J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 3

24 MINSTRELSY OF
" John Somerville (son to Roger de SomervIUe, baron
" of Whichenever, in Staffordshire) was made, by King
" William (the lion,) his principal falconer, and got
" from that King the lands and baronie of Linton, in Ti-
"viotdalcjforanextraordinarieandvaliantaction; which,
" according to the manuscript of the family of Drum,
*' was thus: In the parochen of Lintoun, within the she-
" riffdom of Roxburgh, there happened to breed a mon-
" ster, in form of a serpent or worme ; in length, three
" Scots yards, and somewhat bigger than an ordinarie
" man's leg, with a head more proportionable to its
" length than greatness. It had its den in a hollow piece
*' of ground, a mile south-east from Lintoun church ; it
" destroyed both men and beasts that came in its way.
*' Several attempts were made to destroy it, by shooting of
" arrows, and throwing of darts, none daring to approach
" so near as to make use of a sword or lance. John So-
" merville undertakes to kill it, and being well mounted,
" and attended with a stoute servant, he cam, before
" the sun-rising, before the dragon's den, having pre-
" pared somelong,small, and hard peats (bog-turf dried
" for fuel,) bedabbed with pitch, rosett, and brimstone,
" fixed with a small wyre upon awheel,at the point of his
" lance : these, being touched with fire, would instantly
" break out into flames ; and, there being a breath of
" air, that served to his purpose, about the sun-rising,
" the serpent, dragon, or worme, so called by tradition,
" appeared with her head, and some part of her body.