Note 11 — THE LOST DRAVE OF DUNBAR; OR, THE WITCH OF KEITH.

Playfair, a notable warlock, on being taken prisoner in Dalkeith steeple, whither he had fled for refuge, made several confessions to Mr Archibald Simpson, minister there;—amongst others, a remarkable story respecting the family of Newbattle must not be omitted:—“Mark, the commendator of Newbottle, had by his wife, the Lord Herries’s daughter, thirty-one children. His lady always kept in her company wise women or witches, and especially one Margaret Nues (F. Innes), who fostered his daughter the Lady Borthwick, who was, long after his death, burnt in Edinburgh for that crime; and my Lady Lothian’s son-in-law, Sir Alexander Hamilton, told one of his friends, how one night lying in Preston-grange, pertaining to the said abbey of Newbottle, he was pulled out of his bed by the said witches and sore beaten; of which injury, when he complained to his mother-in-law, and assured her he would complain thereof to the council, she pacified him by giving him a purse full of gold. That lady thereafter, being vexed with a cancer in her breast, implored the help of the notable warlock before-mentioned, who condescended to heal her, but with condition, that the sore should fall on them which she loved best; whereunto she agreeing, did convalesce; but the earl, her husband, found the boil in his throat, of which he died shortly thereafter; and the said Playfair, being soon apprehended, was made prisoner as above.”—Scot of Scotstarvet’s Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen.