And they name this man John Bickerton of Luffness,
who left a part of his armour behind, unfastened, and when he was in
the greatest conflict, this servant of his came behind his back, and
slew him thereat."--_Godscroft, ut supra_.--"But this narration," adds
the historian, "is not so probable."[102] Indeed, it seems to have
no foundation, but the common desire of assigning some remote and
extraordinary cause for the death of a great man. The following ballad
is also inaccurate in many other particulars, and is much shorter, and
more indistinct, than that printed in the _Reliques_, although many
verses are almost the same. Hotspur, for instance, is called _Earl
Percy_, a title he never enjoyed; neither was Douglas buried on the
field of battle, but in Melrose Abbey, where his tomb is still shown.
[Footnote 102: Wintown assigns another cause for Douglas being
carelessly armed.
"The erle Jamys was sa besy,
For til ordane his cumpany;
And on his Fays for to pas,
That reckles he of his armyng was;
The Erle of Mwrrawys Bassenet,
Thai sayd, at that tyme was feryhete."
Book VIII. Chap 7.
The circumstance of Douglas' omitting to put on his helmet, occurs in
the ballad.]
This song was first published from Mr. Herd's _Collection of Scottish
Songs and Ballads_, Edin.
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