Spottiswoode Society > History of the affairs of the Church and State of Scotland from the beginning of the reformation to the year 1568 > Volume 2

560 THE HISTORY OF THE AFFAIRS [1567-
Ratification to James Ogilviei of the lands of Findlater,
&o. 15. Ratification to Michael Balfour^ of Burley of the
Coronership of the shire of Fife. 16. Ratification to the
wife Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Carlile of Torthorwald, married Mary,
youngest daughter of Alexander fifth Lord Livingstone, one of the
Queen's " four Marys." .John Knox notices the marriage of Mary
Livingstone, whom he ungallantly designates " the liidy" to John Senipill
" the dancer," in one of his tirades against the morals of Queen Mary's
Court, and he alleges — " It was weill knawin that shame haistit the
marriage," which took place about the end of 1563. — Historie, Edin. edit.
1732, p. 345. On the 9th of jMarch following Queen Mary granted to
John Sempill, who had been one of her Household, and Mary Livingstone,
a charter of the lands of Auchtermuchty in Fife, and various properties,
some of which in the North had belonged to the forfeited Earl of Hun tly, till
they should be provided with an estate of L.500 per annum, in considera-
tion of the " long continued services" of the latter, " her Majesty's familiar
servitrice," and of her husband, the Queen's " daily and familiar servitour."
By this Act of 1567 all the lands granted to John Senipill and JMary
Livingstone in 1564 were ratified, with the exception of those of the Earl
of Huntly, which were restored to him at the removal of the forfeiture of
his Family in the person of his father who fell at the battle of Corrichie.
Sempill acquired the lands of Belltrees in Renfrewshire. In 1576 the
Regent Morton increased his unpopularity by proposing to re-assume as
crown lands the properties ratified to Sempill in this Parliament, on
the pretence that they were unalienable, and when the latter was informed
of Morton's design, he is reported to have exclaimed, that if he lost his
lands he should also lose his head. The Regent ordered him to be
apprehended on a charge of conspiring to assassinate him in the month of
January 1565-6, and he was put to the torture, under which, from weak-
ness and fear, he confessed whatever charges were alleged against him.
On the 15th of June 1577, Seminll of Belltrees was tried for this pre-
tended conspiracy against JMorton, convicted, ordered to be executed at
the Cross of Edinburgh, and all his lands were forfeited ; but he was
afterwards pardoned. It is said that a gentleman named Adam Whiteford,
the son of John Whiteford of that Ilk and Milton, who had married a
half-sister of Sempill, was also tortui-ed respecting the same false plot,
which he persisted in utterly denying, though his body was cruelly
mangled. He had been summoned to appear for trial on the 15th of May
1577, and had been outlawed for not choosing to risk the wrath of the
Regent.— Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. Part II. p. 70, 72. Belltrees
continued in this branch of the Noble Family of Sempill tiU about the
end of the seventeenth century. Sir James Sempill, a Scottish Poet of
considerable talent, was the son of John Sempill and Mary Livingstone.
His son Robert Sempill, and grandson Francis Sempill (son of Robert),
who sold Belltrees, are also known as Scottish Poets. — E.j
^ [See the notes respecting Ogilvy of Fmdlater, p. 155, 156, of the present
volume. He married another of Queen JMary's four " Marys." — E.]
^ [The father-in-law of Sir James Balfour repeatedly mentioned, who
married Margaret his only child by his wife Christian, a daugliter of
Beaton of Creich.—E.]