Douglas book > Angus memoirs

366 ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS, EIGHTH EARL OF ANGUS, ETC.
the Countess was charged with carrying away the charter- chest and papers
from Tantallon. She did not deny the fact, and consented to deliver them
up to the Laird of Glenbervie, when he was declared heir to the earldom of
Angus. 1 It was also at a later date alleged against her that she had dealing
with witches on account of some personal ailment.
Three or four years after the death of Angus, Jean Lyon married, as her
third husband, Alexander Lindsay, younger brother of David, eleventh Earl
of Crawford. Lindsay was a great favourite of King James the Sixth, who
took a great interest in the courtship, and as the lady seems to have been coy,
the king wrote to her more than one letter pressing Lindsay's suit. One of
these epistles was written even in the midst of the king's preparations for
his own marriage, and assures the Countess that he will diily advance Lindsay
to match with her own rank, and provide him a living. 2 This was done
on the king's return from his visit to Denmark, and the temporalities of the
See of Moray were erected into a free barony in favour of Lindsay, who was
also created Lord Spynie. 3 He afterwards married Jean Lyon and lived with
her at her castle of Aberdour till 1607, when he was slain. They had several
children. 4
1 Extract decrees, 7th March 1588-9, in
Douglas Charter-chest.
2 Vol. iv. of this work, pp. 34, 35. The
king's letters to the future Lord Spynie were
even more graphic. In one, written from
Denmark, he says : " Sandy ; we are going
on here in the auld way and very merry.
I '11 not forget you when I come haine, — you
shall he a Lord. But mind Jean Lyon, for
her auld tout will make you a new horn,"
equivalent to " His auld brass will make me
a new pan," in Burns's song. In another let-
ter, after promising the erection of the tem-
poralities of Moray into a lordship, the king
adds, " Lett this serve for cure to youre
present disease. From the castell of Crone-
burg, quhaire we are drinking and dryving
our in the auld maner." [Lives of the
Lindsays, vol. i. p. 323 ; Letters to King
James VI., Maitland Club, 1S35.]
3 Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland,
vol. iii. pp. 650-656.
4 Lives of the Lindsays, p. 324.