Earl of Crawford

“ The Earl of Crawford was created Duke of Montrose, Lord Kilmaurs was raised to the rank of Earl Glencairn, and the Lairds of Balnamoon, Lag, Balyard, and others, received grants of land. All was settled, as the weak, but good, monarch thought, amicably and lastingly. Yet how vain are the anticipations of mortals! At the very time when a species of jubilee was celebrating in Edinburgh, on the re-organisation of the court and the restoration of peace and tranquillity, the uncompromising rebel lords were triumphing in another victory over the mind and sentiments of the prince. ”

“ And I mysel got the Earl o Crawford,
And wasna that a great match for me!
It was at fifteen that I was married,
And at sixteen I had a son;
And wasna that an age ower tender
For a lady to hae her first-born! ”

“ Nothing must be done too quickly. And Lauderdale alone was fitted to advise as to time and opportunity.
Hyde had other applications from Scotland. Lauderdale had some strong adherents. The old Earl of Crawford had just claims to consideration. He was a stout fighter and a strong and faithful Royalist, whose Presbyterian sympathies did not shake his loyalty. His son-in-law, the Earl of Rothes, had attracted the friendship of Charles, and his coarse profligacy had not yet had time to weigh down his reputation. ”

“ But this I can tell you, ye will be masterless before Yule day, and the realm without a King." [32] Because of his displeasure, no man durst make contradiction unto him. After he had visited the Castle of Carny, pertaining to the Earl of Crawford, where was the said Earl's daughter, one of his paramours, he returned to Falkland and took to bed. ”

“ His only son, James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th earl of Crawford (1847– ) , British astronomer and orientalist, was born at St Germain-en-Laye, France, on the 28th of July 1847. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he devoted himself to astronomy, in which he early achieved distinction. In 1870 he went to Cadiz to observe the eclipse of the sun, and, in 1874, to Mauritius to observe the transit of Venus. ”

“ O WE were seven bonny sisters,
As fair women as fair could be,
And some got lairds, and some got lords,
And some got knights o high degree:
When I was married to Earl Crawford,
This was the fate befell to me. ”

“ After Crawford's death the lordship of Crawford was, on 21 Jan. 1495–6, bestowed on the Earl of Angus, it being declared forfeited by the Duke of Montrose, on account of his having sold it or part of it without the king's consent (Reg. Mag. Sig. 1424–1513, entry 2298) .
By his wife, eldest daughter of James, first lord Hamilton, he had two sons—Alexander, lord Lindsay, and John, master of Crawford, who became sixth earl. The two brothers in 1489 quarrelled and fought, when the elder was mortally wounded. The Duke of Montrose married as his second wife Margaret Carmichael. ”

“ After the election of the Earl of Lennox, father of Darnley, as regent, 13 July 1570, Crawford became an officer of his guard. At the request of the regent he undertook to make an attempt to surprise and capture the castle of Dumbarton, held by the followers of the queen, and commanding a free access to France. ”

“ Naturally, therefore, he supported the king against the league of Douglas with the Earls of Crawford and Ross, and, after the assassination of Douglas by the king in Stirling Castle in 1452, he was appointed (having in 1449 been created Earl of Huntly) lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and entrusted with the special task of subduing Crawford. ”

“ Not long afterwards the earl went over to France in company with the Earl of Huntly (Balfour, i. 364) , having on 7 Dec. obtained a license to go abroad for three years (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 245) . He returned to Scotland before the last day of February 1581, when he subscribed at the Canongate, Edinburgh, a renewal of the band in reference to the non-molestation of the tutor of Glammis (ib. p. 457) . On 26 July 1582 he obtained a commission of justiciary (ib. p. 501) .
Crawford was one of those who, in 1582, assembled at St. Andrews in support of the king after his escape from Ruthven. ”

“ Aquitaine!"
There was light in his face as he silently bowed his head and mounted.
"Sirs," he said, when he was in the saddle, "the way by which I shall lead you to rescue the King is narrow; therefore follow me in good order, two and two, all those who have sure-footed horses. But beyond the defile as many as a thousand may fight without hindering each other. The rest encamp here and protect the Queen and her ladies. Forward!"
He saluted Eleanor and rode away, leaving her there. She hesitated and looked longingly after him, but Anne of Auch laid a hand upon her bridle. ”

“ Ah Nehushta, Nehushta!" he cried passionately, "tempt me not! Ask me not this, for you can almost make a liar of the Great King if you will!"
"I tempt you not," answered the princess. "I will not that you harm a hair of his head. He is not worthy that you should lift the least of your fingers to slay him. But this I tell you—" she hesitated. The king in his violent excitement, as though foreseeing what she would say, seized her hands and held them tightly while he gazed into her eyes.
"Darius," she said, almost hurriedly, "if you love me, and if you desire it, I will be your wife." ”

“ He thought of Beatrix.
"Hold!" he cried. "Let no man stir, for no man shall pass out who would burn Stortford. Sir Arnold de Curboil is the king's man, and the king has the power in England; so that if we should burn down Stortford Castle to-night, he would burn Stoke Manor to-morrow over my mother's head. Between Arnold de Curboil and me there is death. To-morrow I shall ride out to find him, and kill him in fair fight. But let there be no raiding, no harrying, and no burning, as if we were Stephen's French robbers, or King David's red-haired Scots. Take up the bier ”

“ Ultimately he succeeded in completely restoring order, and, having come to terms with Crawford, contrived during the king's progress in the north in 1453 that Crawford and his followers should appear before the king in beggarly apparel, when he so successfully interceded for them that they received a free pardon, and Crawford was restored to his estates and titles. ”

“ He is your acolyte—I like to see him swinging a censer in time to your prayers and flattening his flat face upon the altar-steps beatified by your footsteps!"
The Queen laughed, for she had moods in which she feared neither God, nor saint, nor man. But Bernard looked grave at first, then hurt, and then there was pity in his eyes. He pointed to the window-seat beside the table, and he himself sat down upon his carved bench. Eleanor, being seated, rested her elbows on the table, clasped her beautiful hands together, and slowly rubbed her cheek against them, meditating what she should say next. ”

“ She smiled, but gently now, for she was pleased by what he had said.
"You need not fear," she continued, before he had time to answer her. "We shall not bear ourselves worse than men, and there will be grown men there who shall be afraid before we are. But if there were with us a leader of men, I should have no fear. Men will fight for the King, they will shed their blood for Eleanor of Guienne, but they would die ten deaths at the bidding of—"
She paused, and fixed her eyes on Bernard's face. ”

“ The figure of the gray old man grew mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands stretched forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it descended between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as stars, his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still the thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in its soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a span's length from his face. ”

“ He undid a button of his close-fitting doublet, thrust the letter into the opening and fastened the button again, before the King could speak. The dwarf's heart almost stood still with joy,--he could have crawled to Don John's feet to kiss the dust from his shoes. The Queen smiled nervously, between fear of the one man and admiration for the other.
"Your Serene Highness," answered Philip, with a frightful stare, "is the first gentleman of Spain who has disobeyed his sovereign." ”

“ She smiled again very graciously, for she was glad that men should praise Gilbert Warde to her; and it was strangely pleasant to think that no one guessed half of what she would give him if he would take it. For among the nobles there were great lords, goodly men and young, who dreamed of her fair face, but would not have dared to lift up their eyes to her.
So she passed out, with her knights behind her, and most of the lords and barons followed her at a distance, leaving the King within. ”

“ Since the Revolution, there has scarcely been a time that some one of the family has not been prominently before the public as a representative man. Mr. Crawford was an eminent type of his race, sternly honest, of ardent temperament, full of dignity, generous, frank, and brave. Plain and simple in his habits, disdaining everything like ostentation, or foolish display—strictly moral, firm in his friendship, and unrelenting in his hatred, his sagacity and sincerity forbade the forming of the one or the other without abundant cause. He was never known to desert a friend or shrink from a foe. ”

“ It is right that a loyal man should save his sovereign first. I do not blame him. I should not have blamed him had I been more hurt than I am."
"I am not his sovereign, and he is no vassal of mine." Eleanor smiled coldly. "He is an Englishman."
"You play with words," answered Beatrix, as she would have spoken to an equal.
"Take care!"
They faced each other, and on the instant the fierce pride of royalty sprang up, as at an insult. But Beatrix was brave—a sick girl against the Queen of France.
"If you are not his sovereign, you are not mine," she said. ”

“ Then it was the shadowy figure moving out of the darkness down the trail, and Crawford yanked on the maguey and it slipped off the branch and the branch snapped up with a soft crackle and caused the figure to whirl that way, his gun crashing, his back toward the thicket in which Crawford lay.
"Maybe you're a dangerous man," screamed Crawford in a terrible release, leaping to his feet and throwing himself bodily at the man, who was still firing wildly into the opposite thicket, "but this is one bronc you'll wish to hell you never climbed on." ”

“ His first instinct was to charge the crowd before him, to force the way, even by the sword, and to bring the Queen and her ladies safely back; but a moment's thought showed him how utterly futile any such attempt must be, and that even if the whole throng had felt as he felt himself, and had wished to make way for any one, it would have had no power to do so. There was but one chance of saving the women, and that evidently lay in leading off the crowd by some excitement counter to its present fear. ”

“ Nervous and exhausted by all she had felt and been made to feel since the afternoon, she held her breath and waited.
The regular tread of a man booted and spurred came relentlessly towards her, without haste and without pause. No one who wore spurs but her father ever came that way. She listened breathlessly to the hollow echoes, and turned her eyes along the wall of the embrasure. In a moment she must see his gaunt figure, and the moonlight would be white on his short grey beard. ”

“ Geoffrey looked at his son curiously.
"She would not have done it," answered Henry. "There could have been no more war, with Stephen dead. But if she had killed my uncle, well, what of that? The crown of England is worth one life, at least!"
Gilbert heard and wondered at the boy's hardness, but held his peace. He was surprised also that the Duke should say nothing, and the speech of the one and the silence of the other clearly foreshadowed the kingdom for one or both. But the boy's words seemed heartless and not altogether knightly to Warde, who was himself before all things a man of heart ”

“ Even such an astute man of the world as Lord Crawford she makes her devoted slave, ready at any moment to place his purse and services at her disposal, to the extent of breaking the news of her marriage to the Duke, her brother, and begging for his approval and favour ”

“ It chanced that it came when the Earl was in a good humour.
'Ah, John Crauford,' said Cassillis, ''tis a changed day since Bargany and you chased us off Skeldon Haughs. It looks as if the sow had not been flitted so far after all. But ye shall have the peace ye ask. For we live under a gracious King who loves quietness as much as when he dwelt here in our kindly North. And he is now the better able to enforce it. Therefore, look ye to it. I will maintain you Craufords in your heritages of Kerse—which by my power as Bailzie, I might legally declare forfeit. ”

“ The Ingrams anticipated by several weeks their projected departure for Newport—they had given out that they were to spend the summer there—and, quitting New York, quite left, like the gentleman in "The School for Scandal," their reputations behind them.
I continued to observe Crawford with interest, and, although I did full justice to his wisdom and self-control, when the summer arrived I was ill at ease about him. He led exactly the life he had led before his engagement, and mingled with society; neither more nor less. ”

“ I want brass tacks."
"There's not a word of truth in it. We are just what our books show us to be."
He smiled and chewed his cigar. "That's what I thought you would say," he chuckled. "What security do you offer?"
"Our notes at thirty days backed by the contracts which you will take over if we fall down."
"Not good enough, Edward. You must put up the plant."
With this he handed me the telephone which stood on his desk. I got through to Knowlton at the office, the while my financier-friend watched and listened. In the end, we had no option but to give way. ”