nd merks Scots.' The
executors of Nesbit did not bring their action till after Logan died, in
July 1606, 'in respect the said clandestine deed and fact came not to our
knowledge, nor light as to who had committed the same,' till just before
the action was brought.

In 1599, when conspiracies were in the air, Logan was bound over not to
put Fastcastle in the hands of his Majesty's enemies and rebels. {158}

This brief sketch of a turbulent life is derived from Logan's own letters
to Archibald Douglas, now among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield; from the
'Papers relating to the Master of Gray,' in which we find Logan, under a
cypher name, betraying the Master, his cousin and ally, and from the
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, in which all that dead world,
from the King to the crofter, may be traced, often in circumstances
peculiarly private.

At that time, civil processes of 'horning,' 'putting to the horn,' or
outlawry, were the common resort of creditors against procrastinating
debtors. Many of the most respectable persons, gentlemen and ladies,
appear in these suits; Robert Abercromby sues a lady of rank for 150_l._
Scots. He is the burgess of Edinburgh, the King's saddler, who, as the
Master of Ruthven told Craigengelt, had brought the King from Falkland to
Perth, 'to take order for his debt.' Now the singular thing is that we
never find Logan of Restalrig recorded as under 'horning' for debt,
whereas, considering his character, we might expect him never to be free
from 'the horn.' On the other hand, we know him to have been a lender,
not a borrower. He was _sui profusus_. On January 1, 1599, Cecil had
been making inquiries as to Logan, from Lord Willoughby commanding at
Berwick. Cecil always had his eyes on Border Scots, likely to be useful
in troubling King James. Willoughby replies, 'There is sutch a laird of
Lesterigge as you write of, a vain lose man, a greate favourer of thefes
reputed, yet a man of a good clan, as they here tearme it, and a gud
felow.' {159}

Such was Logan of Restalrig, 'Old Rugged and Dangerous.' In 1601, May
30, we find him appearing as surety for Philip Mowbray, one of the
Mowbrays of Barnbogle, whose sister stood by Queen Mary at the scaffold,
and whose brother Francis was with the bold Buccleuch, when he swam 'that
wan water' of Esk, and rescued Kinmont Willie from Carlisle Castle. This
Francis Mowbray and his brother Philip were (1601-1603) mixed up with
Cecil in som