during the whole period of his life, as was wont to be enjoyed by the Earls of Lennox themselves.*

The chancellor's next object was to fortify himself in this grant, which being made during the King's minority, and to the prejudice of the legitimate heirs of the earldom, was in manifest danger from the law of general revocation, whenever the King arrived at the ripe age of twenty-five years. Avandale's preliminary step, however, was to remove as far as possible the disadvantages of his birth. He obtained letters of legitimation to himself and two of his brothers, by which a right of general succession was thrown open to them,† and it is not unlikely that he contemplated at some future period the entire exclusion of the heirs in whose possessions he had established himself. At all events it is obvious, from the original titles still extant, that he would not suffer any of them to establish their right to a feudal investiture in the Lennox, without submitting in the most formal manner to his full enjoyment of the fief so long as he lived.

About the beginning of the year 1473, John Haldane of Gleneagles was on the eve of an embassy to Denmark. Despairing probably of obtaining the titles of his wife, Agnes Menteith, made up to her quarter of the Lennox, or, it may be, having particular views of his own in the matter, which the state of the times was very apt to engender, he contrived, in the absence of all the other heirs, and without any party being heard for their interest, to obtain a charter to himself of a quarter of the Len

In the Case for Woodhead, Lord Avandale's legitimation is quoted of date 17th September 1479. But I find these letters of legitimation in the record of the Great Seal, dated so early as 28th August 1472.-Mag. Sig. vii. 249. They were repeated in 1479.

nox, in terms upon which I shall elsewhere have occasion to comment. This charter contains an express condition that Haldane shall guarantee to Lord Avandale the undisturbed enjoyment of his liferent so far as Haldane's charter extended. Upon this he takes infeftment, and immediately sets out upon his embassy to Denmark, fortified also with royal letters of protection from all pleas and suits in his absence, and for forty days after his return. Agnes Menteith, however, is not served to her heritage in the Lennox, nor is she even alluded to in her husband's charter.

We have next to observe the steps taken by Lord Dernely, which in like manner were obviously controlled by the views and schemes of the chancellor.

James III., in a deed under his privy seal and sign manual, dated 21st June 1473, just three months after the date of Haldane's charter, declares that John Lord Dernely had resigned into the King's hands, the lands of the lordship of Dernely, and others, there to remain until the said John Lord Dernlie," his entrie to his part of the lands of the erledom of Levinax, and therefter quhill he haif infeft and giffen to our weil belovit cousing and chancelar Andro Lord Avindaill the said lands of the erledom of Levynax in liferent, as frely and in siclyke forme as our foresaid chancelar had the samyn lands of us befor; and also quhill our cousing Wilzam of Edmonstoun of Duntreath be made sickker be the said John Lord Dernale for his part ;" and it is further declared, that, upon Avandale and William of Edmonston being made secure and content, his majesty shall immediately restore to Dernely all the lands held in security of this agreement, and infeft him therein as fully as he held them before, without cost or impediment.*

* A notarial transcript of this deed, taken by order of Lord Der

Thus we see the scheme of the chancellor's security progressing, and it only remains to investigate the titles of Elizabeth Menteith in order to find it complete.

Merchiston's lady had made up titles to her estates in the Menteith so early as 1454. Yet I find among the Merchiston papers a precept of seisin, which clearly indicates that the lands of Rusky had been resigned in security into the King's hands about the very time of the transaction with Dernely. The precept bears, that Elizabeth Menteith had again resigned into the hands of James III. her lands of Rusky, &c. in security for the fulfilment of certain special agreements,—that the stipulation had been fulfilled,—and that the King's precept issued in consequence for reinvestment.* The seisin taken upon this is dated 8th May 1473; and although the precept does not mention what the special agreements were, there seems no room to doubt that it refers to the security of Avandale's liferent, as a condition of Elizabeth Menteith's entry to her share of the Lennox. Accordingly, the original deeds still extant show that her titles to the Lennox were made up immediately after the date of the above precept.†

nely, in September 1477, is in the Montrose charter-chest. — See Case for Woodhead, p. 67, 68, and Andrew Stewart's History, p. 183.

Sir William Edmondstone was married to Matilda Stewart, a natural daughter of James of Albany, and consequently he was brotherin-law to the chancellor.

"Que quidem terras de Rusky cum pertinentibus fuerunt dicte Elizabeth hereditarie, et quas eadem Elizabeth non vi aut metu ducta, &c. in manibus nostris sursum redditit, pureque et simpliciter resignavit et traxit easdem nobis in securitatem donec certa appunctuamenta per eam obsinata fuissent, que secundum formam eorundem plenarie perimplevit."-Merchiston Papers.

+ Elizabeth Menteith's retour as one of the heirs-general of Duncan Earl of Lennox, in one-fourth part of the earldom, is dated 4th November 1473. Upon this she is infeft 16th November thereafter. -Merchiston Papers.

Thus it is obvious that, upon the demise of Duchess Isabella, Lord Avandale, chancellor, threw obstacles in the way of the immediate entry of all the heirs-general of Earl Duncan,-that he then obtained for himself the most ample liferent grant of that fief possible, and also letters of legitimation,—and, finally, allowed the heirs to make up their titles about the same period, (with the exception of Agnes Menteith, whose husband took a special charter to himself,) upon the express condition of their homologating his liferent, and guaranteeing the possession held by himself and his brother-in-law Duntreath.

This history explains the circumstances of the Lennox remaining so long in non-entry after the death of the old Countess, and affords another sign of the times in reference to the difficulties which a female coheiress had to encounter in her legal claims upon the lofty rights and privileges of a Comitatus.

CHAPTER VI.

FIRST ATTEMPTS OF JOHN LORD DERNELY TO APPROPRIATE THE HONOURS OF LENNOX-HIS IRREGULAR SERVICE REDUCED IN A PLEA WITH HALDANE OF GLENEAGLES-STATE OF THE TITLES TO THE LENNOX AT THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF JAMES III.

The ambition of Dernely, who was as covetous of the honours of the Lennox as Lord Avandale was of the lands, backed by the influence derived from his distinguished and warlike ancestry, his wealth and high connections, rendered him a powerful rival to the chancellor in any views which the latter might entertain towards this succession, and a dangerous coheir to the females, whose legal interest in the fief was superior to that of Dernely. We find, accordingly, that this nobleman endeavoured to obtain the object of his desire in a sinister manner, which failed at first, not from any opposition on the part of the Crown, but from the baseless nature of the pretension even in a question with another less powerful coheir, and from the very irregular manner in which he attempted to make it good. In order to appreciate the nature of Dernely's proceedings it may be necessary to call to mind the forms of process by which at this period the heirs-general of Earl Duncan might establish their feudal rights.

Brieves, by the law of Scotland, prior to the erection of