Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/124

 cused the king of unduly favouring Keith. He was to receive back the castle upon payment of 1,000l. Scots at the expiry of five years, and during that period, at least, it remained in the hands of the king (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, ii. 164, 166).

Between 1357 and 1373 Mar had numerous passports from Edward for journeys through England and pilgrimages to France and elsewhere, and also for the transit of horses and cattle, in which he seems to have trafficked (Rotuli Scotia, i. 471, 807-960 passim). He attended so little to his Scottish duties that the parliament in 1369 declared him to be contumaciously absent (Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, i. 149), and on his next visit to Scotland, in the following year, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Bass (Exchequer Rolls, ii. 357). In that year (1370), however, David II died, and Mar was present at Scone on 27 March 1371, when Robert II was crowned, and he affixed his seal to the deed of that date, which settled the order of succession (Acts of Parliament, i. 181). He founded an altar in the cathedral church of Aberdeen in honour of St. James (Antiquities of Aberdeenshire, i. 151).

In 1352 the earl married Lady Margaret Graham, countess of Menteith, and widow of Sir John Moray of Bothwell. He received a dispensation from Pope Clement VI in that year, and another from Pope Innocent VI in 1354 (, Red Book of Menteith, i. 121-30). But he divorced this lady 'at the instigation of the devil,' says Fordun's 'Continuator,' and upon entirely false pretences (, ed. Goodall, ii. 150). She had no children by him. He married, secondly, Lady Margaret Stewart, countess of Angus, but neither had he any issue by her, and on his death in 1377 the male line of the Celtic earls of Mar ended. He was succeeded in the earldom by his sister Margaret, countess of Douglas.  MAR, WILLIAM, ninth (d. 1281?), was the son of Duncan, eighth earl of Mar, and grandson of Morgrund, fifth earl. He succeeded his fat her in or before 1237, when he attested at York the agreement between Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland. His right of succession was contested by Alan Durward, who asserted that William's father and grandfather were both of illegitimate birth, and that he ought to succeed as lawful heir. But apparently the case was arranged on the footing of an agreement which had been made about 1228 with Thomas Durward, father of Alan, who received a large accession of territory in Mar ; and the earldom remained with William de Mar. In 1249, during the minority of Alexander III, he was appointed one of the regents of Scotland. He held the office of great chamberlain of Scotland from 1252 to 1255, in which year, owing to political dissensions, he was removed from the government, and received permission from Henry to sojourn for a time in England. In 1258 he was a party to the treaty between some of the Scots and Llewellyn, prince of Wales, not to make peace with Henry without each other's consent (, Fœdera, i. 370). But in the same year he was reappointed one of the Scottish regents, and they received the promise of Henry's support so long as they acted righteously. He again became great chamberlain of Scotland in 1262, and continued in the office till 1267. He was also sheriff of Dumbartonshire. After the battle of Largs in 1263 he was sent by Alexander III with a military force to reduce the chiefs of the Western Isles who had supported Haco, king of Norway. He was still alive in 1273, but must have died in or before 1281. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William Comyn, earl of Buchan, by whom he had two 'sons, Donald, tenth earl [q. v.], who succeeded, and Duncan; and after her death he married an English lady, Muriel, granddaughter and one of the heiresses of Robert de Muschaump, whose barony lay in the see of Durham, but had no issue by her. She died in 1291 (, North Durham, p. 267).  MARA,. GERTRUDE ELIZABETH (1749–1833), vocalist, daughter of Johann Schmeling, musician, was born at Cassel on 23 Feb. 1749. At a very early age she played the violin, and her father, after exhibiting her at Frankfort, Vienna, and other places, as a prodigy, brought her when only ten to London, and she there attracted great attention. To the early practice of the violin she afterwards attributed her wonderful justness of intonation ; but by the advice of someEnglish ladies, who thought the instrument 'unfeminine,' she gave it up in favour of singing. She was placed under an Italian master named Paradisi, with whom she made great progress, but whose profligate character soon rendered