[807] In MS. G, "wer maid."
[808] As mentioned in the previous page 337, Knox has mistaken the time when the General Assembly met, and in this way he probably committed the mistake of saying, "Schort after," instead of "Short before the Conventioun." The meetings of the Assembly were from Monday the 29th June, till Saturday the 4th July 1562. The above conflict took place on Saturday the 27th June. The Magistrates having apprehended and imprisoned Gordon of Finlater, and ordered two of the Ogilvies to be kept in ward, they sent a messenger to the Queen, who was then in Stirling, to obtain her instructions. The Queen's letter, dated penult of June, is preserved in the Council Register, and is printed by Keith. (Hist. vol. ii. p. 156.) But Sir John Gordon, as Knox mentions, soon afterwards made his escape to the North.
[809] Sir John Gordon was third son of George fourth Earl of Huntley. Alexander Ogilvy of Ogilvy, in 1545, having disinherited his son James Ogilvy of Cardell, settled his estates of Finlater and Deskford upon John Gordon, who assumed the name of Ogilvie, which was the occasion of the animosity that existed between the two families. James Ogilvy of Cardell had been in France, and was Master of the Household of Queen Mary. He was now endeavouring to recover possession of his father's estates. The claim between the rival families of Gordon and Ogilvy having at length been referred to arbitration, the estates of Deskford and Finlater, in 1566, were affirmed to James Ogilvy, the ancestor of the Earls of Finlater; and this award was ratified in Parliament, 19th April 1567.
[810] According to most accounts James sixth Lord Ogilvy of Airly was so severely wounded in this conflict, on the 27th June 1562, that his life was considered to be in imminent danger; but he recovered and survived till the year 1606.
[811] In MS. G, "certanely affirme."
[812] George fourth Earl of Huntley succeeded his grandfather in 1524. He became a favourite of King James the Fifth, with whom he had been educated. He was admitted a Privy Councillor in 1535, and was constituted Lieutenant-General of the North in 1540. In 1546 he succeeded Cardinal Beaton as Lord Chancellor. He obtained in 1549 a grant of the Earldom of Murray, but this he was forced to resign in 1559. The estates and dignities of Mar and Murray having afterwards been conferred upon Lord James Stewart, this served to encrease those fatal dissensions which ultimately led to the Earl's death, at Corrichie, on the 28th October 1562.
[813] The Provost of Ayr was, no doubt, Wallace of Holmstone, on the south bank of the river, about a mile from the town.
[814] Probably Sir James Lockhart of Lee.
[815] Or Walston, parish of Tarbolton.
[816] Alexander fourth Earl of Glencairn.