Around six letters sent to Agnes Leslie, Lady Lochleven survive, four in the National Library of Scotland and two in the National Records of Scotland.

Two letters are about cheese: cheese bought in Stirling by her agent Alexander Bruce, and cheese gifted to Marion Douglas, wife of the keeper of Edinburgh Castle, George Douglas of Parkhead.

“Madame, eftir my commendment of hartlie service It will pleis you ressave fra this berar x cabokis cheis quhilks weyit at the bying of thame v stane & twa pound price therof is xvij s Sua togidir with iiij stane x pownds butter price therof iij li ix s ij d, and gif your Ladyship desreis ony mair advertis me or the berar for I culd by na mair quhill your advertisment becaus it is sa deir, the cheis is part x s part ix s the stane at the best the butter is xv s the stane

That dow, for newis ther is nane at this present heir, my lord of Mar raid to the hunting to my lord of Menteith and as yit returnit, your sister raid to Edinburgh this day viij dais quhair scho is as still at this present, Margaret Houme send for hir bot scho schew hir na purpois quhairfoir

Forthair quhat plesour and service I can do is evir redie or your Ladyship command as knawis god quha ma evir preserve you, at Strevelyne this Sunday be yours, at command

Alexander Bruce”

“To my trest [-] the lady of Lochlevin

Mademe, eftir maist hertfullie commendations, quhair your Ladyship wryte unto me and sendis me mony thanks for the intertanement of your husband for such was bott varie sempill intertanement that he ressavit heir

It was bott my dewty sua to do your Ladyship has tane ovre mekal panes in sendin of sa mony propynes to me quhairof I thank your Ladyship thankfullie gif ther be ony plesour that I can do to to yow in thir parts I pray you charge me and it sall be [-] nocht forgetting  to mak my hertillie comendations to the lard and your dochter with the rest of your barnes ye sall knew I have resavit fra this berar fyftene scheis with the availl

Nocht ellis bot this eternall god have yow in his hevin,

Fome Edinburcht Castell the xix day of Jouly

Be your assurit frend at poware

Marioun Dowglas”

The “simple entertainment that he received here” mentioned by Marion Douglas refers to a time when William Douglas was warded in Edinburgh Castle in May and June 1577.¹ After he was released, Agnes Leslie had sent a gift of cheese to Marion Douglas, the wife of George Douglas of Parkhead, keeper of the castle. The cheese was probably made at the dairy farm at Fossoway. Marion wrote that Agnes had “taken over muckle pains in sending of so many propynes [gifts]” to her.

Marion was the heiress of Parkhead, near Douglas in South Lanarkshire. Another of her letters, about the trouble she was having with her gold or lead mine in 1592, was published by Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878), p. 92.

1. Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 13 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1978), p. 168. ↩︎