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the undoubted right of his lady, or, otherwise, by an express grant flowing directly from the fountain of honour," why, then, after he had completely satisfied the territorial principle also by taking infeftment upon his rights, did he proceed on a royal mission to the court of the King's father-in-law as plain John Haldane?

The terms, upon which so much stress is laid, of" first and principal," are by no means of a nature to surmount this difficulty. They are not known as expressions to indicate the conveyance of a territorial dignity, and in this charter their application is ambiguous and undefin. ed. Sometimes the phrase is " tanquam primo et principali dicti Comitatus,” as if the principal superiorities of the whole fief were pointed at. But in other clauses the expressions appear to be limited to the quarter which is the subject of the grant," ad dictam quartam partem Comitatus ut principali ejusdem pertinentibus." This too will be observed, that although the chancellor's liferent grant included entire and unrestricted possession of all the lands and liberties of the fief, as fully and freely as formerly enjoyed by the Earls of Lennox, Haldane is only required to guarantee that possession to the extent of a fourth part; and the feudal services which Haldane himself is taken bound to fulfil are only de dicta quarta parte.

While, on the one hand, the gloss attempted to be put upon the words in question is totally irreconcilable with the fact that Haldane did not assume the honours at a time when, ex hypothese, circumstances were most favourable for his doing so,-on the other hand, there is a simple interpretation of the expressions, which it is impossible to read the charter without perceiving. The party who ruled such matters in Scotland at the period, was

the Chancellor Avandale, and he was at the very moment securing to himself this liferent possession of the whole earldom of Lennox. The charter to Haldane was the first that had any connection with the succession of the coheirs of Earl Duncan. It was granted under express reservation of the chancellor's liferent, which created a temporary exclusion of the legal succession. Is it at all unlikely, considering the nature of the transactions, and the state of the times, that Haldane took this special grant to himself, of a prospective possession of a quarter of the fief, as the best bargain he could make both for himself and his wife, and that the phrase “ tanquam primo et principali," (so unprecedented when regarded as a special conveyance of honours) meant neither more nor less than Haldane's prospective right of plenum dominium in a quarter of the Comitatus, standing in contradistinction to the chancellor's liferent possession which burdened the grant?

But we are not left to such rational inferences from the terms of the charter itself, in reply to the bold pleading instituted for Gleneagles. It can be positively instructed, by a decree of the Lords of Privy-Council, that Haldane did not receive that charter in consequence of his or his lady's right to the dignity of the earldom being "fully understood and publicly acknowledged."

That gentleman returned from his embassy, and obtained a reduction of Dernely's service, in the year 1475, as already narrated. The terms of this decree of reduction are well worthy of observation, because they afford the most authentic and impartial statement of the precise footing upon which Haldane obtained his charter. I shall therefore quote verbatim so much of it as touches the case.

"James," &c. "That for als meikill as we send oure lovet familiare squyre Johnne of Haldane, of the Levinax principale, and of Rusky, as ane of oure ambassiadouris, for certane matteris concerning us in neirness, to oure deirest faeder-in-law the King of Denmark, for the quhilk we tuk the said Johnne, his lands, rents, &c.togidder with all his actions, causis, and querelis, movit or to be movit quhatsumevir, under oure speciale respect, protectioun, saufguard and defens, induring the tyme of his being utenth oure realme in oure said materis, and for forti dais efter his hame cumming, as is contained in our said respect. Nevirtheless in his absence, and furth being of oure realme in oure service foresaid, Johnne Lord Dernely optenit and purchest brevis of oure chapell tuiching the superiorite of the Ereldome of the Levinax, the quhilk the said Johnne Lord Dernly nevir clamit nor persewit als long as the said Johnne of Haldane was present, and for this he offerit divers times to the said Johnne of Haldane contentatiouns before the Lords of oure Counsale as for the principal superioritie of the said erledome, as the said Johnne of Haldane alleges; be the quhilk brevis the said Lord Dernely has optenit interess in the said superiorite, in great prejudice, hurt, and skaith of the said Johnne of Haldane, that evir clamit the said superiorite be resone of his spouss, and obtenit oure favours tharto as principale, be our charter and seising givin to him thereupon because the said Lord Dernly na nane utheris oure lieges maid ony clame contrar the said Johnne of Haldane, nor his spouss, tuiching the superiorite foresaid, we herd na party contrair to him in that matter befor the time of his passage utenth oure realme in our service, as said is, and now of lait sen the hame-cumming of the said Johnne of Haldane he has menit him to us, that our said respect was

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hurt and broken to him in its said superiorite. For the quhilk we causit the Lords of our Counsale, togidder with uthir baronis of our realme, to syt and aviss tharupon, the quhilks fand that our respect wes hurt and nocht kepit to the said Johnne of Haldane be the brevis purchest be the said John Lord Dernly anent the superioritie of the said erledome; therefore we have considerit the possessione and sesing given to the said John of Haldane as principale, and the rycht of the successione perteining to the said Johnis spouss, undemandit be ony of oure lieges, togidder with ye cause above proponit; our will is, that the said brevis, sesingis, interess, and all uthir thingis following tharupon, purchest and optenit be the said Johnne Lord Dernly anent the said superioritie, sen the tyme of the passage of the said Johnne of Haldane in oure service utenth oure realme, as said is, be of nane availe, strength, force, nor effect, before ony juge or jugeis, spirituale or temporale, in time cumming, and that thai be annullit for ever, sua that the said matter sall stand in the samyn forme, force, and effect as it was the day of the passage of the said Johnne of Haldane utenth our realme in our service forsaid, but prejudice to ony party in their rychtis in time to cum. vin undir oure Privy-seile at Edinburgh, the 12th day of Januare and of our regime the 16th yere.-(Signed) Scheves."*

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This is an important document in the Lennox case. It proves by a declaration issuing from the fountain of honour,

1. That Dernely had sat in Parliament among the Comites solely in virtue of his service to Earl Duncan, as he is here only styled, "Johnne Lord Dernely."

* Gleneagles Papers.

2. That there was no public acknowledgment of Haldane's right, by courtesy, to the earldom of Lennox, and no express grant to that effect in his charter "tanquam primo et principali," either meant by the sovereign, or understood by Haldane, for he is simply styled our “ familiare (i. e. household) squyre," although he was infeft upon the charter said to convey the honours, and although the decree was founded upon that very charter.

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3. That any claim which Haldane had put forth in name of his spouse to the superiority of the earldom was not admitted as a matter of acknowledged right, but simply in absence, no other party having appeared or been heard in the matter before he departed on his embassy.

4. That whatever subsidiary plea Haldane may have urged in right of his lady, his leading plea, and that too upon which the judgment mainly proceeded, was, that the royal letters of protection from all suits, &c. had been broken in the person of Haldane by Dernely's service to a special portion of the fief, a process to which Haldane, who was infeft in a portion, ought to have been called.

5. That the decree of reduction involves no declarator either of Haldane's or his lady's right to the dignity, but, on the contrary, expressly reserves the rights of all parties having claims; and places that matter pre cisely in statu quo, as it stood when Haldane departed on his embassy as plain John Haldane.

Thus the whole argument in the memorial reared upon the terms of Haldane's charter, which is the main pillar of the modern case for Gleneagles, falls to the ground. That Agnes Menteith was elder than her sister Elizabeth is assumed in the memorial, and simply from the circumstance (also assumed) that Napier did