[223] Spalding, p. 24.
[224] “Johne Meldrum haifing convocat to himselff certane brokin men, all fugitiues and rebellis, his complices and associattis, upone the aucht day of October, the yeir of God jai vic and threttie yeiris under silence and clud of nicht, betwix twelff hours at nycht and twa eftir mydnycht, come to the place of Frendraucht, and supponeing and certanely persuading himselff that the said James Creichtoun of Frendraucht wes lying within the tour of Frendraucht, quhilk was the only strenth and strongest pairt of the said place, the said Johne Meldrum, with his saidis complices, in maist tresonabill and feirfull maner, haifing brocht with thame ane hudge quantitie of powder, pik, brumstone, flax, and uther combustabill matter provydit be thame for the purpois, pat and convoyit the samyn in and throw the slittis and stones of the volt of the said grit tour of Frendraucht, weill knawin and foirseine be the said Johne Meldrum, quha with his complices at that instant tyme fyret the samyn pik, powder, brumstone, flax, and uther combustable matter above writtin, at dyuerse places of the said volt; quhilk being sua fyret and kindlet, did violentlie flie to ane hoill in the heid of the said volt and tak vent thairat, the whilk hoill of the said volt and vent thairof being perfytlie knawin to the said John Meldrum, be reasone he had remained in houshald with the said laird of Frendraucht, as his douiefull servand, within the said hous and place of Frendraucht for ane lang tyme of befoir, and knew and was previe to all the secreitis of the said house. And the said volt being sua fyret, the haill tour and houssis quhairof immediately thaireftir, being foure hous hight, in les space than ane hour tuik fyre in the deid hour of the night, and was in maist tresonabill, horrible, and lamentable maner brunt, blawin up, and consumet.”—Spalding’s Memorialls, Appendix, vol. i. p. 390.
[225] A ballad is still sung in the district around Frendraught, which, says Motherwell, “has a high degree of poetic merit, and probably was written at the time by an eye-witness of the event which it records.” We give a few verses from the version in Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, as quoted in the Appendix to Spalding, vol. i. p. 409.
“The eighteenth of October,
A dismal tale to hear,
How good Lord John and Rothiemay
Was both burnt in the fire.
They had not long cast off their cloaths,
And were but now asleep—
When the weary smoke began to rise,