Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

CAPTAIN LAMHY riA'XDKKS BLAWATWOOH, loS.".. xci
Joliiistoue, in Lis complfiiut jn^t cited, ixlVis to a oairison of lior^eiiieii
which was snjiposed to be kepi up by the f^ovcninient for the use and at.
the service of the warden. Tliis ':;aiTison, however, was ill-paid, and seems
to liavc been occasionally a cause of enibarra?siiu;nt rather tlian a help, if we
juay judge from an incident vihich occurred in Ifay 1683, before the close of
tlie Piuthven administration. The leader of the warden's troop at this time
was Captain Andrew Lamby, who apjicars in the pri\'y couricil register as
a strong enemy of the house of Hamilton and the custodier at Linlithgow of
the Karl of Arran. Captain Landjy appears to have been a rough soldier,
and his conduct on that occasion bears out this view, for he and his men,
probabl}' on 'account of some ditHculty as to pay, marched to the lands of
r.lawatwood, belonging to Arthur Graham, and seized fifty cattle and eighty
sheep, witli a horse. The cattle wei-c valued by the owner at seven pounds
a-piece, and the sheep at twenty-four sliillings each, while the horse was
wortli thirty pounds, all in Scots money. The trespassers also carried oft,
from the poor tenants, one hundred and twenty nolt or young cattle, valued
at one hundred and fifty pounds, and they refused to deliver or restore the
spoil until paid that sum. Even then they carried off Graliam's own cattle
and horse and refused to return them He complained to the privy council,
declaring that Lamby and his troop acted under the orders of the waiden,
and as they v.'ere not responsible he should be held liable. The lords of
council directed the warden to restore tlie goods or their value, to refund
£150 paid for the nolt, and give surety in £-2000 to be rnswerable for all
" attemptatis bigane and to cum."
'
Johnstone and his men were at a later date called to take active part on a
wider field than that of border police. The Earls of Gowrie, Mar, and Angus,
and their adherents, wdio for a period had been in exile or obscurity, suddenly,
in April loSi, drew to a head, raised a force, and seized the castle of Stirling.
Tiie king, by the activity of Arran, raised an army of about 10,000 men, and
• Register of Privy CuUQcil, vol. iii. pp. 5S4, oS5 ; 20th July 15S3.