The Douglas Tragedy
Preserved but no longer current.
A ballad in Scott's Border Minstrelsy, telling how Lord William steals away Lady Margaret Douglas and is pursued by her father and two brothers. A fight ensues; the father and his two sons are sore wounded; Lord William, also wounded, creeps to his mother's house and there dies; and the lady dies next morning.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Douglas Tragedy” mean?
A ballad in Scott's Border Minstrelsy, telling how Lord William steals away Lady Margaret Douglas and is pursued by her father and two brothers. A fight ensues; the father and his two sons are sore wounded; Lord William, also wounded, creeps to his mother's house and there dies; and the lady dies next morning.
Is “The Douglas Tragedy” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.