[44] Castock, cabbage-stock.
It was here that, in 1596, a bloody murder was committed. On the 22nd
of December, James Carmichael, the Laird of Carmichael's second son,
surprised and slew Stephen Bruntfield, the Captain of Tantallon.
History does not relate what cause or provocation there was for this
crime; but it did not long go unavenged, for the following March,
Adam Bruntfield, younger brother of the murdered man, challenged
Carmichael, and, having procured a licence from the king, fought
with him in single combat on Barnbougle Links, before five thousand
spectators. The lists were erected under the superintendence of
several of the nobles of James VI.'s court. The Duke of Lennox, Sir
James Sandilands, the Laird of Buccleuch, and Lord St. Clair acted
as judges. The combatants were curiously arrayed,--the one in blue
taffety, the other in red satin. Carmichael was a strong, powerful
man, and at the first encounter he wounded his adversary, who was
much younger, and of a mean stature; but, to the surprise of every
one, Bruntfield immediately after struck Carmichael on the neck
and slew him. He was taken back to Edinburgh in triumph, while his
antagonist was borne in dead.[45]
With this curious instance of the troubled times in which our
forefathers lived, we shall end this walk, having returned to
Edinburgh very nearly at the spot from which we started.
[45] Birrel's _Diary_; Anderson's _MS. History of Scotland_ in the
Advocates' Library.