Note 21. Stanza xxx.

Let Musgrave meet fierce Deloraine
In single fight.

Carleton had a letter under the gentleman's own hand for his discharge.

2. He chargeth him, that whereas her majesty doth yearly bestow a great fee upon him, as captain of Bewcastle, to aid and defend her majesty's subjects therein; Thomas Musgrave hath neglected his duty, for that her majesty's castle of Bewcastle was by him made a den of thieves, and an harbour and receipt for murderers, felons, and all sorts of misdemeanors. The precedent was Quintin Whitehead and Runion Blackburne.

It may easily be supposed, that trial by single combat, so peculiar to the feudal system, was common on the Borders. In 1558, the well-known Kirkaldy of Grange fought a duel with Ralph Evre, brother to the then Lord Evre, in consequence of a dispute about a prisoner said to have been ill treated by the Lord Evre. Pitscottie gives the following account of the affair: The Lord of Ivers his brother provoked William Kirkaldy of Grange to fight with him, in single combat, on horseback, with spears; who, keeping the appoint-resistance made by him to the contrary. ment, accompanied with Monsieur d'Ossel, lieutenant to the French king, and the garrison of Haymouth, and Mr Ivers, accompanied with the governor and garrison of Berwick, it was discharged, under the pain of treason, that any man should come near the champions within a flight shot, except one man for either of them, to bear their spears, two trumpets, and two lords to be judges. When they were in readiness, the trumpets sounded, the heraulds cried, and the judges let them go. Then they encountered very fiercely; but Grange struck his spear through his adversary's shoulder, and bare him off his horse, being sore wounded: But whether he died, or not, it is uncertain.-P. 202.

3. He charged him, that his office of Bewcastle is open for the Scotch to ride in and through, and small

The following indenture will show at how late a period the trial by combat was resorted to on the Border, as a proof of guilt or innocence:

Thomas Musgrave doth deny all this charge; and saith, that he will prove that Lancelot Carleton doth falsely bely him, and will prove the same by way of combat, according to this indenture. Lancelot Carleton hath entertained the challenge; and so, by God's permission, will prove it true as before, and hath set his hand to the same.

(Signed) THOMAS MUSGRAVE. LANCELOT CARLETON.>>

Note 22. Stanza xxxiv.

-he, the jovial harper.

at Newmill, upon Teviot, about five miles above Hawick, Willie chanced to quarrel with one of his own profession, who was usually distinguished by the odd name of Sweet Milk, from a place on Rule-water so called. They retired to a meadow, on the opposite side of the Teviot, to decide the contest with their swords, and Sweet Milk was killed on the spot. A thorn-tree marks the scene of the murder, which is still called Sweet Milk Thorn. Willie was taken, and executed at Jed

The person here alluded to, is one of our ancient Border minstrels, called Rattling Roaring Willie. This sobriquet was probably derived from his bullying disposition; being, it would seem, such a roaring boy as It is agreed between Thomas Musgrave and Lan-is frequently mentioned in old plays. While drinking, celot Carleton, for the true trial of such controversies as are betwixt them, to have it openly tried by way of combat, before God and the face of the world, to try it in Canonbyohlme, before England and Scotland, upon Thursday in Easter-week, being the eight day of April next ensuing, A. D. 1602, betwixt nine of the clock, and one of the same day, to fight on foot, to be armed with jack, steel cap, plaite sleeves, plaite breaches, plaite sockes, two basleard swords, the blades to be one yard and half a quarter of length, two Scotch daggers, or dorks, at their girdles, and either of them to provide armour and weapons for themselves, according to this indenture. Two gentlemen to be appointed, on the field, to view both the parties, to see that they both be equal in arms and weapons, according to this indenture; and being so viewed by the gentlemen, the gentlemen to ride to the rest of the company, and to leave them but two boys, viewed by the gentlemen, to be under sixteen years of age, to hold their horses. In testimony

of this our agreement, we have both set our hands to this indenture, of intent all matters shall be made so plain, as there shall be no question to stick upon that day. Which indenture, as a witness, shall be delivered to two gentlemen. And for that it is convenient the world should be privy to every particular of the grounds of the quarrel, we have agreed to set it down in this indenture betwixt us, that, knowing the quarrel, their eyes may be witness of the trial.

The grounds of the quarrel.

« 1. Lancelot Carleton did charge Thomas Musgrave before the lords of her majesty's privy council, that Lancelot Carleton was told by a gentleman, one of her majesty's sworn servants, that Thomas Musgrave had offered to deliver her majesty's castle of Bewcastle to the king of Scots; and to witness the same, Lancelot

burgh, bequeathing his name to the beautiful Scotch air called «< Rattling Roaring Willie.» Ramsay, who set no value on traditionary lore, published a few verses of this song in the Tea-Table Miscellany, carefully suppressing all which had any connexion with the history of the author, and origin of the piece. In this case, however, honest Allan is in some degree justified, by the extreme worthlessness of the poetry. A verse or two may be taken, as illustrative of the history of Roaring Willie, alluded to in the text.

Now Willie's gone to Jeddart,

And he's for the rood-day;1
But Stobs and Young Falnash,
They follow'd him a' the way;
They follow'd him a' the way,
They sought him up and down,
In the links of Ousenam water,
They found him sleeping sound.

Stobs lighted aff his horse,
And never a word he spak,
Till be tied Willie's bands

Fu' fast behind his back;

Fu' fast behind his back,

And down beneath his knee,
And drink will be dear to Willie,
When sweet milk 3 Cara him die.

The day of the Rood-fair at Jedburgh.

Sir Gilbert Elliott of Stobbs, and Scott of Falnash.
A wretched pun on his antagonist's name.

Ah, wae light on ye, Stobs!

An ill death mot ye die!

Ye 're the first and foremost man

That e'er laid hands on me;

That e'er laid hands on me,

And took my mare me frae;
Wae to you, Sir Gilbert Elliot!
Ye are my mortal fae!»

The lasses of Ousenam water

Are rugging and riving their hair,
And a' for the sake of Willie,

His beauty was so fair;

His beauty was so fair,

And comely for to see,

And drink will be dear to Willie,
When sweet milk gars him die.

Note 23. Stanza xxxiv.

-black Lord Archibald's battle laws,
In the old Douglas' day.

The title to the most ancient collection of Border regulations runs thus:

Pringle of Whitebank). They were called the Seven
Spears of Wedderburne.

Note 3. Stanza iv.

And Swinton laid the lance in rest,

That tamed of yore the sparkling crest

Of Clarence's Plantagenet.

At the battle of Beaugé, in France, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, brother to Henry V, was unhorsed by Sir John Swinton of Swinton, who distinguished him by a coronet set with precious stones, which he wore around his helmet. The family of Swinton is one of the most ancient in Scotland, and produced many celebrated warriors. Note 4. Stanza iv.

Beneath the crest of old Dunbar,

And Hepburn's mingled banners, come.
Down the steep mountain glittering far,
And shouting still, A Home! a Home!»

The Earls of Home, as descendants of the Dunbars, ancient Earls of March, carried a lion rampant, argent; but, as a difference, changed the colour of the shield from gules to vert, in allusion to Greenlaw, their ancient possession. The slogan, or war-cry, of this powerful family, was, « A Home! a Home! » It was anciently placed in an escrol above the crest. The helmet is armed with a lion's head erased gules, with a cap of state gules, turned up ermine.

The

Be it remembered, that, on the 18th day of December, 1468, Earl William Douglas assembled the whole lords, freeholders, and eldest Borderers, that best knowledge had at the college of Lincloudin; and there he caused those lords and Borderers bodily to be sworn, the Holy Gospel touched, that they, justly and truly, after their cunning, should decrete, decern, deliver, and put in order and writing, the statutes, ordinances, and uses of marche, that were ordained in Black Archibald of Douglas's days, and Archibald his son's days, in time of warfare; and they came again to him advisedly with these statutes and ordinances, which were in time of warfare before. The said Earl William, seeing the statutes in writing decreed and delivered by the said lords and Borderers, thought them right speedful and profitable to the The foot-ball was anciently a very favourite sport all Borderers; the which statutes, ordinances, and points through Scotland, but especially upon the Borders. Sir of warfare, he took, and the whole lords and Borderers John Carmichael of Carmichael, warden of the middle he caused bodily to be sworn, that they should main- marches, was killed in 1600, by a band of the Armtain and supply him at their goodly power, to do the strongs, returning from a foot-ball match. Sir Robert law upon those that should break the statutes under- Carey, in his Memoirs, mentions a great meeting, apAlso, the said Earl William, and lords, and pointed by the Scottish riders, to be held at Kelso, for eldest Borderers, made certain points to be treason in the purpose of playing at foot-ball, but which termitime of warfare to be used, which were no treason be-nated in an incursion upon England. At present the fore his time, but to be treason in his time, and in all time coming..

The Hepburns, a powerful family in East Lothian, were usually in close alliance with the Homes. chief of this clan was Hepburn, Lord of Hailes; a family which terminated in the too famous Earl of Bothwell.

[ written.

CANTO V.

Note 1. Stanza iv.

The Bloody Heart blazed in the van,

Announcing Douglas, dreaded name.

The chief of this potent race of heroes, about the date of the poem, was Archibald Douglas, seventh Earl of Angus, a man of great courage and activity. The Bloody Heart was the well-known cognizance of the house of Douglas, assumed from the time of good Lord James, to whose care Robert Bruce committed his heart, to be carried to the Holy Land.

Note 2. Stanza iv.

-the Seven Spears of Wedderburne.

Sir David Home of Wedderburne, who was slain in the fatal battle of Flodden, left seven sons by his wife, Isabel, daughter of Hoppringle of Galashiels (now

Note 5. Stanza vi.

Pursued the foot-ball play.

foot-ball is often played by the inhabitants of adjacent parishes, or of the opposite banks of a stream. The victory is contested with the utmost fury, and very serious accidents have sometimes taken place in the struggle.

Note 6. Stanza vi.

'Twixt truce and war such sudden change
Was not infrequent, nor held strange,
In the old Border day.

Notwithstanding the constant wars upon the Borders, and the occasional cruelties which marked the mutual inroads, the inhabitants on either side do not appear to have regarded each other with that violent and personal animosity which might have been expected. On the contrary, like the outposts of hostile armies, they often carried on something resembling friendly intercourse, even in the middle of hostilities; and it is evident, from various ordinances against trade and intermarriages between English and Scottish Borderers, that the governments of both countries were jealous of their cherishing too intimate a connexion. Froissart says of both nations, that Englyshemen on the one party, and Scottes on the other party, are good men

injured party and his friends with blood-hounds and bugle-horn, and was called the hot-trod. He was entitled, if his dog could trace the scent, to follow the invaders into the opposite kingdom; a privilege which often occasioned bloodshed. In addition to what has been said of the blood-hound, I may add, that the breed was kept up by the Bucclench family on their Border estates till within the 18th century. A person was alive in the memory of man, who remembered a blood

of warre; for when they meet, there is a hard fight without sparynge. There is no hoo (truce) between them, as long as spears, swords, axes, or daggers, will endure, but lay on eche upon uther; and whan they be well beaten, and that the one party hath obtained the victory, they then gloryfye so in theyre dedes of armes, and are so joyfull, that such as he taken they shall be ransomed, or that they go out of the felde; so that shortly eche of them is so content with other, that at their departynge, curtyslye they will say, Godhound being kept at Eldinhope, in Ettrick Forest, for thank you. »BERNERS' Froissart, vol. II, P. 153. The Border meetings of truce, which, although places of merchandise and merriment, often witnessed the most bloody scenes, may serve to illustrate the description in the text. They are vividly portrayed in the old ballad of the Reidsquair. Both parties came armed to a meeting of the wardens, yet they intermixed fearlessly and peaceably with each other in mutual sports and familiar intercourse, until a casual fray

arose:

Then was there nought but bow and spear,
And every man pull'd out a brand.

In the 29th stanza of this Canto, there is an attempt to express some of the mixed feelings, with which the Borderers on each side were led to regard their neigh

bours.

Note 7. Stanza viii.

And, frequent, on the dark'ning plain,
Loud hollo, whoop, or whistle ran;
As bands, their stragglers to regain,

Gave the shrill watch-word of their clan.

Patten remarks, with bitter censure, the disorderly conduct of the English Borderers, who attended the Protector Somerset on his expedition against Scotland.

As we wear then a setling, and the tents a setting up, among all things els commendable in our hole journey, one thing seemed to me an intollerable disorder and abuse; that whearas allways, both in all tounes of war, and in all campes of armies, quietnes and stilnes, without nois, is, principally in the night, after the watch is set, observed, (I need not reason why,) our northern prikkers, the Borderers, notwithstandyng, with great enormitie, (as thought me,) and not unlike (to be playn) unto a masterles hounde howlyng in a high wey when he hath lost him he waited upon, sum hoopynge, sum whistlyng, and most with crying, A Berwyke, a Berwyke! A Fenwyke, a Fenwyke! A Buliner, a Bulmer! or so otherwise as theyr captains' names wear, never lin'de these troublous and dangerous noyses all the nyghte longe. They said, they did it to finde their captain and fellows; but if the souldiers of our oother countreys and sheres had used the same maner, in that case we should have oft tymnes had the state of our camp more like the outrage of a dissolute huntyng, than the quiet of a well-ordred armye. It is a feat of war, in mine opinion, that might right well be left. I could reherse causes (but yf I take it, they are better unspoken than uttred, unless the faut wear sure to be amended) that might shew thei move alweis more peral to our armie, but in their one night's so doynge, than they shew good service (as sum sey) in vyage. Apud DALZELL'S Fragments, p. 75.

Note 8. Stanza xxix.

Cheer the dark blood-bound on his way,

And with the bugle rouse the fray.

a hool

meal.

night.

whose maintenance the tenant had an allowance of At that time the sheep were always watched at Upon one occasion, when the duty had fallen on the narrator, then a lad, he became exhausted with fatigue and fell asleep, upon a bank, near sun-rising. Suddenly he was awakened by the tread of horses, and saw five men, well mounted and armed, ride briskly over the edge of the hill. They stopped and looked at the flock; but the day was too far broken to admit the chance of their carrying any of them off. One of them, in spite, leaped from his horse, and, coming to the shepherd, seized him by the belt he wore round his waist, and, setting his foot upon his body, pulled it till it broke, and carried it away with him. They rode off at the gallop; and, the shepherd giving the alarm, the blood-hound was turned loose, and the people in the neighbourhood alarmed. The marauders, however, escaped, notwithstanding a sharp pursuit. This circumstance serves to show how very long the license of the Borderers continued in some degree to manifest itself.

CANTO VI.

Note 1. Stanza i.

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, etc.
The influence of local attachment has been so ex-
quisitely painted by my friend Mr Polwhele, in the
poem which bears that title, as might well have dis-
pensed with the more feeble attempt of any contem-
porary poet. To the reader who has not been so for-
tunate as to meet with this philosophical and poetical
detail of the nature and operations of the love of our
country, the following brief extract cannot fail to be
acceptable:

Yes-Home still charms; and he, who, clad in fur,
His rapid rein-deer drives o'er plains of snow,
Would rather to the same wild tracts recur,
That various life had mark'd with joy or woe,
Than wander, where the spicy breezes blow
To kiss the hyacinths of Azza's hair-

Rather, than where luxuriant summers glow,
To the white mosses of his bills repair,
And bid his antler-train the simple banquet share.
Note 2. Stanza v.

She wrought not by forbidden spell.

Popular belief, though contrary to the doctrines of the church, made a favourable distinction betwixt

magicians, and necromancers, or wizards; the former were supposed to command the evil spirits, and the latter to serve, or at least to be in league and compact with those enemies of mankind. The arts of subjecting the demons were manifold; sometimes the fiends were actually swindled by the magicians, as in the case of

The pursuit of Border marauders was followed by the the bargain betwixt one of their number and the poet

as defending the frontier against the English, sometimes as disturbing the peace of their own country. Diccon Draw-the-sword was son to the ancient warrior, called in tradition the Cock of Hunthill.

Note 8. Stanza vii.

But bit his glove, and shook his head.

To bite the thumb, or the glove, seems not to have been considered, upon the Border, as a gesture of contempt, though so used, by Shakspeare, but as a pledge of mortal revenge. It is yet remembered, that a young gentleman of Teviotdale, on the morning after a hard drinking-bout, observed, that he had bitten his glove. He instantly demanded of his companions, with whom he had quarrelled? and learning that he had had words with one of the party, insisted on instant satisfaction, asserting that though he remembered nothing of the dispute, yet he was sure he never would have bit his glove unless he had received some unpardonable insult. He fell in the duel, which was fought near Selkirk, in

Note 10. Stanza viii.

Since old Buccleuch the name did gain,
When in the cleuch the buck was ta'en.

A tradition, preserved by Scott of Satchells, who published, in 1688, A true History of the hight Honour able Name of Scott, gives the following romantic origin of that name. Two brethren, natives of Galloway, having been banished from that country for a riot, or insurrection, came to Rankelburn, in Ettrick Forest, where the keeper, whose name was Brydone, received them joyfully, on account of their skill in winding the horn, and in the other mysteries of the chace.-Kenneth Mac-Alpin, then king of Scotland, came soon after to hunt in the royal forest, and pursued a buck from Ettrick-heuch to the glen now called Buckleuch, about two miles above the junction of Rankelburn with the river Ettrick. Here the stag stood at bay; and the king and his attendants who followed on horseback, were thrown out by the steepness of the hill and the morass. John, one of the brethren from Galloway, had followed the chace on foot; and, now coming in, seized the buck by the horns, and, being a man of great strength and activity, threw him on his back, and rau with his burden about a mile up the steep hill, to a place called Cracra-Cross, where Kenneth had halted, and laid the buck at the sovereign's feet.'

The deer being curee'd in that place,

At his majesty's demand,

The king did wash into a dish,
And Galloway John be wot;
He said, Thy name now after this
Shall ever be call'd John Scot.

The forest and the deer therein,
We commit to thy hand,

For thou shalt sure the ranger be,

If thou obey command:

And for the back thou stoutly brought
To us up that steep heugh,
Thy designation ever shall

Be John Scot in Buckscleugh..

In Scotland no Buckcleuch was then,
Before the buck in the clench was slain;
Night's men at first they did appear,

Because moon and stars to their arms they bear.

Their crest, supporters, and hunting-horn,
Shews their beginning from hunting come;
Their name, and stile, the book doth say,
John gain'd them both into one day.

WATT'S Bellenden.

The Buccleuch arms have been altered, and now allude less pointedly to this hunting, whether real or fabulous. The family now bear Or upon a bend azure, a mullet betwixt two crescents of the field; in addition to which they formerly bore in the field a hunting-horn. The supporters, now two ladies, were formerly a hound and buck, or, according to the old terms, a hart of leash and a hart of greece. The family of Scott of Howpasley and Thirlestane long retained the bugle-horn: they also carried a bent bow and arrow in the sinister cantle, perhaps as a difference. It is said the motto was,-Best riding by moonlight, in alluding to the crescents on the shield and perhaps to the habits of those who bore it. The motto now given is Amo, applying to the female supporters.

Note 11. Stanza x. --old Albert Græme,

The minstrel of that ancient name.

Johne Grahame, second son of Malice, Earl of

Monteith, commonly surnamed John with the Bright Sword, upon some displeasure risen against him at court, retired with many of his clan and kindred, into the English Borders, in the reign of King Henry the Fourth, where they seated themselves; and many of their posterity have continued there ever since. Sandford, speaking of them, says (which indeed was applicable to most of the Borderers on both sides),

Mr

1 Minions of the moon, as Falstaff would have said. The vo

cation pursued by our ancient Borderers may be justified on the authority of the most polished of the ancient nations: For the Grecians in old time, and such barbarians as in the continent lived neere into the sea, or else inhabited the islands, after once they began to crosse over one to another in ships, became theeves, and went abroad under the conduct of their more puissant men, both to enrich themselves, and to fetch in maintenance for the weak, and falling upon towns unfortified, or scatteringly inhabited, rifled them, and made this the best means of their living; being a matter at that time nowhere in disgrace, but rather carrying with it something of glory. This is manifested by some that dwell upon the continent, amongst whom, so it be performed nobly, it is still esteemed as an ornament. The same is also proved by some of the ancient poets, who introduced men questioning of such as sail by, 1 Froissart 'relates, that a knight of the household of the Comte on all coasts alike, whether they be theeves or not; as a thing neyde Foix exhibited a similar feat of strength. The hall fire bad ther scorned by such as were asked, nor upbraided by those that waxed low, and wood was wanted to mend it. The knight went were desirous to know. They also robbed one another within the down to the court-yard, where stood an ass laden with faggots, main land; and much of Greece useth that old custome, as the seized on the animal and his burden, and carrying him up to the Locrians, the Acarnanians, and those of the coutinent in that quarter, ball on his shoulders, tumbled him into the chimney with his heels unto this day. Moreover, the fashion of wearing iron remaineth uppermost; a humane pleasantry, much applauded by the court yet with the people of that continent, from their old trade of and all the spectators.

Then John of Galloway ran apace,

And fetch'd water to his haud.

theeving.-Honess' Thucydides, p. 4. Lond. 1629.