The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-08-01
tn : EARL OF FIFE.
The Royal Marriage Saturday-The PriB-
d. ces Louise of Notwithstanding istorI=
cal Facts


The Royal Marriage saturday-The Prin-
a. ces Louise of Notwithstanding BistorI.
cal Facts.
The marriage of Princess Louise OF
Wales, the third child Of the Prince OF
Wales, to the Duke of Fife last week in
the private ,ohspel--ef- Buckingham
Palace. She was born Feb. 90, 1867.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will Off
ciate. A correspondent of the Scottish
american gives some, facts which, des-
pite Mr.. Labouchere, are'of general in
terest. He says !;
The writer of thls sketch takes it for
granted that some of your readers may
not haYe ~theNtime totdrn up these cpl
sodes of sociallife. Yet many of them
are really charming to read. Some old
dry-as-dust scientific, political readers
may say These subjects, or affairs of
the. heart, belongto the Poet or novelist.
we have little time to bother with them. "
Yet these little social affairs help to
freshen up and to make more memoir
able to many readers the more impor-
tant historical events of the period in
which they took place. Along with
other families in Scotland the Macduffs
of Fife have had their share. 1t may
not be out of place at present to recall
one or two of these incidents.
The battle of Neville Cross was most
disastrous one for Scotland. King
David and many of his mobiles were
taken prisoners and carried to London.
The English King, initiating the con-
duct of his grandfather, Edward, l.
| oil Of nr,tnllty- "A
Earls OF Monteith and of Fife especially
soon the plea that at one time they had
sworn fealty to Ballot, then after time
joined Bruce and helped to secure Scot
fish independence. Edward said that
was treason, and 80 took it upon himself
to have them tried in London for it.
The trial was mere mockery OF justice,
for along with the comm ssion to the
Judges he transmitted scroll of the
sentence he wished to have pronounced
against them. Thus in, tructed, the
Judges condemned both Of ii g enobe-
men to death. Not satisfied with be-
heading or hanging them, the barbai Gus
English law of quartering was to be in
flcted, Monteith suffered all this. His
heart was cut out while still alive, and
the members OF his body cut off and
sent to the principal cities of Scotland,
t. be placed on the gates,o on the Cross
of the market place, as a warning to all
who dared to fight against the English
Kings nominee to the Scottish throne.
The same punishment would have been
measured out to the Earl of Fife had it
not been that his mother was niece of
Edward, the English King. That rela-
tionship TO the royal family weighed in
the balance of English justice, and was
not found wanting. Marriage" in HE
case, WAS no failure"
There was another Earl of Fife who
lived three hundred years previous TO
that fortunate Earls time-one who
stood near the Scottish throne, not by
marriage but by the might of his own
strong arm. He was that Mcduff, who
espoused the cause of Malcolm, son or
las some writers will have iD grandson
of Shakspeare's gracious Duncan" So
powerful was the help he gave to NAL
colin that he was mainly instrumental
in defeating the usurper Macbeth at
Dunsinane driving him from the throne,
and placing Malcolm thereon. When
Malcolm was crowned at Scone, near
Perth, on the 9th Of April, 1857, Macduff
was rewarded with many important
priyileges-such as that he and his sue
cessors, Lords of Fife, should have the
right of placing the Kings of Scotland
on the throne at their coronatiOn-that
they should lead the van of the Scottish
army whenever the Royal banner was
splayed-aDd that if any of their kin
dred "committed of slaughter suddenly"
they should have peculiar sanctuary
of their own, and that they should OBJ
tain remission on payment of an atone
ment in money. This was the origin of
the sanctuary of the famous Macduff
Cross in Fife.
The ladies of Macduff in those days
were as great heroines as the men were
heroes. When Robert the Bruce was
crowned at Scone, 9th March, 1906, the
then Earl of Fife was in England. His
sister Isabella, wife of the Earl of Blu.
chan, withdrew secretly from her hus
band and has' 9ned to Scone, which she
reached the second day after the coro-
nation of the King. This did not daunt
her. She saw the Bruce and insisted
upon performing the duties and enjoy
ing the privilege of her family. Bruce,
anxious to invest his crown with every
possible circumstance of legitimacy and |
complied, and on goth March, |
was crowned a second time and placed |
on the throne by the patriotic and cour |
ageous Countess. Afterward Edward,
the English King, punished her most
cruelty for her devotion to the Scottish |
cause, This was not the only mean |
thing this Edward did when he had the
fnr aftar tho opIannn hC
to the contrary he stole the regaia of
Scotland, also the stone of destiny, on
which the Scottish Kings had been
from time immemorial, 30
when Bruce was crowned there was no
crown-a small circlet of gold had 10 be
used instead Neither had the Bruce
any royal apparel. Wishart the patri-
1tic Bishop of Glasgow, lent him decent
clothes from his own wardrobe. Save
for appearance this would matter little
TO the Bruce - he was no "carpet
Knight"
Thus we see that in the years between
be 18th and 14th centuries, when the
of Scotland hung IN the
the Macduffs of Fife were
among the mightiest of the many mighty
men who bravely fought for Scottish
freedom and Scottish rights, from NAL
colin Conmore, who began the conflicts,
until Bruce, who completed it at Ban.
1ockburn. Is not then the career of the
lacdutf5 as lofty and as honorable and
heir descent as ancient as that of
Guelph or Wetten 2" Furthermore, as
A husband the Earl of Fife is both able
and willing to support wife, which is
more than can be said of many wee, wee
German Princelets (lairdies they are
noD, VIVA cape and glover at Processes
Of the blood royal, in the hope that they