Comments in refutation of pretensions advanced for the first time, and statements in a recent work "The Stirlings of Keir and their family papers"

136 COMMENTS ON KEIR PERFORMANCE,
produced, as had always been done antecedently in the most precise and
regular way, and the main Gadder descent and pedigree is merely set forth
in the following way : —
» See Keir « ANDREW Striveling of Cawder (1517-1522).^ ♦
Perform-
ance, pp. "On 25 April 1517 he obtained a precept of dare constat from the said Sir William
' ' ■ Menteith (of West Kerse, iweviouslij mentioned), for infefting him as heir of his father iii
the lands of Ochiltree.
" He married Marjory ■Cunyngham, who survived her husband, and died shortly before
16tb February 1524.^" Ancbew died before 25th September 1522, leading an only daughter,
" Jaxet Striveling, Heiress of Cawder (1522).
" She succeeded her father, Andrew Striveling, in 1522, in the estate of Cawder."
In this way Andrew and Janet are described as proprietors of Gadder, —
which fact is undeniable ; yet they are not here sho-mi to liave been infefted
in it, nor explicitly proved to be heirs of it. How totally unlike this is to the
practice pursued with regard to their ancestry, as has already been premised !
Regarding Andrew, in the first place, the precept of dare constat in 1517
alone is summarily noticed, to prove the material fact of Andrew of Gadder
being heir to his father ; whUe, in the exceptionable manner already exposed
in the case of the Gadder procuratory in 1492, not a scrap of the document
itself is given, nor is it in any other place referred to. Secondly, as to Janet,
— in her case, if possible, still less evidence is given : there is not here — the
preferable place — a single vestige of proof of her filiation, or of her being
heir to her father.t And thus, so directly at variance with the practice in
the previous links of descent, there is no reference to the chartulary or to any
authority for the substantiation of the above facts.
What explanation can be assigned for so strange a deviation, and for such
reticence % .The Gadder papers appear to have been AveU preserved at a very
early period ex ahundanti, so that there is no lack of evidence ; and every
single link is established by articulate writs in extenso from the year 1408
downwards until about the beginning of the following century, when we find
that they either disappear altogether, or are given in garbled extracts, or
* In proof of Marjory liaving survived her t The insertion of the gi'ant of ward and
husband, reference is made to a single deed marriage of Janet afterwards, does not come
contained in the subjoined chartulary ; but no within this category,
evidence whatever is adduced to pi'ove any of
the other facts here stated.