e the Lord Huntlie, to cause Wormistoun retire; but, before he
come agane, he was dispatched, and had gottin deidis woundis.

The regent being schot (as said is), was brought to the castell, whair
he callit for ane phisitione, one for his soule, ane uther for
his bodie. But all hope of life was past, for he was schot in his
entreallis; and swa, after sumthingis spokin to the lordis, which I
know not, he departed, in the feare of God, and made a blessed end;
whilk the rest of the lordis, that tho't thame to his hiert, and lytle
reguardit him, shall not mak so blised ane end, unles they mend thair
maneris.

This curious manuscript has been lately published, under the
inspection of John Graham Dalyell, Esq.]

The wily Earl of Morton, who, after the short intervening regency
of Mar, succeeded to the supreme authority, contrived, by force or
artifice, to render the party of the king every where superior. Even
on the middle borders, he had the address to engage in his cause
the powerful, though savage and licentious, clans of Rutherford and
Turnbull, as well as the citizens of Jedburgh. He was thus enabled
to counterpoise his powerful opponents, Buccleuch and Fairnihirst,
in their own country; and, after an unsuccessful attempt to surprise
Jedburgh even these warm adherents of Mary relinquished her cause in
despair.

While Morton swayed the state, his attachment to Elizabeth, and the
humiliation which many of the border chiefs had undergone, contributed
to maintain good order on the marches, till James VI. himself assumed
the reigns of government.--The intervening skirmish of the Reidswire
(see the ballad under that title) was but a sudden explosion of the
rivalry and suppressed hatred of the borderers of both kingdoms. In
truth, the stern rule of Morton, and of his delegates, men unconnected
with the borders by birth, maintained in that country more strict
discipline than had ever been there exercised. Perhaps this hastened
his fall.

The unpopularity of Morton, acquired partly by the strict
administration of justice, and partly by avarice and severity, forced
him from the regency. In 1578, he retired, apparently, from state
affairs, to his castle of Dalkeith; which the populace, emphatically
expressing their awe and dread of his person, termed the _Lion's Den_.
But Morton could not live in retirement; and, early in the same year,
the aged lion again rushed from his cavern. By a mixture of policy and
violence, he poss