Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/317

Rh and Ruthven testified that the resignation was voluntary; but Lindsay found it necessary to compel the keeper of the privy seal to attach it to the resignation (for the document see Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 531–4). Subsequently Lindsay was one of the staunchest supporters of the Regent Moray. In a forged ‘Conference about the Regent Moray’ he is represented as saying: ‘My lord, ye know of ould that I was moir rude than wyse. I can nought gyve you a verie wyse counsell, but I love you weill aneuche’ (Bannatyne Miscellany, i. 38;, ii. 516).

After Mary's escape from Lochleven Lindsay appeared against her at Langside, and by reinforcing the right wing of the regent as it was about to give way turned the tide of battle against her (, Memoirs, p. 202; Hist. of James the Sext, p. 26;, ii. 364). He was one of the four commissioners appointed to accompany the regent, in August 1568, to those conferences regarding the queen at York which were subsequently adjourned to Westminster. At Westminster on 1 Dec. Lord Herries asserted that the real contrivers of Darnley's murder were the regent and his colleagues, and Lindsay challenged him to maintain this statement by single combat; but Herries, in reply, specially excepted Lindsay from the accusation (see documents printed in Appendix to Hist. of Scotland). He assisted in carrying the corpse of the Regent Moray at his funeral (Randolph to Cecil, 22 Feb. 1569–70, printed in Works, vi. 571). Subsequently he contrived to support the king's party, rendering invaluable service during the period of internecine strife. On 16 June 1571 the forces under him and Morton slew Gavin Hamilton, commendator of Kilwinning, and took Lord Home and others prisoners (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 224;, iii. 101). On the last day of the same month he also intercepted at Wemyss a quantity of gold sent by order of Queen Mary, for the defenders of the castle, from her dowry out of France (ib. iii. 105). Shortly afterwards he was taken prisoner, but on 12 July he purchased his liberty (ib. p. 113). A few months later a party of horsemen from Edinburgh went to his estate of the Byres and seized a large number of his cattle (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 241;, Memorials, p. 179), but on the following day Lindsay, in a victorious skirmish with the enemy in the High Street of Edinburgh, took Lord Seton prisoner (ib. p. 180). During the absence of the regent at the parliament at Stirling Lindsay on 23 Aug. was chosen lieutenant in Leith. Here on the last day of August a powerful attack was made upon him, but he beat it off and drove the enemy ‘in again at the ports’ (ib. p. 138). The king's party in 1572 elected him provost of Edinburgh, while the siege of the castle was in progress. Knox, whom he visited on his deathbed, advised him to have no dealings with the damnable house of the castle (, iii. 235). This advice Lindsay followed with strict faithfulness until the conclusion of the siege; but after its surrender he made strenuous efforts to induce Morton to spare the life of his old companion-in-arms, Kirkcaldy of Grange.

During the remainder of Morton's regency Lindsay played a less conspicuous part, partly because opportunities did not arise for utilising his talents as a man of action. But he probably was no keen supporter of Morton. At any rate, in March 1577–8, he combined with other noblemen to effect Morton's overthrow. It was to him and Ruthven that the castle of Edinburgh was surrendered on 1 April 1578, and he was chosen one of the council in whom the administration of affairs was vested till the meeting of parliament. When Morton, after regaining possession of the king and the castle of Stirling, summoned a convention to be held there, Lindsay and Montrose, as deputies of the discontented nobles, protested that a convention held in an armed fortress could not be regarded as a free parliament (Hist. of James the Sext, p. 167;, iii. 413; , Memoirs, p. 6). They were thereupon committed to ward in their lodgings in Stirling Castle (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 8), but either Lindsay departed without a license (, iii. 417), or else his ward was extended to the ‘bounds of Fife’ (, Memoirs, p. 13). In any case, he and Montrose joined the dissentient lords, who, with about seven thousand followers, marched in arms towards Stirling. A compromise, by which Morton was permitted nominally to return to power, was effected, and Lindsay became a member of the new privy council. On 1 Dec. 1579 he was appointed a commissioner for the ‘reformation of the university of St. Andrews’ (Reg. P. C. Scotl. iii. 243). He loyally adhered to Morton till the latter's fall in 1580, when he retired to his own house much discontented. He was concerned in the Ruthven raid in 1582, and after the king's rescue at St. Andrews fled with other raiders to England. On his return he took part in the Gowrie conspiracy in 1584, and was committed to Tantallon Castle, but on the fall of Arran in November obtained his release. He died on 11 Dec. 1589.

By his wife Euphemia, eldest daughter of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven, and sister