Huntly had a commission to apprehend the Earl, who was in the disgrace of
James VI. Huntly, as an ally of Bothwell, asked him to surrender at
Donibristle, in Fife; he would not yield to his private enemy, the house
was burned, and Murray was slain, Huntly gashing his face. “You have
spoiled a better face than your own,” said the dying Earl (1592). James
Melville mentions contemporary ballads on the murder. Ramsay published
the ballad in his _Tea Table Miscellany_, and it is often sung to this
day.