270 EEPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1898 



regarded as the hereditary right of his family. The jealousy 

 of Douglas was so great that, three months later, when Eamsay 

 was holding his first court at Hawick, Douglas made a sudden 

 attack on him in St. Mary's Church, carried him off to 

 Hermitage, and there in a dungeon-room left him to die 

 miserabl)' of hunger. Such a deed excited general horror even 

 in those lawless days, but Douglas was too powerful to be 

 reached even by the king's justice. Some years later, to gain his 

 support at a critical time, he was appointed by the king to the 

 coveted post of Sheriff. In 1352 he entered into a treacherous 

 league with the English king, and a year later was waylaid 

 and slain by his nephew, Lord William Douglas, while hunting 

 in Ettrick Forest. The actual spot is said to have been at 

 Williamshope, near the Glonkinnen Burn, which runs into the 

 Yarrow. His body was brought to the church of Lindean, 

 which was the old church of thfl parish now called Gralashiels,* 

 and was finally buried in Melrose Abbey. 



Liddesdale and Hermitage Castle seem to have been held 

 by one or the other of the powerful Douglases, down till 

 1492, when by some process of grant or exchange, confirmed 

 by Parliament, they passed into the hands of the Earl of 

 Bothwell, who gave for them his possessions in Lanarkshire. 

 Thus the then Earl of Angus 



" left the dusky vale 

 Of Hermitage in Liddesdale, 



Its dungeons and its towers, 

 Where Bothwell's turrets brave the air, 

 And Bothwell's bank is blooming fair, 



To fix his princely bowers." 



Dui'ing the long minorities of James V. and Queen Mary, the 

 Border country was the unhappy scene of continual disorder. 

 To local feud and local fray were added the devastations of 

 repeated invasion. The Bothwells did not maintain an 

 unswerving loyalty to Scotland, and in 1538 the then represen- 



* The ruin of Lindean Church is still in existence. It stands in a 

 hollow about two miles N.E. from Selkii'k. 



