He died insolvent in 1640, leaving the house to his son Charles, but the town of Stirling claimed the property in lieu of his unpaid debts. The town council wanted to furnish it as a guesthouse, but this plan was never realized, and in the 1660s, it was sold to the Duke of Argyll. An armorial tablet on the wall above the main entrance displays Alexander's coat-of-arms. The shield is supported by a Native American and a mermaid. A scroll above displays his family motto Avt Spero Avt Sperno and a scroll below the motto of Nova Scotia per mare per terras. The crest is believed to be the first armorial representation of a beaver. Campbells of Argyll Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll was born in 1629. He was a staunch supporter of the monarchy. In 1666 he bought the house that would become known as Argyll's Lodging and built it outwards to the north and south, while enclosing the courtyard behind a screen wall with an elaborate entrance gate. He also had the interior walls decorated with paintings, some of which have survived. In 1680, the Earl opposed the oath attached to the Test Act, intended to ensure the loyalty of the holders of public office to King Charles II, because it also demanded conformity with the king's ideas on forms of church government and religious worship. The earl's refusal to take the oath led to him being declared a traitor in 1681. He was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, but escaped, disguised as a woman, and fled from Leith to the Netherlands. His estates were confiscated. The Earl had possessed the foresight, however, to have an inventory drawn up of all the belongings in his house in Stirling and had assigned them to his wife, Lady Anna Mackenzie, daughter of the Earl of Seafield, whom he had married in 1670. Due to the fact that her first husband, the Earl of Balcarres, had remained loyal to the King, the latter granted her a pension and allowed her to keep her personal property. In February 1685 Charles II died and was succeeded by his brother James VII. Argyll returned to Scotland intending to lead a rebellion against the King to coincide with the Duke of Monmouth's revolt in England. In June, shortly after landing, Argyll was captured in Renfrew, taken to Edinburgh and beheaded in the town's Grassmarket .