in height, and ' dark
Lochnagar,' celebrated in the poetry of Byron. The Garioch,
which in the olden time was connected with Mar and furnished
a second title to the earidom, is an extensive and fertile valley, and
used to be termed the granary of Aberdeen.
The ancient title borne by the governors of the province of Mar
was ' mormaor,' a Pictish dignity inferior only to that of king.
About the beginning of the twelfth century this designation was
exchanged for the Saxon title of eari. Tradition has preserved a

,\NiMl'.Nr l-AKl.nOM OV M.\K.

The Ancient Earldom of Mar. 7
curious story of a remarkable incident connected with the death of
one of the mormaors of Mar, named Melbrigda, about the close ofthe
ninth century. He fell In battle with Sigurd, the first Scandinavian
Earl of Orkney, who had conquered the greater part of the northern
counties of Scotland and invaded the province of Mar ; but his death
was revenged upon the victor In a most singular manner. Melbrigda
was noted for a large and very prominent tooth, and Sigurd, having
cut off the head of the fallen mormaor, suspended It to his saddle
bow and galloped in triumph across the battlefield. The rapidity
of the motion caused the head of .Melbrigda to strike violently about
the saddle, and his prominent tooth Inflicted a wound on Sigurd's
thigh which festered and mortified and caused his death.
The first mormaor of Mar whose name has come down to our day
in a written document was Martachus, who In 1065 was witness to a
charter of Malcolm Canmore In favour of the Culdees of Lochleven.
His son, Gratnach, who about fifty years later witnessed the founda
tion charter of the monastery of Scone by Alexander I., appears to
have been the first of the great hereditary rulers of Mar who bore
the title of earl. From this period downward the heads of the house
of Mar filled a most influential position at the Court and In the
national councils ; they held the highest offices In the royal house
hold, and took a prominent part in most of the great events In the
history of the country. They were connected by a double marriage
with the illustrious line of Bruce ; the restorer of Scottish indepen
dence having taken to wife a daughter of David, sixth Earl of Mar,
while Gratney, seventh earl, married Christiana, sister of King Robert,
and received as part of her dowry the strong castle of Kildrummle,
in Aberdeenshire, which was long the chief seat of the family. His
son Donald, eighth earl, was taken prisoner In 1306, at the battle of
Methven, in which his royal uncle was defeated, and did not regain his
liberty till after the crowning victory of Bannockburn. On the death
of Randolph, the famous Earl of Moray, Earl Donald was chosen
Regent in his stead, August 2nd, 1332. But only two days thereafter
he was killed, at the battle of Dupplin, in which the Scots were sur
prised and defeated with great slaughter bythe ' Disinherited Barons.'
Thomas, the ninth earl, or, according to another mode of reckon
ing, the thirteenth who enjoyed that dignity, was one of the most
powerful nobles of his day. He held the office of Great Cham
berlain of Scotland, and was repeatedly sent as ambassador to
England. He died In 1377, leaving no issue, and In him ended the

8 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
direct male line of the Earls of Mar. His sister Margaret was, at
the time of Earl Thomas's death, the wife of William, Earl of
Douglas, nephew and heir of the ' Good Sir James,' the friend of
Robert Bruce. On the death of his brother-in-law he obtained
possession of the historical earidom of Mar and transmitted It, along
with his own hereditary titles and estates, to his son James, the hero
of Otterburn, ' the dead man that Won a fight ' — one of the most
renowned In Scottish history. The Douglas estates were inherited
by Archibald 'the Grim,' the kinsman of Earl James, while the
earldom of Mar passed to his sister, Isabella, wife of Sir Malcolm
Drummond, brother of Annabella, Queen of Scotland, wife of
Robert III. About the year 1403, Sir Malcolm was suddenly surprised
by a band of ruffians, who treated him with such barbarity that he
soon after died, leaving no issue. This outrage was universally
ascribed- to Alexander Stewart, natural son of the Earl of Buchan,
the ' Wolf of Badenoch,' fourth son of Robert II. After the death
of her husband the Countess was residing quietly and In fancied
security at her castle of Kildrummle, when it was suddenly attacked
and stormed by Stewart at the head of a formidable band of High
land freebooters and outlaws, and either by violence or persuasion
the young Countess was Induced to become the wife of the
redoubted cateran, and to make over to him, on the 12th of
August, 1404, her earidom of Mar and Garioch, with all her other
castles. In order, however, to give a legal aspect to the trans
action, Stewart presented himself, on the 19th of September, at the
gate of the castle of Kildrummle, and surrendered to the Countess
' the castle and all within It, and the title-deeds therein kept ; in
testimony thereof he delivered to her the keys to dispose of as she
pleased.' The Countess, holding the keys in her hand, declared that
deliberately and of her own free will she chose Stewart for her hus
band, and conferred upon him the castle, pertinents, &c., as a free
marriage gift, of which he took Instruments. It appears that even
this formal transaction was not deemed sufficient to give validity to
the transaction, for on the 9th December following, the Countess, ;
taking her station in the fields outside hep castle, in the presence of
ihe Bishop of Ross, and the sheriff and posse comitattis of the
county, along with the tenantry on the estate, that it might appear
that she was really acting without force on Stewart's part or fear on
hers, granted a charter to him of her castle and estates duly signed
and sealed.

STEWARTS OF MAR.

The Ancient Earldom of Mar. 9
Strange to say, this lawless freebooter afterwards rendered most
important services to his country by repressing the disorders of the
northern counties and repelling the attacks of English Invaders ;
and he obtained high renown, both In England and on the
Continent, on account of his valour and skill in the exercises of
chivalry. He was repeatedly sent on embassies to the English
Court, and, at one time, held the office of Warden of the Marches.
His restless spirit and love of fame carried him abroad in quest
of distinction ; and Wyntoun states that, during a residence of three
months In Paris he kept open house, and was highly honoured for
his wit, virtue, and bravery. From the Court of France he proceeded
to Bruges, and joined the army which the Duke of Burgundy was
leading to the assistance of his brother, John of Bavaria, the bishop-
elect of Liege, ' a clerk not of clerk-like appearing,' who was in
danger from the rebellion of the people of his diocese. The
subsequent victory at Liege was mainly owing to the skill and
courage of Mar, who slew in single combat Sir Henry Horn, the
leader of the insurgents. He was the ' stout and mighty Earl of
Mar' who gained the battle of Harlaw, in the year 141 1, defeating
Donald of the Isles with terrible slaughter, though outnumbered
by ten to one, and thus terminating the protracted contest for
superiority between the Celtic and the Saxon races. The ostensible
and immediate cause of this sanguinary conflict was the claim to the
earldom of Ross, which had been held by the Earl of Buchan, Mar's
father, in right of his wife. Alexander, Earl of Ross, the son of
the Countess by her first husband, married Lady Isabel Stewart,
eldest daughter of the Regent Albany. The only issue of this
marriage was a daughter, named Euphemia, who became Countess
of Ross at her father's death. She afterwards entered a convent,
and entrusted the management of her estate to her grandfather, the
Regent, with the intention. It was supposed, of resigning It In favour
of her mother's brother, the Earl of Buchan, Albany's second son.
Donald, Lord of the Isles, who had married Euphemia' s aunt,
Margaret, the only sister of the deceased Earl Alexander, Insisted
that Euphemia, by becoming a nun, must be regarded as dead in
law, and demanded that his wife should be put In possession of the
earidom. The Regent, however, refused to accede to the claim,
and Donald took up arms to enforce it. At the head of ten
thousand men, he suddenly Invaded and took possession of the
district. He was encountered at Dingwall by Angus Dow Mackay
VOL. I. C

lO The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
of Farr, at the head of a large body of men from Sutherland. The
Mackays were routed with great slaughter, their leader was taken
prisoner, and his brother was killed. Elated with his success,
Donald pressed on through Moray, laying waste the country with
fire and sword, and penetrated Into Aberdeenshire, for the purpose _
of executing his threat to burn the town of Aberdeen. He was
encountered at a place called Harlaw, In the Garioch, about fifteen
miles from that city, by the Earl of Mar, at the head of the chivalry
of Angus and Mearns — the Ogilvles, Maules, Lyons, Lindsays,
Carnegies, Leslies, Leiths, Arbuthnots, Burnets, &c., who, though
few In number, were better armed and disciplined than the High
landers of whom Donald's host was composed. In the words of
old Elspeth's ballad, in the 'Antiquary' —
' If they hae twenty thousand blades
And we twice ten times ten,
Yet they hae but their tartan plaids
And we are mail-clad men.'
The battle, which was fought on the 24th of July, 141 1, was long
and fiercely contested, and night alone separated the combatants.
The Earl of Mar lost one half of his force, and among the slain
were Sir James Scrymgeour, Constable of Dundee ; Sir Alexander
Ogilvie, the Sheriff of Angus, with his eldest son ; Sir Thomas
Murray ; Sir Robert Maule of Panmure ; Sir Alexander Irvine of
Drum ; Leslie of Balquhain, with six of his sons ; Sir Alexander
Stralton of Laurlston, and Sir Robert Davidson, Provost of Aber
deen. The Earl of Mar and the survivors of his little army were so
exhausted with fatigue that they passed the night on the battlefield, .
expecting the contest to be renewed next morning ; but when the
day broke they found that Donald and the remains of his force
had retired during the night, leaving a thousand men, with the
chiefs of Macintosh and Maclean, on the battlefield, and, retreating
through Ross, they gained the shelter of their native fastnesses. ' It
was a singular chance,' says Sir Walter Scott, ' that brought against:
Donald, who might be called the King of the Gaels, one whose youth
had been distinguished as a leader of these plundering bands ; and
no less strange that the Islander's claim to the earldom of Ross
should be traversed by one whose title to that of Mar was so much
more challengeable.' *
* The battle of Harlaw was long remembered in Scotland on account of the
number and rank of the slain in Mar's force. It was commemorated in contemporary

The Ancient Earldom of Mar. 1 1
After the death of the Countess of Mar, the title and estates
should have devolved on the heir of line, Janet Keith, wife of Sir
Thomas Erskine, and great-granddaughter of Earl Gratney, but
Earl Alexander, who had only a life interest In the earldom,
resigned It In 1426 into the hands of the King, James I., and
received a grant of the titles and estates to himself for life, and
after him to his natural son, Sir Thomas Stewart, and his lawful
heirs male. Earl Alexander died in 1435, and his son having pre
deceased him without issue, the earldom, in terms of the recent
charter, reverted to the Crown. Sir Robert Erskine, the son of Sir
Thomas and Lady Janet, claimed the earldom in right of his
mother, as second heir to the Countess Isabel, 22nd April, 1438,
.before the Sheriff of Aberdeen, and. In the following November, was
invested in the estates. He assumed the title of Earl of Mar, and
granted various charters to vassals of the earldom; but, in 1449,
James II. obtained a reduction of his service before an assize of error,
and took possession of the estates, no doubt In order to carry out the
favourite policy of himself and his father, of weakening the dan
gerous power of the barons. It was subsequently conferred on
John, second son of James II., who was put to death in 1449 for
alleged treason against his brother, James III. The next possessor
of the earldom was Cochrane, one of the favourites of that monarch,
who was hanged over the bridge at Lauder in 1482. It was then
granted, in i486, to Alexander Stewart, Duke of Ross, a younger
son of James III. On his death it reverted to the Crown, and in
February, 1561-2, it was conferred by Queen Mary on her natural
brother. Lord James Stewart, afterwards the celebrated Regent;
but he speedily resigned It, preferring the dignity of Earl of Moray.
The Queen then, in 1565, bestowed the title on John, fifth Lord
Erskine, the descendant and heir male of Sir Robert Erskine, who
had unsuccessfully claimed it a hundred and thirty years before.
From that period downwards the Mar honours have followed the
¦varying fortunes of the family of Erskine, one of the most illustrious
of the historic houses of Scotland. The greater part of the exten
sive estates which in ancient times belonged to the earldom had, by
verse : the ' Battle of Harlaw' is one of the old ballads whose titles are given in the
' Complaint of Scotland ' (1548). Mr. Laing, in his ' Early Metrical Tales,' speaks of
an edition printed in the year 1668, as being 'in the curious library of old Robert
Myles,' but no copy is now known to exist ot a date anterior to that which was pub
lished in Ramsay's 'Evergreen.' A tune of the same name, adapted to the bagpipes,
was long extremely popular in Scotland.

12 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
this time, passed into various hands, and could not be recovered ;
but the remnant which still remained In the possession of the Crown
was gifted to the new earl.
On the death of John Francis, sixteenth Earl of Mar and eleventh
Eari of Kellie, In 1866, his cousin, Walter Coningsby Erskine,
inherited the family estates along with the earldom of Kellie, which
were entailed on heirs male ; while the ancient earldom of Mar was
claimed by John Francis Goodeve, the only son of the late earl's
sister, who thereupon assumed the name of Erskine. His claim was
at first universally admitted. He was presented at Court as Earl of
Mar, his vote was repeatedly received at the election of representative
peers, and his right to the title was conceded even by his cousin,
Walter Coningsby Erskine, the new Earl of Kellie. By-and-by,
however, Lord Kellie laid claim also to the earldom of Mar, but
he died before his petition could be considered by the House of
Lords. It was renewed by his son, and was in due course referred
to the Committee for Privileges. In support of the claim it was
pleaded that the title of Earl of Mar, conferred by Queen Mary on
John, Lord Erskine, In 1565, was not the restoration of an ancient
peerage, but the creation of a new one ; that the original earldom
of Mar was purely territorial, one of the seven ancient earldoms of
Scotland, and was therefore indivisible ; that this dignity terminated
at the death of Earl Thomas in 1377 ; that William, first Earl of
Douglas, his sister's husband, must have obtained the earldom by
charter and not by right of his wife, as at his death the title and
estates descended to their son James, second Earl of Douglas, while
his mother was still living ; that her daughter, Isabella, became the
wife of Sir Malcolm Drummond, who was styled Lord of Mar and
of the Garioch, not earl ; that her second husband, Alexander
Stewart, obtained possession of the territorial earldom of Mar in right
of his wife, but did not become earl until he obtained selzen under
the Crown ; that he survived the Countess for many years, and acted,
and was treated by the Crown, as the owner In fee of the earldom,
and that on his death the Crown entered into possession of the
estates In terms of the charter granted to the earl by King James I. ;
that from this period downwards the lands had been broken up
and disposed of by the Sovereign at his pleasure, different portions
of them having been granted at various times to royal favourites,
and that the title had been conferred in succession upon several-
persons who had no connection with Its original possessors. The

The Ancieyit Earldom of Mar. \t,
territorial earldom. It was asserted, was Indivisible, and could not be
separated from the title, and as the former had ceased to exist, the
ancient dignity could not be revived. It was, therefore, contended
that Queen Mary must have created a new dignity when on her
marriage to Damley in 1565 she raised Lord Erskine to the rank of
an earl ; that the fact that throughout Queen Mary's reign he ranked
as the junior and not the premier earl, as must have been the case if
the title had been the old dignity revived In his person, shows that
his earldom was a new creation, and that as there is no charter In
existence describing the dignity conferred upon Lord Erskine, the
prima-facie presumption is that it descended to heirs male.
On the other hand, It was pleaded by Mr. Goodeve Erskine, who
opposed Lord Kellie' s claim, that inasmuch as the earldom of Mar
was enjoyed by two countesses, mother and daughter, it could not
be a male fief; and that as Sir Robert Erskine is admitted to have
been second heir ' of line and blood' to the Countess Isabel through
his mother, Janet Keith, great-granddaughter of Donald, third earl,
he was dej'ure Earl of Mar, though excluded from the title and estates
by an act of tyranny and oppression on the part of James I., who was
at this time bent on breaking down the power of the nobles, and for
that reason illegally seized the land and suppressed the dignity of this
great earldom ; that the Erskines never relinquished their claim to
the earldom, while it remained ' in the simple and nakit possession of
the Crown without ony richt of property therein,' and made repeated
though unsuccessful efforts to recover their rights ; that Queen Mary-
had in express terms recognised the right of Sir Robert Erskine's
descendant, John, Lord Erskine, to the earldom of which his ancestor
had been unjustly deprived, as she said, through ' the troubles of
the times and the Influence of corrupt advisers,' and had declared
that, ' moved by conscience, as it was her duty to restore just
heritages to their lawful heirs, she restored to John, Lord Erskine,
the earldom of Mar and the lordship and regality of Garioch, with all
the usual privileges incident and belonging thereto, together with
the lands of Strathdon, Braemar, Cromar, and Strathdee.' Queen
Mar}', therefore, it was contended, did not create a new peerage but
restored an old one ; and even if the title conferred upon Lord Erskine
had been a new creation, the presumption Is that, like the original
dignity, it would have descended to heirs female as well as male.
With regard to the assumption that Queen Mary must have granted
a patent or charter conferring the ' peerage earldom ' on Lord

14 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Erskine, it was pointed out that there Is no proof that any such
document ever existed, that there is not the remotest allusion to It
in any contemporary history, and that Lord Redesdale's suggestion
that the deed may have been accidentally destroyed, or that the Earl
of Mar may have destroyed it to serve some sinister purpose, is a
mere conjecture, wholly unsupported by evidence. When it was
proposed to restore the forfeited title, in 1824, to John Erskine of
Mar, It was remitted to the law officers of the Crown, one of whom
was Sir John Copley, afterwards Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, to
Investigate whether he had proved himself to be heir to his grand
father, the attainted earl. They reported in the affirmative, and
the attainder was reversed In his favour. It was noted as an
important fact that John Erskine was declared in the Act to be the
grandson and lineal heir of his grandfather through his mother — a
striking proof, it was said, that the earldom restored by Queen Mary
was not limited to heirs male. Mr. Goodeve Erskine rests his claim
to be the heir of his uncle on the very same ground on which his
grandfather based his claim to be the heir of the Jacobite earl, viz.,
through his mother; and it was argued that, since the claim was
regarded as valid In the one case. It ought to be so held in the other
also. Great stress was laid on the position which the earldom
occupies in the Union Roll, as showing that it has all along been
regarded as the original dignity, and not a new creation. In 1606
commissioners were appointed by James VI. to prepare a roll of the
Scottish peers, according to their precedence, and the document
prepared by them, which was corrected by the Court of Session, Is
known in Scottish history as the 'Decreet of Ranking' — the
official register of the peerage of Scotland — the basis, fn fact, of
the Union Roll. Now In this nearly contemporary document the
earldom of Mar has a much higher antiquity assigned to it than the
date of 1565, the eari being placed above several earls whose titles
were conferred In the fifteenth century. On the Union Roll it has
the date of 1457 prefixed to it.
These arguments, however, failed to satisfy the Committee for
Privileges, consisting of Lords Redesdale, Chelmsford, and Cairns,
who decided that the dignity conferred by Queen Mary on Lord
Erskine was a new and personal honour, and Is held on the same
tenure as the other peerages possessed by the Erskine family, all of
which are limited to heirs male. This decision has not given uni
versal satisfaction. A considerable number of influential Scottish ',

The Ancient Earldom of Mar. 15
peers, including the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, Stair, Galloway,
and Mansfield, the Marquis of Huntly, Viscounts Strathallan and
Arbuthnot, and Lord Napier of Ettrick, have repeatedly protested
against the Earl of Kellie' s claim to vote as the Earl of Mar, whose
name stands fifth on the Union Roll. An elaborate work In two
volumes octavo was prepared by the late Earl of Crawford and Bal
carres to prove that a miscarriage of justice has taken place In con
sequence of the decision of the Committee for Privileges on the Mar
peerage case. Mr. Goodeve Erskine, who has at last regained the
title of Earl of Mar and Baron Garioch, asserted that though the
Committee for Privileges had unwarrantably authorised the Earl of
Kellie to assume a title which never had an existence and is a mere
figment of their own imagination, their decision had no bearing on
his right to the ancient earldom of Mar, which is claimed by no one
but himself, and of which he is the undoubted lineal heir.
The feeling that injustice was done to Mr. Goodeve Erskine by
the decision of the Committee was so strong that a Bill, entitled
'Earldom of Mar Restitution Bill,' was brought into the House of
Lords, by command of the Queen, for the purpose of restoring the
ancient earldom to Mr. Erskine. It was read a second time on the
20th of May, 1885, and referred to a Select Committee, who reported
that the preamble had been proved. The Bill passed through both
Houses of Parliament without opposition, and became law before the
close of the session.

THE EARLDOM OF MENTEITH.

|HE district of Mentelth, situated partly in Perthshire, partly
in the county of Stirling, is celebrated for the beauty of its
scenery and its traditionary and historical associations.
It has been depicted by Sir Walter Scott both in prose
and verse — In the ' Lady of the Lake' and in ' Rob Roy,' and the
' Legend of Montrose,' and is probably more familiar to English
men, Americans, and Continental visitors than any other part of
Scotland. The earldom of Mentelth, which takes its name from the
district, is one of the most ancient of the Scottish titles of nobility,
and dates from the beginning of the twelfth century, while the
oldest English earldom — that of Shrewsbury — is two hundred
years, and the oldest barony — De Ros — is a hundred and fifty years,
later. This famous earldom has been borne successively by three
of the most distinguished families of Scotland — the Red Comyns,
the royal Stewarts, and the gallant Grahams — and is associated
with a great part, of the most important and interesting events in
the history of the country.
Of the original line of the Earls of Mentelth only three are known
— Gilchrist, Murdoch, and Maurice. On the death of Earl Maurice,
about the year 1226, his title and estates descended to his daughter,
Isabella, the wife of Walter Comyn, second son of the first Earl of
Buchan. Comyn, who became Earl of Mentelth in right of his wife,
was one of the most powerful nobles In the kingdom, the leader of
the national party, and one of the regents of the kingdom during
the minority of Alexander III. He Is described by Fordun as a
man prudent in counsel, valiant in battle, whose foresight had been
obtained by long experience. He founded the Priory of Inchma-
home, on the island of that name In the Lake of Mentelth, in 1238,
which for upwards of three centuries flourished as a religious house,

EARLDOM OF MENTEITH (COMYNS).

The Earldom of Mentelth. 17
and afforded a place of refuge to the infant Queen Mary after
the battle of Pinkie. He was the builder of the famous castle of
Hermitage in Liddesdale, the stronghold In succession of the Soulls
family, the Douglases, Hepburns, and Scotts. He also erected the
castle of Dalswinton, In Galloway, long one of the chief residences of
the Comyns. His sagacity and influence were conspicuously shown
at the accession of Alexander III. to the throne In the eighth year of
his age. The leaders of the English party endeavoured to postpone
the coronation of the youthful monarch, on the plea that the day
fixed for the ceremony was unlucky, and that It was unprecedented
to crown the king before he became a knight. But the Earl of
Mentelth, ' a man of foresight and shrewdness in counsel,' says the
old chronicler, * urged the danger of delay, as the English King
Henry was Intriguing at Rome to procure from the Pope an interdict
against the coronation of the young prince, alleging that Alexander,
being his liegeman, should not be anointed or crowned without his
permission.' ' He had seen a king consecrated,' the Earl said,
' who was not yet a knight, and had many a time heard of kings
being consecrated who were not knights ; further, that a country
without a king was beyond doubt like a ship amid the waves of the
sea without a crew or steersman. So he moved that this boy be
raised to the throne as quickly as possible, seeing It is always hurt
ful to put off what may be done at once.' The prompt and wise
counsel of this great noble silenced the objections of the English
partisans, and induced the barons and bishops to proceed at once
with the coronation of the young king. ' The bold baron of Men
telth,' says Chalmers in his ' Caledonia,' ' deserves lasting praise
for having thus exploded a scruple which might have Involved an
irascible nation in civil war.'
By a dexterous stratagem Alan Durward, the High Justiciary and
the leader of the English party, obtained possession of the King's
person and the castle of Edinburgh In 1255, and with the a.ssistance
of King Henry, Alexander's father-in-law, the regents were sup
planted by others who were favourable to the English interests and
supremacy. But the national party refused to acknowledge the new
regents, who, in consequence of their oppressive treatment of the
Bishop of St. Andrews, were excommunicated by the Pope. The
Earl of Menteith availed himself of the favourable opportunity to
overthrow this unpatriotic faction, and suddenly seized the young
king while he was holding a court at Kinross, rescuing him, as he
VOL. I. D

1 8 The, Great Historic Families of Scotland.
said, from the hands of excommunicated traitors ; and Alan Durward
and the barons who supported him immediately fled to England.
Soon after the new government was established, the national
party lost their leader. He died suddenly, without male Issue, in
1258, and it was believed that he had been poisoned by his wife, in
order that she might be free to marry an English knight, named
John Russell. There was no satisfactory evidence adduced to prove
her guilt ' at her marriage to Russell, which took place shortly
after, gave colour to the charge. She was in consequence deprived
of her earldom, and Imprisoned, along with her new husband, and was
ultimately expelled the kingdom in disgrace. The Countess appealed
to the Pope (Urban IV.) against the injustice which she alleged had
been done to her, but the Scottish King and his nobles indignantly
repelled the Interference of the Roman Pontiff with the affairs of the
kingdom. Isabella, daughter of the Countess by Walter Comyn,
married her cousin, William Comyn ; and after long contention a com
promise was effected in the year 1285, and the vast domains of the
earldom were divided between the Lady Isabella and the husband of
her mother's youngest sister, Walter Stewart, a son of the High
Steward of Scotland, who obtained the title. The new Earl of Men
teith, surnamed Ballloch, or ' the Freckled,' was a famous warrior.
He joined the disastrous expedition under St. Louis of France, called.
the Third Crusade, for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, and fought
with great distinction at the battle of Largs in 1263, at which his
elder brother defeated the Norwegians under King Haco. He took
a prominent part in the proceedings connected with the contest for
the Scottish crown after the death of the ' Maiden of Norway,' and
was one of the commissioners nominated by Robert Bruce In his
competition with John Baliol. The Earl left two sons, who dropped
their paternal surname of Stewart, and assumed that of Menteith.
The younger of the two. Sir John Mentelth of Ruskle, is the ' false
Mentelth ' who is branded by Scottish tradition and history as the
betrayer of the patriot Wallace. Lord Hailes, who sometimes
carried his scepticism respecting the statements of the old Scottish
historians a great deal too far, discredits the story, which he asserts
rests only on tradition and the allegations of Blind Harry. Sheriff
Mark Napier, a descendant of Sir John Menteith, has made an
elaborate defence of his ancestor from the charge of betraying:
Wallace ; and Mr. Burton designates it as a part of the romance of
Wallace's career that he was betrayed by a fellow-countryman and

The Earldom of Menteith. ig
an old companion in arms. ' Menteith,' he adds, ' held the respon
sible post of Governor of Dumbarton Castle, and it seems likely
that he only performed a duty, whether an agreeable one or not.'
There is conclusive evidence, however, afforded by documents
recently discovered that the charge brought against Menteith is not
without foundation. Dr. Eraser, who has discussed this question
very fully and Impartially In the ' Red Book of Menteith,' and has
carefully examined all the documents bearing on the subject, is of
opinion that the accusation that Menteith basely betrayed Wallace
as his friend rests upon evidence too insufficient to sustain such a
charge. But the documents which Dr. Eraser has examined show
that Sir John Mentelth fought on the patriotic side at the battle of
Dunbar in 1296, where he was taken prisoner along with his elder
brother ; that he afterwards made his peace with Edward I., and
supported the claims of that monarch ; that he again returned to the
patriotic party ; that he once more submitted to the English king,
and obtained from him the sheriffdom of Dumbarton and the custody
of the castle to which Wallace was conveyed after his capture, and
that he obtained a share of the reward which Edward had promised
to the persons who should be Instrumental in delivering the Scottish
patriot into the hands of his enemies. It is impossible to speak with
certainty as to the extent of friendship that may have existed between
Wallace and the vacillating turncoat noble, but there can be no
doubt that they must have had ' intercourse and familiarity.' In the
' Relationes Arnaldi Blair,' it Is mentioned that in August, 1298,
Wallace, Governor of Scotland, with John Graham and John de
Menteith, and Alexander Scrymegour, Constable of Dundee and
Standard-bearer of Scotland, acted together in an expedition Into
Galloway against the rebels who adhered to the party of Scotland
and the Comyns.
There is abundant contemporary evidence to prove that Sir John
Mentelth was the chief agent in the capture of Wallace. In the
' Chronicle of Lancaster,' written in the thirteenth century, it is
stated that ' William Wallace was taken by a Scotsman, namely.
Sir John Mentelth, and carried to London, where he was drawn,
hanged, and beheaded.' In the account of the capture and execu
tion of Wallace contained in the Arundel manuscript, written about
the year 1320, It is stated that 'William Wallace was seized In the
house of Ralph Rae by Sir John Menteith, and carried to London
by Sir John de Segrave, where he was judged.' Fordun, who lived

20 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
in the reign of King Robert Bruce, when the memory of the exploits
of Wallace must have been quite fresh, says : ' The noble William
Wallace was, by Sir John Menteith, at Glasgow, while suspecting
no evil, fraudulently betrayed and seized, delivered to the King of
England, dismembered at London, and his quarters hung up in the
towns of the most public places in England and Scotland, in oppro-
bium of the Scots.' Wyntoun, whose 'Metrical Chronicle' was
written in 14 18, says —
' Schyre Jhon of Menteith in tha days
Tuk in Glasgow William Walays ;
And sent hym untill Ingland sune,
There was he quartayrd and undone.'
The English chronicler, Langtoft, states that Menteith discovered
the retreat of Wallace through the treacherous information of Jack
Short, his servant, and that he came under cover of night and seized
him in bed. A passage In the ' Scala Chronica,' quoted by Leland,
says, ' William Walleys was taken of the Counte of Menteith, about
Glasgow, and sent to King Edward, and after was hanged, drawn,
and quartered at London.' But the most conclusive evidence of all
that Mentelth took a prominent part in the betrayal and capture of
Wallace Is afforded by the fact that while very liberal rewards
were given to all the persons concerned in this Infamous affair, by
far the largest share fell to Mentelth : he received land to the value
of one hundred pounds.
Alexander Menteith, sixth Earl of Mentelth, elder brother of
the ' false Menteith,' fought on the patriotic side In the War of
Independence, and in consequence lay for a considerable time in an
English dungeon. His son, Alan Menteith, seventh earl, a
staunch supporter of Robert Bruce, was taken prisoner at the battle
of Methven, in 1306, when the fortunes of the patriot king were at
the lowest ebb, was deprived of his estates by Edward I., and died
in an English dungeon. He was succeeded by his brother, Murdoch
Stewart, who was killed at the battle of Dupplin, 12th April, 1332.
His niece. Lady Mary, only daughter of Eari Alan, who appears to
have been under age at the time of her father's death, now became
Countess of Menteith. She married Sir John Graham, who is sup
posed to have been the younger son of Sir Patrick Graham of
Kincardine, ancestor of the Montrose family, and became Earl of
Menteith apparently by courtesy through his wife. He accompanied

GRAHAMS OF MENTEITH.

The Earldom of Menteith.

21

David II. in his invasion of England in 1346. He was present
at the battle of Durham, and, when the archers were almost within
bowshot, earnestly urged the King to send a body of cavalry to
charge them in flank. His advice was unhappily disregarded, and
when the archers were about to direct their deadly volleys on the
serried ranks of the Scottish spearmen, the Eari exclaimed, ' Give
me but a hundred horse and I engage to disperse them all ; so shall
we be able to fight more securely.' His appeal was, however,
unheeded, and hastily leaping upon his horse, and followed only by
his own retainers, he rushed upon the advancing bowmen. But his
gallant attack was not supported. His horse was killed under him,
and after bravely, but vainly, striving to arrest the advance of the
enemy, he was compelled to retire to the main body of the Scottish
army. After a stout battle, which lasted for three hours, the Earl
was taken prisoner, along with his sovereign, and was Imprisoned in
the Tower of London. By the direct orders of King Edward, he
was tried and condemned as a traitor, on the plea that he had at one
time sworn fealty to the English King, and was drawn, hanged,
beheaded, and quartered.
Lady Margaret Graham, only child of the heroic Sir John
Graham, Earl of Menteith, and Lady Mary his countess, inherited
the earldom about the year 1360. She was four times married,
twice before she had attained the age of twenty years; and she
received five dispensations from the Roman Pontiff to enable her to
enter Into her successive matrimonial alliances. Her first husband,
to whom she was married when she was fourteen, was Sir John
Moray of Both well, son of Sir Andrew Moray, who was regent of
the kingdom during the minority of David II. He died about the
close of the year 1351 without Issue. The hand of Lady Margaret
was next sought in marriage by Thomas, thirteenth Eari of Mar,
the last male heir of the ancient race of that house, to whom she
was married In 1352 ; but she was soon after divorced by him,
Fordun says by the instigation of the devil and on pretences that
were utterly false.
'The true reason for this action,' says Mr. Frazer, 'Is no
doubt to be found in the fact that the Earl of Mar, naturally
desirous of having children of his own to succeed to his old and
historical earldom of Mar, and finding himself disappointed in this
after his union with Lady Margaret Graham, as it is recorded that

22 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
there were no children of the marriage, separated himself from her.
In the hope that by a new matrimonial alliance he might have an
heir. He afterwards married Lady Margaret Stewart, Countess of
Angus, who was the eldest daughter and heiress of Thomas Stewart,
second Earl of Angus. But he was again disappointed, and he died
without Issue in 1377.'
Lady Margaret, who was still little more than twenty years of
age, was induced to take for her third husband, in 1359, John
Drummond, of Concraig, for the sake of healing the fierce feuds
that raged between the Menteiths and the Drummonds. He died,
however, probably In 1360, for his widow married again in 1361.
Her fourth and last husband was Sir Robert Stewart, third son of
Robert Stewart, Earl of Strathern, Hereditary High Steward, after
wards King Robert II. of Scotland ; and by this marriage she carried
the earldom of Menteith back to the race of her maternal ancestors,
the Stewarts. Robert Stewart was created Earl of Menteith on
the 26th of March, 1371, the day on which his father was crowned,
and on the 30th of that month the Lady Isabella, Countess of Fife,
recognised the Earl as her true and lawful heir-apparent in virtue of
the entail made by her father, Sir Duncan, Earl of Fife, in favour of
Alan, Earl of Menteith, grandfather of Earl Robert's wife, and of
the entail made by Lady Isabella herself and her late husband, elder
brother of Sir Robert, in his favour. A meeting of Parliament, held
at Scone in April, 1373, ordained that, failing the eldest son of the
King and his heirs, the succession to the Crown should devolve on
the Earl of Fife and Menteith, who was to take precedence of
the younger sons of the sovereign. He received nu merous grants
of land from his father, with whom he seems to have been a favourite,
and he was appointed in 1382 to the office of High Chamberlain,
left vacant by the death of Sir John Lyon of Glammis.
In consequence ofthe advanced age of his father, Robert II., and
the physical infirmity of his brother, the Eari of Carrick, afterwards
Robert III., the Estates deemed it necessary in 1388 to appoint the
Eari of Fife and Menteith Guardian of the Kingdom, and he was
virtually its ruler thenceforth to the end of his life. In the year 1398
he was created Duke of Albany, at the same time that the King's
eldest son, the Eari of Carrick and Athole, was made Duke of
Rothesay. Albany was crafty and ambitious, but he was possessed
of great administrative ability, and his pacific policy secured for
Scotland under his sway a happy exemption from those wars which

The Earldom of Menteith. 23
for many years had exhausted the resources of the country and
retarded all social improvement. His administration was undoubtedly
popular ; the people regarded him as their friend, the nobles were
friendly to him, and his liberality to the Church procured for him
the grateful eulogies of the clergy. Wyntoun, the Prior of St.
Serf's, in his ' Metrical Chronicle,' descants in glowing terms on the
Regent's goodly person and lofty stature ; his strength, wisdom,
chastity, sobriety, and affability ; his piety, hatred of Lollards and
heretics, and liberality to the Church. He has, however, in various
ways received scant justice at the hands of the later historians of
Scotland, arid has long lain under the evil repute of having been
accessory to the murder of his nephew, the dissolute and Ill-fated
Duke of Rothesay. Sir Walter Scott's romance of the ' Fair Maid
of Perth ' has contributed not a little to deepen the unfavourable
impression formed of Albany's conduct in this matter. Lord Hailes,
after quoting the remission drawn up under the royal seal granted
to Robert, Duke of Albany, and Archibald, Earl of Douglas, for the
part they took in the apprehension of the prince, says —
' From this Instrument the following circumstances may be
collected : —
' I. The death of David, Prince of Scotland, occasioned a parlia
mentary inquiry.
' 2. His uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany, and his brother-in-law,
Archibald, Earl of Douglas, were at least suspected of having con
fined him and put him to death.
' 3. The result of the Inquiry was that the Duke of Albany and
the Earl of Douglas avowed that they had confined him, and justified
their conduct from the basis of public utility.
' 4. The King did not hold It as expedient or necessary to publish
these motives to the world.
'5. It appeared that the "Prince of Scotland departed this life
through Divine Providence, and not otherwise." The reader will
determine as to the import of this phrase. If by it a natural death
was intended, the circumlocution seems strange and affected.
' 6. The Duke of Albany and the Earl of Douglas obtained a
remission in terms as ample as if they had actually murdered the
heir-apparent.' Mr. Frazer, In his ' Red Book of Menteith,' has very carefully

24 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
investigated the charge against the Regent and Douglas, and has
come to the conclusion that the story of Rothesay's death by
starvation in a dungeon In Falkland Palace, which was first
told by Hector Bocce, is not supported by any evidence of the
slightest value. The eminent genealogist puts great weight on the
facts that the charges were judicially investigated by Parliament,
with the result that the Duke and the Earl were completely vindi
cated from the accusation made against them ; and that the King
himself, Rothesay's father, declared publicly and explicitly in Par
liament, that they were innocent from every charge of blame in con
nection with the Prince's death.
Albany died in peace on the 3rd of September, 14 19, in the
eightieth year of his age, having virtually govemed Scotland for
thirty-four years, though his actual regency extended to only four
teen. He was succeeded In his titles, estates, and office by his son
Murdoch, who was most unjustly and cruelly put to death, along
with his sons, and his aged father-in-law, the Earl of Lennox, and
their estates forfeited, by James I., on his return, in 1425, from his
long captivity in England. The unrelenting severity with which
the King wreaked his vengeance on the house of Albany excited
deep and general indignation.
The earldom of Mentelth, on the execution and forfeiture of
Earl Murdoch, became vested in the Crown, and a moiety of it
was conferred In 1427 upon Malise Graham, son of Sir Patrick
Graham and Euphemia, granddaughter of Robert Stewart, as some
compensation for the loss of the earidom palatine of Strathern, one
of the oldest and most illustrious bf Scottish dignities, which he had
inherited from his mother, and which the King had appropriated on
the plea that it was a male fief. The other portion was reserved to
the Crown, and was afterwards known as the Stew^artry of AIex-
TEiTH. The second son of Eari ]\Ialise, named ' Sir John with the
Bright Sword,' upon some displeasure having arisen against him at
Court, retired with a large number of his kindred and clan to the
English Border, during the reign of Heniy IV., where they became
the most formidable of the freebooters resident in the Debateable
Land. ' They were all stark moss-troopers and arrant thieves '
says Sandford, ' both to England and Scotland outlawed, yet som^
times connived at because they gave Intelligence forth of Scotland
and could raise four hundred horse upon a raid of the English into
Scotland.'

The Earldom of Menteith. 2^
Sir Walter Scott describing —

says that-

' Old Albert Grseme,
The minstrel of that ancient name,'
' His hardy kin,
Whoever lost, were sure to win.
They sought the beeves that made their broth
In Scotland and in England both.'

From 'John with the Bright Sword' descended the Grahams
of Gartmore, West Preston, Norton Conyers, Yorkshire, and of
Netherby, lately represented by Sir James Graham, the distinguished
statesman, whose tall and stalwart form and vigorous Intellect were
worthy of his ancestry.
Earl Malise was succeeded in 1490 In the earidom of Menteith
by his grandson, Alexander Graham, whose father seems to
have been Patrick Graham, third son of Malise. Of him nothing
deserving particular notice is recorded. William Graham, eldest
son of Earl Alexander, succeeded his father In 1537. He lost his
life in a sanguinary fight with a party of marauding Highlanders
— the Stewarts of Appln. On their retreat from a raid into Stirling
shire, through the lands of the Earl, in 1543, headed by the Tutor
of Appin, surnamed ' Donald of the Hammer,' the Stewarts hap
pened to pass by the Lake of Menteith at the time that preparations
were making for a marriage feast at the Earl's castle, which stood
on an island in the lake, while the outhouses were on the shore.
The hungry and not over-scrupulous marauders ate up all the pro
visions, which consisted mainly of poultry. As soon as intelligence
of this outrage reached the Earl, indignant at the affront offered
him even more than at the injury, he pursued after Donald and his
men, accompanied by his retainers and the wedding guests, and
overtook them, according to one account in the gorge of a pass
near a rock called Craigvad, according to another at Tobanareal, a
spring on the summit of the ridge which separates Menteith from
Strathgartney, between Loch Katrine and the Lake of Menteith.
A sanguinary engagement ensued, in which the Earl and nearly all
his followers were killed, and ' Donald of the Hammer ' escaped
under cover of night with only a single attendant. From the
cause of this fight the Highlanders ever after gave the name of the
' Grahams of the Hens ' to the Menteith family.

26 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
John Graham, fourth Earl of Menteith, succeeded his father In
1544, while still a minor. He was one of the nobles who escorted
the young Queen Mary to France in 1550, and was probably selected
to be one of her guardians during the voyage in consequence of her
having had a temporary refuge In one of the Islands on the Lake of
Menteith in the immediate vicinity of his residence. He received in
1554 from the Queen-Dowager, Mary of Guise, a commission as
justiciary over both the earldom and the Stewartry of Menteith ; but
he afterwards became dissatisfied with her policy and proceedings,
and in 1558 he joined the Lords of the Congregation. He was one of
the leaders of their army at the siege of Leith in 1660; he sat in the
Parliament which ratified the Scottish Confession, and he subse
quently subscribed the first Book of Discipline. He died in 1560.
The earldom remained for upwards of seven years after his death in
the hands of Queen Mary and James VI. on account of the minority
of his son —
William Graham, fifth Earl. He was a zealous supporter of the
Protestant cause, took part in the proceedings connected with Queen
Mary's resignation of her crown and the accession of her infant son
to the throne, and was present at the battle of Langslde, in May,
1568. At the time of his death, In 1568, his son and heir —
John Graham, sixth Earl, was a boy of seven or eight years of
age. Little Is known of his personal history, as he was in minority
during the greater part of the nineteen years during which he was in
possession of the earldom.
William Graham, seventh Earl, who, like his father, succeeded
to the family title and estates while In his boyhood, was the most
distinguished of all the earis of the house of Graham. Unlike his
father and grandfather, he was a staunch Royalist and a great
favourite of Charies I. He rose rapidly from comparative obscurity
to be the most influential nobleman in Scotland, and held the
important offices of President of the Privy Council, Justice-General,
and an Extraordinary Lord of Session. Charies placed great confi
dence in the tact and capacity ofthe Eari of Menteith, and con.sulted
him freely on all the questions which then disturbed the northern
part of the kingdom. A considerable number of the letters which
the Eari received from the King have teen brought to light and pub-

The Earldom of Menteith. 27
lished In the second volume of the ' Red Book of Menteith,' and
serve to show both the state of the country at this time and the feel
ing which his Majesty cherished towards his faithful servant. The
Earl was served helr-of-entail In 1630 to David, Eari of Strathern,
eldest son of Robert II. by his second wife, and In the following year
the King ratified by patent this service to the Earl, and authorised
his being styled Earl of Strathern and Menteith. The other nobles,
however, seem to have regarded the favoured nobleman with great
envy and jealousy, and one or two of their number appear to have
been actuated by apprehensions that some of their own estates which
had formed part of the ancient earldom might be reclaimed. They,
therefore, organised a cabal against the Earl, of which Sir John
Scott of Scotstarvet, Director of Chancery, ' a busy man in
foul weather,' was the guiding spirit, and they contrived by
false and insidious accusations to excite the suspicion of the King
against the potent and ambitious nobleman. The validity of the
marriage of Robert II. to Elizabeth i\lure, his first wife, from
whom the royal Stewart family are descended, had been long and
keenly disputed ; and if it had been set aside, David, Earl of
Strathern, the ancestor of the Menteith family, would have been the
eldest legitimate son of that sovereign. In allusion to this claim
the Earl of Menteith is alleged (though he affirmed untruly) to have
boasted that he had ' the reddest blood In Scotland.' The hostile
intriguers, among whom it Is matter of regret that Drummond of
Hawthornden, the poet, was included, succeeded in persuading Charles
that the Earl of Alentelth had uttered certain treasonable speeches,
claiming to have a better right to the throne than the King himself.
Drummond had previously stated to the king that ' a more serious
blow could not be g-iven to the Earl of Menteith himself than allow-
inpf his descent and title to the earldom of Strathern ; ' and so It
proved. The unfortunate nobleman was deprived by Charles not
only of the earldom of Strathern, but also of his hereditary title of
Mentelth. To aggravate the injustice thus done to him, he was at
the same time stripped of all his offices. As some small compen
sation for the grievous wrong inflicted on him, he was in 1632
created Earl of Airth, and he was subsequently allowed to resume
his family title of Mentelth, but he passed the rest of his days In
poverty and obscurity.
To add to his miseries, this ill-fated nobleman, like many a good
man, was sorely troubled with a bad wife, and he gave vent to his

28 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
feelings in a most amusing paper detailing his sufferings at the
hands of that ' wicked woman ' and her ' wise devices,' which seemed
somehow always to run counter to those of her husband, whether
the affair in hand referred to the purchase of a house or the marriage
of a daughter. The money given as a portion to his second daughter,
who, during the Earl's absence In London, was married by ' my
prudent wife,' as he styles her, to the eldest son of the Earl of
Galloway, amounted to twenty-seven thousand merks. ' I am sure,'
he said, ' I might have married three of my daughters to three
barouns living besyd me with that portion I gave to Galloway, any
one of which would have been more useful to me than the Earl of
Galloway. They had children, but they all dyed ; so that money
was as much lost to me as If I hade castin it In the sea.' So with
regard to the house which he says his ' wyse wiffe ' induced him to
buy much against his will, as he alleges. ' This woeful wyse wife
of mine,^ he says, ' made propositioune to me that she conceived
It not honourabill for me to pay rent for ane house as I did then for
a little house I dwelled in beside the churchyard, bot that I should
rather buy ane house heritabile ; which foolish design of that wicked
woman s I refuised, and taulde her that I knew not how long I
should stay at Edinburch, and would not give my money to buy
ane house thair. But she replyed that it would serve for ane house
for my lands of Kinpount, which foolish answer of that wicked
woman s showed her vanitie, and the great desyre she had to stay
still in Edinburch, for the like was never heard, that the house
standeth sevin mylls from the lands, Kinpount being sevin mylls
from Edinbruch. Alway ther being some things between the Earl
of Linlithgow and me, he did offer to dispoun to me his house. The
earl and I for the pryce of the house, yairds, and grass yairds, at the
price of 8,500 merks, did agrie, and he disponed them to me.
Presently after this I went up to London, and I was no shooner
gone bot my wyfe sette to worke all sorte of tradesmen, such as
quarriers, maissons, sklaitters, vrights, smiths, glasiers, painters,
and plaisterers, and I may say treulie that the money which she
bestowed upon the re-edifieing of that house and gardens was twyse
so much as I gave for the buying of them.' To crown all, in the
end ' that house took fyre accidentallie, and was totallie burned, and
so became of everything this unhappie woman my wyfe lade her
hand to.' This curious paper, in which the poor Earl sought to
relieve his feelings, affords an amusing contrast to the heavy

The Earldom of ]\Icntcith. 2Q
and rather doleful document connected with his other trials and
sufferings. Lord Kilpont, the eldest son of this ill-assorted couple, was the
young and gallant nobleman whose exploits occupy a prominent
place in the ' Legend of Montrose.' Sir Walter has, however, con
siderably softened and altered the catastrophe, for Lord Kilpont
unfortunately did not recover, but was struck dead on the spot by
Stewart of Ardvoirlich.
Various accounts have been given of the causes which led to this
murder, but all that is known with certainty is that, though his family
had certainly no great reason to support the royal cause, Kilpont,
who, like his father, had steadily refused to subscribe the Covenant,
or to take part with the Covenanters, joined the Marquis of Mon
trose with a body of five hundred men, when he took up arms for
the King in 1644, and at the battle of Tippermuir commanded the
left wing of the Royal forces. A few days after, while the army
was lying in the fields, near the Kirk of CoUace, the young noble
man was assassinated by Stewart of Ardvoirlich, his Intimate
friend, whose tent and bed he had shared on the previous night.
Wishart, the chaplain and biographer of Montrose, states that
Stewart had resolved to abandon the Royal cause, and to assassinate
Montrose, and tried to induce Lord Kilpont to be ' accessory to the
villainy. Therefore, taking him aside Into a private place, he had
discovered unto him his Intention, which the nobleman highly
detested, as was meet. Whereupon the murderer, fearing he would
discover him, assaulted him unawares, and stabbed him with many
wounds, who little suspected any harm from his friend and creature.
The treacherous assassin by killing a sentinel escaped, none being
able to pursue him, it being so dark that they could not see the end
of their pikes. Some say the traitor was hired by the Covenanters
to do this, others only that he was promised a reward if he did it.
Howsoever It was, this is most certain that he Is very high in their
favour unto this very day, and that Argyle immediately advanced
him, though he was no soldier, to great command in his army.
Montrose was very much troubled with the loss of that nobleman,
his dear friend, one that had deserved very well both from the King
and himself; a man famous for arts and arms and honesty ; being a
good philosopher, a good divine, a good lawyer, a good soldier, a
good subject, and a good man.' Wishart' s account of this tragic

30 The Great Histotdc Families of Scotland.
incident is In part corroborated by the Act of Pariiament, passed in
March, 1645, confirming the pardon granted bythe Privy Council
to James Stewart, for the slaughter of Kilpont. It stated what was
no doubt the murderer's own story, which there is little doubt was
framed in such a way as was most likely to conciliate his new
friends, and obtain an amnesty for his foul deed. The Act sets
forth that James Stewart of Ardvoiriich, along with his son and four
friends, * repenting of their errors in joynlng with the saides rebbles,
and abhorring their cruelty, resolved with his saide freendes to
foirsake their wicked company, and Impairted this resolution to the
said umquhile Lord Kilpont. Bot he, out of his malignant dlspo-
sitione opposed the same, and fell in struggling with the said
James, who for his owne relieffe was forced to kill him at the Kirk
of Collace, with two Irish rebells who resisted his escape.'
A different version of this sad story is given from tradition by the
descendants of Ardvoirlich, who object to the account given by
Wishart on account of his partiality, and his questionable authority
when dealing with the motives or conduct of those who differed
from him. According to the Stewarts, a quarrel had arisen between
their ancestor and Allster Macdonald, surnamed Colkltto, on account
of some excesses which the Irish troops under the command of the
latter had committed on the lands of Ardvoirlich, and he challenged
Colkltto to single combat. Before they met, however, Montrose,
by the advice, it is alleged, of Kilpont, put them both under arrest,
and compelled them to shake hands in his presence, when it is said
that Ardvoirlich, who was a very powerful man, took such a hold of
Macdonald's hand as to make the blood start from his fingers.
A few days after the battle of Tippermuir an entertainment was
given by Montrose to his officers, in honour of the victory which
he had gained. Kilpont and his comrade Ardvoirlich were present,
and on their return to their own quarters Stewart began to blame
the young lord for the part he had taken In the quarrel with Col
kltto. Kilpont of course defended himself, till the argument came
to high words, when Stewart, who was a man of violent passions,
and was probably heated with wine, broke out in great fury, and
with his dirk struck his friend dead on the spot. He immediately
fied, and, under cover of a thick mist, escaped pursuit, leaving his
eldest son Henry, who had been mortally wounded at Tippermuir,
on his deathbed.
Stewart's followers Immediately withdrew from Montrose, and no

The Earldom of Menteith. 3 \
course remained for him but to throw himself into the arms of the
opposite faction, by whom he was well received. His name Is fre
quently mentioned in Leslie's campaigns, and on more than one
occasion he is referred to as having afforded protection to several of
his former friends, through his interest with Leslie, when the cause
became desperate.*
William Graham, the son of Lord Kilpont, who succeeded his
grandfather as Earl of Airth and Mentelth in 1661, died without
issue In 1604. This last representative of 'a great old house'
lived and died In Impoverished circumstances. Having been obliged
at one time to retire to the sanctuary of Holyrood for protection
against his creditors, he applied to his kinsman, Malise Graham of
Glaschoil, on the shores of Loch Katrine, for such a supply of money
as might relieve him. Faithful to the call of his liege lord, Malise
instantly quitted his home, dressed like a plain Highlander of those
days, travelling alone and on foot. Arriving at the Earl's lodgings,
he was knocking at the door, when a gentleman, commiserating his
apparent poverty, tendered him a small piece of money. Malise
was in the act of thankfully receiving it when the Earl, coming to
the door, perceived him and reproved him fordoing so. The High
lander, with the utmost nonchalance, took from his bosom a purse,
and handing It to his lordship, said In Gaelic, ' Here, my lord, see
* James Stewart of Ardvoirlich was the prototype of Allan McAulay in the
' Legend of Montrose,' and the story which Sir Walter ascribes to that moody and
partially insane Highlander actually occurred in the case of Ardvoirlich. His mother
was sister of one of the Drummonds, surnamed Drummond-Ernoch, who was royal
forester in the forest of Glenartney, in the reign of James VI. About the year r588
he was murdered by a party of the MacGregors, known by the title of MacEagh, or
' Children of the Forest.' They cut off his head and carried it with them, wrapped up
in the corner of one of their plaids. They stopped at the house of Ardvoirlich, and
demanded refreshments, which the lady (her husband being absent) was afraid, or
unwilling, to refuse. She caused bread and cheese to be placed before them, and
went into the kitchen to order more substantial refreshments to be made ready. On
her return to the room she saw on the table the bloody head of her brother, with its
mouth filled with bread and cheese. The poor lady, horrified at the sight, shrieked
aloud and fled into the woods, where, notwithstanding strict search, she could not be
found for some weeks. She was at length discovered in a state of insanity, but, after
giving birth to a child of which she had been pregnant, she gradually recovered her
faculties. The boy — James Stewart — grew up to manhood, uncommonly tall, strong,
and active, but with a mood)', fierce, and irascible temper; and there is every reason
to believe that he was not free from a taint of insanity. He led a hard life after his
murder of Lord Kilpont, as the Grahams held him at mortal feud. He had often t.->
be in hiding, and even when he died his friends were obliged to conceal his body for
some lime till they could bury it safely in an old chapel.

32 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and clear your way with that. As for the gentleman who had the
generosity to hand me the halfpenny, I would have had no objection
to accept of every halfpenny he had.' The story adds that the
Earl's necessities having been thus, for the time, relieved, he Imme
diately returned with his faithful vassal to his castle on the Lake of
Menteith. Some time before his death the Eari disposed of his whole
landed property to the Marquis of Montrose and Graham of
Gartmore, his nephew. The beautiful Lake of Mentelth, with its
Islands— Talla, on which the ruins of the old castle of the family
may still be seen, and Inchmahome, the ' Isle of Rest,' where the
Infant Queen Mary found refuge from the English invaders after the
battle of Pinkie — together with Aberfoyle and the district which Sir
Walter Scott's ' Rob Roy ' has rendered so famous, thus passed
into the possession of the chief of ' the gallant Grahams,' from
whom the last Earls of Menteith sprung, while their memory,
even In their own country, is now but ' the shadow of a name.'
Lady Mary Graham, the sister of the last Earl of Menteith, was
brought up at Fetteresso by her grandmother, the Countess
Marischal, and there married Sir John AUardice, the head of an old
Kincardineshire family. The great-grandson of this lady left an
only daughter, who. In 1777, married Robert Barclay of Urie, a
descendant of the author of the well-known ' Apology for the
Quakers,' and father of Captain Barclay, the celebrated pedestrian.
Lady Mary's husband, when he represented Kincardineshire in
Parliament, always walked from Urie to London. He was a very
powerful man, and could walk fifty miles a day, his usual refresh
ment on the road being a bottle of port wine, which he poured into
a bowl and drunk off at a draught. Lord Monboddo, the well-known
eccentric judge and philosopher, his neighbour, on the other hand,
always travelled on horseback, and when he went to London he
rode the whole way. George III. was much interested in these per
formances, and said, ' I ought to be proud of my Scottish subjects
when my judges ride and my members of Parliament walk to the
metropolis.' Captain Barclay laid claim to the earldom of Menteith and Airth
in right of his mother, and It greatly perplexed him whether, if he
succeeded in gaining the earldom, he would have to give up his
favourite amusement of driving the ' Defiance ' coach betv/een
Aberdeen and Edinburgh. On this point he consulted his friend

The Earldom of Menteith. 33
the Duke of Gordon. ' Why,' replied his Grace, ' there is not much
difference between an earl and a marquis ; and as the Marquis
of Waterford drives the Brighton ' Defiance,' I see no reason why
you may not drive the Edinburgh ' Defiance.' At all events, if
there be any objection to your being the coachman, there can be
none to your being guard.'
Mrs. Barclay AUardice, the claimant of the Airth peerage, is
lineally descended from this aristocratic coach-driver. Her claim is
opposed by Mr. Graham of Gartmore, who contends that the titles
of Airth and Mentelth cannot be dissevered, and that as the latter
is unquestionably limited to heirs male, so must the former. What
ever may be the decision of the House of Lords on this subject,
every Scotsman will cordially join in hoping that we shall soon
witness the restoration to its rightful heir of one of the oldest and
most famous titles —
' . . . . Of a race renowned of old
Whose -war-cry oft has waked the battle swell.
Since first distinguished in the onset bold ;
Wild-sounding when the Roman rampart fell.
By Wallace' side it rung the Southron's knell,'
and has been heard on many a battlefield since, from Bannockburn
to Barossa.
Lady Elizabeth Graham, younger sister of the last Earl of
Menteith, married Sir William Graham of Gartmore, and bore to
him a son and a daughter. The former died 12th July, 1708, without
issue; the latter, who became the wife of James Hodge of Gladsmuir,
had one daughter, who was married In her fourteenth year to
William Graham, son of John Graham of Callingad. Their son
William Graham, who was born In 1720, assumed the title of Eari
of Menteith, and voted at the election of the Scottish representative
peers, 5th May, 1761, but his vote was disallowed by the House of
Lords. He died without Issue in 1787.*
* See Addenda, vol. ii., p. 423.

VOL. I.

THE DOUGLASES.
|N the story of Scotland,' says Mr. Froude, 'weakness is
»l nowhere ; power, energy, and will are everywhere ; ' and
this national vigour, determined will, and indomitable
resolution seem to have culminated in the ' Doughty
Douglases.' Their stalwart and tough physical frames, and the
strong, resolute, unbending character of such men as ' William the
Hardy,' 'Archibald the Grim,' and 'Archibald Bell-the-Cat,' the
types of their race, eminently fitted them to be ' premier peers ' —
leaders of men. From the War of Independence down to the era
of the Reformation, no other family played such a conspicuous part
in the affairs of Scotland as the Douglases. They intermarried no
less than eleven times with the royal family of Scotland, and once
with that of England. They enjoyed the privilege of leading the
van of the Scottish army in battle, of carrying the crown at the
coronation of the sovereign, and of giving the first vote in Pariia
ment. ' A Douglas received the last words of Robert Bruce. A
Douglas spoke the epitaph of John Knox. The Douglases were
celebrated In the prose of Froissart and the verse of Shakespeare.
They have been sung by antique Barbour and by Walter Scott, by
the minstrels of Otterburn and by Robert Burns.' A nameless poet
who lived four hundred years ago eulogised their trustiness and
chivalry. Holinshed, in the next century, speaks of their ' singular
manhood, noble prowess, and majestic puissance.' They espoused,
at the outset, the patriotic side in the War of Independence, and
they contributed greatly to the crowning victory of Bannockburn.
They sent two hundred gentlemen of the name, with the heir of their
earidom, to die at Flodden. There was a time when they could raise
thirty thousand men, and they were for centuries the 'bulwarks of
the Scottish borders against our ' auld enemies of England.' They

DOUGLASES OF DOUGLAS.

The Douglases.

35

have gathered their laurels on many a bloody field In France, where
they held the rank of princes, and in Spain and in the Netherlands,
as well as in England and Scotland, and —
' In far landes renownit they have been.'
They have produced men not only of ' doughty ' character, but of
the gentle and chivalric type also, like the ' Good Sir James,' and
the William Douglas who married the Princess Egidia, justifying
the exclamation of the author of the ' Buke of the Howlat ' —
' O Douglas, Douglas,
Tender and true ! '
On the other hand, it cannot be denied that their haughtiness and
turbulence and ambition often disturbed the peace of the country,
and imperilled the stability of the throne. On the whole, however,
setting the good and the evil against each other, it may be said, in
lines which were old in the days of Godscroft, and were then, he
says, 'common in men's mouths' —
' So many, so good, as of the Douglases have been.
Of one sirname were ne'er in Scotland seen.'
The cradle of the race was in Douglasdale, but their origin is hid
in obscurity. ' We do not know them,' says Godscroft, in his
' History of the House and Race of Douglas and Angus,' ' in the
fountain, but In the stream ; not in the root, but in the stem : for
we know not who was the first mean man that did raise himself
above the vulgar.' The traditionary account of the descent of the
family from ' a dark-grey man ' (Sholto-Dhu-Glas), who rescued
Solvathius, a mythical king of the Scots In the eighth century, from
imminent danger of defeat in a battle with Donald Bane, is
evidently fabulous. It is alleged by Chalmers that the founder of
the family came from Flanders, about the year 1 147, and was named
Theobald the Fleming, and that he received from Arnold, Abbot of
Kelso, a grant of lands on Douglas Water (Dhu-Glas), the dark
stream, from which the family name was derived. But this is mere
conjecture, not supported by any evidence ; and It has been ascer
tained that the lands granted to Theobald are not those of which
the first known Douglas, In the next generation, was in possession,
and that these lands never formed a part of the barony of that
name. Wyntoun is of opinion that the Douglases had the same
origin as the Murrays, either by lineal descent or by collateral

j6 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
branch, as they have in their arms the same stars set In the same
manner. Through the innate energy of their character, the Douglases
seem to have sprung almost at a bound into the foremost rank of
the Scottish nobles. The first mention of their name in any
authentic record Is in a charter by Joceline, Bishop of Glasgow, to
the monks of Kelso, between 1175 and 1199, which was witnessed
by William of Dufglas, who Is said to have been either the brother or
brother-in-law of Sir Freskin de Kerdale In Moray. Sir William
was a witness to a charter in 1240, and, along with Sir Andrew of
Dufglas, to another charter in 1248. His great-grandson, sur
named the ' Hardy,' from his valour and heroic deeds, fought on
the patriotic side in the War of Independence. He was governor of
the Castle of Berwick in 1296, when that town was besieged and
taken, after a resolute defence, by Edward I. The garrison of the
castle on capitulating were allowed to march out with the honours
of war ; but Sir William Douglas was detained for some time a
prisoner in one of the towers of that fortress. On regaining his
liberty he rejoined the patriotic party, but fell once more into the
hands of the English, and died in confinement in the Tower of York
In 1302. He was' the father, by a sister ofthe High Steward, of —
Sir James Douglas, the ' good Sir James,' the friend of Robert
Bruce, the most illustrious member of the Douglas family, and one
of the noblest of the band of heroes who vindicated the freedom and
independence of Scotland against the English arms. The romantic
incidents in the career of this famous warrior and patriot would fill a
volume. On the imprisonment of his father he retired to France,
where he spent three years, ' exercising himself in all virtuous
exercise,' says Godscroft, and ' profited so well that he became the
most compleat and best-accomplished young nobleman In the country
or elsewhere.' On the death of his father young Douglas returned
to Scotland. His paternal estate having been bestowed by King
Edward on Lord Clifford, he was received into the household of
Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, with whom he 'counted kin'
through his mother. He was residing there when Robert Bruce
assumed the crown In 1305-6, and took up arms against the English
invaders. Douglas, who was then only eighteen years of age, on
receiving Intelligence of this movement, resolved to repair at once
to Bruce' s standard. According to Barbour, he took this step
secretly, though with the knowledge and approval of the patriotic

The Douglases. 37
prelate, who recommended him to provide himself with a suit of
armour and to take a horse from his stables, with a show of force,
thus ' robbing the bishop of what he durst not give.' Lesley, Bishop
of Ross, however, makes no mention of force, and says Douglas
carried a large sum of money from Lamberton to Bruce. He met
the future King at Erickstane, near Moffat, on his way to Scone to
be crowned, and proferred him his homage and his services, which
were cordially welcomed. From that time onward, until the freedom
and Independence of the kingdom were fully established, Douglas
hever left Bruce' s side, alike in adversity and prosperity, and was
conspicuous both for his valour in battle and his wisdom in council.
He was present at the battle of Methven, where the newly crowned
King was defeated, and narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. He
was one of the small band who took refuge, with Bruce and his Queen
and other ladles. In the wilds first of Athole and then of Bread-
albane, where for some time they subsisted on wild berries and the
scanty and precarious produce of fishing and the chase. Barbour
makes especial mention of the exertions of Sir James Douglas to
provide for the wants and to promote the comfort of the ladies : —
• For whiles he venisoun them brocht,
And with his hands whiles he wrocht
Gynnes to take geddys (pikes) and salmonys,
Troutis, eelys, and als menonys (minnows).'
Bruce himself was often comforted by his wit and cheerfulness.
At the encounter between the small body of men accompanying the
King and the MacDougals of Lorn, at Dairy In Strathfillan, Douglas
was wounded, and Bruce freed himself only by his great personal
strength and skill In the use of his weapons from a simultaneous
attack made upon him by three of the followers of the Lord of Lorn.
It was Douglas who discovered the small leaky boat in which the
remnant of Bruce' s followers were ferried, two at a time, over Loch
Lomond. He spent the subsequent winter with the King on the island
of Rachrin. On the approach of spring he made a successful descent
on the Island of Arran, and succeeded In capturing a large quantity
of provisions, clothing, and arms. Shortly after, while Bruce was
engaged In an effort to wrest his patrimonial domains in Carrick
from%he English, Sir James repaired secretly into Douglasdale,
which was held by Lord Clifford, surprised the English garrison oii
Palm Sunday (1306-7), took possession of Douglas Castle, destroyed
all the provisions, staved the casks of wine and other liquors, put his

38 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
prisoners to the sword, flung their dead bodies on the stores which
he had heaped up In a huge pile, and then set fire to the castle.
This shocking deed, which we may hope has been exaggerated by
tradition, was no doubt Intended to revenge the atrocious cruelties
which Edward had perpetrated on Bruce' s brothers and adherents,
and especially the death of Douglas's faithful follower, Dickson, who
was killed in a conflict In the church. It was long commemorated in
the traditions of the country by the name of the ' Douglas larder.'
Sir James continued for some time after this exploit to lurk among
the fastnesses of Douglasdale, for ' he loved better,' he said, ' to
hear the lark sing than the mouse squeak.'
Douglas Castle was speedily rebuilt by Clifford, Avho placed a
garrison in it under the command of a brave soldier named Thirl-
wall, and then returned to England. After his departure, Douglas
determined to expel the enemy again from his patrimonial estates.
For this purpose he had recourse to stratagem. ' He caused some
of his folk,' says Godscroft, ' drive away the cattle that fed near
unto the castle, and when the captain of the garrison followed to
rescue, gave orders to his men to leave them and to flee away.
This he did often, to make the captain slight such frays, and to
make him secure that he might not suspect any further end to be on
It; which when he had wrought sufficiently (as he thought), he laid
some men in ambuscade, and sent others away to drive such beasts
as they should find In the view of the castle, as If they had been
thieves and robbers, as they had done often before. The captain
hearing of it, and supposing there was no greater danger now than
had been before. Issued forth of the castle and followed after them
with such haste that his men (running who should be first) were
disordered and out of their ranks. The drivers also fled as fast as
they could till they had drawn the captain a little way beyond the
place of ambuscade, which when they perceived, rising quickly out
of their covert, they fell fiercely upon him and his company, and so
slew himself and chased his men back to the castle, some of whom
were overtaken and slain ; others got into the castle and so were
saved. Sir James, not being able to force the house, took what
booty he could get without in the fields, and so departed. By this
means and such other exploits he so affrighted the enemy that it
was counted a matter of such great jeopardy to keep this castle that
It began to be called the adventurous (or hazardous) Castle of
Douglas. Whereupon Sir John Walton, being in pursuit of an

The Douglases. 39
English lady, she wrote to him that when he had kept the adven
turous Castle of Douglas seven years [the real period prescribed was
a year and a day], then he might think himself worthy to be a suitor
to her. Upon this occasion Walton took upon him the keeping of
it, and succeeded to Thirlwall ; but he ran the same fortune with the
rest that were before him. For Sir James having first dressed an
ambuscade near unto the place, he made fourteen of his men take
so many sacks and fill them with grass, as though it had been
corn which they carried on the way towards Lanark, the chief
market town In that country ; so hoping to draw forth the captain
by that bait, and either to take him or the castle, or both. Neither
was the expectation frustrate, for the captain did bite, and come forth
to have taken this victual (as he supposed). But ere he could
reach these carriers. Sir James and his company had gotten
between the castle and him ; and these disguised carriers, seeing the
captain following after them, did quickly cast off their upper gar
ments, wherein they had masked themselves, and throwing off their
sacks, mounted themselves on horseback, and met the captain with
a sharp encounter, he being so much the more amazed that it was
unlooked for. Wherefore, when he saw these carriers metamor
phosed into warriors and ready to assault him, fearing (that which
was) that there was some train laid for them, he turned about to
have retired into the castle, but there also he met with his enemies ;
between which two companies he and his followers were slain, so
that none escaped. The captain afterwards being searched, they
found (so it is reputed) his mistress's letters about him. The castle
also fell into Douglas's hands, and its fortifications were levelled
with the ground.' *
Sir James continued to take a prominent part in the struggles of
the patriots to expel the English from the country, and was con
cerned in all the most perilous enterprises of that protracted war
fare. He defeated a detachment of the English while marching
from Bothwell into Ayrshire, under the command of Sir Philip Mow
bray, and he cleared the wooded and mountainous district of Ettrick
Forest and Tweeddale of the enemy. It was his skilful strategy that
inflicted a crushing defeat on the Lord of Lorn at the Pass of Brander,
near Loch Awe, in Argyleshire. On March 13, 13 13, he captured
the important fortress of Roxburgh and took the garrison prisoners.
"= This incident is the foundation of Sir Walter Scott's last romance of Caitlt
Dangcraus.

40 The Great Historic Families of StvtAmd.
He commanded the left wing of the Scottish army at the battle of
Bannockburn. 1 lis chivalrous boluvviour towards Randolph, on the
evening before that memorable conflict, shows tlic true nobiHty of
his character. Randolph had failoil to notice the movement of a
strong body of horse under Sir Robert Cliflbrd, who had been
detached from the main army of the luiglish, for the jiurpose of
strengthening the garrison of Stirling CaslK\ ami lie being aiiprised
of this movement by IVucc himself, had hastened at tlic head
of an inferior force to arrest their march. Douglas, with great
difficulty, induced King Kobert to give him permission to go to the
assistance of Randolph, whose little band was environed by the
enemy and placed in great jeojiardy. But on approaching the scene
of conflict, he perceived that the English were falling into disorder,
and ordered his followers to halt. ' These brave men,* he said,
'have repulsed the enemy; let us not diminisli their glory by
claiming a share in it.' ' When it is remembered,' says vSir Walter
Scott, ' that Douglas and Randol[)h were rivals for fame, tliis is one
of the bright touches whli:h illuminate and atloni thi^ hi.story of
those ages of which blood and devastation arc the predominant
characters.* After the defeat of his army at Bannockburn, King lulward was
closely pursued by Douglas in his flight from the battlefield. He
came up with the fugitive monar{;h at Linlithgow; Init as he had
only sixty horsemen with hiin, while the royal escort tmmbered
five hundred men, he could not vcntun; to attack them. He
continued the chase so closely, howevc>r, as not to give the fugitives
a moment's rest, killing or taking jtrisoiK-rs all who fi.-ll an instant
behind, and did not cease from the pursuit until lulward found refuge
in the Castle of 1 )unl)ai-, sixty miles from the field of battle.
Douglas eontinued to take an aetivi; part in tho measures adopted
after Bannockburn to clear tlu^ country comphdely of th(> i'Jiglish,
and during the expedition to Ireland, uiuh:rtaken by King Robert
and his brother, Edward Bruee, th(! government ofthe kingdom was
intrusted to Sir jaine.s, in eoiijunetion with Walter Stewart, Bruee's
son-in-law. Hostilities between the two kingdoms at this pi;riod
were for the mo.st ])ai-t eonliiuxl to occasional Border forays, in which
tlu' Scots wert! alino.st always sueeessrul, mainly ihrougli the activity
and skill of Douglas. He inflicled a .seven; defeat on the I'lari of
Arundel at a [)laee called l.inthauglilee, near Jcnlburgh. The line
of march of the invading army lay through an exten.sivu wood, and

The Douglases. 41
Douglas having twisted together the young birch-trees on both
sides so as to form a kind of abatis impenetrable by cavalry, posted
a considerable body of archers in ambush at the narrowest part of
the pass. The English advanced in careless security, and on
reaching this spot they were assailed by the Scots both in front and
on the flanks, and driven back with great slaughter. In the first
onset Sir Thomas de Richemont, one of the English leaders, was
slain by the hand of Douglas, who took as a trophy of victory a
furred hat which Sir Thomas wore above his helmet. The estate ot
Linthaugh, which King Robert bestowed upon Douglas as a reward
for this victory. Is still in the possession of the family.
Shortly after the defeat of the English in Jedburgh Forest, a
Gascon knight, named Edmund de Cailou, governor of Berwick,
made an inroad into Teviotdale, but while returning through the
Merse loaded with spoil, he was attacked by Douglas and killed,
along with most of his men. A similar fate befell Sir Robert Neville,
who at that time resided in Berwick. He boasted of his willingness
to encounter this puissant Scottish leader If he would display his
banner before that renowned stronghold. On receiving notice of
this bravado, Douglas marched to the neighbourhood of Berwick,
and sent out a detachment to burn some villages within sight of the
garrison. Sir Robert on this issued out at the head of a force more
numerous than the Scots. An obstinate engagement ensued, in
which the English were defeated with the loss of their leader, who
was slain In a hand to hand encounter with Douglas, aftd Sir Ralph
Neville and various other persons of distinction were taken prisoners.
In consequence of these and other similar exploits. Sir James excited
such dread among the enemies of his country that all along the
Borders the English mothers were accustomed to quiet their children
by threatening that they ' would make the Black Douglas take them.'
From this time onward Douglas and Randolph were almost always
conjoined in the enterprises which the Scots undertook against the
English. They carried out successfully the plan which King Robert
arranged for the capture of the important Border fortress of Ber
wick in 13 17. Two years later, while King Edward, at the head
of a powerful army, was making a vigorous effort to recover that
place, these two noble brothers in arms crossed the Borders with a
well-appointed force- of fifteen thousand men, and laid waste the
northern counties with fire and sword. The Archbishop of York,
to resist these ravages, hastily collected a large but ill-assorted and

42 The Great Historic Fannlics of Scotland.
undisciplined force, composed of archers, yeomen, priests, clerks,
monks, and friars, and gave battle to the Scots at Mitton. As might
have been expected, the}' were completely defeated after a ver}- brief
conflict, and four thousand men are said to have fallen in the battle
and the pursuit, among whom were three hundred priests. In
allusion to this circumstance and to the clerical leaders of the
defeated army, this rout was named h\ the Scots, in the savage
pleasantry of the times, ' The Chapter of Mitton.' On the failure
of the invasion of Scotland by King Edward in person in 1322.
Douglas and Randolph grievously harassed the English in their
retreat ; and in retaliation for the ravages committed b\- the invaders,
they laid waste the north of England, and, in company with King
Robert and his son-in-law, inflicted a severe defeat on Edward at
Biland, in Yorkshire, and captured his camp baggage and treasure,
the King himself with difficulty escaping to York.
The last and most successful of the invasions of England by these
two redoubted warriors took place in 1327, after the accession ot
Edward III. to the English throne. Crossing the western Border at
the head of tw^enty-three thousand men, they plundered and laid
waste the country as far as the Wear, and completely baffled the
attempts ofthe young King, at the head of sixty-two thousand men,
to arrest their progress. While the two armies were l}"ing opposite
each other, Douglas crossed the river at midnight with a chosen
body of four hundred horse and penetrated into the English camp,
which appears to have been carelessly guarded. He even forced his
way to the royal tent, and would have carried off the young King but
for the brave resistance of his chaplain and other members of the
household, who lost their lives in their master's defence, and thus
gave him time to escape. Having failed in his attempt on the King's
person, Douglas cut his way through the gathering crowds of his
enemies, and with inconsiderable loss returned In safety to the
Scottish camp. A few nights later the Scots quitted their encamp
ment unperceived ¦ by the English, passing over a morass in their
rear, and were several miles on their way homewards before it was
known that they had left their position. Pursuit was hopeless, and,
unmolested by the enemy, they regained their own country in safety.
The successful result of this expedition contributed not a little to
bring about the recognition of the independence of Scotland by the
English Government, and the conclusion of a treaty of peace between
the two kingdoms.

The Douglases. 43
In the year 1329, when King Robert was on his deathbed, after
giving some general Instructions to his most trusted barons and
lords, Froissart says, ' He called to him the brave and gentle knight
Sir James Douglas, and said before the rest of the courtiers : " Sir
James, my dear friend, none knows better than you how great labour
and suffering I have undergone in my day for the maintenance of
the rights of this kingdom, and when I was hardest beset I made a
vow which It now grieves me deeply that I have not accomplished.
I vowed to God that if I should live to see the end of my wars, and
be enabled to govern this realm in peace and security, I would then
set out in person and carry on war against the enemies of my Lord
and Saviour to the best of my power. Never has my heart ceased
to tend to this point, but our Lord has not consented thereto ; for I
have had my hands full in my days, and now at the last I am seized
with this grievous sickness, so that, as you all see, I have nothing to
do but to die. And since my body cannot go thither and accomplish
that which my heart hath so much desired, I have resolved to send
my heart there in place of my body to fulfil my vow ; and now, since
in all my realm I know not any knight more hardy than yourself, or
more thoroughly furnished with all knightly qualities for the accom
plishment of the vow in place of myself, therefore I entreat thee, my
dear and tried friend, that for the love you have to me you will
undertake this voyage and acquit my soul of its debt to my Saviour ;
for I hold this opinion of your truth and nobleness, that whatever you
undertake I am persuaded you will successfully accomplish ; and
thus I shall die In peace, provided that you do all that I shall tell
you. I will, then, that as soon as I am dead you take the heart out
of my body and cause it to be embalmed, and take as much out of
my treasure as seems to you sufficient for the expenses of your
journey both for you and your companions, and that you carry my
heart along with you and deposit it in the Holy Sepulchre of our
Lord, since this poor body cannot go thither. And it is my command
that you do use that royal state and maintenance in your journey,
both for yourself and your companions, that into whatever lands or
cities you may come all may know that you have in charge to bear
beyond seas the heart of King Robert of Scotland."
' At these words all who stood by began to weep, and when Sir
James himself Was able to reply, he said, " Ah ! most gentle and
noble king, a thousand times do I thank you for the great honour
you have done me in making me the depositary of so great and

44 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
precious a treasure. Most faithfully and willingly, to the best of my
power, shall I obey your commands ; albeit, I would have you believe
that I think myself but little worthy to achieve so high an enter
prise." " Ah, gentle knight," said the King, " I heartily thank you,
provided you promise to do my bidding on the word of a true and
loyal knight." "Assuredly, my liege, I do promise so," replied
Douglas, " by the faith which I owe to God and to the Order of
Knighthood." "Now praise be to God!" said the King, "for I
shall die in peace, since I am assured that the best and most valiant
knight of my kingdom has promised to achieve for me that which I
myself could never accomplish." '
Soon after the death of King Robert, Sir James Douglas prepared
to execute the last injunctions of his beloved master. He had the
heart of Bruce embalmed and enclosed in a silver case, curiously
enamelled, and wore It suspended from his neck by a silver chain.
Having settled all his affairs and made his will, he set sail from
Scotland, attended by a numerous and splendid retinue, and anchored
off Sluys, where he lay for twelve days, keeping open table on board
his ship, and entertaining his visitors with almost royal magnificence.
Froissart says that Sir James had In his train a knight bearing a
banner, and seven other noble Scottish knights, and was served at
table by twenty-six esquires, all ' comely young men of good
family ; and he kept court in a royal manner with the sound of
trumpets and cymbals. All the vessels for his table were of gold
and silver, and whatever persons of good estate went to pay their
respects to him were entertained with two sorts of wine and two
kinds of spice.'
While lying off Sluys, Douglas learned that Alphonso, the young
King of Leon and Castile, was carrying on hostilities with Osmyn,
the Moorish King of Granada. As this was reckoned a holy war
fare Douglas resolved, before proceeding to Jerusalem, In fulfilment
of his own mission, to assist Alphonso in his contest with the
enemies of the Christian faith. He accordingly sailed to Spain,
and shortly after his arrival at Seville a battle was fought with the
Moors near Theba, on the frontiers of Andalusia. Douglas, to
whom the command of the vanguard was assigned, fought with his
usual bravery and put the enemy to flight ; but he and his com
panions, pursuing the fugitives too eagerly, were separated from the
main body of the Spanish army. The Moors, perceiving the small
number of their pursuers, rallied and surrounded them. Douglas,

The Douglases. 4j
who had only ten men with him, cut his way through the enemy,
and might have made good his retreat, had he not turned back to
rescue Sir William St. Clair of Roslln, whom he saw surrounded by
the Moors and In great jeopardy. ' Yon worthy knight will be
slain,' he exclaimed, 'unless he have Instant help.' And putting
spurs to his horse he galloped back to St. Clair's assistance. But,
in attempting to save his friend, he was surrounded and overwhelmed
by the crowds of the Moors, who were twenty to one. When he
found himself Inextricably involved, he took from his neck the casket
which contained the heart of Bruce, and throwing it before him he
exclaimed, ' Now pass thou onward as thou wert wont, and Douglas
will follow thee or die!' He then rushed forward to the place
where It fell, and was there slain, along with Sir William St. Clair
and Sir Robert and Sir Walter Logan. On the following day the
body of the hero of seventy battles was found on the field beside the
casket, and by his few surviving friends sorrowfully conveyed to
Scotland and Interred In the sepulchre of his ancestors in St. Bride's
Church at Douglas. The heart of Bruce was buried by Randolph,
Earl of Moray, in Melrose Abbey.
The portrait of Sir James Douglas has been drawn in very graphic
and pleasing terms by the friendly hand of Barbour, from the testi
mony of persons who were personally acquainted with the hero. He
was tall, strong, and well-made, though lean, broad-shouldered and
large-boned, and of swarthy complexion, with black hair. He lisped
a little in his speech, but, says the metrical historian, ' that set him
right wonder week' He was pleasant and affable In his manners;
his countenance had a modest and gentle expression in time of
peace, but he had a very different aspect in the day of battle. Not
withstanding the perils to which he had been exposed and the
numerous engagements in which he had fought, his face had escaped
without a wound. There was a knight of great renown at the court
of King Alphonso, whose face was all over marked with the scars of
wounds received in battle, and who on meeting with Douglas,
expressed his astonishment that a knight so famous for his warlike
exploits, and who had seen so much hard service, should have no
marks of wounds on his countenance. ' I thank God,' Douglas
modestly replied, 'that I had always hands to protect my face.'
He was universally beloved by his contemporaries for his kindness
and courtesy, as well as admired for his bravery and chivalrous
deeds, and he Is affectionately remembered among his countrymen

4 6 The Great Histo) ic Families of Seolland.
by the name of the ' Good Sir James.' Godscroft, who dwjlls with
peculiar complacency on the daring exploits and many virtues of
this great ornament of the Douglas family, winds up his eulogium
on him in the following characteristic terms : * We will not omit
here to shut up all the judgment of those times concerning him, in
an old rich verse indeed, yet such as beareth witness of his true
magnanimity and invincible mind in either fortune, good or bad : —
" Good Sir James Douglas,
Who wise, and wight, and worthy was,
Was never over glad for no winning.
Nor yet over sad for no tyneing ; [losing]
Good fortune and evil chance
He weighed both in one balance." '
Godscroft states that Sir James was never married, but Dr.
Eraser has discovered that he was married, and left a legitimate son,
who fell at Halidon. Archibald the Grim, his natural son, became
third Earl of Douglas. Sir James was succeeded by his next brother — ¦
HuGi-i Douglas. ' Of this man,' says Godscroft, * whether it
was by reason of the dulness of his mind, or infirmity of his body,
we have no mention at all in history of any of his actions.' The true
reason was that he was a canon of the Cathedral Church of Glasgow.
Archibald Douglas, youngest brother of Sir James, succeeded
to the territorial estates and title of the Lord of Douglas by virtue
of the resignation made by his brother Hugh, the churchman.
He was chosen Regent of Scotland in 1333, after the capture
of Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell at Roxburgh Castle — an un
fortunate choice, as succeeding events proved. In his attempt
to relieve the castle and town of Berwick, then besieged by
Edward III., Douglas rashly and Imprudently attacked the English
army drawn up in a strong position at Halidon Hill (July 22, 1333),
and was defeated and killed, along with a large number of the leading
nobility of Scotland and several thousands of the common soldiers.
This disastrous battle for a time laid Scotland prostrate at the feet
of the English monarch. In this extremity the struggle for the
independence of the country was maintained by a small band of
gallant leaders, conspicuous among whom was —
Sir William Douglas, the Knight of Liddesdale, known also in

The Douglases. 47
history by the title of ' The Flower of Chivalry.' He was supposed
by Tytler and other historians to have been a natural son of the
' Good Sir James ; ' but this is a mistake. He was the lawful son
of Sir James Douglas of Loudon, and came Into possession of the
lands of Liddesdale through his marriage with Margaret, daughter of
Sir John Graham of Abercorn. He took a distinguished part In the
expulsion of Baliol and his English partisans from Scotland, after
the young King David Bruce had taken refuge In France. He was
unfortunately taken prisoner In 1332 In an encounter with an English
force at Lochmaben, and was confined in Iron fetters by the orders
of Edward III. himself He was detained two years in captivity,
and was released only on paying a large ransom.
On his return to Scotland the Knight of Liddesdale exerted him
self more energetically than ever to expel the English invaders and
to vindicate the independence of his country. He took part In the
conflict with the Earl of Athole at the Forest of Kilblane, in which
that powerful but rapacious and unpatriotic noble was defeated and
killed. He captured and demolished the Castles of Dunnotar,
Kinclaven, and Laurieston, which had been garrisoned by the
English. He encountered, near Crichton, the Lords Marchers of
England, who had come to the relief of Edinburgh Castle, then
besieged by the Regent, and drove them across the Tweed, but was
himself severely wounded in the contest. He expelled the enemy
from Teviotdale, captured Sir John Stirling at the head of five
hundred men-at-arms, intercepted a convoy of provisions on its way
to Hermitage, and succeeded in reducing that fortress ; defeated
Roland de Vaux, a celebrated warrior in the English interest, and In
a fierce and repeatedly renewed engagement with Sir Lawrence Aber-
nethy, a Scotsman who had espoused the cause of Edward Baliol,
he succeeded at the fifth encounter in capturing that knight and dis
persing his followers. In 1339 he was sent to solicit assistance from
the French Court, and brought back with him frora France five ships
of war, having on board a body of men-at-arms under the command
of an experienced French oflicer, who contributed largely to the
reduction of Perth, at that time held by the English. Shortly
after he succeeded, by a dexterous stratagem, in recovering the
Castle of Edinburgh. He tarnished his laurels, however, and his
reputation, by the cruel murder of his friend and companion In arms,
Sir Alexander Ramsay. (See sketch ofthe Ramsays.) Such was the
weakness of the Government at this time, that King David was

48 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
obliged not only to pardon the savage murderer, but to bestow upon
him the office on account of which he had perpetrated the atrocious
crime. The assassination of David' de Berkeley shortly after, at
the instigation of Douglas, is supposed to have been connected with
a plot for the restoration of Baliol to the throne. It is certain that
Edward at this time appointed commissioners with full powers ' to
treat of and to conclude a treaty with William Douglas, to receive
him Into our faith, peace, and amity, and to secure him a reward,'
and that Douglas accepted the terms which they offered. But, for
some unknown cause, the conspiracy was laid aside for the time.
The Knight of Liddesdale commanded the right wing of the Scot
tish army at the battle of Neville's Cross (17th October, 1346), and
was taken prisoner along with his sovereign. He was induced to
purchase his liberty at the expense of his loyalty and honour,
and promised to transfer to the English monarch that allegiance
which he owed to his own sovereign. He bound himself by a
secret treaty to allow the English to pass unmolested through his
estates at all times and for all purposes ; neither openly nor secretly
to give counsel or aid to his own country, or to any other nation,
against the King of England ; and to keep on foot a body of men
for his service. In return for this treasonable compact he was
liberated fro.m prison, and received from Edward a grant of the
territory of Liddesdale and the Castle of Hermitage, with some
possessions In Annandale. But his treachery was discovered and
his intrigues baffled by his kinsman, William, first Earl of Douglas,
by whom, shortly after his return to Scotland, he was waylaid and
slain while he was hunting In Ettrick Forest. Some contemporary
writers ascribe this deed to revenge for the murder of Sir Alexander
Ramsay and Sir David Berkeley, which, however, does not appear
at all probable. Others affirm that It was owing to domestic
jealousy, and Hume of Godscroft has preserved a single stanza of
a ballad composed on the murder of Douglas which conveys this
impression : — ' The Countess of Douglas out of her bower she came.
And loudly then did she call :
It is for the lord of Liddesdale-
That I let the tears down fall.'
It is probable, however, that the treachery of Douglas to his country,
and his attempt to deprive his kinsman and chief of his patrimonial
inheritance, led to his violent end.

The Douglases. 49
William Douglas, son of the Regent who fell at Halidon Hill,
and nephew of the ' Good Sir James,' returned from France, where
he had been bred to arms, soon after the battle of Neville's Cross
and the captivity of the Scottish king, and, with the hereditary
valour and energy of his house, succeeded in expelling the English
from Douglasdale, and In the course of time from Ettrick Forest,
Tweeddale, and Teviotdale. He was created Eari of Douglas by
King David In 1357. He faithfully supported the cause of national
Independence, and even went so far as to unite with the Steward
and the Earl of March in a formal bond to compel David to change
his counsellors and to give up his Intrigues for altering the succession
to the crown In favour of one of the sons of the English king. He
made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas-a-Becket in the year
1363 ; but, unlike some others of the great Scottish barons, who
made such pilgrimages a pretext for treasonable intrigues with the
English Government, Douglas continued steadfast in his adherence
to his country's cause, and resolutely opposed the attempts of the
unworthy son of Robert Bruce to betray It to the enemy. On the
accession of Robert II., the son of the Steward and Marjory Bruce,
the Earl of Douglas unexpectedly put forth pretensions to the crown,
but abandoned them on finding that they were not likely to meet
with public support. As a reward fi ir the promptitude of his sub
mission, the King's eldest daughter was promised In marriage to
his eldest son, and the Earl himself was appointed Justiciar of Scot
land south of the Forth, and Warden of the East Marches. This great
noble, one of the best of his race, died in 1384 at an advanced age.
He was succeeded by his eldest son by his wife the Countess of Mar.
James Douglas, second Earl. He was a renowned warrior, and
closed his brilliant career at the celebrated battle of Otterburn.
At this period a close alliance was formed between the Scots
and the French, and large sums of money were distributed by the
King of France among the Scottish nobles to induce them to
invade England. The great Influence of the Earl of Douglas is
shown by the fact that while the powerful Earl of March received
four thousand livres, and the Earl of Fife (afterwards Duke of
Albany, and Regent) only three thousand, no less than seven thou
sand five hundred (equal to thirty thousand pounds of modern
money), were bestowed upon the Earl of Douglas. In opposition to
the advice of the King, the Scottish barons resolved, about the end
VOL. I. F

50 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
of July, 1388, to make an Inroad Into England. A large army
assembled at Southdean, near the Cheviot Hills,* and, after consul
tation among the leaders. It was arranged that the main body,
under the Earl of Fife, should enter England by Carlisle, while a
smaller division, commanded by the Earl of Douglas, should invade
it by the Eastern Marches. The latter accordingly pushed rapidly
through Northumberland, and ravaged the bishopric of Durham
without opposition. On their return homeward a personal encounter
took place at the gates of Newcastle between Douglas and Sir
Henry Percy — the renowned Hotspur f — In which the latter lost his
pennon. Douglas boasted that he would plant It on the tower of
his castle of Dalkeith. ' That,' said Percy, ' shalt thou never do ;
you shall not even bear it out of Northumberland.' ' Well,'
rejoined Douglas, ' your pennon shall this night be placed before
my tent ; come and win it if you can.' The Scots retired to
Otterburn, a hamlet In Redesdale, about thirty miles from New
castle ; but It was not till the third day that Percy marched against
them at the head of a greatly superior force, and attacked their
encampment shortly after sunset. Froissart, whose account of
the battle was obtained from English and Scottish knights who took
part In it, says it was fought on a sweet moonlight evening, clear
and bright. It raged for several hours with the utmost fury. At
length the Scots,, who fought against treble their number, began
to give way, when Douglas, wielding a battleaxe with both hands,
and followed only by a few of his household, cut his way into the
thickest of the enemy, where he was borne down and mortally
wounded. 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 had fallen was
cleared. Sir James Lindsay, Sir John and Sir Walter Sinclair, were the
first to discover him as he lay bleeding to death. His banner lay on
the ground not far from him, the bearer having fallen, and his chap
lain, Richard Lundie, who had fought during the whole battle at his
side, was found bestriding the Earl and protecting him from injury
* Tytler and other historians have represented Yetholm, the well-known gipsy
village, as the place of meeting. But Yetholm is nearly fifteen miles from Redeswire,
the place at which Douglas and his army were about to enter England. Froissart calls
the place Zedon. Southdean, which is pronounced Sooden at the present day, is the
place meant. It was only four mites from, Redeswire.
_ f The Oironide of St. Albans states that it was the Scots who gave Henry Percy this
nickname, on account of the ardour with which he assailed them.

The Douglases. 51
with his battleaxe. ' How farest with you, cousin ? ' asked Sir John.
' But so so,' replied the Earl ; ' yet few of my ancestors have died
in chambers or in their beds. 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 ' Douglas 1 ' and tell neither
friend nor foe I am lying here.' These were his last words.* The
Scottish leaders raised the banner, and with cries of ' Douglas !
Douglas!' assailed the English with renewed energy. Their
followers, animated by the cry, and believing that their leader was
still in the field, pressed on the enemy so fiercely that they gave way
on all sides. Hotspur and his brother. Sir Ralph Percy, were taken
prisoners, and scarcely a man of note among the English escaped
death or captivity. This battle, celebrated In the well-known ballads
of ' The Battle of Otterburn ' and ' Chevy Chase,' was fought on
the 5th of August, 1388. Froissart says, ' Of all the battles 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 gal
lantly, hand to hand with his enemy, without either stay or faint
heartedness.' In this memorable conflict the banner of Douglas
was borne by his natural son, Archibald Douglas, ancestor of the
Douglases of Cavers, long hereditary sheriffs of Teviotdale,
amongst whose archives this relic Is still preserved.t The Earl is said
to have charged his son to defend it to the last drop of his blood. %
The body of Douglas was carried by the Scottish army in solemn
and sorrowful procession to the abbey of Melrose, where they buried
him beneath the high altar. ' His obsequye was done reverently,'
says Froissart, ' and on his bodye layde a tombe of stone, and his
baner hangyng over hym.' §
* ' Hosts have been known at that dread name to yield ;
And Douglas dead, his name hath won the field.' — Home.
t In Cavers House there are preserved what are called the ' Percy Relics,' con
sisting of a pair of gauntlets bearing the badge of the Percys, a white lion, embroidered
in pearls and fringed with filigree work of silver. These gauntlets, according to
unvarying and credible tradition, were attached to the handle of Hotspur's lance, and
were captured along with it by Douglas, in his personal encounter with its owner at
Newcastle. X Froissart, book iii. chap: cxxix. ; History of the Battle of Otterburn, by Robert
White. § ' Full many a scutcheon and-banner riven
Shook to the cold night--wind of heaven,
Around the screened altar's pale ;

^2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
The hero of Otterburn was Eari of Mar, In right of his mother,
as well as Eari of Douglas, but as the Countess had no family the
earidom passed to her sister. (See The Ancient Earldom of
Mar.) At this period great celebrity was acquired by another member of
the Douglas family— Sir William Douglas, the natural son of
Sir Archibald, Lord of Galloway, the third Eari of Douglas.
Wyntoun describes this famous knight as —
'A young, jolly bachelor
Prized greatly was of war ;
For he was ever travelland
Whiles by sea and whiles by land.
To skathe his foes right busy
So that they dread him grettumly.'
And after mentioning several valiant deeds performed by Douglas,
which bear no Inconsiderable resemblance to those of King David's
worthies (see i Chron. xi. 12-23), the old chronicler thus sums up
his description of this Scottish Paladin : —
' So stoutly he was travelland
And put to sa hard assayis.
That to say sooth in to my days
I have not heard a Bachelor
Sa greatly prized far or near.
In to sa shori time as was he.*
Sir William Douglas's graceful person and warlike renowfi, com
bined with his generous disposition and a most winning gentleness
of manners, gained him the hand of King Robert's daughter Egidia,
who, according to Wyntoun, was —
? The fairest of fashion (form) and of face
That men might find that day living.
Though they had sought o'er all Scotland.*
Fordun says that the report of the beauty of the Princess so
Inflamed the King of France that he privately despatched a painter
to Scotland to bring him her picture ; but he found, to the great
disappointment of the King, that her affections were already
engaged. Boece varies the story a little, and says the French king,
on receiving the portrait of the Princess, ' was so enamoured thereof
that Incontinent he despatched ambassadors to desire her In marriage,
And there the dying lamps did burn.
Before thy low and lonely urn,
O gallant chief of Otterburne ! '
Lay of the Last Minstrel, canto ii.

DOUGLASES, LORDS OF GALLOWAY.

The Douglases. 53
but all too late, for she was married to Nithsdale before their
coming.' King Robert, along with the hand of his daughter,
bestowed upon Douglas the lordship of Nithsdale, and also ap
pointed him Warden ofthe West Border, and Sheriff of Dumfries.
The coast of Galloway was at this time Infested by bands of Irish
catterans, who ravaged and spoiled the country ; and shortly before
the battle of Otterburn Sir William resolved to punish them for
their piracies. Having collected a force of five hundred spearmen,
he effected a landing near Carllngford, and was proceeding to assault
the town when the inhabitants offered him a large sum of money to
ransom the place. Having thus obtained an armistice they secretly
despatched a messenger to Dundalk and procured the assistance of
eight hundred horse. Douglas, meanwhile, unsuspicious of treachery
or fraud, was engaged on the shore in victualling his ships, when he
perceived the approach of this strong body from Dundalk, and the
inhabitants of Carllngford at the same time sallying out from the
town to assist them in the assault upon his men. He Immediately
divided his troops into two bodies, and sent Sir Robert Stewart with
the one to repel the attack of the citizens, while he with the other
encountered the auxiliaries. After a stubborn conflict the Scots,
though greatly outnumbered, completely defeated their assailants,
ravaged and burned the town, demolished its castle, and loaded with
their plunder fifteen merchant vessels which lay at anchor In the
harbour. A truce was shortly after made with England, and Sir William
Douglas, ' that he might not languish In idleness,' joined the
Teutonic knights in their crusade against the Pagans In Prussia and
Lithuania, and was appointed admiral of their fleet. He Is said to
have been created Duke of Prussia and Prince of Dantzic for his
services In raising the siege of that town and expelling the Pagans
from the district. His countrymen were also thenceforth made free
men of Dantzic. He was murdered at Dantzic, about the year 1392,
by a band of assassins hired by an Englishman, whom Fordun terms
Lord Clifford, who had fastened a quarrel on him.
As Earl James, the hero of Otterburn, left no legitimate offspring,
he was succeeded by a natural son of " the good Sir James " —
Archibald Douglas of Galloway, third Eari, surnamed the
' Grim,' from his swart complexion and stern expression of coun
tenance. Before he succeeded to the earldom he fought with great

54 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
gallantry In the wars both of France and England. In 1356 he
accompanied William, Earl of Douglas, to France, and was taken
prisoner at the battle of Poictiers (13th September), but made his
escape through a dexterous stratagem of Sir William Ramsay of
CoUuthle. In 1378 he Inflicted a signal defeat, near Melrose, on a
body of English spearmen and archers under Sir Thomas Musgrave.
Before the battle began he knighted on the field two of the King's
sons, who were under his banner, along with his own son. The
conflict was keenly contested, but was quickly decided. Douglas,
according to his general custom, as Froissart mentions, when he
found the fight becoming hot, dismounted, and wielding a large
two-handed sword, made such havoc among the enemy that they
gave way on all sides. Great numbers were slain, and Musgrave
and his son, with many other knights and squires, were taken
prisoners. After the Earl became the head of the family, he was
regarded as the most powerful subject in the kingdom. He was
noted for his courage, firmness, and sagacity, and not less for his
pride. Hume of Godscroft says, ' He was a man nothing Inferior to
any of his predecessors in any kind of virtue. In piety he was singular
through his whole life, and most religious according to those times.''
He founded the Collegiate Church of Bothwell, a part of which still
remains to attest Its former magnificence. Godscroft affirms that
the Earl had a mind free from all ambition, but his conduct in
regard to the marriage of his daughter Marjory to David, Duke of
Rothesay, the heir- apparent to the throne, shows that he was
scarcely entitled to that eulogium. The Prince was affianced to the
daughter of the Earl of March ; but Douglas, jealous of the
aggrandisement of a rival noble, by the offer of a much more
splendid dowry prevailed upon Albany, the King's brother, to get
that contract set aside, on the plea that the sanction of the Estates
had not been given to it, and to wed Rothesay to Marjory Douglas.
The result of this dishonourable transaction was highly Injurious to
the happiness of the Prince, and the peace of the country. Not
withstanding, the influence of the Earl was on the whole beneficial
during the feeble reign of Robert III. ; and when he and the Queen-
mother, Annabella Drummond, and the venerable Bishop Traill of
St. Andrews, all died, a.d. 1400, within a short time of each other,
according to Fordun it was commonly said throughout the kingdom
that the glory and honesty of Scotland were burled with these three
noble persons. The Earl was succeeded by his eldest son-^

The Douglases. 55
Archibald Douglas, fourth Eari, immortalised both by Shake
speare and Sir Walter Scott.* He was called Tirieman (Loseman), in
consequence of his having lost almost all the battles that he fought.
' It is true,' says Godscroft, ' that no man was less fortunate, and
it is no less true that no man was more valorous.' He married
Margaret, daughter of Robert III., and was even more famous
and powerful than his father had been in the government of the
kingdom. He was accused of having been accessory, along with
the Duke of Albany, to the death of the Duke of Rothesay, his
brother-in-law, against whom his resentment was said to have been
roused by the neglect with which that unfortunate prince treated his
wife, the Earl's sister. (See The Earldom of Menteith.) From
his youth upwards Douglas showed great promptitude and activity
in defending Scotland against the inroads of the English. In the
year 1400 he gained a victory at East Linton over Hotspur and the
Earl of March, who had renounced his allegiance to the Scottish
king in consequence of the unjust treatment which he had received
. In the affair of his daughter's affiance to the Duke of Rothesay.
The Earl also successfully defended the Castle of Edinburgh
against the assault of Henry IV. on his Invasion of Scotland, the
last conducted by an English monarch In person. In September,
1402, however, Douglas was defeated and taken prisoner by Percy
at Homlldon Hill, near Wooler, where he displayed great courage,
but was guilty of very grave errors as a general. He was
wounded in four places and lost an eye In this battle, which was
gained entirely by the skill of the English archers and the mis
management of the Scottish leaders, many of whom were left on
this fatal field.
A quarrel rose between the victors and Henry IV. respecting the
disposal of the numerous Scottish nobles and knights taken prisoners
at Homlldon, and a conspiracy was set on foot by the Earl of North
umberland and his son against that King, whom they had been mainly
instrumental In raising to the throne. Douglas and the majority of
the captive Scottish knights were gained over to support the enter
prise. The insurgent forces hastened to the South with a view of
effecting a junction with Owen Glendower, who had also taken up
arms against Henry ; but they were encountered at Shrewsbury by
a powerful army, which the King had assembled to intercept their
* King Henry IV., Part I.; TJie Fair Maid of Perth; and the drama of
Homildon Hill.

56 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
march. The conflict which ensued raged for three hours with vary
ing fortune. The brilliant courage displayed by Douglas, which
has been commemorated by Shakespeare, called forth the eulogiums
of his adversaries, and his fierce attacks more than once placed the
life of Henry himself In Imminent danger and nearly decided the
battle. According to the old chroniclers. Lord Stafford, Sir Walter
Blunt, the royal standard-bearer, and two other leaders, who were
arrayed like the King, were encountered and killed by Douglas,
who, in cutting down the fourth man clad In royal apparel. Is said
to have exclaimed, 'Where the devil were all these kings born ?'
In the end the death of Hotspur, who fell pierced through the brain
with an arrow, turned the tide of battle and gave the victory to the
royal army. Douglas, in attempting to escape from the field, fell
over a precipitous bank and was severely bruised. He was in con
sequence taken prisoner, quietly remarking, ' The man sits full still
that has a rent in his breeks (breeches),' a homely saying which
has passed into a proverb. He recovered his liberty In 1406 on
payment of a large ransom.
During the protracted war in France between the Dauphin (after
wards Charles VII.) and Henry V. of England, an auxiliary force
went from Scotland under the Earl of Wigton, the eldest son, and
the Earl of Buchan, the son-in-law, of the Earl of Douglas, to the
assistance of the French, and rendered them important service in
their desperate struggle for national Independence. They defeated
the English at the battle of Beauge, a.d. 1420, in which the Duke
of Clarence, King Henry's brother, was killed, along with a consider
able number of English nobles. The Earl of Douglas was induced,
by the promise of an annual payment of two hundred pounds, to
engage that he would assist the English king In his French cam
paign with two hundred knights and two hundred mounted archers.
But after the battle of Beauge the Earl of Buchan returned to Scot
land to recruit his forces, and succeeded in inducing his father-in-
law to break off his agreement with King Henry, and to bring to the
aid of France an auxiliary force of five thousand men. He per
formed some brilliant exploits, and was rewarded for his services
with the Duchy of Touraine. But the usual bad fortune which pro
cured him the name of Tineman continued to attend him. He was
defeated at Crevant, mainly in consequence of the same neglect of
military tactics which caused the loss of the battle of Homlldon. In
the following year (17th August, 1424) he fell at the battle of Ver-

The Douglases. 57
neuil, along with the Eari of Buchan and the greater part of the
Scottish knights who had accompanied him to France, and the
auxiliary force under his command was almost entirely annihilated-
The celebrated Scots Guard, who were for a long time the attendants
of the French kings, originated with the small body of Scotsmen
who survived the disastrous battle of Verneuil. The unfortunate
Tineman was burled In St. Gratian's church at Tours.
Archibald Douglas, his eldest son, succeeded him as fifth Earl
of Douglas and second Duke of Touraine. He had during his
father's lifetime possessed the earldom of Wigton, which was
resigned to him by Thomas Fleming, the head of that old family.
After the return of James I. from his long captivity in England, the
Earl of Douglas was arrested in March, 1424, along with Murdoch,
Duke of Albany, the late Regent, and upwards of twenty other
nobles of the highest rank, for no reason assigned, but probably
on account of his alliance with the house of Albany. He was
speedily released, however, and sat on the jury by whom the Duke
was tried. He was again imprisoned In May, 1431, probably
because of his opposition to the measures of the King ; but, at the
urgent solicitation of the Queen and the nobility he was set at
liberty in the following September. After the murder of James, in
1437, the Earl of Douglas was elected a member of the Council of
Regency, and In the following year he was appointed Lleutenant-
General of the Kingdom. His great military talents and experi
ence fitted him in a high degree for the duties of this office ; but he
was intolerably arrogant and jealous of the honour of his family and
his privileges as a noble, quick to revenge an injury, and by no
means scrupulous as to his mode of gratifying his resentment. He
cherished a strong dislike to the chief ministers of the late King —
Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar and Sir William Crichton
the Chancellor — who belonged to the Inferior class of barons, and
had been elevated by James to high office for the purpose of assisting
him In his efforts to restrict the power of the great nobles. When
Livingston and Crichton quarrelled after the death of their patron,
and the latter solicited the assistance of Douglas, offering his con
stant friendship in return, the Earl not only rejected the over
tures of the Chancellor, but In fierce and contemptuous terms
declared Livingston and him both to be * mischievous traitors,'
whom it became not ' the honourable state of noblemen ' In any way

58 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
to help. ' Would to God,' he said, ' I might see a miserable mischief
to befall them both, seeing they have both deserved the same con-
dignly, through their own ambition, falsehood, pride, and height.'
Meanwhile the country was brought to the verge of ruin by the
feuds of the nobles, which, owing to the youth of the sovereign and
the weakness of the Government, were carried on without restraint.
The vast power and chivalrous character of the Lieutenant- General
of the Kingdom might have effected the suppression and punish
ment of these outrages, but, unfortunately, at this critical period he
was suddenly seized with malignant fever, and died at Restalrig,
near Edinburgh, on the 26th of June, 1439.
Under Earl Archibald the greatness of the house of Douglas
may be said to have culminated. Their vast estates In Gallo
way, Annandale, Douglasdale, and other districts of Scotland, to
gether with the Duchy of Touraine and the County of Longueville,
in France, yielded them revenues probably not Inferior to those of
the Scottish king ; while they could bring into the field an army
scarcely less numerous than his, and perhaps even more highly dis
ciplined, In consequence of their share in the Incessant raids of
Border warfare. The intermarriages of their kinsfolk with the
members of other great houses had largely extended the Influence
of the family, and throughout the districts where their estates lay
the whole of the Inferior barons and knights were either their allies
or vassals.
On the death of Earl Archibald his titles and vast possessions
descended to his eldest son William, sixth Earl of Douglas, and third
Duke of Touraine. At the time of his father's death he was only four
teen years of age, and his youth and inexperience rendered him quite
unfit to wield the great power and dignity which had devolved upon
him. It speedily became evident that the young Earl had Inherited
the characteristic qualities of his race. ' The Earl of Douglas,'
said Godscroft, ' was of the old spirit of the ancient nobility ; he
could not serve or obey but whom he ought, and the lawful com
manders lawfully commanding for his honour and utility.' He was
blamed by some as ' being guided by flattery, given to Insolence,
presumptuous In his port,' but the family historian adds with
amusing ndi/uete. that there was no evidence that ' he was more inso
lent, presumptuous, or arrogant, than became a man of his rank.'
Proud of his ancestry, his rank, vast estates, and numerous retainers,

The Douglases. 5g
he assumed almost regal state and Independence. His personal
attendance, when he rode out, consisted of a thousand horse ; his
household was conducted on a scale of dazzling magnificence. He is
said to have held within his domains a great council of his own, for
directing his affairs, and to have dubbed knights with his own
hand. His followers acknowledged no authority but the jurisdic
tion of their master, and secure in his protection, are said to have
been guilty of numerous acts of grievous oppression. He gave no
heed to the commands Issued in the name of the young King, requir
ing his attendance and service, and spoke in scornful terms of the
men who had usurped the functions of the government for their own
selfish ends.
Livingston and Crichton saw clearly that their position would
be insecure so long as this powerful and haughty noble lived,
and they resolved to cut him off before he reached maturity.
' But how shall they do with him ? ' says Godscroft. ' He is not
easy to be dealt with ; they must have muffles that would catch such
a cat,' and they adopted a plan to get him Into their power, which
displayed the vilest baseness and dishonesty. Crichton, In his own
name, and that of Livingston, sent a message to the young Earl, pro
fessing the greatest esteem for him, and Inviting him to the Court,
In order that he might cultivate personal Intercourse with his youthful
sovereign. Douglas fell into the snare, and attended by a small
retinue he set out for Edinburgh, along with his younger brother
David, and his friend Malcolm Fleming. On the way he halted at
Crichton Castle, the seat of the Chancellor, where a splendid enter
tainment had been provided for him, and accompanied by his host
he resumed his journey to the capital. Before he entered the city
some of his attendants observing that a number of private messages
were passing between the Chancellor and Livingston, who was
Governor of the Castle, reminded the Earl of the injunction of his
father that he and his brother ' should not come both together into one
place where themselves were not masters, lest they should endanger
their whole family at once,' and urgently entreated them both to
return ; or If the Earl was bent on going forward, that he should at
least send home his brother. This prudent counsel was unfortu
nately rejected bythe unsuspecting youth, who seems to have placed
unbounded confidence in the honour of Crichton and Livingston.
He proceeded direct to the Castle, where he was received in state
by the Governor and conducted to the presence of the King.

6o The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Several days were spent in pleasing Intercourse between James and
the Douglases, who were gready delighted with each other, but their
enjoyment was speedily brought to a tragic termination.
During a banquet at the royal table Crichton and Livingston sud
denly dropped the mask and assailed their unsuspecting guests with
charges of treason. The oft-repeated tale that a bull's head— the
signal of death— was placed on the table towards the close of the
entertainment, is purely fabulous, and In all probability originated
in the fertile fancy of Hector Boece, which Is responsible for other
similar embellishments of Scottish history. But this much is certain,
that the astonished youths, rendered defenceless by the absence of
their attendants, were seized and bound by a body of armed men
and hurried to an adjoining apartment, to undergo the formality of
a mock trial. It is said that the young King clung to the Chancellor
and entreated him with tears to spare the lives of the youthful
nobles, but his interference was sternly rejected by Crichton ; and
the Earl and his brother were condemned to death, and straight
way beheaded In the back court of the Castle. Three days afterwards
their friend Malcolm Fleming shared their fate.
The perpetrators of this foul deed soon discovered that they had
not only been guilty of an atrocious crime, but had also committed
a great blunder ; the murder and Its aggravation roused the fierce
Indignation of the numerous and powerful friends of the Douglas
family, while the youth of the victims, and the cold-blooded
treachery by which they had been entrapped and put to death,
excited a general feeling of sympathy for them and abhorrence of
their murderers, which found expression In a rude verse current at
the time among the people : —
' Edinburgh Castle, town, and tower,
God grant thou sink for sin ;
And that even for the black dinner
Earl Douglas got therein.'
James the Gross, as he was termed. Lord of Abercorn, the uncle
of the two youths so foully done to death, succeeded as seventh
Earl of Douglas. The title of Duke of Touraine and the estates
conferred upon Archibald Tineman reverted to the crown ofFrance,
and the large unentailed property of the murdered Earl, comprehend
ing Galloway, Wigton, Balveny, Ormond, and Annandale, descended
to his only sister, Margaret, who, from her great beauty, was com
monly called the Fair Maid of Galloway. Greatly to the surprise ot

The Douglases. 6 1
the country, at a time when revenge was deemed a sacred duty, no
steps were taken by the new Earl to inflict merited vengeance on the
murderers of his nephews. The historian of the house of Douglas
supposes that the remarkable obesity of Earl James extinguished
in him those quick feelings of honour which should have stimulated
him to revenge.* It has been conjectured, but with litde proba
bility, that the trial and execution of the young Earl and his brother
were undertaken with the connivance, if not with the assistance, of
his successor. James the Gross died after two years' Inglorious
possession of the family honours and estates, and was succeeded by
the eldest of his six sons —
William, eighth Earl of Douglas, who inherited all the courage,
ambition, and energy of his family. He was born about the year
1425, and succeeded to the family title and estates in 1443. In the
following year he obtained from Rome a dispensation to marry his
kinswoman, Margaret Douglas, Lady of Galloway — a union which
was greatly desired by his father. Thus the vast possessions of the
family, which had been divided on the death of the sixth Earl, were
united in the person of the eighth Earl. This Increase of territory
greatly augmented the power of the Earl and of his formidable house.
He lost no time In maturing and carrying out his plans for the resto
ration of the political influence of his house, and securing that place
in the administration of public affairs which he considered due to his
ancient family and extensive estates. He first of all made his peace
with the King, professing unbounded attachment to his person and
crown. James, who was greatly delighted with his unexpected sub
mission, made the Earl a member of the Privy Council, and soon
after conferred on him the office of Lieutenant-General of the King
dom. ' The raising of new and mean men was the thing that he
and his house did ever dislike very much,' says Godscroft, a remark
which, as Mr. Hannay observes, brings the Claudlan family to mind,
and shows us how great power bred great haughtiness, and the house
became unfit to be quiet subjects. This feeling was, no doubt, at
the root of the Earl's dislike to Livingston and Crichton. Through
=" ' In ane Addicioun of Scottis Chroniklis and Deidis,' printed from a manuscript
by the Bannatyne Club, his death is noticed, says Chambers, ' in terms which will
scarcely fail, in their naivete and unconscious humour, lo provoke a smile from the
reader.' 'The xxv day of March, 1443, erl James Douglas deit at the castell oi
Abercorn, to the takin [token] they said he had in him four stane of talch [tallow]
and mair.'

62 77?^ Great Historic Families of Scotland.
his Influence the former was deprived of his office ; and Crichton,
towards whom he cherished a deadly hatred, was In a Parliament
held at Stirling, In 1445, found guilty of treason, and proclaimed a
traitor and his estates confiscated.
The Influence of Douglas was now paramount. Three of his
brothers were raised to the peerage, and the chief offices in the admi
nistration were filled with his creatures. Bishop Kennedy, of St.
Andrews, a prelate of great wisdom and integrity, set himself to
thwart the designs of the Earl on the Independence of the Crown,
and in consequence his estates were laid waste with fire and sword
by the partisans of the Earl. A treasonable league was formed
between Douglas and the Earl of Crawford and Alexander Ross,
Lord of the Isles, which menaced both the safety of the King and
the peace of the country. The signal service which was rendered
at this period by Hugh, Earl of Ormond, a brother of Douglas, In
defeating, at Sark, a powerful Enghsh army which had Invaded
Scotland, tended not a little to strengthen the Interest of the house.
But the arrogant and lawless behaviour of its head gradually alien
ated the confidence and regard of the King. Indignant at the
diminution of his influence, the Earl resolved to retire from the
country for a season, and went to the Jubilee at Rome, in 1450, ' as
his enemies did interpret It,' says Godscroft, ' to show his greatness
to foreign princes and nations. There went with him In company a
great number of noblemen and gentlemen, such as the Lord Hamil
ton, Gray, Sal ton, Seton, Oliphant, and Forbes; also Calder, Urqu-
hart, Campbell, Eraser, Lauders of Cromarty, Philorth, and Bass,
knights, with many other gentlemen of great account.' At Paris the
Earl was joined by his brother James, his successor In the earldom,
who appears to have been at this time prosecuting his studies at the
University there. He was received by the French Court with the
respect due to his rank and the eminent services to France of his
grandfather and his uncle Earl Archibald ; and even at Rome his
reputation and ostentatious magnificence seem to have attracted no
small notice. During his absence the turbulent conduct of his vassals
disturbed the peace of the country and drew down upon them the
vengeance of the Government. The King marched in person to the
Borders, demolished Crag Douglas, a fortallce on the Yarrow, and
inflicted summary punishment on the offenders. On his return the
Earl sent a submissive message to the King, expressing his dis
pleasure with the conduct of his vassals during his absence, and his

The Douglases. 63
resolution to observe the laws and to maintain order among his de
pendents. He was on this received Into favour ; but there is good
reason to believe that he speedily resumed his treasonable designs,
and that, while engaged as one of the Commissioners in negotiating
a truce with England, he entered Into a secret Intrigue with the
Yorkist faction against the authority of his sovereign.
Although the Earl had now been deprived of the office of Lieu
tenant-General of the Kingdom, James, unwilling to come to an
open rupture with his too-powerful subject, appointed him Warden
of the West and Middle Marches, and confirmed to him and his
descendants, by deed of entail, the earldoms of Wigton and Douglas.
But these acts of kindness, which he probably regarded as indica
tions of weakness and fear, only emboldened the Earl to set at
defiance both the restraints of law and the authority of his sovereign.
He attempted to assassinate his old enemy Crichton, who had been
restored to the Chancellorship ; he hanged Sir John Herries of
Terregles, who had refused to become his ally, in contempt of a
positive order of the King requiring his release ; and he beheaded
Maclellan of Bomby, In circumstances shockingly cruel and aggra
vating. [See Maclellan.] With an evident view to an open
Insurrection against the royal authority, ' he sought and persuaded
all men under his opinion and servitude, and in special the gentlemen
of Galloway, with Coile, Carrick, and Cunninghame, and all other
parties that were near adjacent unto him, desyreing them daylle to
ride and goe with him as his own household and servantis, and to
assist him In all thingis whatsomevir he had to doe, whether It was
ryght or wrong, with the King or against him.'
Matters were now evidently approaching a crisis ; but the King
was anxious to avert an open rupture, for he was well aware that
Douglas and his two associates In a treasonable league could
unitedly bring into the field a force superior to that of the Crown.
He resolved, therefore, by the advice of Crichton and other expe
rienced counsellors, to invite the Earl to Court, in order that he
might try the effect of a personal remonstrance with him respecting
his illegal and turbulent conduct. Douglas accepted the invitation,
but took the precaution to obtain a letter of safe conduct under the
great seal, and signed by the principal nobles of the Court. Trusting
to this security, he repaired to Stirling with a small retinue, and
upon Shrove Tuesday (13th February, 1452) received and accepted
an invitation to dine at the royal table. He not only dined but

64 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
supped at the Court. After supper the King conducted his guest
apart into an Inner room, and, informing him that he was aware of
the league he had made with the Earls of Crawford and Ross,
entreated him to withdraw from a confederacy which was both
inconsistent with his allegiance and dangerous to the peace of the
country. Douglas refused, however, to comply with the King's
request, and as James continued to urge him more earnestly he
became more haughty and dogged In his refusal, and declared that
he could not honourably renounce the engagement which he had
made with Ross and Crawford, nor would he do so for any living
man. The King, whose temper was naturally fiery and impetuous,
lost all self-command at this Insolent defiance, and passionately
exclaiming, ' If you will not break this league, I shall,' drew his
dagger and stabbed the Earl, first In the throat and then in the
lower part of the body. Sir Patrick Gray, who was present, and
had sworn to be revenged upon Douglas for the murder of his
nephew, struck him on the head with his battleaxe, and the rest of
the nobles rushing In stabbed the dying man In the most dastardly
and disgraceful manner with their daggers and knives. The dead
body of the murdered noble, pierced with twenty-six wounds, was
cast out of the window into the open court, where It was burled.
The Earl left no family.
James, ninth Earl, and his otner three brothers, who were in the
town of Stirling at the time, instantly met, along with Lord Hamilton
and other friends of their family ; but as the castle was too strong to
be assaulted at that moment with any hope of success, they resolved
to meet in arms at Stirling on the 17th of March, to revenge the
atrocious murder of the head of the house by the hand of his sove
reign. The confederates accordingly met on the day appointed, and
with the sound of horns and trumpets proclaimed King James a false
and perjured man. They took the letter of safe conduct which had
been granted to Earl William, and after exhibiting it publicly at
the Cross, they nailed It to a board and dragged it in scorn through
the streets at the tail of a cart-horse. They then pillaged and burnt
the town, but finding themselves still unable to undertake the siege
of the castle, they retired to their own estates.
Eari James, burning with resentment at the foul murder of his
brother, now entered into a treasonable correspondence with the
English Government, which was at this time in the hands of the

The Douglases. 65
Yorkists, and promised to swear allegiance to the English King as
his lawful sovereign. On receiving intelligence of these intrigues.
King James called a meeting of Parliament, which declared that It
was lawful for the King to put the late Earl of Douglas to death as
a rebel, and summoned his brothers and chief supporters to appear
and answer for the crimes laid to their charge. The King then
assembled a powerful army and marched In person against the rebel
lious baron, burning and ravaging his estates. When he appeared
before the castle of Douglas, the Earl, by the advice of his chief
vassals and supporters, laid down his arms, and the King readily
pardoned the Insurgent chief and his retainers on certain conditions.
As might have been expected, the peace which was thus patched up
between the sovereign and his too powerful subject was not of long
continuance. The Earl speedily resumed his treasonable negotia
tions with the Yorkist party, who were now supreme In England,
and received from them the promise of an Immediate supply of
money and troops, on condition that he and his chief supporters
should take an oath of allegiance to the English crown. Encouraged
by this powerful support, Douglas assembled a numerous army to
strike a last blow for supremacy ; and so formidable was the array
of the barons who espoused his cause that the King is said to have
hesitated whether he should abide the conflict or retire to France.
In this emergency James had recourse for advice to his old and
sagacious counsellor. Bishop Kennedy, of St. Andrews. According
to Lindsay of Pitscottie, the prelate first of all passed to his oratory
and prayed to God for the King and the com.monwealth of the realm
while James was taking some refreshment. He then directed his
Majesty to retire and pray ' that God would grant him the upper hand
ofthe Earl of Douglas and his complices.' These devotions being
finished, the Bishop brought the King Into his study and by the
familiar process of breaking singly each one in succession of a bundle
of arrows which, combined, resisted his utmost efforts, impressed
upon James the policy that he should follow In breaking up the
combination of great nobles and barons arrayed against him.
James followed this judicious advice and by liberal promises detached
a number of the most powerful supporters of the Earl from his cause,
and Induced them to repair to the banner of their sovereign. He
succeeded also In raising a numerous and well-appointed army, with
ffhich, after ravaging the estates of Douglas and Lord Hamilton, he
laid siege to the strong castle of Abercorn, on the Firth of Forth,
VOL. I. <j

66 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
belonging to the Douglases. The Earl, with his kinsman and ally,
Lord Hamilton, marched to the relief of the beleaguered fortress,
and a decisive battle seemed to be Imminent. But the Bishop of St.
Andrews had meanwhile opened secret negotiations with the allies
and vassals of Douglas, and his representations had produced a
strong impression upon their minds, especially on Lord Hamilton,
his most powerful supporter. The two armies were drawn up in
battle array, waiting the signal to engage, when Douglas resolved
to defer the engagement till next day, and led his troops back into
the camp. Lord Hamilton expostulated with him on the impolicy of
this step, and inquired whether it was the Earl's intention to fight or
not. Douglas answered contemptuously, ' If you are tired you may
depart when you please.' Hamilton immediately took him at his
word, and that night passed over to the King, with all the troops
under his command. His example was so generally followed bythe
other insurgent leaders, that before morning the camp of Douglas
was almost entirely deserted. The unfortunate noble, thus abandoned
by his friends, broke up his encampment and fled to the wilds of
Annandale. James followed up his success by vigorous measures for the com
plete overthrow of the house of Douglas, and in a short time
reduced and dismantled their strongholds — Douglas Castle itself,
and the fortresses of Strathaven, Thrieve, Lochendorb, and Darna-
way. Meanwhile the Earl himself had fled into England. But his
three brothers, the Earls of Ormond and Moray and Lord Balveny,
collected a numerous army on the Borders and plundered and laid
waste the country. They were encountered at Arklnholme, near
Langholm, by the Earl of Angus with a powerful force composed of
the Scotts, Maxwells, and Johnstones, who until lately had been the
vassals of Douglas. After a fierce conflict, the insurgents were
totally routed. The Earl of Moray was killed, Ormond was wounded
and taken prisoner and shortly after executed, and Balveny alone
made his escape into England. At a meeting of Parliament, held
in June, 1455, the Earl of Douglas and his mother and brothers
were declared traitors ; their estates were forfeited to the Crown, and
were shortly afterwards distributed among the barons who had so
opportunely deserted their side, and joined the King in this desperate
struggle. In the following year the Earl of Douglas succeeded in collecting
a considerable force, and, along with the Earl of Northumberland,

The Douglases. 67
made an Inroad Into the Merse of Berwickshire. But he was
encountered and defeated with great loss by the Eari of Angus. He
again took refuge in England, where he remained In exile for nearly
thirty years. He was cordially welcomed by the Duke of York,
then Regent of the kingdom, and received from him a pension of
five hundred pounds a year, ' to be continued to him until he should
be restored to his possessions, or the greater part of them, by the
person who then called himself the King of the Scots.'
In 1483 the banished Earl, accompanied by the Duke of Albany,
brother of James III., made a final effort to regain his lost
power and position. Having made a vow that they would present
an offering on the high altar of Lochmaben upon St. Magdalen's
day (July 22nd), Albany and he advanced to Burnswark, In the
vicinity of that burgh, at the head of five hundred horse, expecting
to be joined by the tenantry and vassals of the Douglas family In
that district. In this, however, they were grievously disappointed,
and after a stubborn conflict with a number of the Border barons
and their retainers, they were defeated. Albany escaped by the
swiftness of his horse, but the aged Earl of Douglas was taken
prisoner by a son of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, who had at one time
been his own vassal. Kirkpatrick shed tears at the sight of his old
master's distress, and offered to set him at liberty and flee with him
Into England. But Douglas was weary of exile, and rejecting
the generous offer, Informed his captor that he was now resigned to
his fate. The King (James III.) had offered a grant of a hundred-
pound land for his person. * I have fought long against my fortune,'
said Douglas to his captor ; ' I will rather that ye, whom I knew to
be faithful to me as long as I did anything that was likely for myself,
should have the benefit thereby than any other ; wherefore take me
and deliver me to the King, according to his proclamation. But see
thou beest sure he keep his word before thou deliver me.' ' Here
upon,' says Godscroft, ' Kirkpatrick conveyed him secretly out of
the field and kept him some few days in a poor cottage until he
had spoken with the King. James granted him the life of the Earl,
and gave him the lands of Kirkmichael, in Dumfriesshire.' When
Douglas was brought into the royal presence, he turned his back
upon the son of James II., the destroyer of his house. The years and
misfortunes of the aged noble seem to have excited the compassion
of the King, who merely commanded him to take up his residence
In the Abbey of Lindores. The once-powerful head of the house of

68 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Douglas, who had undergone such strange alternations of fortune,
submitted calmly to this sentence, only remarking, in the words of
a popular proverb, ' He that may no better be must be a monk.'
Towards the close of the reign of James an unsuccessful attempt was
made by the malcontent nobles to induce the aged Earl to quit his
monastic retreat to take part in another conflict with the regal
power from which he had so long and so severely suffered, no doubt
with the prospect held out to him of restoration to his honours and
estates. But the Infirmities of old age or the weariness of a broken
spirit made him decline to leave the retirement in which he had now
learned, it Is said, to think less of time than of eternity. He even
did all he could to dissuade them from taking up arms against the
King. James himself, in his extremity, entreated Douglas to give
him the benefit of his counsel and assistance in the contest with the
disaffected nobles. The Earl, who was well aware that the King
was accused of being ' more diligent In conqueising money than the
hearts of his subjects,' replied to his sovereign's solicitations, ' You
have kept me and your black coffer In Stirling too long under lock
and key to be of use to you.'
After a residence of five years in Lindores Abbey, the Earl died
there on the 15th of April, 1488, and with him expired the main line
of that great house, whose rank and power, gained by the unwavering
loyalty and invaluable services of Its founders and early heads, were
forfeited through the ambition and treasonable practices of its later
chiefs. The earldom had lasted for ninety-eight years, making an
average of only eleven years to each possessor of the title.
The vast estates of the family were forfeited to the Crown, and
divided among the nobles who had contributed to the overthrow of
this formidable house. Lord Hamilton was rewarded with large
grants of land for his opportune desertion of his kinsman at Abercorn ;
Sir Walter Scott, of Kirkurd and Buccleuch, was similarly recom
pensed for his services at the battle of Arklnholme ; but by far the
greater share fell to the Earl of Angus, who, though the representa
tive of one of the chief branches of the Douglas family, had sided
with the King against Its head. Hence arose the common saying,
referring to the different complexion of the two branches of the
house, that ' the Red Douglas had put down the Black.' The Angus
Douglases very soon pursued the same ambitious policy as their
kinsfolk of the elder branch, and became not much less formidable
to the independence of the Crown and the tranquillity of the country.

THE ANGUS DOUGLASES.

|HE original earldom of Angus was one of the oldest titles
In the kingdom. The early rulers of the district termed
Angus, or the Mearns, extending along the east coast of
Scotland from the Tay to the Dee, which they governed
with almost independent authority, bore the title of Mormaor, but
little or nothing is known of their history. The inhabitants were a
¦fierce and warlike race, and vigorously resisted the attempts of the
Scottish kings to subject the province to their authority. Two of
these sovereigns, Indeed, lost their lives In battle with the men of the
Mearns. Kenneth III., on some pretext or other, caused the son of
the Mormaor of the province to be executed at Dunsinnan. In
revenge for this deed he was killed — according to the ' Chronicle of
the Plots and Scots ' — at Fettercairn, by the treachery of Finella,
daughter of Cunchar, whose only son he had put to death.
The first of the chieftains of the province of Angus who bore the
designation of Earl was Gilchrist. A singular story regarding him
is related by Buchanan, on the authority of an old chronicle. For
the great services which this powerful noble performed to the Crown
he received the hand of the King's sister in marriage. She, how
ever, proved unfaithful to her marriage vow, and he caused her to
be put to death. This murder so enraged the King — William the
Lion — against Gilchrist that he dismantled his castles, confiscated
his estates, and banished him the kingdom. The Earl took refuge
In England; but in the treaty between William and the English
King Henry It was stipulated that neither of the two should shelter
the other's enemies. The exiled noble was in consequence obliged
to leave England, and returning to Scotland with his two sons, he
shifted from place to place in great want and misery. One day they
were seen by the King in the neighbourhood of Perth, in the disguise

70 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
of farmers. Their mien, however, showed them to be superior to that
station, and on the approach of the King they quitted the road to pre
vent discovery. Their evident desire to avoid him roused William's
curiosity, and he caused the three men to be brought before him.
On Inquiring who they were, Gilchrist knelt down before the King,
and in very moving terms acquainted him with their lamentable con
dition. William was so much affected by the story that he not only
pardoned the Earl, but restored him to his former honours and estates.
Gilchrist was succeeded by his son Gilibrede, the second ruler
who bore the designation of Earl. He was present at the Battle of
the Standard, under David I., and was one of the twenty barons
given as hostages for the fulfilment of the treaty made between the
English King and William the Lion. The earldom passed In 1243
to Gilbert de Umfraville, Lord of Redesdale, Prudhoe, and Har-
bottle In Northumberland, by his marriage to the heiress, daughter
of the fifth earl of the original family. His son by the countess,
who bore the same name, was governor of the castles of Dundee and
Forfar, when the Regent in 1291 agreed to surrender the kingdom
and its fortresses to Edward I. The conduct of Gilbert de Umfra
ville in this hour of trial presented a prudent contrast to the un
patriotic spirit which his brother barons displayed. He declared that,
having received his castles In charge from the Scottish nation, he
would not surrender them to the King of England without an obliga
tion to indemnify him from Edward and all the claimants for the
Crown. To remove his objections a letter of indemnity was signed
by Edward, by the competitors, and by the guardians. On receiving
this document Gilbert delivered up Dundee and Forfar to the English
king. He afterwards, however, deserted the patriotic cause, and
treacherously went over to the side of Edward, along with the Earl
of Dunbar, Immediately before the battle of Falkirk In 1298. The
information which these two nobles conveyed to the English King
rescued his army from a position of imminent peril. He died in
^307- Robert de Umfraville, the son and successor of Earl Gilbert,
was appointed Joint Guardian of Scotland by Edward II. In 1308,
and was forfeited by King Robert Bruce for his adherence to the
English interests.
The earldom was then bestowed upon Sir John Stewart, of Bonkil,
who was descended from the second son of Alexander, High Steward
of Scotland. On the death of Thomas, third Eari of Angus of the

DOUGLASES OF ANGUS.

The Angus Douglases. 71
Stewart family, in 1377, without Issue, the title devolved on his sister.
Lady Margaret. She resigned it In 1389, and King Robert II. then
granted the earldom of Angus, with the lordships of Abernethy, in
Perthshire, and of Bonkil, In Berwickshire, to George Douglas, her
illegitimate son by William, the first Earl of Douglas, her brother-
in-law. George Douglas, first Earl of Angus of the Douglas family,
married the second daughter of Robert III., was taken prisoner at
the Battle of Homlldon, in 1402, and died the same year in England
of the plague. There was nothing worthy of special notice In the
career of his two Immediate successors. On the death of James, the
third Earl, without issue, the title and estates devolved upon —
George Douglas, second son ofthe second Eari, who filled several
important offices, and commanded the royal forces in the contest
with the Earl of Douglas, whose lands and lordship of Douglas he
obtained on the forfeiture of that formidable and turbulent noble.
The Earl, who had a high military reputation, held the office of
Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom after the death of James II. He
died In 1462. He performed a brilliant exploit during the Wars of
the Roses, In bringing off the French garrison from Alnwick under
the eyes of the Yorkists. His son, Archibald Douglas, fifth Earl
of Angus, became the most powerful nobleman In the kingdom, and
was commonly called the Great Earl. He was only fourteen years of
age when he succeeded his father. On attaining maturity the young
Earl did not prove more loyal than his kinsmen of the elder branch.
When the Duke of Albany quarrelled with his brother. King James III.,
and fled into England, Angus became a party to the treasonable
treaty which Albany concluded with the English King for the acknow
ledgment of his sovereignty, and ceding to him Eskdale, Annandale,
and Liddesdale, on condition of being made King of Scotland. The
young Earl (in his twenty-eighth year) was the leader of the dis
contented nobles who were Indignant at the preference which the
King showed for architects, musicians, and painters, and determined
to seize the person of their sovereign and to wreak their vengeance
on his favourites. The muster of their feudal array for the purpose
of invading England, In retaliation for the ravages which an English
army had made In Scotland, afforded them a favourable opportunity
for carrying their nefarious schemes into effect. On their march to

72 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the Border the army halted for the first night at Lauder, and next
morning the principal conspirators held a secret council in the church
to arrange for the Immediate execution of their designs. They v/ere
all agreed as to what should be done, but they hesitated as to the
best mode of proceeding. Lord Gray, as Godscroft relates the occur
rence, ' craved audience, and told them the apologue of the mice,
who consulting in a public meeting how to be sure from the cat's
surprising them, found out a very good way, which was to hang a
bell about her neck, that would ring as she stepped, and so give
them warning of her approach, that they might save themselves by
flight. But when it came to be questioned who would undertake to
tie the bell about the cat's neck, there was never a mouse durst cheep
or undertake it.' Angus started up when Gray had done speaking,
and exclaimed, ' I will bell the cat'— a saying which procured for
him the cognomen of 'Archibald Bell-the-Cat,' by which he was
ever afterwards familiarly designated. Cochrane and the other royal
favourites were immediately seized, and In the most brutal manner
hanged over the bridge at Lauder. After these cruel and foul
murders, the conspirators returned to the capital, carrying with them
their unfortunate sovereign, and committed him a close prisoner
to the Castle of Edinburgh.
A temporary reconciliation followed between the King and his
brother, on whom offices and grants were liberally bestowed ; but
this did not prevent Albany from renewing his treasonable intrigues
with the English king. The Earl of Angus and other two of his
accomplices. Lord Gray and Sir James LIddal, were despatched to
England to negotiate a secret treaty with the Commissioners of
Edward IV., In which it was stipulated that on certain specified con
ditions he should assist Albany In the conquest of the Crown of
Scotland 'to his proper use.' Angus and his associates promised
that In the event of Albany dying without heirs, they would maintain
their castles against James, now King of Scots, and ' live under the sole
allegiance of their good and gracious prince the King of England.'
As soon as this infamous transaction transpired, the great body of
the barons, who had hitherto been unfriendly to the King, raUIed
round the throne, and enabled James to defeat the plots of the con
spirators against the independence of the kingdom. Angus was
compelled to resign his office of Lord Justiciar on the south side of
the Forth, his Stewardry of Kirkcudbright, his Sheriffdom of Lanark,
and his command of the strong castle of Thrieve. His principal

The Angus Douglases. 73
accomplices were at the same time deprived of their dignities and
offices. In no long time, however, the conspiracy against the royal
authority was renewed, and the Earl of Angus and Lord Gray were
the principal Instigators ofthe new rebellion, which led to the over
throw and death of their unfortunate sovereign. Angus was one of
the commanders of the Insurgent forces at the battle of Sauchieburn,
In which the royal army was defeated, and James was murdered in
his flight from the field.
King James IV., at that time a youth of sixteen years of age, had
been induced to take part in the rebellion against his father, but as
he grew older he felt deep remorse for having allowed himself to be
made the tool of a selfish and unprincipled faction, and gradually
withdrew his countenance from its leaders. It was probably the cold
ness with which he was now treated that induced Angus, the old in
triguer and traitor to his country, to enter Into a plot with Henry VII.
of England against his youthful sovereign, and ultimately to with
draw for a season into England. Some knowledge of his treason had
probably reached the King, for on the return of the Earl to Scotland
he was committed a prisoner to his own castle of Tantallon, and, as
the price of his pardon, was compelled to exchange the lordship of
Liddesdale and the strong fortress of Hermitage, In the first instance,
for the lordship of Kilmarnock ; but a few months later, Liddesdale
and its stronghold were bestowed in fee and heritage on the Earl of
Bothwell, and Bothwell Castle, resigned by that nobleman, was given
to Angus In exchange for Kilmarnock. This transference was a con
siderable diminution ofthe greatness and power ofthe Douglas family.
The displeasure of the King was increased by the slaughter 01
Spens of Kllsplndie, a favourite courtier, who about this time was
killed In a casual encounter with Angus. The Incident, which is
thus related by Godscroft, Illustrates both the character of the fierce
and stalwart noble and of the stormy and violent times :—
The King on a time was discoursing at table of the personages
of men, and by all men's confession the prerogative was adjudged to
the Earl of Angus.* A courtier that was by, one Spens of Kil-
* Sir Walter Scott thus describes, in ' Marmion,' the aspect of the stalwart ' Bell-
the-Cat,' in his old age : — ' His giant form, like ruined tower,
Though fallen its muscles' brawny vaunt.
High-boned, and tall, and grim, and gaunt
Seem'd o'er the gaudy scene to lower :
His locks and beard in silver grew ;
His eyebrows kept their sable hue.'

74 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
spindle, . . . cast in a word of doubting and disparaging: ' It is true,'
said he, ' If all be good that is up-come,' meaning, if his action and
valour were answerable to his personage. This spoken openly, and
coming to the Earl's ears, offended him highly. It fell out after this,
as the Eari was riding from Douglas to Tantallon, that he sent all
his company the nearest way, and he himself with one only of his ser
vants, having each of them a hawk on his fist, in hope of better sport,
took the way of Berth wick towards Fala, where lighting at the brook at
the west end of the town, they bathed their hawks. In the meantime
this Spens happened to-come that way, whom the Earl espying said,
' Is not this such a one, that made question of my manhood ? I
will go to him and give him a trial of It, that we may know which of
us is the better man.' ' No, my lord,' said his servant, ' it is a dis
paragement for you to meddle with him.' . . . ' I see,' said the
Earl, ' he hath one with him ; it shall be thy part to grapple with
him, whilst I deal with his master.' So fastening their hawks they
rode after him. ' What reason had you,' said the Earl to him, ' to
speak contemptuously of me at such a time ? ' When the other
would have excused the matter, he told him that would not serve
the turn. ' Thou art a big fellow and so am I ; one of us must pay
for it.' The other answered, ' If it may be, no matter ; there is never
an earl in Scotland but I will defend myself from him as well as I
can.' .... So, ahghtlng from their horses, they fought a certain
space ; but at last the Earl of Angus cut Spens' thighbone asunder,
so that he fell to the ground and died soon after.
It was no easy task for a monarch only twenty years of age to
maintain the royal authority over such turbulent and lawless nobles,
who. If they possessed many of the virtues of the savage state,
exhibited also much of its ferocity.
Advancing years seem to have moderated the fiery and fierce
temper of Bell-the-Cat, and from this time onward he appears to
have acted the part of a dutiful and peaceful subject. James, with
whom he now stood in high favour, conferred on him the office of
Chancellor in 1493, which he held for five years. He accompanied
the King In his unjustifiable and disastrous invasion of England In
15 1 3, and earnestly remonstrated against the rash and Imprudent
resolution of James to wait the attack of the English at Flodden.
The King was so enraged at the remonstrance of the old warrior that
he scornfully replied, ' Angus, if you are afraid you may go home.'
The Earl burst into tears at this insult and hastened to depart, saying

The Angus Douglases. 75
mournfully, ' If my past life does not free me from any suspicion of
cowardice, I do not know what can ; as long as my body was capable
of exertion, I never spared It in defence of my country or my sove
reign's honour. But now, since my age renders my body of no use
in battle, and my counsel is despised, I leave my two sons and the
vassals of Douglas in the field ; may Angus's forebodings be
unfounded.' The Earl quitted the camp that night ; but his two sons,
George, Master of Angus, and Sir William Douglas of Glenbervle,
with two hundred gentlemen of the name of Douglas, remained, and
fell in the battle.
Earl Archibald, broken-hearted by the calamities of his house
and his country, retired into the Abbey of St. Mains In Gallo
way, where he died twelve months after the battle of Flodden, in the
sixty-first year of his age. The historian of the family bestows the
most glowing eulogiums on the ' Great Earl,' as a man every way
accomplished both for mind and body. * He was of stature tall, and
strong made,' he says ; ' his countenance was full of majesty ; wise
and eloquent of speech ; upright and square In his actions ; sober
and moderate In his desires ; valiant and courageous ; a man of action
and understanding ; liberal also, loving and kind to his friends,
which made him to be beloved, reverenced, and respected of all
men.' Master David, however. Is obliged to admit that ' One
fault he had, that he was too much given to women ; otherwise there
was little or nothing amiss.'
Gawain Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, was the third son of Earl
Archibald, and at an early age was presented to the rectory of
Hawick. Some time before the year 1509 he was appointed by
James IV. Provost of the Collegiate Church of St. Giles, Edinburgh.
A few months after the battle of Flodden he was nominated by the
Queen-Dowager, Archbishop of St. Andrews, in the room of the
Kirtg's son, Alexander Stewart, who fell In that disastrous conflict.
He was fiercely opposed, however, by Hepburn, Prior of St.
Andrews, who had been elected by the canons, and by Forman, Bishop
of Moray, who had obtained a grant of the benefice from the Pope,
and Douglas withdrew In disgust from the unseemly contest. In
the following year he was appointed by the Queen to the See of
Dunkeld, and obtained a papal bull in his favour. But he was
imprisoned for more than a year, on the charge of having violated the
laws ofthe realm by procuring bulls from Rome. After his release,

76 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
a rival candidate, the brother of the Earl of Athole, attempted to
keep possession of the episcopal palace and cathedral by force of
arms. Douglas in the end obtained possession of the See without
the effusion of blood, and discharged the duties of the office with
most exemplary diligence and fidelity. He was distinguished also
for his acts of charity and munificence, and his efforts to preserve
the peace of the country. He made a praiseworthy but unavailing
attempt to mediate between the rival factions of the Douglases and
Hamiltons before the famous skirmish of ' Clear the Causey,' in
Edinburgh, 30th April, 1520. At the request of Angus, his nephew,
he waited upon Archbishop Beaton, the Chancellor, whose niece Arran,
the head of the Hamiltons, had married, and entreated that prelate,
both as a churchman and as the official conservator of the laws of the
realm, to act as a peacemaker. Beaton, however, had actually pre
pared for the encounter by putting on a coat of mail under his linen
rochet ; and in answer to the appeal of Douglas he said, ' Upon my
conscience I know nothing of the matter,' at the same time striking
his hand upon his breast, which caused the armour to return a
rattling sound. ' My lord,' replied Douglas, with merited sarcasm,
' your conscience clatters ' (tells tales). After this pointed rebuke
he hastened back to his nephew and told him that he must do his
best to defend himself with arms. ' For me,' he added, ' I will go
to my chamber and pray for you.' The conflict terminated In
the complete defeat of the Hamiltons, who were the aggressors,
and Archbishop Beaton, who took refuge in the church of the
Blackfriars' monastery, was assaulted by the victorious party, and
would have been slain on the spot but for the prompt interposition
of the Bishop of Dunkeld.
In 1 52 1, however, the party of Angus was worsted, and Bishop
Douglas, along with his nephew, was obliged to take refuge at the
English Court, where he was hospitably entertained, and enjoyed the
society of Polydore Virgil and other eminent scholars. The domi
nant party in Scotland, on the 21st of February, 1522, denounced
the Bishop as a traitor, sequestered the revenues of his cathedral,
and wrote to the Pope, beseeching his Holiness to beware of nomin
ating the traitor Gawain Douglas to the Archbishopric of St.
Andrews, which had again become vacant. The Bishop was In
consequence cited to appear at Rome, but before he could obey the
summons he suddenly died of the plague at London.
Bishop Douglas left behind him various poems of considerable

The Angus Douglases. 77
merit. His chief original work Is an elaborate and quaint allegory
entitled 'King Hart,' intended to represent the progress of human
hfe. It is ingenious, but heavy and full of alliteration. The longest
of his original compositions is ' The Palace of Honour,' which dis
plays much learning and versatility of fancy, but is marred by
Incongruous passages, and tedious and confused descriptions. His
translation of Virgil's '^neid,' which was produced before there was
an English version of any of the classical writers, is on the whole
felicitously executed. The original pieces styled ' Prologues,' which
are affixed to each book, are among the poet's happiest pieces.
Archibald Douglas, of Kilspindie, fourth and youngest son of
Archibald Bell-the-Cat, appears to have been one of the ablest and
most energetic of his family. He was appointed Provost of Edin
burgh In 1520, and High Treasurer of Scotland in 1526. He was
remarkable for his great strength and skill in warlike exercises, and
gained the affection of James V. in his boyhood, who called him his
' Grey Steill,' after a renowned champion in the romance of ' Sir
Egar and Sir Grime.' But after the King made his escape from the
custody of the Earl of Angus, Kilspindie was, along with the rest of
the Douglases, attainted and forfeited by the Parliament, 5th Sep
tember, 1528, and compelled to take refuge In England. An
affecting story is related by Godscroft respecting the treatment
which he received from King James, on a visit paid by him to his
native land.
' Archibald being banished into England, could not well comport
with the humour of that nation, which he thought to be too proud,
and that they had too high a conceit of themselves, joined with a
contempt and despising of all others. Wherefore, being wearied of
that life, and remembering the King's favour of old towards him,
he determined to try the King's mercifulness and clemency. So he
comes into Scotland, and taking occa.sIon of the King's hunting in
the park at Stirling, he casts himself to be in his way as he was
coming home to the castle. So soon as the King saw him afar off,
ere he came near, he guessed it was he, and said to one of his
courtiers, " Yonder is my Grey Steill, Archibald of Kilspindie, if he
be alive." The other answered that it could not be, and that he durst
not come into the King's presence. The King approaching, he fell
upon his knees and craved pardon, and promised from thenceforward
to abstain from meddling in public affairs, and to lead a quiet and

78 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
private life. The King went by without giving him any answer,
and trotted a good round pace up the hill, Kilspindie following him ;
and though he wore on him a secret, or shirt of mail, for his particular
enemies, was as soon at the castle-gate as the King. There he sat
him down upon a stone without, and entreated some of the King's
servants for a cup of drink, being weary and thirsty. But they,
fearing the King's displeasure, durst give him none. When the
King was sat at his dinner he asked what he had done, what he had
said, and whither he had gone. It was told him that he had desired
a cup of drink and had gotten none. The King reproved them very
sharply for their discourtesy, and told them that If he had not taken
an oath that no Douglas should ever serve him, he would have
received him into his service, for he had seen him some time a man
of great ability. Then he sent him word to go to Leith, and expect
his further pleasure.' Subsequently the King commanded him to go
to France, and there he shortly after died, it is believed of a broken
heart. James was greatly and justly blamed for this unforgiving
and pitiless treatment of a man who had never personally Injured
him. It called forth the indignation even of his vindictive uncle
Henry VIII., who on hearing of it quoted the familiar proverb —
' A king's face
Should give grace.'
As the two eldest sons of Archibald Bell-the-Cat had fallen at
Flodden, he was succeeded In the family honours and estates by his
grandson —
Archibald Douglas, sixth Earl of Angus, eldest son of George,
Master of Douglas. He was possessed of great personal attractions
and showy accomplishments, but according to Lord Dacre, ' he was
childish, young, and attended by no wise counsellors ; ' and besides
he speedily exhibited the characteristic vices of his family — lawless
ambition and lust of power. He married with indiscreet haste, in
15 14, Margaret, widow of James IV., but disappointed In obtaining
the Regency, which he expected as the. result of this alliance, he
made it evident that on his side the match was one of Interest, not
of affection, and showed himself a careless and unfaithful husband.
The Duke of Albany was appointed Regent In the room of Margaret
on her marriage, and compelled Angus and Margaret to take refuge
in England, where she was delivered of a daughter, the Lady Mar-

The Angus Douglases. 79
garet Douglas, afterwards the mother of the unfortunate Darnley.
Angus, In a very heartless manner, left his wife before she had com
pletely recovered, and returned to Scotland to pursue his selfish
intrigues. His scandalous desertion of his wife in these circum
stances began that alienation of feeling in her mind which ultimately
led her to obtain a divorce from the Earl in 1525. On the departure
ofthe Duke of Albany for France, In 15 16, Angus was appointed
a member of the Council of Regency, and soon acquired great
ascendancy in the kingdom. In 1520 the Hamiltons and other
powerful western families assembled at Edinburgh for the purpose of
seizing the Earl, but they were completely defeated, as we have seen,
and driven out of the city. In the following year, however, on the
return of Albany, Angus was compelled to flee to England, and sub
sequently passed into France as a voluntary exile. He returned to
Scotland In 1524, and became the head of the English party among
the nobles there, and by his ambitious and violent proceedings kept
the country in a state of disorder and almost anarchy. He obtained
possession of the person of the King, then in his fourteenth year,
became Lord Chancellor, and filled all the offices of the State either
with members or the supporters of his house. He raised the power
of the Douglases to such a height as seriously to endanger both the
independence of the Crown and the liberties of the people. An old
chronicler says, ' There dared no man strive at law with a Douglas
or a Douglas man, for If he did he was sure to get the worst of the
lawsuit.' 'And,' he adds, ' although Angus travelled through the
country under pretence of punishing thieves, robbers, and mur
derers, there were no malefactors so great as those who rode in his
own train.' The young King himself was eager to escape from the
thraldom in which he was held, but Angus succeeded in defeating
two attempts made, with the King's knowledge and approbation,
to set him at liberty — one by Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, near
Melrose ; the other by the Earl of Lennox, at Almond Bridge, near
Linlithgow, In which, to the great grief of James, the Earl lost his
life. At length. In July, 1528, the King succeeded in making his
escape, in disguise, from Falkland Palace, where he had been vir
tually kept a prisoner, and rode to Stirling Castle, which had been
prepared for his reception. Shordy after a meeting of Parliament
was held, at which Angus and his brothers were declared rebels and
traitors, and their estates forfeited. The King was baffled in his
attempts to reduce the castles of Douglas and Tantallon, but Angus

8o The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and his brothers were driven out of Scotland, and once more took
refuge in England. He received a pension of a thousand marks from
Henry VIII., and to his great disgrace made several hostile incursions
across the Borders against his own countrymen. He remained fifteen
years In exile, and was not permitted to return to Scotland until after
the death of James, when his diminished power and the altered state
of parties rendered his presence less formidable to the public tran
quillity. His attainder and that of his brothers was removed by Par
liament, and they were restored to their rank and po.ssessions in 1543.
Angus and his astute brother. Sir George Douglas, did all in their
power to promote the scheme of the English king for the marriage
of his son. Prince Edward, to the Infant Queen Mary, and gave him
judicious advice as to the best mode of carrying it gradually Into
effect. But Henry's arbitrary disposition and violent temper would
brook no delay, and his invasions of Scotland for the purpose of
compelling the people to submit to his demands alienated his best
friends. In his anger against the Scots, and his confident belief that
he could conquer their country, an English force, under Sir Ralph
Evers and Sir Brian Latoun, was despatched to lay waste the Borders
with fire and sword ; and Henry Is said to have bestowed upon Evers
a grant of all the lands he could conquer In the Merse, Teviotdale,
and Lauderdale, the greater part of which belonged to the Douglases.
Angus swore, that ' if Ralph Evers dared to act upon the grant, he
would write his sasine (or Instrument of possession) on his skin with
sharp pens and bloody ink.' He had not long to wait for an oppor
tunity of carrying his threat Into effect. Evers, stimulated by the
prize which his sovereign had promised him, made a second Inroad
into Scotland at the head of five thousand men, and. ravaged the
Borders with unexampled ferocity. The English had previously
destroyed the abbey of Melrose, and they now wantonly defaced the
tombs of the Douglases who were buried in its aisles.
Angus collected his retainers and vassals to revenge these out
rages on the ruthless invaders, and having been joined by Sir Walter
Scott of Buccleuch at the head of his clan, and by Norman Lesley
with a body of men from Fife, he encountered them on a moor
near the village of Ancrum, in Roxburghshire. The English were
completely defeated with the loss of eight hundred men, among
whom were Sir Ralph Evers and Sir Brian Latoun, and a thousand
were taken prisoners. King Henry, on receiving news of this
defeat, was furious at Angus, and vowed that he would Inflict signal

The Angus Douglases. 8i
vengeance on him for his ingratitude and perfidy. The Earl replied
to the threats of the Irate monarch in characteristic terms. ' Is our
brother-in-law,' he said, ' offended that I, as a good Scotsman, have
avenged my ravaged country and the defaced tombs of my ancestors
upon Ralph Evers? They were better men than he, and I was
bound to do no less. And will he take my life for that ? Little
knows King Henry the skirts of KIrnetable.* I can keep myself
there against all his English host.'
Angus's policy continued to the end selfish, short-sighted, and
unprincipled. He was privy to the nefarious project, devised by a
number of the nobles with the approval of Henry VIII. , to assassi
nate Cardinal Beaton ; and his brother. Sir George Douglas, Informed
Sadler In distinct terms that ' If the King would have the Cardinal
dead ' his wish would be gratified ' If his grace would promise a
good reward for the doing thereof.' The Earl commanded the van
of the Scottish army at the disastrous battle of Pinkie. He Inflicted
a sanguinary defeat upon the English Warden, Lord Wharton, who
invaded the Western Marches In February, 1548. During the re
gency of Mary of Guise, as under the rule of Albany and of Arran,
Angus's main object was the maintenance ofthe power of his family
and the privileges of his order. The Regent at one time attempted
to obtain possession of some of the strong fortresses of the kingdom,
In order to garrison them with French troops, and she cast a longing
eye on Tantallon, a stronghold of the Douglases. ' They tell us,'
says Godscroft, ' also how at another time she desired of him to
have his castle of Tantallon to keep warders In, or upon I know
not what pretext or for what use. To this he gave no direct
answer for a long time, but having a gose-hawk on his fist which
he was feeding, spake of her saying she was a greedy gled.f " The
devil is In this greedy gled; will she never be full ? " But when the
Queen insisted, not understanding or not willing to understand his
meaning, he told her, " Yes, madam ; why not ? All Is yours, ye shall
have it, it Is at your service ; but, madam, I must be captain and
keeper of It. I shall keep It for you as well as any man you shall
put Into it." '
' They tell, also, how the Queen-Regent had intention to make the
* Kirnetable, or Cairntable, is a mountainous tract of country at the head of
Douglasdale. An Afghan chief replied in similar terms to a threat of Sir Henry Law
rence that he would march an array into his territory, and punish his people for the
murder of a British traveller. ' The roads in my country,' he said, ' are bad for armies.'
+ The Scottish name for a hawk.
VOL. L II

82 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Earl of Huntly a duke ; whereof, when she was discoursing with
Angus, she told him how Huntly had done her very good service,
for which she intended to advance him and make him a duke. To
which he answered, " Why not, madam ? We are happy that have
such a Princess that can know and will acknowledge men's service,
and is willing to recompense it ; but, by the might of God " (this was
his oath when he was serious and in anger ; at other times it was, by
Saint Bride of Douglas), " if he be a duke I will be a drake ;" alluding
to the word duke, which in Scotland signifies a duck as well as that
title and dignity, which, being the female and the drake the male,
his meaning was he would be above and before him. ... So she
desisted from further prosecuting of that purpose.'
The Earl died at the castle of Tantallon In 1556. His only son,
James, pre-deceased him, and he was succeeded by his nephew,
David Douglas, who held the family honours and estates only two
years, and died In 1558.
Sir George Douglas, of Pittendrlech, was an abler man than his
brother, the sixth Earl, and had great influence over him. He was
thoroughly unprincipled and perfidious, and took a prominent part
in the treasonable Intrigues of a section of the nobles with the
English king. He was master of the royal household and had
charge of the young King when the Earl, his brother, hastened to
assist Arran in the conflict with Lennox at Almond Bridge. Enraged
at the evident reluctance of James to proceed, the brutal baron
exclaimed, ' Bide where you are, for If they get hold of you, be It by
one of your arms, we will seize a leg and pull you In two pieces
rather than part from you ; ' a threat which the King never forgave.
Sir George died before the Earl, leaving two sons : David, who
became seventh Earl of Angus on the death of his uncle, and James,
Earl of Morton, the celebrated Regent of Scotland.
Archibald Douglas, eighth Earl of Angus, only son of Earl
David, was only two years of age when he succeeded to the titles and
estates of the family. ViVi character differed greatly from that of most
of his predecessors, for he was styled the ' Good Earl ' on account of
his virtuous and amiable disposition. He held the office of Warden of
the Marches for several years, and discharged its duties with great
diligence and fidelity. During the regency of his uncle, the Eari of
Morton, who was his guardian, he took part with him in the siege

The Angus Douglases. 8

o

of Hamilton Castle and in the overthrow of the Hamilton family.
After the execution of Morton In 1581, Angus retired to England,
the usual refuge of Scottish exiles. He was honourably received and
hospitably entertained by Queen Elizabeth, and during his residence
in London contracted a close fellowship with the illustrious Sir Philip
Sydney. In 1582, after the Raid of Ruthven, he was permitted to
return home, and joined the nobles connected with that enterprise.
When the worthless favourite, Stewart, Earl of Arran, regained his
ascendancy over the King, Angus retired for safety beyond the Spey.
He was privy to the plot of the Earl of Gowrle to seize the person of
James In 1584, but Its sudden collapse In consequence of the capture
of the Earl and the approach of James at the head of a powerful
force, caused Angus and his associates a second time to throw them
selves on the protection of Elizabeth. At the meeting of Parliament,
August 22nd, of that same year, Angus was attainted and his estates
forfeited. Though In exile he still continued to exercise great
influence In Scottish affairs, and was particularly obnoxious to James
and his advisers on account of his opposition to the efforts made by
the King to subvert the Presbyterian form of Church government,
and a plot was concocted by Arran and Montrose for his assassina
tion. But the apprehension of the person hired to perpetrate this
foul deed, who was seen lurking about the neighbourhood of
Newcastle, where Angus was living, brought the whole plot to light
and prevented its execution. He returned to Scotland In 1585, along
with the other banished lords, who expelled Arran from the Court,
and obtained a revocation of their forfeiture and the pardon of their
offences. Angus, towards the close of his life, was offered, but
declined, the office of Chancellor of Scotland. He died In 1588, and
leaving no male issue, he was succeeded by —
Sir William Douglas, of Glenbervle, as ninth Earl. He was the
son of Sir Archibald Douglas, of Glenbervle, grandson of Archibald
Bell-the-Cat, the fifth earl. James VI. made an attempt to seize the
earidom, and brought a suit to reduce the charters granting and
confirming the title, but a decision was given In favour of Sir
WiUiam. He held the earldom only three years and was succeeded
by his eldest son —
William Douglas, tenth Eari, who became a Roman Catholic,
and, in conjunction with the Earls of Errol and Huntly, disturbed

84 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the peace of the country and perilled its safety by their treasonable
Intrigues with the King of Spain. They were Implicated in the con
spiracy of the ' Spanish Blanks,' as It was called In consequence of
certain blank sheets of paper, having at the bottom the seals and
signatures of the Popish lords, being found In the possession of
George Kerr, a brother of the Abbot of Newbattle, who was about to
proceed on a secret mission to Spain. Kerr, on being put to the
torture, confessed the whole affair. It appears that the King of
Spain was to land an army of thirty thousand men on the west coast
of Scotland, where they were to be joined by the Popish lords with
all the forces they could muster. Fifteen thousand of the Spanish
troops were to march across the Border and assist In raising an
Insurrection in England, while the remainder, with the assistance of
the Romish faction, were to overthrow the Protestant Church in
Scotland. This nefarious plot against the Independence of the
country and the national religion was repeatedly renewed by the
three Popish lords ; but James, who was unwilling to proceed to
extremities against them, contrived to delay the infliction of the pun
ishment which their crime deserved. The lenity shown by the King
seemed only to embolden them to open resistance against the royal
authority. They were at length declared guilty of high treason, and
excommunicated as obstinate Papists, their estates and honours were
forfeited, and a commission was given to the young Earl of Argyll
to pursue them with fire and sword. Huntly and Errol collected
their retainers, and, after a stubborn conflict, defeated the royal
forces at a place called Glenlivet, 3rd October, 1594. (See The
Campbells of Argyll.) The King, indignant and alarmed at this
disaster, marched at the head of a powerful army to the north, and
laid waste the estates of the insurgents and destroyed their strong
holds. Angus was not present at the battle of Glenlivet, but he
shared the fate of his associates, and implored the King's permission
to leave the kingdom, which was granted on condition that he would
not return without the royal sanction, nor during his exile make any
attempt to injure the Protestant religion or the peace and liberties of
his native country. He returned secretly In 1595, and was suffered to
remain in Scotland on giving assurance that he would henceforth con
duct himself like a loyal and peaceful subject. In the following year
he was formally ' released' from the bond, and In 1597, along with
Huntly and Errol, was publicly absolved from his excommunication
and reconciled to the Kirk at Aberdeen, in the presence of a great

The Angus Douglases. 85
assembly of persons of all ranks. He subsequently retired to the
Continent, and died at Paris, 3rd March, 161 1, In the fifty-seventh
year of his age.
From this period downward the influence of this ' great old
house' steadily declined. Its extensive estates. Indeed, remained
unimpaired amid all the vicissitudes of the Great Civil War and
the Jacobite rebellions ; but the heads of the house were no longer,
as In the olden times, celebrated for their ' singular manhood, noble
prowess, and mightie puissance.' They were, however, kind-
hearted, amiable men, noted for their princely hospitality and culti
vated tastes, though without the ambition or the abilities requisite
either to occupy a place in the Cabinet or to command * the applause
of listening senates.'
William Douglas, eleventh Earl of Angus, was a Roman Catholic
like his father, the tenth Earl, and a zealous supporter of the royal
cause during the Great Civil War. He was raised by Charles I., in
1633, to the rank of Marquis of Douglas, and was nominated Lieu
tenant of the Borders. When matters were coming to a crisis
between the King and the Covenanters, the latter succeeded in
capturing Tantallon and Douglas, the two strongholds of the Mar
quis. He does not appear to have taken up arms in behalf of
Charles until the march of Montrose to the Borders in 1645. But
' old times were changed, old manners gone.' The representative
of a family whose early chiefs could bring into the field 30,000 men
joined the royal standard followed only by his personal attendants.
He made his escape from the rout of Philiphaugh along with Mon
trose himself and Lord Napier. He fell, however, into the hands of
the Estates, and was Imprisoned in Dumbarton Castle. He was
fined _;^ 1, 000 sterling by Cromwell's ' Act of Grace and Pardon.'
Long before the final overthrow of the royal cause in Scotland,
the Marquis and his wife, who was a daughter of the Marquis of
Huntly, had been subjected to a species of ecclesiastical persecution
at the hands of the Lanark Presbytery. The reverend court sent
deputations every now and then to Douglas Castle threatening them
with excommunication if they refused to abjure the Roman Catholic
religion. After numerous conferences the Presbytery prevailed on the
Marchioness with great difficulty to attend the parish church, and to
allow her children to be instructed in the principles of the Presbyterian
faith, a concession which seems to have obtained for her a temporary

86 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
relief from the ill-judged importunities of the clerical court. It took
six years' ' dealing ' with the Marquis to persuade him to abjure
Popery and sign the Covenant. This ceremony was performed In the
parish church of Douglas amid great rejoicing on the part of the Pres
bytery and the Congregation. Lady Douglas, however, obstinately
adhered to her hereditary creed, and the reverend court in conse
quence demanded that she and her husband should consent to be
separated from their children in order that security might be taken
that they should be brought up in the Protestant religion. It is
probable that this outrageous demand may have had some effect in
Inducing the Marquis, who had hitherto lived quietly in his castle at
Douglas, to break through all his engagements to the Presbytery
and to join Montrose.
During the imprisonment of the head of the family in Dumbarton
Castle the reverend court renewed their dealing with the Marchioness,
who was compelled to appear before them in order to be examined
touching her ' malignancy and obstinate continuance In the profes
sion of popery.' She appears to have given them smooth words,
and to have made such apparent concessions as induced them to
leave her unmolested for a little while. But their ' manifold expres
sions of lenity and long-suffering ' toward her failed to make the lady
give up her * disobedience,' and the Presbyters proceeded to take
steps for her excommunication and separation from her children.
For some unknown reason they paused in carrying out this formidable
process, which In those days was followed by forfeiture of property
and imprisonment. At length the Marquis found it necessary to
make his peace with the ruling powers, who had Imposed upon him
a fine of 50,000 merks ; and at the commencement of the year 1647
he appeared before the Lanark Presbytery, expressed his deep
penitence for his violation of the Covenant, and promised faithful
adherence to it in time to come. One-half of his fine was then
remitted by the Estates, and he was released from his long Imprison
ment. Still the Presbytery were not satisfied, and he was constrained
to agree that his children should be boarded with the minister of the
parish and be instructed by a tutor approved of by the court. The
reluctance with which his lordship submitted to these restrictions was
speedily made apparent to his tormentors by their learning that he
was arranging to send his youngest son to be brought up in France.
They renewed their deputations and their demands, and the recusant
peer and his wife were equally persistent in their adherence to their

The Angus Douglases, 87
own faith, though professing their willingness to comply with the
terms pressed on their acceptance by the Presbytery. At last the
patience of the sincere and zealous but intolerant brethren was
exhausted, and in October, 1648, when the Covenanters were
dominant in Scotland and all opposition crushed, they peremptorily
ordered that, failing immediate satisfaction, his lordship be sum
moned and the lady ' excommunlcat.' The Marquis appeared before
them to answer ' for not keeping his son at the school with a suffi
cient pedagogue approven by the Presbytery ; for not delivering his
daughter to some Protestant friend by sight [under the approval] of
the Presbytery ; for not having a sufficient chaplain approven as
said is for family exercise in his house ; for not calling home his
son who is in France ; and, finally, for his grievous oppression of his
tenants.' On all these points he was fain to make explanations and
concessions. Shortly after he supplicated the Presbytery to be
allowed to bring his son from the school of Glasgow to that of
Lanark, expressing his willingness, should his request be granted,
that ' he should not come home to his parents except the Presbytery
permit.' All the time, notwithstanding the professed submission of the
Marquis and his wife to these imperious mandates, the members of
the reverend court evidently felt that they were being foiled by the
mere semblance of adherence to the Presbyterian form of worship,
while the culprits with whom they were dealing remained at heart
strongly attached to the Roman Catholic Church. But they were
none the less determined to compel them to make a profession of the
Protestant faith. On the 9th of March, 1650, two members of the
Presbytery were sent with authority to pass upon Lady Douglas a
sentence of excommunication unless she should instantly express her
adherence to the established system of religion. At the same time,
with an almost incomprehensible obliquity of moral vision and wilful
blindness to the real character of their mode of dealing with the lady,
they pointedly reminded her ' how fearful a sin it was to swear with
equivocation or mental reservation.' The Marchioness, knowing
well the result should she fail to give ' full obedience and satisfaction
to the kirk,' declared that ' she had no more doubts,' and expressed
her willingness, at the bidding of one of the ministers, to declare her
acceptance of the Covenant before the congregation assembled in
the parish church. In the words of the report made to the Presby
tery, ' After he [the minister] had read the Solemn League and

88 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Covenant, and desired her to hold up her hand and swear by the
great name of God, to observe according to her power every article
thereof,' she did so ; and after divine service was ended he desired
her to 'go to the session table and subscribe the Covenant, and
before the ministers and elders she went to the table and did
subscribe.' The true value of this enforced and shocking profanation of a
solemn ceremony was speedily made manifest to the men who had
shut their eyes in wilful blindness to the real state of opinion and
feeling on the part of the noble pair whom they were tormenting.
On the very day that the two ministers reported to the Presbytery
their proceedings with the Marchioness of Douglas, ' the Court,'
hearing that of late the Marquis of Douglas and his lady had sent
away one of their daughters to France, to a Popish lady, to be bred
with her in Popery, without the knowledge of the Presbytery, and
without any warrant from the Estates, thought the fault intolerable,
and so much the more because they had sent away one of their sons
before to the Court of France.' Weighty reasons might have been
given why in those times the sons of the nobility should not have
been sent to France for their education ; but the unreasonable and
tyrannical character of the other demands of the Presbytery, and
especially their persistent attempts, as detailed in their own records,
to compel the Marquis and his wife to make a hypocritical profession
of their belief of a religious systero .vhlch, in their hearts, they dis
owned, throw great light on the spirit of the times, and show how
little the principle of toleration was understood and acted upon by
either party in those troublous times.*
In his personal character the Marquis appears to have been one of
the best of his race. He usually resided at the castle of Douglas,
where he kept up the old Scottish grandeur and hospitality, and main
tained a more numerous household than any nobleman in the kingdom.
* See Report of the Presbytery of Lajiark. The members of the Lanark Pres
bytery would no doubt have disclaimed the notion that there is no salvation possible
for those who do not belong to their Church, but there can be no doubt that they
believed that those who persisted in adhering to the Romish Church would be lost.
They would have cordially concurred in the statement made by Thomas Carlyle, to
some Irish Romanists who were speaking to him of the intolerance of Scotsmen
towards Roman Catholics, ' Why, how could they do otherwise ?¦ If one sees one's
fellow-creature following a damnable error, by continuing in which the devil is sure to
get him at last and roast him in eternal fire and brimstone, are you to let him go
towards such consummation? or are you not rather to use all means to save him ?' 
Letters and Memorials of fane Welsli Carlyle, p. 308.

The Angus Douglases. 89
The Marquis died In February, 1660. He was twice married,
first to the only daughter of Claud Hamilton, Lord Paisley, and
secondly to the third daughter of the first Marquis of Huntly. His
eldest son, by his first wife, styled Earl of Angus, took an active part
in public affairs, and officiated as Lord High Chamberlain at the
coronation of King Charles II., January ist, 1651. He was fined
one thousand pounds steriing by Cromwell's 'Act of Grace and
Pardon.' He died before his father, January 15th, 1655. His eldest
son succeeded as second Marquis of Douglas.
William, the second son of the Marquis, was created Earl of Sel
kirk, and by his marriage with Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, became
Duke of Hamilton. George, his third son, was created Earl of Dum
barton in 1675.
James, second Marquis of Douglas, succeeded his grandfather in
1660, and died a.d. 1700, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.* The
lapse into Popery seems to have been confined to the first Marquis.
If the Earl of Angus, eldest son of the second Marquis, had not been
a strict Presbyterian he could never have succeeded in raising among
the sternest class of Covenanters a body of infantry which is still,
after the lapse of well-nigh two centuries, known by the name of the
Cameronlan Reglmentf At Dunkeld, where they were victorious,
though attacked by overwhelming numbers, they unfurled, for the first
time in the face of an enemy, their colours, which have since been
proudly borne in every quarter of the world, and which are now em
bellished with the Sphinx and the Dragon, emblems of brave actions
achieved in Egypt and In China. They fought with desperate valour
at the battle of Steinkirk, in August, 1692, where their gallant
Colonel, the Earl of Angus, was killed, in the twenty- first year of his
age. His half-brother, William, died in Infancy, and his youngest
brother —
Archibald Douglas, became third Marquis of Douglas. He
"= See Addenda, vol. ii., p. 423.
t The regiment had a very peculiar character. They stipulated that their officers
should exclusively be men such as ' in conscience ' they could submit to. Alexander
Shields, a noted field preacher, was appointed their chaplain, and an elder was nomin
ated for each company, so that the regiment should be under the same religious
and moral discipline as a parish. A Bible was a part of the equipment of every private
— a regulation which was then, and for a long time afterwards, singular. While the
young Earl of Angus was appointed Colonel of this remarkable regiment, the Lieu
tenant-Colonelcy was conferred upon William Cleland, a man of poetical genius as
well as a brave soldier, who had fought for the ' good old cause ' at Bothwell Brig. He
was killed at Dunkeld.

go The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
was born in the year 1694, succeeded his grandfather In 1700,
and while yet a minor was created, in 1703, Duke of Douglas, In
consideration of his noble descent and the illustrious services of his
ancestors. His Grace served as a volunteer under the Duke of
Argyll in the Jacobite rebellion of 17 15, and was present at the
battle of Sheriffmuir. He was unfortunately a person of weak
intellect, and he seems also to have been hable to sudden outbursts
of passion. He took no part in public affairs, such as befitted his
rank and fortune, and is said to have passed his time in low amuse
ments, not always In choice society. It Is mentioned in the news
papers ofthe day that he fought a duel on a Sunday evening in 1724,
in which both he and his antagonist, the Earl of Dalkeith, were
wounded. Amongst his visitors was a young man named Kerr, a
natural son of Lord John Kerr, brother of the Marquis of Lothian,
and also of the Dowager Countess of Angus, the Duke's mother.
This youth, who was thus the Duke's cousin, aspired to the hand of
his Grace's only sister. Lady Jane Douglas, and it is also alleged that
he ventured to remonstrate with the Duke about his keeping company
with a low person belonging to the village of Douglas. Prompted
by this fellow, the Duke stole by night Into the chamber of Mr.
Kerr and shot him dead as he lay asleep. His Grace is said to
have been overwhelmed with horror at the deed he had committed.
No time was lost in sending him off to Holland, there to remain till
he could safely return home.
The affair was hushed up, and no steps were taken by the public
authorities to bring the murderer to justice. It Is uncertain at what
time the Duke returned to Scotland, and little or nothing is known
of his subsequent life until the time of his marriage more than thirty
years after this Incident. In the year 1758, when his Grace was
turned of sixty, he married Margaret, daughter of James Douglas,
of Mains, Dumbartonshire, who was celebrated for her wit and
beauty, and not less for her freedom of speech and action. Dr.
Carlyle of Musselburgh, who met this lady In the year 1745,
and made an excursion from Glasgow with her and several other
ladies and gentlemen, says, ' When we came to Hamilton, she
prayed us to send a messenger a few miles to bring to us a clergy
man of a neighbouring parish, a Mr. Thomas Clelland. He came
to us when we were viewing the romantic gardens of Barnclulth.
Thomas Clelland was a good-looking little man, but his hair was
becoming grey, which no sooner Margaret observed than she rallied

The Angus Douglases. 91
him pretty roughly (which was her way) on his being an old
fusty bachelor, and on his Increasing marks of age since she had
seen him not more than a year before. After bearing patiently all
the efforts of her wit, " Margaret," says he, "you know that I am
master of the parish register, where your age is recorded, and that
I know when you may be with justice called an old maid, in spite of
your juvenile airs." " What care I, Tom ? " said she, " for I have
for some time renounced your worthless set. I have sworn to be
Duchess of Douglas or never to mount a marriage bed." She made
her purpose good. When she uttered in jest this prediction she
was about thirty. It was fulfilled a few years after.'* Many stories
are told of her Grace's broad humour and freedom of speech. Dr.
Johnson, who met her at dinner in Boswell's house In Edinburgh In
1773, the year before her death, described her as an ' old lady who
talks broad Scotch with a paralytic voice, and is scarcely understood
by her own countrymen.' 'Had the doctor seen her ten years
earlier,' says Robert Chambers, 'when she was in possession of all her
faculties, he would have found out how much comicality and rough
wit could be expressed In broad Scotch under the coif of a duchess.'
She survived her husband twelve years.
The Duke had an only sister. Lady Jane Douglas, whose life was
most unhappy, but is chiefly memorable on account of Its connection
with the celebrated Douglas Case. She was one of the hand
somest and most accomplished women of her age, but her happiness
was unfortunately ruined In early life by the rupture of her engage
ment to the Earl of Dalkeith, afterwards Duke of Buccleuch. From
that time onward she persistently rejected all offers of marriage
until she had attained the mature age of forty-eight, when, in
August, 1746, she secretly married Mr. John Stewart, second son of
Sir Thomas Stewart of GrandtuUy. Mr. Stewart had no fortune or
profession, or income from any source, and the whole resources of
the pair consisted of /300 a year, paid to Lady Jane by her brother
the Duke, with whom she was not on good terms at the time of her
imprudent marriage. Immediately after her union Mr. Stewart and
Lady Jane went abroad, and resided principally In France from 1746
till the end of 1749. On their return to England they brought
with them two male children, of whom they alleged Lady Jane had
been delivered at one birth in Paris in the month of July, 1748,
when her ladyship was in the fifty-first year of her age. Her brother
* Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle, p. 107.

92 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the Duke of Douglas had stopped her allowance when her marriage
was made public in the summer of 1749, and her husband and she
were in consequence reduced to the greatest distress. Mr. Stewart
was besides deeply involved In debt, and his creditors threw him into
gaol. In this deplorable condition some of her old friends obtained
for Lady Jane from Government a pension of ^300 a year. But
this boon failed to relieve the wretched pair from want, and Lady
Jane was obliged more than once to sell her clothes to support her
husband, who was still living within the rules of the King's Bench
Prison, in Southwark. In 1752 she visited Scotland, and attempted
to obtain a reconciliation with her brother ; but he refused even to
see her. She returned again to London, leaving the two children
in Edinburgh, under the care of a woman who had formerly accom
panied her and her husband to the Continent as a servant. The
younger of the two, who was named Sholto Thomas Stewart, died In
May, 1753, and, shortly after. Lady Jane returned to Edinburgh and
made another fruitless effort to be reconciled to her brother. Her
health was now completely broken down, and in the following
November the unfortunate lady died at Edinburgh, destitute even
of the common necessaries of life, and was interred in the Chapel
Royal at Holyrood.
After the death of Lady Jane, Archibald, the survivor of the two
children, was befriended by Lady Schaw, who, pitydng his destitute
condition, supported and educated him. In the year 1759, when he
was eleven years of age, Mr. Stewart succeeded, by the death of his
elder brother. Sir George, to the family estate and baronetcy, and
executed a bond of provision in Archibald's favour for ^2,500,
designating him in the document as his own son by Lady Jane
Douglas. The Duke of Douglas, however, continued obstinate In
his refusal to acknowledge the boy as his nephew. But the Duchess
was most zealous in his behalf, and advocated his cause so warmly as
to lead to a quarrel between her and the Duke on that account and a
separation, which, however, was not of long duration. In 1754 the
Duke executed a settlement of his estate upon the Duke of Hamilton,
failing heirs of his own body, and in 1757 he executed a second
deed in favour of the same heir, in which he declared it to be his
Intention that the son of his sister should In no case succeed to his
estate. But in the year 1760 the Duke revoked and cancelled these
settlements. In the summer of 1761 his Grace was taken with a
serious Illness, and believing that his end was near, he executed, on

The Angus Douglases. 93
the nth of July, an entail of his whole estate, settling it upon the
heirs whatsoever of his father, with remainder to Lord Dousflas
Hamilton, brother of the Duke of Hamilton. On the same day he
executed another deed appointing the Duchess of Douglas, the Duke
of Queensbury, and other persons to be tutors to Archibald Douglas,
or Stewart, son of his deceased sister, who was to succeed him in
his estates.
On the death of the Duke, which took place on the 21st of July,
• the dukedom of Douglas became extinct ; but the other titles of this
great old house passed to the Duke of Hamilton. The guardians of
young Stewart took the usual steps to put him In possession of the
Douglas estates, and he was sworn heir to the late Duke before a
jury, according to the form prescribed by the law of Scotland. The
guardians of the Duke of Hamilton, however, who was also a
minor, were not convinced by the evidence laid before the jury,
that Archibald Stewart was really the son of Lady Jane Douglas ;
and Mr. Andrew Stuart, one of their number, was dispatched to
Paris for the purpose of investigating the statements which had
been made on that point. The discoveries which Stuart made
were, in his opinion, and that of the other guardians, sufficient to
warrant the conclusion that the whole story of Lady Jane's delivery
was a pure fiction. Proceedings were, therefore, immediately Insti
tuted by them before the Court of Session to set aside Stewart's
claim to the Douglas estates.
In support of his claim there was adduced —
I St. The depositions of several witnesses that Lady Jane appeared
to them to be with child while at Aix-la-Chapelle and other places.
2nd. The testimony of Mrs. Hewit, who accompanied Lady Jane
to Paris, that she was delivered of twin boys at Paris upon the
loth of July, 1748. 3rd. The depositions of other witnesses, wiih
regard to the claimant being acknowledged by Lady Jane and her
husband to be their child. 4th. A number of letters which had
passed between Sir John Stewart, Lady Jane Douglas, Mrs. Hewit
and others, respecting the claimant's birth. 5th. Four letters said
to have been written by Pierre la Marre, who, it was alleged,
was the accoucheur that ofliclated at Lady Jane's delivery. The
solemn declaration was also adduced of Sir John Stewart, emitted a
few days before his death, in June, 1764, in the presence of two
ministers and a justice of the peace, affirming that Archibald Stewart
and his twin brother were both born of the body of Lady Jane

94 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Douglas, his lawful spouse, in the year 1748. Mrs. Hewit, who
was charged with being an accomplice in the fraud, died during the
suit, and to the last persisted In declaring that all she had sworn
respecting the birth ofthe children was truth.
On the other hand, it was maintained by the guardians of the
Duke of Hamilton —
I St. That Lady Jane Douglas was not delivered upon the loth of
July, 1748, bythe evidence of various letters written by her husband
and Mrs. Hewit upon the loth, nth, and 22nd of that month.
2nd. That Lady Jane was not delivered, as was asserted, In the house
of a Madame la Brune, nor in the presence of a Madame la Brune
and her daughter. And various circumstances were adduced to
show that no such persons as the Madame la Brune In question or
her daughter ever existed. 3rd. That Lady Jane Douglas could not
have been delivered, either upon the loth of July or in the house of a
Madame la Brune, because that upon that date, and upon several
days preceding and subsequent to the loth of July, Lady Jane, with
her husband and Mrs. Hewit, resided at the Hotel de Chalons, kept
by Mons. Godefroi, where it is acknowledged she was not delivered ;
and that It was clearly shown that this was the case by the testi
mony of Mons. and Madame Godefroi, as well as by the ' book of
expenses ' and ' ledger-book ' kept by them. 4th. Great stress was
laid upon the studied concealment and mystery observed at Paris in
July, 1 748, when Sir John and Lady Jane, with their confidante, Mrs.
Hewit, carried with them from Paris to Rhelms one child, and on
their repetition of the same concealment and mystery upon their
return to Paris, in November, 1749, when the same three persons
brought from Paris to Rhelms a second child. 5th. Proof was
brought that at Paris, in the month of July, 1748, a recently born
male child was carried off from his parents of the name of MIgnon,
and that in the month of November, 1749, another male child, bom
in the year 1 748, was in like manner taken from his parents, of the
name of Sanry. It was asserted that both of these children were,
under false pretences, carried off from their parents by British resi
dents at Paris, and that the persons who did so were Sir John Stewart,
Lady Jane Douglas, and Mrs. Hewit. It was also affirmed that no
such person as Pierre la Marre, the alleged accoucheur, existed, and
that the letters said to have been written by him were proved, and
Indeed admitted to be, a forgery.
A variety of other circumstances were pleaded In confirmation of

The Angus Douglases. 95
these statements. On the 21st of May, 1748, Lady Jane and her
husband left Aix-la-Chapelle, where they had resided upwards
of a year, giving various contradictory and untrue reasons fordoing
so. They stopped for some time at Liege and Sedan, and then pro
ceeded to Rhelms, travelling all the way In the stage-coach. They
remained at Rhelms for a month, and then set out for Paris, leaving
behind them their two female servants, and accompanied only by
Mrs. 1 lewit. The excuse for leaving their servants at Rhelms was
that they had no money to carry them to Paris, which was proved
to be untrue, and the reason given by Lady Jane for undertaking
this long, tedious, and fatiguing journey at a time when she professed
to be very far advanced in pregnancy was that she had been told
that the medical practitioners in Rhelms were unskilful ; and yet
the accoucheur who was said to have delivered her In Paris, accord
ing to Sir John Stewart's own story, was a person of a very humble
class, with whose place of residence he was not acquainted. On the
ninth day after her alleged delivery, the husband and wife appeared
at the H6tel d'Anjou, without either nurse or child. They went
next day to the country and returned with a child and a nurse, the
child looking much older than the date assigned for its birth, and
almost starved to death for want of milk, and the nurse a poor
wretched creature, officially branded as a thief, who had no milk to
give the child. It was at this very time that the son of the peasant
MIgnon disappeared. With regard to the other boy. Sir John
affirmed that it was so weak and sickly that the accoucheur baptised
him as soon as he was born, that it was left at nurse with a woman
of whom Lady Jane and he knew nothing, and under the care of
Pierre la Marre, whom they themselves acknowledged they did not
know where to find. They admitted also that for a whole month
they made no inquiry about the child. Groat stress was laid by the
judges who were adverse to the claim of young Stewart upon the
numerous contradictions in the declarations made both by Lady
Jane and her husband, and on the fact that not a few of their state
ments were proved to be false.
The case excited extraordinary interest not only in Scotland and
England, but throughout the Continent, on account of the great
importance of the interests at stake, and it is probably the most
remarkable case of the kind ever litigated. In Scotland the people
were ranged into two hostile parties, who argued the question at
issue with as much asperity and zeal as if the fate of the kingdom

96 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
had been dependent on the issue. Popular opinion ran strong in
favour of young Stewart, as the Hamilton family at this time had
fallen into disrepute.
The case came on for judgment in the Court of Session on the 7th
of July, 1767, and so important was the cause deemed that the
fifteen judges took no less than eight days to deliver their opinions.
The result was that eight of the judges, Including the Lord Presi
dent and the Lord Justice Clerk, voted In favour of the Duke of
Hamilton, and the other seven for Stewart.
This decision, however, was reversed by the House of Lords, It
was alleged on political rather than on legal grounds ; but the judg
ment of their Lordships has not been ratified by public opinion in
subsequent times. In his own district the general Idea was that
Mr. Stewart closely resembled a Frenchman In his personal appear
ance, and It is a significant fact that when Lord Shelburne met
him he formed and expressed the same opinion. Be this as It
may, no one can doubt that on social and economical grounds
it was much better for the country that the Douglas estates should
have been awarded to young Stewart, whether he was the son of
Lady Jane Douglas or of a French peasant, than that they should
have been merged In the vast possessions of the house of Hamil
ton. The fortunate youth proved himself to be one of nature's noble
men, most exemplary in all his relations In life, public and private
— a model landlord, generous and hospitable to his neighbours and
retainers, and especially esteemed and loved for his kindness to the
poor. George III. raised him to the peerage by the title of Baron
Douglas ; but though a supporter of the Tory Government, he does
not appear to have taken any prominent part In political affairs.
He was twice married. First, to Lucy Graham, daughter of the
second Duke of Montrose ; and, secondly, to Frances Scott, sister
ofthe third Duke of Buccleuch. They bore to him eight sons and
four daughters, all of whom, except two sons, reached maturity. Four
of his sons died unmarried, and a fifth left no family. Two of his
sons by his first wife, Archibald and Charles, were the second and
third Lords Douglas. James, the son of his second wife, was in
holy orders, and on his death without issue, in 1857, the title became
extinct. Jane Margaret, the eldest daughter of the first Lo'rd
Douglas, married Henry James, Lord Montague, brother of the
second Duke of Buccleuch, and bore to him four daughters, but no
son. Her eldest daughter became the wife of Cospatrick, eleventh

The Angus Douglases. 97
Earl of Home, who was created, in 1875, Baron Douglas of Douglas,
in the peerage of the United Kingdom, and bore to him six sons
and three daughters. On the death of her mother, the Countess
Inherited the Douglas estates, which are now possessed by her eldest
son, Charles Alexander, twelfth Earl of Home, and second
Baron Douglas of the nevsr creation.
It is interesting to notice that notwithstanding the forfeitures and
vicissitudes which the family have undergone, a great part of the
estates associated with the history and exploits of the old house of
Douglas are still in the possession of the present Lord Douglas.
The extensive territory in Galloway which belonged to the Black
Douglases, and their lands In Liddesdale, were divided among the
Border clans who had contributed to their overthrow ; and Lord
Hamilton obtained a large share of their Clydesdale property.
Hermitage Castle, at one time their chief stronghold, was sur
rendered by Archibald Bell-the-Cat, and now belongs to the Duke
of Buccleuch. Tantallon Castle, which he received in exchange, has
passed into the hands of the Dalrymples. But Douglasdale, the
cradle of the house, with the remains of its famous old castle, still
belongs to the family, along with Bothwell, redolent of the memories
of the War of Independence, and of Archibald the Grim, whose
daughter was married, In the Collegiate Church there, to the unfor
tunate Duke of Rothesay ; and Linthaugh, near Jedburgh, the gift of
King Robert Bruce to his trusty companion in arms, the ' Good Lord
James,' as the reward of one of his most gallant exploits. The
Berwickshire estates, also of the Black Douglases, now yielding
;^7,ooo a year; and the Angus property of the Red Douglases,
worth _;^ 7,356 per annum, belong to the Earl of Home — altogether,
according to the Domesday Book, extending to 90,336 acres, with
a rent-roll of ^47,721 a year.
In Sir Walter Scott's ' Abbot,' the golden zone ofthe White Lady,
which was diminished to the tenuity of a silken thread when the
family of Avenel seemed on the eve of extinction — as was the case
with the house of Douglas — was afterwards seen around her bosom
as broad as the baldrick of an eari. It is to be hoped that this
omen will be fulfilled In the case of the ancient and estimable
family — a branch of the great house of Dunbar and March— on
whom the estates of the old Douglases have now devolved.

VOL. 1.

THE KEITHS.
[HE Keiths are among the oldest and most Illustrious, as
they were at one time among the most powerful of the
historical families of Scotland. During five centuries
they took a prominent part In all the important public
events — political and ecclesiastical— In their own country, and
obtained great renown ' In far lands ayont the sea.' They were
distinguished for their diplomatic ability as well as for their war
like achievements, and were munificent patrons of learning, which
they promoted both by their wealth and their pen. Though they
ultimately forfeited their titles and estates by their adherence to
the cause of the Ill-fated Stewart dynasty, the Keiths, throughout
nearly the whole of their career, were not only zealous patriots but
staunch supporters of civil and religious liberty.
The origin of the Keiths is hid amid the mists of antiquity, and
the stories told by the early chroniclers respecting their descent
from the German tribe of the ' CattI,' who were driven from their
own country and took refuge in Caithness, are absurd fictions. All
that Is known with certainty on the subject is, that In the reign of
David I., when Norman, Saxon, Flemish, and Scandinavian settlers
in great numbers took up their residence In Scotland, a part of the
district of Keith, in East Lothian, was possessed by a baron named
Herveius, who witnessed the charter by which King David granted
Annandale to Robert de Brus. His estate received from him the
designation of Keith Hervel, and afterwards of Keith Marischal.
Herveus de Keith, the son of this baron, held the office of King's
Marischal under Malcolm IV. and William I., which from this time
became hereditary in the family. Philip, his grandson, who died
before 1220, succeeded him in his estate and office, and by his mar
riage with Eda, grand-daughter and heiress of Simon Eraser,

The Keilhs. 09
obtained Keith Ilundeby (now llumbie), the other half of the
barony of Keith.
The family soon become numerous and powerful, and spread their
branches far and wi<l(; throughout the Lowland districts of Scotland.
SiK. Wii.i.iam Ki;rni of (jalston, in Ayrshire, fought on the; patriotic
side in the War of Independence, and distinguished himself by his
signal bravery and energy at the capture of Berwick, in 13 18. He
was one of the knights who, in 1330, accompanied Sir James Douglas
in his expedition to the Holy Land, with the heart of King Robert
Bruce. In 1333 he was appointed Governor of Berwick, and two
years later was scMit ambassador to England. He was killed at the
siege of Stirling in 1336.
Sir RoiU'-.rt de Kkitii, the fourth in descent from Philip, the
Great Mari.schal, was one of the most celebrated knights of his day.
In the year 1300 he was appointed Justiciary of the country beyond
the Forth, and in 1305 was chosen one ofthe representatives ofthe
barons, to consult respecting the government of the kingdom after
the death of Wallace. Three years later he repaired to the standard
of Bruce, and distinguished himself at the battle of Inverury, where
Comyn of Badenoch, the deadly enemy of the patriot King, was
defeated. As a reward for his signal services in this conflict. Sir
Robert received a grant of several estates in Aberdeenshire, along
with a royal residence called Ilall Forest — a donation which led, as
in the cas(; of the Gordons and Erasers, to the removal of the family
to the north, where they ultimately had their chief seat and estates.
Sir Robert de Ktnth rendered important service to the patriotic cause
throughout the War of Independence, and contributed not a little to
the crowning victory of Bannockburn. He was despatched by Bruce
along with Sir James Douglas to reconnoitre the English army on
their march, and to biing him confidential information respecting
their numbers and equipments ; and to him was entrusted the im
portant duty of attacking and dispersing the English archers, whose
deadly clothyard shafts so often overwhelmed the Scottish spearmen.
At the head of a small body of cavalry. Sir Robert, making a circuit
to the right, assailed the formidable bowmen in flank, cut them down
in great numbers, and drove thmn off the fiidd. The effect of this
manoeuvre is portrayed in spirited terms by Sir Walter Scott in his
' Lord of the Isles.' After describing tho position of the Scottish
army, and the manner in which Bruce had drawn up the different

loo The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
divisions, with the right wing under Edward Bruce, protected by the
broken bank and deep ravine of the Bannock on their flank, the poet
goes on to say — ' Behind them, screen'd by sheltering wood.
The gallant Keith, Lord Marshal, stood ;
His men-at-arms bear mace and lance.
And plumes that wave and helms that glance.
*****
' Then " Mount, ye gallants free ! "
He cried ; and vaulting from the ground
His saddle every horseman found.
On high their glittering crests they toss.
As springs the wild-fire from the moss ;
The shield hangs down on every breast.
Each ready lance is in the rest.
*****
Then spurs were dash'd in chargers' flanks.
They rushed among the archer ranks ;
No spears were there the shock to let.
No stakes to turn the charge were set.
And how shall yeoman's armour slight
Stand the long lance and mace of might?
Or what may their short swords avail
'Gainst barbed horse and shirt of mail?
Amid their ranks the chargers sprung,
High o'er their heads the weapons swung.
And shriek, and groan, and vengeful shout
Give note of triumph and of rout.
Awhile with stubborn hardihood
Their English hearts the strife made good ;
Borne down at length on every side.
Compelled to flight they scatter wide.
*****
Broken, dispersed, in flight o'erta'en.
Pierced through, trod down, by thousands slain.
They cumber Bannock's bloody plain.'
' Although,' Sir Walter says, ' the success of this manoeuvre was
evident. It Is very remarkable that the Scottish generals do not
appear to have profited by the lesson. Almost every subsequent
battle which they lost against England was decided by the archers,
to whom the close and compact array of the Scottish phalanx
afforded an exposed and unresisting mark.'
Sir Robert Keith was one of the Scottish magnates who in 1320
signed the famous letter to the Pope vindicating the independence
of Scotland. He evidently stood high In the confidence of Robert
Bruce, for we find him nominated one of the commissioners to treat
for a peace with England In 1323 ; and he was also appointed, along
with other great nobles, to ratify an alliance with the French king,
Charles le Bel. As a testimony of the esteem In which Sir Robert

KEITHS, EARLS MARISCHAL.

The /veiths. loi
wan held by his sovereign, he received from King Robert a charter
of the lal Is of Keith Marischal, and of the office of Great Marischal
of Scotynd, to himaelf and to his nearest heirs male bearing the
name and arms pf Keith. Sir Robert fell at the fatal battle of
Dupplin, 1 2th August, 1332, when the Scottish army was surprised
and cut to pieces through the negligence and incompetency of its
commandor, the Earl of Mar. Mis grandson, who bore his name and
succeeded him in his estates and offices, was killed at the battle of
Durham, 17th October, 1346, where David II. was taken prisoner,
along with other two chiefs of the Keith family. As he died without
isau© he was succeeded by his grand-uncle, Sir Edward Kicmt,
who was twice married ; his only daughter Janet, by his second wife,
Christian Menteith, married Sir Thomas Erskine. Her maternal
grandmother, Lady Elinu, was tho daughter of Gratney, Earl of
Mar, of the ancient line, and that title was conferred upon their
descehdant, Lord Jirskine, by Queen Mary, a hundred and twenty
years after it htid been withheld from Sir Robert Erskine, son of Sir
Thomas and Lady Janet Keith. Sir Edward's second son, John, was
tho ancestor ofthe Keiths of Inverugie, an estate which he obtained
by his marriage to Mariot Cheyne, the heiress of a family of Anglo-
Norman descent, which settled in Scotland in the early part of the
ihh'teenth century. After continuing separate from the main stock
for seven or eight descents, this branch of the Keiths fell again into
the direct line, by the marriage of the elder daughter and co-heiress
of Sir William Keith to tho fourth Harl Marischal. Sir Edward
Keith died before 1350. His eldest son —
Sir William Keith, added greatly to the power and possessions
of the family by his marriage to the only child and heiress of Sir
John Fraser, eldest son of Alexander Eraser, High Chamberlain of
Scotland, by his wife Mary, sister of Robert Bruce. He obtained
with her large estates in Kincardine or Mearns, which from this time
forward became the principal residtutce of the Keith family. He
exchanged with William de Lindsay, of Byres, ccriu'n lands in the
counties of Fife and Stiriing for part of the estate of Dunnottar, in
Kincardineshire, lloro, about a mile and a-hnlf from Stonehaven,
he erected an extensive fortress of great strength on the summit of a
.stupendous perpendicular rock projecting into the sea, and separated
from the land by a deep chasm. The only access to it is by a steep
and narrow path winding round the rock. Strange to say, notwith

I02 The Great Ilislorie Families of Scotland.
standing Its almost inaccessible position, the summit of this insulated
rock was occupied by a church and churchyard long before it was
made the site of a fortress. When Sir William Keith resolved to erect
a castle upon it as a place of safety during the troublous times in which
he lived, he took the precaution first of all to build a church for the
parish in a more convenient place ; but notwithstanding, the Bishop
of St. Andrews, who must have been actuated by some personal
feeling, thought fit to excommunicate him on the jiretence that he
had violated consecrated ground. Sir William, however, a|ipealed
to the Pope (Benedict XllL), stating the whole circumstances ofthe
case, the urgent need of such a fortress, and the compensation he
had made for the site by building another church. The Pontiff, on
learning the real state of matters, issued a Bull, dated i8th July,
1394, deciding the appeal in Sir William's favour, directing the
Bishop to remove the excommunication, and to permit the baron to
retain possession of the castle on the payment of a certain sum to the
Church. Dunnottar thenceforth was the seat of the famil)-, and
became the scene of several important events in the history of the
country. Though long dismantled and uninhabited, it is still an
object of deep interest to Scotsmen, who visit it in great numbers.
' The battlements with their narrow embrasures, the strong towers
and airy turrets full of loopholes for the archer and musketeer, the
hall for the banquet, and the cell for the captive, are all alike entire
and distinct. Even the iron rings and bolts that held the culprits for
security or for torture, still remain to attest the different order
of things which once prevailed in this country. Many a sigh has
been sent from the profound bosom of this vast rock ; many a
despairing glance has wandered hence over the boundless wave ; and
many a weary heart has there sunk rejoicing into eternal sleep.' *
In this Impregnable fortress the Keiths established themselves, and
continued generation after generation to make their power felt both
in their feuds with the neighbouring barons and in the public affairs
of the kingdom. Sir William, the builder of the stronghold, died
between 1406 and 1408, leaving three sons and four daughters.
* In 1685 Dunnottar wns employed as a place of confinenient for a body of the
Covenanters, 167 in number, including scvcial women ami chilihcn, who had been
compelled to travel on foot from Edinburgli to this spot. 'I'hey wire thrust, men and
women together, into a dark underground dungeon in the ca.sllc which still hears the
name of tlie 'Whigs' Vauli,' having only small windows looking out to the sea, and the
floor coveied with mire ankle deep. They remained there during the whole summer
witli little more than standing room, and were subjected to the most shocking tortures
by ihc soldiers who guarded them. A good many died uiuler their sufTerings.

The Keiths. 103
Muriella, his eldest daughter, became the second wife of Robert,
Duke of Albany, Regent of the kingdom during the long captivity
of James I. In England, and was the mother of John, Earl of Buchan,
the famous Constable of France. Sir William's eldest son John, ' a
man of great valour,' says Nisbet, who fought at the battle of Otter
burn, married a daughter of King Robert II. He predeceased
his father, who was succeeded by his second son, Robert. Sir
Alexander, his third son, had the command of the horse at the
battle of Harlaw.
Sir William, eldest son of Sir Robert de Keith, was raised to
the peerage by James II., about 1458, by the title of Earl Marischal,
as a reward for his eminent services, especially in preserving
the peace ofthe northern districts, usually the seat of Intestine broils
and feuds. His eldest son, who bore his name — the second Earl —
unlike the Keith family, who were conspicuous for their loyalty,
joined the confederacy of the rebel lords against James III. His
eldest son, also named William Keith, succeeded as third Earl
In 15 1 5, took a prominent part in public affairs during the minority
of James V., and was one of the nobles entrusted with the charge of
the young king. His two eldest sons fell at the disastrous battle of
Flodden, along with Sir William Keith, of Inverugie and other
members of the house.* Earl William was noted for his sterling
honesty, sound judgment, calmness, and moderation, and his earnest
endeavours to heal dissensions. From the expression which he
frequently used he received the sobriquet oi ' Hearken and take heed.'
His grandson —
William, fourth Earl, whose mother was a daughter of Archibald
Bell-the-Cat, succeeded him In 1530, and raised the family to its
greatest height of wealth and power. He was selected by James V.
to accompany him when he went to France, in 1530, for the purpose
of marrying a lady belonging to the royal family ; and after the death
of that prince he was appointed, along with other six of the most
influential nobles, to take charge of the person of his infant daughter.
He was present at the sanguinary battle of Pinkie, in 1547, where his
eldest son was taken prisoner. He seems at that time to have been
favourable to the project of marrying the infant Queen to Prince
* The pennon of the Earl Marischal borne in that battle, bearing three stags' heads
and the motto ' Veritas vincit,' is preserved in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.

104 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Edward, for Sir Ralph Sadler mentions him as one * who hath
ever borne a singular fond affection' to King Henry, and his name
appears for 300 marks on the list of that monarch's pensioners. The
Earl is believed to have been, at an early age, favourably Inclined
towards the Reformed faith, and was a friend of George Wishart, the
martyr. He is said by Tytler to have been one of the persons asso
ciated with the Earl of Cassilis in the conspiracy to murder Cardinal
Beaton. He seems to have retained the respect and confidence of
the Queen-Dowager, Mary of Guise, though opposed to her policy,
for along with the Earls of Argyll and Glencairn, and Lord James
Stewart, he was summoned to the deathbed of that princess, when
she expressed her great sorrow for the distracted state of the country,
and earnestly recommended them to dismiss both the French and
English forces, and to adhere firmly to their lawful sovereign.
When the Confession of Faith was ratified by the Parliament at
Edinburgh, 17th July, 1560, Calderwood states that the Earl
Marischal thus addressed the Estates, ' It is long since I had some
favour unto the truth and was somewhat jealous of the Roman
religion ; but, praised be God, I am this day fully resolved ; for seeing
my lords, the bishops, who, for their learning can, and for the zeal
they owe to the truth, would, as I suppose, gainsay anything repug
nant to the same, yet speak nothing against the doctrine proposed,
I cannot but hold it the very truth of God, and the contrary of It
false and deceavable doctrine. Therefore, so far as In me lieth, I
approve the one and condemn the other, and do further ask of God
that not only I but also my posterity may enjoy the comfort of the
doctrine that this day our ears have heard. Further, I protest. If any
persons ecclesiastical shall hereafter oppose themselves to this our
Confession that they have no place or credit, considering that time of
advisement being granted to them, and they having full knowledge
of this our Confession, none is now found in lawful, free, and quiet
Parliament, to oppose themselves to that which we profess. And there
fore. If any of this generation pretend to do so after this, I protest he
be reputed rather one that loveth his own commodity and the glory of
the world, than the glory of God and salvation of men's souls.'*
The Earl was one of the twenty-four barons selected by the
Estates, from among whom the Crown was to choose eight and the
Estates six, to administer the Government. On the return of Queen
Mary from France, Eari Marischal was sworn one of the Lords of
* History, ii. p. 37.

The Keiths. 105
her Privy Council. He took a deep Interest in the affairs of the
Protestant religion and the Church ; and In the General Assembly of
1563 he was a member of the Committee appointed to revise the
Book of Discipline. After the Intestine strife which followed the
murder of Darnley and the imprisonment of Queen Mary in Loch
leven Castle, Earl Marischal retired to his castle of Dunnottar, which
he so seldom quitted during the protracted civil broils of that period,
that he received the sobriquet of 'William of the Tower.' His
countess, Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Sir William Keith of
Inverugie, brought that estate into the family. Inverugie Castle, a
massive structure, now in ruins, on the north bank of the river Ugle,
about two and a-half miles from Peterhead, was, next to Dunnottar,
long a principal seat of the Keiths. It was founded in 1380 by John
de Keith, who married Mariot Cheyne. Far distant though it was
from Ercildoune, the seat of Thomas the Rhymer, he Is said to have
visited the place, and to have uttered the following prediction
regarding It, from a stone In the vicinity of the castle : —
' As lang 's this stane stands on this craft
The name o' Keith shall be alaft ;
But when this stane begins to fa'
The name o' Keith shall wear awa'.'
'The stone,' says Mr. Ferguson, ' was removed in 1763 ; the last
Earl Marischal sold the lands in 1766.' *
Robert Keith, the younger son of the third Earl, was the last
Abbot of Deer, a foundation of the Cistercians, situated in a
sheltered hollow on the banks of the Ugle. His nephew, the
second son of the fourth Earl, known In history as the Commen-
dator of Deer, obtained the erection of the abbey and the abbey
lands into a temporal lordship, 29th July, 1587, 'to be calllt
in all tyme cuming, the lordship of Altrie.' On the death of the
Commendator, the estate and title devolved upon his nephew,
George, the fifth Earl. Lord Keith, Earl William's elder son,
having predeceased him In 1580, he was succeeded. In 1581, by his
grandson —
George, fifth Earl Marischal, the founder of Marischal College,
Aberdeen. He was educated at King's College, in that city,
where he distinguished himself by his proficiency In classical
* Twelve Slzetclies of Scenery and Antiquities, ^fc, p. loi.

106 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
studies, and In the knowledge of the Hebrew language, and of his
tory and antiquities. He subsequently spent several years at univer
sities in France, along with his younger brother William, and then
at Geneva, under the celebrated Beza, who gave him instruction in
history, theology, and eloquence. The death of his brother, who
lost his life in a riot among the citizens, caused him to leave Geneva
and to travel through Germany and Italy, making himself acquainted
with the language, and the manners and customs of the people.
On his return to his native country he took part in various public
affairs, and In 1589 he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary
to the Danish Court, to arrange the marriage of James VI. with
Anne of Denmark. With his characteristic munificence, the Earl
defrayed the whole expense of the embassy, which was conducted on
a scale of unusual splendour. He did good service to the country
in 1593 by inquiring into the secret and treasonable transactions of
the Popish earls with the Court of Spain, and in 1609 he was
appointed Lord High Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament.
The memory of this great nobleman has been perpetuated mainly by
his enlightened generosity displayed in the establishment of the
college which bears his family title. The foundation charter, which
Is dated 2nd April, 1593, provided for the maintenance of a principal,
three professors or regents, and six bursars ; and appointed Greek,
Hebrew, Syriac, geometry, geography, chronology, natural history,
and astronomy to be taught In the college. At subsequent periods
several additional chairs and a great number of bursaries were insti
tuted In connection with this seminary, and the professorships were
ultimately Increased to thirteen. The ancient structure having
fallen into decay, a grant of ^25,000 was given by the House of
Commons between 1840 and 1844, for the purpose of rebuilding it
on a more extensive scale ; but in 1858 Marischal College and
King's College were Incorporated by Act of Parliament into one
University. The arrangement by which the rich temporalities of the Abbey of
Deer came into the possession of Earl George, gave great dissatis
faction to his younger brother Robert Keith of Benholm, ' probably
because he had concluded in his own mind [not without reason] that
the abbey lands formed a more appropriate estate for a cadet than
for the chief of the family, the latter being already a rich man.' He
therefore made an attempt to take forcible possession of the abbey,
which he kept for six weeks ; but at last the Earl, with assistance

The Keiths. 107
from the northern shires and burghs, succeeded in dislodging his
law-defying brother. Robert then retired to the Castle of Fedderat,
where he stood a three days' siege, which ended In his coming to a
truce with the Earl, and the unseemly quarrel was terminated.
The rental of the abbey thus annexed to the Marischal estates
amounted in 1565 to/572 8s. 6d., with thirteen and a half bolls of
wheat, fourteen chalders and ten bolls of bear,* and sixty-three
chalders nine bolls of meal. The yearly revenue of the earldom,
augmented by this handsome addition. Is alleged to have amounted
to the enormous sum, in those da)'s, of 270,000 marks. The estates
were so extensive that it was commonly said that Earl Marischal
could enter Scotland at Berwick, and travel through the country to
its northern extremity without requiring ever to take a meal or
a night's rest off his own lands. But even at this period, when it
had reached its greatest height of power and prosperity, a doom
was believed to be impending over the family. Earl George sur
vived till 1623, but, happily for himself, he was taken away before
the evil days of the Great Civil War, which inflicted so much misery
upon the country, and brought his ancient and illustrious house to
the brink of ruin.
Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, in ^A Short Abridgejnent of Britane' s
Distemper, from the Yeares of God 1639 to 1649,' gives the ' relacion of
a wonderfull vision,' which, according to popular belief, foretold that
the ancient house of the Marischal of Scotland was to date Its slow
decay and assured overthrow from the day of Its ' sacrilegious med
dling with the Abbacy of Deer.'
' This was a fearfull presiage of the fatal punishment which did hing
over the head of that noble familie by a terrible vission to his grand
mother, after the sacrilegious annexing of the Abbacie of Deir to the
house of Marshell, which I think not unworthle the remembrance,
were it but to advise other noblemen thereby to beware of meddling
with the rents of the Church, for in the first foundation thereof they
were given out with a curse pronounced in their charector, or evident
of the first election, in those terms : Cursed be those that taketh this
away from the holy use whereunto it is now dedicat; and I wish from my
heart that this curse follow not this ancient and noble familie, who
hath, to ther praise and never-dieing honour, contemned ther great
ness, maintained ther honour, and, both piously and constantly has
followed forth the way of virtue from that tym that the valour, worth,
* An inferior kind of barley.

io8 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and happie fortoun of ther first predecessor planted them ; and ever
since the carriage of his heart, strength of his arme, and love of his
country, made him happily to resist the cruel Danes. George, Earle
Marshell, a learned, wise, and upright good man, got the Abbacie
of Deir In recompence from James the Sixt, for the honourable
charge he did bear in that ambassage he had into Denmark, and
the wyse and worthy account he gave of it at his return by the con
clusion of that match whereof the royal stock of Britane' s monarchy
is descended. ' This Earl George, his first wife dochter to the Lord Home, and
grandmother to this present earle, being a woman both of a high
spirit and of a tender conscience, forbids her husband to leave such
a consuming moth In his house as was the sacrilegious meddling with
the Abbacie of Deir ; but fourteen score chalders of mell and beir
was a sore temptation ; and he could not weel endure the rendering
back of such a morsel. Upon his absolute refusal of her demand,
she had this vision the night following: in her sleepe she saw a
great number of religious men, in ther habit, come forth of that
Abbey to the stronge craige of Dunnottar, which is the principal
residence of that familie. She saw them also set themselves round
about the rock, to get It down and demolishe It, having no Instru
ments nor tools wherewith to perform this work, but only pen-knyves,
wherewith they foolishly (as it seemed to her) began to pick at the
craig. She smiled to see them intend so fruitless an enterpryse, and
went to call her husband, to scoff and jeer them out of it. When
she had found him, and brought him to see these sillie religious
monckes at ther foolish work, behold the whole craige, with all its
stronge and stately buildings, was by ther pen-knyves undermined
and fallen in the sea, so as there remained nothing but the wracke of
ther rich furniture and stuff floating on the waves of a raging and
tempestuous sea.
' Some of the wiser sort, divining upon this vision, attribute to the
pen-knyves the lenth of tym before this should come to pass;
and it hath been observed by sundrle that the earles of that house
before were the richest in the kingdom, having treasure and
store beside them, but ever since the addition of this so great a
revenue, they have lessened the stock by heavie burdens of debt
and Ingagment.'
Dr. Pratt says it Is thought to have been In reference to this
legend, or to some reproaches of a similar nature which were heaped

The Keiths. 109
on the Marischal family at the time, in consequence of their sacri
legious appropriation of the Abbey and Its possessions, that they
inscribed the unavailing defiance —
' They say,
Quhat say they?
They half said,
Let thame say,'
on several of the buildings which they erected. On Marischal
College, Aberdeen, which the Earl founded In 1593, and endowed
with a portion of the doomed spoil, the Inscription in large letters
remained on the buildings till 1836, when they were taken down to
make room for the present structure. The Inscription, however, is
preserved In the entrance-hall of the new college buildings.
'Within seventy years of the time that Patrick Gordon wrote,
the whole of the Marischal estates were confiscated, and an addi
tional half century witnessed the extinction of the family. The
Commendator — who took his title from Altrie, one of the estates of
the abbey lying between Bruxle and Brucklay Castle — left no child
to inherit his honours ; and so utterly has the name perished that,
instead of being called ' in all time coming the Lordship of Altrie,' the
name scarcely remains even as a tradition.
' Meddle nae wi' holy things.
For 'gin ye dee [do],
A weird I rede in some shape
Shall follow thee.
Altrie is now called Overtown and Newtown of Bruxle.'*
William, sixth Earl, who succeeded to the family titles and
estates on the death of his father, in 1623, left four sons, of whom
the two eldest were successively the representatives of the house.
The Great Civil War had a fatal influence on the fortunes of
the house of Keith. William, the seventh Earl Marischal, who
inherited the family titles and estates in the year 1635, was a
staunch Covenanter; and when the rash and dangerous attempt of
Charles and Laud to force a new Service-book on the people of
Scotland roused the whole country to arms, the Earl unhesitatingly
cast in his lot with the popular party. In 1639, when the young
Earl of Montrose, afterwards the famous Royalist general, was sent
by the Tables with a powerful army to compel the citizens of Aber-
* Pratt's Buchan. Twelve Sketc/ies, i^c.

iio The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
deen to subscribe the Covenant, the Earl Marischal, says Spalding,
had one ofthe five colours carried on that occasion, having this motto
drawn In letters : ' For Religion, the Covenant, and the Country.' He
was subsequently present at the ' Trot of Turriff,' as the skirmish
was termed in which blood was first shed in this disastrous civil
war, and took part with Montrose in the second occupation of
Aberdeen, in the ' Raid of Stonehaven,' where the Royalist High
landers were put to flight by the artillery brought from the Castle
of Dunnottar, and In the conflict at the Bridge of Dee, where the
Royalists, under Lord Aboyne, were again defeated, and forced to
flee, leaving Aberdeen once more at the mercy of the victorious
party. The Earl was one of the nobles who signed the famous
Cumbernauld Bond, in 1641, for the support of the royal authority
against the designs of the extreme party, headed by the Marquis of
Argyll. But though at this juncture he concurred with Montrose in
his apprehensions that the Covenanters were pressing demands which
infringed on the power and prerogative ofthe sovereign, he refused
to follow that Earl when he deserted his party and went over to the
side of the king. In consequence of this refusal he incurred the
bitter hatred of his former friend and associate. In 1645, when
Montrose marched to the north, after his defeat of the Covenanters
at Tippermuir, he encamped at Stonehaven, and sent a letter to Earl
Marischal, who had shut himself up in Dunnottar along with a con
siderable body of clergymen and persons of distinction in the district.
The Earl, however, declined to admit the bearer of the letter into his
castle, and sent him away without an answer. An application made
to Lord Marischal through his brother was equally unsuccessful.
All that Montrose wanted, he was told, was that 'the Earl should
serve the king his master against his rebellious subjects, and that if
he failed to do so, he would feel his vengeance.' Marischal, how
ever, declined to comply with this demand, declaring that ' he would
not be against the country.'
In consequence of this refusal, Montrose at once subjected the
Earl's estates to military execution. He first set fire to the houses
adjoining the castle, and burnt the grain stacked in the barn-yards.
He next committed to the flames the town of Stonehaven, which he
burnt to ashes, destroying even the boats of the poor fishermen, thus
depriving them of the means of subsistence. The lands and houses
of Cowie and the woods of Fetteresso shared the same fate, and the
whole district was plundered and laid waste. The Earl was deeply

The Keiths. I \ \
affected when he witnessed from his stronghold the destruction of
his property and the ruin of his helpless vassals, who assembled In
crowds before the castle gates, imploring him to save them from ruin.
Spalding, who seldom misses an opportunity of sneering at the Cove
nanters, and especially at their clergy, says, ' The famous Andrew
Cant, who was among the number of the Earl's ghostly company,
edified his resolution at once to its original pitch of firmness, by
assuring him that that reek would be a sweet-smelling incense in
the nostrils of the Lord, rising as It did from property which had
been sacrificed to the holy cause ofthe Covenant.' When the affairs
of the king had become desperate, however, the Earl joined the
' Engagement,' and raised a troop of horse to assist In the attempt
to rescue him from the hands of the Republicans. He was present
at the rout of Preston, from which, more fortunate than most of his
associates, he succeeded in effecting his escape. He was one of the
Committee of Estates, who were seized by a troop of English horse
at Alyth In 165 1, and was committed to the Tower, where he remained
a prisoner for nine years, having been excepted from Cromwell's
'Act of Grace and Pardon' in 1654. At the Restoration he was
sworn a member of the Privy Council, and appointed Keeper of the
Privy Seal, but died soon after. In 1661, and was succeeded by his
brother George, eighth Earl.
The circum.stance which probably contributed not a little to incense
the Protector against the Earl Marischal was the obstinate and
protracted resistance which his castle of Dunnottar made to the
forces of the Commonwealth after the rest of the country had sub
mitted to Its authority. On the surrender of Edinburgh Castle this
strong sea-girt fortress had been selected as the most secure place
In the kingdom In which to deposit the Scottish Regalia — the crown,
sceptre, and sword of state. The small garrison, under the command
of Mr. George Ogilvie, of Barras, held out gallantly for many
months, but as provisions began to fail the governor foresaw that in
the end he would be obliged to surrender. Anxious to prevent the
symbols of Scottish sovereignty from falling Into the hands of the
besiegers, who, he was aware, were eager to obtain possession of
them, he formed apian. In conjunction with the Dowager Countess
of Marischal, and the Rev. Mr. Grainger, minister of Kinneff, for
conveying the precious ' honours ' to a place of safety. Mrs. Grainger
was the principal agent in carrying the scheme Into effect. Having
obtained permission from the English general to visit the wife of the

1 1 2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
governor of the castle, she received from that lady, but without the
knowledge of her husband, the crown, which she carried away In her
lap. The sceptre and sword, wrapped up in a bundle of ' hards ' or
lint, to be spun for Mrs. Ogilvie, were placed on the back of a female
attendant, and mistress and maid were allowed to pass unchallenged
through the EnglLsh camp. On reaching the manse of Kinneff, Mrs.
Grainger delivered the crown, sceptre, and sword to her husband,
who buried them under the floor of his church. He imparted the
secret to no one but the Countess Marischal, who gave out that the
Regalia had been carried to the Continent by her younger son, Sir
John Keith, and delivered to Prince Charles at Paris. When the
castle surrendered, three months afterwards, the disappointment of
the English general was extreme on finding that the Regalia had been
removed, and every effort was made, but in vain, to discover where
they were concealed. The governor was treated with great severity
and was Imprisoned, and. It is said, was even tortured to make him
disclose the secret. His lady was subjected to similar severities, and
her health sunk under the close confinement, but with her dying breath
she entreated her husband to preserve Inviolate the trust committed
to him. The minister of Kinneff and his courageous wife did not
escape suspicion and harsh treatment, but nothing could be extorted
from them respecting the concealment of the treasure under their
charge. The secret was faithfully kept till the Restoration, eight
years afterwards, when the Regalia was exhumed and placed under
official custody. " Rewards were then distributed to the persons who
had taken part in the affair, but they were bestowed with more
regard to rank and Influence than to merit. Sir John Keith, whose
only share in the transaction was in giving the use of his name to put
the English on a false scent, was made Knight Marischal, with a
salary of ;^400 a year, and was afterwards raised to the peerage
under the title of Earl of KIntore. Ogilvie, whose patrimonial estate
had been impoverished by the fines and sequestrations imposed by
the English, received the merely honorary reward of a baronetcy, and
Mrs. Grainger was recompensed with the sum of two thousand marks
Scots. George Keith, eighth Earl, in his younger years served In the
French army and rose to the rank of colonel. He returned to Scot
land when the civil war broke out, but does not appear to have taken
any active part on either side until the army of the ' Engagement' was

The Keilhs. 1 1 3
raised to rescue Charles I. from the Republican party. He commanded
a regiment of foot in that mismanaged enterprise, and fought at the
battle of Preston (August 17th, 1648). Three years later he had the
command of three regiments at the battle of Worcester, where he
displayed the hereditary bravery of his house, but was overpowered
by numbers and taken prisoner. He appears to have lived quietly
on his estates during the reigns of Charles II. and his brother,
James VII. He took no active part on either side at the Revolution.
' Earl Marshall,' wrote Claverhouse to Melfort, ' Is at Edinburgh,
but does not meddle.' He died in 1694.
William Keith, ninth Earl, his only son, though he took the
oaths to William and Mary, and sat in the Parliament of 1698,
steadily opposed the measures of the new Government. He offered
a strenuous resistance to the Treaty of Union with England, and
entered his solemn protest against the measure when it passed the
Estates. The Earl considerably Impaired his estates by his magni
ficent style of living. He was noted for his generosity, and his
kindness and liberality to his tenantry and retainers. His marriage
to Lady Mary Drummond, eldest daughter of the notorious Earl of
Perth, High Chancellor of Scotland under James VII., exercised an
injurious influence on the fortunes of his family. He died in 17 12,
and was succeeded by his eldest son —
George Keith, tenth and last Earl Marischal, who was born
about 1693. Of the once vast property of his family, he inherited
only the estates of Dunnottar, Fetteresso, and Inverugie. He obtained
from Qlieen Anne the command of a troop of cavalry, and was subse
quently appointed captain of the Scottish troop of Horse Grenadier
Guards. The Earl was one of the Scottish Tories who acquiesced In
the accession of George I., but the new Government very unwisely
drove them into opposition by unkind treatment. Earl Marischal was
deprived of his command at the same time that his cousin, the Earl
of Mar, was dismissed from his office of Secretary of State. On his
way down from London he met his younger brother James, after
wards Field-Marshal Keith, going up to ask for a commission. At
the instigation of their mother, who was a Roman Catholic and a
Jacobite,* the two brothers, no doubt smarting under the treat
* There is a pathetic ballad entitled, ' Lady Keith's Lament,' in which her Lady
ship comforts herself under the ruin of her house by the hope that the ancient dynasty
VOL. I. K

114 TJie Great Historic Families of Scotland.
ment they had received, repaired to the standard which Mar had
set up in Aberdeenshire and took part In the ill-advised and badly
managed rebellion of 17 15. The Earl commanded two squadrons at
the battle of Sheriffmuir. When the Chevalier, shortly after, landed
in Scotland, he passed several days at Newburgh and Fetteresso,
seats of Lord Marischal, and after the failure of the enterprise, when
the Ill-starred prince embarked for the Continent at Montrose, he
was accompanied by the Earl and Lord Mar. The family titles, with
the hereditary office of Grand Marischal, which had been held by the
Keiths upwards of four hundred years, were attainted and their estates
were forfeited to the Crown.
In the year 17 19, Earl Marischal, in conjunction with the Marquis
of Tullibardine and the Earl of Seaforth, with the aid of a body of
Spani.sh troops furnished by Cardinal Alberoni, made another
attempt to restore the ancient dynasty. They landed in the
Western Highlands, near Kintail, where they were joined by a few
hundred Highlanders, chiefly belonging to Seaforth' s clan. They
were attacked in Glensheil by a body of regular troops under
General Wightman, and though they maintained their ground, the
Highlanders became convinced that the enterprise was hopeless,
and dispersed during the night. The Spaniards, next day, sur
rendered themselves prisoners of war. Earl Marischal and his
brother nobles and the other officers made their way to the Western
Isles, and afterwards escaped to the Continent.
During the next thirty years. Earl Marischal led the usual life of
Jacobite exiles on the Continent, alternating, as he himself said,
betwixt hopes and fears. Finding that his adherence to the Pro
testant faith made him distasteful to the Spanish Court, he resigned
his command in their army and retired to France, where he lived In a
quiet and frugal style. He took no part in the Jacobite enterprise
of 1745, and shortly after its failure he went to reside In Prussia,
where he became a special favourite of Frederick the Great, who
in 1750 appointed him his Ambassador Extraordinary to the French
Court. The Prussian monarch also invested the Earl with the Order
of the Black Eagle, and bestowed on him the Government of Neuf-
chatel. In 1759 Frederick solicited and obtained from the British
would be restored, and that she would be ' Lady Keith again, the day our King comes
ower the water.' The ballad purports to have been written by the Countess herself,
but there can be Httle or no doubt that it was the composition of James Hogg, the
Ettrick Shepherd, in vf\tose facobite Relics it first appeared.

The Keiths. 115
Government a pardon for the Earl, who thereupon paid a brief visit
to his native country, and was presented by William Pitt, after
wards Eari of Chatham, to George II. In the same year Lord
Marischal was ambassador from Prussia to Spain. Though an
exile, his native land was still dear to him, and he eageriy availed
himself of an opportunity which now offered to do it service.
His long residence in Spain, where he often said he had left a dear
old friend — the sun — and his Intimate knowledge of the Spanish
language and diplomacy, gave him peculiar facilities for fathoming
the secret designs of the Spanish Court. Having discovered, while
resident at r>Iadrid, the secret of the famous ' Family Compact,' by
which the French and Spanish members of the House of Bourbon
became bound to treat as their common enemy every Power that
might become the enemy of either, or, in other words, to unite in
making war upon Great Britain, he communicated this important
intelligence to Mr. Pitt, who was at that time Prime Minister.
Pitt's colleagues, unfortunately for the country and for their own
reputation, shrank from adopting the vigorous measures which that
great statesman proposed when this information reached him ; but
Earl Marischal's services were not overlooked. In the year 1760 he
paid a visit to England, and was introduced to George III., by
whom he was most graciously received. His ancestral estates had
been sold, in 1720, to the York Buildings Company for ^4 1,1 72, but
an Act of Parliament was now passed to enable the Earl to Inherit
any estate that might descend to him, notwithstanding his attainder.
This boon was granted In the prospect of his lordship's succession
to the KIntore estates, as next heir to William, fourth Earl of that
branch of the Keith family, who was unmarried. On the death of
this nobleman. In 1761, the Kintore property, at that time of no
great value, but which now yields ^33,000 a year, devolved upon
his kinsman. Lord Marischal. In the same year an Act of Parlia
ment authorised the King to grant to the Earl ^3,618 out of the
principal sum and interest remaining due on his forfeited estate.
Three years later Lord Marischal purchased back part of the
ancient property of his house, and at the earnest entreaties of his
relatives he made arrangements to take up his permanent resi
dence in his native country. When the Earl arrived at Peterhead
he set out for Inverugie, between two and three miles distant. He
went as far as the bridge of Ugle, about a quarter of a mile from the
castle, which stands on an elevated ridge enclosed on three sides by

ii6 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the river. He was met there by a numerous body of friends and
tenants, who welcomed him with every demonstration of affection
and delight; but the venerable nobleman burst into tears at the
sight of the ruined and desolate condition of the seat of his
ancestors, and could proceed no farther.
Dunnottar Castle also was dismantled, and the state of his family
mansions and the death of his early friends made the Earl feel sad
and lonely In his native land. A letter which he addressed (28th
October, 1763, to David Hume, the celebrated philosopher and
historian, whom he ironically terms ' Defender of the Faith,' casts
interesting light on the character and feelings of the venerable
nobleman. ' My health,' he says, ' is totally deranged since I am
in Scotland. Your advice of creeping nearer to the sun is most
agreeable to an old Spaniard, and a sort of Guebre by religion ; but
j^6oo a year will not do In London, neither in Paris, though better
there than in London. In Paris being already recognised for an
owl, I might easily merit also the title of wof. Then I would be at
peace, and I would only see those who might please me. It is
terrible in my country to be obliged to receive visits without inter
mission ; and many of those people of whom AUiotus was able to
say, " Id genus demonlorum non ejicltur nisi jejunlo." (This kind
of devils Is not cast out but by fasting.) M. D'Alembert will explain
this to you ; and to tell you the truth, I hope, by fasting from wine,
to get rid of several. There is another inconvenience in our
country — bigotry ; and, I believe, a little hypocrisy.
' M. D'Alembert said one day at Sans SoucI, very pleasantly and
justly, that in Germany they still cry " Who goes there .? " to Reason.
In the north of Scotland they would not cry "Who goes there?"
to the poor thing if they saw her ; they would begin by throwing a
stone at her head.
' When I passed through Aberdeen, the churches resounded with
anathemas against those who should take away their letters on
Sunday. Mr. Campbell was one of the most zealous preachers. I
understand well that these gentlemen are very glad to be absolute
sovereigns of a seventh part of the year ; but that Is not so agree
able to me, whose vocation was to be a Calmuck Tartar — that is to
say, as savage but less solitary than my friend Jean Jacques. These
are my griefs — little health of body and few charms of mind,
because 1 should be too much restrained by our lamas.
' Of the other side, it is sweet and flattering to live in a country

The Keiths.

117

where I have reason to believe that everybody wishes me well,
which does not prevent me from being wearied. I have some diffi
culty In getting free from my fellow-countrymen ; and then at my
age Is it worth the trouble ? Where am I to go ? London and
Paris are too dear. The hours of London do not suit my health.
Here are three places which are convenient to my purse: Port
Mahon — purse and climate, liberty, — society might be awanting to
me ; Venice — purse, liberty, climate, nearly, the delicious gondola
for the Infirm old person ; but the journey Is too long. There
remains a third retreat: with the good Father Gardien of Sans
Souci.* But it is not a sufficient retreat for my old age. My
memory fails me, my Imagination is getting still weaker. I know
very well, by many a learned demonstration of learned meta
physicians, that our immortal soul is always the same. I know it
still better as a good Christian, by faith ; but I don't feel it physi
cally by its effects.
' The Courts require young men. The Queen, the princesses, and
the princes must have them. However, my attachment to the Father
Gardien attracts me powerfully towards him. I would like much to
be within reach of consulting you by word of mouth. I do not
think I have ever known a man so free from prejudice. I would also
like to consult M. D'Alembert, although I know beforehand that he
would advise me to go to the Father Gardien. In this country I
dare not speak to anyone ; they would all set themselves against
me. I must await the sale of one of my lands, and in the coming
summer I will take my resolution, either to go towards the sun
and free thinking, or to remain to make myself be buried with my
ancestors — a solid and still more durable pleasure. Write me, I beg
you, and speak also to M. D'Alembert. I rely on the friendship of
both, and I am a little like Panurge when he wished to marry, very
undecided, or, to speak more correctly, drawn strongly to two sides.'
There are other eight letters from the Earl to the ' good David '
in the collection of ' Letters of Eminent Men to David Hume,' all of
them exhibiting In a very pleasing light the amiable and benevolent
character and quiet humour of the writer. Though quite alive to
Rousseau's faults, he was anxious to obtain protection for him from
the persecution of the priests, and advised that he should take refuge
in England. And even after the Scottish philosopher had been fiercely
attacked by the half-crazed Genevese writer, he entreated Hume to
"^ Frederick the Great.

I 1 8 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
forbear with him. ' It will be good and humane In you,' he pleaded,
' and like le ban David, not to answer.' In the last of the series,
dated Potsdam, 15th August, 1766, the Earl says, ' I shall be happy
to see you here ; but I must in conscience tell you. What went you
out to see ? A reed shaken with the wind. My memory fails me much.
You must expect from me no more, If so much, as from an old
monkish chronicle of a thousand years, where perhaps you might
here and there pick out some notes to clear dates ; and every six
months makes me considerably less of any use to your Intention. All
you can count on is truth as far as my memory serves. If after this
fair warning you shall resolve to come, you shall be most welcome.
I have a room for you, a Spanish oUa, Spanish wine, pen, ink, and
paper. I dine every day with the King. You will be Invited to dine
every day and sup every night with the Prince of Prussia. We shall
lodge in the same house like a fashionable French husband and lady,
without seeing each other. You are well known to the beaux esprits and
the ladies. I am good for nothing for either, so that I run risk to
see you not often, and we shall want some time in quietness.'
Though the Earl described himself as ' drawn strongly to two
sides,' it is evident that his leaning was towards Sans Souci, and
the King of Prussia earnestly entreated his old friend to rejoin him
there. ' I am not surprised,' wrote Frederick (i6th February,
1764), ' that the Scots fight to have you among them, and
wish to have progeny of yours, and to preserve your bones.
You have in your lifetime the lot of Homer after death — cities
arguing which is your birthplace. I myself would dispute it with
Edinburgh to possess you. If I had ships I would make a descent
on Scotland to steal off my cher my lord and bring him hither.
The banks of the Elbe do not admit of these equipments. I must,
therefore, have recourse to your friendship to bring you to him who
esteems and loves you. I was your late brother's friend, and had
great obligations to him : I am yours with heart and soul. These
are my titles, these are my rights. You shall live here in the
bosom of friendship, liberty, and philosophy. Come to me.'
The venerable nobleman, now in his seventy- eighth year, was
unable to resist the Importunity of his royal friend, and soon after
repaired lo Potsdam, where Frederick had built a villa for his resi
dence. Here he spent the remainder of his days, which were pro
tracted far beyond the usual span of human life. The diplomatic
agents and travellers who from time to time visited the Prussian

The Keiths. iig
Court give an Interesting glimpse of the character and latter days of
the veteran peer. Sir Robert Murray Keith, who stayed three
days with him In 1770, writes, ' He is the most innocent of God's
creatures, and his heart Is much warmer than his head. ... I really
am persuaded he has a conscience that would gild the inside of a
dungeon. The feats of our barelegged warriors in the last war,
accompanied by a pibroch in his outer room, have an effect on the
old Don which would delight you. . . . He talked to me with the
greatest openness and confidence of all the material incidents of his
life. . . . His taste, his Ideas, his manner of living, are a mixture of
Aberdeenshire and the kingdom of Valencia ; and as he seeks to
make no new friends, he seems to retain a strong though silent
attachment for his old ones. As to his political principles, I believe
him the most sincere of converts to Whiggery and orthodoxy. He
is not at all blind, as you Imagined. So much otherwise, that I saw
him read without spectacles a difficult hand I could not easily
decipher.' Rousseau, to whom Lord Marischal showed great kindness at
Neufchatel, has drawn an interesting portrait of the honoured old
age of his patron. ' When first I beheld that venerable man,' he
said, • my first feeling was to grieve over his sunk and wasted
frame ; but when I raised my eyes on his noble features, so full of
fire and so expressive of truth, I was struck with admiration. . . .
My Lord IVIarlschal, though an old man, is not free from defects.
With the most penetrating glance, with the nicest judgment, with
the deepest knowledge of mankind, he yet is sometimes misled by
prejudices, and can never be disabused of them. . . . Such little
eccentricities, like the caprices of a pretty woman, rendered the
society of my Lord Marischal only the more interesting, and never
warped in his mind either the feelings or the duties of friendship.'
A traveller who visited Berlin In 1777 thus wrote of the Earl:
' We dined almost every day with the Lord Marischal, who was then
eighty-five years old, and was still as vigorous as ever both In body
and mind. The King had given him a house adjoining the gardens
of Sans Souci, and frequently went thither to see him. He had
excused himself from dining with the King, having found that his
health would not allow him to sit long at table; and he was, of all
those who had enjoyed the favour of the King, the only one who
could truly be called his friend, and who was sincerely attached to
his person. Of course everybody paid court to him. He was

1 20 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
called the King's friend, and was the only one who had merited that
title, for he had always stood well with him without flattering him.'
This venerable nobleman, the last of the main stock of his illus
trious house, survived till May 28th, 1778, and was buried in his
adopted country. Though not equal to his brother In general ability
and military skill, ' he, too,' as Carlyle says, ' was an excellent, cheery
old soul, honest as the sunlight ; with a fine small vein of gaiety,
and " pleasant wit" with him. What a treasure to Frederick at Pots
dam, and how much loved by him (almost as one boy loves another),
all readers would be surprised to discern.'
Earl Marischal never married. In early life he fell deeply in love
with a 'Roman Catholic French lady, but their difference in religion
proved an insuperable barrier to her acceptance of his hand, and she
became the wife of Monsieur de Cregny — not, however, without a
wistful regret for the loss of ' dear Milord Marechal.' The two thus
severed never met again until Earl Marischal was in his seventieth
year and Madame de Cregny was a grandmother. In anticipation of
their meeting, the Earl wrote some verses on the beauty of grey
hairs, which he presented to the lady. She wrote of the interview
in the following terms, which showed how worthy she was of his
affection : ' When we met again, after the lapse of many years, we
made a discovery which equally surprised and affected us both.
There is a world of difference between the love which had endured
throughout a lifetime and that which burned fiercely in our youth
and then paused. In the latter case time has not laid bare defects
nor taught the bitter lesson of mutual failings ; a delusion has sub
sisted on both sides which experience has not destroyed ; and delight
ing In the idea of each other's perfections, that thought has seemed
to smile on both with inexpressible sweetness, till, when we meet In
grey old age, feelings so tender, so pure, so solemn arise that they
can be compared to no other sentiments or impressions of which our
nature is capable.'
Marshal Keith, the younger brother of the Earl, was one ofthe most
distinguished military commanders of his day. He was educated
first by Ruddiman, the learned grammarian, and afterwards by
Bishop Keith. He was sent to JEdlnburgh to study law, but his
tastes and wishes were all In favour of a military life. After the
failure ofthe Jacobite rising in 17 15, he escaped to France, whence,
in 17 16, he passed to Spain, and served for some time in the Spanish
army. Finding his religion an insuperable barrier to promotion, he

The Keiths. 121
proceeded to St. Petersburg in 1720, with a letter of recommendation
from the King of Spain to the Czar. He was appointed a major-
general in the Russian army, received the command of a regiment
of guards, and was Invested with the order of the Black Eagle. In
the war with the Turks (1736-37) he was the first to enter the breach
at Oczakow, where he was wounded so severely that he had to be
conveyed to Paris for medical advice. He greatly distinguished
himself in the war between Russia and Sweden in 1741 — 44, and
when peace was concluded he was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to
Stockholm, receiving, on his return to St. Petersburg, the baton of a
marshal. General Keith took a prominent part In the revolution
which elevated to the throne the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of
Peter the Great. The new Empress fell In love with him, and offered
to marry him. But the young Scotsman prudently declined the
dangerous honour, and, provoked at various affronts put upon him,
and dissatisfied especially with the manner in which an officer, junior
and much inferior to him in every way, had been promoted over his
head, he quitted Russia, and in September, 1747, tendered his
services to Frederick of Prussia, who gladly accepted the offer.
' Field-Marshal your rank, Income _;^ 1200 a year ; Income, welcome
all suitable.' ' Frederick greatly respects this sagacious gentleman,'
says Carlyle, ' a man of Scotch type ; the broad accent with its
sagacities, veracities ; with Its steadfastly fixed moderation and its sly
twinkles of defensive humour ; not given to talk, unless when there
is something to be said, but well capable of it then. Frederick, the
more he knows him likes him the better.'
During the eleven momentous years which followed Marshal
Keith's entrance into the Prussian service, he was constantly with
Frederick, his mainstay in every scene of difficulty and danger, and
his most trusty and judicious counsellor in every perplexity. He
fought at Losowitz and Rosbach, and conducted the sieges of Prague
and Olmutz. His career was brought to a close at the sanguinary
battle of Hochklrch, fought between the Prussians and the Austrians,
October 14th, 1758, when he was killed by a cannon-ball, in the sixty-
third year of his age. The body of the gallant veteran ' had honour
able soldier's burial' in the neighbouring churchyard, from the enemy,
who had always respected him on account of his clemency as well
as his bravery. Four months after, however, by Frederick's orders,
it was removed to Berlin, of which the Marshal had been governor,
and was reinterred there ' in a still more solemn and public manner,

172

The Great Historic Families of Scotland.

with all the honours, all the regrets ; and Keith sleeps now in the
Garrison -kirche far from bonny Inverugie, the hoarse winds and
sea-caverns of Dunnottar singing vague requiem to his honourable
line and him.' ' My brother leaves me a noble legacy,' said the old
Lord Marischal. ' Last year he had Bohemia under ransom, and
his personal estate is seventy ducats ' (about ,^25).
' Frederick's sorrow over him (" tears, high eulogies") is itself a
monument,' but twenty years after he caused a statue to be erected
In Berlin to the memory of his devoted and faithful friend. ' A fine
modestly impressive monument to Keith' was erected In 1771, in
the Hochkirch church, by his kinsman, Sir Robert Murray Keith,
the distinguished diplomatist.
Marshal Keith's stature was rather above the middle size, but of a
make extremely well-proportioned, his complexion brown, his eye
brows thick, and his features very agreeable. But above all he had
an air of so much goodness that it quite gained the heart at his very
first appearance. He spoke English, French, Spanish, Russian,
Swedish, and Latin, and was able to read the Greek authors. His
ordinary conversation was in French ; he expressed himself with great
precision. He had seen all the courts of Europe, great and small,
from that of Avignon to the residence of the Khan of Tartary.
Robert Keith the Ambassador, as he was commonly called,
belonged to the family of the Keiths of Craig, In Kincardineshire.
He was Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and afterwards repre
sented the British Government at Venice and St. Petersburg. Flis
son — Sir Robert Murray Keith, the eminent diplomatist, who was
born In 173 1 — was educated for the military profession, and served
for several years in a Highland regiment, which was employed by
the States of Holland. He subsequently acted as adjutant-general
and secretary to Lord George Sackville, who commanded the British
contingent under Prince Frederick of Brunswick. On the resigna
tion of Lord George, Keith was appointed major In a Highland
corps, which had recently been raised for the war In Germany, and
though composed entirely of raw recruits, they and their young
commander gained great distinction by their conspicuous gallantry
in the campaigns of 1760 and 1761. It was for his long and successful
diplomatic career, however, that Keith was chiefly noted. In 1769 he
was appointed by William Pitt (afterwards Eari of Chatham) British
Envoy to the Court of Saxony. Two years later he was transferred

The Keiths. 123
to the Court of Denmark, and was fortunately residing at Copen
hagen when the Danish Queen Caroline Matilda, sister of George III.,
was made the victim of a vile conspiracy, and would in all probability
have been put to death but for Keith's spirited interference. His
firm yet prudent conduct met with the approbation of the British
Court, and King George himself sent him the Order of the Bath
as an acknowledgment of his services. In 1772 Sir Robert was
appointed ambassador at the Court of Vienna ; six years later he
was a second time appointed to this important post, and earned for
himself the reputation of an able and high-minded diplomatist. He
clcsed his public career with the pacification concluded between
Austria, Russia, and Turkey, which was greatly promoted by his
exertions. He died in 1795, in the sixty-third year of his age.*
Sir Robert's sister, Anne Murray Keith, was a delightful speci
men of the Scottish gentlewoman of the last century. She was an
intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott, and sat to him for the portrait
of Mrs. Bethune Baliol, which Is not surpassed by anything of the
kind in his writings. Like her brother, she was celebrated for her
colloquial talents. Sir Walter was indebted to her not only for the
outlines of the pathetic story of the ' Highland Widow,' but also
for many racy anecdotes of the olden time, and quaint and pithy
phrases, which he embodied in his novels. When ' Waverley '
appeared, the shrewd old lady at once detected the author of the
anonymous tale ; and next time Scott called upon her she told
him in direct terms that she was sure it was his production. Sir
Walter attempted to repel the charge in his usual manner, but was
silenced by the rejoinder, ' Gae wa' wi' ye ; do ye think I dinna ken
my ain groats among other folks' kail ? ' Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharp
says, ' Miss Anne Keith resided many years in Edinburgh
(51, George Street), keeping house with her eldest sister. Miss
Jenny, both universally loved and respected. Sir Walter Scott told
me that Miss Anne Keith amused herself In the latter years of her
life by translating Macpherson's " Ossian " into verse.' She was
the authoress also of a song entitled ' Oscar's Ghost,' inserted in
Johnson's 'Scots' Musical Museum.' Scott thus notices the death
of his ' excellent old friend,' as he terms her, in 1818 : * She enjoyed
all her spirits and her excellent faculties till within two days of her
death, when she was seized with a feverish complaint which eighty-
"* See Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir Robert Murray I\eith. 2 vols.

124 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
two years were not calculated to resist. Much tradition, and of the
very best kind, has died with this excellent old lady, one of the few
persons whose spirits and cleanliness, and freshness of mind and
body, made old age lovely and desirable.'
The greater part of the vast estates of the Keiths had passed away
from them, as we have seen, before the close of the seventeenth
century. Dunnottar, Fetteresso, and Inverugie alone remained, and
were forfeited on the attainder of the last Earl Marischal. They
were exposed to sale In 1728, and, with the exception of a small part
acquired by Mungo Graham of Gorthie, were purchased by the York
Buildings Company for the sum of _;^4 1,172 6s. gd. The rental
amounted to ^1,676 6s., of which only ^642 4s. 7d. was paid in
money. The wadsets on the lands which the company undertook to
deal with amounted to nearly ^i 1,000, and the personal debts to
^12,000. The Marischal estates, along with those of Panmure,
Southesk, and Pitcairn, were let to Sir Archibald Grant of Mony-
musk and Alexander Gordon of Troup for twenty-nine years at a
rental of ^4,000 a year, of which _;^ i ,045 13s. 4d. was apportioned
to the Marischal lands.* On the expiry of the lease these four estates
were again put up for sale in 1764. Although the rental had nearly
doubled. Earl Marischal, who, as we have mentioned, had obtained
a pardon in 1759 and a grant of ^3,618 out of the balance still
unpaid of the price of his estate, with interest since 1721, was enabled
to repurchase his estate for a comparatively small sum. It is noted
In a contemporary periodical that the four estates ' were put up to
public roup or auction on Monday afternoon, 20th February, 1764, in
the Parliament House, before the Lord Ordinary, appointed by the
Court judge of the roup. The House was crowded. The Earl of
Marischal, the Earl of Panmure, and Sir James Carnegie of Pitarrow,
heir male of the family of Southesk, were there in person, attended
by some of their friends, and each purchased what formerly belonged
to the family at the upset price, nobody offering against them. The
people In the galleries could scarce forbear expressing their joy
by acclamation at seeing these estates returned to the represen
tatives of the ancient and Illustrious families to which they had
formerly belonged.' f
Dunnottar was sold in 1761 bythe Earl to Sir Alexander Keith of
Ravelstone. It Is now the property of Mr. Innes of Raemoir. In
* The YorJz Buildings Cotnpany. By David Murray, M.A., F.S.A.
\ The Scots' Magazine, 17 64, p. 109.

The Keiths. 125
the Doomsday Book the gross annual value Is stated at^ 5,493 12s.
Fetteresso belongs to Mr. R. W. Duff, M.P. ; the rental amounts to
^4,536 1 8s. The estate of Peterhead was purchased at several times
by the Merchant Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh at a cost altogether
of ^8,814. As much as ^43,905 was expended in a course of years
in Improvements, raising the total outlay to nearly ^53,000. The
rental has risen gradually from a few hundreds to about ^4,400
per annum, and the value of the estate was estimated in 1S61 at
,;^98,363-

THE SETON.S.

fHE Setons are among the most ancient and illustrious of
the great houses of Scotland, and are proverbially said
to have the reddest blood in the kingdom. In consequence
of a remarkable number of other families of the highest
rank having sprung from their main stock, the heads of the house are
termed ' Magnse Nobilitatis Domini ;' and from their Intermarriage
upon four different occasions with the royal family, they obtained the
addition to their shield of the royal or double tressure. Their earliest
motto, ' Hazard yet forward,' is descriptive of their military ardour
and dauntless courage. They were conspicuous throughout their
whole history for their loyalty and firm attachment to the Stewart
dynasty, in whose cause they perilled and lost their titles and exten
sive estates.

Secker de Seye, son of Dugdale de Sey, by a daughter of De
Quincy, Earl of Winchester, the founder of this illustrious family,
was of Norman descent, like most of the progenitors of the other
great houses of Scotland, and settled in Scotland In the days of
David I., from whom he obtained a grant of lands In East Lothian,
to which he gave his own name — Seytun, the dwelling of Sey. His
son, Alexander de Setune, or Seton, was proprietor of the estate
of Winchburgh, in Linlithgowshire, as well as of Seton and Wintoun,
In East Lothian, and his son, Philip de Setune, received a grant of
these lands from William the Lion in 1169. The fourth in descent
from him was the noble patriot Sir Christopher, or Christall
Seyton, who married Lady Christian Bruce, sister of King Robert
Bruce, and widow of Gratney, Earl of Mar. The ' Gallant Seton,' as
he Is termed by the author of the Lord of the Isles, was one of the
earliest and most strenuous supporters of his Illustrious brother-in-
law, and was present at his coronation at Scone, 27th of March,

SETONS OF WINTOUN.

The Setons. 127
1306- At the Battle of Methven, on the 13th of June following,
Bruce, who had ventured his person in that conflict like a knight of
romance, was unhorsed by Sir Philip Mowbray, but was remounted by
Sir Chrl.stopher, who greatly signalised himself in the conflict by his
personal valour.* He made his escape from that fatal field, and shut
himself up In Lochdoon Castle, in Ayrshire, where he was betrayed
to the English, through means (according to Barbour) of one Macnab,
'a disciple of Judas,' In whom the unfortunate knight reposed entire
confidence. Sir Christopher was conveyed to Dumfries, where he
was tried, condemned, and executed ; and his brother John shared
the same fate at Newcastle. Another brother, named Alexandejc
Seton, succeeded to the estates of the family, and adhered to their
patriotic principles, for his name is appended, along with those of
other leading nobles, to the famous letter to the Pope, in 1320,
asserting the independence of Scotland. He was rewarded by King
Robert Bruce with liberal grants of land, including the manor of Tra
nent, forfeited by the powerful family of De Quincy, Earis of Win
chester and High Constables of Scotland, from whom, as we have seen,
he was descended in the female line. This Sir Alexander has been
immortalised in the pages of Sir Walter Scott for the conispicuous
part which he took In the defence of his country against the inva.sion
of the English after the death of Robert Bruce. He was Governor
of the town of Berwick when it was besieged by Edward III. of
England in 1333. Though the garrison was neither numerous nor
well appointed they made a gallant defence, and succeeded in sinking
and destroying by fire a great part of the English fleet. The siege
was then converted Into a blockade, and as the supijlles at length
began to fail and starvation was imminent, the Governor agreed to
capitulate by a certain day unless succours were received before that
time, and gave hostages, among v/hom was his own son, Thomas,
for the fulfilment of these stipulations.
Before the appointed period expired, Sir William Keith and some
other knights, with a body of Scottish soldiers, succeeded in throwing
themselves into the town. The main body of the Scottish army,
however, after a fruitless attempt to provoke the English to quit
their lines and give them battle, marched into Northumberland, and
Edward then peremptorily insisted that the town should be surren-
* Sir Chri.stopher i.s said to have been a man of gigantic stature. His two-handed
eword, measuring four feet nine inches, is in the possession of George Seton, Esq., of
the Register Office, representative ofthe Setons of Cariston.

128 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
dered. The besieged refused to comply with this demand, asserting
that they had received succours both of men and provisions. The
vindictive and cruel monarch, enraged at this refusal, caused Thomas
Seton — a tall and good-looking youth, like all his race*— to be hanged
before the gate of the town ; so near, it Is said, that the unhappy
father could witness the execution from the walls. The other two
sons of Sir Alexander Seton both fell In their country's cause — one
in opposing the landing of Edward Baliol, near KInghorn, 6th August,
1332 ; the other was drowned In the successful attack on the English
fleet at Berwick, in sight of his father, in July, 1333. Sir Alexander
sought refuge from his sorrows and troubles in a hospital of the
order of St. John of Jerusalem, and his daughter Margaret became
the heiress of his extensive estates. She married Alan de Wyntoun,
who is believed to have been a cadet of her own family, for Philip
Seton obtained a charter of the lands of Wyntoun from William the
Lion. This marriage led to a sanguinary contest with rival and dis
appointed suitors, called ' the Wyntoun' s war,' which, according to
Wyntoun, the metrical chronicler, caused more than a hundred
ploughs to be laid aside from labour. Alan de Wyntoun died in the
Holy Land, leaving a daughter, who became Countess of Dunbar, and
had an only son. Sir William Seton, of whom it is recorded that ' he
was the first creatit and made lord In the Parliament, and he and his
posteritie to have ane volt yalrin, and be callit Lordis.' The younger
son of this powerful baron married the heiress of the great family of
Gordon, and became the progenitor of the Dukes of Gordon and
Marquises of Huntly, as well as of the Setons of Touch, hereditary
armour-bearers to the King ; the Setons of Meldrum, of Abercorn,
of Pitmedden,j" and other branches of the house. He fought with the
hereditary valour of the Setons at the memorable battle of Harlaw
in 141 1, and in the wars in France In 142 1.
The elder son. Sir John Seton, who married a daughter of the
tenth Earl of Dunbar and March, carried on the direct line of the
family, and was the ancestor of the Earls of Wintoun and Dun
fermline, and the Viscounts Kingston. His only son. Sir William,
accompanied the Scottish auxiliaries under the Earl of Buchan and
Archibald, Earl of Douglas, who went to the assistance of Charles,
* The Setons have from the earliest times been noted, for their lofty stature. ' Tall
and proud, like the Setons,' was long a common saying in Scotland.
t Colonel Seton, of the 74th Highlanders, whose heroic conduct at the shipwreck
ofthe Birkenliead, where he perished, excited universal admiration, was a cadet of the
Pitmedden lamily.

The Setons, I2g
the Dauphin of France, then hard pressed by the English ; and who
gained the famous battle of Beaug6, in which the Duke of Clar
ence, the Marshal of England, and the flower of its chivalry, were
left dead on the battlefield. But In the following year Sir William
fell, along with the Earls of Buchan and Douglas, and the greater
part of the Scottish contingent, at the bloody battle of Verneuil, in
the lifetime of his father, 17th August, 1424. His son, George
Seton, was created a peer of Parliament in 1448, and was the hus
band of Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter and heiress of John, Earl
of Buchan and High Constable of France, son of the Regent Albany,
and grandson of Robert II.

is'

George, second Lord Seton, endowed the collegiate church of
Seton (20th June, 1493), for the support of a provost, six prebend
aries, two singing boys, and a clerk. This fine building Is of great
antiquity, though the precise date of its erection Is unkno\vn. It was
long allowed to remain in a dilapidated condition, but a few years
ago it was put into a tolerably satisfactory state of repair, and has
been converted into a place of burial for the family of the Earl ot
Wemyss, to whom It now belongs. Lord George Is described by
the historian of the family as ' melkle given to lelchery (medicine),
and as cunning In divers sciences as In music, theology, and astro
nomy. He was so given to learning that, after he was married, he
went to St. Andrews and studied there lang, and then went to
Paris for the same purpose. He was, on a voyage to France, taken
by some Dunkirkers and plundered. To be revenged of them, he
bought a great ship called the Eagle, and harassed the Flemings.
The keeping of that ship was so expensive that he was compelled to
wadset (mortgage) and dispose of several lands.'* His taste for
splendid buildings may have contributed to his embarrassments. It
was he who erected the original house of Wintoun, which appears
to have been destroyed in Lord Hertford's inroad. The historian
of the family says, ' the second lord built the halll place of A^'Intoun,
with the yard and gardens thereof,' and he describes quaintly its
ornamented gardens, the flower-plots of which were surrounded by a
hundred wooden towers or temples, surmounted by bells over-gilt
with gold. His eldest son, by a daughter of the first Eari of Argyll—
* The Genealogy and Hisforie of the Illustrious Surname of Seton. Collected and
set forth by Sir Eichard Maitland of Lethington.
VOL. I. L

130 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
George, the third Lord Seton, was held in high esteem
by James IV., and fell with his sovereign on the fatal field of
Flodden. He left a widow, eldest daughter of the first Earl of Both-
well, who survived him for a period of nearly half a century. His
successor —
George, fourth Lord Seton, says Sir Richard Maitland, was 'ane
wise and vertewes nobleman ; a man well experienced In all games ;
and took pleasure in halking, and was holden to be the best falconer
in his days.'
The greatness of the family reached its highest point under the
fifth lord, who bore their favourite name of George, and who has
been Immortalised in tradition and history, and, above all, in Sir
Walter Scott's tale of ' The Abbot,' as the staunch supporter of the
unfortunate Queen Mary, during all the mutabilities of her career.
He entered upon public life at an early age, and In 1557 was
nominated one of the commissioners appointed by the Scottish
Parliament to proceed to Paris for the purpose of being present at
the marriage of their young queen to the Dauphin of France. He
seemed at first to be favourably inclined towards the Reformed faith,
and was one of the nobles who went to hear John Wlllock, the
Protestant preacher, explain from his sick-bed the doctrines of the
gospel ; but he ultimately adhered to the Romish Church, and joined
the party of the Queen Dowager against the Lords. This step was
naturally regarded with great displeasure by the Protestant party.
Calderwood says : ' The Erie of Argyll and Lord James Stewart
entered in Edinburgh, the 29th June, 1559. The Lord Seton, the
Provost, a man without God, without honestie, and oftentimes with
out reason, had diverse times before troubled the brethrein. He had
taken upon him the protection of the Blacke and Gray Friars, and
for that purpose lay himself In one of them everle night and also
constrained the honest burgesses of the town to watch and guarde
these monsters to their great greefe. When he heard of the suddane
coming of the Lords he abandoned his charge.' Lord Seton held
the office of Grand Master of Queen Mary's household, and was con
cerned In not a few of the most momentous events In her history.
The night after the murder of Rlzzio, when Mary fled from Holy-
rood, her first halting-place was Seton House, where Lord Seton was
in readiness at the head of two hundred horsemen to escort his

The Setons. 131
sovereign to the strong castle of Dunbar. A iew davs after the
murder of Damley, Mar}' repaired to Seton House, where she was
entertained by its owner in person, and spent her time in hunting
and shooting. On the Queen's escape from Lochleven, Lord Seton
was waiting in the vicinity of the lake with fifty of his retainers, and
attended her in her rapid flight to his castle of Xiddr)% on his
Winchburgh estate in ^\"est Lothian, where she first drew bridle.
He fought on her side and was taken prisoner at the battle of Lang-
side, in 1568, which ruined her cause In Scotland. The Regent
Moray, who seems to have respected Lord Seton for his fidelity to his
sovereign, set him at liberty and permitted him to retire to the Conti
nent, where he was indefatigable in his efforts to induce the French
and Spanish Courts to interfere on her behalf. He was reduced to
such a state of poverty in his exile that at one time he was
obliged to drive a waggon in Flanders for his subsistence. A
painting of him in his waggoner's dress, in the act of driving a
wain with four horses, which he caused to be made, long adorned
the stately gallery in Seton House. He appears to have been
fond of the fine arts, for he had himself painted also as Master
of the Queen's household, with his official baton, and the following
characteristic motto : — ' In adversitate patiens.
In prosperitate benevolus.
Hazard yet forward.'
On various parts of his castle he inscribed, as expressing his reli
gious and political creed, the legend Un Dieu, Un Foy, Un Roy,
Ux LoY.
A beautiful family-piece, by Sir Antonio More, representing this
faithful adherent of Queen Mary surrounded by his children, was in
the possession of Lord Somerville, and is published in Pinkerton's
' Scottish Iconographia.'
After James VI. took the reins of government Into his own hands,
he appointed Lord Seton one of the lords of his household, and in
January, 1584, sent him ambassador to France. His lordship died,
in 1585, soon after his retum from France, and was buried in Seton
church, where there is a monument to his memor}- commemorating
his fidelity and the pmdence by which he thrice restored his house,
thrice ruined by the foreign enemy. As the estates of the Seton
family lay on the direct road from Berwick to Edinburgh, they
sufiered severely from the Inroads of the English. When the Earl

132 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
of Hertford invaded Scotland in 1544, and laid waste the whole of
the eastern Border, his army ' came and lay at Seton, burnt and
destroyed the castle thereof, spoyled the kirk, took away the bellis
and organis, and other tursible [portable] thinges, and put them in
their schlppes, and brynt the timber wark within the said kirk.' The
account given by the ruthless Invaders of the rich vestments of the
provost and Inferior priests, and of the gold and silver vessels that
the church contained, shows the splendour with which it had been
furnished by the munificent founder and his successors.
Lord Seton, it is said, declined the offer of an earldom from
Queen Mary, being unwilling to forego what he considered a greater
distinction. On which Mary wrote, or caused to be written, the
following lines —
' Sunt comites, ducesque alii, sunt denique reges ;
Setoni dominium, sit satis esse mihi.'
Which have been thus rendered —
' Earl, duke, or king to those that list to be ;
Seton, thy lordship is enough for me.'
The daughter, or, as some say, the half-sister of the fifth Lord
Seton, was one of ' the Four Maries,' celebrated in tradition and
song, daughters of Scottish noblemen — Livingston, Fleming, Seton,
and Beatoun — all of the same age and Christian name, who
accompanied Queen Mary when In her childhood she was taken
to France, and were her playmates there. Only three of these
' Maries,' however, returned with her to Scotland, for Mary Seton
died unmarried at Rhelms.
George, the eldest son of the fifth Lord Seton, predeceased
him. Robert, his second son, was created Earl of Wintoun by
James VI., i6th November, 1600. Sir John, the third son, resided for
some years at the Court of Philip II., of Spain. Viscount Kingston
in his historical account of the Seton family says that Sir John ' was
a brave young man,' and that he was made by Philip ' knight of the
royal order of St. Jago, att that tyme the only order of knighthood
in that kingdome of greatest esteem ; in memory whereof he and his
heirs has a sword in their coat of armes, being the badge of that order.
King Philip also preferred him to be a gentleman of his chamber
and Cavalier de la Boca (Master of the Household). He also carried
the golden key at his syde on a blew ribbing, all which were the

The Setons. 133
greatest honours King Philip of Spaine could give to any of his
subjects, except to be made a grandee of Spaine. He had a pension
granted to him and his heirs of two thousand crowns yearly.'
Sir John Seton was recalled to Scotland by James VI., who made
him Lord Treasurer, Master of the Horse, and an Extraordinary
Lord of Session. Alexander, the fourth son of Lord Seton, was one
of the most eminent lawyers of his day, and a statesman of great
•^ability and Influence.
Robert, first Earl of Wintoun, was a prudent manager, and freed
his ancestral estates from the heavy encumbrances in which they
were involved by his adventurous father. He married the heiress
of the illustrious family of the Montgomeries of Eglintoun, and his
sixth son, Alexander, was adopted Into that family, and became sixth
Earl of Eglinton. Lord Wintoun was a great favourite of James VI.,
who met the funeral procession of the Earl, 5th April, 1603, when
on his journey to take possession of the English Crown, and remarked
as he halted at the south-west corner of Seton orchard until it
passed, that he had lost a good, faithful, and loyal subject. There
is not much deserving of special notice in the lives and characters of
the next three Earls. They fought, of course, on the royal side in
the Great Civil War, and suffered severely in fines and imprison
ment for their loyalty.
George, third Earl, was noted for his architectural taste and the
extent of his building operations. Lord Kingston says, ' He built
the house of Wintoun (being burnt by the English of old and the
policy thereof destroyed) in Anno 1620. He founded and built the
great house from the foundation, with all the large stone dykes about
the precinct, park, orchard, and gardens thereof.' This Earl, as
Mr. Billings remarks, appears to have been a magnificent builder,
for we find, from the same authority, that he made great additions
to the old princely mansion of his family. ' He built, in Anno 1630,
two quarters of the house of Seton, beginning at Wallace's Tower at
the east end thereof, which was all burnt by the English, and con
tinued the building till Jacob's Tower, on the north syde of the
house.' He also erected salt-pans on the adjoining shore of the
Firth, and built a harbour at Cockenzie. He was a zealous royalist,
and suffered much in the cause of Charles I. during the Great Civil
War. Yet the family historian records the great additions made by

134 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
him to the family estates In East Lothian. He died In December,
1650, in the midst of preparations to attend the coronation of
Charles II. as a ' Covenanted King ' at Scone.
His eldest son, George, Lord Seton, was imprisoned in the Tolbooth
of Edinburgh in 1645, fined ;^ 40,000 Scots, and ordered to dispose ot
a portion of the family estates in Linlithgowshire in order to pay the
fine. He was taken prisoner at Philiphaugh, and was confined first
at St. Andrews and afterwards in the Castle of Edinburgh, but was
liberated on his father giving a bond for ^100,000 Scots that he
would appear when called. He predeceased his father, in 1648, at
the age of thirty-five, and his eldest son, George, fourth Earl, suc
ceeded to the family titles and estates on the death of his grand
father In 1650. Though he was only ten years of age at that time,
a fine of _;^2,ooo was Imposed upon him by Cromwell. He
fought against the Covenanters, at the head of the East Lothian
regiment, at the battles of RuUIon Green and Bothwell Bridge, and
also against the Earl of Argyll in 1685. He died in 170^4.
George, fifth and last Earl, was possessed of excellent abilities, but
from his early years he displayed a marked eccentricity of character.
Some family misunderstandings caused him to leave home while a
mere youth, and he spent several years in France as bellows-blower
and assistant to a blacksmith, without holding any intercourse with
his family. On the death of his father. Viscount Kingston, the next
heir, taking for granted that the young Earl was dead, was proceed
ing to take possession of the title and estates, when he suddenly
appeared and vindicated his rights. It was afterwards ascertained
that a confidential servant kept him apprised of what was taking
place at home and in the family, and had sent him notice of his
father's death.
The Seton family, as we have seen, had always been noted for
their loyalty and their attachment to the old Church, and the last
Earl, though he had renounced the Romish faith, held firmly to the
political creed of his ancestors. He was living peaceably In his own
mansion at Seton when the rebellion of 17 15 broke out. It is pro
bable that he would, under any circumstances, have taken the field
in behalf of the representative of the ancient Scottish sovereigns ;
but his doing so was hastened, if not caused, by the outrageous
treatment which he received from a body of the Lothian militia, who
forcibly entered and rifled his mansion at Seton, as he alleged on

The Setons. 135
his trial, ' through private pique and revenge.' ' The most sacred
places,' he adds, ' did not escape their fury and resentment. They
broke into his chapel, defaced the monuments of his ancestors, took
up the stones of their sepulchres, thrust Irons through their bodies,
and treated them In a most barbarous. Inhuman, and unchristian like
manner.' On this disgraceful outrage the Earl took up arms
against the Government, assumed the command of a troop of horse
mostly composed of gentlemen belonging to East Lothian, and joined
the Northumbrian Insurgents under Mr. Forster and the Earl of
Derwentwater. Their numbers were subsequently augmented by
a body of Highlanders under Brigadier Macintosh, who formed a
junction with them at Kelso.
The English Insurgents Insisted on carrying the war Into England,
where they expected to be reinforced by the Jacobites and Roman
Catholics In the northern and western counties. The Scotsmen
proposed that they should take possession of Dumfries, Ayr, Glas
gow, and other towns in the south and west of Scotland, and
attack the Duke of Argyll, who lay at Stirling, in the flank and rear,
while the Earl of Mar assailed his army In front. The English
portion of the Insurgent forces, however, persisted in carrying
out their absurd scheme in spite of the strenuous opposition of the
Scots, and especially of the Highlanders, who broke out in a
mutiny against the English officers. The Earl of Wintoun disap
proved so strongly of this plan that he left the army with a consider
able part of his troop, and was marching- northward when he was
overtaken by a messenger from the insurgent council, who entreated
him to return. He stood for a time pensive and silent, but at
length he broke out with an exclamation characteristic of his
romantic and somewhat extravagant character. ' It shall never be
said to after generations that the Earl of Wintoun deserted King
James's Interests or his country's good.' Then, laying hold of his
own ears, he added, ' You, or any man, shall have liberty to cut
these out of my head if we do not all repent It.' But though
this unfortunate young nobleman, constrained by mistaken loyalty,
again joined the Insurgent forces, he ceased henceforward to take
any interest In their deliberations or debates. The Rev. Robert
Patten, who officiated as chaplain to the insurgents, and afterwards
wrote a history of the rebellion,* Indeed states that the Earl ' was
' Patten turned king's evidence and was the principal witness against the Earl on
his trial.

136 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
never afterwards called to any council of war, and was slighted In
various ways, having often no quarters provided for him, and at
other times very bad ones, not fit for a nobleman of his family ; yet,
being in for It, he resolved to go forward, and diverted himself
with any company, telling many pleasant stories of his travels, and
his living unknown and obscurely with a blacksmith In France,
whom he served some years as a bellows-blower and under-servant,
till he was acquainted with the death of his father, and that his tutor
had given out that he was dead, upon which he resolved to return
home, and when there met with a cold reception.'
The Earl fought with great gallantry at the barricades of Preston,
but was at last obliged to surrender along with the other insurgents,
and was carried a prisoner to London, and confined in the Tower.
He was brought to trial before the House of Lords, 15th March,
17 16, and defended himself with considerable ingenuity. The High
Steward, Lord Cowper, having overruled his objections to the
indictment with some harshness, ' I hope,' was the Earl's rejoinder,
* you will do me justice, and not make use of " Cowper-law," as we
used to say in our country — hang a man first and then judge him.'
On the refusal of his entreaty to be heard by counsel, he replied —
' Since your lordship will not allow me counsel, I don't know
nothing.' He was of course found guilty, and condemned to be
beheaded on Tower Hill. ' When waiting his fate in the Tower,'
says Sir Walter Scott, ' he made good use of his mechanical skill,
sawing through with great Ingenuity the bars of the windows of his
prison, through which he made his escape.'* He ended his motley
life at Rome, in 1749, aged seventy, and with him terminated the
main branch of the long and illustrious line of the Setons. Male
cadets of this family, however, came by intermarriage to represent
the great historic families of Huntly and Eglinton, besides the ducal
house of Gordon, now extinct, and the Earls of Sutherland, whose
heiress married the Marquis of Stafford, afterwards created Duke of
Sutherland. The earldoms of Wintoun and Dunfermline, the vis
county of Kingston, and the other Seton titles were forfeited for the
adherence of their possessors to the Stewart dynasty, and have never
been restored ; but the late Earl of Eglinton was, in 1840, served
heir-male general of the family, and. In 1859, was created Earl of
Wintoun in the peerage of the United Kingdom.
According to tradition. It was customary for the Earls of Wintoun
once a year to ' ride the marches ' of their estates, which were so
* See Addenda, vol. ii., p. 426.

The Setons. 137
extensive that a whole day, from sunrise to sunset, was required to
ride in state round the boundaries of their lands. On these occasions
the head of the house was always accompanied by a large retinue of
friends and retainers, mounted on gaily caparisoned horses, the
charger of the chief being arrayed in cloth of silk adorned with
gold tassels. The festivities which followed this ceremonial lasted
several days.
The estates of the last Earl of Wintoun were forfeited to the
Crown on his attainder, for the part which he took in the Jacobite
rising of 17 15. They were vested by Act of Parliament in the
King for the public interest, and Commissioners were appointed for
inquiring into their condition. Owing to the numerous obstacles
thrown in their way, it was not until the autumn of 17 19 that the
Commissioners were read}' to dispose of the forfeited lands. In a
number of instances the forfeited estates were bought back for the
family of their former proprietors, but none of the Setons appear
to have been able to purchase the Wintoun property, as the main
line was extinct. On the 6th of October the Wintoun estate was put
up for sale by auction, and, with a trifling exception, was purchased
by the agent of the York Buildings Company for the sum of ^50,300.
It appears, from an official survey talcen in the years 17 16 and 17 17,
that the rental of the estate amounted at that time to ^3,393. Of
that sum only ^266 7s. gd. was payable in money; ^876 i8s. 4d.
was payable in wheat valued at los. 5d. per boll, ^1,019 12s. 2d. in
barley, and ;^ 166 2s. 6d. in oats, both valued at the same price as
the wheat. The salt-pans and coal-pits were reckoned at about
;^i,ooo;* 749 capons at i6d. each, and S02 hens at 6fd. each,
amounted to/"53 los., and 504 thraves of straw, at 5d. per thrave,
tO;^IO lOS.
The York Buildings Company ultimately became bankrupt, and
in 1779 the Wintoun estate was again exposed for sale. As the
propert}- was of great extent, it was thought that it would be ditfi-
* The company attempted to work the coal-mines and salt-pans at Tranent.
They fitted up one of the new fire engines, the first of the kind in Scotland, and made
a wooden railway between one and two miles long, connecting the pits with the salt
works at Preston and the harbour at Port Seton. Alter an expenditure of ^3,500 they
could not clear .;^5oo a-\ear from the coal-pits .and salt-pans combined. The)- let
them for ^1000 a-year to a ' competent person,' but in no long time he gave up the
lease, because he could not make sufficient to pay the rent. The company also tried
glass-making, and set up a manuiactory for that article at Port Seton; but, on balanc
ing their accounts at ChrisUiias, 1732, tliey found tliat they had lost .£"4088 17s, sd.
by tlie experiment.

138 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
cult to find a person able to purchase the whole, and It was therefore,
by authority of the Court of Session, put up in lots. The first two of
these, including the famous old Seton House, the chief residence of
the family, were purchased by Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, W.S., who
was common agent for the creditors of the company.* No objection
was made at the time to the legality of this purchase on the part
either of the Court or of the creditors ; but thirteen years after
wards an action of reduction was brought at the instance of the
company. The Court of Session gave judgment in Mr. Mackenzie's
favour, but their decision was reversed on appeal to the House of
Lords. The Company not only raised the general question that the
purchase was a breach of trust on the part of the common agent,
but they brought special and strong charges against Mr. Mackenzie's
conduct In the transaction. They alleged that the manner in which
the previous rental was made up was not satisfactory, and that the
knowledge which Mr. Mackenzie had obtained In his official
capacity of the condition and details of the property had been of
material advantage to him. They further averred that the sale had
been hurried through in an irregular and improper manner. Ac
cording to the custom of that time the sale was advertised to take
place ' between the hours of four and six afternoon,' a latitude
allowed for the ' want of punctuality in the judge, the clerks, and the
other persons Immediately concerned,' so that five o'clock came to
be considered the proper and real hour. On this occasion, however.
Lord Monboddo, the Ordinary, before whom the judicial sale was to
take place, having received a hint to be punctual, arrived at the
Parliament House and took his seat upon the bench exactly as the
clock struck four. Proceedings commenced immediately, and the
first and second lots, having been put up successively, were knocked
down to Mr. Mackenzie without waiting the outrunning of the half-
hour sand-glass, as required by the Articles of sale. Several
persons who had Intended to offer for these lots found, to their
great disappointment and chagrin, on their arrival at the Court
that the sale was over. These allegations do not appear to have
been taken into consideration by the House of Lords, since the
illegality of the conduct of the agent was regarded as sufficient to
vitiate the transaction.
* Mr. Mackenzie was succeeded as a common agent in r789, on the nomination of
the company, by Mr. Walter Scott, W.S., who at that time had as his apprentice his
son, the great novelist and poet.

The Setons. 139
The lands in question were again exposed for sale, and were pur
chased by the Earl of Wemyss In 1798, at three times the price that
had been paid by Mr. Mackenzie. The decision of the House of
Lords unfortunately came too late to save from destruction the fine
old castle or palace of Seton, as It was called, owing to its having
been frequently the residence of royalty. It occupied a command
ing position on the coast of the Firth of Forth, closely adjoining the
battlefield of Prestonpans. The date of its erection Is unknown,
but it had undergone at various times considerable alterations and
enlargements. The building consisted of three extensive fronts of
freestone, with a triangular court in the middle. The front to the
south-east — ^which appears to have been built early In the reign of
Queen Mary — contained, beside other apartments, a noble hall and
drawing-room. The state apartments, which were -very spacious,
consisted of three great rooms forty feet high, and their furniture
was covered with crimson velvet laced with gold. There were also
two large galleries filled vrith pictures. Altogether, the mansion
was regarded as the most magnificent and elegantly furnished house
in Scotland.
Seton Palace was a favourite resort of Queen Mary. It was
visited by her In her royal progresses, and, as we have mentioned,
it was her first halting-place when she and Darnley made their
escape from Holyrood after the murder of Rlzzio. She was enter
tained there by Lord Seton in 1567, and on that occasion she and
Bothwell won a match in shooting at the butts against Lords Seton
and Huntly. The forfeit was a dinner, which the losers had to
provide in an inn at Tranent. When James VI. revisited his native
country in 16 17, he spent his second night in Scotland at Seton.
Charles I. also, on his journey from London to Edinburgh, In 1633,
in order to be crowned there as well as in England, halted a night
at Seton, and was magnificently entertained by George, third Earl
of Wintoun. The castle was held for a short time In 17 15 by
Brigadier Macintosh and a detachment of Highlanders before their
march to the Borders to join the Northumbrian Insurgents under
Mr. Forster and Lord Derwentwater.
With an unpardonable want of taste and respect for historical
associations, ]\Ir. Mackenzie pulled down this splendid structure and
erected in its place an Incongruous tasteless building, which has
frequently been used as a boarding-school, and is fit for nothing
better. It is surrounded, how^ever, by some fine old stately trees.

140 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
t
and the gardens are still celebrated for the finest and earliest fruits
of the season.
The destruction of the famous old castle of Seton was not the
only act of Vandalism of which Mackenzie was guilty during the
short time he possessed the property. A few hundred yards to the
west of the castle stood the ancient village of Seton, which in 1791
was Inhabited by eighty-six persons, mostly w^eavers, tailors, and
shoemakers, each family possessing a house and a small piece of
ground. This industrious little community, which for centuries had
thriven under the fostering care of the Seton family, was entirely
broken up and dispersed by the unscrupulous lavsryer who had
illegally. If not fraudulently, obtained temporary possession of the
estate. When called upon by him to produce the title-deeds of their
little properties, it was found that most of them had no titles to
show, their houses and lands having been handed down from father
to son through many generations. Those who were unable to pro
duce their titles were at once turned out of their houses, while it is
alleged that the few who possessed the requisite documents, and sent
them to Mackenzie's office in Edinburgh, never saw them again, and
v,ere, like the others, shortly after compelled to remove from their
ancient heritages without receiving any compensation. Only one
of the villagers escaped eviction. He somehow learned that his
property had been registered when it was purchased, and he was
consequently enabled to set at defiance the attempts of the usurper
to rob him of his patrimony.*
Mr. George Buchan Hepburn, factor on the Wintoun estates, and
a son of Mr. George Buchan, the York Buildings Company's agent,
purchased the baronies of Tranent and Cockenzie at the same sale
at which portions of the Wintoun estate were bought by Mr. Mac
kenzie, but the transaction was not challenged. Cockenzie soon
after was acquired by the Cadell family, who had possession also of
the barony of Tranent till i860.
Branches of the Seton family have flourished in the counties of
Linlithgow, Fife, Stiriing, and Aberdeen. The Setons ot Parbroath,
in Fife, were descended from John, fourth son of Sir Alexander
Seton, who married Elizabeth Ramsay, the heiress of that estate.
One of them was Comptroller of Scotland. The venerable Sir
Richard Maidand, the historian of the house of Seton, makes men
tion of another member of this family, ' Maister David, parson of
* History of Tranent. By P. M'NeiU, pp. 193, 194,

SETONS OF DUNFERMLINE.

The Setons. 141
Fettercarne and Balhelvie,' of whom he says, ' he was ane large man
of bodie as was In his dayes, and stout theirwyth, the best-lyk ageit
man I ever saw.' The old chronicler relates the following graphic
incident In the life of this worthy : ' In the tyme of King James the
Ferd [Fourth] there was ane process laid aganis the baronnes callit
recognitionis. The Advocat at that tyme was named Maister
Richard Lausone, and his assistant Maister James Henrysone.
Maister David Seytoun, in his defence of Lord Seytoune's case, said
to the King, " Schir, quhen our forbears [ancestors] gat yon landes
at your maist nobell predecessoure's handis for their trew service,
sumtyme gevand the blude of their bodie, and sumtyme their lives in
defence of this realme ; at that tyme there was nether Lausone nor
Henrysone quha wald invent wayis to disheris [disinherit] the
baronnis of Scotland." ' The King, seeing the warmth with which
he made his defence, said to him, 'Would you fight?' The old
cleric, who was beyond the age when he had a right to challenge a
decision by single combat, said that if the King would give per
mission he would fight his opponent. ' The King's grace, quha was
the maist nobel and humane prince In the warld, smylit and leuch
[laughed] a little, and said na mair,' admiring In his heart the noble
spirit of the man who stood up so bravely for the rights of his
kinsman. Parbroath passed out of the hands of the Setons towards the close
ofthe seventeenth century. The lands of Lathrisk, In the parish of
King's Kettle, Fife, were acquired by John Seton, a cadet of the
Parbroath family, on his marriage with Janet Lathrisk of that ilk.
About the middle of last century Lathrisk became the property of a
family of the name of Johnston.
Alexander Seton, Earl of Dunfermline, was the fourth son of
George, the fifth Lord Seton, the ' defender of the beauteous
Stewart.' He was born before the Reformation, and was the god
child of Queen Mary, and he survived the union of the Crowns
(1555 — 1622). From his godmother he received, as 'ane God-
bairne gift,' the lands of Pluscarden, in Moray. ' Finding him of
a great spirit,' his father sent him to Rome at an early age, and he
studied for some time in the Jesuits' College, with the view of
entering the priesthood. It seems probable that he did take holy
orders, and It was thought that if he had remained at Rome he
would have been made a cardinal. The overthrow of the Roman

14 2 The Gieat Historic Families of Scotland.
Catholic Church in Scotland probably induced young Seton, as his
biographer conjectures, to abandon his ecclesiastical pursuits, and
to betake himself to the study of the civil and the canon law ; and he
passed as an advocate before James VI. and the Senators of the
College of Justice in the Chapel Royal at Holyrood in 1577. The
Setons had hitherto been more distinguished in warlike than in
civil pursuits, but in the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries no less than six members of the family obtained seats on
the Scottish Bench. Alexander Seton, the most illustrious of these
legal luminaries, was created an Extraordinary Lord of Session in
1586, obtaining in the following year a gift of the revenues of
Urquhart and of the Priory of Pluscarden. With all their attach
ment to the old Church, the Setons, like the rest of the Scottish
nobility of that day, seem to have been by no means unwilling to
share In its spoils. Two years later Alexander Seton became an
Ordinary Lord of Session under the title of Lord Urquhart, and in
1593 he was elected by his brethren to the president's chair at the
comparatively early age of thirty-eight. He was appointed one of
the Octavians — a committee of eight persons to whom the King, in
1596, entrusted the management of public affairs, and who intro
duced a number of important administrative reforms, though they
were regarded with great suspicion and distrust by the clergy. These
councillors, indeed, were so unpopular that to satisfy the fears of the
Presbyterian party, James promised that he would not meet them in
Council, ' at least when the cause of religion and matters of the
Church were treated.'
The Court of Session had long been in bad odour in Scotland, on
account of Its subserviency to the Court and Its partial and unjust
judgments. It is therefore with a feeling of agreeable surprise that
we learn that, though Seton was a favourite with the King, he had
the courage to resist and defeat a characteristic attempt of James to
Induce the Court to decide unjustly In his favour against a claim of
the celebrated Robert Bruce, the successor of Andrew Melville, as
the leader of the Presbyterian Church. Bruce had been most
unjustly deprived of his stipend by the King, and he sued the Crown
in the Court of Session for redress. James pleaded his own cause,
and commanded the senators to pronounce judgment In his favour.
Seton, with great dignity and firmness, informed the King that
though they were ready to serve him with their lives and substance,
' this is a matter of law, in which we are sworn to do justice accord-

The Setons. 143
ing to our conscience and the statutes of the realm.' ' Your majesty,'
he added, ' may indeed command us to the contrary. In which case I
and every honest man on this bench will either vote according to
conscience, or resign and not vote at all.' The judges, with only
two dissentient voices, pronounced their decision In favour of Mr.
Robert Bruce, and the mortified monarch ' flung out of court, mut
tering revenge and raging marvellously.' As Mr. Tytler justly
observes, ' When the subservient temper of the times Is considered,
and we remember that Seton, the president, was a Roman Catholic
[a mistake], whilst Bruce, in whose favour he and his brethren de
cided, was a chief leader of the Presbyterian ministers. It would be
unjust to withhold our admiration from a judge and a Court which
had the courage thus fearlessly to assert the supremacy of the
law.' The anger and disappointment of the King were not lasting, for
Seton still continued to enjoy the royal favour, and to receive a
succession of honours and appointments. But, notwithstanding, he
firmly opposed, in 1600, the foolish and dangerous proposal of the
King in the Convention of Estates to raise an army to be In readi
ness, on the death of Queen Elizabeth, to secure for him the succes
sion to the English throne. The scheme was supported by the
majority of the higher nobility and prelates, but was stoutly and
successfully resisted by the barons and the burghs, led by Seton
and the young Earl of Gowrle. ' Notwithstanding the undisguised
mortification of the King, the result occasioned all but univer
sal satisfaction throughout the country.' In 1598 the President
obtained the erection of the barony of Fyvie into a free lordship,
with the dignity of a lord of Parliament. On the accession of
James to the English throne. Lord Fyvie was entrusted with
the guardianship of Prince Charles, the King's younger son.
In the following year he was summoned to London, along with
the Earl of Montrose, to take part In the negotiations for a union
of the two kingdoms, but though the King himself eagerly pressed
the measure, and was zealously supported by Lord Bacon, it was
found to be premature, and had to be postponed for a century.
While in England Montrose was persuaded to resign the office of
Chancellor, which was conferred upon Seton.
In 1605 Lord Fyvie was advanced to the dignity of Earl of Dun
fermline. His long enjoyment of the royal favour and the good
fortune which It had brought him had no doubt excited the envy

144 ^^^ Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and jealousy of some of the courtiers, and an Intrigue seems to
have been tried at this time to bring about his dismissal from
the Chancellorship. But ' palrtly by his friends at home and palrtly
by the Queen and English secretaries moyen, he was suffered to
enjoy still his office.' He continued to possess the confidence of the
King and of Sir Robert Cecil, and took an active part In carrying
on the government in Scotland, and In promoting the restoration of
Episcopacy. In addition to his judicial offiice the Eari was for ten
years Provost of Edinburgh — a position which had been previously
held by his father. In those days the provostship of the capital was
an office of great Influence as well as dignity, and was an object of
ambition to the most powerful nobles. The Chancellor survived till
1622, retaining to the last the confidence of his sovereign and of his
colleagues in the administration. What is more rare, and Is a stronger
testimony to his moderation, sound judgment, and upright conduct,
he commanded the respect both of Episcopalians and Presbyterians,
though bitterly hostile to each other. Spottiswood and Calderwood,
though they both suspected him of Popish leanings, concurred in
their testimony to the impartiality of his administration. Lord Dun
fermline, besides being a learned lawyer, was an accomplished
scholar. Lord Kingston says, ' He was great in esteem at Rome for
his learning, being a great humourist In prose and poesy, Greek and
Latine ; well versed In the mathematics, and had great skill In archi
tecture and herauldry.' He appears to have been also the friend of
men of learning and science. Robert Terot dedicated to him his
curious tract on the ' Right Reckoning of Years,' written to prepare
for the introduction of the new style in 1600; and the illustrious
Napier of Merchiston, his treatise on ' Tabulation by Rods,' which
are still used, under the name of ' Napier's bones.' Two of Seton's
Latin epigrams, prefixed to Bishop Lesley's ' History of Scotland,'
are regarded as specimens of elegant scholarship, and so is his
epigram to Sir John Skene on the publication of his treatise, known
as ' Regiam Magistatem.' That the commendation bestowed upon
Seton's skill in architecture was well merited is proved bythe stately
and beautiful Castle of Fyvie, which he built for himself, and by the
additions which he made to his fine mansion of Pinkie, near Mus
selburgh, where he died. The Seton family, indeed, were noted
for their munificent architectural taste, as was shown in Seton
church, and in that ' peculiar and beautiful structure,' Winton
House, long the residence of the late venerable Lady Ruthven.

The Setons. 145
Lord Chancellor Dunfermline was frequently accused of a leaning to
Romanism, and Tytler terms him a Roman Catholic, but the accusa
tion seems to have been unfounded. He certainly joined the Epis
copalian Church, and was buried In a vault under the old church of
Dalgety, in Fife, after a sermon by Archbishop Spottiswood. Mr.
Seton's summary of the character and qualifications of Lord Dun
fermline is not much. If anything, heightened : ' An able lawyer,
an impartial judge, a sagacious statesman, a consistent patriot, an
accomplished scholar, a discerning patron of literature, a munificent
builder, a skilful herald, and an ardent lover of archery and other
manly sports.' *
Charles Seton, second Earl of Dunfermline, was a zealous
adherent of the Covenanting party, and was prominent in the con
test for the rights of the Church and people of Scotland. He was
repeatedly sent to England as one of the Commissioners of the
Estates, and he commanded a regiment in the army which, under
General Leslie, marched Into England In 1 640 to the assistance of
the Parliament in their struggle with Charles I. He was one of the
eight Scottish Commissioners who negotiated the treaty of Ripon.
In 1 64 1 he was sworn a Privy Councillor, and in the following year
he was appointed by the King High Commissioner to the General
Assembly of the Scottish Church which met at St. Andrews. He
took an active part in the subsequent proceedings of that stirring
period. He supported the ' Engagement' in 1648 for the rescue of
Charles from the Republican party, and after the execution of the
King he went to the Continent, in April, 1649, to wait on Charles II.,
with whom he returned to Scotland in 1650. He was appointed
a member of the Committee of Estates and of the Committee
entrusted with the management of the affairs of the army. He
commanded a regiment of horse in the Ill-advised and unfor
tunate expedition Into England under Charies II., which terminated
in a complete defeat at Worcester, September 3rd, 1651. At the
Restoration he was sworn a Privy Councillor, and In 1669 was
appointed an Extraordinary Lord of Session. He was nomi
nated Lord Privy Seal In 1671, and died In January, 1673. The
Earl left three sons and a daughter by his wife, a daughter of the
Eari of Morton.
* Memoir of Alexander Seton, Earl of Dunfermline. By George Seton, Advocate,
M.A., Oxon.
VOL, I. M

146 The Great Ilislorie Families of Scotland.
Alexander, the eldest son, became third Earl, but (li<'d soon after
succeeding to the title. Charles, the second son, was killed in a sea-
fight with the Dutch in 1672. The third son —
James Seton, was th(^ fourth and last Earl of Dunfermline. Though
he served in his youth under the Prince of Orange, at th(j Revolution
he adhered to the cause of the Stewarts, and commanded a troop of
horse under Viscount Dundee at the battle of Killiecrankic. He
followed King James to St. (icrmalns, and in 1690 he was outlawed
and forfeited by the Scottish Parliament. The; Earl was a Protestant
and in common with the oth(!r Prot(;stants who espoused the Stewart
cause he was exposed to continual Insults and contum(;lious treat
ment both from the fugitive monarch himself and from his Roman
Catholic adherents. He had sacrificed everything to his principle of
loyalty to the exiled family, had as a military commander rendered
the most valuable service to their cause, and was a p(;rson of slain](;ss
character, obnoxious to James and his courtiers solely on account of
his firm adherence to the Protestant faith. And yet when he died, in
1694, of a broken heart, the ungrateful and heartless bigot would
not permit him to be buried in consecrated ground, but the bidy of
his faithful follower was flung at midnight into a hole which had been
dug In a neighbouring field, and was covered up as if it had Ik.tu .so
much carrion. A similar course was pursuf;d with every Protestant
attached to the wretched court of St. Germains who refused to
conform to Popery.
Lord Dunfermline married a sister of the first Duke of Gordon,
but as he left no issue his tithes became extinct, and, in consequence
of his attainder, his estates fell to the Crown.

¦l**

RUTHVENS OF GOWRIE.

THE RUTHVENS OF GOWRIE.
jHE Ruthvens derive their descent from a Norwegian
baron named Thor, who. In the reign of King Edgar,
founded the Church of Edinham, or Ednam, on the
banks of the Tweed, the birthplace, five centuries later,
of Thomson, the poet of the 'Seasons.' The charter which Thor
granted to this religious establishment Is a model for its brevity
and clearness, and may serve to illustrate the process by which the
waste places of the country were peopled and the inhabitants
civilised. 'To the sons of Holy Mother Church,' ran this interest
ing document, ' Thor the Long, greeting in the Lord : be it known
that Aedgar my lord. King of Scots, gave to me Aednaham, a
desert ; that, with his help and my own money I peopled it, and
have built a church in honour of St. Cuthbert, which church, with
a ploughgate of land, I have given to God and to St. Cuthbert
and his monks to be possessed by them for ever.'
Suconus, the son of this Thor, who flourished In the reign of
William the Lion, obtained a grant of the manors of Ruthven,
Tippermuir, and other lands In Perthshire, and was also superior of
the territory of Crawford, in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, which
the progenitors of the great family of the Lindsays held as vassals
under him.
The descendants of Suconus assumed the surname of Ruthven
from one of their Perthshire estates, and no fewer than three great
barons of this designation are mentioned in the Ragman Roll
among those who swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296. Sir William
DE Ruthven, the seventh in descent from Suconus, obtained from
Robert TIL the office of sheriff of Perth, or St. Johnston, as it was
then called, which became hereditary in the family. The son of this
baron was one of the commissioners appointed to treat for the

148 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
release of James T. In 1423, and one of the hostages for that
monarch in the following year. He was killed in the North Inch
of Perth in a fierce struggle with some Highland caterans, who
attempted to rescue a notorious freebooter whom he had taken
prisoner. His grandson, also named Sir William, was created a
peer by James III., in 1488. The eldest son of the first Lord
Ruthven fell along with his sovereign on the fatal field of Flodden,
leaving a son, William, who succeeded his grandfather as second
Lord Ruthven. He was one of the first persons of rank In Scot
land who embraced the Protestant faith, and one of the most zealous
and active leaders of the party in their deadly and successful
struggle with the Romish party — ' A stout and discreit man in the
cause of God,' as he is termed by Calderwood. Cardinal Beaton,
who hated him for his 'knowledge of the Word,' and his exertions
to obtain for the laity the privilege of reading the Holy Scriptures,
made a strenuous effort to deprive Lord Ruthven of the office of
Provost of Perth, and to confer It on Charteris of Kinfauns, which
led to a sanguinary conflict on the Bridge of Perth between
the Ruthvens and the citizens of the Fair City on the one side,
and Lord Gray and other allies of Beaton on the other. In which
the latter were defeated.
Patrick, the third Lord Ruthven, has acquired an unenviable
historical notoriety as a principal actor In the murder of Rlzzio.
He was not, however, as has been commonly supposed, a savage
barbarian, but a man of literary tastes and accomplishments, who
had received a learned education at the University of St. Andrews,
and could use his pen as readily as his sword. Like his father,
he was a zealous supporter of the Protestant cause, and was
one of the leaders of the Congregation In their contest with
Mary of Guise, Queen-Regent. Along with the Earl of Argyll,
Lord James Stewart (afterwaids Regent Moray) and other pro
minent Reformers, he took part in the capture of Perth, the
siege of Leith, the deposition of the Regent, and other pro
ceedings of the Protestant party, and was one of the most active
and courageous in the efforts made by them to drive the French
troops out of the country. His last public appearance was on the
memorable night of Rizzlo's murder, 9th March, 1566. He had
for some months been confined to bed by an incurable disease ; but
at the urgent and reiterated request of Darnley, whose great-uncle
he was, he agreed to assist that foolish profligate to make away

The Ruthvens of Gozvrie. 149

with ' the villain Davie.' The most shocking and memorable
feature of that tragic scene Is the appearance of Ruthven, ' scarcely
able,' as he himself says, ' to walk twice the length of his chamber,'
clad in a coat of mail covered by a loose gown, and brandishing a
drawn sword in his hand ; his form attenuated b}' wasting disease,
his pale and haggard countenance showing under the helmet like
that of a corpse tenanted by a demon; his vindictive purpose
lurking out at his flashing eyes ; his hollow, sepulchral voice ; his
whole appearance more like that of a fiend than a man, suddenly
appearing In the Queen's closet and coolly superintending the
bloody deed. The savage reproaches which he heaped upon the
poor Queen, after the perpetration of the murder, added not a little
to the horror which the scene w^as fitted to Inspire, and account for
the vindictive repl}' of Marv, ' I trust that God, who beholdeth this
from the high heavens, will avenge my wrongs, and make that which
shall be bom of me to root out you and vour treacherous posterity '
— a denunciation which was strikingly fulfilled in the total ruin of
the house of Ruthven in the reign of Mary's son.
On the escape of the Queen to Dunbar, the assassins fled in all
directions. Lord Ruthven escaped to England, and died there r3th
June, 1566, at the age of forty-six, just three months after the murder,
having, however, before his death written a history of the affair, in
which there is not one expression of regret or symptom of com
punction for the crime. ' He made a Christian end,' says Calder
wood, ' thanking God for the leisure granted to him to call for
mercy; ' but It Is evident that he regarded the ' slaughter of Signior
Davie ' not as a crime requiring pardon, but as a meritorious deed
deserving commendation. William, the eldest surviving son of this
ruthless baron, succeeded him in his titles and estates, and was
created Earl of Gowrie in 1581. But, as ]\Ir. Bruce remarks, he
possessed none of the active energy of his father. His nature was
calm, indolent, and passive. None of the great public events In
which he was subsequently mixed up originated with him. His
course was ordinarily straightforward and consistent, but he followed
the lead of men more busy and more active than himself.
The Ruthven family had now reached the zenith of their rank and
power. In addition to the hereditary possessions of his house, the
first Earl inherited from his grandmother — the eldest daughter of
Patrick, Lord Halyburton — the valuable barony of DIrleton, in East
Lothian, and along with his new title he obtained the lands of Gowrie

150 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
in the fertile ' Carse ' of that name, which had formerly belonged
to the monastery of Scone.
The Earl of Gowrie was, of course, a staunch supporter of the
cause of the Reformation, by which he, in common with many other
Scottish nobles, had largely profited. Though quite young, he was
present with his father at the murder of Rlzzio, and shared his
exile in England. He obtained the Queen's pardon through the
intercession of Morton, and joined that crafty noble in the associa
tion against Bothwell in 1567. He was one of the confederate
lords to whom Mary surrendered at Carberry Hill, and to him, in
conjunction with Lord Lindsay, was entrusted the task of con
ducting the hapless Queen to Lochleven Castle on the night of the
1 6th June In that same year. He is said to have been one of the
nobles who received from Mary the resignation of her crown on the
24th of July following, and no one who has read Sir Walter Scott's
tale of ' The Abbot ' will ever forget the description which the great
novelist has given of the scene of the abdication in the castle of
Lochleven, and of the appearance of Lord Lindsay's harsh and
stern features scarred with wounds, his thick and grizzled eyebrows
lowering over large eyes full of dark fire, which seemed yet darker
from the uncommon depth at which they were set in his head; his
upright stature and large limbs, girt with the huge antique sword
once worn by Archibald Bell-the-Cat, contrasted with his smoother
but deeper colleague, who had the look and bearing of a soldier and
a statesman, and the martial cast of whose form and features had
procured for him the popular epithet of Greysteil, by which he was
distinguished among his intimates, after the hero of a metrical
romance then generally known. The son of an ill-fated sire, and the
father of a yet more unfortunate family, he bore in his look that cast
of inauspicious melancholy by which the physiognomists of that time
pretended to distinguish those who were predestined to a violent
and unhappy death. There is some reason, however, to doubt
whether Ruthven was really present on that occasion, though It is
quite certain that in company with Lord Lindsay and Sir Robert
Melville he had at least one interview with the Queen during her
imprisonment in Lochleven, and he was conjoined with Lindsay in
the commission which she signed empowering them in her name to
renounce the Government.
Throckmorton, the English ambassador, mentions that at this
time Ruthven was employed by the confederate lords in another

Tlie Ruthvens of Gowrie. 151
commission, because ' he began to show favour to the Queen, and
to give her intelligence.' This leaning towards Mary, however,
could not have been of long continuance, for he fought on the
side of the Regent Moray at the battle of Langslde, which ruined
the Queen's cause, and he prevented a junction between the retainers
of Huntly and the clansmen of Argyll and Arran, and compelled
these noblemen to disband their forces. He was rewarded for his
services by his appointment for life. In 1571, to the office of Trea
surer. He was also appointed Lieutenant ofthe Borders, In room of
the Earl of Angus, and towards the close of the same year he was
nominated one of the Extraordinary Lords of Session. But a bitter
quarrel now broke out between him and his former friend the Regent
Morton, who had taken the part of Lord Oliphant in a deadly feud
between that nobleman and the Ruthvens ; and in the following year
Lord Ruthven was one of the leaders of the party who brought
Morton to the scaffold. Titles and estates were liberally conferred
on the successful plotters. Lord Maxwell obtained the earldom of
the fallen Regent, and Lord Ruthven, as we have mentioned, was
created Earl of Gowrle. But the new favourite, Arran, a person of
raost infamous character, soon made himself so obnoxious that a
conspiracy was formed to expel him from the royal councils. In the
month of August, 1582, the young King, who had been enjoying his
favourite pastime of the chase in Athol, was invited on his homeward
journey to Edinburgh to visit the Earl of Gowrie at Ruthven Castle,
near Perth. He readily accepted the Invitation, but on his arrival
found himself a prisoner in the hands of the associated lords, who
compelled him to dismiss his minions, and to adopt measures favour
able to the Protestant cause. The fate of Rlzzio was impending
over Arran, when Gowrie interposed and saved his life. James
remained for about ten months in the hands of the lords, but
In the month of May, 1583, he effected his escape through the
assistance of Colonel William Stewart, a brother of Arran, and took
refuge in the castle of St. Andrews. The Protestant lords were
commanded to retire to their own estates, and to remain there till
the King should call them. Gowrie, however, having obtained per
mission from James, repaired privately to St. Andrews, and, falling
on his knees before him, professed his sorrow for his share in the
raid and imp)lorcd forgiveness, which the King readily granted.
The Earl, however, retained his self-respect while expressing his
penitence. Though there was ' a fault in the form,' he argued that

152 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the deed itself was not evil, ' in respect of the great danger that both
rehgion and the commonwealth did stand into at that time.' James,
overjoyed at regaining his freedom, declared, in the presence of the
lords of both parties and of an assemblage of the neighbouring
gentry, the chief magistrates of the adjacent towns, and the ministers
and the heads of colleges, that he would not impute the seizure of
his person to any one as a crime, and that he would henceforth
govern all his subjects with strict impartiality and justice. As a
proof of his sincerity, he paid a special visit to Ruthven Castle, ' to
let the country see that he was entirely reconciled with the Earl of
Gowrie.' The Earl entertained his Majesty with great splendour.
After dinner he fell on his knees publicly before him, and entreated
pardon for the indignity which had been put upon him at his last
visit to that ' unhappy house,' assuring the King that the detention
of his person was unpremeditated, and had fallen out rather by
accident than by deliberate intention. James professed the greatest
kindness for the Earl, told him he well knew how blindly he had
been Involved in the conspiracy by the practices of other persons,
and promised never to impute to him his accidental fault. Arran
was still a prisoner in the hands of Gowrie, but the King begged so
earnestly that his old favourite should be permitted to come and see
him ' but once' and then return to his place of detention, that the lords
at length consented. As might have been foreseen, the Interview was
followed by Arran' s restoration to the Court and to his former place
in the Council. The obnoxious favourite speedily regained his ascen
dancy over the King, and a proclamation was issued repudiating all
the Acts of State and royal promises respecting the pardon granted
to the lords who had been engaged in the Raid of Ruthven. That
enterprise was declared to be treason, and the royal clemency was
to be extended to those who had taken part in it only upon their
acknowledging their offence and suing for pardon within a limited
time, and submitting to temporary banishment, money payment,
or such other punishment as the King, or rather as Arran, might
think fit.
The tyranny of the wicked and ruthless favourite at length became
intolerable. Like Cataline, he was covetous of other men's money
and prodigal of his own. His boundless extravagance was naturally
connected with an insatiable rapacity, which was gratified by utter
disregard of law and justice. He cast a covetous eye upon Gowrie's
extensive lands, and, as it was justly said, no man who had an estate

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 153
was safe if Arran set his heart upon his possessions. Day by day
some new device was tried to obtain forfeitures and escheats, land
or benefices. Angus, Mar, and Glamis, the real leaders in the
Ruthven Raid, were banished, the first of them to the north of Scot
land and the two others to Ireland. Gowrie, whose submission had
pacified the King, was allowed to remain at Court, but he was
annoyed and Insulted to such an extent by the favourite that he felt
it necessary to return to his residence at Perth. The King, who
seems really to have liked him, sent Melville to entreat the Earl to
return. He complied with the request, and James attempted to
reconcile him with Arran, but in vain. The haughty and Insolent
upstart subjected the Earl to constant mortifications. ' He was vexed
and put out,' says Melville, ' in every imaginable way. Arran
hated his person but loved his lands,' and was bent upon obtaining
them. His wife was still more eager to possess the great estates
of the Ruthvens.* Gowrie had probably some secret apprehension
of danger from his powerful and unscrupulous enemy, and he asked
and obtained from the King permission to retire to France. Dundee
was a convenient seaport for his embarkation, and he repaired
thither for that purpose. At this juncture, however, he received
information of a plot on the part of Angus, Mar, and Glamis for the
expulsion of Arran from the King's council, and was urged to join it.
He hesitated for some time, but at length consented, and held him
self In readiness to take part with his forraer associates In the Raid
when the time for action arrived. At this stage, however, the plot
was betrayed to Arran. Gowrle had received a royal command to set
sail within fifteen days, but he still lingered. ' He was timorous
of nature,' says a contemporary and friend. He evidently believed,
no doubt with good reason, that if he quitted the country some pre
tence would be found for the forfeiture of his estates. This feeling
was expressed in characteristic terms to a friend who visited him at
his mansion In Perth, which he had recently enlarged and was fur
nishing with princely splendour. ' Implus h^c tam culta novalia
miles habebit ? Barbarus has segetes.' Some difficulties had arisen
* Arran's wife had previously been married to the Earl of March, the King's uncle-
in-law, who had received the royal favourite as a friend. He repaid him by seducing
his wife. When far gone with child she petitioned for a divorce for a reason which.
Principal Robertson declares, no modest woman will now plead. The corrupt judges
pronounced the desired sentence, and public decency was outraged by the pomp and
splendour of her marriage to Arran — a precedent, it has been remarked, for a sirailar
case which afterwards occurred to another ofthe King's favourites in England.

154 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
about the vessel which he had chartered, and the Countess, who had
been recently confined, was lying very ill. The Earl of Athole, his
son-in-law, went to the King at Edinburgh and besought an exten
sion of the period limited for Gowrie's embarkation. It was peremp
torily refused, and Athole was not even allowed to return to Dundee
and speak to his father-in-law before his departure.
On the 1 3th of April Colonel Stewart was sent to Dundee by sea
with a hundred men, bearing a royal warrant, written by the hand
of Arran himself, to arrest Gowrle and bring him to Edinburgh.
Gowrie was at the harbour when the vessel which bore Stewart
arrived. As soon as he saw the brother of his deadly foe step forth
upon the shore he retired hastily to his lodgings, which were in the
house of one of the citizens, and summoning his servants, barricaded
the doors, and set Stewart at defiance. He made good his defence
for several hours, but was at length compelled to surrender, and was
conveyed a prisoner to Edinburgh. About the end of April he was
removed to Stirling to take his trial, or rather to be put to death, for
his fate was already determined. But as the Earl had been captured
before Angus, Mar, and Glamis had taken up arms, it was difficult
for his enemies to prove that he had been a party to the con
spiracy. Arran, therefore, devised a scheme every way worthy
of him to entrap the Earl Into a confession. Accompanied by two
of his brothers, and also by the Earl of Montrose, Sir John Mait
land of Lethington, and Sir Robert Melville, Arran waited upon
Gowrie, in Edinburgh, under the guise of a friend deeply con
cerned for his welfare. They informed him that the King was
highly incensed against him for the part he had taken in the expul
sion of the Duke of Lennox, and recommended him to make a full
confession of all that he knew of a design against his Majesty's
person, and to offer to reveal the particulars If admitted to an
interview. In this way he might vindicate his innocence and
explain the whole affair to the King. Gowrie refused to follow this
' perilous' advice. They came to him again and again, and urged
him to adopt this course. ' Nay,' said Gowrie, ' that shall I never
do, for so I should promise the thing which I could not discharge
myself of I should confess an untruth, and put myself in a far
worse case than I am In. I will rather trust In the simplicity of
mine honest cause and upright meaning, and take my hazard as it
shall please God to dispone upon me.' Arran and his accomplices
continued still to reason with him as to the propriety and safety of

The Rullwcns of Gowrie. 155
IIk; course which they recommended. ' That policie is very perilous,'
said (iowrio, 'for I know myself so clear of all crimes against his
1 lighiKiHs, I should by that means make mine own dittay [indict
ment], and, not Innng sure of my lif(\ nor how the King will accept
mine excuse, incur tlu; da,iig(!r of forfeiture for confessing treason to
the tyns(;ll (loss) of my life and the defamation and utter ruin of my
house.' His treacherous counsellors assunid him that his life was
safe if he followcxl their counst;!, but his death was determined on
if he did not confess that he had a foreknowledge ofthe conspiracy
of th(! Protestant lords, (iowrie still hesitated unless he had an
assun>d promise of his li(e. Th<>y allegc-d that it stood not with
his Majesty's honour to capitulate with his suhjc^ct by writing. The
Karl, however, still htdd out. Th(;y came again, and 'swore upon
their honours and faith that tho King sware to them that he would
grant him his life; if he would disclose those things whereof he .should
be ask(;d.' ' I will willingly pledge my honour,' Arran declared,
' that your life shall be in no danger if you will do so.' * I did yield
ii[)on this promist;,' said (iowrie, 'and did write tho.sc things whereof
1 am accusetl.' But instead of rt>ceiving the answer he had been
led to expect, ho was imm(;diately plactnl upon trial. He pleaded,
among other things, tlu; solemn promise that had been made to
him of his life. ' Vou must rcMiiember,' he saitl, looking to Arran, who
was one of tlu; jury, and his coadjutors, ' how I at first refused, and
how you swaro to me upon your honour that the King would grant
me my life if I made my confe.ssit)n.' To this pointed appeal no
answer was returned; but tho .Lord Advocate interposed and said
that the lords hatl no povvtu- to make such a promise. The Earl
then ai)[)ealed to Arran and his associates whi-ther his statement was
not true, but tluy iliMiiod upon oath that any sueh promise had been
nuule. Gowrii! made a final apptwl to Arran as he was about to
accompany the other jurymen to tlu^ inner chamber to deliberate,
and asked him to rcmemlHn- the good deed he did to him last year
in his house. Tho heartless villain reiilied, that it was not lawful,
'for, my lord, you are aeeustxl of treason, and I was no traitor;
besides, my life was safe.' Gowri(\ who now perceivotl the snare that
had been laid for him, convineeil that he had no meiry to expect,
smiUnl, and with great composure called for a cup of wine and
drank to his friends around him. 1 lo then tlesired one of them to
CommiMul him to his wife, and to conceal his dt\ith from her, anil
put her in good hoiie of his lile till she was stronger in body, for she

156 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
was even at this instant weakened through the delivery of his child.
The jury soon returned Into court with a verdict of guilty, which he
heard without changing his countenance ; and being about to
address the court, he was interrupted by the judge, who informed
him that the King had sent down the warrant for his execution.
' Well, my lords,' he remarked, * since it is the King's contentment
that I lose my life, I am as willing to part with it as I was before to
spend it in his service; and the noblemen who have been upon my
jury will know the matter better hereafter. And yet in condemning
me to die, they have hazarded their own souls, for I had their pro
mise. God grant that my blood be not upon the King's head. My
Lord Judge, since there are but small oversights whereupon I am
condemned, I pray you not to make the matter so heinous as to
punish it by the penalty of forfeitrie. My sons are in my lands
many years since, and have all their rights confirmed by the King,
and failing the eldest, the second is to succeed,* and is assigned to
all my causes.' He was informed by the judge that this request
could not be granted ; for the penalty of treason, of which he had
been found guilty, necessarily included that of forfeiture, and he
proceeded to pronounce the usual sentence. ' I pray God,' said the
Earl, ' that my blood may satiate and extinguish the bloody rage
and ire of the courtiers and bring this country to quietness.' He
bade farewell to those around, him, and then retired for a short
space with a minister to a chamber to his private prayers. He was
then conveyed to the scaffold in the market-place of the town, from
which he briefly addressed the people who had assembled to witness
the scene. ' Brethren,' he said, ' this spectacle Is more common
than pleasant to you. I am to die this night, for so it is the King's
pleasure; but I shall never ask mercy for anything that I ever
thought against him ; and the Lord is witness that I was more
careful of his welfare than I was of my own and my wife and
children.' Then, after praying, he said, ' I have forgotten some
thing which I purposed to speak.' It was broached that he had
spoken against many noblemen, and had been their accuser. He
indignantly repudiated this charge as utterly false. He accused
none, he said ; he knew of none but such as had taken the fault upon
* A formal deed had been prepared some years before and completed, authorising
a surrender to the King of the land and baronies of Ruthven and Dirleton, in' order
that a new settlement of them might be made in favour of the eldest son of' the Earl
and his heirs, reserving only a life interest to himself and his wife.

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 157
themselves. He then, with great composure, loosed his buttons, tied
the handkerchief over his eyes with his own hands, then with a
smile kneeled down and laid his neck upon the block, and his head
was severed from his body by a single blow.
Though the Earl of Gowrie was frequently Implicated in the plots
of that turbulent period, he was by no means naturally fond of
intrigue ; he was, on the contrary, an easy, simple-hearted man, ex
ceedingly popular in the country and especially among his own
tenants and retainers. He was not only possessed of excellent abili
ties and great force of character, but he was a person of cultivated
mind and refined taste, was no mean proficient in the scholarship of
the time, and was fond of music and the fine arts. ' He was,' says
Spottiswood, ' a nobleman who In his life was much honoured, and
employed in the chief offices of court. A man wise, but said to have
been too curious, and to have consulted with wizards touching the
state of things in future times ; yet he was not charged with this, nor
seemed to be touched therewith in his death, which, to the judgment of
the beholders, was very peaceable and quiet. He was heard to make
that common regret which many great men have done in such mis
fortunes, that if he had served God as faithfully as he had served
the King he had not come to that end ; but otherwise died patiently,
with a contempt of the world, and assurance of mercy at the hands
of God.'
The Ruthvens were a prolific race — families of eight, ten, and
twelve children were not uncommon among them. The finst Earl of
Gowrie left five sons and seven daughters. The latter were noted
for their beauty and their fortunate marriages. The eldest became
the wife of the Earl of Athole, the second married Lord Ogllvy, the
third the Duke of Lennox, the fourth the Earl of Montrose, by whom
she was the mother of the great Marquis. Two became the wives
of baronets of old families, and the seventh married James Hunt, of
Pittencrieff, In Fife.
An extraordinary exploit has been ascribed by tradition, pro
bably with some exaggeration, to one of these ladies. She Wcis
courted by a young gentleman whose addresses did not meet witn
the approval of her family. He was upon one occasion on a visit
to Ruthven Castle, and was lodged In the upper storey of a tower
which was disconnected from the rest of the building. The lovers
were together In this apartment, when some prying domestic ac
quainted the young lady's mother with the circumstance. The

li^S TJie Great Historic Fami/ies of See/ land.
Countess, full of anger, hastened to detect the delinquents. The
maiden hearing the sound of her mother's footsteps, in this emer
gency ran to the top of the h^ads, and with a desperate bound
cleared the space of ujiwards of nine feet, over a chasm sixty feet
deep, which separated the tower from the rest of the castU\ Arriv
ing with safety on the battlements of the other tower, she crept
into her bed, where she was soon after found by her mother, who
was in consequence convinced of the injustice of the suspicions
entertained of her. Next night the courageous damsel eloped with
her lover and was married. The space over which she sprang retains
to this day the name of ' The Maiden's Leap.'
Arran lost no time in securing the spoils of his murdered victim.
Gowrie was executed on the 4th of May, 1584. On the 0th of the
following month an order was made by the Scottish Privy Council
' to inbring and deliver the escheat guidis of William, sumtym Earl
of Gowrie, to the Earl of Arran.' And on the loth Davison, who
was at that time envoy from the English Court, mentions that the
King's favourite was already in possession of ' Dirleton, Courland,
and Newton, all sometime belonging to Gowrie.' There can be no
doubt that the Itarl's wealth was the main cause of his destruction.
Arran had set his heart on Gowrie's lands, and his profligate and
shameless wife was believed, Jezebel-like, to have encouraged him
in his rajiacity. It is a striking fact that the fate of the royal
favourite closely resembled that of the idolatrous queen of Israel.
He was put to death by Douglas of Torthorwald in revenge for the
prominent part he took in bringing the Earl of Morton to the scaffold,
and his body, left on the highway, was devoured by dogs and swine.
The treatment which Arran and his associates, with at least the
tacit permission of tho King, gave to the widowed Countess of
Gowrie and her children, filled up the measure of their cruelty.
When the Earl was conveyed from Dundee to lulinburgh, his wife, a
Stewart of Methven, set out immediately after his departure, with the
intention of interceding with the King on his behalf, but she was so
unwell as to be obliged to travel by short stages, and at the slowest
pace. Her purpose became known, and a royal mandate was i.ssued
forbidding her to come within twenty miles of the King's i)crson.
After her husband's execution, Davison says, she was treated ' with
the greatest inhumanity that may be,' and 1 1 ume of Godscroft declares
that she was ' basely and beastly used.' Having come to I "Edinburgh
to entreat for herself and her children while the Parliament was

The Rill livens of Cowrie. 159
sitting, and ' having fallen down upon her knees before the King,
she was trodden under foot and left lying in a swoon.' Even the
mediation of Queen Elizabeth in behalf of the Countess and her
children was unavailing. She addressed a letter to James reminding
him that the deceased Earl was one of the chief instruments in
putting the crown upon his head, and that in defence of his Majesty's
rights against the murderers of his father, that of his grandfather
Lennox and those of his uncle, Regent Moray, Gowrie had lost
raany relatives and members of his clan, and had subjected his own
life and estate to the greatest hazard. She earnestly solicited
James's compassion towards the Earl's ' poor wife and thirteen father
less children.' She reminded him of their innocency and their youth.
She begged that by their restoration to their father's lands some
monument of that ancient house might abide to posterity, and their
names be not rooted out from the face ofthe earth, through the private
craft and malice of adversaries whose eyes could not be satiated
otherwise than by the Earl's death. Finally, Elizabeth appealed to
James on the score of natural affection to his own, the Gowries, as
she states, being * tied so near by kindred and consanguinity ' to
himself.* No attention was paid, however, to these appeals. It need
create no surprise that such cruel treatment engendered revengeful
feelings in the minds of Gowrie's sons.
About two years after the death of the Earl of Gowrie his forfeiture
was reversed, and his estates and titles were restored to his eldest
son, James, who died in 15 88, in the fourteenth year of his age. He
was succeeded by his brother John, the third and last Earl of
Gowrie, who manifested at a very early age the disposition which
had characterised most of his race to engage in perilous enter
prises. In his sixteenth year he was elected Provost of Perth, an
office which had become almost hereditary in his family. In the
same year he was implicated in the plots of the Popish earls through
the influence of his brother-in-law the Earl of Athole. Immediately
after he went to the Continent to complete his education, and for five
years studied with great distinction at the University of Padua. Like
his father and grandfather, he was addicted to the study of magic, for
which Italy was then famous, and he was also a dabbler in chemistry
and judicial astrology. His reputation for ability and learning was so
great that he is said to have been elected Rector of the University,
* Bannatyne, J//.f.r//()'«j', pp. i— io6j Pafers relating to Wiltiam, First Earl of
Go;or;e, &c., pp. 5,^. 54.

i6o The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
or, according to another account, to have been offered a professor's
chair. His letters written at this period are sufficient to show that
his high reputation was well deserved. He left Italy in the end of
the year 1595, and went to Geneva, where he spent three months in
the house of the learned Beza, to whom he so endeared himself that
this famous divine ' never made or heard mention of his death but
with tears.' Thence he proceeded to Paris, where the English
ambassador. Sir Henry Nevil, ' found him to be of very good judg
ment.' On leaving the Continent he passed through London, and
was received by Elizabeth with flattering distinction. His entry Into
the Scottish capital took place amidst a brilliant retinue of noblemen,
gentlemen, and dependents on horseback, and great crowds of citi
zens went out to welcome him with every mark of popular favour.
The people, and especially the clergy, regarded him as the destined
leader and champion of the popular cause. King James was greatly
displeased with these marks of popular enthusiasm, but the learning
and scholarship of the young Earl, together with his handsome coun
tenance and graceful manners, soon gained for him the royal favour,
and James often conversed with him on strange and abstruse sub
jects. It speedily became apparent, however, that Gowrie had no
intention of becoming courtier, or of looking to the royal favour for
promotion. He was the leader of the successful opposition of the
Estates to a cherished project of the King, that a liberal grant of
money should be made to enable him to raise and equip a body
of troops for the purpose of maintaining his right to the English
throne ; and his bearing towards the enemies of his house excited a
suspicion that he was determined to avenge the death of his father
on all who had been concerned In that deed, not excepting the King
himself. In all probability the plot which ended In his own ruin and the
destruction of his family was concocted soon after his return to Scot
land. The leading incidents of that mysterious event are briefly as
follows : — On the morning of Tuesday, the 5th of August, Alexander
Ruthven, a younger brother of the Earl, came to Falkland, where
the King was then residing for the purpose of buck-hunting, and
invited him to come to Perth to examine a man whom he alleged he
had seized with a large pot of gold pieces in his possession. As
soon as the chase was ended, James agreed to accompany Ruthven to
Perth, attended bythe Earl of Lennox and the rest of his suite,'
amounting in all to fifteen persons. The Earl of Gowrie, followed by

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. i6i
about a hundred of his retainers, met the King at the South Inch,
immediately without the walls of Perth, and escorted him to Gowrie
House, a large baronial mansion on the banks of the river Tay. After
dinner the King accompanied Alexander Ruthven to a small room
up-stairs, where the latter alleged the suspicious-looking person with
the pot of gold was confined ; but on reaching the chamber his
Majesty was startled to find, instead of the prisoner, a man clad In
complete armour, with a sword and dagger by his side. Ruthven,
holding a dagger to the King's breast, upbraided him with the death
of his father, and declared that his Innocent blood should be avenged.
James, though greatly alarmed, does not appear to have lost his
presence of mind, but remonstrated with Ruthven, pleading that he
was but a minor when Gowrie was put to death, and was not respon
sible for his execution. The conspirator, though evidently shaken
In his purpose. Insisted on binding the King's hands. A struggle
ensued. In the course of which James succeeded in thrusting his
head half through the open casement of the window, and shouted
for help to a group of his attendants in the street below. Several of
them rushed up the staircase, and finding Ruthven struggling with
the King, they attacked and killed him on the spot. The Earl, who
hastened to his brother's assistance, after a brief but desperate con
flict shared his fate. Meanwhile a confused rumour of what had taken
place spread rapidly through the town. The alarm-bell was rung, and
an Immense mob of the citizens, among whom the Earl was very
popular, together with the retainers of the Gowrie family, beset the
house, and with shouts and maledictions threatened vengeance on the
' bloody butchers ' who had murdered their Provost and his brother.
Some of the females of the family were specially prominent In this
exciting scene, and ran wildly out to the street, crying, ' Thieves,
limmers, bloody traitors, that have slain these innocents ! ' Others
exclaimed, ' Greencoats, we shall have amends of you ! Ye shall
pay for it. Give us our Provost 1 ' Many even uttered threats against
the King himself, crying out, ' Come down, come down, thou son of
Seignor Davie, thou hast slain a better man than thyself.' James
endeavoured to pacify the enraged multitude by addressing them
from the window of the tower, but without effect. In the end, he
was rescued from his perilous position by the magistrates of the city,
who persuaded the mob to disperse.
Cowards are always cruel, and James, whose cowardice was noto
rious, at once adopted measures of the most revolting cruelty against
VOL. I. N

1 62 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the brothers and sisters of the slain Earl, and he and his greedy
courtiers sought to hunt them down and extirpate them like wild
beasts. ' On the very night of the catastrophe,' wrote the English
ambassador to Cecil, ' the King, at his return to Falkland, presently
caused thrust out of the house Gowrie's two sisters, in chief credit
with the Queen, and swears to root out that whole house and name.'
The next day an attempt was made to seize the two surviving brothers
of the family, who were living with their mother at Dirleton ; but a
friend had sent timely warning of their danger, and, accompanied by
their tutor, the two boys made their escape only half an hour before
a band of horsemen, headed by the Marquis of Orkney and Sir
James Sandilands, reached the castle to effect their apprehension.
At the meeting of Parliament, which was held in November follow
ing, the dead bodies of the Earl and his brother were produced,
and were sentenced to be drawn, hanged, and quartered at the
Cross of Edinburgh. Their heads were fixed on the top of the
Tolbooth, where they remained till the time of the Great Civil War.
Their estates and honours were forfeited, their arms cancelled;
their very name was abolished, and those who bore it were forbidden
to approach within ten miles of the King ; their surviving brothers,
their posterity, heirs, and successors were declared to be in all time
coming incapable of enjoying any office, dignity, lands, or possessions
In Scotland. The very seat of the family— Ruthven Castle— was to
lose Its ancient designation, and to be called Huntingtower. So
ruthlessly did James carry into effect his threat to 'root out that
whole house and name,' that no male descendant of the family Is
now known to exist. 'To make assurance double sure' that the
hated race should be utterly rooted out, their hereditary estates, com
prising the richest soil In Scotland, were divided among some of
their neighbours, who were alleged to have long had an eye upon
the broad and fertile lands of Gowrie. The vast extent of the
possessions of the Ruthven family Is shown by the enumeration of
their lands and baronies given In the deed of their surrender to the
King by the second Earl, a.d. 1583, for the purpose of their being
resettled upon his eldest son and his heirs male, &c. Mention is
made In that document of the land and barony of Ruthven, with
the tower, fortallce, manor, mills, &c., and the advowsons of the
chapels of Ruthven and Tippermuir ; the lands of Ballanbreych,
Pitcarny, Craigingall, Ardendachye, Hardhauch ; a third part of
the lands of Airlyweich ; the mill and lands of Cultrany ; the lands

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 163
of Denngrene ; a moiety of the ttilll of Auchtergaven ; the lands
of Monydle, Bonblair, Cragilmy ; a third part of a moiety of the
lands and barony of Abirnyte, a third part of the lands and barony
of Forgundeny, with the advowson of the chapel lying in the
shrievalty of Perth ; a third part of the lands and barony of Segle,
In the shrievalty of Kinross; all the land and barony of Ballerno
and Newtoun ; the mill and lands of Cowsland lying within the
shrievalty of Edinburgh ; a third part of the lands and barony of
Dulburn, with the tower, fortallce, manor ; Brabyn Park, Hick-
field, &c. ; the mill and lands of Dirleton ; a third part of the
lands of Bowton, the said barony lying within the shrievalty of
Edinburgh and the constabulary of Haddington ; the third part of
the lands of Hassintoun and Hallburton, with the donations of the
chapel of Hallburton, the said baronies lying within the shrievalty
of Berwick. Connected with these lands and baronies were mills,
mill lands, salmon and other fisheries, which must have been of
great value.
The destruction of the Ruthvens was the making of the Murrays.
The head of this family, the Laird of Tullibardine, ancestor to the
Duke of Athole, after the slaughter of the two brothers, came to the
door of Gowrie House and danced for joy. Calderwood, who reports
this incident, expresses his belief that for this malignant behaviour
Tullibardine Is undergoing his appropriate and well-merited punish
ment In the other world. ' But little cause,' he adds, 'has he to dance
at this hour.' This representative of a family always unpatriotic and
self-seeking, obtained for his eldest son Gowrie's hereditary office of
sheriff of the county of Perth, and for one of his younger sons the
barony and castle of Ruthven. His relative. Sir David Murray,
ancestor of the present Earl of Mansfield, received at the same time
a grant of the abbey and lands of Scone.
Pn connection with this tragic event a story has been handed down
by tradition which has been quoted in support of the theory that the
Ruthvens were the victims, not the authors, of the conspiracy by
which they lost their lives, and that the hatred entertained towards
them by the King was in part at least owing to his jealousy of the
younger Ruthven. It is alleged that the good looks of this gallant
youth had attracted the notice of the Queen, and that he stood high
In her Majesty's good graces. James, It is said, on one occasion
had presented his wife with a locket suspended to a ribbon of a
peculiar colour. Rambling about his garden one day, the King

164 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
stumbled upon Alexander Ruthven asleep in an arbour, and per
ceived around his neck a ribbon of the same colour as the one he had
given to the Queen. Stung with jealousy and wrath, James hobbled
off, as fast as his shambling gait would allow, to find his royal con
sort. One of the maids of honour, however, had witnessed the
scene, and saw at a glance what was passing in the King's mind.
She instantly snatched the locket from the neck of the sleeping
youth, and ran with all speed by another route to the Queen's apart
ment. Placing the trinket in her Majesty's hands, she in a few
hurried words told her what had taken place. The Queen put the
locket among her jewels and quietly awaited the result. In a minute
or two the King burst into the apartment, flushed In face and sputter
ing with excitement, and demanded a sight of the trinket he had
presented to his wife. Anne quietly opened her jewel-box and
placed the locket in his hands. Surveying It with a suspicious and
puzzled look, but unable to resist the evidence of his senses as to its
Identity, James remarked, in words which have become proverbial,
' DIel ha'e me, but llke's an 111 mark.' Whatever amount of truth
there may be In the story, there is good reason to believe that there
Is no truth in the allegation that the destruction of the Ruthvens was
owing to the jealousy of the King.
The two younger brothers ofthe unfortunate Earl fled for their lives
towards the Borders, and, travelling on foot through unfrequented
byways, reached Berwick on the loth of August, four days after their
flight from Dirleton. Sir John Carey, the governor of that Border
fortress, writing to Secretary Cecil, says : ' The King has made great
search and lays great wait for the two younger brothers, who, not
daring to tarry in Scotland, they are this day come Into Berwick
secretly in disguised apparel, and being brought to me they only
desire that their lives may be safe, and that they may have a little
oversight here till the truth of their cause may be known. And the
pitiful case of the old distressed good Countess hath made me the
wlUInger to give my consent to their stay here a while.'
Such was the vindictive hatred which James cherished towards
these two Innocent and helpless youths, that on his way to take pos
session of the English throne he issued at Burghley, where he
remained several days, a proclamation, dated 27th April, 1603,
commanding all sheriffs and justices to arrest ' William and Patrick
Ruthven,' and to bring them before the Privy Council. He also
warned all persons against harbouring or concealing them. William,

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 165
the elder of the two, made his escape to the Continent, where he
acquired a great reputation for his knowledge of chemistry. Burnet
says that It was given out that he had discovered the philosopher's
stone. A turn for the study of natural science, combined with
magic, was hereditary In the Ruthvens. Lord Patrick, the assassin
of Rlzzio, presented Queen Mary with a diamond ring, which he
told her had the virtue of preserving her from poison. His son,
the first Earl, was alleged to have consulted wizards for the
purpose of prying Into futurity, and Eari John, the conspirator,
brought with him from Italy ' a little close parchment bag full of
magical characters and words of enchantment, wherein It seemed
that he had put his confidence, thinking himself never safe without
them, and therefore ever carried them about with him.' Patrick,
the youngest of the five sons of the Eari of Gowrie (' Greysteil ')
was arrested under the proclamation Issued by the vindictive
enemy of his house and carried to the Tower, where he languished
without trial or even accusation for a period of nineteen years,
extending from about the nineteenth to the thirty-eighth year of his
age. In 161 6 Patrick Ruthven obtained a grant of an annual pay
ment of ^200 ' for apparel, books, physic, and such like necessaries,'
which sum was to be in lieu of the allowances previously made to the
Lieutenant of the Tower for those purposes. Six years after this
period the doors of Patrick Ruthven's prison were at length opened,
and he was set at liberty on condition that he should reside at the
University of Cambridge, or within six miles of It. A few weeks
later (i ith September, 1622) he received an annuity of ^500 ' payable
out of the Exchequer for life.' On the 4th of February, 1623-4, he
petitioned the King for an enlargement of the condition which bound
him to reside at Cambridge. His request was granted, but, with the
old petty jealousy of his approach to the royal presence, it was with
the reservation that he should come no nearer the Court than he
was permitted to do by the previous stipulation, and that he should
not at any time seat himself in any place where his Majesty should
not like him to be resident. He selected Somersetshire for his place
of abode In the meantime. In 1624 a proposal was made, sanc
tioned by King James, for the establishment of a Royal Academy,
and in the list of those who were to be the first Fellows sanctioned
and approved by the King occurs the name of ' Patrick Ruthven.'
Nothing farther is known of his history until after the lapse of
sixteen years, when James had been long dead. On the 27th of

1 56 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
February, 1639-40, a deed was executed by him assignlng^i20 per
annum, part of his pension of^500, to his ' lovlnge daughter, Mary
Ruthven, spinster.' This was the first notice of his having been
married. It has recently been discovered that his wife was Elizabeth
Woodford, ' a fair young lady,' widovi^ of Thomas, first Lord Ger-
rard of Abbots Bromley, who died when Lord President of Wales,
in 161 7. But nothing is known as to how she became acquainted with
the prisoner in the Tower, or where or when they were married.
The lady died in 1624, leaving Patrick Ruthven a widower, with
two daughters and three sons. Mary Ruthven, the younger
daughter. Is said to have been a young lady of extraordinary
beauty. She was for some time at the Court of Queen Henrietta,
and became the wife of Sir Anthony Vandyke, to whom she bore a
daughter, but on the 9th of December, 1641, the very day on which
the child was baptised, the great painter died. His daughter, named
Justlna, married Sir John Stepney of Prendergast. The gleam of
sunshine which had been thrown across Patrick Ruthven's melan
choly life was thus swallowed up In darkness. Amid the turmoil of
the Great Civil War, Patrick Ruthven's pension appears to have
been unpaid, and he was reduced to absolute poverty. He procured
a degree of doctor of medicine and practised as a physician In Lon
don, but apparently with not much pecuniary success. Sir Harry
Slingsby states In his Diary, under the year 1639, that his wife, after
consulting many other medical advisers, made some ' trials of Mr.
Ruthven, a Scottish gentleman of the family of the Lord Gowrie,
who made It his study In the art of physic to administer help to
others, but not for any gain to himself.' In Sanderson's 'Additions
to Bishop Goodman,' referring probably to the year 165 1, It Is stated
that Patrick Ruthven ' walks the streets poor, but well experienced
in chymical physic and In other parts of learning.' He was a fellow-
student in chemistry and astrology with the celebrated Napier of
Merchiston, who mentions him as a person ' occupied in alchymie.'*
It appears that in common with other leading members of his house,
Patrick Ruthven was a student of those ' mysteries of chemical
philosophy which Ignorance and prejudice have too often confounded
with sorcery and magic' It is very sad to think that this Inheritor
and representative of some of the noblest blood in Scotland — a
cousin of the King, and an accomplished philosopher — died at the
age of sixty-eight in the King's Bench. His second son, Patrick,
* Papers relatijig to William, fourth Earl of Gowrie, and Patrick Ruthven, pp. 50—72.

TJie Ruthvens of GoTvrie. 167
was twice married, but it is not known whether he left any issue. In
1656 he petitioned the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, for relief, adleglng
that ^5,000 was due for arrears of his father's pension. His petition
was referred to the Council, but the result is not mentioned.
A great-grandson of the first Lord Ruthven ^^-as created by
Charles I. Lord Ruthven of Escrick in 1639. Earl Forth in the
Scottish peerage in 1642, and finalh", in 1644. Earl of Brentford In
that of England. He was one of the most eminent militan,- men of
his day, having ser\-ed for many years under Gustavus Adolphus,
who entreated Charles, but in vain, to restore Patrick Ruthven to
his father's titles and estates. The Earl afterwards was commander-
in-chief of the ro}-al forces in the Great Cl^nl War. As he had no
male issue, his titles expired at his death In 165 1. In that same
vear the Scottish title of Baron Ruthven was conferred by Charles II.
on Sir Thomas Ruthven of Freeland, a grandson of the second Lord
Ruthven of the old stock, and this tide is still possessed by his
descendants in the female line.
The Gowrie conspiracy is one of those strange and mysterious
events that attract the attention of historians and critics generation
after generation, and excite controversies which, after the question
seemed to have been finally set at rest, break out again at intervals
with renewed energ^^ Even at the time when it occurred there were
many who doubted, and not a few who denied altogether, the exist
ence of a conspiracy. Sir AMllIam Bowes, the English ambassador ;
Xicolson, an agent of Elizabeth at the Scottish Court : and Lord
Scrope, the English Border Warden, in their communications to
their Govemraent, threw the principal blame on the King himself.
The Presbj-terian clerg}-. who had no great goodwill towards James,
indicated as plainly as they could venture to do their distrust of the
royal narrative; and the celebrated Robert Bruce of Kinnaird,
though he was ultimately induced, after a rigid cross-examination of
the King, to express his belief of the guilt of Gowrie and his brother,
would never consent to declare this from the pulpit, and was in con
sequence deprived of his benefice and banished the kingdom. James
seems to have felt that he had acted a somewhat ridiculous part in
allowing himself to be drawTi to Perth on the faith of a stor\- so
absurd and foolish as that which was told to him by Alexander
Ruthven, and with the %-iew of screening himself from ridicule, pro
bably coloured some parts of his narrative and glossed over some of
the incidents. And the %-indictive cruelt}- with which he and his

1 68 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
greedy courtiers sought to revenge the crime of the Ruthvens on
their innocent brothers, who were mere boys at the time, was fitted
to cause a reaction in their favour. In later times Pinkerton and
several other writers have revived the doubts which were expressed
by contemporaries respecting the credibility of the royal narrative,
and maintain that it was not Gowrie or his brother who conspired
against the King, but the King who, by a prearranged plot, mur
dered them in their own mansion. Mr. James, the well-known
novelist, has constructed his historical romance of ' Gowrie ; or, the
King's Plot,' on this theory, which he has also supported in an
ingenious pamphlet ; and now lastly, though in all probability not
finally, Mr. Bisset adopts the same notion In his dissertation on
the character of King James, whom he represents as a profound dis
sembler, plotter, and poisoner, who without scruple compassed the
destruction not only of a large number of his leading nobles, but
even of his own children. That there are difficulties connected with
the narrative of the King, no candid person will deny. The silliness
of the story of the alleged pot of gold found In the possession of
the man whom Alexander Ruthven pretended to have seized, the
unlikelihood that James would give credit to such a tale, and the
apparently unpreparedness of Gowrie for the reception of the King,
are all suspicious circumstances. On the other hand, if we adopt
the theory of Mr. Bisset, we must believe that the King accom
panied the younger Ruthven from Falkland to Perth for the purpose
of murdering him and his brother in their own man.slon, and that a
person notoriously defective in courage deliberately planned to put
to death two young men skilled in the use of their weapons, in the
midst of their own retainers, and with the townsmen of Perth, among
whom they were highly popular, within call, while the King had
with him only fifteen attendants. Such a notion we hold to be quite
incredible. One cause of the doubt that prevailed at first regarding the truth
of the conspiracy was the apparent absence of accomplices. No
person seemed to have been taken into the confidence of the Earl
except his brother. But this was accounted for by the opinion which
Gowrie had formed and repeatedly expressed, that the failure of un
successful plots was generally owing to the fact that too many persons
had been admitted into the secret. William Rhynd, his tutor, gave
evidence that having several times conv(;rsed with the Earl respect
ing the best way of conducting a dangerous enterprise, his lordship

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 169
always professed for his opinion, that ' he was not a wise man that
having intendtHl the ext^cution of a high and dangerous purpose,
communicatees the samt; to any second piinson, because, keeping it to
himself, he could nt-ver be discovered or disappointed.' This state
ment is corroborated by a curious anecdote ])rcserved by Spottis
wood. A few days l)(>lbre the Eari met his death, William Couper,
minister of Perth, found him in his library perusing a work on the
subject of ' Conspiracies against Princes.' On inquiring and being
told what was the subject of (unvrie's studies, Couper remarked that
it was a ' i)eri]ous subji^et.' 'Yes,' replied the luiri, ' because most
of sueh plots have been foolishly contrived and faulty cither in one
])oint or anotluM-; for he that goeth about such a business should not
put any man on his council.' It turned out, however, that besides
his brotluM- \\c had takiMi other three persons into his confidence.
In considering the balance of probabilities we must not pass over
unnt)tieed the corroborative testimony of Henderson, the Earl of
("iowrie's chamberlain. \Vhen the King, after dinner, accompanied
Alexander Ruthven through the hall and up the great staircase to
the ]Mcture gallery, and tluMiee to a small circular chamber where
he ox]>(HMed lo find the person whom Ruthven professed to have
seized with the pot of gold in his possession, he beheld standing
there not a felltM-etl jirisoner but a man clad in armour. This man,
who proved to be IleiuliM-son, the Earl's chamberlain, witnessed the
whol(> setMio bt'lweeii James and Ruthven up till the moment when
the King's atltMidanls, having hoard his cries, rushed into the
chambiT. HiMulerson made his escape unnoticed in the midst of the
contusion, but he aftiM-wards came forward in obedience to a royal
protdaniation promising him pardon for his offence. He twice told
his story o'i what he had witnessed, once in a preliminary examina
tion, anil a sivoiul tiiiu^ at the trial. His two accounts substantially
agree wiih each other, and though great weight has been attached to
some sHl^Iu diserepaneies between the statement of the King and the
testimony of lltMiderson, these are not greater than might have been
t^xptrted in the eireumstniuws of the case. 1 lemlerson's account of
the conyiM-salioii between James and Alexander Ruthven, and of the
struggle that tcxik place when Ruthven attempted to bind the King's
hands, is V(^rv graphic and truthliko. It was he who put his left
hand over his Majesty's left shoulder during the struggle and drew
up the movable wooden board which lormed tho lower part of the
window at the King's back, and thus enabled the Duke of Lennox

lyo The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and the other nobles in attendance upon his Majesty to see his face
at the window, his head uncovered, and a hand grasping his mouth,
and to hear his cry for help. These noblemen had shortly before
been told by Gowrie that the King had left the house, and was riding
over the Inch towards Falkland. They Immediately rashed through
the hall into the courtyard shouting for their horses, but were
informed by the porter at the outer gate that the King had not
passed. It was at this moment that they heard the cry for help.
And the false Information given by the Earl respecting the King's
departure must be taken Into account In forming our judgment on
the case, and It certainly corroborates the statements both of
Henderson and the King, and constitutes strong presumptive evi
dence against the P uthvens.
But it was not until eight years after the death of Gowrle and his
brother that the most conclusive evidence of the truth of the
conspiracy was brought to light. A notary named Sprot, who
resided in Eyemouth, a fishing village near St. Abb's Head, hinted
to several persons that he was acquainted with some secrets respect
ing the Gowrie conspiracy. These intimations reached the ears of
the members of the Privy Council, who caused Sprot to be appre
hended and examined by torture. He made a full confession of all
that he knew, and produced some portions of a correspondence
which Robert Logan, the laird of Restalrig, had carried on with the
two brothers. A certain Laird Bower, a retainer of Logan's, had
been entrusted with the perilous task of carrying these letters, and
as he was unable to read or write, he had been obliged to obtain the
assistance of Sprot to decipher the instructions which were addressed
to him by his master. The notary, fatally for himself, had stolen
some of these letters from among Bower's papers. The documents
were produced, and after a careful examination by the Privy Council,
declared to be in Logan's handwriting. The unfortunate notary was
condemned to be hanged for misprision or concealment of treason.
He adhered to his confession to the last, and after being thrown from
the ladder he thrice clapped his hands in confirmation of the truth of
his confession. Logan had died some years before this, but his bones
were dug up and brought to the bar of the Justiciary Court, where
the dead man was put on his trial for treason. He was found guilty,
and by a sentence equally odious and illegal, his lands were forfeited
and his posterity declared infamous. The discovery of Logan's
letters was thought to have set this disputed question finally at rest ;

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 171
but Mr. Bisset professes to find in these documents the strongest
corroboration of his disbelief of the conspiracy. Some of his argu
ments are ingenious and not wholly without weight, and If the letters
had disappeared grave doubts might have been entertained of their
genuineness. But the originals have, fortunately, been preserved
and are deposited in the General Register Office, Edinburgh. It is
somewhat surprising to learn that Mr. Bisset, who has taken upon him
so confidently to pronounce these documents spurious, has never seen
them, and has contented himself with requesting a friend to examine
them for the purpose of ascertaining whether the paper on which
they are written bears the watermark of the year 1600. This friend
of course informed him that there was no watermark of any year on
the paper. Mr. Bisset might and ought to have known, that It was
not until a century after the date of the Gowrie conspiracy that a
watermark with a year on It came into use. The genuineness of these
letters was attested at the time by several witnesses who were
acquainted with Logan's handwriting. They have repeatedly of late
years been subjected to a searching scrutiny by persons skilled in
deciphering ancient papers, and have been compared with undoubted
specimens of Logan's handwriting, and the result has been a unani
mous and unhesitating decision in favour of the genuineness of the
letters. Logan, the writer of these letters, was a gentleman of ancient
family, the uterine brother of Lord Home, but a reckless and unprin
cipled villain, a scoffer at religion, and a person of openly profligate
life. He had recently come into the possession of Fast Castle,
an ancient possession of the Home family, which has been Immor
talised as the 'Wolf's Craig' of Sir Walter Scott's 'Bride of
Lammermoor.' * This fortallce is perched on the brink of a steep
and almost perpendicular rock, two hundred feet above the German
Ocean, near the southern entrance of the Firth of Forth. The rock
''' 'Fast Castle was surprised and taken, in 14J0, by Patrick Dunbar, son of the
Earl of March, when Thomas Holden the governor was made prisoner. Patrick Hume
of Fast Castle was one of the negotiators of the truce made betwixt Henry VII. and
James IV. Cuthbert Hume of Fast Castle fought at Flodden under the standard
of his chief, Lord Hume. In the year 1570, this fortress, then belonging to Lord
Hume, was attacked by two thousand English, under Sir William Drury, Marischal of
Berwick, to whom it surrendered. A party of fourteen English was then left in garrison
as a sufficient force to keep it against all Scotland, the situation being so strong.' —
Cardonnel's Antiquities.
The Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., after her marriage by proxy at
Lamberton, and on her way to join her husband, Jamss IV., lodged a night at Fast
Castle.

172 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
is nearly Isolated, and is only connected with the mainland by a
narrow isthmus. Logan was under the belief that this castle con
tained a vast quantity of hidden treasure, and a curious agreement
is still extant between him and Napier of Merchiston, in which that
celebrated philosopher consents to make search, by divination, on
condition that he was to obtain one-half of all the treasure that
should be discovered, and to have his expenses paid whatever
might be the result. It was in all probability Logan's possession
of this almost unapproachable stronghold that induced the Earl of
Gowrie to take such a man into his confidence. His retainer and
messenger. Laird Bower, was an old Borderer, who was trained up
under David Home of Manderston, commonly called ' Davie the
Devil,' and was a greater villain even than his master, but beseems
to have been most faithful to his trust. In one of his letters to
Gowrle Logan says, ' Your lordship may confide more in this old
man, the bearer thereof, my man Laird Bower, more nor In my
brother, for I lippen my life and all I have else in his hands, and I
trow he would not spare to ride to hell's yett (gate) to pleasure me.'
These remarkable letters throw a very distinct light on the cha
racter and object of the plot for the seizure of the King. The con
spirators consisted of the two Ruthvens, Logan, and one other person
styled right honourable, still unknown, who appears to have been a
person of rank, and was probably connected with the royal household.
The letters show that the conspirators were determined to revenge
the ' Machiavelian ' massacre of their dearest friends, and that they
especially anticipated an ample revenge for the death of Greysteil, as
they termed the late Earl of Gowrie. At the same time there can be
no doubt that they were actuated by the promptings of ambition as
well as the desire of revenge. The Ruthvens possessed vast power
in the country, and as Mr. Burton remarks, ' seizing upon or kid
napping a king, had in that day become almost a constitutional
method of effecting a change of ministry in Scotland.' The father
of the two young men had In this very way obtained possession for
a time of the Government. Logan was to be rewarded for his
services by a gift of the rich and beautiful barony of Dirleton, In East
Lothian, which had come into the Gowrle family through the mar
riage of the first Earl with the heiress of the Hallburtons. But the
Ruthvens flew at higher game, and aspired at supreme power in the
kingdom, which would over and above have enabled them to inflict
condign punishment on those who had been the instruments of

The Ruthvens of Gowrie. 173
their father's fate. The project was skilfully planned and narrowly
missed being successful. James was Induced to visit Gowrie House
accompanied by a slender train. The garden wall of the mansion
was washed by the rapid river Tay, and If the royal attendants had
followed without question the route which they were told the King
had taken across the Inch, there would have been nothing to prevent
the two brothers from carrying James bound and gagged to a boat,
which would speedily have conveyed him down to the German Ocean
and along the coast to the lonely and almost inaccessible stronghold
of Fast Castle. This appears to have been the first object of the
conspirators ; but how the King was to be treated on reaching that
fortallce is an absolute mystery, on which the letters of Logan cast
no light. James himself and many of his nobles had a strong
suspicion that the conspiracy which had so nearly proved successful
had been secretly encouraged by the English Queen, and it must
be admitted that various circumstances occurred at the time to
strengthen such a suspicion, though the researches of historical stu
dents have not yet discovered in the State Paper Office any documents
calculated to throw further light on this subject.

THE CRICHTONS OF FRENDRAUGHT.
|HE Crichtons are an ancient Scottish family, but their
origin is unknown. They derived their surname from
the barony of Crichton, In the county of Edinburgh. A
Thurstanus de Crichton is one of the witnesses to the
charter founding the Abbey of Holyrood, in the days of David I.,
and a Thomas de Crichton was one of the barons who swore
fealty to Edward I. in 1296. The family, however, appear to have
remained in the rank of minor barons, taking no prominent part
in public affairs till near the middle of the fifteenth century, when
they suddenly rose to almost supreme power In the State through the
great abilities and political address of Sir William Crichton, the
famous Chancellor of Scotland during the minority of James II.
This able and accomplished but unscrupulous statesman held in suc
cession the offices of Chamberlain to the King, Master of the
Household, and Governor of Edinburgh Castle before he became
Chancellor and Lord Crichton. His rivalry with Sir Alexander
Livingstone, the King's Governor, his feuds with the great house of
Douglas, and the prominent part which he took in the hasty execution
of Earl W^llllam and his brother in 144&, are familiar to all the readers
of Scottish history. In spite of various reverses of fortune, the Chan
cellor retained the confidence and favour of his sovereign until his
death in 1454, shortly before the complete success of his policy in the
triumph of the King over the Earl of Douglas and the total ruin of
the potent family of the ' Black Douglases.' The cousin of the
Chancellor was High Admiral of Scotland, and no doubt through
his influence was created Eari of Caithness in 1452. Lord Crichton's
grandson was the son-in-law of James II., and is said to have seduced
the sister of James III. in revenge for that monarch having dis
honoured his bed. He took part in the unsuccessful rebellion of the

LRICHTOXS.

The Crichtons of Frendraught. 175
Duke of Albany against his brodier King James, and was in con
sequence attainted for treason, and stripped of his tides and estates.
His magnificent castle of Crichton, on the banks of the north Tyne,
which Sir Walter Scott describes in most picturesque terms in his
poem of ' IMarmion,' was conferred upon Ramsay of Balmain, and
afterwards became the seat of the Hepburns. On the forfeiture of
the notorious Earl of Bothwell, Crichton fell to the Crown, and was
granted to Francis Stewart, Eari of Bothwell, who was a thorn in the
side of his kinsman, King James VI. It has since passed through
the hands of several proprietors.
Sir James Crichton, the fifth in descent from the forfeited peer,
inherited the barony of Frendraught, in Banffshire, which came
into the family through the wife of James, second Lord Crichton
— Lady Jane Dunbar, eldest daughter and co-heiress of James,
Earl of Moray. The grandson of this Sir James is the person impli
cated in the terrible tragedy called ' The Burning of Frendraught,'
which, as ]Mr. Burton remarks, has to the northern peasant as
distinct a tragic phase in history as the Sicilian Vespers or the
night of Sl Bartholomew has to the Italians or the French. The
barony of Frendraught Is situated In the heart of the country of the
great family of the Gordons, whose power had now become so for
midable that the Court endeavoured to counterbalance and weaken
the influence of the iMarquIs of Huntly, the head of the house of
Gordon, by cherishing and strengthening the Crichtons as territorial
rivals. As yet no open feud had broken out between the two houses,
but various disputes had arisen which seemed likely to lead to open
hostilities. On the 1st of January, 1630, an encounter had taken place between
the Crichtons, who were seeking to enforce a legal decision in their
favour, and a party of Gordons, who were resisting its execution, in
which several persons were hurt, and an important member of the
latter family, Gordon of Rothlemay, was killed.
The whole clan was, of course, roused to demand vengeance, but no
legal steps were taken to bring the guilty parties to justice, and the
Gordons, taking into their own hands the right of redress, began to
plunder the lands of Frendraught. The Crichtons were the weaker
party, and seemed about to be pushed to the wall, when the Prl-v}-
Council interfered for their protection, and sent a commission to
appease the strife which this untoward affair had excited. ^^ hen Sir
Robert Gordon (historian of the house of Gordon), and the other

176 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
commissioners reached the scene of action in May, 1630, they found a
notorious outlaw, named James Grant, and two hundred Highlanders
assembled at R othiemay, ready to lay waste Frendraught's estate with
fire and sword. The remonstrances of the commissioners would in
ail probability have been utterly disregarded but for the interference
of the Marquis of Huntly, the head of the house of Gordon. This
great feudal chief, then a man about seventy years of age, was anxious
that the feud should be ' compounded,' and in the end, through his
mediation, the Crichtons agreed to pay to the widow and children of
the slaughtered Rothlemay the sum of 50,000 merks (^2,915) as an
' assythment,' as It was called, or composition for his death.
Such a settlement for manslaughter was not uncommon at this
period, and was not considered in any way dishonourable. This
arrangement, it seems, was finally adjusted during a visit paid by
Frendraught to the Marquis of Huntly. ' And so,' says Sir Robert
Gordon, in his gossiping history, ' all parties having shaken hands in
the orchard of Strathbogie, they were heartily reconciled.'
A week before this visit a squabble had taken place between the
Crichtons and the Leslies, in which James Leslie, of Pitcaple, had
been shot through the arm by Robert Crichton, of Condlaw. Though
Frendraught had nothing to do with this outrage, and had shown his
displeasure by expelling Condlaw from his company, Leslie vowed
vengeance on him, and came to Strathbogie at the head of thirty
armed followers, with the Intention of attacking Frendraught as soon
as he should quit the shelter of Huntly's roof The Marquis, who seems
to have acted with great discretion, tried in vain to pacify his angry
visitor, and to convince him that the unfortunate Frendraught was
not to blame for his son's wound. Leslie quitted the castle breathing
out vengeance against Crichton, and in great displeasure with Hundy
himself Next day, when Frendraught was about to take his leave,
the Marquis made him aware of his danger, and offered to send an
escort to protect him on his way home from the Leslies, who were
known to be lying in wait for him. The escort was put under the
command of the young Lord Aboyne, the heir of the house of Gordon,
and Gordon of Rothlemay, who was In the castle, displaying one of
those traits of generosity which streak with light the darkest scenes
of our domestic history, overlooked the slaughter of his father, and
offered to join the convoy for Frendraught's protection. The
party were too strong to be attacked, and they reached Crichton's
mansion without molestation, and were hospitably entertained by the

The Crichtons of Frendraught. ii"]
master and mistress. Lord Aboyne and young Rothlemay prepared
to return at once, but in conformity with the customs of the age, Frend
raught and his wife earnestly entreated the party to stay for the night.
They consented, and after a merry supper at a late hour, the guests
were conducted to their bedrooms in the tall narrow old tower, which,
with a modern addition, formed the Castle of Frendraught. Lord
Aboyne and two servants — Robert Gordon, and his page, English
Will — occupied the first floor over a vault, through which there was a
round hole, immediately below his lordship's bed. On the second was
Rothlemay, also with some servants. On the third were accommodated
a Captain Rollock, Chalmers of Noth, and some more attendants. The
lowest storey or vault was arched with stone, but the three floors above
were constructed of timber.
About midnight a fire broke out in the tower, ' In so sudden and
furious a manner,' says Spalding, 'yea. In one clap, that the noble
Viscount, the Laird of Rothlemay, English Will, Colonel Wat —
another of Aboyme's servants — and other two, being six in number,
were cruelly burned and tormented to death without help or relief.'
Notwithstanding the rapidity with which the flames spread, Captain
Rollock and George Chalmers, who were on the third storey, and
Robert Gordon, who slept in the Viscount's chamber, escaped, and
Lord Aboyne might also have saved his life if he had not run up-stairs
to rouse his friend Rothlemay. While he was engaged in this generous
service, ' the timber and lifting of the chamber takes fire, so that none
of them could win down-stairs again.' The two hapless youths then
turned to the window which looked towards the courtyard, where they
were heard repeatedly calling, ' Help, help ! for God's cause ! ' But
the windows being stanchioned, and the access by the stair cut off by
the flames. It was impossible to render them any assistance, and
accordingly the six persons enclosed in the burning tower all perished
miserably in the flames. Aboyne was only twenty-five years of age,
and left a widow and one child ; Rothlemay was unmarried.
This terrible tragedy created a universal feeling of horror in the
public mind. It has been handed down In the traditions of the north
country from generation to generation, even to our own times. It
was celebrated in the Latin hexameters of the contemporary scholar,
Arthur Johnston, and was sung In the rude ballads of the common
people. One of these, still popular In Strathbogie and Buchan,
describes this tragical scene with great minuteness and considerable
pathos, and shows that popular feeling must have run strong against
VOL. I. o

178 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the Crichtons. It represents the doors and windows of the castle as
all secured, the wire windows or iron stanchions as firmly fastened,
and the keys as ' casten in the deep draw-well,' and Lady Frend
raught as expressing great pity for good Lord John but none for
Rothlemay. While Aboyne stood In this dreadful plight, most piteous to be seen,
his servant Gordon, in a state of frantic excitement, called upon him
to leap from the window, to which the answer of the unfortunate
nobleman was — ' " How can I leap ? how can I win ?
How can I come to thee ?
My head's fast in the wire window.
My feet burning from me."
He's ta'en the rings from aflf his hands.
And thrown them o'er the wall.
Saying, " Gie them to my lady fair.
Where she sits in my hall."
Then out he took his little psalm-book.
And verses sang he three ;
And at the end of every verse —
" God help our misery." '
' Thus,' says Spalding, ' died this noble Viscount of singular expec
tation, Rothlemay, a brave youth, and the rest by this doleful fire,
never enough to be deplored, to the great grief of their kin, parents,
and hail common people, especially to the noble Marquis ; nor yet the
grief of the Viscount's own dear lady, which she kept to her dying
day, disdaining after the company of men in her lifetime, following
the love of the turtle-dove. How soon the Marquis gets word he
directs some friends to take up their ashes and burnt bones which
they could get ; and as they could be kent he put Ilk ane's ashes and
bones Into ane chest, being six chests In the hail, which, with great
sorrow and care was had to the kirk of Grantullie and there buried.'
Instead of exhibiting the callous Indifference alleged by the ballad-
writer, Lord and Lady Frendraught were plunged into the deepest
grief by this calamity. On the morning after the fire, the Lady,
' busked In a white plaid and riding on a small nag, having a boy
leading her horse, without any more in her company, in this pitiful
manner she came weeping and mourning to the Bog, desiring entry
to speak with my lord (Huntly), but this was refused ; so she
returned back to her own house the same gate she came, comfortless.'
This churlish treatment was the more remarkable as Lady Frend-

The Crichtons of FrendraugJit. 179
raught, a daughter of the Eari of Sutheriand, was a cousin of the
Marquis and a Roman Catholic, and was therefore united to him by
the ties both of kindred and of a common faith.
The heads of the Gordon family soon after held a meeting, to
deliberate on this dismal tragedy, and came to the conclusion that
Frendraught and his wife had wilfully set fire to the tower for the
purpose of destroying the young Laird of Rothlemay. But not the
slightest evidence of guilt was ever brought against them, and they
could have had no adequate motive to tempt them to the commission
of such a crime, which must have endangered and actually brought
about the destruction of their own relatives and the son of their
protector. To say nothing of the extreme improbability that any
man of Frendraught's character and rank should have committed so
atrocious an act of villainy, It was Impossible for him to know before
hand that Aboyne and Rothlemay would accompany him home from
his visit to Strathbogie, and therefore their destruction could not
have been premeditated. Besides, not only his own family mansion,
but many valuable papers, and gold and silver articles to the value
of a hundred thousand marks (^5,830) perished in the flames.
Frendraught, finding that he was the object of general suspicion,
on account of the terrible tragedy popularly known as ' the burning
of Frendraught,' acted like a man conscious of innocence, and anxious
to clear himself from the charges brought against him. He waited
immediately on the Chancellor, Lord Dupplin, at Perth, and offered
to submit to trial. But It Is evident that the Privy Council were
satisfied that there were no grounds whatever for charging him with
the crime popularly imputed to him. More particular and apparently
better founded suspicion fell upon a gentleman named Meldrum, of
Redhill, who had once been an adherent of Frendraught, but had
taken deep offence at him, and had afterwards married a daughter of
Leslie of Pitcaple, whose revengeful threats had been the Indirect
cause of the catastrophe. He was accordingly apprehended and
brought to Edinburgh, along with John Losh, the master of the
household for Frendraught, and a servant girl named Wood, who
were alleged to be ' airt and pairt, or In the counsel of this fire.'
The young woman was subjected to ' slight and spare torture, for the
better trial and discovery of the truth of the matter,' but no reliable
evidence could be extracted from her, and on account of her prevari
cations, she viras scourged and banished the kingdom. Losh, who
had also been tortured, but to no purpose, was set at liberty ; but

r8o The Great Historic Famines of Scotland.
Meldrum was brought to trial a year later for his alleged concern in
the fire. It was proved that he had uttered deadly threatenings
against Frendraught, on account of the wound inflicted on his
brother-in-law, young Leslie of Pitcaple, and that he and Leslie's
brother, 'gave out openly that they would burn Frendraught's
castle.' He was, therefore, found guilty and executed, asserting his
innocence to the last. It was supposed that he had set fire to the
tower in the belief that the Laird slept there, and that he had
effected his purpose by thrusting combustibles and fire through three
slits in the wall. But though suspicions were strong against Mel
drum, no satisfactory evidence of his guilt was ever adduced. The
wall of the tower was ten feet thick, no trace of combustibles was
found, or at least brought forward on the trial, and It was proved that
the accused had on that night been at Pitcaple, ten or twelve miles
distant. Four commissioners, appointed by the Privy Council,
examined the ruins of the castle with great care. In company with
several noblemen and gentlemen of the district. They came to the
conclusion that ' the fire must have been raised by set purpose by
man's hands ' within the ground vault of the tower, where there
were marks of it in three several places, one of these being directly
under the round hole In the roof of the vault which communicated
with the apartment above. They could not determine whether it
was wilful or accidental ; but they felt assured ' that no hand without
could have raised the fire without aid from within.' On the whole,
it seems highly probable that this deplorable catastrophe was the
result of an accident, and that the rapid progress of the fire, upon
which much stress was laid at the time, was simply owing to the
construction of the tower, which, being tall and narrow, would cause
the flames to rage with all the fierceness of a furnace.
The judicial proceedings adopted by the Privy Council served In
no degree to allay the public feeling, which waxed stronger and
stronger against the unfortunate Crichtons. ' It Inflicted on them,'
says Burton, ' a strange mysterious punishment, which seemed like a
blight or judgment of a higher power, yet was in reality a simple and
natural consequence of human conduct. They were deserted. It
was a natural result of this doom that they should become the victims
of the "broken clans" of Highland reivers. Against these free
booters, the deadliest enemies to each other among the Lowlanders
would for the time combine, but no one would take part with the
Crichtons. The marauders hovered round them like vultures round

The Crichtons of Frendraught. i8i
a wounded man. They came from all parts of the mountain districts,
and met at Frendraught as at a common centre where the business
of all lay. A field of prey so inviting tempted the Macgregors from
the far-off banks of Loch Katrine, and they appeared under their
leader Gllderoy, a robber-chief of European celebrity.' Thither, too,
came the Clan Cameron, under its chief Allan M'lan Dhui, the Mac-
donalds of Glengarry and Clanranald, the Clan Lachlan, and other
plunderers, with the keen scent of the eagles flocking to the carcase.
There can be no doubt, however, that the inroads of these marauders
were instigated by Huntly and the chief men of his clan, and promi
nent amongst these was the Lady Rothlemay, eager to revenge the
death of her husband and her son. Frendraught did not passively
submit to these assaults and robberies, but repeatedly mustered his
retainers, dispersed the robbers, and recovered the spoil. He was
ultimately obliged, however, to leave his estates to the mercy of his
enemies, and to put himself under the protection of the public author
ities at Edinburgh. As soon as he had quitted the district a great
number of the heads of the house of Gordon assembled openly to
avenge the death of Rothlemay, plundered the lands of Frendraught,
and even ventured to hang one of his retainers whom they took for a
spy. The quantity of plunder they carried off seems almost fabulous,
and shows both the wealth of the laird and the fertility of his estates.
A herald was sent by the Privy Council, in November, 1634, to sum
mon the Instigators and perpetrators of these outrages at the market-
crosses of the northern burghs, and it was considered a somewhat
remarkable triumph of the law that he was allowed to discharge this
duty without receiving any injury. ' The herald,' says an old chron
icler, ' was blythe to win away with his life.' The Sheriff of Banff, by
the orders of the Council, proceeded with a force of two hundred men
against the outlaws who were plundering the Crichton estates ; but
on reaching Rothlemay, where they had taken up their residence, and
had been hospitably entertained by the lady, the Sheriff found that
they had left this stronghold two hours before his arrival, and as soon
as he retired they came back again and resumed their outrages. In
the end the Marquis of Huntiy was compelled to travel In the midst
of a snowstorm to Edinburgh, a journey which occupied nearly four
weeks, to answer for his conduct, and on his appearance before the
Council he obtamed his liberty only on condition that he would under
take to repress the attacks on Frendraught, and to give security
under a penalty of ^100,000 Scots that the luckless laird and his

1 82 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
tenants should be unharmed. In the following year (1636) Lady
Rothlemay, after a long detention under caution, was brought to trial
for giving encouragement to the Frendraught spoilers ; but the charge,
after being twice delayed, was finally allowed to fall to the ground.
After the lands of the Crichtons had thus been plundered for succes
sive years it is no matter of surprise that their property should have
gradually wasted away, and that it should be noted in a manuscript
written in 1720 that the family of Frendraught, which once possessed
three parishes — Forgue, Inverkiethny, and Aberchirder — was by
these Inroads of their enemies reduced to poverty, and In seventy
years was ' stripped of all and extinguished.'*
One of the younger sons of Frendraught was killed by Adam
Gordon In 1642. James Crichton, his eldest son, took a prominent
part on the royal side in the Great Civil War, and was created a peer
In his father's lifetime, under the title of Viscount Frendraught. He
accompanied the great Marquis of Montrose in his last unfortunate
expedition. In March, 1650, and was with him at Invercharron, In
Ross-shire, when he was defeated by Colonel Strachan. When the
Marquis was wounded and had his horse shot under him, he was
generously mounted by Lord Frendraught, who was also severely
wounded and taken prisoner. Shortiy after, this luckless head of a
luckless house anticipated a public execution by a death in ' the old
Roman way.' His elder son and his grandson died young, and his
younger son, Lewis, the fourth and last viscount, was attainted by
Parliament for his adherence to the exiled monarch, James VII., and
died without issue in 1698.
A son of Crichton of Naughton, a cadet of the family, became Bishop
of Dunkeld in 1525, and was afterwards Lord Privy Seal and an
Extraordinary Lord of Session. He Is the prelate of whom the well-
known story is told, that he remonstrated with Dean Ferret, the
martyr, respecting his practice of preaching every Sunday, observing
with great simplicity that by so doing he might make the people think
that the prelates ought to preach likewise. ' It is enough for you,' he
added, 'when you find any good Epistie or any good Gospel that setteth
forth the liberty of the holy Church to preach that, and let the rest
alone.' Ferret replied that he had read both the Old and New
Testaments, and had never found an ill Gospel or Epistie in any of
them, but if his lordship would, point them out, he would preach the
good and omit the evil. ' Nay, Brother Thomas, that I cannot do,'
¦* Spalding's Troubles, i. Appendix; Domestic Annals of Scotland, ii. pp. 45-50, 76-79.

The Crichtons of Frendraught. 183
said the Bishop, ' for I thank God I never knew either the Old or
New Testaments, but only my breviary.' From this saying arose a
common proverb : ' Ye are like the Bishop of Dunkeld, who knew
neither the old nor the new law.'
Another branch of this ill-fated race settied in Dumfries-shire,
and from It sprang that famous prodigy of learning, the 'admirable
Crichton,' whose tragical death, in the twenty-second year of his age,
is known to all scholars.* William de Crichton married one of the
two daughters and co-heiresses of Robert de Ross, and obtained with
her half of the barony of Sanquhar. The other half was subsequently
purchased by his successors. Sir Robert de Crichton, a successor of
this William, had charters of the barony of Sanquhar and the lands of
Eliock, and of the office of Sheriff of Dumfries-shire in 1464, and
of the office of Coroner of Nithsdale in 1468. His eldest son. Sir
Robert Crichton of Sanquhar, was elevated to the peerage in 1487
by James III. as a reward for his services in assisting to defeat the
Earl of Douglas and the Duke of Albany at Lochmaben in 1484.
The sixth Lord Sanquhar of this line was hanged for the murder of
one Turner, a fencing-master, who had accidentally put out one of his
lordship's eyes with a foil. Seven years after this incident had
occurred. Lord Sanquhar was on a visit to the Court of France, and
was casually asked by Henry IV. how he had lost his eye. ' By the
thrust of a sword,' replied his lordship, not caring to enter into parti
culars. The King, supposing this accident to have been the result of a
duel, immediately remarked, ' Does the man yet live ? ' This remark so
acted upon the morose and anti-social disposition of the peer that on
his return to England he hired two men to assassinate Turner. On
the perpetration of the foul deed (nth May, 1612) the assassins fled,
but were speedily captured, brought to trial, and executed. Lord
Sanquhar absconded on the capture of his accomplices, but a reward
of ^1,000 was offered for his apprehension, and he was shortly after
taken and brought to trial in the King's Bench, Westminster Hall.
* An interesting notice of this prodigy of learning and ability has just been dis
covered in the archives of Venice. In the Register of the Council of Ten, there
is the following entry under A.D. 1580, 19th August :—' A young Scotchman, Giacomo
Cretonio, of very noble lineage, and from what has been clearly seen by divers proofs
and trials made with very learned and scientific men, and especially by a Latin oration
which he delivered this morning extempore in our college, of most rare and singular
abihty. In such wise, that not being above twenty, or but little over, he a-stoands and
surprises everybody. Wherefore it will be put to the ballot, that of the monies in the
chest of the Council there be given to the said Crichton, a Scottish gentleman, one
hundred golden crowns. Ayes, 22 ; noes, 2 ; neutrals, 4.'

1 84 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
He was capitally convicted, on his own confession, and was hanged on
a gibbet in Great Palace Yard on the 29th of June. His peerage
devolved upon a distant relative, who, in 1622, was created Viscount
Ayr, and In 1633 Earl of Dumfries — titles which have now passed,
through the female line, into the possession of the Marquis of Bute.
The name of the ill-fated Crichtons, once widely diffused throughout
Scotland, has thus disappeared from the roll of the peerage, and
almost from the ranks of the landed gentry. Their extensive estates
are in the hands of strangers. Crichton Castle, their ancient family
residence, splendid even in ruins —
' On the steep of the green dale of Tyne,
Now but pens the lazy steer and sheep,'
as Sir Walter Scott complained sixty years ago ; Sanquhar Castle is
reduced to a fragment of an ugly, blackened ' keep ; ' and of Frend
raught Tower, the scene of the fatal tragedy, which stood In a deep
and narrow glen, amid old and gloomy trees, not a vestige remains.

THE MACKENZIES OF SEAFORTH.
iHE clan Mackenzie, of which the Earls of Seaforth were the
chiefs, has been conspicuous In Scottish history from the
days of King Robert Bruce down to the present century.
As is usually the case with Highland families, there is a
difference of opinion respecting their origin. According to one
account, the Seaforth family are descended from a younger son
of Colin of the Aird, progenitor of the powerful Earls of Ross,
and their designation was derived from Kfxneth, the grandson
of their founder, who received from David II. a charter of the
lands of Kintail In 1362. This view of the origin of the Mac
kenzies is corroborated, and, Mr. Skene says, completely set at
rest by a manuscript of date 1450 — the oldest Gaelic genealogical
account on record — which states that the Mackenzies are descended
from a certain Gllleon Og, or Colin the Younger, a son of Gilleon
na h' Airde, the ancestor of the Rosses, and consequently must always
have formed an Integral part of the ancient and powerful native Gaelic
tribe of Ross. The Mackenzies held their lands of the Earls of
Ross until the forfeiture of those potent and turbulent chiefs. * On
the other hand, an old and cherished, though erroneous, tradition
represents them as having derived their origin from Colin Fitzgerald,
a cadet of the great house of Geraldlne in Ireland, who, having been
driven from his native country, took refuge in Scotland, and, as a reward
for his valour at the battie of Largs, received from Alexander a grant
of the barony of Kintail. f He was also appointed governor of the
,* SeeM.T.Skerie's Highlands of Seotland,pp. 223-5, and Celtic Magazi)te, iii. p'p.^i-g.
' 't In confirmation of this statement, a charter has been produced, professing to be
dated at Kincardine, on the 9th of January in the sixteenth year of the reign of
Alexander III. But Mr. Skene declares that 'it bears the most palpable marks of
having been a forgery of later date, and one by no means happy in tlie execution.' He
is supported in this opinion by Mr. Cosmo Innes. SeeOrig/ncs ParocJiiales, ii. pp. 392-3.

1 86 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
royal fortress of Ellandonan. According to a legend handed down
from early times, an important service rendered to Alexander III. by
Kenneth, son of this Colin, greatiy advanced If it did not lay the
foundation of his fortunes. That monarch, it is said, on one occasion
held a royal hunting-match in the Forest of Mar. It was at the
season when the deer are fiercest, and the King, accidentally separated
from his attendants, was exposed to imminent peril by a stag which
assailed him, when young Kenneth hastened to the rescue of the
King, exclaiming ' Cudich an Righ ! Cudich an Righ ! ' and sprang
between Alexander and the deer, with his naked sword In his hand,
and severed Its head from its body at one stroke. The brave youth
was immediately attached to the royal service and liberally rewarded
with grants of land.. The Caberfae (the deer's head) was taken as
his crest, and Cudich an Righ became his motto and that of his
descendants.* Kenneth's maternal grandfather, it is said, was a powerful native
chief, designated Coinneach Grumach — Kenneth the Gloomy or
Grim — who had an only daughter, a lady of great beauty. According
to the traditions referred to above, she was courted by Colin Fitz
gerald, but Coinneach Grumach refused to bestow the hand of his
daughter on her IrLsh suitor, intending to marry her to a member
of his own clan — the Mathesons — in fulfilment of a vow which
he had made. The gallant Irishman, however, as frequently happens
still, succeeded In gaining the lady's affections and In persuading
her to elope with him. The clan disliked the alliance as much as
did their chief, and they attempted to carry off by force the eldest
son of the heiress from Ellandonan that he might be brought up
under his grandfather's roof In the struggle that ensued the infant
was killed, but the second son, who was named after the old chief
— Coinneach, or Kenneth — was given up, as the heir-apparent, to his
grandfather's management. According to the traditions of the clan,
Coinneach Grumach was subsequently assassinated through a per
fidious plot of the chief of Glengarry, with whom he was at feud, and
his family, with the greater part of the clan, were cut off at the same
time, having been murdered by the Macdonalds, in cold blood, in
their beds. Young Kenneth alone escaped through the affection and
fidelity of his nurse. The quarrel contrived to be fastened on Coin-
* It is quite possible that the tradition respecting the service which the ancestor of
the Mackenzies rendered to the King may be substantially correct, though he was
certainly the son of Colin of the Aird and not of Colin Fitzgerald.

MACKENZIES OF SEAFORTH.

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. 187
neach Grumach, in consequence of which his tribe was massacred, was
whether a certain dish presented at a solemn banquet was goat's flesh
or lamb's flesh. ' One might imagine,' It has been said, ' the whole
story fabulous or a stroke of satire upon clan feuds, did we not know
that when the world was five hundred years older a Highland chief
lost his life In a dispute about the proper mode of carving a duck.'
Young Kenneth, thus saved from the exterminating vengeance of
the Macdonalds, became the ancestor of the house of Seaforth and the
founder of Brahan Castle, the family seat of the Mackenzies, by whom
it was regarded with such reverence that the heads of the different
branches of the clan at one time forcibly interfered to prevent the
Earl of Seaforth from pulling down the roof-tree of Kenneth I.
Whatever may have been Kenneth's descent, there can be no doubt
that he was a powerful and popular chief, and held the castle of
Ellandonan against his 'overlord,' William, third Earl of Ross, who
endeavoured to carryit by storm, but was defeated with great slaughter.
The Mackenzies embraced the patriotic side in the War of Indepen
dence, and Kenneth's son John Is said to have sheltered Robert
Bruce after his defeat by Macdougall of Lome, at Dalreigh, near
Tyndrum. There is good reason to believe that the fierce enmity
which afterwards existed between the Mackenzies and the Earls of
Ross, who, like other powerful chiefs of Argyllshire and the Western
Isles, were the determined foes of Bruce, originated in the part which
the former took in the struggle for the Independence of Scotland ; and
as a reward for their loyalty the house of Kintail received liberal
grants of the forfeited possessions of their feudal superiors, and ulti
mately absorbed the ancient inheritance of all the original possessors
of the district. The Mackenzies, by warlike feats or strokes of policy,
and by fortunate marriages, became numerous and powerful. Strath-
conan, Strathbran, Strathgarve, and Strathpeffer, which had belonged
to the Earl of Ross, the sunny braes of Eastern Ross, the fertile
church lands of Chanonry, the barony of Pluscarden, in the fertile
low country of Moray, and even the distant and extensive Island of
Lewis (originally the property of the Macleods) were added to the
Caberfae possessions. It Is stated by a contemporary writer that
about the beginning ofthe seventeenth century ' all the Highlands and
Isles, from Ardnamurchan to Strathnairn, in Sutherland, were either
the Mackenzies' property or under their vassalage, some few excepted.'
It is a curious circumstance that the first six chiefs of Kintail had each
only one lawful son to succeed the father. They seem all to have

t88 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
borne distinctive sobriquets from some personal peculiarity or inci
dent in their history. One was named ' Kenneth of the Nose,' in
consequence of the great size of his nasal organ. Another was called
' Black Murdoch,' from his complexion. ' Murdoch of the Bridge '
was so designated from the circumstance that ' his mother, being with
child of him, had been saved after a fearful fall from Conon Bridge
into the water of Conon.' ' Alastair lonraic,' ' Alexander the Up
right,' was so called 'for his righteousness' — an uncommon quality
among the Highland chiefs in those days. 'Coinneach a Bhlair,'
that is, ' Kenneth of the Battle,' obtained his cognomen from
the distinguished part he took in the sanguinary battle of Blair-
na-Parc with the Macdonalds In 1491. 'Coinneach na Cuirc,' or
' Kenneth of the Whittle,' was so called from his skill In carving
on wood.*
Like the other Highland septs, the Mackenzies were involved in
constant feuds with their neighbours, and they fought many bloody
battles for supremacy in Ross with the Macdonalds of the Isles,
the Macleods, the Munros, and the Macdonnells of Glengarry, in
which they were generally victorious. They succeeded at last in
driving the Macdonalds, who were once all-powerful there, com
pletely out of Ross-shire, and became, next to the Campbells, the
most powerful clan In the West Highlands. Though they frequently
bearded the sovereign himself when he attempted to bring the High
land tribes under subjection to law and order, they were ever
ready to take the field at his call against ' our auld enemies of Eng
land.' They fought under the national banner at Bannockburn,
Otterburn, Flodden, and Pinkie. Cailean Cam, or One-eyed Colin,
the eleventh Chief of Kintail, supported the cause of Queen Mary,
and took part in the battle of Langslde, which ruined her Interests in
Scotland. He obtained a remission for this offence from Regent
Moray, and was afterwards made a Privy Councillor by James VI.
His eldest son, Kenneth, twelfth chief, was created a peer, in 1609,
by the titie of Lord Mackenzie of Kintail. An earldom was con
ferred upon his elder son Colin, second Baron Mackenzie, by King
James in 1623. On Colin's death in 1633, without male issue, his tides
and estates devolved upon his half brother, George, second Earl of
Seaforth — a nobleman fickle and changeable in his views and unstable
in his character and conduct. He was at first opposed to the uncon
stitutional and high-handed attempt of Charles I. to force a new
* Celtic Mamzine, iii.

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. 189
liturgy upon Scotiand, and in 1639 took the command of a large body
of Covenanters assembled north of the Spey. He soon, however,
became lukewarm in the cause, and in 1640 was imprisoned as a
suspected royalist. In the following year he joined Montrose, who
had now seceded from the Covenanting party, and accompanied him
to Elgin with the avowed object of supporting the King, to whom he
took an oath of allegiance. Shortiy after he again joined the ranks
of the Covenanters, and excused himself in a letter to the Committee of
Estates by alleging that he had gone over to the royalists through fear
of Montrose, but declaring that he would abide by ' the good cause to
his death.' Seaforth took the field against the royalist commander at
the head of five thousand horse and foot, and was present at the battle
of Auldearn, where the Covenanting forces were defeated. He is said
to have had an interview with Montrose after the battle, and to have
agreed to join him in supporting the royal cause against the Parliament.
Nothing, however, came of this agreement, for Montrose, having soon
after been ordered by the King to lay down his arms, left the king
dom, and Seaforth was excommunicated by the General Assembly for
holdine Intercourse with an ' excommunicated traitor,' as Montrose was
termed, and was threatened with forfeiture by the Parliament. He
was kept In prison for two years, and was with much difficulty released
from the sentence of excommunication. After the execution of the
King, In 1649, the Earl repaired to Charles II. in Holland, and
was nominated by him Principal Secretary of State for Scotland.
' He died in banishment,' says the Earl of Cromarty, ' before he sawe
ane end of his King's and his country's calamities or of his own
injuries.' His vacillating and time-serving career came to an end in
1651. He died at Schiedam, in Holland, in the forty-third year of
his age, and was succeeded by his eldest son —
Kenneth, third Earl of Seaforth, who, for his lofty stature,
was known amone the Highlanders as Coinneach Mor. Like his
father, he devoted himself to the service of Charles II. during his
exile. After the battle of Worcester, in 1651, he was kept a close
prisoner till the Restoration. He was excepted from Cromwell's
Act of Grace and Pardon in 1654, and his estates were forfeited
without any provision being allowed from them for his wife and
children. After he regained his liberty, he received a commission
ofthe Sheriffship of Ross, 23rd of April, 1662. He died in Decem
ber, 1678, and was succeeded by his eldest son —

I go The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Kenneth, fourth Earl of Seaforth. The sufferings which his
father had undergone In the cause of the Stewarts did not pre
vent him from perilling life and fortune at the Revolution of 1688
on behalf of the expelled monarch, for whose cause he suffered
repeated imprisonment and, ultimately, died in exile. King James
created him Marquis of Seaforth, a title which was, of course, not
recognised by the British Government. His elder son —
William, fifth Earl, known among the Highlanders as 'William
Dubh,' was brought up in France, and imbibed strong Jacobite feelings
from his parents. When the Earl of Mar raised his standard at Brae
mar, in 1 715, Seaforth was one of the nobles who repaired to the
Jacobite gathering. He lost no time in calling forth his clan, but he
was detained for some time in the north by the Earl of Sutherland and
the chiefs of the Mackays and Munros, until his followers amounted to
three thousand men, when he attacked and dispersed the Whig clans
who had hindered his march to the south to join the Earl of Mar. On
Seaforth's arrival at Perth, the incompetent Jacobite leader made
up his mind to proceed towards the Lowlands, a movement which led
to the battle of Sheriffmuir. The Earl fought at the head of his clan,
and four of his kinsmen, who had greatly distinguished themselves
in the conflict, were slain. After the Chevalier St. George quitted
the country, Seaforth retired to France. He was attainted by Act of
Parliament, and his estates forfeited. In 17 19, along with the
Marquis of Tullibardine and the Earl Marischal, aided by three
hundred Spanish soldiers, he made another and final attempt to
' bring the auld Stewarts back again ; ' but he was dangerously
wounded in an encounter with the Government troops at the Pass
of Strachell, near Glenshiel, In the midst of his own estates, and was
compelled to abandon the enterprise. The Highlanders retired
during the night to the mountains, carrying their wounded chief
along with them, and the Spaniards next morning surrendered them
selves prisoners of war. Seaforth was carried on board a vessel
which lay off the coast, and, along with Marischal and Tullibardine
and the other principal officers, made his escape to the Western
Islands, and afterwards found his way to France.
The Earl was attainted by Act of Parliament, and his estates were
forfeited ; but all the efforts of the Government to penetrate Into
Kintail or to collect any rent in that remote district were baffled
by the tenantry, ' the wild Macraes,' the faithful vassals of the house

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. 191
of Seaforth, under whom they had fought in many a bloody conflict
from the battie of Bannockburn down to the Jacobite rebellion. The
soldiers who were sent on several occasions to take possession of the
forfeited estates were encountered and driven back with some loss of
life, and the attempt was at length relinquished in despair. The
Commissioners of Inquiry reported, in 1725, that they had not sold
the estate of William, Earl of Seaforth, ' not having been able
to obtain possession, and, consequently, to give the same to a
purchaser.' The rents of the Seaforth estates in Kintail were,
however, duly collected among the devoted clansmen, and, by
some means or other, regularly transmitted to their exiled chief in
France. The person who managed the Seaforth estates and drew
the rents for ten years during the Earl's absence was Donald Mur-
chison, who had acted as lieutenant-colonel of the regiment which
Seaforth led to fight for the Stewarts in 1715. He was the son of
the Castellan of Ellandonan, but had been bred a writer In Edin
burgh, and had, for a short time, acted as factor to Sir John Preston,
of Preston Hall, in Midlothian. He is described in the notes to a
poem published In 1737 as 'a kinsman and servant to the Earl of
Seaforth, bred a writer, a man of small stature, but full of spirit and
resolution.' He headed the clansmen who defeated the royal troops
at the pass of Aa-na-Mulloch, near the end of Loch Affaric, and
compelled the royal commissioner who accompanied them, and
whose son was killed in the conflict, to give up his papers, and to
promise, under a penalty of five hundred pounds, not to officiate again
as factor on the forfeited estates. The tenantry, without hesitation,
continued to pay their rents to Donald for the benefit of their exiled
and forfeited chief, setting at naught all apprehension of being com
pelled to pay the money a second time to the Commissioner.
General Wade, writing a report to the King, In 1725, which is
published in the Appendix to Burt's ' Letters,' says, 'The rents continue
to be collected by one Donald Murchison, a servant of the late
Earl's, who annually remits or carries the same to his master Into
France. The tenants, when in a condition, are said to have sent him
free gifts in proportion to their several circumstances, but are now a
year and a-half In arrear of rent. The receipts he gives to the
tenants are as deputy-factor to the Commissioners of the forfeited
estates, which pretended power he extorted from the factor (appointed
by the said Commissioners to collect these rents for the use of the
public), whom he attacked with above four hundred armed men, as

ig2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
he was going to enter upon the said estate, having with him a party
of thirty of your Majesty's troops. The last year this Murchison
marched In a public manner to Edinburgh to remit eight hundred
pounds to France for his master's use, and remained fourteen days
there unmolested.'
Donald visited Edinburgh a second time about the end of August,
1725. Lockhart of Carnwath, writing to the Chevalier St. George,
mentions, amongst other news, that Murchison had come to Edin
burgh on his way to France. They had missed each other ; but
Lockhart states that he expected to see him in a day or two at his
country house, where he would get time to talk fully with him. ' In
the meantime,' he adds, ' I know, from one that saw him, that he has
taken up and secured all the arms of value in Seaforth's estate,
which he thought better than to trust them to the care and prudence
of the several owners ; and the other chieftains, I hear, have done
the same.'
It is very painful to relate that Seaforth proved unworthy of the
devotion which his heroic clansmen had shown to him, and treated
Murchison with shameful Ingratitude. When the Earl obtained pos
session of his estates, which Donald had been the means of preserving
for him, he discountenanced and neglected him. He had promised
Murchison a handsome reward for his services, but, according to the
traditional account, he offered him only a small farm called Bundalloch,
which pays at this day to the proprietor no more than sixty pounds a
year ; or another place opposite to Inverinate House, of about the
same value. Donald refused these paltry offers and shortly after left
Seaforth's country. His noble spirit pined away under this treat
ment, and he died in the prime of Hfe, near Conon, of a broken heart.
On his deathbed Seaforth went to see him, and asked how he was.
' Just as you will be In a short time,' he replied, and then turned
his back. They never met again. He was buried in a remote little
churchyard on Cononside, in the parish where the late Sir Roderick
I. Murchison, the distinguished geologist, great-grandson of John
Murchison, Donald's brother, has erected an appropriate monument
to the memory of the devoted clansman.*
Lockhart mentions that after the passing of the Disarming Act of
1725, General Wade was waited on by a body of about fifty gentle
men of the name of Mackenzie, headed by Lord Tarbat, Sir Colin
Mackenzie of Coul, and Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Cromarty, who
* See Chambers's Domestic Annals of Scotland, iii. pp. 459 — 71.

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. 193
informed the General that the rent of Seaforth's tenants and vassals
had for several years been uplifted by Donald Murchison, and that
they were not able to pay them a second time, but if they were dis
charged of these rents they would pay them in future to his Majesty's
receiver for the use of the public, deliver up their arms, and live
peaceably. Wade at once acceded to this request, and informed the
deputation that if the clan fulfilled what they had promised, he would
use his influence in the next session of Parliament to procure a pardon
for their chief and his friends. Accordingly, on the 25 th of August,
1725, the General, accompanied by the deputation and a small body
of dragoons, proceeded to Castie Brahan, where the clan marched in
procession along the great avenue that leads to the mansion, and laid
down their arms in the courtyard. But it turned out that all the
weapons of any value had been .secreted by Donald Murchison, and
only the worn-out and worthless arms were given up.
General Wade was as good as his word, and his intercessions on
behalf of Seaforth were successful. In July, 1726, the Earl was
relieved by George I. from the penal consequences of his attainder
so far as he was personally concerned, and George II. made him a
grant of the arrears of feu duties due to the Crown out of his forfeited
estates. Seaforth died in the island of Lewis in 1 740.
Kenneth Mackenzie, his eldest son, who held the courtesy title of
Fortrose, was elected member of Parliament for the burgh of Inverness
in 1 74 1, and for Ross-shire in 1747 and again in 1751. The Seaforth
estates. Including the lands of Kintail and the barony of Islandonaan,
were sold by the Crown in 1741, and were purchased on behalf of
Lord Fortrose for the sum of ^25,909 8s. 3-gd., under the burden of
an annuity of ;^i,ooo to the Countess-Dowager of Seaforth. When
the Jacobite rebellion broke out in 1745, warned by the sufferings
which adherence to the cause of the exiled family had already brought
upon his ancestors, he kept aloof from the ill-fated enterprise. As a
reward of his loyalty at that critical period, the honours of his house
were in part afterwards restored. He died in London, in 1761, and
was succeeded by his only son —
Kenneth Mackenzie, who from his small stature was commonly
known among the Highlanders as the ' Littie Lord.' He entered the
army at an early age, and in recompense of his father's support of the
Government during the troubles of 1 745 and his own loyalty, he was
vol. I. p

194 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
raised to the peerage in 1766, by the title of Viscount Fortrose and
Baron Ardelve, in the kingdom of Ireland, and in 1771 he was created
Earl of Seaforth, In the peerage ofthe same kingdom. In 1771 he
raised a regiment of eleven hundred and thirty men from his own clan,
being five hundred of that number the tenantry on his own estates,
a large portion of whom were Macraes of Kintail. The regiment
was designated the 78th or Ross-shire Regiment of Highlanders, and
Seaforth himself was appointed their colonel. While they were lying
at Leith a mutiny broke out among them on account of the Infringe
ment of their engagements, and some pay and bounty which they
afleged was due them. They refused to embark for the East
Indies, and marching out of Leith with pipes playing, took up a
position on Arthur's Seat, where they remained for several days.
After , a good deal of negotiation an arrangement was made for
the removal of their grievances, and they marched down the hill
with pipes playing and the Earls of Seaforth and Dunmore and
General Skene at their head. They entered Leith and went on board
the transport with the greatest readiness and cheerfulness. The
intention of sending them to India was in the meantime abandoned.
After spending some time in Guernsey and Jersey, they embarked
for that country In June, 1781, but suffered so much from scurvy
during the voyage that before they arrived at Madras no fewer than
two hundred and forty-seven of them died. Their colonel and chief
himself died before they reached St. Helena, to the great grief of his
clansmen, who were well aware that it was for their sake alone that
he had resolved to sacrifice the comforts of home, and to encounter the
privations of a long voyage and the dangers of military service in a
tropical climate.
As Lord Fortrose left an only daughter, but no male Issue, his
tides became extinct. In 1779, finding his property heavily encum
bered with debts from which he was unable to extricate himself, he
conveyed his estates to his cousin and heir- male. Colonel Thomas
F. Mackenzie Humberston, on payment of ^100,000. The Colonel
was the great-grandson of Kenneth, fourth Earl of Seaforth, and the
eldest son of Major Mackenzie by the daughter and heiress of
Matthew Humberston, of Lincolnshire, and assumed that name on
succeeding to his mother's estate. He held the rank of lieutenant-
colonel in the 78th regiment, and succeeded to its command on the
death of Seaforth. On his arrival in India he was appointed to a
separate command on the Malabar coast, where he greatly distinguished

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. 195
himself, and inflicted a severe defeat on Tippoo Sahib. In 1782 he
served under General Mathews against Hyder Ali, and when that
officer was superseded for misconduct and incapacity, he accompanied
Colonel Macleod, who was appointed to succeed him, when he sailed
from Bombay to assume the chief command. On their voyage the
sloop Ranger, in which they had embarked, was attacked by a squadron
of large ships of war belonging to the Mahrattas. All the officers on
board were either killed or wounded, among them the gallant young
chief of the Mackenzies, who was shot through the body, and died of
the wound at Geriah, a seaport of the Mahrattas, 30th April, in the
twenty-eighth year of his age. Dying unmarried, he was succeeded
in his estates by his brother —
Francis Humberston Mackenzie, twenty-first chief of the Mac
kenzies, who was created a peer of Great Britain in 1797 by the title
of Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail. Under this
nobleman, who was in many respects a very able and remarkable
man, occurred the predicted downfall of this great historical house,
which was attended with circumstances as singular as they were pain
ful. ' The last Baron of Kintail, Francis, Lord Seaforth,' says Sir
Walter Scott, ' was a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must
have made for himself a lasting reputation had not his political exer
tions been checked by painful natural infirmities.' Though a severe
attack of scarlet fever when he was in his twelfth year deprived him
of hearing, and for a time almost of speech, he was distinguished for
his extensive attainments as well as for his great intellectual activity.
He took a lively interest in all questions of art and science, and espe
cially in natural history, and displayed both his liberality and his love
of art by his munificence to Sir Thomas Lawrence in the early straits
and struggles of that great painter, and also by his patronage of other
artists. Before his elevation to the peerage, Lord Seaforth repre
sented Ross-shire In Pariiament for a good many years, and was
afterwards nominated Lord-Lieutenant of that county. During the
revolutionary war with France he raised a splendid regiment of Ross-
shire Highlanders, the second that had been raised among his clan,
of which he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and he ultimately
attained the rank of lieutenant-general in the army. He held for six
years the office of Governor of Barbadoes, and by his firmness and
even-handed justice he succeeded in putting an end to the practice of
slave-killing, which was at that time not unfrequent in the island, and

196 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
was deemed by the planters a venial offence to be punished only by
a small fine. He held high office also in Demerara and Berbice.
Lord Seaforth was the happy father of four sons and six daughters,
all of high promise, and It seemed as If he were destined to raise the
illustrious house of which he was the head to a height of honour and
power greater than it had ever yet attained. But the closing years of
this accomplished nobleman were darkened by calamities and suffer
ings of the severest kind. The mismanagement of his estates, com
bined with his personal extravagance, Involved him in inextricable
embarrassments. When he exposed to sale the fine estate of Lochalsh
his tenants unanimously addressed to him the pointed and significant
remonstrance, ' Reside amongst us and we will pay your debts.' His
lordship's improvidence, however, rendered this expedient hopeless.
A part of the barony of Kintail, the ' gift-land ' of the house, was
next disposed of, a step which the Seaforth clansmen in vain endea
voured to avert by offering to buy in the land for him that it might
not pass* from the family. In deference to this strong feeling on the
part of the clan, the intended sale of the estate was deferred for about
two years. The Earl had previous to this time been bereaved of
three of his sons, but one — Frederick William, a young man of
marked ability and eloquence — still survived, and was the represen
tative in Parliament of his native county. He, too, passed away In
18 14, unmarried, like his brothers. The heart-broken father lingered
on a few months longer, and died nth January, 18 15, In his sixtieth
year ; and thus, as Sir Walter Scott expressed It, —
' Of the line of Fitzgerald remained not a male
To bear the proud name of the chief of Kintail.'
This sad event Is thus mentioned by Scott in a letter to his friend
Mr. Morritt of Rokeby :—
' You will have heard of poor Caberfae's death. What a pity it
is he should have outlived his promising young representative I His
estate was truly pitiable — all his fine faculties lost In paralytic
imbecility, and yet not so entirely lost but that he perceived his
deprivation as in a glass darkly. Sometimes he was fretful and
anxious because he did not see his son ; sometimes he expostulated
and complained that his boy had been allowed to die without his seeing
him ; and sometimes, in a less clouded state of intellect, he was sensible
of and lamented his loss in its full extent. These, indeed, are " the
fears of the brave and the follies of the wise," which sadden and
humiliate the lingering hours of prolonged existence.'

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. ig7
The character of the last Lord Seaforth and the extinction of the
male line of his house seem to have greatly interested Sir Walter.
In his ' Lament' for the last of the Seaforths he says —
' In vain the bright course of thy talents to wrong.
Fate deadened thine ear and imprisoned thy tongue;
For brighter o'er all her obstructions arose
The glow of thy genius they could not oppose ;
And who in the land of the Saxon or Gael
Could match with Mackenzie, high Chief of Kintail ?
' Thy sons rose around thee, in light and in love.
All a father could hope, all a friend could approve ;
What avails it the tale of thy sorrows to tell,
III the spring-time of youth and of promise they fell !
Of the line of MacKenneth remains not a male
To bear the proud name of the Chief of Kintail.'
The most remarkable circumstance connected with this sorrow^ful
tale is the undoubted fact that centuries ago a seer of the clan Mac
kenzie predicted that when there should be a deaf and dumb Caberfae
the 'gift -land' of their territory (Kintail) should be sold, and the
male line become extinct.
This prophecy was well known in the north long before its fulfil
ment, and was certainly not made after the event. ' It connected,'
says Lockhart in his ' Life of Sir Walter Scott,' ' the fall of the house
of Seaforth not only with the appearance of a deaf Caberfae, but
with the contemporaneous appearance of various different physical
misfortunes in several of the other great Highland chiefs, all of which
are said to have actually occurred within the memory of the generation
that has not yet passed away.' * These peculiarities were, that there
would at that time be four great lairds, of whom one would be buck-
toothed, another hare-lipped, another half-witted, and the fourth a
stammerer. It is asserted that contemporaneous with the deaf Caberfae
were Sir Hector Mackenzie of Galrloch, who was the buck-toothed
laird, Chlsholm of Chisholm the hare-lipped. Grant of Grant the half
witted, and Macleod of Raasay the stammerer. f
The story was firmly believed not only by Scott, but by Sir
Humphrey Davy also, who mentions it in one of his journals, and by
Mr. Morritt, who testifies that he heard the prophecy quoted in the
Highlands at a time when Lord Seaforth had two sons alive and in
good health. The late venerable Duncan Davidson, Esq., of Tulloch,
* Life of Sir Walter Scott, iii. pp. 318, 319.
\ The Prophecies ofthe Bralian. By Alexander Mackenzie.

198 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Lord-Lieutenant of Ross-shire, in a letter to Mr. Alexander Mac
kenzie, author of the ' History of the Mackenzies,' of date May
2ist, 1878, states 'that he heard of these prophecies upwards of
seventy years ago, when two of Lord Seaforth's sons were still
alive, and there appeared to be no probability that he would survive
them.' *
On the death of Lord Seaforth his titles became extinct. The
chlefship of the clan passed to Mackenzie of Allengrange, but the
remaining estates of the family, with all their burdens and responsi
bilities, devolved upon Lord Seaforth's eldest daughter, Mary Eliza
beth Frederica Mackenzie, born in 1783, widow of Vice- Admiral
Sir Samuel Hood. She took for her second husband (21st May,
1817) the Hon. James Alexander Stewart of Glasserton, a cadet of
the Galloway family. Sir Walter Scott, who held Lady Hood in
high esteem, expressed his sympathy for her on the loss of her
husband, father, and brothers In the well-known lines —
' And thou, gentle dame, who must bear to thy grief
For thy clan and thy country the cares of a chief,
Whom brief rolling moons in six changes have left
Of thy husband, and father, and brethren bereft ;
To thine ear of affection how sad is the hail
That salutes thee the heir of the line of Kintail ! '
Sir Walter, In his letter to Mr. Morritt on the death of Lord Sea
forth, says, ' Our friend. Lady Hood, will now be Caberfae herself
She has the spirit of a chieftainess In every drop of her blood, but
there are few situations in which the cleverest women are so apt to be
imposed upon as In the management of landed property, especially of
a Highland estate. I do fear the fulfilment of the prophecy, that
when there should be a deaf Caberfae the house was to fall.' Scott's
forebodings proved only too well-founded. One section after another
of the estates had to be sold. The remaining portion of Kintail; the
fairest portion of Glenshiel, the church lands of Chanonry, the barony
of Pluscarden, and the island of Lewis — a principality in Itself — passed
In succession into other hands. The late non-resident owner, who was
under trustees, attempted, in 1878, to dispose of the remnant of the
patrimony of the house of Seaforth, which, according to the Dooms
day Book, comprises 8,051 acres, yielding a rental of ^7,905, but
was prevented by the interposition of his two daughters— one the
widow of the Hon. Colonel John S. Stanley, the other the dowager
* History of tjie Mackenzies, p. 267.

The Mackenzies of Seaforth. 199
Marchioness of Tweeddale. He succeeded, however, in bringing to
the hammer the family portraits and other precious heirlooms.
The Hon. J. A. Stewart Mackenzie — who was held In great esteem
by the clan, and, indeed, by the whole county — represented Ross-
shire in Parliament for several years, and was afterwards successively
Governor of Ceylon and Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian
Islands. The accomplished Lady Ashburton was his sister. He
died on the 24th of September, 1843. -^^^ widow, the chieftainess,
survived till the 28th of November, 1862. Of their son and successor
there Is nothing creditable to be recorded. The remnant of the
Seaforth estate is now in the possession of his only son, an officer in
the army.

THE MACKENZIES OF CROMARTIE.

|HERE were at one time no fewer than seven baronets of
the stock of Caberfae, but the Tarbat, or Cromartie family,
was the most powerful and famous branch of this great
house. In little more than a century it raised itself, by
mere dint of talent, from a state of comparative obscurity into afflu
ence and eminence. Its founder was Sir Roderick, or Rorie, Mac
kenzie, second son of Colin Mackenzie, and next brother of Kenneth,
first Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, to whose son he acted as tutor
during his minority. Sir Rorie appears to have been a person of
great ability and energy, and his position as an extensive landed
proprietor in Ross-shire, and as tutor of Kintail, gave him vast
influence, which was greatly increased by his marriage with Margaret
Macleod, heiress of Lewis. Through this lady Sir Rorie also
obtained the barony of Toryeach, in Lochbroom, from which he
obtained his usual territorial designation. At this period the Kin
tail estates were burdened with debts, and the clan were involved in a
sanguinary feud of long standing with the Macdonalds of Glengarry.
But by the prudent and vigorous management of the tutor, the family
estates were handed over to his nephew on attaining his majority In
a most prosperous condition ; the inveterate feud with Glengarry was
terminated, and the turbulent islanders of the Lewis were subdued.
By a dexterous stratagem Sir Rorie succeeded in capturing Macneil of
Barra, whose piracies on the Irish coast had been loudly complained
of by Queen Elizabeth, and had been a source of great annoyance to
the Scottish Government. In addition to the honour of knighthood,
Sir Rorie was rewarded by King James VI. for his services, in civi
lising the northern parts of the kingdom, with extensive grants of
estates in the Western Isles ; and he made numerous purchases of
lands in Western Ross. He was the builder of the mansion of Castie

MACKENZIES OF CROMARTIE.

The Mackenzies of Cromartie. 201
Leod, which to this day forms a prominent feature in the beautiful
valley of Strathpeffer. This sagacious and resolute chief died in
1626, In the forty-eighth year of his age, leaving six sons and one
daughter, who became the wife of Sir James Macdonald, of Sleat,
ancestor of Lord Macdonald.
Sir Rorie was succeeded In his estates by his eldest son, John,
who was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I. in 1628,
and received at the same time a grant of sixteen hundred acres,
situated to the north of the Gulf of Canada, to be called the Barony
of Tarbat. Sir John Mackenzie was a staunch supporter of the
Presbyterian system. He took an active part in resisting the inno
vations of Laud, and fought on the side of the Covenanters in the
Great Civil War; though, after the King had fallen Into the hands
of the army, he, in common with a large body of the Scottish nobility
and people, took up arms in his sovereign's behalf, and was one of the
Resolutioners, or Engagers, who sent an expedition to England under
the Duke of Hamilton, which came to a disastrous end at Preston. It
appears that Sir John afterwards suffered imprisonment during the
Protectorate for his adherence to the royal cause. He died on the loth
of September, 1654, leaving six sons and four daughters. His wife,
who was a member of the Erskine family, survived till near the close
of the century, and when she must have been nearly ninety years of
age the Indomitable old lady carried on single handed a contest with
the Court of Session, and was successful In an appeal to the Parlia
ment against the decision of the judges.
Sir John Mackenzie was succeeded in his title and estates by hi^
eldest son. Sir George, afterwards Viscount Tarbat, and first
Earl of Cromartie, the most celebrated person that the family
has produced. He was born in the year 1630, and was educated
first at the University of St. Andrews, and then at King's College,
Aberdeen (a favourite seminary with the Mackenzies), where he
became an excellent classical scholar, and acquired a taste for natural
philosophy. Even in his youth Sir George was a zealous Royalist,
and, in 1653, he took part In the Earl of Glencairn's expedition In
the West Highlands : on its defeat, he and Lord Balcarres and Sir
Robert Moray made their escape to Castie Donan, the stronghold
of the Seaforth Mackenzies. It is curious to know that at this
time of danger and depression Sir George Mackenzie and Sir Robert

202 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Moray, the founders of the Royal Society of London, travelled
through many of the Western Isles, examining their natural pro
ductions, and watching the flowing of the tides, for the purpose of
advancing the study of natural philosophy. At the Restoration, Sir
George Mackenzie was rewarded for his loyalty with a seat on the
Bench, and he assumed the judicial title of Lord Tarbat. He
attached himself to the Earl of Middleton, the Royal Commissioner,
a rough and ignorant soldier, whose confidential adviser he became,
and chief agent in the management of public affairs. He carried
matters with a high hand, and was mainly responsible for the
Infamous ' Recissory Act,' as It was called, which repealed the whole
of the Acts passed by the Scottish Estates since the year 1641,
including even those which had been passed In the presence of
Charles I., and with his sanction. In the contest for supremacy
between Middleton and Lauderdale, Lord Tarbat zealously espoused
the cause of his patron, and was the most active supporter, if not
Indeed the author, of the proposal to exclude from public office twelve
persons who had taken the Covenant — the victims to be selected by
the votes of Members of Parliament given in secret. The blow was
chiefly aimed at Lauderdale, who had been a zealous Covenanter, but
it recoiled on the heads of his assailants. Middleton's commission
was cancelled, and Lord Tarbat, whose conduct In the affair was by
no means straightforward and honourable, was removed from his
seat on the Bench. He was excluded from office for the long period
of fourteen years, but at length, on the i6th of October, 1678, he was
appointed Lord Justice-General of Scotland, and, on the following
day, he received from King Charles a grant of a pension of two
hundred pounds. Shortly after he was admitted a member of the
Scottish Privy Council. In October, 1681, he exchanged the office
of Lord Justice -General for that of Lord Clerk Register, and in
November following he was restored to a seat in the Court of
Session. On the accession of King James, Sir George Mackenzie was elevated
to the peerage by the titles of Viscount Tarbat and Lord Macleod
OF Castlehaven. He was a member of the Secret Committee of
Council to whom the government of the country was chiefly committed.
He must, therefore, have had his share in the odium of the public
measures which ultimately drove the arbitrary and bigoted monarch
from the throne of his ancestors. When the Revolution took place.
Lord Tarbat showed much greater anxiety to protect himself than to

The Mackenzies of Cromartie. 203
defend his sovereign's rights. 'He was, indeed,' as Hugh Miller
remarks, 'one of those many politicians who, according to Dryden,
neither love nor hate, but are honest, as far as honesty Is expedient,
and never glaringly vicious, because it is impolitic to be vicious over
much. And never was there a man more thoroughly conversant
with the intrigues of a court, or more skilful in availing himself of
every chance combination of circumstances.' Though the feeling of
aversion tov/ards Lord Tarbat was so strong and general that
King William was earnestiy entreated to incapacitate him and
two or three of his brother councillors from all public office, he con
trived to ingratiate himself with that prince, and to make himself so
useful that he was restored to his old place of Clerk Register (1692),
and preserved the favour of the King till the end of his reign.
The plan which this able and wily statesman proposed to the
ministers of the new sovereign for the pacification of the Highlands
was most sagacious, and if It had been prudently carried Into effect
there is every reason to believe that only a very small body of the
clans would have rallied to the banner of Dundee. But though not
expressly rejected by the Government, it was rendered abortive by
the foolish mode in which it was attempted to be carried out.
The state of affairs in the Highlands at this juncture, and the cause
of the failure of Tarbat's plan for their pacific settlement, are clearly
pointed out by Lord Macaulay. ' There is strong reason to believe,'
he says, ' that the chiefs who came [to Dundee] would have remained
quietly at home if the Government had understood the politics of the
Highlanders. Those politics were thoroughly understood by one able
and experienced statesman, sprung from the great Highland family of
Mackenzie, the Viscount Tarbat. He at this juncture pointed out to
Melville by letter, and to Mackay in conversation, both the cause and
the remedy of the distempers which seemed likely to bring on Scot
land the calamity of civil war. There was, Tarbat said, no general
disposition to insurrection among the Gael. Little was to be appre
hended even from those Popish clans which were under no apprehen
sion of being subjected to the yoke of the Campbells. It was notorious
that the ablest and most active of the discontented chiefs troubled
themselves not at all about the questions which were in dispute between
the Whigs and the Tories. Lochiel, in particular, whose eminent per
sonal qualities made him the most important man among the moun
taineers, cared no more for James than for William. If the Camerons,
the Macdonalds, and the Macleans could be convinced that under the

204 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
new Government their estates and their dignities would be safe, if
MacCallummore would make some concessions, If their Majesties
would take on themselves the payment of some arrears of rent,
Dundee might call the clans to arms, but he would call to littie
purpose. Five thousand pounds, Tarbat thought, would be sufficient
to quiet all the Celtic magnates ; and in truth, though that sum might
seem ludicrously small to the politicians of Westminster, though It was
not larger than the annual gains of the Groom of the Stole or of the
Paymaster of the Forces, it might well be thought immense by a bar
barous potentate who, while he ruled hundreds of square miles and
could bring hundreds of warriors Into the field, had, perhaps, never
had fifty guineas at once in his coffers. Though Tarbat was considered
by the Scottish ministers of the new sovereigns as a very doubtful
friend, his advice was not altogether neglected. It was resolved that
overtures such as he recommended should be made to the malcontents.
Much depended on the choice of an agent, and, unfortunately, the
choice showed how little the prejudices of the wild tribes of the hills
were understood at Edinburgh. A Campbell was selected for the
office of gaining over to the cause of King William men whose only
quarrel with King William was that he countenanced the Campbells.
Offers made through such a channel were naturally regarded as at
once snares and Insults. After this it was to no purpose that Tarbat
wrote to Lochiel, and Mackay to Glengarry. Lochiel returned no
answer to Tarbat, and Glengarry returned to Mackay a coldly civil
answer. In which the general was advised to imitate the example of
Monk.' Lord Tarbat retired from the office of Clerk Register In 1696, with
a pension of ;^400 a year. The death of King William and the
accession of Queen Anne brought Lord Tarbat again into official
life, and although now In the seventy-second year of his age, he was
appointed Secretary of State for Scotland In November, 1702. He
was soon afterwards created Earl of Cromartie, having some time
previously purchased the estate of the ancient family of U rquhart of
Cromartie. When he attained his seventy-fifth year, feeling the
duties of Secretary of State too arduous for his advanced age, he
resigned that office, and was reinstated in his former situation as Lord
Justice-General, receiving at the same time a pension of ^600 a year.
He took an active part in promoting the union between Scotland and
England, and published several essays in support of that measure.
After serving the public in various Important situations under six

The Mackenzies of Cromartie. 205
crowned heads for the long period of sixty years. Lord Cromartie
finally resigned the office of Lord Justice-General in 17 10, when he
was In his eightieth year, and retired Into private life. He survived,
however, till 17 14, when he was gathered to his fathers, full of years
and honours.
Lord Cromartie's first wife, a daughter of Sir James Sinclair
of Mey, died in 1699, and six months after, when he was in his
seventieth year, the Earl married Margaret, Countess of Wemyss
in her own right, and widow of Sir James Wemyss. She also pre
deceased Lord Cromartie, and so anxious was he that on his own
death his body should rest beside hers at Wemyss that he took a
formal bond from her son David, Earl of Wemyss, that he would
allow this arrangement to be carried Into effect. But notwithstanding
this precaution, his wish was not gratified. Excavations made In 1875
in the burying-ground at Dingwall brought to light the fact that Lord
Cromartie was buried beside his own ancestors, near the pyramid
known as Lord Cromartie's monument. The Earl found leisure in
the course of his very busy life to write a number of historical, theo
logical, and political dissertations of great ability and research. Two
of the most valuable of these — now very rare — are a vindication of
Robert II. from the charge of bastardy, and a historical account of
the Gowrle conspiracy. He wrote besides a Synopsis Apocalytica,
and recorded several interesting facts regarding the formation of
peat-moss. Lord Cromartie was one of the original members of the
Royal Society, and contributed some valuable articles to the earlier
volumes ofthe ' Philosophical Transactions.' Mr. Fraser mentions an
interesting fact which, as he says, is not generally known, that it was
the Earl who advised Monk to attempt the restoration ofthe Stewarts
to the throne, and that he advanced him a thousand pounds to assist
him in the enterprise.
Lord Cromartie's second son, Kenneth, Inherited the large estate
from which his father's titie was taken, and was the ancestor of the
Mackenzies, Baronets of Tarbat. The third son, James, who
was a distinguished advocate, was for thirty-four years a member
of the College of Justice, under the titie of Lord Royston, taken
from an estate near Granton, bequeathed to him by his father.
The eldest son, John, succeeded to the ancestral estates and his
father's tities, and became second Earl of Cromartie. His career was
comparatively short and undistinguished. He died in 1731, and was

2o6 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
succeeded by his eldest son, George, third Earl, who, unfortunately
for himself and his family, took part in the rebellion of 1745. Having
been dispatched into Sutherland for the purpose of dispersing the
Government forces In that county, he was surprised, on the 15th of
April, the day before the battle of Culloden, and made prisoner at
Dunrobin by a party of the Earl of Sutherland's militia. His eldest
son. Lord Macleod, who had fought gaflantiy along with his father at
the head of their clan at the battle of Falkirk, was shortly after appre
hended also, and the two were sent prisoners to London. The Earl
was brought to trial for high treason on the 28th of July, 1746, along
with the Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino, and pleaded guilty,
throwing himself on the mercy of the sovereign. He was condemned
to be executed, and his honours and estates were forfeited. But though
his two brother nobles suffered the extreme penalty of the law, Lord
Cromartie's life was spared, mainly, it Is believed, through the heroic
efforts of his devoted wife, combined with pity for his numerous
family. He survived his forfeiture twenty years, and appears to have
suffered no small privations and hardships in providing for the sup
port of his family, which consisted of three sons and seven daughters.
His eldest son. Lord Macleod, who was not brought to trial, nobly
disdaining to be a burden to his parents, went to the Continent as a
soldier of fortune, and joined the Swedish army, in which he remained
for twenty-seven years. He attained high rank In the service, and
was created a Count of Sweden. On the breaking out of the Seven
Years' War he joined the Prussian army as a volunteer, and served
in It through the first campaign In the year 1757. Lord Macleod
returned to his native country In 1777, and obtained from King
George a commission to raise a new Highland regiment. So success
ful was he in his efforts in the district where his family were held in
high respect, that In a short time he enrolled 840 Highlanders,
who, along with 270 Lowlanders, were embodied under the name
of the 73rd Regiment, or Macleod's Highlanders, celebrated for their
gallant exploits in India against Hyder Ali. Lord Macleod, now
restored to the British service, distinguished himself by his energy and
courage, and in 1782 was promoted to the rank of major-general.
He had been previously elected member for the county of Ross amid
unusual rejoicings, and in 1784 the forfeited estates of his family were
restored to him on payment of the debt of ^19,000 with which they
were burdened. He greatly improved his property, planted many
thousands of trees, and erected a new mansion at Tarbat. His lord-

The Mackenzies of Cromartie. 207
ship died in Edinburgh in 1 789, In the sixty-second year of his age,
without issue, and his estates were inherited by his cousin, Kenneth
Mackenzie of Cromartie, great-grandson of George, first Earl of
Cromartie. At his decease the patrimonial inheritance passed to
Lady Isabella Mackenzie, Dowager Lady Elibank, eldest sister
of Lord Macleod. They next, in default of male issue, descended to
her eldest daughter, Maria. She married Edward Hay of New-
hall, uncle of the seventh Marquess of Tweeddale, who, in terms of
the entail executed by Lord Macleod, assumed the additional name
of Mackenzie. John Hay Mackenzie, the only son of this couple,
married a daughter of Sir James Gibson-Craig, and left an only
child, Anne Hay Mackenzie, present Duchess of Sutherland, who
was created, in 1861, Countess of Cromartie, Viscountess Tarbat
of Tarbat, Baroness Macleod of Castle Leod, and Baroness
Castlehaven, &c., with remainder to her second son, Francis, the
heir to the estates, as well as to the Cromartie titles.

THE HAMILTONS.
^^^HE Hamilton family, though they have for upwards of
m ^M ^°^^ hundred years ranked among the most prominent
p^^ and powerful of the Scottish nobility, have never been
prolific in great men, and they owed their influential
position to their connection with the royal family of the Stewarts and
their extensive territorial possessions rather than to either intellectual
or moral superiority.
The surname of the family Is supposed to have been originally
derived from the Manor of Hambleden, in Leicestershire, and
Walter de Hamilton, the first of the name who is certainly known
to have held estates in Scotland, is alleged to have been the grand
son of Robert de Bellemont, third Earl of Leicester, who died in
II 90 ; but of this there is no evidence whatsoever. The story told
by Hector Boece respecting the first Scottish Hamilton, and faith
fully copied not only by the elder historians of Scotland, like Lesley
and Buchanan, but also by modern peerage writers, that he killed
John de Spencer, the King's favourite, and was. In consequence,
obliged to flee from the Court of Edward II., in 1323, is evidently
fabulous. It is said that, being closely pursued in his flight,
Hamilton and his servant changed clothes with two woodcutters
who were working In a sawpit, and, taking their places, were in the
act of cutting an oak-tree when their pursuers came up. The
servant, owing to his nervous anxiety, stopped In his work; but
Hamilton cried out to him ' Through ! ' and made him resume his
task. 'From this Incident he took for his crest an oak-tree and a
saw cutting it, with the word ' Through ' for the motto. This story,
which bears the unmistakable stamp of Hector Boece's own mint,
has evidently been Invented for the purpose of accounting for the
Hamilton crest and motto; and it is certain that Walter de

/-T

HAMILTONS.

The Hamiltons. 209
Hamilton was settied in Scotiand long before the period mentioned
in this legend. He was one of the barons who at first adhered to
the English Interest in the War of Independence ; and he swore
fealty to Edward I., in 1292, and again in 1296, for his estates in
Lanarkshire and other counties. But after the battle of Bannock
burn he made his peace with Robert Bruce, and received from that
monarch the Barony of Cadzow (the ancient name of Hamilton), and
several other grants of land. Here the family raised their roof- tree
and extended their branches throughout Clydesdale and the neigh
bouring districts, where they founded several minor but still Influential
houses, some of which remain to the present day.
The heads of the Hamilton family continued faithful in their adher
ence to the heir of Robert Bruce and the Stewarts. The immediate
successors of Walter fought at the disastrous battles of Halidon Hill
and Durham, and took some part, though by no means a very pro
minent one, in the affairs of the kingdom and court. The member
of the family to whom their greatness is mainly owing was Sir
James Hamilton, the fifth knight and first baron, who was raised
to the peerage in 1445 under the title of Lord Hamilton of Cadzow
(pronounced Cadyow). He was noted both for his energy and his
sagacity, which gave great weight to his opinion in the national
council and among his brother barons. The vicinity of his estates
to the principal seat of the Douglases, as well as kinsmanship with
that family, probably led him at first to enrol himself In the ranks of
their followers. He accompanied the Earl of Douglas in his cele
brated visit to Rome In 1450 ; and. In the following year, went with
him on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Thomas a Becket at Canter
bury. As might have been expected, Hamilton joined the con
federacy which Douglas formed with the Earls of Crawford and
Ross against the Crown, and narrowly escaped the fate of the
formidable chief of the league when he was assassinated by the
King (James II.) in Stlrhng Castle. When Sir James Douglas,
the successor of the murdered baron and the last of the old stock,
took the field against his sovereign at the head of forty thousand
men, Lord Hamilton was one of his most powerful and trusted
supporters. The Insurgents encamped on the south bank of the
Carron, about three miles from the Torwood, so famous in the
history of Sir William Wallace. James, who was well aware of his
danger, advanced from Stirling to meet this formidable array with
an army considerably inferior in numbers, but with ' the King's name
VOL, I. y

2IO The Great Hist)ric Families of Scotland.
as a tower of strength, which they upon the adverse faction lacked.'
A battie seemed imminent, which should decide whether the house
of Stewart or of Douglas was henceforth to reign In Scotland. But
at this critical juncture, art did more than arms for the royal cause.
Acting under the advice of the patriotic and sagacious Bishop
Kennedy, James made overtures to Lord Hamilton and other allies
of the Earl of Douglas, representing the danger which threatened
not only the independence of the Crown, but the welfare of the
country and their own interests, from the ambition and overgrown
power of the Douglas family, and making liberal promises if, in
this hour of extremity, they would abandon the cause of the
insurgent baron. These representations produced a deep impression
on the mind of Lord Hamilton, and taking advantage of the
contemptuous reply made by the Earl to his remonstrances against
the proposal to postpone till next day an attack on the royal army —
' If you are afraid or tired, you may depart when you please ' — the
politic noble took Douglas at his word, and that very night passed
over to the King with all his retainers. The other Insurgent leaders,
who had a high opinion of Lord Hamilton's prudence and sagacity,
so generally followed his example that, before morning, the rebel
camp was almost deserted. The complete overthrow of the for
midable house of Douglas speedily followed : their vast estates were
distributed among the supporters of the royal cause ; and Lord
Hamilton, whose timely desertion of the ' Black Douglases ' had
mainly contributed to their destruction, was rewarded with a large
share of their forfeited possessions. He became thenceforth one of
the most trusted councillors of his grateful sovereign, was frequently
employed by him on Important embassies to England, and, in 1474,
he obtained the hand of the Princess Mary, the King's sister, through
whom his descendants became next heirs to the crown after the
Stewarts. Besides his legitimate offspring. Lord Hamilton left
several natural sons, one of whom, Sir James Hamilton, of Kin-
cavel, became the father of Patrick Hamilton, the protomartyr of
the Scottish Protestant Church, and was himself killed In the cele
brated fight between the Douglases and the Hamiltons In the High
Street of Edinburgh, in 1520.
Sir James Hamilton, the son of Lord Hamilton and the Princess
Mary, was created Earl of Arran, in 1503, by his cousin, James IV.,
and obtained at the same time a grant of the Island which still

The Hamiltons.

211

forms a part of the extensive estates of the family. He was also
created a privy councillor, and was one of the nobles employed to
negotiate a marriage between the King and the Princess Margaret
of England. In the following year he was appointed to the com
mand of the auxiliary force of ten thousand men, which James sent
to assist the King of Denmark In his hostilities with the Norwegians
and Swedes. He was subsequentiy sent as ambassador to France,
and was also placed at the head of the force despatched to the assistance
of Louis XII. of France, who. In return for the valuable aid thus
rendered him, settied a pension on the Earl for life. After the
death of the Scottish King on the fatal field of Flodden, Arran was
an unsuccessful candidate for the office of regent, which was con
ferred upon the Duke of Albany, and he revenged himself for his
disappointment by thwarting the Government at every turn, and
fomenting dissensions among the nobles. On the departure ofthe
Regent for France, in 15 17, and again in 1524, after Albany's final
retirement to the Continent, Arran was appointed Lieutenant-
General of the kingdom, and had the chief direction of public affairs.
But he was utterly destitute of the energy and wisdom of his father,
and proved himself a weak, facile, and factious ruler. He was
constantly at feud with the Douglases, now represented by the Earl
of Angus, the second husband of Queen Margaret; and in the
famous skirmish of ' Clear the Causeway,' which took place in the
High Street of Edinburgh, in 1520, the Hamiltons, who provoked
the contest, were completely defeated. Several of their chiefs and
seventy of their men were killed, and Arran himself, along with his
natural son, Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, the principal instigator
of the quarrel, with difficulty made their escape through the North
Loch on a coal-horse, from which they threw its load.
Arran's facile character was productive of great injury both to his
family and his country, and his legitimate offspring all bore their
father's image. But his natural son, James Hamilton of Finnart,
was a person of remarkable energy, and was the principal architect
in Scotiand of his time. He was a great favourite with James V.,
who appointed him Cup-bearer and Steward ofthe Royal Household,
and Master of Works to the King. He superintended the erection
of the palaces of Falkland and Linlithgow ; and, under his direction,
the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Blackness, and the palace of
Holyrood were enlarged and adorned. The King, whose fine taste
is architecture, sculpture, and painting enabled him to appreciate

212 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Hamilton's merits, bestowed on him several valuable estates, among
others the lands of Draphen in Lanarkshire, on which Sir James
erected the strong and stately castle of Cralgnethan — the Tillietudlem
of' Old Mortality.' His character, however, was stained by numerous
acts of cruelty and oppression. Into which his fierce and passionate
temper hurried him. He took a prominent part In the sanguinary
persecution of the Protestants at the beginning of the sixteenth
century, and no hand was more deeply stained than his with the
blood of his own relative, the saintly Patrick Hamilton, who suffered
martyrdom in 1528. He ultimately fell into disgrace at Court, was
accused of treason and embezzlement, and having been found guilty,
was beheaded In 1540. He was undoubtedly the ablest and most
accomplished man the house of Hamilton has ever produced; and if
he had occupied the position of his feeble father, and still feebler
brother, he would have been the supreme ruler of Scotland during
the troubled minority of James V. and his daughter, the ill-starred
Queen Mary.
James Hamilton, the second Earl of Arran and Duke of Chatel-
herault, was unanimously chosen regent of the kingdom on the
death of James V., In right of his proximity of blood to the infant
Queen, and was declared heir-presumptive to the Crown. He was
in every way a poor creature, the very essence of weakness and
pusillanimity, facile in character and conduct, blown about by every
wind of public opinion and feeling, ' everything by turns, and nothing
long ; ' changing from Romanism to Protestantism and from Protest
antism to Romanism ; alternately the tool of Lord Burleigh and of
Cardinal Beaton ; and, by his combined feebleness and fickleness, he
brought great misery on the country. At the outset of his career he
professed himself friendly to the Reformed faith, and authorised the
translation of the Bible into the language of the common people.
He entered into an alliance with Henry VIII. of England, promised
to support the schemes of that monarch, and concluded a treaty with
him for a marriage between Prince Edward, Henry's son, and the
infant Queen of the Scots. In a short time, however, he was gained
over by Cardinal Beaton to the Roman Catholic party and faith, and
was induced by that astute prelate to renounce the friendship of
England and to enter into a league with France. The consequence
of this vacillating policy was the invasion of Scotiand by an English
army under the Earl of Hertford, the sanguinary defeat of the

The Hamiltons. 213
Scottish army at Pinkie, which was entirely owing to the mismanage
ment and unskilful generalship of the governor, and the devastation
of the whole of Scotland south of the Forth. Arran was rewarded
for his services to the French king by the titie of Duke of Chatel-
herault and a liberal pension ; but he was compelled, in 1554, to resign
the regency of the kingdom, which was conferred by the Parliament on
Mary of Guise, the Queen's mother. A few years afterwards the fickle
nobleman joined the Lords of the Congregation, and employed all his
influence in support of the Reformed faith. He opposed the marriage
of Queen Mary with Darnley, and was, in consequence, obliged to
leave the kingdom. After the murder of that ill-fated Prince, and
the abdication of Mary, the Duke made a fresh attempt to regain the
supreme rule of affairs, but was compelled to submit to the authority
of the Regent Moray, who committed him and Lord Herries — a
zealous partisan of the Queen— prisoners to the Castle of Edinburgh,
and they did not obtain their release till after the murder of the
'Good Regent.'
'The conduct ofthe Hamiltons,' says Mr. Froude, ' for the ten past
years, had been uniformly base. They had favoured the Reformation
while there was a hope of marrying the heir of their house to Eliza
beth. When this hope failed, they tried to secure Mary Stewart for
him ; and when she declined the honour, they thought of carrying
her off by force. Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews (Illegitimate
brother of the Duke of Chatelherault), had been a party to the
murder of Darnley. He had divorced Bothwell and helped the
Queen to marry him, in the hope that she would ruin herself. When
she was at Lochleven, the House of Hamilton would have voted for
her death if their title to the crown had been recognised. Had they
won at Langslde, she was to have repaid their services by marrying
the Abbot of Arbroath. A steady indifference to every Interest but
their own, a disregard of every obligation of justice or honour, if they
could secure the crown of Scotiand to their lineage, had given a con
sistency to the conduct of the Hamiltons beyond what was to be
found in any other Scottish family. No scruples of religion had
disturbed them, no loyalty to their sovereign, no care or thought
for the public interests of their country. Through good and evil,
through truth and lies, through Intrigues and bloodshed, they worked
their way to the one object of a base ambition.'
The Regent Moray was the great obstacle to the accomplishment of
their dark designs, and must be put out of the way. His assassination

214 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
was planned by them, and was executed by a member of the family,
who fired the fatal shot from a house belonging to the Archbishop of
Sl Andrews, an illegitimate son of the first Earl of Arran, who was
afterwards most deservedly hanged on the Bridge of Stirling for his
complicity in this execrable murder. This foul deed was as useless
to its projectors as it was mischievous in its immediate consequences
to the country. It did not open a road to the throne to the Hamil
tons, but it gave over Scotland to three years of anarchy and blood
shed, for which they were mainly responsible.
As James, the third Earl of Arran, who succeeded his father in
1575, had become Insane, the real head of the family at this critical
period was Lord John Hamilton, commendator of the rich Abbey
of Arbroath, who was a candidate for the hand of Queen Mary, and
was deep in the councils of the Queen's party during the civil war
between them and the ' King's men,' and an accomplice in all their
worst deeds. Condign punishment at length overtook him and the
other members of the family. They were attainted and driven into
exile in 1579 by the Earl of Morton, and their estates were confis
cated and conferred, along with the title of Earl of Arran, on the
Infamous Captain James Stewart (' A notorious scoundrel,' says
Froude), who was a descendant in the female line of the first Earl.
The honours and estates of the family were, however, restored In
1585, and Lord John became a great favourite of King James, by
whom he was created Marquis of Hamilton in 1599. Like his
predecessors, he left a numerous progeny, illegitimate as well as
legitimate. His son James Hamilton, the second Marquis of
Hamilton and Earl of Cambridge in the English peerage, died at
Whitehall In his thirty-sixth year, a few days before King James,
and was popularly believed to have been poisoned by the Duke of
Buckingham. James Hamilton, third Marquis and first Duke of Hamilton, had
the misfortune to have his lot cast in the ' troublous times ' of the Great
Civil War, and was led to take a prominent but most unfortunate
part in the contest between Charles I. and the Covenanters. In his
twenty-fourth year he was appointed to the command of the auxiliary
force of six thousand six hundred men, whom Charles I. sent to fight
under the famous Gustavus Adolphus In the cause of the Elector
Palatine, brother-in-law of the English King, and distinguished him
self by his bravery in several important sieges and battles. It was

The Hamiltons. 215
probably owing to the reputation which he gained In this service that
Charles appointed the Marquis of Hamilton to the command of the
fleet which he sent against the Scottish Covenanters in 1639. It was
on this occasion that the mother of the Marquis, a daughter of the
Earl of Glencairn, a lady of bold and masculine spirit, and a zealous
Covenanter, appeared among the patriotic volunteers with pistols at
her saddle-bow, and declared that she would be the first to shoot her
son if he should dare to land his forces and attack his countrymen.
It was to the Marquis of Hamilton that Charles entrusted, as his
High Commissioner, the arduous and. Indeed, hopeless task of per
suading the Covenanters to abandon their League and Covenant, and
to support him in his contest with the English Parliament. Hamil
ton's policy was timorous and trimming ; his attempts to overreach
the Presbyterians were easily seen through and foiled ; and. In spite
alike of his promised concessions and his threats, they persevered In
their determination to overthrow the Episcopal system, and to
establish Presbyterlanism in its room. And, finally, their distrust of
Charles and his ministers, and their sympathy with the Parlia
mentary party, induced them to send an army to the assistance of the
patriots in their contest with the King. Montrose had recommended,
but in vain, that a prompt and vigorous policy should be adopted, and
had predicted that the result of Hamilton's timid counsels would be
that ' the traitors would be allowed time to raise their armies, and all
would be lost' Montrose's enthusiastic admirer and biographer.
Sheriff Napier, broadly accuses Hamilton of treachery to the cause of
his royal master. There is no reason, however, to believe that the
luckless noble, who had .shortly before been created a duke, was guilty
of anything worse than, weakness, vacillation, and trickery. He was
ambitious of an office which he was not competent to fill, and under
took a task which it was greatly beyond his abilities to perform. His
wavering, trimming policy earned him the distrust of both parties,
and contributed not a little to the ruin of the royal cause. King
Charles was so much provoked by his failure, that he sent the Duke
a prisoner to Pendennis Castie in Cornwall, and afterwards to St.
Michael's Mount, where he was confined till the end of April, 1646.
After the downfall of the monarchy, the Duke exerted all his
influence to promote the ' Engagement ' entered Into by the Scottish
Parliament to raise an army for the relief of the King. He was
appointed commander-in-chief of the hastily-levied, imperfectly-
armed, and ill-disciplined body of troops, fourteen thousand strong,

2i6 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
which marched into England for this purpose, but were defeated at
Preston, and ultimately compelled to surrender. The Duke was tried
(February 6th, 1649), ^s Earl of Cambridge and an English subject,
on the charge of having levied war against the people of England,
and was found guilty and executed on the 9th of March. Sir Walter
Scott makes John Gudylll, the butler at Tillietudlem, say of the Duke
that he ' lost his heart before he lost his head ; ' and that his brother
and successor was ' but wersh parritch, neither gude to fry, boil, nor
sup cauld.'
William Hamilton, Earl of Lanark, second Duke and fourth
Marquis of Hamilton, supported the royal cause like his brother, and
was equally unfortunate. He accompanied Charles II. to Scotland,
in 1650, and when the march into England was decided on in 165 1,
he joined the army on the way with a strong body of horse, and
shared in all the hardships and perils of that Ill-chosen and disastrous
enterprise. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Worcester
(September 12th, 165 1), where he fought with conspicuous bravery,
and died nine days after. As neither he nor his brother left any
male issue, the titles and estates of the family devolved upon the
daughter of the first Duke (Duchess Anne), who became the wife of
William, second son of the Marquis of Douglas ; and on the death
of the Duke of Douglas in 1 761, without Issue, James, fourth Duke of
Hamilton, a descendant of Duchess Anne and Lord William Douglas,
became heir-male and head of that 'great old house.'

THE HAMILTON-DOUGLASES.
|ORD William Douglas, who married the heiress of the
Hamilton family, was created Earl of Selkirk, Lord
Daer and Shortcleuch, In 1644, when he was only ten
years of age, and, at the Restoration, he was made Duke
of Hamilton for life. His Grace frequently opposed the measures
of the Court during the reign of Charles II., but his opposition
even to the most flagrant ' acts of tyranny was timid and feeble.
King James appointed him a privy councillor and one of the
Commissioners of the Treasury, and he was Implicated In many of
the unjustifiable acts of the Scottish Privy Council at that period.
He refused, however, to support the dispensing power claimed
by the King. He was 'a faithful and loyal subject,' he said,
' but there was a limit imposed by conscience.' On the landing of
the Prince of Orange, he headed the procession of Scottish noble
men and gentlemen who waited upon William at Whitehall, and he
presided at their meeting held immediately after, when they
resolved to request the Prince to assume the government of Scot
land. Although his abilities were but moderate, and his political
career by no means straightforward or consistent, he was selected
by the Whig party as their leader, on account of his Illustrious
descent and vast Influence. After a keen contest, he was elected
President of the Convention at Edinburgh, In 1689, which declared
that James had forfeited the throne. When the convention was
formed into a Parliament, Hamilton was nominated Lord High
Commissioner. He was appointed President of the Council and
Lord High Admiral of Scotland ; but he quarrelled with the Court,
and retired for a considerable time into private life. He was
ultimately reconciled to the Government, however, and having con
sented to quit his retreat, he was appointed Lord High Commissioner

2i8 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
to the Parliament of 1693. The Duke was a man of fair abilities
and respectable character, tried by the low political standard of the
day ; but he was fickle, false, and greedy, and so provoked King
William by his factious conduct, that he exclaimed on one occasion,
' I wish to Heaven that Scotland were a thousand miles off, and that
the Duke of Hamilton were king of it ; then I should be rid of them
both.' Bishop Burnet says, 'The Duke wanted all sorts of polishing.
He was rough and sullen, but candid and sincere [a great mistake].
His temper was boisterous, neither fit to submit nor to govern.'
The Duke died In April, 1694, In the sixtieth year of his age. One
of his younger sons became Earl of Selkirk, another Earl of Ruglen,
and a third Earl of Orkney. His eldest son —
James, fourth Duke of Hamilton, was born m 1658. After com
pleting his education at the University of Glasgow, he made a
tour on the Continent, and on his return. In 1679, he was appointed
one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber by Charles II., with whom
he was a favourite on account of his humour and wit. In 1683 he
was nominated Ambassador Extraordinary to France, and served In
two campaigns as aide-de-camp to the French King Louis XIV. On
leaving France, after the death of Charles II. in 1685, he was
warmly recommended to his successor by Louis himself. The Earl
of Arran, as he was then called, received from King James the office
of Master of the Wardrobe, In addition to his former post, the com
mand of the Royal Regiment of Horse, and a part of the forfeited
estates of the Stewarts of Coltness, who were stripped of their pro
perty on account of their adherence to the Presbyterian Church.
When the Revolution took place, Arran adhered to the cause of
the exiled monarch, while his father, the Duke, according to a
course of policy common at that period, supported the claims of
King William, so that whatever might be the result, the family titles
and estates were safe. Arran was deeply implicated in Mont
gomery's plot for the restoration of the Stewart family, and was
twice confined to the Tower on suspicion of treason. On regaining
his liberty, he returned to Scotland and spent several years there In
retirement. The death of his father. In 1694, brought him no
accession of title or estate, as both were possessed by his mother,
who survived till 1717. But, In 1698, the Duchess resigned the
family dignities into the hands of King William, who Immediately
conferred them on her son, to the no small surprise and disappointment

The Hamilton-Douglases. 2ig
of the friends of the Government, as the disaffection of Arran was
notorious. During the excitement connected with the failure of the
Darlen expedition, the Duke acquired great popularity by heading
the opposition to the ministry, and strenuously supporting the claims
of the African Company. On the accession of Queen Anne, he
protested against the legality of the meeting of the Convention
Parliament, affirming that It ought to have been dissolved on the
death of the King, and withdrew from the House, followed by
seventy-nine of the members, a step which was warmly resented by
the Queen. His Grace took an active part In the discussions
respecting the union of the two kingdoms, and was regarded as the
leader of the opposition to that measure. But he suddenly aban
doned his party at a critical moment — through treachery, it was
alleged, but more probably through fickleness and timidity — and,
by his desertion, completely paralysed their movements. He con
tinued to keep up a correspondence with the exiled monarch ; but
his attachment to James was not sufficiently strong to induce him to
run much risk for his sake, for, on learning that a descent was
about to be made on Scotland, the Duke retired to his estates in
Staffordshire, and on the appearance of the French fleet on the
coast, he was taken into custody and carried up to London. On
the overthrow of the Whig ministry. In 1 710, various offices and
honours were bestowed upon the cautious and time-serving noble
man, and he was, in the following year, created a British peer by
the titles of Duke of Brandon and Baron Dutton. But a consider
able number of the members of the Upper House offered violent
resistance to this step ; and after a long and keen debate, it was
decided that no Scottish peer who was created a British peer since
the Union had a right to a seat in the House of Lords. This reso
lution, though quite Illegal, was not rescinded till 1782, when
Douglas, eighth Duke of Hamilton, was permitted to take his seat
in the House of Lords as Duke of Brandon. In 17 12 Duke James
was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance, and received the
Order of the Garter in addition to that of the Thistle, which had
been conferred on him by King James. His Grace was shortiy
after nominated Ambassador Extraordinary to France, but before
he could set out for the French Court, he lost his life in a duel
(November, 17 12) with Lord Mohun, an odious villain already stained
with several murders.
The Jacobites, who had formed great expectations from the

2 20 The Great Historic Families of Scotland,
Duke's mission, went so far as to affirm that Mohun had been
Instigated by some members of the Whig party to challenge the
Duke, and that the unfortunate nobleman was killed not by his
antagonist, who also fell In the rencontre, but by General Mac
artney, Mohun's second, who fled to the Continent, and remained
abroad for several years. He ultimately surrendered himself, and
was tried, In 1716, and acquitted of the charge of murder, but was
found guilty of homicide. The Duke resembled his predecessors
both in the mediocrity of his talents and the fickleness of his dispo
sition. Mackay, who gave him credit for bravery and good sense,
speaks of his ' black, coarse complexion,' and rough manners, and
adds, ' He Is very forward and hot for what he undertakes, ambitious
and haughty, and a violent enemy.' The character of the Duke is
portrayed by Thackeray in his novel of ' Esmond.' His son —
James, fifth Duke of Hamilton, and second Duke of Brandon,
succeeded his father when he was only ten years of age, and died in
1743, in his forty-first year. The only noteworthy incident in the
life of his son —
James, sixth Duke of Hamilton, and third Duke of Brandon, was
his marriage to Elizabeth Gunning, one of the two celebrated
beauties, who, after his death, in his thirty-fourth year, married John,
fifth Duke of Argyll, and was the mother of four dukes — two of
Hamilton and two of Argyll — and was created a peeress of Great
Britain in 1766, by the titie of Baroness Hamilton. Her eldest son —
James George, seventh Duke of Hamilton, on the death of the
Duke of Douglas, in 1761, became the male representative and head
of the house of Douglas. His guardians made an unsuccessful
attempt to obtain for him possession of the family estates. {See The
Douglases.) He died in 1769, In his fifteenth year, and v/as suc
ceeded by his brother —
Douglas, eighth Duke of Hamilton and fifth Duke of Brandon,
who was a zealous and influential supporter of the Government of
his day, and, in return, had honours and offices heaped upon him.
He died in 1799, without issue, and was succeeded by his uncle—
Lord Archibald Hamilton, who inherited, through his mother —

The Hamilton -Douglases. 221

'^i

daughter of Edward Spencer of Rendlesham — and grandmother —
daughter of Digby, Lord Gerard — extensive estates in the counties
of Suffolk, Lancaster, and Stafford. His elder son —
Alexander, tenth Duke of Hamilton and seventh of Brandon,
who succeeded his father In 18 19, was noted for his taste in the fine
arts, the vast sums of money which he spent in the improvement
of his estates and the embellishment of his princely mansion, and no
less for his pride in his family and position. He was appointed by
the Ministry of ' All the Talents,' In 1806, British Ambassador at
St. Petersburg, but resigned when they went out of office. He
married the youngest daughter of William Beckford, of FonthlU
Abbey, author of ' Vathek ' and other works, through whom he
Inherited the Beckford library, and many rare and precious heir
looms. He died in 1852 at the age of eighty-five. His younger
brother, Lord Archibald Hamilton, who represented the county
of Lanark from 1802 till his death in 1827, was distinguished for
his patriotic spirit and his earnest efforts in the cause of burgh
reform in Scotland.
William Alexander Anthony Archibald, eleventh Duke of
Hamilton and eighth Duke of Brandon, married, in 1845, the
Princess Marie of Baden, cousin-german of the French Emperor,
Napoleon III., from whom he succeeded In obtaining a recognition
of his right to the title of Duke of Chatelherault, conferred on the
Regent Arran, In 1548, which was also claimed by the Marquis of
Abercorn, as the representative in the male line of the Hamilton
family. Duke William lost his life -by falling down the stairs In a
hotel In Paris, in 1863, in the fifty-second year of his age, and was
succeeded by his elder son —
William Alexander Louis Stephen, twelfth Duke of Hamilton
and ninth Duke of Brandon, born in 1845.
When the Duke came of age, I said of him that ' there are few
positions in life more Influential and — if (as Lord Bacon affirms)
"power to good be the true and lawful end of aspiring "^more
desirable, than that which is occupied by the youthful heir of the
house of Hamilton.' The head of the most illustrious of our historical
families, whose origin is hid in the mists of antiquity, and whose
deeds are interwoven with the most momentous events in the history

22 2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
of our country; the possessor of the highest rank and of titles
unrivalled as regards both their number and their renown — a triple
dukedom, a triple marquisate, four earldoms, and seven baronies ;
premier peer of Scotland, male heir of the ' doughty Douglases,'
the representative in the female line of the ' princely Hamiltons' — at
one time the heirs, after the Stewarts, to the Scottish crown — owner of
their vast estates extending over four counties, situated for the most
part In the richest districts of the kingdom, and yielding a rental of
;^i57,6o2 a year, what wants this young patrician that a king would
have ? The influence which such a man might exercise for good on
his tenantry and the peasantry on his estates is almost unbounded.
In the days of old the heads of the great houses of Douglas and
Hamilton were to be found wherever Scotland required their services,
at home or abroad. In the council-chamber or on the battlefield. They
laid down their lives in many a bloody fight In defence of their country's
Independence and freedom ; and their exploits in England, France,
and Spain, as well as on their native soil, have been celebrated by
the greatest writers in the English language. In later times they
have been noted as excellent and liberal landlords, living among,
and kindly caring for the welfare of, their kinsmen and retainers,
and exerting themselves to promote the improvement of the agri
culture and manufactures of the country. They upheld the banner
of the ' good old cause ' In the dark days when it seemed hopelessly
crushed beneath the iron heel of last century's Toryism, and Parlia
mentary and burgh reform In Scotland are Indissolubly associated
with the exertions and the memory of Lord Archibald Hamilton, the
grand-uncle of the present representative of the family. There
have been — and it is matter for thankfulness that there are still in
our country — great landowners, like the Duke of Buccleuch, who
have shown themselves much more careful to discharge faithfully the
duties of their high position than to exact rigorously their rents and
rights— men who might have sat for the portrait of the public bene
factor portrayed in the sacred Scriptures, and of whom it might be
said, as it was of him, ' When the ear heard them then It blessed
them, and when the eye saw them it gave witness to them, because
they delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that
had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to
perish came upon them, and they caused the widow's heart to sing
for joy.' The memory of such men is blessed, and will be held in
everlasting remembrance.

The Hamilton-Douglases. 223
Unfortunately, there have been of late examples of noble and terri
torial magnates of another and very different kind, who have thrown
away or utterly neglected the great opportunities of doing good which
their rank, social position, and extensive possessions afforded, and
whose names are associated with no service done to their country,
no scheme of public usefulness, no deed of benevolence. They are
negligent alike of their duties as legislators and as landlords — content
to live lives of indolence or of fashionable dissipation, and at last go
down to their tombs ' unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.' The public
hope better things of the young possessor of the Hamilton titles and
estates ; but he must remember that it is not a hurried visit to his
ancestral mansion, or a brief sojourn at Brodick while the grouse are
in season, that will be regarded by the public as compensation for
systematic absenteeism during eleven months In the year. Nor can
small sums of money or a few cartloads of coals and pounds of tea
doled out to the poor at Christmas, be accepted in lieu of the generous
hospitality which such ' large-acred men ' are bound. In virtue of
their wealth and rank, to extend to their neighbours, and for the
personal kindness which it is their duty to show to their dependents.
In the well-known words of the lamented Edward Drummond, ' Pro
perty has Its duties as well as its right,' a maxim not always kept in
mind and acted on by the young patricians of the present day, much
to the loss of the tenantry and the labourers on their estates, and not
much to their own credit or profit. The Duke of Hamilton is now
at the most critical point of his career. As our national poet said
of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV. —
' He may do weel for a' he's dune yet.
But only he's no just begun yet.'
A recent authoritative announcement has made known to the public
that the Duke has been relieved from the heavy pecuniary em
barrassments In which he was involved at the outset of his career by
his own thoughtlessness and Inexperience. He has it, therefore, in his
power now to start without hindrance on a career of usefulness and
honour. It is hoped that he will henceforth ' shun false delights and
live laborious days ' in the diligent discharge of the duties Incum
bent on him as a landlord and a legislator ; and that, carefully
avoiding the ' primrose path of dalliance,' he will follow the course
which is dictated alike by duty and self-interest, and by a regard to
the honour of his family, the welfare of his dependents, and the
good of his country.

2 24 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
It is, unfortunately, only too well known to the whole country how
grievously these hopes have been disappointed. The Duke, who is
now forty-three years of age, married in 1873 the eldest daughter
of the seventh Duke of Manchester, but he still persists in neglecting
his duties both as a legislator and a landlord. He is a stranger in his
ancestral halls, and his neighbours, his tenants and retainers, are not
known to him even by sight. In no part of his Grace's conduct is his
habitual disregard of the claims, alike of his own dependents and of
the public at large, more conspicuous than In the mode in which he
employs his power as the proprietor of a large portion of Arran.
That beautiful island Is apparently regarded by him as a hunting-
park or preserve for the exclusive use of himself and a few con
genial companions, from which visitors are, as far as possible, to
be excluded, and where even the natives are allowed to remain only
on sufferance. The Duke scarcely ever sets foot in Arran, or sees
the face of a tenant or crofter there, except for a few weeks in the
shooting season. And yet. In order that his privacy during this
brief visit may not be Intruded on, or his game run the risk of
being disturbed, he does everything In his power to entirely exclude
his countrymen of all classes from the Island. Arran Is well known
to be the finest of all the watering-places on the west coast of Scot
land, whether the beauty and variety of its scenery is considered, or
its bracing air and unrivalled facilities for sea-bathing. It is a
favourite resort of the geologist and the botanist, as well as of
the tourist and the invalid in search of health. But one and all are
regarded as a nuisance by its lordly proprietor ; and since they
cannot be forcibly expelled, every expedient is tried to make their
residence In the Island uncomfortable and even dangerous. For the
purpose of preventing the erection of new and commodious houses,
feu charters are peremptorily refused, and sites can be obtained only
on a yearly lease, so that the owner is always liable to ejection.
The result is that thousands of the citizens of Glasgow, of all
classes, who year after year repair to Arran to enjoy its splendid
scenery and to recruit their health, are compelled to take up their
residence In overcrowded little dens of houses, most unhealthy as
well as uncomfortable. Even at Lamlash, which Is a good many
miles distant from Brodick Castle, and is one of the most popular
watering places on the Clyde, permission cannot be obtained even
to erect a pier for the accommodation of the crowds of visitors who
frequent it, and who are consequently compelled at low tide to land

The Hamilton- Douglases. 225
in small boats, always inconvenient and not unfrequently dangerous.
And when they do reach the shore, visitors have no resource but to
take up their quarters In what Is significantly called ' The Colliers'
Row,' or In some miserable low-roofed, smoky little croft-house on
the hill-side or in a narrow glen. Such treatment of the citizens of
Glasgow is peculiarly unworthy in the representative of a house
whose chiefs In former days used to manifest a warm Interest in the
prosperity of that great commercial emporium, and were proud of
their connection with It. It is no less ungrateful than unwise, for
surely the owner of estates, whose value has been enormously
increased through the trade and commerce of the large towns. Is
under peculiar obligations to do all in his power to promote the
health and comfort of their teeming, toil-worn population. Such
an abuse of the rights of property as the Duke persists In perpe
trating in this case is fraught with Imminent peril to his order, and
he and landowners of his class would do well, for their own sakes, to
desist from such a high-handed use of their proprietary rights as will
raise the delicate and dangerous question whether the Legislature is
not bound, from a regard to the public welfare, to interfere with
their management, and to restrict their power over their estates.
The pecuniary affairs of the Duke of Hamilton have been brought
so prominently before the public by his own proceedings, that there
need be no hesitation in referring to them here. It transpired In
the course of a lawsuit which he Instituted against his late agent,
three or four years ago, that the Duke's liabilities amounted, at that
time, to about a million and a half of money. In order to lessen
somewhat this burden, his Grace has sold by auction in London the
magnificent collection of paintings and rare and costly articles of
virtu, probably unrivalled in Britain, which descended to him from his
ancestors. It brought the large sum of / 162,452. The splendid
Beckford Library was next brought to the hammer. The sale, which
occupied forty days, extended over a period of eighteen months, and
realised;^ 7 3, 500. The Duke has obtained the disentail of the whole
of his estates, and now holds them in fee.
Of the painful career of the Duke's younger brother, Charles,
who died in 1886, it is unnecessary to say anything,* but his only
sister. Lady Mary Victoria, has had a peculiar career. She was
married, in the year 1869, to the eldest son of the reigning
• See Under tlie Lens, by E. C. Grenville Murray.
VOL. I. K

2 26 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Prince of Monaco. After bearing a son to him she left him, and
took up her residence In Paris with her mother. In 1880 she applied
to the Papal Consistory for the dissolution of her marriage with the
Prince, on the plea that she had never in her heart consented to be
his wife. She alleged that she had been forced to marry him by her
mother and the Emperor Louis Napoleon, but that, while the marriage
ceremony was proceeding, she kept saying to herself, ' I will not
marry him ; he shall not be my husband.' On this plea the mar
riage was declared null and void by the Papal Court, and Lady
Mary very soon thereafter espoused Count Tasselo Festetics, a
Hungarian nobleman.
The most ancient cadet of the house of Hamilton is the family
of Hamilton of Preston and Fingalton, represented by Colonel
Sir William Hamilton, son of the late Professor of Logic and
Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh, one of the most
eminent metaphysicians in Europe. But the Duke of Abercorn
is the head of the most Influential branch of the ducal family.
Its founder. Lord Claud Hamilton, was the fourth son of the
second Earl of Arran and Duke of Chatelherault. He was created a
peer by James VI., and received from that monarch a grant of the
barony of Paisley, from which he derived his title of Baron Paisley.
This donation was followed by the gift of the rich Abbey of Paisley,
which was sold by one of his descendants ; but the Duke still
retains 662 acres in Renfrewshire, a remnant of these grants.
James Hamilton, eldest son of Lord Paisley, was created by
King James Earl of Abercorn, a place with which the Hamil
tons had no connection ; it seemed to have been chosen for his
title because there the founder of the house deserted the Earl of
Douglas, and thus greatly contributed to the downfall of the
Douglas family. Lord Abercorn was one of the Scotsmen who
followed James to England, and profited so largely by the liberality
of the British Solomon that he obtained no less than 51,919 acres In
Tyrone and 15,860 In Donegal out of the forfeited estates of the
old Irish chieftains. Claud, a younger brother of this Earl, obtained
a grant of 400 acres In Longford, and 2,000 acres In the barony of
Strabane. In 1634 he was created by Charles I. Lord Hamilton,
and Baron of Strabane, in the peerage of Ireland. On the resig
nation of these honours by his elder brother. Sir George, Count of
France (another fortunate younger son of Lord Abercorn, who

The Hamilton- Douglases. 227
married Frances Jennings, sister of the famous Sarah, Duchess of
Mariborough), he obtained grants of land in Tyrone and TIpperary,
and after the Restoration, in 1660, he received other donations of
lands in Cork, besides which several lucrative .offices were conferred
upon him. The eldest son of Sir George Hamilton, who was one of
the favourites of Charles II., obtained the grant of an estate in Meath,
and ^900 a year out of the first-fruits and tenths of the dioceses of
St. David's, Hereford, Oxford, and Worcester. His eldest son, James
Hamilton, who was one of the Privy Councillors of James VII., and
enjoyed his confidence, abandoned the cause of that wrongheaded
and ill-fated monarch in the hour of his utmost need, went over to
the side of the Prince of Orange, and took a prominent part In
raising the siege of Londonderry. Claud Hamilton, fourth Earl
of Abercorn, unlike his self-seeking and politic kinsman, adhered
firmly to the cause of James after the Revolution of 1688, accom
panied him when he came from France to Ireland, and upon his
arrival in Dublin was sworn a member of the Privy Council. After
the defeat of James at the battle of the Boyne, the Earl embarked
with him to return to France, but lost his life during the voyage.
He was attainted, and his estates were forfeited for his adherence to
the Jacobite cause ; but his brother, Charles, who succeeded him in his
earldom, obtained a reversal of the attainder. On his death, without
issue, the titles and estates devolved upon the Captain James Hamil
ton who abandoned the cause of King James when It became evident
that it was the losing side. Services so well timed as his were sure
to meet with a liberal . reward. He was created Baron Mount-
castle and Viscount Strabane, and lucrative offices — civil, mili
tary, and ecclesiastical — were bestowed upon his family. His grand
son, the eighth Earl, about the year 1745, purchased the estate of
Duddirigstone, near Edinburgh, which had passed by marriage from
the Lauderdale to the Argyll family, and erected on It a mansion
that cost ^30,000. He was created a British peer in 1786 by the
titie of Viscount Hamilton. His nephew, the ninth Eari, was
made a marquis In 1790, and was succeeded by his grandson, who
held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1866-68, and again
in 1874-76, and was created Duke of Abercorn In 1868. His
Grace died in October, 1885, In his seventy-fifth year. The family
estates comprise 69,949 acres, with a rent-roll of ^45, 954-

THE CAMPBELLS OF ARGYLL.

BRGYLLSHIRE is one of the most Interesting, as it Is one
of the most picturesque counties of Scotland, its scenery
combining the beautiful, the grand, and the sublime. The
' great and wide sea ' which washes Its shores ; Its magni
ficent lochs stretching far into the interior, fringed with woods or
surrounded with steep rocks ; its lofty and rugged mountains lifting
their grey heads to the skies ; its extensive moors, deep ravines, and
waterfalls, and quiet pastoral straths, each watered by its own clear
and softly flowing stream, make Argyllshire an object of great
attraction to the visitor and of strong attachment to the native. It
Is also to be regarded as the cradle of the Scottish race, who made
their first settiement in Scotland on Its western shores ; and one of
its Islands, which was designated ' The light of the western world,'
* The gem of the ocean,' was the place whence, in the words of
Samuel Johnson, ' savage clans and roving barbarians derived the
benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion.' The daring
Vikings who, a thousand years ago, ruled with almost royal authority
the western shores of Argyllshire, and whose shattered but pic
turesque strongholds attest, even in ruins, the power of their founders,
have ages ago passed away, leaving no representatives, and their
successors, the famous Lords of the Isles, who for centuries reigned
in the Western Isles, as virtually independent princes, have followed,
and even their memory has almost perished. The head of the great
Clan Donald, who claimed descent from these powerful chieftains,
retains only a remnant of their ancient possessions, and the other
old clans of Argyllshire have shared their fate.
The first Lords of Lome were the M'Dougalls, descended from
Dugal, youngest son of the mighty Somerled ; but, unfortunately for
themselves and their country, they embraced the side of the English

CAMPBELLS OF ARGYLL.

The Campbells of Argyll. 229
invaders in the Scottish War of Independence, and after a desperate
struggle. In which they oftener than once put the life of Robert Bruce
In imminent peril, they were stripped of their power and their exten
sive territory; and now the ruined stronghold of Dunolly, and an
estate yielding only ^1,300 a year, are all that remain to their
present lineal representative. The M'Dougalls have, however, in
later times, generation after generation, earned distinction In the
service of their country. The heir of the family, nearly seventy years
ago, fell fighting gallantly in Spain, under the Duke of Wellington
— a death, as Sir Walter Scott remarks, worthy of his ancestors.
The Stewarts of Lome, a family of royal lineage, succeeded the
M'Dougalls In their power and vast possessions in Argyllshire, and
they in their turn gave place to the Campbells, who have for several
centuries been the predominant clan in this county. Beginning as
simple lairds of Lochaw, the chiefs of the race of Diarmid have, by
dint of remarkable ability, shrewdness, energy, and good fortune,
not only absorbed, one after another, the smaller clans of Lome
and Kin tyre — the M'Naughtons, who once were masters of those
beautiful valleys through which the Aray and the Shiray flow to Loch
Fyne, and the M'Alisters and the M'FIes — but have also ousted the
once powerful clan Donald from the supremacy which they long held
In the Western Islands. ' It was said,' Lord Macaulay remarks, ' that
MacCallum More after MacCallum More had with unwearied, unscru
pulous, and unrelenting ambition annexed mountain after mountain,
and Island after Island to the original domains of his house. Some
tribes had been expelled from their territory, some compelled to pay
tribute, some incorporated with their conquerors. It was still con
stantly repeated In verse and prose that the finest part of the domain
belonging to the ancient heads of the Gaelic nation — Islay where
they had lived with the pomp of royalty, lona where they had been
interred with the pomp of religion, the Paps of Jura, the rich penin
sula of KIntyre— had been transferred from the legitimate possessors
to the insatiable MacCallum More.' * Throughout their long career
the Campbells have always been staunch supporters of the cause
which, whatever temporary reverses It might suffer, was sure to win
in the end — the cause of the Independence of Scotiand against
foreign aggression ; the cause of Protestantism against Popery and
of freedom against despotism. Hence, in spite of repeated for
feitures, and temporary ruin (to say nothing of a spendthrift Mac-
* History of England, iii. pp. 316 — 323.

230 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Calian More, whose reckless expenditure clipped the wings of their
extensive patrimony), their ancestral possessions have descended to
their present owner comparatively unimpaired.
The origin of the Campbell family is hid In the mists of antiquity,
and we shall not run the risk of provoking the ire either of Goth or
Celt by pronouncing an opinion either on the notion of Pinkerton,
who affirms that they are descended from a Norman knight, named
De Campo Bello, alleged to have, come to England with William the
Conqueror, but of whose existence no trace can be found ; or on the
tales of the Sennachies, that the great ancestor of the clan was a cer
tain Diarmid' O'Dwbin, or O'Dwin, a brave warrior, who it is asserted
was a contemporary of the heroes of Ossian. Suffice it to say that
the earliest figure who emerges out of the Highland mist Is Gil-
LESPic Campbel, or Cambell, as the name is invariably written in
the earliest charters, who married the heiress of Lochaw, and whose
grandson. Sir Gillespie, witnessed the charter granted by Alex
ander III. to Newburgh, March 12th, 1266, more than six hundred
years ago. His son. Sir Colin, who is reckoned the seventh of the
chiefs of the Campbells, was one of the nominees selected by Robert
Bruce, in 1291, when his title to the crown was to be investigated.
The story runs that this Sir Colin was so distinguished by his war
like achievements and the additions he made to the family estates
that he obtained the surname of ' More,' or ' Great,' and that from
him the chief of the clan Is to this day styled in Gaelic MacCalian
More, or the son of Colin the Great. Sir Colin's second son founded
the earliest branch of the family — the Campbells, earls of Loudoun.
His eldest son. Sir Nigel, or Neil, was one of the first of the
Scottish barons to join Robert Bruce, and adhered with unwavering
fidelity to that monarch's cause throughout the whole of his chequered
career. After the disastrous battle of Methven, Bruce, with a small
body of followers, took refuge In the Western Highlands, and Sir
Nigel, through his influence with Angus, Lord of the Isles, secured
a retreat for the hunted King in the remote district of KIntyre. Sir
Nigel shared in all the subsequent struggles of the Scottish patriots
for the recovery of their independence, and took part in the crowning
victory of Bannockburn. He was rewarded for his fidelity and his
important services with the hand of Lady Mary, Bruce' s own sister,
and with a grant of the forfeited estates of David de Strathbogie,
Earl of Athol. Sir Nigel was one of the commissioners sent to
York, in 13 14, to negotiate a peace with England — was one of the

The Campbells of Argyll. 23 1
leading barons in the Parliament held at Ayr In 13 15, when the
succession to the crown was settled, and obtained from his royal
brother-in-law a charter, under the Great Seal, of several estates. By
his wife. Lady Mary Bruce, Sir Nigel had three sons, the second of
whom, John, was created Earl of Athol, and succeeded to the exten
sive possessions of that earldom. In accordance with the grant made
by his uncle. He fell, however, at the battle of Halidon Hill, July
19th, 1333 ; and, as he left no issue, his title reverted to the crown.
Sir Nigel's eldest son —
Sir Colin, rendered Important service to Edward Bruce in his
Irish campaigns, and to David, son of King Robert, in assisting to
expel the English invaders once more from the kingdom. It is of
Sir Colin that the well-known story Is told, that when marching
through a wood in Ireland along with his uncle. King Robert, in
February, 13 17, an order was issued by that monarch that his men
were on no account to quit their ranks. Sir Colin, Irritated by the
attacks of two English archers who discharged their arrows at him,
rode after them to avenge the insult. King Robert followed, and
nearly struck him from his horse with his truncheon, exclaiming,
* Come back ! Your disobedience might have brought us all into
peril.' In 1334 Sir Colin surprised and recovered the strong castle
of Dunoon, which had been held by the English and the adherents
of Edward. He was rewarded for this exploit by being appointed
hereditary keeper of -the castle which he had captured — an office
that has descended by Inheritance to the present Duke of Argyll.
For several successive generations, though nothing worthy of
special notice occurred, the chiefs of the Campbell clan continued
steadily to extend their territorial possessions and to augment their
power. Kilmun — the last resting-place of the family — the barony
of Mllport, and extensive estates In Cowal, Knapdale, and Arran fell
into their hands In the early part of the fourteenth century. The first
of the family who received the title of Argyll was Sir Duncan, the
great-grandson of Sir Colin and nephew of Annabella Drummond,
the Queen of Robert III. He was accounted one of the wealthiest
barons in Scotland, and in 1424 was one of the hostages for the
payment of the expense of the maintenance of James I. during his
long imprisonment in England. At this date Sir Duncan's annual
revenue was set down as 1,500 merks — a larger income than that of
any of the other hostages, except Lord Douglas of Dalkeith, whose

232 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
estates were valued at the same amount. He was made a Lord of
Parliament in 1445, under the title of Lord Campbell. He was the
founder of the collegiate church of Kilmun, where he was buried In
1453. His first wife was Marjory or Marietta Stewart, daughter of
Robert, Duke of Albany, brother of King Robert III., and Regent of
the kingdom during the imprisonment of his nephew, James I., In Eng
land.* This was the second Intermarriage of the House of Argyll
with the royal family of Scotiand. Lord Campbell's youngest son by
this royal lady Is the ancestor of the Campbells of Breadalbane.
Colin, the grandson of Lord Campbell, was created Earl of
Argyll by James II., in 1457. By his marriage to the eldest of
the three daughters and co-heiresses of John, Lord Lome (all
three married Campbells), the young Earl put an end to the feuds
which for upwards of two hundred and fifty years had raged
between the families of Lochaw and Lome, and obtained the
undisputed chieftainship of the county of Argyll. He acquired, in
consequence of this connection, the lordship and title of Lome
from Walter Stewart, Lord Lome and Invermeath, heir male of
that lordship, in exchange for the estates of Kildoning, Baldening,
and other lands In the shires of Perth, Fife, Kinross, and Aber
deen. The galley — the ancient badge of the family of Lome —
was, in consequence of this acquisition, assumed Into the Earl's
hereditary coat-of-arms. ' The acquisition of Lome,' says Dr.
Fraser, ' was a favourable arrangement for the family of Argyll,
as It lay adjacent to their other lands, while the Lowland pos
sessions surrendered as an equivalent were scattered over various
counties and far distant from their more Important territories.' The
Earl acquired extensive estates besides in Perthshire and Fifeshire,
and the lordship of Campbell, with Its celebrated castle near Dollar,
where John Knox visited Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll, and
preached to him and his relatives. It continued to be a frequent
residence of the family until 1644, when it was burned by the
Macleans in the army of the Marquis of Montrose. At a later
period he obtained a large share of the forfeited possessions of
the Lord of the Isles. The most important offices at Court and
In the kingdom were conferred upon him. He was frequently
~ One of the charters which Duncan, Lord Campbell, received from his father-in-
law was witnessed, amongst others, by Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, the
eldest son of the renowned Hotspur, who was at that time a refugee at the Scottish
court.

The Campbells of Argyll. 233
sent as ambassador to the English Court, and also to France. He
was Master of the Royal Household, Grand Justiciary of Scotland,
and eventually became Lord High Chancellor — an office which he
held for a long period. This dignity, along with the lands of
'Mekell and Lettel Pincartoun,' in the barony of Dunbar, was
probably bestowed upon the Earl In 1483, as a reward for his loyal
adherence to James III. at the time of the conspiracy of Archibald
Bell-the-Cat and other nobles, which led to the murder of the royal
favourites at Lauder, in 1482. Argyll was in England at the time
ofthe defeat and death of that unfortunate monarch at Sauchieburn,
In 1488. On his return to Scotland he was at once reappointed
Chancellor by James IV., who also conferred upon him the lands of
Roseneath, Dumbartonshire (January 9th, 1489) which are still In the
possession of the family. The mansion is one of the principal seats of
the Duke of Argyll. This powerful and prosperous nobleman died
in 1493. The Lords of the Isles, the mightiest of all the ancient
Highland chieftains, had long possessed unquestioned supremacy
In the Hebrides and throughout the mountain country of Argyllshire
and Inverness-shire. But from this period their power began to
wane before the rising influence of the Campbells. As late as the
fifteenth century these haughty and turbulent island chieftains even
disputed the authority of the kings of Scotland ; but their suc
cessive rebellions were punished by successive forfeitures both of
their ancient dignities and their possessions, and now that the house of
Argyll had become sufficiently powerful to enforce the decrees of the
King and Parliament, and had a strong Interest In carrying these
decrees Into effect, the extensive territories which for many genera
tions had belonged to the Lordship of the Isles were finally wrested
from their ancient possessors and conferred upon the loyal clans, and
especially upon the Campbells, who could now meet in the field the
combined forces of all the other Western septs.
Archibald, the second Earl of Argyll, steadily pursued what may
now be termed the family policy. In his father's lifetime he obtained
a grant of the lands of Auchintorlie and Dunnerbok in Dumbarton
shire, and of Duchall, in the county of Renfrew, forfeited by Robert,
Lord Lyle. He succeeded to the great offices held by his father of
Lord Chancellor of Scotiand, Lord Chamberiain, and Master of the
Household. He was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of the Borders,
and Warden of the Marches, and largely increased the possessions of

234 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
his clan at the expense of the Island chiefs. Sir John Campbell, his
third son, married Muriel, daughter and heiress of Sir John Calder
of Calder, or Cawdor, near Nairn, and became the founder of the
branch of the clan now represented by the Earl of Cawdor.
The second Earl of Argyll commanded, with his brother-in-law, the
Earl of Lennox, the right wing of the Scottish army at the san
guinary battle of Flodden, September gth, 15 13, and both Earls were
left dead on the field.
Colin, third Earl, added to the family territories the lordship of
Balquhidder, in Perthshire, the barony of Abernethy, forfeited by
the Douglases, and other valuable estates. He obtained the
Important office of Justice-General of Scotland, which, with the
office of Master of the Household, was now made hereditary in his
family. He was also appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the Borders and
Warden of the Marches. He was a member of the Council of
Regency during the minority of James V., and was nominated Lieu
tenant-General over the Isles, with the most ample powers, which he
did not allow to remain unused in his suppression of the formidable
rebellion of Macdonald of Lochalsh, the heir of the ancient Lords of
the Isles. It was Lady Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of this Earl,
whose romantic and perilous adventure is the subject of Thomas
Campbell's well-known ballad of ' Glenara,' and of Miss Baillle's
drama, ' The Family Legend.' This lady had been married to
Maclean of Duart, a powerful and ferocious chieftain, who, con
ceiving a dislike to his wife, conveyed her to a small rock, still
called 'The Lady's Rock,' near Lismore, which at high-water was
covered by the sea. She was on the eve of being overwhelmed by
the tide when she was fortunately observed and rescued by some
of her father's retainers who were passing in a boat. Maclean was
allowed to go through all the ceremonial of a mock funeral, but was,
shortly afterwards, killed In his bed by his brother-in-law, Sir John
Campbell of Calder.
John, second son of Earl Colin, was ancestor of the. Campbells of
Lochnell, who have, both in ancient and modern times, stood next
in succession to the earldom.
Archibald, the fourth Earl of Argyll, was on his succession to
the titie, in 1530, appointed to all the offices held by his father and
grandfather, and in 1542 obtained a charter of the King's lands of

The Campbells of Argyll. 235
Cardross, in Dumbartonshire, which had belonged to King Robert
Bruce, who died there. Three years later he received a portion of the
lands of Arrochar, part of the confiscated estates of the Eari of Lennox,
an adherent of the English faction In Scotiand. At the death of
James v., Argyll attached himself to the party of Cardinal Beaton,
Archbishop of St. Andrews, who granted to him a charter of the
lands of Balrudry, Pitgogar, and Blairhill, in the barony of Muckhart
and shire of Perth. The charter, which is dated at St. Andrews, on
the 17th August, 1543, Is signed by the Cardinal, and bears to have
been granted in consideration of the 'great benefits, assistance,
counsel, and services ' rendered by the Earl to the Cardinal and the
Church, and ' especially for the protection and defence of ecclesi
astical liberty, at that dangerous time when Lutheran heresies were
springing up on every side, and striving to weaken and subvert
ecclesiastical freedom ; and for the like services to be rendered to
the Church In time coming.' The Earl was one of the peers who
entered into an association to oppose the marriage of the infant
Queen Mary to Prince Edward of England, ' as tending to the high
dishonour, perpetual skaith, damage, and ruin of the liberty and
nobleness of the realm.' His own country suffered severely in the
contest which ensued, and was wasted and plundered by the English
and their adherents. In the year 1546 he received from Queen
Mary a charter ofthe barony of Boquhan, in the county of Stirling.*
The Earl commanded a large body of Highlanders and Islanders
at the sanguinary battle of Pinkie (loth September, 1547); and,
on the invasion of Scotland in the following year, he marched with
a strong force to Dundee, to repel the enemy. But at this juncture,
for reasons which have not been fully explained, he changed sides,
became a zealous opponent of Mary of Guise and the French party,
and soon after quitted the Church of Rome, and openly embraced
the Protestant faith. He was Indeed one of the first men of his rank
in Scotland who took this step. John Douglas, a converted Carmelite
friar, afterwards the first Protestant Archbishop of St. Andrews,
became his domestic chaplain, and carefully educated his family in
the principles of the Reformed religion. The Earl also signed the
famous Covenant against 'Popish abominations' in 1557, and, on
his deathbed, earnestly exhorted his son to support the Protestant
* A contemporary indorsation on the charter, and also on the relative precept of
sasine, marks both as granted to Archibald Roy — that is, the Red; a characteristic also of
the celebrated John Duke of Argyll and Greenwich, and which, as Dr. Fraser remarks,
appears prominently in the present generation of the descendants of Archibald Roy.

236 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
doctrine, and to suppress Popish superstitions. From this time
forward the house of Argyll was conspicuous among the leaders of
the Reformation, and both by their great influence and exertions,
and by their sufferings on behalf of the good cause, have contributed
more than any other family to the ultimate triumph of the Protestant
religion in Scotland.
Archibald, fifth Earl of Argyll, though a zealous Protestant,
supported at first the Government ofthe Queen-Regent ; but on her
perfidious violation of the Treaty of Perth, which he helped to nego
tiate, he joined the Lords of the Congregation, became the faithful
friend and champion of John Knox, and, along with Lord James
Stewart — the one, as Douglas remarks, the most powerful, the other
the most popular, leader of the Protestant party — aided in the expul
sion of the French troops from the country, and In all the measures
which led to the overthrow of the Romish system and the establish
ment of the Reformed faith in Scotland. The Earl's name appears
third on the list of the nobility who subscribed the First Book of
Discipline, and he was appointed by the Lords of the Congregation,
along with the Earls of Glencairn and Arran, to destroy the * remain
ing monuments of Idolatry In the West.' On the return of Queen
Mary from France in 156 1, Argyll was immediately appointed a
Privy Councillor, and appears to have stood high in the royal favour.
In 1565, however, the English ambassador reports that ' The Queen
hateth my Lord of Argyll.' He was strongly opposed to her marriage
with Darnley, and united with the Earls of Moray and Glencairn and
the Duke of Chatelherault, in an attempt to prevent this ill-fated
match by force of arms. When the other Protestant lords were
compelled to take refuge in England, Argyll retired to his own
country. It was ' a far cry to Lochaw,' and he well knew that
his enemies durst not attempt to follow him into the fastnesses of
Argyllshire. The Earl married one of the illegitimate daughters of James V.,
with whom he does not seem to have lived on very happy terms. John
Knox, at the request of the Queen, made repeated attempts to recon
cile the jarring couple, but with indifferent success, and their quarrels
and separation caused great scandal to the Protestant party, and
even drew upon them the censure of the General Assembly. The
Countess of Argyll was with the Queen at supper In her closet when
Rizzio was murdered (9th March, i;66), an event which led at once

The Campbells of Argyll. 237
to the pardon of the banished lords and their restoration to their
estates. Argyll took a prominent and by no means creditable part
in the events which rapidly followed. He was deeply Implicated in
the plot for the murder of Darnley ; he signed the bond In favour of
the Queen's marriage with Bothwell ; he was one of the noblemen
who Immediately thereafter entered into an association for the
defence of the Infant prince against the machinations of Mary's
husband ; he took part in the deposition of the Queen, carried
the sword of state at the coronation of her son (29th July, 1567),
and concurred in the appointment of the Earl of Moray to the office
of Regent. In the following year he changed sides, and joined the
Queen at Hamilton on her escape from Lochleven, which he was
Instrumental in procuring. She appointed him Lieutenant-General of
all her forces by a commission granted on the morning of the fatal
battle of Langslde (13th May, 1568), where he was taken prisoner.
He was purposely allowed to escape, however, and retired to his
own country. A few months later he was again in arms. In conjunc
tion with the Hamiltons and Huntly, to effect the restoration of
Mary, but ultimately disbanded his forces and made terms with the
Regent. On the assassination of Moray, Argyll was one of the
noblemen who assembled at Linlithgow, loth April, 1570, and, along
with Chatelherault and Huntly, was appointed the Queen's lieutenant
in Scotland. In the following year, however, he submitted to the
authority of Lennox, the new Regent, and was In Stirling attending
the meeting of Parliament (September, 157 1) when the town was
surprised and Lennox killed by a body of the partisans of the Queen.
Argyll offered himself as a candidate for the office of Regent, but
the choice fell on the Earl of Mar, and Argyll was sworn a Privy
Councillor. On the elevation of Morton to the Regency In November,
1572, Argyll was appointed Lord High Chancellor, and on the 17th
of January, 1573, he obtained a charter of that office for life. He died
of the stone, September 12, 1575, in the forty-third year of his age;
and as he left no issue, was succeeded In his titles and estates by his
half-brother. Sir Colin Campbell of Boquhan. As the Earl was
the reverse of a weak or vacillating character, the frequency with
which he changed sides during these civil broils must be ascribed to
motives of self-interest and ambition, though, unlike most of his
brother nobles at that period, he seems to have cherished a sincere
desire to promote the welfare of his country rather than the interest
of either the French or the English faction.

238 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Colin, sixth Earl of Argyll, soon after his accession to the earldom
had a quarrel with Morton, arising out of his claim of jurisdiction as
hereditary Justice-General of Scotland, and his alienation from the
Regent was confirmed -by his demanding the restitution of the valu
able crown jewels which the Earl had obtained either from his sister-
in-law, or more probably through his second wife, who was the widow
of the Regent Moray. Athole and Argyll, who had quarrelled about
their jurisdiction, and were on the eve of settling the matter by trial
of battle, learning that the Regent intended to prosecute them for
treason, united In a confederacy against him, and resolved to effect
his overthrow. On the 4th of March, 1578, Argyll proceeded to
Stirling, and complained loudly to the King of the oppressive and
tyrannical proceedings ofthe Regent, and recommended James to take
the government into his own hands, which was accordingly done, and
Argyll was placed at the head of the Council of Twelve, appointed
to assist the King, who was only twelve years of age, in the manage
ment of public affairs. The crafty ex- Regent, however, overreached
his opponents, and in the course of a few weeks contrived to obtain
possession ofthe King's person, and to regain his former supremacy.
Argyll and Athole mustered their clansmen, and at the head of
7,000 men marched towards Stirling to rescue the King, but by the
mediation of Bowes, the English ambassador, a compromise was
effected between the hostile factions. Argyll and Lindsay agreed
to enter the new council, of which Morton was the head, and on the
loth of August following, the former, on the death of Athole, was
appointed Lord High Chancellor of the kingdom. But though the
Earl was apparently reconciled to Morton, he co-operated with Esme
Stewart, afterwards Duke of Lennox, the royal favourite, and James
Stewart, who was subsequently created Earl of Arran, in under
mining the Influence of the ex-Regent, and was one of the jury at his
trial. In June, 1581. Afterwards, however, having discovered the
ulterior designs of the French faction against the Protestant faith
and the independence of the kingdom, he confessed to the Ministers
that he had been mistaken or misled, and joined in the bond against
Lennox which led to the Raid of Ruthven and the restoration of
the Protestant party to power. But, strange to say, he was soon
afterwards found In the ranks of the nobles who assisted James to
escape from the hands of Gowrie, Mar, and Angus, the leaders of the
English faction (June, 1583). His career was now, however, near an
end. He died after a long illness, in October of the following year.

The Campbells of Argyll. 239
Earl Colin was succeeded by his eldest son, Archibald, seventh
Earl, who was then littie more than eight years of age. In 1592,
when he was in his seventeenth year, the young Earl married Lady
Anne Douglas, fifth daughter of the Eari of Morton. Shortly after
he became the object of a nefarious plot, which was directed also
against his cousin, the ' bonnie Earl of Moray.' The principal con
spirators were the Chancellor Maitiand, the Earl of Huntly,, the
hereditary enemy of the Moray family. Sir James Campbell of Ard-
klnglass, John, Lord Maxwell, and Campbell of Lochnell, a kinsman
of Argyll, and one of his guardians, and next heir to the earldom
after the Earl and his brother. These ' titled and official ruffians,'
as Tytler justly terms them, drew up with the strictest legal precision
a formal bond by which they solemnly bound themselves to assist
each other In the murder of the Earl of Moray, the Earl of Argyll,
Colin his brother, and Sir John Campbell of Calder, another of their
guardians. It was agreed that the Campbell of Lochnell should
obtain the earldom of Argyll, but that a considerable portion of Its
princely estates should be made over to the Chancellor Maitland.
In pursuance of this villainous scheme, ' the bonnie Earl of Moray '
was murdered at Donnibrissel by Huntly, and Sir John Campbell
was shot at night through the window of his own house, in Lome, by
an assassin named M'Kellar, who had been employed by Ardkinglas
to do this foul deed. Argyll was to have been the next victim. An
attempt to take him off by poison having failed, a favourable oppor
tunity to perpetrate the long-meditated crime seemed to present
itself in 1594, when Argyll received the royal commission as King's
Lieutenant to suppress the rebellion of the Popish Earls of Huntly
and Erroll. Marching into Strathbogie at the head of a numerous
but undisciplined and ill-armed force, without either cavalry or artil
lery, the Earl encountered the rebel army at Glenllvat (October 3rd,
1594). After a fierce and sanguinary conflict. In which the traitor,
Campbell of Lochnell, was killed by the first discharge of Huntly's
artillery, the Highlanders fled, leaving their young chief almost alone,
and he was at length forced off the field by his friends, weeping with
Indignation and grief at the disgraceful desertion of his retainers.
Shortly after, however, the discovery was made that the cause of
his defeat was not the cowardice but the treachery of some of his
captains, who were In correspondence with the enemy, Ardkinglas,
seized with remorse, confessed the plot, and Argyll having obtained
possession of the original ' bond,' discovered the full extent and

240 The Great Historic' Families of Scotland.
objects of the conspiracy. Fired with Indignation he assembled his
vassals and proclaimed a war of extermination against Huntly and
the traitor Campbell. The most frightful excesses were committed
on both sides, and the northem districts were laid waste with fire
and sword. At length the King, roused to activity by the scenes of
bloodshed and misery which ensued, took vigorous proceedings
against both parties. Argyll and Campbell of Glenorchy were
imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, and the Popish Earls Huntly and
Erroll were expelled the country and took refuge In Denmark.
Eight years later, however. King James, just before his accession to
the throne of England, effected a reconciliation between the two
hereditary enemies, and the eldest son of Huntly was betrothed to
the eldest daughter of Argyll. Their friendship was still more closely-
cemented in 1608 at the expense of the Macgregors, against whom
the two Earls were authorised to undertake a joint expedition, which
ended in the almost total extermination of that unhappy ' broken
clan.' The chief of the Macgregors surrendered to Argyll on con
dition that he should be sent out of Scotland. ' But,' says Birrel,
' the Earl keipit ane Hielandman's promise in respect he sent the
gaird to convey him out of Scottis ground, but they were not directit
to pairt with him, but to fetch him back agane.' The Ill-starred
chief was conveyed across the Tweed at Berwick, but was Imme
diately brought back to Edinburgh, where he was executed, i8th
January, 1609.
In 1615 the Macdonalds raised the standard of rebellion in Islay,
where, as Lord Macaulay says, ' they had once lived with the pomp of
royalty,' but which was now the property of their unrelenting enemies,
the Campbells. The Council with considerable reluctance intrusted to
Argyll the task of suppressing this insurrection, and the Earl, with the
help of some soldiers hired at the public expense, speedily brought
the war to a conclusion. He was rewarded by the King for his ser
vices with a grant of the district of KIntyre in 1 6 1 7, and the deed was
ratified by a special Act of Parliament the same year. On the death
of his first wife the Earl, in 1610, married a daughter of Sir Wilham
Cornwallis of Broome, ancestor of the Marquis Cornwallis, and this
lady, who was a Roman Catholic, induced the once-zealous leader
of the Protestant party to join the Romish Church. His defection
was kept secret, however, till the year 1618, when he obtained per
mission from the King to go abroad on pretence of visiting Spa for
the benefit of his health. But instead of visiting Spa he proceeded

The Campbells of Argyll. 241
to Spain, where he made an open profession of the Romish faith,
and entered the Spanish service. Re gained considerable distinc
tion in the war which Philip waged against the States of Holland,
but his conduct gave just and deep offence to his own sovereign,
who caused him to be proclaimed a rebel and a traitor, and com
pelled him to make over the management of his estates and the
government of his clan to his eldest son. Though released from this
ban in 162 1, he did not venture to return to Britain till 1638. His
death took place in London in that same year. His son by his first
wife succeeded him in the earldom and family estates. A son,
named James, whom his second wife bore to him, was created Earl
of Irvine.
Archibald, the celebrated Gillespie Grumach, eighth Earl and
first Marquis of Argyll, raised the house of Campbell to a greater
height of political power than it had ever before attained. This
eminent patriot and statesman was born In 1598, and was early
introduced into public life. While yet Lord Lome he appre
hended Patrick Macgregor, popularly called Gllderoy, or Gillie Roy,
who, about thd year 1632, at the head of a band of caterans,
plundered various districts of the Highlands. This noted free
booter and nine of his gang, who were arrested at the same time,
were tried and executed in Edinburgh in July, 1636. The capture
and fate of this bold outlaw has been made the subject of a well-
known ballad and of several works of fiction. At the time of the
Earl's accession to the family title and estates, all Scotland was con
vulsed by the arbitrary and impolitic Innovations of Charles I. and
Laud on the worship of the Scottish Church, and Argyll, whose
advice was solicited by the King, earnestly recommended that
they should be withdrawn. Finding that his counsel was not
followed, and that Charles was obstinately bent on carrying out
his unconstitutional policy, the Earl signed the National Covenant
and attended the famous Assembly which met at Glasgow,
November, 1638, and abolished the Episcopal form of govern
ment in Scotland. When the Marquis of Hamilton, as High
Commissioner, ordered the Assembly to dissolve under pain of
treason and withdrew on the refusal of the members to disperse,
Argyll alone of all the Privy Councillors refused to follow his example,
and at the close declared pubHclyhis approbation of all their decisive
measures for the restoration of the Presb}'terian form of worship. In
VOL. I. s

242 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the following year, when Charles prepared to crush the Covenanters
by force of arms, Argyll raised nine hundred of his clansmen and
marched into the west to secure that part of the kingdom against the
threatened Invasion of the Earl of Antrim and the Irish Romanists.
In 1640 he received a commission from the Committee of Parlia
ment, signed by the Earl, afterwards Marquis, of Montrose and other
leading Covenanters, authorising him to proceed against the Earl of
Athole, Lord Ogilvie, and the Farquharsons in Braemar, to pursue
them with fire and sword until he brought them to their duty or
utterly routed them out of the country. Armed with this ruthless
commission, Argyll proceeded to the north at the head of five
thousand men, and compelled the Inhabitants of Badenoch, Athole,
and Mar to submit to the authority of the Parliament. Then,
marching eastward Into Angus, he captured Airlie and Forthar, the
castles of the Earl of Airlie, who had left Scotland to avoid sub
scribing the Covenant. Airlie Castle, which was defended by Lord
Ogilvie, the eldest son of the Earl, and was strongly garrisoned and
furnished with large stores of ammunition, had previously defied the
efforts of the Earls of Montrose and KInghorn to reduce it. But on
the approach of Argyll It was abandoned by the garrison, and was
laid in ruins by the Covenanters. This is ihe Incident which has
been commemorated in the well-known ballad of ' The bonnie house
of Airlie.' (See The Ogilvies of Airlie.)
When Charles visited Scotland in 1641, the Earl of Mont
rose, who had originally espoused the popular cause but had now
gone over to the side of the Court, represented to the King
that the removal of the Marquis of Hamilton and the Earl of
Argyll was necessary as a preliminary to the accomplishment of
his plans for the union of the Scottish and Irish forces against the
English Parliament. It was accordingly arranged that they were
to be seized and carried on board a vessel in Leith Roads ; but
having received timely notice of the plot against them, they made
their escape to Kinneil, a country seat of Hamilton's, where they
were safe. Charles, thus baffled in his nefarious scheme, was glad
to recall the two noblemen to Court, and, finding it Impossible to
crush these powerful and popular magnates, he tried to gain them
and their party to his side, and raised Argyll to the rank of a
Marquis. When the King took up arms against the English Parlia
ment, Argyll, who was now the recognised leader of the Covenanters,
induced the Scottish Council to make repeated offers of mediation ;

The Campbells of Argyll. 243
but these proposals having been rejected by the King, the Scots at
length resolved to send an army to the assistance of the Parliament.
From this time onward the Marquis took a prominent part In the
Civil War ; his Influence was paramount in Scotland, where he was
popularly known as ' King Campbell.' He became the object of the
bitter hatred of the Royalists. He was defeated by Montrose at
Inverlochy ; his estates were laid waste with fire and sword, and ' not
a four-footed beast In the haill country ' was left. So ruinous were
the devastating inroads of Montrose and the Irish kernes that the
Parliament was obliged to grant a sum of money for the support of
the Marquis and his family, and a collection was ordered to be macie
throughout all the churches for the relief of his plundered clansmen.
Up to this time Argyll had steadily co-operated with the English
Parliament, but on the surrender of the King and the ascendancy of
the Republican party, he separated from them and consulted with
the Royalist nobles, Richmond and Hertford (with the royal
authority), respecting the advisability of the Scottish Parliament
and army coming to the rescue of the King. The plan had to be
abandoned as Impracticable, and Argyll, with his usual sagacity,
disapproved of the 'Engagement' entered Into by the Duke of
Hamilton and other Presbyterian Royalists, in the latter part of 1647,
for the restoration of the royal cause, which brought defeat and
death to them and ruin on the King. After the overthrow of the
'Engagers' at Preston, Argyll and his friends seized the reins of
Government. He protested, however, against the execution of the
King — a deed which completely alienated the whole Scottish nation
from the English Republicans, and Prince Charies, the eldest son of
the deceased monarch, was immediately proclaimed King of Scot
land in his father's stead. A series of letters, written by Charles from
the Hague, Jersey, and Breda, and, after he came to Scotiand, from
Falkland and Perth, showed how much he relied upon Argyll for
his restoration to the throne of his ancestors, and how earnestly he
implored the great Marquis to use his Influence in his behalf. The
profuse promises which Charies made of remembering and rewarding
the services of the powerful Presbyterian leader culminated in the
following remarkable letter written at Perth :— ' 24th Sept., 1650.
' Having taken into consideration the faithful endeavours of the
Marquis of Argyll for restoring me to my just rights and the happie
setting of my dominions, I am desyrous to let the worid see

244 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
how sensible I am of his reall respect to me by some particular
marks of my favour to him, by whiche they may see the trust and
confidence I repose in him; and particularly I doe promis that I will
mak him Duk of Argyll, and Knight of the Garter, and one of the
Gentlemen of my bedchamber ; and this to be performed when he
shall think fitt.
' Whensoever It shall please God to restore me to my just rights
in England I shall see him payed the ^40,000 pownds sterling which
is due to him. All which I doe promis to mak good upon the word
of a King, 'CHARLES R.'
He even, it is said, made a proposal to marry Argyll's daughter,
which the wary chief prudently declined.
At his coronation, on the ist of January, 165 1, Argyll placed
the crown on the head of the young monarch, who seems to
have thoroughly deluded the staunch Presbyterians into a belief
that he had sincerely embraced the Covenant. The defeat of
the Scottish army at Worcester and Dunbar laid the country
prostrate at the feet of Cromwell. Still, amid almost universal
despair, Argyll strove to raise the depressed spirits of his fellow-
countrymen, and mustered his clan with the view of resisting the
victorious forces of the Commonwealth. He held out against them
for a year amid the fastnesses of his own district, but a reluctant
submission was at last extorted from him by General Dean, who
suddenly Invaded Inverary by sea, and surprised the Marquis while
confined to his castle by sickness.
At the Restoration in 1660,, Argyll repaired to London for the
purpose of congratulating the King, lured thither by the cordial
reception Charles had given his son ; but, on his arrival at White
hall, he was immediately arrested and committed to the Tower.
After lying there for five months he was sent down to Scotland, and
tried on fourteen different charges, extending over all the transac
tions which had taken place in Scotland since 1638. He pleaded
that during the late unhappy commotions he had always acted by
authority of Parliament, and not on his individual responsibility ;
that all the public proceedings of the Covenanters were covered by
the Act of Oblivion passed by Charles I., and by the indemnity
granted by his present Majesty at Stirling ; and that as for his com
pliance with the late usurpation, the entire kingdom shared in it

The Campbells of Argyll. 245
equally with himself; that it was necessary for his own preservation ;
that he did not submit himself till the whole nation had acquiesced
in the rule of the Commonwealth ; that his submission to the
Government then existing did not Imply a recognition of its
original titie, much less a treasonable opposition to the rightful heir
while excluded from the throne. ' And how could I suppose,' he
added, • that I was acting criminally when a man so learned as his
Majesty's Advocate took the same oath to the Commonwealth
with myself? ' Sir John Fletcher, the Lord Advocate, was so
enraged at this reference to himself that he called Argyll an
impudent villain. The Marquis meekly replied that he had learned
in his afflictions to suffer reproach. The unanswerable defence of
the accused nobleman compelled the Parliament, though filled with
enemies thirsting for his blood, to exculpate him from all the
charges in his Indictment except that of compliance with Cromwell's
usurpation. Even on this point the evidence was so defective that
his acquittal seemed certain ; but, after the case was closed, a number
of confidential letters which Argyll had written to Monk were laid
before the Court by a messenger whom the latter had basely and
treacherously sent down from London with all haste on learning the
scantiness of the proof against his former friend.* Argyll begged
for a respite for ten days, in order that his sentence might be com
municated to the King ; but when this was refused, he understood
that his fate had been determined by the Court, and quietly re
marked, 'I placed the crown upon the King's head, and this is my
reward; but he hastens me to a better crown than his own.' On
evidence thus shamefully obtained and Illegally brought forward, the
old nobleman was found guilty (25th May, 1661), and condemned
to be beheaded. The sentence was executed at the Cross of Edin
burgh on the 27 th of May.
The Marquis displayed great calmness and dignity during the
closing scene. ' He came to the scaffold,' says Burnet, ' in a very
solemn and undaunted manner, accompanied by many of the
nobility and some ministers. He spoke for half an hour with
''' This fact, mentioned by Burnet, has been denied by Sir George Rose in his
remarks on Fox's History ; but, to say nothing of the reference to the letters by Sir
George Mackenzie, in his Laws and Customs of Scotland, the originals have recently
been discovered among the papers of the Duke of Argyll, with an indorsation by the
Clerk of the Court, proving that they were produced by the Lord Advocate at the
trial of the Marquis. — See Appendix to Sixth Report of Historical Manuscripts'
Commission.

246 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
great appearance of serenity. Cunningham, his physician, told me
that he touched his pulse, and it did then beat at the usual rate
— calm and strong.' ' I could die like a Roman,' was his remark
to a friend, ' but I choose rather to die like a Christian.'
There can be no doubt that the great Marquis was a man of
sincere and deep religious feeling. He was a true patriot, who made
the love of his country and the desire for her good paramount to
all personal considerations; and a statesman of great sagacity,
and experience, and consummate address. He was almost adored
by his own clan, and his memory is still held in high venera
tion by the Scottish Presbyterians ; but his vast influence, and the
height to which he carried the policy of his house, made him equally
dreaded and hated by the neighbouring chiefs of his day. The
Campbells were not satisfied — like their predecessors the old
Lords of Argyll, the Isles, and Lome — with a sway quite absolute
and almost Independent over the inhabitants of these remote and
Inaccessible mountains and Isles of the western Highlands. From
the days of Robert Bruce downward they attached themselves to the
Scottish Court, allied themselves by marriage to the great Lowland
families, and held the highest offices of State. They were the
Chancellors, the hereditary Masters of the Household, and Great
Justiciars of Scotland. The personal character of the successive
heads of this aspiring family — combining unwearied and indomitable
energy with a peculiar dexterity and plausibility of address — had
step by step raised them to such a height of power, that the number
of fighting men who bore the name of Campbell was sufficient to
meet in the field the combined forces of all the other western clans.
The Marquis of Argyll, as Lord Macaulay remarks, ' was the head
of a party as well as the head of a tribe. Possessed of two different
kinds of authority, he used each of them in such a way as to extend
and fortify the other. The knowledge that he could bring into the
field the claymores of five thousand half-heathen mountaineers added
to his Influence among the austere Presbyterians who filled the Privy
Council and the General Assembly. His influence at Edinburgh
added to the terror which he inspired among the mountains. Of all
the Highland princes whose history is well known to us, he was the
greatest and the most dreaded.'
On the death of the great Marquis, Archibald, his eldest son,
became the head of the house of Campbell. In accordance with the

The Campbells of Argyll. 247
Celtic custom of ' fostering,' Earl Archibald's early yet-lrs were
spent under the roof of his kinsman, the accomplished Sir Colin
Campbell of Glenorchy. The foster-mother of the youthful heir to
the chieftainship of the clan was Juliana Campbell, daughter of
Hew, Lord Loudoun, and wife of Sir Colin. An Interesting corre
spondence between the Marquis and the foster-father of his son has
been preserved, and throws light on the nature and obligations of
the relation of fosterage. The correspondence begins In 1633, with
a letter from Sir Colin to Lord Lome, expressing his great gratifica
tion that the chief had given him the preference over ' sundrle of
his Lordship's friends who were most desyrous to have his Lord
ship's eldest son in fostering, quich,' he says, ' I acknowledge as a
great testimonie both of your Lordship's trust and love ; and I hop
In God evir so to approve myself to be most willing and desyrous to
deserve both.' Careful arrangements were made for the conveyance
of the boy to his new home. ' In regard,' says Sir Colin, ' that I
am not weel able to travell myself so far a journey, I intend to send
my wyfe and some other of my friends to be his convoy.' And
he requests his Lordship to ' provyde some discrit woman and ane
sufficient man quha has both Irisch [Gaelic] and Englisch, and will
have a care not onlie to attend him, but sometimes lykewayes to learne
him, and quhat else may concern him, quhlU he is in my company.'
Great importance seems to have been attached to the acquisition of
'the Gaelic language, for in December, 1637, Lady Lome writes to
Glenorchy : ' I hear my sone begines to wearye of the Irish lang-
wadge. I entreat yew to cause holde hime to the speaking of itt,
for since he has bestowed so long tyme and paines on the getting of
it, I sould be sorry he lost It now with leasiness In not speaking of
it.' A letter from the youth himself shows the strength of his
affection for his 'loving foster-father and respected freind.' *
The young chief received an excellent education under the eye of
his father, and travelled in France and Italy from 1647 to 1649.
On his return to Scotland he took the opposite side from his
family In the Civil War, and, attaching himself to the royal cause,
fought for Charles II. at the battle of Dunbar, in September, 1650.
Even after the crowning defeat of the Scottish army at Worcester,
Lord Lome still continued In arms, and In his zeal for the interest
of the King fought side by side with the hereditary enemies of his
house. After the cause had become desperate he submitted to Monk,
'''• Sketches of Early Scottish History. By Cosmos Innes, pp. 369—372.

248 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
who treated him with great severity, and even committed him
to prison In 1657, where he lay till the Restoration. In return for
his services and sufferings, the King remitted his father's forfeiture,
and restored to him his hereditary estates and his grandfather's
titie of Earl of Argyll. The greedy and unprincipled Middleton,
the Royal Commissioner, who had hunted the Marquis to death, was
bitteriy disappointed at this procedure, and in 1662 procured the
condemnation of the young Eari to death, because. In a private letter
which the Commissioner intercepted, Argyll had commented freely
on the Intrigues of his potent enemy. The King, however, inter
posed, and saved the Earl's life ; but he was subjected to a long and
severe imprisonment, and was not released until June, 1663, when
Middleton had been removed from office. During nearly twenty years
Argyll continued to give a steady support to the Government, and
even to some extent assisted In suppressing the Insurrections of the
Covenanters, a step which afterwards caused him deep sorrow and
penitence. In 1 68 1 the slavish Parliament of Scotland, to gratify the Duke
of York, the King's brother and successor, enacted the notorious
Test of Passive Obedience, binding the subscriber never to attempt
to bring about any alteration In Government, In ChurCh, or In
State without the King's authoritv- This Test was such a mass
of Inconsistencies and self-contradiction, that It was impossible for
any man to take it bona fide, and even eighty of the Episcopal
ministers refused to subscribe to it, and were in consequence ejected
from their livings. Argyll Intimated his intention to resign his office
rather than take this Test, but, at the Instance of James himself, he
at length complied ; adding, however, the explanation, of which the
Duke professed to approve, that he took It so far as it was consistent
with itself and with the Protestant religion. James, however, saw
clearly that he could not rely on the support of Argyll In his plot for
the overthrow of the religion and liberties of the kingdom, and there
fore resolved to avail himself of this opportunity to destroy him. The
Earl was accordingly committed a prisoner to the castle of Edin
burgh, and was tried, on the i8thof December, 1681, by a packed
jury, of which the Marquis of Montrose, the hereditary enemy of '
the Campbells, was foreman, on a charge of treason and leasing-
making, or creating a dissension between the King and his subjects.
He was found guilty, and condemned to death. On the evening
of the 20th, however, he made his escape from the castle in the

The Campbells of Argyll. 249
disguise of a page holding up the train of his step-daughter. Lady
Sophia Lindsay, and, in spite of a keen pursuit, made his way to
London, and thence passed over into Friesland, where his father had
bought a small estate as a place of refuge for his family in case
of their expulsion from their hereditary possessions. Sentence of
attainder was immediately pronounced against him, his estates were
confiscated, his titles forfeited, and a large reward was offered for his
head. This shameless prostitution of justice excited deep indigna
tion among men of all parties both In England and Scotland. ' I
know nothing of the Scottish law,' said Lord Halifax, ' but this
I know, that we should not hang a dog even, on the grounds on which
my Lord Argyll has been sentenced.'
Argyll remained In Holland living In obscurity till the death of
Charles II. in 1685, when, at a meeting of Scottish and English
exiles. It was resolved that two expeditions should be undertaken —
one, under Monmouth, to England, the other, under Argyll, to Scot
land — for the purpose of vindicating the rights and liberties of the
nation. The history of the Ill-managed and disastrous Scottish
expedition, the causes of Its failure, and the difficulties which Argyll
encountered from the wrong-headedness and obstinacy of his asso
ciates In command, the dispersion of the insurgents and the capture of
their unfortunate leader, have all been narrated In most picturesque
style by Macaulay, and must be familiar to all who take an Interest
in the history of Scotland. Argyll was conveyed from Inchinnan,
where he was captured, to Edinburgh, every kind of indignity being
heaped upon him during his journey, and he was put in irons in his
old place of imprisonment. It was resolved not to bring him to a
new trial, but to put him to death under the old sentence of 1681. In
these trying circumstances the Earl still displayed the same calm
courage and equanimity which had distinguished the close of his
father's career. He professed deep penitence for his former com
pliance with the sinful measures of the Government, and expressed
his firm conviction that the good cause would ultimately triumph.
' I do not,' he said, ' take on myself to be a prophet, but I have
a strong Impression on my spirit that deliverance will come very
suddenly.' The sight of his peaceful sleep a few hours before his
execution overwhelmed one of his bitterest enemies with remorse
and shame, and has often been portrayed both by the pencil and
the pen. On the day of his execution he wrote a brief farewell to
his second son :

250 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
' Deare Johne, — We parted sudenly, but I hope shall meete
haplly in heauen. I pray God blese you, and if you seeke Him He
will be found of you. My wiffe will say all to you. Pray love and
respect her. I am your loving father, ' ARGYLL.'
A similar letter was written by him on the same day to his son
James. When the Earl was brought down to the Council-house,
where he was to remain till the hour of his execution, he wrote the
following farewell letter to his wife : —
' Dear Heart, — God is- unchangeable ; He hath always been
good and gracious to me, and no place alters It. Forgive me all
my faults ; and now comfort thyself in Him, in whom only true
comfort is to be found. The Lord be with thee, bless and comfort
thee, my dearest ! Adieu.'
To his step-daughter and daughter-in-law, who had formerly saved
his life by aiding his escape from prison, he wrote : —
' My Dear Lady Sophie, — What can I say in this great day of
the Lord where. In the midst of a cloud, I find a fair sunshine ? I
can wish no more for you but that the Lord may comfort you, and
shine upon you as He doth upon me, and give you the same sense
of His love in staying in the world as I have in going out of it.
Adieu.' His farewell speech breathed the spirit of piety, resignation, and for
giveness. He was beheaded on the 30th of June, 1685, ^"d his
head was fixed on the Tolbooth of Edinburgh.
His eldest son and successor, Archibald, tenth Earl, and first
Duke of Argyll, took refuge In Holland, and accompanied the
Prince of Orange to England in 1688. The Revolution, which
expelled the Stewarts from the throne, at once reinstated the chief
of the Campbells In all his ancestral rights and privileges. The
Convention treated as a nullity the sentence which deprived him of
his estates and honours. He was selected from the whole body of
Scottish nobles to make a tender of the crown of Scotland, and to
administer the oath of office, to William and Mary. He was author
ised to raise a regiment among his clansmen for the service of the

The Campbells of Argyll. 251
Crown, who were employed under Campbell of Glenlyon in the
atrocious massacre of Glencoe, and afterwards served with distincr
tion both In Ireland and Flanders. Although he had been guilty of
the crime, ' singularly disgraceful in him,' says Macaulay, of
intriguing with the agents of James while professing loyalty to
William, the latter created him, in 1701, Duke of Argyll, Marquis
of KIntyre and Lome, Earl of Campbell and Cowal, Viscount Lochaw
and Glenisla, Lord Inverary, Mull, Inverness, and Tiree. But, as
the historian justly remarks, the Duke was In his personal qualities
one of the most insignificant of the long line of nobles who had
borne the great name of Argyll. He was the descendant of eminent
men and the parent of eminent men, but he was unworthy both of
his ancestry and of his progeny. He was noted for little else than
his polished manners ; he had no application to business, and by his
careless and spendthrift style of living he still further Involved his
estates, which had been greatly impoverished by the misfortunes of
his father and grandfather. He married a daughter of the notorious
Duchess of Lauderdale, with whom, as might have been expected,
he led a very unhappy life, and at last he In a great measure aban
doned public duties and lived with a mistress in a house called
Clinton, near Newcastle. His death, which took place in 1703, was
both miserable and discreditable. He was succeeded by his son, a
nobleman of a very different character, the famous —
Duke John — Jeanie Deans's Duke — the friend of Pope, who has
eulogised him as —
' Argyll, the States' whole thunder born to wield.
And shake alike the senate and the field.'
He was born In October, 1678. On the very day on which his
grandfather was executed, in 1685, the boy fell from a window in
the upper flat of Lethington, the seat of his grandmother, the
Duchess of Lauderdale, without receiving any injury— an incident
which was regarded as an omen of his future greatness. Lord
Macaulay declares that this nobleman was renowned as a warrior
and as an orator, as the model of every courtly grace, and as the
judicious patron of arts and letters. Sir Walter Scott says, ' Few
names deserve more honourable mention than that of John, Duke of
Argyll and Greenwich. His talent as a statesman and soldier was
generally admitted ; he was not without ambition, but "without the

252 The Great Historic Families of Scotlattd.
illness that oft attends It" — without the irregularity of thought and
aim which often excites great men In his peculiar situation (for it
was a very peculiar one) to grasp the means of raising themselves
to power at the risk of throwing a kingdom Into confusion. He was
alike free from the ordinary vices of statesmen — falsehood and dis
simulation ; and from those of warriors— inordinate and ardent thirst
after self- aggrandisement.' ' Ian Roy Bean' — Red John, the Warrior
• — as the Highlanders termed him, was very dear to his countrymen,
who were justly proud of his military and political talents, and
grateful for the ready zealwith which he asserted the rights of his
native country. Duke John held several high offices in his native land,
and in 1705 was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the Scottish
Parliament for the purpose of carrying through the Act of Union. For
his services on this occasion he was rewarded with a British peerage.
The next year he joined the British army under Marlborough In
Flanders, and served in four campaigns. He distinguished himself
at the battles of Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, and all the
principal sieges carried out by the great general, and rose to the rank
of lieutenant-general. On the dismissal of Marlborough, with whom
he was continually at variance, Argydl was sent to take charge of
both civil and military affairs In Spain, but finding that he had been
only made a tool of by the Tory ministry, who were actively carrying
on negotiations for the peace of Utrecht, the Duke, thoroughly
disgusted, threw up his command and returned home, with the firm
resolution of joining the Opposition. His vehement and eloquent
attacks on the Government did no small injury to the Tory and
Jacobite cause. On the death of Queen Anne he suddenly presented
himself, uninvited, along with the Duke of Somerset, in the Council-
chamber, and in conjunction with Shrewsbury, frustrated the plans of
Bolingbroke and the Jacobites for the accession of the Pretender to
the throne. He was one of the Lords Justices appointed by George I.
to act as Regents before his arrival In England, and was subsequently
appointed Groom of the Stole to the Prince of Wales, Commander-
in-Chief of the Forces In Scotland, Governor of Minorca, a Privy
Councillor, and a Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards.
When the Earl of Mar raised the standard of rebellion in 17 15, the
Duke of Argyll was sent down to oppose him. By dint of great
activity and zeal he succeeded in collecting a force of 3,300 men,
with which he kept in check the Jacobite army of more than three
times that number. The hostile armies encountered at Sheriffmuir,

The Campbells of Argyll. 253
near Dunblane (15th Nov., 17 15), with doubtful result. Argyll
himself broke the left wing of the rebels, but his left wing was in
turn worsted by the clans. The battle in Itself was therefore as
indecisive as the satirical ballad represents —
' Some say that we wan, and some say that they wan ;
And some say that nane wan at a', man.'
On being told that his victory was incomplete, Argyll replied in
the words of an old Scottish song called the ' Bob o' Dunblane ' —
' If it wasna weel bobbit, weel bobbit, weel bobbit,
If it wasna weel bobbit, we'll bob it again.'
All the advantage of the fight, however, remained with the
Royalists. Mar's advance to the south was completely checked, and
after some weeks of Inactivity, during which the clansmen deserted
his standard daily, the rebel leader fled to the Continent, and the
remains of his army dispersed into the Inaccessible wilds of Badenoch.
The services which the Duke rendered to the house of Han
over at this critical period were probably too great to be either
acknowledged or repaid, and the extraordinary popularity which he
enjoyed among his countrymen was of itself fitted to make him the
object of jealousy at Court. His Independent conduct, too, and
somewhat haughty mode of expressing himself in Parliament and
acting in public, were 111 calculated, as Sir Walter Scott remarks, to
attract royal favour. His opposition to the Bill which proposed to
deprive the city of Edinburgh of its rights and privileges, on account
of the Porteous mob, gave great offence to the King and his coun-
sellers. Although he was therefore always respected and often
employed, he was not a favourite of George II., his consort, or his
ministers, and In 17 16 he had become so obnoxious to them that he
was deprived of all his offices, and went Into violent opposition.
Three years later he again joined the Ministry at a great crisis, and
was appointed High Steward of the Household, and was created Duke
of Greenwich. He was subsequently nominated Master-General
of the Ordnance^ Governor of Portsmouth, and a Field-Marshal.
With the assistance of his politic brother. Lord Islay, In spite of
.all the efforts ofthe Government to thwart him, he obtained In 1725
the complete control of Scottish affairs, and might have been termed
'King Campbell,' as truly as was his ancestor, the great Marquis.
The readers of the ' Heart of Midlothian ' will remember the descrip
tion there given of the part which the Duke took against the Ministry

254 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
on the occasion of the famous Porteous riot, in 1737. Three years
later he was once more dismissed from all his employments. On
the downfall of Walpole, who mortally hated him, says Lord Hervey,
and whora he mortally hated, the Duke, in 1742, accepted the office
of Commander-in-Chief, but resigned it in a fortnight. In consequence
of the appointment of the Marquis of Tweeddale as Secretary of
State for Scotland. His Grace now retired from public life, and
devoted himself to the improvement of his estates, but did not long
survive. He died on the 4th of October, 1 743. The Duke possessed
a cultivated and poetical taste, and he is said to have been the
author of the well-known Scottish song, ' Bannocks of Barley-Meal.'
Duke John left four daughters, but no son. His English tities of
Duke and Earl of Greenwich and Baron of Chatham became extinct
at his death, but he was succeeded In his estates and Scottish
honours by his brother —
Archibald — who had been previously created Lord Oronsay,
Dunoon, and Aros, and Viscount and Earl of Islay — ' of late his bitter
enemy,' says Earl Stanhope. ' Never did such near kinsmen display
less affinity of minds. With all his faults and follies, Argyll was still
brave, eloquent, and accomplished, a skilful officer and a princely
nobleman. Islay, on the contrary, was base and mean.' ' His heart
is like his aspect — vile,' says Hanbury Williams. ' Suspected of
having betrayed Walpole at his fall, I believe unjustly, yet seldom
on any occasion swayed by gratitude or generosity.' Macaulay, how
ever, takes a more favourable view of Islay' s character, and speaks
of him as ' distinguished by talents for business and command, and
by skill in the exact sciences.' His private life was not as untarnished
as his brother's ; he was more subtle and pliant, and altogether seems
to have been morally of a lower stamp of character, probably derived
from his grandmother, the notorious Duchess of Lauderdale. He
held at various times the offices of Lord High Treasurer of Scotland,
one of the Commissioners for the Union, one of the Extraordinary
Lords of Session, Lord Justice-General for Scotland, Lord Chief
Registrar, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and Chancellor of the Uni
versity of Aberdeen. Dr. Alexander Carlyle, in his autobiography,
gives a very graphic description ofthe Duke's habits, and says he
detested the ' High Flying,' or Evangelical, party in the Scottish
Church. But he was both a statesman and an accomplished gentle
man and scholar, a humorist, and was possessed of very remarkable

The Campbells of Argyll, 2 1; 5
colloquial powers. ' He never harangued or was tedious,' says
Carlyle, ' but listened to you in your turn. He had the talent of
conversing with his guests so as to distinguish men of knowledge
and talents, without neglecting those who valued themselves more on
their birth and their rent-rolls than on personal merit. The Duke
had a great collection of fine stories, which he told so neatiy and so
frequentiy repeated them without variation as to make one believe
that he had wrote them down. He had been In the battie of
Sheriffmuir, and was slightly wounded in his foot, which made him
always halt a littie. He would have been an admirable soldier, as
he had every talent and qualification necessary to arrive at the
height of that profession ; but his brother John, Duke of Argyll,
having gone before him with a great and rising reputation, he was
advised to take the line of a statesman.'
Duke Archibald was a great favourite with Sir Robert Walpole,
and governed his native country as representative of that powerful
minister with such authority as to be styled ' The King of Scotland.'
Under his ' liberal and partial patronage ' the Campbells attained to
a degree of wealth and power superior to that of any other surname
in Scotland. On the abolition. In 1747, of the hereditary jurisdic
tions of the great landed proprietors, Argyll received ;^2 1,000 as
compensation for the office of Justiciary of Argyllshire and the
Western Islands, the Sheriffship of Argyll, and the Regality of
Campbell. The Duke remained at the head of affairs in Scotland till
his death, which took place while he was sitting in his chair at dinner,
April 15th, 1761, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. It was he
who pulled down the noble old Gothic castle of Inverary, which.
Sir Walter Scott says, ' with its varied outhne, embattled walls,
towers, and outer and inner courts, so far as picturesque Is con
cerned, presented an aspect much more striking than the present
massive and uniform mansion.' To meet the great expense of the
new structure, the Duke sold the fine estate of Duddlngston, near
Edinburgh, which came from his grandmother, the Duchess of
Lauderdale. It thus appears that no fewer than four Earis of Argyll held the
office of Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and that the high judicial
office of Lord Justice General, which was conferred upon the third
Earl, was hereditary in the family for upwards of a century, till it
was resigned by the seventh Earl Into the hands of Charles I. The
third, fifth, and seventh Earls were Masters of the Royal House-

256 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
hold. Besides these great offices of State, the Earls of Argyll held
the heritable office of Justice-General within the whole bounds of
Argyll, and in that capacity exercised jurisdiction within the whole
islands of Scotland (excepting Orkney and Shetland), and within the
lands of Morven, Knoydart, Moydart, Morar, and Arisaig. The
office of Hereditary Sheriff of Argyll was also vested In the family.
They were lords of the regality, lordship, and barony of Campbell,
which comprehended the baronies of Roseneath in Dumbartonshire,
Menstrie, in Clackmannanshire, Boquhan in Stirlingshire, Glenelg, In
Inverness-shire, Lundie in Forfarshire, and Muckhart in Perthshire,
with the privilege of holding courts. The Earis of Argyll likewise
held the heritable office of Bailey of the Isle of Tiree, and lands in
Islay and Jura, and the office of Bailery and Stewartry of the earldom,
lordship, and barony of Argyll. To the Argyll family also belonged
the heritable office of Constable and Keeper of Dunoon and other
fourteen castles in the shire of Argyll.*
The third Duke left no legitimate Issue, and was succeeded In his
family titles and estates in Scotland by his cousin —
John Campbell of Mamore, grandson of Archibald, ninth Earl
of Argyll. He attained the rank of general In the army, and
served both In Germany and in the rebellion of 17 15, as aide-de
camp to his chief, Duke John ; but his career was marked by no
event worthy of special notice, and he Is best remembered as the
husband of the beautiful and witty Mary Bellenden, Maid of Honour
to Queen CarolIne.t His eldest son, John, fifth Duke, served against
the Highlanders at Falkirk and Culloden In the '45, was made
Field-Marshal, and in his father's lifetime was created an English
peer, as Baron Sundridge, the title by which the present Duke
sits In the House of Lords. Boswell gives an amusing account of
the visit which Dr. Johnson paid to this Duke at Inverary In 1773, of
the respect which the amiable nobleman showed to the philosopher,
of the impertinent behaviour of Bozzy himself to the Duchess, and
of the stately contempt with which she put down his impertinence.
Her Grace was one of the two Gunnings, whose extraordinary beauty
was so often celebrated both by painters and poets.J She had been
previously Duchess of Hamilton, was the mother of four dukes — two
of Hamilton and two of Argyll — and was created. In 1776, Baroness
* See Report by Sir William Fraser on the Manuscripts of his Grace the Duke of
Argyll, fourth report of the Royal Comraission on Historical MSS.
+ See Addenda, vol. ii., p. 436 j Ibid., p. 427.

The Campbells of Argyll. 257
Hamilton of Hameldon, in Leicestershire— ^a title which on the death
of her son, Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, fell to his half-brother,
George William, sixth Duke of Argyll, a handsome man of
pleasure, and a friend of the Prince Regent, whose extravagances
deeply injured the family estates, and alienated Castle Campbell and
other outlying possessions of the house.
His brother, John Douglas, who succeeded him in 1839, 3-s
seventh Duke, was a man of no political position, and will be remem
bered mainly as the father of George Douglas Campbell, the eighth
and present Duke of Argyll, who has attained a high reputation both
in politics and In literature. An old Highland prophecy foretold that
the ancient power and honour of the house should be restored by a
MacCalian More, whose locks would 'oe of the same hue as those of
the famous 'Red John, the Warrior,' Duke of Argyll and Greenwich;
and his own clansmen believe, and not without reason, that this
prediction has already been fulfilled In the person of the present
Duke, the father of the Marquis of Lome, and the father-in-law
of the Queen's daughter, the Princess Loui.se. His Grace, who
Is Hereditary Master of the Royal Household, Scotiand, Chancellor
of the University of St. Andrews, President of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, and Lord-Lieutenant of Argyllshire, has held the
office of Lord Privy Seal three times, and of Postmaster-General,
and Secretary for India. He is the author of ' A Letter to the Peers
from a Peer's Son,' 1842 ; a brochure ' On the Duty and Necessity
of Immediate Legislative Interposition in behalf of the Church of
Scotland, as determined by Considerations of Constitutional Law;'
'A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D., on the Present Posi
tion of Church Affairs in Scotiand, and the causes which have led to
it ; ' ' Presbytery Examined ; ' ' The Reign of Law; ' 'Primeval Man ; '
' Antiquities of lona; ' ' Relation of Landlord and Tenant ; ' ' Eastern
Question,' 2 vols. ; ' Unity of Nature ; ' ' The New British Constitu
tion ; ' ' Scotland as it was and is ; ' &c.
The family estates in the counties of Argyll and Dumbarton,
according to the 'Doomsday Book,' comprise 175. m acres, with a
yearly rental of;^50,842.

VOL. I.

THE CAMPBELLS OF LOUDOUN.

HE Campbells of Loudoun are the oldest branch of the
house of Argyll, and are descended from Donald, second
son of Sir Colin Campbell of Lochaw, and brother of
Sir Neil Campbell, the friend of King Robert Bruce.
The barony in Ayrshire, from which they derive their title, was
originally the possession of the Loudouns of Loudoun, one of the
oldest families In Scotland. Margaret of Loudoun, the heiress of the
estate, married Sir Reginald Crawford, High Sheriff of Ayr, and
was the grandmother of Sir William Wallace, the Illustrious Scot
tish patriot. The barony passed to the Campbells in the reign of
Robert Bruce by the marriage of Sir Duncan, son of Donald Camp
bell, to Susanne Crawford, heiress of Loudoun, and fifth in descent
from Sir Reginald Crawford. Sir Hugh- Campbell, Sheriff of Ayr,
was created a Lord of Parliament by the title of Lord Campbell of
Loudoun, by James VI., In 1601. His granddaughter, Margaret
Campbell, who inherited his title and estates, married Sir John
Campbell of Lawers, a scion of the Glenorchy or Breadalbane
family. He was created —
Earl of Loudoun, and Baron Tarrynean and Mauchline by
Charles I., 12th May, 1633 ; but in consequence of his opposition
to the measures of the Court, the patent was stopped at the Chan
cery, and the title was suspended until 1 64 1 . Following the lead
of the chief of his house, the Earl took an active part in the oppo
sition to the attempt of Charles I. to force the new Liturgy upon
Scotland, and was a member of the celebrated General Assembly
which met In Glasgow in 1638. In the following year he took and
garrisoned the castles of Strathavon, Douglas, and Tantallon for the
Covenanters. He was one of the seven Scottish noblemen who
signed the letter addressed to the King of France, entreating his

CAMPBELLS OF LOUDOUN.

The Campbells of Loudoun. 259
assistance, and was in consequence arrested on a charge of treason
and committed to the Tower. He regained his liberty through
the Influence of the Marquis of Hamilton, and was permitted to
return to Scotiand. He became one of the most active leaders of
the Covenanting party, commanded the van of their army at the
battie of Newburn, and was one of the commissioners who nego
tiated the treaty of Ripon. He presided at the opening of the Scot
tish Parliament, 15th July, 1 64 1, and when the King visited Scotland
in the following month Loudoun's titie of Earl was allowed with
precedence from 1633, and he was appointed High Chancellor of
Scotland and First Commissioner of the Treasury. But these
favours failed to win him over to the royal side, and he continued
to support with great vehemence all the measures adopted by the
Presbyterian party. He took a prominent part in promoting the ' Act
of Classes,' excluding all who had taken part in the ' Engagement '
from offices of trust and from Parliament. Much to his discredit,
when the Marquis of Montrose was brought to the bar of the Parlia
ment House to receive sentence of death, the Chancellor bitterly
upbraided him for his violation of the Covenant, his league with
Irish rebels, and his invasion of the country. The behaviour of
Loudoun on this occasion — so unbecoming his high office — and the
virulent abuse which he poured upon the great Royalist, may be
accounted for, but not justified, by the sanguinary defeat of the clan
Campbell at the battle of Inverlochy, where his elder brother, the
Laird of Lawers, fell. The Earl, however, after the execution of
Charles I., embraced the cause of his son, and was in consequence,
along with his son. Lord Mauchline, excepted out of Cromwell's
Act of Grace and Pardon in 1654 ; but ^400 a year was settled out
of his estates on his wife. At the Restoration he was deprived of
his office of Chancellor, and fined ;^ 12,000 Scots. He died In 1663.
His son —
James, second Earl, lived and died abroad.
Hugh, third Earl, grandson of the Chancellor, was declared by
the Earl of Argyll, when recommending him to Carstares, to be 'a
mettied young fellow. He has,' added the Earl, ' a deal of natural
parts and sharpness, a good stock of clergy [learning], and by being
In business he will daily Improve.' In consequence of this recom
mendation, the young Earl obtained from King William the appoint-

26o The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
ment of Extraordinary Lord of Session. After the accession of
Anne, he held successively the offices of a Commissioner of the
Treasury, joint Secretary of State for Scotiand, and Keeper of the
Great Seal. He served as a volunteer at the battle of Sheriffmuir,
under the chief of the Campbells, where he behaved with great
gallantry. He was six times appointed High Commissioner to the
Scottish General Assembly, and was for twenty-four years one of
the sixteen Representative Peers of Scotland. His only son —
John, fourth Earl, was one of the Representative Peers for the
long period of forty-eight years. He was distinguished for his
military talents, and held numerous Important offices both at home
and abroad. In 1745, when the Jacobite rebellion took place, he
raised a regiment of Highlanders for the service of the Government,
of which he was appointed colonel. He fought at the battle of
Preston, and was active and energetic in suppressing the rising in
the northern counties. In 1756 the Earl was appointed Captain-
General and Governor-in-Chief of the province of Virginia, and
shortly after was nominated Commander-in-Chief of all the British
forces in America. He was second in command of the British
troops sent to Portugal in February, 1762, when Spain declared war
against that country. He died In 1782, In his seventy-seventh year.
' Loudoun's bonnie woods and braes ' were greatly indebted to this
Earl, who was the first to introduce extensive planting into this
district. During his long military services in foreign countries he
sent home specimens of every valuable kind of tree he met with, and
he especially formed a most extensive collection of willows, which he
Interspersed In his plantations. As he died unmarried, his title and
estates were inherited by his cousin —
James Mure Campbell, grandson of the second Earl of Loudoun.
His father. Sir James Campbell of Lawers, was a distinguished mili
tary officer, who served under the Duke of Marlborough, and con
tributed greatly to the victory of the allied forces at Malplaquet,
nth September, 1709. He distinguished himself also at the battie
of Dettingen, i6th June, 1743, and was mortally wounded at Fon-
tenoy, where he commanded the British cavalry. His son James,
the fifth Earl, assumed the name of Mure on succeeding to the
estate of his grandmother, the Countess of Glasgow, heiress of the

The Campbells of Loudoun. 261
ancient family of Mure of Rowallan. He attained the rank of
major-general In the army, and died in 1786, leaving an only
child— Flora Mure Campbell, Countess of Loudoun, who married in
1804 the Earl of Moira, created Marquis of Hastings In 181 6, who
was an eminent statesman, and held for some years the office of
Governor-General of India. The Marquis died In 1836 at Malta, of
which he was governor and commander-in-chief. He had promised
his wife that they should lie in the same grave. As this could not
in the circumstances be carried Into effect, he desired his right hand
to be amputated at his death and sent home, that it might be buried
with the Marchioness. It was deposited in the family vault In
Loudoun Kirk, and when she 'died in 1 840 It was laid in the grave
beside her body. The eldest of her three daughters was Lady Flora
Hastings, and her only son became second Marquis of Hastings
and sixth Earl of Loudoun. His eldest son, an officer In the army,
was drowned at Liverpool in 1851 in his nineteenth year, and was
succeeded by his brother, a poor unhappy and misguided youth,
who made shipwreck of title, character, and estates. On his death
in 1868, his sister, Edith Maude, wife of Charles Frederick CHfton,
a member of an old Lancashire family, became Countess of Loudoun.
She died in 1874 in her forty-first year, and directed by her will that
her right hand be cut off and buried in Donington Park, the ancient
possession of the Hastings family, which had been alienated by her
brother, and the spot to be marked by a stone with the inscription,
' I byde my time.' Before her death she had succeeded In proving
her right to no less than four ancient peerages — Botreaux, Hunger-
ford, De Malynes, and Hastings, which had fallen into abeyance.
They have descended to her son, the ninth Earl of Loudoun. Her
eldest daughter married. In 1877, the fifteenth Duke of Norfolk.
According to the ' Doomsday Book,' the Loudoun estate consists
of 18,638 acres, with a rental of ^15,286 a year, and in addition
the minerals yield ^2, 259 a year.

THE CAMPBELLS OF BREADALBANE.

1

n

HE Campbells of Breadalbane are the most powerful
branch of the house of Argyll ; indeed. In the extent and
value of their estates they surpass the parent stock. They
are descended from Sir Colin Campbell, third son of
Duncan, first Lord Campbell of Lochaw, by Marjory Stewart,
daughter of Robert, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland. In the
' Black Book of Taymouth,' printed bythe Bannatyne Club, from an
old manuscript preserved in Taymouth Castle, it is stated that
' Duncan Campbell, commonly called Duncan in Aa, Knight of
Lochaw (lineallle descendit of a valiant man sumamlt Campbell quha
cam to Scotland in King Malcolm Kandmore his time, about the
year of God 1067, of quhom came the house of Lochaw) flourished
in King David Bruce his dayes. The foresaid Duncan begat twa
sons, the elder callit Archibald, the other rlamit Colin, wha was first
laird of Glenurchay.' That estate was bestowed on him by his
father. It was the original seat of the M'Gregors, who were settled
there as early as the reign of Malcolm Canmore. It was gradually
wrested from them by the Campbells in pursuance of the hereditary
policy of their family, and In the reign of David II. they managed to
procure a legal title to the lands of Glenorchy, but the M'Gregors
continued for a long time to retain possession of their ancient inherit
ance by the strong hand. Sir Colin Campbell, the founder of the
Glenorchy or Breadalbane branch of the clan, Douglas says, 'was a
man of high renown for military prowess and for the virtues of social
and domestic life. He was a stream of many tides against the foes
of the people, but like the gale that moves the heath to those who
sought his aid.' He was born about a.d. 1400, and, says the 'Black
Book,' ' throch his valiant actis and manheld maid knicht In the
Isle of Rhodes, quhilk standeth in the Carpathian Sea near to Caria

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 263
and countrie of Asia the Less, and he was three sundrie tymes in
Rome.' After the murder of James I., in 1437, Sir Colin took
prompt and active measures to bring the assassins to justice, and
succeeded in capturing two of them, named Chalmers and Colquhoun.
For this service James II. afterwards conferred upon him the barony
of Lawers. In 1440 Sir Colin erected the Castle of Kilchurn (pro
perly Coalchuirn) on a rocky promontory at the east end of Loch Awe,
under the shadow of the majestic Ben Cruachan, at no great distance
from the Pass of Brander, where the M'Dougalls of Lome were
defeated by Robert Bruce. This 'child of loud-throated war,' as
the castie Is termed by Wordsworth, Is now a picturesque ruin, which
has been repeatedly sketched by eminent painters.*
According to tradition, Kilchurn Castle was built by Sir Colin's lady
during his absence In the Holy Land on a crusade, and the greater part
of the rents of his lands during seven years is said to have been ex
pended on its erection. An old legend ascribes to Sir Colin an incident
which has been frequently told of other barons who have chosen to
remain long absent from home, and Is embodied in Sir Walter Scott's
ballad of the ' Noble Moringer,' translated from the German. It Is
said that during his long absence Sir Colin had a remarkable dream,
which a monk to whom he related it told him was intended to warn
him of an Impending domestic calamity that could only be averted
by his presence In his own castle. He Immediately hastened to
Scotland with all possible speed, and arrived at a place called
Succoth, where an old woman dwelt who had been his nurse. In the
disguise of a beggar he solicited from her food and shelter for the
night, which was readily granted. She recognised him by a scar on
his arm, and informed him that as a report had been spread that he
had fallen in battle in the Holy Land, and as no tidings had been
received of him during his long absence, his wife believed that he
was dead, and was about to marry another husband on the following
day. It turned out that the messengers whom Sir Colin had
repeatedly sent with intelligence to his wife of his welfare had been
* ' From the top of the hill,' says Miss Wordsworth in her Journal, ' a most impres
sive scene opened upon our view — a ruined castle on an island (for an island the flood
had made it) at some distance from the shore, backed by a cove of the mountain
Cruachan, down which came a foaming stream. Tlie castle occupied every foot of the
island that was visible, thus appearing to rise out of the water. Mists rested upon the
mountain-side, with spots of sunshine ; there was a wild desolation in the low grounds,
a solemn grandeur in the mountains, and the castle was wild yet stately — not dis
mantled of turrets nor the walls broken down, though obviously a ruin.' — See 'Address
to Kilchurn Castle, upon Loch Awe,' Wordswortlis Poetical Works, pp. 117— 125.

264 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Intercepted and murdered by a neighbouring chief, named M'Cor-
quodale, who had at length succeeded in persuading the lady that
she was a widow, and had obtained the promise of her hand. Early
next morning Sir Colin, still disguised as a beggar, set out for
his castle of Kilchurn, and readily obtained entrance into the court
yard, which on this festive occasion stood open to all comers. On
being accosted by one of the servants, he asked that his hunger
might be satisfied and his thirst quenched. Food and liquor were
immediately placed before him. He partook of the former but
refused the latter, unless it was given him by the lady herself. On
being informed ofthe poor man's wish, she approached and handed
him a cup of wine. Sir Colin drank her health, and dropping a ring
Into the empty cup returned it to her. On examining the ring she
at once recognised it as one she had given to her husband on his
departure, and threw herself into his arms. M'Corquodale was
permitted to depart unmolested, but he was subsequently punished
for his treachery by Sir Colin's son, who attacked him and expelled
him from his castle and lands.
The legend turns on an incident which, as Sir Walter Scott
remarks, was not unlikely to happen in more instances than one
when crusaders abode long in the Holy Land, and their disconsolate
dames received no tidings of their fate. A story very similar in
circumstances is told of one of the Braldshaighs, the ancient lords
of Haigh Hall, In Lancashire, now possessed by the Earl of Crawford,
their descendant in the female line. The particulars are represented
In a stained-glass window in that old manor-house, and are narrated
at length In the family genealogy. Sir Walter mentions that he
adopted the Idea of the tale of ' The Betrothed ' from the Haigh Hall
tradition. Sir Colin was four times married. His second wife was one of
three daughters and co-heiresses of the Lord of Lome, with whom he
received a third of the estates of that ancient and powerful clan, still
possessed by his descendants, and thenceforward quartered the galley
of Lome with his paternal coat of arms. His nephew, the first Earl
of Argyll, to whom he was guardian, married another of these heir
esses. By his fourth wife, a daughter of Stirling of Keir, Sir Cohn
had a son named John, who was the ancestor of the Earls of Loudoun.
Sir Duncan Campbell, Sir Colin's eldest son, obtained in 1498
the office of Balliary of the King's lands of Discher, Foyer, and

CAMPBELLS OF BREADALBANE.

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 265
Glenlyon, with the view, it Is supposed, of strengthening the efforts
of the Campbells to ' cut off the tribe of the M'Gregors root and
branch.' The office was hereditary, and on the abolition of the
heritable jurisdictions in Scotiand in 1747, the second Earl of Bread
albane received the sum of one thousand pounds in full of his claim
of six thousand. Sir Duncan appears to have been very successful
In carrying out the acquisitive policy ofthe Campbells, for he obtained
grants of the crown lands at the port of Loch Tay, along with the
lands of Glenlyon, FInlarig, which became the burylng-place of the
family, and other property in Perthshire. Sir Duncan was killed at
Flodden, along with his chief, the Earl of Argyll, and his sovereign.
Of his four sons, the eldest, Colin, succeeded him as third laird of
Glenorchy, and the second was the ancestor of the Campbells of
Glenlyon, one of whom commanded the soldiers who perpetrated the
shocking massacre of Glencoe. Sir Colin Is mentioned as having
' biggit the chapel of FInlarig to be ane burial for himself and pos
teritie.' His three sons enjoyed the paternal estates in turn, and the
last of these, another Sir Colin, who became Laird of Glenorchy in
1550, 'conquessit the superiority of M'Nabb his haill landis.' The
M'Nabs were an ancient clan who at one time possessed consider
able property on the banks of the Docherty, near KlUIn, on the right
side of Loch Tay, but their lands were long ago Incorporated with
the vast estates of the Breadalbane family. Sir Colin carried out
in all its severity the ruthless policy of the Campbells against the
M'Gregors, and he is said in the ' Black Book of Taymouth ' to have
' behiddet the laird of M'Gregor himself at Kandmoor in presence of
the Erie of Athol, the Justice-Clerk, and sindrie other noblemen.'
It was this laird who erected the castle of Balloch, the site of which
is now occupied by the splendid mansion of Taymouth Castle.
When asked why he had built his house so near the extremity of
his estate, he rephed, 'We'll brizz yont' (press onward). The
possessions of the family have however extended in the opposite
direction. The documents preserved in the Breadalbane charter-chest, of
which an account is given by the late Dr. Stuart in the ' Fourth
Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts,' throw
great light on the state of society in the central Highlands at this
period, and mention various usages and modes of life which were
quite unknown In the Lowlands of Scotland. One of these was the
practice of adoption, repeated examples of which occurred in the

266 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Breadalbane family. Thus on 31st July, 1535, John M'GIllespIc, at
the castle of Glenorchy, ' having in view his own good and that of
his son and offspring, then received John Campbell of Glenorchy
as his own son, and took him on his knee, calling him " filiura
adoptlvum," that is to say, his chosen son ; and then, he being thus
on his knee, delivered to the said John all and whole the half of his
goods, movable and Immovable.' A few years after this, by another
Instrument, John McBay and his wife took the said John Campbell of
Glenorchy as a bairn of their own, and their special overman, and
^delivered to him a glove in token of all their goods and of his right
to a bairn's part thereof after their decease. And for farther security
they gave their oath on the Mass -book and touched the Holy
Gospels to observe the present obligation and gift.
Another long series of documents exhibits In operation the custom
of fosterage, which was long prevalent and exerted great Influ
ence In the Highlands. By one of these, dated at Glenorchy,
1 2th August, 1584, Duncan Campbell of Duntrune, and his wife,
acknowledged to have received In fosterage Colin Campbell, son and
heir of Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy.
The Laird of Glenorchy had himself been fostered In the house of
Duntrune ; and with the view of perpetuating the love and favour
existing between the houses of Glenorchy and Duntrune, it wa"
agreed by the Laird of Duntrune that Agnes his wife should receive
the said Colin in fostering, she promising to be to him a favourable
and loving foster-mother ; and when he reached the age for going
to the schools, to do her duty to him in all things according to the
custom and condition of a favourable foster-mother. And for the
more sure declaration of her good will towards her foster-son, and to
move him the more to do his duty to his brethren and friends here
after, the said Agnes disponed to him a bairn's part of all the goods
belonging to her at the time of her death.
On the other hand, the said Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, having
in recollection his own fostering in the house of Duntrune, and the
present delivery of his son to the said Agnes, he therefore promised
to be a true and constant friend to her and his brethren [foster-
brothers], to receive her and them in heartlie kindness and favour,
and to defend them in all their lawful actions and quarrels, the
authority of the Earl of Argyll being excepted.
By another contract, dated at the castle of Glenorchy, 5th Novem
ber, 1580, Duncan Campbell, Fiar of Glenorchy, gave his son and

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 267
heir, Duncan, In fosterage to his native servant, Gillecreist Mac-
donchy Duff Vic Nokerd, and Katherlne Neyn Douill VIkconchy,
his spouse, to be sustained by them and nourished till he be sent to
the schools, and to maintain him at the schools with reasonable
support; the said father and foster-father giving between them of
makhelve goods to the foster-child at Beltane the value of 200 merks
of cows, and two horses or two mares worth forty merks, which, with
their Increase, were to belong to the child, but the milk to the foster-
parents, so long as they maintained him and till his going to the
schools. If the child should die before he Is sent there, his father
agrees to send another of his children, ' lass or lad,' to be fostered
in his stead, the foster-parents in either case being bound to leave
at their death a bairn's part of gear, as much as they leave to their
own children, lands being excepted.
By these arrangements, as Dr. Stuart remarks, a close tie was
formed between the chief and the neighbouring clans and families,
by which the whole members were bound together for mutual aid at
times when the protection of the law was weak, or could not pene
trate Into the remote districts which were the scene of action. An
even closer tie was thus formed between the chief and the minor
dunniewassels of his own clan. It was no uncommon occurrence for
foster-brothers to protect him from danger by the sacrifice of their
own lives.
Another series of papers gives examples of those bonds of man-
rent service which were entered into with a like object between the
Lairds of Glenorchy and the heads of the neighbouring tribes and
families. Thus on the 2nd of June, 1548, the M'GIllekeyrs agree for
themselves and their successors that they have chosen an honourable
man, John Campbell of Glenorchy, to be their chief and protector in
all just actions, ' as ane cheyf dois in the countries of the Helandis ;'
and when any of them died they were to leave to him ' ane cawylpe
of kenkynie ' (the best four-footed beast in their possession at the
time of their death), as is usual In the neighbouring district ; and
among other obligations undertaken by them were those ' of ryding
and ganging on horse and on futt in Heland and Lowland.' This
right was at times transferred by one chief to another, as when
Archibald, Eari of Argyll, on 24th December, 1566, conveyed to
Colin Campbell of Glenorchy the man-rent service and calps due to
him and his predecessors by the Clantyre in Balquhidder, because
they were nearer to the said Colin, and he was therefore better able

268 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
to protect them. At other times the transference originated on the
other side. Thus in 1552 Gregor M'Gregor, son to the Dean of
Lismore, and Donald Beg M'Acrom and his brethren in the Brae of
Weem, with many other families, renounced the Laird of M'Gregor
as their chief, and bound themselves to Colin Campbell of Glenorchy
and his heirs as their perpetual chief in the usual form, agreeing to
bequeath to them their calps.
Other obligations undertaken were to visit the chief's house 'with
suitable presents twice in the year,' and to give him and his heirs
reasonable help and support when they have lands to redeem or buy,
daughters to marry, or any other good or honourable turns ado,
tending to the advancement or weal of their house. They were also
to attend and serve In hosting and hunting, and to pass out at all
times to the watch with the chief and his tenants for preserving the
country from the incursions of malefactors. In the case of the Tutor
of Inverawe it Is specified that in addition to these services he and
his tenants were to help Sir Duncan home with wine every summer,
as the rest of the lairds did, and that they were to bring in no claimed
men upon the lands, nor dispose his kindness thereof to any other,
excepting his own heirs and surname of the clan Donochie, without
Sir Duncan's consent.
Sir Colin was succeeded by Sir Duncan Campbell, his eldest
son, usually termed Donacha dhu na Curich, Black Duncan of the
Cowl, who seems to have been a man of considerable force of cha
racter, but unscrupulous and treacherous. He was appointed by
James VI. , i8th May, 1590, one of the barons to assist at the corona
tion of his queen, Anne of Denmark, when he received the honour of
knighthood. Sir Duncan was one of the six guardians of the young
Earl of Argyll appointed by the will of his father, the sixth Earl, In
1584, all of them cadets of the family, and one of their number, Camp
bell of Lochnell, was the nearest heir to the earldom. Sir Duncan
was deeply Implicated In the conspiracy to which the Lord Chancellor,
Lord Maitland of Thirieston, and the Earl of Huntly were parties,
to murder the Eari of Argyll, Campbell of Calder or Cawdor, one of
his guardians, and the Earl of Moray (see Argyll Family). Mr.
Gregory, in his ' History of the Western Islands and Highlands,'
expressly charges Sir Duncan Campbell with being the principal
mover in the plot which led to the murder of Calder. ' Glenorchy,'
he says, ' knowing the feelings of personal animosity cherished by
Campbell of Ardkinglas, his brother-in-law, against Calder, easily

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 269
prevailed upon the former to agree to the assassination of their
common enemy, with whom Glenorchy himself had now an addi
tional cause of quarrel arising from the protection given by Calder
to some of the clan Gregor who were at feud with Glenorchy.
After various unsuccessful attempts, Ardkinglas procured, through
the agency of John Oig Campbell of Cabrachan, a brother of Loch
nell, the services of a man named M'Kellar, by whom Calder was
assassinated with a hackbut supplied by Ardkinglas, the fatal shot
being fired at night through one of the windows of the house of
Kepnoch, in Lome, when Calder fell pierced through the heart with
three bullets. Owing to his hereditary feud with Calder, Ardkinglas
was generally suspected as the instigator of this murder, and being
in consequence threatened with the vengeance of the young Earl
of Argyll, Glenorchy ventured to communicate to him the plan for
getting rid of the Earl and his brother, and for assisting Lochnell to
seize the earldom. Ardkinglas refused, though repeatedly urged,
to become a party to any designs against the life of the Earl, and
proposed to make his peace with Argyll by disclosing the full extent
ofthe plot. The inferior agents, John Oig Campbell and M'Kellar,
were both executed, but all the influence of Calder' s relations and
friends could not obtain the punishment of any of the higher parties.
Glenorchy was allowed to clear himself of all concern in the plots
attributed to him by his own unsupported and extrajudicial denial in
writing. He offered to abide his trial, which he well knew the
Chancellor Thiristane and the Eari of Huntiy were deeply interested
in preventing.
Though Sir Duncan was ambitious and grasping like his race,
and utterly unprincipled, he was distinguished for his efforts in build
ing, planting, and improving his estates, and in stimulating the
industrious habits of his clan. He employed artists to decorate his
house, and at a later period he was one of the most liberal patrons of
George Jamesone, the Scottish Vandyke. He lived In a style which
shows the mistaken notions cherished by those who imagine that at
this period the Highlanders were in a state of barbarism and poverty.
The Household Books, which contain minute details of the
economy of the Breadalbane establishment from the year 1590
downwards, show that the cheer was always abundant and of excel
lent quality. It consisted of fresh and salt beef, salmon and trout
from Loch Tay, herrings from Loch Fyne, dried fish of several kinds,
mutton of wedders from the Braes of Balquhidder, capons, geese.

270 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
wild geese, brawn, venison, partridges, blackcock, ' birsell' fowls,
and rabbits. The drink consumed by the chief and his own family
and guests was 'claret wyne,' ' quhyit [white] wine,' ' Spaniswyne;'
and judging by the chalders of malt which appear In the accounts,
the consumption of ale and beer must have been wonderful. There
were three kinds of ale in use — ostler ale, household ale, and best ale
— for the different grades of persons In the family. In 1590 the oat
meal consumed in the household was 364 bolls, the malt 207 boll?
(deducting a small quantity of struck barley used in the kitchen).:
They used 90 beeves (' neats,' ' stirks,' or ' fed oxen '), more than
two-thirds consumed fresh ; 20 swine, 200 sheep, 424 salmon, far the
greater portion being from the native rivers; 15,000 herrings, 30
dozen of hard fish ; 1,805 ' heads ' of cheese new and old, weighing
325 stone; and 9 stones of butter, 26 dozen loaves of wheaten
bread ; of wheat flour 3^ bolls. The wine, brought from Dundee,
was claret and white wine, old and new, in no very large quantities.
Of spices and sweetmeats we find notice only on one occasion of
small quantities of saffron, mace, ginger, pepper, 'raises of cure
plumdamas, and one sugarloaf.'
These books also furnish us with the names ofthe Laird's guests,
which is a feature of great Interest. Thus in the week beginning
I Sth September, 1590, besides Sir Duncan and Lady Campbell,
there were at table the Laird of Tullibardine, the Laird of Aber-
cairnie, the Bishop of Dunkeld, the Tutor of Duncrub, the Laird
of Inchbralkie, the Prior of Charterhouse, * with sindrie other cumeris
and gangeris [goers].'
The Inventories of Plenishing, which commence in 1598, are of
great value for understanding the habits and style of living of a
powerful Scottish family. Besides the more homely furnishing of
beds, sheets, blankets, and napery, there are entries of arras, work
coverings, sewed coverings, woven Scots coverings, black and red
mantles, Irish and Scottish 'caddois' (a kind of woollen cloth), white
plaid curtains — some of red and green plaiding, others of black
worsted; green ' sey,' champit red ' sey,' purpour plaiding pasmentit
(decked with lace) with orange green, and blue 'canabeis [canopies?]
pasmentit with orange;' 'damewark burde claithes, serviettes, and
towelles,' ' sewit cushions, woven reid and orange,' ' green couter-
clalths of French stennyng,' 'buffet stulllls.' The lists comprise all
the articles used In the kitchen, the brewhouse, ' woman house,' and
other divisions of the establishment. In 1600 are enumerated the

The Campbells of Breadalbane, 271
pieces of armour in the House of Balloch — cut-throat guns, brazen
pieces, hagbuts, muskets, two-handed swords, a steel bonnet, ' a gilt
pece with the Laird's armes, that come out of Dundie, stockit with
brissell [Brazil wood],' ' brasin pistollettes,' ' Jedburgh staves,' Loch-
aber axes, ' gilt harness quhilk was gotten fra the Priour of Charter
house, one stand embracing twelve peces.' Curiously connected
with the last entry is ' ane BIbill,' which may have come from the
same reverend donor. There is an enumeration of articles indicative
of the means which the chief, we fear too frequently, employed to
vindicate his authority — ' great iron fetters for men's feet and hands,
long chains in the prison, high and low, with their shackles, &c.,'
and, mo.st ominous of all, ' ane heading ax.'
An Inventory ofthe ' Geir [goods, effects] left by Sir Colin, not to
be disponit upon',' made up by Sir Robert Campbell in 1640, con
tains a list of jewels and silver plate of no ordinary extent. Of the
former Is ' ane targett of gold, set with three diamonds, four topacis,
or jacincts, ane ruble, and ane sapphire enammeled, given by King
James the Fyft, of worthie memorie, to ane of the Laird of
Glenurchay his predecessoures ; item, ane round jewell of gold sett
with precious stones, containing 29 diamonds and 4 great rubies,
quhilk Queen Anna of worthie memorie, Queene of Great Britane,
France, and Ireland [James VI.'s Queen] gave to umquhile [the
late] Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurquhy, and uther four small
diamonds quhilk the said Queene Anna, of worthie memorie, gave
to the said Sir Duncane; item, ane fair silver brotch sett with
precious stones ; item, ane stone of the quantitie of half an
hen's eg sett in silver, being flat at the ane end and round at the
uther end, lyke a peir, quhilk Sir Colin Campbell, first Laird of
Glenurquhay, wore when he faught in battell at the Rhodes against
the Turks, he being one of the Knychtis of the Rhodes ; of great
gold buttons 66.' The ' silver work ' comprehended ' plaittes,'
' chargers,' ' lavers, with basons partly overgilt,' ' silver trenchers,'
and 'sasers partly overgilt,' 'great silver cups,' some of them
'engraved' and 'partly overgilt,' and some with the Laird's arms,
' little long schankit cups for acavite [whisky], silver goblets, salt-
fats, masers, spoons, some of which had the lairdis name on them.'
Besides these heirlooms of the precious metals, the inventory con
tains many swords, guns, and armour, silk beds with rich hangings
of taffety, one of them with ' ane pend of blew velvett,' embroidered
with the names and arms of the laird and his lady ; another bed of

2y2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
'incarnatt London cloath imbrouderit with black velvett;' a third
of ' greine London cloath passimentit with green and orange silk
lace;' a fourth of 'changing taffite greine and yellow;' 'sixteen
uther Weill and sufficient common furnischt beds with their furni
ture requisite ;' ' great cramosle velvett cuschiones for the kirk,'
'cuschlounes of Turkey work;' twenty-four pictures ofthe kings
and queens of Scotiand ; ' thirty-four pictures of the lairds and
ladies of Glenurquhay, and other noblemen ¦ ane great genealogle
brod paintit of all the Lairds of Glenurquhay, and of those that ar
come of the House of Glenurquhay.'
Sir Duncan, in 1617, obtained the office of heritable keeper of
Mamlern, &c. King Charles I. afterwards conferred on him the
sheriffship of Perthshire for life, and he was created baronet of Nova
Scotia in 1625. He died In 1631, leaving seven sons and three
daughters. His fifth son was the ancestor of the Campbells of
Monzie, Lochlane and Finnab, in Perthshire. As might have been
expected from his character, the policy of the family towards the
Ill-fated M'Gregors was pursued with unabated severity by Sir
Duncan. His second son headed an attack upon them In 1616, at
a place called Bintoich, or Ronefray, In the Brae of Glenorchy, at the
head of two hundred men. The M'Gregors were only sixty In
number, but though thus overmatched, they fought with the fury of
despair, and slew a number of their ruthless enemies in the conflict
which ended in their defeat, with the loss of four of their leaders
and twenty of their clansmen.
Little Is known of Sir Colin, eldest son of Sir Duncan, except
that he commissioned Jamesone, the celebrated painter, to paint for
him a large number of family portraits, for which he paid the artist
* ane hundred four scoire pounds, quhilk are set up in the hall of
Balloch ' (now Taymouth). His brother and successor. Sir Robert,
was a Covenanter — a character which could not have been expected
to descend from such a stock or to flourish In the wilds of Bread
albane. In consequence, 'in the year of God 1644 ^^nd 1645, his
whole landes and esteat betwixt the foord of Lyon and point of
Lismore were burnt and destroyit be James Graham, some time
Erie of Montrose, and Alexander M'Donald with their associattes.
The tenants, their whole cattle were taken away be their enemies ;
and their cornes, houses, plenishing and whole Insight, weir burnt ;
and the said Sir Robert pressing to get the Inhabitants repairit,
wairit [spent] _;^48 Scots upon the bigging of every cuple In his

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 273
landes, and also wairit seed cornes upon his own charges to the
most of his inhabitants. The occasion of this malice against Sir
Robert and his friends and countrie people, was because the said
Sir Robert joinit in covenant with the kirk and kingdom of Scotland
in maintaining the trew religion, the kingis majesty, his authority
and laws and libertle of the kingdom of Scotland ; and because
the said Sir Robert altogether refusit to assist the said James
Graham and Alexander M'Donald, their malicious doings in the
kingdom of Scotland, so that the Laird of Glenurquhay and his
countrie people, their loss within Perthshire and within Argyleshire
exceeds the soums of 1,200,000 merks.' Sir Robert had five sons
and nine daughters. William, the third son, was the ancestor of
the Campbells of Glenfalloch, from whom the present Marquis of
Breadalbane is descended. The daughters were all married to
Highland lairds, and the eldest became the mother of the famous
Sir Ewan Cameron, of Lochiel.
Little is known of Sir Robert's eldest son. Sir John. He married
the eldest daughter of the powerful but ill-fated Earl of Strathearn,
and had by her a son, John, the first Earl of Breadalbane, born
about 1635. The character of this powerful and unscrupulous chief
has been drawn in dark but true colours by Lord Macaulay. ' He
could bring seventeen hundred claymores into the field, and ten years
before the Revolution he had actually marched into the Lowlands
with this great force for the purpose of supporting the prelatical
tyranny. In those days he had affected zeal for monarchy and
Episcopacy, but in truth he cared for no government and no religion.
He seems to have united two different sets of vices, the growth of
two different regions, and of two different stages in the progress of
society. In his castie among the hills he had learned the barbarian
pride and ferocity of a Highland chief. In the Council-chamber at
Edinburgh he had contracted the deep taint of treachery and cor
ruption. After the Revolution he had, like too many of his fellow-
nobles, joined and betrayed every party in turn ; had sworn fealty
to William and Mary, and had plotted against them.' * Mackay, in
his ' Memoirs,' says, ' the Earl is of a fair complexion, and has the
gravity of a Spaniard, is as cunning as a fox, wise as a serpent, and
slippery as an eel.' ' No Government,' he adds, ' can trust him but
where his own private interest is in view.'
Breadalbane had claims upon the gratitude of the royal family for
* History of England, iv. p. 189.
VOL. I. U

2'jJf The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the great assistance which he gave, In 1653, to the forces collected in
the Highlands under General Middleton, in the cause of Charles II.,
and for his endeavours to persuade Monk, after Cromwell's death,
to declare for a free Parliament, as the most effectual way of
bringing about the restoration of the Stewarts. He was a principal
creditor of George Sinclair, sixth Earl of Caithness, whose debts
were said to have exceeded a million of marks; and, in 1672, that
nobleman executed a disposition of his whole estates, heritable juris
dictions, and titles, in favour of Campbell of Glenorchy, who took on
himself the burden of the Earl's debts. On the death of Lord
Caithness, without issue, in 1676, Sir John Campbell obtained a
patent creating him Earl of Caithness ; but George Sinclair, of
Keiss, the heir-male of the family, disputed his right to that tide,
and the Parliament having decided in his favour. Sir John was
created. In 1681, Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Viscount of Tay
and Palntland, Lord Glenorchy, Benderaloch, Ormelie, and Wick,
with remainder to whichever of his sons by his first wife he might
designate in writing, and ultimately to his heirs-male whomsoever.
The honours thus heaped upon him by the reigning sovereign
failed to secure his fidelity when the trial came. After the Revo
lution of 1688 he gave in his adherence to William and Mary,
though there was no end to ' the turns and doublings of his course '
during the year 1689 and the earher part of 1690. But after the
battle of the Boyne had apparently ruined the Jacobite cause, the
Earl became more steady in his support of the new sovereigns ; and,
as it was at this time his interest, as he affirmed, to promote the
stability of the Government and the tranquillity of the country, it
was resolved by the Ministry to employ the Earl to treat with the
Jacobite chiefs, and a sum of fifteen thousand pounds was placed at
his disposal, in order to induce them to swear allegiance to the
reigning monarchs. It was an unwise and unfortunate selection.
Breadalbane' s reputation for honesty did not stand high, and he
was • suspected of intending to cheat both the clans and the King.'
He alleged that the Macdonalds of Glencoe had ravaged his lands
and driven away his cattie; and when their chief, M'lan, appeared
along with the other Jacobite heads of the clans, at a conference
which he held with them, at his residence in Glenorchy, the Eari,
who ordinarily bore himself with the solemn dignity of a Castilian
grandee, forgot his public character, forgot the laws of hospitality,
and, with angry reproaches and menaces, demanded reparation
for the herds which had been driven from his lands bv M'lan's

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 275
followers. M'lan was seriously apprehensive of some personal
outrage, and was glad to get safe back to his own glen.' His pride
had been wounded ; he had no motive to induce him to accept of the
terms offered by the Government. He was well aware that he had
little chance of receiving any portion of the money which was to
be distributed among the Jacobite chiefs, for his share of that money
would scarcely meet Breadalbane's demands for compensation.
M'lan, therefore, used all his Influence to dissuade his brother chiefs
from accepting the proposals made to them by the agent of the
English ministers ; and Breadalbane found the negotiations in
definitely protracted by the arts of the man who had long been a
thorn In his side. He contrived, however, in one way or other,
either to spend or to pocket the funds entrusted to him by the
Government. ' Some chiefs,' says Sir Walter Scott, ' he gratified
with a share of the money ; others with good words ; others he kept
quiet by threats. And when he was asked by Lord Nottingham to
account for the money put Into his hands to be distributed among
the chiefs, he returned this laconic answer, " My lord, the money Is
spent; the Highlands are quiet: and this is the only way of
accounting among friends." '
Before this pacification was effected, however, a most shocking
tragedy had been enacted. In which Breadalbane was deeply impli
cated. His estates had suffered severely from the depredations of
the men of Glencoe, and he hated them as ' Macdonalds, thieves,
and Papists.' His anger against them was deepened by his know
ledge of the fact that their chief had employed all his influence to
thwart the negotiation with the clans, from which the Eari had hoped
to gain credit with the Government. Its failure had indeed led the
advisers of King William to entertain strong suspicions of Breadal
bane's fidelity.
The authority of the Eari to conduct the negotiations was
dated 24th April, 1690, and at the close of the autumn of 1691 the
chiefs had not come to terms. The Scottish counsellors of the
King, therefore, resolved to try the effect of threats as well as bribes,
and on the 27th of August they issued a proclamation promising an
indemnity to those who should swear the oath of allegiance In the
presence of a civil magistrate before the ist of January, 1692, and
threatening with military execution those who should hold out; after
that day. There is abundant evidence that the Master of Stair, the
Eari of Linlithgow, King William himself, and in all probability the

276 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Earl of Breadalbane also, expected and wished that some of the
Highland chiefs should refuse to avail themselves of the offer of
indemnity within the prescribed period, and thus expose themselves
to the summary vengeance of the Government. The Earl of Lin
lithgow, one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, recom
mended Breadalbane to ' push the clans to do one thing or other, for
such as will stand It out must not expect any more offers, and In that
case those who have been their friends must act with the greatest
vigour against them. The last standers-out must pay for all ; and,
besides, I know that the King does not care that some do It, that he
may make examples of them.' Stair declared to the Earl, on the
3rd of November, that ' pulling down Glengarry's nest as the crows
do, destroying him and his clan and garrisoning his house as a
middle of communication between Inverlochy and Inverness, will be
full as acceptable as his coming in.' A month later, in a letter to
Breadalbane, he refers to the Earl's ' scheme for mauling them,' pro
bably much such a scheme as was adopted ; and he adds, ' Because
I breathe nothing but destruction to Glengarry, Tarbet thinks that
Keppoch will be a more proper example of severity, but I confess
both's best to be ruined.'
It Is well known that M'lan of Glencoe was caught in the net
spread mainly for the Macdonalds of Keppoch and Glengarry, that
the massacre of the chief and his clansmen was carried out in a
manner peculiarly treacherouis and cruel, and that though It excited
deep and universal Indignation, both the devisers of the shocking and
bloody deed and the instruments employed in its execution escaped
the punishment they deserved.
Breadalbane at once took guilt to himself. A few days after the
massacre he sent Campbell of Barcaldin, his chamberlain, to the
men of Glencoe to say that if they would declare under their hands
that his lordship had no concern In the massacre, they might be
assured the Earl would procure their ' remission and restitution.' It
was not until 1695, three years after the Glencoe massacre, that a
commission was appointed to inquire into the shocking affair. They
reported that they did not find it proved that Breadalbane was impli
cated in the slaughter, but they discovered that the Earl had laid
himself open to a charge of high treason by the manner in which he
had acted in his negotiations with the clans ; that he had professed to
be a zealous partisan of James, and had recommended the chiefs to
accept the money offered them by the Government, but at the same

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 277
time to be on the watch for an opportunity of taking up arms in
favour of the exiled monarch. The Pariiament immediately com
mitted Breadalbane a prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh, but he was
speedily released by the Ministry on the plea that the treacherous
villain had, as he alleged, professed himself a Jacobite merely In order
that he might discover and betray the plans of the Jacobite chiefs.
The Earl of Breadalbane was three times married. His first wife
was Lady Mary Rich, third daughter of the first Eari of Holland, who
was executed for his loyalty to Charies I. She had a fortune of
/ 10,000, a large sum In those days, and out of numerous candidates
for her hand the Earl of Breadalbane was the successful suitor. He
was married to her in London, 17th December, 1657. According to
tradition, after the marriage he set out with his bride for his High
land home, on horseback, with the lady behind him. Her tocher,
which was all in gold, was deposited in a leather bag on the back of
a Highland pony, which was guarded by a full-armed gillie on each
side of the precious horse-load. The strange cavalcade passed
unscathed through the Borders, and arrived safe at Balloch. A
small room used to be shown in the old castle which, it was said,
formed for some time at once the parlour and the bedroom of the
newly married pair after their arrival.
The Earl died In 17 16, and was succeeded by his second son —
John Campbell, Lord Glenorchy, born in 1662, whom he nomi
nated in terms of his patent as his successor In the earldom and in
his extensive estates. There is no reason to suppose that his eldest
son, Duncan, Lord Ormelie, whom he passed over, had given him
any personal offence, or had done anything which warranted this
treatment. The probability seems tb be that the cunning and sus
picious old Earl was apprehensive that though the part his clan, under
the command of his eldest son, had taken in the Rebellion of 17 15
had been condoned by the Government, they might after all revive
the offence and deprive him of his titles and estates. He therefore
disinherited Lord Ormelie in favour of his younger brother. The
unfortunate youth seems to have passed his life in obscurity without
any steps having been taken to preserve a record of his descendants.
In 1 72 1, however, at a keenly contested election of a Scottish repre
sentative peer in the room of the Marquis of Annandale, the right of
the second Earl to the peerage was called In question on the part of
his elder brother on the ground that any disposition or nomination

278 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
from his father to the honours and dignity of Earl of Breadalbane
• could not convey the honours, nor could the Crown effectually grant
a peerage to any person and to such heirs as he should name, such
patent being inconsistent with the nature of a peerage, and not agree
able to law, and also without precedent.' Strange to say, these
weighty objections were overruled by the peers, and by a decision
which is quite unique. Lord Glenorchy was confirmed in his ances
tral honours and estates. He was remarkable only for his longevity,
having died in 1752 in his ninetieth year.
His only son, John, third Earl, born in 1696, was noted for his
precocious talents and attainments. In 17 18, at the age of twenty-
two, he was sent as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
to the Court of Denmark, and in 1731 was appointed ambassador to
Russia. He sat for a good many years In the House of Commons
as member first for the borough of Saltash and then for Oxford, was
a steady supporter of Sir Robert Walpole, and was for some time
one of the Lords of the Admiralty. After his accession to the peer
age he was appointed, in 1761, Lord Chief Justice In Eyre, and in
1776 was nominated Vice- Admiral of Scotland. His first wife was
Lady Annabella Grey, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Henry, Duke
of Kent, an ancient and illustrious English house, and by her he had
a son, who died in Infancy, and a daughter, who succeeded her
grandfather as Baroness Lucas and Marchioness de Grey (see
Humes of Marchmont). By his second wife Lord Breadalbane had
two sons, who predeceased him. The younger, who bore the cour
tesy title of Lord Glenorchy, died In 1771 at the age of thirty-four,
leaving no surviving Issue. He married in 1761 Willielma, second
daughter and co-heiress of William Maxwell of Preston, a cadet of
the Nithsdale family — a lady of eminent piety and great accom
plishments, as well as personal beauty. She built and endowed a
church, called by her name, at the Old Physic Gardens in Edin
burgh, which have now been incorporated with the station of the
North British Railway. The church has been rebuilt in a more
convenient spot. She also erected and endowed a chapel at
Strathfillan, and employed at her own expense two missionaries in
the Highlands, under the direction of the Society for Propagating
Christian Knowledge. The memory of her ' works of faith and
labours of love' is still fragrant both in Edinburgh and in the
Highlands.

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 2 79
On the death ofthe third Eari of Breadalbane, In 1782, the male
line of the first Earl was supposed to have become extinct, though
it is not improbable that his eldest son had left issue who had the
first claim to the family titles and estates. But John Campbell of
Carwhin, who was descended from Colin Campbell of Mochaster,
second son of Sir Robert Campbell of Glenorchy, took possession of
both without opposition. He raised a regiment In 1793, called the
Breadalbane Fenclbles, for the service of the Government, and in
various other ways displayed a patriotic spirit during the protracted
war with France. He was created a peer ofthe United Kingdom in
1806 by the title of Baron Breadalbane of Taymouth, and in 183 1
was raised to the rank of Marquis of Breadalbane and Earl of
Ormelie. His attention was chiefly devoted to the improvement of
his extensive estates, great portions of which he planted with trees
fitted for the soil, and by his costly improvements he rendered the
park at Taymouth one of the most extensive and beautiful in the
kingdom. The Earl married, in 1793, Mary Turner, eldest daughter
and co-heiress of David Gavin, Esq., of Langton. Thereby, as we
shall see, hangs a tale.
The Marquis of Breadalbane died in 1834, at the age of seventy-
two, and was succeeded in his titles and entailed estates by his
only son, John Campbell, Earl of Ormelie, second Marquis. The
whole of his personal estate, amounting. It was said, to upwards of
^300,000, was directed by his will to accumulate for twenty years,
and was then to be laid out in the purchase of landed property to be
added to the entailed estates. The Marquis of Chandos (afterwards
Duke of Buckingham), however, who had married the younger
daughter of the Marquis, succeeded in getting the settlement set
aside, so far as his wife was concerned, by a decision of the Court
of Session, confirmed by the House of Lords, that she was entitled
to legitim. The large sum of money thus awarded to Lord Chandos
was swallowed up in the bottomless pit of his debts. The elder
daughter of Lord Breadalbane, who married Sir John Pringle, of
Stichell, was not so fortunate, owing to the difference in this respect
between Scottish and English law. But after the death of her
brother. Lady Elizabeth Pringle Inherited the beautiful estate of
Langton, which is now possessed by her daughter, Mary Gavin, who
married the Honourable Robert Baillie Hamilton, second son of the
tenth Earl of Haddington.
The second Marquis of Breadalbane represented Perthshire in the

28o The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Parliament of 1832, was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1838, was
elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1841, and in
1848 was appointed Lord Chamberlain. His lordship was a zealous
supporter of the Free Church. He married, in 1821, Eliza, eldest
daughter of George Baillie, Esq., of Jerviswood, a lady of great
amiability and of remarkable beauty, who predeceased him. At his
death, without issue, in 1862, the Marquisate and Barony of Breadal
bane and the Earldom of Ormelie, in the peerage of the United King
dom, became extinct. The Scottish honours were claimed by John
Alexander Gavin Campbell, of Glenfalloch, and by Charles William
Campbell, of Borland. Both claimants were descended from the fifth
son of Sir Robert Campbell, Baronet, ninth Laird of Glenorchy, and
both were the great-grandsons of William Campbell of Glenfalloch.
James Campbell, the grandfather of John A. G. Campbell, was the
second son, John Campbell, the grandfather of C. W. Campbell, was
liie third son, of Glenfalloch. (The issue of the eldest son was
extinct.) But James Campbell, who was an officer in the strmy,
eloped with the wife of Christopher Ludlow, a medical practitioner
of Chipping Sodbury, in Gloucestershire. It was alleged that their
eldest and only surviving son was born while Dr. Ludlow was alive,
and was consequently illegitimate. It was contended that the sub
sequent marriage of Captain Campbell to Mrs. Ludlow could not
render legitimate a child bom in these circumstances. The case
excited great attention, both on account of the peculiarity of the cir
cumstances and the importance of the interests at stake. There was
a want of definite information respecting the precise time of Dr.
Ludlow's death, and the decision ofthe House of Lords was given,
though with considerable hesitation, in favour of Campbell of Glen
falloch. He died in 1871, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the
seventh Earl of Breadalbane, born in 1851, who was created a peer
ofthe United Kingdom in 1873, by the title of Lord Breadalbane of
Kenmore, and was elevated to the rank of Marquis in 1885.
It is stated in the ' Doomsday Book ' that the family estates in
Perthshire and Argyllshire consist of 372,729 acres, with a rental
of/59.930. There is an interesting story related by Mr. Hay, In his valuable
work on the Abbey of Arbroath, respecting the manner in which the
estate of Langton came Into the possession of the Breadalbane
family. ' In the parish church of Lunan, in Forfarshire, there is attached to

The Campbells of Breadalbane. 281
the pulpit a brazen support for a baptismal font, and likewise to the
precenter's desk, or lectern, a sand-glass stand ofthe same material.
Each of these articles bears this inscription, "Given to the Church
of Lunan by Alexander Gavin, merchant there, and • Elizabeth
Jamieson his spouse, 1733." A bell also belonging to this church,
which used to be rung at funerals, bears a like Inscription. This
Alexander Gavin was for many years beadle ofthe parish of Lunan,
an office which he added to his business as a merchant or retailer of
groceries and other provisions. His father, James Gavin, had also
held the office of beadle. It happened in his time that a Dutch
vessel was wrecked in the bay of Lunan, and the beadle taking pity
on the destitute condition of the castaway skipper, invited him to
share the hospitality of his humble abode. This kindly offer was
readily accepted, and the acquaintance thus so strangely formed
resulted In the marriage of the Dutch skipper with the beadle's
daughter, Catherine Gavin. Soon thereafter the skipper with his
wife left for Holland, where he renounced the seafaring life and
betook himself to the less dangerous and more lucrative pursuits of
commerce. After Catherine's departure Alexander succeeded his
father in the office of beadle. He married Elizabeth Jamieson, and
had a son named David. This David Gavin, while a young man, was
invited to Holland by his uncle and aunt, became in course of time
a partner in the business carried on by the skipper, and married his
cousin, the skipper's daughter, who, however, soon thereafter died.
Having amassed a considerable fortune, David returned to Scotland,
and purchased, in 1758, the estate of Langton,* in Berwickshire, as
well as some other property, and married, in 1770, Lady Betty,
daughter of the Earl of Lauderdale. The issue of this marriage was
three daughters, one of whom, Mary Turner, married, in 1793, the
Earl (afterwards Marquis) of Breadalbane, and was the mother of
the second Marquis, of Lady Elizabeth Pringle, and of the Duchess
of Buckingham. Alexander Gavin, the kirk beadle of Lunan, was
thus the father-in-law of an earl's daughter, the grandfather of a
marchioness, and the great-grandfather of a marquis and a duchess.
Not many years ago there were people alive in the parish of Lunan
who knew Alexander Gavin, and remembered him after he had
become, through his son's affluence, independent ofthe emoluments
"= The barony of Langton belonged to the Cockburns, an old and distinguished
family, who had possessed it since 1358. Admiral Sir George Cockburn, an eminent
naval officer, was the eighth baronet of this family, and Sir Alexander James Edmund
Cockburn, late Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, was the tenth.

282

The Great Historic Families of Scotland.

of his office and profits, sauntering about dressed in a long vest of
scarlet embroidered with lace of gold, and carrying in his hand a
gold-headed staff. It was after he reached this state of compa
rative independence that he presented to the parish the sand-glass
and baptismal font supports and the bell, memorials of the duties
he had long discharged, and acknowledgments of the kind Provi
dence he had so strongly experienced.'
Mr. David Gavin effected extensive and beneficial improvements in
the district where his estate lay. The old village of Langton was a
mean, straggling place in the immediate vicinity of his mansion, and
he offered to the Inhabitants on easy terms a piece of ground, in a
pleasant situation, about "half a mile distant. This was readily
accepted, and the old village of Langton In a short time disappeared,
and the neat and thriving village of Gavinton arose in its room.

CAMPBELLS OF CAWDOR.

THE CAMPBELLS OF CAWDOR.

|AWDOR is Indelibly associated with the name of Macbeth,
and the tragedy of which, according to local tradition, it
was the scene, and which the genius of Shakespeare has
woven into 'the most striking tale of ambition and
remorse that ever stmck awe into a human bosom.' It has been
justly remarked that had the ' gracious Duncan ' possessed as many
lives as a cat, Scottish tradition has local habitations for taking them
all. He was undoubtedly murdered at Glamis, certainly at Cawdor,
and positively at the Castle of Inverness — all by proof irrefragable.
The investigations of modern historians, however, have led to the
conclusion that Duncan was not murdered at all, but fell in battle
against Macbeth, who was the hereditary Mormaor of Ross and, in
right of his wife, Graach, Mormaor of- Moray. This lady, who her
self had a good title to the Crown, had suffered fearful wrongs at the
hands of Malcolm, Duncan's grandfather and Immediate predeces
sor on the throne. Her grandfather had been dethroned and killed
by Malcolm, her brother assassinated, and her first husband, the
Mormaor of Moray, burned in his castle along with fifty of his friends.
Macbeth, too, had wrongs of his own to avenge, for his father also
had been slain by Malcolm. Thus instigated by revenge and ambi
tion, he attacked and slew Duncan, in the year 1039, at a place
called Bothgowan, near Elgin. But in spite of all that historians
and genealogists can allege or prove, implicit credit is still given to
the story told by the great dramatist, and Macbeth continues to be
regarded as having undoubtedly been Thane of Cawdor.
Cawdor Castie Is perched upon a low rock overhanging the bed of
a rushing stream, and is surrounded on all sides by forest-trees of a
large size. The building is enclosed by a moat, and is approachable
only by a drawbridge. It is still a residence of the Cawdor family,

284 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
but its Iron-grated doors and wickets, its large bar, and kitchen
pantry, formed out of the native rock. Its hall, old furniture, carved
mantelpieces, and figured tapestry, and the whole contour of the
edifice, are much more in keeping with the fourteenth than the nine
teenth century. Immediately opposite the outer gate of the castle
stood a hawthorn-tree ; another grew on what must have been the
village green. The first and second hawthorn trees fell about sixty
or seventy years ago, bearing the marks of extreme old age. A
third, which still exists, but can scarcely be said to enjoy ' a green
old age,' Is shown in a vaulted apartment at the bottom of the prin
cipal tower. Its roots branch out beneath the floor, and its top pene
trates through the vaulted arch of stone in such a manner as to make
it evident that the tree stood in its present position before the tower
was erected. According to an old tradition, the founder of Cawdor
Castle was Induced, either by a dream or by the advice of a wizard,
to bind the coffers containing the gold which he had collected for the
purpose of building a tower, upon an ass, and to build his eastle on
the spot on which the animal should halt. After strolling about for
some time, the animal knelt down to rest beneath the branches of
' the third hawthorn-tree ' — the one now in the vault of the castle —
round which, accordingly, the mansion was erected. In allusion to
this legend, the Gaelic salutation to the roof-tree of the Earl of
Cawdor, Is ' Freshness to the hawthorn-tree.' A curiously contrived
secret chamber Is still shown in the house, which was said to have
been a hiding-place of Lord Lovat In 1746.
' The right feeling of the present time,' says Mr. Cosmo Innes,
' has forbidden any change that would alter the character of the
quaint, antique, charming old place. The tower which Thane Wil
liam built round the hawthorn-tree in 1454 stands surrounded by
buildings of all subsequent dates, down to the work trusted to the skill
of the Nairn masons in 1 699. The simple drawbridge hangs as it has
hung for centuries. The gardens and garden walls, the row of limes
to screen the east wind, are all as Sir Hugh left them, or, perhaps,
made and planted them. The place is unspoiled — not changed but
for the better. The burn pours its brown sparkling stream down its
rocky channel as of yore. The air has the brisk freshness of the
Highlands, while the sky is blue and bright, as in more southern
climates. The woods now wave over the grey castle with a luxuri
ance of shade which its old inhabitants never dreamt of.' *
* Sketckes of Early Scottish History, pp. 435, 436.

The Campbells of Cawdor. 285
The earliest notice of the possessors of Cawdor is in a charter
granted by King Robert Bruce, in 13 10, to William, Thane of
Calder, of the Thanage of Calder, for a yearly payment of 1 2 merks,
and the rent of the land which Fergus the Dempster was wont to pay
in the time of Alexander III. In all probability this William was a
descendant of those hereditary stewards of the Crown to whom the
charge of this part of the royal demesne lands had been committed,
and who now became, under the Saxon name of Thane, hereditary
tenants, .paying the sum at which the land stood in the King's
Rental. The Thanes of Calder were also hereditary sheriffs of
Nairn, and constables of the royal castle at the burgh of Nairn.
In 1454, William, Thane of Calder, obtained a license from the
Crown for building and fortifying his castle of Cawdor, and the
picturesque square tower which he erected over the hawthorn-tree
still remains. In the following year the Thane had a warrant from the
King (James II.) for razing and destroying the old insular castle of
Lochindorb, forfeited by Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray ; famous
for the long siege which it stood under the Countess of Athole,
in 1536, till relieved by Edward III., who made an expedition to the
north for that purpose. Thane William made large additions to the
family estates, and obtained a very opulent marriage for his heir, who
was a lettered man like his father, and added to his hereditary posses
sions both by marriage and purchase. The son of the builder ofthe
tower had a family of five sons — the eldest of whom, on account of
some personal defect, was set aside with a pension until he should
obtain a Church benefice, and John, the second son, was formally
invested in the whole heritage of the family, ' As sicker as men's
wit can devise.' A marriage was arranged between him and
Isabella Rose, in order to heal the differences between the houses of
Cawdor and Kilravock ; but, unfortunately, the union was not happy,
and the old feud was embittered by family dissensions. The young
Thane did not long survive his marriage, dying in 1498, leaving an
only daughter.
' It was not unnatural,' says Mr. Innes, ' that the four sons and
even the old Thane should look back with some disappointment on
the transactions which had resulted only in leaving an Infant girl sole
heiress of the possessions of their house. They resolved, if they could,
to set her aside, and with the help of their kinsman, the Precentor of
Ross, they brought forward some curious evidence to prove her ille
gitimate. But the little Muriel was not unfriended. The new tenure

286 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
was against them, too. The young Thane had been fully Invested, the
estates held ward of the Crown, so that the Infant was under the care
of the sovereign, and Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, and Hugh
Rose of Kilravock, uncle to the young heiress, were appointed
' tutors dative ' to her by James IV. In the autumn of 1499,
the Earl sent Campbell of Inverliver, with a band of sixty stout
clansmen, to Kilravock, to convey the child to Inverary to be edu
cated in the Argyll household. Her grandmother, the Lady of
Kilravock, having probably heard of the remark of Campbell of
Auchinbeck, that the heiress would never die so long as a yellow-
haired lassie could be found In Cowal, seared and marked the hip of
the girl with the key of her coffer, that she might not be changed.
Inverliver had reached Daltulich, in Strathnairn, with the child,
when he was overtaken by Alexander and Hugh Calder, her paternal
uncles, who, on hearing that Muriel had been carried off by the
Campbells, pursued after her escort at the head of a strong body of
their retainers. Inverliver, on the approach of the pursuers, sent
away the child under the care of two or three trusty clansm.en, and,
exclaiming in words which have long been proverbial, ' It is a far cry
to Lochaw and a distant help to the Campbells,' turned and offered
battle to the Calders. One of his men, m.eanwhile, in the rear, carried
in his arms a sheaf of corn dressed up to resemble a child. The con
test was long and obstinate, and the seven sons of Inverliver are said
to have fallen in the fight. In the end, when his young charge was
beyond pursuit, Muriel's faithful protector drew off the survivors of
his men and followed her to Inverary.
The result of this incident, as might have been expected, was the
marriage of Muriel Calder, at the age of twelve, to Sir John Camp
bell, the third son of the Earl of Argyll, who founded the family ofthe
Cawdor Campbells. Inheriting the personal character and follow
ing the policy of his race, he became almost as powerful as the chief
of his clan, and his descendants for several generations shared in the
fortunes of the house of Argyll. Sir John Campbell acquired large
possessions In Argyllshire. Long before the general appropriation
of Church lands at the Reformation, Sir John had obtained the
extensive ecclesiastical territory of Muckalrne, on the shores of
Loch Etive, of which he had previously been bailie. It had belonged
to the monks of lona, and was conveyed to Sir John by Farquhar,
Bishop of the Isles and Commendator of lona. The narrative of the
charter of conveyance gives a very unfavourable picture of the native

The Campbells of Cawdor. 287
population. The estate, it said, lay In ' a wicked and pernicious
province,' from whose Inhabitants the Bishop and his predecessors
could get no rents or profits, and he expressed a doubt, probably
unnecessary, whether Sir John Campbell will be more successful.
With a view of strengthening his position in his native county, the
new Thane of Cawdor entered into bonds of closest alliances with
many of the Islands and Western Highlands. So great was his
acknowledged influence that such haughty Highland clans as the
M'Leans, Camerons, McLeods, McDonalds, and McNeills, did not
disdain to become ' leal and true men and servants ' to Sir John
Campbell of Cawdor. This prosperous scion of the clan Campbell
died In 1546. Lady Muriel not only survived her husband, but
also their eldest son, Archibald, who died only five years after
his father. In the year 1573, when she had attained a good old age,
she resigned her thanage and lands in favour of her grandson,
' Ihone Campbell, my oy, his airis male and assignayis.' She died
in ^575-
This second Sir John married Mary Keith, a daughter of the
powerful Earl Marischal and a younger sister of the wife of the
Regent Moray, who, after his assassination, married Colin, sixth Earl
of Argyll, Chancellor of Scotland. The marriage of the young Thane
no doubt drew closer his connection with his chief's family. On
the death of Earl Colin, he was one of six persons appointed
to advise the Countess in the management of the earldom during
the minority of her son, ' quhais counsal,' said the Earl in his will,
' my said spous sail follow In all the thinges concerning the weill of
my son and his countre. . Attour In cace of inlaik of my wyf I lief
the government of my dochtar Annas unto the said John Campbell
of Calder and to his wyf, hir modir sister.' After the death of the
Countess and of Campbell of Ardkinglas, the Comptroller, Sir John
seems to have governed the young Earl and his vast estates with
almost undivided sway; but in 1591 he was assassinated by young
Ardkinglas, the Comptroller's son, in connection with a foul con
spiracy against Archibald, seventh Earl of Argyll. [See Campbells
of Breadalbane.] The eldest son of this unfortunate chief, a third
Sir John, induced Angus Macdonald to cede to him for the sum
of ;;^6,ooo the fertile island of Islay. It was no easy matter,
however, to obtain possession of the coveted territory, where the
Macdonalds had lived for ages, as Macaulay says, * with the pomp of
royalty ; ' for the Islesmen dreaded and detested the Campbells, whora

288 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
they regarded as ambitious upstarts and intruders. For a number of
years they successfully resisted all the efforts of the Knight of Cawdor
to dispossess them. But the Privy Council, having received from
him an offer of a feu duty or perpetual rent for the island, far beyond
what had ever before been paid for it, intrusted his chief and kinsman,
the Earl of Argyll, with a commission against the refractory islanders,
and supplied him with cannon and ammunition, and the assistance of
a body of soldiers. With the help of these auxiliaries the Camp
bells speedily succeeded In defeating the undisciplined Islanders, and
compelled them to submit to their new lords.
Islay was now absolutely won and held by the Campbells of
Calder, but it proved an expensive trophy to the winner. ' With the
acquisition of Islay,' says Mr. Cosmo Innes, ' began the misfortunes
of the family. The expense of winning and keeping the Island ; large
bribes assuredly exacted by courtiers ; others possibly paid to the
King for the gift ; heavy rents to be made forthcoming while the
land was still in the hands of enemies or waste ; these causes, added
to family expenses, the cost of two establishments, visits to a Court
where none were welcome empty-handed, heaped up an amount of
debt which in that age — Innocent as yet of bills and bank-notes —
might have weighed down a better manager than Sir John Campbell.' '
Numerous ' wadsetts,' or mortgages, were given on almost the whole
of his estates in Morayshire, and creditors of every degree were
clamorous for payment. Large droves of cattle were levied from the
people of Islay, and sent to England twice a year to pay the rent
due to the Crown. But still these dues fell into arrears, and at
length, in 1619, the luckless landlord was ' put to the horn ' for non
payment ofthe Crown-rents. In his deep distress Sir John proposed,
in 1627, to sell Islay to his kinsman Macdonald, Earl of Antrim, for
;^5,ooo sterling, another ^ i ,000 to be added to the price if, in the
opinion of certain arbitrators, the island should be worth more than
;^6oo per annum of feu rent. The bargain, however, was not carried
out at this time, and the island remained a century longer in the
possession of the ' Thanes of Cawdor.' In the year 1723, John
Campbell of Cawdor, M.P. for the county of Pembroke, mortgaged
Islay and Jura to Donald Campbell of Shawfield, Lord Provost of
Glasgow, for the sum of ^^6,000, reserving power to redeem these
islands up till 1744. But in 1726 Cawdor made a sale of both Islay
and Jura to Shawfield for the additional sum of ;^6,ooo, making the
price ;^ 1 2,000 in all. The purchaser also became liable for the pay-

The Campbells of Cawdor. 289
ment of the 'wadsetts' laid on the estates for the .sum of /4, 169,
so that In reality the price paid for the two Islands amounted to
/i6,i69.* One of the Knights of Cawdor, named Sir Hugh, was noted for
his zealous efforts to get the Lord's Prayer introduced as part of the
regular service in the Presbyterian Church. He repeatedly addressed
letters on the subject to Principal Carstares, to the Presbytery of
Inverness, and to the General Assembly. He also published, in 1 704,
'An essay on the Lord's Prayer,' which was followed, in 1709, by
•Letters relative to an Essay on the Lord's Prayer.' Sir Hugh
served In several Parliaments as member for the shire of Nairn, and
like other Commissioners to Parliament, he received an allowance for
his expenses. Probably owing to his zeal In pleading for the use of
the Lord's Prayer in the daily church service of Scotland, he was
accused of lukewarmness for Presbyterlanism. The old man replied
— ' Since ever I came to the age of a man, I made It my business to
do every honest minister of the Gospel all the good offices and
service that was in my power, as I could find occasion ; and God
honoured me so much that I relieved many honest ministers out of
prison, kept more from trouble, and to be an instrument to save the
lives of several who were pious, eminently pious, and knowing
beyond many of their brethren, such as Mr. William Guthrie, Mr.
William Veitch, and several others ; and I can say I spared neither
my pains nor what credit I had with any who governed the State, nor
my fortune nor purse. I ventured these, and my office and life too,
to save honest people who walked according to their light, without
flying to extremities and taking arms against the King and Govern
ment; so that all the time from 1662 to the late Revolution, there
was not one man payed a fine in the shire of Nairn, except two or
three.' Sir Hugh repaired and enlarged the old castie of Cawdor, and
the builders were taken bound to ' complete the whole work in the
best and handsomest manner, so as themselves may have credit
and Sir Hugh satisfaction.' He was the last of the family who
made Cawdor his chief residence. His eldest son and heir. Sir
* Reservation was made of two small estates in Islay, named Sunderland and
Terobolls, which had previously been disposed of, and also of the right of the heirs of
Archibald, Earl of Argyll, to hunt in the forest of Jura— a privilege which was only
recently sold by the Duke to the present proprietor of the island. Islay was purchased
by the late Mr. Morison of London for ^^45 1,000. When Pennant visited Islay in
1769, the rental was about ;^2,3oo : it now amoUnts to ;^30;0oo ^ year.
VOL. I. X

290 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Alexander Campbell, married Elizabeth, sister and heiress of
Sir Gilbert Lort, of Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, on whose
death. In 1698, that estate passed to the Cawdor family. John
Campbell, Sir Alexander's son and heir, who sold Islay, married
Mary, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Lewis Pryse of Gogir-
then, Wales, and his eldest son, Pryse Campbell, took to wife
Sarah, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edmund Bacon. These suc
cessive fortunate marriages added upwards of fifty thousand acres
to the family estates, and increased their income fourfold. John
Campbell, Pryse Campbell's elder son, was created a baron in the
peerage of Great Britain, 21st June, 1790, by the title of Lord
Cawdor of Castlemartin, In the county of Pembroke. His Lordship
was highly commended for a gallant exploit which he performed in
1797, when a body of French troops landed at the seaport of Fish
guard, in Pembrokeshire. Lord Cawdor attacked them at the head
of a body of peasantry assisted by a few soldiers, and compelled the
invaders, twelve hundred In number, to surrender themselves pri
soners. John Frederick Campbell, his eldest son, was raised to
the rank of Earl of Cawdor in 1827. The family honours and
estates are now in the possession of his son, John Frederick
Vaughan Campbell, second Earl and third Baron Cawdor. Unlike
their kinsmen of Argyll and Breadalbane, the Cawdor Campbells
have attached themselves to the Conservative party. The present
Earl represented Carmarthenshire for nineteen years, and his eldest
son. Viscount Emlyn, was one of the members for that county from
1874 to 1885. The family estates comprise 101,857 acres, of which
46,176 acres are In Nairn, 3,943 in Inverness, 33,782 In Carmarthen,
17,935 in Pembroke, and 21 In Cardigan. According to the
Doomsday Book, the annual rental amounts to £\&f,6w.
In addition to four peers (a Duke and three Earls) of MacCalian
Mohr's lineage, there are no fewer than twenty-eight Campbells in
Scotland, each possessing 5,000 acres and upwards, the total extent
of their estates being 538,861 acres.

THE LESLIES.
HE founder of the Leslie family was a Hungarian named
Bartolf, or Bartholomew, who is said to have come to
Scotland In the train of Edgar Atheling and his sisters,
one of whom (the Princess Margaret) became the wife of
Malcolm Canmore. Bartolf seems to have been a man of vigorous
intellect as well as of great bodily strength — qualities highly prized
in an age when might too often made right. He became a great
favourite at the Scottish Court, and obtained In marriage the hand of
one of Malcolm's sisters, along with the governorship of Edinburgh
Castle and extensive grants of land in Aberdeenshire, Angus, and
Fife. As is the case In regard to most of our old Scottish families,
there are various traditions respecting the origin of the name which
the descendants of the founder of the house assumed, and of the
family arms and motto ; but there is every reason to believe that the
Leslies derived their patronymic from the lands of Lesselyn, In the
district of Garioch, in Aberdeenshire. Here they erected their first
seat, the Castle of Leslie, on the banks of the Gaudy, at the back of
the celebrated hill of Bennachie. So numerously did the cadets of
the house cluster around their ancestral domain that. In the words of
a fine old song —
' Thick sit the Leslies on Gaudy side,
At the back of Bennachie.'
Along with the Lindsays, Ogilvles, and other new settlers whom
the policy of Malcolm Canmore encouraged to take up their resi
dence in Scotland, they formed a powerful barrier against the incur
sions of the Highland and Island clans, who at that time attempted
to maintain an independent sovereignty in the northern and western
districts of Scotland. Th,e Leslies were a stalwart race, strong In
body and mind, and In these days of ' rugging and riving ' con-

292 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
trived to obtain a large share both of territory and influence, not
only in Scotland but in several Continental countries. No Scottish
surname, indeed, has been more widely known than theirs, or more
famous, on the Continent. Five generals of the name of Leslie
commanded the armies of Scotland, Germany, Sweden, and Russia
about the same time. Two counts of the Balquhain Leslies were
field-marshals in the service of the Emperor of Germany. A junior
member of this branch was a field-marshal in the army of Gustavus
Adolphus. A member of the Rothes line, after serving under the
same monarch, was a lieutenant-general in the army which the
Scottish Parliament sent to the assistance of the English Parliament
against Charles I. Major-General David Leslie contributed greatly
to turn the tide of battle on Marston Moor, and at Philiphaugh he
avenged on Montrose the series of defeats which the great Marquis
had inflicted en the Covenanters at Alford, Turriff, and Kilsyth.
Another LesUe became a general in the Russian service, and was
made Governor of Smolensko. The Leslies were distinguished as
men of the gown as well as men of the sword. John Leslie, Bishop
of Ross, was eminent for his historical ability, and still more for his
devoted adherence to the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots. William
Leslie, of the Warthlll branch, was Prince-Bishop of Laybach and a
Privy Councillor of the Empire. No fewer than four members of
the Wardis and Rothes branches were bishops of the Irish Epis
copal Church, and the Rev. Charles Leslie, son of one of these
bishops, and a ' reasoner,' as Dr. Johnson said, ' who was not to be
reasoned against,' was the author of the celebrated 'Short and Easy
Method with Deists,' and other works on the evidence of Chris
tianity, which have been pronounced on high authority ' the best
books of their kind.' Sir John Leslie, the well-known Edinburgh
Professor, enjoyed a European reputation as a mathematician and a
philosopher ; and Charles R. Leslie was one of the most eminent
painters of the present day.
Sir Norman, the fifth in descent from the Hungarian Bartolf,
appears to have been the first of the family who assumed the surname
of Lesselyn, or Leslie. Previous to this time, the usual designation
of their chief was the ' Constable of Inverurie.' Sir Norman's name
Is found in the ' Ragman's Roll,' and In other documents connected
with the Scottish War of Independence. His son and grandson
were staunch adherents of Robert Bruce and David II., and shared in

LESLIES OF LESLIE.

The Leslies. ,293
their perils and privations, and ultimate success of their struggles
with the Baliols and their English supporters. David, the fourth in
succession to the barony of Leslie, joined one of the Crusades
towards the close of the fourteenth century, and was so long absent
in Palestine without any intelligence of him having reached home,
that he was given up for dead, and a distant kinsman. Sir George
Leslie of Rothes, was Installed in his ancestral castle and estates.
But scarcely had Sir George taken possession of the family mansion
of Leslie, when the long-lost heir unexpectedly returned to Scotland
and recovered his patrimonial estates. He, however, confirmed the
entail executed by his father in favour of his kinsman, and at his
death, forty years later, the principal property of the family passed
to Norman de Leslie, son of Sir George, while the remainder was
Inherited by his own daughter and only child, Margaret, wife of
Alexander Leslie, a son of the Baron of Balquhain, who assumed
the designation of Leslie, or, according to the Scottish phrase, of
' that Ilk,' though he was the head only of a minor branch of the
family. The Leslies of Rothes and Balquhain became henceforth the prin
cipal representatives of this ancient house. The Leslies of Bal
quhain still possess their ancestral estates. The Rothes Leslies
exist in the female line, but the Leslies of that ilk were compelled to
dispose of their patrimony about the beginning of the seventeenth
century, owing to the imprudence and improvidence of George Leslie,
the eighth baron. Their ancient castle of Leslie, erected by Bartolf,
the founder ofthe family, which, like Balquhain, stands near the ' Hill
of Bennachie,' was inhabited up to the beginning of the present cen
tury, but is now a ruin. So Is the castle of Balquhain, 'a stern,
simple square block, as destitute of decoration or architectural
peculiarity as any stone boulder on the adjoining moor,' In which
Queen Mary was hospitably entertained on her northern progress in
1562. It remained the main seat of the family till 1690, when they
removed to Fetternear, an old summer residence of the Bishops of
Aberdeen, beautifully situated in a finely wooded domain on the
banks of the Don, which still remains their principal residence. The
district of Garioch, in which these Interesting baronial mansions
stand, is associated with not a few historical incidents and remains
of antiquity. The chapel of Garioch was endowed by Christian
Bruce for the celebration of religious services for the souls of her
brother, King Robert, and of her husband. Sir Andrew Moray, his

294 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
brave companion In arms ; and by the Countess of Mar, widow of
William, Earl of Douglas, for the performance of similar services for
the souls of her husband, her brother, and her son, the hero of Otter
burn. About a mile from the church is the battlefield of Harlaw, •
where another chaplaincy was founded by the widow of Sir Andrew
Leslie of Balquhain for the souls of her six sons, who fell on that fatal
field, and of her husband, who was killed at Braco in 1420.
There Is a curious chapter in the memoirs of these old Leslies
which has an Important bearing on the ancient history of Scotland.
Walter, fourth son of Sir Andrew Leslie of Leslie, by his wife, one
of the co-heiresses of the powerful family of Abernethy, served vrith
great distinction in the Imperial army under the Emperors Louis IV.
and Charles IV. (1346— 1378) against the Saracens, and was so
remarkable for his humanity, as well as his bravery and military skill,
that he was styled the ' Generous Knight.' His brilliant exploits
against Edward III. of England were rewarded with a liberal grant
from Charles V. by a patent dated 1372. On his return to Scotland
the fame of his valour and courtesy gained him the heart and hand
of Euphemia, eldest daughter and heiress of the Earl of Ross, one
of the most powerful magnates In the kingdom, and who had
repeatedly aspired to independent sovereignty. Walter Leshe
assumed the title of Earl of Ross in right of his wife, and their only
son, Alexander, after his death became eighth Earl. He married
Isabel Stewart, daughter of Robert, Duke of Albany, the ambitious
Regent of Scotland during the long captivity In England of his
nephew, James I. Their only child, Euphemia, on the death of her
father in 141 1, succeeded to his titles and estates, and being under
age and small of stature and deformed, was Induced by her un
scrupulous grandfather, the Regent, to become a nun, and to resign
her right to the earldom of Ross in favour of his son, John Stewart,
Earl of Buchan. But Donald, Lord of the Isles, who had married
the aunt of the young Countess, asserted his claim to the earldom
in right of his wife, and resolved to vindicate his pretensions by
force of arms. At the head of an army of 10,000 men he marched
through Moray Into the Garioch, intending to attack the city of Aber
deen. He was encountered at Harlaw, on the Urie, by Alexander
Stewart, Earl of Mar, at the head of the chivalry of Aberdeenshire,
Angus and Mearns, together with the Provost and a troop of the
stoutest burgesses of the city of Aberdeen, numbering altogether,
however, only one to ten of the hostile force. The battle was long

The Leslies. 295
and obstinately contested, and was indecisive in its Immediate
results, but six sons of Sir Andrew Leslie were left among the
slain, along with the Provost of Aberdeen, the Sheriff of Angus,
the Constable of Dundee, and the principal gentry of the district.
It was justly said that —
' Baith Hieland and Lowland mournfu' be
For the sair field of Harlaw.'
There is reason to believe that the fate of the Baron of Balquhain,
who commanded the van of Mar's army in this famous battie, was
before the mind of Sir Walter Scott when he depicted one of the
most thrilling scenes he overwrote — the description of old Elspeth's
talk and ballad in ' The Antiquary ' respecting the fall of the Eari of
Glenallan in that sanguinary encounter, and that the novelist had the
Leslies of Balquhain in his eye when he makes Elspeth say that the
Glenallan family always buried their dead at night and by torchlight,
' since the time the great Earl fell at the sair battie o' the Harlaw,
when they say the coronach was cried In ae day from the mouth o' the
Tay to the Buck of the Cabrach. But the great Earl's mother was
living ; they were a doughty and a dour race, the women o' the house
o' Glenallan, and she wad hae nae coronach cried for her son, but
had him laid in the silence o' midnight In his place o' rest, without
either drinking the dirge or crying the lament. She said he had
killed enow that day he died for the widows and daughters o' the
Highlanders he had slain to cry the coronach for them he had slain
and for her son too ; and sae she laid him In the grave wi' dry eyes
and without a groan or a wail.'
In later times the Leslies sent not a few stout men-at-arms to take
part in the long and bloody wars of the seventeenth century. Walter,
a younger son of the Baron of Balquhain, was created a Count by
the Emperor Ferdinand III., and subsequently became a Field-Mar
shal and a Knight of the Golden Fleece. He served with great dis
tinction in the Thirty Years' War, and held some of the highest offices
in the empire ; but he tarnished his fame by the prominent part he
took in the assassination of Wallenstein, under whom he had long
served with brilliant reputation, and has in consequence been branded
with infamy by the great German poet, Schiller, in his drama of
Wallenstein. His nephew, James, who succeeded to his hereditary
honours and to his lordship of Neustadt, gained a worthier reputa
tion in the famous defence of Vienna against the Turks in 1683.

THE LESLIES OF ROTHES.

|HE Leslies of Rothes obtained higher rank and greater
prominence in the history of Scotland than the main stem
of the family. The first Leslie who bore the name of
Rothes was Sir George, who Is described as Dominus de
Rothes, In a contract of marriage, dated 26th April, 1392, but
whether he acquired the barony by succession, marriage, or pur
chase, cannot now be ascertained.
It remained In the possession of the family for nearly four hundred
years, was sold by John, ninth Earl of Rothes, in 1 7 1 1 , to John
Grant, of Elchles, and now forms part of the extensive possessions
of the Earl of Seafield. This fertile and beautiful barony lies on
the western bank of the broad and rapid river Spey, and Is both
well wooded and ' well watered everywhere,' and diversified by hills
in the background, and glens with their tributary brooks. The
old castle of the Leslies, which stood on a green mount, surrounded
by a fosse. Is now In ruins. When the Earl sold the estate he
' reserved to himself the castle tower, with the castle bank and the
green under the walls thereof,' the only remnant of the vast estates
which the Rothes family at one time possessed in Morayshire.
As we have seen, on the death of David de Leslie (the last Baron
of the original stock) his daughter Margaret inherited the barony
of Leslie, in the Garioch, but the other estates of the family went
to Sir George Leslie, the head of the Rothes branch. Sir George
seems to have been a man of great Influence In his day, and to have
been held in high esteem, both by his sovereign, Robert III., and
by his brother nobles. He obtained in 1398, a grant of the barony
of Fythklll, now called Leslie, in Fife, which had been resigned
into the hands of the King by his kinsman, Alexander Leslie,
Earl of Ross, and which Sir George was to hold of the sovereign

The Leslies of Rothes. 297
for the annual payment of a pair of gloves. Two years later the
King confirmed a charter granted by the Eari, of no fewer than
eight distinct estates, in the shire of the Mearns, in return for the
good service which Sir George had rendered to the Earl by advanc
ing him ' in his great necessity, the sum of 200 merks to relieve
the lands and earldom of Ross, then In the hands of the Kine,
the superior thereof.'
George Leslie, the grandson of this powerful baron, was the first
Earl of Rothes, and through his father and mother (Christian Seton)
was descended from both the royal families of Bruce and Stewart.
He was three times married. After he had lived nearly twenty
years in wedlock with his second wife, a daughter of Lord Haly
burton of Dirleton, he grew tired of her, and raised an action
before the Consistory Court of St. Andrews, for the dissolution of
the marriage on the convenient and common plea at that time, that
he and his wife were related within the forbidden degrees of kindred,
and that consequently their marriage was null and void from the
first. A divorce could be obtained on this ground at that period
with the utmost facility, and was a matter of every-day occurrence.
But a formidable difficulty presented itself In regard to the position
of the children born under the marriage, who would be declared
Illegitimate if it should be dissolved. As the Earl's eldest son,
Andrew, had married into the powerful family of St. Clair, it was
not to be expected that they would patiently acquiesce in a decision
which deprived him and his children of their rights. It was ulti
mately decided by the arbiter to whom the case was referred by
mutual consent, that the Earl should obtain a divorce, but that the
legitimacy of his offspring should be preserved by his judicial
deposition that he did not know of the relationship between him
and his wife, till after the birth of all their children.
The Earl was succeeded by his grandson George, his eldest son
having predeceased him. George, the second Earl, appears to have
been a * ne'er-do-weel.' Having failed to appear to answer a charge
against him of being art and part In the murder of George Leslie
in 1498, he was ' put to the horn,' or outiawed, and his goods
escheated to the King. He seems in various ways to have dilapi
dated the family estates, for in 1506, William Leslie, his brother
and heir, represented to the King, ' that the said Earl of Rothes,

298 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
for default of good governance, tynes his old brentage in disinherit
ing of his righteus heir, and contrar to the laws of God.' The King
(James IV.) declared 'the said William's desires to be just and
consonant to reason ; and not willing that so noble and famous a
house as the Earidom of Rothes be destroyed, but rather be kept in
honour and nobility as the said Eari's predecessors kecped the same
In times by-gone,' he granted authority to a council of the family to
assist In the ' government ofthe person, lordship, lands, and goods'
of the spendthrift peer, ' so that he be not misguided and his lands
wasted.' Various similar cases occurred in the ancient history of our
country, and it would be well for the honour and the Interest of
some noble families in our own day, If legal authority could be
obtained to save a man from himself, and to take the management
of the patrimonial inheritance of a great house out of the hands of
an incompetent or profligate heir. It appears that In addition
to his other acts of misconduct, this ' misguided ' nobleman had
incurred heavy penalties by his neglect of certain feudal ceremonies
and forms of law, so that several valuable estates had lapsed into
the hands of the King. Owing to these Irregularities, his brother
and successor —
William, third Earl, had considerable trouble In making good
his title to the family inheritance; and before his difficulties with
the Crown were removed he was killed, along with the King and the
flower of the Scottish nobility, on the fatal field of Flodden, 9th of
September, 15 13. His son George, fourth Earl, Inherited not only
the titles and estates of the family, along with their ability and
courage, but also some other qualities which appear to have ' run in
the blood' of the Rothes Leslies. He filled various high offices of
State, among others that of ambassador to Denmark, in 1550, and
was one of eight Commissioners elected by the Estates to represent
the Scottish nation at the marriage of Queen Mary to the Dauphin,
at Paris, April 24, 1558. On their way home the Earls of Rothes
and Cassillis, and Bishop Reid, President of the Court of Session,
died at Dieppe all in one night, and Lord Fleming died about the
same time at Paris. It was universally believed at the time that the
Commissioners had been poisoned because they had firmly refused to
settle on the Dauphin the crown matrimonial of Scotland, or to pro
mise that on their return to their own country they would endeavour
to effect that obiect. Earl George was five times mar.ried. His first

LESLIES OF ROTHES.

The Leslies of Rothes. 299
wife, Margaret Crichton, was a niece of James IV., who inherited
the passions and misfortunes of her lineage. During her husband's
absence as ambassador at the Court of Denmark, she had an
intrigue with Patrick Panter, Abbot of Cambuskenneth, Secretary
of State, one of the most learned men of his age, and bore to him
a son, who ultimately became Bishop of Ross. On the 27th of
December, 1580, the Earl obtained a divorce in the Consistory
Court, not, however, on the ground of his wife's unfaithfulness to him,
but the marriage was declared null and void from the first, on the
plea that the Earl confessed to having illicit intercourse before his
marriage with Matilda Striveling, who was related to Margaret
Crichton In the second and third degree of consanguinity, thus making
the Earl and Margaret related to each other In the same degrees of
affinity, and rendering their marriage incestuous and illegal accord
ing to existing law. This remarkable proceeding, connected as it
is with * one of the strangest and darkest stories to be found in
Scottish family history,' throws a flood of light on the state of morals
at that period among the upper classes in Scotland through the
operation of the law of marriage and divorce Instituted by the Papal
Court. The fourth Earl of Rothes was succeeded by his eldest son
by his second wife, Agnes Somerville. His eldest son, Norman,
and his second son, William, by Margaret Crichton, were passed
over, both having incurred forfeit as traitors on account of their
connection with the murder of the celebrated Cardinal Beaton.
There can be no doubt that apart from the desire to avenge on the
Cardinal the martyrdom of Wishart, Norman Leslie was actuated
by personal enmity in the part which he took in the murder of
Beaton ; and his uncle, John Leslie, a prominent actor In the scene,
shared his feelings. After the surrender of the Castle of St. An
drews to the French In the June following, Norman Leslie was
carried with the other prisoners to France. He subsequently entered
the service of the French King, and obtained great celebrity for his
brilliant exploits in the wars between France and Germany. His
gallantry at the battie of Cambray (1554), in which he was mortally
wounded, drew forth the admiration both of friends and foes, and
led Prince Louis of Conde to remark that ' Hector of Troy had
not behaved more valiantly than Norman Leslie.'
Earl Andrew, fifth Earl of Rothes, took a prominent part in

300 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
public affairs during the ' troublous times ' of Mary of Guise and
her daughter. Queen Mary. He was at first a staunch supporter of
the Lords of the Congregation, but afterwards changed sides, and
fought for Mary at Langslde.
He was succeeded by his grandson, John, sixth Earl, who* was a
zealous Covenanter, and gave great offence to Charles I. by his
courageous resistance to his Majesty's ecclesiastical projects. He
was nominated chief of the Scottish Commissioners sent to London
In 1640 to treat with the King. His Intercourse with the Court
had the effect of considerably moderating his zeal In behalf of the
Parliament, and it appears that hopes were entertained that he
might even be Induced to join the Royalist party. Clarendon
says, ' Certain it Is that he had not been long In England, before
he liked both the King and the Court so well, that he was not
willing to part with either. He was of a pleasant and jovial
humour, without any of those constraints which the formality of that
time made that party subject themselves to.' A pension of ^10,000
Scots (^883 6s. 8d. sterling) was settled on him. He was to have
been appointed one of the Lords of the Bedchamber and a Privy
Councillor, and a marriage had been arranged between him and
Lady Devonshire, who possessed ^^4,000 sterling a year, when
he died at Richmond, after a short Illness, in the forty-first year of
his age. His death was considered a great blow to the hopes which
were cherished at that time that an amicable treaty would be arranged
between Charles and the Scottish Covenanters.
His son John, seventh Earl of Rothes, was a staunch Royalist in
the Great Civil War, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Worces
ter. At the restoration of Charles II. he was rewarded for his services
with a pension, and his nomination to the office of President of the
Privy Council of Scotland. He was subsequently appointed Lord
Treasurer for life, and Lord High Commissioner, and in 1680 was
created Duke of Rothes. His talents were of a high order, but he
was notorious for his Ignorance and profligacy. Lord Fountalnhall
says the Duke gave himself ' great libertle in all sorts of pleasures
and debaucheries, and by his bad example Infected many of the
nobility and gentry.' He is said to have excused his licentious con
duct by alleging that, as he held the office of Royal Commissioner
to Charles II., it was fitting that he should represent the royal

The Leslies of Rothes. 30 1
character and conduct. Bishop Burnet, In a passage which was sup
pressed in the earlier editions of his history, says Rothes ' was,
unhappily, mad for drunkenness ; for, as he drank, all his friends
died, and he was able to subdue two or three sets of drunkards, one
after another, so it scarce ever appeared that he was disordered ;
and after the greatest excesses, an hour or two of sleep carried them
all off so entirely that no sign of them remained. He would go about
his business without any uneasiness, or discovering any heat either in
body or mind. This had a terrible conclusion, for, after he had killed
all his friends, he fell at last under such a weakness of stomach that
he had perpetual cholics, when he was not hot within and full of strong
licquor, of which he was presently seized ; so that he was always
either sick or drunk.' The Duke has left behind him an evil reputa
tion as one of the persecutors of the Covenanters, and he was no
doubt deeply Implicated in the cruel and oppressive proceedings of
his times. He seems, however, to have been personally a good-
tempered and kind-hearted man. His Duchess, who was a daughter
of the Earl of Crawford, was a staunch friend and protector of the
persecuted clergy, and the Duke was wont to give her a hint, when
a warrant from the PrIVy Council compelled him to institute a search
after the preachers who were in hiding among the woods of Leslie.
' My lady,' he used to say, ' my hawks maun be abroad the morn ; ye
had better look after your blackbirds.' On his deathbed he sent for
some of the Covenanting ministers, and entreated them to pray for
him. The dukedom expired at his death in 16^1, but the ancient
family tities descended to his daughter, and since that time they have
four several times fallen upon female heirs, who have not always
been fortunate In their marriages. On the death of George William
Evelyn Leslie, fifteenth Eari, in 1859, the family tities and estates
devolved upon his sister Henrietta, who was born In 1832, and
married In 1861 the Hon. George Waldegrave, third son of the
eighth Eari of Waldegrave. The Countess died without issue In
1887. The Rothes estates, according to the 'Doomsday Book,'
consist of 3,562 acres, of the gross annual value of/7,343 5s-

THE LESLIES OF LEVEN.

|LEXANDER LESLIE, Eari of Leven, the distinguished
general who commanded the army of the Scottish Cove
nanters in the Great Civil War, was the son of Captain
George Leslie of Balgonle In Fife, by his wife, a daughter
of Stewart of Ballechin. Having made choice of the military
profession, he obtained at an early age a captain's commission
in the regiment of Lord Vere, who was then assisting the Dutch
In their memorable contest against Spain, and soon rendered him
self conspicuous by his valour and military skill. He afterwards
served with great distinction under Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden,
by whom he was promoted to the rank of field-marshal. His
successful defence of Stralsund In 1628, against a powerful army
of Imperialists, under the celebrated Count Wallenstein, gained
him great reputation ; and the citizens showed their gratitude to
their deliverer by making him a handsome present, and having
medals struck in his honour. In 1639, when the Scottish Cove
nanters were preparing to resist, by force if necessary, the attempts
of Charles I. to compel them to submit to the new English Liturgy,
General Leslie returned to his native country, along with a num
ber of his brother officers, and was appointed to the chief com
mand of the army which had been raised by the Committee of the
Scottish Estates. His plans were sagaciously formed and promptly
executed, and before the Covenanting forces marched towards the
Borders to meet the hostile army which Charles was bringing
against them from England, nearly all the strongholds of the
country were in their possession. When their ill-advised sovereign
reached the Tweed, he learned to his surprise and dismay that an
army of at least twenty thousand men was encamped on Dunse Law in
readiness to repel force by force, with the most Influential nobles in

The Leslies of Leven. 303
Scotiand as their chief officers, with experienced soldiers for their
subalterns, and the whole under the command of a general who had
gained In the Continental wars a high reputation for military skill.
' We were feared,' says Baillie, ' that emulation among our nobles
might have done harm when they should be met In the field ; but
such was the wisdom and authority of that old littie crooked soldier,
that all with ane incredible submission, from the beginning to the
end, gave o'er themselves to be guided by him as if he had been
great Solyman.'
Charles, finding that his soldiers had no heart to fight In his
quarrel, and that he was quite unable to resist the formidable army
which General Leslie had brought against him, was fain to come to
an amicable agreement, 28th June, 1639, which, however, was not of
long duration. In the following year the Covenanters found it
necessary to reassemble their forces, and Leslie again assumed the
chief command, and marched Into England at the head of a well-
equipped army, consisting of twenty-three thousand infantry, three
thousand cavalry, and a train of artillery. He defeated the royal
forces that opposed his passage of the Tyne, and took possession of
Newcastle and other Important towns in the north of England.
These successes led to the Treaty of Ripon, and a compliance on the
part of the King with all the demands of the Scottish Covenanters.
In the following year (1641) Charles visited Scotland for the
purpose of conciliating the Presbyterian party, and created General
Leslie Lord Balgonle and Earl of Leven. When the Civil War at
length broke out, and the Scottish Estates resolved to send assistance
to the Parliament, the Earl once more took the command of their
forces. He was present at the battle of Marston Moor, and com
manded the left division of the centre of the Parliamentary forces,
which was broken by the impetuous charge of Prince Rupert, and
driven from the field. But David Leslie assisted In retrieving the
day, which terminated in the total defeat of the royal army. While
the Scots were engaged In the siege of Newark, the unfortunate
monarch repaired to Leslie's camp. May 5th, 1646 ; but his obstinate
refusal to comply with the proposals of the Covenanting leaders made
It impossible for them to espouse his cause.
On the termination of the war General Leslie resigned his com
mand on account of his great age, but was present as a volunteer
at the battle of Dunbar in 1650. In the following year he was sur
prised and taken prisoner by one of Cromwell's officers, along with

304 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
a number of noblemen and gentlemen, who had met at Alyth, In
Forfarshire, to concert measures for the restoration of Charles II.
He was conveyed to London and confined In the Tower, but was
ultimately set at liberty through the intercession of Christina, Queen
of Sweden, and returned to Scotiand in 1654. He died in 1661 at
a very advanced age.
General Leslie had two sons, both of whom predeceased him.
The elder, Alexander, Lord Balgonle, left by his wife — a sister of
the Duke of Rothes — a son, also named Alexander, and a
daughter. The former succeeded his grandfather as second Earl
of Leven ; the latter married the first Earl of Melville, and their
son became the third Earl of Leven. The second Earl of Leven,
who died in 1664,- left two daughters, who were successively
Countesses of Leven In their own right. The elder — Margaret,
who married the second son of the seventh Earl of Eglinton — died
without issue. Catherine, the younger, died unmarried. Her aunt,
the Countess of Melville, was served heir to her in 1706, and the
title devolved upon her son —
David, third Earl of Leven and second Earl of Melville. He
entered the service of the Duke of Brandenburg in 1685, and became
colonel of a regiment of foot, with which he accompanied the Prince
of Orange to England at the Revolution of 1688. He fought at
Kllhecrankle, and distinguished himself In the campaigns in Ireland
and In Flanders. He attained the rank of lieutenant-general In 1 706,
and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces In Scotland.
The two sons of the fifth Earl of Leven were officers In the army,
and the younger, Alexander, served in the American War, and was
second In command under Lord Cornwallis, who, in his dispatches,
commends him in the highest terms. The elder, David, sixth Earl,
had four sons, three of whom entered the military service of their
country. One was killed In the American War. The other two
earned the reputation of brave and energetic officers, and both
reached the position of lieutenant-general. Alexander, the seventh
Earl, married a daughter of John Thornton, of London, the eminent
banker, whose munificent charities are mentioned with glowing
eulogies In the ' Life and Letters of Cowper,' the poet. His eldest
son, David Leslie-Melville, eighth Earl of Leven, entered the

LESLIES OF LEVEN.

The Leslies of Leven. 305
navy, and attained the rank of vice-admiral. His two sons pre
deceased him. The elder, Alexander, Viscount Balgonle, was an
officer In the Grenadier Guards, and died in 1857, worn out bythe
hardships and privations of the Crimean War. On the death of the
eighth Earl, in i860, his estates, yielding ;^3, 089 i8s. a year, were
inherited by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Jane, who married
Mr. T. B. Cartwright, son of the late Sir T. Cartwright, G.C.H.,
but the family titles passed to the Earl's brother, John Thornton,
whose eldest son —
Alexander Leslie-Melville, tenth Earl of Leven, and ninth
Earl of Melville, Is now the head of the house. He has a small
estate in Fife of 1,019 acres, with a rental of ;^i,76i iis. ; and one
In Nairn of 7,805 acres, yielding ^1,3 17 4s. a year. The Balgonle
estate, which belonged to General Leslie, the founder of the family,
and has a rental of ;^5,i02 6s., was sold by the eighth Earl a good
many years before his death.

VOL. I.

THE LESLIES OF NEWARK.

[AVID LESLIE, Lord Newark, another scion of the house
of Leslie, was a more skilful general even than Alexander,
Lord Leven, in whom the Covenanters put such un
bounded trust. He was the fifth son of Sir Patrick
Leslie of Pitcairly, Commendator of Lindores by his wife, Jean,
daughter of Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney. At an early age he
entered the service of Gustavus Adolphus, and fought the battle
of Protestantism in Germany under that famous warrior. Like
Alexander Leslie and others of his countrymen who were engaged
in military services on the Continent, he retumed home when
hostilities were Impending between the English Court and his
countrymen, and was ap>pointed Major-General of the forces which
the Committee of Estates sent to the assistance of the English
Parliament in January, 1644. He commanded the Scottish cavalry
in the left wing, under Cromwell, at the battle of Marston Moor,
on the 22nd of July following, and contributed not a little to the
decisive victory gained by the Parliamentary army. Meanwhile
Montrose had, in six successive victories, completely overthrown
and scattered the Covenanting forces in Scotland, and had the whole
kingdom entirely at his disposal. In this emergency, David Leslie
was recalled with the Scottish cavalry from the siege of Hereford to
the assistance of the Estates, and, by a rapid and skilful movement,
he surprised and defeated Montrose at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk,
1 2th September, 1645.
After securing the Internal peace of Scotland by the complete
suppression of the Royalist party, Leslie rejoined the army in
England under Lord Leven, and assisted in the siege of Newcastle.
On the surrender of Charles to the Parliament, the Scottish forces
returned home, and General Leslie was employed in the reduction

The Leslies of Newark. 307
of the strongholds held by the Gordons In the north, and by the
Macdonalds, Alaster M'CoUand his father Colkltto, in KIntyre and
Isla, a service which he discharged with great' severity and. Indeed,
cruelty. He put to the sword the garrison of Dunaverty, consisting
of three hundred Highlanders and Irishmen ; and Colkltto, who was
taken prisoner in the castle of Dunavey, was given up to the Camp
bells, by whom he was hanged. General Leslie was offered, but
declined, the command of the army which the Scottish Estates sent
in 1648 into England to rescue the King from the Republican
party. On the resignation of the Earl of Leven, in 1650, he
accepted the command of the forces raised In support of the claims
of Charles IL, and by his masterly tactics completely foiled Crom
well, whom he, at last, shut up in Dunbar. He was, unfortunately,
induced by the rash and ignorant Importunity of the Committee of
Estates to quit his commanding position on Doonhill, and to risk a
battle, in which he was signally defeated, 3rd September, 1650.
With the remains of his army he retired to Stirling, where he took
up a strong position, which enabled him to keep the victorious
enemy at bay. When the resolution was taken to march into
England, In the hope of being joined by the Royalists in the south,
Charles himself assumed the command of the army, with Leslie as
his Lieutenant-General. He was present at the battle of Worcester,
3rd September, 1651, and was taken prisoner In his retreat through
Yorkshire, and committed to the Tower, where he was confined for
nine years. At the Restoration he regained his liberty and, as a
reward for his signal services and sufferings in the royal cause, he
was raised to the peerage by the titie of Lord Newark, 31st August,
1 66 1, and also obtained a pension of ^500 a year. His death
occurred in the year 1682.
On the death of his son David, second Lord Newark, in 1694,
without heirs male, the titie was assumed by his eldest daughter,
and was borne by her descendants till 1793, under a mistaken notion
as to the destination settied by the patent. But it was then dis
allowed by the House of Lords, and is now believed to be extinct.

THE RAMSAYS.

HERE are certain qualities, both physical and mental, which
for ages have run in the blood of distinguished families,
and have obtained for them corresponding designations.
The ' gallant Grahams,' ' gay Gordons,' ' handsome Hays,'
' light Lindsays,' ' haughty Hamiltons,' have, generation after gener
ation, exhibited the qualities which these epithets imply. One
noble Scottish family have, from the earliest times, been noted for
their covetous greed of the lands of their neighbours ; another for
their cruelty ; a third for their irascible temper ; a fourth for their
braggart boasting. The Ramsays have, from the earliest period down
to the present day, been noted for their courage and military skill,
and that ' stubborn hardihood ' which may be broken but will not
bend. They took a prominent part in the protracted struggle for the
liberty and independence of their country against ' our auld enemies
of England,' and laid down their lives for Scotland's cause on many
a bloody field. In later times, the fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth
Earls attained high rank in the British army, while the younger
members of their families acquired great distinction In Continental
and Colonial warfare. In allusion to their services both at home
and abroad, Sir Walter Scott, who had a high regard for this old
heroic family, makes King James, in the ' Fortunes of Nigel,' speak
of ' the auld martial stock of the house of Dalwolsey, than whom
better men never did, and better never will draw sword for king and
country. Heard ye never of Sir William Ramsay, of Dalwolsey, of
whom John Fordoun saith. He was bellicosissitnus, nobilissimus ?
We are grieved we cannot have the presence of the noble chief of
that house at the marriage ceremony ; but when there is honour to
be won abroad, the Lord Dalwolsey is seldom to be found at home.
" Sic fuit, est, et erit." '

The Ramsays. 309
The Ramsays, like the Bruces, Hamiltons, Lindsays, Maxwells,
Setons, Keiths, Stewarts, and other great Scottish families, settied in
Scotiand during the reign of David I. They are said to be of
German origin, which is not improbable; but the founder of the
Scottish branch of the house appears to have come into Scotiand
from Huntingdonshire, of which David was Earl before he ascended
the throne, and where Ramsay is a local designation. The first
person of distinction who bore the name in Scotiand was the Sir
William Ramsay whose noble and warlike character is eulogised
by Fordoun. He was the friend of Robert Bruce, by whose side he
fought throughout the War of Independence, and was one of the
nobles who subscribed the celebrated memorial to the Pope, in 1320,
vindicating the rights and liberties of their country. Sir Alexander
Ramsay, the son of this baron, was one of the noblest and bravest of
Scottish patriots. In the dark days of David 1 1., the unworthy son
of Robert Bruce, Sir Alexander acquired such distinction by his
gallant exploits in defence of his country that, according to Fordoun,
to serve in his band was considered a branch of military education
requisite for all young gentlemen who meant to excel in arms. At
the head of a body of knights and soldiers whom his fame as a
daring and skilful warrior had drawn around him, he sallied from the
crags and caves of Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, where he found
shelter, intercepted the convoys of the enemy, captured their pro
visions, cut off their stragglers, and seriously hindered their opera
tions. He was one of the leaders of the force which, in 1335, inflicted
a crushinof defeat on the Flemish auxiliaries under the command of
the Count Namur, on the Boroughmuir of Edinburgh. He relieved
the garrison of Dunbar, commanded by the famous Countess of
Dunbar and March, daughter of Randolph, Eari of Moray, when
besieged by the Eari of Salisbury, in 1338, and reduced to the
greatest extremities, and compelled the English army to raise the
siege. He even penetrated into Northumberland, which he wasted
with fire and sword; and, on his homeward march, defeated a
powerful body of the enemy near Wark Castle, and killed or
captured them almost to a man. In a night attack, in 1342, he
stormed the strong fortress of Roxburgh, situated near the confluence
of the Teviot and the Tweed. The situation of this famous strong
hold on the Borders rendered the possession of It during the con
tinued warfare between England and Scotiand of great Importance
to both of the contending parties. It was, therefore, usually the first

3IO The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
place of attack on the breaking out of hostilities, was the scene of
several daring exploits during the War of Independence, and
frequently changed masters. Sir Alexander Ramsay was rewarded
for the important service which he had rendered by its capture, by
the appointment of governor of the castle, and was also nominated
by the King (David 1 1.), Sheriff of Teviotdale, a post which had
been previously held by Sir William Douglas, the Knight of Lid
desdale. Deeply offended at this act, Douglas vowed vengeance
against the new sheriff, who had been his friend and companion in
arms, and suddenly pounced upon him while he was holding his court
in the church of Hawick. Ramsay, having no suspicion of injury
from his old comrade, invited Douglas to take his place beside him.
But the ferocious Baron, drawing his sword, attacked and wounded
his unsuspecting victim, and throwing him bleeding across a horse,
carried him off to the remote and solitary castle of Hermitage,
amidst the morasses of Liddesdale, where he cast him into a
dungeon and left him to perish of hunger. Sir Alexander is said
by Fordoun to have prolonged his existence for seventeen days by the
grains of corn which fell through the crevices in the floor from a
granary above his prison. Nearly four centuries and a half after the
foul murder of this gallant patriot, a mason employed in building a
wall beside the castle, laid open a vault about eight feet square, in
which, amid a heap of chaff, there were found some human bones,
along with the remains of a saddle, a large bridle-bit, and an ancient
sword. These relics were conjectured, with great probability, to have
belonged to the gallant but unfortunate Ramsay, whose cruel death
excited great and general indignation and sorrow among all classes
of his contemporaries. ' He had done a great deal,' said Fordoun,
' for the King and for the country's freedom ; he had felled the foe
everywhere around ; greatly checked their attacks ; won many a
victory ; done much good, and, so far as men can judge, would have
done much more had he lived longer. In brave deeds of arms and
in bodily strength he surpassed all others of his day.' And Wyn
toun, after mentioning the sad fate which befel this brave and
popular leader, adds —
' He was the greatest menyd [lamented] man
That any could have thought on than.
Of his state or of more by far.
All menyt him baith better and waur.
The rich and puir him menyde baith.
For of his dede [death] was meikle skaith ' [damage].

RAMSAYS OF DALHOUSIE.

The Ramsays. 311
Sir William Ramsay, the son of this lamented patriot, inherited
not a few of his father's virtues, and, in one of his raids across the
Border, he defeated and took prisoner Sir Thomas Grey, of Chilling-
ham, governor of Norham Castle, an ancestor of Earl Grey and the
Earl of Tankerville. Sir Alexander Ramsay, his great-grandson,
defended his castle of Dalhousie so stoutly against a powerful English
army, commanded by Henry IV. in person, that he compelled the
enemy to abandon the siege. This gallant representative of the
Ramsays was killed at the disastrous battle of Homildon, in 1402.
His son, also named Alexander (which se^ms to have been a
favourite name in the family), was one of the barons who were sent
to England in 1423, to escort James I. to Scotland on his return
from his long captivity, and was knighted at the coronation of that
monarch the following year. Sir Alexander Ramsay was one of the
principal leaders of the Scottish forces which defeated an English
army at Piperden, in 1435. The Ramsays of Cockpen and White-
hill descended from his second son Robert. Other three Alexanders
followed in succession, the third of whom fell at Flodden fighting
gallantly under the banner of his sovereign.
The fine estate of Foulden, in Berwickshire, which had been nearly
three hundred years in the family, passed away from them at the
death of George Ramsay, who seems to have been deficient in the
family characteristic of firm adherence to the cause which they
espoused; for, though he signed the Bond of Association in 1567
for the defence of the infant sovereign, James VI., on the escape of
Queen Mary from Lochleven Castie, he joined her party, and
pledged himself at HamlLon, in 1568, to support her cause. His
grandson, Sir George Ramsay, was raised to the peerage by
James VI., in 1618, with the title of Lord Ramsay of Melrose,
but, disliking this designation, he obtained permission from the King
in the following year to change his title to Lord Ramsay of Dal
housie. His younger brother, John, was the person who was
mainly instrumental in rescuing King James from the Earl of
Gowrie and his brother, in the mysterious affair called ' The Gowrle
Conspiracy' (a.d. 1600). Both the brothers, indeed, fell by his hand.
For this slo-nal service he was created Viscount Haddington and
Lord Ramsay of Barns, in the peerage of Scotiand. In 1620 he
was made an English peer by the tities of Earl of Holdernesse
and Viscount of Kingston-upon-Thames, with the special addition
of honour, that upon the 5th of August annually— the day appointed

312 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
to be observed in giving thanks to God for the King's preservation-
he and his male heirs for ever should bear the sword of state before
the King, in remembrance of his deliverance. On the death of the
Earl, in 1625, without surviving issue, his titles became extinct.
William, secorsd Lord Ramsay, was elevated to the rank of Earl
OF Dalhousie, by Charles I., in 1633. He was a staunch Royalist,
and was, in consequence, heavily fined by Cromwell in 1654. His
grandson, George Ramsay, of Carriden, third son of the second
Earl, was a gallant soldier, and served with great distinction in
Holland and Flanders. After the battle of Valcour, he was made
brigadier-general, and was appointed colonel of the Scottish regi
ment of Guards. For his eminent services at the battle of Landen,
in 1693, he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and, in
1702, he was created lieutenant-general, and appointed com
mander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland. He died in 1705.
Mackay, in his ' Memoirs,' describes him as ' a gentleman of a great
deal of fire, very brave, and a thorough soldier.'
Of the third and fourth Earls, both of whom enjoyed the titles
and estates for a very short time, there is nothing worthy of
special notice to relate ; but Widliam, the fifth Earl, was a man of
mark and influence. He had the sagacity to perceive the great good
that would flow from the union of Scotland with England, and, in
spite of popular clamour, he steadily supported that measure through
out. In the war of the Spanish Succession he was colonel of the
Scots Guards, with the rank of brigadier-general in the forces sent
bythe British Government, in 17 10, to the assistance of the Arch
duke Charles of Austria, in his contest for the Spanish Crown against
Philip, grandson of Louis XIV. On the death of Earl William
unmarried, in October of the same year, the family titles and estates
descended to William Ramsay, grandson of the first Earl, who, like
most both of his predecessors and successors, was a gallant soldier.
He died in 1739, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, having had
the misfortune to outlive his eldest son George, Lord Ramsay,
whose marriage to Jean, daughter of the Hon. Henry Maule, the
heiress of the ancient family of Maule, brought extensive estates into
the family. She bore him seven sons, of whom four died young.
Two of them were poisoned by eating the berries of the ivy. Lord
Ramsay's eldest son, Charles, succeeded his grandfather as seventh
Earl, in 1759. He attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the

The Ramsays. 315
army, and died unmarried in 1764. His brother George, the eighth
Earl, was twice elected one of the sixteen representative peers of
Scotiand, and held the office of Lord High Commissioner to the
General Assembly of the Scottish Church for six years in succession
(1777— 1783). On the death of his uncle, William, Eari of Pan
mure; in 1782, the extensive estates of that nobleman devolved
upon him in life rent with remainder to his second son, William
Ramsay. True to the hereditary instinct of the family, his third,
fourth, and seventh sons entered the army, In which the two
former attained the rank of lieutenant-general, and the last was a
captain. The sixth son was in the naval service of the East India
Company, and four of the grandsons of thp eighth Earl entered the
Indian army.
His eldest son, George .Ramsay, succeeded him In the family tities
and estates. Earl George was the school and college companion
of Sir Walter Scott, who held him in high and affectionate esteem.
On meeting with the Earl in the evening of life, after a long
separation. Sir Walter mentions him as still being, and always
having been, ' the same manly and generous character, that all about
him loved as the Lor die Ramsay of the Yard' (the playground of
the Edinburgh High School). The Earl served with great dis
tinction in the West Indies, Holland, and Egypt, and in the Spanish
Peninsula, where he commanded the Second Division of the British
army; and at the battle of Waterloo. He attained the full rank
of general, was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, was
one of the general officers who received the thanks of Parliament,
and was created a British peer by the title of Baron Dal
housie OF Dalhousie Castle. In 18 16 he was appointed to the
government of Nova Scotia; and, in 18 19, he succeeded the Duke of
Richmond as Captain-General of the forces In North America ; In
1826 he was made Commander-in-Chief of the forces In India. He
was Captain-General of the Royal Company of Archers. The Earl
died in 1838, in the 68th year of his age, universally regretted.
There is an interesting notice of this excellent nobleman in Sir
Walter Scott's Diary, under the date of January, 1828 — ' Drove to
Dalhousie, where the gallant Earl, who has done so much to dis
tinguish the British name in every quarter of the globe, is repairing
the castle of his ancestors, which of yore stood a siege against John
of Gaunt. I was his companion at school, where he was as much

314 The Great jnistoric Families of Scotland.
beloved by his playmates as he has been respected by his com
panions in arms and the people over whom he has been deputed to
exercise the authority of his sovereign. He was always steady,
wise, and generous. The old castle of Dalhousie — seu potius, Dal
wolsey — was mangled by a fellow called, I believe, Douglas, who
destroyed, as far as in him lay, its military and baronial character,
and roofed it after the fashion of a poor's-house. Burn is now
restoring and repairing it in the old taste, and, I think, creditably to
his own feehng. God bless the roof- tree.'
Earl George married, in 1805, Christian, the only child of Charles
Broun, of Coalstoun, in East Lothian, the representative of a family
which had flourished in Scotland since the twelfth century. With
this lady the Earl received a good estate and an heirloom besides,
with which the welfare of the family was In old times supposed to be
closely connected. This palladium was an enchanted pear, which
came to the Brouns of Coalstoun through the marriage of the head
of the family early in the sixteenth century to Jean Hay, daughter of
the third Lord Yester, 'ancestor of the Marquis of Tweeddale.
According to tradition, this pear had been invested with some
invaluable properties by the famous wizard, Hugo de Gifford, of
Yester, whose appearance is so vividly described in Sir Walter Scott's
poem of ' Marmion.' One of his daughters. It is said, was about to
be married, and as the bridal party was proceeding to the church he
halted beneath a pear-tree, and plucking one of the pears gave it to
the bride, telling her that as long as that gift was kept good fortune
would never desert her or her descendants. This precious pear was
given by the third Lord Yester to his daughter on her marriage to
George Broun of Coalstoun, and at the same time he informed his
son-in-law that, good as the lass might be, her tocher (dowry) was
still better, for while she could only be of use in her own day and
generation, the pear, so long as it continued In the family, would cause
it to flourish till the end of time. This pear was accordingly preserved
with great care in a silver case by the fortunate recipient and his
descendants. About the beginning of the seventeenth century, how
ever, it is said that the wife of one of the lairds, on becoming pregnant,
felt a longing for the forbidden fruit and took a bite of it. According
to another version of the story, it was a maiden lady of the family
who out of curiosity chose to try her teeth upon the pear, and in con
sequence of the injury thus done to the palladium of the house, two
of the best farms on the estate had soon afterwards to be sold.

The Ramsays. , j c
Another and more probable account of the Incident in question, which
IS related by Crawford in his ' Peerage,' is that Lady Elizabeth Mac
kenzie, daughter of George, first Earl of Cromarty, on the night after
her marriage to Sir George Broun, when she slept at Coalstoun,
dreamt that she had eaten the pear. Her father-in-law regarded
this dream as a bad omen, and expressed great fear that the new-
married lady would be instrumental in the destruction of the house of
Coalstoun. Her husband and she died In 17 18, leaving an only
daughter, who inherited the estate, and married George Brown, of
Eastfield, while the baronetcy descended to George Broun, of Thorny-
dyke, male heir of the family. The pear has for generations been as
hard as a stone, and is still in perfect preservation. It has been
justly remarked that, apart from the superstition attached to It, this
curious heirloom is certainly a most remarkable vegetable curiosity,
having existed for upwards of five centuries. The heiress of the
'Coalstoun pear,' who died in 1839, bore Earl George three sons.
The eldest died unmarried in 1832, at the age of twenty-six, the
second In 18 17, in his tenth year.
James Andrew Broun, the youngest son, was the illustrious states
man who for eight years wielded the destinies of our Indian empire,
and who, to the great sorrow of all classes of the community and all
political parties, passed away in the prime of life. He was born in
181 2, and after receiving his preliminary education at Harrow, he
entered Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1833,
gaining an honorary fourth class in classics. At the general election
in 1834, which followed the accession of Sir Robert Peel to office,
Lord Ramsay (his courtesy title) contested the representation of
Edinburgh, along with Mr. Learmouth, against Mr. Abercromby and
Sir John Campbell. The great body of the electors were strongly
attached to the Liberal cause, and the populace were not inclined to
show much respect or forbearance to the supporters of the party who
(as it was commonly though erroneously asserted at the time) had by
a Court intrigue ejected the Whig Ministry from office. But the
frankness and courage of the young nobleman, the straightforward
ness with which he avowed, and the marked ability with which he
defended his political creed, gained him golden opinions from all
classes and parties in the city ; and though he was defeated by a great
majority, he polled a much larger number of votes than had been
obtained by any previous Conservative candidate. At the close of the

3 1 6 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
contest he remarked with a good-humour which even his Disponents
applauded — in allusion to the name of one ofthe family estates — that
' they were daft to refuse the Laird o' Cockpen.'
In 1837, however, Lord Ramsay was returned to the House of
Commons as member for the county of Haddington, but he did not
retain his seat long enough to take any prominent part in the debates
or business of the House, for on the death of his father in the follow
ing year he was elevated to the House of Lords as tenth Earl of
Dalhousie. He speedily became noted there for his excellent business
habits, which attracted the attention of the Duke of Wellington, and
obtained for him in 1843, in Sir Robert Peel's second Administration,
the office of Vice-President of the Board of Trade in succession to
Mr. Gladstone. Two years later he was promoted to the post of
President of the Board of Trade, which he retained until the over
throw of Sir Robert Peel's Ministry shortly after the repeal of the
Com Laws, and the return of the Whigs to office in 1846. In his
position at the Board of Trade Lord Dalhousie displayed remarkable
energy and industry in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the com
mercial affairs of the country, and his skill In the science of engineering
made him take especial interest in the construction of the numerous
railways which at that period began to intersect the country like net
work. In 1847, on retirement of Lord Hardlnge, the office of Governor-
General of our East Indian dominions was offered to Lord Dalhousie
by Lord John Russell, and was readily accepted by him. He was the
youngest man ever appointed to that onerous and responsible position,
and it was certainly no easy task to undertake the government of a
population of two hundred and forty millions, composed of distinct, and
in some instances at least, of unfriendly races, differing from each other
in blood, language, and religion. But Lord Dalhousie possessed in
an eminent degree the courage, moral and physical, of his race, and
resolved, as he remarked at the time, in a proverbial expression, to
' set a stout heart to a stey brae ' (steep bank). In entering upon the
duties of his office, he was encouraged by his knowledge of the fact
that he enjoyed the confidence both of the Cabinet and the Court of
Directors, the former having selected him on account of his known
business talents and energy, while the latter cordially approved of his
appointment because they believed that the Earl would carry out their
schemes of annexation and aggrandisement. Before his predecessor
quitted India he made a reduction of 50,000 men in the strength of

The Ramsays. 317
the army there, and expressed his conviction that for seven years not
another hostile shot would be fired within the limits ofthe British Indian
empire. Only a few months, however, after Lord Dalhousie had
assumed the reins of Government, the second Sikh war broke out, the
siege of Mooltan was undertaken, and the bloody battles of Chilian-
walla and Goojerat were fought. Very conflicting opinions have been
entertained and loudly expressed respecting the justice and expediency
ofthe Governor- General's policy, but there is no difference of opinion
as to the energy and success with which his plans were carried out.
The result was the final and complete overthrow of the Sikhs, and the
annexation of the Punjaub, and of Berar, Pegu, and Nagpore, and the
rich province of Oude, to the British empire.
But ' peace hath her victories,' more glorious far than those of war,
and it is a relief to turn from the contemplation of the sanguinary
conflicts fought in India during Lord Dalhousie's vice-royalty to
the civil and social improvements which he effected. Under his
auspices an extensive line of railway was opened ; Calcutta was
placed by means of the electric telegraph in immediate correspond
ence with Bombay, Madras, and Lahore ; canals were formed ; edu
cation was greatly extended among the natives ; infanticide and
religious persecution were restrained, if not entirely extinguished ; and
various important reforms introduced into the legal and civil depart
ments of the administration.
Meanwhile the health of Lord Dalhousie had suffered from his
exciting and exhausting labours, as well as from the climate, and he
was obliged to return to England in 1856, having held the reins of
empire upwards of eight years. He had been made a Knight of the
Thistle in 1848 ; in 1849 he had been elevated to the rank of marquis,
and had received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and of the
East India Company for the ability and zeal which he had displayed
in the critical contest with the Sikhs. His lordship's enfeebled health
prevented him from taking that place in the Government of the
country for which his talents and experience eminently fitted him.
But in 1852, on the death of the Duke of Wellington, he received
from the Earl of Derby the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports. He
had held since 1845 the office of Lord-Clerk Register and Keeper of
the Signet in Scotland.
The Marquis died in i860, in the forty-eighth year of his age. His
wife, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Tweeddale, predeceased
him. He left two daughters, the eldest of whom is the wife of the

3i8 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Hon. Robert Bourke, third son of the fifth Earl of Mayo ; the
younger married Sir James Ferguson, Bart., Governr^r of Bombay.
The estate of Coalstoun and the personal property of the Marquis
passed to his daughters. The marquisate became extinct, but the
earldom and barony of Dalhousie, along with the hereditary estates
of the Ramsays, descended to Fox Maule, second Lord Panmure,
the cousin of the Marquis. At his death, in 1874, they came into
possession of his cousin, George Ramsay, a naval officer, grandson
ofthe eighth Earl, born in 1805, who was succeeded in 1880 by his
son, John William Ramsay, thirteenth Earl of Dalhousie, a young
nobleman of great promise. He was, in 1880 — 1885, ^ Lord-in-
Waitlng to the Queen, and for a few months, in 1886, he held the
office of Secretary for Scotland. The untimely death of Lord
Dalhousie, which took place In 1887, in the fortieth year of his age,
in very affecting circumstances, caused great sorrow among all
parties and classes throughout the country. He was regarded with
especial esteem and affection by his own tenantry and retainers.
The Earl married In 1877 Lady Ida Louise, youngest daughter of
Charles, sixth Earl of Tankerville, who predeceased him by only a
few weeks. Arthur George Maule, the eldest of his five sons,
who was born In 1878, succeeded to his titles and estates. *

'^VVUi >^iP^ pi>in Ojmc-

MAULES OF PANMURE.

THE MAULES.
jHE Honourable Harry Maule of Kelly, a gallant soldier
and an accomplished historical antiquary. In his ' Epistle
to the Reader,' prefixed to his ' Registrum de Panmure,'
says, ' I have read over a good many Histories and Genealo
gies of Families In Scotiand, some in manuscript, others printed, and
have examined and compared some of thera with what I found in
Publick Records and in the chartularies of our BIshopricks and
Abbays, and found many of them stuffed and filled with fables, false
hoods, and errours, and written to flatter the persons now concerned,
and so became to doubt of everything contained In them. Therefor,
that I might not fall in the errour or impose on the Readers, I resolved
to make a Register of all the Charters, authentic Writes, or docu
ments that had been collected from those of the above Families [those
of Maule de Valonlis and Brechin], that the readers may make their
own judgment of them, and not depend on anything I say or others
may have said some hundreds of years after the time they write of.'
The materials which Mr. Maule, with the assistance of his second
son, James Maule, thus collected for the ' Registrum de Panmure,'
have been employed by him with great care and a strict regard to
historical accuracy. Mr. James Maule, in mentioning his reasons for
giving a history of the Illustrious family to which he belonged, says
that ' having designed to write the history of some one of our Scots
families, like those done abroad, which nobody has ever yet attempted,
I pitched on that of the family of Panmure : not but that of Hamilton
had borne greateroffices and higher honours, Douglas more renowned
for military actions, and several others more in history for alliances,
cadets, offices, &c. ; but in the family of Panmure I found, ist. An
antiquity not to be paralleled, being as ancient in Scotland as
any name ever there found, as ancient in England as the Conquest,

320 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
an age before we have any thing certain of Scots families, and traced
in France a century above that. 2do. Their continuing in a male
line so great a time as seven hundred and sixty years, and five hun
dred and upwards enjoying the same principal barony and style of
Panmure In Scotland, In a direct line. 3tIo. The nobleness and
grandeur of their original. 4to. The great variety which their
history affords to engage a reader ; for having flourished in France,
England, and Scotland, they are concerned in the wars of all these
three kingdoms, the Holy Wars, the wars of Italy, Greece, and
Hungary. They have enjoyed peerages and dignities in all these
kingdoms, had offices by which the great places of all the three are
treated of; and by their alliances the noble-st families of France, the
Low Countries, England, Scotland, and Ireland are mentioned, and
the different characters and fortunes of Valolgnes and Brechin
enrich the story and render It agreeable. 5to. Beside their ancient
military virtue and loyalty and love to their country. In later times
for all public and private qualities the family of Panmure has
produced sexcentas virtutes virorum, as in D. of Halicarnassus, &c.
6to. The compleat and full documents still preserved of that
family, which would have been so difficult In some others to get.' *
The character and exploits of the members of this ancient and
powerful family fully bear out the eulogium of its historian.
The Maules are a family of Norman origin and derive their
surname from the town and lordship of Maule, in Normandy, which
for four centuries were in possession of the family. Many graphic
sketches ofthe various members ofthe house In these early days are
to be found In the ' Chronicle of Ordericus,' and it Is interesting to
notice that the prominent features of their characters closely resemble
those of their descendants In Scotland in later times. Of Peter of
Maule, who flourished towards the close of the eleventh century, it
is recorded 'that he was much beloved by his tenants and neighbours,
because his manners were frank, and he did not strengthen himself
with craft and deceit. His alms were bountiful, and he delighted in
giving. But he had no liking for fasts, and as far as it was in
his power shunned having anything to do with them.' AnsolD,
Peter's son, was tall and powerful in person and a most gallant
soldier, having, when a youth, joined the brave Duke Guiscard in
his expedition into Greece, and fought gallantly in the battle near
"= Registrum de Panmure, I. Ixxvii., Ixxviii. Edited by John Stuart, LL.D.

The Maules. 3 2 1
Dura.:zo, in which Alexius, Emperor of Constantinople, was defeated
and put to flight, on the i8th of October, 1081. ' He was constant in
attending the services of the Church. His habits were strict and
frugal. He never tasted apples in an orchard, grapes in a vineyard,
or nuts in the woods, taking food only when the table was spread at
regular hours. Fasting and all bodily abstinence he both praised
and practised in his ov/n person. He made no predatory excursions,
and while husbanding his own property, he was careful to make
payment of what was due from It for tithes, firstfruits, and alms.
He not only gave nothing to strollers, buffoons, and dancing girls,
but would have no kind of intercourse or familiar conversation with
them.' Of all the knights of Maule the chronicler relates that
they gave freely to the Church, during their lives, of their lands and
substance; the order of monks was treated by them with great
respect, and at the hour of death their aid was earnestly sought for
the salvation of their souls. The last of the Norman Maules was
killed at the battle of Nicopolis, in Hungary, fought against the
Turks In the year 1398. His great estates went to his daughter,
who married Simon de Moralnvilliers, Lord of Flacourt. They next
passed by marriage to the Harlays of Sancy, and the heiress of that
great family married the Marquis of VlUeroy, grandfather to the
Marshal and Duke of Villeroy.
Several centuries before the extinction of the male line of the
family in Normandy, a junior branch of the Maules had taken root in
Scotiand. A son of Peter, the first Lord Maule of that name,
accompanied William the Conqueror Into England, and received from
him a part of the lordship of Hatton de Cleveland, in Yorkshire,
and other extensive estates. Robert de Maule, one of his sons,
became attached to David, Eari of Huntingdon, afterwards David I.
of Scotiand, and obtained from him a grant of lands in Midlothian.
His eldest son, William de Maule, was with King David at the
Battle of the Standard, a.d. 1138, and received from that monarch
a gift of the lands of Fowlis, In the Carse of Gowrie. He died with
out male Issue, and the line of succession was carried on through
Roger Maule, his younger brother— the progenitor of the Maules
of Panmure. His grandson. Sir Peter Maule, married Christiah,
only child and heiress of William de Valonlis, the representative of
a great Norman family whose immediate ancestor settied In Scotiand
at the end of the reign of Malcolm IV., and was appointed by
William the Lion High Chamberiain about 11 80. Sir Peter obtained
vol. I. -z

32 2 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
with her the baronies of Panmure and Benvie In Forfarshire, and other
estates both in England and Scotland, thus uniting the fortunes of
two ancient and influential houses. He had two sons, William — by
whom he was succeeded — and Sir Thomas, who was a soldier of dis
tinguished valour and ' a most audacious knight In mind and body.'
His character has been oftener than once reproduced in the family.
He was governor of Brechin Castle, the only fortress in the north
which shut its gates against Edward I. In his progress through the
country in 1303. 'Trusting to the strength of the walls, the
governor made no account of the war machines brought against
them. The King of England's men incessantly threw stones against
the walls without effect. Sir Thomas held the castle for twenty days
against the assaults of the English army, and was so confident of
Its strength that he stood on the ramparts and contemptuously
wiped off with a towel the dust and rubbish raised by the stones
thrown from the English battering engines. ' * But he was at last
mortally wounded by a splinter broken from the wall by the force of
a stone missile. ' While he lay expiring on the ground, being asked
if the castle should now be surrendered, he cursed the men as
cowards who made the suggestion. ' f The garrison, however, capitu
lated next day. Henry de Maule of Panmure, the nephew of this
gallant soldier, fought on the patriotic side in the War of Indepen
dence, and was knighted for his services by King Robert Bruce.
Sir Thomas Maule, the head of the family at the commencement of
the fifteenth century, fought under the banner of the Earl of Mar at
the sanguinary battle of Harlaw, in August, 14 11, along with the
chivalry of Angus and Mearns, and was among the slain. As the
old ballad says — ' The knicht of Panmure, as was sene,
A mortel man in armour bricht ;
Sir Thomas Murray stout and kene.
Left to the world their last gude-nicht.'
His posthumous son, Thomas Maule, notwithstanding his infancy,
was served heir to his father In 1412, in virtue of an Act of Parfia
ment which was passed permitting this service in the case of heirs In
nonage whose fathers had fallen in that battle.
At this period, the lordship of the ancient family of the Barclays
of Brechin should have fallen to Sir Thomas Maule, who was "
grandson of Jean Barclay, the heiress of their estates. He was
* Wallace Papers, p. 2 1 .
•|- Matthew of Westminster, p. 446.

The Maules. ,,-,
only able, however, to obtain possession of a comparativelv slender
portion of the property, the lordship itself being annexed to the
Crown on the forfeiture of Walter Stewart, Eari of Athole, who was
executed for his complicity in the conspiracy which led to the
assassination of James L, in 1437. The Eari, on the day of his
execution, formally acknowledged that he had held the lordship only
by courtesy since the death of his wife. Elizabeth Barclay, and that
it belonged by right to Sir Thomas Maule. But the policy of the
late King, to diminish the power of the great nobles, was carried out
by his successor, and like the earidoms of Mar and Strathearn,
the greater part of the Barclay estates was appropriated by the
sovereign. Sir Thomas, who died In 1450, was succeeded by his son, who bore
the same name. His first wife was Elizabeth Lyndsay, daughter of
Alexander, first Earl of Crawford. Connected with this marriage
and the subsequent repudiation of the lady by her husband. Com
missary Maule relates an Incident which throws great light on the
morals of that period. It appears that Sir David Guthrie, who had
married the sister of Sir Thomas Maule, after she had borne him a
number of children desired to get rid of his wife, and sued for a
divorce before the Consistory Court of St. Andrews, on the plea that
she was related to him within the prohibited degrees — a common pre
text at that time for the dissolution of the marriages of ill-matched
couples. The ecclesiastical court readily lent their sanction to this
device, and Sir David Guthrie was allowed to put away his wife.
The Earl of Crawford, it appears, had assisted Sir David in procuring
this divorce, and ' thearfor Sir Thomas Maule did tak sic indlgna-
tione at the Earle that he did repudiat his wyf, albeit ane Innocent
woman, and to quhome no man could reproche any notoure fault.
Sche liveit long after him.' Sir Thomas took for his second wife
Catherine Cramond, daughter of the Laird of Aldbar. After his
marriage Sir Thomas, when ' rydand at the huntes neir to the Green
Lawe of Brechin, suddanlie became blind and lost his sight, quhar-
for he was called the blind knight.'
Alexander Maule, the eldest son of Sir Thomas, predeceased
his father. ' He was ane prodigal man,' says Commissary Maule,
' not given for the well of his house, quharthrowe his father, con-
ceivit ane evil opinlone of him, and thairfor put him not in fea but

324 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
[except] of Cameston, and of ane annuel of sax lib., to be liftit out of
the baronie.' Alexander and his second son left the country about
the year 1498. ' The cause why the said Alexander past furth of
Scotland,' says the Commissary, ' is said to be ane haitret he con-
savit against his wyf and hir frindls for hir misbehaveor. Alexander
took gryt somes of money with him, as we have by tradition, as
lykwayes that he past to England ; but thereafter never word was
of them. It Is thought they had fallen Into the hands of brigands,
quha for the money they had, had murdered them : his son Sir
Thomas, quha did succeed to the heritage, did many years after
look for his home-cominge, and it is said that there did never ane
schip come into the Tay, but he looked for his father, or word
fra him.'
Sir Thomas, the son and successor of this Ill-fated laird, was
noted for his generosity to the Church, and appears to have been
somewhat turbulent in his youth. ' It is said,' wrote the Commissary,
' that he was subject to women : for ane Indignation he consevit
against Ihon Liddel of Panlathyne, he burnt the said Ihon's hail
biggen ; quharupon he did obtain ane remission under the gryt
scale, quharen is contenit the hail narrative of the matter and causs
of the said remission ; yet afterwards he became verle penitent of
this, as lyk of all other offences of his youth committed against
God and nychbours, as may be easily perseavid by sundry donations
to religious housis, and pilgramages done by him.' One of these
pilgrimages was made to the shrine of St. John of Amiens, in
Picardy. His donations to the ' religious houses ' must have been
unusually liberal, for we are told that ' he obtanit ane letter of con
fraternity fra the general vicar of the Minorites, that he and his wyf
and children should be participant of their whole prayers, suffrages,
and divine service, not only of those of that order quha at the
present time were within the. realm of Scotland, but also of all them
quha were dispersit threw the hail parts of Christendom, and not
only of the brethren of Sanct Francis, quhom we call Grayfreres,
but also of the Sisters of Saincte Clara.'
The Commissary proceeds to mention a curious Incident which
occurred one day, when Sir Thomas was hunting In company with
several other gentlemen. His greyhound caught, and, as was sup
posed, killed a hare, which was hung by ' one of the laird's servants
to his saddle's tore [pummel]. A littie after there was another hare

The Maules. 325
found, who would not rise for them. At last, he that had the hare
at his saddle- tore loosed her and flung her at that hare that would
not rise out of her seat for them. Both of them ran away without
a turn, and both of them escaped with their lives without a turn.'
Sir Thomas Maule fell fighting under the royal banner in the
bloody field of Flodden. According to the account of Commissary
Maule, Sir Thomas was exceedingly corpulent, ' and therefore was
not able, by reason of the great press, to draw his sword ; whairfor
the Laird of Guthrie drew It furth to him, and he fell with the
greater part of his friends and vassals.'
Robert Maule, the eldest son of Sir Thomas by his first wife,
succeeded to the family estates when he was only sixteen years of
age. He assisted the Earl of Lennox in his unsuccessful attempt
in 1526 to rescue James V. out of the hands of the Douglases,
for which he afterwards got remission from the King. Two years
later he obtained a royal license, dispensing with his attendance at
all musters or meetings of the estates, on account of the faithful
services which he had rendered to his Majesty. He belonged to
the party who resolutely opposed the scheme for the marriage of the
infant queen Mary to Edward Prince of Wales, and in 1547 was
taken prisoner, and severely wounded when defending his house of
Panmure against an English force, assisted by some traitorous
Scotsmen. He was conveyed by sea to London, and imprisoned
for two years In the Tower, but was ultimately released at the
solicitation of the Marquis d'Elboeuf, the French ambassador to
Scotiand. Some picturesque notices of the personal appearance
and character of Robert Maule are given in the family MS. ' He
was ane man of comlie behaviour, of high stature, sanguine in
collour, both of hyd [skin] and hair, colerique of nature, and sub
ject to suddane anger ; ane natural man, expert in the lawes of the
country, of gude language, expert in counting of genalogies.
During his first wyfe's time, he did cause build the house of Pan-
more as it is at this day. He was very temperate of his mouth, but
given to lecherle, ane able man on foot, and ane gude horseman ;
lyket well to be honorable in apparel and well horsed, mickel
honorit with his nychbours, and in gude estimation. He had great
delight In hawkine and hunting. He took plesure in playing at the
football, and for that cause the moor of Bathil was appointed, and
during his da3^s It was not casten, but only reservit for that game.

326 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Lykeways he exerciset the gowf [ golf] and offtlmes past to Barry
Links, when the wadfie [stake] was for drink. If he tint [lost] he
never wad enter in ane browster house, but causit ane of his servants
to gang and pay for all.' After the death of his wife ' he became very
penitent of his former lyfe, and embraced the Reformed religion.
He had with him at syndry times the ministers that then were chiefest
In the country, to wit Paul Meffane and Ihone Brabner. This Ihone
was a vehement man, inculcating the law and pain thereof, but Paul
Meffane was ane mair myld man, preaching the evangel of grace
and remission of Jesus in the blude of Christ. His youngest son
begotten on his first wyfe, called Robert, ane godlie person, given to
reading of the Scripture, did nychtlle walk beside his father, instruct
ing him In the chief points of religion, for he was ane man that
had been brought up rudely without letters, so that he could neither
read nor write.' He died in the year 1540, and was succeeded by
his eldest son —
Thomas Maule, at that time in his twentieth year. Robert
Maule was evidently resolved that his son should not suffer as he
had done from the want of education, for the family historian men
tions that from the time Thomas was seven years of age ' he was
sent to Edinburgh, to ane Robert Leslie, quha was ane famous man
of law in that time, and also held the chief innes of the hail towne
for noble men. Hereafter, coming to be ane young man, he did wait
on Cardinal David Beaton, and was contracted in marriage with his
daughter. But on ane day cuming riding In companie out of
Arbroath with King James the Fyft, the king did call him asyde,
quha having afore heard of the contract, said to him, " Marrle never
ane priest's geat " [child], whereupon that marriage did cease.' He
subsequently married a daughter of George Hallburton of Pitcur,
the widow of John Ogllvy of Balfour. ' The year following his mar
riage, in the month of September, was the battie of Pinkie, where he
was in the Earl of Angus's battle, but the victory inclining to
England they fled, and had ane great impediment of the water,
quhilk was dammed behind them, for they did all wade the same,
quhilk made them heavy and unable to flee, wherethrow great
slaughter did ensewe of our people. After Thomas had past the
water, he did cast off his jack, and had Impediment to get it fra him,
by reason he had his purse under his oxter [armpit], quhilk did stay
the offcoming of the same : yet at the pleasure of God he was relevit

The Maules. 327
of it, and took the nearest way on foot to Edinburgh, with his sWord
In his hand and a steel bonnet on his head. The Englishmen fol
lowed fast on horseback, quha till eschew them, and being tyrit and
heavie with wading the water, entered in the cornyard of Brunstane,
where finding ane great cherrie tree, clamb up in the thickest of the
branches thereof, and he scarcely settiet, there enters twa English
men on horse within the yard, and looked up and down if they could
find any man, but as God willed he was not perceivit. In this
raeantime, while as they were bowne away forth of the yard, there
fell fra ane of them something, but what it was he could not perceive,
but appearit to be ane purse. The Englishman being on horse drew
his sword, and had mickel ado to get up the same upon the point
thereof ; quhilk space Thomas was in great fear : he said he never
thought ane tyme so long. But thereafter, they riding away he past
to Edinburgh, where finding syndrie of his folks, remainit there all
night, and on the morn passed to the Queensferrie and came home
that way. His father hearing of the defeat was in ane mervlllous
fear and perplexitie, for his wyfe was now known to be with child,
the lands not tailzeit [entailed] : if she had been dellverit of ane
daughter the house should have gone fra the name, so that his
father neither did eat nor sleep, and nane of his domestiques durst
almalst come in his presence, for he had in mind the field of Flodden,
where his father. Sir Thomas, was slane, as also the Harlaw, where
Sir Thomas Maule was slane, and nane of his name living in lyfe :
and except his wyfe had been dellverit of ane son the name had
been altogether extingulshit : and by and attour this he did bear ane
singular luve and favour to his son.' Thomas Maule was afterwards
taken prisoner along with his father, when Panmure House was cap
tured by the English. He took part in the battle of Hadden-rig, a
i&N miles east of Kelso, where, in 1542, an English army, assisted
by the Douglases, was completely defeated by the Earls of Huntly
and Home, but young Maule was carried off by the fugitives and
kept for some time at Morpeth. After the death of James V. he was
set at liberty by order of Henry VIII. The murder of Darnley
seems to have had the effect of alienating him from the Queen, for he
became a zealous supporter of the Regent Moray and of the cause
of the infant King.
The family historian gives a graphic picture of Thomas Maule' s
personal appearance and pursuits. ' He was ane fair man,' he says,
' of personage lyke to his father, of ruddie collour, his hair red-yellow.

328 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and his beard ; of ane liberal face and blythe countenance, never for
na adversitle dejected. In mind, given to honest pastime, but chiefly
to hunting and hawking. In the quhilk he took sic delight that he
would ride all day at the same, fasting, except in the morning he
would take ane drink of aile, and thereafter ane lytel acquavlte, and
continue to the evening without either meat or drink, and at his
first coming hame at even would call for ane drink. Na fair day
almost through the hail year but he was on horseback, even in his
old age, except on the Sunday.' It appears that when he was a
young man an accident which befel a favourite hawk on a Sunday
made him ever after avoid amusing himself on that day. ' Thirty
years before his death he never did ryde with ane cloak, but a coat
alane, in the cauldest weather In winter, and wald never lyght to gang
for heat, and coming to ane water, when as It drew near even, wald
lyght fra his horse, and in the cauld frost wald wash his hawk's
supper, and never shrink for cauld ; and then coming hame wald
call for ane drink before ever he came to the fire. He was ane
man not curious of the world, and wald rather suffer loss of gudes
than enter in pley with his neighbours.'
This excellent specimen of a stout and hardy old Scottish laird
died A.D. 1600, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. ' Ane lytil
before his death, after the laird of Pitcur and his son the young
laird had taken their leave, he causit put out all the dogs out of his
chalmer, and then causit Ishewe all the persons that were therein,
except his son Thomas Maule, then confessit his sins to God, there
after said the Belief and the Lord's Prayer; whilk done he willed
them all to gang to their supper in the hall, except ane woman to
attend on him, and immediately after they are set down his spelche
fails him and he gives up the ghost ! The lady his wyf thereafter
wald suffer no man or woman to touch him but herself; sche closed
his eyes and streiked him, syne did wyne [wind] him with her awen
hands, with ane womanlie countenance and courage, never shedding
any tears, but uttering some few words in her commendation of his
honest and loving heart, albeit I at the writing hereof could not do
it without gretine [weeping].'
The lady of whom Commissary Maule writes In such glowing
terms was Thomas Maule's second wife. He married first, in 1526,
Lady Elizabeth Lindsay, daughter of David, Earl of Crawford, who
left no family; and secondly, in 1546, Margaret Hallburton, with
whom he lived fifty-two years, who bore him eight sons and three

The Maules. 329
daughters, and survived her husband two years. ' She was,' says
her son, ' ane religious and godly woman, mikil given to prayer and
reading of the Word, luving and benign to all persons, almousful to
the poor and needy, delytit mikel to talk of auld histories, knew the
hail genealogle of hir father's house, as also of hir mother's, gave
meat and drink with ane marvellous cheerful countenance, loved all
godlie and honest men, detested vice : ane sober and chaste woman.'
It may be said of this lady, as of the virtuous woman described in
the Book of Proverbs, ' her children arise up and call her blessed.'
Patrick Maule, the eldest son of this worthy pair, was educated
at the parish school of Kettins, then at Dundee, and finally at Mont
rose, where at twelve years of age he married the daughter of the
celebrated John Erskine of Dun, Superintendent of Angus, ' ane
very religious and honourable man.' Patrick ' was mikil inclynit to
policy and honesty, very kind to hail friends. He repairit the house
of Panmure that before by negligence was ruinous, but being left
with ane small rent, his lands all for the maist part Wadset [mort
gaged], could not perform sic honest enterpryses as he had In head.
He was, as his father and forbears, mikil given to hawking and
hunting, and never did want for that effect hawks and dogs. He was
ane man of mid stature, of ane mild countenance, rib-nosed, and
black-haired. He lived but short time after his father, and deceased
the first day of May, anno 1605.'
Robert, the fourth son of Thomas Maule and Margaret Hall
burton, was Commissary of St. Andrews and a learned and judicious
antiquary, who, besides the Interesting history of the family quoted
above, wrote a treatise in Latin, ' De Antiquitite Gentis Scotorum,'
a dissertation on the Culdees, and other works. Thomas, the fifth
son, was the father of Lieutenant-Colonel Maule, who settled In Ire
land, and from him was descended Henry Maule, who was succes
sively Bishop of Cloyne, Dromore, and Meath.
Patrick Maule was succeeded by his only son, Patrick, first Earl
of Panmure, who at the time of his father's death was only nineteen
years of age. Notwithstanding his youth, he was one of the few
Scotsmen that were selected to accompany James VI. when he went,
in April, 1603, to take possession of the English throne. By good
management, assisted by royal grants, he was able to -quit and
relieve, piece and piece, parts of his estate, till at length it pleased

330 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
God to bless him with great lands and honour and a long life. He
held the office of Lord of the Bedchamber both to James VI. and
Charles I. In 1625 he obtained from Charles the lordship of
Colleweston, in Northamptonshire, ' for his good and faithful services
to the King's father,' and in the year 1629 he received from the
same monarch a gift of the keepership of the Great Park of Eltham.
He purchased from the Earl of Mar the lordship of Brechin and
Navar in 1639, ^nd In 1642 he bought from the Earl of Dysart the
Abbacy of Arbroath. As might have been expected, Patrick Maule
fought on the royal side during the Great Civil War, and was
rewarded by Charles for his fidelity and zeal with his elevation to
the peerage by the title of Earl of Panmure and Lord Brechin
AND Navar. He remained with the King during his imprisonment
at Holmsby and Carlsbrook. Commissary Maule records a very
striking incident which took place at the parting between the King
and his devoted follower.
' He was the last servant that stayed with him, and stayed even
until that unlawful Parliament did put him from him. The King
himself told Panmure that the order for his departure was come.
Panmure asked his Majestic what he should do in it. His Majestie
told him. There is no help, but you must obey ; but deal with him that
has the warrand for a continuation for two or three days, quhilk he
got granted to him. Panmure's servant that was there with him
told me when Panmure took his leave of his Majestie he did that
quhilk he never saw him do, nor heard of any that ever saw him do
the like, quhilk was he burst out in tears ; and the King was standing
and his back at ane open window ; and when the tears came In the
King's eyes he turned him about to the window a little while till he
settled, and prayed God to bless him, for he knew him to be a faith
ful servant ; and called for his man and gave him a kiss of his hand
and said, "John, thou hast a faithful master." This John Duncan,
who was Panmure's man all the time, and had been long with him
before, told me this.' ,
The Government of the Commonwealth imposed on the Earl the
exorbitant fine of/ 10,000 sterhng for himself and of ;^2,500 for his
son Henry, who commanded a regiment in the army of' the Engage
ment' for the rescue of Charles and also at the battle of Dunbar.
But the Earl's fine was ultimately restricted to ;^4,ooo, and that of
his son to / 1,000. Lord Panmure, who was now advanced In years,
took no active part in the cause of Charles II. when he came to Scot-

The Maules. 331
land, but he sent ^2,000 to the royal coffers, and his eldest son,
Lord Brechin, fought for Charles both at Dunbar and at Inverkelth-
ing, where he was wounded. The aged peer survived to witness the
Restoration, and died in December, i66i. He left a manuscript
history of the patriot Wallace, ' whose deeds of unselfish devotion
and lofty daring,' says Dr. Stuart, ' he himself aspired to emulate
throughout his whole course.' He was three times married, but left
surviving offspring — four daughters and two sons — only by his first
wife, a daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope of Grimstone, In York
shire. His eldest son, George, Lord Brechin, became second
Earl of Panmure on his father's death, and carried out his prede
cessor's Intention of building a new house at Panmure. He married
the eldest daughter of John Campbell, Earl of Loudon, Lord High
Chancellor, who bore him nine children, of whom four sons and one
daughter died young. This close connection with one ofthe leaders of
the Covenanting party does not appear to have had any influence on
the politics ofthe Panmure family. The eldest surviving son, George,
third Earl, was a Privy Councillor to Charles II. and James VII. He
was succeeded in his titles and estates by his brother, James Maule
of Ballumbie, a staunch Royalist and a Privy Councillor to James VII.,
but who was ' laid aside ' from the Council on account of his oppo
sition to the abrogation of the penal laws against Popery. This
treatment, however, did not prevent him from advocating the cause
of King James at the Convention of Estates In 1689, and when it
was agreed to settle the crown on William and Mary, the Earl, along
with his brother, Harry Maule, of Kelly, left the assembly and never
again attended a meeting of the Scottish Estates.
Although the two brothers appear to have formed a low and just
opinion of their nephew, the Earl of Mar, when that weak and vacil
lating nobleman raised the Jacobite standard at Braemar, the loyalty
of Panmure and Harry Maule to the cause of the Stewarts made
them at once take part in the rebellion. With a view, it Is said,
of increasing the number of retainers whom he led into the field,
the Earl bought the lands of Edzell, Glenesk, and Lethnot from
David Lindsay, the last of the Edzell family. He proclaimed the
Chevalier as King at the market cross of Brechin. The Earl and
his brother took part in the indecisive battle of Sheriffmuir, 15th
November, 17 15, where the former commanded a battalion of foot.
Harry Maule, and several other gentlemen volunteers, fought on
the right wing of the Highlanders, where the royal troops fled on

332 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the first fire. Immediately after the close of the battle, a report
reached him that the Earl, who appears to have been on the left of
Mar's army, which was worsted and driven back, was wounded and
taken prisoner, and was lying in a cot-house on the field. He
resolved at once to attempt his brother's rescue, and asked Mar to
send a party of soldiers with him, ' but could not obtain it, and Mar
only sent Clephan with a compliment to Panmure, and Mar himself
immediately marched off. Then Mr. Harle asked the assistance of
all the other troops he met with, but none of their officers would
venture on it, they thought it so perilous. Then Mr. Harle under
took It himself, with two or three domestics, by which he ran the
risque of having both himself and brother In the enemies' hands at
once, and so his family ruined and children utterly abandoned ; and
Mar, besides the Ingratitude to his two uncles,* risked the King and
party's losing two of the most considerable men they had.' Harry
Maule, with his servants and a Dr. Blair, a medical man, after
Inquiring at several cot-houses, at length found the Earl, ' the six
dragoons who guarded him having fled upon the noise of Harry's
approach, taking his small party for a great body coming up by the
noise that their horses' feet made upon the hard and shingly road.
When Mr. Harle came In, he found him lying on a very sorry bed,
near a fire, with the green apron about his head, and two Highland
plaids about his body. Mr. Harle asked him how he was, and
desired him to go along with him ; but he refused, saying that he
was not able, and that he would faint if he either walked or rode.
Mr. Harle urged him by telling him that if they stayed any time
they would be all taken prisoners ; but he would not consent. Upon
which Mr. Harle desired the doctor to persuade him, who got him
to consent by telling him that his wounds would not be the worse.
Upon which he consented, and Mr. Harle's valet, Jo. Robertson, drew
on a pair of boots upon his legs, and in the same dress they found
him in, set him upon a horse, Ja. Fraser leading It, John Robert
son walking upon his one side, and Malcolm on the other, mid-leg
in snow and ice. By the way he took a hearty dram out of a flask
that Robertson had at his side, and so carried him to Ardoch. It's
beheved that if they had stayed a little longer they had all been
taken, for it's reported that not long after a party of 80 horse came
to carry him to Stirling or Dumblain.'f
¦^ Mar's mother was a daughter of the second Earl of Panmure.
t Registrum de Panmure, pp. 50, 5r.

The Maules. 333
The capture and rescue of the Earl are commemorated In the old
Jacobite ballad on the battle —
' Brave Mar and Panmure
Were firin I'm sure.
The latter was kidnapt awa', man.
With brisk men about
Brave Harry retook
His brother and laughed at them a', man.'
On the suppression of the rebellion. Lord Panmure followed the
Chevalier to the Continent. He was, of course, attainted of high
treason, and his honours and estates were forfeited to the Crown.
It Is said that the restoration of his estates — rented at ^3, 456, the
largest of the confiscated properties — was twice offered him by the
Government If he would return home and take the oath of allegiance
to the House of Hanover, but he firmly adhered to the Stewart
dynasty. An Act of Parliament, however, was passed to enable
the King to make such provision for the Countess of Panmure (a
daughter of the Duke of Hamilton) as she would have been entitled
to had her husband been dead.
The disposal of the forfeited estates of the Jacobite lords and
lairds cost the Government no small trouble. Their property was, by
Act of Parliament, vested in the Sovereign for the use of the public,
and Commissioners were appointed to inquire into the condition of
these lands, with a salary of ;^ i ,000 a year — an enormous official
income at that time in Scotland, when the judges of the Court of
Session received only/500. Sir Richard Steele, the essayist, who
was one of the Commissioners, writing to his wife, says of his official
visit to Edinburgh, ' You cannot imagine the civilities and honours
done me there ; and never lay better, ate or drank better, or conversed
with men of better sense than there.' But though Steele himself was
a favourite with the Edinburgh citizens, they, as well as the great
body of the Scottish people, had a strong prejudice against the
Commissioners, and thwarted them in every possible way. The
Court of Exchequer had forestalled them by ordering the sheriffs of
the various counties to enter into possession of the estates and levy
the rents, as by the law of Scotland they were entitled to do. The
creditors of the forfeited proprietors endeavoured to secure payment
of their debts by attaching the estates in the ordinary course of
law. The friends and relatives of the dispossessed lairds brought
forward aU sorts of pretended claims, and presented petitions for
sequestration to the Court of Session, which were readily granted,

334 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and factors, who were usually the nominees of the pretended credi
tors, were appointed to manage the estates. The Commissioners
complained bitterly, and not without reason, of this mode of pro
cedure. They mention, among many other examples, the case of
the estates of Stirling of Keir, worth ;^900 a year, which had been
sequestrated at the Instance of two maltmakers and a blacksmith,
one of the tenants on the estate, and an Edinburgh shopkeeper. No
details were given as to the sums altogether due to them, and no
evidence of the debts was produced. The Court appointed as factor
Walter Stirling, Writer to the Signet, the law agent of" the dispos
sessed proprietor, and who, say the Commissioners, ' is also remark
able for his disaffection to the Government, and was Imprisoned
during the late rebellion for keeping correspondence with the rebels.'
The Earl of Carnwath had a rental of;^i,ooo a year from his estate,
which was burdened with a jointure of / 150 per annum to his mother.
Dame Henrietta Murray. The lady herself was appointed factor,
and thus the estate was ' taken by the Lords of Session out of the
King's person and put into the person of the said Dame Henrietta
Murray, for behoof of some few who pretend, but no ways appear,
to be creditors on the said estate.' The factor who was nominated
by the Court to take charge of the Earl Marischal's estates, worth
^^2,384 a year, was Thomas Arbuthnott, merchant, Peterhead, who
was actually engaged with the Earl in the rebellion. John Lumsden,
W.S., agent of the Earl of Panmure, was appointed factor on his
Lordship's estates. ' He sorely tried the Commissioners. He em
ployed under him all the late Earl's officers who had been most
active in the rebellion, and appointed the servants of the Countess
his bailees in the Baronial Court.'
The Commissioners at last succeeded In getting the sequestrations
set aside, but a new device was Immediately tried to baffle their
efforts to obtain possession of the forfeited estates. It was con
tended that the lands did not really belong to the late ostensible
owners, and claimants for them sprang up in all quarters. The
Court of Session was by no means unwilling to lend its aid to
the promotion of this scheme, and paid little regard to consistency
in the judgments which it pronounced. Seaforth's estates were by
one decree declared to belong In full and absolute right to Kenneth
Mackenzie of Assynt, by another to William Martin of Harwood,
by a third to Hugh Wallace of Inglestone. The estates of the
Earl of Mar, the leader of the rebellion, were successively awardea

* The Maules. 335
to four of these pretended owners, and Viscount Kenmure's to five.
Even when the Commissioners were put In possession, they dis
covered to their disappointment and annoyance that their difficulties
seemed as great as ever. The tenants on many of the estates, who
were as staunch Jacobites as their masters, refused to recognize In
any form the authority of the Act of Parliament in the factors
appointed by the Commissioners, and continued to pay their rents
to the late, and as they believed, the proper proprietors. The
clansmen of Seaforth regularly transmitted their rents to their
chief during his exile in France, and successfully resented the
attempts of the Government agent, supported by a detachment of
soldiers, to force his way Into their territory. The tenants on the
Panmure estates were induced by the Countess and her factor,
Mr. George Maule, to subscribe blank bills for all arrears, and also
a blank bond for two years from 24th June, 17 15, nearly four
months before the battle of Sheriffmuir.
The forfeited estates of the Maule and other Jacobite landlords
were at length prepared for sale In 1719 and 1720, but It was very
difficult, if not hopeless, to find purchasers in Scotland for so large
an amount of landed property. In this, extremity the ' Company of
Undertakers for raising the Thames Water, in York Buildings,
London, in England,' came to the assistance of the Government.
A mania at that time prevailed for speculation and joint-stock
companies, and the company referred to opened a subscription ' for
raising a joint-stock and fund of/ 1,200,000 for purchasing forfeited
and other estates in Great Britain, by a fund for granting annuities
on lives, and for assuring lives.' The subscription lists were
speedily and eagerly filled up, and the whole sum provided for.
' Peers and bishops, country gentlemen and merchants, stockjobbers
and adventurers, alike lustful of gain, crowded to place their names
upon the lists,' and in the course of a few months the ten-pound
shares ofthe company rose to /305.
In the autumn of 17 19, the Commissioners advertised for sale by
auction the estates of Viscount Kilsyth, Mr. Craw of East Reston,
the Earl of Winton, and the Earl of Panmure ; and Mr. Robert
Hacket and Mr. John Wicker were sent down to Scotiand by
the York Buildings Company to attend the sales. The Winton
estates were bought by them on the 6th of October, for the sum
ofi^50,300. The 9th of October was the day fixed for the sale of the Panmure

336 The Great , Historic Families of Scotland.
estates, the most valuable of all the property in the hands of
the Commissioners. A strenuous effort was made to buy them
back on behalf of the family. The Countess had protested against
the sale, with the active sympathy and concurrence of two of the
judges of the Court of Session, but the Commissioners determined
to proceed. The estates, consisting of twelve baronies, and nearly
as many parishes, Including the patronage of fifty-three churches.
were exposed for sale on the day appointed at the upset price of
^57,032 IIS. ifd. ' Mr. James Maule, servant of Mr. Harry Maule,
of Kelly,' brought up the price to ^'60,300, in opposition to
Mr. Hacket, agent for the York Buildings Company, ' when, his
competition becoming dangerous, the Commissioners asked whether
he was prepared with cautioners. He replied that he was not, and
an altercation ensued. The Commissioners offered to stop the
running of the sandglass till he obtained security, but he said that
he would require two or three days for the purpose. The sale was
thereon proceeded with. Mr. Hacket bade /loo more, and the
estate was knocked down to him at /6o,40o. The dispute
provoked a considerable amount of comment, and is referred to in
the party literature of the day.' *
While the hereditary estates of the family had thus passed into
the hands of strangers, the Earl, who in early life had shown a taste
for historical pursuits, was solacing himself In his exile by collecting
valuable manuscripts and records, which are now at Panmure. He
and his nephew made a pilgrimage to the place where the Maules
had flourished in France for generations before they migrated
to Scotland. James Maule sent a most interesting account of" their
visit to the old castie and village of Maule, and of the evidence
which they found for establishing the connection of the Scottish with
the French house. They also discovered that a barony of Panmure
formed part of the possessions of the French Maules, as well as of
their Scottish representatives. The Earl died at Paris, April, 1723,
in his sixty-fourth year, without issue.
His brother, Harry Maule, succeeded him as representative of
the family. He and his brother's widow, a lady of great energy and
strength of character, who survived till 173 1, obtained from the
York Buildings Company long leases of the two chief mansion houses.
He settled at Brechin Castle, while the Countess took up her resi-
=" Ttie York Buildings Company, Sic. By David Murray, M.A., F.S.A., p. 24.

The Maules. t^t^^
dence at Panmure. ' There seems,' says Dr. Stuart, ' to have been
no doubt among the chief members of the family that sooner or
later the inheritance of their forefathers would be recovered, and the
leases in question secured the possession of their residences till that
happy time arrived.' Mr. Harry Maule resembled his brother, both
in his political principles and historical tastes, and extensive collec
tions were made by them of chronicles, chartularies, and documents
bearing on the history of Scotland, which are now preserved In the
hbrary at Brechin Castie. During his exile In Holland, after the
suppression of the rebellion, Harry Maule's son says he ' did there
employ his time in such studies as might be most useful to him ;
tho' he had studied the law of nature and nations before, he read
Grotius, De Jure pads et belli, four times over, with the best commen
taries, by which he became so versed in the public law that scarce
any question could be stated to him but he Immediately gave Grotius
and the other famous authors' opinions without opening a book. He
also improved himself in the feudal law, having read Struvius and
many of the German lawryers on that subject. Then he applied him
self to be well versed In the present state of Europe, the pretensions
of each prince, their acquisitions, and what they were founded on.
Another study he pursued very closely ; that was the canon law and
the fathers.' After Mr. Maule's retum to Scotland, the knowledge
which he had thus acquired was turned by him to good account In the
controversy which broke out in the Episcopal Church respecting th«
'Usages.' It Is a pleasant picture, as Dr. Stuart remarks, to con
template Harry Maule In his picturesque old castle of Kelly, amid
the historical collections which have made him famous, preparing
the Interesting history of his ancestors, devoting his efforts to the
recovery of the family honours and estates, and surrounded by sons
of high promise, who sympathised, and took part, with their father in
his tastes and labours. Harry Maule was twice married. His first
wife, a daughter of the Earl of Wigton, bore him three sons and
two daughters. For his second wife he took a sister of John Lindsay,
Viscount Garnock, by whom he had five sons and one daughter. A
number of his children died in infancy, and none of them married,
with the exception of his daughter Jean. Harry Maule died In 1734.
James Maule, the eldest son of the first marriage, was a young
man of the highest promise, and possessed remarkable historical
attainments He was associated with his father in the collection
VOL. I. a a

338 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and arrangement of the documents in the 'Registrum de Panmure.'
He contemplated the preparation of a history of his family, and had
sketched out a plan for the work in a most judicious form. His
scheme for the institution of a library of reference in Edinburgh
showed that his ideas on this subject were far In advance of those of
his contemporaries. He purposed also to publish a peerage, a com
plete collection of Scottish historians, a history of Scotland, and
political memoirs treating of the ancient and modern state of the
country. But all these projects, and his plans for the improvement
of the family estates, were cut short by the untimely death of this
accomplished youth in 1729. His brother William then became his
father's heir. He entered the army at an early age, served in several
campaigns in the Low Countries, and was engaged In the battles of
Dettingen and Fontenoy. He ultimately attained the rank of general.
In 1735 he was elected a member of Parliament for the county of
Forfar, and continued to represent it till his death. In 1743 he was
created a peer of Ireland, by the titles of Earl of Panmure of Forth,
and Viscount Maule of Whitechurch.
Meanwhile, through mismanagement and flagrant jobbery, the
York Banking Company had come to ruin; and, in 1764, Lord
Panmure purchased from their creditors the estates of the Maule
family in Forfarshire for the sum of/49,157 i8s. 4d. sterling. On
his death, without issue, in 1782, his titles became extinct. Jean,
the eldest daughter of Harry Maule, had married, in 1726, George,
Lord Ramsay, eldest son of William, fifth Earl of Dalhousie, and
the Panmure estates, in terms of the entail, went to George, eighth
Earl of Dalhousie, their second son, in life rent. On his death. In
1787, they passed to the Honourable William Ramsay, his lord
ship's second son, then a youth In his sixteenth year, who assumed
the name and arms of Maule of Panmure. In 1789 he entered the
army as a cornet In the nth Dragoons, and afterwards raised an
Independent company of foot, which was disbanded in 1791. The
politics of his family were Tory ; but Mr. Maule, who was a great
admirer of Mr. Fox, joined the Whig party, and at the general
election of 1796 he was elected member for Forfarshire in the Whig
interest. He continued to represent that county until 1831, when
he was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Panmure of
Brechin and Navar.
Mr. Maule was a very remarkable character, and during his
early and middle life, his name and eccentric doings, in one form

RAMSAY-MAULES OF PANMURE.

The Maules. 339
or another, were almost continually before the public, whom he
alternately surprised and scandalised by his systematic defiance of
decorum and conventional usages. He was possessed of excellent
natural abilities, which had, however, been only imperfectly culti
vated ; but his natural shrewdness stood him well instead of
acquired knowledge. ' He Is the most long-headed fellow,' wrote
of him Mr. Hunter, of Blackness, ' in Forfarshlreland, and of the
soundest judgment too (If he did not sometimes let his passion get
the better of him) of any person of his years whom I know, and has
more brains than his whole family beside.' Unfortunately, Mr.
Maule's passion did very often get the better of him. He was
unmeasured both in his likings and dislikings, ' devotedly attached
to those who did not thwart him, implacable to those who did ;'
liberal and kind to those who came in contact with him only in the
affairs of public life, but most arbitrary and despotic in his behaviour
to his own family. He would brook no opposition to his will, and
was vindictive and unrelenting to those who thwarted him or refused
to submit to his authority. He was ultimately at variance with all
the members of his family, and the verdict of public opinion un
hesitatingly pronounced him in the wrong. On the other hand, he
was an excellent landlord, and was highly popular among his
numerous tenantry and the labourers on his estates, whom he treated
with great liberality. In 1839 his tenantry erected a handsome
column, 105 feet high, on the Downie Hills, In Forfarshire, as a
memorial of their respect for him as their landlord. Mr. Maule's
generosity was a very conspicuous feature of his character. He
bestowed a pension on the widow of Charles James Fox, the great
statesman ; and he also conferred an annuity of fifty pounds on the
widow of Robert Burns, which was continued until the eldest son of
the poet was enabled to provide for his mother, and the further
assistance of her benefactor was respectfully declined. He enlarged
the public schools of Brechin, and erected a hall, fitted up In the
most tasteful manner, with library and apparatus, and beautiful
paintings, at his sole expense, for the Mechanics' Institute of that
burgh. His acts of benevolence indeed were unceasing, and ad
vancing years, while they tended somewhat to mitigate his animosi
ties and soften his character, served to waden the channels of his
munificence. During Mr. Maule's early years Forfarshire was noted for the
' perilous hospitalities ' of Its lairds ; and the letters of Mr. Hunter,

340 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
who belonged to that class, and was an intimate friend of Mr. Maule,
abound in references to the hard drinking which was frequent in
his society. Writing on the 26th of August, 1806, he says, 'we
had a most dreadful day at Brechin Castle ; one of the, most awful
ever known, even In that house. What think you of seven of us
drinking thirty-one bottles of red champagne, besides Burgundy,
three bottles of Madeira, &c., &c. ? Nine bottles were drank by
us after Maule was pounded. He had been living a terrible
life for three weeks preceding.' Messrs. Murray and Longman,
the eminent publishers, were at different times taken by Mr. Hunter
on a tour among the Forfarshire lairds, and frequently dined at
Brechin Castle. The mode of life practised there seems to have
completely upset the orderly system of these worthy bibliopo-
lists. Mr. Murray was present at 'the dreadful day ' at Brechin
Castle, and ' contrived,' says Hunter, to take his share of all the
drink that was then and there consumed ; ' but he has since paid
for it very dearly. He has since been close at home at Eskmount
(the seat of Mr. Hunter, senior) very unwell.' Mr. Longman fared
no better than his brother publisher. ' He was taken 111 on Satur
day,' wrote Mr. Hunter, from Brechin Castle, October 3rd, 1804;
' next morning he was much worse, and we were at one time afraid
he was in for a fever. He lay in bed all that day, but next day was
greatly better, having starved himself for a day. On Monday he
was still sick; however, the day being fine, we made him rise,
and got him safe to Eskmount that night. There he is at present,
.areening, and the ladles take the best care possible of him. These
Englishers will never do in our country.' It was not without good
reason that a London merchant, of formal manners and temperate
habits, was roused to indignation at the attempt made by his host —
a Forfarshire laird — to practise such unpleasant conviviality. The
poor man quitted the table when the drinking set in hard, and stole
away to take refuge in his bedroom. The company, however, were
determined not to let the worthy citizen off so easy, but proceeded
in a body, with the laird at their head, and invaded his privacy by
exhibiting bottles and glasses at his bed-side. Losing all patience,
the wretched victim gasped out his indignation, ' Sir, your hospitality
borders on brutality.'
It is amusing to observe from Mr. Hunter's letters that one ofthe
hospitable mansions In which ' Maule and Company ' dined and spent
the night was Balnamoon, the owner of which was the hereof a well-

The Maules. 34 1
known anecdote illustrative of the manners of that day. He was
returning on horseback from a convivial party; and on hearing him
self fall Into the stream which he was crossing, he called out to his
servant, ' John, what was that that played plash ? ' I wot na,' replied
John, ' unless it were your honour.' It is told of the same worthy
that on a similar occasion, when his hat and wig had been blown off,
he Indlgnantiy refused the latter when it was restored to him,
exclaiming, 'John, this is no my wig; this is a wat wig.' John
coolly rejoined, ' Ye'd better tak' it, sir, for there's na wale [choice]
o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor,' and induced the laird to resume the
dripping covering. It need excite no surprise that It seems to have
been the entertainment given by this drouthy laird to Mr. Maule and
Company which finally prostrated the London booksellers.
It was usually when Mr. Maule and his roystering friends had'
taken more liquor than they could carry discreetly that they played
their pranks, which though not looked upon then In the same light
that they would be nowadays, were regarded with disapprobation and
deep regret by the sober and respectable class of the community.
Forfar,* the county town of the shire, was the scene of many of the
bacchanalian exploits of the lord of Brechin Castle and his asso
ciates. Occasionally, however, they played their pranks In other places,
where they were not regarded with the same indifference or com
placency as they were at Forfar. They had sometimes to be con
doned by such acts of liberality as procured for Mr. Maule the
"= Forfar has long had an evil reputation for the insobriety of its inhabitants, and it
is a curious fact that almost all the traditionary anecdotes of that place, from the earliest
times down to the present day, refer to drinking or to public-houses. The town, as
Robert Chambers remarks, may thus be said to resemble in some measure a certain
Edinburgh lawyer of the last age, of whom it was alleged that whenever or wheresoever
met or seen, he was always either going to a tavern, or in a tavern, or coming from a
tavern, or thinking of going to a tavern. In Frank's Northern Memoirs, published
two hundred and thirty years ago, there is a lengthened account given of a famous case
which had shortly before that date occurred at Forfar. A brewster's wife having one day
' brewed a peck o' maut,' which she expected a party of topers to consume, set the
hquor out at the door to cool. A neighbour's cow soon after coming past, scented the
savoury contents of the cauldron, and, turning to, began to solace herself with a
draught. The liquor was good, and ' aye she winkit, and aye she drank,' until she
finished the browst. The luckless owner of the ale, who came out just in time to see
the last dregs disappear down crummie's capacious throat, had no recourse but to try
what the law could do for her, and she accordingly brought the case in_ regular form
before the bailies. But the worthy magistrates, as became Forfar authorities, having a
proper sympathy for all — man or beast — who loved good liquor, decided the case
against the complainant, on the ground that, by the immemorial custom of Scotland,
nothing is ever charged for a standing drink, otherwise called a doch-an-doris, or stirrup-

342 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
designation of the * Generous Sportsman,' and relieved him from
many an awkward scrape. On one occasion he and two or three
kindred spirits happened to dine at an inn in Perth, and, as usual,
sallied out after nightfall in quest of adventures. The street lamps
having attracted their notice, they began to break them with their
sticks, till in a short time the whole city was in total darkness.
Next morning, on learning that the magistrates were met in full
conclave to consider what steps should be taken to punish the out
rage which had been committed overnight, Maule calmly repaired
to the Council Chamber, and Informed the offended authorities that
having recently come to visit the Fair City, he was quite ashamed to
see the shabby-looking lamps in its streets, which were really a
disgrace to so fine a town. He had therefore demolished the whole,
with the vif'w of presenting to the corporation at his own expense a
new and handsome set of lamps. The astonished magistrates had
no resource but to accept the apology and the gift.
There were other amusing anecdotes told of Mr. Maule, which
represent him as mingling benevolence with a display of humour
and a love of fun. Instead of as a member of Parliament and a great
landowner behaving like a mischievous schoolboy. The Highland
chairmen of Edinburgh were proverbial in his day for their insatiable
fondness for ' filthy lucre.' The excessive greed of these worthies
happening to become the subject of conversation one day among a
few gentlemen, Mr. Maule alleged that they were not so difficult to
satisfy as was said, and took up a bet that they could be contented
with liberal remuneration. The wager was accepted, and Mr. Maule
sent for a sedan chair, and gave orders that he should be conveyed
a short distance down the Canongate. On alighting, he rewarded
his bearers with a guinea, feeling quite confident that they would be
more than satisfied with such a handsome donation. One of them
turning over the ' yellow Geordie ' in his hand, as if to make sure
that it was genuine, said, ' But could her honour no shuist gie's the
dram, and seeing thai the cow had swallowed the browst in place and manner
according, her owner ought to be absolved from the charge. Jn forraer days Forfar was
a good deal inconvenienced by a loch in its immediate vicinity, which the inhabitants
were anxious to drain, but they long delayed the undertaking on account of the
great expense which it would entail on them. At a public meeting held to discuss
the measure, the Earl of Strathmore said that he believed the cheapest method of
draining the loch would be to throw a few hogsheads of good whisky into the water
and set the ' drunken writers of Forfar ' to drink it up. The loch was ultimately
drained, but to what extent the legal gentlemen of the town contributed to this result
history saith not.

The Maules. 343
Ither sixpence to get a gillP Mr. Maule good-humouredly produced
the ' ither sixpence ' In the expectation of gaining his bet, but a
demand on the part of the other chairman for ' three bawbees of odd
shange to puy snuff,' put him out of all temper, and thoroughly
convinced him of the impossibility of satisfying a Highland chair
man. Walking through his plantations one day, his lordship was attracted
by the sound of some one felling wood. ' What are you about there ? '
he said to a young man whom he caught in the act of levelling a
stately tree, while a cart and horse were at hand to carry away the
trunk. 'Do ye na see what I'm about?' answered the fellow with
the utmost assurance. ' Nae doot ye' 11 be ane o' the understrappers
frae the big hoose.' Amused at the nonchalance and effrontery of
the clown. Lord Panmure said, 'What if Maule were to come upon
you?' ' Hout, man! he wadna say a word; there's no a better-
hearted gentleman in a' the country ; but as I am In a hurry, I wish
ye wad lend me a hand, man.' To this request his lordship good-
humouredly consented, and when the tree had been securely placed
on the cart, the jolly rustic prepared to reward his assistant with a
dram In a neighbouring public-house. This offer was declined, but
the youth was Invited to call next day at the castle and ask for Jamie
the footman, who would treat him to a dram out of his own bottle.
The countryman readily accepted the Invitation, and called accord
ing to promise ; but to his astonishment and confusion, Instead of
meeting the footman, he was ushered with great ceremony into
the presence of Lord Panmure and a company of gentlemen. ' My
man,' said his lordship, walking up to him, ' next time you go to
cut wood, I would advise you first to ask Maule's permission.' With
this gentle reprimand he dismissed the terrified depredator, though
not without having given instructions that he should be well enter
tained in the hall.*
In order that he might obtain an Intimate knowledge of the
character and habits of his tenantry and workmen. Lord Panmure
occasionally amused himself by visiting them in the character of a
mendicant, so completely disguised as to render recognition impos
sible. Some curious stories are told respecting his behaviour while
in this guise. His habits, indeed, were those of a past generation,
and it is not easy to understand how they could have been maintained
down to the middle of the nineteenth century.
* Kay's Portraits, ii. p. 426.

344 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Lord Panmure was twice married. His first wife was Patricia
Heron, daughter of Gilbert Gordon, Esq., of Halleaths, who bore
him three sons and five daughters. This lady — who Is described by
Mr. Hunter as ' the wisest, most judicious, best-tempered, best-dis-
positloned, sensible, and good woman in the whole circle of my
acquaintance' — died in 1821, and in the following year his lordship
married Miss Elizabeth Barton, by whom he had no issue. He died
in 1852, and was succeeded by the eldest of his three sons —
Fox Maule, second Baron Panmure and eleventh Earl of Dal
housie. He was born In 1801, was educated at the Charterhouse,
entered the army as an ensign, and after serving for several years in
Canada on the staff of his uncle, the eighth Earl of Dalhousie, he
retired in 1831 with the rank of captain. He commenced his political
career in 1835, when, after a very keen contest, he was elected
member for the county of Perth. He subsequently represented suc
cessively the Elgin Burghs and the Burgh of Perth. On the return of
the Melbourne Ministry to office in 1835, Mr. Maule was made Under-
Secretary for the Home Department; in 1841 he held for a short
period the office of Vice-President of the Board of Trade; in 1842
he was chosen Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow; and
on the downfall of Sir Robert Peel's Administration in 1846 he
became Secretary at War, with a seat in the Cabinet. In February,
1852, he exchanged this office for the Presidency of the Board of
Control. The dissolution of the Russell Ministry, however, soon
followed, and on the death of his father In the course of the same
year, Mr. Maule was elevated to the House of Lords. Lord Panmure
had no seat in the Coalition Cabinet, under the Earl of Aberdeen,
but when it fell to pieces during the war with Russia, and Lord
Palmerston became Prime Minister, he resumed his former office of
Secretary at War, somewhat modified In form, the duties of which
he discharged with great ability and untiring energy until the over
throw of Lord Palmerston's Administration in 1858. Lord Panmure
was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Forfarshire In 1 849 ; Keeper of
the Privy Seal and K.T. in 1853. On the death of his cousin,
the Marquis of Dalhousie, in i860, he succeeded to the tides' of
Earl of Dalhousie, Baron Ramsay of Kerington, and Baron Ramsay
of Dalhousie.
Lord Dalhousie was a noted example of the truth of the saying,
' It runs in the blood.' The prominent features of the Maules and

The Maules. 345
Ramsays, physical and mental, during the last six centuries were
conspicuous in his character. He was a reproduction, in short, of
the famous Scottish patriots of the fourteenth century— Sir Thomas
Maule and Sir Alexander Ramsay — modified and softened by the
tastes and habits of the present age. The Earl was possessed of
great natural shrewdness and sagacity. Indomitable courage, and a
most resolute will, which it was by no means easy or safe to oppose.
He was a most trusty friend and a dangerous foe. He had in him
many of the qualifications of a great general, and there can be no
doubt that if he had remained In the army he would, like several of
his predecessors, have attained the highest military rank. He
carried with him Into civil life some of the best qualities of a soldier
— order, promptitude, and energy. His administrative abilities were
of a high order. He was a shrewd and accurate judge of character,
knew whom to employ and to trust, and kept a sharp eye on the
doings of his subordinates. In his own person he was an example
of indefatigable Industry and unwearied diligence in the discharge
of his official duties. He was habitually at work long before sun
rise, and during the Crimean War, like his chief. Lord Palmerston,
often turned night into day. Though he had no pretensions to
eloquence. Lord Dalhousie was a ready and powerful debater.
His style was clear, terse, and vigorous; he had a good voice, and
his delivery was natural, distinct, and telling. On being told of the
success of Fox Maule's maiden speech in the House of Commons,
Professor PlUans, who strove hard to improve the elocution of his
pupils, exclaimed, with pardonable pride, ' It was I who taught the
boy to speak.' Lord Dalhousie took a deep interest in the ecclesi
astical affairs of Scotland, especially in the controversy which termi
nated in the disruption of the Established Church. As became his
ancestry, he was a zealous and steady friend of civil and religious
liberty, and was a staunch supporter of the Free Church. From
its origin he held the office of ruling elder in that denomination,
and his courageous advocacy of Its principles in the House of
Commons, against an overwhelming majority, composed not only
of Conservatives but of many Whigs, ought to be held In grateful
remembrance. No man ever acted more consistently on the maxim
of Lord Belhaven, 'All for the Church and a littie less for the
State.' Lord Dalhousie died 6th July, 1874, without issue. The elder of
his two brothers, the Hon. Lauderdale Maule, a gallant officer, was

346 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Assistant Adjutant-General of the Forces In the Crimea, and died,
unmarried, of cholera in the camp near Varna, on the ist of August,
1854, greatly lamented. William Maule, the youngest son, died in
1859, leaving a family of daughters, two sons having predeceased
him. The family titles and -estates passed to Admiral George
Ramsay, grandson of the eighth Earl, who died In 1880 and was
succeeded by his eldest son, John William Ramsay, thirteenth Earl
of Dalhousie. On his lamented death In 1887 Arthur George
Maule, born In 1878, Inherited the earldom, and the united estates of
the Ramsays and Maules.

MAITLANDS OF LAUDERDALE.

THE LAUDERDALE MAITLANDS.

JEW of the great old houses of Scotland have, throughout
the long period of six centuries, produced such a brlHIant
succession of statesmen, warriors, poets, and lawyers, as
have adorned the family of the Lauderdale Maltiands.
They were of Norman origin, and one of the followers of William
the Conqueror, when he came into England, bore the designation of
Matulent, afterwards changed to Maitland. The first of the family on
record in Scotland was a Thomas de Matulent, an Anglo-Norman
baron, who flourished in the reign of William the Lion, and died in
1228. Sir Richard de Mautlent, his grandson, was one of the most
powerful barons in Scotland in his time ; he possessed the barony of
Thirlestane, and other estates in Berwickshire, which still remain in
the possession of the family, and was a most liberal benefactor to the
Abbey of Dryburgh, having bestowed on it several valuable lands for
'the welfare of his soul, and that of his wife, and the souls of his
predecessors and successors.' This Richard was a renowned warrior,
and was in all probability the hero of the interesting ballad of ' Auld
Maitland,' which appears to have been written in the reign of
David II., in commemoration of the gallantry displayed by Sir
Richard, in his extreme old age, in the defence of his castle of
Thirlestane against the English invaders at the commencement ofthe
War of Independence : —
' They laid their sowies* to the wall
Wi' mony a heavy peal ;
But he threw owre to them agen
Baith pilch and tar barrel.

* A military engine framed of wood, covered with hides, and mounted on wheels,
which served as a cover to defend those who wrought the battering-ram from the stones
and arrows of the garrison.

348 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
•With springalds,* stanes and gads of airnt
Among them fast he threw,
Till many of the Englishmen
About the wall he slew.
' P ull fifteen days that braid host lay
Sieging auld Maitland keen ;
Syne they hae left him hail and feir
Within his strength of stane.'
Gawain Douglas places the veteran knight, with ' his auld beard
grey,' among the popular heroes of romance, in his allegorical ' Palace
of Honour ; ' and in another ancient poem, in praise of the family seat
of Lethington, it is stated that the exploits of auld Sir Richard with
the grey beard, and oi his three sons, were 'sung in many a far
countrie, albeit in rural rhyme.' He seems, as Sir Walter Scott
remarks, to have been distinguished for devotion as well as valour,
and was a liberal benefactor to the Abbey of Dryburgh. He had three
sons, but only one survived him.
The successors of this renowned warrior kept watch and ward
on the Border against ' southern ' invasions, and perilled, and fre
quently lost, their lives in the service of their sovereign on many a
bloody field. They intermarried with the Dunbars, Keiths, Setons,
Flemings, Cranstouns, and other great families, and throughout
maintained a foremost position among the Scottish barons. Sir
Richard's eldest son, Sir Robert, was killed at the Battle of Durham
in 1346, along with his. younger brother and his brother-in-law. Sir
Robert Keith, Grand Marischal of Scotland. Another of the heads
of the family, William Maitland, fell at Flodden, along with his
sovereign, who held him in high esteem. He was the father, by
his wife, a daughter of Lord Seton, of Sir Richard Maitland of
Lethington, the celebrated collector of the early poetry of Scotland,
now deposited in the Pepyslan Library in Magdalen College, Cam
bridge, which but for him would in all probability have perished. Sir
Richard's own poem, entitled, ' Maltland's Complaint against the
Thieves of LIddesdaill,' gives a graphic description ofthe depredations
of the Border freebooters, who had harried all Ettrick Forest and
Lauderdale, driven away horses, black cattle, sheep, and poultry,
packed up and carried off everything portable —
' They leave not spindle, spoon, nor spit.
Bed, bolsters, blankets, sark, nor sheet,'
''' Large crossbows wrought by machinery, and capable of throwing stones, beams,
and large darts.
t Sharpened bars of iron.

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 349
searched both clothes and meal-chests, leaving nothing behind them
but bare walls. From the burning indignation which he displays, and
the hope which he expresses that he would see some of these plun
derers hanging on a tree, it is evident that Sir Richard himself had
suffered from the inroads of these Liddesdale marauders.*
The ' Maitland Club,' which was established in Glasgow after the
model of the Bannatyne Club, derived its name from Sir Richard, and
published his own poems, along with his ' Cronicle and Historie of the
House and Sirname of Seaton.' He was employed in various public
affairs by James V., and also by the Regent Arran and Mary of Guise.
Though he had the misfortune to lose his sight in 1560, when he was
in his sixty-fourth year, his blindness did not incapacitate him from
business. He held successively the offices of a Lord of Session and
of Lord Privy Seal. He resigned his seat on the bench in 1584,
having been more than seventy years in the public service. The close
of his life was saddened by the death of two of his sons, William, the
Secretary, and Thomas, a youth of great promise, who died in Italy.
Sir Richard died, full of years and honours, in 1586, in the ninetieth
year of his age. His wife, to whom he had been united for sixty
years, died on his funeral day. On the retirement of the veteran
judge from the bench. King James sent a letter to the Court of
Session, in which he states that Sir Richard ' hes deulie and faithfully
servit our grandshir, gude sir, gude dame, mother, and ourself, being
oftentymes employit in public charges, quhereof he deutlfullie and
honestlie acquit himself, and being ane of your ordinar number this
mony yeiris has diligentlie, with all sincerity and integrity, servit
therein, and now being of werry great age, and altho' in spirit and
judgment able anon to serve as appertenes, by the great age, and
being unwell, is sa debilitat that he is not able to make sic continual
residens as he wald give, and being movit in conscience that by his
¦ absence for lack of number, justice may be retardit and parties frustrat,
* At the time that Sir Richard wrote these verses, the Regent Moray made a
sudden march to the Border (Oct. 1567), at the head of a strong body of troops, and
apprehended at Hawick and its vicinity thirty-four freebooters, some of whom he
hanged, others he drowned, and five he liberated upon caution. An Act of the Privy
Council, passed 6th November in the same year, declared that t'le thieves of Liddes
dale and other parts of the Scottish Border have been in the habit, for some time past,
of taking sundry persons prisoners and releasing them on the payment of a ransom.
It was also averred that many persons are in the habit of paying ' black mail ' to these
thieves in order to obtain security from their depredations, ' permittand them to reif,
harry, and oppress their neighbours in their sicht without contradiction or stop.' The
Council forbade these practices in future under severe penalties.

250 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
has willingly demittit his office,' &c. The veteran judge obtained the
unusual privilege of nominating his successor.
Maidand's poems are characterised by shrewdness and good sense
rather than by warmth of fancy or brilliancy of imagination. They
are valuable also on account of the light which they cast upon the
manners and customs of the Scottish people at that period.
William Maitland, the eldest son of Sir Richard, was the cele
brated Secretary Lethington of Queen Mary's reign, who was deeply
implicated in the intrigues and crimes of that troublous period. He
was an accomplished scholar, and his intellectual cultivation, says
Froude, was unusual in any age, and an example in his own. He was
a man of powerful, sagacious, versatile intellect, fertile In resources
and dexterous in their application, but fickle, unscrupulous, and unprin
cipled. His name was a byword for subtlety and strength, and his
character appears to have been regarded as a mystery by his contem
poraries, who both felt and dreaded his great influence. He was born
about the year 1525, and was educated at the University of St.
Andrews. He afterwards studied civil law on the Continent, according
to the custom of his day, and even at that early age he was noted for
the assiduity with which he devoted himself to the study of politics.
On his return to Scotland he embraced the doctrines of the Reformed
Church, but he soon made it evident that he gave only a half-hearted
adherence to the cause. At a meeting In the house of Erskine of
Dun, for the purpose of discussing the question whether the Pro
testants should attend mass, he defended the practice on the ground
of expediency, in opposition to John Knox, who denounced it as con
trary to principle. In 1558, Maitland entered into the service of the
Queen Regent, and was appointed by her Secretary of State. But in
consequence of her violent proceedings against the Reformers, he
deserted her cause in the following year, and joined the Lords of the
Congregation, who welcomed him with open arms. Calderwood says,
' William Maitline of Lethington, younger Secretarle to the Queen,
perceiving himself to be suspected as one that favoured the Congre
gation, and to stand in danger of his life if he sould remain at Leith,
becaus he spaired not to utter his mind in controversies of religion,
conveyed himself out of Leith a littie before All Hallow Eve, and
rendered himself to Mr. Kirkaldie, Laird of Grange. He assured the
Lords there was nothing but craft and falsehood in the queene.' He was
commissioned by the Lords in 1560 to plead their cause with Elizabeth,

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 351
and to entreat her aid, which he did with such effect that she dis
patched a fleet to the Firth of Forth to prevent further assistance
being sent from France to the Regent. ' He was most in credit
for his wit,' said Cecil, ' and almost alone sustained the whole burden
of Government. His credit and capacity was worth any six others.'
Maitland took a leading part In negotiating the Treaty of Berwick
between Elizabeth and the Lords of the Congregation, by which
a body of English troops was despatched to their assistance. He
was chosen ' harangue-maker,' or Speaker, of the Parliament which,
in 1560, abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, and
adopted the Confession of Faith as the national creed. On the
return of Queen Mary from France, Lethington ingratiated himself
into her favour, was confirmed in his office of Secretary, and was
repeatedly Intrusted by her with important missions to the English
Court. In 1 56 1 he was appointed an Extraordinary Lord, and in
1566 an Ordinary Lord of Session. He strongly opposed the ratifica
tion of the Book of Discipline by the Queen, and when this was
proposed he asked, with a sneer, ' How many of those who had
subscribed It would be subject to it ? ' ' All the godly,' was the reply.
'Win the Duke (Chatelherault)?' said Maitland. ' If he will not,'
said Lord Ochiltree, ' I wish he were scraped out, not only out of that
book, but also out of our number and companie, for to what purpose
shall travail be taken to set the Church in order, if it be not kept, or
to what end shall men subscribe. If they never mean to perform ? '
Maitland answered, 'Many subscribed them m fide parentum, as the
bairns are baptised.' The astute Secretary knew the men to whom
he referred, and was well aware that they opposed the ratification of
the Book of Discipline mainly on account of the proposal which it
contained, that the patrimony of the Romish Church, which they
intended to appropriate to their own use, shouM be devoted to the
maintenance of the ministry, the education of the young, and the
support of the poor. Maitland himself sympathised with the policy
of the order to which he belonged. He scoffed at the scheme as ' a
devout imagination,' and declared that if the ministers got their will,
'the Queen would not have enough to buy herself a pair of new
shoes.' The Secretary was one of the most zealous, as he was certainly the
ablest, of the Queen's advisers, and strove to promote her wishes and
interests in opposition both to Roman Catholics and Protestants. He
accompanied Mary in her expedition to the North (August, 1562)

352 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
against the formidable Eari of Huntiy and the Gordons, and was
present at the battie of Corrlchie, where that powerful noble was
defeated and killed. On this occasion Maitiand exhorted every man
to call upon God, to remember his duty, and not to fear the multitude.
He even composed a prayer, which has been preserved, supplicating
divine support and protection for the royal forces in the day of battie.
He was not less zealous in his efforts to aid the Queen In her contest
with the great Scottish Reformer. When Knox was summoned, in
1563, before the Council to answer a charge made against him for
inviting a meeting of the leading Reformers at the trial of two men
for interrupting the religious services in St. Giles's church, the Secre
tary conducted the case, and exerted all his ingenuity and influence,
but without effect, to induce the Council to return a verdict of guilty. In
the following year he held a long debate with the Reformer respecting
his mode of prayer for the Queen, and the duty of obedience to her
authority. It is admitted that Maitland had the worst of the argu
ment In this memorable disputation, but he undoubtedly acquitted
himself with great acuteness and ingenuity, and almost, like Belial,
' made the worse appear the better reason.'
At this juncture, however, Maitland joined the conspiracy against
Rizzio, ' partly finding himself prejudged by this Savoyard In the affairs
of his office as secretary, and partly for the favour he then carried to
the Earl of Moray, then an exile.' He was In consequence deprived
of his office as Secretary and banished the Court. In no long time,
however, he succeeded In obtaining the Queen's pardon and restora
tion to his office, and was for some time her trusted friend. The
knowledge which he possessed of her private feelings induced him to
propose that she should obtain a divorce from her worthless husband.
The plot for the murder of Darnley probably had Its origin in his
busy intriguing brain. It is certain that he signed the 'bond,' or
covenant, for the perpetration of that foul deed. He took part also
in procuring the signatures of a number of the leading nobles, and of
eight bishops, to the Infamous document declaring their belief In
Bothwell's innocence of the murder, and recommending him as a
proper husband for the Queen. He continued in her service until
her surrender to the insurgent nobles at Carberry Hill, but after that
incident he openly joined them and took part in all their councils and
proceedings. He was present at the battle of Langslde, which finally
ruined Mary's cause in Scotland. In September, 1568, he was one
of the commissioners appointed to accompany the Regent Moray to

The Lauderdale Maitlands.

353

tiie conference on the Queen's case at York. Spottiswood says the
Regent was unwilling to take him, but was afraid to leave him in
Scotiand ; and Calderwood declares that Secretary Lethington was very
reluctant to go, but he was induced to do so by fair promises of lands and
money, ' for it was not expedient to leave behind them a factious man
that inclined secretly to the Queen.' It is alleged that during the
conference he was in constant communication with Mary's commis
sioners and the Duke of Norfolk, and that it was he who first
suggested the project of a marriage between that nobleman and the
Scottish Queen, which brought the Duke to the scaffold, and increased
the severity of Mary's imprisonment.
On Lethington's return to Scotland, his alienation from the Regent
became more marked. He was suspected, not without reason, to be
deeply implicated In all the plots in favour of the Queen, both in
Scotland and England, and at length Moray caused him to be
summarily arrested at a meeting of the Council in Stirling (September
3rd, 1569) on the charge of having been an accomplice in the
murder of Darnley. But his friend KIrkaldy of Grange, by a
stratagem, released him from confinement, and gave him an asylum
in the Castie of Edinburgh. After the murder of Regent Moray,
Lethington was the life and soul of the Queen's party, and all who
favoured her cause \ ad constant recourse to him for counsel. He
was denounced as a rebel, along with his two brothers, and was
deprived of his office of Secretary by the Regent Lennox, who sent
a body of troops to ravage his own and his father's estates; and
thinking himself not safe in the wilds of Athole, where he had
sought refuge, he resolved to join KIrkaldy In Edinburgh Castie. He
reached Leith on the loth of April, 1571. As he was unable to bear
the jolting of a carriage, he was carried up to the castie by six work
men on a litter, ' Mr. Robert Maitiand (Dean of Aberdeen and a
Lord of Session) holding up his head.' His influence over the chival
rous KIrkaldy of Grange was so great that even after the Hamiltons,
Gordons, and the other nobles of the Queen's party had submitted to
the Regent, and her cause had become desperate, he still resolutely
held out the castie for her interest, in the hope of receiving succour
from France. John Knox, who had a great regard for Kirkaldy,
sent David Lindsay with a message to him only a week before his
death, earnestiy entreating him to abandon the cause of one who was
a bitter enemy of the gospel, and warning him that if he refused his
ruin was inevitable ; but Maitiand sent him away with a scoffing and
VOL. I. B B

354 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
contemptuous reply. 'Tell Mr. Knox,' he said, 'that he Is but a
dry ting prophet.' When the garrison were at length compelled to
surrender to the English auxiliaries in 1573, Lethington and the
governor of the castle were, by Elizabeth's orders, basely delivered
up to Morton, who put Grange to death. Lethington anticipated this
fate by dying in prison. ' Some suppose,' said Sir James Melville,
' that he took a drink and died, as the auld Romans were wont to do.'
But the probability is that he died a natural death. His constitution
was so completely broken down by continued labour and anxiety that
during the siege of the castle he was unable to bear the noise of the
guns, and had to be placed in a dungeon under ground.
With all his faults and crimes, Maitland was one of the ablest
and most far-seeing Scottish statesmen of his day. His ruling passion
was the union of the two kingdoms, and it is probable that his con
sciousness that the end which he had In view was disinterested and
patriotic may have blinded him to the true character of the means which
he employed. Calderwood says of him, ' This man was of a rare wit,
but set upon wrong courses, which were contrived and followed out
with falsehood. He could conform himself to the times, and therefore
was compared by one who wras not Ignorant of his courses [George
Buchanan] to the chameleon. He trafficked with all parties.' Spottis
wood says, ' A man he was of deep wit, great experience, and one
whose counsels were held in that time for oracles ; but variable and
inconstant, turning and changing from one faction to another as he
thought it to make for his standing. This did greatly diminish his
reputation, and failed him at last' His character is thus described by
Principal Robertson : ' Maitiand had early applied to public business
admirable natural qualities, improved by an acquaintance with the
liberal arts ; and at a time of life when his countrymen of the same
quality were following the chase or serving as adventurers In the
armies of France, he was admitted into all the secrets of the Cabinet,
and put upon a level with persons of the most consummate experience
in the management of affairs. He possessed in an eminent degree
that intrepid spirit which delights In pursuing bold designs, and was
no less master of that political dexterity which is necessary for carry
ing them on with success ; but these qualities were deeply tinctured
with the neighbouring vices : his address degenerated sometimes into
cunning ; his acuteness bordered upon excess ; his Invention, ever
fertile, suggested to him on some occasions chimerical systems of policy
too refined for the genius of his age or country ; and his enterprisincy

The Lauderdale Maitlands. -ic^
spirit engaged him in projects vast and splendid, but beyond his
utmost power to execute. All the contemporary writers, to whatever
faction they belong, mention him with an admiration which nothing
could have excited but the greatest superiority of penetration and
abilities.' Secretary Maitland married Mary, daughter of Lord Fleming, one
ofthe Queen's ' Maries,' who bore him an only son, James. He went
over to the Roman Catholic body, and withdrew to the Continent,
where he died, leaving two daughters.* He sold his estate of Leth
ington to his uncle —
John Maitland, younger brother of the Secretary, and Prior of
Coldingham, an accomplished lawyer and statesman, who was suc
cessively Lord Privy Seal, Secretary of State, Vice-Chancellor, and
Lord High Chancellor of Scotiand. He was born in 1545, and was
carefully trained In the knowledge of the law, both at home and on the
Continent. On his return he obtained the Abbey of Kelso in
commendam, which he shortly afterwards exchanged for the Priory
of Coldingham. On the resignation of his father, in 1567, he was
appointed Lord Privy Seal by Regent Moray, and a few months later
he was nominated a Lord of Session. Like his brother, he was at
first inclined towards the Lords of the Congregation, but after the
assassination of the Regent he joined the Queen's party, and was in
consequence deprived both of his office and his benefice, and was
obliged, like the Secretary, to take refuge in the castle of Edinburgh.
On the surrender of that fortress he was placed in confinement, from
which he was not released till the fall of Morton in 158 1, when he
was set at liberty by an order ofthe Privy Council. His abilities and
his character commended him to the attention of the young King,
who conferred on him the honour of knighthood, and appointed him
to the office of Secretary of State, which had been so long held by
his brother. In 1586 he was nominated Vice-Chancellor of the
kingdom, and in the following year, on the downfall of the infamous
royal favourite. Captain Stewart, sometime Earl of Arran, Maitland
was raised to the office of Lord High Chancellor. From the time
of his admission to the court down to near the close of his career he
was virtually the minister for Scotland, and the King seems to
have placed Implicit reliance in his judgment and fidelity. It was
to his credit that he incurred the bitter enmity both of Stewart,
Earl of Arran, and of Francis Stewart, the notorious Earl of Both-
* See Addenda, vol. ii., p. 428. >

356 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
well, who repeatedly sought his life. He accompanied James In
his voyage to Norway in TC89 to bring home his bride, and at
Copenhagen, where the royal party spent the winter, he became
intimately acquainted with Tycho Brahe, the celebrated Danish
astronomer, to whom he addressed some complimentary verses.
On his return home, In May, 1590, he was created a peer at the
coronation of the Queen, by the titie cf Lord Maitland of
Thirlestane. Finding that his retention of two such Important offices
as Privy Seal and Chancellor had excited the envy of the courtiers,
he resigned the former in 1591. His influence with the King was,
however, in no degree diminished, and in the following year he per
suaded James to pass the important statute by which the jurisdiction
and discipline of the Church were finally legalised and confirmed.
He shared In the unpopularity, and Indeed odium, which the King
incurred In consequence of the general suspicion that he was pre
viously aware of Huntly's design to assassinate ' the bonnie Earl of
Moray,' and he never regained the position which he had previously
held in public esteem. (See The Campbells of Argyll.)
James's queen had long entertained a grudge against Maitland on
the ground of his supposed opposition to her marriage, and a dispute
with her respecting the regality of Musselburgh and the lands connected
with it led to his retirement from court for a whole year. In order
to conciliate her Majesty, the Chancellor took her part in a contention
respecting the keeping of the young Prince Henry, whom she wished
to remove from the charge of the Earl of Mar (' Jock o' the Sclalts '),
who had been the playfellow of the King. As soon as the scheme
came to the knowledge of James, he broke out into a transport of
anger, and reprehended the Chancellor bitterly for his interference in
a matter with which he had nothing to do. Deeply mortified by these
reproaches, Maitland retired to his seat at Thirlestane, near Lauder,
where he was seized with a fatal illness, and after lingering for two
months, he died October 3rd, 1595. James deeply regretted his out
burst of passion, and wrote an affectionate letter to his old and faithful
servant on his deathbed, and composed an epitaph to his memory.
Spottiswood says of Lord Maitland, ' He was a man of rare parts
and of a deep wit, learned, full of courage, and most faithful to his
king and master. No man did ever carry himself in his place more
wisely, nor sustain it more courageously against his enemies.' The
Chancellor wrote a satire against ' Slanderous Tongues,' from which
he seems to have suffered severely, and an ' Admonition to the Earl

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 357
of Mar,' which have been printed, along with his father's poems, by the
Maitland Club. Several Latin epigrams from his pen are inserted in
the ' Delitlse Poetarum Scotorum.'
John Maitland, only son of the Chancellor, was created Viscount
Lauderdale in ibi6, and Earl of Lauderdale, Viscount Mait
land, and Lord Thirlestane and Boltoun, in 1624. He held the
offices of President of the Council, a Lord of Session, and President
of the Parliament in 1644. He embraced the side of the Parlia
ment in the Great Civil War. Crawford says that the first Earl of
Lauderdale ' was a nobleman of great honour and probity, and
managed his affairs with so much discretion that he made consider
able additions to his fortune.'
The Earl's reputation for honour and integrity stood so high, that
when the charters and other writs forming the title-deeds of the
family had been defaced by their concealment underground during
the Civil Wars, an inventory prepared by him was, by order of
Parliament, authenticated by the Clerk- Registrar, and ordered to be
thereafter received as supplying the place of the original records.
Lady Isabel Seton, his wife, daughter of the Earl of Dunfermline,
bore Earl John seven sons and eight daughters. His eldest son —
John Maitland, second Earl, and only Duke of Lauderdale, born
in 1616, the cruel persecutor of the Covenanters and the sup
porter of Charles II. In his most tyrannical and unconstitutional
projects, has left a name which is held in abhorrence by his
countrymen even at the present day.* He received an excellent
education, and attained great proficiency in the knowledge of the
classics. He was carefully trained in Presbyterian principles. He
entered public life as a zealous supporter of the Covenant. He took
a prominent part in all measures of the Presbyterians in resisting
the innovations of Charles I. and Laud, and in negotiating with the
leaders of the English Parliament. He had a seat as one of the
Scottish representatives in the Westminster Assembly of Divines,
was deeply concerned in the policy of the Presbyterian party through
out the Great Civil War, and was one of the four commissioners sent
from Scotiand to negotiate with the King at Uxbridge. When
Charles took refuge in the Scottish camp, Lauderdale earnestiy en
treated him to accept of the terms offered him by the Scots, and when
these were rejected, the Eari was accused of having been prominent
* See Addenda, vol. ii., p. 429-

358 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
In recommending the surrender of Charles to the English Parliament.
In 1647 he was one of the commissioners sent to persuade his
Majesty to sign the Covenant. After the execution of the King,
Lauderdale went over to Holland and remained there till 1650, when
he accompanied Charles II. to Scotland, and seems to have ingratiated
himself remarkably with that easy-going though shrewd prince.
He took an active part in the Ill-concerted and unfortunate efforts to
replace him on the throne of his ancestors ; joined the badly
managed expedition for that purpose Into England, in 165 1, and was
taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester. He was kept a close prisoner
in the Tower and other places of confinement for nine years, and
was not released until the arrival of Monk in London, in 1660,
Immediately befo.'-e the Restoration.
A traditionary story is told of him at this time which indicates that
In his youth he was of a much more genial and generous disposition
than he is reputed to have become in his later days. One of his
tenants — the farmer of Tollis Hill, in Lauderdale — is said to have
fallen into arrears with his rent, owing to the failure of his crops and
disease among his sheep and cattle. His wife, an active, pushing
dame, waited upon Lord Lauderdale at Thirlestane Castle, and
pleaded earnestly, and, as it appeared, successfully, for a remission of
arrears and forbearance until better times. Her suit was granted by
the Earl, according to a not very probable account, on condition that
she should bring to Thirlestane Castle a snowball in June. Be this
as it may, affairs prospered from that time onward with the farmer
and his thrifty and industrious spouse, and they were enabled to lay
by, for that period, a good deal of money. Days of distress and peril
came upon the Earl, and the ' gudeman ' of Tollis Hill and his wife,
hearing of his Imprisonment and privations, resolved to do what they
could to relieve the necessities of their landlord. The ' gudewife '
determined that she would herself go up to London for that purpose.
She baked a pease-meal bannock, and enclosed In it a considerable
sum of money ; she also concealed a good many gold pieces in the
tresses of her luxuriant hair, which was of a rich golden colour.
Accompanied by one of the farm servants, she accomplished her
laborious and dangerous journey in safety, and succeeded, by means
of the golden key, in obtaining access to the Earl. She then, in
his presence, broke asunder the bannock and disclosed its concealed
treasure, and loosening the tresses of her luxuriant hair, poured out
the gold coins hidden there. Thus, to the great astonishment and

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 359
delight of the Eari, his grateful tenant afforded him the means of
relieving his necessities and ministering to his comfort. The coura
geous dame succeeded in returning safely to her farm, which,
according to tradition, she and her 'gudeman' were allowed to
possess rent free to the end of their lives.
On regaining his liberty when IMonk caused a new Parliament to
be summoned, Lord Lauderdale lost no time in repairing to the
Hague, to wait upon Charles, whom he accompanied to England.
He was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland. A contemporary
writer states that ' Chancellor Hyde endea\-oured to make Lauderdale
Chancellor for Scotland, under pretence of rewarding his sufferlnsi^s,
but really to remove him from a constant attendance at Court.
But Lauderdale, foreseeing tiiat he who was possessed of his
Majesty's ear would govern all, thought fit to reside in London, and
so that employment was bestowed on Glencairn.'
A\'hen tiie establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland was proposed,
Lauderdale strongly resented it, and earnestly advised the King to
maintain the Presbyterian system ; but, as he told Burnet, Charles
* spoke to him to let that go, for it was not a religion for a gentle
man.' After a lengtiiened discussion of die subject in the Council, it
was resolved tiiat the Presbyterian Church should be abolished.
Lauderdale at once fell in with the \-iews of the prelatical party ' as
warmlv,' says Guthrie, ' as Middleton himself had done.' This
astonished Glencairn, who knew Lauderdale to be a violent Pres
byterian by profession. A remarkable and ver)^ characteristic
conversation took place on this subject between these two noblemen.
Glencairn said, 'he was not for lordly prelates such as were in
Scotiand before the Reformation, but for a limited, sober, and
moderate episcopacy.' 'My lord,' replied Lauderdale, 'since you
are for bishops, and must have them, bishops }'0u shall have, and
hlo-her than ever they were in Scotland, and that you will find.' The
Chancellor, in no long time, found to his cost the truth of tills state
ment. " Woe's me ! ' he said, ' we have advanced these men to be
bishops and they will trample on us all' Lauderdale was opposed
to the establishment of the High Court of Commission for the
summary trial and punishment of all recusants, clerg>' and laity,
which was invested with almost absolute powers, and exercised them
with merciless severity ; but when its constitution was pressed by the
bishops, and acceded to by tiie King, he readily acquiesced. Bishop
Burnet savs, ' I took the liberty to expostulate very freely with

360 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Lauderdale. I thought he was acting the Earl of Traquair's part,
giving way to all the follies of the bishops, on design to ruin them.
He upon that ran Into a great deal of freedom with me ; told me
many passages of Sharp's past life. He was persuaded he would
ruin all ; but he said he was resolved to give him line, for he had
not credit enough to stop him, nor would he oppose anything that
he proposed, unless it were very extravagant. He saw that the
Earl of Glencairn and he would be in a perpetual war, and it was
indifferent to him how matters would go between them.'
On the disgrace and dismissal of Middleton, In 1662, Lauderdale's
influence was greatiy increased ; and when Rothes was deprived of all
his offices except that of Chancellor, in 1667, Lauderdale was nominated
President of the Council, First Commissioner of the Treasury, Extra
ordinary Lord of Session, Lord of the Bedchamber, and Governor
of Edinburgh Castie. The whole power and patronage of Scotiand
were placed in his hands, and, supported by the dominant Anglican
party, his Influence was paramount at Court. In 1669 he was
appointed Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament, and he held
the same office In four succeeding sessions, and also in the Con
vention of Estates in 1678. He was created Duke of Lauderdale
and Marquis of March in May, 1672, and a month before this he was
instafled a Knight of the Garter. In 1674 the King created him a
peer of England by the title of Earl of Guildford and Baron Peter
sham, and he was also sworn a member of the Privy Council of
England. His administration of Scotland was a disgrace to
humanity. It was while he was at the head of affairs that the
Infamous ' Act against Conventicles ' was passed by the Estates, In
1670, punishing with death and confiscation of goods all who should
preach or pray at a conventicle. It was he who brought the
' Highland host' upon the western counties; and when told of the
devastation which they had wrought he merely remarked, ' Better
that the West bear nothing but windle-straws and sand-laverocks
(dog-grass and sand-larks) than that It should bear rebels to the
King.' Unsparing use was made of the sword, the halter, and the
boot, in his efforts to crush the Covenanters ; and so Intolerable
became his administration that at length a deputation, consisting of
fourteen peers and fifty gentlemen, with the Duke of Hamilton at
their head, repaired to London and laid their grievances before the
King. But the only redress they obtained was to be told by Charles,
' I perceive that Lauderdale has been guilty of many bad things

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 361
against the people of Scotiand, but I cannot find he has acted
anything contrary to my interest'
Lauderdale's influence In the management of English affairs was
equally pernicious, though in a different way. He was a member of
the infamous Cabal ministry, and as Lord Macaulay remarks, ' Loud
and coarse both in mirth and anger, under the outward show of
boisterous frankness he was perhaps the most dishonest man in the
whole Cabal.' After the downfall of that notorious conclave Lauder-
dale'stlU remained sole minister for Scotland, and carried out with
relentless severity the savage measures of Charles and his councillors.
His habitual debauchery exercised a most deteriorating influence on
his character, and his second wife. Lady Dysart*- — a woman of great
beauty, spirit, and accomplishments, but cruel, rapacious, and extra
vagant — acquired a complete ascendancy over him. The great offices
of State were monopolised by her creatures, and vast sums were
extorted from the Presbyterians to supply her profusion, and satisfy
her ravenous greed of money. Lauderdale's arbitrary and rapacious
conduct, combined with his sale of public offices and tampering with
the courts of law, excited a strong opposition against him, both in Par
liament and in the country, but the support of the King maintained
him in his post His Grace, however, lost the favour of the Duke
of York when he came down to Scotland, in 168 1, and he was deprived
of all his offices except that of Extraordinary Lord of Session, which
had been granted to him for life. He passed the remaining years
of his Hfe in obscurity and disgrace, neglected and illused even by
his wife. He closed his flagitious career August 24, 1684, leaving
by his first wife an only daughter, who married the second Marquis
of Tweeddale. Fountalnhall says Lauderdale 'was the learnedest
and most powerful minister of State in his age ; discontent and age
(corpulency also, it Is said) were the chief ingredients of his death,
*• She was the daughter of ' Will Murray,' son of the parish minister of Dysart, who
held the post of whipping-boy to Charles I., an office which doomed hira to undergo
all the corporal punishment which the prince deserved. Murray rose to be page, then
gentleman of the bedchamber and the trusted confidant of his royal master, whose
secrets he was generally believed to have betrayed to his eneraies. Charles, who was
not aware of his real character, created him Earl of Dysart and Baron Huntingtower.
He left no sons, and his elder daughter, who inherited his titles and estates married
Sir Lionel Tolleraache, the representative of an ancient and wealthy Suffolk family, to
whom she bore a large family of sons and daughters. After Sir Lionel's death, in 1668,
her connection with the Duke of Lauderdale was of such a character that his wife was
obliged to separate from him, and six weeks after her death he married the Countess.
The Dysart peerage is still in existence, and its holders have repeatedly been before the
public in not very creditable circumstances.

362 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
if his duchess and physicians were free of it ; for she abused him
most grossly, and had gotten all from him she could expect, and was
glad to be quit of him.' The Duke was undoubtedly a man of great
natural ability and extensive learning. Bishop Burnet, who knew him
intimately, says ' he was very learned not only in Latin, in which he
was a master, but in Greek and Hebrew. He had read a great deal
of divinity, and almost all the historians ancient and modern. He
had with these an extraordinary memory and a copious but unpolished
expression. He was a man, as the Duke of Buckingham once caUed
him to me, of a blundering understanding. He was haughty beyond
expression ; abject to those he saw he must stoop to, but imperious to
all others. He had a violence of passion that carried him often to fits
like madness. In which he had no temper. If he took a thing wrong,
it was a vain thing to study to convince him ; that would rather pro
voke him to swear he would never be of another mind. He was to
be let alone, and perhaps he would have forgot what he said and
come about of his own accord. He was the coldest friend and the
violentest enemy I ever knew. He at first despised wealth, but he
delivered himself up afterwards to luxury and sensuality, and by that
means he ran into a vast expense and stuck at nothing that was
necessary to support it In his long Imprisonment he had great
impressions of religion on his mind, but he wore these out so entirely
that scarce any trace of them was left His great experience In
affairs, his ready compliance with everything that he thought would
please the King, and his bold offering of the most desperate counsels,
gained him such an interest in the King that no attempt against him
nor complaint of him could ever shake it till a decay of strength and
understanding forced him to let go his hold.' Lauderdale frequently
spoke with coarse ribaldry of the days when he was a Covenanter and
a rebel ; but his opinions continued unchanged, and he retained to the
day of his death his preference for the Presbyterian system. His
personal appearance was extremely unprepossessing, and his portrait
by Lely fully bears out Burnet's description of him. ' He made a
very ill appearance. He was very big, his hair red, hanging oddly about
him. His tongue was too big for his mouth, which made him bedew
all that he talked to, and his whole manner was rough and boisterous,
and very unfit for a court'
As Lauderdale left no male issue, his dukedom and marquisate,
and his English honours, became extinct at his death, but a great part
of his landed property and hereditary titles descended to his brother —

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 36^
Charles, third Earl of Lauderdale, a Lord of Session, under tiic,
titie of Lord Hatton or Halton, taken from an estate in Midlothian,
which he obtained by marriage with the heiress of the ancient family of
the Lauders. He held various important offices under Charles 1 1., and
was as unprincipled, overbearing, and insolent as his kinsman, though
possessed of far Inferior abilities. Along with the Duke, Archbishop
Sharp, and Rothes, the Chancellor, Hatton swore on the trial of
Mitchell, who was accused of firing a pistol at the Archbishop, that no
promise was made to him that his life should be spared if he confessed
the crime. But the records of the Privy Council, which are still in
existence, prove that the promise was really made in the most explicit
terms, and consequently that these councillors were guilty of perjury.
The discovery of certain letters from the Duke and Hatton to Lord
Kincardine, requesting him to ask the King to make good the promise
given to Mitchell, helped to bring about the ruin both of Lauderdale
and his brother. Hatton was prosecuted for perjury, but the trial
was stopped by the adjournment of Parliament, and was not revived.
He was, however, deprived of all his offices, and the Lord Advocate
was ordered to proceed against him for malversation, in connection
with his office of Master of the Mint He was found liable to the
King of ^72,000, but his Majesty reduced the amount to ^20,000,
and ordered ;!^ 16,000 of the sum to be paid to the Chancellor and
/4,ooo to Claverhouse for his services against the Covenanters.
Hatton died in 1691, and was succeeded by his eldest son —
Richard, fourth Earl of Lauderdale. Though he was the son-
in-law of the Earl of Argyll, he became a Roman Catholic, and
at the Restoration of 1688 adhered to the cause of James VII.
Having repaired to France, and joined the court of the exiled
monarch at St Germains, he was outlawed by the High Court of
Justiciary In 1694. It is stated In a manuscript history of the family
that ' his going to France was a noble expedient for the preservation
of his family, and worthy of such a man. He had no children of his
own, and knew that the estates of Lauderdale would descend to his
brother. Sir John Maitland, who was then In possession of the estate
¦ of Hatton ; that by living In a retired way abroad, and not entering
to the estate of Lauderdale, the same would not be affected with his
debts ; that at his death Sir John would unite the Lauderdale and
Hatton estates In his own person, and might thereby be enabled to put
the family on a good footing.' Earl Richard seem.s to have been a

364 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
person of moderate and pmdent \-iews, and expressed his disapproval
of the violent measures proposed by James and his courtiers. He
was, in consequence, forbidden the mimic court at St Germains ; his
wife, who was a Protestant, was ordered to return to her own country,
and his pension was reduced to a hundred pistoles a year. He solaced
himself under this ungrateful treatment by preparing a translation of
Virgil, which was published In two volumes in 1737. Dryden con
fesses in a general way his obligation to a manuscript copy of this
translation, but on its publication it was discovered that ' Glorious
John ' had borrowed a good many passages from it without acknow
ledgment The Earl was also a collector of books, and possessed one
of the choicest libraries of his time. John Evelyn says, ' The Duke
of Lauderdale's library is yet entire, choicely bound, and to be sold
by a friend of mine, to whom It Is pawned ; but it comes far short
of his relation's, the Lord Maltland's, which was certainly the noblest,
most substantial, and accomplished library that ever passed under
the spear, and it heartily grieved me to behold its limbs, like those
of the chaste Hippolytus, separated and torn from that so well-chosen
and compacted a body.' The Earl died at Paris in 1695, and was suc
ceeded by his brother —
John, fifth Earl, who concurred heartily in the Revolution, and
was appointed a judge in the Court of Session, with the title of Lord
Ravelrig — an office which he held for twenty-one years. On suc
ceeding his brother as Earl of Lauderdale, he took the oaths of alle
giance and his seat in Parliament, and gave his strenuous support to
the Union with England. The eldest of his three sons predeceased
him, and at his death, in 17 10, his second son —
Charles, became sixth Earl. He was appointed General of the
Mint, and at the general election he was chosen one of the sixteen
representative peers. He served as a volunteer, under the Duke
of Argyll, in 1715, and fought with great gallantry at the Battie of
Sheriffmuir. He had by his countess, a daughter of the Earl of
Findlater and Seafield, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, a family of
nine sons and five daughters. Two of the former attained high rank In
the army. Charles, the second son, married the heiress of Towie, and
assumed the name of Barclay. The celebrated Russian General, Prince
Barclay de Tolly, who died in 18 18, was a descendant of Charles
Barclay. The sixth son, the Hon. Frederick, a rear-admiral, was the

The Lauderdale Maitlands,

365

founder of the family of Rankeillour, which produced the well-known
Maitland McGill Crichton, the able and zealous advocate of the
principles of the Free Church. Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, the '
grandson of Admiral Maidand, was a distinguished naval officer,
whose eminent services in the war with France, and especially in the
expedition to Egypt in 1801, received high and well-merited com
mendation. It was to him that the Emperor Napoleon surrendered
on board the Bellerophon, in 18 15. He was promoted to the rank
of rear-admiral, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the East
Indies, He died at sea, on Jooard the Wellesley, his flagship, in 1839.
Major Ivlaitiand, who has just made good his claim to the Lauder-
'dale tities and estates, is descended from the fourth son of Earl
Charles. James, seventh Earl, served for twenty-four years in the army,
and held the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was chosen one of the
Scottish representative peers, and under the Act of 1747, abolishing
heritable jurisdictions, he received ;^ 1,000 as compensation for the
regality of Thiristane and baillery of Lauderdale, instead of ^8,000,
which he claimed. His second son was the able but impisrlous
Lieutenant-General Thomas Maitland (commonly known as King
Tom), Governor and Commander-in-Chief at Ceylon. The Earl
obtained a large fortune by his marriage to the only child and heiress
of Sir Thomas Lombe, a wealthy London alderman. He died in 1 789.
His eldest surviving son, James, eighth Earl, born in 1759, was
a distinguished politician and writer on political economy. He was
educated at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasg:ow, and com
pleted his training at Paris. He was admitted a member of the
Faculty of Advocates in 1780. In the same year he entered the
House of Commons as member for a Cornish borough. lie attached
himself to the Whig party under Fox, and took a prominent part in
the opposition to Lord North's administration. He was appointed
by the House of Commons one of the managers of the impeach
ment of Warren Hastings. After succeeding to the family tities
and estates, he was chosen one of the representative peers of Scot
land. He was on a visit to Paris on account of his health, along
with Dr. Moore, the father of Sir John Moore, in 1792, when the
:; attack on the Tuileries and the imprisonment of Louis XVI. took
place, but he promptly quitted the French capital after the massacres

366 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
of September 3rd and the departure of the British ambassador. The
shocking scenes which he witnessed there, however, do not appear
to have moderated his democratic opinions. In the House of Lords
the Farl distinguished himself by his violent opposition to the war
with France, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the Sedition
Bills, and other measures of the Government He gloried in the
designation of ' Citizen Maitland,' and on one occasion said to the
Duchess of Gordon that he hoped the time would come when he
would be known only by that designation. Her unscrupulous Grace
replied that she hoped to see him hanged first The Earl of Lauder
dale was regarded as the leader of the Scottish Whigs, and when the
Ministry of ' All the Talents' was formed In 1806, he was created a
peer of the United Kingdom, was sworn a Privy Councillor, was
appointed Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, and was entrusted
with the whole ministerial patronage of that kingdom. On the 2nd
of August he was sent as Ambassador Extraordinary to Paris, wdth
full powers to conclude a peace with France, but the negotiations
proved abortive. His lordship went out of office on the change of
Ministry In 1807, but he continued for many years to take an active
part in public affairs, in conjunction with the leaders of the Opposi
tion. He deserted his party, however, on the trial of Queen Caroline,
and during the remainder of his long public career he co-operated
zealously with the Tories. He died in 1839, in the eightieth year of
his age.
Lord Lauderdale was undoubtedly a man of great ability and
extensive acquirements, and, but for his violent temper and want of
judgment, might have attained high rank as a statesman. Sir
Walter Scott, who disliked him both on public and private grounds,
speaks in strong terms of Lauderdale's ' violent temper,;^irritated by
long disappointed ambition and ancient feud with all his brother
nobles.' The Earl does not appear to have been a much greater
favourite with the Whig party even when he was a prominent
member of It After his desertion of the Whigs he became the
leader of the Scottish Tory nobles, and managed the election of the
sixteen representative peers In the House of Lords. Lord Cock
burn ascribes the election of twelve of their number hostile to the
Reform Bill of 1831 as due to the skilful manceuvring of that
' cunning old recreant, Lauderdale ; ' and, in a letter to Kennedy of
Dunure, written about the same time, he says, ' Lauderdale has been
in Edinburgh, and I always like him to be against my side, for I

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 367
never knew him right' Lord Lauderdale was the author of numerous
treatises : three on financial subjects—' Thoughts on Finance,' ' An
Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth,' 'Thoughts
on the Alarming State ofthe Currency, and the Means of Redressing
the Pecuniary Grievances of Ireland ; ' ' Hints to the Manufacturers
of Great Britam on the consequences of the Irish Union ; ' 'An In
quiry into the Practical ?ilerits of the System of Government in India
under the Board of Control;' ' Letters on the Cora Laws,' &a, &a
He left a family of four sons and four daughters ; but aU his sons
died unmarried. The two eldest held in succession the family tides
and estates.
James, ninth Earl of Lauderdale, was bom in 17S4 and died in
i860, when his brother. Admiral Sir Anthony Maitland, became
tenth Earl. He was a brave and skilful officer, distinguished
himself greatly during the war with France, and commanded one of
the vessels in Lord Exmouth's expedition against Algiers in 18 16.
In reward of his services he was appointed a Knight Commander of
the Order of St Michael and St George in 1S20, and a IMHItary
Knight Commander of the Bath in 1852. At his death, in 1S63, in
the seventy-eighth year of his age, the British peerage became
extinct, but the Scottish honours devolved on —
Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Maitland, grandson of the seventh
Earl, who had served with distinction on the coast of Spain and in
India and China. He was an honest and straightforward bluff
sailor, who looked, and talked, and bore himself hke a thorough
seaman. He took a prominent part in the discussions in the House of
Lords on naval affairs, in which he displayed all the raciness and
quaint humour of an ' old salt' A frequent spectator ofthe appear
ances of the worthy old veteran in the Upper House describes him
as ' hardened, weather-beaten, and worn by ser\-ice, his face marked
by deep furrows which looked as if they had been ploughed by
Adantic or Pacific gales ; his thin grey locks tossed and dishevelled,
as if these same gales were still playing among them. He used to
stand strongly and stoutly, keeping his sea-legs firmly planted and
well apart, as if the floor of the House were heaving and rolling. In
that attitude he delivered himself in short nautical barks, as if he
w ere hailing the man at the wheel ; and though he did not actually
hitch up his trousers, no one would have been much surprised if he

^68 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.

o

had done so. He looked every inch a sailor, and no fair-weather one
either. He was, moreover, a really good officer ; and Mr. Chllders,
when he was at the head of the Admiralty, always set considerable
store by his Lordship's opinions. At all events, the old sailor gave
a variety to the somewhat monotonously conventional uniformity and
polish of the Upper House, and whether you agreed with him or not,
you could not help taking kindly to his racy talk which brought with
it so pleasant a whiff of the sea breeze.'
The gallant old Admiral passed away in 1878, In the seventy-fifth
year of his age. His only son predeceased hitn, and he was suc
ceeded by his cousin —
Thomas, twelfth Eari, great-grandson of the Hon. Charies Mait
iand, second son of Charies, sixth Eari of Lauderdale. This noble
man was killed in 1884 by a stroke of lightning. He was unmarried,
and the family tities and honours— Earl, Viscount, and Baron of Lau
derdale, Baron Maitiand of Thiristane, Baron Thiristane and Boltoun,
and Baronet of Scotiand and Nova Scotia, and Hereditary Standard-
bearer of Scotiand — along with the estates, which are in the counties
of Berwick, Haddington, and Roxburgh were claimed by Major
Frederick Maitiand and by Sir James Ramsay Gibson-Maitland, of
Clifton Hall, Baronet Both claimants are descended from Charles
Maitiand, sixth Earl of Lauderdale, but the progenitor of Sir James
was the Hon. Sir Alexander, fifth son, while Major Maitland is the
great grandson of the Hon. Richard Maitland, fourth son of the
sixth Earl. This statement was admitted by Sir James R. G. Mait
land to be correct, but he asserted that Richard Maitland died
unmarried, 13th July, 1772, and that if Patrick Maitland, from whom
Major Maitland claims to be descended, was the son of the said
Richard Maitland, he was not born In wedlock, and was consequently
illegitimate. He further contended that for a considerable time prior
to his death Richard Maitland was domiciled In British North
America, in no part of which did the law of legitimation by subsequent
marriage prevail. He therefore pleaded that the succession as to the
lands and estates of the earldom of Lauderdale had devolved upon
him as the nearest lawful heir, called to succeed thereto under the
destinations In the deeds of entail.
Major Maitland, on the other hand, denied that his ancestor, the
Hon. Richard Maitland, died unmarried, and averred that, at New
York, on the nth of July, 1772, he married Mary Macadam, of New

The Lauderdale Maitlands. 369
York, the clergyman officiating at the ceremony of marriage being
the Rev. John Ogllvy, D.D., assistant minister of Trinity Church,
New York. He alleged that he is the eldest son of the deceased
Frederick E. Maitiand, a general In the Indian army, who was the
eldest son of Patrick Maitland, some time in the Royal Navy, there
after banker in Calcutta, who was the second son of the Hon. Richard
Maitland. (The eldest, an admiral, died without Issue.) He admitted
that Patrick Maitland, his grandfather, was born before the marriage
of his parents, but he averred that his great-grandfather, Richard
Maitland, was born in Scotland on the loth of February, 1724, that
his domicile of origin was therefore Scottish, that he entered the
army while in minority, and was in active service until the date of
his death, that he never lost his domicile of origin, and that by his
marriage his son Patrick Maitland was by the law of Scotland
legitimated. After a very full and careful consideration of the pretensions of the
two claimants, the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords, on
the 22nd of July, 1885, unanimously decided in favour of Major
Maitland, who thereupon became thirteenth Earl of Lauderdale in
the peerage of Scotland.
According to the Doomsday Book, the family estates consist of
2,468 acres in Berwickshire, of 75 in East Lothian, and 756 in Rox
burghshire, with an aggregate rental of ;^ 17,3 19 i is.

VOL. I. c c

THE HOMES.
[HE Homes are among the oldest and most celebrated of
the historical families of Scotland. Their founder was
descended from the Earls of Dunbar and March, who
sprung from the Saxon kings of England and the princes
of Northumberland. After the conquest of that country by William
of Normandy, Cospatrick, the great Earl of Northumberland, and
several other Saxon nobles connected with the northern counties, fled
into Scotland In the year 1066, carrying with them Edgar Atheling,
the heir of the Saxon line, and his two sisters, Margaret and Christina.
Malcolm Canmore, who married the Princess Margaret, bestowed on
the expatriated noble the manor of Dunbar, and broad lands in the
Merse and the Lothians. Patrick, the second son of the third Earl
of Dunbar, Inherited from his father the manor of Greenlaw, and
having married his cousin Ada, daughter of the fifth Earl by his
wife, a natural daughter of William the Lion, obtained with her the
lands of Home (pronounced Hume), in Berwickshire, from which the
designation of the family was taken. The armorial bearings of his
ancestors, the Earls of Dunbar, which were a white lion on a red
field, were assumed by him on a green field for a difference, referring
to his paternal estate of Greenlaw.
Under the protection of their potent kinsman, the De Homes
flourished and extended their possessions, and kept vigilant ' watch
and ward ' on the Eastern Marches against the Incursions of the
Northumbrian freebooters. One of their chiefs, a Sir John de Home,
was so conspicuous for his successful forays across the Border, always
fighting In a white jacket, that he obtained from the English the
sobriquet of ' Willie with the White Doublet.' The son of this
redoubtable Border chief acquired the estate of Dunglass (from
which the second titie of the family is taken) by his marriage to the

HOMES.

The Homes. .jyj
heiress of Nicholas Pep"die, In the reign of Robert III. The second
son of this couple was the founder of the wariike family of Wedder-
burn, from which the Earis of Marchmont are descended.
Hitherto the De Homes had acknowledged as their feudal lords the
Earis of Dunbar and March, the heads of the great house from which
they sprung, who, from their vast possessions and their strong castle
of Dunbar, on the eastern Border, having the keys of the kingdom
at their girdle, as they boasted, were among the most powerful nobles
in the kingdom. Partly from ambition, partly, it would appear, from
a hereditary fickleness of character, these barons were noted for the
frequency with which they changed sides in the wars between Eng
land and Scotland. The eleventh Eari was In the end unfairly
deprived of his earidom, castles, and estates by James I., towards
the middle of the fifteenth century. In pursuance of his policy to break
down the power of the great nobles. As some compensation for this
treatment, the King conferred upon him the titie of Eari of Buchan,
but he indignantly refused to accept of the honour, and sought an
asylum in England, from which he never afterwards returned. His
father, the tenth Earl of Dunbar and March, who was one of the
heroes of Otterburn, in consequence of the manner in which the
contract of marriage between his daughter and the Duke of Rothe
say was broken off (see The Douglases), renounced his allegiance
for a time to his sovereign ; the De Homes, his kinsmen, abandoned
his banner, and fought against him and Harry Percy at the sangui
nary battle of Homildon, where their chief. Sir Alexander Home,
was taken prisoner. On regaining his liberty he accompanied the
Earl of Douglas (Shakespeare's Earl, nicknamed Tineman) to France,
shared in his triumphs and disasters, and fell along with him at the
battle of Verneuil, in 1424, where the Scottish auxiliaries were almost
annihilated. Sir Alexander's second son, Thomas, was the ancestor
of the Homes of Tynlngham and the Humes of Ninewells, the
family of which David Hume, the philosopher and historian, was
a member. After the final overthrow of the Earls of Dunbar and March, in
January, 1436, the Homes succeeded to a portion of their vast estates,
and to a great deal of their power on the Borders as Wardens of the
Eastern Marches. Sir Alexander Home, the head of the family, was
created a peer by the title of Lord Home, 2nd August, 1473, and seems
to have possessed considerable diplomatic ability, as he was frequently
employed by James III. in carrying out Important negotiations with

372 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the English Court. His father and his uncle had held in succession
the office of bailie of the lands belonging to the monastery of Colding
ham, and he induced the prior and chapter to make the office hered
itary in his family. He exerted all his influence in that situation
to obtain possession of the large conventual property, and indeed
seized and appropriated it to his own use. He was, therefore, greatly
irritated by the attempt of King James, with the consent of the Pope,
to attach the revenues of the priory to the Chapel Royal at Stirling,
and joined the disaffected nobles in their conspiracy against that ill-
fated sovereign. His Border spearmen contributed not a little to the
defeat and death of James at Sauchie. The Homes obtained a liberal
share of the fruits of the victory gained by the rebellious barons.
The revenues of Coldingham, the prize for which Lord Home had
rebelled and fought against his sovereign, were allowed to remain in
his possession, and Alexander Home, second baron, his grandson
and heir, was appointed immediately after the murder of James to
the office of Steward of Dunbar, and obtained besides a large share
of the administration of the Lothians and Berwickshire. He was also
sworn a Privy Councillor in 1488, and was appointed for life to the
important office of Great Chamberlain of Scotland. In 1489 he
was nominated Warden of the East Marches for seven years, and
at the same time was made captain of the castle of Stirling, and
governor of the young King. The tuition of John, Earl of Mar, the
brother of James IV., was likewise committed to this potent noble.
He obtained also a charter of the baillery of Ettrick Forest, and In
the following year was appointed by the Estates to collect the royal
rents and dues within the earldom of March and barony of Dunbar.
In 1497 Lord Home repaired to the royal standard with his retainers
when James IV. invaded England in support of the pretensions of
Perkin Warbeck. In retaliation for his ravages in Northumberiand and
Durham, an English army, under the Eari of Surrey, laid waste the
estates ofthe Homes, and ' demolished old Ayton Castie, the strongest
of their forts,' as Ford terms it, in his dramatic chronicle of ' Perkin
Warbeck.' The Homes had now gained a position In the foremost rank of
the great nobles of Scotiand, and Alexander, the third lord, who
succeeded to the vast estates of the family in 1506, elevated them to
the highest summit of rank and power ever attained by their house.
In 1507 he was appointed to the office of Lord Chamberlain, which

The Homes. 373
had been held by his father, and succeeded him also in the warden-
ship of the Eastern Marches.
When war was about to break out between James IV. and his
brother-in-law, Henry VIII., Lord Home, at the head of three or four
thousand men, made a foray into England and pillaged and burned
several villages or hamlets on the Borders. On their return home
laden with booty, and marching carelessly and without order, the
invaders fell Into an ambush laid for them by Sir William Bulmer
among the tall broom on Millfield Plain, near Wooler, and were sur
prised and defeated with great slaughter. According to the English
chronicler, Hollnishead, five or six hundred were slain in the conflict,
and four hundred were taken prisoners, among whom was Sir George
Home, the brother of Lord Home. Buchanan, however, estimates
the number of prisoners at two hundred, and says that it was the rear
only which fell into the ambuscade, while the other portion of the
force with their plunder arrived safely in Scotland.
This mortifying reverse deeply Incensed the Scottish king, and
made him doubly Impatient to commence hostilities in order to
avenge the defeat sustained by his Warden.
When James took the field shortly after. Lord Home brought
a powerful array of his followers to the royal banner. In that cam
paign which terminated in the fatal battie of Flodden. The Homes
and the Gordons, under Lord Huntly, formed the vanguard of the
Scottish army in that engagement, and commenced the battle by a
furious charge on the English right wing, under Sir Edmund
Howard, which they threw Into confusion and totally routed. Sir
Edmund's banner was taken, he himself was beaten down and placed
in imminent danger, and with difficulty escaped to the division com
manded by his brother, the Admiral. The old English ballad on
•Flodden Field ' thus describes Home's attack on the English van
guard : — ' With whom encountered a strong Scot,
Which was the King's chief Chamberlain,
Lord Home by name, of courage hot.
Who manfully marched them again.
' Ten thousand Scots, well tried and told
Under his standard stout he led ;
When the Englishmen did them behold
For fear at first they would have fled.'
Lord Dacre, who commanded the English reserve, however, advanced
to Sir Edmund's support, and kept the victorious Homes and Gordons

374 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
in check. He states. In a letter to the English Council, dated May
17th, 15 14, that on the field of Brankston he and his friends
encountered the Earl of Huntly and the Chamberlain ; that Sir John
Home, Cuthbert Home of Fast Castle, the son and heir of Sir John
Home, Sir William Cockburn of Langdon, and his son, the son and
heir of Sir David Home [of Wedderburn], the laird of Blacater, and
many other of Lord Home's kinsmen and friends, were slain ; and
that on the other hand Philip Dacre, brother of Lord Dacre, was
taken prisoner by the Scots, and many other of his kinsfolk, servants,
and tenants, were either taken or slain in the struggle. Sir David
Home of Wedderburn had seven sons in the battle, who were called
' The Seven Spears of Wedderburn.' Sir David himself and his
eldest son, George, fell in the conflict with Lord Dacre. These facts
completely disprove the charge made against the chief of the Homes
that he remained inactive after defeating the division under Sir
Edmund Howard. It is alleged, however, by Pitscottie, that when
the Earl of Huntly urged Lord Home to go to the assistance of the
King, he replied, ' He does well that does well for himself; we have
fought our vanguard and won the same, therefore let the lave [rest]
do their part as well as we.' This statement, however. Is In the
highest degree improbable, and is directly at variance with the
account which Lord Dacre gives of his conflict with the Homes, after
they had defeated Sir Edmund Howard's division. It seems to have
been invented by the enemies of Home, who, though he fought with
conspicuous courage in the battle, incurred great odium In conse
quence of his having returned unhurt and loaded with spoil* from
this fatal conflict. It was even alleged that he had carried off
the King from the battlefield and afterwards put him to death. A
preposterous story passed current among the credulous of that day
that In the twilight, when the battle was nearly ended, four horsemen
mounted the King on a dun hackney and conveyed him across the
Tweed with them at nightfall. From that time he was never seen or
heard of, but it was asserted that he was murdered either in Home
Castle or near Kelso by the vassals of Lord Home. This absurd tale
was revived about fifty or sixty years ago by a popular writer, who
gave credit to a groundless rumour that a skeleton wrapped in a
bull's hide and surrounded with an iron chain had been found in the
well of Home Castle. Sir Walter Scott says he could never find any
* The baggage-waggons were drawn up behind Edmund Howard's division — a fact
which may account for the Borderers having secured so much spoU.

The Homes. ,-^
better authority for the story than the sexton of the parish having
said that if the well were cleaned out he would not be surprised
at_ such a discovery. Lord Home had no motive to commit such a
crime. He was the chamberiain of the King, and his chief favourite •
and, as It has been justly remarked, he had much to lose (in fact, did
lose all) in consequence of James's death, and had nothing earthly to
gain by that event.
Six months after the battie of Flodden, Lord Home was nominated
one of the standing councillors of Queen Margaret, who had been
chosen Regent, and was also appointed Chief Justice of all the
country south of the Forth. He was deeply implicated in all the
intrigues of that turbulent and factious period of Scottish history, and
was alternately on the side of the Queen Dowager and of Albany,
who succeeded her as Regent after her marriage to the Eari of Angus!
He protected Margaret in her flight Into England in 1516, and
concocted with Lord Dacre measures to overthrow the Government
of the Regent. In revenge for these proceedings Albany marched
into the Merse at the head of a powerful army, overran and ravaged
Home's estates, captured Home Castie, his principal stronghold, and
razed Fast Castie, another of his fortalices, to the ground. Under
pretence of granting him an amnesty and a pardon, Albany induced
Home to meet him at Dunglass, where he was treacherously arrested
and committed a prisoner to the castie of Edinburgh, then under
"the charge ofthe Earl of Arran, his brother-in-law. He contrived,
however, to prevail on Arran, not only to let him escape from prison,
but to accompany him in his flight into England. A few months
later Home made his peace with the Regent and was restored to his
estates on condition that if ever he rebelled again he should be
brought to trial for his old offences. But, unmindful of the warning
he had received, and disregarding his promise, he speedily renewed
his treasonable Intrigues with Lord Dacre, the English Warden, who
hired Home's retainers to plunder and lay waste the country, so that,
as Dacre himself admits, the Eastern Marches were a prey to constant
robberies, fire-raisings, and murders. Incensed at this behaviour,
Albany resolved that he would no longer show forbearance to this
factious and turbulent baron, and having by fair promises induced
him and his brother William to visit Holyrood, In September, 15 16,
he caused them both to be arrested, by the advice of the Council,
tried on an accusation of treason, condemned and executed. Their
heads were exposed above the Tolbooth and their estates confiscated.

376 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Buchanan mentions that one of the charges brought against the
Chamberlain was that he was accessory to the defeat at Flodden and
the death of the King, which shows at what an early period this
unfounded report was prevalent. The historian adds that the
accusation, though strongly expressed, being feebly supported by
proof, was withdrawn. Another brother, David Home, Prior of
Coldingham, was shortly after assassinated by the Hepburns. The
execution of Lord Home was keenly resented by his vassals and
retainers. Among the fierce Border race the exaction of blood foi
blood was regarded as a sacred duty. Albany himself retired to
France and thus escaped their vengeance, but they determined to
revenge the death of their chief by slaying the Regent's friend, the
Sieur de la Bastie, a gallant and accomplished French knight, whom
he had appointed Warden of the Eastern Marches in the room
of Lord Home. For this purpose, David Home of Wedderburn
and some other friends of the late noble pretended to lay siege to
the tower of Langton, In the Merse of Berwickshire, which belonged
to their allies and accomplices, the Cockburns. On receiving Intelli
gence of this outrage, the Warden, who was residing at Dunbar,
hastened to the spot accompanied by a slender train (19th September,
15 1 7). He was immediately surrounded and assailed by the Homes,
. and, perceiving that his life was menaced, he attempted to save him
self by flight. His ignorance of the country, however, unfortunately
led him Into a morass near the town of Dunse, where he was over
taken and cruelly butchered by John and Patrick Home, younger
brothers ofthe laird of Wedderburn. Thatferociouschief himself cut
off the head ofthe Warden, knitted It in savage triumph to his saddle
bow by its long flowing locks, which are said to be still preserved in the
charter-chest of the family, and galloping into Dunse, he affixed the
ghastly trophy of his vengeance to the market cross. The Parliament,
which assembled at Edinburgh on the 19th of February, 15 18, passed
sentence of forfeiture, against David Home of Wedderburn, his
three brothers, and their accomplices in this murder. The Earl of
Arran, a member of the Council of Regency, assembled a powerful
army and marched towards the Borders for the purpose of enforcing
the sentence. The Homes, finding resistance hopeless, submitted
to his authority. The keys of Home Castle were delivered to Arran,
and the Border towers of Wedderburn and Langton were also sur
rendered to him. The actual perpetrators of the murder, however,
made their escape Into England, and it is a striking proof of the

The Homes. ^y-
weakness and remissness of the Government at that time that none
of them were ever brought to trial or punishment for their foul
crime.* The forfeited title and estates of Lord Home, who left no male
issue, were restored. In 1522, to his brother George, who became
fourth Lord. Like his predecessors, he appears to have possessed
the fickleness and Instability of character which the family probably
Inherited from their versatile ancestors, the Earis of March. He
deserted the party of the Eari of Angus— Queen Margaret's second
husband— whom the Homes had hitherto supported, and became for
a time a strenuous- partisan of Albany, probably In return for the
restitution of the family estates and honours. But two or three years
later he was found fighting on the side of Angus at the battie of
Melrose, where Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch made an unsuccessful
attempt to rescue the young King, James V., from the hands of the
Douglases. Shortiy after he assisted the Earl of Argyll in driving
Angus across the Border and compelling him to take refuge in
England. It is due to Lord Home, however, to state that, though
thus inconstant in his adherence to the cause of his brother nobles,
the remark which Sir James Melvll made respecting his son is equally
applicable to him, that ' he was so true a Scotsman that he was
unwinnable to England to do any thing prejudicial to his country.'
There were very few Scottish nobles of that day of whom this
could with truth be said. In August, 1542, Lord Home, along with
the Earl of Huntly, defeated, at Haddon-RIg, a few miles to the east
of Kelso, a body of three thousand horsemen, who were laying waste
* David Home, the leader in the plot for the murder of De la Bastie, was one ofthe
' Seven Spears of Wedderburn,' who fought at Flodden, where his father and eldest brother
were killed. He seems to have been as noted for his ferocity and blood-thirstiness as for
his bravery. He was so powerful in the Merse that it was said ' none alraost pretended to
go to Edinburgh, or anywhere else out of the country, without first both asking and
obtaining his leave.' Blackadder, Prior of Coldinghara, however, refused to submit to his
arbitrary control and claims ; and Home, meeting him one day while he was following
the sports ofthe chase, assassinated him and six of his attendants. His brother, the Dean
of Dunblane, shared the same fate. The object which the Homes had in view was to
obtain possession of the estate of Blackadder, that had belonged to Andrew Black-
adder, who fell at Flodden, leaving a widow and two daughters, at that time mere
children. The Homes attacked the castle of Blackadder, where the widow and her
, daughters resided. The garrison made a brave resistance, but were ultimately obliged
to surrender. The widow was compelled to marry Sir David Home, and her two
daughters were contracted to his younger brothers, John and Robert (the forraer one of
the murderers of De la Bastie), and were closely confined in the castle until they carae
of age. The estate was entailed in the male hne, and should have passed to Sir John
Blackadder of Tulliallan, but he was waylaid and assassinated by the Homes in 1526,
and they ultimately succeeded in retaining possession of the estate by force.

378 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
the country under the command of Sir Robert Bowes, the English
Warden, the banished Earl of Angus, and Sir George Douglas. The
encounter was fierce and protracted and was decided in favour of
the Scots by the timely arrival of Lord Home with four hundred
lances. The English were completely defeated, and left six hundred
prisoners in the hands of the victors, among whom were the Warden
himself, his brother, and other persons of note. A few months later,
in conjunction with Huntly and Seton, Home did good service by
harassing a formidable army which invaded Scotland under, the
Duke of Norfolk, and compelling him in little more than a week to
retire to Berwick and disband his forces. In a skirmish with the
Plngllsh horsemen, on the 9th of September, 1547, the day before the
battle of Pinkie, Lord Home, who commanded the Scottish cavalry,
was thrown from his horse and severely injured, and his son, the
Master of Home, was taken prisoner. His lordship was carried to
the castle of Edinburgh, where he died. His wife, a co-heiress of
the old family of the Halyburtons of Dirleton, stoutly defended
Home Castle against the Protector Somerset, but was ultimately
obliged to surrender, and it was garrisoned by a detachment of
English troops. Lord Home left two sons and a daughter.
Alexander, his elder son, fifth Baron, was a true representative
of his family both in its strength and its weakness. He was per
sonally brave, and fought with great distinction against the Eng
lish invaders in the campaign of 1548 and 1549. Unlike a large
body of the nobles, he steadfastly supported the independence of the
country, and was proof against the bribes and threats of the Protector
Somerset and his agents. He recovered Home Castle from the enemy
In a very daring manner. A small band of his retainers, who were
on the watch for an opportunity of surprising it, perceiving on a
certain night that the guards had relaxed their vigilance, boldly
scaled the precipitous rock on which the fortress was built, and,
killing the sentinel, obtained possession of the castle without diffi
culty. Fast Castle, another fortallce of the family, was retaken in a
manner equally adventurous. A number of armed men concealed
themselves in the waggons which were bringing a supply of pro
visions for the garrison. Suddenly starting out of their hiding-place,
the Scots seized the castle gates and admitted a strong body
of their countrymen, who were waiting their signal in the immediate
vicinity of the fort. The garrison being taken unawares, were easily

The Homes. 375
overpowered, and the place secured. Lord Home was appointed to
the office of Warden of the Eastern Marches, so often held by his
ancestors, and was one of the commissioners who negotiated the
treaty between England and Scotland at Norham in 1559. He sup
ported the Reformation, and sat in the Parliament which abolished
Popery and established the Protestant Church in 1560; but In 1565
he attached himself to the party of Mary and Darnley, who in the
following year, with a splendid retinue, visited the family castles of
Home, Wedderburn, and Langton. He seemed to stand so high
in the favour of the Queen at this time that it was expected that
the ancient title of Earl of March would be revived in his favour.
He was one of the nobles who signed the discreditable bond In
favour of the Queen's marriage to Bothwell, but only a few weeks
later he joined the association for the defence of the infant King,
her son, and along with the Earls of Morton, Mar, Glencairn, and
Athole, Lords Lindsay, Ruthven, Graham, and Ochiltree, he sub
scribed the order for Mary's imprisonment in Lochleven Castle.
After the Queen's escape from that fortallce. Home brought a body
of six hundred spearmen to the assistance of the Regent Moray at
the battle of Langslde, where he was wounded both In the face and
the leg ; but the fierce charge of the Border spearmen contributed
not a littie to the defeat ofthe Queen's army. In 1569, however, he
once more changed sides, and joined Queen Mary's party. He
assisted KIrkaldy of Grange and Maitiand of Lethington in holding
out the castie of Edinburgh to the last against Regent Morton ; but
on its surrender in May, 1573, he was more fortunate than his asso
ciates, for though he was brought to trial before the Pariiament and
convicted of treason, he was pardoned, and obtained the restoration
of his estates. He died nth August, 1575.
Alexander, sixth Lord Home, stood high in the favour of King
James VI., by whom he was created Eari of Home and Baron
Dunglass, 4th March, 1605.
In the Pariiament held in 1578 Lord Home obtained the reversal
of the forfeiture passed against his father for his adherence to the
party of Queen Mary. David Home of Godscroft represents this as
having been mainly brought about by the intervention of his brother.
Sir George Home of Wedderburn, with the Eari of Morton ; and,
according to Godscroft, it was against the will and judgment of the
Regent that Wedderburn' s mediation was effectual. The affair
VOL. I. 3 K.

380 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
affords a striking Illustration of the influence of the feeling of clan
ship and fidelity to the chief overpowering even the dictates of self-
interest. Morton 'frankly informed Sir George Home that 'he
thought It not his best course.' ' For,' he said, * you will never get
any good out of that house, and if it were once taken out of the way
you are next ; and it may be you will get small thanks for your pains. '
Sir George answered that * the Lord Home was his chief, and he
could not see his house ruined. If they were unkind, that would be
their own fault. This he thought himself bound to do. And for his
own part, whatsoever their carriage were to him, he would do his
duty to them. If his chief should turn him out at the fore-door, he
would come in again at the back-door.' ' Well,' said Morton, ' if
you be so minded it shall be so. I can do no more but tell you my
opinion.' And so he consented. *
The Earl appears, however, to have been largely Imbued with the
ferocity of the Borderers. It is mentioned by Patrick Anderson
that In May, 1593, 'Lord Home came to Lauder, and asked for
William Lauder, bailie of that burgh, commonly called William
at the West Port, being the man who hurt John Cranston (nick
named John with the Gilt Sword). Lauder fled to the Tolbooth,
as being the strongest and surest house for his relief; but the Lord
Home caused put fire to the house, and burnt It all. The gentle
man remained therein till the roof-tree fell. In the end he came
desperately out amongst them, and hazarded a shot of a pistol at
John Cranston, and hurt him ; but It being impossible to escape with
life, they most cruelly, without mercy, hacked him with swords and
whingers all in pieces.'
Lady Marischal, sister of Lord Home, ' hearing the certainty of
the cruel murder of William Lauder, did mightily rejoice thereat,
and writ It for good news to sundry of her friends in the country. But
within less than twenty-four hours after, the lady took a swelling in
her throat, both without and within, after a great laughter, and could
not be cured till death seized upon her with great repentance.'
A remission for this barbarous slaughter was granted b}?- the King
in 1606 to the Earl of Home, Hume of Hutton Hall, Thomas Tyrie,
tutor of Drunkllbo, John Hume in Kells, and other persons.f
A conspiracy of Bothwell and certain discontented nobles, in
i593-4> for the seizure of the King's person, was directed also
* History of the House of Douglas, ii. p. 260.
t Domestic Annals of Scotland, \. pp. 299, 300; Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, pp. 111-16.

The Homes. 381
against Home and other Popish leaders, who were to have been put
to death ; but It was fortunately detected in time, and Home was
ordered by the King to encounter Bothwell when he was advancing
to attack the capital. Home's forces were put to the rout, but Both-
well, who had been thrown from his horse, was so severely injured
that he made no attempt to follow up his success. When the Popish
lords were excommunicated by the Assembly, Home escaped that
sentence by making professions of penitence, and promising to sign
the Confession of Faith, to attend public worship in the Reformed
Church, and to abstain from all intercourse with Jesuits and seminary
priests. The Assembly, on this, ordained that he should be formally
released by the Moderator from the spiritual burden under which,
according to his own profession, he was suffering so much distress of
mind. The Earl died in April, 161 9. His only son, James, second
Earl, was twice married, but died without issue.
The family titles devolved on the heir male. Sir James Home of
Cowdenknowes, a descendant of the second son of the first Lord
Home, who obtained from Charles I. a ratification of all the honours,
privileges, and precedencies enjoyed by the two previous Earls. But
the greater part of the extensive estates of the family were divided
between the two sisters of the late Earl, one of whom was Countess
of Moray, the other the Duchess of Lauderdale, the first wife of the
notorious persecutor of the Covenanters.
The political power of the Homes was now at an end. The suc
cessive heads of this ancient, and at one time great house, were in
no way distinguished for their abilities or activity, and shorn as they
were of their territorial influence, they sank into obscurity. They
were so unfortunate also as to espouse the losing side in the Great
Civil War, and they suffered severely by pecuniary penalties for their
loyalty. It would appear, however, that the Eari had at last become
hopeless or lukewarm in the cause. He and the Eari of Roxburgh
invited the Marquis of Montrose to the Borders after the battle of
Kilsyth, but they were surprised by a party of Leslie's men, and
carried prisoners to Berwick. Montrose evidentiy suspected that
there had been collusion between them and the Covenanting general,
for in a letter which Sir Robert Spottiswood, who was with the
Marquis, wrote to Lord Digby from Kelso, he says, ' He [Montrose]
was invited hereunto by the Earis of Roxburgh and Home, who,
when he was within a dozen miles of them, have rendered themselves

382 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
and their houses to David Leslie, and are carried in as prisoners to
Berwick.' The Earl was colonel ofthe Berwickshire regiment in the
army of the ' Engagement,' levied in 1648 for the rescue of Charles I.
As a ' Malignant,' he was of course excluded from the Covenanting
forces which, under General David Leslie, were raised in behalf of
Charles II. But after the battle of Dunbar and the capture of Edin
burgh Castle in 1650, Cromwell, to whom the Earl seems to have
been peculiarly obnoxious', despatched Colonel Fenwick to reduce
Home Castle. Whitelock gives a somewhat amusing account of the
reduction of this stronghold. 'February 3rd, 1656. Letters that
Colonel Fenwick summoned Home Castle to be surrendered to
General Cromwell. The governor [whose name was Cockburn]
answered, "I know not Cromwell; and as for my castle, it is built
on a rock." Whereupon Colonel Fenwick played upon him a little
with the great guns. But the governor still would not yield ; nay,
sent a letter couched in these singular terms : —
" I, William of the Wastle,
Am now in my castle.
And a' the dogs in the toun
Shanna gar me gang doun." '
So that there remained nothing but opening the mortars upon this
William of the Wastle, which did ' gar him gang doun,' and allow
the castle to be garrisoned by English soldiers. These doggrel
rhymes are familiar in the mouths of Scottish children down to the
present day.
At the Restoration, Earl James was reinstated in his property ;
but that was only a mere fragment of the ancient patrimony of the
family. He died in 1666. His eldest son Alexander, fourth Earl,
and his second son James, fifth Earl, both died without issue.*
Charles, sixth Earl, his youngest son, did not concur In the
Revolution of 1668, and took a leading part In the opposition to the
union with England ; consequently his fortunes were not improved
by the favour of the Court or of the Government He died In
1706, while the Treaty of Union was pending. James Home, the
* It was Earl James who, when the Covenanters held a Communion in the open air
at East Nisbet, on the banks of the Whitadder, was said to have ' intended to assault
the meeting with his men and militia, and profanely threatened to make their horses
drink the Communion wine, and trample the sacred elements under foot.' To protect
the assembled multitude, amounting to at least four thousand persons, from molestation,
pickets were appointed to reconnoitre the places from which danger was apprehended
and a body of horse was drawn round the place of meeting, but no attempt was
made to disturb them.

The Homes.

383

second of his three sons, took part in the rebellion of 17 15, and his
estate was In consequence forfeited. The rental was at that time
^323 los. 5d., while that of Wedderburn, which was also forfeited,
was only /2 1 3 os. lod. The Earl's eldest son, Alexander, was
so strongly suspected of disaffection to the Government that
on the breaking out of the rebellion In 17 15 he was committed
a prisoner to the castie of Edinburgh. The eldest of his six
sons predeceased him ; but William, the second son and eighth
Earl, wiser in his generation than his father and grandfather, sup
ported the Government in the rebellion of 1745, displayed the
hereditary valour of his house at the luckless battle of Prestonpans,
where he strove, but In vain, to rally the panic-stricken dragoons,
and was appointed Governor of Gibraltar, where he died in 1761,
with the rank of Lieutenant-General in the British army. His
three successors — one of whom, Alexander, ninth Earl, was a
clergyman of the Church of England — were obscure and uninfluentlal
persons. There was one of the chiefs of this fierce race, Sir David Home,
whose character, as drawn by his son, the author of the ' History of
the House of Douglas,' presents a pleasing contrast to that of his
sanguinary predecessors. He was the first of his family who died a
natural death, all the rest having lost their lives in defence of their
country. ' He was,' says Godscroft, ' a man remarkable for piety and
probity, ingenuity [candour], and integrity; neither was he altogether
illiterate, being well versed in the Latin tongue. He had the Psalnis,
and particularly some short sentences of them, always in his mouth,
such as, "It is better to trust in the Lord than In the princes of the
earth," " Our hope ought to be placed In God alone." He parti
cularly delighted In the 146th Psalm, and sung it whilst he played
on the harp with the most sincere and unaffected devotion. He was
strictly just, utterly detesting all manner of fraud. I remember when
a conversation happened among some friends about prudence and
fraud, his son George happened to say that it was not unlaw
ful to do a good action and for a good end, although it might be
brought about by indirect methods, and that this was sometimes
necessary. "What," says he, "George, do you call an Indirect
way ? It is but fraud and deceit covered under a specious name, and
never to be admitted by a good man." He himself always acted on

384 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
this principle, and was so strictly just and so little desirous of what
was his neighbour's, that In the time of the Civil Wars, when Alexan
der, his chief, was forfeit for his defection from the Queen's party, he
might have had his whole patrimony and also the abbacy of Col
dingham, but refused both the one and the other. When Patrick
Lindsay desired that he would ask something from the Governor
[Morton], as he was sure whatever he asked would be granted, he
refused to ask anything, saying that he was content with his own.
Lindsay still insisted, and told him, " If you do not get a share of our
enemies' estates, our party will never put sufficient trust in you."
To this David answered, " If I never can give proofs of my fidelity
otherwise than in that manner, I will never give any, let him doubt
of it who may. I have hitherto lived content with my own, and will
live so, nor do I want any more." Being educated In affluence,
he delighted In fencing, hunting, riding, throwing the javelin,
managing horses, and likewise in cards and dice ; yet he was suffi
ciently careful of his affairs without doors. Those of a more
domestic nature he committed to the care of his wife, and when he
had none, to his servants ; so that he neither increased nor diminished
his patrimony. Godscroft, In the true spirit of his age, cites his
father's love to the house of Home as ' not the least of his virtues.'
The chief was prejudiced against him, but ' he bore It patiently, and
never failed giving him all due honour.' Ultimately Lord Home
came to understand his real character, and to place in him that con
fidence which he so well merited.
Sir George Home, the son and successor of this worthy old laird,
seems to have been a kindred spirit, and to have possessed
accomplishments of no common order. His brother, David of
Godscroft, mentions that he had been trained to pious habits by
his parents, and completed his education at the Regent's Court in
company with the young Eari of Angus. He knew Latin and
French, and acquired such an extensive knowledge of geography
that ' though he had never been out of his own country, he could
dispute with any one who had travelled in France or elsewhere. He
learned the use of the triangle in measuring heights without any
, teaching, or ever having read of it ; so that he may be said to have
invented it.
' He was diligent In reading the Sacred Scriptures, and not to littie
purpose. He was assiduous in settiing controverted points, and, at
table or over a bottie, he either asked other people's opinions or freely

' The Homes.

385

gave his own. He had read a great deal when his public and private
business allowed him. He likewise wrote meditations upon the
Revelations, the soul, love of God, &c. He also gave some appli
cation to law, and even to physic. He was polite and unaffected in
his manners. He sang after the manner of the Court. He likewise
sang psaltery to his own playing on the harp. He also sometimes
danced. He was very keen for hare-hunting, and delighted much
in hawks. He rode skilfully, and sometimes applied himself to the
breaking of the fiercest horses. He was skilful in the bow beyond
most men of his time. He was able to endure cold, hunger, thirst,
fatigue, and watching  He was moderate both in his eating
and drinking, which was in those days scarce any praise, temperance
being then frequent, though it Is now very rare.

'*

Meanwhile a junior branch .of the family, the Humes of Polwarth,
had risen to distinction and influence. Sir Patrick Hume, the head
of the house during the latter part of the seventeenth century, was
elevated to the earldom of Marchmont, and appointed Lord Chan
cellor of Scotland at the Revolution of 1688, as a reward for his
sufferings in the cause of Presbyterlanism and religious liberty
under Charles II. and James VII. He acquired a considerable por
tion of the estates of the main line of the family. Including Home
Castle, the cradle of the race, and completely overshadowed them
by his combined official and patrimonial influence.
The estates of the main stock of the family — which at one time
extended from the Tweed to the German Ocean, and included a very
extensive tract of the most fertile and highly cultivated land in
Scotland — had by this time dwindled down to an inheritance of only
two thousand acres, which at the commencement of the present cen
tury was rented at about ^2,000 a year, and even at the present day
yields a rental of only ;^5,ooo per annum, while the moderate
abilities of the owners did not counterbalance the Insignificance of
their patrimony. But the fortunate marriage of Cospatrick, eleventh
Eari, to the heiress of the Douglas estates, has revived the decayed
fortunes of this ancient house. His lordship was created a British
peer In 1875 by the title of Baron Douglas. \_See The Douglases.]
The contrast between the fortunes of the two families Is very striking.
The estates of the Homes, as we have seen, have almost entirely
passed into other hands, while the family itself is numerous and
* History of t tie House of Douglas.
VOL. I. ^ ^

386 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
flourishing. The late Countess, who was the eldest daughter of
the second Baron Montague, was the mother of five sons and four
daughters. The main line of the house of Douglas has long been
extinct, while their extensive possessions. In spite of their frequent
rebellions against the royal authority and the consequent forfeitures
and vicissitudes which they have undergone, for the most part
remain unimpaired. It Is to be hoped that the Homes, now
restored to their former position In the foremost rank of our his
torical magnates, will long continue, as they well deserve, to flourish
in Douglasdale. The present representative ofthe family is Charles
Alexander Douglas-Home, twelfth Earl of Home and second Baron
Douglas of the new creation.
Of the numerous branches of the Home family, the earliest, as
well as the most powerful and prolific, were the Homes of Wedder
burn, whose courage and savage cruelty have already been noticed.
Their founder was Sir Thomas Home of Thurston, second son of Sir
Thomas Home of Home, who obtained, in 14 13, from Archibald, Earl
of Douglas, a grant of the barony of Wedderburn, and became the
ancestor of the Homes of Polwarth, KImmerghame, Manderston,
Renton, Blackadder, and Broomhouse. David Hume of Godscroft,
author of a ' History of the House and Race of Douglas and
Angus,' was a cadet of this line. The Homes of Blackadder, as we
have seen, were descended from John Home, one of the ' Seven
Spears of Wedderburn,' who married the heiress of the estate. His
grandson, John Home, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia In
1 67 1. His younger son. Sir David Home of Crossrig, was one of
the first judges in the Court of Session nominated by King William
at the Revolution. From Lord Crossrig's eldest surviving son
descended the Homes of Cowdenknowes, one of whom was the
author of several valuable medical works. Henry Home, Lord
Kames, the well-known judge and philosopher, belonged to the
Homes of Renton, whose ancestor was the second son of Sir
Alexander Home of Manderston. Sir Everard Home, Bart., the
eminent surgeon, was descended from the Homes of Greenlaw
Castie. His sister was the wife of John Hunter, the celebrated
anatomist. The Homes of Manderston were a branch of the Wedderburn
family, and seem to have possessed the characteristics of that race.
One of them, David Home, was commonly termed ' Davie the Devil,'
and his deeds of darkness well merited that sobriquet.

The Homes. 387
George Home, the third son of Alexander Home of Manderston,
was a special favourite of James VI., and held various offices about
the Court. In 1601 he was appointed High Treasurer of Scotland.
He attended the King to London on his accession to the English
throne in 1603, and in the following year he was created an English
peer by the title of Baron Home of Berwick. In 1605 he was made
Earl of Dunbar In the peerage of Scotland, and was subsequently
appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in England. From this time
forward he had the chief management of Scottish affairs, and was the
principal instrument In establishing Episcopacy in Scotland. In
1609 the Earl was sent down from London accompanied by two
eminent English divines. Dr. Abbot, subsequently Archbishop of
Canterbury, and Dr. Higglns, for the purpose of promoting this
object, on which the King had set his heart. On the approach of
the Earl and his clerical associates, Calderwood states that ' the
noblemen, barons, and councillors that were In Edinburgh went out
to accompany him Into the town. So he entered in Edinburgh with
a great train. The Chancellor [the Earl of Dunfermline], the Provost,
the Bailies, and many of the citizens met him at the Nether Bow Port.
It was spoken broadly that no small sums of money were sent down
with him to be distributed among the ministers and sundry others.
The English doctors seemed to have no other direction but to per
suade the Scots that there was no substantial difference in religion
betwixt the two realms, but only in things indifferent concerning
government and ceremony.'
The Eari had a different service entrusted to him, and had recourse
to very different means to perform it, when, In 1603, he was appointed
' his Majesty's Commissioner for ordering the Borders.' Sir James
Balfour says, ' he took such a course with the broken men and sorners
that in two justiciary courts holden by him he condemned and
caused hang above a hundred and forty of the nimblest and most
powerful thieves in all the Borders.' The Chancellor informed the
King that the Borders were ' now settled far by anything that ever
has been done there before.' It was soon made manifest that the
effect of these severe proceedings was only temporary, for In 1609 it
became necessary for Lord Dunbar to go once more to Dumfries to
hold a justice court, and the King was informed by the Chancellor
that the Eari ' has had special care to repress, baith In the In-country
and on the Borders, the insolence of all the proud bangsters, oppres
sors, and Nembroths [NImrods], but [without] regard or respect to

388 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
any of them ; has purgit the Borders of all the chiefest malefactors
and brigands as were wont to reign and triumph there . . . has
rendered all those ways and passages betwixt your Majesty's king
doms of Scotland and England as free and peaceable as Phoebus in auld
times made free and open the ways to his awn oracle in Delphos, &c.
These parts are now, I can assure your Majesty, as lawful, as peace
able, and as quiet as any part In any civil kingdom of Christianity.'
The chronic disorders and outrages of the Border districts were
not, however, to be so easily remedied. Not long after a repre
sentation was made to the King by the law-abiding inhabitants of
the district, declaring that ' Lord Dunbar being now gone with his
justice-courts, the thieves are returned to their old evil courses.'
The Earl obtained the Order of the Garter in 1609, and was
installed at Berwick with extraordinary pomp and magnificence. He
Is described by Archbishop Spottiswood as a man of ' deep wit, few
words, and In his Majesty's service no less faithful than fortunate.'
Calderwood, who naturally took a very different view of the Earl's
services, narrates with evident satisfaction how In 161 1 he was 'by
death pulled down from the height of his honour, even when he was
about to solemnise magnificently his daughter's marriage with the
Lord Walden (afterwards Earl of Suffolk). He purposed to celebrate
St. George's day following In Berwick, where he had almost finished a
sumptuous and glorious palace. He was so busy and left nothing
undone to overthrow the discipline of our Church, and specially at the
Assembly holden last summer in Glasgow. But none of his posterity
enjoyeth a foot broad of land this day of his conquest in Scotland.'
As the Earl left no male Issue, his titles expired at his death. The
elder of his two daughters married Sir James Home of Cowdenknowes,
and was the mother of the third Earl of Home.
Two incidents which occurred at this time in connection with the
family of Home cast a striking light on the lawless state of the
country even towards the close of the seventeenth century. The
only daughter of the late Laird of Ayton, who was under age, was
left in charge of the Countess of Home. The father of the young
girl had bequeathed to her his whole estate, and when the time
approached for her to choose her curators. Home of Plendergast,
the next heir male of the Ayton family, presented, in December,
1677, a petition to the Privy Council requesting that she should be
brought as usual to their bar to make that choice in the presence of
her general kindred, no doubt with a view to the young lady marry-

The Homes.

389

ing a member of his family. The Countess of Home, however, the
young lady's guardian, and Charies Home, the brother of the Eari,
with whom the heiress of Ayton resided, had a different object in
view. On the evening of the day when the petition was pre
sented to the Council, Charles Home, accompanied by Alexander
Home of Linthlll, Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth (afterwards first
Earl of Marchmont), John Home of Ninewells (grandfather of the
celebrated David Hume), Robert Home of KImmerghame, elder,
and Joseph Johnston of Hilton proceeded to the residence of the
young lady, who was only twelve years of age, and carried her off
across the Border. ' There they, in a most undutlful and unchristian-
like manner, carried the poor young gentlewoman up and down like a
prisoner and malefactor, protracting time till they should know how
to make the best bargain in bestowing her, and who should offer
most. They did at last send John Home of Ninewells to Edinburgh
and take a poor young boy, George Home, son of KImmerghame,
out of his bed, and marry him to the said Jean, the very day she
should have been presented to the Council.' At the same time the
Countess of Home appeared before the Council, and apologised for
the absence of her ward ' as being sickly and tender, and not able
to travel, and not fit for marriage for many years to come.'
The Council were justly indignant at the manner in which the
statutes had been violated and their commands trifled with, and they
inflicted heavy penalties on all the offending parties. The boy-
husband was fined in ;^ 500 Scots, and was deprived of his interest
jure mariti ; the young wife lost hers fitre relictce, and was fined in
a thousand marks for their clandestine marriage. Further, for con
tempt of the Council, the lady was fined in a thousand marks, to be
paid to Home of Plendergast ; Home of Ninewells was amerced in
a thousand marks to be paid to Plendergast ; and a fine of two thou
sand was Imposed upon Johnston of Hilton. The young couple were
besides sentenced to three months Imprisonment In the castie of
Edinburgh.* The other incident, which occurred a few years later at HIrsel,
the seat of the Eari, was of a much more tragical character. During
the absence of Lord Home in London, the Countess invited a party
of the neighbouring gentiemen to the house during the Christmas
holidays. Amongst these were Johnston of Hilton, Home of Nine
wells, and the Hon. William Home, brother of the Eari and the
* Privy Council Records. Domestic Annals, ii. p. 390.

390 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Sheriff of Berwickshire — three gentlemen who, like the Countess,
had all been connected with the abduction of the young heiress of
Ayton. They resorted to cards and dice, at which Home lost a con
siderable sum of money. A quarrel In consequence took place, and
Johnston, who was of a fiery temper, struck Home In the face. The
affair, however, seems to have been amicably settled, and all the
company had gone to bed, when William Home, who must have
brooded over the affair, rose and went to Johnston's bedroom to call
him to account for the Insult he had offered him. Nothing is known
of what passed between the two except that Home stabbed John-
ston In his bed. Inflicting upon him no less than nine severe wounds.
Home of Ninewells, who slept in an adjoining chamber, came to
see the cause of the disturbance, and as he entered Johnston's
room, he received a sword-thrust from the sheriff, who was now
retiring, and who immediately fled into England upon Johnston's
horse. Ninewells recovered, but Hilton died In a few days. The mur
derer, who was never caught, was supposed to have entered some
foreign service and to have died in battle. But after the lapse of a
good many years, he is said to have returned to Scotland, and to
have hazarded an experiment to ascertain If he could be allowed to
spend the remainder of his days in his native country. A son of
the murdered Johnston, while at a public assembly, ' was called out
to speak with a person who professed to have brought him some
particular news from abroad. The stranger met him at the head
of the staircase. In a sort of lobby which led into the apartment
where the company were dancing. He told young Johnston that
the man who had slain his father was on his death- bed, and had
sent him to request his forgiveness before he died. Before granting
his request, Johnston asked the stranger one or two questions, and
observing that he faltered in his answers, he suddenly exclaimed,
"You yourself are my father's murderer! " and drew his sword to
stab him. Home — for It was the homicide himself — threw himself
over the balustrade of the staircase and made his escape.' *
* Domestic Annals, ii. pp. 455, 456. Sir Walter Scott relates this anecdote on the
authority of Mrs. Murray Keith. — Notes to Fountainhall' s Chron. p. 33.

HUMES OF MARCHMONT.

THE MARCHMONT HUMES.

IHE Marchmont Humes are cadets of the great family of
the Homes, who once held paramount authority on the
Eastern Borders. [See Homes.] A junior branch of the
house settied at Wedderburn in 14 13, and the grandson
of the first Baron of Wedderburn was the Immediate ancestor of the
Marchmont Humes.
The estates which afterwards formed the patrimony of this family
anciently belonged to the St. Glairs, and as far back as the fifteenth
century fell into the possession of two co-heiresses. In these ' auld
times o' rugging and riving through the hale country,' as Edie
Ochiltree said, ' when nae man wanted property If he had strength
to take it, or had it langer than he had power to keep It,' the abduc
tion of a wealthy heiress was an event as common in Scotland as it
was in Ireland at the close of last century. The young ladies in
question were courted by as many lovers as was the renowned TIbby
Fowler, who had ' twa-and-forty wooing at her, suing at her.' But an
uncle who was anxious to keep them unmarried. In order that he
might inherit their large estates, carried them off from Polwarth, the
family seat, and Immured them in his own castle In East Lothian.
The ladies, however, had singled out from the crowd of suitors the
stalwart sons of their powerful neighbour, David Home of Wedder
burn, and had lent a favourable ear to their addresses. In spite of
the jealous precautions of their uncle, they contrived by means of a
female beggar to transmit Information to their lovers of the place of
their confinement, and they were soon gratified by the appearance
of the two youths, accompanied by a band of stout Merse men, before
the gates of the castle. In spite of the remonstrances and resistance
of the uncle, the ladies were forcibly released, and carried off in
triumph to Polwarth, where their nuptials were Immediately cele-

392 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
brated. The marriage festivities terminated with a merry dance
round a thorn-tree which grew In. the centre of the village green. In
commemoration of this event, it became the practice for marriage
parties in Polwarth to dance round this thorn ; and the custom, which
continued for well-nigh four hundred years, was only given up about
fifty years ago, on the fall of the original tree, which was blown
down in a fierce gale of wind. There is a well-known tune called
' Polwarth on the Green,' to which several songs have been, succes
sively adapted. The first stanza of one of these productions of the
Scottish muse thus refers to this old custom : —
' At Polwarth on the green.
If you'll meet me the morn, i
When lasses do convene
To dance around the thorn.'
Patrick, the younger of the two Homes, married the elder of the
St. Clair ladles, and became the founder of the Marchmont Hume
family.* He was evidently a man of energy and activity, and In
1499 obtained the important office of Comptroller of Scotland, which
he held till 1502, when he received the honour of knighthood. His
* It has not been discovered at what time or for what reason the difference in the
spelling of the family name — which is pronounced Hume — originated. David Hume,
the philosopher and historian, in a letter to Alexander Home of Westfield, of date
i2th April, 1758, says: 'The practice of spelling Hume is by far the most ancient
and most general till about the Restoration, when it became common to spell Home,
contrary to the pronunciation. Our name is frequently mentioned in Rymer's Foedera,
and always spelt Hume. I find a subscription of Lord Hume in the Memoirs of the
Sydney family, where it is spelt as I do at present. These are a few of the numberless
authorities on this head.'
John Home, the author of the tragedy of Douglas, on the other hand, resolutely
maintained that Home was the original and proper speUing, and the historian and he
had raany good-humoured discussions on the subject. On one occasion David pro
posed that they should cast lots to decide the matter. 'It is all very well for you,
Mr. Philosopher, to make such a proposal,' was John's rejoinder ; ' for if you lose you
will obtain your own proper name ; but if you win I lose mine.' In the last note
which David Hume sent to Dr. Blair, inviting him to dinner, he thus began it :
' Mr. John Hbme, alias Hume, alias The Home, alias the late Lord Conservator, alias
the late Minister of the Gospel at Athelstaneford, has calculated matters so as to
arrive infallibly with his friend in St. David's Street on Wednesday evening,' &c.
It is well known that John Home had a strong dislike to port wine, and in play
ful allusion to this feeling, as well as to their dispute about the proper spelling of their
name, David added the following codicil to his will, on 6th August, 1776, nineteen
days before his death : ' I leave to my friend, Mr. John Home of Kildufif, ten dozen
of ray old claret at his choice, and one single bottle of that other hquor called port.
I also leave to him six dozens of port, provided that he attests under his hand, signed
John Hume, that he has himself alone finished that bottle at two sittings. By this
concession he will at once surmouilt the only two difterences that ever were between
us concerning temporal matters,'

The Marchmont Humes. 2)9i
descendants inherited his intellectual abilities as well as his estates,
and had the sagacity and good fortune to be always on the winning
side in the successive struggles for supremacy between Popery and
Protestantism, and between the King and the people. While the
heads ofthe main line— the Earls of Home — were Roman Catholics,
Episcopalians, and Jacobites, the Marchmont Humes were Pro
testants, Presbyterians, and Hanoverians. The former, from the
Great Civil War downwards, have produced no man of great intel
lectual power or commanding influence in the country ; but the latter
were prominent in all the great contests for civil and religious
liberty, and rose to the highest offices of the State. The broad
acres of the Homes, which at one time stretched from the Tweed on
the south to the German Ocean on the north, have passed away almost
entirely from the house; while the Humes, 'brizzing yont' as their
kinsmen receded, gradually extended their borders and augmented
their domains till Greenlaw — which Cospatrick, the great Earl of
March, bestowed on his nephew and son-in-law, the first Home, from
which he took the colour of his shield — and even Home Castle, the
cradle and patrimonial stronghold of the house, and the subject of
many a Border story, passed into the possession of this prosperous
junior branch ofthe family.
The great-grandson of the founder of the family, Patrick Hume of
Polwarth, took a leading part In promoting the Reformation in
Scotland, and was a member of the association which was formed
In 1560 to protect the Protestant ministers. Sir Patrick's eldest
son, fifth Baron of Polwarth, who bore his Christian name, was
appointed by James VI., In 1591, Master of the Household, one of
the Gentiemen of the Bedchamber, and Warden of the Eastern
Marches. He wrote some pieces of poetry which appear to have been
popular in the Court of King James. Sir Patrick Hume, his son,
seems to have been a favourite both of King James and Charles I., for
the former gave him a pension of / 100 a year, and the latter created
him a baronet in 1625. He died in 1648. His younger brother,
Alexander, was the author of a volume of ' Hymns and Sacred
Songs,' noted for their pious spirit rather than for their poetical merit.
The power and rank of the family culminated under Sir Patrick's
son. Sir Patrick Hume, the second Baronet and first Eari of March
mont. This distinguished statesman and staunch Covenanter was
born in 1641. He entered public life in 1665 as member for the
county of Berwick, and joined the small but faithful band of patriots

394 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
who, under the Duke of Hamilton, offered a strenuous and constitu
tional resistance to the wretched administration of the notorious
Duke of Lauderdale. In 1674 he accompanied Hamilton and other
leading Scotsmen to London, for the purpose of laying the grievances
of the country before the King, who in reply to their petition for
redress said, ' I perceive that Lauderdale has been guilty of many
bad things against the people of Scotland, but I cannot find he has
acted anything contrary to my Interest,' In the following year Sir
Patrick was imprisoned in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh by the Privy
Council, on account of his appeal to the Court of Session for protection
against the arbitrary and Illegal assessment levied for the support of
the troops in garrison. This imprisonment, which lasted two years, so
far from repressing, only seems to have lent fresh ardour to his
patriotic zeal. He was again imprisoned in 1679, ^"d O" his release
by order of the King, he became a participator in the councils
of Russell, Sydney, and other leading Whigs, who were anxious
to exclude the Duke of York from the succession to the throne. On
the judicial murder of these eminent patriots, and the arrest of his
venerable friend Baillie of Jerviswood, Sir Patrick, knowing that he
was a marked man, and that the Government was bent on his destruc
tion, quitted his mansion of Redbraes Castle, and while he was
supposed to have gone on a distant journey, took up his residence
in the family burial vault underneath the parish church of Polwarth.
This ancient edifice stands In a lonely sequestered spot, on a knoll
surrounded with old trees and a brawling burn at Its foot, with no
dwelling near It. The place of his retreat was known only to his wife,
his eldest daughter, and a carpenter named James Winter. The
only light which Sir Patrick enjoyed in this dismal abode was by a
slit In the wall, through which no one could see anything within.
As long as daylight lasted he spent his time In reading Buchanan's
Latin version of the Psalms, which he thus Imprinted so deeply on
his memory that forty years after, when he was above fourscore
years of age, he could repeat any one of them at bidding without
omitting a word.
The duty of conveying food to Sir Patrick devolved upon his
eldest daughter, Grizel, a young lady of nineteen. ' She at that
time had a terror for a churchyard,' says her daughter. Lady IVIurray,
' especially In the dark, as Is not uncommon at her age by idle nursery
stories ; ' but her filial affection so far overcame the fears natural to
her sex and youth, that she walked night after night through the

The Marchmont Humes. 3gr
woods of her father's 'policy' and amid the tombstones of the
churchyard, at darkest midnight, afraid of nothing but the danger
that the place of her father's concealment might be discovered. The
barking of the minister's dog, as she passed the manse on her
nightly visits to the sepulchral vault, put her in great fear of dis
covery. But this difficulty was overcome by the ingenuity of her
mother, who by raising a report that a mad dog had been seen
roaming through the country, prevailed upon the clergyman to
destroy the fierce mastiff which annoyed her daughter. It was not
always easy to secrete the victuals which Grizel conveyed to her
father without exciting the suspicions of the domestics, and the
remarks of the younger children. Sir Patrick was partial to the
national dish of a sheep's head, and one day at dinner Grizel took
an opportunity, when her brothers and sisters were busy at their
kail, to convey the greater part of one from the plate to her lap,
with the Intention of carrying it that night to her father. When her
brother Sandy, afterwards second Earl of Marchmont, raised his
eyes and saw that the dish was empty, he exclaimed, ' Mother, will
ye look at Grizzy I While we have been supping our broth she has
eaten up the whole sheep's head I ' When Sir Patrick was told this
amusing Incident that night he laughed heartily, and requested that
in future Sandy might have a share of the highly prized viands.
Another of the services which this heroic young lady performed
for her father at this period of her life was conveying a letter from
Sir Patrick to his friend Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, then imprisoned
on a charge of treason in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh. Baillie, who
was as eminent for his abilities and learning as for his fidelity to his
religious principles, had shared in the councils ofthe English patriots,
and it was of the utmost importance that InteUigence should be com
municated to him respecting the state of affairs since his imprison
ment. Miss Grizel readily undertook this difficult and dangerous
task, and managed It with great dexterity and perfect success. The
son of Mr. Baillie, a youth about her own age, had at this time been
recalled from Holland, where he was educated, to attend his father's
trial. In a cell in the famous old Tolbooth these two young persons
met for the first time, and an attachment then commenced which was
destined to lead to their union In happier days, when the Revolution
had expelled the tyrant and his infamous tools from the country.
Shortly after this interview the Ministers of State, who, as Bishop
Burnet says, 'were most earnestly set' on Mr. Baillle's destruction.

396 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
arraigned the venerable patriot, though he was in a dying condition,
before the High Court of Justiciary. In flagrant violation both of
law and justice, he was found guilty, on the morning of December
24th, 1684, and, lest he should anticipate the sentence by a natural
death, he was executed on the afternoon of the same day, with all
the revolting barbarities of the penalties attached to treason.
Meanwhile, on the approach of winter. Lady Hume and Jamie
Winter, the carpenter, had been contriving a place of concealment
for Sir Patrick more comfortable, and less Injurious to health, than
the damp and dark burial vault. In one of the rooms on the ground-
floor, beneath a bed, Grizel and the faithful retainer dug a hole in
the earth, using their fingers alone to prevent noise, and under cover
of night carrying out the earth In a sheet to the garden, and scat
tering It In places where it was least likely to be noticed. The
severity of this task is evident, from the fact that when It was finished
the nails were quite worn off the young lady's fingers. In the hole
thus excavated Winter placed a box large enough to contain some
bedclothes, and to afford a place of refuge for the hunted patriot, the
boards above It being bored with holes for the admission of air. Sir
Patrick lived for some time In this room, of which his daughter kept
the key, but an Irruption of water into the excavation compelled him
to seek another asylum ; and the search after him having become
keener after the judicial murder of his friend Baillie, he decided on
making an attempt to escape from the country in disguise. A few
hours after he had quitted Redbraes a party of soldiers came to the
house in search of him. He had set out on horseback during the
night, accompanied by a trustworthy servant named John Allan, who
was to conduct him part of his way to London. In travelling towards
the Tweed, Sir Patrick and his guide accidentally separated in the
darkness, and the former was not aware that he had quitted the
proper road till he reached the banks of the river. This mistake
proved his safety, for Allan was overtaken by the very soldiers who
had been sent In pursuit of his master. In the assumed character of
a surgeon. Sir Patrick reached London in safety, and thence made
his way by France to Holland, where a number of other patriots,
Scots and English, had found refuge.
Sir Patrick had a wife and ten children, all young, residing at
Redbraes at this time, and they, too, were subjected to harsh treat
ment by the Government. The eldest son, Patrick, a mere youth,
was apprehended and put in prison, and on the 26th of December,

The Marchmont Humes. 397
1684, he presented a petition to the Privy Council, setting forth the
piteous condition of the family, now deprived of their father and
threatened with the loss of their estate. He was but ' a poor afflicted
young boy,' he said, who could do no harm to the State ; he, more
over, cherished loyal principles and a hatred of plots. All he craved
was liberty, that he might ' see to some livelihood for himself,' and
'be In some condition to help and serve his disconsolate mother and
the rest of his father's ten starving children.' The boon was granted
grudgingly by the Minister^, who were no doubt mortified at Sir
Patrick's escape, and before the young man was set at liberty he was
obliged to obtain security for his good behaviour to the extent of two
thousand pounds sterling. Young Patrick was subsequently enrolled
in the bodyguards of the Prince of Orange, afterwards William III.,
and served with distinction In the campaigns of the Duke of Marl
borough. But his promising career was eventually cut short : he,
by many years, preceded his father to the grave.
In the following year (1685) Sir Patrick Hume accompanied the
Earl of Argyll in the disastrous expedition which cost that unfor
tunate nobleman his head. The ruin of the enterprise, which from
the outset was evidently doomed to failure, was mainly brought
about by the mutual jealousies and contentions of the leaders.
More fortunate than his chief and Sir John Cochrane, the other
second in command. Sir Patrick, after lying in concealment for some
weeks in Ayrshire, a second time made his escape to the Continent,
In a vessel which conveyed him from the west coast,- first to Ireland
and then to Bordeaux, whence he proceeded to Geneva, and finally
to Holland. At Bordeaux he gave himself out for a surgeon, as he
had done during his former exile, and as he always carried lancets,
and could let blood, he had no difficulty In passing for a medical
man; He travelled on foot across France to Holland, where he was
joined by his wife and children. Under the designation of Dr.
Wallace, Sir Patrick settled in Utrecht, where he spent three years
and a half In great privation, as his estate had been confiscated, and
his income was both small and precarious. His poverty prevented
him from keeping a servant, and he was frequently compelled to
pawn his plate to provide for the necessities of his family. One of
Sir Patrick's younger children, named Juliana, had been left behind
In Scotland, on account of ill-health, and her eldest sister Grizel
was sent back to bring her over to Holland. She was entrusted at
the same time with the management of some business of her

398 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
father's, and was commissioned to collect what she could of the
money that was due to him. All this she performed with her usual
discretion and success.
The ship in which she took a passage to Holland for herself and
her sister encountered a severe storm on the voyage, the terrors of
which were aggravated by the barbarity of a brutal captain. The
two giris were landed at Brill, whence they set out the same night
for Rotterdam in company with a Scottish gentleman whom they
accidentally met on landing. The night was cold and wet, and
Juliana, who was hardly able to walk, soon lost her shoes in the
mud. Grizel had to take the ailing child on her back and carried
her all the way to Rotterdam, while the gentleman — a sympathising
fellow exile — carried their baggage.
During Sir Patrick's residence in Holland, the greater part ofthe
domestic drudgery devolved upon his devoted and self-denying
daughter, who was often obliged to sit up two nights in the week
to complete her work. According to the simple and affecting
narrative of her daughter. Lady Murray of Stanhope, ' She went to
the market, went to the mill to have their corn ground, which It
seems is the way with good managers there; dressed the linen,
cleaned the house, made ready the dinner, mended the children's
stockings and other clothes, made what she could for them ; and,
in short, did everything. Her sister Christian, who was a year or
two younger, diverted her father, mother, and the rest, who were
fond of music. Out of their small Income they bought a harpsichord
for little money. My aunt played and sang well, and had a great
deal of life and humour, but no turn for business. Though my
mother had the same qualification, and liked it as well as she did,
she was forced to drudge ; and many jokes used to pass between the
sisters about their different occupations. Every morning before six
my mother lighted her father's fire in his study, then waked him,
and got what he usually took as soon as he got up — warm small-
beer with a spoonful of bitters In It ; then took up the children, and
brought them all to his room, when he taught them everything that
was fit for their age : some Latin, others French, Dutch, geography,
writing, English, &c., and my grandmother taught them what was
necessary on her part. Thus he employed and diverted himself all
the time he was there, not being able to afford putting them to
school ; and my mother, when she had a moment, took a lesson with
the rest in French and Dutch, and also diverted herself with music.

The Marchmont Humes 3gg
I have now a book of songs of her writing when she was there,
many of them interrupted, half writ, some broke off in the midst of
a sentence. She had no less a turn for mirth and society than any
of the family, when she could come at It without neglecting what
she thought was necessary.'
Sir Patrick's eldest son and young Mr. Baillie were at this time
serving together in the Guards of the Prince of Orange, and Grizel' s
constant attention, continues Lady Murray, 'was to have her
brother appear right In his linen and dress. They wore little point
cravats and cuffs, which many a night she sat up to have In as good
order for him as any in the place ; and one of their greatest expenses
was in dressing him as he ought to be. As their house was always
full of the unfortunate banished people like themselves, they seldom
went to dinner without three, or four, or five of them to share with them.'
And it used to excite their surprise that notwithstanding this generous
hospitality, their limited resources were almost always sufficient to
supply their wants. In after years, when Invested with the rank of an
Earl's daughter, and the wife of a wealthy gentleman, Grizel used to
declare that , their years of privation and drudgery were the most
delightful of her whole life. Some of their difficulties and straits,
though sufficiently annoying, only served to afford amusement to the
exiled family. Andrew, then a boy, afterwards a judge of the Court
of Session, was one day sent down to the cellar for a glass of alabast
beer, the only liquor with which Sir Patrick could entertain his
friends. On his return with the beer, his father said, 'Andrew,
what Is that in your other hand ? ' It was the spigot of the barrel,
which the boy had forgotten to replace. He hastened back to the
cellar with all speed, but found that meanwhile the whole stock of
beer had run out. This incident occasioned much mirth and
laughter, though at the same time they did- not know where they
would get more. It was the custom at Utrecht to gather money for
the poor from house to house, the collector announcing his presence
by ringing a hand-bell. One night the sound ofthe bell was heard
at Sir Patrick's door, when there was no money in the house but a
single okey, the smallest coin then used in Holland. They were so
much ashamed to offer such a donation that none of the family would
go with the money, till Sir Patrick himself at last undertook the duty,
philosophically remarking, 'We can give no more than all we have.'*
In 1688, when the Prince of Orange undertook the deliverance of
* Memoirs of Lady Grizzel Baillie.

400 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Britain frdm the tyranny of the Stewarts. Sir Patrick accompanied
the expedition, and shared in all Its difficulties, and ultimately in its
rewards. High honours proportioned to his services and sufferings
and character were showered upon him. His attainder was reversed
and his estates were restored. He took his seat as member for
Berwickshire in the Convention Parliament, which met at Edinburgh
in 1689. He was soon afterwards sworn a Privy Councillor, and in
1690 was elevated to the peerage by the title of Lord Polwarth. In
1692 he was nominated Sheriff of Berwickshire; in the following
year he was made one of the extraordinary Lords of Session, and in
1696 was appointed to the chief Scottish State office, that of Lord
Chancellor. In 1697 he was created Earl of Marchmont, Viscount
Blasonberry, and Baron Polwarth, and was made one of the Commis
sioners of the Treasury and Admiralty, and subsequently filled the
office of Lord High Comniissloner both to the Parfiament of 1698
and to the General Assembly in 1702. Shortly after the accession
of Queen Anne he was deprived of his offices of Lord High Chan
cellor of Scotland, and Sheriff of Berwickshire ; but notwithstanding
this slight he took a prominent part in promoting the union between
Scotland and England, and after a long life spent In the service of
his country, he died in 1724, in the eighty- third year of his age,
full of years and honours. Mackay, In his Memoirs, describes the
Earl as ' a clever gentleman of clear parts, but always a lover of set
long speeches, zealous for the Presbyterian government and its
divine right.'
The Earl of Marchmont was undoubtedly possessed of eminent
abilities and extensive attainments, and was .held in esteem by his
' contemporaries. But Lord Macaulay, who cherished a strong pre
judice against the Earl, represents him as * a man incapable alike of
leading and of following, conceited, captious, and wrong-headed, an
endless talker, a sluggard in action against the enemy, and active only
against his own allies.' ' It may be,' felicitously rejoins Mr. Camp
bell Swinton, * that Sir Patrick Hume was fond of hearing himself
talk. But If it was so, those best acquainted with the social qualities
of the noble historian will concur with me in thinking that the fault
is not one which he at least should regard as unpardonable. And
I cannot comprehend how Lord Macaulay can reconcile his own
description of the statesmanlike sagacity of his favourite idol,
William of Orange, with the picture he draws of the man who, both
before and after that prince's accession to the English throne, was

The Marchmont Humes. 401
among his most trusted counsellors and his most highly honoured
friends.' The diary of George Home of KImmerghame, whose father was
the Earl of Marchmont's first cousin, gives a very pleasing view of
the character of the Earl and the feeling which his kinsmen cherished
towards him. ' The foreground of the picture,' says Mr. Swinton,
' is always occupied by the Lord of Marchmont. Without the pre
sence of " the Chancellor " neither a business meeting nor a convivial
party seems to have been considered complete. His sayings are
chronicled with a Boswell-like fidelity — as when we are told that
" after dinner my Lord fell in commendation of tobacco, and said
he was told it was observed that no man that smoked regularly
fell into a consumption, or was troubled with the gout." When
he journeys to London in his family coach— a journey, by the way,
which occupies him twelve days — he is waited on as far as Belford
by his friends, including Kames, Coldenknowes, and his loving cousin
of KImmerghame. His return from the south as his Majesty's Com
missioner resembles nothing but a royal progress. And in the exercise
of his viceregal authority we find him dubbing knights, and ruling
with firmness and dignity an assembly as turbulent as a modern
American Congress. Yet in the midst of all this he is a kind friend,
a hospitable host, an active country gentleman, a welcome guest
at bridals and christenings ; deeply interested in everything that
occurs in Berwickshire, and consulted regarding the marriage, and
revising the marriage settlements, of his every female cousin in the
fourth or fifth degree.' *
His noble-minded daughter, Grizel, came over to England in
1688, in the train of the Princess of Orange. After the settiement
of the crown on William and Mary, the latter, who wished to retain
Sir Patrick's daughter near her person, offered her the situation of
one of her maids of honour. But, like the Shunammite of old, Grizel
preferred to dwell among her own people ; and about two years after
the Revolution she married her faithful lover, Mr. George Baillie,
who had now regained his paternal estates, and spent with him
forty-eight years of wedded life, in the enjoyment of an amount of
happiness proportioned to the remarkable virtues and endowments of
both husband and wife.
* Men of the Merse. By Archibald Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame. A
delightful little volume, which it is earnestly hoped the accomplished author will be
induced to enlarge.
VOL. I. E E

402 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
Mr. Baillie filled with great honour several Important offices under
Government, and was distinguished equally for his eminent abilities
and his high-toned integrity. Rachel, the younger daughter of this
excellent couple, inherited the family estates, and was the common
ancestress ofthe elder branch ofthe Earls of Haddington and of the
Balllies of Jerviswood, who have now succeeded to the Haddington
titles and estates. The elder daughter, Grizel, who became the wife
of Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope, wrote a most interesting memoir
of her mother. Lady Grizel, whose appearance she thus describes :
' Her actions show what her mind was, and heroutward appearance
was no less singular. She was middle-sized, clean In her person,
very handsome, with a life and sweetness in her eyes very uncommon,
and great delicacy In all her features ; her hair was chestnut, and to the
last she had the finest complexion with the clearest red In her cheeks
and lips that could be seen In one of fifteen, which, added to her
natural constitution, might be owing to the great moderation she
observed in her diet throughout her whole life.' Lady Murray
speaks of her mother's poetical compositions, and several of her songs
or ballads were printed in Ramsay's 'Tea-Table Miscellany.' The
best known of these is the beautiful and affecting but unequal
pastoral song, ' Were na my heart licht, I wad die,' which Is asso
ciated with a most pathetic incident In the life of Robert Burns.
This admirable woman died in 1746, In the eighty- first year of her
age, having survived her husband about eight years.
The two eldest sons of the first Earl of Marchmont predeceased
him, and he was succeeded In his tities and estates by his third son,
Alexander, who, like his father, held a number of Important public
offices. He was a Lord of Session, under the titie of Lord Cessnock,
a Commissioner of the Exchequer and a Privy Councillor, and
represented the British Government at the Courts both of Denmark
and Prussia. By his marriage with the heiress of Cessnock, in Ayr
shire, he acquired that estate* and the title under which he was raised,
before he was thirty years of age, to a seat on the Bench. On the
breaking out of the rebellion of 17 15, he raised four hundred men in
Berwickshire, to assist in Its suppression, and marched with three
battalions to join the Duke of Argyll at Stiriing, before the battie of
Sheriffmuir. In 1721 he was appointed first ambassador to the
celebrated congress at Cambray, and made his public entry into
* The sale of this Ayrshire estate in 1768, provided the funds by means of which
Hame Castle and the adjoining lands became the property of the Marchmont family.

The Marchmont Humes. 403
that city In a style of great splendour and magnificence. But his
opposition to Sir Robert Walpole led to his dismissal from the office
of Lord Clerk-Register in 1733. Eari Alexander died In 1740, In the
sixty-fifth year of his age. He had four sons and four daughters, but
his two eldest sons died young. He was succeeded In his titles and
estates by the elder of his two surviving sons, born In 1708. They
were twins, and were celebrated for their extraordinary personal
resemblance to one another. Alexander Hume Campbell, who bore
the name which his father assumed on his marriage, was an eminent
member of the English Bar, and represented his native county of
Berwickshire in the British Parliament. For some years previous
to his death, in 1760, he held the office of Lord Clerk- Register of
Scotland. Hugh, the third and last Earl of Marchmont, born in 1708, was
remarkable for his learning, his wit, and his eloquence. At the
general election of 1734 he entered the House of Commons as
member for Berwick, and made himself so formidable to the Govern
ment as one of the leaders of the Opposition, that Sir Robert
Walpole, then Prime Minister, declared that there were few things
he more ardently desired than to see that young man at the head of
his family, which would have had the effect of removing him from
Parliament altogether, as the earldom of Marchmont was only a
Scottish title, which did not entitle its possessor to a seat in the
House of Lords. According to Horace Walpole, Sir Robert used to
say to his sons, ' When I have answered Sir John Barnard and Lord
Polwarth, I think I have concluded the debate.'
Earl Stanhope, speaking of the severe blow which the removal of
this accomplished debater from the House of Commons, bythe death
of his father, in 1 740, dealt to the Opposition, says, * Polwarth was
a young man of distinguished abilities, of rising influence In the
Commons, of great— perhaps too great — party warmth ; an opinion
in which the famous Sarah, Duchess of Mariborough, did not concur.
' I have heard some say,' she writes, ' that Lord Polwarth and his
brother are too warm ; but I own I love those that are so, and never
saw much good In those that are not.' Eari Hugh was held in
high esteem by his contemporaries, and was the intimate friend of
Pope, St. John, Peterborough, Arbuthnot, and the other members
of the brilliant Twickenham circle. Lord Cobham placed his bust
in the Temple of Worthies at Stow. Pope makes frequent and

404 The Great Historic Families of Scotland.
affectionate mention of him In his poems, and introduces his name
into the well-known inscription on his grotto at Twickenham : —
' There the brightest flame was shot through Marchmont's soul.'
The Earl was one of the executors of the poet, and also of Sarah,
Duchess of Marlborough, who left him a legacy of ^2,500. Dr.
Samuel Johnson, who had an interview with his lordship for the pur
pose of obtaining some information about Pope for his ^ Lives of
the Poets,' was so delighted with the Earl, in spite of his Scottish
nationality, that he said to Boswell, ' Sir, I would rather have given
twenty pounds than not have come.'
Lord Marchmont sat for thirty-four years in the House of
Lords as one of the sixteen representative peers of Scotland, and
took an active part in the business of the House, In which his
abilities, experience, and learning gave him great weight. He
died in 1794 at the age of eighty-six. The Earl was twice married,
and had one son by each of his wives. Patrick, the first born, died
young. The younger, who was named Alexander, married in
1772 Annabel, Baroness Lucas, the heiress of the great family of
the Greys, Dukes of Kent, and was created in 1776 a British
peer by the title of Baron Hume of Berwick. He unfortunately
died without issue in his father's lifetime. But the untimely death
of this promising young nobleman did not heal a family feud which
had originated in a contested election for the county of Berwick
in 1780. The rival candidates were Sir John Paterson of Eccles,
the Earl's nephew and nominee, and young Hugh Scott of Harden,
the Earl's grandson by his eldest daughter. Lady Diana Scott. Lord
Polwarth and his father took opposite sides in the contest, which
was carried on with great keenness, and terminated in the return of
Mr. Scott. The old peer, who had inherited a good deal of the
obstinate disposition as well as the talents of the first Earl, never
forgave his grandson for what he termed an act of rebellion, and
he in consequence disinherited him and settled his extensive estates
on the heirs of his sister, Lady Anne Purves, who had married Sir
William Purves of Purves Hall, a descendant of Sir William Purves
who was Solicitor-General for Scotland in the reign of Charles II.
The present worthy Baronet of Marchmont, who has assumed the
name of Hume-Campbell, is the great-grandson of Lady Anne
Purves.

INDEX.

VOL. I.

Abbey of Deer, toy.
Aboyne, Lord, death of at the burhing of Frendraught,
177.
Adoption, practice of, 265.
Albany, Duke of, 22 ; his character and popularity, ib;
his conduct in regard to the death of Duke of Rothe
say, 23 ; his death, ib.
Angus Douglases, The. District of Angus, 6g; Earl
Gilchrist, ib; Earl Gilibrede, 70; Earl Gilbert de
Umfraville, ib ; Earl Robert de Umfraville, ib ; the,
earldom bestowed upon Sir John Stewart of Bonkil
ib; title resigned into the hands of the king, 71.
George Douglas, first earl, ib ; his character and
of&ces, ib. Archibald Douglas, fifth earl, ib ; party
to a treasonable treaty with the English King, ib ;
compelled to resign bis offices, 72; instigates a fresh
rebellion against the king, 73 j plots with Henry VII.
against James IV., ib ; imprisoned, ib; becomes a
peaceful subject, 74; retires to the Abbey of St.
Mains, 75; his death, ib. Gawain Douglas, bishop of
Dunkeld, ib \ imprisoned, ib ; obtains possession of
the see of Dunkeld, 76 ; attempts mediation between
the factions of the ;J)ou^lases_ and Hamiltons, ib ;
denounced as a traitor, ib ; dies of the plague, ib ;
his literary work, ib. Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie,
77 ; his character^ and offices, ib J takes refuge in
England, ib; dies in trance, 78. Archibald Douglas,
sixth earl of Angus, ib ; his character, ib ; marries
widow of James IV., ib J deserts her, 79 ; appointed
-member of the Council ot Regency, ib ; escapes to
England and France, ib ; returns to Scotland and
obtains possessiotl of the king, ib ; is declared a rebel
and his estates forfeited, ib; driven from Scotland,
80 ; makes incursions aeainst his countrymen, ib ;
revenges the invasion of Henry VIII. and defeats the
English, ib. David Douglas, 81. Sir George Douglas
of Pittendriech, 82 ; his character and offices, ib.
Archibald Douglas, ib ; his character, ib ; takes part in
the siege of Hamilton Castle, 83 ; retires to England
and contracts a friendship with Sir Philip Sydney, ib ;
attainted and his estates forfeited, ib; plot against
his life prevented, ib ; his death, ib. Sir William
Douglas of Glenbervle, ninth Earl of Angus, ib. James
VI. attempts to seize the earldom, ib, William
Douglas, tenth earl, ib ; disturbs the peace and
safety of the country, ib ; implicated in the ' Spanish
Blanks ' conspiracy, 84 ; declared guilty of high
treason, ib ; dies at Paris, 85. William Douglas,
eleventh earl, ib ; becomes Marquis of Douglas,
ib ; captured by the Covenanters, id ; is imprisoned,
ib ; abjures Popery and signs the Covenant, 86; the
Marchioness of Angus appears before the Lanark
Presbytery, ib ; death of the Marquis, 89. Earl of
Selkirk, ib. Earl of Dumbarton, ib. James, second
Marquis of Douglas, ib ; raises the Cameronian Regi
ment, ib; killed at battle of Steinkirk, ib. Archibald
Douglas, third marquis, ib ; created Duke of Douglas,
go ; serves in the Jacobite rebellion, ib ; fights a duel
with the Earl of Dalkeith, ib ; shoots his cousin, ib ;
marries Margaret Douglas of Mains, ib ; the Duke's
sister. Lady Jane, 91 J mafrles Mr. John Stewart, ib ;

dies in poverty, gi ; death of the Duke of Douglas, 03 ;
the dukedom becomes extinct, ib; the other titles pass
to Duke of Hamilton, ib. Archibald Stewart makes
claim to the Douglas estates, ib ; raised to title of
Baron Douglas, 96. Archibald, second lord, ib. Charles,
third lord, ib; title becomes extinct, ib. Earl of Home
created Baron Douglas of Douglas, 97, Charles Alex
ander, twelfth Earl of Home and second Baron Douglas,
ib i value of the estates, ib.

B.
Baillie, Robert, of Jerviswood, his imprisonment and
execution, 395,
B a,lmb:rino, Lord, loss of his title and estates, 4.
Bannockburn, Battlk of, 40.
Heaugb, Battle of, 56.
Bell-the-Cat. Archibald. [See Angus Douglases.]
Bkrwick, the town besieged by Edward III., 127.
BrkntfoRd, Earl of, 167.
Bruce, King Robert, his death and charge to Sir James
Douglas, 43.
Buchan, Earl of, aids the French against the English,
56. C.
Campbells op Argyll, The. The county of Argyll
shire, 228. McDougalls, first Lords of Lome, ib. The
Stewarts of Lome, 229. The Campbells, ib. Origin
of Campbell family, 230. Gillespie Campbell, ib. hir
Colin Campbell, ib. Sir Nigel Campbell, ib. Sir
Nigel's son John, ib. Sir Cohn Campbell, ib ; his ser
vice to Edward and David Bruce, 231. Sir Duncan
Campbell, ib ; receives title of Lord Campbell, 232.
Colin Campbell, ib ; created Earl Argyll, ib ; acquires
lordship and title of Lome, ibj his appointments, ib ;
his death, 233. Archibald, second Earl ot Argyll, ib ;
his appointments, ib ; is killed at battle of Klodden,
234. Colin, third Earl of Argyll, ib. Lady Elizabeth
Campbell, ib- Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll, ib ;
his appointments, ib ; attaches himself to party of Car
dinal Beaton, 235 ; opposes Mary of Guise, ib. Archi
bald, fifth Earl of Argyll, 236 ; joins Lords of Congre
gation, ib ; his marital misfortune, ib ; joins the Queen
in her escape from Lochleven, 237 ; taken prisoner, ib ;
takes up arms to effect restoration of Mary, ib. Sir
Colin Campbell of Boquhan succeeds to titles and
estates, ib. Colin, sixth Eari of Argyll, 238 ; quarrels
with Morton, ib ; placed at head of Council of Twelve,
ib ; marches towards Stirling to rescue King, ib ; bis
death, ib. Archibald, seventh Earl of Argyll, 239 ; the
conspiracy against him, .b ; proclaims war of extermi-
HHtion against his conspirators, ib ; imprisoned, 240 ;
his expedition against the Macgregors, ib ; intrusted to
suppress the rebellion ofthe Macdonalds, ib ; joins
Romish Church, ib; his death, 241. His son James
created Earl of Irvine, ib. Archibald, eighth Earl and
first Marquis of Argyll, ib ; apprehends Patrick Mac
gregor, ib ; signs the National Covenant, ib ; takes up
arms in behalf of popular cause, 242; raised to rank of
a marquis, ib; defeated by Montrose, 243; consults
with Richmond and Hertford respecting advisability of

4o6

Index.

rescuing king, lb ; Prince Charles's .etter to him, ib ;
arrested and committed to the Tower, 244 ; his trial, ib ;
beheaded, 245 ; his character, 246. Archibald, ninth
Earl of Argyll, ib j his early life, 247 ; hereditary estates
and title of Earl of Argyll restored him, 248 ; sub;jected
to long imprisonment, ib ; takes the Test, ib ; a prisoner
in Edinburgh Castle, ib ; condemned to death, ib ;
escapes from castle, ib ; goes to Friesland, 249 ; at
tainted, ib ; undertakes expedition to Scotland, ib ; put
to death, ib ; his letters to his wife, son, and daughter-
in-law, 250. Archibald, tenth Earl and first Duke of
Argyll, ib ; reinstated in his ancestral rights and privi
leges, ib ; created Duke of Argyll, 251. Duke John,
ib ; his character, ib ; joins British array in jFlanders,
252 ; takes charge of civil and military affairs in Spain,
ib ; his appointments, ib ; encounters Jacobites at
Sheriffmuir, ib ; later appointments, 253 ; his conduct
in relation to king and Parliament, ib ; created Duke
of Greenwich, ib ; his death, 254. Duke Archibald,
ib ; his character and appointments, ib ; favoured by
Sir Robert Walpole, 255. State offices enjoyed by Earls
of Argyll, 256. John Campbell of Mamore, fourth
duke, ib. John, fifth duke, ib ; created Baron Sun-
bridge, ib. Duchess of Argyll created Baroness Ham -
ilton of Hameldon, ib. George William, sixth Duke
of Argyll, 257. John Douglas, seventh duke, ib. George
Douglas Campbell, eighth duke, ib ; his works, ib ;
Highland prophecy conceming the family, ib. Rental
and acreage of estates, ib.
Campbells of Breadalbane, The. Their origin, 262.
Sir Colin Campbell, laird of Glenorchy, ib ; his charac
ter, ib ; brings assassins of James I. to justice, 263 ;
legend concerning him and his wife, ib. Sir Duncan
Campbell, second laird, 264 ; obtains office of Bailliary,
ib; killed, 265. Colin, third laird, ib ; his severity to
the Macgregors, ib. Light thrown on state of Highland
society by documents in Breadalbane charter chest, ib.
Sir Duncan Campbell, fourth laird, 268 ; implicated in
plot to murder Duke of Argyll and others, ib ; efforts
to improve his estates, 269 ; the economy of his house
hold, ib ; the Inventories of Plenishing, 270 ; an inven
tory of effects left by Sir Colin, 271. Sir Duncan created
baronet of Nova Scotia, 272. Sir Colin, ib. Sir Robert,
ib ; his land and estate destroyed, ib. Sir John, 273.
Sir John, first Earl of Breadalbane, ib ; his character,
ib ; is made earl, viscount, &c., ib ; is employed to
treat with Jacobite chiefs, ib ; implicated in massacre
nf M'lan and his clansmen, 276 ; imprisoned in Edin
burgh Castle, 277 ; a tradition relating to his first mar
riage, ib. John Campbell, Lord of Glenorchy, second
earl, ib. John, third earl, 278. Lord Glenorchy, ib ;
marries Willielma Maxwell, ib. John Campbell of
Carwhin takes possession of family titles and estates,
279 ; raises a regiment, ib ; created Baron Breadalbane
of Taymouth, ib ; raised to title of Marquis of Bread
albane and Earl of Ormelie, ib ; improves the estates,
ib. John Campbell, Earl of Ormelie, second marquis,
ib. Marquisate and barony of Breadalbane and earl
dom of Ormelie become extinct, 280. Claimants for
the Scottish honours, ib. John Alexander Gavin Camp
bell, sixth earl, ib. Seventh Earl of Breadalbane, ib ;
created Lord Breadalbane of Kenmore, ib ; made a
marquis, ib. Acreage and rental of family estates, ib.
Story relating to how the estate of Langton came into
possession of Breadalbane family, ib.
Campbells of Cawdor, The. Cawdor Castle, 281.
William, thane of Calder, 285. Sir John Campbell',
founder of Cawdor Campbells, 286. The second Sir
John Campbell, 287. The third Sir John Campbell, ib.
Islay won oy Campbells of Calder, ib. Family misfor
tunes, 288. Sir Hugh Campbell, 289 ; his religious
efforts, ib. Sir Alexander Campbell, ago. John Camp
bell, ib. Pryse Campbell, lb. John Campbell, ib ;
created Lord Cawdor of Castlemartin, ib. John Freder
ick Campbell, second baron, ib ; raised to rank of Eari
of Cawdor, ib. John Frederick Vaughan Campbell,
second earl and third Baron Cawdor, ib. Acreage and
rental of estates, ib.
Campbells of Loudoun, The. Origin of title, 258.
Eari o Loudoun, ib ; his opposition to Charles I., ib ;
arrested and committed to the Tower, 259 ; becomes
leader of Covenanting party, ib ; upbraids conduct of
Marquis of Montrose, ib. James, second eari, ib. Hugh,
third earl, ib ; his offices, 260. John, fourth earl, ib ;
raises regiment of Highlanders, ib ; appointments, ib.
James Mure Campbell, fourth earl, ib. James, fifth
earl, ib. Flora Mure Campbell, Countess of Loudoun,
261 ; her marriage, ib. Sikth, seventh, eighth, and ninth
earls of Loudoun, ib. Acreage and rental of estates, ib.
Comyn, Walter, 16 ; takes the title of Karl of Monteith,

ib; Fordun's description of him, ib ; his sagacity and
influence at the accession of Alexander HI., 17 ; his
death, ib.
Cregny's, Madame de, letter to last Earl Marischal
Keith, 120.
Crichtons of Frendraught, The. Early notices of
the family, 174. Sir William Crichton, ib. Lord Crich
ton's grandson attainted for treason, and his titles and
estates forfeited, 175. Sir Tames Crichton inherits
barony of Frendraught, ib. Encounter between Crich
tons and Gordons, ib. Dispute between Crichtons and
Leslies, 176. The burning of Frendraught, 177- James
Crichton created Viscount Frendraught, 182. Cricbton
of Naughton, bishop of Dunkeld, ib. William de
Crichton, 183. Sir Robert de Crichton, ib. Sir Robert
Crichton of Sanquhar elevated to the peerage, ib. Sixth
Lord Sanquhar assassinates Turner, ib ; is hanged, 184.
The Crichtons disappear from the Peerage Roll, ib.
D.
Douglases, The. Their character and history, 34 ; their
origin, 35. Sir James Douglas (the 'Good'), 36;
becomes attached to and shares miUtary fortunes with
Bruce, 37 ; takes part in the batile of Methven, ib ;
takes possession of Douglas Castle, ib ; attempts to
expel the enemy from his patrimonial estates, 38 ;
defeats Sir Philip Mowbray, 39'; his part in the
battle of Bannockburn, 40 ; encounters the English
in Jedburgh Forest, ib ; slays Sir Thomas de Riche
mont, 41 ; estate of Linthaugh bestowed on him, ib ;
encounters Sir Robert Neville, ib ; sets out with the
heart of King Bruce for the Holy Sepulchre, 44 ;
assists Alphonso in a struggle against the Moors, ib ;
is slain, 45. Hugh Douglas, 46. Archibald Douglas,
ib ; chosen Regent of Scotland, ib ; imprudently at
tacks the English and is killed, ib. Sir William
Douglas, ib ; takes part in the expulsion of the Eng
lish from Scotland, 47 ; taken prisoner by the English,
ib ; engages in a conflict with Earl of A th oil, ib;
captures Sir John Stirling at Teviotdale, ib ; recovers
the Castle of Edinburgh, ib ; murders Sir Alexander
Ramsay, ib; his part in the battle of Neville's Cross,
48 ; taken prisoner, ib ; makes a treasonable cnmpact
with the English monarch, ib ; is slain, ib. William
Douglas, 49; exi)els the English from Douglasdale
and other places, ib ; created Earl of Douglas, ib ; puts
forth pretensions to the crown, ib. James Douglas,
second earl, ib ; his influence with the king of France,
ib. ; takes part in an inroad into England, 50 ; his gal
lantry and death at Otterburn, 51. Sir William Doug
las, 52 ; the lordship of Nithsdale bestowed on him, 53 ;
defeats the Irish at Carlingford, ib ; joins the Teutonic
Knights against the Pagans, ib ; is murdered at Dant
zic, lb. Archibald Douglas of Galloway, third earl, ib ;
his gallantry in English and French wars, 54 ; defeats
the English at Melrose, ib ; marriage of his daughter
to the heir-apparent to the crown, ib. Archibald Doug
las, fourth earl, 55 ; defends Scotland against the inroads
of the English, ib; taken prisoner, ib ; the duchy of
Touraine bestowed on him, 56 ; killed in the battle of
Verneuil, 57, Archibald Douglas, fifth earl and second
Duke of Touraine, ih ; arrested and imprisoned, ib;
elected a member of the Council of Regency, ib ; ap
pointed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, ib ; cher
ishes dislike for Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar
and Sir William Crichton, ib j his death, 58. William,
sixth Earl of Douglas and third Duke of Touraine, ib ;
his character, 59 ; ensnared and beheaded, 60. James
the Gross, Lord of Abercorn, and seventh earl of Doug
las, ib J dukedom of Touraine reverts to the crown, ib ;
unentailed property descends to' Margaret the 'Fair
Maid of Galloway, ib. Death of James the Gross, 61.
William, eighth Earl of Douglas, 61 ; espouses his
cousin Margaret of Galloway, ib ; Lieutenant-General
ship of kingdom conferred on him, ib ; alienates the
confidence and regard of the king, 62 ; goes to the
Jubilee at Rome, ib. The king demolishes the castle
of Douglas^ ib. ^ William intrigues with the Yorkist
faction against his sovereign, 63 ; deprived of the Lieu
tenant-Generalship, ib ; appointed Warden ofthe West
and Middle Marches, ib ; attempts to assassinate Crich
ton, ib ; hangs Sir John Herries of Terregles, ib ; be
heads Maclellan of Bomby, ib ; plots insurrection
against royal authority, ib; murdered, 64. James,
ninth earl, ib ; resolves to revenge the murder of Earl
William, ib ; enters into treasonable correspondence
with the English Government, ib ; the King ravages
his estates, 65 j assembles an army against the king,
ib ; king lays siege to the castle of Abercorn, ib ; Earl

Index,

^^^¦¦^^^1 *°t'*^ ™*'^^' ^6 ; abandoned by his allies and
thrn«,«/^C. \^'**^'= measures for the complete over-
£^Z2. ^^^^^^""^ Douglas, ib; Eari James makes
fin.Tiff 5!^^"^ '°™^^ '"to Berwickshire. 67 ; makes a
nnaiettortto regain his power and position, ib ; be
comes prisoner and takes up his residence in the abbey
?h. . ""^V*" ' ^^^ *^e^tl^' ^8. The estates forfeited to
the crown, ib.
Dri-mmond Titles, Ancient, forfeiture of, 5 ; restor
ation or, lb.
Drummo.nd, Sir Malcolm, 8; suffers outrage, ib: death
OT, lb. to > )
Dumbarton, Earl of, creation of title, 89.
ijunbar, Countess of, 128.
Dunfermline, Earls of. ISee The Setons.1
Durham, Battle of, 21.
Durwarij, Alan, obtains posses.sion of the person of
Alexander III. and castle of Edinburgh, 17.

Family Compact, The, secret of, 115.
Flower of Chivalry. ISee^iK William Douglas, 47.I
Fosterage, custom of, 265

Glenlivet, Battle of, Huntly and Errol defeat the
Royal forces at, 84,
GoRDDN OF RoTHiEMAY, death of, at burning of Frend
raught, 177.
GowRiE Conspiracy, i6t.
Graham, Sir John, of Kincardine, marries Countess of
Menteith, 20 ; bis gallantry at battle of Durham, 21.
Grahams, The. \See Earldom of Menteith.]
H.
Hamiltons, The, Walter de Hamilton, 208, James
Hamilton, 209; raised to title of Lord Hamilton of
Cadzow, ib ; joins confederacy against the crown, ib ;
deserts Douglas and goes over to the king, 210 ; mar
ries Princess Mary. Sir James Hamilton of Kincavel,
ib. Sir James Hamilton, ib ; created Earl of Arran,
ib ; his appointments, 211 ; defeated in the skirmish of
* Clear the Causeway,' ib, James Hamilton of Fin
nart, ib ; his architectural skill, ib ; his character, 212 ;
accused of treason and beheaded, ib. James Hamilton,
second Earl of Arran, ib ; his character, 212 ; lorms
an alliance with Henry Vlll., ib ; enters into league
with France, ib ; made Duke of Chatelherault, 213 ; com
pelled to resign regency of kingdom, ib ; committed pri
soner to Edinburgh Castle, ib. Mr. Froude on the cha
racter of the Hamiltons, ib. James, third Earl of Arran,
214. Lord John Hamilton, ib; the family attainted
and exiled and their estates confiscated, ib ; honours and
estates restored, ib ; Lord John created Marquis of
Hamilton, ib. James Hamilton, second Marquis of
Hamilton and Earl of Cambridge, ib. James Hamilton,
third Marquis and first Duke of Hamilton, ib. ; com
mands fleet against the Covenanters, 215 ; commissioned
to persuade the Covenanters to abandon League and
Covenant, ib ; a prisoner in Pendennis Castle, ib ; ex
erts his influence to raise an army for relief of king, ib ;
executed, 216. William Hamilton, Earl of Lanark,
second duke and fourth marquis, ib ; is mortally wounded
at battle of Worcester, ib. Titles and estates devolve
upon Duchess Anne Hamilton, ib.
Hamilton Castle, siege of, 83.
Hamilton-Douglases, The. Lord William Douglas,
217; created Earl of Selkirk, Lord Daer and Short
cleuch, ib ; becomes Duke of Hamilton for life, ib ; his
character and appointments, ib. Titles of his sons, 218.
James, fourth Duke of Hamilton, ib ; his appointments,
lb ; confined in the Tower, ib ; takes part in discus
sions respecting union of the two kingdoms, 219; cre
ated Duke of Brandon and Baron Dutton, ib; killed,
ib. James, fifth Duke of Hamilton, 220. James, sixth
Duke of Hamilton and third Duke of Brandon, ib.
James George, seventh Duke of Hamilton, ib. Doug
las eighth Duke of Hamilton and fifth Duke of Bran
don, ib. Lord Archibald Hamilton, ib. Alexander,
tenth Duke of Hamilton and seventh of Brandon, 221 ;
improves estates, ib ; becomes ambassador at St. Peters-
burgh, ib; inherits Beckford library, ib. Lord Archi
bald Hamilton, ib. William Alexander Anthony A' chi-
bald eleventh Duke of Hamilton and eighth Duke of
Brandon, ib ; marries Princess Marie of Baden, ib ;
obtains recognition of right to title of Dvfce ot Chatel
herault ib ; killed, ib. William Alexander Loms Sti-
pi^en, twelfth Duke of Hamilton and ninth Uuke uf

407
Brandon, ib ; his advantages and conduct, ib. An
account of the Hamilton sale, ib. The Hamiltons
of Preston and Fingalton, 225. Most ancient cadets
of the house of Hamilton, ib. Lord Claud Hamil
ton, ib. James Hamilton created Earl of Abercorn,
lb ; follows James to England, 226 ; Claud, his
younger brother, created Lord Hamilton and Baron of
Strabane, ib. Claud Hamilton, fourth Earl of Aber
corn, ib ; is attainted and his estates forfeited, ib ; his
brother obtains reversal of attainder, ib. Captain James
Hamilton inherits titles and estates, ib ; is created
Baron Mountcastle and Viscount Strabane, ib ; his
grandson, eighth earl, created Viscount Hamilton, 227.
Uuke of Abercorn, ib.
Harlaw, Battle of, 9.
Henry VIII. despatches a"force against Scotland, 80.
Homes, The. Origin of the family, 370. Sir Alexander
Home, 371. Thomas Home, ib. Sir Alexander Home,
first baron, ib; joins disaffected nobles against the
King, 372. Alexander Home, second baron, ib ; his
appointments, ib ; assists the king in invading Eng
land, ib. Alexander, third baron, ib ; his appointments,
ib ; makes foray into England^ 373 ; his part in the
battle of Flodden, ib ; later offices and events of his
life, 375 ; imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, ib ; exe
cuted and estates confiscated, ib. David Home of
Wedderburn murders Sieur de la Bastie, 376; forfei
ture passed against him, ib, George Home, fourth
baron, 377 ; his character, ib ; defeats the English, ib ;
his death, 378, Alexander, fifth baron, ib ; his charac
ter, ib ; recovers Home Castle and Fast Castle from
the enemy, ib; later events of his life, 379 ; joins Queen
Mary's party, ib. Alexander, sixth baron, first Earl ot
Home and Haron Douglas, ib ; obtains reversal of for
feiture passed against his father, ib ; his ferocity and
murder of William Lauder, 380 ; Bothwell*s conspiracy
against him, 381 ; professes penitence before the Assem
bly, ib. James, second Earl Home, ib. Family titles
devolve on Sir James Home, ib. The third Earl Home
taken prisoner to Berwick, ib. The reduction of Home
Castle, 382. Alexander, fourth Earl Home, ib. Tames,
fifth earl, ib. Charles, sixth earl, ib ; James Home,
his second son, put under forfeit, ib. Alexander, seventh
eari, ib. William, eighth earl, ib, Alexander, ninth
earl, ib. Sir David Home, 383 ; his character, ib. Sir
George Home, ib ; his accomplishments, ib. The Homes
<»f Polwarth, ib, Cospatrick, eleventh Earl of Home,
385. Charles Alexander Douglas-Home, twelfth earl,
and second Baron Douylas, 386. The Homes of We 1-
derburn, ib. The Homes of Manderston, ib. George
Home of Manderston, ib ; created Baron Home of Ber
wick and made Earl of Dunbar, 387 ; his part in the
establishmentof Episcopacy in Scotland, ib; his career
as Commissioner for restoring order on the Borders,
ib ; his honours, 388 ; expiry of his titles, ib.
Homildon Hill, Battle of,'^s.
Humes, The Marchmont, The St. Clairs, 392. Patrick
Home, ib. Note on spelling of name, ib. Contrast of
the careers of the Marchmont Humes and the main
line of the family, 393. Patrick Home promotes the
Reformation, ib. Sir Patrick, fifth baron of Polwarth,
ib ; his appointments, ib. Patrick Hume, first baronet,
ib. Sir Patrick Hume, second baronet, 393 ; resists
administration of Duke of Lauderdale, 394 ; imprisoned,
ib ; lives in burial-vault to escape arrest, ib ; his daugh
ter Grizel's efforts to sustain him, ib ; escapes to the
Continent, 396 ; his son Patrick imprisoned, ib ; joins
Earl of Argyll's expedition, 397; second escape to the
Continent, ib ; the privations of his family in exile, ib ;
accompanies Prince of Orange's expedition, 400; his
attainder reversed and estates restoreci, ib; becomes Lord
Polwarth, ib ; created Earl of Marchmont, Viscount
Blasonberry and Baron Polwarth, ib ; his public offices,
ib ; his death, ib ; opinions on his abilities and charac
ter, 401 ; notices of his daughter. Lady Grizel's life ami
character, 402. Alexander, second Earl of Marchmont,
ib; his public offices, ib ; some events of his life, ib.
Alexander Hume Campbell, 403. Hugh, third Earl of
Marchmont, ib;.his career in the House of Commons ;
his son created Baron Hume of Berwick, 404; the
Earl's dissatisfaction with his grandson, ib. Settles his
estates on his sister's son, ib.

Jacobite Lords, difficulties in the disposal of their for
feited estates, 333. . T.^- . 1. i- ^1
James III., his imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle, 72 ;
liis murder, 73.
James IV. invades England, 74.

4o8

Index.

K.
Keiths, The. Their origin, 98. Baron Herveius, ib.
Herveus de Keith, ib. Philip, his successor, obtains
Keith Hundeby, ib. Sir William Keith of Galston, 99.
Sir Robert de Keith, ib; receives grant of estates in
Aberdeenshire, ib ; renders service to patriotic cause
during War of Independence, ib ; receives charter of
the lands of Keith Marischal, and the office of Great
Marischal of Scotland, loi ; killed at Dupplin, ib. Sir
William "Keith, ib ; estates obtained by marriage, ib ;
erects extensive fortress, ib ; Dunnottar becomes seat
of family, 102; his death, ib. Robert Keith, 103. Sir
William de Keith, ib ; becomes Earl Marischal, ib,
William, second earl, ib. William, third earl, io ; his
characcer, ib. William, fourth earl, ib ; takes charge
of the infant daughter of James V., ib ; his address
before the Estates at the ratification of the Confession
of Faith, 104 ; sworn a Lord of Privy Council, ib ; his
interest in the Protestant religion, 105. Robert Keith,
Abbot of Deer, ib. Commendator of Deer, ib, George,
fifth earl, ib ; his scholastic abilities, 106 ; his travels,
ib; appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to Danish
Court, ib ; appointed Lord High Commissioner to Scot
tish Parliament, ib ; establishes Marischal College, ib ;
the quarrel with his brother Robert, ib. Legend of the
family, 107. William, sixth earl, 109. William, seventh
earl, ib; casts in his lot with Covenanters, ib ; signs
the Cumbernauld Bond, no; his party defeated, ib;
his estates subjected to military execution, ib ; joins the
' Engagement,' in ; seized by the English and com
mitted to the Tower, ib ; his offices after the Restora
tion, ib ; his death, ib. Sir John Keith becomes Knight
Marischal, 112, George Keith, eighth earl, ib ; present at
the battles of Preston and Worcester, 113 ; taken prisoner,
ib ; his death, ib. William Keith, ninth earl, ib ; op
poses the Treaty of Union, ib ; impairs his estates, ib ;
marries Lady Mary Drummond, ib ; his death, ib.
George Keith, tenth Earl Marischal, ib ; his military
services, ib ; takes part in rebellion of 1715, 114 ; titles
attainted and estates forfeited, ib ; attempts to restore
ancient dynasty, ib : escapes to the Continent, ib ; be
comes favourite of Frederick the Great, ib ; obtains
pardon from British Govemment, 115 ; discovers the
secret of the 'FamilyCompact,' ib; introduced to George
III., ib ; Act of Parliament passed in his favour, ib ;
inherits the Kintore estates^ ib ; his letter to David
Hume, 116 ; King Frederick's letter to the Eari,
118; repairs to Potsdam, ib ; Sir Robert Keith on his
character at Potsdam, 119; Rousseau's sketch ofthe
Eari's character, ib ; a traveller's experience of him,
ib ; his death, 120 ; Madame de Cregny's letter to the
Earl Marischal, ib. Marshal Keith, ib; escapes to
the Continent, ib ; goes to St. Petersburg, ib ; dis
tinguishes himself in Russian engagements, 121 ; Prin
cess Elizabeth proposes marriage to him, ib ; quits
Russia, ib ; enters King Frederick of Prussia's service,
ib ; killed at battle of Hochkirch, ib ; his burials, ib ;
his character and accomplishments, 122. Robert Keith
the Ambassador, ib ; his offices, ib. Sir Robert Murray
Keith, ib ; his military offices, ib ; his career as diplo
matist, ib. Anne Murray Keith, 123 ; her accomplish
ments and literary work, ib ; sale and value of estates,
ib.
Ki LMARNOCK, Earl OF, forfeiture of his title and estates 4.

Lanark Presbytery, 85.
Lauderdale Maitlands, The. Thomas de Matulent',
347. Sir Richard de Matulent, ib. Sir Robert de
Matulent, 348. William Maitland, ib. Sir Richard
Maitland ot Lethington, ib. ; his literary work, ib ; his
public services, 349. William Maitland, 350; his cha
racter, ib ; some events of his political lite, 351; aids
the Queen in her contest with Knox, 352 ; joins the
conspiracy against Rizzio and banished from Court.
ib ; his conduct on being restored: to the Court, ib ; his
death, 354 ; summary of his life and ch;iracter, ib. John
Maitland, prior of Coldingham, 355; his appointments
and honours, ib ; becomes Lord Maitlandof Thirlestane,
356; his rupture with the King, ib ; his character, ib.
John Maitland, 357 ; created Viscount Lauderdale, ib.
becomes Earl of Lauderdale, Viscount Maitland, and
Lord Thirlestane and Boltoun, ib ; his character, ib.
John Maitland, second Earl of Lauderdale, ib ; sup
ports the policy of the Presbyterian party during Civil
War, ib ; imprisoned in the Tower, 358 ; traditionary
story of his youthful generosity, ib ; his attendance at
Court, 359 ; his appointments and honours, 360 ; created
Duke ot Lauderdale and Marquis of March, ib ; created

Earl of Guildford and Baron Petersham, ib ,' his
tyrannical administration of Scotland ; his influence in
English affairs, 361 ; deprived of his offices, ib ; his
death, ib ; summary of his character, ib ; his dukedom,
marquisate, and English honours become extinct, 362.
Charles, third Earl of Lauderdale, 363 ; his character,
ib ; prosecuted for perjury, ib. Richard, fourth Earl
of Lauderdale, ib ; outlawed by the High Court of Jus
ticiary, ib ; prepares translation of Virgil, 364 ; his
library, ib. John, fifth Earl of Lauderdale, ib. Charles,
sixth earl, ib ; distinguished members of his family, ib.
Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, 365. James, seventh
Earl of Lauderdale, ib. James, eighth earl, ib ; his
abilities, ib ; enters House of Commons, ib; political
events of his life, 366 ; his character, ib ; his literary
productions, 367. James,- ninth Earl of Lauderdale,
ib. Sir Anthony Maitland becomes tenth Earl of Lau
derdale, ib ; his English honours, ib- Rear- Admiral
Sir Thomas Maitland succeeds as eleventh Earl of
Lauderdale, ib ; his character and person, ib. Thomas,
twelfth Earl of Lauderdale, 368 ; his death, ib. Contest
for the family titles and honours, ib. Major Frederick
Maitland becomes thirteenth Earl of Lauderdale,
369, Acreage and rental of family estates, ib.
Leslies, The. Bartolf, founder ofthe family, 291. Cha
racter of the Leslies, ib ; their popularity on the Con
tinent, 292 ; their ecclesiastic distinction, ib. Sir
Norman Leslie, ib. David Leslie, 293. Leslies of
Rothes and Balquhain become principal representatives
of family, ib, Walter Leslie, 294 , assumes title of
Earl of Ross, ib, Alexander Leslie, ib ; becomes eighth
Earl of Ross, ib. The Leslies' part in the wars of the
seventeenth century, 295.
Leslies of Lsven, The. Alexander Leslie, Earl of
Leven, 302 ; continental military service, ib ; appointed
to chief command of army raised by Committee of
Scottish Estates, ib ; marches into England and defeats
royal forces, 303 ; created General Leslie, Lord B ilgonie
and Earl of Leven, ib ; confined in the Tower, 304.
Alexander, second Earl of Leven, ib. David, third
Earl of Leven and second Earl of Melville, ib. David,
sixth Earl of Leven, ib. Alexander, seventh earl, ib.
David Leslie-Melville, eighth Earl of Leven, ib. Alex
ander Leslie-Melville, Viscount Balgonie, ib. Eliza
beth Jane Leslie- Melville, 305. John Thornton Leslie-
Melville, ib, Alexander Leslie-Melville, ib ; the acreage
and rental of his estates, ib.
Leslies of Newark, The. David Leslie, Lord Newark,
306 ; military appointments and engagements, ib ; sup
presses Royalist party, ib ; employed to reduce the
Gordons and Macdonalds, 307 ; taken prisoner and
committed to the Tower, ib ; raised to title of Lord
Newark, ib, ^ David, second Lord Newark, ib.
Leslies of Rothes, The. Sir George Leslie, 296. The
barony of Rothes, ib. George Leslie, first Earl of
Rothes, 297 ; obtains divorce from his wire, ib. George
Leslie, second earl, ib ; his character, ib. William,
third earl, 298. ^ George, fourth earl, ib ; his appoint
ments, ib ; obtains divorce from his wife, 299, Norman
Leslie, ib. Andrew, fifth earl of Rothes, ib. John,
sixth earl, 300 ; resists Charles I.*s ecclesiastical pro
jects, ib. John, seventh earl, ib ; his appointments, ib ;
his character, ib ; created Duke of Rothes, ib. Expiry
of dukedom, 301. Acreage and rental of Roflies
estates, ib.
Liddesdale, Knight of. \See Sir William Douglas,
46.]
Liddhsdale, lordship bestowed on Earl of Bothwell, 73.
Livingstons, titles and estates of, 4.
Logan, Robert, laird of Restalrig, his participation in
the Gowrie conspiracy, 170.
Lovat, loss of title and estates of, 4 ; recovery of, 5.
M.
Mackenzie, Alexander, purchases the Wintoun estate,
138 ; the purchase set aside, ib ; destroys Seton Palace,
139 ; evicts the villagers of Seton, 140.
Mackenzies of Ckomartik, The. Rise of family, 200.
Sir Roderick or Korie Mackenzie, ib ; marries Margaret
Macleod, heiress of Lewis, ib ; captures pirates Mac
neil and Barra, ib; his death, 201; John Mackenzie,
ib ; created baronet of Nova Scotia, ib ; supports
Presbyterlanism, ib ; suffers imprisonment, ib. Sir
George Mackenzie, ib ; his' accomplishments, ib ; takes
part in Earl of Glencairn's expedition, ib ; assumes
title of Lord Tarbet, 202 ; supports the cause of Ear^ bf
Middleton in his contest with Lauderdale, ib; elevtvted
to the peerage as Viscount Tarbat, ib ; made menlber
of the Secret Committee, ib ; proposes plan for 'the

Index.

409

pacification of the Highlands, 203 ; Lord Macaulay on
his plan, ib; created Earl of Cromartie, 204; his
death, 205. The Earl's literary work and connections,
lb ; his sons Kenneth and James, ib. Lord Royston,
lb. John Mackenzie, second Earl of Cromartie, ib.
treorge Mackenzie, third Earl of Cromartie, ih ; takes
part m rebellion, ib ; with his son, Lord Macleod,
sent prisoner to London, 206; condemned to he
executed, and his honours and estates forfeited, ib ; his
life spared, ib ; Lord Macleod joins the Swedish
a.rmy and created a Count of Sweden, ib. j retums
to his native country and raises a new regiment, ib ;
the family estates restored to him, ib. Kenneth
Mackenzie of Cromartie, ib. Patrimonial inherit
ance passes to Lady Isabella Mackenzie, 207; de
scends to Maria, her daug;hter, ib. Edward Hay
Mackenzie, ib. John Hay Mackenzie, ib. Anne Hay
Mackenzie, Duchess of Sutherland, created Countess
of Cromartie, Viscountess Tarbat, Baroness Macleod,
and Baroness Castlehaven, ib.
Mackenzies OF Seaforth, The. Their origin, 185. Colin
of the Aird, ib. Kenneth, ib ; tradition of the service
rendered by him to Alexander III., 186. Kenneth the
Gloomy or Grim, ib. John Mackenzie's part in the
struggle for independence, 187 ; accessions to their
property, ib. Sobriquets of various members of the
family, 188. The Mackenzies' feuds with their neigh
bours, ib. Cailean Cam, or One-Eyed ColiUj ib : his son
Kenneth becomes Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, ib. Earl
dom conferred on Colin, second Baron Mackenzie, ib.
George, second Earl of Seaforth, ib : commands a body
ofCovenanters, 189; takes Oath of Allegiance to the
King, ib ; excommunicated by the General Assembly,
ib ; goes to Holland, ib ; his death, ib ; Kenneth, third
Earl of Seaforth, ib ; events of his life, ib. William,
fourth Earl of Seaforth, igo ; struggles for the Stewarts,
ib. Kenneth, fifth Earl of Secm)rth, ib ; joins the
Jacobites, ib ; returns to France, ib ; estates forfeited,
lb ; makes further attempt in behalf of the Stewarts, ib ;
escapes to the Continent, ib ; faithfulness of his vassals,
igi ; his ingratitude to Donald Murchison, 192 ; relieved
from the penal consequences of his attainder, 193 ; his
death, ib. Kenneth Mackenzie, ib ; his courtesy title,
ib. The Seaforth estates sold by the crown, ib. Ken
neth Mackenzie ('Little Lord*), ib ; raised to title of
Viscount Fortrose and Baron Ardelve, 194 ; created
Earl of .Seaforth, ib ; raises Ross-shire Regiment of
Highlanders, ib ; his death, ib. Titles become extinct,
ib ; estates conveyed to Colonel Thomas F. Mackenzie
Humberston, ib ; succeeds to the command^ of Ross-
shire Regiment of Highlanders, ib; is killed, 195.
Francis Humberston Mackenzie, ib ; is_ created
Lord Seaforth and Baron Mackenzie of Kintail, ib ;
raises a regiment of Ross-shire Highlanders, ib ; puts
an end to slave-killing in Barbadoes, ib ; becomes em
barrassed through improvidence, 196; his death, ib. Sir
Walter Scott's letter to Mr. Morritt of Rokeby with re
ference to the Earl of Seaforth, ib ; the prophecy
respecting the fall of the family, 197. Lord Seaforth's
titles become extinct, 198. Mary Elizabeth Frederica
Mackenzie, ib ; Sir Walter Scott's letter with reference
to her, ib. The estates of the family sold, ib. Hon.
J. A. Stewart Mackenzie,.™.
Man-rent Service, bonds of, 267.
Mar, The Ancient Earldom of. Antiquity of title, 6 ;
distinguished houses who have borne title,- ib ; pro
vince of Mar, ib ; ancient title of Mormaor, ib ; re
markable incident connected with the death of _one_ of
the mormaors, ib. Marrachus, mormaor of Mar, ib ; in
fluential position at court filled bythe house of Mar, ib.
David, sixth earl, ib." Gratney, seventh earl, ib. Donald,
eighth earl, ib. Thomas, ninth (or thirteenth) earl, ib.
The earldom of Mar obtained hy Earl of Douglas, 8.
James, Earl of Mar, ib. Earldom passes to Isabella,
wife of Sir Malcolm Drummond, ib ; Earldom of Mar
made over to Alexander Stewart, ib ; Earl Alexander
resigns the title and estates into the hands of theKing,
II. The earldom reverts to the crown, ib. Sir Kobert
Erskine invested in the estates, ib. James II. takes
possession of the estates, ib ; the title bestowed on the
family of Erskine, ib. Rival claims to the title, 12.
Maiile>, The, Extract from Hon. H. Kelly's Registrum
de Panmure, 319. Origin of the Maules, 320. Peter
of Maule, ib. Ansold Maule, ib; his character, 321. Peter,
first Lord Maule, ib. Robert de Maule, ib. Wilham
de Maule, ib. Roger Maule, ib. Sir Peter Maule, ib.
William Maule, 322. Sir Thomas Maule, ib; holds
Brechin Castle against English army, ib. Second bir
Thomas Maule, ib. Third Sir Thomas Maule, 323. Alex-
ander Maule. ib. Sir Thomas Maule, 3 24. RobertMaule,

325 ; opposes scheme for marriage of Mary to Edward
Prince of Wales, and taken prisoner, ib ; imprisoned in
Tower, ib ; his personal appearance and character, ib.
Thomas Maule, 326 ; his part in battle of Pinkie, ib ;*
his personal appearance and pursuits, 327 ; his death,
328. Patrick Maule, 329. Robeirt Maule, ib. Thomas
Maule, ib. Patrick Maule, first Earl of Panmure, ih ; his
elevation to title of Earl of Panmure and Lord Brechin
and Navar, 330 ; an affecting parting between him and
King Charles, ib. George, second Earl of Panmure, 331.
George, third earl, ib. James, fourth earl, ih ; rescued at
the battle of Sheriffmuir, ib ; attainted, and honours and
estates forfeited, 333. Trouble connected with the dis
posal of forfeited estates of Jacobite lords, ib. Harry
Maule, 336 ; his character and pursuits, 337. James
Maule, ib. William Maule, 338 ; created Earl of Pan
mure of Forth and Viscount Maule of Whitechurch,
ib. The titles become extinct, ib. Jean Maule, ib.
The Panmure estates go to George Ramsay, eighth
Earl of Dalhousie, ib ; they pass to William Ramsay,
who assumes the name of Maule, ib ; becomes Baron
Panmure of Brechin and Navar, ib ; his character, ib ;
reference in Mr. Hunter's letters to practices of his
times, 339 ; anecdotes of Mr. Maule^42. Fox Maule,
second Baron Panmure and eleventh Earl of Dalhousie,
344; his appointments, ib j his character, 345. Hon.
Lauderdale Maule, ib. William Maule, 346. Admiral
George Ramsay, twelfth Earl of Dalhousie, ih. John
William Ramsay, thirteenth Earl of Dalhousie, ib.
Menteith, Earldom of. The district of, 16; antiquity
of title, ib ; notable families who have home the title,
ib. Earl Maurice, ib. Walter Comyn takes the title,
ib ; rescues Alexander III.'s person from Alan Dur
ward, 17. Countess of 'Menteith deprived of the earl
dom and imprisoned, 18 ; the domains of the earldom
divided, ib. Walter Stewart obtains the title, ib. Sir
John Menteith, the "false" Menteith, ib. Alexander
Menteith, sixth earl, 20 ; his imprisonment, ib. Alan
Menteith, seventh earl, ib ; deprived of his estate by
Edward I., ib. Murdoch Stewart, ib. Lady Mary,
Countess of Menteith, ib ; she marries Sir John Gra
ham of Kincardine, ib. Sir John becomes earl by
courtesy, ib ; his gallantry at battle of Durham, 21 ;
imprisoned in the Tower of London and murdered, ib.
Lady Margaret Graham inherits the earldom, ib ; ber
marriages, ib. Robert Stewart created Earl of Men
teith, 22 ; becomes Earl of Fife and Menteith, ib ;
appointed Guardian of the kingdom, ib ; created Duke
of Albany, ib. The earldom of Menteith becomes in
vested in the crown and a moiety of it conferred upon
Malise Graham, 24 ; the Stewartry of Menteith, ib.
Alexander Graham succeeds to the earldom of Men
teith, 2S. William Graham, Earl of Menteith, ib ;
killed during a raid into Stirlingshire, ib. John Gra
ham, fourth Earl of Menteith, 26. William Graham,
fifth eari, ib. John Graham, ib. William Graham
seventh earl, ib ; becomes favourite of Charles I., ih ;_ a
cabal organised against him, 27; King Charles De
prives him of his earldom, ib ; created Earl of Airth,
and resumes family title of Menteith, ib ; his marital
misfortune, ih. Lord Kilpont, 29. Legend of Montrose,
ib. William Graham, Earl of Airrh and Menteith, 31.
Lady Mary Graham, 32. Captain Barclay lays claim to
the earldom of Menteith and Airth, ib.
Montrose, Lhgend of, 29. , , _. t t^ 1
Mowbray, Sir Philip, defeated by Sir James Dougl is,
39- N.
Neville, Sir Robert, his encounter with Sir James
Douglas, 41. O.
Otterburn, Battle of, .si. P.
Panmures, The. \See The Maules.]
Peak, The " Coalstoun," 314.
Peerage Roll of Scotland, the nuraber of peers it con
tained at the Union of the kingdoms, i ; number added
since, ib.
Peerages, Dormant and Extinct, 1.
Pitsligo, Lord, loss of his title and estates, 4.
R.
Ramsay, Sir Alexander, murder of, 47- „;,:t„„
Ramsays, The. Distingmshed character and niitory
serviced of the Ramsays, 308. The founder of family,
309. Sir William Ramsay, ib ; exploits in defence ot his

VOL. I.

2 1'

4IO

Index.

country, ib ; is murdered by Sir William Douglas, 310.
Sir William Ramsay, 311. Sir Alexander Ramsay, ib.
Second Sir Alexander Ramsay, ib. George Ramsay,
ib. Sir Georg-e kamsay, ib ; becomes Lord Ramsay of
Melrose, ib ; is made Lord Ramsay of Dalhousie, ib.
John Ramsay created Viscount Haddington and Lord
Ramsay of Barns, ib ; raade Earl of Holdernesse and
Viscount of Kingston-upon-Thames, ib. William,
second Lord Ramsay, made Earl of Dalhousie, 312.
George Ramsay of Carriden, ib. William, fifth Earl of
Dalhousie, ib, William, sixth earl, ib. Charles, seventh-
earl, ib. George, eighth earl, 313. William Ramsay,
ib. George Ramsay, ninth earl, ib ; military service,
appointments, and engragements, ib ; created Baron
Dalhousie of Dalhousie Castle, ib ; marries Christian
Broun, 314. The " Coalstoun '* pear, ib. Lord Ram
say contests the representation of Edinburgh, 315 ;
becomes tenth Earl of Dalhousie, 316; accepts office of
Governor-General of East Indian Dominions, ib ; the
civil and social improvements effected by him in India,
317 ; elevated to rank of marquis, ib ; his death, ib ;
marquisate becomes extinct, 318. Earldom and barony
of Dalhousie descend to Fox Maule, Lord Panmure, ib.
George Ramsay, twelfth Earl of Dalhousie, ib. John
William Ramsay, thirteenth Earl of Dalhousie, ib.
Richemont, Sir Thomas de, slain by Sir James Doug
las, 41.
Rothesay, Duke of, death of, 23.
Ruthvens op Gowrie, The. Origin of family, 147;
charter granted by Thor to church of Edinham, ib ;
Suconus, his son, obtains grants of land and manors,
ib. Suconus's descendants assume name of Ruthven,
147. Sir William de Ruthven, ib ; his son killed in
struggle with Highland caterans, 148; his grandson.
Sir William, created a peer, ib. William, second Lord
Ruthven, ib. Patrick, third Lord Ruthven, ib ; takes
part in capture of Perth and the deposition of the
Regent, ib ; murders Rizzio, ib ; escapes to England
and dies, 149. William, his son, created Earl of
Gowrie, ib ; his character, ib ; supports the Reforma
tion, 150 ; becomes one of the confederate lords to
whom Queen Mary surrenders at Carberry Hill, ib ;
Arran's conspiracy against him, 151 ; Raid of Ruth
ven, ib ; taken prisoner, 154 ; condemned to death, 156 ;
his character, 157 ; exploit of one of his daughters, ib ;
Arran obtains his estates, ib. Countess of Gowrie
cruelly treated by Arran, 158 ; Queen Elizabeth medi
ates on her behalf, 159. The titles and estates restored
to Earl Gowrie's son James, ib ; events of his earlier
life, ib ; his accomplishments, ib ; his life on the Conti
nent, 160 ; retums to England, ib ; concocts a scheme
for the seizure of King James, 161 ; is murdered, ib ;
the King and courtiers seek the extirpation of the
family of the Gowries, 162; their estates and honours
forfeited, ib. Extent ofthe possessions of the Ruthven
family, ib. Traditionary story of King James's
jealousy of the younger Ruthven, 16^. Fate of Earl
Ruthven's younger brothers, 164. William Ruthven's
reputation on the Continent, 165. Patrick Ruthven's
imprisonment in the Tower, ib ; his release and
subsequent career, ib. Lord Ruthven of Escrick,
167 ; is created Earl Forth and Earl of Brentford, ib ;
titles become extinct, ib. S.
Scotland, Lawless State of, in the seventeenth cen
tury, incidents illustrating, 388.
Scottish Regalia concealed from the Parliamentary
forces. III.
Selkirk, Earl of, creation of title, 8g.
Setons, The. Secker de Seye, founder of family, 126
Alexander de Setune, ib. Philip de Setune, ib. Sir
Christopher Seyton, ib ; supports Robert Bruce, ib ; be
trayed to tfae English, 127; executed, ib. Alexander
Seton, ib ; Robert Bruce makes him grants of land, ib ;
defends the town of Berwick, ib ; his son hanged
by King Edward, 128 ; retires to hospital of St. John
of Jerusalem, ib ; Margaret, his daughter, inherits
his estates, ib; she marries Alan de Wyntoun, ib ;

Wyntoun's war, ib; Alan*sdeath, ib. Sir William Seton,
ib. Sir John Seton, ib ; his son. Sir William, killed, 129.
George Seton created a peer, ib. George, second Lord
Seton, ib ; endows collegiate church at Seton, ib ;
plundered by Dunkirkers, ib. George, third Lord
Seton, 130. George, fourth Lord Seton, ib. George,
fifth Lord Seton, ib ; events of his earlier life, ib ; sup
ports the cause of Queen Mary, ib ; holds office in
Queen Mary's household, ib ; taken prisoner at battle of
Langslde, 131 ; retires to the Continent, ib; his poverty
in Flanders, ib ; James VI. gives him appointment in
his household, ib; his death, ib. Earl of Hertford's
army destroys Seton Castle, 132, Robert Seton created
Earl of Wintoun, ib. Sir John Seton, ib ; his career
in Spain, ib ; subsequent offices in his native country,
XZI- Robert, first Earl Wintoun, ib ; marries heiress
of Montgomeries of Eglinton, ib ; his son, Alexander,
becomes Earl of Eglinton, ib. George, third Earl
Wintoun, ib ; his architectural and building operations,
ib ; his death, 134. George, Lord Seton, imprisoned.
ib. George, fourth Earl of Wintoun, ib ; fights against
the Covenanters, ib ; his death, ib. George, fifth Earl
of Wintoun, ib ; his eccentricity of character, ib ; re
ceives outrageous treatment from the Lothian militia,
ib ; takes up arms against the Government, 135 ; disap
proves of the policy of English insurgent forces, ib ;
taken prisoner at Preston and confined in the Tower of
London, 136; condemned to be beheaded, ib ; ingeni
ously escapes, ib ; dies in Rome,ib. The forfeited Seton
titles, ib. Earl of Eglinton created Earl of Wintoun in
peerage of United Kingdom, ib. Sale and value of
Wintoun estate, 137 ; the purchase disputed, 138 ; pur
chased on their resale by Eari of Wemyss, 139 ; palace
of Seton, ib ; eviction of villagers of Seton, 140.
Alexander Seton, Eari of Dunfermline, 141 ; studies in
the Jesuits' College at Rome, ib ; takes to study of civil
and canon law, 142 ; his offices, ib ; his courageous re
sistance to King on a point of Jaw, ib ; created Lord
Fyvie, 143 ; advanced to earldom of Dunfermline,
ib ; his death, 144 ; bis character and accomplishments,
ib. Charles Seton, second Earl of Dunfermline, 145 ;
contests the rights of church and people, ib ; his ap
pointments, ib ; his death, ib. Alexander Seton, third
Earl of Dunfermline, 146. James Seton, fourth Earl of
Dunfermline, ib ; adheres to cause of the Stewarts, ib ;
outlawed and forfeited, ib ; his death, ib. Titles become
extinct and estates fall to crown, ib.
Seton Palace, description of, 139.
Somerville, barony of, 3.
"Spanish Blanks" Conspiracy, 84.
Spens of Kilspindie, slaughter of, 73.
Stewart Alexander, obtains the earldom of Mar and
Garioch, 8 ; storms castle of Kildrummie, ib ; mar
ries the Countess of Mar, ib; service he renders to
his country, ib ; his renown on the Continent, ib;
coraraands the royal forces at the battle of Harlaw, g.
Stewart, Archibald, claims the Douglas estates, 93;
evidence in support of claim, ib ; evidence against, 94 ;
result of claim, 96.
Stewart, Sir John, marries Lady Jane Douglas, 91.
Stewart, Walter, obtains title of Earl of Menteith, 18 ;
his part in the Crusade and the contest for the Scottish
crown, ib. T.
Tarrymean and Mauchline, Baron, 258.
Titles, Dormant and Extinct, forfeited in connection
with the "fifteen " and " forty-five,'* 3.
Touraine, Dukes of. \See The Douglases.]
Tullibardine, Laird of, 163. W.
Wallace, William, seized by Sir John Menteith,
Walton, Sir John, holds Douglas Castle, 39 ; is slain, ib,
Wigton, Earl of, assists the French aerainst the Eng
lish, 56. ^
Wintoun, Earls of. \_See The Setons.]
Wintoun Estate, sale of, 137, 139.
Wyntoun's War, 128.

END OF VOL. I.

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