Historical memoir of the family of Eglinton and Winton

HOUSE OF EGLINTON'. 103
honest cawses." This Laird of Skelmorlie is said to
have entered prominently into "the long standing
fued between the families of Eglinton and Glencairn,
and to have slain Alexander Cunningham, commen-
dator of Kilwinning, son of Alexander, Earl of Glen-
cairn," the great champion of religious revolution,
" in March, 1582 ;" and he appears further to have
been implicated in other feats of slaughter in this
way, some of which were brought " before the
criminal courts, but no trials seem to have resulted."
He married, before May 20th, 1567, Dorothea,
daughter of Robert, third, and most eminent, Lord
Sempill, by whom he had four sons and as many
daughters who came to maturity. In a feudal ren-
counter, April 1584, it is stated that this laird and
his eldest son, William, were both slain by Max-
well of Newark, an ally of the Cunninghams.
Sir Robert Montgomerie, seventh Baron of Skel-
morlie, and second son of the preceding, thus came to
succeed his father. He was a man of ability and
distinguished personal courage, and, like his father,
engaged keenly in the fierce Cunningham fued.
Of this laird, Crawford relates a ludicorous yet
characteristic adventure to the following effect.
For some purpose not fully explained, he secretly
contrived to enter the Castle of Newark, the resi-
dence of the slayer, as we have seen, of his father
and elder brother. Being discovered, however, in
his hiding place, Maxwell, with ready humour and
excellent tact, simply satisfied himself by calling out