Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/402

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384
A DESCRIPTION OF

that is, a little after the death of King Robert Bruce; who ordered his heart to be carried to the Holy Land, there to be buried. It was said, that one of the noble family of Douglas was sent with it, and the crowned heart in his arms, from that circumstance: which is not so; for the person who really did carry the royal heart, was Sir Simond Locard of Lee; who, just about this time, borrowed a large sum of money from Sir William de Lindsey, prior of Ayr, for which he granted a bond of annuity of ten pounds of silver, during the life of the said Sir William de Lindsey, out of his (Sir Simond's) lands of Lee and Cartland. The original bond, dated 1323, and witnessed by the principal nobility of the country, is still remaining amongst the family papers." (And a curious bond it is, for I saw it.) "As ten pounds of silver, to be given annually, was a great sum in those days, the sum granted in lieu of it must have been very large indeed; and it was thought it was borrowed for that expedition to the Holy Land. From Sir Simon being the person who carried the royal heart, he changed his name to Lockheart, as it is sometimes spelt, or Lockhart. Sir Simon