THe MarriaGe or JOHN, Lorp MAXWELL. 121 
know the date of her birth, but the marriage contract of her 
parents was dated the 8th May, 1552, and she had an elder 
sister. She must therefore have been well under age in 
January, 1572. Her brother, Lord Angus, is said to have 
been born about 1555. 
The contemporary evidence concerning this marriage, in 
addition to that afforded by the Historie already quoted, is as 
follows :—The King at Leith, the 6th February, 1571-2, con- 
firmed a charter dated at Dumfries, the 4th February, 1571-2, 
whereby John, Lord Maxwell, with the consent of his above- 
named curators—in fulfilment of his part of a marriage con- 
tract between Archibald, Earl of Angus; James, Ear! of 
Morten, Chancellor and Great Admiral of Scotland; Elizabeth 
Douglas, sister german of the said Archibald; and John, Earl 
of Mar,® Regent of Scotland, and the said Earl of Merton, as 
curators of the said Archibald, on the one part, and the said 
Lord Maxwell with consent of his curators, on the other part, 
dated at Leith, the 13th January, 1571-2—granted to the said 
Flizabeth Douglas in liferent, in her virginity, certain lands, 
in consideration of the marriage contracted between himself 
and her, and to be solemnized.? 
From this confirmation we learn that the marriage con- 
tract between Lord Maxwell and Elizabeth Douglas was 
signed at Leith the 13th January, 1572, and presumably after 
the signature the party adjourned to Morton’s castle of Dal- 
keith for the banquet which was spoilt by the capture of the 
provisions by the Queen’s party in Edinburgh. We learn, 
too, that the marriage was still to be celebrated when Max- 
well granted his charter on the following 4th February. As 
early as the 18th January, 1572, Lord Hunsdon, writing from 
Berwick to Lord Burghley, mentions that—‘‘ On Sunday Lord 
Maxwell will marry the Earl of Anguyshe’s sister ’’®—but this 
was a premature report, for in some “‘ advyses cff the presente 
state off Skotland ”’ sent by Sir William Drury, Marshal of 
6 Mar’s daughter, Mary Erskine, was, after his death, married 
to the eighth Harl of Angus, in June, 1573. 
7 R.M.S., 1546-1580, No. 2012. 
8 Cal. of Scottish State Papers, vol. iv., p. 91, 
