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

120
LETTERS OF
[1645
Buchan ;1 and if the Lord salbe plesit to give hir the happines
to sie zow heir (quhilk is hir greatest earthlie happines, and
myne almaist more, be ressoun of that distemper of your helth
quhilk scho knawis not off) it will incresce our joy exceidinglie.
And I doubt not if ze be ernest for zour returne but ze will
haif it, and for ocht I vnderstand my sone Sir Alexander will
be your convoy home.2
For the vther bussiness with zour nephew 3 the ansuer from
his grandmother 4 to him cam from this in a packet delyuerit
to my Lord Waristoun 5 be sea, and I sent ane other be land,
making mentioun thairof in a packet delyuerit to Benj amine,
servitor to my Lord Chancellar;6 but I sie that nather of
1 James Erskine, eldest son of John, seventh Earl of Mar, and Lady Marie
Stewart, his second wife ; became Earl of Buchan, jurt; uxarts, Mary Douglas,
Countess of Buchan in her own right. He died in 1640, and was succeeded by
his only son, James.
a Sir Charles received a brief leave of absence from his post as commissioner
at London, and came to Edinburgh on 1st May 1645, returning again to
London in July.
3 David Erskine, second Lord Cardross. He was the son of Henry Erskine,
the second son of John, seventh Earl of Mar, and Lady Marie Stewart, and
succeeded his grandfather the earl as second Lord Cardross in 1634. He was
at this time in terms of marriage with Anna Hope, Sir Thomas’s second surviving
daughter (born 19th April 1625), and sister of Lady Erskine, his uncle’s wife.
The marriage took place shortly after in the month of August, this same year
(1645). The concluding portion of this letter refers to their marriage settlements.
See also Letter xvm, p. 125.
4 The Countess Dowager of Mar.
5 Archibald Johnstone ofWarriston, son of James Johnston, merchant, Edin¬
burgh, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton; passed as
advocate in 1633; clerk of the famous Glasgow Assembly of 1638; appointed
Procurator of the Church of Scotland that same year ; raised to the bench of
the Court of Session by the title of Lord Warriston 1641 ; knighted by
Charles I. 15th November 1641; a lay member of the Westminster Assembly of
Divines; succeeded Sir Thomas Hope as Lord Advocate in 1646, and became
Lord Clerk Register in 1649. An ardent Covenanter, Johnston fled to the
Continent on the restoration of Charles II., but was arrested at Rouen in 1662,
and after being confined in the Tower of London for some months, was brought
to Edinburgh, and executed there on 22d July 1663.—Brunton and Haig’s
Senators, p. 306 ; Omond’s Lord Advocates of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 148-185.
6 John, Earl of Loudoun, eldest son of Sir James Campbell of Lawers, and
Jean, daughter of James, Lord Colville ; born in 1598 ; created Earl of Loudoun
I633 > appointed Lord Chancellor in 1641, of which office he was deprived at
the Restoration, and fined ,£12,000 Scots ; died at Edinburgh 15th March 1663.