Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

]iv._ ,• JOJIN JOilNSTOXIi, FlliSX WAKDEX, 1521-15G7.
wlhoiii he caii-iL-.l 1,0 be burned at tlic cim^.s cil' JJiiinfiius. Joliustoiic hjipenrs
i'lvii to liave brou-lit aserirs of accusations against Maxwell and- then offered
to prove tlieni by way of combat. j\Iaxwell wrote nslving Queen ]\Iary's per-
luission to defend liimself. lie oflered in Ins own person to o}ipu.?c Johnstone
or any of liis sons, or any otlier of tliat clan, or with I'orty, fifty, or one htindred
Maxwells to enter the lists against a similar iiuuiber of Johnstoncs.i Ii does
not appear, however, tliat any such combat look ]ilace. Johnstone is referred
to in June 15G7 as refusing to obey Lord llerries as \\"arden, being sujiporled
by Bothwell's influence. A sununous was addressed to him on 10th September
15G7, by the privy council of Scotland, desiring him and various ether
gentlemen on the Y\'esi ilarclies to meet with the council on Clh October to
advise as to the s'uppi'cssion of disorders in that district."
CllAFTKH rOL'KTII.
Ii:inJ Transactions of tliis Chief—Thornyflnt orclered to be restored—Occupancy of Braniig
— Iiifcft in Johnstone—Lands elected into tiic Baroxy of John'stoxe 1543—Lease of
Ilartliope—Gift of Tiiornick—liiglits over C'aKtleiuilk.
It is nov,- necessary to direct attention to the various charters obtained
I'v this Johnstone chief, mention of which would have interrupted the
course of the main narrative. Of these only two occur before the death
of King James the Fifth. The first is a mandate directed by the king on 12th
July 153G to the stev.-aid of Annandale rerpiiriiig him to restore Johnstone
to the possession of the lands of Thoruillat, of ^vhich he had been wrongfully
despoiled.^ The second is a letter by the same king addressed to John
Maitland of Auchiiigassill regarding Johnsto7ie's occupancy of the lands of
I.'ranrig and Mitchell Slacks, which he held as tenant under Maitland, and
iVom v.hich the latter had warned iiim to remove. The king wrute that as
1 Letters, Lord S.jrope to Bedford and Cecil, IClh and 10th Janu.nvy loOO-O. Calendar
of State Papers, Foreign, 156G-S, pp. 5, 0.
- Ktjjistcr of the J'rivy Council, vol. i. ]'. iuO. ^ Vol. ii. of tliis ui>rk, p. 1.