Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume I Part 25

The Sheriffe wanted not gude will, Howbeit he might not fight so fast; Beanjeddart, Hundlie, and Hunthill, Three, on they laid weel at the last.

Except the hors.e.m.e.n of the guard, If I could put men to availe, None stoutlier stood out for their laird.

For did the lads of Liddesdail.

But little harness had we there; But auld Badreule had on a jack, And did right weel, I you declare, With all his Trumbills at his back.

Gude Ederstane was not to lack, Nor Kirktoun, Newtoun, n.o.ble men!

Thirs[156] all the specials I of speake, By[157] others that I could not ken.

Who did invent that day of play, We need not fear to find him soon; For Sir John Forster, I dare well say, Made us this noisome afternoon.

Not that I speak preceislie out, That he supposed it would be perril; But pride, and breaking out of feuid, Garr'd Tindaill lads begin the quarrel.

[Footnote 143: _Green_--Long.]

[Footnote 144: _Weil beseen_--Well appointed. The word occurs in Morte Arthur: "And when Sir Percival saw this, he hied him thither, "and found the s.h.i.+p covered with silke, more blacker than any beare; and therein was a gentlewoman, of great beautie, and she was richly _beseene_, that none might be better."]

[Footnote 145: _Lave_--Remainder.]

[Footnote 146: _Palliones_--Tents.]

[Footnote 147: _Cracking crouse_--Talking big.]

[Footnote 148: _Rowes_--Rolls.]

[Footnote 149: _Raxed him_--Stretched himself up.]

[Footnote 150: _Red the c.u.mber_--Quell the tumult.]

[Footnote 151: _Cost_--Signifies loss or risk.]

[Footnote 152: _Raise_--Rose.]

[Footnote 153: _But, &c_.--Till once his anger was up.]

[Footnote 154: _Genzie_--Engine of war.]

[Footnote 155: _Flain_--Arrows; hitherto absurdly printed _slain_.]

[Footnote 156: _Thirs_--These are.]

[Footnote 157: _By_--Besides.]

NOTES ON THE RAID OF THE REIDSWIRE.

_Carmichael was our warden then_.--P. 157. v. 2.

Sir John Carmichael was a favourite of the resent Morton, by whom he was appointed warden of the middle marches, in preference to the border chieftains. With the like policy, the regent married Archibald Carmichael, the warden's brother, to the heiress of Edrom, in the Merse, much contrary to the inclination of the lady and her friends.

In like manner, he compelled another heiress, Jane Sleigh, of c.u.mlege, to marry Archibald, brother to Auchinleck of Auchiuleck, one of his dependants. By such arbitrary practices, Morton meant to strengthen his authority on the borders; instead of which, he hastened his fall, by giving disgust to his kinsman the Earl of Angus, and his other friends, who had been established in the country for ages.--_G.o.dscroft_, Vol. II. Pages 238. 246. Sir John Carmichael, the warden, was murdered 16th June, 1600, by a party of borderers, at a place called Raesknows, near Lochmaben, whither he was going to hold a court of justice. Two of the ring-leaders in the slaughter, Thomas Armstrong, called _Ringan's Tarn_, and Adam Scott, called _the Pecket_, were tried at Edinburgh, at the instance of Carmichael of Edrom. They were condemned to have their right hands struck off, thereafter to be hanged, and their bodies gibbeted on the Borough Moor; which sentence was executed, 14th November, 1601. "This _Pecket_, (saith Birrel in his _Diary_), was ane of the maist notalrie thieftes that ever raid:" he calls his name Steill, which appears, from the record, to be a mistake. Four years afterwards, an Armstrong, called _Sandy of Rowanburn_, and several others of that tribe, were executed for this and other excesses.--_Books of Adjournal of these dates_.

_And the Laird's Wat, that worthie man_.--P. 157. v. 2.

The chief, who led out the sirname of Scott upon this occasion, was (saith Satch.e.l.ls) Walter Scott of Ancrum, a natural son of Walter of Buccleuch. The laird of Buccleuch was then a minor. The ballad seems to have been popular in Satch.e.l.ls' days, for he quotes it literally.

He must, however, have been mistaken in this particular; for the family of Scott of Ancrum, in all our books of genealogy, deduce their descent from the Scotts of Balwearie in Fife, whom they represent. The first of this family, settled in Roxburghs.h.i.+re, is stated in _Douglas'

Baronage_ to have been Patrick Scott, who purchased the lands of Ancrum, in the reign of James VI. He therefore could not be the _Laird's Wat_ of the ballad; indeed, from the list of border families in 1597, Ker appears to have been proprietor of Ancrum at the date of the ballad. It is plainly written in the MS. the _Laird's Wat_, i.e., the Laird's son Wat; notwithstanding which, it has always. .h.i.therto been printed the _Laird Wat_. If Douglas be accurate in his genealogy, the person meant must be the young laird of Buccleuch, afterwards distinguished for his surprise of Carlisle Castle.--See _Kinmont Willie_. I am the more confirmed in this opinion, because Kerr of Ancrum was at this time a fugitive, for slaying one of the Rutherfords, and the tower of Ancrum given in keeping to the Turnbulls, his hereditary enemies. His mother, however, a daughter of Home of Wedderburn, contrived to turn out the Turnbulls, and possess herself of the place by surprise.--_G.o.dscroft_, Vol. II. p. 250.

_The Armestranges, that aye hae been_.--P. 158. v. 1.

This clan are here mentioned as not being hail, or whole, because they were outlawed or broken men. Indeed, many of them had become Englishmen, as the phrase then went. Accordingly, we find, from Paton, that forty of them, under the laird of Mangertoun, joined Somerset upon his expedition into Scotland.--_Paton, in Dalyell's Fragments_, p. 1. There was an old alliance betwixt the Elliots and Armstrongs, here alluded to. For the enterprises of the Armstrongs, against their native country, when under English a.s.surance, see _Murdin's State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 43. From which it appears, that, by command of Sir Ralph Evers, this clan ravaged almost the whole west border of Scotland.

_The sheriffe brought the Douglas down_.--P. 158. v. 2,

Douglas of Cavers, hereditary sheriff of Teviotdale, descended from Black Archibald, who carried the standard of his father, the Earl of Douglas, at the battle of Otterbourne.--_See the Ballad of that name_.

_Wi' Cranstane, Gladstain, good at need_.--P. 158. v. 2.

Cranstoun of that ilk, ancestor to Lord Cranstoun; and Gladstain of Gladstains.

_Wi a' the Trumbills, stronge and stout; The Rutherfoords, with grit renown_.--P. 158. v. 2.

These were ancient and powerful border clans, residing chiefly upon the river Jed. Hence, they naturally convoyed the town of Jedburgh out. Although notorious freebooters, they were specially patronised by Morton, who, by their means, endeavoured to counterpoise the power of Buccleuch and Ferniherst, during the civil wars attached to the queen's faction.

The following fragment of an old ballad is quoted in a letter from an aged gentleman of this name, residing at New-York, to a friend in Scotland:

"Bauld Rutherfurd, he was fow stout, Wi' a' his nine sons him round about; He led the town o' Jedburgh out, All bravely fought that day."

_Wi' Sir John Forster for their guyde_.--P. 158. v. 3.

This gentleman is called, erroneously, in some copies of this ballad, _Sir George_. He was warden of the mid-marches of England.

_Wi' Sir George Henroune of Schipsydehouse_.--P. 159. v. 1.

Sir George Heron of Chipchase-house, whose character is contrasted with that of the English warden.

_Had Tindaill, Reedsdaill at his hand_.--P. 159. v. 2.

These are districts, or dales, on the English border. Hebsrime seems to be an error in the MS. for Hebburn upon the Till.

_Five hundred Fennicks in a flock_.--P. 159. v. 3.

The Fenwicks; a powerful and numerous Northumberland clan.

_Then raise the slogan with ane shout_.--P. 161. v. 3.

The gathering word, peculiar to a certain name, or set of people, was termed _slogan_, or _slughorn_, and was always repeated at an onset, as well as on many other occasions, as appears from the following pa.s.sage of an old author, whom this custom seems much to have offended--for he complains,