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

148
LAND OF THE LINDSAYS.
stolen in disguise to the camp of Earl Beardie, as a sp) T . All
agree, however, that
" A silver cup he from the table bore ;"
and that before the battle of Brechin he had shewn such a
want of bravery that he was branded and stigmatised as a
coward ; and, determined to wipe the foul spot from his scut-
cheon, he performed those prominent and daring exploits which
history has ascribed to him. While quaffing the " blood red
Avine," the Tiger and his party were aroused by an alarm of the
advance of Huntly, and in the bustle and confusion which fol-
lowed, Calder succeeded in carrying off the silver drinking
cup. This he presented to his chief, as an evidence of his
courage in bearding, as it were, the " Tiger" in his den, and
received an augmentation to his patrimony of Assuanlee, or
favours of a similar sort.*
This celebrated cup, which is here figured, measures, ex-
clusive of the figure at the top,f about fifteen inches in height,
holds a Scotch pint and two gills. It is
/j*~ft now in possession of Mrs. Alexander Gor-
i^ra -mm ^ or, > U1U ) T surviving child of the late Sir
Ernest Gordon of Park and Cobairdy, and
the history of its acquirement by Sir
Ernest's father is equally curious as the.
romantic manner in which it is said to
have been originally come by: — "Some
years after the ' forty-five,' a party of
gentlemen, Jacobites, and all more or less
under the ban of Government, ventured
to hold a meeting at a small hostelry in
Morayshire, between Elgin and Forres.
In the course of their sederunt, one of their
number, Gordon of Cobairdy, got up to
mend the fire, and, in doing so saw some-
thing at the bottom of the peat-hunker,
or box for holding the peats, which seemed to glitter. He
* "Assuanlee was granted to the Calders twelve years before the battle of Brechin."—
Lives, vol. i. p. 158.
t The figure on the top is the crest of Gordon of Cobairdy. The woodcut is after a sketch
by C. Elphinstone Dalrymple, Esq., kindly communicated by Lord Lindsay,