Series 5 > Campbell Letters 1559-1583

CLAN CAMPBELL LETTERS
73
menteinans \wythout thai knaw thamselfis giltie or ellis wald gif thair ger
to saw ewill seyd betuix your Lordship and me quhilk I think suld nocht
ly in thair power considering I falit nevir/ to thame that I promisit kindnes.
And sen thai haif begin it lat thame be assurit thai sail haif nay gud of me
nor nane utheris of thair surname. And had I usit thame and the rest of
MacGregoris cunsaloris as my pwir tenentis hes bene handillit my sobir1
bundis had nocht gottin say gret scayth as it hes bot I feir it will cum to
that at the last gif God providis nocht bott haistehe. Bot ther is naything
mair intollerabill unto me nor se...2 Lordship regard sik commoun theiffis
as MacDoulkeiris mair nor me and the waisting of my cuntre quhilk I
knaw your Lordshipis fader wald nevir haif estemit alik. And supponit
your Lordship wald nocht sufferit the samen on revengit albeit I had been
deyd and speciahe the landis that I hald of your Lordshipis self. Bot wald
your Lordship gif me thame that I haldin of the Quene Majestic I wald
gif your Lordship yit for all the scayth I haif sustenit mair silver nor all the
Clan Gregor may gif and nevir cummer your Lordship with thame in
tymes cuming.3 Bot to keip the auld kindnes that wes betuix your
Lordshipis hous and myne I beseik your Lordship to call unto your
rememberans that I mycht haif bene at quietnes als weill as uther nybouris
war nocht your Lordship desirit me to be participant of the revenging of
the cruell murther of your Lordshipis kinismen and servantis and promisit
that nay deligens suld be omittit on your Lordshipis syde albeit your
Lordship be sumpart satillit.4 Bot the eternall God will steir wp your
Lordshipis mynd agane or ellis sum utheris to revenge the gret effusioun
of blude sched within your Lordshipis bundis and myne by all the rest of
this realme. And I tak God to witnes that I wes nocht the occasioun
thairof and swa committis your Lordship to the Lord God from Balloch
the fird5 of October 1563.
13 Argyll to Glenorchy GDI 12/39/2/22
11 October 1563, Ayr
To our traist cousyng the Lard of Glenwrquhay be this delyverit
Traist cousyng efter hartlie commendatiounis.We haiff rasavit your twa
Either humble or weak.
Ellipsis due to damage to MS.
Grey Cohn was offering to buy out the earl of Argyll so that he could hold Glen
Orchy direct from the Crown, an offer which the earl vehemently rejected: 11 Oct.
1563 (13).
Setde, in the sense of yielding a little. Grey Cohn suggested that he had entered the
feud with the MacGregors in the first place at the earl’s request to revenge the murder
of Argyll s kinsmen, the sons of Campbell of Oib and Campbell of Barbreck: GDI 12/
1/126/141-2; MacGregor/MacGregors’, 315,327.