4 'OLD Q' 



nobleman took strange measures to preserve his title, 

 which neither law nor custom would now acknowledsre 

 as vahd: by making a settlement under which the 

 title and estates were to pass — in default of legitimate 

 issue of his son and successor, James, second Earl 

 of Douglas — to Archibald, illegitimate son of his 

 brother, the 'good' Sir James. Through this 

 Archibald the elder branch of the Douglas family 

 was continued, for Earl William's settlement came 

 into operation owing to the death of his own son, 

 James, without legitimate male issue. He left 

 two illegitimate sons; to the eldest, William, was 

 bequeathed the lands and castle of Drumlanrig, and 

 from him the most important of the cadet branches 

 of the Douglases spring, though enjoying the same 

 birthright as the older. The other son, Archibald, 

 was ancestor of the Douglases of Cavers. 



With the death of James, second Earl of Douglas, 

 early reference to the family must cease; but the 

 history of the Douglases will repay independent 

 study, interwoven as the name is with records of 

 chivalry and war. Who has not read or heard 

 of the deeds of Percy ' Hotspur ' and his con- 

 temporary, the Douglas, who, when falling mortally 

 wounded, thanked God so few of his ancestors had 

 died in chambers ! And is not the name of Douglas 



