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70 THE ABERNETHIES OF SALTOUN, LORDS SALTOUN.
out before that time, and the action above referred to was brought by Sir
John Gordon of Park against John Abernethy of Mayen, son and heir of
Alexander Abernethy, to compel the production of the missing leaves ; and
these having been brought into Court, and declared by the Lords of Session
to be the leaves abstracted from the Eegister, were replaced therein by their
order on the 2 2d July 1692 ; and the reduction of the disposition of 1612,
with the consequent agreement for the redemption of the estates at eleven
years' purchase, and all the legal proceedings following thereupon, were
annulled and declared void.
The Fletchers, who had purchased Saltoun and Glencorse, seem all along
to have been sufficiently protected by the confirmation and renunciation
obtained from the ninth Lord Saltoun ; and the restoration of the stolen
leaves to the Eegister appears to have put an end to the litigation respecting
all the other Abernethy estates, of which — while the Gordons retained Park
and some other lands — the greater part, with Eothiemay, eventually passed
into the hands of Duff of Braco, a principal creditor of many of the litigants,
and now belong to his descendant, the Earl of Fife.
But little is upon record of the ninth Lord Saltoun's personal career. He
appears to have attended the Court of King Charles I., and to have been of
the Eoyalist party during the Civil War ; but the almost total loss of his
revenues must have rendered him powerless to afford his sovereign any
assistance beyond that of his personal service.
Arthur Forbes of Echt, to whom reference has been made as one of the
principal creditors, seems to have gained much influence over him towards
the close of his life, indeed to such an extent as to have been able to induce
him, a few days before his death, to write the following letter to the Earl,
afterwards Duke, of Lauderdale, then at the head of affairs in Scotland,
requesting that the king would be pleased to confer his title upon Arthur
Forbes after his decease : —
" My Lord, — Haveing formerlie had great experiences and demonstrationes
of your Lordship's kyndnes to me in all my concernes, I have at this tyme,
and possiblie which will be the last, presumed yet further upon your Lord-
ship's goodnes, to let your Lordship know and onderstand that, haveing