pursued the chace fiercely; till, at the bottom of a steep path,
Elliot of Stobs, a follower of Buccleuch, turned, and slew him with a
stroke of his lance. When Cessford fell, the pursuit ceased. But his
death, with those of Buccleuch's friends, who fell in the action, to
the number of eighty, occasioned a deadly feud betwixt the names
of Scott and Kerr, which cost much blood upon the marches[11].--See
_Pitscottie_, _Lesly_, and _Godscroft_.

[Footnote 10: Near Darnick. By a corruption from Skirmish field, the
spot is still called the Skinnerfield. Two lines of an old ballad on
the subject are still preserved:

"There were sick belts and blows,
The Mattous burn ran blood."

[Footnote 11: Buccleuch contrived to escape forfeiture, a doom
pronounced against those nobles, who assisted the Earl of Lennox, in
a subsequent attempt to deliver the king, by force of arms. "The laird
of Bukcleugh has a respecte, and is not forfeited; and will get his
pece, and was in Leithquo, both Sondaye, Mondaye, and Tewisday last,
which is grete displeasure to the Carres."--_Letter from Sir C. Dacre
to Lord Dacre, 2d December_, 1526.]


[Sidenote: 1528] Stratagem at length effected what force had been
unable to accomplish; and the king, emancipated from the iron tutelage
of Angus, made the first use of his authority, by banishing from
the kingdom his late lieutenant, and the whole race of Douglas. This
command was not enforced without difficulty; for the power of Angus
was strongly rooted in the east border, where he possessed the castle