1803. ] 7 
of this name, viz. the Earls of Aberdeen 
and Aboyne, and the Vifcount oi Ken- 
mure, with a numerous and opulent gen- 
try. Though his Grace the Duke of Gor- 
don is thus powertuliy allied and connect- 
ed with the firft families in both kingdoms, 
yet his perfonal fortune is by no means in 
fo flourifing a condition’ as that of James 
Duff, Earlof Fife, the purfuirs ofawhofe 
life appear to be one continued feries .of 
benefits to-his country ; and the antiquity 
of whofe family is immortalized by the 
firft of poets, Shakefpear, in his tragedy 
of Macbeth. The philofopher may {mile 
with contempt at the boaft of genealogy, 
and without perfonal virtue it merits that 
fmile ; but though virtue itfelf ftands in 
need of no ornament, as long as thrones 
and property are entailed by hereditary 
fuccefiion, there is fomething in our na- 
ture that prompts us to vei crate antiquity, 
and to inveftigate, with more than ufual 
fcepticifm, the merits of an upftart. The 
prefent Ruler of France will probably dif- 
cover that this principle of thinking is in- 
herent in mankind. The family oi James 
Duff, Earl of Fife, is defcended from 
King Duffus, who was murdered in For- 
res, anno 565. It flourifhe eminently 
until the year 1385... The furnames of 
Weem, M‘Intoth, Tofheach, Shaw, Spens, 
Fife, Sc. &c. are bratiches of that great 
family of which his Lordhip is ac the 
head. The Dukes of Athol ave alfo de- 
{cended from it; and it is fufficient to 
prove inScoilani (where antiquity of fa- 
mily is attendet with much more perfonal 
refpect than in many other countries,) 
that you are defcended from any of its nu- 
merous branches, to be confidered of the 
moft ancient origin. There is a very cu- 
rious indenture in Sybbaid’s Hiftory of 
Fife, between Tlabel Macduff, Countefs 
of Fife, and Rober: Scuart, Earl of Men- 
teith, which, as it fhews the little autho- 
rity the King had among his vaffals in 
thofe times, whenshe was obliged, on 
giving lands to thofe that ferved him, fre- 
quently to add, “ if they tock the lands 
and kept them,’ is worthy of preferva- 
tion —The following is a copy : 
“* Indenture, Robert Stuart, and Ifabel 
Macduff : 
“* Indenture betwixt Robert Senefcall, 
Earl of Menteith, and Elizabeth Coun- 
tels of Fife, of the date the penult day of 
March, 13713 by which the faid Coun- 
tefs acknowledges the {aid Earl to be her 
lawful heir apparent, as well by the tailzie 
made by Umquhile Duncan, Earl of Fife, 
her father, to Allan Earl of Menteith, 
the grandfather of the Lady Margaret, 
Prefent State of the County of Bamff. 
iil 
the fpoufe of the faid Robert, now Earl, 
as by the tailzie made by the Lady Ifabel 
herfelf and her Umquhile hufband Walter 
Senefcall, the brother of the faid Robert 
Earl of Menteith to the aforefaid Earl, 
whereby, upon the Earl’s affifting her in 
the recovery of her Earldom, which fhe 
by force and fear had refigned, when it is 
recovered, fhe fhall prefently refgn it in 
the King’s hands, to infeft the Earl in it, 
who fhall receive fafine of the feud of 
the earldom, with the leading of the men 
of it, their wards, reliefs, marriages, and 
efcheats. The Courts of the earldom 
fhall be holden by him. And the faid 
Countefs is to have, all the days of her 
life, ‘the free tenement of the lands of the 
earldom, except the third part allotted te 
Mary Countefs of Fife, the mother of the 
faid Lady Tabel, all the time of her life, 
in afledation ; and upon the death of the 
faid Mary the Countefs, the faid Earl 
fhall have hér whole third part. And it 
is agreed the faid Earl fhall have in his 
keeping the cattle of Faikiand, with the 
foreft of it. To- the performance of all 
which they on both fides bound them- 
teives by their oath corporally, and put 
toit their feals, 8c.” 
The firft Earl created in Scotland was 
Duncan Macduff, Parl of Fife, about the. 
yer1os7 Toenter at large, however, 
into the hiftory of this family, connected 
as it ws with all the great names in‘the 
North, would occupy too much fpace, and 
be far lef interefting than a detail of that 
patriotic conduct, tempered with prudence, 
by which the prefent Earl of Fife enriches 
at once his country and himfelf. We thaii 
only cbferve that the Lairds of Macintoth, 
who were in all the royal charters,miffives, 
&c. detigned Captiins of the famous Clan 
Caattas, and in a bond of man-rent, dated 
4th April, 1609, granted by the Macpher- 
fons to Macin‘oth, denominated “* Our chief 
as it was of auld, according to the Kings of 
Scotland their gift of chieftancy of the 
hail Clan Chatian,” are. thus defcended 
from the Duffs, Thanes and Earls of Fife, 
Tofeo, in Irth, (from Tus, i.e. firft, or 
chict,) fgnifies Thane, and Macintofh is 
the Thane’s fon. Shaw Macduff, fecond |. 
fon of Duncan, fifth Earl of Fife, who 
died azn0 1154, had a command in the ar~ 
my of Malcolm IV. againft the Moria- 
venfes, about 11605 and, upon quelling 
that rebellion, the King made him Gos 
vernor of Inverne(s, and granted him Jand 
near it. When Prince Henry, the only 
fon of King David I. died, auno 1152, 
and the King declared Malcolm, the fon 
of Henry, fucceflor to the crown, he com- 
mitted 
