The family of Burnett of Leys, with collateral - Electric Scotland

86 TUK FAMILY OF BURNETT OF LEYS.
On $th March, 1700, Sir Thomas entailed his whole lands on a series
of heirs male, only bringing in his own heirs female on the failure of
the whole series of descendants of the first baronet, and of his brothers,
James of Craigmyle and Robert* While there were the usual irritant
and resolutive clauses, the entailer reserved to himself power to alter or
cancel. The deed was recorded in the Register of Tailzies soon after its
date ; but, as the original was not found on Sir Thomas' death,
it was
held by the Court, in 1720, that he must be presumed to have cancelled it.
of the affairs of
Whatever may be said of Sir Thomas' management
the country, or of the Arbuthnot family, he cannot be acquitted of a
reckless expenditure in his own concerns that brought them into a state
of great confusion. That he had some time before his death become
conscious that his affairs were in a very embarassed condition is indicated
by provisions in one of the settlements made by him on his daughter-inlaw
(in 1705) for the contingency of the total exclusion of his eldest son
from the succession.
Sir Thomas died, January, 1714; his widow outlived him 30 years,
dying at Aberdeen in July, 1744, aged 82.
XVI.
SIR ALEXANDER BURNETT OF LEYS, 4th BARONET (1714-1758).
Born in 1679, Alexander Burnett, younger of Leys, married, in 1697, at
the age of eighteen, Helen, eldest daughter of the then deceased Robert
Burnett of Cowtoun, who had been guardian of his father in pupillarity
and minority.
The "Tutor of Leys," who has been already alluded to, is so much
mixed up with the affairs of the head of the 'family, that, though his
proper genealogical place is later, some account of him is due here. His
father, James Burnett, immediate younger brother of the 1st Baronet of
S, acquired Craigmyle and other considerable estates by marriage.
Robert was born in 1620, apparently at Muchalls ; and, though but a
fourth son, seems to have had a considerable patrimony. He acquired
* The genealogical order of succession is strictly observed, with one exception the omission
of the laird of Sauchen. Yet hi- and his son, as long as the line of Sauchen subsisted, were
heirs male and heirs to the baronetcy.