Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

clxii SIR JAMES JOnXSTONE OF JOnXSTOXK, KNIGHT, 15S7-1C08.
1588, Sir James Jolmslono of Johnstone and Duuskellie, knight, was allied
ill marriage witli Sara JIax\\-ell, daughter of John, Lord Herries. Tlie latter
died iu Edinburgh upon the 20tli day of Jauuar}' 1582. lie made his will
at Terreglcs on 2Glh IShxy of the same year. His lordship thereby ordained
bis son ]v:l\vard to pay to Sara ilaxwell, his daugliter, three thousand
merks.^ Agues, Lady Herries, survived her husband and died at Terrcgles
on the lith day of Mareli 1593, having on the previous day made her
will there. She had several daughters who received special legacies :
one
legacy is to Sara, Lady Johnstone, of "aue gown of black grow grain
taCfitie with aucht ellnes of sating to be ane cloik. . . . Item, to the said
Lady Johnnestouu ane pair gold braislalis. She ordainct hir hornets of gold
to be diuidit amangs her dochteris." -
This marriage alliance with tlie ilaxwells, although happy in other
respects, did not serve to compose the feud between the two families.
Sara Maxwell, Lady Johnstone, sur^iv€d her husband. Sir James John-
stone, who was so cruelly killed ly her own chief, John, Lord Maxwell, in
1G08. As a member of the Maxv."cll family she might be supposed to liave
every feeling of counniscration for the unhappy position of her ."Maxwell
chief us the murderer of her husband. But she, with all her feminine
tenderness, even after the lapse of years, concurred with her mother-in-law,
Margaret Scott, Lady Johnstone, as the motlier of the unfortunate knight of
Johnstone, in demanding the execution of Lord Maxwell for his crime; and
the insisting of the? 3 two ladies that justice should be executed upon Lord
Maxwell appears to have had considerable weight vrith the govern)uent
in following out the sentence of execution upon his lordship, notwithstaiidmg
his earnest entreaties for the sparing of his life and the high pecuniary oflers
he made to the children and other relatives of his victim.
Sara Maxwell, Lady Johnstone, married, secoudly, John, Earl of "Wigton,
and thereafter adopted the style of Sara, Countess of Wigton. She married,
> Miuutes of Evidence in Ilorrics Pceru-e (IS-JO), i>i). oG-CO. ^ z^,,/ pj,_ cO-62.