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went to my lorde's grace, and upon utterance of the thynge, gat lisence to deale with them as he coulde; and so returned to them, with a skore or two of pioThree ventes had their cave, that we wear ware of, whereof he first stopt up on; anoother he fill'd full of strawe, and set it a fyer, whereat they within cast water apace; but it was so wel maynteyned without, that the fyer prevayled, and thei within fayn to get them belyke into anoother parler. Then devised we (for I hapt to be with hym) to stop the same up, whereby we should eyther smoother them, or fynd out their ventes, if thei hadde any moe: as this was done at another issue, about xii score of, we moughte see the fame of their smoke to come out; the which continued with so great a force, and so long a while, that we could not but thinke they must needs get them out, or smoother within: and forasmuch as we found not that they dyd the tone, we thought it for certain thei wear sure of the toother."-Patten's Account of Somerset's Expedition into Scotland, apud Dalyell's Fragments.

NOTE III.

Southern ravage.-P. 64.

From the following fragment of a letter from the Earl of Northumberland to King Henry VIII. preserved among the Cotton MSS. Calig. B. vii. 179, the reader may estimate the nature of the dreadful war which was occasionally waged upon the Borders, sharpened by mutual cruelties, and the personal hatred of the wardens, or leaders.

Some Scottish barons, says the earl, had threatened to come within three miles of my pore house of Werkworth, where I lye, and gif me light to put on my clothes at mydnyght; and alsoo the said Marke Carr said their opynly, that, seyng they had a governor on the marches of Scotland, as well as they had in Ingland he shulde kepe your highnes instructions, gyffyn unto your garyson, for making of any day-forrey; for he and his friends wolde burne enough on the nyght,

lettyng your counsaill here defyne a notable acte at theyre pleasures. Upon whiche in your highnes' name, I comaundet dewe watche to be kepte on your marchies, for comyng in of any Scotts.-Neutheles, upon Thursday at night last, came thyrty light horsemen into a litil village of myne, called Whitell, having not past sex houses, lying toward Ryddisdaill, upon Shilbotell more, and ther wold have fyred the said howses, but ther was noo fyre to get there, and they forgate to brynge any withe theyme; and toke a wyf, being great with chylde, in the said towne, and said to hyr, Wher we can not gyve the lard lyght, yet we shall doo this in spyte of him; and gyve her iii mortall wounds upon the heid, and another in the right side, with a dagger: wheruppon the said wyf is deede, and the childe in her bely is loste. Beseeching your most gracious highnes to reduce unto your gracious memory this wylful and shamefull murder, done within this your highnes' realme, notwithstanding all the inhabitants thereabouts rose unto the said fray, and gave warnynge by becons into the countrey afore theyme, and yet the Scottsmen dyde escape. And uppon certeyne knowledge to my brother Clyfforthe and me, had by credable persons of Scotland, this abomynable act not only to be done by dyverse of the Mershe, but also the aforenamed persons of Tyvidaill, and consented to, as by appearance, by the Erle of Murey, upon Friday at night last, let slyp C of the best horsemen of Glendaill, with a parte of your highnes' subjects of Berwyke, together with George Dowglas, whoo came into Ingland agayne, in the dawning of the day; but afore theyre retorne, they dyd mar the Earl of Murrei's provisions at Coldingham : for they did not only burne the said town of Coldingham, with all the corne thereunto belonging, which is esteemed wurthe cii marke sterling; but alsoo burned twa townes nye adjoining thereunto, called Branerdergest and the Black Hill, and toke xxiii persons, Ix horse, with cc hed of cataill, which nowe, as I am informed, hathe not only been a staye of the said Erle of Murrei's not coming to the Bordure as yet, but alsoo,

that none inlande man will adventure theyr selfs uppon the marches. And as for the tax that shulde have been grauntyd for finding of the said iii hundred men, is utterly denyed. Upon which the king of Scotland departed from Edynburgh to Stirling, and as yet there doth remayn. And also I, by the advice of my brother Clyfforth, have devysed, that within this iii nyghts, Godde willing, Kelsey, in lyke case, shall be brent, with all the corne in the said town; and then they shall have noo place to lye any garyson in nygh unto the Borders. And as I shall atteigne further knawledge, I shall not faill to satisfye your highnes, according to my most bounden dutie. And for this burnynge of Kelsey is devysed to be done secretly, by Tyndaill and Ryddisdale. And thus the holy Trynite and *** most royal estate, with long lyf, and as much increase of honour as your most noble heart can desire. At Werkworth, the xxiid day of October." (1522.)

NOTE IV.

Watt Tinlinn.-P. 64.

your

This person was, in my younger days, the theme of many a fireside tale. He was a retainer of the Buccleuch family, and held for his border service a small tower on the frontiers of Liddesdale. Watt was, by profession, a sutor, but, by inclination and practice, an archer and warrior. Upon one occasion the captain of Bewcastle, military governor of that wild district of Cumberland, is said to have made an incursion into Scotland, in which he was defeated, and forced to fly. Watt Tinlinn pursued him closely through a dangerous morass: the captain, however, gained the firm ground; and seeing Tinlian dismounted, and floundering in the bog, used these words of insult: "Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots: the heels risp, and the scames rive."*"If I cannot sew,"-retorted Tinlinn,

* Rish, creak.-Rive, tear.

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discharging a shaft, which nailed the captain's thigh to his saddle," If I cannot sew, I can yerk."*

NOTE V.

Bilhope Stag.-P. 65.

There is an old rhyme, which thus celebrates the places in Liddesdale, remarkable for game: Bilhope braes for bucks and raes, And Carit haugh for swine,

And Tarras for the good bull-trout,

If he be ta'en in time.

The bucks and roes, as well as the old swine, are now extinct; but the good bull-trout is still famous.

NOTE VI.

Of silver broach and bracelet proud.-P. 65.

As the borderers were indifferent about the furniture of their habitations, so much exposed to be burnt and plundered, they were proportionally anxious to display splendour in decorating and ornamenting their fe males.-See Lesly de Moribus Limitaneorum.

NOTE VII.

Belted Will Howard.-P. 66.

Lord William Howard, third son of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, succeeded to Naworth Castle, and a large domain annexed to it, in right of his wife Elizabeth, sister of George Lord Dacre, who died without heirs male, in the 11th of Queen Elizabeth. By a poetical anachronism, he is introduced into the romance a few years ear lier than he actually flourished. He was warden of the Western Marches; and, from the rigour with which he repressed the Border excesses, the name of Belted Will Howard is still famous in our traditions. In the

*Yerk, to twitch, as shoemakers do, in securing the stitches of their work.

castle of Naworth, his apartments, containing a bedroom, oratory, and library, are still shewn. They impress us with an unpleasing idea of the life of a lord warden of the marches. Three or four strong doors, separating these rooms from the rest of the castle, indicate apprehensions of treachery from his garrison; and the secret winding passages, through which he could privately descend into the guard-room, or even into the dungeons, imply the necessity of no small degree of secret superintendence on the part of the governor. As the ancient books and furniture have remained undisturb ed, the venerable appearance of these apartments, and the armour scattered around the chamber, almost lead us to expect the arrival of the warden in person. Na worth Castle is situated near Brampton in Cumberland. Lord William Howard is ancestor of the Earls of Carlisle.

NOTE VIII.

Lord Dacre.-P. 66.

The well-known name of Daere is derived from the exploits of one of their ancestors at the siege of Acre, or Ptolemais, under Richard Cœur de Lion. There were two powerful branches of that name. The first family, called Lord Dacres of the South, held the castle of the same name, and are ancestors to the present Lord Dacre. The other family, descended from the same stock, were called Lord Dacres of the North, and were barons of Gilsland and Graystock. A chieftain of the latter branch was warden of the West Marches during the reign of Edward VI. He was a man of a hot and obstinate character, as appears from some particulars of Lord Surrey's letter to Henry VIII. given an account of his behaviour at the siege and storm of Jedburgh. It is printed in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish border, Appen dix to the Introduction.

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