'The Douglas Cause in its own days excited everybody as the Tichborne Trial did in later times. Lord Dundonald told the Duke of Douglas that Lady Stair held certain views. Let him be thought 'a damned villain' if he spoke not the truth. Lady Stair...
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'The Douglas Cause in its own days excited everybody as the Tichborne Trial did in later times. Lord Dundonald told the Duke of Douglas that Lady Stair held certain views. Let him be thought 'a damned villain' if he spoke not the truth. Lady Stair was equal to the occasion. She proceeded to Holyrood in full state, and in presence of the Duke and all his satellites she smote the floor with her staff three times, and each time gave the Earl, with the utmost of emphasis, the name he had craved. Scott's story of My Aunt Margaret's Mirror is founded on this Lady Stair tradition.' -- electricscotla
