This brief view of the Hays of Errol, during the Fifteenth Century, may serve to guide our conjectures in regard to Sir Gilbert Hay. That he was born about the commencement of that century, we are warranted to assume. There is no evidence of any of the younger sons in the Errol family, at this period, having had the honour of Knighthood; and therefore it may be conjectured that he was the son of Sir William Hay of Locharret, one of whose daughters, Jane, was married to Sir Alexander Home of Dunglas, who accompanied the Scotish forces under the Earl of Douglas to France, and who lost his life with the Earl at the Battle of Verneuil, 17th August 1424. It is certain, at least, that Gilbert Hay received a liberal education, and he appears to have prosecuted his studies at the University of St Andrews, which was founded in the year 1411. This we ascertain from the "Acta Facult. Art. Univers. S. Andreæ," where the name "Gylbertus Hay," occurs among the _Determinants_, or Bachelors of Arts, in the year 1418. In the following year, "Gilbertus de Haya, Magister," is included in the higher degree among the _Licentiates_, or Masters of Arts. One of his fellow students was William Turnbull, who afterwards became successively Doctor of Laws, Archdean of St Andrews, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and Bishop of Glasgow; and who, about three years before his death, so honourably distinguished himself by founding the College of Glasgow, in the year 1452-3. After taking his Master's degree at St Andrews, Gilbert Hay proceeded to France, but whether it may have been to complete his education, or that he was sent on any special mission, must be left to conjecture.[10] It might have been, that like so many of the younger sons in Scotish families of rank, at an early as well as in more recent times, he had gone abroad to push his fortunes; and thus, like Quentin Durward, when first addressing Louis XI., he might have said,--"I am ignorant whom I may have the honour to address, but I am indifferent who knows that I am a cadet of Scotland; and that I come to seek my fortune in France, or elsewhere, after the custom of my countrymen." It will be seen that he styles himself "Gilbert of the Haye, Knycht, Master in Arts, and Bachelor in Decreis,"--titles expressive of academical distinctions; and also "Chamberlain umquhile to the maist worthy King Charles of France." Dr Mackenzie, overlooking the obvious meaning of these words in the position of _umquhile_, instead of "late Chamberlain to the King," made him "Chamberlain to Charles VI., King of France." But that Monarch began his reign in 1380, and died in 1422, probably before Hay had set his foot in France. His son, Charles VII., ascended the throne in 1422, and survived till 1461. Sir Walter Scott, in "Quentin Durward," chapter v., has given a very graphic account of the Scotish Archer Guard, which was instituted by Charles VI., and consisted of a select number of the Scotish Nation, supplied from the superabundant