Frasers of Philorth > Volume 1

130 THE FRASERS OF COWIE, DTJRRIS, AND PHILORTH.
in succession, and, failing them, to any other heirs-male of his own body that
might be ; upon the failure of all these, he disponed them " dilecto consan-
guineo meo Hugoni domino Fraser de Lowet, et heredibus suis masculis de
corpore suo legitime procreatis, aut procreandis quibuscunque ;" and upon
their failure, "heredibus legitimis cognominis nostri vocati Fraser, nobis
propinquioribus, et masculis, quibuscunque." 1 Hugh, Lord Fraser of
Lovat, also made a similar entail, for although the deed itself is no longer in
the Charter-room at Philorth, a copy of it, made in 1698, has been preserved,
which shows that he destined, if he should happen to die without an heir-
male, the whole of his estates of Lovat and Kinnell, etc., saving the tierce
of his wife Violette Lyonne, " dilecto consanguineo meo Alexandra Fraser de
Philorth, militi, . . . et heredibus suis masculis de corpore suo legitime
procreatis, aut procreandis ;" whom failing, " heredibus meis masculis et
propinquioribus cognominis mei quibuscunque;" 2 and on the 24th of August
1464, he issued a precept of sasine to the same effect in favour of Sir Alex-
ander Fraser and his heirs-male. 3
Although this interchange of entails was inoperative, in consequence of
the succession in each family having been carried on by direct heirs, yet it is
interesting as a recognition of the relationship of the parties, and as reflecting
a little light upon former generations ; for the granters of the respective
entails must be held to have been the nearest of kin to each other, by legiti-
mate male descent, living at the time ; and from the destination in both
entails being eventually to heirs-male of the name of Fraser, without
particularising any other cousin, the conclusion must be drawn that no
other as closely related to either legitimately was then in existence.
The male line of Sir John Fraser of Forglen and Ardendracht seems to
have failed about 1440, for his son and heir had died without male issue
before that year, and there is no trace of any descendants of his other sons,
Andrew and William ; and therefore, in 1464, the third lord of Philorth and
his sons were the only remaining legitimate descendants of Sir William
Fraser, the Chamberlain's son.
1 Philorth Charter-room. 2 Copy made a.d. 169S, by Robert Fraser,
3 Ibid. Antiquities of Aberdeenshire, vol. from the original, then in possession of Wil-
v. p. 90. liain Fraser, eleventh Lord Saltoun.