232
knight of Liddesdale successor to his victim, as sheriff of Teviotdale. But he was soon after slain, while hunting in Ettrick Forest, by his own godson and chieftain, William Earl of Douglas, in revenge, according to some authors, of Ramsay's murder; although a popular tradition, preserved in a ballad quoted by Godscroft, and some parts of which are still preserved, ascribes the resentment of the Earl to jealousy. The place where the knight of Liddisdale was killed, is called, from his name, Williams-Cross, upon the ridge of a hill called William-hope, betwixt Tweed and Yarrow. His body, according to Godscroft, was carried to Lindean church the first night after his death, and thence to Melrose, where he was interred with great pomp, and where his tomb is still shewn.
Lochlevin turns from describing the death of the gallant Ramsay, to the general sorrow which it excited:
It is bot sorow for til here;
He wes the grettast menyd man
That ony cowth have thowcht of than,
Of his state, or of mare be fare;
All menyt him, bath bettyr and war;
The ryche and pure him menyde bath,
For of his dede was mekil skath.
