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

FINHAVEN — EARL BEARDIE'S SUBMISSION. 151
battlements was long fixed to the foot of the keep by an iron
chain. It is also related, that on the occasion of Beardie's submis-
sion, which was made in presence of his fellow rebels of Angus,
he made so long and impressive a speech, that in the quaint
language of the chronicler, " They held up their hands to the
King maist dolorously, crying ' Mercy !' while [till] their sobbing
and sighing cuttit their words that almaist their prayers could
not be understood ; through the whilk their raise sic ruth and
pity amang the company, that nane amaist could contain them-
selves with tears."* The substance of Earl Beardie's long speech
on this occasion is thus briefly summed up in an unpublished local
rhyme : —
" But now his pride a bumbling figure shews,
And pale, and sad, in sackcloth forth he goes ;
Bends on his knees, and with repentant eyes,
For James' smile, the Tiger Earl cries —
Recounts the time his first of title threw
Lord Welles down, in Richard's kingly view !
Talk'd of the royal blood that filled hi3 veins,
And begg'd in tears his lost and wide domains ! —
Soon were they gi'en, and soon the royal host
Join'd Crawford's banquet — drank to Crawford's toast !
But James, still mindful of the vow he made,
(When Crawford's power the rebel force array'd ;)
That his own hand the loftiest stone would throw
Of proud Finhaven to the earth below ; —
And, bounding nimbly to the highest tower,
Where Beardie wont to pass his leisure hour —
Down to the lawn a crazy stone he threw,
And, smiling cried — " Behold, my promise true !"
Providence, however, permitted Earl Beardie to survive the
restitution of his house only for a limited period, for in six
months thereafter " he tuik the hot fever, and died in the year
of God ane thousand, four hundredth, fifty-four years, and was
buried with great triumph in the Grey Friars of Dundee, in his
forbears' [ancestors'] sepulchre."
° Lindsay of Pitscottie's Chronicle of Scotland, quoted in Lives, vol. i. p. 142, &c. A
curious account of the Battle of Brechin will also be found in a pamphlet entitled "Don, a
Toem," first printed in 1655 ; it has been often reprinted.