who died in . 1330. During a century and a half their great
nefs knew no bounds ; and their arrogance was equally unlimited;
that high fpirit, which was wont to be exerted againft the enemies
o f their country, now degenerated into fadtion, fedition and tread
fon : they emulated the royal authority ; they went abroad with
a train o f two thoufand armed men ; created knights, , had their
counfellors, eftabliihed ranks, and condituted a * parlement: itis
certain that they might almoft have, formed a houfe of peers qm
of their own family; for at the fame time there were. not. fewer
than fix Earls, o f the name of. Douglas rf. They gave fhelter to!
the moi. barbarous banditti, and protefted them in the greatelt
crimes; for, as honed Lindefay expreifes, ‘ Qpprefilon, raviihing
‘ of women, facrilege, and all other kinds o£ milchief, were but
, ‘ a dalliance : fo it was thought leifome to a depender on a
‘ Douglas to flay or. murder, for fo fearful was their name, aid
‘ terrible to every innocent man, that when a.mifchievous limmer
fr was apprehended,. i f he alledged that he murdered and flew at
I a Douglas’s command, no man durfl prefent him to j 11 dice J.
D o u g l a s c a s t l e .. Douglas cadle, the refidence-of thefe Reguli, feems. to have
been prodrated almod as . frequently as its maders.r the ruin that
is feen there at prefent is the, remains of the lad old cadle, for
many have been built on the fame,fite. The prefent is an im-
perfedt pile, begun by the late Duke : in , the front are three
round towers ; beneath the bafe o f one lies the noble founder,,
and the tears o f the country painted above. He was interred,
* Buchanan, rerum Scot. lib. xi. fe&. 9.
f Camden Br- II. 1211, % p. 26*
there
ILre by his own diredtions, through the vain fear o f mingling his
lihes with thofe of an injured dead.
I The windows' are gothic': the apartments are fitting up with
Ireat elegance, which fliew that the dorms of ambition have been
laid, and that a long calm of eafe and content is intended to
fucceed. ^ r n.\
■ 'j'jig infcription on th e fo u n d a t io n 1 fton c of the p r c icn t C3,itlc
deferves prefervation, as it gives a little of- the hidory:
Hoc latus
Hujus munitiffimi Praedii
Familise de D o u g l a s
Ter folo aequati
Et femel atque iterum inftaurati
Imperantibus
E d w a r d o primo Anglia
Et apud Scotos R o b e r t o
primum lie difto
Tandem furgere caepit
Novis munitionibus iirmatum
Juflu et fumptibus
Sereniffimi et potentiflimi Archibaldt
D u c i s de D o u g l a s , See. &c.
Priticipis familias ejus nominis
In Scotd antiquiffimae
Et maxime notabilis
Anno C h r i s t i
M D C C L V I I * -
I Near the cadle are feveral very antient afli trees, whofe branches
groaned under the weight of executions when the family knew no
"flaw but its will..
In