J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 1

INTRODUCTION. XVll
by Home of Wedderburn, who burned to avenge
the death of his chief, drew De la Bastie towards
Langton in the Merse. Here he found himself
surrounded by his enemies. In attempting, by the
speed of his horse, to gain the castle of Dunbar,
the warden plunged into a morass, where he was
overtaken, and cruelly butchered. Wedderburn
himself cut off his head ; and, in savage triumph,
knitted it to his saddle-bow by the long flowing hair,
which had been admired by the dames of France. —
Pitscottie, Edit. 1728, p. 130. Pinkerton's History
of Scotland, vol. II. p. 169-*
The Earl of Arran, head of the house of Hamil-
ton, was appointed to succeed De la Bastie in his
perilous office. But the Douglasses, the Homes, and
the Kerrs, proved too strong for him upon the Bor-
der. He was routed by these clans, at Kelso, and 1520
afterwards in a sharp skirmish, fought betwixt his
* This tragedy, or, perhaps, the preceding execution of
Lord Home, must have been the subject of a song, the first
two lines of which are preserved in the Complaynt of Scot-
land ;
God seu' the Due hed byddin in France,
And de la Bate had never come hame.
P. 100, Edin. 1801.