NOTE IX.

The German hagbut-men.-P. 66.

In the wars with Scotland, Henry VIII. and his suc cessors, employed numerous bands of mercenary troops. At the battle of Pinky, there were in the English army six hundred hackbutters on foot, and two hundred on horseback, composed chiefly of foreigners. On the 27th September 1549, the Duke of Somerset, Lord protector, writes to the Lord Dacre, warden of the West Marches: "The Almains, in number two thousand, very valiant soldiers, shall be sent to you shortly from Newcastle, together with Sir Thomas Holcroft, and with the force of your wardenry, (which we would were advanced to the most strength of horsemen that might be,) shall make the attempt to Loughmaben, being of no such strength but that it may be skailed with ladders, whereof, beforehand, we would you caused secretly some number to be provided; or else undermined with the pyke-axe and so taken: either to be kept for the king's majesty, or otherwise to be defaced, and taken from the profits of the enemy. And in like manner the house of Carlaverock to be used." Repeated mention occurs of the Almains, in the subsequent correspondence; and the enterprise seems finally to have been abandoned, from the difficulty of providing these strangers with the necessary "victuals and carriages in so poor a country as Dumfries-shire." History of Cumberland, vol. I. Intr. p. lxi. From the battle-pieces of the ancient Flemish painters, we learn, that the Low-Country and German soldiers marched to an assault with their right knees bared. And we may also observe, in such pictures, the extravagance to which they carried the fashion of ornamenting their dress with knots of riband. This cus tom of the Germans is alluded to in the Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 121.

Their pleited garments therewith well accord,
All jagde and frounst, with divers colours deckt.

NOTE X.

His ready lances Thirlestane brace

Arrayed beneath a banner bright.-P. 67.

Sir John Scott of Thirlestaine flourished in the reign of James V. and possessed the estates of Thirlestaine, Gamescleuch, &c, lying upon the river of Ettricke, and extending to St. Mary's Loch, at the head of Yarrow. It appears, that when James had assembled his nobility, and their feudal followers, at Fala, with the purpose of invading England, and was, as is well known, disappointed by the obstinate refusal of his peers, this baron alone declared himself ready to follow the king whereever he should lead. In memory of his fidelity, James granted to his family a charter of arms, entitling them to bear a border of fieurs-de-luce, similar to the tressure in the royal arms, with a bundle of spears for the crest; motto, Ready, aye ready. The charter itself is printed by Nisbet; but his work being scarce, I insert the following accurate transcript from the original, in the possession of the Right Ronourable Lord Napier, the representative of John of Thirlestaine.

"James Rex.

"We James, be the grace of God, king of Scottis, considerand the ffaith and guid servis of of of* right traist friend John Scott of Thirlestane, quha cummand to our hoste at Soutraedge, with three score and ten launcieres on horeback of his friends and followers, and beand willing to gang with ws into England, when all our nobles and others refuised, he was readdy to stake all at our bidding; ffor the quhilk cause, it is our will, and we doe straitlie command and charg our lion he rauld, and his deputies for the time beand, to give and to graunt to the said John Scott, ane Border of ffieure de lises about his coatte of armes, sik as is on our royal banner, and alsua ane bundell of launces above his

*Sic in orig.

helmet, with thir words, Readdy, ay Readdy, that he and all his aftercummers may bruik the samine as a pledge and taiken of our guid will and kyndnes for his true worthines; and thir our letters seen, ye nae wayes failzie to doe. Given at Ffalla Muire, under our hand and privy cashet, the xxvii day of July, me and xxxii zeires. By the King's graces speciall ordinance.

JO. ARSKINE."

On the back of the charter, is written, “Edin. 14. January, 1713. Registred, conform to the act of parliament made anent probative writs, per M'Kaile, pror. and produced by Alexander Borthwick, servant to Sir William Scott of Thirlestane. M. L. J."

NOTE XI.

An aged knight, to danger steeled,

With many a moss-trooper, came on ;
And azure in a golden field,

The stars and crescent graced his shield,

Without the bend of Murdieston.-P. 67,

The family of Harden are descended from a younger son of the laird of Buccleuch, who flourished before the estate of Murdieston was acquired by the marriage of one of those chieftains with the heiress, in 1296. Hence they bear the cognizance of the Scotts upon the field; whereas those of the Buccleuch are disposed upon a bend dexter, assumed in consequence of that marriage. -See Gladstaine of Whitelawe's MSS. and Scott of Stokoe's Pedigree, Newcastle, 1783.

Walter Scott of Harden, who flourished during the reign of Queen Mary, was a renowned Border free-booter, concerning whom tradition has preserved a variety of anecdotes, some of which have been published in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and others in Leyden's Scenes of Infancy; and others, more lately, in The Mountain Bard, a collection of Border ballads by Mr. James Hogg The bugle horn, said to have been used by this formi able leader, is preserved by his descend

ant, the present Mr. Scott of Harden.-His castle was situate upon the very brink of a dark and precipitous dell, through which a scanty rivulet steals to meet the Borthwick. In the recess of this glen he is said to have kept his spoil, which served for the daily maintenance of his retainers, until the production of a pair of clean spurs, in a covered dish, announced to the hungry band that they must ride for a supply of provisions. He was married to Mary Scott, daughter of Phillip Scott of Dryhope, and called in the song the Flower of Yarrow. He possessed a very extensive estate, which was divided among his five sons. There are numerous descendants of this old marauding Baron. The following beautiful passage of Leyden's Scenes of Infancy, is founded on a tradition respecting an infant captive, whom Walter of Harden carried off in a predatory incursion, and who is said to have become the author of some of our most beautiful pastoral songs.

Where Bortha hoarse, that loads the meads with sand, Rolls her red tide to Teviot's western strand, Through slaty hills, whose sides are shagged with thorn, Where springs, in scattered tufts, the dark-green corn, Towers wood-girt Harden, far above the vale,

And clouds of ravens o'er the turrets sail.

A hardy race, who never shrunk from war,
The Scott, to rival realms a mighty bar,
Here fixed his mountain-home ;-a wide domain,
And rich the soil, had purple heath been grain;
But, what the niggard ground of wealth denied,
From fields more blessed his fearless arm supplied.

The waning harvest-moon shone cold and bright; The warder's horn was heard at dead of night; And, as the massy portals wide were flung, With stamping hoofs the rocky pavement rung. What fair, half-veiled, leans from her latticed hall, Where red the wavering gleams of torch-light fall? 'Tis Yarrow's fairest Flower, who, through the gloom, Looks, wistful, for her lover's dancing plume.

Amid the pik s of spoil, that strewed the ground,
Her ear, all anxious, caught a wailing sound;
With trembling baste the youthful matron flew,
And from the hurried beaps an infant drew.

Scared at the light, his little hands he flung
Around her neck, and to her bosom clung;
While beauteous Mary soothed, in accents mild,
His fluttering soul, and clasped her foster child.
Of milder mood the gentle captive grew,

Nor loved the scenes that scared his infant view;
In vales remote, from camps and castles far,
He shunned the fearful shuddering joy of war;
Content the loves of simple swains to sing,
Or wake to fame the harp's heroic string.

His are the strains, whose wandering echoes thrif The shepherd, lingering on the twilight hill, When evening brings the merry folding hours, And sun-eyed daisies close their winking flowers. He lived, o'er Yarrow's Flower to shed the tear, To strew the holly leaves o'er Harden's bier; But none was found above the minstrel's tomb, Emblem of peace, to bid the daisy bloom: He, nameless as the race from which he sprung, Saved other names, and left his own unsung.

NOTE XII.

Scotts of Eskedale, a stalwart band.-P. 68.

In this, and the following stanzas, some account i given of the mode in which the property of the valley of Eske was transferred from the Beattisons, its ancient possessors, to the name of Scott. It is needless to repeat the circumstances, which are given in the poem, literally as they have been preserved by tra dition. Lord Maxwell, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, took upon himself the title of Earl of Morton. The descendants of Beattison of Woodkerricke, who aided the earl to escape from his disobe.