as liegeman to the Maxwell.

I cannot dismiss the subject without observing, that, in the dangerous
times of Queen Mary, when most of these bonds are dated, many barons,
for the sake of maintaining unanimity and good order, may have chosen
to enroll themselves among the clients of Lord Maxwell, then warden
of the border, from which, at a less turbulent period, personal
considerations would have deterred them.

_Adieu! my castle of the Thrieve_.--P. 268. v. 2.

This fortress is situated in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, upon an
island about two acres in extent, formed by the river Dee. The walls
are very thick and strong, and bear the marks of great antiquity. It
was a royal castle; but the keeping of it, agreeable to the feudal
practice, was granted by charter, or sometimes by a more temporary and
precarious right, to different powerful families, together with lands
for their good service in maintaining and defending the place. This
office of heritable keeper remained with the Nithesdale family (chief
of the Maxwells) till their forfeiture, 1715. The garrison seems to
have been victualled upon feudal principles; for each parish in the
stewartry was burdened with the yearly payment of a _lardner mart
cow_, i.e. a cow fit for being killed and salted at Martinmas, for
winter provisions. The right of levying these cattle was retained by
the Nithesdale family, when they sold the castle and estate, in
1704, and they did not cease to exercise it till their
attainder.--_Fountainhall's Decisions_, Vol. I. p. 688.

This same castle of the Thrieve was, A.D. 1451-2, the scene of an
outrageous and cruel insult upon the royal authority. The fortress was
then held by William VIII. Earl of Douglas, who, in fact, possessed a
more unlimited authority over the southern districts of Scotland,
than the reigning monarch. The earl had, on some pretence, seized
and imprisoned a baron, called Maclellan, tutor of Bombie, whom he
threatened to bring to trial, by his power of hereditary jurisdiction.
The uncle of this gentleman, Sir Patrick Gray of Foulis, who commanded
the body-guard of James II., obtained from that prince a warrant,
requiring from Earl Douglas the body of the prisoner. When Gray
appeared, the earl instantly suspected his errand. "You have not
dined," said he, without suffering him to open his commission: "it is
ill talking between a full man and a fasting." While Gray was at meat,
the unfortunate prisoner was, by Douglas's