Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

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. EOUT OF SOLWAY Mii.ss, l."i-12. - xxxvii
ftoiics, tl'-oiiyli oui? of tlieir lunuber was slain, wliile Paungo aud one of tlie
Jloffiits wcic killed^
'
For irome reason not now known, Jolmstone incurred llic kinci's
displeasure, and, in ^Marcli lail, was ordered to durance in the fortress
of Dunil'Oiion. A nuniber of sureties bound themselves on his behalf that
ho would rcmai\i in ward in the town of Dumbarton "under a penalty of
10,000 mcrks. Ilis restraint was so far relaxed in the nrmth of May follow-
ing that a mile round the town v.'as prescril.ied as his limit under a penalty
of £10,000. lie remained still in confinement until the beginning of Decem-
ber 15t-, when he was released to take a commaud on the borders.^
He Y>'as thus still in Dumbarto]i at the date of the rout of Solway Moss,
but that event no doubt led to his release. Only three days later a letter was
issued Ijy the king in his favour, appointing him virtually warden of th.e
west march in the absence of Lord Maxwell, who had been made prisoner.
The couimission simply speaks of "the absence " of Lord ]\Iaxwell, and of his
sou's " infirmeic," whereby the " west marclios and bordours of our realme ar
destitiite of anc -wardan.c and gydcr." ll appoints Johnstone to see that "the
cuutrfi be wele rewlit," aud due resistance be made to J^nglan.d, and all his
servants and dependants were required to attend upon him in his new capacity.^
The death of King James tlie Fifth, liowever, v/hich took place in the
following mouth of December, somewhat changed the slate of affairs. I'be
prisoners taken at Solway were liberated on certain conditions, and Lord
Maxwell soon returned to Scotland, wlrile his son lujbert. Master of IMaxwell,
went to England as a hostage in his stead. Before the latter left Scotland
he granted to Johnstone a bond of manrcnt, or rather a bond of maintenance.
It narrated that Johnstone vras bound in nianrcnt to Lord iMaxwell ficfore
the imprisonment of the latter, an oljligntion which was slill binding, and
' Diurnal of Oci-umiits, jp, '2(1, 21.
-
"'
Oiiyinal Loiter, 2,Stli Novciiibcr, vol. ii.
rf tlii-j work, j.p. 3, 4, followed by auotlier
- l[:iiiiihon raj.ers, vol. i. i';. 321-.321. datid 20th Xovcmbor 1542.