Series 1 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (First volume)

106
LETTERS OF
[1635
IX
TO THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OE MAR.
Pleass your Ladyship,—I ressauit youris of last of Februar,
and am sorie from my hart that suche contestatioun fallis out
betuix your ladyship and the erll, your good sone.1 Quhat
wes done in that particuler of the lawborowis2 I know nott,
nather can I giv a reasoun of the refusell, or of the desyr
thairoff, becaus I wes not acquaint with ather of tham. But I
wische I had beine, for I trust with verie good groundis to haif
persuadit that nather of tham wes fitt to be hard in publick
befoir the performing of the last dewtie of youris nobill
husbandis honorabill funerallis.3
Madam, I haif pervsit your ladyships memoriall, and gevin
my opinioun thairanent in that samyn sort as if I wer to judge
on my conscience. Butt I am woo to sie affares to goo in this
sort, and I am sure it is againis the will of that most nobill
saull that now restis with the Lord, and I am als sure that the
contestatioun sail do good to nather of yow, and this is not
the way ather to keip peax, or to advance the nobill plantis of
so nobill a parentage, or to siste the fall and ruyne of that
antient and nobill hous quhilk I am persuadit is to your lady¬
ship (nixt to your self and your children) your cheif desyr.
And seing thar is sa money ill instrumentis in the world to
nurische discord, I besek the Lord to direct the bussines so that
befoir the funerallis your ladyship may vse that wisdome and
authority over him that he may be forcit be the prove of your
ladyships prudent affectioun to lay all doun at your feit and to
1 John, eighth Earl of Mar, the countess’s step-son. He succeeded his father,
the seventh earl, on the death of the latter, on the 14th December 1634; married
Lady Christian Hay, second daughter of Francis ninth Earl of Errol, and died
in September 1654. The earl was on very bad terms with his stepmother, as
several of these letters of Sir Thomas Hope show.
2 In Scotch law, a writ in the name of the sovereign, commanding a person
to give security against offering violence against another.
3 Though the countess’s husband, John seventh Earl of Mar, died in Decem¬
ber 1634, his funeral, which was conducted with great pomp, did not take place
till the 7th of April 1635. He was buried in the family burial-place at Alloa,
but the most diligent and careful search has, curiously enough, failed to deter¬
mine the exact spot.