The west shore., July 01, 1887, Page 529, Image 28

THE SCOTTISH BORDER
529
given to ono of bis favorites, Hamilton's
estate of Bothwellhaugb, who took pos
session of it with such brutality, that bo
tamed Hamilton's wife, scantily clothed,
on a cold night, out into the open fields,
where, beforo morning, sho became fa
rioasly insane. Hamilton, inflamed with
the spirit of vengeance, followed the Re
gent about from place to place, endeav
oring to find an opportunity to kill him.
Having, at length, to pass through Lin
lithgon, on his way from Stirling to Ed
inboro', the opportunity was afforded
Hamilton, who placed himself in a houso
of his uncle, the archbishop of 81 An
drews, and shot the regent dead from a
window, as he rodo slowly along, owing
to the pressure of the crowd. The au
thor of Waverly, who adds the bright
color of romance to the historic realities
of the time and place, alludes to this
event in his ballad of " Cadyow Castle,"
of which I quote a few lines:
When princely Hamilton's aholo
Knnohled Calyow' got hie tow'rs,
The song went round, th goblet flow I,
Anl revel sj'd the laughing hour.
Why fill not IVjtkwellliaugh hit hn;
Mill wont our weal anil woe to share?
Why rumen he not our sjiurt to gra ?
Why shares he not our hunter's (are?
What sheeted ihantjtn wander ild,
Where mountain Kske thru' woodland
Her anus enfold a shadowy child (flows,
Oh, is it she, the jallid rs?
Tiie wil ler'd trar'liT sees her glide,
And hears her table vuta with awe
"llevenge!" she cries, "on Murray's ide,
And woo (of Injured Hothwtllhaugh! "
In the same vicinity lies Bothwell
manse, tho homo of Joanna Baillie in
her childhood she who afterward bo
came the intimate friend, guest and cor
respondent of Walter Scott, who also
delighted to make himself her guest
Sho died and was buried at Hampstead
heath at tho ago of eigbty-nine, ia 1S31,
though there was no spot in Scotland
sho loved like tho homo of her child
hood. I regret that I did not know this
when I was in London, as I could so eas
ily havo visited her homo and tomb, on
ly an hoar's walk from whero wo were,
at tbo same timo I found out Coleridge's
and Oeorgo Eliot's graves. This into
est in sacred localities, whero tho hon
ored dead repose, is looked ujon, by tho
averago Englishman, as an American
weakness and misplaced enthusiasm,
which calls forth a condescending smilo
and readily expressed ignorance as to
such spots, when questioned.
Tho minister of Bothwell was Joanna
Baillie's father, and Bothwell manse
looks down from its elevation upon the
scene of tho battlo at Bothwell brig,
upon tho park of Hamilton, whero tho
covenanters wero encarainvl, and upon
IJothwellhaugu. o passed through the
churchyard to tho manse, with its " count
less multitudes o' grass graves a1 touch
in' ano anither a roun tho kirk
yard wa's marblo and freestano monu
ments without end, o' a' shajea and siz
es and ages-somo quaint, some quwr,
some simple, somo ornate; for genius
likes to work upon grief and thisw
tombs partakin not o' tho noise o' a city,
but stannin aloof from tho stir o' life
aneath the sombre shadow o tho hllL"
Tho following is one among tho curi
ous inscriptions ou tombs and headstones :
ted hy Margin t Nott, In mnnuty iA l. r
htwband, UoUrt MoUj, Ut rmith and Farrier
o (ionkthraij.le, ho died 7th May, Kll.lii
the 7Ii year of his a.
My slrdgV hammer lief declined,
My I !!; s' j'!js ba l its win I;
My forge's rilirtrt, my fires dr ayrd,
An ! in lU dul my Ue is laid
My eul U sjnt, my iron Is g-fw,
My rails are drvte, my work is !"tt.
It is customary to put the occupation
in the inscription on a grave stun,
throughout Scotland, whether it lo tink
er, tailor or cobbler. We saw mto of the