Douglas book > Angus memoirs

328 ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, EIGHTH EARL OF ANGUS, ETC.
forfeitures of the Earl of Bothwell and Ker of Ferniehirst, receiving grants
of lands which had belonged to them. 1
In reference to the Earl's appointment as Lieutenant-general, at so early
an age as eighteen, Godscroft relates a dispute which occurred between Angus
and his uncle about this time. The regent, it is said, when asked to appoint
his nephew Lieutenant of the Borders, demurred to do so, as Angus was
young, just come from school, and, moreover, he did not wish to risk him, the
only heir-male of his family, in so dangerous an office. Some words passed
between uncle and nephew upon the subject, but the matter was shelved for
a time. Angus, however, considered himself ill-treated by the regent, a view
which was fostered by some of his retainers, for reasons of their own, and
he sent a deputation to his uncle to remonstrate against being treated like a
child, and to make certain demands. These were, first, that the regent should
give an account of his tutory of Angus ; secondly, that he should answer for
his disposal of the lands of Pittendriech to his natural son Archibald, and
of a prebend in Abernethy to his son George ; and thirdly, that Morton
should restore the great brass pot of Tantallon, already referred to in the
memoir of the sixth Earl of Angus as having been used as an impromptu
charter-chest, and buried during that Earl's banishment in England. This
pot, which also contained, it is said, the insignia of the Order of St. Michael,
sent by the King of France in 1545, Morton, in the exercise of his office as
tutor, had removed from Tantallon.
The regent, we are told, received the messengers graciously, as coming
from his nephew, who, he said, had made him more sensible of his natural
disposition and ingratitude than he was aware of. His replies to the demands
were brief. As to the first, he referred to his care of the estate, and his
1 Gift of Gerveston and other lands in the December 1574, in Douglas Charter-chest; the
barony of Bothwell, dated 14th May 1574; marriage of the young heir of Branxholm was
Gift of Oxnam, etc., belonging to Ker, 31st also bestowed upon the Earl, 7th June 1574.