Note 161 — PREFACE

His death may be referred to the end of the year 1541, or early in 1542; as the Treasurer paid "to David Hardy, be ane tykket of George Steilis, for hinging of the tapescherie in Halyrudhouse, and doun taking of the samin, vij s." on the 16 Oct. 1541.—The name of George Steill is occasionally met with in the Treasurer's Accounts, during the reign of James the Fifth. We may conjecture that he was the son of John Steill, one of the servitors to James the Fourth, (apparently King's tailor,) from 1495 to 1502. George, who was a burgess of Edinburgh, had acquired the lands of Houston, and other property. He had a charter under the Great Seal, of the office of Coquet Clerk of the borough: "Officii Clericatus Coketæ Burgi de Edinburgo," 3 Sept. 1523. The charters of the lands of Houston, in Linlithgowshire, were granted to himself and Christian Wilson his spouse, 31 July 1530, and 22 Sept. 1532. He had also a charter of "the Common-myre near Duddingston Loch," in the County of Edinburgh, 24 July 1540. In the year 1672, the Common-myre is described as extending to 52 acres, in the barony of Preistfield, now Prestonfield, (Retours, Edin. No. 1196.)