Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume I Part 37

_Adieu! Drumlanrig, &c_.--P. 268. v. 1.

The reader will perceive, from the Introduction, what connection the bond, subscribed by Douglas of Drumlanrig, Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, and Grierson of Lagg, had with the death of Lord Maxwell's father. For the satisfaction of those, who may be curious as to the form of these bonds, I have transcribed a letter of manrent,[198] from a MS.

collection of upwards of twenty deeds of that nature, copied from the originals by the late John Syme, Esq. writer to the signet; for the use of which, with many other favours of a similar nature, I am indebted to Dr. Robert Anderson of Edinburgh. The bond is granted by Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, to Robert, Lord Maxwell, father of him who was slain at the battle of the Dryffe Sands.

[Footnote 198: The proper spelling is _manred_. Thus, in the romance of _Florice and Blancheflour_--

"He wil falle to thi fot, "And bicom thi man gif be mot; "His _manred_ thou schalt afonge, "and the trewthe of his honde."

BOND OF MANRENT.

"Be it kend till all men be thir present lettres, me Thomas Kirkpatrik of Closburn, to be bundin and oblist, and be the tenor heirof, bindis and oblissis me be the faith and treuth of my body, in manrent and service to ane n.o.bil and mychty lord, Robert Lord Maxwell, induring all the dayis of my lyfe; and byndis and oblissis me, as said is, to be leill and trew man and servand to the said Robert Lord Maxwell, my master, and sall nowthir heir nor se his skaith, but sall lat the samyn at my uter power, an warn him therof. And I sall conceill it that the said lord schawis to me, and sall gif him agane the best leill and trew counsale that I can, quhen he ony askis at me; and that I sall ryde with my kin, freyndis, servandis, and allies, that wil do for me, or to gang with the said lord; and do to him aefauld, trew, and thankful service, and take aefauld playne part with the said lord, my maister, in all and sindry his actionis, causis, querrellis, leful and honest, movit, or to be movit be him, or aganis him, baith in peace and weir, contrair or aganis all thae that leiffes or de may (my allegeant to owr soveran ladye the quenis grace, her tutor and governor, allanerly except). And thir my lettres of manrent, for all the dayis of my life foresaid to indure, all dissimulations, fraud, or gyle, secludit and away put. In witness, &c." The deed is signed at Edinburgh, 3d February, 1542.

In the collection, from which this extract is made, there are bonds of a similar nature granted to Lord Maxwell, by Douglas of Drumlanrig, ancestor of the Duke of Queensberry; by Crichton Lord Sanquhar, ancestor of the earls of Dumfries, and many of his kindred; by Stuart of Castlemilk; by Stuart of Garlies, ancestor of the earls of Galloway; by Murray of c.o.c.kpool, ancestor of the Murrays, lords Annandale; by Grierson of Lagg, Gordon of Lochmaben, and many other of the most ancient and respectable barons in the south-west of Scotland, binding themselves, in the most submissive terms, to become the liegemen and the va.s.sals of the house of Maxwell; a circ.u.mstance which must highly excite our idea of the power of that family. Nay, even the rival chieftain, Johnstone of Johnstone, seems at one time to have come under a similar obligation to Maxwell, by a bond, dated 11th February 1528, in which reference is made to the counter-obligation of the patron, in these words: "Forasmeikle as the said lord has oblist him to supple, maintene, and defend me, in the peciabill brouking and joysing of all my landis, rentis, &c. and to take my aefald, leill and trew part, in all my good actionis, causis, and quarles, leiful and honest, aganes all deedlie, his alledgeance to our soveraigne lord the king allanerly excepted, as at mair length is contained in his lettres of maintenance maid to me therupon; therfore, &c." he proceeds to bind himself as liegeman to the Maxwell.

I cannot dismiss the subject without observing, that, in the dangerous times of Queen Mary, when most of these bonds are dated, many barons, for the sake of maintaining unanimity and good order, may have chosen to enroll themselves among the clients of Lord Maxwell, then warden of the border, from which, at a less turbulent period, personal considerations would have deterred them.

_Adieu! my castle of the Thrieve_.--P. 268. v. 2.

This fortress is situated in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, upon an island about two acres in extent, formed by the river Dee. The walls are very thick and strong, and bear the marks of great antiquity. It was a royal castle; but the keeping of it, agreeable to the feudal practice, was granted by charter, or sometimes by a more temporary and precarious right, to different powerful families, together with lands for their good service in maintaining and defending the place. This office of heritable keeper remained with the Nithesdale family (chief of the Maxwells) till their forfeiture, 1715. The garrison seems to have been victualled upon feudal principles; for each parish in the stewartry was burdened with the yearly payment of a _lardner mart cow_, i.e. a cow fit for being killed and salted at Martinmas, for winter provisions. The right of levying these cattle was retained by the Nithesdale family, when they sold the castle and estate, in 1704, and they did not cease to exercise it till their attainder.--_Fountainhall's Decisions_, Vol. I. p. 688.

This same castle of the Thrieve was, A.D. 1451-2, the scene of an outrageous and cruel insult upon the royal authority. The fortress was then held by William VIII. Earl of Douglas, who, in fact, possessed a more unlimited authority over the southern districts of Scotland, than the reigning monarch. The earl had, on some pretence, seized and imprisoned a baron, called Maclellan, tutor of Bombie, whom he threatened to bring to trial, by his power of hereditary jurisdiction.

The uncle of this gentleman, Sir Patrick Gray of Foulis, who commanded the body-guard of James II., obtained from that prince a warrant, requiring from Earl Douglas the body of the prisoner. When Gray appeared, the earl instantly suspected his errand. "You have not dined," said he, without suffering him to open his commission: "it is ill talking between a full man and a fasting." While Gray was at meat, the unfortunate prisoner was, by Douglas's command, led forth to the court-yard and beheaded. When the repast was finished, the king's letter was presented and opened. "Sir Patrick," says Douglas, leading Gray to the court, "right glad had I been to honour the king's messenger; but you have come too late. Yonder lies your sister's son, without the head: you are welcome to his dead body." Gray, having mounted his horse, turned to the earl, and expressed his wrath in a deadly oath, that he would requite the injury with Douglas's heart's blood.--"To horse!" cried the haughty baron, and the messenger of his prince was pursued till within a few miles of Edinburgh. Gray, however, had an opportunity of keeping his vow; for, being upon guard in the king's anti-chamber at Stirling, when James, incensed at the insolence of the earl, struck him with his dagger, Sir Patrick rushed in, and dispatched him with a pole-axe. The castle of Thrieve was the last of the fortresses which held out for the house of Douglas, after their grand rebellion in 1553. James II. writes an account of the exile of this potent family, to Charles VII. of France, 8th July, 1555; and adds, that all their castles had been yielded to him, _Excepto duntaxat castro de Trefe, per nostres fideles impraesentiarum obsesso; quod domino concedente in brevi obtinere speramus.--Pinkerton's History, Appendix_, Vol. I. p. 486.--See _Pitscottie's History, G.o.dscroft, &c._

_And most part of his friends were, there_,--P. 269. v. 3. The ancestor of the present Mr. Maxwell of Broomholm is particularly mentioned in Glenriddell's MS. as having attended his chieftain in his distress, and as having received a grant of lands, in reward of this manifestation of attachment.

_Sae now he's o'er the floods sae gray_.--P. 269. v. 3.

This seems to have been a favourite epithet in old romances, Thus in _Hornchilde_, and _Maiden Rimuild_,

Thai sayled ower the _flode so gray_, In Inglond arrived were thay, Ther him levest ware.

THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY.

The reader will find, prefixed to the foregoing ballad, an account of the noted feud betwixt the families of Maxwell and Johnstone.

The following song celebrates the skirmish, in 1593, betwixt the Johnstones and Crichtons, which led to the revival of the ancient quarrel betwixt Johnstone and Maxwell, and finally to the battle of Dryffe Sands, in which the latter lost his life. Wamphray is the name of a parish in Annandale. Lethenhall was the abode of Johnstone of Wamphray, and continued to be so till of late years. William Johnstone of Wamphray, called the _Galliard_, was a noted freebooter. A place, near the head of Tiviotdale, retains the name of the _Galliard's Faulds_, (folds) being a valley where he used to secrete and divide his spoil, with his Liddesdale and Eskdale a.s.sociates. His _nom de guerre_ seems to have been derived from the dance called _The Galliard_. The word is still used in Scotland, to express an active, gay, dissipated character.[199] Willie of the Kirkhill, nephew to the Galliard, and his avenger, was also a noted border robber. Previous to the battle of Dryffe Sands, so often mentioned, tradition reports, that Maxwell had offered a ten-pound-land to any of his party, who should bring him the head or hand of the laird of Johnstone.

This being reported to his antagonist, he answered, he had not a ten-pound-land to offer, but would give a five-merk-land to the man who should that day cut off the head or hand of Lord Maxwell. Willie of the Kirkhill, mounted upon a young gray horse, rushed upon the enemy, and earned the reward, by striking down their unfortunate chieftain, and cutting off his right hand.

Leverhay, Stefenbiggin, Girth-head, &c. are all situated in the parish of Wamphray. The Biddes-burn, where the skirmish took place betwixt the Johnstones and their pursuers, is a rivulet which takes its course among the mountains on the confines of Nithesdale and Annandale. The Wellpath is a pa.s.s by which the Johnstones were retreating to their fastnesses in Annandale. Ricklaw-holm is a place upon the Evan water, which falls into the Annan, below Moffat. Wamphray-gate was in these days an ale-house. With these local explanations, it is hoped the following ballad will be easily understood.

From a pedigree in the appeal case of Sir James Johnstone of Westeraw, claiming the honours and t.i.tles of Annandale, it appears that the Johnstones of Wamphray were descended from James, sixth son of the sixth baron of Johnstone. The male line became extinct in 1657.

[Footnote 199: Cleveland applies the phrase in a very different manner, in treating of the a.s.sembly of Divines at Westminster, 1644:

And Selden is a _Galliard_ by himself.

And wel might be; there's more divines in him.

Than in all this their Jewish Sanhedrim.

Skelton, in his railing poem against James IV., terms him _Sir Skyr Galyard_.]

THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY.

'Twixt Girth-head and the Langwood end, Lived the Galliard, and the Galliard's men; But and the lads of Leverhay, That drove the Crichtons' gear away.

It is the lads of Lethenha', The greatest rogues amang them a': But and the lads of Stefenbiggin, They broke the house in at the rigging.

The lads of Fingland, and h.e.l.lbeck-hill, They were never for good, but aye for ill; 'Twixt the Staywood-bush and Langside-hill, They stealed the broked cow and the branded bull.

It is the lads of the Girth-head, The deil's in them for pride and greed; For the Galliard, and the gay Galliard's men, They ne'er saw a horse but they made it their ain.

The Galliard to Nithside is gane, To steal Sim Crichton's winsome dun; The Galliard is unto the stable gane, But instead of the dun, the blind he has ta'en.

"Now Simmy, Simmy of the Side, Come out and see a Johnstone ride!

Here's the bonniest horse in a' Nithside, And a gentle Johnstone aboon his hide."

Simmy Crichton's mounted then, And Crichtons has raised mony a ane; The Galliard trowed his horse had been wight, But the Crichtons beat him out o' sight.

As soon as the Galliard the Crichton saw, Behind the saugh-bush he did draw; And there the Crichtons the Galliard hae ta'en, And nane wi' him but Willie alane.

"O Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang, And I'll nevir mair do a Crichton wrang!

O Simmy, Simmy, now let me be, And a peck o' gowd I'll give to thee!

O Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang, And my wife shall heap it with her hand."

But the Crichtons wad na let the Galliard be, But they hanged him hie upon a tree.

O think then Willie he was right wae, When he saw his uncle guided sae; "But if ever I live Wamphray to see, My uncle's death avenged shall be!"

Back to Wamphray he is gane, And riders has raised mony a ane; Saying--"My lads, if ye'll be true, Ye shall a' be clad in the n.o.ble blue."

Back to Nithisdale they have gane, And awa' the Crichtons' nowt hae ta'en; But when they cam to the Wellpath-head, The Crichtons bade them 'light and lead.

And when they cam to the Biddes burn, The Crichtons bade them stand and turn; And when they cam to the Biddess strand, The Crichtons they were hard at hand.

But when they cam to the Biddes law, The Johnstones bade them stand and draw; "We've done nae ill, we'll thole nae wrang, "But back to Wamphray we will gang,"

And out spoke w.i.l.l.y o' the Kirkhill, "Of fighting, lads, ye'se hae your fill."

And from his horse Willie he lap, And a burnished brand in his hand he gat.

Out through the Crichtons Willie he ran, And dang them down baith horse and man; O but the Johnstones were wondrous rude, When the Biddes burn ran three days blood.