hinleck of Auchiuleck, one of his
dependants. By such arbitrary practices, Morton meant to strengthen
his authority on the borders; instead of which, he hastened his fall,
by giving disgust to his kinsman the Earl of Angus, and his
other friends, who had been established in the country for
ages.--_Godscroft_, Vol. II. Pages 238. 246. Sir John Carmichael, the
warden, was murdered 16th June, 1600, by a party of borderers, at a
place called Raesknows, near Lochmaben, whither he was going to hold
a court of justice. Two of the ring-leaders in the slaughter, Thomas
Armstrong, called _Ringan's Tarn_, and Adam Scott, called _the
Pecket_, were tried at Edinburgh, at the instance of Carmichael of
Edrom. They were condemned to have their right hands struck off,
thereafter to be hanged, and their bodies gibbeted on the Borough
Moor; which sentence was executed, 14th November, 1601. "This
_Pecket_, (saith Birrel in his _Diary_), was ane of the maist notalrie
thieftes that ever raid:" he calls his name Steill, which appears,
from the record, to be a mistake. Four years afterwards, an Armstrong,
called _Sandy of Rowanburn_, and several others of that tribe, were
executed for this and other excesses.--_Books of Adjournal of these
dates_.

_And the Laird's Wat, that worthie man_.--P. 157. v. 2.

The chief, who led out the sirname of Scott upon this occasion, was
(saith Satchells) Walter Scott of Ancrum, a natural son of Walter of
Buccleuch. The laird of Buccleuch was then a minor. The ballad seems
to have been popular in Satchells' days, for he quotes it literally.
He must, however, have been mistaken in this particular; for the
family of Scott of Ancrum, in all our books of genealogy, deduce their
descent from the Scotts of Balwearie in Fife, whom they represent. The
first of this family, settled in Roxburghshire, is stated in _Douglas'
Baronage_ to have been Patrick Scott, who purchased the lands of
Ancrum, in the reign of James VI. He therefore could not be the
_Laird's Wat_ of the ballad; indeed, from the list of border families
in 1597, Ker appears to have been proprietor of Ancrum at the date of
the ballad. It is plainly written in the MS. the _Laird's Wat_, i.e.,
the Laird's son Wat; notwithstanding which, it has always hitherto
been printed the _Laird Wat_. If Douglas be accurate in his genealogy,
the person meant must be the young laird of Buccleuch, afterwards
distinguished for his surprise of Carlisle Castle.--See _Kinmo