tended through the south of Scotland, from the eastern to the Atlantic Ocean. Some of these trees measure twenty-five feet, and upwards, in circumference; and the state of decay, in which they now appear, shews, that they may have witnessed the rites of the Druids. The whole scenery is included in the magnificent and extensive park of the Duke of Hamilton. There was long preserved in this forest the breed of the Scottish wild cattle, until their ferocity occasioned their being extirpated, about forty years ago. Their appearance

was beautiful, being milk-white, with black muzzles, horns, and hoofs. The bulls are described by ancient authors, as having white manes; but those of latter days had lost that peculiarity, perhaps by intermixture with the tame breed.*

In detailing the death of the Regent Murray, which is made the subject of the following ballad, it would be injustice to my reader to use other words than those of Dr Robertson, whose account of that memorable event forms a beautiful piece of historical painting.

"Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh was the person who

*They were formerly kept in the park at Drumlanrig, and are still to be seen at Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland. For their nature and ferocity, see Notes.

"committed this barbarous action. He had been con"demned to death soon after the battle of Langside, as 66 we have already related, and owed his life to the re"gent's clemency. But part of his estate had been be-. "stowed upon one of the regent's favourites," who " seized his house, and turned out his wife, naked, in "a cold night, into the open fields, where, before next "morning, she became furiously mad. This injury "made a deeper impression on him than the benefit " he had received, and from that moment he vowed to "be revenged of the regent. Party rage strengthened " and inflamed his private resentment. His kinsmen, "the Hamiltons, applauded the enterprize. The max"ims of that age justified the most desperate course " he could take to obtain vengeance. He followed the regent for some time, and watched for an opportunity "to strike the blow. He resolved, at last, to wait till “his enemy should arrive at Linlithgow, through which "he was to pass, in his way from Stirling to Edin

*This was Sir James Ballenden, Lord-justice-clerk, whose shameful and inhuman rapacity occasioned the catastrophe in the text.-Spottiswoode.

"burgh. He took his stand in a wooden gallery,* "which had a window towards the street; spread a "feather-bed on the floor, to hinder the noise of his "feet from being heard; hung up a black cloth behind “him, that his shadow might not be observed from "without; and, after all this preparation, calmly ex"pected the regent's approach, who had lodged, du"ring the night, in a house not far distant. Some in"distinct information of the danger which threatened "him had been conveyed to the regent, and he paid so "much regard to it, that he resolved to return by the 66 same gate through which he had entered, and to fetch 66 a compass round the town. But, as the crowd about "the gate was great, and he himself unacquainted with "fear, he proceeded directly along the street; and the "throng of people obliging him to move very slowly,

gave the assassin time to take so true an aim, that he

* This projecting gallery is still shewn. The house, to which it was attached, was the property of the Archbishop of St Andrews, a natural brother of the Duke of Chatelherault, and uncle to Bothwellhaugh. This, among many other circumstances, seems to evince the aid which Bothwellhaugh received from his clan in effecting his purpose.

"shot him, with a single bullet, through the lower part "of his belly, and killed the horse of a gentleman, who "rode on his other side. His followers instantly en"deavoured to break into the house, whence the blow "had come; but they found the door strongly barri"caded, and, before it could be forced open, Hamilton "had mounted a fleet horse,* which stood ready for him " at a back-passage, and was got far beyond their reach. "The regent died the same night of his wound."History of Scotland, book v.

Bothwellhaugh rode straight to Hamilton, where he was received in triumph; for the ashes of the houses in Clydesdale, which had been burned by Murray's army, were yet smoking; and party prejudice, the habits of the age, and the enormity of the provocation, seemed to his kinsmen to justify his deed. After a short abode at Hamilton, this fierce and determined man left Scotland, and served in France, under the patronage of the family of Guise, to whom he was doubtless recommended by having avenged the cause of their niece, Queen Mary, upon her ungrateful brother. De Thou has recorded, that an attempt was made to engage him to assassinate

* The gift of Lord John Hamilton, commendator of Arbroath.

Gaspar de Coligni, the famous admiral of France, and the buckler of the Huguenot cause. But the character of Bothwellhaugh was mistaken. He was no mercenary trader in blood, and rejected the offer with contempt and indignation. He had no authority, he said, from Scotland to commit murders in France; he had avenged his own just quarrel, but he would neither, for price nor prayer, avenge that of another man.-Thuanus, cap. 46.

The regent's death happened 23d January, 1569. It is applauded or stigmatized, by contemporary historians, according to their religious or party prejudices. The triumph of Blackwood is unbounded. He not only extols the pious feat of Bothwellhaugh," who," he observes," satisfied, with a single ounce of lead, “him, whose sacrilegious avarice had stript the me"tropolitan church of St Andrews of its covering ;" but he ascribes it to immediate divine inspiration, and the escape of Hamilton to little less than the miraculous interference of the Deity.-Jebb, vol. II. p. 263. With equal injustice, it was, by others, made the ground of a general national reflection; for, when Mather urged Berney to assassinate Burleigh, and quoted the examples of Poltrot and Bothwellhaugh,