Agnews of Lochnaw

CHAPTEK V.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE AGNEWS AT LOCHNAW.
Gif thou desire thy house lang stand,
And thy successors braik thy land,
Above all things live God in fear,
Intromit not with wrangous gear ;
Oppress not, but support the puir,
To help the common-weill take euir ;
Help thy friend, and doe na wrang,
And God shall cause thy house stand lang.
The Lord of Lame was so seriously compromised with the
English authorities by the part he had taken in the late struggle,
that we are not surprised to read that his son and heir appeared
at the Scottish Court immediately after his old commanding
officer was chosen regent. It is a matter of some surprise, how-
ever, that the Agnews were allowed to retain undisturbed posses-
sion of their estates for many generations ; and these were first
curtailed, not by the English sovereigns, but by the incursions
of piratical Scots from the Western Highlands (more than two
centuries later).
Young Agnew met, as might have been expected, with a
kind reception from the Earl of Moray. And when the Eegent
made a progress through Galloway in the year 1330, he appears
to have been accompanied by his young protege, on which occa-
sion Eandolph held a grand " Justice Aire" at the town of
Wigtown, where Alexander Bruce as Lord of Galloway was
present. 1
The office of Constable of Lochnaw was then in the gift of
Alexander Bruce, from whom the native baronage held them-
selves aloof, being but ill affected to the reigning house. And
1 Chalmers' Caledonia ; also Fordun.