His first wife died without issue, but his second, who survived him for the space of twenty years, had a family of five sons and two daughters. These were Sir David, his successor in Edzell; the next, John, afterwards Lord Menmuir, founder of the noble and illustrious line of Balcarres; the third, Sir Walter of Balgavies, whose remarkable career and death will afterwards be noticed; the fourth, James, the amiable Protestant rector of Fettercairn, who died while on a mission to Geneva, and was celebrated by Andrew Melville in a beautiful elegy written to his memory; and the fifth and last, Robert, proprietor of Balhall, in Menmuir. The daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth, were the wives respectively of the Earl of Athole, and of Patrick, third Lord Drummond.1 SECTION IV. NINIAN.-- How? know you the towers of Edsell? NINIAN. Then have you heard a tale, Which when he tells the peasant shakes his head, 'Macduff's CROSS,' BY SIR W. SCOTT. Sir David Lindsay, Lord Edzell-His taste for architecture, etc.-His son's murder of Lord Spynie-"Offeris" for the same-Montrose in Glenesk-Cromwell's soldiers at Edzell-John Lindsay of Canterland's succession to Edzell-His son and grandson-David, the last Lindsay of Edzell-The fate of his sisters, Margaret and Janet-Character and last days of "Edzell "-Story of a treasureseeker." 66 THE early life of Sir David of Edzell is a striking contrast to that of his later years. Like the erratic spirits already noticed, he displayed much of the hot-headed character of feudal times. It is not believed, however, that he ever condescended to harry the fold or to extort black-mail either from his vassals or from the less powerful of his brother barons; but his resentment of insult offered to either himself or his clan seems, in some instances, to have been satisfied only by the blood of the 1 Lives, i. pp. 327-28. EDZELL—SIR DAVID'S CLANSHIP. 43 This offender. This was pre-eminently the case in regard to the slaughter of the laird of Lundie, in which his brother of Balhall, and his kinsmen of Balquhadlie and Keithock were concerned, and for which they all had a remission in 1583 through the good offices and legal advice of Lord Menmuir. affray, which ended so fatally, was not caused by the memory of any injury that Lundie had inflicted on Edzell personally, but arose from his assisting in the revenge of a real or supposed insult that Lundie had offered to his chief, the Earl of Crawford. It was so also in the quarrel between his cousin of the Vayne and the Bishop of the Isles, in which, from the sheer love of clanship, Sir David, rightly or wrongly, took a leading part, as he did at the destruction of the Earl of Montrose's cruives at Morphie.1 The aggrieved parties were all men of considerable influence, and combined as one to curb the power of their haughty rival. Had Edzell been guided entirely by the bent of his own wishes, his interference in these matters might have proved exceedingly prejudicial, if not wholly disastrous, to the interests of his house. Submission, even in its most modified form, could be ill brooked by him, and none, save his excellent brother Lord Menmuir, dared to suggest the abandonment of his reckless purposes. While residing at the Vayne, in the autumn of 1582, this great man and affectionate brother apprised Edzell by letter of the danger that was fast encircling him; and although, as already seen, a mere follower, and one who had done nothing more than his opponents would have done if placed in the same position, Sir David was supposed, as is often the case in such circumstances, to have been a prime mover in each and all of these affrays. "I would request you to be better avisit," said Lord Menmuir, in the admirable letter alluded to, "and to use counsel of your best friends. Consider how troublesome is the warld, how easily ony man who is stronger nor ye at ane time may do you ane wrang, and how 1 Lives, i. pp. 339 sq. little justice there is in the country for repairing thereof. Therefore, I wald desire you above all things, to travail to live in peace and concord with all men, otherways your life and pairt of the warld shall be very unpleasant, ever in fear, danger, and trouble, whereof the maist pairt of them who calls themselves your friends wald be glad.” 1 This and a few similar admonitions had the salutary effect that Lord Menmuir so much desired; and, on being once convinced of the unenviable position that he held in other than the eyes of his own clansmen and relatives, it was easy to effect a reformation in the mind of one whose failing lay in the resentment of the insults offered to his friends rather than to himselfparticularly in a mind so expansive and generally well assorted as Edzell's. For, with all the asperities that characterised his nature, “he had tastes and pursuits," as beautifully said by his biographer, "which mingled with his more feudal characteristics in strange association; he was learned and accomplished -the sword, the pen, and the pruning-hook were equally familiar to his hand; he even anticipated the geologist's hammer, and had at least a taste for architecture and design."2 Examples of his qualifications in these varied acquirements still exist in many different forms. Enough has been said to prove his expertness as a swordsman; and his proficiency in literature is alluded to in so unmistakeable language by the King on presenting him to the vacant office of a Lord of Session on his brother's resignation, as to sufficiently guarantee the certainty of his acquirements in that respect. His correspondence regarding the mines of Glenesk, which is fully brought under notice in Lord Lindsay's Lives, shows his aptitude in the study of mineralogy; while the extensive additions that he made to the work begun by his father, in the extension of his old paternal messuage, is still apparent in the ruins of those gigantic and tasteful labours. It was he who "rebuilt the garden-wall at Edzell in a style of architectural 1 See letter in Lives, i. p. 339 sq. 2 Ibid. i. p. 339. 3 Ibid. i. p. 342 sq. EDZELL-SIR DAVID AS A LANDLORD. 45 decoration unparalleled in those days in Scotland, the walls presenting the Lindsay fesse-chequée and stars of Glenesk, flanked by small brackets for statues alternately with sculptures in alto-relievo, representing the Theological and Cardinal Virtues, the Seven Sciences, the planets, etc., in the allegorical style and manner of the followers of Niccola and Andrea Pisano in the fourteenth century."1 Nor were Sir David's energies wholly centred in the decoration of his own mansion. It was also his aim to advance the importance and interests of his tenantry to the utmost of his power, and with this view he planned a town at Edzell, with cross and market-place. At a later period it was erected into a burgh of barony, and thither the tenantry of Edzell, Glenesk, and Lethnot, were bound to bring their dairy and other marketable produce on the monthly fair-day. Certain arrangements were also entered into betwixt Edzell and the magistrates of Brechin, by which the stock reared by and belonging to the tenantry of Edzell and Glenesk were admitted, custom free, to the great Trinity Muir Fair, of which the magistrates of Brechin are superiors. It was perhaps on the occasion of this amicable arrangement that the laird of Edzell was admitted a freeman of that burgh.3 Weighing apparatus, stances, and other requisites for carrying out the object to its full extent, were erected at Edzell at the laird's expense, and the market flourished with considerable success long after the body of its spirited projector was laid beside his kindred. "Auld Eagle's Market," as the August fair is locally called, is perhaps the fair that Lord Edzell established, for it is the oldest of any now held at Edzell. Such were the peaceful and praiseworthy labours that occupied the later years of Lord Edzell, by which title he had 1 Lives, i. p. 346; Reg. de Panmure, i. pp. clviii sq. 2 Lives, i. p. 348. 3 (July 26, 1580)—Minutes of Bailie Court of Brechin, bound up with those of the Hammerman Incorporation, and in possession of that body. These are the oldest records belonging to the city of Brechin, and date from 2d February 1579. been known from his appointment as a Lord of Session; and being honoured with knighthood in 1581, he was further dignified in the memorable 1603, when James ascended the throne of England, by being chosen a privy councillor. In the enjoyment of all the blessings that extensive learning and judiciously exercised power could impart, and in the confidence of an enlightened Sovereign, the sun of prosperity seemed to shine upon him from all quarters, and he could anticipate nothing that would in any way disturb his quiet. Unfortunately however, in the midst of this tranquillity, his hopes were rudely blighted, and the evening of his life harassed, by the occurrence of riot and murder committed by his eldest son. Much of the daring and reckless character that marked the career of his ancestors on both sides unhappily fell to the lot of "Young Edzell," and almost the only points recorded of him have reference to some lawless transaction.1 The first outbreak in which he was concerned occurred in 1605, when he and young Wishart of Pitarrow, with their followers, met in the Saltron of Edinburgh, and fought a desperate battle. It continued from nine to eleven o'clock in the evening. "Thair wer sundrie hurt one both sydes, and ane Guthrie slaine, which was Pitarrow's man," and who, continues the quaint diarist Birrel, was "ane very prettie young man.”2 For these disturbances the participators and, as was the custom of the period, their fathers also, had to stand trial, when they were all fined, and warded to certain of the State castles. But the most unfortunate circumstance of young Edzell's life was his inadvertent slaughter of Lord Spynie on the same ill-fated street. This affair ever preyed heavily on his mind, and, as in the Pitarrow case, was the source of much vexation and annoyance to his aged father. The circumstances relating to this. luckless affair are interesting, and may be briefly told. 1 For young Edzell's matrimonial connection, see below, p. 71. |