Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

THE LIVINGSTONES. 611
After the attainder of the Lord Kalendar and his friends, parts of their 1450.
estates were vested in the Crown, and parts given to those who had been most
zealous in their prosecution, and to other rising favourites.
The Earl of Douglas and Avondale, who had been at the head of the pro-
secution, got for his reward half the lands of Dundas and the lands of Echline,
&c. — Char, under Gt. Seal, 10th February 1449-50. And while the earl was
minister, no glimpse of favour was ever shown to Lord Kalendar or his relatives,
who remained in the cold prison of Dumbarton Castle ; but as soon as Lord
Douglas fell, by an unpremeditated blow from the dagger of his sovereign in
Stirling Castle, then Lord Kalendar and his friends were restored to favour, Feb. 13,
and their attainder taken off. I 4S I "S 2 -
Sir Alexander, his son and heir, was created Lord Levingstone and made
Master of the Household. So also the attainder was taken off the Laird of
Airth, and his son, Sir Alexander Bruce, was restored to his estates, getting at Dec. 26,
the same time a charter (still extant)* of the Stanehouse and Lethbertschiellis I 4S I -
to him, and "Jonet Levingstone" his wife, daughter of Alexander, first Lord
Livingstone, and to their heirs, which charter was confirmed and rehearsed in a
charter by James IV. to Sir Alexander's grandson, "Robert Bruce of Stane- June 29,
house and Airth." The Act attainting James Dundas of Dundas was also 1 4°9-
reversed, and all was restored to him that remained in the Crown ; but although
the Earl of Douglas was dead, no attainder stood against him and his estates,
that of Dundas, amongst others, devolving upon James Douglas, his brother,
ninth earl ; and on the attainder of this last-mentioned earl the estates were
restored, but not, it would appear, to the head of the Dundas family. — From an
old MS.
The queen-mother, " Jane Beaufort" in her lone retreat at Dunbar, had pro-
bably learnt to estimate the motives of the different parties who had contended
for the custody of her son, and to believe, in truth, that the Livingstones " had
been actuated by none other motives than those of truth, loyalty, and a zealous
anxiety for the safety of their sovereign lord the king." Loyalty to the house of
Stewart appears to have been with them an inheritance, and the guardianship
of its youthful members their privilege and reward, as long as life and fortune
were left to them.
Bishop Lesly tells us that, on the birth of Queen Mary in December 1522,
and the death of her father, James V, eight days after, "certain lords was
appointit to remain contiownallye with the queen-dowager in company ; albeit,
she wald admit nane of them, saffing the Lord Livingstone, to make residens
with her at Linlithgow, quhill the queen was transports to Striveling in August
of the same year.
* Seep. 600.