Historical and genealogical memoirs of the House of Hamilton

OF THE FAMILY OF HAMILTON. 35
Departyt, with a gret mengne; S1R WALTER
And straucht to Bothwell tok the vai, DE HAMILTON.
That then in the Ingliss mennys fay
Was, and haldyn as (a) place of wer.
Schyr Waltre Gilbertson was ther
Capitane, and it had in ward,
The Erie of Herford thiddyrward
Held, and wes tane in our the wall,
And fyfty of his men with all ;
And set in howssis sindyrly
Swa that they had thar na mercy,*
The lave went towart Ingland, 1 ' &c.
Dr Jamieson's edition, 1820, Book Ninth, I. 5*76.
And, a little farther on, alluding to the proceedings of King Robert
after the battle, he adds : —
" And syne to Bothwell send he
Schyr Eduuard with a gret menye;
For thar wes than send him word
That the rich Erie of Herford,
And othyr mychty als, wer ther.
Swa tretyt he with Schyr Walter,
That Erie, and Castell and the lave,
In Schyr Eduuardis hand he gave,
And till the King the Erie send he
That gert him rycht weill yemyt be ;
Quhill at the last thai tretyt sua
That he till Ingland hame suld ga,
For owtyn paying of ransoune fre ;
And that for him suld changyt be
Byschap Robert that blynd was mad ;
* Dr Jamieson, in a note relative to the word mercy here used, observes, " Per-
haps the meaning is, that the governor of Bothwell Castle, viewing them as fugitives
from the field of battle, showed them no compassion, but confined them to separate
houses as prisoners." — In some of the older editions of the Bruce, the word used is
maistery, which appears to me to signify, that, from their being separately confined,
they could have no control or command over the garrison. For the discovery of Sir
Walter Gilbertson and Walter Fitz-Gilbert being the same person, I am indebted to
J. Riddell, Esq. advocate, communicated through Sir William Hamilton, Bart.