History of the Fife Pitcairns

THE LINDSAYS OF THE BYRES. 31
" whose iron eye beheld fair Mary weep in vain," when he
assisted in extracting from her the resignation of her crown
at Lochleven. His grandson James, seventh Lord Lindsay,
was " a man of great talent, supple, subtle, and ambitious,"
but a gallant soldier and an accomplished scholar. Earl
John, his son, succeeded in obtaining the earldom of Craw-
ford on the extinction of the elder branch, to the exclusion
of the Balcarres family. 1 John, fifth Lord Lindsay, on
the 27th of June 1532 was named an extraordinary Lord
of Session. He was present at the death of James V. at
Falkland in 1542, and after the arrest of Cardinal Beaton
was one of the four " indifferent noblemen " to whom the
custody of the infant Princess Mary was on 15th March
1543 committed by Parliament. 2 Although ultimately his
sympathies were with the reformed party, the fifth Lord
Lindsay, unlike his son, was not a vehement partisan. It
was chiefly owing to his mediations that a battle was avoided
at Cupar Muir on 13th June 1559 between the forces of
the queen-regent and those of the lords of the Congre-
gation.
On the adoption of a reformed Confession of Faith by
Parliament in August 1560, Randolph records that " the
old Lord of Lyndsay, as grave and godly man as ever I
sawe, sayd, ' I have lived manie yeares ; I am the oldeste
in this companye of my sorte ; now that yet hath pleased
God to lett me see this day, ... I will say with Simeon,
Nunc dimittis.' " 3
Lindsay died on the 17th December 1563. Randolph,
writing to Cecil, states that Lindsay died within the last
four days.*
During the lifetime of the fifth lord the estates of the
family were considerably increased by grants under the
Great Seal. 5 By his wife, Helen Stewart, a daughter of
1 Conolly's Eminent Men of Fife, and Lee's National Biography.
2 Act. Pari. Scot., ii. 415.
3 Cal. State Papers, For. Ser., 1560-61, entry 434.
4 Ibid., 1563, entry 1523.
5 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot.