[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

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;
"—
you a new lease!" Peter died at advanced age, about thirty-four years
Ci)e maoti^ ^attr.
[Ddking the minority of James 11., Scotland was thrown into great confusion through
the weakness of the executive, and the ambition and turbulence of the barons.
Amongst the many feuds arising out of the disturbed state of the times, that of the
Stewart and Boyd families is, perhaps, the most striking. It occurred in 1439, and
is thus related by Tytler, from the " History of the Stewarts "—
: " Sir Alan Stewart
of Darnley, who had held the high office of Constable of the Scottish army in France,
was treacherously slain at Polmais thorn, between Falkirk and Linlithgow, by Sir
Thomas Boyd of Kilmarnock, ' for aul feud which was betwixt them ;' in revenge of
which Sir Alexander Stewart collected his vassals, and, in plain battle'— '
to use the
expressive words of an old historian—' manfully set upon Sir Thomas Boyd, who was
cruelly slain, and many brave men on both sides.' The ground where the conflict
took place was at Craignaucht Hill, a romantic spot near Neilston in Renfrewshire.
The victory at last declared for the Stewarts. History op Ayrshire.
Craignaucht, or Craignaugh, Hill, is a beautiful eminence in the parish of Dunlop,
Ayrshire, and about two miles east by north-east from Dunlop Village. Part of it at
present is the property of Alexander Cochran, Esq. of Grange, and part the property
of Andrew Brown, Esq. of Hill, Dunlop. There is an old tradition that tlie lady of
Sir Thomas Boyd died of grief shortly after hearing of the murder of her husband.]
Along the lea a weary page
At dewy eve ran fast,
Nor stopt to answer questions to
Those whom he quickly past
And when he came to Annick stream,
He sought no ford to cross,
But swam the pool and hurried on
Through dark Glenowther moss.
High in her hall a lady sat,
Of " wonderous beauty rare "
Her eye was like the diamond bright,
Like sunbeams glent her hair
And as she gazed far o'er the plain.
And marked the unopened gate.
She sighing said, all mournfully,
" My gallant lord comes late.
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