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Sword, halbert, musket-butt, their blows
Hail'd upon Bertram as he rose ;

A score of pikes, with each a wound,
Bore down and pinn'd him to the ground;
But still his struggling force he rears,
'Gainst hacking brands and stabbing spears;
Thrice from assailants shook him free,
Once gain'd his feet, and twice his knee.
By tenfold odds oppress'd at length,
Despite his struggles and his strength,
He took a hundred mortal wounds,
As mute as fox 'mongst mangling hounds;
And when he died, his parting groan
Had more of laughter than of moan!
-They gazed, as when a lion dies,
And hunters scarcely trust their eyes,
But bend their weapons on the slain,
Lest the grim king should rouse again!-
Then blow and insult some renew'd,

And from the trunk the head had hew'd,
But Basil's voice the deed forbade;

A mantle o'er the corse he laid :-
Fell as he was in act and mind,
He left no bolder heart behind :
Then give him, for a soldier meet,
A soldier's cloak for winding-sheet.»>—

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Young Redmond at his utmost need,

And back'd with such a band of horse

As might less ample powers enforce;
Possess'd of every proof and sign
That

I gave an heir to Mortham's line,
And yielded to a father's arms
An image of his Edith's charms,—
Mortham is come, to hear and see
Of this strange morn the history.
What saw he?-not the church's floor,
Cumber'd with dead and stain'd with gore.
What heard he?-not the clamorous crowd,
That shout their gratulations loud;
Redmond he saw and heard alone,
Clasp'd him, and sobb'd, « My son, my son!»-
XXXV.

This chanced upon a summer morn,
When yellow waved the heavy corn;
But when brown August o'er the land
Call'd forth the reaper's busy band,
A gladsome sight the sylvan road
From Eglistone to Mortham show'd.
Awhile the hardy rustic leaves

The task to bind and pile the sheaves,
And maids their sickles fling aside,

Το

gaze on bridegroom and on bride,

And childhood's wondering group draws near, And from the gleaner's hand the ear

Drops, while she folds them for a prayer

And blessing on the lovely pair.
Twas then the Maid of Rokeby gave
fler plighted troth to Redmond brave;

And Teesdale can remember yet,
How Fate to Virtue paid her debt,
And, for their troubles, bade them prove
A lengthen'd life of peace and love.

Time and tide had thus their sway,
Yielding, like an April day,
Smiling noon for sullen morrow,
Years of joy for hours of sorrow!

NOTES.

CANTO I.

Note 1. Stanza i.

On Barnard's towers, and Tees's stream, etc.

<< Barnard Castle,» saith old Leland, « standeth stately upon Tees. It is founded upon a very high bank, and its ruins impend over the river, including within the area a circuit of six acres and upwards. This once magnificent fortress derives its name from its founder, Barnard Baliol, the ancestor of the short and unfortunate dynasty of that name, which succeeded to the Scottish throne under the patronage of Edward I. and Edward III. Baliol's tower, afterwards mentioned in the poem, is a round tower of great size, situated at the western extremity of the building. It bears marks of great antiquity, and was remarkable for the curious construction of its vaulted roof, which has been lately greatly injured by the operations of some persons to whom the tower has been leased for the purpose of making patent shot! The prospect from the top of Baliol's tower commands a rich and magnificent view of the wooded valley of the Tees.

Barnard Castle often changed masters during the middle ages. Upon the forfeiture of the unfortunate John Baliol, the first king of Scotland of that family, Edward I. seized this fortress among the other English estates of his refractory vassal. It was afterwards vested in the Beauchamps of Warwick, and in the Staffords of Buckingham, and was also sometimes in the possession of the Bishops of Durham, and sometimes in that of the crown. Richard III. is said to have enlarged and strengthened its fortifications, and to have made it for some time his principal residence, for the purpose of bridling and suppressing the Lancastrian faction in the northern counties. From the Staffords, Barnard Castle passed, probably by marriage, into the possession of the powerful Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland, and belonged to the last representative of that family when he engaged with the Earl of Northumberland in the illconcerted insurrection of the twelfth of Queen Elizabeth. Upon this occasion, however, Sir George Bowes of Sheatlam, who held great possessions in the neigh bourhood, anticipated the two insurgent earls, by seizing upon and garrisoning Barnard Castle, which he held out for ten days against all their forces, and then surrendered it upon honourable terms. See Sadler's State Papers, vol. II, p. 330. In a ballad, contained in Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. I, the siege is thus commemorated:

Then Sir George Bowes he straight way rose,
After them some spoyle to make;
These noble erles turned back againe,
And aye they vowed that knight to take.

That baron he to his castle fled,

To Barnard Castle then fed he:
The uttermost walles were eathe to won,
The erles have wonne them presentlie.

The uttermost walles were lime and bricke;
But though they won them soon anone,
Long ere they won the innermost walles,

For they were cut in rock and stone.

From the following curious account of a dispute re-
specting a buff coat, between an old roundhead cap-
tain and a justice of peace, by whom his arms were
seized after the Restoration, we learn that the value
and importance of this defensive garment were con-
siderable. « A party of horse came to my house, com-
manded by Mr Peebles; and he told me he was come
for my arms, and that I must deliver them. I asked
him for his order. He told me he had a better order.
than Oliver used to give; and, clapping his hand upon
his sword-hilt, he said that was his order. I told him,
if he had none but that, it was not sufficient to take
my arms; and then he pulled out his warrant, and I
read it. It was signed by Wentworth Armitage, a gene-
ral warrant to search all persons they suspected, and so
left the power to the soldiers at their pleasure. They
came to us at Coalley-hall, about sun-setting; and I

By the suppression of this rebellion, and the consequent forfeiture of the Earl of Westmoreland, Barnard Castle reverted to the crown, and was sold or leased out to Car, Earl of Somerset, the guilty and unhappy favourite of James I. It was afterwards granted to Sir Henry Vane the Elder, and was therefore, in all probability, occupied for the Parliament, whose interest dur-caused a candle to be lighted, and conveyed Peebles ing the civil war was so keenly espoused by the Vanes, It is now, with the other estates of that family, the property of the Right Honourable Earl of Darlington. Note 2. Stanza v.

no human ear,

Unsharpen'd by revenge and fear,

into the room where my arms were. My arms were near the kitchen fire; and there they took away fowling-pieces, pistols, muskets, carbines, and such like, better than 20l. Then Mr Peebles asked me for my buff coat; and I told him they had no order to take away my apparel. He told me I was not to dispute their orders; but if I would not deliver it, he would I have had occasion to remark, in real life, the effect carry me away prisoner, and had me out of doors. Yet of keen and fervent anxiety in giving acuteness to the he let me alone unto the next morning, that I must organs of sense. My gifted friend, Miss Joauna Baillie, wait upon Sir John, at Halifax; and coming before whose dramatic works display such intimate acquaint-him, he threatened me, and said, if I did not send the ance with the operations of human passion, has not omitted this remarkable circumstance:

Could e'er distinguish horse's clank, etc.

coat, for it was too good for me to keep. I told him it was not in his power to demand my apparel; and he, growing into a fit, called me rebel and traitor, and said

De Montfort (off his guard). 'T is Rezenvelt; I heard his well- if I did not send the coat with all speed, he would send

known foot!

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The use of complete suits of armour was fallen into disuse during the civil war, though they were still worn by leaders of rank and importance.« In the reign of King James I.» says our military antiquary, «no great alterations were made in the article of defensive armour, except that the buff coat, or jerkin, which was originally worn under the cuirass, now became frequently a substitute for it, it having been found that a good buff leather would of itself resist the stroke of a sword; this, however, only occasionally took place among the lightarmed cavalry and infantry, complete suits of armour being still used among the heavy horse. Buff coats continued to be worn by the city trained-bands till within the memory of persons now living, so that defensive armour may in some measure be said to have terminated in the same materials with which it began, that is, the skins of animals or leather.»-GROSE's Military Antiquities, Lond. 1801, 4to. vol. II, p. 323.

Of the buff coats which were worn over the corslet, several are yet preserved, and Captain Grose has given an engraving of one which was used in the time of Charles I. by Sir Francis Rhodes, Bart. of Balbroughhall, Derbyshire. They were usually lined with silk or linen, secured before by buttons, or by a lace, and often richly decorated with gold or silver embroidery.

me where I did not like well. I told him I was no
rebel, and he did not well to call me so before these
soldiers and gentlemen, to make me the mark for every
one to shoot at, I departed the room, yet, notwith-
standing all the threatenings, did not send the coat.
But the next day he sent John Lyster, the son of Mr
Thomas Lyster, of Shipden-hall, for this coat, with a
letter verbatim thus: 'Mr Hodgson, I admire
you will
play the child so with me as you have done, in wrt-
ing such an inconsiderate letter. Let me have the buff
coat sent forthwith, otherwise you shall so hear from
me as will not very well please you.' I was not at home
when this messenger came; but I had ordered my wife
not to deliver it, but if they would take it, let the m look
to it; and he took it away; and one of Sir John's bre-
thren wore it many years after. They sent Captain Batt
to compound with my wife about it; but I sent word I
would have my own again; but he advised me to take a
price for it, and make no more ado. I said it was hard
to take my arms and apparel too; I had laid out a great
deal of money for them; I hoped they did not mean to
destroy me, by taking my goods illegally from me. He
said he would make up the matter, if I pleased, betwitt
us; and, it seems, had brought Sir John to a price for
my coat. I would not have taken tol. for it; he would
have given about 41.; but wanting my receipt for the
money, he kept both sides, and I had never satisfac-
tion.»-Memoirs of Captain Hodgson, Edinb. 18ef,

p. 178.

Note 4. Stanza viii.

On his dark face a scorching clime,
And toil, had done the work of time, etc.
In this character I have attempted to sketch one of

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was commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and consisted of all his horse, and three regiments of the Scots horse; the left wing was commanded by the Earl of Manchester and Colonel Cromwell. One body of their foot was commanded by Lord Fairfax, and consisted of his foot, and two brigades of the Scots foot for a reserve; and the main body of the rest of the foot was commanded by General Leven.

himself, and the main body by General Goring, Sir Charles Lucas, and Major-General Porter; thus were both sides drawn up into battalia.

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those West Indian adventurers, who, during the course of the seventeenth century, were popularly known by the name of Buccaneers. The successes of the English in the predatory incursions upon Spanish America, during the reign of Elizabeth, had never been forgotten; and from that period downward, the exploits of Drake and Raleigh were imitated, upon a smaller scale indeed, but with equally desperate valour, by small bands of pirates, gathered from all nations, but chiefly French « The right wing of the prince's army was commandand English. The engrossing policy of the Spaniardsed by the Earl of Newcastle, the left wing by the prince teaded greatly to increase the number of these freebooters, from whom their commerce and colonies suffered, in the issue, dreadful calamity. The Windward Islands, which the Spaniards did not deem worthy their own occupation, had been gradually settled by adventurers of the French and English nations. But Frederick of Toledo, who was dispatched in 1630, with a powerful feet against the Dutch, had orders from the court of Madrid to destroy these colonies, whose vicinity at once effended the pride, and excited the jealous suspicions of their Spanish neighbours. This order the Spanish admiral executed with sufficient rigour; but the only consequence was, that the planters, being rendered desperate by persecution, began, under the well-known Dame of Buccaneers, to commence a retaliation so horridly savage that the perusal makes the reader shudder. When they carried on their depredations at sea, they boarded, without respect to disparity of number, every Spanish vessel that came in their way; and, demeaning themselves both in the battle and after the conquest more like demons than human beings, they succeeded in impressing their enemies with a sort of superstitious terror, which rendered them incapable of offering effectual resistance. From piracy at sea they advanced to making predatory descents on the Spanish territories, in which they displayed the same furious and irresistible valour, the same thirst of spoil, and the same brutal inhumanity to their captives. The large treasures which they acquired in their adventures, they dissipated by the most unbounded licentiousness in gaming, women, wine, and debauchery of every species. When their spoils were thus wasted, they entered into some new association, and undertook new adventures. For forther particulars concerning these extraordinary banditti, the reader may consult Raynal, or the common and popular book called the History of the Buccaneers.

July 3d, 1644. In this posture both armies faced each other, and about seven o'clock in the morning the fight began between them. The prince, with his left wing, fell on the parliament's right wing, routed them, and pursued them a great way; the like did General Goring, Lucas, and Porter, upon the parliament's main body. The three generals, giving all for lost, hasted out of the field, and many of their soldiers fled, and threw down their arms; the king's forces, too eagerly following them, the victory, now almost achieved by them, was again snatched out of their hands. Colonel Cromwell, with the brave regiment of his countrymen, and Sir Thomas Fairfax, having rallied some of his horse, fell upon the prince's right wing, where the Earl of Newcastle was, and routed them; and the rest of their companions rallying, they fell altogether upon the divided bodies of Rupert and Goring, and totally dispersed them, and obtained a complete victory after three hours' fight.

Note 5. Stanza xii.

On Marston heath

Met, front to front, the ranks of death.

For

« From this battle and the pursuit some reckon that above 3000 were buried 7000 Englishmen ; all agree of the prince's men were slain in the battle, besides those in the chace, and 3000 prisoners taken, many of their chief officers, 25 pieces of ordnance, 47 colours' 10,000 arms, two waggons of carabines and pistols, 130 barrels of powder, and all their bag and baggage.» -WHITELOCKE's Memoirs, Lond. 1682, fol. p.

89.

Lord Clarendon informs us that the king, previous to receiving the true account of the battle, had been informed, by an express from Oxford, << that Prince Rupert had not only relieved York, but totally defeated the Scots, with many particulars to confirm it, all which was so much believed there, that they had made public fires of joy for the victory.>>

Note 6. Stanza xix.
Monckton and Mitton told the news,

How troops of roundheads choked the Ouse,
And many a bonny Scot, aghast,
Spurring his palfrey northward, past,
Cursing the day when zeal or meed

First lured their Lesley o'er the Tweed.

The well-known and desperate battle of Long-Marston Moor, which terminated so unfortunately for the cause of Charles, commenced under very different auspices. Prince Rupert had marched with an army of 20,000 en for the relief of York, then besieged by Sir Thomas Monckton and Mitton are villages near the river Fairfax, at the head of the parliamentary army, and Ouse, and not very distant from the field of battle. The Earl of Leven, with the Scottish auxiliary forces. particulars of the action were violently disputed at the In this he so completely succeeded, that he compelled time; but the following extract, from the manuscript the besiegers to retreat to Marston-moor, a large open history of the Baronial House of Somerville, is decisive plain, about eight miles distant from the city. Thither as to the flight of the Scottish general, the Earl of ey were followed by the prince, who had now united Leven. The particulars are given by the author of the to his army the garrison of York, probably not less history on the authority of his father, then the reprethan ten thousand men strong, under the gallant Mar-sentative of the family. This curious manuscript has quis (then Earl) of Newcastle. Whitelocke has recorded, been published by consent of my noble friend, the prewith much impartiality, the following particulars of sent Lord Somerville. this eventful day:

The right wing of the parliament

"

The order of this great battell, wherin both armies

:

standing of this, ther was that night such a conster natione in the parliament armies, that it's believed by most of those that wer there present, that if the prince, haveing so great a body of horse inteire, had made ane on fall that night, or the ensueing morning be tyme, he had carryed the victorie out of their hands; for it's certane, by the morning's light, he had rallyed a body of ten thousand men, whereof ther was neer three thousand gallant horse. These, with the assistance of the toune and garrisoune of Yorke, might have done much to have recovered the victory, for the losse of this battell in effect lost the king and his interest in the three kingdomes, his majestie never being able eftir this to make head in the north, but lost his garrisons every day.

was neer of ane equall number, consisting, to the best calculatione, neer to three score thousand men upon both sydes, I shall not take upon me to discryve; albeit, from the draughts then taken upon the place, and information I receaved from this gentleman, who being then a volunteer, as having no command, had opportunitie and libertie to ryde from one wing of the armie to the other, to view all ther severall squadrons of horse and battallions of foot how formed, and in what manner drawn up, with every other circumstance relating to the fight, and that both as to the king's armies and that of the parliament's, amongst whom, untill the engadgment, he went from statione to statione to observe ther order and forme; but that the descriptione of this battell, with the various success on both sides at the beginning, with the losse of the royal armie, and the sad effects «As for Generall Lesselie, in the beginning of this that followed that misfortune as to his majesties inter-flight haveing that part of the army quite brocken, est, hes been so often done already by English authors, where he had placed himself, by the valour of the little to our commendatione, how justly I shall not dis-prince, he imagined, and was confermed by the opinione pute, seeing the truth is, as our principall generall fled of others then upon the place with him, that the batthat night neer fourtie mylles from the place of the tell was irrecoverably lost, seeing they wer fleeing upon fight, that part of the armie where he commanded all hands; theirfore they humblie intreated his excelbeing totallic routed but it is as true, that much of lence to reteir and wait his better fortune; which, the victorie is attributed to the good conduct of David without farder advyseing, he did; and never drew bridle Lesselie, lievetennent-general of our horse. Cromwell until he came the lenth of Leads, having ridden all that himself, that minione of fortune, but the rod of God's night with a cloak of drap de berrie about him, be wrath, to punish eftirward three rebellious nations, dis- longing to this gentleman of whom I write, then in his dained not to take orders from him, albeit then in the retinue, with many other officers of good qualitie. It same qualitie of command for the parliament, as being was neer twelve the next day before they had the cer lievetennent-generall to the Earl of Manchester's horse, tanety who was master of the field, when at length whom, with the assistance of the Scots horse, having there arryves ane express, sent by David Lessefie, to routed the prince's right wing, as he had done that of acquaint the general they had obtained a most glorious the parliament's. These two commanders of the horse victory, and that the prince, with his brocken troups, upon that wing wisely restrained the great bodies of was fled from Yorke. This intelligence was somewhat ther horse from persuing these brocken troups, but, amazeing to these gentlemen that had been eye witwheelling to the left-hand, falls in upon the naked flanks nesses to the disorder of the armie before ther retearing, of the prince's main battalion of foot, carying them and had then accompanyed the general in his flight, doune with great violence; nether mett they with any who, being much wearyed that evening of the battell great resistance untill they came to the Marques of with ordering his armie, and now quite spent with his Newcastle his battallione of White Coats, who, first pep- long journey in the night, had casten himselfe doune pering them soundly with ther shott, when they came upon a bed to reste, when this gentleman comeing to charge, stoutly boor them up with their picks that quyetly into his chamber, he awoke, and hastily cryes they could not enter to break them. Here the parlia-out, 'Lievetennent-collonell, what news?'—* All is safe, ment's horse of that wing receaved their greatest losse, and a stop for sometyme put to their hoped-for victorie; and that only by the stout resistance of this gallant battallione, which consisted neer of four thousand foot, untill at length a Scots regiment of dragóuns, commanded by Collonell Frizeall, with other two, was brought to open them upon some hand, which at length they did, when all the ammunitione was spent. Having refused quarters, every man fell in the same order and ranke wherein he had foughten.

may it please your excellence, the parliament's armie hes obtained a great victory; and then delyvers the letter. The generall, upon the hearing of this, knocked upon his breast and sayes, 'I would to God I had dyed upon the place,' and then opens the letter, which, in a few lines, gave ane account of the victory, and in the close pressed his speedy returne to the armie, which he did the next day, being accompanyed some mylles back by this gentleman, who then takes his leave of him, and receaved at parting many expressions of kyndenesse, «Be this execution was done, the prince returned with promises that he would never be unmyndful of hus from the persuite of the right wing of the parliament's care and respect towards him; and in the end be inhorse, which he had beatten and followed too farre, to treats him to present his service to all his friends and the losse of the battell, which certanely, in all men's acquaintances in Scotland. Thereftir the generall sets opinions, he might have caryed, if he had not been too forward in his journey for the armie, as this gentleman violent upon the persuite; which gave his enemies upon did for in order to his transportathe left-hand opportunitie to disperse and cut doune his tione for Scotland, where he arryved sex dayes eftir the infanterie, who, having cleared the field of all the stand-fight of Mestoune Muir, and gave the first true account ing bodies of foot, wer now, with many

of ther oune, standing ready to receave the charge of his allmost spent horses, if he should attempt it, which the prince observeing, and seeing all lost, he retreated to Yorke with two thousand horse. Notwith

and descriptione of that great battell, whereia the covenanters then gloryed soe much, that they impiously boasted the Lord had now signally appeared for his cause and people, it being ordinary for them, danag the whell time of this warre, to attribute the Greatness

of their success to the goodness and justice of their cause, until Divine Justyce trysted them with some cross dispensatione, and then you might have heard this nguage from them, 'That it pleases the Lord to give is oune the heavyest end of the tree to bear, that the saints and the people of God must still be sufferers while they are here away, that the malignant party was God's rod to punish them for their unthankfulnesse, which in the end he will cast into the fire;' with a thouand other expressions and scripture citations, prophanely and blasphemiously uttered by them to palliate their villainie and rebellion.»-Memorie of the SomerFilles.-Edinb. 1815.

Note 7. Stanza xix.

With his barb'd horse, fresh tidings say

Stout Cromwell has redeem'd the day. Cromwell, with his regiment of cuirassiers, had a principal share in turning the fate of the day at Marstonmoor, which was equally matter of triumph to the independents, and of grief and heart-burning to the presbyterians and to the Scottish. Principal Baillie expresses his dissatisfaction as follows:

The independents sent up one quickly to assure that all the glory of that night was theirs; and they and their Major-general Cromwell had done it all there alone; but Captain Stuart afterward shewed the vanity and falsehood of their disgraceful relation. God gave us that victory wonderfully. There were three generals on each side, Lesley, Fairfax, and Manchester; Rupert, Newcastle, and King. Within half an hour and less, all six took them to their heels; this to you alone. The disadvantage of the ground, and violence of the flower of Prince Rupert's horse, carried all our right wing down; only Eglinton kept ground, to his great loss: his lieutenant-crowner, a brave man, I fear, shall die, and his son Robert be mutilated of an arm. Lindsay had the greatest hazard of any; but the beginning of the victory was from David Lesly, who before was much suspected of evil designs; he, with the Scots and Cromwell's horse, having the advantage of the ground, did

BAILLIE'S Letters and

dissipate all before them.»> Journals, Edinb. 1785. 8vo. II, 36.

Note 8. Stanza xx.

Do not my native dales prolong
Of Percy Rede the tragic song,
Train'd forward to his bloody fall,

By Girsonfield, that treacherous Hall?

of Troughend were a very ancient family, as may be
conjectured from their deriving their surname from
the river on which they had their mansion.
An epi-
taph on one of their tombs affirms, that the family
held their lands of Troughend, which are situated on
the Reed, nearly opposite to Otterburn, for the incre-
dible space of nine hundred years.

Note 9. Stanza xx.

And near the spot that gave me name,
The moated mound of Risingham,
Where Reed upon her margin sees
Sweet Woodburn's cottages and trees,
Some ancient sculptor's art has shown
An outlaw's image on the stone.

Risingham, upon the river Reed, near the beautiful hamlet of Woodburn, is an ancient Roman station, formerly called Habitancum. Camden says, that in his time the popular account bore that it had been the abode of a deity or giant, called Magon; and appeals, in support of this tradition, as well as to the etymology of Risingham, or Reisenham, which signifies, in German, the habitation of the giants, to two Roman altars taken out of the river, inscribed DEO MOGONTI CADENORUM. About half a mile distant from Risingham, upon an eminence covered with scattered birch-trees and fragments of rock, there is cut upon a large rock, in alto relievo, a remarkable figure, called Robin of Risingham, or Robin of Redesdale. It presents a hunter, with his bow raised in one hand, and in the other what seems to be a hare. There is a quiver at the back of the figure, and he is dressed in a long coat, or kirtle, coming down to the knees, and meeting close, with a girdle bound round him. Dr Horsley, who saw all monuments of antiquity with Roman eyes, inclines to think this figure a Roman archer: and certainly the bow is rather of the ancient size than of that which was so formidable in the hand of the English archers of the middle ages. But the rudeness of the whole figure prevents our founding strongly upon mere inaccuracy of proportion. The popular tradition is that it represents a giant, whose brother resided at Woodburn, and he himself at Risingham. It adds, that they subsisted by hunting, and that one of them, finding the game become too scarce to support them, poisoned his companion, in whose memory the monument was engraven. What strange and tragic circumstance may be concealed under this legend, or whether it is utterly apocryphal, it is now impossible to dis

cover.

la a poem, entitled « The Lay of the Reedwater Minstrel, Newcastle, 1809, this tale, with many others peThe name of Robin of Redesdale was given to one caliar to the valley of the Reed, is commemorated:of the Umfravilles, Lords of Prudhow, and afterwards The particulars of the traditional story of Percy Reed to one Hilliard, a friend and follower of the king-makof Troughend, and the Halls of Girsonfield, the authoring Earl of Warwick. This person commanded an had from a descendant of the family of Reed. From this account it appears that Percival Reed, Esquire, a keeper of Reedsdale, was betrayed by the Halls (hence Edward the Fourth's queen, and his son, Sir John denominated the false-hearted Ha's) to a band of moss-Woodville.-See HOLLINSHED, ad annum 1469. troopers of the name Crosier, who slew him at Batinghope, near the source of the Reed.

The Halls were, after the murder of Percy Reed, held in such universal abhorrence and contempt by the inhabitants of Reedsdale, for their cowardly and trea| cherous behaviour, that they were obliged to leave the country. In another passage we are informed that the ghost of the injured Borderer is supposed to haunt the banks of a brook called the Pringle. These Reeds

army of Northamptonshire and northern men, who seized on and beheaded the Earl of Rivers, father to

Note 10. Stanza xxi.

do thou revere

The statutes of the buccaneer.

The statutes of the buccaneers » were in reality more equitable than could have been expected from the state of society under which they had been formed. They chiefly related, as may readily be conjectured, to the distribution and the inheritance of their plunder.

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