BATTLE OF LINLITHGOW. — ANTIQUITIES. 147 



of KirkKston; and Angus rushed from Edinburgh to support AiTan ; while 

 Sir George Douglas, bringing with him the young king in person, followed with 

 the citizens of the capital. Observing the king's reluctance to proceed, as the 

 continued roar of artillery announced the engagement — " I guess your majesty's 

 thoughts," said he, sternly, " but do not deceive yourself: for if your enemies 

 had hold of you on one side, and we on the other, we would tear you asunder 

 rather than quit our hold." This ferocious declaration made a lasting impression 

 on the king's mind, and afterwards, perhaps, prompted the strong measures of 

 which, for a time, this daring noble became the victim. On reaching the field 

 of battle, they found that victory had declared for Angus. Lennox, who had 

 the love and esteem of the country in his favour, had been taken prisoner, and 

 after quarter granted, slain by Sir James Hamilton, whose turbulent and sangui- 

 nary temper thus gratified his revenge at the expense of his honour. Arran 

 was seen mourning beside the victim : " Here," said he, pointing to the dead 

 body of his nephew, over which he had spread his scarlet mantle, " here, of 

 Scotland's wortliies, the wisest, the bravest, and the best, lies slain !" A cairn, 

 or sepulchral mound, to which every pilgrim contributed a stone in testimony 

 of his abhorrence of the deed, long continued to mark the unhallowed spot, 

 but at length disappeared in the course of local improvements. 



The memorials of hostile conflict, however, are comparatively few in this dis- 

 strict. Vestiges of feudal sway are variously indicated by mouldering fastnesses, 

 but which are now generally replaced by structures that announce a happier 

 era.* Antiquities are few, unless castles and romantic ruins be considered 

 as such, but which are only interesting so far as chronology renders them 

 instructive.! Tumuli, cairns, battle-stones, or other sepulchral memorials, are 

 observed in various parishes, particularly in Torpicheh, the ancient seat of the 

 knights of St. John of Jerusalem, on the hills near Lochcoat and the river Amon. 



• Among these baronial seats are, Barnbougle, Kinneil, Livingston-peel, Abercorn, Niddrie, Meidhope, 

 Turtrevan, &c. The present family residences, besides those already enumerated, are Blackburn, Dud- 

 dingston, Dundas, Foxhall, Hallyards, Houston, Newliston, Polkemmet, &c., the mere description of 

 which would fill a quarto, and will be found in Sibbald's County History. 



t During the reign of the Antonines, a wall was built under LoUius Urbicus, from the Clyde, near 

 old Kilpatrick, to the Forth at Carriden. Entering Linlithgowshire it crossed the Avon at Back-end, 

 proceeded thence to Inver-Avon, and then eastward to Kinneil. The track of the rampart may be 

 faintly traced to the House of Grange, beyond which it proceeded further to the east, and ended, probably, 

 at Carriden. About the middle of last century, axes, pots, and vases evidently of Roman workmanship, 

 were discovered at this point. A military way accompanied the wall through its whole extent. From the 

 Roman station at Cramond a military road proceeded westward along the shore to Carriden, crossed the 

 Amon, entered this shire, passed thence by Barnbough-hill, crossed Ecklin Moor, where it is still visible, 

 and (fnly terminated with the via\l— Chalmers, Art. Anliri. Ray's Rel. Antiq. 163. Sibbald, 19, 20. 

 Bede, c. xvi. 



