and to graunt to the said John Scott, ane, Border of ffleure de lises about his coatte of armes, sik as is on our royal banner, and alsua ane bundell of launces above his 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 kindness 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 zieres.. 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 11. Stanza ix. An aged knight, to danger steel'd, With many a moss-trooper, came on: And azure in a golden field, The stars and crescent graced his shield, 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 mar-' riage. See GLADSTAINE of Whitelawe's MSS. and Scorr of Stokoe's Pedigree, Newcastle, 1783. Walter Scott of Harden, who flourished during the reign of Queen Mary, was a renowned Border freebooter, concerning whom tradition has preserved a variety of anecdotes, some of which have been published in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 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 formidable leader, is preserved by his descendant, 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 Philip Scott of Dryhope, and called in 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 shagg'd with thorn," Where springs, in scatter'd 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 waning harvest-moon shone cold and bright; Scared at the light, his little hands he flung Nor loved the scenes that scared his infant view; His are the strains, whose wandering echoes thrill Note 12. Stanza x. Scotts of Eskdale, a stalwart band. In this, and the following stanza, some account is given of the mode in which the property of the valley of Esk 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 tradition. 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 disobedient vassals, continued to hold these lands within the memory of man, and were the only Beattisons who had property in the dale. The old people give locality to the story, by showing the Galliard's Haugh, the place where Buccleuch's men were concealed, etc. Note 13. Stanza xiii. Their gathering word was Bellenden. Bellenden is situate near the head of Borthwick water, and, being in the centre of the possessions of the Scotts, was frequently used as their place of rendezvous and gathering word.-Survey of Selkirkshire, in MACFARLANE'S MSS. Advocates' Library. Hence Satchells calls one part of his genealogical account of the families of that clan, his Bellenden. Note 14. Stanza xviii. The camp their home, their law the sword, The mercenary adventurers, whom, in 1380, the Earl of Cambridge carried to the assistance of the King of 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 all the worlde; for without we make ourselfe to be feared, we gette nothing.' 'By my fayth,' quod Sir William Helmon, 'ye saye right well, 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. Note 15. Stanza xxi. --a gauntlet on a spear. A glove upon a lance was the emblem of faith among the ancient Borderers, who were wont, when any one broke his word, to expose this emblem, and proclaim him a faithless villain at the first Border meeting. This ceremony was much dreaded.-See LESLY. Note 16. Stanza xxiv. We claim from thee William of Deloraine," 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, beside Salom, the 25th day of March, 1334, betwixt noble lords and mighty, Sirs Henry Percy, Earl of Northumber 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. p. Note 17. Stanza xxvi. --William of Deloraine Will cleanse him, by oath, of march-treason stain. In dubious cases, the innocence of Border criminals j 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 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 Richard III. acquired his well-known epithet, The Boar of York. In the violent satire on Cardinal Wolsey, written by Roy, commonly, but erroneously, imputed to Dr Bull, the Duke of Buckingham is called the Beautiful Swan, and the Duke of Norfolk, or Earl of Surrey, the White Lion. As the book is extremely rare, and the whole passage relates to the emblematical interpretation of heraldry, it shall be here given at length. The Description of the Armes. Of the proud Cardinal this is the shelde, 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. 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 combat, open for the Scotch to ride in and through, and small on horseback, with spears; who, keeping the appoint-resistanee 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: « 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 this 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 Willic. This sobriquet was probably derived from his bullying disposition; being, it would seem, such a roaring boy, as at Newmill, upos 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 « 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 Canonbyholme, 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, burgh, bequeathing his name to the beautiful Scotch or dorks, at their girdles, and either of them to provide air, called «Rattling Roaring Willie.»> Ramsay, who armour and weapons for themselves, according to this set no value on traditionary lore, published a few verses of this song in the Tea-Table Miscellany, carefully indenture. Two gentlemen to be appointed, on the field, to view both the parties, to see that they both be suppressing all which had any connexion, with the hisequal in arms and weapons, according to this indenture;tory of the author, and origin of the piece. In this 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 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 Willic, alluded to in the fext. Now Willie's gane to Jeddart, And he 's for the rood-day; ' Stobs lighted aff his horse, And never a word he spak, And down beneath his knee, The day of the Rood-fair at Jedburgh. 2 Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobbs, and Scott of Fainash. Ah, wae light on ye, Stobs! An ill death mot ye die! That e'er laid hands on me; That e'er laid hands on me, The lasses of Ous nam water Are rugging and riving their hair, flis beauty was so fair, And comely for to see, And drink will be dear to Willie, Note 23. Stanza xxxiv. The title to the most ancient collection of Border regulations runs thus: Pringle of Whitebank). They were called the Seven 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, 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-ery, 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 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. Note 5. Stanza vi. Pursued the foot-ball play. «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, 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- uated in an incursion upon England. At present the fore his time, but to be treason in his time, and in all foot-ball is often played by the inhabitants of adjacent time coming.» 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. 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 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 Buccleuch 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 harde 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 when 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 joyful, that such as be taken they shall be ransomed, or that they go out of the felde; so that shortly each 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 whose maintenance the tenant had an allowance of Border meetings of truce, which, although places of meal. At that time the sheep were always watched at merchandise and merriment, often witnessed the most night. Upon one occasion, when the duty had fallen bloody scenes, may serve to illustrate the description on the narrator, then a lad, he became exhausted with in the text. They are vividly portrayed in the old fatigue and fell asleep, upon a bank, near sun-rising. ballad of the Reidsquair. Both parties came armed Suddenly he was awakened by the tread of horses, and to a meeting of the wardens, yet they intermixed saw five men, well mounted and armed, ride briskly fearlessly and peaceably with each other in mutual over the edge of the hill. They stopped and looked at sports and familiar intercourse, until a casual fray 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 arose: Then was there nought but bow and spear, 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-at the gallop; and, the shepherd giving the alarm, the bours. Note 7. Stanza viii. And, frequent, on the darkening plain, 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 whereas allways, both in all tounes of war, and in all campes of armies, quietnes and stillnes, without nois, is, principally in the night, after the watch is set, observed, (I nede 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 whistlyug, and most with crying, A Derwyke, 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. 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.. quisitely painted by my friend Mr Polwhele, in the Yes-Home still charms; and he, who, clad in fur, Rather, than where luxuriant summers glow, She wrought not by forbidden spell. The pursuit of Border marauders was followed by the the bargain betwixt one of their number and the poet |