Note 18 — 195 LORD MAXWELL’S LAST GOODNIGHT

In a petition presented to the Privy Council by Robert Maxwell in behalf of his brother, the ‘sometime’ Lord Maxwell, by his attorney, craves “forgiveness of his offence done to the Marquís of Hamilton [his wife’s brother] and his friends.” Pitcairn, III, 52. Whether this was penitence or policy, it shows that great offence had been taken. Some verses inserted by Scott in his edition of the ballad, in which his lady urges Maxwell to go with her to her brother’s stately tower, where “Hamiltons and Douglas baith shall rise to succour thee,” are quite misplaced.