king, to tak up this unlaw; bot onlie the Earle of Fife." There is here a marginal note," And he may not enter as earle, bot as Mair to the king of the earledom of Fife, for uptaking of the king's deuties and richts." We suspect Skene, the publisher of Reg. Maj., was himself the author of the marginal note. These, however, are the ancient authorities upon this subject. In the Tales of a Grandfather, though the two first mentioned honours are said to have been conferred on Macduff by Malcolm III. the privilege of sanctuary is omitted. Vol. i. p. 40. The learned editor of the Minstrelsy of the Border " suspects, that the privilege did not amount to a remission of the crime, but only a right of being exempted from all other courts of judicature, except that of the Lord of Fife ;" and he remarks, "that the privilege of being answerable only to the chief of his own clan, was, to the descendants of Macduff, almost equivalent to an absolute indemnity." -Vol. ii. It seems not to have occurred to the learned editor of the Border Minstrelsy, that, in the days of Malcolm III. there was not a maormor in Scotland who was not absolute within his jurisdiction, and that his clan were amenable only to him. There was no law recognized, but Brehon Law, that is, the usages and customs of the tribes. This state of things continued in the Highlands long after the title of maormor was forgotten, and even down to the time of the abolition of heritable jurisdictions, by Stat. 20, Geo. II.* There is no evidence that Malcolm III. made innovations of See Lovat's Letter to the Duke of Newcastle, 1727, and Report of Lords of Session, 1746–7. "Offenders are not from thence amenable to justice, nor can process of law have free course among them." any kind: he was quite illiterate; and the Scottish kings, in those days, seem not to have possessed legislative power. The feudal system began only to be introduced into some districts of Scotland proper about the year 1100.-Caled. vol. i. p. 696, et passim. Anciently, among all the Celtic, and also the Saxon tribes, if a man was killed in a chance-medley, or on sudden provocation, the slaughter was atoned for by a fine of cattle; part of which was paid to the superior, for the loss of his live stock, and part to the relations of the dead, as kinbute. This fine was called Blood-witts, and we see it mentioned in the adjudication of the national synod, held at Perth, 1206. Before this time, the usage had, in Scotland, become statute law. "Give ane slaies anie man, he shall give twenty-nine kye, and ane young kow; and make peace with the friends of the defunct, conforme to the law of the countrie."-Skene's Stat. of William the Lion, c. vi. Under the Brehon system, which prevailed before statute law, all crimes were commuted; and theft, rape, and murder, were punished by a fine, which was paid in cattle.-Caled. vol. i. p. 308. Skene knew this; and, apparently desirous to make out a grant in favour of the Earl of Fife in some measure consistent with the state of society in ancient times, says, "The croce of clan Makduff had privilege and liberty of girth, in sik sort, that when onie manslayer, being within the ninth degree of kin and bluid to Makduff, sometime Earl of Fyffe, come to that croce, and gave nyne kie and an colpindach, or young kow, he was free of the slaughter committed by him."-Skene, De Verb. Sig. voce Clan Makduff. Skene refers to no authority, and, doubtless, had none to produce. This is the first notice of Macduff's Cross, or of its being a place of girth, 1609. Sir George Mackenzie and Lord Hailes have both demonstrated, that Skene was unfaithful as an editor of Scottish law. Unfortunately, in the days of Sir John Skene, and, we are sorry to say, for a century afterward, it was not thought beneath a gentleman to fable, or even to forge, if either the honour of Scotland, or of any great family, was concerned. According to Winton, and our old historians, the fine was 24 merks, if a gentleman was slain; and 12 merks, if a zeman, or yeoman. But Scotland, in the days of Malcolm Caenmore, had no coin of her own, and very little of her neighbour's; while merks were unknown. Of the title of gentleman much may be said; but let this suffice: it was unknown in Scotland at the period alluded to, and is of Norman extraction: in every country, however, there must be an equivalent title of some sort, except among savages, and in pure democracies; and scarcely in the latter. Yeoman was unknown in those days, and is also of Norman or Saxon extraction: though the derivation of the name is uncertain, it may signify a bowman, and be derived from the Yew of the bow; or it may signify a ploughman, from Jugum, a plough, which the Germans pronounce Yugum.*-Sir James Lawrence, Knight of Malta, on the Nobility of the British Gentry, p. 56. It has been shewn, that a thane was a land-steward, and that both the name and the office were introduced by the Saxons ; but, by Winton and our old historians, Macduff is * Dr Johnson does not explain correctly the title of gentleman; and the derivation of yeoman, given by Junius, seems not to be the true etymology. called Thane of Fife. It thus appears, that the story respecting Macduff, as told by Winton, and repeated by the historians, is incompatible with the usages of the times to which they refer. The reputed sanctuary of Clan Macduff, above alluded to by Skene, is Macduff's Cross, which is situated about half a mile south of the road leading from Abernethy to Newburgh. The pedestal, which is all that remains, is a large rough quadrilateral block of freestone, with no vestige of inscription; nor is there any appearance of a hollow, in which an upright column could have been inserted. Sir James Balfour, however, in his Notes upon Fife, tells us "That it was broke to pieces by some of the Congregation, as they named them, in the time of the reformation in religion, and pulling down of churches, in their coming from St Johnstoun, in Perthshire, to Lundoris." He says, “The inscription, even at that time, was so outworn, that he who copied the samen, (given to Sir James, by his son,) had much ado to make words of some dispersed and outworn bare characters, these remaining to view being Roman, betwixt intermingled Saxon." Sir John Skene, 1609, says, "He saw, in the stane of this croce, sundry barbarous words and verses written, which he willingly pretermitted, and yet some of them appeared to be conform to this purpose,Propter Makgidrim," &c., giving the two last lines. Sir Robert Sibbald, 1710, says, "When I saw them, time had so defaced them, I could discern none upon * Dr Johnson is mistaken in the explanation of Thane, and the only authority he quotes is Shakespeare's tragedy of Macbeth; but, indeed, he expresses himself doubtingly upon the subject. the pedestal of the cross: the rest of it is not to be seen." He produces a copy from an essay upon the inscription of Macduff's Cross, by the ingenious Mr J. Cunninghame. This Mr Cunninghame was told of an exact copy, with a true exposition, in the hands or books of the clerk at the Newburgh. The reading, which was approved by Mr Cunninghame, was thus: "Maldraradum dragos mairia laghslita largos Et colovurtos sic fit tibi bursia burtus Exitus et bladadrum sive lim sive lam sive labrum. Accipe smeleridem super limthide lamthida labrum." Sir Robert Sibbald observes, "That his friend, Dr Nicholson, Bishop of Carlyle, has well named them macaronik rhimes: for, indeed, such they are, a mixture of Latin, Saxonick, Danish, and old French words, with some which seem to be feigned for the matter's sake. The bishop, who is a good judge in these matters, says, Mr Cunninghame reduces them into an intelligible and princely charter, wherein King Malcolm Kanmore grants large privileges to the loyal earl of that country." We shall pretermit Mr Cunninghame's paraphrase as being irrelative, neither Malcolm Kanmore, nor Macduff, nor the Earl of Fife, being mentioned in the lines. For the same reason, we shall pretermit a translation of them into Latin, by a Mr Douglas, with his English paraphrase. Of the latter, Sir Robert Sibbald quaintly observes, “However, if this be not a true account, it is ingenious, and well invented."— Hist. of Fife, p. 222. That the above inscription ever was on Macduff's Cross |