Agnews of Lochnaw

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceased :
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet to come to life ; which in their seeds,
And weak beginnings, lie entreasured.
Shakspeabe — Henry IV.
Sitting alone one rainy morning in the winter of 1860 in the
library at Lochnaw, carelessly turning over the pages of an old
volume, we encountered this quaint sentence — " Our fathers
find their graves in our short memories, and sadly tell us how
we may be buried in those of our survivors." 1 Under the in-
fluence of the train of thought to which these suggestive words
had given rise, a large old charter-chest was ordered up from
the thickly-arched fire-proof repository of the family archives ;
and a cartload of musty papers was soon exhumed which for
many a long year had lain there undisturbed.
A curious medley they were — Sasines, infeftments, sum-
monses, discharges, letters of horning, inhibitions, informations,
bonds, precepts of clare constat, marriage-contracts, reliefs, wills,
tacks, commissions, rentals, acts of parliament, processes, and
all sorts of papers connected with the proceedings of the sheriff
courts ; memoranda ; charters under the great seal, and charters
from bishops, abbots, and commendators, with much greater
seals — the size of the seal and roll of parchment often being in
the inverse ratio of the value of the grant. In such treasures
we presently found ourselves knee-deep.
1 Sir Thomas Brown.
B