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ST CLAIR OF ROSSLYN.

THE ancestor of this family, a Norman noble of high birth, settled in Scotland in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, and obtained from that king extensive grants of land in Midlothian. Succeeding monarchs extended the domains of his descendants, and the way in which one of these territorial grants was acquired, shall be the subject of the following narrative :—

One day, King Robert Bruce, hunting on the Pentland hills, told his attendant nobles, that he had frequently, while pursuing the chase in that district, been baffled by a white deer, which had invariably got the start of his hounds, and beat them; and yet, he thought his own the best dogs that he had ever seen! He then asked his followers if any of them had hounds which they would venture to

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would be more successful? As the King was evidently in an evil mood, and as this question was asked with the air of bravado, it may be supposed that few courtiers would willingly affirm their hounds to be swifter than those of the King.

However, William St. Clair, Lord of Rosslyn presuming upon his high birth and power, and trusting to his intimacy with the King, somewhat bluntly called out that he would wager his head that his two favourite dogs, "Help" and "Hold," would kill the white deer before she could clear the March Burn. The king, whose ill-humour was chafed by St. Clair's unceremonious assertion of the superior worth of his dogs, immediately laid hold of the hasty proposal, and wagered the Forest of Pentland against the life of the bold Baron of Rosslyn.

All the hounds were tied up, except a few slow hounds to put up the deer. The Baron of Rosslyn posted himself in the best position for slipping "Help and Hold," and devoutly praying, he commended himself to Christ, the blessed Virgin, and St. Katherine. It was not long before the famous white deer was raised, St. Clair loosed his hounds and followed them on his swift steed to cheer them on. The deer, however, outstripped their speed, and had already got before them so far as to the middle of the fatal March

Burn, which seemed destined to be the boundary of the Baron of Rosslyn's life. Upon this, St. Clair threw himself from his horse in despair. Yet all was not over. At this critical moment, "Hold" came up with the white deer, in the middle of the brook, and stopped her; while "Help," no less true to his name, turned her back; and she was killed by the two brave dogs on St. Clair's side of the March Burn. So his life was saved, and his wager won!

King Robert, descending from the hill, embraced St. Clair, congratulated him with a good grace on the successful issue of his bet, and bestowed on him, as he had promised, extensive lands, which were, in that day, called Pentland Forest, and which made a great addition to that proud Baron's already overgrown estates. It is difficult to give a more complete specimen of feudal barbarism than that which is proved by the circumstances of this tale. Seldom has a life been more recklessly perilled, and never were lands more worthlessly won. It would be more satisfactory to our feelings, if this silly wager had been made by any one of the Scottish monarchs rather than by King Robert the Bruce.

This reckless better and adventurous huntsman, Sir William St. Clair, Lord of Rosslyn, raised his family to still higher honours by an illustrious

marriage. He wedded the daughter and eventual heiress of Malise, Earl of Orkney and Stratherne, and thence the princely Earldom of Orkney and its dependencies, came, in time, to be inherited by his son, Henry St. Clair, Lord of Rosslyn, who, in 1379, was created Earl of Orkney by Haco, King of Norway, or, it may be more correct to say, that he was invested by the Norwegian monarch with the Earldom, which he inherited in right of his mother.

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The illustrious race of Earls, of which Henry St. Clair thus became heir of line, was founded by Earl Rogenwald in the ninth century. Their descent was one of the most ancient and princely in Scandinavia, and was traced to a common ancestor with the Dukes of Normandy-Rollo having been a son of Earl Rogenwald, and William the Conqueror, and his contemporary, Earl of Orkney, having been cousins in the direct male line, in no very distant degree. Henry, the first Earl of Orkney of the line of St. Clair, is said to have married Florentia, a Danish princess.

His son and grandson, successively Earls of Orkney and Lords of Rosslyn, married granddaughters of two Scottish kings; Egidia, daughter of Douglas, Lord of Nithsdale, by a daughter of King Robert II., and Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Douglas and Duke of Tourraine, by a

daughter of King Robert III. The St. Clairs continued to be Norwegian Earls of Orkney until 1471, when that earldom was annexed to the Scottish crown after the marriage of King James III. with Princess Margaret of Denmark.

The object of that monarch was to humble the pride, and diminish the overgrown power of William, third Earl of Orkney, of the line of St. Clair. He accordingly compelled him to exchange the Earldom of Orkney and the Lordship of Nithsdale, for the Earldom of Caithness, and the Lordship of Ravensheugh and Dysart, in the county of Fife.

The beautiful chapel of Rosslyn, which is still in good preservation, was built, and the chapter to which it was attached was founded by this powerful noble, William St. Clair, Lord of Rosslyn, Prince of Orkney, Earl of Caithness and Stratherne, Lord of Nithsdale, Lord Admiral and Lord Justice General of Scotland, Lord Warden of the three marches, High Chancellor and Great Chamberlain of Scotland. This lofty person also built the castle of Rosslyn, where he resided in great splendour. At the time of the building of Rosslyn chapel, it is said that all ranks and degrees of visitors flocked to wait on him at his castle, where he kept princely state; and was almost royally served at his table in vessels of gold and silver. Lord Dirleton was master of his household, Lord

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