Stirling peerage

STYLINU IllMSKI.F KAi;l. 01' S-TIULINO. 225
gives it to Lord Montgomery, who has also nothing to do with
it. We would have thought that it would have been found
nearer to the proper proprietor of it ; but no, it is said to have
been carefully preserved in Castle Comber, where Lord Mont-
gomery resided.
Now, we come to the Archbishop of Cambray, and he writes,
in October, 1707, — " The friends of the late Mr Ph. Mallet
will, doubtless, read with great interest this letter of a grand-
son of the Earl of Stirling. M. Cholet, of Lyons, setting out
to-day, 16th October, 1707, on his way home, will have the
honour of delivering it to Mr Brossette on the part of Madame
de Lambert. To authenticate it, I have written and signed
this marginal note." To authenticate what ? To authenti-
cate. Kith October, 1707, a letter written on the 25th August
of same year to Madame de Lambert, who was the person to
whom that letter was addressed ! The thing passes all credi-
bility. This is nothing but to get the Archbishop's name on
the document. Then there is said to be a seal on the inscrip-
tion of the tombstone which is on the map. A mighty matter
has been made of this seal. I take the prisoner's statement, in
regard to it, in the eleventh article of his minute, — " That
the document. No. X. is the letter holograph of Mr John
Alexander of Antrim to the Marchioness de Lambert, above
referred to : that part of the letter and the seal still remain ; and
that the impression of the seal is the same with that on tlie
parchment cover above referred to." The parchment cover
is the document that was found in London, and on which
there are three impressions of the seal, and the prisoner's
statement is, that the impression of the seal is the same with
that on the parchment cover. It is not only a seal of a like
kind, but the impression must have been made with the same
seal. In the prisoner's declaration, accordingly, his attention
was called to it, and he declares, on being interrogated if he
has examined the seals upon the packet above mentioned,
" that he has not, and is not certain that he ever saw them."
And the cover of the packet, being No. 83 of process, being
shewn him, declares, he does not think he ever saw it before ;
but he now recognizes the indorsement as in his father's
handwriting, and that the seal attached is an impression of his
grandfather's seal. The words he so recognizes are, ' some
of my wifes family papers.' He had seen that seal many
years ago; not later than 1825. It is in possession of his
sister, Lady Elizabeth Pountney." Now, this Lady Elizabeth
Pountney is on the list of witnesses given in for the defender.
Gentlemen, the use of the seal there one can easily divine,