Bonkill, killed at Falkirk in the year 1298, to whom it is thus alleged originally to have belonged, and not to the See of Glasgow, who, notwithstanding, were the ancient proprietors.
The family of Yester, or Tweeddale, held all Auehtermuir Blench of the opulent religious house of Arbroath,[1] upon which, previous to the reign of David II., the high privileges of a regality had been conferred.[2] Agreeably to the usage that prevailed in such great jurisdictions, the Abbot of Arbroath would, in the event of the general raising of the militia of the country to repel such an invasion as that of the Earl of Hertford, in the year 1547, evidently alluded to by Allan in his testament, have the leading of the men of Auchtermuir, who would necessarily rally under his clerical banner. By various notices, however, in the Chartulary of Arbroath, it appears that the Abbots were in the habit of delegating to their vassal, Lord Yester, the duty of discharging many of their civil rights, such as the office of justiciary, within the limits of Auchtermuir. Hence, they would not fail also to invest him with those of a military nature; and, accordingly, Allan Stewart, along with other peasantry of the muir, is to accompany Lord Yester, acting for the Abbot, to the border.[3]
Mr John Brown, and that precious family manuscript, have so utterly metamorphosed those early members of the family of Allanton, that it might have defied their own acquaintance to have recognised them,—not to advert to the more obvious disguisements, for whom this personage, Sir James Tait of Ernock, stands proxy, I know not,—but I peremptorily defy any one to prove his existence. They have totally suppressed Gawin and Euphan, but dropt their own offspring into their nests; but these exotics, not agreeing with the change of climate, are all suffered piteously to die away; an expedient indispensible, in order to give the thing a natural appearance, it being rather an odd race that was in the habit of producing only one member at a time. When these authorities are so accurate in modern points, they must assuredly be much more so in those of greater antiquity, and hence, upon their bare allegation, and in the absence of any other evidence, we must believe in the prodigies of Dundalk and Morningside, and all that has been asserted of this unparalleled family. The eventual fate of Gawin and Euphan I have not been able to unravel; these are the only faint glimmerings I have detected respecting them.—I have now trespassed sufficiently, for the present, upon the attention of your readers—if their patience be not altogether exhausted, perhaps the residue of "the Historie" may be forthcoming in the course of your next Number. J. R.
111, George Street,
9th August 1817.
P.S.—I see it is inaccurately stated, that "the learned and worthy Baronet" bears in his arms a spear, in commemoration of a tournament in which the Hero of the day of Morningside is supposed to hare shared.—The fact is, that, on the 21st of December 1815, the present Lyon Depute—who exercises even royal prerogatives—conferred upon him, and certain heirs in remainder, by "Patent," a new honourable augmentation, "a broken spear, surmounted by a helmet, as a further mark of his (Sir Allan's) gallantry in that engagement;"—as also the motto, "Virtutis in bello præmium."
AMBER IMBEDDED IN LIMESTONE.
MR EDITOR,
Having observed in the last Number of your Magazine, that Count Dunin Borkowsky had announced his having discovered amber imbedded in sandstone, I think it may not be uninteresting to state an analogous observation which was made about the
- ↑ The Tweeddale family were seated there as far back as the year 1432. Charty of Arbroath, Ad. Liby. fol. 39 b.
- ↑ Ib. fol. 38.
- ↑ "Universis pateat per preserves nos David permissione divina Abbatem monasterii Sancti Thome Martiris de Abberbrothock et ejusdem loci conventusfecisse constituisse et ordinasse—Nobilem et potentem Dominum Johannem Dominum Hay de Zester, Johannem Ogilvy de Fingask," &c.—"et eorum quemlibet conjunctim et divisim nostros ballivos commissarios camerarios justiciarios infra regalitatem nostram de Abberbrothock et Ethcarmore." (5 April 1494.) Charty of Arbroath, fol. 132 b.
There had also been previously a similar commission to John Lord Zester, dated 14 August 1488. Ib. fol. 124.
