Portugal against the Spaniards, mutinied for want of regular pay. At an assembly of their leaders, Sir John Soltier, a natural son of Edward the Black Prince, thus addressed them: 'I counsayle, let us be alle of one alliance, and of one accorde, and let us among ourselves reyse up the baner of St George, and let us be frendes to God, and enemyes to alle the worlde; for without we make ourselfe to be feared, we gette nothing.'

By my fayth,' quod Sir William Helmon, 'ye saye right weel, and so let us do.' They all agreed with one voyce, and so regarded among them who shulde be their capitayne. Then they advysed in the case how they coude nat have a better capitayne than Sir John Soltier. For they sulde than have good leyser to do yvell, and they thought he was more metelyer thereto than any other. Than they raised up the penon of St George, and cried, 'A Soltier! a Soltier! the valyaunt bastarde! frendes to God, and enemies to all the worlde!'-FROISSART, vol. I, ch. 393.

himself possessed it, upon any squire who, after due probation, was found to merit the honour of chivalry. Latterly, this power was confined to generals, who were wont to create knights bannerets after or before an engagement. Even so late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Essex highly offended his jealous sovereign by the indiscriminate exertion of this privilege. Amongst others, he knighted the witty Sir John Harrington, whose favour at court was by no means enhanced by his new honours.-See the Nuge Antiquæ, edited by Mr Park. But probably the latest instance of knighthood, conferred by a subject, was in the case of Thomas Ker, knighted by the Earl of Huntley, after the defeat of the Earl of Argyle in the battle of Belrinnes, The fact is attested, both by a poetical and prose account of the engagement contained in an ancient MS. in the Advocates' Library, and lately edited by Mr Dalyell, in Godly Sangs and Ballets, Edinb. 1802.

Note 19. Stanza xxvi.

When English blood swell'd Ancram ford.

The battle of Ancram Moor, or Peniel-heuch, was

fought A. D. 1545. The English, commanded by Sir Ralph Evers, and Sir Brian Latoun, were totally routed,

and both their leaders slain in the action. The Scottish army was commanded by Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, assisted by the Laird of Buccleuch and Norman Lesly.

Note 20. Stanza xxx.
-the blanche lion.

This was the cognizance of the noble house of Howard in all its branches. The crest or bearing of a warrior was often used as a nom de guerre. Thus

Several species of offences, peculiar to the Border, constituted what was called march-treason. Among others, was the crime of riding, or causing to ride, against the opposite country, during the time of truce. Thus, in an indenture made at the water of Eske, be- Richard III acquired his well-known epithet, The Boar side Salom, the 25th day of March, 1334, betwixt noble of York. In the violent satire on Cardinal Wolsey, lords and mighty, Sirs Henry Percy, Earl of Northumber-written by Roy, commonly, but erroneously, imputed land, and Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, a truce is agreed upon until the 1st day of July; and it is expressly accorded, « Gif ony stellis, authir on the ta part, or on the tothyr, that he shall be henget or heofdit; and gif ony cumpany stellis any gudes within the trieux beforesayd, ane of that company sall be henget or heofdit, and the remnant sall restore the gudys stolen in the dubble.»-History of Westmoreland and Cumberland, Introd. xxxix.

Will cleanse him, by oath, of march-treason stain.

In dubious cases, the innocence of Border criminals was occasionally referred to their own oath. The form of excusing bills, or indictments, by Border-oath, ran thus: << You shall swear by heaven above you, hell beneath you, by your part of Paradise, by all that God made in six days and seven nights, and by God himself, you are whart out sackless of art, part, way, witting, ridd, kenning, having, or recetting of any of the goods and cattels named in this bill. So help you God.” History of Cumberland, Introd. p. xxv.

Note 18. Stanza xxvi.

Knighthood he took of Douglas' sword.

The dignity of knighthood, according to the original institution, had this peculiarity, that it did not flow from the monarch, but could be conferred by one who

to Dr Bull, the Duke of Buckingham is called the Beautiful Swan, and the Duke of Norfolk, or Earl of and the whole passage relates to the emblematical Surrey, the White Lion. As the book is extremely rare, interpretation of heraldry, it shall be here given at length.

The Description of the Armes.

Of the proud Cardinal this is the shelde,
Borne up betwene two angels of Sathan;
The sixe bloudy axes in a bare felde,
Sheweth the crueltie of the red man,
Which bath devoured the Beautiful Swan,
Mortal enemy unto the Whyte Lion.
Carter of Yorke, the vyle Bucher's sonne.
The sixe bulles heddes in a felde blacke,
Betokeneth his sturdy furiousness,
Wherefore, the godly light to put abacke,
He bryngeth in his dyvlish darcnes;
The bandog in the meddes doth expresse
The mastiffe curre bred in Ypswich towne,
Gnawynge with his teth a kinges crowne.
The cloubbe signifieth playne his tiranny,
Covered over with a Cardinal's hatt,
Wherein shall be fulfilled the prophecy,
Aryse up, Jacke, and put on thy salatt,
For the tyme is come of bagge and walatt.
The temporall chevalry thus thrown doune,
Wherfor, prest, take hede, and beware thy crowne.

There were two copies of this very scarce satire in the library of the late John, Duke of Roxburgh. See an account of it also in Sir Egerton Brydges's curious Miscellany, the Censura Literaria.

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 3. He charged him, that his office of Bewcastle is Kirkaldy of Grange to fight with him, in single coinbat, open for the Scotch to ride in and through, and small 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.

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:

It is agreed between Thomas Musgrave and Lancelot 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.

<< I. 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

<< 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.

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 is frequently mentioned in old plays. While drinking, at Newmill, upon Teviot, about five miles above Hawick, Willie chanced to quarrel with one of his own profes sion, 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 Jedburgh, bequeathing his name to the beautiful Scotch air called «Rattling Roaring Willie.» Ramsay, who set 1:0 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 gane 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 he 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 gars him die.

1 The day of the Rood-fair at Jedburgh.

2 Sir Gilbert Elliott of Stobbs, and Scott of Falnash.
3 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,

Aud 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 ful 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.

power

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

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. law upon those that should break the statutes under- Carey, in his Memoirs, mentions a great meeting, apwritten. Also, 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.

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.

Sir Robert

The

foot-ball is often played by the inhabitants of adjacent parishes, or of the opposite banks of a stream. 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

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 be 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, God
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 neighbours.

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 Bulmer, 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 tymes 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 nyght's so doynge, than they shew good service (as sum sey) in a hool vyage. Apud DALZELL's Fragments, p. 75.

Note 8. Stanza xxix.

Cheer the dark blood-hound on his way,
And with the bugle rouse the fray.

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 Buccleuch family on their Border estates till within the 18th century. A person was alive in the memory of man, who remembered a bloodhound being kept at Eldinhope, in Ettrick Forest, for whose maintenance the tenant had an allowance of meal. At that time the sheep were always watched at night. 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 hills 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