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heirfore, and we charge you that ye hiuchfullie summon, wairn, 

 and chairge the said Thomas Makclellane, allegit takkisman foir- 

 said, and the Alderman and Baillies of our said burgh of Kirk- 

 cudbright, personallie or at their dwelling place, to compeir, &c. 

 The said otheris Lettres wrongously purchased are hereby 

 suspended, &c. Given under our signet at Edinr., the 22nd of 

 March, and of our reigns the first and twenty-fourth years, 1565. 



" £Jx Delib. Doin. Concilii." 

 Our real cliartered history of the Bridge begins in the reign of 

 King James the First, and the first quarter of the 1 5th century 

 This is, of course, the period when the family of Douglas were 

 already far advanced in their reign of one hundred years over the 

 Lordship of Galloway. King James the First, in 1424, had 

 completed his nineteen years of captivity in England. Between 

 the years 1275 and the chartered year 1425 we learn little or 

 nothing concerning the Bridge in any shape. In the course of 

 the first half of the 15th century there are a charter and a confir- 

 mation charter of the Bridge Toll or Custom. The first of these 

 is the still extant charter by the Lady " Margaret, Duchess of 

 Touraine, Countess of Douglas, and Lady of Galloway and 

 Annandale " (as she therein styles and describes herself), wherein 

 she grants to the Friars Minors of Dumfries her own vested 

 rights in the Bridge of Dumfries, as described in the charter, 

 which is dated, "At the Trief, the 16th of January, 1425." On 

 the back, in an almost contemporary hand, is the following 

 endorsation: " Domine Galwidie de Ponte, 16th January, 1425." 

 The next document we still have is the confirmatory and renewal 

 charter, dated 4th of January, 1452, whereby "James, Earl of 

 Douglas and of Avondale, Lord of Galloway, etc." (as he is there 

 styled), confirms to the said Friars Minors the previous ciiarter of 

 the Lady Margaret in Anno 1425, in this instance the source and 

 nature of the toll or custom being more fully described as per- 

 taining "ad pontis de Nyth de Drumfres;" wliile the relative 

 endorsation of the time is "Carta de Douglas de Custuma Pontis." 

 The real intrinsic position and relative significance of the noble 

 family of Douglas generally within the realm of Scotland is best 

 understood by reproducing from " Tiie Douglas Book" the follow- 

 ing summary and exposition of the learned editor, Dr William 

 Eraser, C.B., wherein it may be observed that even the wide 

 domain and lordship of Galloway formed but a small item in the 

 catalogue of the Douglas family possessions within the realm of 



