History and traditions of the land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns

46 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS.
children with us, to await her return. She was a sair changed
woman when she came back, — her haughty maimer was gone,
and her proud look turned into sadness. She had found every-
thing changed at Edzell since she left it, a gay lady, the bride of
Aitherny. For the noise and merriment of those days, she
found silence and sadness, — for the many going to fro, solitude
and mouldering walls, — for the plentiful board of her father, his
house only, roofless and deserted. When she looked out from
the windows, it was the same gay and smiling landscape, but all
within was ruin and desolation. She found her way to what had
been in former days her own room, and there, overcome with the
weight of sorrow, she sat down and wept for a long time, — she felt
herself the last of all her race, for her only brother was gone, no
one could tell where. She came back to Gardrum, the next day,
and she just lived to see the ruin of Aitherny, which her extra-
vagance and folly had brought on, for the Laird was a good-
natured man and could deny her nothing. They both died,
leaving their family in penury.' — And such was the end of the
' proud house of Edzell.' " »
Alike with the history of those unfortunate ladies, that of
their only brother, the last laird, is one of painful melancholy.
It is true that between the large dowry to Mrs. Watson, and
other liabilities, the estate was greatly burdened ; still, by pru-
dent management, it might have been soon redeemed, and
Edzell restored to the independence and influence of his ances-
tors. But having been thwarted in love by his cousin, Jean
Maria Lindsay ,f he cared not to set his affections upon another,
and losing all respect for himself, and the dignity of his house,
he soon effected its total overthrow. Down to the time of his
leaving the parish, however, he was preceded to the kirk on
Sundays by a guard of strong hardy retainers, clothed in the
family tartan, and, like his father and grandfather, he enjoyed an
eldership, in which capacity he assumed those extraordinary
powers, and had recourse to those arbitrary measures, already
alluded to. Not content with designing himself in the ordinary
form of a mere member of session, when attesting the minutes,
he appears in the dignified character of " principall and chief
elder ;" and, in the spirit of true feudalism, the Kirk-session
* Lives, vol. ii. , pp. 2C4-5. t Lives, vol. ii., p. 259,