History of the earldoms of Strathern, Monteith, and Airth

STRATHERN, MONTEITH, AND AIRTH, 113
of Honour, Dio;nity, and Estate thereof should William
' c? J ' EIGHTH il.Ar.L
never be divided nor separated, neither that the o'f Monteith
^ _ AND SECOND
famihes of Montrose and Monteith should be Earl op
. . . , . AlRTH.
joined or confounded in [|one] anotlier, with lesi.
several other conditions on the said Marquis his
part mentioned in the said bond of tailzie, never
as yet performed by him ; and therefore protested
that the said Earl being in plain Parliament when
the said ratification passed in the said Marquis
his favours might noways prejudge the said Earl
of Monteith, nor infer any homologation or ac-
quiescing on the said Earl his part to the said
Marquis his ratification of the said Earldom and
estate of Monteith." '
The Earl of Monteith's motive for protesting
against this Settlement seems to have been his
dislike to the possible alienation of the lands
of Monteith from the Title of Monteith, which
would have been the effect of the King's inter-
position, and his unwillingness that either the
Dignity or the territories should be merged in
the Marquisate of Montrose. It was clearly his
design that a new branch of the House of Gra-
ham should, after his decease, be ennobled in the
person of a younger son of its Chief; and the
manner in which his intention was frustrated,
and the Dignity divested of all means for its
support, is another of the many curious inci-
dents in which its history abounds.
^ Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. viii. p. 257.
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