Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

580 SIR GEORGE BRUCE OF CARNOCK.
for coal and salt, having been wrecked on the sunken rocks in the Frith of
Forth, Sir George Bruce proposed to erect beacons on those dangerous points,
on condition of being reimbursed by a small toll on the foreign vessels on the
Forth the following year ; but to this the other coal proprietors objected. Some
years later fin 1635) the first beacon-light on the Scottish coast was put up on
the Isle of May by Alexander Cunningham of Barns. It burnt 380 tons of
Wemyss coal yearly. Vessels paid twopence per ton.
George, son and heir of Sir George, married Mary, daughter of Sir John
Preston of Valleyfield, Bart., by whom he had two sons and three daughters —
first, Edward ; second, Alexander, in whom his line ended — first and second
Earls of Kincardine.
In 1664 Earl Alexander of Kincardine bought from Robert, Earl of Elgin
and Ailesbury, the house or abbey of Culross, with six or seven acres of land
adjoining, the Earl of Elgin having been in possession of the same for above
forty years. The Earl of Kincardine was infeft in 1665, and held it until 16S0,
and after him his countess, Veronica, until 1702, and her son until his death.
They were all buried in the chapel adjoining the church of Culross — ante 1705.
Afterwards " Lady Mary," eldest daughter of the earl, and her husband,
" Cochrane of Ochiltree," held possession ; and after several generations it was
acquired by Sir Robert Preston of Valleyfield, who left it by will to the Earl of
Elgin and Kincardine.
P. 305.
Copie of a Letter to be sent to the Earl of Ailesbury by the Tutors
(Guardians) of the young Earl of Kincardine.
x 743- "My LORD, — As Mr Mackie brought your Lops, most obliging Letter to
the Countess' of Kincardine, concerning your kinsman, the Earl of Kincardine,
and his affairs, We, who by his father's will were left his Guardians here, had
well resolved to have acknowledged that great favor by the same hand which
brought your Lops., but were deprived of that opportunity by Mr Mackie's
going suddenly off from this place for his attendance in Parlt.
" Altho' we are very sensible, from the Earl of Ailesbury's character in the
world, that he was incapable of forgetting the son of a person he had once
honoured with his friendship, yet it is a great pleasure to us to see so much
goodness and condescension as to assure us of it under his own hand. This
greatly encourages us in our duty to the young earl, not only in the man-
agement of his affairs, but in taking as much care as possibly we can in the